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Saint Fiacre of Meaux, August 30

August 30 is the feast day of an Irish saint whose life was mostly spent outside this country – Fiacre of Meaux. I have previously posted a twentieth-century account of the saint here but below is a paper from 1876. The author is the then Bishop of Ossory, later to be Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, Patrick Francis Moran (1830-1911). Cardinal Moran took an active interest in the history of the early Irish church and his many writings reflect the climate of the national revival which was in full swing during his lifetime. In his account of Saint Fiacre, PFM brings together much of the traditional lore associated with the saint and gives a place also to his sister, Saint Syra. I was interested too by the seventeenth-century dimension to the cult of Saint Fiacre, in particular the visits of Irish exiles to his shrine.

ST FIACRE.

St. FIACHRA, better known by the name of Fiacre, by which he was designated on the Continent, was born about the year 590, of a princely family in the north of Connaught; but renouncing the honours and applause of the world, sought in retreat and solitude the highest paths of perfection. Whilst as yet in the world, charity was one of his distinctive virtues. A poor man one day solicited an alms for the love of God. Fiachra told his attendant to give him any money that he might have, and the attendant pretended to do so. The saint, however, fearing lest any mistake might have been made, went after the poor man and asked him how he had fared. He then learned that the attendant’s money being exhausted by preceding alms, nothing had been given to him; whereupon the saint, taking off the rich mantle which he wore, bestowed it on the poor man. This same virtue continued to characterize St. Fiachra throughout the whole of his subsequent career.

Having resolved to devote himself to a religious life, he put himself under the care of St. Cuanna, who was at this time famed for learning and sanctity, and attracted numerous disciples to his monastery at Kilcoona, on the shore of Loch Orbsen. Being ordained priest, St. Fiachra was filled with the desire to serve God in solitude, and therefore, quitting his native district, and the school of St. Cuanna, he fixed his first hermitage on the banks of the Nore, and for many years lived there leading a most holy and austere life. The spot thus hallowed by the virtues and penitential austerities of our saint is still known by the name Kill-Fiachra, or Kilfera, and is situate on the west bank of the Nore, about three miles below Kilkenny. The memory of St. Fiachra is honoured there on the 30th of August, the same day on which his festival is marked in the Martyrologies of Marianus O’ Gorman and of Donegal. The outlines of St. Fiachra’s old church or cell may be easily traced, and fragments of its stone-work are scattered through the adjoining burial-ground. A little to the south of Kilfera is the holy well of St. Fiachra.

This silent retreat had for our saint all the charms of a paradise. His virtues, however, soon became known, and many disciples flocked around him; and it seemed as if greater honour and reverence awaited him in his retreat, than would have attended him in the princely inheritance which he had abandoned. He resolved, therefore, to seek in distant countries the solitude which was denied him at home; and thus it came to pass, in the words of the Martyrology of Donegal, that he “ brought a blessing to France.” St Fiachra remained for some time in Iona, attracted thither by the fame of the virtues and miracles of its holy founder. Continuing his journey towards France, the vessel in which he sailed encountered a terrible storm at sea, but when all seemed lost, the tempest was stilled by the prayers of our saint. St. Faro, who was at this time Bishop of Meaux, had opened a hospice for pilgrims at the gates of his episcopal city. He belonged to the highest nobility of France, and for several years had ranked among the richest of the courtiers, as well as among the bravest of the leaders of the armies of King Clothaire ; now, however, as bishop, all his possessions and influence were placed at the service of religion and of the poor. At the hospice which he endowed none were so welcome as the pilgrims from Erin; for St. Faro attributed all his worldly prosperity, as well as his ecclesiastical calling, to the blessing which the great Irish missioner Columbanus, in requital for the hospitality which was shown him, had bestowed on his parents and household. St. Fiachra, journeying on whither God might summon him, entered this hospice at Meaux, and under the garb of a poor pilgrim, lived there for some years wholly devoted to the most perfect practices of piety. His relative, St Kilian, however, when making a pilgrimage to Rome, entered the same hospice, and made known our saint’s rank. Fiachra would willingly have fled elsewhere, but Faro asked him not to leave a spot where he had found such happiness and peace, and offered him a site for a hermitage at a short distance from Meaux, with a grant of as much land as he would himself surround with a fosse in one day. St. Fiachra selected for his enclosure an adjoining desert tract called Broilus (which name in mediaeval Latin means a small wood), known in later times as Breuil, and now called Brie, situated on an elevated position not far from the banks of the Marne; and whilst he traced its boundaries with a wooden stake, a fosse was miraculously formed along the track. In the retreat thus miraculously enclosed, St. Fiacre spent his whole time in prayer and manual labour. His food consisted of roots and wild herbs, and in the heart of France he renewed the austerities by which SS. Paul and Anthony and Hilarion had sanctified the deserts of the East. Like all the great saints of Ireland he cherished a special devotion to the holy Mother of God, and it is commemorated in his Acts, that close to his cell he erected an oratory in her honour, oratorio in honorem Beatae Mariae constructo. Many holy disciples soon flocked to Breuil to emulate the penitential spirit, and to copy the virtues, of our saint. He obliged them to devote themselves in great part to manual labour, cultivating the garden which he had enclosed; and the fruit of their industry was applied to the maintenance of pilgrims and to the relief of captives. After the discovery of his place of concealment, deputies came to Meaux, requesting the saint to return home, and to assume the government of his native principality, which happened to be then vacant. Fiachra asked for a little time to deliberate on a matter of such importance, and in the meanwhile prayed to God that He might in His mercy visit him with some malady that would not permit his return. The next day the saint was found covered with leprosy, and the messengers, seeing that their mission was frustrated, at once took their departure from Meaux. It is also related in the saint’s life that he was visited at Breuil by his sister St. Syra. She had from her infancy been remarkable for sanctity, frequently passing the whole night in prayer prostrate before the crucifix, and practising the most rigorous austerities. With three companions she set out for Meaux, and having received from her brother many lessons of heavenly wisdom, entered the Monastery of Faramoutiers, then governed by St. Burgundofara, sister of St. Faro, and after some years proceeded to Troyes, where she ruled a monastery as abbess for a long time, and guided many souls to God. In an ancient hymn, composed in her praise, she is thus addressed:

“ O Syra. virgo pura,
Regis Scotorum filia,
Sancti Fiacrii soror,
Tu es Stella eximia,
Praefulgens Virginum gemma,
Campaniae laus, et honor,
Ad sepulchrum confagiunt
Tuum populi, et sentiunt
Sanitatis remedium.”

The festival of St. Syra is kept at Troyes on the 8th of June, and before the French Revolution there were several convents in France that honoured her as patron. St. Fiachra died at his hermitage about the year 670, and his shrine was soon honoured by many miracles. One of these is specially recorded in the French Life of St. Fiacre. A farmer of Montigny (Seine-et-Marne) was proceeding on pilgrimage to the shrine of our saint, bringing with him his two children, who were infirm. The horse stumbled when passing a river, and the children were precipitated into the stream. It seemed impossible to rescue them, as the current was so rapid; but the father having invoked St. Fiachra’s aid, the saint appeared on the water, and taking the children by the hand, lead them to the bank in safety.

St. Fiachra is at present venerated as special patron at Brie, about four miles from the city of Meaux, and also as one of the chief patrons of the diocese of Meaux; and he is also honoured throughout France as the particular patron of gardeners and of the Fiacre-drivers. Indeed, the French cab is said to have derived its name fiacre from being specially called into requisition in early times for the use of pilgrims hastening to his shrine. More than thirty churches in France are also dedicated to our saint. About three miles from Brie is St. Fiacre’s well. It is enclosed in an oratory, which was rebuilt in 1852. Pilgrims also flock to his holy well at Monstrelet, near Boufflers, which is famed for miraculous cures. The other chief places of pilgrimage in honour of our saint are Aubignan, in the diocese of Avignon; Buss, in the diocese of Arras; Ramecourt and Dizy-le-Gros, in the diocese of Soissons; Ouzoer-les-Champs, in the diocese of Orleans; Bovancourt, in the diocese of Rheims; Cuy-Saint-Fiacre, in the diocese of Rouen; Saint Fiacre, in the diocese of Nantes; Saint Fiacre, near Guincamp, in the diocese of St. Brieuc ; and Radenac, in the diocese of Vannes. His festival is kept in France, as in Ireland, on the 30th of August.

The proper lessons for our saint in the Breviary of Meaux inform us, that he adopted in France the strict rule of the early Irish monasteries, which prohibited any female from crossing the threshold of his oratory or hermitage. A royal lady of France attempted on one occasion, through curiosity, to violate this rule, but was at once struck down with a violent sickness, to which the physicians thenceforth applied the name of “ St. Fiacre’s malady.”

The shrine of St. Fiachra was for centuries one of the most famous in France, and many pilgrims resorted thither even from distant nations. We read in the Annals of the Trinitarian Order; that the holy founder of that order, St. John of Valois, cherished a special devotion for St. Fiachra, and, not satisfied with emulating his virtues at a distance, wished to erect for himself a hermitage as near as he could to Breuil, that thus the sight of the spot where our saint had lived, and where his relics were preserved, might be a constant stimulus to piety. In later times the Apostle of France, St. Vincent de Paul, also made a pilgrimage to St. Fiachra’s shrine. When, in the fourteenth century, Edward the Biack Prince ravaged the country around Meaux, the sanctuary at Breuil alone was spared. He caused, however, the shrine of the saint to be opened, and extracted a portion of the relics which he desired to bring with him to England. When passing through Normandy, he deposited these relics on an altar at Montloup, not far distant from Toumay, where there was a chapel erected in honour of St. Fiachra, but no strength of man was able afterwards to remove the relics from that altar. The death of the Prince soon after was popularly regarded as a punishment for his want of due reverence for the shrine of our saint. Henry V. of England also visited Breuil after the battle of Agincourt. He ordered the sanctuary of St. Fiachra to be respected, and declared that he had nowhere seen so great devotion as that shown by the faithful to our saint. Among the other royal visits may be mentioned that of Louis XIV., who, with his Queen and the Court, went thither on pilgrimage when returning from Strasburg in 1693.

When the sword of persecution forced many Catholic families of Ireland to seek a home on the Continent, and many of her bravest sons to enter the armies of France or Spain, the shrine of St. Fiacre, at Meaux, became a favorite resort of the Irish exiles; and it would appear that each year on his recurring festival, they organized a special pilgrimage in his honour. Father Hay, in his Scotia Sacra (page 39), tells us that when sub-prior of the Benedictine Monastery of Essoines, situated on the banks of the river Marne, he himself had visited this sanctuary, and adds some verses from three Latin poems, which he found hanging on the walls around the altar of our saint. Each poem bore the heading, “ Divo Fiacrio Carmen,” i.e., “ a poem in honour of St. Fiacre.” The first thus commenced:

“ Regis Hiberni generosa proles,
Fortis Eugeni soboles Fiacri
Sancte, materno gremio corusca
Syderis instar.”This is followed by thirty-eight other verses, and at the end is added, “ This was sung by the Irish pilgrims in the year 1679.” The second poem is still longer, having 123 verses, with the note, “offered by an Irish choir in the year of our Lord 1680.” The third has 206 verses, and has at the close, “An Irish choir offered this in 1681.”The greater part of the relics of our saint were scattered and the oratory and shrine of St. Fiacre, at Breuil, were demolished in the revolutionary storm which laid waste the fairest districts of France at the close of the last century. From the time of the saint’s death his relics seem to have been famed for miracles. As early as the eleventh century we find it commemorated that the fame of the miracles performed there attracted many pilgrims to his shrine. Fulck de Beauvais, who flourished in that age, in his metrical life of St. Faro, Bishop of Meaux, mentions as one of the chief glories of that saint’s pontificate that he granted Breuil to Fiachra (who in Latin is oftentimes called Fefrus) and thus rendered the whole diocese of Meaux illustrious for miracles : —

“ Heredem Fefrum dedit in quibus esse beatum,
Huic Broilum tribuit, qui templum condidit illic,
Hic duxit vitam, vitam finivit ibidem,
Meldica nunc signis floret provincia Fefri.”

In the beginning of the reign of St. Louis of France the first solemn translation of our saint’s relics took place. By his munificence they were placed in a rich shrine, and thenceforward each year, on the Sunday after Pentecost, the anniversary of this translation, a portion of the relics was borne in procession through Breuil. Pope Gregory the IX. granted special indulgences for those, who, on his festival-day, would visit the saint’s relics at Breuil. In the year 1562 the shrine and relics of our saint were removed to the sanctuary of St. Burgundofara in Meaux, the better to preserve them from the fury of the Huguenots, and after a little time, at the request of the civic authorities, were deposited in the cathedral of that city. The pilgrimages, however, continued to be made to Breuil as heretofore, and when religious peace was restored in France every effort was made by the inhabitants to have the treasure of the saint’s relics restored to them. All that they could obtain, however, was a portion of these precious remains, encased in a silver shrine, presented to the sanctuary at Breuil by the Bishop of Meaux, in 1649. As regards the shrine in the Cathedral of Meaux, it was so richly ornamented by Queen Anne of Austria that it was considered second to none in France, before the period of the French Revolution. The illustrious Bossuet delivered some of his beautiful discourses on our saint’s festival, presenting him to the faithful as “a model of the Christian spirit of solitude, of silence, and of constant prayer;” and he loved to repeat that their cathedral “was enriched by the precious treasure of his relics.” In Mabillon’s time Breuil was still frequented by pilgrims, and miracles continued to be there wrought at the saint’s shrine. He thus writes in his Annals of the Benedictine Order (vol. i. p. 314) “Sane vix ullus alius etiam nunc celebrior miraculorum patrator in Gallia: vix ullus alius locus amplius frequentatus a peregrinis qui istuc voti causa undique confluunt.” Only small portions of these relics escaped the fury with which the revolutionists at the close of the last century raged against the shrines of the saints; and of these some at present enrich the parochial church at Brie; others are preserved in the cathedral and other churches throughout the diocese of Meaux. The parochial church of Brie retains also the large block of stone on which St. Fiachra used to rest, and which bears the impress of the saint; as also the ancient wooden case in which the relics were at one time preserved. The sites of the enclosure and of the saint’s hermitage are traditionally pointed out, and may easily be traced, but no remains can now be seen of the ancient buildings.

The late learned Protestant Bishop of Brechin, Dr. Forbes, having given a short notice of our saint in his Kalendars of Scottish Saints, remarks that this commemoration of St. Fiachra in France “suggests an allusion to that marvellous Irish Christian colonization which is one of the most remarkable facts in the history of Christianity, and to which, till the present century, scanty justice has been done. The daughter Church of Gaul, Ireland, soon returned to bless that nation from whom she had received the faith, and not that nation only, but all the West of Europe, from Iceland to Tarentum, felt its power. Combatting Arianism in Lombardy, paganism in England and Germany; cultivating letters at the court of Charlemagne, and physical science in the see of Salzburg; teaching Greek at Chiemsee, and copying the precious manuscripts of antiquity at Bobbio and Luxeuil: the (Irish) clergy grasped the lamp of religion, as it fell from the hands of the worn-out Roman races; and the austere sanctity of Irish monasticism — an austerity which, from existing rules, we know to have surpassed that of St. Benedict himself — asserted its footing in the different nations of the Continent, of which many of the patron saints belong to this family. In the Vosges and the Jura we have St Fridolin; at Luxeuil and Bobbio, St. Columbanus; in Switzerland, St. Gall; at Salzburg, St. Virgilius; in Thuringia, St. Kilian; at Lucca, St. Frigidian; at Fiesole, St. Donatus; and at Taranto, St Cathaldus.”— page 341.

St. Fiachra is also honoured in Italy, especially at Florence, where a noble chapel was erected in his honour by the Grand Duke in the year 1627, and was again richly adorned by the then reigning Duke towards the close of the seventeenth century, at whose request some relics of the saint, the gift of the illustrious Bishop of Meaux, Benigne Bossuet, were translated thither with great pomp in the year 1695. Since that time St. Fiachra has been reckoned among the chief patrons of Tuscany.

When St. Fiachra was proceeding to France, if not at an earlier period of his life, he seems to have stopped for some time in Scotland, and his memory was long cherished in the churches of that kingdom. In Stewart’s Metrical Chronicle of Scotland, our saint appears as “Sanct Feacar,” and again under the name of “ Fiancorus.” The parish of Nigg, situate on the opposite side of the river Dee from Aberdeen, had St. Fiacre for patron, and its church was called “ St. Fiacer’s Church.” The ancient burial-ground also bore his name; his holy well was corruptly called St. Fithoc’s well, and the bay near which it stands, St. Ficker’s Bay. From these corruptions of the name arose other still more curious forms; thus, for instance, from Fithoc , arose Mofithog and Mofuttach: and we find that in the Kalendar of Camerarius, our saint is entered as S. Mofutacus, whilst in an ancient Dunkeld Litany he is invoked as St. Futtach. All these various forms, however, of the name of St. Fiachra only serve to show how widespread was the veneration of this great saint, and how generally he was honoured throughout the churches of Scotland.

P. F. M.

The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume XII(1876), 361-368.

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August 30, 2016
The Monastic School of Ross

Below is a paper on the Monastic School of Ross by Archbishop John Healy (1841-1918), in which he examines the history of Saint Fachtna’s foundation. Saint Fachtna is commemorated on August 14 and a previous account of his life can be found here.

THE MONASTIC SCHOOL OF ROSS.

THE monastic school of ROSS, more commonly called Ross Ailithir, was one of the most celebrated in the South of Ireland. Its founder was St. Fachtna the patron of the diocese of Ross, who is commonly identified with St. Fachtna, the founder and patron of the diocese of Kilmore. This is, indeed, highly probable, seeing that both dioceses celebrate the feasts of their respective patrons on the same day, the 14th of August, and besides, both belonged to the same princely race of the Corca Laighde.

The territory of Corca Laighde, which takes its name from the ruling tribe, was conterminous with the diocese of Ross, of which, as we said, St. Fachtna, was founder and first bishop. It extended in ancient times along the southwestern coast of Cork from Courtmacsherry Bay to Dursey Head, and included besides East and West Carberry, the modern baronies of Beare and Bantry towards the western margin, as well as the baronies of Ibane and Barryroe on its eastern borders. Afterwards, however, this territory was greatly contracted by hostile incursions, especially by the inroads of the O’Sullivans on the west, of the O’Mahonys on the east, and thus the territory of Corca Laighde was reduced so as to include only West and a small portion of East Carberry.

The race called the Corca Laighde derived their name from Lugaidh Laighe of the line of Ith, uncle of Milesius, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. The mother of the celebrated St. Ciaran of Saighre belonged to this family. Her name was Liaghain, latinized Liadania, and she was married to an Ossorian prince called Luighneadh, of which marriage St. Ciaran was born at the residence of his mother’s family, called Fintraigh, in Cape Clear Island, about the middle of the fifth century. St. Fachtna was born also in the same territory at a place called Tulachteann, in sight of the southern sea, but as he died young about forty-six years of age late in the sixth century, he cannot have been born for many years after St. Ciaran. He is sometimes called Mac Mongach, either from the name of his father, or because he was born with much hair on his head mongach, i.e. hairy.

Like Brendan and Cuimin of Clonfert, he was nurtured under the care of St. Ita, the Bridget of Munster, and received from that wise and gentle virgin those lessons of piety that afterwards produced such abundant fruit. The whole of his family, however, must have been trained in virtue at home, for we are told that no less than seven of his brothers were enrolled in the catalogue of the Irish saints. After leaving Ita’s care he went to the famous seminary of St. Finnbarr, at Lough Eirche, near Cork, where so many of the holy men of the sixth century received their early training. The name Fachtna (i.e.facundus, the eloquent), is expressly mentioned in the Life of St. Garvan (26th March) amongst those who crowded to that domicile of all virtue and of all wisdom.

Leaving St. Barry’s academy, Fachtna founded for himself the monastery of Molana, in the little island of Dairinis, near Youghal, towards the mouth of the Blackwater. Shortly afterwards, however, he returned to his native territory, and founded on a promontory between two pleasant bays of the southern ocean the celebrated establishment now called Ross Carberry, but recently known as Ross Ailithir, from the number of pilgrim students who crowded its halls, not only from all parts of Ireland, but from all parts of Europe. It was admirably situated as a retreat for the holy and the wise, on a gentle eminence rising from the sea, in the midst of green fields, looking down on the glancing waters of the rushing tides, and smiling under the light of ever-genial skies. Here Fachtna “the good and wise,” though still young in years founded, what is called in the Life of St. Mochoemoc, ” magnum studium scholarium,” a great college not only for the study of sacred Scripture, but also for the cultivation of all the liberal arts.

Amongst other distinguished teachers who helped to make the school of Ross famous was St. Brendan, the navigator, who later on founded the sees both of Ardfert and Clonfert. Usher tells us, quoting from an old document, that about the year 540 A.D., Brendan was engaged for some time in teaching the liberal arts at Ross Ailithir during the lifetime too of its holy founder. Fachtna and Brendan were intimate friends, for both were nurtured by the holy virgin Ita of Killeedy, and no doubt loved each other with the deep and abiding affection of foster brothers. It is only natural, therefore, that Brendan should go to visit St. Fachtna at Ross, and aid him with the influence of his name and character in starting and organising the new school.

It was at this period that an unforeseen misfortune happened to Fachtna, which to one engaged, as he was, would become a double misfortune. By some accident he became entirely blind, so that he could neither read nor see anything. In this affliction the saint had recourse to God and was directed by an angel to apply to Nessa, the sister of St. Ita, and then about to become the mother of that child of promise St. Mochoemoc, through whom he would obtain his eyesight. Fachtna did so, and miraculously recovered his eyesight.

It seems St, Fachtna must have acquired great fame as a preacher, and no doubt too as a teacher of eloquence, for the surname of “Facundus,” which is sometimes used instead of his own name, was given to him. He was, it appears, clothed with the episcopal dignity, and thus became founder of the diocese of Ross, which, not however without mutations, has continued down to our own times, and still ranks amongst the independent Sees of Ireland. The saint died at the early age of forty-six, and was buried in his own Cathedral Church of Ross. The holy work, however, in which he was engaged, was continued by his successors, and for many centuries Ross continued to be a great school whose halls were crowded by students from every land. St. Cuimin of Connor, describes Fachtna as the ” generous and steadfast, who loved to address assembled crowds, and never spoke aught that was base and displeasing to God” in allusion to his sanctity and eloquence.

His immediate successor was Conall, whose succession to Fachtna in the monastery and see of Ross was foretold by St. Ciaran of Saighre. Mention is also made of St. Finchad of Ross-ailithir, who seems to have been a fellow pupil of the founder at the great school of Finnbarr in Cork. These two saints were probably tribes-men of St. Fachtna, for we are told that he was succeeded in his See by twenty-seven bishops of his own tribe, whose jurisdiction was conterminous with the chief of the clann over the territory of Corcalaighde.

” Seven and twenty bishops nobly

Occupied Ross of the fertile fields,

From Fachtna the eloquent, the renowned,

To the well-ordered Episcopate of Dongalach.”

The names are unfortunately not given in our annals in this as well as in many other instances where a succession of bishops with well-defined jurisdiction was undoubtedly preserved. O’Flaherty puts the same statement in hexameters

“Dongalus a Fachtna ter nonus episcopus extat

Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram.”

Which another poet translates in this fashion :

” Hail happy Ross, who could produce thrice nine

All mitred sages of Lugadia’s line,

From Fachtna crowned with everlasting praise

Down to the date of Dongal’s pious days.”

During the ninth century we find frequent mention of the “abbots” of Ross-ailithir in the Four Masters, and we are told that it was burned by the Danes, in 840, along with the greater part of Munster. In the tenth and eleventh centuries we find reference is made, not to the “bishops” or “abbots,” but to the ” airchinnech ” of Ross-ailithir; and it is quite possible that during this disturbed period laymen took possession of the abbacy with this title, having ecclesiastics under them to perform the spiritual functions. Once only we find reference to a “bishop,” in 1085, when the death of Neachtain Mac Neachtain, the distinguished Bishop of Ross-ailithir is recorded.

But whether it was bishop, abbot, or airchinnech, who held the spiritual sway of the monastery, and its adjacent territory, the school continued to flourish even during those centuries most unpropitious to the cultivation of learning. In 866, or according to the Chronicon Scotorum in 868, we are told of the death of Feargus, scribe and anchorite of Ross-ailithir, showing that the work of copying manuscripts was still continued in its schools. But we have still and more striking evidence during the tenth century of the literary work done at Ross-ailithir, for a manual of ancient geography,written by one of these lectors in the Irish language, is happily still preserved in the Book of Leinster.

The author of this most interesting treatise, as we know from the same authority, was Mac Cosse, who was Ferlegind, that is a reader, or lecturer of Ross-ailithir. A passage in the Annals of Innisfallen enables us to identify him, and his history furnishes a striking example of the vicissitudes of those disturbed times:

“The son of Imar left Waterford and [there followed] the destruction of Ross of the Pilgrims by the foreigners, and the taking prisoner of the Felegind i.e. Mac Cosse-de-brain, and his ransoming by Brian at Scattery Island.”

This entry enables us to fix the probable date of this geographical poem of MacCosse, which seems to have been the manual of classical geography made use of in Ross-ailithir, and hence so full of interest for the student of the history of our ancient schools. This Imar was king of the Danes of Limerick, but in 968 the Danes of Limerick were completely defeated by Mahoun and his younger brother Brian Boru. Imar made his escape to Wales, but after a year or two returned again, first, it would seem, toWaterford ; issuing thence he harried all the coasts and islands of the South, and finally returned to Limerick with a large fleet and army. But he deemed Scattery Island a more secure stronghold, and having fortified it he made that island his head-quarters, and no doubt kept his prisoners there also. Scattery itself was captured from the Danes by Brian, a little later on in 976, and there Imar was slain; so that it was in the interval between 970-976 that MacCosse was kept a prisoner at Scattery Island, and ransomed by the generosity of Brian, who always loved learning and learned men.

This poem consists of one hundred and thirty-six lines, giving a general account of the geography of the ancient world, and was, no doubt, first got by rote by the students, and then, more fully explained by the lecturer to his pupils. This tenth century is generally regarded as the darkest of the dark ages; yet, we have no doubt that,whoever reads over this poem will be surprised at the extent and variety of geographical knowledge communicated to the pupils of Ross-ailithir in that darkened age, when the Danish ships, too, were roaming round the coasts of Ireland. It is not merely that the position of the various countries is stated with much accuracy, but we have, as we should now say, an account of their fauna and flora their natural productions, as well as their physical features. The writer, too, seems to be acquainted not merely with the principal Latin authors, but also with the writings of at least some of the Grecian authorities.

In the opening stanza he describes the five zones: “two frigid of bright aspect” alluding, no doubt, to their snowy wastes and wintry skies, lit up by the aurora borealis and then two temperate around the fiery zone, which stretches about the middle of the world. There are three continents, Europe, Africa, and Asia ; the latter founded by the Asian Queen, and much the larger, because she unduly trespassed on the territories of her neighbours. Adam’s paradise is in the far East, beyond the Indus, surrounded by a wall of fire. India “great and proud,” is bounded on the west by that river, on the north by the hills of Hindoo Coosh. That country is famous ” for its magnets, and its diamonds, its pearls, its gold dust, and its carbuncles.” There are to be found the fierce one-horned beast, and the mighty elephant it is a land where “soft and balmy breezes blow,” and two harvests ripen within the year. In like manner he describes the other countries of Asia ; the mare rubrum ” swift and strong,” andEgypt, by the banks of Nile, the most fertile of all lands. He even tells us of the burning fires of the Alaunian land, alluding to the petroleum springs around the Caspian. He names all the provinces of Asia Minor ” little Asia,” he calls it and says most accurately, that it was bounded on the west by the Propontus and the AEgean sea. In like manner he describes Africa, and derives its name from Apher, a son of Abraham and Keturah, showing that he was familiar with the Greek of the Antiquities of Josephus. He then goes through the various countries of Europe, giving their names, and chief cities. The principal rivers, too, are named, and their courses fixed, when he says that –

“Three streams issue from the Alps westward, and across Europe they appear

The Rhine in the north-west, the Loire, and the River Rhone.”

Finally, he comes to Ireland, which, in loving language, he proclaims to be

“A pleasant and joyous land, wealth abounding ; the land of the sons of Milesius ; a land of branching stems ; the most fertile land that is under the sun.”

So ends this most interesting manual of geography, written by an Irish scholar, in the Irish tongue, and taught to the students of Ross-ailithir, whilst the Danish pirates were roaming round our seas, and ruling with strong hand in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick.

Of the subsequent fortune of Ross-ailithir we know little. In 1127 the fleet of Toirdhealbach O’Conor sailed to Rossailithir, and despoiled Desmond, as the Chronicon Scotorum informs us for it was not the Dane alone that our schools and churches had to fear often, far too often, the spoiler was some rival chieftain, whose churches and monasteries were sure to be spoiled very soon in their turn. Then came the greatest of all the devastators the Anglo-Normans, who laid waste Corca Laighde under Fitz Stephen, a few years after Bishop O’Carbhail went to his rest in 1168. Since that period the school has disappeared, but the see of Ross still holds its ground, after having gone through some strange vicissitudes of union and separation from the neighbouring dioceses of Cloyne and Cork.

+ J. HEALY.

Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 11, January 1890, 1-8.

August 14, 2016
Saint Aidan of Ferns, January 31

January 31 is the feast of the patron of the Diocese of Ferns, Saint Aidan, also known as Saint Moedoc or Mogue. Below is a paper on the life of the saint from the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, signed PFM. Its author is thus Patrick Francis, the future Cardinal Moran. Cardinal Moran produced some impressive historical studies of the early Irish church and its saints, he had a great devotion to Saint Brigid and secured a portion of her relics from Cologne for a convent in Australia. In his paper on Saint Aidan of Ferns PFM is in characteristic form, providing a wealth of detail and his paper was published in three separate instalments. I have omitted some of the detail about the shrine of Saint Moedoc and of the lives of some other saints in order to keep the focus on the life of Saint Aidan and the narrative flowing. The volume is available online if you wish to read the text as it originally appeared.

ST. AIDAN, BISHOP AND PATRON OF FERNS.

ST. Aidan, one of the most illustrious saints who adorned the Irish Church in the sixth century, was born at Innis- Breagh-Muigh, a small island in Brackley Lough, in the territory of east Breffny (the north-west of the modern county of Cavan), about the year 530. His father’s name was Sedna, through whom his lineage went back to the Colla Uais, the ancestor of the most illustrious clans of the Oirghialla ; whilst through his mother, Ethne, he was connected with the race of Amhalgaidh, whose descendants gave name to the territory of Tirawley in the county of Mayo.

Aidan is the usual Anglicised form of the saint’s name. The original Irish name was Aedh, sometimes written Aodh, which in various Latin works became Aeda, Aidus, Aiduus, Aedeus, Oedeus, or Edus. The diminutive termination, an or og, being often added in Irish proper names, we find our saint in some ancient tracts called Aedhan or Oedhan, and Aedhog, which in Latin was modified into Afdan, Hedanus, Aidanus, and Edanus.

The name of Aedh (i.e. fire), which was given to him at baptism, as well as its endearing form, Moedoc, had its origin in two visions of a heavenly light which a little before his birth, were seen by his parents, and foreshadowed his future greatness. Some holy men being asked to explain these visions, replied “As a star led the wise men to worship Christ, so shall a son be born to you full of the fire of the Holy Ghost.”

The spot where the saint was born continued for a long time illumined with a more than human splendour : also, the flagstone on which the water of his Baptism was poured, was regarded as hallowed in a special manner, it was jealously guarded in his church for a thousand years, and popular tradition preserved the memory of innumerable cures performed at it through the intercession of St. Aidan. The Martyrology of Donegal also records that Ethne, when giving birth to our saint, held in her hand a spinster’s distaff, which was a withered hard stick of hazel, but subsequently it put forth leaves and blossoms, and was covered with goodly fruit ; and the writer of the martyrology adds, ” this hazel is still in existence as a green tree, without decay or withering, producing nuts every year in Innis-Breach-mhaige.”

From his infancy he was remarkable for miracles, and ere he attained the years of manhood, his fame for sanctity was widespread throughout all Ireland. Two facts connected with his youth are mentioned in his ancient life, which merit special mention. On one occasion he had retired to a lonely spot, where he was engaged in study and prayer. Thither a weary deer fled, as if seeking his protection from the hounds that pursued it. Our saint, taking the waxen tablet on which he wrote, placed it between the horns of the animal, and this sufficed to save it from its pursuers and render it invisible till the hounds passed by. Another time, some pious men, directed by heaven, came to St. Aidan asking him to choose for them a spot where they might lead a life of penance, and await their resurrection. St. Aidan asked them had they heard the bell of any monastery as they travelled along. They replied that they had not ; then, setting out with them, he pointed out the place which God had marked for their resurrection, and there these holy men continued for the remainder of their lives in the practices of piety and penance.

Miss Stokes, having referred to this fact, adds the following remarks :

” Among these early Christians it was a favourite custom to seek the knowledge of the place they should be buried in from some holy man gifted with the spirit of prophecy, that in that spot they might erect their church and monastic establishment, there to live, and there to remain after death, until the day of the resurrection; and with them the burying- place was not called grave, or tomb, but ‘the place of resurrection’ as if in the minds of these men the thought of death and the fear that springs from the contemplation of it, had been absorbed in the first fresh joy of the hope of the life eternal.”

It was at the school of Clonard that the youthful Aidan was trained in the higher paths of perfection and of science. St. Finnian, a little time before, had founded that great monastery, and so many were the saints who came forth from his school to adorn our island by their virtues and learning, that he is styled in our annals ” the foster-father of the saints of Ireland,” and his monastery was celebrated as ” a holy city full of wisdom and virtue.” ” Like the sun in the firmament (thus runs his ancient life), St. Finian enlightened the world with the rays of his virtues, wholesome doctrine, and miracles. For the fame of his good works invited many illustrious men from divers parts of the world to his school, as to a holy repository of all wisdom, partly to study the sacred scriptures, and partly to be instructed in ecclesiastical discipline.”

In this holy school of Clonard, St. Aidan formed a close friendship with St. Molaise of Devenish, and several facts mentioned in the ancient lives of both saints prove that that friendship lasted till death. On one occasion we find St. Molaise advising a sorrowing woman to turn for assistance to ” Moedoc the most blessed.” Her sons had been drowned in Lough Erne, and she had sought help of many saints, in the hope that at least their bodies might be found. St. Molaise told her to go to the shore of the lake, and there to await the coming of Moedoc. She hastened to the place, and straightway Moedoc came to her, and then, weeping bitterly, she told her sad tale. Moedoc, knowing that his friend St. Molaise had prophesied the return of her sons to life, and trusting in his sanctity, boldly entered the waters of the lake, and drew forth the young men alive, ” wherefore their father, who was a powerful chieftain, offered to the saint one of his sons, with his children and posterity, as a perpetual gift to St. Moedoc for the honour of God.”

On another occasion, towards the close of their school-days, the devoted friends Moedoc and Molaise were seated beneath the shadow of two trees, and they prayed to God to make known to them whether they might continue together, or whether it was His will that they should separate and work apart. While they thus prayed, the tree which stood over St. Molaise fell towards the north, while the tree beneath which St. Moedoc was fell towards the south. Then, filled with the divine spirit, they said one to another ” This token for parting is given to us by God, and we shall go as these trees have fallen ;” so “embracing each other, and weeping, the two friends parted, and St. Molaise turned towards the northern region of Ireland where he founded the celebrated monastery of Devenish in Lough Erne, while St. Moedoc went southwards, where, in after times, he became the founder of Ferns, in the province of Leinster.

Whilst yet a youth, St. Aidan was led away a hostage with many more of the territory of the Hua-Briun by Ainmuire, who subsequently was monarch of all Ireland. Our saint, when brought before him, appeared beautiful with the comeliness of God’s grace (apparuit gratia Dei in vultu pueri Moedoc), so that the prince said to his attendants: ” This youth is comely indeed ; should he consent to remain with me, he must be one of my royal court ; but if he is anxious to depart, let him be at once set free and restored to his parents.” The blessed Aidan, filled with the Holy Ghost, replied : ” O king, if thou wishest thus to favour me, I pray thee, through the mercy of that God whom alone I wish to serve, to set free all those who have been my companions as hostages under thy charge.” Ainmuire granted the request, only asking in return the prayers of Aidan, foretelling at the same time that one day he would be a great pillar of the Irish Church.

Abiding for awhile in his native district, many resorted to him for counsel, and wished to become his disciples. Desiring to shun such honours, he was preparing to depart, but Aedh Finn, the chieftain of the Hy-Briuin, opposed his project, being unwilling that his territory should be deprived of the presence of the saint. ” Do not detain me,” said the holy man to Aedh, ” and I pray that the blessings of Paradise may be your eternal portion.” No entreaty however could avail, and it was only by a special manifestation of divine power that St. Moedoc could at length obtain permission to depart. The chieftain who thus sought to detain our saint in the district of Breffny, had been baptized by him, and in Baptism received the sirname of Finn, i.e. ” the white,” or ” beautiful,” whereas hitherto he had borne the name of Aedh Dubh, i.e. “Aedh the black.” From him the two great families of the O’Reilly’s and the O’Rorke’s are descended, both of whom continued for centuries to honour St. Moedoc as their Patron.

The life of St. Aidan also mentions another instance in which, at this period of his life, heaven interposed in his favour. He was journeying along Mount Beatha (famous for its shrine of St. Dympna,) on the confines of Monaghan and Fermanagh, wishing to arrive at Ardrinnygh, to visit there a holy man named Airedum, who enjoyed great fame for sanctity ; but darkness set in, and he could no longer discern the path to pursue his journey. Betaking himself to prayer, he found himself borne by the hands of angels to the centre of the town he sought for, and in memory of this prodigy a cross was subsequently erected on the spot, which, at the time when the life was written, was still called ” the Cross of St. Moedoc.”

The monastery of St. David, at Kilmuine, in Wales, was at this time a favourite resort for Irish pilgrims. Thither too went St Aidan, and during the years that he resided there, such was the odour of his sanctity, and such was the esteem in which he was held by that great master of virtue, St. David, that his history became thenceforward interwoven with the history of Menevia, and his abode in Britain is not only related in his own acts but in those of St. David and St. Cadoc. Among other remarkable facts we find it recorded that the Anglo Saxons made an inroad at this time into Wales. The Britains, though taken unawares, rushed to arms, and sent messengers to St. David, praying him to send St. Aidan to the field of battle to bless their army. At the bidding of the abbot, the blessed Aidan hastened thither and prostrated himself in prayer, whilst the Britains rushed on to battle. The invaders were at once seized with panic and fled. For two days the victorious Britains pursued them with great slaughter, whilst not one of their own men was slain. And the Life adds: “the Anglo Saxons abstained from further inroads as long as Moedoc continued in Menevia, for they were persuaded that the miracle was due to his prayers.”

After some years spent in the practice of piety, under the guidance of St. David, our saint, with the sanction and blessing of the holy Abbot, and accompanied by other Irish religious of the same monastery, returned to his native land. As he approached the coast of Hy-Ceinnselach (the modern county of Wexford), he saw some travellers attacked and plundered on the shore. He at once sounded his bell, which being heard by the plunderers, their chief cried out, ” This is the bell of a man of God, who wishes us to desist from our deeds of plunder.” Thereupon they allowed the travellers to pursue their way unharmed, and themselves hastened to the sea-shore to welcome the man of God. One of them, named Dymma, even rushed into the sea, and bore St. Aidan on his shoulders to dry land. Nor satisfied with this, he devoted himself and his territory of Ardladhrann, in Hy-Ceinnselagh, to the service of God and of St. Aidan. Our Saint erected a church and monastery there, and such was the fame of his miracles and sanctity, that the faithful from all the surrounding country soon flocked to him to receive lessons of eternal life.

It is not certain at what time St. Aidan founded the church of Ferns, but probably this foundation, which was cherished with special predilection by our saint, must be reckoned among the first of the thirty churches which, as Colgan assures us, were erected by St. Aidan in the territory of Wexford.

The Irish name of Fearna is supposed by some to mean “the Land or Field of the Elder Tree,” whilst others, with Colgan and Ware, derive it from the hero Ferna, son of Carill, King of the Desies, who was here interred, being slain in battle by Gall, son of Morna. In the ” Leabhar Breac” there is a marginal gloss on the Felire of St. Oengus, which, in two short verses, thus recounts the happy privileges of Ferns :

” Plain of Ferna, Plain of Ferna,
Where the chaste Moedoc shall be ;
Plain where are hounds and troops ;
Plain that will be filled with sacred chaunting !

” Moedoc shall sing hymns and the Psalter ;
The desire for constant chaunting is awakened
By that plain of heavenly sounds :
O Lord, who rulest the elements !”

In the ” Irish Life of St. Molaise,” of which a copy is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy, we read that that saint, when he had resolved on setting out on a pilgrimage to Rome,to bring back thence relics and some clay to hallow his monastery of Devenish, proceeded first to visit his friend, St. Moedoc, at Ferns. It was on this occasion that the two saints entered into a new covenant of friendship, binding themselves that whosoever should merit the blessing of one, should inherit the other’s blessing also ; and whosoever should incur the displeasure of one, should incur, at the same time, the other’s displeasure likewise. We are not told how long St. Molaise sojourned at the shrines of the Eternal City, but his life adds, that ” having accomplished his visit to Rome, he again hastened to St. Moedoc, and presented to him a portion of the relics which he had brought thence,” and the names of these holy relics are then given, viz., relics of SS. Peter and Paul, of SS. Lawrence and Clement and Stephen, of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Martin, and many other relics.

The Life further adds that St. Molaise, having given these relics to his friend, St. Moedoc exclaimed, ” Is Breac go maith uait me anossa,” i.e., ” Now, indeed, I am well speckled by thee,” as if he said, ” You have given me such a corselet of relics, that I am now all over ornamented and protected by them.” And St. Molaise then said, ” Breac Moedoig (i.e., the speckled or variegated shrine of Moedoc) shall be the name of the reliquary for ever.”

This shrine, or ” Breac Moedoig,” is still happily preserved, and has been admirably illustrated by Miss Stokes for the Royal Society of Antiquarians… the following is her account of the manner in which it passed into the ” Petrie Collection,” now accessible to the public in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The Breac Moedoc, she tells us, ” was bought some years ago by Dr. Petrie, from a jeweller in Dublin, into whose possession it came in the following manner : The shrine had been preserved for many centuries in the Church of St. Moedoc, at Drumlane, where it had remained in the keeping of the Roman Catholic Parish Priest. It was occasionally lent for swearing the accused at trials, and so great was the reverence felt for it, that the people believed a false oath taken thereon would be surely followed by some singular judgment. About the year 1846 it was lent to a person named Magauran, from the parish of Templeport, he having deposited the usual pledge of a guinea for its safe restoration ; tempted, however, by the Dublin jeweller’s offer of a larger sum than that which he had given in pledge, he broke faith with the priest, and sold the sacred relic.”

…Ferns had long been one of the royal seats of the Kings of Leinster ; and when St. Aidan founded his religious establishment there, he received from these devoted princes every aid in his mission of piety and charity. Colman, son of Cairbre, King of Leinster, died in 576, and was succeeded by Brandubh, son of Eathach, of the race of Cathair-Mor, who during his long reign of 28 years, proved himself the constant friend and patron of our saint. In 593 Leinster was invaded by Cumasgach, son of the Monarch of Ireland, who, without receiving any provocation, ravaged the territory around Baltinglass (where Brandubh then resided): he, however, was soon put to flight, and, near the Church of Kill-Rannairech,was slain by the adherents of the Leinster King. The armies of Ulster were at once mustered to avenge the death of Cumasgach, and being led in person by the Monarch himself, threatened to lay waste the whole of Leinster. It was on this occasion that St. Aidan encouraged Brandubh to go forth fearlessly to repel the unjust invasion. As we read in his ancient life, he said to the king, ” many saints have served God faithfully in thy territory ; go forth, therefore, courageously to battle, and we will all be there in spirit to aid thee with our prayers in the combat ;” and the life adds, that throughout all that night, St Aidan continued at his church in prayer, imploring, with arms stretched out, the blessing of God on Brandubh. The decisive battle was fought in 498, at Dunbolg (i.e. Fort of the sacks), which is described as situated south of Hollywood, and not far from the Church of Kil-belat (now Kilbaylet), near Donard, in the county Wicklow. The victory of Brandubh was complete, and the monarch Aedh himself, with many of his chieftains, was slain. The ancient tract called the Borumlia-Laighean, tells us that when the northern army had advanced as far as Baltinglass, St. Aidan, who was half-brother of the monarch Aedh, went forward in the name of Brandubh to solicit an armistice that, in the mean time, the terms of peace might be arranged ; he however was treated with insult by Aedh, wherefore departing from the hostile camp, he prophesied the ruin and death which should soon be the lot of the ill-fated monarch. The same tale also relates that it was our saint who planned the stratagem to which Brandubh was indebted for his victory. Three thousand six hundred oxen, carrying provision hampers in which armed men were concealed, were conducted towards the place where the troops of Aedh were encamped ; they were at once seized and driven within the camp, when the armed men, at a given signal, threw off their disguise, and gained an easy victory over their astonished enemy. All this time Aidan was in the church absorbed in prayer, and more to his intercession than to the valour of the troops, Brandubh ascribed his brilliant success. A poem was composed on this occasion by St. Aidan, of which the first strophe is preserved in the Annals of the Four Masters:

” I implore the powerful Lord : near Cill-Rannairech
It was he that took revenge of Comasach,
and slew Aedh Mac Ainmirech.”

It was on this occasion that the king bestowed upon St. Aidan the royal seat of Ferns, its banqueting halls and champions’ apartments, its woods and hunting grounds and other lands, all to be devoted to the service of God. A council of the bishops and chieftains of Leinster was also convened, by whom it was unanimously resolved that the archiepiscopate of Leinster should thenceforth be held by Aidan and his successors.

Such an election by the bishops of Leinster was quite in accordance with the disciplinary code that prevailed at this early period in the Irish Church. As yet, none of our metropolitan sees had been definitively fixed by Rome, but it was deemed expedient, not to say necessary, for the maintenance of discipline, and for the observance of the canonical decrees, that in each province there should be at least one bishop enjoying pre-eminence, and invested with quasi-metropolitical jurisdiction. The MS. “Liber Canonum” drawn up as an ecclesiastical code of laws for Ireland before the year 700, expressly sanctions such an election of a metropolitan by the decree of his brother bishops, and it cannot surprise us if, as in the case of St. Aidan, the bishops of the province should be desirous to have their decree sanctioned and confirmed by the temporal authority.

On one occasion, when returning with an immense booty from the northern districts of Ireland, Brandubh was met by a poor leper who asked an alms for the love of God. The king at once bestowed on him a good milch cow, and recommended himself to the prayers of the poor man. Soon after, being encamped on the banks of the Slaney, he was seized with a grievous malady, and seemed, in a vision, to be carried down to the very gates of hell. All the demons were assembled there awaiting their prey, and one fiery dragon rushed forth to devour him. At that moment a comely and joyous priest cast between the dragon and the king the cow which had been bestowed on the poor leper; and, when a second time the dragon rushed on towards the king, the same priest smote the dragon with his staff and put him to flight. The king narrated this vision to his attendants, and recovering somewhat, proceeded to a place called Inver-Graimchin, where again his illness increased. There he was reminded by his attendants of the many miracles performed by Aidan, and how water blessed by him restored many that were sick to perfect health. Wherefore, Brandubh set out to visit the saint, and meeting him near the monastery, cried out, this is the holy priest whom I saw in my vision saving me from the dragon that would devour me ; and prostrating himself before Aidan, he confessed his evil deeds and prayed him to impose a salutary penance for the blessing of his soul. At the prayers of the saint his bodily health was also restored to him, and then the king gave to Aidan many presents for the poor, and decreed that himself and his race should be interred in the monastery of Aidan. The ancient writer adds: ” to this day Brandubh and his descendants arc interred in Ferns.”

One of the tributary chiefs of Leinster, named Saran, jealous of the power of Brandubh, and availing himself of the free access to his presence permitted by that monarch, assassinated him in his royal residence. Thus, adds the chronicler, was the pious king cut off without confession, and without the divine viaticum. St. Aidan hearing this, was filled with grief, and, weeping, foretold that the hand would wither which had thus murdered ” the defender of the churches of the kingdom, and the protector of the widow and the poor.” The prophecy was fulfilled : and St. Aidan coming to the place where the deceased king lay, offered fervent prayers, and by the power of God restored him to life. But the king said : ” I pray thee, father, do not detain me on earth, if through thy prayers the gates of heaven may be now open to me.” The saint was rejoiced at these pious dispositions of Brandubh, and the holy viaticum being administered, and prayers being said, the king once more closed his eyes in peace, and his remains were interred in the cemetery at the monastery of Aidan. As for the murderer, seeing what had happened, he was moved with sorrow for his wicked deeds, and coming to the sepulchre of Brandubh, led there a most penitential life in fasting and assiduous watching, till at length he heard a voice from the tomb saying: O, Saran ! thou hast obtained mercy from God. He passed the remainder of his life in holiness, but the prophecy of Aidan was verified, that his right arm should be lifeless and withered till his death.

When St. Aidan proposed to build his chief monastery at Ferns, many of his disciples complained that there was no spring of water there to serve for their drink. But the saint directed them to cut down a tree which overshadowed the spot on which they stood, assuring them that they would find there an abundant supply of water. They did so, and a clear fountain gushed forth, which retains to this day the name of Tubber-Mogue, i.e., the fountain of St. Aidan. It was whilst engaged in building this monastery of Ferns, that another miracle was performed by our saint, which continued long to exercise a salutary influence on the ecclesiastical architecture of the nation. A church was to be erected, thus writes the ancient chronicler, but no builder could be found to guide the religious brethren in this work wherefore, full of confidence in God, St. Aidan blessed the hands of an untutored man named Gobban; from that moment he became most skilled in all the intricacies of the art, and was able, in a most perfect manner, to complete the church of the monastery. His skill was subsequently shown in the erection of many other famous churches and monasteries, and he is known in the ancient historic tales and legendary poems of our island, as Goban Saer, i.e., ” Goban the builder.” What was of still more importance, he combined sanctity with his architectural skill: his name is entered in our calendars among the saints of our early church, and it is, probably, from him that Cill-Gobban, now Kilgobbin, near Dundrum, in the county of Dublin, derives its name.

THE Latin Life of St. Aidan merely records the fact, that our Saint, anxious to perfect himself in wisdom and holiness of life, set out on a pilgrimage, accompanied by twelve chosen companions. From other ancient documents, however, we are able to glean some details connected with this pilgrimage. Among the companions of St. Aidan, were two other great Saints of our early Church, St. Eulogius and St. Finbar. The Monastery of Menevia was the first stage of their holy pilgrimage ; and, having passed some time there to receive the lessons of spiritual perfection from St. David, they pursued their course to Rome, there to offer, at the shrines of the Apostles, the pious tributes of their devotion and love.

More than once, however, St. Aidan made the journey to Wales to visit St. David, and the closest spiritual friendship seems to have united together these holy founders of Ferns and Menevia. On such occasions Aidan took part with the other brethren of the Monastery of Menevia in their task of manual work ; and a wood, situated in the Valley of Saleunach, about two miles from the Monastery, is pointed out as the place appointed for St. Aidan’s labour. Sometimes, too, he was engaged in transcribing the Sacred Scriptures a duty specially dear to all the early and mediaeval monasteries. It is recorded that, on one occasion, when engaged in copying the Gospel of St. John, he was summoned away to some other religious exercise, and, on returning, as a reward for the promptness of his obedience, he found the unfinished column completed by an angel, in letters of gold. This precious MS. was long preserved at Menevia, encased in silver and gold. Giraldus Cambrensis states, that even in his own time it was regarded as something sacred, so much so, that none would dare to open its pages, or unloose its clasps. Elsewhere this same writer commemorates St. Aidan amongst the holy men who, by their sanctity and miracles, adorned the Monastery of Menevia ; and he ranks him as companion of the great saints Teliau and Ismael, and foremost among the most faithful disciples of David. He adds, that on the return of St. Aidan to Ireland, no sooner had he completed his great Monastery of Ferns (called Fernas, by Giraldus, and Guerwin, by Ricemarch), than he laid down for his religious the same rule and observance which he had learned at St. David’s, and which he had found by experience to produce such abundant fruits of virtue and sanctity at Menevia.

Companion of Aidan at Menevia was St. Modomnoc, who seems to have accompanied our holy Bishop on his return to Ireland. St. Modomnoc, whilst in the monastery, had its many hives of bees for his special charge, and now, that he entered the boat to sail for Ireland, swarm after swarm of St David’s bees came to settle in the boat with him. Three times this was repeated, when so often Modomnoc returned on shore unwilling to deprive Menevia of its honied treasure ; but the bees would not be separated from their kind patron, and, at length, with the blessing of St. David, he set sail, bearing with him his long cherished charge. From that time, say our chroniclers, the hum of St. David’s bees has not ceased in Ireland. St. Modomnoc “of the bees,” is honoured on the 13th of February in Tybroughney, on the banks of the Suir, near Piltown, county Kilkenny. There was also a monastery in olden times at Lann-beachaire (i.e., ” the church of the bee- hive”), now Lambeecher, in Fingal, county Dublin. Its name was probably derived from some fact connected with this journey of St. Aidan and Modomnoc.

A little before St. David’s death, that aged founder of Menevia bade farewell to St. Aidan, and, imparting his blessing, said : ” May an unbroken fraternity, in heaven and on earth, ever subsist between me and thee, and between our spiritual children.” This spiritual relationship seems to have subsisted indeed for centuries, and during the several years that St. Aidan survived St. David, the religious of Menevia venerated St. Aidan, and showed all honour to him, as one who had merited the special love and friendship of their great founder. In the glosses on the Felire of St. Oengus, in the Leabhar Breac, we meet with a few facts which serve to illustrate this connexion between the great Monasteries of Ferns and Menevia. Thus, in the gloss, on 31st January, we read that ” fifty Bishops of the Britons of Cill-Muine (i.e., Menevia) visited Moedhoc of Ferns : on this pilgrimage they came, because Moedhoc was the disciple of David of Cill- Muine.” The following curious story is added regarding these pilgrim Bishops : ” The pilgrims coming to Moedhoc, were conducted to the guest’s house, and it was the Lent-time of spring. Fifty cakes and leeks, with watery whey, were set before them for dinner. ‘Why have these things been brought us?” said the Bishops; ‘we shall not partake of them, but let beef or pork be brought to us.’ Moedhoc permitted the oeconome to comply with their request ; but the next day, coming to the strangers, he said to them ‘you must be reprimanded for eating meat, and refusing the bread, in this time of Lent.’

The Bishops replied: ‘it was not your learning, O Maedhog, that inspired you with such a sentiment; for it is with the milk of their mothers that the swine and cow are nourished, and they eat nought but the grass of the field : but three hundred and sixty-five ingredients are in the cake that was set before us, and therefore it is that we did not use it.’”

Another remark which is added, would seem to imply that the Monastery of Menevia was subject to Ferns; and that the successor of St. Aidan ruled “over both Monasteries. ” From the time of David (thus runs the gloss) no flesh meat was brought into the refectory of Cille-Muine, until it was brought thither by the comharb of Moedhoc, of Ferns. It is contrary to rule, however, that he who did so, should have joint-seat with David, or continue in the Abbacy of Cill- Muine, or that his feet should touch the floor of its refectory as long as he lives.”

Perhaps we have here a clue to the statement made by some Irish writers, towards the close of the twelfth century, regarding the close connexion which, in early times, had subsisted between Ferns and Menevia. These writers, however, manifestly reversed the order of facts, when, as a consequence, they asserted the See of Ferns to be a suffragan See of Menevia. That Menevia was suffragan to Ferns, would assuredly be far more consonant with the facts above stated ; for these manifestly imply that, after the death of St. David, special reverence was shown by his monastery to his loved disciple, St. Aidan, and that also the successors of our Saint in the See of Ferns received particular honour in Menevia, being reputed the heirs or comharbs of its holy founder, St. David.

We have already seen how St. Aidan, from early youth, was the bosom friend of St. Molaise of Devenish. He, in later years, enjoyed the friendship of several of the other great saints, who, in the sixth and seventh centuries, adorned our island by their learning and the sanctity of their lives. Thus, St. Molua, who is honoured as Patron at Clonfert-Molua, as also at Sliabh-Bladhma, and at Druimsneachta, in Fermanagh, was chosen by him for spiritual father and confessor. St. Cuimin, of Connor, commemorating the characteristic virtues of our Irish saints, writes of St. Molua :

” Molua, the fully miraculous, loves
Humility, noble, pure,
The will of his tutor, the will of his parents,
The will of all, and weeping for his sins.”

It is recorded that when St. Aidan first visited Molua, there was no food in the monastery, except some flesh meat, from which St. Aidan always abstained; nevertheless, on this occasion, he partook of it through charity and reverence for St. Molua. On another occasion, Molua expressed an eager desire to visit the shrines of the Apostles in Rome ; he even declared that he would die unless he visited Rome : cito moriar si non videro Romam. But the prayers of Aidan, who was unwilling to be deprived of his Confessor, obtained for him, whilst staying in the monastery of Ferns, the grace of contemplating in vision that holy city ; and, the chronicler adds, that ever after St. Molua was as fully and intimately acquainted with the sanctuaries and other wondrous monuments of Rome, as though he had lived there for many years.

At the time when Aidan visited the territory of the Hy-Conail (now the barony of Connello, in the county Limerick), the Superioress of St. Ita’s great monastery of Killeedy, which was not far distant, sent to him to say that one of her holy nuns, a loved disciple of St. Ita, had just then expired. At the same time, he heard the bells of the monastery which announced her death ; accordingly he gave his staff to one of his companions, and told him to touch with it the body of the deceased nun ; and he added, ‘ I pray God, that through the sanctity of most blessed Ita, he may deign to restore this religious to life.’ ” No sooner was the cold body touched by St. Aidan’s staff than the deceased nun arose, full of life and vigour, and gave glory to God.”

A somewhat different favour was, on another occasion, granted through his prayers to the religious of St. Fintan, at Taghmon. He was received at that monastery with great honour, and several of the religious who were then ill, were, at the prayers of St. Aidan, restored to perfect health. When, however, on the third day, he was taking his leave, the holy abbot of the monastery said to him : “I pray thee not to leave till thou restorest to us again the illness of which we have been deprived, through your prayers, for virtue is perfected in infirmity,” and Aidan, full of wonder at this faith, gave to the religious his parting blessing, and all were affected as before with their various diseases.

We find him also visiting the holy virgins, daughters of Aidus, King of Leinster. Lanigan states that the names of these virgin saints, as given by some writers, are Ethnea, Sodelbia, and Cumania; whilst others mention the two first only, and identify them with the saints who are styled in our calendars, the spiritual daughters of Baithe, and whose memory was honoured on the 29th of March, in a church, near Swords, named from them the cell of the daughters of Baithe. By whatever name, however, the daughters of Aidus may have been known, it is certain that they were distinguished by their piety and lived in a religious community. St. Aidan brought to them, as a gift, a plough and a pair of oxen. Nor should this surprise us: for his high ecclesiastical dignity did not prevent him from joining his monks in their agricultural labours, and his life, on one occasion, introduces him to us as superintending one hundred and fifty of the religious brethren whilst gathering in the harvest.

Some of the facts incidentally related in St. Aidan’s Life reveal to us the high perfection of holiness to which he had attained. On one Easter festival we find him spending the whole night in the church in prayer. It was on that occasion that our Saint learned by a Divine manifestation that an attempt would be made to cut off, by poison, his holy friend St. David of Menevia. Aidan, accordingly, immediately made known the danger to his friend, who, having blessed the poisoned food, divided it into three portions, and then, without hesitation, partook of one of the fragments that was untainted by the poison.

At the time of St. Columba’s death St. Aidan was standing beside a Cross, in company of a youth for whom he was transcribing one of the Psalms. The youth saw the holy man on a sudden rapt in ecstacy, and his countenance became all luminous with dazzling rays. When subsequently interrogated, he made known to the youth that he had at that moment contemplated in vision the reception given by the heavenly choirs to the soul of his friend, St. Columba. It is also recorded that, at another time, hearing the sweet harmony of the heavenly choirs, he prayed to God that if it was His holy will, he might be freed from the flesh, and admitted to the enjoyment of Christ ; but he heard a voice, which said to him : ” It is the Divine will that you should labour yet awhile for the welfare of others;” and he at once replied “So long as thou decreest so, O God, may such labour be given to me.”

For forty days, in imitation of the Redeemer, St. Aidan observed a rigorous fast in his monastery at Ferns. At its close four special favours, for which he prayed, were granted to him by God. The first petition was, that any person of the Royal line of Leinster, and especially of the descendants of Brandubh, sitting in his See, and holding it till death, should never receive the heavenly reward: “so anxious was the Saint to guarantee the spiritual rights of his See, and to secure its freedom from usurpation of the secular power. The other petitions for which the Saint prayed, were ” that a similar penalty should await any of his religious who might fail in observance, and abandon the religious life : that Heaven would be open to all those who should merit to be interred among the saints of the cemetery of Ferns, and that, through his prayers, one soul might each day be freed from the pains of Purgatory.”

Several miracles are narrated in the Life of our Saint. I will only mention two of them, which commend his spirit of charity and compassion for the poor. Seeing a poor man who, labouring in the field, bewailed the dire servitude to which he was subjected by his master, St Aidan brought to him half a measure of barley. The poor man, smiling, said, “What can this avail me?” but looking again, he saw that the barley had been changed into gold. The Saint told him to apply a portion of this to purchase his ransom ; but when the master heard of this wondrous miracle, he not only restored the poor man to liberty, but refused to accept any price of ransom. The poor man, rejoicing, brought back the gold to St. Aidan, insisting that he should accept of it as an offering for the monastery : but the Saint, despising the riches of this world, again prayed to God, and the gold was once more changed into barley as before.

Another time Aidan met some soldiers who were carrying off to their chieftain a poor captive bound in chains. The Saint prayed them to set him free for the love of Christ, but they scornfully refused to do so. They had proceeded, however, only a few paces when they saw a number of hostile troops surrounding them on all sides, so that they betook themselves to flight to provide for their own safety, and the captive, remained alone with Aidan. The Saint then said to him : ” I asked these men to set you free, and they refused: I asked it from God, and he has shown you mercy.” The chieftain, hearing of the fact, ratified the sentence of St. Aidan.

Colgan assures us that, according to an ancient life-of our Saint, preserved in Salamanca, he founded no fewer than thirty churches in the territory of the Hy-Kinnselagh alone, a district which included the present county of Wexford, together with the barony of Shillelagh, in the county of Wicklow. Of these the names of only four can now be identified with any certainty, viz : Ferns, from which his diocese derived its name : Ard-Ladhrann, now Ardamine, situated on the sea-coast, in the barony of Ballagh-keen : Cluainmore, also called Cluainmore-Dicholla-Gairbh, now Clonmore, a parish in the barony of Bantry, in the centre of the county of Wexford ; and Seanbotha, now the parish of Templeshanbo, in the same county, at the foot of Mount Leinster, and not far from Ferns. Colgan also mentions the church of Disert, in Leinster, founded by our Saint. There was another monastery called Clonmore, in the county Carlow, which some have supposed to have had St. Aidan for its founder. ..

This monastery of Seanbotha was, probably, the first foundation made by St. Aidan in Hy-Kinnselagh, and hence, in the List of the Saints of Ireland compiled by Selbhach at the time of St. Cormac mac Cullenan, our Saint receives for his distinctive epithet, ” St. Aidan of Seanbotha.”

” Nathi, grandson of eloquent Suanach,
Cummin, gentle for petitioning,
With a gentle, noble throng, of just voices,
Noble Aedan in Seanbotha.”

That this monastery had already attained considerable importance before the death of St. Aidan, results from two facts connected with it: first, the chieftain Saran Soebdherc, who murdered King Brandubh, was erenach, or custodian of its lands ; and, secondly, St. Colman, who attained great fame for sanctity, was abbot of this monastery during the life-time of our Saint.

In Munster, St. Aidan founded the church of Disert Nairbre, now Dysart in the parish of Ardmore, in the south-east of the county of Waterford ; and the monastery of Cluain Claidheach, now Cloncagh, in the barony of Connello Upper, in the county of Limerick.

It was in Ulster, however, that his religious foundations were most numerous. Thus, we meet his churches at Rossinver, in the extreme north of the county Leitrim, where he is still venerated as patron ; at Caille-bega, now Killybeg, in the parish of Inishmacsaint, in the county Fermanagh, where the miraculous stone called ” leac moedoc” was kept; and at Team-pull-an-phuirt, now Templeport, which gives name to a parish in the north-west of the county Cavan. It was in this parish that the Saint was born, and a little to the south of his birthplace is Templeport lake, where a small island still bears the name ” St. Mogue’s island,” and presents the ruins of his ancient church. The most important of the Ulster churches founded by St. Aidan was that of Druim-Leathain, now Drumlane, a parish in the north of the county Cavan, which still venerates St. Moedoc as its patron, and where the shrine Breac Moedoc, which we described above, was formerly preserved. The ruins of the monastery, round tower, and church stand on the shore of Lough Oughter, near the village of Milltown, about three miles south-west from Belturbet…

Colgan, having mentioned these churches in which the saint is honoured, adds: ” It is not merely, however, in the above churches that this most holy man is invoked as patron, but, moreover, the diocese of Menevia in Britain, the whole territory of the Hy-Kinselagh in Leinster, and the two Breffnies [in Ulster] celebrate his festival as a solemn feast, and venerate him as their tutelar patron.”

The memory of St. Aidan, indeed, is still vividly preserved in Menevia. John of Teignmouth, and his copyist, Capgrave, conclude their notice of St. Aidan with the words : ” This holy man is named Aidanus in the Life of St. David, but in his own Life, Aidus : and at Menevia, in the Church of St. David, he is called Moedok, which is an Irish name ; and his festival is observed with great veneration at that place.”

In Pembrokeshire St. Aidan is also honoured as the founder of Llanhuadain or Llawhaden ; and the churches of Nolton and West Haroldston are also ascribed to him under the name of Madog. His feast is marked as in Ireland on the 31st of January.

As regards Scotland, Dr. Reeves gives from the Statistical Accounts and other ancient records the following list of the churches which are there dedicated to him: ” First, Kilmadock, a large parish in Menteith, in the south of Perthshire, north-west of Stirling : the name is believed to signify the chapel of St. Madock, Madocus, or Modocns, one of the Culdees (thus the New Statistical Account of Scotland, vol x., page 1224). Second, St. Madoes, a very small parish in the Carse of Gowrie, south-east of Perth. The name is written in early records St. Madois, and is commonly called Semmiedores in the district where are ‘ The stannin’ stanes o’ Semmiedores.’ There is an ancient monument here, called the St. Madoes Stone, of which a drawing is given in the ‘ Sculptured Stones of Scotland.’ The writer in the New Statistical Account rightly conjectures that the parish is called from the patron saint of Kilmadock, but errs greatly in styling him a ‘ Gallic missionary.’ Third, Balmadies, an estate in the south-east end of the parish of Rescobie, in Forfarshire : the cemetery is at Chapeltown.”

There seems to me, however, to be some room for doubting whether all these Scottish foundations are to be referred to the holy Patron of Ferns. In the Felire of Aengus, another Irish saint, called Moedoc, is commemorated on the 23rd of March, who, as his characteristic epithet, receives the title of the ” crown of Scotland”:

” The assemblative daughter (i.e., St. Ciannait), with the immense host
Of Feradach, the admirable :
From Christ received his dignity,
Momoedoc the crown of Alba.”

This St. Moedoc, in the Martyrology of Tallaght, is said to be from Fedh-duin, in the south of Ossory; and it is quite possible that some of the above-mentioned Scottish churches may have derived their name from him.

The death of St. Aidan is generally placed by our antiquaries, as Ussher, Colgan, Lanigan, &c., in the year 632. Ware adopts the same opinion : ” Edan (he thus writes), exercised his pastoral functions about 50 years, and having founded many churches and wrought great miracles, was removed by a happy death unto Christ, on the 3ist of January, 632, which day is kept sacred to his memory, and was buried in his own church of Ferns.” However, the Annals of the Four Masters expressly record his death in the year 624, ., 625 of our modern computation : ” St. Maedhog, Bishop of Ferns, died on the 3ist of January.” The Martyrology of Donegal gives the same date : ” A.D. 624, was the date when he resigned his spirit to heaven.” The Chronicon Scotorum also, at 625, gives the entry : “Maedhog of Ferna quievit,” but by a singular mistake repeats the same entry under the year 656.

In the ancient “Catalogue of the Order of the Saints of Ireland,” St. Aidan is reckoned in the third class, among those who ‘” loved to dwell in desert places, lived on herbs and water, and the alms of the faithful, despised all earthly things, and wholly abstained from all murmuring and detraction.”

The name of St. Aidan appears in several of the Continental martyrologies. Thus, in the Carthusian Martyrology of Cologne, at the 3ist January, “on this day, the Feast of St. Aidan, Bishop and Confessor:” and Ferrarius, on the same day, ” in Scotia, the Festival of St. Medoth, Bishop and Cele-De.” Adam King, in his Scottish Calendar, whilst ante-dating our Saint by three hundred years, in accordance with the prejudices of the antiquated Scottish historians, commemorates his festival on the 3ist of January : ” St. Modoche Bishop in Scotland, under Crathlinthus, King, A.D. 328.”

Dempster follows in the same track, but calls our Saint by the name of Medoth. Camerarius, and the Martryology of Aberdeen, also notice our Saint, on the 3 1st of January, as honoured at Kilmadok, in Scotland. The Breviary of Aberdeen, on the same day, mentions, ” St. Modoc, a renowned Bishop and Confessor, venerated at Kilmodok,” and gives the following short collect for his festival: ” Vouchsafe, O Almighty God, to quicken Thy people with the light of Thy glory, and through the gracious intercession of Thy Confessor and Bishop, Modoc, for Thy people, grant them, with glory, to behold Thy true and neverfailing light in the eternal habitations: through Christ our Lord.” In the Roman and British Martyrology, we also read on the 31st January: “St. Aidan, Abbot and Bishop of Ferns, in Leinster ; a child of prayer, and trained from youth by St. David, in Menevia, in monastic discipline and Christian perfection. He founded several churches and monasteries in Ireland, and imparted to countless souls the lessons he had learned from so excellent a master.”

All the Irish Martyrologies commemorate St. Aidan on the 31st of January. I have already more than once referred to the entry in the Martyrology of Donegal. The Martyrology of Christ’s Church, edited by Dr. Todd, has, on the same day, “Eodem die, Sancti Edani Epjscopi.” Fitzsimon, in his Catalogue of the Chief Saints in Ireland, gives ” S. Medogus, qui etiam Edanus dicitur.” Marianus O’Gorman, in his MS. Metrical Calendar, at the 31st of January, writes:

” The end of the month to Maedhoc,
To my fair Mochumma a co-share
O all ye saints of January,
Come to the sustaining of our souls.”

In the Felire of St. Oengus we read on the same day :

” Name Aedh the powerful, of Ferna,
Maelanfaid, a name before us ;
They give with very great Brigh,
A bright summit to the host of January.”

And in the Leabhar Breac the following gloss is added : ” Aedh, i.e., Moaedhog, i.e., Mo-aedh-og, i.e., my young Aedh : he was of the men of Lurg, of Loch Erne, i.e., Moaedhoc, son of Setna, son of Ere, son of Feradach, son of Fiachra, son of Amhalgaid, son of Muiredhach, son of Carthaind, son of Colla- Uais.”

The Martyrology of Donegal ends its notice of St. Aidan with the remark that : ” A very old vellum book, in which are found the Martyrology of Tallaght and many other matters which relate to the Saints of Ireland, states that Maedhog of Ferns, in habits and life, was like unto Cornelius the Pope.”

…We have already described the Breac Moedoc, or Shrine of St. Aidan, which was guarded with religious love in the church of Drumlane. It, however, is not the only memorial of St. Aidan that popular veneration has carefully preserved through centuries of peril and persecution to our own times. The Clog Mogue, or Bell of St. Moedog, with fragments of its ancient shrine, was purchased some years ago by the late Protestant Primate from an old man named Kelleher, and in 1863, was exhibited at the Royal Irish Academy. The Magoverans had long been the erenachs at Templeport, and the faithful hereditary keepers of this bell. The daughter of the last of that branch of the family was married to Kelleher, who, when the times became bad, overcome by poverty, sold it for a trifle. Even within the memory of the present generation, an oath taken on it was regarded as most sacred, so deep was the veneration of our people for every memorial of our early saints. The hereditary keepers of this bell lived among the Slieve-an-Eirin mountains in the county Cavan, between Templeport and Fenagh. It was, probably, the mere neighbourhood of these two towns that gave rise to the popular tradition, that the bell thus venerated was a gift of St. Kilian (or Caillin, as he is sometimes called), the founder of Fenagh, to St. Aidan, the founder of Templeport. To judge from the ancient life of our Saint, we should rather suppose it to be the bell received by our Saint from St. David in Menevia, the same, perhaps, to which Dymma owed his conversion at the time when St. Aidan first approached the coast of Wexford. This venerable relic is of iron, but its case is of copper, ornamented with silver-plated bands, and on its front were two small figures, also plated with silver, one of which still remains: it represents an ecclesiastic, who clasps a book to his breast, and was probably intended to designate St. Aidan. The whole is now so decayed and mutilated that but little remains to show forth the richness and ornamentation of the original shrine.

Though the Danes more than once plundered the monastery and church of Ferns, still the relics of St. Aidan seem to have remained undisturbed. When the church was last repaired, in 1817, his tomb was enclosed in a recess of the wall, and the following inscription was placed on it:

” Under this monument
are interred the remains of
ST. EDAN,
commonly called St. Mogue,
the founder of this Cathedral,
and first Bishop of Ferns.
He discharged the duties of the Pastoral Office
with piety and Xtian. zeal
for the space of fifty years,
and died in an advanced age,
January 31st, A.D. 632.”‘

Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 7 (1871), 312; 361, 393.

January 31, 2016