NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. NOTES TO PREFACE. Page xix. line 6—Marvels.—The ancient records of the Irish Church consist of most dissimilar materials: there are, on the one hand, the Genealogies, which set forth the descent of the saint; the Annals, which, with scrupulous fidelity, record the year of his death; and the Calendars, which, with equal exactness, tell the day of the month on which it occurred, and name his church; and, on the other, the Life, which too often bids defiance to truth, reason, and decency, and, instead of history, presents a specimen of the meanest fiction. The early Bollandists printed many of these compositions, but subject to strong protest; the later editors have, in many cases, exercised their own discretion more summarily, and substituted Acts for Lives. Line 17—Boyhood.—He was born in 624, and St. Columba died in 597. He states that, when a youth, he received from Ernene's own lips an account of certain appearances which that monk observed on the night of St. Columba's death, at which time his informant was an adult.—iii. 24. Line 23 Cites by name.—In his account of king Edan's inauguration, B. III. c. 6. Line 26—Another memoir.—“ Hanc prædictam visionem, non solum paginis inscriptam reperimus," etc.-B. III. c. 24. Page xx. line 5-Baithene Mor.-He is to be distinguished from Baithene, son of Brendan, St. Columba's successor. This Baithene was of the Cinel Enda, and was commemorated on the 19th of Feb. Colgan, Act. Sanct. p. 369; O'Donnell, iii. 20 (Tr. Th. p. 434 b). Line 9-St. Mura.-He was a little junior to St. Columba, and died circ. 645. His church was Fathan, now Fahan, on the south-west side of Inishowen. He was not of St. Columba's race, but his church lay on the side of Loch Swilly opposite to the territory where that saint was born. See an article on St. Mura in the Ulster Journal of Archæology, vol. i. p. 270. Line 13-Kinsman.—See the Genealogical Table annexed to the Introduction. Page xxi. line 1-Admirable.-In the Ms. called The Book of Fenagh our writer is called Adhamhnan Adhamhra, "the Admirable Adamnan." Line 5-Continent.-Besides the MSS. of the Life which will presently be enumerated, copies of the tract De Lucis Sanctis are reported to be preserved at the Vatican, and at Corbey, both of which Mabillon used; at the monastery of S. Germanus a Pratis, sæc. viii. (O'Conor, Rer. Hib. SS. vol. i. Ep. Nuncup. p. 142); at Bern, one sæc. ix., and another sæc. x. (Appendix A, Report, Record Comm. pp. 31, 46); at Rheinau, sæc. xi. (ib. p. 201); at Saltzburg, sæc. ix. vel x. (ib. p. 203). Page xxiii. line 14-Fordun.-In Chron. iii. 31 he cites i. 9 from the fuller copy; so in cap. 34, from i. 10; in Scotichron. iii, 42, Bower borrows from i. 1 the whole passage about Oswald, which is wanting in the shorter copies, and introduces it thus: "Quem Beda Cadwallam, quem et Adamnanus Cathlonem in sua chronica appelat." In cap. 49 he refers to it again. Both probably used the text of the Cotton Ms. Tiberius D. iii. Brit. Mus. Line 14-O'Donnell.-He cites the account of Oswald, and the statement about the poems on St. Columba from i, 1, as Adamnan's, in Vit. iii. 66, 67 (Tr. Th. pp. 443, 444); ii. 45, in like manner, in cap. 68 (ib. p. 444 a); ii. 46, in capp. 69, 70, 71 (ib. 444 b), all of which are wanting in the shorter text. NOTES TO INTRODUCTION. I. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY. Page xxxiii. line 1-Gartan. The earliest authority for St. Columba's birthplace is probably the statement in the old Irish Life; Gortán din, ainm in luicc in ro genir, "Gortan, now, is the name of the place in which he was born." O'Donnell and the Calendar of Donegal cite the alleged lines of St. Mura: Rugadh i nGartan da dheoin; 'Sdo hoiledh i Cill mhic Neoin; He was born at Gartan by his consent; In None of the Latin Lives make any reference to the place of his birth. Local tradition, however, is very decided in confirmation of the Irish account. the townland of Churchtown (Ord. Survey, sheet 44), on the face of a hill which overhangs a small lake, called Lough-na-Calliagh, and commands a view of Lough Beagh on the right, and Lough Akibbon on the left, is a group of ecclesiastical remains which are held in great veneration on account of their connexion with the history of the saint. In the centre of the buryingground are the vestiges of an ancient building, about a foot over the level of the ground, and measuring about 34 by 12 feet. Outside the burial-ground, on the N.W. and S. E., are two rudely-carved crosses, which time has greatly disfigured. Lower down on the s. E. is the Holy Well. About 42 yards s.s.w. of the old foundations are the walls of a small church, unroofed, but otherwise in good preservation, marked on the Ord. Survey as "St. Columbkille's Chapel." The stone altar at the east end is in good preservation. Lower down the hill, at some distance to the s. w., and in the townland of Lacknacor, is a flag upon which it is reported St. Columba was born; it is marked on the Ord. Survey "St. Columbkille's Stone." The country people believe that whoever sleeps a night on this stone will be free from home sickness when he goes abroad, and for this reason it has been much resorted to by emigrants on the eve of their departure. The Gartan clay is also believed to be a preservative against shipwreck and fire: but it must be raised by an O'Freel to make it effective. Page xxxiii. line 2-St. Buite.-His name is Latinized Boetius. He was son of Bronach, a descendant of Tadhg, son of Cian, son of Ailill Olum, and, as such, one of the Cianachta, whose territory embraced the southern part of Louth, where his church of Monasterboice is situate. He is styled "bishop of Mainister." A copy of his Life is preserved in one of the Ware MSS. in the British Museum (Cod. Clar. 39, Add. No. 4788), and it contains the following passage: "Sed et ipso sanctissimo die obitus sui de sancto Columba spiritualiter vaticinans ait, Hodie, inquit, natus est infans cui nomen Columba, qui coram Deo et hominibus gloriosus existet, quique post xxxta annos abhinc huc veniet, et meum sepulcrum revelabit, et cemiterium designabit” (fol. 73). The old Irish Life of St. Columba contains exactly the same statement. The Round Tower and majestic crosses of Monasterboice are objects well known to the antiquary. Line 3-Seventh of December.-The Irish Life adds: Dardain din, ar ai lathi sechtmaine," on Thursday, of the week days." This will give the choice of 517 and 523 for his birth: for, Dec. 7 is e, therefore, it being Thursday, A is the Sunday letter, which belongs to the above years. Line 7-Year.-The Annals of Ulster waver between 518 and 522. At the former date they say: "Nativitas Coluimcille eodem die quo Bute mac Bronaigh dormivit;" at the latter, "Vel hic nativitas Coluimcille." Tighernach places it in the same year with the battle of Detna, and the year after the death of Conlaedh, which was synchronous with the accession of Justin the elder, in 518. The Four Masters fix St. Buite's death at 521. The Annals of Inisfallen have 511, and those of Boyle 499; but their respective systems of computation are peculiar to themselves. O'Donnell calculates 520 (iii. 57, Tr. Th. p. 441 b). Ussher adopts 522 (Brit. Eccl. Ant. Index Chronol.); Colgan, 519 (Tr. Th. p. 486 a); while Dr. Lanigan fixes on 521 (Eccles. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 106, 114). The statement in the Irish Life gives 523). Nennius has the following chronological note: "A nativitate Columbæ usque mortem sanctæ Brigidæ quatuor anni sunt" (Hist. Brit. §16, ed. Stevenson). Unfortunately, the exact date of St. Brigid's death is alike matter of controversy. Line 8-Adamnan's data.-St. Columba was in his forty-second year when he removed to Hy (Pref. 2), that is, in 563. In that year Whitsunday fell on the 13th of May, so that he was then 41 years, 5 months, and 6 days, old. Add to this, 34 years for his sojourn in Britain (ib.), and we get the date 597, so that the 9th of June in that year found him 75 years, 6 months, and 2 days, old. Thus, with the Four Masters and Dr. Lanigan, we get 621 (521) as the year of his birth. Bede's statement is that St. Columba died cum esset annorum septuaginta septem (H. E. iii. 4), which is followed by Tighernach. The old Irish Life, and O'Donnell, refer his birth to 520; but the Annals of Ulster give 76 years as his age. " Line 21-Of the church.-Not churches, for then the name would be Colum na g-ceall. Bede rightly derives Columcelli "a cella et Columba " (H. E. v. 9). So O'Donnell, as translated by Colgan, "additamento kille, quod cellam seu ecclesiam significat (i. 30, Tr. Th. p. 393 b); "partim ab Ecclesia, fœlici omine, sortiturus" (i. 8, ib. 390 b); "pueri solebant præ gaudio, elevatis in cœlum manibus, dicere, Ecce advenit Columba de cella" (O'Donnell ap. Colgan, Act. SS. p. 645 b). In the Leabhar Breac, P |