A RIME ABOUT HIM

1. As the mother of Quiaranus sat in a noisy carriage, a wizard heard the sound and said out to his attendant lads, "See ye who is in the carriage, for it soundeth under a king." "The wife," say they, "of Beodus the wright sitteth here." The wizard says: "She shall bear a king acceptable to all, whose works shall shine like Phoebus in the sky." The soldier of Christ, Keranus, a temple of the Holy Spirit, flourished in the virtue of spiritual piety.

2. He bestowed the sucking calf of a cow on a hound; then his mother severely upbraided Queranus. He asked the devoured calf from the hound itself, and presently bearing back its bones he restored it.

3. The bald head of a royal woman had been made bare by the envy of an evil concubine; when it was signed in the name of Queranus it shone adorned with golden hair.

4. When Queranus was occupied with sacred studies, and asked time that he might engage himself therein, then the mill is moved for him by angels.

5. The gospel text had fallen into a lake, but when time passed, by the merits of Queranus, a cow brought it back sound from the abyss.

6. When as a boy he was praying the Lord, and was spending his time in prayer, fire came from above in the citadel of the pole. The dead boy descried the lights of life, and the saints glorify the mighty Lord. Sparkling fire falling from heaven is kindled and forthwith he completes his especial duty.

7. To the high and ineffable company of apostles of the heavenly Jerusalem, the lofty watch-tower, sitting on thrones shining like the sun, Queranus the holy priest, the eminent messenger of Christ, is exalted by the heavenly hands of angels, with the happy clans of holy ones made perfect; whom Thou, Christ, hast sent as a man, an apostle to the world, glorious in all the latest times.

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THE THIRD LATIN LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN

II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES

1. The blessed and venerable abbot Queranus was born of a noble and religious stock of the Scots, of a father Beoid, that is Boeus, by name, who was a cartwright, and of a mother Darerca; of these many saints were born. This man of God was prophesied of by Saint Patrick, fifty years before his birth. Moreover when his mother, sitting in a carriage one day, passed near the house of a certain wizard, the wizard, hearing the noise of the carriage said in prophecy, "The carriage soundeth under a king." And when his folk went in surprise to see the truth of the matter, and beheld no one but the wife of Boeus in the carriage, they said in mockery, "Lo, the wife of Beoit sitteth in the carriage." To whom the wizard said, "Not of her do I speak, but of the son whom she hath in her womb, who shall be a mighty king; and as the sun blazeth in mid-day, so shall he with miracles shine and illumine this island." After this, as his father was being burdened under the taxes of Anmereus, that is Anmirech, leaving his native region he departed into the territory of the Conactei; and there in the plain of Ay he begat his blessed son Queranus, who was baptized and instructed by a certain holy man, Dermicius by name. And the holy boy, in manners beyond his years, worked many wonders.

III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH

2. So when the horse of the son of the king of that territory died by accident, he saw in a vision a shining man saying to him, "The holy boy Quieranus who liveth among you, can quicken thy horse. Present him with a reward for the health of thy horse, and he shall resuscitate him." The royal youth, awakened from sleep, went to Queranus, and prayed him on behalf of the horse. The holy boy, without delay, blessed water, and when he poured it into the mouth of the horse it was restored to its former health. And when the king saw what was done, he made over an excellent field as a reward to Saint Quieranus.

IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY

3. At another time his mother upbraided him because, though the other boys collected honey for their mothers, he used to bring her no honey. But hearkening humbly to his mother, he went to a neighbouring spring, and carrying thence a vessel full of water, he blessed it, and it was changed into excellent honey.

V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND

4. On a certain other day some men, spurred by a malignant spirit, incited a most savage dog to devour the holy man. But Keranus trusting in the Lord, and fortifying himself with the buckler of prayer, said, "Deliver not the soul that trusteth in Thee unto beasts"; and soon the dog died.

IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED

5. When at another time he was feeding the herds of his parents, as men are wont to do,[1] a cow brought forth a calf in his presence. But there came a hound consumed with leanness, seeking to fill his belly with what fell from the body of the mother along with the calf; and moved with compassion he said unto him, "Eat, poor wretch, yonder calf, for great is thy need of it." The hound fulfilled the commands of Keranus, and ate the calf to the bones. As Keranus returned home to the house of his parents with the herds, the cow, recalling the calf to memory, went running about lowing. The mother of Keranus, recognising the cause of its lowing, said with indignation to the boy, "Restore the calf, Keranus, even though it be burnt with fire or drowned in the sea." But he, obeying his mother, returned to the place where the calf had been devoured, collected the bones, and carried them with him and placed them before the mother [father, MS.], asking his God with diligence to hear his prayers for the resuscitation of the calf. And God hearkened to the holy one, and resuscitated the calf in the presence of his parents.

X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS

6. At another time there came robbers to him when he was feeding the herds of his parents, wishing to slay him, so that they might the more easily reave what they would. But God had regard to their attempt from on high, and so multiplied infirmities upon them that they turned in haste to God. For they were smitten with blindness, nor could they move hand or foot, till they wrought repentance, and were loosed by the merit of Saint Keranus: recovering the light of their eyes and the vigour of their other members.

XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED

7. It happened after this that he gave a cauldron belonging to the king, as he had nothing else to give to poor folk asking of him an alms. When the king heard what had been done, he was greatly enraged, and commanded his people to bring Saint Keranus to him in bonds. When he was led to the king, he gave sentence that he should be reduced to servitude, and be set apart for grinding at the quern. But God, having regard to the humiliation of His servant, caused the mill to be moved of itself without human hand, and left Ciaran free to chant his Psalms. After a few days coppersmiths from the land of the Mumunienses brought three cooking-pots with them, and offered them to Saint Keranus. Giving thanks for these to God, he was delivered from the yoke of servitude.

XXIII. THE BLESSING OF CIARAN'S FOOD

8. When on a certain day he was journeying alone, and the time of partaking of food had come, seeking one to bless for him he said "Benedic." And as no one answered, he departed, fasting. On the following day, seeking one to bless and finding him not, he went on fasting in like manner. On the third day he went forth fasting, and being weary with the journey he lay down; and when he asked a benediction as was customary, a voice came from heaven and blessed his meal, and so, eating and giving thanks, he completed his journey.

XV. HOW CIARAN REPROVED HIS MOTHER

9. One time when he was coming from the fields to the house certain strangers met him; and when he had asked them whence they had come, they said, "From the house of Boetius the wright." And when he had again asked them how they had been refreshed there, they answered, "Not only got we no food, but the woman of the house heaped insults and abuse upon us." But he, fired with the flames of charity, went to his father's house, and cast whatsoever of food he found there into the mud, thinking that what was not offered to Christ, and that in which the pleasure of the devil was wrought, was corrupt and unclean and should not be eaten of any.

XVI. THE BREAKING OF THE CARRIAGE-AXLE

10. At another time when with his father he was sitting in a carriage, the axle of the carriage broke in two; but yet for the whole day they continued their journey safely, without any mishap.

XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN

11. After these things, having heard the renown of the holiness and sound doctrine of Saint Finnianus of Cluayn Hyrart, he desired to hasten to him as to a living fountain, and asked of his mother a cow, to yield him the food necessary to sustain life. When his mother refused his request, he went to the kine of his mother, trusting in his God, and blessed one of them in the name of God; and the cow, by the favour of God, mindful of the blessing of the man of God, followed him with her calf till he had arrived at the church of the man of God Fynnianus. When the man of God arrived at the place of his desire, he drew a dividing-line with his rod between the cow and the calf, in the name of Him who set a boundary to the waters that they should not transgress their limit, and this they did not cross till they were permitted. The milk of that cow was sufficient for twelve men every day.

XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN

12. At that time there were twelve very holy and reverend men reading in that school, and each of them on his day ground at the quern with his own hand, as was customary. But in the day of Saint Keranus the angels of God used to turn the quern for him.

XXX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ROBBERS OF LOCH ERNE

13. At another time, when blessed Keranus had been in an island situated in Loch Eirne, in the school of a holy man; and it was a custom with the saints that three men should go out with an elder to bring in timber; it was the lot of Saint Keranus to go to the forest with three monks to cut timber. And when he was praying apart and the others were cutting wood, robbers came and slew those three monks, and cut off and carried away their heads with them. Saint Keranus, not hearing the sound of those who were hacking and hewing timber, returned from the place of prayer and found his three companions slain and decapitated. But the man of God, though first he grieved sorely over this deed, yet, recovering his power from Him Who deserteth not His own in their necessity, hastened after the murderers, and found them sweating to drag a little boat down to the water. But it was wondrously contrived that the skiff should weigh most heavily, like a ship, and with this their bodily strength wholly failed them. Then they turned themselves to the holy man, and begging pardon of him, they obtained it in mercy. And when as a price for their restored strength he obtained the heads of his companions from the robbers, he ran with them to the place where the bodies of the martyrs were lying, placed each of them respectively at the junction with its body, and restored them to life from death in the Name of the Holy Trinity. And as a sign of this unwonted miracle, so long as they lived there remained a blood-marked circle round their necks, that thereby the Faithful should be strengthened in the Faith and the infidels confuted. It endeth; Amen.

[Footnote 1: More humano: but is this an error for in quodam loco?]

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THE IRISH LIFE OF SAINT CIARAN

I. THE HOMILETIC INTRODUCTION

1. Omnia quaecumque uultis ut faciant homines uobis, ita et uos faciatis illis, haec est enim lex et prophetae: "Every good thing that ye wish to be done unto you by men, let it be likewise that ye do to them, for that is Law and Prophecy."

Now He Who prohibiteth every evil, Who proclaimeth every good, Who reconcileth God and man, Jesus Christ Son of the Living God, the Saviour of the whole world, He it is Who spake these words; to teach His apostles and His disciples and the whole Church concerning the covenant[1] of charity; that men should do of good and of charity to their neighbour as much as they would do unto themselves. To that end saith Jesus, Omnia quaecumque uultis. Now Matthew son of Alphaeus, the eminent sage of the Hebrews, one of the four who expounded the Gospel of the Lord, he it is who wrote these words in the heart of his Gospel, saying after his Master Jesus, Omnia quaecumque.

Si ergo uos, cum sitis mali, nostis bona data dare filiis uestris, quanto magis Pater uester celestis dabit bona petentibus Se:[2] That is, "If ye being men [sic] give good gifts to your children, much more shall the Heavenly Father give good to His children who ask Him." It is after these words that Jesus spake this counsel, Omnia quaecumque, etc. For Law and Prophecy command us to give love to God and to the neighbour. Finis enim precepti caritas est, quia caritas propria et specialis uirtus est Christianorum. Nam caeterae uirtutes bonis et malis possunt esse communes; caritatem autem habere nisi perfecti non possunt. Vnde Iesus ait, "In hoc cognoscent omnes quod discipuli Mei estis, si dilexeritis inuicem." "For the roof and summit of divine doctrine is charity, because charity is the especial virtue of the Christians. For the other virtues may belong to good and to evil men alike; but none hath charity save good men only. Wherefore Jesus saith, 'Hereby shall all men recognise that ye are of My folk, if each of you loveth his fellow as I have loved you.'"[3] Et iterum dixit Iesus: Hoc est preceptum meum ut diligatis inuicem sicut dilexi uos. "And thus said Jesus further: 'This is my counsel to you, that each of you love his fellow as I have loved you.'"

Many of the children of life, apostles and disciples of the Lord, have thenceforward fulfilled with zeal and with piety the counsel that Jesus gave them as to fulfilling charity; as he fulfilled and loved charity especially beyond all virtues, to wit the noble glorious apostle, the father confessor, the spark-flashing, the man through whom the west of the world shone with signs and wonders, with virtues and with good deeds, Sanctus Ciaranus sacerdos et apostolus Dei, the archpresbyter and apostle Saint Ciaran, son of the wright. Now he was son of the Wright Who formed heaven and earth with all that in them is, according to his heavenly genealogy; and son of the wright who used to frame carriages and all other handiworks beside, according to his earthly genealogy.

The date which the Faithful honour as the feast-day of this noble one is the fifth of the ides of September according to the day of the solar month, and this day to-day according to the day of the week.

Accordingly I shall relate a short memoir of the signs and wonders of that devout one, for a delight of soul to the Faithful; and of his earthly generation, and of his mode of life,[4] and of the perfection which he gave to his victorious course in the earth. A man held greatly in honour of the Lord was this man. A man for whom God reserved his monastery, fifty years before his birth; a man whom Christ accounteth in the order of apostles in this world, as Colum Cille said—

Quem Tu Christe apostolum mundo misisti hominem.

A lamp was he, shining with the light of wisdom and doctrine, as Colum Cille said—

Lucerna huius insulae lucens luce mirabili.

A man who established a cathedral from which was drawn the effectiveness of rule, and wisdom, and doctrine, for all the churches of Ireland, as the same man of learning said—

Custodiantur regmina adcessione edita Diuulgata per omnia sanctorum monasteria[5]—

that is, "Let the rules and doctrines and customs which have been received from the master, from Ciaran, be kept by the elders of these monasteries; thus, these are the rules and customs that have been distributed and received of all the monasteries of saints of Ireland." For it is from her [Clonmacnois] that are carried rules and precepts throughout Ireland.

He is a man whom the Lord accounteth of the order of chief prophets in this world, as the same prophet said—

Propheta qui nouissimus fuerit praesagminibus,[6]

for it was by reason of his nobility and his reverence before the Lord that he was foretold of prophets long before his birth, as Isaac was foretold, and John the Baptist, and Jesus, which is something yet nobler.[7] First Patrick son of Calpurn prophesied of him in Cruachan Aigli, after the tree had closed around his relics in the place where that settlement is now. Brigit prophesied of him when she saw the fire and the angel, fifty years before Ciaran, in the place where the Crosses of Brigit are to-day. Becc mac De prophesied, saying there—

Son of the wright with choruses, with choirs, In comely cloak, with chariots, with chants.

Colum Cille prophesied in Ard Abla to Aed son of Brandub (or of Brenainn).

II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES

2. Now this is the genealogy of Ciaran—

Ciaran, son of Lairne, son of Bresal, son of Beoit " Cuiltre " Dega " Olchan " Gluinech " Reo-soirche, son of Dichu " Coirpre " Reo-doirche " Corc " Lug " Tigernmas " Cuindiu " Meidle " Follach " Cuinnid " Dub " Eithrial " Fiac " Lugna " Irel the prophet, son of Mael-Catrach, son of Feidlimid " Eremon " Laire " Echu " Mil of Spain.



Beoit son of Olchan of the Latharna of Mag Molt of the Ulaid was earthly father of Ciaran. Darerca daughter of Ercan son of Buachall was his mother, as Ciaran said—

Mother mine, a woman good, she Darerca hight; Father, of Molt's Latharna he was Beoit the wright.

Of the Ciarraige of Irluachra was his mother, that is, more especially, of the Glasraige. Glas the Poet was her grandfather. Now this was the cause of the coming together of those twain. When Beoit went to visit his brethren who were in the territory of Cenel Fiachrach, and when he saw the maiden Darerca before him, he asked for her of her [friends and her][8] parents, so that she was given him to wife. Thereafter she bore five sons to him, and this is the order in which they were born: Lucoll her firstborn, Donnan the second, Ciaran the third, Odran the fourth, Cronan the fifth—he was a deacon, but the other four sons were archpresbyters. Furthermore she bore three daughters to him; two of them were virgins, to wit Lugbec and Rathbeo; Pata was the third daughter, and she was a pious widow. These are the graveyards wherein are the relics of those saints; Lucholl and Odran in Isel Chiarain, Donnan and Ciaran in Cluain maccu Nois, Cronan the deacon and Beoit and the three daughters in Tech meic in tSaeir.

Now there was an impious king in the land of Ui Neill at that time, Ainmire son of Colgan his name. He impressed the tribelands and the septs under a grievous tax. So Beoit went, a-fleeing from that king, into the land of the Connachta, to Cremthann son of Lugaid son of Dallan King of Ireland, to Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai. The day on which Ciaran was conceived was the sixth of the calends of June, and he was born on the sixth of the calends of March.

The birth of Ciaran was prophesied by Lugbrann the wizard of the aforesaid king. The wizard dixit—

Oengus' steed he made alive, while he yet in cradle rested; God this marvel did contrive, by Ciaran, in swathing vested.

One day when the wizard heard the sound of the carriage [he spake thus: "See, lads," said he, "who is in the carriage][9]—for here is the sound of a carriage that bears a king." When the lads went out they saw no one save Beoit and Darerca in the carriage. When the lads mocked the wizard, thus spake he: "The child who is in the womb of the woman," said he, "shall be a great king: as the sun shineth among the stars of heaven, so shall he shine, in signs and wonders that cannot be related, upon the earth."

Thereafter was Saint Ciaran born, in Mag Ai at Raith Cremthainn. He was baptized by deacon Iustus, for it was fitting that the true one should be baptized by a True One.

III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH

3. A certain day the horse of Oengus son of Cremthann died, and he had great sadness because of the death of his horse. Now when Oengus slumbered, an angel of God appeared to him in a dream, and thus he spake with him: "Ciaran son of the wright shall come, and shall raise thy horse for thee." And this was fulfilled, for Ciaran came at the word of the angel, and blessed water, and it was put over the horse, and the horse arose from death forthwith. Then Oengus gifted a great land to God and to Ciaran in return for the raising of the horse; Tir-na Gabrai is the name of the land.

IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY

4. A certain day his mother upbraided him. "The little village lads," said she, "bring with them honey out from the combs to their folks, but thou bringest it never to us." When Ciaran heard that, he went to a certain spring, and he fills his vessel from it, and blesses it: so that it became choice honey, and he gives that honey to his mother; so she was thankful. That is the honey which was given to deacon Uis (= Iustus) as a fee for baptizing him.

V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND

5. A certain day evil men incited a savage hound against Ciaran, to tear him. When Ciaran saw the hound, he sang this verse: Ne tradas bestiis animam confitentem tibi. And when he said this the hound fell forthwith and did not rise again.

VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE ANOTHER

6. This was the labour that his parents used to lay upon him, namely, herding, after the likeness of David son of Jesse, and of Jacob, and of the elders thenceforth, for God knew that he would be a wise shepherd of great flocks, that is, the flocks of the Faithful. Thereafter a marvellous thing took place at Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai: he was keeping the flocks of [his parents at Raith Cremthainn, and there was dwelling][10] his tutor, deacon Uis, at Fidharta, and there was a long space between them: yet he used to hear what his tutor was saying as though they were side by side.

VII. CIARAN AND THE FOX

7. Then there came a fox to Ciaran from out the wood, and behaved tamely with him. It would often visit him, so that he bade it do him a service, namely, to carry his book of Psalms between him and his teacher, deacon Uis. For when he would say in Fidharta, "Say this in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," Ciaran would hear in Raith Cremthainn, from that on to the end of the lesson; and the fox would be awaiting the lesson obediently till its writing on wax was completed, and thereafter he would carry it with him to Ciaran.[11]

Once on a time his natural treacherousness broke forth in the fox, and he began to eat the book: for he was greedy for the leather that was bound around the book outside. While he was eating the book, there came Oengus son of Cremthann with kernes and with hounds, so that they chased him, and he found no sanctuary till he came under the cloak of Ciaran. The name of God and Ciaran's were magnified by the rescue of the book from the fox and by the rescue of the fox from the hounds. The book is what is now called the "Tablet of Ciaran."

Most consonant with these things is it for evil men who are near to the Church, and who profit by the advantages of the Church—communion, and baptism, and food, and teaching—and withal stay not from persecuting the Church, until there come upon themselves the persecution of some king, or mortality, or a disease unknown: and then they needs must flee under the protection of the Church, as the fox went under the cloak of Ciaran![12]

VIII. HOW CIARAN SPOILED HIS MOTHER'S DYE

8. A certain day the mother of Ciaran was making blue dye, and she had reached the point of putting the garments therein. Then said his mother to him, "Get thee out, Ciaran." For they thought it unbecoming that males should be in the house when garments were being dyed. "May there be a dun stripe upon them!" said Ciaran. Of all the garments that were put into the dye, there was not one that had not a dun stripe upon it. The dye is prepared again, and his mother said, "Go out, Ciaran, this time, and now, Ciaran, let there be no dun stripe." Then he said—

Alleluia Domine! White my mother's dye let be! When in my hand it's gone, Be it white as bone! When boiling it is stirred, Be it white as curd!

Accordingly every garment that was placed therein was of a uniform whiteness. For the third time is the dye made. "Ciaran," said his mother, "hurt me not the dye now, but let it receive a blessing from thee." When Ciaran blessed the dye, never was dye made so good, before or since; for though all the garments of Cenel Fiachrach (sic) were placed in its iarcain, it would turn them blue; and at the last it turned blue the dogs and the cats and the trees that came in contact with it.

IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED

9. Once he was tending kine. A miserable wolf came to him. Now this was a habitual expression with him, "Mercy on us." [He said to the wolf in compassion][13] "Rise and devour the calf and break or eat not its bones." The wolf went and did so. When the cow lowed a-seeking the calf, his mother spake thus to him: "Tell me, Ciaran, where is the calf of this cow? Let the calf be restored by thee, whatsoever death it has died." Ciaran went to the place where the wolf had devoured the calf, and collected the bones of the calf, and brought them before the cow, and the calf arose and stood up. Ut dixit—

One day when, assiduously Ciaran the kine was havening, He a calf for charity Gave to a wolf ravening.[14]

X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS

10. A certain day there came robbers from Ui Failge to slay people [in the land][15] of Cenel Fiachach, and they found Saint Ciaran a-reading with his herds; and they went forward to slay him. But they were smitten with blindness, and could stir neither foot nor hand, till they wrought repentance, and were loosed by the word of God and of Ciaran.

XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED

11. Another time his father sent him to present a cauldron to the king, even to Furban. There met him poor men on the way, and [Ciaran][16] gifts the king's cauldron to them. So he was put in bonds then, and slavery was imposed on him at the king's hands; and this was the labour put upon him, to grind at the quern. Then great marvels came to pass, for when he went to grind at the quern, it would turn of itself, and did so continually. They were the angels of the Lord who used to grind for his sake. Not long thereafter there came smiths from the lands of Muma, with three cauldrons for Ciaran as an alms, and thus was Ciaran delivered from servitude to the king.

XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN

12. Now after those things Ciaran thought it time to go a-schooling to Findian of Cluain Iraird, to learn wisdom. He begged a cow of his mother and of his father, to take it with him to serve him.[17] His mother said that she would not give it him. He blessed one of the kine, to wit the Dun Cow of Ciaran, as she was called thenceforward, and she went with her calf after Ciaran thence to Cluain Iraird. Afterwards he drew a line with his staff between them, for between them there was no fence, and the cow used to lick the calf and neither of them transgressed the mark. Now the milk of that cow used to be divided between the twelve bishops with their folk and their guests, and it was sufficient for them; ut dixit,

Ciaran's Dun was wont to feed, three times fifty men in all; Guests and sick folk in their need, in soller and in dining-hall.

The hide of the Dun is in Clonmacnois, and whatsoever soul parteth from its body from that hide [hath no portion in hell, and][18] dwelleth in eternal life.

XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN

13. Now there were the twelve bishops[19] of Ireland in the school of Findian in Cluain Iraird, ut dixit,

Two Findians, holy Colums two, Ciaran, Cainnech, Comgall fair; Two Brenainns, Ruadan bright of hue, Ninned, Mo-Bi, Mac Natfraeich there.

This was their rule, that every bishop[19] should grind at the quern on his day. But angels used to grind at the quern for Ciaran's sake on the day that was his.

XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER

14. The daughter of the King of Cualu was brought once upon a time to Findian to read her Psalms, after offering her virginity to God. Findian committed the maiden to Ciaran, so that it was with him that she used to read her Psalms. Now Ciaran saw naught of the body of the maiden, so long as they were together, save her feet only. As is verified in the stanza—

A maid, rich in stateliness with Ciaran there was reading; Of her form or shapeliness, he was all unheeding.[20]

XX. HOW CIARAN HEALED THE LEPERS

15. There came then twelve lepers to Findian for their healing. Findian sent them to Ciaran. Ciaran welcomed them, and went with them westward from the cell, and tears a sod from the ground, so that a stream of pure water breaks forth from thence. He poured three waves of the water over each of them, so that they were healed forthwith.

XXI. CIARAN AND THE STAG

16. Further, into that school there used to come a stag to Ciaran, and he would place his book on the horns of the stag. One day there Ciaran heard the bell. He arose suddenly at the sound of the bell, but still swifter was the arising of the stag, and it went off, with his book on its horns. Though that day and the following night were wet, and though the book was open, not a letter in it was moistened. The cleric arose on the morrow, and the stag came to him with his book uninjured.

XVII. THE STORY OF CIARAN'S GOSPEL

17. Now into that school there came Ninned the Squinting, from the lochs of Erne, to read with Findian; and he had no book. "Seek a book," said Findian. Ninned went a-searching round the school, and did not obtain a book from any of them. "Hast thou gone to the gentle youth on the north side of the lawn?" said Findian. "I shall go now," said Ninned. Now when Ninned reached him, Ciaran was going over the central text of the book of Matthew: Omnia quaecumque uultis ut faciant homines uobis, ita et uos faciatis illis. "I have come for the loan of a book," said Ninned. "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "for that do I read this, and this is what the text saith to me, that everything that I would that men should do to me, I should do to all. Take thou the book," said Ciaran. On the morrow his companions asked of him, at the time of the lesson, where his book was. "He gave it to me," said Ninned. "Let 'Ciaran Half-Matthew' be his name," said one of the school. "Nay," said Findian, "but Ciaran Half-Ireland; for his shall be half of Ireland, and ours the other half."[21] As Findian said—

Holy Ciaran zealously under Findian studying pored; Half his book he left unread, half of Ireland his reward.

From this was the well-known saying Non legam Marcum quousque compleueram Mattheum carried to Rome, to Alexander.

XXIV. THE STORY OF THE MILL AND THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER

18. Now it came to pass that there was scarcity of corn and sustenance in that school, so that it was necessary for a strong man of them in turn to protect the sack of grain that was being carried to the mill.

It happened that Ciaran, in his turn, was carrying a sack of oats to the mill. As he was opening the sack, he said, "O Lord," said he, "I would that this were fine wheat, so that it were a great and a kindly and a pleasant satisfaction to the elders." And so it came to pass: the angel of God took the mill in his hands, and he [Ciaran] was rendering his Psalms in purity of heart and mind, and the oats which were being put in were choice wheat as they were coming out.

Now the daughter of the bailiff of the mill came, amorous for Ciaran; and she gave her love to him, for fairer was he in form than any other of his time. "Most hard for thee is that,"[22] said Ciaran. "Is it not these things to which thou shouldest give heed—the passing of the world, and the Day of Judgment, and the pains of Hell to shun them, and the rewards of Heaven to earn them?" When the maiden went home, she tells that tale to her father and her mother. They came and offered the maiden to Ciaran. "If she sacrifice her virginity to God," said Ciaran, "and if she serve Him, I will be in union with her." Then the maiden offered her virginity to God and to Ciaran, and her folk offered their perpetual service and perpetual subjecthood to Ciaran from that onward.

When they went to their house, a portion was sent to Ciaran by them, to wit, three wheaten cakes, with their meed of suet and flesh, and a vessel full of ale. When the servants left it, and received a blessing, he said, "Mercy on us," said he, "it is not right for us to eat of this, with exclusion of the other brethren." Thereafter he cast all the food, after shredding it fine, upon the mill, and he cast the ale likewise, so that all was turned to fine flour.

When Ciaran perceived the servant spying on him at the roof-ridge, he spake a word against him, saying, "May the crane," said he, "take thine eye out of thy head!"[23] And so it came to pass; for a pet crane plucked his eye out of his head, so that it was on his cheek as he was going home. The bailiff came straightway with the servant, and they did obeisance to Ciaran, and he offered the mill with all its land to Ciaran for the healing of the lad. Ciaran laid his palm on the eye and put it in its place, and he made the sign of the cross upon it so that it became sound.

When he finished the grinding of the corn, four full sacks of consecrated wheat were there, by the grace of God and of Ciaran. When he reached his house with the wheat he made cakes for the elders. Now these cakes were the best ever given to them; for from the time when the mystic manna was received yonder by the sons of Israel, there was not received the like of that food. For in this wise was it, with the taste of every food of excellence, [both bread and flesh, and of every excellent drink][24] both wine and mead; so that it filled and healed all of them. For every man in sickness who was in the whole city, whosoever ate any of it was whole forthwith.

The elders did not observe the nocturn that night until prime on the morrow.

When Findian asked of Ciaran regarding the miracle that had taken place, Ciaran related from beginning to [end][24] how the mill and the land with its implements, or its men, had been offered to him as a gift; "and there for thee, Findian, is all that land," said Ciaran. Then did Findian give his blessing fervently to Ciaran; ut dixit Findian—

Ciaran my little heart, whom for holiness I love, Princely lands shall be thy part, favour, dearest, from above.

Ciaran, famous all around! wealth and wisdom on thee pour! So may, in thy Church renowned, knowledge grow yet more and more.

Now this blessing was given fervently to Ciaran through his great love and spiritual exaltation.[25] So that there he left half of the charity, and the nobility, and the wisdom, among the men of Ireland to Ciaran and his monastery. Moreover Ciaran left wealth to him and to his monastery, so that thence is the wealth of Findian.

That corn sufficed for the congregation of Findian for forty days with their nights; and a third part of it was stored up for sick folk, for it would heal every malady, and neither mouse nor worm dared to destroy it. [It endured a long time][26] until it turned at last to clay. And every disease for which it was given would be healed.

XXV. THE STORY OF CLUAIN

19. One day when Ciaran was collecting a band of reapers, there met him a youth named Cluain. "Help us at the reaping to-morrow," said Ciaran. "I will," said Cluain. But when Cluain went home he said to his folk, "Should one come from Ciaran for me," said he, "say that I am sick." When this was told to the lad who went to summon Cluain, he reported it to Ciaran. When Ciaran heard it he laughed, and he understood that Cluain was practising deception, for he was a prophet of God in truth. Now when the folk of Cluain went to awake him, thus they found him, without life. Sorely did his folk bewail him, and there came the people of the neighbourhood to ask them the cause of their weeping. "Cluain," said they, "went to his bed in health, and now he is dead; and Ciaran hath slain him with his word, for that he went not to reap for him." All those people go to Ciaran to intercede with him for the raising again of the dead: "we shall all," said they, "reap for thee, and we shall give our labour and our service to thee and to God for ever, if thou raise the dead for us." Then said Ciaran to his servant: "Rise," said he, "and take my staff with thee to the dead, and make the sign of the cross with the staff on his breast, and speak this quatrain—

Cluain did say He would reap with me today; Living, by a dread disease, Dead within his house he lay."

Then Cluain arose forthwith and went with speed to Ciaran. "A blessing on thee, holy Ciaran," said he, "good is what thou hast done for me; for I am grateful to have come from the many pains of hell. Now know we the profit of obedience, and the unprofit of disobedience, and we know in what great honour the Lord and the folk of Heaven hold thee." Then he did obeisance to Ciaran, and gave him labour.

XXVIII. ANECDOTES OF CLUAIN IRAIRD

20. (a) Certain of the clerks asked of Findian which of them would lead the prayer when Findian should be no longer here. "Yonder youth [Ciaran] is he," said Findian. "Thou givest the abbacy to him above us all," said Brenainn. "It hath been given, it is given, it shall be given," said Findian. All the saints except Colum Cille were envious because of this.

(b) Then certain of them asked which of the saints should have the greatest reward in heaven. "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "that will be made known in our habitations on earth." Then Brenainn of Birra made a prophecy of him: "We shall take two habitations," said Brenainn, "on two streams between chief cities, and the difference that shall be between the two streams shall be the difference between the size of the cities."

(c) When it was time for Ciaran to depart from Cluain Iraird, after learning letters and wisdom, he left the Dun Cow with Saint Ninned; but he said that her hide should come to him afterwards, and Ciaran said further, "Though many be succoured by her milk, yet there shall be more to whom her hide will give succour." And he said, "Every soul that parteth from its body from the hide of the Dun Cow shall not be pained in hell."

(d) Findian saw a vision of him [Ciaran] and of Colum Cille, namely, two moons in the air with the colour of gold upon them. One of them went north-east over the sea, [and the other][27] over the middle of Ireland. That was Colum Cille, with the glory of his nobility and his good birth, and Ciaran with the glory of his charity and his mercy.

XXVI. HOW CIARAN FREED A WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE

21. Thereafter Ciaran went to parley with the King of Ireland, Tuathal Moel-garb, to ask him for a slave-girl that he had. Ciaran put his hand on the quern for charity, and he promised that he would serve in the place of the girl. Then Tuathal gifted the girl to God and to Ciaran, and further he gave him his kingly apparel, and Ciaran gave it forthwith to poor folk.

XXVII. HOW CIARAN FREED ANOTHER WOMAN FROM SERVITUDE

22. One time Ciaran went to ask another slave-girl of King Furbaide. Then one man gifted him a cow as an alms, another gifted him a cloak, and another a kettle. Forthwith on the same day he gave them all to poor folk; and God gifted to Ciaran three gifts yet better, a cauldron instead of the kettle, twelve robes instead of the one robe, twelve kine instead of the one cow. When the king saw that, he gave him the slave-girl.

XXIX. THE PARTING OF FINDIAN AND CIARAN

23. When the time came for Ciaran to bid farewell to his teacher, he offers to put his monastery at his service. "Nay," said Ciaran,[28] "sever not thy monastery for any save for God alone, Who hath given thee favour beyond us all." ["The monastery I give thee," said Findian.][29] Ciaran weeps, for he thought it noble of his teacher to offer him his monastery. "Well, then, let there be unity between us henceforth," said Findian, "and let him who breaketh that unity have no part in earth or in heaven." "Be it so," said Ciaran. Then Ciaran went his way; and Colum Cille uttered this testimony of him—

A wondrous youth from us departs, Ciaran, craftsman's son; Of greed, of pride, reviling, lust, satire, he hath none.

XXXII. CIARAN IN ARAN

24. Thereafter Ciaran went to Aran to hold converse with Enda, and Enda and Ciaran saw one and the same vision—a great fruitful tree beside a river in the middle of Ireland, a-sheltering the island of Ireland, and its fruit was going over the sea that was around the island outside, and the birds of the air were coming and taking of the fruit. Ciaran went and told the vision to Enda. Said Enda, "That great tree which thou hast seen is thyself; for thou art great before God and man, and Ireland shall be full of thine honour. This island shall be protected under the shadow of thy grace, and many shall be satisfied by the grace of thy fasting and of thy prayer. Rise therefore at the word of God, and go to the shore of the stream, and found a church there."[30]

XXXIII. HOW A PROPHECY WAS FULFILLED

25. Once when he was in Aran a-drying corn in the kiln, and Lonan the Left-handed with him (one who ever was contradictious of Ciaran) they saw a ship foundering in their sight. "Methinks," said Lonan, "yonder ship shall be drowned to-day and this kiln shall be burned with the greatness of the draught." "Nay," said Ciaran, "yonder ship shall be burned, and this kiln with its corn shall be drowned."[31] And this was fulfilled; for the crew of the ship escaped, and the ship was cast on shore close to the kiln. The fire seized the kiln, and the ship is burned. A blast of wind struck the kiln and its corn into the sea, so that it was drowned, according to the word of Ciaran.

XXXIV. HOW CIARAN VISITED SENAN

26. When Ciaran left Aran a poor man met him on the way. Ciaran gives him his linen cloak, and goes to Inis Cathaig to salute Senan. That he was in one mantle only was revealed to Senan, and he went to meet him, with a linen cloak under his armpit. And he said to Ciaran, "Is it not shame," said he, "for a priest to travel without a cowl?" "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "God will have pity [on my nakedness];[32] there is a cloak for me under the covering of mine elder."

XLIII. HOW CIARAN SENT A CLOAK TO SENAN

27. When Ciaran arrived at Cluain maccu Nois he wished to send another cloak to Senan. The cloak was laid upon the stream of the Shannon, and it travelled without being wetted to the harbour of Inis Cathaig. Said Senan to his monks, "Rise and go to the sea, and ye shall find there a guest, which bring with you, with honour and dignity." When the monks went out they found the cloak on the sea, dry, and they brought it with them to Senan, and offered an offering of thanks to the Lord. That is now called "Senan's cloak."

XXXV. CIARAN IN ISEL

28. Thereafter he went to his brethren to Isel, and Cobthach son of Brecan gave Isel to God and to Ciaran; and he lived there with his brethren. One day when he was doing his lesson outside in the field, he went to attend upon his guests, and left his book open till morning under the rain; and not a damp drop fell upon the book.

Once Ciaran was sowing seed in Isel. A poor man came to him. Ciaran gives him a handful of the grain into his breast, and the grain was forthwith turned into gold. A chariot with its horses was gifted to Ciaran by Oengus son of Cremthann. Ciaran gave it to the poor man in exchange for the gold, and the gold turned into grain, and the field was sown with it.

XXXVI. THE REMOVAL OF THE LAKE

29. Moreover there was a lake near Isel, and country-folk and despicable people used to occupy the island that was upon it. The noise and uproar of those worthless people used to cause disturbance for the clerics. Ciaran prayed to the Lord that the island should be removed from its place, and that was done. The place where it was in the lake is still to be seen as a memorial of that miracle.

XXXVII. CIARAN DEPARTS FROM ISEL

30. As the brethren could not suffer the almsgiving of Ciaran, so great was it, and as they were envious of him, they said unto him, "Rise and depart from us," said they, "for we cannot be in the same place." Said Ciaran, "Had I been here," said he, "though this spot be lowly (Isel) in situation, it would have been high in glory and in honour." Then he said—

Although lowly, it were high, Had not censure come me nigh; Had I not been censured so, It were high though it be low.

Then Ciaran put his books upon a wild stag; afterwards he accompanied the wild stag wheresoever it would go. The deer went forward to Inis Aingin. He went into the island and dwelt there.

XXXVIII. CIARAN IN INIS AINGIN

31. Then his brethren came to him from every side. There was a certain archpresbyter in the island, Daniel his name. Of the British was he, and the devil incited him to be jealous of Ciaran. A royal cup with three birds of gold was given him by Ciaran as a token of forgiveness. The presbyter marvelled thereat, and repented, and did obeisance to Ciaran, and gave the island to him.

XXXIX. THE COMING OF OENNA

32. Once Ciaran was in Inis Aingin and he heard a cry in the port. He said to the brethren, "Rise and go for your future abbot." When they reached the harbour they found no man save a weak unconsecrated youth. They tell that to Ciaran. "For all that, go again for him; it is clear to me from his voice that it is he who shall be abbot after me." Thereafter the youth was brought into the island to Ciaran, and Ciaran tonsured him, and he read with him. That was Enna maccu Laigsi, a holy man, held in honour of the Lord; and it is he who was abbot after Ciaran.

XL. HOW CIARAN RECOVERED HIS GOSPEL

33. It happened that the gospel of Ciaran fell into the lake from the hand of a heedless brother, and it was a long time in the lake. Upon a day in the time of summer the kine went into the water, so that the strap of the gospel attached itself to the hoof of one of the kine, and she brought it dry [from below][33] to haven. Thence is "Port of the Gospel" in Inis Aingin. When the gospel was opened it was in this wise—white and clean, dry, without the loss of a letter, through the grace of Ciaran.

XLI. HOW CIARAN WENT FROM INIS AINGIN TO CLONMACNOIS

34. A certain man of Corco Baiscind came to Ciaran, Donnan his name, brother's son of Senan mac Gerginn; and he had the same mother as Senan. "What wouldest thou, or wherefore comest thou?" said Ciaran. "Seeking a place wherein to abide and to serve God." Ciaran left Inis Aingin to Donnan. Donnan said, "Since thou hast a charity towards me, leave me somewhat of thy tokens and of thy treasures." Ciaran leaves him his gospel—that which was recovered from the lake—and his bell, and his bearer Mael Odran. Three years and three months was Ciaran in Inis Aingin.

He came thereafter to Ard Manntain, close to the Shannon. When he saw the beauty of that place, thus he spake: "If we dwell here," said he, "we shall have much of the wealth of the world, and there shall be few souls going to heaven from hence."

Then he came to this town; Ard Tiprat was its name at that time. "Here will we stay, for there shall be many souls going to heaven from hence, and God and man shall visit this place for ever."

On the eighth of the calends of February Ciaran settled in Cluain, the tenth day of the moon, a Saturday. Eight men went with him—Ciaran, Oengus, Mac Nisse, Cael-Cholum, Mo-Beoc,[34] Mo-Lioc, Lugna maccu Moga Laim, Colman mac Nuin. Wondrous was that monastery, set up by Ciaran in Cluain with his eight men after coming from the waves of the water, as Noah son of Lamech took the world with his eight after coming from the waves of the Flood.

XLII. THE FOUNDATION OF THE CHURCH

35. Then Ciaran set up the first post in Cluain, and Diarmait mac Cerrbheil along with him. Said Ciaran to Diarmait when they were planting the post, "Warrior, suffer my hand to be over thy hand, and thou shalt be over the men of Ireland in high-kingship." "I permit it," said Diarmait, "only give me a token thereof." "I will," said Ciaran; "though thou art solitary to-day, thou shalt be King of Ireland this time to-morrow." That was verified; for Tuathal Moel-garb King of Ireland was slain that night, and Diarmait took the kingship of Ireland on the morrow, and he bestowed a hundred churches on Ciaran. Wherefore to prove that, it was said—

I'll speak both choice and truly, although thou now art lonely, Thou shalt rule Ireland duly, after one's day's space only.

The chosen Tuathal's slaughter, a crying without glory. Thence is it said thereafter, "That deed was of Mael-Moire."

Without a court or slaughter, great Diarmait Uisnech lifted; A hundred fanes thereafter, to God and Ciaran gifted.

Then was the post made fast; and Ciaran said in fixing it, "Be this," said he, "in the eye of Tren." Tren was a youth who was in the fortress of Cluain Ichtar, and who had adventured arrogance against him. Forthwith his one eye burst in his head, at the word of Ciaran.

XLIV. CIARAN AND THE WINE

36. One day the brethren were sore athirst, while they were reaping in Cluain. They send a messenger to the cleric, that water be brought to them in the field. Then Ciaran said, "If to-day they would endure thirst, it would procure great riches of the world for the brethren who would come after them." "Truly," said the brethren, "we prefer to exercise patience, whereby profit will be secured for ourselves, and advantage to the brethren who follow us; rather than to have satisfaction of our thirst to-day."

A cask full of wine was brought from the land of the Franks to the steading, to Ciaran, in reward for their patience; and a fragment of that cask remained here till recently.

When the evening was come, Ciaran blessed a vessel full of water, and it was changed to choice wine, and was divided among the monks; so that there was no feast that excelled that feast. For the folk of Colum Cille came from I, after a long time, to this city. A feast was prepared for them, and it was noised abroad through the whole city that never before or since was there a feast its equal. Then an aged man who was in the house of the elders said, "I know," said he, "a feast that was better than this feast. Better was the feast that Ciaran made for his monks when they were sore athirst,[35] so that he changed water into wine for them. That it be no story without proof for you," said the elder, "it was myself who divided that wine, and my thumb would go over the edge of the cup into the wine. Come and perceive now the savour of my thumb, which then was dipped into the wine." They came and were all satisfied with the savour of that finger. And they said, "Better," said they, "than any feast was that feast of which the savour remains after a long time on a finger. A blessing," said they, "on Ciaran and a blessing on the Lord Who allotted every good thing to him."

XLV. THE STORY OF CRITHIR

37. Crichid [sic] of Cluain, a servant of Ciaran, went to Saigir and stayed there a long time. The devil tempted him to quench the sacred fire which the monks had in the kitchen. Said Ciaran of Saigir, that he would not eat food till there should come guests who would bring him fire. Crichid then went from them a short distance outside the city, and wolves slew him, but did not injure his body. When Ciaran the wright's son heard of the death of his attendant, he went to Ciaran of Saigir to seek for him. When he arrived, Ciaran of Saigir said, "First of all ye need water for your feet; but we have no fire to heat water for you. Let you as guests give us fire, for God hath decreed this for you." Then Ciaran the wright's son raised his hands to heaven, and made fervent prayer. When the prayer was finished, there came fire from heaven, and rested on his breast. He protected his breast from the fire, and carried it with him to the monastery. He cast from him the fire on to the floor, and it did not hurt so much as the fur of the robe of white linen which he was wearing.

Then he revived his servant who had died before that, and he ate food with them. The two Ciarans then made a covenant together. "The wealth of the world," said Ciaran son of the wright, "be in great Saigir." "Knowledge and dignity incorruptible be in Cluain maccu Nois," said Ciaran of Saigir.

XLIX. THE DEATH OF CIARAN

38. The soul of Ciaran was not more than seven months in this town before he went to heaven, on the ninth day of September. When Ciaran knew that the day of his death was drawing nigh, he made a prophecy with great sorrow. He said that great would be the persecution of his city from evil men towards the end of the world. "What then shall we do in the time of that crime?" said the monks; "is it by thy relics we shall stay, or shall we go elsewhere?" "Rise," said Ciaran, "and leave my relics as the bones of a deer are left in the sun. For it is better for you to live with me in heaven than to stay here with my relics."

When the time of his death was near to Saint Ciaran in the Little Church, in the thirty-third year of his age, on the fifth of the ides of September as regards the solar month, on Saturday as regards the day of the week, on the eighteenth day as regards the moon, he said, "Let me be carried out to the Little Height," said he. And when he looked at heaven, and the height of air above his head, he said, "Awful is this road upward." "Not for thee is it awful," said the monks. "Truly, I know not," said he, "any of the commandments of God which I have transgressed: yet even David son of Jesse, and Paul the apostle, dreaded this way."

Then the stone pillow was taken from him, to ease him. "Nay," said he, "put it under my shoulder. Qui enim perseuerauerit usque in finem, hic saluus erit." Then angels filled the space between heaven and earth to receive his soul.

He was brought afterward into the Little Church, and he raised his hand and blessed his folk, and said to the brethren to shut the church upon him till Coemgen should come from Glenn da Locha.

L. THE VISIT OF COEMGEN

39. When Coemgen came after three days, he received no full courtesy at first from the clerics, as they were in great sadness after their head. Said Coemgen to them, "Let a doleful countenance be upon you continually!" said he. Then fear took hold of the elders, and they did the will of Coemgen, and opened the Little Church to him. The spirit of Ciaran went at once to heaven,[36] and he returned again into his body to converse with Coemgen, and welcomed him. From one canonical hour to the next they were there in converse, and making a covenant. Thereafter Ciaran blessed Coemgen, and Coemgen blessed water and made a communion with Ciaran. And Ciaran gave his bell to Coemgen as a sign of their league and as a fee for their communion. That is what is now called the Boban of Coemgen.

LII. THE ENVY OF THE SAINTS

40. The saints of Ireland were envious of Ciaran for his excellence, and they put their trust in the King of Heaven that his life might be shortened. So great was their envy against him that even his comrade Colum Cille said, "Blessed be God," said he, "Who hath taken Saint Ciaran. For had he lived to old age, there would not have been the place of two chariot-horses found in Ireland that would not have been his."

LIII. A PANEGYRIC ON CIARAN

41. Here then is Ciaran with the eight men whom I have mentioned, and many thousands of saints besides. Here are the relics of Paul and Peter, which Benen and Cumlach left in the hollow tree here. Here are the relics of the blind boy, the disciple of Peca. Here is the shrine of the guest Peca, whom a certain devout man saw borne by angels to the burial of Ciaran. There were three wonders here that night: the guest-house being without fire, without guest, without prayer, for Peca was sufficient of fire, and guest, and prayer.

There is not one to relate completely what God wrought of signs and wonders for this holy Ciaran; for they are more than can be told or mentioned. For after the coming of Christ in the flesh there was not one born greater in almsgiving and mercy, greater in labour and fasting and prayer, greater in humility and fervour of good-will, greater in courtesy and mildness, greater in care for the Church of God, greater in daily labour and in nightly vigil.

He it is who never put tasty food or heady drink into his body, from the time when he embraced the religious life. He it is who never drank milk or ale, till a third of it was water. He it is who never ate bread, till a third part of sand was mixed with it. He it is who never slept save with his side on the bare ground. Beneath his head was never aught save a stone for a pillow. Next his skin never came flaxen or woollen stuff.

A man with choice voluntary full offerings to the Lord, like Abel son of Adam. A man with zealous entreaties to God, like Enoch son of Jared. A steersman full-sufficient for the ark of the Church among the waves of the world, like Noah son of Lamech. A true pilgrim with strength of faith and belief, like Abraham son of Terah. A man loving, gentle, forgiving of heart, like Moses son of Amram. A man patient and steadfast in enduring suffering and trouble, like suffering Job. A psalmist full-tuneful, full-delightful to God, like David son of Jesse. A dwelling of true wisdom and knowledge like Solomon son of David. A rock immovable whereon is founded the Church, like Peter the apostle. A chief universal teacher and a chosen vessel for proclaiming truth, like Paul the apostle. A man full of the grace of the Holy Spirit and of chastity, like John the breast-fosterling.

A man full of likeness in many ways to Jesus Christ the Head of all things. For this man made wine of water for his folk and his guests in this city, as Jesus made choice wine of water at the feast of Cana of Galilee. This man is called "son of the wright," as Christ is called "Son of the wright" in the Gospel (hic est Filius fabri, that is, of Joseph). Thirty-three years in the age of this man, as there are thirty-three years in the age of Christ. This man arose after three days in his bed in Cluain to converse with and to comfort Coemgen, as Christ arose after three days from the grave in Jerusalem, to comfort and strengthen His mother and His disciples.

So for these good things, and for many others, is his soul among the folk of heaven. His remains and relics are here with honour and renown, with daily wonders and miracles. And though great is his honour just now in this manner, greater shall be his honour in the holy incorruptible union of his body and his soul in the great assembly of Judgment, when Saint Ciaran shall be judge of the fruit of his labour along with Christ Whom he served. So shall he be in the great assembly, in the unity of holy fathers and prophets, in the unity of apostles and disciples of the Saviour Jesus Christ, in the unity of the nine grades of angels that have transgressed not, in the unity of the Godhead and Manhood of the Son of God, in the unity nobler than every other unity, the Unity of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

I beseech the mercy of the Lofty Omnipotent God, by the intercession of Saint Ciaran, that we may reach that unity. May we dwell there, in saecula saeculorum!

[Footnote 1: Following the reading cordus in the Leabhar Breac text of the Homily from which this section is an extract, instead of the unintelligible comhlud of the MSS. of the Life.]

[Footnote 2: This Latin extract in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 3: In this paragraph the less corrupt Brussels text is followed. In the original the Latin passages, here printed consecutively, are interspersed sentence by sentence with the Irish translation here rendered into English.]

[Footnote 4: This is the apparent sense of the passage: the MSS. are here corrupt.]

[Footnote 5: Only the first two words of this extract in the Lismore MS. The Brussels MS. erroneously repeats reg[i]mina after Diuulgata.]

[Footnote 6: The last two words in the Brussels MS. only, which also adds "of the Elements" after "Lord," two lines further down.]

[Footnote 7: Following the Brussels MS.: the Lismore text is here again corrupt.]

[Footnote 8: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 9: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 10: The bracketed words represent the sense of a passage that has evidently dropped out of the MSS.]

[Footnote 11: Sic MSS.: we should read "Iustus."]

[Footnote 12: The Lismore text is slightly imperfect in this paragraph: it is completed with the aid of the Brussels MS.]

[Footnote 13: This represents the sense of a passage that must have dropped out.]

[Footnote 14: Ut dixit and the stanza following in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 15: Bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 16: In Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 17: Emending the dia fhoglaim of the text ("as he was learning") to dia fhognam.]

[Footnote 18: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 19: "Apostle" in the Brussels MS.]

[Footnote 20: From "as is verified" to the end of the stanza in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 21: The Lismore MS. is here illegible: the rendering follows the Brussels MS.]

[Footnote 22: The Lismore MS. is here illegible: the translation follows the Brussels MS.]

[Footnote 23: The Brussels MS. adds "and may it be on thy cheek as thou goest to thy house."]

[Footnote 24: Bracketed words represent the sense of a passage evidently lost from the MSS.]

[Footnote 25: Literally "intoxication."]

[Footnote 26: In Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 27: The bracketed words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 28: The MSS. read "Findian."]

[Footnote 29: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 30: In this incident again it is necessary to follow the Brussels MS. in places, as the Lismore MS. is corrupt and unintelligible.]

[Footnote 31: Literally "'tis a drowning that shall drown this kiln."]

[Footnote 32: These words in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 33: In Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 34: This name in the Brussels MS. only.]

[Footnote 35: Here the Brussels MS. is corrupt.]

[Footnote 36: Sic MSS. We should read "came from heaven,"]

* * * * *



ANNOTATIONS TO THE FOREGOING LIVES

I. THE HOMILETIC INTRODUCTION (VG)

The three Latin lives plunge in medias res at the beginning; but VG prefixes an introduction borrowed from a Homily on Charity. The Irish text of this homily, with the original Latin, will be found printed from the fifteenth-century MS. called Leabhar Breac ("The speckled book") in Atkinson's Passions and Homilies (Dublin 1887). The text announced by the preacher is clearly suggested by incident XXII. It has already been shown in the Introduction, that this Life, with its homiletic preface, was a sermon written to be preached or read on the festival of the saint (9th September) at Clonmacnois.

The keynote of the Irish homily is struck in this first section. It is the work of some scholar of Clonmacnois, with a warm enthusiasm for the dignity of his alma mater. The sermon is as much a eulogy of Clonmacnois as of Ciaran. In the preacher's view, Clonmacnois is the chief and central church of Ireland, and the source of all ecclesiastical discipline in the country. Its founder excelled his fellow-saints as the sun excels the stars (Sec. 2). His pre-eminence was recognised by angels, who relieved him of labour when his turn came (Sec. 13): and on several occasions Findian showed a like favouritism (Sec.Sec. 18, 20, a, d, 23). Clonmacnois was superior to the rival house at Birr (Sec. 20 b); and possessed in the hide of the Dun Cow an infallible passport to heaven (Sec. 20 c). The vision of the tree seen by Enda and by Ciaran prophesied the pre-eminence of Clonmacnois (Sec. 24). The other saints were envious of his renown and of the glory of his monastery (Sec. 40).

The Hymn of Colum Cille.—Following the usual practice of Irish prose literary composition, the homilist intersperses his work throughout with verse extracts, appealed to as the authority for the various statements which he has occasion to make. In the present section he draws upon a hymn made by Colum Cille in honour of Ciaran. To this hymn, and to its surviving fragments, we shall return in commenting upon incident LI, where the composition of the hymn is alluded to.

The Ante-natal Prophecies.—Patrick is said also to have prophesied the advent of Senan (LL, 1845)[1] and of Alban (CS, 505); and Becc mac De that of Brenainn (LL, 3343). But the parallels drawn between the Life of Ciaran and that of Christ have made such prophecies especially appropriate in the present case.

The prophecy of Saint Patrick took place under the following circumstances (VTP, p. 84 ff.).[2] The leper whom, in accordance with a custom frequent in early Irish monasticism, Patrick is said to have maintained—partly for charity and partly for self-abasement—departed from Patrick when the latter was on the holy mountain of Cruachan Aigli (Croagh Patrick, Co. Mayo). He made his way to the then empty site of Clonmacnois, and sat in the split trunk of a hollow elm tree. A stranger made his appearance, and the leper, having assured himself that he was a Christian, requested him to uproot a bundle of rushes and to give him in a clean vessel of the water that would burst forth. Then the leper begged of the stranger to bring tools for digging, and to bury him there; and he was the first dead man to be buried in Clonmacnois. Now after this had taken place, the nephew of Patrick, Bishop Muinis, chanced to be benighted on the same spot, when returning from a mission to Rome on which the apostle had sent him. There were angels hovering over the leper's grave, and thus Muinis recognised it as the burial-place of a man of God. He deposited the relics which he was bearing back from Rome, for the night, in the hollow elm; but he found in the morning that the tree had closed upon them, and that they could not be recovered. In sorrow for their loss, he related the event to Patrick, and for his comfort he was told that a Son of Life—to wit Ciaran, son of the wright—was destined to come thither, and that he would need the relics. These relics are mentioned in VG 41, though "Benen and Cumlach" [the leper] are there said to have left them, not Muinis. From this reference we learn that they were attributed to Saints Peter and Paul.

It is quite clear that this curious story has reached us in a fragmentary and expurgated form, and that if we had the whole narrative before us it would afford us an indication that Clonmacnois was the site of an earlier, Pagan, sanctuary. It will most probably be found to be an invariable rule that the early Christian establishments in Ireland occupy the sites of Pagan sanctuaries; the monastery having been founded to re-consecrate the holy place to the True Faith. The hollow elm was doubtless a sacred tree; the well which miraculously burst forth was a sacred well: the buried leper may have been a foundation sacrifice, like Oran on Iona. The old pre-Christian name of the site is suggestive—Ard Tiprat, "the high place of the [holy] well." By no stretch of language can the site of Clonmacnois be called physically high; as in the stanza quoted in VG 30, the word Ard must be used in the sense of distinguished, eminent, or sacred.

Of the prophecy attributed to Brigit there appears to be no record in any of her numerous Lives: nor can I identify with certainty the story of "the fire and the angel." There were "Crosses of Brigit" at Armagh;[3] but as there were probably many other crosses throughout the country dedicated to this popular saint we cannot infer that Armagh was the scene of the prophecy.

Becc mac De was chief soothsayer to King Diarmait mac Cerrbeil. Very little is certainly known of him; most of the traditions relating to him consist of tales of his remarkable gift of foretelling the future—tales similar to those related of the Covenanter Alexander Peden in Scotland, or of the seventeenth-century Mayo peasant Red Brian Carabine.[4] He died in or about the year A.D. 555 (the annalists waver between 552 and 557); and the Annals of Clonmacnois tell us that he began to prophesy in 550. As Ciaran is said to have died in 548, the statement that Becc mac De foretold his coming is anachronistic. The prophecy here attributed to him does not appear in the list of prognostications attributed to him (given in the MS. Harleian 5280, British Museum, edited in Zeitschrift fuer Celtische Philologie, ix, 169), or in Leabhar Breac, p. 260, where some further particulars about him are given.

I have ventured to emend the passage regarding Becc mac De slightly, restoring the verse form which the prophecy seems to have had originally. As it appears in the Lismore Lives printed text it is given in prose; an insignificant transposition of the words, and the taking of the word andsin out of the inverted commas is all that is necessary.[5] In the rendering in the text an attempt is made to reproduce to some extent the elaboration of alliteration, but the end-rhymes and the vowel-assonances cannot be imitated without sacrificing the sense. The metre resembles that known as mibhasc (four-syllable and six-syllable lines alternating, but with trisyllabic rhyme in the short lines).

The person to whom Colum Cille uttered his prophecy was Aed mac Brenainn, Prince of Tethba (Teffia), the region comprising various baronies in the modern Co. Westmeath and part of Co. Longford. This Aed gave Dermag (Durrow) to Colum Cille a few years before the latter's departure for Scotland. There is, however, no record of the prophecy in the lives of Colum Cille; probably his visit to Clonmacnois from Durrow is in the writer's mind. Ard Abla, identified by O'Donovan with Lissardowlin, Co. Longford, was in the territory of Tethba. The Lismore scribe has written the name of Aed's father incorrectly (Brandub); the correction ("or Brenainn") is a marginal note.

II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES (LA, LB, LC, VG)

The Pedigree (VG).—The pedigree in VG traces Ciaran's descent from Tigernmas, fabled to have reigned in Tara 3580-3657 Anno Mundi (1620-1543 B.C.).[6] Through Tigernmas the line is traced to Mil of Spain, the eponymous ancestor of the "Milesians," or Celtic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland.

There is another pedigree, totally different, which connects the saint, not with the Tara kings, but with those of the Ulaid or Ulster folk, through the dethroned Fergus who figures so prominently in the epic tale Tain Bo Cualnge. This pedigree appears in the Book of Leinster (facsimile, pp. 348, 349) and Leabhar Breac (facsimile, p. 16), the Bodleian MS. Rawlinson B 506, p. 154 d, and in the MS. in Marsh's Library containing LA, at the foot of the column where LA begins; with an added note stating that Ciaran was "of the true Ultonains of Emain": its authenticity is adopted by Keating (I.T.S. edition, vol. iii, p. 48). Correcting one copy with another this genealogy runs as follows—

Ciaran son of Coscrach son of Aislithe son of Beodan " Mesinsuad " Modruad " Bolcan " Mesinsulad " Follomain " Linned " Erce " Deoda " Corc " Erc (or Oscar) " Eochaid " Daig " Mechon " Corc " Cunneda " Nechtan " Fergus " Cass " Aed Corb " Ros " Froech " Aed Gnoe " Rudraige

Thus both genealogies claim a royal descent for the saint. This is an instance of a widespread policy, of which many traces are to be found in the old Irish Genealogies. The whole country was divided into territories of different clans, under which were subordinate and tributary septs. The latter bore the chief burden of taxation; and they were for the greater part composed of descendants of the aboriginal pre-Celtic tribes, who had been reduced to vassalage on the coming of the Celtic-speaking invaders (about the third or fourth century B.C.). When a tributary sept became strong enough to resist the pressure of these imposts, exemption was claimed by a sort of legal fiction, by which they were genealogically affiliated to the ruling sept. This practice led to the fabrication of spurious links, and even of whole pedigrees.

In point of fact several indications show that Ciaran belonged to a tributary sept, and was of pre-Celtic blood. These tributary septs were distinguished from their Celtic conquerors by social organisation, racial character, and probably still to some extent by religion and language. They had much the same position as the perioeci in ancient Sparta. The following are the evidences of his pre-Celtic nationality—

(a) The tribal names of his parents (Latharna, Glasraige). There are two forms of tribal names in ancient Ireland; those consisting of two words, and those consisting of one. The first are in such formulae as "tribe of NN," "seed of NN" or the like—NN being the name of a more or less legendary ancestor. The second are either simple names which cannot be analysed, or else are derived from an ancestral name by adding the suffix -rige or -raige. As a rule the names consisting of one word only are fundamentally pre-Celtic, or denote pre-Celtic septs, though in many cases they have been fitted with Celticising genealogies.

(b) The names of Ciaran himself and his brothers, and of one of his sisters. Donnan, Ciaran, Odran, Cronan are all diminutives founded upon colours—the little brown, black, grey, and tawny one. These indicate that the family was dark complexioned, which would also accord with a pre-Celtic origin. The Celts were fair, their predecessors dark. One of the sisters was called Pata, with an initial P. This is impossible in a Gaelic name.

(c) The subordinate position of Ciaran's father, and his liability to taxation. In the Book of Leinster and, in part, in Leabhar Breac, after the genealogy, we read "He [i.e. Ciaran] was of one of the seven clans of the Latharna of Molt. His father was originally in slavery in Britain; he went thereafter to Ireland to Cenel Conaill [north of Co. Donegal], and after that to Connacht[7] to avoid a heavy tax, so that Ciaran was born at Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai." LA describes Ciaran's father as "a rich man," and certainly the family seems to have been comfortably provided with cattle, the chief wealth of their time. In reference to his father's trade Ciaran is regularly called mac in tsair, "son of the wright." The Rabelaisian extravaganza called Imtheacht na Tromdhaimhe ("The Adventures of the Burdensome Company") introduces Ciaran as himself practising smith's craft;[8] but no importance can be attached to so irresponsible a production. Analogous in this respect are the references to our saint in The Adventures of Leithin,[9] which also introduces Ciaran and his monks; but as Dr. Hyde points out in his edition, these are merely a kind of framework for the legend, and the story, though in itself extremely curious and interesting, tells us nothing about either Ciaran or Clonmacnois.

(d) The fact, specially mentioned in LA, that Ciaran was reared by his parents, not put out to fosterage as would have been done had he been of gentle birth.

(e) The pre-eminent position of Ciaran's mother in the home. The pre-Celtic tribesmen of Ireland, like their Pictish kinsmen in Scotland, were organised on the system of mother-right, in which property and descent and kinship are all traced through the maternal side of the ancestry. Throughout the Lives, Beoit is a cypher: the house and its contents and appurtenances are almost invariably treated as Darerca's property. Matriarchate usually implies exogamy, a man choosing his wife from a sept differing from his own; and the children are related to the mother's, not the father's kin. The male responsible for the education of the child is not so much the father as the maternal uncle. The law of exogamy was strictly followed in the case before us. Beoit comes from north-east Ulster; Darerca belonged to a family which drew its origin from the south-east of the present county Kerry, though she seems to have settled in Cenel Fiachach at the time when Beoit met her. Incidents VIII and X of Ciaran's Life are laid in that territory, which falls in with a tradition, presently to be noted, that the dwelling-place of the family of the saint was not Raith Cremthainn, but the place where the parents had first met—which would be an instance of the husband dwelling with the wife's people, as is frequent under the matriarchate. The Celtic authors of the Lives have transferred the kinship of the son to the father's clan, in accordance with their own social system; but an older tradition has left an unmistakable trace in the confusion of the relationships of "father" and "uncle" in LA, Sec.Sec. 9, 10.

It is possible that the prominence of the mother in the household, and Ciaran's birth away from his ancestral home as the result of a taxation, are specially emphasised because they offer obvious parallels with the Gospel story. The character of Darerca is, however, by no means idealised, as we might have expected it to be, had this been the chief purpose of the narrator.

The Parents of Ciaran, their Names and Origins.—The name of Ciaran's father is variously Latinised in the Latin Lives. The Irish lives call him Beoit, a name analysed in the Book of Leinster, p. 349, into Beo-n-Aed, which would mean something like "Living Fire." The -n- is inserted, according to a law of Old Irish accidence, because aed, "fire," is a neuter word. Thus arises the Latin form Beonnadus. By metathesis the name further becomes transformed to Beodan or Beoan. The Latharna were the people who dwelt around the site of the modern town of Larne, which preserves their name; Mag Molt ("the plain of wethers") is probably the plain surrounding the town. The Aradenses, to whom LB ascribes the origin of Beoit, were the people known in Irish record as Dal n-Araide, the pre-Celtic people of the region now called Antrim.

Dar-erca, "daughter of brightness" or "of the sky," was a common female name in ancient Ireland. The Glasraige to whom she belonged was a tribe with divisions scattered in various parts of Ireland. Irluachra was south-east Kerry with adjoining parts of Cork and Limerick. Of her poet grandfather Glas nothing is known.

It would perhaps be too far-fetched to see a hint at a mythological element in the traditions of Ciaran in the signification of his parents' names. Indeed, considering the Tendenz of the Ciaran Lives, it is remarkable that there is no supernormal element in the account of the birth of this particular saint; supernatural births are almost a commonplace in Irish saints' lives as a rule.

The saint's own name is regularly spelt with an initial K or Q in the Latin texts, doubtless because Latin c was pronounced as s before e and i in mediaeval Ireland.

The Annals of Clonmacnois preserves for us a totally different tradition of the origin and upbringing of the saint. Modernising the haphazard spelling and punctuation of the seventeenth-century English translation (the original Irish of this valuable book is lost), we may note what it tells us. "His father's name was Beoit, a Connacht man (sic) and a carpenter. His mother Darerca, of the issue of Corc mac Fergusa mic Roig of the Clanna Rudraige. He in his childhood lived with his father and mother in 'Templevickinloyhe' [wherever that may have been] in Cenel Fiachach; until a thief of the country of Ui Failge stole the one cow they had, which, being found, he forsook together with his father and mother the said place of the stealth [= theft], fearing of further inconvenience." Here note: (1) that Darerca is given the ancestry attributed in the Book of Leinster pedigree to Beoit, thus hinting at an originally matrilinear form of the official pedigree: (2) that the settlement of the family in Cenel Fiachach, i.e. the place of Darerca's dwelling, is definitely stated; (3) that the migration of the family does not take place till after Ciaran's birth; (4) that a totally different reason is assigned for the migration; (5) that incident X of the Lives is directly referred to; (6) that we hear nothing in this passage about the rest of the numerous family of Beoit; and (7) that the family is poor, having but one cow.

Cenel Fiachach (the clan of Fiachu) occupied a territory covering parts of the present counties of Westmeath and King's Co. VG erroneously writes this Cenel Fiachrach, which occupied a territory of the modern Co. Sligo. See further, p. 171.

The Princes.—Unfortunately Ainmire mac Colgain, lord of Ui Neill, and Cremthann, a chieftain of Connacht, are not otherwise known; we cannot therefore test the chronological truth of this part of the story. Ainmire reappears as an oppressor in the life of Aed (VSH, ii, 295). LA anachronistically confuses this Ainmire with Ainmire mac Setna, King of Tara, A.D. 564-566.

It is noteworthy that VG calls Cremthann "King of Ireland." This is in accordance with the fact that the dynasty which united Ireland under the suzerainty of the King of Tara was of Connacht origin.[10]

The Wizard's Prophecy.—The phrase "the noise of a chariot under a king" is a stock formula in this connexion; compare, with Stokes, Vita Sancti Aedui in Rees' Lives of Cambro-British Saints, p. 233 (also VSH, ii, 295). With the incident compare the story of the druid rising to welcome the parents of Saint Senan, and when ridiculed for thus showing honour to peasants explaining that it was to their unborn child that he was paying honour (LL, 1875). Observe that in both tales the druid is mocked. This touch doubtless belongs to the Christian chronicler, taking the opportunity of putting the minister of the rival creed in an invidious position.

Deacon Iustus, according to VTP (p. 104) and Tirechan's Collections regarding Saint Patrick (edited in VTP, see pp. 305, 318) was consecrated by Saint Patrick, who left with him his ritual book and his office of baptism, in Fidarta (Fuerty, Co. Roscommon). It was in his old age that he baptized Ciaran, out of Patrick's book—he was, indeed, according to the documents quoted, no less than 140 years of age. The glossators of the Martyrology of Oengus (Henry Bradshaw Society edition, p. 128) confuse him with Euthymius, the deacon, martyred at Alexandria. The play on words ("it were fitting that the just one should be baptized by a Just One") is lost in the Irish version, whence Plummer (VSH, i, p. xlix) infers that this document is a translation from a Latin original: but the fact proves nothing more than that the author of VG borrowed this particular incident, as he borrowed his preface, from a Latin writing. All these Lives are patchworks, and their component elements are of very different origins and dates.

The date of Ciaran's birth was 25 February, A.D. 515. The Annals of Ulster says 511, or "according to another book," 516. The Annals of Clonmacnois has the correct date, 515.

The Geographical Names in this Incident.—Temoria (LA) is Tara (Irish Teamair), Co. Meath, the site of the dwelling of the Kings of Ireland. Midhe (LA) means the province of Meath; LA is, however, in error in placing the Latronenses therein. The Connachta are the people who give their name to the province of Connacht. Mag Ai, variously spelt, is the central plain of Co. Roscommon; Raith Cremthainn ("the fort of Cremthann") was somewhere upon it, presumably near the royal establishment of Rathcroghan, but the exact site is unknown. Isel Chiarain (VG), a place reappearing later in the Life, is unknown, but doubtless it was close to Clonmacnois. Cluain maccu Nois, the "Meadow of the Descendants of Nos," now Clonmacnois, stands on the right bank of the Shannon about twelve miles below Athlone. Extensive remains of the monastery founded by Ciaran are still to be seen there. As for Tech meic in tSaeir, "the house of the wright's son," we might have inferred that this place was also somewhere near or in Clonmacnois; but a note among the glosses of the Martyrology of Oengus (under 9th September) says that it was "in the house of the son of the wright" that Ciaran was brought up. It is therefore to be identified with the mysterious place corruptly spelt "Templevickinloyhe" (church of the son of the ——?) in the extract from the Annals of Clonmacnois printed above.[11]

The Verses in this Section of VG.—The epigram on Ciaran's parents is found in many MSS. The rendering here given expresses the sense and reproduces the rhythm of the stanza, but does not attempt to copy the metre in every detail. This is known as cro cummaisc etir casbairdne ocus lethrannaigecht, and consists of seven-syllable lines with trisyllabic rhymes, alternating with five-syllable lines having monosyllabic rhymes. Literally translated the sense would run, "Darerca my mother / she was not a bad woman // Beoit the wright my father / of the Latharna of Molt."

The second stanza is misplaced, and should properly have been inserted in the following paragraph. Its metre is ae freslige—seven-syllable lines in a quatrain, rhyming abab: a being trisyllabic, b dissyllabic rhymes. The stanza is obscure and probably corrupt; so far as it can be rendered at all, the literal translation is: "He healed the steed of Oengus / when he was in a swathe, in a cradle // there was given ... / from God this miracle to Ciaran."

III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH (LA, LB, LC, VG)

The Four Versions.—This incident is told in all four lives, and it is instructive to note the differences of detail which they display. In LA Oengus goes to fetch Ciaran, after consulting with his friends. In LB he sends for him. In LC he goes to him, and in VG Ciaran comes without being fetched. The stanza interpolated in the preceding section of VG introduces us to another variant of the tradition, in which Ciaran was a swaddled infant when the miracle was wrought. In LB the incident is given a homiletic turn, by being told to illustrate the saint's care for animals.

Parallels.—A similar but not identical miracle is attributed to Saint Patrick (VTP, 228; LL, 565). Here the saint resuscitates horses with holy water; but in this case the saint's own curse had originally caused the horses' deaths, because they grazed in his churchyard. Saint Lasrian also restored a horse to life (CS, 796).

Tir na Gabrai ("the land of the horse") is unknown, though it presumably was near Raith Cremthainn. The story was probably told to account for the name of the field. It has been noticed that the Latin Lives are less rich in details as to names of places and people than the Irish Life. This is an indication of a later tradition, when the recollection of names had become vague, or, rather, when names which had been of interest to their contemporaries had ceased to rouse such feelings.

IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY (LA, LB, LC, VG)

One of the numerous imitations of the story of the Miracle of Cana. Compare incident XLIV. An identical story is told of Saint Patrick (LL, 108). Note the variety of reasons given for sending the honey to Iustus.

V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND (LA, LB, LC, VG)

Parallels.—The same story is told of Saint Patrick, in Colgan's Tertia Vita, cap. xxxi, Septima Vita, I, cap. xlvii. Patrick likewise quoted the verse Ne tradas bestiis animus confitentes tibi (Ps. lxiv, [Vulgate lxiii] 19).

The Fate of the Hound.—This varies in the different versions. In the Patrick story just quoted it was struck immovable, as a stone. In LA it thrusts its head in circo uituli, which I have rendered conjecturally as the context seems to require, but I can find no information as to the exact nature of this adjunct to the cattle-stall. Du Cange gives arcus sellae equestris as one of the meanings of circus.

LB and LC, which have many points of affinity, are in this incident almost word for word identical. They agree in saying that the men setting on the hound were spurred (uexati) by an evil spirit. The misplacing of this incident in LB is probably due to a transposition of the leaves of the exemplar from which it was copied.

VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED, THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE ANOTHER (LA, VG)

Topography of the Story.—Assuming that Raith Cremthainn was somewhere near Rathcroghan, the distance between this and Fuerty would be about fourteen miles. There is no indication on the Ordnance map of any rock that can be identified with the cross-bearing stone on which Ciaran used to sit, though it clearly was a landmark well known to the author of LA. (Pace LA, Rathcroghan is north of Fuerty.)

Parallels.—The closest parallel is the story of Brigit, who heard a Mass that was being celebrated in Rome, though unable to hear a popular tumult close by (TT, 539). Something resembling the action of a wireless telephone is contemplated, the voices being inaudible to persons between the speakers. Thus the tales of saints with preternaturally loud voices are not quite in point. Colum Cille was heard to read his Psalms a mile and half away (LL, 828); Brenainn also was heard at a long distance (LL, 3419). The burlesque Vision of MacConglinne parodies such voices (ed. Meyer, pp. 12, 13).

VII. CIARAN AND THE FOX (VG)

Parallels.—There are endless tales of how saints pressed wild animals into their service; indeed the first monastic establishment of Ciaran's elder namesake, Ciaran of Saigir, consisted of wild animals only: a boar, a badger, a wolf, and a stag (VSH, i, 219; Silua Gadelica, i, p. 1 ff.). Moling also kept a number of wild and tame animals round his monastery—among them a fox, which, as in the tale before us, attempted to eat a book (VSH, ii, 201); otherwise, however, the stories differ. Aed rescued a stag from hunters, and used its horns as a book-rest (VSH, ii, 296); Coemgen similarly rescued a boar (VSH, i, 244). So, in Wales, Saint Brynach caused stags to draw his carriage, and committed his cow to the charge of a wolf (Cambro-British Saints, pp. 10, 296). Saint Illtyd tamed a stag which he had rescued from hunters (ibid., pp. 164, 473).

Herding of Cattle.—There is abundant evidence from the Lives of the saints that the herding of the cattle while pasturing was an important duty of the children of the household. There was no little risk in this, owing to the prevalence of wolves.

Reading the Psalms.—The Psalms seem to have been the first subject of instruction given to young students; LB, 4, indicates that Ciaran's lessons with Iustus did not go beyond the mere rudiments of learning. There is in the National Museum, Dublin, a tablet-book containing six leaves of wax-covered wood, on which are traced a number of the Psalms in the Vulgate version; this was most likely a lesson-book such as is here described. The story evidently grew up around an actual specimen, that bore injuries, explained as being the tooth-marks of the fox.

Versions of the Tale.—It would appear that this story was originally an account of how Ciaran and his distant tutor could communicate, quite independent of incident VI. It has become awkwardly combined with VI into a conflate narrative, as is shown by the silence about the fox in LA. According to the one story, they used their supernatural "wireless telephone." According to the other, the fox trotted back and forth with the book. In the conflate version, it would appear that Iustus dictated Psalms to Ciaran by "telephone," Ciaran then wrote them on his tablets, and the fox waited till he was finished and then carried them for correction to Iustus. (As is observed in the footnote in loc, p. 73, we must read "Iustus" for "Ciaran" in the passage describing the proceedings of the fox).

The Homiletic Pendant.—The unexpected homiletic turn given to this story in VG may perhaps find its explanation in facts now lost to us; the passage reads like a side-thrust at some actual person or persons. It may possibly refer to the act of sacrilege committed by Toirdelbach o Briain, in 1073, who carried away from Clonmacnois the head of Conchobar o Maeil-Shechlainn; but being attacked by a mysterious disease—imparted to him, it was said, by a mouse which issued from the head and ran up under his garment—he was obliged to return it, with two gold rings by way of compensation. He did not recover from the disease, however, but died in 1086 (Annals of Four Masters).