OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Feasts

  • The Arrival of Saint Maelruain with the Relics of the Saints at Tallaght, August 10

    Canon O’Hanlon has a notice of a wonderful feast of the translation of the relics of the saints by Saint Maelruain of Tallaght at August 10:

    The Arrival of St. Maolruain, with the Relics of Virgins and of other Saints, at Tallagh, County of Dublin.

    In the Martyrology of Tallagh, we find a festival for this day, as characterized at the head of this paragraph. We learn from the Life of St. Aengus, the Culdee, that he often travelled about, engaged on inquiries, which enabled him to illustrate the Saint-History of Ireland. Doubtless, he failed not to collect some relics of those holy persons, whenever he travelled abroad; and, it is likely, that his distinguished superior and local contemporary, St. Maelruan, who had kindred tastes, made special journeys for similar purposes. One of these returns must have been solemnly commemorated at Tallagh, in the eighth century, and before the death of St. Maelruan, on the 7th July, 792. That commemoration was probably continued annually, on this day, and at that particular place, in recognition of those treasures deposited by the holy founder in the house of his religious community.

    This would have been a purely local commemoration specific to this County Dublin monastery, and scholar Westley Follett suggests that it may in fact commemorate the anniversary of its founding:

    According to the Annals of the Four Masters Tallaght was founded in 774. The Martyrology of Tallaght appears to commemorate the occasion on 10 August with the notice ‘Mael Ruain came to Tallaght with his relics of the saints, martyrs and virgins’. [1]

    This feast thus gives us a glimpse into the development of the cult of the saints in eighth-century Ireland as well as the part played by this particular monastery. Tallaght is perhaps most famously associated with the Céile-Dé movement, but also left a lasting hagiological legacy. For this monastery was associated with the production of the earliest surviving Irish calendars of the saints, The Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Aengus. The former is essentially a copy of the Hieronymian Martyrology which reached Ireland in the eighth century (possibly via Iona) to which the commemorations of native Irish saints was added. Follett comments:

    It should not be overlooked that non-Irish saints were venerated at Tallaght. The Martyrology of Tallaght (edd. Best and Lawlor, 62) commemorates August 10 with the comment, ‘Mael Ruain cum suis reliquiis sanctorum martirum et uirginum ad Tamlachtain uenit’. Given the paucity of native martyrs in Ireland, we may presume these were the relics of non-Irish martyrs. [2]

    Various sources connected to the monastery of Tallaght give a further glimpse of devotion to the saints. The Preface to the Martyrology of Aengus, which scholars seem to agree used The Martyrology of Tallaght as a source and was written within a generation of the time of Maelruain, records a particular devotion to Saint Michael the Archangel on the part of Maelruain and claims that relics of the archangel were kept at Tallaght:

    Now it is that Maelruain who decided that he would not take land in Tamlachtu until Michael (the Archangel), with whom he had a friendship, should take it; and because of that agreement there are in Tamlachtu relics consecrated to Michael. [3]

    Follett also quotes two further Tallaght documents which show how devotion to the saints was practiced as part of the monastic day. The first is from The Teaching of Maelruain:

    It was their practice that one man should read aloud the Gospel and the Rules and miracles of the saints while their brethern were at their rations or eating their supper, so that their attention should not be occupied with their dinner. [4]

    and is confirmed in The Rule of the Céile-Dé:

    It is the practice of the Céile-Dé that while they are at dinner one of them reads aloud the Gospel and the Rule and the miracles of the saints, to the end that their minds may be set on God, not on the meal. [5]

    Finally, there is a post in the archive on an even earlier Irish saint with an interest in collecting the relics of Ireland’s holy men and women, Saint Onchu of Clonmore. The scholiast notes on his feast day record the story of his over-enthusiasm when he insisted on collecting a finger from the still-living Saint Maedoc! As a result, Maedoc prophesied that the relic collector and his collection would never leave Clonmore. And thus the Connaght man Onchu, likened in the list of parallel saints to Saint Ambrose, came to be buried at the County Carlow monastery of Saint Maedoc.

    References

    [1] Céli Dé in Ireland: monastic writing and identity in the early Middle Ages (Boydell, 2006), 173.

    [2] Ibid, 210, footnote 246.

    [3] W. Stokes, ed. and trans., The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (London, 1905), 12-13.

    [4] Follett, op.cit., 180.

    [5] Ibid.

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  • ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’


    Although there are a number of Irish saints commemorated on July 11, I found myself interested in the noting on some of our native calendars of the feast of the Translation of the Relics of Saint Benedict. Although the major feast of the father of western monasticism fell on the day of his natalis, March 21, at which date it was recorded in the Martyrology of Aengus, the Martyrology also commemorated the second feastday of Saint Benedict, that of the translation of his relics, on July 11. I was struck by how Saint Aengus the Martyrologist brings together the saints of the East, the West and of Ireland on this day, for the entry sandwiches ‘Benedict, a strong pillar’ between the names of the Great Martyr Euphemia and a local saint, Failbe, from Dísert maic Con-lócha in County Westmeath:

    C. v. idus Iulii.
    La martrai na rígnae
    Eufemiae slógdae,
    Benedicht, bale áge,
    macc craíbdech Con-lógae.

    11. With the martyrdom of the queen,
    Euphemia the hostful,
    Benedict, a strong pillar,
    Cu-lógae’s devout son.

    The scholiast comment is simply this: Benedict, i.e. caput monachorum etc.

    The later Martyrology of Marianus O’Gorman, written in the 12th century, spells out the title of the feastday:

    11. C.
    Translait cuirp in clerigh
    Benedict as mbage.

    11. C.
    The translation of the body of the cleric
    Benedict whom thou proclaims.

    Canon O’Hanlon has a short paragraph in Volume 7 of The Lives of the Irish Saints too:

    Translation of St. Benedict’s Relics.

    In the “Leabhar Breac” copy of the “Feilire,” by St. Aengus, there is a record of St. Benedict’s festival, at the 11th of July. Furthermore, a scholion informs us, that he was Benedict, the Father of Monks. Usuard and other ancient Martyrologists have it as the festival for a Translation of his relics, as the Bollandists note at this day. They refer, however, to his chief feast, at the 21st of March for an exhaustive illustration of his Acts. Also, in Usuard is to be found, at this same date, a Translation of the relics of his sister Scholastica, whose chief festival and Acts are noticed, on the 10th of February.

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  • Two Ancient Hymns of the Irish Church on St. Peter

    Below are the texts and translations of two hymns in honour of Saint Peter, discovered among the manuscripts at the German monastery of Reichenau and republished by Patrick Francis, Cardinal Moran, in one of his essays on the early Irish Church. The status of Reichenau, an island monastery on Lake Constance, as one of the ‘Schottenklöster’ or Irish monasteries is not as clearly-defined as some of the more famous Irish foundations like Ratisbon, associated with the Blessed Marianus Scottus (Muiredach MacRobertaigh). Reichenau’s founder was a Saint Pirmin, and scholars are still unable to say with certainty where this saint was from. In an earlier post here I reprinted a nineteenth-century paper which argued for a tradition that he was an Irishman. In a sense though, the birthplace of the founder is not the defining factor here, for this monastery clearly had links to the Irish cultural world. One of its most famous sons, Walafrid Strabo, who was not an Irishman, wrote the only surviving account of the martyrdom of Saint Blaitmac of Iona, killed by the Vikings as he defended the relics of Saint Columba. A version of Adamnan’s Life of Saint Columba found at Reichenau’s Library was of such quality and completeness that it was used by Colgan in his Trias Thaumaturga. A ninth-century abbot of Reichenau, Ermenrich, wrote glowingly of Ireland’s contribution to Christian mission and learning: ‘How can we forget Ireland, the island where the sun of faith arose for us, and whence the brilliant rays of so great a light have reached us? Bestowing philosophy on small and great, she fills the Church with her science and her teaching. ‘ What a wonderful testimony to the spiritual legacy of the Irish on the continent!

    Two Ancient Hymns of the Irish Church on St. Peter, published by Mone.

    We are indebted to the eminent German antiquarian, Mone, for two very ancient hymns of the Irish Church, which he discovered amongst the papers of the old Irish monastery of Reichenau, and which he published, from Irish manuscripts of the 8th and 9th centuries, in his invaluable work entitled ” Hymni Latini Medii Aevi”. [Friburg, 1855. Vol. iii. pag. 68.]

    The first and most ancient poem is an alphabetical hymn on the apostle Peter, the initials of each strophe presenting successively the whole series of the letters of the alphabet. We now give it to the reader, as printed by Mone, and we unite with it a literal translation, for which we are indebted to the kindness of the Rev. Mr. Potter, Professor of All-Hallows College, Dublin:

    1 “Audite fratres fama
    Petri pastoris plurima
    Baptismatis libamina
    Fundit veluti flumina.
    Adsiut nobis sublimia
    Sancti Petri suffragia.

    2 “Bis refulsit ut fulmina
    Sana sanctorum agmina
    Flentes duxit ex ordine
    Gentes divino carmine.

    3 “Celebravit egregia
    Evangelii praeconia,
    Facta prostrata legia
    De Satana victoria.

    4 “Dudum elegit dominus
    Petrum ut optimum oleum,
    Ut obitaret dominum
    Essetque pastor ovium.

    5 “Elaboravit ubique,
    Curae datus historiae,
    Fundamentum dominicae
    Ecclesiae Catholicae.

    6 “Facta crucis martyria
    Fecit magna prodigia
    Sequutus per aetheria
    Christiana vestigia.

    7 “Gloriosum apostolum
    Deus ornavit gloria
    Romse urbis qua in
    Vivit cum victoria.

    8 “Habundabat justitia,
    Plenus divina gratia
    Expandit retia sparsa
    Per mundi spatia.

    9 “Judaeorum malivolas
    Vitae formavit animas
    Missusque capsit plurimas
    Evangelii per sagias.

    10 “Kasta librorum legimus,
    Petri plenos virtutibus,
    Moestas divinis fletibus,
    Pastoris summi nutibus.

    11 “Luxit ut Phoebus saecula,
    Christi secutus opera
    Binae legis oracula
    (A line wanting).

    12 “Mirum pastorem piissimum
    Flagitare non desino,
    Ne demergar cum pessima,
    Intercedas pro misero.

    13 “Nunc dignare, apostole,
    Aperire cum clavibus
    Regnum quod olim quaerimus
    Nos instantes prae foribus.

    14 “Opus delator sublimis,
    Te rogamus assidue,
    Recordare martyriae
    Et auxilium tribue.

    15 “Petri precamur veniam,
    Si qua mala peregimus,
    Resistentes daemonibus
    Nunc evalere legimus.

    16 “Qui nostri spiritus aerias
    Praesta salutis galeas,
    Simon Johannis, audias
    Nostras preces, ut audias.

    17 “Regis regnum apostolorum,
    Precor precamine,
    Me morantem in limine
    Mortis desolve valide.

    18 “Salvat horis in munere,
    Mundi ferebat famina,
    Cui concessa numina,
    Relaxare peccamina.

    19 “Turbae sanctorum magister,
    Ovem errantem eruat,
    Negligenter ne pereat,
    Adjutorium tribuat.

    20 “Uisitando cum trophaeo,
    Fidei tectus clipeo,
    Cujus vires ut sapio
    Fari omnino nequeo.

    21 “Xristi martyrum lucifer,
    Legis lator altissimi,
    Cui daemones pessimi
    Obediebant impiissimi.

    22 “Ymno dicto de laudibus
    Petri, utcunque fecimus,
    Nostris virtutum opibus
    Propitiatur precibus.

    23 “Zona praecincti placidis
    Totis vivamus debitis,
    Ut fruamur infinitis,
    In angelorum editis.”

    1 “List, Brothers, whilst our hymn of praise,
    To Peter’s name we humbly raise;
    From whose blest hand the waters ran,
    Which life restored to fallen man.
    May Peter’s love our path attend,
    And guide us to our happy end.

    2 “Bright as the lightning’s glowing sheen,
    He, twice, ‘mid ranks of saints, was seen;
    Whilst nations lost in fear and love,
    Hear chants divine from realms above.

    3 ” With fearless tongue he pleads the cause
    Of Christ’s divine and holy laws;
    And all the baffled hosts of hell
    His Master’s glowing triumph tell.

    4 “In years long past, in by-gone time,
    As highest prince, to post sublime
    Was Peter chosen to succeed,
    And Christ’s ne’er-failing flock to feed.

    5 “Nor clime, nor space, might bound his zeal,
    And pages writ his deeds reveal;
    On him, the rock so strong, so sure,
    Christ’s Church shall ever firm endure.

    6 “Fixed to the cross, he closed his days,
    And wonders dread proclaimed his praise:
    To realms above, to die no more,
    He soar’d, as Christ had soar’d before.

    7 “And, now, in deathless glory crowned,
    The earth doth with his praise resound;
    And thou, the first, sweet mother Rome,
    His see, his battle-field, his home.

    8 “Hence, in God’s grace, in justice bright,
    And led and guided by their light,
    Through all the world, from end to end,
    Did Peter’s care his nets extend.

    9 “E’en cruel Jews, from vice and strife,
    Were led to walk the path of life;
    And, soon, the Gospel’s seine might tell
    Of countless souls redeemed from hell.

    10 “Historic lore proclaims his fame,
    And all the glory of his name;
    “Whilst at his nod, from sinful eyes
    Tears rise, as incense, to the skies.

    11 “Like Phoebus shining o’er the world,
    Christ’s saving standard he unfurl’d,
    And, walking in his Master’s ways,
    Proclaim’d God’s laws through all his days.

    12 “That I may be this pastor’s care,
    Shall surely be my constant prayer;
    Oh, Peter, pray, lest I be tost
    By angry waves, and, wretched, lost.

    13 “Oh deign, apostle, pure and meek,
    To guide us to the realm we seek;
    We stand, we pray, we faint outside,
    Oh, ope to us those portals wide.

    14 “With never-failing lips we pray,
    Thy aid and help, our hope, our stay;
    And, mindful of thy own sad throes,
    Grant help and comfort in our woes.

    15 “Thy pardon, Peter, we implore,
    With hearts resolved to sin no more;
    With Satan’s hosts fierce war to wage,
    And, trusting, all our foes engage.

    16 “Then, Simon John, oh, list our cry,
    And bear us succour from on high;
    And on our brows bind helmets bright,
    To keep us harmless in the fight.

    17 ” With humble cry, with humble prayer,
    Apostles’ Lord, I crave thy care;
    That, trembling on death’s awful shore,
    Nor sin, nor hell, may claim me more.

    18 “As every hour the sinner’s cry,
    Doth rise in sadness to the sky;
    His chains unbound—behold him free,
    For God’s right hand doth work with thee.

    19 “Oh, master of the sainted band,
    O’er erring sinners keep thy hand;
    And, lest our feet should sadly stray,
    Oh, guide us in the narrow way.

    20 “With faith’s bright shield thy flock enshroud,
    And glad them with thy trophies proud;
    But mortal tongue may never tell
    The saving strength we know so well.

    21 “Of martyrs bright the brightest name,
    God’s people, all, thy praise proclaim;
    Whilst demons dread thy awful sway,
    And trembling fiends thy power obey.

    22 “As best we may, to Peter’s praise
    This humble song we humbly raise;
    May he our cry benign attend,
    And guide us to our happy end.

    23 “With girded loins, with duty done,
    With cheerful hearts, till all be won;
    May we, when life’s stern fight is o’er,
    Be crown’d with bliss for evermore.
    Amen.”

    We could not desire a fuller exposition of the prerogatives of St. Peter than is contained in this poem; he is the apostle divinely chosen “to hold the place of Christ and feed his sacred fold;” he is “the foundation of the Christian universal church” (fundamentum Dominica Ecclesiae Catholicae); he is “the master of the choir of saints;” ” the prince of the martyrs of Christ; “the legislator of the Most High,” and moreover, he is adorned “with the aureola of Rome, in which city he is destined to reign with an ever-enduring triumph.”

    The second poem is equally explicit; it styles the apostle the key-bearer of the heavenly kingdom, not for a while only, but throughout all time; he is the pontiff of souls, the prince of apostles, the shepherd of all the fold of Christ. We now give it in full, with a literal translation:

    1. “Sanctus Petrus, apostolus,
    Quondam piscator optimus,
    Altum mare cum navibus,
    Temptabat remis, retibus.

    2. “Qui de profundo gurgitum
    Magnam raptor fluctivagam
    Jactis nave reticulis
    Praedam captabat piscium.

    3. “Christum vocantem sequitur
    Sponte relictis omnibus
    Dignus erat apostolus
    Factus piscator hominum

    4. “Sancto Petro pro merito
    Christus regni coelestium
    Claves simul cum gratia
    Tradidit in perpetuum.

    5. “Animarum pontificem,
    Apostolorum principem
    Petrum rogamus omnium
    Christi pastorem ovium.

    6. “Ne mens gravata crimine
    Nostra torpescat pectore
    Reddamus Christo gloriae
    Cantemus in perpetuum.

    Amen.

    1. “Great Peter, saint, apostle blest,
    In fisher’s lowly garb once drest,
    With ship and oar did brave the deep,
    Whilst searching nets the billows sweep.

    2. “Full oft where surges wildly play,
    Where, heedless, sport the finny prey;
    His fish he takes, in seine or weel
    Wide spread beneath his trusty keel.

    3. “But, lo, he hears the Master’s call,
    With joyful heart abandons all;
    And, office dread, unheard till then,
    Is fisher made of ransomed men.

    4. “The keys which open the portals blest,
    That lead the way to endless rest,
    To him Christ gives, with grace to tend
    And guide his flock safe to the end.

    5. “Great Pontiff of Christ’s chosen band,
    Apostles round thee humbly stand!
    O’er Christ’s true flock strict watch still keep,
    Still guard His lambs still guard His sheep.

    6. “Ne’er may our souls, with crime opprest,
    Find rest or peace within our breast;
    May we to Christ, glad songs of praise,
    In realms of bliss, for ever raise. Amen.

    Essays on the The Origin of the Irish Church by the Rev. Dr. Moran (Dublin, 1864), 81-87.

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