Life of St. Declan of Ardmore and Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore
Religion
Life of St. Declan of Ardmore and Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore
Carthach, Saint, Bishop of Lismore, active 570-637 -- Legends; Declan, Saint, Bishop of Ardmore, active 6th century -- Legends
The "Life" here printed, which follows the Latin Life so closely that
one seems a late translation of the other, is as far as the editor is
aware, contained in a single MS. only. This is M. 23, 50, R.I.A., in
the handwriting of John Murphy, "na Raheenach." Murphy was a Co. Cork
schoolmaster, scribe, and poet, of whom a biographical sketch will be
found prefixed by Mr. R. A. Foley to a collection of Murphy's poems that
he has edited. The sobriquet, "na Raheenach," is really a kind of
tribal designation. The "Life" is very full but is in its present form
a comparatively late production; it was transcribed by Murphy between
1740 and 1750. It is much to be regretted that the scribe tells us
nothing of his original. Murphy, but the way, seems to have specialised
to some extent in saint's Lives and to have imbued his disciples with
something of the same taste. One of his pupils was Maurice O'Connor, a
scribe and shipwright of Cove, to whom we owe the Life of St. Ciaran of
Saighir printed in "Silva Gadelica." The reasons of choice for
publication here of the present Life are avowedly non-philological; the
motive for preference is that it is the longest of the three Lives and
for historical purposes the most important.
The Life presents considerable evidence of historical reliability; its
geography is detailed and correct; its references to contemporaries
of Mochuda are accurate on the whole and there are few inconsistencies
or none. Moreover it sheds some new light on that chronic
puzzle--organisation of the Celtic Church of Ireland. Mochuda, head of a
great monastery at Rahen, is likewise a kind of pluralist Parish Priest
with a parish in Kerry, administered in his name by deputed
ecclesiastics, and other parishes similarly administered in Kerrycurrihy,
Rostellan, West Muskerry, and Spike Island, Co. Cork. When a chief
parishioner lies seriously ill in distant Corca Duibhne, Mochuda himself
comes all the way from the centre of Ireland to administer the last rites
to the dying man, and so on.
The relations of the people to the Church and its ministers are in many
respects not at all easy to understand. Oblations, for instance, of
themselves and their territory, &c., by chieftains are frequent.
Oblations of monasteries are made in a similar way. Probably this
signifies no more than that the chief region or monastery put itself
under the saint's jurisdiction or rule or both. That there were other
churches too than the purely monastic appears from offerings to Mochuda
of already existing churches, v.g. from the Clanna Ruadhan in Decies,
&c.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account