CHAPTER XXI.

THE SCHOOLS OF THOMOND.

"Though Garryowen has gone to wreck, We'll win her olden glories back; The night long, starless, cold and black, We'll light with song and story."

I.--THE SCHOOL OF MUNGRET.

The first reference[367] we find made to Mungret is in the _Tripartite Life of St. Patrick_. When the saint had come into the territory of Hy-Fidhgente, which included that portion of the modern County Limerick west of the river Maigue, with a small portion of the barony of Coshma east of that river, Lomman, the king of the district, made a feast for Patrick on the summit of Mullagh Cae, to the south of Carn Feradaig. This hill still bears its ancient name, and the gifted poet[368] from whom we have already so often borrowed beautiful thoughts, describes its situation:--

"That pleasant hill ascends Westward of Ara girt by rivers twain, Maigue, lily-lighted, and the 'Morning Star' Once Samhair named, that eastward through the woods Winding, upon its rapids earliest meets The morn, and flings it far o'er mead and plain."[369]

Now Lomman, son of Mac Eire, and Mantan, a deacon of Patrick's household, had prepared a feast for the saint and his people on the summit of this green hill, when it chanced that a band of itinerant jugglers came upon the scene, and meeting Patrick first, asked him for some food. The laws of hospitality were always imperative in Celtic Ireland, and accordingly Patrick told them to go to Lomman and Mantan, and that they would supply their wants. No one had yet tasted of the banquet, not even Patrick himself; and hence, when the jugglers applied for food, they were rather rudely repulsed by Lomman and the deacon, who told them in effect that strollers like them were not the persons to bless the meat and partake of it first.

They meant no harm, but still Patrick's request was not complied with, and his honour was compromised, when hospitality was refused even to the jugglers. So Patrick said:--

"To the boy who cometh from the north (Limerick) To him the victory has been given."

And forthwith a youth named Nessan appeared coming up the hill-side with his mother, and she being the stronger was carrying a cooked ram on her shoulders for the king's feast. Then the saint asked the boy to give him the wether, that he might give it to the jugglers, and thus save his honour by complying with the laws of hospitality. The boy at once gladly gave the ram to Patrick; but his mother grumbled a little when she saw its destination.

Patrick, however, resolved to teach them all, that obedience and charity are the first of Christian virtues. Therefore, he said to Lomman, his host, that none of his race should ever be king, or crown-prince, or bishop; and to Deacon Mantan, he said that his cloister would not be lofty, and that it would be the dwelling of a rabble, and that sheep and swine would tread on his remains--but to Nessan he said: "Thou wilt be mighty of race":--

"Thou that didst the hungry feed, The poor of Christ that know not yet His name, And helping them that cried to me for help, Mine honour cherish, like a palm one day, Shall rise thy greatness."

Nessan's mother, too, was punished for her grumbling. She was not to be buried in her son's church of Mungret, but beyond the cloister wall to the west, where its sweet-toned bell could not be heard. Then Patrick ordained Nessan a deacon, and founded a church for him, that is, Mungret, near Limerick.

On one occasion Nessan went to visit St. Ailbe of Emly, that he might inquire from that saint if it were right for a monk to receive or to refuse the offerings of the faithful. When Nessan arrived it was the hour of None, and the community were chanting the office in the church. Nessan, however, declined to go into the guest-house until he should see Ailbe and put his question. Now Ailbe continued in prayer from the hour of None until Tierce on the following day; and no one went into him except the guest-master.

At length he gave his answer to the patient deacon--"Go," said he, "and tell Nessan this verse in the Scottish tongue:

"Danae Dee nis frithcoirthi, Selba forri [forru] niscorthi; Acht toberthar, ragabae, Sech ni muide, ni chele."

That is:--

Gifts of God are not to be refused, [But] possession is not to be retained of them [Literally: possession is not to be put upon them] If they are offered, you shall accept them, But you shall not boast [of], you shall not conceal [them].[370]

The festival of Nessan is given in the Calendar of Ængus as the 25th of July. "It is of him," says the _Martyrology of Donegal_, "Cuimin of Condeire gave his testimony in showing that he never told a lie out of his mouth." Thus he says:--

"Nessan, the holy deacon, loves Angelic pure devotion; Never came outside his teeth What was untrue or guileful."

And the same authority likens him to Laurentius the Deacon in his habits and life.[371] Colgan says that Nessan died in A.D. 551; but even granting that he was a mere boy when St. Patrick was in Munster it is difficult to suppose he could have lived so long.

The fame of Mungret School is, however, due much more to St. Munchin, or Manchin, surnamed the Wise, than to Deacon Nessan, although unfortunately little can be ascertained with certainty about his history. He was of the Dalcassian race, being son of Sedna, and grandson of Cas, who was seventh in descent from Cormac Cas, son of Ollioll Olum, the great father of the race. His uncle Blod was king of the Dalgais of Thomond, during the early years of St. Patrick's mission in Ireland. According to some writers, St. Manchan or Munchin, of Limerick, was identical with Manchan the Master, who is mentioned in the _Life of St. Patrick_. There were, however, several saints who bore that name; and it seems highly improbable that 'Master' Manchan of the _Tripartite_ was the founder of St. Munchin's. O'Curry says that this latter saint was _daltha_, or foster-son, and pupil of St. Mac Creiche of Ennistymon in Clare, who flourished towards the end of the fifth century; for he was the friend and contemporary of St. Ailbe of Emly. We assume, therefore, that Manchin, the founder of Cill-Munchin, now known as St. Munchin's, flourished in the first half of the sixth century. It is said that he succeeded Nessan as Abbot of Mungret, and that under him and his successors, this monastic school attained great fame during the sixth and seventh centuries.

The fame of Mungret, however, seems to be principally founded on local tradition, for we can find no satisfactory evidence to prove its celebrity in any of our ancient documents. It is said that there were no less than six churches in Mungret, and no less than 1,500 monks (not to speak of the boys at school) within its cloisters. Of these one-third were preachers, or as we should now say, went about giving missions; one-third were constantly engaged in celebrating the divine office; and the remaining third were employed in teaching in the schools, or labouring for the community.[372] It is strange that no trace of these ancient buildings now remains, with the exception of the walls of one not very ancient church, which is 41 feet long, by 23 feet in breadth. The door-way in the west gable has a flat lintel with sloping jambs--its most characteristic feature. The round arches of the remaining opes rather show that this church belongs to the ninth or tenth century, than to the time of St. Munchin.[373] It is probable that St. Munchin presided for many years at Mungret; and then in his old age retired from community life, and built himself a cell and oratory in the neighbourhood, which was afterwards known as Cill-Munchin, and became the nucleus of the present city of Limerick. Thus it was that he came to be recognised as the patron of the city and diocese of Limerick; and, as such, his church is said to have been the cathedral church of the city down to the building of St. Mary's by Donald O'Brien, who died in A.D. 1194.

It is very doubtful if there was any See in Limerick before the Danish colony became Christian, and got a bishop of their own. The only scrap of evidence in favour of a line of earlier prelates in St. Munchin's that we could find, is the statement in the prose _Life of St. Senan_, that "Deron, Bishop of Limerick," was present at the obsequies of St. Senan in Scattery Island. But, as Lanigan remarks, this Life is of the post-Norman period, and cannot be accepted as an unquestionable authority.

The subsequent history of Mungret may be briefly summed up. The death of Ailill, Abbot of Mungret, is noticed by the Four Masters in A.D. 760, which shows that there was a succession of abbots in that great school. But evil days were now in store for Mungret. Situated close to the great highway of the Shannon, it was one of the first places that felt the fury of the Danes, and suffered most from their constant presence in the great estuary of Luimnech. We are told that it was burned and plundered by these 'gentiles' in A.D. 834, like most of the great monasteries on the southern coasts and estuaries. Shortly afterwards the Danes took permanent possession of the estuary of the Shannon; and although defeated by the native tribes at Shanid and elsewhere, still, owing to their possession of the sea, and the constant arrival of fresh hordes, they were able to maintain themselves at Limerick, where they established strong forts on the King's Island, which they held against all comers down to the time of Brian Boru. They were, indeed, the real founders of the city of Limerick, and their choice of that site, so suitable at once for commerce and defence, shows how keenly alive their chiefs were to the advantages to be derived from a good natural position. Of course whilst the Danes held the lower Shannon and all its islands, Mungret could not flourish. At best they could only live there on sufferance, and were constantly exposed to pillage and murder.

Still Mungret was not obliterated. Cormac Mac Cullinan by his will, which he made before he set out for the fatal field of Ballaghmoon, bequeathed, amongst other charitable bequests to other churches, three ounces of gold, an embroidered vest, and his blessing to Mungret; so that it is not improbable the great king-bishop, so learned in the Scotic tongue, as the Four Masters tell us, had himself been a student of Mungret.[374] In A.D. 909, Maelcaisil, Abbot of Mungret, died; and although the school was burned in A.D. 934, we read of Abbot Muirgheas, whose death is noticed in A.D. 993, by the Four Masters. They also record the death of "Rebachan, son of Dunchadh, Archdeacon of Mungret," or as they write it Mungarid, in the next year; so that it was still a place of importance, having an abbot, an archdeacon, and an airchinneach also, for Constans, who held that office, died in A.D. 1033. It was burned in A.D. 1080; and was no sooner rebuilt than it was once more destroyed by a native prince, Domhnall Mac Lochlann, 'King of Ireland,' in A.D. 1088. On this occasion the King of Ireland harried the coasts and the churches of Thomond quite as cruelly as ever the foreigners had done.

Yet, phœnix-like, it rose once more from its ruins, for we are told that in A.D. 1102, "Moran O'Moore (Mughron O'Morgair), chief lector of Armagh, and of all the west of Europe, died on the third of the nones of October at Mungret in Munster." Though the Irish princes of the North and South were as usual at deadly feud, Mungret gave a hospitable home and an honourable grave to the great professor from Armagh, who was the father of St. Malachy--one of the greatest of our Celtic saints. The last entry in the Four Masters is the shameful record that Mungret was plundered in A.D. 1107 by Mortogh O'Brian. Can it be that this Mortogh, who thus impiously plundered the shrine of his kindred at Mungret, is the same Mortogh who gave Cashel to the Church, and carried the arms of Thomond in triumph from Luimnech to Lough Foyle? Thenceforward Mungret, as a school, disappears from our Annals--almost, but not quite, up to the present hour.

'The learning of the Mungret women' is proverbial about Limerick; and the proverb had its origin in this way.[375] A controversy arose between Mungret and some other monastic school of the South, as to which was the more learned community; and it was agreed by both parties that their best scholars should meet at Mungret on a certain day, and exhibit their learning in a public disputation. Now as the time drew nigh the Mungret scholars feared they would be worsted in the disputation, and so they had recourse to stratagem. A number of them dressed themselves as women, and going to the place, where a stream crossed the highway near Mungret by which the visitors were to approach, they began to wash clothes. The strangers coming up put some questions to the ladies in the vernacular, but the ladies replied in excellent Latin, and even some, it is said, in Greek. The visitors were filled with astonishment, and asked them how they learned the ancient languages. "Oh," they said, "every one about Mungret speaks Latin and Greek; that is nothing at all--'mere crumbs from the monks' table'--would you like to talk philosophy and theology with us?" When the strangers saw that even the women were so learned they knew they would have no chance at all if they met the monks; so they decamped right off, leaving the victory to the 'wise women of Mungret.'

Mungret is finely situated on a gently rising sweep of fertile land, close to Lord Emly's beautiful demesne at Tervoe, about three miles to the south-west of Limerick. It commands a grand view of several reaches of the Shannon, with the pine clad hills of Clare rising in the distance beyond the river. Once more, too, bands of students roam through its meadows; and in statelier halls than St. Nessan built the languages and philosophy of Greece and Rome are taught to eager disciples. There is once more a great college at Mungret; once more its students come from afar to seek sanctity and learning under the shadow of the ancient Church of St. Nessan. The Jesuits have there established, since 1884, a College and an Apostolic School, both of which have achieved wonderful success during the brief period of their existence. May St. Nessan, and all the saints of Mungret, help them to revive the ancient glories of their own monastic school, and to send to foreign lands missionaries of the Celtic race, as zealous and as learned as the men who in olden days carried the faith and fame of Erin from the Shannon's banks through so many distant lands, even to the utmost shores of Calabria.

II.--THE SCHOOL OF INISCALTRA.

Another celebrated nursery of ancient sanctity and learning flourished in the island of Iniscaltra, especially during the seventh and eighth centuries. This beautiful island is situated in the south-western angle of Lough Derg, where that great expansion of the Shannon runs in towards the village of Scariff, between the Counties of Galway and Clare. It is elliptical in shape, and contains 45 statute acres of exceedingly fertile land, so that £100 per annum has been frequently paid for the grazing of the island. It belongs to the county Galway, but ecclesiastically the island is a portion of the parish of the same name, in the diocese of Killaloe. The gaze of every stranger is at once arrested by the stately round tower, which rises up in lonely grandeur from this green speck in the placid bosom of the lake, marking the spot where the saints of old sought communion with God, and spent their lives in prayer, and fasting, and sacred study. No one now dwells on this lonely and beautiful island; and indeed it would be a profanation to erect a building for the common-place purposes of every-day life on its sacred soil. Better--far better--to leave its tower, its graveyards, and its ruined churches to be the lone and silent memorials of the vanished past, than to mar their holy memories by association with anything that would be commonplace or trivial.

Mention is first made of this island in A.D. 548, when, as the _Four Masters_ and the _Annals of Ulster_ record, "Colum of Inis-cealtra died" of the Crom Chonaill, or Yellow Plague, which then for the first time, but not for the last, depopulated these countries, and carried off amongst others many of the most distinguished saints and scholars of ancient Erin. The _Four Masters_ record in this same year, and probably from the same cause, the death of St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, St. Tighernach of Clones, St. Finnian of Clonard, the tutor of the saints of Ireland, St. Colum of Inis-cealtra, and also of St. MacTail of Old Kilcullen, of Sincheall of Druimfada, now Killeigh, in King's County, of St. Odhran of Latteragh, on the eastern slopes of Keeper Hill, and of St. Colum, son of Ninnidh, called also Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn, the celebrated founder of Terryglass. It is highly probable that the two Colums here mentioned, Colum of Inis-cealtra, and Colum Mac Hy-Crimthainn, were really one and the same person; but the transcriber finding Colum in one place, called 'Colum of Iniscaltra,' and in another place 'Colum of Terryglass'--Tir-da-glas--thought they were different persons, and recorded them as such.

The _Life of St. Columba_ of Terryglass, recently published in the _Salamanca MS._, shows how this error may have arisen. This St. Columba was of Lagenian origin, for his patronymic, Mac Hy-Crimthainn, is derived from an ancestor, who was King of Leinster five generations before. His father, Ninnidh, seems to have been born not far from Clonenagh, in Queen's County, for in his youth we are told that the saint learned his psalms and hymns from a holy old man named Colman Cule, who lived in that neighbourhood, and founded the Church of Cluain Cain. This has been identified with great probability as Clonkeen, near Clonenagh, in the Queen's County. Columba afterwards studied under the celebrated Finnian of Clonard, and he, with his greater namesake, Columba of Iona, is reckoned amongst the Twelve Apostles of Erin, who studied together at that great school. When he was sufficiently trained in all spiritual knowledge at Clonard, we are told that he resolved to go to Rome, and bring home with him some of the relics of St. Peter and St. Paul. On his return he came to St. Martin's monastery at Tours, where he was privileged to obtain the staff and chrismal of that saint, which he carried home with him to Erin. He also visited England during this return journey, and preached with some success to the still unconverted Saxons. Returning home to Leinster his brother Cairbre offered him a place called Echargabul, on which to build a church and monastery; but he preferred to leave in that place one of his disciples called Cronan, who was a foreigner. Afterwards, with his disciples, he remained a year at Clonenagh,[376] and then crossing Slieve Bloom he came to Hy-Many of the Connaughtmen, and founded a church, where he had a flock of 700 souls, at a place called Tir Snama, which seems to have been not far from Lough Derg; for we are told that shortly afterwards he founded other churches near the lake, called Aurraith Tophiloc and Tuam Bonden, where he dwelt for some time.

Then an angel appearing to him bade him go to the island Keltra--since called Iniscaltra. At that time a certain old man dwelt on the island, called Maccrihe; but the angel told him to leave the island to St. Columba, which he willingly did.

Thus we find St. Columba of Terryglass established at Iniscaltra, where he remained a 'long time,' and where he was miraculously supported for a while by the liquor that distilled from a lime tree growing on the island. The birds that lived on the island, too, became quite familiar with the saint; and when Nadcumius, one of his disciples, asked him the reason, he gave a very beautiful reply. "Am I not a bird myself," he said--"why should they fear me, for my soul always flies to heaven, as they fly through the sky?" It is said that on one occasion, when one of his 'family' died suddenly on the shore opposite the northern part of the island at Mount Shannon, he ordered his monks to go and say to the dead man--"Columba bids thee arise"--and the dead man arose and returned with them to the island.

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

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

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

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

The men of Meath learning that so great a saint had died amongst them, were unwilling to let the blessed body be carried off, so that his companions had recourse to stratagem to convey the body secretly away. But even this they could not effect until a year after the saint's death, so closely were they watched by the men of Meath. At last they hid the remains of their beloved father in a waggon, covered over with oats, and taking several other waggons also, as if for the purpose of bringing a supply of provisions with them, they set out for the Shannon, choosing the road towards Clonmacnoise. There they were hospitably received; and they told the abbot, in confidence, of the blessed burden which they bore along with them. The abbot then greatly rejoiced, and wished to have the holy relics kept at Clonmacnoise; but the brethren would not consent. Terryglass, blessed by St. Patrick, on the swelling shore of the beautiful Lough Derg, was chosen by himself to be 'the place of his resurrection;' so the Abbot-Ængus, next successor to St. Ciaran, let them go in peace with his blessing. But the men of Meath now began to suspect that their treasure was taken away, and followed quickly after, headed by the prince of the southern Hy-Niall, Colman Beg. The brethren, however, had already embarked; and when Colman took the helm to pursue them, Nadcumius threatened him with God's anger if he followed them further. So for the time he turned back, and the monks with swelling sail and sturdy oar quickly traversed the lake, and came to Iniscaltra, where they buried the saint in secret for seven years, giving out, it seems, that his remains reposed at Terryglass.[377] We are told that the lake was lit up with a heavenly light of marvellous beauty during all the time that the body of the saint was borne over its heaving bosom.

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

Such is the account given in the Life; but in the _Leabhar Breac_, it is stated that the relics of Colum, son of Crimthann, were taken by Mochoemhe of Terryglass, and by Odhran the Master, on a wain southwards over Esge, to Caimin of Iniscaltra. Esge is a corruption of Echtge, the ancient and correct name of the Slieve Aughty mountains, that separate Galway from Clare. As St. Caimin was certainly not then in Iniscaltra, this would seem to point to a subsequent translation of the holy relics once more to the beautiful island where Columba had spent so many years. His successor, Caimin, had, it would seem, rendered the island once more a celebrated home of learning and piety, and wished to possess at least a portion of the blessed body of his illustrious predecessor.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What is now called St. Caimin's Church, a little to the east-north-east of the belfry or round tower, was probably a restoration by Brian Boru of the great church built by St. Caimin himself. It consists of a nave and chancel, the former 31 feet by 20; and the latter 15 by 12-1/2 feet. The east wall of the chancel was quite gone, but has been partially restored. The masonry of the chancel is finely jointed ashlar, much superior to the coarser work of the nave. The chancel arch is the most striking and characteristic feature in this old church. It is semi-circular, formed of fine cut stone in three plain orders, rising from engaged jamb-shafts with very peculiar capitals. The arch is 10 feet 2 inches wide at the bottom, narrowing to 9 feet 11 inches at the top of the jambs. It is regarded by the best judges as a work of the time of King Brian. The west door-way has been lately restored. Its character is similar to that of the chancel--a plain impost moulding, two orders rising from engaged pilasters, with sculptured heads carved on the round at the top. There was a chevron moulding round the face of the arch. The sill is of limestone, and the entire door seems to have been an insertion in an older building. There are two windows in the south wall of the nave--one square, the other round-headed, but not specially striking; the round-headed window has a deep and finely executed splay.

A stone font, one foot and a half deep, probably for holy water, was close to the west door at Lord Dunraven's visit, and is there still. Traces of the ancient cashel which surrounded the monastic church were also visible. There are many interesting inscribed stones and crosses lying about. The base of a cross lies sunk in the ground north-east of a piece of a wall said to have been portion of a small chapel called 'Teampul na bh-fear ngonta,' or the Church of the Slain Men. Here, it is said, the bodies of those slain in battle were usually buried.

The fine Church of St. Mary--Tempull Maire--is about fifty paces from St. Caimin's Church, and is much larger; but we cannot now describe it at length. The view through the arch of the church over the lake towards the wooded hills of Tipperary is of surpassing beauty, and once seen can never be forgotten.

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

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

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

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

III.--OTHER MONASTIC SCHOOLS OF THOMOND.

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

St. Brendan of Birr, is to be carefully distinguished from his more celebrated namesake of Clonfert. He is sometimes called Brendan the Elder--Brendanus Senior--and like Brendan of Clonfert, came of the race of Fergus MacRoy, which produced more saints and heroes than, perhaps, any of the other Celtic tribes. The two Brendans were together at Clonard under St. Finnian, and both are ranked amongst the Twelve Apostles of Erin. St. Brendan of Birr was especially remarkable for the fulness of the prophetic spirit[380] which he possessed; and, according to one account, it was in obedience to his counsel that St. Columba, after the battle of Cuil-Dreimhne, resolved to leave Ireland, and preach the Gospel in Alba. It is said that on the same occasion he befriended Columcille at a Synod held near Teltown in Meath, where an attempt was made by some of the 'saints' to excommunicate Columba for his alleged share in bringing about that bloody conflict.

It is certain that Brendan was highly esteemed by all his contemporaries, and when he founded his monastery at _Biorra_, or Riverstown, as it would be called in English, it soon grew to be a very celebrated institution. The Four Masters, at A.D. 553, tell us that "Brendan of Birr was seen ascending a chariot into the sky this year." This entry is not intended to signify that he died, but rather that, like St. Paul, he was taken up to heaven for a little, for his death is noticed by the same Four Masters under date of the year A.D. 571, when they tell us that he died on the 29th of September. The real date appears to have been A.D. 573. From a scholastic point of view, the subsequent history of this monastery contains nothing especially interesting.

St. Cronan of Roscrea belonged to the territory and sept of Ely O'Carroll, in which his monastery was situated. He spent much of his youth in Connaught;[381] but afterwards returning home, he founded his first monastic cell at a place called Seanross. This old church, though, perhaps, subsequently modified and restored, is situated within a few paces of Corville House, near Roscrea, the beautiful residence of Count O'Byrne, who carefully preserves the building from injury or profanation. At this period, however, all the low ground around Corville, towards the railway, was the Locha Cre, or Stagnum Cre, so frequently mentioned in the Lives of the Saints of this district. Seanross was a wooded promonotory running into the lake, and it was then so inaccessible and secluded (_desertus et avius_) that even Cronan resolved to leave it, and establish his monastery for the convenience of his disciples at the Ross of Cre, which was on the highway from Meath to Munster then, as it is now.

Here St. Cronan, who was himself an accomplished scholar, established what was certainly a very famous school, although, unfortunately, we know very little of its history. There is a Life of the saint in the _Salamanca MS._, but although abounding in miracles, it is very scanty in facts. Here is a specimen of the miracles. On one occasion Cronan requested a certain skilful scribe, named Dimma, to write a copy of the Four Gospels for him. Dimma said he could only afford to give one day's writing--doubtless he was otherwise engaged. "Very well," said Cronan, "it will suffice; but begin at once, and continue to write without stopping until sunset." So Dimma set to work; but, wondrous to relate, the sun's light shone round him for forty days and forty nights, until the entire manuscript of the Gospels was completed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

St. Senan's monastery on Scattery Island was also a very famous institution; but we do not find that it was celebrated as a school. Neither was St. Flannan's monastery at Killaloe frequented by scholars, who seem to have preferred the quiet beauty of Iniscaltra to the passes of the Shannon, especially after the arrival of our unwelcome visitors from Scandinavia.