Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum; Or, Ireland's Ancient Schools and ScholarsHealy, John
History
Insula Sanctorum et Doctorum; Or, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars
Healy, John
Education -- Ireland -- History
St. Brendan next travelled northward to the plain of An.[182] It is more
commonly called by our Irish writers, Magh Enna, which is the Celtic form
of the 'Campus An.' It includes the wide undulating plain that extends
from Manulla Junction to Castlebar. This district was colonized then or
shortly afterwards by the tribesmen of Brendan, and from them got the name
of Upper Kerry (Ciarraige Uachthair). There the Angel of the Lord appeared
to him saying:--"Write the Rule that I shall dictate, and live thou in
accordance with that Rule." Then Brendan wrote his Rule according to the
dictation of the Angel; and it was the Rule by which Brendan himself, and
the monastic families founded by him, have lived 'up to this day,' says
the writer of the _Latin Life of Brendan_.
Unfortunately this Rule is no longer extant, or at least has not yet been
discovered. It was in this plain called Magh Enna that Brendan performed a
very striking miracle in presence of a great crowd of people. A young man
was being carried to the grave, when Brendan met the corpse, and calling
on the mourning relatives to have confidence in God, he approached the
bearers, and with words of power bade the cold corpse rise up from the
bier. At once the dead man arose; and Brendan gave him to his friends.
Then they brought Brendan to the king, and told him all that had happened.
Whereupon the king offered to Brendan lands to found a monastery, if he
would consent to remain amongst them. But Brendan replied that he could
not found a monastery any where without the permission of his master,
Bishop Erc; and that he had promised to return and receive orders from him
before he died. The King of Connaught at that time was probably the
gallant warrior, Eoghan Beul, whose palace was on an island in Lough Mask.
He seems to have reigned from A.D. 510 to 542.
So Brendan returned home to Tralee, and received the priesthood from his
beloved master, the holy Bishop Erc. The death of St. Erc of Slane is
noticed in our Annals, A.D. 512 or 513; and it was therefore a little
before this time that Brendan was elevated to the priesthood, when he was
about twenty-six years of age.
At this period we are told that Brendan built cells in his native
territory for the accommodation of the disciples, who gathered round him,
attracted by the fame of his sanctity. But at that time he founded only a
few cells, and had comparatively few disciples; for he was yet young and
almost unknown outside his own country. However, when he returned from his
Atlantic voyages, his fame extended far and wide; and he founded many
monasteries both at home and in various parts of Ireland.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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