OMNIUM SANCTORUM HIBERNIAE

Tag: Irish Saints

  • Saint Lapán of Little Island

    My research into the Irish saints for this blog normally involves referencing the historic Irish martyrologies which record their feast days. Yet I am becoming increasingly aware of those saints whose feast days are either entirely unrecorded or are uncertain. An enigmatic holy man from Cork, Lapán of Little Island, might be numbered among them. Little Island is situated in the tidal part of the River Lee, roughly half-way between Cork and Cobh. Lapán (Lappan, Loppán, lat. Lappanus) is a name shared by a number of Irish saints. Pádraig Ó Riain feels that it ‘probably represents a hypocoristic form of Labhraidh, ‘he [who] speaks”.’ Alas, none of them have spoken clearly to us across the centuries. There are three Lapáns commemorated on the Irish martyrologies, on February 11 we find Lapán, son of Ciarán; on March 26 a Lapán without any further identifier; and at November 3  Lapán of Cluian Aithghin, a place which Ó Riain suggests could be Clonatin in Kilmakilloge parish in Wexford.  Curiously, Ó Riain’s Dictionary of Irish Saints makes no mention of the Lapán found on March 26, but Evelyn Bolster, author of a diocesan history of Cork identifies Saint Lapán of Little Island with the saint commemorated on that day. In a footnote to the union of parishes called Glounthane, she writes:

    GLOUTHANE is a union embracing the ancient parishes of Caherlag, Little Island* Ballydeloher, Killaspugmullane and Kilquane…..

    *Little Island, so called in contradistinction to the Great Island or the Cobh of Cork. Names by which Little Island has appeared in the various records are: Cellescop Lappan (from Saint Lappan whose feast occurs on 26 March); De Insula; Ecclesia Sancta Lappani de Insula Parva; Ecclesia Sancta Lappani de Inysmemele; Sancta Lappani de insula parve als inish vic Neyl. Mac Neill was a chieftain of the Uí Tassaigh who inhabited this district.

    E. Bolster, A History of the Diocese of Cork: From the Earliest Times to the Reformation (Irish University Press, 1972), p.282.

    I only wish the author had given the grounds on which this identification was made, as the martyrologies do not make reference to the location or to any other identifiers of the saint commemorated on this day. The Martyrology of Tallaght simply lists the name of Lapán on March 26, whilst his name is not found among the entries for the day in the Martyrology of Oengus. Turning to the later calendars of the saints, the twelfth-century Martyrology of Gorman records ‘very holy Loppán’ and the seventeenth-century Martyrology of Donegal notes Lappan as the final name in the list of saints commemorated, again without reference to a place or other information which may have helped us to identify this saint with the bishop of Little Island.

    Earlier diocesan historian, Canon Patrick Power, writing on the parish of Little Island in a 1921 paper noted:

    Three Lappans are enumerated in the Irish Martyrologies, but which, if any, of these is our Lappan of the Island we have nothing to indicate.

    Rev. P. Power,  Place-Names and Antiquities of S.E. County Cork. Barony of Barrymore. Part III. Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, 36, (1921) 164–205 at p. 184.

    Canon O’Hanlon, in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints also did not make a link between the Saint Lapán of March 26 and the Cork Bishop of Little Island:

    ARTICLE V.—St. LAPPAN, OR LAPPANUS.

    A record is found, in the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the 26th of March, regarding a St. Lappan. The Bollandists notice him, at the same date, as Lappanus. Again, Lappan is set down, in the Martyrology of Donegal, as having a festival, at this date, but without any relation to a locality.

    It seems, therefore, that Saint Lapán is one of many Irish saints whose memory lives on in the place name of his church, but about whom no historical information has survived. There seems to be nothing in the calendar entries to confirm Bolster’s contention that the saint commemorated on March 26 is Lapán of Little Island and her footnote is the only source I have been able to find for this claim. If anyone knows of any further sources I would be most interested to hear of them.

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  • The Blessed Mughron O'Morgair, October 5

    October 5 is the commemoration of a man dubbed The Blessed Mughron O’Morgair (Mugh Róin, Mungron) by Canon O’Hanlon in the incomplete Volume X of his Lives of the Irish Saints. O’Morgair is a name I associate with Maolmhaodhog O’Morgair, better known as Saint Malachy of Armagh, Ireland’s first officially canonized saint. Canon O’Hanlon explains that Mughron is Saint Malachy’s father, although some earlier writers were reluctant to accept this degree of kinship, perhaps due to his association with a monastic establishment. Modern research, however, has shown that not every holder of a monastic office was a monk who had taken vows. All that seems to be known of the Blessed Mughron, thanks to the handsome notices of his obit in the Irish annals, is that he was a leading scholar of the school of Armagh. Under the year 1102, the Annals of Ulster record: 

    Mughron Ua Morghair, arch lector of Ard-Macha and of all the west of Europe, felicitously finished his life (namely, in Mungarit) before many witnesses, on [Sunday] the 3rd of the Nones [5th] of October.

     and the translator offers this comment on the place of his death: 

    In Mungarit. — From this it can be inferred that he had gone on pilgrimage to the monastery of Mungret (Co. Limerick), to prepare for death.

    Rev. B. MacCarthy, ed. and trans., Annals of Ulster, (Dublin, 1893) fn 6, p70.

    The Annals of the Four Masters concurs: 

    Mughron Ua Morgair, chief lector of Ard-Macha, and of all the west of Europe, died on the third of the Nones of October, at Mungairit, in Munster.

    Lector is one of the translations used for the Irish term fer léiginn, literally ‘man of reading’, an office recorded in the annals from the ninth through to the twelfth centuries. Thus I think we may infer that Mughron O’Morgair had a reputation as an important scholar.

    Canon O’Hanlon has this to say of him in his third article of the day at October 5:

    ARTICLE III.—THE BLESSED MUNGRON OR MUGRON O’MORGAIR, PROFESSOR AT ARMAGH. [Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries.]

    This saint flourished, about the close of the eleventh and beginning of the twelfth century. By St. Bernard, he is said to have been of illustrious descent, and to have possessed considerable power and influence. We have not any authentic particulars, referring to the year of his birth, nor to the race from which he sprung. However, it is probable he was born before or about the middle of the eleventh century. Instead of O’Morgair, as the Chronicum Scotorum and Four Masters write his name, the Annals of Ulster and Innisfallen have O’Mungair. In the opinion of the Rev. Dr. Lanigan the parentes of St. Bernard do not mean father and mother, but, according to the acceptation quite usual in the middle ages, relatives or kinsfolk, such as parens in French and parenti in Italian. Mungron O’Morgair would seem to have been only a layman, as he had been married. He was father of two remarkable saints, namely, Malachy O’Morgair, afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, and Christian O’Morgair, afterwards Bishop of Clogher. As the former of these sons had been born at Armagh, in 1094 or 1095, it is probable, the father was then and for some years afterwards, an inhabitant of that antient city. Colgan observes, that Mugron was a relative of St. Malachy, who is usually said to have been of the very antient noble family of the O’Morgairs, now called O’Dogherty. But from what has been stated by our Annalists, it must follow, that Mugron was more nearly connected than as a mere relative. In writing about St. Malachy, the Rev. Dr. Lanigan remarks, that St. Bernard makes no mention of his father, and thence it may be justly inferred that he died, when Malachy was very young. At that time, the future Archbishop of Armagh could only have been about seven years old. The Irish Annals designate Mungron O’Morgair as a chief lecturer, not only in the school at Armagh, but in all Western Europe.  Tradition holds that from the time of St. Patrick, a school had been established in his primatial city. The Annals of Innisfallen call Mungron O’Morgair Professor of Literature, while those of Ulster do not mark over what department he presided. However, it was owing to his advice and persuasion, St. Malachy was promoted to the holy order of Deaconship. Colgan makes him a Professor of Theology, as if there were no other professors than theological ones;  however, that opinion is sufficiently probable. No doubt, it would have been a very rare case in most parts of Europe, during the times we are now treating of, to find a layman professor in any school, and when kings, princes and nobles generally could neither read nor write. But the Irish princes and nobles did not sink into this neglect of learning, and some of their most learned men were persons of illustrious birth. It is, therefore, not singular that Mungron O’Morgair, although of high and powerful connections, was a professor. For, as the Irish nobility respected and cultivated literature more or less, so such of them as were duly qualified were not ashamed to teach it. Although the Right Rev. Dr. Reeves holds, that the Abbey of SS. Peter and Paul in Armagh had been founded there in the twelfth century;  yet it seems more probable it had been built at a much earlier period. During many centuries, a convent of Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine flourished in that city, and its abbots were distinguished for their sanctity and learning. In the year 1126, it was repaired, and the church annexed to it was rebuilt by Imar O’Hoedegan. In its school the Blessed Mungron laboured and taught. Towards the close of his life, the learned professor, Mughron O’Morgair, seems to have lived at Mungret, near Limerick, where his career on earth closed. His death is assigned to A.D. 1098, in the Chronicum Scotorum. We are told that he died in Mungret Abbey, county of Limerick, on the third of the Nones, or 5th day of October, A.D. 1102. In the presence of many witnesses, he happily departed this life. Such, also, is the date assigned for his departure in the Annals of Ulster. However, in the Index Chronologicus of Ussher, at the year 1103,  his death is recorded.

    Ulster priest, Father James O’Laverty, in his diocesan history of Down and Connor has no difficulty in accepting that the Blessed Mugron was the father of Saint Malachy. His account also tells us of Gillachrist O’ Morgair, Bishop of Clogher, brother of Saint Malachy, who has his own place on the Irish calendars at June 12:

    St. Malachy, whose name in the language of his country was Maolmhaodhog O’Morgair (or according to others O’Mungair), was born in the year 1094, probably in the city of Armagh. St. Bernard tells us that “his parents were by birth and power great, such as the world calls great.” According to the Annals of Innisfallen, his father was Mughron O’Morgair + whose death is recorded by the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 1102:-” Mughron O’Morgair, chief lector of Armagh and of all the west of Europe, died on the 3rd of the Nones of October, at Mungairit in Munster, (Mungret, Co. Limerick).” The family of O’Morgair are, according to Colgan, at present represented by the O’Doghertys of the County of Donegal. St. Malachy’s mother, who, as St. Bernard says, was more distinguished by the gifts of mind than even by birth, belonged to the family which possessed the lands of Bangor under the abbots of that monastery. It may be surmised that Bangor, though at that period it had lost its greatness, still had some class of a high school, to which was attracted from Tyrconnell, either as a student or a professor, Mughron O’Morgair, who there married a daughter of the great local family, but afterwards removed to Armagh, where he became “chief lector,” and where his children were born. ++  His wife bore to Mughron at least three children, two sons and a daughter. The baptismal names given to the sons indicate the piety of the parents. On their elder son they conferred the name Giolla Criost (Servant of Christ), which has been latinized into Christianus. Their younger son they placed under the patronage of St. Maodhog, or Moge, who was the first Bishop of Ferns, by naming him Maolmhaodhog. The adjective Maol in the ecclesiastical acceptation of the word signifies tonsured; and prefixed to Maodhog, it denotes one tonsured, i.e. devoted to the patronage of that saint. The name Maolmhaodhog, though presenting to a reader accustomed only to the English language a very formidable appearance, is pronounced Meelweeoge, and is latinized into Malachias whence it assumes the form more familiar to us of Malachy. Both the sons of Mughron O’Morgair are honoured by the Church as saints. Giolla-Christ or Christian, became Bishop of Clogher, and is described by St. Bernard, as “a good man full of grace and virtue, second to his brother in fame, but possibly not inferior to him in sanctity of life and zeal for righteousness.” The Four Masters, in recording his death at the year 1138, say:— “Gillachrist Ua Morgair, Bishop of Cloghar, a paragon in wisdom and piety, a brilliant lamp that enlightened the laity and clergy by preaching and good deeds; a faithful and diligent servant of the church in general, died and was interred in the Church of Peter and Paul at Ard-Macha.” The Calendar of Donegal enters his festival at the 12th of June:”Criostian, i.e. Gillachrist Ua Morgair, brother of Maelmaedhog, i.e. Malachias, who is of the Cinel-Conail,” which seems to confirm the statement of Colgan, that the O’Morgairs are at present represented by the O’Doghertys. St. Bernard testifies that their countrymen styled St. Malachy and his brother the two pillars of their church.

    + Colgan thinks that Mungron O’Morgair is a relative of St. Malachy, but O’Flaherty, in a MS. note to Colgan’s work, refers to Tighernach’s Annals and the Chronicon Scotorum, which asserts that he was the saint’s father. The entry in the latter is :— “Mugron O’Morgair, lector of Ard-Macha quievit i.e. the father of Maelmaedhog and Gillachrist.” Some are induced to suppose, with Colgan, that Malachy’s father was a chief, because St. Bernard says “His parents were by birth and power great,” The word parentes was, however, commonly used at that period to express relatives or kinsfolk.

    ++ The late Mr. Hanna, of Downpatrick, in a letter to Father O’Hanlon, author of the learned and popular Life of St. Malachy, says speaking of the saint’s birth-place-“I cannot think it was Armagh, for if so why would St. Bernard say he was bred there and not born there also? It is quite evident his mother belonged to the Ards of the County Down, and to some tribe in the neighbourhood of Bangor.”;

    Rev. James O’Laverty, An Historical Account of the Diocese of Down and Connor, Ancient and Modern, Vol. V (Dublin, 1887), 50-52.

    Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2024. All rights reserved.

  • Saint Mirren of Paisley, September 15

    September 15 is the commemoration of Saint Mirren (Mirin, Mirinus, Meadhran), to whom Paisley Abbey in Scotland is dedicated. I have previously posted the account from Bishop Alexander Forbes’s 1872 work, Scottish Kalendars, here but we revisit the saint today in the company of Canon O’Hanlon. September 15 in Volume IX of his Lives of the Irish Saints opens with an account of Saint Mirren as the lead article for the day. In a footnote we learn that Canon O’Hanlon visited the site of Paisley Abbey in 1874 and made one of his splendid sketches. In the Abbey’s dedication Saint Mirren shared the honours with a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon abbess, Saint Milburga, as well as with Saint James and the Blessed Virgin. Our knowledge of Saint Mirren is derived from the Lessons for his Feast as preserved in the Aberdeen Breviary of 1510. It depicts him as a disciple of Saint Comgall of Bangor, who worked a number of miracles at Bangor, where he was elected as prior, before going to Scotland. The editor of the 2012 edition of the Aberdeen Breviary, Alan Macquarrie, makes the point that the Irish vitae of Saint Comgall do not allude to any relationship with Mirren. The miracles attributed to Saint Mirren in the Breviary are also found in the Lives of Comgall but without reference to Mirren. Lesson Three in the office of Saint Comgall in the Breviary, however, upholds the idea that the pair were teacher and pupil as it says that ‘St Mirren was sent to him by his noble parents to be nurtured’. Modern consensus seems to be that there is no compelling reason to challenge the idea that Saint Mirren may have undertaken his Scottish mission under the auspices of Bangor as did Saint Maelrubha, who was also a monk from Saint Comgall’s famous foundation. Canon O’Hanlon’s account ends with a gazetteer of place names associated with Saint Mirren, but here modern scholarship is less confident about some of these identifications. Dr Macquarrie notes:

    Some places have been doubtfully connected with him: Forbes mentions ‘St Mirren’s Chapel’ at Kilmarnock in Lennox and St Mirren’s Well at Kilsyth. In fact the name Kilmaronock Cill mo Rónóic, from Rónán .. is unconnected with Mirren. It is sometimes said that Inchmurrin in Loch Lomond contains his name; but it is more likely that this is from the female name Muirenn.

    Alan Macquarrie, ed., Legends of Scottish Saints: Readings, hymns and prayers for the commemorations of Scottish saints in the Aberdeen Breviary (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2012), p. 393.

    So, below is Canon O’Hanlon’s account from the 1870s of both Saint Mirren and the history of the Abbey at Paisley which once held his tomb. Since the Lessons found in the Office for the feast day of Saint Mirren are our sole source of information, I have also appended a nineteenth-century translation of these from another contemporary source:

    ARTICLE I.—ST. MIRINUS OR MEADHRAN, PATRON OF PAISLEY, SCOTLAND.

    [SIXTH CENTURY.)

    ALTHOUGH chiefly venerated in Scotland, St. Mirinus—also called Meadhran—seems to have been born in Ireland. Whatever is related regarding him, we find chiefly contained in the Breviary of Aberdeen, where there is an Office of Five Lessons for St. Mirinus; all of which seems to have been taken from the Life of St. Comgall, Abbot of Bangor, in Ireland. At an early age, his parents entrusted their son to the care of St. Comgall, to be trained in his school. In Bangor Monastery he assumed the religious habit, and subsequently he there became prior. The gentleness of his rule was admired by all, and he was especially loved by the monks over whom he presided. When St. Finian, Abbot of Maghbile, came to visit Bangor during the absence of St. Comgall, he asked for milk, which was not to be had, as the strict observance of the monastery required the inmates to live only on bread and herbs. However, Merinus desired the cellarer to bring from the buttery some milk, which was miraculously procured and distributed, through favour of St. Finian, to the other monks at table. On a certain occasion, one of the brethren saw Merinus surrounded with a heavenly light, while sitting in his cell. At length, St. Mirinus left Ireland in order to spread the faith in Scotland, then newly evangelized by the great St. Columkille, Abbot of Iona. The chief establishment of Mirin was at Passelet—now Paisley—one of the most busy commercial towns of Scotland. Here tradition states, that he built a religious house. Besides, St. Mirin is said to have been Abbot over the Monastery in Paisley. Here, too, he lived for a very considerable time. It is related, that one of his monks, owing to hunger and thirst, had fallen dead in a valley, called Colpdasch. However, through the merits of holy Merin, he was again restored to life. Having wrought many miracles, and having passed a life of great holiness, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. There, too, in his honour the church of that place was dedicated to God, and he is the recognised local patron.

    At the 15th of September, the Martyrology of Aberdeen enters a festival for St. Mirin, Bishop and Confessor, at Paisley, in Scotland. Adam King’s Kalendar has. a notice of St. Mirine, at the 15th of September. In his “Menologium Scoticum,” Thomas Dempster records him at the same date. The memory of St. Merinus, Abbot, is recorded in two late Manuscript Catalogues of Irish Saints, as the Bollandists remark; besides, in Greven’s additions to the Martyrology, he is called a bishop in Scotia, while Ferrarius sets him down as an Abbot. The Bollandists notice this festival of St. Merinus or Mirinus, Abbot of Paisley, at the 15th day of September.

    When the Rule of Cluny had been introduced from Wenlock in Shropshire, England, after a temporary resting place at Renfrew, the Abbey of Paisley was founded for monks of the Cluniac Order, about 1163, by Walter, High Steward of Scotland. Finding a church at Paisley already dedicated to St. Mirren or Mirinus, they combined his name with the titles of St. James and of their patroness of Wenlock, St. Milburga, when their own church and monastery were dedicated. At first, Paisley was only a Priory; but, in 1216, a Bull of Pope Honorius III. detached it from Wenlock, and had it constituted an Abbacy. The buildings then existing were burned by the English, in 1307, during the War of Independence, and the monastery seems to have been almost entirely destroyed.

    In 1406, Robert III., King of Scotland, was interred in Paisley Abbey. Little seems to have been done towards a restoration of the building, until the Abbot Thomas Tervas, who died a.D. 1459, commenced the good work, which was completed by his successor, the Abbot George Shaw. He ruled from 1472 to 1499. During the troublous times of the Reformation in Scotland, the last Abbot, John Hamilton, had ceased to exercise jurisdiction in 1545; yet, by consent of Queen Mary, he retained the abbacy in trust for his nephew, Lord Claud Hamilton. However, in the year 1557, a body of the Reformers attacked the abbey, drove the monks out of the building, and “burnt all the ymages and ydols and popish stuff in the same.” Having been present in the Queen’s interest, at the battle of Langside, 13th May, 1568, John Hamilton attended her during her flight to England, so far as the Solway. Afterwards he was declared a traitor by Regent Murray. On the 2nd of April, 1571, he was captured in the Castle of Dumbarton. His possessions were forfeited, and the abbey lands of Paisley were bestowed on William Lord Sempil. Since that period, the glorious Abbey Church of Paisley has become a venerable ruin, the traces of which reveal to the beholder its former magnificence. When entire, it consisted of a nave, choir, and north transept. The chapel of St. Mirren and St. Columba occupies the place where the south transept should have been. The total outside length of the building, in its perfect state, had been 265 feet. The chapel of St. Mirran and St. Columba, better known as the “Sounding Aisle,” is on the south side, and on the site of the south transept. The nave is the only part now roofed, and it is still used as the Presbyterian church for Abbey Parish. The chapel of St. Mirren, or “the sounding aisle,” was erected about the end of the fifteenth century.

    In Scotland are various localities, associated with the name of this saint. Thus, in the south-east boundary of the parish of Kelton in Kirkcudbright is Kirk Mirren, where the vestige of an ancient chapel and churchyard may be found. In the parish of Kilmarnock is St. Mirren’s ruined Chapel upon Inch Murryn, the largest Island of romantic Loch Lomond. Owing to the name and to the patron, some former connexion with the Abbey of Paisley may be traced. In Kilsyth, on the south of Woodend, there is a remarkable spring called St. Mirrin’s Well. In the parish of Coylton, there is a farm called Knock Murran. On the south side of the North Esk is the Burn of Murran. There are no distinct traces of this Saint’s memory anywhere on the east coast of Scotland.

    Rev John O’Hanlon, Lives of the Irish Saints: with special festivals, and the commemorations of holy persons, compiled from calendars, martyrologies, and various sources, relating to the ancient church history of Ireland, Volume IX, (Dublin, n.d.),  377-381.

    APPENDIX: THE OFFICE FOR SAINT MIRREN FROM THE ABERDEEN BREVIARY

    Note: This author has rendered the name of the saint as Mirin and that of Comgall as Congal, which is the practice in Scotland.

    The following is the complete office in the Breviary of Aberdeen for St. Mirin’s day :—

    PRAYER. 

    Oh God who art merciful in Thy nature, and the ruler of our desires: graciously hear the prayers of Thy suppliants, that by the intercession of Thy blessed Pontiff Mirin we may be enabled to obtain the remission of our sins: through Jesus Christ our Lord.

    FIRST LESSON. 

    Mirin, the bishop, was entrusted by his parents, at an early age, through the Divine inspiration, to St. Congal, to be brought up in the Monastery of Bangor: not only that he might instruct him in all polite learning*, but that he might likewise carefully train him in all knowledge of holiness, humility, chastity, and other virtues.  Mirin committed the precepts of eternal life and all pertaining to salvation to a retentive memory with all the ardour of his soul.

    [* Literally, ” that he might teach him in the perfection of letters.”]

    SECOND LESSON. 

    With increasing years, deeming his ancestral halls, riches, landed possessions, and other earthly goods fleeting and delusive, he resolved to carry the yoke of the Lord from his youth, and asked and received the habit of Holy Religion from St. Congal in the Monastery of Bangor. Not long afterwards, the office of Prior of the Monastery having become vacant, he was elected Prior, against his will, by Congal and his brethren. Having entered upon the duties of his office, he reproved the Brethren more from a cordial love of charity than indiscreet zeal, and the one whom he outwardly chastised he inwardly loved.

    THIRD LESSON. 

    On a certain occasion, Finian, Bishop of Moville, a man of great sanctity, came on a friendly visit to the Monastery of Bangor during the absence of St. Congal, and was kindly received by blessed Mirin, the prior, of whom, on account of delicate health, he asked a drink of milk. Now, there was no milk in the Monastery, but the cellarer, by order of the blessed Mirin, going into the cellar, found a dish filled with the best of milk, which having brought, at a nod from him, he presented to blessed Finian. Thereafter, he kindly sent it round the company, sitting according to their rank.

    FOURTH LESSON. 

    Mirin afterwards proceeded to the camp of a certain king of Ireland, for the purpose of establishing the Catholic faith upon a firmer footing, where, the wife of the king at the time being near her confinement, was sorely distressed by various pains and sufferings. The king having heard of Mirin’s arrival, would not permit him to enter his camp; but, [on the contrary,] treated him with utter contempt; which the blessed Mirin perceiving, he prayed God that that accursed king might feel the pains and pangs of the suffering wife, which immediately happened, as he had besought the Lord ; so that for three days and as many nights he ceased not to shout* before all the chiefs of his kingdom. But the king seeing himself so ignominiously humbled by God, and that no remedy was of any avail, sought Mirin’s lodging, and most willingly granted all that he had previously desired. Then blessed Mirin by his holy prayers freed the king entirely from his pains.

    [* With pain (to howl).]

    FIFTH LESSON. 

    On a certain occasion the blessed Mirin remaining in his cell past the usual time, the brother who waited upon him went to ascertain the cause of the delay. On approaching the cell he instantly stood in rapt amazement, for through the chinks and fissures he beheld a celestial splendour. That night the blessed Mirin did not join the brethren at the psalmody in the church according to their wont. But understanding by Divine inspiration that the brother had been witness to such stupendous wonders, he took him apart in the morning, and charged him to tell no one during his life what he had seen on the previous night, and that in the meantime he should not presume to approach his cell.

    SIXTH LESSON. 

    On another occasion likewise, whilst the brethren of St. Mirin were at work near the valley of Colpdasch, one of them quite overpowered by fatigue and thirst, falling down upon the ground, expired, and lay lifeless from noon till none [i.e, 12—3 P.M.]. But blessed Mirin was very much grieved that the Brother should have been removed by such an untoward and sudden death. He besought the Lord, and immediately the dead man was restored to his former life. At length, full of sanctity and miracles, he slept in the Lord at Paisley. The Church there is dedicated to God, under his invocation.*

    [*The last sentence is literally, in cujus honore, &c., ” in whose honour the said Church is dedicated to God,” &c.]

    Rev. J. Cameron Lees, The abbey of Paisley, from its foundation till its dissolution: with notices of the subsequent history of the church and an appendix of illustrative documents (Paisley, 1878), 42-44.

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