Our Gaelic Christian Heritage (Part 5)

Among the stirring lines that affirm the high endeavour of the Gaelic Race in the cause of Christ, few can equal for sheer force and colour, some anonymous lines urging fidelity to the True Church against the wiles of heresy. Qui legit intellegat!

Ní trácht ar an Ministir Ghollda,
Ná a chreideamh gan bunús gan bhrí,
Mar 'sé ba bhunchloch dá Theampall,
Magairlí Anraoí an Ríogh!

File gan anim

Our Gaelic Christian Heritage (Part 4)

As the Penal Laws took hold through the 18th Century, it was State policy to ensure that the resources of a persecuted Catholic People dwindled. In the Lament for Kilcash, the death of Lady Margaret Butler of Kilcash, and with her, a source of benevolent patronage for Catholics.

The central theme is contained in the lines "bhíodh iarlaí ag tarraingt tar toinn ann, is an t-aifreann binn á rá." Nobles made their way o'er the waves thence, and there the sweet Mass was said. The poem is variously attributed.

Caoine Cill Cháis

Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?
Tá deireadh na gcoillte ar lár;
níl trácht ar Chill Cháis ná ar a teaghlach
ní bainfear a cloig go bráth.
An áit úd a gcónaiodh an deighbhean
fuair gradam is meidhir thar mhná,
bhíodh iarlaí ag tarraingt tar toinn ann
is an t-aifreann binn á rá.

Ní chluinim fuiaim lachan ná gé ann,
ná fiolar ag éamh sois cuain,
ná fiú na mbeacha chun saothair
thabharfadh mil agus céir don tslua.
Níl ceol binn milis na n-éan ann

le hamharc an lae a dhul uainn,
ná an chuaichín i mbarra na ngéag ann,
ós í chuirfeadh an saol chun suain.

Tá ceo ag titim ar chraobha ann
ná glanann le gréin ná lá,
tá 'smúid ag titim ón spéir ann

is a cuid uisce g léir ag trá.
Níl coll, níl cuileann, níl caor ann,
ach clocha is maolchlocháin,
páirc an chomhair gan chraobh ann
is d' imigh an géim chun fáin.

Anois mar bharr ar gach míghreanní,
chuaigh prionsa na nGael thar sáil

anonn le hainnir na míne

fuair gradam sa bhFrainc is sa Spáinn.
Anois tá a cuallacht á caoineadh,
gheibbeadh airgead buí agus bán;
's í ná tógladh sillbh na ndaoine,
ach cara na bhfíorbhochtán.

Aicim ar Mhuire is ar Íosa
go dtaga sí arís chughainn slán,
go mbeidh rincí fada ag gabháil timpeall,
ceol veidhlín is tinte cnámh;
go dtógtar an baile seo ár sinsear
Cill Chais bhreá arís go hard,
's go bráth nó go dtiocfaidh
an dílená feictear é arís ar lár.

Or in an English version:

Now what will we do for timber,
With the last of the woods laid low?
There's no talk of Cill Chais or its household
And its bell will be struck no more.
That dwelling where lived the good lady
Most honoured and joyous of women
earls made their way over wave there
And the sweet Mass once was said.

Ducks' voices nor geese do I hear there,
Nor the eagle's cry over the bay,
Nor even the bees at their labour
Bringing honey and wax to us all.
No birdsong there, sweet and delightful,
As we watch the sun go down,
Nor cuckoo on top of the branches
Settling the world to rest.

A mist on the boughs is descending
Neither daylight nor sun can clear.
A stain from the sky is descending
And the waters receding away.
No hazel nor holly nor berry
But boulders and bare stone heaps,
Not a branch in our neighbourly haggard,
and the game all scattered and gone.

Then a climax to all of our misery:
the prince of the Gael is abroad
oversea with that maiden of mildness
who found honour in France and Spain.
Her company now must lament her,
who would give yellow money and white
she who'd never take land from the people
but was friend to the truly poor.

I call upon Mary and Jesus
to send her safe home again:
dances we'll have in long circles
and bone-fires and violin music;
that Cill Chais, the townland of our fathers,
will rise handsome on high once more
and till doom - or the Deluge returns -
we'll see it no more laid low.

Our Gaelic Christian Heritage (Part 3)

The figure of High King Brian Boru stands astride the history of Gaelic Ireland like a colossus. Although not of the Uí Neill dynasty that had ruled Ireland since Niall Noígiallach (Niall of the Nine Hostages) in the 5th Century, Boru showed himself to be the strongest and most fit for the throne. It is a testimony to the cultural stability of Gaelic Ireland that Máel Sechnaill II, who had abdicated the High Kingship in his favour, was also his successor when his line was extinguished at the Battle of Clontarf on Good Friday, 23rd April, 1014.

Perhaps the greatest 'what if' in Irish history is 'what if Brian Boru had survived the Battle of Clontarf'. It is conceivable that Ireland could have taken a great leap forward towards unity or feudalism at a moment when Robert the Pious struggled to maintain his throne, even against his own sons, and when St. Henry II found it difficult to gain recognition for his claim to the Imperial throne. At the time, Spain was struggling for survival against the Moors and Richard, Duke of Normandy, grandfather of William the Bastard, was withstanding a revolt of peasants. An Ireland united culturally and spiritually under the leadership of a powerful and dynamic dynasty would surely have been a very different one from the one seen from Bannow Bay in 1169.

While a good deal of romanticism surrounds our perceptions of Boru and Clontarf - and over-simplification of issues - it should be noted that Gaelic Ireland avoided the fate of England, which received Canute as King the following year. It was another class of Viking, the Normans of Wales, who descended a century later to begin the most sorrowful chapters of Irish history.

The following is a poetical account by William Kennealy of the address of King Brian, holding aloft the Crucifix, to his troops before the Battle of Clontarf:

"Stand ye now for Erin's glory! Stand ye now for Erin's cause!
Long ye've groaned beneath the rigor of the Northmen's savage laws.
What though brothers league against us? What, though myriad be the foe?
Victory will be more honored in the myriads' overthrow.

"Proud Connacians! oft we've wrangled in our petty feuds of yore;
Now we fight against the robber Dane upon our native shore;
May our hearts unite in friendship, as our blood in one red tide,
While we crush their mail-clad legions, and annihilate their pride!

"Brave Eugenians! Erin triumphs in the sight she sees to-day-
Desmond's homesteads all deserted for the muster and the fray!
Cluan's vale and Galtees' summit send their bravest and their best-
May such hearts be theirs forever, for the Freedom of the West!

"Chiefs and Kernes of Dalcassia! Brothers of my past career,
Oft we've trodden on the pirate-flag that flaunts before us here;
You remember Inniscattery, how we bounded on the foe,
As the torrent of the mountain bursts upon the plain below!

"They have razed our proudest castles , spoiled the Temples of the Lord,
Burned to dust the sacred relics, put the Peaceful to the sword,
Desecrated all things holy, as they soon may do again;
If their power to-day we smite not, if to-day we be not men!

"On this day the God-man suffered - look upon the sacred sign;
May we conquer 'neath its shadow, as of old did Constantine!
May the heathen tribe of Odin fade before it like a dream,
And the triumph of this glorious day in our future annuals gleam!

"God of heaven, bless our banner, nerve our sinews for the strife!
Fight we now for all that's holy, for our altars, land and life,
For red vengeance on the spoiler, whom the blazing temples trace,
For the honor of our maidens and the glory of our race!

"Should I fall before the foeman, 'tis the death I seek to-day;
Should ten thousand daggers pierce me, bear my body not away,
Till this day of days be over, till the field is fought and won;
Then the holy Mass be chanted, and the funeral rites be done.

"Men of Erin! men of Erin! grasp the battle-ax: and spear!
Chase these Northern wolves before you like a herd of frightened deer!
Burst their ranks, like bolts from heaven! Down, on the heathen crew,
For the glory of the Crucified, and Erin's glory too!"

Our Gaelic Christian Heritage (Part 2)

Grandson of High King Conn Cétchathach (Conn of the Hundred Battles), Cormac Mac Airt came to the High Kingship about the year AD 116 and is the most glorious of the High Kings of Tara. The works of learning, wisdom and jurisprudence attributed to him, the Psalter of Tara, the Seanchas Mór (at least in original form), and the Teagasc na Ríogh attest to cultural greatness of his reign, apart from the "fruit and fatness" of the land in his time.

Of greatest interest to us is that King Cormac was reputed to have rejected the superstitions of the Druids, refusing to worship the carvings, saying that the carver deserved greater worship still. His reign was brought to an end by a grave disfiguring injury - since such disfigurements excluded the sufferer from exercising Sovereignty among the ancient Irish. He lived for some time thereafter but, his final wish was to be buried, not at the pagan burying-place of Brugh na Bóinne, but at Ross na Ríogh. His wishes were disregarded but Providence intervened to fulfill them. Sir Samuel Ferguson's poem 'The Burial of King Cormac' relates the story thus:

"Crom Cruach and his sub-gods twelve,"
Said Cormac, "are but craven treene:
The axe that made them, haft and helve,
Had worthier of our worship been.

But He who made the tree to grow,
And hid in earth the iron stone,
And made the man with mind to know
The axe's use, is God alone."

Anon to priests of Crom was brought
(Where girded in their service dread
They ministered on red Moy Slaught)
Word of the words King Cormac said.

They loosed their curse against the king,
They cursed him in his flesh and bones
And daily in their mystic ring
They turned the maledictive stones.

Till, where at meat the monarch sate
Amid the revel and the wine,
He choked upon the food he ate
At Sletty, southward of the Boyne.

High vaunted then the priestly throng,
And far and wide they noised abroad
With trump and loud liturgic song
The praise of their avenging god.

But ere the voice was wholly spent
That priest and prince should still obey,
To awed attendants o'er him bent
Great Cormac gathered breath to say:

"Spread not the beds of Brugh for me,
When restless death-bed's use is done;
But bury me at Ross-na-ree,
And face me to the rising sun.

"For all the kings that lie in Brugh
Put trust in gods of wood and stone;
And 'twas at Ross that I first knew
One, Unseen, who is God alone.

"His glory lightens from the east,
His message soon shall reach our shore,
And idol-god and cursing priest
Shall plague us from Moy Slaught no more."

Dead Cormac on his bier they laid:
"He reigned a king for forty years;
And shame it were," his captains said,
"He lay not with his royal peers:

"His grandsire, Hundred Battles, sleeps
Serene in Brugh, and all around
Dead kings, in stone sepulchral keeps,
Protect the sacred burial ground.

"What though a dying man should rave
Of changes o'er the eastern sea,
In Brugh of Boyne shall be his grave,
And not in noteless Rossnaree."

Then northward forth they bore the bier,
And down from Sleithac's side they drew
With horseman and with charioteer,
To cross the fords of Boyne to Brugh."

There came a breath of finer air
That touched the Boyne with ruffling wings,
It stirred him in his sedgy lair
And in his mossy moorland springs.

And as the burial train came down
With dirge, and savage dolorous shows,
Across their pathway broad and brown,
The deep full-hearted river rose.

From bank to bank through all his fords,
'Neath blackening squalls he swelled and boiled,
And thrice the wond'ring gentile lords
Essay'd to cross, and thrice recoil'd.

Then forth stepped gray-haired warriors four;
They said: "Through angrier floods than these,
On link'd shield once our King we bore
From Dread-spear and the hosts of Deece;

"And long as loyal will holds good,
And limbs respond with helpful thews,
Nor flood nor fiend within the flood
Shall bar him of his burial dues."

With slanted necks they stooped to lift;
They heaved him up to neck and chin;
And, pair by pair, with footsteps swift,
Locked arm and shoulder, bore him in.

'Twas brave to see them leave the shore;
To mark the deepening surges rise,
And fall subdued in foam before
The tension of their striding thighs.

'Twas brave, when now a spear-cast out,
Breast-high the battling surges ran;
For eweight was great, and limbs were stout,
And loyal man put trust in man.

But ere they reached the middle deep,
Nor steadying weight of clay they bore,
Nor strain of sinewy limbs could keep
Their feet beneath the swerving four.

And now they slide and now they swim,
And now amid the blackening squall,
Gray locks afloat with clutchings grim,
They plunge around the floating pall.

While as a youth with practiced spear
Through justling crowds bears off the ring-
Boyne from their shoulders caught the bier,
And proudly bare away the King!"

At morning on the grassy marge
Of Ross-na-ree the corpse was found,
And shepherds at their early charge,
Entombed it in the peaceful ground.

A tranquil spot : a hopeful sound
Comes from the ever-youthful stream,
And still on daisied mead and mound
The dawn delays with tenderer beam.

Round Cormac, Spring renews her buds;
In march perpetual by his side,
Down come the earth-fresh April floods,
And up the sea-fresh salmon glide;

And life and time rejoicing run
From age to age their wonted way;
But still he waits the risen Sun,
For still 'tis only dawning Day.

Our Gaelic Christian Heritage (Part 1)

The various Annals of the Gaelic Race attest to the historic devotion of the Irish to Christ. However, if it is an Irish claim worthy of mention is should be an extraordinary one. Such a claim is the claim made for Conor Mac Nessa, King of Ulster about the time of Our Lord and, incidentally, associated with the famous Cattle Raid of Cooley. His death is recounted in the Book of Leinster and referred to in O'Curry's, Lectures on the Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History

King Conor witnessed, it was said, the pathetic fallacy of the Earth shaken and darkened at the death of Our Lord upon Calvary. He understood through the prism of Natural Religion from Bacrach, his Druid, its true significance. At the cost of his own life, struggled to defend the God-Man.

That a certain knowledge of the supernatural order might also be given to mere pagans is a strange idea but not an impossible one. The Oracle at Delphi and even Virgil in his Eclogues, had some intimation of the Incarnation. Teste David cum Sybilla, as the Dies Irae puts it. That Mankind, who had once walked in the Garden with God and who had been promised a Redeemer as they were expelled, might retain some notion of the Truth is not inconceivable.

The poem of T.D. Sullivan recounts the story as follows:

The Death of King Conor Mac Nessa

I.

'Twas a day full of sorrow for Ulster when Conor Mac Nessa went forth
To punish the clansmen of Connaught who dared to take spoil from the North;
For his men brought him back from the battle scarce better than one that was dead,
With the brain-ball of Mesgedra buried two-thirds of its depth in his head.
His royal physician bent o'er him, great Fingen, who often before
Stanched the war-battered bodies of heroes, and built them for battle once more,
And he looked on the wound of the monarch, and heark'd to his low breathed sighs,
And he said, "In the day when that missile is loosed from his forehead, he dies.

II.

"Yet long midst the people who love him King Conor Mac Nessa may reign,
If always the high pulse of passion be kept from his heart and his brain;
And for this I lay down his restrictions:--no more from this day shall his place
Be with armies, in battles, or hostings, or leading the van of the chase;
At night when the banquet is flashing, his measure of wine must be small,
And take heed that the bright eyes of woman be kept from his sight above all;
For if heart-thrilling joyance or anger awhile o'er his being have power,
The ball will start forth from his forehead, and surely he dies in that hour."

III.

Oh! woe for the valiant King Conor, struck down from the summit of life,
While glory unclouded shone round him, and regal enjoyment was rife-
Shut out from his toils and his duties, condemned to ignoble repose,
No longer to friends a true helper, no longer a scourge to his foes!
He, the strong-handed smiter of champions, the piercer of armor and shields,
The foremost in earth-shaking onsets, the last out of blood-sodden fields-
The mildest, the kindest, the gayest, when revels ran high in his hall-
Oh, well might his true-hearted people feel gloomy and sad for his fall!

IV.

The princes, the chieftains, the nobles, who met, to consult at his board,
Whispered low when their talk was of combats, and wielding the spear and the sword:
The bards from their harps feared to waken the full-pealing sweetness of song,
To give homage to valor or beauty, or praise to the wise and the strong;
The flash of no joy-giving story made cheers or gay laughter resound,
Amid silence constrained and unwonted the seldom-filled wine-cup went round;
And, sadder to all who remembered the glories and joys that had been,
The heart-swaying presence of woman not once shed its light on the scene.

V.

He knew it, he felt it, and sorrow sunk daily more deep in his heart;
He wearied of doleful inaction, from all his loved labors apart.
He sat at his door in the sunlight, sore grieving and weeping to see
The life and the motion around him, and nothing so stricken as he.
Above him the eagle went wheeling, before him the deer galloped by,
And the quick-legged rabbits went skipping from green glades and burrows a-nigh,
The song-birds sang out from the copses, the bees passed on musical wing,
And all things were happy and busy, save Conor Mac Nessa the king!

VI.

So years had passed over, when, sitting mid silence like that of the tomb,
A terror crept through him as sudden the noon-light was blackened with gloom.
One red flare of lighting blazed brightly, illuming the landscape around,
One thunder-peal roared through the mountains, and rumbled and crashed under ground;
He heard the rocks bursting asunder, the trees tearing up by the roots,
And loud through the horrid confusion the howling of terrified brutes.
From the halls of his tottering palace came screamings of terror and pain,
And he saw crowding thickly around him the ghosts of the foes he had slain!

VII.

And as soon as the sudden commotion that shuddered through nature had ceased,
The king sent for Barach, his Druid, and said: "Tell me truly, O priest,
What magical arts have created this scene of wild horror and dread?
What has blotted the blue sky above us, and shaken the earth that we tread?
Are the gods that we worship offended? what crime or what wrong has been done?
Has the fault been committed in Erin, and how may their favor be won?
What rites may avail to appease them? what gifts on their altars should smoke?
Only say, and the offering demanded we lay by your consecrate oak."

VIII.

"O king," said the white-bearded Druid, "the truth unto me has been shown,
There lives but one God, the Eternal; far up in high Heaven is His throne.
He looked upon men with compassion, and sent from His kingdom of light
His Son, in the shape of a mortal, to teach them and guide them aright.
Near the time of your birth, O King Conor, the Savior of mankind was born,
And since then in the kingdoms far eastward He taught, toiled, and prayed, till this morn,
When wicked men seized Him, fast bound Him with nails to a cross, lanced His side,
And that moment of gloom and confusion was earth's cry of dread when He died.

IX.

"O king, He was gracious and gentle, His heart was all pity and love,
And for men He was ever beseeching the grace of His Father above;
He helped them, He healed them, He blessed them, He labored that all might attain
To the true God's high kingdom of glory, where never comes sorrow or pain;
But they rose in their pride and their folly, their hearts filled with merciless rage,
That only the sight of His life-blood fast poured from His heart could assuage:
Yet while on the cross-beams uplifted, His body racked, tortured, and riven,
He prayed--not for justice or vengeance, but asked that His foes be forgiven."

X.

With a bound from his seat rose King Conor, the red flush of rage on his face,
Fast he ran through the hall for his weapons, and snatching his sword from its place,
He rushed to the woods, striking wildly at boughs that dropped down with each blow,
And he cried: "Were I midst the vile rabble, I'd cleave them to earth even so!
With the strokes of a high king of Erinn, the whirls of my keen-tempered sword,
I would save from their horrible fury that mild and that merciful Lord.
"His frame shook and heaved with emotion; the brain-ball leaped forth from his head,
And commending his soul to that Savior, King Conor Mac Nessa fell dead.

Ember Days or Quarter Tense

Today is the Ember Wednesday in Advent. Etymologically speaking, however, the word is another example of the theological superiority of the Irish Gaelic language over the Saxon. In Latin, the term is Quatuor Tempora, the Four Times. French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish, as may be expected of Romance Languages, retain this form. However, even German retains this root in description of the four periods of fasting that equate roughly with the four seasons of the year.

In English, however, the term 'Ember' derives from the connection of the two roots ymb (meaning around), and ryne (meaning a circuit or course). From this, it might be thought that there is a confusion with Rogation Days. However, it seems to refer instead to the distribution of the days throughout the year. The potential for confusion with Rogations is the greater in Welsh, however, which speaks of Ember Weeks as Wythnos y cydgorian (the Week of the Processions). Quarter Tense, a more arcane English term, follows the general usage of Christendom.

Irish Gaelic, on the other hand, retains the general reference to the Four Times in referring to Laethanta na gCeithre Thráth or the days of the Four Times.

Guéranger assigns the practice of Quarter Tense to the Prophet Zacheriah, Chapter viii, Verse 19: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love ye truth and peace."

The Douay-Rheims version notes for this verse that: "They fasted, on the ninth day of the fourth month, because on that day Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, Jer. 52. 6. On the tenth day of the fifth month, because on that day the temple was burnt, Jer. 52. 12. On the third day of the seventh month, for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41. 2. And on the tenth day of the tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans began to besiege Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25. 1. All these fasts, if they will be obedient for the future, shall be changed, as is here promised, into joyful solemnities."

The Irish understanding of the four quarters of the year needs no explanation for anyone familiar with the Gaelic calendar.

Some point to specific Celtic origins, linked to the Celtic custom of observing various festivals at three-month intervals: Imbolc, Baeltaine, Lughnasadh and Samhain. The quarterly or seasonal nature of Ember Time is typical of a society living in harmony with its environment and a society that recognises the inherant links between the spiritual and the natural.

Is it going too far to say that traditional Catholicism retained this sense of harmony but that it has been lost since Vatican II? Perhaps it is no coincidence that there has been a rise in interest in paganist practices and language relating the spiritual to the natural since the majority of Catholics have been deprived of traditional Catholic devotions.

A Latin rhyme gives the timing of the four Ember Weeks:

Dant Crux, Lucia, Cineres, Charismata Dia
Ut sit in angariâ quarta sequens feria.

An old English rhyme translates it as follows:

Fasting days and Emberings be
Lent, Whitsun, Holyrood, and Lucie.

There has been plenty of discussion on the blogosphere this week about the fact that the calendar rubrics of John XXIII place the September Ember Week after the third Sunday rather than after 14th September or "Holyrood".

Mention of the Irish links to Ember Days would not be complete without some mention of the Irish spirit of ascetisism and fasting. For example, in the Manuscript Materials of Irish History by Professor O'Curry there is reference to Laethanta na gCeithre Thráth in the Rule of St. Carthage, in that part where the Saint speaks of the order of refection and of the refectory, at line 114 he says:

A tredan [three days total fast] every quarter to those
Who fast not every month,
Is required in the great territories,
In which is the Faith of Christ.

Interestingly, it would appear that the Holy See dispensed from the abstinence from flesh meat on Ember Saturdays outside Lent in Ireland in 1912.

Saint David and Naas

Lives of the Irish Saints, Volume III

March 1 is the feast of Saint David, the patron of Wales. Ireland, however, can also claim to have a long tradition of devotion to the Welsh patron and the parish church at Naas, County Kildare, is dedicated to Saint David. As diocesan historian, Father Michael Comerford explains, the dedication can be traced back to the influence of Cambro-Norman settlers, many of whom had links to the Pembrokeshire area:

The parochial church of Naas, since the Norman invasion, has been dedicated to St. David. It is supposed that the present Protestant church occupies the site of the church of the olden time, and that portions of the walls of the ancient structure are built into the modern church. There are strong reasons for judging that the parish church of Naas, in the early Christian era, was dedicated to St. Patrick. The Egerton Tripartite (quoted by Father Shearman), recounting the miracles of our national Apostle makes mention of the Dominica of Naas. This would, in itself, go far to prove that the original church was under the invocation of St. Patrick. Dr. Joyce (Irish Names of Places), would deduce additional proof of this from the fact that the great fair of Naas was (until a few years ago) held on St. Patrick's Day. It is conjectured that William Fitzmaurice, on whom Naas was bestowed by Henry II,, finding the old church of St. Patrick either ruinous or destroyed, rebuilt it, and on the occasion, substituted St. David, the patron of his father's native country, Wales, as the Titular. (Loca Patr).

Rev. M. Comerford, 'Naas: An Historical Sketch', in Transactions of the Ossory Archaeological Society, Vol. II (1880-1883), 111-112.

Canon O'Hanlon, who has a lengthy entry for Saint David in Volume III of his Lives of the Irish Saints, also comments on the link between Saint David and the patronage of Naas, starting with the old parish church and then moving on to the building of the Church of Our Lady and Saint David, which commenced just two years before Catholic Emancipation:

"It was only natural, the ancient Welsh colonists should desire their chief patron, St. David, to be regarded as titular of Naas, in Ireland. Accordingly, at an early period, no doubt, such an honour awaited the church first raised there, to the invocation of this beloved and venerated patron. The site of the old church of St. David, at Naas, is in the centre, and on the east side of the town. It is popularly agreed, that the present walls of this church, with an ancient tower on the south-west end, are repaired portions of the old parochial church of St. David. There were three chantries formerly within it, viz. : that of the Holy Trinity, of St. Mary, and of St. Catherine. The Church of St. David is surrounded by a cemetery, where Catholic families still continue to bury their dead. Some remains of old tombs and armorial bearings, carved in stone, are found within this graveyard enclosure. The soil seems to have accumulated to a considerable height over the foundations, owing chiefly to interments continued for centuries past. No very ancient monuments, however, can be found there at present.

The old parish church, now appropriated and re-modelled for the purposes of Protestant worship, appears to rest on a part only of its original foundations. Near the side walls, traces of extension may be discovered, so as to indicate, that it had probably been cruciform in design. The foundations of one lateral transept are visible. It was known as the Lady Chapel. Another transept probably corresponded with it, on the opposite side, where a poorly-designed porch now extends. Internally, as well as externally, it is an easy matter for the antiquarian and architect to discover alterations, from a much purer type of building. Hardly in any one instance can the more recent modifications be regarded as improvements. The walls are of extreme thickness. The interior contains some tablet memorials, a rich stained glass window, an organ, &c. ; but, it is deformed with a cumbersome gallery, high pews, and other unsightly obstructions and designs.

The present building has evidently undergone many alterations. It is near the site of an old castle, which, in a great measure, has been modernized, and at present serves to form a rectorial residence. It is still known as St. David's castle. The adjoining grounds and accessories are ornamental. Not far removed, an endowed grammar school is entered, through the cemetery gate. Where the steeple once stood, a huge unfinished tower was erected, nearly one hundred years since, by an Earl of Mayo. It has within it, on a slab, the following inscription :—" Ruinam invent, Pyramidem reliqui, Mayo." ["I found a ruin,"—the old Catholic erection then in ruins.—"I left this steeple in its place, Mayo." In the tower, is a bell, bearing the following inscription: "Os meum laudabit Dominum in Ecclesia S. Davidis de Naas." ("My mouth shall praise the Lord in the Church of St. David of Naas.") R. P. W. C, 1674.] Some time after the Catholics were deprived of this church, they built another, where the Moat School now is, and which served until the present building was erected.

The first stone of this commodious edifice was laid, August 15th, 1827.This church is dedicated, under the joint patronage of our Lady and of St. David. The church itself is divided into nave and aisles, by two rows of columns, the nave being 30 feet wide, and the aisles 15 feet, each. The total length, from the eastern wall, behind the high altar, to the western wall of the tower, is 138 feet; and, the height of the nave to the ridge plate 52 feet, a good and beautiful proportion. Forty years after the opening, the interior began to be finished. About twenty years after the opening, a steeple, modelled after that of Ewerby, in Lincolnshire, set up in the 14th century, was commenced, and was finished on the last day of the year 1858. It is 200 feet high. The style is what is called the transitional; that is, what prevailed between "the early English" and "the decorated" periods. The tower consists of three stages. The Priory of Great Connell, within a few miles of Naas, was dedicated to our Lady and to St. David. Canons Regular of St. Augustine occupied this religious establishment, and the Prior had a seat in the Upper House. Great Conall was founded by Meyler Fitz-Henry, Lord Justice of Ireland, in the beginning of the thirteenth century. Although St. Kieran of Clonniacnoise seems to have been the first patron saint of Ardnurcher, a parish located partly in the barony of Kilcoursey, but chiefly in that of Moycashel, county of Westmeath; yet, St. David—most likely the present one—has been patron saint for many centuries back, and there is a holy well dedicated to him, at Ballinlaban. It is still much frequented. In Mulrankin parish, county of Wexford, a patron was formerly held, on the 1st of March. Probably this was in honour of St. David. A Ballydavid Townland and Head are to be found, on an extremely remote shore of western Kerry, in the barony of Corkaguiny, not far from the old ruined church, in Kilquane parish".

Canon O'Hanlon concludes with a final reminder that there are good reasons why the Irish people should not hesitate to seek the intercession of the patron of Wales:

"It must always constitute a pleasing and truly Christian state of society,to find international kindness and courtesies, with charitable and religious offices, exchanged between the people of different countries. Such kindly relationship appears to have prevailed, on the part of our Irish ancestors and the Cambro-Britons, except on rare occasions, when ambitious, adventurous, and unprincipled leaders conducted marauding expeditions, against those exposed to their predatory incursions. The bad passions of men, thus mutually excited, led oftentimes to bloody reprisals. Nor can we doubt, but the period and contemporaries of St. David witnessed many of those devastating raids. Yet, it is consoling to find, that the holy men of Hibernia and Cambria maintained an intimacy, strengthened by bonds of mutual friendship and religious associations, even from opposite shores. Intercommunication by sea voyages brought Menevia within easy reach of Irish students, many of whom were proud to acknowledge St. David as their master in sacred and secular learning. Again, the schools of Ireland were not less celebrated, about the same time, and had been resorted to by numbers of Cambro-Britons, who spent precious years in the acquisition of similar knowledge.We have already seen, that several renowned Irish ecclesiastics are specially named, as having sought the companionship and guidance of holy David. Some of their Acts are recorded, in connexion with him, and these even serve to illustrate his biography. Encouraged by his example and emulating his piety, while cultivating their natural mental faculties. Almighty God was pleased to reserve them for a career of further usefulness, when returning once more to their native Isle beyond the waves. Hence, in life, St. David was honoured and venerated by some of our most distinguished saints, and it is only just, therefore, when he has passed from life to the happiness of immortality, that in our Island, as within his specially privileged principality, the name of this great and good bishop should be well remembered and invoked. Through his ministry, blessings descended on our forefathers, and so may his protection secure other spiritual favours for those people, who have adopted him as their special patron".

Note: This post was published simultaneously on my own blog Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae.

'Venerable, aged Simeon'

I was surprised to see that the entries for the saints of October 8 begin in The Martyrology of Gorman, with this lovely verse in praise of Saint Simeon:

8. a.

Símeon sruith saeglac[h]
ro gab Ísu ollán,
ar gecaib a gellamh

'Venerable, aged Simeon
who received great ample Jesus
on the branches of his white arms'.

A commentator has added in Latin 'ipse accepit eum in ulnas suas, Luc. ii. 28'. I could not find Saint Simeon commemorated on this day in any of the other Irish calendars, and as he is commemorated in the East on February 3, I wondered where the 12th-century Irish calendarist, Marianus O'Gorman, sourced this October feastday. The translator of the Martyrology of Gorman, Whitley Stokes, does not comment on this particular feast in his discussion of the Biblical saints found on this calendar but notes that 'Gorman, as a rule, agrees with the western martyrologies'. And indeed the Roman Martyrology at October 8 records: 'The same day, the birthday of the blessed Simeon, an aged man, who, as we read in the Gospel, took our Lord Jesus in his arms'.

 I will close with the Song of Simeon in Irish, taken from the translation of the New Testament by Canon Coslett Quinn:

A Thiarna, is anois a cheadaíonn tú do do sheirbhíseach imeacht faoi shíocháin, de réir do bhriathair;
mar tá mo shúile d'eis do shlánú a fheiceáil,
an slánú a réamhullmhaigh tú os comhair na gciníocha uile,
an solas a tharbharfadh eolas ort do na Gintlithe,
agus an solas a bheadh ina ghlóir do do mhuintir Iosrael.

Lúcás II, 29-32.

Note: This post first appeared at my own blog Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae which is dedicated to the saints of Ireland.

An Irish Poem in Praise of the Blessed Sacrament

Whilst perusing yet another 19th-century magazine at the Internet Archive I came across this beautiful poem in praise of the Blessed Sacrament. It was written by a 12th-century Abbot of Boyle, also famed as a poet. The Irish text is followed by a translation below:

Here is the literal translation [by Professor O'Looney] of the foregoing, which was written in the twelfth century by Donogh Mór O'Daly, Abbot of Boyle, in the county Roscommon, called for the sweetness of his verses, not for the nature of their themes, the Ovid of Ireland : —

1. Not more numerous the angels in heaven under the hand of the king; not more numerous the blessed names which are upon the saints; not more numerous the things which God hath created on the face of the world, than the praises of each tongue upon the Sacrament.

2. Not more numerous the drops which are in the great tidal sea; not more numerous the fishes that swim in the bosoms of all waters; not more numerous the grasses of the world or the sands of the strand, than the praises of the holy Body of the only Son of the Father of grace.

3. Not more numerous the years in the eternal perpetuity of the King; not more numerous the divine gifts which Christ hath [in store]; not more numerous the lights which are in the King's high Paradise, than the praises to God which are truly given in the Sacrament.

4. Not more numerous the radiant stars which appear in the skies; not more numerous the words [of praise] which his clergy read for Christ; not more numerous the small streams which flow into the great sea, than the praises unceasing of the divine, blessed Body of Christ.

5. Not more numerous the letters to be seen in the Book of the Law; not more numerous the leaves of all the woods by the King made to grow; not more numerous the melodious voices which shall be heard in his kingdom for ever, than the praise of the Son of Mary oft-repeated in the Sacrament.

'Celt and Teuton In Praise of the Blessed Eucharist' in The Irish Monthly, Vol. 5 (1877), 387.

The Sunday of the Pure Palm

The King made a famous ride
on the Sunday of the pure palm,
when there were given to him in turn
the ass and the young horse.

Saltair na Rann

Note: The Saltair na Rann is a collection of 150 quatrains written in Middle Irish and dated to around the tenth century.

A Meditation for Saint Brigid's Day

In 2009 I published the text of the homily for the feast of Saint Brigid from the Leabhar Breac here and here. I found as an interesting contrast a meditation on the life of Saint Brigid by a nineteenth-century priest, written as one of a series of model homilies for the use of priests and seminarians. The view of Saint Brigid here is that of an exemplar of purity, charity and the religious life, this is Brigid the saint not Brigid the social worker. It is deliciously politically incorrect, the author considers that God's glory is revealed by the choice of a weak woman to be a tower of strength. Our patroness embodies the innocence of Eve before the Fall with the strength of Judith and the perfection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. I find it particularly interesting to see how the writer perceived Saint Brigid's role as a national patron, although the idea of Ireland being under the triple patronage of Ss. Patrick, Brigid and Columbcille had been established after the Norman conquest, here Patrick's primacy is re-asserted and Brigid assigned the role of female auxiliary. What he is to the entire Irish Church, she is to Irish women in particular. Inevitably though, as this is a priest writing for other priests, the author is most concerned with Saint Brigid as a nun and he concludes with a prayer asking her to act not only as a patroness to the people but as a special intercessor for the clergy.

ON ST. BRIGID, PATRONESS OF IRELAND.

"Tu gloria Jerusalem, tu laetitia Israel, tu honorificentia populi nostri."— Judith, Xv, 10.

ST. Brigid, one of the first of our saints, and the queen of our virgins, shed a lustre and a purity on the ancient Church of Ireland. Innocent like Eve in the garden before her fall, animated with strength and fortitude such as Judith had when God nerved her arm and made her the protection of Israel, endowed with the greatest perfections like the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is the refuge of all sinners and the mother of many virtues, St. Brigid was the light and glory of the infant Church, and contributed in no small degree to the spread of the faith, and to the observance of virtue among the people.

What St. Patrick was to the whole Church generally, St. Brigid was to those of her own sex in particular, instructing and infusing into them the spirit of true religion, and leaving them the example of perfect virtue. Though St. Patrick was the great founder and apostle of the Church in this country— though his labours were great and unceasing—though his missionaries went on all sides, and he himself "exultavit ut gigas ad currendam viam" still it was impossible for him to do everything required. The special need which the Church then had, the Almighty God supplied by raising up St. Brigid, who not only greatly contributed to the conversion of the people, and to the practice of piety amongst them, but also infused into many of the women of Ireland the love of the religious life, and the devotion to the virtues and perfections of the cloister, which have never since passed away. This was the flame which St. Brigid lighted up in faithful hearts, which was symbolised by that perpetual fire burning for many ages at her shrine, which has survived the change of manners and the lapse of time, and the spirit of which is to-day as rife among the people as when St. Brigid laboured at her noble mission with so much success, when God spoke through the wonders of her power, and through the works of her hands.

1. Her virtues and her miracles.

Consider and admire the inscrutable ways of that God who is "wonderful in his saints" and who chose a weak woman to be a tower of strength and a prodigy of virtue. No flesh should glory in his sight, for he has made the weak to confound the strong, he has selected a poor virgin, who was an outcast and a wanderer, not only to be an example of the greatest perfection by the subjugation of her passions, and to reflect in her life the virtues of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also to exercise a wonderful influence in leading souls to God, and in bringing them to the observance of the counsels of the Gospel, and to the highest practice of religious discipline.

St. Brigid not only excelled in the ordinary Christian virtues in an uncommon degree, but God gave her gifts and powers which are bestowed on few. St. Brigid had great humility; she had a heart full of kindness and compassion; she had the open and melting hand of charity. Her purity shone above all her other virtues, shunning and flying from every thing which could wound it in the slightest degree. In this she most resembled the Blessed Virgin Mary, and hence was she truly called "the Mary of Erin," because of her angelic purity, and of the perfection of her divine love.

This holy soul, so full of God's grace and such a vessel of election, God did not suffer to pass her tranquil years in the quiet and innocence of her cloister life, and in the strict observance of holy discipline. God had other designs, and for their accomplishment in his Church he gave to St. Brigid extraordinary gifts, and mysterious power. Accordingly, like her Divine Saviour she went about in signs and wonders. Wherever she went she left the evidence of her merciful compassion, and she spread around her the gifts and the blessings of God. She made the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the blind to see, and the dead she restored to life, until all confessed that God spoke through the mouth of his servant, and that his power was in her hands.

As our Divine Saviour went through Palestine, visiting different places, so St. Brigid went about doing good in different parts of Ireland. She passed her early youth and made the vows of her religious life at Ussny, under the care of St. Maccaille. She visited the sainted prelate of Ardagh—St. Mel, who was rich in faith and in many virtues. St. Patrick, who was her great and sainted friend, she saw on his death bed, hearing his last prayer, and receiving his last sigh. Many years of her life she passed in the South, founding, wherever she went, houses of religion, and maintaining in them the observance of discipline and the practice of virtue, but it was on the vast plain of Kildare, by the Cell of the Oak, that she fixed her permanent home, and at the foot of that tower which even now exists, and which is the memorial of the ancient days and the mystery of our own, she lighted up the fire of true religion, and spread around far and near the faith and the love of Jesus Christ in the hearts of the people.

2. Her special mission.

Consider also the noble work and special mission which God called on her to fulfil. Even at that early period of the conversion of the island, the Christian religion took such hold, and made such progress in the hearts of many, that they not only observed the precepts of the Gospel, but they were also anxious to practise and to observe the evangelical counsels. Men and women with holy enthusiasm went to the altar, to give their lives to God as a perpetual sacrifice, and it was in the religious life, which regulates and sustains this divine ardour, that they found the fullest gratification of their hopes and wishes.

Inspired by God, St. Brigid continued, if she did not commence, the conventual institution in Ireland, and brought it, even in her own time, to a most happy issue, and made it produce the most wonderful results. Communities of holy virgins, overcoming the weakness of their sex, and the temptations of the world, sprung up under the hand of St. Brigid, and living under the rule which she prescribed, served God in holiness and fear, and made their lives the practice of the perfection and of the praise of God. This was the seed which St. Brigid sowed in Ireland, which even in the worst of times has produced the most happy fruits, and which, thanks be to the Almighty God, the Father of mercies and the giver of every good gift, is reviving to-day with a strength and power which are worthy of the best and most noble ages of the faith.

O holy St. Brigid, thou who art the light, the ornament, and the glory of the Church of Ireland, be the heavenly patron of its people, and be the especial friend and the protectress of the priests of the sanctuary. Let those who offer sacrifice to the name of God, be worthy of their exalted duties. Shew forth in their lives the form of all perfection and cover them with the robe of holiness. Let them love justice and hate iniquity. Let their prayer be like incense in the sight of heaven. Let their doctrine be saving and salutary to the people, and let the odour of their lives be the delight of the Church of God.

Ecclesiastical Meditations Suitable for Priests on the Mission and Students in Diocesan Seminaries by a Catholic Clergyman (Dublin, 1866), 250-255.

Every Saint- A Prayer for the End of the Year

To close the year, below is the epilogue to the Martyrology of Gorman, a beautiful prayer to all the saints, asking for their intercession and protection. The Martyrology of Gorman is a metrical calendar of the saints compiled in the late 12th century by the abbot of an Augustinian friary in Louth, Mael-Muire or Marianus O'Gorman. This prayer appears as the epilogue to the work, following the final entry on December 31.

Epilogue.

I. Let every saint who hath been, who shall be, in the greentopped mournful world, let all the dear and gracious host forgive me.

5. The noble, beloved army—little of their sea is this number—to protect me from battle, from bane, (and) from demons.

9. In their hosts, in their hundreds, let them ask for me pardon, repentance before death, and protection of me from every hardship.

13. May they guard me from the Devil, for he is always doing evil—the noble sages with knowledge, every saint who hath been, who shall be!

Every saint.

The End.

Saint Brigid and Saint Lucy

December 13 is the feast of Saint Lucy of Syracuse, an early virgin martyr, and I was very much interested by the 2008 post by Anka on the celebration of Saint Lucy's Day in Sweden. According to a modern scholar of Irish folklore, the cult of Saint Lucy may have directly influenced the cult of our own Saint Brigid, both in the use of the hagiographical motif of the plucking out of the eyes and in some of the ways in which Saint Brigid's day was celebrated in popular culture. Dr Dáithí Ó hÓgain writes:

Narratives of Brighid were developed through medieval times by further additions from Continental hagiography. A ninth-century text describes how a man comes to woo the young, and as yet unprofessed, Brighid. Her stepbrothers try to compel her to accept the marriage, but she knocks out one of her eyes so as not to be attractive to the suitor. When the family allow her to remain a virgin she miraculously restores sight to herself. The story is repeated in later sources, and it survived in the recent folklore of north Leinster and south Ulster. The name of the suitor, Dubhthach mac Lughair, is borrowed from the early Patrician texts, and it is obvious that the story cannot be older than the eighth century. It was, in fact, taken from the lore of the continental saint Lucy and was suggested by the symbolism of light associated with both of these holy virgins. It is apparent that the cult of Lucy influenced that of Brighid in other ways also in medieval times. Lucy's feastday, December 13, coincided with the winter solstice in the old calendar and was thus seen to usher in the lengthening of daylight. In Irish the saying which refers to Brighid's feastday, February 1, is that 'from Brighid's feastday onwards the day gets longer and the night shorter', although in fact that change occurs from the winter solstice, and the presumption must be that this saying was in origin a rather inaccurate borrowing from the Lucy lore. It could well be, also, that some of the paraphernalia associated with the feast of Brighid in Irish folk life - such as processions of young girls with the leader dressed up as the saint - shows the influence of the Lucy cult, which was very popular in western European countries in the Middle Ages.

Dáithí Ó hÓgain, Myth, Legend and Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition (Ryan, 1990), 62-63.

Something else which struck me as I looked at the picture above of a celebration of Saint Lucy's Day in Sweden in 1943, was that the round headdress of candles worn by the young girl representing the saint has echoes of another tradition associated with Saint Brigid - her connection with the feast of Candlemas. I have previously recorded this version of the Brigid and Candlemas story here:

Ireland: Folklore

108. A Legend of St. Brigid

In further reference to the spring feature of Saint Brigid I am indebted to Miss Delap for a curious legend from Valentia Island which, with fine disregard of chronology, makes Saint Brigid a friend of the Virgin Mary. It is said that when the Virgin was shy about facing the congregation in the Temple, Saint Brigid procured a harrow, took out the spikes and putting a candle in every hole, placed it on her head, walked up before the Virgin and escorted her down again. According to another version, which it is believed came from the north of Ireland, it was a hoop with lighted candles which the Saint wore as she danced up the aisle before the Virgin and down again. For this service Saint Brigid’s Day is the eve of Candlemas or the Purification of the Virgin.

Elizabeth Andrews, Man, Vol. 22 (December 1922), 187.

I don't know if the 'hoop with lighted candles' is also borrowed from the Saint Lucy tradition, but in view of what Dr Ó hÓgain has said, it seems to me an interesting coincidence.

Saint Gobban of Old Leighlin

Tradition records that Saint Gobban was the founder of the monastery of Leighlin, and in the post below, first made in 2009 on my own blog, I examine the evidence that the Saint Gobban commemorated on December 6 was Leighlin's founder. We start with the recording of the saint's feast in the Martyrology of Oengus and the accompanying scholiasts' notes:

6. The feast of Gobban,
shout of thousands! with a
train of great martyrdom, the
angelic rampart, the virginal
abbot, lucid descendant of
Lan.

Notes

6. of Gobban i.e. of Cell Lamraide in Hui Cathrenn in the west of Ossory, i.e. a thousand monks it had, as experts say.
angelic wall, i.e. angels founded the wall of his church for him.
Lane, i.e. an old tribe, which was once in the south of Ireland, and of them was Gobban.

Is this holy abbot the founder of the monastery at Old Leighlin? The problem is that there are a number of saintly Gobbans listed in the Irish calendars, including one 'Goibhenn, of Tigh Scuithin', who is commemorated on 23 May. He too has been identified with the founder of Old Leighlin. The classic work on Irish monastic foundations, the Monasticon Hibernicum, (following the authority of Colgan) believes, however, that the Saint Gobban commemorated on December 6 is the founder of the monastery at Old Leighlin:

St. Gobban was the founder of the monastery of Leighlin. There are several saints of that name in the Irish Calendars, but Colgan judged that most probably our saint was the "St. Gobban of Kill-Lamraidhe, in the west of Ossory," who is honoured on the 6th of December: "Hunc Gobanum existimo fuisse ilium celebrem mille monachorum patrem qui postea Ecclesiam de Kill-Lamhraighe rexit" (Acta SS. p. 750). The "Martyrology of Donegal" styles him " Gobban Fionne, of Kill-Lamhraidhe, in Ui-Cathrenn, in the west of Ossory. . . A thousand monks was the number of his convent, and it is at Clonenagh his relics are preserved. He was of the race of Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Olum" (p. 327). St. Laserian having visited the monastery about the year 600, St. Gobban, struck with his many virtues, placed it entirely under his charge, and went himself to found another religious house at Kill-Lamhraige, in a western district of Ossory.

Monasticon Hibernicum or A Short Account of the Ancient Monasteries of Ireland in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Vol 6 (1869), 198-99.

This identification was also accepted by a 19th-century priest who published a three-volume history of the dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin:

Annals of Clonenagh

A.D. 639. St. Gobban, who founded the monastery of Old Leighlin, and afterwards resigned it to St. Laserian, retiring in 632 to Killamery in Ossory, died this year and was interred at Clonenagh. His feast was observed on the 6th of December.

"Gobban's feast, a shout of thousands, with a train of great martyrdom, angelic wall, abbot of virginity, lucid descendant of Lane." (Feil. Aeng.)

The Gloss in Leab. Br. and entry in Mart. Donegal state that “in Clonenagh are Gobban's relics."

Rev M Comerford" Collections relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin" Vol. 3(1886)

All the sources relating to Saint Gobban preserve the tradition that after founding an important monastery at Old Leighlin, he later committed it to the care of Saint Laisren (Molaise, feastday April 18) and retired to another foundation in Ossory. The Life of Saint Laisren, as preserved in the Salamanca MS, describes how this transfer of leadership took place:

(S.8 continued.) The holy abbot Gobanus and his followers served God there. When he heard of the arrival of the man of God [Laisren] he went to meet him and after greeting him led him reverently to the monastery. As they came to the door of the monastery, a certain woman then carrying the body of her son who had been beheaded by robbers, earnestly begged St Lasrianus in the name of God that he might restore her son to life. His feelings of pity were stirred by the lamentations of the mother and he turned to his usual help of prayer, and having placed the head beside its body he restored the dead man to life and gave him back to his mother. Then blessed Gobanus made a treaty of spiritual brotherhood with him, giving him the place and everything in it and setting up a monastery for himself in another place.

Colum Kenny, Molaise – Abbot of Leighlin and Hermit of Holy Island, (Morrigan Press, 1998), 47-48.

So, whilst we cannot say with complete confidence that it is the founder of the monastery of Old Leighlin who is commemorated on December 6, the Martyrology of Oengus makes it clear that an important monastic figure is honoured on this date, a man who is said to have had one thousand monks in his charge and whose relics had been preserved. Thus we can say 'Holy Father, Gobban, pray to God for us!'.

Saint Brigid and Saint Erc

2 November is the feast of Saint Erc of Slane, a saint who features in the hagiography of Saint Patrick. He also features in the hagiography of Ireland's patroness and below is an account of some of the miracles worked by Saint Brigid which include Bishop Erc, taken from Volume II of The Lives of the Irish Saints by John, Canon O'Hanlon. The stories testify to the friendship of the two saints as well as to the mutual respect which existed between them:

One of the holy men, who had been distinguished owing to his virtues in St. Brigid's time, was Bishop Erc or Ercus of Slane. He was an early convert and a disciple of St. Patrick. This Bishop Erc's immediate progenitors and family lived in Munster; although, he descended from Fergus Rogius, and the royal line of Ulster kings. His hermitage was at Slane, on the banks of the Boyne, and it stood in a most charming locality. Here too, at the present time, may be seen some most interesting relics of our ancestors' piety. Beside that romantically situated cell of the holy man, yet visited by so many pilgrims of taste, who delight to wander along the winding waters of the Boyne, some towering and extensive abbey ruins crown a magnificent height, which presents a vast view over one of the most lovely landscapes in Ireland.

With blessed Erc, the great St. Brigid was specially intimate and bound by ties of holy friendship. This appears from her Acts, and it is supposed, that about the year 484, she was his travelling companion to his native province. Such tour of the holy abbess possibly preceded one she made to Connaught although, indeed, this matter has not been very clearly established. St. Brigid entertained a great inclination to see certain consecrated places and holy persons in Munster; but, according to another account, her visit there was induced, through a desire to accompany St. Erc on a visit towards that country, where his relatives lived. One day, while prosecuting their journey, St. Brigid said to the bishop, "O venerable father, point out to me the quarter of Munster, in which your family resides." When the bishop had complied with her request, the holy virgin exclaimed in continuation, "At present, a war is there waging, between your tribe and another clan." The bishop replied to her: "O holy mother, I believe what thou hast told me is true, for when I last left them to see you, they were in a state of discord." Then Brigid cried out, "O Father, your people are now routed." One of St. Erc's disciples, hereupon, thoughtlessly remarked to the holy abbess, "How are you able to see the fight at such a distance?" The bishop reproved this incredulity for his not recognising the Holy Spirit's illuminating gifts conferred on a virgin, who was blessed both in soul and body. Then said Erc to our saint: "O servant of God, sign our eyes that we may witness those things thou seest." The spouse of Christ immediately complied with this request, so that they clearly observed the battle's progress. Looking on, in great grief, his disciple cried out to Bishop Erc: "Alas! also, my Lord, at this moment, my eyes behold the decapitation of two brothers." The result of enquiry established the reality this vision detailed.

Afterwards, in a certain place, and near a mountain, the holy Bishop Erc and the sanctified virgin Brigid sat down, with their attendants. These were greatly fatigued after their journey, and they experienced great hunger. A youth in their company thereupon remarked, that whoever gave them food should confer a great charity on them. St. Brigid then said, "I predict, that if food and drink be required, you must wait awhile in expectation of assistance from on high; because, I behold a house, in which they are to-day preparing alms for a certain church. Within an hour it shall come here, and even now it is put up for us in packages." While our saint was speaking, refreshment carriers arrived, and when they had learned the illustrious Brigid and holy Bishop Erc, with their disciples, were there, those bearers greatly rejoiced to relieve their wants. Alms were presented to the famished travellers, with such words: "Receive those refreshments, which God Himself hath intended for you, as your wants and merits should be taken into consideration, before those of any other congregation." Giving God thanks, our travellers partook of this food presented; yet, as they only received edibles, some drink was required, likewise, to allay their thirst. Then Brigid told them to dig the earth near this spot. On obeying her order, a spring of clear water issued from the ground. Afterwards, it bore the name of St. Brigid's well, and it might be seen at the time our virgin's Third and Fourth Lives had been written.

The holy travellers subsequently visited Magh-Femyn, at a time when a great Synod of Saints was there assembled. They were obliged to remain at that synod. The holy Bishop Erc gave an account of those miracles wrought by our saint, while he was assisting at this council. The neighbouring inhabitants, hearing that Brigid was there, brought many infirm persons to her, that she might heal them. Among these were included some lame, leprous, and demented persons. Such fortunate patients were released from their several afflictions, through Divine assistance, and the prayers of our merciful saint.

Back on the Rails III - The Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway

Having looked at the Albert Quay Terminus in the last post, I want to look at the sites and sights of the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway in this. In fact, part of this line was one of Ireland's first railways, befitting the 'real' capital and, at the time, Ireland's most populous County. It is also the longest of the lines that I'm exploring, so I'm going to cover it in stages. Firstly, the line runs through the suburbs of the city.



From the Albert Quay Terminus the railway travelled along the line of what has now become the South City Link Road. Termus and line begin in the South Parish, one of the two Catholic Parishes of Cork in the early modern period. In fact, the South Chapel is the oldest Church in the City and a rare survival from the period of the Penal Laws when Catholic Church building was technically illegal. The poverty of the construction can be seen from the way that limestone and sandstone are used almost indifferently as they came to hand.

In 1808, the Bishop of Cork, Dr. Moylan was able to open a second Church to the North of the River Lee (already featured on this blog for the Corpus Christi Procession), only the second in the city, giving to the two chapels, as Catholic houses were diminutively and dismissively known by the Anglican ruling class, the titles of 'South Chapel' and 'North Chapel' respectively. Later ages would christen them the 'South Parish Church' and the 'North Cathedral' but they were always known to me by their earlier titles.













Standing on Dunbar Street outside the South Chapel you can see three monuments to our Catholic heritage. Looking North you see the Capuchin Friary, home of the great Father Mathew. To the West is the tower of the Red Abbey of the Augustinian Canons, the last medieval building in Cork.


To the South are the buildings of the South Presentation Convent (there is also a North Presentation Convent across the road from the North Chapel), the first foundation of Nano Nagle and the Presentation Sisters, one of the largest of the Irish Orders of Nuns, another gift of Bishop Moylan to the City. Nano Nagle is buried in the grounds of the Convent that is still, thank God, occupied by the Nuns.





As the City expanded the South Parish became so large that it was necessary to divide it in two by creating the new Parish of Turner's Cross. Continuing south along the line of the old Cork, Bandon and South Coast railway, now the line of the South City Link Road, we pass the famous modernist Church of Christ the King at Turner's Cross, dedicated just a few years after Pope Pius XI created the feast of Christ the King. The Church is stunningly modern and abstract in style and construction but it should also be said that in its modernity it retains the traditional liturgical forms - Sanctuary/Nave - High Altar/Side Altars - Sanctuary Rails/Devotional Shrines - more perfectly than many traditional churches wreckovated since Vatican II. It's an interesting idea to imagine the steam locomotives puffing past Turner's Cross for more than 30 years.

The line next passes through the Parish of Ballyphehane. The Parish Church of the Assumption was one of the 'Rosary' Churches of the City that I looked at this time last year. Ballyphehane Parish includes Cork Airport, which is another reason why the destruction of the railway line wasn't just useless but also a waste of a great potential resource.

Between the City and the Airport the line turns West towards Chetwynd, where is climbs majestically towards Spur Hill. The last two images in this post are the small road bridge crossing the line at Chetwynd, just before the famous Chetwynd Viaduct that carries the line over the Bandon Road, and the viaduct itself, which is occasionally used for a variant of road bowl playing, the unique Cork sport. Mick Barry, still remembered in UCC in my time, was the first to pitch the iron bowl over the viaduct.

The Feast of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist in Ireland

August 29 is the feast of the Decollation or Beheading of Saint John the Baptist. This feast had a particular significance for the people of Ireland and was once anticipated with a great deal of trepidation. For it was feared that this country would be subject to a punishment of apocalyptic proportions thanks to the belief of our ancestors that an Irish druid had volunteered to act as Saint John's executioner. This would be just another of those strange but harmless Irish legends if it weren't for the fact that in the year 1096 they really did think that the day of reckoning had arrived. Below I will summarize the main details of the extraordinary traditions surrounding this feast, drawn from a number of posts made in 2009 on my own blog.

The feast of the Beheading of Saint John is marked on the early ninth-century Irish calendar, The Martyrology of Oengus, and begins innocuously enough with this stanza:

29. Announce the suffering of John the Baptist,
a world with piety,
with nine virginal hundreds,
on Elijah's ascension

but the accompanying commentary, added by later anonymous authors, sounds a very different note - one of apocalyptic terror involving something called the Besom (or Broom) of Fanait and an all-consuming fiery dragon:

In vengeance for the killing of John comes the Besom out of Fanait to expurgate Ireland at the end of the world, as Aileran of the Wisdom foretold, and Colum cille, i.e. at terce precisely will come the Besom out of Fanait, ut dixit Colum cille:
" Like the grazing of two horses in a yoke will be the diligence with which it will cleanse Erin."

Of the Besom Aileran said:
"Two alehouses shall be in one garth side by side. He who shall go out of one house into the other will find no one before him alive in the house he will enter, and no one alive in the house from which he will go. Such will be the swiftness with which the Besom shall go out of Fanait."

Riagail said:
"Three days and three nights and a year will this plague be in Ireland. When a boat on Loch Rudraigi shall be clearly seen from the door of the refectory, then comes the Besom out of Fanait."

A Tuesday in spring, now, is the day of the week on which the Besom will come in vengeance for John's passion, as Moling said:

On John's festival will come the onslaught, which will search Ireland from the south-east,
a fierce dragon that will burn every one it can, without communion, without sacrifice, etc.'

Thus we can see that in these prophecies attributed to various Irish saints it appears that some vaguely-defined punishment, likened to a broom sweeping all before it and supposedly originating from the beautiful Fanad peninsula of County Donegal, will cut down its victims with terrifying speed. The nature of the 'Besom of Fanait' is not entirely clear and nor is its relationship to the fiery dragon, originating in the south-west, which will consume people unshriven. I suppose it is possible that the fiery dragon is a metaphor for the types of deadly plague which swept Ireland at various times, indeed one of the quoted prophets, Saint Aileran the Wise, was himself a victim of the plague known as the Buidhe Chonaill which devastated Ireland in the seventh century. On the other hand the image of fire is firmly associated with apocalyptic events. Some of the other prophecies not quoted above also talk about another similarly ill-defined scourge known as the Roth Ramhach, the Rowing, or Oar Wheel.

This tradition was further added to in the 10th-century Irish Life of Saint Adamnan. Although this saint is best known today as the author of the Life of Saint Columba of Iona, after his death his name was associated with an apocalyptic text, Fís Adamnáin, The Vision of Adamnan. He was thus drawn into the list of Irish saints associated with prophecies concerning the feast of Saint John's beheading, as this extract from the copy preserved in the Leabhar Breac and translated by Professor Eugene O'Curry demonstrates:

"The vision which Adamnan—a man filled with the Holy Spirit—saw, that is, the angel of the Lord spoke these His [that is, the Lord's] words to him:
"Woe! woe! woe! to the men of Erinn's Isle who transgress the commands of the Lord. Woe! to the kings and princes who do not direct the truth, and who love both iniquity and rapine. Woe! to the prostitutes and the sinners, who shall be burned like hay and straw, by a fire ignited in the bissextile and intercalary year, and in the end of the cycle. And it is on the [festival of the] beheading of John the Baptist, on the sixth day of the week, that this plague will come, in that year, if [the people] by devout penitence do not prevent it as the people of Nineveh have done".

We can see that the prophecy of Adamnan has raised another aspect to the apocalyptic events on this feastday, first in its mention of 'the bissextile and intercalary year' and secondly in the possibility that disaster could be averted by 'devout penitence'. Both of these factors actually played out in the real world of late 11th-century Ireland in what is known as 'the panic of 1096'. For then it truly seemed that the conditions were in place for the fulfilment of the prophecies on August 29 of that year. Let's start with the calendar requirements of which there seem to have been four:

1. The Feast of Saint John's beheading had to fall on a Friday
2. It had to fall within a bissextile year, that is a leap year
3. It had to fall in a year with an embolism, that is a year with an extra lunar month
4. It had to occur in a year which stood at the end of a chronological cycle

In the year 1096, the first three of these conditions were met, scholar Benjamin Hudson who has studied this particular episode suggests that the fourth may not have been felt to be so important. What undoubtedly would have added to the sense of panic in Ireland in this year was the appearance in late 1095 of a devastating plague which cut down rich and poor alike. Among its victims were various Irish princes and the bishops of Armagh and Dublin. The plague raged from August 1095 to May of 1096 and may have concentrated the mind on the prophecies. The Irish annals support the idea that this year was no ordinary one and was referenced to the traditions surrounding Saint John's feast with the Annals of Tigernach, for example, referring to 1096 as 'the year of the festival of John'. They also record, however, how disaster was averted by recourse to the type of 'devout penitence' advocated in the Vision of Adamnan, itself drawing on the biblical story of the averting of the wrath of God from the city of Nineveh. The Annals of the Four Masters record for the year 1096:

The festival of John fell on Friday this year; the men of Ireland were seized with great fear in consequence, and the resolution adopted by the clergy of Ireland, with the successor of Patrick at their head, to protect them against the pestilence which had been predicted to them at a remote period, was, to command all in general to observe abstinence, from Wednesday till Sunday, every month, and to fast on one meal every day till the end of a year, except on Sundays, solemnities, and great festivals; and they also made alms and many offerings to God; and many lands were granted to churches and clergymen by kings and chieftains; and the men of Ireland were saved for that time from the fire of vengeance.

Having thus seen the very real terror that existed in Ireland around the festival of The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, we may conclude by having a look at where the root cause of all the trouble lay. It may seem incredible now but our ancestors appear to have taken seriously the notion that an Irishman, a druid whom tradition names as Mag Roth or Mog Ruith, travelled with his daughter to the east where he literally became a sorcerer's apprentice under the tutelage of Simon Magus. Although Simon Magus is only briefly mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (8:9-24) he became the focus of an extensive apocryphal tradition in medieval Europe, including Ireland. In our version the pair end up at the court of King Herod on that fateful night when Salome dances and demands her reward, but finding none of his own people willing to execute the Forerunner and Baptist of Our Lord, the Irishman Mag Roth volunteers to wield the sword. And he thus laid Ireland and its people open to the possibility of vengeance on the anniversary of this hateful deed.

It's a curious tale, isn't it? Whilst it illustrates the dangers of apocalyptic speculations there is also a positive message in observing how the Irish people, including the elite, sought to avert disaster in the year 1096 by embracing repentance.

If you are interested in reading further on this topic I have explored some of the sources in more detail in a series of posts on my own blog which will also supply fuller references:

1. The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and the Irish, a general introduction.

2. Decoding the Prophecies of Saint John, an examination of the texts by Professor O'Curry.

3. 1096 and all that, a summary of the work of Benjamin Hudson on the panic of 1096.

4. The Executioner of John the Baptist, a poem on Mag Roth from a Scottish manuscript.

The beautiful bronze pictured above is by iconographer Aleksandras Aleksejevas whose work was featured in an online exhibition in 2009.