Colman Mac Duach

ON ST. COLMAN MAC DUACH, BISHOP IN CONNACHT,

BEFORE THE YEAR DCL.

PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.

Colman mac Duach, bishop in Ireland. (S.)

BY V. D. B.

§ Single. St. Colman mac Duach, distinct from St. Colman of Senboth. The origin of both from the family of the Fiachrii. The feasts of St. Colman mac Duach and his listing among the saints of the third class.

On the western side of northern Ireland a huge sea bay runs into the land, separating County Clare from County Galway, [In the older Irish calendars St. Colman mac Duach is announced at the 3rd of February,] to which the name Galway bay has been given from the neighboring city. Now in the part where those counties adjoin, namely in the barony of Kiltartan, in the western quarter of the town of Gort, there extends the parish of Kilmacduagh, to which St. Colman, also called Macduach, has imparted his name together with the memory of his virtues. In this place we must now pause, since today there and in other places of Ireland the feast of the blessed man is kept. Yet it was not always so. In the old Martyrology of Tallaght, which ten years ago the lamented Matthew Kelly first published, there is read at the 3rd of February: Colman mac Duach, that is, Colman, son of Duach; likewise in the Martyrology which about the year 1167 Marianus Gorman, abbot of Knock near Louth, compiled, at the same day In Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 247, no. 14: Mac-Duach, or son of Duach, protector from adversities, Colman, hospitable and kindly. On the same day in the fifteenth century he was praised by Cathal Maguire, canon of Armagh and dean of Clogher, or another, in the Ængus Auctus In Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 247, no. 14. From these Michael O'Clery, a nursling of the Minorite religion, did not altogether depart at the beginning of the seventeenth century in the Martyrology of Donegal, which James Henthorn Todd and William Reeves, whom we have often praised, published a few years ago; yet O'Clery added many things, enclosed by us in square brackets [], which did not please Colgan. But let O'Clery be heard at the 3rd of February: Colman, bishop, that is, Macduach of Cill-mic-Duach in Connacht. [He was of the family of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muidhmhedhoin. Great were his virtues and miracles. Ua Sechnasaich says that the feast of Macduach is kept on the 27th of October; for he was his patron and kinsman.] To which Todd subjoins that Ua Sechnasaich or O'Shaugnessy seems to be the head of the family who lived in O'Clery's times, and whose testimony was held by him to be of the greatest moment, since St. Colman mac Duach was the patron of his tribe and so of his family.

[2] [and at the 27th of October St. Colman Hy Fiachrach, also called in Senboth: through the confusion of these it came about that the feast of the former was moved to the 27th of October, and thence to the 29th.] And indeed at the 27th of October a certain St. Colman was inscribed in the same four martyrologies Ibid. page 246. That of Tallaght has this: Colman h. Fiachrach i Senbotha Folu, that is: Colman of the family of the Fiachrii in Senbotha Folu. In that of Donegal a few words are added, by which it is again stated that he is the same as he who was mentioned in the same martyrology at the 3rd of February; hear the words: Colman of the family of the Fiachrach, of Senbotha in Ui-Ceinnsealaigh. He is of the family of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin. I omit for now to inquire whether two Colmans or one are designated;

this one thing I remark in this place, that in fact in the middle of the seventeenth century the feast of St. Colman mac Duach was kept with the greatest solemnity in the diocese of Kilmacduagh on the 27th of October. Hear Colgan Ibid. in the place cited: His birthday according to our hagiologists is commonly placed on the 3rd of February, although I understand that his feast is celebrated not on that day, but on the 27th of October by continuous tradition in the whole diocese of Kill-mhic-Duach… St. Colman, bishop, is in such veneration and honor throughout the whole diocese of Duach, and especially among the illustrious family of O'Sechnasaigh, that not only is his feast celebrated in choir and in court with great veneration, but its eve also is most strictly observed with vigil and ecclesiastical fast; so that they abstain not only from meats but also from eggs, milk foods, and all foods forbidden in Lent; and one who did otherwise would be judged not only guilty of mortal stain but moreover liable to be punished by divine justice with most instant vengeance. This custom, which was favored by the fact that the eve of St. Colman was at the same time the eve of SS. Simon and Thaddæus, apostles, persisted until the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV. But he, not content with having established in the year 1741 a number of feasts of native saints throughout all Ireland, six years later, that is, on the 1st of July of the year 1747, at the most humble prayers presented in the name of the clergy of the kingdom of Ireland through their agent at the Roman court and referred by his Holiness to the Sacred Congregation of Rites, likewise granted a number of others; among which was the feast of St. Colman mac Duach, no longer to be kept on the natal day of the apostles Simon and Thaddæus, nor in the one diocese of Kilmacduagh, but on the 29th of October, and indeed in all Ireland De Burgo, Hibernia Dominicana, page 23. And although these things did not pertain to the diocese of Kilmacduagh, it nevertheless pleased its clergy to follow the common order of the divine office, and so to celebrate the feast of St. Colman on the 29th of October, with this difference, that the clergy of all Ireland use a greater double rite, the clergy of Kilmacduagh a double rite of the first class with octave, as for a patron; but both use the office from the common, since, as for St. Celsus, bishop of Armagh, so for St. Colman of Kilmacduagh proper offices could nowhere be found Ibid. at the page cited.

[3] It is shown that those two Colmans are different, In these things, therefore, St. Colman who is inscribed in the sacred calendars at the 3rd of February is reckoned to be the same as he who was formerly venerated on the 27th of October, and now on the 29th. Colgan rightly contends that these things are erroneous, stating that two different Colmans have been wrongly confused into one. This confusion, he says Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 246, perhaps arose from this, that both saints had the same name, and both, sprung from the same family, flourished at the same time, namely about the year 620. For it is read in the Life of St. Maidoc Ibid. page 214, bishop of Ferns, who (as we shall say elsewhere) died in the year 525 Hennessy, Chron. Scot. page 79 or about 632 Cf. Lanigan, Eccl. hist. of Ireland, volume III, pages 339 and 341 and is venerated on the 31st of January, that St. Colman, son of Fiachrius, his horse having died, met St. Maidoc; that he received another horse from him and that by his merits the dead horse rose again: but I recited the entire passage above at the 27th of October Page 383. And this son of Fiachrius Colgan reckons to be St. Colman, Hua-Fiachrach or of the stock of Fiachrius, formerly venerated in Senboth in Leinster; for that those are sometimes called sons who are only of the stock Cf. Lanigan, volume III, page 5. On the other hand St. Colman mac Duach, toward whom Guaire, who began to rule Connacht from about the year 622, was most generous, was born of a different father, although of the same stock, and lived not in Leinster, but in Connacht. This same opinion I followed above at the 27th of October in the Sylloge on St. Colman, confessor in Senboth or Sean bhothach, an old monastery of the diocese of Ferns in Ireland; but, so as not to handle the same argument twice in this volume, I omitted there all discussion of distinguishing St. Colman of Senboth from his namesakes. It remains therefore for me to demonstrate in this place that St. Colman mac Duach is plainly different from St. Colman Hy or Hua Fiachrach. Now O'Clery, at the impulse and inducement of O'Shaugnessy, asserted in the Martyrology of Donegal that Colman, venerated both on the 3rd of February and on the 27th of October, was the son of Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin; and this persuasion (when it began is uncertain) was the cause why the people of Kilmacduagh believed that their patron was the same as the one of Senboth, renowned in Ireland for his teals, and that his feast was accordingly to be kept not on the 3rd of February, but on the 27th of October. But that popular error was never that of the learned. Duald mac Firbis, the last torch of the archaeologists of Lecan, slain in the year 1670 to the grief of all, in a work on the genealogies, tribes, and customs of the region of the Fiachrii or O'Dowda, in which work he pursued with incredible diligence the most ancient and abstruse affairs of the counties of Mayo and Sligo in Connacht, laid open the genealogy and characteristics of both Colmans.

[4] although belonging to the Fiachrii, the royal house of Connacht: I shall report the entire passage, turned into Latin [O'Donovan, The genealogies, tribes, and customs of Hy-Fiachrach, page 35 and following]: Eochaidh Breac, son of Dathi, had four sons, namely Laoghaire, Brethe, and Eoghan Aidhne. Brethe, son of Eochaidh Breac, had children, namely Maolfaithche, from whom is the family of O'Maoilaichen; Brodubh, from whom descends the family of O'Brouibh; Breanainn, from whom are the family of O'Maoilbreanainn and the family of O'Creachain. Among the descendants of Breanainn, son of Brethe, were the three O'Suanaigh, namely Fidmuine, Fiodhairle, and Fidhgusa or Fiodhgus, who were the three sons of Fiodhbhadach, son of Cuduiligh, son of Coman, son of Suanach, son of Creachan of the region of Moy, son of Bruidhe, son of Brenain, son of Brethe, son of Eochaidh Breac, son of Dathi, King of Ireland. Fearamhla, daughter of Dioma Dubh, son of Diarmaid, son of Seanach, son of Laoghaire, son of Eochaidh Breac, son of Dathi, was the mother of the three O'Suanaigh. She was also the mother of Aodhan of Cluain Eochaille (Cloonoghill) in the (barony of) Corann, and of St. Dichlethe O'Triallaigh, commonly called Triallach, whose dwelling is in the region of Ciarraighe Luachra (or Kerry). And she was the mother of St. Colman, son of Eochaidh, who is, or lies buried, in Sean bhothach, in Hy-Censiolaigh; and these are the saints of Hy-Eathach, of the region of Moy. Of the stock of Eochaidh Breac, son of Dathi, are the saints Colman and Aodhan. The following are saints of the stock of Eochaidh Breac, namely: Colman, son of Duach (from whom Ceall-mhic-Duach), son of Ainmire, son of Conall, son of Cobhtach, son of Goibhnenn, son of Eoghan Aidhne, son of Eochaidh, son of Dathi. Then the three O'Suanaigh settled in the following places, Fidhmuine, an anchorite who died in the year 750, in Rathain, now Rahen, Fidhairle, who died in the year 763, in Cionn Saile, now Kinsale, and Fiodhgus in Glas-charraig, now Glascarrick… From Ailghile, son of Eochaid Breac, descend the Muinter Ailgheanain or Ailghile, and thence was the most celebrated prophet Cutemen mac Ailghile. From Cuboirne, fifth son of Eochaidh, descend the Muinter Mochain, of Cill Athracht (now Killaraght), that is, the keepers of the Cross of St. Athracht, who is related to have received the veil from the hands of St. Patrick in the year 470. To these must be added a passage from the book of Lecan Ibid. pages 62 and 63, in which the maternal family of St. Colman mac Duach is explained: Guaire, these things are read there, son of Colman, son of Cobhtach, son of Goibhnenn, son of Conall, son of Eoghan Aidhne, son of Eochaidh Breac, son of Dathi, had three sons, namely Artgal, Ædh, and Nar. This Ædh had a son Fergal, who had two sons, namely Cormac and Enda, from whom the Cinel Enda. Cormac's line died out, except that his daughter was the mother of St. Colman mac Duach, from whom Ceall-mic-Duach. But, as will appear below in annotation e, the reckoning of the times does not altogether agree, since King Guaire and St. Colman mac Duach were contemporaries.

[5] a genealogical scheme containing the names of both. In these things all are traced back to Dathi; but Dathi was the son of Fiachra Follnathach, from whom the descendants were called Hy-Fiachrach, and Fiachra had as father Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin, likewise King of Ireland. Hence, therefore, arises the following genealogical scheme, from which it will appear most clearly that St. Colman mac Duach was separated by the eighth degree from Eochaidh Breac, who was the common stock both of that St. Colman and of St. Colman Hy Fiachrach or of Senboth.

[6] [St. Colman, son of Eochaidh of Senboth or Sean bhothach, is different from St. Colman, son of another Eochaidh; which latter Colman has been split into three by Colgan.] St. Colman mac Duach, therefore, is altogether distinct; distinct likewise is St. Colman Hy Fiachrach, who was called son, or rather great-grandson, of Fiachrius in the Life of St. Maidoc, but by Firbis son of Eochaidh and by Michael O'Clery son of Eochaidh Muighmhedhoin; formerly venerated in Sean bhothach or Templeshambo, in the province of Leinster, and in Inis-mhureadhaigh or Innismurray in Connacht, where, as is read in the Martyrology of Cashel at the 27th of October In Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, page 141, no. 19, beside his church there are duck birds, remaining always unharmed; unless these things rather pertain to Sean bhothach, as we showed at the 27th of October, pages 382 and 383. This latter Colman in the Life of Fidhuunius, son of Osuanach Ibid. in the place cited, is called the son of Eochaidh Breck or Breac, son of Dathius, son of Fiachrius, etc.; but again son is put for great-grandson or for any descendant whatever. But care must be taken that this Colman, son of Eochaidh, is not confused with another, about whom Colgan wrote the following Ibidem: The other Colman, son of Eochaidh, was of the stock of that unbelieving King Loegarius, as the genealogical Menology witnesses in chapter III in these words: "St. Colman of Rosglanda, son of Eochaidh, son of Guaire, son of Lugidius, son of Loegarius, son of Niall." His birthday according to the same is celebrated on the 6th of September, and that in the place formerly called Rosglanda, today Domhnach-mor or Donaghmore, in a certain little region of Tyrone which is called Magh-an-chlair, as Marianus Gorman and Ængus Auctus witness in the same place. But the Martyrology of Tallaght says that he himself is called Columba Crossaire of Ross and Colman Midhisil. The same genealogical Menology, he thus continues, in the same chapter III, also sets down a third Colman, the second kinsman, of whom and of his sister together it says thus: "St. Colman and his sister Colmedia had as father Eochaidh, son of Guaire, son of Lugadius, son of Loegarius."

But not without foundation might one suspect that this one is not different from the second: since the genealogy of both is the same in all respects, except for one degree (which could be either added or omitted by error). If, however (as this author will have it), this one is distinct from the second (which is by no means probable), he seems to be the one of whom Marianus Gorman speaks at the 1st of January, calling him son of Eochaidh. Colgan argued all these things on the occasion of the following passage of the Life of St. Fechin, abbot of Fore Ibid. page 136: St. Fechin went one day to the place which is called Snamhluthir, in the region of Carbre gabhra. And when he had come upon there Colman, son of Eochaidh, long deprived of his eyes, by the water with which he had washed his hands, applied and sprinkled to his eyes, he restored to him most perfectly the benefit of sight. This Colman, son of Eochaidh, Colgan judged Ibid. page 141 to be the same as the one of Seanboth; since Snamhluthuir, he says, is in the region of Carbre in Connacht, where the house and family of this Colman formerly had wide dominion. Not rightly. For this St. Colman is none other than St. Columbanus, of whom St. Adamnan in book II, chapter XXXXIII, of the Life of St. Columba, relates a few marvels, as Reeves shows Life of S. Columba, page 172 and following both from that same Life and from the book of Lecan; which Columbanus or Coluim is the same as St. Colman of Rosglanda, and Snamhhluthuir is represented by the land of Snalore or Slanore, in County Longford, in the province of Leinster: and so that Colman whom Colgan had split into two or three is only one. With good reason, therefore, in the Life of St. Colman of Seanboth we disregarded that passage from the Life of St. Fechin. And these things suffice to distinguish both St. Colman mac Duach and St. Colman of Seanboth from the namesakes with whom they might the more easily be confused.

[7] St. Colman mac Duach is listed in the third order of saints. Since therefore (as we saw a little above) the renown of St. Colman mac Duach was formerly so great, Lanigan judged Eccl. hist. of Ireland, volume II, pages 341 and 343, seeing that the times and the manner of life agree, that the same Colman is the bishop who with six other bishops is listed in the third order of saints; which third order of saints, as is read in Ussher's Catalogue Britan. eccl. antiquit. page 474, was as follows. They were holy priests and a few bishops, in number one hundred: who dwelt in desert places, and lived on vegetables, and water, and the alms of the faithful, avoided property, and had diverse Rules and Masses, and a diverse tonsure (for some had the crown, others the hair), and a diverse paschal solemnity. This third order began to flourish from the reign of Æd Allan or Uairidhnach, who according to the Four Masters O'Donovan, The four Masters, at the year 601, volume I, page 229 took up the kingdom in the year 601, and it lasted until that great mortality which raged in the year 665 Cf. Lanigan, volume II, pages 302 and 332; and who according to others Chronicum Scotorum of Gillachrist Ua Maeileoin, ed. Hennessy, pages 71 and 73 reigned from the year 605 to 612. Hence it follows that Colman of Lindisfarne is not designated (as Ussher believed Antiquitates, page 499), since according to Ussher's own computation Ibid. at the page cited and 450 he died in the year 676. Colman of Doire-mor of the royal family of Cashel may also be thought of; but neither does this one satisfy, since he departed this life before the year 602 Cf. Lanigan, volume II, page 310 and following, and so should rather be referred to the second order of saints. There remains therefore St. Colman mac Duach, by far the most celebrated; so that Lanigan rightly said that all the signs agree for him to be reckoned the one designated here.

[8] His Life in manuscript and to be published. His Life was written in Irish and still exists; for I find it designated by John O'Donovan The book of rights, page 108, note t with the sigla H. 2, 16, p. 495, by which (if I am not mistaken) it is indicated that it is written in a codex of the library of Trinity College Dublin, marked with the letters H. 2, 16, and begins at page 495. I had at first thought of trying (if it could be done) to obtain a copy of it; but since one of my colleagues is planning an edition of writings on Irish hagiographical matters, which are preserved partly at Brussels, partly at Dublin, it has seemed that this labor can be deferred to another time without loss; the more so since St. Colman mac Duach has suffered from his renown what has befallen so many other saints. For when the fame of saints among the people is great, and no sincere or contemporary Life exists, there begin gradually to be added to their deeds many things, the more wonderful as their reputation is greater; and if these are at some time collected and written up in the form of a Life, it cannot be but that many fables are mixed in, yet for the most part pertaining more to the external face of things than to the chief point itself. Certainly the excerpts and fragments which Colgan published are not free of this fault. The reader himself shall judge: for nothing better, it seems, can be done by us than to print anew the Acts composed by Colgan from various sources. At the end of the chapters we shall add copious Annotations.

THE LIFE OF ST. COLMAN MAC DUACH, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR

from the Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ, by John Colgan.

Colman mac Duach, bishop in Ireland. (S.)

COMPILED BY COLGAN.

FIRST CHAPTER.

The virtues of St. Colman. The ministrations of three animals in the wilderness. His episcopal consecration.

St. Colman, wholly given to spiritual things, From the stock of Fiachrius … a great many men conspicuous for the praise of holiness have come forth; among whom, by title of a singular prerogative by which he merited to be held the common patron and titular saint of his whole family, our St. Colman holds the first place. This wondrous man, following the camp of Christ from early youth, at length betook himself to a solitary place far from the company of men, where with the most ardent affection of mind he began to consecrate himself wholly to the exercises of the heavenly virtues. His mind seemed to think of nothing but heaven, or the things that prepare the way to heaven: his heart, like a most blazing furnace, continually overflowing with the flames of divine love; his lips did not cease from divine praises, except when his mind, full of God, rapt out of itself, was carried wholly to heavenly things. He was continual in prayer, assiduous in vigils, constant and vigorous in fasts.

[2] [he is wonderfully helped in the wilderness by the ministration of a cock, a mouse, and a gnat;] Among the other virtues with which the grace of the Holy Spirit had enriched him, he was an extraordinary lover and guardian of evangelical poverty, and so wondrous a despiser of transitory things that he admitted no earthly possessions, spurned all gifts and whatever was freely offered, and retained absolutely nothing of his own, unless perhaps you should call his own the three things which, on the testimony of Keating ^a, he is related to have had as familiar little creatures, a barnyard cock, a mouse, and a gnat. The cock he used so that by its crowing, as by a cymbal, he might be roused at night to the divine praises. But the ministrations of the mouse and the gnat were more wonderful and astonishing: but those whom nature had equipped for causing annoyance and discomfort to men, the marvelous kindness of God had turned, against the bent of nature, to the service of his servants. For the mouse so served the man of God that it did not allow him to sleep or rest beyond the set hours fixed according to his pious resolutions; but when nature, wearied by vigils, prayers, and other austerities, demanded for the tired limbs more sleep or rest than the man of God's vows had prescribed, now by gnawing his clothes, now by biting his ears, it called him back from all rest. Service of this kind was pleasing to the man of God, by which he saw both his vows fulfilled and himself challenged to the services of God by a brute animal. But the services of the gnat also were scarcely less wonderful. For when the man of God was engaged in pious reading, he commanded the gnat, running about on his codex, to mark the line at which he stopped, called elsewhere or to be otherwise occupied, until on his return he should himself continue the reading he had begun; and this the gnat unfailingly did. Wonderful are these condescensions of the divine goodwill, and Christ's sporting as it were with his servants; but they can seem incredible only to those who consider too little how wonderful God is in his saints, how sweet and tender is his affection toward those who sincerely love him, and how worthy of his ineffable goodness he judges it that those who, with the intention of serving him better and more readily, have renounced all service and attendance of men, should themselves receive from brute animals services and as it were certain human ministrations; and that they should experience as a charming and most indulgent friend the Lord, the height of whose dread majesty they look up to and adore.

[3] over whose loss St. Columba of Iona consoles him. Now it came to pass (as the cited Keating reports), by the disposition of the divine wisdom, which with a certain wondrous alternation now withdraws its favors from the servants of God, now sends them; now wills them consoled, now wills them desolate, now leaves them desolate; that the three aforesaid little creatures died, and their services and comfort were withdrawn from the man of God. Made somewhat sad on this account, he made known this loss by letter to his spiritual friend, St. Columba, abbot, who was then leading the ascetic life on the island of Iona far from his homeland ^b. To whom St. Columba is said to have written back, at once jestingly and prudently, that losses and damages do not exist except where substance and possessions are found; as if by that sentence he were reproving the man of God, otherwise given to the highest renunciation and poverty, for setting his heart on little things, by which he had nevertheless spurned and renounced great and lofty ones.

[4] Created bishop, not far from the palace of his kinsman King Guaire But, the fame of Colman's virtues growing more and more from day to day, he is at length snatched away to the public care of souls and created bishop against his will ^c. Although he discharged this office most holily, and in the judgment of all had been worthy of it, he nevertheless thought himself unworthy; and his spirit, accustomed to the pursuits of a more withdrawn life and of heavenly contemplations, could not long endure the anxieties of public rule, or the winds of human praises which are the companions of virtues. Wishing therefore to avoid the breath of popular favor, and to dedicate himself wholly once again to the contemplation of heavenly things, having renounced the episcopal office, he again betook himself to solitude, and began to inhabit a wilderness in the borders of South Connacht, fixing his dwelling beside a pleasant spring in the great forest of Boireann, in that part of it which is called Kinn-aille, about five miles from Durlus, the palace of Guaire, King of Connacht [d]. Now the holy man was close in blood, and afterwards most closely joined by religious companionship, to this most celebrated

King Guaire [e], whom our histories and the mouths of the people have rendered of eternal memory for his lavish largesses to the poor and needy and for the incomparable praises of his generosity and piety; so that it has passed into a common proverb among the Irish, when they wish to praise someone for extraordinary generosity: "He is more generous than Guaire ^f."

[5] with one disciple he inhabits the wilderness for seven years. What the faithful servant of Christ and extraordinary follower of the anchoretic life did in that wilderness, and the power of Christ through him, St. Ængus in the additions to his Menology, or his scholiast ^g in the same place, briefly recounts. "On the third," he says, "of February, Colman, son of Duach, from whom the church of Kill-mic-Duach received its designation. This Colman betook himself to the anchoretic life, in the forest of Boireann ^h lying in Connacht, accompanied by one cleric as disciple. They set out in the time of Colman surnamed Aidehne [i]: and there they remained for seven whole years, receiving meanwhile no food from anyone, admitting converse with none. There, overgrown with woods, they built an oratory with a refectory: they clothed themselves with the skins of deer: water cress and wild vegetables were their food; cold water their drink: that disciple of the man of God was at once cook, steward, and vicar of that religious house."

ANNOTATIONS.

Boireann or Boirinn, that is, the stony district, which formerly extended partly in County Clare, partly in County Galway, has left its name to the mountains and to the barony of Burren in the northern part of County Clare Cf. O'Donovan, The book of rights, page 49, note h. Kinn-aille, now Kinelea, formerly Cinel-Aedhana-hEchtghe, was the region of the house or family of O'Shaughnessy, in the barony of Kiltartan, in County Galway, situated near the town of Gort or the parish of Kill-mhic-Duach Cf. the same, The four Masters, at the year 531, note n. Durlus, the palace of King Guaire, is very celebrated in the old Irish books, in which it is customarily called Durlais or Durlas. In the poem which Mac Firbis of Lecan sang, it is thus praised In the same, The genealogies, tribes, and customs of Hy-Fiachrach, page 291:

Do not set the castle of Durlas, of perennial fame,

Below the plain of Cruachan,

A castle surrounded by the white covering of soft trees,

A dwelling of poets and bishops.

From Guaire it was called Dun Guaire, that is, Castle of Guaire Ibid. page 290, note t, now with the surrounding land Dungorey; in which land, situated in the eastern quarter of the town of Kinvarra, there survive ruined walls, the remains of the old castle The same, The four Masters, at the year 1598, note q; indeed a castle entire, which is related to have been built in the sixteenth century after the old one was destroyed The same, The genealogies, pages 67 and 68.

That St. Colman was joined in blood with Guaire by paternal and maternal descent, all agree. But about the degree they by no means agree among themselves. According to the genealogical scheme produced at no. 5 of the Preliminary Commentary, this was the kinship existing between them:

But Colgan sets forth other things, somewhat different. For Guaire, he says, was the son of Colman, son of Cobthach, son of Gobninus, son of Conall, according to the Catalogue of the kings of Connacht; and Colman was the son of Duach, son of Anmirius, son of the same Conall, according to the genealogical Menology, chapter IX, and also according to the Genealogy of the kings of Connacht which is read in Mac Firbis's book Ibid. page 313. Whence there follows this other scheme:

Severinus Ketinus (so, as we have pointed out, Colgan customarily designates Geoffrey Keating) wrote that St. Colman was the brother of Guaire. But Colgan contends that this cannot be, determined (and not without reason) not to depart from the genealogical Menology: wherefore he states either that they were uterine brothers, or that the word brother was written for kinsman. And in fact John O'Donovan O'Donovan, The genealogies etc. page 315 shows that in the seventeenth century by the word bratair, which Keating used, there was designated in southern Ireland not a brother, but a cousin (cousin) or kinsman of any kind (kinsman). For my part I do not at all doubt that King Guaire and St. Colman were kinsmen; but in what degree, I would not dare to define because of the diversity of the testimonies. The genealogical Menology agrees best with the reckoning of the times.

Colman, surnamed Aidhne, is (if I am not mistaken) the son of Cobhthach, son of Goibhenn, son of Conall, son of Eoghan Aidhne, son of Eochaidh Breac Cf. O'Donovan, The genealogies etc. page 313, brother of Conall, the great-grandfather of St. Colman mac Duach. For his great-great-grandfather Eoghan and his son Guaire likewise had the surname Aidhne. Eoghan received this surname because he was brought up in the region of Aidhne; which region had the same bounds as the diocese of Kilmacduagh Ibid. pages 52 and 53, to be indicated below. Of Colman, father of Guaire, these things are read in an old Irish poem Ibid. page 93:

Four kings of the province of Connacht

Dwelt in great Aidhne, the land of saints,

Muircheartach, a man of perfect nature,

Laighnen, Guaire, and Colman Caomh.

The times of this Colman are not yet known, except that he reigned before his son Guaire, that is, at the beginning of the seventh century, and was slain in the year 622 in the battle of Cenngubha by the hand of Raghallach, son of Uadach Hennessy, Chronicum Scotorum, by Gillachrist Ua Maeileoin, page 77.

SECOND CHAPTER.

The wondrous translation of the dishes on Easter Day from the table of Guaire to the table of St. Colman. The foundation of the bishopric of Kilmacduagh for the people of the southern Fiachrii.

[On the feast of Easter the dishes of King Guaire's table are marvelously carried to the table of St. Colman; as is narrated in Ængus Auctus,] St. Colman, Lent being finished, on the joyful solemnity of the Lord's resurrection itself, after the divine office had been paid, said to the disciple out of the abundance of spiritual joy: "Today is the great paschal solemnity; I indeed am archennach ^a, priest, and bishop; you, in whose hands is the whole disposition of affairs, must be generous on this great solemnity of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God." The disciple answered him: "Things will go well, father; but first perform the divine mysteries; and when you have finished these, go on to the refectory; there is good provision there, which cannot be hidden from the ministers and friends of divine things, namely a little bird which I caught in the woods with snares, and with woodland herbs I am preparing it to be set before your paternity on so great a feast." Thereupon, after the divine office and the most holy sacrifice of the Mass had been celebrated, they go on to the refectory; and that prepared portion is set before the servants of Christ, rejoicing spiritually in the Lord. While these things are being done in the wilderness, dinner is prepared and brought to the table of King Guaire in the palace of Durlus; and among other things, for the sake of richer entertainment, a boar and a stag are brought in on huge platters, which the servants carried in with two great poles put through their four handles. And the pious king, when he beheld the food brought in, said: "Would that, if it pleased Christ, this meal were with some servants of Christ more in want, since the like does not fail us!" And when he had said this, immediately a wondrous thing happened. For those platters, soon carried off through the air, were gradually withdrawn from the sight of all. King Guaire, astonished by the strangeness of the thing, had horses brought at once; and he followed where those foods seemed to be carried: and they were conveyed through the air by the ministry of angels across the plain of Aidne all the way to the refectory in which St. Colman was with his disciple. Seeing these, the disciple said: "Behold, holy father, the reward of your patience and long-suffering! Of the provision, from

the goodness of God mercifully sent, eat cheerfully." But the holy man refused to touch it, until he could find out from where it had been brought. Wherefore, gazing fixedly at those platters with wonder, he said: "O platters, who has brought you across Luania (which was the name of the surrounding wood)?" An angelic voice answered him: "Your prayer and the pious generosity of Guaire." While Colman and his disciple remained thus poured out in praises, King Guaire came upon them with his court, and said to the men of God: "You are discovered." Colman said to him: "So it has pleased God." And when the king asked how long they had lived in that solitude, they answered that they had stayed there seven years and forty days. "It is time," said Guaire, "that you should eat of the dinner sent by God's grace." The holy man asked who he was who ordered these things. The king answered that he was Guaire, from whom those foods had come, and who humbly asked that the servants of God should be refreshed with them; offering moreover the spiritual care of his life to St. Colman, and his body to be buried after death in his church. The holy man, holding that extraordinary piety of the king very dear, said: "Your devotion will receive its reward from God." Then the most pious king resolved to build a church there for the man of God; wherefore on the morning of the next day he sent to him sixty barren cows, with menservants and maidservants, to complete the work of building. On the day after that, therefore, the cathedral church of Kill-mhic-Duach began to be built; which from then on has been hallowed as the burial place of the nobles of the region of Aidhne and of the stock of Guaire.

[7] and somewhat differently These things are taken almost word for word from the cited Menology: yet they are reported a little differently in a fragment of the Life of this saint, which came into my hands from a Donegal manuscript codex. "God," says the fragment, "worked many marvels through his most humble and most faithful servant St. Macduach: whose heart, as it burned with the living fire of divine love, so was continually affected with weariness and hatred of the things that draw away from heavenly ones. Whence, lest by seeing and hearing the vanities of the world he should be distracted from the contemplation of heavenly things and from the more faithful service of the Lord, he resolved to seek a place remote from all human company and the din of the world. He came therefore to a certain vast and very dense wood of Connacht; in which, not far from a rough and rocky mountain, he built an oratory and a hermit's cell; and there in continual exercises of a plainly heavenly life he spent seven entire years; and he admitted no one of men to his company or converse meanwhile except a single youth; whose ministry he used both in celebrating the divine mysteries and in preparing the woodland vegetables and herbs on which alone he fed.

[8] in a fragment of the Life "Seven years (as we have said) having been spent in these austerities, the divine goodness, which always rewards the services of the servants of Christ with a wonderful recompense even on earth, showed by a mighty prodigy how pleasing to it had been such arduous exercises of heavenly virtues by the man of God. For holy Lent having been spent in the aforesaid exercises, on the very solemnity of the Lord's resurrection, the divine praises and the most holy mysteries being now finished, the man of God asked of the youth who served him what he had at hand by which they might refresh themselves in honor of so great a feast and be festively recreated in the Lord. He, having nothing to set before him except the usual vegetables and one little bird, began impatiently to bear the troubles of so strict a life, which even on great feasts admitted no bodily recreation, and grumblingly to object to the man of God that it was otherwise in the court of King Guaire, whom he had perhaps served before, that one was recreated on so great a feast. The man of God, seeing the patience of the youth almost overcome by such rigor and want of food, sighing toward heaven, said: "The Lord of heaven and earth, whom we have served, is able to refresh his servants with dishes as sumptuous as earthly kings do; indeed with the very ones that are prepared today for the courtiers and nobles of Guaire, to recreate us (if he wished), and to strengthen your weakness." While the man of God was saying these things, the foods were being set on the royal table in the palace of Durlus. Seeing them, the pious king, beyond doubt by divine prompting, is said to have said: "O would that those dishes were with the servant of God Colman, living in solitude, who after long fasts and afflictions of the body has deserved better than we to be refreshed by the Lord, the giver of all!" A wondrous thing, all the bowls and foods which were on the king's table are soon withdrawn from the sight of all, and are by divine power placed in the twinkling of an eye between St. Colman and his companion.

[9] of St. Colman "This wondrous and almost incredible event another miracle confirmed, and is said to confirm to this very day. For the king and the aforesaid nobles, struck by the strangeness of the miracle, resolved to learn by trial whether that provision (as they suspected) had been carried to the man of God. Wherefore the whole court immediately directed its steps toward the wilderness, some in chariots, some on horses, others striving to outrun others with swift course of feet: women, children, and the whole country followed the king and court in crowds. While these things were happening, the man of God, seeing so great a condescension of the divine goodness, poured himself out in the Lord's praises; he proclaimed and extolled the wonderful indulgence, toward his faithful servants, of him whom to serve is to reign; and how great are the rewards that await in heaven the deeds of the servants of Christ, by whom they are forestalled and rewarded on earth with such condescensions. He then bade his companion, laying aside distrust and feebleness of spirit, to eat of the foods which divine providence had sent. And when he consented to do so, he saw opposite him on the neighboring mountain so many troops of horsemen and footmen running up from every side, and a copious multitude of mixed people following; and at that sight he stuck fast, anxious and troubled, fearing that violence was to be done to himself and the holy father. Seeing this, the servant of Christ, trusting in his Lord, commanded in the power of God that they should not approach nearer, nor move a foot from the place, until his disciple should satisfy the need of nature from the foods set forth, and should prove that those things which God's kindness had provided were not phantasmal but real; who, not from any want, but from the hidden counsel of his wisdom, wills to have needy and hungry servants, intending to recompense their hunger and destitution with the copious delights as well as riches of eternal glory and the heavenly kingdom. An astonishing thing; the horsemen stuck fast, the footmen stuck fast, dogs and horses were stopped; they could move a step neither forward nor back, until the intercession of the pious King Guaire with the servant of God obtained that all should afterwards be let go free. For the perpetual memory and confirmation of so great a portent there are said to exist to this very day, in different parts of that rocky mountain, footprints impressed and formed, which the soles of men and dogs, and the iron shoes of horses, impressed on the rocks, have left to the wonder of those who behold them; and moreover the road itself, having received its name from this wondrous event, is commonly called down to these times BOTHAR LEANTA NA MIAS, that is, the road of the tracking of the dishes."

[10] and by the historian Geoffrey Keating. These things have been faithfully taken, as to the sense, from the cited fragment: and Keating relates them in almost the same way in the above-cited history of the kings of Ireland, except that he is silent about what is here reported of the footprints of horses and dogs impressed on the rocks; and adds that St. Macduach, whom he wrongly calls Mochua, was the brother of King Guaire; which cannot stand with the other histories of the country; unless, using a popular phrase, by brother he means kinsman. From the cited fragment, moreover, receive the following about the man of God.

[11] [Refusing superfluous gifts, St. Colman accepts the place for the church of Kilmacduagh, designated by his girdle:] "When the pious and kindly King Guaire saw such great miracles performed by the holy man, most closely joined to him by both blood and friendship, he offered him most ample gifts, and whatever estates he wished, to be turned to pious uses. But the extraordinary despiser of the world would accept nothing of what was so generously offered, except a place suitable for building a religious house; and even this he would not designate then, until, that is, he should first consult the Lord, and learn from him where he wished his servant's foot to be fixed, or an oratory to be built for the praise and honor of the divine name. Afterwards he was divinely warned to build a cell in the place where his belt or girdle should first fall to the ground. And when on a certain occasion he was walking through the wood, the girdle fell in a certain place, and there he built a cell, which from his name was commonly called Kill-mic-Duach, and which, afterwards endowed with many estates by King Guaire and his successors, was erected into an episcopal see, which today is called in Latin by syncope Duacensis ^b.

[12] [which girdle encircles the chaste, however corpulent, and does not hold the unchaste, however slender.] "That girdle of the man of God, of which we have just made mention, in honor of the sacred body it had girded, held afterwards in the highest esteem, adorned with gold and gems, is preserved in the greatest veneration to this very day, as a sacred patrimony and a symbol of ancestral virtue, among the illustrious family, of very ancient nobility, of Oseachnasaigh ^c, which descends from the seed of the aforesaid King Guaire. Concerning which, among the many kinds of cures which are displayed through it by the wondrous and truly singular clemency of God, there occurs that remarkable and continually memorable fact which frequent experience has proved. For anyone at all, however corpulent or fat, who has kept his virginity unblemished, can gird himself and enclose himself with it; but one who has in any way violated virginity, however tender he may be in age, or slender or lean in body, will never be able to draw it about himself or to enclose himself in it; so that the sacred girdle of the most chaste loins of the blessed man disdains to admit within itself any but those fragrant with the flower of unimpaired modesty." Thus far the cited fragment.

ANNOTATIONS.

it were a monastery or not; and from time immemorial they were mere laymen, and it is even doubted whether from the beginning their dignity or faculty was attached to the clerical or monastic state. Yet bishops and abbots are also found who were archennachs. This kind of office, under another name, existed in part elsewhere also. For to it approach the vicars in temporals, the seneschals, the vidames, etc.; to whom a part of the temporal administration was committed by bishops at pleasure or by hereditary law. Certainly St. Colman, seeing that he lived with a single disciple in solitude, was not an archennach; but the blessed man is playing and jesting, in that, being the superior, he held as it were all the offices, and that for this reason, by a threefold title according to the custom of his people, a sumptuous banquet ought to be prepared for him at Easter. Lanigan Eccles. hist. of Ireland, volume II, page 242 and following wholly omits this prodigious banquet, which probably consisted in this, that King Guaire, on hearing of St. Colman's vow, in his generosity ordered a dinner to be carried into his solitude, and on that occasion himself went to him and urged him to take up and govern the ecclesiastical affairs of his people.

his ecclesiastical progeny had successors, until his domain took on the form of an ordinary diocese. There were also abbots there; for at the year 967 Donnchadh, son of Cothlan, abbot of Cill-mic-Duach, is read in the Four Masters Ibid. at the year 967, page 691 to have died. In the fourteenth or fifteenth century the church was rebuilt; yet there still exist parts of the church which King Guaire had built for St. Colman, using the work of the celebrated architect Goban Saer Eccles. archit. of Ireland, pages 176, 385, and 405: of the door, composed of great unequal stones, George Petrie has given a picture Ibid. page 176. Who does not know that round towers were formerly attached to the chief churches in Ireland? This ornament too (which I think was used so that in the upper part a light might be lit at night in honor of the dead and at the same time as a sign for travelers) Guaire added to the chief church of the progeny, again (as they relate) using the work of Goban Saer; which tower, very remarkable, still survives Ibid. pages 385 and 405. There exist moreover in the same place seven churches, not yet demolished, although bared of their roofs Cf. Kelly, Martyrology of Tallagh, page 137: which number was also observed at Andenne and Hohenburg, perhaps at the impulse of the Irish; but at Rome also the visitation of the seven basilicas is still performed. There is seen there even today a spring blessed in honor of St. Colman, marked on the topographical maps Ordnance survey, sheet 124 with the name Tobarmacduach. Other churches elsewhere are said to have been built by St. Colman himself; of which below.

THIRD CHAPTER.

The death of St. Colman. The sanctity of the tree, of the church of Kilmacduagh, and of the feast of St. Colman. Miracles.

The tree of St. Colman, Now the church built by the servant of Christ grew to such a degree of dignity and renown that it was held to be, and was, a common and most safe asylum of the country ^a; whose immunity no one doubted to be so protected by the divine majesty through the merits of its servant that, when criminally assailed, it was wonderfully defended, or, when sacrilegiously violated, it was avenged by immediate punishment. The reverence of the place was increased also by a certain tree planted by the holy man not far from the church itself, which they commonly call Cuaille Micduach, that is, the stake of Macduach; a cut twig or some piece of which whoever, with confidence placed in the saint, devoutly carries or keeps by him, wonderfully escapes the most imminent dangers of death; as continuous tradition has it.

[14] who died in the time of Guaire, Finally, although it is certain that this holy man flourished in the time of King Guaire, who according to our historians generally flourished about the year 630, it is nevertheless uncertain in what year he died ^b:

[15] [and the church of Kilmacduagh, as is established from sure testimonies, became renowned for miracles.] And in order that these and the other things which we have reported above concerning the church of Kilmacduagh and the tree planted by the holy man's hands may become better known to the reader and be more readily credited, it has seemed good to add here most striking proofs of their truth; which happened in recent days, when the cult of the saints and zeal for Christian justice had grown lukewarm among the Irish, contrary to their custom; as we have received them from men noble and of proven fidelity, bound by oath to declare the truth, subscribed by their own hands.

[16] Thieves cannot steal the cows in the cemetery; Two men of abject conscience, not so long ago, overcome either by the vice of avarice or by weariness of ill-favoring fortune, made for the church of Kilmacduagh by night, reckoning that they would steal with impunity some goods of their neighbors, perhaps deposited there. That same night a certain one of the tenants drove his herd within the cemetery of the aforesaid church, so that what he himself could scarcely do otherwise, the sanctity of the place and the merits of the tutelary saint might protect from the nocturnal robbers. Nor did his hope deceive him; for when the aforesaid thieves had at length arrived there, and, seeing the ready and convenient prey which no one was guarding, had entered the cemetery to drive off and take away with them the herd, in whole or in part, by divine power their senses were so deceived that as long as they themselves stayed within the enclosure of the burial ground, the oxen appeared outside; and as long as and as often as they stood outside, the oxen appeared within. Salutarily mocked by this miracle and at length wearied, they ceased attempting what they could not accomplish.

[17] [a criminal, hanged three times, cannot be killed, unless the fragment of St. Colman's tree is first removed from his mouth;] But more wonderful is what happened in Thomond a few years ago; for there a certain man, accused before a judge of I know not what crime, and at length condemned to death, a little before he mounted the gibbet put into his mouth some piece which he had by him from the aforementioned tree planted by St. Colman, hoping that [he], fortified by that protection, would escape death. Then, put on the gibbet by the ministers of justice, when he had hung from the gallows for as long a time as others commonly do, he was taken down as if quite dead. Afterwards, when the executors of justice and the rest of the multitude which had assembled had departed from the place of punishment, he who was believed dead stealthily opened his eyes, looked at the friends standing round, addressed them and asked whether those who sought his life had gone away. But there was among the friends someone who was no friend; who, noticing this, pursued the departing judge and overtook him, and seriously warned him that the criminal was still alive. He came back, and, finding the matter to be as it was, had the man put on the gibbet a second time, and a second time also found him alive. Made no more merciful by the repeated miracle, he went on still with indiscreet zeal for justice to persecute the wretch; and having hanged him a third time, since he could not be strangled otherwise, he ordered him to be searched, and commanded the small piece of the aforesaid wood found in his mouth to be taken out; and when it had been taken out, that wretch, like others easily killed by hanging, perished. That aforementioned prefect was living in the year 1629, and is perhaps still alive; and although we could bring forward his name, we purposely keep silent about it.

[18] [meat, set on the table by mistake on the eve of St. Colman's feast, becomes bloody;] Recent also is that miracle by which this St. Colman admonished a certain client of his of his cult and observance. This was a nobleman of the family of Oseachnassaigh, William by name, an intimate and dear friend of the earl of Kildare for his singular skill in military matters; who, having on a certain day sat down at the table of the same earl in a circle of other nobles, when eating had begun on all sides, cut a morsel off a served dish of meat, but drew blood; and the whole of what was cut appeared bloody. Moved by this, he abstained from eating, until, noticed by the earl himself, he was asked why he abstained. And when out of shame, or so as not to offend anyone, concealing the matter, he alleged another cause, those nearest, who had noticed the true cause, indicated it to the earl. At this the earl ordered that the dish set before himself be moved to him. And when this was done, and William had cut something from it, he immediately, seeing that it was dripping with blood, drew back his hand. And so when he was still abstaining the earl ordered that there be set before him some of the meats which the earl had himself tasted and tried, but not even in these did he encounter anything but blood. Wherefore all who were present marveled at the outcome of the matter, and above all the nobleman himself; who, examining the cause more deeply, asked openly what day of the month it was, and when he learned that it was that on which the eve of St. Colman falls, he straightway added that he acknowledged the gentle correction of his tutelary saint; and that he would correct his own negligence, which gave occasion for the miracle, by a voluntary fast on that day.

[19] on the same eve milk is changed into blood. Akin to this miracle is the following, which happened also very recently. In the barn of the lord Osechnasaigh workmen were threshing grain on the vigil of St. Colman; and when at the hour of refreshment, in accordance with the religious and prescribed custom of the diocese, only Lenten foods had been set before them, an inordinate desire came upon them to eat at least milk foods; and overcome by it at last, they affirmed that unless such were set before them they would eat nothing. Informed of this their insolence, the wife of the aforesaid lord, Elizabeth Linse, ordered that what they demanded be brought to the wretches. At once, therefore, milk foods were brought, and the milk itself, now showing the appearance not of milk but of blood, was set before them. The threshers, seeing blood substituted for the desired milk, furiously assailed the maidservant and all the others responsible for the deed, thinking indeed that they had been either made sport of or convicted of impiety. Soon the course of events was reported to the aforesaid lady, who carefully inquired whether it was so, and ordered that the vessel itself, from which what had been presented to the workmen had been drawn, be looked into and tested, whether what remained in it was milk or blood. And when inquiry was made, pure milk being found in the vessel, she commanded that the other things which contained that prodigious blood should be poured back into it. And this was done; and when the matter was examined the next day, not even a trace of blood, but pure milk was found in the vessel, all openly declaring that what had happened was a miracle, by which the holy patron was at pains to bring over the undevout clients to his observance, and to keep the devout in the same.

ANNOTATIONS.

of cyclopean masonry at Kilmurvy there rises an intact sacred building, which is said to have been constructed by St. Colman mac Duach, and to which the name has remained Teampull mor mhic Duach; that is, the greater church of Macduach; an image of its door has been published by George Petrie Ibid. page 177. On the same island, and in the same place of Kilmurvy, another building exists near that church Ibid. page 351, by name Teampull beag mhic Duach; that is, the lesser church of Macduach. The walls are six feet thick, with no mortar, of oval form, extending thirty feet in breadth, fifty in length. Petrie conjectured that it was a monastic refectory Ibid. page 424. If St. Colman did not have these built, their construction is nevertheless not far removed from his period, and they certainly have him as patron. Wherefore to these places, as also to Kill-mac-Duach, the concourse of pilgrims continues to be made; but that there are also other places in those parts which have St. Colman mac Duach as patron and are customarily frequented by pilgrims, Matthew Kelly relates The Martyrology of Tallagt, page 137.