Erc

ON ST. ERC, BISHOP OF SLANE IN IRELAND, IN THE SIXTH CENTURY.

IN THE YEAR DXII OR DXIII. Commentary

Erc, bishop of Slane in Ireland. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

§ I. The sacred cult of St. Erc. His conversion to the true faith. His episcopal see.

Bishop Erc, a disciple of St. Patrick, the most celebrated apostle of Ireland, when he already occurred in the Irish martyrologies at the 2nd day of October, On this day St. Erc is chiefly commemorated in the sacred calendars of Ireland. our forebears passed over and put off to the present day, because they somewhat doubted of his legitimate cult Vol. I Oct., p. 319.. They are surely to be excused, as those to whom were not available the aids that are now at hand for us far more abundantly; and the more to be approved in that the cult of that saint is to be assigned altogether rather to the 2nd day of November. For Erc is announced on this day not only in the Martyrologies, the English one of Richard Whitford and the Donegal one of Michael O'Clery, and in the Drummond Calendar Forbes, Kalendars of Scottish Saints, p. 27., but also in the martyrology of Marianus Gorman Cod. of the Royal Lib. of Brussels 5100 – 5104, fol. 186r., and indeed with the added title of Bishop of Slane in the very ancient one of Oengus the Culdee Ed. Whitley Stokes, p. clxii., written at the end of the eighth century or the beginning of the ninth Cf. O'Curry, Lectures on the mss. materials of ancient Irish history, p. 363. or at least in the tenth century Whitley Stokes, Calendar of Oengus, p. 5 – 6.. Moreover, in Maccuthenius or more correctly Muirchu Maccu Machtheni, who in the seventh century wrote the Life of Patrick Analect. Bolland., vol. I (1882), p. 542., lately published entire for the first time in the Analecta Bollandiana from the Book of Armagh and a Brussels codex, formerly of Würzburg, by the labor of the Rev. Fr. Edmund Hogan Ibid., p. 545 – 585., it is read of Erc: Whose relics are now venerated in that city which is called Slane Ibid., p. 563.. And so the ancient cult of St. Erc is now altogether certain.

[2] He is said to have been of royal blood. But we do not have so much about his history. Colgan indicates that he was born of illustrious family, from the Genealogical Sanctilogium, in a certain note to the third Life of St. Brigid, where in the text Cited below, no. 15. the family of Erc is said to have been of the Munstermen. So it is (says Colgan): for although St. Erc was of the royal stock of the kings of Ulster, namely of the seed of Fergus Roich, king of Ulster, yet his ancestors lived in Munster. For the eight sons of the aforesaid Fergus and their posterity possessed ample regions in various provinces of Ireland, Ulster, Connacht and Munster. And St. Erc was, as is held in the Geneal. Sanctil. ch. 30, of the descendants of Corb, surnamed Ulom, of the sons of the aforesaid Fergus, who lived in Munster, and from whom there were also St. Brendan of Birr, St. Caiman, St. Leathan, St. Erc the bishop, and the holy sisters Criada, Derusia and Sincha, daughters of Ernan and near kinswomen of St. Brendan, according to the Genealogical Sanctilogium ch. 30, weaving the genealogies of each one back to Corb himself Trias Thaum., p. 544, note 43.. So Colgan, who however did not relate those genealogies more distinctly. And Corb Olum is mentioned in the Irish Annals at the year of Christ 10, where he is said, with two others only, to have survived the slaughter of the nobles of his people, and from him to have arisen the family of the kings of the Eoghanachta in Munster Four Masters at this year..

[3] The most celebrated narrative of an idolatrous feast, Especially celebrated in the Lives of St. Patrick is the history of the conversion of St. Erc on that day on which the holy apostle of the Irish first approached Loigaire, king of all Ireland. This the most ancient Life, written by Muirchu Mac Machtheni, narrates thus, chs. 13 – 16: They came (Patrick with his companions) on foot into the aforesaid greatest plain (of Bregg), until at last toward evening they arrived at the Ferti of the men of Feec, which, as tales report, men, that is, slaves, of Feccol Ferchertni, who had been one of the nine magician-prophets of Bregg, had dug. And having fixed his tent there, St. Patrick with his companions rendered with all devotion the due vows of the Pasch and the sacrifice of praise to God most high, according to the prophet's voice. — (Ch. 14.) It happened indeed in that year that the solemnity of idolatry, which the pagans with many incantations and magical inventions, with some other superstitions of idolatry, kings, satraps, leaders, princes and nobles of the people being also gathered, and moreover magicians, enchanters, soothsayers and inventors or teachers of every art and every guile being summoned to Loigaire as once to King Nebuchadnezzar, at Tara, their Babylon, had been accustomed to carry out, on the same night on which St. Patrick was keeping the Pasch, they were adoring and carrying out that pagan festival.

[4] on the occasion of which There was also a certain custom among them, made known to all by edict, that whoever in all the regions, whether far or near, should on that night kindle a fire before it was lit in the royal house, that is, in the palace of Tara, his soul should perish from among his people. St. Patrick therefore, celebrating the holy Pasch, kindled the divine fire, very bright and blessed, which, shining in the night, was seen by nearly all the inhabitants of the wide plain. It happened therefore that it was seen from Tara, and when it was seen all looked and wondered. The magicians thereupon recall an ancient oracle, by which it was signified that the ruin of Loigaire's kingdom was portended by that fire. — (Ch. 15.) Hearing these things, then, King Loiguire was greatly disturbed … and answering he said: "It shall not be so; but we will go that we may see the outcome of the matter, and we will hold and kill those who do so great a wrong in our kingdom." Having yoked nine * chariots according to the tradition of the gods and having taken with him for the conflict these two magicians, the best of all, that is, Lucetmael and Lochru, at the end of that night Loiguire proceeded from Tara to the Ferti of the men of Feec…

[5] Erc was converted and baptized by St. Patrick. (Ch. 16.) And St. Patrick was called to the king outside the place of the fire. And the magicians said to their own: "We will not rise at his coming: for whoever rises at his coming will afterwards believe him and adore him." Finally, rising, St. Patrick … came to them. They did not rise at his coming; but one only, helped by the Lord, who refused to obey the words of the magicians, that is, Ercc son of Dego, whose relics are now venerated in that city which is called Slane, rose: and Patrick blessed him and he believed in the eternal God Anal. Bolland., vol. I, p. 560 – 563 (Book of Armagh fol. 4).. So far Muirchu. And Tirechan, his contemporary or perhaps even somewhat more ancient Cf. ibid., p. 543., in his Collectanea on St. Patrick, also recently published for the first time from the Book of Armagh among our Analecta by the Rev. Fr. Edmund Hogan Vol. II, p. 35 – 68., narrates the conversion of Erc in these words: And he (Patrick) entered the royal house, and they did not rise before him except one only, that is, Hercus sacrilegus I. e. interpreter of sacred things?. And he said to him: "Why have you alone risen in honor of my God in me?" And Hercus said to him: "I do not know what: I see fiery sparks rising from your lips into my lips." And the saint also said: "Will you receive the baptism of the Lord, which is with me?" He answered: "I will receive it." And they came to the fountain of Loigles in Irish, with us Vitulus of the cities. And when he had opened the book and baptized the man Hercus… Anal. Bolland., vol. II, p. 41 (Book of Armagh, fol. 10)..

[6] Afterwards he is said to have been made bishop of Slane. Other Lives of St. Patrick, more recent than those cited above, add these few things about Erc. Namely the sixth Life in Colgan, ch. 41: … and leading a life renowned for virtues and signs, afterwards made bishop, in the city of Slane he passed to the heavenly places Trias Thaum., p. 74.. The seventh or Tripartite Life, bk. I, ch. 56: And of all those accompanying the king and longing to see the face of the man of God (Patrick), there was not one who rose up for him except one, whose heart God had touched with the charism of his grace: and this was Erc or Eric, son of Degad, a native of Slane, a town of the Bregians, who had previously heard much of the virtues of St. Patrick. To whom the man of God imparted a rich blessing and joined the promise of an ample reward, confidently promising in the Lord and predicting by a prophetic spirit that his seat on earth would be noble and excellent in honors and riches; and that his successors, in recognition and memory of the reverence then shown, would hereafter rise up for that man's successors, wherever they should meet. Erc believed there, and was afterwards baptized by St. Patrick and ordained bishop of Slane in his own country; where he shone with outstanding virtues and miracles Ibid., p. 126..

[7] That feast, What we have set forth from Muirchu Mac Machtheni about the history of Erc's conversion Above, nos. 3, 4. has been recited by us so that it may be possible to define to some extent in what year these things took place and thence the age of the saint himself. It is not indeed agreed among the learned on what occasion or in what year the meeting of Patrick with King Laogaire took place. As regards the first question, Petrie judges Antiquities of Tara Hill, p. 82 – 84., after O'Conor, that the festival of which there is talk in that narrative is none other than the superstitious rite by which the Druids were accustomed annually to observe the beginning of the year at the vernal equinox, by kindling with great pomp a fire (Irish tine) in honor of Bel or Baal, that is, the sun, whence also the rite received the name of Bel-tine. And indeed this opinion is easily drawn from the narrative itself, where it is expressly signified that the kindling of a sacred or new fire was some chief part of the festival. But against it stands not only that in no ancient Life of Patrick is that festival designated by the name Bel-tine, but also especially that according to the tradition of the Irish, Bel-tine or the kindling of fire was accustomed and is still accustomed to be celebrated not at the time of the vernal equinox, but on the first day of the month of May, whence this day throughout all Ireland is called by the common name la Bealtaine Cf. Todd, Saint Patrick, p. 415.. O'Conor answered indeed that, after the conversion of the Irish to the Christian faith, that custom of kindling festive fires, in which the Irish greatly delighted, was transferred by the priests from the vernal equinox to the beginning of the month of May, so that the memory of the old pagan rite might the more easily be abolished; but Petrie admits that this ingenious conjecture of O'Conor rests on no ancient testimony: whence John O'Donovan rejected it and the whole opinion with contempt Book of Rights, Introd., p. xlviii – li..

[8] which is reported to have been idolatrous, But O'Donovan himself, citing an anonymous Life of St. Patrick that is read in an ancient codex known by the name of the Book of Lismore, where the festival at which the saint met King Laogaire is said to have been the king's own birthday, supposes this indication to be by far the most probable Ibid., p. l.. But the admission of his opinion seems altogether prevented by the magnificent description of the festival in Muirchu Mac Machtheni, which certainly seems to signify a more distinguished solemnity, and moreover by the beginning of this narrative: It happened indeed IN THAT YEAR that the solemnity of idolatry. Which surely cannot be accommodated to the king's birthday, recurring annually.

[9] some opining one thing of it, others another, Hence Todd proposes a third opinion Op. cit., p. 416., that there is indicated here the solemnity which among the ancient Irish writers is signified by the word Feis Temrach, that is, the Assembly (in another sense Supper and, according to Colgan Trias Thaum., p. 20, note 61 on the Second Life ch. 30., Encaenia) of Tara, which, namely, according to a certain poet of the tenth century, was formerly accustomed to be convoked every three years at the court of the king of all Ireland, to deliberate about what concerned the protection of the laws and customs of the kingdom. This he also confirms from the testimonies of certain Lives of Patrick, where indeed by that expression Feis Temrach is designated the festival concerning which the question is now raised: namely the second Life in Colgan, ch. 30 Ibid., p. 15., the third Life ch. 37 Ibid. p. 24., the seventh or Tripartite Life bk. I, ch. 55 Ibid., p. 125., and in Jocelin, no. 35 Act. SS., vol. II Mar., p. 549., where by the translator's error, as it seems, one reads the Feast (which is called) Rach for Feis Temrach. Nor do those words which Todd himself objects to himself, cited at the end of the preceding number, seem to create a difficulty against that opinion, It happened indeed in that year …, which could certainly be said of a triennial solemnity. But a far graver difficulty arises, in that that Assembly, according to the cited poet Todd, loc. cit., was accustomed to be held at the end of the month of October and the beginning of the next, namely for three days before the festival of Samhain, which was most certainly celebrated on the first day of November, and for three days after it, and therefore it could by no means agree in time with the Pasch of the Christians. This difficulty Todd easily empties by supposing that that coincidence was invented by the ancient writer of the Life of Patrick in order to show more fully that Patrick was like Moses. Which indeed, no argument being brought from elsewhere, seems too rashly said.

[10] seems to have taken place We come then to a fourth opinion, which Petrie and Todd also indicated in passing In the cited places., namely that this place treats of an altogether singular festival, which was accustomed to be celebrated by the kings of Ireland with great apparatus and perhaps only once in the time of their reign. This can be urged first from the fact that in the Irish Annals the celebration of this solemnity under the kings Laogaire and Oilill his successor is recorded as some chief event: which the writers of the Annals certainly would not have done if the question were of an assembly that was gathered by custom every three years. And indeed under Oilill (who reigned twenty years) it is indicated as having been celebrated twice, namely at the years 463 and 465 Four Masters at these years.: which double indication, however, can perhaps be referred to the same solemnity, namely in that those who collected the Annals of the Irish into one found it noted in different years by different writers of Annals (as in the Annals of the Four Masters the death of Laogaire is noted at the year 459, but in the Annals of Ulster, as we shall soon see, at the year 461). Nor perhaps is it without some moment for our matter that in the Annals of Clonmacnoise at the year 463 the announcement is framed in these words: King Oilill Molt celebrated the GREAT festival of Taragh (Tara) which is called Feis-Taragh Ibid., vol. I, p. 145, note k.. But under Laogaire the Feis Temrach is marked once only, namely in the Age of Christ 454, the twenty-sixth Year of Laogaire, the Feis-Teamhra was celebrated by Laogaire son of Niall Ibid., at this year.; and moreover in the Annals of Ulster (which are written in Latin) at the year 461: Laoghaire son of Niall lived after the Supper of Tara VII years and VII months and VII days Cited in Petrie, Tara Hill, p. 82 and in Todd, Saint Patrick, p. 418.: whence it is rightly gathered that the year 454, in which Laogaire celebrated the Supper of Tara, seemed so distinguished by that to the ancient writer that he took from this year the beginning of his computation for defining the time at which that king died.

[11] in the year 454 (or 455). In this year St. Erc, converted, To this year 454 (or 455), then, with Todd Loc. cit. and Shearman Loca Patriciana, p. 461., we suppose the meeting of St. Patrick with King Laogaire must be tied, and therefore the conversion of St. Erc. Which is also excellently confirmed from the mention of the death of the same St. Erc, which occurs in the Irish Annals at the year 512, in these words: St. Erc, bishop of Lilcach and of Fearta-fear-Feig … died on the second day of November; his age was ninety years when he passed from this life. Whence it is gathered that St. Erc was born in the year 422, and therefore that in the year 433, at which more recent writers commonly suppose that Patrick met King Laogaire at Paschal time and therefore that Erc was baptized, he had scarcely or not yet reached the eleventh year of his age; at which age he certainly could not have obtained a distinguished place with the king. But he certainly could have in the year 454, when he had already reached the thirty-second or thirty-third year of his age.

[12] he died in the year 512 or 513, We have from what was said in the preceding number that the blessed Erc was born in the year 422, converted to the true faith in the year 454 and died in the year 512 or 513. In what year he was adorned with the episcopal dignity has not been handed down to memory. And as regards his episcopal see, St. Erc is adorned by the scholiast of Gorman with the title of bishop of Lilcach and of Fearta-fear-Feicc beside Sidhe-Truim to the West Brussels Cod. 5100 – 5104, fol. 186r., and this title, received according to his custom from the scholiast, Michael O'Clery carried over into his Martyrology of Donegal; and the same is read also in the Four Masters at the year 512 Cf. preceding no.. But what town is designated by the name of Lilcasium or Liolcach, no one has so far been able to guess. That name occurs twice besides in the Annals of the Four Masters At the years 723 and 743.. Fearta-fear-Feicc is the place where Patrick, having met King Laogaire, converted St. Erc to the true faith Cf. above, no. 3 – 5., on the northern bank of the river Boand (Boyne), today called Slaine (Slane) Colgan, Trias Thaum., p. 20, note 60., in Midia or County Meath, not far from Tara, the ancient seat of the kings of Ireland. It is called Ferta-fer-Feic, that is, the ditches or graves of the men of Feic, from the fact that the slaves of a certain lord, Feic by name, made deep ditches there for burying the bodies of the slain Ibid. Cf. Todd, Saint Patrick, p. 420, note 1.. And Sidhe-Truim is the name of a hill to the East of this place J. O'Donovan, Annals of the Four Masters, p. 167, note k.. And the surrounding plain was called Magh-Breagh or in Latin the plain of Bregia Cf. J. O'Donovan, Book of Rights, p. 11, last line with the attached note..

[13] and he was buried at Slane. Erc is also called bishop of Slane in the ancient martyrology of Oengus the Culdee Cf. above, no. 1., and certain of his successors are indicated in the Annals of the Four Masters at the years 847, 854, 867, 874, etc. In the same place the relics of Erc were laid after his death Ibid. at the end.. But according to Tirechan Erc was buried at Cerne: for among the churches listed in his Collectanea on St. Patrick as founded by the saint, there is cited: … in the plain of Breg … the church of Cerne, in which is buried Hercus, who bore a great mortality Analect. Bolland., vol. II, p. 38 – 39.. The place Cerne or Cearna is read also in the Annals of the Four Masters at the year 890: where John O'Donovan notes that the place is not known to him, but that in some book of laws it is indicated as situated in Midia. Which agrees excellently with the testimony of Tirechan, who places it in the plain of Bregia. Whence, if it were altogether certain that Tirechan is treating of our Erc, someone could suspect that Cerne was a village adjacent to Slane or at least not very far distant from it. Moreover from the words who bore a great mortality Todd too lightly, as it seems, gathered Saint Patrick, p. 442, note 1. that Erc died about the year 530, in which year he says a great pestilence raged in Ireland.

* otherwise ternis novies.

§ II. Of the familiarity of St. Erc with St. Patrick, with St. Brigid and with the first Christian king of Ireland. Popular veneration toward him.

St. Erc is said to have held the office Besides what has just been brought forward very few things are known about St. Erc. He seems to have clung to St. Patrick even after undertaking the episcopate. For in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick Part III, ch. 98 (Tr. Th., p. 167)., of chancellor and judge with St. Patrick. where the household of this saint is listed (which Patrick's biographers wished to be no less conspicuous than the households of the Irish chieftains, both in the number of its domestics and in the distinction of the duties assigned to each), St. Erc the bishop is indicated as having held a distinguished place in it, Chancellor and supreme Judge in spiritual matters. In the Annals of the Four Masters also, at the year 448, the familiars of Patrick are enumerated, and among them Bishop Erc, his mellifluous judge Ed. O'Donovan, vol. I, p. 137.. And again at the year 512, after the words cited a little above No. 11 at the end.: This bishop Erc was the judge of St. Patrick. In his praise Patrick composed this tetrastich:

Bishop Erc,

Whatever he judged was right.

Whoever gives a fair judgment

Will bear the blessing of Bishop Erc.

This tetrastich is cited also by Tigernach, a writer of the eleventh century, who also attributes it to St. Patrick O'Donovan, vol. cit., p. 168, note l..

[15] He undertook a journey with St. Brigid, To another chief ornament of the early Irish Church also, St. Brigid, Erc was joined by a holy familiarity, with whom the wonder-working virgin is said to have undertaken a journey. After these things (so her Life published in first place by our forebears at the 1st day of February, in third place in Colgan) St. Brigid wished to go out into the regions of the Munstermen Of Momonia, commonly Munster, which is the southern province of Ireland. on pilgrimage together with Bishop Erc, a disciple of St. Patrick, because the family of Erc was of the Munstermen. And when they had entered on the way, Brigid said to Bishop Erc: "Show me, venerable Father, under what part of the sky your people dwell." And when he had shown her, Brigid said to him: "Now war is being waged there between one people and another people." And Erc said: "I believe that what you say is true. For when I came here from them, I left them at discord." And Brigid said: "Your people is now being turned to flight." Then one of Erc's household rebuked her, saying: "How can you see a battle across great spaces of land?" And Bishop Erc reproved him, lest he blaspheme the Holy Spirit. And Erc said to Brigid: "I pray you, sign my eyes and those of this boy, that we may see what you see." Then she signed their eyes, and they saw the battle with their own eyes. Then the boy said to the bishop with tearful voice: "Alas, alas! my lord, behold just now, before my very eyes, my two brothers are being beheaded."

[16] on which journey St. Brigid, miracles Afterwards by the desired road they proceeded to the mountain , and there Brigid with the bishop, in the middle of the journey, labored with hunger and thirst, worn out by excessive weariness. And one of the boys said: "He would do a great mercy who gave us solace." Brigid answered: "I with eager heart wish to offer you solace. If therefore you wish to be satisfied with food and drink, wait here for the help of the Savior. I see a house in which alms are being prepared to be offered to a certain church in the house of God : and it will therefore come here at this hour; for behold, a meal is now prepared in packs." While she was yet speaking, there came those who were carrying the alms. And they, learning that Bishop Erc and St. Brigid had sat down there and were laboring with hunger, rejoiced greatly and offered them their alms, saying: "Accept the alms that God has sent to you. For we have no better church than you." Then they gave thanks to God, and ate there. But yet they had no drink. And Brigid said: "Dig the ground nearby." And digging they found a clear fountain; and that fountain remains there to this day under the name of Brigid. Then all glorified God and St. Brigid.

[17] very many Then they came to the Plain of Femin **, and there they found a great synod, and for some days they were detained at the synod. The bishop therefore narrated to the synod many miracles of Brigid. At that time a heavy pestilence was devastating the people; and all asked Brigid to visit the sick. And the bishop said: "The holy woman of God will not enter the places of pestilence, but bring your sick to her." Then they brought to her the lame and lepers and demoniacs and all the sick; and in the name of Jesus Christ Brigid healed them all.

[18] she performed. After these things St. Brigid went out to another man * who was near the sea, not far from that place where Bishop Erc was living. And she stayed with her girls for some years, as is narrated [Act. SS., vol. I Feb., p. 128, no. 68 ff.; Colgan, Tr. Th., p. 535. Third Life, ch. 71 ff. Cf. ibid., p. 556, Fourth Life, ch. 42 ff.]. Colgan judges that this place to which Brigid withdrew is a church of the diocese of Waterford in the deanery of Kill-Medain, which is called Kell-Brigide, that is, the Cell of St. Brigid: of which in the Catalogue of the churches of that diocese Tr. Th., p. 544, note 46.. I should rather believe that this place is not to be sought in Munster, but between the town of Slane and the sea. For it is distinctly signified that it was not far from that place where Bishop Erc was living. Now Erc at that time was not living in Munster: for, as we read a little above Cf. no. 11. at the start., he went out with Brigid, surely from the place where he was then living, into the regions of the Munstermen. And so it seems altogether to be concluded, since the last words cited put an end to the narrative of the journey of Brigid and Erc, that he had by now returned to Slane, and that Brigid had followed him there.

[19] He is said to have been a friend of the first Christian king of Ireland. Erc is also recorded to have been teacher or familiar of the first king of Ireland who professed the Christian faith, by name Muircheartach Mac Earca, who according to Tigernach in the year 509, according to the Annals of Ulster in the year 513, obtained the kingdom of Ireland Petrie, Tara Hill, p. 118 at the end.. For so a certain ancient notice speaks of that king: Muirchertach, it says, was called Mac-Erca i.e., son of Erc or Erca, because Erc, bishop of Slane, attended him with special affection … or because Erca, daughter of Loarn, was his mother Ibid..

[20] Several bishops of this name are recorded. Certain other things are read about Bishop Erc in the Irish hagiographers; but it does not seem sufficiently established whether these are to be referred to our bishop of Slane, the disciple of St. Patrick, or to some other of the same name. For bishops of this name, no fewer than three, occur in the Irish martyrologies besides the bishop of Slane, namely Bishop Erc of Domnach-mor Maighe Cobha or of Dommach-mor Maighe Damhairne at the 17th day of September Cf. Act. SS., vol. XII Oct., p. 178., Bishop Erc at the 2nd day of October and Bishop Erc of Domnach-Mor Maighe Luadhat at the 27th day of the same month Cf. ibid.; and several others could have existed who have not been entered among the saints. And so we do not dare to define which of these is designated, where in the Life of St. Brendan, abbot of Clonfert, one reads that Bishop Erc was his teacher Vol. III May, p. 600., and in the Life of St. Senan that Erc with two other bishops, Dalann and Sedonius, was left by St. Senan in the monastery of Inismor Vol. I Mar., p. 773, no. 29., and elsewhere that Bishop Erc took part in the consecration of Conlaid, bishop of Kildare: which indeed a recent writer A. Cogan, The Diocese of Meath, vol. I, p. 61. attributes to the bishop of Slane, but adducing no probable authority.

[21] He who on the banquet of the impious But I would gladly admit that what Michael O'Clery says he has read of him Martyrol. Dungall. at the 2nd day of November (p. 292). was said of Erc of Slane, namely that he was like St. Martin in conversation and life. For that Erc of Slane, like St. Martin, was especially celebrated in popular memory is shown first from the fabulous history of the Banquet of Dun na n-Gedh and of the battle at Magh Rath, written, as it seems, before the end of the twelfth century in the Irish tongue The Banquet of Dun na n-Gedh, etc. Pref. p. ix.. In which, with a confusion of times not unusual in this kind of fictions, though it treats of a most celebrated event that took place about the year 637 Ibid., p. xviii – xx., there are brought in the saints held most illustrious among the Irish after Patrick, twelve or rather thirteen in number (for so many are listed by name, although all are said to have been the twelve apostles of Ireland) Ibid., p. 26., and besides them individually Bishop Erc of Slane. Whose curse Domhnall, king of Ireland, is reported to have called down on the banquet which he had prepared for the princes of Ireland. For he had ordered that for that banquet there should be brought together from all Ireland as many goose eggs as could be found.

And so the collectors proceeded through Midia, seeking eggs, and came to a certain small hermitage, in which there dwelt a woman wearing a black hood on her head, who was intent on prayer. And beside the door of the hermitage they saw a flock of geese, and entering they found a vessel filled with goose eggs. Then they say: "The matter goes happily for us: for even if we were to search all Ireland, no more goose eggs collected together will be at hand for us." — "That will by no means be fortunate for you," said the woman; "nor will it contribute anything to the pleasantness of the banquet to which this slender supply of food is added." — "Why not, then?" they ask. "Because," the woman answered, "a certain holy servant of God, a worker of wonders, lives here, Erc, bishop of Slane, who is accustomed every day to remain immersed up to the armpits in the river Boand from morning to evening, with a psalter placed before him on the shore, pouring out prayers to God unceasingly. And returning here at evening he eats one egg and a half and three sprigs of cress. Nor is it right for you to carry off this modest store of his."

[22] is reported to have cursed, But the fierce servants of the king, disdaining to answer anything to this, carried off the just man's goods, against his will… At evening the holy patron, Erc, bishop of Slane, returned home, to whom the woman narrated how wickedly they had acted. Hearing this, the just man, moved in spirit, said: "He to whom this food has been brought shall not prosper. And would that peace and happiness may not arise for Ireland from that banquet, but that quarrels, discords and disturbance of affairs may follow from it." And he cursed the banquet as bitterly as he could Ibid., p. 16 – 18.. Nor did the holy man's curse lack its effect, most grievous dissensions and bloody battles having arisen from the banquet, which are then set forth in the whole remainder of the tale.

[23] seems to have been our St. Erc, in whose name a little church still exists. These things are indeed fictitious and accord more with the popular character of the Irish than with the character of the saints. But surely it is shown from this how illustrious a place Erc holds among the saints whom popular veneration especially attends. Of which matter an argument is also supplied by the little church or hermitage of St. Erc, which is seen in a most pleasant situation near Slane beside the river Boyne, often restored at various times through the course of the middle age, and which up to our days has preserved the memory of the saint in that region [The beauties of the Boyne and its tributary the Blackwater, by William R. Wilde (Dublin 1849, in-8°, p. 175.].

* Montem Ere. Fourth Life in Colgan.

Offerenda Dei dono. In Colgan, Third Life.

* Bronus in Colgan, Third Life, an obvious error.

"More correctly, Fimhin, in Irish Mag-Fimhin; it is a celebrated and spacious plain in the region of the Desi in Munster." Note of Colgan on this place.

* more correctly locum, as is held in the fourth Life in Colgan.