ON SS. ABBAN OF KILLABBAN AND ABBAN OF MAGHARNUIDHE, ABBOTS IN IRELAND,
AT THE END OF THE 5TH AND 6TH CENTURIES.
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
Abban of Killabban in Ireland. (S.)
Abban of Magharnudhe in Ireland. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
§ I. The distinction between two SS. Abban, confused into one by the biographer. The genealogy of each.
The name of St. Abban comes among the most celebrated of Ireland, but beset on all sides with the thorns of difficulties; [There were two SS. Abban in Ireland, as is established from two bodies, one preserved at Killabban in northern Leinster, the other at Magharnuidhe in southern Leinster;] since (this is my firm persuasion) two Abbans, who had different times of life, different arenas of labours, different birthdays or days of cult, and finally different tombs, have been confused into one: so that all that belongs to several is attributed to one, whose age is prolonged to three hundred and more years. Let us begin by distinguishing these (as far as may be possible). First of all from the Life itself, to be edited below, it is clearly established that in the biographer's age there were preserved the bodies of two SS. Abban, one at Magharnuidhe near New Ross in the county of Wexford, in the southern quarter of Leinster; the other at Killabban in Meath or the northern part of Leinster. And if there are two bodies, there must by all means have been two Abbans. For at the end of the Life, where the death of St. Abban is narrated, his disciples are brought in, some from Killabban or northern Leinster, others from Magharnuidhe or southern Leinster, contending about the remains of their blessed master: which, placed on a waggon, were entrusted to two yoke of oxen. But a great miracle, says the biographer, number 46, was then performed by God through the merits of his saint. For behold, swiftly two oxen with a waggon and BODY went on to the NORTHERN people, and two oxen of the same colour and size with a like waggon and BODY came to the SOUTHERN people. And all who were ill with various sicknesses in the CITIES were brought to the relics and all were healed. And the relics themselves were honourably buried with due honour in hymns and praises after the solemnities of Mass. What clearer thing can be asked for establishing that there existed two bodies which were called St. Abban's? These indeed are claimed to have been of one man, and a prodigious multiplication is said to have intervened. But prodigies are not to be admitted, unless they rest on firm authority: which praise the biographer does not have, who will have thought up this multiplication, in order by it to reconcile the existence of two bodies with the celebrity of one St. Abban.
[2] [likewise from the times of death, one St. Abban being taken from the living at the end of the 5th century, the other at the end of the 6th;] After this conclusive argument, others have only the force of confirming or explaining. However that may be, in the second place it is to be observed that if one Abban is admitted, he must have lived more than three hundred years. This morsel indeed the stomach of Colgan does not shrink from, prepared to admit and defend all incredible things in the Irish saints; but who more prudent would in this matter follow the archaeologist, in so many other respects most praised? But all flows easily, if we lay down one St. Abban, presbyter, who ended his life at the end of the 5th century, and another who flourished a whole century after and went away to the heavenly homeland. For the rest, what belongs to each we shall try to define below. Both SS. Abban also seem to have laboured in distinct places; although there is so great a confusion of things that scarcely anything can be discerned.
[3] [likewise from two festivals, one on the 16th day of March, the other on the 27th of October,] But that two SS. Abban likewise existed is suggested by the hagiologies, in which the feast of St. Abban is announced now on the 16th day of March, now on the 27th of October. At the former day is read in the Martyrology of Tallaght: Of Abban, son of Hua Corbmaic; in the Festilogy of St. Aengus: Angelic Abban, golden branch; in the Calendar of Cashel: Abban, son of Hua Cormaidhe; in the Martyrology of Marianus Gorman: St. Abban, son of Hua Corbmaic, in Maghardnuidhe, in Hi Kenselach; and of Kill-Abbain in Hi Muiredhuigh; in the scholia to the Fasti of St. Aengus, or in the Aengus enlarged by Cathal Maguire: The feast of the death or deposition of St. Abban, grandson of Corbmac, sprung from the people of Leinster: he rests in Magharnuidhe, in the region of Hi-Kenselach; and in Kill-Abbain, in Hi Muiredhaich; he lived in the flesh three hundred and seventeen years In Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 624.; finally in the Donegal one of O'Clery Todd and Reeves, Martyrologium Dungallense, page 77.. Abban son of Ua Corbmaic, of Magharnaidhe in Ui-Cennsealaigh, in Leinster; and of Kill-Abbain in Ui-Muireadhaigh in Leinster. He was sprung from the race of Labhraidh, son of Ugaine Mor. At the 27th day of October in that of Tallaght St. Abban is praised in the same words as at the 16th of March; in that of Cashel he is not called simply son of Hua Cormaidhe, but son of Hua Corbmaic, of Kill-Abbain. In the Festilogy St. Aengus calls him Abban, abbot of many monks,
and in the metrical Calendar of the patrons of Ireland Matt. Kelly, Martyrology of Tallagh, page 161. Abban the noble and popular abbot. Thus of him Maguire: Abban of Kill-Abbain in Hi Muredhuich and of Magharnuidhe in Hi Kenselaich; or his church is in northern Ely. This is the feast of his birth and he is the son of Hua Corbmaic. O'Clery omits him at this day in the Donegal Martyrology. The Salisbury Martyrology, turned into English and printed at London in the year 1526, follows the Acts of St. Abban in these words: The feast of St. Abban, a king's son, from Ireland: who, repudiating all the pomp of the world, entered religion, in which he lived so holily that he cured lepers, the lame, the blind and the deaf, and raised the dead: and among many other miracles was frequented by the visits of angels; and the day of his own death was revealed to him. The Carthusian Martyrology of Newport has the same, and in almost the same words In Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 624.. I omit Du Chastelain, Challoner and other more recent martyrologists and hagiographers, none of whom seems to have used great diligence on St. Abban.
[4] [both which days were days of death; for the former falls in the time of Lent, the latter has its authority from the biographer.] Further, when St. Aengus at the beginning of the 9th century collected his hagiological writings, it does not appear that two SS. Abban had already been confused into one; but when the Martyrology of Tallaght was made in the 12th century or even earlier, that confusion had already gained strength: which I think is not absent from the Martyrology of Cashel of the same age. But the two festivals, which persisted, remained as testimonies of the former distinction. It is true that very many saints are honoured on more days than one; but this is never done rashly and without reason. Maguire, a writer of the 15th century, suggests that on the 16th day of March the deposition or death of St. Abban is celebrated, and on the 27th of October his earthly birth. Certainly the Irish too have sometimes kept the memory of the birth of St. Columba Reeves, Life of St-Columba, page LXIX. (as formerly the Latin church the birth of St. Agnes, now changed into St. Agnes the second Binterim, Denkwürdigkeiten, volume V, part I, page 320., and almost the universal church celebrated the conception of St. John the Baptist); but Maguire's assertion is plainly unsound: it conflicts namely with the Life of St. Abban, in which the servant of God is asserted in the plainest words to have died on the 6th day before the Kalends of November. This latter day, then, was naturally a feast; nor could there be any cause why the 16th day of March should also be sacred, unless the other St. Abban had consecrated it by his death. For by virtue of canon LI of the council of Laodicea, on account of the Lenten fast, far from unnecessary solemnities being inserted in the month of March, feasts occurring at this time were rather formerly transferred to other months, other memorials being substituted Compare Martène, Ecclesiæ disciplina in divinis officiis, pages 170 and 563.. Thus in some places formerly the anniversary of the death of St. Benedict was celebrated with lesser pomp on the 21st of March, and with much greater solemnity that of his translation on the 11th of July; likewise less solemnly the deposition of St. Gregory on the 12th of March, with greater celebrity his ordination on the 3rd of September. And we still do not keep the death of St. Ambrose on the [ ] day of April, but his ordination on the 7th day of December. What of the fact that the feasts of SS. Amandus and Vedast, which ought to be held on the 6th day of February, were transferred to the 26th day of October Acta SS. volume XI of October, page 785., although only very rarely was the 6th day of February included in the time of Lent?
[5] [The Life of St. Abban of Magharnuidhe was written in the 7th century; but there were later mixed with it the deeds of St. Abban of Killabban and of Abban the British hermit.] Let this, then, be certain and manifest, that the names, deeds and cult of two Irish SS. Abban, one of Magharnuidhe, the other of Killabban, have been confused; indeed also (as we shall see in its place) of a third, British one. The Life of one was written by a nearly contemporary author, namely by the grandson of a man from the region of Ely, whom St. Abban had baptized. For at the end of number 24 it is read: And I, who have collected the Life of St. Abban, am the grandson of that son whom St. Abban baptized and about whom he prophesied. Which words, as Lanigan long since noticed Eccles. history of Ireland, volume III, page 15., are not those of this writer, to whom we owe the Life which alone now survives and is full of fables; but of an older one, who lit his way, when he was heaping together all that was going around about the SS. Abban, already long since confused into one by popular error, and disposing it into a certain body. And if it is asked of which of the two that older writer wrote the Life, of the one of Magharnuidhe or of Killabban, I shall answer confidently of the former; chiefly because he is said to have died at Magharnuidhe, and the fable of his double burial was invented in order to explain how it came about that the people of Killabban also boasted of his burial. And since this fable was without doubt absent from the earlier Life, it remains that the author of this earlier Life praised St. Abban of Magharnuidhe. Though his Life, then, existed, and no traces of the Life of the other appear, it does not however follow that he was far more celebrated; seeing that the one of Killabban so far overcame his celebrity that he was, not indeed substituted for him, but mixed with him and as it were confused with him; so that from celebrity no certain canon can be established by which each particular may be attributed to one or the other.
[6] The different things that of the father Now there come among these particulars in the first place what is handed down of the race of St. Abban. In all copies of the Life, namely, he is sprung from the illustrious race of the people of Leinster, namely from Dal-macchorb; whose father was called Cormac, who was king of the people of Leinster; and his mother was called Mella, who was the sister of Bishop Ibar. With which agrees what Ussher read in the Life of the same St. Ibar Britannicarum ecclesiarum antiquitates, page 507, edition of 1687.: St. Ibar, who is also Bishop Ivor, was born in the province of Ulster in Ireland of the father Lugna, the mother Daferia: who also bore to the same man Mella, later queen of the people of Leinster, married to King Cormac; who was father of St. Abban, confessor and abbot of the monastery of Magarnoide in the region of Kensellach. The people of Dal-macchorb (also Dal-maschorb, Dal-mescorb and Dalmesincorb) had their seat on the shore of the county of Wicklow [Compare O'Donovan, Miscellany of the Celtic society, page 31; Life of St. Kevin, number 1 in Acta SS. volume I of June, page 312.], at the northern borders of the county of Wexford; which people descended from Lughaidh Corb, fifth son of Daire Sirchreachtach [Compare O'Donovan, work cited, page 33; O'Flaherty, Ogygia, part III, chapter 67.]: of whom the old Irish fabled such glorious things that they ascribed to him the empire of the western parts of Europe In O'Donovan, work cited, page 15.. But that the race of St. Abban was most illustrious is manifest from this. That his father was not Cormac or Corbmac, son of Alild, who held the helm of Leinster from the year 526 to 535, Colgan contends. On whose authority, in place of Hua Cormaic, that is a descendant of Corbmac, the later biographer will have written Cormac or Corbmac: which error is certainly not to be wondered at. He judges therefore that Lugneus or Lagnenus was the genuine name of the father: for in the genealogical Sanctilogy, chapter XX, he says that St. Abban was son of Lagnenus, son of Cannechus, son of Lavradius son of Imchadius, Maguire interposes, son of Corbmac, son of Niadchorb, son of Cucorb, [who flourished in the 2nd century Compare Lanigan, Eccl. hist. of Ireland, volume III, page 17.], son of Modhcorb, son of Comchovar, king of Ireland In Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 626. about the time of the birth of Christ The Four Masters, at the year of the world 5192, volume I, page 91.; so that (as I note in passing) there are in this genealogical stemma gaps which do not allow the age of the father of St. Abban to be determined more nearly.
[7] and of the mother of St. Abban are reported, can perhaps be so explained In the little book on the maternal genealogy of the saints of Ireland, number 68, St. Aengus speaks of the mother of St. Abban, whom he calls not Mella, as the biographer does, but Caoinech Abbadh. Caoinech Abbadh, he says, daughter of Lugneus, was the mother of St. Blathus, son of Lugneus, who is called Abban. Colgan suggests Acta SS. Hib. page 626. that Caoinech Abbain be read, that is mourning Abban; by which surname it is signified that Mella mourned because her son was retained in the world by his father. But I would rather admit that she had two names than a twisting or explanation of words of this kind. Her parentage becomes better known from number 83 of the cited little book, where these things occur: Bronnfinna, surnamed Breac, daughter of Lugneus, sister of St. Ibar the bishop, was the mother of St. Senachus Garbh of Killmoir, and St. Miacha, and St. Tondenachus of Ross-Glasse and St. Lithgenius; whom Maguire wrongly makes brothers of St. Abban, who can only have been his cousins, and to whom he adds as though brothers SS. Damanus of Teagh-Damain in Hi-Crimthannain, Dumanus and Dabbanus. Maguire besides calls Mella the sister of St. Kevin, not of St. Ibar; which St. Kevin died on the 3rd day of June of the year 618 Compare Lanigan, Eccl. hist. of Ireland, volume II, page 44., born about the year 500 Ibid. page 49.. But Colgan contends that Maguire erred Acta SS. Hib. page 626..
[8] [that the one of Killabban may be said to have had as parents Lugneus and Caoinech Abbadh, sister of St. Ibar; and the one of Magharnuidhe Corbmac and Mella, sister of St. Kevin.] Nevertheless I do not know whether this judgement of Colgan will equally please all. It may happen that some archaeologists, seeing that the father of St. Abban is called by some Corbmac, by others Lugneus, and that his mother is said by some to be Mella, by others Caoinech Abbadh, now sister of St. Ibar, now of St. Kevin, may judge that the parents of two Abbans are signified. Nor shall I in any way resist this, provided that things are so ordered that the older Abban, and indeed the one of Killabban, be called the son of Lugneus and Caoinech Abbadh, sister of St. Ibar, born about the year 430, and the other or the one of Magharnuidhe the son of Corbmac and Mella, sister of St. Kevin, born about the year 520: which agree with the age of SS. Ibar and Kevin, and also of Lugneus and Corbmac, princes of the people of Leinster. In the Lives of SS. Abban and Ibar this one thing must be corrected, that Mella the mother be called the sister of St. Kevin in place of St. Ibar. If this stands, the genuine name of the older Abban, as is evident from St. Aengus, must have been Blathus. Abban, however, is without doubt a common name, and indeed a diminutive, signifying little abbot: which form was among the old Irish as full of love as of veneration.
§ II. The journeys of St. Abban of Killabban,
his disciples and his dealings with SS. Patrick the Elder and Finnian. The monasteries founded by both SS. Abban.
[St. Abban of Killabban makes a pilgrimage with 150 Celts and brings back as many Romans or Italians.] Similarly, if it is laid down that the son of Ua-Cormaic is other than the son of Cormac, to the same St. Abban of Killabban must be referred what is handed down in the Life about the threefold journey to Rome and about the hundred and fifty disciples: for all these things are proclaimed by St. Aengus, who wrote at the end of the 8th century, of St. Abban, son of Ua-Cormaic. Namely in the litanies, in which he embraced whole columns of saints, especially those on pilgrimage or foreigners, he invokes in these words the company of St. Abban, son of Ua Cormaic O'Curry, Lectures etc. pages 381, 382 and 615.: Three times fifty Gaels of Ireland, established in sacred orders and each following a severe institute of life, who in one column undertook a pilgrimage under Abban, son of Ua Cormaic, I invoke to my help through Jesus Christ. Which column could not be seen by Romans and Italians without many desiring to be joined to it. Of these St. Abban admitted a hundred and fifty; whom again St. Aengus calls on for help in these words Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 539.: The hundred and fifty holy Roman and Italian foreigners who accompanied St. Abban to Ireland, I invoke to my help through Jesus Christ. These pilgrimages in the Life to be edited are connected with the deeds of St. Ibar, who died about the year 500; so that on this head too these pilgrimages must be referred to the older St. Abban or the one of Killabban.
[10] he has dealings with St. Patrick the Elder and baptizes St. Finnian of Clonard. To the same St. Abban belongs the intercourse with St. Patrick the Elder, who seems to have died between the year 450 and 460. Similarly the baptism of St. Finnian, the most celebrated bishop and abbot of Clonard, whose death is set down at the year 548 by the Four Masters O'Donovan, The Four Masters, page 187. and who was brought to the sacred font about the year 460 In Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 365., certainly some time before the year 480. In his Life Ibid. page 393. these things are narrated: And when a son was born, the parents rejoiced, and sent him to be baptized to the holy bishop Fortchern, as far as the church of Roscur. And the women make the journey; and unexpectedly St. Abban the presbyter meets them. And when the holy man asked them where they were going; the women answered saying: "We are going on to the holy bishop Fortchern, for the sake of baptizing this boy." The venerable Abban then saw angels in the boy's company: the women too who were carrying the boy testified that they had seen a most beautiful young man, placing his hand upon the boy's head. Who said: "This boy will be blessed;" and the holy man Abban baptized the infant, calling him Finluch (that is white lake), because there two rivers from different sources come together. For the water there appeared as if of a white colour on account of its purity. And he was called by another name, which is more common, Finnian. And in the place where the holy blessed infant was purified in the bath of salvation, a cross was set, which is called the cross of Finnian. In what place this thing took place, neither old nor more recent archaeologists have so far been able to define.
[11] Both SS. Abban built several monasteries, composed for the most part of huts: Very many monasteries built by one or other St. Abban are listed in the Life; but Lanigan does not agree Eccles. history of Ireland, volume III, page 18 and following., since most are marked not with the name of St. Abban, but of another: so that he will have it that by St. Abban (for he does not admit two) monasteries were founded only in his homeland Hy-Kenselagh and two others called by his name Kill-abbans. But certainly the foundation on which he rests is weak. For Eas-mic-Neirc, which had its name from Dachonna or Machonna, son of Nerc Reeves, Life of St. Columba, page 281., and Termon-Maguirk or Cuiminig, which took its name from Cuimne, sister of St. Columba Ibid. page 283., recognized St. Columba as founder, and yet had received their name from disciples. But similar things are observed in almost all the Lives of the saints who were founders of several monasteries. Nor ought the great number of monasteries to create surprise. For in those times great buildings were not constructed, nor were huge estates often received, nor were novices trained in a long discipline; these customs were spread through the pupils of St. Benedict; before that the institutes were much simpler. They lived mostly alone either in caves, if there were any, or in huts, put together of straw and sticky earth by the labour of a few hours or at most days. Nor were the sacred buildings much more magnificent, made mostly of timber. And the ascetics gained their living by the labour of their hands and agriculture, although (if they were offered) they did not refuse fields, as is established from that very Life. The novitiate was no less simple. If any came through desire of a severer life, they learned by another's example to pray, to labour and to chastise the body: and in these things chiefly the duties of monks then consisted.
[12] [six of which, situated in the county of Wexford, seem to be assigned to St. Abban of Magharnuidhe;] For this reason I would not dare to affirm that among the monasteries listed by the biographer there is any that was founded by neither St. Abban. It is much more difficult to say to which of the two each belongs. If, however, anything is to be attempted, it must first be considered that the other St. Abban, namely the one I have called of Magharnuidhe, was born among the people of Ui-Ceinnsealaigh *, who occupied the county of Wexford and parts of the neighbouring counties, and that he ended his life there, several monasteries having been raised. Since he seems to have been less fond of change of place, I would assign to him only the monasteries of the county of Wexford, namely those of Magharnuidhe, Rossmactreoin, Druim-Ceallaigh, Camros, Fionnmagh and Disert-Cheanandain. The site of each, as far as may be permitted, we shall indicate, reserving more inquiry for the annotations to the Life. Let there come first, then, the monastery of Roismictruin; which was situated in the place now called New-Ross, a flourishing town, in the county of Wexford, barony of Bantry. It is earlier than the middle of the 6th century, when St. Emenus was already flourishing, since it was inhabited by him. Near it were situated the monasteries of Druim-Ceallaigh and Camros, not known from elsewhere. Nor was the monastery of Magharnuidhe far distant, where the other St. Abban chiefly lived and ended his life. Disert-Cheanandain, near the monastery of Magharnuidhe, was rather a solitude than a monastery. Fionnmagh in Fotharta, a town offered to God and St. Abban, seems to have been made a monastery. It stood in the county of Carlow or Wexford.
[13] but to St. Abban of Killabban three in Connacht, one in the county of Kerry, In listing the monasteries which seem to me to be assigned to St. Abban of Killabban, the biographer follows a certain geographical order; so that he begins from the west, proceeds through the southern parts and ends in the eastern quarters of Ireland; which this other St. Abban also could have followed. In Connacht, then, in Campus Ce or Magh-ce, that is in the plain of Trindus or Magh-Trindi, three monasteries are said to have been built by St. Abban. These they will have to have been situated in the county of Galway, but on what authority I do not know. From here one's step must be turned to the southern quarters, and indeed to the region of Corcaduibhne, which covered about the county of Kerry to the south-west of Munster; where St. Abban is said to have founded the monastery CEAL-ACHAID-CHERICH-INIS or CEALL-ACHAID-CONCHINN. The former form of the name signifies that the monastery was situated on an island; but this is less probable. St. Conchenna of Cill-achaid is recorded by the martyrologists, who will have given a name to the nunnery; but she is no more known than her seat itself. But St. Finnian, then not yet born, also later imparted his name; since he saw the light about the year 460, if St. Finnian of Clonard is understood. However that may be, is not Killemlagh in the barony of Iveragh indicated? Certainly the old church was dedicated to St. Finnian Smith, The state of the country of Kerry, page 104.; there still exists there the well of St. Finnian, indicated on the topographical maps Ordnance survey, sheet 183., and to the west you have St. Finnian's estuary.
[14] three in the county of Cork and as many in that of Tipperary, Adjacent to the county of Kerry is the county of Cork, in which St. Abban is said to have founded three monasteries. The first is the monastery of Burnech, now Ballyvourney in the barony of Muskerry, near the borders of the county of Kerry. St. Abban gave this seat to St. Gobnata; whose times do not seem so far to have been defined. The second is the monastery CEALL-CRUIMTHIR near the city of Culcollingus or Cillculen in Hua-Liathain or Oletan; this place is without doubt represented by the parish of Killcrumper, barony of Fermoy. The third monastery in the county of Cork is CEALL-NA-MARBHAN near the city of Briggobhan, now Brigtown or Brigoon. This was situated in the barony of Condons or Clongibbons, not far from the borders of the counties of Tipperary and Waterford. In the adjacent county of Tipperary three other monasteries were situated; of which the first was CLUAIN-AIRD-MOBEHGOC, situated in the barony of Clanwilliam, where there still exist the old church of Kilpeacan and the well of St. Becan; which St. Becan is said to have died in the year 687, so that he was contemporary with neither St. Abban and occupied a place already long since consecrated to God. The second monastery was called CLUAIN-FINDGLAISE, which was also situated in the barony of Clanwilliam, not far from the preceding, in the parish now called Clonfinglass. The third monastery was called CLUAIN-CONBRUIN, situated in the western part of the plain of Femyn not far from Cashel, to the south-west.
[15] one in King's county, another in Queen's county and two in Northern Meath. Bordering on the county of Tipperary are Queen's and King's counties. In the latter the monastery RAITH-BECAIN was founded in the region of Ely, barony of Clonlisk; and this place is now called Rathbeg. In Queen's county, near the people of Ui-Bairrche, in Ui-Muighe, there arose CEALL-ABBAIN, and it gave place to a parish church called Killeban or Killebane, in the barony of Slewmargy, between Athy and Carlow. The other two were in the county of Meath or Eastern Meath, one near the girls' Navan, by name CEALL-AILBHE; over which St. Abban set St. Sincha, from whose name it was called Cill-Sinche, now Kilshine. A few leagues further to the north, that is in Northern Meath and in the northern parts of Leinster, St. Abban of Killabban founded another monastery by name CEALL-ABBAIN; whose relics rested there for a long time. In setting these things in order we have pursued not what seemed certain, but what seemed probable. Someone will arise at some time, who, furnished with better monuments, will discuss these things more deeply and arrange them better.
[16] The remaining particular deeds are divided between neither St. Abban. I said above at number 8 that St. Abban of Killabban seems to me to have been born about the year 430 and St. Abban of Magharnuidhe about
the year 520; whence the death of the former is to be referred to the end of the 5th century, and that of the latter to the end of the following century. For this reason I think no faith should be placed in the biographer, who narrates that St. Abban was made presbyter and abbot by St. Gregory the Great. For this conflicts with the whole reckoning of chronology, whatever be adopted; and no less with the customs of that age. Nor could either of them have lived with St. Moling Luachra, who died in the year 696, or with St. Flannan, first bishop of Killaloe, who flourished about the year 700; but nothing stands in the way of St. Abban of Magharnuidhe's having had some dealings with St. Brendan of Clonfert and with St. Fintan Munnu; as is handed down by the biographer at number 34.
Annotata* Hy-kenselagh.
§ III. Of Abban, hermit or abbot of Abingdon in England.
[Of Abben, the British hermit, whose affairs also seem to have been confused with the business of the SS. Abban,] I have carefully abstained so far from the prodigious journey of St. Abban to southern England, where he would have converted a king in Berkshire and raised the monastery of Abbendon or Abingdon. For this matter seems to belong to neither St. Abban, but to be a singular example of the reasonings which the biographer has followed. Having understood, namely, that the beginnings and name of this monastery are traced back to a certain hermit Abban or Abben, he referred these things also to his Abban; so that he has confused not two only, but three most different men into one. The affairs of that Abben, plainly cohering with the origins of the monastery of Abingdon, will be more conspicuous from what is narrated of the beginnings of the monastery than if I tried to explain singly the deeds of the venerable man himself. Since the monastery of Abingdon, then, was among the chief and most ancient of all England, it was held in the highest veneration; but by ill fortune, amid the invasions and occupations of the Danes, most of its old memorials perished: so that, when better times shone forth, it was necessary to question the elders about the origins of things; by which kind of questioning a way is opened to many conjectures and divinations, which are easily accepted for certain things.
[18] from the history of the monastery of Abingdon, not free from fables, But whatever be the praise and authority of this general statement, there have been those who affirmed [Cressy, Church history, page 121; Enderby, Cambria triumphans, in the new Monasticon Anglicanum, volume I, page 505.] that this monastery was founded by King Lucius, at the beginning of the 3rd century; that five hundred monks, living scattered in the woods and solitudes by the labour of their hands, came together there on Sundays and Saturdays or Mondays; that on the other days fifty monks were always present, to carry out the divine offices and liturgy; that Constantine the Great was brought up there in boyhood; but that in the reign of Diocletian the whole institute collapsed. And since there was kept there a black cross, dreaded by perjurers, and there existed an oratory under the title of St. Helena, about these things too the people of Abingdon told various tales. The cross was said to be made in great part from the nails of Christ the Lord; and since it had been dug out of the earth, some would have it that it had been laid there by Constantine the Great, but others more acute that it was sent by the same Constantine to the Britons, to be the protection of the country, but for I know not what reason hidden in the earth; that it was found in the time of the Angles, when a little chapel was built in honour of St. Helena, who was said to have lived there [Description of the villa of Sevekesham, later called Abbendon, in the new Monasticon Angl., volume I, pages 512 and 513.].
[19] [is known, and he flourished in Berkshire, not far from Oxford, about the middle of the 5th century.] Meanwhile they will have it that the most holy man Abben flourished there; of whom in the History of the first founders of Abingdon this is read Mon. Angl. new, volume cited, page 511.: At the time when the most wicked pagan Hengist at Stanhengest killed by seductive cunning so many noble consuls and barons, that is 460, the son of a certain consul who fell there barely escaped: whose name was Aben. He, struck with the greatest fear, came to a certain wood situated in the southern part of Oxford (by name Bayley wood), and there (namely two miles from Abingdon, or at Bayworth, parish of Sunningwell, or in the villa of Chilswell, parish of Cumnor), leading his life with wild beasts, herbs and roots, he lay hidden for a long time. And since he had no water to drink, a prayer being made, God gave him a spring, which is seen there to this day. When therefore the men of that province had heard of the holiness of the man, they flocked to him, and profited much by his discourses. Then they built for him a dwelling and a chapel in honour of St. Mary. That most holy man, then, not bearing the crowds of men, secretly withdrew, and set out for Ireland and there rested in the Lord with a good end. And the hill where he stayed and which he left is called Abendum from his name; this is the hill which is situated beside Baiwrthe, beside Pinnesgrave.
[20] The fortunes of the monastery of Abingdon must be sought elsewhere But since the British monks did not love stable seats, and least of all among the Saxons, that place was soon abandoned; so that when about the year 675 Cissa, a chieftain among the West Saxons, and his brother's son, Heane, were striving for a new monastery there, it was deserted. But this seat did not please for long; and so the monks were translated to the neighbouring place Sevekesham, once a flourishing town; where the new Benedictine monastery that was built borrowed the name of Abbendun or Abbandun from the former seat of the monks. There was also founded in the neighbourhood a girls' monastery of St. Helena, and several other sacred buildings were raised. But I should not wish to pursue these things, as being little to our purpose. The rest of the History of the monastery of Abingdon from its first foundation to the year of the Lord 1131 was edited, from the additions to the Chronicle of Worcester, by a monk of Abingdon as author, by Wharton in the first volume of his Anglia Sacra. In the English language J. O. Halliwell brought out in the year 1844 the Chronicle of the monastery of Abingdon from the year 1218 to the year 1304. Fourteen years later Joseph Stevenson had the old chronicle of the monastery of Abingdon inserted in the Chronicles and Memorials of Great Britain and Ireland. Part of these and many other documents will be given by the first volume of the Monasticon Anglicanum; but Gough too, in the first volume of Camden's Britannia, added many things from Leland and others, by which the former and more recent fortunes of this most celebrated monastery may be understood. Let him who wants more look at these.
[21] [Some have wrongly doubted whether that British Abben existed in the nature of things;] But to return to Abben or Abban, opinions about him are very different. Some have counted him among the saints; others have doubted whether he existed in the nature of things Compare Acta SS. volume III of May, page 186.. Which latter opinion rests on this foundation, that that place was called Abbendun, not from Abben, but from the abbey, so that it signifies the town of the abbey. But this is by no means true: and indeed the word abbatia was not even in use at that time, but Abbendun or Abbandun is the hill of the little abbot; which diminutive form I noted above was formerly used by the Celts for the sake of veneration. Then from better documents it is established that before the times of Cissa and Heane there existed on the former seat of the monastery a modest little monastery from of old, but then neglected and destitute, consisting of vile buildings, and possessing only 40 mansae. Which certainly had as its founder a man by name, or rather by surname, Abban, and indeed a Celt.
[22] [but he was also wrongly counted among the saints, unless he is said to be the same as St. Abban of Killabban.] Wilson in the second edition of his English Martyrology, which he made in the year 1640, praised him at the 13th day of May in this way: On the same day at Abingdon in Berkshire the commemoration of St. Abben, an Irish hermit; who, leading a solitary life there, was famous for miracles and holiness; and from him the place retained its name, in which afterwards Cissa, prince of the West Saxons, built a monastery in his honour about the year 700. Fitzsimon too in his alphabetical Catalogue of the saints of Ireland reported Abben the hermit among the blessed. Likewise Lingard, treading in Wilson's footsteps, reported the name of St. Abben the hermit at the 13th of May in the Roman ecclesiastical Calendar which Harris Nicolas inserted in his Historical Chronology The chronology of History, page 112.. Alford and Cressy also adorn him with the title of saint in the indices of their Annals of the British church. On the other hand Smith in the Flores ecclesiae Anglicanae and Challoner in his English Martyrology omit him altogether; and indeed (in my judgement) most rightly. For nowhere does it appear that he was ever venerated; nor is he called saint or blessed in the memorials of the monastery of Abingdon. It is besides false that the monastery was built by Cissa and Heane in his honour. The Blessed Virgin Mary was patron both of the former and of the latter New Monasticon Anglicanum, volume I, pages 505 and 511.; nor does the feast of Abben come among the fifteen more celebrated solemnities of Abingdon Ibid. page 510.. It remains therefore that his name be excluded from the catalogues of saints; unless anyone wishes him to be the same as St. Abban of Killabban, who, a Briton by nation, would have gone to Ireland and founded many monasteries there. This at any rate would not be a singular example; but, though the times agree well enough, it agrees less with the genealogical memorials. And if it be added that Abben of Abingdon seemed to the biographer to be the same as the celebrated Irish abbot, and that it is established from the memorials of the people of Abingdon themselves that the founder of their monastery withdrew to Ireland, these things do not seem to me sufficient for me to wish to expose myself to the danger of confusing into one two perhaps distinct men: for the example of the biographer little pleases me, whom I have chastised in this Commentary because he mixed everything together; but neither shall I refute him who may be bolder than I.
LIFE OF ST. ABBAN, ABBOT OF MAGHARNUIDHE
From the edition of Colgan, conformed to the old Bollandian Dublin manuscript or that of Fr. Fitzsimon.
Abban of Killabban in Ireland. (S.)
Abban of Magharnudhe in Ireland. (S.)
aFROM MANUSCRIPTS AND PRINTED SOURCES.
CHAPTER ONE.
The nature and holiness of Ireland. The prophecies of SS. Patrick and Ibar concerning St. Abban. His constancy in the purpose of leaving the world. His mercy towards beasts.
[The description, name, nature and holiness of Ireland; the prophecy of St. Patrick concerning SS. Kevin and Moling and St. Abban;] [In the Western quarter of the whole world an island is situated, whose name is called Ireland. This island is great, and bright, and a pleasant land; in which are contained five very great provinces; in which also there lives no venomous beast, nor any kind of serpent; but a sound land and free of diseases, very habitable, fruitful in various fruits, as well in the waters as on the lands
and timber. Its inhabitants are named by a double name, that is, it is called Hibernia from the river Hiberus; and from Hibernia they are called Hibernians: but they are called Scots from Scota, mother of the same nation, who was the daughter of a king of Egypt b. How she came from Egypt to Ireland we omit for the sake of brevity, because it is found concerning her in the books which narrate how Ireland was inhabited in the first times. The cultivators of Ireland are approved in the catholic faith and ecclesiastical dogmas, and are sanctified above all nations. From that nation, namely, God has chosen for himself the greatest column of saints, as the truth says in the Gospel: "Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold:" and elsewhere: "Many shall come from the East and the West, and shall sit down with Abraham etc." Of whose college] there was a man of venerable life by name Abban c, whom God chose beforehand before he was born; because many holy men, for many times before he himself was born, foretold that he would be born. Of whom St. Patrick the archbishop d, making harbour in the southern part of the people of Leinster, that is Huacenselay e, when he had come to preach in Ireland, said: "Three sons of eternal life will be born of the nation of the people of Leinster, whose names will be called Abban, Kevin f and Moling g; they will be the greater of the saints of the people of Leinster, and through their merits, although they are not yet born, I shall now ask God; because they will come as the brightest lamps to men, about to glorify pious works pleasing to God, and on their account I shall convert the people of Leinster to the faith of Christ; but not now, because he has predestined me first to go into northern Ireland; and afterwards to come more at leisure to the people of Leinster, because they are warlike." The names of other saints and how they foretold St. Abban let us omit for the sake of brevity, except how in the hour of his birth St. Ibar the bishop foretold him h.
[2] his homeland and parents; St. Ibar's foretelling of him. St. Abban, then, sprang from the illustrious race of the people of Leinster, namely from Dalmachorb, whose father was called Cormac, who was king of the people of Leinster; and his mother was called Mella, who was the sister of Bishop Ibar i: and that mother was held by excessive pains of childbirth. When the time of her giving birth had come, Bishop Ibar was called to his sister who was almost dead. And she, seeing the bishop coming, said the following verse in the Scottish tongue:
Easbocc jobhair dom chobhair
Se ro fhidir mo runa
Cuingheadh diolghadh mo chionadh
Rom gabhsad jodhain gura.
And the bishop said another in the same tongue.
Easbuce jobhair atfhasradh
Rod gabhsad jodhain gura
Beara mac uasal amhra
Rod cabhra ri nan dula k.
These can be interpreted thus: "The queen in the first asked the bishop, who knew her secrets, to pray for her, and for the forgiveness of her sins;" and the bishop in the second foretells that she will be helped by the Lord in her pains, and that a son will be born to her who will be most high and wonderful before God and men.
[3] St. Abban rejects and despises the delights and honours of the world; And immediately the queen without any trouble gave birth to the holy infant; and he was baptized, and most diligently nourished. And when he could walk, he went to the church, and there like a religious old man he prayed assiduously, and bravely bore heavy fasts in infancy; and so he remained until his death most zealous in vigils and fasts, and in prayers and alms and in love of neighbour, and in the other divine commandments; and as soon as he could speak he preached divine words to all men, as though he had been skilled in the Scriptures, and truly he was skilled in the Scriptures; because from his birth the Holy Spirit taught him; and he persuaded men by words and works to despise this passing world, and to follow Christ crucified for them, and to ask eternal life for themselves from him.
[4] [he is imprisoned by his father, who threatens martyrdom unless he consents to remain in the world; his chains being divinely loosed, he is set free] And his parents and the others who knew him wondered at his honest life and manners, saying to one another: "We do not know what kind of boy this is, who has learned from no man, and does the works of religious elders, and teaches the studies of doctors." [From this it happened that, flattering him, some wishing to please his mind, and others testing him, whether it pleased him to have an earthly kingdom, called him: "O king;" and spoke to him of royal matters, and promised that he would be king after his father. The holy boy, hearing men speaking such words of him, rebuked them, saying: "Wretched men, why do you call me king? for not only shall I not be king, but I shall have no other secular care, since I wish to serve my Lord Jesus Christ, who gives to those who serve him an unfailing kingdom." And his father and mother, knowing that he had said such words, called him to them and said to him: "Son, why do you not wish to be a propagator of the kingdom after your father? You ought rather to ride, to go hunting, now to practise military games, so that when your father has grown old, you may go out before the people of Leinster against foreigners to fight for your country." "Why, he said, do you wish to prohibit me from serving God the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth, who sent his only-begotten as a propitiation for the whole world, and his Son, who was obedient to the Father even unto death, and the Holy Spirit, who has illumined the human race with his gifts, because I have been foretold by the servants of the Lord as a soldier of God and not a soldier of this world: know therefore that I am ever the servant of the Holy Trinity, that is of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." When the king had heard him speaking such an opinion, in anger he ordered him to be bound and chained with chains, until he should change these words; and the king swore that, unless the boy promised to be a man of the world, he should receive martyrdom. The holy boy of God, driven from the face of the king, since he was ready for martyrdom, more and more cheerfully cried with a loud voice: "I am the servant of God, from whose service the power of this world cannot separate me." And on the following night, when he was in custody, all his chains were broken by divine power, and he was found loosed by the guards standing round. When this was announced to the king, he did not order him to be bound again, but, moved by piety, and the queen asking him with tearful entreaty, he set him free.
[5] [The piety and compassion of St. Abban towards beasts suffering from hunger: he restores to life a calf that was killed and eaten.] When, then, almighty God wished to bring his servant Abban to the church, to learn ecclesiastical customs with the leave of his parents, that, as was fitting, he who was predestined by God to be the father and master of many might first be under a teacher; this miracle, which you are about to hear, he performed through him, lest his parents should any more retain him against the holy boy's will, because he did not wish to go from them except with their leave and blessing.] One day, with other boys of his age, going out into a field to play, St. Abban went on, and when the others had begun to play, he went out apart, to adore God. He stood in a certain place, in which around him were the calves of the farm: then a wretched she-wolf with her cubs came from the neighbouring wood to the calves, and stood before him. And the most pious boy, seeing their misery, and that they were lean, moved with pity commanded them to eat one of the calves: immediately the wolves, rushing in, killed a calf, and ate it swiftly. [Is it not to be wondered at, that hungry wolves should come to the saint through their food, and not touching it, and that the calves, seeing their devourers coming to them, should not flee from the servant of God? Yet it is not to be wondered at that God subjected beasts to a servant serving him for two reasons; for the one indeed, that he might burn the more with the love of God; for the other, that he might be released free to serve God.] When the wolves were sated, they began to go, going round him, as if blessing him for their dinner. Then it happened that the boys, ceasing from their play, came to the place in which the holy boy was; and seeing the wolves bloody from the calf, they began to accuse and rebuke the holy boy with the most atrocious words; and the herdsmen did not cease to howl and tear themselves for fear, saying that the calf's mother would not live. Further the holy boy, hearing that the cow would not live after the death of her calf, and that the herdsmen were afraid, moved with pity prayed to the Lord, saying: "Lord my God, who madest this creature from nothing, bring this calf back to life, that it may come alive to its mother." As the holy boy said these and like things, he signed the remains with the sign of the holy cross; and at once in the presence of all flesh and skin clothed the bare bones, and it was of the same colour and size as it had been before; and rising from the ground it ran playing to the other calves. The boys and herdsmen, seeing this miracle, announced to the king and others what had been done. The king, hearing of such a miracle through his son, rejoiced in his heart, and before all the princes of the kingdom, with the queen, his mother, he decreed with the leave of all, as it pleased the soul of the steadfast boy, that he should ever so offer himself to God.
ANNOTATIONS.
b. It is laughable
I would make of myself, if I wrote a serious commentary on this place. But the same passage occurs in the Life of St. Cadroe, abbot of Waulsort, edited by our predecessors and by Colgan at the 6th day of March. If anyone, however, wishes to see that passage explained by the old testimonies of the Irish, let him go to Colgan's annotations to the Life of St. Cadroe Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 502. and to this very Life of St. Abban Ibid. page 621.. These things are connected with the coming of the colony of the Milesians into Ireland: on which coming see the old narratives in O'Brennan A school history of Ireland, page 1 and following. and Eugene O'Curry Lectures on the mss. materials of ancient Irish history, page 446 and following..
CHAPTER TWO.
St. Abban's dealings with St. Ibar. His discipline. A miraculous voyage.
St. Abban is handed over to St. Ibar to be instructed Afterwards St. Abban was brought by his parents to St. Ibar the bishop, his mother's brother; and the glorious bishop received him with joy. The holy bishop did not so greatly rejoice at his coming because he was the son of a king and of his sister; but because he knew that he was full of the Holy Spirit, and that he would be the father of many servants of God, and would convert a great multitude of men from the yoke of the devil to Christ. [Let us see to it, dearest ones, that we be not in the lusts of this world; just as this saint was not; for St. Abban was the son of a king, and was bound by his father to be constrained in this world, and was almost brought to martyrdom; and although he had been chosen king after his father by the whole kingdom, a little boy and untaught, he spurned perishable things from his heart and fulfilled serving Christ, as he had promised. We ought therefore to set him before us as an example, that we may flee this world, and with him merit to have the Lord's promise, in which it is said: "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, etc." With the divine mercy helping us, let us now turn our discourse to narrating the life of the most holy boy Abban, and the miracles which God, best and greatest, performed through him.]
[7] [at the age of twelve years. The countless disciples of St. Ibar, his monastery, relics, cult, miracles, preaching and race.] He was twelve years old when he came to St. Ibar the bishop, and he lived with him in holiness for many years. And he at once began to make progress in the Scriptures, not only in the divine, but also in those of the other arts, as is the way of young men in youth; so that the others wondered at the depth of his knowledge, wisdom and eloquence. But they then ought not to have wondered at the wisdom of one who in his father's house, a little boy and untaught, disputing with all, brought forward testimonies from the divine Scriptures, the Holy Spirit teaching him: and by the same Spirit he was ever divinely inspired. And many holy monks, clerics and nuns in different places through all Ireland at that time were under the teaching of St. Ibar. But the blessed bishop Ibar dwelt more in his most famous and renowned monastery, which is called Begereinn a, than in other places, because he greatly loved that place. And that monastery is situated in the southern part of Hua Kenselaig b, on an island, walled by the sea, and island and monastery are called by one name, that is Begerynn, which in Latin is interpreted, Little Ireland. And in that monastery the relics of the most blessed prelate Ibar lie, and are honourably venerated, and the place itself is greatly honoured by the Irish for the name of St. Ibar; because he was one distinguished dispenser of divine dogma among the first preachers whom God chose to convert the Irish to the faith of Christ: and there bright miracles do not cease to be shown by God through him. He himself sprang from the nation of the Ulstermen, which is the fifth part of Ireland. But God bestowed him on the people of Leinster, that in the soil of their region his most holy body might lie, and that here and in the future they might be defended by his suffrage.
[8] St. Abban, trusting in the power of God, We ask and adjure you, dearest brethren in Christ Jesus, that all that you have heard, and are to hear, God performing it through his servant Abban, you believe with all credence, and doubt nothing in them, knowing the Scripture saying: "All things are possible to him that believes;" and as James the apostle: "Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering;" [in the Apocalypse it is said: "They have power over the waters;" and St. Peter the apostle says: "Who is he that harms you, if you are good? Be humbled under the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you." John the apostle says: "Everyone who has hope in the Lord Jesus Christ sanctifies himself, as he also is holy."] And the Lord says in the Gospel: "Amen, Amen, I say to you, he who believes in me, the works that I do he himself shall do, and greater than these shall he do. [And whatever you shall ask the Father in my name, that I will do." On this testimony no one can doubt. Hence John the apostle says: "If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater."] Therefore, most beloved, you must believe all that Christ has done through one believing in him and keeping his commandments. To narrating these things then, — and concerning them we have forewarned you, lest there be doubt to you in them, — with God's help we now turn our pen.
[9] [he walks on the sea; whom St. Ibar, about to go on pilgrimage to Rome, refuses to admit as companion] At a certain time St. Ibar the bishop, being in the above-mentioned place, wishing to present himself to the apostolic see, resolved to go to Rome, on pilgrimage for the love of Christ: and he ordered a ship to be prepared for him with necessaries. And St. Abban, hearing that St. Ibar wished to be a pilgrim, came to him, bowing down at his feet, asking him with sighs to give him leave to go with him on the pilgrimage; for the youth was burning with a like love of pilgrimage. But St. Ibar, and those who were with him, with one mind desired that Bl. Abban should be in the place of Bishop Ibar, if he should not return, seeing him full of the Holy Spirit, and signs done through him; and they all with the bishop decreed that he should stay in that monastery until the bishop returned from the pilgrimage: and they all with the bishop asked him to admit this wish and counsel, and whatever the bishop ordered him, to do it the more willingly. But St. Abban in no way adhered to their prayers, but undoubtingly promised that he would set out on pilgrimage. Then St. Ibar with indignation ordered him to go away from him, and promised before the people that he would not admit him with him in the ship: but yet, knowing his goodness and good fortune, he did not curse him, and wished no harsh thing to happen to him: because he knew that he was inspired by the Holy Spirit.
[10] [once and again; but running over the sea St. Abban follows and overtakes the ship.] Afterwards the holy bishop with all the people went on to the place in which the ship was prepared, and bidding farewell to the people, with the disciples ordained beforehand he began to enter the ship. But St. Abban was still in the company, and asked the bishop with the same petition. And again the holy prelate rejected him, with an oath, from coming with him. Hearing this the servant of God began sadly to return and to weep; and the holy bishop, as he saw him returning, weeping and in tears, greatly loving him, called him back to himself, and said to him: "My son, sit and put your head in my lap." And he, as he so placed it, immediately fell asleep. And while he slept, the bishop placed his head on the ground, and ordered the people to return to their homes, and he himself with his companions entered the ship, and Abban, sleeping in that place, was left alone. Meanwhile, the sail being raised, and the wind blowing from the north, they began to sail swiftly; and certain brethren, wishing to know what the servant of God would do after his sleep, stood far from him watching him; and when he had risen from sleep, looking he saw the ship flying very far from land on the sea, so that he could scarcely distinguish whether it was a ship or a cloud. Then the divine dispensation filled his heart with a threefold love, that is the love of pilgrimage, the love of his pious master, and the love of the Holy Trinity. And then most intently, from the depth of his heart, he prayed to God, bending his knees and saying: "Lord God almighty, who abidest in Trinity and in unity of concord, let thy mercy come to the aid of one who wishes to serve thee, thou who didst lead out thy people
through the red sea and the Jordan with dry feet; whom all creatures serve; and do whatever thou wishest to do, but in thy name and that of thy most beloved Son our Lord Jesus Christ and of the Holy Spirit I shall now go upon the sea, trusting in the gift of thy piety." Saying these and like things, he ran into the sea, and said: "Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit:" and he went out at the swiftest pace and by a straight road after the ship, not looking behind him, to the right or to the left, but before him: and angels of God seemed to run with him over the sea. The aforesaid brethren, seeing this, assiduously prayed God for him, glorifying the Lord, and so giving thanks they returned, announcing before the people what they had seen; and all who heard this gave glory to the Lord. The ship, then, in the middle of the sea stood still in the place in which it was when the saint of God entered upon the sea; and it did not go out from there until he himself had reached it. And the helmsmen and the bishop's disciples, seeing that the ship was by no means moving, showed this to the bishop. Then the bishop, filled with the divine spirit, said to them: "Sign yourselves, brethren, with the sign of the cross of Christ; because you shall presently see a great miracle done by the Lord: for behold the servant of Christ, whom we did not allow to enter the ship with us, is running over the waves, and angels of God accompanying him." While the bishop was still speaking, they saw him coming very swiftly: some said that he ran, others that he flew, for the swiftness of his course; because he was strengthened by angelic escort. And when he reached the ship, greatly rejoicing, they took him to themselves into the ship: and at once the ship was loosed; and afterwards with all serenity they sailed as far as Britain.
ANNOTATIONS.
CHAPTER THREE.
A fabulous narrative of miracles performed at Abingdon and of the conversion of the king and people.
[The preaching of St. Ibar before an unbelieving king: St. Abban lights a candle with his breath;] After this one day the servants of God St. Ibar and St. Abban with their companions, walking about in the southern part of Britain, came to a certain city that was pagan and given over to idols. As they entered the forum of the city, the citizens wondered at their dress and speech. Some thought them to be phantoms, others men from a distant land. At once there was word of them before the king of the city, and he ordered them to be brought to him. And when they had come, the king asked them whence they were; and whither they were going and what was the cause of their journey. Then, the promise being fulfilled in which it is said: "They shall speak with new tongues;" St. Ibar said to him: "If you ask our race, we are Irish; if to what place we are going, to Rome; if the cause, that there we may pray to God almighty, through the merits of the apostles, martyrs, confessors and virgins, who in that place, after overcoming the devil, passed to the heavenly kingdom." But when the king heard the bishop saying God almighty, he said: "Who is God almighty?" Then the bishop, full of the grace of God, preached most diligently to the king of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The king said again: "What do you say of our gods?" The bishop answered, saying: "There is only one God, but the devil forces you to adore demonic images, which you have built with your hands. But our God, who made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, thunders over all the creatures he has made: and not only those who have seen these things, but those who believe in him, do great signs in his name." Then the king said: "Do signs then in my sight now, you, because you believe in him; and if you do not, I will have you beheaded, and dogs and birds shall eat your bodies." The bishop said: "And if we do signs in the name of our God, will you believe in him?" The king promising that he would believe, the bishop ordered him to ask for a sign. And the king said: "Let one of you, without fire, with his breath light a candle, that it may burn before me." At that hour St. Abban, tired from the road, was sleeping. The holy bishop then taking the candle and being unable to light it, gave it to one of his men approaching him; and he being unable, in like manner one received it from another down to the last, and they did not light the candle. The lictors, seeing that they had not been able to light the lamp, began to unsheathe their swords, at the king's order, wishing to strike them. Then the bishop said: "Wait a little, because God has not given this gift to us, but to that man sleeping; for while we were sailing he walked on his feet over the sea, and our ship waited for him in the middle of the sea." And hearing this word they stood still. Abban, then, awakened from sleep, signing himself with the sign of the holy cross, lit the candle with his breath before all. And its flame was most bright, and, wonderful to say, the candle in no way allowed itself to be put out, until it was wholly consumed. And the pagans, seeing such miracles, trembled within themselves; and the Christians gave thanks to their God, who alone does wonders.
[12] [he restores the dead queen to life: and the king and queen with the whole city are converted to the faith.] In those days the wife of the same king was tormented by a grave disease; and on that day on which the saints of God came into the city which is called Abbain-dun a, she died: and as the king was sitting on the tribunal and judging, not yet knowing that his wife was dead, a sad messenger came, and showed it to him. At once hearing it the king went on swiftly to her body, and wept bitterly; and afterwards, the divine grace inspiring him, he returned to the saints of God with groans and tearful voice, and asked them that in the name of their God they should raise his wife from death, promising that he would undoubtingly believe in their God and be baptized with her. Then St. Ibar said to him: "Him who today lit the candle before you with his breath, take with you, that he may pray for her: for God has given him such grace that he merits to raise the dead." And the saint of God, entering the house in which the lifeless body was, greeted her according to the Gospel command, and asked with inmost asking of the Lord that he would show his power in raising the queen, and that by such a testimony the gentiles might be converted to the faith. And while he prayed, her soul entered her body, and immediately in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, the holy man ordered her to rise: and without delay at his voice she rose: and the saint assigned her alive before all to her husband the king. She testified that what had been foretold by the saints was true, and gave clear testimonies of the glory of the Trinity. And in that hour the king and queen were baptized, and at their order all who were there likewise, and the whole city were converted from error to the way of truth. And a church of God was built, handed over to ecclesiastical men ordained by the holy bishop. The servants of God, having in their power all the idols and images of that place, broke them and gave them to the fire.
[13] He kills a beast laying waste the country; At the same time there was a very venomous wild beast, and unknown in those regions, in the territory of that city, and it almost besieged the city, and devastated a great part of the region. In form and strength indeed it was like a lion; but its rage appeared more intolerable, because the army of the province and the king with his soldiers often fought against it, and could do it no harm, but were overcome by it alone; and in different attempts it killed three hundred men. And men, not wishing to resist it, drew back from it: and wherever it wished to go it walked safely, and it dwelt rather in the vicinity of the same city. About this those who had then been made Christians made complaint to St. Abban, that in the name of Christ he should drive such a diabolical pest from the land. The servant of the Lord, hearing this misery, went on with men who knew where the beast was: and they, showing him the place in which it was, turned back from him fearing, and running more swiftly. Straightway the lion-like beast in fury came out of its cave into the field, smelling a man approaching there, and the soldier of Christ, unarmed, boldly went against it. And the beast, bursting out in its strength and with all its impetus, met the servant of God: and he signed against it with the sign of the cross, saying: "O diabolical root, I say to you in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, lay down your venom and die." At this word the wild beast fell to the ground, and expired. And those men greatly rejoiced, and thereupon gave thanks to God, and were firmer in the faith, glorifying God in his saint.
[14] he binds beasts hostile to the people; and he returns to Ireland. Again those men, coming to St. Abban, made another complaint about the beasts dwelling in a certain pool before the same city, which were very venomous (for in the time of those who then lived they killed a hundred men; and the number of cattle is not to hand), saying: "Magnify yet the name of Christ before us, in whom we believe through you, by freeing us from these beasts, which stay in that pool, and when at some hour they run on to the land, kill both men and cattle." And the saint went with them to the pool, and alone before all entered the water, and immediately the harsh beasts with horrid faces came hurrying to him, and seeing his angelic face, all laid aside their impetus, and stood gentle at the feet of the holy man; and he ordered them to go out with him into the depth of the lake, and there he established a place for them, binding them so that they should dwell in it until the end of the world; and of the fish of the lake he established their ration every day. And from that hour to the present day they have not appeared from there, and have harmed no one. But from that place, in which the beasts are bound, a movement of the whole pool is still seen every seventh year as a sign of this power. And when the saint of God returned from the pool, the people seeing that he had come unharmed from immense danger gave thanks to God, glorifying the holy man; and rejoicing they returned
to the city with him. And after this St. Ibar and St. Abban, leaving there founders of the church and cultivators of the true faith, and receiving leave and blessing from the people, went on to Rome, and paying their vows there returned to Ireland.
ANNOTATION.
CHAPTER FOUR.
Pilgrimages to Rome. The devil conquered.
Three times St. Abban went on to Rome on pilgrimage for the name of Christ a. [St. Abban goes on pilgrimage to Rome for the third time; he is made patron of those who sail: the years of his life. It is foretold that he will be ordained presbyter and abbot by St. Gregory the Great.] And on a certain day it happened to him to be on the sea-shore praying, and he saw a huge wave directing its way towards him from the middle of the sea, and rising on high in the manner of a hill, and threatening to pass over the nearby land. [The saint seeing this danger, remembered the word of the Lord saying: "When you hear of battles and seditions, do not be terrified." What is seen is indeed feared more than what is heard, and it was a terrible danger for frail human nature to see the abyss swelling, and not to flee it: and it was perhaps his to stand against the watery contest.] Then the blessed man placed his staff under the soles of his feet, and caring nothing for his own danger, asked Christ that the sea should not scatter the land habitable for human uses. What more? the wave did not touch the land beyond the shore, nor violate it: but drew the servant of God, standing on his staff, with it into the deep. And when he was in the middle of the sea, a horrid crowd of demons came to him, and cried with horrid voices, saying: "Wretched man, in this hour you are being drowned in wondrous billows, and beasts will eat your body, and the injury which you have done us by converting the pagan people to Christ, and by breaking the images in which we dwell, by killing also and binding the beasts which through our plots have killed men, we shall now avenge on you." But the saint, intently singing psalms and divine hymns, as yet answered them nothing: and they walled him in on every side, threatening to take away his life, and saying that they had brought him to this danger. Then the saint said to them: "Great is the Lord our God, and great is his power: but you have no power, but by plots you seduce the world." Meanwhile a most sweet song was heard from angels, coming from heaven and saying: "God is wonderful in his saints: but you, inhabitants of hell, withdraw from the servant of God, and do not disturb him, for he has nowhere pleased you." The angels of God driving them out, the demons withdrew. Then an angel of the Lord approached St. Abban saying: "Your voyage today will profit many until the end of the world, servant of Christ;" and the saint said: "How?" The angel answered: "In truth I say to you, whoever on land shall invoke your name, entering a ship and saying to you in the name of the most holy Trinity:
Curach Abain ar an linn,
Is muinnt earfhionn Abain inn,
will not be drowned on that voyage, but will reach land unharmed." So is interpreted in Latin what the angel said in Scots to the saint: "The ship of Abban upon the waters: the fair household of Abban in it b." Then the saint gave thanks to God for this promise more than that he himself was freed from the deep. And the angel said to him: "For three hundred and seventeen years from your birth until your death you will live c, soldiering for God, for so long a time without crime: and you will build many monasteries in honour of the Lord, and will be the patron of many in the day of judgement. On this occasion you will come to Rome, and will return to Ireland: and again for the third time you will come to Rome, and then Gregory, father of the apostolic see, will ordain you presbyter and abbot, and afterwards you will return to Ireland, and in many places the servants of Christ will be under your care." As the angel prophesied these things, the saint was cast out of the wave on to the land: and reaching Rome, he returned to Ireland.
[16] The devil in the form of a sea-beast terrifies the man of God; And on a certain day, as St. Ibar the bishop, holy Abbot Patrick the Elder d and St. Abban were sailing in one ship on the pool of Garman e, there appeared in the sea a bestial and unknown monster, having a hundred heads of different forms, two hundred eyes and as many ears; and it stretched itself as far as the clouds, and cast water from the lip of its more eminent head, which overtopped the others, high into the clouds; and it made huge billows through the whole pool, so that the ship was almost sunk. [Although it is called a pool, it is called a very great strait of the sea, and the sea tide flows daily so far up into the river Slaney f; because the Slaney flows into the pool of Garman, and in the same place they go into the deep.] And the sailors seeing such a monster were greatly afraid. Then St. Ibar and St. Patrick rose, and prayed against the diabolical beast. But St. Abban, sitting, kept silent out of humility. And then a divine voice from heaven said to them: "It is not yours to pray now, but Abban's; in whom through his prayer the diabolical form will be taken from you, in which the devil has fashioned himself, and has come to terrify your minds and sink your ship, and to lead your companions with him to the depths, and therefore Abban must now pray for you, because his power will ever avail over the waters; and what God promised him as he stood upon the waters of the sea will be fulfilled in him." Then swiftly rising he prayed against the monster, signing it with the sign of the cross of Christ: and at once it, appearing as if dead, fell part in the water, and part on the land; and immediately the billows were calmed, and the whole pool appeared serene; and the ship of the saints, as they gave thanks to God, reached the desired port. Wonderful to say, nothing was found of the body of the diabolical monster in water or on land, even after its heads had been counted by the saints: and they noted its ugliness and terribleness: and in this it appears that the devil was in such an image.
[17] 150 clerics, on pilgrimage to Rome, take St. Abban as abbot; At a certain time St. Abban saw three ships prepared to sail across the sea, and, the fare being given, he entered one of them. And the three ships sailed together, and in these three ships were a hundred and fifty clerics g, all wishing to go on pilgrimage: but each of them was by himself, and they had no master. And behold a great tempest came upon them, and the sea was moved from the bottom to the top, and all prayed to God: and God, taking pity on them, drove the tempest away from them: and when the sea was serene, the ships were held in the middle of the sea, and did not move. And all, seeing the ships immovable, disturbed in mind wept, not doubting that they would suffer death there, and they did not know for what cause they were suffering such things. Then a divine voice said to them: "This distress has held you for this reason, because you have not cared to have one leader, or to be under the teaching of one, but I will give you a pious and gentle leader, like Moses; who will lead you from this world to the heavenly kingdom: he is among you, and is called Abban." At this voice they, not knowing him, and he not showing himself to them, cast a lot in the name of the Trinity, to know in what ship he was; and the lot fell upon the ship in which St. Abban was; and they saw an angel standing over him, and showing that he was Abban: and immediately the hundred and fifty clerics with one accord received him as their master, and promised God to be monks ever under him. Then the ships were loosed, and they sailed prosperously to land. And St. Abban with his disciples went on to Rome.
[18] a host singularly honours St. Abban, And as they entered Rome, there met them a good man, who was accustomed to receive pilgrims of Christ into his house; and he brought them with him to the guest-cell; and he had a procurator of pilgrims, who was pious and holy; and this procurator received them gladly: but through them all he went on to St. Abban, and greeting and adoring him humbly, he honoured him, as was fitting. And all wondering questioned him, saying: "Why do you honour him above all of us? His face is not older than many of ours, nor has he more eminent clothes." He answered: "God is my witness that an angel of the Lord showed him to me, and ordered to be done what I have done." And they, giving thanks to God, reported to him how they had been forced to be his disciples. Meanwhile Pope St. Gregory h ordained St. Abban presbyter and abbot in the sight of his fellow monks: and, the blessing having been received, the man of God withdrew with his disciples.
[19] who at Rome reconciles contending commanders by the sign of the cross. But what took place at Rome, as the saint was withdrawing, must not be passed over. At that time two commanders resolved to do battle with a great army to the right of the monastery of St. Peter i. The holy man, seeing the line of battle and the lances directed before him, and each of them approaching at close quarters, grieved at such a work, and prayed to God for them, signing them with the sign of the cross of Christ. What more? Immediately, love being taken in place of hatred, weapons being laid aside, all kissed one another, and the commanders and their men, enriched with the holy blessing, were friends all their lives. All hearing and seeing such a miracle glorified Christ in his pilgrims.
ANNOTATIONS.
Even from this place it is evident that St. Abban was held to be the patron of sailors. In Colgan's time this little Latin verse was sung by those going on to the sea:
May this keel carry safe the clients of Abban!
years or so before the other St. Patrick. Lanigan Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume I, page 324 and following. contends that there was only one St. Patrick, and thus that St. Patrick the Elder is not distinguished from his namesake. But how improbable this opinion is has been shown by John O'Donovan Annals of Ireland by the Four Masters, volume I, page 143. and Robert King Memoir to the hist. of the Primacy of Armagh, page 68..
CHAPTER FIVE.
Monasteries founded in Connacht and Munster. A journey into Leinster.
St. Abban founds different monasteries: the eminent holiness of St. Becan. And after this the man of God with his brethren came to Ireland, and built many places in honour of the Lord. In the region of the people of Connacht (in the plain of Ce, that is, in the plain of Trindus a), he built three monasteries; and these being built and catholic men left in them, he went on to the region of the people of Munster, and in the western part of Munster, that is, in the region of Corcaduibhne [b], he built a monastery which is called Ceallachaidh Cherichinis c. This being built, he left founders of churches there, and prophesied that the place itself would be named from St. Finnian the abbot d, who at that time was not born; and so it came about. And afterwards he came to the border of Occeozay; and he built there in the land of Muscraighe a monastery, which is called Burnech e, and the place itself was given by the man of God, by divine prompting, with all its possessions to the most holy virgin Gobnata. Then the saint of God came to the land of Hua-Liathain, and there he built a cell which is called Ceallcruimthir, near the city of Culcollingus f: and he left others of his disciples there. And passing from there into the border of Nandesi and Nerra muighe, beside the city of Briggobhann g, he built a cell which is called in Scots Cællna marbhan, that is cell of the dead. Faithful men staying there, the holy man went on to the northern quarter of Mount Crott, in the region of Muscraighe: and there at the roots of that mountain he built the great and most regular monastery Cluain-aird Mobhegoc h, and in the same region he built the great monastery which is called Cluain-findglaise i. And in the aforesaid place, that is Cluainaird, the most blessed and most religious man Becan remained in a wonderful life until his death, and passed the whole course of his life in tears and three-day fasts, in assiduous prayer, in genuflections, in lamentations of the hands, and in night vigils; who made for himself a stone cross outside apart; and daily, whether it was serene or stormy, cold or hot, crucifying himself at that cross, he sang the whole psalter: which cross is now held in great honour. The whole course of his life, or the miracles he did in the name of the Lord, we do not write here; because they are written in his Life, but this we boldly say, that we have heard of no one more religious or holier than he, and have seen no more beautiful or more regular place than his monastery. And this monastery is called by many Ceall nander, that is cell of tears; because to men asking from God there penitential tears are given through the merits of the most blessed father Becan. And St. Abban, having built the monastery of Cluain-findglaise, passed over the river Suir, and in the western part of the plain of Femyn he built the monastery which is called Cluain-conbruin k. And this being built, he went on to the northern region of Munster l.
[21] The people of Ely being converted, St. Abban builds the church of Rath-Beccain. Which nation was still unbelieving, and adored idols. And it happened that the whole people of that region were in one assembly with their commander when St. Abban came there. Then the saint of God preached to them of the kingdom of heaven, and persuaded them to believe in God, and to be baptized in his name. The commander said to the man of God: "Who is this God? and what is he doing today?" The holy man answered: "God is the creator of heaven and earth, of the sea, and of all that is in them, and what he does daily he does today, he governs heaven and earth, and what is in them, and all his elements serve him, he saves men and beasts, and looks upon humble things." As the saint said these and like things, the commander tested him, asking about a very long stone which stood in the ground before him, saying: "Tell me the truth of this matter, that I may know whether your God is as you narrate, or whether you are his true servant." The saint said: "That you may know that it is so, ask what you wish." The commander said: "Show us which part of this stone is greater, in the ground, or above the ground." The man of God said: "It stands equally in the ground and above the ground." The commander, not believing this, but thinking that the saint said such a word as though they could not have known how it was, sent the whole people to dig up the earth, and to bring out the stone from it. And the people dug, and with great labour and sweat brought out the stone; and it was found as the holy man had said. And then wondering, and believing with one mind, Abban the servant of God baptized them. And the farmstead itself in which they were is called Raith-Becain, that is, the court of Becan m; and this and many other gifts of gold and silver, and of other things, the commander and people offered to St. Abban in honour of the Lord. Then an angel of the Lord came to the man of God saying: "Do not accept their gifts, but order them to divide them among the poor. [But hold the farmstead for the use of the servants of God." Afterwards the saint blessed that people, who promised to serve him until the end of the world: he is the patron of that nation.
[22] He tames and binds a venomous cat. At that time in that region there was an unheard-of beast, very venomous, and of unknown form, that is a cat as big as a yearling calf, having a fiery head, fiery breath, a fiery tail, huge teeth, and very long claws: and of this before all a certain swineherd who was there made complaint to the saint of God saying: "O servant of the Lord, who hast freed the people entrusted to thee by God from the worship of the devil, defend the same from the diabolical cat, which kills many men and cattle, and has devastated this region, and soldiers cannot resist it nor mastiffs, for weapons are defeated by its whole body as by a stone: and it is now on the road by which you wish to go." The holy man answered: "I know that it is so, as you say; and I know that it is on the road by which I wish to go: but in the name of Christ I say that from this day until the end of the world it will harm no one." And from there the saint went down, ordering chains to be brought to him; and he came to the bank of the river Brosna n: and immediately the fire-bearing and fearsome beast met him. And the companions of the man of God were much afraid: he alone went against the beast: and the beast, as it looked on the face of the saint, like a domestic animal rejoicing at the coming of its lord, came to him bowing down at his feet. Seeing this the saint's companions, their fear being driven out, came to him. And the saint seized the monster, and drew it with him to a nearby lake, and there bound it with chains; and every seventh year some sign of it is seen in a showing of power. This being done, the whole of that region was filled with great gladness.]
[23] [Sex seems to be changed at his intercession; he is advised to set out for Leinster;] A certain old man, decrepit and very rich, of the nobler race of the region of Ely o, having no son, nor brother, nor nephew, took a wife in old age to seek an heir, and she bore him a daughter: who was brought to St. Abban, to be baptized by him; and that aged father of hers came with her, and said to Bl. Abban: "O man of God, hear my misery." And he narrated to the saint all that we have said above. The saint said to him: "You will have a son." But he laughed, saying: "A woman has nothing to do with me, nor I with her; for I am full of old age and pains: and therefore, servant of God, know that a woman will no longer be in my care." The saint said: "This pleases me; but wait a little, and you will see the power of the Lord." Then the man of God baptized his daughter; but when she was brought out of the bath of baptism, it was a son [p]. And the saint said to the father: "Behold your son." And he, greatly rejoicing, and all who were with him, said to the holy man: "He and his seed after him will serve you." The holy man answered: "As long as he and his seed serve me, the kingdom of this region will be reigned over by him." And so it is. That man, returning to his house with his son, rejoiced in his heart over such a prophecy. And the saint went round that region preaching and building churches: for in that region he wished to end his life. But an angel of the Lord came to him, saying: "Hasten
to the borders of the people of Leinster, because it has been predestined for you by the Lord that you should rise again there, and there you will build places in honour of the Lord: [but leave these things among these builders of the faith." The saint so ordaining and blessing, the people weeping and giving him unwilling leave, he began to go on his way.]
[24] a tyrant, preparing a plot against him, is baptized and becomes a monk; Then a good man, who loved St. Abban, came to him, saying: "O beloved of God, a certain one of the royal race of this land is still unbelieving and faithless, who is an heir and tyrannical; who ever kills, and plunders, and lives by robbery; who also seeks to kill you, and he has sent scouts to know your road, and is awaiting you in ambush: therefore, Lord, stay here for some days, that you may be able to escape by another road. [For although soldiers should go with you, and you should reach another province unharmed, I fear lest there be a slaughter of men in your sight.]" Then the saint said to him: "May you be blessed by the Lord, for the word of your mouth is prudent and sweet; but this I say to you in the name of Christ, I know whatever you have narrated to me about him, but in him will be fulfilled the prophecy which says: "From a wolf shall be made a sheep. For he is a son of election, because his heart will be pricked by the Lord, when he sees me." And blessing that man, the saint went on his way. The above-mentioned tyrant rose from ambush against the man of God, girt with arms. The companions of St. Abban, seeing the armed man, a tyrant most horrid in gait and dress, with a like crowd of soldiers, were greatly afraid; and each of them began to hide himself here and there. But the man of God, armed with faith, went on his way fearless. And at once, as the saint had prophesied of him before, when he fixed his gaze on that saint of God Abban, he placed the arms he was carrying in his hand on the ground, and came humbly to the servant of Christ, bowing before him, and asking with tears that he should instruct him in faith and manners and afterwards baptize him. Then the holy man baptized him with his men. And that man had an only son, and he brought him, and he was baptized. That man took the holy habit, and remained with St. Abban until his death in a happy way of life, and the deeds of his holiness are narrated. And the holy man said to him: "Your son will beget sons and daughters, and of his seed will be princes and mighty ones of my city, in which I myself shall pass from this world to the heavenly kingdom" and so it came about. And I who collected and wrote the Life of St. Abban am the grandson of that son whom St. Abban baptized and about whom he prophesied [q]."
[25] St. Abban builds the monastery of Kill-Abbain in Leinster. After this St. Abban with his clerics entered the borders of the people of Leinster, and came among the people of Huabarchy [r], and that people received him honourably, and greatly rejoiced at his coming. And the holy man blessed them diligently, and many different sicknesses being healed there, and miracles performed, he withdrew from there among the people of Huamadhi [s], and there he built a great monastery; and in his honour a city was built in the same place: and monastery and city are called by one name in Scots Ceallabbain, which is interpreted in Latin the Cell of Abban.
[26] [He is advised by an angel to set out to Hykenselach where he founds different monasteries.] After a long time had now passed, an angel of the Lord came to St. Abban, saying to him: "Go to the region of Huakenselach [t], and you will stay in the place where you will hear from heaven the sound of a bell after sunset in the plain of Mudhi [u], because there you will pass to the kingdom of heaven. But from that place in other places in the same region you will build monasteries and cells; because much time still remains until your death, and in the same place in your honour there will be a city, in which you will pass to the Lord." And afterwards St. Abban, by the grace of God blessing his city Ceallabain, and blessing its people and clergy, and appointing holy men to remain there, and choosing others to go with him, directed his journey to the borders of Huakenselagh. And an angel of the Lord showed him the place, as he had said to him before. In which place St. Abban led a wonderful life, and did the greatest wonders in the name of the Lord, and from it built cells and monasteries round about the same place. For he built a great monastery near the river Barrow, which is called Roismictruin, in which lies the blessed abbot Emenus [x]; Druimcain Ceallaigh and Camross [y]; and other places in honour of the Lord in the same region, as the angel of the Lord had foretold to him. We wish now, brethren, to narrate to your dignity a few of the miracles which St. Abban did in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit from the time at which he dwelt in the city of Magharnoide [z] until his death.
ANNOTATIONS.
Caislean-Liathain, lies in the county of Cork to the south-east O'Donovan, the Four Masters, at the year 1579, page 1722.. Ceallcruimthir near the city of Culcollingus seemed to Colgan Acta SS. Hib. page 622, number 20. the cell of St. Fraech, who is accustomed to be surnamed Cruimhter or Presbyter and in the Donegal Martyrology at the 20th day of December is called of Cluain Collaing in Muinter Eoluis. But Cill Cruimther Fraoich lay near Ath-in-Urcair Todd and Reeves, Martyrologium Dungallense, page XLIII and following., now Ardnurcher, in western Meath O'Donovan, the Four Masters, volume VIII, page 6., far from Cork. We must then turn elsewhere; and indeed in the county of Cork, barony of Fermoy, there still lies a huge village, by name Kilcrumper, certainly a twisted form of Kilcrumther. The city of Culcollingus seemed to Lanigan Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume III, page 20. the same as the village of Kilcully in the parish of Desertmore; but it is too far distant from Kilcrumper.
p. Colgan tries to vindicate this prodigy in the annotations, both by bringing in the omnipotence of God and by alleging some examples of hermaphrodites, who at first seemed women, then men. Certainly several examples are read in the books of physicians and physiologists, nor have they anything of the prodigious, since they consist in this, that the male parts, at first hidden in the lower belly, afterwards came forth and appeared openly. But since these things are rare, they ought perhaps to rest on better authority than that of this biographer; yet I should not wish to banish it among the fables.
q. See what we have said of this place in the Preliminary Commentary, number 5.
r. Huabarchy or Ui-Bairrche (Colgan wrongly edited Huathmarchy) are the descendants of Daire Barrach, second son of Cathaeir Mor, king of all Ireland in the second century of the Christian era. Their seat was in the barony of Slewmargy, Queen's county, and in the baronies of Narragh western and eastern and Naas southern O'Donovan, Leabhar-na-g-Ceart, page 212..
s. Colgan edited Hua Midhe; but he observed on this place that in the Salamanca codex is read Hua Mudhe; in the Irish Tuatha Muidhe; in the martyrologies Hi-Muiredhuigh or Muiredhaigh: that this is the genuine form of the name. But John O'Donovan shows that neither is good Ibid. page 213 and following., and that one must read Hua Muighe, Ui Muighe or O'Muighe, in place of Ua m-Buidhe; for that the people Ui-Muighe were divided from Ui-Muiredhaigh by the river Barrow, so that the former was on the western bank, the latter on the eastern; that there survives there the church of Killabban, Killeban or Killebane in Queen's county, between Athy and Carlow, barony of Slewmargue. The monastery therefore of Ceall-Abbain in Hua-Muighe, designated at this number 25, is altogether different from its namesake signified at numbers 29 and 45, and situated in northern Meath or in the northern parts of Leinster. Which latter was situated in the county of Louth, as we shall explain at number 29. Colgan and Lanigan Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume III, page 18. err, when they lay down that the monastery of Ceall-Abbain in Hua-Muighe, or (as they wrongly will have it) in Ui-Muiredhaigh, and the monastery of Ceall-Abbain in the northern parts of Leinster were one and the same; and on the contrary that the monastery of northern Leinster and of northern Meath were two different monasteries. But of these things discussion will return at numbers 29 and 45.
t. See annotation e to chapter I.
u. Magh-Mudhi must have been situated at Magharnuidhe, if indeed the blessed man died there.
x. In place of Barwa Colgan edited Barbha; in the Donegal Martyrology Berbha, now Barrow; which river has for its mouths the harbour of Waterford, and separates the county of Wexford from those of Kilkenny and Waterford. On its left bank, on the road laid between Wexford and Waterford, lies the flourishing town of New-Ross, from which Old-Ross is a little distant, to the east, in the barony of Bantry, county of Wexford. This place Old Ross they say [Compare Lanigan, Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume I, page 466, and volume III, page 20.] was formerly called Ros-mac triun or trieoin and in Colgan's age Rosglas. But this cannot stand. Roismictruin (or whatever other form of the name be retained), in which blessed Emenus lies, was different from Ross-Glas; which latter place was not far distant from Kildare, looking to the west: as is read in the Donegal Martyrology at the 22nd day of December: Eminus, bishop of Ross-glas, in Leinster, in the western quarter of Kildare, on the bank of the Berbha; so that Ross-glas is manifestly the same place which was formerly called Mainister Eimhin, now Monasterevan, that is the Monastery of Emenus, situated in the county of Kildare, barony of western Ophaly, six English miles from Kildare. On the contrary Roismictruin is the same town which today is called New-Ross, as is manifest both from the memory of old monuments and from the present Irish name of the town O'Donovan, the Four Masters, at the year 1394, page 731 and following.. That St. Emenus flourished about the year 504 Eugene O'Curry has gathered Lectures on the mss. materials of ancient Irish history, page 351. from genealogical tables; but Lanigan makes him almost a whole century more recent [Eccl. hist. of Ireland, volume II, page 311 and following. Compare Colgan, Trias thaumat. pages 106 and 217.], following better authority. That this monastery was founded by St. Abban, as the biographer hands down, is a passage which receives authority from the Life of St. Luanus or Moluanus, as it was edited by Sirin, in the Collectanea sacra of Patrick Fleming, where at number 41 it is handed down Acta SS. volume I of August, page 350, annotation c. that St. Luanus visited St. Eminus the abbot, dwelling in the region of Kennselach not far from the river Berbha in the monastery of Rosmac treoin, which the most holy Abban founded.
y. Druimcain-Ceallaigh, or (as is read in the Salamanca codex) Druimchin-Chellig and Camross were in the same region as Ros-mac triun. But I would not dare to determine more closely. Archdall Monasticum hibernicum, page 733. hands down that St. Mosacra was abbot at Camross; but (as it seems) not rightly Compare Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 454..
z. In place of Magharnoide Colgan edited Maghir nenina. The Salamanca codex has Magharnaide; others Magharnuide. If Carlisle is to be believed Topogr. Diction. of Ireland, under Maghere Nuidhe., it is now called Maghere Nuidhe, situated in the barony of Shelburne, county of Wexford, near the river Barrow, in the southern quarter of New Ross, in the parish of White Church. And indeed it cannot be far distant from here; but on the topographical maps of Ireland I do not find this village noted there.
CHAPTER SIX.
Miracles of St. Abban while he dwelt at Magharnuidhe.
On a certain day St. Abban came with a great crowd of disciples to the river Barrow, St. Abban, dwelling at Magharnuidhe, crosses the waters with dry feet, and, no conveyances being found, they stood upon the bank of the river. The holy senior prayed apart to God. Then, all seeing it, the river was divided into two parts, and a dry ford appeared: the upper part rose higher and higher, and the lower part stood as if without motion. Seeing this the holy man ordered all to go before him, and, all going with dry feet, the holy senior passed over last. There was in their company a certain little child, who, seeing most beautiful pebbles in the deep, stood behind the saint's back gathering them; and no one saw him remaining there, because the saint had ordered all not to look behind them, but to go on their way; and he himself only looked upward to the God of heaven; and as his foot went down from the ford, at once the river ran on its course: and in the place in which the infant was when the river came down, there he remained under the water, and could not go from there. And the holy senior with his disciples walked on their way. And when the boy was looked for at night to eat, he was not found: for all until that very hour thought that he was in their company. But all said that they had not seen him, after he had gone down into the river with them. The holy senior said to them: "Do not trouble yourselves about him, for he is guarded by God; tomorrow I shall bring him from the river before you unharmed." The holy man, returning in the morning to the river, went alone into the water, and drew the boy out unharmed. And the boy was not only alive, but his clothes also were dry: for the water had not touched him. And the boy himself narrated to all how an angel of the Lord guarded and consoled him; and how it was foretold to him by him that he was defended through the grace of St. Abban, and that he would bring him out of the water, and how the water did not enter to him in that place; and he himself could not pass this way or that, until he took him. All hearing this gave thanks to God, and honoured their St. Abban.
[28] he commands wolves; And on another day the herdsmen, keeping the herd of St. Abban on a farmstead which he had in the region of Romani a, wishing to play, said to one another: Let us play and let St. Abban guard his cattle and those of his monks! Afterwards the herdsmen played merrily, caring nothing for the cattle. And while the herdsmen were playing, wolves rushed on the herds: and as they rushed on it, the holy senior, sitting in his cell among the brethren, said in a loud voice: "Let go and guard." The brethren, hearing this voice, not knowing for what cause he said it, asked him saying: "Father, what have you said?" The saint said to them: "That the fierce might not kill the gentle, I said this: but from others you will know to whom I said it." Yet none of them dared as yet to ask him what he had said. By divine power the wolves, hearing the voice of the saint sitting in his cell far off through the air, not only let the cattle go; but guarded them until their death. Afterwards it was spread abroad through that whole region that wolves were guarding the herd of St. Abban. Of this there is still a proverb in the same region, that is, swearing by the name of this saint, they say: "By Abban, who made wolves guard cows." Then the brethren knowing what the saint had said among them, namely: "Let go and guard;" gave thanks to God; and seeing that the prophecy was fulfilled through their senior which said: "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb," because they were made gentle not only to oxen, but to the other animals; and it was never necessary that there should be another herdsman with those cattle, other than the wolves only, as long as they lived. No less wonderful does it seem to me that no man nor any dog was found to harm them in their lifetime, through the grace of the same man of God, because they did not touch their food.
[29] he founds two monasteries in Meath; At another time St. Abban visited his holy companions dwelling in the region of Meath; and they, hearing that he had come into their country, greatly rejoiced, and many of them came from their places to meet him. And St. Abban was asked by them to stay among them for a time. For he founded two monasteries in the same region, one in the eastern part of Meath, which is called Ceall-ailbhe [b]: where the holy virgin Segnick under the care of the holy father Abban nourished holy virgins for God; and the other in the northern part of the same region, which is called Ceall-abbain c, in which he performed very great wonders from God. Then he visited the most blessed abbot Finian d, by whom the holy senior was honourably received; which Finian indeed St. Abban had baptized when he was a little child. They, pledging to one another the saving cups of divine dogma, St. Finian stayed in his monastery; and St. Abban returned to his own with his men.
[30] a plunderer punished; St. Abban receives Finmagh; At a certain time Cormac, son of Diarmaid, king of Hua-Kenselach e, plundered Camross, the cell of St. Abban, wishing to expel his household from it, and to have the farmstead itself in his power. And as his attendants plundered the farmstead, he himself stood in the open place. Two attendants carried from the saint's dairy f a great vessel full of the best milk, and they placed a bar through the ears or handles of the same vessel, and carried it between them to the open place; but when they wished to put it down, they could in no way do so, because the bar stuck to their necks. And when the king and others saw this, they were greatly afraid, thinking that evil was happening to them all, because they knew that they had done injury to the saint of God. And, counsel being taken, the king and all his men sent messengers to St. Abban to come to them. And the saint by the persuasion of the brethren went on with many to the king. Then the king bowed before the saint, and asked him with all his men to release the wretched men from the wood, which had stuck to their skin for their fault, and they promised that they would do whatever the saint should afterwards wish. And seeing that their hearts were pricked, he signed the wood with the sign of the holy cross, and ordered those carrying it to put it down: and immediately at his word the bar was loosed, and they put down the burden. Then the king and all who were there, seeing such a miracle and wishing to make satisfaction to God and the holy senior, with one accord offered to him and to God not only his cell, but their whole town. For that town is called in Scots Fionnmagh g, which is called in Latin the Bright Plain; and the holy senior, seeing them most devoted to God, diligently blessed for ever that nation, and its seed, and the king, and all kings to come of his seed, except the scatterers of the church of God. And the king and people, having received leave and blessing from the saint of God, taking him as their patron, returned from him with joy.
[31] [a candle divinely ministered to him, that he may finish his journey on a dark night;] On another certain day the holy senior Abban was returning to his monastery with a hundred and fifty h men: but they could not reach the monastery by day; because a long way from it night fell; and that night was dark, cold and thick with mists. And they, being unable to walk the road for the darkness, began to sit down. The younger men feared that their elders would be overcome by the cold, because the night threatened to rain. Then an angel of the Lord appeared from heaven, having a burning candle, bright with the brilliance of gold, and offered it in the hand of St. Abban. The saint held it in his hand, and with him all walked on their way: and the candle burning in the holy man's hand not only lit the road for them, but a great space around them was quite bright: and so with clear light they reached the city. And when he had come near the city, the holy man sent a messenger to have the church opened to him, wishing to place that candle on God's altar. And as the saint stood in the choir before the altar and prayed, the angel again took the candle from his hand. Then the holy senior, and all who were there, gave thanks to God for his gift.
[32] [the wild beasts of the neighbourhood are familiar with him; an angel speaks with him.] This holy senior had a desert place in the forest designated by the brethren; and on appointed days he dwelt there, serving God. Between that place and his monastery of Magharnoidhe i there is a little more than one mile. The place itself is called Disert Cheducain k, the desert of Ceduca, because he alone of the brethren was accustomed to enter there with the saint; and therefore that place is named from his name; because he passed his life there after the death of the man of God, and during his life had the care of that place; and in the same place different wild beasts of the woods came to the man St. Abban, and none of them, coming or returning, harmed another. And angels of God spoke with him there, since, when the saint of God was in secret, angels of God came to him; for from the day on which angels led him over the sea in his youth, an angel of the Lord, in whatever place he was, spoke with him daily.
[33] A little book left in the open air untouched by the snows. And on a certain day in the same place he was reading the Gospel outdoors, and the book was open upon a stone: and returning on that day to the monastery, he forgot the book open upon the stone: and that night a very great snow over the whole region of Ireland
fell: but yet the grace of God granted to the saint that not a drop of snow fell upon the book, nor upon the stone, nor in the enclosure in which they were. When morning came, the saint remembered the book: he grieved greatly about it and sent messengers to bring it. And the messengers, finding the book and stone dry, both untouched by the snow, returned with great speed to the man of God, showing the book and narrating what they had seen. Then St. Abban rejoiced, and all who were with him gave thanks to God.
[34] [he cures St. Braccan, almost slain, and the withered hand of a robber; he enters into a pact with five saints;] At another time a certain noble man, but a robber, from the borders of Ossory l, came with his attendants, and carried off a great herd of swine which the monks of St. Abban had. And that robber was the sister's son of St. Braccan the abbot, who ruled the monastery of Cluinmanir chuir m. And the holy senior Abban, asked by his monks to go after the swine to the borders of Ossory, visiting Bl. Braccan, was honourably received by him. And St. Braccan went on with St. Abban to ask his sister's son not to retain the swine of the saints, fearing lest perhaps St. Abban should deservedly curse him. But that evil man, as he saw the saints coming to him, resolved in his heart that his hand should kill St. Abban: and when both saints were close to him, he raised his hand to slay St. Abban; but by divine power his hand was turned aside; and he slew his uncle standing beside him, namely St. Braccan; and seeing that he had slain him, he raised his hand again to strike St. Abban; but at once his hand was withered. And St. Abban, seeing the servant of Christ shedding blood and almost dying, grieved greatly in his heart that for his sake a saint of God should be killed; and he went to him trusting in God, and held the wound with his hands, and immediately the blood stopped, and, signing the wound, at once a scar appeared between his hands. In that hour the saint was made strong and well formed, as if he had never been wounded; and that wretched man, seeing his hand withered, and his uncle healed, bowed down before the feet of the saints, and did penance according to the saints' order, and immediately his hand was preserved, and he restored in full what he had carried off. Then St. Braccan and St. Abban made a most firm brotherhood between themselves and between their monks to come, until the end of the world. They also confirmed the same brotherhood on another occasion with St. Brendan Moling, and St. Flannan, and St. Munna n and with many others, and kissing one another they returned to their places.
[35] he restores speech to a mute; At another time a certain good priest by some chance lost his speech, and was made mute: friends brought him to St. Abban that he might cure him; and the saint blessed an apple, and ordered him to eat it; at once as he ate it he spoke, and giving thanks to God began to sing psalms, and returned with joy to his house, offering himself and his place, and all that he had, he granted to God and St. Abban.
[36] leprosy cleansed; At a certain time a certain leper, hearing how great miracles St. Abban did in the name of the Lord, came to him saying: "Servant of Christ, to whom God has given such grace that all miracles are possible to you, I ask that you look upon my misery, and by the divine piety rescue me from it." And he, praying for him, signed him with the sign of the holy cross: and at once he appeared a stranger to leprosy. Then all seeing such a miracle gave thanks to God.
[37] He heals a paralytic, blind, lame, mute and deaf; At a certain time, when St. Abban was in the plain which is called in Scots Maghna taibhse, but in Latin the plain of the Phantom, there was brought to him a paralysed man, who was blind, and lame, and maimed, and deaf, and mute: and his friends asked the saint to cure him, and that man was noble. The holy man, seeing such great misery in one man, moved with pity, and asked by the people to pray for him, looked at him saying: "My Lord Jesus Christ, save this paralytic by thy power, that all who know him may believe in thee God the Father almighty with the Son and Holy Spirit." As the saint prayed these and like things, that man before all standing around him was healed of all his pains: and magnifying God he spoke, walked, heard, saw, and had both his hands, and his whole body was turned into beauty. He and all who were there praised God and his saint Abban, through whom God did such miracles in one man, for the saint, God permitting, performed six miracles in him, giving light to the blind, step to the lame, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, both hands to the maimed; and he who came deformed went away beautiful.
[38] he reconciles commanders about to fight one another; On another day it happened that two commanders came together with their armies in one place to do battle; for they were enemies. And that place in which they came together is called in Scots Achdh-uabhair, which is interpreted in Latin the Field of Pride. And scarcely were they advancing and in all warlike array approaching one another, so that their lances were mingled. And then Abban, making his journey through the same place, saw them, and said: "My Lord Jesus, by thy very great power prevent them, lest so great a multitude remain in the joy of the devil; that they may withdraw peacefully by thy goodness, who, full of anger, have come here at the devil's persuasion." At this voice they were thrust back from one another, until there was a space between them. And then they could not move, until the saint of God had made peace between them. And they, wondering what had happened to them, and seeing the saint coming to them, then knew that he had done the miracle in them, and when they had been pacified and released, giving thanks to God and his saint they returned rejoicing to their own.
[39] [he obtains sight for a blind craftsman as long as he labours on the church of the man of God;] There was in Ireland a certain famous craftsman, most skilled in every art of wood and stone, by name Gobban. He, after charging other saints with excessive payment for his art, lost the light of his eyes, and was blind. He was called to St. Abban, who said to him: "I wish to build a building in honour of God, and you are to do it." And he said: "How can I do it, since I am blind?" The saint said to him: "As long as you work on it, you will have the light of your eyes, but I do not promise it to you afterwards." And so it came about, for that craftsman worked with the saint of God in his sight, and when it was finished, he lost the light of his eyes.
[40] he restores speech to a mute: On another day, when St. Abban was beside a pool, which is called in Scots Lochna-georr, that is, the Pool of Cranes, a certain mute man was brought to him from far off to be cured by him. And the holy man, seeing him, said: "Lord almighty, who didst by thy piety give human speech to a brute ass, when it was necessary, give to this man whom thou hast fashioned his speech, that thy holy name may be magnified in him." And turning to the man, he said to him: "I say to you, O man, in the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, open your mouth and speak." And immediately that man, opening his mouth, spoke, giving thanks to God, best and greatest, and magnifying his servant St. Abban.
[41] he makes a cow fruitful; On a certain day the herdsman of St. Abban's herd, speaking with him, said: "Lord, there is a very beautiful cow in your herd, and she for many years from her birth to this day is barren." And the holy man blessed her, sitting in his cell, and said to the herdsman: "This year she will bear two calves, which, gentle and tame, will remain here until my death; but after my death they will not remain long with you." And so it came about according to the prophecy of the man of God. But what happened to those oxen after the death of the man of God will be said later.
[42] [he obtains grace for the monks of St. Columba and the soldiers slain on his account.] At another time St. Columba o came to Abban and was honourably received by him; and as they were conversing, St. Columba said to St. Abban: "We have come to you for this, that you may pray God for the souls of those who were slain in the battle which was joined, at our persuasion, for an ecclesiastical cause: and we know that God will help them through your prayer: for we know that an angel of the Lord speaks to you daily." St. Abban, much asked by him, said to him: "I shall pray for them with all diligence, that God may deign to have mercy on them." Afterwards St. Abban went to the secret place in which he was accustomed to pray to God, and an angel of the Lord to come to him; and there with intention of heart he prayed to God for them. And St. Columba, knowing that St. Abban had gone on to pray, himself went out after him, wishing to see him praying; he stood watching him secretly. And as St. Abban prayed, an angel of the Lord appeared to him, saying: "What you have now done suffices, Abban, for the Lord your God has granted you what you have asked of him." The saint said to him: "I ask nothing else now from the Lord my God but rest for the souls of those of whom St. Columba has care." The angel said: "They will have rest, and therefore I have been sent so quickly to you, because you have laboured for them beyond the strength of your body." And saying this he departed from him. Then the saint, giving thanks to God, went down from there to the brethren. But St. Columba went out to the brethren before him and narrated to them that the angel had spoken to St. Abban, he himself as yet not coming to them. And when he had come, and had sat among the brethren, St. Columba said to them: "Tell us what has been shown to you by God about our soldiers." And St. Abban, not wishing to show that the angel had spoken to him, said: "God will have mercy on them." St. Columba said: "Why do you hide from us what the angel of the Lord has spoken to you? for thus and thus he spoke with you. Do not, I beg, father, be angry with me, for I have heard and seen this." Then of all the brethren
a great shout went up, both praising God and giving thanks to him. Then St. Abban and St. Columba, refreshing themselves with saving words and greeting one another, St. Columba directed his way in the kiss of peace.
[43] He visits St. Brendan and questions him about the wonders seen in the Ocean. At another time St. Abban, after St. Brendan had returned from his voyage in search of the land of promise [p], wishing to question him about the wonderful things he had seen in the Ocean, went to him. And St. Brendan, an angel of God ordering him, came to meet Bl. Abban with great joy. And St. Abban questioned him on all that he wished. And St. Brendan diligently narrated to him all the wonders that were found in the Ocean: and for some days they remained together in divine conversations and angelic visitations, and they confirmed between them the brotherhood of which we spoke above, and after this, kissing one another, each returned to his own in peace.
[44] He restores a slain man to life. A certain man by name Conall dwelt in the region of Huakenselach in the neighbourhood of the monastery of St. Abban. He was a good man, zealous in good works and alms, and a friend of St. Abban; the name of his place is called Seanvhoithard [q, which is interpreted in Latin Old High Cottage.] This man on a certain day fell in with his enemies, and they bound and slew and killed him. And his sons and boys carried the slaughtered and mangled body to his house. And his wife and sons sent messengers to the holy elder Abban that his disciples should bring his body to him to be buried in his monastery, because so Conall had wished while living. And the holy man, hearing that Conall had been killed, grieved exceedingly in his heart: and he himself, old and decrepit, went on with a great crowd to bring the body; and when they had come to the farmstead, his wife and daughter, and all the household made a great howling before the man of God. And the saint himself, seeing their misery, moved with pity, wept with them, saying: "Why has it happened to me, Lord, that a good and clement man, a doer of good works and alms, should suffer a sudden death with the shedding of his blood?" Then he ordered all to be silent, and went to the place where the body was, and prayed to God with his whole heart. And after prayer, turning to the body, he said: "I say, I say, Conall, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ arise, and speak with us; for God has granted your soul to me." At this voice his body moved, and afterwards he rose blessing all; and there the saint assigned him living and healed of his wounds before all. Then Conall narrated to all how, the demons contending fiercely for his soul, and the angels of God bravely defending it, the highest angel came from above to them, saying: "God orders this soul to be brought back into its body, because his servant the holy elder Abban has asked that it be granted to him by God, and the whole household of heaven attends to his prayer." And afterwards, he said, the angels of God brought my soul to my body, and behold I am alive through the prayer of the holy father Abban." And then Conall offered all that he had, that is daughters and sons, male and female servants with his region to God and St. Abban: whose seed and region to the present day stand in the service of the monastery of St. Abban.
ANNOTATIONS.
in the cause of the church. For we know that through your prayer they will obtain the mercy of the Lord. We ask also that from the angel who speaks with you daily you seek God's will on this matter." And when the holy senior was pressed by them more urgently, he answered: "May God be gracious to them; and I shall gladly pray for them." The holy man then went to the secret place in which he was accustomed to pray to the Lord, and to see and hear the angel of God. Where, when he had given himself with all his effort to prayer, St. Columba, wishing to see the holy father praying and to hear what the angel said to him, went after him, cunningly observing. And when St. Albanus had so prayed, behold an angel of the Lord says to him: "It suffices, Albanus, what you have done; for God has granted you your petition." He answered: "I have now asked of the Lord only rest for those souls of whom St. Columba has care." And the angel: "They will have rest. And therefore I have been sent so quickly to you, because you have laboured for them beyond the strength of your body." Then the saint, having heard this, went down to the brethren. But Columba, going ahead, narrated all to the brethren. Then St. Columba, greatly consoled, returned giving thanks to the clemency of the creator. In the edition of Colgan St. Abban is asked only to pray for the monks of St. Columba, not however for the slain soldiers; of whom nevertheless St. Abban makes reply: so that it is evident from the reply that the question, which might not seem sufficiently honourable to St. Columba, was mutilated. Further a whole commentary would have to be written, if it pleased us to treat of this charity of St. Columba towards the soldiers. We shall note quite few things. Those who wrote next after the death of St. Columba all agree that the blessed man in the year 557 of his own accord, not forced, left Ireland to convert the Picts to the faith; but soon the rumour was scattered that this penalty was imposed on him because he had been the author of the battle of Cubdrebina and two others. And the memory of this matter is here renewed too: on which see the distinguished William Reeves, in his excellent work on St. Columba Life of S. Columba, page 9 and 247 and following..
p. The voyage itself of St. Brendan can be admitted, but its circumstances must be counted among the fables Compare Lanigan, volume II, page 29; O'Curry, Lectures, pages 289 and 382.. That voyage took place some time before the middle of the 6th century.
q. In the Life of St. Maidoc In Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. page 211., chapter XXVI, we read: The monastery which is called Seanbotha, beside the roots of the mountain which is called in Scots Suighe Lagen, that is the Seat of the People of Leinster, was situated at Templeshanbo or Teampull-Seanbotha in the barony of Scarawalsh, county of Wexford. Whether this place is the same as Seanvhoith-ard? I would dare neither to deny nor to affirm. Certainly it was in Hy-Kinselach; but it was more than twenty English miles distant from the monastery of St. Abban, and it is called Senboithe-Sine by the Four Masters O'Donovan, the Four Masters, at the year 601, page 229. and by St. Aengus In Todd, The irish Version of Nennius, page 218. Senbotha Fola.
CHAPTER SEVEN.
The death and burial of St. Abban.
[St. Abban, having foretold the day of his death, dies; he is buried with the singing of angels.] Here, dearest Brethren, we set an end to the miracles which the holy father Abban did in his life. For although we should write and search out his miracles for as long as we should live, yet we would not know how to finish them all: for in his very long age there was no day on which he did not do something worthy of being written. But now we wish to write briefly of his death, and how his most blessed body was laid in the earth. On a certain day, when the time for him to pass to the Lord was drawing near, calling some brethren to him he showed them the day of his death. The provost of his monastery, and procurator of all his affairs within and without, sprang from the city of Ceall-Abbain, which is in the region of the Northern people of Leinster, the first place in the land of the people of Leinster that St. Abban founded: to which provost alone he disclosed the very hour of his release. Then that provost resolved to steal the most holy body of the blessed man and bring it to his own city, if he could; and he sent messengers to his city, that its people should gather with them the Northern people of Leinster; and should come to meet him on the day, and by the road which the messenger showed them. And they rejoicing did so, but the provost had under his care the oxen of which we made mention above: as the holy man prophesied of them before they were born, they were as if monks; and there was no need for them to be forced to work, but they came willingly and most gently: and the holy father and the brethren loved them. And on the night on which the holy father foretold that he would pass to heaven, the provost placed those two oxen beside a waggon in an appointed place, and angels of God that night visibly visited the man of God. And the provost, knowing from the holy man's mouth the very hour of his passing, ordered all the brethren to go to their beds, and to rest for a while, except his friends, to whom he disclosed his purpose. And as the brethren went out to rest a little, at once the soul of the pious father among the choirs of angels passed to the heavenly kingdoms. And immediately the provost with his friends took away his holy body from the monastery, and placed it on the waggon, those oxen being yoked to it; and the oxen themselves, knowing their burden, began to make their way at a suitable pace with their companions. Then an army of angels came down from heaven, singing sweetly around the body, and rays of light shining from them illumined the whole road, like rays of the rising or setting sun with serene weather: and they did so the whole time until the body was venerably laid in the ground. And the bearers of the body with that angelic light walked swiftly.
[46] His body is carried by oxen to different places at once; When the brethren had risen after an interval of time, they went on to the place in which they had left their patron, and not seeing him there, they searched all the enclosures of the monastery, and did not find him. Then they knew that the provost had escaped, bringing him to his city. And while they wept and shed tears, and the bells were rung, all the people of the city were gathered to them: and when it was narrated, the whole city was turned to mourning. And so the people and clergy were saddened more because his body had been taken away from them, than because he himself had passed from this life, for they did not doubt that they would be freed from all evil and increased in all good, and that the grace asked of God would be obtained beside the relics of the holy man, just as they had been freed by him while he lived among them. And, counsel being taken, they sent several messengers round about, that they should come to follow their patron, and contend for his recovery. And immediately the people in arms went on with the brethren to contend for their saint, and afterwards they came with great impetus to the city where the body was. And the people of the city with the army of the Northern people of Leinster assembled there, and they were much more numerous, and readier than the Southerners. And the holy monks, clerics, and good and wise men, who were on either side, seeing that the danger was very great, ordered both peoples to wait in their position, and the body to be placed in the middle of the road between them, to consider whether they could pacify them. And they, disputing, could in no way accomplish peace; for the Northern army said: "This saint marked out our city from the field, and received us as the first people in these regions, and we have received him as our saint and patron for ever: we shall all die before we let him go from us." And the people of the city of Magharnoidhe with the Southern people of Leinster said thus: "This saint was sent by God to us, and for many years lived with us, and built many monasteries and cells in our region, and he is our saint and venerable father, who likewise built our city, who after many miracles passed to the Lord among us, and through him we ever hope to be helped by God: and know that we shall all give ourselves to death before we return with him absent from us." At this voice the anger of the princes and soldiers of both sides blazed into fury. Then the monks and clerics, to whom it was not lawful to fight, went out apart howling and weeping, and with tears poured out saying: "Alas, alas! Lord God, why dost thou allow a very great slaughter of men around the body of thy servant, who in his life prevented many wars?" And the armed hosts angrily approached one another, hastening to contend fiercely around the body. And a great miracle was then performed by God through the merits of his saint. For behold, swiftly two oxen with a waggon and body went on to the Northern people, and two oxen of the same colour and size with a like waggon and body came to the Southern people. Then the saints who were on either side, giving thanks and magnifying their saint, came in the greatest gladness and with great honour to their cities a. And all who were ill with various sicknesses in the cities were brought to the relics and all were healed. And the relics themselves were honourably buried with due honour in hymns and praises after the solemnities of Mass.
[47] which oxen miraculously disappear. And the oxen themselves, which carried the relics to the tombs of their Lord, went out through the men, and went rightly three times around them, and afterwards lowing they ran through the city to the nearby streams, and many from the cities followed them, wishing to see what they would do. And the oxen before all entered the fords of the streams; but from there they never appeared to men: and those fords are specially called in Scots Ath dain Cheilt, that is the Fords of the Oxen Hiding Themselves. Then was known what the saint said of them while living: "Not long after my death will they remain with you." At the relics of St. Abban great and wonderful miracles are performed daily, as he himself did in his life. St. Abban then, after many converted from paganism to the faith and baptized, after churches founded, after the blind enlightened, after lepers cleansed, after the deaf and lame healed, after the dead raised, after all diseases relieved, on the VI day before the Kalends of November passed among the choirs of angels to the heavenly kingdoms; to which kingdom may God lead us by the prayers of this saint. Amen.