Carpreus

ON ST. CARPREUS, BISHOP IN IRELAND,

TIME UNCERTAIN.

Carpreus, bishop or abbot in Ireland. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

In the work on saints of the same name, which is attributed to the celebrated Ængus the Culdee Cf. Colgan, Act. SS. Hib., p. 581, n. 14; Lanigan, vol. III, p. 247. , is read: Dina, daughter of the king of the Saxons, was the mother of ten sons of Bracan, king of Britain, The memory of St. Carpreus in the sacred calendars of the Irish. son of Bracha Meoc: namely… of Carpreus the Pilgrim of Kill-Chairpre Isiol Farannan… In Colgan, op. cit., p. 312, no. 5. . On which place, at the name of Carpreus, Colgan notes: There are mentioned four saints of this name in the festilogies, in Marianus Gorm., Mart. of Tallaght, Maguire and the Martyrol. of Donegal, such as St. Carbreus, bishop of Cluain-mic-nois, 6 March, who died in the year 899; St. Carbreus, bishop of Moville, 3 May; St. Carbreus, son of Deccill, bishop of Coleraine, 11 November; and a fourth, 1 November, whom I judge to be the present one. To Colgan's opinion the distinguished John Francis Shearman adds his vote Loca Patriciana, p. 157. , who however at the same time, in a genealogical scheme of the Dalaradians Ibid. , through some drowsiness, as it seems, indicates that St. Carpreus is venerated on the 19th day of November.

[2] His genealogical pedigree: According to the opinion of the same distinguished Shearman, soon to be more accurately discussed, this genealogy of St. Carpreus may be composed from Irish documents, ascending, going out to the first century: in which, as when we were treating of St. Brugacius, at the names of each we have indicated, so far as we could, at what time they flourished from the Annals of the Four Masters, at the same time however adding, enclosed in brackets, what is found noted otherwise in Roderic O'Flaherty.

ROCHRADE Annals, at the years 108 and 157; O'Flaherty, Ogygia, p. 143. .

MAL, king of Ulster, then of Ireland, in the years 106 – 110 Annals, year 110. [king of Ulster in the years 130 – 163; of Ireland in the years 160 – 163 Ogygia, ibid. ].

TIBRATE TIREACH,

king of Ulster Annals, year 157. in the years 183 – 213 [Ogygia, p. 144. ].

FERGUS GAILLINE [Ibid., p. 147.] .

ÆNGUS GAIBHNEANN,

king of Ulster in the years 225 – 240 [Ibid. ].

FIACHA ARAIDHE.

king of Ulster in the years 240 – 250 [Ibid., p. 148. ].

CAS [Ibid., p. 157; Reeves, Eccles. Antiq., p. 349, note v. Compare the following number.] .

FEDHLIMIDH [Ibid., p. 157; Reeves, Eccles. Antiq., p. 349, note v. Compare the following number.] .

IMCHADH [Ibid., p. 157; Reeves, Eccles. Antiq., p. 349, note v. Compare the following number.] .

ROS, king of Ulster [Ibid., p. 157; Reeves, Eccles. Antiq., p. 349, note v. Compare the following number.] .

LUGHADH [Ibid., p. 157; Reeves, Eccles. Antiq., p. 349, note v. Compare the following number.] .

EOCHADH COBHA O'Flaherty, p. 157; Reeves, p. 349. .

CRUINNBADHRADHE O'Flaherty, p. 157; Reeves, p. 349. .

CAOLBADH,

king of Ireland in the year 357 Annals, year 357; O'Flaherty, p. 156. .

BRACCAN Compare below, no. 8. .

BRACCANOC or BRYCAN. —

MARCELLA Compare below, no. 9. .

BRYCHAN. —

DWYNWAS or DINA.

ST. CARPREUS.

[3] which is defended against O'Flaherty. From this pedigree O'Flaherty judges that the names of Cass, Fedlim, Imchad, Ross and Lugad should be deleted Ogygia, p. 157. , because between Fiacha Araidhe, who (according to his computation) died in the year 250, and Caolbadh, who was slain in the year 357, there is altogether no room for the eight generations which are reported here. But since in all the genealogical tables of the tribe of the Dalaradii those names are marked Reeves, Eccl. Antiq., p. 349, note r. and certainly, as we have already noted On St. Brugacius, no. 11. , greater authority is to be attributed to those ancient documents than to the calculations of years of O'Flaherty and the other more recent writers, sufficiently diverse among themselves, we have judged that those names should be retained. Moreover, if with the Annals you suppose that Mal ruled over Ireland from the year 106 to the year 110, you will now somewhat more easily find a suitable space of time for the twelve generations by which we are led from there to Caolbadh, namely of two hundred and fifty years. Whence from this side rather the authority of the O'Flaherty computation wavers.

[4] About the last names the Irish traditions do not agree But the greater difficulty turns on the last names after Caolbadh. That the reason of this may be more easily understood, I have judged that there should first here be set together before the eyes of readers the testimonies on which that part of the genealogy rests. And so in the Sanctilogium genealogicum of Ængus the Culdee, ch. 23, is read: St. Catan son of Madan, son of Bracan, son of Kailbhadh, king of Ireland, etc. In Colgan, Act. SS. Hib., p. 313, note 4. . And in another place in the same Ængus: Dina, daughter of the king of the Saxons, was the mother of ten sons of Bracan, king of Britain, son of Bracha Meoc; namely… of Carpreus the Pilgrim of Kill-Chairpre Isiol Farannain… And she was the mother of Mobeoc of Glean-geirg: for he was the son of Brachan son of Bracha Meoc Ibid., p. 312, no. 5. .

[5] and the Welsh: On the other side there occur the Welsh traditions. These are presented chiefly by the document published thirty years ago by the distinguished W. J. Rees From Brit. Mus. cod. Cott. Vesp. A. XIV. among the Lives of the saints of the Cambro-Britons, from which we excerpt these things relating to our matter: OF BRACHAN OF BRECHEINIAUC, AND HIS KINDRED, EXCERPTED FROM AN ANCIENT CHIROGRAPH OF ABOUT THE YEAR 900. Brecheniauc first received its name from Brachan. In the beginning of the times there was Theuderic of the region; who once came into Garthmatum, and thence proceeded with dukes and elders and also with all his household and went away to Brancoyn near Lannmaies. And Teuderic said to Marchel, his daughter: "The force of the cold afflicts you exceedingly; wherefore it is worth while that we should procure a fur garment, my daughter , lest she be weighed down by the very harshness of the cold; for I will send her over to Ireland with three hundred men to Aulac son of Coronac, king of that country, to be married to him." So Marchel set out with three hundred men… Then with the hundred men left to her (two hundred, namely, had perished of cold on the way) she crossed over to Ireland, and came safe with her people to Aulac, king of that country. He, receiving her with great rejoicing and gladness, betrothed her to himself as his lawful wife, giving her an oath that if she should bear him a son, he would return with her to Britain, so that, namely, the boy should not be deprived of the paternal kingdom of Britain. … Afterwards Marchel bore a son, and called him Brachan. So Aulach returned with Queen Marchel and the boy Brachan… And afterwards Aulach gave his son Brachan as a hostage to the king of Powys. Then in the course of time Brachan oppressed the daughter of Benadel. She, being pregnant, bore a son named Kynauc… These are the names of the sons of Brachan of Brecheniauc. There follow the names of ten sons, among whom Kynauc is not indicated. Of the daughters of Brachan, who are reckoned twenty-six in number. Brachan had three wives, namely Praust and Ribrawst and Roistri Lives of the Cambro-British saints, pp. 272–275. .

[6] these neither with one another With these sufficiently agree the Welsh traditions recorded in other old writers, and there is scarcely any other diversity to be noted among them than about the number and names of the children of Bracan or Brychan. Thus Silvester Giraldus in the Itinerary of Wales written at the beginning of the 13th century Bk. I, ch. 2. says: There was in ancient times, as ruler of that region which is called Brecheinoc, a powerful and noble man whose name was Brachan, from whom also the land of Brecheinoc was named. Concerning whom it seems notable to me that the British histories testify that he had twenty-four daughters, all given from childhood to divine services, and happily ending their lives in the purpose of sanctity they had assumed In Camden, Anglica, Normannica, etc., p. 826. . On which place David Powell notes: This Brechan was born of a father Haulaph, king of the Irish, and a British mother, namely Marcella, daughter of Theodoric son of Tethpalt, kinglet of Garthmathrin, namely of that region which received its name from this Brachan and is today called Brechonia or Brechinia, in British Brecheinoc * Ibid. .

[7] In other documents thirteen sons and twenty-four daughters, or fifteen sons and as many daughters, are attributed to Brachan Cambro-British saints, p. 606, note ; they sufficiently agree; indeed in the Welsh catalogue of saints which is inscribed Bonedd y Saint [Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, vol. II (London, 1801), p. 27. Cf. Rice Rees, An essay on the welsh saints, pp. 73–74.] no fewer than twenty-four sons and twenty-six daughters. Those who reckon the smallest number of the children of Brachan, yet no fewer than twenty-four, list twelve sons and as many daughters in all So the Sarum Martyrology, at 8 October. . But that among the children of Brachan certain of his grandsons also have been counted has been held, with others, by the distinguished Rice Rees Essay on the welsh saints, p. 137. , who also has indicated with diligent care Ibid., pp. 138–156. whatever he could gather from Welsh documents about the twenty-four sons and twenty-six daughters reckoned in the Bonedd y Saint (to whom from other documents three other sons and as many daughters are besides joined) Ibid., pp. 152, 153. . Where it is also to be noted that there occurs no name or any circumstance that can be applied to our St. Carpreus, such as he is known to us from the Irish sources.

[8] nor the Irish traditions themselves The distinguished Shearman, therefore, making the most of the Irish documents above the rest, when he observed that that Brachan, to whom they attribute eleven sons notable for sanctity, in the same is said to be the son of another

Bracca or Brachan, surnamed Meoc Cf. above, no. 4. , which name he interpreted so as to mean the same as Brachan oc or Brachan the younger, gathered from this that a third also must be admitted, namely an elder, the father of the younger, whom he also held to be the same as Bracan son of Caolbadh, king of Ireland, who occurs in the genealogy of St. Catan. And thus he computes four generations from Caolbadh to St. Carpreus, which was altogether necessary if this saint was to be judged to have reached the times of Patrick. But first of all, as Colgan notes Act. SS. Hib., p. 313, note 4. , the name Braccan or Brecan occurs quite frequently in the Irish genealogies, nor is any reason found likewise in the Irish traditions why we should judge that that Bracan, son of Caolbadh, rather than any other, was the father of St. Carpreus. Nor do the Welsh traditions help much here, even if with Colgan Ibid. we should think it probable that Aulac or Haulaph, king of Ireland, was perhaps the same as Caolbadh. For these traditions expressly report that Brachan, father of that numerous band of saints, was the son, not the great-great-grandson, of King Aulac; whence also he must be said to have flourished in the 4th century, nor could a son easily be attributed to him younger than or at least contemporary with St. Patrick, which however is not altogether contradictory.

[9] sufficiently certain and clear. To the Welsh traditions Shearman concedes only this much, that he takes from them the name of Marcella, whom he makes the wife of Brachan the younger, although the same traditions manifestly signify that Marcella was the wife of King Aulac and mother of Brachan, the only one they knew. But he also freely confesses Loca Patriciana, table 8 (at p. 157). that according to Welsh authorities Braccan was the son of Amalgaidh, who himself had as father Cormac, son of Carpreus Liffacar, king of Ireland at the very end of the third century For whose further genealogy see above, p. 344 n. 8. . But in the document cited above No. 5. we read indeed that the father of Braccan was the son of Coronac or Cormac, who himself also is said to be the son of Carpreus; but that this Carpreus was Carpreus Lifficar is by no means shown. All these things, then, are sufficiently confused, nor do I sufficiently see by what right the distinguished Shearman Loc. Patric., p. 153, note is so angry with Lanigan for signifying Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, vol. I, pp. 424–426. that not too much should be attributed to the authority of the traditions which turn on the history of Brachan and his sons.

[10] Nothing further is known of St. Carpreus. Nor from elsewhere has anything become known to us of the history of St. Carpreus, nor can it be defined by any indication at what time he lived. As for the church which is indicated in Ængus Cf. above, no. 4 end. as celebrated by his cult, Colgan notes this Act. SS. Hib., p. 313, note 15. : There is in the region of Connacht called Tirfiachra (now Tireragh, in the northern part of County Sligo O'Donovan, Hy-Fiachrach, p. 98, note h. ) a place called Aill-Farannain, that is, the woodland of Farannan; and since Isiol is the same as valley or low place, perhaps that woodland is the one which is here called Isiolfarannain. With this topography agrees sufficiently that which the Martyrology of Donegal indicates Cf. above, p. 339, no. 1. , where the church of Cill-Cairpre is said to be not far distant from Eas-Ruaidh; which place, namely, is situated in the extreme southern part of County Donegal near the town of Ballyshannon O'Donovan, Hy-Fiachrach, p. 76, note c. . Another church, besides, Kircarbrey, is found in County Wexford Shearman, Loc, Patric., p. 157. , but to which St. Carpreus its origin should be referred, since four Irish saints of this name are venerated Cf. above, no. 1. , is uncertain.

* supply king

* correct to nata, or rather, according to what follows, read vestem natæ meæ conquiramus.

* today Brecknockshire in Wales.