OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saints, Solitaries and Some Hallowed Islands

    On a recent  broadcast of All the Saints of Ireland I was speaking about Saint Colum of Terryglass in County Tipperary and noted that although this is the site of his main church, his Life makes much more of his links to various islands. Iniscaltra, the island monastery which claimed Saint Colum as its founder, is one of the places featured in the article below looking at saints, solitaries and some hallowed islands. Published in the Australian press in 1927, it appears to have been syndicated from the American Catholic magazine Ave Maria. Author Marian Nesbitt does not confine herself to Ireland as she takes in sites in Britain and continental Europe, but since places like Lindisfarne and Iona have such strong Irish associations, our native holy men are to the fore:

    Saints and Solitaries
    And Some Hallowed Islands.

    by Marian Nesbitt

    IT has been frequently remarked that those who consecrate themselves wholly to Almighty God choose remote spots on the isolated hills for their dwellings; and practically the same thing may be said of islands, when we consider the number, of those saints and solitaries, who may, in very truth, be termed “Island Saints.” How many of the monks of old, in ancient Erin, loved water may be proved by a glance into such lovely sites as that of Cluainfois, about two miles west of Tuam, where the illustrious St. Jarlath founded a noted church and college of that name, which means, authorities tell us, “The Meadow of Retreat,” owing to the fact that the three Saints, Benen, Jarlath and Caillin, were in the habit of holding conferences there. The spot is singularly picturesque and well chosen, being on the slope of rich pasture land, whence a wide and beautiful view may be obtained of wood and field and valley, with the Clare River winding its silvery way through the verdant, low-lying meadow lands below; and over all that brooding peace which makes it admirably suited to its name.

    It may be said without exaggeration that, whether it was the wide ocean, or the quiet lake, or the softly murmuring stream, the monks, not alone in Ireland and England, but in nearly all countries, “never built a monastery except close to the water, in one form or another.”

    Islands in lakes or rivers were deemed safer from molestation in times of war and turbulence, and hence the foundation of monasteries in such places as Lough Ree, which, by reason of the number of abbeys established there in the early ages of the Church, was  called the “Holy Lake”; in fact, nearly all the islands in Erin’s exquisite lakes, as well as those in the River Shannon, have been thus sanctified; so also the romantic and charming islet of Nonenwerth in the midst of the fast-flowing Rhine — “paven,” says an old poet, “like mosaic by anemone and violet, and shaded over with flowers and leaves.” Again L’Isle Barbe (in the Saone), that island so beloved of Charlemagne, that he had serious thoughts of abdicating his throne in order to retire to its abbey and end his days there in holy solitude, was one of these favoured spots. It will be remembered that he formed a valuable library in that abbey; which was destroyed in 1562 by Protestant fanatics.

    Thorney.

    Orderic Vitalis thus describes Thorney (England): “There is a convent of monks, separated from all other habitations, built in honor of St. Mary, which is celebrated for the purity of worship which God receives there. The venerable Adelwold, bishop of Winchester, built this house, after the massacre by the Danes in which the Blessed Edmund, suffered martyrdom. He transferred to it the body of St. Botulf. ‘In this obscure asylum,’ adds the chronicler, ‘the monks were in safety while combating faithfully for God’.”

    Then there were those water-meadows round Lincoln, when Ramsey Abbey was on an island; or Romney Marsh, where the Franciscans had a convent, in 1264. It was these wild, desolate and often unhealthy tracts of land, that the good religious made fertile and salubrious by their unremitting labour; the places where they had settled, remaining throughout the succeeding centuries to bear witness to the noble, work of those whom the Great Apostasy had so ruthlessly cast out.

    Before leaving the coast of Britain, mention must be made of Lindisfarne, or Holy Island, from whose famous monastery “all the churches of Bernicia, from the Tyne to the Tweed, had their beginning.” The prospect from this island is beautiful. Across an arm of the sea, seven miles in breadth, can be seen the town of Berwick. Away to the south, Bamborough Castle stands forth on its bold promontory. In front is the grand stretch of open sea, and between the island and the mainland, there is a narrow channel, about two miles in width, which affords a fine picture of the distant shore, with its hamlets, villages and woodlands. It was to Lindisfarne that the holy Celtic monk, Aidan, came from another famous island, formerly called Hy, which “was Latinised into Iona,” “whose monastery,” says Venerable Bede, “was for a long time the chief of almost all those of the northern Scots, and all those of the Picts; and had the direction of their people.” It was founded by that holy Irish missionary-monk Columba; for which reason the island is often called I-colum-kill, the “Island of Colum of the Cells”; and it is one of the most fertile, and romantic of the Scottish islands.

    Island of the White Cow.

    Another Irish “Island Saint,” who lived in Lindisfarne, was St. Colman of Inisboffin; and Venerable Bede tells us that when, he (i.e., Colman) departed from Britain, he took with him all the Scoti (Irish) that he had assembled in the Island of Lindisfarne, and also about thirty of the English nation, who had been instructed in the monastic life, and retired to a small island, which is in the West of Ireland, at some distance from the coast. It was called, in the language of the Irish, Inisbofinde, that is the “Island of the White Cow,” because — so runs the ancient legend, — “a certain white heifer dwelt in an enchanted lake,” in the midst of the islet.

    The lake is there to this day; and, if we may believe the islanders, the white cow still, from time to time, comes up out of the cold depths to graze upon the shore, as it did in the long past years, when St. Colman brought his monks to Inisboffin, and there founded the church and monastery, to be forever associated with his name. Not everyone can see it.

    St. Colman also bought land on the mainland, and built a home for his English monks, who lived there, says St. Bede, “by the labour of their hands, after the example of the Venerable Father, under the Rule and Canonical Abbot, in much continence and singleness of life.” This small monastery of Magh Eo later on became a large and famous establishment, ultimately developing, it need scarcely be said, into the Episcopal See of Mayo.

    “The praiseworthy Colman of Inisbofinde” would seem, however, to have preferred his rocky island fastness, exposed to all the wild fury of the Atlantic gales; for there, despising earthly goods, and keeping no money except for the poor, this holy monk spent the remainder of his life, venerated by all in his native land, as he had been in Northumbria, for his mortification, prudence and unobstrusive sanctity; there, too, he died on August 8, probably in the year 676, and there also he was buried. An earlier “Island-Saint” was that celebrated father of Irish monastic life, St. Enda of Aran, who, with the help of his followers, “changed the Pagan Isles of Aran into islands, of the blest.”

    “Barra’s Lone Retreat.”

    Yet another island monastery was that of St. Senan, on Scattery Island; while St. Finbarr, sometimes called Barry of Cork, spent years of retirement on an island in the centre of a lovely lake, known as Gougane Barra, i.e., “Barra’s Lone Retreat.” Girdled by a zone of dark hills, rising in bare and rugged grandeur to lofty heights, the lake is oval in shape; and its waters have a brownish hue. The islet where St. Finbarr dwelt in his hermitage, however, is brilliantly and beautifully green. Only an old wooden cross surmounting a mound, with stone steps, around it, remains to remind us that, in this utter solitude, a saint learned things divine; and so studied eternal truths, that he fitted himself to become the founder of a monastery which was “the home of wisdom and the nursery of all Christian virtues.”

    Another celebrated seat of sanctity and learning was that of Iniscaltra. During the Seventh and Eighth centuries, this school flourished exceedingly. Not a single modern habitation mars this beautiful island, which gleams on the calm waters of the lake like an emerald on a silver shield. Only a stately round tower, rising strong and changeless from the surrounding green, now marks the spot where holy men “chose to live unto God in secret,” withdrawing themselves from acquaintances and friends, in order that they might approach nearer to the Master, whom they had turned aside from the crowd to serve. Here, too, was the home of St. Columba of Terryglass. During his long sojourn on the island, we are told, the birds, ever beloved of Erin’s saints, grew so tame that even the most timid would perch on his hands or on his shoulder, familiar with him and happy with him as, later on, the feathered songsters of Umbria were with “the humble St. Francis.” When Nadcumius, one of St. Columba’s disciples, asked the Saint why the birds approached him so readily; he answered, with charming and holy simplicity: “Am I not a bird myself? Why should they fear me? For my soul always flies to heaven, as they fly through the sky.”

    Lastly, there is that island on the north side of the Bay of Dublin, called ‘Ireland’s Eye,’ where was kept, in the ancient abbey founded there in the Sixth Century, a copy of the Four Gospels that was held in great veneration. Space forbids us to write of Beg Ery, on the coast of Wexford, with its abbey founded in the Fifth Century, and many other places hallowed by saints:

    Sites of faith unchanged by storms, all unchanging in the calm,
    Where the world-betrayed may hide them, and the weary heart find balm.

    “Ave Maria.”

     Freeman’s Journal, Thursday 17 March 1927, p. 47

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  • ‘I beseech a wonderful king': The Hymn of Saint Sanctán

    Below is a hymn attributed to Saint Sanctán (Santán), who, although he is described in the Martyrology of Oengus on his May 9 feast day as ‘famous Bishop Sanctán’, remains intriguingly obscure. Canon O’Hanlon’s account of the saint, which can be read at the blog here records the traditions concerning his British origins and those of his brother Saint Matoc (Madog). The Preface to the hymn, preserved in the early eleventh-century Irish Liber Hymnorum, says that it was composed as Saint Sanctán was on a visit to his brother at the island which bore his name, Inis Matoc. The island’s location has never been identified, although Canon O’Hanlon notes that an island in the lake of Templeport, County Leitrim had been suggested. He also notes that as the the Preface makes clear, up until the visit which inspired the hymn Saint Sanctán was ‘completely ignorant of the Scottish language; but, that he miraculously obtained the gift of Irish metrical composition’. A most timely and useful miracle indeed! Below is the text of Saint Sanctán’s hymn, with a tribute to the author appended, taken from the 1898 translation of The Irish Liber Hymnorum by Bernard and Atkinson:

    PREFACE TO ST. SANCTAN’S HYMN.

    ‘I beseech a wonderful king” Bishop Sanctan composed this hymn, and it was on his going to Clonard westward to Inis Matoc that he composed it; he was brother to Matoc, both of them being of British race, but Matoc came into Ireland earlier quam Bishop Sanctan. Causa autem haec est, to free it ab hostibus, and that his brother should be allowed (to come) to him in insulam; Scoticam uero linguam usque ad horam hanc non habuit sed deus ei tam cito eam donauit. Tempus autem dubitatur.

    St. Sanctan’s Hymn.

    I beseech a wonderful King of angels,
    for it is a name that is mightiest;
    to me (be) God for my rear, God on my left,
    God for my van, God on my right!

    God for my help,—holy call—
    against each danger, Him I invoke!
    a bridge of life let there be below me,
    benediction of God the Father above me!

    Let the lofty Trinity arouse us,
    (each one) to whom a good death (?) is not (yet) certain!
    Holy Spirit noble, strength of heaven,
    God the Father, Mary’s mighty Son!

    A great King who knows our offences
    Lord over earth, without sin,—
    to my soul for every black-sin
    let never demons’ godlessness (?) visit me !

    God with me, may He take away each toil!
    may Christ draw up my pleadings,
    may apostles come all around me,
    may the Trinity of witness come to me!

    May mercy come to me (on) earth,
    from Christ let not (my) songs be hidden!
    let not death in its death-wail reach me,
    nor sudden death in disease befal me!

    May no malignant thrust that stupefies and perplexes
    reach me without permission of the Son of God!
    May Christ save us from every bloody death,
    from fire, from raging sea !

    From every death-drink, that is unsafe
    for my body, with many terrors!
    may the Lord each hour come to me
    against wind, against swift waters!

    I shall utter the praises of Mary’s Son
    who fights for good deeds,
    (and) God of the elements will reply,
    (for) my tongue (is) a lorica for battle.

    In beseeching God from the heavens
    may my body be incessantly laborious;
    that I may not come to horrible hell
    I beseech the King whom I have besought.
    I beseech a wonderful King.

    Bishop Sanctan … a sage
    soldier, angel famous pure-white,
    may he make free my body on earth,
    may he make holy my soul towards heaven !

    May there be a prayer with thee for me, O Mary!
    May heaven’s King be merciful to us
    against wound, danger and peril!
    O Christ, on Thy protection (rest) we !

    I beseech the King free, everlasting
    Only Son of God, to watch over us;
    may He protect me against sharp dangers,
    He, the Child that was born in Bethlehem.

    J.H. Bernard and R. Atkinson (eds. and trans.), The Irish Liber hymnorum, Vol. II (Henry Bradshaw Society, London, 1898), 47-48.

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  • Saint Camelacus of Rahan, November 3

    November 3 is the feast day of Saint Camelacus (Camulacus, Caomhlach, Cáemlach) of Rahan, County Offaly. He appears to have been the original founder of the church at Rahan, but was later overshadowed by Saint Mochuda (Mochutu) or Carthage, the saint more readily associated with the monastery at this site. An original founder saint being eclipsed subsequently by another isn’t unknown. Speaking of the seventh century, Richard Sharpe, the translator of The Life of Saint Columba for the Penguin Classics series, makes this point:

    They were years that witnessed immense changes in Irish society and in the Irish church. In particular, some early saints disappear from view as their churches were eclipsed by those of other saints. For example, a letter written in the 630s to Ségéne, fifth abbot of Iona, mentions a group of leading church founders; the list includes St Nessan, who fades from view before anything was recorded of him. Rahan, Co.Offaly, was regarded as the church of St Camelacus in the early seventh century, but a hundred years later his place had been reassigned to St Mochutu.

    Richard Sharpe, ed. and trans. Adomnán of Iona, Life of St Columba (Penguin Books, 1995), p.4

    But fortunately, unlike Saint Nessan, Saint Camelacus did not vanish completely for he is recorded in a number of early medieval sources. One of Saint Patrick’s earliest hagiographers, Tirechán, writing in the closing decade of the seventh century, recorded the names of bishops appointed to establish churches by the Irish patron. He tells us:

    He sent Camelacus of the Comienses to Mag Cumi and with his finger pointed out to him the place from the hill of Granard, that is the church of Raithen.

    What ‘of the Comienses’ means has never been determined. Some scholars feel that the saint’s own name raises questions too. Aidan Breen writes in the online Dictionary of Irish Biography:

    The name Came(u)lacus is unusual. It could be Gaulish, and the epithet ‘of the Comienses’ might therefore refer to some Gaulish tribal group. If that is the case, Camelacus would have been one of the Gaulish bishops who assisted Patrick, along with Auxilius, Iserninus and Secundinus.

    However, he goes on to acknowledge that the name Camelacus could be a Latinization of the Irish Cáemlach and Commienses of a tribal grouping in Offaly.

    The Martyrology of Gorman records the saint under the name ‘Caemlach’ on November 3 with a scholiast note adding ‘from Rathen’. The Martyrology of Donegal records ‘CAEMHLACH, of Raithin’ at the same date.

    But it is as the Latin Camelacus that one of the most intriguing sources testifies to our saint. For a Hymnus Sancti Camelaci is among the twelve hymns found in the late seventh-century Antiphonary of Bangor. The hymn, Audite bonum exemplum (Hear the good example), bears a number of similarities to the better-known and much longer Audite omnes amantes (Listen, all who love God) in honour of Saint Patrick, traditionally ascribed to the authorship of Saint Secundinus, which the Antiphonary also preserves. Father Michael Curran MSC, in his 1984 study The Antiphonary of Bangor and the Early Irish Monastic Liturgy, pointed out some similarities between the two hymns. Both are alphabetical hymns, both begin with Audite and both contain some other textual similarities. Furthermore:

    Audite bonum also speaks of Camelacus, who was a fifth-century contemporary of Patrick, as if he were still alive, except in the final two stanzas where he is spoken of as being in his eternal home.

    All of these similarities may indicate either that Audite bonus is an imitation of Audite omnes or that both were written by the same author. The shorter hymn draws a warm and attractive picture of Camelacus, who is characterized above all by humility, gentleness and joyful fidelity in the service of God. Mention is made more than once of his poverty.

    Michael Curran MSC, The Antiphonary of Bangor and the Early Irish Monastic Liturgy (Dublin, 1984), 46-47.

    One of the most interesting references in the Hymn to Saint Camelacus is found in the final stanza which says that Christ will place our saint in the company of the patriarch Abraham and he will reign in paradise with the holy Lazarus. This is clearly a reference to the parable of Dives and Lazarus found in the sixteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke. In his 1887 collection The Tripartite Life of Patrick with Other Documents relating to that Saint, Whitley Stokes included the curious Tale of Patrick and his Leper, where the leper is named Comlach. Father Curran suggests that the association of Saint Camelacus with Lazarus in the hymn anticipates this later tradition. The link with lepers is further strengthened by the founding of a leper colony at Rahan by Saint Carthage, directed there, according to hagiography, by Saint Colmán of Lann Elo. A growing number of modern scholars believe that Colmán of Lann Elo is the true author of the hymn of Secundinus in honour of Saint Patrick, Audite omnes amantes and thus Father Curran wonders if Saint Colmán had a personal devotion to Saint Camelacus and might also be the author of the hymn in his honour.  He speculates that:

    It is possible that the new monastery and its leper-colony was a memorial and tribute to Camelacus, the first bishop of Raithin, who was remembered for his evangelical poverty and possibly for his care for lepers, if not already regarded as a leper himself.(p.47)

    Yet it remains equally possible that the Audite bonum exemplum, the Hymn to Camelacus, is a shorter and less sophisticated composition written in the style of the Audite omnes amantes.  Whatever the truth, it is fascinating to see Camelacus, this otherwise obscure holy man, being one of only three saints, along with our national apostle and Saint Comgall, Bangor’s founder, to merit a hymn in his honour in The Bangor Antiphonary:

    [15.] Hymnus Sancti Camelaci.

    i. Audite bonum exemplum
    Benedicti pauperis
    Camelaci Cumiensis
    Dei justi famuli.

    ii. Exemplum praebet in toto
    Fidelis in opere,
    Gratias Deo agens,
    Hilaris in omnibus,

    iii. Jejunus et mansuetus
    Kastus hic servit Deo,
    Laetatur in paupertate,
    Mitis est in omnibus,

    iv. Noctibus atque diebus
    Orat Dominum suum ;
    Prudens, justus, ac fideiis,
    Quem cognati diligunt.

    v. Regem Dominum aspexit
    Salvatoremque suum :
    Tribuit huic aeternam
    Vitam cum fidelibus.

    vi. Xps [i.e. Christus] illum insinuavit
    Patriarchae Abrahae,
    Yn Paradiso regnavit
    Cum sancto Lazaro.

    (text from F.E.Warren and W. Griggs, The Antiphonary of Bangor: an early Irish manuscript in the Ambrosian Library at Milan 2 vols, (London 1893–1895).

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