ON SS. FINTAN CORACH AND FINTAN MOELDUBH, BISHOP OF CLONFERT AND ABBOT IN CLONENAGH, IN IRELAND,
AT THE END OF THE 6TH CENTURY AND IN THE YEAR 625.
HISTORICAL COLLECTION.
The age of each St. Fintan, the offices, and the places which they are reported to have inhabited.
Fintan Corach, confessor, in Ireland (S.)
Fintan Moeldubh, confessor, in Ireland (S.)
V. D. B.
Why both St. Fintans are treated on this day. The memory of St. Fintan Corach is celebrated in all the ancient Festilogies at the 21st day of February; at which Colgan Vitae SS. Hiberniae, vol. I, p. 385. gave a Collection about him. And since he had said there that it could be that St. Fintan Corach was one and the same as St. Fintan Moeldubh, who is venerated on the 20th day of October, our predecessors omitted to treat of St. Fintan Corach at the 21st day of February, and judged that what was found about each Fintan should be deferred to the present day Compare Acta SS., vol. III of February, p. 235.: wherefore this task now awaits us; which we shall try to arrange so as first to relate the deeds attributed to one or the other, and then to consider whether they are to be confused into one man.
[2] St. Fintan Moeldubh succeeds St. Fintan son of Gabhren Let us make our beginning from St. Fintan Moeldubh, because more certain things are narrated of him. Colgan At the 17th of February, vol. I, p. 356., weaving a catalogue of the abbots of the monastery of Cluain-edhnech, presents this: St. Columba, son of Crimthann, first abbot of Cluain-edhnech and afterwards first abbot of Tyrrdaglas, died in the year 548. — St. Fintan, son of Gabhren, abbot of Cluain-edhnech, flourished in the year 560 and died on the 17th of February. — St. Fintan, surnamed Moeldubius, abbot of Cluain-eidhnech, died in the year 625. — St. Fintan, surnamed Corach, bishop of Cluain-fert and abbot of Cluain-eidnech, 21st of February. — St. Munna, son of Tulchan, who is also called Fintan, bishop and abbot of Cluain-edhnech, died in the year 634, on the 21st of October. According to this chronology, then, St. Fintan Moeldubh succeeded St. Fintan the son of Gabhren: and indeed rightly, since in the Life of the latter [Acta SS., vol. III of February, p. 20, no. 26; Acta SS. Hiberniae, vol. I, p. 353, no. 54.] it is read at the end: When, therefore, his departure had come, he called his people to him, knowing the day of his death; and with the leave and blessing of the brethren and of the saints who had assembled to visit the holy father himself, he appointed after him in his place and in his seat a man noble in birth and in manners, Fintan Maeldubhius, named by the same name.
[3] in administering the monastery of Clonenagh, and he dies in the year 625. Before we proceed further, however, our footsteps seem to need retracing for a while. The monastery of Cluain-edhnech is also called Cluain-ednach, Cluainenagh and commonly Clonenagh. It was situated in the barony of Maryborough, in Queen's County, in Leinster; in the year 938 it was laid waste by the Danes, and then often restored and again suffered many injuries; and even now the catholic parish retains the title of the abbey [Compare Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, vol. II, pp. 62 and 64, vol. III, p. 374 and following; Lewis, Topographical dictionary of Ireland, under Clonenagh; Carlisle, Topographical dictionary of Ireland, under Clonenagh.]. When, however, St. Fintan Moeldubh was made abbot there can be drawn from the time of the death of his predecessor St. Fintan son of Gabhren, who seems to have died before St. Columba, abbot of Iona [Compare Colgan, vol. I, p. 355, no. 26; Acta SS., vol. III of February, p. 16, no. 5; Lanigan, vol. II, pp. 245 and 247.], that is, before 597 Vol. I, p. 355, no. 27.. Colgan, following the Chronicle of Cluain, consigns the death of St. Fintan Moeldubh to the year 625. Lanigan Vol. II, p. 231 and following chastises Archdall, who in these matters strays very far from the truth and confuses many things with one another; but it will suffice for us to have warned the reader that he must beware of that writer where he discourses of the monastery of Cluain-edhnech.
[4] He seems to have been the master of St. Fechin The remaining things that are known of St. Fintan Moeldubh are drawn from the Irish Martyrologies. The transcript of the Martyrology of Donegal which is preserved in the royal or Burgundian library of Brussels makes him the son of Amalgadius. Marianus and the augmented Aengus In Colgan, vol. I, p. 355, no. 27. write that he was born in the province of Momonia (Munster); the Martyrology of Cashel Ibid., in the place cited determines the place more, relating that he was of the region of Eoghanacht Cassil; which place Lanigan Vol. II, p. 231. locates in the neighbourhood of the archiepiscopal city of Cashel to the north. The same Martyrology of Cashel testifies that he was the instructor of St. Fechin, namely the abbot of Fovar; which agrees well enough with the earlier Life of St. Fechin, in which this Saint is read first to have been given to St. Nathineus to be instructed, and further below In Colgan at the 20th of January, vol. I, p. 130.: After this the boy of good disposition, inspired with the desire of learning, came to another holy man. And when the same man of God had exulted at the coming of so great a disciple, and wished to prove him in the service of humility, he committed to him the care of a certain grassy field, to keep it untouched by animals. Since St. Aengus augmented and the Martyrology of Cashel make St. Fechin a disciple of St. Kyeran of Cluain, Colgan judges Ibid., vol. I, p. 140, no. 8. that in the recited passage of the Life St. Kyeran is meant, although it follows from this that St. Fechin reached the 130th year of age. But Lanigan with full right explodes this fable Vol. III, p. 46.; to whom it seems much more probable that St. Fintan Moeldubh was the second master of St. Fechin. More of his deeds I do not find.
[5] [he is venerated on the 20th day of October at Dermach in the region of Yduach, whose site is investigated.] His natal day, says Colgan Vol. I, p. 355, no. 27., is celebrated in the church of Dermagh in the region of Yduach on the 20th of October according to St. Aengus, Marianus, the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Calendar of Cashel. Elsewhere Vol. I, p. 359, no. 14. the same Colgan distinguishes three churches of Dermagh: one situated in Arteach, a region of Connacht, and called Dermaigia of Cuil-chaouna, of which mention is made in the Acts of St. Cormac, bishop of Athtrum and then of Armagh Ibid., in the place cited; the second in Leinster, in the region of Fera-keall, that is, in the borders of southern Meath and King's County and the baronies of Moycashel and Ballincowen, formerly called Dermagh, Dairmagh, by the English Durogh Ibid., vol. II, p. 506., Durrow or Dervagh Lewis and Carlisle, under Durrow., and the abbey
founded by St. Columba [Compare Colgan, vol. II, p. 506 and following, and Acta SS., vol. II of June, pp. 183, 201 and following], most celebrated; the third in the region of Yduach, in which St. Fintan Moeldubh is read to have been venerated. Yduach, moreover, which is also written Hiduach by Colgan, seems to be Idogh; which region I find marked in the old geographical Maps which the Amsterdam printer Bleau inserted into Camden's description of Ireland Compare p. 15 and following, the Maps of Leinster and of the Barony of Idrone.; and it corresponds to that part of County Carlow which we now call Idrone West. This agrees with what the Donegal transcript and Colgan have Vol. I, p. 355, establishing Hiduach in northern Ostrigia (that is, Ossory [Beauford, Ancient topography of Ireland, in Vallancey, Collectanea de rebus Hibernicis, vol. III, p. 403; Thomas de Burgo, Hibernia Dominicana, p. 297, n. f.]). Nevertheless it must be admitted that the place Dermagh does not meet me in this part in the Maps of Lewis, Gough, Blaeu and the illustrious Mr. Vander Maelen, since perhaps Dermagh is now some very small village. Wherefore I leave the site of Dermagh to be determined more accurately by the countrymen of St. Fintan Moeldubh.
[7] [From the Festilogies Colgan seems to have deduced not quite rightly that St. Fintan Corach presided over Leamchuill, a place uncertain,] What is handed down, however, of St. Fintan Corach is almost all drawn from what the Irish Festilogies have at the 21st day of February; which it will therefore help to have set out first. St. Aengus, then, at this day: The solemnity of Fintan, after contempt of the world; the Martyrology of Tallaght: Of Fintan Corach in Lemchuill or Cluaineidhnech; the Calendar of Cashel: Fintan Corach rests in Leamchuill between Hyduach and Laigis, or in Cluainaitchin, or in Cluainferta of Brendan. He is called Corach, moreover, because, about to go on pilgrimage, he gave sponsors that he would return either alive or dead; Marianus Gormannus: Fintan Corach, bishop of Cluanferta of Brendan; he is also in Cluaineidhnech; the Martyrology of Donegal uses the same words: all of which Colgan collected Vol. I, p. 385, no. 14., deducing from this that St. Fintan Corach ruled all the churches in which these martyrological memorials report him to rest or to be. See how he begins: St. Fintan, surnamed Corach, is mentioned here and there by the native hagiographers: and although none, so far as it has been possible to see, has produced Acts, yet many relate in a few words such things about him as indicate sufficiently that he was a man renowned for grave functions and eminent sanctity of life: for he is read to have exercised the care of souls for many years not only in the office of abbot but also in the pontifical dignity, and to have ruled several churches in succession. But let the reader receive these things as to be said in turn. The first, so Colgan continues, was the church of Leamchuill in Leinster, situated on the borders of the regions of Laigis and Hui-duach; which assertion is drawn from the Calendars of Cashel and of Tallaght, relating that he rests either in Leamchuill or elsewhere: that this conclusion was admitted by the learned Lanigan Vol. II, p. 303. is with full right to be wondered at, while certainly Cathal Maguire, three centuries earlier W. Nicolson, Irish Historical Library, p. 37 and following, understood the word "rest" or "be" of relics Compare Colgan, vol. I, p. 385, no. 14.. I wonder besides that at the 16th day of November there appears in Colgan Vol. I, p. 355, chapter I. a St. Fintan of Leamchuill, who is presented as another; so that, when I see the Martyrologists assigning the body of St. Fintan Corach now to one, now to another place, it comes into my mind that many things are proclaimed of him which belong to other Fintans. However that may be, Leamchuill was formerly an episcopal see, since formerly on the 13th day of January St. Conannus or Mochonna, bishop of Lemchall, was venerated Ibid., p. 60, no. 2.; but about its site various opinions are carried about. Archdall places it in that southern part of Queen's County which borders on the barony of Fassaghdining in County Kilkenny Compare Lanigan, vol. II, p. 305.; whence it would be very near the former monastery of St. Columba at Dermagh, now called Durrow; of which we said a word at number 5. Carlisle, on the contrary Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, under Leamchuill., assigns its site in the northern part of Queen's County, namely in the barony of Portnehinch; Lewis was pleased to leave this place untouched. Nor are we equal to defining its site accurately. From the Calendar of Cashel it must be held that Leamchuil lay between Hyduach and Laighis. Hyduach, or Idog, we have said agrees with the present Idrone West, while Laighis, or Hy-laoighis or Hy-leagh W. Beauford, work cited, p. 365., comprised King's County, Leix, that is, the southern part of Queen's County, and some other territories not relevant here: so that Leamchuill must have lain in Slieumargue, now belonging to Queen's County, between the streams Douglas and Barrow and the Comer mountains; which opinion comes very near to Archdall's assertion, since Fassaghdining lies next to Slieumargue.
[7] likewise over the monastery of Clonenagh; this Saint was bishop of Clonfert; The second church which, according to Colgan Vol. I, p. 385., St. Fintan Corach ruled is the noble monastery of Cluain-ednech, lying in the region of the aforesaid Laigis: in which it is established that he either spent his life or lay after death; although it is established that several other prelates of the same name and of no unequal sanctity also flourished there. And Colgan thinks that this again can be drawn out by him from Marianus Gormannus and from the Martyrologies of Donegal and Tallaght adduced at number 7: whether these things follow from them, let the reader consider from the documents themselves. Of the monastery of Cluain-ednech, now commonly Clonenagh, it was spoken at number 3. The third church which Colgan reports was administered by St. Fintan Corach Ibid., in the place cited was the church of Cluainferta in Connacht; in which there were from the first foundation two offices, namely of abbot and of bishop: both of which he is read to have discharged. Which things are gathered from the ancient Scholia on the Festilogy of St. Aengus, in which at the 21st day of February is read Compare Colgan, vol. I, p. 385, no. 7.: Fintan Corach, Senach Garbh and Colman the friendly, son of Congell, were three Black Lords, succeeding successively one after the other in the same abbey. That the Black Lords were Benedictines (as Colgan suggests) Lanigan with full right explodes Vol. II, p. 306, n. 22., since nothing is more certain than that the Benedictines were introduced into Ireland much later. That the abbey which is recorded here is Cluainferta, or Clonfert, is clear first from the Annals of the Four Masters Compare Colgan, vol. I, p. 385, no. 6.: In the year 620 Senach, surnamed Garbh, abbot of Cluanferta of Brenaind, died; then from Marianus Gormannus, who calls St. Fintan Corach bishop of Cluanferta of Brendan Compare above, n. 7.; and this is perhaps the only notice we have of St. Fintan Corach that can be approved. Further, Clonfert in Connacht is even now an episcopal see.
[8] it is doubtful whether he dwelt in Cluainaitchin, a place uncertain; Others too indicate a fourth church, says Colgan Vol. I, p. 385., namely that of Cluainaitchin in Laigis, founded or administered by him: on which words Lanigan observes Vol. II, p. 306, n. 18. that he vehemently suspects that Cluainaitchin and Cluainedhnech (Clonenagh) are confused with each other; for the Calendar of Cashel, which thrusts the former upon us, omits the residence in Cluainedhnech; and conversely most of those which announce the latter do not know Cluainaitchin: and indeed, if you admit that the church of Cluainaitchin was ruled by St. Fintan Corach, but not the church of Cluainedhnech, the chronology will run more easily; for otherwise how can these be reconciled with each other: that St. Fintan Moeldubh, who died in the year 626, preceded St. Fintan Corach in administering Cluainedhnech: and that the same St. Fintan Corach preceded in the see of Clonfert St. Senach Garbh, who died in the year 620? According to this observation St. Fintan Corach must be struck out of the catalogue of the abbots of Cluainednech recited at number 2, and the conjecture of Colgan becomes little probable Vol. I, p. 385., who believes that St. Fintan Corach either, having resigned the care of Cluainaitchin, returned to the monastery of Cluainedhnech according to his promises (as the Calendar of Cashel suggests), or at least was buried there. Further, that Cluainaitchin was situated in Laigis is taught by Cathal Maguire Compare Colgan, vol. I, p. 385, no. 14.; but where in the world you will seek in vain. For the rest, let the reader see again whether from the fact that St. Fintan is said to rest in Cluainaitchin, as in many other places, it can be gathered that this church was administered by him.
[9] many other uncertain things are reported of him. Colgan relates from St. Aengus Ibid., n. 12. that Fintan Corach lived a hundred and thirty-five years, continually singing psalms at the edge of a spring. But whether these hundred and thirty years ascribed to St. Fintan Corach are more to be approved than the same age attributed to St. Fechin, I vehemently doubt. And since, as we saw at number 7, he is reported to have preceded St. Senach Garbh, who passed to those above in the year 620, Colgan gathered from this Ibid., p. 385. that he flourished at the end of the 6th century; nor is there reason for us to dissent. Of the surname Corach Colgan warns this too: The word Corach, he says, in the native idiom denotes several things under different respects, signifying now changeable, now sponsor, now singer or modulator. Whence, either because he often changed the place of his residence and government, or because in the manner already mentioned he promised that he would return to his former place; or because he changed the mode of psalmody or of rendering the divine praises customary to the early monks and introduced a new mode of singing, as Maguire doubtfully indicates at the 21st day of February Ibid., n. 11., or moreover because the shrines in which his relics lie were seen to move miraculously, as the same Maguire suggests Ibid., n. 14.. And that these things are recited by me rather so that the reader may know what has been written about St. Fintan Corach than that he should count them among historical facts, it is scarcely worth while to warn.
[10] St. Fintan Corach and St. Fintan Moeldubh are different. Further, it remains to consider what we were asking at the beginning, whether St. Fintan Corach and St. Fintan Moeldubh are one and the same Saint. The most learned Lanigan Vol. II, p. 305, n. 17. openly denies it, since the one is venerated on the 21st day of February, the other on the 20th of October; which argument is surely of the greatest weight. Add that the surnames Moeldubh and Corach are most diverse. But that
the same Saint, says Colgan Vol. I, p. 385, no. 3., is sufficiently indicated by the same place, the same name and the same time, the reader surely remembers that it is very doubtful whether St. Fintan Corach lived in Cluainedhnech; then that the one died in the year 625, the other long before; and finally that the name Fintan was very common among the Irish, so that Colgan himself Vol. I, p. 355. wove a catalogue of twenty-four Saints who had the name Fintan.