Part 11

LA and VG know nothing of the visit to Loch Erne of which this is the chief incident. Ninned here appears as an abbot, which is scarcely consistent with his previous appearance as a junior fellow-student of Ciaran. There is, however, a possible hint at this tradition in the statement in VG that when Ciaran departed from Clonard he left the Dun Cow with Ninned. Ninned's island, as we learn from an entry in the _Martyrology of Donegal_ (18th January) was Inis Muighe Samh, now spelt Inismacsaint, in Loch Erne. The reading in both MSS. of LB, _silua_ for _insula_, evidently rests on a false interpretation of a word or a contraction in the exemplar from which R1 was copied. This seems to have been hard to read at the incident before us. Later on there is a word, which the sense shows us must have been _potentes_. The scribe of R1 could not read it, and left a blank, which he afterwards tentatively filled in with the meaningless word _fatentes_--a word which his copyist, the scribe of R2, emended by guesswork into _fac(i)entes_.

_Parallels._--There are several cases of the restoration to life of persons who had been decapitated. Coemgen restored two women who had been thus treated (VSH, i, 239). The famous Welsh holy well of Saint Winefred in Flintshire is associated with a similar miracle (see Rees' _Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 17, 304). The story of the three murdered monks is also told of Saint Aed (VSH, i, 38), but there the blood-mark round their necks is absent. Ciaran seems to have been less expert than some of his brethren in replacing severed heads on decapitated bodies; for according to a tale preserved in the _Book of Lismore_, there was a certain lord of the region of Ui Maine (the region west of the Shannon), who was called Coirpre the Crooked, for the following reason: he was an evil man who did great mischief to every one, in consequence of which he was murdered and beheaded. But Ciaran had shriven him, and in order to deliver his soul from demons he restored him to life, replacing his head--so clumsily, however, that it was ever afterwards crooked.

A certain man called Ambacuc, having perjured himself on the hand of Ciaran, his head fell off. He was taken to Clonmacnois, and not only lived there headless for seven years, but became the father of a family![19]

XXXI. HOW CIARAN FLOATED A FIREBRAND ON THE LAKE (LB)

_The Harbour of the Island._--It must be remembered, in reading this and other island stories, that as a rule "the harbour of the island" is not, as might be expected, the landing-stage on the island itself, but the port on the mainland from which ships depart to visit the island. Thus Portraine, a place on the coast north of Dublin, is properly _Port Rachrann_, the Port of Rachra--the port from which voyagers sailed to Rachra, the island now called by its Norse name Lambay.

_Parallels._--I have not found an exact parallel, but the story belongs to the same family as that related of Coemgen, who kindled a fire with the drops of water that fell from his fingers after washing his hands (CS, 839).

XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN (LA, LB, VG)

_The Aran Islands._--The marvellous isles of Aran, still a museum of all periods of ancient Irish history, with their immense prehistoric forts and their strange little oratories, were from an early date chosen as the site of Christian communities. Enda ruled over a community at the southern end of the Great Island; the church still survives, in ruin, and bears his name. Ciaran must have remained long enough in Aran to make a permanent impression there, for one of the ancient churches--much later than his time, however--is dedicated under his invocation. The reference to saints "known to God only" reminds us of the dedications to saints "whose names the Lord knows" in Greek on the font of the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem, and in Armenian on a mosaic pavement at Jerusalem.

_Prophecy by Vision._--This is not an infrequent incident in the saints' Lives. It often appears at the beginning of a Life, the saint's mother having a dream interpreted by some one, whom she consults, as indicative of the future greatness and holiness of her unborn son. I have not hit upon another case in these documents of the same dream appearing to two persons at once.

Ciaran's visit to Enda is described at length in the _Vita Endei_ (VSH, ii, 71-2). We are there told that he was seven years in Aran, serving faithfully in the monastic threshing-barn, so that in the chaff-heaps it would have been impossible to discover a single grain; and that the walls of his threshing-barn were still standing in Aran when the hagiographer wrote. He then saw the vision of the tree, which, however, we are not told was seen by Enda also. Enda interpreted the vision as in the texts before us, and bade him go forth to fulfil the divine will. Ciaran then went to found Clonmacnois. He besought Enda before he departed that he (Enda) should accept him and his _parochia_ under his protection: but Enda answered, "God hath not ordained it so for thee, that thou shouldst in this narrow island be under my authority. But because of thy wondrous humility and thy perfect charity, Christ thy Lord giveth thee a half of Ireland as thine inheritance." Here there is another version of the claim of Clonmacnois to legislate ecclesiastically for half of the island. They then erected a cross as a token of their fraternal bond, putting a curse upon whomsoever should make a breach in their agreement. In a Life of Saint Enda, quoted by the Bollandists (September, vol. iii, p. 376 C), it is further averred that Enda saw in a vision all the angels that haunted Aran departing in the company of Ciaran as he went on his way. Distressed at this desertion of his heavenly ministrants, he fasted and prayed; but an angel appeared to him and comforted him, saying that the angels were permitted to accompany Ciaran on account of his holiness, but that they would return again to Aran.

XXXIII. HOW A PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED (LA, VG)

The versions of this incident differ considerably both in detail and in the setting of the incident.

"_Cluain Innsythe_," where LA sets the story, is unknown. There is no river in Aran, where VG places the incident; in this version, therefore, the ship is placed on the sea.

_Lonan the Left-handed._--Nothing further is recorded of this person, so far as I know. The parenthesis describing how he "was ever contradictious of Ciaran" is probably a gloss; so far as the incident goes, the contradictiousness is the other way.

Note the interesting sidelights upon the practice of artificially drying grain in LA. There are some technical terms in the Latin of this incident in the LA version. Thus, the word here translated "hut" is _zabulum_; this I presume is another way of spelling _stabulum_, for the meanings given in Du Cange to _zabulum_ or similar words are here quite unsuitable. The word which I have rendered "platter" is _rota_, and the word translated "shed" is _canaba_.

XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN

_Senan._--This is an extremely interesting personality. His island, Inis Cathaigh (now corrupted to "Scattery") is said to derive its name from _Cathach_, a monster (mentioned in LA) which had formerly inhabited it, and which Senan had slain or charmed away. There are obvious pagan elements in the legends of this saint, and there can be little doubt that the unknown hermit who founded the monastery, of which the remains are still to be seen, has entered into the inheritance of the legends of an ancient deity, most likely worshipped on the island. This deity was probably the god of the Shannon river: and the name of the saint is clearly reminiscent of the name of the river. In their present form the two names are not philologically compatible: the name of the saint may be explained as an arbitrary modification, designed to _differentiate_ the Christian saint from the pagan river-god. That pagan names should survive (modified or otherwise) in ancient holy places re-consecrated to Christianity is only natural.

There may be some foundation in fact for apparently supernatural knowledge such as Senan displays in this incident of the personality of a coming guest. In reading documents such as this, we are not infrequently tempted to suspect that we have before us the record of actual manifestations of the even yet imperfectly understood phenomena of hypnotism, telepathy, "second sight," and similar psychical abnormalities.

The story of the cloak is told again in the Life of Senan (LL, 2388). From the version there contained, we learn that Ciaran gave his cloak to _lepers_. There is another version of the visit of Ciaran to Senan in the metrical Life of the latter saint (CS, 750). According to this story, Ciaran was not travelling alone, but with his disciples; and they had no means of transport to the island except an oarless boat woven of osiers. Trusting themselves to this doubtful craft (as Cybi voyaged in a skinless coracle, _Cambro-British Saints_, pp. 186, 499), they were ferried over in safety, no water finding its way into the boat. Then follows the episode of the cloak, omitting, however, Senan's jest of carrying it secretly. A glossator has added in LA the marginal note "Priests formerly wore cowls." There are slight discrepancies between the versions as to the precise garment given by Ciaran and restored by Senan.

Another episode connecting Ciaran and Senan is narrated in the metrical Life of Senan (though the passage is absent from the CS copy; it will be found in the Bollandist edition, March, vol. ii, p. 766). Briefly, this tale is to the effect that Ciaran and Brenainn went to Senan for confession. They were received with fitting honour, but the steward of Inis Cathaigh told his superior that he had no provision to set before the guests. "The Lord will provide," answered Senan; and in point of fact, a prince for whom a feast was at the time being prepared on the mainland was divinely inspired to send it as a gift to the sacred island. The saints partook of the banquet thus bestowed upon them; and while they were doing so, a small bell fell from heaven into their midst. None of the three was willing to assert a claim to this gift over the other two; and after discussion they agreed to advance in different directions, and he who should continue longest to hear the sound of the bell was to be its possessor. This test assigned the bell to Senan. The shrine of this sacred relic (the bell itself is lost) is now preserved in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy, having been acquired from the last hereditary keeper by a generous donor.[20]

_The Geographical Names._--Besides "the island of Cathi" (Inis Cathaigh, Scattery) LA refers to "Luim-nich" (Limerick), Kiarraighi (properly _Ciarraige_, [North] Kerry), and Corco Baiscind (the southern barony of Co. Clare), now spelt "Corcovaskin."

XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL (LA, LB, VG)

_Cobthach son of Brecan_.--This person, who is said in VG to have made over Isel to Ciaran, was probably a local chieftain; but he has escaped the notice of the Annalists. In any case the statement that he made over Isel to Ciaran is so obviously incongruous with the sense of the passage, that it can be safely rejected as an interpolation. Its purpose is to claim for Clonmacnois the possession of the land called Isel, the site of which is no longer known, though it cannot have been far from Clonmacnois. Conn of the Poor, the great and charitable benefactor of Clonmacnois in the early years of the eleventh century, established an almshouse at Isel; and some fifty-six years later, in the year 1087, his son Cormac, then abbot, purchased Isel in perpetuity from the king of Meath.

_Parallels._--We have already (incident XXI) seen an example of the rescue of a book from rain; compare also incident XLI. The garment of Finan (CS, 316) and of Cainnech (CS, 371) were preserved from rain, and snow did not injure a book belonging to Abban (CS, 530). The forgetfulness attributed to the saint with regard to his precious volume is a regular feature of this type of incident: it is no doubt meant to honour him, as indicating that the fulfilment of his monastic duties were yet more precious in his eyes. Moling forgot his book when reading by the sea-shore, and though the tide arose and covered it, it remained uninjured (VSH, ii, 191). There are numerous illustrations of the paramount need of attending to guests scattered through the saints' Lives.

The story of the grain cast into the breast of a poor man has come down to us in confusion: it is not clear why the chariot is introduced at all. Probably we have a conflation of two incidents. In the one (which is the version followed by LA, for which see § 26 of that document) Ciaran gave to a pauper a chariot and horses which the prince Oengus son of Cremthann had given him: as that prince belongs to the boyhood stories, it is probable that this incident should be transferred to that section of the Life. In the other incident, which may belong to the Isel period, Ciaran flings grain into the breast of the poor man, where it turns into gold: and we may suppose that the pointless re-transformation of the gold to grain did not take place. A similar tale is told of Saint Aed (VSH, ii, 308). The weird story of the jester who stopped the funeral of Guaire, king of Connacht, famous for his abounding liberality, and demanded a gift of the dead man, is of the same type; we are told that the dead king scooped up some earth with his hand, and flung it into the jester's lap, where it became pure gold.[21]

XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE (LA, LB, VG)

The island in the lake was probably a crannog, or artificial fortified island, such as are common on the lakes of Ireland. Fundamentally the story is an evident aetiological myth, intended to account for the existence of some curious swampy hollow. In its present form it is obviously suggested by Matt, xvii, 20. Note that VG does not seem to contemplate the wholesale removal of the lake.

_Parallels_ are not wanting. Findian dried up a lake by prayer (CS, 192); and houses were shifted from the west side to the east side of a flood for the convenience of Colum Cille (LL, 858). Saint Cainnech, finding the excessive singing of birds on a certain island to be an interruption to his devotions, compelled them to keep silence (CS, 376; VSH, i, 161).

XXXVII. CIARAN DEPARTS FROM ISEL (LA, VG)

_Parallels._--The nuns of Brigit made a similar complaint against the excessive charity of their abbess (LL, 1598). For the stag compare incident XXI; also the tale of how Brenainn was on one occasion guided by a hound (CS, 116). Ruadan, having given in alms his chariot-horses to lepers, found two stags to take their place (CS, 328).

_The Stanza in VG._--The metre is one of the numerous forms of _debide_, seven-syllable lines with echo-rhymes in which the rhyme-syllable is stressed in the first line, unstressed in the second (as _mén_, _táken_). The stanza before us is in _debide scáilte_, where the two couplets of the stanza are not linked by any form of sound assonance. The literal translation is: "Although it be low it would have been high / had not the murmuring come // the murmuring, had it not come / it would have been high though it be low."

_The Geographical Names in LA._--Loch Rii (properly Loch Rib) is Loch Ree on the Shannon, above Athlone. The island called Inis Aingin has now the name of Hare Island; it is at the south end of the lake near the outlet of the river. There are some scanty remains of a monastic establishment to be seen upon it.

XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN (LA, LB, VG)

_The Presbyter Daniel._--For the presence here of a Welsh or British priest, see the remarks in Plummer, VSH, i, p. cxxiv. But it is probable that in the original form of the story the presbyter Daniel was a fictitious ecclesiastic, perhaps the Evil One disguised. We may compare the two false bishops that came to expel Colum Cille from Iona (LL, 1007). Biblical names were sometimes used in the early Irish Church, though native names were preferred. There is actually the monument of a person called Daniel at Clonmacnois; it is a slab, bearing an engraved cross and inscription, probably of the ninth or tenth century.

_The Gift._--This is said in VG to have been a cup adorned with birds. Such forms of decoration seem to have been common, and are sometimes referred to in Irish romances, though few, if any, examples that may be compared with the descriptions have come down to us. In LA a word _antilum_ is used, which does not appear to occur anywhere else, and is unknown to our lexicographers. It is possibly a corruption for _an(n)ulum_, "a ring." Naturally this tale of the gift must be a later accretion to the story, if it had the origin just suggested.

Note, in the long eulogy of the saint which the author of LB gives us here, that the writer has not hesitated to introduce reminiscences of Phil, ii, 7, 8, thus hinting at the general _Tendenz_ of the Lives of Saint Ciaran. The rest of the eulogy is a free paraphrase of Rom. xii, 9 ff. There is extant a metrical "Monastic Rule" attributed to Saint Ciaran, which was edited by the late Prof. Strachan in _Eriu_ (The journal of the Dublin "School of Irish Learning") vol. ii, p. 227. The subject-matter of this composition is a series of regulations on morality and mortification of the flesh, but the language is so obscure, and the text of the single MS. which alone contains it is so corrupt, that even the pre-eminent Celtist who edited the poem would not venture on a translation.

XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA (LA, LB, VG)

_Parallels._--As Ciaran recognised Oenna by his voice, so Colman picked out by his voice one of a number of soldiers destined for a religious life (VSH, i, 261). With the incident of the consecration, as successor, of an unprepossessing intruder, compare the tale of Findian consecrating for the same purpose a raider whom he caught hiding in the furnace-chamber of his kiln (LL, 2628 ff.; CS, 198). The version in LB conveys the impression that Oenna's learning was imparted to him miraculously, as Oengus the Culdee inspired an idle boy with a miraculous knowledge of his neglected lesson.[22]

The story of Oenna is told rather differently in the glosses to the _Martyrology of Oengus_ (Bradshaw edn., pp. 48 ff.). Oenna with two companions was going for military service to the King of Connacht. They came to the embarking-place, not of Inis Aingin, but the larger Inis Clothrann (now sometimes called Quaker Island), where there are extensive ancient monastic remains. Ciaran was at the time in Inis Clothrann. He summoned Oenna to him, and asked him whither he was faring. "To the King of Connacht," answered Oenna. "Were it not better rather to contract with the King of Heaven and earth?" asked Ciaran. "It were better," said Oenna, "if it be right to do so." "It is right," answered Ciaran. Then Oenna was tonsured and began his studies. Here the miraculous insight which recognised in the warrior youth the future abbot is ignored. The tract _De Arreis_[23] tells us of the penance which Ciaran imposed upon Oenna: briefly stated it was as follows. He was to remain three days and three nights in a darkened room, not breaking his fast save with three sips of water each day. Every day he was to sing the whole Psalter, standing, without a staff to support him, making a genuflexion at the end of each Psalm, reciting _Beati_ after each fifty, and _Hymnum dicat_ after every _Beati_ in cross-vigil (_i.e._, standing upright with his arms stretched out sideways horizontally). He was not to lie down but only to sit, was to observe the canonical hours, and was to meditate on the Passion of Christ and upon his own sins.

The author of LA betrays his Irish personality by a phrase which he uses of Oenna. Ciaran bids his followers to fetch _materiam abbatis uestri_--"the makings of your abbot." This is a regular idiom for an heir-apparent, and it shows that if the writer be not actually translating from an Irish document, he is at least thinking in Irish as he writes in Latin.

XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL (LA, VG)

There is another story of a gospel recovered from a lake, but without any mention of a cow as the agent for its rescue (CS, 556). The tale may be founded on fact. The "Port of the Gospel" is now forgotten.

Books preserved as relics (_e.g._ the gospels belonging to a sainted founder) were kept in metal shrines, and valuable books which were in use were hung in satchels of leather on the walls of the library or scriptorium. Two specimens of such satchels still remain.

XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGHIN TO CLONMACNOIS (LA, LB, VG)

_Parallels._--As Ciaran gave up his monastery to Donnan, in like manner Munnu surrendered his settlement to the virgin Emer (CS, 495). The list of equipments delivered by Ciaran to Donnan introduces us to the "human beast of burden," Mael-Odran, a servile functionary occasionally met with in Irish literature. A well-known incident of St. Adamnan introduces him travelling "with his mother on his back" (see Reeves, _Vita Columbae_, p. 179). As to the bell, it may be worth noting that my friend Mr. Walter Campbell, formerly of Athlone, has informed me that an ancient bronze ecclesiastical bell, found on the lake shore opposite Hare Island, was long preserved, and used as a domestic bell, in the cottage of a man named Quigley. The owner believed that it was the bell of St. Ciaran, possibly that mentioned in VG: this is not impossible, though hardly likely, as a bell of such antiquity would most probably be of iron, and rendered useless by corrosion. Unfortunately, the bell in question is no longer forthcoming: it disappeared one day from Quigley's house, stolen, he believed, by a tourist who chanced to pass by.

Note Donnan's relationship to Senan as set forth in VG. He was brother's-son of Senan, but had the same mother as Senan. Clearly this indicates a _ménage_ such as that indicated by Cæsar as existing among the wilder tribes of Britain; a polyandry in which the husbands were father and sons (_De Bello Gallico_, V, xiv). These people were probably pre-Celtic, and this strengthens the arguments already put forward for a pre-Celtic origin for the Protagonist of our narrative.

On the subject of the burial of the chieftains of Ui Neill and the Connachta at Clonmacnois, see Plummer, i, p. cx. Neill is the genitive of Niall.

_Ard Manntain_ is now unknown.

The chronological indications contained in VG are sufficiently close to accuracy to show that they have been calculated, though the computor has made a miscount of a year. The eighth of the calends of February (25th January) in A.D. 548 was actually a Saturday, but it was two days before new moon. The same day in A.D. 549 was the tenth day of the moon, but it fell on a Monday.