Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum Part 42

Thus we find St. Columba of Terrygla.s.s established at Iniscaltra, where he remained a 'long time,' and where he was miraculously supported for a while by the liquor that distilled from a lime tree growing on the island.

The birds that lived on the island, too, became quite familiar with the saint; and when Nadc.u.mius, one of his disciples, asked him the reason, he gave a very beautiful reply. "Am I not a bird myself," he said--"why should they fear me, for my soul always flies to heaven, as they fly through the sky?" It is said that on one occasion, when one of his 'family' died suddenly on the sh.o.r.e opposite the northern part of the island at Mount Shannon, he ordered his monks to go and say to the dead man--"Columba bids thee arise"--and the dead man arose and returned with them to the island.

Whilst at Iniscaltra the saint seems to have made frequent voyages over the lake. On one of these occasions seeing the place, 'where Terrygla.s.s now is,' rising over the broad waters of the lake, towards the east, he said, "Oh! that my resurrection would take place from that sweet spot"--a wish that was destined afterwards to be fulfilled.

Crowds of people came to visit the saint and his companions at Iniscaltra, so that he pined for some more lonely spot, where he might hide himself far away from men. Accordingly he embarked in his curragh, as we may suppose, then shooting the rapids, and sailing out into the estuary of the Shannon, called Luimnech, he established himself with a few companions in a lonely island, called 'Insula Erci' in the Latin Life, which may, perhaps, have been corrupted into Iniscorcy, the name of an island in the bay formed by the Fergus River, close to Kilydysart. The place, at any rate, was west-north-west (a circio) of Mungret, not very far away; and had, close at hand, another small island, to which the saint was sometimes in the habit of retiring, in order, it would seem, to be still more alone with G.o.d.

From this island he was called away to visit his master, St. Finnian of Clonard, who had been stricken with the yellow plague, and anxiously longed to receive the Holy Communion from his hands. The saint at once set out for far-distant Meath, a ten days' journey, and arrived in time to give the 'sacrifice' to his beloved master before he died of that dreadful pestilence. It was in the year, it seems, A.D. 551 or 552 (548 with the Four Masters).

The blessed Columba himself seems to have caught the contagion whilst attending his dear old master; for retiring to a neighbouring place called Cluain Hii, where one of his old fellow-students had founded a church, he sickened and died of the same disorder towards the close of the same year--his festival day being December 13th, as marked in all our Calendars.

The men of Meath learning that so great a saint had died amongst them, were unwilling to let the blessed body be carried off, so that his companions had recourse to stratagem to convey the body secretly away. But even this they could not effect until a year after the saint's death, so closely were they watched by the men of Meath. At last they hid the remains of their beloved father in a waggon, covered over with oats, and taking several other waggons also, as if for the purpose of bringing a supply of provisions with them, they set out for the Shannon, choosing the road towards Clonmacnoise. There they were hospitably received; and they told the abbot, in confidence, of the blessed burden which they bore along with them. The abbot then greatly rejoiced, and wished to have the holy relics kept at Clonmacnoise; but the brethren would not consent.

Terrygla.s.s, blessed by St. Patrick, on the swelling sh.o.r.e of the beautiful Lough Derg, was chosen by himself to be 'the place of his resurrection;'

so the Abbot-aengus, next successor to St. Ciaran, let them go in peace with his blessing. But the men of Meath now began to suspect that their treasure was taken away, and followed quickly after, headed by the prince of the southern Hy-Niall, Colman Beg. The brethren, however, had already embarked; and when Colman took the helm to pursue them, Nadc.u.mius threatened him with G.o.d's anger if he followed them further. So for the time he turned back, and the monks with swelling sail and st.u.r.dy oar quickly traversed the lake, and came to Iniscaltra, where they buried the saint in secret for seven years, giving out, it seems, that his remains reposed at Terrygla.s.s.[377] We are told that the lake was lit up with a heavenly light of marvellous beauty during all the time that the body of the saint was borne over its heaving bosom.

Meantime the men of Meath, for seven years, kept watch around Terrygla.s.s, to see if they could get a chance of recovering their lost treasure; but finding no opportunity, they returned at last to their homes. Only then did the faithful Nadc.u.mius transfer the holy relics from Iniscaltra to Terrygla.s.s, and thus carry out at length the dying wish of his beloved master. The men of Meath saw the bright beams that shone from heaven over all the lake on the night the holy relics were transferred; and at last reluctantly said--"Let us cease this toil. The saint chose this place for himself; let him rest in peace there for ever."

Such is the account given in the Life; but in the _Leabhar Breac_, it is stated that the relics of Colum, son of Crimthann, were taken by Mochoemhe of Terrygla.s.s, and by Odhran the Master, on a wain southwards over Esge, to Caimin of Iniscaltra. Esge is a corruption of Echtge, the ancient and correct name of the Slieve Aughty mountains, that separate Galway from Clare. As St. Caimin was certainly not then in Iniscaltra, this would seem to point to a subsequent translation of the holy relics once more to the beautiful island where Columba had spent so many years.

His successor, Caimin, had, it would seem, rendered the island once more a celebrated home of learning and piety, and wished to possess at least a portion of the blessed body of his ill.u.s.trious predecessor.

Columba died A.D. 552; St. Caimin, the still more famous saint of Iniscaltra, and who has always been regarded as its patron, died, according to the _Annals of Innisfallen_, just one hundred years later, in A.D. 653; so that Caimin cannot have been a disciple of Columba. He came, however, of the same royal Lagenian race of Cathair Mor, for his father Dima, or Dimma, belonged to Hy-Kinsellagh, but his mother c.u.maine, who was also, it is said, the mother of Guaire, King of Connaught, and of c.u.mmian Fada, Bishop of Clonfert, belonged originally to the west of the County Kerry. We know little of the life of this great saint. He appears to have been present at the Synod of Easdara, now Ballysadare, which was held by St. Columba, and attended by the princ.i.p.al saints of Erin about the year A.D. 580 or 585. In that case the saint must have been born about the middle of the sixth century, and reached the age of one hundred years before he died. It is still more difficult to explain how he could have been a friend and contemporary of St. Senan of Scattery Island, who died about the year A.D. 544.

It is certain, however, that Caimin has always enjoyed the reputation of being himself a distinguished scholar, and the master of a very famous school. Lanigan tells us that he wrote "a Commentary on the Psalms collated with the Hebrew text," a portion of which Usher says that he himself saw, and that both the text and notes were generally regarded as in the handwriting of St. Caimin.

If this be the fragment of the Commentary on the 119th Psalm, now in Merchants' Quay, Dublin, that handwriting is certainly marvellously beautiful, but there is, we believe, no appearance of any collation with the Hebrew text. This fragment was once in the Franciscan Convent of Donegal; afterwards, it was in Colgan's possession, and has now fitly returned to the representatives of the original owners.

Caimin's school at Iniscaltra attracted, we are told, great numbers of pupils, even from foreign countries. In the _Life of St. Senan_ reference is made to seven ships that arrived in the Shannon crowded with students seeking this island college of St. Caimin. Some poems have been attributed also to the saint, but without good authority. At present the remnant of the 119th Psalm is all that can fairly be regarded as his; but when complete, it must have been a very beautiful and most interesting specimen of our ancient Latin MSS.

Belonging, as he did, to the ruling cla.s.ses, and connected by blood with several of the provincial kings, being, moreover, a man of great wisdom and virtue, Caimin seems to have exercised very considerable influence over the course of public events in his own time. Guaire, his half-brother, much against the wish and counsel of Caimin, provoked the King of Tara at the time, Diarmaid, son of Aedh Slaine, to a pitched battle at a place called Carn Conall, near Gort. Guaire was defeated, and his allies, the kings of Munster and Hy-Fidhgeinte, were slain on the field, thus verifying Caimin's predictions of the disastrous consequences that would certainly result to the authors of this unjust war. The Four Masters say this great battle was fought in A.D. 645, but A.D. 648 or 649 seems to be the true date.

It would seem, from the curious story told by the Scholiast on the _Felire of aengus_, that Caimin was afflicted during the latter years of his life with many painful diseases, which he bore in a spirit of perfect resignation. On a certain occasion when Guaire, Caimin, and c.u.mmian were together in the great church of Iniscaltra, which Caimin had built, and the two saints were giving spiritual counsel to Guaire, Caimin said to his brother, "Well, Guaire, what would you wish to have this church filled with?" "With gold and silver," replied Guaire, "that I might give it in charity to the saints and to the poor for the good of my soul." c.u.mmian, in answer to the same question, said he would wish to have it filled with books, for learned men to instruct others in the Word of G.o.d; but Caimin himself when asked the same question, said he wished it full of all diseases and sicknesses to afflict his body. And we are told that each of the brothers got his wish from heaven, "so that sickness and disease came on Caimin, and not one bone of him remained united to the other on earth, but his flesh was dissolved, and his nerves with the excess of every disease that fell upon him." On account, doubtless, of this penitential spirit, Caimin has been likened, by an old author, to Pachomius the monk, one of the great fathers of Eastern monasticism. The monastic school of Caimin continued to flourish for many centuries after his death, and produced several distinguished scholars, whose names are still held in great veneration by the learned.

The ruined monuments still remaining at Iniscaltra, and now happily in charge of the Board of Works, sufficiently attest the ancient importance of the religious establishment on "Holy Island." The peasantry still speak of it as the "Seven Churches," and the island is almost invariably called 'Holy Island,' which shows the reverence that still clings to its ruined walls. The round tower which, in the distance, seems to rise from the waters of the lake, is a strikingly beautiful and picturesque object in the landscape. It is still 80 feet high, 46 feet in circ.u.mference, with an internal diameter of nearly 8 feet. The stones in the lower courses are very large, and the masonry of a ma.s.sive character for the first seven or eight feet; after that the work becomes coa.r.s.er and more irregular, and the stones are much smaller. The door-way is 10 feet 7 inches above the present level--anciently it was much more. There is a single window for each of the different lofts, looking towards the cardinal points, and lighting the different storeys. The northern window is formed of finely cut stone, and is triangular outside, but square-beaded within.

There is probably no foundation for the local tradition which ascribes the building of this tower, as well as those of Inis Clorann and Scattery Island, to St. Sena.n.u.s. It is much more likely that it was built at the close of the tenth, or the beginning of the eleventh century, by Brian Boru, who also erected or repaired the great church, which had been more than once partially destroyed by the Danes. The door-way of the tower is circular-headed, and formed of very finely-chiselled blocks of stone. It was anciently secured by an iron door--the bolt hole and traces of its fastenings were visible in 1838, when O'Donovan visited the island, and one of the floors existed, in the memory of an old man then living; no traces, however, of the flooring now remain.

What is now called St. Caimin's Church, a little to the east-north-east of the belfry or round tower, was probably a restoration by Brian Boru of the great church built by St. Caimin himself. It consists of a nave and chancel, the former 31 feet by 20; and the latter 15 by 12-1/2 feet. The east wall of the chancel was quite gone, but has been partially restored.

The masonry of the chancel is finely jointed ashlar, much superior to the coa.r.s.er work of the nave. The chancel arch is the most striking and characteristic feature in this old church. It is semi-circular, formed of fine cut stone in three plain orders, rising from engaged jamb-shafts with very peculiar capitals. The arch is 10 feet 2 inches wide at the bottom, narrowing to 9 feet 11 inches at the top of the jambs. It is regarded by the best judges as a work of the time of King Brian. The west door-way has been lately restored. Its character is similar to that of the chancel--a plain impost moulding, two orders rising from engaged pilasters, with sculptured heads carved on the round at the top. There was a chevron moulding round the face of the arch. The sill is of limestone, and the entire door seems to have been an insertion in an older building. There are two windows in the south wall of the nave--one square, the other round-headed, but not specially striking; the round-headed window has a deep and finely executed splay.

A stone font, one foot and a half deep, probably for holy water, was close to the west door at Lord Dunraven's visit, and is there still. Traces of the ancient cashel which surrounded the monastic church were also visible.

There are many interesting inscribed stones and crosses lying about. The base of a cross lies sunk in the ground north-east of a piece of a wall said to have been portion of a small chapel called 'Teampul na bh-fear ngonta,' or the Church of the Slain Men. Here, it is said, the bodies of those slain in battle were usually buried.

The fine Church of St. Mary--Tempull Maire--is about fifty paces from St.

Caimin's Church, and is much larger; but we cannot now describe it at length. The view through the arch of the church over the lake towards the wooded hills of Tipperary is of surpa.s.sing beauty, and once seen can never be forgotten.

Several sculptured stones also have been found, and six of them still bear the names of the deceased persons over whose graves they were placed. One oblong slab with the words OR DO ARSSEI ... was partially broken, so that the full name cannot be deciphered. Another flag has a beautiful cross within a circle with the words, MOENGAL MAC LODGIN, over the arms of the cross. Another is inscribed, HILAD I DECHENBOIR--the stone tomb of ten persons. Another stone with Celtic cross of interlaced bands, asks a prayer for "Conn;" whilst three simpler flag stones, with rather plain crosses of similar formation, ask a prayer for Diarmait Macc Delbaid, for Maelpatraic, and for Laithbertach.

We can identify with much probability Diarmaid, as "Diarmaid, son of Caicher, Bishop of Inis-cealtra," who died A.D. 951 (F.M.) The last may refer to "Laithbeartach son of aengus, Bishop of Cluain-fearta Brenainn (Clonfert)," who died A.D. 820, probably during a pilgrimage at the Holy Island. Diarmait is the only bishop whose name is mentioned by the Four Masters in connection with Iniscaltra. They also give the names of five abbots, and one anchorite[378] of Iniscaltra. St. Caimin himself was probably only a priest. He died in A.D. 652; but we could find no trace of his tomb-stone, although he was certainly buried there. It may be that he was the saint interred in the square building outside the present wall of the churchyard and which is sometimes called the 'Confessional.' The churchyard is still much used for interments, and is greatly overcrowded, the coffins in some cases not being covered with more than six inches of earth.

This holy and beautiful island suffered fearfully during the ravages of the Danes. The Shannon was a highway for their 'ships' from Limerick to Lanesborough, and hence we find that all the churches on its sh.o.r.es and islands were frequently pillaged and burned by these marauders during the two centuries of their domination. It was first plundered by Turgesius about the year A.D. 836, who on the same occasion plundered all the churches of Lough Derg and set up his wife Ota, as a kind of priestess to deliver oracles on the high altar of Clonmacnoise. It was again plundered in A.D. 922 by the Danes of Limerick, who brought a fleet on Lough Derg "and plundered Inis-cealtra, and they drowned its shrines, and its relics, and its books," and having harried both sh.o.r.es of the river as far as Lough Ree, they returned safely to Limerick. Yet we find it had a bishop in A.D. 951; and the comarb of Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn in Terrygla.s.s, Killaloe, and Inis-cealtra, died A.D. 1009 (_recte_ 1010). This is the last abbot of whom we have any record. It is evident, however, that the school and monastery still continued to flourish. Brian Boru repaired the great church about that very time, A.D. 1005-1010, and no doubt also restored the efficiency of the schools, for his biographer tells that "he sent professors and masters to teach wisdom and knowledge, and to buy books beyond the sea and the great ocean, because their own writings and books, in every church and in every sanctuary where they were, were burned and thrown into the water by the plunderers from first to last, and Brian himself gave the price of learning and the price of books to every one separately who went on this service."[379]

We may be sure that Brian did not neglect Iniscaltra; for it was the great school of his own hereditary kingdom, and was within a few miles distance of his own palace of Kincora.

III.--OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF Th.o.m.oND.

There were, at least, four other great monasteries in Th.o.m.ond, and two of them are mentioned as having monastic schools connected with them, that is, Birr and Roscrea. But we do not find the names of any distinguished scholars educated in these schools, and hence our account of these monasteries must be very brief.

St. Brendan of Birr, is to be carefully distinguished from his more celebrated namesake of Clonfert. He is sometimes called Brendan the Elder--Brenda.n.u.s Senior--and like Brendan of Clonfert, came of the race of Fergus MacRoy, which produced more saints and heroes than, perhaps, any of the other Celtic tribes. The two Brendans were together at Clonard under St. Finnian, and both are ranked amongst the Twelve Apostles of Erin. St.

Brendan of Birr was especially remarkable for the fulness of the prophetic spirit[380] which he possessed; and, according to one account, it was in obedience to his counsel that St. Columba, after the battle of Cuil-Dreimhne, resolved to leave Ireland, and preach the Gospel in Alba.

It is said that on the same occasion he befriended Columcille at a Synod held near Teltown in Meath, where an attempt was made by some of the 'saints' to excommunicate Columba for his alleged share in bringing about that b.l.o.o.d.y conflict.

It is certain that Brendan was highly esteemed by all his contemporaries, and when he founded his monastery at _Biorra_, or Riverstown, as it would be called in English, it soon grew to be a very celebrated inst.i.tution.

The Four Masters, at A.D. 553, tell us that "Brendan of Birr was seen ascending a chariot into the sky this year." This entry is not intended to signify that he died, but rather that, like St. Paul, he was taken up to heaven for a little, for his death is noticed by the same Four Masters under date of the year A.D. 571, when they tell us that he died on the 29th of September. The real date appears to have been A.D. 573. From a scholastic point of view, the subsequent history of this monastery contains nothing especially interesting.

St. Cronan of Roscrea belonged to the territory and sept of Ely O'Carroll, in which his monastery was situated. He spent much of his youth in Connaught;[381] but afterwards returning home, he founded his first monastic cell at a place called Seanross. This old church, though, perhaps, subsequently modified and restored, is situated within a few paces of Corville House, near Roscrea, the beautiful residence of Count O'Byrne, who carefully preserves the building from injury or profanation.

At this period, however, all the low ground around Corville, towards the railway, was the Locha Cre, or Stagnum Cre, so frequently mentioned in the Lives of the Saints of this district. Seanross was a wooded promonotory running into the lake, and it was then so inaccessible and secluded (_desertus et avius_) that even Cronan resolved to leave it, and establish his monastery for the convenience of his disciples at the Ross of Cre, which was on the highway from Meath to Munster then, as it is now.

Here St. Cronan, who was himself an accomplished scholar, established what was certainly a very famous school, although, unfortunately, we know very little of its history. There is a Life of the saint in the _Salamanca MS._, but although abounding in miracles, it is very scanty in facts. Here is a specimen of the miracles. On one occasion Cronan requested a certain skilful scribe, named Dimma, to write a copy of the Four Gospels for him.

Dimma said he could only afford to give one day's writing--doubtless he was otherwise engaged. "Very well," said Cronan, "it will suffice; but begin at once, and continue to write without stopping until sunset." So Dimma set to work; but, wondrous to relate, the sun's light shone round him for forty days and forty nights, until the entire ma.n.u.script of the Gospels was completed.

We have, there is every reason to believe, still in existence, this wonderful ma.n.u.script written by Dimma for St. Cronan; and it was so highly prized in Roscrea that Tatheus O'Carroll, chieftain of Ely, had a beautiful cover or shrine made to enclose the precious volume, about the middle of the twelfth century. The ma.n.u.script itself contains an entry, which tells who the writer was, not for the sake of vain glory, but to beg a prayer from every reader for his soul's welfare, according to the good old Celtic custom.

Finit. Oroit do Dimmu rod scrib pro Deo et benedictione--

That is--"A prayer for Dimma, who wrote it for G.o.d, and a blessing."

And at the end of the Gospel of St. John we read thus:

Finit. Amen ? Dimma Macc. Nathi ? This Book of Dimma contains "the Four Gospels, with the Latin ritual and prayers for the visitation of the sick.

A coloured figure of each of the first three Evangelists precedes his Gospel, and there is a special symbol prefixed to the opening of the Gospel according to St. John. On the fractured final page of the volume, at the termination of St. John's Gospel, after the words quoted above--'Dimma Macc Nathi'--there are two imperfect and archaic Irish lines, in which the writer prays that 'he may not be venomously criticised,' and that he may attain 'a mansion in heaven,' as the reward of his labours."[382]

This Book of Dimma is at present in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin; but only a small portion of the ornamentation of the beautiful _c.u.mdach_, or shrine, is now to be had. The shrine and its contents were taken away from Roscrea monastery at the suppression; but were, it is said, found in the year A.D. 1789 by some boys who were hunting for rabbits in the Devil's Bit Mountain, which is not far from Roscrea. The silver plate of the shrine was, it is supposed, then torn off, and the precious stones that adorned it were also abstracted; but the portion representing the Pa.s.sion of Christ was left untouched. It afterwards pa.s.sed from Dr. Harrison of Nenagh, through Dr. Todd, into the Library of Trinity College.

Of Dimma, the scribe, nothing else is known for certain. There were many saints and scholars of the name; but it is supposed that this scribe is identical with Dima.n.u.s, whose name is mentioned in connection with that of St. Cronan in the letter addressed to the Irish Prelates in A.D. 634, by Pope John IV., concerning the alleged appearance of Pelagianism in Ireland.

We know from various entries in our Annals that St. Cronan's School of Roscrea continued to flourish for many centuries even during the worst period of the Danish ravages. We find frequent reference to its abbots, scribes, and professors down to the period of the Anglo-Norman invasion. A portion of the old abbey still remains, and shows that it was one of the most beautiful specimens of Romanesque architecture in Ireland.

St. Senan's monastery on Scattery Island was also a very famous inst.i.tution; but we do not find that it was celebrated as a school.

Neither was St. Flannan's monastery at Killaloe frequented by scholars, who seem to have preferred the quiet beauty of Iniscaltra to the pa.s.ses of the Shannon, especially after the arrival of our unwelcome visitors from Scandinavia.

CHAPTER XXII.

LATER SCHOOLS OF THE WEST.

"'Tis a rosary of islands in the Ocean's hollow palm-- Sites of faith unchanged by storms, all unchanging in the calm, There the world-betrayed may hide them, and the weary heart find balm."

--_M'Gee._