ON ST. LASRIUS OR LASRIANUS OF DRUMLIAG, CONFESSOR, IN IRELAND,
BEFORE THE YEAR DC.
SYLLOGE.
Lasrius or Lasrianus, at Drum-Liag in Ireland. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
Sole §. The praise of St. Lasrius and his conversation with St. Ita the virgin. His age and dwelling.
Lasriu mac Coluim, that is Lasrius son of Columba, [St. Lasrius or Lasrianus visits St. Ida and is excellently praised by her. At which time] is read on this day in the Martyrology of Tallaght; where in that of Donegal there is added "of Druim-liag." Of him similarly Marianus Gorman and the augmented Aengus make mention Compare Colgan, Acta SS., page 72, n. 26.. Further, in the Life of St. Ita or Mida, virgin and abbess, which Bolland and after him Colgan published at the 15th day of January, these things are read Ibid., page 70, ch. 28.: "At another time St. Luchtigern and St. Lasrean, abbots, said to one another: Let us go to visit the handmaid
of God, St. Ita. Then a certain young man said to them foolishly and unwisely: What is it to you, wise and holy men, to go to that aged old woman? The saints rebuked him and said to him: You have spoken ill, brother. For already the prophetess of the Lord will know what you have said. Then the saints went on to St. Ita, leading that youth with them. Coming to the door of the monastery, the virgins recognized St. Luchtigern; because he frequently visited Bl. Ita, and entering they announced it to the spouse of Christ, saying: The day is good for us today, because St. Luchtigern is visiting you today. The holy mother answered them: Not less before God is he who comes with him, that is St. Lasarean, son of Colman, whom you have not greeted, because you have not known him. For through the Spirit St. Ita knew by name and merit him whom she had never seen. And as they came to Bl. Ita, that she might bless them, at once the handmaid of God said to that aforesaid youth: Why have you come to an aged old woman, when you said, what profit was it for saints to come to me? Then he did penance; the saints asking on his behalf, and remaining there happily for three days, having received leave and blessing from the most holy Ita, they returned to their own." On which Colgan remarks Compare Colgan, Acta SS., p. 72, n. 26. that the speech here is of St. Lazarenus, abbot of Druimliag; of whom Marianus and the augmented Aengus at the 25th of October. By whom he is called son of Columbus, but here son of Colman, which is the same: for Colman is a diminutive from Columba, and the same as Columbinus or Columbanus. To these things I should wish to add nothing, except that St. Ita departed to the heavens in the year 570 Compare Lanigan, Eccles. hist. of Ireland, vol. II, page 89. and that her biographer conversed with her In Colgan, page 68, ch. 17.; so that, when about the year 600 he wrote her Life (for he does not seem to have done so later), St. Lasrianus had already met his day and was called a saint.
[2] And in what place he lived. Further, St. Lasrius or Lasrianus met St. Ita in the western part of Hy-Conaill, which is now about represented by the barony of Connello or Connillo in the county of Limerick; where at the foot of the mountains of Luachra the most holy virgin had her monastery, called Cluain-Credhuil. There, however, St. Lasrius does not seem to have been accustomed to live, but, if Lanigan is heeded, a little more to the west, namely in the county of Kerry, near the stream Feal, which glides past Listowel in the barony of Iraghticonnor. For Druimliag seems to him the same as Drumlegagh; where there was once a great forest, through which that same stream ran Lanigan, in the volume cited, page 89, n. 20.. But William Reeves, whose diligence I have often praised already, suggests to me that it is rather Drumaleague, the same, if I am not mistaken, as the parish of Dromdaleague or Drimoleague Compare Lewis, topograph. Dictionary of Ireland. in the barony of West Carbery, in the county of Cork, in the province of Munster. No other memories of St. Lasrius or Lasrianus of Drumliag seem to survive. Of St. Luchtigern our predecessors spoke among those passed over at the 28th day of April. We have nothing worth the trouble to add there.