Below is a third paper in the series on Liturgical Fragments of the Early Irish Church, which looks at the history of The Book of Dimma.  The Book of Dimma is basically an Irish ‘pocket gospel’ but also includes an order for the Visitation of the Sick. The article includes the Latin text for this rite, but for reasons of space I have not reprinted it, nor have I included the footnotes. The author mentions in passing how the rites of unction developed in the Western church, which is somewhat different from the Eastern understanding, where unction is not reserved exclusively for the dying.

LITURGICAL FRAGMENTS OF THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH

THE BOOK OF DHIMMA.

THE stranger who visits Dublin, for the first time, will not fail to remark the many signs of decay that present themselves. Streets without people, and quays without ships ; houses tenantless, and mansions of an older and better time that own their lords no longer all tell the same tale. Compared with the gay capitals of Europe, the old city by the Liffey contrasts unfavourably ; and there is a danger that our traveller, disappointed by first appearances, will not tarry to inquire if there be aught worthy of engaging his attention, or capable of repaying the trouble of his visit. It is to be feared to put it in fewer and plainer words that few comparatively of those who visit our capital ever think of visiting its museums and libraries; and yet museums and libraries there are, of which Dublin and Ireland may well feel proud. If indications of prosperity and wealth are lacking outside, within those walls there are treasures beyond price heirlooms which any nation might envy, and the like of which no other nation can show.

There was a time nor was it so long ago when the claims of this country to an early civilization were treated with contempt or with ridicule; and writer after writer, from Cambrensis to Pinkerton, asked where were the proofs and remains of that civilization, if it ever had existed. O’Curry and Petrie, and O’Donovan men to whose genuine patriotism and vast though loving labours their country must ever be a debtor took up the taunt some sixty years ago; and, in the presence of the magnificent collections of the Royal Irish Academy and of Trinity College, it will never again be possible to question Ireland’s claim to a civilization that was both very advanced and very ancient. They answer every question, and hush the taunts into shame. These collections are known throughout the world ; and it is no rare thing to meet in either of our great national museums, savants from distant lands examining, with surprise and delight, the beautiful and various works of early Irish art a jewelled shrine, or an illuminated manuscript;  a Tara Brooch, or a Cross of Cong.

Roughly speaking, they may be classed (a) Works in Metal ; and (b) Transcription and Illumination. As an illustration of the first we may take what has come to be known as the Tara Brooch ; and of it we find a hostile critic saying, that ” it was more like the work of fairies than of human beings.” A writer, no less unfriendly, writes of one of what were called the Books of Erinn:”The more intently I examined them, the more was I filled with fresh wonder and amazement. Neither could Appelles do the like; indeed mortal hand seemed incapable of forming them.”

This, however, is a digression ; for our subject now is one of those Books of Erinn, and not the evidences of Ireland’s early civilization. Of such books there were a great number. With pardonable pride Oengus refers to them as “the countless hosts of the illuminated Books of Erinn;” and Miss Stokes mentions that up to the irruptions of the Danes, every church of any note had a reliquary and a copy of the Gospels, together with a shrine or ” cumdach,” in which the sacred book was inclosed ; the shrines themselves being made of some precious metal, generally highly-wrought and ornamented with precious stones. Many of the books referred to are not now known to exist, and are probably lost for ever. Happily, however, a few still remain. The Book of Kells and the Book of Durrow, both of the sixth century, and the MS. in the Domhnach Airgid, as old even as the age of St. Patrick, are among them.

A book of the same kind, which is not, perhaps, so well known, but which is, nevertheless, a most interesting and valuable relic, and not without features of interest peculiar to itself, is that, the name of which I have placed at the head of this Paper. A manuscript written more than twelve hundred years ago must have an interest for all; written in the old abbey, beneath whose shadow I write, it naturally has an especial interest for us here, and it will be a great pleasure if I can show that, like Armagh, and Durrow, and Kells, Roscrea can lay claim to one of those venerable and priceless heirlooms, which have now become the treasure of a nation, and in which every Irish scholar must take a just pride.

Writers who treat of the Book of Dimma, lay it down as very probable that the book now in Trinity College Library is the same as that mentioned in connexion with St. Cronan, of Roscrea. I hope to be able to show that there can be no reasonable doubt on this head. But apart from that question it is hardly necessary to premise it is beyond all doubt an object of the greatest interest and value, as well as of unquestioned antiquity. What is the Book of Dimma, as found in Trinity College, and how did it come there? Then, what is known of Dimma’s Book, written in Roscrea Abbey for St. Cronan? And, finally, what are the reasons to believe that they are one and the same?

I. The Book of Dimma, which any visitor can see in Trinity College Library, is an illuminated MS., inclosed in the usual case or shrine. The MS. consists of a copy of the Four Gospels, and an Office for the Visitation of the Sick and forms a small quarto of seventy-four leaves. It is written in Latin, but in pure Irish character; and, in this respect it is, perhaps, the very oldest MS. extant. The reverence shown to the sacred writings is proved by the costly shrines made to inclose them, and hence the Cumdachs of our ancient MSS. divide our attention with the MSS. themselves. The box in this instance is of brass, and part, at least, of it is of the same date as its contents ; there have been, however, several repairs. It is open at one end to admit the book, is silver-plated, and ornamented with a crystal and eight pieces of lapis lazuli. It was repaired in the twelfth century, by O’Carrol, Lord of Ely, and again by Donald O’Cuanain, Coadjutor Bishop of Killaloe, in 1230 A.D.

At the bottom there is a representation of the Passion, with the two Marys, and the following inscription beneath:

” Tatheus O’Kearbuill Beideev Meipsum

Deauravit Dominus Domnaldus Ocuanain

Converbius Ultimo Meipsum restauravit

:Tomas Ceard Dachorig in Minsha.”

Petrie, in his Christian Inscriptions, edited by Miss Stokes, refers as follows to it :

“The manuscript and box were preserved in the Abbey of Roscrea till the dissolution of monasteries, when it disappeared. It was found, in the year 1789, among the rocks of the Devil’s Bit Mountain, in the Co. Tipperary, carefully concealed and perfectly preserved. … It then came into the possession of Dr. Harrison of Nenagh, from whom it was purchased by Mr. Monk Mason, who afterwards sold it to Sir William Betham. Then it was purchased by the Rev. Dr. Todd, for Trinity College, in the library of which it is now deposited.”

Sir William Betham, in his Irish Antiquarian Researches, gives a somewhat similar account of it; and reference is also made to it in O’Curry’s Manuscript Materials, as well as in the National MSS. of Ireland. It is, we think, the last-mentioned glorious work that traces it one or two steps further, by saying that the Mr. Harrison got the MS. from a Father Meagher, of Birr, who, in turn, received it from a priest in Roscrea. While in the hands of Mr. Mason it was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries of London. He afterwards exhibited it at the Royal Irish Academy, with a Paper, afterwards published in its Transactions. The Paper was headed: A Description of a rich and ancient Box, containing a Latin copy of the Gospels, which was found in a Mountain in the Co. Tipperary.’

So far about the MS. now in Trinity College.

II. St. Cronan, founder of the Abbey of Roscrea, lived in the later part of the sixth and beginning of the seventh century, the probable date of his death being A.D. 620. One of the most notable events, mentioned in his Lives, is his asking a famous scribe named Dhimma, or Dimma, to write for him a copy of the Gospels. The scribe could afford but one day for the Saint’s work, but St. Cronan, “by divine grace and power,” caused the rays of the sun to shine forty days and forty nights, Dimma writing on the while, without feeling the want of rest or food till his work was completed…

Whatever may be thought of this legend and it is not at all, for our purpose, to be insisted on the fact itself, to which the old chroniclers, after their custom, append it, is authentic, and indubitable. Many would entirely eschew, as unworthy of attention, the whole body of such legends; but most of us would be disposed to concur in the opinion of one who was of such matters the most competent of critics, in recent times : viz., ” that in doing so we would be only depriving ourselves of the intimate knowledge of the social, political, and religious state of society obtained through the medium of this most valuable class of Irish writings.” And if we do not insist on their acceptance, it should be also observed, it is nowise in deference to the views of that modern school of criticism, which leaves no room for the supernatural; which is shocked at nothing so much as the appearance of the finger of God in the affairs of men, and whose creed, with some slight alteration, may be expressed

” A part du Roi defense a Dieu

De faire miracle en ce lieu.”

III. As before stated, the value of the MS. preserved in Trinity College in no way depends on its identification with the copy of the Gospels written by the scribe just referred to: of their identity, however, we think there can be no doubt, for the following, among other, reasons:

(a) The matter in each case is the same. Dhimma wrote for St. Cronan the four Gospels: and the Book of Dhimma that is extant consists of the four Gospels, with the addition of a Visitatio Infirmorum which, however, there is reason to believe, may be of later date. In Irish MSS., and books, different styles of writing are often met with.

(b) The name coincides. In both cases it is Dhimma, or Dimma. But more than this. The writer of the extant MS. subscribes himself “Dimma Mac Nathi.” Now, of the many persons of this name ” Dimma,” it would appear it was the Dimma Mac Nathi that was St. Cronan’s scribe ; for the saint is said to have been a grandson of Nathi, and, at the same time, a relative of Dimma, who was son of Nathi-Mac Nathi.

(c) The place is the same. There are many persons of the name Dimma; but one of the most remarkable was Dimma, a scribe of Helm or Ely O’ Carrol. The writer, then, of the MS. in question was a native of Ely O’Carrol ; in the same place it was written, and in the same place we find it preserved, and traced from hand to hand, until we find it in its present secure abode. This is, I think, the most important link in the evidence of identification, in presence of which there can be no reasonable doubt that the venerable Book of Dimma, which is one of the richest treasures of our national collections is the same which was written circa 600 A.D. in the Abbey of Roscrea. The only difficulty against this thesis, of which we are aware, arises from an inscription, at the end of the Gospel of St. Luke, in which prayers are asked for Dimman of Dissidu who wrote (or for whom was written) the book. As there is a difference of opinion as to the exact meaning of the words, we will not delay further to consider it. It may be a confusion of two names that were so similar, or that part of the book the Gospel of St. Luke was dedicated to the person indicated, Dimman Dissidu.

Coming to the contents of the MS. the reader will agree with Sir William Betham, that the most interesting and curious part of it is the Office for the Visitation of the Sick ; and we will, therefore, give the exact copy of it, as it is found in his Researches:

[Please consult the original volume for this Latin text]

The reader will not fail to notice, in this most interesting old Order, that mention is made of the two sacraments which are still administered to the sick Extreme Unction and the Viaticum. The order, however, of their reception is reversed, for this was pretty generally the custom, for many ages in the Church. “Antiquitus,” says Lehmkuhl, quoting from Ben. XIV., ” Extrema Unctio ante Sacrum Viaticum administrabatur; nunc vero quum praxis et ordinatio Ritualis contraria sit, sine rationabili causa id non est faciendum.” The reason for the change, to the order as at present in the Roman Ritual is, theologians tell us,” the importance of receiving the Viaticum while the mind is clear.” Till the publication of the Ritual of Paul V., in 1614, there was, in fact, a great variety in the names as well as in the matter of such books, and each diocese was practically free to adopt its own. According to the circumstances of time or country such books were called Ritual, Manuale, Pastorale Sacerdotale, Agenda Institutio Sacramentale, Baptizandi, and the like. It would also appear that the MS., including Gospels and Ordo was meant to be a manual for the priest in the discharge of his duties ; “and in this respect,” observes Sir W. Betham, “it is perhaps the oldest Irish MS.”

In conclusion, a few words on the first portion of the MS. There are four pictures, or illustrations, of Matthew, Mark, Luke, before their Gospels, and that of an eagle before that of St. John ; but, though we would not, perhaps, be justified in claiming for either illumination or pictures any high degree of artistic merit, we cannot fail to observe in both the peculiar features of the early Irish school in this branch of art, for the design is everywhere as bold and fantastic as the tracery is intricate. It need hardly be noted for it is too obvious how fervent was the zeal of the saints of the early Church in Ireland to multiply copies of the Gospels. Of one it is said that he copied no less than three hundred copies, and made as many croziers and as many shrines. In the first, we presume, some modern critics and historians would find an argument for the undying hatred of the Church for the Scriptures; and in the remaining work, a proof, just as convincing, of the indolence and ignorance that reigned supreme within the walls of the monasteries.

In the Manuscript Materials O’Curry points out some slight but curious differences from the reading in the Vulgate, as also from the Book of St. Moling attributed to a later part of the same seventh century, At the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew is the inscription: “Finit. A prayer for Dimma who wrote (this) for God; and a benediction.” At the end of St. Mark: “Finit, amen, deo gratias ago,” and in Irish, “Pray for Dimma.” The inscription after the first Gospel is also in Irish. At the end of Luke: Finit, amen ; deo gratias ago,” and some Irish, of which there are various readings. At the end of the last Gospel, is written in Irish characters:

Finit. Amen Dimma mac Nathi.

Then follow two lines of verse in Irish ” the oldest piece of pure Gaedhilic writing, perhaps, in existence,” says O’Curry “in which the Scribe hopes to escape ” venomous criticism” and to come to a reward for his labours. With those lines he concludes his book. With a translation of them, by the learned writer just mentioned, and with same hopes as the scribe, we will conclude this rather lengthened notice of it:

“I beseech for me, as the price of my labour

(In the following chapters without mistake),

That I be not venomously criticized,

And the residence of the Heavens.”

JAMES HALPIN, C.C.

Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 11, (1890), 325-334

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

Following yesterday’s posting on the Book of Deer, now we come to the second item in the series which examines the Stowe Missal. The Missal includes a complete copy of the Gospel of Saint John, the Ordo of the Mass, The Ordo Baptismi, and an Old Irish tract on the Mass. The article features a discussion of each of these elements, and Orthodox readers will be interested to see that the original text of the Creed did not include the filioque, but that this was added by a later hand. There is also an account of the fate of one of the patrons associated with the Missal, Donnchadh, son of the famous king Brian Boru, who was said to have brought both his father’s royal crown and a copy of the ancient canons of the Irish church on his penitential pilgrimage to Rome. I wonder what became of those items?

LITURGICAL FRAGMENTS FROM THE EARLY CELTIC CHURCH.

II. THE STOWE MISSAL.

THE venerable MS. of the early Irish Church, known as the Stowe Missal, formed part of the Stowe collection, and is now preserved in the rich library of Lord Ashburnham. Like other MSS. which were written by our sainted fathers, or at least were hallowed by their touch, it has been from a very early time regarded with religious veneration, and enshrined in a cumhdach, or costly covering, adorned with silver plates and precious stones. The latest antiquary who had the privilege of examining the venerable shrine in which it is enclosed, thus writes: “It is a stout oaken box, overlaid every- where with silver plates curiously wrought, garnished with niello ornamentation, and inscribed with several names, telling of the royal personages who, by their munificence, contributed to its adornment, or of those who lent their individual handicraft for that purpose.”

For all details regarding the ornamentation of the ancient cumhdach I must refer the reader to the valuable papers on the subject by Dr. O’Conor, in his “Stowe Catalogue,” and Dr. Todd in the “Transactions of Royal Irish Academy.”

The older inscriptions on the shrine date from the middle of the eleventh century. They begin with invoking ” THE BLESSING OF GOD ON EVERY SOUL WHO DESERVES IT.” Then they ask “A PRAYER FOR DONNCHADH, SON OF BRIAN, KING OF IRELAND.” ” AND FOR MAC-RAITH-HU-DONNCHADHA. KlNG OF CASHEL.” Only one other of the ancient inscriptions is now legible. It is “A PRAYER FOR DUNCHADH O’TACCAIN, OF THE MUINTIR OF CLUAIN, WHO EXECUTED THIS WORK.” The word muintir, which literally means family, here, as invariably in similar construction, signifies a religious community, or monastery. The name of Donchadh O’Taccan, or O’Tagan, does not occur elsewhere in our religious annals. “Of this Donchadh O’Tagan,” writes Dr. Todd, ” we know nothing except what we learn from this inscription, that he was of the religious society of Clonmacnoise, and that he was the artist by whom this ornamented and costly box was made for the preservation of the venerable MS., which it contains.”

King Donnchadh, son of the celebrated Brian Boroimhe, not satisfied with the royal diadem of Munster, assumed the title of King of Ireland in the year 1026, in which year he invaded Leinster and carried off hostages from Meath and Bregia, as also from the Danes of Dublin, and the men of Ossory. Many of our annalists, however, refuse him this title of King of Ireland, partly on account of his crimes; partly, too, because there were throughout his reign other claimants to the chief kingship of our island. In the year 1064 he was not only deprived of this title, but was moreover driven from his own kingdom of Munster, as we learn from the following entry of the Annals of Tighernach : ” Donnchadh, son of Brian Boroimhe, King of Munster, was deposed, and went to Rome in pilgrimage, where he died after the victory of penitence, in the monastery of Stephen”. This monastery of St. Stephen, in Rome, stood on the site of the old pagan temple of Cacus, close by the modern Minerva, and was specially allotted to the pilgrims who from distant countries flocked to Rome to offer their prayers at the shrines of the Apostles. At the time of which we speak the monastery was in charge of the Benedictine monks, but soon after passed into other hands.

At present there is no memorial there to mark the spot where rests the son of the great monarch Brian. The Annals of Ulster also mark the year 1064 for the deposition of Donnchadh : “Donnchadh O’Brien, deposed from his crown, went to Rome in his pilgrimage.” The ” Chronicon Scotorum” places this event in 1061 : “Donnchadh, son of Brian, was dethroned, and he went to Rome on his pilgrimage, and died in penitence, viz., in the monastery of Stephen”. The “Annals of Clonmacnoise” assign the year 1063 : ” Donnogh MacBrian Boroimhe was king, as some say, and was soon deposed again, and he went to Rome to do penance, because he had a hand in the killing of his own elder brother, Teig MacBrian. He brought the crown of Ireland with him thither Donnogh MacBrian died in pilgrimage in the abbey of St. Stephen the Protomartyr”. It is the tradition, that together with the royal crown of his father, Donogh O’Brien brought with him to Rome a copy of the ancient Book of Canons of the Irish Church.

MacRaith, King of Cashel, mentioned in the above inscription, succeeded Donnchadh as King of Cashel, when the latter assumed the sovereignty of Ireland. The annalists who refuse to Donnchadh the title of King of Ireland, refuse also to style MacRaith the King of Cashel, giving him only his earlier rank of king, or chieftain of the Eoghanacht-Caisil. Tighernagh, when commemorating his death, gives him the title of heir apparent to the throne of Munster: ” A.D. 1052, MacRaith O’ Donnchadha, King of the Eoghanacht of Cashel, heir apparent, King of Munster, died.” MacRaith in the inscription, as in the entry just referred to, is called Mac-Donnchadha, i.e., grandson of Donnchadh, King of Munster, who died in the year 962.

That the inscriptions on the shrine of which we speak were made during the lifetime of Donnchadh O’Brien and Mac-Raith, may be assumed as certain. No prayer is asked for their souls, as is usual in such inscriptions for deceased benefactors ; and moreover, as Dr. Todd remarks, ” it is not very likely, from their subsequent history, that so costly a relic would have borne mention of them with their regal titles, after their death.” Thus, then, we may safely conclude that this rich case was made for the Stowe Missal between the years 1023, when Donnchadh assumed the title of King of Ireland, and 1052, when MacRaith died.

Three hundred years from the death of Donnchadh the shrine was repaired and re-adorned. One of the later inscriptions asks “A PRAYER FOR PHILIP O’KENNEDY, THE KING OF ORMOND, WHO COVERED THIS SHRINE, AND FOR AINI, HIS WIFE.” The death of this royal chieftain of Ormond is thus registered in the “Annals of the Four Masters:”A.D. 1381, Philip O’Kennedy, Lord of Ormond, and his wife Aine, daughter of MacNamara, died.” Another inscription of the same date adds: “A PRAYER FOR GILLARUADHAN O’ MACAN, THE COMHARB, BY WHOM THIS WAS COVERED.” The omission of the name of the monastery to which Gillaruadhan belonged as well as his own name, servant of St. Ruadhan, seems to imply that he was Abbot in the district of which O’Kennedy was chieftain that is to say, he was comharb of St. Ruadhan, in the famous monastery of Lothra (now Lorha), situated in Lower Ormond, which was also called O’ Kennedy’s country.

When the outward shrine, with its silver plates and other precious ornaments, has come down to us from the first half of the eleventh century, we may justly conclude that even at that remote date the MS. which it contained was considered a venerable relic of our early Church an heirloom of the great founder of the monastery in which it was preserved. The intrinsic evidence and the style of writing of the MS. itself, confirm this conclusion : ” It is by no means impossible,” writes Dr. Todd, ” that the MS. contained in this box may have been the original Missal of St. Ruadhan himself, the founder of the monastery of Lothra, who died A.D. 584. . . . The original MS. was written in an ancient Lombardic character, which may well be deemed older than the sixth century” (loc. cit, page 16). This distinguished antiquarian has also observed that portions of the MS. are written in a second and much later hand ; and at page 71 of the MS., at the end of the Canon of the Mass, the name of this second scribe is given : ” Maolcaich.” “This name,” adds Dr. Todd, ” is certainly Irish, and belongs to an early period of our history, when the names of Paganism were still retained” (page 18). Subsequently, commenting on a statement of O’ Conor, in regard to a particular passage which should necessarily be referred to the eighth century, he writes :

” He has omitted to notice the fact that it is not in the original hand of the MS., but in the later handwriting, of which I have several times spoken. The date, therefore, which is thus obtained, applies to all these additions, made, as we have seen, by one Maolcaich; and, as they must, therefore, be referred to the eighth century, they furnish a strong additional evidence of the very high antiquity of the original Missal” (page 34).

The name of the original scribe is given, as is usual in the old MSS., at the end of the Gospel of St. John, as follows :

” Deo gratias ago. Amen. Finit, Amen. Rogo quicumque hunc librum legeris ut memineris mei peccatoris scrip toris, idest, SONID peregrinus, Amen. Sanus sit qui scripserit et cui scriptum est, Amen”. The name Sonid is in Ogham characters, and its precise reading cannot as yet be fixed with certainty. Dr. Todd, however, contends that the above reading is correct, and that it corresponds with the more modern name, Sonadh, which means “happy or prosperous” If so, the concluding words would contain an illusion to the name, for, the Latin phrase which follows, viz., sanus sit, as closely corresponds to it as any other that the scribe could easily discover.

The MS. begins with a complete copy of the Gospel of St. John, illuminated according to the type of the early Irish school. Dr. O’ Conor has given a facsimile of the two first pages one representing the Evangelist, who is surmounted by the symbolical eagle ; the other giving the first verses of the Gospel. The text of the Gospel is that of the Latin Vulgate, though with many important variations, as is usual in the old Biblical MSS. of the Celtic Church.

The Gospel of St. John is followed by the Ordo of the Mass, which begins with the Rubric ” Letania Apostolorum ac Martirum Sanctorum virorum et virginum incipit.” Then follows the antiphon Peccavimus and the Litany. Dr. O’ Conor has given a facsimile of the page containing the antiphon :

” Peccavimus Domine peccavimus : parce peccatis nostris et salva nos ; qui gubernasti Noe super aquas diluvi exaudi nos : qui Jonam de abiso verbo revocasti libera nos qui Petro mergenti manum porrexisti auxiliare nobis Christe.”

” We have sinned, O Lord, we have sinned : pardon our sins and save us : thou who didst preserve Noah on the waters of the deluge, hear our prayer : thou, who by thy word, didst recall Jonas from the abyss, deliver us : thou who didst stretch forth thy hand to Peter, sinking in the waves, assist us, O Christ.”

The Litany is followed by the hymn Gloria in Excelsis, and then several Collects are added, being prayers for the priests, the people, the universal Church, the peace and prosperity of princes and kingdoms, the givers of alms, &c. This order is very much the same as was in use in Rome in the fifth century. At a later period, probably in the ninth century, the Confiteor took the place of the ancient Litany. The Gallican Liturgy adopted a different usage, and commenced with an antiphon, which was followed by the Sanctus and the Kyrie.

I may here incidentally remark, that in the library of the famous monastery of St. Gall, there is still preserved one small fragment of some venerable MS. of our Celtic Church of the sixth or seventh century. It begins with the antiphon: “Peccavimus Domine, peccavimus, parce nobis “… And on the verso begins the Litany:

” Sancta Maria, ora pro nobis.
Sancte Petre, ora pro nobis.
Sancte Paule, ora pro nobis.”

Westwood, in his magnificent work, “Facsimiles, &c., of Anglo-Saxon and Irish MSS.” (London, 1868), page 68, refers to this passage, and thinks it must have belonged to some ancient Penitential of our Church. From its analogy with the beginning of the ordo of the Mass in the Stowe Missal, I think we should rather conclude that it formed part of an Irish Missal, perhaps the very Missal used by the great missioner, St. Gall, himself.

The custom of introducing several Collects in the Mass was regarded in Gaul as in a special manner characteristic of the Irish liturgy. In a Synod held at Matiscon in the year 623, objections were raised by a monk named Agrestius, against the disciples of St. Columban on account of this peculiarity of their Missal : “Quod a caeterorum ritu ac norma desciscerent et sacra missarum solemnia orationum et collectarum multiplici varietate celebrarent” St. Eustasius, a disciple of St. Columbanus and abbot of the Columban monastery of Lisieux (Luxovium), who was present at the Council, admitted the fact, but added ” Orationum porro multiplicationem in sacris officiis multum prodesse quis neget? Cum et orationi sine intermissione vacari nobis ex divino praecepto incumbat et quo plus Dominus quaeritur, plus inveniatur, nihilque cuivis Christiano et maxime poenitentibus salubrius sit, quam Deum multiplicatione precum et orationum assiduitate pulsare.”

One of the Collects in the Stowe Missal is entitled Oratio prima Petri, and runs thus :

Deus qui culpa offenderis, poenitentia placaris, afflictorum gemitus respice, et mala quae juste inrogas misericorditer averte. Per Dominum, &c.

O God, who by sin art offended, but art appeased by penance, look down upon the anguish of the afflicted, and in thy mercy avert the scourges which thy justice requireth, through our Lord, &c.

A lesson is added from I, Corinthians, chapter xi., beginning ” Fratres quotiescunque manducabitis” with the prayer : “Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui populum tuum, &c. ;” and then follows the versicle:

” R. Quaerite Dominum et confirmamini. Fortitude mea et laudatio mea usque in salutem.”

” Sacrificio praesentibus Domine quaesumus intende placatus, ut devotioni nostrae proficiat ad salutem.”

Then follows the Rubric : ” Deprecatio Sancti Martini pro populo incipit. Amen. Deo gracias. Dicamus omnes : Domine exaudi et miserere”

At page 14 of the MS., the Lesson from the Gospel of St. John, sixth chapter, is introduced with the Rubric : “Lethdirech rund. Dirigatur Domine usque vespertinum, tunc canitur. Hic elevatur lintearnen de calice. Veni Domine sanctificator omnipotens et benedic hoc sacrificium praeparatum tibi, Amen. Tunc canitur locus Evangelii secundum Johannem : Dominus noster Jesus Christus dixit : Ego sum panis. Et oratio Gregorii super Evangelium : Quaesumus Domine omnipotens, &c.”

The Irish words, Lethdirech rund, imply a half uncovering here, and a corresponding phrase is met with after the Gospel of St. John, i.e., landirech rund, a full uncovering here. This shows that the chalice was partly uncovered before, and was fully uncovered after the chanting of the Gospel. This double uncovering of the chalice is thus referred to in an ancient Irish Tract on the ceremonies of the Mass, preserved in the Leabhar Breac, fol. I26a:

” The two uncoverings, including the half one, of the Chalice of the Mass, and of the Oblation, .and what is chanted at them, both of Gospel and Alleluja, is the figure of the written law in which Christ was manifestly foretold, but was not seen until His birth. The elevation of the Chalice of the Mass and of the Paten, after the full uncovering, at which this verse is sung ; Immola Deo sacrificium laudis, is the figure of the birth of Christ, and of His manifestation through signs and miracles : this is the beginning of the New Testament.”

The words which follow in the Rubric are very easily explained. The Dirigatur Domine is still used in the liturgy, during the incensation of the Altar : ” Dirigatur, Domine, oratio mea, sicut incensum in conspectu tuo : elevatio manuum mearum sacrificium vespertinum.”

The Veni Domine Sanctificator agrees in substance with the prayer that follows after the Offertory in the present Roman Missal : ” Veni sanctificator omnipotens aeterne Deus, et benedic hoc sacrificium tuo sancto nomini praeparatum.” The corresponding prayer in the Sarum Missal approaches still nearer to the Irish form: “Veni sanctificator omnipotens et Domine Deus : benedic et sanctifica hoc sacrificium quod tibi est praeparatum.”

Dr. Todd suggests, and probably with reason, that the prayer of St. Gregory, subsequently referred to in the Rubric, is that which occurs at the end of the Liber Sacramentorum of that great Pontiff: ” Quaesumus omnipotens Deus, ne nos tua misericordia derelinquat, quae et errores nostros semper amoveat et noxia cuncta depellat. Per Dominum.”

The Creed forms part of the order of the Mass, and agrees in substance with the Nicene Creed. The filioque does not form part of the original text, but was added by the more recent hand. A facsimile of the following passage is given by Dr. O’Conor :

” Cujus regni non erit finis. Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Dominum et vivificatorem, ex Patre procedentem, cum Patre et Filio coadorandum, et conglorificandum.”

Dr. O’Conor tells us that the ceremony of mixing water with the wine for the Holy Eucharist is wholy omitted, as are also the Lavabo and the prayer Suscipe Sancta Trinitas. In enumerating the orders of the Hierarchy, three only are mentioned in this Missal, viz., bishops, priests, and deacons.

The festivals commemorated are the following :

1. Natale Domini, Christmas day.

2. Kalendas, the 1st of January, Feast of the Circumcision.

3. Stellae, the Epiphany.

4. Dies Natalis Calicis Domini Nostri, the beginning of the Passion of our Lord, i.e., the First day of Lent.

5. Pasca, Easter.

6. Clausula Pascae, the Octave of Easter. Low Sunday.

7. Ascensio, Ascension-day.

8. Pentacoste, the Feast of Pentecost.

There is one common preface assigned for all these festivals, into which, on each feast-day, an additional clause might be introduced, having special reference to such festival. Hence the preface is twice interrupted by rubrics in the Irish language, which have been thus translated:

1. ” Here the preface receives the addition, if it be followed by Per Quem:

2. ” Here the preface receives the addition, if it be followed by Sanctus” i.e., the special portion of the preface was to be inserted either where the Per Quem or where the Sanctus occurs in the ordinary text.

The Canon of the Mass, which is marked with the Rubric Canon Dominicus Papae Gilasi, presents the following very remarkable passage, which shows that it was compiled before the total abolition of idolatry in our island:

” Hanc igitur oblationem servitutis nostrae Ecclesiae sed et cunctae familiae tuae quam tibi offerimus in honorem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, et in commemorationem beatorum martirum tuorum, in hac ecclesia quam famulus tuus ad honorem nominis gloriae tuae aedificavit, quaesumus Domine ut placatus suscipias, eumque atque omnem populum ab idulorum cultura eripias et ad te Dominum Patrem omnipotentem convertas.”

” We beseech, O Lord, that mercifully thou wouldst receive this tribute of our duty of the church, and of all thy people, which we offer in honour of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in commemoration of thy blessed martyrs, in this church which thy servant erected unto the honour of Thy name and Glory, and that Thou wouldst deliver him and all the people from the worship of idols, and convert them to the Lord, the Father Omnipotent.”

The form of consecration and the subsequent prayers correspond literally with those still used in the Roman Missal, down to the Memento for the dead, which assumes a form altogether peculiar as follows:

” Memento etiam Domine et eorum nomina, qui nos praecesserunt cum signo fidei et dormiunt in somno pacis. Cum omnibus in toto mundo offerentibus sacrificium spirituale Deo Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto, Sanctis et venerabilibus sacerdotibus offert senior noster N. praesbiter, pro se et pro suis, et pro totius aeclesiae cetu Catholico, et pro commemorando anathletico gradu venerabilium Patriarcharum, Profetarum, Apostolorum et Martyrum et omnium quoque Scotorum,* ut pro nobis Dominum Deum nostrum recordare dignentur:

Sancte Stefane, ora pro nobis.
S. Martine, ora pro nobis.
S. Hironime, ora pro nobis.
S. Augustine, ora pro nobis.”

*This was probably a mistake of the scribe for Sanctorum.

And then twenty-eight names of other saints are added by the more modern hand, which, as I have already remarked, Dr. Todd considers to belong to the eighth century. These names are, ” St. Gregory, St. Hilary, St. Patrick, St. Ailbhe, two SS. Finnian, two SS. Kieran, two SS. Brendan, two SS. Columba, St. Comgall, St. Canice, St. Findbarr, St. Nessan, St. Fachtna, St. Lugid, St. Lacten, St. Ruadhan, St. Carthage, St. Coemghen, St. Mochonna, St. Brigid (written Brigta in the MS.), St. Ita, St. Scetha, St. Sinecha, St. Samdine.”

The two SS. Finnian invoked in this Litany are St. Finnian of Clonard, who died in the year 549, and St. Finnian of Moville, whose death is recorded in our Annals in the year 579. The two SS. Ciaran, both died before the middle of the sixth century. St. Brendan, of Birr, died in 572, and St. Brendan, of Clonfert, in 577. There were many Irish saints of the name Columba; the two here referred to are probably St. Columba, i. e. Columbkille, of Iona, who died in 595, and St. Columba, i.e. Columbanus, of Bobbio, who died in 615. St. Mochonna, the latest name in the above list, died in the year 704.

This Litany is followed by the Agnus Dei, and then by a short prayer which is ascribed to St. Ambrose ; after which another commemoration begins of all the principal saints of the Old Testament, followed by Apostles, Martyrs, &c, down to our own Apostle St. Patrick, with whom are linked forty- six names of Irish saints, the latest of whom is St. Kevin of Glendalough.

In addition to this “Every-day Mass” (Missa Cotidiana) there is also a special Mass for the feasts of the Apostles and Martyrs and Holy Virgins (Missa Apostolorum et Martirum et sanctarum Virginum), another Mass for Penitents (Missa pro poenitentibus vivis), and one for the Dead (Missa pro Mortuis).

Were no other monument of our early Church preserved to us, this Missal alone would suffice to show the conformity of the Catholic Church of to-day in doctrine and discipline with the ancient Church of our fathers. The Mass itself agrees in all essential matters with the Liturgy of the present day, and clearly sets forth in the form of consecration and following prayers, the doctrine of the Real Presence. Thus, the Irish priests, thirteen hundred years ago, when offering the Holy Sacrifice, breathed forth the same sweet prayer that is repeated by the priest of to-day : “Humbly we beseech Thee O Almighty God, direct this offering to be carried by the hands of Thy holy Angel unto Thy heavenly altar in the presence of Thy Divine Majesty, that all of us who receive through the participation of this altar, the most holy Body and Blood of Thy Son, may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace, through the same Christ our Lord.” Again, we find the holy Apostles and Martyrs and Virgins, and other saints solemnly commemorated, and their intercession invoked that they may be mindful of us before the throne of God. A memento was also made every day for the repose of the faithful departed, and even a special Mass was offered up praying the Divine mercy for those who had been faithful during life, and had gone before us with the sign of Christ and slept in peace.

At page 70 of the MS. the Missal terminates, and the Ordo Baptismi (occupying 41 pages) begins, giving the rites and ceremonies of Baptism as practised in our early Church. The order of Baptism commences with a prayer that Satan may be banished with all his evil works from the person about to be baptised. The exorcism of the salt then follows, agreeing almost verbally with that in use at the present day. After the interrogatory Abrenuntias Satanae? “Do’st thou renounce Satan ?” comes the ceremonial opening of the ears: “Efeta, quod est aphertio in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti.” A phrase similar to that which we have already met with in the Canon of the Mass occurs in the Baptismal prayer: “Quem liberasti de err ore gentilium” ”whom thou hast freed from the errors of idolatry,” and supplies an additional proof that when this Sacramentary was compiled many of the Irish people were still heathens and unbelievers in the Faith of Christ. Then follows the first anointing, after which we have the Rubric:

” Huc usque catachominus incepit olearioleo de crismate in pectus et inter scabulas (scapulas) antequam baptitsaretur : deinde letania circa fontem canitur : deinde benedictio fontis ; deinde duo salmi sitivit anima mea y &c. Deinde benedictione completa mittit sacerdos cresmaria in modum crucis in fontem et quicumque voluerit implere vasculum aqua benedictionis ad domus consecrandas, et populus aspergitur aqua benedicta.”

Here, again, everything serves to identify more and more the early Church of Ireland with the Catholic Church which still flourishes in our island. The anointing of the Cathechumen, with chrism, on the breast and between the shoulders the chanting of the litany around the fountain the pouring of the sacred chrism into the font, in the form of a cross the people bearing away with them the hallowed water to impart blessing to their homes the aspersing of the congregation with holy water ; all prove that the doctrine and practices of the Irish, as far back as the sixth century, were in all essential matters the very same as those of the mother Church of Rome.

Immediately before the Baptism, the Catechism, or questions asked upon articles of faith, is set forth. According to the Rubric, which is added, the Priest then accompanied to the font the person or persons to be baptized, descendit in fontem. Some have supposed that these words imply that the Priest himself entered the fountain with the person who was about to receive baptism ; but without further proof we cannot accept this as the meaning of the Rubric.

After the form of Baptism, the Ritual thus continues:

” Oleatur cresmate in cerebrum in frente, et dat vestem candidam Diaconus super capite et fronte et dicitur, (a) Presbitero Domine Sancte Omnipotens, Domine noster Jesu Christe qui te regeneravit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, quique tibi dedit remissionem omnium peccatorum, ipse telineat crismate salutis. Ungo te de oleo de chrismate salutis, &c., et dat vestem candidam diaconus super caput in frontem et vestitur manto candido, tegitur(a) presbitero. Tunc lavit pedes accepto linteo, Dominus et salvator noster Jesus Christus pridie quam pater etur, accepto linteo splendido et sancto et immaculato precinctis lumbis stds fudit aquam in pelvem, lavit pedes discipulorum suortim, &c.”

This rite of washing the feet at the end of the baptismal ceremony, though not practised in Rome, was followed in many of the continental churches. At Milan, in the days of St. Ambrose, and throughout the Churches of Gaul, the practice was universal. The Council of Elvira (a.d. 301) in its 48th canon, enacted that this ceremony of washing the feet in Baptism should be performed not by the celebrant, but by one of the assistant clerics : “Placuit . . . neque pedes eorum (qui baptizantur) lavandi sunt a sacerdotibus sed clericis”

In the ancient Liturgy of Gaul, published by Mabillon, we have, immediately after Baptism, the Rubric “Dum pedes ejus lavas, dicis : Ego tibi lavo pedes. Sicut Dominus noster Jesus Christus fecit discipulis suis, tu facias hospitibus et peregrinis, ut habeas vitam aeternam.” In the famous Bobbio Missal, used by St. Columbanus and his disciples at Luxieu, a similar Collect is assigned to be recited whilst performing this ceremony. After the newly-baptized has been clothed in the white garment, the Rubric has ” Collectio ad pedes lavandos” with the prayer : “Ego tibi lavo pedes ; sicut Dominus noster Jesus Christus fecit discipulis suis, ita tu facias hospitibus et peregrinis. Dominus noster Jesus Christus de linteo quo erat praecinctus, tersit pedes discipulorum suorum, et quod ego facio tibi, tu facies peregrinis, hospitibus et pauperibus.”

St. Cesarius, Archbishop of Aries, who died A. D. 542, also makes reference in his sermons to this baptismal rite : “Hoc itaque admoneo, Fratres dilectissimi, ut quotiens Paschalis sollemnitas venit, quicumque viri, quaecumque mulieres de sacro fonte filios spiritaliter exceperunt, cognoscant se pro ipsis fidejussores apud Deum extitisse, et ideo semper illis sollicitudinem verae caritatis impendant. Admoneant ut auguria non observent . . . peregrinos excipiant et secundum quod ipsis in baptismo dictum est, hospitum pedes lavant.”

I have dwelt the more particularly on this rite, though in itself so unimportant, because it presents the only point of divergence of the Irish Baptismal Ritual from the practice of Rome. The writer contemporary with St. Ambrose, to whom we have just now referred, expressly tells us that in Rome the washing of the feet was not observed in his time, probably on account of the number of Catechumens who flocked to the sacred font in that central See of the Catholic world : “Non ignoramus quod Ecclesia Romana hanc consuetudinem non habeat, cujus typum in omnibus sequimur et formam. Hanc tamen consuetudinem non habet ut lavet. Vide ergo ne forte propter multitudinem declinarit.” The ceremony, at all events, was an unessential one, and as it was practised in the Church of Milan, which ” followed in all things the rule and example of Rome,” so it might well be observed for a time at least in Ireland, without in any way lessening the ardour of the devotion and reverence of our Fathers for the Holy See.

After the Ordo Baptismi is inserted a tract in very ancient Irish extending over the three or four last pages of the MS. This tract is supposed by Dr. Todd to be ” a general explanation of the Mass,” but it has not as yet been deciphered by our antiquarians.

Such, then, is the Liturgical monument of our early Church, which from the days of St. Ruadhan, has been handed down to us with devotional reverence by our fathers. If the religious of Lothra achieved no other work than that of preserving to us this precious record of the faith of our fathers, they would yet have well deserved our gratitude. More than once that monastery was plundered by the Danes in their incursions of the eighth and following centuries. About the year 832, writes Dr. Todd (Wars of the Danes, xlviii), “Turgesius plundered the ecclesiastical establishments of Connaught and Meath, namely, Clonmacnoise in Meath; Clonfert of St. Brendan in Connaught; Lothra, now Lorrha, a famous monastery founded by St. Ruadhan or Rodan, in the county of Tipperary; Tirdaglass, now Terryglass, in the same county; Inisceltra, an island on which were seven churches, and all the other churches of Lough Dearg in like manner.” Again, in 920, new hordes returned from the Scandinavian coast and “plundered Inisceltra, and cast into the lake its shrines, relics, and books : they plundered also Mucinis Riagail (i.e., Hog-island of St. Riagal or Regulus), and other churches on the islands of the lake : on the mainland they plundered Tirdaglass, Lothra, Clonfert, and Clonmacnoise” (Ibid, xciv, n. i). It was no easy task amid such scenes of devastation, to preserve intact the precious heirloom of St. Ruadhan. Probably at that time, however, the original case in which the venerable Missal was enshrined was damaged or destroyed, and hence, when the monastery was restored to peace, it became an anxious care of the religious community to have a cumhdach prepared for it worthy of the precious relic to be encased.

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD. Vol VI, SEPTEMBER, 1870, 645-658.

Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.

The 1870 edition of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record contained two interesting items published as part of an occasional series, ‘Liturgical Fragments of the Early Celtic Church’. The first of these deals with the pocket-gospel known as The Book of Deer, a Scottish text with strong links to the Irish manuscript tradition. I have reproduced it below, although without the footnotes contained in the original. The article contains a translation of a liturgical text from the Book of Deer which is most interesting, as is the account of the tragic fate of many volumes from monastic libraries during the Reformation in Scotland.

The Book of Deer now resides in Cambridge, itself a source of grievance to the Scots, who would prefer to see this national treasure returned to its homeland. There is an online community-based project in Aberdeen to encourage study and interest in the text which can be found here. The volume by Stuart, which is referred to in the article is also available online at the Internet Archive.

LITURGICAL FRAGMENTS FROM THE EARLY CELTIC CHURCH.

I. THE BOOK OF DEER.

THE ” Book of Deer,” which has just been published by Mr. Stuart for the Spalding Club is an invaluable memorial of the Scottish monasteries founded by St. Columbkille. It contains the Gospel of St. John complete, and portions of the other three Evangelists, together with some liturgical fragments and a collection of Memoranda of gifts and grants made to the monastery of Deer by the Celtic chiefs of the territory of Buchan in which it was situated. The text of the Gospels and of the liturgical fragments belongs to the ninth century: the Memoranda were written at different periods at a later age.

Mr. Stuart thus begins his prefatory remarks: ” Amid the darkness which enshrouds those missionaries who imparted to the heathen tribes of Alba the blessings of the Christian faith, the form of St. Columba stands out with exceptional clearness of outline ; and the popular instinct has not erred which ascribes to him the largest share in the great work, and traces to his mission the most enduring results. The almost contemporary pages of his biographer, St. Adamnan, enable us to realize to ourselves the system adopted by the great missionary in his enterprise. When he first took possession for Christ of the little island of Hy, which, under the name of Iona, was to become illustrious for all time from its association with him, he founded upon it a monastery in conformity with the system which then prevailed, not only in the country of the Scots (i.e., Ireland), from which he came, but throughout Europe. Every fresh settlement which the Saint effected as he pushed his Christian conquests, whether in the islands of -the Hebrides or in the mainland country of the northern Picts, consisted of a monastery for a body of clerics, from which they might disperse themselves in circuits among the surrounding tribes returning to their home for shelter and mutual support. One of these monastic settlements was that of Deer, in Buchan, a district of Aberdeenshire, which, projecting into the German Ocean, forms the most easterly point of Scotland ; and the legend of the Book of the Gospels of this house preserves in traditional detail the circumstances which marked the infancy of the establishment.”

One of the Celtic memoranda, giving an account of the foundation of the monastery, has been thus translated by Mr. Stokes :

” Columbcille and Drostan, son of Cosgrach, his pupil came from Hy, as God had shown to them, unto Abbordsdoir, and Bede, the Pict, was mormaer of Buchan before them, and it was he that gave them that town in freedom for ever from mormaer and tosech. They came after that to the other town, and it was pleasing to Columbcille, because it was full of God’s grace, and he asked of the mormaer Bede that he should give it to him, and he did not give it ; and a son of his took an illness after refusing the clerics, and was nearly dead. Then the mormaer went to entreat the clerics that they should make prayer for the son that health should come to him, and he gave an offering to them from Cloch-in-tiprat to Cloch-pette-mic-Garnait. They made the prayer and health came to him. After that Columbcille gave to Drostan that town, and blessed it, and left as his word, ‘ whosoever should come against it let him not be many-yeared victorious.’ Drostan’s tears (i.e. deara) came on parting with Columbcille. Said Columbcille, ‘ Let Dear be its name henceforward.’ “

The town of Aberdour gives name to a sheltered bay on the rocky shores of Buchan: and St. Columba, with his disciple St.Drostan, probably sailed thither from Iona in one of those frail coracles, which were so much in use with our early saints.

Even at the present day numerous hut-foundations of early times are traceable along the coast of Aberdour, and prove that a dense population must formerly have inhabited this district. The word town, however, used in the above legend, may perhaps, like the Latin civitas of our early records, mean nothing more than the site of the monastery and its enclosure granted to St. Columba. The memory of St. Drostan, whom the great Apostle of the Picts left to evangelize the district of Buchan, still lives at Aberdour. The Parish Church placed on the brink of a gorge, on a ledge or table-land overlooking the burn of the Dour, at a spot about 150 yards distant from the shore of the Moray Firth, was dedicated to God under his invocation, and till the beginning of the 16th century his relics were religiously preserved, there in a stone chest, and many miraculous cures were performed through his intercession.

In the face of the rock, not far from the spot where the stream falls into the sea, is also a clear spring of water, still called St. Drostan’s well.

From the monastery of Aberdour, St. Columba and his companions proceeded twelve miles inland to the banks of the river Ugie, where another town or “civitas,” sheltered by wooded heights, on one of which circular foundations, perhaps of some druidical temple, are still traceable, seemed to the saint to be well suited for a religious abode. It was pleasing to Columba, says the legend, because it was full of God’s grace. The Pictish ruler of Buchan at first refused to grant this spot to St. Columba, but finding that his son was struck with sudden sickness, and was all but dead, he changed his resolution and complied with the saint’s request. It was there that the monastery of Deer was founded, and its name was derived either from the tears (in Celtic deara) shed by St. Drostan on the departure of St. Columba, which is the derivation cherished in the traditions of the monastery itself, or from the surrounding oak woods, even as the great monastic foundations of the same saint at Durrow and Derry derived their Celtic names of Dair-mag and Daire-calgaich, which may be translated the ” plain of oaks” and “the oak wood of Calgach.” The latter derivation is that which Mr. Stuart considers the more probable, and he adds, “the parish is believed to have been at one time covered with wood, and the names of such places as. Aikiehill and Aikiebrae still preserve the recollection of the oaks which once grew there.” The site of Deer would have much to attract the susceptible nature of St. Columba ; with rich pasture on the banks of the river, and the surrounding hills crowned with oaks, he would often be reminded of his own dearly-loved monastery of Durrow and its woods.

As late as the middle of the twelfth century, as appears from the memoranda inserted in the Book of Deer, this monastery was still flourishing, and its inmates continued to receive from the bounty of the Gaelic chiefs of the district additions to their monastic inheritance. A little later it yielded its place to a noble Cistercian Abbey, founded by the Earl of Buchan, which, with the title of Abbey of Deer, inherited most of the lands of the old Columbian monastery.

At the sad era of the Reformation, the Abbey of Deer, with its property, passed into the hands of George, Earl Marischal ; but, as the wife of that nobleman foresaw, such sacrilegious plunder was. destined to be like ” a consuming moth in his house.” Before a century had passed it was remarked that ” the Earles of that house, who before wer the richest in the kingdom, having treasure in store besyd them ; ever since the addition of this so great revenue have losed their stock by heavie burdeines of debt and ingagment.”

The next century witnessed the total overthrow of this princely house, so true were the words pronounced by St. Columba when imparting his blessing to the infant monastery, ” whosoever shall come against it shall not be many years victorious.”

As regards the MS: of which we treat, it is written and ornamented in the best style of the early Irish school Mr. Stuart gives twenty-two plates of facsimiles from its pages, and these alone would suffice to convince any student of Celtic antiquities that it owes its birth to some religious of our island, and that its date cannot be later than the ninth century. One of the Rubrics in the liturgical fragment which the Book of Deer has preserved to us is written in the purest ancient Celtic. After the Gospel of St. John, at the end of the volume, an Irish Colophon is also added by the original scribe, and Mr. Stokes remarks ” that in point of language it is identical with the oldest Irish glosses in Zeuss’s Grammatica Celtica. The fact that this MS. was used as far back as the eleventh and twelfth centuries to receive the charter-memoranda of royal grants made to the monastery, would be -of itself a sufficient proof that it was even then regarded with special reverence, and held in the highest honour by the religious of that Celtic monastery, probably as being the work of some distinguished member of St. Columba’s community in earlier ages. We are not told how this precious volume escaped the vandal fury of the Reformation era. It is certain that many of the most venerable relics of early Celtic piety in Scotland were then consigned to the flames. Mr. Wyatt, in his “Art of Illuminating,” assures us that during the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, “cupidity and intolerance destroyed recklessly and ignorantly. . . . Persons were appointed to search out all missals, books of legends, and such superstitious books, and to destroy or sell them for waste paper, reserving only their bindings, when, as was frequently the case, they were ornamented with massive gold and silver, curiously chased, and often further enriched with precious stones ; and so industriously had these men done their work, destroying all books in which they considered Popish tendencies to be shown by the illumination, the use of red letters or of the cross, or even by the to them mysterious diagrams of mathematical works, that when, some years later, Leland was appointed to examine the monastic libraries with a view to the preservation of what was valuable in them, he found that those who had preceded him, had left little to reward his search.” Even Bale, who so fully shared the sentiments of the Scottish Puritans, does not hesitate to write that many of those who got possession of the religious houses ” reserved the library books, some for worse than profane purposes, some to scour their candlesticks, and some to rub their boots: some they sold to the grocers and soap-sellers, and some they sent over sea to the bookbinders, not in small numbers, but at times whole ships-full.” And he adds the following instance: “I know a merchant that bought the contents of two noble libraries for forty shillings price a shame it is to be spoken : this stuff hath he occupied in the stead of grey paper for the space of more than these ten years, and yet hath store enough for as many years to come. A prodigious example is this, and to be abhorred by all men who love their nation as they should do.” From a contemporary record preserved in the Registrar House, and cited in the Preface to the ” Book of Arbuthnot,” we further learn that these deeds of vandalism were not confined to the humbler and less tutored fanatics. One of its entries expressly declares that six precious Missals belonging to Queen Mary were taken by the Lord Murray, Regent of the Kingdom, and consigned to the flames :”Item : tanyne be my Lordis Grace and brint VI. Mess Buikis” The Bishop of Brechin adds that, the Regent burned them with his own hands.

The “Book of Deer” was probably carried away and concealed by some devoted inmate of the suppressed monastery, and no traces of it have been met with till more than a century after the outburst of this storm of Puritan superstition. In 1697 it formed part of the collection of MSS. of John Moore, then Bishop of Norwich, and with his library passed in the beginning of the next century into the possession of the University of Cambridge, where it is now numbered (I. i., b. 32).

Its Scriptural text is of course the most important feature of this ancient MS. It presents the Vulgate, but written in a very careless and corrupt manner, and with very many old and peculiar readings.

The first seventeen verses of St. Matthew’s Gospel are treated as a prologue, and are followed by the Rubric : “Finit Prologus. Item, incipit mine Evangelium secundum Matheum”. The following are a few instances of the peculiar readings of its text in the Gospel of St. John :

BOOK OF DEER.

VI. 34. Dixerunt ergo ad eum Domine semper nobis da panem hunc panem semper hunc.

VULGATE.

VI. 34. Dixerunt ergo ad eum : Domine semper da nobis panem hunc.

BOOK OF DEER

IX. i, 2. Et preteriens vidit Johannem cecum a nativitate et interrogaverunt eum discipuli ejus rabbi quis peccavit neque parentes ejus ut cecus nasceretur.

VULGATE

IX. i, 2. Et praeteriens Jesus vidit hominem caecum a nativitate. Et interrogaverunt eum discipuli ejus:Rabbi quis peccavit hie aut parentes ejus ut caecus nasceretur.

BOOK OF DEER

XIII. 10. Dicit ei Jesus, qui locutus est non indiget ut lavet sed est mundus totus.

VULGATE

XIII. 10. Dicit ei Jesus : qui lotus est non indiget nisi ut pedes lavet sed est mundus totus.

BOOK OF DEER

XIX. 30. . . . tradidit spiritum: cum autem exspirasset velum templi scisum est medium a sommo usque ad deorsum. Judei ergo, &c.

VULGATE

XIX. 30. . . . tradidit spiritum. Judaei ergo, &c.

The Celtic memoranda inserted in the ” Book of Deer” are described by Mr. Stuart as of the greatest importance for the illustration of local Scottish history. They prove, moreover, that some, at least, of the Celtic monasteries, as well as the Celtic population, continued to exist in Scotland till a much later period than is generally supposed. The last document engrossed in the book is a Latin charter of King David I. of Scotland, exempting the religious of the monastery from all lay interference and undue exaction. Among the witnesses to this grant is “Samson, bishop of Brechin,” which entry sets at rest an important controversy as to the foundation of the see of Brechin, and proves that it dates back to the reign of King David.

It is principally, however, to the short liturgical fragment contained in this ancient MS. that I now wish to refer. It occupies a portion of two leaves in the middle of the volume which seems to have been intentionally left blank for its insertion. Mr. Stuart, indeed, does not deny that it must be referred to the ninth century, still he considers it as written in a different hand from the biblical portion of the MS. Westwood and the bishop of Brechin, however, do not share this opinion, and indeed it will suffice to compare the facsimiles printed by Mr. Stuart himself to recognize the same hand in the liturgical fragment and in a portion at least of the biblical text; for, as frequently happens in Irish MSS. for instance, in the “Antiphonary of Bangor,” the ” Liber Hymnorum,” the ” Leabhar Breac,” &c., even the original portion of the volume presents traces of different scribes, or,at least, of more than one style of writing of the same scribe.

The fragment of the liturgy which is thus preserved is the ceremonial for administering the Holy Communion to the sick ; and it happens that a corresponding portion of our ancient ritual has been preserved to us in more than one other ancient copy of the Gospels. ”In the middle of the book” writes Dr. Forbes, ” there are two leaves which contain, in an Irish handwriting, the following service. It will be observed as a curious coincidence that the three services (i.e. of the books of Moling, Dimma, and Deer) all occur on a spare leaf in an Evangelistarium, and that they all relate to the communion of the sick . . . The Book of the Gospels was no doubt carried to the sick person’s house, and it would be to meet the convenience of the priest that this service, together with the prayers for the sick, was written in the same volume.” The following is the interesting fragment of the sacred liturgy of our ancient Church us in the “Book of Deer”:

[Please consult original volume for the Latin text]

TRANSLATION.

Again : a prayer before the “Our Father”

O God, the creator of all things, and the Father of all creatures in heaven and on earth, receive at thy throne of unapproachable light the pious prayers of thy trembling people, and amidst the unceasing canticles of the surrounding cherubim and seraphim hear the petitions of our unhesitating hope.

Our Father, who art in heaven,&c., unto the end.

Deliver us, O Lord, from evil. O Lord Jesus Christ, preserve us at all times in every good work : O God, the source and creator of all good, cleanse us from vice and replenish us with holy virtues through thee O Christ Jesus :

Here give the Sacrifice to Him.

May the Body with the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ be health to thee unto eternal life and salvation.

Nourished with the Body and Blood of Christ may we always say to Thee, O Lord, Alleluja, Alleluja.

Who hath satiated the humble soul and replenished the hungry soul with good things, Alleluja, Alleluja.

And may they offer the sacrifice of praise : with the remainder of the psalm to the word rejoicing. Alleluja, Alleluja.

I will take the chalice of salvation and invoke the name of the Lord, Alleluja, Alleluja.

Nourished with the Body of Christ, &c. Alleluja, Alleluja.

Praise the Lord all ye nations, Alleluja, Alleluja.

[The antiphon “Nourished,” given above was to be here recited in full.

The psalm Laudate was to be recited here, to the Gloria.]

Glory (be to the Father, &c.)

Nourished by the Body of Christ. Alleluja, Alleluja.

Both now and for evermore.

Nourished, &c.

Offer unto God the sacrifice of justice, and hope in the Lord.

O God, we render thanks to Thee, through whom we have celebrated the Holy Mysteries, and we supplicate at thy hands the gifts of Holiness. Have mercy on us, O Lord, O Saviour of the world. Who reigneth unto all ages Amen. The end.

I need not call the reader’s attention to the clear proof afforded by this fragment to the belief of our early church in the doctrine of the Real Presence in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar. The word “Sacorfaice,” i.e. sacrifice, which is here employed to designate the Blessed Eucharist, was constantly used by our ancient writers in reference as well to Communion as to the Holy Sacrifice. This is admitted by Usher in his “Religion of the ancient Irish.” “They used,” he says, ” the name of sacrifice indifferently of that which was offered to God, and of that which was given to and received by the Communicant,” and he gives the following instances from our early writers. In the collection of Canons, made for the Irish Church about the year 700, permission is granted to a Bishop to bequeath by testament a portion of his goods “to the Priest that giveth him the Sacrifice.” Again, in one of the Synods of St. Patrick, the following canon occurs:

” He who deserveth not to receive the sacrifice during his life, how can it help him after his death.” And in the Commentary of Sedulius the phrase also occurs ” Await one for another, i.e. (adds Sedulius) until you receive the Sacrifice.”

At the close of the Book of Deer, the Apostles’ Creed is inserted in full in the handwriting of the original scribe. It will not be uninteresting to the reader to insert it in full, as it too forms part of the sacred Liturgy, and presents some curious readings peculiar to this MS.

Credo in Deum patrem omnipotentem creatorem caeli et terrae. Et in Jesum Christum filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum qui conceptus est de Spiritu Sancto. Natus ex Maria Virgine, passus sub Pontio Pilato, crucifixus et sepultus, descendit ad inferna. Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit in caelum, sedit ad dexteram Dei patris omnipotentis. Inde venturus est judicare viros et mortuos. Credo et in Spiritum Sanctum, sanctamque Ecclesiam Catholicam, sanctorum Communionem, remissionem peccatorum. Carnis resurectionis vitam aeternam. Amen.”

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD Vol VI JULY, 1870, 549-559

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