Muirdebhar and Companions

ON SS. MUIRDEBHAR AND COMPANIONS: CORCUNUTAN AND COEMAN, IN IRELAND,

SIXTH–SEVENTH CENTURIES.

Muirdeabhar, confessor in Ireland. (S.)

Corcunutan, confessor in Ireland. (S.)

Coeman, confessor in Ireland. (S.)

BY C. D. S.

In the Festilogium of Oengus on this day four saints are listed, The memory of these saints in the sacred calendars. in these words: Announce Hilary across the great sea; Muirdebar, diadem of the synod; the beautiful festival of Corcunutan at the feast of Coeman of Enach The Calendar of Oengus, edited by Stokes, p. CLXII.. Hilary, bishop of Poitiers

of this name is said to be indicated here in the notes of the Leabhar Breac Ibid., p. CLXVIII.: whom we find marked at the same day in some Usuardian Addition Compare above, p. 582.. The other three are announced also in the Martyrologies of Marianus Gorman and of Donegal Compare below, numbers 2, 3, 4. and in the Drummond Calendar: And in Ireland, of the holy confessors Muirdebur, Curcunutan and Colman: where the last name Colman is easily conjectured to have crept in for Coeman by the carelessness of some scribe. Of each one few things have been preserved to the memory of later generations.

[2] On St. Muirdebhar. And that Muirdebhar was quite celebrated in his time seems to be signified by the title diadem of the synod, with which he is distinguished in Oengus, and likewise by his being brought in by Marianus Gorman in these words: Murdebair mor molaim Brussels codex 5100–5104, fol. 118r., that is, if I understand rightly, I praise Murdebhar the great, and besides by the epithet Wise, written above the name of the saint by the scholiast of the same Gorman. Yet the Irish hagiographers and other writers that I have seen report nothing about him. The aforesaid scholiast adds that he was of, that is, lived in the Desert or wilderness of Muirdebrac, in Ui-Conaill Gabhra, which is read also in the notes of the Leabhar Breac on the Festilogium of Oengus Stokes edition, p. CLXVIII.. These words were copied in their manner by the compilers of the Martyrology of Donegal, who also subjoined: We find a certain Muirdeabhar, son of Cuanan, of the family of Irial, son of Conall Cearnach, and besides this note, enclosed in brackets: He it is who is called Muirdealach to the present day, and in Inishowen his church exists and his feast is celebrated: which note Reeves observes is to be referred to this latter Muirdeabhar, of whom I have not found mention elsewhere. And the region of Ui-Conaill-Gabhra, in which our Muirdebhar is indicated by the scholiast of Gorman to have lived, is called today the barony of Conello, in the county of Limerick, as learned recent Irish writers teach us [O'Donovan, Annals of the Four Masters, volume II, p. 855, note f; Hennessy, Annals of Loch Cé, volume II, p. 686.].

[3] On St. Corcunutan. At the name of Corcunutan the commentator of Oengus noted in the Leabhar Breac Place cited, note 6.: Namely in Daire Ednach in Eoganacht, that is, Daire-na-Flann, which is its plain name, and in similar words the scholiast of Gorman, and according to him the compilers of the Martyrology of Donegal: of Doire-Eidhneach, that is, of Doire-na-Fflann, in Eoghanacht Chaisil, which place is now called in English Derrynavlan or Derryniflyn, in the barony of Slievardagh, county of Tipperary, as J. O'Donovan Annals of the Four Masters, volume I, p. 404, note h. and W. Reeves Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, p. 18. indicate. Colgan suspects that mention is held of our Corcunutan or of another, who is venerated on the 7th day of January, in the Seventh or Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, chapter 32, where these things are read: And in the aforesaid church (Kill-fhacla, that is, Church of the tooth) … by the master's permission there remained four of the disciples of St. Patrick, CURCNEUS, Loscanus, Cailech and Beonanus Trias Thaumaturga, p. 156.. On which place Colgan notes Ibid., p. 186, note 59.: Of these nothing occurs for me to bring forward unless I turn aside to conjectures, which must be used sparingly and cautiously, by searching out another reading in the depraved names. If in place of CURCNEUS one should read, as one easily may, CORCANUS or CORCNATANUS, St. Corcnanus is venerated on the 7th of January, and another CORCANUS, surnamed the Pilgrim, on the 3rd of November in the church of Dorenabstann in Munster. Certainly the name of Corcnutan occurs in the Litanies of Oengus [On which see Eugene O'Curry, Lectures on the manuscript materials, etc., pp. 380–382.], where among other invocations this is read: The holy Roman pilgrims, who, brought in a hundred and fifty boats or skiffs, accompanied Saints Elias, Natalis, Neman and CORCNUTAN, I invoke to my aid In Colgan, Acts of the Saints of Ireland, p. 539, note 11.. To some St. Corcan or Corcunutan too W. Reeves timidly conjectures should perhaps be referred the Church of St. Korcany in the ancient diocese of Down and the church that was called Templecrone in the parish of Grey Abbey (Barony of Lower Ards, County Down) Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, p. 18.. More about St. Corcunutan I have not been able to find.

[4] Of St. Coeman Somewhat better known is St. Coeman On which name compare what was said above, p. 340, number 7.. Of whom a note on Oengus in the Leabhar Breac W. Stokes, Calendar of Oengus, p. CLXVIII.: That is, Coeman of Enach Truimm in Lagisia (Leix) of Leinster, brother of Coemgen of Glendalough, whose father was called Coemlog, and his mother Coemgel; and they had a brother Natcaim of Tir-da-glas. The scholiast also of Gorman notes these things at the name of Coeman: Of Enach Truim in Laioghis in the western part of Leinster, brother of Caoimgen of Glenn da loch Brussels codex 5100, fol. 118r.. Which note the compilers of the Martyrology of Donegal copied, inserting however these things between the words of Leinster and brother: He was of the family of Labhradh Lorc, king of Ireland.

[5] paternal and maternal family The paternal family, and likewise the maternal, of St. Coeman, ascending through common grandfathers to the remotest times, is displayed in a double genealogical stemma, by which the origins of certain more celebrated tribes of Leinster are demonstrated [Shearman, Loca Patriciana, table 1 (p. 16) and table 2 (p. 24). Compare above, page 345, number 11.]; whence that genealogy of our saint is made up:

[6] at what time he lived. At what time Coeman lived may be gathered from his synchronism with other saints. For Coemghen, his brother Compare above, numbers 4, 5, and below, number 8., is read to have died in the year 617 Annals of the Four Masters, at this year.; Columba of Tir-da-glas, whom he had as master Compare the next number., in the year 548 Annals of the Four Masters.; Fintan of Cluain Eidhnach, with whom he lived at Columba's, in the year 634 Ibid.; and finally Mochoemoc or Pulcherius, who handed over the monastery of Enach-Truim to Coeman Compare below, numbers 10–12., in the year 655 Annals of the Four Masters.. From these, then, it is beyond doubt that our Coeman flourished in the latter part of the sixth century and the former part of the seventh. Indeed, if you attend to the year of Columba's death, you will hardly judge that Coeman was born later than about the year 525.

[7] He was a disciple of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas, We have said that St. Coeman together with St. Fintan was a disciple of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas and received the monastery of Enach-Truim from St. Mochoemoc. The first is shown by the Life of St. Fintan published by Colgan from the Kilkenny codex and among the Acts of the Saints of Ireland from the Salamanca Codex, quite recently published at Bruges by the zeal and at the expense of the most excellent John Patrick, Marquess of Bute, in which one reads in chapter 3: And there were together with him (Columba) those three, namely Keman of Enig Truim, and Fintan maccu Echtach and Mochuimi of Tir-da-glas [Acts of the Saints of Ireland from the Salamanca Codex, p. 290; compare Colgan, Acts of the Saints of Ireland, p. 350.]; and similarly the Life of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas, now first published from the Salamanca Codex, chapter 13: After these things, the fame of St. Columba being spread abroad on all sides, those three disciples joined themselves to him, namely Fintan maccu Echdach and Coiman of Enich Truim and Mocuimi of Tire-da-glass Ibid., p. 451.. This last is the same as Naithcaemius, another brother of St. Coeman Compare above, numbers 4, 5., if it is right to believe Oengus as cited in Colgan, where he is said to have written in book IV of his work, chapter 9: Coemella, daughter of Kinnfinnan, son of Kescus, son of Lugna, was the mother of Saints Coemgin, Coeman Santlebhan of Airdne, and Nathcoemius, also called Mochoeminus, of Tir-da-glas, and of St. Coemoca Acts of the Saints of Ireland, p. 586, note 4..

[8] brother of St. Coemghen. But here we must meet in passing a singular opinion of Lanigan, who says that from the testimonies cited in the preceding number it is manifest that St. Coeman of Enach-Truim was not a brother of St. Coemghen Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, volume II, p. 224, note 142.. For from the last of them it is held that St. Naithcaimius was a brother of St. Coemghen: whence it would also have to be gathered that he was a brother of St. Coeman too. Now (so Lanigan), while the writer of the Life of St. Fintan reports that Coeman of Enach-Truim and Mocumin or Naithcaimius of Tir-da-glas were disciples of St. Columba, he by no means records that they were brothers, which he surely would not have omitted if they truly had been. By this negative argument alone Lanigan thinks that what he calls Colgan's opinion of the kinship of Saints Coemghen and Coeman of Enach-Truim is sufficiently refuted, not knowing, as it seems, that that opinion rests on so many explicit testimonies, such as we have brought forward above Numbers 4, 5..

[9] By St. Mochemoc or Pulcherius With like rashness Lanigan rejects Place cited, note 143. what is read of the foundation of the monastery of Enach-Truim by St. Mochemoc or Pulcherius and its handing over by that same saint to St. Coeman in the Life of St. Pulcherius, chapter 12, namely: St. Pulcherius too came with his monks to a place named Enachtrum, which is on the mountain of Bladhma in the region of the Leinstermen, and began to build a cell there. A certain secular man came to him saying: Do not labour here in vain: for this place will not be yours. St. Pulcherius said to him: Here I shall now remain until someone, dragging my hand, should hold me to expel me by force. Then he took hold of the hand of the man of God, wishing to expel him. St. Pulcherius said to him: By what name are you called, O man? He said: Bronach is my name; which is said in Latin tristis (sad). The holy man said to him: You have a name that suits you: for here and in the future you will be sad. You will now be expelled from here by God's will, and your generation, by the leader of this region. But I shall be in this place until a man of God, Coemhan by name, comes to me, to whom I shall leave this place; who will be surnamed from this place, whose resurrection will be here. That man, hearing such a prophecy, and knowing his guilt against the leader, withdrew in anger without penance after the injury done: and at once all that the holy man had foretold happened to him. And when blessed Coemhan had come there to St. Pulcherius, he left that place to him: who remained there in great holiness until his death. And St. Pulcherius went on to the region of Munster Colgan, Acts of the Saints of Ireland, p. 590..

[10] the monastery of Enach-Truim These things according to Lanigan cannot be admitted, because in the Life of Fintan which Colgan published, chapter 3, where the three disciples of St. Columba of Tir-da-glas are listed Compare above, number 7, middle., Coeman is said to have been the holy father of the monastery of Enach-Truim, which words seem altogether to indicate the first founder of the monastery. But it must first be observed that these words are not read in the text of the Salamanca Codex Cited ibid., whence one may conjecture that they were interpolated into this text. Further, whether the original writer or some interpolator inserted them, he could easily call father or founder of the monastery the one who in actual fact gathered and established there the community of monks that was to persist afterwards, passing over Pulcherius, who indeed first built it, but shortly after handed it to another, migrating elsewhere himself with his disciples. There is no reason, then, why by so light an argument we should contradict the explicit testimony of the writer of the Life of St. Pulcherius.

[11] he received Yet some difficulty is caused by what Lanigan adds by way of confirmation for his opinion, namely that the age of Pulcherius can hardly be reconciled with the age of Coeman. For Pulcherius is read in the Annals to have died in the year 655, and Columba, Coeman's master, in the year 548 Compare above, number 6. (where indeed Lanigan seemed to himself to detect some slight error in the Annals, binding Columba's death to the year 552 Volume II, p. 75, note 236., which matters little to our subject): whence, as we have said, Coeman's birth can scarcely be put off beyond the year 525 or 530. Yet on the other side it must also be noted that Pulcherius was educated up to his twentieth year of age with his aunt St. Itta Life of St. Pulcherius, chapter 8 (Acts of the Saints of Ireland, p. 590).; and she, according to the Irish Annals, died in the year 569 Annals of the Four Masters, at this year.. So Pulcherius was born before the year 550. Note further from the sequence of the narrative in his Life that the building of the cell at Enach-Truim was the first act of his, if one may so speak, public life. He could, then, while not much advanced in age, hand over that monastery to Coeman, somewhat his senior. What Lanigan says, that Coeman probably went to the monastery of Enach-Truim shortly after the death of his master Columba, is mere conjecture, resting on no testimony. All this may be said, not that I would defend as irrefragable the authority of the anonymous writer of the Life of Pulcherius, or even of the Irish Annals in defining the several years of the several events [Compare J. O'Donovan in the Introduction to his edition of the Annals of the Four Masters (volume I), pp. xlii–xlv.], but that the testimonies of those documents, by which almost alone the history of ancient Ireland is somewhat illuminated, may not be allowed to be uprooted by too uncertain conjectures.

[12] and he seems to have ruled until his death. From the testimony cited above Number 9. of the Life of Pulcherius it is gathered that Coeman lived holily in that monastery of Enach-Truim until his death, and founded no others, as it seems. That place is today called Annatrim and is situated in the ancient barony of Upper Ossory Statistical Survey, etc. (1801), p. 205., in the southern part, from which more recently the barony of Glandonagh was constituted, in the Queen's County *.

* or Trian.

* Queen's County