Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 15

Tradition tells us that Enda came first across the North Sound from Garomna Island on the coast of Connemara, and landed in the little bay under the village of Killeany, to which he has given his name. He came over too in a stone boat, which floated lightly on the tide. It is there still; we saw it ourselves on the sea sh.o.r.e. "Where is it," I said to my guide. "Yonder on the sh.o.r.e near the boat," he replied, and keeping my eyes fixed on the boat, which was before us, and towards which we directed our steps in the gloom as to a land-mark, I did not perceive until quite close that the 'boat' was in reality a large rock, so like a boat in shape that a stranger could not tell the difference at any distance in the fading light! This spot, in Enda's Life, is called Leamhchoill, but according to O'Flaherty it is more properly called Ocuill, and it is nigh, he says, to the great _Curragh Stone_, in which Enda sailed over the sea to the island.

Corban, the chief of the 'Gentiles,' who dwelt on the islands, was at first hostile to Enda, and plotted against his life. But frightened by the prodigies which he witnessed, and convinced that Enda was indeed a man of G.o.d, he appears to have quietly given up the Great Island to the saint and withdrawn with his people, who consented to become Christians, either to the neighbouring islands or to the mainland.

Enda founded his first monastery at Killeany, close to the present village of the same name, and the fame of his austere sanct.i.ty soon spread throughout all Erin, and attracted religious men from all parts of the country. Amongst the first who came to visit Enda's island sanctuary was the celebrated St. Brendan, the Navigator as he is called, who was then revolving in his mind his great projects of discovering the Promised Land beyond the western main. He came to consult Enda and seek his blessing for the prosperous execution of his daring purpose.

"Hearing how blessed Enda lived apart, Amid the sacred caves of Aran-Mor, And how beneath his eye spread like a chart, Lay all the isles of that remotest sh.o.r.e; And how he had collected in his mind All that was known to man of the Old Sea, I left the Hill of Miracles behind, And sailed from out the shallow sandy Lea.

"When I proclaimed the project that I nursed, How 'twas for this that I his blessing sought, An irrepressible cry of joy outburst From his pure lips, that blessed me for the thought.

He said that he too had in visions strayed Over the untracked ocean's billowy foam; Bid me have hope, that G.o.d would give me aid, And bring me safe back to my native home."

--_D. F. McCarthy._

Thither too came Finnian of Clonard, himself the "Tutor of the Saints of Erin," to drink in heavenly wisdom from the lips of the blessed Enda; for Enda seems to have been the senior of all these saints of the Second Order, and he was loved and reverenced by them all as a father. Clonard was a great College; but Aran of St. Enda was the greatest sanctuary and nursery of holiness throughout all the land of Erin. Thither came, even from the farthest North, another venerable sage, Finnian of Moville, one of the teachers of the great Columcille. And thither too came Columcille himself, a scion of the royal race of Niall the Great, the ardent high-souled prince of Tirconnell, who had not yet quite schooled his fiery spirit to the patient endurance of injustice or insult. And therefore he came in his currach with the scholar's belt and book-satchel to learn divine wisdom in this remote school of the sea. Here he took his turn at grinding the corn, and herding the sheep; he studied the Scriptures and learned from Enda's lips the virtues of a true monk, as practised by the saints and fathers of the desert, and as daily exhibited in the G.o.dly life and conversation of the blessed Enda himself, and of the holy companions who shared his studies and his labours.

Most reluctantly he left the sacred isle, and we know from a poem which he has left how dearly he loved Aran, and how bitterly he sorrowed in his soul when "the Son of G.o.d" called him away from that beloved island to other scenes and other labours.

"Farewell to Aran Isle; farewell!

I steer for Hy--my heart is sore; The breakers burst, the billows swell, Twixt Aran Isle and Alba's sh.o.r.e."[162]

He calls it Aran, "Sun of all the West," another Pilgrims' Rome, under whose pure earth he would as soon be buried, as nigh to the graves of St.

Peter and St. Paul.

With Columcille at Aran was also the mild-eyed Ciaran, 'the Carpenter's son,' and the best beloved of all the disciples of Enda. And when Ciaran, too, was called away by G.o.d to found his own great monastery in the green meadows by the Shannon's side, we are told that Enda and his monks came with him down to the sea sh.o.r.e, whilst their eyes were moist and their hearts were sorrow-laden. Then the young and gentle Ciaran, whose own career was destined to be so bright and so brief, knelt down on the white sand and begged his holy father's blessing, while the tears streamed down his cheeks. It was too much for the holy old man to bear; in the pathetic language of the Scripture he lifted up his voice and wept aloud--"Oh! my brethren," he said, "why should I not weep? this day our island has lost its choicest flower and the strength of religious observance." So Ciaran got his Abbot's blessing, and entering his currach, sailed away for the mainland; but he often turned his streaming eyes to look back on Aran, the home of his heart, and on the little cells where his brethren dwelt, and the oratory of his beloved father, Enda, and the billowy cliffs of the holy island now fast fading from his view.

There is hardly a single one of the great saints of the Second Order who did not spend some time in Aran. It was, as we have said, the novitiate of their religious life. St. Jarlath of Tuam, nearly as old as Enda himself, St. Carthach the Elder of Lismore, the two St. Kevins of Glendalough--two brothers, St. Mac Creiche of Corcomroe, St. Lonan Kerr, St. Nechan, St.

Guigneus, St. Papeus, St. Libeus, brother of St. Enda himself, all were there.

There is no other part of Ireland so interesting as these Aran Islands, not only from their past history, but from the great number of Christian remains that are still to be found on their sh.o.r.es. No where else do we find so many and so various specimens of early Christian architecture--churches, cloghauns, duirteachs, crosses, and cashels. To these monuments, however interesting in themselves, we can make but very brief reference.

Enda divided Aran Mor into two parts; one-half he a.s.signed to his own monastery of Killeany; the other or western half he a.s.signed to such of his disciples as chose to erect permanent religious houses in the island.

This, however, seems to have been a later arrangement, for at first it is said that he had 150 disciples under his own care; but when the establishment grew to be thus large in numbers, he divided the whole island into ten parts--each having its own religious house, and its own superior, while he himself retained a general superintendence over them all. The existing remains prove conclusively that there must have been several distinct establishments on the island, for we find separate groups of ruins at Killeany, at Killronan, at Kilmurvey, and further west at "The Seven Churches." The islanders still retain many vivid and interesting traditions of the saints and their churches. Fortunately, too, we have other aids also to confirm these traditions, and identify the founders or patrons of the existing ruins.

The life of Enda and his monks was simple and austere. The day was divided into periods for prayer, labour, and sacred study. Each community had its own church and its village of stone cells in which they slept either on the bare ground or on a bundle of straw covered with a rug, but always in the clothes worn by day. They a.s.sembled for their devotions in the church or oratory of the saint, under whose immediate care they were placed; they took their frugal meals in a common refectory, and cooked their food in a common kitchen--for they had no fires in the stone cells however cold--if cold could be felt by these hearts so glowing with the love of G.o.d. They invariably carried out the monastic rule of procuring their own food by labour. Some fished around the islands; others cultivated patches of oats or barley in sheltered spots between the rocks. Others ground it with the quern, like Ciaran, or kneaded the meal into bread, and baked it for the use of the brethren. They could have no fruit on these islands, nor wine or mead, nor flesh meat, except perhaps a little for the sick. Sometimes on the great festivals, or when guests of distinction came to the island, one of their tiny sheep was killed, and then the brethren were allowed to share, if they chose, in the good cheer provided for the visitors. Enda himself never tasted flesh meat, and we have reason to believe that many of his monks followed the saint's example. Yet their lives were full of sunny hope and true happiness. That desert island was a paradise for those children of G.o.d; its arid rocks were to them as a garden of delights; the sunlight on its summer seas was a bright picture of heavenly joys; and the roar of its wintry billows reminded them of the power and of the wrath of G.o.d. So they pa.s.sed their blameless lives living only for G.o.d, and waiting not in fear, but in hope, for the happy hour when their Heavenly Father would call them home. Their bodies were laid to rest beside the walls of the little churches--their graves may still be seen stretched side by side, and who can doubt that their sinless souls went up to G.o.d in heaven?

V.--ANCIENT CHURCHES IN ARAN.

Colgan has fortunately preserved for us a description of the old churches of Aran, written about the year A.D. 1645, by the learned and accomplished Malachy O'Queely, Archbishop of Tuam. It is very doubtful if O'Queely's list, even in his own time, was quite accurate; with its help, however, and such information as we were able to collect from the traditions of the people, as well as from other sources, we shall give as full a list of the existing remains as we can at present obtain.

In the townland of Killeany, O'Queely enumerates the following churches:--(1) Killeany itself, that is, Kill-Enda, p.r.o.nounced Killeany--for Enda is p.r.o.nounced Enna by the islanders. It was the parish church, he tells us, and gave its name to the village, which is close at hand. (2) There is the oratory of St. Enda, a much smaller building, close to the sea sh.o.r.e, in which the saint himself was buried. It is called Teglach-Enda, which probably means the tumulus, or grave-mound of Enda.

(3) There was another church called Tempull Mic Longa, doubtless founded by the saint, whose name it bears, but of whom nothing further is known.

O'Queely says it was near the parish church, but the place cannot at present be identified with certainty. (4) Tempull Mic Canonn, of which, says O'Queely, nothing more is known. (5) Another church called Tempull Benain, which gives rise to a very interesting question as to whether it was dedicated to St. Benignus or founded by that saint. St. Benignus, the elder, was dead before St. Enda first arrived in Aran; so it is more likely this church was founded by 'Benen, brother of Cethech,' who was also a disciple of St. Patrick. This Tempull Benain is one of the most interesting ruins in the island, and is a very beautiful example of our primitive stone oratories. (6) Another church was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, as was indeed usually the case in our great monastic enclosures. (7) Then there was another church called Mainister Connachtach--the Connaughtman's monastery--which O'Queely holds to have been distinct from (8) Kill-na-manach, the latter being founded by, or dedicated to, St. Caradoc--a British 'monk,' who is probably the same as the celebrated St. Cadoc, the founder of Llancarvan in Wales.

Thus we have in the single townland of Killeany no less than seven or eight churches and oratories, grouped together around the oratories of St.

Enda and of St. Benignus. It is remarkable that these two alone now survive--perhaps because the islanders would not allow the vandals, who carried off the stones of the other churches, and of the round tower, to build 'Cromwell's Fort,' to touch these two more ancient and more holy oratories. There was also a Franciscan monastery on the sea sh.o.r.e, and it may be some of the stones were carried off for its construction also.

The oratory of St. Enda, called Telagh-Enda, is of course the most interesting of all these ruins. It is still wonderfully well preserved, and, although some repairs took place at different times, there is no doubt that the greater part of the original building still remains. The grave-yard in which 127 saints are buried surrounds the church. The grave of the founder himself, according to O'Flaherty, was a few paces to the north-west from the door of the church. The holy spot is sometimes quite covered with the drifting sand; at other times Enda's grave, and the _leac_ or flag covering it, can be pointed out by any of the islanders.

There were other primitive churches founded by Enda which still bear his name both in Clare and Galway; and we find that even in Meath, Limerick, and Queen's County, there are parishes, as there were once, no doubt, old churches, dedicated to his name. Killeany of Arran, however, was the most celebrated of them all--there he lived for more than sixty years, 'in his prison of hard narrow stone,' and there he sleeps beside the sea, surrounded by the loved ones whom he taught and sanctified.

Of the group now called by the natives the 'Seven Churches,' O'Queely mentions only two--the parish church known as Tempull Brecain, and another church close at hand which, he says, is commonly called _Tempull a Phuill_. It is highly probable that there were other churches also around Tempull Brecain, although it is now quite impossible to ascertain either the patrons or founders. Dr. Petrie, however, whose opinion is ent.i.tled to the greatest weight, thinks that the other buildings, whose remains are still to be seen at the "Seven Churches" in Aran Mor, were monastic buildings annexed to the churches. Tempull Brecain was certainly the central building of this group, and was of considerable size, the nave measuring 32 feet by 18, and the chancel 20 feet by 18-1/2 in breadth. The latter in its present state seems to be the work of a later period, although portions of the original wall still remain. The masonry in the earlier parts is more coa.r.s.e and irregular, and is apparently coeval with that of Kill-Enda. There is in the north wall a very peculiar angular-headed window, which seems to have belonged to the primitive structure, and is characteristic of our most ancient churches. The western door has disappeared; but a chancel-arch of exquisite workmanship has been inserted in the eastern gable. It is so beautifully built, and so Roman in its style, that Dr. Petrie came to the conclusion that it must have been executed by foreign workmen. In the interior of the west wall of the nave is an inscribed stone having in uncial letters the words OR AR II CANOIN--"A prayer for the two canons"--but who they were is quite unknown.

It will be recollected that there was at Killeany, according to O'Queely's list, a church called "Tempull Mic Canonn," perhaps the son of one of those here commemorated.

The tomb of the founder, St. Brecan, was discovered about forty years ago, says Petrie, when a grave was being opened to receive the remains of a priest who, at his death, expressed a wish to be buried in that grave. On the flagstone was a cross within a circle with the words (S)CI BRECANI, which Petrie translates "for the Head (Capiti) of Brecan." It is obvious, however, that the first word is an abbreviation for 'Sancti,' and that the meaning is--"(the stone) of holy Brecan," which was doubtless placed over the saint by his beloved disciples. On the same occasion another stone was discovered within the grave with the simple legend in the rudest Irish characters ? OR AR BRAN N'ALITHER--a prayer for Bran the pilgrim. This seems an abbreviation of Brecan, and points to the ident.i.ty of the pilgrim of Aran with the founder of Ardbraccan in Meath. He was of the Dalca.s.sian race in Munster, and is said to have been great-grand-son of Eochaidh Balldearg, Prince of Th.o.m.ond, who was baptized by St. Patrick. He came to Aran, which had belonged to his relatives, during the lifetime of Enda, who divided the island, as it seems, between their respective followers.

An amusing story is told by the islanders of this division. It was agreed that the two saints should commence Ma.s.s at the same hour, and then, after Ma.s.s, set out with their followers to meet each other. The point of meeting was to be the boundary. Now Brecan took advantage of Enda, and began Ma.s.s before him, so that he was able to gain the start first. When Enda reached the high ground he saw that the other saint had not dealt fairly with him; and, praying to G.o.d, "he fastened him and his monks, your reverence, near the sea at Kilmurvey, so that he could not stir an inch until the blessed Enda came leisurely up to him, and fixed the line of division at that spot."

In the church-yard of St. Brecan's Church are five graves covered with flags lying side by side, but only recently exposed to view. On one of the headstones is the following curious inscription engraved by Petrie (who did not see the graves), and still distinctly visible and legible,

VII RO ======= MA NI

around the arms of the cross. The Septem Romani, or Seven Romans, here commemorated, doubtless, sleep together in these five graves, for two of the graves are much larger than the others, and are supposed to contain two bodies each.

At first sight it might appear strange to have 'seven Romans' buried together in this far off island; but it must be borne in mind that Gauls, or Britons, who enjoyed the Imperial citizenship in the fifth century would be called 'Romans,' and we know from the Lives of our early Saints, and from the Calendar of aengus, that many Britons, Franks and 'Romans' of the provinces came to Ireland in the time of St. Patrick, as well as in the following century, when the Anglo-Saxons drove them out of England, as the Franks had driven these 'Romans' out of Gaul. It is a touching sight to see their graves side by side in this remote Isle of the West--those citizens of Imperial Rome forced to seek an asylum in this quiet home of sanct.i.ty and learning, which was beyond the limits even of their world-wide empire. Their simple headstone has outlived the Forum and the Colosseum; it is still standing on the spot where it was placed by pious hands thirteen hundred years ago. Even now the islanders point to it with veneration as the resting-place of pilgrim saints, but who they were, or whence they came, they have no notion whatsoever.

There are many other interesting monuments at the "Seven Churches," which we cannot now describe in detail, such as sculptured stones and crosses with the characteristic Celtic ornamentation of the most elaborate style, including on one stone a rude figure of the Crucifixion. There are also the ruins of a curious building called the "Church of the Hollow," of mediaeval date, which was probably the oratory and cell of one of the enclosed saints, who flourished in Ireland during the ninth and tenth centuries. There was also an ancient baptistry supplied by a perennial fountain from the living rock--one of the few in Aran--which points to the early custom of baptism by immersion, as then practised in Ireland.

The group of ruins at Kilmurvey was situated within one of those ancient _caiseals_ probably of pagan origin, but utilized by the monks for the protection of their own ecclesiastical buildings. The ancient dun of Muirbheach Mil--a stout Firbolgic warrior of Aran--was thus utilized by Colman Mac Duagh, and then the place changed its name, and came to be called Kilmurvey, as if the savage old pagan had changed his nature, and having become a monk had founded the church within his stronghold. It was, however, founded, not by him, but by St. Colman Mac Duagh, from whom the Diocese of Kilmacduagh takes its name. There is another church close at hand known as Tempull Bog-na-Naomh--the Little Church of the Saints. It was a small oratory without nave or chancel, 15-1/2 feet long by 9-1/2 feet in breadth.

The Great Church, however, founded by St. Colman, was a very beautiful building, and was regarded by Lord Dunraven as the most interesting in Aran Mor. The nave was 18 feet 8 inches long, by 14-1/2 feet broad; the chancel was 15 feet 4 inches in length by 11 feet 2 inches in breadth. The lintel of the western door is a single granite block, borne by a glacier from the mountains of Connemara, 5 feet in length by 2-1/2 feet in depth.

Around the churches were discovered the remains of several cloghauns, or beehive cells, and a great number of ornamental bra.s.s pins, used to fasten the mantles of the ancient warriors. As these were found within the cells it would go to prove that they were originally built and tenanted by the warriors of Muirbheach Mil, that the monks of St. Colman simply took possession of the deserted stronghold with its cells, and then built their churches within its walls. The pins were of various forms and sizes, and of tasteful workmanship. No coins were discovered, which would go to show that these pins did not belong to Danish warriors, and the monks certainly never used such articles. Inscribed stones were also found in the neighbourhood of these churches, but they have all unfortunately disappeared. This ancient church is near the residence of Mr. Johnstone, and some of the stones were probably used in building the house or garden walls. As St. Colman flourished about the year A.D. 620, this group of buildings must be regarded as of nearly 100 years later date than the oratories of St. Benen and St. Enda.

One of the most beautiful and interesting of the old churches in Aran Mor is that which is called in Irish, Tempull-na-Cheathair-Aluinn, the Church of the Four Beauties; that is, according to O'Queely, of St. Fursey, St.

Brendan of Birr, St. Conall, and St. Berchan. It is, says Petrie, a small but beautiful edifice of cut stone, and was lighted by three small round-headed windows, so placed as to illuminate the altar, two being in the side wall, and one in the east gable over the altar. In Petrie's time this broken window was over-arched with ivy, woodbine, and th.o.r.n.y brambles. The late restorations by the Board of Works have removed these tangled growths, and revealed the little church in something of its primitive beauty. The simple stone altar is still standing at which the four beautiful saints officiated, and a small chamber, 6 feet long by 3 feet 10 inches in breadth, can still be seen within the wall on the west side. It may have been used as a sacristy, or, perhaps, as the dwelling-place of a recluse. There are cloghauns close at hand, which were, doubtless, the cells of the four saints. Most interesting of all are the four graves lately revealed, stretched side by side, within a small enclosure under the wall of the church. It is truly a touching sight, which few can see unmoved, when they think of the simple and holy lives of these four beautiful saints; how they lived and loved together; how calmly and how sweetly they rest under the shadow of those holy walls, where they worshipped G.o.d; and how tenderly their memory is still cherished by islanders after a lapse of more than twelve hundred years. Close at hand is the holy well, whose crystal waters were their only drink; and near it a large cloghaun about 20 feet in length, which seems to have been the refectory, where they took their frugal meals together.

O'Queely's conjecture as to their ident.i.ty is highly improbable, for the four saints whom he names could not have lived together, and certainly were not buried together in Aran Mor; whereas everything connected with the Four Beauties would seem to show that they lived together around this little church, and are buried without doubt in the four graves, that are still to be seen side by side within their own enclosure. Such, too, is the continuous living tradition of the islanders. There was, doubtless, another group of churches at Kilronan, but all traces of them have disappeared. About a mile north-west of Kilronan are the ruins of Monasterkieran; close at hand is St. Kieran's Well, and the little harbour itself is still known as St. Kieran's Bay; which show that the gentle saint of Clonmacnoise founded a monastery in the holy island before he finally left its rugged sh.o.r.es.

It will be seen that Aran Mor is pre-eminently a holy island, and well deserves its name, Aran of the Saints. It had four distinct groups of churches, the ruins of most of which are still visible, and from every point of view it is well worthy of a visit. In ancient times the holy island was a favourite place of pilgrimage, where the saints loved to live and die, for its soil was deemed to be holy ground. And it should still be a place of pilgrimage for every Irishman, who loves the ancient glories of his native land. He will during his visit see many things to instruct and edify him, and teach him to love the ruins of holy Ireland 'with a love far brought from out the storied past,' but elevated and purified by the contemplation of holiness and self-denial.

There are numerous and interesting ruins of a similar character, both pagan and Christian on the Middle and on the Eastern Island also. We cannot, however, describe them at present; let us hope that we have said enough to awaken a more general interest in those ancient sanctuaries. The history of the Holy Islands of the West is yet to be written, and it will be a story full of sacred and romantic interest.

CHAPTER IX.

THE SCHOOL OF ST. FINNIAN OF CLONARD.

"I would the great world grew like thee, Who grewest not alone in power And knowledge, but by year and hour In reverence and in charity."

--_Tennyson._

I.--PRELIMINARY SKETCH OF CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS.

We have said that as Aran was the novitiate, so Clonard was the great college of the Irish Saints of the Second Order. Before, however, we proceed to give an account of this great seminary and its founder, it will be useful to give a short sketch of the Christian Schools up to that period.

Of Christian Schools, in the modern sense of the word, there were none, and there could be none, during the first three centuries of the Church's history. She had then to struggle for a bare existence against the most powerful enemies; neither her worship nor her schools would be sanctioned, or even tolerated by the Roman Empire. Yet it was even then essential to train the clergy in sacred learning, and to instruct the people in the saving truths of faith. But, as a rule, this was done privately and unostentatiously in the catacombs; in the houses of the bishops when they had any fixed residence; and very frequently in the private grounds or private houses of wealthy and influential Christians.

The first Christian School, really worthy of the name, so far as we can judge, was established at Alexandria about the year A.D. 180. It became famous as a catechetical school, or school of dogma, and was conducted by several ill.u.s.trious men--Pantaenus, Origen, Dionysius, and others--whose learning was celebrated throughout the whole Church, and whose lectures and writings exercised a very wide and enduring influence on their own, as well as on later generations. But this was rather a school of theology than of general literature, and designed more for adult inquirers, both male and female, than for the systematic instruction of the young. Similar schools were afterwards founded at Antioch, at Caesarea, at Edessa, and subsequently at Nisibis in Armenia.