Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 33

I.--ST. FINTAN.

Several famous religious houses were in ancient days founded around the base of the Slieve Bloom mountains, and the great saints who founded them were mostly contemporaries and intimate friends. Saigher, now called Serkieran, from the name of its founder, Ciaran the Elder, was situated in the old territory of Ely, at the north-western base of the mountain, about four miles east of Birr. Exactly at the southern corner of the mountain slope St. Molua built his oratory, which was called from him Cluain-ferta-Molua, but is now known by the name of Kyle. St. Cronan's Church of Roscrea, his first oratory, close to Corville House, and the beautiful little abbey of Monahincha--Giraldus' Island of the Living--called by the Four Masters, Inis-locha-Cre--are all still to be seen in the north-western extremity of Tipperary, not more than three miles from Kyle. There on the great plain that stretches along the south-eastern base of the mountain, we find, a little to the right of the railway to Maryborough, first St. Canice's old abbey of Aghaboe, then farther on to the left, near Mountrath, is St. Fintan's Church of Clonenagh. Not far from Clonenagh is the townland of Disartbeagh, where St. aengus used to sit by the side of the 'cold pure Nore,' and like Abraham, received visits from the angels. Still further on, not far from Maryborough to the right, are Dysartenos, to which the same aengus gave his name, and Coolbanagher beyond the Heath of Maryborough, where he saw the angels around the grave of the old soldier who loved to invoke the saints of G.o.d. Not inviting from a scenic point of view are the marshy meadows and sluggish streams of that broad plain; but it is relieved by the great bold mountain on the left, and more than all it is crowded with memorials of the saints of G.o.d.

Clonenagh, in Irish, _Cluain Eidnech_, the Ivy Meadow, is situated about four miles south-west of Maryborough, in the Queen's County. At one time, it is said, there were no less than seven churches there, and the fact that there are at least four distinct old grave-yards, quite convenient to each other, shows that there were at least several distinct churches around Clonenagh in ancient times. From the sixth to the twelfth century, it was not only a great school and monastery, but also the seat of a bishop, who appears to have exercised jurisdiction over the western portion of the ancient Leix (Laeghis), the territory of O'Moore.

It was indeed a secluded spot, almost surrounded by bogs, but the rounded slopes of its verdant knolls gave picturesque variety to what would otherwise be a very dreary scene. Its founder, St. Fintan, was a very remarkable man--in fact an extreme type of the asceticism of the age; yet he was greatly beloved in his own time, and his influence was felt for many centuries after his death. Clonenagh, too, derives a special interest from the fact that it was the _Alma Mater_ of aengus the Culdee, the most ancient and reliable authority we have on the history of the early saints of Ireland.

Fintan was the son of Gabhren, of the race of Eochaidh Finnfuathairt, and is said to have been born in the territory of Leinster. Leinster at that time was, roughly speaking, bounded on the west by the River Barrow, and did not include Leix. This Eochaidh was a brother of Conn the Hundred-Fighter, who came to help the Leinster King to expel the men of Munster from Leix and Ossory. For this service he received the Seven Forthartha in Leinster, in which he and his descendants settled. The Barony of Forth in Wexford was one of these districts, and still retains the name. There is a local tradition that Fintan was born near Clonenagh,[319] but this can hardly be reconciled with the express statement of his Leinster origin. His mother was Findath, probably of the same race. She was warned by an angel to retire to a secret place until after the birth of her son, who would be holy to the Lord. On the eighth day the child was baptized by a certain holy man, who dwelt in Cluain Mac Trein; and hence it would appear that it was near this place the child was born. It is supposed that the place takes its name from Trein, or Trian, son of the celebrated Dubthach Mac Ua Lugair, who rose up to do honour to St. Patrick at Tara. The Hy-Trian, his descendants by this Trian, seem to have been located at Limbrick, in the Barony of Gorey, county Wicklow, and it is not unlikely that Fintan was born there about the year A.D. 525. We know that he was a little younger than Columcille, and as the latter was born about A.D. 521, Fintan must have been born a few years later.

During his youth Fintan studied under the care of the holy man who baptized him; but the place is not indicated in his life. It must have been some place not very far from Clonard, for we are told that on one occasion as Columcille was pa.s.sing not far off, he stopped and invited his companions to visit the master and his pupil. Fintan already filled with the spirit of prophecy, had told his master to prepare for guests, as Columcille was coming to visit him. The master doubting the boy, and probably a little jealous of the favour shown him, sharply rebuked Fintan for his presumption; but when Columcille arrived, he rebuked the master, and told him that both himself and his place of abode would belong to Fintan for ever. This would seem to imply that this incident took place somewhere in the neighbourhood of Clonenagh.

Shortly afterwards Fintan was placed under the care of Columba Mac Crimthann, better known as Columba of Terrygla.s.s; but he had yet not founded that celebrated establishment on the sh.o.r.es of Lough Derg. With Fintan there were two others, St. Caemhen of Annatrim, not far from Clonenagh, and St. Moc.u.min, or Mochocma, who succeeded Columba at Terrygla.s.s. These were both half-brothers of the great St. Kevin of Glendalough; and very naturally were placed under the care of St. Columba, son of Crimthann, who was their first cousin. Fintan was probably also connected with these saints by family ties, as they all came originally from the same district of Leinster. At first it seems Columba wished to settle with his disciples at some place in their native territory--in finibus Lageniensium--and actually had chosen a beautiful spot for their monastery, where they hoped to live together in holiness and peace; for, says the Life, they had only one heart, and in the gladness of their united souls they cried out to their master, "Oh! it is good for us to be here." "Not so," said Columba; "G.o.d reserves this place not for us, but for one not yet born, Mobhi Mac Calde,"[320] or, as it is elsewhere, Mobhi Mac c.u.malde. The true reading is probably Mobhi Mac Colmaidh, who was the son of Caeltigerna, a sister of St. Kevin, and a nephew (yet unborn) of the two brothers, Moc.u.min and Caemhen; but the place of his Church has not been ascertained. Thereupon they left the territory of Leinster and came to the place now called Clonenagh, where they remained for an entire year without, however, founding there as yet any permanent establishment.

It was surrounded by bogs, but sheltered by great oak woods festooned with cl.u.s.tering ivy. Great crowds of people, however, and amongst them numbers of their own friends, continued to crowd in upon the saints, and disturbed their repose, so that Columba resolved to seek some more retired place in which to serve G.o.d. They saw the wild solitudes of Slieve Bloom rising over them to the north-west, and thither Columba now directed his steps, followed by his faithful disciples. On the mountain side they met several boys who were herding cattle, one of whom, Setne, was voiceless from his mother's womb. Columba made the sign of the cross upon his mouth, and bade him tell them the place of their resurrection. Then the dumb boy spoke plainly, and told each of them where he was to die, and arise from the dead. Hereupon Columba looking down the mountain saw Clonenagh, which they had left, filled with G.o.d's angels, and he was much saddened at the sight.

Upon inquiry he told them the reason--how he saw the place they had deserted filled with ministering angels, and how anxious he was that some of them should return to the holy spot. So Fintan promptly volunteered to return, and thus became the real founder of that great monastic establishment, which ever since bears his name.

Numbers of disciples now gathered round him, for the fame of his sanct.i.ty was very great. He wrote a Rule for his community which unfortunately has been lost; but we are told that it was very strict, even beyond the monastic rules of that time. His monks worked with hands and feet, digging the soil with spade and hoe, as hermits usually do. They had no cattle--not even a single heifer--and therefore no milk; they even refused to take the milk which their neighbours, pitying their poverty, used to bring them. Fintan would not allow it.

Cainnech, however, of Aghaboe, and other saints in the neighbourhood came to Fintan, and begged him to remit a little of the extreme rigour of their lives. Fintan, divinely admonished, yielded to their suggestions--remitting the severity of his rule in favour of others--but still himself adhering to his own practices of mortification.

It is no wonder that such a man was filled with the spirit of prophecy, and performed many wonderful miracles, that were much noised abroad. One miracle is recorded, which ill.u.s.trates the spirit of filial affection that prevailed in the midst of all this rigour of discipline. The saint went out to see his monks, who were working in the field. When they saw their father, like children, the half-starved monks ran up to him, and catching hold of him, they besought him to give them something better than usual for their refection, as great folk do, who visit the workmen. Fintan smiled on his children, and told them he had nothing to give them; but that G.o.d was good, and might give in his stead. Next day certain men came from Leinster, bringing to the monastery waggon loads of provisions, as much as eighty men could carry, so that the poor famished brethren, living almost entirely on herbs, got more than one good meal from these supplies.

One of the most distinguished pupils that issued from this great school was St. Comgall of Bangor. So great was the fame of Clonenagh at this period that Comgall came all the way from Dalaradia to place himself under the guidance of its holy abbot. As Clonenagh was founded about the year A.D. 548, when Fintan was not more than twenty-five years of age, Comgall can hardly have arrived there earlier than A.D. 550, and in that case the master was probably eight or ten years younger than the disciple--a not unusual occurrence in those days. Comgall at first felt all the severity of the discipline at Clonenagh, and was greatly tempted to abandon his purpose; but by G.o.d's grace, and the advice of Fintan, he persevered, and then found his soul filled with great spiritual joy. He remained some years at Clonenagh, where he formally received the monastic habit, though he was not yet admitted to Holy Orders. By Fintan's advice he then returned home to found the celebrated monastery on the southern sh.o.r.es of Belfast Lough, which will be for ever connected with his name.

On another occasion, a certain cruel and heartless king, Colman, son of Cairbre, the ruler of North Leinster, kept in bonds a n.o.ble youth, Cormac, the son of Diarmaid, king of Hy-Kinsellagh, with the intention, it appears, of putting him to death. Fintan, who was himself connected with the royal race of the Hy-Kinsellagh, set out with twelve companions for Rathmore, where Colman then lived and kept his prisoner. This is more likely to be Rathmore, about four miles east of Naas, where the great rath still exists, than Rathmore, east of Tullow, in the county Wicklow. In the _Salamanca MS._, the place is called _Rathmoin_, and there is a Rathmoon close to Baltingla.s.s, which possibly may have been the scene of the miracle. When Colman heard of Fintan's approach, he locked his gates, and doubled the guards over the prisoner; but it was all in vain. The gates opened of themselves to admit Fintan, and the terrified guards ran off to tell their still more affrighted master, who quickly consented to release young Cormac. One of Colman's sons wished to slay the late captive before he could get away; but Fintan threatened him with Divine vengeance, a threat that was speedily fulfilled, for he was slain before the end of a month, whilst Cormac, the captive, became a monk, and ended his days in peace and holiness in the monastery of Bangor. It may be that he was a fellow-student of Comgall at Clonenagh, and was thus induced to go to the monastery of his old fellow-student. We find, indeed, that an intimate friends.h.i.+p and intercommunication existed between these two monasteries; and very frequently the monks of Clonenagh paid a visit to St. Comgall at Bangor, by whom they were always most kindly received.

On another occasion Fintan was sojourning at the monastery of Achad-Fingla.s.s, most likely founded by himself at Idrone, in the County Carlow. The old church of Agha, about four miles east of Old Leighlin, probably marks the site of this monastery. A holy bishop, called Brandubh, of the Hy-Kinsellagh, came to ask permission of the saint to be allowed to end his days at Clonenagh. The saint readily consented, but advised the bishop rather to remain where they then were, and where the rule was not so strict, and would not be so severe as at Clonenagh. The bishop followed Fintan's counsel, but induced him to promise that in case Fintan died first, he would soon come to meet him, and bring his soul to heaven.

Fintan promised, and kept his word; for three weeks after his own death, he came with seven spirits, clothed in white, to bring to heaven the holy soul of the venerable bishop. May not this Agha monastery be that religious house founded by Columba and his three disciples in the territory of the men of Leinster before they came to Clonenagh?

"No one," says the writer of his Life, "can describe the charity, meekness, humility, patience, abstinence, watchings, and other virtues of this blessed man." He constantly watched over his community with the most tender and devoted care. He was always ready to succour the afflicted, and to protect the oppressed; his was a name which good men loved, and bad men feared throughout all the territory of Leinster. Towards the close of his life he chose one of his own monks, named Fintan Maeldubh, as his successor, and 'placed him in his chair.' Then calling all the members of the community around him, he raised his hands to heaven, and solemnly gave them his blessing. After which he received the "Sacrifice," and went to sleep in the Lord. He died on the 17th February, about the year A.D. 592, some time before the death of St. Columba in A.D. 597.

A young man from Leix went to Iona, and when there asked St. Columba's advice as to the choice of a spiritual director, when he should return home. Columba recommended Fintan as the best and holiest director he knew.

We are told, however, that _shortly after_ this young man's return to Ireland, Fintan was called to his reward; which shows that he must have died at Clonenagh before St. Columba died at Iona. He was buried at Clonenagh; but there is now no trace of his tomb.

St. Fintan has been called by many old writers the Father of the Irish Monks, and he has been likened in his manner of life to St. Benedict, the great founder of western monasticism--at least on the Continent of Europe.

He was not, indeed, the oldest, nor even the most celebrated of the Second Order of Irish Saints, who devoted themselves to the monastic life. But he founded his monastery when very young; his own life was extremely ascetic; and he had amongst his novices and disciples several of the most celebrated founders of religious houses in Ireland. In this way it came to pa.s.s that as Finnian of Clonard was the tutor of the Saints of Ireland, so Fintan came to be described as the Father of the Irish Monks. And as Clonard was looked upon as a great school, so Clonenagh, like Aran, came to be regarded during the life of its holy founder as a kind of noviciate for the training of monks, many of whom went to Bangor, and elsewhere; and thus diffused through Erin his discipline and his spirit.

The most remarkable scholar of Clonenagh was St. aengus, the Culdee.

II.--ST. aeNGUS.

aengus was a student at Clonenagh during the prelacy of the Abbot Melaithgen or Melaithgenius.

The materials for a Life of St. aengus are very scanty. We have no original Life, and only two doc.u.ments that tell us anything about him--the Scholiast's Introduction to his writings, and a poem in praise of the saint, written by a namesake, apparently not very long after his death.

From these two sources we gather the following facts:--

Through his father, Oengoba, son of Oblen, he derived his descent from Coelbach, King of Ireland, who belonged to the royal race of the Dalaradians of Ulster. He was probably born in the neighbourhood of Clonenagh, about the middle of the eighth century. From his earliest youth he seems to have been trained to sanct.i.ty and learning in the monastic school of Clonenagh, which, as we have seen, was then ruled by the learned and pious Melaithgen. Under this holy master the young aengus made very great progress. He not only became, as his writings prove, an accomplished scholar, but also a model of every virtue. He seems to have been devoted to ascetical practices even from his earliest youth; and he loved to spend most of his time in prayer and solitude. Hence he came to be called by excellence the Culdee, that is, the _Ceile De_, or servant of G.o.d. He was probably the first to whom this appellation was given, as a kind of surname in recognition of his great sanct.i.ty and self-denial. Afterwards the name was given to other ascetic solitaries, who, though not a religious order in the proper sense of the word, still formed communities of anchorites living apart, but yet frequently meeting in the same church for devotional purposes, and recognising a common superior to whom they were duly obedient. Later on numbers of the secular clergy formed themselves into somewhat similar communities, and came to be known by the same name. They were in reality, however, what is known as Canons secular, that is a body of secular clergy, living apart, but subject to a common rule, which was generally the rule of St. Augustine.

The _Ceile De_ of the earlier period divided his time between prayer, manual labour, and literary employment, if he were a man of learning and ability. He was never a burden to others, for he and his brethren contrived to procure from their little farms not only their own scant and meagre fare, but also the means of hospitable entertainment for the poor and the stranger.

aengus seems to have spent, many years in this kind of solitary life, living alone in his little cell, and finding sustenance in the roots of the earth, or the produce of his garden. His first cell was probably at Disert-beagh, which is not more than a mile from Clonenagh, and likely got its name from having been the desertum, or solitary abode of the saint. He had not yet forsaken his beloved community of Clonenagh on the banks of the infant Nore; and he loved them dearly to the end, if we may believe his poetical namesake in the _Leabhar Breac_--

"Pleasant to sit here thus Beside the cold pure Nore."

And then follow the stanzas which, Mr. Matthew Arnold declared, show as fine a perception of what const.i.tutes propriety and felicity of style as anything to be found in a Greek epitaph--

"aengus out of the a.s.sembly of Heaven, Here are his tomb and his bed, It is hence he went to death, On Friday to the holy Heaven; It is in Cluain Eidnech he was reared, It is in Cluain Eidnech he was buried, It is in Cluain Eidnech of many crosses He first read his psalms."

But Disert-beagh was not lonely enough for aengus--it was too near the great monastic school, and doubtless his solitude was often disturbed by truant youth, or inquisitive strangers. So he put his books in his satchel, took his staff in his hand, and made his way as best he could through the bogs and mora.s.ses, where the railway now runs, until he came to the place called after him, Dysert Enos or the Desert of aengus. It is about eight miles from Clonenagh, and two to the south-east of Maryborough on the slope of a broken ridge of bluish gray limestone, that relieves to some extent that dreary and featureless plain. The present grave-yard, surrounding the roofless Protestant Church, probably marks the site of the primitive oratory founded by aengus; and shows that though dead to the world, like most of his countrymen the self-denying ascetic had an eye for the natural beauty of a picturesque landscape. It afforded him too what he no doubt prized much, a distant prospect of his beloved Clonenagh, beyond the swampy moorland, under the shadow of Slieve Bloom.

In this lonely retreat aengus practiced the severest penitential observance. He made three hundred genuflections every day; and moreover recited the entire psaltery. But not in ordinary fas.h.i.+on; he divided his self-imposed office into three parts. Fifty psalms he said in his cell; fifty more he recited in the open air under the shade of a spreading tree that embowered his little oratory; the last fifty, if we can credit his biographer, he repeated with his neck chained to a post, and his body half plunged in a huge tub of cold water.

Penance like this showed that aengus was a saint; so in spite of his efforts to conceal himself the world soon found him out, and strangers began to disturb him once more. Before all things he loved to be alone, and so once again he resolved to make his escape from men, and hide himself for ever from their foolish admiration and applause. This time he resolved to adopt another plan, and strove to escape from the crowd not so much by shunning their presence, as by concealing his ident.i.ty.

It is doubtful if aengus when setting out knew what was to be his final destination. He left his cell at Dysart Enos, trusting solely to the guidance of Providence; and Providence never deserts those who put their trust in G.o.d.

Shortly after setting out on his journey, as we should now say towards Dublin, aengus entered a way-side church to pray to G.o.d, and ask His guidance and protection. This was probably the first church which he met on his way; it is now called Coolbanagher, about four miles from Dysart Enos, beyond the Heath of Maryborough, and not far from Portarlington.

There he saw a vision of angels hovering around a newly-made grave. He asked the priest, who served the little church, whose was that new grave.

The priest told him it was the grave of a soldier who had served G.o.d faithfully for many years. Then aengus asked him was he in the habit of practising any special mortification, or any peculiar devotion. The priest knew of nothing special, or unusual, in his case, except that he made it a constant practice every day to invoke the intercession of all G.o.d's saints, whom he could call to mind. This incident made a very deep impression on aengus. He _saw_ how meritorious it was to invoke the saints; and so he resolved thereafter, if he could find time and place, to compose a metrical catalogue of the saints, which devout souls might more easily remember and recite for their own spiritual welfare.

Afterwards aengus went his way, and at length came to St. Maelruain's monastery at Tallaght, near Dublin, then, and almost ever since, a favourite home of religious men. He was quite unknown to the inmates of the monastery, so, concealing his name and learning, he sought admission into the community as an humble lay-brother. His pious request was readily granted; but, of course, the novice was put to the meanest and hardest work in the monastery. He reaped the corn in the field; carried it to the barn on his back; threshed it; winnowed, dried, and ground it in the mill for the use of the brotherhood. He wore the poorest rags he could find during his rounds of daily toil; his hair was so unkempt that it was as if the ears of corn grew in it; his hands were h.o.r.n.y with the flail, and his face black with sweat and dust. So he lived unknown to all, labouring with his hands, but praying to G.o.d in his heart.

At length it pleased Providence to uncover this s.h.i.+ning light, so that it might be seen by men. A truant scholar of the monastery, who was either unable or neglected to learn his lesson, fearing to present himself before the abbot in cla.s.s, took refuge in the barn where aengus was working. He sympathised with the poor boy, bade him lie down in the straw, and rest himself, and that all would be well. The boy did so, and soon fell fast asleep in the barn. When he awoke refreshed, aengus asked him to repeat the lesson; he obeyed, and partly, no doubt, by the instructions, and partly by the kind encouragement of the good monk, he completely succeeded in mastering his lesson. aengus then told him go to the school, but to say nothing of what happened in the barn. The boy went to his cla.s.s, and astonished his master by having his lesson perfectly--which seems to have been in his case quite an unusual occurrence. The abbot, suspecting something, made inquiries, and insisted on learning the whole truth. Then the boy confessed what took place in the barn, and how the lay-brother had gone over his lesson with him. The truth at once flashed upon the mind of Maelruain; he had probably heard of the disappearance of aengus from Dysart Enos, and now felt certain that the hard-working lay-brother was no other than the great scholar of Clonenagh. So he went at once to the barn, and embracing aengus most tenderly, reproached him for so long concealing himself from the community. aengus humbly asked pardon of the abbot, which, of course, had been already granted, and was at once received into his most intimate friends.h.i.+p--a friends.h.i.+p that endured until Maelruain's death.

The abbot now resolved to utilize, for G.o.d's glory, the great learning and talents of the distinguished scholar, whom Providence had bestowed on the community of Tallaght. aengus, on his part, was most anxious to co-operate with Maelruain; and so these two holy men set about the composition of those works which have contributed so much to the glory of G.o.d, and of the ancient Church of Ireland.

The _Martyrology of Tallaght_ was probably their first work: and is supposed to have been the joint production of aengus and Maelruain. If so, it must have been written before the year A.D. 792, when Maelruain died.

It is described by O'Curry as a catalogue in prose of the saints of Erin, and their festival days, with brief notices in some instances of their fathers and of the churches which they founded. It is considered to be the oldest of our Irish Martyrologies; and according to Michael O'Clery--no mean authority--it furnished the materials for the great poem called the _Felire_, or Festology of the Saints, which aengus subsequently composed.

Nor is it difficult to explain O'Curry's objection to this hypothesis--namely, that it contains the names of several saints who lived longer than aengus himself--as, for instance, of Blathmac, who was martyred in Hy by the Danes in A.D. 823, and Felimy MacCriffan (Crimhthainn) King of Munster, who died in A.D. 825--for these names may have been added by a later hand, or by the first copyist. The oldest copy of this Martyrology is found in the _Book of Leinster_, but Brother Michael O'Clery made a more complete copy, which is now in the Burgundian Library at Brussels. It was borrowed from the Belgian Government in 1849, and copied for Dr. Todd by the late lamented Eugene O'Curry. The same text was translated and published, with notes, by Dr. Mathew Kelly, of Maynooth, in 1847.

The most celebrated, however, and by far the most valuable of the writings of aengus is his _Felire_, or Festology of the Saints. He conceived the idea of this work from the vision of Angels which he saw in the old Church of Coolbanagher, over the grave of the poor soldier, who used to invoke the saints of G.o.d. Doubtless, as an aid to the memory, it is written in verse, and in what O'Curry p.r.o.nounces to be the best and purest style of our language--the Gaedhlic of the eighth century. The same authority declares that it is the oldest and the most important of all our Martyrologies. One of the best copies is that contained in the famous compilation called the _Leabhar Breac_, or Great Book of Duniry, in the county Galway. In the preface or introduction to the work there is a short notice of the writer, and of the time, place, and purport of his composition.

The time of its composition was during the reign of the monarch Aedh Oirnidhe, who reigned from A.D. 793 to 817, so that though planned during the abbacy of Maelruain, it was not written until after his death. It appeared probably about the year A.D. 800, with the approbation of one of the greatest scholars of the time, "Fothadh of the Canon."

O'Curry conjectures that at this period aengus had left Tallaght and returned to his first cell at Disert-beagh, near Clonenagh. Aedh, the King, just at this time made an incursion into Leinster, and pitched his camp not far from Monasterevan, in the Queen's County. It seems that up to this period the clergy were compelled to follow the native princes in battle, and even sometimes took an active part in the conflict. This, however, was altogether against the Canon Law; and on the present occasion Conmach, the Primate-Archbishop of Armagh, and his clergy protested against the practice, and appealed to the king to allow them to return home and confine themselves to the discharge of their spiritual functions.

The king took this remonstrance in good part, and as they were encamped in Leix, offered to refer their complaint to the decision of Fothadh, his own poet, tutor, and adviser. Fothadh thus appealed to, gave his decision in favour of the clerics and against the king, and being a poet gave it in rhyme. His decision thus given, exempting the clergy from military service, was known as the Canon, and he himself came to be called Fothadh-na-Canoine.

Fothadh showed the stanzas in which he expressed his decision to aengus, who entirely approved of it both as to matter and form. aengus on the same occasion showed his own poem on the Saints of Erin to Fothadh, for he was fully sensible of the great importance of securing for his own work the approbation of the royal Bard. That approval was warmly and generously given, accompanied with a strong recommendation to the faithful generally to use the poem in their public and private devotions.

The _Felire_ is divided into three parts: the first part is introductory to the body of the work, and consists of five quatrains, invoking in very beautiful language the gift of heavenly wisdom from the King of the White Sun, that the poet may, with a pure heart, fitly celebrate the praises of the royal hosts of the great and good all-righteous King. He then alludes to the consolation which he himself found in celebrating the praises of the saints. He describes the various torments which the soldiers of Jesus suffered, and which they endured with joyful heroism. Now they enjoy their reward for ever with Mary's Son; while their bodies here below are enshrined in bright gold. Herod and Pilate are then contrasted with Christ, Nero with Peter and Paul, Pilate's queen with the Virgin Mary.

Earthly power and glory are fleeting in comparison with the love of 'Mary's Son,' and earthly princes are less than the lowly soldiers of Jesus. Tara has perished, but Armagh is still crowded with the sons of wisdom. King Laeghaire's glory is gone, but Patrick's name still lives and will live for ever.

The body of the work contains 365 quatrains, in which the writer celebrates on every day the praises not only of our princ.i.p.al Irish saints, but also commemorates several saints of the Universal Church. The text is interlined with a very ancient gloss and commentary, as well as with notes fixing the sites of the churches of several of the saints referred to. This gloss and the accompanying notes, whilst adding much to the difficulty of editing the work itself, render it an invaluable aquisition to the historian and archaeologist.

In the third part the author recapitulates his poem, explains its construction and arrangement, directs the faithful how to use it, and apologises for the fact that of necessity he could only introduce the chiefs and princes of the saints into his poem. Yet he spared no pains to make it as complete as possible, consulting for the foreign saints, Ambrose, Jerome, and Eusebius; and for the Irish saints, he not only consulted "the countless hosts of the illuminated books of Erin," but he himself travelled throughout the entire country visiting their churches and collecting the local traditions regarding them. Lest, however, any might be jealous for being omitted, he invokes them in this third part under certain general heads--patriarchs, prophets, virgins, martyrs, etc., etc.--so that not a single one of the heavenly host at home or abroad can complain of the want of some reference to his or her memory. It is not too much to say that the _Felire_ of aengus is on the whole the most valuable of the Irish ecclesiastical treatises that have happily been preserved down to our own times.

Another valuable work which we owe to the indefatigable industry of aengus is the collection of _Pedigrees of the Irish Saints_--the oldest, and therefore the most authentic collection that we possess, and enriched moreover with valuable topographical notes and references to many of our ancient churches. The fifth part of this work is the _Book of Litanies_, which has been published in the third volume of the _Irish Ecclesiastical Record_. It affords conclusive proof of one fact, that the invocation of the saints was not only a well recognised, but quite a common form of devotion in the early Church of Ireland. Indeed there is scarcely a single folio of any portion of the writings of aengus that does not afford conclusive evidence of the same fact.

The last work of aengus is the _Saltair-na-Rann_, which Eugene O'Curry describes as "consisting of 150 poems on the history of the Old Testament, written in the finest style of the Gaedhlic language of the middle of the eighth century." Probably it got its name from its resemblance, at least in number, to the Psalms of David. It is, according to the same authority, altogether a different work from the comparatively modern poem of the same name in the British Museum.