ON ST. COLMAN OF SENBOTH, CONFESSOR, IN THE MONASTERY OF SENBOTH IN THE DIOCESE OF FERNS IN IRELAND,
ABOUT THE YEAR DCXXXII.
SYLLOGE
Colman, confessor at Senboth, in Ireland. (S.)
BY V. D. B.
§ Sole section. His memory in the martyrologies. The fable of the teal of St. Colman. His association with St. Maidoc, bishop of Ferns. The time of his death.
That a great many Saints Colman flourished in Ireland no one is unaware, unless he is altogether a stranger in the hagiological affairs of this sacred island. [St. Colman, of the stock of Fiachra and abbot of Senboth, praised on this day by the Irish martyrologists, is celebrated for the fable of the teal, which in Irish books] There is no reason, however, for us to distinguish them all, since we know such things about the present St. Colman as prevent him from being confused with others. In the metrical Festilogium of St. Aengus, then, his memory is commemorated at this day in these words: Colman Ua Fiachrach; in the Martyrology of Tallaght, published by Matthew Kelly: Colman H. Fiachrach i Senbotha folu, that is: Of Colman of the stock of Fiachra in Senboth-folu, and indeed in Uibh-Ceinnsealaigh, as is added in that of Donegal, or in Sen Both Fola in Ui Cennselaigh, as is found in the old Irish glosses to the said Festilogium; where also the following is read: In this church, namely in its neighbourhood, there are ducks teal or rather crenae, Irish lacain, French sarcelles, English teales, which it is not lawful to touch. And if by a nocturnal mistake they are plunged in water, drawn from the pool and set on the fire, wood on land may be burned under the kettle, but the water can by no means be heated, until those ducks have been taken away and returned to the pool from which they were taken; the distinguished Irish archaeologist James Todd will give the Irish words The irish version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius, page 218.. The same things in almost the same words are reported in the Wonders of Ireland, written in Irish according to the book of Glen-da-Locha and published from the book of Ballymote by the cited Todd Ibid. page 192 and following.; where those birds are called lacain lindi Senboto Colmain, that is, ducks of the pool of Colman.
[2] and much more fully in the Topography of Ireland of Giraldus Cambrensis, To pursue this subject (for these fables are of value for signifying how great was formerly the veneration of the neighbours of St. Colman), we shall give also the words of Giraldus Cambrensis, who speaks more fully of the same matter [Topographia Hiberniæ, distinction II, chapter 31, in Camden, Anglica, Normannica etc. scripta, pages 727 and 728, 1603 edition.]: Of the teal of St. Colman, as it were tame, and quick to flee at injury. There is in Leinster a moderate pool, containing the birds of St. Colman, namely smaller ducks; which by the common word are called cercellae. These from the time of the saint have become so tame that they take food from the hands and to this day do not shrink from the approach of men. They are always, as it were, filling up a convent, about thirteen in number. (Which is the lawful number of monks to make up an abbey.) Whenever injury is done either to the church and clergy or to the little birds themselves, or some trouble is brought on them, they at once fly off and withdraw to a certain lake far removed from there; nor do they return to the former place until fitting satisfaction has followed. Meanwhile, while they are absent, the waters of that pool, which before were most limpid and clear, become fetid and corrupt, and come neither to the uses of men nor of cattle. It happened at one time, when someone was drawing water there at night, that he drew up at the same time one of the little birds, not deliberately but by chance; and when meat was being cooked for a long time in that water, and could not be cooked through, at length the bird was found floating in the pot altogether unharmed; and when it had been taken back to the pool, the meat was at once cooked through.
[3] with contemporary testimonies brought forward, is read. It happened also in our times to Robert, son of Stephen (commonly Fitz-Stephen, who in the year
1168 or the following one was sent by King Henry II into Ireland to restore Dermot Mac-Murrough, king of Leinster, to his throne), when he was passing through that place with Dermot, king of Leinster, that a certain archer had put one of those birds on the coals to be cooked; the material of three fires being consumed, he made no progress in the cooking until midnight. But now for the third time the meat was drawn out, and was always found no less raw than when it was put on. At length when the host caught sight of the little bird among the pieces of meat, and heard that it was from that pool, he at once exclaimed with tears: “Wretched me, that this misfortune should ever have had to fall on my house and to occur in it. For this was one of the birds of St. Colman.” And at once the meat, put on by itself, admitted the cooking it had lost. The archer, not long afterwards, was miserably removed from human affairs. Besides, it happened also that a kite withdrew into a certain nearby tree with one of those little birds, which it had seized; which, in the sight of many, at once stiffened in all its limbs, nor did the robber look at the prey beneath its feet. It happened too in a certain time of ice that a little fox seized one of those birds; and when morning came, in a certain hut, joined to the lake and once venerable through the living of St. Colman there, within its jaws, the little bird shutting off its vital breath, the beast was found suffocated. The prey then being carried back to the lake, with the birds altogether unharmed, by the favour of their excellent patron, the booty being undamaged, both robbers paid the penalty of death.
[4] [The notable friendship and miracle of St. Colman with St. Maidoc, bishop of Ferns. The time of the death of both.] The memory of these things or little tales had long since perished in that small district The irish version of Nennius, page 218., and it was also unknown to all where Sen Both fola had once been, when the distinguished O'Donovan The four Masters, at the year 601, page 229. showed that this place is now represented by the parish of Templeshanbo or Templeshanbough in the barony of Scarawalsh, in the county of Wexford, in Leinster, at the eastern foot of the mountain of Leinster, in English Mount Leinster, in Irish Suighe Laighean. This is established from these words of the Life of St. Maidoc, bishop of Ferns In Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 211, chapter 26.: One day St. Moedoc came to the monastery which is called Seanbotha, near the foot of the mountain which is called in Irish Suighe Lagen, that is, the Seat of the Leinstermen. St. Colman was then living there; but it is established from elsewhere too that a friendship existed between the two holy men. For in the same Life of St. Maidoc the following occurs Ibid. page 214.: On another day when St. Moedoc was making a journey, St. Colman, son of Fiachra, met him on the way: in that hour Colman's horse died. To him the holy bishop at once gave his own horse under Colman's chariot. And when he had gone away from there, another horse, hyacinth-coloured, sent by God, at once came gently under the chariot of St. Moedoc. And when Colman had returned by the same road, his horse rose up alive to meet him; and he attributed this to the holiness of the most blessed bishop Moedoc. It should not delay us, as Lanigan long ago noted Ecclesiastical history of Ireland, volume III, page 5., that St. Colman in this place is called son of Fiachra, although by the martyrologists mentioned at the beginning he is called not son, but of the stock of Fiachra; and indeed he was the son of Eochadius and Fearamhla, and brother of SS. Aodhan of Cluain Eochaille (Cloonoghill) and Dichlethius O'Triallaigh O'Donovan, The genealogies etc. of Hy-Fiachrach, page 37.. Since St. Maidoc departed this life about the year 632 Lanigan, volume III, pages 339 and 341., it is not permissible to move the death of St. Colman far from it.