CHAPTER XX.

THE SCHOOLS OF DESMOND.

"I found in Munster, unfettered of any, Kings and queens, and poets a-many; Poets well skilled in music and measure, Prosperous doings, mirth and pleasure." --_King Aldfrid's Poem._

I.--THE SCHOOL OF CORK--ST. FINBARR.

Munster was always celebrated for classical studies. Even within the memory of living men it attracted 'poor scholars' from every part of Ireland; and they were received, as they were in the days of Bede and King Aldfrid, with kindly welcome and generous hospitality. In spite of the confiscations and penal laws of three hundred years, the old Celtic love of learning was still cherished in Munster, and the doors were never closed against the homeless scholar, or bard, or sheanachie. As in the days of Bede, "they willingly received them all, and took care to supply them with food, and also to furnish them with books to read, and their teaching gratis."[343] Of the Desmond schools the most celebrated, though not, perhaps, the earliest, was the School of Cork founded by St. Finbarr.

The name of the city itself is derived from _Corcagh_, which signifies a marshy place; and at the time St. Finbarr founded his church there, and for centuries afterwards, it certainly well deserved the name. Especially when the mountain floods came down the valley of the river Lee the whole right bank of the stream was converted into a vast lake called Loch Eirce or Loch Irce.[344] This valley extends from west to east, and is enclosed on either side by bold and fertile hills, now crowned with groves and villas which render Cork one of the most picturesque cities of the empire. The river Lee itself rises in the wild and barren mountain range which separates Cork from Kerry, and after a course of more than fifty miles, flows into the sea below the city. The river before reaching the city, divides itself into two main branches, which afterwards re-unite, thus forming an island of considerable extent, on which the city proper was originally built, and strongly fortified by walls and towers.

The Lee may be said to take its rise in the mountain lake of Gougane Barra, which is merely a natural reservoir that collects the streams flowing down the sides of these wild mountains. The name simply means 'Barra's Lone Retreat,'[345] because, as we shall presently see, the saint dwelt for some time on an island in the lake.

The facts of St. Finbarr's history are narrated in two Latin Lives which have been published by Mr. Caulfield of Cork College.[346] His baptismal name was Lochan; but as the boy grew up with beautiful fair hair he was called Find-barr; and sometimes Barra, Barre, Bairre, or Barry. He was sprung from the Hy-Briuin Ratha, who dwelt about Lough Corrib in the County Galway. His father, Amergin, being the fruit of unlawful love, left his native territory and came to the territory of Hy-Liathain in the County Cork, where his skill as an artificer secured him the patronage of the local dynast, who appears to have dwelt at Achad Duirbchon in Muskerry. This dynast is described also as _righ_ of Rathend.

A beautiful young maiden was staying at the house of this kinglet, who would not allow her marry; and all unbecoming intimacy was also strictly forbidden between her and any member of the king's household. But the smith, not knowing or ignoring this prohibition, won the affections of the lady, and married her in secret. The result was the conception of Barry. When this became visible, the king was so wrathful at this contempt of his authority, that he ordered the parents to be burned to death. But the great lime-kiln, lighted to carry out this sentence, was extinguished by a violent storm of rain, accompanied with fiery flashes of lightning.

This was, of course, attributed to the fact that the child, which the lady bore in her womb, was destined by God for great things, as in truth, subsequent events proved to be the fact. Indeed, the _Martyrology of Donegal_ makes a still more incredible statement, that "Barre spoke in his mother's womb, and also immediately after his birth, in order to justify his father and mother, as his Life states in the first chapter."[347] This speaking in the womb may, perhaps, be understood in the metaphorical sense already explained.

St. Barry had for his teacher a holy man called in the _Irish Life_ Mac Cuirp, or Curporius in the Latin Lives. Mac Cuirp is stated to have spent some time in Rome, and to have been whilst there a disciple of St. Gregory the Great. St. Gregory was Pope from A.D. 590 to 604, but for some years previous to A.D. 590 he had held various offices in the church; and it was probably between A.D. 575 and 590 that the Irish monk had an opportunity of becoming his disciple in the great monastery of St. Andrew, which was once the private mansion of St. Gregory.

From a master so trained for some time in Rome itself, young Barry had an opportunity of acquiring a fuller knowledge of ecclesiastical discipline, as well as sounder and wider theological views than the ordinary Irish schools could at the time afford. How long he remained under the care of this holy man is unknown; but from the active life which St. Barry led, we must infer that he began to preach and found churches whilst he was still a young man. We are told that even before he came to Cork he had founded twelve churches in various parts of the country. Amongst these we find special reference to the Church of Achadh Duirbchon near Cuas Barra, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood of the river Blackwater, and probably not far from Fermoy. For it is said that after he founded this church, he crossed the river and came to Cill Cluana, and built a church there also. Cill Cluana is supposed to be the place since known as Cloyne; this, however, we venture to think is improbable, for St. Colman, the founder of Cloyne, was a contemporary of St. Brendan, and must have flourished and founded the Church of Cloyne many years before Barry could have arrived at man's estate. There is a Kilclooney in the barony of Condons and Clangibbon, County Cork, which is much more likely to have been the Church of Cill Cluana erected at this period by St. Barry.

We are told that two disciples of St. Ruadhan of Lorrha, Cormac and Baoithen by name, travelled thither. They were directed by their own master, St. Ruadhan, to remain where the tongues of their bells would sound. To their surprise the silent bells rang out, when they had come to Barry's Church at Cill-Cluana, and they were much grieved when they found it occupied, without, as they thought, any chance of their being allowed to remain in the place. But Barry, knowing the divine will, at once gave them his own church, and they remained there, whilst he himself went elsewhere to found new churches for the honour of God and the advantage of the people.

It is probable that Gougane Barra, so celebrated for its wild romantic beauty, was the earliest foundation of St. Barry, and that it was there during the years of his retirement that he prepared himself for that great spiritual work, which he afterwards accomplished.

This lovely lake is situated amongst the mountains on the western border of Cork, and in that very territory of Muskerry where St. Barry is said to have been born, so that he was probably familiar with it from his childhood. The savage grandeur of this mountain valley has been celebrated both in poetry and in prose by many writers; and, no doubt, Callanan's stanzas are familiar to all our readers. The lake is surrounded on all sides by an amphitheatre of lofty and rugged mountains, rising up in naked grandeur from its lonely shores. Only at one place towards the south-east is there an opening, where the infant Lee bursts through the rocky barrier of loose stones and dashes down in foaming leaps to the lower lake of Inchigheela. The lake itself covers about 90 acres. Its waters flowing down from the heathery slopes of the hills are rather dark in colour, and abound in fish; although, it is said, that trout were more numerous heretofore in these waters. Towards the south-east of the lake, which is oval in form, is the island that formed the retreat of St. Finbarr. It is deeply and beautifully green, where the broken walls do not cover the turf, and contrasts strikingly with the dark waters of the lake, and the bluish gray of the rugged precipices that frown down on the gloomy landscape. Its shores too are beautifully fringed with hoary ash trees, and a few willows that stoop to kiss the wavelets:--

"There grows the wild ash, and a time stricken willow Looks chidingly down on the mirth of the billow; As like some gay child that sad monitor scorning, It lightly laughs back to the laugh of the morning."

The works of man are in ruins, but the face of nature is changeless and grand as it ever was. There is still the "zone of dark hills" that brighten in the lightning's flash, when the rocks give back the thunder's voice in a thousand echoes. There are still the "thousand wild fountains"--in summer tiny rivulets, but in rainy weather angry cataracts leaping from rock to rock. It is true the glory of the woods that once belted these mountains is gone, and nothing now remains but the island grove, which is all the more attractive because no foliage elsewhere relieves the eye, weary with the hungry grey of the rocks and the dark brown of the heather.

But the ancient church with its solitary cells and courtyard are all in ruins--ruins, too, even in this wild retreat, that have apparently been wrought by the hand of man. The little island on which these ruins stand is near the southern shore of the lake. It is approached by a low narrow causeway, which connects it with the shore. From the causeway the pilgrim walks through an avenue of ash trees towards a terrace, which is elevated four or five steps before him. On this terrace there is an ancient quadrangular _caiseal_, which had two monastic cells built into each side of the quadrangle. These cells arched overhead were about four feet wide, ten feet deep, and eight feet high. The masonry is of a primitive character, and may be of the age of Barry himself, for we find the circular arch as early as the first quarter of the seventh century. In the centre of this courtyard there is a mound having stone steps around, and surmounted by an ancient wooden cross. This cross marks the principal penitential station, and closely resembles some of the mission crosses seen in the churchyards of our country churches. The church and monastery proper were outside this enclosure, and are now quite ruinous. They were probably coeval with the cells in the enclosure; but it is quite unusual to find them outside the enclosing wall. The quadrangular cashel, too, is quite a peculiar feature, and shows that it is of a later and undoubtedly Christian origin.

About the year A.D. 1700, a priest named Father Denis O'Mahony took up his residence in this lonely retreat, and, it is said, caused its "seven chapels" to be restored. These so called chapels were the cells already referred to, which surround the cloister. He was buried in the little graveyard on the mainland close to the causeway, where the rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep. And Smith tells us that the following inscription was placed over his tomb--"Hoc sibi et successoribus in eadem vocatione monumentum imposuit Dominus Doctor Dionysius O'Mahony, presbyter licet indignus, A.D. 1700." There is, we believe, no trace of a stone bearing this inscription to be seen at present on this spot. The tendency of the Church in our days seems to be altogether in favour of the cenobitic life; this was one of the few cases in which the ancient love for the eremitic life has again appeared in our Irish Church. At present we have neither hermits, nor recluses, as of old. Is it that the spirit of ancient asceticism has departed? Or is it that charity has grown cold? To be quite alone with God is a dangerous and difficult state of life; but it is after all the state of the very highest perfection known to theology.

It was probably after spending some time in his hermitage at Gougane Barra that St. Finbarr came, as is stated in his Life, to the lake, which in Irish is called Loch Eirce. Close to the shore of this lake he built a monastery, to which as to the home of wisdom, and the nursery of all Christian virtues, crowds of zealous disciples flocked together from all quarters in such numbers and inspired with such zeal for holiness, that the solitude around became filled with cells of monks, and thus grew into a great city. From the school which Finbarr established there, a vast number of men, conspicuous for sanctity and learning, went forth, amongst whom especially worthy of note were St. Eulangius or Eulogius--who it seems had some share in training Finbarr himself--St. Colman of Doire Dhunchon, St. Baithin, St. Nessan, St. Garbhan, St. Talmach, St. Finchad of Ross Ailithir, St. Lucerus, St. Cumanus, St. Lochin of Achadh Airaird, St. Carinus, St. Fintan of Ros-Coerach, and several other saints, whose names and churches are mentioned in the _Irish Life of Finbarr_.

The site of Finbarr's primitive church and monastery was that now occupied by the Protestant Cathedral of St. Finbarr on the south-west of the city, but all traces of the primitive buildings have entirely disappeared. An ancient round tower stood in the south-west corner of the churchyard, which has also completely disappeared. But as the round towers were generally built some ten or twelve paces from the great western entrance of the church, which they protected, the site of the ancient cathedral can be ascertained with sufficient accuracy.

In the _Pacata Hibernia_ there is a very interesting map of Cork, which shows the city and its environs, as they were about the year A.D. 1600. It has been reproduced by Mr. John George M'Carthy, in a pamphlet of great value, which he published in 1869, and which gives a lively sketch of the history of Cork, both ancient and modern. The city proper is shown on the island with its walls and towers, and its two principal streets--the Main Street and Castle Street--intersecting each other at right angles. Outside the city walls, it is all a marsh, and in the south-west corner, close to the southern bank of the stream, is shown "ye Cathedrale Church of Old Corcke," which marks the site of St. Finbarr's primitive abbey.

It is stated in the ancient Life of Finbarr that, like many others of the Irish saints of his time, he went on a pilgrimage to Rome--to the threshold of the Apostles. On his way back from Rome he paid a visit to St. David, the celebrated Bishop of Menevia, and thence we are told he returned to Cork. This would seem to imply that the monastery of Cork was founded before St. Barry's departure from Rome. Gerald Barry in his _Life of St. David_ refers to this visit paid to that saint by his namesake of Cork, whom, however, he calls 'Barrocus,' and as usual he indulges largely in the supernatural, in his account of the visit.

It was, he says, the custom in those times for the Irish to go on pilgrimage to Rome in order to venerate the shrines of the Apostles. Amongst others a certain Barry (Barrocus) from the territory of Cork went to Rome; and returning from his pilgrimage he called to see St. David, which was also customary with those good men from Ireland, when going to or returning from Rome. Barry having paid his respects to the Welsh saint, was anxious to return home to his own country and flock; but the winds were contrary, and he could not cross the Channel. Now the Bishop, St. David, had a horse for his own use, and Barry, full of faith, asked and obtained the use of this horse to carry him home to Cork; and he rode the animal straight over the sea to the west. On his way St. Barry met Brendan mounted on a whale, and going to see St. David also. They saluted each other, and with mutual good wishes went each his own way, and arrived safe--one in Cork and the other at St. David's. Barry then told his monks all that had happened; so they praised God, and made a small metal statue of horse and man, adorned with gold and silver, "which is preserved to this day," says Giraldus, "in the Church of St. Finbarr at Cork, and is held in great reverence on account of the signs and miracles which have been wrought through its instrumentality."[348]

The Bollandists reject this story as an interpolation in the Life of St. David; but Gerald Barry dearly loved a story of this kind, no matter how extravagant. We may add that St. Brendan of Clonfert, to whom the reference is made, was dead before Finbarr could have been more than twelve years of age.

St. Finbarr ruled the monastery and church of Cork for a period of seventeen years before he died. Hence the monastic school had time to grow up under his own holy and prudent management; and thus, as his Life says, Cork from a solitude became a city. We are not to understand a city in the modern sense, with stone houses, bridges, and regular streets. There was no city of this kind in those days in Ireland. The 'city' consisted of the cathedral church, probably of stone, and afterwards protected by its round tower, the monastery with its group of buildings, the scattered cells or bothies of such students as crowded to hear the lectures in the schools, or in the green meadows by the river's side, and doubtless also the dwellings of the tradesmen and other work-people connected with the monastery. The Danes afterwards seem to have established a permanent colony at Cork, as they did in Dublin, and raised buildings of a more enduring and imposing character, but the monastic city was there before them, and was the real nucleus of the present beautiful city by the pleasant waters of the River Lee.

St. Finbarr died, not in his own monastery of Lough Eirce, but at Cloyne, some fifteen miles distant on the other side of the bay. It seems he went there on a pilgrimage, doubtless preparing for the end, which he felt was close at hand, for we are told that he died at the Cross of Cloyne, which was in the church of that monastery. But his loving disciples would not let his remains repose there--holy ground though it was always believed to be. They were enclosed in a silver shrine, and carried to his own monastery, on the banks of the beautiful river, where he dwelt so long. According to another account the holy remains were at once carried to Cork, and buried in his own cathedral church, beneath a monumental cross, which marked the spot. Afterwards the tomb was opened, and the sacred relics enclosed in a silver shrine, which was preserved with great veneration near the high altar; and this is the more probable account. But in later days nothing in Ireland was safe from sacrilegious hands, and we are informed in the _Annals of Innisfallen_ that A.D. 1089, a fleet, with Dermot O'Brien, devastated Cork, and carried away the relics of Barre from the church of Cill-na-Clerich.

The character of this great saint is thus given in one of the Irish Lives, published by Mr. Caulfield in 1864: "His humility, his piety, his charity, his abstinence, his prayers by day and night, won for him many great privileges; for he was god-like, and pure of heart and mind like Abraham, mild and well-doing like Moses; a psalmist like David; wise like Solomon; firm in the faith like Peter; devoted to the truth like Paul the Apostle; full of the Holy Spirit like John the Baptist. He was a lion in (spiritual) strength, and an orchard full of apples of sweetness. When the time of his death arrived, after erecting churches and monasteries to God, and appointing over them bishops, priests, and other grades, and baptizing and blessing districts and people, Barre went to Cill-na-Cluana (Cloyne), and with him went Fiana, at the desire of Cormac and Baoithen, where they consecrated two churches. Then he said, 'It is time for me to quit this prison of my body, and go to the Heavenly King, who is now calling me to Himself.' And then Barre was confessed, and received the Holy Sacrament from the hand of Fiana, and his soul went to heaven at the Cross which is in the middle of the church of Cloyne; and there came bishops, priests, monks, and other disciples, when his death was announced, to honour him. And they took his body to Cork, the place of his resurrection, honouring him with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs; and the Angels bore his soul with great joy to heaven to the company of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and disciples of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost."

This seems to be an accurate and truthful narrative of what really happened, and shows that the enshrining took place afterwards in his own church of Cork. It appears to show, too, that the church already referred to as Cill-Cluana was really the famous church of Cloyne; but St. Colman, its founder, had been dead for some time, and St. Barry, who, according to other accounts, was educated there by Mac Cuirp, or Curporius, as he is called in Latin, always retained a great predilection for that holy ground. St. Barry's death is generally recorded as having taken place about the year A.D. 630; but the exact date cannot be ascertained.

Both during the life of St. Finbarr, and after his death, great crowds of holy and learned men continued to come to his monastery of Cork; and many of them, it seems, elected to make it the place of their resurrection. Ængus invokes "seventeen holy bishops, and seven hundred favoured servants of God, who rest in Cork with Barre and Nessan, whose names are written in heaven." Elsewhere he invokes three hundred and fifty holy bishops, three hundred and fifty priests, three hundred and fifty deacons, and as many lectors, and ostiarii, with other saints, who, with God's blessing, rest in Lough Eirce,[349] in the territory of Muskerry. Numerous, says the annexed quatrain, as the leaves on the trees are the saints who dwell around it. "Them all I invoke to my aid through our Lord Jesus Christ."

There is no reference made to any writings left by St. Finbarr, except a copy of the Gospels, written by his own hand, which was afterwards encased, like other precious relics of our great saints, in a shrine richly adorned with gems and gold. One of the most tragic events recorded in our annals took place in connection with this shrine. It is told with many graphic details in the _Wars of the Gaedhill with the Gaill_, p. 89.

Mahoun, the elder brother of Brian Boru, by combined skill and valour had raised himself to supremacy over all Munster about the year A.D. 970. He defeated the Danes in seven successive battles, and succeeded in driving Imar, their leader, for a time from Limerick. He also took hostages from all the chiefs of Desmond, and became undisputed sovereign of Munster. Then the heads of the rival Eoghanacht clans grew jealous; and Donovan, son of Cathal, chief of the Hy-Fidhgente in the South and West of Limerick, together with Molloy, the chief of Desmond, and Imar the Dane, entered into a conspiracy to destroy the gallant leader of the Dalcassians of Thomond. Pretending friendship, Donovan invited Mahoun to his house at Bruree, and Mahoun foolishly accepted the invitation; but he safeguarded himself, as he thought, by putting himself under the protection of the clergy, and the Gospel of Barry, which was brought from Cork for the purpose by Columb, son of Ciaragan, comarb of Barry. However, when Donovan got the king in his power, he made him a prisoner; and then sent him on to Molloy, who had undertaken to have him assassinated. Molloy was waiting with the Bishop of Cork, who had no suspicion of his purpose, at Sliabh Caein, near Fermoy. It is supposed that they were standing on the eastern ridge overlooking the gap through which the road now passes from Kilmallock to Cork, a little south of the church of Kilflin. When Mahoun's escort reached the spot agreed upon, the assassin drew his sword to slay the king at the place called Redchair, on the side of the pass opposite to where Molloy was waiting. Mahoun had on his person, for his own protection, the Gospel of Barry; but when he saw the fatal blow descending, he flung the holy shrine from him to a priest standing at some distance, that it might not be stained with his blood. At the same moment Molloy saw the gleam of the sword from the place where he was with the Bishop of Cork on the opposite side of the hill, and called for his horse, which stood ready saddled to carry him off. "What am I to do?" said the Bishop, not understanding Molloy's movements. "Cure yonder man," said Molloy, ironically, "if he is able to come to you." The horrified priest, who accompanied Mahoun, caught up the Gospel shrine, which Mahoun had flung towards him, and found it stained with the blood of the murdered man. Then in sorrow they buried the noble-souled Mahoun on the southern slope of the hill where he had fallen, and sent word to Brian Boru of the assassination of his brother. Then Brian Boru resolved on stern vengeance, and soon accomplished his purpose. The murderous conspirators were banned by the Church, and deserted by their allies. Imar and his son were slain by Brian; Donovan fell in battle; and Molloy, the actual assassin, was tracked for two years, and at length taken prisoner and slain close to that very pass where he had planned and witnessed the murder of the chivalrous Mahoun. He was buried like a dog on the northern side of that same hill where Mahoun was buried; but "the sun," says the Annalist, "never shines on his grave," and the infamy of his dark deed will hover round his resting-place for ever. There is nothing known at present of this Gospel of St. Barry, nor for some hundred years has anything been heard of it.

Nessan, a disciple of St. Barry, succeeded him in the See of Cork, and in the government of the monastery and monastic school. He, too, was remarkable for his learning and holiness, but of his personal history nothing is known. His festival day is the seventeenth of March--the feast day of our national apostle, and his death is supposed to have taken place about A.D. 651.

It is manifest that Cork continued to be a flourishing monastic school, at least down to the time of St. Ængus (A.D. 800), who speaks of it as if it were still a flourishing institution, filled with monks and scholars. In spite of the repeated devastations of the Danes, who plundered it four times between A.D. 822 and 840, we find the death of Domhnall, a scribe of Cork recorded in A.D. 874, and of Soirbreathach, son of Connadh, "scribe, wise man, bishop, and abbot of Cork," in A.D. 891. It is evident, therefore, that even during the stormy period of the ninth century the succession of prelates was maintained in Cork, and the monastic school still continued to flourish. The proper business of the scribe was, as we have seen, to transcribe books in the scriptorium of the monastery for the use of the monks and students. The term _egnaidh_, or wise man, shows that this prelate was especially skilled as a moral teacher and adviser.

During the subsequent centuries, down to the Anglo-Norman invasion, a regular succession of bishop-abbots was preserved, and recorded in the church of Cork. But beyond the list of their names we know nothing of interest concerning them. We do not find that any amongst these later comarbs of Barry were specially distinguished either as scholars or as writers; and hence it is unnecessary to make any special reference to them here.

In the twelfth century the ancient monastery, which had fallen into decay, was refounded about the year A.D. 1134 by Cormac Mac Carthy, the celebrated King of Munster, from whom Cormac's Chapel at Cashel takes its name. Imhar O'Hagan, who died at Armagh in that very year, a most holy and learned man, had some years previously introduced a much needed reform in the monastery of Armagh by placing the monks and clergy under the rule of St. Augustine. This reform was very generally adopted throughout Ireland by such of the ancient monasteries as had survived the ravages of the Danes. It was thus introduced at Cork by King Cormac, who also in refounding the monastery required that it should always afford hospitality and refuge to strangers from Connaught, because its original founder, St. Barry, came himself from that province. In A.D. 1172, according to the Four Masters, died Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin, of the family (or community) of Errew of Lough Conn, in Connaught. He was, according to Ware, Bishop and Abbot of Cork, from A.D. 1152, when he was present at the Synod of Kells, to A.D. 1172. It was from this prelate's name Giolla or Gille, that Gill Abbey came to be so called. It was previously known as the Abbey of the Cave, or the Abbey of St. Finbarr's Cave, which was the saint's place of retirement on the south side of the river, near to which St. Finbarr's Abbey was built. This prelate was regarded as a man of great piety, and more than any of his predecessors sought to renew the ancient spirit as well as the ancient walls of his monastery. The fact that he came all the way from Lough Conn, near Ballina, in the County Mayo, and though a stranger, was chosen to rule over this great diocese and monastery, shows that he was a man of great fame for holiness and learning. It is most likely that this Giolla Aedha O'Muidhin was that prelate of whom St. Bernard speaks in his Life of St. Malachy. Cork was, he says, then without a bishop, and there was much discord amongst the supporters of the rival candidates. St. Malachy begged them all to leave the choice to him; and they agreed to do so. Then St. Malachy chose for bishop not anyone of the nobly born of the land, but a poor man and a stranger, who happened to be on his sick bed in the city, and was a man remarkable for sanctity and learning. Malachy bade him arise in the Lord's name, and said that obedience would make him strong again. He did so, and ruled the see with much vigour until his death in A.D. 1172. The Four Masters described him as "Gilla Aedh O'Muidhin (of the family of Errew of Lough Conn) Bishop of Cork. He was a man full of the grace of God, the tower of the virginity and wisdom of his time."

II.--SCHOOL OF CORK--ST. COLMAN MAC UA CLUASAIGH.

It was during the abbotship of St. Nessan in Cork, or shortly afterwards, that St. Colman Mac Ui Clusaigh, as he is called in the _Liber Hymnorum_, flourished in the school of that monastery. He is the only scholar of that ancient school, whose writings have in any shape come down to us. What we have written by St. Colman is not indeed much, but it is highly interesting, and was published for the first time by Dr. Todd in the second volume of the _Liber Hymnorum_, page 121.

Of his personal history we know nothing. His name implies that he was the grandson, or great grandson, of Cluasach; but of his history nothing else can be ascertained. It is clear, however, both from the Scholiast's preface, and from intrinsic evidence that this St. Colman was a Ferlegind, or Professor, in the School of Cork in the year A.D. 664. At that period, as is well known, a terrible pestilence devastated Ireland; it likewise extended to England, and probably to many parts of the Continent also. It carried off nearly half the population of Ireland--kings, saints, and people--without distinction. A panic spread through all the land, and all classes, who could do so, sought to fly from the plague: but their flight was vain for go where they would the plague overtook them, and claimed its victims. An idea, however, had gone abroad that the pestilence could not extend nine waves beyond the shore of Erin, and hence we find that there was a rush to such of the islands on the coast as were supposed to be outside the infected area.

Colman and his scholars took the very prudent resolution of leaving their monastery by the marshes of Cork, and making their way to one of the islands on the coast, the name of which unfortunately is not given. But like a good and holy man, he put more faith in God's protection and blessing than in mere sanitary precautions. So he invited the school to help him in composing this hymn as a lorica or coat of mail against the pestilence, and all other dangers temporal and spiritual. It seems, too, that it was recited during the voyage, and no doubt filled the fugitives with hope and confidence in God's fatherly love.

The Scholiast in his preface tells us that Colman composed the hymn to protect himself against the yellow plague (_buidhechair_) that was prevalent in the reign of the sons of Aedh Slaine (A.D. 656-664[350]), and of which they themselves died in A.D. 664. The cause of the plague was, he alleges, the over-population of the country at the time, for so great was the number of the people, that the land could afford but thrice nine ridges to each man in Erin--nine of bog, nine of arable, and nine of wood--"and, therefore, the noblemen of Erin fasted along with the sons of Aedh Slaine, and with Fechin of Fore, and with Aileran (the Wise), and with Manchan of Liath, and with very many besides, for the reduction of the population, because of the scarcity of food in consequence of the great population." In fact, there seemed to be no alternative but famine or pestilence; and these holy men appear to have preferred the latter alternative; which was granted to their prayers, and by which they themselves also were sent to heaven.

Some say, adds the Scholiast, that St. Colman composed the whole of it; but others say he composed only the first two stanzas, and that his scholars composed the rest--that is, each man of them made a half stanza. As the original poem consisted of forty-six lines, this would give the number of scholars belonging to the school at something more than eighty; or, if the stanza be taken to mean a distich of two rhyming lines, which seems more probable, they would number about forty-four.

"It was composed," adds the Scholiast, "in Cork in the time of Blathmac and Diarmaid, on the occasion of this great plague, which left only one out of every three persons alive in Erin. And the place where they happened to compose it was in the course of their voyage to a certain island in the sea of Erin, flying from this pestilence; because the plague did not extend further than nine waves from the land, as the learned relate."

In its present form the hymn consists of fifty-two lines, with an added prayer; but it is quite evident that it originally consisted of forty-six stanzas, and the remaining six, asking the blessing and protection of the patron saints of Erin--Patrick, Brigid, Columcille, and Adamnan, were subsequently added. The language is the very oldest form of the Gaedhlic, which has come down to us, and, as Dr. Todd remarks, "it fully confirms the early date assigned to it by the Scholiast." The metre is in rhyming distichs with fourteen syllables in each line--when we say rhyming, we mean that there is a rhyme, or at least an assonance, between the final syllables of each two lines. Here and there Latin phrases, taken from the Scripture, are introduced in the Gaedhlic lines, and made to rhyme, as the Gaedhlic lines themselves do. The author was evidently familiar as well with the Latin as with his native Gaedhlic, both of which he manipulates with considerable dexterity. The subject matter mainly consists of an invocation addressed in appropriate language to God, and to the Son of Mary, as well as to the Saints of the Old and New Testament, to protect the writer and his school from the pestilence, and from all assaults of their foes, both spiritual and temporal. The following stanza may be taken as a specimen:--

Maire, Joseph don ringnat et spiritus Stephani, As cach ing don forslaice taithmet anma Ignati.

"Mary, Joseph, guard us with the spirit of Stephen; May it deliver us from every difficulty to invoke the name of Ingatius."

This poem is an exceedingly interesting monument of the time in which it was written; and moreover, shows what a deep spirit of piety and filial confidence in God and His saints inspired the mind of the writer. We have finer poetry in our own days; but we have nothing that breathes a deeper and more fervent spirit of earnest devotion.

III.--THE SCHOOL OF ROSS.

The monastic School of Ross, more commonly called Ross Ailithir, was one of the most celebrated in the South of Ireland. Its founder was St. Fachtna, the patron of the diocese of Ross, who is commonly identified with St. Fachtna, the founder and patron of the diocese of Kilmore. This is, indeed, highly probable, seeing that both dioceses celebrate the feasts of their respective patrons on the same day, the 14th of August, and besides, both saints belonged to the same princely race of the Corca Laighde.

The territory of Corca Laighde, which takes its name from the ruling tribe, was conterminous with the diocese of Ross, of which, as we said, St. Fachtna, was founder and first bishop. It extended in ancient times along the south-western coast of Cork from Courtmacsherry Bay to Dursey Head, and included besides East and West Carberry, the modern baronies of Beare and Bantry towards the western margin, as well as the baronies of Ibane and Barryroe on its eastern borders. Afterwards, however, this territory was greatly contracted by hostile incursions, especially by the inroads of the O'Sullivans on the west, of the O'Mahonys on the east, and thus the territory of Corca Laighde was reduced so as to include only West and a small portion of East Carberry. The race called the Corca Laighde derived their name from Lugaidh Laighe of the line of Ith, uncle of Milesius, who flourished in the second century of the Christian era. The mother of the celebrated St. Ciaran of Saigher belonged to this family. Her name was Liaghain, latinized Liadania, and she was married to an Ossorian prince called Luighneadh, of which marriage St. Ciaran was born at the residence of his mother's family, called Fintraigh, in Cape Clear Island, but the date is very uncertain. St. Fachtna was born also in the same territory at a place called Tulachteann,[351] in sight of the southern sea, but as he died young--about forty-six years of age--late in the sixth century, he cannot have been born for many years after St. Ciaran. He is sometimes called Mac Mongach, either from the name of his father, or because he was born with much hair on his head--_mongach_, _i.e._, hairy.

Like Brendan and Cummian of Clonfert, he was nurtured under the care of St. Ita, the Brigid of Munster, and received from that wise and gentle virgin those lessons of piety that afterwards produced such abundant fruit. The whole of his family, however, must have been trained in virtue at home, for we are told that no less than seven of his brothers were enrolled in the catalogue of the Irish saints. After leaving Ita's care he went to the famous seminary at Lough Eirce, near Cork, where so many of the holy men of the sixth century received their early training.[352] The name of Fachtna (_i.e._ _facundus_, the eloquent), is expressly mentioned in the _Life of St. Garvan_ (26th March) amongst those who crowded that domicile of all virtue and of all wisdom.

Leaving St. Barry's academy, Fachtna founded for himself the monastery of Molana, in the little island of Dririnis, near Youghal, at the mouth of the Blackwater. Shortly afterwards, however, he returned to his native territory, and founded on a promontory between two pleasant bays of the southern sea the celebrated establishment now called Ross Carberry, but anciently known as Ross-ailithir, from the number of pilgrim students who crowded its halls, not only from all parts of Ireland but from all parts of Europe. It was admirably situated as a retreat for the holy and the wise, on a gentle eminence rising from the sea, in the midst of green fields, looking down on the glancing waters of the rushing tides, and smiling under the light of ever-genial skies. Here Fachtna "the good and wise," though still young in years, founded what is called in the _Life of St. Mochoemoc_, "_magnum studium scholarium_," a great college not only for the study of Sacred Scripture, but also for the cultivation of all the liberal arts.

Amongst other distinguished teachers who helped to make the School of Ross famous was St. Brendan, the Navigator, who later on founded the sees both of Ardfert and Clonfert. Usher tells us, quoting from an old document, that about the year A.D. 540, Brendan was engaged for some time in teaching the liberal arts at Ross-ailithir during the lifetime too of its holy founder. Fachtna and Brendan were intimate friends, for both were nurtured by the holy virgin Ita of Killeedy, and no doubt loved each other with the deep and abiding affection of foster brothers. It is only natural, therefore, that Brendan should go to visit St. Fachtna at Ross, and aid him with the influence of his name and character in starting and organising the new school.

It was at this period that an unforeseen misfortune happened to Fachtna, which to one engaged, as he was, would become a double misfortune. By some accident he became entirely blind, so that he could neither read nor see anything. In this affliction the saint had recourse to God, and was directed by an angel to apply to Nessa, the sister of St. Ita, and then about to become the mother of that child of promise, St. Mochoemoc, through whom he would obtain his eyesight. Fachtna did so, and miraculously recovered his eyesight.

It seems St. Fachtna must have acquired great fame as a preacher, and no doubt too as a teacher of eloquence, for the surname of "Facundus," which is sometimes used instead of his own name, was given to him. He was, it appears, clothed with the episcopal dignity, and thus became founder of the diocese of Ross, which, not however without mutations, has continued down to our own times, and still ranks amongst the independent Sees of Ireland. The saint died at the early age of forty-six, and was buried in his own Cathedral Church of Ross. The holy work, however, in which he was engaged, was continued by his successors, and for many centuries Ross continued to be a great school whose halls were crowded by students from every land. St. Cuimin of Connor, describes Fachtna as the "generous and steadfast, who loved to address assembled crowds, and never spoke aught that was base and displeasing to God," in allusion to his sanctity and eloquence.

His immediate successor was Conall, whose succession to Fachtna in the monastery and See of Ross was foretold by St. Ciaran of Saigher.[353] Mention is also made of St. Finchad of Ross-ailithir, who seems to have been a fellow pupil[354] of the founder at the great School of Finnbarr at Cork. These two saints were probably tribesmen of St. Fachtna, for we are told that he was succeeded in his see by twenty-seven bishops of his own tribe, whose jurisdiction was conterminous with the chief of the clan over the territory of Corca Laighde.

"Seven and twenty bishops nobly Occupied Ross of the fertile fields, From Fachtna the eloquent, the renowned, To the well-ordered Episcopate of Dongalach."

The names are unfortunately not given in our annals in this as well as in many other instances, where a succession of bishops with well-defined jurisdiction was undoubtedly preserved. O'Flaherty puts the same statement in hexameters--

"Dongalus a Fachtna ter nonus episcopus extat Lugadia de gente, dedit cui Rossia mitram."

Which another poet translates in this fashion:--

"Hail happy Ross, who could produce thrice nine All mitred sages of Lugadia's line, From Fachtna crowned with everlasting praise Down to the date of Dongal's pious days."

During the ninth century we find frequent mention of the "abbots" of Ross-ailithir in the _Four Masters_, and we are told that it was ravaged by the Danes in A.D. 840, along with the greater part of Munster. In the tenth and eleventh centuries we find reference is made, not to the "bishops" or "abbots," but to the "airchinnech" of Ross-ailithir; and it is quite possible that during this disturbed period laymen took possession of the abbacy with this title, having ecclesiastics under them to perform the spiritual functions. Once only we find reference to a "bishop," in A.D. 1085, when the death of Neachtain Mac Neachtain, the distinguished Bishop of Ross-ailithir is recorded.

But whether it was bishop, abbot, or airchinnech, who held the spiritual sway of the monastery, and its adjacent territory, the school continued to flourish even during those centuries most unpropitious to the cultivation of learning. In A.D. 866, or according to the _Chronicon Scotorum_, in A.D. 868, we are told of the death of Feargus, scribe and anchorite of Ross-ailithir, showing that the work of copying manuscripts was still continued in its schools. But we have still more striking evidence during the tenth century of the literary work done at Ross-ailithir, for a manual of Ancient Geography, written by one of these lectors in the Irish language, is happily still preserved in the _Book of Leinster_.

The author of this most interesting treatise, as we know from the same authority, was Mac Cosse, who was _Ferlegind_, that is a reader or lecturer of Ross-ailithir. A passage in the _Annals of Innisfallen_ enables us to identify him, and his history furnishes a striking example of the vicissitudes of those disturbed times:--

"The son of Imar left Waterford and [there followed] the destruction of Ross of the Pilgrims by the foreigners, and the taking prisoner of the Ferlegind, _i.e._ Mac Cossa-de-brain, and his ransoming by Brian at Scattery Island."[355]

This entry enables us to fix the probable date of this geographical poem of Mac Cosse, which seems to have been the manual of Classical Geography made use of in Ross-ailithir, and hence so full of interest for the student of the history of our ancient schools. The Imar, referred to in the above entry, was king of the Danes of Limerick, but in A.D. 968 the Danes of Limerick were completely defeated by Mahoun and his younger brother Brian Boru. Imar made his escape to Wales, but after a year or two returned again, first, it would seem, to Waterford; issuing thence he harried all the coasts and islands of the South, and finally returned to Limerick with a large fleet and army. But he deemed Scattery Island a more secure stronghold, and having fortified it he made that island his head-quarters, and no doubt kept his prisoners there also. Scattery itself was captured from the Danes by Brian, a little later on in A.D. 976, and there Imar was slain; so that it was the interval between A.D. 970-976 that Mac Cosse was kept a prisoner at Scattery Island, and ransomed by the generosity of Brian, who always loved learning and learned men.

This poem consists of one hundred and thirty-six lines, giving a general account of the geography of the ancient world, and was, no doubt, first got by rote by the students, and then more fully explained by the lecturer to his pupils. This tenth century is generally regarded as the darkest of the dark ages; yet, we have no doubt, whoever reads over this poem will be surprised at the extent and variety of the geographical knowledge communicated to the pupils of Ross-ailithir in that darkened age, when the Danish ships, too, were roaming round the coasts of Ireland. It is not merely that the position of the various countries is stated with much accuracy, but we have, as we should now say, an account of their _fauna_ and _flora_--their natural productions, as well as their physical features. The writer, too, seems to be acquainted not merely with the principal Latin authors, but also with the writings of at least some of the Grecian authorities.

In the opening stanza he describes the five zones: "two frigid of bright aspect,"--alluding, no doubt, to their snowy wastes and wintry skies, lit up by the aurora borealis--and then two temperate around the fiery zone, which stretches about the middle of the world. There are three continents, Europe, Africa, and Asia; the latter founded by the Asian Queen, and much the larger, because she unduly trespassed on the territories of her neighbours. Adam's paradise is in the far East, beyond the Indus, surrounded by a wall of fire. India "great and proud," is bounded on the west by the Indus, on the north by the hills of Hindoo Coosh. That country is famous "for its magnets, and its diamonds, its pearls, its gold dust, and its carbuncles." There are to be found the fierce one-horned beast, and the mighty elephant--it is a land where "soft and balmy breezes blow," and two harvests ripen within the year. In like manner he describes the other countries of Asia; the _mare rubrum_ "swift and strong," and Egypt, by the banks of the Nile, the most fertile of all lands. He even tells us of the burning fires of the Alaunian land, alluding to the petroleum springs around the Caspian. He names all the provinces of Asia Minor--"little Asia," he calls it--and says most accurately, that it was bounded on the west by the Propontus and the Ægean sea. In like manner he describes Africa, and derives its name from Apher, a son of Abraham and Keturah, showing that he was familiar with the Greek of the Antiquities of Josephus.[356] He then goes through the various countries of Europe, giving their names, and chief cities. The principal rivers, too, are named, and their courses fixed, as when he says that--

"Three streams issue from the Alps westward, and across Europe they appear The Rhine in the north-west, the Loire, and the River Rhone."

Finally, he comes to Ireland, which, in loving language, he proclaims to be

"A pleasant and joyous land, wealth-abounding; the land of the sons of Milesius; a land of branching stems; the most fertile land that is under the sun."

So ends this most interesting manual of geography written by an Irish scholar, in the Irish tongue, and taught to the students of Ross-ailithir, whilst the Danish pirates were roaming round our seas, and ruling with strong hand in Dublin, Waterford, and Limerick.

Of the subsequent fortune of Ross-ailithir we know little. In A.D. 1127 the fleet of Toirdhealbach O'Conor sailed to Ross-ailithir, and despoiled Desmond, as the _Chronicon Scotorum_ informs us--for it was not the Dane alone that our schools and churches had to fear--often, far too often, the spoiler was some rival chieftain, whose churches and monasteries were sure to be spoiled very soon in their turn. Then came the greatest of all the devastators--the Anglo-Normans, who laid waste Corca Laighde under FitzStephen, a few years after Bishop O'Cearbhail went to his rest in A.D. 1168. Since that period the school has disappeared, but the See of Ross still holds its ground, after having gone through some strange vicissitudes of union with and separation from the neighbouring dioceses of Cloyne and Cork.

IV.--THE SCHOOL OF INNISFALLEN--ST. FINAN.

The island of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney has been long celebrated both in song and story for its wonderful scenic beauty. It is commonly regarded as the Queen of Irish Islands, and one enthusiastic admirer has declared that it is the most beautiful spot in Europe. The monks of old were great lovers of nature, and hence, as might be expected, we find that at a very early period a monastery was founded on the island of Innisfallen. It offered many advantages to saintly men, who wished to give themselves up entirely to a life of holiness and learning. It was not merely its own sweet beauty and the glory of the lake and mountains round about, that made it a desirable place of seclusion; it had more prosaic advantages to commend it. It was near enough for convenience to the promontory of Ross, yet far enough for security; for it was surrounded by deep water and was within sight of that noble keep whose friendly owners were always the protectors and benefactors of the monks of Innisfallen. It is true, indeed, the monks had been there long before the present picturesque ruin was built, but then there was always some dun or fort on Ross Island, as it is now called, for it is a spot not only of singular beauty but also admirably situated for defensive purposes.

All our authorities agree that the monastery of Innisfallen was founded by St. Finan; but to which St. Finan it owes its origin is another question. There were many saints who bore that name, of whom two were particularly distinguished, St. Finan the Leper, and St. Finan Cam, or the Crooked. It is commonly said that St. Finan the Leper was the founder of Innisfallen. After a careful examination of his Acts as given by the Bollandists on his feast day, which is believed to be the 16th of March, we can find no evidence to support this statement, which in itself also is sufficiently improbable. It is true, indeed, that St. Finan the Leper came of the old Desmond race, for his father, Conal was fourth in descent from Ollioll Olum, the common ancestor of all the great Munster families. But Finan belonged to that branch of the race of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, which was settled in the portion of Bregia, called from him Keenaght, extending from Dromiskin to Dublin; and it is highly probable that Finan himself was a native, not of Ely O'Carroll, as Colgan says, but of Sord, now called Swords, where his family seems to have resided. He was called the Leper, because on one occasion when a poor woman brought to the saint her son, who was blind, deaf, and leprous from his birth, the saint prayed to God to cure the child and offered himself to bear its leprosy. His prayer was heard--the child was made whole, but the saint was stricken with the dread disease, which he endured for thirty years. St. Finan the Leper is said to have been a disciple of St. Columba, and to have been placed by that saint over his own foundation at Swords; but at what time it is difficult to determine. The saint is also said to have founded Ardfinnan on the Suir in Tipperary, which took its name from him. He is also mentioned in connection with Clonmore in the co. Carlow, founded by St. Maedhog,[357] and according to the writer of his Life, he was buried there. His connection, however, with Innisfallen in Lough Lein is very doubtful, and unsupported by any satisfactory evidence that we have seen. It is much more likely that the Inisfaithlen referred to by his biographers was the island off the Coast of Dublin, now called by its Danish name of Ireland's Eye, but which in ancient times was known as Inisfaithlen--a fact of which Colgan does not seem to have been aware. The same name was also given to the island of Beg Erin, or Begery, in the Bay of Wexford.

On the other hand, St. Finan Cam was a Kerry man by race and birth, and moreover spent most of his life in the West of Kerry, which has many places connected with his name and memory. He was born in that wild promontory of Corkaguiny (Corca-Duibhne) which is swept bare by the wild Atlantic blasts. His father Mac Airde[358] is mentioned in the Life of St. Brendan--for it seems to be the same person--as a man of considerable wealth, who made a present of thirty cows with their calves to that saint shortly after he was born. Indeed it seems highly probable from the narrative that the family of St. Brendan and St. Finan were connected by ties of consanguinity. We are told too in the Life of Finan in the _Salamanca MS._ that St. Brendan was the first tutor of the boy, and that the latter spent seven years in Brendan's corner--contra fornacem--whilst he was learning to read and study monastic discipline under the guidance of that great master. This was probably in the early part of the sixth century, whilst Brendan was still living in his native Kerry, before he went on his Atlantic voyages, or founded any of his monasteries in the province of Connaught.

It was by the direction of the same saint that young Finan, who was already far advanced in holiness, left his father's territory, and went to Slieve Bloom, the utmost boundary of his native Munster towards the north, and there, about A.D. 560, founded the monastery of Kinnity, near Birr, at the roots of Slieve Bloom, with which his name has been ever since associated. It is a singular fact that so late as the year A.D. 907, we find that Colman, Abbot of Kinnity, _and King of Corca-Duibhne_, was slain in the fatal field of Ballaghmoon, where Cormac Mac Cullinan, and so many of his Munster nobles lost their lives.

Finan, however, returned after a brief sojourn at Kinnity to his native territory; and thenceforward we find that almost all the events recorded in his life took place in Kerry.

There is one incident mentioned, which goes far to show that this St. Finan Cam was the founder of the monastery on Innisfallen. For we are told that a boat was built on 'St. Finan's Island,'[359] and that a message was sent to Fedelmith, the King of Lough Lein, to carry away the boat. The king came with thirty men to bring the boat to the water, but they could not carry it. Then the angels of God, with Finan, carried the boat down to the Lake Lugdech. It is true this seems to refer to Finan's Island on Lough Currane, but the incident certainly shows that Finan had friendly relations with the King of Lough Lein, who in return would very naturally grant the holy man one of the islands on his own lake for a religious house.

On another occasion we find that when Finan's horse died, another steed came out of Lough Lein, and for three years drew the saint's waggon; and then at the bidding of Finan once more returned to his stable beneath the waves of Lough Lein. So the saint then probably had his own 'home' on the shore, or in an island of the lake. Once again, on a particular occasion, when Finan was living on a certain island, and his horses were on the mainland grazing, having, it seems, their feet tied, they swam to the saint's house, without loosening the bonds, and at his bidding swam back again to the shore. We find him also protecting his tribesmen of Corkaguiny against the attacks of Nechtan, King of the Hy-Fidhgente, who dwelt beyond Slieve Lougher, in the west of the County Limerick. This prince, refusing to listen to the prayers of Finan, was conquered in battle, and forced to fly from his kingdom. We are then told that he betook himself to Diarmaid, King of the Hy-Niall, which fixes the date of these events at some time between A.D. 544 and 565, the limits of the duration of King Diarmaid's reign. He returned, however, more than once to his monastery of Kinnity, where many monks lived under his rule and guidance. We find him also, towards the close of the sixth century, at an assembly of the Munster chiefs, probably at Cashel, in the time of Failbhe Flann. Failbhe succeeded his brother as King of Munster in A.D. 619; but he was, no doubt, for many years previously a prince of much influence and power. On this occasion Finan wrought some wondrous miracles before the king, and Failbhe did penance, and granted all the requests of Finan--one being to allow him 'to take a census of the population,'--it means rather to remit a tax that pressed on the people. We also find the saint nigh to Lough Lugdech, which seems to be the lake now called 'Lough Currane,' in the south-eastern extremity of Iveragh, near the Bay of Ballinskelligs. It seems to have been a favourite haunt of the saint; and the remains of his oratory are still to be seen on an island in the lake. On this occasion Finan wanted to get his horse shod; but the smith had broken his tongs, and could not hold the glowing iron. "Take it in your hands," said the saint. The smith did so, and held it without inconvenience, whilst he fashioned the shoe with his hammer! This is a fair specimen of some of the extravagant miracles attributed to Finan by the writer of his Life.

"Lough Lugdech, now," says O'Donovan, "called Lough Luigeach (Lee), or Currane Lough," is of oval form, about three miles long by two broad. It abounds with salmon and white trout, which, no doubt, often furnished a luxurious meal to the abstemious saint. On the south it is surrounded by a range of bold mountains, partly covered with woods in Smith's time,[360] but now quite bare of timber. The remains of Finan's Church and cell were to be seen on the largest of three small islands in the lake,[361] when Smith wrote about 140 years ago; and he says that they keep his (Finan's) festival on the 16th of March. This is the day generally assigned to Finan the Leper in our Martyrologies--the 7th of April being the festival of Finan Cam, according to the Martyrology of Tallaght--the change may have taken place from the confusion of names, for no one says that the Leper saint ever penetrated as far to the south-west as Lough Currane. The obliquity which gave Finan the surname of 'Cam,' was in his eyes, not in his body, adds the same eminent authority.

Derrynane also takes its name from our saint; it means the oak-grove of Finan--_Daire Fionain_--the letter 'f' being aspirated, and not sounded in the compound. The old abbey, however, situated on the shore, is of mediæval origin, as its ruins tell. St. Finan's Bay, north of Bolus Head, also speaks of the saint. It is quite open and exposed to all the fury of the Atlantic billows.

St. Finan was in all probability the first founder of the oratory on the Greater Skelligs, which is directly opposite the bay to the south-west. When the Danes swarmed round our coasts, the monastery was removed from the island to the mainland, and its dilapidated walls may still be seen in the only sheltered corner at the head of St. Finan's Bay. Several holy wells also bear the saint's name, and his memory is still vivid in various parts of Kerry. In our opinion this St. Finan Cam, not St. Finan the Leper, was the founder of the monastery of Innisfallen.

V.--THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN.

There are only two entries referring to Innisfallen in the _Four Masters_; one A.D. 1144, merely records the death of Flanagan of Innisfallen, a distinguished _anmchara_, or soul's friend--that is counsellor and confessor--or as we now say, spiritual director. The other entry, however, is an earlier and far more important one. It records the death in A.D. 1009 (_recte_ 1010) of Maelsuthain O'Cearbhail (Carroll) of the community or family of Innisfallen, "chief doctor of the western world in his time, and lord of the Eoghanacht of Lough Lein," who died 'after a good life.' This Maelsuthain was a very celebrated man, and in all probability the original compiler from older authorities of the _Annals of Innisfallen_. Hence he deserves special notice at our hands. The Eoghanacht of Lough Lein, of whom he was chief, was that branch of the great Eugenian race of Desmond, whose territory surrounded the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and included the greater part of the Barony of Magunihy. O'Donoghue of Lough Lein, whose principal stronghold was on Ross Island, was the chief of this wide territory. He derived his descent from Cas, son of Corc, King of Munster, whose elder brother, Nadfraich, was the ancestor of the great MacCarthy family. In A.D. 1015 was slain Domhnall, who commanded the forces of Desmond at Clontarf, and he was father of Donchadh, from whom the family name has been derived. The O'Carrolls of Lough Lein were sub-chieftains under the O'Donoghues, and derived their descent from a younger brother of that Nadfraich above referred to as ancestor of the MacCarthy Mor.

Maelsuthain O'Carroll was in the beginning of the eleventh century head of this sub-tribe, and hence is called lord of Lough Lein. The School of Innisfallen was one of those which appear to have suffered least from the ravages of the Danes. This, no doubt, was mainly due to its remote insular situation amongst the mountains of Kerry. It is highly probable that Brian Boru, the hero of Clontarf, was educated at Innisfallen; at least we find that Maelsuthain, the head of the island school, was his intimate friend and counsellor during many years of his victorious career. When Brian marched in triumph to Armagh, he laid an offering of twenty ounces of gold on the High Altar of the cathedral; and our Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of Lough Lein, who accompanied him, made the following entry in the name of the king, in the _Book of Armagh_:--"St. Patrick, when going to heaven, ordained that all the fruit of his labour, as well of baptisms, as of causes and other alms, should be carried to the apostolic city, which in Irish is called Ardd-Macha. So I have found it in the libraries of the Scots. This I have written, that is, _Calvus Perennis_, 'the ever bald,' (which is equivalent to the Irish Mael-suthain), in the sight of Brian, Emperor of the Scots, and what I have written he determined for all the kings of Maceria,"[362] that being the Latin equivalent of Cashel.

Maelsuthain is sometimes called the Anmchara[363] of Brian; but as it seems that he was a layman, the word must mean rather counsellor than ghostly adviser. That Maelsuthain was a renowned professor of the Innisfallen school is apparent not only from the eulogy of the Four Masters and the Ulster Annals, which call him 'chief sage of Ireland,' but also from the curious tale about Maelsuthain that has been translated by O'Curry. It is in substance as follows. Maelsuthain was so renowned a professor that three students came all the way from Connor, in the County Antrim, to his school at Innisfallen, in which they spent three years. Then they resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but their professor told them that it was now high time to pay him something for their education. They had no money, however, which is always a scarce commodity with students, but offered to spend three years in service with their teacher as a recompense for their education. "No," said he, "go to Palestine, and all I ask is that when you die, as you will in the Holy Land, you shall come to me, and let me know whether I also shall die in the peace of the Lord." They agreed to this, and went to Palestine, where they died in grace; but they asked permission from St. Michael to return to their old professor, and tell him his fate before going to heaven themselves. St. Michael granted this request, and bade them tell Maelsuthain that he had only three years and a-half to live, and then he was to be condemned to hell for all eternity. So they came to Maelsuthain, in the shape of three white doves. He bade them welcome, and asked what was to be his future lot. They told him. "And why am I to be sent to hell?" said he. They told him the reasons also, as St. Michael had directed them: first, because he interpolated the canons; secondly, because of unchastity; and, thirdly, because he had given up the Altus. "I shall not go to hell all the same," replied the professor, "for God has promised that 'the impiety of the wicked shall not hurt him in whatsoever hour he shall turn himself away from it.' I will turn away from my sins; I will put no sense of my own in the canons; I will perform a hundred genuflections every day; I will recite the Altus seven times every night to make up for my past neglect; and I will keep a three days' fast every week." On the day of his death the three white doves returned, and told him that his penance was accepted by God, and that they saw his place in heaven, and would now accompany him into eternal glory. So he was anointed by the clergy around his bed; and his three pupils parted not with him until they all went to heaven together. "And," adds the tale, "it is this good man's writings (or manuscripts--_screptra_), that are in Innisfallen in the church there still."

This reference seems to designate some well-known writings connected with Innisfallen, of which Maelsuthain was the author or compiler, and which can hardly be any other than the well known _Annals of Innisfallen_. Eugene O'Curry tells us that it has been a constant tradition in the South of Ireland that the _Annals of Innisfallen_ were compiled by Maelsuthain, and he adds that he himself had no doubt the O'Carroll was either 'the original projector of the compilation,' or that he enlarged the previous meagre outlines kept in the monastery of Innisfallen into this more regular and extensive historical work.

The principal copy of these _Annals_ is at present preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. "It contains," says Dr. O'Conor, "fifty-seven leaves (of parchment), of which the first three are considerably damaged, and the fourth partly obliterated. Some leaves at the beginning are also missing." The missing leaves seem to have begun with a short account of the creation and the history of the early patriarchs extracted from the Book of Genesis. At the sixth begins the history of the Kingdom of the Greeks; then it treats of the general history of the great empires of the world down to the year A.D. 430 (at folio 9), where their real interest begins. Thenceforward there is a brief chronicle of Ireland in different hands, down to the year A.D. 1319. The first scribe has written down to the year A.D. 1130 (at folio 30). The writing of this portion is free and elegant; the initial letters are coloured and adorned; and everything seems to point to the fact that the original scribe of this manuscript wrote no further. But afterwards the work becomes more rude and careless; there is no attempt at ornamentation; in fact, the appearance of the manuscript is a faithful picture of the state of the country--daily going from bad to worse. It is fruitless now to speculate how this venerable monument of Irish learning came into the Bodleian Library of Oxford.

The work known as the _Dublin Annals of Innisfallen_ is a translation in Trinity College Library, which Theophilus O'Flanagan testifies[364] that he made into English "about nineteen years ago, from a copy perfected under the direction of Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, from the original in the Bodleian Library." Dr. O'Brien's scribe was, according to O'Flanagan, a priest of the name of Conroy, who was well versed in the Irish language.

There is another copy in the Royal Irish Academy in Irish and English, beginning with A.D. 250, and coming down to A.D. 1320. It is on paper, and contains 320 folios. During the later years it deals chiefly with the affairs of Munster. At A.D. 1010 we find the following entry:--"Maelsuthain, son of O'Carroll, King of the Eoghanacht of Locha Lein, and _the Primate of Ireland_, died in Aghadoe." In the Irish it is 'Priomfaidh Eirion,' which appears to mean, 'chief sage of Ireland.' More than half this volume deals with the period from A.D. 1170 to 1320, and it contains many interesting entries during that time. The chronology is, however, very defective.

Poetry, it seems, was cultivated in Innisfallen as well as history--for we are told that in A.D. 1197 Gilla Patrick O'Huihair went to his rest. He was archdeacon of the island--which shows that there was a considerable community there at the time--and superior of the convent. He also founded many religious houses, to which he gave books, vestments, and other necessaries. He was, moreover, the Annalist tells us, 'a celebrated poet;' and was held in the highest estimation for his chastity, piety, wisdom, and universal charity. We have also another entry, A.D. 1208, which gives us a beautiful picture of a reverend priest of 'Cloonuama,'[365] who died in this abbey, where he passed the evening of a life chequered by misfortune in penitence and prayer, and was buried in the cemetery of the Abbey of Innisfallen.

There is one significant entry a few years earlier--"anno 1180, this abbey of Inisfallen being ever esteemed a paradise and a secure sanctuary, the treasure and the most valuable effects of the whole country were deposited in the hands of its clergy; notwithstanding which we find the abbey was plundered in this year by Maolduin, son of Daniel O'Donoghue. Many of the clergy were slain--even in their cemetery--by the MacCarthys. But God soon punished this act of impiety and sacrilege, by bringing many of its authors to an untimely end."

During the eleventh century the O'Donoghoes of Lough Lein rose to great power and influence--one of them became king of Cashel, and several of them are described as royal heirs of Cashel. It was an O'Donoghue who restored the cathedral church of Aghadoe in the twelfth century--he was slain in A.D. 1166. In all probability this Maolduin, son of Daniel, was in feud with his own family, who were always the protectors of the monks of Innisfallen, and he called in the MacCarthys to help him in plundering this venerable shrine. It is satisfactory to know that vengeance soon overtook the despoilers of this paradise, as the chronicler aptly describes it.

Yes, Innisfallen is, in truth, an earthly paradise. The island contains about twelve acres; but this small area is dowered with every charm that can gratify the senses. The surface, fringed with evergreen bowers, is gently undulating, and covered with a carpet of green, so pure and so soft, that the eye loves to linger on its hues. There are miniature creeks, where the wavelets die in gentle ripples; there are giant elms and hoary ash trees, that have lived for centuries; the holly and the arbutus are not shrubs, but forest trees, and their bright green leaves, with blossoms of purest white, or berries of deepest red, gleam through the heavy-laden boughs. Then there are the manifold associations of religion, and history, and poetry, and romance, called up before the mental vision by the aspect of the ruined churches on this queen of islands. You have, besides, the mingled melodies of whispering leaves, and singing birds, and murmuring waters, filling the ear, and inviting the listener to contemplation and repose. Of old, the tinkling of bells was heard from these ruined cloisters, and the gray Franciscan habit was seen stealing along the shores of Muckross, and the cathedral chimes of Aghadoe were borne over the waters to the students' ears. Now they are all gone--no lectures within these silent roofless walls; no midnight vigils of the gray friars in Muckross; no bishop's throne in Aghadoe. Yet young Killarney rivals these ivy-grown haunts of ancient learning and holiness in all things save one--the unapproachable beauty of the sites chosen by the monks of old. Their successors live nigh to scenes of beauty; but they have so placed themselves that they can never see them. They seem to prefer naked walls and flat fields to the glorious vision of nature's unapproachable beauties, which she has poured out with lavish hand, by mountain, stream, and woodland all around this peerless Lake of Learning.[366]