Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 28

And now, who was Ad.a.m.nan? Unfortunately we know very little of his early youth. He gives us to understand, at least by implication, that he was born at or near Drumhome, in the barony of Tirhugh, and co. Donegal. The church of Drumhome was founded by St. Columba, but St. Ad.a.m.nan is the patron; and this fact, too, indicates his connection with the locality.

There, also, he seems to have spent his earlier years; for it was there he says, "in my youth that a very old man called Ferreol, a servant of Christ, who is buried in Drumhome, told me of a glorious vision which he saw, when fishing in the valley of the Finn, on the night of Columba's death." Scarcely any traces of the old church of Drumhome now remain; but it was once n.o.bly endowed by the O'Donnells. Even so late as A.D. 1609, an Inquisition tells us that "there are in the said parish of Drumhome, four quarters of church land, three quarters of Columbkille's land, each quarter containing six townlands, then in the possession of Lewis O'Cleary," the head of that family, which the Four Masters have made ill.u.s.trious for ever. The old church was finely situated near the sh.o.r.e of the Bay of Donegal, not far from Ballintra, and in view of the bold range of mountains, where the sons of Conal Gulban so long and so n.o.bly defended their ancient freedom.

Ad.a.m.nan's father, Ronan, was sixth in descent from that same Conal Gulban, and thus belonged to the royal blood of Tirconnell; his mother was Ronnat, a daughter of Enna, who gave his name to Tirenna, the territory that in ancient times extended from Lough Foyle to Lough Sw.i.l.l.y. Thus Ad.a.m.nan was of the same family as St. Columba himself; for Columba was grandson of Fergus, son of Conal Gulban, and Ad.a.m.nan was sixth in descent from the same Fergus. He was born in A.D. 624, according to the best authorities, just twenty-seven years after Columba's death, and, as we may fairly a.s.sume, was in his youth placed under the care of the monks of Drumhome, in whose old churchyard he himself tells us many of the monks of Columba await a happy resurrection.

How long the boy remained in his native Tirhugh, feeding his spirit on the glorious vision of its waves and mountains, we cannot now ascertain. It was at that time, as we have seen, the custom of scholars, even of the n.o.blest birth, to visit the great monastic schools of the country, and all the more celebrated masters were surrounded by crowds of eager students, who lived on their wits, and lodged as best they could, generally in little huts of their own contrivance. A curious story is told of St.

Ad.a.m.nan himself in his youth, which amusingly ill.u.s.trates what may be called the University life of the time.

Finnachta, afterwards Monarch of Ireland, from A.D. 675 to 695, and Ad.a.m.nan's greatest friend, although of the blood royal, was at first very poor. He had a house and wife, but only one ox and one cow. Now the king of Feara Ross (Carrickmacross) strayed to the neighbourhood of Finnachta's hut; his wife, too, was with him and a crowd of retainers; but they could not find their way home, for the night came on dark, cold, and stormy, so they were forced to take refuge in the hut. Small as it was, the size of the house was greater than its wealth. Finnachta, however, "struck the ox on the head and the cow on the head," and feasted all the king's people sumptuously, so that no one was hungry.

Then the King and Queen of Feara Ross gave large herds of cattle to the generous Finnachta, and made him a great man. Shortly after this time Finnachta, not yet king however, was one day coming with a large troop of horse to his sister's house, and as they rode along they overtook Ad.a.m.nan, then a young school boy, travelling the same road with a vessel full of milk on his back. Anxious to get out of the way, Ad.a.m.nan stumbled and fell, spilling all the milk and breaking the jar to pieces. The cavalcade rather enjoyed the fun and rode away; but Ad.a.m.nan pursued them closely, and said: "O, good men, I have reason to be sad, for there are three good school-boys in one house, and they have us as two messengers--for there is always one going about seeking food for the five--and it came to my turn to-day. The gathering I made is scattered, and what I grieve for far more, the borrowed vessel has been broken and I have no means to pay for it."

Then Finnachta declared he would make it all right, and he kept his word.

He not only paid for the vessel but he brought the scholars--clerics they are called--to his own house, and their teacher along with them; he fitted up the ale-house for their reception, and gave them such abounding good cheer that the professor, exhilarated by the ale, or filled with the spirit of prophecy, as the annals say, declared that Finnachta would one day become the King of all Ireland, "and Ad.a.m.nan shall be the head of the wisdom of Erin, and shall become 'soul's friend,' or confessor to the king."

When Ad.a.m.nan was duly trained in the wisdom of the Irish schools at home his thoughts naturally turned to Iona. For that remote islet, surrounded by the stormy waters and under the misty skies of the Hebrides, had long been the religious home of his race and family. At this very time, when Ad.a.m.nan was about twenty-five years old, a cousin of his own, Seghine, fifth Abbot of Hy, ruled the entire Order. So with the south wind blowing fair, we may suppose the young scholar launched his currach on the Foyle, and sweeping past the hills of Inishowen, he would in about twelve hours see Columba's holy island slowly rising from the waves. As his bark approached he would eagerly note all the features of the island--the central rugged ridge, the low moory sh.o.r.es and narrow strait separating it from the Ross of Mull on the mainland. With a heart swelling with emotion, he must have stepped on the sh.o.r.e of Port Ronain, and then kneeling prostrate before the Abbot in his wooden cell, begged to be admitted to the habit of the Order. And we may be sure the venerable Seghine received with open arms the strong-limbed, fair-haired boy, who was sprung of his own ancient line and born in his own Tirhugh.

Ad.a.m.nan began his novitiate about A.D. 650, and after thirty years'

service in the brotherhood was himself raised to the abbatial Chair in A.D. 679. We know little of his life during this period, except that it was eminent for virtue and learning. We have undoubted proofs of his success in sacred studies, not only in the works that remain, but also from the testimony of his contemporaries. He was, says Venerable Bede, a virtuous and learned man pre-eminently skilled in Sacred Scripture.[272]

This is high testimony from a high authority. Father H. Ward felt himself justified in saying that Ad.a.m.nan was thoroughly educated in all the knowledge of his time, liberal, sacred, and ascetical; that he was also skilled in the Greek and Hebrew languages, as well as in the arts, laws, and history written in his native tongue.[273]

Yet this learned monk was not above giving his a.s.sistance in the manual labour of the monastery. He tells us in his life of St. Columba[274] how on a certain occasion he and a number of other monks cut down as many oak trees in one of the neighbouring islands, probably Arran, as loaded twelve boats in order to procure material to repair the monastery; and how, when detained by an adverse wind, St. Columba heard their prayer and procured for them a favourable breeze to waft them home. This fact, incidentally mentioned, proves that most of the monastic cells were made of oaken boards, which were covered in with a roof of reeds. St. Columba's own hut is represented as _tabulis suffultum_, and we know from other sources that as a protection against the weather these cells were thatched with reeds--_harundine tecta_. It is in this respect that the "Vita Columbae"

is so valuable because it gives us incidentally not only a graphic picture of the simple and pious lives of the Family of Hy, but also of their food, their clothing, their monastery, and their entire social arrangements.

Although St. Ad.a.m.nan ruled the monastery of Hy from A.D. 679 to his death in A.D. 704, he paid several visits to Ireland, and exercised a large influence both on its ecclesiastical and civil polity. This was due partly to his high character for learning and holiness, partly to his position as supreme head of the Columbian Houses, and in great measure also to his influence with Finnachta, the High King, from A.D. 675 to 695. It is not easy to ascertain the exact date of these visits, nor the work done on each occasion, but the substantial facts are certain.

In the year A.D. 684 one of the generals of the Northumbrian King, Ecgfrid, made a descent on Magh-Bregh, that is the eastern plain of Meath along the sea-sh.o.r.e. He pillaged and slaughtered in the usual fashion, and furthermore carried off many captives, male and female. This attack was wholly unprovoked, and, as Bede testifies, brought down upon the Northumbrian prince the signal chastis.e.m.e.nt of heaven. In the following year, rashly advancing against the Pictish King Brude, Ecgfrid was slain and his army routed at a place called Dun Nechtain. Thereupon Aldfrid, his brother, returned from Ireland, where he had been for many years an exile, and succeeded to the throne. Aldfrid, during the years he spent in Ireland, became intimate with Ad.a.m.nan--our annalists call him the alumnus, or foster son of Ad.a.m.nan. Now that he was raised to the throne, the latter took occasion to pay him a visit in order to obtain by his friendly offices the release of the captives. Miraculously crossing the Solway Frith, whose rushing tide "the best steed in Saxon land ridden by the best rider could not hope to escape," he came to the Northumbrian Court at Bamborough, and seems to have been received with open arms by his alumnus, who at once consented to restore the captives, sixty in all, whom shortly after Ad.a.m.nan brought home to Ireland. But this visit to the English court had other important consequences. "When he saw," says Bede, "during his stay in our province (probably at Easter) the canonical rites of our church, and was prudently admonished that they who were placed on a little corner at the end of the world should not persevere in their peculiar Paschal observance against the practice of the universal church, he changed his mind and willingly adopted our custom." On the same occasion he visited the monastery of Jarrow, where the monks greatly admired the humility and modesty of his demeanour, but were somewhat scandalized at his Irish frontal tonsure from ear to ear, then known as the tonsure of Simon Magus.

On his return to Hy, Ad.a.m.nan tried to induce his monks to adopt the Roman Paschal observance; but they were so much attached to the practice sanctioned by their great and holy founder that even Ad.a.m.nan failed to bring about a change. It was not until A.D. 716, twelve years after his death, that they finally consented to adopt the Dionysian cycle of nineteen years in fixing Easter Day.

He was more successful in Ireland. On his return thither with the captives in A.D. 686, a Synod seems to have been held for the purpose of bringing about this change, to which he himself alludes in his _Life of St.

Columba_. Neither the time nor place of the Synod can be exactly ascertained; it is not unlikely, however, that it took place on the Hill of Tara at the "Rath of the Synods," where tradition still marks out the place of "Ad.a.m.nan's Tent," and "Ad.a.m.nan's Cross."[275] Others think it was held at a much later date in A.D. 696 or 697, when "Ad.a.m.nan's Canon" was published, to which we shall refer later on. It is certain, however, that Ad.a.m.nan exerted his great influence thenceforward to introduce the new Paschal observance into Ireland, although he did not perhaps finally succeed until towards the end of his life.

On this occasion Ad.a.m.nan's visit was not of long duration; but he paid a second visit to Ireland in A.D. 692--fourteen years after the death of his predecessor, Failbhe, as the Annals say. This time it was a political question that attracted him from Hy. For forty reigns the men of Leinster had been paying the cow-tax, known as the Borumean tribute, to the princes of the Hy-Niall race, to which Ad.a.m.nan himself belonged. Finnachta, however, the reigning High King, the old friend of Ad.a.m.nan, remitted this tribute at the prayer of St. Moling, whom our Annalists represent as having recourse to a curious equivocation to effect his purpose. The king, at the prayer of the Saint Moling consented to remit payment of the tax for "the day and night." "All time," said the saint, when the king had pledged his royal word to this remission, "is day and night; thou canst never re-impose this tax." In vain the monarch protested that he had no such intention; the saint kept him to his word, promising him heaven if he kept it, and the reverse if he did not. When Ad.a.m.nan heard how weakly the king had yielded the ancient rights of the great Hy-Niall race, he was somewhat wrathful, and at once sought out the monarch, and asked to see him. The king was playing chess, and told Ad.a.m.nan's messenger, who asked an interview for the saint, that he must wait till the game was finished; then he played a second and was going to play a third, when the saint threatened him with reading a psalm that would not only shorten his life, but exclude him from heaven. Thereupon he came quick enough, and at once Ad.a.m.nan said, "Is this true that thou hast remitted the Borumha for day and night?" "It is true," said the king. "Then it is the same as to remit it for ever," said the saint; and he "scolded" him in somewhat vigorous language, and made a song on him on the spot, calling him a foolish, white-haired, toothless king, and using several other epithets the reverse of complimentary.

Of course all this is the work of a northern bard, who puts into the mouth of Ad.a.m.nan language which he would use himself; nevertheless, there is a substratum of truth in the story highly coloured as it is by poetic fiction. In the end, however, the writer adds:--"Afterwards Finnachta placed his head on the bosom of Ad.a.m.nan, and Ad.a.m.nan forgave him for the remission of the Borumha." Shortly after, however, Ad.a.m.nan was again angry with the king, and foretold "that his life would be short and that he would fall by fratricide." The Irish life gives the true cause of the anger and the prediction; it was because Finnachta would not exempt from taxes the lands of Columbkille, as he exempted the lands of Patrick, Finnian, and Ciaran. This not unnaturally incensed the saint against the ungrateful king, whose throne he had helped to maintain. The prediction was soon verified; Finnachta fell by the hand of a cousin in A.D. 697.

It was on his return to Hy after this second visit that Ad.a.m.nan seems to have written the _Life of Columbkille_. Shortly after he paid a third visit to Ireland in A.D. 697, and apparently spent the remaining seven years of his life in this country. It was in that year, most probably, was held the Synod of Tara in which the _Cain_, or Canon of Ad.a.m.nan, was promulgated. According to a story in the _Leabhar Breac_ there are four great Laws, or "Canons" in Ireland. The Canon of Patrick, not to kill the clergy; the Canon of the nun Dari, not to kill the cows; the Canon of Ad.a.m.nan, not to kill women; and the Sunday Canon, not to travel on that day. The origin of the Canon of Ad.a.m.nan was this:--He was once travelling through Meath, carrying his mother on his back, when he saw two armies in conflict, and a woman of one party dragging a woman of the other party with an iron reaping hook fixed in her breast. At this cruel and revolting sight, Ad.a.m.nan's mother insisted that her son should promise her to make a law for the people that women should in future be exempted from all battles and hostings. Ad.a.m.nan promised and kept his word[276]--in A.D.

696, according to the _Ulster Annals_. That is he procured the pa.s.sing of a law exempting women and children--innocentes--from any share in the actual conflict or its usual consequences, captivity or death. This fact is substantially true, though considerably embellished in the details.[277] And Ireland owes the great Abbot a lasting debt of grat.i.tude for procuring the enactment of this law, which was afterwards re-enacted in A.D. 727, when the relics of Ad.a.m.nan were removed from Iona to Ireland and the "law renewed." There were several other Canons probably enacted at a Synod held at Armagh about the same time, but this is far the most important of them all.

The _Life of St. Gerald_ of Mayo represents Ad.a.m.nan as governing the monastery of that place, originally founded by the Saxons, for seven years. Tradition also connects the saint with the Church of Skreen in the county Sligo, of which he is the patron, and was in all probability the founder. As head of the Columbian Order it was his duty, from time to time, to visit the Columbian Churches in Ireland, of which there were very many, especially in Sligo and Donegal. He may thus have spent a considerable time in Mayo of the Saxons, although the _Life of St. Gerald_ is very unsatisfactory evidence of the fact.

We cannot stay to notice the alleged "cursing" of Irgalach by Ad.a.m.nan. The story is intrinsically improbable and unsustained by respectable authority. In the last year of his life, A.D. 704, he returned to Iona.

Although the monks would not consent to give up St. Columba's Easter, he loved them dearly, and wished to bless them before he died. After his n.o.ble life he might well rest in peace with the kindred dust of all the saints of Conal Gulban's line that sleep in the holy island.

A century later, however, as we have seen, the sacred relics were transferred to Ireland, but it is not known for certain where they were laid.

Ad.a.m.nan's two most important works are his _Vita Sancti Columbae_, and his book, _De Locis Sanctis_.

The life of St. Columba has been p.r.o.nounced by Pinkerton to be "the most complete piece of such biography that all Europe can boast of, not only at so early a period, but even through the whole middle ages." Ad.a.m.nan himself declares that he wrote the book at the earnest request of the Brothers; and that he states nothing except what was already written in the records of the monastery, or what he himself heard from the elder monks, many of whom saw the blessed Columba, and were themselves witnesses of his wonderful works. The entire narrative, which is written in fairly good Latin, furnishes ample proof of the truth of this statement. Hence the great value of this Life, not only as an authentic record of the virtues and miracles of St. Columba, but also as a faithful picture of the religious life of those early times by a contemporary writer, so well qualified to sketch it, and who does so quite unconsciously. The ma.n.u.script in the library of Schaffhausen is of equal authority with the autograph of the saint, if, indeed, it were not actually written at his dictation, so that the most sceptical cannot question the authenticity of this venerable record. The Life was printed from this codex by Colgan in 1647, and by the Bollandists at a later date. But the edition published in 1837 by Dr. W. Reeves for the Irish Archaeological and Celtic Society, is by far the most valuable. The notes and appendices to this admirable volume render it a perfect mine of wealth for the student of Irish History.

Venerable Bede gives us a very full account of the treatise _De Locis Sanctis_, in the 16th and 17th chapters of the fifth book of his _Ecclesiastical History_. It is, he says, a book most useful to the reader (in that age). The author, Ad.a.m.nan, received his information about the holy places from Arculfus, a bishop from Gaul, who had himself visited Jerusalem, Constantinople, Alexandria, and all the islands of the sea.

When returning home a tempest drove his vessel to the west parts of Britain,[278] where he met Ad.a.m.nan, probably in Hy, to whom he narrated all the noteworthy scenes he had gone through. Ad.a.m.nan at once reduced the narrative to writing, for the information of his own countrymen. He presented the work to his friend King Aldfrid, through whose liberality copies were multiplied for the benefit of the young, if such be the meaning of Bede's phrase:--"Per ejus largitionem etiam minoribus ad legendum contraditus." Bede himself was greatly pleased with the book, from which he inserts several extracts in his own history, concerning Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Mount Olivet, and other places in Palestine. It was published at Ingoldstadt in 1619.

A Life of St. Patrick and some poems have been attributed to Ad.a.m.nan, but there is no evidence to prove that they are genuine. The same may be said of the "Vision of Ad.a.m.nan," a kind of moral discourse in Irish, which purports to relate a wonderful vision of the joys of heaven, and of the torments of h.e.l.l, as seen and narrated by the saint. The work is certainly very ancient, but contains many things that go far to disprove its own authenticity.

When we consider the life and writings of this great man, as well as the large influence which he exercised on Irish affairs during the latter half of the seventh century, few will be disposed to question his right to take a high place amongst the saints and scholars of the west. He has been justly described in the prologue to the _Vision_ as "the n.o.ble sage of the Western World." We have already quoted Bede's high testimony to his virtue and learning. The Four Masters emphatically endorse that testimony, and add that "he was tearful, penitent, fond of prayer, diligent and ascetic;"

and that he was, moreover, "learned in the clear understanding of the Holy Scriptures of G.o.d."

After the death of Ad.a.m.nan, A.D. 704, the Annals of Hy become less interesting. It still retained its headship of all the Columbian houses both in Erin and Alba--its abbots holding what is called a _princ.i.p.atus_ over the rulers of the subject monasteries. Mention is also made of the _cathedra_ of Columba and of Iona; but probably the same thing is meant--not episcopal or territorial jurisdiction, but the supreme authority over the Columbian houses and their wide domains. Reference, however, is made, for instance, in A.D. 712, to the death of "Ceddi, Bishop of Iona," but he doubtless derived his jurisdiction from the abbot.

In A.D. 717 we are told that the Pictish King, Nectan, expelled the Columbian monks from his dominions, because they refused to conform to the general discipline as to the paschal observance, and the coronal tonsure.

This seems to have brought the entire community to a sense of their duty, for now at length, under the Abbot Faelcu, they began to wear the Roman tonsure, as they had already adopted the Roman Easter. In A.D. 727 we are told that the "Relics of Ad.a.m.nan" were brought to Ireland, and his Law renewed in that country. The object of bringing over these relics seems to have been to heal a feud between the Cenel-Eoghain and Cenel-Conal, in which the clergy appear to have been also mixed up, contrary to the Cain or Law of Ad.a.m.nan. The relics were brought back again by the abbot in A.D.

730.

In A.D. 739, we read of the _Dimersio familiae Iae_, as if the greater part of the community were lost in some flood or shipwreck--most likely the latter. In A.D. 753, and in subsequent years reference is made to enforcing the Law of Columcille, which seems to have been a tribute a.s.sessed by the parent house on the subject monasteries and their adjacent lands. As the relics of Ad.a.m.nan were carried to Erin, where his Cain was enforced, so it is likely some relics, if not of Columba's body, yet in some other way connected with him, were carried round on these occasions.

Iona had now become a celebrated place of pilgrimage. Even kings and princes, as Columba had predicted, came to the island shrine, and were deemed especially happy, when they died on their pilgrimage. Niall Fra.s.sach gave up his crown to take the pilgrim's staff, and died in Iona in A.D. 778; so did Artgal, son of Cathal, King of Connaught, in A.D. 791, and many princes of the Picts and Saxons in like manner.

Thus for two hundred years since the death of their holy founder, the community had been growing in celebrity and influence, but now a day of trial and doom was at hand.

In A.D. 794 the 'Gentiles' made their first descent on the Hebrides; the following year they attacked and pillaged the holy island itself. It was, however, only the beginning of the evil time. It was burned in A.D. 802, and the same year saw the death of Connachtach, 'a very choice scribe,'

whose end was doubtless hastened by the sight of his beloved monastery in flames.

Fortunately, however, the community of Hy got two years later "a free grant of Kells without a battle." They had, doubtless, been claiming it as their own; for it was given to Columba by King Diarmait long ago; but the place may have got into other hands in the interval. Now, however, that they had recovered it in peace, they resolved to make it their headquarters in future. In A.D. 807 they began to build a new religious 'city' in Kells; the great church was finished in A.D. 814, when the old Abbot Cellach resigned the princ.i.p.atus of Iona, which thenceforward was transferred to Kells, where the new abbot fixed his official abode. It seems that the venerable Cellach would not leave his beloved island for the new city in Ireland, and so he resigned his office, and next year went to his rest in that old churchyard, where the bones of so many of his sainted predecessors were already laid.

Many of the monks still clung with the same tenacious affection to the old monastery in the sacred island of Columba, although they knew that they lived there in daily peril of their lives. It was thus the martyrdom of St. Blaithmac came to pa.s.s in A.D. 825. The Gentiles' fleets were once more upon the seas. Word was brought that they were harrying the neighbouring islands; and the monks of Iona betook themselves to flight.

It was not difficult to cross the narrow strait, and escape into the wild hills of Mull. But Blaithmac would not stir; he was ardently longing for the crown of martyrdom, and now the hour of his triumph was at hand. He had hidden the shrine containing the relics of the holy founder, adorned with gold and gems, deep in the earth, and covered over the spot with fresh green sods, so as to leave no trace of the treasure beneath. This was, however, what the spoilers wanted. They asked the old man where he had hidden the shrine. He refused to tell; and then, enraged by baffled greed, they slew him on the spot. It was fitting that Iona, the sacred nursery of so many doctors and confessors, should also have its martyrs in the ranks of the saints of G.o.d. It was fortunate, too, that the heroic martyr should have found a poet to celebrate his triumph in verses not unworthy of such a Christian hero.

Walafridus Strabo, a monk of the abbey called Augia Dives, now Reichenau in Switzerland, heard of the heroism of the Ionian monk from his fellow monks who had fled for refuge to their countrymen in this Irish House on the Rhine. Of German birth himself, he was filled with admiration for such lofty Christian courage; and composed a poem of 180 Latin hexameters, in which he celebrates the fort.i.tude of--

"Blaithmaic, genuit quem dives Hibernia mundo, Martyriique sequens misit perfectio caelo."

The poem is too long to insert here, but it is a n.o.ble tribute from the pen of a foreigner to the courageous virtue of the Columbian monk who gave his life for Christ in Iona more than one thousand years ago.

The Rule of Columba[279] required that his monks should be ready for martyrdom whenever G.o.d's honour required it. Their mind was to be always fortified and steadfast for 'the white martyrdom' of patient endurance; but they were also bound to have the mind if occasion arose prepared for 'red martyrdom.' Blaithmac found the opportunity and was unwilling to lose his crown.

CHAPTER XV.

THE LATER COLUMBIAN SCHOOLS IN IRELAND.

"A voice from the ocean waves, And a voice from the forest glooms, And a voice from old temples and kingly graves, And a voice from the catacombs."

--_Aubrey de Vere._

I.--KELLS HEAD OF THE COLUMBIAN HOUSES.

During the ninth, tenth, and eleventh centuries Kells became the Head of the Columbian Monasteries, and produced several distinguished men. Its professors are frequently referred to during this period in our Annals, especially during the eleventh century. Two of them bore the name of Ua h Uchtain, of whom one was unhappily "drowned coming from Alba, with the bed of Columcille--it was a stone--and three of Patrick's relics, and thirty persons along with him." In A.D. 1050 died Maelan of Ceanannus, a distinguished sage; and eleven years later the death of Ciaran is noticed, another distinguished sage of the same school.