m IM;. iMyUkt':-^ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT OF Miss Ida Langdon Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 924031 288727 ^ m Ml 'If 1,1 IT. r'ATB.IC^, .^^.1plef«3■!t^l' " ©ft ^- Jri?.b$i)tj! Boi*n in iKc* Ve;a' ?> 6 I, DisA in the Yeju' 4-i MURPHY'S ENLARGES STEREOTYPE EDITION. THE LIFE SAINT PATRICK, APOSTLE OF IRELAND, WITH A COPIOUS APPENDIX, IN WHIC H 13 GIVEN A SUSlMARY ACCOUNT OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL INSTITUTIONS, &c. IN IRELAND SINCE THE INTRODUCTION OF CHHISTIANITYj A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE CATHOLIC PRIMATES OF IRELAND ; THE CELEBRATED HYMN OF ST. FIECH, ON THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK; AND THE PROPHECY OF ST. MALA- CHY, DESCRIBING THE POPES OF ROME TO THE END OF THE WORLD. TO WHICH ABE ADDED THE LIVES OF SAINT BRIDGET, iJirgitt ant( ^bbeas, AND ^ { SAINT COLUMBA, ABBOT, 2nb 2l}303tU of tl)e Nortl)crn jpicts. BALTIMORE: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BT JOHN MURPH'y, No. 178 MARKET STREET. BOSTON: P. DONAHOE. PITTSBURG: GEORGE QUIGLEY. SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED STATES. 185 3. PREFACE. From the innumerable calumnies and gross misrep- resentations of various ancient and modern authors, some, perhaps, influenced by mistaken, but more of them hy vicicms views, in relation to the patron saint of the Emerald Isle, the Editor has been luduced to present the following to the public, with the hope that thread-bare fiction will now give place to authenticity. Throughout the work, it has been his principal design to examine critically the suggestions, to unmask the sophistry, and to expose the bare-faced calumny of several who have preceded him ; and then to present his readers with a, perfect and authentic record of the Life, the virtues, and the actioJfs of the illustrious Saint Patrick, with the best corroborative testimony of the verity of his detail. For centuries, it has been the habit of tne enemies of Ireland to represent her apostle as a mere " imagin- ary being" — as a mere creature of traditionary legend. They have ascribed to him the performance of a train of curious miracles, which in the hands of various of them, from Probus, Joceline, and Cambrensis, down to the more recent, though truly libellous O'Halloran and Ledwich, have become so multiplied and exagge- rated, that, for ages, they have exceeded all the limits of credibility. And if there were not the most clear, nay, incontestable evidence of their inaccuracy, afforded by other authors, besides the bishop of Sletty, (in his celebrated hymn which is appended to this work,) the cause of Truth would still be sacrificed at the shrine of ridicule and error, and the spotless character of Erin's saint would still continue unredeemed. But the guardian spirits of other days have not suffered such 4 ,^ I^EFACE. to triumph : — the rays of their intelligence, breaking through the mist of fallacy, have irradiated Euid con- signed them and their authors to contempt. The following work Will be found to contain a copi- ous Appendix, calculated to assist the reader to a perfect and accurate knowledge of the various Ecclesi- astical Institutions, Orders, &c. in Ireland, since the era of the introduction of Christianity by St. Patrick an invaluable Chronological Table of the Archbishops of Armagh, Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam, from the death of the Apostle of Ireland to the present time ; and a correct List of all the Roman Pontiffs who have suc- cessively filled the chair of St. Peter. — The Prophecy of St. Malachy is also appended, describing all the Roman Pontiffs to the end of the world. — ^The Editor has, in fine, endeavoured to make this a work worthy of public patronage, by excluding from it all that might be deemed, in the least, irrelevant, and by interlarding it with every thing tibat can be valuable to the reader. The public will judge in what degree his object is accomplished. To what has been said respecting the Leti and Le- tavia, in page 45, ouring qnd dogmatical declamations, it has been deemed neces- sary to submit to the pious reader's perusal the sentiments of both Catholic and Protestant authors on this subject in the ensuing chapter. CHAPTER III. The indefatigable and learned Harris, a man eminently distinguished for his antipathy ta the Roman Catholic communion and its professors, declares, in his introduction to our Irish apostle's life, that " This primitive bishop was a person of such exemplary piety, and his labour and success in converting this once pagan, nation to Christian- ity so wonderful and useful, that the actions of his life were worthy of being transmitted to posterity by the most faithful and able pen ; but, unhappily, this task has fallen into the most weak and injudicious hands, who have crowded it with such numberless fictions and monstrous fables, that, like the legend of king Arthur, they would ■ almost tempt one to doubt of the reality of the person. It is observable, that, as the purest stream always-fiows near- est to the fountain, so, among the many writers of the life of this prelate, those who have lived nearest to his time have had the greatest regard to truth, and have been most sparing in recounting miracles. Thus Fiech, bishop of Sletty, the saint's contemporary, comprehended the most material events of his life in an Irish hymn of thirty-four stanzEte, a literal translation of which into Latin hath been since published, with the original Irish, by John Colgan ; out, in process of time, as the writers of his life increased, so his miracles were multiplied, especially in the dark ages, until they at last exceeded all bounds of credibility. Pro- bus, a writer of the tenth century, outdid all who preceded THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 15 him, but he himself was far surpassed by Joceline. At length came Philip O'SuUivan, who made Joceline his ground-work, yet far exceeded him, and seemed fully de- termined no future writer should be ever able to surpass him in relating the number and magnitude of St. Patrick's miracles." Such are the sentiments of Mr. Harris, to whose learn- ed labours Dr. Ledwich is particularly indebted for most of the articles, respecting the ecclesiastical part, at least, inserted in his volume of Irish antiquities — a volume, which, like Lot's wife, converted into a pillar of salt, exists as a monument of the author's disgrace ; and of whom it may be truly said, " that the venom he vents on every occasion" against the venerated characters of Keating, O'Flaherty, O'Connor, Valiancy, and other literary vindicators of his native country's ancient glory and fame, " blasts his own reputation with the discerning public."* In addition to the above vindication of our saint from the imputation a^uch biographers as Joceline, the reader will not be disp^Bed with us for submitting to his perusal the following pertment remark on the impropriety of such a mode of- writing, from the same author. Harris's Life of the Prince of Orange, and his various writings against po- pery, evince such a zeal for the Protestant interest of Ire- land, as places him above all suspicion of partiality towards the religion and worship of the followers of St. Patrick. The following remarks, therefore, so immediately applica- ble to the present investigation, claim peculiar attention for their propriety and justness. " There is one consequence," continues Mr. Harris, " that hath followed from such a legendary way of writing, which, had authors of this time foreseen, would have made them cautious in this respect. Miracles are things of such an extraordinary nature, that they must be well attested, in order to gam credit among men. But such writers, by introducing them on every frivolous occasion, without num- ber, measure, or use, have called in question the truth cf * So true is Seneca's obsen-ation, " muUi cum aliis maledicunt sibi ipsis couri cium facianU" 16 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. every thing they relate ; and, in that case, have brought • into discredit, and even ridicule, the real miracles, vi'hich, perhaps, this holy man may have wrought. The lavish use they have made of them serves only to oppress the faith, as a profusion of scents overpowereth the brain. By this great indiscretion, they have caused their writings to be generally looked upon as fabulous, and their unskilful management hath only served to bring our great patron in- to contempt." " As to the truth of his miracles," continues this learned antiquary, " it may be urged, that, as God inspired hihi with the glorious resolution of adventuring himself to re- claim an infidel people to Christianity, so he armed him with all the necessary powers and virtues to go through so great a work." " In the following account, therefore," says Harris still, " I shall avoid dwelling on his miracles, as I think it a more profitable task to relate his good works, which may and ought to be the subject of every goo^iian's imita- tion." u " Such an attempt," viz. that of writirv^his life, adds an author, " may be the means of rectifying our deluded countrymen, who spend the festival of this most abstemi- ous and mortified man in riot and excess, as if they look- ed upon him only in the hght of a jolly companion." It would indeed seem that the above complete vindica- tion of Our saint's miracles, character, and piety, though written above half a century ago, by Ware's contiriuator, was particularly intended as a full refutation of Ledwich and his followers. To the above sensible remarks on the evil tendency of legendary writing, and on the sinful profanation of our ab- stemious apostle's festival day, it would be deemed a most unpardonable omission in the writer of his memoirs, to neg- lect the famous Usher, whose profound disquisitions as an antiquary, and as a general scholar, will ensure universal estimation, during the existence of the various languages, in which his works are written. Notwithstanding the above merited encomiums on the Protestant priinate of Ireland, TO his countrymen of Catholic communion, however, his THE LIFE or ST. PATRICK. 17 persecuting principles and crooked policy can never be forgotten. Our illustrious apostle's determined antagonist, therefore, will not, cannot, have the assurance or hardi- hood to accuse him of partiality tow^ards his popish com- patriots. Primate Usher, in his celebrated work " On the Origin of the Churches of the British Isles," and in a muhipjicity of other subordinate tracts, treats of our saint's mission and apostolical labours at large. In these various essays. Dr. Usher adduces such abundant proofs of his existence, and of his being the first bishop of Ireland, as must satisfy ev- ery impartial reader on that head, except the profound and impartial Dr. Ledwich. With Usher, the British an- tiquary, Camden coincides in opinion ; and likewise ex- pressly declares " that subsequent writers attached frivo- lous miracles to our saint." Dr. Ledwich records the answer made to the aforesaid Ryves,* the infamous de- fender of the subornation of perjured witnesses, for uphold- ing the English tyranny here. " Ryves," says Ledwich, " before he seriously applied to an investigation of these matters, (' our saint's imputed miracles, Sic. &tc.') thought proper to consult Camden and Usher, the two great lumi- naries of British and Irish antiquities." " Unacquainted with Camden, Ryves prevailed on Ugh- er to lay his letter before him. Usher seems not to have acted friendly, impartially, or candidly, on this occasion ; * After the discovery of America, in 1492, and its subsequent partition amonff European powers, adventurers from every part of France, Spain, Germany ana Great Britain flocked thither in abundance. Such of the British fortune-hunters as had not courage enough to encounter the perils of the ocean, came to Ireland, which was then, as now, the land of promise for all English, Scotch, and Welsh settlers, and servitors. Of this class was Thomas Ryves 5 he was educated in Oxford,' came over to Ireland, and was made one -of the masters in chancery, and judge of the Prerogative Court. In these situations he was eminently ser- viceable in giving fall and efficient vigour to the laws in the time of Sir Arthur Chichester. Bishop Nicholson and Mr. Harris tell us Ryves wrote " A Defence of the English System adopted for governing Ireland," in which he frees his royal master from the imputation of tyranny and oppression, in burning the im- ages and suppressing the schools of popish priests, and encouraging the convic tion of several greatpersons, both clergy andjaity, o'l the evidence of perjur ED WITNESSES. This infamous production, m justification of a most infamous government, was written by Ryves, in answer to the Analecta, or a Collec- tion of the Sufferings of the Catholics, during six mouths of Lord Chichester's ad mmistration, &c. &c. by the Most Rev. David Rothe, of Kilkenny, Catholic Bishop of Ossory, and Vice-Primate of Ireland. 2* 18 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. for, in his letter to Camden, enclosing that of Ryves, he endeavours to prepossess him in favour of St. Patrick, and even to point out to him what answer he shbuld give." A serious charge this, equally ungrammatical, in con- struction, as it is severe, disrespectful, indecorous, and in- temperate in its application, from a Protestant vicar to a Protestant archbishop, venerated by all parties for his lile rary acquirements, but more particularly for his profouni knowledge in the antiquities of the British isles. To what fitter person could the English antiquary apply, than to a man " whose extraordinary learning and soundness of judgment," according to Camden himself, " infinitely sur- passed his years." Usher, in his letter respecting Ryves's objection, strongly observes to his correspondent Camden, " that the ridicu- lous miracles fastened on our saint were the work of later writers." Would not this one opinion, from such a great authority, prevent any man of less temerity than Ledwich from the adoption and publication of such inconsistent ar- guments .' Can it excite any astonishment, then, that Ryves, " thus discountenanced by the oracular decisions of those eminent men, and overborne by such authority," relin- quished the prosecution of St. Patrick, for the more lucra- tive persecution of such of his Roman Catholic followers as were not, before then, stripped of their lands and es- tates ? To the absurd and laughable objection of Maurice, " the well informed writer," against St. Patrick's 365 bishops, another Protestant divine of talents and dignity in the church, superior to Dr. Ledwich, has satisfactorily replied in his " Historical Account of the Churches of Great Brit- ain and Ireland," about half a century before the vicar of Aghaboe was born. The learned Dr. Wm. Lloyd, bisi.op of St Asaph, says, " I know not whether it be worth no- ticing, with Nennius and some others, that St. Patrick wrote 365 alphabets, founded 305 churches, ordained 365 bishops, or more, and no less than 3001 priests. It seems the writers of these times," continues Dr. Lloyd, " when on the plan of multiplying, used to say, that things were aa many as the days of the vear, for so Kentigern b Lfe saith THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 19 that in his monastery- of St. Asaph he had 365 monks, which no man will understand literally that knows the place." With respect to St. Patrick, perhaps the meaning may be, that, besides the 30 bishops for the sees, he also or- dained as many suffragans as there were rural deaneries, in each of which there were eight or nine parish priests, taking one deanery with another. Let this suffice against Maurice's childish observations. CHAPTER IV. Of the imputation of unnecessary miracles to saints. Catholics have always expressed their disapprobation. The Bolandists, Messrs. Natalis, Tillemont, Fleury, and others, have been extremely censorious in their criticisms, and severe in their reprobation of such a legendary spe- cies of writing. The learned Jesuit, Mariana, in his ac- count of St. James' mission to Spain, thus expresses himself: "Who can deny that our ecclesiastical annals have been corrupted with manifold blemishes, and that in others of our books, containing our prayers, sacred rites, and ceremonies, there are blended and intermixed many fables and lies ? I must add, that sometimes in our churches, doubtful relics and irreligious bodies are exposed, instead of the revered remains of saints reigning in heaven with Christ. It is a great misfortune, that we are not able to deny what it is unworthy to acknowledge : yet I know not how it happens, that people are more frequently carried away by feigned fables, and preposterous and trifling lies, than by a narration of the truth with sincerity. Such is the emptiness of our minds, that nobody dares to discuss when this corruption has crept into the Church." Melchior Canus, a learned friar of the illustrious order of St. Dominic, expresses his regret in a manner nearly similar : his words are — " With grief, rather than reproach, I must affirm, that the lives of the heathen philosophers havei been written with more accuracy, and a stricter adlierence to truth, than the lives of the saints by some go THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. Christians ; and that Suetonius hath with greater propnety and integrity set forth the lives of the Csesars, than some Catholics have done, I will not say the history of their emperors, but of their martyrs, virgins, and confessors." Ludovicus Vives, who, with Bude and Erasmus, were considered as the literary triumvirate of the day, at the commencement of the sixteenth century, observe also, with similar propriety and justice, that " the things which have been written of the saints," except in a very few instances, are polluted with numberless fables. For each writer on this subject indulges his own passions^ and ex- poses to the public, not what the saints actually achieved, but what he thought it was proper they should do." The learned martyrologist, Adrian Bailet, in the Lives of the Saints, published at Paris in the French tongue, most judiciously observes, in his account of St. Patrick, " that there is no saint whose life has been written by so many hands, nor of whom so many prodigies and fables have been related." If, through zeal, credulity, or superstition, legendary tales, equally absurd as unnecessary, have been imputed to St. Patrick ; have not similar fables been ascribed to Dr. Ledwich's enlightened St. Columbkille ? The biog- raphers of the latter seem to vie with our apostle's histo- rians in this respect ; nay, with little variation, in some instances, they seem but imitators. Thus, when poison was administered to St. Patrick's mother, Conchessa, during her pregnancy, the venomous potion was converted into a stone, and so kept between his fingers by our young apostle, where it was found at his birth. The stone also, upon which he was born, participating of our young apos- tle's sanctity, possessed many wonder-working qualities, among the rest, that of detecting perjury ! When Eathna, the mother of Columbkille, was pregnant of him, she was visited by St. Fergna, at whose salutation the unborn child shewed the most unequivocal signs of joy. " Porrecto e matris utero. pollice." His birth was also, like that of St. Patrick, accompanied with a round red stone, possessing many miraculous virtues ! Should he not be esteemed a madman, who, in our own enlightened THE LIFE OF ST. PATKICK. 21 age, would attempt to induce a belief mat neither of the two great lights, (as your neighbour Saint Averel,* apos- tle of Tantore, in his sermons, styles John and Charles Wesley,) nor their disciples, ever existed. Because in their lives, " ghosts, practical dealings of God's Spirit," &tc. &ic. are recorded ? and because in their Joi"r?!= and in the Arminian Magazine, miracles are ascrioed to them, and that modestly by themselves, which neitner the pious Protestant, nor credulous Catholic, will ever give any credit to ? CHAPTER V. Aristotle, the father of logic, and pnnce of ancient philosophers,, has justly shown the absurditv of expecting proofs equally certain for all things. The science of geometry, being of an abstract nature, is aione capable of a complete demonstration. Propositions in natural philoso- phy are proved by inferences deduced from actual exper- iments. In ethics, or moral philosophy, the arguments must be of the moral kind, while the certainty of historic facts depends upon the credibility attached to the relaters. Though none of these last arguments amount to a demon- stration strictly perfect and logical ; yet, when proved by the best arguments the nature of the subject will bear, it would be as great an absurdity to entertain a doubt re- specting its certainty as that of the clearest mathematical demonstration. Contrary to these plain principles, how- ever, modern sceptics have, these three centuries past, laboured to pull down the batteries, and annihilate the certainty of all reason, founded on analogy, testimony and experience, which are the great sources of all human knowledge. Far from confining themselves to sublunary subjects, they have, like their prototypes, the giants of olc those insane architects of the Babelian tower, made an attempt to assail the heavens, and strip the Godhead of his omnipotence. Numerous are the disciples cf this sect, • A well-known Methodist preacher, who lives near Aghaboe, 22 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. especially in the Lutheran and Calvinistic churches, vdth •sceir subordinate branches in the British Isles, all varying V their principles, manners, and characters, accordingly as they are instigated by prejudice, weakness, vanity and Oftentation. Of these sceptics or incredulists there are many species. The lowest seems to be the scoffer ; then the latitudinari- an.; after him the deist ; ^next to him the universalist ; and ultimately the atheist. All these must needs have such proofs of the Trinity and revelation as we have already shown from Aristotle to be incompatible with the nature of these subjects. It was in consequence of this that the late Samuel Garth, no less known as a physician than as a sa- tirical poet, told his friend Addison, who visited him in his sickness, that " Halley, who dealt so much in mathemati- cal demonstrations, assured him that the doctrines i Christianity are incomprehensible, arid the religion itself an imposture." Though the proofs of the Godhead and of revelation are supported by the greatest possible certainty, that of the metaphysical kind, yet we see them thus blasphemously denied, because they are not susceptible of mathematical demonstration. Hence arises the apparent difficulty of proving the existence of St. Patrick. What sort of proof can be adduced for its support against the positive assertion of Dr. Ledwich, who informs us that " It is an undoubt- ed fact, that St. Patrick is not mentioned by any author, or in any work of veracity, during the fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth centuries" ? We answer, that the proofs of St. Patrick's existence are as strong and convincing as any moral certainty or evidence can make it. Here it may not be unnecessary to observe, that of al the literary, assuming autocrats, that have appeared these two centuries past, the doctor is, throughout his book, the most presumptuous and dogmatical. In the above unqual- ified assertion, who sees not that the vicar of Aghaboe sets himself up for an absolute' dictator, in deciding on a sub- ject, about the reality of which those of his own church seem to be more concerned than the Catholics ? As by deriving the hierarchic mode of church government. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK 23 estaolished by statute law in South Britain and Ireland, Nvith the bishop of St. Asaph, Archbishop Usher, and other Protestant prelates, from our illustrious apostle, his church-system of ecclesiastical polity is far more specious and consistent, at least as being devised by more learned, sound, and sagacious heads, against the unhallowed as- saults of the Scotch levellers, than that ridiculous system which he has attempted to frame and establish. Notwithstanding his positiveaess, however, with all def- erence to his bold, arrogant, and presumptuous (because ahogether unqualified) assertion, the doctor must in his turn allow us die same liberty, not of averring with des- potic petulance, for imposing on ignorance or unsuspecting credulity, but of using our rational faculties, and investi- gating the authorities and testimonials upon which our holy apostle's existence depends. For still be will pardon our infidelity in doubting of his authority and assurance, as we still own our partiality for the opinion of a General Vallan- cey, a Guthrie, a Crawford, a Keogh, a Mosh§im, a Harris, a Ware, a Goodwin, a Warner, a Whitaker, a Leland, a Ijittleton, and a Camden, with other learned Protestant his- torians and philosophers of a similar character. Neither can Dr. Ledwich be angry with us for paying more deference than he himself has to the sentiments of Nicholson, bishop of Derry, Lloyd, bishop of St. Asaph, arid primate Usher, Dr. Stillingfleet, Bayle, with many other learned doctors, and pillars of his church, who, in the scale even of intellectual discrimination, will be ever held equivalent, at least, to the vicar of Aghaboe. Nor can you blame our more than Bosotic stupidity, still, if, in accordance with the above strong phalanx of Protestant divines, philosophers, and antiquarians, we should attach some consequence to the authority of our native Catholic seanachies or antiquaries too, such as an O'Hal- loran, an O'Connor of Ballynagar, a Comerford, a Colgan, a Lynch, an O'Flaherty, a Keating, a Brodin, an O'Sulh- van, a Messingham, a Rothe, a Ward, a Fleming, the Four Masters,* and a formidable host of modern Irish historians, * The Four Masters were Father M. Cleary, Fearfessa O'MBelchonaire, Per- egrine Clery, and Peregrine Duggan, who, with the aid of Mau. O'Maelchonry, 84 THE LIFE JIf ST. PATRICK. whose knowledge of the indigenous language of Eire ena- aled them with such success to explore the mine, and quar- ry up the ore of Irish antiquity, that their very enemies have often acknowledged themselves eminently indebted to the lahorious researches and elucidations of these Irish pioneers. Scarcely less numerous, but certainly not less respect- able in the republic of letters, are the literary characters of France, Italy, Germany, and other countries, who have, these two centuries past, made our patron-saint the subject of their investigation, or theme of their panegyric. Among these we find a Baillet, a Biroat, a Texier, a Heinsche- nius, a Papebrock, a Bollandus, a Baronius, a Bellar- min, &,c. To make extracts from the works of such a multiplicity of authors suits neither our plan, our leisure, nor intention; as a bare catalogue of the names of all these who have written his life in full, or compiled his memoirs, or merely recorded hinj in their martyrologies, histories, chronicles, panegyrics, or polemic writings, would form a volume in itself. That our apostle was not an ideal personage, an upstart phantom, newly introduced into the Irish calendar, during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, is abundantly evinced from the many foreign writers who have recorded his life and actions, in that period of gross ignorance, as modern authors affect to call it. Among our saint's illustrious biographers, durmg that interval, was Petrus de Natalibus, who wrote about the vear 1470. Saint Antonini, archbishop of Florence, gave a summary account of our apostle's life, in his chronicle, which was written in 1459. Neither did James de Voragine doubt of our apostle's existence a century before that. This illustrious" doctor (vas bishop of Genoa, and lived in 1350. That St. Patrick's apostlesbip was fully estaolisned among foreign nations, in the 'eleventh century, is aoun- und Connor Clery, coHecled and composed Uie annals of Donnegal, so called from 'heir being composed in a Franciscan friary in thai couniry THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 25 ^antly manifest from his being mentioned by Vincentius, the bishop of Beauvais, in his Historical Mirror, written in 1244. Though Dr. Ledwich acknowledges that our apostle was not summoned into existence by the creative imagination of Joceline ; yet, as one of our saint's principal biographers, it is necessary that he should be noticed here, especially as he declares that he only raised his superstructure on the base of the works of four ancient authors, contemporary with our apostle ; and that upwards of sixty other biogra- phers preceded himself, whose works may be reasonably presumed to have supplied him with some of his most au- thentic materials. Joceline was a Welshman by birth, and educated at the celebrated abbey of Furness, founded at the instigation and by the labours of some Irish saints, in 1127. This Fur- ness is a peninsula and promontory of Lonsdale, in Lan- cashire ; the extensive ruins of this abbey, which lie about a mile to the south of the town of Dalton, are unequivo- cal testimonials of its former magnificence. From this monastery Joceline returned to the abbey of the Black-fri- ars, at Chester, whence he and a great number of his bro- ther monks removed to Dovra in Ireland, at the invitation of John de Courcy, the anglo-Norman conqueror of the county Down and the adjacent territories. De Courcy placed them in the monastery of secular canons, whom he unjustly dispossessed of their property, for their patriotism in animating the army of Dunlevy, the legitimate but un- successful chieftain of that part of Ulster, who then oppos- ed the arms of De Courcy. In order to conciliate the affec- tions of the people, and to conquer their very prejudices, De Courcy, who before, on his invading Ulster, had Columb- kille's prophecies, predicting the successful invasion of a foreigner from Britain, proclaimed and published at the head of his array, by his heralds, with great effect, now availed himself of the great abihties of Joceline for compil- ing the life of St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, with the consent of the time-serving Tumuhack, or Thomas O'Con- nor, then archbishop of Armagh. Joceline performed this task in 1 1 85, and that in a style of classic elegance, far 3 iS THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. superior to the writers of that age. But he has so stuffed it with all the legendary tales that could be collected, either from books or tradition, respecting him or othei saints, that his Life of St. Patrick seemed better adapted for gratifying the imagination of weak, ignorant, and imbecile minds, than for forming the heart, or informing the understanding of an enlightened age. Of the demerits and evil tendency of this work, Mr. Harris, whom we have before quoted, has so abundantly spoken, as to preclude the necessity of further comment ; we shall, therefore, take a retrogressive view of other reign authors who mention our saint. Contemporary with the exaggerating monk of Furness, and from the same country too, was Gerald Barry, better known among Irishmen by the appellation of Cambrensis. This celebrated author signalized himself by a compila- tion, which he often ' styles De mirahilihus Hihernice : " Of the wonders of Ireland :" " and wonderful indeed," says Dr. Nicholson, the Protestant bishop of Derry, " are many of the tales he has picked up, respecting the natural, moral, and political state of this nation." So that " we cannot," with Sir J. Ware, " but admire that some men ot this age, otherwise grave and learned, should obtrude those fictions of Giraldus upon the world for truths." Cambren- sis, in the bishop of Derry's opinion, " deserves no manner of credit to be given him ; his Chronicle is the most partial representation of the Irish history ever imposed on any nation of the world. He endeavoured to make the venera- ble antiquities of the island a mere fable, and has given occasion to subsequent historians to abuse the world with similar fictitious relations." ' To the above may be added the villanous charge of having actually destroyed many valuable original records, illustrative of the ancient history of Ireland, as Archdeacon Lynch testifies in his refutation of Barry, entitled Cam- brensis eversus. At the commencement of the same century lived St. Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux, in Burgundy. That mellif- luous doctor, the light of the twelfth century, to whose sage decisions sovereign princes, sovereign pontiffs, and THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 27 Catholic councils yielded due deference and submission, declares, in his Life of St. Malachy, Archbishop of Ar- magh, that " St. Patrick was the apostle who converted the whole Irish nation to the faith of Christ." In that age, also, or rather towards the end of the elev- enth century, William of Malmsbury wrote the lives of St. Patrick and St. Benignus. The monk of Malmsbury died at an extreme old age ia 1140, that is, sixteen years be- fore St. Bernard. Sigibert, the monk of Gemblours, in Flanders, who was esteemed the best poet and most universal scholar of the eleventh century, makes honourable mention of our saint, in his Chronicle; a work in high estimation, for its accura- cy and exactness. Sigibert died at the commencement of the twelfth century, in 1 112. Our apostle, also, is particularly mentioned in the martyrologies of the eighth and ninth centuries. Thus we find him recorded in that of Notker Le Bague, the learn- ed monk of St. Gul, who died in 871 ; of Usuard, the Benedictine monk of St. German le Pre, who died in 860 ; and in the martyrology of Raban, the scholar of Alcuin, who, being first abbot of Fulda, his native place, was afterwards elected archbishop of Mentz, and died in 856. About the middle of the ninth century, Eric of Auxerre wrote the life and miracles of St. Germanus, bishop of Tours, the birth-place of our saint, as shall hereafter be fully demonstrated. The following most honourable ac- count of St. Patrick's existence, mission, apostolical la- bours, and sanctity, we with pleasure extract from that work, written in 850. Erick declares that he " considers it as the highest honour of that prelate to have been the instructer of St. Patrick ; as the glory of a father shines in the government of his children : from the many disci- ples in religion, who are reported to have been his sons in Christ, suffice it briefly to mention one, by far the most famous, as the series of his actions show, — Patrick, the particular apostle of Ireland, who, being under his holy discipline eighteen years, derived no little knowledge in die inspired writings from such a source. This most S6 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. godly, divine prelate, considering him alike distinguished in religion, eminent for virtue, and steadfast in doctrine ; and thinking it absurd to let one of the best labourers in the Lord's vineyard remain inactive, recommended him to Celestine, then pope, by his presbyter, Segetius, who was to earry to the apostolic see a testimonial of the ecclesias- tical merit of this excellent man. Approved by his judg- ment, supported by his authority, and confirmed by his blessing, he set out for Ireland ; and being peculiarly destined for that people, as their apostle, instructed them at that time, by his doctrine and miracles, as he now does, and ever will, by displaying the wonderful effects of his apostleship." Our .saint is also recorded by Bede, "in the genuine copy of his Martyrology, without the subsequent additions of saints made by Florus and others, as the learned Mons. Georgi, chaplain to Benedict XIV. testifies in his notes on Addo's Martyrology," " The great Baronius," says Dr. Milner, to whom we acknowledge ourselves indebted for the foregoing note, also " much lamented the loss of the Martyrology, men- tioned by pope Gregory the Great, at the end of the sixth century, to have been then dispersed throughout Chris- tendom" At length the learned Rossweide discovered it at the head of a copy of Addo's Martyrology, in a monas- tery at Cologne, and proved it to be genuine, to the satis- faction of all the learned. In this Martyrology, read throughout the western church within less than one hundred years after tlie death of St. Patrick, his name is recorded below.* The next foreign testimony we have of our saint's existence is Nennius, or Ninnius. This historian, styled " another Gildas" by many of the monkish writers, was of West Britain, or Wales, and lived, not, as Usher suppos- ed, in 858, nor, as others conjecture, in 760, but, accord- ing to his last learned editor, Mr. Gale, :n 620. He was the most learned Briton of his day, and was employed tc * XVI. Calend. April (17 Martii) S. Patricii, episc. gui priimjs, apud Scotos prBedicavil. " Vide, once for all, Dr. Milner's Inquiry into certain vulgar opm* ions, in » series of letters" Last ed. pp M, 278, and 398. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 29 write a history of his country ; but in his preface and apology, he has left us on record, what St. Gildas, on a like occasion, declared a century before, " that there were no British writers to furnish him with records, and that the poor fragments, which he collected, were only materials which he was necessitated to borrow from neighbouring nations." So that we may conclude, with the bishop ol St. Asaph, that, if the Britons had the inclination, they wanted the means, to transmit any memorials of themselves to posterity, " for we are to thank strangers for any thing tliat we know in those more ancient times, of our people, our religion, or our island."* This acknowledgment from the two original historians of Great Britain must, with every candid reader, outweigh all the absurd and unsupported assertions of Dr. Ledwich and his associates, in maintaining that Ireland was originally indebted to Britain for her learning and civilization. Nennius informs us, in accordance with our own indige- nous authors, and with Prosper, contemporary with Pope Celestine, and Xystus, his successor, that " Palladius, the bishop, was originally sent by Celestine, the bishop and pope of Rome, for converting the Scots (that is, the Irish) to Christ, but the Lord prevented him by certain tempests ; for no man can receive any thing unless it be given him from heaven ; whereupon Palladius, departing from Ireland, came into Britain, and died in the land of the Picts ; upon the news of whose death, Patrick, another agent, is sent by Celestine to convert the Scots to the faith of Christ." Thus far Nennius. St. Prosper, besides mentioning Pal- ladius's mission in his Chronicle, as above, under the date of the year 431, says, in another work, that, "having ordained a bishop for the Scots, while he endeavours to keep the Roman island, that is, Britain, Catholic, he hath also made the barbarous island, that is, heathen Ireland, Christian." This second bishop, ordained for the Irish mission, the learned Protestant bishop of St. Asaph has, * Vide Lloyi rashop of St. Asaph's historical account of tne church govern- ment of (Jreat linta;n and Ireland. Lend. 1681. 3 * 30 THE LIFK or ST. PATRICK. near a century and a half ago, proved to have been St Patrick.* To the mass of evidence already adduced, and that of the most unexceptionable kind, as being founded on the testimony of foreign authors, we will beg leave to add that of our countryman, Probus, whose indigenous name is but merely conjectural, from its being metamorphosed into a Latin appellation, a mode of proceeding which has caused great confusion both in the political and ecclesiastical annals of Ireland. Probus is supposed by Father Colgan, who gave us the last edition of this author's Life of St. Patrick, to be the same with Coenachir, a saint whom the Four Masters record to have been the president of the college of Slany, and to have been murdered by the Danes in the year 948. But, in this respect, more reliance is to be placed on the profoundly erudite BoUandus, who asserts tliat Probus lived in the sixth century, especially, if, with Dr. Milner, we consider that those who, with Nicholson, bring down St. Patrick^s biographer, Probus, to the 10th century, are presumed to be ignorant that he is named among the re- spectable authors whose works were in York cathedral in the 8th century, by Alcuin. Dr. Milner, to whom I am indebted for the above observation, desires us to see De Pont, et Sanct. Eborac, apud Gale. CHAPTER VI. The great scarcity of books in those days ;f tlie labour ai procuring materials for them ; J the difficulty of tran- *Vide bishop of St. Asaph's work before cited. t Even at Rome, in the sovereign pontiff's library, towards the close of the seventh centnrv, such was the scarcity of books, that St. Martin, the then pope requested of St. Amand, bishop of Kfestreicht, to exert himself in supplying the deficiency, by collecting them in the remotest parts of Germany. The abBot ot Gemblours thought he had collected a splendid library, when he got together one hundred volumes on theological subjects, and fifty on profane literature. X Charlemagne, about the year 790, gave an unlimited license to the monks o. St Sithin of hunting deer, iij order to manufacture their skins into materials or girdles, gloves, and bocks. THE LIJ-T;; OF ST. PATRICK. 31 scribing and multiplying copies, and consequently the length of time before a work, after being composed, could have sufficient publicity for appreciating its estimation, "Ex- cept by adopting the ostentatious and extravagant mode of Cambrensis, (of which hereafter,) authorize the suppo- sition, that Probus's Life of St. Patrick was written a long time before Egbert, archbishop of York, obtained a tran- script of it for the li'*-ary founded by him in that city, and celebrated by his scholar, Alcuin. Egbert was promoted to that see in 705. Taking these into consideration, it may be fairly presumed that Probus's work was composed in the sixth century, as the learned BoUandus stated it, for reasons founded, no doubt, on the authority of ancient writers, whose works we have not the opportunity of see- ing now, or on the comparison of old manuscripts, written in a style characteristic of the age in which they were tran- scribed. Alcuin's testimony of Probus's work shows, beyond all contradiction or doubt, that it was a work of re- pute in the seventli century. St. Adamnanus, also, who flourished in the seventh cen- tury, and died at the very commencement of the eighth, in 703, in his short preface to the first book of his life of Co- lumbkille, has mentioned our aposde. Adamnanus says, that a " certain British proselyte, a holy man, and a disciple of St. Patrick, Mauctaneus by name, prophesied thus respecting our patron," St. Co- lumbkille. St. Adamnanus was an Irishman, as well as Probus, and was elected abbot of the metropolitan monastery of Hye, with supreme jurisdiction over that and all the other monastic institutions of ColumbkiUe, both in North Britain and Ireland. The precise time in which he wrote his work is not known, but it may be safely averred, that it was about the year 660, as he died at an advanced age, in the year oi grace 703, with the reputation of a man eminently distin- guished for sanctity and learning. The estimation in which Adamnanus's work is held by the modern philosophers and historians of Scotland, author- izes our mentioning him, though a compatriot of ours, even 32 THE LIFE OF ST. PATKICK. among foreign authors. Mr. Pinkerton declares he con- siders Adamnanus's life of ColumbkiUe " as the most com- plete piece of ancient biography that all Europe can boast of:" similar to this is the opinion of Mr. M'Pherson,* not the fallacious translator of Ossian, but David M'Pherson, author of the Annals of Commerce, published at Edin- burgh, in 1805. This gentleman has made large extracts from the works of Adamnanus, all which show the high state of Irish civilization, so early as the fifth and sixth cen- turies ; facts which vsdll stagger the belief of our modern defamers. Mr. M'Pherson also declares, that the life here quoted " may be trusted in every thing but the mir- acles." Neither need we wonder at the high estimation in which the biographer of ColumbkiUe is held by the Scotch and English historians ; for his work contains materials for an accurate history, both profane and ecclesiastical, of Scot- land, from the commencement of the fifth, to the seventh century, by way of anecdote, throughout the three books of Columbkille's life. In this also are included many par- ticulars of the church history of Great Britain, on which Bede himself is totally silent. Can it create any aston- ishment, then, that he omitted to mention St. Patrick in his ecclesiastical history of England, after many more material omissions of occurrences, which more immediately apper- tained to his plan ? * From Adamnanus Mr. M'Pherson satisfactorily proves, that the arts, condu- cive not only to the conveniences^^ but to the luxuries of lifC; were known and practised to an excess in Ireland in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. 1. That the luxury of riding in chariots wEls common. 2. That the bodies of the dead, those at jeast of eminent rank, were enveloped in fine linen. 3. That, though ale was the common beverage, wine was also used. 4. That in chtu-cHes bells were used, sometimes made oy the tands of their pious and industrious abbots. 5. That the Insn used fishing nets. 6. Had long vessels, sometimes made with oak planks, in which they often performed voyages of fourteen days' run into the northern ocean with full sail before a south wmd. 7. Had instruments and trin- kets of gold in Ireland, probably belonging to ages antecedent to authentic histo- ry ; " as civilized countries do not carry the precious metals into countries in an inferior state of civilization, it seems more probable," says M'Pherson, " that the ffold was found in mines, of which there are still many traces in Ireland, than that it was never imported there. We should suppose, with Tacitus, that Ire- land had a greater foreign trade than Great Britain." Vide M'Pherson's Annals .' of Commerce, vqI. i. p. ^3, 224, &c. where the references in proof of the abovft facts from Adamnanfis may be seen. ^ THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. S3 Tlie testimonies of Adamnanus and Probus, authors of such repute among foreigners, are by so much the more valuable, as, from their being Irishmen, and livbg in the two centuries subsequently to our apostle's death, they could labour under no mistake respecting the existence and mission of the apostle of their native country : moreover, they had a particular account, either written or traditional, of the principal events of his life from his disciples' wri- tings, or from those who derived their information from his contemporaries. Of our own countrymen, who wrote this apostle's life, before the commencement of the eighth century, some ac- count must be deemed necessary, in a work of this kind, notwithstanding the low estimation in which their evidence is held by Dr. Ledwich and writers of a similar stamp. St. Alleranus, or Eleran, who died in 664, wrote the life of St. Patrick, as also an allegorical exposition of Christ's genealogy, which Sedulius acknowledged to have inserted in a collection of illustrations on St. Matthew, a testimony of its superior excellence in that line of writing. St. Tirechan's life of St. Patrick was in the possession of Usher, who used it in compiling his Primordia. Tire- chan flourished in the year 655, which was the year of his master St. Ultan's release from mortality. Ultan was also one of our apostle's biographers ; he was bishop of Ard- braccan. The scholiast of St. Fiech added so many par- ticulars respecting our apostle's life and saintly actions, that he may be considered in part as his biographer also. He lived in 570. St. Evin, (or Emin, according to Usher,) Ware, and Joceline, wrote also the life of St. Patrick, partly in Latin, and partly in Irish. This is supposed to be that denomi- nated "the Tripartite hfe," published by Colgan. St. Evin was abbot of Ross, (Mictreoin,) in Leinster, and lived in 510, as Colgan more fully proves. St. Fiech, the disciple of St. Patrick, first bishop of Sletty, and afterwards archbishop of Leinster, wrote a hymn, partly panegyi'ical, and partly historical, on St. Pat- rick. This, Colgan got translated literally from the origi- nal Irish into Latin, and printed in coUatenil columns, as 34 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. the first among the seven lives of St. Patrick, published by liim at Lovain. St. Benignus, the disciple of St. Patrick, informs us, that before he wrote the life of his master, vsrhich is the third in Colgan's collection, there v?ere sixty lives of that apostle already published. Of these it will be sufficient to mention that St. Kieran, bishop of Dumbliag, or Duleek, in East Meath, lived in 480. St. Benignus, who, after the death of St. Patrick, was his successor, as archbishop in the see of Armagh, lived in 500. St. Patrick the younger, the brother's son and disciple of St. Patrick the apostle of Ireland, wrote his uncle and father's lives : he lived in 4&4. St. Maol, or Mael, who was another of St. Patrick's nephews, and bishop of Ardagh, and who died in 488, wrote a book on the virtues and miracles of his uncle. St. Loman, another of our saint's nephews, and bishop of Athrim, in Meath, v?rote the life of his holy uncle, when living. Loman lived about the year 450. St. Secundinus, bishop of Domnoch, Seachnild, in Meath, and another of St. Patrick's nephews, composed a hymn in praise of his uncle, which may be seen in Father Colgan's collection. There are also extant some works of his own compos tion ; besides his life and confessions, his letter to Kin^ Carotic, and his canons of two councils which he held, are considered by the best critics to have been written by him. It may be further observed, with the bishop of Castabala, that the demonstration of St. Patrick's existence depends not on written documents alone. " The churches which he built, the diocesses which he formed, the monasteries which he founded, the havens where he landed, the places in which he dwelt, (most of which edifices have preserved his name from time immemorial,) the very conversion of the Irish nation, and the universal tradition, not only of our islands, but also of the whole Christian continent, are, all so many monuments of this illustrio ussaint, and have pre^f^*! THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 35 I. s memory fresh and untainted, till the very hour in which Dr. Ledwich wrote his book, as lie himself acknowledges. In a word, I have no difficulty in saying, that the proofs of there having been such a man as Romulus, or Alexander the Great, are not so numerous and convincing as are tliose for the existence of St. Patrick, and that the latter cannot be rejected without establishing a universal historical scepti- cism. Supposing for a moment that St. Patrick dm not con- vert the Irish, the question then is, who did convert them .? It would be strange if they alone were ignorant of what all other nations are acquainted with, namely, who was their apostle ! if they alone had no tradition to inform them by whom they had been taught to abandon idolatry, to abhor human sacrifices, to renounce the gratification of their pas- sions, and to worship One Eternal Being, by die obser- vance of his pure and sublime precepts." To conclude, when we consider, as historians foreign and domestic admit, that, among the common people of Munster, Connaught, and Leinster, the faith of Christ was gaining ground many years before the arrival of our apos- de ; when we consider the piety, perseverance, and learn- mg, of those native saints who undertook this arduous task ; when, above all, we consider the effects of national pride on all ranks and persuasions, is it not to be supposed, that, had those intelligent Irishmen been necessitated to impute the conversion of their island to any apostie, they would rather have referred the honour of converting their nation to St. Kieran, St. Alvey : or to St. Declan and St. Ivar, both of whom were bishops, or saints ; Corbry, Mochulloc, Bean, Colman, Lachtneen, Commeen, and other holy men, who laboured on the mission here long before Palladius or St. Patrick was spoken of? Would not the substitution of one of these be more honourable and congenial to na- tionality than kidnapping an apostle from England, Wales, or France .' Would not the adoption of even St. Baeran, who laboured with his holy hands for his sustenance on that very glebe of Aghaboe from which Dr. Ledwich, the oppugner of his dear friend St. Patrick, derives his in- potpe, have been far more eligible to Irishmen, as deduc- 36 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK mg the mission from Rome, where he actually was, than that of a fantastic, or even of a foreign apostle ? Such are the coinciding testimonies adduced from for- eign authors alone of St. Patrick's existence for twelve hundred years back, corroborated by the unprejudicea evidence of sixty Irish authors, who wrote his life either during the time of his own existence, or within the two suo- sequent centuries, and who would have been the first, not only in reprobating the imposition of a phantom saint, but in confuting the imputation of their conversion to an im- ported alien, had he not the most unequivocal right to the sacred title of being, as he undoubtedly had been, decreed i)y Divine Providence to be, the apostle of Ireland. Our great apostle let us then revere, as we do those groves which the piety of our ancestors planted around the numberless wells, monasteries, and cells, which have been consecrated to his name from the remotest antiquity, and among which the sturdy, aged oaks strike us not so much with their beauty, as with religious awe and respectful veneration. CHAPTER VII. Seven cities have contended for the birth of Homer, the prince of poets ; almost as many nations have claimed the honour of giving birth to the illustrious apostle of the Isle of Saints. Some assert that he was an Irishman ; others, that he was of Cornwall ; some say that he was a Welshman ; while others maintain that he was a Scotch Highlander ; and others again attempt to prove that he was born in the Lowlands. The more ancient authors of his life, from whose opinion it would be folly to dissent, as shall be prov- ed in the sequel, assert that he was born in Armoric Gaul, m France. It is also said, by the very ancient author of the fourth life of our saint, in Colgan's collection, that St. Patrick was reported to have deduced his origin from the THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 37 Holy Land ; " for," says he, " after our Redeimer's pas- sion, a Roman army, as if to avenge that deed, laid waste the country of Palestine, made the Jews captives, and sold, or otherwise dispersed them over the then known world. From some of the captives transported to Armoric Gaul, our aoostle was descended." Dempster, in his ecclesiastical history, states, that the Irish contended for having St. Patrick as their countryman, and born in Ireland. Possevinus too, misled by the annals, of Matthew of Westminster, makes our saint an Irishman. Baronius also, deceived by the same flower-culling Mat- thew of Westminster,* adopted the same opinion, and re- corded, that in 431 lived St. Patrick, a Scotchman, that is, as Baronius himself afterwards explains, " an Irishman," for thus he writes under the year 491 : "In this year is recorded the death of St. Patrick, bishop of Ireland, by Marianus Scotus, an author of the same nation, for Ireland is also found to have been called Scotia." With Matthew of Westminster, many others fell into a similar error. To this mistake they were no doubt led by the equivocal ex- pression which the martyrologists used for designating the commemoration of a saint's death, by adopting a Latin word Which denotes " nativity, or natal day," that is, the day on which a saint is released from mortality here, and born to eternal life. Dempster, who has rendered himself notorious by monop- olizing most of our iffllstrious Irish saints, confidently asserts, that our apostle was a Scotchman by birth ; as a proof of this opinion, he quotes the chronicles and martyrologies, which are enumerated in a previous chapter of this work, as authorities for our saint's existence, to which the reader is referred. In most of these early writers, the word Sco- tia, and sometimes Scotia Major, or Scotia the island, is used to denote Ireland ; while, in .the geographical wri- tings of those ages, Scotland is particularized by Scotia the less. Thus, Conradus, a Monte Puellarum, who wrote about 1340, states, that many men, illustrious for sanctity, * Slalthew of Westminster, called also, from his historical collection, Florile- gus, or flower-gatherer, flourished in the fourteenth century, and died about llie year 1380. 4 38 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. flourished in Ireland, which was also called Scotia Major' to the same effect Grester, Canisius, Cffisarius, Marianus Scotus, Orosius, Isidorus, and Cede, with a train of other learned writers, who flourished from the sixth till the four- t(!enth century, designate our isle by the appellation oi Scotia. Nay the Breviary of Aberdeen in Scotland shows, beyond all controversy, that there was a Scotia Minor, a? well as a Scotia Major. In this ancient Breviary it is men- tioned that " St. Winnius, born in a province of Scotia from the illustrious race of Neillian monarchs, was, bj a prosperous and propitious gale, wafted to Scotia Minor.' But of all the countries which have claimed to them selves the honour of our saint's birth, there is none that has supported its claim with such specious pretensions a.'' South Britain. No sooner had the Anglo-Normans posses- sed themselves of some partial districts of the island, with the sword, than swarms of their monks also began with their pens to assert the right of the invaders. In order the more effec tually to accomplish this end, they found it necessary U vilify the national character, to destroy our national records, as Cambrensis and others have maliciously done, and bold- ly to assert that all improvements, both political and intel- lectual, were originally derived from South Britain ; which was, according to them, the mother country, to which Ire- land was ever to look for protection and support. Such were the ideas, and such the intention, which the monk of Furness entertained, in writing the jife of St. Patrick, at the instigation of De Courcy and his other countrymen. Such were the motives and prejudices which induced the lying Cambrensis to falsify and misrepresent the Irish na- tion, for gratifying the vanity of his sovereign, Henry, and of his rapacious countrymen.* This spirit of traducing Ireland, of detracting from her honour, of debasing her * His topography consists of tnree books, which he_published at Oxford, in 1187, in the following manner, in three days : on the first day lie read the firs' book to a great concourse of people, and afterwards entertained all the poor of the town. On the second day he read the second book, and entertained all tne doctors and chief scholars; and on the third day he read llie third book, and en- tertained all the younger Scholars, and burgesses. " A most glorious spectacle,' says he, " which revived the ancient times of the poets, and of which no example had been seen in England." THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 39 ancestral dignity, and of rendering Irishmen odious to themselves, has, notwithstanding the extension of science and liberahty over the most barbarous states of Europe, remained in full vigour even to the present day. In this unnatural conspiracy against the ancient honour of their native country, it must with regret be acknowledged, that the British authors have been aided and abetted by Irish writers, especially of the Anglo-Irish extraction. Can we then wonder at their unilbrm attempts to make St. Patrick a Briton ? The discordance which ensued at the Babelian confu- sion, however, was scarcely greater than the disagreement of British and Anglo-Irish authors, about fixing the place of our saint's birth : all which contradictory conjectures incontestably show, that their pretensions are equally false and inconsistent. The author of the English Martyrology, in treating of bis festival, on the 17th of March, from the diversity of opinions respecting this point, considers Bristol, in Eng- land, to have been the place of his nativity ; but as this is supported by no sort of reasoning or testimony, it merits neither credit nor further notice. The scholiast on Joce- line's Life of St. Patrick, asserts, though with as little pretension to veracity as the former, that he was born in Cornwall. The English translator of the Golden Legend says, that St. Patrick was a W|fchman, born at Pendiac, or Pepidi- auc, in Pembrokeshire. This place is supposed, by Usher and Camden, to be the promontory of the Octopitae, men- tioned by Ptolomey, and since denominated Menavia, or St. David's Head, by the people of Wales. Camden, on the authority of the ecclesiastical histories of Britain, takes it upon him to point out the very place of his nativity, near that promontory, in a glen, called Rose- ivale, in Latin called Rosina, denoting, according to him, a verdant plain ; but, according to the learned antiquary, Humphrey Lluyd, a native of that country, importing a vale of roses. These mistakes Mr. Harris considers to have originated from our saint's having pitched upon thih 4fc THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. va.e as a temporary retreat, and having founded a monas- tery there. How inviting this vale and all around it were, will best appear from Giraldus's description, who on this head is not to be doubted, as he lived near it. According to him, "this land is rocky, barren, and unproductive; neither ornamented with woods, discriminated by rivers, nor adorned with verdant meads, but exposed to continual winds, and tempestuous storms ;" an inviting and enviable spot, surely, for an emigrant Gaul and his family to pitch upon for their residence ! But of this enough. Now for the system formed by the monk of Furness, and reduced to a methodical consistency by the Anglo- Irish antiquary, and Protestant Archbishop Usher. Joceline, by a philological legerdemain, having cut off the initial letter N from the word nembihur, which, in the original Irish of St. Fiech, signifies holy Tours, formed his town of Embthur, and asserted that near this town of Embthur was St. Patrick's habitation, adjacent to the sea. From this description. Usher has, in Harris's opinion at least, pointed out the very spot where he was born, at a place called Kilpatrick, or Kirkpatrick, between the castle of Dunbarton and the city of Glasgow, where the rampart which separated the barbarians from the Roman territories had been built. In order to support the plausibility of this system, they have made out a town called Banav^; near this spot is a place equally favoured by nature, as me snug retreat given above to our saint's father, at St. David's Head, in Wales. To reconcile all this with other places mentioned by his biographers, the district of Tiburnia, or Tabernia, is trans- planted from the banks of the Loire to those of the Clyde. As well may they transfer it to Tibbur-an-Eiren, or any n* our numerous train of Tubbers, or Wells, in Ireland. For supporting a superstructure founded on so unstable i a oase, its fabricators felt the necessity of inventing a num-' her of other episodical and underplot fables. For this purpose, a powerful British prince, by name Kethmit, is conjured into existence ; his seven sons, with a mighty army, invade Gaul, kill St. Patrick's parents^ THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 4i take our young saint, with his brother and sister, captives : victoriously traverse the seas, arrive on the north coast of Ireland, where they sell their captives to some Irish princes, who reigned in that part of the island. Other more modern wiseacres, striving to give this a more col- ourable appearance, say that St. Patrick's parents were taken when they went from Dunbarton, then a part of South Britain, to see their friends in Armoric Gaul. Now, the time in which these events are supposed to have hap- pened, must have been between the year of St. Patrick's birth, in 373, and his mission to Ireland, which is allowed Jby all parties to have been in or about 433. Unhappily for the abettors of this system, history contradicts every part of their assertions. The state of Britain at that time cannot be more pathet- ically portrayed, than by the British Jeremias, St. Gildas, an author who lived near that period. Besides the une- quivocal document of British pusillanimity and cowardice, which Gildas, and, from him, Bede, have transmitted to us, in the groans of Britain, to Etius, in which they complain that the " barbarous enemies drive them to the sea ; the sea repels them back on their enemies ;" have we not also proofs, from the same authors, of their enbr- mous cruelties, surpassing any nation ? Have we not also testimonials of their being without spirit, national pride, literature, morality, or civilization ? Are not the few ignorant ecclesiastics,* then, in that ill-fated country, rep- resented by Gildas as worse even than the laymen? Have they not, instead of invading Armoric Gaul during that century, supplicated Abdroenus, the prince of that coun- try, for military aid against their multiplied foes ? When we consider the state of North Britain, also, whose natives continually thirsted, not only after the blood of their enemies, but after the very flesh of such as they • could lay hold on, — facts, of which St. Jerome, one of the fathers of the church, who flourished in the same age, declares he had occular demonstration,* — who can, for an * " Need I mention other nationSj" saj^s the holy father, " when I myself saw while in Gaul, some of the Scots, inhabitlne; a considerable portion of the islanc of Britain, eat human flesh. Having lulled such shepherds as they found in the THE LIFE OF ST PATRICK. 45 acquaintance with ancient geography, as he has evinced in tlie illustration of our antiquities. But it cannot be won- dered at, tliat these errors escaped his notice, as his only motive for publishing the hymn, at the end of the first edition of his grammar in quarto, was in order to give the lovers of Irish literature a specimen of our language and poetry about the commencement of the sixth century. The truth is, that the word Lethu, in all parts of the Irish hymn where it occurs, should have been translated into Letavia, the name by which a part, and sometimes the whole country of Armoric Gaul was called by the writers of the middle ages. In accordance to that, the old scholiast on this hymn says, that " all St. Patrick's family went on commercial business beyond the Iccian Sea, towards the south, to Lethanian Armoric, or Letheacensian Britain ; but at that time, the seven sons of Fechtmund, being banished from Britain, {Albion,) were committing depredations in Letha, a district of Armoric Gaul."* In the life of St. Alive, bishop of Emly, in Monomia, or Munster, and not in Menevia, or St. Davids, as Cambrensis would have it, it is recorded, that " Sampson was bishop of Dol omhoir, in the remotest frontiers of J^etha," that is, says Doctor Langhorne, "the city of Dol in Bretagne, or Lethania Armorica ; for," continues he, " Armorica was also denominated Letha, or Lethania."f To the above, we shall only add the testimony of Camden, who states, that " this district, previously to the arrival of our countrymen from Britain, was originally called Aremorica, that is, near the sea, in the British dialect, Lhydaw, importing also its maritime situation, 'ying on the coast; and in Latin, Letavia, among the *Omnes {nempe sancli Patricii conscmguinei) ex Britannia alcludensi crans mare Tccium versus austrum ncgolii causa conluierunt se ad Armoricum Lclha- i.am sive Britanniam Letheacensem. " Eo autem tempore Seplem filii Fechlmundii regis Britonum erant relegati a Britannis et fecerunt prsedas in Britannia Armorica regione Letha." Scholiast on St. Fuvh, No. 3. t Et hoc tempore, ut obiter id notemus, Sampsonem, cujus antea meniirimus (ex villa Albri,) fuisse Episcopum civitalis c|Uie vocalur Dol omhoir in extremus nnibus Letha, id est Dolensis, civitatis in Britannia Armoric Lethana, in ejiLsdem AJhei vita legimus ; nam Armorica etiam Letlia et Latama nuncupata est, Chrarif. ica Reg. Ajigl. p. 22. a Dan langJiomio Lond. ed. 1679. 44 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. St. Martin or St. Germanus, and therefore contemporaries and fellow-students of our saint. But what puts this point beyond all doubt, is the hymn of his own disciple, St. Fiech, the bishop of Sletty. This venerable relic of Irish literature bears most unequivo- cal proofs of its having been composed about the period in which St. Patrick lived, or immediately after ; as is fully evinced by the simplicity, brevity, and precision of its phraseology and style. In the first verse of this Irish poem, we are plainly informed, that " Patrick was bom at holy Tours, as is affirmed in histories." Mr. Colgan has expounded the word nemtur, above ten times, in various parts of his collection, by calling it a celestial tower. Were it only an epithet for some city, town, or castle, the name of the place would be mentioned, otherwise it might be taken (as it has been) "for an imaginary tower in the clouds. By some unaccountable misconception, the trans- lator of this hymn into Latin mistook the epithet naem, or naob, denoting saintly, heavenly, and tur, the city of Tours, for one word, and metamorphosed them into the non-descript town of Nempthur. Joceline, by ~ taking away the initial letter N, transformed it into Empthur. But it is not in the first verse alone, that the translator of St. Fiech's hymn into Latin has misunderstood the Irish text. In the fifth, sixth, ninth, and seventeenth verses, he has altogether confounded the sense, by mistaking the word Lethu, for Italy ; and, as one error begets a multi- plicity of others, he has, on that account, been necessitated to make our saint dwell in some unknown islands in the Tyrrhenian or Tuscan Sea, to the soutli of Italy, with many other absurdities of a similar nature. Implicit reliance on this version, by all the moderns, and even by Colgan himself, who strives to reconcile the incongruities arising from the mistranslation, prevented their paying a closer attention to the text, and discovering the error. That this was the case with respect to the venerable vindi- cator of our Irish history, is very evident. For, had Gen- eral Vallancey made this hymn the more immediate subject of his investigation, no person could be better qualified for rectifying the mistake, from his intimate 43 THE LIFE OF ST. PATR.CK. instant, believe that Calphurnio, with his beauteous wife Conchessa, the near relative of St. Martin, of Tours, could take up his residence among, or adjacent to, such savages ? whose chieftains, in imitation of their princes, claimed privileges of the most criminal nature with their vassals' daughters on the weddmg night; — a barbarous custom, established among them for five centuries previous to their conversion to Christianity. In vain do you look for seminaries over North or South Britain at this period ; nay, were not all her great men under the necessity of coming to Ireland, even in the sub- sequent centuries } Does not the ancient biographer of Gildas, the sage, inform us, that Gildas himself was neces- ' sitated to direct his course, for his education, to Ireland, or, as it is more properly called in that work. Ire ? — Away, llien, with such an imposition, founded in national preju- dices, and supported by pride ! Away with the visionary town of Embthur ! — a baseless fabric, raised on the philo- logical powers of mutilated words, the support of which is more absurd, than to maintain that " nocturnal darkness is meridional light."* CHAPTER VIII. St. Patrick was born at Holy Tours. This, accojd- ing to Father Colgan, who embraces the opinion of the Anglo-Irish and British writers on the present question, is handed down as an estabhshed tradition among the natives of Armoric Gaul, and those who live contiguous to that venerable city. Mr. Philip O'Sullivanf too, in his life oi our saint, makes him a native of Bretagne, in France . " But in this," says Mr. Harris, " he deserves no credit, as woods, from the men's bodies they cut off the hips, and from those of the women they took the breasts, bcijig the parts they esteemed most delicious." Contr. Jovian. * Ledwich. t Mr. O'Sullivan expatriated from his native land about the commencement Of James the Ist's reign, wrote his Patrician Decad, or the Life of St. Patrick, in el *gant Latin ; it contains ten books, and was printed at Madrid, in 1629. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK 43 he adduced no authority." Mr. Harris knew full well, for none of the Anglo-Irish was better acquainted with the subject, that Mr. O'Sullivan had two of the most ancient lives of our saint, probably in existence, as creditable voucners for nis assertion. But Mr. Harris was a violent ascendency man, in favour of British monopoly for pre-em- inence and power. Some other writers have, according to Colgan, maintained that our saint was by birth a Gaul. This is the account of Probus, too, whose words are plain, so as not to be misunderstood, except by prejudice or perversion. In his life of our saint, Probus says, " St. Patrick was a Briton, of the village of Banave, in the district of Tyburnia, adjacent to the Western Ocean, which village we undoubtedly find to have been in the province of Neutria, i^JVeustria,') which the giants are represented to have formerly inhabited." The Western Ocean, here mentioned,* is in another part called Tyrrhenian, which designates, beyond all doubt, the Turonian Sea, at the mouth of the Loire, and opposite the country inhabited by the Turones, or, as now denominated, the people of Turaine, whose capital, Tours, was a great city, even in the time of tlie Romans ; but more celebrated afterwards for being the residence of St. Martin, St. Gregory, and a multiplicity of other illustrious men. ' Whence had Probus and the writers of his time this account ? From the same source, no doubt, whence Gildas had his materials for the notice he gives us of the Britons ; that is, from the seminaries and writings of the saints who flourished at that time in Gaul and Ireland. They had it from those who were either the disciples of *Brilo fuil nalione — de vico Banave Tiburnise regionis baud procul a mail oceidenlali quem vicum indubitanter comperimus esse Neuiriae, (Natstrice.) pro- vinciae in qua olim gigantes habitasse feruntur, &e. See chap. 1, book 1, of ihe acls.of St. Patrick, by Probus : who also says, " Cum adhuc esset in patria sua cum patre Calpurnio et matre Concliessa, &.c. — In civitate eorum armuric facta est seditio magna, &c. cap. 12. Quidam Judpei in captivitatem deducti. Et eorum pars apud Britones Armoricas locum tenuit ex qua sanctus Patricius na- >jonem duxisse fertur." Thus writes the very ancient author of our saint's fourth life, iu Colgen's collection, chap. 1. In oppido Nempthur nomine, quod Latine " Turris' Coelestis," inlerpretari p». test, luitus est. Idem. 46 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK writers of the middle age j whence its inhabitants I sup- pose to be the Leti, a people of Gaul, mentioned by Zosimus; and, lastly, it was denominated Britannia Minor, or lAttle Britain, from our British compatriots who settled there."* Having already animadverted on the absurdity of substituting that part of the Mediterranean to the south oi Italy, in ancient ge"ography denominated the Tyrrhenian for the Turanian Sea, by which St. Fiech, and the other authors of the middle ages, designated that part ot the Armoric Sea, which was contiguous to the mouth ot the Loire, and opposite the Turones, or people of Tou- raine; it only remains that we should explain the other place, called Tiburnia, Taburnia, or Tabern, mentioned in the life of our saint. The word taberna denotes, in its original signification, a temporary shed, formed of boards, or wooden materials. Its derivation, Donatus, Ulpian, Littleton, and other phi- lologers, deduce from trabes, a beam, quasi trabena, or from tabula, a board, quasi taberna, tabella, fee. The sheds, shops and houses of entertainment, set up for the accommodation of the Roman armies, whether of the temporary or stationary kind,, were called taberna; froni these sorts of hotels many places derived their names. Thus, from the Three Taverns, ar town twenty-one miles from Rome, the people went out to meet St. Paul. TaburncE Riguce, is a place mentioned by Ausonius, in Belgic Gaul, near Nimeguen. The town of Elsas-zabern, aJso in Lorraine, is the Tres Tabernas of Ammian, and the Tabernae Tribocorum of Antonine. In Belgic. Gaul, too, we find the Tabernae Rhenanae of Antonine still exist- ing as a town, called Rhein Zabern, at the confluence oi the Erlbach with the Rhine, in Lorraine. * Ante Britannorum noslrorum advenlum, haec regio primum Armorica dicta erat, i. ad maresita; deinde Britannice jL/yrfawj i. Litoralis, Latine Letavia apud noslros mediae setatis scriptores, unde Letos fuisse suspicorquos in Gallia, nominat Zosimus, postremo Britannia Minor a Britannis nostris, qui^ ut est apud Nennium; tenuerunt regiones a stagno quod est super montem Jovis usaue ad vivitatem quse vocatiu* Calitffine et ad cumulum occidentalem, i. Cm Occnidien jt ex Rutilio Claudio et £giaio Masserio coUigi possit. Cama. Brit. 66. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 47 There have been more Tabernae in various parts of C/aul, which owe their origin and appellation to those Roman encampments since Caesar's invasion of that country, about 50 years before Christ, till their total expulsion at the commencement of the sixth century. But in no itinerary or author do we meet with any town of the name of Tabernia, near Dunbarton, the place where St. Patrick's parents are, by our system-mongers, made to reside. To the natives of Ireland and Scotland it is well known that an isle in the sea, an islet in the loughs, lakes, and rivers, a dry hillock in a morass, nay, sometimes a place nearly, though not altogether, surrounded by water, is, in' Irish and Erse, called an inch. Islands of this sort were, in the primitive ages of Christianity, particularly sought after, for a contemplative retreat, by pious monks and ascetics. Thus, in the rivei Shannon, there is scarcely an island but has a cell, church, or monastery, founded by our saints. Lough Derg has been celebrated over Chris- tendom. In the isles of the Armoric Sea, too, there are many such edifices. Nay, along the *pieandering banks ■ and tortuous mazes of the fertilizing Loire, from Orleans, through Touraine, a district emphatically styled by geog- raphers the garden of France, till it ■^empties itself into the Turonian or Armoric Sea, many of the primitive saints of Gaul built their cells and monasteries for religious con- templation. Among those, neither the last, nor the least distinguished, was our saint's uncle, Martin, of Tours. This great apostle, whose pious labours achieved the conversion of the western parts of Gaul from Gentilism to Christianity, and who was originally the son of a Ronggn tribune, born in the year 316, at Sabaria, or Sarwar, a town between the rivers Raab and Guns, in the west of Hungary, was first compelled to embrace the profession 'of a soldier, though he always showed a particular predilec- tion for a retired life : from this, however, he was necessi- tated to withdraw in 374, on being elected bishop of Tours, with the concurrent approbation of the clergy and people. In order, however, to have less converse with the world, he built, near the city of Tours, between tho 48 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK Loire and a sharp rock, the celebrated moriasti=iry of Marmoutier, which still exists, and is considered the most ancient abbey of France.* In this inch it was, and in some other inches in the Turoniari, and not in the Tyrrhe- nian or Mediterranean islands, that St. Patrick fixed his residence for studying divinity (on escaping from slavery), under St. Martin, and other holy masters after that saint's death. In the above quotation from one of the French biogra- phers of St. Martin's life, there occurs another evidence of our saint's having been a native of Gaul. The writers of hi J life make his mother a niece or a sister of St. Martin. They also say that his father, Calphurn, was a deacon, and his grandfather, Potitus, a priest, natives oJ some town near Dunbarton. Now, all the Scotch and English ecclesiastical writers allow, that St. Palladius was the first preacher of the Gospel among the Scotch of the Lowlands, and that he was sent from Rome, and died in that country in 431. They also acknowledge, that the Highland Scots were not illumined with the soul-saving light of the Gospel, until the mission of Columbkille, 120 years afterwards. How absurd, then, was the idea of a deacon, and a priest, in a country where tlie Gospel was not preached? Is it less absurd, to suppose that St. Martin's niece or sister should come a husband-hunting to North Britain ? Nay, is it not equally ridiculous, to imagine that, had our apostle's mother, the beautiful Conchessa, been brought a captive to that country, it could have fallen to the lot of a poor deacon to obtain or purchase her, in a country whose nobility held their feodal tenures by the prostitution of their daughters ; while they, in turn, exacted a similar knight's-service from their vassals and dependants, as has been shown in a former chapter to have been the practice in that part of Britain .'' *St. Martin; ne vers 376. a Sabariedaiis la Panonie du'n tribun mililaire; fut force de porler les armes quolqu'il eut boucoup de gout pour la solitude — d'ou on I'arracha in 374; il fut ordonne eveque de Tours avec Fapplaudissement general du clerge et du peuple. Pour vivre moin avec le monde ii batit auprea de la ville entre la Loire et ime roche escarpee. Le celebre monastere d9 Mannoutier qui subsiste encore, et que I'on croit etre la plus ancienne abbay« de France. — ^11 Morut a Candes, Nmembre 400. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 49 1 practice, which, according to Dr. Heylin. and their own historians, continued from Evequs, a century before Christ, til! the predication of Colunibkille ; or, as Dr. Hey- Un thinks, till the reign of Malcolm, in 930. Were it proved even, contrary to the sentiments of the oft-quoted bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Henry, the learned and laborious historian of Great Britain, vi^ho himself was a Caledonian, and most of our modern writers,, both pro- fane and ecclesiastic, that Scotland was converted before Palladius, in 431, by Ninias, or Ninnias ; yet of little avail would the demonstration be on the present occasion. For, admitting Ninnias to have converted the Scots, it does not follow that he could have ordained St. Patrick's father a deacon, and his grandfather a priest ; for it is allowed by all, with Capgrave, that Ninnias was horn in 372, the year previously to St. Patrick's birth, that he commenced not his apostolical mission to Scotland till 394, and rested from his worldly labours in 432. Now, those who are advo- cates for St. Patrick's British origin acknowledge that he was born in 373, brought a captive to Ireland in the six- teenth year of his age, that is, in 389, from Armorica, by' the seven rebellious sons of Fechtmar, after they murder- ed his father and mother, who, with their whole family, consisting of five daughters and two sons, went from near Dunbarton, on business to that country. St. Ninnias ar- rived not on his mission to Scotland till five years after the murder of St. Patrick's parents, and his own captivity, as may be seen above. How could Calphurn, our saint's father, be then ordained previously to his taking his family from North Britain to Gaul ? All those who consider the then lamentable state of Brit- ian, as descibed by Bede and Nennius, after the pathetic Gildas, and adverted to in one of the preceding ,chapters, will attach but very litde credit to the commercial or com- plimentary visits of Calphurn, admitting him to have been a Briton, with his whole family, consisting of five daugh- ters and two sons, to Armoric Gaul. Even at present, great would be the difficulty, and enormous the expense attending such a journey, though fi-ee from the various dangers of murder, famine, and slavery, so common and 50 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. scarcely avoidable in those days. On the story of the re- doubtable Prince Fechtmar,Fechtinag,Fechtmund,Recht- mit, Rethmaid, or Historeuth, by all which names he is designated, we have before animadverted. Unfortunately for the fabricators of this ideal personage, and of his seven sons, we have irrefragable proof from Ammianus Marcel- linus, Gildas, and Bade, that from the year 364 till 450, the Picts, Saxons, and Attacotti,* aided by the Irish dep- redators, as Bede styles them, reduced South Britain to such a wretched state of misery tliat there remained not a prince to withstand the enemy, and that the poor South Britons ineffectually implored the assistance of the Ro- mans, and the sovereigns of the adjacent parts of the con- tinent. Can it be believed, then, that Fechttoar's seven sons could be able in Armorica to commit such devasta- tions ? to kill Calphurn and his wife, and bring his children, and among the rest St. Patrick, captives to the north of Ireland, through the Armpric, Virgivian, and Irish Seas, which were then covered with the fleets of the victorious monarch of Ireland, as the words of the venerable Bede plainly show ? CHAPTER VIII. That the monarchs who wielded the sceptre of Ireland were profoundly skilled in the system of politics necessary to be observed respecting their relative connexions with the sister isle, is abundantly evinced by their conduct towards Scotland. Since the Roman eagle first hovered over the shores of South Britain, about half a century before Christ, our Milesian sovereigns saw the necessity of keeping up a balance of power against the further encroachments of the Romans. They, therefore, sent colonies to North Britain, assisted the Picts also in estaolishmg themselves there, kept both nations in reciprocal terms of amity and peace among themselves, and sent tliem a re-enforcement of auxiliaries • For the Allacolli Scotts, see Gen. Vallaacey's Ojllect. Hib. THE LIFE Ol' Sr. PATKICK. 51 to hai-ass the Romans, arrest their progress, prevent them from achieving the total conquest of that ill-fated country, and thus incapacitate them from undertaking their medi- tated invasion of Ireland. This was the motive wrhich induced Connall Kearnack, Connor the Great, Criovhan, Faradach Fiacha, Fuahal, Cormac, Cairbry, Eochuy, and the other Irish princes of that time, to transport mighty armaments to Britain, and unite in a well associated confederacy the different nations of the Picts, Scots, and Attacotti,* to the north of the Tweed, and lead them often in person against the Roman mvaders. For proofs of their frequent invasions of the Roman provinces, and their successful conflicts with the Italian legions and their British auxiliaries, especially in die years 183, 364, 393, 403, 421, 426, 443, we have the unimpeached authorities of Dion, Ammianus Marcelli- nus, Gildas, Bede, Florence of Worcester, &;c. Sic. So frequent and^ incessant were the invasions of our country- men of those times, that Bede, after Gildas, designates them by the appellation of " Hibernian marauders, not likely to remain long till they return and renew their dep- redations."f Such was the wise policy which saved Ireland from ex- periencing the galling thraldom of Roman oppression, and which uhiraately, through the victorious efforts of Niall Neeallach, was the principal cause that compelled the Ro- man emperor to wididraw the remainder of his vanquished legions. Niall rested not here, for, not content with their expulsion from Britain, he chased them with his victorious fleets and armies into Armoric Gaul. The lovers and as- serters of liberty in that country, aided by the alliance of our victorious monarch, " altogether freed themselves from the tyranny and yoke of Rome also," as Zosimus relates. To the patriots of Armoric Gaul the renowned Niall, of Jhe nine hostages, was necessitated a second time to lend nis assistance. * For the invasion of the Scotch and Irish confederates in the year 183, see Dion, lib. 72 ; in 384 see Ammianus Marcell. 26 book ; for their invasions in 393, 405, 421, 426, 431, &c. &C. see Gildas, Bede, Florence, Wigom, or antiquatcs, Albionens, ^ Dan Langhomium, 8vo. Ijond. 1673, 1 Hibemi grossatores, post non longiun tempus reversuri. Gildai 1, 12, 52 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. On landing in Armorica, the Boman garrisons, the Ji -• man tax-gatherers, the Roman oppressors, with their nu- merous train of more oppressive agents, the native abettors of their country's thraldom, a species of degenerate and cowrardly reptiles, which have ever been the pest of all na- tions, left the country at ihe invader's mercy. Niall remu- nerated the patriots with the territorial possessions of their former task-masters, and re-established, the blessings of liberty and peace among his allies. Previously to his fleet's return, Niall fell a victim to the assassinating hand of au frish vassal, who, following him to Gaul, murdered him on the bank of the Loire. If Ireland had cause to regret the loss sustained in con- sequence of this expedition, by the death of a monarch, to whose political skill and military achievements she stood so eminently indebted for her internal peace and external aggrandizement ; yet more abundant are her motives ibr congratulating herself for the immortal blessings conferred upon herself and her children, by the all-wise hand of Providence on that occasion. In fact, all true-born Iri-jh- men vdll, whije Christianity exists among them, entertain a grateful remembrance of the victorious fleet that first wafted to their shores the illustrious patron saint and APOSTLE of Ireland. Niall's naval armament returned to Ireland in the year of the Christian era 389. The commander of the Dalriadian land-forces, on this oc- casion, was Gauran, but the naval officer, to whom the man- agement of the fleet was committed, is not knovra. From its magnitude, however, it may be naturally concluded, that the commander-in-chief was a hero of tried valour, consum- mate skill, and long experience. At that time, the Ulro- nian Dalriadas produced a prince of this description. The superiority of this chieftain's fleet at sea, and the success attendant on his military enterprises, both by sea and land, against the Romans and Britons, and more particularly against the Dalreudian colonists of Scotland, whom he kept m obedience to the mother country for many years, before this acquired for him, from the enemies of his country in North Britain, the appellation Fommaire, a pirate or dep- redator at sea. As most fables are generally fabricate!' THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 53 from stories which have some allusion to truth, the biogra- phers of St. Patrick, either through ignorance or design, have metamorphosed this name into that of a British prince, whom they call Tehmair, Fechtmair, Fehtmair, fcc. &;c. as shown above. In some copies of Probus, this prince is also called Rethmaig Rethmet ; and by Rede, Reuda; by the Scots, Rather; and by Nennius, Hista- reuth ; all which Dr. Langhorne supposes to have been applicable to the same person, as being a Fammaire, or depredator of the Reudians, or Dalriadians of Ulster, and not of Britain. This prince had seven sons, who were commanders aboard Niall's fleet. These sons, after their monarch's deatii, embarked their troops and booty. The most considerable part of their spoils consisted of two hundred children, descended from such of the Armoric nobles as Supported the government and interests of the Romans. Among the children thus made captive, and brought to Ireland, aboard the fleet, was St. Patrick, with his two sisters, Lupita and Darerca. St. Patrick was sixteen years of age when taken cap- tive ; and was, "as he himself informs us, born of a respec- table family. His father's name was Calphurnius, the son of Potitus, or Otide, who entered into holy orders after the birth of their children, Calphurnius being a deacon, and Potitus a priest. The name of our saint's mother was Conchessa, who was, according to the most probable opinion, not the sister, but the niece of St. Martm, the celebrated archbishop of Tours. St. Patrick himself tells us, that his father was a deni- zen of a neighbouring city of the Romans. Calphurnius and his father's names, too, indicate that they were of Roman extraction, as Colgan , justly observed, in his remarks on the list of our saint's ancestors, given in his genealogy. Their Roman origin will easily account for both his father and mother having been killed by the Irish invaders of Armoric Gaul, who undoubtedly considered our saint's parents and relatives as a part of the ascenden- cy faction that supported the interest and power of Rome in tliat country, in opposition to the oppressed natives 54 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. Otherwise, this murder would have been an unnecessary and wanton act of cruelty. His biographers vary in their accounts respecting his brothers and sisters. Some, witli the old scholiast of St. Fiech's Hymn, maintain that he had one brother, the deacon Sannanus, and five sisters, whose names were Lupita, Tigris, Liemania, Darerca, and Cinnenaev. In- stead of Liemania, some make Riccall his third sister, for which they quote a very ancient Irish verse. St. Evinus, and after him Joceline, affirm he had only three sisters, Lupit, Darerca, and Tigris. Liemania's children were the Hua-baird, or long beard, to wit, Secundin, Nectan, Dabonna, Mogurnan, Darioc, Auxilius, and Lugath, the priest. Tigris bad seventeen sons and five daughters ; all the male children signalized themselves in the practice oi the most austere virtues, as monks, priests, or bishops. Darerca was, according to the calendar of Cashel, the mother of seventeen bishops, and two daughters, remarka- ble for their sanctity and Christian devotion, in their recluse lives as holy nuns. Of Richell's children nothing can be collected with certainty from St. Patrick's biogra- phers ; there remains no doubt, however, but she must also have contributed her share towards cultivating the vineyard of Christ, so happily planted by her illustrious uncle. As there were various opinions concerning his country, so writers differ much as to the time of his birth. William of Malmesbury, Adam of Domerham, and John, the monk of Glastonbury, who are quoted and followed by Alford and Cressy, place his birth in 361, with whom Stainhurst agrees; and all of them follow Probus, on whom, in this particular, as well as in that respecting the place of our saint's nativity, we cannot depend. His error seems to be grounded on an eager endeavour to stretch St. Patrick's life to a longer period than what the best writers of it have done; for he makes him 132 years old at the time of his death, 493, which carries the account back to the time assigned by him for his birth. Colgan thinks the number 132, a typographical error' mstead of 122 : but it is better accounted for in that way THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 55 and especially as Probns repeats it in two different para- graphs. And in this William of Malmesbury differs from Probus, for he places his death in 472, in the hundred and eleventh year of his age. The annals of Connaught are yet morp grossly mistaken, in assigning his birth to the year 366. Henry of Marleburgh says he was born in 376 ; Joceline, in 370 ; but Florence of Worcester is nearer the truth in 372 ; from whose calculation Usher could see no reason to depart ; yet his birth seems to have been, notwithstanding the now mentioned authorities, a year later, i. e. in 373, on the 5th of April. For the most commonly received opinion is, (with which Usher in another part of his work agrees,) that St. Patrick lived but 120 years, and that he died in 423, from which subtract 120, and it leaves 373 for the year of his birth ; and this IS further confirmed by the old Irish book of Sligo, as quoted by Usher : " that St. Patrick was born, baptized, and died on the 4th day," viz. Wednesday.* Now, the 5th of April, in 373, fell on Wednesday, or the Feria quarta, and consequently was his birth-day in that year. Having cleared up the place and time of his birth, it is to be observed that he was not called Patrick at his bap- tism, as Joceline saith, but Succoth, which the old scho- liast on the Hymn of St. Fiech interprets, in the British language, to signify valiant in war. Mr. O'SuUivan tells us, he was named at his baptism Souchet ; for, saith he, Souch, in the old French, signifies truncus, a stock of a tree ; and that Souchet is trunculus, a little stock ; and he further says, that the name was very well adapted to the fruit-bearing shoulders of this infant saint ; for he was a most plentiful stock, from whence so many boughs, so many branches, so many leaves, so many flowers, so much fruit, that is, so many venerable Irish prelates, so many priests, so many preachers, so many monks, and so many doctors of foreign nations have proceeded. ** Feria qtiarta; Patrlcius natuS; renalus, de" atus. 56 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. CHAPTER IX. With respect to our apostle's infantine years, very little can be collected from his biographers, if we except the numerous miracles absurdly ascribed to him by the monks of the middle ages. A miracle is a sensible change in the order of nature. The proper intent of a miracle is des- ignated for the clear manifestation of the divine interfere- ence. Scripture supposes that to be its destination ; con- sequently a miracle is wrought for proving the divine mis- sion of the agent. A miracle,' then, should have an impor- tant and grand object, worthy of the intervention of Om- nipotence. It should be sensible and fully perceptible to general observation. It should be independent of all sec- ondary causes, and be wrought in an instantaneous man- ner. How ridiculous, how absurd, nay, how impious an attempt it is to impose on human credulity a belief that the Omnipotent Architect of the world would particularly in- tervene and suspend those laws of nature by which he gov- erns the universe ; and that, without necessity, for a frivo- lous reason, contrary to his TOsdom, and unbecoming his Divine Majesty ! Conformably with the above general principles respect- ing miracles, principles grounded upon reason and revela- tion, we find no miracles ascribed to, or wrought by, our blessed Redeemer, during his infancy or youth. The first manifestation of the Omnipotent's intervention in the Mes- siah's favour, was not till the thirty-second year of his age, and that in presence of all Judea, assembled on the banks of the River Jordan to hear his precursor, John the Bap- tist's preaching. Here the astonished muhitude was agree- ably informed of Christ's divine mission, as well by the blessed Baptist, as by the mystic dove. In the same year he began to work miracles by his forty days' fast, by his withstanding Satan's temptation, by his changing water into wme, by his appeasing the tempest, by his healing one pos- sessed of the devil, by his curing palsied and leprous men, with the recovery of the centurion's servant, the bringing of the widow's son to life, the multiplication of the loaves THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 57 and fishes, &;c. &c. How contrary to these principles, liow derogatory from common sense, have the biographers of our saint acted, and particularly Joceline ! Not a mir- acle ever performed in Scripture by the elect of God, but St. Patrick is made to surpass by a more marvellous one. But the hagiographers of Scttpture never record any mir- acles, except what have been performed for manifesting die interference of Divine Omnipotence to the pubhc at large. Different from this is Joceline's conduct in imputing mir- acles done on the most trivial and ridiculous occasions to our saint. Scarxjely is he baptized, when a blind man is made, by Jocehne, to apply his infant hand to the ground, and therefrom issues a well, whose all-healing waters restore sight, science, and literature to this hitherto iUiterate man. Does his aunt's cabin overflow with water, St. Patrick works a miracle for stopping the inundation. Does his aunt want a fagot, " the boy Patrick" is made to convert the ice, which he brings home in his bosom, by a miracle, into dry wood. Has his sister Lupita received a contusion in her forehead, by an accidental fall, " the boy Patrick" works a miracle to cure the " damsel." Does his foster- father die, the child is made to work a miracle for restor- ing him to hfe again. Does the wolf take away a lamb, the " boy" is accused for negligence, and next morning the wolf brings back the lost lamb by a miracle. Are the cat- tle butting with their horns, or seized with the murrain, the child is made by a miracle to free them from the evil spii*- its wherewith they are possessed. Has his nurse a longing wish for honey, he is made by a miracle to convert water into that liquor ! Does the cruel lord of the castle of " Dunbreaton" want to have his fortress, stalls, and stables cleaned out by the aunt of our saint, who was, it seems, his slave, the nephew is made to work a miracle, and ever since that time, tiUJo- celine wrote, the dung and dirt continued to be cleaned away Oy an invisible hand : " even if all the herds and horses m (he country were driven into these stalls, no dirt could be sver found after them, a miracle so well known to the oeople there, as to require no further demonstration ;" 58 THK LIFE OF ST PATRICK. but of this enough to rouse the indignation of every pious reader. Such are the contents of the thirteen first chapters of Joceline's work, including our saint's actions till he attained his fifteenth year ; or, as more learnedly, more happily, and more classically expressed by his late translator for the anti-cathohc Hibernia Press Company, until " he per- lustrated three lustres." From this specimen, the pious Catholic reader will be enabled to appreciate the merits of the remaining part. He will also see with what propri- ety it was animadverted on by Harris, whose judicious observations on this species of writing, and particularly on Joceline's work, are delivered in a former chapter. Who does not then see that the hands of Joab have Seen at work in translating and editing a work which brings our saint into contempt, by the imputation of such absurd and ridic- ulous miracles, rendered still more laughable from the bur- lesque and quaint phraseology adopted by the translator ? Thus the obscure and equivocal manner in which he in- forms us that our saint arrived at the third lustrum, or 1 5th year of his age, by affixing English terminations to the Latin words, and saying that St. Patrick " peklustbated three lustkes," which is clothing an obscure and unclas- sical expression in a more obscure and unclassical English dress. In vain will the mere English scholar look into Johnson iov perlustrate, neither will the Latin word bear him out in the sense attached to it. Yet this barbarous solecism, arising rather from sorpe voluntary cause than from ignorance, as the style of the Postliminous Preface, attached to the end of the translation, abundantly shows, are by no means of so dangerous a tendency towards depre- ciating our saint's character, by exching the sneers of scep- ticism, or contempt of ignorance, as the adoption of that comic, ludicrous, and antiquated style in which the narra- tion is dressed. Thus we are told in the first paragraph, that Calphurnius " married a French damsel* named Conevessa, and the damsel was elegant in her form." Now the word damsel, though " originally used to denote * Ce nom ne se donnoit autrefois qu' aux filles des princes, et des grands seign eui-s. See Anicmini Fr. ij- Ital. Dictionary, art. Dcuoiselli:. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 59 ihe daughter of a prince and great lord," among the French, is not at present employed but in poetry, plays, and farces, or among the lower orders of people, to denote a wench, country lass, or a woman of bad charj.cter, for which see the valuable dictionary of Dr. Johnson. St. Patrick tells us of himself, that, at the age of sixteen, he still lived ignorant of God ; " meaning," says the pious Alban Butler, " the devout and fervent love of God, for he was always a Christian : he never ceased to bewail this neglect, and wept when he remembered that he had been one moment of his life, insensible of the divine love. In his sixteenth year, he- was carried into captivity by certain barbarians, together with many of his father's vassals and slaves, taken upon his estate. They brought him into Ire land, where he was obliged to tend catUe on the mountains, and in the forests, in hunger and nakedness, amidst snows, rain, and ice. Whilst he lived in this suffering condition, God had pity on his soul, and quickened him to a sense of his duty, by the impulse of a strong interior grace. The young man had recourse to him with his whole heart, in fervent prayer and fasting, and from that time faith and the love of God acquired continually new strength in his ten- der soul. He prayed often in the day, and also many times in the night, breaking off his sleep to return to the divine praises. His afflictions were to him a source of heavenly benedictions, because he carried his cross with Christ, that is, with patience, resignation, and holy joy. CHAPTER X. He was just advanced into his sixteenth year, oqq when he was taken captive in Bretagne, and brought to the north of Ireland, where he was sold to Milcho Hu- anan, a petty prince of Dalaradia,* and St. Lupita they * Dalradia : there were two territories whose names are pretty near in sound, which have oeen confounded by writers, viz. Dal-Ariada and Dal-Rieda ; tlie former comprehcned the S. and S. E. parts of the county of Antrim, since callea Clanelrois, and all the county of Down. The barony of Ardes hath some traces 60 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. sold to Coual Muirthemne.* Doctors Fell and Sharp, alias Gunston, in their English abridgment of Bailet, tell the story in a different manner, in order to give his British origin more probability ; that the Romans, having left Brit- ain naked and defenceless, its inhabitants became an ea.sy prey to their troublesome neighbours, the Irish ; and that our saint fell into the hands of some of these pirates, and was carried into Ireland. For six years he was sold to Milcho, and his three brothers, which gave the occasion of changing his name into Cothraig, or rather Ceather-Tigh, because he served four masters ; Ceathear, signifying four, and Tigh, a house or family. Milcho, observing the care and diligence of this new servant, bought the shares of his brothers and made him his own property. He sent him to feed his hogs on Slieu-miss,-|- and St. Patrick himself tells us his behaviour in this office : " My constant business was to feed the hogs : I was frequent in prayer ; the love and fear of God more and more inflamed my heart ; my faith was enlarged, and my spirit augmented ; so that I said an hundred prayers by day and almost as many by night ; 1 arose before day to my prayers, in the snow, in the frost, in the rain, and yet I received no damage ; nor was I af- fected with slothfulness, for then the Spirit of God was -warm within me." It was here he perfected himself in the Irish language, the wonderful providence of God visi- bly appearing in this instance of his captivity, that he should have the opportunity in his tender years of becoming well acquainted with the language, manners, and dispositions of that people, to -vvhom he was intended as a future apostle. The ignorance, in these particulars, of his predecessor, St. Palladius, must have been the cause of his failure in tlie like attempt. of the ancient name in it. It was of this territory_ that Milcho was prince, and iu it stands the mountain Miss in the barony of Antrim. Dal-Rieda was a territory comprehending the N. N. W. and part of the south of the county of Antrim; the district of Rents, or Rout, is a corruption of this name. * Conal Muirthemne, into which St. Lupita was sold, comprehends the county of Louth. t There are two mountains called Miss in Ireland, one in the territory of Dal- Ariada, and in the barony and county o<" Antrim, on which St. Patrick fed his ma.ster's swine; the other about three or four miles to the south of Tra'.ee, in lHa county of Kerry. THE LIFE OF ST. I'ATRICK. "X 6. He that witli faithful eyes should have beheld this bless- ed youth, eminent for birth, and far more conspicuous for virtue, " and whom the Almighty had separated from his mother's womb, and called by his grace to reveal his Son in him, tliat he should evangelize him among the Gentiles," condemned to so base a service, might well think that he saw the patriarch Joseph sold into Egypt, and cast into prison ; for there seems to be a great affinity and likeness between them : Joseph, in the opinion of some, was at that time about the age Patrick was now of Joseph, after his servitude and humiliation, was exalted to great power and authority, and made lord of Egypt. Patrick, after he had been sold, had served, and endured great afflictions and miseries in Ireland, became an aposde thereof, and now its most glorious patron. Joseph, in a great famine, fed and maintained all the people with corn ; and Patrick, with the salutary sustenance of the Gospel, and the bread of Ufe, nourished the Irish nation, which was perishing with spirit- ual hunger. Joseph made use of the visitation of God and his painful affliction for the advancement of his soul and improvement in virtue ; and Patrick, by his slavery, in- creased in piety, and confirmed himself, daily, in the love of God and praise of virtue. He continued six whole years in servitude, and „q- in the seventh was released. There seems to have been a law in Ireland for this purpose, agreeably to the insti- tution of Moses, that a servant should be released the sev- enth year ; as it is said in an ancient life of St. Patrick, sup- posed to be written by St. Patrick, junior ; in another as- cribed to Elerane, the wife, and in the tripartite life before mentioned. Joceline, who deals in the marvellous, tells, that the angel Victor appeared to him, and bid him observe one of his hogs, who should root out of the ground a mass of money, sufficient to pay his ransom. But St. Patrick saith no such thing ; he only informs us, that he was warn- ed in a dream to prepare for his return home ; and tha* he arose, and betook himself to flight, and left the man with whom he had been six years. He made all the haste he could to the sea-side, and found a ship unmoored, and ready to sail ; the master refused to take him in, because 6 62 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRIOft. he had no fare to give him. Upon thk- repulse he went to look for some cottage, where he might securely wait for a better opportunity to make his escape, and in the mean time betook himself to his usual consolation, his prayers ; during which the sailors sent after him to return, took him on ship-board, and hoisted sail. He is said to have had a bad voyage, having been three days on sea, and afterwards spent near a month in travelling by land, before he came to his' parents ; after which he suffered another captivity, as Jocellne and O'SuUivan tell us, and he himself saith, was post annos non mulfos, a few years after. At this time he continued in captivity two months ; 'but with whom he was a prisoner or how he was released, we want infor- mation ; excepting that Bailet wrhes that he was brought a slave to Bourdeaux, or thereabouts. After all his sufferings, he arrived at last to his relations, who received him with the greatest joy, with whom he continued about two years. His relations would have per- suaded him to spend the remainder of his days with them, but he was destined for a more active and useful employ- ment. While he was pondering upon this advice, he tells us that he had one night a vision or dream, in which he saw a man coming to him, as if from Ireland, whose name was Victoricius, with a great number of letters ; that ne gave him one of them to read, in the beginning of which were contained these words : Vox Hibernigenarum, the voice of the Irish. While he was reading this letter, he thought the same moment that he heard the voice of the inhabitants who lived hard "by the wood of Foclut,* near the western sea, crying to him with one voice, "We en- treat thee, holy youth, to come and walk among us." Thus formerly the great apostle of the world, St. Paul, was call- ed to preach in Macedonia, by a vision of one of that na- tion, begging help and assistance from him. St. Patrick was greatly amazed with this vision, and awoke. He tells * The wood of Foclut stood in the territory of Tir-Amalgaidj now the barony of Tirawly, and county of Mayo, west of the Moy, which empties itsolf into the Sea of Killa!a. Tir-Amalgaid, i. e. tlie county of Amalgaid, took its name from Amalgadius, who was king of Connaught, about the time of St. Palru'k's am val in Ireland. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 63 as, " he thanked God, that, after many years, he had dealt ^^ith them according to their crying out." from this time he formed the resolution of attempting the conversion of the Irish ; and, the better to prepare him for such a task, he undertook a painful journey to foreign parts, to enrich his mind with learning and experience. tie continued abroad thirty-five years, pursuing his studies, for the most part under the direction of his mother's uncle, St. Martin, bishop of Tours, who had ordained him deacon, and after his death, partly with St. German, bishop of Aux- erre, who ordained him a priest, and called his name Mo- gonius, which was the third name he was knovm by, and partly among a colony ofhermits and monks, in some islands of the Turonian or Armoric Sea ; a part of the time he also spent in the city of Rome, among the canons, regular, oi the Lateran church. St. Patrick, being delivered from his captivity in ogr the beginning of this year, being then in the twenty- third year of his age, returned to Great Britain, according to Marianus Scotus, and other writers ; but they all disa- gree as to the number of years he remained there. Some are of opinion that he continued for the space of eight years ; but it seems not probable to have been so long, to wit, from 395 to 403 inclusively ; for, if so, how could he have been a disciple of St. Martin, who died in 402 ? there are other authors who suppose him to have continued in Britain four years ; but it is far more probable that he sojourned there but a few months, before he was taken prisoner the second time, and continued between twenty and thirty days on sea, and in deserts, where he and the sailors fed on wild honey ; but in two months' time he had his liberty, and returned in June to his relatives, with whom he continued not many months. About the beginning of this year he went, for the „q|, first time, to St. German, at that time a layman ; and was then studying the civil law of the Romans in Italy, and continued with him tliree years and some months, ap- plying himself to the study of humanity, in which he could have made no great proficiency before, on account of his captivity. 04 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. oqq Being then twenty-seven years old, he left St German, and went to his relation, St. Martin, with whom he continued almost four years, improving himself in the knowledge of church discipline. 402 About this period he went a second time to St. or German, in the island of Arel, being thirty years 403. old, but did not continue long there. 403 He went to Rome, where he applied himself to the study of the Scriptures ; according to Vincen tius, in his Speculum Hib. lib. 20. c. 23. Math. Westmin- ster, in chron. 491, and Ninius ; he lived among the canons of Lateran, according to Gabriel Pennot, John de. Nigravalle, Volteranus, Augustinus, Tinicensis, and others His stay at Rome is computed to have been six years. . „Q He went from Roitie to a certain island in the Turonian Sea, and sojourned among some bare- footed hermits, who inhabited said island ; where he re- ceived the famous st;ifF, called Jesus's staff, which, as St. Bernard writes, was covered with gold and precious gems. Some writers have affirmed it to be given to St. Patrick by Christ himself : others, that it was given to the saint by a solitary of this isle, called Justus, which he received from our Saviour, with orders to give it to St. Patrick. But Cambrensis, in his topography, dis. 3. c. 34, remarks, that the virtue of tliis staJfF was as uncertain as its origin ; or the manner of St. Patrick's receiving it fiom Christ, immediately, or from the insular recluse, who received it from our Saviour with orders to deliver it to St. Patrick, was uncertain ; but this is certain, it was preseiTed with religious pomp, as one of the chief relics of Ireland, and translated, together with the text of the Gospel, used by St. Patrick, from Armagh to Christ-Church, Dublin, as the same Cambrensis observes. Joceline compares it with the rod of Moses, and makes a parallel between the wonders wrought by both the one and the other, which Thyrie, David Roth, and Peter Walsh, from his 46th page to p. 473 of his Prospect of Ireland, doth improve. Ware mentions, in his Annals, that this staff was burnt, with other relics, in 1538, a little after the Reformation THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. G5 Towards the end of this year, in the thirty-eighth .„„ year of his age, he went to some monks who dwelt in the island of Tamary, between the mountain and the sea, and continued with them nine months. Towards the end of this year, being between ..q forty-six and forty-seven, he went a third time to St. German, in the month of July, and was consecrated bishop of Auxerre, after the death of St. Amator, who ordained the said German, then a secular priest, and formerly a married man, with whom he staid fourteen years. St. German sent him along with Segetius, the .f, . priest, to be consecrated bishop, and exercise the episcopal functions at Banonia, or Bolonir ; according to John Malbranche, tom. 1. de Morinis, ] . 2. c. 26. St. Patrick, aged fifty, accompanied the holy .r,q bishops, St. German and St. Lupus, into Britain, to extinguish the Pelagian heresy, where he continued some years. St. Celestine, having been informed of tlie death .go of St. Palladius, appointed St. Patrick to preach in Ireland. It is necessary now to show tlie state of religion in Ireland, before the arrival of St. Patrick ; the better to judge of what he had to do, and what he did. Not to mention what writers have said, that St. James, the son of Zebedee, arrived and preached the Gospel there, in the 41st year of Christ; nor the dreams of others, who would make us indebted to a Pictish woman for our conversion, about the year 335 ; nor St. Mansue- tus, an Irishman, who was reputed by some authors a disciple of the apostle St. Peter, but it is not recorded by them that he returned to his native country ; it is certain there were many Christians in Ireland before the arrival of St. Palladius, in 431, or of St. Patrick in the year follow- ing. St. Kieran, St. Ailbe, St. Declan, and St. Ibar, whom Usher calls the precursors, or forerunners of St. Patrick, are pregnant proofs of this. They were natives of Ireland, from whence they travelled to Rome in search of education and learning, where they lived some years, 6 «■ 66 THE LIKE OF ST. PATRICK. were ordained, and returned home about the year 402. That there were some few Christians in Ireland, even before this time, may be gathered from the lives of St. Declan and St. Ailbe, as they are quoted by Usher. For St. Declan is there said to have been baptized by one Colman, a priest, and Ailbe by a Christian priest, possibly the same Colman ; and Declan, when he was seven years old, was put under the tuhion of Dyman, a religious Christian, to learn to read ; and Cairbre was his school-fel- low. The writer of the Life of St. Kieran, published by Colgan, says, that he was baptized in Rome in the thirtietli year of his age ; that he continued there twenty years , and on his return to Ireland," about the year 402, St. Patrick, being then on his journey to Ronie, met him in Italy, and the saints of God rejoiced. It seems that these early preachers confined their labours, to particular places, in which they had considerable success, but fell very short of converting the body of the nation. However, they sowed the seed which St. Patrick came afterwards to cultivate. And it appears in the -J sequel, that St. Patrick was so well satisfied with the ,' progress they made in their particular districts in Munster, that this was the last province in Ireland he thought proper to visit. That there were many Christians in Ireland at this period, seems to be confirmed by Prosper ; who, in giving an account of the mission of St. Palladius, says, that he was ordained by Pope Celestine I. and sent the first bishop to the Scots, believing in Christ. This pas- sage can mean nothing else, but that Palladius, born in Britain^ was sent to the Scots, i. e. the Irish, who had already formed churches, under the Saints Kieran, Ailbe, Declan, and Ibar : and so the bishop of St. Asaph ex- pounds it. This, tlien, was the next attempt that was made for the conversion of the Irish; Palladius engaged in a more ample and extensive design than his predecessors ; yet he failed in the execution of it, staid but a short time in Ireland, and converted a fetV^and is said to have founded three churches; but he had not courage to withstand the fierceness of the heathen Irish, nor abilities, through THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 67 Ignorance of the language, proper for the mission. Nathi, the son of Garchon, an Irish prince, opposed his preach- mg, upon which Palladius left the kingdom, and died in the land of the Picts, on the 15th of December, 431. This great work was reserved for St. Patrick, to whose actions it is time to return. It is controverted among writers, by whom St. Patrick was ordained a bishop, and sent on the Irish mission ; some say by Amatus, Amator, Amatarex, Amatheus, Amotus, or Matheus, for his name is written all these ways; while others hold that it -was Pope Celestine himself, who ordained and changed his name to Patricus, i. e. Pater Civium, Father of the People ; whereas, before he had been called Rlagonios, or Maun, by St. German, when he ordained him a priest. Concerning the dignity and privileges of the Patricii, among the ancient Romans, an account may be found in Dionysius Halicarnassus, Velleius Paterculus, and others ; from this dignity, among the Romans, the kings of France in after ages, by a decree of Pope Stephen, made in the reign of king Pepin, came to be called Patricii Romanorum. That St. Patrick was ordained bishop at Rome, is the opinion of the generality of writers, which seems to be confirmed by Prosper ; who, speaking of Celestine, says, " that, having ordained a bishop for tlie Scots, (i. e. the Irish,) while he endeavoured to keep the Roman islands, (i. e. Britain,) Catholic, he made the barbarous island, (*. e. Ireland,) Christian." Now, as Bishop Lloyd judi- ciously reasons, this cannot, with any probability, be affirmed of Palladius, but of some other bishop, who, by consent of all the ancients, was St. Patrick, sent to the Irish by tbe pope, after the death of St. Palladius ; and there was a sufficient space of time, from the 1 5th of De- cember, the day on which Palladius died, and the 6th of April, on which Pope Celestine died, for the pope to hear of the death of the first missionary, and to send St. Patrick to succeed him ; and there was also time enough in the year 431, before the 15th of December, for St. Palladius to "eceive his commission at Rome, to try what he could do 68 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. m Ireland, and, finding no success, to go over to Britaiu where he died. Bishop Lloyd observes, that the compassion vrith which St. Patrick was touched for the people of Ireland, whom he found, during his captivity, to be altogether heathens, was that which gave him the first impulse to endeavour at their conversion ; and no doubt this impulse was not a little heightened by his vision before-mentioned. As St. Palladius died among the Britons, it was easy for him to hear of his death, which he soon did ; and, being then at Auxerre, in the dutchy of Burgundy, with St. German, the bishop thereof, that bishop advised and persuaded him to pursue his former design of going to convert the Scots in the faith of Christ : in order to this he went to the pope, to get such powers as were thought necessary for accomplishing his great design. CHAPTER XI. AuxiLius and Iserninus, by some called Servinus, canons of the Lateran church, and some others, received the inferior orders with him, being intended for under-la- bourers in the same harvest, Auxilius being ordained a priest, and Servinus a deacon. ' Having received his credentials, he took leave of Rome, and, with all expedi- tion, set forward on his journey to Ireland, attended by twenty principal men, eminent for piety and wisdom. He arrived safe in Britain, where he preached in Cornwall a few days with success, and, as some say, in Wales ; here having increased his attendants to the number of thirty- four, he set sail for Ireland, and arrived with a prosperous gale, at a port in the territory of the Evoleni,* as Probus '' Probus calls this temto^y Regio Evolenoram, which the Irish writers call Crioch-Cuolan. It seems to be a mistake in him or his printer, by changing the letter C, in Cuolon, into the letter E, in Evolenoram. It was a territory in tlie east and maritime parts of the county of Wicklow, comprehending now the north parts of the barony of Arklow, and the south of the barony of Newcastle, seated on both sides of the River Dea, now called Leitrim ; at ■ the mouth of which Wicklcw, anciently called Kilmantan, or the cell of St. Mantan, according >o Usher's Primordia, t). 945, stands. Most of the writers of the life of St. Pal- THE LIFE OI- ST. PATRICK. 69 calls it ; but which the Irish writers term Crioch-Cuolan, or the county of Cuolan ; others call it the port of Jubber- Dea, or the mouth of the River Dea, and is now the port of Wicklow. He was in his sixtieth year when he landed in Ireland. John Flood, an English Jesuit,* and his copier, or English abridger, Hugh Paul, of Yorkshire, f and other writers, following the authority of William, of Mahnesbury, and of John, the monk of Glastenbury, before ^quoted, place his arrival in Ireland in 425 ; but this plainljr contradicts the more early writers :' he happily began hi? ministry by the conversion and baptism of Sinell, a great man in that country, the grandson of Finchad, who ought to be remembered, as the first fruits of St. Patrick's mission in Ireland, or the first of the Irish converted by him. He was the eighth in lineal descent from Cormac, king of Leinster, and afterwards came to be enumerated among the saints of Ireland. Nathi, the son of Garchon, and king of that district, who, the year before, had frightened away St. Palladius, in vain attempt- ed to terrify St. Patrick, by opposing and contradicting his doctrine. From hence he bent his course to a castle near the sea, called Rath-Inbher,J near the mouth of the river Bray ; but the pagans of those parts rose up, and dra»'e him to his ship, and then he sailed to an island on the coast of the county of Dublin, which, after him, is called Inis-Phadruig, and, by the English, Holm-patrick,§ to this day, where he and his companions rested after their fatigue. rick call the place where he landed lubhor Dea, or Ihe mouth of the River Dea, which Colgan thinks should be called Inbher Da^ad, a dynast of that country, *vho was' there drowned. Cuolan was thte country of a branch of the O'Kelleys. *Who published his Ecclesiastical History of England, in Latin, undet the borrowed name of Michael Alford. t Who, from belnff the Protestant dean of Leighlin, became a Benedictine, pui>lished under the Borrowed name of Serenus Cressy, his folio Church History-,, lenn. t Ralh-Inbher, in Iri.sh, si^nifieth a castle, or rather an artificial mount or bar- row, seated on the mouih ol a river. Usher is inclined to think that this place is Old Court. § Holm-palrick, from Holm, an old Saxon word, signifies a haven, or the har- bour of St. Patrick, near Skerries, in Fingal ; lies twelve miles distant from Dublin. In it formerly stood a priory of canons regular, founded by Sitricus Fitz-Murchard, before the coming of the English, in the church of which waa held, A. D. ll-i^i, by St. Malachy and St. Gelasius, a synod of fifteen bishops and 'wo hundred clerks. The ruins of said church arc still extant in that island, 70 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. From Inis-Patrick he sailed northward, to that part of Ulster called Ulidia,* and put in at Iijbher-slaing Bay.f When he and his fellow-labourers had landed, Dichu, the son of Trichem, lord of that country, being informed that they were pirates, came out with armed men in order to kill them ; but, being struck with the venerable appearance of St. Patrick, and listening attentively to the word of life preached by him, he changed his wicked purpose, believ- ed, and was baptized, and brought over all his family to the faith. It is further observed of him, that he was the first person in Ulster who etnbraced Christianity; but this was not all; he dedicated the land, whereon his conversion was wrought, to God, where a church was built, which got the name of Sgibol, or SabhaIl-phadruigh,J i. e. the from whence the priory was removed by Henry de Lomidres, archbishop of Dublin, who died 1228, into a more convenient place on the continent, where now stands a parish church, in which divine service is performed, and dedicated to St. Patrick. * tJlidia, in a large sense, is taken for all the province of Ulster, but, properly, is only that part of it called the county of Down, a small share of the -S'. S. E. parts of the county Antrim ; jn Irish, Ulla^h. t Inbher-slaing, or the mouth of the River Slain^, is now called the Bay of Dundrum, in the coimty of Down. The River Slamg, or Slain, rises in the bar- ony of Castle-reagh, and coimty of Down ; and, taking a southerly course, falls into the north end of the Bay of Dundrum. X Sabhall-phadruigh, called "Saballum, and commonlj^ Saul, was an abbey of canons regular, founded by St. Patrick in the year 432, in the barony of Locale, an# county of Down, on the east side of the Bay of Dundrum. Sgibol, in Irish, signifies a bam. Though some hold that thename of the place was Samhall, which signifies save : for the cry was, " come and be saved ;" and that, by soft- ening the m into v, the word is pronounced by the Irish, saval, and by the Eng- lish, saul. As this monastery appears now to stand in the usual form of churches, i. c. east and west, though some ancient writers relate that it stood north and south, which, perhaps, it might have done in its original state of England. This was, perhaps, one of the first founded monasteries in the kingdom, being erected in the year 432; but we must not conceive it to be then built of stone, in the stately manner it has since appeared; for that task was performed by St. Malachy O'Morgair, when bishop of Down ; and there are here two small vaulted rooms of stone yet entire, about seven feet high, six feet long, and two feet and a half broad, with a small window placed on one side. One of them is now closed up, and used by some families for a tomb, the church-yard being a great burial-place of the natives. At some distance from the chtu-ch, on the S. W. side, stands a battlemented castle and two small towers, but no stone stairs in the castle, leading up to the top of it, as is usual in such fabrics. It is proba ble there were stairs of timber in the body of the building, by which people might ascend from story to story; in the west angles of eadi, these stories are neatly finished within the wall, rising in various sections to the top, where they terminate in a circle. At some distance from the abbey, is to be seen, in the side of a stable wall, a stone, which formerly belonged to the monastery, inscrib- ed with these letters. Nso, for Anno, the rest being defaced. It is adorned with two fleur de lis, and two trees ; and, in the same wall, on the opposite side of the door, is another stone, with Uie letter F inscribed, and the figure of a rose. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 7] Dam of Patrick, and is said to be extended from north to south, contrary to the usual form of churches, after the figure of the barn dedicated by Dichu ; and this church was afterwards converted into an eminent monastery r these were thB transactions of the year 432. Early in the year 433, St. Patrick left Sabhall, .«<, and travelled northwards by land to Clanebois, in Dalaradia, to endeavour the conversion of his old master, Milcho, whose service he had left thirty-eight years before ; but this obstinate prince, hearing of the great success of St. Patrick's preaching, and ashamed to be persuaded in his old age to forsake the paganism of his ancestors, especially by one who had been his servant, made a funeral pile of his house and goods, and, by the instigation of the enemy of mankind, burned himself therein. Thus most of the writers of the life of St. Patrick relate this event ; but the tripartite autlior adds, that Guasact, the son of Milcho, and two of his daughters, both called Emeria, were converted and baptized. The former became afterwards bishop of Granard, in the ancient Teffia,* and the two daughters took the veil at Cluain-broin, in the neighbourhood. St. Patrick was sorely afflicted at this rash action of Milcho, and is said to have stood three hours silent, and in tears. It put a stop to his further progress northward, at this time. He returned to Inis,-]- the habitation of Dichu, by the same road he came, he made the circuit of that whole territory, and in it the faith increased rapidly. He took his leave of Dichu, and bent his course southward, by sea, keeping the coast on his right hand, * Teffia was an extensive territoiy, comprehending more than half the county of Westmealh, and all the county of Longford. The Longford TefiBa was divid- ed into north and west Teffia ; in the former of which stood Granard, an early episcopal see, planted by St. Patrick. If I mistake not, the north parts of tne Longford Teffia came alter to be called Angalia : Cluain-broin, in which was a nunnery founded by St. Patrick, a few miles south of Granard. tTlie habitation of Dichu was said before to be at Sabhall, now at Inis ; tnis Implies no contradiction : Sabhall was the particular spot where his house stood, Inis his whole territory, which was the island or penmsula of Lecale ; the ancient writers call it Magli-Inis, or the island-plain, and it is all level, almost surrounded by the lough and bay of Slrangford. The sea and bay of Dundrum, aUcT the lime we are speaking of, came to be called Leth-cathal, or the portion of Cathal ; a dynast to whose lot it fell, upon a partition, which hath been since softened into Lecale, and is now a barony in the county of Down. 73 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. and amved at port Colbdi,* where he landed, au^ committed the charge of his vessel to his nephew, St,'^ Luman. by his sister, Tigrida, whom afterwards he con- secrated bishop of Trim, (1) desiring him to wait for him there forty days, while he and his disciples were travelling into the inner parts of the country to preach the Gospel. His intention in this journey was to celebrate the festival oi Easter in the plains of Bregia,f and to be in the ne'gh- bourhood of the great triennial convention at Tarab.wliich at this season was to be held by king Laoghaire, J and all his tributary princes, nobles, and druids, or pagan priests. St. Patrick justly thought that whatever impressions were made here, must have an influence on the whole kingdom, and, therefore, being armed with unshaken fortitude, he determined not to be absent from a place where his pres- ence was so necessary. In his way, he took up his lodgings at the house of the hospitable Sesgnen, in Meath, who kindly received and welcomed him. St. Patrick preach- ed Christ and his doctrine to him ; he beheyed and was baptized, with his whole family. Sesgnen had a little son, of a sweet and gentle disposition, whom St. Patrick nam- ed Benignus, or Benneeri, that is, sweet, in Irish, from the qualities he observed in this young Christian ; he was afterwards one of the successors of St. Patrick in the see of Armagh ; to whom, according to Ware, in his first chapter of his first book of writers, is ascribed an Irish poem on the conversion of the people of Dublin to Chris- tianity. From the house of Sesgnen, he moved westward, and * Colbdi was a little port, which vet retains a share of its name, and is called Colp; near Drogheda, at the moutn of the Boyne. Our antiquaries say it took Its name from Colptha, the brother of Heremon, kinff of Ireland, who was drowned here 2bout the year of the world 3300. In Colph stood formerly a priory of canons reffular, founded at the close of the twelfth century by Hugh de Lacy, lord of Meatn ; it depended on the priory of Lanthon, in Monmouthshire, Wales. The ruins of the cnurch still remain, and is the burial-place of some of the Bellews family, and of some others. (1) For Trim, see Appendix. \ Breffia, or Mac-bregh, was a large, spacious plain, extended for so many miles about Tarah, the residence of tlie monarch of Ireland, called anciently Temoria. \ Pronounced nearly like Latsrry, THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 73 arrived on the eve of Easter at Ferta-fir-feic,* on the north banks of the River Boyne, where he rested in a tent erected for shelter, resolving there to prepare for the next day's soleffiinily, , It was penal for any person, at the time of the celebration of this solemn convention at Tarah, to kindle a fire m the province, before the king's bonfire first appeared. St. Patrick, either not knowing or not minding this law, lighted up a fire before his booth, which, although eight miles distant from Tarah, was very visible. It was seen with astonishment from ■ the court, and the druids informed the Icing that if he did not immediately extinguish this fire, he who kindled it, and his successors, should hold the principality of Ireland for ever; which hath hitherto happened to be a true prediction of those heathen priests, as to spiritual principality. The king despatched messengers to bring Patrick before him, and gave his positive orders that nobody should presiime to rise out of his seat, or pay him the least honour. But Ere, the son of Dego, ventured to disobey this command. He arose, and offered the holy father his seat ; St. Patrick preached to him, and convert- ed him ; he became a person of great sanctity, and after some time was consecrated by St. Patrick bishop of Slane. The day following, when St. Patrick and two of his disciples appeared unexpectedly at court, and preach- ed to the king and all his nobles, Dubtach, the king's poet- laureate, paid honour and respect to St. Patrick, and was converted by his preaching. Fiech, a' young poet, who was under the tuition of Dubtach, was also converted, and afterwards made bishop of Sletty, and author of a poem on the life of St. Patrick, repeatedly mentioned, and given from the Latin version in an Enghsh translation, at the * Ferta-fir-fieic, in Irish, imports " the graves of the men of Fiech ;" and our antiquaries say that it took its name from the servants of Fiech, wlio dug deep graves there for their enemies slain in battle ; it is now called Slane. It was at lerwards made an episcopal see, and St. Ere the first bishop of it ; but mergea into the bfihaprick of Meath in after ^es, together with Trim, Duleek, Dun- shaughlin, Foar, Kilskire, Ardbracai^ and Slane. Christopher Fleming, baron of Slane, who was treasurer of Ireland in part of Henry the VIII's reign, and Elizabeth Slukely, his wife, founded there a convent of the third order of St. Francis, in 1512, in the hermitage of St. Ere ; the Flemings forfeited Slane, and it is now the estate of the Cunninghams, though they have not the title, for it i» extinct. 7 74 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. end of this work. St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury relates the conversion of Fingar, the son of Clito, one oi the nobles at this assembly, in the same manner. The queen also, and many others of the court, became Chris- tians, and although the king held out for a long time with great obstinacy, yet at last he submitted to be baptized. St. Patrick is said here to have wrought many miracles ; there could ^ot indeed, according to. the projects of human wisdom, have happened a more weighty occasion for the Almighty's supporting this preacher by miracles, than when the collective body of the whole nation were assembled together, from whose report and conviction the influence of his doctrine and works must necessarily spread through the kingdom ; for it was suitable with the divine providence that the " signs of his apostolate should be confirmed," as St. Paul expresses, " not only in all patience, but also in signs and wonders, and mighty deeds." The particular miracles may be read in the several writers of his life, published by John Colgan, in his Trias Thau- tpaturgas. CHAPTER XII. From Tarah he proceeded next to Talten, not far from thence, at the season of the royal diversions.* Here he preached to Cairbre and Connall, the two brothers of king Leoghair : the former received him with great indignity, * The Taltenian sports have been much celebrated by the Irish historiaIiS^ they were a sort of warlike exercises, something resemblinff the Olympic games, consisting of racing;, tilts, tournaments, or something like them, and other exer- cises. They were Tield every year at Talten, a mountain in Meath, for fifteen davs before, and fifteeij davs after the 1st of August : their first institution is as crii)ed to Lugaidh-lam-fadali, the twelfth king ot Ireland, A. M. 2764, in grati- tude to die memory of Tailte, the daughter of Magh-mor, a prinCe of some parts of Soain, who, having been married to Eochaid, King of Ireland, took this Lu- faidft under her protection, and had the care of his education in his minority 'rom this lady, both the sports, and the place where they were celebrated, to-jk tlieir names. From king Lugaidh, the 1st of August was called Lugnasa, oi Ihe memory of Lugaidh Nosas, signifying trtemory, in Irish. It is now called Lainas, but corruptly, the ancient name being Lnafmas, from the custom of of- fering a loaf of new wheat at mass, on the 1st of August, as an oblation of tii» first fruits. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 75 nnd obstinately shut his ears against his doctrine; but Connall believed, and was baptized, and gave St. Patrick a place to build a church on. This Connall was great grandfather to St. Columbkille. He spent the remainder of this year in Meath and Louth, and the countries adjoining, preaching, and converting great numbers of people. About this time, we are told by the writers of .„ . his life, that, having given his benediction to his dear friend Connall, (as Joceline calls him,) in the begin- ning of the year 434, he took leave of Meath, and travel- led into Connaught, not forgetting the oracular dream or vision before mentioned, by which he thought himself more particularly called to the conversion of those parts. In his way he happened to meet the two daughters of the king Leoghair, Ethne the fair, and Fedeline the ruddy, who were educated under the tuition of two druids, Mael and Caplait ; he preached to them the words of truth : they heard him, were converted and baptized, together with their tutors. The hves of these pious ladies have been published by John Colgan, who assigns the 11th of January for fheir feast,, and Probus hath given us at large the sermon which he says St. Patrick preached to them. The season of Lent approaching, St. Patrick withdrew into a high mountain, on the western coast of Connaught, called Cruachan-Aiclde,* to be more at leisure for con- templation and prayer. The writers of his life tell us, " that, in imitation of our Saviour, Moses, and Elias, he here fasted forty days without taking any kind of suste- nance." Joceline says further, "that in this place he gathered together the several tribes of serpents and veno- mous creatures,' and drove them headlong into the Western Ocean, and that from hence hath proceeded that exemp- tion which Ireland enjoys from aU poisonous reptiles." But the earlier writers of St. Patrick's life have not mentioned it. Solinus, who wrote some hundred years * Craachan-Aichle, or rather Cruachan-Achuil, which, in the old Irish, signifieth mount-eagle, is a high mountain in the west of Connaught, in the barony o( Monsk, and coimty of Mayo, now called Croagh-Patrick, from St Patrick'* r9^«tence on it for some tim6. 76 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. before St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, takes notice of thta exemption: and St. Isidore, bishop of Seville, in the seventh century, copies after him. The venerable Bede, in tlie eighth age, mentions this quality, but is silent as to the cause, and so is St. Donat,* bishop of Fesula,,near Florence, vrho, in describing his country, Ireland, hath these lines : Far westward lies an Isle of ancient fame, By nature bless'd,- and Scotia is her name. Enrolled in books, exhaustless in her store. Of veiny silver, and of golden ore. Her fruitful soil for ever teems with wealth. With gems her waters, and her air with health ; Her verdant fields with milk and honey flow, Her woolly--fleeces vie -vvitli virgin snow 5 Her waving furrows float with oearded com. And arms and arts her envy'd sons adorn. " No savage bear with lawless fiu-y roves, Nor rav'nous lion through the peaceful groves ; No poison there infects;, no scaly snake Creeps through the grass, nor frog annoys the lake." r An island worthy ofher pious race. In war triumphant, "and unmatched in peace.t ' Cambrensis treats this story as a fable, and Colgan gives it up. From these testimonies arise unanswerable arguments to prove that this exemption is owing to the na- ture and quality of the air, or soil, or to some other unknown cause, and not to the virtues of our patron, which have no need to be supported by the inventions of Joceline. Yet Dr. David Roth, the learned bishop of Ossory, hath a long chapter in defence of this opinion ; but the argument he has offered on the occasion appears, with great defer- ence to that erudite author, not to be the most solid. He * Whose life see in Surius, on the 22d of October. t Finibus occiduis describitur optima tellus. Nomine et antiquis, Scotia,^ scriptalibris Insula dives opum gemmarum vestis etauri, Commoda corporibus aere, sole, solo. Melle fluit pulchris et lacteis, Scotia, campis, Vestibus atque armis, frugibus, arte, viris. y Ursorum rabies nulla est ibi ; saeva leonum, Semina nee unquam toxica terra tulit. Nulla venena nocent ; nee serpens serpit in herba, Nee conquesta eanit garrula rana lacu. In qua Seotormn gentes habitare merentur, Inclyta gens hominum milite, pace, fide. } Ireland waa called Scotia Id the age these verses were written THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK 77 cites the traditions of the Irish, the ecclesiastical offices, and the opinions of writers, foreign and domestic, ancient and modern. But to give weight to his arguments, he should have shown that these traditions, offices, and opinions, were much more ancient than Joceline,: or sup- ported by some writer who lived near the time of St. Patrick, which he has not done ; they are all authorities of a later date than Joceline, and probably copied from him. The objections which Dr. Roth raised to the testi- mony of Solinus have as slender a foundation in reason. " For Solinus," saith he, " not only mentions this exemp- tion of Ireland from venomous creatures, but says further, that in Ireland there are few birds, and no bees, and therefore concludes, that, as he is mistaken in these latter particulars, so he is not to be believed in the former." But this way of reasoning strikes at the credit of all pro- fane history, none being exempt from error : besides, although we have plenty pf birds and bees now, yet it may admit of some question whether we had very many for- merly, in the age of Solinus. The Britons, in the time of Caesar, had no corn, especially in the inland countries, but lived on milk and flesh. The food of the ancient Irish was, for the most part, milk, butter, and herbs, from whence Strabo calls" them herb-eaters. If there was a scarcity of corn among the Irish in the days of Solinus, it may seem to follow that there could be no very great plenty of birds, since there was not sufficient food for the support of the several tribes of them, especially such as lived on corn ; and it may be observed at this day, that birds abound most in the corn countries of the kingdom. There are several species of birds among us now, which were unknown to our ancestors, and particularly it is not many years since the magpie tirst visited us. As to what Solinus mentions, , that there were no bees in Ireland at the time he wrote, I shall not take upon me to defend the fact, but only observe, that Madomnoc, or St. Dominick, of Ossory, who flourished about the middle of the sixth century, is, by the writer of his life, published by Colgan, said to be the first who brought bees, or at least ti particu- lar sort of bees, into Ireland, which Cambrensis, Peter 7* yg THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. Lombard, the calendar of Cashel, the author of the life ol St. David, bishop of Menevia, St. .Sngus, and many others confirm. Neither of these arguments are offered as conclusive, but seem to carry as great weight as any thing Dr. Roth hath offered in defence of Joceline : but to return to St. Patrick. Having finished his devotions on Mount Aichle, he descended into the plain, to forvirard the work of his mission ; and, having preached and converted great num- bers here, he celebrated the festival of Easter. In this place he founded a church, in the territory of Umalia,* or Hy-malia, Achad-Fobhair,f and placed over it one of his disciples, the humble Senach, who was so regardless of vain glory, as to make a request that the church might not be called after his name. CHAPTER Xm. Fkom hence he moved northward, until he came to Tyr-Amalgaid,J all the way preaching and converting multitudes. It was in this territory the wood of Foclut stood, concerning the inhabitants of which he had the lively dream or vision before mentioned. He looked upon this as the place to which he was more particularly appointed, and did not fail to lay hold of the opportunity which here presented itself. At this time the seven, or, as some say, twelve sons of Amalgaid, contending about a successor to the throne of their father, had here convened all the nobles and people of that province to council. He preached with boldness among them, and is said to have wrought many miracles for their conversion, especially among the druids, or heathen priests. The writers of his life, with whom Nennius and Mathew of Westminster * Umali, or Hv-Malia, an ancient terrilory in the south-west of the county of MayOjSeated on the Western Ocean^ coinprehending tJie barony of jVTorisk,or at least the maritime parts of it, and, perhaos, the half barony of Ross, in the counlv of Gahvay, as far as the banks of Lough-corb ; it was here the dan ol tlie 0''Maly's was planted, from the founder of which (Malius) it took its name; t Achad-Fobhair was anciently an episcopal see, but is now only a parish church, and the head of a rural deanery in tlie diocess of Tuam, and county ol Mayo. ^"For this place, see the note to page 62. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 79 agree, say, that he baptized in one day the seven sons of Amalgaid, and twelve thousand others. St. Patrick himself mentions many thousands as converted on this occasion. Among this people he planted a church, and placed over it Mancenus, a religious and devout man, and one well skilled in the holy scriptures. It would be a tedious journey to travel with him step by step through this province, in which he continued seven years, preach- ing in every quarter, and converting and baptizing wherev- er he came, so that he may be said to have wrought almost a general conversion in it. Colgan reckons up the particular names of forty-seven churches planted by him here, over which he placed as many pastors. The last church he founded in Connaught was . .- at Cassiol-Irra,* in that part of it now called the county of Sligo, of which he made St. Bron bishop. From hence he travelled along the maritime coasts of the north of Connaught, by SIigeach,f Drumcliabh,f and Ross-Clogher,§ until he arrived at Magh-Ean,|| in the south parts of Tirconnel in Ulster, where he continued some time, and founded a church called Domnach-Mor- Magh-Ean, or the great church of Magh-Ean. From hence he crossed the Erne, near Easroa, or Ashroe,ir and * Cassiol-Irra, now simply called Cashel, is a church and village lying in the Darony of Leny, and county of Sligo, between the Rivers Uncliin and Owen- mor, about six miles south of Sligo, which is in the diocess of Elphin. + Sligeach, now called Sligo, is a well-known seaport town, seated in a coun ty and on a -river and bay of the same name. Ptolomy calls the river Libnius^ and Gambrensis, Slichneius. i t)rumcliabh, now called Dmmcllffe or Drumclive, thouffh anciently an epis- copal see, is now but a sorry village in the barony of Carberry, and county ot Sligo, about three miles due north of SHgo. §Ross-Clogher is a barony in the county of Leitrim, in the north part of which stands a villtigeof the same namq, near Lough-melvin. [j Magh-Ean, or the plain of water 5 Magh signifying a field j and Ean, in the old Irish, looker, is a largp' plain lying in the south of the county of Donegal, extended between the Bay of Donegal and the River Erne and Drabhois, wliich last mentioned river runs out of Lough-melvin, and, taking a W. N. W. course, falls into the Bay of Dpnegal, at Bundroose, anciently called Bundrabhois, or the bottom of DraShois. From this situation among waters, Magh-Ean took its name. Drabhois, by corruption, is called Droos; K Easroa, now usually writ Ashroe, and anciently Easaodruaidh, is a greaf cataract or v/aterfall on the River Erne, which floweth out of the west end of a lough of that name, and falls into the Bay of Donegal. It is a place famous for a plentiful salmon fishery. At Belek, west of this, is another waterfall, famous for eeh Easaodruaidh, the ancient "name of this place, was called so from Aoid-Knuadh, or Aid, the red king of Ireland, A. M. 3582, who was accideat. ally drowned here. The name imports the water of Aoidh, the red. 80 THE LIFE OF ST. PAiPRICK. passed through all Tirconnelj pfeafehing, convertirg, and planting churches every where, until he arrived at Ail6ch- Neid,* the seat and residence of prince Owen, one of the sons of king Neil, whom he converted, with all his family. He generally addressed himself first to the princes and great men, wisely judging, that the populace would easily be prevailed on to follow their leaders, according to that saying of the poet, "The monarch frames the morals of the state. "f From the peninsula of Innis-Eoghain,f or Inis-Owen, he passed tfie Foyle,§ between Derfy and the Lough, and came to the River Fochmuine,|| about which neighbourhood he continued seven weeks, and founded as many churches ; and then returned to Inis-Eoghain tlie same way, and, travelling northwards, continued therie about the River Bredachlt forty days, where he founded the church of Domnach-Bile,** and converted these north-- ern parts of the peninsula to Christianity. From thence, passing over the narrow Frith at the north end of Lough- Foyle, he kept along the shore till he came to Duncru- then,-f"j- where he founded a church, and placed a pastor over it. In these parts he continued seven weeks, and converted Sedna, the son of Trena, and aU his clan. * Ailech-Neid, commonly called Ailecli, without addition, was an ancient pal ace of the kings of Ireland, lying in the peninsula of Inis-Owen, about tln-ee miles north of Derry. t " Regis ad exemplum, totns componitur orbis/' \ Inis-Eoghain, or the island of Owen, now the barony or peninsula of Inis- Owen, is mostly surrounded by the sea, Lough-Suilly, and Lough-Foyle, so that the land entrance into it is not much above three miles. It is usual lor the Irish to call a peninsula an island, as they do this. § Lough-Foyle, anciently called Lough-Febhuil and Lough-Fewel, is a large lake in the county of Derry, about fourteen miles long, and m most places from six to ^ht miles broad. On the south arm of this lake, which is called the River Poyle, stands Derry, anciently called Daire-Calgeagh, about four miles ioulh of the great lough. Ptolomy calls this lough the, Argita, which Camden mistakes for Lough-Suilly. It empties itself into the Northern Ocean, by a nar- row frith, about six or seven miles from the mouth of the Bann. 11 Fochmuine, now corrupted into Faughan, a river risii^ in the barony of Tirekerin, in the county of Derry, which, taking a N. N. W. coilrse, falls mto Lough-Foyle, about a mile east ofthe mouth of the Foyle. TTBredach is a little river rising in the barony of Inis-OwOT, and county of Donegal, which, after a short S. E. course, falls into Lough-Foyle, about mid- way between Green-castle and White-castle. ** Domnach-bile, now called Magh-bile, of which name there were two mon- asteries, one here, the other in the cotmty of Down. tt Dun-cruthen, or the castle of Crutheni, is now, as Colgajl thinKS, cailed Pun- bo, a parish church in the north parts of the barony of 'Coleraine, and coimty oj! Deny. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 81 Then he passed the River Bann at Cuilrathen,* and made some stay in the territory of Lea,f where he formed the resolution of proceeding both through Dalrieda and Dalaradia. In the former of these territories he never had been before, and in Dalaradia he made but a short stay, having retired from thence, being oppressed with grief for the cruel fate of Milcho, as is before related. I shall not follow him through those districts, but only observe, that wherever he came he preached the Gospel, converted the countries, erected churches, and established ecclesiastical discipline. He spent two whole years in this progress, from the time he left Connaught until he arrived at Lugh or Ludha, now called Louth. He staid here some time, at a place called af- ..„ terwards, from him, Ard-Patrick, to the east of the town of Louth ; he intended to have built a church, and to have fixed a bishop's see at Louth, but was prevented herein by the religious Mochthe, who, arriving from Britain at this time, set about building a church here, and became himself first bishop of Louth. From henee he moved northward to Clogher,f and founded there a church and bishop's see, which for some time he himself governed, but then surrendered it to Mac- Cartin, (2) the old companion of his travels, both in Italy and Ireland, who is accounted the first bishop of Clogher. CHAPTER XIV. After spending some time In Ard-Patrick, and . . - Clogher, and the neighbouring countries, he this year moved to Druim-Sailech,§ afterwards called Armagh * Cuilralhen, now called Colerain, a town seated on the north banks of the River Bann, toolc its name from a situation in a ferny country, Cecil signifying a comer J and RatJien, fern. t Lea was an ancient territory in the north of Ulster, in the county of Antrim, and extended along the east banks of the Bann. t Clogher, situated on the River Laimy, takes its name from a golden stone, from which, in the times of paganism, the devil used to pronounce juggling an- swers, like the oracles of Apollo Pytnius, as it is said in the registry of Clogher J Druim-Sailech, called so from the quantity of sallows there growing, tooKthe name of Armagh, or the high field, from its situation on an eminence. 8 THE LIFE OF ST. FATklCK. Daire. The lord of the territory made him a present of the place. Here he laid out a city, large in compass, and beautiful in situation ; built a cathedral, monasteries, and other religious places ; drew to it inhabitants, both secular and spiritual ; and therein established schools and semina ries of education. Ware places the foundation of the church of Armagh in 455, which surely must be a typo- graphical error, else that exact writer must be supposed to contradict himself in the same page, for he says that St. Patrick committed the care of the church of Armagh to St. Benignus, ten years after, and that St. Benignus resigned in 485, by which account he must be understood to resign the see at the same time he was promoted to it. But Usher is more exact when he places the foundation in 445, the succession of St. Benignus in 455, and his resignation, with the advancement of Jarlath, in 465. . .„ His labours every where met with such prodigi- ous success, that he had not assistants sufficient to gather in so large a harvest. To obtain, therefore, coad- jutors and fellow-labourers, for this pious work, he crossed over into Britain this year. He found that island misera- bly corrupted with the Pelagian and Arian heresies ; but he took such pains, while he staid among them, that he recovered multitudes of that country from those pestilent infections. Here he found a great many men of learning and piety, whom he engaged to assist him in the conver- sion of the Irish, and consecrated thirty of them bishops before he returned. He came to Liverpool to take ship- ping, and, on his approach to that town, the people came out to receive him, and, at the place where they met him, erected a cross in honour and memory thereof, and called it by his name, which to this very day it bears. John Seacome, a native of Ratoath, in the county of Meath, and alderman of Liverpool, in his History of the Isle of Man, relates, that St. Patrick and his companions, having rested and refreshed themselves some time at Liv- erpool, put into the Isle of Man,* (3) where he found the people very much given to magic, but, being overcome Vide pp. 41 and 42 of the quarto edition. Liverpool printed 1741. THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 83 and convinced by his preaching and miracles, were eitlier converted or expelled the island. St. Patrick placed here St. German, one of his . .- disciples, who travelled with him from Rome, and according to some writers, a canon of the Lateran Church, and a companion of Auxilius and Isernius. This German was a holy, prudent man, says Joceline, proper to rule and instruct the people in the faith of Christ, and he was ap- pointed bishop of the Isle of Man, but died before St. Patrick, who sent two bishops to supply his place, St. Conindrius and St. Romulus, of whom there is little mem- orable, but one or more of them survived St. Patrick, and died ia 494 ; St. Maughold succeeded him as bishop.* But to return to. St. Patrick; — ^besides the Isle of Man, he is said to have visited many of the neighbouring islands. St. Patrick returned to Ireland early in the year . .„ following, and visited his new see of Armagh, where, in conjunction with Auxilius and Isernius, he held a synod, the canons of which are yet extant. In the eighth are the footsteps of the ancient combat for the trial of truth. It being there provided, " That if a clerk be- come surety for a heathen, and be deceived, he shall pay the debt ; but if he enters into the lists vnth him, he shall be put out of the pale of the Church." The fourteenth lays a penance on those who should have recourse to soothsaying, or the inspection of the entrails of beasts, for searching into future events. Having broke up this synod, he took his journey to Leinster, through Meath, and, passing the river Finglas,f came to Bally-ath-Cliath, (4) now called Dublin : the people, not unacquainted with his fame, flocked out in multitudes to welcome him. Alphin, the son of Eochaid, is said to have then been king of that place, to whom St. * He is mentioned to have been such in 578, by Dr. Helyn. t Finglas, a village two tniles from Dublin, formerly an episcopal see and an abbey, now a parochial church, dedicated to St. Kenny. It gave the title o/ barim to Thomas Windham, lord high chancellor of Ireland. Colgan, in his 623d page, N. 24, Act. Ss. and 16. Mart, relates, that in Fin- glas Abbey were buried St. Flanius, whose feast was kept on the 21st of Janua- ry; St. Noe, 27th Jan.; St. Dubliterius, May the 15th; St. Folchue; and the same author mentions the death of St. Ropertus, or Robertach, bishop of Fin glas, and chronologer, to have happened in the year 865. g4 THE LIFE OF ST, PATRICK. Patrick preached, and having converted him and all his people, not only by the fervour of his zeal m preaching, but by the vrorking of miracles, in restoring to hfe his son and daughter, whereof one was drovraed, and the other died of sickness, as Joceline affirms, the king and people were baptized in a fountain called, after him, St. Patrick's Well, south of the city of Dublin. This well, according to Joceline, owes its birth to a miracle wrought by St. Patrick, in favour of his landlady, who complained of the scarcity of fresh water. Having recourse to prayer, m presence of many, and, like, another Moses, caused a most clear spring to flow from a rock, when touched with his rod. St. Patrick struck the ground with the staff of Je- sus, and there immediately sprung up a most excellent fountain, which, according to the above quoted author was reputed to be of great virtue, in curing many dis- orders. He built a church near this fountain, on the foundation whereof the noblest cathedral in the kingdom hath been since erected, which still bears his name. Usher tells us, in page 863, of his Primordia, that he had seen this fountain, which stood near the steeple, and that in 1639 it was shut up and enclosed within a private house. The same learned antiquarian. Usher, cites from the black book of Christ Church a passage, which he inserts in the 497th page of his antiquities of the British Church, wherein it is mentioned, that St. Patrick celebrated mass in one of the subterraneous vaults of Christ Church,* which in after ages was called St. Patrick's Vault, Fora- men Sancti Patricii. The cathedral of the Blessed Trin- ity was afterwards built over the vaults. Many such may be seen to this day in France ; for there are subterraneous chapels under the Abbatial church of St. Genivieve, and the parochial one of St. Sulpice, in Paris ; and also under the cathedral of Chartres, and St. Victor's Church at Marseilles, and several others ; also in England, St. Faith was under St. Paul's, and at Canterbury there is a church under that cathedral. Captain Stephens, in the sixth page * Christ Church was built over the place where the arches or vaults were founded by Sitricus, the son of Amlavc, king of the Ostinen of Dublin by Do nat, bishop of Dublin, about the year )nj3. THE LIFE OF foT. PATRICK. 85 of his Monasticon Hybernicum, writes, that this cathedral is so ancient, that several authors agree it had been built under ground before the coming of St. Patrick to Ireland. Perhaps St. Palladius had appointed St. Silvester Sydo- nius, or Salonius Gregory, or Benedict, or some other of his companions, bishop of Dublin, which is far more an- cient than Ossory, of which Kyran was bishop, or Emley of which St. Albeus was bishop, or Trim, of which St. Luman was bishop, according to Usher, twelve years be- fore Armagh, which was not built till 454. St. Patrick, in 448, celebrated mass in Dublin, which was called Eb- lana by Ptolomy, who flourished under the emperor T. Aurelius Hadrianus and Antonius Pius, from whence it follows, that none of the three Norwegian brethren, Ame- lachus, Sitricus, or Ibor, were the first founders, but only the repairers and fortifiers of it, a little before the Danish war ; and Donat, not the first bishop of DubUn, but only the first Ostman bishop of DubUn ; for it is highly im- probable that St. Patrick would leave a Church at Dublin, A. D. 448, without a bishop to preside over it, and in this particular instance deviate from his universal practice in other places; and by that means introduce a different species of Church government from what he had settled in all other parts of the kingdom, according to the form which, in the course of his travels, he had observed in all the churches of the Roman empire ; and though the rec- ords of this Church placed Donat the first bishop thereof, it is to be observed that the monuments preceding the eleventh century were lost, as the learned father Hugh Ward, a minorite of the Irish convent of that order in liOuvain, who was admirably skilled in Irish antiquities, justly remarks, in his hfe of St. Rumold, bishop of Dublin and martyr, published in quarto at Louvain, in 1626, and dedicated to his grace the then archbishop of MechUn, and primate of Flanders. Yet, in some manner, the silence of records are at best but a negative argument, and 'conse- quently inconclusive. However, the silence of these rec- ords are supphed by biographers and historians, who men- tion St. Livinus, bishop of Dublin, in 620; St. Wiro, bishop of it in 650 ; St. Disibod, its bishop in 675 ; and 8 86 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. St. Cormac, in 746. St. Gualaser, who was predecessor to St. Rumold, governed the church of Dublin in 770, and after him St. Sedulius, in 785, he. Moreover, Peter Walsh observes, in page 438 of his Prospect of Ireland, that Dublin was a considerable place in the days of Ben- nin, seeing that it had then, or at least before his time, a king ; and was a kingdom of itself, different from that of Leinster ; yet afterwards, probably, was destroyed, though the time of its being razed is not exactly known ; yet certain it is, that St. Patrick converted and confirmed the inhabitants of Dublin in the Christian faith, on which sub- ject there is extant an Irish poem, ascribed to St. Benignus or Binenus, St. Patrick's disciple, and immediate succes- sor in the see of Armagh. St. Patrick, in the mission of Dublin, may be justly compared to a lamb among wolves, but most happily changed those very wolves into lambs. The zealous labours of this eminent luminary, changed this great city into a fruitful and delicious garden, and, to se- cure the conquests which Jesus Christ had made through his ministry, the glorious saint was the occasion of building, in and about Dublin, several churches on the ruins of idol- atrous temples, furnishing them with virtuous and indefati- gable pastors, and founding monasteries of both sexes, for the reception of such as desired to retire from the follies and vanity of this deceitful and uncertain world. These regulations were not made without much difficulty ; yet he found it a task much more arduous to reform the heart, and root out paganism and vice, when fortified by custom and long habits; but his constant application to die great work, his patience, humility, and invincible courage, conquered all opposition. He had the comfort to see his labours, which were truly apostolical, crowned with success among the inhabitants of Dublin; such, at least, as were not Christians before his coming, he entirely converted to Christianity. • Divine Providence, which had selected St. Patrick for the total conversion of so populous and noble a city, endued this champion of thd Gospel with all the natural qualities which were requirite for tlie functions of an aposde. His genius was sublimj, and capable of the greatest designs ; his heart fearless THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. 87 his charily was not confined to words and thoughts, but shone out in works and actions, and extended itself to the service of his neighbours, to whom he carried the light of the Gospel. In fine, after tlie saint had made a very- considerable stay in Dublin, he gave its inhabitants and their posterity his blessing, at the same time prophetically insinuating the future happiness and prosperous state of this royal, ancient, and pious metropolis. St. Evin, abbot of Ross-mac-treoin, now called E- ,^, not far from the River Barrow, in the diocess of Ferns, about the close of the sixth, or the beginning of the sev- enth century,* relates, that after St. Patrick had confirm- ed the inhabitants of Dublin in the Christian faith, by the zeal of his persuasive preaching, and by the efficacy of his pious miracles, he went to a neighbouring village, now called Castleknock, the seat and estate of a certain infidel, called Murinus, or rather FuUenus, according to Colgan,- whom the apostolical preacher hoped to convert, and hav- ing signified that he wished to speak to him, he replied that he was about to sleep, and unwilling to be disturbed ; and the same message was repeated, to get rid of the importunities of the saint, who found him as obdurate as ever Moses found Pharaoh. St. Patrick, having preached through several parts of Leinster, propagated the faith, and settled bishops in it : towards the close of the year 448, he took a journey to Munster, which he had hitherto put off, not doubting but his precursors, oefore mentioned, had made a good progress in these parts ; and so indeed they had. But the conversion and baptism of Angus, the son of Naitfrach, king of Munster, was reserved for St. Patrick. The king, hearing of his commg into his territories, went out with joy to meet him in the plains of Fennor, and conducted him with all honour and respect to his royal city of Cashet, where he and all his family, attending to the words of St. P'atrick, were convinced and baptized. The saints Ailbe, * His feast is celebrated on the 22d of December. To him is dedicated the church at the new bridge of Ross, which was granted by William Marshall, Earf of Pembroke, to the prior and convent of St. John the Evangelist, near Kilkenny as appears from the registry of that house. 88 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. Declan, Kieran, and Ibar, visited the king and St. Patrick, and they held a synod together, wherein they made several regulations profitable to the government of the Church, and the establishment of ecclesiastical discipline. But these holy men had almost separated, on account ol some points which were not easily settled ; for the saints Ailbe, Declan, Kieran, and Ibar, who had derived their commissions from the same source with St. Patrick, and were antecedent to him in point of time, with reluctance submitted to his legatine authority ; the three first, for the sake of union in the Church, were, after a short contest, easily prevailed on. But Ibar with sonje obstinacy adhered to his opinion, not willing that any but a native of Ireland should be acknowledged the patron of it. How- ever, after some debates, he was at last prevailed on to submit, out of regard to the great pains St. Patrick had taken, and his extraordinary success. Emly was, in this synod, conferred on St. Ailbe, and St. Declan was con- firmed bishop of Ardmore, St. Kieran was settled in ttie see of Sageir, which, in process of time, was translated to Aghavoe, and from thence to Kilkenny; St. Ibar was created bishop of Beg-Eri. Things being thus settled, and the synod dissolved, St. Patrick left Cashel, and travelled through Ormond, to Kerry, and the most remote parts of Munster; in which province he continued preach- ing, visiting, baptizing, founding Churches, and executing other functions of his ministry, about seven years. St. Patrick founded the Church of Ardagh, in ... the county of Longford, and consecrated St. Mael, (the son of his sister Darerca, by Conis,) bishop of it 5 St. Mael was not only bishop, but also abbot of this church. ^Celine says, "that St. M«l, like St. Paul, got his ivelihood by the labour of his own hands." He is said to have written a book on the Virtues and Miracles of St. Patrick, who was then living. He died on the sixth February, 487, according to the Ulster annals, but according to others, 488, five years before his uncle, and was buried in his own church of Ardagh, in which he was succeeded by his brother, St. Melchuo, who, according to Colgan, followed his uncle, St. Patrick, out of France into THE LIFE OF ST. 1' AT RICK. gg Ireland, before the year 454, and was an unwearied companion of his labours, and a zealous imitator of his virtues. He went back through Leinster, and proceeded to the northern parts of Ulster, round which he made frequent circuits durmg the following six years, converting the few who yet remained heathens, and comforting and fortifying those in the faith whom he had brought over to a sincere sense of the Christian religion. The same year he relinquished the see of Armagh, and appointed St. Benignus, or Binen, his successor in it. He employed a great part of these six years in founding Churches, visiting 5uch as had been before founded, and placing proper pastors over them. He settled the Church of Ireland on a solid foundation, md ordained bishops and priests through the whole island, iccording to the system he had seen in other countries. Thus he established the same kind of Church government which was used in the several parts of the Roman empire ; and it is observable that, in some of the sees fixed by him, the succession hath been continued down to this day. He took a journey to Rome, to render an .^^ account of the fruits of his mission. The pope r( ceived him with joy, confirmed him, as Joceline says, in hij apostolate of Ireland, and sent him back armed with the legatine authority. That writer adds further, that he adorned him with the pall ; but Roger Hoveden, and the annuls of Mailross, deny that the pope ever ^ent a pall to Ireland, until the year 1151 or 1162, in the legation of Cardinal Paparo, which is confirmed by St. Bernard, who says, in the life of St. Malachy, that the use "of the pall, which is the plemtude of honour, was wanting from the beginning. This shakes tlie authority of Joceline, and the writers subsequent to him, who would make the legatine authority, and the use of the pall, as early as the age of St. Patrick, and v^uite confounds the unguarded assertion of Ballet, who im ices the legatine authority descend in course with the archb. "ihopric of Armagh, from St. Patrick to his successors: if his were so, it must be for Benignus that 8* 90 THE LIFE OF ST. f ATRICK. St. Patrick obtained the pall and legatine authority, for h« was at this time archbishop of Armagh. He returned to Ireland in 463, and took Britain in his. way, where he staid but a short time, which he employed m founding monasteries, and repairing such as had been destroyed by the pagans, which he filled with iponks, and laid down rules for them. Thus Probus tells us, that St. Patrick had received the monks' habit from his uncle, St. Martm, and likewise the institutes of the order, which were afterwards observed in Ireland, and called Cursus Scotorum. See Usher, Primord. p. 823. A number of bishops and other holy men accompanied him on his return. CHAPTER XV. Our apostle lived thirty years after this, which he employed for the most part in retirement and contempla- tion, being old and unable to perform the active part of his charge. However, he did not neglect the concerns of that Church, which he had planted and watered ; he held synods and ecclesiastical councils, by which he rooted up and destroyed whatever was practised contrary to the CathoUc faith. He settled and established rules consonant to the Christian law, to justice, and the ancient canons of the church. Nennius saith of St. Patrick, (and is follow- ed therein by others,) that he wrote 365 alphabets, found- ed 365 Churches, ordained 365 bishops, or more, and 3,000 priests. The number of the Churches, however great, has been underrated by Nennius ; for Colgan says, they amounted to upwards of 700, of which he names 196, besides 66 in Leinster alone, not mentioned. To the frivolous objections started by Dr. Ledwich, after his friend Maurice, against Nennius's numbers, we have in page 23 of this work, opposed the ingenious and satisfactory observations of the learned Dr. Lloyd, protest- ant bishop of St. Asaph From the same part of that THE LIFE OF ST. PAl'RICK. 91 prelate's work, we shall submit to the reader's perusal the following additional explanation of those numbers. "Perhaps the meaning might be, that besides those thirty bishops, which St. Patrick ordained for the bishop's sees, he also ordained as many suffragans as there were rural deaneries ; in each of which there were eight or nine parish priests, taking one deanery with another. If St. Patrick would so far consult the ease of the bishops, or the people's convenience, he might do it without altering the species of Church government. But no man that writes of the Church government of Ireland, speaks of any thing there in those times, which was otherwise than it was in the Churches of the Roman empire."* He spent most of the last thirty years of his life between the monasteries of Saballum, or Saul, and Armagh. Nor was he easily drawn out of these retreats, unless some urgent business relating to his function called him abroad. Pleased with the success of his labours, he concluded his ministry and his life together, in the Abbey of Saul, on the 17th of March, 493, in the 120lh year of his age, and was buried at Down. As the place of his birth, so that of his death and burial, is much contested ; some affirm that he died and was buried at Glastonbury, in England, and of this opinion is William of Malmsbury, in his antiquities of that abbey, which he afterwards corrects in another of his works, Though he says that he was buried at Glastonbury, yet he adds a cautionary remark to his assertion, " Si credere dtg- num est — ^If we may venture to believe it." Capgrave, also, speaks dubiously of the matter, for, having related that St. Patrick was buried at Glastonbury, he adds, " Qua si veritatem sapiant lectoris arbitrio relinquo — I leave the truth of this to the judgment of the reader ;" and John of Tinmouth affirms it only as the opinion of the moderns. Many others of the late English writers hold the same sentiments, and in all probability are induced to do so, from an equivocal signification of the word Dun- lediglaisse and Glastonbury. For, as glass, in English, is * Vide Chiirch Government, pp. 92, 93. 92 THE LIFE OF ST. PATRICK. the same with the Latin vitrum, so in Irish it imports a chain ; from whence Joceline says, Down took the name of Dun-daleth-Glaisse, a catenis confradis, from broken chains. In the same manner, Berg in Saxon, and Dun in Irish, have the same signification, viz. a town, borough, or fort ; so that Glastonbury, in English, signifies a town of glass, as in Irish it doth a town of chains. This notion is confirmed by a passage related by Usher, out of a manu- script life of St. Patrick, remaining in the public library at Cambridge, written by an Irishman; wherein' it is said, that his resurrection should be at Dunelege-GIaisse ; to which passage some English interpolators have added their gloss," Qwod nos dicimus in nostra lingua Glastingabyri, i. e. Glastonbury." An error of the person might also have induced the English writers to think that our apostle was buried at Glastonbury ; for there were three Patricks, in early times, besides our saint ; the first was called Pat- rick the elder, a disciple of the great St. Patrick, and, according to some writers, his suffragan in the see of Armagh : the second was Patrick, junior, who was disci- ple and nephew to our St. Patrick ; the third was the abbot Patrick, who flourished about the year 850. One of these Patricks is said to have been buried at Glastonbu- ry, but which of them it was, is uncertain. I know not on what authority St. Bernard affirmed that St. Patrick was buried at Armagh ; for all the early Irish writers agree, that St. Patrick was buried at Down, in Ireland ; and it is from such authorities that the truth must be drawn. Thus St. Fiech, bishop of Sletty, who was the disciple of St. Patrick, as was said before, asserts, that, when he sickened, he had a desire to go and be buried in Armagh, but was hindered by the interposition of an angel. And the ancient scholiast on that writer saith, " that he was at Saul when he fell sick, and began his journey towards Armagh, desiring to be buried there." The writer of the third life of St. Patrick, supposed to be one of his disciples, asserts, that he sickened at Saul, and died at Down. Another writer, supposed to be St. Ele- rane, the Wise, who wrote the life of St. Patrick towards the clo.4 Queen Mary confirmed this pension, and granted it in per- petuity. There were various disputes and controversies b^ween the prior and convent of Christ-church, and the dean and chapter of St. Patrick, which were finally deter- mined (as the white book of Christ-church relates,) by Rich- ard de Ferings, archbishop of Dublin, who died in 1306, and who took a vast deal of pains to establish a right understand- ing between his cathedral-churches. The agreement he brought them to, was reduced into writing, and strengthened by the common seal of each chapter, with a penalty annexed. The heads of the stipulation are to be found in "archbishop Alan's registry, of which those are the principal : " That the archbishop of Dublin should be consecrated a:nd enthroned in Christ-church — That both churches should be called cathe- dral and metropolitan — That Christ-church, as being the greater, the mother, and the elder church, should have the precedence in all rights and concerns of the church — That the cross, mitre, and ring of every archbishop, in whatever place he died, should be deposited in Christ-church — That each church should have in its turn the interment of the bodies of their archbishops, unless otherwise directed by their will." These articles were agreed to in the year 1300. Nor is it to be omitted that in this church were preserved the following relics before the Reformation, according to the obituary book of said church, viz. a large crucifix, reputed miraculous, on account of its being said twice to have spo- ken ; Jesus's staff", which j in 1181, was translated along with the text of the Gospel used by St. Patrick, as also his altar stone, from Armagh to Dublin, by William Fitz-Adelm ; a thorn of our Saviour's crown ; a part of the B. Mary's gir- dle ; some of the holy apostles, St. Peter's and St. Andrew's bones ; some relics belonging to the martyr St. Clement, the holy bishop of St. Oswald, the sainted virgin Faith, blessed abbot Brendan, St. Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canter- bury, St. Wolstan, bishop of Worcester, and St. Laurence O'Tool, archbishop of Dublin; and St. Cubius's shrine, which was brought from Wales, in June, 1405. These relics were much damaged by the fall of the great east window, oc- casioned by a sudden tempest which happened on the 19th of July, 1461 ; but Jesus's staff remained whole until 1533, when it was burned, as has been already observed. John Comyne, archbishop of Dublin, held in this church a firo 10 ] 10 APPENDIX. vincial synod ; the constitutions and canons thereof canfirm- ed, under the leaden seal of popeUrba.n the Illd, about the year 1186, are yet extant among the archives preserved-in Christ-church, but so miserably defaced by time that many words of them are not now legible ; yet the substance of them may be collected. It also is to be observed that the church suffered by a fire, in 1193, which much damaged the city also. In 1262, there arose a very great contest between the prior and convents of Christ-church, and the citizens of Dublin," about the tithe-iish of the Liffey ; and in 1283, says Clyn, "the belfry or steeple and- chapter-house of the B. Trinity, in Dublin, with the dormitory and cloister, were burned, as also a great part o/^ the city, by certain Scots, trf be revenged on some citizens for having defrauded them : they set Skinner-row on fire, and by that means the flames extended to Christ-church ; but the citizens of Dublin (therein greatly to be cornmended) bfefore they went about to repair their own private houses, agreed together to make a collection for repairing this ancient church." It will not be amiss here to mention, out of a nameless chronographei of that tinie, that, in 1545, a certain tomb in Christ-churcli was opened, and in it was found the body of a bishop who had been some hundreds of years buried, being whole and uncorrupted ; having rings, a golden chalice, and pontifical ornaments. Ware also mentions, that, on the 3d of April, 1562, the roof and part of the body fell, and broke the an- cient monument of Strongbow, which was repaired in 15.70. The marbles of the two effigies are of different colours, that which is commonly reputed, the father's, being black, and the son's, gray. The effigy which was first put up for the father being broken all to pieces by the fall of the church aforesaid, the lord deputy caused a monument of the earl of Desmond, which was at Drogheda,-to be removed and plac- ed instead of Strongbow, so that the son's is the most ancient of the two. The son's effigy being but from the thighs up- wards, occasioned a false story that his father cut him through the middle with his sword. But it is a mistake, for it was the fall of the church that broke the other part of the effigy to pieces ; and Strongbow did lio more than run his son through the body, as appears by the monument and chron- icles. APPENDIX. IIJ The archbishop of Dublin was patron of Christ-churd". priory, none being chosen prior but by his approJ)ation, Thomas Harold, prior of Christ-church, who died on the 27th of February, 1488, obtained for that church twenty pounds a year, out of the city, from Henry the VHIth. The earl of Kildare endowed this priory with a village called the great Caparaw, besides costly vestments and other consider- able ornaments, and built a chapel on the north side of the high altar. In . 1559, orders were sent to Thomas Lock- wood, deaij of Christ-church, to remove out of this church all relics and images, and to paint and whiten it anew, put- ting sentences of Scripture- on the walls instead of pictures ; which orders were observed, and men set to work accord- ingly, on the 25th of May, of the same year, which was the second of queen Elizabeth's reign. There is a copy in the Black-Book of Christ-church, of Queen Mary's letter, direct- ed to Thomas Lockwood, then dean of Christ-church, to the chapter thereof to receive Hugh Curwin, the archbishop of Dublin, honourably, with due respect, which decides the controversy that subsisted between the dean and archbishop ; the former insisting on said church being exempted from the archbishop's visitation, upon Henry the VHI.'s arrangement, like Whitehall chapel ; but by Queen Mary's letter, it ap- pears that it is subject to the archbishop, and still is a cathe- dral, and not a collegiate, as some have most erroneously asserted. This church was greatly indebted to the learned and industrious labours of Thomas Fich, superior thereof, who died on the 17th of January, 1517, and lies buried therein. He wrote a book on the affairs of this church, call- ed the White-Book, which, with other records, were burnt in Lord Aungier's closet, by an accidental fire. He also wrote the book of Obits of it. It is to be observed, that there are two cathedrals in Dub- lin, a thing very remarkable, and the bishoprics of Lusk, Finglas, Clondalkin, and TillaghJ were conjoined to the see of Dublin, to which GlendaJach was united in 1214. There are twelve deaneries, the names of which stand thus in the consistorial registry of this diocess ; 1st, the deanery of the Christianity in Dublin ; 2dly, Swords ; 3dly, Lusk j 4thly, Finglas ; 5thly, Newcastle ; 6thly, Tawney ; 7thly, Salmon-leap, alias Leixlip ; 8thly, Bray; 9thly, Wicklow ; lOthly, Arklow; llthly, Ballymore; 12tMy, O'Murlhy, 112 APPENDIX. which last denomination includes the two ancient deanerie* of Castledermot and Athy. But to come to St. Patrick's cathedral in Duhlin, it is to be observed that John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, de- molished an old church, dedicated to that saint in the south suburbs of the city, about the year 1190, in which he placed thirteen prebendaries, which number, in after times, was in- creased to twenty-two, of whom three were added- by arch- bishop Ferring, Henry, the Londoner, archbishop Comyn's next successor, erected this church, which was collegiate in its first institution, into a cathedral. " United," says arch- bishop Alan, in his registry, " with the cathedral of the holy Trinity, in one spouse, saving to the other church the pre- rogative of honoijr." He constituted William Fitz-Gay the first dean of it ; and appointed a chapter^ chancellor, and treasurer, to whom he allotted lands and rectories, and made them conformable to the rules of the church of Sarum ; so that now the chapter of this church is constituted of twenty 'six members, thus reckoned, viz. the dean, chapter, chan- cellor, treasurer, archdeacon of Dublin, archdeacon of Glen- delach, prebendaries of Cullen, Kilmatawly, Swords, Yago, St. Audeon, Cloumetlian. Tvmothan, Castleknock, Malaii- dart, Tipper, Monmabanock, Hoacft, Rathmichael, Wicklow, Maynooth, Sagard, Dunlavan, Tipperkevin, Donogmore in Omayl, and Stagonyl, of ^which nilmbers the prebend of Cullen is united to the archbishopric; and the revenues of the prebend of Tymothan became a lay fee, in the time of archbishop Loftus, the title- still remaining. There was also a chapel dedicated to the B. V. Mary, which in later times hath been set apart to the French Hu- guenots, under yearly acknowledgment of twelve pence, who exercise in it divine service, according to the rules establish- ed in the church of Ireland. Michael Tregury, archbishop of Duhlin, who died on the 1st of December, at the manor house of Tallagh, was buri- ed in the chapel of St. Mary's, near St. Stephen's altar ; his monument was carefully preserved by the late Dean Swift,, and the chapter, who, in 1730, fixed it up in the wall, on the left hand as you enter the west gate, between that gate and the place where, heretofore, the consistory-court was held. Thomas Minot, archbishop of Dublin, rebuilt part of the cathedral which had been destroyed by an accidental fire. APPENDIX. 113 He also built a high steeple of square stone, about the year 1370, and from thence took occasion to use in his seal the device of a bishop holding a steeple in his hand. Richard Talbot instituted six petty canons, and as many choristers in *iis church, and assigned them lands for their maintepance, by dividing the prebendary of Swords, which was called the golden prebend, by the concurrence and assent of William Cruise, then rector of Swords, in .1431, and the grant was confirmed the same year by Henry.the Vlth. Alexander de Bicknor, archbishop of Dublin, Lord Justice of Ireland, in 1321, founded an university in this church, and had it con- firmed by the authority of Pope John the 22d ; but for want of a sufficient fund to maintain the students, by degrees it dwindled to nothing. The rules to be observed in this uni- versity, and the instrument of Alexander de Bicknor's foun- dation is still extant ; and thus much concerning this church, of which, whether we consider the compass or the beauty and magnificence of the structure, it is undoubtedly superior to any cathedral in Ireland. In 1560, a clock was fixed in St. Patrick's cathedral, Dublin. Joceline mentions St. Patrick to have celebrated the unbloody sacrifice of the mass, near the place where this cathedral afterwards was built. In ancient times there was a library belonging to this church ; what became of it is not certainly known, but the loss thereof has been most amply supplied by Dr. Narcissus Marsh, who, while arch- bishop of Dublin, built a noble library near the cathedral, which he enlarged after his translation to Armagh, and filled with a choice collection of books, having, for that purpose, bought the library of Dr. Stillingfleet, formerly bishop of Worcester, to w^hich he added his own collection, and, to make it more useful to the public, he liberally endowed a librarian and sub-librarian to attend it at certain prescribed hours. It is estimated that besides the endowments, which amount to two hundred and fifty pounds a year, he expended more than four thousand on the building and books ; and, to secure its perpetuity, he obtained an act of parliament for (he settling and preserving it. This is the only useful libra- ry in the kingdom, being open to all the Qurious at stated tijiics. The only thing wanting to render it complete, is a supply of modem works from the establishment thereof, the small sum of ten pounds a year being only allotted for the 10* J 14 APPENDIX. purpose, which is little more than sufficient to keep the books in order. Among the deans, of St. Patrick's, are mentioned the fol- lowing, viz. Richard de Gardmo, who flourished about 1240, Richard de St. Martmo, wno lived about 1251 ; John de Saunford in 1269 ; William Royard, about 1312; Edward de Cromley, in 1349 ; John Colton, in 1370 ; Nicholas Hill, in 1430; Philip Norris, in 1457; John Allen, who died in 1505. Nicholas Basnet, "dean of St. Patrick's, was sum- moned to resign the cathedral to the commissaries appointed by Henry the VHIth, who, in the last year of his reign, sup- pressed it ; which, at first. Basnet refused, but at length submitted, and the possessions thereof were converted to the exchequer. Queen Mary afterwards restored them to the cathedral^ and named Thomas Devereaux dean thereof, who soon afterwards was consecra;ted bishop of Kildare, and held by dispensation the deanery, of which he was deprived, as well as of the bishopric ; both which benefices were en- joyed by his successor, Alexander Craik, wjio exchanged al- most all the manors and lands of the bishopric with Patrick Sarsfield, for some tithes of little value : he died in 1564 ; whether Cadesworth and Rochford were his successors or predecessors in the deanery of St. Patrick's, I cannot- say, but certain it is, that James Russel (who lies buried with his brother the archbishopof Lusk) was dean of it in king James the Hd's reign. John Stearn, late Bishop of Clogher and dean of St. Patrick's in 1713, bequeathed a thousand pounds towards erecting a spire on the steeple of St. Patrick's, Dublin, provided the dean and chapter would, out of their own money, begin to build it, within six years after Steam's death, which happened on the 6th of June, 1745. Upon Dr. Steam's promotion to the see of Dromore, Jonathan Swift was named by Queen Anne to the deanery of St. Patrick's, and in the south side of the west aisle of said cathedral, he was buried on the 21st of October, 1745, having died on the 19th, and, by his will, ordered that the hospital for lunatics and idiots (to erect which he bequeathed £ 600 a year) should be called St. Patrick's hospital. Dr. Swift deserved so well of his country, that he was justly styled the patriot thereof; and, as" he has neither monument nor inscrip- tion, the following lines are set down here by way of epitaph APPENDIX. 115 Hie iacel , Democritus iile Neolericus, Rabclaius noster, JONATHAN SWIFT, S. T. D. Ecclesiee hujus Cathedralis nuper Decanus i Ciijus Cor sseva indi^natio uherius lacerare nequit) Momi, Musarum, Minerva Alumnus, pel: <]uam dileclus, Infulis, Hypocritis, Tlieomalicis, Juste exosus ; Quos, tributim, summo cum lepore Derisit, denudavit, debellavit, Patrise infelicis Patronus impiger et Propugnator, Uni scilicet sequus virtuti. Hanc favillam Si quis adeas, non penitus excors Viator, Debitas sparges Lachrymas. Abi, Lector et imitare, Si Poteris, pro virili, Strenuum Libertatis Vindicem. It was a second time suppressed in Cromwell's usurpa- tion, and served as a barrack. Before the reformation, it contained a valuable image of St. Patrick. Tb€ archbishops of Dublin, claimed a right of the prima- cy, which claim is still supported by the R. C. archbishops. The titles of the archbishop of Dublin were formerly thus, according to Alan's Registry : " N. miseratione divina ec- clesiarum cathedralium, sanctissimEB Trinitatis regularis ab- bas, et sancti Patricii episcopus et sedis Apostolicze gratia archiepiscopus, ac Hibernensis ecclesiae primas, liberaeque capellse regiaa, St. Michaelis de Penrich in Anglia decanus natus, princeps palatinus de Haroldcross, co-episcopatuum- que sedibus sufFraganeorum vacantibus custos ; spiritualitatis, jurisdictionis atque omnium decimarum in eadem provincia custos." Besides the tvpo cathedrals, it appears, by the first visita- tion of John Alan, archbishop of Dublin, a great searcher into antiquity, who lived till 1534, that there had been in Dubliu and in the suburbs twenty parish churches ; viz. St. Andrew's, dedicated by the Normans to that holy archbishop of Rouen, who was born at Suisson, and was one of the privy council, and the keeper of the great seal to king Dag- obert. He was greatly instrumental, together with the as- sistance of St. Elgius, otherwise Eloy, to the convention of the synod at Orleans, in which was presented a certain Monothelite, who had been expelled Asia, and came to France. St. Audeon, having quitted the court, embraced an ]16 APPENDIX. ecclesiastical state, and was elected to succeed Romanus in the archbishopric of Rouen ; but being thoroughly convinc- ed of the importance of that charge, which is as great a burden as it is a dignity, he declined to be consecrated till he resigned all his places at court, and travelled through dif- ferent parts of France to Spain, where he made it his en- tire study to propagate the Christian faith, and on his return was consecrated bishop, at the same time with St. Elgius, and employed the remainder of his days in the discharge of his pastoral functions. He assisted in the Cabilonian coun- cil, and went to Rome to visit the shrine of the apostles, in the pontificate of Adeodatus ; he reconciled the misunder- standings of the courtiers, and undertook a journey to Co- logne, to conipose the diiference between those of the Netherlands, and of Austria. On his return from thence, he was seized with a fever at Clichy, two -leagues from Par- is, where he died in the 90th year of his age, and the 44th year of his pontificate. His body was from thence carried to the abbey of St. Peter's in Rouen, now called St. Audeon's, where the memory of his translation was celebrated on the 5th of May, by the Benedictines of the congregation of St. Maur, who dwelt in that saint's abbey. The shrine of this saint fell a victim to the rage of the Calvinists, who burned his sacred remains. His feast is celebrated on the 24th of August, St. Bartholomew's being translated to the 25th, and St. Louis, king of France, to the 26th. There is a mass, with a proper office extremely well composed, made use of at Clichy on the feast of St. Audeon, to whicli the said par- ish is dedicated. The high spire of St. Audeon's was blown down by a storm, which broke the roof of that church in February, 1608. In St. Audeon's church in Dublin formerly was the con- fraternity of St. Anne : this church is a prebendary of St. Pat- rick's. Some say that there was an old parish church dedi- cated to the holy apostle, St. Bartholomew, in Cook-street ; — 2dly, St. Peter's church, De Monte, or, on the hill. St. Pe- ter's parish was twice divided, and in the first division a part of it was given to St. Anne's ; and in the second a portion of it, along with a part of St. Andrew's, was given to St. Mark's, the church which has been finished some years since. — 3dly, Michan's. Of this saint, whose festival IS celebrated on the 25th of August, there is little or no ac- count. Hanmer makes mention of him in p. 97 of his APPENDIX. 117 Chronicle of Ireland : he is supposed to have been a Dane, and to have been the first parish-priest, or bishop, accord- ing to others, of this church, in which it is said that he was buried. This parochial church is a prebendary of Christ-church, and in it were formerly the confraternity of the B. V. Mary, and St. Seithe virgin. This church, almost in ruins, was rebuilt at the solicitations and by the industry of John Pooley, prebendary of the same, and afterwards bishop of Cloyne, in the year 1607 ; the old parish church of St. Michan, including all that part of the north side of the river, was, by act of parliament, divided into three parishes, viz. the new St. Michan's, St. Paul's, and St. Mary's churches, to be erected in each of the two lat- ter by a tax on the parish. Afterwards, St. George's chapel was built, as a chapel of ease to St. Mary's parish. — ithly, St. Olave's, formerly a rectory; the patronage thereof for some time belonged to the Augustine abbey of Bristol. The patron, St. Olave, was king of Norway, and nearly related to Olave the king of Sweden. He was in- structed in the truth of the gospel in England, and went to Rome, where he was baptized ; from whence he brought some clergy to Norway, in order to convert his subjects, who were so greatly irritated therpat, that they applied to Canute, king of Denmark, to be redressed, which was done by employing Russians to murder him, on the 29th of July, on which day the anniversary of his martyrdom is celebrat- ed. St. Olave's is not now in being, nor is it ascertained where it stood. — 5thly, St. James, surnamed the greater. The patronage of this church formerly belonged to the archbishop, but afterwards to St. Thomas's abbey. It ex- tended from the Old-bridge to Corn-market, and from thence to Kilmainham. Stanihurst relates, that on St. James's day in ancient times, there was kept a great fair in St. James'- street, which continued for six days, and that the merchants came to it, not only from England, but also from France and Flanders. — 6thly, St. Catharine's, virgin and martyr of Al- exandria, was erected into a parish church, from being a cliapel of ease to St. James's. — Vthly, St. Andrew's former- ly belonging to St. Patrick's, but afterwards to a vicar ; it is said formerly to have stood in Castle-market, but rebuilt in the place it now is, like an oven, from whence it is called the round church, from its oval form, in imitaiion of St 118 APPENDIX. Mary de Rotunda, at Rome, near St. Andrew's church, say£ Hoveden, in 1172. After this church was demolished, that parish, together with St. Mary la Dame, were united by John Brown to St. Wer- burgh's, as there were so few parishioners, and the income so small, that it was not sufficient to maintain a clergyman. St. Werburgh's church, which belongs to the dignity of the chancellor of St., Patrick's, was built, according to Stan- ihurst, by the citizens of Chester ; who, according to him, also built St. Mary la Dame, and St. Martin's. Sir James Ware, so often quoted and referred to in this work, died on the 1st of December, 1666, and was buried in a vault be- longing to his family, without either totnb-stone or monu- mental inscription, in St. Werburgh's church. Henry lid. caused to be erected here a royal palace, framed artificially with wattles, according to the custom of the country ; where, with the kings and princes of Ireland, he solemnized the festival of the nativity of our Saviour. Rowland Fitz-Eustace, baron of Portlester, who died at an advanced age, on the 19th of December, 1596, founded, in St. Andrew's church, St. Mary's chapel, where he erected a monument for himself and his deceased wife, Margaret Jeinck's, Anno 1455, as appears from the monumental in- scription which runs thus : " Orate pro Anima Rolandi Fitz-Eustace de Portlester, Tqui hunc locum sive Capellum dedit, in honorem beatae Mariae Virginis, etiam pro anima Margaretse uxoris suae et pro animabus omnium fidelium de- functorum, A. D. 1455 ;" yet he was buried in the Francis- can convent, near KilcuUen bridge, in the county of Kil- dare, which he had built from the foundation. In 1668 St. Andrew's church was removed to the place where it now stands, and several years after was divided, and the new parish called St. Mark's, as St. Peter's was be- fore divided, and the new division called St. Anne's. 8. St. Mary la Dame, which was situated near the gate commonly called Dame's-gate, where the house called Cork house stood. In this church was a statue of the B. V. Ma- ry, with a crown on her head, wherewith Lambert Simnel, the psuedo earl of Warwick, was crovraed in Christ-church in 1487. The parishioners belonging to St. Mary la Dame were the inhabitants of the castle, with a few more ; the patronage belonged to the archbishop. APPENDIX. 119 9. St. Bride's belongs to St. Patrick's, though in St. Laurence O'Toole's pontifir'jte it was impropriated to Christ-church. 10. St. Nicholas Without, dedicated to that holy bishop, of Myra, belonged to St. Patrick's, and was commonly as- signed to the preacher of the cathedral : it is supposed to have stood in Limerick-alley, between St. Patrick-street and St. Francis-street ; — the parish church of St. .Luke was built in this parish about 1711. 11. St. Nicholas Within was erected from the foundation by Donat, bishop of Dublin, who died in 1174. 12. St. Michael's was built by the said Donat, and is a prebendary of Cbrist-church ; in this was formerly the con- fraternity of the guild of the Blessed Sacrament. 13. St. John's, so called, first from the Baptist, afterwards from the Evangelist, is a prebendary belonging to Christ- church. Arnoldiis Usher raised it from the foundation, be- ing before in ruins. In Bow-street, which is now called Fishamble-street, stood formerly a chapel of ease, dedicat- ed to St. Douglas, an anchoret, whose feast is celebrated on the 1st of August; on v\rhich day, and during its octave, is visited a famous well in Fingall,- between Bellgriffin and Kinsale, about five miles from Dublin, contiguous to a church, sacred to the memory of this venerable solitary, whose history was formerly preserved atMalahide, according to Hen- ry Fitz-Simons, the Jesuit, which is not to be metvsdth now. 14. St. Kevin's, dedicated to Coemgen or Keivin, which name in Latin signifies far-begotten, abbot of Glendaloch, originally Gleand, i. e. the tovra, or the glen, or valley ; but was generally called after the name of the valley Glean- da-locb, that is, the glen or valley of two loughs, but now known by the name of the Seven Churches. It lies in the county of Wicklow, about twenty miles from Dublin. Here, according to Usher's primord. p. 966, he founded a great monastery, which afterwards bore his name : in which place there grew up a famous, religious city, or bishop's see, in honour of Coemgen, who by some is erroneously reputed first bishop. of Glendaloch, which probably was not a bishopric till after the death of this saint, whose life is published by the Bolandists. The au- thor of St. Laurence O'Toole's life, published by Surius, is greatly mistaken in advancing that the cathedral of Gleanda- loch was dedicated to St. Coemgen; possibly the Abbatial 120 APPENDIX. church might have been, but the cathedral was under the invocation of the holy apostles Peter and Paul. Both that and the abbey are seated about the middle of a long valley, surrounded with mountains of an amazing height ; from whence the water falls over many craggy rocks, and supplies the two loughs and rivers which run through the valley below, in the pleasantest part of which may be seen the ruins of many churches or religious houses built of stone ; the windows and doors whereof appear, to this very day, to have been adorned with a great variety of curious work. The walls of seven or eight buildings, now called the S^eveii Churches, yet appear; one of which, together with its chapels, and a handsome round" belfry of stone, pretty large, with a vaulted roof stone, remain firm to this day. There stands separate from any of the buildings, a large round tower, like that of Kildare, ninety-five feet high ; and at the west end- of one of the buildings, near a quar- ter of a mile distant from the former, is another round tow- er, now almost demolished. There appears among the ru- ms to have been many stSnes and crosses, curiously carved with figures and inscriptions m the Irish language. The celebrated bed of St. Keivin stands on the south side of the lough, being a cave hewn out of a solid rock, capable of containing three persons, situated on the side of a moun- tain, exceedingly difficult of ascent, and terrible in pros- pect. It hangs in a manner perpendicular over- the lough, about three hundred Jeet above the surface of the water. Not far beyond this bed, on the side of the same mountain, are to be seen the ruins of a stone building, call- ed St. Kelvin's cell, which is but of small extent. The see of Glendaloch is called by Hoveden, in Latin, Episco- patus Bi-sagnemis, or the bishopiic of the two, lakes; aad the bull of pope Lucius the III. mentions it under the title of Episcopatus Insulanim, the bisliopric of the isles. The see of Glendaloch was of very large extent. ■ In the confir- mation of pope Alexander the 111. of the possession of this see to Malchus, bishop of Glendaloch, A. D. 1197, no less than fifty denominations or particulars are recited ; it is to be observed that the bishopric and abbey of Glendaloch were distinct, and unblended in thoir rights and possessions. The bishops and abbots here always kept asunder, except in the very first foundation. The 'svriter of the life of St Laurence O 'Toole, archbishop of Dublin, (who had been APPENDIX. 121 Abbot of Glendaloch,) published bv Surius, takes care to keep the bishopric and abbey separate. " In this church," says he, " there were both a bishopric and an abbey ; but flie abbey, as to temporal wealth, far exceeded the bishop- ric." He afterwards distinguished between the seculars and regulars of that place, and says, that, upon the death of the bishop of Glendaloch, Laurence, the abbot, was elected but resigned his election. It is probable St. Keivin first founded this church only as an abbey, but that soon after, from the virtues of the person, and great conflux of peo- ple to the place, it got the reputation of a bishopric. When Glendaloch was erected into a bishopric is uncertain, for it appears not in the life of St. Keivin, that he had been a bishop. This saint was descended from a sept of Messing- corbs, or Dalmochoribs, a powerful family in the east of Leinster. He was bom in the year 498, and was the son of Coinloch and Coimbella. He was baptized by St. Cro- nan, a priest, and at seven years old was put under the tui- tion of Petrocus, a Briton, who had spent twenty years in Ireland for his education ; under whom he continued five years. His parents, with the approbation of his master, sent him to be educated by three holy anchorets, Dogain, Logan, and ^neas or Enna, in theii cells ; with whom he diligently studied the Scripture three years before he put on the monastic habit. An instance of great continen- cy in his youth is there given in his admonishing and re- forming a beautiful young virgin who had solicited his em- braces, and imposing a severe penance on himself, as a punishment for being the cause of her sinful passion ; whereupon the lady, on his repulse, dedicated herself to a holy and religious life. After he had left his three tutors, he became a disciple to the hermit Beonanus, and after- wards to bishop Lugid, who ordained him a priest; and then, by the directions of Lugid, he built a monastery for himself at Cluainduach, which he left to the government of some of his monks, and with the rest directed his course to his own country, where he founded a monastery, fixed his habitation at Glendaloch, and built many cells and mon- asteries through divers parts of Leinster. Having settled his monks at Glendaloch, he retired alone to the upper part of the valley, about a mile from his mon- astery, and chose a little dwelling place for himself be- tween the mountain and the lake, beset with thick trees, 11 122 APPENDIX. and refreshed with clear rivulets. And here he lived tLfl life of a hermit for four years, exercising himself in fasting^ watching, and prayer, without fire, and without a house " It was not known," says the anonymous author of his life, " whether he was supported by roots and wild fruits of the trees, or by a heavenly food." But at length his monks prevailed on him to leave his beloved solitude, and to live among them in the monastery. Hearing that the three ho- ly abbots, St. Columb, St. Congal^ and St. Canice, or Ken- ny, were together at Usneach, in>Meath, he took a jour- ney thither to visit them, and to cement a friendship with them, and St. Columb paid him great reverence. In 549 he took another journey to Clonmacnois, to pay a visit to St. Kyran ; but he was disappointed, for St. Kyran died three days before his arrival ; however, he assisted at his funeral obsequies. He also was with St. Berchin, the blind prophet ; and was dissuaded from a long journey by the ad- vice of the blessed solitary, Grabhan, who lived in a cell near Dublin, and who told him with freedom, " that it be- came him rather to fix himself in one place, than to ramble up and down in his old age ; for that he could not but know, that no bird could cherish her eggs in her flight." He received from: the hands of Mochuorus, a Briton, who had a cell on the east side of Glendaloch, the sacraments on the approach of his death, which happened on the 3d of June, 618, in the 120th year of his age; on which day a great patron is annually held in Glendaloch, to which num- bers of people resort to celebrate his festival, which, it is submitted, ought to be solemnized throughout the whole di- ocess of Dublin, since the diocess of Glendaloch, of which he is patron, is united thereto. Hanmer makes him the au- thor of two books, one De Britanniorum Origine, and the oth- er De Hihero et Hermione, but it is to be doubted if this re- ligious recluse concerned himself in writing profane histo- ry ; it is more probable that he wrote a rule for monks, which is hinted at in his MS. life, preserved in the archives of the Irish Franciscan convent atLouvain, among Colgan's papers, where it is said, "that he taught his monks his rule." He had a sister, whose name was Coeltigerna, who was married to Colman or Colmud, by whom she had two sons, Molibla or Libba, who died on the eighth of January, the year uncertain, and Dagon, who died in 639 ; the for mer of these is said to have been bishop of Glendaloch. Al'l'ENDIX. 123 On the death of William Piro, hishop of GlendaJoch, which happened in 1214, the see of Glendaloch was united to Dublin. The cause of this union may be learned from the testimony of Felix O'Ruadan, archbishop of Tuam, who was then a living witness, and one of his suffragans, out of the archives of Christ-church, where the original is still ex- tant, and imports, " that the holy church in the mountains, although anciently held in great veneration on account of St. Keivin, who led a solitary life in that place, yet became waste and desolate, and has been so for years past ; and in- stead of a church it became a den of thieves and a nest of robbers ; occasioned by its being a vast and solitary desert. Cardinal John Paparon, legate from Rome, on coming to Ireland, found a bishop dwelling in Dublin, who then exer- cised his episcopal functions within the walls. He likewise found another church in the mountains, which was also call- ed a city, and had a rural bishop ; but the same legate ap- pointed Dublin, which was then the best city, to be the me- tropolis of that province, delivering the pall to that bishop, who at that time governed the church of Dublin: and he appointed that the diocess, in which both cities were, should be divided, that one part thereof should fall into the me- tropolis, and the other should remain to him who lived in the mountains, with the intention that that part should be annexed to the metropolis upon the death of the bishop, who then governed the church in the mountains. This he would have immediately carried into execution, had he not been ob- structed by the obstinacy of the Irish, who were then pow- erful in that territory. King Henry, being apprized of the legate's intentions, granted the church of the mountains to the metropolis, and king John gave sanction to the same, so far as belonged to the regal office. Pope Honorius the Illd. afterwards, in his bull to Henry de Londres, archbishop of Dublin, dated October the 6th, 1216, confirmed and ratified what cardinal Paparon had done. There is another earlier testimony of the same union to be found in the Credi mihi, viz. a grant of John, earl of Moreton, dated June the 24th, A. D. 1192, whereby he confirms the bishopric of Glendaloch to John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, "so that, when the cathedral of Glendaloch shall become void, the archbishop shall hold it in his own possession, without any reservation, and that the bishop of Glendaloch should be chaplain and vicar to the 124 APPENDIX. archbishop of Dublin ;" by which, it would seem, that title of the see was intended to be kept up, though the profits were allotted in augmentation of the see of Dublin, and this bull may account for the several usurpations which after- wards happened. For, notwithstanding the union, estab- lished both by the papal and regal authority, yet historians make mention of several bishops of Glendaloch, after the death of William Piro, or Peryn, the last legal bishop thereof, who died in 1214. Thus Wading, 346, t. 7. of his Annals of the Friars Minor, writes, that, on the death of John, bishop of Glen daloch, Pope Alexander the Vlth, on the 10th of Novem- ber, 1494, advanced Ivo Rusai, a Franciscan friar; John, a Franciscan friar also, was promoted to it by the same pope on the 21st of August. Friar Denis White had been long in possession of it, but, being old and infirm, he surren- dered his right (such as it was) in the chapter-house of St. Patrick's, Dublin, on the 13th of May, 1497, being touched in conscience, (as he confessed,) " because the see of Glendaloch had been united to that of Dublin, from King John's reign :" ever since that surrender the archbishops of Dublin have, without interruption, enjoyed this see. How- ever, the archdeaconry of Glendaloch belongs to the cathe- dral of St. Patrick's, Dublin, which preserves the memory of this ancient church. 15. St. Werburgh's church belongs to the dignity of the chancellor. The life ' of this holy virgin was published by the Bolandists. She is said to have been daughter to Walherus, king of Mercia, and embraced a religious life under her aunt, St. Andry, in the monastery of Ely, where she died, in the odour of sanctity, A. D. 675. Her body was afterwards translated to Chester, where, in the reign of William Rufus, there was erected a very stately Benedictine abbey, now the cathedral under her invocation, 6y St. Anselm, archbishop of Canterbury, and Sir Hugh Lupus, earl of Chester, A. D. 1092. Her feast is solemniz- ed on the 3d of February. 16. St. Michael of Pols, or a Paludibus, in Ship-street, belonged to Christ-church ; its ruins still remain, and the church-yard is made use of to inter the dead. 17. St. Paul's church formerly belonged to All-Saint's priory, which is not now in being, nor the site where it APPENDIX. 125 stood so much as even known ; — so true is that of Claudian, (fuid non longa valet, immutare dies. 18. St. Martin's, so called from being dedicated to the memory of the illustrious bishop of Tours, stood near the city wall, contiguous to the mill, adjacent to Pole's gate, and belonged to the chancellor of St. Patrick's. Mention is made of this church in St. Laurence O'Toole's Life, published by Surius. Having often adverted to the life of this holy prelate, it will not be entirely amiss to observe what Baronius aiiirms, which is, that his life was written by a monk of Auge, contemporary with the saint, and per- sonally acquainted with the holy archbishop, at Canterbury, as Monsieur Bailet, and his English abridgers, inform us ; though Ware, in his Writers of Ireland, and Nicholson, in his Irish Historical Library, attribute it to Rajph, of Bristol, bishop of Kildare ; but what led them into this error, was, that Pope Honorius the III. expedited a brevet, in which he commissioned Ralph de Bristol, as being suffragan to the see of Dublin, and formerly treasurer of the cathedral, to inquire into the life of St. Laurence, in order to make the process of his canonization; upon which occasion he Collected memoirs, and sent them to Auge, which gave occasion to an anonymous monk to write his life, as appears from the preface thereto ; " whose life (says he) and vir- tues, I, though unworthy, yet not an undoubted servant, united to the holy college of Auge, have described in a compendious style," &c. 19. St. Stephens, the protomartyr's church, stood on that very spot on which Mercer's hospital is now built ; it was for the use of lepers, who had another church besides for their use, perhaps that of the hospital, which formerly stood near Palmerstown. The rectors of these churches were beyond the jurisdiction of the archbishops, because (he leprosy houses could not be visited, as Stanihurst "■elates j how it afterwards dwindled, is not so well known. The mayor and aldermen were accustomed to repair there on St. Stephen's festival, to leave their offerings, which latterly were appropriated to defray the expenses of the lord mayor's ball, at the mayoralty house. 20. St. George's church was situated in the suburbs of Dublin, to wit, in George-lane ; it first belonged to All- Saint's priory, afterwards to Christ-church. It. had ten acres of land, near Donnybrook, called St. George's fields ; 11* 126 APPENDIX. as also the benefit of half the mill, near the castle wall. Hence it was that the mayor and citizens of Dublin erected a confraternity of the martyr St. George. Stanihurst relates, that, about the close of the 15th age, or in the. beginning of the 16th century, this church was demolished, and the stones of it made use of to build a bake- house. Before its profanation, the mayor and aldermen yearly, on St. George's day, used to walk in procession to this church, where" they left their offerings, which now serve to defray the expenses of public dinners. There are not the smallest remains of this church, so true is that of Rutiliiis : Non indignemur mortalia Corpora solvi, Cernimus exempHs, marmora posse inori. Besides these churches, there were several monasteries in the city ,and suburbs pf Dublin, viz. the priory of the Blessed Trinity, commonly called Christ-church, already mentioned. To which may be added, that in this priory was held a provincial sytaod^ by Walter Fitz-Simons, arch- bishop of Dublin, who died A. D. 1511. In this council he assigned a certain salary to the prelector of divinity, to be paid yearly by him and suffragans. David Winchester, prior of Christ-church, who died on the 11th of January, was buried in this chureh. This grave and learned man worthily governed this priory nine years and ten months, and was reputed a great benefactor to it. Among other things, it appears by the charter of the foundation thereof, dated the 28th of August, 1493, that he erected and endow- ed the same with one master and four choristers. Richard Skerret succeeded William Hassard, a canon regular. There was held here a provincial council, in September, 1612. King James the II. when in Dublin, had mass celebrated in Christ-chufch, by the Rev. Mr. Stafford, a secular priest of the county of Wexford, who was dean thereof, and was killed at the battle of Aughrim, where he assisted as chap- lain to the royal regiment of that unfortunate monarch. St. Mary's-abbey, near Capel-street, was built for Bene- dictine monks, according to some, about the year 848; though others think it was founded long before, by Melach- lin, or Malachias, king of Ireland, who died 862, and one Cillemoholoa, according to the great register of this abbey ; APPENDIX. 127 others think, by Donald Gilemobooloch, and Rosia his wife. However it be, the monks of that place observed the rule of the Cistercian order in 1139, as is recorded in the annals of this abbey ; the charters of which are still preserved in the Cottonian and Chandois library, as also a list of the abbots, who were the third in dignity, and had their places and suffrages among the spiritual peers in the assemblies ol parliament, before the dissolution of monasteries. There was formerly a great contention, concerning the right of filiation of this abbey, between the abbot of Savin- iac, in France, and the abbot of Bildewas, in England ; but in a general chapter, held in 1301, the right was adjudged to Bildewas, by means of William, Ashburn, then monk and protector of the abbey of Bildewas, and afterwards of the abbey of St. Mary's, Dublin. The monastery of Donbrody, in the county of Wexford, near the meeting of the Barrow and SuirCj was subject to this abbey, and confirmed in a general chapter, held A. D. 1347, and perhaps the planta- tion of Cistercians, at Monktown, now Mountain, near Dunleary, belonged to it. However that was, unto it ap- pertained White-church, alias Balygeagh ; but the prior of the Blessed Trinity was lord thereof in temporals, and Eugenius, bishop of Clonard, granted it the church of Skrine. Among the benefactors of this abbey may be numbered Felix O'Ruadan, archbishop of Tuam, who covered the church with lead, and he himself was buried there, in the year 1239, at the foot of the altar, on the left hand, three years after he had resigned the see. Walter Champflower, abbot of St. Mary's, one of the visiters of the Cistercian order . in Ireland, ruled here almost thirty years, and was, for a while, made keeper of the great seal, in the year 1486 ; among other benefits done to this monastery, he purchased, for 450 marks, that is, 1000 French crowns, from Thomas, prior of the Benedictine abbey of St. ^gidius, the less, in Malvern, Worcestershire, all the possessions belonging at that time to the said priory in Ireland. John Alcock, bishop of Worcester, with the assent of the prior and chapter of the Cathedral Church, confirmed the sale thereof. Abbot Champflower died on the 28th of January, in 1427, and Orum, a monk of the game house, and afterwards the prior thereof, succeeded nim in the government of this- abbey, and was the 25th ibbot. He paid nature her debt on the fifth of the ides of las APPENDIX December, and was buried in the church of this abbey, near Richard Grace, some time a recluse. Richard Begg, or Little, succeeded him, who scarce lived two years and six months after; and John Burgess, his successor, died about midsummer, in 1513; to whom succeeded William Laun- dry, who was the last abbot of the place before the suppres- sion; he immediately having his order submitted to John Alan, archbishop of Dublin, who mentions in his Reperto- rium Viride, that the abbot of St. Mary's, after his election, had his oath administered to him by the archbishop, and was obliged to pay him the yearly sum of six pounds ster- ling. Nor is it to be omitted that the ancient manuscript ot this abbey mentions James, the first abbot, to have died 5 Nonas Martii, without mentioning the year, but that the fourth abbot died Idns Aprilis, 1131, which, if true, most of them were long lived, or else the abbey was a long time without an abbot. Ware mentions in his annals, that Philip Birmingham, lord chief justice of the king's bench, who died on the third of the calends of February, 489, was buried in this abbey, to which was translated, and placed in a chapel erected under his invocation, the shrine of St. Marnock, from Port-Mamock, in Fingal ; which, perhaps, in former ages, was a cell belonging to St. Mary's abbey. The church of Port-marnock is now in ruins, but serves for the interment of a family of the Plunkets, whose seat and estate Port-marnock now is.. The church of Port-marnock was dedicated to the blessed monk, Marnock, whose feast is celebrated there on the 15th of July; though Henriquez, the Cistercian menologist, places his feast on the 30th of December. His life is in Malachy Harty's manuscript collections of the illustrious Irishmen of the Cistercian order, which was, not long since, in the possession of a deceased clergymaii of Holy Cross, in the county of Tippe- rary. In St. Mary's abbey stood a beautiful image of the B. V. Mary, with the infant Jesus in her arms ; it had the good fortune to escape the rage of the Iconoclasts, and is still in being. It is reported, that, in the year 1718, there was found in the place where this abbey stood the corpse of a prelate in his pontificials, incorrupted. Some suppose it to have been Felix O'Ruadan, archbishop of Tuam, above-mentioned; and that, when archbishop King was consulted as to what was proper to be done, it is said, his rep.y was, that it would be a pity to dispossess the honest APPENDIX. 129 gentieman of the place that, for so many years, he had held peaceable possession of; and accordingly it was put down again, and not removed to St. Mary's church-yard, as some advised. In 1676, Sir Humphrey Jervis began to build Essex bridge, (with the stones of St. Mary's abbey,) which was broken down about the beginning of December, 1687, when a coach and horses, passing over it, fell into the nver, and the coachman and one horse perished. Some venture to think that it looked like the judgment of Heaven, for employing in profane use what was consecrated before to divine service. The monastery called our Lady of Outsmandby, was DuUt in a place called Black-haven, or Dubh-port ; and in the second volume of the Monasticon Anglicanum^ are two chapters of Henry the II. confirming all donations made to this abbey, among the abbots of which John Oium was one ; the editor of the Irish Monasticum mentions one Pluuket, brother to one of the earls of Fingall. to have been another. Thp Cistercian monastery of Dunbrody, in the county of Wexford, about four miles from Ross, was otherwise called Port St. Mary : the remains of this are still extant, and indicate it to have been a large and elegant structure. The Cistercian order was founded about 1098, by St. Bobert, a native of France, an abbot of Molismena, whose life is published by the Bolandists, Ap. 9. He, by the persuasion of Robert Harding, an Englishman, forsook the society of the Benedictines, as not satisfied with the want of discipline, in regard to their primitive strictness of living, and, in company with twenty-one monks, went to Cister- cium, in Burgundy, and there erected a convent, resolving to revive, as it were, St. Benedict's rules, and strictly to observe them : professing poverty and humility, they would not suffer their monks to meddle with husbandry, or any worldly affairs, ordering, as St. Benedict did, that each monastery should consist of twelve monks and an abbot; they are enjoined silence to the abbot or prior; and if one escapes, the bishop apprehends him, if he can be found in his diocess, and obliges him to return ; two coats and two cowls, or hoods,' are all the garments allowed them. They are very strict in their fasts, saluting strangers by inclining their bodies and heads, and, in imitation of our blessed Saviour, washing their feet : after a third escape, the person 130 APPENDIX cannot be received into the convent. And as for the abbot's table, it must be furnished for strangfers, to relieve them on their journey. Pope Urban the II. confirmed this order, A. D. 1100, and, thirty-two years after, they came into England in gray habits, wherefore by some they were called Grisei. The Cistercians had in Ireland about forty houses : the abbots and priors of twelve of which had seats and suffrages in the house of lords. There was a Cistercian nunnery in Down, and another in Derry. The site of St. Mary's abbey in Dublin was granted to James, earl of Desmond, and part of the lands to James Bath, Esq. and part to John Wakeman, afterwards assigned to Moore. The lands of Monktown priory were granted to the Chivers, but they held them not long. The Knights Templars were founded at Jerusalem in nil, by Hugo de Paganis, and Gufrid de St. Hidemaro, who, with seven followers, or disciples, undertook to secure the roads, for the sake of pilgrims, from all robberies and outrages; and, from their being assigned a residence near the temple in Jerusalem, by King Baldwin, were called Templars, and did great service, under the command of their great master, against the iniidelSj in the Holy War. From their first institution till they were confirmed in the council of Troyes, in France, their establishments did not amount to above nine ; but from that time till a little more than half a century, by the zealous contributions of Chris- tian princes, they had houses erected in most countries, which were most plentifully endowed ; and th€ number of their knights amounted to 300, besides a great number of their inferior brethren. As for their religious observance, it was much according to the ruks of the canons regular, though afterwards St. Bernard prescribed a rule to them : they made their profession in the presence of the Patriarch of Jerusalem, and their order was approved of in 1128, by Honorius the II. in the council of Trecense. They wore a white habit, and Eugenius the IV., in 1146, gave them leave to wear a cloak, with a red cross. The knights having lost Syria, upon their return to Europe they were cruelly treated, and crimes almost incredible to be believed, were charged upon them ; for several writers are of opinion that their suppression was, in a great measure, owing to their opulence and large estates; as their grand master, James Mola, a Burgundian, whoj with others, in his dying APPENDIX. 131 speech, declared absolutely, " that the Templars were not guilty of the crimes they were impeached with ; that it was a holy, pious, and orthodox institution ; and that he himself deserved death for belying it, and summoned the pope and the king of France to appear before the tribunal of God in forty days." Whether he was innocent or criminal, says Morcry, certain it is, that Clement the V. and Philip the Fair died within the space of the days now mentioned. There are, however, historians who attribute the dissolution of the Templars to their ill conduct. In 1303, the pope wrote to King Edward the II. that all the Templars in England, Scotland, and Ireland, should be apprehended and confined. The king issued out a writ accordingly to John Wogan, lord justice of Ireland, to apprehend the Templars, and secure their lands. They were condemned by the council of Lyons. The Templars are supposed to have had a priory in the suburbs of Dublin, to which Walter de. Fern sfield was reputed to have been a great benefactor; it was built on a place which the Irish call Casgot, probably on the spot of ground where the bishop's palace now stands, which, to this very day, retains the name of St. Sepulchre's ; but of it there is no satisfactory account, neither is there of that of Baldongan, in Fingal, which some say belonged to the Templars, and was dedi- cated to the B. V. Mary, on her assumption ; it is, however, probable, that it stood in St. Kevin-street, in which John Allen, a learned man, (who died in Dublin, on the 2d day of January, 1505, and was buried in the nave of St. Pat- rick's cathedral, to which church he had greatly contributed, being about forty years dean thereof,) founded an hospital for the poor and sick, principally to be chosen out of the Aliens, Barrets, Begs, Hills, Dillons, and Roiders, to whom he assigned lands for their maintenance. Walter Fitz-Simons, archbishop of DubKn, gave, on the 8th of June, 1504, the^ound for building it; but it seems that it was never finished, nor is there any account further of it that we could learn. All-Saints priory was founded in 1166, by Dermod Macmurrogh, son of Murchard, king of Leinster, for canons regular of the Aroasian congregation, which is now extinct; the patronage of it was given to the archbishops of Dublin by Innocent the III., Honorius the III., and King John, it had seven impropriated churches, one of which was our 132 APPENDIX. Saviour's, at Glendaloch ; also a cell of nuns in Lusk, and the town and lands of Beldoyle was given to All-Hallows priory from its first foundation, as appears from the charter, published by Sir William Dugdale, in p. 1030 of the second volume of his Monasticum Anglicanum, The foundation charter may be seen in the library of the college of Dublin, among the manuscripts of Dudley Loftus ; where also are ■ — Bulla RomancB de Ecclesiis Dubliniensibm : Sen Registrum Ccenobii Omnium Sanctorum. St. Laurence O'Tpole and Kiniad, or Cineath O'Ronan. who was bishop of Glendaloch, and died in 1173, together with Benignus, abbot of Glendaloch, were witnesses to the foundation charter of this priory, which was made by King Dermod to his confessor, Edan O'Kelly, bishop of Louth, or rather of Clogher, in trust for said priory ; the priors of which were the seventh in dignity, and had their place and voice in parliament among- the spiritual peers. Walter Handcock was prior at the time of its suppression. The registry of this religious house was in the possession of Dr. John Sterne, late bishop of Clogher. Henry the VH., at the dissolution of the abbeys, gave the monastery of All- Hallows to the city of Dublin. Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dublin, and lord high chancellor of Ireland, with others of the clergy, met (in Easter holydays, A. D. 1590) the mayor, aldermen, and commons, of the city of Dublin, at the Tholsel, where he made a speech to them, setting forth, " how advantageous it would be to have a nursery of learn- ing founded here, and how kindly her majesty Queen Elizabeth would take it, if they would bestow that old decayed monastery of All-Hallows for the erecting of such a structure ;" whereupon the mayor, aldermen, and com- mons, granted his request. Within a week after, Henry Usher, archdeacon of Dublin, went over into England to the queen, to procure a license for this foundation ; which being obtained, Dr. Loftus went a second time to Tholsel, not only from the clergy, but also from her majesty, whose letter he showed to them for their satisfaction ; and imme- diately labourers were set at work to pull down the old, ruinous buildings, which they quite demolished, except the steeple, which also, in sometime after, underwent the same fate. In 1591, on the 13th of March, Thomas Smith, mayor of Dublin, laid the first stone of Trinity-college. Queen Elizabeth's charter for the foundation of this univer- APPENDIX. 133 81 ty,, bears date the 13th of March, 1692 ; and William Cecil, lord baron of Burleigh, lord high treasurer of England, knight of the most noble order of the garter, and one of her majesty's most honourable privy council, was then chancellor thereof : Adam Loftus, archbishop of Dub- lin, first provost ; Lucas Challoner, William Daniel, James Fullerton, and James Hamilton, the first fellows; Abel Walsh, James Usher, and James Lee, the first scholars of the same. King William, in 1697, gave ^£300 for enlarging Trinity college, with additional buildings. William Palliser, arch- bishop of Cashel, who died January 1st, 1726, was a con- siderable benefactor to this college, where he received his education. For, besides ten pounds given by him towards erecting new buildings, when he was senior fellow of it, he gave twelve hundred pounds more, in two benefactions, while he was archbishop of Cashel, for the same end ; and, at his death, bequeathed, of his own library, all such books and editions of books as the college library wanted, which have since been delivered, to the amount of above four thousand volumes ; and he provided, that said books should go by the name, and be always called Bibliotheca PalHseria, and to be kept and placed next primate Usher's library. And, further, that if they should fail to keep them next to Usher's, tliat then the disposition of said books should be void. He also bequeathed two hundred pounds to the college, to purchase an annual fund to buy books, to be added to those beforementioned. John Sterne, bishop of Clogher, who was for several, years chancellor, and died on the 6th of June, 1745, left most valuable manuscripts to this college, and fifty pounds yearly to endow the annual exhi- bitions in it ; besides, he built, at his ovra expense, the college printing-house ^ and the college dome was erected by a legacy, bequeathed, for that purpose, by Dr. Gilbert, who bestowed a most excellent collection of books to the library. A part of the revenues belonging to the canon regular abbey of Cong, in the county of Galway, founded under the invocation of the B. V. Mary, by Donald Mac- Mdh, king of Ireland, in 623 or 624, was granted to Trinity-college, Dublin ; as also LuisdufFe priory, which was a cell to Cong abbey, for it is so mentioned in the inquisition of the 28th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign. And to this college was granted, by the said queen's patent 12 134 APPENDIX. 39, the Carmelite monastery of Ballinegall, in the county of Limerick, founded in the 14th century, by the Roches. There were attempts often made towards the founding of an university in Dublin, long before Queen Elizabeth's reign; for John Lech, archbishop of Dublin, procured a bull from Pope Clement the V'th, dated the 13th of July 1311, for an university, or general school, at Dublin. John Allan, archbishop of Dublin, remarks in his Regis- try, par| n. fol. 75, that th« original of this bull was de- stroyed at the burning of Christ-church : a copy, or at least an extract of it, remains in Allan's registry. Notwithstand- ing this papal diploma, yet, by the death of Archbishop Lech, on the 10th of August, 1313, the project fell to the ground. In 1320, Alexander de Bicknbr, who succeeded in the archbishopric, renewed this foundation, and procured a confirmation of it from Pope John XXIL The statutes appointed by this university are extant in the third section of the 27th chapter of Ware's Antiquities: they were signed by archbishop Bicknor, and by the chapters of the Holy Trinity, and St.- Patrick's, Dublin, whp also affixed their seals the 10th of February, 1320 ; and, in some time after, William de Hardite, Edmund Karmardin, Domini- cans, and Henry Cogry, a Franciscan, were created doctors of divinity, and William O'Rodairt, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, was promoted to the degree of doctor of the canon law, and made the first chancellor of the university. It appears in the Registry before-mentioned of archbishop Allan, that King Edward III. afterwards instituted a divinity lecture in that university ; and by a record extant in Birmingham's tower, that the said monarch gave further countenance to it, by granting to the scholars his letters of protection upon all occasions. By the records of that time, i. e. 1358, (being thirty-eight years after Archbishop Bick- nor's foundation,) lectures in divinity, the canon and civil laws, and other clerical sciences, were then maintained in this university. Yet, notwithstanding thes,e encourage- ments, for want of a sufficient fund to maintain the students, it by degrees dwindled almost into nothing. However, there remained some traces of it in the reign of Henry the Vllth. For, in a provincial synod, held in Christ-church, Dublin, certain annual pensions were granted for seven years to the lecturers of the university, by the archbishop and his suffragans, and the clergy of the province of Lein- APPENDIX. 135 ster, in the proportions following, viz. : The archbishop and his chapters and clergy contributed ten pounds a year , the bishop of Ossory, his chapter and clergy, five pounds each ; the bishop of Leighlin, his chapter and clergy, and the bishop of Kildare, and his chapter and clergy, five marks a year each. There was another attempt made to erect an university in Dublin, in a parliament there assembled, on the 17th of ■January, 1668, in the government of Sir Henry Sidney, wherein a motion was made to erect the university formerly established in St. Patrick's church, and to support it by voluntary subscriptions. Campiqn, p. 86, and Holingshead, p. 69, write, that the lord deputy gave encouragement to this undertaking by offering to settle on it twenty pounds a year in lands, and to give a hundred pounds in cash to carry on the design; and many other worthy persons promised their bounty in proportion to their estates. The year following, on the 4th of March, the lord deputy and council of Ireland wrote a letter to the lords of the council of Englaad, observing the motion made in parliament, of the liberal offers to forward such an undertaking, the advantages of it in respect to the government, the reforma- tion of Qie people from barbarism, and promoting civiliza- tion among them : but this matter took no effect. In 1686, Sir John Perrot, then lord deputy of Ireland, endeavoured to establish two universities in Dublin, and to lay their foundation in the dissolution 6f St. Patrick's cathedral. It was his intention to reinstate the university formerly settled in this church, and convert the revenues of it, which were, by estimation, about 4000 marks a year, into the foundation of two universities, which he thought the readiest method to forward the plan. All this project, however, was defeat- ed by the warm applications of the Lord Chancellor Loftus, then archbishop of Dublin, to the queen, and to his fast friend, the lord treasurer, which ended in the disgrace of Perrot, who justly deserved it, for endeavouring to ruin the famous and ancient cathedral of St. Patrick's; and Loftus obtained, as has been already said, the site, passage and precinct of the dissolved monastery of All-Sainte, belonging to the canons regular of -St. Augustine, who had several houses in Ireland, and particularly in the diocess of Dublin, among which were the following : — Holm-Patrick, of which see an account in the note to 136 APPENDIX. page 69 ; to which may be added, that St. Patrick landed there in 432, and from thence passed over to the main land, to enlighten Ireland with the rays of religion, and that John Cogan was the prior of it in. .1488; on its suppression, it was granted to Sir James FuUerton, and assigned to the earl of Thomond. Holm-Patrick is the burial place of the Delahydes of Loughshiney, also of the Cottingtons, and of some of the Forrestals, originally of the county Kilkenny, who happened to have lived and died in the said town, in the churc^ard of which they have a tomb-stone, with a monumental inscription; which, as it conveys a moral -re- flection far more proper than .the< pompous ones commonly made use of on such occasions, it may not be amiss to insert : " Good traveller, who chance lo pass this way, " Fail not for my departed soul to pray : ' " Here also mark, (perhaps now in thy prime,) " The stealing steps of ever-fleeting time, " Thou'lt be what I am, seize the present hem', " Kmploy that well, for that's withm thy power." On the tomb-stone are engt^ved the arms of the Forres- tals, which are three phaeons argent in sable, a helmet on the wreath, a greyhound's, head ceupe-argerU, collar and chain, with this motto on the riband, In, Corda Inmicomm Regis. In Lusk, a town in Fingal, about ten miles from Dublin, and formerly an episcopal see, stood an abbey, founded in 694, by St. Colgan, whose feast is observed on the 20th February, and dedicated to St. Maclin, bishop (or, accord- ing to others, abbot) of Lusk, where his feast is celebrated on the 6th of September : it is now a parish church, and the burial place of the lords of Kingsland ; Doctor Patrick Russel, who was archbishop of Dublin during King James II. 's residence in Ireland, was interred in that church. Swords, a tovni also in Fing?,!, is about six miles from Dublin, formerly an episcopal see, though in its first institu- tion only an abbey, was founded in 663, by St. Columb, (to whom is dedicated the parish church, which is called the golden Prebend.) », St. Finian was first abbot thereof, an account of whom may be seen in Colgan, who assigns the 16th of March for his solemnity, which formerly was observed at Swords, as also was that of the holy virgins Ethnea -and Soldevia, on the 29th of March, according to the same writer. King APPENDIX. 137 J Oil* granted to John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, letters patent for holding a fair at Swords for eight days on the feasi of St. Columbkill, which is on the ninth of June, Swords was burnt in 1020, also in 1035, and in 1150, Glassmore abbey, nearly south of Swords, perhaps now Brymore, or Moortown, was founded by St. Cronan, who, together with his religious, 'were murdered by Norman in- vaders; (so writes Maguire in his Martyrology, on the 10th of February.) Finglas abbey was certainly very ancient ; the reader will find some aecouiit of it, if he turns to the note of page 83. In Finglas is a well of St. Patrick's. Cluain-Dolchan abbey stood four miles from Dublin, and was founded in the 4th century by St. Mochua, the first ab- bot thereof, to whose memory the parish church is dedicat- ed, and the saint's feast is observed on the 6th of August; — it was formerly an episcopal see. St. Aelbran succeeded St. Mochua, in the abbey of Clondalkin, and his successor in 776 was St. FecTiindius ; St. Fergulius was first bishop in 783, and died on the 10th of March, 794, Tripardius, in 828 ; Cathaldius was also bishop in 859, Pronanus in 885, Mallemanius in 920, and Dubientrectus died in 938, accord- ing to the annals of the Four Masters. The parish churches of Clonsilagh and Kildrochal, (now called Cellbridge,) Killernain and Killmochua are dedicat- ed to St. Mochua, whose monastery at Clondalkin after- wards became a parish church, to which was united, in 1540, by George Brown, the church of Kilmacudrick, four miles from Dublin ; where, according to the annals of St. Mary's abbey, near Dublin, St. Cuthbert was bom. A fur- ther account of this church may be seen in a book entitled Dignitas Decani, p. 209. The monasteries of Lusk, Fin- glas, Castleknock, and Swords, in process of time became churches, in the last of which towns there remain the ruins of a palace, which in ancient times belonged to the arch- bishop of Dublin, whose right stirrup, provided it was of gold, the lord viscount Kingsland was obliged to hold, when his grace came to his palace kt Swords, and for so doing had £ 300 a year. In Swords there was formerly a session- house ; and a knight of the shire has been there elected within the last century. Castleknock abbey, near three miles distant from Dublin, dedicated to St. Bridget, was founded in the 13th century 12* 138 APPENDIX. by Richard Tirrel. It is now a parish church, and a preb- end of St. Patrick's, and in it are interred the Warrens of CordufF. The abridged History of Ireland, ascribed to Dean Story, mentions, in the eighth page, " that there is a window in the castle of Castleknock, neither glazed nor latticed, yet a candle, being set there in the greatest wind or storm, burns as quiet as in a perfect calm ; and that there is in the said town a spring, wholesome to human hodies, but poisonous to beasts ;" but such accounts are in themselves so ridiculous, that they deserve no credit. Taulaught abbey, about four miles from Dxiblin, now an- nexed to the see of Dublin, was founded in the eighth cen- tury, by St. Molruane, abbot, under whom lived St.- Engu- sius, who, in conjunction with. St. Molruane, wrote that an- cient and famous Martyrology of Irish saints, which is call- ed the Martyrology of Taulaught, of which may be seen an account in the life of St. Engusius, published by Colgan, who assigns the 11th of March for this saint's festival, and the 7th of July for St. Molruane. Taulaught was formerly a bishopric. Tegh-Sacra priory, near Taulaught, was founded in the seventh century by St. Mosacre. Ireland's-eye priory, was founded in an island by St. Nes- san, about the sixth century. This island belongs now to . the Saint-Lawrences, earls of Howth. In it are the ruins of a church ; and John Allan observes in the Black Book, that St. Nessan was frequent in prayers, fasting and watch- ing, in this little island called Oculus Hxhernim. It may be easily concluded, from the above-mentioned number of religious houses belonging to the canons regular in the diocess of Dublin, how numerous they must have been in the whole kingdom ; but it is to be observed that in their first institution they belonged not to canons regular of St. Augustine, but were of other orders, and afterwards were incorporated with the St. Augustinjan and Benedictine monks, as will appear hereafter. Having mentioned Augus- tine canons, it will be necessary to state that the authors who attribute the institution of canons regular to St. Au- gustine, mention, that before the saint was made bishop of Hippo, in Africa, he founded a monastery within the church, where he resided with many learned men,_ sending, as he saw occasion, many of them from thence to preach the Gospel, and to persuade the people to renounce those erro- APPENDIX. 1S9 iieous opinions which had been instilled into them by false teachers. After the example of canons monastical, other canons were created, styled ecclesiastical canons, who were governed by their bishops, and not by abbots. Their resi- dence was contiguous to the cathedral-church, and was frequently called a monastery. While they lived up to the strictness of their order, they were called regular; but, in- teresting themselves with worldly business, the word regular was changed into sectdar, as Volteran observes. The habits of the canons regular are white, very long, md girded to their bodies. Over it they wear a surplice, vhich comes down to their knees, and over that, when they ■%o abroad, tliey wear short black cloaks, and broad hats ; — Jieir crowns are shaved like friars. The canons regular are divided into different congrega- tions, as into the Aroasian, so called from an abbey in the diocess of Arras, in French Flanders, which was the head of this congregation, but now united to the great order of regular canons, as Pentotus observes in his Tripartite histo- ry. There were two priories of the Aroasian congregation in Dublin, viz. the blessed Trinity and All-Saints, as has been already set forth. There is another congregation of reformed canons regular, of St. Genevieve, so called from -that holy Virgin, to whom the principal house of that con- gregation, which is at Paris, is dedicated. This congrega^ tion had no house in Ireland. There is another congrega- tion of canons regular, which is more ancient, and are call- ed canons of St. Victor, so called from the blessed martyr to whom the principal house of that congregation was dedi- cated in Marseilles, and now secularized both by papal and regal authority. The Victorines wear bands, and are admit- ted to take a doctor's degree in the Sorbonne. They had three houses in the diocess of Dublin. St. Thomas's abbey was built in the suburbs of 1177. Dublin, wrhich is now called Thomas-court, (and not Thomastown, as Captain Stevens miscalls it, in p. 122 of his Mcnutsticon Hihemicwm,) between St. Catherine's church and Earl-street, by William Fitz-Adam, at the com- mand of King Henry the II. for the soul of his father Geof- frey, earl of Anjou, and his mother Matilda, the empress ; also for his ancestors, himself, and his sons, in pure and per- petual alms, as the foundation chapter (which may be seen in Douglas) expresses. Vivianus, cardinal priest of St. Ste- 140 APPENDIX. ven in Monte Coelio, legate apostolic, and St. Lanfenci O'Toole, archbishop of Dublin, were present at its founda;- tion : it was dedicated to Thomas a-Becket, archbishop oi Canterbury, in some manner to atone' for that prelate's mur- der, to which Henry II. was reputed to have been at least indirectly accessary. To the memory of that martyrized prelate was also dedicated the parish church of Ratoath, in the county of Meath, before the reformation j but since that period, it is called after the blessed Trinity. St. Thomas's abbey was afterwards most liberally endowed. . St. Nas- sau's church, at Cork, was given to it, in 1172, by Gregory, then bishop of Cork ; and William Pyro, or Peryn, bishop of Glendaloch, who died in 1214, was a subscribing wit- ness to a donation charter made to this abbey by Theobald Walter, about 1206, by which he granted to it the church of Ardmulchan, with all the chapels, tithes, profits, and benefices thereunto belonging. The said bishop Pyro, according to the 22d page of Al- lan's Reperjorium Viride, joined with the patron jn appropri- ating the church of Tankardstown, in the Queen's county, to the canons of the abbey ; Felix, bishop of Lismore, (who in 1179, assisted at the council of Lateran) gave the church of St. John at Lismore to this abbey, as .appears in his Reg- istry. Iniscorthy priory, dedicated to St. John the Evangelist, about 1240, founded by Gerald de Prindergast and John St. John, bishop of Ferns, which,, after the suppression, was granted to Thomas, earl of Ormond, and afterwards assign- ed to Nicholas White, was a cell of this abbey, the canons of which supplied the priory of St. Mary's, of Ballindrog- hed, alias Fermoy Bridge, in the county of Cork, founded in the 13th century, by Alexander Fitz Hugh Roch. And in 1323, Alexander de Bicknor, archbishop of Dublin, with the consent of William Hausled, the then patron, annexed to this abbey the priory of St. Catherine's, near Salmon leap, in the diocess of Dublin, founded in 1219, by Wari- sius de Peche, for Victorine canons. Walter de Lacy gave also to this religious house the advowsons and patronage oi the several benefices mentioned in his grant. , Simon de Rochfort, bishop of Meath, among the rest of the constitu- tions of a synod held at the Augustinian abbey of the con- gregation of St. Victor, in Newtown, near Trim, in 1216, allotted vicitfs' portions to the churches in his diocess, which were appropriated to St. Thomas's monastery in DubUn, APPENDIX. 141 That prelate, together with the archdeacon of Kells and the prior of Duleek, were appointed commissaries by Innocent the III. in a dispute between the canons of this abbey and the Cistercian monks of our Lady of Beatitude, or Blessed- ness. This_ was a famous abbey in the diocess of Meath, founded about the middle of the twelfth century, by Mur- chard O'Meaghlin, prince of Meath, and, on its suppression, granted to Alexander Fitton, and afterwards assigned to Bartholomew Dillon. The ruins of this decayed abbey still remain. The litigation was in relation to the interment of Sir Hugh de Lacy, who was one of the Anglo Norman inva- ders slain by a labouring man, whom Radulphus de Diceto calls Malucia Maclair ; but others say his name was Sy- machus O'Cahar. He cut Lacy's head off with an axe, as he stooped to direct him in work at a castle he was building at Dermogh, or Durrough, perhaps that now called C'astle- Durrough. Sir Hugh de Lacy's body was long detained by the Irish, but in 1193 was most solemnly interred in Bec- tiffe abbey, by Matthew O'Heney, archbishop of Cashel ; and Pope Celestine the III.'s legate in Ireland, and by John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin ; but his head was car- ried to St. TThomas's abbey, and there buried in the tomb of Rosa de Munemne, his former wife. The great dispute Tvhich arose between these two abbeys for his body was de- cided, in 1205, b)"^ bishop Rochfort and other commissioners. Henry Duff was abbot at the time of the suppression of this opulent abbey,_of which th,ere remains not even the '.east trace : the registry of it, however, is still extant, writ- ten in a fair character on vellum, by William Coppinger, of Cork, in the reign of Henry the VIII., A. D. 1526, vnth the marginal notes of archbishop Allan ; and a catalogue is in- serted at the end thereof of the abhots : they wore mitres, used crosiers, conferred the lesser orders, were the second in dignity, held a place and had a voice among the spiritual peers in parliament. Among them mention is made of Nicholas Talbot, who died on the third of October, 1420, and was succeeded by John Whiting. John Purcell was abbot in 1486. Thomas Holder, abbot, died on the 12th of September, 1526, and was succeeded by James Cotterell, in the government of said abbey, in which the lords depu- ties often lodged. Some of the canons regular still bear the title of abbot of St. Thomas's, Dublin: the abbey and 143 APPENDIX. lands thereof were granted, part to William Brabazon, Esq part to Robert St. Leger, Esq. There was another priory of the canons of St. Victor, i* the parish of Donycomper, (which is in the diocess of Dub lin, though in the county of Kildare,) most pleasantly situ ated on the banks of the river Liffey, and formerly called Scali Cali, or a ladder to heaven, and founded by Adam de Hereford, and Richard the first prior of it. Richard Wes- ton was prior thereof, when it was suppressed, and was granted, with all its appurtenances, to John Allen, keeper o' the rolls. The ruins of this priory (the steeple excepted) still remain. This religious house was dedicated to St. Wolstan, of whom Matthew of Westminster, Matthew of Paris, Polydore, Virgil and Malmesbmy, give the follow- ing account : " St. Wolstan, in his youth, was educated in Peterbo- rough abbey, and afterwards in the monastery of Worces- ter, to the bishopric of which he was at length promoted, in Edward the Confessoir's reign ; but on false and malicioug accusations was deprived thereof by William the Conquer- or, and Lanfrank, archbishop of Canterbury ; but the in jured prelate's innocence was proved by a miracle, which in the presence of many he wrought at St. Edward's tomb, in Westminster ; and he was thereupon . restored to his bish- opric, where he died on the 19th of January, A. D. 1095 — which day afterwards was commanded to be kept holy to his memory throughout England. His sacred remains were deposited in his own cathedral, and in more than a hundred years after were found uncorrupted ; and were with great solemnity removed to a more eminent place in said church, on the 10th of June, A. D. 1218, -which church being after* wards burned by a casual fire, the holy pontiff's shrine es- caped the fury of the devouring fiames. The festival of the translation of this saint is observed in the Sarum Missal and Breviary." The priory of St. John the Baptist, in Thomas-street, was founded about 1188, by Alured le Palmer, a Dane, (of the family which were afterwards earls of Castlemain.) It was one of the richest of that order in Ireland. Allan remarks, in his Repertorium Viride, that Palmer obtained a surrepti- tious bull to exempt this priory from the ordinary's jurisdic- tion ; but in 1530 they spontaneously submitted themselves to Archbishop Allan, who affirms, that their rule was regu- APPENDIX. 143 lated according to the archbishop's will. This priory, which was also endowed by many, was likewise an hospital, and in Edward Ill's reign maintained 155 poor persons, besides chaplains and lay-brothers ; when the cross-bearers or crouched friars of St. Augustine's rule were first introduced there, is not certain. Among the pnors of this house are numbered Roger Outlaw, James Mareschal, John Archer and Thomas Everard ; the latter of whom was prior at the time of its suppression. The steeple of the church only remains of this once stately fabric, which, along with its possessions, was granted to James Sedgrave. There are two register-books of charters belonging to this religious house, which is called in them an hospital ; one of them was written in the reign of Edward the III., and to it is perfixed a catalogue of the priors (among whom is men- tioned John Fitz-Richard) extracted partly from the regis- ter, and partly from the royal archives ; the other begins in 1325. In what was said of Kilmainham, it ought to be observed that Roger Outlaw, prior of Kilmainham, constitued justice of Ireland in 1328, was openly accused of heresy, by Rich- ard Ledred, a Franciscan, bishop of Ossory, for some coun- tenance to Arnold Poer, seneschal of Kilkenny, between whom and the bishop there had been so bad an understand- ing, that the seneschal was impeached by the bishop of heresy, who excommunicated him by virtue of a writ de ex- communicato capiendo^ grounded on his certificate. He was committed prisoner, but was treated with great human- ity by prior Outlaw, who was also accused of heresy by the said bishop. The prior petitioned the privy council for leave to purge himself of the chaj'ge of heresy imputed to him by the bishop, and they ordered a public proclamation for three days, that, if any person had a mind to prosecute the prior of Kilmainham, they should have protection with freedom and safety to it ; but, on nobody's appearing, the king's writ was issued at the request of said prior, to assem- ble the peers, bishops, abbots, priors, the mayors of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and Waterford, as also the sheriff's and sene- schals, the knights of the shires, and the principal freemen )f the city of Dublin. When this assembly convened, the qjrand prior made it appear that the bishop's proceedings igainst Poer were partial and unjust, in favour of a kinsman jf the bishop's, who began the quarrel with Poer, and there< 144 APPENDIX. fore prior Outlaw only supported the cause of the oppress- ed. The assembly appointed a committee of six to exam- ine the charge. These were William Rodgeard, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin ; the abbots of St. Thomas and St. Mary's; the prior of Christ-church; Mr. Elias Lawless, and Mr. Peter AYiUeby. They examined such witnesses as were summoned apart, and every one of them made oath that the prior was orthodox, and a zealous champion of tne faith, and ready to defend it with his life. Upon this report of the committee, he was solemnly acquitted, and the bishop, who was the accuser, being in his turn accused of heresy, by his metropolitan, (Alexander Bicknor, archbish- op of Dublin,) was obliged to fly his country for the same crime ; however, about the close of the year 1354, the storm blew over, and he returned, and passed the remainder of his life in great tranquillity. He died in a very advanced age in 1360, and was buried-in his own cathedral of Kil- kenny. There was another priory of Kilmainham, near Nobber, in the county of Meath, founded in the 12th century, by Walter de Lacy, and when suppressed granted to Patrick Barn wall, of Termor. The preceptory of Kilmainham-wood was founded in the 13th century by the Prestons. It ought to be noticed, that the author of the Irish Historical Library, page 115, affirms the Dominicans to have first settled in Dublin, A. D. 1224, and lastly in Derry, 1174. The order of crouched friars was first established in England, A. D. 1224, having their monastery then at Col- chester, but are said to be the institution of St. Cyriacus, bishop of Jerusalem, in memory of the holy cross, which St. Helen, mother to Constantine the Great, found, by the directions of him (who from a Jew became a Christiap,) and therefore were enjoined, when they went abroad, to carry a cross in their hands. In 1215, they were restored or confirmed by Innocent HI., or rather, as some write, -newly instituted ; and the reason they assigned was, that a great commotion, which raged in Rome, Was repressed by the Croisadoes, or an army of Christians, who had the cross for their badge, and were then marching for Syria against the infidels. This order was reformed by Innocent IV. and Alexander III. : — Pius 11. ordered them to wear a sky-col- qured habit ; and, instead of carrying crosses in their handAj APPENDIX. 145 tfiej have fixed on their breasts a red and white cross, and wear black cloaks. Ki/mainham priory, in the suburbs of Dublin, belonged to the Knights Hospitallers of the order of St. John of Je- rusalem, who first obtained leave to build a monastery at Jerusalem, of the calipha of Egypt, which they dedicated to the B. V. Mary, and employed themselves in defending pilgrims, also in entertaining and relieving them in hospi- tals and houses built for them, regulating their matters as to devotion, according to St. Augustine's rule : they behaved themselves so well when the Christians took Jerusalem in 1099, that they were held iii high esteem by Godfrey of Bo- logne, and other kings, valiantly defending with their swords the Christian religion, till the princes of the West failing to send them succour, by reason of their own intes- tine discords, they were quite beaten out of Syria by the infidels, A. D. 1308 ; about which time, with a" great fleet, they invaded Rhodes, took it from the Turks, and maintain- ed it 214 years, but lost it in the reign of Solyman, the Magnificent, after a bloody siege of six months ; from whence they were called the knights of Rhodes, but since, the knights of Malta, which place their posterity latterly possessed. Kilmainham priory was founded by Richard, surnamed Stroiigbow, earl of Pembroke, or Striguil, about the year 1174, and Henry II. confirmed the endowments. It was afterwards enriched by the donations of others, and espe- cially under Edward II., when the revenues of the Tem- plars, then newly suppressed, were granted to this order, Walter de I'Ewe being then grand prior of the Hospitallers. This priory was likewise an hospital for strangers and pil- grims. The place took its name from St. Maignan, a bishop, wh() lived about the beginning of the seventh century ; and whose memory is celebrated on the 18th December. Nor is it to be omitted, that this religious house was exempt from all manner of jurisdiction in Ireland. They were called Hospital- lers, not from begging, but from entertaining strangers ; their income was very great, and their order most considerable." It was so large and fair a fabric before its. dissolution, that it was most deservedly esteemed one of the most beautiful chureh..buildings in the whole kingdom. The prior of Kil- mainham was proto-prior of Ireland, and had his vote in the House of Lords, Among the priors of Kilmainham are 13, 146 APPENDIX. numbered Thomas Butler, who died in Normandy on tlia 10th of August, in 1419, and was succeeded by John Fitz- Henry, who also died on the 13th of the ensuing February ; and William Fitz-Thomas, whose successor was James Keating. In 1485, a great dispute arose between James Keating and Marmaduke Lomley, about the right of this priory, each of them acting as prior, which was at last destructive to them both. This pontention took its rise in 1482 ; for, about the end of that year, Keating was displaced by Peter Daubas- son, grand master of that order in the Isle of Rhodes, (under whose authority he was,) for his disobedience and his mal- administration in that employment ; particularly because he had been accused of having made away with a great part of the jewels and other ornaments of the priory, and pawn- ed others of them ; among which, mention is made of a piece of our Saviour's cross. Also, because he sold divers farms belonging thereunto, made long leases of others, and charged it with annual pensions. Keating being therefore deprived, the said Marmaduke Lomley, (an Englishman, de- scended of the noble family of the Lomley's,) was, by the said master of Rhodes, appointed to succeed him. This happened in December, 1482. Being thus elected, the next year he landed at Clontarf, a preceptory of the said order, a mile and a half distant from Dublin : as soon as Keating, who had great influence, having governed the grand priory of Kilmainham about twenty years, was apprized of Lom ley's arrival, he hastened thither, being attended by a great party of his servants, and brought Lomley away prisoner, keeping him in custody until all the instruments of his con- firmation and election were resigned into his hands. But Lomley made a previous protestation against it ; at last he assigned to him the preceptory of Kilsaran, in the county ol Louth. Lomley gave an account, by letters, of all the pro- ceedings, as well to the king, as to the grand master, and at length with such great success, that Keating, was for his of- fences excojnmunicated. Keating being irritated at this, and imputing the entire fault to Lomley, he, with an armed force, expelled him out of Kilsaran priory, as the source of all these new troubles — Octavianus de Palatio, archbishop of Armagh, in whose diocess Kilsaran priory is situated, en- deavouring in vain to rescue him. Nor were Lomley's troubles ended here, for he was about this time once more APPENDIX. 147 cast into prison by iiis competitor. What became of him afterwards, is uncertain ; but certain it is, that he never got possession of Kilmainham, which Keating, for almost nine years after, held by force ; but at length he was ejected with disgrace, and ended his life in great poverty, after having James Vail, or- Wall, substituted in his place. His successor was John Kendal, who in 1494 petitioned tlie parliament, in the name of the grand master of Rhodes, that alienations made by the priors Talbot, Keating, and otliers, should be made void, and an act passed to that pur- pose ; as also for restoring the jewels, ornaments and rel- ics of said priory, which were pawned ; as likewise to make good the preceptories constituted by Keating, and not to grant Kilmainham priory to any person in Ireland, ex- cept he was descended of an English race, and likely to receive a support from the same order in England. Rich- ard Talbot was for a year'or two prior of Kilmainham, but was displaced in 1498, and Robert Evers, an Englishman, descended of the noble family of the Evers's, was made prior thereof by the grand master of the Isle of Rhodes, and so continued for the space of thirteen years ; but in 1611 he VFas displaced by the grand master, who assigned the preceptory of Slebich, in Pembrokeshire, in Wales, for his support during life. John Rawson, an Englishman, succeeded him as grand prior, who, by reason of indisposi- tion of body, landed not in Ireland until 1512, when by the king's command he was sworn one of his majesty's privy council. William Skeffington, lord deputy of Ireland, died in this priory, in which it seems the lords deputy often re- sided. This noble priory was suppressed in 1539 ; and in 1557 was restored by means of Cardinal Pole — Oswald Messingherd being made prior thereof. This institution was confirmed by Queen Mary's patent. But Messingherd, in 1559, being the first year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, fled to the continent, where at length he died ; ai)d the priory itself, before the expiration of a year, by an act of parlia- ment held at Dublin, before the earl of Sussex, was final- ly suppressed, and the whole disposal of it was left to the crown. Near the ruins of it, was built, in 1548, the Royal Hospi- tal, at the expense of the army, for the support of 400 aged and maimed soldiers. Several writers affirm that the bodies, not only of the renowned Brian Boroo, (who, af- 148 APPENDIX kcr a long and bloody battle with the Danes, at Clontarf, on the 23d of April, 1014, obtained a nctory, yet died of his wounds,) but also of Murchard his son, and of Donbugb O'Kelly, Doulan O'Hartegan, aiid Gille-Barmed, were bu- ried at Kilmainham, near the old stone cross, a part of which stands to this day; not far from which springs a crystal fountain, the water whereof is most excellent, and is called St. John of Jerusalem's well ; it belonged to this grand priory, which was founded for the Knights Templars ; but on their suppression it was granted to the Knights Hos pitallers, who until then had their grand priory in Wexford. Chapel-Izod, or the church of St. Izod, sumamed the Fair, daughter to J^Ingus, king of Ireland, seems to have been a chapel of ease to Kilmainham. Conveniunl rebus nomina SEepq suis. There was a well of most excellent water on the land that now makes a part of the Deer park, which bore this royal virgin's name ; as also a tower in the castle, and i lane in the city. There were twenty-two cornmanderies or preceptories belonging to the grand priory of KUmainham, one of which was Clontarf preceptory, erected under the invocation of St. Congal, or Comgall, (i. e. the Fair Pledge,) who was born in Dalnariada, but educated under St. Fintan, at Clonenach, a village in the Queen's county, afterwards at Clanmac- noise, under bishop Lugid, from whom he received holy orders. He founded the celebrated abbey of Bangor. St. Congal wrote monastical institutions, also the acts of his contemporary, St. Columb, and some epistles ; he died aged 35, in the beginning of the 6th century, in his abbey of Bangor. Clontarf was first a seat of the Knights Tem- plars, but after their extinction it became a preceptory of Knights Hospitallers. It is situated about a mile and a half from Dublin. Henry VIII. on the 20th of June, 1641, made John Rawson (grand prior of Kilmainham at the time of its suppression,) viscount of Clontarf during life, and gave him an annual pension of 500 marks, to be paid out of the lands of said preceptory; which, according to some writers, was founded by Henry II. — but others are of opin- ion that the Netervilles were" the founders. On its sup- pression, it was granted to Sir Geoffrey Fenton, and is now the estate of the Vernons. AFPEJNUIX 149 There were four convents of the mendi€ant orders in Dublin. The Dominicans, or black friars, so called in England from the black habits which they wore over their inward, which are white, and in France are called Jacobins, on account of their great convent being in St. James-street, and dedicated to that holy apostle. This order, which, according to Captain Stevens, is the immediate offspring of the Prsemonstratensis, came not (as some writers have supposed) in the place of the Humiliati, who were con- firmed by Innocent III. A. D. 1200, and continued till the pontificate of Pius V. when they were suppressed. The Dominican order is generally reputed the first of the men- dicant orders, because the pope's bull for confirming it is antecedent ih date to those of the other mendicants. The Dominicans are so called from St. Dominick, a Spaniard, who was enjoined by Innocent III, 1207, with twelve abbots of the Cistercian order, to preach against the errors of the Albigenses. He died in 1221, and was canonized by Gregory IX. in 1233. The principal object of the institution of this order (which professes the rule of St. Augustine, with some additions confirmed by Honorius III.) is to read, write, expound and preach the word of God. The Dominicans appeared early in Ireland after their institution, and had, before the suppression of religious houses in this kingdom, about thirty-nine convents; that of Dublin was the most magnificent, and one of the richest of the order in Ireland. Ships came up to its walls. It was given by the monks of St. Mary's abbey to the Friars Preachers, on condition that they should yearly, on Christmas day, offer a lighted taper to St. Mary's abbey, as an acknowledgment of their holding it from ^aid abbey, which was duly performed. This con- vent was built on the very spot where St. Savior's chapel stood, and, i^i remembrance thereof, the church was erected the calends of May, 1233, under the invocation of St. Savior, (as were their conventual churches in Limerick and Waterford,) but it was not consecrated till 1402, when Thomas Cranley, on the fifth of the ides of July, performed that ceremony. The new elected lord mayor of Dublin, attended by the aldermen, was obliged, each Michaeltnas- day, to visit this convent, to hear a sermon preached on the duties of magistrates, as also to assist at high mass; and 13* 150 APPENDIX. their non-attenoance was considered a great crime. Thi was the first house of the Predicants ; though John Clyn, a minorite historian, will have their first settlement in Ire land to have been at Ross, in the county of Wexford. Stanihurst, in his description of Ireland, relates, that, in 1314, Robert Nottingham, mayor, and the common council of the city of Dublin, were apprehensive of great distress on the arrival of Edward Bruce, (brother to Robert Bruce, king of Scotland,) in the north of Ireland, from whence he marched forward with his army as far as Castleknock, burnt down all the houses in Thomas-street, lest so potent an enemy, on his arrival in Dublin, should have any succour in the suburbs ; they also pulled down the Dominican con- vent, and brought the stones thereof to the places where St. Audeon's-arch and Wine-tavern-street gate stood ; and erected along that way new walls, for the better fortification of the city, with the stones belonging to the said convent, being apprehensive lest the walls which were along both the quays should not be sufficiently strong to oppose the enemy. The Scots, being apprized of this new fortification, thought it improper to lay siege to Dublin, which they looked upon as impregnable, and turned their course to the Salmon leap, where from thence they went to Naas. Dub- lin then being out of danger, King Edward II. gave a most strict command to the citizens to rebuild this convent, which, accordingly, was done with expedition. Eustace la Poer, John le Decer, Ralph le Porter, and Kenrick Sher- mon, are numbered among the benefactors of the Domini- can convent of Dublin. John Decer, whom the author of the Irish Monasticon styles lord chief justice, Stanihurst makes out to be only mayor of Dublin, in 1301, and writes, " That he repaired the Dominican convent in Dublin, and erected. Tinder the invocation of the blessed Virgin Mary, a chapel for the Franciscan convent, in which he was buriedfe" There are extracts still extant in the Chandois library, out of the con- ventual book of the Franciscans of Dublin. Thomas Payne, a Dominican, who had been bishop of Meath above twenty-three years, for some time master of the rolls, and died A. D. 150G ; Thomas Talbot, son to Lord Furnival ; Edward Brel, some time mayor of Dublin, who died on the eleventh of May, 1419 ; also Geoffrey Galon, mayor of the city, wlio died in 1421 ; and several APPENDIX. 151 other persons of distinction, were buried in this convent, which, after its dissolution, was appropriated to the lawyers, and called the King's-Inns. It served in February, 1662, for a court of claims, to judge the qualifications and merits of the claimants ; and in 1668 it was made use of as a court of grace, which was a commission issued to the gov- ernor, the chancellor, and the chief judges, to grant his majesty's title to those that were in possession, and to grant manors and other privileges for reasonable fines. King James II., during his abode in Ireland, held a parliament in these cloisters. The registry of this priory is in the duke of Chandois's library ; and an ample account of it may be found in the annals of St. Mary's abbey, the Tholsel regis- try, Archbishop King's MSS. collection, and in Dudley Loftus's miscellanies in manuscript, in Marsh's library, near St. Patrick's cathedral, as ftlso in John O'Heyn, a Galway man, a Dominican of Athenry, and chronologer of the Irish province, in . his accounts of the Dominican convents in Ireland, published at Louvain, in 1706. Of the Franciscans, or Grey Friars, in the beginning called poor Monorites, there were several branches. Con- ventuals, Observantines, and the third order : the first mentioned had sixty-seven houses in Ireland, some of which were reformed to the Observantines, who had eight houses of their own, and twenty belonging to the Conven- tuals, that conformed to the Observatines ; and the third order, who had thirty-six. As for the Cordeliers, Recolets, and Pique-puce, they appeared not in Ireland. The Capu- chins are another branch of the Franciscan order, so called from their Coule of Capuce ; and, though this reformation was subsequent to the dissolution of monasteries in Ireland, yet they appeared there in 1623 ; Edward Lyng, a native of Cashel, being their leading friar. Their place of resi- dence, during King James the lid's stay in Ireland, was between School-house-lane, (formerly called Ram-lane,) and St. Audeon's-arch. Clyn and Wadding write, that the Franciscans made their first appearance in Ireland in 1231, and settled in Kilkenny, and in two years afterwards at Clonmell, and in Dublin in 1236, by the encouragement of Henry III. Ralph le Porter gave the ground on which the convent was built, and John Decer, an Englishman, lord chief justice, built a fine chapel adjacent to the church where he was buried ; and gave every Friday to the friars 152 APPENDIX. what was necessary for that day's maintenance. Wadding mentions, that there was a most beautiful window of stained glass in their church. Thomas Stevens, a trader in Dublin, bought the convent and all belonging to it from Henry the VIII., (its suppressor,) for the sum of thirty-six pounds six shillings sterling. The writer of the Irish Momstkon men- tions, that Thomas Fitz-Gerald, a celebrated preacher, of the noble family of the Geraldines, had been murdered in this convent at the time of its suppression. The hermits of St. Augustine : — of whose institutions there are various opinions, which we shall omit, as foreign from our purpose ; — the curious, who are inclined to inquire about these, and the institutions of the Carmelites, may turn to the French author who published, in his own lan- guage, the institution of monastical and religious orders, or to Natalis Alexander, and Fleury. What is here to be observed, is, that the Augustinian hermits had about twenty-three convents in Ireland, and were first introduced into Dublin from Bristol, about 1259 ; they settled in the east suburbs, on the spot of ground where the theatre is built, in Crow-street. Lublin writes, that this convent was the place where all the friars of this order studied in Ire- land ; and the editor of the Irish Monasticon affirms, that he read of one of the Talbots, predecessors to the duke of Tyi'connel, to have been the founder of this monastery ; which, on its dissolution, was granted to William Tyrrel, afterwards assigned to Nicholas Neterville, again to William Crow, from whom Crow-street is named. The Carmelite order had in Ireland about twenty houses, according to Ware and the Irish Monasticon ; that of Dub- lin was one of the most considerable and most ancient, being founded about 1274, by Sir Robert Baggot, an Englishman, and dedicated to the B. V. Mary. The lands were purchased from the abbey of Vallis Salutis, and on its suppression, the convent was granted to Aungier, baron of Longford, who built a house of its materials. Having now mentioned Lord Aungier, it was said the White Book of Christ-church was burnt in his lordship's closet, as Dudley Loftus mentions in his MS. miscellanies, preserved in Marsh's library; but it must have beenonly a copy, since the modern editor of Ware affirms that it is carefully pre- served in the chapter-house of Christ-church, and the book of Obits of said cathedral is kept among the manuscripts of APPENDIX. 153 Trinity-college ; among which may be seen very curious missals and breviaries, which were used in Ireland before the suppression of religious houses. But to return to the Carmelites: it is to be noticed, that there was a provincial chapter of their order held in their convent at Atliboy, which, when dissolved, was granted to Thomas Casey. There was a reformation of the Carmelite order, planned by St. Theresa and St. John of the cross ; but, as it was subse- quent to the suppression of religious houses, they appeared not in Ireland till about the year 1636. Their residence, during King James the lid's being in Ireland, was about the middle of Church-street. The abbey of Vallis Salutis, or the Vale of Salvation, from which the ground of the Carmelite convent in Dublin was purchased, formerly belonged to the Cistercians at Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow, founded about the middle of the twelfth century, by Dermod MacMurrough, king of Leinster, and dedicated to the blessed Virgin Mary. On the suppression thereof, it was granted to Thomas Eus- tace, Viscount Baltinglassr. In King Charles the lid's reign, the earl of Longford made his residence in the Dublin monastery, which belonged to the white friars, after whose decease it fell into ruin ; and about 1732, on the said ruins was built, in Aungier-street, a play-house. To the use which the Carmelite and Augustinian convents were converted, may be applied the words of the poet, Qui color albus erat, nvinc est contrarius albo. Or, rather — Domus Orationum vertuntur in speluncas Latrcnum. The Jesuits made their first entrance into Ireland by the means of Robert Waucop, archbishop of Armagh, who assisted at some of the sessions of the council of Trent, and died at Paris, in one of the houses belonging to the society, on the 10th of November, 1557. The Jesuits, in King James the lid's reign, had a very decent chapel in Mass-lane, near the Inn's quay, now made use of by the dissenters. Besides these religious orders, there stood, not quite five miles from Dublin, near Bellgriffin, (which was the ancient estate of John Buraell, in 1533, afterwards of the Dela- 154 APPENDIX. hydes,) a castle in the said town, which was forfeited in 1641, and granted by King James the lid. to his grace the duke of Tyrconnel, who set a lease of it to Major Stepney, who sold his interest thereof to Mr. Dugan, an attorney, from whom it was purchased by Counsellor Doyne. In the avenue leading down on the left hand to this castle, bow demolished, stood a parish church, of which there remains not the least trace to indicate its site; also Kingseally, (which formerly belonged to the Goldings,) the ancient and celebrated hermitage of the religious solitary, St. Dolough In Fishamble-street, alsoj stood a chapel of ease, under tht invocation of St. Dolough ; but Stanihurst, in the third chap- ter of his description of Ireland, calls it St. Tullock, and mentions it to have been parochial ; and, according to this writer, a family of the Fitz-Simraons's was for the most part buried there. It long sjnce has been profaned and razed. Robert Ware, in his manuscript history of Dublin, relates, that on its ruins was built a brewer's house. The parish was bounded from the castle to the fishambles, called Cock- hill, with Prestonby's-inn, and the lane thereunto adjoining, (perhaps what Stanihurst calls Tullock's-lane,) which has long since beejn united to St. John's. Some are of opinion that Tullock is a corruption of Dolough, as being the same name ; but whether they were the same, or different saints, is not so easily ascertained. To return, however, to St. Dolough : his feast is celebrated on the first of August; though Colgan, in p. 598 of his acts of the saints of Ireland, places his feast on the 17th of November, perhaps that of his trans- lation. The buildings of the hermitage are still covered ; and in it is an altar, which some look upon to have been the tomb of that holy recluse, near to which is a hole, vfrhere many lay their heads to get rid of the headache. Up two pair of stone stairs is shown his bed, not much larger than a small oven, scarce sufficient to contain a person of a mode- rate size. It is held in high repute by women in pregnancy, who turn thrice in it, hoping thereby not to die in child-bed. The steeple remains still up, as does the church, which is now much smaller than it formerly was. Divine service is performed there but once a fortnight, and the tithes belong to the chapter of Christ-church. Near this church there is a well of most lucid and delightful water, enclosed and arched over, and formerly embellished at the expense of Peter Fa- gan, brother of the late John Fagan, of Feltrim, E«q. with APPENDIX. 155 decorations of gildings and paintings. The descent of the Holy (ihost on the Apostles was represented on the top, with the figures of St. Patrick, St. Columb, and St. Bridgid, much after the manner they are engraved in Messingham's title-page of his Florilegium Sanctorum Hibemia, as also of St. Dolough, in a hermit's habit. On the walls was the following inscription, engraved on a marble stone : — Bethsaida's sacred pool let olliers tell , -^ V,^'^ With healing virtues how her waters swell ; " , ' ■'F^ An equal glory shall Fingaha* claim, Nor be less grateful for her blessed stream. Thy prayers, Dolachus, mounted up to heav'n, Thence to the well the mighty pow'r is giv'n To drive the fiery fever far away, Strength to replace, and rescue from decay, In every malady to lile a stay. The cherub, wondrous, moves his waters there ; The saint behold ! who stirs the fountain here. Hail, lovely fount, if long unsung thy name. It hence shall rise above the starry Irame.f Usher, in Epist. Hibem. Recens. p. 162, supposes the Ostmcn of Ireland were the same nation of Ostioei, Ostiones, or Estones of Livonia ; but the Irish Historical Librarian, p. 34 of his preface, is of opinion, thatCambrensis's assertion, in the forty-third chapter of the third book of the topography of Ireland, is more correct. He affirms, that all came from Norway and the neighbouring isles ; which, as he rightly observes, lay to the east of Ireland, and therefore their in- habitants, when they were seated here, properly called them * Fingalia, so called, if credit may be given to what some writers affirm, from Fingalia, the daughter of Macloten, son of Maccartack, king of Ireland, and wife of Goddark, king of Man ; though others tliink that this territory, which is on the north side of the River Liffey, comprehends a good part of the county of Dublin, anciently divided into divers little territories, being, on the arrival of the English, foreigner. Such are the divers sentiments of writers, each of whom retains his own opinion, but certain it is, that-the ancient family of the Plunkets derive from tiiis territory the title of earls of Fipgall. t Piscinae Solymis clarse decus efferal alter, Et Medicas populus jactet Hebreus aquas : Grata Deo Patrium celebrat Fingalia fontem, Doolachi precibus munera nacta piis. Morbos ille fugat promptus, viresque reponit, ^gris, et causas mille salutis habet. ScSicet a°quus agit rriediis Doolachus in undis Aiigelus ut fontem, sic movet ille suum. O Fons ! noster amor, si te negleximus olim : Mox ent, ut nomcn sit super astra tuum. 156 APPENDIX. selves Ostmen. lo France, the same people (and on the like just considerations) were distinguished by the name of Normans. They had the cities of Dublin, Waterford, Cork, and Limerick, with other maritime towns here, and had their bishops (whose jurisdiction was confined within the walls of their cities) consecrated by their countrymen, the Norman archbishops of Canterbury. When Henry the II. peopled those cities with colonies of Englishmen, he assign- ed io the Ostmen of each a portion of land in the suburbs, which, in the old records of this kingdom is usually distin- guished by the name of Cantreda Ostmanorum, as may be seen in Davis's reports, fol. 23. The first account of them to be met with in England, is, that they came in three Nor- wegian ships of Herethan-land, as th« Saxon Chronicle ex- presses it, Ad Annum 787, which, as the learned publisher rightly renders De Pyratarwn Terra. In the Irish tongue, Lochlonnach signifies (according to Lhuyd's dictionary) ori- ginally a mariner, or seaf^iring man, but was afterwards ap- propriated to thost northern pirates. So, for distinction sake, Dubhlochannach was a Dane, and Finlochannach a Nor- wegian. See here, says Nicholson, the true lineage of the Irish Fingalians. For we are assured by Ware,, in the twen- ty-sixth chapter of his antiquities, that not only the isles of Orkney, but also, according to the Irish Historical Librarian, the Western Isles of Scotland, and the Isle of Man, were called anciently, by the Irish, Galla; as being the common harbours of these northern strangers. Davies, in his Welsh Dictionary, says, that in Welsh, ElycMyn is Norway, and Llychyrid, according to Lhuyd, in the 19th page of his Archcelogia Britannica, is a Norwegian. Dr. Patrick Russel, archbishop of Dublin, granted forty days' indulgence to those who would devoutly say on their bare knees at St. Dolough's well, five times, the Lord's prayer, the Hail Mary, and the apostle's creed — a fortnight to intervene between each time of those prayers, to gain the indulgence ; as appears from an inscription on a stone to that eflfect. At the back of St. Dolough's well, there is another for bathing, which is vaulted and called after St. Catherine. Sir Richard Buckley brought with him, after the battle of the Boyne, a party of the troopers, who greatly defaced and disfigured the decorations of this well ; but his profanation escaped not unpunished ; for, not long before his d -ath, which happened in April, 1710, he was strangely misled by APPENDIX 157 a visionary set of people, who pretended to be prophets, and had promised to make him straight, he being a crooked man. His infatuations were so strong, as the modern editor of Ware's writers relates, p. 263, that he designed to sell his estate among them. Ware, in the 5th section of the 35th chapter of his An- tiquities, observes, that the Irish hermits were called Incltisi, because they shut themselves up in their cells and hermit- ages; yet their confinement was not so strict, but by dispen- sation they might leave them, except that of St. Fechin's, in Foure, or Baille-leabar, i. e. the City of Books, a descrip- tion of which is contained in the lines underneath.* The anachoretical cell of Foure, the oratory of which is the burial place of the earl of Westmeath, was inhabited longer than any of the others in Ireland; for, in 1616, died there the Rev. Patrick Beglin, whose monumental inscrip- tion we here subjoin : — En ego Patricias Beglin sacrse incola Eremi Hoc lapidum tumulo condor humcrque cavo, Rupe sub seria, monumento et sede Sacrata, Inlemerala adyto, lum sine labe dome, ^ Quisquis is est ergo qui cernit busla viator . »;^cat Eremicoloe spiritus astra petal. After the death of Mr. Beglin, the Rev. Mr. Daly became anchoret at Foure ; and after he died, the Rev. Patrick Clo- nan ; after him the Rev. Mr. John Nugent, who was succeedea by the Rev. Mr. Charles Fagan ; and in 1719, the Rev. Mr. George Fleming resigned the parish of Castletown-Delvin, which for many years he served, and retired to the ercmeti- cal cell of Foure, where, in three or four years after, he died ; since which time, there has not been an anchoret there, nor do we know any other cells of this nature in Ire- land, except Lismore and Kilkenny. In the registry of Oc- tavian de Palatio, archbishop of Armagh, there is mention made of an Observantine Franciscan, who, having lost his sight, was, on the 10th of July, 1508, admitted by the arch- bishop to lead the life of an anchoret, near the cathedral of Cashel, where he had built himself a cell in the wall ; and * Quae capil a Libris nomen; celebrata pereraii Fama, tres jactat villa forea dotes. Hie Stat sacra domus, glauca co&tructa palude, Hie monstrat patulos, Anachoreta lares, Vertitur hie nujlo pellenti flumine rota, Qute tria sunt longa concelebranda die. 153 APPENDIX. the archbishop granted forty days' indulgence to those who should give aid in finishing it. Ware also informs us, that the rules for regulating the anchoret's lives to have been ex- tant in a manuscript, formerly belonging to St. Thomas's abbey in Dublin, to which is annexed an epistle of one Robert, a priest, to Hugh, an anchoret, written about the reign of Henry the H. In the City and Diocess of Dublin were the following Nun- nenes before the Reformation : — The nunnery of St. Mary de Hoggis, in St. Andrew's- street, near the church ; — it was built and richly endowed by Dermod MacMurrough, son of Murchard, king of Lein- ster, about 1146. The nuns were of the Aroasian congre- gation, and professed St. Augustine's rule ; to this nunnery were subjected in 1151, by the founder, two cells, Kilclevin, alias de Bello-Portu, (Beau-Port) nunnery of St. Kilkin, and Athady nunnery, both in the county of Kilkenny, and endowed by John and David Fitzmilo ; the former of the two, on its suppression, was granted to the city of Water- ford. There was also a house in Fishamble-street, which belonged to Hoggis nunnery, of which Mary Guidon was prioress at the time of its suppression ; it was then granted to James Sedgrave, and afterwards assigned to several in trust for Thomas Fian. An act of parliament in 28th of Henry the VHI's reign, was passed for the suppression of this nunnery, as also of the priories of Bectif, St. Peter's, New-town, (near Trim,) Duske, Duleek, Holm-Patrick, Baitinglass, Greyvey nunnery, Teghmolin, Dunbrothey, Ithterne, Ballybogan and Ferns. There was another nunnery of the same order in Lusk, in the parish of which were some chapels of ease, as the ruin- ous one in White's town, dedicated to St. Maur, whose name also a well in the same village bears : there is another chapel in ruins, under the invocation of St. Deacon, as also a well dedicated to this saint in Kenure, formerly the seat and estate of a family of the Reilly's, and afterwards of a family of the Walsh's now extinct. There were three sons of this family of the Walsh's, priests, James, Christopher, and Joseph ; the former was a Jesuit, who lived and died in APPENDIX. 151 Spain. Christopher was parish priest of Swords, and was buried with his predecessor, Patrick Murphy, and witn his brother Joseph, parish priest of Lusk and Rush, in the church of Kenure, the lands of which town now belong to Sir Robert Echlin. Whether St. Meavin's church depend- ed on Balruddery, Baldongan, or Lusk, we cannot ascertain ; but in this last mentioned town, a good distance from the church, (which is a large fabric with a high steeple dedicat- ed to St. Maclin, or Maculindus, who, in the manuscript en- titled Indigitamentum Sanctorum Hibemice Tutelarium, extract- ed from ancient martyrologies and lives of saints, preserved in the archives of the Irish Franciscan convent in Lovain) St. Mailin is called bishop of Lusk ; and it is there said that he was first called Condiglius, and that he died A. D. 407. There is an unroofed church in Lusk, supposed by some to have been that of the nunnery, which was translated in 1190, by John Comyn, archbishop of Dublin, to a village about a mile from Lusk, called Grace-Dieu, or the grace of God, and dedicated to the B. V. Mary on her nativity. It was on its dissolution granted to Patrick Barnwell. There prevails a tradition in that neighbourhood, — how true we can- not affirm, — that, when the nuns were dispossessed, their cries were heard from Grace-Dieu to Skiddow, which is a dis- tance of some miles. The church belonging to this nunnery was demolished by Daniel Wyburne, who had farmed the lands of Grace-Dieu from the Lord Kingsland, and made use of the stones thereof in building a dwelling-house. There was another nunnery of the diocess of Dublin, at Graney, in the county of Carlow, misplaced by Ware in the county of Kildare : it was founded by Walter de Ridlesford, about the year 1200, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, and on its dissolution granted to Leonard, Lord Gray, and afterwards to Anthony St. Leger. The instrument of its suppression may be read in Rymer's Fsedera and Conventus. A Benedictine nunnery was erected towards the upper end of Great Ship-street, by King James the Second, who, in 1688, wrote to Dame Mary Butler,' (then elected lady abbess of the Irish nunnery of Ypres,) to leave Ypres, in or- der to begin in Ireland a monastery of her order, which she accordingly did ; she passed through London, where she waited on the queen, at Whitehall, in the habit of her order, which had not been seen there since the change of religion. Her ladyship also was most courteously received by the ^60 APPENDIX. queen dowager, who, in token of her aiFection, made her a present of some altar plate and church ornaments. From hence lady Butler proceeded to Dublin. On her arrival, she was introduced by their graces the duke and dutchess of Tyrconnel to his majesty, who most graciously received her, promising his royal protection, and granting a most ample patent for the erection of a royal abbey, with several privi- leges, both for herself and her succesors ; to which was added a free permission to settle or establish themselves in any part of Ireland, concluding the whole with an assur- ance of a foundation. This patent, which has the king's great seal affixed to it, was signed the fifth of June, in the sixth year of his majesty's reign, and is preserved in the Irish abbey of Benedictine nuns in Ypres. Lady Butler retired into the enclosure in Ship-street, prepare-d for her and some other religious, whom she had brought from the English Benedictine nunnery of Pontoise. During her short stay in Dublin, there were thirty young ladies of some of the first families in Ireland entrusted to her care for their education, eighteen of whom earnestly postulated the veil and habit, but were absolutely refused, on account of the war being far advanced. The only one who was professed was a lay-sister, who accompanied the abbess from Ypres. The king honoured the ceremony with his presence, and from his royal hand she received the religious veil. After the battle of the Boyne, King William's army entered into Dublin, and some of the soldiers ransacked tht monastery, and seized on the church-plate, which had been removed to a Protestant lady's house in the neighbourhood. The abbess, therefore, resolved to hinder a further profa- nation, by throwing into the fire whatever remained ; she then determined no longer to remain in Ireland, and there- fore applied to the duke of Ormond, who was her near relation, for a pass to return to Ypres : his grace showed oncefn for the usage she had met with from the soldiers and endeavoured to dissuade her from that resolution, offer- ing, if she would stay, to procure for her a strong protec- tion, which she positively refused ; and, having procured a pass for herself and her religious, they put to sea, and at length arrived at her refuge in Ypres, of which she most prudently kept possession, and there lived till her death, which happened on the 23d of December, 1723, in the 82d year of her age, and in tne 66th of religion. It may not APPENDIX. 161 be improper to observe, that the nunnery of Ypres was first founded by Dame Mary Knatchbul, daughter to a knight baronet of that name, who, to avoid the troubles which then distracted England, resigned his estate to his younger brother, and retired into Ireland, where this his worthy daughter was born. She, having a vocation to become religious, went to Ghent, and there became a Benedictine tin in the English monastery ; of which being afterwards ady abbess, she contributed to erect a new convent in Fpres, then under the Spanish government, and sent a number of her religious there under the care of Dame Beaumont, who was elected abbess thereof in 1665 ; but, on her death, which was in 1682, Lady Knatchbul wrote to Lady Carrol, abbess of the English Benedictine nunnery at Dunkirk, that she had designed the house of Ypres for the Irish, and entreated her to go there, which was done accordingly, and Dame Flavia Carew, who had lived there with Abbess Beaumont, was elected first abbess for the Irish. She was succeeded by Dame Butler, above-men- tioned ; and Lady Mary Butler, by Dame Margaret Arthur, who was blessed by Monseigneur Smet, the then bishop of Ypres, in the church of the Irish convent, A. D. 1724, on the 19th of March, being the feast of St. Joseph, to whom that church is dedicated. His festival is there celebrated with great solemnity, as is that of our apostle, St. Patrick, and of their founder and patriarch, St. Benedict. There was another Benedictine nunnery erected under the invocation of St. Bridget, in Channel-row, opposite to Red-cow-lane, much about the same time, or rather a little before that of Ship-street, by Dame O'Ryan, a religious lady of Ireland, who took the Benedictine habit, professed in the English nunnery of Dunkirk, with two novices, and were encouraged and favoured by Archbishop Russel; it sub- sisted but for a short time, like that of Ship-street : Dame O'Ryan returned to her convent at Dunkirk, where she died. Thus much, by way of abridgment, of the ancient ecclesi- astical state of Dublin, in the diocess of which formerly were three rural deaneries, viz. : Swords, Garristown, and Salmon-leap ; fourteen rectories, and twenty-six vicarages, Dcsides the custodies of the hospitals. ♦ To this Appendix we shall, by way of conclusion, add the following testimonials respecting Ireland in general, emphatically styled, in foreign countries, the Island of Saints . 14* 162 APPENDIX. Saint Bernard, the mellifluous doctor, the ornament and organ of the western church in the twelfth century, says, that " the abbey of Bangor, in the county of Down, was a most noble monastery under the first father, Congal, pro- ducing many monks, the mother of many monasteries, a place truly holy and fruitful of saints, bringing forth fruit in abundance to the Almighty; insomuch that one of thai congregation, whose name was Luanus, is reported to have , been himself the founder of a hundred monasteries ; which I mention, that, by this alone, the reader may judge how indefatigable they were in the cause of religion; in fine, the branches thereof have so filled both Ireland and Scot- land, we may truly say, that the verses of David did apply to those times. Thou hast visited the earth, and made it drunk ; thou hast multiplied to enrich it. And these numer- ous saints have not only spread themselves in the countries aforesaid, but have also as it were overflown into foreign parts : for St. Columban, coming from thence into France, built the abbey of Luxovium, and educated a great number of saints." And that it abounded likewise with all manner of erudi- tion, does most fully appear from the authority of St. Adel- mus, who, in an epistle to King Elfride, writes, " That Ireland is no less stored with learned men, than are the heavens with glittering stars." And it is reported to have been a received proverb among the English Saxons, that whosoever was eminent among ttem for learning, had been educated in Ireland. Egiwold, in St. Kilian's life, says, " That Ireland, though fruitful in soil, is much more cele- brated for saints." Henry of Huntingdon, in his first histo- ry of England, writes, " That the Almighty enriched Ireland with several blessings, and appointed a multitude of saints for its defence." Sir John Davis affirms the description of Canaan, in the eighth of Deuteronomy, to be exactly applicable to Ireland, which abounded with holy men, according to Marianus Scotus, Baronius, Ferarius, Raderius, Florence of Worces- ter, Nicholas of Harpsfield, and several other %vriters, and Paul the VI. in his breve to the clergy and people of Ire- land, the blessed Jonas, in St. Columban's life, extant in Surius, Guliman's life of St. Florentius's, John Avenin, in Analib. Boiorum, Henry of Auxerre, Bozius, the writer of St. Trudpert's life, to whom may be joined Camden, who, APPENDIX. 163 in page 730 of his topography, writes thus : " St. Patrick-s disciples made so great a progress in Christian piety, that, in the following age, Ireland was styled the country of saints, and that none could be more holy or more learned than the monks who inhabited Ireland and Scotland ; and that they sent entire bodies of holy men throughout Europe, who founded Luxovium in Burgundy, Bobium in Italy, Herpibolis, now called Wurtzburgh, in Franconia, Malmesbury and Lindesfarn in England, besides several cities and monasteries. For out of Ireland came Ccelius, Sedulius, Columb, Columban, Aidan, Gallus, Kilian, Ru- mold, Maidulph, Brendan, and several others, distinguished for their sanctity and learning." Molanus, in his additions to Usiiardus, and in his Indicu- his SS. Belgii ; Antonius Yepers in chronic, general, ordinis S. Bcnedicti; the venerable Bede, in his ecclesiastical his- tory ; Arnoldus Wion, in his books of the tree of life ; and its appendix, John Wilson's English Martyrology ; and others, mention, that " Ireland hath sent St. Columb the great, with his twelve companions, into Scotland ; Colum- ban, with his associates, into France ; St. Clement and his companions into Germany ; St. Buan into Iceland ; St. Kilian into Franconia ; St. Suiwan into the Orcades ; St. Bendan into the Fortunate Isles ; St. Aidan and St. Cuth- bert into Northumberland ; St. Finian into Mercia, (or the kingdom of the middle Englishmen) ; St. Albuin into Lorrain ; St. Gallus into Switzerland ; St. Virgilius into Carinthia; and St. Catald into Tarentum." Ireland hath given to the diocess of Cambray, the saints Ellon, Adelgisus ; Mombulus, to Rheims ; the Archbishop St. Abel to the diocess of Mechlin ; St. Rumold, bishop of Dublin and martyr, and St. Hiuiclin, to the diocess of Liege ; St. Moman, martyr, SS. Folian, Ultan, and Bertuin, to the diocess of St. Omers ; St. Luglius, king of Ireland, and his brother, St. Luglianus, the archbishop, to the diocess of Ghent; St. Livinus, bishop of Dublin and martyr, to the diocess of Antwerp ; St. Fredegand to the diocess of Namur ; St. Foranan and St. Eloquius to the diocess of Bruges ; St. Guthagon to the diocess of Harlem ; St. Geron to the diocess of Ruremond ; St. Wiro, bishop of Dublin, and St. Plechelmon, to the diocess of Balduke ; St. Dympna and Oda, martyrs and virgins, of the blood royal, and St. Gerberae, priest and martyr, to Pereroue in 164 ' APPENDIX. Picardy ; St. Furseus, abbot of Laigny, to the diocess of Meaux ; St. Faiker, the recluse, to Auge, in the diocess of Rouen ; St. Laurence, archbishop of Dublin, to the diocess of Langres ; St. Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, to whom may be added Clement, the Irishman; together with another Irish monk, called John, who laid the first founda- tion of the famous university at Paris, which is, and has been reputed for many years, the flourishing Athens of Christendom, as witnesseth St. Antoninus, Sabellius Naucle- rus, Baronius, the lessons of the Church of Tarentum on the festival of St. Cahald, the treatise of the college of the Conception. Bishop Thyrie, Colgan, Usher, Fitzsimons, and other learned and grave authors, in like manner affirm that the renowned university of Padua, in Italy, was erect- ed by the two last Irishmen. The saints now mentioned were the masters of faith, the ambassadors of religion, the evangelists of peace : Ireland employed in enlightening for- eign countries (not to speak of myriads that shone, at home and abroad, like so many meridian suns in the' church of God) pastors and bishops, who (to use St. Augustine's phrase, 1. i. contr. Julian,) were grave, learned, holy, earnest defenders of the Truth, who suckled the Catholic faith with their milk, and took it with their meat, and whose milk and meat they distributed to the little and the great. Ireland was, in short, the seat of science, learning, and virtue, in the sixth century, and for several succeeding ages. So that for improvement in both, the French, Eng- lish, and many other nations, were sent thither, according to Camden?s Irelan-d ; nay, Morery says, that, from the 7th to the 10th age, Ireland was looked upon as the most polite nation of all Europe, the school and' nursery of virtue and learning. From the compendious view of the ecclesiastical establish- ments, and uninterrupted succession of bishops, submitted to the reader's perusal in the preceding life of St. Patrick, in the Appendix, and in the following catalogue of metro- politans, we are fully justified in according with the learned editor of Butler's Lives of Saints, in the following conclu- sions • — APPENDIX. 165 r I. That the hierarchy of the hishops of Ireland, which began in Saint Patrick, has continued successively from age to age, until the present time. II. That the archbishops and bishops of Ireland were in communion with the see of Rome, the visible head of the Universal Church, vicar of Christ, our Lord, and successor of St. Peter. III. That the Catholic Church of Ireland received all the decisions and decrees of the general councils, concern- ing faith and morals, in perfect conformity with the Koman Catholic and Apostolic Church. A SUMMARY or ALL THE ABBACIES, PRIORIES, PRECEPTORIKS, MONASTEP.IES AND CONVENTS IN IRELAND BEFORE THE SUPPRESSION. NAMES OF THE ORDERS. Cistercian Bemardines,* .... Canonesses of St. Augustine's order. Knights Templar, and of St. John's f Canons regular of St. Augustine, b. Benedictine monks, Benedictine nuns, PremonstrantsJ Cistercian nuns, of Bernardine*s, Dominican, or the order of preachers, Franciscans,§ Eremites of St. Augustine, (61) Discalceate Carmelites, of Teresa's ref. ^1 11 = rH.S.S 42 1139 36 1146 22 1174 231 1174 9 1183 6 1200 9 1215 2 1218 43 1224 65 1236 26 1259 25 1626 * Under St. Auffustine's rule t Augustine's rule. i Augustine and Norbert's rule. j Conventuals, Observantines, and third order. THE CATHOLIC PRIMATES IRELAND, WITH THE YEARS IN WHICH THET SUCCEEDED TO THE METROPOLITAN SEES OF ARMAGH AND DUBLIN. ARCHBISHOPS OP ARMAGH. Jfames. St Patrick Bineen Jarlath Cormack Dubtach I. Ailild I. Ailild II. Dubtach II. David M'Guire Feidlimid Cairlan Eochaid MacLaisir Thomian E as 3 .<" 3 Flanfebla Suibhny Congiisa Cele-Peter Ferdachry Foendelach Dubdalethy I. Affiat Cndiniscus Conmach Torlach Nuad Flangus Artngiua Gugenius 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 433 465 465 482 497 513 526 536 548 .551 578 588 610 623 661 688 715 730 750 758 768 778 793 794 798 807 808 812 823 833 Karnes. Faranan Diarmuid Facthna Ainmire Catasach I. Maelcob Mael-Brigid Joseph Mael Patrick Catasach II. Muredach Dubdalethy II Murechan Maelmury Amalgaid Dubdalethy III. Cumasach MiElisa Donald Celsus Maurice Malachy Gelasius Cornelius Gilbert Mffilisa O'Carrol Amlave Thos. O'Connor Eugene Luke Nettorvill ■g a^ 3 V ^ K i»m 31 834 32 848 33 852 34 874 35 875 36 883 37 885 38 927 39 936 40 937 41 lee 42 43 998 44 1004 45 1021 46 1050 47 1065 48 1065 49 1092 50 1106 51 1129 52 1134 53 1137 54 1174 55 1175 56 1184 57 1185 58 1186 59 1206 60 1220 168 APPENDIX. ARCHBISHOPS OF ARMAGH. Names. s « a Names. Donat Fidobara Albeit of Cologp Keiner Abm. O'Connelan P. O'Scanlain Nicholas M'Melissa John Taaf Walter de Jorse Roland Jorse Stephen Segrave David Hiraghty Richd. Fitzralph Milo Sweetman John Colton Nichs. Fleming John Swayne John Prene John Mey John Bole John Foxalls Ed. Connesburg 1 11 61 1227 62 1249 63 1247 64 1257 65 1262 66 1272 67 1311 68 1306 69 1306 70 1332 71 1334 72 1347 73 1361 74 1382 75 1404 76 1417 77 1439 78 1444 79 1457 80 1475 81 1477 jtatimo. a £(S Octav. de Palatio 82 1480 John Kite 83 1513 Oeo. Cromer 84 1,522 peorge Dowdall 85 1543 Robert Wauchop 86 155? Richard Creagh 87 158r E. M' Gauran, m. 88 1598 Peter Lombard 89 1625 Hugh M'CaweU 90 1626 Pat. Fleming 91 1631 Hugh O'Reilly 92 Edward O'Reilly 93 Oliv. Plunket 94 Dom. M'Guire 95 1708 Hugh M'Mahon 96 1737 Bernard M'Mahon 97 Ross M'Mahon 98 Nic. O'Reilly 99 1758 Anthony Blake 100 1787 Richard O'Reilly 101 Patrick (JUrtis 102 Names. BISHOPS OP DUBLIN. Names 1 0) a 1 ^i Li^nus, 1 633 Cormac 7 unk St. Wiro 2 650 Donat 8 1074 Disibod 3 675 Patrick 9 1084 Gualafer 4 Dn. O'Haingley 10 1095 St. Buinold 5 775 Sm. O'Haingley 11 1121 Sedulius 6 785 ARCHBISHOPS OF DUBLIN. Names. Gregory Laurence Toolo John Comyn H. de Londres LuKe 1 2 3 4 5 pHOJ 1161 1172 1182 1918 1255 Names. Talk, de Saunford J. de DerliSgton John de Sa,undford W. de Hotham R. de Ferings 3 2 S 6 1271 7 1284 8 1294 9 1297 10 1306 APPENDIX. 169 ARCHBISHOPS OF DUBLIN. Kames. i o d fef Names, 1 ^ -I lohii Leek 11 1313 Mat. of Oviedo 27 160O A. de Bicknor 12 1349 E. Matthews 28 1611 John de St Paul 13 13C2 Thos. Fleming 29 1660 ThcHias Minot 14 1375 Pet. Talbot 30 1680 R. de Wikeford 15 1390 Patrick RUssel 31 1692 Richd. Northallis 16 1395 Pet. Creagh 32 1700 Thomas Cranley 17 1397 Edwd. Byrne 33 1723 Richd. Talbot 18 1417 Edwd. Murphy 34 1728 Nicholas Tregury 19 1449 Luke Fagan 35 1733 John Walton 20 1473 John Linegar 36 1757 W'alter Fitzsimons 21 1484 Richard Lincoln 37 1763 William Rokeby 22 1581 Patrick Fitzsimons 38 1769 Hugh Inge 23 1528 John Carpenter 39 1786 ..dim Allen 24 1534 John Th. Troy 40 1787 Geo. Brown, ap. 2.5 1554 D. Murray 41 1624 Hugh Carwin, ap. 26 1559 (1 A.) Saint Patrick, ten years after building the Metropolitan church of Armagh, committed it to the care of Bineen, or Benignus, his scholar, who re- signed it soon after to larlath. Jle, dying in 4S2, was succeeded by Cormack; M) that St. Patrick saw three of his successors in his see of Armagh, before his " death, on the 17th of March, 433. (14 A.) To Thomian, or Tomian, and the atker cle."^ of Ireland, was ""••'tten that epistle from the Roman ciergy during me vacE.iicy of the Roman see, in 639, concerning the time of observuig' Easier, o'' wiich a part is extant m Bede's Ecclesiastical History. (20 A.) In Artruge, or Artry's primacy, the Ultonian territories were much disturbed by the invasions of the Danes. Armagh was for a month in their possession, in- 830. (36 A.) Maolbridy, the son of Toman, or Doman Comorban to St. Patrick and Columbkiile, was of the blood royal of Ireland. His learning and virti^ were so eminent as to obtain for him the appellation of the ornament of Europe. )'i his time, Armagh was thrice plundered by the Danes. (52 A.) St. Malachy, called in Irish Maolmedoc ua Morgair, resigned his see to Giolla-Iosa, or servant of Jesus, strangely metamorphosed by Latin writers -nio tile seemingly Greek name Gelasius, whereby the Irish etymology is almost lost, as is the case with many other names too. St. Malachy, after establishing a monastery of regular canons in Down, undertook a jouiTiey to Rome, but died ■ m the arms of St. Bernard, his biographer, in the Abbey of Clairvaux, ia France. (1 D.) Of the bishops of Dublin, no regular succession can be at present made out before the time ot Donat, the Dane, in 1074. Hestaunus, indeed, mentions the few that are above recorded, before that time. Notwithstanding the silence of our records, it is very probable that St. Patrick, after foiuiding a church there, in 4'M!, established a form of ecclesiastical government for it, simUar to that which be instituted in other parts of the island. (2 D.) The illustrious and patriotic St. Laurence O'Toole, was the son of Mortough O'Toole, prince of Imaly, by Inghean ee Bhrian, or daughter of tlio royal house of O'Brien. In 1167, he assisted at a convention of the clergy and princes of Leah-Cuin, or north of Ireland, at Athboy, wherein many laws for the government of church and stale were made. St. Laurence animated the inhab- •lanLs of Dublin to a vigorous defence against the Anglo-Norman invaders, under Strongbow, until the city was forced to surrender. He next prevailed on Rod- 15 . 170 APPENDIX. eric, and the princes of Ireland, to join in a conspiracy against the invaders ; hul after investing Dublin by land and water with 30,000 men, and 30 ships, tlie Irish princes were compelled to raise the siege. He, witli the rest of the clergy, as sisted at a national council, held in Cpshel, by order of Henry II. " Having, otrt of zeal," says Cambrensis, " for his country's service, fallen under Henry the Second's displeasure, Laurence was a long time detained in France and England, by tliat politic prince." In this latter place, at Becket's shrine in Can- terbury, our patriot was attacked by a villain, who, perhaps, wisliing, like the murdeVers of Thomas a Becket, to ingratiate himself with Henry, by a similai act of assassination, rushed on the archbishop as he was saying mass there, and knocked him down with a blow which fractured his skull. He died at Auge, ir Normandy, in 1180, and was canonized by pope Honorius the III. in 1226. (85 A.) Archbishop Dowdall strenuously opposed the innovations of Henry VIII. and of his complaisant servant, then the archbishop of Dublin, tlie well known apostate George Brown. Brown was originally an Augustinian friar, of London, and provincial of that order in England. He was advanced to the see of Dublin, by Henry VIII. in 1S35. He was the first Roman Catholic prelate who embraced the reformation in Ireland. Miles M'Grath, archbishop of Cas- hell, Staples, bishop of Meath, Lancaster, bishop of Kildare, Travers, bishop of Laughlin,_and Coyne, bishop of Limerick, afterwards apostatized, and abjured the Cathohc religion ; Lancaster and Travers were, in turn, ejected from their sees, in Queen Mary's reign ; as they, like the other apostles of the i2e/o/vna- tion, took wives to themselves. Coyne, or Quin, was originally a Dominican friar ; M'Grath was a Franciscan before his perversion. (87 A.) Richard Creagh was poisoned in the tower of London in 1685, and his successor, Edward M Gauron, was murdered in his confessional, by a soldier, in 1598, as is asserted by David Roth, the learned bishop of Ossory, in his "Pro- cessus Marttjrvilh" To these illustrious martyrs, we may add the (92 A.) fourth in succession after M'Gauran ; viz. the leamea and holy martyr. Oliver Plunket, who, in 1679, was taken to Dublin, defamed as a close prisoner there, and, after . being transmitted from thence to Newgale in London, was ultimately arawn on a sledge to Tyburn, that theatre of Catholic martyrdom since the bviy Reforma- tion, and hanged, beheaded, and quartered, on the 1st of July, 1681 , as may be seen more at large, in the 'Tripartite Theology of Richard Archdeakin, an er udite Jesuit of Kilkenny, printed at Antwerp, in 1682. . (101 A.) Doctor R. O'Reilly, having completed his studies at Rome, returned to his native country, and, in 1780, was consecrated coadjutor bishop to Doctor O'Keefe, the predecessor of the present learned and pious Doctor Delany, in the diocess of Kildare and Leighlin. In 1782, Doctor O'Reilly was made ad- ministrator of the arch-diocess of Armagh ; and on the death of the late Doctor Blake, in 1787, was promoted to the metropolitan chair of that primatial see. (40 D.) Doctor J. T. Troy was born in the city of Dublin, and was, at an early age, affiliated into the order of St. Dominic, an order which has ren- dered itself eminently illustrious for adorning the' Christian Church with a bril- liant galaxy of popes, prelates, and preachqfs, equally distinguished for their pious zeal in cultivating tlie Lord's vineyards, as for tlie purity of their principles and edifying sanctity of their lives. In order to qualify himself for the mission, ho went to Rome. THere, in the college of SS. PP. Sixtus and Clement de Urbe, he spent twenty-one years. That he attained to literary pre-eminence in the va- rious departments of his under graduate course, is fully evinced by his being twice dignified with the honour of filling the rectorial chair of that celebrated seminary. F.-om this academic retreat he was at last called forth to the acfive labours of the Irish mission. In 1776, Doctor Troy was promoted lo the see of Ossory, then vacant by the death of Doctor Thomas Burke, also a native of Dublin, a member of the Dominican order, and author of the celebrated work called " Hibemia Dominicana." Doctor 'Troy, in 1786, was translated to the archdiocess of Leinster, and look possession of the metropolitan and primatial- chair, in his native cily of Dublin, on the 15th February, 1787, leaving the vaca- ted see of Ossory to Doctor John Dunne, who, dying in 1789, was succeeded by Doctor James Lanigan, the present truly religious, learned, and laborious bishop of that diocess. APPENDIX. 171 ARCHBISHOPS OP CASHELL. Cormac M'CuUinan 908 Donat. O'Lonorgan I. 1158 Donald O'HuUuchau 1182 Maurice 1191 Matthew O'lleney 1206 Donat. O'Lonorgan II. 1215 Donat. O'Lonorgan III. 1223 Marian O'Brien 1238 David MacKelly 1252 David MacCarwill 1289 Stephen O'Brogan 1302 Maur. MacCarwill 1316 WilUam Fitzjohn 1326 John O'Carroll 1329 Walter le Rede 1330 John O'Gradag 1345 Ralph KeUey 1361 George Roch 13C2 Thoniaa O'Carroll Philip de Torrington Peter Hackett Richard O'Hedian John Cantwell David Creagh Maur Fitzgerald Edmund Butler Roland Baron James M'Caghwell Mau. Fitzgibbon, died Derm. O'Hurlay, mart. Thomaa Walsh, sat Christ. Butler, Kilcash Jam. Butler, Dunboyne Jam. Butler, Ballyrageet Tho. Bray, present Arch- bishop 1793 ARCHBISHOPS OP TUAM. St. Jarlath 540 Edan O'Hoisin 1085 Catholicus O'Dubhai 1201 Felix O'Ruadan 1235 Marian O'Laghnan 1249 Florence Mac Flin 1250 Walter de Salem 1258 Thomas O' Conor 1279 Stephen de Fulbum 1288 WiUm. de Birmingham Malachy Mac Aeda 1311 1348 Thomas O'Carroll 1365 John O'Grada 1371 1384 Gregory O'Moghan WilHam O'Cormacain 1386 1394 Maurice O'Kelley 1407 John Tabynghe 1411 John Batterley 1436 Thomas O'Kelly 1441 John de Burgo 1450 Donat. O'Murry 1484 William Shioy 1501 Philip Pinson 1505 Maurjf e de Portu 1513 Thomas O'MulIaly Christopher Bodekin 1536 1570 Nicholas Skerret 1583 Flor. Conroy 1629 John Burke 1649 Marc. Skerret, sat in 1756 Phil. Philips Boet. Egan, d. 1798 Edw. Dillon 1803 HYMN ON THE LIFE, VIRTUES, AND MIRACLES OP ST. PATRICK, COMPOSED BY HIS DISCIPLE, SAINT FIECH, BISHOP OF SLETTY As this specimen of the language spoken in Ireland about 1200 years ago, is here published, not only for the elucida- tion of our apostle's history, but also for the gratification of the lovers of Irish literature in general ; the Irish origi- nal is accompanied, on the opposite page, with an English translation of the whole. In this translation, the literal meaning, and idiomatic expression of the words and phrases, are adhered to in all such stanzas as the editor (with the aid of some members of the Gaelic Society, particularly conversant with subjects of this sort) could fully understand : for he acknowledges, that neither he nor these gentlemen are so vain or disingen- uous as to pretend that they comprehend the whole of this very ancient composition. In order to obviate any objection which may be made against the passages in which the editor differs from the au- thor of the version of this hymn, in Colgan's collection of our patron saint's lives, the Latin translation adopted in his edition, is also subjoined to the poem, at the bottom of each page. To the hymn are added some short notes, illustrative of the subject. Vindication of St. Fiech's Hymn, hi Answer to Dr. LedwicVs Objections. Respecting the authenticity and antiquity of this curious specimen of our language about the commencement of the sixth century, some doubts were (entertained by the saga- cious BoUandists, who, consequently, considered St. Fiech to have lived long after our saint's time. This opinion, those learned Jesuits founded on Fiech's referring to other histories for the truth of what he relates with regard to his master, St. Patrick, during tne first sixty years of his life, previously to his arrival on the mission of Ireland. 173 This p.ausible objection has been adopted and urged by Dr. Ledwich, against St. Patrick's existence, with that dog- matical tone of magisterial positiveness so conspicuous in his volume of invectives against the ancient splendour, sanc- tity, and literature of his native country, declaring that Fiech and Sedulius's poems on our saint " are the wretched productions of some cloistered ecclesiastic." To this, the only remaining one of these formidable ob- jections, adduced by the doctor against our apostle's exist- ence, we answer, that Fiech lived and composed this hymn some time after St. Patrick's death, in the 120th year of his age, and 60th of his apostleship. Now supposing Fiech to have lived to the 84th year of his age, and to have composed this hymn in 600, seven years after his master's death, which he so circumstantially relates in the poem ; Fiech must conse- quently have been no more than about 17 years of age when our saint commenced his mission here. Where, or whence, then, except by divine revelation, or from St. Patrick him- self, or from the revelation of others, could his disciple derive his information with respect to St. Patrick's parents and ancestors, who lived in a foreign country ? or sacred Tours, in Gaul, the place of our saint's nativity .' or his or- iginal name Succoth ? or his voyages and travels by sea and land, after his escape from servitude in Ireland ? or his in- sular retreats or studies under the spiritual guidance of St. German of Auxerre ? &c. &c. &c. Now, Fiech very justly informs his readers, that all these transactions, wrought before he was born, and in a foreign country, during the first 60 years of his great master's life, were ascertained in skelaiv, (stories,) as in the first stanza; or Fiadhaid, testified to us, as he says in the sixth stanza of his poem, the only two places were Fiech appeals to others for the foreign actions performed in the early period of St. Patrick's life : of whom, though there were many lives written and published during his existence, yet it is uncer- tain whether Fiech obtained his account from written or oral documents, for either may be denoted by the Irish word Scealaw, (stories.) The term by which the translator of this hymn into Latin has rendered it, may also denote either oral or written information. In English, too, the word history often imports oral narration : thus Pope says : " Whal histories of loil could I declare, But slill, long-weariftd nalure wants repair." 15* 174 JNNUIN PATRAIC. I. Genair Patraic i nem Thur,(l) Asseadh ad fet h.i scelaibh, Macan se m-bliadharn decc An tan do bhreth fo dheraibh. II. Succat a ainm hitrubhradh Cidh a atair ba fisse, Mac calpuirn mic Otide Ho Deocain Odisse.(2) III. Baise bliadhna bi foghnamh Maise doine nis tomledh Bitar le cothraigbe,(3) Ceathar trebha dia fognadli. IV. As bert Uictor fri gniadh Milcon, teseadh far tonna Forruibh a chois for sind kic Maraidh dia aes ni bronna. V. Do faidh tar ealpa iiile(4) De mhuir, bo hamhra reatha Comdh fargaibh la Gearman Andeas an deiscort leatha. •I. Nalus est Patricius Nemlurri Ut refcrtur in historiig, Fuit annorum sedecim Quaudo ductus in captivitatis senminas. n. Sucat nomen ei primo impositum erat Quantum ad patrem attinet sciendum fuent, Filius Calfurnii filii Otidii - 1. Nepos Diaconi Odissii, '* '; III. Aunis sex erat in servitute Escis hominum (nempe gentilium) non vesceta 175 HYMN OX ST. PATRICK. I. Patrick was born at heavenly Tours, As it is ascertained in stories ; A youth of sixteen years At the time he was brought under bondage. II. Succat his name at the beginning ; Who his father was, be it known Son of Calphurn, son of Otide, Descended from the Deacon Odisse. III. He was six years in servitude, The food of the people he eat not, They were all by him supported, Four tribes to whom he was enslaved. IV. Victor (the angel) said to the servant Of Milcho : depart over the waves. He (Victor) placed his foot upon a stone His marks after him remained. V. He departed over all the mountains. O'er sea, prosperous was his flight. He dwelled along with German, Southward of the southermost part of Letavia. Ideo Vocatus Cathraig^ Quia quatuor familiis inserviebat, IV. Dixit Victor angelus servo Milconis : ut trans mare se conferret Pedem imposuit supra petram Ibique : exlnde mauent impressa ejus vestigia. V. Profectus est trans Alpes omnes, Trajecto man ; (quae fuit felix expeditio) Et apud Germanum remansit In Anstrali parte Lalii. 176 VI. An-innsibh mara toirrian Ainis indibh, ad rimhe, Leghais cannoin la Gearman Is eadh ad fiadhad line. VII. Do cum n-Erenn dod fetis Aingil de hi fithis, Menic it chithe ifisibh Dos mcfed arithisi. VIII. Ro po cobhair don D-Eren Ticlita Patraic for Oclat : Ro clos cian son an garma Macraidhi caille fochlad. IX. Gadhadair co tisseadh in uoobh Ar a nimthised lethu, Ar atin taradh o cloean Tuath a h-Eren do bheathu. X. Tuata h-Eren Tairchantais Dos nicfead Sithlaith nua, Meraidh co ti amartaige Bidh ias tir temhrach. VI. In insulis maris Tyrrheni Mansit : uti memoro Legit canonus apud Germanum Sicut testantur historiae. vn. In Hiberniam venit Admonitus angelorum appcHitir>nibui( Scepius in visionibus videbat Se debere denuo eo redire. vni. SaJutaris erat HibernliE Adventus Patricii ad FochlaiUioi 177 VI. In the islands of the Touronian sea He resided, as related ; He read his Canons with German, As is certified to us. VII. Towards Ireland he proceeds, Warned by God's angels in apparitions, Often saw he in his sleep That he ought to return. VIII. Great the assistance to Eire, The coming of Patrick to Oclat : is;^ ;, He heard the long sound of entreaties^ Of children from the wood of Foclat. IX. They implored the saint may come Upon forsaking Letavia, For drawing from error's propensity The people of Eir^ to life. X. The people of Eire prophesy That there will come new days of peace, Existing till the end of time ; Desert will be in the country of Tara. Audiebat a lonffe vocem invocantium Iniantium de silvis Fochlaid. rx. Rogabant ut ad eos veniret sanctus Qui discurrebat per Lalium Ut converteret ab errore Populos Hibernise ad viam vitae. X. Vates Hibernise vaticinabantur Advenlurum lempus pacis novum Quae duratura sit in perpetuum Unde de«erta foret Temorea sub siienlio. 173 XI. A Dhruidh ar Laoghaire Tichta Patraic ni cheiltis, Ro firad ind aitsine, Ina flatha as beirtis. XII. Ba leir Patraic cumbebha, Ba sabh innarba cloeni, Ised duargoibh a Eua- Suas de secb threbhab doeani XIII. Immuin agus Apocapalips, Na tri cdicat nos canad Pritchad, batset, arniged, Do moladb De in anad. XIV. Ni con G«bed fuacht sine Do shess aidche hillinnibh For nim consena a Bighe, Pritcais fri de indindaibh. XV. Hi slan tuaith benna-bairche Nis gebhe Dhtart, na lia Canadh Cead psalm cech naidh^he Do Righ aingel fo Gnia. XI. Sui DruydaB Loeg-ario Adventum Patricii non cselabant Adimplela sunt vaticinia De domino quem predicabant. XII. Clarus erat Patricius usq. mortem Extitit et streiiuus in exterminandis erroribus Ex hinc merita eju3 exaltata sunt Supra natioues hominum. xni. Hymnos et Apocalypsin Et tres quinquagenas pscdnwrum in dies caneDat J 79 XI. Druid ! upon Laoree, The coming of Patrick you hid not ; Too true the prophecies Respecting the sovereign you predicted. XII. Prudent was Patrick during life ; Pleasing was in hanishing evil propensities ; This is what extended his fame Up to each tribe of people. XIII. He hymns, and revelations, And the three fifties daily sung : He preached, baptized, and prayed, From praising God he never ceased. XIV. He felt not the cold of the season ; He stayed the night in the waters. With heaven to be blessed as his kingdom, He preached through the day on the hills. XV. In saving the people of Benibarka He experienced neither drought nor hunger ; He sang an hundred psalms each night, The King of angels to serve. Praedicabat; baptizabat, orabat, £t a laudibus dei non cessabat. XIV. Nee tempoiis algor impediebat Quo minus maneret de nocte in mediis aquis Ad cceli potiundum gaudium Prsedicabat de die super collibus. XV. In fonte sian ad aquilonem juxta Bennaboirche iQui fons nunquam deficit) )ecantabat centum psalmos sin^is poctibus Regi angelonun inserviepdo 180 XVI. Foidh for luim iaramh, Ochus cuilche fhliuchimme, Ba coirthe a rithadart Ni leic a corp e iimme. XVII. Pritcadh soscela do each Do gnih mor fearta i Leathu Iccaid luscu la trusca Mairbh dos faisceadli beathu. XVIII. Padraic priotcais do Scotuibh Ro cheas mor seath i Leathu Immi CO tisat do brath In each dos fiiic do beathu. XIX. Meie Eimhir, meich Eirimoin Lotar huile la ciseal, Fos Zolaic in tarmehosal Is in morchathe nisei. XX. Conda tanic in T-apstal Do faith gidh gaethe dene Pritchais tri fiehte bliadhna, Croich crist do thuathaibh Fene. XVI. Cubabat postea super nuda petra Cassula amictus madida Saxum fuit ejus pulvinar Sic arcebat a corpore remissionem. xvn. Praedicabat evangelium populis, Mulias virtutes et sig-na simul operatus i Curabat caecos et leprosos : Mortuos revocabat ad vitam. XVIII. Patricius praedicabat Scolis ■ Passus multos labores iu Lalio 181 XVI. He then rested on a bare stone. And a wet coverlid over him, A rock was his pillow, He left not his body in indolence. XVII. He preached the Gospel to all ; He worked great miracles at Letavia He healed the blind wth fasting, The dead he awoke to life. XVIII. Patrick preached to the Scotians After he underwent great labours in Let fn^ That they may come to judgment. Each whom he guided to life. XIX. The sons of Emir, the sons of Erimoc Were all following after the devil. Buried was the Armament In the great depths of hell. XX. Till the Apostle arrived Who preserved them tho' dreadful the L'lasti He preached three score years The cross of Christ to the people of the Pheniaiu Ut venirenl in die judicii O.'WS convertit ad vitam Eeternam. XIX. Filii Emeri, Filii Erimonii, Omnes seducti a dsemone, Quos el recondidit Sathanas In mag^o Duteo infemali. XX. Donee advenit apostolus Qui eos preservavit, licet lurbincs vehementes Qui prEedicavit annis sexa^lhta rmcem Cliristi populis Fckiorum. 16 \ 182 XXI. For thuath h-Erenn bai temaei Tuata adhorta idhla, Ni chraitsed in Fhirdheach* In i Trinoite fire. XXII. In Ardniacha fil righi Is cian do reracht Emnain. Is cell mor Dun-letli-glaisse Num dil cidh dithribh Tembair. XXIII. Patraic dia mboi illolhra Ad cobra del do Mhache Do Uuidh Aingev ai a ceun For sed a meadbon laithe. XXIV. Do faith fa dheos do Uictor Bi be arid ralastur, Lassais immuine imbai, Asan tein ad galastar. XXV, As bert ordan do Mache, Do Crist atlaightbe buidbe Uo chum uirabe mor raga, Ro ratha duit do oTiidhe- XXI. Super populos Hiberniae erant tenebrw " ' Populos adoranles idola Non credebant in verara Deltatem Trinitatis verse. xxn. Ardmachse est reg^i sedes Fulura aeterni nominis populis Emaniee Et est ecclesia Celebris in Dundalethglaa Nee gratum quod Temoria deseratur. xxni. Patricius quando cepit infirmari Desiderabat ire Artbnacham 183 XXI. On the people of Eire was darkness , People adoring idols ; They believed not in the Godhead Nor in the true Ti-inity. XXII. In Armagh is the seat of rcjulty; Long has been the prerogative of Emania, And of the great church at DunJalethglas, Nor is it pleasant that Teamar be tribeless. XXIII. Patrick being about to sicken, For alleviation on going to Armagh, An angel came upon his head On the way, in the middle of the day. XXIV. He proceeded southerly tO' Victor (angel) It was he who sent for him, Blaze does the bush in which he (Victor) wa^,^ Out of the blaze he him addressed. XXV. There is granted rule to Armagh, To Christ for this be given thanks : Thou, to heaven, great shalt come. To thee prosperous has been thy petition. Sed Angelus Dei ad eum venit la via in medio die. XXIV. Venit versus AirMrum 2