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THE
HISTORIANS OF SCOTLAND.
VOL. V.
Edinburgh : Printed by Thomas and Archibald Constable,
FOE
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS.
LONDON HAMILTON, ADAMf3, AND CO.
CAMBRIDOK MACMILLAN AND CO.
GLASGOW JAMES MACLEHOSE.
THE
HISTORIANS OF SCOTLAND
VOL. V.
iLit>e0 of ^. iSuuan anD ^. ISentigetn.
EDINBURGH
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS
1874.
ILit)e0
of
, ^inian anb g>, B^entigem,
COMPILED IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY.
EDITED FROM THE BEST MSS.
BY
ALEXANDEE PENROSE FORBES, D.C.L.,
BISHOP OF BRECHIN.
EDINBURGH
EDMONSTON AND DOUGLAS
1874.
PREFACE.
There is a propriety in the simultaneous publica-
tion of the Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kentigern, for
not only was the scene of their apostolic labours the
same, but the authors to whom we are indebted for
their mention were so nearly contemporaneous, that
the three narratives forai a trilogy complete in itself
Indeed, between the works of S. Ailred and Joceline
there is a remarkable similarity of manner and of
sentiment. The tone of thought which runs through
these books is the same, and the most prejudiced
critic must allow that they display an interesting
picture of a very remarkable epoch in the history of
Scotland, when both the civil constitution was imder-
going a remarkable development, and the ecclesiastical
poHty exhibiting great vitaHty. The long reign of
William the Lion is fraught with political significance,
as bearing upon the future of the country over which
he reigned, especially in the foundation of the burghs
and municipahties ; and perhaps at no time did the
Church of Scotland so vigorously fulfil her divine
mission as at the period of the twelfth century, when
2oeeo3
PREFACE.
the recently imported religious orders were still in
their purity, and had as yet exhibited few signs of
that spiritual decay which afterwards overcame them.
Again, in the Lives there is the same reference to
previous Celtic documents, and it cannot be denied
that, while their chief importance consists in the faith-
ful record which they exhibit of the tone of thought
of the twelfth century, there is also much ancient
history preserved in them — preserved perhaps not in
a very critical way, but still such as we could ill afford
to lose. Of the obscure history of the kingdom of
Cambria or Strathclyde they supply the most copious
notices.
It has been the attempt of the Editor to illustrate
this as far as he was able, and to gather together
whatever could bear upon the subject. This he has
embodied both in the Introduction and in the Notes,
and it only remains for him to express his acknow-
ledgment for the generous aid which he has received
from various literary friends.
In addition to the efficient help received from Dr.
Travers and Mr. Skene, he must thank Dr. Stuart,
Mr. Dickson, the Rev. James Gamma ck, the Rev.
W. D. Macray, Professor Cosmo Innes, for their efibrts
in his behalf; Mr. P. E. Pusey and Mr. David Little-
john for the trouble which they have taken in verify-
ing references in the Bodleian Library ; the Earl of
Crawford and Balcarres, Patrick Chalmers, Esq. of
PKEFACE.
Aldbar, and Andrew Jervise, Esq., for the generosity
with which they have put costly books at his disposal ;
the Very Rev. Dean Nicolson for aid m collating the
Brussels manuscript of the Life of S. Nuiian. The
assistance of other friends is acknowledged in the
notes throughout the volume ; and he must close this
record of obligation by stating that his friend the
late Rev. Arthur West Haddan gave him the use
of the proof-sheets of the then unfinished volume
of the Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents of Great
Britain, of which, with Professor Stubbs, he was
editor, and which has been published since his
lamented death.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAOE
PREFACE, 7
GENERAL INTRODUCTION—
Part I. — The Life of S. Ninian by S. Ailred, . iii
Part II. — The Lives of S. Kentigern by Joceline,
AND BY AN UNKNOWN AUTHOR, .... Ixiii
THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN, by Ailred, Abbot of
Rievaux, 1
THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN, by Jocelinus, a Monk
OF FURNESS, 27
FRAGMENT OF THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN, . 121
I. Vita Niniani, Pictorum Australium Apostoli,
AUCTORE AlLREDO ReVALLENSI, . . . .137
II. Vita Kentegerni, autore Jocelino Monacho
Furnesensi, 159
III. Vita Kentegerni imperfecta, auctore Ignoto, . 243
Notes to the Life of S. Ninian, 255
Notes to the Life of S. Kentigern, . . . .305
Index, 375
GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
GENERAL INTRODUCTIOK
PART L— THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN
BY S. AILEED.
The life of S. Ninian given in this volume is the work of
S. Ailred of Eievaux. It was first printed by John Pinkerton^
from a beautiful manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford
(Laud. F. XV. cent. xii. ; hodie, Laud. Misc. 668, ff. 78-89,
ssec. xii.) ; for the Bollandists, though using the life as given
by CapgTave, and commenting upon it, had not reproduced it.
They mention two other manuscripts of the life as being known
to them, one belonging to the Monasterium Ptubese Vallis, the
other to the Carthusian Convent at Cologne.^ Inquuy has been
made for these, but they have not been found. According to a
decree of Napoleon i., in 1809 or 1810, such of the MSS. of the
Carthusians of Cologne as were not sent to the National
Library at Paris were assigned, with those belonging to the
other convents, to the ficole Centrale at Cologne, and are now
in the Library of the Marzellen Gymnasium there, but the
Vita S. Niniani does not seem to be among them.
Having failed to discover these, the Editor was reduced
to the use of such materials as he had access to. First, he
made a careful collation of the Bodleian MS., which is the
actual text produced. It will be seen on comparison that
^ Vitte Antique Sanctorum, qui habitaverunt in ea parte Britannia^ nunc
vocata Scotia vel in ejus insulis. Quasdam edidit ex MSS., quasdam collegit
J. Pinkerton, qui et variantes lectiones et notas pauculas adjecit. Londini,
typis J. Nichols, 1789.
■'' Acta SS., Sept. 16, t. v. p. 322.
IV GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
many of Pinkerton's readings have been amended, and in more
than one instance a sentence has been supplied.
In addition to this, a MS. in the British Museum (Cott. Tib.
D. iii. fol. 186-192, saec. xiii.) has been collated. It is a cen-
tury posterior in date, but is undoubtedly a transcript of the
Bodleian exemplar. The variations are few, and have been
carefully noted at the bottom of the page..
Thirdly, in the Burgundian Library at Brussels there is a
volume of Lives of the Saints, in which the Life of S. Ninian
appears in an abridged form. It appears to be that from
which Capgrave has printed his life.^
S. Ailred at the beginning of his work describes the source
whence he drew the materials for the history of S. Ninian as
" liber de vita et miraculis ejus barbaric scriptus."
Archbishop Ussher in the addenda to his most learned
work, De Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Primordiis, says — " Extat
et apud Hibernos nostros ejusdem Mniani Vita; in qua ob
importuuam turn a matre tum a consanguineis freqnentatam
visionem, deserta Candida Casa, ut sibi et suae quieti cum dis-
cipulis vacaret, Hiberniam petiisse atque ibi impetrato a rege
loco apto et amceno Cluayn-coner dicto ccenobium magnum
constituisse, ibidemque post multos in Hibernia transactos
annos obiisse traditur."^
This Irish life, which contains matter hardly reconcileable
with tlmt by S. Ailred, and which is at variance with the
tradition of the neighbourhood, that S. Ninian died and was
buried in Whithern, cannot now be found.
The Bollandists state that they had a translation of this life
made by Father Fitzsimon,^ but they think very poorly of it.
According to them it was full of falsehoods. Not only is the
^ Nova Legenda Anglie, impressa Londonias in domo Winandi de Worde,
commorautis ad signiim solis, in vico nuncupate (the flete strete) a.d.
mcccccxvi. xxvii. die Febi'uarii. — fol. ccxli.-ccxliii.
2 Ussher's "Works, t. vi. pp. 209, 565, ed. Elringtou.
3 Acta SS., Sept. 16, t. v. p. 321.
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. V
saint made to die in Ireland, but his mother is described as a
Spanish princess; his father inconsistently wishes to bring him
back into the world after assenting to his being trained for the
ecclesiastical state ; a miracle so indecent that the BoUandists
only hint at it taking place as soon as he puts his foot on Ireland ;
a bell comes down from heaven to call together his disciples ; a
wooden church is raised by him, the beams of which very fierce
stags bring down to the place, and a harper who never before or
after had to do with architecture was the builder. On the
saint's flight into Galloway, he demands hospitality for a night
from a smith and his son, which is refused, whereupon S.
Ninian fixes his staff to a depth of three finger-lengths in the
anvil, so that it cannot be removed by human force. On the
smith and his son asking pardon, the staff is removed, and
the saint receives a grant of the lands, which are to be called
Wytterna, Terna and Wyt being respectively the names of the
smith and his son.
Some connexion of the saint with Ireland is certain, for not
only is his foundation at Whithern identified with the Magnum
Monasterium where so many youths from Ulster were trained,
but his name, with the affectionate prefix mo, is found on his
day in the Irish Kalendars. ^ngus the Culdee has " Moinend
nuall cech genai ;" that is, Moinend, the shout of every mouth,
and the gloss has " Moinend Cluana Conaire Tomain hi tuais-
cuirt .h. Faelain," i.e. Moinend of Cluain Conaire Tomain, in
north Hy-Faelain. The Martyrology of TaUaght has " Monenn
Cluana Conaire."^ That of Donegal has Maoineann, Bishop of
Cluain Conaire, in the north of Ui Faelain.^ The Drummond
Kalendar has at the day "Et in Hibernia natale Sanctorum
confessorum et sacerdotum Lasren Monein et Lasren."
We have already mentioned the Life in Capgrave (fol. ccxli.-
ccxliii.)
^ Dr. Kelly's ed., p. xxxiv. ; Dublin, u. d.
2 Mart. Don. p. 2'19 ; Dublin, 18G4.
VI GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
One more source of information is noticed by the learned
Alcnin in a letter addressed "fratribus Deo servientibus " at
Candida Casa; he mentions there Father Nynias, the bishop who
was distinguished by great miracles, " sicut mihi nuper delatum
est per carmina metricfe artis, quae nobis per fideles nostros
discipulos Eboracensis Ecclesite Scholasticos directa sunt."^
In later times the poet Barbour in his extreme old age com-
posed a metrical life of Ninian, which was discovered in the
library of the University of Cambridge by Henry Bradshaw, Esq.
Jocelin in his life of S. Kentigern states that that saint,
accompanied by many people, came to Cathures, which is now
called Glasghu, and there abode near a cemetery formerly con-
secrated by S. Ninian.^
A life of S. Mnian, Bishop of Candida Casa, occurs among
the Lives of the English Saints published by T. Toovey, in
1845. It has been attributed to the Eev. John Barrow, D.D.,
late Principal of S. Edmund Hall, Oxford.
S. Ailred, the biographer of S. Ninian, whose name is
softened from the Saxon Ethelred, and who also appears as
Ailredus, Alredus, -^Elredus, Elredus, Adelredus, Hetheldredus,
Altredus, Atheldredus, Ealredus, Hailredus, Eleredus, Baldre-
dus, Aluredus, Ealfredus, and Valredus, was the sou of ^iUavus,
or Eilef Lawreu, a priest, who had charge of the church of
Hexham,^ and who, in his sickness having sent for Eodbert
Biset, gave over with great devotion the revenues of the
chm-ch, which he had appropriated, "liberum et quietum de
se." He gave livery of his possessions with o. filaterium, a word
derived from the scriptural phylactery, and meaning a cross in
which relics were imbedded {vide Du Cange ad verb.), in the
presence of his sons Ailred, Samuel, Ethelwold, and others.
It will be seen that S. Ailred belonged to a hereditary family
1 MS. Cott. Vesp. A, xiv. f. 160 b., cit. Sir Thomas Duffus Hardy's
Descriptive Catalogue, vol. i. p. 45.
2 Vita Kentigerni, c. ix., Yitse Antiqq. SS., ed. Pinkerton, p. 219.
3 Prior Richard's History of the Church of Hexham, p. 50.
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. vii
of priests who owned the church of Hexham as they would a
leasehold or freeliold property.^ His grandfather Eilaf had
played off Archbishop Thomas of York against his own reform-
ing diocesan William de S. Carileph, and had got a grant of
the temporalities of Hexham, then so devastated by the Con-
queror's invasion in 1069 that he had to support himself by
hunting. Nevertheless he began the restoration of the church,
in which he was succeeded by his son the father of S, Ailred.
A gradual reform taking place under Thomas ii., Archbishop
of York, Eilaf, not uncompensated, gave up Hexham to Edric,
and in 1113 a college of canons was established, which under
Thurstan eventually grew into a house of Augustinians. Eilaf
himself, after making the grant to which we have just alluded,
assumed the habit of a Benedictine monk at Durham, and,
dying contrite and devout after a few days, is recorded in the
Liber Vitte of that house as " ^ilaf sacerdos et monachus."
S. Ailred began life at the court of David, King of Scotland,
whose subject he was by virtue of the Scottish possession of
Cumberland and Northumberland at that time, and with whose
son Henry he seems to have been educated. At the age of twenty-
four, in 1133, he became a Cistercian at Eievaux in Yorkshire,
under Abbot William, the friend and correspondent of S. Bernard,
whose letter to him, exhorting him to patience and calmness of
soul, is a wonderful combination of faith and practical wisdom.-
In 1142 he became Abbot of Kevesby, and next year of Eie-
vaux. Eievaux Abbey, of which Ailred was the distinguished
ornament, was founded by Walter Espec in 1 1 3 1 . Alexander in. ,
the Pope who divided the allegiance of Western Cliristendom
with the Antipope Victor iv., in 1160, the very year in which
his claim was disallowed by the Council of Pavia, took it under
Ms protection by a Bull, in which many privileges were con-
fen-ed upon it. The Abbots, whose names are recorded, are —
William -j- 1146; Maurice; Ailred, cir. 1160; Beruai-d +
1 Eaine's Priory of Hexham, i^. li. pref.
2 Op. S. Bernard., Ep. 360, t. i. p. 277; Paris. 1S3S.
Vm GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
1186; Sylvan (who, with Eolland, Bishop-elect of Dol, was
employed to treat with William the Lion for a compromise in
the case of the disputed election to the see of S. Andrews),
1189; Godfrey; Ernaldus + 1199, who resigned. In Pope
Xicholas's Taxatio of 1391 it is rated at £241, 10s. The Act
26 Henry viii. gives £351, 19s. 6d. gross rental, £278, 10s. 2d.
clear. It was granted at that time to Thomas Earl of Eutland,
a descendant of the founder. In Dugdale's time, as it is at this
day, it was occupied by the Duncombes.^
Eevesby, in Lincolnshire, the other Abbey with which
S. Ailred was connected, was founded in 1142 by William de
Eomara, Earl of Lincoln, and was dedicated to S. Mary and
S. Laurence. In Pope Nicholas's Taxatio it was rated at
£294, lis. 8d. ; at the dissolution at £394, 4s. lOd. gross,
£287, 2s. 4id. net. It was granted to Brandon, Duke of Suffolk.^
That S. Ailred should write the life of Xinian, which life,
however, is not in Capgrave's enumeration of his works, nor
again in Cave's, is natural, from the fact that we know he
visited Galloway : — " Descendens in Galwediam Alredus invenit
regulum terra illius contra filios suos iratum, filios in patrem
ScCvientes, et in se invicem fratres. Est autem terra ilia fera
silvestris et barbara, bestiales homines et barbarum omne quod
gignit. Veritas ibi non invenitur, sapientia locum non habet.
Nam neque fides neque charitas diu perdurat in ea. Castitas
totiens patitur naufragium quotiens libido voluerit, nee est
inter castam et scoii;um ulla distantia: muheres per menses
^dros alternant. Inter religiosos tamen quidam aliorum con-
silio et ductu satis religiosi existunt, sed propria industria raro
perfecti. Sunt enim naturaliter hebetes, et animalem habentes
spiritum voluptatibus carnis semper intendunt. Invenit itaque
Alredus principes provinciae ira et dissensione turbatos; quorum
odia et rancores nee rex Scotiee humihare nee episcopus miti-
gare suffecit; multoque sanguine terram polluerunt. Quos
^ Dugdale's Monasticou, vol. v. p. 274. ^ jjji^i^ yoL y. p. 453.
PART I. — TIIK LIFE OF S. NINIAN. ix
Alrecliis non solum pacificavit, sed patreni iilioruin liabitum
religiouis suscipere inflexit, et qui niulta millia houiiuuin vita
privaverat vitae participem eterniB fieri docuit."^
Eegiuald of Durham mentions that S. Aibed was present at
Kirkcudbright in 11C4 on the Feast of S. Cutlihert, when a
penitent was miraculously freed from an iron belt which he
wore. On the same day a bull, offered in. oblation to S. Cuth-
bert, was baited in the churchyard by the clerics, " qui Pictoruni
lingua Scollofthes connominantur." On being reproved, one
mocked the saint, and was gored by the buU.^
Ten years before this he had assisted at the great translation
of the relics of S. Acca, S. Alchemund, S. Fredenbert, S. Tilbert,
and S. Eata, at Hexham, and he became the chronicler of the
event.^ His other works are a description of the Battle of the
Standard, the genealogy of the Kings of England, including an
eulogium of S. David of Scotland, the History and Miracles of
S. Edward the Confessor, a homily on the occasion of the
translation of the relics of that saint in llG3,^a short letter
about a nun of Watton, and also a Life of Kino- Edward in
verse addressed to I-aurence, Abbot of Westminster, a treatise
on the virtues of Walter Espec, an account of the foundation
of the monasteries of S. Mary's at York and of Fountains,
some sermons De Tempore et de Sanctis, thirty-one sermons
on Isaiah the prophet, a Speculum Charitatis, a Tract on Jesus
the Child of twelve years old, three books on Spiritual Friend-
ship, a Rule for nuns, and a Tractatus on the Sunday within
the octave of the Epiphany, and on the burdens of the Church.'^
Henriquez^ adds considerably to this list, but says "Nota
^ Capgrave, Nova Legenda, fol. xii.
^ Reg. Dunelm., Surtees ed. pp. 178, 179.
3 Raine's Annals of Hexham, pref. Ixxiii.
* Biographia Britannica Literaria, by Thomas Wright, p. 1 94 ; London,
1846.
* See Cave, Hist. Lit. p. 673 ; Bibliotheca maxima Patrum, tom. xxiii.
^ Fasciculus Sanctorum Ordinis Cisterciensis, liber ii. p. 261, Col. Agripp.
1631.
X GENERAL INTllODUCTION.
quod hujus scripta quoedam cum scriptis Edilredi Abbatis
Wardensis confunduntur." His own account of the saint
is at second-hand from Bale and Pitseus. In the Menologium
Cisterciense of the same author at the 12 Jan. (Prid. Idus
Jauuarii) : — " In Auglia Sanctus Aelredus Eievallis Abbas,
sacrarum literarum scientia et morum integritate conspicuus :
qui postquam dignitates sibi oblatas humiliter contempsisset,
omnium virtutum genere decoratus, migravit a sfeculo, Sanc-
torum numero post mortem ascriptus."-^
S. Ailred long enjoyed the favour of Henry ii., and was in-
strumental in inducing him to submit to Pope Alexander lii.^
He died on the ides of January 1166, in the fifty-seventh
year of his age. So early as 1250 he was regarded as a saint.^
He suffered from calculus and arthritica passio for years before
his death.
With every wish to deal fairly with the work of S. Ailred,
we must pronounce it almost wortliless as a historical tract.
There is hardly one fact additional to those with which we
were already acquainted from the celebrated passage in Breda,
quoted by himself at the beginning of his biography. Indeed,
at the beginning the author admits that the barbarous work
which he professed to polish only elucidated the same facts.
Even the miracles lack much of the local colouring which
gives so much interest to some of the Irish legends. It is
entirely wanting in the mournfid interest which gives such a
charm to the invective of Gildas.
On the other hand, the style, for the eleventh century, is
exceedingly good. The diction is flowing, and the sentiments
gracefully expressed. The account of the early religious life of
S. Ninian is admirable, and even the declamation on the evil-
ness of the times, though slightly turgid, is not without
eloquence. A historical work like this is not the place to
^ Menologium Cisterciense notationibus illustratum; Antwerp. 1630, p. 14.
2 Chronic. Johan. Abbatis S. Petri de Burgho, p. 79 ; cit. Wright.
^ Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints, ad diem.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XI
enlarge on its religious aspect, but the vein of real piety which
runs through it all, while it is evidence of the beautiful moral
nature of the author, gives the lie to those crude notions of the
world lying in spiritual darkness during the mediaeval times,
and of the absence of gospel light from epochs distinguished
by some of the strongest outcomes of the Christian sentiment,
such as the wars of the Crusades — wars for an idea — the idea
of the special sacredness of that holy land,
" Over whose acres walked those blessed feet,
Which eighteen hundred years ago were nailed
For our advantage to the bitter cross."
The Bollandists,^ as has been already mentioned, do not give
the life of S. Ninian, but they comment upon it, and illustrate
it. First they allude to the question who the Picts, whom he
is stated to have converted, were, and quote the statements (1.)
of Dion,^ that the Britanni were divided into Caledonians and
Meatse, of whom the latter lived near the wall which divided
the island into two parts, the Caledonians being behind them ;
(2.) of Ammianus Marcellinus, who divided them into Dicale-
dones and Vecturiones, the former being those who occupied
the western parts of the island, as if at the right hand, while
the Vecturiones occupied the left ; and (3.) of Bseda, who again
divides the Picts into Northern and Southern. After citing
these authorities, they decline to enter on the question whether
the Picts were different from the Britons or a nation imported
from other quarters.
Then they discuss the name of Candida Casa, mentioning
that Camden identified it with the Leucophibia, quasi AevK
oiKiSia, of Ptolemy, and that Malmesbury^ mentioned that the
name was taken from the work, " quod ecclesiam ibi ex lapide
Britonibus miraculum fecerit." They decline to enter into
" the odious controversy " whether it belonged to the Scots or
Saxons, quoting only what Bseda says in the well-known
1 Acta SS. Sept. 16, torn. v. p. 318.
2 Lib. xvii. ^ Lib. iii. do Gestis Pont. Anglic.
XU GENERAL INTllODUCTION.
place, "Cujus sedem episcopalem S. Martini episcopi nomine
et ecclesia insignem, ubi ipse etiam corpore una cum pluribus
Sanctis requiescit jam nunc Anglorum gens obtinet;" but,
in presence of a confessed perplexity as to the epoch, con-
tent themselves with giving what the Scots writers assert
with respect to the conversion of their country. They first
quote Hector Boethius,^ Leslfeus,^ and George Thorn son,^
for the conversion of Scotland under Pope Victor in the time
of the Emperor Severus, though they take leave to question
them, chiefly from Scotch testimonies, such as the legend of the
arrival of the relics of S. Andrew. Admitting the expression
of Tertullian, "Britannorum inaccessa Romanis loca Christo
vero subdita sunt," they understand it to mean that there
may have been here and there a handful of Christians in Scot-
land : — " Non nego Donaldum quendam, sive is Scotorum rex,
sive vir inter suos princeps fuerit, Christianis sacris initiatum
fuisse, et exemplo suo nonnullos Christo lucrifecisse. Hoc
unum nego, utpotc nullo nixum fundamento, Scotorum nempe
vel Pictorum gentem universam, ab A.c. 203, veritates Evan-
gelicse recepisse ita ut ab ea numquam defecerit. Scotorum et
Pictorum a fide defectionem Corotico clarissime ostendunt
duriora S. Patricii verba."
Turning from these, they accept, on the authority of a paper
by Papebroch on the time of the conversion of the Picts, the
statement of Eordun regarding the death of S. Mnian * in the
time of Theodosius the younger, which was determined by his
having flourished in the time of S. Martin, who died in the
eighth year of Arcadius and Honorius. Then they mention that
Pitseus, Alford, the Magdeburg Centuriators, assign 432 as his
1 Scotorum Hist. lib. vi. fol. 86; Paris. 1575.
- Lib. iii. de Origine, etc., p. 114 ; Romse, 1678.
^ De Antiquitate Christianaj Religionis apud Scotos, authore Georgio
Thomsono Scoto. Eomse, ex Typograpliio Barth. Bonfadini mdxciiii. ;
Siii)erioram Permissu — has no pagination, but is a small quarto of nine pages
and a half. * Lib. iii. c. 9.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAX. Xui
date, while a MS. preserved in their hbrary, as well as another
made by Patrick Ninian Wemyss, S.J., which he sent to Sol-
lerius in 1720, gives 437 as the year. Wilson dates it so late
as 512, but this is incompatible with the saint's connexion
with S. Martin.^ Alford makes his mission commence from
394, in the papacy of Siricius. They conclude, "Pictorum
igitur Australium conversioneni late figo vel sub finem ssec. iv.
vel sub initium v., cum hoc solum ex Beda certum sit eos diu
ante annum 565 ad fidem adductos fuisse."-
S. Ninian's name occurs in the Roman Martyrology.^ It is
absent from those of Ado and Usuardus, but occurs in the
Auctaria of Grevenus and jMolanus.^ Wilson in his Mar-
tyrologium Anglicanum has " Sacrum ejus corpus in eadem
S. Martini Ecclesia sepultum, ibidem magna veneratione ser-
vatum fuit, usque ad tempora Henrici regis viii. (Editio altera
habet Jacobi regis vi., quas lectio omnino preferenda est.)
Multa etiam praeclara templa atque altaria in ejus honorem
pristinis Catholicorum temporibus erecta ac dedicata fuerunt
in regno Scotise." The following is an incomplete list of
these dedications : —
ABERDEENSHIEE.
1. And AT IN Methlick, Collections on the shires of Aber-
deen and Banff, p. 320.
2. PiTMEDDEN IN OyNE, ib. p. 579.
3. Fetterneir, Antiquities of Aberdeen and Banff, vol. iii.
p. 389.
^ Joannis Wilsoni Maartyrolog. Anglicanum, 1608.
2 Alford (Michael, alias Griffith, English Jesuit, b. 1587,) — Fides Regia
Britannica, Saxonica, Anglica, una ilia eademque Sancta Catholica Romana;
sive Annales Ecclesiastic! in quibus Britannorum, Saxonum, Anglorum ortho-
doxa fides a Cliristo nato ad annos 1189 historica demonstratione deducitur
atque probatur, 4 torn., Lond. 1663.
Britannia illustrata ; sive Lucii Hebrseae, Helena, Constantiui, priuiorum
Eegum et Augustorum Christiauorum Patria et Fides. 4to. Autverpije, 1641.
3 Baronii Mart. Rom. p. 574, ed. Mogunt. 1631.
* Sollerii Usuardus, p. 539, ed. Antwerp. 1714.
XIV GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
4. Chapel in Aberdeen, Chalmers's Caledonia, i. 315.
5. Altarage in S. Nicholas, Aberdeen, New Statistical
Account, Aberdeen, p. 329.
AEGYLE.
1. Island of Sand a, Origines Parocliiales, ii. 9.
2. Kilninian, in Mull, Chalmers's Caledonia, i, 315.
3. Lands of S. Ninian, Kintyre, Eetours, Argyle, 21, 93.
AYESHIEE.
1. Dundonald, Chalmers's Caledonia, iii. p. 411.
2. Colmonell, Ayr, ib. i. 315.
3. KiNCASE, N, S. A., Ayr, p. 173.
4. MONKTON, ib.
5. Kilsanctniniane in Ardmillan, Eetours, Ayr, 352.
6. KiLDONAN, Orig. Par., ii. 737.
BANFF.
1. Chapel of Enzie in Eathven, Jervise's Epitaphs, p. 277.
2. Bellie, Antiquities of Aberdeen and Banff, ii. p. 267.
BUTE.
1. S. Ninian's Bay and Point, N. S. A., Bute, 96.
CAITHNESS.
1. Head of Wick, N. S. A., Caithness, 160, Orig. Par., ii. 772.
DUMBAETON.
1. Kirkintilloch, Eegist. Ep. Glasg., p. 390.
DITMFEIES.
1. Altarage, in Parish Church, Act. Dom. Cone, et Sess.,
vol. V. f. 206 (MS. General Eegister House).
TART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XV
EDINBUEGH.
1. S. Ninian's Lands, Liberton, Retours, Edinburgh, 1097.
2. S. Ninian's Chapel, near the Leper Hospital, Liber
Cartarum S. Egidii, p. 134.
3. Altarage, in S. Giles, Lib. Cart. S. Crucis, pp. 64, 160.
4. Bridge-End, Leith, ib. p. 244.
FIFE.
1. Prebend of S. Ninian, Ceres, Eetours, Fife, 261.
2. Chapel in Constabulary of Kinghorn, ib. 315.
3. Altarage, in Parish Church of Falkland, Reg. Mag. Sig.,
Lib. xli. No. 44 (MS. General Register House).
FORFARSHIRE.
1. Well at Arbirlot, Proceedings of Antiquarian Society,
ii. 449.
2. Ferne, Jervise, Lands of the Lindsays, p. 179.
3. Benshie, ib. p. 279.
4. Chapel at Alyth, ib. p. 285.
5. S. Vigeans, N. S. a., Forfar, 495.
6. S. Ninian's Croft, Arbroath; Retours, Forfar, 154.
7. Altarage, in Brechin Cathedral, Jervise's Memorials of
Angus, p. 470.
8. Mains (?).
INVERNESS.
1. Keilsanctrinan in Urquhart, Retours, Inverness, 41.
KINCARDINE.
1. S. Ninian's Chapel and Den, Stonehaven, Retours, Kin-
cardine, 70.
2. Dunottar.
KINROSS.
1. Chapel at Sauchie, Retours, Kinross, 22.
XVI GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
LANARK.
1. Well at Lamington, Orig. Par. i. 173.
2. Stonehouse, ih. i. p. 108.
3. WiSTOUN, ih. 147.
4. Covington, Eetours, Lanark, 82.
5. Hospital, Glasgow, Act. Pari. v. 563.
LINLITHGOW.
1. Cilvpel at Linlithgow, N. S. A., Linlithgow, p. 175.
2. Blackness, Chalmers's Caledonia, iii. 411.
]V10EAY.
1. Chapel in Diser (Dyke), Ptetours, Elgin, 141.
2. Altarage in Elgin Cathedral, Chalmers's Caledonia, i. 315.
PERTH.
1. KiNNOULL, Retours, Perth, 152.
2. St. Ninian's Lands, Coupar, ih. p. 70.
3. Lany.
4. Altarage in Dunkeld Cathedral, Mylne, Vit?e Dunkel-
deu. Eccles. episcoporum.
RENFREW.
1. Altarage in Renfrew, Orig. Par., i. 74.
2. Gov AN, N. S. A., 688.
ROSS-SHIRE.
1. Balconie, in Kiltearn, O. S. A., i. 293.
2. Rosskeen, Orig. Par., ii. 469.
3. Fortrose, Chalmers's Caledonia, i. 315,
ROXBURGH.
1. Bowden, Orig. Par., i. 287.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. xvii
SHETLAND.
1. DuNROSSNESS, N. S. A., Shetlaud, 94.
STIKLING.
1. S. NiNiANS, K S. A., Stirling, 323.
2. Well at Stirling, ih. 426.
3. Chapel at Stirling, Eegist. de Dunferm. p. 344.
4. Campsie, Eegist. Episc. Glasg. p. 88.
SUTHEELAND.
1. Navidale, N. S. a., Sutherland, p. 201.
WIGTONSHIEE.
1. Penningiiam, K S. a., Wigton, 176.
2. Cruives of Cree, Chalmers's Caledonia, iii. 411.
Among the charters of Sir W, K. Murray of Oclitertyre
there is a paper of the Marischal family, iu which, about 1380,
the Earl Marischal of the day states that in building his
castle of Dunottar he had unconsciously infringed upon a piece
of ground where in former times there had been a chapel
dedicated to S. Mnian. The Court of Eome sanctioned the
matter on payment of certain moneys.^
Some of the relics of S. Ninian were saved at the Eeforma-
tion, and preserved in the Scots College at Douai. An arm
was recovered by Father Alexander Macquarry, and given in
charge to the Countess of Linlithgow. It was intrusted by
Alexander Seton to Father John Eobb to be brought to the
Seminary.2 In Father Augustin Hay's Scotia Sacra/ pp. 387-
395, we read — "I heard that there was only one bone, which
* Information by Dr. John Stuart. ^ Acta SS. Sept. t. v. p. 327.
^ MS. Advocates' Library.
B
Xviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
goeth from the elbow to the sheikle-bone, that was kept reli-
giously in the Chapell of St. Margaret by the Scots of Douay
College, enclosed in a figure of wood, representing a Bishop.
The relic is enclosed in the right arm."
Father John Kobb succeeded Father G. TurnbuU as Superior
of the Scots College at Douai, and died there of fever 13th
March 1639.^ There were two Alexander Setons, — one in
Germany in 1612, on being sent to the Scots mission, died on
the road ; the other, a natural son of the Earl of Dunfermline,
was sometimes called Eoss. He entered the Society of Jesus
in 1687, and lived to a great age.^ I cannot trace out Father
Macquarry. The Countess of Linlithgow was Helenor, daughter
of Andrew, seventh Earl of Errol, who married Alexander, first
Earl of Linlithgow.^ The charge of the Princess Elizabeth
was committed to her and her husband, and they discharged
their duty so well that they received the thanks of the King
and Council.^ That a Eoman Catholic should have charge of
the Princess is not wonderful, for Anne of Denmark had
secretly conformed, and had Father Eobert Abercromby for
her confessor.-''
The name of S. Ninian was restored to the Kalendar of the
Scottish Church in the Prayer-book of 1 637. Churches belong-
ing both to the Eoman and Anglican communions have been
dedicated to him in this century.
We may dismiss as resting on no real foundation the asser-
tion of Pitseus and Dempster, that S. Ninian was the author
of a book of meditations on the Psalms, and another, de Sanc-
torum Sententiis.^
^ Oliver's Collections, p. 36.
2 lb. p. 37, with MS. note by the late Rev. G. A. Griffin.
3 Douglas's Peerage, vol. v. p. 549, ed. Edinburgh, 1813.
■* lb. vol. ii. p. 127.
^ Conajus, de Duplici Statu Religionis, Romje, 1628, p. 270.
^ Pitseus, de Illustribus Britannia Scriptoribus, p. 87 ; Dempster's Hist.
Eccl., vol. ii. p. 502, ed. Edin. 1829.
TART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XIX
His Office in the Breviary of Aberdeen is as follows : —
" In festo sandi jpatris nostri Niniani episcapi ct confessoris
in primis vcsperis antipli.
" Ovans agat hec coucio Niniani solennia trine vocis tripudio
laiidum sonat obsequia ut mens lingua et actio pari concordent
gloria placebit sic laudacio Deo reddenti premia, ^Ps. Laudate
pueri. Antiph. Hie PictoiTim tenebras fugat dans vite monita
mundi contemj)nens blandicias dux plebis ad celestia. Fs. Lau-
date Dominum omnes gentes. An. Vita processit populum sic
sanctitate previa nunc liaurit in te poculum dux cum ductis in
patria. Ps. Laudaanima. Antiph. Tanto patrono plaudere jure
debes Albania secura salva sistere dum vitas vite devia. Ps.
Laudate Dominum quoniam bonus. Anti^jh. Ad celos migrans
liodie locandus in deliciis ad mores fac quotidie migrare nos a
viciis. Ps. Lauda Hierusalem. Capitulum vmuis confessoris.
B. Quod cambuca vir Dei circueat taurus custos armentum
vigilat qui latronis dum ventrem perforat infelicem ultor
exanimat. Mox cadaver sanctus vivificat Saulum sternens
Paulum resuscitat. V. Insigne geritur signum certaminis pes
saxo jungitur bovis et hominis. Mox. Gloria. Hyui.
Christe qui rex as glorie
Caput sanctorum omnium
Tu Niniano gracie
Tue dedisti premium
Ortus regalis semine
Clare puer est indolis
Vir veritatis lumine
Dat vitam pastor incolis.
Pictis junctis Britonibus
Turmis duarum genciura
Mercatus in celestibus
Eegionem vivencium
Regem percussit ulcio
Vir Belial qui fuerat
Sanatur et devocio
Pia mitem reddiderat
A mortis solvit vinculo
Quern taurus perforaverat
A mortis et periculo
XX GENERAL INTKODUCTIOX.
Vir undis raptuni liberat
Egris se recldit habilem
Multos curans miraculis
Deum sibi placabilem
Beatis videns oculis
Presta Christe victoriam
Nobis de victis liostibus
Niniani Memoriam
Vitam confer agentibus. Amen.
" V. Amavit emu. Antiph. Stirps regalis que vita floruit
prolem profert regem quern decuit patrum pater patronum geuuit
Ninianum quo muudus claruit hie ut sydus signis emicuit dum
Britannos fidem perdocuit. Ps. Magnificat.
''Orat. Deus qui hodiernam diem beati Niniani confessoris tui
atque pontificis festivitate honorabilem nobis dedicasti ; concede
propicius ut cujus erudicione veritatis tue luce perfundimur ejus
intercessione celestis vite gaudia consequamur per Dominum."
(Here follows the commemoration of S. Euphemia and her
companions.)
"Ad mat. Invit. Christus laudetur Niniano laus jubilatur. Ps.
Venite, Hymnus Christe qui Rex. In primo nodurn. Antiph.
Ninianus teneris annis constitutus inhiabat superis moribus
imbutus. Ps. Beatus vir. Antiph. Eomam petens dogmatis
causa visitavit sed vite pro meritis presul remeavit. Ps. Quare
fremuerunt. Antiph. Factus hie Britonibus fidei ligatus
perfidos sollicitus reprimit conatus. Ps. Domine quid. V.
Amavit. Led. i. Gloriosam . . . gentem magnam. B. Ninianus
nobilis clare puer indolis sacris inardescit. Ut sic prosit patriae
se presentat curiae qua presul recessit. V. Et conjectu spiri-
tus ejus mentis habitus Martino clarescit. Ut. Led. ii. Beatis-
simus Ninianus . . . ita de eo scribit. B. Pastor redit fit clausus
omnium plebs obedit fugit demonium reseratur fides creden-
cium. Cedit error crescit miraculum. V. Gens seducta suggestu
demonum per hunc sanctum credit in Dominum. Cedit. Led. Hi.
Anno ab incarnatione . . . regionibus sequestrate. B. Ptex
neque monita contempnens presulis luit obprobria dolore
CA
gfi
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXI
capitis sed quern obduxerat cecitas luminis tirmum reddiderat
in fide numinis. V. Fit iiiorbi duplicis duplex curacio cordis
et corporis illuminacio. Sed. In secunda noc. an. Tactu viri jus-
ticie visu privantur oculi regis fastu superbie molesti sancto
presuli. Ps. Cum invocarem. An. Presul placatus venia
lumen amissum reddidit rex ductus penitencia Christo renatus
credidit. Ps. Verba mea. An. Crimen matris panditur ex
infantis ore dum confusio solvitur insons corruptore. Ps.
Domine Deus noster. V. Justum. Led. iv. Namque ipsi australes
Picti , . . misterio veritatis edoctus. B. Per incastum gravi-
data mater tandem coartata partus patrem prodere senen cepit
accusare, sic se credens excusare de commisso scelere. Ees
stupenda contra morem pandit infans genitorem. V. Ex in-
fantis lactentis pectore vox virilis sonat cum robore patrem
prodit victum facinore. Ees stupenda. Lectio v. Cujus sed em
episcopatus , . . Britonibus more fecerit. B. Sedens Sanctus
in refectorio et confratres pascens miraculo ortolanum vocat
continuo olus ferri jubens ex ortulo. Herbam profert cum
seminario jam tunc satam dans grates Domino. V. Ad precep-
tum Niniani mens stupescit ortolani sciens tamen nicbil vani
voto sancti succedere ipso die seminatum profert terra fructum
gratum jubente pontifice. Herbam profert cum seminario jam
tunc satam. Lectio vi. Tanti itaque viri ... in lionore ejusdem
dedicatm\ B. Ducem furum taurus egreditur cornu bruti
brutalis ceditur rupto ventre vita discutitur. Eursum vivus ac
sanus reditur. V. Discursu devio volant latrunculi in muni-
cipio stringuntur baculi. Eursum, Gloria. Eursum. In Hi.
noctur. an. Patrem linquit parvulus verberum timore quem
reduxit baculus vorticis ab ore. Ps. Domine quis habitabit.
Antiph. Lignum florens aridum cunctis stat in signum : fons
erumpens famulum probat Deo dignum. Ps. Domine in vir-
tute. Antiph. Mniano singula parent elementa, ignis, aer, arida,
pontus, et iluenta. Ps. Domini est terra. V. Justus ut. Evan-
gelium. Homo quidem peregre et reliqua. Tunc omelia vene-
rabilis Bcdcv Presbyteri de vita et miraculis Sancti Niniani Icct.
Xxii GENERAL INTKODUCTION.
vij. Verbum quod ipse breviter . . . historico modo conscribit.
it. Virgam timens reus discipulus fugam subiit adolescentulus
Clam defertur magistri baculus, quo salvator nauclerus, tremulus.
V. Multi foraminum patescunt aditus incursus fluminum sistit
divinitus. Clam. Lectio viij. InsvJa igitur . . . sed quorundam
memoria comprobatur. B. Cum collega vir proficiscitur sic
psallendi locus eligitur : atra nube dumus obducitur : ymber de
qua fusus immittitur. Supra sanctum nuda restringitur : curva
nube cum circumcingitur. V. Ymbris stillam prohibet nubes
camerata ne vestis vel littera sancti sit rigata. Supra. Led.
ix. Pater ejus Eex . . . non cessavit. B. Infans invisus
nascitur, effigies horribilis, vultus dorso transumitur, monstrum
forme mirabilis : manus pedes et brachia cunctis privantur
usibus : Christi fulgent magnalia membris in transversalibus
sospes regreditur. V. Ad Niniani tumulum tetrum munus
adducitur in summi laudis titulum, sanatus restituitur. Manus.
Gloria. Ma. Frosa. Sospitati Niniani dat egris oratio. Tumor
cedit ydropicis et lepre contagio. Eeddatur vita functis et
mutis locucio. Cecis visus, claudis gressus, et surdis audicio.
Gaudent portum naufragati et sterilis filio. Liberantur carcerati
dementes demonio. Fugit thisis, gutta febris epilensis passio.
Aridorum membra suo redduntur officio. quam probat sanctum
Dei furum liberacio ; oculorumque membrorum nova restitucio.
Ergo laudes Niniano nostra psallet concio. ISTamque corde
poscunt ilium loto prius vicio. Sospes regreditur. V. Ora
pro nobis, beate Muiane. I71 Laudibus Aniiph. CoUaudemus
omnium summum creatorem suum qui mirificat signis confes-
sorera. Ps. Dominus regnavit. A71. Ad sancti reliquias
siciens virtutem monstrum Deo gratias recepit salutem. Ps.
Jubilate. A71. Hinc pro luce perdita pulsante puella leta
luce reddita redit jam novella. Ps. Deus, Deus. A^i. Morphea
mortifera que corpus obsessit non relinquens vestigia corpori
recessit. Ps. Benedicite. An. Niniani meritis morbidi curautur
ceci vident : audiunt surdi : muti fantur. Ps. Laudate. Hymnus.
Adest dies leticie i^iniani Pontificis quo stolam sumpsit glorie :
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXlll
choris sceptus augelicis. Plaude turba fidelium : patris colens
solempnia : ejus lauclans preconium : qui suis dat praesidia : in
Paradiso ecclesie : virtutum ex dulcediue : spiranien dat aro-
luatum : Ninianus celestium : liic Mnianus sumitur : calcata
luctu seculi : celum victor ingreditur : cum turmis multi
populi : Jesu rector luctancium : tua nos rege gratia : sup-
plantando demonium : mundum carnem justitia. An. Ora
Christe victoriam. quam pia pura patris aluii cura circa
simplices nulli nam in vanum poscunt Niuianum quamvis
complices culpe sint et rei dum in arce spei constant supplices
liic corde contritos solvit compeditos frangens compedes. Ps.
Benedictus. Or. ut supra. Mcmoria de tnartyribus ad vesp.
An. Collaudemus omnia. Ps. feri. Capitulum unius confessor is,
ut supra. R. Nos qui sumus involuti viciorum finibus dementes
et imbuti delictorum sordibus Niniane te rogamus fave suppli-
cantibus : ut celorum rex placatus a te fusis precibus nos
mundatos a peccatis jungat cell civibus. V. Nobis sis patronus
pius pastor bonus memor miseris qui te colunt corde purgatos a
sorde redde superis Niniane. Hymnus. Plaudat turba fidelium
novis productis canticis : promat laudis preconium Niniani pon-
tificis. Cujus doctrina et monitis gens graditur feliciter : error
ab illicitis conversa est salubriter : Virga vetus mosayca et
baculus antistitis : signa conformant celica Niniani pro meritis,
Virga mare dividitur, ducatum prebens populo : unda maris
refiectitur navem regente baculo. Aqua fluxit de lapide hebreum
potans populum : exivit fons a cuspide baculi mittens rivulum.
Virga legalis arida frondes fiores produxerat : tali virtute valida
baculus arens creverat. Ymber invasit codicem dum mens
vacaret ocio : inundans suspendit laticem labens mentis oracio.
In mundo laude egregia florebat mirabilibus : nunc est in ceK
curia vivens cum Sanctis omnibus. Laus trino et uni Domino
sit qui est sine termino : qui Niniani precibus jungat celi civi-
bus. Amen. V. Justus germina. An. Pastor pasce gregem
superum pete pro gregc regem gratus reddatur et ovili resti-
tuatur lumine perfunde famulos virtutis habunde lucifer eterne
lucis Niniane superne. Ps. INIagnificat."
XXIV GENEKAL INTKODUCTIOK.
In an interesting volume in the BoUandian Library at
Brussels, whose title is " Incipit ordo missalis Fratrum Mino-
runi secundum consuetudinem Eomanse Curiae," a Scottish
service-book of the thirteenth century, communicated to me
by the learned Father Victor de Buck, S. J., in an additional
service inscribed after 1264, we find the following : —
" De Beato Niniano. Oratio. Deus, qui populos Pictorum et
Britonum, per doctrinam S. Niniani episcopi [et confessoris tui]
ad fidei Tuse notitiam convertisti, concede propitius ut cujus
eruditione veritatis tuae luce perfusi sumus etiam [perfundimur
ejus] intercessione cselestis vitae gaudia consequamur. Per
Dominum. Secreta. Oblata servitutis nostrae munera Domine
quaesumus annue Sancti patris nostri Niniani episcopi com-
memoratio [solennitas] commendet accepta, ut ejus pia suppli-
catione muniti, cunctorum nostrorum delictorum veniam, et
beatitudinis sempiternae benedictione mereamur optinere con-
sortium, per Dominum.
" PosTCOMMUNio. Eefectos, Domine, vitalis alimoniae sacra-
mentis sancti confessoris tui Niniani episcopi gloriosa nos
intercessione protege et ad aeternum celestis mensae convivium
concede pervenire per Dominum."
The passages in brackets are the modifications of the service
as they appear in the Arbuthnott Missal, after nearly 250
years.^
In the office as exhibited in the Missal, the portion of Scrip-
ture for the Epistle is taken from the Book of Wisdom, " Ecce
Sacerdos." The Gospel is " Homo quidam peregre," and the
Sequence is as follows : —
" Ave, pater et patrone,
prsesul, pastor, pie, bone,
confessor eximie !
Roga Deum, Niniane,
pro salute ser6 mane
prasseutis familire.
^ Libel' Ecclesie Beate Terrenaiii de Arbuthnott; Burntisland, 18G4, p. 369.
PAKT I. — THE LIFE UF S. XIXIAX. XXV
Tu per terras et per mare
dire vinctos liberare
non cessas Cliristicolas ;
Esto nobis spiritalis
tutor, salvans nos a malis
loci liujus incolas.
Ope tufe sanctse precis
TTiembris surdis claudis crecis
crebra datur sanitas ;
Nobis reis et indignis
succurre, ne cum maligiiis
nos damnet iniquitas.
Rex, puer, fur, bortolanus,
infans cujus pedes mauus
privabantur usibus,
Probant sanctum apud Christum
te ; tu nos post mundum istum
jungas caeli civibus. Amen."
Of allusions to S. ISTinian in the pre-Reformatiou literature of
Scotland, we may note in "Ane dialog betwix experience and
ane courteour," by Sir David Lindsay (Works ed. Laing, vol. i.
p. 311), the question of the Courtier " of the imageis usit amang
Christian men : " —
" Sanct Roche, weill seisit, men may see
Ane byill new broken on his thye,
Sanct Eloye he doth staitly stand
Ane new horse shoe intyll his hand,
Sanct Riugan of ane rottin stoke,
Sanct Duthow boird out of ane bloke."
In William Stewart's Bulk of the Croniclis of Scotland
(vol. ii. p. 22 ; London, 1858) we find —
" Sanct Martyn als he wes into tha dais ;
And Sanct Niniane, as my auther sais,
Biggit ane kirk than into Galdia
Quhilk Qidiitterne now is callit at this da."
In an English ballad on the unfortunate battle of Flodden
XXVI GENERAL INTEODUCTION.
composed soon after the event, the Scottish objects of popular
worship are alluded to : —
" Their patron so did not them leave,
Saint Andrew with his shored cross,
But sure St. Triman of Quhytehorn,
Or Duffin their demigod of Ross."^
The apostolate of S. Ninian is the first distinct fact in the
history of the Christianity of modern Scotland, although the
circumstances of his life, as well as other testimonies,^ make it
evident that before his time the light of the gospel had shone
upon these remote shores.
That in the Eoman province the religion which had been
gradually undermining the ancient Paganism and which had
been fully organized, as we know from the presence of three
British Bishops at the Council of Aries, should have extended
itself is only natural ; but the enfeeblement of the Empire, and
the constant invasion of the barbarians, make it probable that
great confusion and religious decay existed everywhere.
The Eoman province, the northern frontier of which had
been re-established by Tlieodosius at the wall between the
Forth and the Clyde in 369, was in about half a century after
that abandoned, and a reign of intestine anarchy and foreign
conquest succeeded. Maximus withdrew the Eoman troops in
388. Stilicho drove back the Picts and again restored the wall
in 397-402. In 407 Constantine withdrew the troops again,
and the southern wall became the boundary. While the
eastern coast of Southern Scotland was again and again in-
vaded by successive hordes of pagan Jutes, Saxons, Frisians,
and Angles, the western region remained in the possession of
the great British or Cambrian race, who on the withdrawal
of the Eoman legions became the victims of the incursions of
the Picts of the north, of the Irish Scots, and of the Saxons.
The Cambrian or Cumbrian kingdom extended beyond the
1 The Battle of FlocHen Field, by Henry Weber, ed. 1S08, p. 27.
- Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. i. pp. 1-14.
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXVll
southern wall. It ran from Alcluyd or Dumbarton in the
nortli as far as the river Derwent in Cumberland.
It -would appear that war was carried on between the
Cumbrians and their enemies with varied success, although in
the main the latter prevailed. That the Picts at one time
occupied the land as far as the southern wall, we know on the
authority of Gildas,^ and the topography of Galloway to this
day has indications that the Saxons had effected an occupation
there. On the otlier hand (whatever historical value may be
attached to the fact), the Welsh bards celebrate the con-
quest of Urien or Owen Eeged, who, only for a time indeed,
actually recovered Bernicia. Of the internal condition of the
British kingdom at this time we have no certain information.
Naturally foreign war would cause domestic confusion, and the
arts of peace could not flourish in the presence of the terror
caused by constant invasion. One element of civilisation cer-
tainly remained to it. Tlie road was open both to Gaul and
Italy, even to Jerusalem.^
The date of S. Ninian is determined by the fact mentioned
in the Life, that the building of his church at Whithern
synchronized with the death of the great S. Martin of Tours.
That death, according to the best authorities, occurred in a.d.
397. The last decade of the fourth century was distinguished
by the vigorous administration of the Emperor Theodosius,
his cruel massacre at Thessalonica, his excommunication by
S. Ambrose, and his death at Llilan at the age of fifty. It wit-
nessed the partition of the Empire between Honorius and
Arcadius, the gradual increase of the power of Alaric, and the
increasing jealousies of the East and West. It was the epoch
of Claudian and Ausonius ; above all, it was a time of great
mental activity in the Church. S. Jerome was writing against
1 Gildas, Hist. sec. 21.
2 Hier. Ep. xliv. ad Paulam, Ixxxiv. ad Oceanmn ; Patricii Coufessio,
p. 309 ; Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, vol. i.
p. 14.
XXVIU GENERAL INTKODUCTION.
Jovinian ; S. Pauliuus composing his Christian poetry at Nola;
Augustine and Ambrose offering their contributions to the
literature of the Church ; S. Gregory Nazianzen, and the two
heathen authors, Libanius the Sophist and^Ammianus Marcel-
linus, had just passed away ; S. John of the Golden Mouth had
been raised to the patriarchal chair of Constantinople.
There is no contemporary account of the civilisation of the
scenes where Ninian was reared. Britain was synonymous
with barbarism. In the mouth of S. Chrysostom it was to the
glory of Christianity that it had extended to Britain/ just as
we should speak of the Fiji Islands. That it supplied the
material for great armies is clear from the fact that the usurper
Maximus raised a large army of Britons, Gauls, Celts, and
other nations, and marched into Italy.^ That S. Cyprian's works
were known there we learn from Prudentius.^ That a regular
hierarchy, with churches, altars, the Bible, discipline, and the
creeds, existed, we know from many sources, but nothing more.
That a few years later the Britons were susceptible of the Pela-
gian heresy shows at least that religion was a subject of interest
to them, but as to the conditions of civil life we know nothing,
save what we may gather from the incidents of some of the
miracles recorded in the Life now published. A biography
written for edification is not likely to dwell on the details
which interest the student of secular history ; still if we
assume that the biographer of S. Ninian used ancient mate-
rials for the " liber de ejus vita et miraculis, barbario scrip-
tus," we may here and there gather up some facts, though we
must never forget that S. Ailred lived many centuries after the
death of the subject of his history, and that he wrote in the
sense of the ideas of his own time, — that is, of the epoch of the
revival connected with tlie substitution of the new chapters
and religious orders for the Culdees, and of the changes which
resulted in the aggregation of Scotland into the great family of
1 Cont. Judceos, O})!). i. 378, ed. Montfaucou.
2 Sozomen, H. E. vii. c. 13. -^ Ilfpi ^Tecjjavcov, xiii. 103.
PAlfT I.— THE LIFE OF S. NINIAX. XXIX
Continental nations through the predominance of the influence
of the English religious orders, and the at that time wholesome
operation of the increase of the power of the See of Eome.
The only historical works which supply any light on the
extremely obscure condition of Britain at this time are the
two treatises by S. Patrick, the Confession and the Letter to
Coroticus or Caradoc. Though S. Patrick is a few years
posterior to S. Ninian, yet he belongs to the same kingdom, and
therefore we may gather some of the conditions of British
life from what is related there; e.g. the mixture of races.
S. Patrick's father is Calpornus or Calpliurnius, a deacon, and
his grandfather Potitus, a priest, but his great-grandfather^ is
Odissi. His father lives in a Villula near Bonavem Tabernite,
at which place he was kidnapped. Though the son of a
deacon, and grandson of a priest, he was ignorant of the true
God, indicating one of those lapses into Paganism which
were so common at that time. He writes in fluent but in
very barbarous Latin, such as we may conceive provincials
at such a distance from the centre of civil unity would
employ. Slaves carried off from Britain were employed in
tending sheep in Ireland. Travelling was then not easy.
Provisions were scarce, and men were glad to gather the
wild honey which it was their custom to offer to the false
gods. As a form of the monastic life for men and women
was introduced by Patrick into Ireland, we must believe
that the system obtained in Valentia. Slavery was so recog-
nised that Patrick, speaking of sums that he had paid out for
the poor, describes it as the price of fifteen men. Prom the
Epistle to Coroticus we gather that Ireland at this time was
more barbarous than Britain, where the Eoman ofiices were
retained. S. Patrick was free-born, for his father was a
Decurio. But if we are thus ignorant of the state of Britain,
we have more than one trustworthy record of the other scenes
connected with S. Ninian. He is stated to have visited both
* According to the scribe's own note in the margin of the Book of Armagh.
XXX GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
Eome and Gaul. Of the state of Eome at that time we have
several descriptions. It was probably during the Pontificate of
the showy and haughty Pope Damasus, whose " western eye-
brow"^ was so eminently distasteful to S. Basil the Great. The
narrative of the violent schism which took place at the time of
his election is told by the heathen author Ammianus Mar-
cellinus, who, little as he in general interests himself in the
affairs of the Christians, relates and comments upon that
remarkable event : —
"Advenit successor ejus (Lampadii) ex quoesitore palatii
Juventius, integer et prudens, Pannonius : cujus administratio
quieta fuit et placida, copia rerum omnium fluens. Et hunc
quoque discordantis populi seditiones terruere cruentse, qnve
tale negotium excitavere. Damasus et Ursinus supra humanum
modum ad rapiendam episcopalem sedem ardentes, scissis
studiis asperrime conflictabantur adusque mortis vulnerumque
discrimiua adjumentis utriusque progressis : quae nee corri-
gere sufficiens Juventius nee mollire coactus vi magna secessit
in suburbanum. Et in concertatione superaverat Damasus,
parte, quae ei favebat, instante. Constatque in basilica Sicinini
ubi ritus Christiani est conventiculum, uno die centum triginta
septem reperta cadavera peremptorum: efferatamque diu plebem
£egre postea delenitam." -
Marcellinus's remarks on the history are very curious, and
are quoted : —
" Neque ego abnuo, ostentationem rerum considerans urbana-
rum, hujus rei cupidos ob impetraudum, quod adpetunt, omni
contentione laterum objurgari debere : cum id adepti, futuri
sint ita securi, ut ditentur oblationibus matronarum, proce-
dantque vehiculis insidentes, circumspecte vestiti, epulas
curantes profusas, adeo ut eorum convivia regales superent
mensas. Qui esse poterant beati re vera, si magnitudine urbis
^ rrjs SuriK^s 6(f)pvos — Bas. ad Euseb.
2 Ammianus Marcellimis, sub anno 367} lib. xxvii. c. 3, p. 374. Edition
Eyssenhardt. Berlin, 1871.
•b
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXXI
despecta, quain vitiis opponunt, ad imitationem antistitum
quorundam provincialium viverent : quos teniiitas edendi
potandique parcissime, vilitas etiam indvmientorum et super-
cilia humum spectaiitia, perpetuo numini verisque ejus cul-
toribus ut puros commendant et verecundos."
But a still more remarkable account of these discreditable
transactions is given in another contemporary document of no
small interest, wliich has been rescued from oblivion by the
learned Sirmond. It is termed " Libellus Precum," and its full
title is "Marcellmi et Faustini Presbyterorum, partis Ursini
adversus Damasum Libellus precum ad imperatores Valenti-
nianum, Theodosium et Arcadium." Faustinus, who from his
work appears to have been a Luciferian, was the person who
educated Placcilla or Galla Placidia, the excellent wife of
Theodosius. He took an active part on the orthodox side in
the Arian controversy, on which subject he wrote several books.^
In defence of the Luciferians, this remarkable work, which,
though breathing the fierce and narrow spirit of that sect, was
used by S. Jerome, gives us many details of what then took
place, supplying us with many circumstances in the lives and
deaths of the principal actors in the great controversies of the
period, and, as might be expected, the actions of Pope Damasus
are not passed over. It speaks of him as the " egregius archi-
episcopus," afflicting Aurelius, who was probably the Luciferian
Bishop of Eome, forbidding faithful priests to call together the
people to serve Christ, who is God, on holydays, and on one
occasion when one Macarius did this by night, bursting into
the place where they were met together, dispersing the
assembly, and dragging him over the flints before the civil
judge. He, by the imperial authority and by threats, sought
to bring him to terms, but he "repelled the communion of
perfidy, and was banished to Ostia, where he died of the ill-
treatment he had received."^ Damasus is further accused in
^ See Faustini Presbyteri Scriptoria sEeculi quarti fidei orthodoxae adversus
Arianos vindicis acerrimi opeia ; Oxon. 1(578. ^ Libellus, p. 35.
XXXU GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
that " accepta authoritate regali," that is, putting in force the
laws of the Empire against heretics, he persecuted the Catholic
clergy, sending them into exile, and especially Ephesius, who
had heen ordained by Taorgius, " illibatse plebi Eomanae," who,
however, was saved by the intervention of Bassus.
It is right to state that Merenda, who has published the
works of Pope Damasus, defends him, and describes the Libellus
as "mendaciis scatente,"^ but the authority of the document is
untouched, and it places before us a feature of the state of
matters in Eome which is well worth studying. It is unneces-
sary to touch upon the part which this remarkable Pontiff
took in the controversies of the East. The friend of S. Jerome,
he cultivated versification, and some of his remains both in
prose and poetry have come down to us. He is also recognised
in a series of somewhat pompous inscriptions in the Catacombs,
distinguished by rare beauty of execution.^ The Breviary of
Evora states that he wrote the lives of the Pontiffs who pre-
ceded him ; above all things he set himself to adorn the city of
Eome, building two basilicas, one near the theatre, the other in
the Via Ardeatina near the Catacombs. The first of these
seems to have been erected in honour of S. Laurence. It was
endowed with ornaments and property. Anastasius imputes
to this Pope certain improvements in the divine service, but
the authority of the Bibliothecarius for the events of those
earlier times is not' great, however valuable it may be for his
own epoch.
Pope Damasus died in 384, and was succeeded by Siricius,
the author of the first genuine decretal, addressed to Himerius,
Bishop of Tarragona, in which he ruled various doubtful points
of usage, the validity of heretical baptism, the treatment of
apostates, of religious persons guilty of incontinency, and the
celibacy of the clergy. The decretal is curious in reference to
^ Sancti Damasi Papas Opuscula et Gesta ; Romce, 1754, p. 122.
2 De Rossi, Roma Sotteranea Cristiana, t. i. p. 118, Rom. 1SG4 ; t. ii.
p. 195, Rom. 1SG7.
TART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXXIU
S. Ninian, as exhibiting the ecclesiastical discipline under
which he must have been trained during his residence in Eome.
But the condition of the clergy of the time receives further
illustration from the civil law of the period. In the Theodosian
Code the clergy are exempted from civil employment, and the
Bishops were already amenable only to their own order. Civil
officers (Decuriones) were forbidden to take orders, so that
valuable men should not be subtracted from the service of the
State.-^
Vivid descriptions of the condition of Eome at the time of
S. Ninian's visit may be found in the letters of S. Jerome. In
liis correspondence with the wealthy and pious ladies whose
spiritual guide he was, we get some life-like pictures of the
times ; — the Church slowly but surely vindicating itself as the
conqueror of the old Paganism ; Christian society itself becom-
ing worldly and luxurious, with a strong counteraction to this
in the development of the religious or monastic life, especially
among the women of the upper classes.
For instance, in his commentary on Ezechiel he gives us this
interesting account of his visits to the Catacombs : — " Cum essem
Iioma3 puer et liberalibus studiis erudirer, solebam cum cseteris
ejusdem jetatis et propositi diebus Dominicis sepulchra aposto-
lorum et martyrum circuire, crebroque cryptas ingredi, quae in
terrarum profunda defossae, ex utraque parte ingredientium per
parietes habent corpora sepultorum, et ita obscura sunt omnia
ut propemodum illud propheticum compleatur, Descendunt ad
infernum viventes."^ He testifies to the fact that the very
greatness and civilisation of the Ptome of his day was hostile to
religious quiet: — "Et hie puto locus (Bethlehem) sanctior est
Tarpeia rupe quee de cselo saepius fulminata ostendit quod
Domino displiceret. Lege apocalypsim Joannis et quod de
muliere purpurata et scripta in ejus fronte blasphemia, septem
^ Codex Theodosianus, cum perpetuis Commentariis Jacobi Gotbofredi ;
Lipsise, 1743, vol. vi. p. 22, 23 et seq.
2 Op. S. Hieron. t. v. p. 433; ed. Frankfort. 1684.
C
XXXIV GENERAL INTKODUCTION.
moiitibus, aquis miiltis, et Babylonis cantetvir exitu con-
tuere . . . Est qiiidem ibi Sancta Ecclesia, sunt trophsea
apostolorum et martyriim, est Cliristi vera confessio, est ab
apostolo prcedicata fides, et, gentilitate calcata, in sublime
se quotidie erigens vocabulum Christianum. Sed ipsa ambitio,
potentia, magnitudo urbis, videri et videre, salutari et salu-
tare, laudare et detrabere, vel audire vel proloqui, et tantam
frequeutiam hominem saltern invitum ^ddere, a proposito
monacliorum et quiete aliena sunt."^ In defending himself
against the charges brought against him bv the envious
men who took occasion from his familiarity with the great
Eoman ladies, he contrasts his own austere life with the
sumptuousness of the manners of the Christian society which
criticised Mm : — " Tibi placet lavare quotidie ; alius has mun-
ditias sordes putat. Tu attagenem ructas et de comeso acipen-
sere gioriaris, ego faba ventrem impleo. Te delectant cachi-
nantium greges, me Paula Melaniaque plangentes. Tu aliena
desideras, illse contemnunt sua. Te delibata melle vina delec-
tant ; illoe potant aquam frigidam suaviorem."^ He is not com-
plimentary to the city itself. He commences his translation of
Didymus's Treatise on the Holy Spirit : — " Cum in Babylone
versarer etpurpuratse meretricis essem colonus, et jure Quiritum
viverem."^ He condemns the laxity both of monks and
seculars in language too coarse for repetition ; he condemns
their heredipety ;^ he denounces their wealth : — " Nonnulli
snim sunt ditiores monachi, quam fuerant steculares ; et clerici
qui possideant opes sub Christo paupere, quas sub locuplete et
fallace Diabolo non habuerant, ut suspiret eos ecclesia divites,
quos mundus tenuit ante mendicos."^ He describes the
clerical fop of the period : — " Sunt alii (de mei ordinis homini-
bus loquor) qui ideo presbyteratum et diaconatum ambiunt, ut
mvdieres licentius videant. Omnis his cura de vestibus si
^ Ep. ad Marcellam, t. i. p. 82.
2 Epist. 99, ad Asellani, vol. i. p. 244.
3
Tom. ix. p. 322. * T. i. ad Nepot. Ep. p. 9, ^ /s_
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXXV
bene oleaiit, si pes laxa pelle non folleat. Crines calamistri
vestigio rotantur, digiti de annulis radiant, et ne plantas hvuni-
dior via spargat, vix imprimiint summa vestigia. Tales cum
videres sponsos magis existimato quam clericos."^
It requires no very strong effort of the imagination to picture
that which met the eye of the young stranger from Britain.
Tlie Eome in which S. Niuian dwelt for so many years was the
Eome of the Caesars. No Attila or Genseric had yet come
down to waste, to ravage, and to burn. The old heathen
temples still stood in their places, though in the main deserted
by worshippers. Sometimes an assault was made upon them,
as when Gracchus, the prefect of the city, cast down the cave
of Mithras. Now and then a spasmodic effort was made to
restore the old faith, as we find Damasus and the Christian
Senators successfully resisting an effort of the Pagans to restore
the altar of Victory.^ Not only had the edict of Valentinian
invested the Pope with a certain civil sanction of his religious
position, but the absence of the imperial court threw a great
deal of actual power into his hands. Many of the basilicas
had been converted into churches. The Christians, no longer
in fear of persecution, formed the dominant class of society,
and conformed themselves to all that was innocent, and much
that was luxurious, of the old heathen life. The curious toilet
equipage of a Eoman Christian lady, found between the Lateran
and Viminal hills, once the property of the Due de Blacas, and
now deposited in the British Museum, illustrates the manners
of the time. On it, supplied with all the provision for cos-
metics, we find heathen decorations, without indeed any of the
indecencies of the old worship, but along with this we find a
pious inscription, added apparently after purchase, in which
the owner is commended to Christ.^ Dissension had also
1 Ad Eustochium, t. i. p. 93. '■^ Damasi Opera et Gesta, Merenda., p. 105.
^ See Lettere di Ennio Quirino Visconti, intorno ad una antica siipellctile
d'argento scopertain Roma nelauuo 1793 ; Roma, 1827. See also Agincoiut,
Storia della Sciiltura, Plate 9.
XXXvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
shown itself among the different religions parties. Of conrse
there was mnch that was more satisfactory. Eome was the
centre of the religions life of the period, and S. Ninian might
have seen many distingnished men from the East, snch as
Dorotheus of Antioch, or Acacius of Beroe, whom the exigencies
of controversy had brought to the threshold of the Apostles.
Heretics such as Vitalis and Priscillian came to seek recogni-
tion from the Pope, Councils from time to time brought
together the Bishops of Italy; the monastic life was anticipated
by the stricter clergy living together in colleges. The churches
were decorated with the spoils of heathen art. While above
ground the basilicas became the tituli or parish churches of the
city, the catacombs, sanctified by the presence of the remains
of the martyrs, became the scenes of increased religious fervour.
At the arcosolia and altar-tombs the zeal of the people was
kindled. Strangers flocked to these subterranean oracles.
Prayer was made to those for whom it w^as felt that prayer
was needless. The communion of saints was most fully
realized at the Memorise where their sacred bodies rested.
Everywhere the rites of the Church were celebrated with
pomp and dignity, and as the dread of heathenism day by day
decreased, some would say, as the heathen spirit began to per-
vade the Church, art and the sense of beauty became the hand-
maid of religion, and the walls of the churches began to glow
with painting and mosaic.
But S. Mnian's life not merely touches the history of Piome,
it also is connected with Gaul. On his return from the thresh-
old of the Apostles, he visits S. Martin at Tours. The condi-
tion of Gaul and of the Western Empire must be considered in
order to appreciate the influences which affected him. Treves
was at this time the capital of the West ; it had long been the
seat of the Prefect of the Gauls. The interesting ruins still
existing, the Porta Nigra, palace, the amphitheatre, and even the
basilica now turned into the Protestant Church, date from this
epoch. It was the centre of Occidental civilisation. There
PAET I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXXVll
was a great library connected with the imperial palace.^
Education was carefully attended to. The chief cities of
Gaul possessed important schools, some of which, such as
Marseilles and Autun, dated from the first century, where
there were taught philosophy, medicine, jurisprudence, belles-
lettres, grammar, and astrology, in short, all the sciences of the
time ; but the old spirit was dying out, and the institutions
lasted, but their purpose was gone. The old heathen life, the
old heathen ideas, were perishing and disappearing before the
advancing Christianity. The same process was taking place
in the State and in the civil administration of the country.
The ancient Eoman forms continued, the senatorial curial
dignities were undisturbed, but the Nemesis of slavery had
destroyed the life of the community, and all classes now
armreoated themselves to the new and vigorous Christian
society which had been gradually growing up for centuries.
Christian ideas were now emerging in untold strength. Spui-
tual interests took precedence of temporal interests ; the citizen
became merged in the believer.
These things must be borne in mind in order to understand
the influence of such a man as S. Martin. He represents the
transition from the one system to the other. Born in 316, he
was the subject of a heathen Emperor. When he expired at
the mature age of eighty-five, the battle had been won. But
more than that — he was one of the most potent agents in the
change. Though the old institutions perished from their own
corruptions, while the new throve by tlieir inherent vitality and
truth, we must ever recollect that it is by human agency that
the work is carried on, and while events call forth men, the
men mould the events. The demands of the ascetic side of
Christianity, coupled with the decay of the old Pagan life,
evoked the spirit of monachism in the West, but it was
S. Jerome who was the instrument in latinizing the religious
1 Guizot, Histoire de la CivTlisatiou en France, t. i. p. 104 ; Paris, 1862.
XXXVm GENEKAL INTRODUCTION.
life, which had hitherto found its congenial home in the East
and in the Thebais, and it was not the least work of S. Martin
that he founded the first monastery in Gaul. The ancient
spirit of Eoman jurisprudence at a very early period affected
the Eoman Church, but the direction of that spirit was the
work of S. Leo the Great.
S. Martin of Tours stands out with great individuality in
Church history, and this not only on account of his character,
but from the fact of his good fortune in having such a biographer
as Sulpicius Severus. Even an Irish Kalendar of the eleventh
century varies the dry enumeration of the saints by dwelling
on his eloquence : — " Sanctus quoque Sulpicius confessor, qui
vitam S** Martini Toronensis Episcopi eloquentissimo sermone
dictavit, hodie migravit ad Christum."^ S. Sulpicius Severus,
who must not be confounded with a bishop of the same name,
wrote his Life of S. Martin three years before that saint's death,
and afterwards completed it by the addition of the Dialogues.
He wrote from personal knowledge, being intimately acquainted
with the subject of his biogTaphy, and therefore we have the
remarkable fact of a narrative teeming with portents and
miracles put forth at the very time of their alleged occurrence,
and therefore boldly challenging criticism or contradiction.
That these recorded miracles eminently increased the venera-
tion for S. Martin among his contemporaries we cannot doubt,
but the character and moral power of the man himself was
sufficient to enable him to leave the impress which he did
upon his times. He was no mere follower of current fashions.
While he bent all his powers to create monasticism in Gaul,
he protested against the crime of putting heretics to death
on the occasion of the condemnation and punishment of
Priscillian. If ever there was an excuse for violent measures
it was in the case of this strange and mysterious sect, which
seems ingeniously to have combined together all that was
1 Kalendars of Scottish Saints, p. 2 ; Edin. 1872.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. XXxix
loathsome and untrue in the preceding heresies ; yet S. Martin
was not led astray by his feelings of hatred for the false teaching.
He refused to communicate with the Spanish Ithacius, and the
bishops acting with him, who in their cruelty and orthodoxy
anticipated the temper of inquisitors, in spite of the support of
the Emperor Maximus, and along with the great S. Ambrose
has left his protest against that perversion of Christianity
which has stained the pages of Church history with blood.
Maximus, who was a Briton, and by Ausonius is called the
robber of Eichborough,^ had disputed the empire with Gratian
(382-388). He appears to have acted well in these difficult
matters while under S. Martin's influence, but in his absence
allowed himself to be overborne.
Born at Sabaria (now Szombatel or Sazwar) in Upper Pan-
nonia, near the confines of Austria and Styria, the son of a
military tribune, Martin received his education at Pavia, and,
though unbaptized, came early under religious impressions.
"Animus tamen aut cu-ca monasteria aut circa ecclesiam semper
intentus." At fifteen, against his will, he was enrolled in the
army, and it is to this time that the incident of dividing his
cloak with a beggar at Amieiis, so frequently depicted in Chris-
tian art, is referred. After serving for five years he betook
himself to S. Hilary of Poitiers, and on returning from a visit
to his native land, where he succeeded in converting his
mother, he distinguished himself by enduring banishment for
confuting the Arians in lUyricum. He now entered the
monastic life at Milan, but driven thence by the Arian
Bishop Auxentius, he retired to the island of Gallinaria, near
Albenga in Liguria. Finally, he forced his way to S. Hilary
at Poitiers, and built a monastery at Luguge, where, in con-
sequence of his fame in raising two dead men to life, he was
chosen Bishop of Tours in 371. Continuing to live a simple
life he established the celebrated Abbey of Marmoutier, which
^ Punisti Ausonio Eutupinuin morte latronem. Ausonii Opera, Ordo Nobi-
lium Urbium, Corpus Poetarum Latinorum, p. 1083; London, 1S28.
xl GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
became a scliool in which many eminent bishops were trained,
and maintained its reputation till tlie first French Eevolution
as one of the houses of the Congregation of S. Maur. Besides
abolishing superstition connected with the tomb of a pretended
martyr, he devoted himself to the extirpation of idolatry in
his diocese, marching at the head of his faithful monks to
destroy the idols, temples, and the consecrated trees. To the
last he relaxed nothing of his apostolic labours, and in the
end, after settling a scandalous difference among the clergy in
a remote part of this diocese, he died in perfect peace. He
died, having while introducing monasticism into Gaul pro-
foundly modified that institution. The life of simple retire-
ment and contemplation which distinguished the anchorites
in the East assumed an active social character in the West.
In the dissolution of the civil society, monasticism became the
hearth of a new national life, the seat of an intellectual de-
velopment. The monasteries in the south of Gaul became
the schools of Christian philosophy.^
It is impossible to measure the contrast of all this with the
native land of Mnian, although there still existed examples of
Eoman civilisation — good roads traversing the country, here a
castrum, there a station." We know for certain that the very
churches were built of wood, and the habitations of secular
life must have been similar to the raths of the neighbouring
Scotia, or to the erections of rough stone, wood, and earth,
which are indicated to us in the forts, or, as they are called,
moat hills, which are so plentiful in Galloway and Wigtonshire.^
Assuming the existence of this intellectual and religious life
^ Guizot, Hist, cle la Civilisation en France, t. i. p. 110; Paris, 1S62.
2 At Kirkmadrine sepulchral stones of classic character still attest the
Latin influence. See Stuart's Sculptured Stones, vol. ii. p. 35, and Plate Ixxi.
See also Chalmers's Caledonia, p. i. vol. iii. p. 354; Edin. 1824.
2 "I have also observed severall green hillocks, called by the country people
Moates, as particularly on the west side of Blaidnoch, in the baronrie of
Clugstone, pertciining to the Earl of Galloway; another at the kirk of Monny-
gaffe ; another at the kirk of Mochrum ; another at the place of Myrton,
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. xli
in (jaul, it is natural that Christiau France should profoundly
aftect the more barbarous inhabitants of Britain. Accordingly
we have evidence of considerable intercourse between the
churches. The Paschal Cycle drawn up by S. Sulpicius
Severus was that which the Britons followed. The Confession
of S. Patrick exhibits constant communication taking place
between Tours and Alcluyd, and the pilgrims to Rome and to
the Holy Land from Britain, for the existence of whom we have
the authority of Theodoret, must have begun their weary
journey by passing through Gaul.^ The guest book of the
recently secularized Monastery of Piheinau, now preserved at
Zurich, contains the names of many Irish Bishops inscribed
when on their way to Rome.
But the work of S. Ninian's life must be viewed under two
aspects — nay, rather may be divided into two distinct under-
takings. He founded the Church at Wliithern, while this part
of modern Scotland formed part of the Roman province, and
while its inhabitants were provincial Britons ; but he also suc-
cessfully undertook the evangelization of the Southern Picts,
whose territory is distinctly defined by Ba^da as separated from
their northern brethren " arduis et horrentibus montium jugis,"
and who are described as dwelling in "sedes intra eosdem
montes";^ that is, in north-eastern districts of Scotland, bounded
on the north-west by the Grampians. Of this field of labour
something more will be said in the notes of this volume.
Prom the close of the life of S. Ninian for nearly a hundred
years we know nothing certain of the fate of Candida Casa,
Valentia was soon abandoned by the Romans, and the natives
pertaining to Sir William Maxwell of Muirreith, the one end of the said
place of Myrton being built upon it ; another near the house of Balgreggen
in the parish of Stonieku'k, all of which have had trenches about them, and
have been all artificial ; but when and for what use they were made, I know
not."— A large description of Galloway by Andrew Symson, minister of Kirk-
inner, 1GS4, ed. 1823, p. 94.
^ See Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. i. pj). 13, 14.
2 Baida, lib. iii. c. 4.
xlii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
do not seem long to have maintained the power to which they
succeeded. Though the mass of the lower population con-
tinued Celtic, as they do to this day, the incursions of the
Picts on the one hand and of tlie piratical Teutons a little
later destroyed their autonomy, and the country was the
scene of constant warfare.
But a circumstance here emerges, which is not without
many parallels in the history of Ireland. No external oppres-
sion, no confusion at home, prevented the beneficent action of
the church. In less than a century after the death of S. Ninian,
Whithern, in the Irish pronunciation called Futerna, bvit
better known as the "Magnum Monasterium" or Eosnat, is
discovered as a great seminary of secular and religious instruc-
tion. S. Modwena, or Monenna, who is probably our Scot-
tish S. Medana, the friend of S. Brigida, had founded a
Church in Galloway, Chil-ne-case by name, and the Christian-
izing influence of Ireland on the sister country was naturally
strongly felt in the district nearest to it. The curious and
touching hymn of S. Mugint, which is given in a note to this
volume, sheds a remarkable light on the life half monastic
half social at Eosnat. Mugint, Eioc, Finnian, Talmach, and
Drustice stand out in an individuality very noteworthy at that
early time, and a little picture of early manners enlivens the
scene.^
As the daughter of the king of the Picts received her secular
education here, so we learn that the king of the Britons
also sent his children to the school. Nor was the work simply
educational. The names of such great saints as S. Tighernach,
Monennus, Eugenius, Mancennus, and above all S. Finnian of
Maghbile, who must not be mistaken for the greater S. Pinnian,
who is S. Prigdian or Prigidian of Lucca, S. Wynnin of Ayrshire,
and who is mentioned with honour by Pope S. Gregory the
Great,^ are closely connected with the monastery of Whithern.
1 Todd's Book of Hymns, fasc. i. pp. 94-120.
2 Greg. Mag, Dialogorum, liber iii. c. ix.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. XINIAX. xliii
From the Lives of the Irish Saints we print the following
extracts in corroboration : — " Puer (Tighernacus). S. Monenni
disciplinis et monitis in Eosnatensi monasterio, quod alio
nomine Alba vocatur, diligenter instructus," etc.^
" Quos duos viros sanctos (Eugenium et Tighernachum)
sanctus et sapiens Nennio, qui ]Mancennus dicitur, de Eos-
natensi monasterio, a rege Britannise petens liberos accepit."^
" Dixit ei soror sua ei (Endeo) . . . vade ad Britanniam ad
Eosnatum monasterium et esto humilis discipulus Manseni."^
" Cum eodem (Nennio) repatriante na\dgavit (Finianus) et in
ejus sede, quae Magnum dicitur Monasterium, regulas et institu-
tiones monasticae vitse xx didicit."^
The next historical reference to these lands occurs in Joce-
line's Life of S. Kentigern, where we are told that that saint
" cleansed from the foulness of idolatry and the contagion of
heresy the land of the Picts, which is now called Galwethia,
with the adjacent parts " (c. xxxiv.) His work was regarded
as a continuation of S. Xinian's. The body of Fregus was by
the divine disposition dra-um to Cathures, afterwards Glasghu,
to a cemetery formerly consecrated by S. Mnian (c. ix.), as
already mentioned.
Time passed and the Angles began to pour in hostile colonies
along the whole of the north-eastern coast from the Firth of
Forth to the Humber. The Northumbrian kingdom was
established by Ida, and before long Bernicia and the Lothians
became occupied by the race whose descendants are there to-
day. They extended their conquests, not only against the
Picts, with whom by a singular combination of interests their
princes frequently intermarried, but against the Britons, who
still remained in Galloway. Gradually the ancient kingdom
of the Britons became weakened and broken up, and at last
1 Acta S. Tighernachi, Colgan A. SS. Hib. p. 438.
2 Acta S. Eugen., ap. Colgan loco citato. ^ Id. ib.
* Id. ib. See Usslier, vol. vi. p. 522, 523, 585 ; Haddaii and Stubbs,
Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. i. p. 120.
xliv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
the Angles got so great a hold upon Galloway that they estab-
lished a bishopric, of wliich we have minute and trustworthy
details from Bseda and Symeon of Durham : —
"Anno 731. Pecthelm in ea quse Candida Casa vocatur, quae
niiper multiplicatis fidelium plebibus in sedem pontificatus
addita, ipsum primum habet antistitem."^
"Anno 732. Acca Episcopus eodem anno de sua sede est
fugatus."^
"A. 741. EeverendiB memorise Acca Episcopus sublevatus
est a terra viventium."^ During this same year, it appears that
Alpin, King of the Picts, on being expelled from Dalriada,
"was slain in Galloway, after he had totally destroyed and
ravaged it."*
Eichard of Hexham mentions an opinion about Acca having
founded the see, which, however, is opposed to what we knew
from Beeda.
" Sunt tamen qui dicunt quod eodem tempore Episcopalem
sedem in Candida Casa inceperit et prseparaverit."^
"Anno 764. His quoque temporibus Frithwald Episcopus
Candidse Casse ex hoc saeculo migravit, pro quo Pectwine in
loco illius Episcopus subrogatur."*^
"Anno 777, Pechtwine, episcopus Candidas Casse xiij Kal.
Octobris migravit ex hoc sseculo ad seternse salutis gaudium,
qui eidem ecclesise xiiij annis prsefuit. Cui -^thelbyrht suc-
cessit."^
In 782 Alcuin presents an olosericum (velum) for S. Ninian's
body.*^
"Anno 790. Eodem anno Badwlf ad Candidam Casam ordi-
natus episcopus in loco qui dicitur Hearrahalch, quod inter-
pretari potest Locus Dominorum. Anno vero priore Ethel-
1 Bseda, v. 23. ^ Sym. Dun., p. 11.
3 Sym. Dun., p. 14. * Skene's Chron. clxxxvii, p. 288.
5 Rich, Hagulst., p. 35, ed. Surtees.
<5 Sym. Dunelm., Historia Regum, p. 22. ^ lb. p. 28.
8 Cott. Vesp. A. 14 fol. 160.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. xlv
berlit Episcopus, sede sua relicta, Sancto Tilberhto episcopo
jam obeunte, pr?edictus praesul episcopatuni Haugulstaldensis
ecclesiae accepit in propriam dominationem."^
When the Anglian line of bishops disappears, a population
of Gaelic origin, distinguished from the earlier masters of the
soil, whether of Cumbrian or Northumbrian race, is subse-
quently discovered in possession of the entire district;^ and
in the Annals of Ulster, at 856, we have "great war between
the Gentiles and Maelsechnall, with the Gallwegians along
with him." They appear not only "as a body of Celtic pirates," ^
but as the auxiliaries of the Irish. The country south of the
Solway remained in the hands of the Angles, although both
there and in Galloway the presence of crosses with Irish
ornamentation testifies to that immigration from the opposite
coast, which had the effect of making the population of the
country very mixed, and which earned for the latter the name
of the Gallgael or mixed Gael.
It is probable also that before this time the Norsemen began
to found settlements on the coast. In 857 Ivar and Olave
conquered Caithill the AVliite, with his Gallgael, in Munster.*
In 875-883, Eardulf, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and Eadred,
Abbot of Carlisle, wandering with S. Cuthbert's relics, resolve
to embark at the mouth of the Derwent and go to Ireland.
They are driven back by a storm to Whithern, where his book
of the Gospels, lost in the tempest, is found in safety.
In 970 Kenneth ii. is said to have visited S. Ninian's relics.
He certainly conquered the country.^ Malcolm Eex Cum-
brorum does homage to Edgar.
At this time Strathclyde, which had been under a line of
Scottish princes, owning, however, Saxon suzerainty or overlord-
* Sym. Dunelm., Hist. Regum, p. 30.
2 Scotland under her Early Kings, by E. William Robertson, vol. i. p. 21.
3 Skene's Chron., p. cxciii.
* Robertson, Scotland under her Early Kings, vol. ii. p. 437- Ann. Ult.
6 Skene's Chron., p. 10.
xlvi GENEEAL INTRODUCTION.
ship, became merged in the Scottish crown and kingdom in
1034, but Galloway seems to have existed as a separate lordship.
Suibhne, king of the GaUgaedhel, dying in that year, while
Donchad or Duncan rex Cumbrorum becomes king of Scot-
land, for Malcolm, the son of Duncan, king of Scotland, is
called by English authorities " filius regis Cumbrorum," Norse-
men occupied the coast at this time. Earl Thorfinn owned nine
earldoms in Scotland, the whole of the Sudreys, and a large
riki in Ireland, but apparently under the Scottish king.^ In
the Orkneyinga Saga he is said to have possessed Gaddgedli.
A seaboard such as Galloway afforded fitting scenes for the
ravages of the Northmen, and piracy prevailed, as we shall see
further down, for many centuries after; but not to mention
that probably along the coast there was a permanent Norse
occupation, it would seem that a state of chronic war led to
some of those chivalrous relations which exist among enemies
who respect each other. Accordingly we get a glimpse of the
life in the eleventh century in the Saga of Burnt Njal. After
the dreadful burning, in which Kari alone escapes, taking no
atonement, he pursues the burner Elosi till he has slam Kal
the son of Thorstin. Then he determines to set out to Home
for the absolution of his sin, but on his way " they sailed north
to Berwick, and laid up their ship, and fared up into Whit-
herne in Scotland, and were with Earl Malcolm that year.'"^
After nearly a hundred years of Norse occupation the Celtic
inhabitants recover their power.
In the early part of the twelfth century, Fergus, first ascer-
tained Lord of Galloway, a man of unknown descent, is con-
temporary of and co-operates with David in his ecclesiastical
reforms. Though there possibly were British Bishops, as the
Life of S. Magnus suggests, there is nothing recorded of
Candida Casa till the restoration of the see. Possibly it was
merged in that of Glasgow. As Galloway had always been
^ Collectanea de Rebus Albanic, p. 246.
2 Saga of Burnt Njal, vol. ii. j). 315.
PART I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. xlvii
regarded as part of Northumbria, it was made no doubt by the
consent of the founder David a suffragan see of York, for in
1126 Gilla Aldan was sent by Honorius ii. to Thurstan of York
for consecration, with the direction " obedientiam tanquam
proprio metropolitano deferres," while in 1133 CarHsle was
founded in the person of Aldulphus, where a provincial synod
of Scottish Bishops was held in 1138, when they^ accepted
Innocent ii. as Pope.
Fergus founded several monasteries, chiefly of the " Candidus
ordo," that of Premontre near Laon. Saulseat (Latinized
Sedes Animarum, otherwise called Monasterium Viridis Stagni,
from the green organic matter which still tints the lake on
which it w^as built), was the mother convent. From it came
Holywood (Dercongall, Monasterium Sacri nemoris, or Saint
Boyse), Tungland, and Whithern.
Anions the Scottish Prsemonstratensians Adam the Scot is
pre-eminent. His ascetic works, consisting of Sermons de
Tempore et de Sanctis, de Ordine et Habitis et Professione
Ordinis Prsemonstratensis, De Triplici genere Contemplationis,
were published along with those of Ghislebert of Furness at
Antwerp in 1659.
Fergus also erected the Augustinian House of S. Mary's
Isle, near Kirkcudbright.
The incursions of pirates, distance from any centre of civilisa-
tion, and the presence of a race who, till the twelfth century,
retained the ancient name of Picts, make GaUoway notorious for
barbarism. In 1138, at the battle of the Standard, so called
from the Carrochio on which the Blessed Sacrament, with the
banners of S. Peter, S. Wilfrid, and S. John of Beverley, was
carried into the combat, the Galwegian Picts, ever given to
mutiny, license, and plunder, claimed the right to the place of
honour. They charged with horrible yells in the forefront,
but their leaders, Ulgric and Dovenald, fell, and, at last,
deceived by the report that the Scottish king was slain, threw
away their arms. Savage as they were, they were so far amen-
xlviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
able to the spirit of Christianity, that at the instance of the
Papal Legate, Alberic, Bishop of Ostia, they restored the women
whom they had taken captive. In 1154 Bishop Christian was
consecrated at Bermondsey by the Archbishop of Eouen acting
for him of York.
In 1156 Donald, the son of the showy, able Wimund, scribe,
monk, bishop, pirate, impostor, rebel, vassal, recluse, whose
adventures read like a romance, was discovered at "VVhithern,
and conveyed to prison at Eoxburgh, where his father had long
been confined. Galloway seems always to have been the focus
of intestine trouble. The Celtic population never amalgamated
with the rest of Scotland. In 1160 the great insurrection
broke out ; Malcolm the Maiden twice invaded Galloway, and
was twice repulsed ; on the third occasion he conquered, and
Fergus the lord of the country became a Canon-regular at
Holyrood, bestowing Dunrod upon the Abbey.
In 1176 Cardinal Vivian Tomasi landed in England without
leave, and was not allowed to proceed on his legation from the
Pope to Scotland, Ireland, and the Norse Isles, till he had
sworn he would attempt nothing against the interest of
England. "He reached Scotland in winter, and passing into
GaUoway sailed from Wliithern to Man, where he prevailed on
King Godred to marry his Irish concubine, the mother of King
Olave the Black." After holding a council in Dublin, and
being present at the translation of the relics of S. Patrick,
S. Brigid, and S. Columba, he crossed to Chester, and after
visiting the English Court, he obtained letters of safe-conduct
from the King and proceeded to Scotland. There in the Castle
of Edinburgh he held a council, of which nothing is known
save that it reversed ancient canons and enacted new ones,
especially against the Cistercians. In this council he suspended
Christian, Bishop of Whithern (+ 1186), for absenting himself
from the council on the plea that he was a suffragan of York.^
1 Robertson's Statuta Ecclesiae Scoticanse, vol. i. pref. xxxvii.
TART I.— THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. xlix
His successor John was consecrated at Pipewell in 11 SO by
the Archbishops of Dublin and Treves and the Bishop of
Euachdune, the see of York then being vacant. He is there
termed " suffraganus et officialis " of York.
In 1186, in Galloway (which during the reign of William
the Lion had been in revolt, caused by the rebellion of the sons
of Fergus, Gilbert, and Uchtred, who was treacherously mur-
dered by his nephew Malcolm), Eotholand, his son, was at
length confirmed in the lordship, and in 1196 became Constable
of Scotland, for which he paid 700 merks to the king.^ His
son Alan, in 1209, married Margaret, daughter of David, Earl
of Huntingdon. liotholand is termed in the Ulster Annals Ei
Gallgaidhel in 1199, and Alan appears in 1234 as Ailin mac
Ilolant Ei Gallgaidhel.
Another rebellion occurred in 1235 in the reign of Alex-
ander II. Thomas the Bastard of Alan, and Gilrodh an Irish
chief, were eventually mastered, and the Irish invaders destroyed
to a man.^ In 1214 the Bishop of Candida Casa received pay
from the " custodes " of the see of York for taking charge of
the spiritualities during the vacancy of the see.
In 1216, in Galloway, there occurred a wonderful aurora
borealis, of which we have an interesting account in a letter
written by William, Abbot of Glenluce, to the prior and con-
vent of Melrose. He tells how one of the lay brothers, with
his serving-man on a journey, at a stated date " lunam ple-
nam vidit et rotundam, et statim in ipsa liora quasi funiculus
quidem niger et subpallidus lunam in duas partes divisit . . .
Statim in ictu oculi pars ipsa paUidior ab alia parte lune
scindi \isa. est et dirumpi et ad spacium unius stadii elongari
. . . iterum luna de sub nube erupit et statim ad magnitudinem
trium lunarum crevisse visa est. Et statim deformatio ilia per
crementa in firmamenta se diffundens, in castellum speciosuni
transformatur . . . Interim luna, deposita casteUi forma, in
1 Fordun, p. 274. 2 ji^i^i ^ OSG.
1 GRNET^AL INTRODUCTION.
navem pergrandem et elegantissima fabrioa factam formata est
. . . iterum in castellum magnum et spectantibns supra modum
liorrendum transformata est, et hac vice vexillum quoddani
regale apparuit. Et quod magis mirandiim lingule ille sive
caudule que in extremitatibus vexillorum dependent in predicto
vexillo quam ad flatum venti movere et agitare videbantur."
The moral the Abbot draws is good. It was neither the
approach of the judgment, nor the work of pythonesses or
enchantresses, as the serving-man suggested, but a portent to
warn them, " qui nee timore Dei nee pavore Gehenne sive alia
quacunque de causa a perditionis sue via revertuntur."^
Scanty as are the ecclesiastical records of the see, Candida
Casa supplies us with the earliest details which we possess of the
processes of an episcopal election in Scotland or England. The
register of Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, contains the
documents which preceded the consecration of Bishop Gilbert
in 1235. There was a disputed election. The clergy and
people chose Gilbert, Master of the Novices at Melrose ; tlie
Prior and Canons of Whithern's choice fell on Odo, one of
their number, once Abbot of the sister Abbey of Dercongal.
The first paper is by the Prior and Convent, " universis
Christi fidelibus ad quas presens scriptum pervenerit." It
states, that wishing to provide for the A^acancy in the see, with
the consent of the Scottish king, " qui modo Galwezzam tenet,"
the electors with the greatest deliberation, after invocating
the Holy Ghost, unanimously chose Odo, having summoned
all those who had a right to be called. And then they proceed
to specify the general form of the aforesaid election. When
the see became vacant they entered their chapter on the third
Sunday in Lent last past, for the purpose of treating of the
election, and in presence of all who had a right, who desired,
and who conveniently could be present, they elected three "qui
secreto et sigillatim vota cunctorum diligenter exquisierunt." All
1 Chron. Mail. p. 12S, ed. Stevenson.
PART I. —THE LIFE OF S. NINIAX. li
consented to choose Odo, and the votes being reduced to writing,
they entered the Church, and publicly announced the election.
The next is from the same to Archbishop Gray, stating that
as they could not appear before him in the greater Churcli of
York on the morrow of the translation of S. Martin for the
confirmation and consecration of the said Odo, on account of
great inconveniences in the Church, and chiefly on account of
the war of their lord, the King of Scotland, " versus Galwe-
ham," they constitute brother Gregory, one of their number,
tlieir proctor.
The third paper is the Archbishop's commission to G., the
Dean, and Laurence de Lincoln and Eobert Haget, canons of
York, to discuss fully, and if possible terminate, the affair in
the minster on the morrow of the feast of the Holy Trinity.
The fourth document gives the list of the electors. Brother
D., termed Prior, and the convent announce to all the sons of
Holy Mother Church, who shall see or hear these letters, that
they had unanimously and harmoniously elected Odo nearly in
the tenor of the first paper. Then follows the list. It is given
at length here, not only to show that deacons and acolytes by
virtue of their canonicates had votes, but to exhibit so far as
the names indicate the nationality of the individuals.
Ego frater Dunecanus, cathedralis prior Candidfe Casae.
Ego frater Bricius canonicus et sacerdos Candidas Casa:" et
gerens vices.
Ego frater Paulinus, quondam prior Cathedralis Candidfe
Casfe domus Prfemonstratensis.
Ego frater Helias canonicus, sacerdos et subprior Candidas
Caspe.
Ego frater Cristinus canonicus, sacerdos et thesaurarius
Candidfe Casa?.
Ego frater Johannes canonicus, sacerdos et provisor Candidfe
Casfe.
Ego frater Gerardns canonicus, sacerdos et cantor Candidfe
Casfe.
lii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
Eo'o frater Mauricius canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Efo frater Henriciis canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Eo-o frater Finoallus canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Ec^o frater Malichias canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Ecro frater Johannes canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Ef^o frater Gilbertus canonicus et diaconus Candidas Casse.
E<TO frater Concius canonicus et diaconus Candidse Casffi.
Ego frater Andreas canonicus et acolytus Candidse Casse.
Ec^o frater Melcalmus canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Eo'o frater Gregorius canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Eo-o frater Neemias canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
Ego frater Fergus canonicus et sacerdos Candidse Casse.
E-^o frater Gavcianus canonicus et sacerdos Candida? Casse.
Eo-o frater Nicholaus canonicus et diaconus Candidse Casse.
Ego frater Malach' canonicus et acolytus Candidse Casse.
To this both the seal of the chapter and of the prior are said
to be appended.
Document fifth is a letter to the Archbishop from King
Alexander, in which, wishing him health and the plenitude of
sincere love, he states, that as he has heard that Odo, who
asserts that he has been elected by the canons without license
from him or his assent, contends that he has obtained the
episcopate, " ne nos in eidem 0. in impedimen vestrse dignitatis,
munus confirmationis vel consecrationis impendatur apud Sedem
Apostolicam et ad innovandam appeUationem nostram coram
vobis," sends his well-beloved clerk, T. de Aleat', the bearer of
these presents, as his proctor.
The last of these interesting papers gives an account of the
end of the controversy. The king announces to the Arch-
deacon and clergy of Gallov/ay, that he assents to the election
of Gilbert, whom you unanimously elected as your pastor,
''quia constabat nobis dictam electionem canonice fuisse cele-
bratam." His witness is W. Olifard, Justiciary of the Lothians.
It is dated at Newbottle the 23d of April in the twenty-first
year of his reign. Alexander ii. reigned from December 4,
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. liU
1214 to July 8, 1249. Therefore the twenty-first year of his
reign was from December 4, 1234 to December 3, 1235.^
Bishop Gilbert in 1241 dedicated the Priory Church of
Yeddingham, granting an indulgence on the occasion, and in
1253 the Chapel of Helmsley Castle, the Prior of Kirkhara and
his convent protesting.^ He it was who counselled Thomas,
son of Alan of Galloway, to sue for peace from King Alex-
ander.^
In 1248, on tlie occasion of a vacancy in the See of Durham,
Archbishop Gray granted permission to the Prior and Convent
there to avail themselves of the services of any of his suffra-
gans, or of any Anglic or Irish Bishop, who may be passing
through Durham, to ordain monks and other religious, to
consecrate chrism, and to dedicate churches, provided that he
did not ordain secidar clerics. The Bishop of Whithern
excused himself for exceeding this privilege.* In a letter to
the Diocesan, Walter Kirkhani, he goes on to say that by virtue
of the many letters which he [B. of D.] had granted to the
prior and convent of Durham, allowing them to avail them-
selves of the services of any Bishop whom they could meet
with, to ordain their monks and other clergy of the diocese in
his absence, he had acted. But he had gone beyond his licence.
For at the pressing instance of the Archbishop of York he
had also ordained three monks of Fountains and three of
Jervaux. He believes that in thus acting he was not acting
contrary to what the Bishop himself would have wished, and
would have done had he been himself ordaining.
The year 1249, which is the date of the letter, was the year
of Walter Kirkham's appointment. He was consecrated by
Archbishop Gray on the nones of December in that year.
1 The Register or Rolls of Walter Gray, Lord Archbishop of York, with
appendices of illustrative documents ; Surtees Society, 1872.
2 Ihid. p. 119.
3 Fordun's Chron., ed. Skene, p. 2S6.
* Gray's Register, p. 209 n., Surtees Edition.
llV GENEKAL liSTivUDUGTluM.
In Theiner's Docuinenta (p. 75), we liud an interesting form
of Brief from Pope Alexander IV. (1254 + 12G1), remitting to tlie
Abbot of Kelso and Archdeacon of Teviotdale to in([uire and
report on a controversy between Symon de Claipol, Hector ot
Inch, and S., Dean of the Church of Wikecono. This is pro-
bably a misprint for AVhithern.
On the death of Gilbert the see continued vacant for two years.
Pleury, on being elected, was opposed by Henry Baliol of
Barnard Castle, who claimed to nominate in right of his wife,
the celebrated Devorguilla, heiress of the Lord of Galloway,
against Alexander iii., who claimed as king. It ended by his
being consecrated at Kichmond.
Bishop Henry reigned from 1255 to 1293. He was oppressed
with poverty all liis life, in spite of the grant of a church for
his maintenance. In 1287 Archbishop Ilomanus prays Mr.
Gifredus de Vezauo, the receiver of the debts due on the
Crusade, to grant him more time to pay a debt of eighty merks,^
in consequence of his poverty. He was chosen as one of
Baliol's friends in the dispute between him and Bruce about
the succession in 1292, and next year, being at the time
"cruce signatus," died. On the occasion of the nomination
of his successor Thomas, in 1294, Bruce and Baliol contended
over his consecration. On the same day as Maurice, Prior of
Whithern, and his convent, along with the Bishops of Glasgow
and Aberdeen, at Berwick, he swore allegiance to Edward i. in
1296. Yet he declared for Eobert Bruce at the council of
Dundee in 1309, though directed in the same year by Clement v.
to publish the Bull of excommunication against him.
In 1305 Edward I. prohibited the custom of the Scots and
Brets f that is, the peculiar usages not only of the wild Scots
of Galloway, but of the entire Celtic population of Scotland,
1 Theiuer, Documenta, No. 279, p. 126.
'^ Eylcy, Pleadings in Parliament in the reigns of Edward i. and ii.
fol. Lund. 1(>(31, p. 50(3.
I'AlvT I. — THE LIKl:; OF fci. NIIUAX. Iv
such US trial witliuut jury, aud the Brehun sytitcui uf coiu-
mutation of crimeo by a liue.^
Ill 1346 Edward Balliol resided in Galloway, Being joined
by Henry de Percy and Kalph Nevill, he led the wild men of
Galloway into the Lothians, penetrated to Glasgow, and re-
turned through Cunningham and Liddesdale wasting the
country; yet in 1348 we get an indication of the sense of the
sanctity of Whithern as connected with S. Ninian. Boece'^
makes King David himself the subject of a miraculous cure :
"Telum autem unuin regis tibite infixum extrahi non potuit
nisi priusquam S. Ninianum inviserit." It is difficult to
reconcile this date with the king's imprisonment in England,
which lasted from 1346 to 1357. Galloway at this time was
opposed to the Scottish kingdom, Dovenald MacDowall being
the hereditary enemy of the Bruces, and bound by fealty to
England, until induced in 1356 by William Lord Douglas to
change his politics.^
In 1359 died Michael, the last Bishop of Whithern whose
submission to the Church of York is on record. He is one
among the Scottish Bisho]3s appointed to enforce by spiritual
penalties the treaty for the redemption of King David Bruce.*
In 1359 Pope Innocent vi., on the demise of Bishop Michael,
" qui extra Eomanam Curiam diem elausit extremum," attending
to the provision of the Church of Whithern, " de qua nuUus
preter iios hac vice se intromittere potuit iieque potest,"
appoints Thomas rector of Kyrteum, " de predictoruni fratrum
consilio auctoritate apostolica providemus, teque illi prefecimus
in episcopum et pastorem, curam et administrationem ipsius
ecclesite tibi in spiritualibus et temporalibus plenarie commit-
tendo." Then he orders him to be consecrated by the Bishop of
1 See Burton's History of Scutland, vol. ii. p. 63 ; llobertson's Scotland
under her Early Kings, vol. i. p. '240, ii. 2G1 ; and above all a most learned
note in Skene's Fordun, vol. ii. pp. 442-400.
^ Hist. Boeth., 1. xv. p. 329. -^ Forduu's Cliron., lib. xiv. c. lo.
■* ilyni., iii. 375, o76.
Ivi , GENEKAL INTKODUCTION.
Ostia. He addresses him, tliougli unconsecrated, as Bishop.
The letter is addressed to the Chapter of the Church of Candida
Casa, to the clergy and people of the city and diocese of
Candida Casa, to the Archbishop of York, and to David the
illustrious King of Scotland.^
The disastrous schism in the Church (1378-1417), which did
more than anything else to bring on the Eeformation, and the
consequences of which are still in the womb of futurity, was
felt in the remote regions of which we are treating. England
adhered to Urban vii., Scotland, at this time eminently French
in her sympathies, to the Antipope Clement til Conse-
quently the Bishop of Candida Casa M^as in a difficult position.
He was a Scottish subject. He was Bishop of an English
province. Accordingly we find that the schism extended
itself to Whithern, and while Oswald ordains for the Arch-
bishop of York, Eliseus, and Thomas, who had by his procu-
rator assisted at a General Council of the Scottish Church
at Perth in 1420, maintain the Scottish succession.^
In the Episcopate of Bishop Thomas (who at Perth, now the
seat of Scottish royalty, in 141G, testified to an inspeximus of
the resignation of the Scottish Crown by Edward ii.),^.King
James i. in 1428 granted a general protection to all strangers
coming into Scotland on pilgrimage to visit the Church of
S. Ninian, confessor, at Whithern.*
A family still extant. Vans or Vans of Barnbarrough, now
emerges in the person of Alexander, Bishop of Candida Casa,
in 1426. He was appointed by James i. one of the conservators
of the peace on the borders in 1429,^ and was succeeded by a
man of great mark, Thomas Spens, a good specimen of the
ecclesiastical statesmen who obtained such power in the
1 Tlieiner, Documenta, No. 638, p. 314.
2 Regist. Episc. Brechin., i. 39.
3 Harldan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Documents, vol. ii. p. 68,
Appendix B.
■* Reg. Mag. Sig., Lib. ii. p. 102, cit. Chalmers,
s Keith, p. 278, citing Rymer.
PAKT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN-. Ivii
fifteenth century in Scotland. He founded a hospital in Edin-
burgh, and dying there was buried in Trinity College Church,
recently destroyed for the convenience of a railway. His
effigy is said to be in Eoslin.^
In 14oG, we find an attempt on the part of Pope Calixtus ill.
to restore discipline in the diocese by revoking a commenda-
tion of the Parochial Church of Carinsinule, otherwise Kirk-
ynner, which had been bestowed on Thomas Lauder, Bishop of
Dunkeld, while taking part in the Council of Basil. The brief
states that very many of the parochial churches in the diocese,
formerly held by secular clerics, had got into the hands of the
regulars, and that few remained to be conferred on the former,
a state of things which probably prevailed extensively through
Scotland.^
The legends in S. Ailred's life show that even in his time
tliere was a constant stream of visitors to the saint's tomb.
Those who have witnessed the pilgrimages in the south of
Germany, where devout bands of peasants, of both sexes,
accompanied by their priests, sail down the Danube in open
boats, with hymns and litanies, or at great fatigue to them-
selves, climb with weary foot the steep ascents that lead to such
shrines as Maria Hilf or our Lady of Altotting, can vividly
bring before their minds the picturesque scenes which might
be witnessed in Scotland before the Reformation, as bands of
votaries of all classes, from the Court downwards, passed
through Peebles or Ayr on their way to S. Mnian's. We have
reason to know that the devotion was not unmixed, and that
secular thoughts and secular amusements were not lacking on
these occasions. Indeed, we have no reason to doubt that the
graphic scenes of Chaucer's Canterbury pilgrimage were repro-
duced on the way to ^Miithern, for the private accounts of
King James record donations to various minstrels and others,
1 Keith's Scottish Bishops, ed. Russel, p. 115, etc.
^ Theiner, Documcuta, No. 77S, p- 401.
Iviii GE^'EllAL INTKODUGTIUX.
who by jest aud song lightened the journey. It is to be
regretted that the witty Dunbar, who adorned the reign of
James IV., and who in some of his touches almost equals his
English fellow-bard, has not exhibited "The twa maryit Wemen
aud the Wedo " on pilgrimage, or given us a picture of some
of the humours of the hostelries in S. Ninian's.^
In 1473, when Ninian was Bishop of GaUoway (just one
year after Sixtus iv. had erected S. Andrews into a metro-
political see, having all the Scottish Bishops as suftragans, in
spite of a final reclamation of the Church of York), Margaret,
the good Queen of James ill., went on pilgrimage to the slirine
of S. Mnian along with her attendants, six ladies of the Queen's
chamber, who were furnished with new livery gowns on the
occasion.^
Keith surmises that the surname of Ninian was Spot. He
was succeeded by another scion of the important family of
Yans, Bishop George.
In the next reign we get a picture of the condition of Whit-
hern from the King's own hand : —
" Beatissime Pater, felicia pedum oscula. Cum Prioratus Divi
Martini de Whithorn, vulgariter nuncupatus, ordinis Prsemon-
stratensis Ecclesiie Cathedralis Candidas Casse (quae inibi dignitas
Xjost Pontificalem fuisse existit) ubi multa miraculorum specie
Divus Ninianus, loci olim episcopus, et non minimus Britauniai
Apostolus, tumulatur, in extremo regni sinu situs, quotannis
ab Anglis, Irlandis, et Insulanis ac vicina gente plurima devo-
tione visitur, et propterea virum petit prsesentem, qui humaniter
penegre adventantes tractare, eosque et praefatum regni augu-
lum auctoritate sua a piratarum injuria et insultu malorum,
tutare et possit et velit." ^
In 1491, when Glasgow was constituted an Archbishopric,
1 See Stuart's Records of the Priory of the Isle of May, pref. p. xlix. ed.
ISG'J.
^ Chalmers's Caledonia, vol. i. p. 41 2.
3 Epistohu lle-iim Si;ofci;v, vol. i. p. 282. Ediii. 1722.
I'Alil' 1.— THE LIFE UK .S. NiMAN. lix
tlie sees of Galloway, Argyle, Duukeld, aud DuublauL', were
assigned to it, aud the Bishop of Galloway, as chief suffragan,
was appointed vicar-general of the archiepiscopal see during
the vacancy.^ The English claim upon the see being under
protest foregone, the King of Scotland remedied the exceeding
poverty in which the Bishops had hitherto lived, by annexing
to the see the deanery of the Chapel Eoyal at Stirling in 1504,
and a few years after the Abbey of Tungland, so that in 1562-3
the rental of the see amounted to money £1226, 14s. ; in bear
8 chald. 6 bolls; in meal 10 chald. 7 bolls; malt 8 bolls; 268
salmon, with geese, poultry, cheese, and peats.'^
In 1506, the Eegent Albany granted a safe-conduct to all
persons of England, Ireland, and the Isle of Man (in which
country be it mentioned the see of Galloway possessed two
churches), to come by land or water into Scotland, to the
Church of Candida Casa, in honour of S. JSTinian, confessor.^
In tliis year King James iv. at Whithern gave 18s. to a
pilgrim from England on whom a miracle had been wrought.*
The first Archbishop, James Beton, was elected to Whithern
but never consecrated. The remaining Bishops till the Kefor-
mation were David Arnot, Henry, supposed to be a natural
son of King James IV., which is not improbable, for Theiner
gives a curious document, in which the King prays the Pope
to bestow benefices on his illegitimate children,^ Andrew Durie,
of a good Eifeshire family; and lastly, Alexander Gordon,
Archbishop of Athens, who turned Protestant, and on his
deathbed in 1576 resigned the benefice of the see of Gallo-
way to his own son John, then pursuing his studies in
Erance.^
^ Theiner, Documenta, No. 889, p. 505.
^ Rental Book MS., cit. Chalmers.
^ Privy Seal, Reg. v., 85, cit. Chalmers.
4 Treas. Ant., May 1, 150G.
5 Theiner, Documenta, No. 925, p. 524.
'' Keith's Scottish Bishops, ed. ilussel, p. 279.
Ix GENEllAL INTEODUCTIOX.
With the Eeformation the interest in Whithern, as connected
with S. Mnian and the ancient traditions attached to his
shrine, cease entirely. It is dreary work to trace the gradual
alienation of the Church lands, as also to note the decay
of the ancient sentiment. An evil custom that had begun
too early and less excusably in 1528, when Henry, Bishop
of Whithern, with the consent of the Archdeacon, confirmed
the alienation of some of the lands of Saulseat, was now syste-
matized through Scotland, and in this locality, we find, as an
example, in 1560, Malcolm tlie commendator granting away
the kirklands of ]\Iochrum, in 1564 the Bishop and Chapter
infefting John Stuart in Canencutoch and Polwhelly, and in
1565 Vans in Barvennane, while Gilbert Agnew has a tack of
Culmalzie, and Patrick A^aus of Barnborough obtains Balter-
sone. Till 1587, when the priory was vested in the king,
it was a history of continued spoliation, while pilgrimages
were made penal by the law of the land.^ In 1608 the
priory was granted to the see of Galloway. In 1622 Andrew,
Bishop of Galloway, disposed the precinct and closeage of
the priory to Mr. George Gledstanes. In 1641 it was gTanted
to the University of Glasgow. In 1661 it was restored to
the see, when old Bishop Sydserf, the only Bishop who Lived
through the troubles, and who in his wanderings ordained
the future Archbishop Tillotson priest, was translated to
Orkney.
In conclusion, no one can stand within the precincts of the
ruined priory of "Whithern, or look out to sea from the roofless
chapel at the Isle, without emotions which are difficult to
describe. He stands on a spot where the ancient civilisation
of Eome, and the more ancient barbarism of the Meatse, alike
gave place to the higher training of the gospel of Christ — where
the domination of the earth, transferred to the true faith, but
1 Act. Pari., t. iii. p. 212.
I'AIiT I. — THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN. Ixi
still proceeding from the Eternal City, laid hold upon the
strongest of all those Celtic races which constitute the popula-
tion of Scotland — where Irish learning established the great
monastery, and Irish piety received illustrations in Brignat and
Modwenna, Mancennus, Eugenius, Tighernachus, and Endeus
— where a Saxon Church, remarkable for the sanctity of
its bishops, repaired the breaches caused by conquest and
foreign oppression — where amid the ravages of the Norsemen,
and the feuds of the local princes, a rest was found for the
ashes of S. Cuthbert — where in the great restoration of the
twelfth century, the civilizing influence of the See of York and
spiritual grace of the Order of Premontr^ brought some allevia-
tion to the barbarism of the times — where an Italian Legate,
mediating between the conflicting claims of Scotland and
Enoiand, brought his Italian astuteness and his Italian tact to
bear upon the question — where Ailred acquired the knowledge
which gives local colouring to his narrative — where the Bishop
of the Diocese, so poor that he needed to act as suffragan and
coadjutor of the Archbishop of York, yet appeared in his true
place as intercessor for the rebel Thomas to his offended king —
where David, wounded in battle, found a cure for his festering
sore — where year by year the concourse of devout pilgrims to
S. Ninian's shrine was so great as to call for royal interference,
and in the presence of his sanctity the old feuds of Scots and
English were for the time to be forgotten — where the good
Queen Margaret, the wife of James iii., found food for a
piety which has almost entitled her to a place in the Kalendar
of the Saints — where the gallant and chivalrous James iv.,
in whom, in spite of the temptations of youth, the devotional
element prevailed, drew in that spiritual life, which, expressing
itself in deep penitence for his complicity in his father's death,
sent him with an iron girdle of penance round his waist to
the fatal field of Flodden.
And all this historic interest centres round one single figure,
sketched in faint outline by the Venerable Breda, filled in by the
]xii OENERAL IXTKODUCTIOX.
graceful hand of the amiable Ailred, commemorated in the
dedications of many churches through the lengtli and breadth
of Scotland — Ninian, the apostle of the Britons and of the
Southern Picts.
In Paradiso Ecclesi^,
virtutum ex dulcedine,
SpIRAMEN DAT AROMATUM
XiNTANUS C-^.LESTIUM.
PART II.— THE LIVES OF S. KEXTIGERX
BY JOCELINE AND BY AX UNKNOAYN AUTHOR.
AVe present, to our readers two Lives of S. Kentigern, tlie first
a fragment, the second a complete biography. In 1164 died
Herbert, Bishop of Glasgow, who had successively been Abbot
of the Tyronensian Abbey of Selkirk and Kelso, and who had
been consecrated by Pope Eugenius ni., to whom S. Bernard
addressed his striking treatise De Consideratione. In his time
a foreicm ecclesiastic, who had travelled much and become a
cleric of S. Kentigern, at his suggestion, " intimante venerando
Glasguensi episcopo Herberto," composed a historj' of that
saint ; but only a portion of it, reaching to the events imme-
diately succeeding his birth, remains to us. "Whether it was
ever finished or not we know not. It exists in one manuscript
only in the British Museum, and is numbered Cott. MSS. Titus
A. xix. f. 76-80. It has been already printed by Mr. Cosmo
Innes in the Piegistrum Episcopatus Glasguensis, vol. i. pp.
Ixxviii-lxxxvi, who states that "the original is a very careless
and ignorant transcript, in a hand of the beginning of the
fifteenth century, with red initial letters."^ This Life is the
foundation of the Legend of nine Lections in the Breviary of
Aberdeen for the Feast of S. Thenew.^ It is also evidently the
Life referred to by Fordun, and which he says was in " libro
de Dunfermlyn." Mr. Innes's transcript has been carefully
collated with the original, but it will be seen that some words
still remain unintelligible.
1 Pref. p. Ix.
2 Brev. Ab., Pars Estiv. f. xxxiv ; Fonlnn, Hb. iii. c. ix. p. 04, also p. 405,
Colophon xiii., ed. Skene.
Ixiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
The other Life, written probably twenty-five years later, by
Joceline, a monk of Furness, was in an abridged form substanti-
ally given to the public by Capgrave.-^ It exists in two manu-
scripts, one in the British Museum, from which Pinkerton
printed the Life in the Vitoe Antiqute Sanctorum Scotia?, num-
bered Bibl Cott. Vitellius, C. viii. ff. 148-195; the other is
preserved in Archbishop Marsh's library in Dublin, and is
designated V. 3. 4. 16.
By the courtesy of the learned Dr. Travers, Professor of
Medical Jurisprudence in the School of Physic in the Univer-
sity of Dublin, who at great cost of labour has made a careful
collation of the Dublin MS. with the Life as printed by Pinker-
ton, I am enabled to produce it for the benefit of my readers.
A collation also of the other manuscript has been made, wliicli
has not been altogether correctly exhibited by Pinkerton. It
is probably of the thirteenth, perhaps of the twelfth, century.
It was copied by a scribe who knew Latin imperfectly. It
has been corrected almost contemporaneously, but very clumsily.
Another Life of the saint ^ is the same text as that printed in
Capgrave, and thence in the Acta Sanctorum, Jan. p. 815.^
Dr. Travers gives this account of the Dublin MS. of S. Kenti-
b^
gern
X
In the public library, which Narcissus, Archbishop of
Dublin, founded near the Cathedral Church of Saint Patrick,
there is preserved a small 4to volume of parchment MSS. con-
taining the Lives of SS. Servan and Kentigern.
" The volume, which is in very good preservation, has an old
plain calf binding, of perhaps the time of James i., or Charles i.
at the latest.
" Size 7| inches X 6| inches.
1 Nova Legenda Anglie, fol. ccvii. r. ccxii.
2 MS. Cott. Tiber. E. 1, f. 17. G ; MS. Eodl., Tanner, 15 veil. fol. xv. Cent.
3 Sir T. DufFus Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the
History of Great Britain and Ireland to the end of the Keign of Henry vii.
vol. i. i)a';t i. pp. 208, 220, 221.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixv
" It consists of sixty-two leaves, written on both sides, the
lines running the length of 4| inches, and being usually twenty-
six on each page. There are no ornaments, except the initial
letters, which are floriated and decorated with colours, but no
gilding. There is no running title, but the summaries of
chapters or sections in the Life of S. Kentigern are written in
red.
" The first twelve pages contain the Life of S. Servau^ — Vita
sti. Seruani — which though unknown to Pinkerton was known
by and is mentioned by Ussher, De Antiqq. Eccl. Britannic. ;
the remaining hundred and twelve that of S. Kentigern.
" There have been some leaves of paper prefixed and subjoined
to the volume in the usual manner of waste leaves, of which
one is yet remaining at the beginning, and the greater part of
one at the end. Three leaves of parchment have evidently
been cut away at the beginning, and as many at the end of the
volume.
" On the paper leaf at beginning is written —
' Kentigerni Manuscrip
De vita Sua
W Armar.
' Kentigerni Manuscripto
De Vita Sua.'
^ " And on the paper lining of cover at beginning is written —
' Josias Hollington me jure tenet
21 7^"^^ 1650 ex libris m" Sumneris.' " ^
At the end of the abridgment of the Life by Joceline in
Capgrave^ occurs this Narratio : — " Circa infantiam S. Kente-
^ It is printed in the Chronicles of the Picts and. Scots ; Edin. 1867,
pp. 412-420.
^ This is probably the volume mentioned as belonging to the Cathedral
of Glasgow: "49. Item, Vita S" Kentigerni et Sancti Servani, in parvo
voluraine, cathenata ad stallura Precentoris." — Archeologia Scotiae, vol. ii.
p. 331. ^ Nova Legenda Anglie, fol. ccxii. r.
E
Ixvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
grini, ad quendam solitarium venit bresbiter cujusdam basilice
ut consecraret ei oblationem ad communicandura. Veniens
autem quidam ad illiim solitarium, presbiterum graviter acciisa-
vit. Qui cum iterum venisset ad eum scandalizatus solitarius
non aperuit ei. Et ecce vox facta ad solitarium dicens, ' Tule-
runt sibi homines juditium meum.' Et velut in excessu mentis
factus vidit quasi puteum aureum, et situlam auream, et funem
auream et aquam bonam valde. Videbat autem et quendam
leprosum haurientem et refundentem in vase. Et cupiebat
bibere et non bibebat, quia leprosus erat ille qui liauriebat. Et
ecce iterum vox ad eum dicens, ' Cur non bibis ex aqua hac :
quam causam habet qui implet ? Implet enim solummodo et
effundit in vase.' In se autem reversus solitarius, et virtutem
visionis considerans, vocavit presbiterum et fecit eum sicut
prius sanctificare sibi oblationem."
The Bollandists, at the 13th of January,^ reproduce the work
of Capgrave with a few notes.
Grevenus, in the Auctaria of Usuardus has " In Scotia S.
Kenthegerni episcopi Glascoensis et confessoris." Altemps, " in
Scotia, civitate Glasguensi, Sancti Kintengerni sine Mungunti
episcopi et confessoris."^ He occurs in all the Scottish Kalen-
dars at the 1 3th day of January.
The Life of S. Kentigern by Joceline, although far inferior in
grace of style to S. Ailred's Life of S. Ninian, has a greater claim
upon our attention from the historic point of view. Although
in a sense at second-hand, and in date much posterior to the
acts recorded, it affords to us almost the only apparently authen-
tic record which we possess of certain events which took place
in the obscure history of the little kingdom of Cumbria, Cambria,
or Strathcluyd, and it supplies confirmation of others which
occurred among the kindred nation of the Wealas.
The kingdom of Strathcluyd extended from the impregnable
1 Acta Sanctorum, vol. i. pp. 815-821.
2 Sollerii Usuarrl., pp. .SO, 31, erl. 1714.
PAKT II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixvii
fastness of Alcluyd, yar excellence the Dun or Fort of the Britons,
to the river Derwent in Cumberland, a division which continued
a historical fact in the history of England till the year 1835,
inasmuch as till then that river formed the southern boundary
of the diocese of Carlisle, and divided it from that of Chester.
Under the Ecclesiastical Commission in the fifth and sixth
years of the reign of William iv., it was arranged that the
diocese of Carlisle should consist of the present diocese of
CarKsle, of those parts of Cumberland and Westmoreland
which are now in the diocese of Chester, of the deanery of
Furness and Cartmel, in the county of Lancaster, and of the
parish of Addiston.^ The actual change took place on the
death of Bishop Percy. Ecclesiastically the kingdom was
described in the eleventh century as consisting of the dioceses
of Glasgow, Whithern, and Carlisle, and it is to events that
occurred in the sixth century in that circumscribed district
that Joceline's work bears testimony. How this kingdom
was formed we have no certain knowledge. From the time of
the withdrawal of the Eomans till the events recorded in the
Life there is an almost impenetrable darkness. In the sixth
century we find it occupied by a Celtic race, having ecclesi-
astical relations both with the Caledonian Picts and with the
Scots of Ireland.
That some remains of Eoman civilisation still existed we have
no reason to doubt. A branch of the great Eoman Eoad from
York, passing through Brovonacse (Kirby Thore), and Broca-
vium (Brougham), reached the great city of Luguvallium or
Luguballium (quae a populo Anglorum corrupt^ Luel vocatur),
now Carlisle, where, according to Bseda's Life of S. Cuthbert, he
saw " Moenia civitatis fontemque in ea miro quondam Eoman-
orum opere exstructum."^ Thence the road advanced by Castra
Exploratorum (Netherby), Blatum Bulgium (Middleby), and
' Stephen's Practical Treatise on the Law relating to the Clergy, vol. i.
p. 49S. 2 C. xxvii.
lx\dii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
Uxelum (Castle Over) to Colania (Lanark), and Vanduaria
(Paisley); where it passed the western extremity of the great
barrier of Antoninus and ended at the remote town of Dun-
barton.^
S. Kentigern succeeded to the labours of S. Ninian. Accord-
ing to Joceline he found at Glasgow a cemetery which had
been consecrated by him. The mission-field of the elder saint
included the diocese of the latter. Both had to deal with the
ancient church of Cumbria.
Between the death of S. ISTinian in the fifth century and the
more certain date of that of S. Kentigern in the beginning of
the seventh, nearly 200 years elapsed ; and it is important to
collect such information as remains to us of the events that
had occurred in the meantime. For a century after the with-
drawal of the Eomans the records are scanty and untrust-
worthy.
Gildas gives us some curious details. He attributes the
weakness of the Britons to the flower of her youth being
drained by the wars of Maximus,^ and so succumbing to the
Scots in the north-west, and to the Picts from the north. He
describes in terms of glowing scorn the weakness of the people,
" like timorous chickens crowding under the protecting wings of
their parent, twice successfully seeking assistance from Eome."
Finally, in spite of the embassy to Aetius, they were abandoned
to their own resources, and began to make head against their
foes.^ They then abandoned themselves to the grossest licen-
tiousness,'* till the unhappy policy of Vortigern in calling in
the Saxons aggravated their calamities. Gildas supplies an
important date. The battle of Bathhill (Mons Badonicus) was
forty-four years and one month from the landing of the Saxons,
and also the time of his own nativity.^ He ends his history
by this picture, " Neither to this day are the cities of our
^ The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon, a History of the Early Inhabitants
of Britain, by Thomas "Wright, London, 1861, pp. 129, 130.
2 Sect. 14. 3 Sect. 20. * Sect. 20, 21. ^ gect. 26.
PART 11. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ixix
country inhabited as before, but, being forsaken and over-
thrown, lie desolate ; our foreign woes having ceased, but our
civil troubles still remaining."
Nennius dwells on the fact that the " Britons despised the
authority of the Eomans, equally refusing to pay them tribute,
and to receive their kings." ^ Thrice were the Eoman deputies
put to death by them, yet when harassed by the Picts and Scots
they thrice sought their aid.^ Then followed intestine commo-
tion, the rival reigns of Vortigern and Aurelius Ambrosius, and
the gradual subjugation of England by the Jutes, Angles,
and Saxons, which beginning in 449,''according'to the Saxon
Chronicle, lasted till 556, when Cynric and Ceawlin fought
against the Britons at Berinbyrig or Banbury. In 457 the
Britons were finally driven out of Kent. By 491 ^lla had
completed the conquest of modern Sussex by the massacre at
Andredscester, In 495 Cerdic and Cynric fought against the
Welsh at Cerdic's Ore. In 501 Port Beeda and Mtegla occupy
Hampshire. In 508 JSTatan-leod also fell. In 514 Stuf and
Whitgar defeat the Britons at Cerdic's Ore, and in 519 the
dynasty of Wessex was established. As 516 is the date which
the Annales Cambrise give for the battle of Badon Hill, we
must transfer it to the north. In 530 the Isle of Wight fell
before Cerdic and Cynric. Deyfyr or Deira, and Bryneich or
Bemicia, made a good fight, till Ida, landing at Flamborough
Head with chosen warriors, erected Bamborough about 547.
Deodric fought against Urien, and was called the "flame-
bearer." By the middle of the sixth century the Anglo-Saxons
were possessed of the most fertile provinces of England, leaving
the Britons in possession of the wilder provinces of Damnonia,
with its tributary Cernaw, Elmet, Loidis, and what is now
Lancashire; Cambria, composed of the provinces afterwards
termed Gwynedd, Deheubarth, Powys, and Gwent ; and finally,
Strathclyde, otherwise called Cumbria, while the rest of what
^ Sect. 28. 2 Sect. 30.
Ixx GENERAL IKTKODUCTION.
is now called Scotland, between 545 and 580, was portioned
off into the kingdoms of Pictavia, Dalriada, and Northumbria.
While the Saxon Chronicle gives the record of the gradual
advances of the conquerors, we find in what is now termed the
Annales Cambrise a few facts in the history of the Britons.
That interesting document becomes the chief authority for the
events of the epoch with which we have to do. It records,
according to one manuscript, the birth of S. Dewi in 458,
" anno tricesimo post discessum Patricii de Menevia."
At 516 the battle of Badon is mentioned, "in quo Arthur
portavit crucem D. N. J. C. tribus diebus et tribus noctibus
in humeros suos et Britones victores fuerunt." At 537 we
have the battle of Camelon, " in qua Arthur et Medraut
corruere."
At 547 we have " moi'talitas magna (fuit in Britannia) in qua
pausat Mailcun rex Genedotse (unde dicitur, Hir hun Wailgun
en llis Eos. Tunc fuit Lallwelen)." How this year came to
be given as that of Maelcun's death is difficult to say. It was
in reality the beginning of his reign, and he was alive in 560
when Gildas wrote.
In 565, Navigatio Gildse in Hybernia.
569. Synodus Victoriee apud Britones congregatur.
570. Gildas (Britonum sapientissimus) obiit,
573. Bellum Armterid (Erderit vel Arderit) (int-er filios
Elifer et Guendoleu filium Keidiau : in quo bello Guendoleu
cecidit : Merlinus insanus effectus est).
580. Guurci et Peretur (filii Elifer) moritur.
584. Bellum contra Euboniam et dispositio Danielis Ban-
corum.
589. Conversio Constantini ad Dominum.
595. Dunaut rex moritur.
601. Sinodus urbis Legion (ordinata a Davide ]\Ienevensi
Archiepiscopo). Dauid Episcopus Mone Judeorum).
606. Dispositio Cinnauc Episcopi.
612. Conthigirni (Chendeirn) obitus.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ixxi
Gwendoleu's pedigree is given in the Bonlied Gwyr y Gogled
yw hyn. " Gwendolen and Nud, and Cof, sons of Keidyaw,
sou of Artliwys, son of Mar, son of Keneu, son of Csel."
Of tlie battle of Badonhill we have the contemporary notice
of Gildas, and that of Taliessin.
Maelciin, mentioned as dying in 547, is severely handled by
Gildas for his bad life. The battle of Arderydd in 573 is
mentioned by Merddin, and Dunaut by Llj^warch Hen.
In 613, Xorthumbria, conquering at Carleon or Chester, aud
in 616 at Barwick in Elmet, interposed bet^veen Wales and
Cumbria. On the former occasion Ethelfred slaughtered the
monks of Bangor Iscoed.^
The picture given us in these brief notices is one of resist-
ance to the foreign invasion of the Saxon, and of perpetual
intestine wars among the petty princes of the British race.
Yet the period of the war between the Saxons and Britons
w^as a period of gi'eat development of the intellectual life of
the latter, especially in Wales.
It is the sixth century, the age of the heptarchy, of Theodoric
and the Ostrogothic kingdom of Clovis and his Frankish succes-
sors, of Justinian, Belisarius, Boethius, and S. Benedict of Nursia.
In Wales it was a century of national life, of religious and men-
tal acti^dty. It was the age of S. David, S. Iltutus, S. Sampson,
and S. Teilo, Bishop of Llandaff. The ecclesiastical connexion
of Wales with other lands was illustrated by S. Aidan, Bishop of
Ferns in Ireland, and S. Padarn of Vannes in Brittany, not the
friend of the celebrated poet of the day, Venantius Fortunatus,
though some have supposed him to be so. The intellectual
life of the times was represented by the discussions about
Pelagianism, a phase of thought which, originated by Pelagius
or Morgan, a Scot of Wales, seems to have found a congenial
soil among the Britons. How a system which magnifies the
force of the human will and minimizes the supernatural factors
1 Ba;da, H. E. ii. 2.
Ixxii GENERAL INTRODTJCTION.
in the operations of the soul, should have found favour among
a race so influenced by the imagination, and so affected by the
hyper-physical, is one of the most abnormal circumstances in the
history of human thought. It was at this epoch that the cele-
brated college of Bangor-Iscoed on the Dee was founded by
Dunawd Fawr, the " Dinoth Abbas " of Venerable Bfeda. In
temporal matters, of which more hereafter, the Irish were in
possession of Caermarthenshire. If we may trust the docu-
ments produced by Jolo Morganow, Urien Eeged held the
lands between the Towy and the Neath, and regained his
father's dominions in the north ; that is, the land between the
Humbpr and the Clyde, the capital of which was Alcluyd or
Dumbarton.
It is important to have a definite conception of what are
really the sources of the early history of Wales. Besides the
statements in contemporary authors of other countries, we have
three early documents which have come down to us: — (1.)
Gildas's Historia et Epistola, a.d. 560 ; (2.) Nennius's History
of the Britons {cir. 738), with the additions of a later chronicle
up to 977, and a collection of genealogies compiled a century
and a half before the Bruts ; (3.) The Ancient Laws and Insti-
tutions of Wales, the most important of which are those of
Howel the Good, in the tenth century.
These documents supply us with some curious information
about the state of Wales and the distribution of the Cymric
population between the Eoman occupation and the sixth cen-
tury, in strong contrast to what we should have expected from
the ordinary conception of the history of the period. Instead
of Wales being the stronghold of the Cymry, and exclusively
occupied by them, while the Saxons are in the centre of Eng-
land, and the country north of the wall between Tyne and
Solway surrendered to the Picts and Scots, " we find the sea-
board of Wales on the west possessed by the Gael or Gwyddyl,
and the Cymry confined to the eastern portion of the princi-
pality. A line drawn from Conway to Swansea would separate
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixxiii
the races; in North Wales the Cymry possessed Powisland,
while the Gael had Gwynnedd and Anglesey ; in the south the
Cymry had Gwent and Glamorgan, the Gael had Dyfed ;
Brecknock belonging to the mysterious Brychan and his
family." i
But, strange to say, from Dee and Humber to the Firths of
Forth and Clyde, we find a great Cymric population, only
broken by the mixed Gaels of Galloway, the Ettrick Forest,
and the Manau Gododin, the region of Carron and Stirling ;
while along the coasts the Saxons had settlements from Tyne
to Esk.
The name of " the Cumbraes " has stereotyped the remem-
brance of this state of things. It exhibits a great Cymric
race, beset on different sides, by Saxons on the east, Picts
on the north, and by Gael, Gwyddyl, Scots, or Irish on
the west. These formed permanent settlements. After the
final destruction of the Pioman power, and the vain appeal of
the Britons to Aetius in 446, as has been already stated, the
first event that emerges from the darkness is the appearance of
Cunedda, his retreat from the first to the second wall in 409 or
410, and the expulsion of the Gael from Wales by his descend-
ants in the fourth generation, especially by Caswallawn Law
Hir, the father of Maelgwn, who was rapidly rising into power
at the time when Gildas was writing. Cunedda was the
Gwledig, an office similar to the Imperator or Bretwalda of
the Saxons, a chief elected from the surrounding reguli as
summus dux. Ambrose, Conan, and the great Arthur held tlie
same office. Divested of its mythical accretions, there seems
no doubt that Arthur was a historical personage, but of the
charm thrown round him by those who followed Geoffrey of
Monmouth there is nothing. All that we know is that he
combated Octa the son, and Ebussa the nephew, of Hengist, who
1 Vide Rees's Welsh Saints, p. 136 ; Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales,
vol. i. p. 43.
Ixxiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
tried to seize the country lying between the Forth and the
Clyde, in twelve battles, the localities of which indicate a
struggle for the possession of the south of Scotland. Mr.
Skene, in his learned Preface to the Four Ancient Books of
Wales, very boldly and ingeniously finds localities for the dif-
ferent fields of action : —
" According to the view I have taken of the site of these
battles, Arthur's course was first to advance through the Cym-
ric country, on the west, till he came to the Glen where he en-
countered his opponents. He then invades the regions about
the wall, occupied by the Saxons in the Lennox, where he
defeats them in four battles. He advances along the Strath of
the Carron as far as Dunipace, where, on the Bonny, liis fifth
battle is fought ; and from thence marches south tlirough
Tweeddale, or the Wood of Celyddon, fighting a battle by
the way, till he comes to the valley of the Gala, or
Wedale, where he defeats the Saxons of the east coast. He
then proceeds to master four great fortresses : first, Kaerlium,
or Dumbarton ; next, Stirling, by defeating the enemy in the
trathcu Tryweryd, or Carse of Stirling; then 3£ynycl Agned,
or Edinburgh, the great stronghold of the Picts, here called
Cathhregion ; and, lastly, Boudon Hill, in the centre of the
country, between these strongholds." ^
Local tradition connects the scene of Queen Guinevere's
death with Meigle in Perthshire, in the immediate neighbour-
hood of which is Arthurstone.
The hero's death took place at Camelon, now identified with
the interesting remains on the south bank of the Carron. It
took place in 537, probably caused by a Pagan insurrection, for
his murderer was the son of Loth, " vir semipaganus," and every
notice we have seems to point to Arthur as representing the
Christian element in the contest. That heathenism was
struggling again for the mastery is clear from the fact that three
1 Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 58.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ixxv
years after this S. Keutigern was expelled from Glasgow, and
settled in Wales till 573, while the consolidation of the Pagan
kingdom of Bernicia gave it temporary strength. The struggle
between the opposing elements resulted in the triumph of the
Faith, as well as in the amalgamation of various petty states
into larger kingdoms. Among the monarchs of the time,
Maelgwn, first opposing his uncle, then turning monk, then
relapsing and marrying his nephew's widow, shines out with
some individuality.
The critical field of battle took place at Ardderyd or Arthuret,
near Carlisle, a spot where the remains of an ancient earth-
work dominating the river Esk, in close vicinity to the Solway
moss, and within sight of the great " strength " of Birrenwork,
indicates a natural outpost of Carwinlow, the Caer of Gwendo-
len, which must have been the chief object of attraction to the
Cambrian reguli if they attacked him from the west; then
Christianity prevailed. Ehydderch Hael, probably already
established in Alcluyd, became king of Cambria, at once recal-
ling S. Kentigern to Scotland ; and Aidan, who was crowned
king of Dalriada by S. Columba, pushed his victorious arms
into Bernicia in 603,^
It is here that the history touches that of S. Kentigern.
First of all Loth or Llew, son of Llywarch, to whom the Bruts
declare Arthur to have given Lodoneis or Lothian, on the occa-
sion of the battle of Edinburgh or Mynyd Agned, when the
people of Cathbregion were overthrown, whose two brothers
Arawn and Urien also obtained lands wrested from the Saxons,
who, heading the Brython, allied himself with the Gael or
Gwyddel under Gwydyon, the result of which was the insur-
rection of his son Medraut against Arthur, according to
Taliessia,^ " These were in the battle of Godeu, with Lieu and
Gwydyon," is the "vir semipaganus" of the earlier life, the
1 Skene, ut supra, p. 66. See also paper by same author iu Proceedings
of the Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. vi. pp. 91-98.
^ Taliessiu, xii.; Skene, vol. i. p. 274.
Ixxvi GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
man " paganissimus " or " paganus implicatis erroribus " who is
the grandfather of S. Kentigern.^
The next historical personage we encounter is the scornful
Morken, whose barns were miraculously swept into the Mellen-
donor.2 He appears in the Welsh books as Morcant Bulc, a
king of the race of Coel Hen, who is described in the Genealogia
annexed to ISTennius as combined with Urien Eydderch and
Gwallaug to oppose Hussa, son of Ida, the king of Bernicia,
who reigned from 567 to 574.^ "Contra illos quatuor reges
Urbgen et Eiderch Hen et Guallauc et Morcant dimicave-
runt."^ He is declared in the same document to have fought
Urien in Lindisfarne, " In illo autem tempore aliquando hostes,
nunc cives vincebantur et ipse conclusit eos tribus diebus et
tribus noctibus in insula Metcaud ; et dum erat in expeditione
jugulatus est a Morcanto destinante pro invidia, quia in ipso
pre omnibus regibus virtus maxima erat instauratione belH."^ i
King Cathwallanus of Joceline's biogi-aphy may surely be
identified also with CaswaUawn Law Hir, great-grandson of
Cunedda, who expelled the Scots from GAvj^nedd. His son
Maelgwn the Maglocunus, the " tutelaris draco " of Gildas, is
however declared in the Book of S. Asaph to be the king who
bestowed a site for S. Kentigern's monastery at Llanelwy.^
But the king who occupies the most prominent position with
regard to S. Kentigern is known to us from the pages of Adam-
nan as the "Koderchus filius Tothail, qui in Petra Cluaithe
1 Whatever value may attach to the testimony of Geoffrey of Monmouth,
it is negative in respect to the relationship between Loth and S. Kentigern.
Lot there is married to Anna, the king's sister or half-sister (viii. 21), has two
sons, Walgon and Modred, is re-established in the considship of Loudonesia
(ix. 9), and then recovers Norway for the king, to which he had claims as
the heir of Sichelin, the late monarch (ix. 10). There is no mention of S.
Thenew. The Scotch authorities, Fordun and Boethius, unite both streams
of legend. - C. xx.
3 Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. pp. 168, 175.
* Saxon and Welsh additions to the Historia Britonum, Chron. Picts and
Scots, pp. 12, 13. ^ Ihid. "^ Vide infra, p. Ixxix.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEUN. Ixxvii
regnavit." ^ Concerning him Dr. Eeeves gives this information :
— "The Bhyddcrch Had of the British, son of Tudwal (here
called Tothal, from the Irish Tuathal), surnamed Tutglud (Tuait
Clud of the Clyde district), ap Cedig, ap Dyvnwal Hen, ap
Ednyved, ap Maxen Wledig (or Maximus, king of Britain, 383-
388). He was of Irish extraction by his mother's side, for his
sister, Melangell or Monacella, was daughter of Ethni, surnamed
Wyddcles, 'the Irish Woman.' ^ His surname Had (Hib. Hial)
denotes ' Liberal,' hence he is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth
Bodarchus Largus, and among the Welsh he was celebrated as
one of the ' Three Liberal Princes of the Isle of Britain.' — Triad
XXX.' ' Gloria enim et divitise in domo ejus, liberalitas in
corde, urbanitas in ore, munificentia in manu ejus, eo quod bene-
dixisset Dominus operibus manuum ejus. Unde non solum in
fines circumjacentes terrse ejus, sed etiam ultra mare in Hyber-
niam exivit fama largitatis ejus." — Joceline, Vit. S. Kentig. c. 37.*
But liis greatest honour was his patronage of religion : " Susci-
tavit super regnum Cambrinum in regem Eederch nomine : qui
a discipulis sandi Patricii in Hihemia haptisatus fide Christian-
issima; qui et in toto corde queereret Dominum, et reparare
studeret Christianismum." — Vit. S. Kentig. c. 29.^ He is
mentioned in the Saxon and Welsh addition to Nennius, as
has just been stated.^ With Maelgwn Gwynedd and Aedan
Eradawg he conquers Gwenddoleu at the great battle of
Ardderyd, whereby he established himself as the first monarch
of Cambria in Strathclyde, reigning in Dumbarton.
As might be expected, we find the deeds of the successful
monarch chronicled in the poetry of Wales. In the Kyvoesi
Myrddin,^ in the Hoianau, in the Black Book of Carmarthen,^
1 Reeves's Adamnan, p. 43.
2 Rees's Welsh Saints, p. 269 ; Archajol. Cambr. iii. pp. 137-224. It will
be seen below that the oldest pedigi-ee in Nennius gives a diflFerent line of
ancestors to Dyvnwal, thus making him grandson of Ceratic Gidedic.
2 Myvyr. Archaeol. ii. p. 63. * Pinkerton's Vit. Ant. p. 277.
^ Ibid. p. 261 ; Ussher, Works, vi. 226. " Skene's Chron., Pref. xci.
^ Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 462. ® Vol. i. p. 4S2.
Ixxviii GENEKAL INTRODUCTION.
in the poems relating to the battle of Ardderyd,i and in the
Verses of the Graves,^ which last shows us where he was buried:
The grave of Owain ab Urien in a secluded part of the world,
Under the sod of Llan Morvael,
In Abererch, that of Ehydderch Hael.
In a document in one of the Hengwrt MSS., transcribed in
1300, with the title of Bonhed Gwyr y Gogledd, we get his
pedigree as descended from Dyfnwal Hen, grandson of Macsen
Guledig the Eoman Emperor. Dyfnwal had four sons —
Cedig. Garwynwyn. Aedhan Gorwst
I Vradog. Briodawr.
Tudwal Tudclud.
I Caurdav.
I I I Elidr
Rybdderch Hael. Senyllt. Servan. Mwynvawr.
I I Gwyddno
Nudd Hael. Mordav. Garanhir.
In the genealogies annexed to Nennius in 977 his descent is
thus : —
Ceredig Guledig.
I
Cenuit.
I
Dyfnwal Hen.
I
Clinog.
I
Tudwal Tudclud.
I
Bhydderch.^
We have already alluded to the part he took against Hussa.
In the Black Book of Carmarthen^ he is called the Champion
of the Faith. He was the father of Myrddin.
Neither the Lives of S. Columba, S. Dewi, or S. Asaph have
allusion to S. Kentigern, and we are not able to assign any
certain place in history to Telleyr or Anguen, or to Cathen, the
servant of Morken; but a document of the twelfth century
^ Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 371.
2 Vol. i. p. 311. 3 Vol. i. pp. 167, 169.
< Vol. i. p. 482.
TART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixxix
testifies to the saint's existence, acknowledges his work in Wales,
and corrects an error with regard to the king with whom he was
concerned. It is given in the Archteologia Cambrensis, and is
as follows: — "Haec experientia inventa per quendam Enianum
Ep'm Asaphen' in quodam Libro Antiquo Londoniis de libertati-
bus, privilegiis, donationibus, traditis concessis et confirmatis
S*^ Kentigerno suisque successoribus eorumque tenentibus et
libere tenentibus Anno Dni MCCL°vi° Notum fiet quod in tem-
pore cujusdam regis dygan"\vy nomine Malgini et cujusdam
regis Powysie nomine Maye, quidam vir venit ex latere oriental!
nomine Kentigernus ad quandam civitatem nomine Llanelwy,
et cum eo turba multa clericorum, militum, et ministrorum, nu-
mero trecent' quern quidem Kentigernum Rex Maye constituit
et ordinavit (in episcopum) in toto suo dominio quia time suum
dominium episcopalis gubernationis officio esset destitutum
et plenarie exhaustum. Et tunc Malginus rex dedit illi S*°
Kentigerno s'c'am civitatem Llanelwy ad libamina et sacrificia
facienda, necnon ad cetera divina officia celebranda, sine aliquo
dominio vel redditu regaU in perpetuum. Et cum hac predictus
rex i\Ialginus dedit et concessit eidem S*° Kentigerno alias villas
annexas ad succurrendum (et) serviendum illi civitati Llanelwy
pro sustentatione predicti Kentigerni (et) suorum successorum
sine aliquo dominio vel redditu regali in perpetuum, ut predic-
tum est : quanim villarum nomina sunt h?ec, Altmeliden,
Llanhassaph, Bryngwyn, Disserth, Kilowain, Llansannan Bod-
eugan, Henllan, Lllanufydd . . gernyw . . man . . gynwch,
Uchaled, Meriadog, jMovoniog, Hendrenewydd, Pennant, Llan-
arthu, Havenwen juxta Llanufydd, Bodnod, Maledyr, Bodvalleg
ac Ardney-y-menllyn et alias villas et quamplures alias villulas
Dominus rex Malginus dedit prefato Kentigerno suisque suc-
cessoribus sine aliquo tributo vel redditu regali in perpetuum.
Et quicunque fuerit transgressor alienus predictarum libertatum,
donacionum, in predictis villis vel villulis, ab omnibus tribubus
anathema et maledictus fiat in infinita secula seculorum. Amen.
Ut originale c . . . Et quicunque predictorum auditor et de-
Ixxx GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
fensor contra rebelles verbo vel signo contra infringent' hujus-
modi libertates et donationes concessas eidem 8*^° Kentigerno
suisque successoribns qusestiones transgress, controvers. excitaud'
a tribus Personis, Patre, Pilio, et Spiritu Sancto et ab omni
choro ecclesiastico benedictionibus repleatur per infinita secula
seculorum.
" Et ad illud tempus qnsedam discordia orta et mota fiut inter
duos milites in curia Malgini et Kedicum Draws sen de Ludis :
et Kedicus percussit filium IMalgini regis ciim cornu bibali
super caput suum usque ad sanguinis effusionem : qua de causa
Kedicus fugit et venit ad civitatem munitam Llanelwy in qua
quidem civitate Kentigernus erat pro immunitate securitate et
defensione illi Kedico a dictis 8*° et civitate habendis. Et
tunc predictus Malginus misit Voragianum et alios plures
ministros cum eo ad querendum Kedicum predictum : et
postquam invenerant ilium Kedicum ad metas et limites illius
sanctffi civitatis Llanelwy omnes equi eorum cseci facti sunt.
Et tunc statim illi equites converterunt se ad Malginum regem
et narraverunt regi ilia ardua et improspera quae contigerant
illis, hac fabula declarata seu bis rumoribus declaratis, tunc ille
solus Malginus venit cum illis ad metam et limites illius civi-
tatis, et illico ille rex csecus factus est et descendit desuper
equum suum, et tunc sui milites adduxerunt ilium regem caecum
coram S*° Kentigerno. Et ille rex procumbens oravit eundem
Kentigernum pro venia sibi impetranda, deinde incessanter
postulavit dictum Sanctum ut oculos suos cecatos signo crucis
signaret, quibus signo crucis per eundem sanctum signatis,
statim rex oculos aperuit et vidit, laudes Deo et Sancto reddens,
intuens ilium Kedicum facie ad faciem secum sedentem, et
tunc ait illi, Es tu ibi? Et ille respondit. Sum hie in im-
munitate et defensione venerabilis Sancti. Et illo die rex
INIalginus pro restitutione anime et inventione luminis ocu-
lorum dedit illi S*" Episcopo illius civitatis Llanelwy spatium
immunitatis et defensionis septem annorum et septem mensium
et septem dierum et unius diei primum. Et cum illo spacio
PART 11. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ixxxi
postea immunicionem et defensiouem in perpetuum. Et propter
ilia mysteria a Deo et dicto Saiicto collata dictus rex Malginus
augmentavit diversas donationes, viz., plures villas ad servi-
eiidum Deo et S*° Kentigerno in dicto cultu sine aliquo
dominio vel reditu regali in perpetuum. QuaruDi villaruin
nomina sunt hsec, Berryng, Dolwynan, Bodlyman. Et dedit
plures alias villas cum illis et istse donaciones factte per Mal-
ginum Eegem extendunt metas et limites Episcopatus S**
Kentigerni ejusque successorum ab urbe Conway usque ad
rivum . . . latus (?) Glatiri juxta Dinas Basing. Et dominus
Malginus ista ultima sibi dedit ob restitucionem oculorum
suorum, et ad ista predicta fideliter observanda, ab omni-
bus fidelibus et custodienda predictus Malginus rex testes,
idoneos tarn clericos quam laicos ad ista vocavit : vocavit
clericos Sanctum Danielem quondam Ep'um Bangorens' et
Patronum, Sanctum Trillum et Sanctum Grwst, — laicos Malgi-
num regem, Ewyn fiKum ejus et Gwrgenan senescallum
ejus. Meta et limites terrse immunitatis sanctse civitatis Llan-
elwy existunt in longitudine ap Adwy Llweni usque locum
vocatum Pen isaf i Gell Esgob usque locum vocatum Pontyr-
wddar, vizt. spacium miliarii in longitudine et unius miliarii
in latitudine. Et si quis violaverit predictam immuuitatem
(quod absit) seu ad hoc concilium auxilium vel favorem dederit,
aut fecerit occulte vel expresse, excommunicatus est ab omni
choro ecclesiastico et etiam indignacionem omnipotentis Dei,
beatae Mariae virginis, Sanctorumque Assaph', et Kentigerni 373
Sanctorum et Sanctarum se noverit incursuros. Et quicunque
predictam immunitatem non servaverit, divinis officiis ibidem
celebratis destituitur, et Dei maledictione repleatur. Amen.
Per infinita secula seculorum."^
As might be expected, we find earlier than this the record
^ The document given above is appended to the end of the Llyfr. Coch.
Asai)h, the Liber Rubeus, an index to which, written on the 26tli Oct.
1602, is printed in the Archseologia Cambrensis, vol. xiv. 1868, pp. 151-106
and .329-310.
Ixxxii GENERAL INTKODUCTION.
of S. Kentigern himself in the Annals of Wales. In what are
termed Annales Cambrise, of which the oldest manuscript is of
the latter part of the tenth century, and the composition of
which is referred to the reign of Owain, the son of Howel the
Good, who died in 948, we find, as already stated, A.D. 612,
CLXViii Annus. " Conthigirni obitus et Dib ric episcopi." In
a later manuscript, written in a hand of the end of the thir-
teenth century, the name appears in its more Welsh form of
"Chendeirnobiit."!
In the manuscript termed Pedigrees of the Saints, formerly
in the possession of Edward Lhwyd, author of the Archseologia
Britannica, and now in the British Museum,^ he is thus re-
corded : " Cyndeyrn was the son of Garthwys, the son of Owain,
the son of Urien ; and Deny, the daughter of Llawddyn Llued-
dawg of the city of Edinburgh in the north, was his mother."^
In the Bonedd y Saint, there is a variation : " Cyndeyrn was
the son of Owain ab Urien Eheged, and Dwynwen the daughter
of Llewddyn Lueddag of Dinas Eiddyn in the north."*
In the Triads of Arthur and his warriors (ms. Hengwrt 536),
the third of the tribe thrones of the island of Prydain is given
thus : " Arthur the chief lord at Penrionyd in the north, and
Cyndeyrn Garthwys the chief bishop, and Gurthmwl Guledic
the chief ruler." ^
Another confirmation of the work of S. Kentigern on the
south of the Solway is found in the dedication of eight churches
in Cumberland to him. In Joceline's Life it is stated, that on
his way to S. Dewi at Menevia, at Carlisle, he heard that
many of the inhabitants of the neighbouring mountains were
^ Annales Cambrise, edited by John Williams ab Ithel, M.A. ; London,
1860, pp. X, xi, xxvii 6. 2 jj^rl. No. 4181.
3 Lives of the Cambro-British Saints of the fifth and immediately succeed-
ing centuries, by the Rev. W. J. Rees ; Landovery, 1853, p. 593.
* An Essay on the Welsh Saints, or the Primitive Christians usually con-
sidered to have been the Founders of Churches in Wales, by Rev. Rice Rees ;
London, 1836, p. 261.
'' Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. ii. p. 457.
TAUT II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ixxxiii
idolaters. He accordingly turned aside and converted tliem. He
remained some time there, and erected a cross as the sign of sal-
vation at Crosfell. He is said also to have collected a great har-
vest to the Lord, going out of his way " per loca maritana."
We give the details of these churches from " The History of
the County of Cumberland and some places adjacent, from
the Earliest Accounts to the Present Time, etc., by William
Hutchinson, r.A.S. ; Carlisle, 1794."
ASPATRIA
is supposed to derive its name from Gospatrick, Earl of Dun-
bar, father of Waldeof, first Lord of Allerdale. . . . The church
of Aspatria was rectorial, and is dedicated to S. Kentigern, now
worth about £100 a year. It was given by Waldeof, first Lord
of Allerdale, to the prior and convent of Carlisle, and having
become appropriate, the same was confirmed by King Henry ii.
and King Edward iii.^
Bromfield.
The chm'ch of Bromfield, like many others in the north, is
dedicated to S. Kentigern or Mungo, whose name, however, is
now heard of only as perpetuated by a spring of pure water
close by the church, which is called Mungo's Well. . . . The
vicarage is valued in the king's books at £22, but is now sup-
posed to be worth £140. It was first granted by Waldeve, son
of Gospatric, as aforesaid, to the abbey of S. Mary's, York.
The abbey had the patronage and advowson till 1302, when
they prevailed on the Bishop of Carlisle to appropriate it to
their monastery, which he did, stipulating for forty merks yearly
revenue to the vicar, and the right of collation was reserved to
the see of Carlisle.^
Caldbeck.
The parish was forest and waste and parcel of Allerdale ;
^ Hutchinson's Hist, of Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 2S5. '^ Vol. ii. p. 'MS.
Ixxxiv GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
an highway having run from Westmoreland and the eastern
parts of Cumberland through these wastes, they lay long under
the imputation of being the resort of freebooters. It was on
this account that Eanulph Engain, the chief forester of Ingle-
wood, granted a boon to the Prior of Carlisle to build an
hospital there for relieving unfortunate travellers. On this
grant the prior enclosed some portion of the forest in the
environs of the hospital, which stood near the place where the
church now stands ; but though thus enclosed the right of the
soil remained in the Lord of Allerdale, whose authority was
necessary to keep the lawless multitudes in subjection.
Soon after the erection of this hospital, a church was founded
near it, and dedicated to the tutelar saint of the north,
S. Mungo or S. Kentigern.^
Crosthwaite.
The church of Crosthwaite (in which is Keswick) was
rectorial. It was dedicated to S. Kentigern, and was given to
the Abbey of Fountains in Yorkshire, by Alice de Eomely, and
soon after made appropriate ; the Bishop of Carlisle reserving
to the see the right pf collating a vicar. It is said to be worth
£140 a year.^
Geinsdale,
The church was rectorial, and dedicated to S. Mungo, or, as
some name this personage, Kentigern, It was part of the pos-
sessions of Lanercost Priory, being given thereto by Hugh de
Morvil, Lord of Burgh, and Eustachia his wife ; and was soon
after appropriate, the cure being served by a brother of that
house, without any vicarial endowment.^
Irthington.
The church being vicarial was given by Eobert de Vallibus
1 Hutchinson's Hist, of Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 376.
2 Vol. ii. p. 156. 2 Vol. ii. pp. 517, 518.
TAKT II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEllN. IXXXV
to the prior and convent of Lanercost, and was soon after
appropriated thereto.^
SOWERBY OR SOWERBY CASTLE.
The church stands at the extremity of the parish, and was
originally rectorial. It is dedicated to S. Mungo or Kentegern.^
MUNGRISEDALE.
To these must be added Mungrisedale, a chapel in the parish
of Greystock.^ In the parish of Greystock is Mungrisedale.
Grisedale or Mungrisedale is another chapelry within this
parish. The hamlet is holden, like many of the rest, of the
Lord of Greystock. The chapel is endowed with a dwelling-
house, and a small enclosure wherein it stood.^
That, with every abatement, both Lives of S. Kentigern con-
tain matters of history, cannot safely be denied. There is too
much individuality about them to make us believe that they
were written to order in the twelfth century, to promote a
cultus or advocate a system. S. Kentigern was an abiding
reality in the minds of the people when both Lives were written,
as indeed we learn from the valuable Inquisitio Davidis, of the
year 1120, which is the chief authority for the history of the
see of Glasgow before its restoration. There is in both the
Lives a comparative absence of that banale history that makes
one life of an Irish saint so like that of another. No doubt in
some of the miracles there is a similarity to those wrought else-
where at the same time, but with this exception, there is
everything to make us believe that the Lives were really
founded on earlier documents, and give the contents of these
documents in the main truly, though perhaps not always
without an importation of later ideas.
1 Hutchinson, op. ciL, vol. i. p. 119. ^ Vol. i. p. 517.
3 Regist. Ep. Glas., vol. i. pp. 3-7.
* The History and Antiquities of the counties of Westmoreland and Cum-
berland, by J. Nicolson, vol. ii. p. 374.
Ixxxvi GENERAL INTEODUCTION.
Now, what do we discover in the fragmentary Life ? We find
that by the time of Herbert, Strathclyde was so amalga-
mated into modern Scotland, that the author freely speaks of
having come " ad regnum Scottonim ;" and that at that time a
strong religious movement was prevailing ; as we know from
other sources, the country was " sanctorum reliquiis valde opti-
mum (opimum) clericis prefulgidum, principibus gloriosum."
He describes himself as a " clericus S^' Kentigerni," no doubt a
Culdee, a descendant of the " singulares clerici " of Joceline's
Life, who were being superseded by the new chapters.
So with the substance of the history: it is quite according to
what we know that Leudonus or Loth should be " vir semi-
paganus." The constant relapses into idolatr}'- wliich dis-
tinguish that dark period are noted by many historians, and
the ignorant devotion of the daughter might find its parallel
now in New Zealand, where in our own times the Pae-marire
have imported Christian ideas into a form of heathenism ; and
in China, where one of the most formidable rebellions against
the Government of that enormous nation has been raised by
men who have from their intercourse with Christian mis-
sionaries created for themselves a sort of travestie of the true
religion.
The crypto-Christianity of the swineherd also is quite in
accordance with what we should expect.
The law that a maiden dishonoured in her father's house
should be stoned seems rather to belong to the Saxons than to
the more licentious Celts, yet the fact that in these early
times succession went through the female, as in the case of
Talorgan, indicates the existence of great corruption, and sug-
gests the possibility of the ordinance of stringent and cruel
laws to stay it. The quantity of fish stranded at Abberlessic
finds its confirmation at this day in some of the rivers of North
America, and we get a curious indication of the trade in fish,
where it is said that Angles, Scottish men, and even Belgians
and Gauls, came to the Isle of May "gratia piscandi." In
PART 11. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixxxvii
lona there was also an ostium fsetoris, Port Loth, or rotten
port.^
If we seek for internal evidence of the value of the second
Life by Joceline, we shall find it in the historical events of the
Cambrian kingdom that are therein incidentally mentioned. In
the eleventh chapter we are told that the king and clergy of
the Cambrian region, with the other Christians, who were few
in number, elected S. Kentigern. This implies (L) that there
had been an apostasy, and that the traces of S. Ninian's mis-
sion had greatly disappeared; (2.) that there was a king in
Strathclyde. This is borne out by fact, for though Eederech
greatly increased his power by his success at Ardderyd, we
know that his father Tudeval reigned before him. The saint's
consecration by an Irish bishop is quite in accordance with
what we know of the constant influence of Ireland, not only on
the colony of the Dalriadic Scoti, but throughout the length and
breadth of what is now Scotland. Many of the Scottish saints,
Ternan, Yarchardus, Wynnin, Molocus, and the like, must have
lived at this time, while in Ireland it was a period of great
sanctity, S. Ailbhe dying in 541, S. Mobhi in 544, S. Ciaran
of Clonmacnoise in 548, with others in the great pestilence,
S. Molaise in 563, S. Ita in 569, S. Brendan of Birr in 571, and
S. Columba in 592.
In Chapter xix. we learn that not only did S. Kentigern
convert to Christianity the inhabitants of his district, but he
recovered many " who had wandered away from a sound belief
in the teaching of some heretical sect." The Synods of
Llanddewi-Brefi and of Lucus Victorias in or about a.d. 569 had
to deal with the Pelagian heresy, and the Canons of 570, which
are described as the " Prefatio Gildse de poenitentia," and those
of the Sinodus Aquilonaris Britannise, in meeting the vices of
the age, add too sad and too true confirmation to the state-
ments of Joceline, that in reforming the ways of the people
^ Reeves's Adamnan, p. 430.
Ixxxviii GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
he had to dissolve incestuous aud unlawful marriages, to change
concubinage into lawful marriage, and generally to meet a case
of great moral degradation.^
In Chapter xx. we get the first mention of Morken or Mor-
cant, of whom we have already made mention. S. Kentigern
retired into Wales, where the cognate Wealas received him, and
Caswallawn LaAv Hir, great-grandson of Cunedda, is well known
to have existed, as we have already stated, though the twelfth
century documents more correctly assign the protection of the
saint to his son Maelgwyn Gwynedd.
Airain, the evangelization of modern Cumberland is attested
by the dedications of the churches in the northern districts of
that county, and by the name Crossfell applied to a remarkable
hiU not far from Penrith, which is mentioned in Joceline's Life.
The local colouring of the monastic and episcopal life of the
saint is in entire conformity with what we know of its condi-
tions in Wales at the time. That Rederech should have been
baptized by the disciples of S. Patrick in Ireland is likely from
what we know of his parentage : according to one of the pedi-
grees, his mother was Irish, and the whole of his successful
reign, commencing with the conquest of Guendoleu at Ard-
deryd, indicates a temporary triumph of Christianity, On the
saint's return to his diocese after he had set things in order
there, it is said that " petiit Albaniam," Scotland north of the
Forth, and here we find traces of him in Aberdeenshire — the
church of Glengarden, now joined to Glenmuick, bearing his
name. AUoa in Fortren is also dedicated to him. This indeed
hardly covers the author's expression, " illic nam multas eccle-
sias erexit, erectas dedicavit." A still more interesting point is
raised by the assertion that his disciples carried the cross to the
Orkneys, Norway, and Iceland. The touching interview between
the two saints, Columba and Kentigern, seems to confirm the
truth of the historical veracity of the books whence the author
1 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Eccl. Doc. vol. i. pp. 113, 117.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. Ixxxix
drew his biography, for from other sources we know the exact
date of S. Coliimha's birth and death, as also the relations
between Aedan and Eederech, which would have made a visit
to Glasgow by the saint of Hy probable. That at the Mel-
lendonor, close to the cemetery of S. Ninian, these two great
heralds of Christianity should meet on a spot already sanctified
by the traditions of the people, is one of those little incidents
which we wish to be true, and which we have no certain reason
for believing not to be so.
It is remarkable, and it must be mentioned in abatement of
the value of Joceline's Life, how very little allusion there is to
the galaxy of saints who illustrated the epoch of S, Kentigern,
both in "Wales and in Ireland. Even the great S. Gildas, born
in his own kingdom of Strath cluyd, at Alcluyd, in 516, is not
mentioned as known to him. Except S. Asaph and S. Dewi,
we have no allusion to the many Welsh bishops and abbots
who illustrated that remarkable century in the Annals of
Wales, and it is equally strange that the allusions to the re-
ligious Life of Ireland are comparatively scanty, although the
recollection of the Magnum Monasterium at Whithern, in his
own diocese, must surely have been preserved.
As we have stated in a preceding paragraph, the dedications
to S. Kentigern under his honorific appellation of Mungo help
in a measure to indicate the ancient sphere of his labours. His
churches are met with not only in the region which represents
the ancient kingdom of Cumbria, but also in Laudonia, while
his name is also found in the districts evangelized by his
master, S. Servanus, as well as in Aberdeenshire. Thus we
have in —
I. DUMFKIESSHIRE.
1. S. Mungo or Abeemilk (N. S. A., Dumfries, 203).
2. KiRKMAHO in Xithsdale (Regist. Vetus de Aberbrothoc),
pp. 212-216.
XC GENERAL INTEODUCTION.
II. LANAEKSHIEE.
1. Lanark, where in the dedication he is joined with S.
Mary (Orig. Paroch., i. 227).
2. BoRTHWiCK or LocHWERWETH (Lib. de Scon, p. 33).
III. MID-LOTHIAK
1 . Penicuik, where is his Well.
2. CURRIE,
IV. BEEWICKSHIRE.
1. PoLWARTH, where is his Fair.
V. PEEBLESSHIRE.
1. Peebles, where is his Well (Orig. Paroch., i. 227).
VI. PEETHSHIRE.
1. Auchterarder (N. S. A., Perth, 290).
VIL INVEENESS-SHIEE.
1. Inverness, where is his Hill.
VIII. CLACKMANNAN.
L Alloa. See confirmation by King James iv. of a grant
made by Alexander Lord Erskine in favour of the church of
Alloa. (Cart. Penes Com. de KelHe.)
IX. ABEEDEENSHIEE.
1. Kynor, part of modern parish of Huntly.
2. Glengarden, now united to Tullich and Glenmuick. In
1726 there remained a proverb in Aberdeenshire in allusion to
S. Kentigern's finding no rest but in doing good, " It is like S.
Mungo's work, which was never done." There are no dedica-
tions to him among the Dalriadic Scots, the churches attributed
to him in Argyleshire being those of S. Fintan-Munnu.
X. SELKIEK.
1. Hassendean (Chronica de Melros, p. 100).
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGEKN. XCl
In the hagiology of Scotland we find two saints who are
referred to S. Kentigern.
" Conval wes a disciple of S. Mungo, and is buried in Inchin-
nane, nocht far fra Glasquew, qiihare he is halden in gret
venerationn of pepill." ^ He is described as the son of an Irish
prince, and is also honoured at Cumnock. His feast is on the
28th of September.^ The other saint who is connected with
him is S. Baldred, who, in the Breviary, which follows Bower,
is called the suffragan of S. Kentigern, and who is said to have
taken him as his model ; but, not to mention that suffragans did
not exist in Britain in his time, S. Baldred was obviously the
" Balthere anachorita " of Tyningham, whose death is re-
corded by Simeon of Durham in 756.^ East Lothian at that
time belonged to the Anglic diocese of Lindisfarne, and not to
the Welsh diocese of Cumbria.
Between the time of the death of S. Kentigern and the restora-
tion of the see, there appears to have been a time of anarchy
and barbarism. Dumbarton was lost to the Britons in 756,
and the country became successively a prey to Picts, Danes,
Scots, and Saxons, But as is generally the case, in spite of
what the Inquisitio says, that their enemies " totam regionem
vastantes ejus habitatores exilio tradiderunt," the old population
in a measure remained, and became the nucleus of the new
nationality. They were called Wealas, a name which, under
the form of Walenses, continued till the time of charter evi-
dence.* Asser and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle relate in the
year 875, that Halfden the Dane frequently harried the Picts
and Stratcludenses or Stratclud-Wealas.
The Inquisition points first at an attack on the Church
" diverse seditiones circumque insurgentes . . . ecclesiam et
ejus possessiones destruxerunt." Then came the banishment,
^ Bellenden's Boece, lib. ix. 17, vol. ii. p. 99.
2 Brev. Aber. p. Estiv., fol. cxvii.
^ Symeon of Durham, Surtees Edition, pp. xvi., 20.
* Regist. Ep. Glas. p. 15.
XCll GENEKAL INTRODUCTION.
which in exaggerated language is described as " omnibus bonis
externiinatis." A great lapse of time occurs, " magnis temporum
intervallis transactis," and then succeeds an influx of different
races, " diverse tribus, diversarum nationum ex diversis partibus
influentes, sed dispari genere et dissimili lingua et vario more
viventes." ^ These would naturally be the different races men-
tioned in the early charters. David cedes the tithes of his
Can of Strathgryfe, Cunningham, Kyle, and Carrick, in a docu-
ment addressed to all the faithful of the realm " tam Gawensibus
quam Anglicis et Scotis;"^ Malcolm iv., "Francis, Anglicis,
Scotis et Galweiensibus,"^ and again, "Francis et Anglicis,
Scottis, Walensibus, Gavelensibus." *
Nothing is known of the see, or of S. Kentigern's successors,
until the episcopate of Magsuen and John, in the time of
Archbishop Kinsir of York, a.d. 1051-lOGO,^ except that the
" Sedulius episcopus Britannise de genere Scottorum," who
appears at the Council at Eome in 721, was probably one of
his successors, for the Strathclyde Britons submitted to the
Pope in 703, while North Wales conformed in 768, and South
Wales in 777.*^ The certain history of the see begins with
Bishop John, who was appointed to it by David of Scotland,
probably in a.d. 1115;^ but we also know from the Inquisitio
that S. Kentigern was then known to have had " plures suc-
cessores," although the see had been recently, and for some
time, vacant and plundered ; and that certain considerable
estates, then searched out and restored to it, were known to
have been " anciently possessed " by that see.^
1 Regiat. Ep. Glas. p. 6. ^ p 12. 3 P. 14.
* P. 15. 5 stubbs, ap Twysden, 1700.
6 See Haddan, vol. ii. p. 7 ; Mansi, Concilia, t. viii. p. 109, ed. Venet. 1729.
^ Inquisitio Davidis, Regist. Ep. Glas. p. 4.
* Haddan and Stubbs, vol, i. p. 151 ; Regist. Ep. Glasg., Preface xvii, note,
where an important letter of Ralph, Archbishop of Canterbury, to Pope Calix-
tusii., written between 1118 and 1122, is quoted as showing that the ancient
Bishop of the district was held by him to have been " unus de illis antiquis
Brittaiiorum episcopis, quos sicut sepe dictum est singidatim beatus Gregorius
ecclesie Cant, subjugavit."
PAKT II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. XCUl
It was natural that the memory of so great a saint should
express itself in the devotional formularies of the Church of
Scotland. Accordingly, even to the period of the Eeformation,
the services for S. Kentigern's Day were special and ample. In
the diocese of S. Andrews, according to the Arbuthnott Missal,
it was kept as a duplex festum with nine lessons, and it is
mentioned that " extra diocesin ejus celebratur in crastino octa-
varum epiphanise." In the church of Aberdeen, as we find from
its Breviary,^ it was a majus duplex, and special provision is
made for its increased splendour when the church is dedicated
to him. Time and the Eeformers have left us no office as it
was sung in his own Cathedral church, but by the kindness of
two friends I am enabled to enrich this Preface with two ser-
vices anterior in date to those of the Arbuthnott Missal or of
the Breviary of Aberdeen.
From the learned Victor de Buck, the admirable continuator
of the Bollandist series of the Acta Sanctorum, I have received
the following communication : —
" Quffi me rogasti de S. Kentigerno, monumenta liturgica
haec in Bollandiano exsistunt codice, cui titulus : Incipit
orclo missalis Fratrum Minorum secundum consuetudinem Bo-
mance curicc; qui Fratres Minores sedem suam habebant in
Scotia, quippe qui sequerentur in S. Kentigerni officio usum
Glascuensem. Officium autem ad missam in festo S. Kentigerni,
quod venit ad finem propriorum officiorum et ante officium
commune in vigilia unius apostoli, scriptum est eadem manu
eodemque atramento quibus reliquus codex, id est, ante annum
1264 ; nam officium in festo SS°"' sacramenti, quod illo anno in
universa ecclesia latina celebrari coepit, non suo loco venit, sed
inter additamenta, adeoque recentiori manu recentiorique atra-
mento scriptum est : quae eadem manns et atramentimi in
orationede S. Niniano^ omnino observantur. Unde manifestum
^ Pars Hyem. fol. xxvii.
'^ The same MS. contains a service for S. Ninian, which is given at page xxiv.
of the present vohime.
XCIV GENEKAL INTRODUCTION.
est S. Keutigerni memoriam anno 1264 esse antiquiorem in
illo libro, S. Niniani recentiorem. Jam sequuntur ilia docu-
menta.
" Festum sancti Kentigerni, episcopi Glasguensis, in octava
epiphanice. Officium ad missam. Introiius, Statuit ei Dominus
pacis. Ps. Memento Domine David, secundum usum Glasguen-
sem et secundum Sarum, Domine, probasti me et cognovisti.
Oratio, Deus, qui beatum Kentegernum, confessorem tuum at-
que pontificem, ecclesise tuae doctorem pariter et rectorem,
mirifice praesignasti, praesta, quaesumus, ut eujus venerandam
eam memorationem agimus, ipsius semper suffragia senciamus.
Per. Epistola, Ecce sacerdos magnus. Graduale, Ecce sacerdos
magnus. V. Non inventus similis illi. Alleluia, V. Justus ger-
minabit. Evan, secundum Matthaeum. In illo tempore dixit
Jhesus d. s. parabolam banc. Homo quidam peregre profici-
scens. Offert. Veritas mea. Secreta. Majestati tuae Domine, in
honore sanctissimi Kentigerni confessoris tui atque pontificis,
hoc munus oblatum sanctifica, ut sit tam acceptabile nobis quam
salubre, per Dominum. Comni. Beatus servus. Postcomm. Divina
libantes misteria, quae in sanctissimi Kentigerni confessoris tui
atque pontificis commemoratione tuae optulisti {lege optulimus)
majestati, te, Domine, suppliciter exoramus ut per ipsum et
cum ipso caelestis gratiae douis perfruamur. Per Dominum.
In commemorationibus heati Kentigerni per annum possunt dici
cpistolce alicc de communi unius confessoris et pontificis, et
similiter cvangelium Vigilate et alia pro libitum
Mr. Dickson of the Eegister House, Edinburgh, has been so
good as to send me the following Office of S. Kentigern from a
MS. Breviary of the latter half of the thirteenth century, lately
acquired for the Advocates' Library : —
De Sancto Kentigerno. R.
In septentrionali Wallia non longe ab Albania
Sancta colit ecclesia Kentegerni sollempnia,
Cui uolatilia fere pisces flumina
Parent ut mancipia domino cliencia
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. XCV
Eius flatu facula sopita pro inuidia
Succenditur in Scocia sine ignis materia.
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Alme presul Kentegerne laudum digne iubilo
Qui dum lumen tenebroso prebuisti populo
Lux cintillis splenduisti crebris in candelabro
Tibi laudes decantantesjepresenta Domino. P. Magn.
Inuit. Celestis Regem patrie adoremus cotidie
Qui Kyntegernum hodie coronauit glorifice. P. Venite.
/ny N. A. Stirps regalis Britannorum Kentegernum protulit
Quem Seruanus uir non uanus litteras edocuit. Evovjb.
P. Beat, uir A. Iste ab infancia iugum portans domui
Presulari stragula promeruit indui. Evovse.
P. Quarefre. A. Emulorum ausibus obuiat puerulus
P. Domine quid. Vitam dando uolucri quam necarant inuidi. Evovae.
[3Iargin: Or. Deus, qui beatum Kentegernum pontificem ecclesie
tue doctorem pariter et rectorem mirifice presignasti, presta quesumus
ut cuius uenerandam festiuitatem agimus, ipsius semper subfragia sen-
tiamus.]
Lectio j'' Preclarus Dei confessor Kentegernus, antistes nobilissima
inclitorum regum Britannic gentis prosapia illustris, set sanctitate vite
morum honestate omniumque uirtutum mirabili execucione longe
illustrior extitit. Quem natum in prouincia que ab auo suo Leudono
rege Leudonia denominatur Sanctus Seruanus, angelica ammonicione
edoctus, ad nutriendum suscepit denote et susceptum apud Colenros
honorifice nutriuit. Ipse uero Kentegernus sicut etate crescebat ita
sensu et gracia cotidie proficiebat. Sanctus uero Seruanus intelligens
eum diuina gracia celitus esse preuentum quanto priuacius educando
instruebat tanto instructum ceteris condiscipulis ardencius diligebat.
B. Christi miles Kentegernus plenus Dei gracia
Regi regum militauit ab adolescentia
Qui per eum ampliauit electorum agmina
Dum moneret legis hostes tuba euangelica.
V. Eructando flumina salutaris sciencie
Plebem lauit. tepidara de tabe apostasie.
Lectio ij" Nam a primeua sue puericie etate Sanctus Kentegernus
Spiritus Sancti gracia repletus diuinorum miraculorum stigmatibus
choruscabat, set quia in omnibus ecclesiis generalis est usus in Sanc-
torum natalicijs illorum gesta et uirtutes ad laudem Dei et gloriam
qui in suis Sanctis semper est ammirabilis declaranda recitare nos, ne ubi
XCVl GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
propalandorum copia miraculorum habundat, nichil dicere arguamur,
plura compendij gracia praetermittentes, pauca ex ipsis que per eum
Deus gessit miraculis, sicut a Sanctis et religiosis nostrorum antiquorum
doetoribus tarn dictis quam scriptis didiscimus, in eius sacra sollemp-
nitate recitanda strisimus.
B. Mirantes pauent emuli quod uita redit uolucri
Quam necarant improuidi auulso lento capita
Virtutum hec primordia sunt facta in Albania
Per Kentigerni merita
V. Qui illesum quondam rubum inflamauit cipite
Sine rogo accendebat corilum mirifice
Per Kentigerni merita.
Lectio ij'^ Erat igitur quedam auicula de specie auium que dicitur
rubisca in refectorio Sancti Seruani, que sibi multum familiaris erat et
cotidie de minutissimis reliquiarum micis super mensam relictis vesce-
batur. Quadam autem die, Sancto Seruano in ecclesia oracioni insistente,
contigit eandem auiculam a Sancto Kentegerno adhuc puerulo, cum
coetaneis suis in refectorio ludente, ex improuiso ictu interfici cuius
auicule corpusculum auulso capite ibidem ante ipsos jacebat. Sanctus
uero Seruanus mox ut a referentibus familiaris auicule interemcionem
didicit, aliquantulum ira commotus^ ab oratorio surrexit et ad refec-
torium concito gradu pergere cepit. Puer autem Sanctus uiso magistro
ualde perterritus [est] timens non tarn debitis uirgularum percussionibus
discipiinari quam qualibet saltern leui correctorie excommunicacionis
sentencia feriri, statim auicule corpusculum cum suo capite accepit et
ipsum capud suo corpori ut prius fuerat adiungens coaptare et dirigere
cepit. Quo facto, ipsa continuo reuisit, et reuiuiscens, sana atque
incolumis contra Sanctum Seruanum garulando alacriter euolauit.
K. Qui elixas condiebat dapes in lebetibus
Hunc defunctum lamentatur herus cum clientibus
Sed culine redit uiuus Kentegerni precibus
Albaniam fugientis citatis amfractibus.
V. Siste gradum prebe uadum fuga ponti reumata
Doctor clamat ad quem amat assequens uestigia.
In iij"' No. A . Sacro flatu pueri conscintillant spatule
Uiridantis corili ut faces ignicome. Evovae.
P. Cu Ivoc A. Pulsat aures Domini uox orantis pueri
Pro defuncto famulo qui reuixit concito. Evovoe.
P. Verbamea.i4. Stupet ledonis alueus mallene ructaus fluctibus
P. Dne de9 nr Quod salebre diuorcia in se grassant reciproca. Evovae.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. XCVil
Lectio iiij" Supradicti uero refectorij ignis qui de celo Sancto Seruano
missus fuerat, ne unquam extingueretur, solebat custodiri, discipuli
autem Sancti Seruani prout forte eis contingeret eundem ignem uua-
quaque nocte custodiebant, quadam uero nocte dum Sanctus Kente-
gernus eum custodiret, ipso dormiente ignis extinctus est. Ipse autem
cum euigilasset a sompno et nullus ignis comparuisset excitauit socios
et indicauit eis quod sibi contigit estimans illis de suo ut sibi uidebatur
infortunio secum condolere et quid sibi esset agendum commonere.
R. Olim fete archam Dei vacce Dagon obruto
De Acharon ad Bethsames plaustrant sine scrupulo
Sic de Ckernach functum tauri redant nuUo preuio
Qui in Glascu funeratur Kentegerni merito.
V. More Symeonico accepto oraculo
Eger uiso puero obiit in Domino
Qui in Glascu, etc.
Lectio v" Illi autem excitati quia miraculorum gracia clioruscabet
sibi semper inuidebant non tamen condolere uel ammonere quid agere
deberet uoluerunt. Set magis quod isti fuit causa tristicie et doloris,
illud idem prestitit illis materiam leticie et hylaritatis, set puer sanctus
quia externo sociorum fuerat destitutus consilio, Diuine inspiracionis
interno eruditur instinctu. Nam subito foras eerediens ad frutices
qui prope monasterium erant quamtocius perrexit, atque ipsorum fruti-
cum frondes hyemali rigore congelatas teneris carpens manibus collegit
et usque ad refectorium deportauit, et super toletum deponens nuUo
igne supposito in sociorum presencia sufBare cepit. At ipsa uiridium
et congelatorum ramusculorum congeries mox ut a beati pueri flatu
iittacta fuerat, sine mora exarsit.
R. Cultro lupi exaratus
Ager ac tellure satus
Germinauit triticum ;
Furibundus rex cecatus
Mitis est illuminatus
Per uirum antenti[c]um.
V. Siluestri apro preuio
Compaginatur predium
In quo sancto collegio
Fit Asaph monasterium.
Lectio ty" Nee mirum dilectissimi fratres si eius anhelitus quum ignis
diuinus fidei feruore intrinsecus inflammauerat, fomitem estrinsecus
appositum velud mordacissiraa flamma combureret. Equum enim
G
XCVill GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
erat ut ignis celestis, qui Dei nutu extinctus ad tempus dissipauerat,
per celestem diuini pueri flatum iterum restitutus compareret. Illius
autem nemoris uiridia uirgulta de quo ipse supradicta lignicula depor-
tauerat ad commendandum hoc miraculum per benedictionis ipsius
meritum velud quelibet arida sine mora inflammescunt. Quod eciam
illius loci incholarum testimonio usque in odiernum diem certissime
comprobatur.
R. Crudi moris rex infaustus et exosus clericis
Documentis obuiauit Sanctis siue magicis
Doctilogum calce pellens instigante uernula
Quern festina mors detrusit rexque languet podagra.
F. Qui submersit Pharaonem et Groliam obruit
Regem nequam ac tironem dira nece perculit
Gloria Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
In iij No. A. Kentegernus nunquam nimbi passus et discrimina
Necdum taxat nix uel grando eius rigant pallia.
Evovse
P. Dne quis A. Lupino fissum uomere agellum seuit puluere
hab Mirante superficie albescit cespes segete. Evovae
P. Dne in A. Crimen suum palliauit regina per anulum
uirtute De profundo quemportauitpisciculuslaticum. Evovae
P. Domini est terra
Evangelium. Homo quidam.
Lectio vij" Cocum autem Sancti Seruani pridie defunctum iterum
diuina gracia per Sanctum Kentegernum hoc modo suseitauit. Qua-
dam autem die Sanctus Seruanus coUegit messores ad messem suam
congregandam. Sed quia cocus suus pridie mortuus fuerat hora
prandii precepit suis discipulis at aliquis illorum messoribus cibaria
prepararet. Illi autem inuidie facibus inflammati Sancto Kentegerno
quia in miraculis choruscabat semper insidiantes subdolose recusabant,
dicentes neminem eorum ad illud seruicium esse ydoneum nisi solum
Kentegernum. Et rogauerunt suum magistrum ut Sancto Kente-
gerno illud officium iniungeret, machinantes semper circa ipsum
magistri incitare indignacionem.
R. Aporia ingruente uir largus diriguit
Miro modo recreandus ope qua uiguit
Cum horisonum avafi flumen lambens horrea
Classicaret sine rate ad eius mapalia.
V. Qui mare scidit Moysi et Jordanem Josue
Annonam sancto presuli Cludum fecit uomere
Ad eius
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. xcix
Lectio viij'^ Sanctus igitur Seruanus, peticioni eorum adquiescens, pre-
cepit Sancto Kentegerno ut messoribus suam impenderet refectionem.
lUe autem penitus respuebat. At magister respuentem talibus aggre-
ditur uerbis " Tu ipse aut messoribus refectionem prepara, aut cecum
nostrum a mortuis, quia clarificaris in miraculis, resuscita." Tunc
Sancto Kentegerno ad sacrata et competencia oracionis loca defugienti,
et sulmixis precibus Deum qui prope est omnibus eum in ueritate
inuocantibus exoranti ut in hoc quod sibi a magistro iniunctum fuerat
succurreret et quid circa emulorum inuidiam deberet agere ostenderet
apparuit angelus Dei dicens, quia pius afflictorum consolator Deus
suas preces exaudiens merito sui fidei et innocencie cocum a mortuis
suscitauit et sibi a magistro discedere concessit.
R. Cudenti in ferugine glauca fabro mittitur
Quod per culpam incurie uado lac effunditur
Nee commiscetur gurgiti liquor nee defluitur
Virtutum in congerie sic Kentegerni cuditur.
V. Veruex gregem comitatur amputato capite
Quod in petram transmutatur ut uxor Loth Sodome.
Lectio ix" Rediuius autem cocus ut antea consueuerat ; cibaria mes-
soribus preparauit et distribuit. Et postea per septem annos uixit,
deinde super tumulum illius iterum morientis, scriptum est quomodo
a Sancto Kentegerno fuerat resuscitatus Et scriptio ilia usque in hunc
diem sed modo lapidibus superpositis tecta, apud Lokencheinoch per-
durat. Eadem autem hora qua defunctus fuit suscitatus, Sanctus
Kentegernus angelo ammonente a magistro discessit. Sed in sua
discessione aliud diuine potencie miraculum non minimum gestum est,
fluuium etenim Scociam a regno Britannorum diuidentem ut ab angelo
fuit ammonitus transire debebat. Transiens uero fluuium et ad
ultiorem ripam perueniens et suum magistrum post se uenientem
respiciens, rogauit Dominum ut fluuius qui recedente pelagi estu sibi
tunc transmeabilis extiterat, confestim equoreo reumate retrogradente
repletus transiri penitus non posset. Quod mox ipsius merito impe-
trante ita factum est. Nam fluuius marinis redundans aquis, ubertim
transgreditur ripas. Sanctus uero Servanus tanto Diuine potencie
miraculo perterritus nee ulterius transgredi ualens, finitis plurimarum
querelarum colloquiis Sancto benediceus discipulo ad suum monaste-
rium repedauit. Ad confirmandam uero huius miraculi ueritatem, in
omni equoree inundacionis accessu et recessu illud littus huiusmodi
naturam quasi priuilegium usque in hodiernum diem uerissime obseruat
quod in nullo alio littore contingere reperitur. Nam antea ceteris
litoribus consimilis nature existere comprobatur.
C GENEKAL INTRODUCTION.
R. Jubente Petrus Domino inescat piscem hamulo
In quo reperto statere didragmam jussit soluere,
Sic Kentegerni merito regine piscis baiulo
De stagno aurum attulit quo uelut insons claruit.
V. Reginam rex supplicio mortis pro adulterio
Torquebat sed redempcio miranda fit in anulo.
Glorie Patri et Filio et Spiritui Sancto.
Psa. Gens Cambrina cum regina plaudite tripudio
V. Vibex fletus dolor metus et mortis condicio.
V. Jam cassantur et purgantur uitali remedio.
V. Limpba celat quod reuelat ixtis here clanculo.
V. Latet regem per quam legem ditetur cum anulo.
V. Ensem tortor condit horror sedatur pre gaudio.
V. Laudes ergo Kentegerno decantat hec conscio.
V. Metam auro quo reperto traxit de ergastulo.
V. Velud insons. In laud.
Eya laudes decantantes iubilemus Domino
Kentegernum uenerantes laudum cum preconio. Evov»
A. Per coronam auream in peplo angelico
Et columpnam flammeam notus est in cuneo. Evovse
A. Sospitati pristine mortuum mirifice
Kentegernus hominem reddidit et uolucrem. Evovae
A. Benedictus Kentegernus gregem suam uisitans
Laruas fugat egros curat plebs exultat obuians. Evovse
A. Laudes Deo decantare sueuit in frigidis
Uudis artusque siccare super frontem silicis. Evovas
A. Sacrosanctam Kentegernus seruans parsimoniam
Fame siti et algore eius pauit animam,
Dum in aquis decantaret frigidis psalterium
Ac quadriduano cibo foueret corpusculum
Ipsum omnes proclamemus cum precum instancia
Ut de mortis torre ducat nos ad celi gaudia. Evovae
P. Bened. Ad ij vs. R. Jubente Petrus,
A. paradoxe pontifex per orb is uasta climata,
Quem phalanges uraniag et siderum officia
Et elementa omnia alterna per prodigia
Clarum declarant Domino qui poli regit dindima
Ab illo nobis uendita perhennis uite premia. Evova3
P. Mag.
In addition to these memorials of S. Kentigern, we may-
mention the Hymn for the Canonical Hours, in imitation of
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. CI
the celebrated one commemorating the incidents of our Lord's
Passion, and commencing —
" Matutino tempore : virtute divina."
It is given from a MS. in the University of Edinburgh/ and
printed as Appendix iv., Eegist. Epis. Glas., Preface, p. xcix.
There is also the tract giving a metrical account of the death
of Somerled in 1166, by a contemporary writer, copied by
Henry Bradshaw, Esq., from MS. of Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge, 130, and printed for the first time in the new
edition of Fordun,^ where his fall, among other reasons, is
imputed to his contempt for the Scottish saints, especially
S. Kentigern : —
" Caput duels infelicis Sumerledi clericus
Amputavit, et donavit pontificis (in) manibus ;
Ut suevit, pie flevit, vise hostis capita,
Dicens Sancti Scotticani sunt laudandi utique.
Et beato Kentegerno tradidit victoriam,
Cujus semper, et decenter, habete memoriam."
As might be expected, we find in the poetry of Scotland
before the Eeformation several allusions to the saint.
In the account of the different saints depicted among the
Scots, in Sir David Lindsay's Dialog betwix Experiens and ane
Courteour,^ we have —
" Thay bryng mad men on fuit and horsse
And byndis thame at Sanct Mongose crosse."
And in the Testament and Complaynt of the Papingo—
" And we shall synge about your sepulture
Sanct Mongoes matynis and the mekle creed.
And syne devotely saye, I you assure,
The auld Placebo bakwart and the beid." *
Wyntoun, in the Orygynale Cronykil of Scotland,^ has
only—
" And in this tyme Saynct Mongowe,
Was byschop lyvand off Glasgowe."
1 A. C. 2. 26, 12mo. 2 Vol. i. p. 449.
3 Laing's ed. vol. i. p. 314. * Ih. p. 89. * Vol. ii. p. 49, ed. 1872.
Cll GENEKAL INTKODUCTION.
Stewart/ in his Cronikil, gives the account of S. Mungo's
meeting with S. Columba, and of their sojourning at Dun-
keld :—
" The holie bischop callit wes Mungo,
Remanand was that tyme into Glasgow ;
The son he wes of King Eugenius,
And dochter sone also to Iving Lothus."
The popular devotion is indicated in the strange prayer of
the Scottish borderers against the pestilence said by the English
to be sent in God's grace for their repentance : — " Gode and
Saint Mungo, Saint Eonayn and Saint Andrew, schield us this
day fro Goddes grace, and the foule death that Englishmen dien
on."^ Boece, or rather his translator Bellenden, exhibits to us
the popular belief concerning him just before the Reforma-
tion : —
" At this time was Sanct Mungo, the haly bischop of Glas-
quew, quhilk was gottin on Sanct Thanew, the doughter of
Loth, king of Pichtis, opprest, contrar hir will, be Eugenius, last
king of Scottis. This Mungo heirand Sanct Colme preiche afore
Brudeus, was ravist in spreit be his devine wourdes, and followit
him to Dunkeld, quhare Conwallus beildit ane riche abbay afore ;
bot now, be magnificence of princis, it is maid ane bischoppis
seit, craftely biggit with square and polist stanis. Quhen tliir
two holy men had remanit vi. monethis in Dunkeld, they de-
partit hame. Sant Mungo returnit to Glasquew, and Sanct
Colme to Ireland." ^
Of personal recollections of S. Kentigern,'* besides his bell,
which existed till after the Reformation, his well still exists in
the cathedral, and his body lies buried in the crypt. That
body, contained in a feretrum, was the object of the cultus of
1 Vol. ii. p. 269 ; London, 1858.
2 Pinkerton's History of Scotland (quoting Walsingham), vol. i. p. 20 ;
London, 1797. Chronica Thomse Walsingham quondam Monachi S. Albani.
Edit. Camden ; Franco!., 1602, p. 228.
3 BeUenden's Boece, lib. ix. c. 14 ; vol. ii. p. 91.
* Reg. Ep. Glas., vol. ii. p. 334.
PAKT II. — THE LIVES OF S, KENTIGEKN. CUl
King Edward I. The Compotus Garderobe of the twenty-ninth
year of his reign records seven shillings given on the 20th of
August " ad feretrum Sancti Kentegerni in Ecclesia Cathedral!
Glasguensi," the same sum on the 21st at the high altar and
at the ferter, and again on the 3d of September.^
In the fifteenth century, in the reign of King James i., an
inventory was made of the ornaments, relics, and jewels of the
Church of Glasgow, among which we find the following objects
which refer to S. Kentigern : " Item xviii lapides preciosi rubei
coloris pro feretro S. Kentigerni in una papiro . . . item xxvi
lapides preciosi diversi coloris pro dicto feretro in alio papiro.
Item xxvi alii lapides preciosi diversi coloris pro dicto
feretro in iii^ papiro. Item in pecunia pro feretro xxvi lib. xv.
f. computando dimidium pro viii f. et lumen pro v f," Among
the relics, " Item in una cofra argentea quadrata parte loricarum
Sanctorum Kentegerni et S. Thomae Cantuar et de parte cHicii
patroni nostri Kentigerni ut patet in cedula. Item in una
parvula fiola coloris croci oleum quod manavit de Tumba
S. Kentegerni, Item una bursa preciosa cum pectinibus Sanc-
torum Kentegerni et Thomae Cantuariensis. Item duo sacculi
linei cum ossibus Sancti Kentegerni, Sancte Tenaw, et aliorum
diversorum Sanctorum.'"^
At the Eeformation, Archbishop Betou, in carrying away to
Paris the charters and muniments of his church, carried away
also "much of the plate and jewels of his church,"^
It was well that he did so. Though the trades of Glasgow
saved their church from actual demolition by the Eeformers, no
mercy was shown to what were considered the relics of idolatry.
The Protestant Lords, Argyle, Euthven, and Stewart, issued an
order to Provost Lindsay and the Magistrates — "We pray you
fail not to pass incontinent to your kirks in Glasgow, and tak
down the hail images thereof, and bring forth into the Idrkz-
1 Regis. Ep. Glas., vol. ii. p. G21. ^ /jj-^, pp 329^ 330.
^ Regis. Ep. Glas., pref. i.
CIV GENERAL INTRODUCTION.
yard and burn them openly. And sicklyke cast down the
altaris, and purge the kirk of all kynd of monuments of
idolatrye . . . hot take guid heyd that neither the dasks, win-
docks, nor duries be onyways hurt or broken, either giassen
work or iron work."^ N'ay, eighty years after, we learn from
the Eecords of the Kirk-Session, under the date of 8th January
1641, when the violence that had pursued the unreformed
Church was turned upon the Episcopalians, the Session enacted
that the IMagistrates will cause all monuments of idolatry to
be taken down and destroyed, viz., all superstitious pictures,
crucifixes, etc., both in private houses and in the Hie Kii'k.
Next day it was reported that they had found only three that
could be called so, viz.. The Five Wounds of Christ, The Holy
Lamb, and Kentigerne ora pro nobis.^
There is a striking passage in Mabillon,^ where he shows
how towns and cities grew out of the monastic life. The
Benedictine monks in Germany were founders of burghs as well
as cultivators of the soil. Xot only did Fulda rise up in the
midst of pathless forests, but Corby and Bremen in Saxony,
Hersfeld and Friteslaria in Thuringia, Salzburg, Freisingen,
and Eisted in Bavaria, S. Gall in Helvetia, and many others
sprung from the villages that were built round the religious
house. " Primo loco occurrit Buchonia, solitudo quondam in-
gens, in Francise orientalis et Turingise confinio at postquam
eo in saltu Bonifacius Monasterium Fiildense construxit ex
horrore illo emersit urbs et regio non ingrata. . . . Inde nomen
a fago Buchonise relictum, auctore Candido in Vita Sancti
Eigilis. Idem praestitit Bonifacius variis in locis tam per se
quam per suos, aliique e nostris post eum. Quid enim quon-
dam Corbeia, quid Brema, modo urbes in Saxonia? quid Fritis-
laria, quid Hersfeldum, opida in Turingia ? quid Salzburgum,
Frisinga, Eistetum, urbes episcopales in Bajoaria ? quid opida
^ The History of Glasgow by -vrriters of Eminence ; Glasgow, 1872, vol. i.
p. 85. -' Ibid. p. 168.
2 Prffifat. in iii. Secul. Benedict., § 5.
PART II. — THE LIVES OF S. KENTIGERN. CV
Sancti Galli et Campidona apud Helvetios ? quid numerosa
alia opida in tota Germania ? horridse quondam solitudines et
latibula ferarum : nunc liominum amcenissima diversoria,
postquam ea nostri labore et industria sua excoluerunt. Facile
esset id etiam de aliis provinciis ac regnis demonstrare sed
ista in exemplum sufficiunt ut intelligant omnes ex Benedic-
tinse familiae propagatione quid emolumenti et ornamenti
regnis Christianis accesserit."^ One cannot help recurring to
this thought with reference to the subject of this memoir.
The great city of Glasgow, which, springing from the little
burgh founded by William the Lion in the twelfth century, as
a mart of barter with the rude inhabitants of the Highlands
and neighbourhood, has now become the third city of the
empire, numbering at midsummer 1872 a population of
578,705 inhabitants, possessing nearly a thousand ships,
exhibiting a tonnage of 444,581, returning with Greenock and
Port-Glasgow the enormous sum of £2,034,816, Os. Id. as
Customs duties, slaughtering 69,499 oxen, 285,549 sheep and
lambs, 13,448 pigs, burning 1,227,229,000 cubic feet of gas,
exhibiting a rental of £2,327,513, paying duty on 676,590 lbs.
of tea, and 2,692,456 lbs. of tobacco,^ owes its existence to the
earthen rath and wattled church which S. Kentigern erected
by the Mellendonor stream, beside the old cemetery of
S. Mnian.
^ Acta Sanctorum Beuedict., sec. v. p. xxxiii.
2 Report upon the Vital, Social, and Economic Statistics of Glasgow for
1872. By W. West Watson, F.S.S., City Chamberlain; Glasgow, 1873,
pp. 41, 59, 65, 74, 72, 47, 72.
THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN
BY AILKED.
HERE BEGINNETH THE LIFE OF S. NINIAN, BISHOP AND CON-
FESSOR, BY AILRED, ABBOT OF RIEVAUX, TRANSLATED
FROM THE ANGLIC LANGUAGE INTO LATIN.i
PROLOGUE.
It hath been the desii-e of many of the wise who
have hved before us to commit to writing the Hves,
the manners, and the words of the saints, especially
of those who have flourished in their own times, and
thus to redeem from obhvion, and perpetuate the
memory of, the example of the more perfect life to the
edification of posterity. But they who had distin-
guished genius, and fluency of speech, and the Hght-
ness of eloquence, did this the more usefully in so far
as they gratified the ears of those who Hstened to
them by pohshed language. Yet those, to whom on
account of the barbarism of their native land, the
faculty of speaking gracefully and elegantly was lack-
ing, did not defraud posterity of an account of those
who were to be imitated, although in a more simple
style. Hence it happened that a barbarous language^
obscured the life of the most holy Ninian,^ whom the
^ This is the superscription of the raanviscript in the British Museum.
'^ Note A. 3 Note B.
PEOLOGUE.
sanctity of his ways and his distraguished miracles
commend to us, and the less it gi^atified the reader
the less it edified him. Accordingly it pleased thy
holy affection^ to impose upon mine insignificance the
task of rescuing from a rustic style as from darkness,
and of bringing forth into the clear light of Latin
diction, the life of this most renowned man, a Hfe
which had been told by those who came before me,
truly indeed, but in too barbarous a style. I embrace
thy devotion, T approve thy desire, I praise thy zeal,
but I know mine own inexperience, and I fear to strip
it of the coarse garments in which it hath hitherto been
hidden, and not be able to deck it in those in which
it may appear more comely. But since I cannot
reftise what thou dost enjoin, T will attempt what
thou commandest, as I prefer to be judged by thee
incompetent rather than obstinate. Mayhap, what
my imperfection denieth, thy faith will supply, thy
prayer secure, thy sanctity obtain. He too for whose
honour and love thou desirest me to do this will assist
thy pious vows, thine aspirations, and my attempt
and my study. Moreover, by his merits, thou trustest
that to me may be given the learned tongue and the
copious speech. To this must be added that which thou
sayest, that the clergy and people of thy holy church,
who are moved by a rare affection for the saint of God
under whose protection they live, wiU receive with
the greatest devotion what I write, since, as thou
sayest, the desires of all have specially selected me for
1 Note C.
PROLOGUE.
this work. I undertake therefore the burden which
thou layest upon me, moved indeed by thy prayers,
but quickened by faith. I will labour, as He will
deign to aid me, who maketh eloquent the tongues
of infants, so to temper my style, that on the one
hand an offensive roughness obscure not so high a
matter, and on the other hand, that a freedom of
speech, not so eloquent as fatiguing, cheat not of the
desired fruit of this my labour the simplicity of those
who cannot appreciate a proper rhetoric. May the
grace of the Saviour bless this undertaking, and may
He who bestowed upon him the virtues whereby he
is deemed meet to be held in everlasting remembrance
make us who record them worthy, and bestow upon
us the reward of our toil, that his prayer may ever
attend us in the way whereby we hasten to our father-
land. And in the hour of our departure, when we
await the end of the way and the beginning of the
hfe, may his consolation be near us, and for his holy
merit's sake the eternal reward of the heavenly good
things.
[THE PREFACE.
The Testimony of Bmda concerning Ninian, loith observations
of Ailred.'j
Divine autliority, wliich from the beginning is acknowledged
to have constituted the holy patriarch Abraham a father of
many nations, and a prince of the faith predestinated from
ancient times, by such an oracle as this — " Get thee out of thy
coimtry, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house,
unto a land that I shall show thee, and I will make of thee a
great nation," ^ recommendeth to us the glorious life of the most
holy Ninian, on this wise, that this most blessed one leaving
his country, and his father's house, learnt in a foreign land
that which afterwards he taught unto his ow^n, " being placed
by God over the nations and kingdoms, to root out, and to
pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and
to plant." ^ Of this most holy man. Venerable Bseda, calling
attention in a very few words to the sacred beginnings of his
life, the tokens of his sanctity, the dignity of his ofl&ce, the fruit
of his ministry, his most excellent end, and the reward of his
toil, thus writeth concerning him : —
" In the year after the incarnation of the Lord 565, at the
time when Justin the Less, after Justinian, had received the
government of the Eoman Empire, there came to Britain out of
Ireland a presbyter and abbot, remarkable for his monastic
habit and rule, by name Columba, with the intention of preach-
ing the word of God in the provinces of the Northern Picts ;
that is, to those who were separated from the southern regions
by lofty and rugged ranges of mountains. For the Southern
Picts themselves, who dwell on this side of the same moun-
tains, had long before abandoned idolatry, and embraced the
faith in the truth, by the preaching of the word by Bishop
Ninian, a most reverend and holy man, of the nation of the
Britons, who had at Eome been regularly instructed in the
faith and mysteries of the truth ; the seat of whose episcopate.
^ Gen. xii. 1. ^ Jer. i. 10.
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 7
dedicated to S. Martin, and a remarkable church, where he
resteth in the body along with many saints, the nation of the
Angles now possesseth. That place, appertaining to the pro-
vince of the Bernicii, is vulgarly called * At the White House,'
for that there he built a church of stone in a way unusual
among the Britons."^
On the trustworthy testimony of this great author, we have
been made acquainted with the origin of S. Ninian, in that he
stateth that he was of the race of the Britons, trained in the
rules of the faith in the Holy Eoman Church ; with his office,
in that he declareth him to have been a bishop and a preacher
of the word of God ; with the fruit of his labours, in that he
proveth that the Southern Picts were converted from idolatry
to the true religion by his toil; and, with his end, in that
he witnesseth that he resteth along with many saints in the
Church of S. Martin. But that which he briefly, in view of
the tenor of his history, seemeth barely to have touched upon,
a book of his Life and Miracles, written in a barbarous style
detaileth at greater length. This book, never varying from
the foundation of this witness, hath recorded in historical
fashion the way whereby he made this commencement, merited
such fruit, and attained unto so worthy an end.
[CHAPTEE I.
The Birth of Ninian, and his Training^
Therefoee in the island of Britannia, which Ions ago, as
they say, took its name from Brutus, among a race of the same
name, and of no ignoble family, did the blessed Ninian spring -.^
in that region, it is supposed, in the western part of the island
(where the ocean stretching as an arm, and making as it were
on either side two angles, divideth at this day the realms of
the Scots and the Angles), which till these last times belong-
ing to the Angles, is proved not only by historical record but
by actual memory of individuals to have had a king of its own.
His father was a king, by religion a Christian, of such faith in
God, and of such merit,^ as to be deemed worthy of a child by
whom what was lacking to the faith of his own nation was sup-
plied, and by whom another race that had not known the sacra-
ments of the faith became imbued with the mysteries of our
holy religion. He in very infancy, regenerated in the water of
1 Bseda, H. E. lib. iii. c. iv. 2 -^q^^ d. 3 Note E.
II
8 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
holy baptism, presendng immaculate the nuptial robe which
clad in white he had received, a conqueror of vice, presented it
in the sight of Christ ; and that Holy Spirit whom he first
received to cleanse him, he merited by his most holy ways to
maintain as the instructor of his pious heart. For by His
^y-^'V'*' f guidance, while yet a boy, though not in sense one, he shunned
' whatsoever was contrary to religion, adverse to chastity, opposed
to good morals, and discordant with the laws of the truth. But
whatsoever was of the law, of grace, of good report, whatsoever
was useful to man, or well-pleasing to God, that he ceased not to
I follow with a mind already mature. Happy was he whose delight
was in the law of the Lord day and night, who like a tree
planted by the water-side brought forth his fruit in due season,^
seeing that in the vigour of manhood he strenuously fulfilled
that which he had learnt with the greatest devotion. Wonder-
ful was his reverence about churches ; great his love for the
brethren. He was sparing in food, reticent in speech, assiduous
in study, agreeable in manners, averse from jesting, and in
everjihing subjecting the flesh to the spirit. "W^ierefore bending
his mind to the sacred Scriptures, when he had learnt according
to their way the rides of the faith from the more learned of his
race, the young man came by the exercise of his penetrating
genius to see, what by the divine inspiration he had gathered
from the Scriptures, that much was wanting to their perfection.
On this his mind began to be agitated, and not enduring anything
I short of perfection, he toiled and sighed. His heart was hot
i within him, and at last in meditation the fire kindled.^ " And
what," said he, " shall I do ? I have sought in mine own land
Him whom my soul loveth. I sought Him, but I have found
Him not. I will arise now, and I will compass sea and land.
I will seek the truth which my soul loveth.^ Surely needeth it
such toil as this. Was it not said to Peter, 'Thou art Peter, and
on this rock I will build my church ; and the gates of hell* shall
not prevail against it'?^ Therefore in the faith of Peter there is
naught inferior, naught obscure, naught imperfect, naught against
which false doctrine and perverse opinions, like the gates of hell,
can prevail. And where is the faith of Peter but in the See
of Peter ? Thither certainly, thither I must betake me, that,
going forth from my land, and from my kinsfolk, and from the
house of my father, I may be deemed meet in the land of
vision to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit His
temple.'' The false prosperit}^ of the age smileth on me, the
1 Ps. i. 3. - Ps. xxxix. 4. 3 Cant. iii. I.
* Note F. s S. .Matt. xvi. IS. « Ps. xxvii. 4.
LIFE OF S. NINIAN.
vanity of the world alliireth me, the love of earthly relation-
ship softeneth my soul, toil and the weariness of the flesh
deter me, but the Lord hath said, ' He that loveth father or
mother more than me is unworthy of me, and he that taketh
not up his cross and followeth me is unworthy of me.'^ I have
learnt moreover that they who despise the royal court shall
attain to the heavenly kingdom." AVherefore, animated by the
impulse of the Holy Spirit, spurning riches, and treading
down all earthly affections, the noble youth betook himself to
pilgrimage, and having crossed the Britannic sea, and entered
Italy by the Galilean Alps, he safely arrived at the city.^
He arrivctli at Bome-
His Intercourse
Native Lancl.^
[CHAPTEE 11.
-He is consecrated BisJiop hy the Pope —
vHth S. Martin — His Return unto his
The most blessed youth having arrived at Eome, when he
had shed tears, proofs of his devotion, before the sacred relics
of the apostles, and had with many prayers commended the
desire of his heart to their patronage, betook himself to the
Bishop of the Supreme See, and when he had explained to
him the cause of his journey, the Pope accepted his devotion,
and treated him with the greatest affection as his son. Pre-
sently he handed him over to the teachers of truth to be imbued
with the disciplines of faith and the sound meanings of Scrip-
ture.^ But the young man, full of God, took notice that he had
not laboured in vain or to no purpose ; he learnt moreover that
on him and his fellow-countrymen many things contrary to
sound doctrine had been inculcated by unskilled teachers.
Therefore with the greatest eagerness, with eidarged moutli,
receiving the word of God, like a bee he formed for himself
the honeycombs of wisdom by arguments from the different
opinions of doctors, as of various kinds of flowers. And
hiding them within his inmost heart, he preserved them to
be inwardly digested and brought forward for the refreshment
of his inward man and for the consolation of many others.*
Verily it was a worthy recompense that he who for the love
of truth had despised country, wealth, and delights — brought,
if I may so say, into the secret chambers of truth, and admitted
to the very treasures of wisdom and knowledge, — should re-
„■)»:
1 S. Luke ix. 22.
2 Note G.
3 Note H.
* Note I.
10 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
ceive for carnal things spiritual tilings, for earthly things
heavenly things, for temporal blessings eternal goods. Mean-
while, as chaste in body, prudent in mind, provident in
counsel, circumspect in every act and word, he was in the
mouths of all, it happened that he rose to the favour and
friendship of the Supreme Pontiff himself. Wherefore, after
living in a praiseworthy manner for many years in the city,
and having been sufficiently instructed in the sacred Scriptures,
he attained to the height of virtue, and, sustained on the wings
of love, he rose to the contemplation of spiritual things. Then
the Eoman Pontiff, hearing that some in the western parts of
Britain had not yet received the faith of our Saviour, and that
some had heard the word of the gospel either from heretics or
from men ill instructed in the law of God, moved by the Spirit
of God, consecrated the said man of God to the episcopate with
his own hands, and, after giving him his benediction, sent him
forth as an apostle to the people aforesaid. There flourished at
this time the most blessed Martin, Bishop of the city of Tours,
whose life, rendered glorious by miracles, already described by
the most learned and holy Sulpicius, had enlightened the whole
world.^ Therefore the man of God, returning from the City, full
of the Spirit of God, and touched with the desire of seeing him,
turned aside to the city of Tours. With what joy, devotion,
and affection he was received by him, who shall easily tell ?
By the grace of prophetic illumination the worth of the new
bishop was not hid from him, whom by revelation he recognised
as sanctified by the Holy Spirit and sure to be profitable to
the salvation of many. The pillars in the tabernacle of God
are joined one with the other, and two cherubim stretching
out their wings touch each other ; sometimes borne up on the
wings of virtue they soar to God, sometimes standing and fold-
ing their wings they become edifying to each other. Therefore
coming back from these exalted things to what is earthly,
blessed Ninian besought of the saint masons,^ stating that he
proposed to himself that, as in faith, so in the ways of building
churches and in constituting ecclesiastical offices, he desired
to imitate the holy Eoman Church. The most blessed man
assented to his wishes ; and so, satiated with mutual conversa-
tions as with heavenly feasts, after embraces, kisses, and tears,
shed by both, they parted, holy Martin remaining in his own
See, and Ninian hastening forth under the guidance of Christ
to the work whereunto the Holy Ghost had called him. Upon
his return to his own land a great multitude of the people
1 Note K. 2 Note L.
I
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 1 1
"went out to meet him; there was great joy among all, and
wonderful devotion, and the praise of Christ sounded out on
all sides, for they held him for a prophet. Straightway that
active husbandman of the Lord proceeded to root up what had
been ill planted, to scatter what had been ill gathered, to cast
down what had been ill built. Having purged the minds of
the faithful from all their errors, he began to lay in them the
foundations of faith unfeigned ; building thereon the gold of
wisdom, the silver of knowledge, and the stones of good works :
and all the things to be done by the faithful he both taught
by word and illustrated by example, confirming it by many
and great signs following.
[CHAPTER III
Tlie Fowidation of the Church of TVliithem.]
But he selected for himself a site in the place which is now
termed Witerna,^ which, situated on the shore of the ocean,
and extending far into the sea on the east, west, and south
sides, is closed in by the sea itseK, while only on the north is
a way open to those who would enter. There, therefore, by the
command of the man of God, the masons whom he had brought
with him built a church, and they say that before that none in
Britannia had been constructed of stone. And having first
learnt that the most holy Martin, whom he held always in
wondrous affection,^ had passed from earth to heaven, he was
careful to dedicate the church itself in his honour.
[CHAPTEE IV.
Jle healeth and converteth King TuduvallusI]
Thekefore this light set upon a candlestick began to those
who were in the house of the Lord to shine forth in heavenly
signs and radiant flames of virtue, and to enlighten darkened
minds with the clear and burning word of the Lord, and to
warm the cold. There was in that region a king (for the
whole island lay subjected to diverse kings), by name Tudu-
vallus, whom riches, power, and honour had excited to pride, in
whom the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eye, and the
wealth of the world had so ministered to his haughtiness, that
^ Note M. 2 ]s^ote N.
1 2 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
he presumed himself to be able to do as much as any one, and
he had the presumption to believe that wliat any one could
do was both possible and lawful to him also. He, despising
the admonitions of the man of God, alike secretly depreciated
his doctrine and manners, and openly opposed his sound teach-
ing, so that the earth seemed rejected and nigh to cursing, in
that, drinking in the rain that came oft upon it, it brought
forth thorns and thistles, and not wholesome herbs. But at a
certain time, when he had been more than usually hostile to
the man of God, the heavenly Judge suffered no longer that the
injury to his servant should go unavenged, but struck him on
the head with an unbearable disease, and broke the crown of
the head of him that walked in his sins. To such an extent
did his sickness prevail that a sudden blindness darkened
those haughty eyes, and he who had opposed the light of truth
lost the light of sense ; but not in vain, nor to the increase of
his folly. For the poor man lay oppressed by pain, deprived
of sight ; but, darkened externally, he became enlightened in
the inward parts.^ When returning iinto himself he confessed
his sin, seeking a remedy from him alone, to whom he had
hitherto exhibited himself as an enemy. At last, calling to-
gether his relations, taking advice from them, since he could not
go himself, being debarred by his infirmity, he sent messengers
to the man of God, beseeching him not to enter into judgment
with his servant, nor to reward him according to his deeds, but
as an imitator of the divine benignity, to return good for evil,
love for hatred. The most blessed man hearing this, not elated
with human pride, but abounding as ever in the bowels of com-
passion, having first offered up prayer to God, went straightway
to the. sick man with the greatest kindness and devotion. And
first he corrected him with tender reproof, and then touching
the head of the sick man with healing hand, he signed the blind
eyes with the sign of the saving life. What shall I more say?
The pain fled, the blindness was driven away by the coming
light, and so it came to pass that the disease of the body cured
the disease of the soul, and the power of the man of God
expelled the disease of the body. Healed therefore in both,
in body and mind, he began thenceforth with all affection to
cherish and venerate the saint of God, knowing by experi-
ence that the Lord was with him, and directed all his ways,
giving him power against everything that exalteth itself against
the knowledge of Christ, since He was ready to avenge every
disobedience and injury inflicted on the servants of Christ.
1 Note 0.
» LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 13
If, therefore, this contemptuous and proud man, by the grace
of humiliation and penance, was deemed meet to be healed
by the holy man, who shall doubt that he, who with sure faith
and sincere and humble heart, seeks the aid of so great a saint
for the curing the wounds of his inner man, shall obtain a
speedy remedy by his holy merits. But let us now go on to
other things, which seem so much the greater, in proportion as
they are proved to be contrary to nature itself.
[CHAPTER V.
He clcardh the Presbyter accused of Violation^]
There was a certain girl in the service of one of the noble-
men, as to the sinful flesh fair of face and graceful of aspect,
on whom, when an unchaste young man had cast his eyes,
he was seized with a bhnd love, and not able to subdue the
flame of the lust which he had conceived, began to urge the
girl to consent to sin. At length by solicitation or by money,
he caused that she should conceive sorrow to bring forth
iniquity. The unhappy woman yielded to the other's lust, little
recking of the judgment of God, while she hoped to evade the
eyes of man ; but by the swelling of her womb the crime was
betrayed, and soon laughter was turned into weeping, joy into
sorrow, pleasure into pain. But what could she do ? whither
turn ? The law, her parent, her master were feared. Where-
fore the unhappy woman made a covenant with death, and put
her trust in a lie, believing that she would seem less guilty if
she said that she had been deceived or forced by some one of
great name. Being urged therefore by the elders to denounce
the guilty man, she laid the charge of violence on the presbyter
to whom the bishop had delegated the care of the parish. All
were astonished who heard that word. They acquitted the girl
of the crime which they thought a man of such authority had
committed. The good were scandalized, the wicked elated, the
common people laughed, and the sacred order was scoffed at ;
the presbyter, whose fame was injured, was saddened. But the
innocence of the priest by the revelation of the Spirit was not
hidden from the bishop beloved by God. He bore, however,
with impatience the scandal to the Church and the injury to
holy religion. Meanwhile the days of the woman were accom-
plished that she should bring forth a child, and she bore a son,
not, as was supposed, to the disgrace of the priest, but to that
of the father and the unworthy mother. For the bishop sum-
14 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
moned to the Church all the clergy and people, and having
exhorted them in a sermon, laid his hands on those who had
been baptized. Meanwhile the bold woman, casting aside all
shame, bursting in among the people with those who belonged
to her, thrust the cliild in the face of the presbyter, and vocife-
rated in the ears of all the congregation that he was the father
of the child, a violator and deceiver. A clamour arose among
the people ; shame among the good, laughter among the wicked.
But the saint, commanding the people to keep quiet, ordered
the child to be brought to him, being then only one night old.
Wherefore, inflamed by the Spirit of God, when he had fixed his
eyes on him, he said, " Hearken, child, in the name of Jesus
Christ, say out before tliis people if this presbyter begat thee."
this marvel ! work worthy of all admiration ! the
strange clemency of God ! the ineffable power of the faith
of Christ ! Verily, aU things are possible to liim that believeth ;
but what shall I say ? [What could not the faith of Ninian
do? Certainly nature waiteth on faith, age on virtue ; shall not
nature wait upon the Lord of Nature ?] Age is not needed to
produce an instrument, nor teaching for the office, nor time for
practice, but at the instance of faith the divine power gave
eloquence to the tongue of the infant, and out of the mouth
of a babe and suckling,^ it confounded the guilty, convicted the
liar, absolved the innocent. Accordingly out of the infant
body a manly voice was heard; the untaught tongue formed
rational words. Stretching out his hand, and pointing out his
real father among the people, — "This," said he, "is my father.
He begat me. He committed the crime laid upon the priest.
Verily, bishop, thy priest is innocent of this guilt, and there
is naught between him and me but the community of the same
nature." This was enough.^ The child thereupon became
silent, to speak again by and bye according to the law of nature
and the changes of advancing years. Thanksgiving sounded
in the mouth of all, and the voice of praise, and aU the people
exulted with joy, understanding that a great prophet had risen
among them, and that God had visited His people.^
[CHAPTEK VI.
J7e undertaketh the Conversion of the Picts — He returneth home.]
Mean'AVHILE the most' blessed man, being pained that the
devil, driven forth from the earth within the ocean, should find
1 Ps. viii. 2. 2 xote P. 3 s. Liike i. 68.
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 15
rest for himself in a corner of this island in the hearts of the
Picts, girded liimself as a strong wrestler to cast out his tyranny ;
taking, moreover, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation,
the breastplate of charity, and the sword of the Spirit, which is
the word of God.-^ Fortified by such arms, and surrounded by
the society of his holy brethren as by a heavenly host, he
invaded the empire of the strong man armed, with the purpose
of rescuing from his power innumerable victims of his captivity :
wherefore, attacking the Southern Picts,^ whom still the Gentile
error wMch clung to them induced to reverence and worship
deaf and dumb idols, he taught them the truth of the gospel
and the purity of the Christian faith, God working with him,
and confirming the word with signs following.^ The blind see,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead
are raised, those oppressed of the devil are set free.* A door is
opened for the Word of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit ;
the faith is received, error renounced, temples cast down,
churches erected. To the font of the saving laver run rich
and poor, young and old, young men and maidens, mothers
with their children, and, renouncing Satan with all his works
and pomps, they are joined to the body of the believers by
faith, by confession, and by the sacraments. They give thanks
to the most merciful God, who had revealed His Name in the
islands that are afar off, sending to them a preacher of truth,
the lamp of their salvation, calling them His people which were
not His people, and them beloved which were not beloved, and
them as having found mercy who had not found mercy.^ Then
the holy bishop began to ordain presbyters, consecrate bishops,*"
distribute the other dignities of the ecclesiastical ranks, and
divide the whole land into certain parishes. Finally, having
confirmed the sons whom he had begotten in Christ in faith
and good works, and having set in order all things that re-
ferred to the honour of God and the welfare of souls, bidding
his brethren farewell, he returned to his own church,''' where, in
great tranquillity of soul, he spent a life perfect in all sanctity
and glorious for miracles.
1 Eph. vi. 17.
* S. Luke vii. 22.
6 Note K.
2 Note Q.
5 Hos. i. 10.
7 Note S.
3 S. Mark xvi. 20.
Cf. Eom. ix. 25.
1 G ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
[CHAPTEE VIL
The Miracle among the Leeks^
It happened on a day that the holy man with his brethren
entered the refectory to dine, and seeing no pot-herbs or vege-
tables on the table, he called the brother to whom the care of
the garden had been committed, and asked the reason why
upon that day no leeks or herbs had been placed before the
brethren. Then he said, " Verily, father, whatever remained
of the leeks and such like I this day committed to the ground,
and the garden has not yet produced anything lit for eating."
Then said the saint, " Go, and whatsoever thy hand findeth, gather
and bring to me." Wondering, he stood trembling, hesitating
what to do ; but knowing that Ninian could order nothing in
vain, he slowly entered the garden. Then followed a wonder,
incredible to all save those who knew that to him that be-
lieveth all things are possible. He beheld leeks and other
kinds of herbs not only grown, but bearing seed. He was
astonished, and, as if in a trance, thought that he saw a vision.
Finally, returning to himself, and calling to mind the power of
the holy man, he gave thanks unto God, and culKng as much
as seemed sufficient, placed it on the table before the bishop.
The guests looked at each other, and with heart and voice
magnified God working in His saints ; and so retired much
better refreshed in mind than in body.
[CHAPTER VIII.
Of the Animals and the TJiieves.]
It sometimes pleased the most holy Mnian to visit his flocks
and the huts of his shepherds, wishing that the flocks, which he
had gathered together for the use of the brethren, the poor and
the pilgrims, should be partakers of the episcopal blessing.
Therefore, all the animals being gathered into one place, when
the servant of the Lord had looked upon them, he lifted up his
hand and commended all that he had to the Divine protection.
Going, therefore, round them all, and drawing as it were a little
circle with the staff on which he leant, he enclosed the cattle,
commanding that all within that space should that night re-
main under the protection of God. Having done all this, the
man of God turned aside to rest for the night at the house of a
certain honourable matron. When, after refreshing their bodies
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 17
with food and their minds with the word of God, all had gone to
sleep, certain thieves appeared, and seeing that the cattle were
neither enclosed by walls, nor protected by hedges, nor kept in
by a ditch, they looked to see if any one was watching, or if
anything else resisted their attempt. And when they saw
that all was silent, and that nothing was present that by voice
or movement or barking might frighten them, they rushed in
and crossed the bounds which the saint had fixed for the cattle,
wishing to carry them all off. But the Divine power was
present resisting the ungodly, nay, casting them down, using
against those, %vho, as brute beasts, minded their bellies and
not their reason, the instrumentality of an irrational animal.
For the bull of the herd rushed upon the men in fury, and striking
at the leader of the thieves, threw him down, pierced liis belly
Avith his horns, seudino; forth his life and his entrails too-ether.
Then tearing up the earth with his hoofs, he smote with mighty
strength a stone which happened to be under his foot, and, in
a wonderful way, in testimony of the miracle, the foot sunlc
into it as if into soft wax, leaving a footmark in the rock, and
by the footmark giving a name to the place. For to this day
the place in the English tongue is named Farres Last,^ that is,
the Footprint of the Bull. Meanwhile, the most blessed father
having iinished the solemn service of prayer, went aside, and
finding the man disembowelled and lying dead among the feet
of the cattle, and seeing the others rushing about hither and
thither as if possessed by furies, moved with compassion, and
turning earnestly to God, besought Him to raise the dead.
Nor did he cease from tears and entreaties till the same power
which had slain him restored him not merely to life, but made
him safe and sound. For, verily, the power of Christ, for the
merit of the saint, smote him and healed him, killed and re-
stored him to life, cast him down to hell and raised him again.^
Meanwhile the others, whom, running about the whole night,
a certain madness had enclosed within the circle which the
saint had made, seeing the servant of God, cast themselves
with fear and trembling at his knees imploring pardon. And
he, benignantly chiding them and impressing upon them the
fear of God and the judgment prepared for the rapacious, giving
them his benediction, granted them permission to depart.
Note T. 2 1 Sam. ii. 6.
18 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
[CHAPTER IX.
Ailrecl complaindh of the Morals of his own Age — Ninian's
VMij of Life — The Miracle of the Shower.]
As I reflect on the devout conversation of this most holy man,
I am ashamed of our sloth, and of the laziness of this miser-
able generation. Which of us, I ask, even among servants, does
not more frequently utter jestings than things serious, icUe
things than things useful, carnal things rather than things spiri-
tual, in common conversation and intercourse ? The mouths
that Di\dne grace consecrated for the praise of God, and for the
celebration of the holy mysteries, are daily polluted by back-
biting and secular words, and they weary of the Psalms, the
Gospel, and the Prophets. They all the day busy themselves
with the vain and base works of man. How do they con-
duct themselves wlien journeying ? Is not the body like the
mind, all day in motion while the tongue is idle ? Eumours
and the doings of wdcked men are in men's mouths ; religious
gravity is relaxed by mirth and idle tales ; the affairs of kings,
the duties of bishops, the ministries of clerics, the quarrels of
princes, above all, the lives and morals of all are discussed.
We judge every one but ourselves, and, what is more to be
deplored, we bite and devour one another, that we may be
consumed one of another.^ Not go the most blessed Mnian,
not so, whose repose no crowd disturbed, whose meditation no
^ J' journey hindered, whose prayer never grew lukewarm through
fatigue. For whithersoever he went forth, he raised his soul
to heavenly things, either by prayer or by contemplation. But
so often as turning aside from his journey he indulged in rest,
either for himself or for the beast on which he rode, bringing'
out a book which he carried about with him for the very
purpose, he delighted in reading or singing something, for he
felt with the prophet, " how sweet are thy words unto my
throat ! yea, sweeter than honey unto my mouth." - "\Mience
the Divine power bestowed such grace upon him, that even
when restingr in the open air, when reading ,in the hea\-iest
rain, no moisture ever touched the book on which he was
intent, ^^^len all around him was everywhere wet wdth water
running upon it, he alone sat with his little book under the
waters, as if he were protected by the roof of a house. Now it
happened that the most reverend man was making a journey
1 Gal. V. 15. Note U. 2 Pgalm cxix. 103.
LIFE OF S, NINIAN. 19
with one of his brethren then alive, also a most holy person, by-
name Plebia, and as his custom was he solaced the weariness
of his journey with the Psalms of David. And when, after a
certain portion of the journey, they turned aside from the
public road, that they might rest a little, having opened their
Psalters, they proceeded to refresh their souls with sacred read-
ing. Presently the pleasant serenity of the weather, becoming
obscured by black clouds, poured down from on high to earth
those waters which it had naturally drawn upwards. What
shall I more say ? The light air, like a chamber arching itself
around the servants of God, resisted as an impenetrable wall
the descending waters. But during the singing, the most
blessed Ninian turned off his eyes from the book, affected a
little by an unlawful thought, even with some desire he was
tickled by a suggestion of the devil.^ Whereupon at once the
shower, invading him and his book, betrayed what was hidden. i
Then the brother, who was sitting by him, knowing what had \
taken place, with gentle reproof reminded him of his order and \
age, and showed him how unbecoming such things were in
such as he. Straightway the man of God, coming to himself,
blushed that he had been overtaken by a vain thought, and in
the same moment of time drove away the thought and stayed
the shower.
[CHAPTER X.
The Miracles of the Staff of Ninian in the Sea and on Zand.]
Meanwhile many, both nobles and men of the middle rank,
intrusted their sons to the blessed Pontiff to be trained in
sacred learning. He indoctrinated these by his knowledge,
he formed them by his example, curbing by a salutary disci-
pline the vices to which their age was prone, and persuasively
inculcating the virtues whereby they might live soberly, right-
eously, and piously. Once upon a time one of these young
men committed a fault which could not escape the saint, and
because it was not right that discipline should be withheld from
the offender, the rods, the severest torments of boys, were made
ready. The lad in terror fled, but not being ignorant of the
power of the holy man, was careful to carry away with him the
staff on which he used to lean, thinking that he had procured
the best comfort for the journey, if he took with him anything
1 Note X.
20 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
that belonged to the saint. Flying therefore from the face of the
man, he sought diligently for a shijD which might transport him
to Scocia.^ It is the custom in that neighbourhood to frame
of twigs a certain vessel in the form of a cup, of such a size
that it can contain three men sitting close together. By
stretching an ox-hide over it, they render it not only buoyant,
but actually impenetrable by the water. Possibly at that time
vessels of immense size were built in the same way. The
young man stumbled on one of these lying at the shore, but
not covered with leather, into which, when he had incautiously
entered, by Divine providence, I know not whether by its
natural lightness (for on a slight touch these float far out into
the waves), straightway the ship was carried out to sea. As the
water poured in, the unhappy sailor stood in ignorance what
he should do, whither he should turn, what course he should
pursue. If he abandon the vessel, his life is in danger ; certain
death awaiteth him if he continue. Then at length the unhappy
boy, repenting his flight, beheld with pale countenance the
waves ready to avenge the injury done to the father. At
i length, coming to himself, and thinking that S. jSTinian was
I present in his staff, he confessed his fault, as if in his pre-
I sence, in a lamentable voice, besought pardon, and prayed that
I by his most holy merits the divine aid might be vouclisafed
' him. Then trusting in the known kindness as well as power
of the bishop, he stuck the staff in one of the holes, that pos-
I terity might not be ignorant of what Ninian could do even on
I the sea. At once, at the touch of the staff, the element trembled,
I and, as if kept back by a divine infaience, ventured not to
\ enter further by the open holes. These are Thy works,
I Christ, who speaking to Thy disciples, hast endowed Thy faith-
j, ful ones with this promise — "He that believeth in me, the
\ works that I do, he shall do also."^ Thou didst imprint Thy
L^ sacred Footsteps on the waves of the sea : the power of Ninian
-r controlled the natural power of the sea. Thy sacred Hand held
T up the doubting disciple on that account in danger among tlie
waves : the staff of Ninian protected the fugitive disciple from
being swallowed up by the billows. Thou didst command the
winds and the waves, that the fear of Thy disciples might be
dispelled: the power of Ninian subdued the winds and the
sea, that the young man might reach safely the shore where he
would be.
For a wind rising from the easterly quarter impelled the
vessel gently. The staff, acting for sail, caught the wind ; the
1 Note Y. 2 s_ joim xiv. 12.
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 21
staff as helm directed tlie vessel ; the staff as anchor stayed it.
The people stand on the western shore, and seeing a little
vessel like a bird resting on the waters, neither propelled by sail,
nor moved by oar, nor guided by helm, wondered what this
miracle might mean. Meanwhile the young man landed, and
that he might make the merits of the man of God more widely
known, animated by faith he planted his staff on the shore,
praying God, that in testimony of so great a miracle, sending
forth roots and receiving sap contrary to nature, it might pro-
duce branches and leaves, and bring forth flowers and fruit.
The divine propitiousness was not wanting to the prayer of the jp
suppliant, and straightway the dry wood, sending forth roots,
covering itself with new bark, put forth leaves and branches,
and, growing into a considerable tree, made known the power |
of Ninian to the beholders there. Miracle is added to miracle. |
At the root of the tree a most limpid fountain springing up, \
sent forth a crystal stream, winding along with gentle murmur, '^
with lengthened course, deliglitful to the eye, sweet to the taste,
and useful and health-giving to the sick, for the merits of the
saint.
[CHAPTEE XI.
Declamation on the Death of Ninian — His Burial at miithern.]
Wherefore the most blessed Mnian, wondrously shining \
with such miracles as these, and powerful in the highest virtues, »
advanced with prosperous course to the day of his summons.
That day was a day of exultation and joy to the blessed man,
but of tribulation and misery to the people. He rejoiced, to
whom heaven was opened ; the people mourned, who were
bereaved of such a father. He rejoiced, for whom an eternal
crown was laid up ; they were in sorrow, whose salvation was
endangered. But even his own joy was dashed with sorrow,
since both leaving them seemed heavy to bear, yet to be longer
separate from Christ intolerable. But Christ, thus consoling
the hesitating soul, said, " Arise, hasten, my friend, my dove, and
come. Arise," saith He, "my friend, arise, my dove, arise through
the mind, hasten by desire, come by love." Verily this word
suited the most holy man, as the friend of the Bridegroom, to
whom that heavenly Bridegroom had consigned His bride ; to
whom He had revealed His secrets ; to whom He had opened
His treasures. Eiglitly was that soul termed friend to wliom
22 ANCIENT LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
all was love, notliing fear. He saith, my friend, my dove.
dove, verily taught to mourn, who, ignorant of the gall of
bitterness, used to weep with those that wept, to be weak with
the weak, to burn with those that are offended. Arise, hasten,
my friend, my dove, and come ; for the winter is now past, the
rain is over and gone. Then verily, blessed man, the winter
was past to thee, when thou wert deemed meet with joyful
eye to contemplate that heavenly fatherland, which the Sun of
Eighteousness doth illumine with the light of His glory, which
love enkindleth, which a wondrous calm, as of a genial spring-
time, tempereth with an unspeakable uniformity of climate. Then
to thee that wintry storm which unsettleth all things here
below, which hardeneth the cold hearts of men by the inroads
of vice, in which neither doth the truth shine fully nor doth
charity burn, hath passed away, and the showers of temptation
and the hailstorms of persecution have ceased. That holy soul,
perfectly triumphant, hath departed into the glory of perpetual
freshness. The flowers, saith he, appear on the earth. The
^ celestial odour of the flowers of paradise breathed upon thee,
blessed Ninian, when the company of the martyrs clad in red,
and the confessors clothed in white, with placid countenance,
smiled on thee as their most familiar friend, and welcomed to
their society, thee, whom chastity had made white, and love had
made red as the rose. For although opportunity granted not
the sign of actual martyrdom in the body, it denied him not
that merit of martyrdom, without which martyrdom is nothing.
For how often did he for righteousness' sake expose himself to
the sword of the enemy, how often to the arms of tyrants, pre-
pared to lay down his life for truth, to die for righteousness ?
Kightly therefore to the flowers of the roses and the lilies of
the valleys is this empurpled and radiant one summoned,
ascending from Libanus, that he may be crowned among the
hosts of heaven. For the time of engrafting had come; for
the ripened cluster was to be cut off from the stem of the
body, or from the vineyard of the Church here below, to be
melted by love and laid up in the heavenly cellars.
Wherefore blessed Ninian, perfect in life and full of years,
passed from this world in happiness, and was carried into
heaven, accompanied by the angelic spirits, to receive an eternal
reward, where, associated with the company of the apostles,
joined to the ranks of the martyrs, enlisted in the hosts of
the holy confessors, adorned also with the flowers of the virgins,
he faileth not to succour those who hope in him, who cry to
him, who praise him. But he was buried in the Church of
Blessed Martin, which he had built from the foundations, and
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 23
he was placed in a stone sarcophagus near the altar,^ the clergy
and people present, with their voices and hearts sounding forth
celestial hymns, to the accompaniment of sighs and tears; where
the power which had shone in the living saint ceaseth not to
make itself manifest about the body of the departed one, that
all the faithful may acknowledge that he is dwelling in heaven,
who ceaseth not to work on earth. For at his most sacred
tomb the sick are cured, the lepers are cleansed, the wicked
are terrified, the blind receive their sight ; by all which tilings
the faith of believers is confirmed, to the praise and glory of
our Lord Jesus Christ, who livetli and reigneth with God the
Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, world without end.
Amen.
[CHAPTER XII.
Miracles of the Relics of Ninian.l
(1. In a deformed jpoor man.)
Wherefore when the most blessed Ninian had been trans-
lated into the heavens, the faithful people who had loved him
in life, frequented with the greatest devotion that which seemed
to them to be left of him, namely, his most sacred relics ; and the
Divine Power, approving this reverence and faith, gave evidence
by frequent miracles that he whom the common lot had removed
from earth was living in heaven. There was born to one of
the people by his own wife, a wretched son, the grief of both
his parents, the horror of those who beheld him, whom nature
had formed contrary to nature, aU his members being turned
the wrong way. For the joints of his feet being twisted, his
heels projected forward, his back adhered to his face, his breast
was near the hinder part of his head, with twisted arms his
hands rested on his elbows.^ What more shall I say ? There
lay that dusky figure, to whom had been given useless members,
a fruitless life, to whom, amid the wreck of his other members,
the tongue alone remained to bewail his misery, and to move
to tears and sorrow those who beheld and heard him. The
sorrow of his parents was incessant. Their grief increased day
by day. At length the power of the most blessed Ninian, so
often experienced, came into their minds, and, full of faith,
they take up that -wretched body, and approaching the relics of
the holy man, they offer the sacrifice of a contrite heart with
1 Note Z. 2 Note A A.
24 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
floods of tears, and continue instant in devout prayer till the
hour of vespers. Then laying that unshapely form before the
tomb of the saint, they said, "Eeceive, blessed Ninian, that
which we offer to thee, a gift hateful indeed, but well fitted to
prove thy power. We, of a truth, worn out, fatigued, borne
down with sorrow, overcome by weariness, expose it to thy
pity. Verily, if it be a gift, favour is due to those who offer
it ; if it be a burden, thou art fitter to bear it, who hast more
power to lighten it. Here therefore let him die or live, let him
be cured or let him perish." Having continued to say these and
such things with tears, they left the sick child before the sacred
relics and went their way. And behold in the silence of the
midnight hour, the poor wretch saw a man come to him,
shining with celestial light, and glittering in the ornaments of
the episcopate, who, touching his head, told him to arise and
be whole, and give thanks to God his Saviour. And when he had
departed, the wretched being, as if awaking from a deep sleep,
by an easy motion twisted each member into its natural place,
and having recovered the power of all of them, returned to his
home safe and sound. After this he gave himseK wholly up to
the church and to ecclesiastical discipline, and after being first
shorn for the clericate, and then ordained presbyter, he ended
his life in the service of his father.
(2. In a poor man afflicted with scat.)
On the fame of the miracle being made known, many ran
together, each one laying his own trouble before the sacred
relics. Among these, a simple man, poor in fortune, but rich
in faith and good-will, approached, whose whole body an ex-
traordinary scab had attacked, and so beset all his members that
the skin hardening in marvellous fashion closed the courses of
the veins, and on every side bound up the arteries, so that
nothing but death awaited the patient. The unhappy man,
therefore, approaching the body of the saint, offered up most
devout prayers to altar, faith, and Lord. His tears flow, sobs
burst forth, the breast is beaten, the very bowels tremble. To
such faith, to such contrition, neither the merit of the saint
nor the pity of Christ were lacking. Who therein glorified His
saint and mercifully saved the poor man. Why should I delay
longer ? The poor Adefridus, for that was his name, did not
cease from prayer, until in a few days he was restored to his
former health.
LIFE OF S. NINIAN. 25
(3. In a Hind girl.)
There was moreover among the people a certain girl, Deisuit
by name, who was so tormented with a pain in her eyes that
the violence of the disease took away all power of sight, and
darkness creeping around her, even the light of the sun was
hidden from her. It was painful to the patient and grievous to
her s}Tiipathizing relations. The skill of the physicians turned
to despair ; Ninian, the only hope that remained, is applied to.
She was led by the hand before that most sacred spot. She is
left weeping and wailing ; she asketh earnestly ; she seeketh
anxiously; she knocketh importunately. The compassionate
Jesus is faithful to His Gospel promise — " Ask, and ye shall
receive ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, and the door shall be
opened unto you."^ Therefore to that girl before mentioned
the grace which she sought appeared ; the door of pity at
which she knocked was opened ; the health which she sought
was vouchsafed; for the darkness was taken away and light
was restored. All pain disappeared, and she who had come,
led by another to the sacred tomb, returned home guided by
her own sight, with great joy of her parents.^
(4. In two lepers.)
Moreover there were seen to come into the city two men that
were lepers, who deeming it presumptuous to touch with the
contact of leprosy the holy thing, from some distance implored
the help of the saint. But coming to the fountain and holding
that to be holy whatever Ninian had touched, they thought to
be washed in that laver. new miracle of the prophet
Eliseus ! new cleansing, not of one, but of two Naamans !
Naaman came in the spirit of presumption, they in that of
humility. He came in doubt, they in faith. The king of Syria
doubted, the king of Israel doubted, Naaman doubted. The king
of Syria doubted : he doubted and was proud, who sent his
leper to be cleansed, not to the prophet but to the king. The
king of Israel doubted, who, on hearing the letter read, rent his
clothes, and said. Am I God, that I can kill and make alive ?
Naaman doubted, who, when he heard the advice of the pro-
phet, went away in a rage. Naaman stood in the chariot of
pride at the door of Eliseus. These men in faith and humility
cry aloud to the mercy of Ninian. Eightly then is that foun-
tain turned into a Jordan, Ninian into a prophet. The lepers
1 S. Matt. vii. 7. ^ Note BB.
26 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
are cleansed alike by the touch of the laver, and by the merits
of Ninian ; and their flesh is restored like the flesh of a little
child, and they return to their own healed, to the glory of
Ninian, in praise of God, Who worketh thus marvellously in
His saints.
But now this is the end of this book, though not the end of
the miracles of S. Ninian, which do not cease to shine forth
even unto our own times to the laud and glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who with the Father and the Holy Ghost liveth
and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.^
Here endeth the Life of S. Ninian, Bishop and Confessor.
Note CC.
I
I
THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN
BY JOCELINUS, A MONK OF FUENESS.
HERE BEGINNETH A PROLOGUE, IN FORM OF AN EPISTLE, TO
THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN, BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
PROLOGUE.
To his most reverend lord and dearest father Joce-
linus/ an anointed bishop of the Lord Jesus Christ/
Jocehnus, the least of the poor ones of Christ, with the
feehng and reality of fihal love and obedience, wisheth
the salvation of body and soul in our Savioui'.
Since the fame of thy name, the loftiness of thine
ofHce, the even balance of thy judgment, thy life
which is darkened by no shadow of evil report, thy
long-tried religion, give me sufficient reason for
believing, on diligent consideration, that thou art the
ornament of the House of the Lord, over which thou
dost preside, I have deemed it fitting to offer unto thee
the first-fruits of my gatherings, which are redolent
of the glory and beauty both of thyself and of thy
church. For I have wandered through the streets
and lanes of the city, according to thy command, seek-
ing the recorded life of S. Kentigern whom thy soul
loveth ; in whose chan the grace of Divine condescen-
1 Note A. 2 Note B.
30 PROLOGUE.
sion, by the adoption of sons, by ecclesiastical election,
by the succession of the ministry, hath caused thy
sanctity to preside. Wherefore I have sought dili-
gently for a life of him, if perchance such might be found,
which with greater authority, with more evident
truth, and with more cultivated style, might be com-
posed, than that which thy church useth ; because,
as seemeth to most men, it is stained throughout by
an uncultivated diction, discoloured and obscured by
an inelegant style ; and what beyond all these things
any wise man would still more abhor, in the very
commencement of the narrative something contrary to
sound doctrine and to the Catholic faith very evidently
appeareth.^ But I have found another little volume,
written in the Scotic dialect, filled from end to end
with solecisms, but containing at greater length the
life and acts of the holy bishop. I confess that I
mourned and took iU that the hfe of so precious a
bishop, glorious with signs and wonders, most dis-
tinguished by virtues and doctrine, should be tainted
by what was perverse or opposed to the faith in its
narrative, or again made exceedingly obscure by bar-
barous language ; wherefore I determined out of either
book to put together in the way of restoration the
matter collected, and, so far as I might, and by thy
command, season what had been composed in a bar-
barous way with Roman salt. I deem it absurd that
so precious a treasure should be swathed in vile wrap-
pings, and therefore I have endeavoured to clothe it,
1 Note c.
PROLOGUE. 31
if not in gold tissue and silk, at least in clean linen.
I have endeavoui'ed so to pour the life-giving wine
from the old vessel into the new, that drawing it out
in proportion to the scanty capacity of the vessel may
be desii'able to the simple, not useless to those who
are fiuther advanced, and no object of contempt to
those who are richly endowed with sense. The merits
and prayers therefore of the holy bishop aiding me, if
the favour of the Inspirer from on high smile upon me,
I shall so temper the style, that neither shall the work
undertaken by me be obscure by creeping in the dark
from too lowly language, nor, on the other hand, by
aiming on high shall it swell, with pompous words,
beyond what it ought, lest I should seem to have
planted a grove in the temple of the Lord, which He
hath forbidden. Therefore the whole study of this
work, the entire fruit of this my labour, I have deemed
meet to consecrate to thy name, to submit to thine
approbation. If, however, anything be put forth which
is inelegant or insipid, let it be seasoned with the salt
of thy discretion ; if anything sound therein scarcely
consonant with truth, which I do not think there is,
let it be shaped and squared by the rule of thy judg-
ment. If nothing be found failing in either of these
respects, let it be supported by thy testimony and con-
firmed by thy authority. And in all these things,
if anything proceeding from my pen come to hght
otherwise than becometh the subject, be it imputed to
the unskilfulness of my incapacity. If ought shall be
produced worthy of being read, be it ascribed to thine
eminency. But I have nowhere been able to find the
32 PKOLOGUE.
description of the Translation of this saint, nor the
mii-acles performed after his death, which, however,
were not noted, perhaps because they escaped the
memory of those who were present, or were multiphed
beyond enumeration, and which have thus been
omitted, that the mass of facts collected might not
engender fatigue in feeble readers. May thy sanctity
ever Hve and flourish in the Lord.
Here endeth the Prologue.
HERE BEGINNETH THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN,
BISHOP AND CONFESSOR.
CHAPTEE I.
The beginning of the record of the glorious life of the most
famous Kentigern, very dear to God and man, a Nazarite of
our Nazarene Jesus Christ, is consecrated by that Divine
oracle, where the Lord, anticipating by the blessings of His
graciousness the holy prophet Jeremiah, announces that he
shall be a chosen vessel sanctified to the office of the ministry,
by such praise as this — " Before I formed thee in the beUy I
knew thee : and before thou camest forth out of the womb I
sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."^
Verily, blessed Kentigern, known to God before he was born
into the world, bedewed with the grace of election before he
came forth from his mother's womb, was in the beginning made
great by miracles before he became great, either in bodily
form or by his merits. For the Holy of holies began to make
him shine forth in the sunlight of virtue in his very origin
when sanctified in the womb, and when yet more fully to be
sanctified, while enclosed in his mother's breast, that he might
prove that the special gift of the Holy Spirit is not constrained
by the chain of original sin. I say, that this man, famous for
his race and beauty, distinguished in many ways by signs, pro-
digies, and portents, did the Eedeemer of the nations decree to
destine as a prophet, yea, as a doctor and head ruler to many
nations. Wliereiore this most holy one, although he drew his
original germ from a royal stem, yet came forth as a rose from
the thorn, as an aromatic tree from the filthy ground, for his
mother was the daughter of a certain king, most Pagan in his
^ Jer. i. 5.
34: LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
creed, who ruled in the northern parts of Britannia. But when
into the land of that region the sound of the announcement of
the Christian faith went forth, and the words of saintly preachers
advanced into those northern regions from which all evil used
to proceed,^ she heard with her ears those things that were to
he heard how the Brightness of the Eternal Light, the Sun of
Eighteousness, rising by the star of virginity, illuminated the
world with the rays of His knowledge and love, and declared
salvation to those who were near and to those that were afar
off, leading His own into the entire fulness of the truth, more
efficaciously, by the argument of evident signs ; straightway
her heart was hot within her, and in her meditation that fire
was kindled which the Lord sent on earth, and earnestly willed
that it should be kindled,^ and her soul thirsting to come to
the recognition of the truth, conceived the engrafted word which
could save her soul from eternal death. Though she was not
yet washed in the stream of the saving laver, she was running
in the way of God's commandments, with an active and open
heart. She was occupying herself continually in frequent
almsgivings, in devout prayers, in learning and exercising her-
self in the discipline of the faith of the church, so far as she
might for fear of her Pagan father. Yet with a special de-
votion among these things, she admired the fruitful purity
of the Virgin Mother, in admiring it she venerated it, in vene-
rating and loving it she sought to imitate it, and with a certain
presumptuous boldness of female audacity willed to be like her
in conception and birth, for which she sedulously laboured to
entreat the Lord.^
After the lapse of some time she was found with child,* and
her soul did magnify the Lord, simply believing, as she did, that
her desire had been accomplished. Now that which was born
in her was from the embrace of man, but, as she often, binding
herself by an oath, asserted, by whom, or when or in what
manner, she conceived, she had no consciousness. But although
she was ignorant of the fact of the secret, or it had escaped her
memory, by no means should the truth of the affair perish in
the mind of a discreet person, nor should scruple arise there-
from ; for, that for the present we may bury in silence what are
found in poetic songs, or what we find inserted in histories
which are not canonical, when we turn to the sacred volumes,
we read in the Book of Genesis that the daughters of Lot not
merely furtively secured for themselves the embraces of their
father, but actually both by him, when he was inebriated and
1 Xote D. 2 Luke xii. 49. 3 Note E. * Note F.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEEN, 35
entirely ignorant of what he was doing, conceived. It is certain
moreover that many having drunk the potion of oblivion,
which physicists call Letargion,^ have slept, and have never
felt when they suffered incision and sometimes burning of the
limbs and the abrasion even of the vitals, and after awaking
from the sleep have been ignorant of what was done to them.
We have known also that by the sleight of hand of sooth-
sayers, maiden chastity has been stormed, and the deflowered
one has never known who ruined her. It may be that some-
thing of this kind happened to the girl, by the secret judgment
of God, that she might not feel the mixture of the sexes, and
so, when impregnated, might think herself undefiled.
We by no means think that it was purposeless that this
should have been mentioned, since the stupid and foolish
people, who live in the diocese of S. Kentigern, go so far as to
assert that he was conceived and born of a virgin.^ But why
should we delay at these things ? Surely it is both absurd
and irrelevant longer to investigate who was the sower or how
the seed was ploughed in or sowed, when, the Lord giving the
increase, the earth brought forth good and rich fruit — the fruit,
I say, of this land, which hath received blessing from the Lord,
whereby many generations are blessed by Him, and receive
from Him the fruit of eternal salvation.
Meanwhile the woman went about, and her swelling womb
began to exhibit to all beholders the sign of her conception.
And now the pallor of her countenance, and the swelling of the
veins of her throat, and the milk bursting from her breasts,
announced that her delivery w^as at hand. And when this had
been instilled into the ears of the king her father, and he had
proved the truth of the matter in a more certain examination
by sight and touch, he began most earnestly to try to learn
from her, now urging her by her fears, now coaxing her by
blandishments, who had brought her to the condition in which
she was. But she with an oath declared, in the name of Christ,
that she was innocent of all intercourse with man. On hearing
this the king was moved with greater rage, both because of the
name of Christ which sounded in his ears, and because he could
not find out the violator of his daughter. Whereupon he
swore, and was steadily purposed to keep his righteous judg-
ment, and determined not to swerve from the law handed
down from his ancestors in such cases, for the love or the life
of his daughter.
1 Note G. 2 Note H.
36 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTEE II.
Of the Law that was established in those days among the Camhrian
people about Girls who committed Fornication.
There was a law among that barbarous people, promulgated
from a remote antiquity, that a girl committing fornication in
her father's house, and found with child, was to be cast down
from the summit of a high mountain, and he who sinned with
her was beheaded. So among the ancient Saxons, up nearly to
modern times, the law remained in force, that every virgin of
her own will deflowered in her father's house should be with-
out any remission buried alive, and her lover hanged over her
sepulchre.^ What shall we say to these things, or what can we
conjecture concerning them ? If such a zeal for chastity burns
in the heathen, who are ignorant of the Divine law, solely for
decency's sake and the observance of the traditions of their
fathers, what shall the Christian do, who is bound to the pre-
servation of chastity by that Divine law ? for if the joy of
heaven be promised as the reward of the observance, so, on the
other hand, for the infraction of that law eternal punishment is
now prepared. Behold in these days, both sexes, and every con-
dition, are plunged in every slough of carnal sin, almost with a
ready will, and without restraint, because they do it with
impunity. And not only is the vile commonalty polluted by
this contagion, but even those who are maintained by eccle-
siastical benefices, and who betake themselves to the Divine
offices, are so much the more impure as they deem themselves
more happy.^ For now the hammerer of the whole earth, even
the spirit of Fornication, hath passed over them. They who
exhibit in outward form the appearance of sanctity, but deny
the power thereof, by their works paying allegiance to the
present world, are known by their impure lives to lie to
God by their sacred habit and tonsure. Verily they must fear
what God threatens by His prophet, saying, "He who hath
done iniquity in the land of the saints shall not look upon the
glory of the Lord." For now, what is to be bewailed with
every flood of tears, that sin of sins, than which nothing more
detestable can be conceived, on account of which the sulphurous
flame in the five cities, a heavenly judgment, destroyed the
guilty, is committed with impunity. Nor can there easily be
found one who can chide the perpetrator. For if any one,
^ Note I. 2 Note K.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 37
however rarely, may be discovered, whom the zeal of the Lord's
house consumeth, who burneth with the love of righteoiisuess
aud decency, so that he should seem to censure such monstrous
crimes, straightway he is resisted to the face as a sycophant,
and condemned by all as guilty of detraction. His mouth is
stopped as of one speaking wickedly, his tongue is decreed to
be tied up.-^
Wherefore is this ? Plainly, because the body of leviathan,
as it is written, is shut up with scales. " One is so near to
another, that no air can come between them;"^ because the
criminous and guilty ones, who are the children of the devil,
are mutually protected by others who are implicated in the
same vice, that the arrow of correction cannot penetrate them.
Verily, as I think, this takes place as a proof of their irretriev-
able damnation, that such men, being given over to a reprobate
mind, neither receive, nor will accept, the rod of correction.
And the multitude, stained with the same vice, improves them
not by punishment, seeing that the many, as well as they
themselves, individually burn as if cast into a furnace.
But what shall we say of those on whom the duty is enjoined
of binding and loosing, of opening and shutting, who are placed
upon a candlestick, that in the House of God they may shine
by word and example ? Do not the greater part now-a-days
exhibit rather smoke than flame, rather stench than bright-
ness ? Are they not dumb dogs, that cannot, yea, that will not,
bark ? When they see manners worse than beastly, they dare
not check them, especially since they themselves are confirmed
in these habits, nay, in truth, are more wicked. For as with
the people so with the priest ; as is the subject so is the pre-
late ; nay, they who are first in dignity are first in iniquity; and
they who excel in office are deepest in vice. What the Scrip-
tures mystically saith of such is to be feared for them: "And if
so much as a beast touched the mountain, it was to be stoned."^
The beast toucheth the mountain when any one of beastly life
mounteth the chair of prelacy, and applieth an impure hand to
purifying sacrifices. Yet such is the one who is ordered to be
stoned, for that he should be subjected to a severe and gT.'ave
condemnation is evidently taught to us in the opinions of the
holy Fathers. That I should have said this by way of digres-
sion will, I pray, be burdensome to no one. The zeal of this
Pagan man, who spared not his own daughter, but who for the
fault of simple fornication handed her over to so terrible a
1 Note L. 2 Job xli. 16, Eng. version.
3 Exod. xix. 13 ; Heb. xii. 20.
38 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
punishment, should cause great shame to the worshippers of
Christ, in planting and propagating modesty.
CHAPTEE III.
In what way the Divine mercy saved the Mother of S. Kentigern
from the Precipice and from Shipwreck.
Accordingly the girl aforesaid, by the king's command, was
led to the top of a very high hill, called Dunpelder,^ that, cast
down from thence, she might be broken limb by limb, or dashed
to pieces. But she, groaning heavily, and looking up to heaven,
said in complaining words, " Justly do I suffer this, for that I
have done very foolishly, in wishing to be equalled to the most
holy, most serene source of salvation, the parent who brought
forth her Father. But I beseech thee," she said, " Mary,
blessed among women, pardon the iniquity of thine handmaid,
for I have done very foolishly.- mother of mercy, show the
light of thy loving-kindness towards me, and free me from the
plague which surroundeth me. I beseech thee, Lady, that
as He, the flower of the angelic mountains, without injury to
thy snow-white purity, vouchsafed to become in thee the
lowly and fertile valley of all vii'tues, the lily of our valleys,
and out of thee, the most firm mountain of the faith deigned
to become the stone hewn without hands, which became a
great mountain, and filled the whole earth ; so deliver me thine
handmaiden, though not yet washed in the sacred font, yet
firmly believing in thy Son, and resting under the shadow of
thy wings, from the imminent precipice, that the blessed name
of thy Son may be for ever magnified in the sight of these
people. Moreover, I promise the fruit which I bear in my
womb to thy Son and to thee, as a special property, to be thy
servant all the days of his life."^
When she had prayed in this manner, with devout heart and
mouth, the servants of the king hurled her from the top of the
mountain, as with frequent urgency she invoked Christ and
His mother. A wonderful thing occurred, unheard of from
ancient times. When she fell she was not bruised, because
the Lord supported her with His hand, and therefore she sus-
tained no injury ; since, as it seemed to her, like a bird bearing
feathers, she came down with easy descent to the ground lest
1 Note M. 2 2 Sam. xxiv. 10. 3 jjote N.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. SB'
she should dash her foot against a stone.-^ Thanksgiving and
the voice of praise sound forth from the mouths of many who
beheld these wonderful works of God. The holy and tenible
name of Christ is magnified. The innocent one is judged, and
not only is to be deemed free from all further punishment, but
in every way to be held in veneration. But, on the other hand,
the idolaters and adversaries of the Christian faith imputed
this not to Divine virtue but to magical arts, and with unani-
mous voice proclaimed her a ^\dtch and a sorceress. Therefore
there was a division among the people concerning her. Some
said, She is a good woman, and innocent. Others said, Nay,
but by her conjuring she deceiveth the people, changeth their
countenance, and deludeth their senses.
The crowd therefore in a whirl of words confused itself, but
the sacrilegious multitude prevailing, urged the king, who was
entirely devoted to idolatiy, to dictate a new sentence on his
daughter. At length, by the common verdict of the society of
the ungodly, and of the adversaries of the name of Christ, it
w^as decreed that that poor little pregnant woman, placed alone
in a boat, should be exposed to the sea.^ In order therefore
that the sentence thus determined should be carried into effect,
the king's servants, embarking, took her far out to sea, and
committing her to fortune alone in a very little boat of hides,
made after the fashion of the Scotti, without any oar, rowed
back to the shore. They related to the king and to the people,
who were waiting the issue of the event, what they had done.
But they mocking said, " She calleth herself the handmaid of
Christ, and professeth to have the protection of His power, let
us see whether her words are true. She trusteth in Christ, let
Him deliver her, if He be able, from the hand of death and
from the peril of the sea."
But the girl, destitute of all human help, committed herself
imto Him alone that created the sea and the dry land, devoutly
praying Him, who had before now saved her from the preci-
pice, to protect her from the shipwreck which threatened her.
Wonderful to relate, though nothing is impossible with the
Lord, that little vessel, in which the pregnant girl was de-
tained, ploughed the watery breakers and eddies of the waves
towards the opposite shore more quickly than if propelled by a
wind that filled the sail, or by the effort of many oarsmen.
For He who preserved unliurt amid the ocean-currents Jonah
the prophet, borne within the vast belly of the whale, who by
His right hand held up blessed Peter when he was walking
1 Ps. xci. 12. 2 Note 0.
40 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
■upon the waves that he should not be drowned, and who saved
from the depths of the sea his co-apostle Paul, who thrice
suffered shipwreck,^ brought the girl safe to the haven of
refuge, for the sake of the child which she bore in her womb,
whom He predestined to be an excellent captain of His ship ;
that is, a doctor and good ruler of His Church.
CHAPTEK IV.
Of the Birth of S. Kentigcrn, and his Education,
hy S. Servaiius.
The girl aforesaid landed on the sand at a place called Cul-
enros.^ In which place at that time S. Servanus^ dwelling,
taught sacred literature to many boys, who were to be trained to
the Divine service. When she had landed on the shore the
pains of approaching childbirth seized her. Eaismg her eyes,
she saw at a distance, although in the darkness, the signs of
the ashes of a fire near the shore, which perhaps some shepherds
or fishermen had left there. She crawled to the place, and
as best she might kindled for herself a fire. But when the
dawn, the herald of the Divine light, began to brighten, the
time was accomplished that she should bring forth. And she
brought forth a son,* the preacher and herald of the true Light.
Now, at the same hour, while S. Servanus, intent upon
prayer after mass in the morning, was drawing in his breath^ in
the delight of Divine contemplation, he heard the companies of
the angels chanting their mellifluous praises on high, joying
along with whose lauds, he with his disciples, exulting in spirit,
strove to sacrifice to the Lord the victims of jubilation by sing-
ing, We praise Thee, Lord. On the clerics being astonished
at the novelty of the affair, and demanding what had happened,
he told them all in order the whole matter, and tlie hymnings
of the angels, sedulously exhorting them to offer the calves of
their lips to the Lord. But there were in the neighbourhood
shepherds keeping watch over the flocks. And they going forth
in the early day-spring, beheld a fire lighted close at hand, and
coming with haste found the young woman with her childbirth
completed, and the cliild wrapped in rags, and lying in the open
air. They, moved by pity, took care of them by increasing the
fire and supplying food, and procuring other necessaries ; and
1 2 Cor. xi. 25. 2 jjote P. 3 Note Q.
4 Matt. i. 25. 5 Ps. cxix. 131.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEEN. 41
liringing them in as suitable way as they could, and presenting
them to S. Servanus, related the matter from the beginning.
On hearing this, and seeing the little boy, the mouth of the
blessed old man was filled with spiritual laughter, and his heart
with joy. Wherefore in the language of his country he exclaimed,
" Mochohe, Mochohe," which in Latin means " Care mi, Care
mi," adding, " Blessed art thou that hast come in the name of
the Lord." He therefore took them to himself, and nourished
and educated thera as if they were his own pledges. After
certain days had passed he dipped them in the laver of regene-
ration and restoration, and anointed them with the sacred
chrism, calling the mother Taneu, and the child Kyentyern,'^
which by interpretation is. The Capital Lord. That this new
name, which the mouth of S. Servanus bestowed on him, was
not received in vain, shall be clearly set forth in what fol-
loweth. Wherefore the man of God educated the child of God,
like another Samuel committed unto him and assigned by God.
But the child grew, and was comforted, and the grace of God
was in him. But when the age of intelligence, and the accept-
able time for learning arrived, he handed him over to be trained
in letters, and spent much labour and care that he might profit
in these things. Nor was he disappointed in his desire in this
respect, seeing that the boy, in learning and retaining, well and
richly responded to his training, " like a tree planted by the
water side, which bringeth forth its fruit in due season." The boy
advanced, under the unction of good hope and holy disposition,
in the discipline of learning as well as in the exercise of the
sacred virtues. For there were bestowed upon him by the
Father of Lights, from whom descendeth every good and perfect
gift, a docile heart, a genius sharp at understanding, a memory
tenacious in recollecting, and a tongue persuasive in bringing
forward what he willed; a high, sweet, harmonious, and in-
defatigable voice for singing the Divine praises. All these
gifts of grace were gilded by a worthy life, and therefore beyond
all his companions he was precious and amiable in the eyes of
the holy old man. Wherefore he was accustomed to call him
in the language of his country, "Munghu," which in Latin
means " Karissimus Amicus,"^ and by this name even until the
present time the common people are frequently used to call
him, and to invoke him in their necessities.
1 Note R. 2 Note S.
42 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTEE V.
Of the little bird that was hilled, and then restored to life hi/
Kentigern.
The fellow-pupils of S. Kentigern, seeing that he was loved
beyond the rest by their master and spiritual father, hated him,
and were unable either in public or private to say anything
peaceable to him. Hence in many ways they intrigued against,
abused, envied, and backbit him. But the Lord's boy ever had
the eye of his heart fixed upon the Lord ; and mourning niore
for them than for himself, cared little for all the unjust machina-
tions of men. Now a little bird, which, on account of the colour
of his body, is called the redbreast, by the will of the Heavenly
Father, without whose permission not even a sparrow faUeth to the
ground, was accustomed to receive its daily food from the hand
of the servant of God, Servanus, and by such a custom being
established it showed itself tame and domesticated unto him.
Sometimes even it perched upon his head, or face, or shoulder,
or bosom ; sometimes it was with him when he read or prayed,
and by the flapping of its wings, or by the sound of its inarticu-
late voice, or by some little gesture, it showed the love it had
for him. So that sometimes the face of the man of God,
shadowed forth in the motion of the bird, was clothed in joy,
as he wondered at the great power of God in the little creature,
to Whom the dumb speak, and the irrational things are known
to have reason. And because that bird often approached and
departed at the conmiand and will of the man of God, it
excited incredulity and hardness of heart in his disciples,
and convicted them of disobedience. And tliis will not seem
strange to any one, seeing that the Lord by the voice of a mute
animal under the yoke reproved the madness of the prophet,
and Solomon, the wisest of men, sent the sluggard to the ant,
that by considering her labour and industry, he might cast away
his torpor and sloth.^ INIoreover, a certain saint and sage in-
vited his religious to consider the work of bees, that in their
little bodies they might learn the beautiful discipline of service.
And perhaps it will seem wonderful to some that a man so
holy and perfect should take delight in the play and gesture of
a little bird. But such should know that perfect men ought
sometimes to have their rigours mitigated by something of this
kind, that they who mentally approach to God should some-
1 Note T.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 43
times descend to our level ; just as the bow ought occasionally
to be unbent, lest it be found, from too long tension, nerveless
and useless, at the needful time, in the discharge of the arrow.
Even birds, in passing through the air, sometimes are able to
rise with extended wings, and sometimes, closing them, to
descend towards earth.
Therefore on a certain day, when the saint entered his oratory
to offer up to God the frankincense of prayer, the boys, avail-
ing themselves of the absence of the master, began to indulge
in play with the aforesaid little bird, and while they handled
it among them, and sought to snatch it from each other, it got
destroyed in their hands, and its head was torn from the body.
On this play became sorrow, and they already in imagination
saw the blows of the rods, which are wont to be the greatest
torment of boys. Having taken counsel among themselves,
they laid the blame on the boy Kentigern, who had kept him-
self entirely apart from the affair, and they showed him the
dead bird, and threw it away from themselves before the old
man arrived. But he took very ill the death of the bird, and
threatened an extremely severe vengeance on its destroyer.
The boys therefore rejoiced, thinking that they had escaped,
and had turned on Kentigern the punishment due to them, and
diminished the grace of friendship which Servanus had hitherto
entertained for him.
When Kentigern, the most pure child, learnt tlris, taking
the bird in his hands, and putting the head upon the body, he
signed it with the sign of the cross, and lifting up holy hands
in prayer to the Lord, he said, " Lord Jesus Christ, in Whose
hands is the breath of every rational and irrational creature,
give back to this bird the breath of life, that Thy blessed name
may be glorified for ever." These words spake the saint in
prayer, and straightway the bird revived, and not only with
untrammelled flight rose in the air in safety, but also in its
usual way it flew forth with joy to meet the holy old man as
he returned from the church. On seeing this prodigy the heart
of the old man rejoiced in the Lord, and his soul did magnify
the Lord's boy in the Lord, and the Lord, Wlio alone doeth
marvellous things, and was working in the boy. By this
remarkable sign, therefore, did the Lord mark out, nay, in a
way, presignify, as his own, Kentigern, and announced him
beforehand, whom in after times, in manifold ways, He made
still more distinguished by wonders.
44 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTER VI.
Of the, Fire, extinguished through envy hy the Comimnions of
S. Kentigern, and hy his Breath brought down from Heaven
upon a little branch of hazel.
It was the rule of S. Servanus, tliat each of the boys whom
he trained and instructed should, during the lapse of a week,
carefully attend to arrange the lamps in the church, while the
Divine office was being celebrated there by day and by night ;
and for this purpose, when the others had gone to sleep, should
attend to the fire, lest any neglect from default of light should
happen to the Divine service. It happened that S. Kentigern,
in the order of his course, was appointed to this service, and,
while he was doing it diligently and in order, his rivals, (in-
flamed with the torches of envy, nay, blinded, as it is the pecu-
liarity of perverse men to envy the advance of their betters, to
persecute, to pervert, and to diminish the good which in them-
selves they have not, nor will to have, nor can have,) on a cer-
tain solemn night secretly extinguished all the fire within the
habitations of the monastery and the places in its neighbour-
hood. Then, as if ignorant and innocent, they sought their
beds, and when about cockcrow, as was his custom, at the
sacred vigils, S. Kentigern arose, as custom required that he
should attend to the lights, he sought for fire everywhere
round about and did not find it.
At length, having found out the wickedness of his rivals, he
determined in his mind to give place to envy, and began to
leave the monastery. But when he had come to the hedge
which surrounded that habitation, returning to himself, he
stood still, and armed his soul to endure perils from false
brethren, and to bear the persecution of the froward. Then
going back to the house, he laid hold of and drew out a bough
of a growing hazel which had come up beside the hedge, and,
enkindled by faith, he besought the Father of Lights to lighten
his darkness by the pouring in of new light, and in a new way
to prepare for himself a lantern by which he might clothe with
healthful confusion those his enemies who persecuted him.
Lifting therefore a pure hand, he signed the bough with the
sign of the cross, and blessing it in the name of the holy and
undivided Trinity breathed upon it. A wonderful and remark-
able thing followed ! Straightway fire coming forth from
heaven, seizing the bough, as if the boy had exhaled flame for
breath, sent forth fire, vomiting rays, and banished all the sur-
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 45
rounding darkness, and so in His light seeing light, he walked
into the House of God. God therefore sent forth His light,
and led him and brought him unto the monasteiy, even unto
His holy hill and unto His dwelling. And so he went unto
the altar of God, who gave joy to his youth by so clear a sign,
and kindled the lamps of the church, that the Divine oflice
might be celebrated and finished in due season. Therefore
was the Lord his light and his salvation, that he might no
longer fear any of his rivals, because He gave sentence for him,
and defended his cause against those unjust, envious, and
deceitful youths, so that their malice might no more prevail
against him.
All were astonished, beholding this great vision, when that
torch burnt without injury to itself, as when in olden time
the bush which appeared to Moses seemed to be burnt, and
yet was not consumed. For it was one and the same Lord
who wrought the self-same wonder in the bush and in the twig
of hazel; for the Same who destined Moses as a lawgiver for the
people of the Hebrews, that he might lead them out of the
bondage of Egypt, deigned to destine Kentigern as a preacher
of the Christian law, to many nations, that he might rescue
them from the power of the devil. In the end that torch
was extinguished from heaven, when the lamps of the church
had been lighted, and every one more and more wondered,
beholding these great things of God. For that hazel from
which the little branch was taken, received a blessing from
S. Kentigern, and afterwards began to gTow into a wood. If
from that grove of hazel, as the country folks say, even the
greenest branch is taken, even at the present day, it catches fire
like the driest material at the touch of fire, which in a manner
laps it up, and, influenced by a little breath by the merit of
the saint, sheds abroad from itself a fiery haze. And verily it
was right that a miracle of this nature should continue, yea,
perpetuate itself in his case, who, although in the verdure of the
spring-time of life, the delight of the flesh was vigorous, yet
inwardly was strong, and all the glory of the world, like the
grass of the field, entirely withered because the Spirit of the
Lord blew upon it, and the AVord of God for ever abiding,
by His enlightening consecrated to Himself that hallowed
soul and undefiled body, and the fire of the Holy Spirit burnt
Mm up as a whole burnt-offering, accepted as an odour of a
sweet savour.
46 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS,
CHAPTEE VII.
Of the Cook raised from the Dead hj the Prayers of S. Kentigcrn.
S. Servanus had a certain man deputed to the office of the
kitchen, who was very necessary for him and for those who
dwelt with him, in that he was well qualified and active in
that duty, and carefully attended to this frequent ministry. It
happened that, seized with a sharp illness, he lay upon his bed,
and the disease increasing and running its course, he yielded
up the vital spirit. Sorrow filled the heart of the aged man
for his death, and all the crowd of his disciples, and all his
family, lamented for him, because it was not easy to find
another like him for such a service. Fulfilling a natural duty,
they consigned his native dust in the womb of the mother of
all, and sustained no small loss on account of his decease. On
the day after the burial, all the disciples and servants, both
those friendly and those jealous, came to S. Servanus, earnestly
beseeching him that he should by his prayer summon his
Munhu, and compel him by his virtue of obedience, so far as to
endeavour to raise his cook from the dead. For the envious
ones asserted that the Egyptian magicians, by their enchant-
ments, had shown forth signs from heaven, and, on the testi-
mony of John in the Apocalypse, that the disciples of Anti-
christ would send down fire from heaven, and that many
wizards had in the eyes of all done what seemed wondrous by
their occult arts, but that none of the human race could bring
back to the breath of life one who was really dead, unless he
was a man perfect in holiness.
They persisted, in season and out of season, urging him by
persuasive words, to test his sanctity by such a work as this ;
and that his merit would be proclaimed for ever if he recalled
to life one dead and buried. The holy old man at first hesitat-
ing to presume to enjoin so unusual a work on the young man,
at length, overcome and constrained by their wicked impor-
tunity, reasoned with the Lord's young man on the matter with
bland words and entreaties, but found him reluctant, asserting
that he had not the merit for this. Then S. Servanus adjured
him by the holy and terrible name of God, that at least he
should try what he could do in such a matter, and this he com-
manded in the force of holy obedience. The young man then
fearing that adjuration, and thinking that obedience was better
and more pleasing to God than all sacrifices, went to the tomb
where the cook had been buried the day before, and caused the
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 47
earth wherewith he was covered to be dug up and cast out.
Falling down therefore alone on the ground, with his face
plentifully bedewed with tears, he said, " Lord Jesu Christ,
Who art the life and the resurrection of Thine own who faith-
fully believe in Thee, Who killest and makest alive, Who
bringest down to the grave and bringest up, to Whom life and
death are servants, Who raised Lazarus when he had been four
days dead, raise again this dead man, that Thy holy name may
be blessed and glorified above all things for ever."
An exceedingly astonishing thing followed ! While S. Kenti-
gern poured forth copious prayers, the dead man lying in the
dust straightway rose again from the tomb, and came forth,
though bound in grave-clothes, from the sepulchral home. He
verily arose from the dead as the other arose from prayer, and
along with him, and a large company following him, he pro-
ceeded safe and active first of all to the church, to return
thanks to God, then, by the command of Kentigern, he betook
himself to his accustomed duty of cooking, all wondering at
the miracle and praising the Lord. He, in truth, who was raised
from the dead declared in after times what he had seen of the
punishment of the wicked and the joys of the righteous ; and
he converted many from evil to good, while he strengthened in
their holy purpose many who were endeavouring to advance
from good to better. On being urged by many, he likewise
unfolded the manner of his resuscitation.^ He asserted that he
had been reft from things human with unspeakable pain, carried
before the tribunal of the terrible Judge, and that there he
had seen very many on receiving their sentence plunged into
hell, others destined to purgatorial places, some elevated to
celestial joys above the heavens. And when, trembling, he was
awaiting his own sentence, he heard that he was the man for
whom Kentigern, beloved of the Lord, was praying, and he was
ordered by a being streaming with light that he should be
restored to the body, and brought back to his former life and
health ; and he was sedulously warned by him who conducted
him, that for the future he should lead a stricter life ; and in
truth, the self-same cook, assuming holy religion in act and
habit, and profiting and advancing from strength to strength,
lived seven years longer, and then yielding to fate, he was
buried in a noble sarcophagus ; and there was also engraven on
the lid of the tomb how he had been raised from the dead by
S. Kentigern, that by all who saw it or were to see it in time to
come, the Lord, wonderful in His saint, might be magnified.
1 Note U.
48 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTEE YIII.
How S. Kentigern departed secretly from S. Servanus, and what
sort of a Miracle was ivrought at his departing.
When the sanctity of S. Kentigern shone forth, ilhistrated
by such remarkable signs, and the sweet savour of his virtues
shed forth far and wide an odour of life, his rivals drew in an
odour of death from these life-giving scents, and that very holy
opinion of him, which afforded matter of edification to many,
was in their case an incentive towards sowing the seed of
greater hatred against the saint of God. The boy, prudent in
the Lord, knew that the measure of their malice against him-
self was filled up, and that the inveterate envy that had entered
into their bowels and marrow could not be appeased in their
unquiet hearts. Nor did he deem it safe to continue longer
beside the crowd of venomous serpents, lest perchance he
might suffer the loss of inward sweetness. He also weighed
the air of popular favour, serenely breathing upon him, and
from every side crying "Well done! Well done!" He forth-
with proposed to himself to leave the place, that he might in
humility forsake the company of those who hated and envied
him, and also prudently avoid vainglory. Upon this, after
applying himself to the most earnest prayer, he betook him-
self to the Angel of good counsel, entreating Him that His good
Spirit might lead him in the right way, that he might not
chance to run or have run in vain. The Lord therefore inclined
His ear to the prayers of His servant, revealing to him by the
Spirit that the holy intention which had rested in his mind
would be well-pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.
He therefore retreated secretly from the place, having the
Lord of truth as liis guide and protector, in every place.
Journeying, he arrived at the Frisicum Litus, where the river,
by name Mallena, overpassing its banks when the tide flows
in, took away all hope of crossing.^ Bvit the kind and mighty
Lord, who divided the Eed Sea into heaps, and led the people
of Israel through the same dryshod, under the guidance of
Moses, and again turned back to its source the perpetual flow-
ing of Jordan, that the children of Israel might enter with dry
footsteps the land of promise under Joshua ; and who, at the
prayer of Elias, and Eliseus his disciple, divided the same
river of Jordan that they might pass dryshod ; He Himself now
1 Note X.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. id
with the same mighty hand and stretched-out arm divided the
river Mallena, that Kentigern, beloved of God and of man,
might cross on dry ground. Then the tide flowing back in a
very wonderful way, and, if I may so say, being as it were
afraid, the waters both of the sea and of the river stood as walls
on his right hand and on his left. After that, crossing a little
arm of the sea, near a bridge which by the inhabitants is called
the Pons Servani, on looking back to the bank he saw that
the waters which had stood as in a heap before, now flowed
back and filled the channel of the ]\Iallena ; yea, were over-
flowing the bridge aforesaid and denying a passage to any one.-^
And behold S. Servanus, supporting his aged limbs vdth a
staff, having followed in pursuit of the fugitive, stood above
the bank, and beckoning with his hand, he cried out lamenting,
" Alas, my dearest son ! light of mine eyes ! staff of mine old
age ! wherefore dost thou desert me ? wherefore dost thou leave
me ? Call to mind the days that are past, and remember the
years that are gone by ; how I took thee up when thou camest
forth from thy mother's womb, nourished thee, taught thee,
trained thee even unto this hour. Do not despise me, nor
neglect my grey hairs, but return, that in no long time thou
mayest close mine eyes." Kentigern, moved with these words
of the aged man, meltiug into tears rejjlied, " Thou seest, my
father, that what is done is according to the Divine will. We
neither ought nor can we alter the counsel of the Most High,
or fail to obey His will. Besides there is this sea, which
between us as a great gulf is fixed, so that they who would
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence.^ I pray thee, therefore, have me
excused." Then said the old man, " I pray thee, that by thy
intercession, as thou hast just done, thou wouldest make solid
again the liquid, divide the ground and make it bare, so that at
least I, crossing, might reach thee dryshod. With willing mind
will I become son instead of father to thee, disciple instead of
teacher, pupil instead of guide, so that to the evening of my
days I may be thine own companion." Then again Kentigern,
weeping copiously, replied, " Eeturn, I pray thee, my father, to
thine own people,^ that in thy holy presence they may be
trained in sacred doctrine, guided by thine example, and re-
strained by thy discipline. The Eewarder of all reward thee,
for all the benefits which thou hast done unto me, and since
thou hast fought the good fight, even now hast finished thy
course, and hast maintained the faith, living and fruitful, hence-
1 Note Y, 2 Luke xvi. 26. ^ R„th i. 15.
50 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
forth there is laid up for thee a crown of righteousness, which
the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to thee in the next
world. But I, destined to the work of the ministry, will go
forth to that which He sent me, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by His grace."
Having said this, and having mutually blessed each other,
they were divided the one from the other, and never looked in
each other's face again in this world. Tor Servanus, returning
home, awaited in a good old age the day of his call, and thus
growing old in good days, and being gathered to the holy
fathers, he rested in the Lord, and, like a good labourer in the
vineyard, at even-tide, received tlie penny of eternal reward from
his Lord. And what sort of a man, and how great he was, and
in what virtues he shone, a little book written of his Life will
exhibit more clearly to those who read it. Now the place by
which S. Kentigern crossed became after that entirely impass-
able. For that bridge, always after that covered by the waves
of the sea, afforded to no ^one any longer means of transit.
Even the MaUena altered the force of its current from the pro-
per place, and from that day to this turned back the channel
into the river Ledon. So that forthwith, the rivers which till
then had been separate from each other now became mingled
and united.
CHAPTEE IX.
Of the, Sick Man who desired, and sought in prayer, and obtained
from the Lord, that before his death he should see S. Kenti-
gern; and tasted death in his presence, and obtained
sepulture by his forethought.
There was a man of venerable life, Fregus by name, tormented
by much and long sickness.^ He lived in a town called Ker-
nach, detained upon the bed of pain, sound in holy conversa-
tion, strong in faith, intent upon heaven.^ This man, just and
full of holy fear, when the south wind was blowing over his
garden, so that the odours of its breeze might reach him, felt in
his breast a sweetness which proceeded forth from the opinion
he had of the sanctity of S. Kentigern. Whence also as there
burnt in him the desire, and both heart and eye thirsted, one
would have thought the wish of the holy old man Symeou was
renewed, which he had to see the Lord. For Symeon, with
Note Z. ^ Note AA.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 51
panting heart, desired with the eye of the flesh to hehold the
salvation of God, Christ the Lord, and Fregus, with firm faith,
unmeasured desires, and frequent prayers, besought of the Lord
that he might see Kentigern, the servant of the Lord Christ.
Christ heard the desire of both, and the ear of God, hearing the
desire of their hearts, fulfilled it. The desire and joy of
Symeon was fulfilled on the day that Christ was presented in
the Temple for his salvation. Fregus, for his consolation, saw
and rejoiced in seeing Kentigern on the day that he parted
from S. Servanus. For Fregus had received a promise from
the Holy Ghost that he should not see death till he had seen
Kentigern, the Nazarite of the Lord.
And when Kentigern had come to the habitation of the holy
sick man, and knocked at the door, the sick man from within,
warned by a Divine oracle, exclaimed, saying, " Open ye the
gates, for the Lord is with us. The herald of my salvation, pro-
mised me by God, and long expected by me, to-day is manifested."
And when he had seen him he rejoiced in spirit, and having
given thanks, he blessed the Lord, and said, " Lord, now lettest
Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, for
mine eyes have seen Thy consolation, which Thou hast prepared
before the face of many people, a light to reveal the true Light
that lighteth every man that cometh into this world, and to
declare the glory of eternal life to the people of these and
many nations." And tm-ning to him he said again, " Dispose of
my house and my life to-day, and to-morrow attend to my
burial, as it pleaseth Thy providence, the Lord inspiring thee."
Then, by the advice of holy Kentigern, he dispersed abroad
and gave to the poor aU the worldly substance he possessed,
and, after making a pure confession, he was anointed with the
oil of remission, and purified with the sacrament of the life-giving
Body and Blood of the Lord, and then he commended his spirit
into the hands of the Lord, and with eyes and hands lifted up
to heaven, he expired during the words of prayer. Next day
S. Kentigern yoked two untamed bulls to a new wain, in which
he placed the body, whence the spirit had departed, and having
prayed in the name of the Lord, he enjoined upon the brute
beasts to carry the burden placed upon them to the place which
the Lord had provided for it. And in truth, the bulls, in no ways
being restive, or in anything disobeying the voice of Kentigern,
without any tripping or fall, came by a straight road, along
where there was no path, as far as Cathures, which is now
called Glasgu, along with Kentigern and many others accom-
panying ; and then, with all gentleness, with the burden of the
sacred earth laid on them, a beauteous sight, they halted near
52 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
a certain cemetery, which had been long before consecrated by
S. Ninian.
Verily, with no less miracle, in no diverse way, with no
unequal power, was this chariot, by ruling and threatening,
directed to the appointed place by Him who in old time brought
from Ekron to Bethshemesh, when Dagon was cast down and
broken, the ark of the covenant, which had been taken by the
Philistines, placed on a new waggon, and drawn by milch-cows
that had never borne the yoke. Therefore the saint in the same
place took the holy body down from the wain, and after celebrat-
ing his obsequies buried him in that cemeteryin whichnone other
man had yet lain. This was the first burial in that place,
where afterwards very many bodies were buried in peace. The
greatest reverence was paid to the tomb of the man of God ; nor
did any rash fool dare to trample or pass over it without
vengeance, for within the revolution of a year many who trod
on it or neglected to pay it honour were smitten down with
grievous misfortune, some were even mulcted by death. That
tomb is to the present time encircled by a delicious density of
overshadowing trees, in witness of the sanctity and the reve-
rence due to him who is buried there.
CHAPTEE X.
Of the Two Brothers, one of ichom perished hy the judgment of
God, the other, ivith all his family, uris deemed meet to he
blessed hy the Lord for many generations.
When the man of God, Fregus, had been buried, S. Kenti-
gern, as was enjoined on him of God by revelation, dwelt in
the same place with two brothers, who inhabited the place
before his arrival, and framing his life in much sanctity, went
on with great virtues unto perfection. One of those with
whom he lived was called Telleyr, the other Anguen. But
Anguen received God's saint as an angel of the Lord, and loved
him with his whole heart, and obeyed his commands with all
reverence and veneration, and sulDmitted himself to all his
requirements. And not in vain. For the servant of the Lord
blessed him in the name of the Lord, and, succoured by that'
blessing of graciousness, not only he, but all his posterity, re-
ceived a blessing from the Lord, and mercy from the God of
his salvation, seeming to procure it by a sort of hereditary
right. For the Lord magnified them in the sight of kings, and
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 53
made their name great, like unto the names of those who were
great upon the earth, so that not only by abundance of sub-
stance, but by the culture of the Christian religion, they in-
creased and extended themselves in such wise that it was
justly said of them, This is the seed which the Lord hath
blessed, by the merit and prayers of His servant Kentigern.
But the other, by name Telleyr, was very hostile to him,
secretly detracting from his religion, misinterpreting all his
actions, often openly withstanding him, insulting, and injuring
him. Either by minishing from the good he did, or perverting
it, he obscured everything by a sinister interpretation. But
the servant of God had by continual use, accustoming himself,
with blessed Job,^ to be the brother of dragons and the com-
panion of ostriches, and like Ezekiel to dwell with scorpions,
in patience possessed his soul, and was peaceful with him who
hated peace. But when he spoke of the things that concerned
peace, Telleyr, perverse and ungrateful that he was, only made
himself ready for battle.^ But God, the Lord of vengeance, the
patient Eewarder,^ suffered not the injury done to His servant to
go long unrequited. For on a certain day, after many re-
proaches, by which he had made sad the soul of that righteous
one, he went forth to his work. And because he was very
strong, he placed upon his shoulders a weighty beam, exceeding
the measure of his strength, rejoicing and thinking that he had
acquired the reputation that in bearing burdens he was stronger
than the asses. But when he had gone a little way he tripped
upon a stone and fell, so that, crushed by his burden, he gave
up the ghost, expressing what Solomon says, " Woe unto him
that goeth alone : for he shall have no one to raise him when
he falleth ;* and again, " He hath fallen once for all, who is
always doing evil."
Kentigern, hearing that his adversary had fallen, lamented
him deeply, and procured for him a place of interment ; in this
imitating holy David, the king of the Hebrews, who bewailed
the death of his persecutor Saul,^ and mourned for him with a
great mourning. But because, according to Solomon, when
the fool perisheth the wise man will be wiser, we have in the
fall of this man a sufficient proof, that we ought not to offend
the servants and friends of God, or dare to inflict on them
molestation, grievances, or injury. For the Elect are the
Temple of the Lord, and the Holy Spirit dwelleth in them.
They are therefore the more to be deferred to, and men should
1 Job XXX. 29 ; Ezek. ii. 6. ^ Ps. cxx. 6.
3 Heb. xi. 6. " Eccles. iv. 10. ^2 Sam. i. 12, 17.
54 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
abstain from injuring them, inasmucli as He who dwelleth in
them is most powerful in vindicating their wrongs, and just in
rendering justice to those who suffer injuries.
CHAPTEE XL
Of tilt Election of S. Kcnticjern, and his Consecration as
Bishop.
And when S. Kentigern, living in the place aforesaid, became
fertile in the abundance of many miraculous gifts, it pleased
Him who had separated him from his mother's womb, not to
leave him under a bushel, but rather to place him on a candle-
stick, that, by making his righteousness clear as the light, and
his just dealing as the noon-day, he might give light to all
that were in the house of the Lord.^ Therefore, by Divine
prompting, the king and clergy of the Cambrian region, with
other Christians, albeit they were few in number, came to-
gether, and after taking into consideration what was to be
done to restore the good estate of the Church, which was well-
nigh destroyed, they with one consent approached S. Kenti-
gern, and elected him, in spite of his many remonstrances and
strong resistance, to be the shepherd and bishop of their souls.
He objected to their election of him, that he was not fit on
account of his youth ; they alleged the gravity of his manners
and the affluence of his knowledge and wisdom. He declared
that he could not with easy mind endure the diminution of his
inward peace and holy contemplation; they alleged, on the
other hand, that it was healthful to break in on the sabbath of
the life of speculation, for the salvation of many souls. In the
end, he judged himseK insufficient for the honour which was
in truth a burden, but the unanimous voice of all proclaimed
that his sufficiency had been proclaimed by God Himself, by
many indications of signs and wonders. Invoking therefore a
prosperous rule, blessing him in the name of the Holy Trinity,
and committing him to the Holy Ghost, the Sanctifier and
Distributor of all the orders, offices, and dignities in the Church,
they enthroned him; and having called one bishop from Ireland,
after the manner of the Britons and Scots of that period, they
caused him to be consecrated bishop.
A custom had grown up in Britannia, in the consecration of
bishops, only to anoint their heads by pouring on them the
I
1 Note BB.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 55
sacred chrism, with invocation of the Holy Spirit,^ and benedic-
tion and laying on of hands, which rite these ignorant persons
alleged they had received as an institution of the Divine law
and an apostolic tradition ; whereas the sacred canons ordain
that no bishop shall be consecrated without three bishops at
least ; to wit, one to act as consecrator, who shall say over him
who is to be consecrated the sacramental benedictions and
prayers for each of the episcopal ornaments, and two others
who shall lav on hands alonc^ with him, shall be as w^itnesses,
and shall hold the text of the Gospels supported on liis neck.
Yet although the consecration to which the Britons were
accustomed is scantly consonant with the sacred canons, still it
is agreed that it does not destroy the power and efficiency of the
Divine mystery, or of the episcopal ministration. But because
those islanders, as placed beyond the civilized world, on account
of the attacks of the Pagans made upon them, were ignorant of
the canoiis, the judgment of the Church, condescending to them,
admits excuse for that reason, but in such times as these would
never permit such a rite as this to be used by any one without
grave censure.
But S. Kentigern, although he was consecrated after this
fashion, took pains to correct it in every way possible, as we
shall state hereafter. He established his cathedral seat in a
town called Glesgu, which is, interpreted, The Dear Family, and
is now called Glasgii,^ where he united to himself a famous
and God-beloved family of servants of God, who practised con-
tinence, and who lived after the fashion of the primitive church
under the apostles, without private property, in holy discipline
and Divine service.
]Moreover, the diocese of that episcopate was extended accord-
ing to the Hmits of the Cambrian kingdom, which kingdom reached
from sea to sea, like the rampart once built by the Emperor
Severus. This rampart afterwards, by the assistance and counsel
of the Roman Legion, in order to keep off the incursions of the
Picts, gave way to a wall built in the same place, eight feet in
breadth and twelve feet in height ; it reaches as far as the Flumen
Fordense, and by division separates Scotia from Angiia.^ Now
this Cambrian region, over which S. Kentigern presided as
bishop, had once on a time, wdth all Britannia, accepted the
Christian faith in the time of Pope Eleutherius,* when Lucius
was king; but in consequence of the Pagans from time to
time infesting the island, and asserting dominion therein, the
islanders, lapsing into apostasy, had cast away the faith which
1 Note CC. 2 Note DD. 3 Note EE. * Note FF.
L ^
56 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
they had received. Many were not yet baptized. Many were
stained by the contagion of manifold heresy. Many, in name
only Christians, were plunged in the slough of vice of all sorts ;
the greatest part of them had been taught by the ministry of
men who were unskilled and ignorant of the law of God. Thus
all the Provincials required the counsel of a good pastor, and
the healing of a good governor. Therefore God, the disposer
and dispenser of all good things, provided, promoted, and pro-
posed S. Kentigern as the remedy for all their diseases, the
support of their lives, and their example.
CHAPTER XII.
How S. Kentigern conducted himself in the Episcopate ; hoiv he
lived and hoiv he taught ; and how he deported himself hoth
openly and in private.
Blessed Kentigern having taken possession of his govern-
ment, as he excelled others in dignity, so he sought to exceed
them in sanctity. And as he was higher in rank, so he studied
to appear more excellent than others in the ordinance of holy
virtues and manners. For he deemed it unworthy for himself
to crawl upon the ground, or to lie in the depths, who was
bound by a Divine command to go up upon the mountain to
bring good tidings to Zion. And verily it is unbecoming in
him to live in an abject manner, who from his office must
announce high things ; wherefore the saiut of God, after
accepting the episcopal dignity, sought to exercise greater humi-
lity and austerity than heretofore in his food, his dress, in watch-
ings, in his hard couches, and in the mortification of his body.
And that I may in brief describe his whole life, from the time
of his ordination, which took place in the twenty-fifth year of his
age, until the extreme term of his life, which lasted the space of
one hundred and sixty years, — when he broke his fast after three
days, or oftener after four days, he revived rather than recruited
his body by tasting the cheapest and lightest foods, such as
bread and milk, and cheese and butter and condiments ; and
even that, lest the animal frame should entirely fail by the way
of this mortality ; yea, rather, to speak more to the purpose, that
by mortifying his members which are upon the earth, by the
crucifixion of a continual cross, he might by slaying offer him-
self a living sacrifice, holy, well-pleasing unto God. He abstained
entirely from flesh and from blood, and from wine, and from
all that could inebriate, like one, nay, like a chief, among the
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 57
Nazarites. If, however, at any time it happened that he was
on a journey, or dining with the king, he tempered the accus-
tomed rigour of his abstinence. Afterwards, when he re-
turned home, punishing in himself that which he regarded as
a gross crime, he increased his abstinence.
CHAPTEE XIII.
Of the Mode of Dress of S. Kentigern.
He used the roughest hair-cloth next the skin, then a gar-
ment of leather made of the skin of the goats, then a cowl like
a fisherman's bound on him, above which, clothed in a Avhite
alb, he always wore a stole over his shoulders. He bore a
pastoral staff, not rounded and gilded and gemmed, as may be
seen now-a-days, but of simple wood, and merely bent. He
had in his hand the Manual-book, always ready to exercise
his ministry, whenever necessity or reason demanded. And so
by the whiteness of his dress he expressed the purity of his
inner life, and avoided vainglory.^
CHAPTER XIV.
Of the Couch of S. Kentigern^ and his Vigils, and his Bath in
Cold Water.
What shall I say of his bed ? I hesitate whether to call it
a bed or a tomb. He lay in stone hollowed like a monument,
having for his head a stone in place of a pillow, like another
Jacob. Verily he was a staunch combatant against the flesh,
the world, and the devil. Throwing in a few ashes, and taking'
'off his sackcloth, he shook off his drowsiness rather by
tasting than taking sleep. And to express myself more clearly,
in a certain similitude of a snatch of sleep, he buried himself
along with Christ. When he had taken a moderate portion of
sleep, he arose in the night, at the beginning of his vigils, and
poured forth his soul like water in the sight of the Lord his
God. And so with psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs,
celebrating the Lord's night-watches, he exulted in God his
Saviour, and was joyful in Him until the second cock-crowing ;
then, entering upon a fiercer conflict with that great and malig-
1 Note GG.
58 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
nant dragon that, according to the prophet, lieth in the midst
of his rivers,^ he used to strip himself of his clothes, and naked,
following a naked Christ, making himself naked and bare, he
plunged into the rapid and cold water. Then, verily, as the
hart desireth the water brooks, so his soul desired and thirsted
for God, the living water ; and there, in cold and nakedness,
with his eyes and hands lifted up to heaven, he chanted on
end the whole Psalter. Thereby made like one of the flock that
are ever shorn, which came out from the washing unto Mount
Gilead,^ emerging from the water like a dove bathed in milk,
nay, rather as a Nazarite, whiter than snow, brighter than milk,
ruddier than ancient ivory, fairer than sapphire, he sat himself
to dry his limbs, on the brow of a hill called Gulath, by the
water side, near his own home.^ So having dried his body, and
resumed his clothes, as if preparing his going forth in the
dawn, he exhibited himself as an ensample to his followers.
And this custom of bathing, neither the fire of the glittering
lightning, nor hail, nor snow, nor the spirit of storms, ever
interrupted, unless a journey necessarily undertaken, or the
severest sickness, prevented it; yet even then did he redeem the
work by some other divine and spiritual exercise. Wherefore
by the continued use of this saving laver, as of a new Jordan,
his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child ; because
the law of sin, which warreth in the less honourable members,
was so weakened, and the fire of concupiscence so mortified and
extinguished, that no corruption of the rebellious flesh, either
waking or even sleeping, ever polluted or defiled the lily of his
snow-white modesty. Nor even did he ever feel its simple
motions rage or move within him, for by the grace of Christ
co-operating with him, his flesh, with its passions stilled, con-
tinued in an almost childlike pure innocence, and verily that
holy one grew up before the Lord like an unfading lily, so
that once on a time he simply declared to his disciples, that
the sight or touch of a most beautiful girl had no more effect
upon him than the hardest flint.
CHAPTEK XV. .
Of the way of Speaking which the Man of God used.
In speaking, however, he was able to control his spirit, and
he learned to set a watch before his mouth and to keep the door
1 Ezek. xxix. 3. ^ Cant. iv. 2. 3 Note HH.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 59
of liis lips, that he might guide his words with discretion. Nor
did any one of his words fall lightly to the ground, nor was the
word he spoke given to the winds, nor did it return to him in
vain. Wherefore he spoke in'weight, number, and measure, as the
necessary occasion demanded, for his speech was flavoured with
salt, suited to every age and sex, for honey and milk were
under his tongue, and his cellars were filled with spiritual
wine, whence the babe in Christ drank milk from his lips, the
more advanced honey, and the perfect man wine, each to his
soid's health. In judging and condemning, or in chiding, he
had not by him divers measures, nor did he respect the person
of man, but he studied the cause, and wdth the greatest dis-
cretion measured forth the degree of ecclesiastical discij)line,
according to the name of the fault, in due time and place.
Yet the saint preached more by his silence than many doctors
and rulers do by loud speaking, for his appearance, counte-
nance, gait, and the gesture of his whole body, openly taught
discipline, and by certain signs, bursting forth like water, indi-
cated openly the purity of the inner man which lurked there.
It is unnecessary to commit to writing his munificence, which
spent itself wholly on alms-deeds and works of mercy, for all the
substance which the Divine largess had bestowed upon him
was the common treasury of the poor.
CHAPTEE XVI.
With what a grace lie was deemed meet to he adonied, while he
was celebrating the Sacred Mysteries of the Mass.
But although in the preceding and in similar holy exercises
he showed himself as man, and sometimes as above man, it
was in celebrating the holy mysteries of the Mass that, in a
manner putting off the man and withdrawing himself from
earthly things, he put on something like a Divine character,
wholly above the human. For while with his hands lifted in
the form of a cross he said, " Sursum Corda," he lifted his own
unto the Lord as he exhorted others; so from that golden
censer of his most pure heart, filled with coals, burning with
virtue, and kindled with delight in God, like the brightest and
sweetest- savoured incense, his prayer rising to the clouds,
penetrating the heavens, and plunging into the light unto which
no man can approach, was set forth in the presence of God ;
so that the Most High Himself vouchsafed by evident signs to
manifest to the eyes of mortals that He had accepted it as an
60 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
oblation, an. odour of a sweet savour, well-pleasing to Himself :
for very often, as he handled the Divine Sacraments, a snow-
white dove, having as it were a golden beak, was seen to light
upon his head, and with the transparent fluttering of his wings,
like a ray of the sun, to overshadow him and What was laid
upon the altar. Frequently also, when he stood sacrificing at
holy altars, a luminous cloud overshadowed his head, and occa-
sionally at the time when the Son was being immolated to the
Father, he seemed not to stand there, but a fiery pillar by
whose brightness the sight of onlookers was bhnded. But it
was not given to all to know and to behold this ministry, but
those only to whom it was granted by the Father of Lights.
Once upon a time, while the Lord's priest was celebrating
the mysteries, a sweet-smelUng cloud filled the whole house,
where many were hearing the sacred mysteries of the Lord, for
the odour, exceeding all perfumes, overwhelmed all wdio were
there with exceeding delight, and gave fuU health to many
who were afflicted with various diseases. Verily while I
record these things, sorrow fiUeth my heart, as I see the priest-
hood defiled in so many ways to-day. While in the meantime
I am silent about those who simoniacally come to sacrifice, or
with Judas sell the Lord's Body, since forsooth some offer it for
a price, I speak of those who, bound by crimes and dissolved
in vices, and polluted in body and soul, dare to touch and to
contaminate with their impure hands the Sacrifice of Purifica-
tion. Alas, in how many priests to-day is the stench of foul-
ness rather than the odour of spiritual sweetness observed ! O
how many more doth the dark whirlwind lay hold of and blind,
than doth the shining cloud overshadow ! Woe, woe, say I to
many to-day for whom the sulphurous flame rather than the
surrounding column of fire awaiteth !^ But now I return unto
myself, and to others hke unto me, who in any way are dis-
charging the office of their priesthood, and for whom, instead of
a snow-white dove at the time of the sacrifice, flies sufiiciently
tormenting come up out of the river of Egypt^ — that is the
unclean, vain, useless thoughts wdiich rush into the memory,
from the imagination of this perishing world. Therefore fear-
fulness and trembling come upon me, for by the witness of
Solomon dead flies cause the ointment to give forth an evil
scent, since minds occupied with thoughts of this kind have
little experience of what nature is the joy of that inward sweet-
ness, which proceedeth from the visitation of the Holy Ghost.
1 Note II. -^ Note KK.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. Gl
CHAPTEE XVII.
Of tlic way in which Holy Kcntigern toithdrew himself during
the whole of Lent into more secret jplaecs in the Desert, and
returned to his own Church hefore Maiinday- Thursday, and
sometimes hefore Palm-Sunday.
The man of God maintained this manner of life here de-
scribed till an extreme old age, almost all the year round, except
during Lent, for in those days he was accustomed beyond his
ordinary way to walk in a certain newness of life. Emulating
the fervour of certain of the holy fathers, nay, rather following
the footsteps of Elias and John the Baptist, and of the Saviour
Himself, he retired to desert places every Lent, and so by
withdrawing himself in flight from the sight of the sons of
men, and remaining in a solitude of body and soul, he dwelt
with himself. There, more freely giving himself up to the
contemplation of God, he rested under the shadow of the Face
of the Almighty, safe from the disturbance of man, from the
strife of tongues and worldly converse. Therefore sitting
solitary, he lifted himself above himself, and often abiding in
the caverns of the earth,^ and standing in the entering in of his
cave, and praying, after the great and strong wind and the
earthquake, he heard the still small whisper of thin air breath-
ing upon him, and bathing him in and filling him with unspeak-
able sweetness. Wherefore he went about the streets of the
heavenly Jerusalem seeking for himself Him whom his soul
loved, and offering for himself, in his heart, a sacrifice of jubila-
tion, he mortified his most holy members which were upon the
earth. Offering himself a living victim, holy, well-pleasing
unto the Lord, he afflicted his most innocent body by a continual
martyrdom as a sweet savour. With what and what sort of
food he sustained his life on those days he revealed to none, or
at least to few, and to these by his episcopal authority he for-
bade that they should ever reveal the mystery to mortal man.
Yet once he spake, and two of his disciples heard a word not
to be recalled, once only, and simply uttered from his lips.
" I knew," said he, " a certain man, who during Lent sustained
life on the roots of herbs only, and sometimes, the Lord giving
him strength, he passed the whole of that time without the
support of earthly food." Neither of them doubted that he
spake this of himself; but the man of God suppressed his
1 Note LL.
62 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
name, to avoid vainglory, which he everywhere sought to shun.
At length, for a long time before Mauuday- Thursday, and after
that, on the Saturday before Palm-Sunday, he returned to his
home and to his people to fulfil his episcopal office, and he
was received by them all as an angel of peace and light.
Wherefore he was used to pass that week with his disciples,
and on Maunday-Thursday, after the composition of the holy
chrism and oil, he washed with his own hands the feet of a
multitude of poor men first, and then of lepers, bathing them
with his tears, wiping them with his hair, comforting them
with many kisses, and afterwards he waited upon the people
diligently at table. Then sitting for their consolation with
the reconciled penitents at a banquet, he consoled himself
and them with spiritual and bodily refreshment. Thereafter
from that hour till after the celebration of Mass on Easter
Day he always remained fasting. Verily, on Good Friday he
crucified himself with the Crucified One with incredible
torture, and with scourging, nakedness, and frequent genuflec-
tion, scarcely ever sitting down, he passed the day and the
night, bearing about in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus,
with great affliction of body and soul.
But on the Holy Saturday, as if dead to the world, burying
in a double tomb, the true Abraham, the Ancient of Days along
with himself, and entering the sepulchre in the abundance of
inward contemplation, he rested from all the tumult of this
stormy world, except that he appeared to celebrate the Office of
the day. Then, renewed in the spirit of his mind, he awaited
with the sweet spices of holy virtues so diligently prepared, the
most sacred day of the Lord's resurrection. In a way rising again
with Christ, he feasted on the Flesh of the Immaculate Lamb,
in tlie unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And on the
day which the Lord had made a day of joy in earth and heaven,
he rejoiced witli all spiritual joy, and feasted with the brethren
and a great multitude of poor. This he also was said to do at
the other great festivals. If, however, from urgent necessity, it
happened — which seldom, however, actually occurred — that he
had to dine with seculars, tasting a little of the food placed
before him, he filled the guests with spiritual dainties, and
repressing the vain conversation which is apt to prevail at
feasts, he concealed his own abstinence under the veil of sacred
exhortation.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. G3
CHAPTER XVIII.
What a Bright Countenance, he had, and what he thought and
said ahout Hypocrites.
Holy Kentigern in the form of his body is said to have been
of middle stature, rather inclining to tallness, and it is asserted
that he was of robust strength, capable to a considerable extent
of enduring great fatigue in the labours both of body and soul.
He was beautiful to look upon, and graceful in form. Having
a countenance full of grace and reverence, dove-like eyes,
cheeks like the turtle-dove, he attracted the hearts of all who
beheld him. His outward cheerfulness was the sign and most
faithful interpreter of that inward peace, which flooded all
things with a certain contentment of holy joy and exultation,
which the Lord bestowed upon him
For himself fleeing from hypocrisy in this or that habit and
gesture, he carefully taught his followers to avoid it, and show-
ing by example that hypocrites were the most loathsome class
of men, he instructed them in such words as these : —
" Beware, dearest ones," said he to his disciples, " of the vice
of h}q30crisy, which in a way is the renunciation of faith, the
abandonment of hope, the emptying of charity, the suppurating
ulcer of chastity, the blinding of truth ; it is the poison of
sobriety, the fetter of righteousness, the little fox of obedience,
the short cloak of patience, and, to speak briefly, it is the moth
of religion, the extermination of virtues, the lurking-place of
vices, the asylum of all iniquity, the habitation of crimes.
That hypocrisy is the source of all evils, the Lord teacheth where
he says that the hypocrisy of the Pharisees is leaven. For as
the leaven placed in the food maketh it light, inflated, and acid,
so hypocrisy maketh the heart where it reigns empty of religion,
inflated and elated with the false praises of men, and sharp,
bitter, and sour against the truth of conscience, against the
holy, the righteous, and those who seek purity and holiness.
And verily, dearest ones, if all sin in itself and by itself be
single, hypocrisy alone in itself is double, nay, manifold. For
the hypocrite, in his natural colours, seeketh to blind Him who
seeth all things, and while turning away his eyes from himself
he overshadoweth his vices in the sight of men under the image
of a false sanctity. And although other impious, sinful, and
criminal men are the members of Antichrist, hypocrites are
singularly and specially his followers and forerunners, as the
single-hearted, the lovers and followers of truth and purity,
64 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
are the members and disciples of Jesus Clirist. For Antichrist
himself, as it is written, shall sit in the temple of God, as if he
were God, and by lying wonders show himself that he is God.^
For the very angel of Satan also transformeth himself into an
angel of light, and therefore it is not to be wondered at, that his
special servant and member should transform himself into a mini-
ster of righteousness, seeing that he is himself a very synagogue
of Satan. Believe me what I say unto you in the truth, that
the anger of God never rageth more fiercely in the Church
than when He makes an hypocrite reign therein on account of
the sins of tlie people. Moreover, in the Apocalypse the per-
secution is described as more destructive in the pale horse than
in the preceding ones, because in truth the Church is much
more injured by hypocrisy, which is figured by the pale horse,
than in the time of open persecution, whereby the faithful and
unfaithful, the just and the unjust, are made manifest, and a
multitude of the martyrs receive their crown. Yet, evidently
hypocrites, by their gestures and by the ways of the outer man,
indicate to those who watch closely and judge all things by the
light of the Spirit, of what kind they are. For while they
walk after the manner of the turtle-dove, contracting the
shoulders, hanging down the head, fixing the eyes on the
ground, making long faces, breathing through pinched lips,
speaking in a feminine voice, by these very signs they mani-
fest the state of the inner man. For by their steps they make
themselves like peacocks, nay, like robbers ; by the contraction
of their shoulders they show that they shrink from bearing the
sweet yoke of Christ and His light burden ; by the hanging of
their heads and the casting down of their eyes, they demon-
strate that their hearts cleave nearer to the dust than to heaven,
that they think of the earth, love the earth, and sigh for earthly
desires ; by turning away their faces, they show that they turn
their backs rather than their faces to the Lord, and by their
feminine mode of speech prove that they live dissolutely and
not like men. I would say that they were like none but
jugglers, who exhibit fire, water, men, beasts, etc., in an imaginary
way, where there is no reality. But although pretenders and
cunning hypocrites, drawing down upon themselves the anger
of God, may escape the opinion of those who judge according
to appearance, they shall in no ways deceive or escape the
even-handed justice of Him who searcheth the heart and the
reins. These things, most dear ones," said the man of God,
" have I said to you, not to announce what shall be a snare to
1 2 Tbess. ii. 5.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. G5
you, or that yon should not exhibit staid demeanour in coun-
tenance, gesture, dress, or discipline, but this in every way I
admonish you to seek the Lord in simplicity of heart, and to
associate internal with external purity everywhere, and in
reality to avoid hypocrisy, and do what you have to do with
spiritual joy. Thus in all your works man shall be edified,
and God glorified, for God loveth a cheerful teacher and doer
of good."
a^
CHAPTEE XIX.
How S. Kentigcrn converted to the Faith of Christ the "people over
whom he presided, and who for the most part hadj apo-
statized ; and how he brought back to a more correct way of
living those luho had profaned the faith by unrighteous
works.
Therefore blessed Kentigern, having undertaken the epi-
scopate, set himself diligently to administer the of&ce laid upon
him, and seeing that the northern enemy, that is, the prince of
this world, had placed his seat in these parts and reigned there,
he took up spiritual arms to fight against him. Accordingly, clad
with the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breastplate of
righteousness, girded with the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God, he attacked the house of that strong man armed,
and spoiled his goods, supported by the aid of the Lord
of Hosts, who is very strong in battle. And to speak
shortly, neither his foot, hand, nor tongue ceased from the
execution of the work which he had undertaken, from the
working of miracles, from preaching of salvation, till all the
ends of that earth remembered themselves, and turned unto
the Lord. They who were not yet regenerated in the life-
giving waters, like thirsty harts ran to the living fountain of
baptism with burning desire, and they who had fallen away
from the faith, and wandered aside from a sound belief in the
teaching of some heretical sect, on their repenting and return-
ing from the snares of the devil, by whom they were held
captive, and returning unto the bosom of the Church, were
incorporated into Christ, by means of this herald of safety,
teaching them the way of the Lord in power.
Wherefore that renowned warrior began to overthrow the
shrines of demons, to cast down their images, to build churches,
to dedicate them when built, to divide parishes by certain
limits by the cord of distribution, to ordain clergy, to dissolve
incestuous and unlawful marriages, to change concubinage into
66 LIVES OF SCOTTISH S.UNTS.
lawful matrimony, to bring in as far as he could ecclesiastical
rites, and strove to establish whatsoever was consonant with
the faith, the Christian law, and righteousness. Wheresoever he
journeyed he did it not on horseback, but even to extreme old age,
after the fashion of the apostles, on foot. Having arranged aU
these things in order, he returned home to his own, and there,
after his accustomed way, he led a life in the perfection of the
highest virtue, remarkable for virtue and miracles, some of
which we now venture to write down, because we doubt not
that they will be profitable to very many.
CHAPTEE XX.
How holy KcntigcTn, placed in the Plough, under one yoke, a
Stag and a Wolf, and how, sowing Sand, he reajped a harvest
of Wheat.
Thus, as we have stated, the man of God joined to him-
self a great many disciples, whom he trained in the sacred
literature of the Divine law, and educated to sanctity of life
by his word and example. They all with a godly jealousy
imitated his life and doctrine, accustomed to fastings and sacred
vigils at certain seasons, intent on psalms and prayers, and
meditation on the Divine word, content with sparing diet and
dress, occupied every day and hour in manual labour. For,
after the fashion of the Primitive Church, under the apostles
and their successors, possessing nothing of their own, and living
soberly, righteously, godly, and continently, they dwelt, as did
S. Kentigern himself, in single cottages, from the time when
they had become mature in age and doctrine. Therefore these
" singulares clerici" were called in the common language Cal-
ledei.^ Thus the servant of Jesus Christ w^ent forth to his
work in the morning, and to his labour till the evening, labour-
ing mainly at agriculture, that he might not eat the bread of
idleness, but rather in the sweat of his brow afford an example
of labour to his own, and have to give to him who was suffer-
ing necessity.
It happened once upon a time that he had no oxen whatever,
and from the deficiency of these, there being no plougbing, the
land lay fallow. When the man of God saw this, lifting up his
eyes, he saw on the edge of a neighbouring wood a herd of deer
bounding along here and there through the forest. Straight-
1 Note MM.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 67
way offering up a prayer, by the mighty power of his word he
called them to him, and in the name of the Lord, whom all
dumb unreasoning beasts and all the cattle of the plain obey,
commanded them to be yoked in the place of the oxen to the
plough, and to turn up the earth. They at once obeyed the
command of the man of God, and like tame oxen used to the
yoke ploughed the land, to the astonishment of many. Ee-
leased from their work, they went to their usual pastures, and
at the proper hour, like tame and domestic, nay, like trained
animals, they returned to their accustomed toil. Once upon a
time, as the stags were going and returning like domestic
animals, a hungry wolf rushing upon one of the stags, which
was wearied with its labour, and was cropping some food as it
lay upon the green turf, throttled him, and filled his voracious
stomach with his carcase. When the saint learnt this, extending
his hand towards the wood, he said, " In the name of the Holy
and Undivided Trinity, I command that the wolf, who hath
wrought this injury on me who deserved it not, appear before me
to make satisfaction." Wondrous words! more wondrous deeds !
Straightway at the voice of the man of God, the wolf, leaping
forth from the wood, fell howling at his feet, and with such
signs as he could, declared that he begged pardon, and was
willing to make reparation. Whereupon the man of God, up-
braiding the wolf with threatening countenance and word, said,
" Arise, and I command thee, by the authority of God Almighty,
that thou place thyself in the plough in the place of our
labourer the stag, whom thou hast devoured, and applying thy-
self to the yoke, plough over all that remaineth of the little
field." Verily the wolf obeyed the word spoken by the saint,
and, yoked with the other stag, ploughed up nine acres, where-
upon the saint freely allowed him to depart. In this act, it
seemeth to me, that that prophecy of Isaiah, which he spiritu-
ally uttered of the time of our Lord's advent, was in a way liter-
ally fulfilled, where he says, " The wolf also shall dwell with
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid ; and the
calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together ; and a little
child shall lead them."^ Let the reader consider whether it is
more wonderful to see a wolf lying down with a lamb, or
ploughing with a stag. But Kentigern brought this about, being
a most pure little child, meek and lowly of heart in his own
eyes ; yet wrought he not this sign in his own power, but he
did it by the might of that Little One who was born for us, of
the Son who was given for us. Yet it was just that he should
^ Isaiah xi. 6.
68 LTTES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
do tbis "bodily, vlio so often spirituallT "vron back to t3ie yoke
of faith and plongli of holy conrersation many from wolfish
cruelty and bloody slaughter, animal fierceness and a coarse life.
Terr manr irathered together to behold snch a sight as this,
and marvelled at the nnwonted miracle. "Wherenpon the
saint opened his month and taught them, saying, "Men and
bretliren, "wherefore "vronder re, beholding this word ? Believe
me, that before man became disobedient to his Maker, not only
all the animals, bnt even the elements, obeyed him, but now
bv his transsression all things are turned ai^ainst him, and the
lion teareth, the wolf devonretli, the serpent woundeth, the
water drowneth, the fire bumeth, the air tainteth, and the earth
often, become like iron, consumeth with famine. And in rivalry
of this nsnal evil, not only is man wont to rage against man by
sin, but he actually voluntarily rageth against himself. But
seeing that many saints are found perfect before the Lord in
true innocency, pure obedience, faith, and love, in holiness and
righteonsness, they receive from the Lord this power, as an
ancient, natural, and primordial right, so that they authorita-
tively command the beasts, the elements, and sundrs" kinds of
diseases and deaths."
WMle the holy man said this, and more to the same effect,
they who heard his words were not less edified by his teaching
than astonished by the miracle which they had just beheld.
"VMien the field that had been ploughed came to be sown, the
saint songht seed and found it not, having given away all his
store of grain to feed the poor. Wherefore he betook himseK
to his accustomed weapons of prayer, and, nothing doubting in
faith, taking sand in place of seed, he scattered it on the ground.
This being done, in due season the herb grew, the seed ger-
minated, tibe blade produced the head, and at the proper time
bronght forth the best and the richest wheat, at which all who
heard and saw were struck with the utmost astonishment, and
his fame, great before, was mightily increased. Yerily this saint,
in the power of that Grain of "Wheat, "WMch falling into the
earth and dving, and bv rising again hath brought to Himself
mnch fruit, gathered com from the sand which he had sown.
Moreover he so wrought with the ploughshare of the gospel in
the bowels of holy Mother Church, as in good ground, that he
reclaimed many, yea, an innumerable company, of persons, who
hitherto had been unstable in mind, blown about by every wind
of vain doctrine, whose folly was heavier than the sand of the
sea ; and in faith and love, and the performance of good works,
cansed them, by the co-operation of God, to bring forth the
fruit of salvation. And these the Supreme Householder deemed
LIFE OF 3. KENTIGERy. 69
meet to be transferred to the heayenly gamers, and to be fit for
bis table.^
CHAPTER XXI.
Hmi' Tioly Kfiniigern, helpul hy the Divine, aid, and caiLvmg the
force of the river Cliul to sein:e him, without any detnment
transferred the Bams of the King, which v:ere full of v:heat,
to his own dwelling-flace.
A CONSIDEEAELE time having elapsed, a certain tyrant, by
name Morken,^ had ascended the throne of the Cambrian king-
dom, whom power, honour, and riches had persuaded to exer-
cise himself in great matters, which were too high for him.
But his heart, as it was on the one hand elevated bv pride, so
on the other hand it was blinded and contracted by greed-
He scorned and despised the life and doctrine of the man of
God, in secret slandering, in public resisting him from time to
time, putting down his miraculous power to magical illusion, and
esteeming as nothincr all that he did. But the man of Grod,
once on a time, when he wanted supplies to feed the brethren
of his monastery, betook himself to the king, gently hinting at
his poverty, and at that of his people, desiring that out of his
abundance, according to the injunction of the apostle, he should
come to their aid, and supply their wants. But he, elated and
haughty, continually reviled him who made his petition, and
only inflicted injuries on him who besought support. Then
with blasphemous words he said to him ironically, " Cast thy
care upon the Lord, and He will sustain thee ; as thou hast
often taught others, that they that fear God shall lack nothing,
but they who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that
is good.^ Thou, therefore, though thou fearest God, and keep-
est His commandments, art in want of everything, even of thy
necessary food, while to me, who neither seek the kingdom
of God nor the righteousness thereof, all prosperous things
are added, and plenty of all sorts smileth upon me." Lastly,
he pressed upon him, " Thy faith therefore is vain, thy preach-
ing false."
But the holy man, arguing on the other side, proved from
the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, and from keen assertions
of reason, and by examples, that many just and holy men, in
various ways, were afflicted by hunger and want in this life ;
and that wicked men were exalted by plenty of wealth, the
1 Note >~N'. - Xote 00. ^ Pa. xiiiv. 10.
'V,
70 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
affluence of delights, and the high places of honour. And
when with power and clearness he taught that the poor were
the patrons of the rich, by whose benefits they are sustained,
and that the rich need the support of the poor, as the vines are
supported by the elm, the barbarian was unable to resist his
wisdom and the Spirit who spake through him, but in a rage
answered, " What more desirest thou ? If, trusting in thy God,
without human hand, thou canst transfer to thy mansion all
the corn that is kept in my barns and heaps, I yield with a
glad mind and gift, and for the future will be devoutly obedient
to thy requests."
Saying this he retired joyful, as if by such an answer as
this he had made game of the saint. But when even was
come, the holy man, lifting his hands and his eyes to heaven,
with many tears, prayed most devoutly unto the Lord. In
the very hour in which from the depth of the saint's heart
these tears rose up and flowed forth from his eyes, by the will
of Him who hath power in heaven and earth, in the sea and
in all deep places, the river Clud, coming down, rose and be-
came swollen in flood ; then extending beyond its banks, and
surrounding the barns of the king which stood there, it licked
them up and drew them back into its own channel, and with
great power transported them to dry land at a place called by
name Mellingdenor,^ where the saint was at that time accus-
tomed to dweU. Straightway the river ceased from its fury,
and controlled within itself the surging waves, for the Lord had
placed bounds and bars that they should not pass nor overstep
the limits appointed to them. There the barns were found
whole and uninjured, and not a sheaf, nay, not a single blade,
appeared to be wetted. Lo, in this, though in a different
element, we recognise the sign repeated, which we read of as
having taken place in the Chaldean furnace, into which the
three children, firm in their religion, were cast in bound.
For as there the fire had the power of burning only their bonds,
and not their bodies or their clothes, so here this water was
able to transport the barns filled with corn, but not to wet
them. And when the people saw that in the name of the Lord
His servant could perform this wonder, they said. Truly great
is the Lord, and worthy to be praised, for thus hath He caused
His saint to be magnified.
1 Note PP.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEim. 71
CHAPTER XXII.
IIoio the aforesaid King Mcyrken, at the instigation of his mili-
tary follower Cathcn, struck S, Kentigcrn with his foot, and
with what j^unishment both the one and the other locre visited.
After that by the ferrying across of these fruits of the earth,
the rivers of the flood thereof had made glad the city of God,^
iu which those enrolled as fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the
household of God, were assembled together, to serve the living
God, that faithful and wise servant, made steward over the
mansion of the Great Householder,^ distributed the measure of
wheat to each of his fellow-servants according to their neces-
sities, and what was over he dispersed abroad and gave to the
poor, nor did he send empty away any one in want who begged
of him. But the aforesaid King Morken, though very rich and
great in the eyes of men, yet being the vile slave of Mammon,
bore ill the loss, as it seemed to him, of his stock of corn, and
took scandal to his soul from that Divine sign whence he
ought to have derived joy and gladness for his own advantage.
Just as the solar ray is pleasant and agreeable to healthy eyes,
and lends its aid to their sight, yet ministers the material of
darkness to the unhealthy, and to those under the influence of
hemlock : therefore, his eye being consumed because of fury,^
he belched forth many reproaches against the holy bishop,
calling him magician and sorcerer, and he commanded that if
ever again he appeared in his presence he should suffer severely
as one that had made game of him. The reason for this was
that a very wicked man, who was the king's confidential friend,
Cathen by name, had urged him on to hatred and injury of the
bishop, because the life of the good is usually hateful and
burdensome to the wicked ; and the mind that inclineth to evil
easily listeneth to one who persuadeth it to that which pleaseth it.
For every wick(3d leader, according to the Scripture, hath all
his servants wicked, and very often chooseth as counsellors the
men who into the ears of those who willingly listen to unjust
things will pour the poisonous whisper, and diligently blow
up with inflated accusations the fire of malice, adding fuel to
make the flame burn the higher, lest it should be extinguished
to their detriment.
But the man of God, wishing by wisdom to extinguish
malice, approached the presence of the king rather in the spirit
1 Ps. xlv. 4. "^ S. Matt. xxiv. 25. ^ Ps. vi. 4.
M
72 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
of meekness than with the rod of severity, and instructing
and warning him after the manner of a most gentle father,
sought to correct the folly of a son; for he knew that by
the sweetly sounding tones of the harp of David the madness
of Saul had been mitigated, and that, according to the sen-
tence of Solomon, the king's WTath is appeased by patience.^
Bnt the man of Belial, like the deaf adder that slmtteth liis ear
and listeneth not to the charmer, charm he never so wisely,
acquiesced not in the warning words, which were the words of
safety. Nay, excited by fiercer madness, he rushed upon him,
struck him with his heel, and smote him to the ground upon
his back. But the saint of God, being raised by the bystanders,
that his doctrine might be known by his patience, loore most
patiently both the hurt and the dishonour, committing his
cause to the vindication of the Supreme Judge, and then he
departed from the presence of this sacrilegious king, rejoicing
that he was deemed meet to suffer contumely for the word of
the Lord.
The instigator of this sacrilege, Cathen, laughing loudly,
mounted his horse, and seemingly triumphing over the saint, de-
parted full of joy. And behold judgment went forth from the
face of the Lord, to do justice on behalf of His servant who had
been injured. He had not gone far from the crowd that was assem-
bled in that place, when the prancing steed on which he was
seated, striking his foot on some sort of stumbling-block, fell
down, and his rider, falling backward, broke the neck whicli he
had erected loftily against the servant of the Lord, and expired
before the gate of t]^ king his master. But a swelling attacked
the feet of the king, pain followed the swelling, and then suc-
ceeded death; so expiring in the royal to"UTi which from him was
termed Thorp-morken, he was buried. But the disease was not
destroyed or buried in the succession of that family. From the
beginning of that time, for the future, the weakness ceased not,
and a gout was handed down hereditarily, and this family takes
after the father, not in face or in habit of the body, but in
disease. For the fiict that the race of that king was destroyed
by this sort of disease, by the witness of death, indicateth how
God, Who is jealous for His own and the avenger of such, visiteth
the sins of the fathers upon the children for many generations,
and how great is the retribution which He inflicteth upon the
proud.
After this, for many days he enjoyed great peace and quiet,
living in his own city of Glasgu, and going through his diocese ;
1 Prov. XXV. 15 ; Eccl. x. 4.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN,
because the Divine vengeance, shown forth upon his persecu-
tors, supplied to others a motive of fear, reverence, love, and
obedience towards the saint of God, and gave him the oppor-
tunity of doing whatsoever he desired for the service and glory
of God.
CHAPTER XXIII.
How holy Kcntigern, avoiding the snares of those who laid wait
for his death, departed from the confines of his country,
and hetook himself to Saint David, ivho was dwelling in
Menevia.
When some time had passed, certain sons of Belial, a gene-
ration of vipers, of the kin of the aforenamed King Morken,
excited by the sting of intense hatred, and infected with
the poison of the devil, took counsel together how they might
lay hold of Kentigern by craft, and put him to death; but
fearing the people, they did not dare to do that evil deed
openly, because all held him for a teacher, bishop, and shep-
herd of their souls, and loved him as an angel of light and
peace. In many ways they laid great wait for him, that they
might suddenly shoot him with arrows ; but the Lord became
unto him a tower of strength, that his enemies, the sons of
wickedness, should not triumph over him. At last, binding
themselves together by a solemn oath, they determined among
themselves that in no way would they fail in carrying out the
resolve by which they had conspired to compass his death ; and
that for the fear of no man would they pass over one unjust and
treacherous word to which they had agreed against him. And
when the man of God had learnt this, although he could meet
force by force, he thought it better for the time to quit the place
and to give place unto wrath, and to seek elsewhere a richer
harvest of souls, rather than to bear about with him a con-
science seared as with a hot iron, or even darkened by the death
of any man, however wicked. For the blessed Paul, the chosen
vessel, gave him the ensample of acting similarly, seeing that
when at Damascus he saw a death witliout fruit impending over
him, he sought the basket and the rope to escape and to avoid
it, and yet afterwards at Rome willingly submitted to it with
great gain.
At last, instructed by Divine revelation, he journeyed from
those regions towards Menevia, where at that time the holy
Bishop Dewi, like the morning star when it with its rosy
74 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
couuteuauce heraldeth the day, was shining forth in his episcopal
work.^ Wheresoever the saint went, virtue went forth from
him to heal many. And when he had come to Karleolum, he
heard that many among the mountains were given to idolatry,
or ignorant of the Divine law,^ Thither he turned aside, and,
God helping him, and confirming the word by signs follow-
ing, converted to the Christian religion many from a strange
belief, and others who were erroneous in the faith. how beau-
tiful on these mountains were the feet of him who brought glad
tidings, that published peace, that brought good tidings of good,
that published salvation, that said unto Ziou, Thy God reigneth.^
He remained some time in a certain thickly planted place, to
confirm and comfort in the faith the men that dwelt there, where
he erected a cross as the sign of the faith ; whence it took the
name, in English, of Crosfeld, that is, Crucis Novale.^ In which
very locality a basilica, recently erected, is dedicated to the
name of blessed Kentigern ; and to exhibit his sanctity, he is
not doubted to have been distinguished by many miracles.
Turning aside from thence, the saint directed his steps by the
sea-shore, and through all his journey scattering the seed of the
Divine word, gathered in a plentiful and fertile harvest unto the
Lord. At length, safe and sound, he reached Saint Dewi, and
found in him greater works than had been reported by fame.
But the holy Bishop Dewi rejoiced with great joy at the arrival
of such and so great a stranger. With eyes overflowing with
tears, and mutually embracing, he received Kentigern as an
angel of the Lord, dear to God, and retaining him for a
certain time in his immediate vicinity, always honoured him
to a wonderful extent. Therefore these two sons of light dwelt
together, attending upon the Lord of the whole earth, like two
lamps burning before the Lord, whose tongues became the keys
of heaven, that by tliem a multitude of men might be deemed
meet to enter therein. Those two saints were united together
opposite each other, like the two cherubim in the holy of holies
in the temple of the Lord, having their faces bent down towards
the mercy-seat. They lifted their wings on high in the
frequent meditation upon heavenly things ; they folded them
down in the ordination and arrangement of earthly things.
They touched each other mutually with their wings, as by the
instruction of each other in the Doctrine of Salvation, and in
the alternate energizing of virtues they excited each other to
1 Note QQ. 2 Note RR.
^ Isa. lii. 7, Vulg. : "perducentis ad aeterase salutis Aiitorem."
1 Note SS.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 75
a more earnest advance in sanctity. Thus these saints,
either mentally rising up nnto God, or being made useful to us,
have left to posterity an example of laying hold of and labouring
so as to attain to eternal life.
And when Saint Kentigern had abode there some time, the
fame concerning him shining forth, ran through the ears and
mouths of the many, and led him to much familiarity and
friendship, not only with the poor, the middle class, and the
nobility of that land, but even with King Cathwallain, who
reigned in that country.^ For the king, knowing him to be a
holy and righteous man, heard him willingly, and after hearing
him, did much which concerned the good of his own soul.
And when, on the occasion of the king from time to time
inquiring, he expounded the causes why he left his native land,
and said he would wish to live near, and have the means of
building a monastery where he might unite together a people
acceptable of God, and devoted to good works, the king
replied, " My land is in thy sight : wheresoever it suiteth thee,
and seemeth good in thy sight, there construct the habitation
of thy dwelling-place, there build thy monastery. Yet, as it
seemeth to me that it is more suitable for thee than any other,
I assign to thee a place, Nautcharvan, because it aboundeth in
everything suited to thy purpose." The man of God rendered
profuse thanks to the king, and chose for his building and
habitation that place which had been before marked out for
him by Divine intimation. Then, giving his blessing to the
king, he departed : and bidding farewell to S. Dewi, after
mutual benediction, he betook himself to the place aforesaid,
with a great multitude of disciples who had flocked to him, pre-
ferring to lead with him a lowly life in a foreign land to living
without him luxuriously in their own.
CHAPTEE XXIV.
Hofw S. Kentigern, foUotving a Boar which led the Way,
found a fitting place.
Thus the most holy Kentigern, separated from Saint Dewi
as to bodily presence, but by no means withdrawn from his
love and from the vision and observation of the inner man, gave
no sound sleep to his eyes, nor quiet rest to his eyelids, until he
found a place fit for building a tabernacle to the Lord, the God
1 Note TT.
76 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
of Jacob. With a great crowd of his disciples along with him,
he went round the land and walked throughout it, exploring the
situations of the localities, the quality of the air, the richness
of the soil, the sufficiency of the meadows, pastures, and woods,
and the other things that look to the convenience of a monas-
tery to be erected. And while they went together over abrupt
mountains, hollow valleys, caves of the earth, thickset briers,
dark woods, and open glades in the forest, as they went along,
they discoursed as to what seemed necessary for the occasion,
when lo and behold a single wild boar from the wood, entirely
white, met them, and approaching the feet of the saint, moving
his head, sometimes advancing a little, and then returning and
looking backwards, motioned to the saint and to his companions,
with such gesture as he could, to follow him. On seeing this
they wondered and glorified God, who worketh marvellous
things, and things past finding out in His creatures. Then
step by step they followed their leader, the boar, wMch pre-
ceded them.
When they came to the place which the Lord had predes-
tinated for them, the boar halted, and frequently striking the
ground with his foot, and making the gesture of tearing up the
soil of the little hill that was there with his long tusk, shaking
his head repeatedly and grunting, he clearly showed to all that
that was the place designed and prepared by God.^ Now the
place is situated on the bank of a river which is called Elgu,
from which to this day,, as it is said, the town takes its name.
Then the saint, returning thanks, adored the Almighty Lord on
bended knees ; and rising from prayer he blessed that place and
its surroundings in the name of the Lord. After that, in testi-
mony and sign of salvation, and in earnest of the future religion
erecting a cross, he there pitched his tents. The boar, however,
seeing what was done, came near, and by his frequent grunts
seemed to ask somewhat of the bishop : then the saint, scratching
the head of the brute, and stroking his mouth and teeth, said,
" God Almighty, in Whose power are all the beasts of the forest,
the oxen, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea, grant
thee for thy conduct such reward as He knoweth is best for
thee." Then the boar, as if well remunerated, bowing his head
to the priest of the Lord, departed, and betook himself to his
well-known groves.
On the following night, as the man of God, intent on heavenly
things, lifted up his hands in the sanctuary, and blessed the
Lord, it was revealed to him from on high that he was to inhabit
1 NotcUU.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN, 77
that place, and there construct a monastery, in which the sons
who were scattered abroad might be gathered into one, so that
coming from the east and from the west, from the north and
from the south, they might be deemed meet to sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, and
that God Himself would be the protector and guardian of tlie
place, and of them that dwelt therein. And on what truth that
revelation rested the successful event effectually showed ; for
in the morning he revealed to others the Divine oracle that
had been shown to him, and cheered on the souls of those who
heard him to set about building. For like bees making honey,
they yielded not to sloth, but all in the sweat of their brows
toiled diligently at the work. Some cleared and levelled the
situation ; others began to lay the foundation of the ground
thus levelled ; some cutting down trees, others carrying them,
and others fitting them together, commenced, as the father had
measured and marked out for them, to build a church and its
offices of polished wood, after the fashion of the Britons, seeing
that they could not yet build of stone, nor were so wont to do.
While they were hard at work, and the building was increas-
ing on their hands, there came a heathen prince, Melconde
Galganu by name,^ with his soldiers, and along with them a
great multitude of people. The man, fierce and ignorant of God,
in the indignation of his wrath demanded who they were, and
whence they came, and how they had dared to do all this
upon his land. The saint, humbly replying to the interroga-
tion, answered that they were Christians from the northern
parts of Britannia, that they had come thither to serve the
living and true God. He asserted that he had begun the man-
sion there by the permission, nay, through the kindness of King
Cathwalain, his master, in whose possession he believed the
place to be. But he, furious and raging, ordered them all to
be expelled from the place, and that whatever had been built
should be pulled down and scattered; and so he began to
return to his own home. Therefore the man departed, breath-
ing threatenings against the servants of Christ, and behold the
hand of the Lord in chastisement touched him, and he was
smitten with a sudden blindness. And yet, as was clear in
the end, this did not happen to no good purpose, for on him
that sat in outer darkness the true morning star shone,
and the external light being for a time taken from him, drew
him forth from the darkness and shadow of death into the light
of truth. Wherefore inwardly enlightened and induced hy
1 Note XX.
78 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
penitence, he caused himself to be carried by his people to the
man of God, and began most devoutly to entreat, that by his
prayers he would dispel the darkness, and wash him in the
font of salvation.
Verily the saint, who endeavoured not to be overcome by
evil, but to overcome evil by good, willed to return to the man
good for evil ; so after beginning with prayer, he laid his heal-
ing hand on the blinded man in the name of the Lord, and sign-
ing him with the cross of salvation, turned his night into day,
and again after the darkness poured into him the hoped-for and
eagerly-desired light. Thus the Lord smote that He might
heal, and making the new Paul out of the old Saul, He blinded
him that He might give him light. No sooner therefore was he
restored to sight than he was dipped by the holy bishop in the
saving water, and henceforward he became an active and de-
voted fellow-worker in all that he desired at his hand. Taking
an account of all his possessions, he bestowed them on S. Ken-
tigern, with royal munificence, for the construction of his
monastery, and, aided by this assistance, he rapidly brought
what he had commenced to perfection. He established the
Cathedral Chair of his bishopric in the church of that monas-
tery, of which diocese the greater part of the country was that
which by his preaching himself had won to the Lord. In
truth he led back to the way of salvation a countless number
of men who were either ignorant of the Christian faith, or
averse from it, or degraded by profane doctrine, or deteriorated
by wicked works. And by his labours he turned vessels of
wrath into vessels of mercy, vessels of dishonour into vessels
of the glory of God. For he w^ent forth from his monastery to
exercise his episcopal office, travelling through his diocese as
time permitted. But as he never found where the foot of his
desire could long find rest, he returned to the much-loved
quiet of his monastery, like the dove to the ark, from the face
of the deluge of tlie world ; yet he bore with him the olive-
branch with its green leaves, for he received the fruit of that
peace and mercy which he preached to others.
CHAPTEE XXV.
With lohat iinmher of brethren his Monastenj Jiourished, and
how the holy hoy Asaph carried fire vnthaiit injuring him-
self.
There flocked to the monastery of the man, old and
young, rich and poor, to take upon themselves the easy yoke
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. I 'J
and the light burden of the Lord. Nobles and men of the
middle class brought to the saint their children to be trained
unto the Lord. The tale of those who renounced the world in-
creased day by day both in number and importance, so that the
total number of those who enlisted in God's army amounted
to 965, professing in act and habit the life of monastic rule
according to the institution of the holy man. He divided this
troop that had been collected together, and devoted to the
Divine service, into a threefold division of religious observance.
For he appointed 300, who were unlettered, to the duty of
agriculture, the care of cattle, and the other necessary duties
outside the monastery. He assigned another 300 to duties
within the cloister of the monastery, such as doing the ordi-
nsiTy work and preparing food, and building workshops. The
remaining 365, who were lettered, he appointed to the cele-
bration of Divine service in church by day and by night;
and he seldom allowed any of these to go forth out of the
sanctuary, but ever to abide within, as if in the holy place
of the Lord. But those who were more advanced in wisdom
and holiness, and who were fitted to teach others, he was
accustomed to take along with him, when, at the urgent de-
mand either of necessity or reason, he thought fit to go forth
to perform his episcopal office. But dividing into troops and
choirs those whom he had appointed for the service of God,
he ordained that as soon as one choir had terminated its ser-
vice in the church, immediately another entering should com-
mence it, and that again being concluded, a third should enter
to celebrate. Thus the sacred choirs being conveniently and
discreetly arranged so as to succeed in turn, while the work
of God was celebrated perpetually, prayer was regularly
made to God without ceasing of the church there ;^ and by
praising God at every time. His praise ever resounded in
their mouths. Very excellent things were said in that and
of that city of God, for as it became the habitation of all who
were joyful therein, so one might well apply the prophecy of
Balaam : " How goodly are thy tents, Jacob ! and thy taber-
nacles, Israel ! As the valleys are they spread forth, as
gardens by the river's side."^
There flourished in that glorious monastery holy and perfect
men, like Jacob, strong wrestlers against the world, the flesh,
and the devil ; by faith, love, and contemplation incessantly
bent upon the vision of God, like true Israelites, fruitful in
good works, humble in their own eyes, and therefore like the
1 Acts xii. 5. -' Xumb. xxiv. 5.
L
80 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
well-wooded valleys fragrant with sacred thought, and be-
dewed with the showers of the Scripture, and thus, also, like
the cedars by the waters, glorious in all these many virtues and
wonders.
Among them was one Asaph^ by name, distinguished by
birth and by looks, shining forth in virtue and miracles from
the flower of his first youth. He sought to follow the life and
teaching of his master, as the reader of a little book of his
Life may learn at greater length, from which IJiave thought
fit to insert into this work one miracle, because the perfection
of the disciple is the glory of the master. Once upon a time,
in winter, when the frost had contracted and congealed every--
thing, S. Kentigern, according to his custom, had recited the
Psalter in the coldest water, naked, and having resumed his clothes
had gone out in public, he began to be vehemently oppressed
by the power of the cold, and so in a way to become entirely
rigid, so that people might clearly see what was of himself and
what was of the power of the Divine condescension. For in
that, naked in the waters without being frozen, he was able for so
long a time to endure the icy rigour, men might learn how that
in the frail vessel of the human body the Divine virtue worked ;
and that when clothed in skins and other clothes he became
rigid from the cold, human frailty is recognised. Where-
fore the holy father ordered the boy Asaph to bring fire to him
whereat he might warm himself. The Lord's little boy ran to
the oven and requested that coals might be given to him.
And when he had not wherewith to carry the burning thorns,
the servant, either in joke or seriously, said to him, " If thou
wishest to take the thorns, hold out thy dress, for I have not
at hand that in which thou mayest carry them." The holy
boy, strong in faith, and trusting in the sanctity of his master,
without hesitation, gathering together and holding up his dress,
received the living coals in his bosom, and carrying them to
the old man, cast them down in his presence out of his bosom,
but no sign of burning or corruption appeared in the dress.
The greatest astonishment therefore seized all those who beheld
it, on seeing that fire carried in a dress had not in the least
burnt combustible fabric. A friendly dispute concerning this
sign took place between the holy father and his disciple, for
the one side seemed to be maintaining his ground by assertions
to which the other could not assent; the bishop ascribed to
the innocence and obedience of the boy, the performance of the
miracle ; the boy asserted that it had taken place for the merit
1 Note YY.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 81
and sanctity of the prelate, obeying whose command, and trust-
ing in whose holiness, he had dared to attempt it. And indeed
without prejudice I think that the miracle is to be attributed
to the merits both of the one and of the other, of each wise one,
inasmuch as each of them had all along from the earliest years
preserved pure the members of his body, which is the clothing
of the soul, in virgin chastity, and that from their heads the
oil of Divine charity never was lacking : rightly, to express the
innocency of either, did the dress of the disciple fail to exhibit
injury or damage. For if the flame of impure love had been
hidden in their bosoms, according to Solomon's opinion their
clothes would have been burnt. And if their garments had
been mingled with blood ; that is, if the members of their
bodies had been stained with the pollution of itching lust from
the will of the flesh and the blood, doubtless, according to
Isaiah, it would have been the presage of burning and the food
for fire. But holy Kentigern, who had always held dear and
beloved the venerable boy Asaph, henceforward ever from that
very day regarded him as the dearest and most loved of all,
and raised him as soon as he could to holy orders. At the due
season he delegated to him the care of the monastery, and
made him his successor in the episcopate, as we shall relate
further on.
CHAPTEE XXVT.
How he saio S. David croioncd hy the Lord in Heaven, and what
he 'predicted about Britannia.
Once upon a time, as the man of God continued longer and
more intently occupied in prayer than usual, his face became
as it were fire, so as to fill the bystanders with wonder and
ecstasy. They beheld his countenance as the countenance
of an angel standing among them, and as they saw his face
shining like that of another Moses, astonishment and ad-
miration seized them all. Wlien his prayer was over, he
withdrew himself apart and gave himself up to the most
vehement grief. His disciples, understanding that his sorrow
could not be without a great reason, approached him with fear
and trembling, and humbly besought him, if it were permis-
sible, and not displeasing to his paternity, to reveal to them the
cause of such copious tears. The saint was silent for a time,
but on their persevering and knocking at the ears of that most
pious father, he at length gave way, and answered to this effect :
" Be it known unto you, dearest sous, that the most holy
82 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
Dewi, the honour of Britain, the father of his country, the most
precious carbuncle of prelates, hath just left the prison of the
flesh rich in merits, hath been introduced among the splen-
dours of the saints, and hath penetrated into the Holy of
Holies. I say unto you, believe me, that not only hath a
multitude of angels flooded in light received him with heavenly
music into the joy of the Lord his God, but the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, meek and lowly of heart, hath in my sight
gone out to meet him at the gates of paradise, and crowned
him with glory and honour. Behold like a matchless light to
his generation, and a most brilliant star which shone forth in
word and in example, he hath become present to every one
under his charge that calleth upon him, so as with delight to
shine for Him Who made him, and assist all who ask his pro-
tection, who apply to him for help, and who celebrate his sacred
memory. And truly, dearest ones, it is right for me to rejoice in
the glory of such a father, who loved me full well ; but that ardent
affection of devoted love for him permitteth me not to abstain
from tears. For know that the world of Britain, deprived of
such a light, of so tender a patron, and of one so powerful before
God and the people, will feel the absence of him, who ever placed
himself between that region and the sword of the Lord, half
drawn on account of the wickedness of those that dwell therein,
lest when entirely drawn from its sheath, it should smite them
even to utter destruction. The Lord will surely hand over
Britannia unto strange nations, who know not God, who in
religion are pagans; and the island shall be emptied of its
indigenous inhabitants, and the religion of the Christian Law
shall be scattered until the appointed time ; but again, by the
mercy of God the Mediator, who overruleth all things, Chris-
tianity shall be restored as in the beginning, yea, in a way better
than before." These things spake the saint, and was silent,
and fear came upon all who heard him, and a shower of tears
bedewed them. But they, wishing over and above to be assured
as to the fact, having called a messenger, they sent him to the
Church over which S. Dewi presided as bishop, and they found
that the saint had left this world in the same hour in which
the man of God, instructed by the Divine oracle, had announced
it to them. And in this matter, it must be considered how
great was the merit of that man in the sight of God, who,
either with the eyes of the body or those of the soul, was
deemed meet to behold such glory, and to deliver a prophecy
concerning the Britons and Angles so true, which all England
was able by a faith that was sight to verify.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. i-^;. 83
CHAPTER XXVII.
How S. Kc7itigerii went seven times to Rmiic, and consulted the
blessed Gn^eyory about his condition.
The blessed Kentigern, knowing that Britain in many pro-
vinces was smitten with many stripes by the Gentiles, and that
the Chm-ch of God established therein was by idolaters in
many ways reft and torn from the faith of Christ ; discovering
moreover that it was frequently assaulted by heretics, and that
there were therein many things contrary to sound doctrine, and
alien from the integrity of the faith of our holy mother the
Catholic Church, set himself for a long time to deliberate
within himself what cure he ought to apply to all these evils. In "^
the end, he determined in his mind to visit the seat of Peter n.
founded on a rock ; and to prevent the tares growing up in the
good wheat, he resolved by the wholesome teaching of the Holy
Eoman Church, and by acknowledging the oracles of the faith,
to cast out every scruple of doubt from his mind, so as to be
able to anive by certain guidings at the light of the tnith.
For Britain, during the reign of the most holy king Lucius,^ in
the papacy of Eleutherius, by the preaching of the most excellent
teachers Faganus and Divianus and others, whom Gildas the
wise, the historian of the Britons, commemorateth, received the
faith of Christ. It preserved that Christianity thus received
whole and undefiled till the time of the Emperor Diocletian.
Then the moon was turned into blood, and the flame of perse-
cution against the Christians burnt brightly through the whole
world. Then that scourge, inundating Britain, vehemently
oppressed it, and pagan hands, mowing the first-fruits of the
island, namely, Alban, took him out of the midst to be recorded
in the Book of the Eternal King; and an innumerable company
of others shortly after, voluntarily, and in ignorance, it offered
to heaven.
From that time the worship of idols began to spring up and
increase in that island, bringing in rejection and forgetfulness of
the Divine law. But Christianity after this somehow revived and
flourished; however, time went on, and first the Pelagian heresy
prevailing, and then the Arian creeping in, defiled the face of the
Catholic faith. This, however, sprang up again and flourished
when these heresies were cast down and conquered by Saint Ger-
manus, Bishop of Auxerre, a man truly apostolic, and made
1 Note ZZ.
84 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
glorious hj many miracles. Yet forthwith the invasion of the
neighbouring Picts and Scots, hostile to the recognition of the
name of Christ, drove away entirely both the faith and the faith-
ful from the northern part of Britannia. Finally, Britannia was
conquered by the Angles, still pagans, from whom it was called
Anglia. The natives being driven out, it was given over to idols
and idolaters. The indigenous inhabitants of the island, how-
ever, fled either across the sea into Little Britain, or into Wales,
and though banished from their own land, all of them did not
entirely abandon their faith. But the Picts, first mainly by
S. Ninian, and then latterly by SS. Kentigern and Columba, re-
ceived the faith. Then lapsing into apostasy a second time, by
the preaching of S. Kentigern, not only the Picts, but also the
Scots, and innumerable people gathered from the different parts
of Britain, were, as we have said already, and shall say more
at length hereafter, either turned to the faith or were confirmed
therein.
However, holy Augustine, noted for his monastic life and
habit, and other servants of God, religious, were sent commis-
sioned to England by the most holy Pope Gregory, who, rich
in the showers of sacred preaching, and glittering in the light-
ning power of miracles, either by themselves or by their disciples
converting the whole island to Christ, and fully instructing
them in the rules of faith and the institutes of the holy fathers,
filled the whole land of Anglia with the sweet savour of Christ.
On account therefore of Britain being crushed by so many
misfortunes, Christianity so often obscured, and even cast down,
at different times diverse rites were found in her contrary to
the form of the holy Roman Church and to the decrees of the
holy fathers. In order, therefore, that he might learn and be
able to meet and to remedy all these evils, blessed Kentigern,
going forth from the monastery of which we have made men-
tion, betook himself seven times to Rome, and brought home
wdiat he learnt there, in so far as the correction of Britain re-
quired it ; but as he was returning for the seventh time he was
attacked by a most grievous malady, and got home with the
greatest difficulty.^
One of his visits was made to Rome during the time that
blessed Gregory presided on the apostolic seat, a man truly
apostolic in office, authority, life, and doctrine, and the sjDecial
apostle of England, for the English are the sign of his apostle-
ship. He was as a vessel of solid gold adorned with every
manner of precious stone, and was called Golden Mouth, be-
1 Note AAA.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 85
cause in expounding great parts of the Scripture he made it
clear by the most lucid and polished style. His memory is
as the work of the apothecary in making up the unguent, and
as music in a banquet of wine, because by his honeyed writ-
ings, by his hymns composed according to the laws of music,
he gladdened, and by his canonical institutions he strengthened
and adorned, the house of God, the holy Catholic Church,
diffused throughout the world. To this most holy Eoman
Pontiff he laid bare and declared in order his whole life, his
election to the episcopate, his consecration, and all the events
that had happened to him. But the saintly Pope, inasmuch
as he was strong in the spirit of counsel and discretion, filled
with the Holy Ghost, and knowing him for a man of God, and
full of the grace of the blessed Spirit, confirmed his elec-
tion and consecration, because he knew that both had corne
from God. And on the bishop on many occasions seeking it,
and with difficulty obtaining it, he supplied what was wanting
to his consecration, and destined him to the work of the
ministry enjoined on him by the Spirit of God. Holy Bishop .
Kentigern, having received the apostolic absolution and benedic-
tion, returned home, bearing with him the codes of canons,
many other books of Holy Scriptures, as well as privileges, and
many relics of the saints, and ornaments of the Church, and
whatever lends grace to the house of the Lord. And he gladdened
his own by his return, as well as by many presents and religious
gifts.^ He dwelt there for some time in great peace and (godly)
conversation, and ruled holily and firmly both his see and his
monastery with great care.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
What by the revelation of the Spirit he knew of tvm Clerics, and
what happened to them according to his prediction.
It happened that the holy bishop felt it his duty, by ordain-
ing clergy, to confer sacred orders, and to promote some to the
priestly office. Among others there was brought to him a
certain cleric, of elegant form, of great eloquence, of much
learning, by birth a Briton, but educated in the Gauls. When
the saint saw him, he summoned the archdeacon, and ordered
him to be straightway removed and separated from the clergy.
For there seemed to the eyes of the saint a sulphurous flame
» Note BBB.
86 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
*
to proceed from the bosom of that clerk, and an intolerable
smell to offend liis nostrils. By this vision, through the revela-
tion of the Holy Spirit, he was made aware of the vice which
reigned in his body. For he was, as was then made known
to the man of God alone, and afterwards to all, habitually guilty
of that most disgusting crime for which the Divine vengeance
overthrew in fire and sulphur, and utterly destroyed, the sons
of unbelief in the Five Cities. Then said the saint to those
who stood around him, " If the sacred canons forbid women,
on account of the infirmity of their sex, to which in noways
is blame attached, to be promoted to the rank of the priest-
hood, much more is it our duty to banish from a rank and
office so sacred, men who pervert their sex, who abuse nature,
who in contempt of their Master, in degradation of themselves, in
injury of all creatures, cast off that in which they are created and
born, and become as women. Nowhere read we of punishment
exercising a graver vengeance than against that monstrous race
of men among whom that execrable crime first began. Not
only did it overthrow those cities, with the inhabitants thereof,
with fire, on account of the burning of evil passion, and with
sulphur, on account of the stench of that abominable sin, but
it also turned them into a place horrid to the sight, full of sul-
phur and bitumen and horrible smells, receiving nothing living
into itself, having indeed on its banks trees that produce
fruits externally sound, but inwardly full of smoke and ashes,
shadowing forth an image of the torture of hell. And this in-
deed sufficiently distinctly exhibiteth how so execrable a pleasure
is to be held in abhorrence, and how horrible and how much it is
to be avoided of all men in this life, and in the future with what
torment it will be visited ; while the fire expresseth the heat of
passion, the sulphur the ill savour of the crime, the bitumen
the adhering effect of the vice, the smoke the bhndness of
heart in tliis world, and in the world to come the unquench-
able flame, the intolerable stench, the indissoluble chains, the
horror of darkness and eternal death." After this the cleric
aforesaid departed by the way that he came, and, as the report
goeth, he died, cut off" by a sudden destruction.
When the holy man had finished his office and was returning
home, there met him among the rest a cleric, a most eloquent
foreigner. The man of God, beholding him, glanced at him
with burning eye, and asked who he was, and whence he was,
and wherefore he had come into these parts. He asserted that
he was a preacher of the truth, teaching the way of God in
truth, and tliat he had come into these parts for the salvation
of souls. But when the saint had conversed with him he con-
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 87
victed him of being intoxicated with the poison of the Pelagian
pestilence. Willing therefore that he should rather return
than perish, he warned and reasoned with him to renounce the
pernicious sect, but found his heart stony as to conversion.
Then the saint ordered him to be expelled from his diocese,
and denounced him as the son of death, and that the death of
body and soul was in his gates. He remembered also the
saying of the apostle, " A man that is an heretic, after the
second admonition, avoid ; knowing that he that is such is sub-
verted."^ The same son of hell, expelled from these borders,
departed, and trying to cross a certain river, choked in the
waters, he descended into hell, and thus by an evident proof
illustrated the exceeding trustworthiness of the veracious pro-
phecy of the most saintly man.
CHAPTER XXIX.
Hmo the Divine vengeance smote the adversaries of S. Kentigern,
and hoio it bore dotvn upon his countrymen who had fallen
aivay from the faith.
Hitherto we have related as carefully as we could what
S. Kentigern did when he withdrew from his own country, and
when he dwelt in a foreign land. Let us point by point hence-
forth turn back and show what his adversaries suffered, how
he returned to the Cambrian region, and what he did there.
After that the man of God yielding to malice departed, his
enemies were not long permitted to triumph over his absence.
For the Lord visited them with heavy hand and hard arm,
and with fury poured out, holding over them a rod that watched
for evil and not for good, smiting them with the blow of an
enemy, and with cruel chastisement, even to destruction. For
the night obscured some of them, and a gloom of blindness
followed ; others were attacked by paralysis, which enfeebled
all their strength, and rendered them actually effete so far as
concerned their bodily strength ; others an incurable madness,
proceeding as far as death, seized ; others a contagious leprosy
devoured or struck down, tainting them, and making them, as
they breathed in their half-alive bodies, like unto the dead in
a state of putrefaction. Very many of them became epileptic, and
exhibited a dreadful spectacle to those who beheld them. Some
one way, some another, were consumed by every kind of in-
1 Titus iii. 10.
N
88 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
curable disease, and gave up the ghost. So great and so sudden
was the indignation of the wrath of God, that all those who
had known their power and great numbers hissed over them,
saying, " Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this people ?
since, beliold, suddenly they have come to an end, and perished
on account of the iniquity which they wrought against the
holy one of the Lord, striving to take away from the earth his
life and memory."
Even his countrymen had quickly abandoned the way of the
Lord, which the good shepherd and true teacher had shown
unto them, and, like dogs returned to their vomit, had fallen
into the rites of idolatry. But not with impunity ; for from
them the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that are therein,
withdrew their obedience, use, and wonted aid, so that, accord-
ing to the Scripture, the very world itself seemed to fight against
these foolish ones ; and the elements seemed not able to bear
with equanimity the absence of so great a man exiled from
that land ; for according to the words of the prophecy, " All
men have' departed, all the cattle died, the heaven above was
as brass, and the earth as iron, devouring the inhabitants
thereof ; and a consuming famine prevailed for a long time over
all the earth."!
But when the time of having mercy had arrived, that the
Lord might remove the rod of His fierce anger, and that they
should turn unto Him, and He should heal them. He raised
up over the Cambrian kingdom a king, Eederech by name, who
having been baptized in Ireland in the most Christian manner by
the disciples of S. Patrick, sought the Lord with all his heart,
and strove to restore Christianity.^ And truly it is a great sign
of the Divine pity, when the Lord constituteth for the govern-
ment of the holy Church, and for the dominion of the earth,
rulers and kings who judge righteously, live holily, seek the
good of their people, and execute judgment and justice on the
earth. So, moreover, on the other hand, it is an evident proof
of the wrath of God when, for the sins of a people, he causeth
a hypocrite to reign, when he calleth the king apostate, and the
leaders unjust, as it is written in Job,^ and when, according to
the prophet, he giveth kings in His indignation, and princes in
His fury.
1 Deut. xxviii. 22, 23. ^ Note CCC. 3 Job xxxiv. 18.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 89
CHAPTEE XXX.
Hmo holy JRcderech, 1)7/ messengers and letter's, invited S. Kenti-
(jern to return to his oivn see in Glasgu ; and how the holy
jjrelate, tavght by the Divine oracle, assented to the king's
petition.
Wheeefoee Kirg Eederech, seeing that the Christian religion
was almost entirely destroyed in his kingdom, set himself zeal-
ously to restore it. And after long considering the matter in
his own mind, and taking advice with other Christians who
were in his confidence, he discovered no more healthful plan
by which he could bring it to a successful result, than to send
messengers to S. Kentigern to recall him to his first see.
The fame of the saint going forth smote on the ears and
mind of the king, for his light could not be hid, although it
shone in the more remote regions. The king, therefore, sent
forth messengers to the holy prelate with letters deprecating
refusal, and warning, praying, exhorting, and adjuring him
by the name of God, as a shepherd, not any longer to with-
draw his care from the sheep of his pasture, long desolate and
destitute, by any further absence, lest he should expose them to
be carried off and torn by the open mouth of the infernal wolf ;
but rather to hasten forth and meet them before they were swal-
lowed by the throat of the roaring lion seeking whom he might de-
vour, since there is none but he who could deliver, or ought more
justly to do so. He declared that it was wrong that the spouse
should desert his bride, the shepherd his flock, the prelate his
church, for the love of whom he ought to lay down his life, so
as not to become a hireling. He showed also that they who
had sought his life had perished by the just anger of God, and
he swore that in all things, as a son to his father, he would
obey his will, his teaching, and his commands.
On receiving this, the holy father was silent, nor did he on
that day return any definite answer, for he had prepared to
nourish his grey hairs to the evening of his life, and to end his
days, in that glorious monastery which he had raised with long
and great labour, and to lay him down to sleep, and to take
his quiet rest in the sight of those, his sons, whom he had be-
gotten in the gospel, and brought forth in Christ. But because
he sought not his own, but the things that are of Jesus Christ,
and came not to do his own will, but the will of Him who sent
him, as it could be done in heaven, respecting himself, in him-
self, and towards himself, he submitted himself entirely to the
90 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS. '
disposition of God. And wliile on the following night he was
engaged in prayer, and was consulting the Lord on this matter,
the angel of the Lord stood beside him, and a light shone m
the place of the oratory where he then was, and he smote him
on the side and commanded him to rise. And on his standing
up, the heavenly messenger said unto him, "Go back to Glasgu,
to thy church, and there thou shalt be a great nation, and the
Lord will make thee to increase among thy people. Thou shalt
truly acquire unto the Lord thy God a holy nation, an innu-
merable people to be won unto the Lord thy God, and thou
shalt receive an everlasting crown from Him. There thou shalt
end thy days in a good old age, and shall go out of this world
unto thy Father which is in heaven. Thy flesh shall rest in
hope, buried with glory and honour, much dignified by the
frequent visit of the peoples, and by the exhibition of miracles,
till in the last day, by receiving from the hand of the Lord a
double robe, thou shalt possess a twofold reward at the general
resurrection." Having said this, the angel that appeared to
hun and who addressed him, departed ; but he, weeping copi-
ously, gave thanks unto the Lord, frequently saying, " My heart
is ready, God ! my heart is ready for whatsoever may please
Thee."i
CHAPTER XXXL
How the Saint addressing his disciples about his return, appointed
S. Asaph as his successor in the government.
And when the day dawned, having called liis disciples to-
gether, he said unto them, " I speak as a man unto you, dearly
beloved ; I desired, after long thought and deliberation, accord-
ing to the infirmity of my flesh, that these mine aged eyes
should be closed by you, and that my bones should be hidden
in the womb of the mother of all, in the sight of all of you.
But since the life of man is not in his own power, it is laid
upon me by the Lord that I should return unto mine own
church of Glasgu ; nor ought we, nor dare we, nor will we,
contradict the words of the Holy One, as Job saith, nor in any
wise go against it f but rather in all things obey His will and
command, even to our life's end. Do you, therefore, most
beloved ones, stand firm in the faith. Quit you like men ^ and
be comforted, and seek always that everything be done in
1 Note DDD. ^ job vi. 10. ^ i Cor. xvi. 13.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 91
charity." These, and many things like these, he said in their
presence, and lifting his hand he blessed them. Then, with
the unanimous consent of all, he appointed the afore-men-
tioned S. Asaph to the government of the monastery, and by
the petition of the people, and by canonical election, the suc-
cessor of his bishopric ; and after that he delivered a profound
sermon at great length, of faith, hope, and charity, of mercy
and justice, of humility and obedience, of holy peace and of
mutual forbearance, of avoiding vice and of acquiring virtue,
of observing the institutes of the holy Eoman Church, of the
regular discipline and exercises which he had established, to
be observed by them all, and, in fact, of constancy and per-
severance to the end in all good things.
Wlien the sermon was over he enthroned S. Asaph in the
cathedral see, and again blessing and taking leave of them all,
he went forth by the north door of the church, because he was
going forth to combat the northern enemy. After he had gone
out, that door was closed, and all who witnessed and heard of
his egress and departure bewailed his absence with great
lamentations. Hence a custom grew up in that church that
that door should never be opened, save once a year, on the day
of S. Asaph, that is, on the Kalends of May, for two reasons, —
first, in deference to the sanctity of him who had gone forth,
and next, that thereby was indicated the great grief of those
who had bewailed his departure. Therefore, on the day of S.
Asaph, that door is opened, because when he succeeded to S.
Kentigern in the government, their mourning was turned into
joy. Of that monastery, a great part of the brethren, to the
number of 665, in no ways being able or willing to live with-
out him so long as he survived, went away with him. Tliree
hundred only abode with S. Asaph. Surrounded by such a
troop as this, as if compassed by the host of the court on
high, he returned to fight the old enemy, and to drive him
out from the region of the earth where the apostate angel
had placed his seat. And truly those who accompanied him
were counted by such a number, and by multiplying the
senary exercise of good \vorks, by fulfilling the decalogue of
the law, arrived at the centenary perfection of virtues, and
maintained the quinary guard over the discipline of the senses,
so far as they could.
When King Eederech and his people had heard tliat Kenti-
gern had arrived from Wallia into Cambria, from exile into his
own country, with great joy and peace both king and people
went out to meet him. On account of his arrival there sound
in the mouths of all thanksgiving and the voice of praise and
92 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
joy; while from the lips of the holy bishop there issued
" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of
good-will."
CHAPTER XXXII.
Of the Devils miraculously driven away, and of the i^ilace lohere
he stood to preach, and of the fertility of the land which
ensued.
Blessed Kentigern, on seeing the gathering together and
approach of a great multitude hastening towards him, rejoiced
in spirit, and therefore offering up thanks, he knelt down in
prayer. When he had finished it, he arose and, in the Name
of the Holy Trinity, blessed the assembled multitude. Then, as
if fortifying the bystanders with the sign of the holy cross, he
spake as follows : — " I command that all those who envy the
salvation of men, and oppose the Word of God, in the power of
the same, depart instantly from hence, and oppose no obstacle to
them who shall believe." Whereupon, with exceeding speed, an
immense multitude of phantoms, horrible in stature and appear-
ance, coming out of that crowd, fled away in the sight of all ;
and a great terror fell on those who beheld them. The holy
bishop, comforting them and strengthening them, laid bare the
natures of those in whom they had believed, and encouraged
the hearts of all who stood around to believe in the living God ;
for by clear reason he showed that idols were dumb, the vain
inventions of men, fitter for the fire rather than for worship. He
showed that the elements in which they believed as deities,
were creatures and formations adapted by the disposition of
their Maker to the use, help, and assistance of men. But
Woden, whom they, and especially the Angles,^ believed to be
the chief deity, from whom they derived their origin, and to
whom the fourth day of the week is dedicated, he asserted with
probability to have been a mortal man, Idng of the Saxons,
by faith a pagan, from whom they and many nations have their
descent. His body, he continued, after many years had
passed, was turned into dust, and his soul, buried in hell, en-
dureth the eternal fire.
By these and similar arguments casting forth the worship of
idols from their hearts, he proved to them the Almighty God,
Three and One, to be the Creator of all things from the very
beauty of the visible creation ; and after that, preaching to them
1 Note EEE.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 93
tlie faith that is in Jesus Christ and the Sacraments of faith, he
shewed by the most true and lucid demonstrations that there is
none other name under heaven, believing in which men may be
saved, but only the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when
he had, by the instruction and dictation of the Spirit, taught much
that referred to the Christian faith, in the place which is called
Holdelm,^ the ground on which he sat, in the sight of all, grew
into a little liill, and remaineth there unto this day. There-
fore, they who had come together, beholding so great and
sudden a miracle, obeying the word of faith in their inmost
soul, firmly and faithfully believed that Jesus Christ is God,
Who had revealed himself to them by His servant Kentigern.
Eagerly, therefore, men and women, old men and young men,
rich and poor, flock to the man of God to be instructed in the
rules of faith ; after being catechised, they renounced Satan and
all his pomps and works, were washed in the saving laver in
the Name of the Holy Trinity ; and so anointed with the sacred
chrism and oil, and incorporated into the body of the Church,
they became members of Christ.
Wherefore the bishop rejoiced with great joy, for that a
great salvation had been made, and mighty happiness increased
among that people ; nor was there less joy in the presence of
the angels of God in heaven, for that so great a multitude had
turned unto the Lord. Appropriately by such a sign as the
elevation of the mountain in the commencement of his preach-
ing, did the Lord deem right to magnify His saint, who by that
very preaching effectually brought all to believe, as unto the very
mountain, compact and fruitful, in which the Lord was well
pleased to dwell. That very Stone, first cut without hands from
the mountain, grew up into a high mountain and filled the face
of the earth, — for the omnipotent God, born of the Virgin, with-
out human passion, was manifestly shown forth in the breadth
of this world. Verily, Christ is that Hill exalted on the top of
the mountains, even the Lord Himself, that surpasseth all the
power and greatness of the saints ; in whose ways, paths, and
light, by the instruction of Kentigern, these nations walked
much more devoutly and consistently than that carnal house of
Jacob, who, loving darkness rather than light, and wandering
away from the ways of truth, refused to be enlightened by the
illumination of the Supreme Light.
After that the inhabitants of Cambria had turned to the
Lord and were baptized, all the elements, which in vindication
of the Divine justice had seemed leagued for its ruin, put on a
1 Note FFF.
94 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
new face towards them for the salvation of body and soul.
For as the Lord turning away from the apostates, and opposing
theni by forbidding the dew to fall, commanded his clouds not
to rain upon the earth, and summoned a famine which deso-
lated them, so turning to them that had returned to Him, He
conmianded the heaven to yield its rain, and the earth to give
forth the green herb, and to produce its fruit for those who dwelt
thereon. Thus by the Lord causing His face to shine upon
them, the sun was felt warmer than usual, the vault of heaven
clearer, the air more healthy, the earth more fruitful, the sea
more calm, the abundance of all things greater, peace more con-
firmed, the face of all things more joyous, and therefore the
devotion of all in the maintenance of Divine worship was
more profuse. .
CHAPTER XXXIIL
How King Bcdcrech conceded to him power over himself and
his posterity.
Now King Rederech, seeing that the hand of God was good
to him, and was operating according to his desires, was filled
with great joy. And he made no delay in exhibiting openly
the inward fervour wliich animated his souJ, For, stripping
himself of his royal robes, on bended knees and hands joined,
with the consent and advice of his lords, he gave his homage
to S. Kentigern, and handed over to him the dominion and
princedom over all his kingdom, and willed that he should be
king, and himself the ruler of his country under him as his
father, as he knew that formerly the great Emperor Constantine
had done to S. Silvester. Hence the custom grew up for a
long course of years, so long as the Cambrian kingdom lasted
in its own proper rank, that the prince was always subject to
the bishop.^ Frequently was the word again and again asserted
by the king, that not in vain, but of set purpose had he been
called Kentigern by S. Servanus, because by the will of the Lord
he ought to become the head lord of all ; for " Ken " is " caput "
in Latin, and the Albanic "tyern" is intei^reted "dominus" in
Latin.
S. Kentigern, thus made a new Melchizedech, hesitated not
to accept what the king had so devoutly offered for the glory of
God, because he foresaw that in the future even this would be
Note GGG.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 95
for the advantage of the Church. He had also a privilege sent
liini from the Supreme Pontiff, that he should be subject to no
bishop, but rather should be styled and actually be, the vicar
and chaplain of the Pope. But the king, in return for the
honour and glory he bestowed upon the holy bishop, received
grace for grace, and greater honours and wealth from the Lord.
Moreover, his Queen Languoreth, long bowed down by the
disgrace of continued barrenness, by the blessing and interces-
sion of the saintly bishop, conceived and brought forth a son, to
the consolation and joy of his whole kindred ; and the saint
baptizing him, called him Constantine, in remembrance of the
act of his father which he had done to him in resemblance of that
which the Pioman Emperor Constantine had done to S. Silvester,
as has been already stated. He grew up a boy of good disposi-
tion, in stature and grace, beloved of God and man, and by
hereditary right, when his father yielded to fate, succeeded
him in the kingdom, but always subject to the bishop like his
father before him. And because the Lord was with him, he
overcame all the barbarous nations in his vicinity without
bloodshed, surpassing all the kings that had reigned before him
in Cambria, in riches, glory, and dignity, and, what is better still,
in holiness. So that, famed for merit, and finishing his course in
peace, he was deemed meet to triumph over the age, and to be
crowned with glory and honour in heaven ; so that to the pre-
sent day he is called S. Constantine by many.^ We have said
this by anticipation, because we have mentioned Constantine as
being born by the prayers of S. Kentigern, and baptized and
educated by him. TJie holy bishop Kentigern, building churches
in Holdelm, ordaining priests and clerics, placed his see there
for a certain reason for a time ; afterwards, warned by Divine
revelation, justice demanding it, he transferred it to his own
city Glasgu.
CHAPTEE XXXIV.
How many nations the Saint, at one time hy liimsclf, at another
by his Disciples, cleansed from the foulness of Idolatry, and
how he ivas distiiiguished for many miracles.
The blessed Kentigern, like a burning torch in those days,
was diligent, by the radiant flames of his virtues, and the burn-
ing and shining word of God, to illuminate the souls that were
blinded by the darkness of ignorance, to kindle in the cold the
1 Note HHH.
96 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
love of God, and to burn up and so clear away the thorns of
sins and the tares of vices, which according to the ancient
curse had spread over the earth and covered it. There was
none that could easily liide himself from his heat. For he
carefully visited his diocese, and taking away all strange gods
from the midst of them, cast forth all the ceremonies of foreign
worship, and so preparing the way for the Lord, and making
the paths of our God straight, he brought the whole of Chris-
tianity there into a better state than it had been before.
Then the warrior of God, consumed with the fire of the
Holy Spirit, like a fire that burnetii the wood, and like the
flame setting on fire the mountains, after he had converted what
was nearest to himself, that is to say, his diocese, going forth
to more distant places, cleansed from the foulness of idolatry
and the contagion of heresy the land of the Picts, which is
now called Galwiethia, with the adjacent parts ; and amid
shining miracles, bringing it back to the rule of truth, he
amended, as far as lay in his power, whatsoever he found con-
trary to Christian faith or sound doctrine. In all these things
the fervour of his devotion was not turned away, but his hand
was stretched out still to greater actions, and to the increase of
the honour and glory of the Most High, his feet having been
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Yov he went to Albania, and there with great and almost
unbearable toil, often exposed to death by the snares of the
barbarians, but ever standing undeterred, strong in the faith
(the Lord working with him, and giving power to the voice of
his preaching), he reclaimed that land from the worship of idols
and from profane rites that were almost equal to idolatry, to
the landmarks of faith, and the customs of the Church, and the
laws of the canons. For there he erected many churches, and
dedicated them when erected, ordaining priests and clerics ; and
he consecrated many of his disciples bishops. He also founded
many monasteries in these parts, and placed over them as
fathers the disciples whom he had instructed.
In ail these matters, his spirit, always panting for the salva-
tion of the many, never rested till, as a glorious standard-
bearer of the Lord's host, and as a wrestler of unconquered
mind, he fought the battles of the Lord. Therefore he sent
forth those of his own, whom he knew to be strong in faith,
fervent in love, known for doctrine, lofty in religion, towards
the Orchades, Noruuagia, and Ysalanda, to announce to the
dwellers therein the Name of the Lord and the Faith of Christ,^
1 Note III.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 97
for that in those places the harvest indeed was great, but there
were no labourers ; and seeing that he was now old and unable
to go himself, he willed that this work should be accomplished
by his disciples.
All this being duly done, he returned to his own church of
Glasgu, where, as elsewhere, yea, where, as everywhere, he was
known to shine in many and great miracles. For wheresoever
his lips disseminated the knowledge of salvation, the virtue of
God, working in His servant, exhibited the manifold power of
marvels. For he restored sight to the blind, hearing to the
deaf, the power of walking to the lame, speech to the dumb,
reason to the insane. He drove away fevers ; he cast out devils
from the bodies of those possessed by them ; he gave strength
to the paralytic; healing to the lunatics; cleansing to the lepers,
and cure to all sorts of sicknesses. But in such works as these
was his daily wont, his accustomed play, his assiduous custom,
which in a way became common from so constant occurrence,
and which have not been written down, lest the quantity of
them brought together should engender weariness. In many
other ways also were many sick men taken to the bishop to
be healed by the touch of the hem of his garment, frequently
by mouthfuls of food and drink given and received ; and some-
times men borne in a bed were healed by the shadow of his
body as he passed along, like another Peter.
CHAPTEE XXXV.
How the Lord kept his Clothes untouched hy any drops of rain,
or snow, or liail.
Although the hand of the Lord worked by blessed Kenti-
gern many miracles not commonly vouchsafed to other saints.
He wrought one work in him in particular at which all men
did wonder. For as all bear witness who knew the man, as well
as those that conversed with him, that never in his life were
his clothes wetted with drops of rain, or with snow or hail
pouring upon Mm and falling to the ground. For often, stand-
ing in the open air, while the inclemency of the weather in-
creased, and the pouring rain flowed in different directions like
bilge- water, and the spirit of the storm raged around him, he
from time to time stood still, or went whither he would, and
yet he always continued uninjured and untouched by a drop of
rain from any quarter. And not on him alone did the Lord
vouchsafe to exhibit this prodigy, which was the Lord's doing,
98 LIV^ES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
and wonderful in the eyes of all, but the whole company of his
disciples going along with him, by his merits, oftentimes, though
not as in his own case always, experienced the same grace in
themselves and for themselves. For the sanctity of the holy
doctor Kentigern, who was bedewed with Divine grace, was to
his followers for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and
a refuge, and for a covert from the storm and tempest.
So let no one disbelieve that the Lord bestowed the blessing of
the miracle which we have described on His most devout servant,
to the praise of His own most holy Name, and to commend his
sanctity, since, in a manner like to this — nay, in a manner
greater than this— He vouchsafed in the desert a boon to the
whole Hebrew people to show that they had found favour in
His eyes. For, as we read, the garments of that people were
not worn or destroyed by time ; the garments of this man alone
were never wetted with the drops of rain from heaven. There-
fore to none let this seem incredible ; for, as the Lord says, all
things are possible to him that believeth, and with the Lord
there is nothing impossible. In like manner, the sign which in
the smiting of Egypt, as we find written in a certain place con-
cerning the children of Israel, we know to have been frequently
repeated in the case of blessed Kentigern. For when darkness
overwhelmed the whole land of Egypt, and thick darkness the
people, as it is written, where the children of Israel dwelt, there
there was light ; so, often, when a cloud covered the whole earth,
bringing on a darkness that might be felt, a light shone around
himself, the place, and the inhabitants thereof, where the saint
was preaching. Eightly, therefore, as we believe, never were
wet with any drops the garments of tliis saint, whose members
he strove with the utmost care to preserve clean and pure from
all defilement of flesh and blood. With justice also did a light
shine forth from the darkness in the place of his preaching
where he taught the people, as in his heart the Sun of
Eighteousness, the Light that knoweth no setting, ever shone ;
and he himself, like a lamp in a dark place, gave forth light
in the midst of a perverse and wicked generation, as the apostle
Peter beareth witness.^
1 2 Teter i. 19.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 99
CHAPTEE XXXVI.
Hoiu the Saint miraculously restored to the Queen the Ring ivhich
she had improperly given away, and which was thrown hy
the King himself into the Bivcr Clud.
So S. Iventigern having, as we have told, returned home, and
disposing himself to dwell by himself in mental solitude far
from the throngs of men, willed not to be freely seen in public
or to go abroad except in cases of great urgency. Nevertheless
he ceased not, though against his will, to shine forth abroad in
wondrous signs. Queen Languoreth, who has been mentioned
above, living in plenty and delights, was not faithful to the
royal chamber or the marital bed, as she ought to have been :
for the heap of her treasures, the exuberance of her means of
sensuality, and the elevation of power, were wont to minister
incentives and fuel to the will of the ilesh. She cast her eyes
on a certain youth, a soldier, who, according to the perishing
beauty of this perishing flesh, seemed to her to be beautiful
and fair of aspect beyond many that were with him at court.
And he, who without external temptation was himself ready
enough for such a service as this, was easily induced to sin
with her.
So as time passed, and tlie forbidden pleasures, frequently
repeated, became more and more delightful to both of them — for
bread eaten in secret, and stolen waters, according to Solomon,^
seemed to them to be sweeter ; so from a rash act they pro-
ceeded to a blind love, and a royal ring of gold, set with a
precious gem, which her lawful husband had intrusted to her
as a special mark of his conjugal love, she very impudently and
imprudently bestowed upon her lover, and he, more impudently
and more imprudently placing it upon his finger, opened the
door of suspicion to all who were conversant in the matter. A
faithful servant of the king, finding this out, took care to
instil the secret of the queen and the soldier into the ears of
the husband, who did not willingly lend his ear or his mind to
her disgrace, as the unworthiness of his wife was brought to
him. It is an old and true proverb, It is difficult for a cuck-
old to put faith in one that reveals the failings of a beloved
wife; and the odium is apt to fall rather upon the informer
than upon the accused. But the detector of the adultery, in
proof of the matter, showed the ring on the finger of the soldier ;
^ Prov. ix. 17.
100 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
and by this proof persuading the king to believe him, he suc-
ceeded in kindling the spirit of jealousy within him.
So the king, being secretly assured of this, veiled under a
calm demeanour the wrath of his soul against the queen and
the soldier, and appeared more than usually cheerful and kind.
But when a bright day occurred, he went out hunting, and
summoning the soldier to accompany him, sought the woods
and forests with a great company of beaters and dogs. Having
uncoupled the dogs and stationed his friends at difierent places,
the king with the soldier came down to the banks of the river
Clud, and they, in a shady place on the green turf, thought it
would be pleasant for both to sleep for a little. The soldier,
worn out, and suspecting no danger, resting his head, stretching
out his arm, and extending his hand, straightway slumbered ;
but the spirit of jealousy exciting the king, who simulated sleep,
suffered him neither to slumber nor to take any rest. Seeing the
ring on the finger of the sleeper, his wrath was kindled, and he
with difficulty restrained his hand from his sword and from
shedding of blood ; but he controlled his rage, at least in part,
and after drawing the ring off the finger threw it into the neigh-
bouring river, and then, waking him up, ordered him to return
to his companions and go home. The soldier waking up from
sleep, and thinking nothing about the ring, obeyed the king's
order, and never discovered what he had lost till he entered his
house.
But when, on the return of the king, the queen in the usual
manner came forth from her chamber and saluted him, from the
mouth of him who was thus saluted there proceeded continu-
ously threats, contempt, and reproach, while with flashing eyes
and menacing countenance he demanded where the ring was
which he had intrusted to her keeping. When she declared that
she had it laid up in a casket, the king, in the presence of all his
courtiers, commanded her to bring it to him with all haste;
but she, still full of hope, entered the inner chamber as if to
seek the ring, but straightway sent a messenger to the soldier,
telling him of the anger of the king in demanding the ring, and
ordering him to send it quickly. The soldier sent back to the
queen to say that he had lost the ring and could not tell where.
Then, fearing the face of the king, for the sake of concealment,
he absented himself from court. In the meantime, as she
sought further delays, and was slow in producing what, of
course, she could not find, uselessly seeking here and there, the
king in fury frequently calling her an adulteress, broke forth in
curses saying, " God do to me, and more also, if I judge thee
not according to the law of adulterers, and condemn thee to a
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 1(»1
most disgraceful death. Thou, clinging to a young adulterer,
hast neglected the king thy spouse ; yet I would have made
thee the sharer of my bed and the mistress of my kingdom :
thou hast done it in secret ; I will do it in public, and the sun
shall manifest thine ignominy and reveal thy more shameful
things before thy face."
And when he had said much after this sort, all the courtiers
praying for some delay, he with difficulty conceded three days,
and ordered her to be imprisoned. Cast into a dungeon, she
now contemplated death as imminent ; but not the less did her
guilty conscience torment her. weighty and intolerable
punishment, the damning testimony of a guilty conscience !
Although one condemned to punishment may have external
peace, yet he is acknowledged to be wretched and disturbed
whom a gnawing conscience ceaselessly persecuteth. The spirit,
therefore, of the guilty woman was vexed within her, and with
contrite and lowly heart, with tearful prayer, she besought God
not to enter into judgment with His handmaiden, but according
to His great mercy, as formerly He had pity on the woman
taken in adulter}^ and placed in the midst before Him, so in a
like case He would have mercy upon her. By the inspiration
of the Lord, the woman in her great strait found out a wise
device, and, sending a most faithful messenger to S. Kentigern,
told him her whole misfortune, and from him, as her only
deliverer, she urgently requested help. She also begged that
at least he would use his influence with the king and beseech
pardon for her, for there was nothing so great which he would,
or could, or ought to deny him.
The saintly bishop, instructed by the Holy Ghost and by
virtue from on high, knowing the whole story in order before
the arrival of the messenger, ordered him to go with a hook to
the bank of the river Clud aforesaid, to cast the hook into the
stream, and to bring back to him straightway the first fish that
was caught upon it and taken out of the water. The man did
what the saint commanded, and exhibited in the presence of
the man of God a large fish which is commonly called a
salmon ; and on his ordering it to be cut open and gutted in
his presence, he found in it the ring in question, which he
straightway sent by the same messenger to the queen. And
when she saw it and received it, her heart was filled with joy,
her mouth with praise and thanksgiving ; her grief was turned
into joy ; the expectation of death into the dance of exultation
and safety. Therefore the queen rushed into the midst and
returned to the king the ring he had required, in the sight of
all. Wherefore the king and all his court were sorry for the
102 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
injuries done to the queen ; and humbly on his knees he sought
her pardon, and swore that he would inflict a very severe
punishment, even death or exile if she willed, upon her slan-
derers. But she, wisely judging that mercy rather than the
award of judgment was what she had to do with, was desirous
that he should shew mercy, as a servant ought to'have on his
fellow-servant. She said, " Far be it, my lord, King, that
any one should suffer on my account ; but if thou wiliest that
from my heart I should forgive thee for what injury thou hast
done me, I will that thou put away all angry feeling from thy
heart and mind, as I do against mine accuser." And all, when
they heard this, wondered and were glad. And so the king,
and the queen, and the accuser are recalled to the grace of
peace and mutual love. The queen, as soon as she could, betook
herself to the man of God, and confessing her guilt, and making
satisfaction by his advice, carefully corrected her life for the
future and kept her feet from a similar fall. Durmg her hus-
band's lifetime she never revealed to any one the sign whereby
the Lord had shown forth His mercy toward her, but after his
death she told it to all who wished to know it.
Behold the Lord sitting in heaven willed to do by His
servant Kentigeru that which, clothed in our flesh. He conde-
scended to do when conversing with men on earth. At His
order Peter, casting a hook into the sea, drew out the great fish
in whose mouth he found tlie piece of money, which he gave in
tribute for the Lord and for himself. So by the command of
S. Kentigern, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the queen's
messenger, casting a hook into the river, took a fish, and bring-
ing it thus to the saint found in it, when taken and opened, a
ring which saved the queen from a double death. In both
these cases, as it seemeth to me, there was rendered to Ctesar
that which belongeth unto Ctesar, and unto God that wliich is
God's. For in the piece of money the image of Caesar was
restored to him, and in the ring restored the flesh was redeemed
from destruction, and the soul made in the image of God was
cleansed from sin and restored to Him.
CHAPTEE XXXVIL
Hoiv a Jester despising the gifts of the Kiiig demanded a dishful
of fresh mulberries after Christmas; and how he received
them through the instrumentality of S. Kentigern.
King PtEDEKECH was magnified by the Lord because he clung
to Him, by serving Him in faith and good works, and because
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 103
he obeyed the will of S. Kentigern. For glory and riches were
in liis house, generosity in his heart, politeness in his mouth,
munificence in his hand, for that the Lord had blessed the works
of his hands, so that not only to the regions in his own neigh-
bourhood, but even across the sea to Ireland, the fame of his
liberality extended. Wherefore a jester from one of the kings
of Ireland, skilled and clever in his art, was sent to Cambria to
the court of the king aforesaid, that he might see whether the
truth responded to the fame of him, which was far and wide
extended. The jester, admitted into the court, played with his
hand on the timbrel and harp, and gave joy to the king and his
paladins all the days of the Christmas holidays. When the
feast of the Lord's holy epiphany was past, the king ordered
gifts to be brought forth and bestowed upon the jester, in
accordance with the royal generosity, all of which the actor
refused, stating that he had sufficiency of such things in his
own country. Being asked by the king what he would be
willing to receive, he answered that he had no need whatsoever
of silver, and gold, and garments, and horses, in which Ireland
abounded;^ but "if thou desirest," said he, "that I should
depart from thee well rewarded, let there be given to me a dish
full of fresh mulberries." When they heard this speech uttered
from the mouth of the man, all burst out laughing, because
they thought that he was joking and speaking in sport ; for a
person of this kind is esteemed the more highly the better he
is able, by words that produce mirth, to excite laughter. But
he with an oath declared that he had demanded the mul-
berries not in jest but in all seriousness; nor could he be
moved from this by prayers, promises, or the offer of the
handsomest gifts; and rising, he declared that he wished to
retu'e from the midst of the crowd, and, as the saying is, to
carry off the king's honour. The king took this very ill,
and asked his companions what could be done that he should
not be dishonoured in tliis matter; for it was the season of
winter and not a mulberry could be found anywhere. Acting
on the advice of his courtiers, he betook himself to S, Kenti-
gern, and humbly begged that by prayer he would obtain what
he wanted from God. The man of God, although he thought
that his prayer would not be fitly offered for such trifles as
these, knew that the king had a great devotion to God and
Holy Church, yet though his eyes beheld his substance, which
was imperfect, in this case the holy bishop made up his mind
to condescend to his petition, hoping that thereby in the future
1 Note KKK.
104 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
he might advance in virtue. Therefore pondering for a time in
his heart, and praying shortly, he said to the king, "Dost thou
remember in what place during summer, thou didst throw
away the garment with which thou wast girded, in the great
heat when thou wast hunting, that thou mightest follow tlie
dogs more expeditiously, and then forgetting or underrating it
thou didst never return to recover what thou hadst cast off?"
The king answered, saying, " I know, my king and bishop, both
the time and the place." " Go," said the saint, " straightway
to the place, and thou shalt find the garment still perfect, hang-
ing over a bush of thorns, and below that thou shalt find
mulberries sufficient still fresh and fit for gathering. Take
them and satisfy the demand of the jester, and in all things
concern thyself that thou more and more reverence God,
who will not allow thine honour to be marred or minished
even in so light a thing as this." The king did as the bishop
ordered, and found all as he had predicted. Therefore taking
the dish and filling it with the mulberries, he gave it to the
actor, saying, "There, take that which thou hast asked for;
for by the help of the Lord who worketh with me, thou canst
not in anything injure the fame of my generosity. And that I
may not seem to thee more niggardly than others, thou art
welcome to stay here as long as it pleaseth thee." The actor,
seeing the charger full of mulberries contrary to the time of
the year, wondered and feared, and when he knew how it
had happened, he cried out and said, "Verily, there is none
like unto thee among the kings of the earth, munificent in thy
generosity, and there is none like unto Kentigern, glorious in
holiness, fearful in praises, doing such wonders in my sight
beyond expectation. Henceforth I will not leave thy house
or thy service, and I will be unto thee a servant for ever, so
long as I live." The actor therefore abode in the king's court,
and served him for many days as jester. Afterwards, by the
instigation of the fear of God, he set himself against his former
profession, renounced the trade of actor, and entering the ways
of a better life, gave himself up to the service of God.
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Of the two vessels filled with Milk vMch S. Kentigern sent to a
certain workman ; how, when the Milk was poured into the
river, it became Cheese.
There was a certain man, skilled in the trade of an artisan,
who served by hammering and forging, took charge of the
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKX. . 105
works of the man of God, and of the monastery, and received
from the saint the necessary wages. Now the saint was wont
to use milk as food and drink, for, as we have said above, he
usually abstained from all liquor that could intoxicate. He
therefore ordered vessels of new milk to be carried to the
artisan, because he knew that workmen and hired servants are
gratified by partaking of the food prepared for the lord and
householder. But when he who bore it was crossing the Clud,
the covers of the vessels, by the merest accident, became open,
and the whole milk was poured into the water. But, strangely
and wonderfully, the milk poured out did not mix with the
water, and was not altered as to colour and taste, but all at
once it became curded, and was turned into cheese. In fact,
tliat cheese was no less properly made solid by the beating
of the waves, than in other cases it is compacted by the pres-
sure of the hands. The bearer snatched the little shape of
cheese out of the water, and went and detailed from the begin-
ning the whole story to the workman to whom the saint had
sent him. Many beheld this remarkable sign, and on seeing
that the fluid had not been turned into fluid, or liquefied, stood
astonished. But the workman and many others tasted of that
cheese, and also distributed minute particles piece by piece of
the same to many to be kept as relics. These relics are preserved
in many places and during many times, and making the beloved
and famous miracles of Kentigern more beloved and more
famous by the testimony of this very fact. But although this
sign, even externally, is the cause of great wonder, yet to those
who view it subtilly, and who infer spiritual from corporeal - -^^^
things, the invisible things from the visible, it afi'ords much i
instruction. In the milk which fell into the waters, yet was /
not mixed with them, nor turned into them, or immersed in ^■
them, we have the example of preserving innocency and justice,
which are relics to a peaceable man, among those who swell
with pride, who would invade us with all evil, who dissipate
themselves in pleasures, and who seek to drown us in destruc-
tion by bad examples and persuasions. That the milk in the
stream was hardened into cheese, gives us an ensample of
maintaining constancy in the presence of trials and straits.
For the just and innocent man hardeneth among the waves, as
the milk did into cheese, when, in obedience to words pro-
ceeding from the mouth of God, he keepeth the hard paths, and
by many tribulations seeketh to enter into His kingdom. More-
over, if he endure threats, insults, losses, and injuries, from
wicked and froward men, then he feeleth them as though he did
not feel, but in peace possessing his soul, he endeavoureth to
106 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
persevere in good, knowing certainly that whosoever perse vereth
unto the end the same shall be saved.
CHAPTEE XXXIX.
HoiD S. Columha visited Messed Kentifjern, and heheld a crown
that came down from, Heaven u2Jon Jiis head, and a celestial
light shilling around him.
At the time when blessed Kentigern, placed in the Lord's
candlestick, like a burning lamp, in ardent desires, and shining
forth in lifegiving words, in the examples of virtues and
miracles, gave light to all that were in the house of God,
S. Columba, the abbot, whom the Angles call Columkillus, a
man wonderful for doctrine and virtues, celebrated for his pre-
sage of future events, full of the spirit of prophecy, and living
in that glorious monastery which he had erected in the Island
of Yi, desired earnestly, not once and away, but continually to
rejoice in the light of S. Kentigern. For hearing for a long
time of the fame in which he was estimated, he desired to
approach him, to visit him, to behold him, to come into his
close intimacy, and to consult the sanctuary of his holy breast
regarding the things which lay near his own heart. And when
the proper time came the holy father S. Columba went forth,
and a great company of his disciples, and of others who desired
to behold and look upon the face of so great a man, accom-
panied him. When he approached the place called Mellin-
denor, where the saint abode at that time, he divided all his
people into three bands, and sent forward a message to announce
to the holy prelate his own arrival, and that of those who
accompanied him.
The holy pontiff was glad when they said unto him these
things concerning them, and calling together his clergy and people
similarly in three bands, he went forth with spiritual songs to
meet them. In the forefront of the procession were placed the
juniors in order of time ; in the second those more advanced in
years ; in the third, with himself, walked the aged in length
of days, white and hoar})", venerable in countenance, gesture,
and bearing, yea, even in grey hairs. And all sang, " In the
ways of the Lord how great is the glory of the Lord;"^ and
again they answered, " The way of the just is made straight,
and the path of the saints prepared."^ On S, Columba's side
* Ps. cxxxviii. 5, 2 jg^^, xxvi. 7, vetus Ital.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 107
they sang with tuueful voices, "Tlie saints shall go from
strength to strength, until unto the God of gods appeareth
every one in Sion," with the Alleluia.^ Meanwhile, some who
had come with S. Columba asked him, saying, " Hath S. Ken-
tigern come in the first chorus of singers?" The saint answered,
" Neither in the first nor in the second cometh the gentle saint."
And when they loudly asked how he knew this, he said, " I see
a fiery pillar in fashion as of a golden crown, set with sparkling
gems, descending from heaven upon his head, and a light of
heavenly brightness encircling him like a certain veil, and cover-
ing him, and again returning to the skies. Wherefore it is
given to me to know by this sign that, like Aaron, he is the
elect of God, and sanctified ; who, clothed with light as with a
garment, and with a golden crown represented on his head,
appeareth to me with the sign of sanctity." When these two
godlike men met, they mutually embraced and kissed each
other, and having first satiated themselves with the spiritual
banquet of Divine words, they after that refreshed themselves
with bodily food. But how great was the sweetness of Divine
contemplation within these holy hearts is not for me to say, nor
is it given to me, or to such as I am, to reveal the manna
which is hidden, and, as I think, entirely unknown save imto
them that taste it.
CHAPTER XL.
Of the head of S. Kentigern's ram, that was cut off, and Iww it
was turned into stone.
While these two men whom we have mentioned were mutu-
ally associated as two columns in the courts of the Lord's house,
firmly founded in faith and love, and strengthened in the same, by
the imitation and instruction of whom many peoples and tribes
and tongues entered, and are still entering, into the heavenly
temple, wliich is the joy of the Lord their God, some sons of
the stranger, who had come with S. Colmnba, were confirmed in
bad habits, and halted in the paths of the man of God. For as
the Ethiopian cannot change his skin, so the man that is bred
to theft and robbery findeth it difficult to change his malice.
There came, therefore, some with the blessed Columba, who
had no dovelike innocence, merely by the advances of their
feet, and not by the affection of devotion, or by progress in
morals. While they journeyed, they beheld from a distance
^ Ps. Ixxxiv. 7.
108 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
one of the flocks of the holy bishop feeding, and leaving the
path and going through dark ways, as it is said of such in the
Proverbs, they turned aside thither, and, in spite of the struggles
and remonstrances of the shepherds, seized the fattest wether.
But the herdsman, in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and by the
authority of S. Kentigern, forbade them to commit such robbery,
nay, such sacrilege, on the flock of the holy bishop, informing
them, that if they would but ask a ram of the saint, they would
be sure to obtain it. But one of them insulted and drove away
the shepherd, threatening him with some injury, or even with
death, and carried away a ram, while the other, taking a knife,
cut off its head. Then they took counsel how to carry off the
carcase, and at a time and place that suited their crime, to skin
it, so as they well knew how, to fit it more carefully for their
use.
But a thing wonderful to relate, more wonderful to behold,
took place. The ram with his head cut off rushed back with
unaccountable speed to his flock, and there fell down ; while
the head, turned into stone, stuck firmly, as by some most co-
hesive glue, in the hands of him who held it and had struck it.
They who were able to pursue, catch, hold, behead the ram
living and strong, were unable to overtake it by following or
pursuing when it was mutilated ; nor could they cast away
from their hands the head which had become stone, in spite of
all their efforts. The men became rigid, and their hearts died
within them, and became as stone, as they were carrying a stone,
and at length they took the wise determination of betaking
themselves to the saints, and, prostrate before the feet of S.
Kentigern, penitent and confounded, they prayed with tears
that he would pardon them. But the holy prelate, chiding them
with kindly reproof, and warning them never again to commit
fraud, theft, robbery, or, what was more detestable, sacrilege,
unloosed them from the double bond, that of sin, and of the
grasp of the stone. He ordered the carcase of the slain ram to
be given them, and allowed them to depart. But the head
turned into stone remaineth there unto this day, as a witness to
the miracle, and, being mute, yet preacheth the merit of holy
Kentigern,
Assuredly this miracle, as it seemeth to me, in the main, is not
inferior to that which the book of Genesis records to have
been wrought in the case of Lot's wife. When the heavenly
fire, the avenger of the injury done to God, being ordered to
destroy the wicked ones who would upset the natural laws of
the generation of man, was about to descend. Lot, warned by
the angelic counsel, and aided by its help, escaped the fire of
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 109
the overthrown and overwhelmed city of Sodom. JJut his
wife, looking back in opposition to a command sent from
heaven, was turned into a rock, into an image of salt, to be a
relish to the food of brute animals. Here the head of the ram
is turned into stone to condemn the hardness and cruelty of
those who carry off their neighbour's goods. In the figure of
Lot's wife, by the Lord's own teaching, every faithful man is
taught and warned, not foolishly to turn back from any sacred
duty once undertaken. In the head turned into stone, every
Christian is warned not to commit theft or fraud or rapine, or
any violence on the property of the Church or on the substance
of the servants of God. In the very place, where the miracle
wrought by S. Kentigern came to the knowledge of S. Columba
and many others, there they interchanged their pastoral staves,
in pledge and testimony of their mutual love in Christ. But
the staff which S. Columba gave to the holy bishop Kentigern
was preserved for a long time in the Church of S. Wilfred,
bishop and confessor at Pdpun ; and held in great reverence on
account of the sanctity both of him who gave it and of him
who received it. Wherefore, during several days, these saints,
passing the time together, mutually conversed on the things of
God and what concerned the salvation of souls ; then saying
farewell, with mutual love, they returned to their homes, never
to meet again.
CHAPTEE XLL
How that the man of God erected Crosses in many places, hy
which, even to the present day, miracles are wrought.
The venerable father and bishop Kentigern had a custom, in
the places in which at any time by preaching he had won tlie
people to the dominion of Christ, or had imbued them with the
faith of the cross of Christ, or had dwelt for any length of time,
there to erect the triumphant standard of the cross, that all
men might learn that he was in no ways ashamed of the cross of
our Lord Jesus Christ, which he carried on his forehead. But, as
it seemeth unto me, this holy custom of the good man is in many
ways supported by sound reason. For for this cause the saint
was accustomed to erect this lifegiving, holy, and terrible sign,
that, like as wax melteth at the fire, so the enemies of the
human race, the powers of the darkness of this world, melt-
ing away in terror before this sign, might disappear and in
terror and confusion might be banished far away. Moreover,
it is fitting that the soldiers of the Eternal King, recognising
110 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
by a glance the unconquerable standard of their Chief, should
fly to it, as to a tower of strength, from the face of the enemy,
and from the face of those wicked ones who afflict them ; and
that they should have before their eyes that which they adore
and in which they glory. And inasmuch as, according to the
apostle, the wrestling against spiritual wickednesses in high
places, and against the fiery darts of the evil one, is continual,
it is meet and healthful that they should fortify and protect
themselves by signing themselves with this sign; and by imitat-
ing the Passion of Christ, and with the apostle bearing about
in their bodies the stigmata of the wounds of Christ, they
should, for the love of the Crucified One, crucify the flesh with
its vices and lusts, and the world to them, and themselves unto
the world.
Therefore, among many crosses which he erected in several
places where the word of the Lord was preached, he erected
two which to the present time work miracles. One in his own
city of Glasgu he caused to be cut by quarriers from a block
of stone of wondrous size, which, by the united exertions of
many men, and by the application of machinery, he ordered to
be erected in the cemetery of the church of the Holy Trinity,
in which his episcopal chair was placed. But all their labour
was expended in vain ; every machine was powerless, human
strength and might availed not to raise it up, though much and
long they toiled. But when human genius and help failed,
the saint had recourse to the Divine aid. For on the succeed-
ing night, which happened to be Sunday, and while the servant
of the Lord was pouring forth his prayers for this end, an angel
of the Lord descended from heaven, and coming near, rolled
back the stone cross and raised it to the place where it standeth
to-day, and blessing it with the sign of the cross, he signed it,
sanctified it, and disappeared. The people, when they came to
the church in the morning and saw what was done, were as-
tonished and gave glory to God in His saint. For the cross
was very large, and never from that time lacked great virtue,
seeing that many maniacs and those vexed with unclean spirits
are used to be tied of a Sunday night to that cross, and in the
morning they are found restored, freed, and cleansed, though
ofttimes they are found dead or at the point of death.
He constructed another cross, wonderful to be described,
unless it could be tested by sight and touch, of simple sea-sand,
in Lothwerverd,^ while he meditated righteously and religiously
of the Kesurrection. In this place he abode eight years. Who
1 Note LLL.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. Ill
ouglit to dispute on this truth, aud say that tho Lord will not
raise our mortal bodies though turned into dust, since He hath
so promised with His blessed mouth, when in His name, this
saint, of like passions with ourselves, by praying to God
raised up a cross formed of sea-sand ? Verily it must be be-
lieved that at the Lord's will all the bones of the dead shall
be joined to their bones, according to the prophecy of Ezechiel,
and that the Lord will give them sinews and make flesh to
come on them, and skin to cover them, and shall put breath
into them, and they shall live for ever; seeing that at the
prayer of a man still alive, a collection of the minutest sand, I
had almost said of atoms, was extended into a solid and perfect
matter, a mass of sand was condensed and formed into a cross,
which neither the burning sun by day, nor the frost by night,
nor any inclemency of the atmosphere can dissolve. That
cross then was formed as proof to our faith that this our cor-
ruptible must put on incorruption ; and that of the multitude of
the children of Israel, if they were as the sand of the sea, a
remnant shall be saved by the faith of the cross of Christ ;
and that the friends of God shall be multiplied beyond the
number of the sand by Him who numbereth the stars of
heaven, and the sand of the sea, and the drops of rain, and the
days of the age. To this cross also many afflicted with divers
diseases, and specially madmen and those vexed by the devil,
are bound in the evening ; and ofttimes in the morning they are
found safe and sound, and return to their friends.^
There are many other places in which he lived, specially
during Lent, unknown to us, which the saint sanctified by the
presence of His holy indwelling. Yet very many persons relate
numerous instances regarding those which, by sure tokens to
this day, diffuse the odour of his sanctity, and by his merits
afford many blessings to the feeble, and possess the efficacy of
miracles.
OHAPTEE XLIL
How he tied wp his Chin with a certain bandage, and hoio he
'prepared for his SouVs Departure.
Blessed Kentigern, overcome by excessive old age, per-
ceived from many cracks in it that the ruin of his earthly
house was imminent; but the foundation of his faith, which
was founded on the Eock, comforted his soul ; for he trusted
1 Note MMM.
~^
112 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
that when the earthly house of this tabernacle was dissolved,
he had prepared for him a house not made with hands, eternal
in the heavens. And because by reason of the extremity of
old age, and the infirmity consequent thereon, the fastenings of
his nerves were almost entirely withered throughout his body
and loosened, therefore he bound up his cheeks and his chin,
by a cei-tain linen bandage, w^hich w^ent over his head and
under his chin, neither too tight nor too loose. This the most
refined man did, that by the fall of his chin nothing indecent
should appear in the gaping of his mouth, and that such a
support should render him more ready in bringing forth what
he could or would.
In the end, this man, beloved by God and man, knowing that
the hour was drawing near when he should pass out of this
world to the Father of lights, fortified himself with the sacred
unction which wi'ought remission of sin, and with the life-
giving sacraments of the Lord's Body and Blood, in order that
the ancient serpent, seeking to bruise his heel, should be
unable to fix thereon his poisonous tooth or to inflict on him
a deadly wound : yea rather, that with bruised head he should
retreat in confusion. In this very way, the Lord treading
Satan under his feet, in order that his holy soul should not
be speedily put to confusion, when in his coming out of
Egypt he spake with his enemies in the gate, he patiently,
like an excellent under-pilot, awaited the Lord, who had saved
him from the storms of this world. And now, close to the
shore, driven into the harbour of a certain inward quietude,
after so many dangers of the sea, he cast out the anchor of
hope, with the ropes of his desire well bound, in the solid and
soft ground, reaching of a truth even to the inside of the veil,
whither Jesus Christ had gone before him. Henceforward he
alone awaited the departure from the tents of Kedar and the
entrance into the land of the living, so that in the City of
Powers, that is the heavenly Jerusalem, like a successful wrestler
he might receive from the hand of the heavenly King the
crown of glory and the diadem of the kingdom which shall not
be destroyed. He warned his disciples, gathered around him,
so far as his strength would allow him, concerning the observ-
ance of the holy rule, the maintenance of love and peace, of
the grace of hospitality, and of the continuing instant in
prayer and holy study. But above all things he gave them
short but peremptory commands, warning them to avoid every
evil appearance of simoniacal wickedness, and to shun en-
tirely the communion and society of heretics and schismatics,
and observe strictly the decrees of the holy fathers, and espe-
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEEN. 113
cially the laws and customs of Holy Church, the mother of all.
After that, as was right, he gave to each of them, as they
humbly knelt before him, the kiss of peace ; and lifting his
hand as best he could, he blessed them, and bidding them
his last farewell, he committed them all to the guardianship of
the Holy Trinity, and to the protection of the holy Mother
of God, and gathered himself up into his stone bed. Then
one voice of mourners sounded full everywhere, and a horror
of confusion fell on the faces of all of them.
CHAPTER XLIII.
Of his Disciples, wJw sought a speedy journey to heaven, and of
his warm hath.
Some of them, who very dearly loved the saint of God, pros-
trating themselves in tears before him, besought him thus :
" We find, Lord Bishop, that thou desirest to depart and to
be with Christ. For thine old age, venerable, long protracted,
and measured by many years, as well as thy spotless life, de-
mand this ; but, we pray thee, have mercy upon us whom thou
hast begotten in Clirist. For wheresoever we have erred
through human frailty we have always confessed in thy pre-
sence, and by satisfaction have made amends by the judgment of
thy discretion. Since then we have no power of retaining thee
longer among us, pray to the Lord that it may be vouchsafed to
us to depart with thee from this vale of tears to the glory of
thy Lord. So far 'as concerns this we believe in truth and
assert that the Divine mercy will grant thee what thou askest,
for the will of God hath been to us directed in thy hand from
thy youth upwards. It seemeth to us improper that the bishop
without his clergy, the shepherd without any of his flock, the
father without his children, should enter into these joyous and
festive abodes ; yea rather, the more festive and the more
sublime, by how much a greater company of his own should
attend him." And when they had urged him more with tears,
the man of God, full of compassion, collecting his breath,
as b&st he might, said, " The will of the Lord be done in us
all : and do with us as He best knoweth, and as is well-pleasing
unto Him."
After these things the saint was silent, and sighing in his
soul for heaven, he awaited the passage of his spirit from the
body ; and his disciples watching by him, took care of him as
Hi LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
if close to death. And behold, while the morning day-star,
the messenger of the dawn, the herald of the light of day,
tearing in sunder the pall of the darkness of night, shone forth
with flaming rays, an angel of the Lord appeared with un-
speakable splendour, and the glory of God shone around him.
And for fear of him the guardians of the holy bishop were
exceedingly astonished and amazed, being but earthly vessels,
and, unable to bear the weight of so great glory, became as dead
men. But the holy old man, comforted by the vision and visit
of the angel, and, as it were, forgetting his age and infirmity,
being made strong, exj)erienced some foretastes of the blessed-
ness now near at hand, and held close converse with the angel
as with his closest and dearest friend.
Now the heavenly messenger said these words to him : —
" Kentigern, chosen and beloved of God, rejoice and be glad,
let thy soul magnify the Lord, for He hath greatly increased
His mercy towards thee. Thy prayer is heard, and the Divine
ear hath listened to the preparation of thy heart. It shall be
to thy disciples who desire to accompany thee as thou wiliest.
Therefore be ye steadfast, and ye shall see the help of the Lord
toward you. To-morrow ye shall go forth from the body of this
death into the unfailing Hfe ; and the Lord shall be with you,
and ye shall be with Him for ever. And because thy whole
life in this world hath been a continual martyrdom, it hath
pleased the Lord that thy mode of leaving it shall be easier
than that of other men. Cause, therefore, on the morrow that
a warm bath be prepared for thee, and entering therein, thou
shalt fall asleep in the Lord without pain, and take thy quiet
rest in Him. And after that thou hast paid the debt to nature,
and even before the water hath begun to cool but is yet warm
about thee, let thy brethren follow thee into the bath, and
straightway, loosed from the bonds of death, they shall migrate
with thee as companions of thy journey, and being introduced
into the splendours of the saints, they shall with thee enter
into the joy of the Lord."
With these words the angelic vision and voice departed; but
a fragrance of wondrous and unspeakable odour in a strange
way filled the place and all that were therein. And the holy
man, calling together his disciples, revealed to them in due
order the secret of the angel, and ordered that his bath should
be prepared as the Lord commanded by his messenger ; and his
brethren above mentioned rendered unmeasured thanks to God
Almighty and to their holy father Kentigern, and thus assured
by the oracle in every way they could, fortified by the Divine
Sacraments, prepared themselves for what was awaiting them.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 115
CHAPTER XLIV.
Hcno h-e passed out of this loorld, and hoio Jie shone forth after
his death in many Miracles.
When the octave of the Lord's Epiphany, on which the
gentle bishop himself had been wont every year to wash a
multitude of people in sacred baptism, was dawning, — a day
very acceptable to S. Kentigern and to the spirits of the sons of
his adoption, — the holy man, borne by their hands, entered a
vessel filled with hot water, which he had first blessed with the
sign of salvation; and a circle of the brethren standing round him,
awaited the issue of the event. And when the saint had been
some little time in it, after lifting his hands and his eyes to
heaven, and bowing his head as if sinking into a calm sleep, he
yielded up his spirit. For he seemed as free from the pain of
death as he stood forth spotless and pure from the corruption
of the flesh and the snares of this world.
The disciples, seeing what was taking place, lifted the holy
body out of the bath, and eagerly strove with each other to
enter the water; and so, one by one, before the water cooled,
they slept in the Lord in great peace, and having tasted death
along with their holy bishop, they entered with him into the
mansions of heaven. And when the water cooled, not only the
fear of death, but every spark of discomfort, wholly disappeared.
My judgment is that this bath is to be compared with the
sheep-pool of Bethesda, in which, after the descent of the
angel and the troubling of the water, one sick man was healed
of whatsoever infirmity he had, but he was still liable to death.
But in this ablution a very great company of saints is set free
from all sickness, to live for ever with Christ. The water of
that laver was distributed to divers persons in divers places ;
and from its being drunk or sprinkled health was conferred
upon many sick persons in various ways.
The brethren stripped the saint of his ordinary clothes, which
they partly reserved and partly distributed as precious relics,
and clothed him in the consecrated garments which became so
great a bishop. Then he was carried by the brethren into the
choir with chants and psalms, and the life-giving Victim was
offered to God for him by many. Diligently and most devoutly,
as the custom of the Church in those days demanded, celebrated
they his funeral ; and on the right side of the altar laid they
beneath a stone, with as much becoming reverence as they
could, that abode of virtues, that precious stone, by whose
116 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
merit, as it was a time for collecting stones for the building of
the heavenly edifice of the temple, many elect and living
stones, along with that pearl, were taken up and laid in the
treasures of the Great King. The sacred remains of all these
brethren were devoutly and disposedly consigned to the cemetery
for sepulture, in the order in which they had followed the holy
bishop out of this life.-^
Thus blessed Kentigern, full of years, when he was one hun-
dred and eighty-five years old, matured in merit, famous for signs,
wonders and prophecies, left this world and went to the Father on
this wise : — from faith to sight ; from labour to rest ; from exile
to fatherland ; from the course to the crown ; from the present
misery to eternal glory. Blessed, I say, is that man to whom
the heavens were opened, who penetrated the sanctuary and
entered into the powers of the Lord, received by the angel
hosts ; marshalled among the hosts of patriarchs and prophets ;
joined to the choirs of the apostles ; mixed up in the ranks of
those martyrs who are crowned by the purple of their rosy
blood; associated with the sacred confessors of the Lord;
crowned with the snow-white choirs of virgins. And no
wonder ; for he was indeed, in office and desert, an angel of the
Lord, who announced to those who were far away, and those
who were near, peace and safety in the Blood of Christ ; whose
lips kept true wisdom; at whose mouth very many people
sought and found the law of God. He, moreover, was a pro-
phet of the Most High, who knew many things in absence,
foresaw and predicted many things that were to come to pass.
For he rightly is called, and is, the Apostle of the region of
Cambria, since its inhabitants and many other people are the
signs of his apostleship. He deservedly is called martyr, who
by constant and uninterrupted martyrdom mortified himself
for Christ, and was proved to have had his heart prepared to
sustain any kind of death, should the occasion reqiiire it. For,
for the name of Christ, and for the defence of truth and right-
eousness, he frequently offered himself to persecution, pro-
scription, the wiles and swords of the enemies of the cross of
Christ; and truly and happily triumphed over the flesh, the
world, the devil and his satellites. He, by change of terms, is
called the Confessor of Christ, who, confessing the Name of
Christ before Gentiles and kings, preached with courage, and
instigated all men to the profession of the Name of Christ, and
to the confession of their own sins, and of the Christian Faith
and praise of God. Nevertheless he by special prerogative
1 Note NNN.
LIFE OF S, KENTIGERN. 117
obtained the glory and honour of virgins, because from the
tamarisk he extracted the balsam, from the nettle the lily, and
while in the vessel of this frail and perishing body, he never
disturbed, as they say, even by a look, his angelic celibacy, and
preserved in a vessel of clay the heavenly treasure of chastity.
Wherefore from a virgin body he soared in white to the white-
robed company of the virgins, that without stain he might stand
by the Throne of God and of the Lamb, and following Him
whithersoever He goeth, might sing the new song which was
only known to those who had not defiled their garments.
Justly, therefore, the holy man liveth as the companion, fellow-
citizen, and partaker with all the saints, seeing that in this life
he had communion with them, and always sought to please,
obey, cling to, and be united in spirit to the Saint of Saints, the
Sanctifier of all ; and now and ever, being united to them with
Him, he liveth and rejoiceth.
The spirit of S. Kentigern being taken up to the starry
realms, that which the Earth, the mother of all, had bestowed
she gathered into her womb. But the power of miracles which
had existed in him when alive could not be hid behind the
turf or stone, but burst forth. From the very day of his burial
to the present time his sacred bones are known to put forth
power from their own place, and do not cease to announce, by
benefits bestowed on many kinds of witnesses, that both in
heaven and earth the righteous is had in everlasting remem-
brance. At his tomb sight is restored to the blind, hearing to
the deaf, the power of walking to the lame, strength of limb to
the paralytic, a sound mind to the insane, speech to the dumb,
cleanness of skin to the lepers. Impious, sacrilegious, perjured
men, the violators of the peace of the Church and the pro-
faners of holy places, are justly punished.
For once upon a time a certain man by night stole away
from Glasgu a cow, which in the morning was found living and
bound to the foot of the thief, who had been deprived of life ;
which excited both astonishment and joy. Many who, having
committed sins of the flesh, had not hesitated to profane the
sanctuary by their impure footsteps, were sometimes either cut
off by sudden death, or mutilated in their limbs, or afflicted by
some incurable and protracted disease. The breakers of his
peace often suffered thus. Those who presumed, by any servile
work, to dishonour the anniversary of the saint, on which at
Glasgu, where his most sacred body resteth, a great multitude is
used to assemble from all quarters to seek his intercession, and
to behold the miracles which are wont to take place there,
have often experienced in themselves a speedy vengeance.
1 1 8 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTER XLV.
Of the Prcyphccy of a certain man, and of the Burial of tJie
Saints in Glasgo^v.
In the same year that S. Kentigern, set free from earthly
tilings, migrated to the heavens, King Rederech, who has been
often mentioned before, remained much longer than usual in
the royal town, which was called Pertnech.^ In his court there
lived a fool called Laloecen,^ who was in the habit of receiving
the necessaries of food and clothing from the munificence of
the king ; for the chiefs of the earth, the sons of the kingdom,
given to vanit)^ are used to have such persons about them,
that by their foolish words and gestures they may excite to
jokes and loud laughter the lords themselves and their ser-
vants. This man, after the death of S. Kentigern, gave himself
up to the most extreme grief, and would receive no consolation
from any one.
When they asked him why he mourned so inconsolably, he
answered that his lord, King Eederech, and another of the
chiefs of the land, by name Morthec, would not hve long after
the death of the holy bishop, but would die within the year.
That the saying of the fool was uttered not fooHslily but pro-
phetically, was clearly proved by the fact of the death of both
in the same year. Nor is it much to be marvelled at that the
Creator of all things should allow to be annoimced through the
mouth of a fool what was determined, when even Balaam the
soothsayer, by his inspiration seeing beforehand many important
events, ^vith foreboding mind declared them ; and when Caiaphas
prophesied that the redemption of the people was to come from
the death of Christ ; when by the mouth of a she-ass the mad-
ness of a prophet was rebuked ; when the destruction of Jeru-
salem was foretold by a madman, as Josephus ^vTites. Therefore
in the same year in which the holy Bishop Kentigern died, the
king and prince aforesaid died and were buried in Glasgu.
In the cemetery of the church of that city, as the inhabitants
and countr}Tiien assert, 665 saints rest; and all the great men
of that region for a long time have been in the custom of being
buried there. how much is that place to be feared and had
in reverence which so many pledges of the saints adorn as their
resting-place ! and which so precious a confessor decorateth with
the sacred spoils of his mortality and adorneth with such frequent
1 Note 000. 2 ]s^te PPP.
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN. 119
miracles, that if everything were written they would be found
to fill many volumes. Not only in the place where he resteth in
the body, though there most frequently, and on his anniversary,
is he used to shine forth in signs, but in almost all places, in
the churches, and chapels, and altars where his memory is
held in honour, he is present as a powerful helper in necessities
to those who are placed in tribulations, to those who love him,
and trust him, and call upon him. And where faith or certain
reason demandeth it, he doth not cease to shine forth in
miracles, to the praise and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ ; to
whom is glory, praise, honour, and power, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Here cndcth the Life of the most holy Kentigcrn, Bishop and
Confessor, v:ho is also called Mungu.
FEAGMENT OF
THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN.
FRAGMENT OF
THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGEllK
PROLOGUE.
Many regions indeed have I traversed, carefully
investigating the manners of the same, and the devo-
tions of their clergy and laity. I have found every
land venerating its own provincial saints with appro-
priate and repeated heraldings of praise. But when
at length I came to the kingdom of the Scotti, I
found it very rich in the relics of saints, illustrious in
its clergy, glorious in its princes. Nevertheless, in
comparison with other kingdoms, it was still behind-
hand, slumbering in negligent sloth as regards the
reverence for its saints. For verily when I noted in
the wide domains of the saints the scantiness of the
honour paid to their own, I took uj) my pen for the
honour of the most holy confessor and bishop, Kenti-
gemus, who, in comparison with others, glittereth
like Lucifer among the stars ; and just as Symeon,
once a monk of Durham, wove together a history of
his own Saint Cuthbert, so I, a cleric of S. Kentigern,
at the instance of Herbei-t, the venerable Bishop of
124 PKOLUGUE.
Glasgow, have, as best I might, devoutly composed a
sort of a work from the material found in the little
book of his virtues, and from the oral communication
of the faithful made to myself
Before proceeding, by the help of Christ, to describe
the life and miracles of the most holy confessor and
bishop Kentigern, it is fitting that I warn my readers
at the outset to give credence to what is said, and to
weigh rather the matter than the diction, and if by
chance any of it should seem to them to be composed
rudely, let them remember that proverb of the blessed
Jerome where he saith, " Much better is it to say true
things rudely, than to utter false things gracefully."
Let them remember also that the kingdom of God
standeth not in the richness of eloquence, but in the
blossoming of faith. Nor let them despise the setting
forth of things, in themselves useful and wrought not
without the Divine help, on account of any uncouth
names or words difficult to be understood by those who
hear, or local designations, where barbarism, as I think,
hath rendered rude the tongues of foreign tribes. But
let all in common know this, that passing by for the sake
of brevity many other things abo'ut the man of blessed
memory which were worthy of being recollected, I shall
commit to writing a few out of the very many, to avoid
fatiguing my readers. And every one will faithfully be
able to observe this who will give his attention to
his miracles, which still appear throughout Cambria.
To the arrangement of these instances, few as they
are, which I now briefly attempt to weave together, I
now by the help of God address myself
LIFE OF S. KENTIGERX. 125
CHAPTER I.
Of tlu Cause of the Conception of S. Kentigern.
Of his Mother's Constancy in Tribulation.
Since God, who is ever wonderful in His saints, worketh in
marvellous wise, either by Himself or by them, whatsoever he
disposeth, we shall faithfully to the faithful declare certain of
the things wrought by the blessed Bishop Kentigern, as we
have heard and know and understand. So a certain King
Leudonus, a man half Pagan, from whom the province over
which he ruled obtained the name of Leudonia in Northern
Britannia, had a daughter under a stepmother, and the
daughter's name was Thaney. Now this girl, so far as her faith
was concerned, being a Christian, after that the sound of the
doctrine of the apostles was breathed into her ears, set herself
most devoutly to learn what she could of the Christian rites.
She constantly meditated upon the virginal honour and maternal
blessedness of the most holy Virgin Mary, the mother of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and, revolving it in her mind, in her sim-
plicity said, " how glorious is the name of this honourable
Virgin, and how gloriously is it praised by all people through
the four quarters of the world ; woidd that both in her virginity
and in her bringing forth I could be made like unto her, for the
honour and salvation of my nation in these northern parts."
Verily by daily giving utterance to these things she weaned
her mind and intellect from all evil desire, and for her honest
devotion was deemed meet to conceive, but in another way
than she willed; for what she willed could not be. But on
account of the presumption of her vanity, and the forwardness
of her vain-glory, she endured many and great sufferings. For
she had for a suitor a most graceful young man, namely, Ewen,
the son of Erwegende, sprung from a most noble stock of the
Britons ; yet neither by words, nor by gifts that expressed his
love, could he in any wise incline the mind of the young virgin
to marry him (in the Gestes of the Histories he is called Ewen,
son of King UHen), and the more she resisted the more ardently
did his love burn. Now, when the king, the girl's father, after
many kind words and gentle speeches, which he thought might
incline her mind to the love of the young man, began to see that
he was labouring to no purpose, he spoke to her harshly :
"Either thou shalt be handed over to the care of a swineherd,
or thou shalt please to be married to this young man. Choose
now of these two which thou wishest." The king indeed said
126 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAIIsTS.
this, imagining that the inind of the girl might in this way be
led to the love of the young man. Now, when she had the
choice given her, she preferred to be a lowly servant in the
house of the poor man, as a chaste virgin, than to live a great
lady in the royal tents as one who was not. She, therefore, by
choosing the service of the swineherd incurred the king's
indignation and exceeding wrath. Now the swineherd showed
all possible respect to the young woman, the charge of whom he
had undertaken; for he was a chaste man, and secretly a Chris-
tian ; and in truth, day by day, in the fields and at home, he
taught her what he had learned from Christian teachers ; for he
had learned in Scocia from blessed Servanus, a sacred teacher
of the faith, the doctrine of the law of Christ. This Servanus,
in the primitive church of the Scotti, was the disciple of the
venerable Palladius, the first bishop of the Scotti, who was sent
in the year of the Incarnation 430, by Pope Celestine, as the
first bishop to the Scots who believed. He found blessed Ser-
vanus in Albania before him, a Christian man, and after that he
had sufficiently trained him in ecclesiastical learning, he made
him his suffragan for the instruction of those whom he could
not himself reach. Now Ewen, the suitor of the maiden, see-
ing that the venerated lady was despised by her father on
account of his love for her, was exceedingly sad at heart, for he
loved her much. Therefore, adopting a stealthy counsel, he
secretly sent a woman to her to try if perhaps by flattering
words and persevering suggestion he could lure to himself that
love from her, now in miserable plight, which while she was in
comfort he had found impossible. So coming very often to the
girl, the woman would say, " Alas, that so illustrious a royal
child should choose to undergo so vile a service." Now, when
she found she could in no wise, by these words and others
like unto them, excite love in response to his in the heart of
the maid, she said to the young man, " It were easier to turn
stones into wood, and wood into stones, than to recall the mind
of this virgin from the folly she has adopted."
CHAPTER 11.
How S. Kentigern ivas conceived.
On hearing this, the young man, being inflamed with the fire
of a natural love in his heart, said, with many anxious sighs,
" If perchance I could touch the knot of the virginity of this
girl, perhaps after that she would consent to me." The youth
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEUN. 127
was beardless, and, dressed in female attire, as though he were
the female servant of some master engaged in country work,
he came frequently to the girl as she fed the herds of swine in
the fields. One day starting up from a lurking-place, he found
her sitting alone without any companion, beside the stream of
a little fountain which flowed by the edge of a certain wood,
whither she was wont to come frequently to drink and to wash
her hands. The young man tenderly addressed her, and coaxed
her with his words, saying, " Hail, virgin, royal child, fairest of
girls, come with me, I pray thee, dearest sister, for I have made
a bundle of dry wood, and I have no man to place it upon my
shoulders. Arise then, and help me, that God, the rewarder of
all goodness, may make thee happier in all thine undertakings.
Moreover, I believe that if thou delay not to come with me
thou wilt be for ever the more fortunate." This the young
man said, thinking that by a chaste embrace he might raise
her from the care of swine to a royal palace, and make her, in-
stead of the keeper of hogs, a lady over knights. The gentle
girl, moved by the speech which came from the lips of the
young man, who desired much to possess her, — for in her inno-
cence she believed every word, — straightway in her simplicity
followed the youth, successful in his craftiness, whithersoever
he willed to go. And when they had arrived at a place which ,
suited his purpose, straightway the young man suddenly laid
hold of the girl as if in play, and in a moment impregnated
her, while she resisted the violence with all her might. The
young man, straightway rising, esteemed her whom he had
thought a virgin to be the concubine of the swineherd. And
as his love accordingly cooled, he said to the girl, who was
unable to speak for sobs and tears, " Weep not, my sister, for
I have not known thee as a man is used to know a virgin.
Am I not a woman like thyself ? It is folly to cry for what is
done in sport. Go in peace. It is in thy discretion to weep or
to be silent."
CHAPTER III.
Of the Simplicity of his Mother.
When therefore the young man retired, the virgin remained
wretched and sorrowful, in doubt whether she was defiled or
no ; since she had heard from the youth, whom she thought to
be a woman, that she had not been touched as a virgin is
touched by a man, and chiefly because the tokens of her sex
were then beginning to appear in her as in every woman at the
128 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
conceptiou of a child, so that she could not discern the certain
sign of corruption, although she had suffered from pain in the
flesh. For at such times the membranous structures are
naturally relaxed, as well in virgins as in those bearing chil-
dren, and thus the means of defilement always lie more nearly
within reach. And because this was unknown to the young
man, he went away deceived, when in return for the scorn
which he had received at her hands he left her with the
scorn turned back upon herself. Of this action therefore he
took no account, until it was recalled to his memory a long
time afterwards by S. Kentigern his son, as is written in the
following pages. But the virgin, persevering in her first inten-
tion, was unwilling to reveal to any one what had taken place,
so as the child grew in her womb, and yet the mother remained
silent on the subject, it became in the end known to all that
she was pregnant. And as she was in this condition, and
moreover was ever calling on the name of Christ, her father
ordered her to be stoned, according to the laws of her country,
as a daughter who had played the whore, and broken the law
of her fathers. For the law commanded at that time, that any
noble woman caught in fornication was to be overwhelmed by
stones ; a slave-girl, with the sign of her wickedness branded
on her face, was to be held in scorn by all.
CHAPTEE IV.
How she ivas freed from Death on the top of the Mountain.
The pregnant girl having therefore been handed over to the
executioners, there arose a dispute among them who should
throw the first stone at her ; but because none of the officers
presumed to cast one at one of the royal family, and yet dared
not in any way neglect the jvidicial sentence, if such it might
be called, they brought her to the top of a hill, which is
called Kepduf, that, placed in a chariot and precipitated from the
top of the hill, she might be consigned to a terrible death, and yet
the agents therein should seem as if blameless of it, Now, when
she stood in the presence of instant death, and recognised by
Divine inspiration the cause of her misfortune, raising her eyes
and her hands to heaven she exclaimed and said, " most holy
Virgin Mary, because in my folly I desired what is impossible,
n-amely, to be compared unto thee, ' the like of whom never hath
been and never will be,' I acknowledge that this punishment,
which has been predestinated for me, is justly due. Now,
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEKN. 129
therefore, with sighs and tears I implore thee, pray to thy Son,
my Lord, that at least for the sake of the infant whom with
undefiled mind, but overcome by the frailty of the flesh, I have
conceived, He may in His mercy save me in the impending fall
from the pains of death. For I believe, .0 most holy of the
holy ones, my lady, queen not only mine, but most excelling
queen over all, that whatsoever thou demandest from my Lord,
thy Son, the king of all, is straightway granted without delay."
Then in full faith, and signed with tlie sign of the life-giving
cross, as she gave way in no wise to lust, although being over
come by a man she conceived, so when violently cast down in
the chariot from the top of the high mountain, she came down
to its foot unhurt.
CHAPTEE V.
Of the Miracles that a/ppcarcd in the Bock.
Now the pregnant young woman, chaste and simple, finding
herself saved from this terrible danger, and esteeming that she
had been made fruitful as she previously desired by an angel
of the Lord, gave thanks unto God, saying, " From the ends of
the earth have I called unto Thee, Lord ; when my spirit was
in heaviness from peril, and Thou heardest me from Thy holy
hill. Therefore I will not fear the thousands of the people
who compass me about, for thou hast holpen me and comforted
me." So fully then, as is thus shown, was her heart fixed in
the constancy of faith, and so entirely was she proved by
virtuous action, that to her might be referred what is said in
the scripture, " "Who shall find a brave woman," etc. In the
forementioned wonderful fall, other miracles came to be wrought
to the praise of God. For when the waggon with the pregnant
woman was cast down backwards by the hands of the execu-
tioners from the mountain, straightway turning round in run-
ning down the mountain the pole became fixed in the earth,
and when this was drawn out a most limpid fountain straight-
way began to gush forth, which has not ceased to flow till the
present day. Moreover the ruts of the two wheels in the hard
flint still present a great miracle to the beholders. wonder
greatly to be admired, because the very soft wood was able
to indent the hard stone like melted wax! Now they that
stood by when they saw these miracles said that the girl with
child deserved rather life and reverence than the sentence of
death.
130 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
CHAPTEE VI.
Haw she was left aloiu in the Sea.
Now the king was again greatly excited against her by
those who administered his law, who imputed this miracle to
the sleight of the magic art, and, in order that he might not
appear to prefer his love for his daughter before the justice of
his kingdom, said, " If she be worthy of life, let her be given
over to the sea, and then her God will free her from peril of death
if He so will." They brought her therefore to the firth, which is
about three miles from Kepduf, to the mouth of a river which
is called Aberlessic, that is the Mouth of Stench, for at that time
there was such a quantity of fish caught there that it was a
fatigue to men to carry off the multitude of fish cast from the
boats upon the sand, and so great putrefaction arose from the
fish which were left on the shore, where the sand was bound
together with blood, that a smell of detestable nature used to
drive away quickly those who approached the place. She then
was accompanied to the sea-shore by many men and women
weeping bitterly. Some said, " what a dreadful judgment is
this awarded by a father to his child ! What hath the king's
daughter done that she should undergo such deadly iUs as
these ! It is cruelty to exact punishment twice for the same
crime. Let the judge who maketh no distinction perish ; he is
entirely crueL" And as she was consigned to the waters, the
voice of all who bewailed her was heard saying, " May the
Lord Who delivered thee from death upon land also free thee
from peril in the waters ! " And as the innocent woman con-
signed to death heard the voices of those who bemoaned her,
she began to cry unto the Lord, saying, " Judge them, Lord,
that hurt me ; fight thou against them that fight against me.
Take the arms and the shield and come unto my help."
CHAPTEE VIL
Hovj her Father perished, cut offhy Divine vengeance.
Meaxt\"HILE the king regarded the death of his daughter as
nothing, unless the swineherd perished in a similar manner.
He therefore pursued him, who fled with hasty steps. When
he saw he could in no wise escape the king, he turned aside a
little out of the way into a marshy place in hopes of saving his
life. And when even there he found he could ^et no safe
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEPvN. 131
retreat, snatcliiug up a javelin lie transfixed the king, throwing
it upon him from behind by means of a thong. But the friends
of the king, in the place where he fell, erected in his memory a
great royal stone, placing on the top of it a smaller one carved,
w^hich remaineth to this day at a distance of about a mile to
the south of Mount Dumpelder. how earnestly should the
award of the just judge be announced to all men, in that what
the king, without investigating the truth, had hastily inflicted
on the innocent, himself received in his own person !
Meanwhile, the mother of the blessed child, who even now
within her womb was guiding her by divine inspiration, was
put into a coracle, that is, a boat made of hides, and carried out
into deep water beyond the Isle of May. And as that pregnant
girl departed from the shore all the fish of that self- same coast
attended her in procession as their mistress, and after the day
of her departure the take of fish there ceased. And the river-
mouth, so prolific in fish as mentioned above, because it re-
ceived the child unjustly condemned, remaineth unproductive
unto the present day ; but the fish who followed her remain
where she was abandoned. From that time until now the fish
are found there in such great abundance, that from every shore
of the sea, from England, Scotland, and even from Belgium
and France, very many fishermen come for the sake of fishing,
all of whom the Isle of May conveniently accommodateth in
her ports. But the mother of the blessed child was left alone
in the midst of the sea. She most devoutly committed the
pure conscience, which she maintained, to God who made the
heaven and the earth and all that is therein, Who keepeth truth
and executeth judgment for those who suffer injuries. And
when the morning dawned she was in safety cast on the sand
at CoUenros, which, according to sailors' computation, is thirty
miles distant from the Isle of May in Scotland ; but she suf-
fered grievously from the pangs of travail.
CHAPTEE VIII.
The Birth of S. Kenticjern.
But she, tortured with continual pain and with her cheeks
suffused with tears, prayed, saying, "Lord Jesu, Almighty
Father, Whose hands have made the sea and the dry land, and
at Whose nod all the elements exist, Who hast caused me,
though adjudged to death both on land and on sea, to land here
in safety, suffer me not now to perish. For I know, I know
132 LIVES OF SCOTTISH SAINTS.
assuredly, that for a short time impunity fostereth vice and pro-
moteth boldness in sinning, while the correction of faults
nourisheth virtue and showeth the ways of righteousness.
Wherefore I implore Thee, kind Father, that the punishment
which I have twice already suffered may avail to the remission
of all my sins ; and if aught remain in me of which Thou art
disposed to take vengeance, at least spare the innocent offspring
which Thou hast willed should be formed within my womb,
that in the ends of the earth Thy salvation may, through it, be
greatly increased, as I desired before it was conceived. For it
is I who have sinned ; it in truth hath done nothing amiss."
As she lay on the ground earnestly praying, suddenly a heap
of ashes, which the day before had been gathered together by
some shepherds close to the shore, was struck by a gust of the
north wind, which scattered around her the sparks which lay
hid within them. When therefore she had found the fire, the
pregnant young woman, as best she could, dragged herself at
once to the place indicated by God, and, in her extreme neces-
sity, with anxious groans, she made a little heap with the
wood which had been collected the day before by the aforesaid
shepherds to prepare the fire. Having lighted the fire, she
brought forth a son, the chamber of whose nativity was as rude
as that of his conception, " For there was no room for him in
the inn." O poverty, praiseworthy in the King, which re-
peated in his follower enriched him also. After she had
brought forth her son, and a long sorrow seemed impending, it
happened that some herds came to the spot, and when thej^
found the girl having the boy, and bursting forth in sighs and
tears and sobs, moved with compassion, some of them made up
the fire, others gave her of the food they had brought with them;
but others went straight to blessed Servanus, who at that time
was teaching the Christian law to his clerks, with one accord,
saying, " My Lord, thus and thus have we found." To whom'
the saint said, "A dia cur fir sin," which in Latin means "0
utinam si sic esset ! " And the youths replied, " Yea, father, it is
a true tale, and no fable which we tell ; wherefore we pray thee,
my Lord, come and see, that thy desire may without delay be
satisfied. And he also, when he had learnt the order of the
events, rejoiced with great joy, and said, " Thanks be to God,
for he shall be my dear one." For as the child was being
born, when he was in his oratory after morning lauds, he had
heard on high the Gloria in Excelsis solemnly sung. He re-
membered, therefore, the joy of the angels and the visit of the
shepherds to Bethlehem, even to the child Christ and His
mother Mary, seeing that in some respect the birth of the ser-
LIFE OF S. KENTIGEEN. 133
vant had a similarity to that of the Lord, in the chant of the
angels, and the visit of the shepherds, in the solitude of the
place. Triumphantly, with his clerics, with a loud voice he
sang the hymns of praise, Te Deum Laudamus and Gloria in
Excelsis. " Come, therefore, dearest brethren, since thoughts
cannot be subject to human condition, as they often affect the
things which distress us as well as those which please us, I
think, in the opinion of all the faithful, men should be ex-
horted not to presume to think that the conception of this
blessed child hath contracted the taint of fornication. For it
seemeth to me that the meeting of his father and mother excels
in sanctity lawful marriage : seeing that it was the intention of
the father to allure the mind of the virgin towards marriage
with himself, while the devotion of the mother prompted her
by preserving her virginity to avoid the society of men. From
the agreement of both there proceedeth, in the case of others, an
espousal, in their meeting lawful love abounded, and the virgin
devotion was not destroyed, although the mother in conceiving
suffered injury in the flesh, while she lost not her virginal
devotion. Verily virginity is not lacking when the integrity
of holy devotion abideth. Even in law she is not esteemed as
defiled who yieldeth not assent to the defiler, but is regarded
as a virgin. For when any handmaid of Christ suffereth
injury in the flesh, she loseth not the reward of virginity, but
it is reckoned to her as reward, as Lucy said to Paschatius : If
thou makest me to be violated against my will, my chastity is
doubled so far as gain is concerned. And as the petition of the
virgin could not be fulfilled without the male sex, on this wise
did the conception of the blessed Kentigern take place. There-
fore is this conception to be considered as holy, which was the
means granted by God to her prayer. That union which the
Lord predestined to happen is not to be imputed to sin ; for
was it not meet that the Lord should manifest in the course of
events which attended the birth, how much He loved the vow
of the virgin in adopting the son ? Be praise, therefore, to
Him alone who governeth the world, who hath, among others,
blessed our country Britain with such a patron."
viT j;
SANCTORUM SCOTIiE
SOIL. S. NINIANI ET S. KENTEGERNI.
Q
I.
[YITA NINIANI
PICTORUM AUSTRALIUM APOSTOLI,
AUCTORE AILREDO REVALLENSI.
PEOLOGUS.]
MuLTis virorum sapientium qui fuerunt ante nos
studio fuit sanctorum vitam mores verba, eorum dum-
taxat qui suis claruere temporibus, literis dare, et ad
posteritatis edificacionem vite perfectioris exemplum
oblivioni subducere et perpetuare memoria. Verum hi,
quibus erant preclara ingenia et copia dicendi splen-
dorque eloquentie, tanto id utilius executi sunt quanto
venustiori sermone aures avidientium permulcebant.
Hi vero quibus ob barbariem natalis soli ornate arti-
ficioseque loquendi facultas defuit, eorum qui essent
imitandi noticia simpliciori licet stilo posteros non frau-
dabant. Hinc est quod vitam sanctissimi Niniani, quam
morum sanctitas et miracula clara commendant, sermo
barbaricus obscurabat, et quo minus delectabat legen-
tem eo minus edificabat. Placuit perinde sancte
138 PROLOGUS.
dilectioni vestre mee parvitati id oneris inponere, ut
clarissimi viri vitam, veraci qiiidem set niinis barbarico
a prioribus exaratam stilo, a sennone rustico quasi a
quibiisdam tenebris eruens in liicem latine locutionis
educam. Amplector devocionem, desiderium approbo,
laudo emiilacionem. Sed scio inpericiam meam, vere-
orqiie ne eum vilioribus in quibus hactenus latitabat
pannis expoliem, nee alios in qnibus ornatior appareat
adbibere sufEciam. Verum, quia negare non possum
quicquid injungitis, experiar que jubetis, malens a
vobis inpericior quam obstinatior judicari. Forte enim
quod inpericia negat, fides vestra prestabit, inpetrabit
oratio, sanctitas optinebit. Aderit et ipse piis votis
vestris, aderit desideriis, aderit et conatui nostro, aderit
et studio, pro cuius honore et amore id a me fieri postu-
latis : cuius insuper meritis linguam meam eruditam
et loquendi copiam dari posse confiditis. Hue acce-
dit quod sancte ecclesie vestre clerum et populum,
qui circa sanctum Dei sub cuius patrocinio vivunt
miro tenentur afiectu, summa cum devocione quic-
quid scripserimus dicitis suscepturos, quippe cum om-
nium vota me potissimum ut asseritis in hoc opus
elegerint. Suscipio itaque onus quod imponitis, vestris
quidem coactus precibus, sed fide animatus. Dabo
autem operam, quantum adiuvare dignatur Ille qui
linguas infantium facit disertas, ita stilum temperare
meum, ut, et tantam materiam non obscuret nimium
adversanda rusticitas, nee simplicitatem eorum qui re-
torice profusionis ignari sunt desiderate huius laboris
fructu defi-audet non tarn diserta quam molesta loqua-
citas. Aspiret ergo ceptis gracia Salvatoris, et Qui
PROLOGUS. 139
illi virtiites contulit quibus eterna dignus esset me-
moria, nos dignos qui eas scribamus efficiat, illamque
nobis laboris hujus mercedem retribuat, ut in hac via
per quam festinamus ad patriam eius nos semper comi-
tetur oratio. Et in ipso exitu, quo vie finem viteque
prestolamur inicium, praesto sit nobis eius consolacio
et Sanctis mentis eius eterna celestium bonorum re-
muneratio.
[^ncfatio. — i;c0ttm(niium §cM lie iliniancr, cum
0bserbitti0nibu0 ^ilrebi.]
^►^LOPtlOSAM Sanctissimi Niniani vitam divina nobis com-
mendat auctoritas, que sanctum patriarcham Abraham, patrem
multarura gentium, et fidei principem ante tempora secularia
predestinatum, tali primum probatur instituisse oraculo; Egre-
dere de terra tua, et de cognatione tua, et de domo patris tui ;
et vade in terram quam monstravero tibi, et faciam te in gentem
magnam. Ita beatissimus Ninianus, relicta patria domoque
patris, didicit in terra aliena quod post doceret in propria : con-
stitutus a Domino super gentes et regna evellere et destruere,
plantare et edificare. Hujus beatissimi viri et conversationis
sacra primordia et sanctitatis insignia, dignitatem officii et
fructum ministerii, finem optimum et laboris premium, vene-
rabilis Beda in Ecclesiastica Hystoria 'gentis sue,' paucissimis
commendans verbis, ita de eo scribit. " Anno ab incarnacione
Domini quingentesimo sexagesimo quinto, 'quo tempore guber-
naculum Eomani Imperii^ post Justinianum Justinus minor
accepit,' venit de Hybernia presbiter et abbas, habitu et vita
monachi insignis, nomine Columba, Britanniam ; predicaturus
verbum Dei provinciis septentrionalium Pictorum, 'hoc est, eis'
qui arduis atque horrentibus montium jugis ab australibus
eorum sunt regionibus sequestrate. Namque ipsi australes Picti,
qui inter eosdem montes habent sedes, multo ante tempore
1 MS. inperii.
140 YITJE SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
relicto errore idolatrie, fidem veritatis acceperant, predicante
eis 'verbum^ Niniano Episcopo reverentissimo et sanctissimo
viro, de natione Bretonum, qui erat Eome regulariter fidem et
misteria veritatis edoctus. Cujus sedem episcopatiis sancti
Martini Episcopi nomine, et ecclesiam insignem, ubi ipse
etiam icorpore una cum pluribus Sanctis requiescit,^ jam nunc
Anglorum gens optinet.' Qui 'locus ad provinciam Berniciorum^
pertinens' vulgo vocatur ad Candidam Casam; eo quod ibi
ecclesiam de lapide, insolito Bretonibus^ more, fecerit." * 'Hie
quod Beda breviter scripsit latins Deo Auctore prosequi placet.'^
'Tanti itaque viri fideli testimonio didicimus viri hujus prin-
cipia, qui eum de gente Bretonum^ oriundum regulis fidei in
sancta Eomana ecclesia astruit institutum. Didicimus et offi-
cium, qui eum episcopum et verbi Dei predicatorem commen-
dat. Didicimus et fructum laboris, qui australes fictos ejus
industria ab idolatria ad veram fidem probat esse converses.
Didicimus et finem, qui eum in sancti Martini ecclesia una cum
pluribus Sanctis requiescere protestatur. Verum quod ipse
breviter, prout hystorie sue tenor postulare videbatur, tantum
tetigisse videtur, nobis liber de Vita et Miraculis ejus, barbaric'^
scriptus, lacius^ exequendum proponit. Qui quidem liber, a
testimonii illius fundamento nusquam devians, modum tantum
quo talia initia arripuit, quo talem fructum promeruit, quo
tam laudabilem finem obtinuit, hystorico^ more conscribit.
lo;
[€:a}j. i. — llataU© ^imant, et ei)ttcati0.]
3l£N insula igitur que quondam a Bruto, ut dicitur, Britannic
nomen accepit, in ipsius nominis gente, haut ignobili familia,'^"
beatus Ninianus extitit oriundus ; in ea, ut putatur, regione, que
in occiduis ipsius iusule partibus ubi occeanus quasi brachium
porrigens, et ex utraque parte quasi duos angulos faciens,
Scotorum nunc et Anglorum 'regna' dividit constituta, usque
novissima ad Anglorum tempora proprium habuisse regem, non
solum hystoriarum fide, sed et quorundam quoque memoria
comprobatur. Pater 'ejus' rex fuit, religione Christianus ; 'talis
aput Deum fidei, talis meriti, ut tali prole dignus haberetur,
per quam ea que gentis sue fidei deerant supplerentur ; et
alterius gentis natio, que fidei sacramenta non noverat, sacre
1 Br. una cum pluribus Sanctis corpore requiescit. ^ g, ]\i_ Bernitiorum.
^ B. M. Britonibus. 4 Br. fecit.
^ Hie — placet, omitted in Bodl. MS. " B. M. Britonum.
'^ Brev. Aber. barbarice. _ 8 b. M. latius.
^ B, M. historico. i» Br. Tn Britannia majori regali ex prosapia.
VITA NINIANI. 141
religionis imbueretur misteriis. Hie in ipsa infantia, sacro-
sancti baptismatis unda renatus, vestem nuptialem quam can-
didatus suscepit inmaculatam conservans, victor vitiorum,
Christi earn conspectibus preseutavit ; ac Spiritum Sanc-
tum, quern primum habuit mundatorem, sanctissimis mori-
bus sui sacri pectoris habere meruit illustratorem. Ipsius
namque magisterio quod contrarium religioni, quod casti-
tati adversum, quod bonis contrarium moribus, cjuod legi-
bus veritatis dissonum, adhuc puer, set non sensu puerili,
exhorruit. Quod vero legis erat, quod gracie, quod honestatis,
quod utile proximo, quod gratum Deo, senili jam mente ex-
colere non cessavit. Felix cujus voluntas fuit in lege Domini
die ac nocte, qui tanquam lignum quod plantatur secus decursus
aquanmi fructum dedit in tempore suo, cum in etate virili
strenue inpleret quod summa cum devocione didicerat.' ^Mira
illi circa ecclesias devotio, mira erga socios dilectio. In cibo
sobrius, parcus in verbis, in lectione'assiduus, gi-atus moribus,
joci abstinens, et spiritui semper carnem subjiciens. 'Igitur in
scripturis sacris intendens aiiimum, cum a peritioribus quibus-
que gentis sue viris fidei regulas eorum more didicisset, in-
tellexit adliolescens sagacis ingenii, secundum sensum quem
iuspiratione divina ex scripturis ipse conceperat, multa illis ad
perfectionem deesse. Hinc fluctuare animo cepit, seque infra
perfectum non sustinens estuabat, suspirabat, concaluit in-
super cor ejus intra eum, et in meditacione ejus exarsit ignis.
" Et quid " iuquit " faciam ? In terra mea quesivi quem diligit
anima mea, et non inveni. Surgam, circuibo mare et aridam,
queram veritatem quam diligit anima mea. Itane tantis opus
est ? Nonne Petro dictum est, tu es Petrus, et super banc
petram edificabo ecclesiam meam, et porte inferi non prevale-
bunt adversus eam ? Igitur in fide Petri nicliil minus est, uichil
obscurum, nichil imperfectum, nicliil adversum quod doctrina
nequam sentencieque perverse, quasi porte inferi, prevalere suffi-
ciant. Et ubi fides Petri nisi in sede Petri ? Illuc certe, illuc
mihi eundum est ; ut exiens de terra mea, et de cognatione
mea, et de domo patris rnei, merear in terra visionis videre
voluntatem Domini et protegi a templo ejus. Arridet seculi
malefida prosperitas, alludit mundi vanitas, blanditur cogna-
tionis affectio, deterret labor et carnis afilictio. Sed qui diligit
patrem aut matrem plusquam^ me, ait Dominus, non est me
dignus. Et qui non bajulat crucem suam, et sequitur me, non
* Cum enim Niiiianus aunos permiiltos transjecisset [mira, etc.]
2 MS. pluquam.
142 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIiE.
est me dignus. Didici etiam quod contempnentes^ aulam re-
giam pervenerint ad regna celestia."^ Itaque Sancti Spiritus
instinctu animatus, spretis diviciis omnibusque calcatis affec-
tionibus, peregrinationein nobilis adolescens arripuit. Tran-
siensque 'Britannicum^ mare, et per Gallicauas Alpes ingressus
Italiam, prospero itinere ad Urbem^ usque pervenit.
[Cnir. it. — ^^bbentt $0mam. ©ptsropu© oriinatur a ^cntiffre.
QLonlotTQ-Aiio cum §)nndo Jttarttno. %tbiiu3 in patriam.]
1^ ENIENS Eomam adolescens beatissimus, cum ante sacras
Apostolorum reliquias devocionis sue obsides lacrimas di-
misisset, ipsorumque patrocinio desiderium suum multis ora-
tionibus commendasset ;'' accedens ad gsumme sedis presulem,^
cum ei itineris sui causam exposuisset, amplexatus ejus
devocionem Pontifex, loco eum filii summa cum devocione
suscepit. Moxque doctoribus^ veritatis, fidei disciplinis, ac
sanis^ scripture sensibus, tradidit inbuendum. 'Animadvertit
autem^ adolescens 'Deo plenus se non frustra vel in vacuum
laborasse : inteUigens nimirum ab imperitis doctoribus multa
sane doctrine ad versa sibi, suisque compatriotis, fuisse persuasa.'
*^Tota deinde aviditate inhyans verbo Dei, in star apis, argumen-
tose ex diversis doctorum sententiis, quasi ex multi generis
floribus, sapientie sibi favos composuit. Atque in alveolo
sui pectoris recondens ; ad interioris liominis sui refectionem,
aliorumque multorum consolacionem, ruminandos proferendos-
que servavit. 'Digna sane recompensacio, ut qui amore veritatis
patriam, divicias, deliciasque contempserat, in ipsa, ut ita dicam,
veritatis penetralia inductus, et ad ipsos sapientie et sciencie
thesauros admissus ; pro carnalibus spiritualia, pro terrenis celes-
tia, pro temporal ibus'' eterna bona, perciperet? Interea dum cas-
tus corpore, animo prudens, in consiliis providus, in oinni actu
verboque circumspectus, ab omnibus predicaretur ; accidit ut ad
ipsius summi pontificis graciam, familiaritatemque conscenderet.
Pluribus igitur annis in Urbe laudabiliter conversatus, et in
sacris scripturis sufficienter eruditus, ad virtutum summam pro-
vehitur ; et pennis caritatis subvectus ad celestia contemplanda
sustollitur. Audiens deinde pontifex Eomanus quosdam, in
occiduis Britannic partibus, necdumg Salvatoris nostri suscepisse
fidem,^ 'quosdam vel ab hereticis, vel a legem Dei parum scienti-
busVerbum Evangelii audisse ; tactus spiritu Dei predictum Dei
^ B. M. contemnentes. ^ Br. E-omam.
3 Br. sumnnim pontificem. * Br. Doctoribus moxque.
^ Br. sancte. "^ Br. Itaque [tota, etc.]
^ MS. temporabvis. ^ Br. fidem Christi suscepisse.
VITA NINIANI. 143
viruiii' ad episcopatus gradiim 'propriis manibus' consecravit ;
et promisse'^ genti, data benedictione, apostolum destinavit.
'Floruit tunc temporis beatissimus Martinus, Turonice civita-
tis Episcopus, cujus vita miraculis gloriosa jam ab eruditissimo
viro sancto Sulpicio descripta totum illustraverat orbem/
Eediens itaque gab urbe vir Dei'^ 'Spiritu plenus,' tactus desiderio
videndi geum, ad civitatem Turonicam^ iter divertit. 'Quo
gaudio, qua devocione, quo affectu, ab eo susceptus sit, quis facile
dixerit ? Ex gracia quippe prophetici luminis novi eum ponti-
ficis virtus non latuit/ 4Quem sanctificatum a Spiritu,^ et mul-
torum saluti profuturum, Deo revelante cognovit. 'Junguntur
in tabernaculo Domini columne, altera ad alteram, duoque
Cherubin expandentes alas suas tangunt se mutuo, et nunc
pennis virtutum subvecti excedunt Deo : nunc stantes, et dimit-
tentes alas suas, tiunt sobrii proximo. De superioribus igitur
ad liec inferiora regressi; beatus Ninianus a sancto cementarios
sibi dari postulavit, propositum sibi esse asserens, sicut sancte
Eomane Ecclesie fidem, ita et mores in congtmendis ecclesiis,
ecclesiasticisque officiis constituendis, imitari. Annuit votis vir
beatissimus. Et sic, mutuis colloquiis quasi celestibus epulis
saginati ; post amplexus et oscula, et lacrimas invicem fusas,
Sanctus Martinus in propria sede resedit. Ninianus in opus quo
fuerat dimissus a Spiritu, duce Christo, festinavit. Quo in patria
recepto,'^ gfit magnus populorum concursus^ 'et occursus,' ingens
cunctis leticia, mira devocio, laus ubique resonat Christi ; quo-
niam sicut prophetam eum habebant. 'Mox strenuus agricola
Domini sui agrum ingressus' cepit^ male plantata evellere, male
coUecta dispergere, male edificata destruere. Purgatis 'deinde'
ob omni errore fidelium mentibus, 'cepit in eis sincere iidei
jacere fundamenta ; superedificans aurum sapiencie et sciencie
argentum, bonorumque operum lapides' ; que omnia^ fidelibus
agenda 'et verbo' docuit^ et exemplo monstravit, i^multis etiam
et magnis^^ miraculis confirmavit.
[dap. Hi.— Junbjitixr (BcdtQitt lUz SEhitkern.]
^!®,LEGIT autem sibi sedem in loco qui nunc Witerna dicitur;
'qui locus super litus occeani situs, dum se ipsum mare longius
1 Br. prfeniiss8e, B. M. 2 Br. vir Dei ab urbe.
3 Br. sanctum Martinum Episcopum, ad civitatem Thuronensem.
* Br. Quem Sanctus Martimis honorifice suscipiens, cum a Deo sanctificatum.
5 Br. mierts Demum ab eo Ninianus, Cum ad locum legationis sue ven-
jgggt 6 Br. magnus populorum fit concursus.
7 Br. Cepit mox. ^ Br. omnia quae.
8 Br. imerts operibus multis. ^° Br. et multis.
144 VIT.-E S-^'CTOKUM SCOTLE.
poiTigit ab oriente, occidente, atque meridie,' ipso pelago
claiiditiu" a parte tantum aquilonali, ^-ia ingredi volentibus
aperitiu'. 'Ibi igitur jussii viri Dei cementarii, quos secimi
adduxerat, ecclesiam cousti^uunt ; autequam iiiillam in Britannia
de lapide dicunt esse constructam.' Et quoniam jam^ sanctissi-
mum Martin um, qnem miro semper venerabatur afiectu, a
terris ad celos didiscerat 'trans migiusse, ipsam ecclesiam in ejus
honore .->studuit dedicare.-
[^ap. ill. — ^cQcm UubuluUlum sanat, ct ronbcrtit.]
^TAQUE hicerna saper candelabrum posita cepit his qui in
domo Dei erant signis lucere celestibus, et radiantibus virtutum
iiammis, verbo Domini lucido et ignito mentes illuminare
tenebrosas, et succendere frigidas.' Fuit in regione eadem^ rex
quidam, (nam tota insula diversis regibus^ di^'isa subjacuit),
Tuduvallus^ nomine, 'quem divicie, potestas et honor erexerant
in superbiam' ; quoniam concupiscentia carnis, et concupiscencia
occulorum, et di\'icie muudi elacionis sunt et superbie incen-
ti\nim ; dum quantum quisque habet tantum se posse presimiit,
tantum sibi et licere confidit. 'Hie' viii Dei monita'' contemp-
nens, et 'clam' doctrine ejus et moribus ejus derogabat," et 'sane
doctrine ejus' in facie resistebat : 'ita ut terra videretur reproba
et maledicto proxima, utpote que sepe super se venieutem
bibens imbrem, spinas et tribidos, non herbam oportunam ger-
minabat. Quodam autem tempore' ^cum plus solito molestus
esset A.'ii'o Dei, non ultra passus Judex celestis servi sui inidtam
iri injuriam, intolerabili morbo superbum percussit in capite,
confregitque verticem capilli perambidantis in delictis suis. In-
tantumque prevaluit egritudo ut elatos illos occulos cecitas re-
pentina obduceret;^ et qui lucem impugnaverat^*^ veritatis lucem
amitteret^^ carnis. Nee frustra neque ad insipientiam ei.
Jacebat enim miser pressus dolore, privatus lumine, sed exterius
obtenebratus, interius illustratur, dum rediens ad cor confitetur
excessum, ab illo solo sperans romedium cui se semper exhibuerat
inimicum. ^.^Yocatis postremo necessariis amicis, accepto ab eis
^ Br. quidam jam. -' Br. cledieavit.
^ Br. eadem regione. * Br. divei-sis regibus insula.
^ B. JI. Tudwaldus. Br. Tudwalus dives et elatus.
^ Br. Monita \-iri Dei. ' Br. derogans.
^ Br. inserts Etiam accidit. ^ Br. iuvasit.
^^ Br. rmpiigiiaxnt. ^^ Br. merito amisit.
^- Br. Saniori tandem ductus consilio, ad \nrum Dei sanctissimum misit,
obsecrans ut imitator diNan^e beniguitatis retribueret ei bona pro malis,
et dilectionem jiro odio.
VITA NIXIANI. 145
consilio, quoniam ipse detentus infirmitate ire non potuit, nun-
cios mittit ad virum Dei, obsecrans ut non intret in judicium
cum servo suo, nee retribuat ei secundum opera sua ; sed, ut
imitator dominice benignitatis, retribueret ei bona pro malis, et
dileccionem pro odio.^^ 'Audiens hec vir beatissimus non in
gloriam est elatus humanam, sed ut semper misericordie
visceribus affluens. premissa ad Deum oratione, ad egrotimi
cum summa humilitate et devocione perrexit. ^Et primum
quidem leni' ^ increpacione virum- corripit, deinde' medica manu
caput' ^tangit ^egroti, cecisque luminibus signum vite salutaris*
inpressit. gQuid plura ? ^ Fugit dolor, cecitas 'luce superveni-
ente' fugatur.^ 'Sicque factum est ut morbus corporis morbum
mentis curaret, morbum vero corjDoris viri Dei virtus expelleret.
In utroque. igitur, corpore scilicet et meute, sanatus cepit
deinceps sanctum Dei omni affectu colere et venerari, sciens
expertus quia Dominus erat cum illo, et omnia opera ejus diri-
gebat, prestans ei virtutem super omnem hominem extollentcm
se adversus scienciam Christ!, cum in promptu haberet ulcisci
omnem inobedientiam et injuriam illatam famulis Christi. Si
igitur contemptor iste et superbus, gracia bumilitatis et peniten-
cie, a sanctissimo viro meruit sic sanari, quis dubitet eum, qui
certa fide, sincero et liumili corde, ad interioris hominis sui
vulnera sananda auxiliimi tanti viri poposcerit, citum remedium
ejus Sanctis meritis promereri. Sed jam ad alia transeamus, que
tanto videntur esse majora, quanto ipsi nature probantur esse
contraria.'
[Cap. to. — ^resbyttrum stii}jri urcttsatum ab0oll)it.]
r
JSlUIT' puella quedam in obsequium ^alicujus viri nobilis,
secundum carnis hujus putredinem,'' pulchra facie et venusto
aspectu^. In quam cum injecisset oculos juvenis inpudicus,
amore corripitur ceco, 'concepteque libidinis flamraam non
sustinens cepit puellam de consensu sceleris convenire. Effecit
tandem vel prece vel precio ut conciperet dolorem, et pareret
iniquitatem.' Subditur^ aliene libidini misera mulier, lie Dei
judicio parum soUicita, que humanum se putabat latere posse
conspectum. Sed' ^^tumescente utero crimen proditur, et mox
risus in luctum, gaudium in dolorem, voluptas mutatur in
1 Br. Vir autem Dei primo. ^ Br. regem.
3 Br. ipsum. * Br. oculis signum crucis. ^ Br. Nee mora.
* Br. Inserts Rex virum sanctum deiuceps honoravit ; quidquicl ab eo postea
petiit sine mora implere curavit.
"^ Br. cujusdam nobilis domini traditur. ® Br. inserts erat.
^ Br. inserts tandem prece vel pretio. ^" Br. Et.
UG VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA,
penam. ^Sed quid ageret ? Quo se verteret ? Lex, parens,
Dominusque timentur. Iniit ergo infelix mulier fedus cum
morte, et in mendacio spem ponit, credens se minus ream
videri, si ab aliquo magni nominis viro deceptam se diceret, vel
opressam. Compulsa itaque a majoribus reum prodere, pres-
bitero, cui curam parrochie pontifex delegaverat, stupri crimen
inponit.^ 'Stupebant omnes, qui audiebant verbum, puellam-
que absolvunt crimine, quod tante auctoritatis virum estimant
commisisse,' Scandalizantur boni, mali letantur, ridet vulgus,
sacer ordo ab inpiis blasphematur ; presbiter, cujus lesa
fuerat fama, tristatur. At Deo dilectum antistitem, Spiritu
revelante, innocencia sacerdotis non latuit. Ecclesie tamen
scandalum et sancte religionis detrimentum haut jocunde
sustinuit. Mulieri interim inpleti sunt dies ut pareret, peperit-
que filium, non in sacerdotis, ut putabatur, sed in patris simul
et ignominiose matris obprobrium. gConvocat enim ad ecclesiam
pontifex omnem clerum universumque populum,^ 'habitoque ad
eos sermone exortatorio, manum etiam inposuit baptizatis/
ginterea procax mulier^ omni pudore postposito, 'cum suis' pro-
rumpens 'in populum/ in faciem presbiteri projecit puerum, in
auribus tocius ecclesie ipsum patrem pueri, ipsum^ corruptorem
'sui' ac deceptorem, gvociferans. Fit clamor in populo ; pudor
bonis, risus malis. At sanctus silencium inperans plebi jubet
sibi puerum presentari, non nisi unius noctis etatem habentera.
Dei itaque Spiritu inflammatus, cum intendisset in eum,^
" Heus," inquit, " puer, in nomine Ihesu Christi, si presbiter iste
te genuit, coram plebe edicito." '0 rem stupendam ! et omni
admiracione dignam ! miram Dei clementiam ! ineffabilem
fidei Christiane virtutem ! Vere omnia possibilia credenti. Sed
quid dico ? gQuid non posset jfides Niniani ? Cessit certe
natura fidei, etas virtuti. Quid ni cederet natura Domino
nature?*^ non expectata est etas ad instrumentum, non doc-
trina ad officium, non tempus ad usum : sed fide inpetrante
vis divina linguam infantis fecit disertam : et ex ore infantis et
lactentis confundit reum, convincit mendacem, innocentem
absolvit.' '^Ex infantili itaque corpore vox virilis^ insonuit;
^ Br. Compulsa a majoribus reum prodere, se minus ream credidit si ab
aliquo magui nominis viro deceptam se diceret vel oppressam. Presbitero,
cui curam parrochie pontifex commiserat, crimen inponit.
2 Br. Nato autem puero, pontifex clerum et populum ad ecclesiam convo-
cavit.
3 Br. Et procax mulier. 4 Br. sui.
^ Br. Sacerdotem coram omni plebe vociferari non timuit, et in faciem
ejus puerum projecit. Sanctus vero Ninianus puerum sibi prtesentari jussit,
nou nisi paucos dies habentem, cui et ait.
'' Deest in editione Pinkertoniana. ^ Br. inserts Nee mora. * Br. clara.
VITA NINIANI. 147
'liugua inerudita racionabilia verba formavit.'^ 2Extendensque
dexteram, propriumque patrem designans in populo :- " Hie est,"
iiiquit, " pater iiieus ; ipse me genuit, ipse crimen quod inponitur
sacerdoti^ commisit. Innocens quippe ab hoc piaculo presbiter
tuus est, episcope,^nichil mihi et illi nisi communis nature
consortium. 'Satis hec.'" Siluit deinde infans, secundum legem
nature, vicesque etatum sibi succedentium, postmodum locu-
turus. Sonat mox in ore omnium graciarum actio et vox laudis ;
populus 'omnis gratulabundus' exultat, intelligens quia ^propheta
magnus surrexerat inter eos, et quia Deus* visitavit plebem
suam.
[(Eitjj. bi. — pictomm ironbersixntem susrepit. ^"b buoq r^b^rtitur.]
2lfcNTEEEA ^egre ferens vir beatissimus quod expulsus ab
orbe Zabulus infra occeanum, in angulo hujus insule, in
cordibus Pictorum sibi sedem invenerit, ad ejus tirannidem de-
bellandam strenuus atlileta accingitur ; sumens nimirum scutum
fidei, galeam salutis, loricam caritatis, et gladium spiritus, quod
est verbum Dei. Talibus igitur armis munitus et sanctorum
fratrum consortio, quasi celesti milicia constipatus, illius fortis
armati invadit imperium, innumera captivitatis vasa ejus
dominio erepturus. Itaque australes Pictos, quibus adhuc
error gentilis inherens, idola muta et surda et venerari ac
colere compellabat, aggrediens ; Evangelii veritatem et Cliristi-
ane lidei puritatem predicabat, Domino cooperante et sermonem
confirmante sequentibus signis.g Ceci vident, claudi ambu-
lant, leprosi mundantur, surdi audiunt, mortui gSurgunt, op-
pressi a demone^ liberantur. 'Aperuit hostium verbo Dei,^
^gracia Spiritus Sancti^ fides suscipitur, error abdicatur, templa
diruuntur,^ ecclesie eriguntur. Currunt ad salutaris glavacri
fontem^ divites et pauperes, juveues et virgines, senes cum
junioribus, matres cum infantibus : abrenuntiantesque Sathane
et omnibus operibus et pomp is ejus, populo credentium fide,
voce, sacramentisque junguntur. Agunt' gratias 'misericordis-
simo' Deo, qui^*' in insulis, que procul sunt, 'revelaverat nomen
suum, mittens eis predicatorem veritatis, lucernam sue salutis ;
^ Br. inserts mendacem convineit et innocentem sacerdotem absolvit.
2 Br. Extendens dextram, propriumque patrem in populo designans.
3 Br. sacerdoti inponitur. * Br. quia per Ninianum Dominus.
^ Br. Sanctus Ninianus, australes Pictos, quibus adhuc error gentilis inha;-
rens idola venerari ac colere compellebat, aggrediens, evangelii veritatem,
sequentibus signis, prajdicabat,
" Br. resurgunt, oppreasi a dsmonibua. B. dominio. ^ Br. sicque.
* Br. diruuntur templa. ^ Br. lavacrum. ^^ Br. habitantes.
148 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTIyE.
et vocaiis non plebem suam plebem suam, et non dilectam
dilectam, et non misericordiam consecutam misericordiam con-
secutam. Cepit deinde sacer pontifex ordinare' ^ presbiteros,
gConsecrare episcopos," 'ceterasque ecclesiasticorum graduiim
distribuere dignitates/ totam terram per certas parrochias divi-
dere.^ Confirmatis 'postremo' in fide 'et bonis operibus iiliis
snis quos in Christo genuerat,' omnibiis'que que ad honoreni Dei
animarumque salutem necessaria videbantur dispositis, vale-
dicens fratribus ^ad propriam' ecclesiam revertitur,^ 'ubi vitam
omni sanctitate perfectam et miraculis gloriosam, in magna
deinceps tranquillitate transegit/
[C^a^j. bit. — JEiramlum in jjorris.]
5,,^LCCIDIT auteni quadam die ut vir beatus refectorium cum
fratribus commesurus intraret f cernensque^ niliil holerum vel
herbarum mensis inpositum vocat fratrem cui fuerat horti cura
commissa, queritque cause quidfuerit quod nichil porrorum
vel herbarum fratribus ea die esset appositum. Et ille, " Vere,
pater, quicquid porrorum vel hujusmodi supererat 'hodie^ terre
mandavi, nee aliquid adhuc aptum esui ortus produxit." ^Tunc
sanctus, " Vade " inquit/ " et quicquid invenerit^ manus tua
toUe, et affer ad me." gMiratus ille stabat trepidus, liesitans
quid faceret. Sciens tamen nichil frustra Mnianum posse pre-
cipere hortum cunctabundus ingreditur. Mira res et illis tan-
tum qui fidelem nichil non posse confidunt credibilis.^ Videt
porros, aliaque herbarum genera, non solum crevisse, sed etiam
semen produxisse. 'Stupet ille, et quasi factus in extasi esti-
mabat se visum videre. Eeversus tandem in semetipsum, et
sancti viri virtutem ad memoriam revocans, agit^ ^^gratias Deo ;
carpensque^^ quantum sufficere videbatur, ante pontificem mense
imposuit. 'Aspiciunt se mutuo convive, Deumque in Sanctis
suis operantem corde simul ac voce magnificant ; et sic multo
melius mente quam corpore pasti recedunt.'
[dap. biii. — ^e ammalibus d iunhns.]
J^LACUIT aliquando sanctissimo Niniano armenta sua et
pastorum suorum visitare tuguria, volens greges suos, quos in
^ Br. ordinavit. ^ Br. episcopos consecravit,
^ Br. divisit. * Br. cum ad ecclesiam suam regressus esset.
** Refectorium die quadam cum fratribus intravit. ^ Br. vidensque.
^ Br. "Vade" inquit sanctus. ^ Br. invenit.
^ Br. Cumque jussii Sancti frater hortum intrasset.
1" Br. Et gratias agens Deo.
VITA NINIANI. 149
usus fratruni, pauperum quoque et peregrinorum aggregaverat,
episcopalis benedictionis esse participes. Congregatis itaqiie
in uno aliquo loco animalibus, cum ea Domini famulus asiDcxisset,
elevatis manibus, se et omnia sua divine custodie commen-
davit. Circuiens deinde omnia baculo cui innitebatur, quasi
aracuinculam modicam circumducens peccora circumcinxit,
jubens ut infra orbiculum ilium sub divina custodia omnia
ea nocte consisterent. His ita gestis, ad domum cujusdam
honeste matrone vir Dei ea nocte, ibi quieturus, divertit. Ee-
fectis autem cibo corporibus, verbo Dei mentibus, cum se
cuncti sopori dedissent, fures advolant, videntesque pecora nee
inclusa maceria, nee sepe munita, nee circumdata vallo, explor-
ant si vel adessent vigiles, vel quid aliud quod eorum conatui
obstitisset. Ciunque viderent silere omnia, nee voce, nee
motu, nee latratu quidem aKquid quod terreret instare, tran-
seuntes metas quas sanctus prefixerat in pecus irruunt, omnia ab-
ducere laborantes. Sed affuit vis divina resistens inpiis, immo
obruens inpios, contra eos qui, velut bruta animalia, mentem non
colebant sed ventrem, pro instrumento bruto utens jumento.
jTaurus enim armentarius, quasi in furorem versus, invadit ho-
mines, latronumque principem inter ceteros inpetens prostravit
miserum, cornibus ventrem perforat, animam simul cum vis-
ceribus excuciens.^ Deinde terram ungulis fodiens, mirabili im-
petu saxum quod invenerat pede percutit,^ ac 'mirum in modum'
in tanti miraculi testimonium, quasi in molli cera, in lapide pes
mergitur, relinquens in petra vestigium, et ob vestigium loco
nomeu designans.^ ^Adhue enim ipse locus anglice Farres Last,
latine Tauri Vestigium nuncupatur. Interea pater beatissimus
soUempni orationum statione soluta digreditur, cernensque homi-
nem evisceratum inter peeudum pedes jacere exanimem, alios
hue atque illuc discurrentes quibusdam furiis agitari, miseri-
cordia motus est ; totusque ad Deum eonversus ut mortuum
resuscitaret oravit. Nee a lacrimis cessat aut precibus donee
hominem, non modo vivum, set et sanum et incolumem, eadem
que occiderat virtus reddidisset.* 'Vere enim virtus Christi ob
sancti viri meritum percussit et sanavit, mortificavit et vivifi-
cavit, deduxit ad inferos et reduxit. Interea ceteri quos intra
septum, quod pater formaverat, tota nocte discurrentes amencia
quedam concluserat, cernentes Dei famulum cum timore et
1 Br. Cum fures animalia ejus abducere niterentur taurus quidam, quasi in
furorem versus, illos invasit et principem illorum prostravit et ventrem cor-
nibus perforavit, animam cum visceribus excussit.
2 Br. percussit. ^ Br. awerts usque hodie.
* Br. Vero Sanctus Episcopus, mortuum iutuens, a lacrimis non cessavit
donee vivum et sanum reddidit.
150 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
tremore ad ejus genua provolvuntur, veniam postulantes. Quos
ille benigne corripiens, et timorem Dei, penaraque rapacibus
preparatam salutari sermone insinuans, tandem data benedic-
tione licenciam abeundi concessit/
[day. ix. — Qumtxtr ^iixzhns Ibz motibus 0xtt sitnili. #tot£s
£iinmnx. Jltiramlum imbi:i0.]
C^OGITANTEM me jSanctissimi viri morem sanctissimum
pudet socordie nostre, pudet hujus misere-^ generationis igna-
vie. Quis rogo nostrum etiam inter domesticos sepius jocosa
quam seria, ociosa quam utilia, carnalia quam spiritalia, in
medium gmutua confabulacione, collacione^ non proferat ? Ora
que ad laudandum Deum, ad sacra misteria celebranda, gracia
divina sacravit, cotidie detractionibus, verbisque secularibus
poUuuntur. Et Dei psalmos, gcvangelium, prophetasque^ fastidi-
unt ; per liominum opera vana et turpia tota die discurrunt.
'Quid in itinere positi ?' Nonne sicut corpus, ita et animus,^
tota die in motu est, lingua in ocio ? Eumores et mores
hominum inpiorum in ore versantur ; risu et famulis^ gravitas
religiosa dissolvitur ; negocia regum, episcoporum officia, minis-
teria clericorum, principum alteraciones, vita 'insuper' omnium
moresque^ discutiuntur. Preter ipsum judicium nostrum, omnia
judicamus ; et, quod magis dolendum est, invicem mordemus et
comedimus 'ut ab invicem consumamur.' Non sic ^beatissimus
Ninianus ; non sic cujus^ quieti turba non obfuit, nee medita-
cionem impedivit iter, nee lassitudine oratio tepuit.^ Ubicumque
enim incedebat, aut oratione aut contemplacione^ animum^*^ ad
celestia erigebat. ^^^Verum quociens divertens ab itinere^^ requiei
corporis 'vel etiam jumenti' indulgebat ; producto libello quem,
propter hoc ipsum circumferebat,' legere aliquid aut psallere^^
gratum habebat. Sentiebat enim quod ait propheta "quam
dulcia faucibus meis eloquia tua, super mel ori meo." ;^3Unde
illi tantam graciam virtus divina contulerat,^^ ut etiam sub divo
recumbens, et legens inter densissimas pluvias, nihil umquam
humoris cui intendebat codicem attigisset. Sed vicinis locis
^ Br. sancti Niniani, Dunstani, aliorumque Christi confessorum, mansue-
tiidinem, pietatem, et conversationem, pudet miserae nostras, pudet fragilis.
2 Br, mutuam confabulationem et coUationem. ^ -q^. aliasque orationes.
* Br. anima. ^ B. M. fabulis.
" Br. et mores. ^ Br. beati confessoris nostri quorum.
^ Br, tepuit oratio. ^ Br. inserts seu operibus bonis.
^^ Br. animam. ** Br. Ninianus vero, quotiens ab itiuere divertens.
'^ Br, meditationi insistere, ^^ Br. Illi eratia tanta virtus divina contulit.
VITA NINIANI. 151
jcircumquaque aqua^ irruente madentibiis, solus cum libello suo
ita sub undis quasi sub tecti 'alicujus' culmine resideret. Con-
tigit 2autem virum reverentissimum- cum suo aliquando^ fratre,
viro eque sanctissimo, Plebia nomine, iter agere, ^ac more suo
laborem itineris hymnis solari Daviticis. Cumque, post aliquod
vie spacium, ut modicum repausarent, a via publica divertissent,
aptis^ Psalteriis, sacra lectione animos recreabant. Mox aeris
jocunda' serenitas, atris obducta nubibus, aquas 'pluviales' quas
haustu natural! conceperat de superioribus ad inferiora trans-
misit. sQuid plura? Tenuis^ aer, instar camere, circa Dei^
famulos arcuatus, quasi paries aliquis undis defluentibus im-
penetrabilis persistebat. Verum inter psallendum b'eatissimus'
Ninianus oculos a libello detorsit, tactus modicum cogitacione
illicita, etiam desiderio quodam ^suggestione titillabatur de-
monical 'Sed' mox ipsum, codicemque ejus, inber invadens
prodidit quod latebat. Tunc frater^ qui assidebat, quid ageba-
tur iutelHgens, gleni correptione ordinis eum et etatis com-
monuit, et quantum talem talia dedecerent aperuit. Statim vir
Dei^ in se reversus^^ erubuit se inutili cogitacione 'fuisse' pre-
ventum ; eodemque momento temporis et cogitacionem deposuit
et imbrem suspenoit.
[dap-. X. — Jftiracula baruU ^iniant in mart et in terra.]
Sl^NTEEEA beato pontifici' plures tam nobiles quam mediocres
filios suos ^^tradunt sacris Uteris inbuendos. Quos 'et' sciencia
erudiebat 'et' moribus informabat ; 'vicia, quibus ea etas inpli-
cari solet,' ^^salubri disciplina ^^coercens; 'virtutes quibus' sobrie
juste et pie viverent^* insinuans. Deliquerat aliquando unus
ex ^adolescentibus, quod sanctum Dei latere non potuit. Et
quia non debuit disciplina deesse peccanti, parabantur virge,
sevissima tormenta puerorum. Territus adolescens fugam
iniit. Nee virtutem viri ignorans, baculum cui solebat inniti
secum asportare curabat, optimum sibi vie solaciimi arbitrans
adquisisse, si aliquid de rebus sancti secum attulisset. Eugiens
1 Br. aqua circumquaqiie. 2 gj. aliquando Niniamim.
^ Br. saucto. ^ Br. quieseendi gratia, divertentesque a via, apertis.
^ Br. Teter viro. ^ Br. Clu-isti.
'' Br. dsemonis. 8 gp_ inserts ejus.
^ Br. quum ipsum leniter corripuisset in se.
1^ Br. inserts Episcopus. 11 Br. inserts vir-o sacro.
^2 Br. inserts et. i3 g^ inserts vitia. 1* Br. vivere.
i-" Br. discipulis sancti viri, et timens disciplinam Ijocnlum Sancti cui solis
bat iuniti non timuit secum asportare ; et intrans parvulam naviculam, vente-
irruentibus, quasi -subito longius in mare deductus. Quid agere, quo se
vertere ignorans. ^
K
152 VITiE SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
itaque a facie viri, navem que transfretaret in Scotiam queri-
tabat. Solet illis in locis vas quoddam in similitudinem cratere
ex virgis conpingi, tante magnitudinis ut sedentes juxta se
tres homines capere sufficiant. Cui corium bovinum super-
ducentes non solum nabilem,^ sed et aquis inpenetrabilem,
reddunt. Forte tunc temporis eodem modo naves inmense
magnitudinis parabantur. Unam itaque talem non tamen corio
superductam appulsam litori adolescens offendit. Quam cum
incaucius fuisset ingi^essus, divina providentia, nescio an propria
lenitate, facili enim tactu tales super undas longius evolant,
porro in mare navis abripitur. Aquis vero irruentibus stat
nauta miserabilis, quid ageret, quo se verteret, vel quid facto
opus esset ignorans. Si navem desereret vita periclitaretur ; re-
sidentem mors certa manebat. Tunc demum miser fuge peni-
tens ultrices paterne injurie undas vultu pallente spectabat.
Tandem in se reversus, 'et Sanctum Ninianum in suo baculo
arbitrans esse presentem, quasi ante ejus vestigia lacrimabili
voce' confitetur reatum, veniam postulat, gCJusque sanctissimis
meritis adesse sibi divinum precabatur auxilium.^ 'Deinde de
nota sibi pontificis pietate simul ac virtute confisus/ in uno
foraminum baculum^ fixit, 'ut etiam in mari quid posset Ninianus
posteris non lateret.' ^Mox ad tactum baculi elementum expavit,
et quasi divina virtute repulsum per aperta foramina ulterius
influere non presumpsit. Tua sunt hec, Cliriste, opera, qui
discipulis tuis loquens, fideles tuos liac promissione donasti :
Qui credit in me, opera que ego facio, et ipse faciet. Tu undis
maris sacra inpressisti vestigia, virtus Niniani naturalem maris
virtutem compressit. Discipulum titubantem, et ob hoc inter
undas periclitantem, ne mergeretur tua sancta manus erexit.
Discipulum fugientem, ne fluctibus absorberetur, baculus
Mniani protexit. Tu mari inperasti et ventis ut discipulis
timer adimeretur : virtus Niniani ventos moderavit, et mare,
ut ad optata litora juvenis transferretur.
A parte quippe orientali ventus* exurgens naviculam leni
pulsu portabat. Baculus pro velo ventum excipiebat, 'baculus'
pro gubernaculo navem regebat, 'baculus pro anchora navem' ^sis-
tebat. 'Stat in litore occidentali^ populus, cernensque navicellam
instar avicule fluctibus insidere, nee velo agi, nee urgeri remige,
nee gubernaculo regi : quid hoc esset miraculi attonitus ex-
1 B. M. nobilem.
2 Br. Niniani Sancti meritis lit adesset divinum auxilium precabatur.
3 Br. inserts Sancti.
* Br. Et mox ad baculi tactum, ventus ab oriente. ^ Br. inserts et.
" B. M. orieutali. »
VITA NINIANI. 153
pectabat. Applicat interim' adolescens, ^et, ut viri Dei merita
lacius innotescerent, fide animatiis baculum fixit in litore^ ;
rogans Deum ut in testimonium tanti miraculi, missis radicibus,
humoreque contra naturam recepto, ramos frondesque produceret,
2ac flores fructusque parturiret. Affuit propicia divinitas orantis
affectui, ac mox^ lignum aridum porrectis radicibus, et novo se
cortice vestiens, frondes ramosque produxit, ac 'postmodum' in
arborem non modicam crescens virtutem Niniani etiani nunc
cunctis cernentibus patefacit.^ Adicitur* miraculo miraculum.
^Ad radicem quippe arboris fons limpidissimus erumpens 'vit-
reum' rivulum^ leni serpentem murmure ductu longiori emittit/
et 'aspectu delectabilem et dulcem haustu/ infirmis 'autem' ob
sancti merita utilem et salubrem.
[dap. xi. — ^£ditmati0 be mcrrte Jliniam. ®jit0 scpultura
■a^u^ cHhithcnt.]
,1^1 S atque hujusmodi miraculis b'eatissimus' Ninianus mira-
biliter fulgens, ac summis virtutibus pollens, ad diem vocacionis
sue felici cursu pervenit. 'Dies ilia beato viro dies exultacionis
et leticie, sed populo cui preerat dies tribulacionis et miserie.
Exultabat ille cui celum aperiebatur ; dolebat populus qui tali
patre orbabatur. Exultabat ille cui corona perpetua parabatur,
tristabantur Uli quorum salus periclitabatur. Verum et ipsius
gaudium interpolabat affectus, cum et ipsos deserere grave, a
Christo autem diutius separari intolerabile videretur. Sed
animam sic cunctantem Christus consolans. Surge, inquit, pro-
pera amica mea, columba mea, et veni. Surge, inquit, arnica
mea, surge columba mea, surge per intellectum, propera
per desiderium, veni per affectum. Congruit sane beatissimo
viro vox ista, utpote amico sponsi, cui sponsam suam sponsus
ille celestis commiserat ; cui revelaverat secreta sua, cui
thesauros suos aperuerat. Merito amica vocatur anima ilia, ut
ex amore totum, nichil ex timore constabat. Amica, inquit,
mea, columba mea. columba ! columba sane docta gemere,
que fellee amaritudinis nescia flebat cum flentibus, cum infirmis
infirmabatur, urebatur cum scandalizatis. Surge, propera amica
mea, columba mea, et veni ; jam enim hyems transiit, hymber
abiit et recessit. Tunc certe, vir beate ! hiems tibi transiit,
quando celestem illam patriam contemplari felici oculo mere-
baris, quam sol justicie lumine sue claritatis illustrat, quam
1 Br. in terra sancti baculum in littore fixit. ^ Bj.. Nee mora.
3 B. M. patefecit. * Br. adds insuper. ^ Br. hiserts namque.
'^ Br. rivilum. r Br. emisit.
154 YITJE SANCTORUM SCOTl^E.
succendit amor, quam mirabilis rerum equitas, quasi verna
quedam temperies, temporis ineffabili unitate modificat. Time
tibi hyemalis intemperies que omnia bee terrena distempe-
rat, que frigida mortalium eorda viciis irruentibus durat, in
qua plene nee Veritas lucet, nee caritas ardet, transiit et
recessit, ymbresque temptacionum ac persecutionum grandines
anima ilia sancta, perfecte triumpbans, in gloriam perpetue
\driditatis evasit. Flores, inquit, apparuerunt in terra nostra.
De floribus quippe Paradisi odor tibi celestis, beate Niniane !
spirabat, quando tibi et purpuratorum et eanditatorum grex,
quasi familiarissimo suo vultu plaeido arridebat, et ad suum te
consortium invitabat, quern uimirum et castitas candidum, et
roseum reddiderat earitas. Nam etsi oecasio corporalis hujus
martirii non prestitit signum, ilia, sine qua martirium nichil
est, martirii meritum non negavit. Quociens enim se gladiis
optulit perversorum, quoeiens se, propter justiciam, tiramiorum
armis exposuit, pro veritate paratus oecumbere, mori pro
justicia. Merito ergo ad flores rosarum et lilia convallium
ipse purpuratus et candidatus adciseitur, aseendens de Libano
ut inter eelestia agmina coronetur. Tempus enim putaeionis
advenit ; quasi maturus enim botrus jam a stipite corporis vel
a terrene hujus eeclesie vinea fuerat amputandus, liquandus
caritate, et in apotecis celestibus recondendus.
Beatus itaque Ninianus ^vita perfectus, etate maturus, feliciter
migravit e mundo ; eternaque pereepturus stipendia angelieis
spiritibus comitantibus invehitur celo. Ubi niminun Apo-
stolicis choris sociatus, martirum admixtus cuneis, sanctorum
confessorum insertus agminibus, virgineis etiam floribus adorna-
tus, in se sperantibus, ad se clamantibus, se laudantibus, subve-
uire non desinit.^ Sepultus est autem^ in ecclesia beati Martini,
quam ipse a fundamentis construxerat, 'positusque in sareophago
lapideo juxta altare, clero et populo astante, bymnisque celesti-
bus voce, corde cum suspiriis et lacrimis personante. Ubi virtus
que in vivente claruerat circa corpus defuncti apparere non
cessat; ut omnis fidelis agnoscat eum in celestibus vivere, quem
in terris constat operari. Ad ejus namque sacratissimum
tumulum curantur infirmi, mundantur leprosi, terrentur inpii,
ceci illuminantur : in quibus omnibus fides credentium robo-
ratur, ad laudem et gloriam Domini nostri Ihesu Christi ; qui
vivit et regnat eum Deo patre in unitate Spiritus Saneti per
omnia seeula seculorum. Amen.
^ Br. Sicque, vita perfectus, a?tate maturus, xvi Kal. Oct. cnelestia regiia
feliciter conscendit [in niargiue a.d. 432.]
^ Br. Sepultusqiie.
VITA NINIANI. 155
[(Eajj. xii. — dUiviimla Iveliquiavum l^iniaui.]
(1. I71 pauper e clef ormi)
jIMeANSLATO igitur ad superos beatissimo Niniano, plebs
fidelium que viventem dilexerat, hoc quod de eo sibi videbatiir
esse relictum, sanctissimas scilicet ejus reliquias, summa de-
vocione frequentabat. Cujus religioni ac fidei favens Divinitas
sanctum suum, quem communis condicio terris exemerat, in
celestibus vivere crebris miraculis comprobabat.' Cuidam de
plebe de uxore propria natus est filius miserabilis, utriusque
parentis dolor, plebis admiratio, intuentium horror, quem contra
naturam natura formaverat, omnibus menbris in contrarium
versis. Eetroversis namque pedum articulis, tali anterius pro-
minebant, dorsum vultui coherebat, pectus vicinabatur occipiti,
curvatis brachiis manus cubitis insidebant. 'Quid plura T
Jacebat ilia 'atra' effigies cui data fuerant membra sine usu, vita
sine fructu, cui artubus ceteris dissolutis sola lingua supererat,^
quam miseram plangeret, qua intuentes ad luctum, audientes
gprovocaret ad fletum. Parentibus dolor continuus erat, tristicia
cotidie accrescebat. Venit eis tandem in mentem sanctissimi
Niniani tociens experta majestas ; ac fide pleni miserum illud
cadaver arripiunt, adeuntesque sacri viri reliquias sacrificium
contriti cordis cum lacrimarum profusione offerunt, ac precibus
devotis usque ad horam vespertinam insistunt.^ -Deinde truncum
ilium ante tumulum sancti proicientes, "Suscipe," inquiunt,
" beate Mniane ! quod offerimus, mimus quidem invisum, sed
ad tuam virtutem comprobandam satis idoneum. Certe nos
fessi, 'nos' fatigati, 'nos' affecti tristicia, nos^ tedio victi, tue illud'*
pietati exponimus. Nimirum si munus est, debetur gracia
ofFerentibus^ ; si bonus, tu utique fortior ad sustinendum, cui
pocior virtus est ad subveniendum. Hie igitur aut moriatur,
aut vivat; -aut sanetur, aut pereat." Hec, vel similia, cum
lacrimis prosecuti, relicto ante sacras reliquias egroto, dis-
cedunt. Et ecce intempeste noctis silentio, videt miser adven-
tantem ad se virum, celesti luce coruscum, pontificalibus
insigniis prefulgentem. Qui tangens ei caput jubet sanum con-
surgere, et Deo, sanatoria suo, gracias agere. Quo abscedente,
(piasi de gravi sompno evigilans pauper membra singula ad loca
1 Br. supererat lingua.
^ Br. deferentes euin parentes ad tumbam sancti Niniani dixerunt.
^ Br. et. * Br. istud.
^ Br. olferentibiis gratia. ** Br. salvatori.
156 VIT.4i SANCTOllUM SCOTL^;.
iiaturalia facili motu retorquet ; jiecuperatoque^ officio omnium,
'ad suos sanus incolumisque revertitur. Deinde totum se in
ecclesia, ecclesiasticis disciplinis, primo' '^attousus in clericum,
et gpostmodum in presbiterum ordinatus, in ipsius patris obse-
quiis^ vitam finivit.
(2. In pauper e scahioso.)
,-^<XCITATA fama miraculi accurrunt multi ; sua singuli
incommoda ante sacras reliquias componentes. Inter quos vir
quidam simplex, censu quidem pauper, sed fide ac bona
voluntate dives advenit, cujus inaudita scabies totum corpus
invaserat, omniaque obsederat menbra, adeo ut cutis mirabiliter
obdurescens venarum meatus obcluderet, arterias circumquaque
constringeret ; nichilque aliud nisi mortem pacienti pararet.
Accedens itaque miser ad corpus sancti, devotissimas orationes
altari, fidei, domino, offerebat. Fluunt lacrime, singultus pro-
rumpunt, succuttitur pectus, ipsa viscera contremiscunt. Non
defuit tante fidei tanteque contricioni meritum sancti, non
defuit pietas Christi ; et sanctum suum giorificans, et miserum
misericorditer salvans. Quid multis morer ? non cessat a preci-
bus pauper Aedelfridus,* hoc ei nomen viro, donee paucis ex-
pletis diebus pristine redditur sanitati.
(3. In puella cceca.)
,-E<EAT preterea tum in populo puella quedam. Deisuit^ ei
nomen, que tanto oculorum dolore vexata est ut vis morbi omnem
ei videndi sensum adimeret, tenebrisque omnia occupantibus,
etiam solis ei lumen absconderet. Dolor pacienti, majoribus
suis compacientibus meror. Sed quid agerent ? Facta est de
medicorum industria desperatio, quod solum spei superfuit
queritur Mnianus. Ad manus itaque tracta ante sanctissimam
giebam dolens ploransque dimittitur. Querit intente, petit
sollicite, pulsat inportuue ; non exciderat pio Iliesu quid in suo
promiserit evangelio : Petite et accipietis ; querite et invenietis;
pulsate et aperietur vobis. Itaque memorate iUi puelle ap-
paruit gracia quam quesivit. Aperta est janua pietatis ad quam
pulsavit. Data est sanitas quam petivit. Sublatis enim tenebris
lux amissa reparatur. Dolor omnis abscedit; ita ut que alio
ducente ad sacrum venerat tumulum proprii luminis ductu ad
donium rediret, cum magna exultacione parentum.
^ Br. recuperato vero membrormn. 2 gj.. inserts Temporis processu.
^ Br. ad saccrdotium promotus in Sanctis obseqniis.
■^ B. M. Aedfridus. ^ £_ m. Dcicuit.
VITA NINIANI. 157
(4. Iti duohus leprosis.)
ISI sunt preterea venii-e in civitatem viri' ^duo leprosi. Qui,
presumptuosum estimantes cum lepre contagio sancta tangere,
quasi cle longe patris poscunt auxilium. Accedentes autem ad
fontem/ et sanctum arbitrantes quicquid sanctus contigerat Nini-
anus, lavacro illo se abluendos putarunt. novum Helisei^ pro-
phete miraculum ! nova non unius sed duorum Naaman
emundacio ! Venit Naaman in spiritu presumptionis, isti in
spiritu huniilitatis : ille in dubitacione, isti in fide. Dubitabat
rex Sirie, gdubitabat Eex Israel, dubitabat Naaman ; dubitabat
rex Sirie ; ^dubitabat et superbiebat, qui non ad prophetam, sed
ad regem, leprosum suum mittendum putavit. Dubitavit rex
Israel, qui auditis litteris regis Sirie scidit vestimenta sua, et
ait: ISTumquid Deus ego sum, ut vivificare possim, et mortificare?*
Dubitavit Naaman qui, audito Prophete consilio, recedebat
indiguans. ISTaaman ergo in curru superbie stetit ad hostium
Helisei.^ Isti in fide et humilitate ad misericordiam vociferant
Mniani. Merito ejus fons vertitur in Jordanem, Ninianus in
prophetam. Mundantur leprosi tactu lavacri, sed meritis
Niniaui ; et restituta est caro eorum, sicut caro jparvuli : re-
vertimturque ad sua incolumes, ad gloriam Niniani, in laudem
Dei, in Sanctis suis mirabiliter operantis. Sed jam sit hujus
operis finis, quamvis miraculis sancti Niniani necdum sit finis :
que adliuc nostris temporibus coruscare non desinunt, ad laudem
et gloriam Domini nostri Ihesu Christi, qui cimi Patre et Spiritu
sancto vivit et regnat per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.^
^ Br. Duo leprosi, accedentes ad fontem Sancti Niniani, atiua se abluiuit, et
caro eorum mundata sicut caro parvuli restituta est.
2 B. Helysei. 3 g. M. Syria.
* MS. mortifire. & MS. AMN.
II.
VITA KENTEGERNI,
AUTOEE JOCELINO MONACHO FURNESENSl.
[P E L G U S.]
Enn^jit Pr0logu0 ®ptstx)hiris in bitam <Saitcti ^cnUgcrni,
®}ji0x:opi et QlonitSQoxis.
J^OMINO suo reverentissimo, et patri karissimo,
Jocelino Christo Domini Jhesu Christi, Jocelinus mini-
mus pauperum Christi, cum filialis dilectionis et sub-
jectionis aftectu, et effectu, utriusque Lominis salutem,
in nostro salutari. Quum nomen vestrum celebre,
officium sublime, judicium equilibre, vita nuUo sinistre
fame fuco fuscata, religio diu probata, vos decorem
domus Dei, . cui preestis diligere animo meo satis
probabiliter persuadent ; congruum duxi vobis ofFerre
manipulorum meorum primicias, que vestri, et ecclesie
vestre, decus et decorem redolent. Circuivi enim per
plateas et vices civitatis, juxta mandatum vestram,
querens vitam Sancti Kentegerni descriptam, quam
diligat anima vestra ; cujus catbedre filiorum adop-
tione, ecclesiastica electione, successive ministerio, ves-
tram sanctitatem presidere fecit divine dignationis
160 PKOLOGUS.
gratia. Quesivi igitur diligenter vitam si forte iii-
venii-etur, que majori auctoritate, et evidentiori veritate,
fulcii'i, et stilo ciiltiori^ videretur exarari, quam ilia,
quam vestra frequentat ecclesia ; quia illam, ut pluribus
videtur, tincta^ per totum decolorat^ inculta oratio,
obnubilat stilus incompositus"* : quod pre hiis omnibus
quilibet sane sapiens magis abhorret, in ipso narrationis
frontispicio quoddam sane doctrine, et catholice fidei
adversum, evidenter apparet. Codiculum autem alium,
stilo Scottico dictatum, reperi, per totum ^ soloecismis
scatentem ; diiHisius tamen*^ vitam et actus Sancti
Pontiiicis contiiientem. Videns igitur tarn preciosi
Pontificis vitam, signis et prodigiis gloriosam, virtu-
tibus et doctrina clarissimam,'^ relatu perverso, et a
fide averso, maculari ; aut sermone barbarico nimis
obscurari ; condolui fateor et moleste accepi. Quo
circa sedit animo ex utroque libello materiam coUectam
redintegrando sarcire ; et juxta modulum meum, et
preceptum vestrum, barbarice exarata Bomano sale
condire. Absurdum arbitror thesaurum tam preciosum
tam vilibus obvolvi semicinciis^ ; et ideo conabor ilium
cooperii-e ; et, si non aurifrisiis aut olosericis,^ saltem vel
lineis integris. Adhibui etiam operam ex veteri vase
in novum vivificum liquorem ita transfundere, ut sim-
plicioribus sit appetibile, mediocribus non sit inutile,
sensu locupletioribus non sit contemptibile, pro vasis
mediocritate haurire. Sancti igitur Presulis meritis et
precibus sufii'agantibus, si superni inspii'atoris^^ milii
1 B. M. cerciori. ^ g m. tractata. ^ B. M. cleclarat.
4 B. M. inserts et. ^ B. M. totam. " B. M. tam.
'' B. M. inserts et. * B. M. sermontiis. ^ B. M. oloseritis.
^^ B. M. inspectatoris.
PEOLOGUS. 161
favor applauserit, stilum sic temperabo, ut nee nimis
abjecto sermone in ceno repens obscuret opus suscep-
tum ; nee verborum faleris seeus quam decet inser-
viens' in altum tumeat ; ne videar plantasse nemus in
templo Domini eontra ejus interdietum. Totum igitur
studium hujus operis, totum fructum mei laboris, duxi,
vestro conseerandum nomini, vestro etiam statui pre-
sentandum examini. Si quid autem illepidum^ proees-
serit, aut insulsum diseretionis vestre sale conditum
saporetur. Si quid forte minus veritati consonum
sonuerit quod non reor/ ad regulam judicii vestri
deductum limetur, et eonquadretur. Si quid inve-
nitur a neutro dissidens,^ vestro testimonio subfulei-
atur, auctoritate vestra roboretur. Et in biis omnibus
si quid, secus quam rem deeeat, calamo meo mandatum
in lucem prodierit, exiquitatis^ mee imperitie imputetur.^
Et si quid lectione dignum apparuerit elueubratum,
vestre asseribatur eminencie. Translationem autem
Sancti hujus, vel miracula post deeessum ejus deseripta
nusquam reperire potui ; que aut non sunt*^ notata quia
forte ^ effugerunt niemoriam presentium, aut multiplicata
sunt super nmnerum, ne infirmis lectoribus copia con-
gesta conferret fastidium. Vivat et vigeat Sanctitas
vestra semper in Domino, ©xjjlicit ^r0l0gtt0.
^ Oti margin, illepidum .i. iusuavis insipidus. ^ B. M. reo.
3 B. M. (liflBdens. 4 b. M. exiguitatis.
^ B. M. imputatur impericie. '' B. M. fuerunt. '^ B. M. fortite.
162 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
[(Kap. t.] — Eiuipit bita^ <Sjtncti ^cnlcQcrni ^ptQcopi ci
QlonU00Oxi5.
^TLARISSIMI et karissimi Deo et hominibus Kentegerni,
Nazarei Nazareni^ nostri Jhesu Christi, vitam gloriosam scrib-
endi principium illud divinum oraculum consecrat, quo beatum
Jeremiam prophetam Dominus preveniens in benedictionibus
dulcedinis sue, vas electionis in opus ministerii sui sanctifi-
catum, tali eulogio^ futurum pronunciat, Priusquam, inquid, te
formarem in utero novi te; et, antequam exires de ventre,
sanctificavi te ; et prophetam in gentibus dedi te. Vere beatus
Kentegernus, ante notus Deo quam natus in mundo, prius
gratia electionis perfusus quam ex materno utero* profusus,
primitus magnificatus miraculis, quam membris vel meritis.
Ipsum namque de ventre sanctificatum, et adhuc amplius
sanctificandum, Ipse Sanctus Sanctorum infra materni^ claustra
uteri obstrusum ; et in ipso ipsius ortu fulgescere fecit jubere^
virtutum ; ut originalis peccati vinculo comprobaret non con-
stringi spiritus sancti'^ speciale donum. Hunc inquam genere
et specie preclarum, signis et prodigiis ac presagiis multimodis
insignitum, prophetam immo, et doctorem, ac rectorem optimum
gentibus multis, redemptor gentium decrevit destinandum.
Hie itaque sanctissimus, quamvis ex Regali stemate,^ origin-
ariam particulam traxerit, velud rosa tamen de spina, ut arbor
aromatica ex humo cenulenta, processit. Quia mater ejus
cujusdam Regis, secta paganissirai, in Septentrionali plaga
Britannie^ principantis, filia fuit. Cum autem in terram
regionis illius exiret sonus predicationis Christiane fidei, et in
fines aquilonales, a quibus pandebatur omne malum, proced-
erent verba sanctorum predicatorum, auribus audiendi audivit
ilia, quomodo candor lucis eterne, sol justitie, per stellam
Virginitatis exortus, radiis^*^ sue cognitionis et dilectionis mun-
dum illuminaverit ;^^ et hiis qui prope et procul sunt^^ salutem
annunciaverit ;^^ sues inducens in omnem plenitudinem veri-
tatis efficatius evidentium argumentis signorum. Concaluit
ilico cor ejus intra se ; et in meditatione ejus exarsit ignis ille,
<|uem Dominus misit in terram, et voluit vehementer accendi
sitiensque anima ejus ad agnitionem veritatis venire suscepit
^ B. M. juxta. ^ On mai-gin, Nazareniis .i. sanctus gloriosus.
^ On mavf/in, eulogium .i. sapientia testim vel caixsatus.
* B. M. utero materno. ^ B. M. materna. ^ B. M. jubare.
'' B. M. saucti spiritus. ^ On margin, sterna .i. genus progenies.
'■' Britannie, erased in B. M. ^^ B. M. radii. n B. M. illuminavit.
12 B. M. fuerunt. ^^ B. M. annunciavit.
VITA KENTIGEltNI. 163
insitum^ verbum, quod posuit^ salvare ejus animam a luorte
perhenni. Noiidum erat lota unda salutaris lavacri, viam tamen
mandatorum Dei currebat, corde dilatato et alacri. Insistebat
instanter elemosinis crebris, oratiouibus devotis, ecclesiastice
fidei in quantum licuit ob metum patris pagani discendis, et
exercendis discipKnis. Precipua tamen inter hec devotione
Matris Virginis integritatem fecundam ammirabatur, ammir-
ando venerabatur, venerando et diligendo desiderabat imitari ;
et quadam feminee temeritatis audacia presumptiosa, in con-
ceptu et partu illi assimilari, et super hoc studivit sedulo
Dominum deprecari.
Evoluto aliquanti temporis spacio, inventa est illa^ in utero
habens ; magnificavitque anima ejus Dominum, desiderium
suum adimpletum esse simpliciter credens. Quod autem in ea
natum est de humano complexu suscepit ; sed ut ipsa* multo-
ciens juramento se constringens asseruit,^ a quo, vel quando,
aut quomodo conceperit,^ in conscientia non habuit. Sed licet
illam latuerit, aut a memoria exciderit,^ hujusmodi res secreti,
nequaquam tamen rei Veritas perire debet in animo cujuslibet
discreti, aut inde scrupulus uUus emergi. Ut enim ad presens
sepeliamus silentio^ que in poeticis carminibus, sive in hystoriis
non canonicis, inserta repperimus, ad sacra volumina accedentes,
in libro Genesis filius Loth non solum paternos complexus
furtim sibi surripuisse, sed etiam ab eodem inebriato et rei
penitus ignaro, utramque concepisse legimus. Constat nichil-
ominus nobis multos sumpto potu oblivionis quem fisici
letargion vocant, obdormisse; et in membris incisionem, et
aliquociens adustionem, et in vitalibus abrasionem perpessos,
minime sensisse :^ post sompni excussionem, que erga sese
actitata fuerant ignorasse. Audivimus frequenter sortilegorum
prestigiis^*' puellarem pudicitiam expugnatam esse, ipsamque
defloratam defloratorem^ sui minime nosse. Potuit aliquid
hujusmodi huic puelle accidisse, occulto Dei judicio, et ut^'^
commixtionem sexuum non sentiret, ac per hoc jam iupregnata
se illibatam intelUgeret.
Hec inseruisse superfluo nequaquam arbitramur, quia populus
stultus et insipiens, in diocesi Sancti Kentegerni degens, ipsum^^
de virgine concept um, et natum adhuc astruere non veretur.
Sed quid hiis immoremur? Sane absurdum, et ab re arbi-
1 On margin, insitum .i. plantatum radicatum. B. M. in siium.
2 B. M. posset. 3 B ^ puella. * B. M. ipsam.
^ B. M. inserts quod. ^ B. M. coiicepit.
^ B. M. excideret. * B. M. silentio servemiis.
^ B. M. inserts et. '" B. M. sumptis transtigiis.
11 B. M. corruptore. i- B. M. ut et. i^ B. M. et dixit.
164 VITyE SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
tramur, diutiiis indagare quis quomodo sator terram araverit
vel^ severit ; cum, Domino daute benignitatem, terra ista
friictum optimum et opimum^^ protulerit. Fructus inquam
terre hujus, qui benedictionem accepit a Domino, per quern
multe generationes benedicerentur a Domino, et fructum salutis
perpetue perciperent a Domino. Ibat interim mulier ; et uterus
ejus intumescebat ; cunctisque videntibus insigne coruptele
preferebat. Et jam pallore vultus, et venis tumescentibus in
gutture, et lacte in uberibus erumpente, vicinum partum denun-
ciabat. Quod cum Eegis patris sui auribus instillatum fuisset,
et visus, ac tactus, certiori indagine sic se rem habere compro-
basset; cepit intentius^ ab ea inquirere, nunc terroribus pul-
sans, nunc blandimentis permulcens, quis eam gravidasset ?
At ilia, interposito juramento nominis Christi, protestabatur se
expertem totius virilis consorcii. Eex autem hec audiens
vehementiori felle commotus, turn propter nomen Christi quod
ex ore ejus sonuit, tum quia violatorem filie reperire non potuit,
juravit et statuit custodienda judicia justicie sue ; nee ullatenus
se velle prevaricari legem a majoribus suis statutam super tali
negocio, ob amorem seu vitam filie sue.
[dap. it.] — ^£ lege ronstituta in iUis biebus, in pcrjjitlo
©ambrtito, ©u^jer puclU© foniicantibus.
<,EAT in illo populo barbaro, a diebus antiquis, lex pro-
mulgata, ut puella que in paternis fornicans* gravida invenie-
batur, de supercilio mentis altissimi precipitaretur, corrupter
autem illius capite plecteretur. Similiter apud antiques Saxones,
pene usque ad hec moderna tempera, sanccitum durabat, ut
quelibet virgo in paternis sponte deflorata, absque uUa retrac-
tione^ viva sepeliretur; violator vero ipsius supra sepulcrum
ejus suspenderetur. Quid ad hec dicemus, quidve conjicere
valebimus ? Si tantus zelus castitatis accendit,*^ ethnicos, divine
legis ignaros, propter honestatem tantum et observantiam su-
arum paternarum^ traditionum, quid faciet Christianus, qui
lege divina ad custodiam pudicitie constringitur ? ob cujus
meritum gaudium celicum promittitur, sicut, e diverse, ob illius
prevaricationem tartarea pena rependitur ? Ecce omnis sexus,
omnisque conditio, in omne volutabrum carnalis coUuvionis,^
pene tam licenter quam libenter, quia impune, immergitur ; et
1 B. M. seu. ^ On margin, opimus .i. fecundus habiinclans.
3 B. M. attentius. * B. M. fornicatis. ^ B. M. retractatione.
^ B. M. inserts adurit. ^ B. M. paternarum suarura.
^ 071 margin, colluvio .i. colloctio.
VITA KENTIGEKNI. 1G5
noil solum vilissimum vulgus tali contagio poUuitur, verum liii
qui ecclesiasticis beneficiis susteiitati, et divinis officiis applicati,
quanto sunt^ fecliores, tanto sese feliciores esse arbitrantur.
Sed nunc illos^ pertransit ille malleator^ universe terre, spiri-
tus scilicet fornicationis. Qui ymaginariam. quidem speciem
sanctitatis in habitu exteriori preferentes, virtuteni vero ejus
abnegantes, operibus quidem seculo servant fidem, per vitam
impuram Deo meiitiri noscuntur* per sacrum habitum et tou-
suram. Timendum illis plane quod per prophetam Dominus
comminatur, dicens, In terra sanctorum qui^ iniqua gessit, non
videbit gloriam Dei. Nunc etiani quocl omni flumine lacri-
marum plangendum est, iliud flagitium flagitiorum, quo nichil
detestabilius excogitari potest, propter quod flamma sulpliurea
in Pentapoli^ censura'' celestis scelestos delevit, impune commit-
titur. Nee qui perpetratorem libere arguat facile repperitur.
Quod si quispiam, quamvis raro, inveniatur, quern zelus domus
Dei^ comedat, qui amore justitie et honestatis ignescat, ut tam
monstruosa flagitia arguere videatur, protinus ei in faciem'resisti-
tur ut sicophanta,^ et detractor^*^ ab omnibus conclamatur, os ejus
tanquam loquentis iniqua obstruitur, lingua copulanda judicatur.
Cur hoc ? Plane quia corpus Leviathan, sicut scriptum est,
squamis prementibus condensatur, et protegunt umbre umbram
ejus ; eo quod criminosi et flagitiosi, qui sunt membra diaboli,
ab aliis, qui simili vicio laborant, ne sagitta correptionis eos
penetrare possit, mutuo muniuntur. Sane, ut arbitror, ad argu-
meiitum agitur inexcusabilis dampnationis, ut tales traditi in
reprobum sensum non habeant, aut non admittant, virgam cor-
reptionis. Nee eorum quemquam^^ levigat a supplicio multitudo
laborans in parili vicio, quia non minus ardent perplures simul,
quam singuli injecti camino. Sed quid dicemus de illis, quibus
oificium injunctum^^ est ligandi atque solvendi, claudendi et
aperiendi ; qui levantur super candelabrum, ut in domo Domini ^^
verbo et exemplo luceant ? Nonne plures hodie fumum potius
quam flammam ; fetorem magis quam fulgorem, representant ?
Nonne canes sunt muti, non valentes, immo non volentes,^*
latrare ? Cum mores plusquam bestiales videntes, non audent
reprehendere. Presertim cum ipsi eorum moribus conforman-
tur,^^ immo deterius deformantur ? Sicut enim populus, sic
1 B. M. fiiint. 2 B M eog 3 g. M. malleator ille.
* B. M. noscuntur mentiri. ^ B. M. omitu qui.
^ On margin, Pentapolis continens in se quinqiie civitates.
'' On margin, Censura .i. vindicta viiidicinm. * B. M. Domini.
^ On margin, sicopbauta .i. falsus calumpniator. ^° B. M. detractu.
" B. M. q'uempiam. ^- B. M. invictum. ^^ B. M. Dei.
" B. M. immo nolentes. ^^ B. M. coufirmantur.
16G VIT^ SANCTOnUM SCOTIA.
sacerdos ; sicut subditus, sic prelatus ; immo sicut priores dig-
iiitate, sic pejores^ iuiquitate : et quo prelati officio, eo et-
vitio : formidaiidum est talibus quod scriptura inistice loquitur
de talibus, Bestia si montem tetigerit^ lapidabitur. Bestia
inontem tangit, quando bestialis vite quilibet cathedram pre-
lationis ascendit, et purificatoriis hostiis iupurus mauum ap-
ponit. Qui vero talis est lapidari jubetur, quia quum dure et
gravi dampnationi subjacere debeat, sauctorum patrum senten-
tiis evidenter edocetur.* Hec dixisse per digressum nuUi
queso sit onerosura. Magnum ruborem incutere debet Christi-
colis, in pudicicia plantanda et propaganda, zelus pagani
hominis, qui proprie filie non pepercit, sed pro nevo fornica-
tionis simple^ supplicio tali illam tradidit.
[(Ea^j. iii.] — (^tialiter tnntrcm <Sancti ^^ntcgcrni a preripitio,
tt Uitiifntgio, liberaliit iiibiiia iignatio.
J^EEFATA igitur puella, ex Regis precepto, ad montis altis-
simi, cui vocabulum est Dumpelder,*" supercilium ducebatur, ut
deorsum precipitata, membratim dirrumpetur, aut minutatim
conterereturJ At ilia graviter ingemescens,^ et in celum
suspiciens, querulis vocibus ait, " Merito hoc patior, quia quasi
una de stultis mulieribus egi, volens parificari sanctissime,
serenissime, salutifere, parenti patrem suum parienti. Sed oro,"
inquid, " domina^ benedicta mulieribus, transfer iniquitatem
ancille tue, quia nimis insipienter egi. mater misericordie,
ostende lucem miserationum tuarum in me, et libera me a
pressura que circumdat me ! Oro te, domina ! ut sicut ille flos
angelicorum montium, sine lesura tui nivei pudoris, in te valle
liumili, omnium virtutum fertili, effici dignatus est nostrarum
lilium convallium, et de te, monte fidei firmissimo, lapis sine
manibus excisus est, qui crevit in montem magnum, adimplen-
tem orbem terrarum. Ita libera me, ancillam tuam, licet
nondum sacra fonte lotam, firmiter tamen in filium tuum
credentem, et in umbra alarum tuarum sperantem a iminenti^*^
precipiccio, ut filii tui nomen benedictum in secula magnificetur,
in couspectu istarum gentium. Sobolem etiam, quern in utero
gesto, fiiio tuo, et tibi, in speciale mancipium, omnibus diebus
vite sue mancipandum promitto."
^ B. M. prestantiores. ^ B. M. omits et. ^ B. M. tengerit.
* B. M. edicetur. ^ B. M. simplo. " B. M. Dimpelder.
^ B. M. munitatim inconteretur. ^ B. M. iugemiscens.
" Illegible in B. M. lo B. M. ab iminiueute.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 1G7
Cumqiie oraret in hunc modum, corcle et ore devoto, ministri
regis earn Christum, et ejus genetricem, crebro invocantem,
precipitaverunt de montis fastigio. Ees mira, et a diebiis
antiquis inusitata ! Cum ergo caderet, noii est collisa, quia
Dominus subposuit manum suam ; et ideo millam sensit lesu-
ram. Quum, ut sibi videbatur,^ instar avis pennigere, ne forte
offenderet ad lapidem pedem suum, placido lapsu ascendit^ ad
terram. Sonat gratiarum actio, et vox laudis, in ore^ pluri-
morum videntium hec magnaKa Dei. Magnificatur sanctum et
terribile nomen Christi, Innocens judicatur, et immunis ab
omni pena ulterius debere fieri, et habenda omnimode venera-
tioni. At contra ydolatre et adversarii fidei Christane non hoc
virtuti divine, sed maleficiis asscribebant ; et voce unanimi illam
magam atque maleficam conclamabant. Scisma ergo de ea erat
in populo. Alii dicebant quia bona est, et innocens ; alii autera
non, sed prestigiis suis seducit turbas, visus immutat, et sensus
alienat. Turba ergo mutuo verborum turbine turbam turbabat ;
sed multitude sacrilega invalescens, Eegem suum, ydolatrie peni-
tus mancipatum, ad novam sententiam dictandam de filia instiga-
bant. Tandem communi conniventia* conventus malignantium,
et adversantium nomini Christi, decernitur ut muliercula ilia
gravida, sola in navicula^ posita, pelago exponeretur. Ut igitur
sententia sanccita effectui manciparetur, ministri Eegis ascen-
dentes in puppim, illam in altitudinem maris deducunt ; ibique
earn solam parvissimo lembo^ de corio, juxta morem Scottorum''
confecto, impositam, sine omni remigio fortune committentes,
remigando littora repetunt. Eegi, et plebi rei expectant!
exitum, quod gestum est referunt. Illi vero irrisorie dicebant,
" Ancillam Christi se nominat. Promittit^ se potentiam ipsius
protectricem habere. Videamus si sermones illius veri sint.
Confidit in Christo, liberet illam si valet de manu mortis, et de
periculo maris."
Puella vero omni humano destituta auxilio, illi soli se com
mittit, qui fecit mare et aridam ; devote deprecans ut se salvet
ab iminenti periculo,^ qui primitus illam liberavit de precipicio.
Minim dictu, sed Deo nichil impossibile factu.^** Ilia navicella,
in qua detinebatur gravidata puella, equoreos vertices, fluctuum
vertigines, versus litus adversum multo velotiori sulcabat trans-
situ, quam si velifero veheretur flatu, aut multonmi remigan-
tium propellaretur annisu. Is namque qui lonam prophetam,
^ B. M. inserts ac.
2 B. M. desceiidit. ^ B. M. more.
* B. M. consciencia.
s B. M. nacella.
^ On marii'm, lembiis .i.
parva uavicula a lego is. '' B. M. Scontornm.
* B. M. et promittat.
■' On margin, vel uaufragio. B. M. naufragio.
1" B. M. facto.
S
168 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
yastissimis sinibus ceti gustatum/ inter marinas voragines
illesumservavit, ciijiis etiam dextera beatum Petrum ambu-
lantem in fluctibus ne mergeretur erexit, et co-apostolum ejus
Paulum, tercio naufragantem, de profundo pelagi liberavit ; ad
portum salutis salvani mulierem^ perduxit, ob gratiam prolis
quam in utero gestavit, quern optimum proretam^ navis sue, id
est doctorem et rectorem egregium ecclesie sue, futurum pre-
destinavit.
[Cap-, ib.]— ^c jjrttt <Sancti ^entegerni, tt It thmnixont tUxus
drra (Saitdum (S^rbanum.*
Jf^PPLICUIT prenominata mulier^ super arenam prope locum
vocabulo Culenros.6 Quo in loco illo^ Sanctus Servanus degens,
sacras litteras plures docebat pueros, divino obsequio manci-
pandos. ^ Cumque egi'essa esset ad aridam,^ angustie instantis
puerperii apprehenderunt*' eam. Elevans oculos aspexit eminus,
licet in tenebris, secus littus indicium^'' ignis incinerati, quem
forsitan pastores, vel piscatores, reliquerant" ibi. Accessit
igitur ad locum, et prout^^ potuit accendit sibi focuni. Cum
autem aurora, divine lucis prenuntia, albescere inciperet, im-
pletum est tempus ejus ut pareret. Et peperit filium vere
lucis futurum preconem, et nuntium.
In eadem vero hora Sanctus Servanus dum post matutinorum
sinaxim^^ orationi intentus, sacre contemplationis dulcedini
inhiaret, audivit angelicos cetus, melliflua preconia in etthere
resonare ; quorum laudibus congaudens, ipse cum discipulis
exultans, in spiritu studuit liostias jubilationis canendo, "Te
Deum^* laudamus. Domino immolare." Stupentibus autem
clericis de rei novitate, et scicitantibus quid acciderit, rem
seriatim, et hymnodiam angelorum, eis rettulit : et ut et^^ ipsi
immolarent Domino vitulos labiorum suorum, sedulo com-
monuit. Erant autem in confinio pastores vigilantes, et curam
habentes super custodiam gregis sui. Qui diei diluculo egressi,
cum cominus^*^ conspicerent ignem accensum, advenenmt illuc
festinantes, et invenerunt adolescentulam partu absolutam ; et
infantem pannis involutmn, et positum sub divo. Illi vero
1 B. M. gestatum. 2 ^ j^j puellam.
2 On marrjln, proreta .i. gubernator navis. * B. M. et educatione ejus.
^ B. M. puella. " B. M. Oolletiros. " B. M. inserts tempore.
^ On margin, arida .L terra. 9 B. M. apprehendaverit.
^" On margin, indicium .i. signum. " B. M. reliquerunt.
^^ On margin, prout .i. sicut.
13 On margin, sinaxis est hora matutina. B. M. seriatim.
" B. M. Domine. 15 g_ ^ o,,,;^.,, et.
*^ On maj'gin, cominus .i. prope.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 1G9
pietate ducti in foco copiosius augendo, et cibum niinistrando,
et cetera necessaria procuraudo, curam illorum egeruut ; et quo
poterant competentius eos adducentes, et Sancto Servano pre-
seutantes, ordinem rei rettulerunt.
Quibiis auditis, et viso puerulo, os beati senis repletum est
risii spirituali, et cor ejus jubilo. Unde et patria lingua ait,
Mocbohe ! Mochohe ! quod Latine dicitur Care mi, Care mi :
Subjungens, Benedictus qui venisti in nomine Domini. Sus-
cepit ergo eos in sua ; enutrivit,^ et educavit, ac si forent pig-
nora propria. Emensis itaque aliquantis diebus, lavacro re-
generationis et renovationis illos perfudit, et sacro crismate
linivit : ^ vocans matrem Taneu ; ^ et puerum Kyentyern, quod
interpretatur Capitalis Domiuus. Quod utaque * nomen novum,
quod OS Sancti Servani nominavit, quum non in vanum ^ ac-
cepit suo in loco in sequentibus evidenter elucebit. Educavit
ergo vir Domini puerum Domini, velud alterum Samuelem sibi
commendatum, et assignatum a Deo. Puer vero crescebat, et
confortabatur, et gratia Dei erat in eo. Cum autem accessis-
sent ei etas intelligibilis, et tempus habile, et acceptabile ad
discendvim, tradidit ilium litteris erudiendum ; et ut in eis pro-
liceret multam industriam^ impendit ei, et studium. Ipse vero
in liac parte non est fraudatus a desiderio suo, quia puer dis-
cendo, et retinendo, optime et opime respondit ipsius magisterio,
velud lignum quod plantatum est secus decursus aquarum,
quod fructum suum dat in tempore suo. Profecit puer bone
spei et sancte indolis,^ unctione^ eum edocente, in disciplinis
litterarum, et non minus in exerciciis virtutum sanctorum.
Collata enim ei erant a patre luminum, a quo est omne datum ®
optimum, et omne donum perfectum, cor docde ; ingenium ad
intelligendum perspicax ; ad retinendum que didicerat memoria
tenax ; ^'^ ad proferendum que voluit lingua suadibilis ; ad canen-
dum divina preconia vox altisona, melliflua, consona, et quo-
dammodo iafatigabilis. Hec autem omnia gratiarum munera
inaurabat ^^ vita laudabilis : et ideo pre cunctis sociis ^^ suis erat
in ocidis sancti senis preciosus, et amabilis. Unde et ilium
patria lingua Munghu, quod Latine dicitur Karissimus Amicus,
ex consuetudine appellavit. Quo nomine usque in hodiernum
diem vulgus eum vocare, et in necessitatibus suis invocare,
crebrius ^^ consuevit.
^ B. M. et nutrivit. ^ Qj^ margin, linio— is .i. nngere.
3 B. M. Tanmi. ■» B. M. itaque. ^ B. M. vacmim.
^ On inargin, industria .i. vigilancia assidiiitas stndii.
^ On margin, indolis .i. sine dolo. " B. inserts interins.
* B. M. donum. ^o B. M. iiiserfs et. " B. M. narrabat.
^2 On margin, vel eonsortihus. B. M. cousortibus. ^^ B. M. crebro.
170 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
[dLnp. to.] — ^£ abicttla jextincta,^ ptx ^znitQZxnnm toibiftata.
IDENTES condiscipiili Sancti Kentegerni, quod a magis-
tro et patre spirituali plus cunctis aniaretur, oderant eum ;
nee poterant ei clam, seu palam, quicquam pacifice loqui. Unde
et in multis insidiabantur, conviciabantur, invidebant, et de-
traliebant illi. Sed puer Domini oculos cordis semper habebat
ad Dominum ; et magis dolens illis quam sibi, parumpendebat
omnia iniqua machinamenta hominum. Quedam namque
avicula, que vulgo ob ruborem corpusculi rubisca nuncupatur,
nutu Patris celestis, sine quo nee passer unus cadit super ter-
ram, consuevit de manu servi Dei Servani cotidianam alimoniam
accipere; talique consuetudine accepta, familiarem et domes-
ticam semet illi exhibere. Aliquando etiam capiti ejus, seu ^
vultui, sive scapulis, seu gremio solebat insidere: oranti vel
legenti assistere ; et plausu alarum, aut sono inarticulate vocis,
et qualicumque gesticulatu affectum^ quern erga eum habuit
ostendere. Unde nonnunquam faeies viri Dei in gestu volucris
obumbratam * induebat hylaritatem, amirans nimirum in crea-
tura exigua magnam Creatoris potentiam, cui muta loeuntur, et
irrationabilia ^ rationem sentire noseuntur.
Et quia avis ilia multoeiens ad imperium, vel nutum, viri
Dei^ ad ipsum aceedebat, et recedebat, incredulitatem et duriciam
cordis exprobavit ^ in discipulis suis, et inobedientiam illorum
arguebat. Nee inconveniens alieui hoe videatur, cum Deus*
voce animalis muti, et subjugalis prophete arguebat insipien-
tiam ; et Salomon sapientissimus pigrum invitat ^ ad formicam,
ut ejus considerando laborem et industriam, a se exeutiat tor-
porem et desidiam. Et quidem sanctus ac sapiens religiosos
invitat ad eonsiderandam apum operam, ut in parvis corporibus
perpulcram discant ministerii^*^ disciplinam. Sed mirum forte
alieui videbitur ^^ quod vir tarn sanctus, atque perfectus, delee-
taretur circa aviciile ludos vel gestus. Sed noseat qui ejus-
niodi est perfeetos aliquando emolliendos a rigore suo ut qui
mente excedunt Deo aliquando sobrii sint et nobis ; quia et
areus aliquando dissolvendus est a diutina^^ extensione, ne
enervis et inutilis fiat, cum tempus oportunum ingruerit, in
sagitte emissione. Aves etiam ereetis alls aera volando petunt^^
et iterum eisdem ^* demissis ad inferiora terre descendunt.
1 B. M. inserts et. ^ g m ^ut. 3 g. M. eflfectum.
* B. M. obumbrata. ^ B. M. irrationalia. ^ B. M. Domini.
7 B. M. exprobabat. ^ g. M. Dominus. » B. M. mittat.
"^ B. M. nionasterii. ^^ B. M. videbitur alieui. ^^ B, M. a nimia.
^^ B. M. potuerunt. ^* B. M. omits eisdem.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 171
Quadam itaqiie die, cum senex oratorium thimiama ^ preciun
Deo oblatunis intrasset, piieri magistri absentiam nacti, liisui
cum predicta avicula indulgere cepenmt ; et dum illam mutuo
attractarent, ac alter ab altero illam sibi abripere conaretur, in
manibus eorum extinguitur; capud a corpore avellitur. Quo
facto lusus in luctum convertitur,- et plagas virgarum que
puerorum gravissima tormenta esse solent, jamque sibi iminere
ymaginantur. Inito^ tandem communi consilio, puero Kente-
gerno, qui se ab hujusmodi penitus circumciderat, hoc factum
imponunt. Et antequam senex adventaret extinctam avem ei
ostendunt, et a se projiciunt, Senex vero moleste tulit volucris
interitum, comminatusque est in interfectorem illius districtius
vindicandum. Exultabant ergo pueri estimantes se evasisse, et
in Kentegernum intorsisse vindictam sibi debitam, et Servani
minuisse gratiam amicitie erga ilium hactenus babitam.
Quo comperto Kentegernus, puer purissimus, volucrem sus-
cipiens in manibus, ac capud corpori applicans, crucis signa-
culum impressit; elevansque puras manus in oratione ad
Dominum ait, " Domine Jesu Christe, in cujus manu est flatus
omnis * creature tue rationalis, et irrationalis, redde Imic avicule
vite spiraculum, ut glorificetur nomen tuum benedictum in
secula." ^ Hec sanctus orando dixit, et continuo avis revixit.
Et non solum incolumis libero volatu auras petivit, verum etiam
more solito seni revertenti de ecclesia applaud ens, obviam pro-
siluit. Quo viso prodigio exultavit cor sancti senis in Domino,
magnificavitque anima ejus puerum Domini in Domino, et
Dominum, qui facit mirabiKa magna solus, operantem in puero.
Hoc itaque signo insigni insignivit Dominus, immo quodam-
modo presignavit Kentegernum suum, et primitiavit,^ quem
postmodum plus mirandis multipliciter mirificavit.
[Ca^j. bi.] — '§z igne per inbiliiam a sociis §>mxdi '^\cnUqzx\n
txixndo, zi :flattt ejtts alitus in ramusntic coxiii bat^.
^ONSTITUTUM erat a Sancto Servano ut unusquisque
puerorum, quos instituebat, et instruebat, per septimaue cir-
culum ad luminaria in ecclesia concinanda, dum opus Dei
ibidem die vel nocte celebraretur, soUicite deserviret; ac per
hoc ^ dormitum issent ignem ^ diligenter subcineraret, ne aliqua
negligentia, ob defectum luminis, divino obsequio eveniret.
Accidit autem ut Sanctus^ Kentegernus huic ministerio in
^ On margin, ,i. incensum. ^ B. M. vertitur. ^ On marfjin, A. incepto.
* B. M. tociiis. ^ B. M. seculum. ^ B. M. pronunciavit.
^ B. M, inserts dum. ** B. M. inserts cliligne. ^ B. M. omits Sanctus.
172 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTLK
ordine vicis sue, deputaretur; et dum illud diligenter et de-
center exequeretur, emuli ejus facibus invidie inflammati, immo
obcecati, ut^ proprium perversorum profectibus invidere me-
liorum, et ^ bonum quod in se non habeut, vel habere nolunt,
vel ^ non valent, in aliis habentibus persequi, seu pervertere,
aut minuere : quadam sollempni nocte totum ignem, infra
monasterii habitacula, et vicina loca clanculo^ extinxerunt. Et-
quasi inscii et innoxii, lectulos suos repetierunt, Cumque cir-
ca gallicinium, de more ad vigilias sacras, surrexissent Kente-
gernus, ut mos exigebat luminaria procurare deberet, quesivit
ignem circumcirca, et non invenit.
Cognita tandem nequitia emulorum suorum, sedit animo^
dare locum invidie, et de monasterio cepit exire. Cumque ad
sepem que habitationem illam ambiebat venissent in se re-
versus substitit; et ad sufferenda pericula in falsis fratribus,
et tolerandam^ perversorum persecutionem animum armavit.
Deinde conversus ad dominum, virescentis corili que secus
sepem excreverat ramum extrahens, arripuit ; et fide succensus
patrem luminum exoravit, ut tenebras suas illuminaret novi
luminis infusione, et novo modo pararet lucernam sibi "^ per
quam inimicos suos se persequentes salubri indueret confu-
sione. Elevata postea pura manu crucis impressione ramum
signavit, et in nomine sancte et individue trinitatis benedicens,
in eum insufflavit, Mira res, atque preclara ! Ilico ignis
celitus emissus ramum corripiens, acsi pro flatu flammam puer
emisisset, ignivomos ^ crines longius produxit, cunctasque cir-
cumjacentes tenebras effugavit, sicque in lumine illius videns
lumen usque ad domum Dei ambulavit. Emisit ergo Deus
lucem suam, et deduxit et adduxit eum in monasterium, mon-
tem ^ sanctum suum, et in tabernacula sua. Sic et '^'^ introivit
ad altare Dei, qiu letificavit juventutem suam tam lucido signo,
et accendit luminaria ecclesie, ut opus divinum celebraretur, et
consummaretur tempore oportuno. Dominus ergo fuit illu-
minatio, et salus ejus, ne quempiam emulorum suorum ultra
timeret, quia judicavit et discrevit causam suam de pueris illis
erga eum iniquis, invidis et dolosis, ne ulterius malitia eorum
adversus eum vigere valeret.
Obstupuerunt omnes, videntes visionem banc magnam,
quum facula ilia ardebat absque sui detrimento, sicut quondam
rubus qui apparuit Moysi comburi videbatur, sine sui incendio.
1 B. M. inserts est. 2 jg_ ]yj_ o??ii7s et. ^ ^ m. aut.
* On marffin, clanculo .i. clam oculis. ^ B. M. inserts ejus.
^ B. M. tolerandum. "> B. M. sibi lucernam. ^ B. M. ignovimas.
° B. M. inserts videlicet. 1° B. M. et sic.
VITA KENTEGEUNI. 1 73
Idem tamen atque unus Dominiis iitrumque operatus est sig-
iium ill rubo et in corilo ; quia isdeni qui destiiiavit Moyseii
populo Ebreorum legislatoreni, ut eos educeret de servitute
Egiptiaca ; ipse Kentegernum destinare dedignatus ^ est Chris-
tiaiie^ legis predicatorem, pluribus populis nationum, ut eos
eriperet de dominatione demoniaca. Extincta est denique^
facula ilia, postquam accensa sunt ecclesie luminaria, et am-
plius ammirati sunf* universi, cernentes bee Dei magnalia.
Corilus etiam ilia, de qua ramusculus scisus est, benedictionem
a Sancto Kentegerno accepit, et ^ postmodum in nemusculum
silvescere cepit. Si vero de corileto illo, ut patriote dicuiit,
ramusculus etiam viridissimus assumptus fuerit, quasi aridis-
sinium quid ad tactum ignis quodamniodo lambentis, usque in
liodiernum diem iguem suscipit, et modico Hatu ^ pulsatus per
meritum Sancti igneam comam ex se spergit.'^ Et merito
miraculum liujusmodi continuare, immo perpetuare, promeruit,
cui in virore vernantis etatis cariiis jucunditas et si exterius
viruit, interius viluit ; ^ et omnis mundi gloria tamquam llos
feni penitus aniit eo quod spiritus Domini sufflavit in eo, et
verbum Domini in eternunj man ens ^ lucidissimam animam
illius, et corpus incoinquinatum, illustrando sibi consecraverit,
et in holocaustum mundissimum, in odorem suavitatis accep-
tum, flamma, sancti spiritus concremaverit.
[Cajj. bit.] — ^c coco r£0usdtat0 a mrrrtui© pt£dbu3 (Saudi
^cnttgcrni.
I^^ABEBAT Sanctus Servanus quemdam coquine officio
deputatum, sibi et ^° suis pernecessarium, eo quod in tali arti-
ficio peritus esset, et expeditus ; et sollicite satageret circa lioc
frequens ministerium. Contigit ut accerima infirmitate tactus,
lecto decumberet; et languore ingravescente et invalescente,
vitalem flatum exhalaret.^^ De cujus morte tristicia implevit
cor senis. Omnisque turba discipulorum ejus, totaque familia,
lamentabantur super eo, quia non facile aliquis similis illi in-
veniebatur in tali miiiisterio. Nature munus persolventes
originariam particulam in ventre ^'^ omnium tradiderunt ; nee
minimum de decessu ejus dampnum ^^ sustinuerunt, Postera
die sepulture ejus, accesserunt omnes discipuli, et famuli, ad
1 B. M. dignatus. 2 g ^ Christi. ^ B. M. imeris celitus.
* B. M. fiierunt. ^ B. M. que. c B. M. afflatu.
7 B. M. spargit. ^ B. M. vahiit. ^ B. M. manentis.
1" B. M. in. ^1 On margin, exhalare .i. exspirare mori.
^- B. M. i)iscrCs niatris. ^^ B. M. miranmm dampuum de decessu ejus.
174 VIT^ SANCTOKUM SCOTI^E.
beatum Servauum, tarn benevoli quam emuli, obnixe depre-
cantes ut suum Munhu ^ prece compellaret, et in vii'tute
obedientie compelleret, quatinus a mortuis cocum suum resus-
citare conaretur.^ Emuli enim asserebant magos in Egypto
prestigiis^ suis de celo signa ostendisse et teste Johanne in
Apocalypsi, discipulos antichristi ignem de celo missuros fore,
et multos maleficos in oculis omnium que miranda apparerent
maleficiis exercuisse,* nullum vero hominum aliquem veraciter
defunctum, nisi perfectus sanctitate fuerit/ posse a morte ad
vitales auras reducere.
Persistebant oportune, importune, verbis persuasoriis insti-
gantes, ut sanctitatem ejus tali opere experiri attemptaret ;
meritumque ejus per^ secula predicandum, si ad vitam mortuum
ac sepultum revocaret. Sanctus senex primo hesitans ne tarn
insolitum opus juveni injungerepresumeret, sed tandem impor-
tunitate inprobitatis illorum devictus et constrictus, adolescen-
tem Domini blandis sermonibus ac'^ precibus, super tali opere
convenit ; sed renitentem^ et hoc non esse sui meriti affirman-
tem invenit. Tunc Sanctus Servanus ilium per sanctum et
terribile^ nomen Domini adjuravit, ut si quid possit in liac re
saltem attemptaret, et hoc in vi sancte obedientie imperavit.
Adolescens autem adjurationem illam extimescens, existimans-
que obedientiam omnibus victimis meliorem, et Deo accep-
tiorem, ad tumulum ubi pridie cocus sepultus fuerat ivit, et
liumum qua operiebatur erui et ejici fecit. Solus ergo solo-
tenus fusus, et lacrimis ubertim profusis, faciem perfusus,
" Domine," inquid, " Jliesu Christe! vita et resurrectio tuorum in
te fideliter credentium ; qui mortificas, et vivificas ; deducis ad
inferos, et reducis ; cui vita et mors famulantur ; qvii suscitasti
Lazarum quadriduanum, resuscita hunc mortuum, ut glorifi-
cetur nomen sanctum tuum super omnia in secula benedic-
tum."
Ees niniium stupenda ! Dum Sanctus Kentegernus preces
profluas profunderet, prostratus in pulvere defunctus, continuo
revixit a funere ; et prodiit, institis^'' tamen involutus, a sepul-
crali lare. Qui plane cum surgente ab oratione a morte resur-
rexit, et cum eo incolumis et alacer turba copiosa comitante,
prius ad ecclesiam Deo gratias acturus, deinde jussu Kente-
gerni ad consuetum coquine officium, cunctis miraculo applaud-
^ B. M. Mixnghu suum. ^ g ^ temptaret.
■* On marcjln, prestigium est genus magice artis sive fraus.
* B. M. grecuisse. ^ B. M. fuerit perfectus sanctitate.
" B. M. in. ^ B. M. omits sermonibus ac.
* B. M. retiuentem. ^ B. M. intribile.
^'^ Oil manjin, instita .i. vinculum i)edum.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 175
entibus, et Deum laudantibus, perrexit. Eesuscitatus vero
reproborum supplicia, et justorum gaudia, que vidit, postmodum
enarravit ; et^ multos de malo ad bonum couvertit, multosque
lit de bono in melius proficere satagerent in sancto proposito
consolidavit. Sciscitatus vero^ a pluribus taliter modum de-
nudavit resuscitationis ejus. Asserebat se rebus humanis in-
dicibili dolore exemptum, et ante tribunal tremendi judicis
adductum, ibique vidisse plures accepta sententia in tartara
precipitari ; alios ad loca purgatoria destinari ; quosdam ad
celestia gaudia trans ethera elevari. Cumque sententiam suam
tremulus expectasset, se esse ilium pro quo dilectus Domini
Kentegernus oraret, audivit : et a lucifluo uno^ ad corpus re-
duci, vite et sospitati pristine restitui, jubetur : atque ut cor-
rection vite et* deinceps invigilaret, ab eodem ductore suo sedulo
commonetur. Isdem vero cocus, sacram religionem habitu et
actu preferens,^ et profitens, et perficiens de virtute in virtutem,
supervixif" septennio, sicque in fata concessit inclusus nobili
sarcophago. Exaratum est etiam in ejus tumbe operculo,
qualiter resuscitatus fuerat a Sancto Kentegerno, ut usque in
seculum a cunctis videntibus, vel visuris, glorificetur mirabilis
Deus^ in sancto suo.
[QTap. biii.]— Qualiter §anctu0 ^cntegcnius a (Sand0 <Serbano
dam hisczsszxiV tt quaU miraculum in ejus hxQCZQBU factum
fuerat.^
^TUM sanctitas Sancti Kentegerni, signis tarn insignibus
crebrescentibus, claresceret ; et virtutum suarum aromata longe
lateque odorem vite diffunderent ; emuli ejus ex vivificis odora-
mentis hauserunt sibi odorem mortis : et sancta opinio, que
multis ad sancte conversandum prebebat, incentivum^^ illis erat
erga Sanctum Dei majoris odii seminarium. Intellexit puer
prudens in Domino erga se completam esse eorum malitiam,
nee posse quiescere in inquietis cordibus inveteratam, in vis -
ceratam, et immedullatam invidiam. ISTec tutum arbitrabatur
sepius sopire juxta^^ serpentium venenatam turbam, ne forte
interioris suavitatis sentiret jacturam. Perpendit etiam popu-
laris favoris auram, serenius et suavius sibi aspirantem, et
undique Euge ! Euge ! acclamantem. Deliberavit proinde loco
1 B. M. 07nits et. 2 ^ m, autem. ^ B. M. selluttflno viro.
* B. M. owiife et. ^ B. M. perferens. ^ B. M. supervixerat.
" B. M. omits Deus. ^ B. M. discessit. ^ B. M. fuerit.
10 On maryln, incentivum .i. suggestio dcsiderium. B. M. incentium.
" B. M. secus.
176 VIT^ SANCTOEUM SCOTI/E.
cedere, lit posset conventum malignantium, et sibi invidentmm
humiliter declinare, et cenodoxiam ^ prudenter evitare. Consu-
luit super hoc, orationis intentissime instantia, magni consilii
angelum, ut spiritus ejus bonus deduceret eum in viam rectam ;
ne forte in vacuum curreret, aut cucurrisset. Inclinavit ergo
Dominus aurem suam ad preces servuli^ sui, revelans ei per
spiritum sanctum hoc, quod animo sederat, gratum fore in
oculis Domini.
Eecessit ergo^ clam a loco, habens Deum itineris ductorem
et protectorem in omni loco. Arripiens iter ad Frisicum litus
pervenit, ubi fluvius Mallenavocabulo, alveum* suum, ex reu-
mate^ maris influente, excedens, omnem transseundi spem
ademit. Sed pius Dominus et potens, qui divisit mare rubrum
in divisiones, et eduxit Israel per medium ejus siccis pedibus,
gradientem^ sub Moyse : et iterum Jordanis perpetem'' meatum
in proprium fontem retorsit, ut filii Israel sicco vestigio tran-
sirent, in terram repromissionis sub Josue; et ejusdem Jordanis
flumen divisit, ad precem Helie et Helisei discipuli ejus, ut
pertranssirent siccis gressibus : ipse nunc in eadem manu
potenti et brachio excelso divisit Mallenam fluvium, ut per
aridam transsiret dilectus Deo et hominibus Kentegernus.
Miro satis modo maris reumate refluente, et, ut ita dicam, ob-
stupescente, erant aque tam maris, quam fluminis, quasi muri
a dextris et a sinistris ejus. Deinde brachiolum marinum per
pontem, qui ab incolis Pons Servani vocatur, pertranssiens,
reductis oculis ad ripam vidit aquas, que in quandam congeriem
antea steterunt, refluo impetu alveum Mallene implore ; pontem
etiam prenominatum superffleuere, et cuilibet transsitum omnino
negare.
Et ecce Sanctus Servanus seniles artus baculo regents, fu-
gientem secutus^ supra ripam stetit, manu^ innuit, damans et
ejulans dixit ; " Heu mi fili karissime ! lumen oculorum meo-
rum ! baculus senectutis mee ! quare me deseris ? Cur me
derelinquis ? Cogita queso dies preterites, et annos transactos
in mente habe, quomodo te^° materno prof us um utero suscepi ;
enutrivi ; edocui ; educavi ; usque in hanc horam. Et noli
despicere, nee derelinquere canos meos ; sed revertere, ut in
proximo claudas oculos meos." Hiis verbis senis Kentegernus
motus, et in lacrimis resolutus, respondit. " Vides, pater,
divinum esse quod agitur ; nee debemus aut valemus consilium
1 On margin, cenodoxia .i. vanagloria. ^ B. M. servi.
^ B. M. igitur. * On margin, alveus est venter fluviorum.
^ On margin, reuma est tempestas a maris inundacio. ^ B. M. gradiente.
"^ On margin, perpes .i. perpetiis. B. M. periietum. ^ B. M. secus.
B. M. manum. ^^ B. M. inserts ex.
VITA KENTEGEKNL 177
Altissimi immutare, aut voluntati ejus nou obtemperare. In-
super mare istud, quasi quoddam chaos ^ inter nos firniatum est ;
ut si vellem ad vos transsire non possem, neque vos inde hue
ad me transmeare. Eogo ergo te, habe me excusatuni." Tunc
senex, " Eogo," inquit, " te ut prece tua, sicut paulo ante fecisti,
resolides^ liquidum, dividas salum,^ denudes solum, ut saltem
solus pertranssiens ad te perveniam per* siccum. Libenti
animo efficiar de patre tibi filius, de doctore discipulus, de
nutritore alumpnus ; ut usque ad vesperum dierum meorum
sim tibi comes individuus." Tunc iterum Kentegernus, multo
fletu madefactus, ait : " Eegredere queso, pater mi, ad tuos, ut
in tua sancta presentia sacra doctrina instruantur, tuo exemplo
instituantui', tua disciplina corrigantur. Eetributor omnium
retribuat tibi, pro universis beneficiis que mihi exhibuisti. Et
quum bonum certamen certasti, cursum jam jam que consum-
masti, fidem vivam et fructuosam servasti, superest tibi corona
justicie, quam tibi in proximo reddet Justus judex. Ego autem
in opus ministerii destinatus, pergam ad quod me misit, qui
me segregavit ex utero matris mee, et vocavit per gratiam
suam."
Hiis dictis, et mutuo benedictione percepta, divisi sunt^ ab
alterutrum : nee deinceps in hoc seculo mutuum exhibuere
conspectum. Servanus domum^ regressus, in senectute bona
expectabat diem vocationis sue. Sicque inveteratus dierum
bonorum appositus ad patres sanctos, requievit in Domino,
et tanquam bonus operarius in vinea, ad vesperum denarium
eterne remunerationis accepit a Domino. Qui profecto qualis
et quantus vir iste fuerit, et quantis miraculis'^ claruerit, libellus
de ipsius vita conscriptus luculentius legentibus ostendere
poterit. Locus autem ille per quem transsivit Sanctus Kente-
gernus inposterum prorsus intransmeabilis fuit. ISTam ille pons,
aquis maris semper deinceps contectus, nulli ulterius transse-
undi facultatem prebuit. Mallena etiam cursus sui impetum
a loco proprio permutavit ; et ab ilia die usque inpresens in
Ledonis iluvii alveum retorsit. Sic profecto fluvii qui eo usque
tunc^ ab invicem erant divisi, effecti sunt^ commixti atque co-
uniti.
1 On viargin, chaos .i. profunditas fossa confusa caligo.
2 On margin, resolido .i. iterum solido.
3 On margin, salum .i. mare. * B. M. oynif.t per.
5 B. M. fiierunt. ^ B. M. namque domi. ^ B. M. virtutibus.
^ B. M. tunc 60 usque. ^ B. M. fuerunt.
178 VITiE SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
[Cajr. ix.] — ^e tQvo qui limb^ntbat, et oranl)tr jjetitt, ac ixnpz-
trabit a pcntina, tit ante mortem <Sanctum ^cntegernixm
biberet ; et coram illo mortem grtstaret, et per illius probi-
ientiam sepultxxram pereiperet.
.HIT quidam vir vite venerabilis, Fregus nomine, multa et
diutina^ excoctiis egritudine. Degebat iste in villa cui vocabii-
lum est Kernach, lecto doloris detentus : fide fortis : conversa-
tione sancta sanus : celo intentus. Iste vir Justus et timoratus
austro perflante hortum suum ut fluerent aromata illius aure, et
corde suavitatem sanctitatis ex optima opinione Sancti Kente-
gerni emanantem sensit. Unde et in ilium estuanti desiderio,
et animus et oculus ejus sitivit ut sancti^ Symeonis desiderium
renovatum, iterato putaretur, quod erga Dominum videndum
habuit, Symeon namque hanelo^ spiritu salutare Dei, Christum
Domini carne vestitum, carneis oculis videre concupivit. Fregus
ut videret famulum Christi Domini Kentegernum, fide fixa, in-
defessis desideriis, crebris precibus, a Domino petivit. Utrius-
que desiderium Christus exaudivit, et, preparationem* cordis
eorum auris Dei audiens, adimplevit. Symeonis desiderium et
gaudium, die qua Christus in templo presentabatur, in salutem
sui impletum est. Fregus Kentegernum, eadem die qua a
Sancto Servano discessit, in consolationem sui vidit, et gavisus
est. Eesponsum enim Fregus accepit^ a Spiritu Sancto, non
visurum se mortem, nisi prius^ videret Kentegernum Nazareum
Domini. Et cum ad habitaculum sancti egroti Kentegernus
venisset, et pulsasset ad januam, eger intus divino edoctus oraculo
clamavit, dicens, " Aperite portas, quia nobiscum Deus. Adest
mee salutis nuntius, a Deo mihi promissus, a me diu expectatus,
hodie exhibitus." Et cum vidisset eum exultavit in spiritu, et
gratias agens benedixit Deum ; et dixit,^ "Nunc dimittis, Domine,
servum tuum, secundum verbum tuum, in pace, quia viderunt
oculi mei consolationem tuam, quam preparasti ante faciem
plurium populorum, lumen ad revelationem veri luminis quod
illuminat omnem hominem venientem in hunc mundum, et
gloriam vite eterne declarandam plebibus istarum et multarum
nationum." Et conversus ad eum, iterum dixit, " Dispone
domui mee, et vite mee hodie, et eras sepulture, prout placuerit
providentie tue, Deo inspirante." Deinde, commoneute Sancto
1 B. M. divina. ^ B. M. inserts senis,
3 On maryin, hanelus .i. anxius. * B. M. preparatione.
5 B. M. accepit Fregus. ^ B. :M. omits prius. '' B. M. ait.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 179
Kentegerno, quicquid terrene substantie possedit, dispersit, dedit
pauperibus, et^ pura confessione facta oleo remissionis est
immctus, et vivifici^ Dominici corporis et sanguinis sacramen-
tis munitus, in manus Domini spiritum suum commendavit, ocu-
lis ac manibus in celum intentus inter verba orationis expiravit.
In crastino Kentegernus ad plaustrum novum duos tauros
indomitos junxit, super quod corpus exanime posuit ; et ora-
tione facta in nomine Domini brutis animalibus precepit, ut
asportarent onus impositum, ad locum quem ei Deus providit.
Tauri vero minime recalcitrantes, nee in aliquo voci Sancti
Kentegerni resistentes, sine aliquo offendiculo vel lapsu, nullo
previo^ usque ad Cathures, que nunc Glasgu vocatur, itinere
recto, Kentegerno cum pluribus se commitantibus sequente
pergebant ; ibique juxta cemiterium quoddam a Sancto Niniano
quondam consecratum, cum sacre glebe* sarcina superiuposita,
pulcro satis spectaculo, cum omni mansuetudine subsistebant.
Ille nimirum non minori miraculo, nee modo dissimili, vel
potentia dispari, banc redam regens, et minans ad locum pre-
nominatum dirigebat, qui quondam archam federis ab Allophilis^
captam, Dagon obruto, et obtruncato, plaustro novo impositam,
vaccis fetis, que nunquam jugum traxerant, subjugatis, ab
Accaron usque Bethsames perducebat. Sanctus igitur^ sanctum
corpus ibidem de plaustro deposuit, et celebratis exequiis in
illo cemiterio sepiilture tradidit, in quo nondum quisquam
positus fuit. Hec fuit in illo loco'^ prima sepultura, in quo
postmodum corpora multa in pace sunt^ sepulta. Plurima
reverentia sepulcro viri Dei impendebatur ; nee impune ab
aliquo ausu temerario conculcari aut pertranssiri presumebatur.
Unde et infra anni evoluti circulum plures gravi infortunio
multi etiam morte multabantur, qui^ conculcare aut revereri
aspernabantur. Illud bustum usque in presens robore^^ obuni-
brantium arborum cingitur delectabili densitate, in indicium
sanctitatis sepulti^^ et reverentie.
1 B. M. que. 2 ^ m. vivificis.
3 B. M. pervio. * B. M. glebis.
^ On margin, allophalus .i. alienagena.
6 B. M. itaque. ^ B. M. loco illo.
8 B. M. fuerunt. ^ B. M. jMseWs illiul.
1° B. M. omits robore. ^^ B. M. inserts et robore.
180 YIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
[dlnp. X.] — ^e buobus fratribxxs, qnoritm umi3 iibino jixbicio in-
teriit, alter mm tota gcncalogia saa^ in multas generation's
a ^e0 benctiici promeritit.
^L lEO Dei Frego funerato, Sanctus Kentegernus cum duo-
bus fratribus, qui ante ejus adventum in eodem loco habitabaut,
sicut et ei per revelationem a Domino injunctum est ibidem
degebat, et in multa sanctitate vitam suam componens, virtuti-
bus magnis ad perfectionem proficiebat. Vocabatur unus eorum
cum quibus commorabatur Telleyr alter Anguen. Sed Angueu
sanctum Dei, tamquam angeliun^ Domini suscipiebat, et ex
beuimissimo cordis atfectu dili^jebat, et cum omni reverentia
et veneratione illius obsecundabat- imperils, ipsius etiam semet-
ipsum mancipabat obsequiis. Sed non frustra. Nam servus
Domini benedixit ei in nomine Domini. Qua sane benedic-
tione dulcedinis proventus non solum ipse, sed tota pene pos-
teritas ejus, accepit benedictionem a Domino, et misericordiam
a Deo Salutari nostro, illamque possidere videbatur quasi jure
liereditario. Magnificavit enim eos^ in conspectu regum, fe-
citque eis nomen magnum, juxta nomen magnorum qui fuerunt
in terra ilia ; ut tam opulentia rerum, quam Christiane reli-
gionis cultura, crescerent et dilatarentur, ut merito diceretur
de illis,* isti sunt semen cui benedixit Dominus,^ precibus servi
sui Kentesrerni.
Alter autem, vocabulo Telleyr, valde molestus erat ei, clam
religioni ejus detrahens, omnes actus ejus depravans, multo-
ciens ei palam in faciem resistens, contumeliis et injuriis ilium
afficiens : bona ejus aut minuendo, aut pervertendo, sinistra
interpretatione omnia obnubilabat. At servus Dei qui usu
diutino didicerat, cum beato Job, frater esse draconum, et
socius^ strutionum f et cum scorpionibus,^ instar Ezecbielis,
habitare ; in patientia possidebat animam suam, et cum odiente
pacem erat pacificus. Et cum loqueretur ei que ad pacem
sunt, impugnabat tamen eura Telleyr gratis, utpote perversus
et ingratus. Sed Deus ultionum dominus, patiens redditor,
non est ultra passus inultam iri injuriam illatam famulo suo.
Quadam namque die, post multa convitia quibus animam justi^
exacerbaverat, exibat ad opus suum. Et quia robustus erat
viribus, inposuit liumeris suis_^ lignum magni ponderis mensu-
' B. M. innerts usque.
'^ On marri'in, obsecundo — as .i. obedire obtemporare ex ob et secuudo.
^ B. M. nam eos Dominus. * B. M. de illis diceretur.
^ B. M. inserts meritis et. •■ B. M. socrus.
'' On margin, strucio .i. avis anglice ostriche.
* B. M. justa. " B. M. omUs suis.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 181
ram viriiim suarum excedens, elatus et triumphalem sibi titu-
lum^ aquisisse ratus, si"^ in omnibus portandis asinos superasset.
Et cum paululum processisset offendens ad lapidem pedem
suum corruit, sicque onere depressus expiravit ; expertiis quod
Salomon ait, " Ve soli, quia si^ ceciderit non babet sublevantem."
Et iterum, semel corruit qui semper male agit.
Kentegernus agnoscens quia* adversarius ejus occubuit, gravi-
biis lamentis se afflixit, et sepulturam ei procuravit; imitans in
lioc facto sanctum David pium Ebreorum, qui super persecu-
toris sui Saulis interitu luxit, et planctu magno planxit. Sed
quia teste Salomone, stulto pereunte sapiens astutior erit, evidens
satis documentum habemus in casu bujus hominis, et^ servos et
amicos Dei offendere caveamus, nee eis molestiam aut grava-
men, vel injuriam, inferre audeamus. Templum enim Dei sunt
electi, et Spiritus Sanctus habitat in eis. Tanto ergo magis
ipsis deferendum, et a lesione eorum abstinendum est, quanto
inhabitator eorum ad vindicandum eorum injurias poteutis-
simus, et ad faciendum justiciam injuriam patientibus equili-
bris est.
[QLw^. xi.] — ^£ ^Icrtionc ^anrti ^cntcgcrni tt c^nscrrationc tjws
in ^pierapum.*^
<]^^UMQUE^ Sanctus Kentegernus, in loco supramemorato
degens multorum karismatum affluentia exuberaret,^ placuit ei
qui sum segregavit ex utero matris sue, ne ulterius sub modio
lateret, sed positus potius^ super candelabrum educendo quasi
lumen justiciam suam, et judicium suum tamquam meridiem,
omnibus qui in domo Dei sunt lucere^*^ deberet. Instinctu ergo
divino Rex et clerus regionis Cambrensis cum ceteris Chris-
tianis, licet perpauci essent, in unum convenerunt ; et de statu
ecclesie reparando, que jam pene deleta fuerat tractantes,
unanimi consensu accedentes ad Sanctum Kentegernum,
ipsum in pastorem et episcopum animarum stiarum, licet pluri-
mum renitentem, et plura objicientem, elegerunt. Objiciebat
namque electioni eorum non ydoneam^^ esse^'^ adolescentiam; at
illi perorabant morum in eo canitiem, et sapientie ac scientie
affluentiam. llle causabatur se non posse pati^^ equauimiter
1 B. M. titulum sibi. 2 b. m. se.
3 B. M. omits si. * B. M. quod.
^ B. M. ut. ® B. M. in episcopum et consecration e ejus.
^ B. M. cumque. * B. M. exuberet.
3 B. M. potius positus. i" B. M. lucem.
1^ B. M. idumeam. ^^ B. M. insrrts suam. ^^ B. M. omlfx pati.
182 VIT/B SANCTORUM SCOTI.f:.
interne quietis, et sancte contemplationis diminutionem. Illi
econtra^ allegabant interpolandum esse salubriter sabbatuni
speculative vite, ob multarum animarum salvationem. Post-
remo se huic honori, immo oneri, insufficientem judicabat :
illorum omnium vox sufificientiam suam a Deo esse multis
signorum, et virtutum indiciis, propalatam conclamabat. Im-
precantes ergo ei prospera, et in nomine sancte Trinitatis bene-
dicentes, et spiritui sancto glorificatori,^ destributori omnium
graduum, et officiorum ac dignitatum in ecclesia, committentes
ilium intronizaverunt ; accitoque uno episcopo de Ybernia,
more Britonum et Scottorum tunc temporis, in pontificem con-
secrari fecerunt. Mos inolevit in Britannia, in consecratione
pontificum, tantummodo^ capita eorum sacri crismatis infusione
perungere, cum invocatione Spiritus Sancti,* et benedictione, et
manus impositione ; quem ritum dicebant desipientes se susce-
pisse divine legis institutione, et Apostolorum traditione. Sacri
vero canones sanciunt/ ut nullus episcopus consecretur, absque
tribus ad minus episcopis; uno videlicet consecratore, qui sacra-
mentales benedictiones, et orationes ad singula insignia ponti-
ficalia dicat supra sacrandum;^ et duo alii cum eo manus
imponant ; testes existant ; textum evangelorum cervici illius
impositum^ teneant. Sed licet consecratio Britonibus assueta,
sacris canonibus minus consona videatur, non tamen vim aut
effectum divini misterii, aut episcopalis ministerii amittere
comprobatur. Sed quia insulani, quasi extra orbem positi,
emergentibus paganorum infestationibus canonum erant ignari,
ecclesiastica censura ipsis condescendens excusationem illorum
in hac parte admittit. Sed temporibus istis hujusmodi ritum
ab aliquo, absque gravi animadversione, nullatenus*^ presumi
permittit. Sanctus vero Kentegernus, quamquam hoc modo
consecratus fuerit, correctioni omnimode hujus ritus de qua
postmodum dicemus, satisfecit. Cathedralem sedem suam in
villa dicta Glesgu,^ quod interpretatur Oara Familia, que nunc
vocatur Glasgu/*^ constituit. Ubi^^ et plurima^^ servorum Dei
continentium, et secundum formam primitive ecclesie sub Apo-
stolis, sine proprietate, in disciplina sancta, et divino obsequio
viventium, caram et claram^^ Deo familiam adunavit.
Diocesis vero Episcopatus illius secundum limites Cambrensis
^ B. M. eqiia. - B. M. sanctificatori. ^ g ^ |;a,m raodo.
* B. M. sancti spiritus. ^ B. M. sanctificant.
" B. M. super sacrandum dicat. "^ B. M. impositam.
8 B. M. ullatenus. " B. M. Deschu.
10 B. M. Glaschu. " B. M. omlt.'< ubi.
12 B. M. plurimam. i^ B. M. claram et caram.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 183
regni extendebatur. Quod itaque^ reguum, sicut vallum quon-
dam a Severo Principe, a mari usque ad mare : postmodum
auxilio et consilio legionis Eomanorum, ob arcendam irrup-
tiouem Pictorum, in eodem loco murus habens in latitudine
viii*°^ pedes, in altitudine xii""^ pedes construebatur :* usque ad
flumen Fordense pertiugit ; et Scociam ab Anglia disterminando
dividit. Hec autem regio Carabrina,^ cui jam Kentegernus
episcopal! prefuit honore,^ quondam tempore Eleutherii Pape,
principante rege Lucio, sicut et tota Britannia, fidem Christianam
susceperat ; sed paganis diversisteniporibus insulam infestinan-
tibus,'^ et in ea dominantibus, insulani susceptam fidem in apo-
stasiam lapsi abjecerant. Multi etiam salutari nondum erant
abluti lavacro. Multi multiplicis heresis maculati contagio.
Multi nomine tenus Christiani vitiorum volutabro obvoluti
multiphario : perplures imperitorum^ et legem Dei ignorantium
edocti magisterio. Et omnes ideo^ provinciales boni Pastoris
consilio egebant, et boni rectoris remedio. Deus ergo omnium
bonorum dispositor et dispensator providit,^^ preposuit, proposuit
Sanctum Kentegernum, morbis omnibus universorum in mede-
1am, et vitalem alimoniam, et exemplum.
[CTap. xii.] — ^itomob^ (Sitttctus ^entcgcrnus in episropattt,
ljib£nl)0, et ii0cmb0, sc habitit;" bel palam, bel^^ pribatim,
3Z txhihnmt
►EATUS Kentegernus regimine potitus, sicut ceteris pre-
eminebat dignitate, ita cunctis satagebat precellere sanctitate.
Et sicut sublimior gradu, sic ceteris excellentior apparere
studuit, sanctorum virtutum morumque profectu. Indignum
enim arbitrabatur humi repere, ac^^ jacere in imo, qui supra
montem ascendere, ut evangelizaret Syon, divino perstringe-
batur precepto. Et vere indecens est abjecte vivere, qui ex
officio cogitur alta annunciare ; et ideo sanctus Dei ampliorem
solito humilitatem, et austeritatem, in victu, et vestitu, in vigiliis,
et lectisterniis, et mortificatione sui corporis, post acceptum
episcopalem gradum semper studuit exercere. Et ut breviter
totam vitam ejus depingam, a tempore ordinationis sue, que
ei evenit vicesimo quinto anno etatis sue, usque ad ultimum
terminum vite que scilicet per centum et sexaginta annorum
1 B. M. utique. ^ B. M. octo. ^ B. M. diiodecira.
^ B. M. inserts et. ^ B. M. Cambria. '' B. jM. honore prefuit.
'^ B. M. infestantibus. ^ B. M. im[)ioriun. '■' B. M. ideo onines.
10 B. M. providet. " B. M. habuerit. ^- B. M. et.
i-' B. M. aut.
T
184 VIT^ SANCTOKUM SCOTIiE.
spatium ^ durabat, post tridimm, ac multociens quadriduiim,
jejunium solvens, vilibus et levissimis cibis, pane videlicet, et
lacte, vel caseo, aut butiro, et pulmento, corpus potius refocil-
labat gustando, quam reficiebat ; ne animal penitus deficeret in
via mortalitatis hujus : inimo^ ut competentius dicam diutine^
crucis cruciatu membra sua super terram mortificans, semetip-
sum hostiam vivam Deo placentem in odorem suavitatis mac-
tando offerret. A carne enim/ et sanguine ; vino, et omni quod
inebriare potuit, tamquam unus, immo precipuus, de Nazareis,
omnino abstinuit. Se vero aliquando contingebat ut in itinere
esset, vel cum Eege prandens, a consueto rigore abstinendo^ se
temperaret. Postmodum ad sua reversus illud, quasi grave
crimen in se vindicans, abstinentiam amplificabat.
[dap. xiti] — ^e mobo be0titus .Saudi ^entegcnvi.
^^A-TEBATUR^ ad nudum asperimo cilicio ; deinde melote
ex pellibus caprinis confecto ; deinde cuculla stricta quasi pis -
catoria. Super quam alba Candida contectus, stolam cervici
semper*^ impositam^ gestabat. Et virgam pastoralem^ non
spericam^^ etiam auratam ac gemmatam, sicutnunc temporis est
cernere; sed de simplici ligno, tantum reflexam. Habens^^ in
manu librum manualem, semper paratus ad ministerium suum
exercendum, ubi necessitas vel ratio exposcebat. Sicque can-
dore vestis candidatum interioris hominis exprimebat, et vanam
gloriam evitabat.
o
[€ap. xib.] — ^c Icdt0t€rtti0 §andi gcntcgcrnt ; d bigtliis,
d balnc0^- in aijius frigibis.
tsiJE lecto ejus quod dicam ? Hesito utrum lectum nominem,
an sepulcrum. Jacebat in saxo/^ instar monumenti cavato ;
habens capiti^^ lapidem, loco cervicalis suppositum, velud alter
Jacob. Optimus sane luctator contra carnem, contra mundum,
contra diabolum. Injectis aliquantis cineribus, cilicio sub-
tracto, pocius sompnum bauriendo quam carpendo, se a sopore
excuciebat. Et ut luculencius exprimam, quadam sompni
delibati similitudine, Christo semetipsum consepeliebat. Hausto
1 B. M. omits sputinm. ^ B. M. immo. 3 g ]\j divine.
* B. M. autem. ^ B. M. abstinencie. ^ ^ lyj Tegebatiir.
^ B. M. omits semper. * B. M. inserts jugiter.
^ B. M. pastoralem virgam. ^" On 7narrjin, spericus — ca .i. rotundus.
" B. M. habebat. ''^ B. M. inserts ejus. i^ g, m. inserts ad.
" B. M. captii.
-VITA KENTEGEIJNI. 185
deniqiie mod ice quietis sopore consurgebat in nocte, in prin-
cipio vigiliarum suarnm, et effundebat sicut aquam cor suum
ante conspectnm Domini Dei sni. Sicque in psalmis, et
hymnis, et^ canticis spiritualibus, celebrans excubias Domini,
exultabat Domino, jubilabat Deo Salutari nosbro, usque ad
secundum gallicinium. Tunc acriori certamine contra draconem
ilium magnum, et malignum, qui juxta prophetam cubat in
medio fluminum^ suorum, conflictum iniens, expoliare se vesti-
mentis suis solebat et nudus,^ nudum Christum sequens, nudum
et* exertum^ se reddens, aquis vehementibus et^ frigidis se in-
mergebat. Tunc plane quemadmodum desiderat cervus ad
fontes aquarum, ita anima ejus desiderabat,^ ad Deum fontem
vivum ; ibique in frigore^ et nuditate oculis ac manibus celo
infix us, corde^ et ore devoto, totum ex integro decantabat psal-
terium. Dehinc effectus unus ex gi'ege tonsarum que ascen-
dere de lavacro usque ad montem Galaad, ex aquis emergens
velud columba lacte lota, immo velud Nazareus candidior nive,
nitidior lacte, rubicundior ebore^^ antiquo, saphiro pulcrior,
super lapidem in supercilio montis vocabulo Gulath, juxta
fluenta, prope casam suam, membra sua exsiccans sedebat.
Sicque siccato corpore vestimenta resumens, quasi diluculo pre-
parans^^ egressum suum, copiam'sui suis exhibebat. Hujus
consuetudinem lavacri non coruscantis fulguris ignis, grand o,
nix spiritus procellarum, ei defraudabant ; nisi^^ iter inevitabile
arreptum, aut egritudo gravissima prohiberent. ^^ Sed et tunc
aliquo alio divino et^* spirituali exercitio illud opus redimebat.
Ex diutino ergo usu hujus salutaris lavacri, quasi Jordanis novi,
restituta est caro ejus quasi caro pueri parvuli ; quia lex peccati
que in membris pudendis militat, ita in ipso debilitata est, et
ignis libidinis emortuus, et^^ extinctus, ut nulla carnis prurientis
putredo in vigilando, vel etiam dormiendo, lilium sui nivei
pudoris pollueret, vel decoloraret.^^ JSTec^'^ etiam simplicem
motum in se sevire, veP^ vigere sentiret. Cooperante namque
gratia Christi in cujusdam puerilis^^ puritatis innocentiam, sopi-
tis stimidis caro ejus effloruit. Et imo-° Justus iste, sicut inmar-
cessibile lilium, ante Dominum germinavit. Unde etiam qua-
dam vice discipulis suis simpliciter profitebatur, quod non magis
1 B. M. que. ' B. M. fluvium. 3 b_ m. suis sabba.
■* B. M. que. •' On mai-'jin, exertus .i. manifestus nucUis.
'' B. M. que. ^ B. M. hiserts et sitivit. "^ B. M. insfrts que.
^ B. M. iuwrlti que. "> B. M. elore. " B. M. pre])aratis.
1- B. M. ubi. 13 B. M. prohibent. " B. M. omits divino et.
1'' B. M. que. ^^ B. M. deeoloniret. ^~ B. M. non.
IS B. M. aut etiam. " B. M. puriliter. 20 b_ m. ideo.
186 VITiE SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
ad speciosissime puelle visum, aut tactum, quam ad durissimi
scilicis, stimularetur.
[Ca^j. xb.] — ^uali mo'bo Icquenbt bir '§n uti mnsuebit. ^
2l£N loquendo autem potens erat cohibere spiritum suiim, et^
doctus ponere custodiam ori siio, et^ hostium circumstancie
labiis suis, ut disponeret in judicio sermones suos. Nee facile
caderet aliquis sermonum ejus super terram, aut verbum emis-
sum volaret, inventum et* ad se rediret in vacuum. Loquebatur
ergo in pondere, numero, et^ mensura, ubi occasio necessaria se
ingerebat. Sermo enim ejus sale conditus, omni etati, omnique
sexui, congruebat. Mel enim et lac sub lingua ejus et vino
spirituali repleta erat apotheca ejus, et imo^ lac par\ailus in
Christo, mel provectior, vinum perfectus, in salutem sibi tiaurie-
bat ex ore ejus. In judicando, aut redarguendo, sen corripiendo,
penes se pondus et pondus^ non habebat, nee aceipiebat per-
sonam hominis, sed causam attendebat ; et^ secundum nomen^
culpe, pro tempore et loco, mensuram ecclesiastice discipline
cum summa discretione extendebat. Ceterum plus predicabat
Sanctus iste silendo, quam multi doctores aut rectores clamando.
Quia aspectus ejus, vultus, habitus, incessus, et tocius corporis
gestus, disciplinam profitebantur, et interioris hominis, que^*' in-
trinsecus latebat, puritatem certis indieiis foris irrumpentibus^^
ad liquidum interpretabantur. De munificentia ejus que se
totam elemosinis, et^^ misericordie operibus, dederat, superfluum
est calamo quippiam mandare. Cum omnis substaneia, quam
ei divina largitas contulerat, commune pauperum erarium erat.
[Cap. xbi.] — Quanta iUustrari meruit gratia, bum sacra
inissarnm rclebrar^t mist^ria.
.^5 ED licet in prefatis, et similibus Sanctis exercieiis, se
hominem, aut aliquando supra hominem, se exhibebat ; in sacris
tamen misse misteriis celebrandis, quodammodo hominem,
exuens, ac terrenis se subducens, divinum quid dam ^^ supra
hominem totum agebat. Dum enim elevatis^^ in modum crucis
manibus sursum corda diceret, ad quod ceteros ammonuit,
* B. M. vir uti consuevit Dei. - B. M. oviits et. ^ B. M. que.
" B. M. que. ''• B. M. que. « B. M. que ideo.
^ B. M. omits et pondus. * B. M. que. ^ B. M. modum.
'" B. M. qui. " B. M. erumpentibus. '- B. M. que.
^^ B. M. quoddam. " B. M. elevatis enim.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. IST
suiim habebat ad Dominum. Ita ex thuribulo illo aureo sui
purissimi cordis, vivis virtutum et ignitis divina dilectione car-
bonibus repleto, siciit incensum lucidissimum et odoriferuni,
oratio ejus nubes transsiens, celos penetrans, luci inaccessibili
SB inmergens, in conspectu Domini dirigebatur. Ut ipse
Altissimus earn sibi in odorem suavitatis acceptasse, signis
evidentibus oculis mortalium declarare dignaretur. Multociens
enim, dum sacramenta divina tractaret, columba nivea, rostrum
quasi aureum habens, visa est capiti^ ejus insidere, ac perlucido
alarum suarum remigio,^ instar Solaris radii, ipsum et altari
imposita obtegere, Crebro etiam dum sacrifex sacrificans sacris
astaret altaribus, nubes lucida obumbravit super capud ejus.
Aliquociens etiam tempore illo quo Patri immolabatur Filius,
non ipse astare videbatur, sed columpna ignea, cujus fulguore
intuentium obtunderentur obtuitus. Non tamen omnibus datum
est nosse vel^ videre hoc ministerium,* sed quibus datum est a
Patre luminum. Quadam vice enim^ dum sacra celebraret mis-
teria^ sacerdos Domini odorifera quedam nebula implevit totam
domum, ubi plurimi erant audientes sacra misteria Domini. Odor
enim super omnia aromata omnes qui convenerant inestimabili
suavitate perfudit; ef multis inibi constitutis variis incomodis
laborantibus^ plenam sanitatem infudit. Sane dum hec refero
tristicia implevit^ cor meum, qui tam multipharie video hodie
pollui sacerdotium. Ut enim interim taceam de hiis qui
symoniace ad immolandum accedunt, aut cum Juda corpus
dominicimi vendunt, qui videlicet illud non nisi pro precio
offerunt; de illis loquor, qui ciiminibus obvoluti, et flagitiis
dissoluti^'^ corpore et corde polluti, purificatorium sacrificium
impuris manibus contrectare, et contaminare, presumunt. Heu
in quantis sacerdotibus hodie sentitur putor feditatis, potius
quam odor spiritualis suavitatis I quam plures hodie tene-
brosus turbo possidendi^^ obcecat, quam lucida nubes obumbrat !
Ve, ve, inquani pluribus hodie, in quibus potius attenditur
flamma sulphurea, quam circumfulgens columpna ignea I Sed
nunc ad meipsum, et mei similes, qualicunque modo sacerdocio
fimgentes oculos reduco, quibus pro columba nivea tempore
sacrificii, musce satis importune emergunt ex flumine Egypti.
Hoc est cogitationes immunde, vane, inutiles, prorumpunt^- in
memoria,^^ ex ymaginatione hujus labentis seculi. Quo circa
^ B. M. cajjita.
- On marijin, remigiiun .i. actns vel offioium remigis sive remigiin.
•> B. M. et. * y>. M. misterium. '' B. M. non vice.
^ B. M. omitb- misteria. " B. M. (|ue. * B. M. variis langoribus.
9 B. M. implet. '" 1',. M. w.^kHs et. i' B. M. possideudo.
^'- B. M. perumpuut. ^'■' \'>. M. memoriam.
188 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
timor et tremor veniuut super me, quia, teste Salomone, musce
morientes perdunt suavitatem unguenti ; eo quod mentes hujus-
modi cogitationibus occupate, minime experiantur quanta sit
dulcedo interne suavitatis, que procedit ex visitatione Spiritus
Sancti.
[€ap. xbii] — djjualitcr <Sandus ^tntegcmus, onmi qitaint-
Qcsima, ab loca ©eaetiora in Im-cmo sccebrns, ante anant
^0mim, aliquau^o \3zi bcminicain pahnarum, ab ecrksiam
stiam rcbicrit.
'^.ORMAM vite descriptam vir Dei, fere omni tempore, usque
ad ultimum senium^ extra quadragesimam tenebat. Nam in
illis diebus ultra solitum, in quadam vite novitate ambulare
assueverat. Quorumdam enim sanctorum patrum fervorem^
emulatus, vel potius Helye et loliannis Baptiste, aut ipsius
Salvatoris, vestigia sectatus, omni quadragesimali tempore ad
deserta loca secedebat. Et^ sic se elongando fugiens a con-
spectu filiorum hominum, et manens in solitudine corporis et
mentis, secuni liabitabat. Ibique liberius Deo vacans, a con-
turbatione hominum et a contradictione* linguarum, et con-
fabulatione absentatus, in abscondito faciei Dei latitabat.
Sedens ergo solitarius levabat se supra se ; et^ crebro in caver-
nis terre commorans, et in ostio spelunce sue stans, et® orans,
post commotionem^ turbinis et ignis, senciebat sibilum aure
tenuis perflantem, et indicibili quodam dulcore perfundentem
et implentem se. Circuibat ergo plateas superne lerusalem, ad
querendum dilectum suum, sibi, immolansque in corde suo
hostiam jubilationis, mortificabat nichilominus membra sua,
sanctissima que erant super terram. Semetipsum offerrens
hostiam vivam sanctam, Deo placentem, diutino martyrio inrio-
centissimum corpus macerans in odorem suavitatis. Quibus
vel qualibus cibis diebus illis vitam suam sustentabat, nulli,
aut forsan^ paucis, indicavit. Quibus tamen ut nulli ^ morta-
lium misterium illud denudarent pontifical! auctoritate inter-
dixit.
Semel tamen locutus est, et duo ex suis audierunt hoc irre-
vocabile verbum, ex ore ejus simel et simpliciter emissum.
"Novi," inquit, "quendam qualibus^'' quadragesima radicibus
tantum herbarum vitam suam sustentasse, et aliquotiens. Domino
^ B. M. servum. ^ b_ m. servorem. ^ B. M. que.
^ B. M. omits hominum et a coutradictione. ^ B. M. que.
" B. M. que. '^ B. M. commotationem. * B. M. forsitan.
'■> B. M. nulla. ^ B. M. qualiter.
VITA KENTEGEIIXI. 189
tribuente virtiitem, totum illud tempus absque terreni cibi sus-
tentaciilo transegisse." Hoc aiitem ilium cle seipso dixisse
ueuter eorum dubitavit : sed nomen suum vir Dei suppressit,
ob vauam glorium vitandaru, quam ubique fugere curavit. Ante
cenam tamen Domini prius multo tempore, postea sabbato ante
dominicam palmarum, ad sua et suos, ob episcopale officium
peragendum revertebatur. Et velud angelus lucis et pacis ab
omnibus suscipiebatur. Illam itaque ebdomadam cum suis
agere consueverat, et in cena Domini, post confectionem sacri
crismatis, et olei, prius midtitudinis pauperum, et postea lepro-
sorum, pedes propriis manibus cum lacrimis lavans, et capillis
terpens ac crebris oculis mulcens,^ ad mensam postea ipse
diligent er illis ministrabat. Postmodum- cum penitentibus
reconciliatis in convivio, ob eorum consolationem sedens, semet-
ipsum et ipsos, corporali et spirituali alimonia reficiebat. Et
ab ilia liora usque ad^ missam die Pasche celebratam, jejunus
jugiter permanebat. In parasceve vero incredibili cruciatu cum
crucilixo semetipsum crucifigebat. Et plagis virgarum, et
nuditate, et crebris genuum flexionibus, vix aliquando sedens
stigmata* vulnerum Christi in corpore suo circumferens, cum
uimia cruce cordis et corporis, diem cum nocte continuando
ducebat.
Sacratissimo autem sabbato, quasi mundo mortuus, in sepulcro
dupplici antiquum dierum verimi videlicet^ Abraham sibi con-
sepeliens in abuudantia interne contemplationis sepulcrum in-
grediens, ab omni tumultuantis seculi strepitu sabbatizabat ;
excepto quod officium ad diem pertinens celebratujus appare-
bat. Demum renovatus spiritu mentis sue, cum aromatibus
sanctarum virtutum, tam diligenter preparatis, diem dominice
resurrectionis sacratissimum expectabat. Cum Christo quodam
modo conresurgens, de carnibus agni immaculati, in azimis
sinceritatis et veritatis epulabatur, Et in die quam fecit Domi-
nus fecit^ cells et terris exultabilem, omni spirituali jocundi-
tate letabatur : et cum fratribus, et copiosa pauperum multitu-
dine, convivabatur. Quod et in ceteris precipuis solempnitatibus
facere dicebatur. Si vero casu urgente contingeret, ut cum
secularibus pranderet, quod tamen raro evenit, gustans modicum
de cibo apposite, spiritualibus epulis convivantes saginabat, et
vaniloquium'^ quod in conviviis superfluere solet, refrenans,
suam abstinentiam sacre predicationis velamine palliabat.
1 B. M. osciilis demulcens. 2 g jyj postmoclo. ^ B. M post.
* On maryin, stigma .i. cicatrix signum iistio. ^ B. ^I. in delice.
^ B. M. qua Dominus fecit. ^ B. M. vaniloquum.
190 \1TJE SANCTOKUM SCOTL^.
[€ay. xbitt.] — ^uam hril.ircm tiultuni habuit ; ct^ quib be
huporritis scn0crit.^
JS^ANCTUS Kentegernus secundum corporis form am medio-
cris stature, viciuioris tamen longitudini, esse^ dicitur. Et
robustus viribus, et ad cujuslibet laboris tolerantiam, sive
secundum corpus, seu secundum spirituni, quodammodo infati-
gabilis extitisse asseritur. Erat enim pulcher aspectu, et forma
decorus : plenum gratie et reverentie vultum liabens, oculis
columbinis, et genis turturinis,* omnium intuentium aff'ectus in
dilectionem sui conducebat. Et^ exterioris homiuis hylaritatem^
interioris suavitatis indicem, et satis fidissimum interpretem
representans, quodam placore'^ spirituals jocunditatis et exulta-
tionis quam Dominus thesaurizavit super eum, cunctos perfunde-
bat. Hypocrisym namque tali habitu talique gestu fugiens,
omnes sui sequaces iilam summopere fugere docebat. Et^ ypo-
critas teterrimum esse genus hominum exemplis monstrans, ver-
bis taliter astruebat : " Cavete,"^ inquit ad suos, " karissimi, ab
ypocrisis vitio, que est quodam modo fidei abrenuntiatio, spei
alienatio, caritatis exinanitio,-^° cancer castitatis, veritatis exce-
catio :^^ career sobrietatis, compes justicie, vulpecula obedientie,
pallium^^ breve pacientie. Et, ut breviter inferam, ipsa est
religionis tinea, virtutum exterminium,^^ latibulum vitiorum,
totius iniquitatis asilum,^* flagitiorum^^ domicilium. Quod
autem ypocrisis sit omnium malorum fomentum, docet Domi-
nus ubi dicit ypocrisim esse Phariseorum fermentum. Sicut
enim fermentum pasto immissum illud inane inflatum, aci-
dum reddit ; sic ypocrisis cor quod possidet a religione
vacuum, et de falsis laudibus hominum inflatum, et da-
tum, etiam contra veritatem conscientie, et adversus bonos
justos, puritatem et sanctitatem^^ sectantes, asperos, acros, et
amaros, ef&cit. Et vere, karissimi, cum omnis iniquitas per se,
et in se, sit simplex sola ypocrisis in se est duplex, inimo
multiplex. Hypocrita namque, quantum in se est, omnia
videntem excecare temptat, dum ab ipso oculos avertens, ante
bumanos obtuitus vitia sua, sub ymagine ostense sanctitatis,
1 B. M. uuilum habuerit : que. 2 g M. orZcZs vel clixerit.
■^ B. M. fiiisse. ^ B. M. turturiuius. ^ B. M. que.
6 B. M. hylaritate.
^ 0)1 mar<jin, placore .i. tianquillitate mitigacioue. B. AL placere.
* B. M. que. " B. M. caveie.
^^ On mar(jin, exiiianicio .i. revacuacio.
^^ B. M. veritatis execatio, cancer castitatis. ^'- B. M. iii.'<erf'< utique.
1^ B. M. extiininium. '* On margin., asilum .1. domus refugii.
'° B. M. fronciunim in. ''• B. M. puritatem sauctitate.
VITA KENTEGEKM. 191
obumbi'dtJ Et licet alii iiiipii, et liagitiosi, ac facinorosi, sunt
membra Anticlinsti, soli tamen ypocrite singulariter et speci-
aliter sunt ejus sequaces, et preambuli ;'-^ sicut simplices veri-
tatis, et puritatis amatores, atque seetatores, suut membra et
discipuli Jesu Christi. Ipse namque Anticbristus, sicut scrip-
tum est, sedebit in templo Dei, signis mendacibus ostenderet^
se tanquani'* sit Deus. Ipse etiani angelus Satbane transfigurat
se in angelum lucis: et ideo non est minim si specialis minister
ejus, et membrum, transformet se in ministrum justitie, cum
sit ipse synagoga Satbane. Credite mibi, quia in veritate dico
vobis, non est multo major ira Dei seviens in ecclesia Dei
quani ut ypocritam regnare in ea faciat, propter peccata populi.
Nam et in Apocalipsi pernitiosior persecutio in equo pallido,
quam in ceteris precedentibus sevire describitur ; quia nimirum
multo pernitiosius sancta ecclesia sub ypocrisi leditur, que per
pallidum equum signatur^ quam sub tempore aperte persecu-
tionis, quo fideles vel infideles, justi sive injusti, manifesti fie-
bant, et mvdtitudo martyrum coronabatur. Sed plane ypocrite
quales intus lateant in gestu, et habitu exterioris hominis, sub-
tiliter intuentibus, et spiritualia^ omnia judicantibus declarant.
Dum enim gressus suos in modum turturis depingunt, scapulis
contractis capud demittunt, oculos in terram defigunt, facies
exterminant, suppressis labiis suspiraudo loquentes nescio.quid
muliebre pronunciant, statum suum interiorem talibus indiciis
manifestant. Gressibus enim suis pavonibus immo latronibus
se simulant ; scapularum contractione jugum Christi suave et
onus leva ejus se miuime gestare -J capitis demissione et oculo-
rum intuitu corde ceno inherere potius quam celo, de terra
cogitare, terram amare, terrenis desideriis^ se iubiare, demou-
straut ; facie vero exterminata^ dorsa magis quam facies ad
Deum se convertere insinuant ; et muliebri locutione dissolute
et non viriliter se vivere^*^ comprobant. Quibus tales similes
dixerim nisi prestigiatoribus, qui ignem, aquam, homines,
bestias, et cetera, ostendunt ymaginarie, ubi substantia non
est ? Sed licet simulatores, et callidi ypocrite, provocantes in
se iram Dei, evadaut opinionem secundum faciem judicantium,
nullatenus illius qui scrutatur corda et renes faUent, aut effu-
gient equilibre judicium. " Hec vobis, karissimi," ait vir Dei,
" dixi, non ut vobis laqueum, nuntiem,^^ aut ut^- maturitatem
1 B. M. adumbrat. 2 g j^j fambuli. ^ g. ]\i. ostendet.
* B. M. hisert si. '" B. M. figuratur. " B. JM. spiritualiter.
' B. M. ejus leve se gestare minirae. * B. M. desidiis.
^ B. M. exteiiata. '<* B. M. vivere se. " B. M. iiunciam.
^- B. M. uiiiltK ut.
] 92 VIT.E SANCTOKUM SGOTLE.
ill vultu, gestu, habitii, et disciplinam, non exhibeatis; sed hoc^
omuimodis ammoneo ut in simplicitate cordis Deum queratis,
et interne puritati intrinsecani ^ sociantes, et^ ypocrisim ubique
lugientes, cum spirituali liylaritate omnia vestra faciatis.* Sic
sic in omnibus operibus vestris edificabitur homo, giorificabitur
Deus, quia liylarem doctorem etboni operatorem^ diligit Deus."
[^Unp. xtx.] — d^uomoic glcntcgcvnus populum nit ^jrccrat, d tx
tuitgua pnxU apostabcrat, ab fbem ^hvisti rouburtcrct ; d
toe qui fbcm iniquis opa-ibw© propKanabcrant, ab roiTCi:-
tioi-cm bitam rcbuxmt.
►EATUS itaque Kentegernus pontificatu suscepto, officium^
injunctum strenue amministrare studuit. Vidensque hosteni
Aquilonalem, principem scilicet hujus mundi, in partibus iliis
sedem sibi posuisse, ibique regnare, contra eum dimicaturus
spiritualia arma arripuit. Indutus ergo scuto fidei, galea spei,
lorica justitie, accinctus gladio spiritus, quod est verbum
Domini, invadit atrium fortis illius armati, et vasa ejus dirupit,
suffultus amminiculo Domini ubi tutum,'^ fortis plane in prelio.
Et ut ad compendium veniam non cessavit pes ejus, non manus,
non lingua, ab arrepti itineris^ circuitione, a virtutum opera-
tione, a salutari predicatione, donee remiscerentur,^ et conver-
terentur ad Dominum, omnes tines illius terre. Qui vero
vitali unda nondum regenerati fuerant, sicut cervi sitibundi, ad
fontem vivum baptismi, estuanti desiderio, concurrerunt.^'' Qui
autem apostataveraiit, aut aliqua secte heretice erratica doctrina
a Sana fide aberraverant, per preconem salutis, viam Dei in
veritate^^ docentem, a laqueis diaboli quibus captivi tenebantur,
resipiscentes, et ad ecclesie gremium revertentes, Christo incor-
porati sunt.
Cepit ergo bellator inclitus delubra^^ demonum debellare,
simulacra subvertere, ecclesias exstruere, exstructas dedicare,
parochias certis limitibus in funiculo distributionis dividere ;
clerum ordinare, incestuosa et illicita conjugia dissolvere, con-
cubinatus in legitima matrimonia commutare ; ritus ecclesias-
ticos pro posse studebat inducere ; et quod fidei, quod legi^^
Christiane, quod justitie, erat consonum, conabatur constituere.
Ubicumque enim proficiscebatur, non equo vectus, sed usque ad
1 B. M. hec. 2 B. M. extrinsecara. ^ ^ -^ omits et.
* B. M. facietis. '•> B. M. operatioue. <* B. M. Inserts sibi.
^ B. M. virtutum. ^ B. M. muiieris. ^ B. M. reminiscerentur.
I'J B. M. cucurrermit. " B. M. virtiite.
1^ On margin, dclubia iliciuitur teni}!la. ^^ B. M. legis.
VITA KENTEGEUNI. 193
ultimuni pene senium, more Apostolorum, pedes gradiebatur.
Hiis ita rite peractis, domi reversiis, in sua se recipiebat ; ibi-
que more solito, iu summe religioiiis perfectione, vitam virtuti-
bus et miraculis gloriosam ducebat. De quibus nunc aliqua
calamo mandare dignum dicimus/ quia plurimis ea prof'utura
non ambigimus.
[€i\\i. XX.] — ^uomatio .Sanrtus Slcntcgcrnus arbum d lupum
sub ttua jugo ab aratuui posucrit ; ^t itunam scminau©,
tritinim mcssiimt.
W Ili Dei itaque^ perplures, ut diximus, discipulos aduna-
verat. Quos divine legis sacris litteris erudiens, verbo et ex-
emplo ad vite sanctitatem instituit. De quibus cooperarios in
messem dominicam destinare proposuerat. Hii omnes emula-
bantur Dei emulatione vitam, et doctrinam ejus, jejuniis et
vigiliis sacris assueti, psalmis, et^ orationibus, et divine legis*
meditationi intenti, victu et vestitu mediocri contenti, labore
manuali certis temporibus et horis occupati. More namque
primitive ecclesie, sub Apostolis et eorum successoribus, nichil
proprium possidentes, satis sobrie, juste, et pie, et continentis-
sinie, viventes, in singulis tamen casulis ex quo etate^ et sapi-
entia maturaverant, sicut et ipse Sanctus Kentegernus com-
morabantur, unde et singulares clerici a vulgo*^ Calledei
nuncupabantur. Tamulus itaque Jhesu Cliristi exibat mane
ad opus suum, et quandoque ad operationem suam'' usque ad
vesperam, et maxime in^ agricultura laborans, ne panem suum
ociosus, sed potius in sudore vultus sui commederet, et exem-
plum operandi suis preberet, et ut haberet unde necessitatem
patienti tribueret.
Contiget quodam tempore ut boves ei omnino deessent, ex
quorum penuria aratro cessante tellus inarata remansit. Quod
cum vir Dei cerneret, elevatis oculis ad oram nemoris prope
positi, vidit gregem cervorum, passim^ per saltum salientem.
Qui statim oratione facta, potenti verborum virtute eos ad se
accersivit, et in nomine Domini, cui omnia muta et irrationa-
bilia, bestia, et universa pecora campi, obsecimtur, loco bourn
jugari ad aratrum, et terram arare precepit. Qui ilico imperio
viri Dei obtemperabant, et quasi boves mansueti, et agriculture
1 B. M. aucimus. ^ g m. itaque Dei. ^ B. M. iiue.
* B. M. lectionis. ^ B. M. eraut.
•^ B. M. clerici singulares et vulgo. '' B. M. quando adoptionem suam.
* B. M. omits in. '•* On manjin, passim .i. ubique.
1 94 VIT.-E SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
assueti multis ainmiraiitibus terram arabaut. Disjimcti vero
ab opere ad pascua solita ibant, et bora competenti, sicut ani-
malia domita et domestica, immo docta, ad opus consuetum
redibant. Cum ergo aliquandiu cervi irent et reverterentur,
in similitudinem^ animalium domesticorum, lupus rapax in
unum de cervis fatigatum ex labore, et procunibendo in gra-
mineo cespite pabulum carpentem, irruens suffocavit, et voracem
ingluviem ex ejus cadavere saturavit. Quod cum a Sancto
compertum esset, manum contra sHvam extendens dicebat, " In
nomine saucte et individue Trinitatis, precipio ut lupus qui
mibi non promerenti hoc dampnum intulit, mihi satisfac turns
accedat." Mirum dictu, sed mirabilius factu ! Protinus ad
vocem viri Dei lupus de silva prosiliens, ante pedes ejus cum
ululatu corruit, et indicio quo potuit se veniam petere, et velle
satisfacere declaravit. Vir autem Dei vultu et voce minaci
lupo improperans, " Surge," inquid, " et ex auctoritate Dei om-
nipotentis precipio tibi, ut loco cervi operatoris nostri, quem
devorasti, aratro applicatus ares ex integro quod restat agelluli."
Lupus vero verbo oris Sancti paruit ; et cum altero cervo ad
aratrum copulatus^ novem jugera arando explevit. Sicque
Sanctus libere eum abire permisit.^
Quo in facto, ut mihi videtur, illud Ysaie vaticinium quod
spiritualiter de tempore dominici adventus protulit, etiam* ad
litteram per quandam similitudinem adimpletur, ubi ait : Habi-
tabit lupus cum agno, et pardus cum edo accubabit. Vitulus,
et leo, et ovis, simuP morabuntur ; et puer parvulus minabit
eos. Videat lector utrum mirabilius sit videre lupum cum
agno accubantem, an cum cervo arantem. Hos tamen minavit
Kentegernus, purissimus parvulus, plane in oculis suis mitis, et
humilis corde ; non tamen faciens hoc signum ex^ illius parvuli
qui natus est nobis, et filii qui datus est nobis, fecit virtute.
Qui tamen jure hoc operatus est corporaliter, qui multociens
multos a lupina credulitate, et cruenta cede, et beluina feritate,
et agresti vita, revocans, jugo fidei, et sancte conversationist'
aratro, subdidit spiritualiter.
Convenerunt perplures ad tale spectaculuni, et ad insolitum
stupebant miraculum. Sanctus autem aperiens os suum doce-
bat eos dicens : " Viri fratres, quid admiramini aspicientes
verbum istud ? Credite mihi, antequam homo inobediens
existeret suo Conditori, omnia non solum animaha, sed etiam
elementa obtemperabant illi. Nunc vero ob ipsius prevarica-
* B. M. similitufline. ^ B. M. altero cojiulatiis ad aratrum.
3 B. M. proinisit. * B. M. et. ^ B. M. similiter.
^ B. M. inserts ae sod in. ^ B. M. couversionis.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 195
tionem omnibus in adversis,^ leo lacerare, lupus devorare, ser-
pens sauciare, aqua submergere, ignis comburere, aer corrum-
pere, terra sepe effecta ferrea fame subruere, consuevit. Et ad
emulum consueti^ mali homo non solum hominem, sed ipse
homo in seipso peccando, contra seipsum sponte sevit. Sed
quum plerique sancti in vera innocentia, et pura obedientia,
tide, et dilectione,^ in sanctitate, et justitia, coram Domino per-
fecti inventi sunt, quasi antiquum jus, et naturale, et primor-
diale, dominium a Domino recuperabant. Dum bestiis, et
elementis, et multorum morbis et mortibus potestative impera-
bant."
Plura perorante in hunc modum viro sancto, non minus
edificabantur qui aderant in ejus alloquio, quam prius ammira-
bantur in ostenso miraculo. Ager igitur aratus cum seri
debuisset, quesivit sanctus semen et non inveniebat, quum
totam annonam suam in pauperum alimoniam expenderat. Ad
consueta ergo orationis arma confugit ; et in fide nichil hesitans,
assumens arenam vice seminis, in terram sparsit. Quo facto
tempore oportuno herba crevit,^ germen pullulavit, spica culmum
produxit, et messis^ tempore triticum optimum, et opimum,
proferens, omnes videntes et audientes ammiratione permaxima
percelluit : et ipsius opinionem prius celebrem multo post cele-
briorem effecit, Vere sanctus iste in virtute illius grani fru-
menti, quod cadens in terra moriendo multum fructum resur-
gendo^ attulit, de arena seminata frumeutum collegit. Ipse
etiam multos et innumerabiles mente prius instabiles, et omni
vento eiTatice doctrine circumlatos, quorum stultitia gravior
erat arena maris, sancte matris ecclesie, scilicet^ optime, vomere
evangelico procisse visceribus indidit ; et in fide, et in^ caritate,
et bonorum operum exercitatione, frumentum salutis Deo co-
operante proferre fecit. Quos ipse summus Paterfamilias celes-
tibus horreis transferendos et mensa sua dignos judicavit.
[Clap, xxi.] — Qxtom0l)0 <Sandtt0 ^mtegenius horrea xzqie plena
tritico, famulante impctu flitminis CluD, absque^ b£trimcnt0,
usque ail mansiouem suam, iibin0 suffultus abjut0ri0 trans-
p06uerit.
,.^<jMENSO aliquanti temporis spacio, quidam tyrannus, voca-
bulo Morken, Cambrensis regni solium ascenderat.^*^ Cui potes-
* B. M. adversa versis. ^ B. M. cumiilum consiimmati.
3 B. M. dilectatione. * B. M. inserts et. ° B. M. melli.s.
^ B. M. resurgens. '' B. M. terre videt. * B. M. omits in.
^ B. M. i7iserts omni. ^^ B. M. ascendat.
196 ^ YITJE SANCTORUM SCOTL-E.
tas, honor, et divitie ambulare in magnis et in mirabilibus super
se persuaserant. Sed cor illiiis, sicut elevatmn erat in super-
biam, ita e regione contractum et excecatum extitit per avaritiam.
Hie viri Dei vitam et doctrinam sprevit, atque despexit, occulte
ei detrahens, in facie quandoque resistens, signa ejus magicis
figmentis deputans, omnia facta ejus pro nicbUo duxit. Vir
vero Domini cum quadam vice annona ad victualia fratrum
monasterii indigeret, adivit Regem, penuriam suam, et suorum,
insinuans ; et petens ut suam iuopiam illius abundantia, juxta
Apostoli monita, subveniendo suppleret. Ille vero elatus et
infiatus preces profundenti refudit contumelias, et aliquam sub-
ventionem roganti irrogavit injurias. Deinde ore blaspbemo
yronice ait ad eum : " Jacta curam tuam in Domino, et ipse te
enutriet, sicut sepe ceteros ammonuisti, quum nichil deest
timentibus Deum, inquirentes vero^ eum non minuentur omni
bono. Tu ergo, cum timeas Deum, et mandata ejus observes,
omnibus bonis, victu etiam necessario indiges. Ego autem, qui
nee regnum Dei quero, nee justieiam ejus, omnia mihi adjici-
untur prospera; omnium rerum arridet affluentia." Ad ulti-
mum autem intulit " inanis est ergo fides tua, falsa predicatio
tua."
At vir sanctus^ allegans astruebat testimoniis sanctarum
seripturarum, et vivis rationum assertionibus, et exemplis, multos
justos et sanctos, et siti et egestate in hoe seculo affligi multi-
pharia:^ reprobos rerum opulentia, deliciarum affluentia, et
lionorum fastigiis, sublimari. Et cum efficaciter et evidenter
doceret pauperes patronos divitibus fore, quorum benefieiis sus-
tentantur, divites vero pauperum patrocinio indigere, sicut vites
ulmi sustenculo.* Barbaras non potuit resistere sapientie, et
spiritui qui loquebatur per instrumentum suum, sed stomach-
ando^ respondit : " Quid multa ? Si eonfidens in Deo tuo, ab-
sque manu humana, omne far meum quod in horreis meis que
cernis continetur, ad mansionem tuam transferre possis, animo
libeuti*^ coneedo et dono, et de cetero postulationibus tuis de-
votus obtemperabo."
Hec dicens letabundus reeessit, quasi qui tali sponsione virum
sanctum deluserit. Vespere autem facto Sanctus elevatis oculis,
ac manibus in celum, profluentibus laerimis, orationem devotis-
sime fudit ad Dominum. Eadem autem hora, eum ex imo
pectore Sancti emergentes lacrime per oculos profluxerunt,
flumen Clud, subtus defliiens, nutu illius qui potestatem habet
^ B. M. autem. ^ B. M. inserts contra.
■* B. M. multipliaria in lioo seculo affligi. * B. M. .sustentacuk).
^ On margin, stomacher .i. irasci. *" B. M. inserts tibi.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 197
in celo et in terra, in mari et in omnibus abyssis, subito ibai, et
intumescebat ; ripasqiie suas transcendens, ac horrea Eegis
inibi constituta circumfluens,^ et adlambeus in alveum suum
traxit. Et cum impetu magno usque ad locum nomine Mel-
lingdenor, ubi Sanctus tunc degere solebat, in aridam transpos-
uit. Stetit deinceps fluvius a fervore suo, et in se confregit
tumescentes fluctus suos, quia Dominus posuit ei ostia et vectes,
ne ultra procederent,^ et transgrederentur limites constitutos.
Inventa sunt^ horrea ilia illic Integra et illesa, et* non solum
una geluma,^ sed nee una arista, apparuit humecta. Ecce sig-
num, licet in contrario elemento, iteratum cognoscimus,^ quod
quondam in fornace Caldaica cui tres pueri religione liberi, sed
vincti erant injecti, factum legimus. Sicut enim ibi ignis
adurendi tantum eorum vincula, non autem corpora, aut vesti-
menta potestatem habuit ; sic hie aqua horrea frugibus plena
transvehere non'^ humectare potuit. Cum autem vidisset turba,
quod in nomine Domini servus ejus tale fecerat signum, dice-
bant quia vere magnus Dominus, et laudabilis nimis, qui ita
mirificavit Sanctum suum.
[€ap. xxti.] — ^uomobcr ^efatits Ilex Jttorkcn, iiieticjantc eum
miltte 0ua Cathen, ,Sanctum lientcQcntum pelJc pcrcussit,'^
ei qualt jretta ixtaque multatus sit.
J^OSTQUAM transvectione frugum fluminis impetus letifi-
carat civitatem Dei, in qua conscripti cives Sanctorum et
domestici Dei erant in ununi congregati, ad serviendum Deo
viventi, fidelis et prudens dispensator in magni Patrisfamilias
domo constitutus erogavit tritici mensuram, conservis suis
dividens singulis prout cuique opus erat. Quod vero residuum
fuit dispersit, dedit pauperibus ; nee aliquem inopem petentem
dimisit inanem. Eex autem prefatus Morken, licet locuples
valde, et magnus in oculis hominum, vile tamen mancipium
Mammone, egre tulit amissionem, ut sibi videbatur, annone sue,
et^ de signo quod divinitus acciderat. Unde gaudium et leticiam
in profectum^** sui habere debuit, scandalum sumpsit anime sue.
Quia profecto^^ jubar^- solare sanis oculis gratiosum et jucundum,
ad intuendum se prestat ; egris et cicutientibus caliginis mate-
riam ministrat. Turbato ergo pre furore oculo^^ multa convitia
^ B. M. circuminens. ^ g -^ procederit. ^ B. M. fuerunt.
* B. M. que. ■'' B. M. gelinia. " B. M. agnosciinus et.
" B. M. iiifierfs autem. ^ B. M. percusserit. ^ B. M. (pie.
'" B. M. imperfectiuu. " On r)iar;/in, profecto .i. proculduljio utiqiie.
^" B. M. inserts et. ^•'' B. M. inxcrls ejus.
198 VIT.'E SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
in Sanctum presulem evomuit, magum et maleficum inclami-
tans. Eiqiie mandavit ut si ulterius in conspectu ejus^ appa-
reret, gravissimas penas, utpote qui illi illusisset, lueret. Insti-
gaverat enini eum^ in odium et injuriam sui^ pontificis quidam
pessimus, qui erat a secretis* regis, nomine Cathen,^ quia odiosa
et onerosa solet esse pravis vita bonorum ; et facile persuasorem
admittit ad id quod amplectitur animus prodigus*^ ad malum.
Dux enim impius, secundum scripturam, omnes ministros habet
impios, et tales persepe sibi eligit auricularios/ qui auribus liben-
ter iniqua audientibus venenosum susurrum intundant, et ignem
malitie accensum ultro^ adhibitis fomentis, cum sufflatoriis
- accusationum, non^ in se extinguatur copiosius inflammeret.^°
Vir vero Dei sapientia volens extinguere^^ malitiam, in spiritu
mansuetudiuis potius quam in virga severitatis adivit principis
presentiam. Et more benignissimi patris instruendo, common-
endo, corrigere studuit filii insipientiam. Noverat namque
Davitice cythare dulcisonis modulis Saulis mitigatam insaniam :
et quia patientia lenitur ira principis/^ secundum Salomonis
sententiam. Vir autem BeKal, instar aspidis surde, et obturan-
tis aures suas ne audiret vocem incantantis sapientis, verbo
commonitorio^^ consilio salutis non adquievit. Immo majori
dementia instimulatus irruit in eum, in^* calce percussit, et solo
tenus resupinavit.^^ Sanctus autem a circumstantibus,^^ ut per
pacientiam doctrina ejus nosceretur, patientissime lesionem, et
ignominiam illam, sustinuit ; causani suam committens summo
judici vindicandam : ^'' et sic gaudens ibat a conspectu Kegis,
immo sacrilegi, quum dignus habitus est pro verbo Domini con-
tumeliam pati. Incentor hujus sacrelegii Cathen chachinnans
equum ascendit, et quasi qui de Sancto triumphasse sibi vide-
batur, gratulabundus abscessit. Et ecce judicium prodiit de
vultu Domini, ut justitiam faceret servo suo patienti injuriam.^^
Nondum longius processit a turba constituta in loco, et sonipes^^
cui insedit nescio in quem obicem pede offendens corruit, et ascen-
sor ejus cadens"" retro ante januani^^ domini sui, fracta cervice,
quam adversus episcopum Domini superbe extulerat, expiravit.
1 B. M. suo. 2 B. M. ijium. 3 ^ jyi. sancti.
* On margin, a secretis est qui noscit secreta. ^ B. M. Catheli.
* B. M. proclivus. ^ On margin, auricularius .i. districtius consiliator.
^ B. M. ultro accensum. ^ B. M. ne. ^^ B. M. inHamment.
11 B. M. vincere. ^^ B. M. principis ira. ^^ B. M. commonendo.
'* B. M. ilium et. ''^ On margin, resupinare .i. retro versare.
1" B. M. inserts levatus. i'' B. M. judicandam. ^^ B. M. injuriam patienti.
^^ On margin, sonipes .i. equus qui facit sonura cum pedibus.
2" B. M. omits cadens. ^^ B. M. inserts regis.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 109
Eegis vero^ pedes preocciipavit tumor, tumori successit dolor,
dolorem mors siibsequitur. Mortuusqiie in villa regia, que
vocatur ex nomine ejus Thorp-morken, funerabatur. Nee tamen
morbus ille a stirpis ejus successione succisus sepelitur. Ab
initio enim temporis illius usque ad futurum seculum languor
non desiit, sed podagra in posteros parentat ; et licet non vultu
vel corporis habitu, morbo tamen bujuscemodi prosapia patrissat.
Genus namque Eegium illius boc genere morbi extinctum, testi-
monio mortis sue denunciat qualiter zelotes^ suorum, et ulciscens,
Dominus visitet peccata patrum in filios et multas generationes,
et qualem retributionem superbis retribuat. Multis postea
diebus in civitate sua Glasgu, et diocesi sua, in quietem^ mag-
nam degens pacem in circuitu habuit ; quia divina animadversio,
persecutoribus suis exhibita, ceteris metus, et* reverentie, dilec-
tionis et obedientie, erga Sanctum Dei, fomitem ministravit ; et
quecumque secundum Deum vellet agendi occasionem prebuit.
[Ca;r. xxiii.] — ^uomobo §anri:u0 ^cntBgcrnxt© insibiae sibi
mortem insiitaniixim ierlinan©, a finibus^ patric VisczQeii,'^
zi ab (Sanctum ^abib in ^Xmtbm "btQznitm iptxlotmtit
^^^LAPSO aliquanto tempore, quidam filii Belial genimena
viperarum,^ de cognatione Eegis Morken superius memorati,
acrioris odii instimulati aculeo, diabolicoque infecti veneno
concilium fecerant^ in unum ut Kentegernum dolo tenerent
et occiderent. Timentes vero plebem, illud facinus palam
aggredi non audebant, quia omnes eum sicut doctorem, episco-
pum, et pastorem animarum suarum, habebant ; et sicut an-
gelum lucis et pacis diligebant. Tetenderunt ei multociens
multas insidias, ut subito sagittarent eum ; sed Dominus factus
est ei turris fortitudinis, ne prevaleant^ inimici ejus, filii iniqui-
tatis adversus eum. Ad extremum juratoria cautione ad invi-
cem prestita firmaverunt sibi sermonem nequam, quo in ejus
mortem conspiraverant, effectui^'^ mancipaturos ; nee ob alicujus
timorem verbum iniquum et dolosum quod constituerant adver-
sus eum, omissuros.^^ Quo comperto homo Dei, licet posset vim
vi repellere, satius^^ tamen ratus est ad tempus loco cedere, et
dare locum ire ; et alibi uberiorem animarum fructum querere,
quam ob cujuslibet hominis quamvis pessimi necem, aliquo
cauterio conscientiam adustam, aut etiam^^ obfuscatam, gestare.
1 B. M. aiitem.
2 On viargin, zelotes .i. emulatores.
2 B. M. quiete.
* B. M. que. ^ B. M.
inserts proprie.
^ B. M. decesserit.
"^ B. M. gemini nee impares. ^ B. M.
fecerunt.
^ B. M. prevalerent.
10 B. M. effectu. " B. M.
emissuros.
^2 B. M. satis.
13 B. M.
et.
u
200 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
Beatiis namque Pauliis, vas electionis, exemplum dedit ei, idem
faciendi cum Damasci cerneret absque fructu sibi mortem im-
minere ad evadeudum, et evitandum sportam^ et funem quesivit,
quam postea Eome cum multiplici lucro gratanter^ subivit.
Divina denique revelatione instructus, a finibus illis egressus
versus Meneviam iter arripuit, ubi tunc sanctus prsesul Dewi,
sicut sydus matutinimi, quando suo roseo provehit ore diem,
poutificando emicuit. Ubicumque tunc sanctus ibat, virtus de
illo ad sanandum plurimos exibat. Cumque pervenisset Karle-
olum audivit multos in montanis ydolatrie^ deditos, aut divine
legis ignaros ; illucque divertit, et plurimos a fide alienos/ alios
in fide erroneos, Deo cooperante, et sermonem confirmante
sequentibus signis, ad Christianam convertit religionem.
quam speciosi pedes ejus, super montes illos, evangel izantis
pacem, anuuntiantis bona, predicantis salutem, perducentis ad
eterne salutis auctorem ! Morabatur aliquantulum in loco quo-
dam condense, ad confirmandos et confortandos in fide homines
ibidem habitantes, ubi et crucem in sigimm salutis eorum erexit ;
a qua locus Angiice Crosfeld, id est Crucis Novale nomen
accepit. In quo profecto loco basilica Beati Kentegerni no-
mini, moderno tempore edificata, attitulatur ; et ad ostenden-
dam sanctitatem illius, multis miraculis claruisse non dubitatur.
Digressus Sanctus inde per loca maritana gressus suos direxit,
et per totum iter suum divini verbi semina spargens, multam et
fertilem messem in Dominum collegit. Ad Sanctum denique
Dewi sanus et incolumis pervenit ; et majora in illo opera quam
fama loquebatur invenit. Sanctus vero presul Dewi in adventu
talis, et tanti hospitis, gavisus est gaudio magno valde. Liba-
tisque oculis, et confertis mutuo conplexibus,^ ut angelum
Domini carum Deo Kentegernum suscepit ; et secum aliquanto
tempore retinens, miro effectu semper excoluit. Coliabitabant
ergo isti duo filii splendoris, assistentes Dominatori universe
terre, quasi duo candelabra lucentia ante Dominum, quorum
lingue claves cell facte sunt, ut per eas ejus ingressum promere-
atur^ multitude hominum. Innexuntur^ ad invicem isti Sancti,
quasi duo cherubyn in templi Domini sanctuario, liabentes
vultus suos irreflexsos a propiciatorio. In crebra celestium
contemplatione^ alas suas sursum extendebant ; in terrenorum
dispositione, et dispensatione, deorsum alas submittebant. Mu-
tuis etiam^ alis sese tangebant, dum vicaria^*' instructione salu-
^ On margin, sporta .i. vas vimenium. ^ B. M. gratenter.
^ On margin, idolatria .i. cultus idolorum. * B. M. avenos.
^ B. M. consertis mutuo amplexibus. ^ B. M. pineatur.
^ B. M. innexeruntur. * On margin, contemplatio .i. vis rei spiritualis.
^ B. M. minutis et. ^^ On margin, vicarius — a .i. per vicem succedens.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 201
taris^ doctrine, et altema virtu turn operatione, ad propensiorem^
perfectum sanctitatis semetipsos excitabant. Sic sic sancti isti
sue mente excedentes Deo, sive sobrii facti nobis, ad capescen-
dam et promerendam eternam vitam, exemplum posteris reli-
querunt.
Cumque Sanctus Kentegernus ibidem aliquantisper commor-
aretur, lama de illo fulgurans per ora plurimorum et aures dis-
currebat, ipsumque in multorum non solum pauperum, medio-
criuni, optimatum terre illius, verum etiam in ipsius Eegis
Cathwallain,^ in ilia regione principantis, noticiam, familiari-
tatem, et amiciciam, perducebat. Eex autem^ sciens virum
sanctum et justum, libenter ilium audiebat, et audito eo multa
que ad salutem anime spectabant faciebat. Cumque Kegi ali-
quotiens sciscitanti causas discessionis a patria propria exposu-
isset, et velle sibi adjacere diceret monasterium construendi,
quo populum Deo acceptabilem sectatorem bonorum operum,
coaduuare^ potuisset : respondit Eex, " Terra mea in conspectu
tuo est, ubicumque animo tuo sederit, et bonum videatur^ oculis
tuis, mansionis tue construe habitaculum, edifica monasterium.
At tamen, ut mihi videtur, ad hoc opus locum omnibus aptio-
rem vocabulo Nautcliarvan^ tibi designo, quia isdem situs ^
omnibus habundat necessariis proposito tuo." Vir Domini Eegi
gratias multiplices egit, et locum ilium antea etiam ^ sibi divino
oraculo^'' designatum, ad edificandum et^^ inhabitandum delegit.
Benedicens igitur Eegem discessit, deinde valefaciens Sancto
Dewi benedictione mutuo data, cum turba discipulorum copiosa,
qui ad eum confluxerant malentium cum eo^^ in ten^a aliena
vitam pauperem ducere, quani sine illo^^ in propria deliciis
affluere, ad locum prenominatum tetendit.
[dap-, xxtb.] — (SJua maio" <Sjinctxt0 ^lentegcrntts, apntm prc-
toium QzqutXiQ, iocxxm gboucxim inbtttit.
J^ANCTISSIMUS itaque Kentegernus, a Sancto Dewi cor-
porali presentia seqiiestratus, sed a dilectione et interioris
hominis visione, et visitatione, nuUatenus absentatus, non dedit
oculis suis sompnum^^ liberum, nee palpebris suis quietam dor-
mitationem, donee inveniret locum aptum ad edificandum
tabernaculum Domino Deo Jacob. Circuivit terram ergo^^
1 B. M. salutare. • B. M. propensionem. ^ b_ m. Cathwallani.
* B. M. namque. ^ B. M. qua adunare. ^ B. M. inserts in.
^ B. M. NaiitLarum. * B. M. inserts loci. ^ B. M. et.
^^ On margin, oraculum .i. diviaum responsiim.
11 B. M. omits et. 12 b. M. illi. '^ g, m. illis.
1* B. M. Quomodo. 1^ B. M. sompnum oculis suis.
1'' B. M. ergo terrain.
202 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
et perambulavit earn. Et ^ turba discipulorum miilta cum illo,
explorans situs locorum, qualitates aeris, glebe ^ ubertatem, pra-
torum et pascuorum ^ ac silvarum sufficientiam, et cetera que
spectant* ad monasterii edificandi commoditatem. Cumque
simul pergerent et per abrupta montium, et ^ per concava val-
lium, et^ per defossa terrarum, per condensa veprium, et per
opaca nemorum, per planities saltuum, incedentes, sermo-
cinarentur que ad presens spectabant negotium ; ecce singularis
ferus aper, videlicet de silva candidus per totum, obviam pro-
cessit; et'^ ad pedes Sancti accedens capud agitans, aliquan-
tulum progi'ediens, et iterum gradum figens et retrospiciens,
gestu quo potuit Sancto, et sociis ejus, ut ilium sequerentur
innuit.^ Quo viso ammirantes glorificaverunt in creaturis suis
mira et inscrutabilia operantem Deum,^ et e vestigio seque-
bantur ductorem suum preambulum^'^ aprum.
Cum autem pervenissent ad locum, quem eis Dominus pre-
destinaverat, aper substitit ; et^^ terram crebro pede percutiens,
et dente protenso cespitem cujusdam coUiculi iuibi constituti
eviscerare gestiens, capud iterum atque iterum concuciendo, et
ore grunniendo, ilium esse locum illis a Deo preparatum et desig-
natum, cunctis liquido ostendit. Est autem locus super ripam
fluminis constitutus quod Elgu vocatur, a quo hodie ut dicitur
pagus nomen sortitur. Tunc Sanctus flexis genibus gratias agens
omnipotentem Dominum adoravit, surgensque ab oratione in
nomine Domini locum, et circumjacentia, benedixit : ac deinde
in testimonium et signum salutis, et auspicium future religionis,
ibidem crucem erigens tentoria fixit. Aper vero ^^ videns que
fiebant accessit crebris^^ grunnitibus, a pontifice quasi aliquid
postulaturus. Sanctus vero capud fere confricans, os et dentes
contrectans, dixit, " Deus omnipotens, in cujus potestate sunt
omnes fere silvarum, jumenta in montibus, et boves, volucres
etiam celi, et pisces maris, sicut novit et quod expedit tibi, re-
tribuat mercedem pro conductu tuo." Aper autem, quasi bene
remuneratus, capud sacerdoti Domini inclinans, abcessit, et nota
nemora repetiit.
Sequenti nocte, cum vir Dei celestibus inbians^* extolleret ^•'^
manus suas in sancta, et benediceret Dominum, revelatum est
ei celitus ut locum ilium incoleret; et construeret^^ monasterium,
in quo filii Dei ^^ qui dispersi erant ^^ in unum et venientes ab
oriente et occidente, ab aquilone et meridie, mererentur recum-
' B. M. que. '^ On margin, gleba .i. durus cespes terre.
2 B. M. prata et pasciiarum. * B. M. expectant. ^ B. M. omits et.
" B. M. omits et. ^ B. M. que. * B. M. annuit.
^ B. M. oynits Deum. ^" B. M. perambulantem. " B. M. que.
^2 B. M. omits vero. ^^ B. M. inserts propriis.
1* On margin, hio .i. os aperire. ^'^ B. M. extollerat.
16 B. M. inserts ibi. i' B. M. omits Dei. ^^ B, M. inserts congregarentur.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 203
here cum Abraham, Ysaac, et Jacob, in regno celorum : et quod
ipse Deus foret provisor et protector loci et in illo habitantium.
Que profecto revelatio quanta veritate subnixa fuerit, rei exitus
effectu evidenti edocuit. Mane autem facto oraculum'- sibi
divinitus ostensum ceteris exposuit ; et ad edificandum animas
audientium animavit. More namque apum melificantium^ nullo
ocio stertebant, sed omnes laborando operi insudabant. Alii
locum purgabant, et complanabant; alii complanato aggere fun-
dameuta preparabant. Quidam etiam ligna cedentes, quidam
gestantes, quidam compaginantes,^ more Britonum ecclesiam, et
ceteras officinas,* de lignis levigatis sicut pater metiendo dispo-
suerat edificare jam inchoabant; quum de lapide construere
nondum^ poteraut, nee usum habebant.
Cum autem operi instarent, et ^ opus cresceret in manibus
eorum, supervenit gentilis quidam regulus ^ nomine Melconde
Galganu,^ cum militibus suis, et turba multa cum illis. Homo
truculentus et Dei ignarus, et in indignatione ire sue quesivit
qui, vel unde essent ? Aut quomodo tale quid in ten-a sua pre-
sumere auderent? Sanctus vero humiliter ad interrogata re-
spoudens, " Christianos se esse de Aquilonalibus partibus Bri-
tannie ; ad serviendum ^ Deo vivo et vero illuc advenisse.
Liceutiam, immo benivolentiam, regis Cathwalain,^*' domini
ipsius, mansionem ibi inchoasse asserebat, ad cujus ditionem
locum ilium pertinere credebat." Hie ^^ furibundus et fremens
omnes a loco expelli; et^^ quiquid edificatum fuerat evelli et dissi-
pari; precepit : et sic ad propriam mansionem remeare cepit. Abiit
itaque homo spii^ans minarum in famulos Christi : et ecce manus
Domini flagellans tetigit eum, et repentina cecitate percussit
eum.^^ Sed tamen, ut in fine claruit, non ad insipientiam sibi
hoc ei contigit. Sedenti namque in tenebris exterioribus verus
lucifer cordi iUius illuxit; et lux exterior ad tempus adempta
de tenebrosis, et umbra mortis, ilium educens in lucem veritatis
induxit. Interius igitur illustratus, et penitentia ductus, fecit se a
suis ad virum Dei deportari, et ut cecitatem ejus precibus suis abs-
tergeret, et fontem salutis ipsum ablueret, cepit devote deprecari.
Sanctus vero,^* non vinci a malo, sed in bono malum studuit
vincere, voluit homini bonum pro malo reddere.^^ Oratione
namque premissa, cecato manum medicam in nomine Domini
1 On margin, oraculiim .i. divinum responsum.
^ B. M. maleficantium. ^ B. M. complaginantes.
* On margin, officiaa .i. locu ubi offioium agitur. B. M. officias.
■'• B. M. nonduai coustruere. ** B. M. que.
^ B. M. Angliis. 8 B. M. Melcoiiule Galganii. ^ B. M. servendum.
10 B. M. Cathwallani. i^ B. M. inserts vero. i- B. M. que.
13 B. M. ilium. i"* B. M. inserts qui. '^ B. M. retribuere.
20-i VIT/E SANCTOKUM SCOTLE.
imposiiit ; saliitarem imprimendo ciTicem, et noctem ejus vertit
in diem, et rursum post teuebras speratam et suspiratam infudit
lucem. Sic sic Dominus percussit ut sanaret; et de vetere
Saiilo novum Paulum faciens excecavit, ut iLluminaret. Eecepto
ergo visu continuo est a Sancto pontifice unda salutari lotus ; et
deinceps in omnibus suis agendis effectus ei acclinis et coope-
rator devotus. Omnia sua predia census potestati Sancti Ken-
tegerni munificentia regali, ad exstructionem monasterii contulit,
cujus suffultus amminiculo ^ citius opus inceptum ad unguem
perduxit. Sedem Cathedralem pontificatus in ecclesia monas-
terii niius constituit, cujus diocesis ^ cu'cumjacentis patrie pars
plurima fuit, quam ipse predicando Domino adquisivit. Innu-
meros vero aut Christiane fidei ignaros, vel a fide aversos sen
profana doctrina depravatos, sive iniquis operibus pessundatos,
ad viam salutis reduxit ; et de vasis ire vasa misericordie, de
vasis contmnelie vasa glorie Deo^ opitulando fecit. Exibat
namque a m'onasterio suo ad exercendum pontificale officium,
peragi'ans diocesim suam prout tempus expetebat. Sed quia
non inveniebat ubi pes desiderii sui diu requiesceret, quasi
columba a facie mvmdani diluvii ad archam, monasterii videlicet
dilectam quietem redibat. Ramum vero olive foliis virentibus
secum ferebat, quia pacis et misericordie quam aliis predica-
verat, fructum recipiebat.
[Qlnp. xx\3.] — Qitaxtto numtro fratrum mcnastcrium iUub flotit-
mt ; ^t fiiicrmob0 ^anrtus pmx <^0aplt ignem * sirtt com-
bxistiane aliqua, tuUt.^
^TONFLUEBANT ad monasterium viii^ senes cum junioribus,
divites et tenues, ad tollendum super se suave jugum Domini, et
onus ejus leve. Magnates et mediocres '^ soboles. Domino nu-
triendas, Sancto obtulerunt. Augebatur de die in diem, numero
et merito, multitudo seculo abrenunciantium ; ita ut usque ad
nongentos sexaginta quinque numerus extenderetur Deo mili-
tantium ; actu et babitu regularem vitam, secundum institu-
tionem \'iri sancti, profitentium. Hanc autem collectam cater-
vam, divino obsequio mancipatam, tripharia di\dsione in
religionist observantia ita distinxit. Treceutos vero^ qui erant
illiterati, agricvilture et pecorum custodie, et aliis exerciciis
necessariis extra monasterium, deputavit. Alios trecentos operi-
bus intra ^'^ monasterii septa,^^ exercendis, et cibariis parandis, et
1 B, M. anniculo. ^ B. M. diocesi. ^ B. M. omits Deo.
* B. M. insei'ts in veste sua. ^ B. M. portavit. ^ B. M. viri Dei.
^ B. M. inserts suas. ^ B. M. religione. ^ B. il. enim.
^^ B. M. infra. ^^ On margin, septum dicitiir locus circumquaque clausiis.
VITA KENTEGEENI. 205
officinis^ construendis, assignavit. Eeliquos vero trecentos
sexaginta ^ qui litterati fuerant, divinis officiis in ecclesia die
noctuqvie celebrandis attitulavit, nee facile quemqnam illorum
foras de Sanctis egredi, sed jngiter intus, tamquam in sanctuario
Domini, commorari constituit. Quos vero sanctitate et sapien-
tia provectiores, et ad alios erudiendos ydoneos agnoverat,
seciim adducere consuevit; quando necessitate urgente,vel ratione
exposcente, ad agendum episcopale officium egredi ilium opor-
tuit. lUos vero quos operi divino mancipaverat, per turmas et
conventus dividens, constituit ut uno conventu servitium Dei
in ecclesia terminante, continuo alter intrans illud inchoaret.
lUoque illud ^ consummante, alius consequenter celebraturus
introiret. Sane sacris conventibus convenienter et discrete dis-
positis, et vicissim subintrantibus, dum opus Dei jugiter cele-
braret, regulariter * oratio sine intermissione ab ecclesia ilia ad
Deum fiebat ; et benedicendo Dominum in omni tempore semper
laus Dei in ore eorum resonabat. Vere gioriosa dicta sunt in
ista, et de ista, civitate Dei, quia sicut letantium omnium habi-
tatio fuit in ea, ut satis congruenter ilkid vaticinium Balaam
dici possit de ea, Quam pulcra tabernacula tua Jacob ! teutoria
tua Israel ! ut valles nemorose, ut cedri propter aquas.
Floruerunt in illo glorioso monasterio viri sancti, atque per-
fecti, econtra diabolum, contra mundum, contra peccatum, instar
Jacob, luctatoris egregii. Fide, dilectione, contemplatione,
visioni Dei inhianter intenti, quasi Israelite veri in bonis
actibus uberes, et in oculis propriis humiles, et ideo ut nemo-
rose^ valles sacra opinione odoriferi, et scrip turarum fluentis
imbuti; et imo,^ velud juxta aquas cedri, et in hiis omnibus
multis virtutibus et siguis gloriosi. Inter quos erat unus,
Asaph nomine, genere et specie clarus, ab ipso primevo'' puber-
tatis flore virtutibus et miraculis fulejens. Vitam et doctrinam
magistri sui sequi satagens, sicut plenius scire potest de vita
ejus libellum^ conscriptum legens. De quo unum miraculum
huic operi inserere dignum duxi, quia perfectio discipuli gloria
est magistri. Quadam namque vice cum Sanctus Kentegernus
hyemali tempore bruma circum circa cuncta contrahente et con-
gelante, juxta morem in frigidissimis aquis nudus persolvisset
psalterium, et resumptis indumentis processisset ad publicum,
cepit vehementer vi algoris deprimi, et quodanmiodo totus obri-
gescere, ut patenter daretur intelligi quid posset ex se, et quid ex
^ B. M. officiis. 2 g -^^ inserts quinqiie.
^ B. M. intrans illoque inquoare illucl.
* B. M. celebraretur realiter. •'' B. IM. neraorosa.
^ B. ]\I. ideo. " B. j\I. primcve. ^ B. M. libellum de vita ejus.
206 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
virtute dignationis divine. Quia enim nudus in aquis tanto spatio
glacialem rigorem non frigescens pertulit, in fragili vasculo
hiimani corporis intelligitur operata virtus divina; et quod
pellibus et ceteris vestibus indutus frigore obriguit, agnoscitur
fragilitas humana. Jussit ergo pater sanctus Asaph puero
ignem sibi afferre, quo se posset calefacere. Tyrunculus^ autem
Domini ad clibanum cucurrit, et carbones sibi dari petivit. Et
cum non haberet in quo prunas portaret, minister seu joco, sive
serio,^ dicebat " Si vis tollere prunas, extended vestimentum
tuum, quia in quo feras* non habeo ad manum." Puer sanctus
fide fervens, et de magistri sanctitate confidens, nil cunctatus,
veste in gremio coUecta, et expassa,^ carbones vivos suscepit, et
ad senem eos deferens in conspectu ejus de sinu projecit, sed
nullum signum ustulationis aut corruptionis in veste apparuit,
Cunctos igitur qui aderant ammiratio maxima percussit, quod
ignis veste portatus materiam combustibilem minime combussit.
Amica autem altercatio inter patrem et sanctum® discipulum,
super signo hoc^ versabatur; nee pars alterutra allegationibus
ad invicem tarn juste objectis optinere videbatur. Presul pueri
Sancti innocentie et obedientie signi per precationem^ ascribebat ;
puer pontificis meritis et sanctitate illud gestum esse asserebat,
cujus jussioni obtemperans, et de cujus sanctitate presumens, illud
attemptare audebat. Sane ego absque prejudicio sanius sapientis
utriusque meritis miraculum hoc arbitror ascribendum ; ut quia
videlicet uterque membra corporis sui, que sunt vestimenta anime,
ab ineunte etate in virginea castimonia semper Candida custodivit,
et a capite eorum oleum caritatis Dei nunquam defecit ; jure ad
utriusque integritatem exprimendam vestis discijDuli ignis inju-
riam aut lesuram non sensit. Si enim ignis venereus in sinu
eorum absconderetur, juxta Salomonis sententiam, vestimenta
eorum comburerentur. Et si vestimentum eorum mixtum esset
sanguine, id est membra corporis inquinata fetore libidinis
prurientis, ex voluptate^ carnis et sanguinis, esset proculdubio,
secundum Ysaye, presagium in combustionem et cibus ignis.
Sanctus ergo Kentegernus, qui venerandum puerum Asaph hue
usque carum et dilectum habuit, ab illo die et^*' deinceps ut
omnium carissimum et specialissimum dilexit. Et quam cito
convenienter potuit ad sacros ordines provexit. Tempore autem
oportuno curam monasterii ei delegavit ; et successorem sibi in
episcopatu, sicut postmodum narrabimus, effecit.
^ On margin, Tirunculos .i. novus noviter electus ruclis ignarus. B. M. Tiro-
num clericus. '^ On manjin, serio adverbium studiose utiliter.
^ B. M. expande. * B. M. ferias. ^ B. M. expansa.
" B. M. patrem sanctum et. ^ B. M. hoc signo.
* B. M. perpctrationem. '•* B. M. voluntate. i" B. M. in.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 207
[Ca}y. xxbi.] — ^uo moio (Sanctnttt ^abib in cthsUhns a P0mttt0
coTonatum tiiimt. (Et quib "bt Britannia pt-xhixmi.
J^EMPOEE quodam, dum vir Dei attentius et prolixius ora-
tioni instaret facies ejus quasi ignea videbatur ; ita ut stupore et
extasi circumstantes replerentur. Intuebantur vultuni ejus,
tamquam viiltum angeli stantis inter eos/ videntesque faciem
ejus velud alterius Moysi clarificatam, ammirationis stupor
nimirum circumdedit universes. Completa oratione secedens
in pertem resedit, et se in gravissimis lamentis dedit. Discipuli
sui luctum ejus, non absque magna causa, intelligentes fieri, cum
metu et tremore ad eum accesserunt, et causam tante lamenta-
tionis si liceret, et ipsius paternitati non displiceret, sibi denu-
dari liumiliter poposcerunt. Sanctus paulisper conticuit, sed
ipsis perseveranter pulsantibus ad am^es piissimi patris, tandem
in hec verba resolutus respondit. "Noveritis, filii karissimi,
Sanctissimum Dewi, decus Britannic, patrem patrie, preciosissi-
mum presulum carbunculum, carnis carcerem modo egressum,
meritisque locupletem introductum in splendoribus sanctorum,
et penetrantem in sancta sanctorum. Dico vobis, credite mihi,
quia non solum luciflua angelorum sanctorum^ multitudo, cum
celica ymnodia intrantem ilium in gaudium Domini^ sui de-
duxit, sed ipse Dominus Jhesus Christus, mitis et himiilis
corde, ei obviam procedens ad portas paradisi, gloria et honore
eum coronavit, me vidente. Ecce singularis lucerna genera-
tionis sue, stella clarissimi que verbo et exemplo lucebat, in
custodia sua vocanti affuit; ut cum jocunditate luceat ei qui
fecit Ulam cunctisque assit patrocinia postulantibus, presidium
illius frequentantibusque memoriam ejus* sacrosanctam. Et
vere, karissimi, oporteret me tanti patris, qui nos specialiter
dilexit, glorie congaudere ; sed non a fletibus me permittit pii
amoris ardens affectus abstinere. Scitote quod Britannicus
orbis, tanto lumine orbatus,^ tam^ pii patroni, tamque potentis
coram Deo et omni populo, absentiam sentiet, qui gladio Domini
super regionem illam, propter malitiam inhabitantium cam,
semievaginato, ne penitus extractus percuteret usque ad inter-
nitionem,^ semet ipsum opponebat. Tradens tradet Dominus
Britanniam exteris nationibus, Deum^ ignorantibus, secta paga-
nis ; et evacuabitur insula ab indigenis ; christianeque legis
religio in ea usque ad prefinitum tempus^ dissipabitur ; sed
1 B. M. illos. 2 j5 ^j solum et sanctorum luciflua angelorum.
3 B. M. inserts Dei. * B. M. ejus memoriam.
^ On margin, orbatus .i. viduatus jirivatus. ^ B. M. ea.
^ On margin, internicio .i. mors. ^ B. M. Domini. " B. M. ipsius.
208 YITJE SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
iterum in pristinum statum, immo meliorem, naiserante medi-
atore^ omnmni Deo Cliristianisnius reparabitur," Hec dixit
Sanctus et siluit : omnesque audientes timor invasit ; lacri-
marum imber irrigavit. Illi vero certiorari cupientes super
verbo isto, concito nuntium destinaverunt ad ecclesiam, cui
Sanctus Dewi jure pontificali prefuit; et invenerunt sanctum
Dei eadem hora migrasse de seculo, qua vir Domini eis indi-
caverat divino edoctus oraculo. Qua in re pensandum est cujus
meriti coram Deo vir iste fuerit, qui tantam^ gloriam, sine
oculis carnis sen cordis obtuitibus,^ videre promeruit; et de
Britannis et Anglis tam verum vaticinium protulit, quod tota
Anglia oculata fide probare poterit.
[(Eap-. xxbti.] — (^Jxtob <San£tu0 ^cntcgcnm© 0e|jtic0 llcmam
niicrit ; zt^ beatum ^rcgoriiim Ibz statu eno conQuhxxi.
►EATUS Kentegernus, sciens Britanniam multis plagis a
gentibus percussam, et ad ydolatris ecclesiam Dei in ea consti-
tutam a fide Christi multociens discissam, atque divisam ; in-
super et ab hereticis frequenter impugnatam, multaque sane
doctrine adversantia, et a fide sancte catholice matris ecclesie
integritate dissidentia, comperit : et qualiter omnibus hiis me-
delam congruam adhibere posset, apud se diutius deliberavit.
Sedit denique animo ejus sedem Sancti Petri in petra funda-
tam adire ; et ne forte zizania in medio tritici crescerent, sana
Sancte Eomane Ecclesie eruditione, et articulis fidei cognitis,
omnem scrupulum ambiguitatis ab animo satagebat abigere,
ut certa indagine ad lucem veritatis posset pervenire, Britannia
namque principante sanctissimo rege Lucio, sub Eleutherio
Papa, predicantibus oj^timis doctoribus Eagano et Diviano,^ et
aliis quos Gildas sapiens, Britonum hystoriogTaphus, comme-
morat, fidem Christi suscepit ; et Christianismum suscejjtum,
usque ad tempora Diocletiani imperatoris, integTum illibatum-
que conservavit. Tunc luna conversa est in sanguinem, et
flamma persecutionis ergo Christianos incanduit, per universum
orbem. Tunc flagellum illud inundans Britanniam vehementer
oppressit, et manus pagana primitias metens manipulorum illius
insule, videlicet Albanum, albo Eegis Eterni inserendum, de
medio tulit ; et alios postmodum innumeros volens etiam nesci-
ens et^ celo ojitulit.
Ab illo tempore ydolorum cultura adolescere^ in insula cepit,
1 B. M. moderatore. ^ ^ m. totam. 3 g ]\/[_ obtutibus.
* B. M. que. ^ B. M. Duviano. " B. M. 07nits et.
^ B. M. inserts et invalescere.
VITA KENTEGEENl. 209
et divine legis abjectionem^ et oblivionem induxit. Cliristi-
anitas tamen post ea qualicunque modo iteriim rediviva re-
floruit. Sed successu temporis prius Pelagiana puUulans heresis,
postmodum Arriana obrepens, Catholice fidei faciem fedavit.
Que profecto per Sanctum Germanum, Autidiorensem^ episco-
pum, virum videlicet apostolicum signis preclaris multiplicatis,
desectis^ et ejectis heresibus renovata reviguit et reviruit ;* sed
e vicino infestatio Pictorum atque Scottorum, ab agnitione
nominis Christi alienorum, a finibus aquilonalibus Britannie,
fidem et fideles funditus fugavit.
Postremo ab Anglis, adhuc paganis, Britannia est expugnata,
a quibus Anglia est agnominata : abjectis^ indigenis, ydolis et
ydolatriis fuit subjecta. Indigene vero insule in minorem Bri-
tanniam ultra mare, aut in Walliam fugerunt ; et licet a terra
propria fugati, non tamen fidem omnes omnino^ abjecerunt.
Picti vero prius per Sanctum Ninianum ex magna parte ; postea
per Sanctos Kentegernum et Columbam fidem susceperunt ; et
dein in apostasiam lapsi, iterum per predicationem Sancti Ken-
tegerni, non solum Picti, sed^ Scotti, et populi innumeri in
diversis finibus Britannie constituti, ad fidem sicut jam diximus,
et adhuc plenius dicemus, conversi vel in fide confirmati sunt.
Sanctus autem Augustinus actu et habitu monachali insignis,
et famuli Dei alii^ religiosi, a summo pontifice beato Gregorio
destinati in Angiiam venerunt ; et^ sancte predicationis imbri-
bus^** affluentes, et miraculorum fulgure coruscantes, turn per se,
tum per discipulos eorum, to tarn insulam ad Christum conver-
tentes, regTdis fidei, et sanctorum patrum institutis, plene infor-
mantes, totam^^ Angiiam Christi bono odore repleverunt.
Quia igitur Britannia tot plagis attrita, et Christianitas in ea
tociens fuerat obnubilata, vel etiam deleta,^^ diversis temporibus
diversi ritus in ea emerserant, contra formam sancte Eomane
ecclesie, et sanctorvmi patrum decreta. Ut igitur hiis omnibus
occurrere, atque succurrere, sciret et posset beatus Kentegernus,
de monasterio suo supradicto exiens, Eomam adiit septies,^^ et
que correctionis egebat Britannia Eome discens, domi repor-
tavit. Septima autem vice repatrians^* gravissimam egritudi-
nem incurrit, et cum summa difficultate ad sua repedavit.
Quadam tamen vice Komam adivit, cum sedi Apostolice pre-
sideret beatus Gregorius, vir officio, auctoritate, doctrina, vita,^^
^ B. M. objectionem.
3 B. M. defectis. * B
^ B. M. omniuo omnes.
9 B. M. que.
12 B. M. delecta.
^^ B. M. taineu vice reparatus,
2B.
M. Autisioderenssim.
'.. reviruit, et reviguit.
5 B. M. ejectis.
'' B. M. i)ise7-ts et.
8 B. M. alii famuli Dei,
10 B. M. virtutibus.
11 B. M. terram.
13 B. M. septies petiit.
;us.
1^ B. M. vita, doctrina.
210 VIT.E SANCTOKUM SCOTLE.
apostolicus ; et specialis Anglie apostolus, nam Angligene signa
sunt apostolatus ejus. Quasi vas auri solidum, ornatum omni
lapide precioso, os aureum cognominatur jure,^ quippe qui mul-
tas scripturas exponendo, claro et nitidissimo dilucidavit stilo.
Memoria ejus quasi opus pigmentarii in compositione unguenti,
et quasi musica^ in convivio vini.^ Quia profecto Sanctam
Ecclesiam per orbem diffusam, suis melliliuis scriptis, et canticis
secundum musicam compositis, dulcoravit, et canonicis institutis
suffulsit domum Dei, et decoravit. Huic sanctissimo Summo
Pontifici totam vitam suam denudavit, electionem ejus in pon-
tificatum, et consecrationem, et omnes casus qui ei acciderant
seriatim ei enodavit.* Sanctus vero Papa, spiritu concilii et
discretionis pollens, utpote Spiritu Sancto repletus, intelligens
ilium virum Dei, et Spuitus Sancti gratia plenum, electionem
et consecrationem ejus, quia utrumque a Deo noverat perven-
isse, confirmavit; ipsoque multociens petente, et vix impe-
trante, que deerant consecrationi ejus supplens, in opus niinis-
terii a Spii'itu Sancto illi injuncti destinavit. Sanctus pontifex
Kentegernus apostolica absolutione, et benedictione, percepta,
codices canonum, et alios quamplures sacre scripture libros,
necnon et privilegia, et multa sanctorum pignora, et ecclesie
ornamenta, et cetera que ad decorem Domus Domini^ pertinent,
secum portans domi remeavit. Et suos suo adventu, et Sanctis
exeniis et eulogiis, letificavit. Deguit ibi aliquanto tempore in
quiete magna et conversatione ; et tam episcopatum quam mona-
sterium, sancte et strenue rexit, cum multa sollicitudine.
[dTap. xxbiii.] — OJuiii tt buobis chxids spiritu r^bdanti! 1:09110-
btvii ;^ ti quib tis 1^00 prciiant^ t\3zniV
J^jLCCIDIT ut Sanctus presul sacros gradus, clerimi ordinando,
deberet distribuere, et ad sacerdotale officium quosdam promo-
vere. Inter ceteros oblatus est ei quidam clericus, elegantis
forme, magne eloquentie, multe litterature, ad sacerdotium pro-
movendus, natione quidem Britannus, sed in Galliis educatus.
Hunc cum vidisset Sanctus, accito archidiacono eum jussit^
statim amoveri, et a clero sequestrari. Videbatur enim oculis
Sancti quasi sulphurea flamma de sinu illius clerici procedere,
et intolerabilem fetorem naribus ejus ingerere. Ex qua visione
Spiritu revelante, intellexit quo vicio laboraret in corj)ore.
Erat enim, sicut tunc soli viro Dei et postmodum cunctis
1 B. M. vere cognominatur. ^ B. M. mirifica. ^ B. M. viri.
* B. M. inenodavit. ^ B. M. Dei. " B. M. regnaverit.
^ B. M. evenerit. ^ B. M. jussit eum.
VITA KENTEGERXI, 211
claruit, assuefactus illi fetidissimo flagitio, pro quo filios diffi-
dentie in Pentapoli igne et svilpure subvertit, atque delevit divina
iiltio. Et ait Sanctus cii'cumstantibus, " Si sacri canones nudi-
eres ob iiifirmitatem sexus, que nuUatenus est iii vicio, ad
sacerdotalem gradum promoveri probibent ;^ multo magis viros
sui sexus ^ perversores, nature abusores, qui in contemptum
conditoris, in contumeliam sui, in tocius creature injuriam,
quod creati sunt, et nati, exuunt, et feminas induunt, a tarn
sacro gradu et officio arceri debent. Nusquam legimus gravi-
orem vindictam excercuisse censuram, quam in illud mostruo-
smn genus hominum, in quibus illud execrabile flagitium pri-
mordialem sumpsit materiam. Non soliun civitates illas, cum
habitatoribus suis, in^ igne propter ardorem libidinis, et sulphure
ob illius abhominabilis vicii fetorem, subvertit ; verum etiam
in locum horridum visu, sulpbure et bitumine et intoUerabili
fetore plenum, nichil in se vivum* recipientem, habentem
quidem in ripis suis arbores proferentes poma exterius quasi
integra, sed interius fumo et cineribus plena, et quandam in-
fernalis supplicii ymaginem preferentem, convertit. Et hoc
quidem quam sit horridum,^ quamque cunctis hominibus devi-
tandum, in hac vita ludibrium tam^ nepbarium, et in futuro
quibus tormentis sit multandum, subtiliter satis ostendunt :
dum ignis libidinis ardorem, sulphur flagitii fetorem, bitumen
vitii obligationem, fumus cordis cecitatem, in hoc seculo,^ in
futuro ignem inextinguibilem, fetorem intolerabilem, vincula
indissolubilia, tenebrarum horrorem, mortem interminabilem,
exprimunt." Post hec clericus prefatus in^ viam suam abiit,
et ut fama resperserat repentina morte occupatus^ interiit.
Ciun autem peracto officio, domi reverteretur vir sanctus,
occurrit ei inter ceteros clericus quidam peregrinus eloquentis-
simus. Hunc vir Dei intuens, urenti oculo perstrinxit ; et quis
asset, et nnde, et ad quid in partes illas venisset, inquisivit. At
ille predicatorem veritatis, et viam Dei in veritate docentem, se
esse respondit, et^° pro salvatione animarimi ad partes istas
advenisse asseruit. Sed cum Sanctus colloquium conseruisset
cum eo, convicit eum Pelagiane pestis inebriatum veneno.
Volens igitur emn potius redire, quam perire, ut pernitiose
secte abrenuntiaret, sedulo commonuit, et convenit ; sed pectus
ejus saxeum ad convertendum invenit. Tunc Sanctus a sua
diocesi ilium expelli precepit ; et quod filius mortis, et mors
utriusque hominis^^ in januis esset, denuntiavit. Memoravit
^ B. M. inserts etiam. ^ B. M. viri sexus sui. ^ B. M. ut.
* B. M. \iv\im in se, ^ B. M. horrendum. "^ B. M. tamen.
1 B. M. iimrts et. * B. M. per. ® B. M. preocoupatus.
10 B. M. que. " B. M. imerU ei.
212 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
etiam illud Apostoli, Hereticum hominem post secundam am-
monitionem devita, sciens quam subversus est hujiismodi. Is-
dem filius gehenne a finibus illis expulsus recessit ; et quoddam
flumen transsire temptans aqiiis suffocatus ad tartara descendit.
Et Sanctissinii viri vaticinium veridicum, argiunento tarn evi-
dent!, fide dignissimum ostendit.
[^np. xxix.]— ^rtaliter bibtna ulttjj abbcrsanog .Sanrti ^ente-
ijcrni pzxcn00tnt ; d patriotas ay00latas tUzdos opi^ixtssos}
isflUC usque quid Sanctus Kentegernus discedeus a patria
sua, et quid commoratus in terra aliena egerit, diligentiori relatu
quo potuimus euarravimus. Amodo ad insinuandum quid adver-
sarii ejus passi sunt, aut quaKter ad Cambrinam Eegionem redi-
erit, vel quid in ea egerit ^ articulum reflectamus. Postquam vir
Domini, malitie cedens locum dedit, super discessione ejus non
diu gaudere permissi sunt inimici ejus. Visitavit Dominus
enim eos^ in manu gxavi, in* brachio duro, in^ furore eft'uso ex-
tendens super eos virgam vigilantem in malum, et non in
bonum, percutiens eos plaga inimici, castigatione crudeli usque
ad interemptionem.^ Quosdam namque eorum operuerunt tene-
bre'' cecitatis caligo persequens; quosdam paralisis dissolverat,^
omne robur eorum enervans, et omnis virtutis corporee effectu
effectos efficiens. Alios apprehendit furor insanabilis, usque ad
tumulum perseverans ; alios exesit vel excussit lej)ra tabefaci-
ens, et in semivivis cadaveribus spirantes mortuis putrescenti-
bus assimilans. Plures eorum epilentiotici effecti^ horribile
spectaculum de se intuentibus prebuerunt. Alii atque alii, vario
genere morborum incurabilium consumpti, exj)iraverunt. Tanta
namque indigiiatio ire Domini tam subito delevit eos, ut omnes
qui noverant illorum prius potentiam^*' et multitudinem sibila-
rent super eos dicentes, Quare fecit Dominus sic huic populo ?
Quum ecce subito defecerunt, perierunt propter iniquitatem
suam, quam exercuerunt adversum Sanctum Domini auferre
molientes de terra ejus vitam et memoriam.
Patriote etiam cito deseruerunt viam Domini, quam pastor
bonus, doctor verax, ostenderat eis ; et tanquam canes reversi
ad vomitum, prolapsi sunt ad ydolatrie ritimi. Sed non impune.
Celum enim et terra, mare, et omnia que in eis sunt, subtrax-
erunt eis^^ obsequium, usum, et assuetum^^ adjutorium suum ;
' B. M. oppresserit. * B. M. fecerit. ^ B. M. nam eos Dominus.
* B. M. et. * B. M. et. " g m. internitionem.
^ B. M. inserts et. * B. M. dissolvat. ^ B. M. epilentiosi effectu.
^° B. M. prius noverat illorum penitentiam.
^^ B. M. omits eis. ^^ g, ]Vi_ consuetum.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 21.'i
ut juxta scripturam, contra insensatos pugnare videretur orbis
terrarum ; et tanti viri a terra ilia absentati elementa piitaren-
tur equanimiter non ferre abcessionem.^ Nam juxta illud pro-
pheticum, Viror^ omiiis recessit, pecus omne interiit, celum
desuper eneum, et terra ferrea fuit, devorans^^ habitatores suos ;
famesque consumptoria, super omnem terrain multo tempore
prevaluit.
Quando autem venit tempus miserendi, ut ammoveret Do-
minus ab eis virgam indignationis sue, et ut converterentur ad
Dominum et sanaret eos, suscitavit super regnum Cambrinum
in regem Rederech nomine ; qui a discipulis Sancti Patrici in
Yberniam* baptizatus fuerat fide Christianissimum ; qui, et in
toto corde quereret Dominum, et reparare studeret Christianis-
mum. Et vere magnum divine pietatis est indicium, quando
Dominus in regimine Sancte ecclesie, et in principatum terre,
constituit rectores et reges, qui juste decernaut, sancte vivant ;
qui bona populo suo querant, qui judicium et justiciam in terra
faciant. Sic prorsus, e contrario, evidens experimentum indig-
nationis Dei est quando regnare facit ypocritam propter peccata
populi, quando dicit regi apostata et vocat duces impios sicut
in Job scriptum est^ et juxta prophetam^ quando dat reges in
furore suo, et princixDes in ira sua.
[(Eap^. XXX.] — Quom0ti0 0anctu0 ^tbtvzch §>mxdnm ^cntcgcr-
nnm, ut ab suam 5zbzm in ^U0gu rebtr^t, itundis zi littcria
inbitaberit ; zi §nncivi& prcsxil lUMno zlHodns oxmuIo peti-
tioni ^ZQiQ abqtticbcrit,
^K^EX igitur Eederech, videns Cliristianam religionem in
regno suo peue deletam, magnam operam adhibuit quomodo
repararet eam. Et diu apud se tractans, et cum aliis Christianis
qui erant ei a secretis, non invenit salubrius consilium, quo id
posset perducere ad effectum, quani si destinaret nuncios ad
Sanctum Kentegernum, ob ilium ad priorem cathedram revo-
candum. Fama de Sancto evolans pulsavit aures et animum
Eegis, quia^ lux non potuit'^ abscondi, licet luceret in partibus
remotioris regionis. Direxit ergo nuncios Eex^ ad beatum pre-
sulem, cum litteris suis deprecatoriis, et conunonitoriis, obse-
crans, exhortans, et obtestans, per nomen Domini ne pastor
oves pascue sue diu desolatas, et custodia deputatas,^ ulterius
1 B. M. abscessum. ^ B. M. virorum. ^ B. M. clevoris.
'' B. M. Hibernia. ^ B. M. omits quando regnare . . . scriptuna est.
° B. M. que. '' B. M. inserts ille. ^ B. M. Rex nuncios.
9 B. M. destitutas.
214 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTLE]
deserendo, curam eis sui subtrahat ; ne lupi infernalis de hyati-
bus^ rapiendas eas exponat et dilacerandas,^ sed potiiis ante-
quam omnino a faucibus leonis rugientis, preparati ad escam,
transvorentur,^ occurrat. Dum non sit homo ad presens nisi
ipse qui eniat, aiit jiistiiis eruere debeat. Indignum esse as-
seruit ut sponsus sponsam, pastor o^'ile, presiil ecclesiam suam,
derelinquet ; pro cujus amore animam suam ponere debet, ne
mercenarius fiat. ludicavit etiam vindice Deo defunctos esse
qui querebant animam ejus ; juravitque se in omnibus, velud
patri filium, obtemperaturum voluntati, doctrine, et preceptis
ejus.
Hiis acceptis pater sanctus siluit ; nee illo die iUis aliquod ver-
bum fixmn super hiis respondit. Proposuit enim canos suos fo vere
usque ad vesperum dierum suorum et diem ultimum suum*
claudere in illo glorioso monasterio, quod cum diutino et sununo
sudore extruxerat,^ in pace in id ipsum dormire, et requiescere in
conspectu filiorum suorum, quos per evangeKum genuerat, in
Christo parturierat.^ Sed quia non querebat que sua sunt, sed que
Jhesu Christi; nee venit voluntatem suam facere sed ejus qui se
misit, sicut foret voluntas in celo de se, et in se,'' erga se, fieri
volens, semetipsum ex toto divine dispositioni submisit. Nocte
autem sequente in oratione procumbenti,^ et super hoc negotio
Dominum considenti, angelus Domini astitit ; et lumen refulsit
in habitaculo oratorii, percussoque latere ejus ut surgeret impera-
vit ei. Quo erecto ait illi nuntius celicus, " Eevertere in Glasgu,
ad ecclesiam tuam, ibique eris in gentem magnam, et crescere te
faciet Dominus in plebem suam. Gentem sanctam, et innu-
merabilem populum adquisitionis, adquires Domino Deo tuo,
coronam perpetuam percepturus ab eo. Ibi enim in senectute
bona dies tuos consummabis, et ex hoc mundo transibis ad pa-
trem tuum qui est in cells. Caro tua ibi requiescet in spe, cum
gloria et honore funerata, valdeque honoranda crebra populorum
frequentatione, et miraculorum exhibitione, donee in novissimo
die geminam^ stolam accipiendo de manu Domini, duplicia
possideas in generali resurrectione." Hiis dictis angelica visio
et allocutio disparuit. Ipse vero ubertim plorans, gratias Do-
mino exliibuit, crebro ingeminans, " Paratum cor meum, Deus ;
paratum cor meum, ad quodcunque tibi placuerit."
1 B. M. dentibus. - B. M. rapiendas et delacerandas eas exponat.
3 B. M. transvortitus. * B. M. diem suum ultimum. ^ B. M. inserts et.
•^ B. M. pertulerat. ^ B. M. hiserts et. * B. M. percumbenti.
^ B. M. gemma.
VITA KENTEGEItNI. L' 1 5
[Clitp. xxxi.]— (^Juomobcr <S:tnctu5 biedpulos suos^ ic vcbiixx
0UO ailoqucns, <§anctttm <^0apk 0ibi 0:iccc00orcin in rcgi-
minc 0ub0tittterit.^
^SiUMQUE dies illucesceret, convocatis discipulis suis in
iinum dixit, "Humanum dico vobis, karissimi, volui propter
infirmitatem carnis mee diu deliberans, et desiderans, ocidos
istos seniles a vobis claudi, ossaque mea sub oculis omnium
vestrum in ventrem matris omnium recondi, Sed quia non
est^hominis via inpotestate ejus, injunctum^ estmihi a Domino
ad ecclesiam meam de Glasgu redire ; nee debemus, aut aude-
mus, vel volumus, contradicere sermonibus sancti sicut Job
dicit, sive in aliquo contraire ; sed potius in omnibus voluntati
ejus, et jussioni, usque ad vite exitum obedire. Vos ergo,
karissimi, state in fide ; vii'iliter agite, et confortamini ; semper-
que satagite ut omnia vestra in caritate fiant." Hec et hiis
similia multa coram illis dixit ; elevataque manu omnibus
benedixit. Deinde, unanimi omnium assensu. Sanctum Asaph,
superius memoratum, in regimen monasterii, et plebis petitione
et cleri canonica electione, pontificatus successorem sibi subro-
gavit ; et iterum de lide, et spe, et caritate, de misericordia et
justitia, de humilitate et obedientia, de sancta pace mutua et^
patientia, de vitiis cavendis de*^ virtutibus adquirendis ; de in-
stitutis Sanctse Eomane Ecclesie observandis''; de regularibus
disciplinis et exerciciis, que ipse instituerat custodiendis omni
annisu^; et ad ultimum de omnium bonorum constantia et per-
severantia, sermonem prolixum et profundum protelavit.^
Finito sermone in cathedralem sedeni Sanctum Asaph in-
thronizavit; et iterum omnibus benedicens i*' et valefaciens, per
Aquilonalem januam ecclesie, eo quod esset ad versus Aqudo-
nalem hostem pugnaturus, exivit. Exeunte autem illo clausa
est janua ilia; omnesque qui viderunt vel audierunt illius
egressum veP^ discessum, planxerunt planctu magno super illius
absentia. Unde mos inolevit in ecclesia ilia ut janua ilia non
aperiatur, nisi semel in anno, scilicet in sollepnitate Sancti
Asaph, hoc est kal. Maii, duplici de causa. Prima; quia^^
deferunt sanctitati ejus qui exierat. Secunda; quia innuitur
ingens planctus eorum, qui ejus discessum planxerant. Ideo in
die Sancti Asaph janua ilia aperitur, quia dum Sanctus ille
^'B. M. omits suos. 2 g jj suatimierit. ^ g ;m_ omits est.
4 B. M. invinctuni. ^ B. M. que. " B. M. et.
' B. M. eonservaiulis. ^ B. M. onmi aunisu ctistodiensis.
'•' B. M. procelavit. ^^ B. M. benedicens omnibus.
" B. M. et. 12 B. M. que.
X
2 1 G VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTL^.
beato Kentegerno in regimine successit, tristicia eonim^ in
gaudium convertebatur. Ex illo monasterio perplurima^ pars
fratrum, nullatenus valens aut volens, quamdiu viveret, sine
illo vivere, usque ad sexcentos sexaginta quinque cum illo
abierunt. Trecenti tantum cum Sancto Asaph remanserunt.
Cum talibus turmis, quasi militia celestis curie vallatus, re-
vertebatur hostem antiquum expugnaturus ; et de finibus
Aquilonis, in quibus ipse apostata angelus sedem suam
posuerat, expulsurus. Et merito tales tali numero computati
eum comitabantur, qui per senarium bonorum operum excer-
cicium, decalogTim legis implendo, multiplicantes ad cen-
tenariam virtutum perfectionem pervenerunt, et quinariam
sensualis discipline custodiam pro posse ^ suo conservavemnt.
Cum audisset Eex Eederech, et populus ejus, quod Kente-
gernus advenisset de Wallia ad Cambriam, de exilio ad propriam
patriam, Eex cum ingenti leticia, et plurima multitudo leta-
bunda et laudans processerunt ei obviam. Sonat* in ore
omnium, ob adventum ejus gratiarum actio vox laudis et jocun-
ditatis ; resonat econtra in ore Sancti presulis, Gloria in excelsis
Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bone voluntatis.
[(Eap. xxxii.] — Pc iiemontis mirabiliter ftigatis ; zi tz loco in
qrxo ab pt^biranbttm stetit, zi ittzz fecunbitate secuta.
J^EATUS Kentegernus videns maxime multitudinis ad se
festinantis concursus et occursus, exultavit in spiritu ; et Deo^
gratias agens in oratione genua fixit. Completaque oratione
surgens, in nomine Sancte Trinitatis coUectam multitudinem
benedixit. Deinde signo sancte crucis circumstantes muniens
quasi sententiam protulit dicens : " Quicumque saluti hominum
invident, et verbo Dei adversantur, in virtute ejusdem verbi
Dei precipio, ut protinus discedant, ne credituris aliquod impedi-
mentum ingerant." Quo dicto sub nimia celeritate ingens larva-
torum multitudo, statura et visu horribilis, a cetu illo exiens,^
omnibus videntibus aufugit ; ex quorum visione timor magnus
super eos irruit. Sanctus antistes confortans eos, corroborans-
que, in quales crediderant denudavit ; et ad credendum Deo
viventi corda omnium astantium excitavit. Evidenti namque
ratione ostendit ydola muta, figmenta hominum vana, igni
potius quam numini esse aptiora. Elementa etiam quibus
inesse credebant numina, creaturas esse docuit ex Conditoris
dispositione ad usum hominum, et ministerium, et adjutoria,
1 B. M. illorum. ^ 3_ jyj^ plurima. ^ B. M. preposse.
* B. M. sonet. ^ B. M. ideo. "^ B. M. exigens.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 217
esse plasmata. Woden vero quern principalem deiim credide-
rant, et precipue Angii de quo originem duxerant, cui et quar-
tam feriam consecraverant, probabiliter affirmavit hominem
fuisse mortalem, et regem Saxonum, secta paganum, a quo ipsi
et plures nationes genus duxerant. Ilujus inquid corpus multis
annis transactis resolutum fuit in pulverem ; et anima sepulta
in inferno eternum sustinet ignem.
Hiis et similibus ydolorum culturam a cordibus eorum eji-
eiens, trinum et unum Deum omnipotentem, ex ipsa visibilis
creature specie omnium creatorem demonstravit ; et postmodum
fidem que est in Christo Jhesu, et fidei sacramenta, eis evan-
gelizans, non esse aliud nomen sub celo, in quo credentes
oportet salvos fieri, nisi nomen Domini nostri Jhesu Christi,
veracissimis et luculentissimis assertionibus comprobavit. Cum-
que multa in liunc modum, que ad Christianam fidem spectant,
in planicie campi, vocabulo Holdelm, spiritu docente et dictante,
predicasset, terra in qua sedit, in oculis omnium crevit in
monticulum altum, et manet ibi usque in diem hodiernum.
Igitur qui convenerant cernentes tarn subito tam grande miracu-
lum, verbo fidei medullitus obedientes, Jhesum Christum Deum
esse firmiterfideliterque^crediderunt, qui se illis revelaverat per
famulimi suum Kentegernum. Certatim omnes ergo^ viri cum
mulieribus, senes cum junioribus, simul in uniun dives et pauper,
ad virum Dei concurrentes fidei regulis imbuuutur ; catezizati
abrenuntiant sathane, et omnibus pompis et operibus ejus, ac
in nomine Sancte Trinitatis lavacro salutari abluuntur ; sicque
crismate sacro et oleo liniti, corpori ecclesie associati, membra
Christi efficiuntur.
Gavisus est ergo antistes gaudio magno, quia^ salus magna
facta est ; et ingens leticia aucta in populo illo ; nee minus
gaudium fuit coram angelis Dei in celo, cum ad Deum con-
versa fuerat tanta multitudo. Congrue sane tali signo in* initio
predicationis sue, montis videlicet elevatione, voluit Dominus
mirificare Sanctum suum. Qui in ipsum montem coagulatum
et pinguem, in quo beneplacitum est Deo habitare, in eo predi-
cando omnes efficaciter induxit ad credendum. Qui prius lapis
sine manibus precisus^ de monte, crevit in montem magnum,^
et implevit faciem orbis terre ; quia profecto absque complexu
virili de virgine procreatus Deus omnipotens manifesto claruit
in mundi hujus^ lattitudine. Iste est^ inquam mons elevatus
in vertice montium Christus nimirum Dominus transcendens
* B. M. fideliter firmiterqiie. ^ B. M. ergo omnes. ^ g ^ qye.
* B. M. omits in. ^ B. M. abscisus. " B. M. altum.
' B. M. hujus mundi. ^ B. M. oinits est.
2 1 8 VIT.^ SANCTOFtUM SCOTL^.
omnem virtutem et celsitudinem omnium sanctorum : in cujus
viis, et semitis, et lumine, Kentegerno docente, multo devotius
et constancius iste gentes ambulaverunt, quam domus ilia car-
nalis Jacob, que magis tenebras quam lucem diligentes, et a
viis veritatis retro abeuntes, lumine summe lucis illustrari con-
tempserunt.
Postquam vero habitatores Cambrie ad Deum conversi, salu-
tari lavacro abluti sunt, omnia elementa que ob divine ultionem
injurie, in eorum videbantur conjurasse perniciem, jam novam
faciem induerant erga eos, in utriusque hominis salutem. Sicut
enim Dominus ab apostatis aversus, et eos adversans prohibitis
etiam stillis roris, mandavit nubibus suis ne pluerent super
terram vocavitque famem devastatoriam super eam ; sic ad se
reversis conversus, jussit, ut celum daret pluviam, et terra ger-
minaret herbam virentem, fructumque suum afferret habitan-
tibus super eam. Sic sic^ illuminante Domino vultum suum
super eos, senciebatur sol solito serenior, celi camera clarior, aer
salubrior, tellus fecundior, pontus secundior, omnium rerum
abundantia copiosior, pax firmior, rerum omnium facies jocun-
dior, et ideo circa divini cultus obsequium cunctorum devotio
extitit profusior.
[(Eajr. xxxiii.]— <^itob ^zx llcicrcch d iominium sirper &t, ei
yoster00 &XXOQ, ronceeserit.
fei,EX itaque Eederech, cerneiis^ manum Domini^ bonam
secum, et pro voto operantem, gaudio multo replebatur. Quan-
taque devotione interius ferverit foras ostendere non cuncta-
batur. Vestibus namque regiis se exuens, genibus flexis, et
manibus junctis,* cum consensu et consilio magnatum suorum,
hominium suum Sancto Kentegerno optulit ; eique dominium
et principatum super universum regnum suum tradidit, illum-
que regem se patrie rectorem sub ipso nominari voluit, sicut
magnum quondam Constantinum imperatorem sancto Silvestro
fecisse cognovit. Unde mos inolevit ut per multorum annorum
curricula, quamdiu regnum Cambrinum in suo statu perduravit,
semper princeps episcopo subditus fuerat.^ Crebro a Eege
verbum hoc inculcabatur, quod non frustra a Sancto Servano,
Kentegernus vocaretur, sed potius^ de causa, eo quod Domino
disponente fieri deberet omnium eorum dominus capitaneus ;
nam Ken, capud Latine ; tyern Albanice, dominus Latine, inter-
pretatur.
1 B. M. solo. 2 B M. certiens. ^ b m. Dei.
* B. M. incutiens. ■'' B. M. fieret. " B. M. inserts certa.
VITA KENTEGERXI. 219
Sanctus Keiitegernus, quasi novus Melchizedech effectiis,
suscipere non renuit quod ad honorem Dei, ei tarn devote Eex
optulit ; quia et hoc expedire ecclesie Dei in postenmi previdit.
Habebat etiam privilegium a summo pontifice sibi missum, ut
uulli episcopo esset subjectus ; sed pocius vocaretur et esset
Domini Pape vicarius, et^ capellanus. Eex vero, qui'^ gloria et
honore sanctum pontificem sublimavit, gratiam pro gratia, et
majores honores et opes a Domino recepit. Eegina etiam Lan-
guueth^ nomine, diutine sterilitatis obprobrio depressa, bene-
dictione et intercessione sancti episcopi, concepit, et peperit
filium ; ad totius parentele consolationem et gaudium. Quern
Sanctus baptizans vocavit Constantinum, ob memoriam facti
paterni, quod sibi exhibuerat, instar Eomani imperatoris Con-
stantini, quod jam sicut diximus sancto Silvestro fecerat. Crevit
itaquepuer egxegie indolis, etate et gxatia, dilectus Deo et homi-
nibus effectus, qui jure hereditario, postquam pater in fata con-
cessit, ei in regnum successit ; episcopo autem, sicut et pater,
semper subjectus. Et quia Dominus erat cum eo, omnes bar-
baras nationes vicinas genti sui, sine sanguinis effusione com-
pressit. Omnesque regis qui ante se in regno Cambrie princi-
pabantur, divitiis et gloria, dignitate, et quod prestantius est
sanctitate, antecessit. Unde et meritis preclarus, consumens*
in bonum dies suos de seculo triumphari, et in celo gloria^ et
honore meruit coronari, Sanctusque Constantinus usque ad^
presens solet a pluribus appellari. Hec diximus quasi per an-
ticipationem, quia de Constantino, precibus Sancti Kentegerni
genito, et ab eo baptizato et educato, fecimus mentionem.
Sanctus presul Kentegernus in Holdelmo ecclesias construens,
presbiterum^ et clerum ordinans, sedem episcopalem aliquanto
tempore, certa de causa, ibi constituit. Postea divina revela-
tione commonitus, illam ad civitatem suam GlasgTi, equitate
exigente transtulit.
[(Eap. xxxib.] — Qiiantas natioitc© .Sancttte, tum^ ptr st ixxvx^
per iisdpulos ©uos, rt^*' spurcida gliolatrie purcjabcrit. €t
i\yxoii multi0 miraculi© darucrii
►EATUS Kentegernus, quasi " facula ardens in diebus suis,
radiantibus virtutum flammis, verbo Domini ignito et lucido,
satagebat corda errore ignorantie secata illuminare ; frigida ad
1 B. M. que. 2 ^ ^ ^^^jj^. 3 g. M. Languoreth.
•* B. M, perclarus consummaiis. s j> ]^j oj/i/^s gloria.
•* B. M. in. "' B. M. i)resbyteros. « B. M. tarneii.
" B. M. tamen. i'^ B. M. ab omni. " B. M. qnali.
220 VITJi SANCTORUM SCOTL^.
Dei amorem accendere ; spinas peccatorum, et tribulos vitio-
rum, que ex antiquo maledicto faciem terre silvescendo operue-
rant, succendere. Nee fuit qui se facUe a calore ejus posset
abscondere. Diocesim enim suam visitans visitavit, omnesque
deos alienos de medio eorum auferens, cultus peregiini^ cunctas
ceremonias eliminavit. Sicque parans viam Domino, et rectas
faciens semitas Dei nostri, in meliorem statum totam Chris-
tianitatem, quam unquam antea ibi fuerat, reparavit.
Deinde Dei miles, igne Sancti Spiritus succensus, sicut^ qui
comburit silvam, et sicut flamma coml)urens montes ; postquam
viciniora sibi diocesim suam videlicet^ correxerat ; ad ulteriora
progrediens, Pictorum patriam, que modo Galwiethia dicitur, et
circumjacentia ejus, ab ydolatrie spurcicia, et heretice doctrine
contagione, purgavit : et miraculis choruscantibus quicquid
Christiane fidei et sane doctrine contrarium invenerat.* In
omnibus hiis non est fervor devotionis ejus aversus, sed adbuc
manus ejus extenta ad opera forcia, et ad gloriam et honorem
nomini altissimi adquirendam, calciatis in preparatione evangelii
pacis pedibus ejus.
Petiit namque Albaniam ; ibique, cum sudore nimio et quod-
dam modo intollerabili, multociens barbarorum insidiis morti
expositus, sed in fide stans inperterritus, ab ydolorum cultura et
prophanis ritibus ydolatrie, pene equipollentibus. Domino co-
operante et dante virtutem voci predicationis ejus, ad fidei
lineas, et ecclesiasticas consuetudines, et canonica instituta con-
vertit patriam, Illic enim multas ecclesias erexit ; erectas
dedicavit ; presbiteros et clerum ordinans : et plures^ de disci-
pulis suis in episcopos consecravit. Multa etiam in partibus
illis monasteria fundavit ; et ex discipulis quos instituerat^ illis
patres preposuit.
In omnibus hiis non adhuc requievit spiritus ejus, in plurim-
orum salvationem hanelus, quin bellaret bella Domini utpote
dominici exercitus signifer insignis, et athleta animi invicti.
Destinavit itaque ex suis, quos in fide fortes, ferventes, in cari-
tate,^ doctrina insignes, religione sublimes, noverat, ad insulas
que procul sunt, versus Orchades, Noruuagiam, Ysalandam ad
annunciandum in^ eis nomen Domini, et fidem Jhesu Christi ;
eo quod Ulis in locis esset messis quidem multa, operarii nulli.
Et quum jam silicernus erat, nee per se illos adire potuit, hoc
opus per discipulos suos adimpleri voluit.
* B. M. peregriai cultus. ^ g inserts ignis. ^ B. M. videlicet suam.
* B. M. adds ad regulam veritatis deducens pro posse suo emendavit.
* B. M. populos. 6 B. M. instruerat. '' B. M. inserts Dei.
8 B. M. omits in.
VITA KENTEGEUNI. 221
Hiis rite peractis, ad propriam sedem in Glasgu revertitur,
iibi miiltis et magnis miraculis, sicut et alibi inimo et^ ubique,
clamisse dinoscitur. Nam fere ubicimque labia ejus salutarem
disseminaverunt scientiam, divina virtus in servo suo operans
multiplicium exhibebat signorum efficaciam. Cecis namque
visum, surdis auditum, claudis gressum, mutis loquelam, furiosis
sensum, reddebat. Febres fugabat, demonia ab^ obsessis cor-
poribus ejiciebat, paraliticos exigebat,^ lunaticos sanabat, leprosos
mundabat, omnimodos languores curabat. Sed in hujusmodi
excerciciis erat ei cotidianum opus, lusus assuetus, usus assiduus,
que ex tam crebra exhibitione quodam modo viluerunt, et ne
copia congesta pareret fastidium, calamo minime mandata sunt.
Multociens etiam multi egi'oti ex tactis fimbriis vestimentorum
ejus, crebro ex particulis cibi aut potus ejus datis, et sumptis,
sospitatem assequebantur aliquociens etiam in umbra corporis
ejus pertransseuntis, ut alius Petrus putaretur, portati in gTa-
bato curabantur.
[QliAp. xxxb.] — Qttomxjbo ^ominus beatimenta ,Sattcti ab omnt
0tiUtnbt0 jjlttbic, nibis, £t granbini©, intacta custobicrit.
^I^ICET multa miracula, ceteris Sanctis inusitata, manus
Domini per beatum Kentegernum operaretur, unum tameu
opus operatus est in eo unde omnes ammirantur. Sicut enim
omnes testimonium perhibebant, qui virum noverunt, sinuliter
et qui cum eo conversati sunt, nunquam in vita sua vestimenta
sua* pluvie inundantis/ vel nivis vel^ grandinis stillicidiis,
stillantibus super terram, maduerunt. Nam sepe numero sub
divo constitutus, dum aeris inclementia ingruente, imber inun-
dans, tamquam sentina, difflueret; et spiritus procelle in cii-
cuitu ejus deseviret; immobilis stetit aliquando, aut ivit quo
voluit, et a cujuslibet aure'^ stillula et injuria illesus, et intactus
semper extitit. Nee solum ipsi soli istud prodigium quod a
Domino factum est et est mirabile in oculie omniimi, conferre
Dominus dignatus est, sed in^ ipsius discipulorum turba cum
illo gradiens, ad ipsum ipsius meritis, quamvis non ut ipse
semper, sepissime tamen'' in se, et erga se experta est. Sancti-
tas namque Sancti doctoris Kentegerni, divina perfusi gi'atia,
erat sequacibus ejus in umbraculum diei et estus, et in abscon-
sionem a turbine et a pluvia.
* B. M. omits et. ^ g ]yj g^. ^ g m. erigebat.
* B. M. ejus. 5 B. M. mrmdatis. ^ B. M. aut.
1 B.U. horum. » B. M. et. ^ B. M. tam
222 VIT.E SANCTUKUM SCOTLE.
Nullus itac|iie discredere debet Dominum descripti miraculi
beiieficium siio prestitisse devotissimo famiilo, ad laudem sui
nominis, et ob commeiidandam sanctitatem illius; cum jiixta
aliquam similitudinem tale quid, immo multo majus aliquid,
conferre dignatus sit in deserto, universe Ebreorum populo, ad
insinuandam^ gTatiam quam invenerant in oculis ipsius. Illius
populi, sicut legimus, non sunt attrita vestinienta nee inveterata :
hujus solius indumenta nulla gutta aeria sunt perfusa. Nulli
ergo hoc videatur incredibile ; cum Domino dicente, omnia
possibilia sint^ credenti, et apud Deum nichil est impossibile.
Similiter et illud signum quod in percussione Egypti, quodam
loco de filiis Israel scrip tum invenimus, frequenter in beato
Kentegerno iteratum novimus. Quando enim tenebre operu-
erunt totam terram Egipti, et caligo ejus populos, sicut scrip-
tum est, ubi filii Israel habitabant illuc et lux erat ; sic sepe
cum nebula totam terram obtegeret,^ tenebras plerumque palpa-
biles inducens, ubi Sanctus predicabat; ipsum et locum, et
omjies habitantes in eo, lumen circumfulserat. Merito ergo ut
credimus vestimenta hujus Sancti^ nullo stillicidio sunt aliquo-
ciens madefacta, cujus membra corporis ab omni inquinamento
carnis, et sanguinis, omni annisu conservare studuit illibata et
intacta. Jure etiam in loco predicationis ejus, dum populum
doceret, circumfusus^ in circuitu ejus tenebris lux emicuit ; in
cujus corde sol justicie, lux vera que nescit occasum, jugiter
resplenduit; et ipse in medio nationis prave atque perverse,
sicut luminare in caliginoso loco, juxta Apostoli Petri vocem
illuxit.
[Cap-, xxxbi.] — OUuonwtlio <San£ttt0 aniilum*' a rj^gina inbctcnter
liatiim, et ab ipso "^t^t in flumine (Hub ijnrojcrtnm, mira-
biUtcr regine vcstituit/
>ANCTUS itaque Kentegernus, ad propria ut dictum est
regressus, secum habitare in solitudine mentis, a conturbatione
hominum, disponens ; non facile foras apparere aut egredi, nisi
magna^ causa urgente, voluit ; sed tamen^ foras clarescentibus
signis licet invitus coruscare non destitit. Kegina Langueth
superius memorata, divitiis et deliciis affluens, regio thalamo et
maritali thoro, non ut debuit aut sicut eam decuit fidem ser-
^ B. M. insinnandum. '■^ B. M. sunt. 3 g_ jyi obtegeret terram.
■* B. M. Saucti hujus. ^ B. M. circumcisis. '' B. M. liincrts regnum.
'' B. M. mirabiliter recuperavit. » B. M. inserts et certa.
" B. M. t:\ui.
VITA KENTEGEKNI. 223
vavit; qiiia^ gazarum copia, et deliciarum exuberantia et potes-
tatis elevatio,voluptati carnis incentiviim et fomentum ministrare
consiievit. In queiidam^ militem epliebum, qui juxta putrabilem^
putride carnis pulchritudinem/ ei videbatur vernans venusto
aspectu, decoraque facie, speciosus forma pre miiltis consortibus
suis incuria, oculos injecit. Et ut ille qui per se ad tale obse-
quiuni, sine stimulo alterius, satis fuit promptus et accKnis,^
secum dorniiret facile effecit.
C unique in orbeni transissent dies, et voluptas illicita sepius
repetita utrique plus placuisset, eo quod panis absconditus
suavior, et aque furtive, juxta Salomonem, dulciores sibi vide-
bantur ; sicut actu temerario, sic amore corripiuntur ceco.
Anulumque regium aureum, preciosam gemmam habentem in-
clusam, quern ei ipse legitimus maritus, in speciale signum
conjugalis anioris commendaverat, imprudenter et impudenter
sue dedit medio. Ille vero imprudentius^ anulum acceptum sue
inq^osuit digito, suspitionis januam conplexum connitientibus^
aperuit tali indicio. Comperiens quispiam Eegis fidelis regine
et miHtis secretum,^ Eegis auribus hoc instillare curabat. Sed
Eex suum dedecus, et^ deferenti ignominiam conjugis, non
facile aurem, aut animum, accomodabat. Vetus et verum pro-
verbium est " Curcurbitam,^° conjugis dilecte delictum detegenti,
difficile fidem adhibere; et consuetius solet in accusatorem
quam in accusatam odium suum retorquere." Sed delator
adulterii, in argumentum rei, anulum in digito militis ostendit ;
et ad credendum sibi probabiliter persuadens zelotipie spiritum
in Eege acrius accendit.
Eex itaque de re secreta cercioratus, iram animi sui erga
reginam et militem, serenitate vultus sui palliavit, seque illis
solito liylariorem et familiariorem exhibuit. Cum autem dies
serenior illuxisset Eex venatum ivit, et militem secum adducens
et^^ accersiens, cum multitudine venatorum et canum saltus et
silvas petivit. Discopulatis canibus, et sociis per loca diveijsa
dispersis, solus cum solo, Eex cum milite, ad ripam fluminis
Clud devenit,i2 ^^ Jq^q umbroso, et cespite herboso, paulatim
soporem haurire uterque^^ gratum duxit. Miles vero fatigatus,
nichilque adversi suspicatus, capite reclinato, brachio protenso,
manu oppansa, ilico obdormivit. Sed Eegem sompnum simu-
lantem zelotipie spiritus concitans, dormire vel dormitare non
1 B. M. que. - B. M. lu.sertd iiamque. ^ b. M. piitribilem.
■* B. M. pulchritndinem carnis. 5 B. M. declinus.
" B. M. inserts et impudeiitius. ^ B. M, concientibus,
** B. M. secretum regine et militis. » B. M. inserts dilecte.
^'> B. M. cucurbitam. ii B. M. omit.s adduceus et.
^- B. M. inserts ibique. '3 B. M. iitriqtie.
224 VITiE SAiJCTORUM SCOTLE.
permisit. Conspecto itaque anulo in dormientis digito, tur-
batus^ pre furore oculus ejus; vixque continuit manus a gladio,
et ab effusione sanguinis ejus. Eefrenato tamen impetu^ ire
sue, de digito dormientis anulum extrahens in flumen vicinum
projecit; excitansque ilium ut ad socios iret, et domum^ rever-
terentur precepit. Miles sompno expergefactus de anulo nichil
cogitans, Regis jussioni* obedivit; et donee domum intrasset
quod amiserat non aniniadvertit.
Regem vero domum regressum quum regina, procedens de
thalamo suo, solito more^ salutasset, ex ore salutati contumelias
et terrores et improperia improperantis accepit,^ eamque oculis
igneis, vultu minaci, ubi amdus suus ad custodiam ei com-
mendatus esset requisivit. Ilia autem in scrinio ilium ^ re-
positum se habere respondit. Quem Rex sub omni celeritate,
in conspectu aulicolarum^ suorum, sibi presentari precepit.
Ipsa adhuc in spe constituta ingreditur secretiora thalami, quasi
ut anulum quereret, sed continuo ad militem dirigit nuntium,
moti Regis super anulo postulationem intimans, mandavit ut
sibi celeriter anulum mitteret. Miles quoque se anulum ami-
sisse, ac locum ubi ilium perdiderat ignorare, regine remandavit;
necnon^ a facie Regis veritus latibuli beneficio se muniens ab
aula se absentavit. Interim dum ilia diverticula quereret, et
tardaret in medium proferre, quod nimirum non valebat invenire,
supervacue nichiP° inane querens ; Rex furore succensus illam^^
adidteram crebro nominans, prorupit in juramentum dicens.
" Hec faciat mihi Deus, et hec addat, si non secundum legem
adulterarum judicavero te, et si non morte turpissima dampna-
vero^^ te. Tu adolescenti adultero adherens, Regem sponsum
postposuisti me, cum consortem thori et regni dominam fecissem
te. Tu fecisti in occulto, et ego faciam palam, et^^ conspectu
solis hujus ignominiam tuam propalabo, et verecundiora tua in
facie tua revelabo."
^ Cumque in hunc niodum multa diceret, omnibus aulicis in-
ducias petentibus, vix ei triduanas concessit, custodie tamen
illam mancipari jussit. Incarcerata jam ymaginabatur mortem,
que quasi jam sibi iminebat; sed non^* minus illam rea con-
scientia torquebat. gi'ave nimis et intollerabile supplicium,
ree conscientie dampnatorium testimonium ! Licet in facibus
quis constitutus, pacem in circuitu suo extrinsecus habeat,
1 B. M. inserts est. ^ B. M. in portu. ^ ^ B. M. domi.
* B. M. jussioni Eegis. ^ B. M. omits more. ^ B. M. recepit.
^ B. M. ilium in scrinio. ^ B. M. aulicorum. ' B. M. verum.
1" B. M. inserts et. ^^ B. M. inserts fedam. ^^ B. M. condempnavero.
^' B. M. inserts in. ^* B. M. inserts et.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 225
miser tamen et in perturbatione versari agnoscitur, quern con-
scientia coiTodens sine intermissione persequitur. Mulieris
igitur male^ sibi in se spiritus anxiebatur; et corde contrito,
et hunuliato, lacrimosis precibus, Deum deprecabatur, ut non
intraret in judicium cum ancilla sua ; sed secundum suam mag-
nam misericordiam, sicut dudum mulieri in adulterio deprense,^
et coram se constitute misertus est, sic sui in eodem casu
misereri dignaretur. Inspirante ergo Domino mulier in arte
posita, salubre invenit consilium : et nuncium fidissimum ad
Sanctum Kentegernum mittens, totum exposuit infortunium,^
et ab illo unico propiciatorio eflflagitavit remedium. Petebafc
etiam ut saltem sui copiam Eegi pro ea postulaturus exhiberet ;
quia non esset tam grande, quod ei denegare vellet, vel valeret,
aut deberet.
Sanctus pontifex per Spiritmn Sanctimi,* et virtutem ex alto
eruditus, rem totam seriatim ante nuncii adventum agnoscens,
precepit nuntio cum hamo ad ripam prefati fluminis Clud per-
gere, et^ hamum gurgiti injicere, et primum piscem qui in-
escatus fuisset, ex aquis extractum continuo ad se reportare.
Quod Sanctus dixit nuncius explevit, ysitiumque,^ qui vulgo
salmo dicitur, captum presentie viri Dei exhibuit. Qui piscem
incidi et exenterari jubens coram se, prefatum in eo invenit
anulum, illmnque regine statim misit per eundem nunciumJ
Quo viso et recepto repletur cor ejus jubilo, os exultatione, et
gratiarum actione ; luctus vertitur in gaudium, mortis expec-
tatio in exaltationis et salutis^ tripudium. Prorupit ergo
regina in medium, et reqiiisitum Eegi restituit anulum in oculis
onuiium.
Contristatus est ergo Kex,^ et omnis cmia ejus cum iUo, pro
injuriis regine irrogatis ; et coram ilia humiliatus petivit sibi
indulgeri genibus flexis, juravitque gravissimam ultionem aut
mortem sibi^^ juberet, sive exilium, se illaturum delatoribus
suis. At ilia sapienter intelligens misericordiam, pocius quani
judicii censuram circa ce accitari, misereri voluit, sicut et
oportuit servi immo conservi sui. " Absit," inquid, " domine
mi, Kex, ut quispiam tale quid patiatur ob causam mei ; sed si
vis ut ex corde indulgeam tibi, quid in me deliquisti, volo ut
omnem animi tui motum cordetenus remittas, sicut et ego meo
accusatori." Quo audito ammirati sunt universi et congratulati.
Sicque Eex et regina, et delator, cum utroque in gratiam pacis
et mutue dilectionis sunt revocati. Eegina quam competen-
^ B. M. inserts conscie. ^ b_ -^ deprehense. ^ B. M. infortamimun.
* B. M. Sanctum Spiritum. ^ B. M. que. ^ B. M. et yficium.
B. M. bajulum. * B. M. salutis et exaltationis.
9 B. M. Rex ergo. i" B. M. si.
226 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
tius^ potuit ad virum Dei perrexit, eique reatiim suiim coii-
fessa, ad arbitrium ejus satisfaciens vitam suam de reliquo
studiose correxit ; nam pedes suos a lapsu tali continuit. Sig-
num tamen quo magnificavit Dominus misericordiam suam cum
ilia, vivente marito, nemini, post decessum ejus cunctis scire
volentibus aperuit. -
Ecce Dominus 2 per Sanctum suum^ Kentegernum iteravit, in
celo sedens, quod carne vestitus operari dignatus est in terra
degens. Ad jussum ejus Petrus hamum in mare mittens,
primum piscem captum extraxit, in cujus ore didragma invenit,
quod pro Domino et pro se solveret. Sic jubente Sancto Ken-
tegerno, in nomine ejusdem Domini nostri Jhesu Christi, nun-
cius regine misso hamo in fluvium^ piscem cepit, captum
Sancto optulit, in ablato et secto anulum reperit, quo reginam
a dupplici morte eriperet. In utroque, ut mihi videtur, facto
reddita sunt que sunt Cesaris Cesari,^ que sunt Dei Deo. In
didragmate enim reddita est Cesari ejus ymago,^ in anulo reddito
caro liberatur ab exicio/ anima ad ymaginem Dei factam, ab-
luta a peccato et restituta Deo.
[€iip. xxxbii.]— ^110 mob0s jontktor xtuibam torn regis^ xzs-
puzMQ, U&cum ^immn moxis reccntibus, post natalcm
lomini jjostulabit ; ^t ptv (Sanctum llcntegernum arrepmt.
slEX Eederech^*^ magnificatus est a Domino, eo quod ad-
heserit ei fide et bonis operibus serviendo, et Sancti Kentegerni
voluntati^i obediendo. Gloria enim et divitie in domo ejus,
liberalitas in corde, urbanitas in ore, munificentia in manu
ejus, eo quod benedixisset Dominus operibus manuum ejus.
Unde non solum in fines circumjacentes terre ejus, sed etiam
ultra mare in Hyberniam exivit fama largitatis.^^ q^^ ^^
causa a quodani rege Ibernie joculator, officii sui peritus et ex-
peditus, mittitur Cambriam ad predicti Eegis curiam, ut videret
si Veritas fame tam longe lateque diffuse responderet. Ad-
missus aule joculator manu psallebat in tympano, et cithara;
et letificabat Eegem et palatinos ejus, omnibus diebus festivis
nativitatis dominice. Expleta solempnitate sancte^^ epiphanie
Domini, proferri jussit Eex nninera, et dari joculatori sicut
regiam munificeiitiam^* dgcebat. Que omnia hystrio respuens,
B. M. compotencius. 2 g. m. inserts signum. 3 ^ jyj oto,7,s suum.
;J B. M. flumen. 5 ^ jyj inserts et. « B. M. mserts est.
' B. M. exicicio. » B. M. quomodo. » B. M. regia.
10 B. M. inserts valde. i' B. M. volum])tati. i- B. M. adds ejus.
" B. M. sacrosaiicte. " uiagiiiticentia.
VITA IvENTEGERNI. 22 i
talia in propria patria se satis habere posse asserebat. Eequi-
situs a Rege quid vellet accipere, respondit se auro vel argento,
vestibus aut equis, quibus Ybernia abundaret, minime indigere.
" Sed si vis," inquit, " ut recedam a te bene^ remuneratus, detur
mihi discus moris recentibus plenus." Audientes autem ver-
bum istud ex ore viri prolatum, in risum resoluti sunt, quia
ore ludibundo ilium ^jocantem hoc protulisse putaverunt. Tanto
enim hujusmodi minister in oculis audientium acceptior esse
consuevit, quanto eus in cachinnos, et verba risum moventia,
amplius concitaverit. Ille autem non joco sed serio postulasse
se mora,^ cum juramento affirmat ; nee precibus, aut promissis,
sen amplissimis muneribus oblatis, ab hujusmodi sententia
flecti nidlatenus poterat ; surgensque e medio recedere se velle,
et Eegis honorem, ut viilgo dici solet, asportare* denuntiat.
Eex autem hoc satis moleste accepit, et ne exhonoraretur^ quid
ei super hoc conducibile esset a suis inquisivit. Hyems enim
erat, nee morimi ullum^ uspiam repperiri potuit. Consilio
ergo suorum commonitus ad Sanctum Kentegernum ivit, et ut
orando quod postulabatur a Deo impetraret, humiliter petivit.
Vir Dei, quamvis orationem suam in talibus neniis non arbi-
traretur gratum expendere, quia noverat Eegem magnam
devotionem erga Deum et sanctam Ecclesiam habere, vi-
dentibus oculis ejus imperfectum illius in hac parte, sedit
animo sancti presulis petitioni ejus condescend ere ; quum tali
occasione sperabat eum in melius posse pioficere. Deliberans
ergo parumper secum, et breviter orans, ait ad Eegem, " Ee-
minisceris in quo loco, estive tempore, projecisti indumentum
quo amiciebaris, pre nimio caumate cum venatum ires ut ex-
peditius canes sequereris : et oblitus aut parvipendens ad tol-
lenduin illud, quo te exoneraveras non revertebaris ? " Eespondit
Eex, " Novi," inquit,'^ " domine mi rex, et^ episcope, tempus et
locum." " Vade," inquit Sanctus, " cito ad locum, et^ vestimen-
tum illud adhuc integrum,^'* super dumum veprium expassum,^^
invenies, et subtus mora matura satis, adhuc recentia et ad
sumendum ydonea. Tolles ea, et jociQatoris postulationi satis-
facies ; et omnimodis satage ut Deum qui honorem tuum mu-
tilari aut diminui non sinit in tam levi causa, magis ac magis
honores." Fecit Eex ut pontifex jussit, et invenit omnia sicut
predixit. Tollens ergo discuni, et moris implens,^^ dedit hys-
trioni dicens, " En quod postulasti accipe ; quia manu Domini
nobiscum operante, non poteris famam largitatis mee in aliquo
' B. M. omits bene. ^ g^ ]^ omits ilium. ^ B. M. moros.
* B. M. expectare. ^ B. M. exhortaretnr. " B. M. vero morum nullum.
'^ B. M. inquiens. ^ B. M. que. '■* B. M. que.
^^ B. M. inserts et. " B. M. expansum. ^~ B. M. aJimplens.
228 VIT^E SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
ledere. Et ne avarior tibi quam ceteris appaream, qiiamdiu
tibi placuerit nobiscum commorare." Videns histrio parap-
sidem plenam moris, contra morem temporis, miratus expavit ;
et cum rei geste ordinem cognovisset exclama\dt et dixit, " Vere
non est similis tiii in regibus terre, muniiicus in largitate, et
non est similis Kentegerno magnificus sanctitate, laudabilis et
iaciens mirabilia, qui operatur in conspectu meo contra spem
talia. Amodo non recedam a dome tua, et a servitio tuo ; sed
ero tibi servus sempiternus, quamdiii vixero." Mansit ergo
histrio in aulo regis; et arte^ joculatoria servivit ei diebus
plurimis. Postea statuens semetipsum contra faciem suam
divini timoris stimulo, histrionis renunciavit^ officio, et melioris
vite vias ingrediens se divino mancipavit obseqiiio.
[dap. xxx\}xn.]—§t luohns baei© lade ;jkttX0. Uhvo ruibam. a
,Sanct0 kentegerno mi00i0. (^naltter iac in flumine^ tfin-
0ttm in £a0ettm fxrrmatnm e0t.
J^EAT quidam, in fabrili peritus artificio, qui cudendo* et
fabricando, operibus viri Dei et monasterii usibus inserviebat ;
et stipendia sibi necessaria a Sancto recipiebat. Sanctus autem
lacte in cibo et potu uti consueverat, quia ut superius diximus,
ab omni liquore quo homo possit inebriari more solito abstine-
bat. De lacte ergo proprio recenter emulso vascula plena fabro
suo jussit afferri; quia noverat artifices et mercennarios de
proprio cibo domini et patrisfamilias gratancius vesci. Cum
autem bajulus per flumen Clud pertranssiret, vasorum opercula
fortuito casu reserantui',^ lac totum in aquam effunditur. Sed, res
mira et valdeinusitata! laceffusum nullatenus aqua inmiscetur,
aut a sapore vel colore demutatur, sed sub inopinata celeritate
totum insimul coagulatum, sed^ in caseum formatur. Nee incon-
venientius caseus iste consolidatur tunsione fluctuum, quam alius
quilibet confici solet conpressione manuum. Portitor vero for-
mellum casei ex aquis eripit, et fabro cui Sanctus miserat rem
ex integro enarrans porrigit. Hoc signum insigne perplures
conspexerunt, et qualiter fluidum in fluido elementum non sit
conversmn, aut liquefactum ammirantes obstupuenmt. Ipse
vero faber, et alii multi de caseo illo^ gustaverunt, et de eodem
frustatim fragmina comniinuta,^ pro reliquiis custodienda pluri-
bus destribuerunt. Sumpte autem hujusmodi reliquie multis in
locis, temporibus multis, conservate sunt; et merita Sancti
^ B. M. arce. '■^ B. M, renunciaret. ^ g ^ flumen.
* B. M. artificio cuciendo. » B. M. reserarentar.
^ B. M. omits sed. ^ b. M. ipso caseo. « B. M. communita.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 229
Kentegerni cara et clara,^ cariora et clariora,^ efficientes, in hoc
facto declaraverunt. Sed licet hoc signum in superficie sua
pkirimuni ammirationis habeat, subtiliter tamen intuentibus et
ex corporeis spiritualia, ex visibilibus invisibilia colligentibus,
phirimum emditionis prestat. Per lac lapsum in aquis, sed in
eis non immixtum aut in aquam versum, vel sub aquis mersum,
habemus exemplum custodiendi innocentiam et equitatem, que
sunt reliquie homini pacifico, inter eos qui superbia intuniescunt,^
qui sibi adversa multinioda inserunt/ et exemplis et pravis
persuasionibus nos submergere satagunt qui voluptatibus dif-
fluent.^ Quod autem lac in gurgite coagulatur in caseum, con-
stancie in pressuris tribulationis, et angustie, habende nobis dat
documentum. Justus enim et innocens quasi lac in caseum,
inter fluctus durescit ; dum propter verba labiorum Dei vias
duras custodit, et per multas tribulationes introire in regnum
Dei satagit. Et si minas, obprobria, dampna, lesiones, a pravis
atque perversis sustineat, ea quasi non sentit ; sed in patientia
possidens animam suam in bono perseverare contendit, sciens
profecto quia qui perseveraverit usque in finem hie salvus
erit.
[Cap. xxxix.]— ^tt0mjjii0 ^andns Clx^lumba btatntn '^mUQtt-
rvxm bisitaberit ; ^t r0r0nam capiti tjus czliins lapssam,
et inctm cdxmm dxcnvxinlQmitm, tnm tonQptxmt.
Si^N illo tempore quo beatus Kentegernus, in candelabro Domini
positus, utpote lucerna ardens celestibus desideriis, et lucens
verbis salutiferis, virtutum exemplis, atque virtutibus^ miracu-
lis, omnibus que in domo Dei erant lucebat ; Sanctus Columba
abbas, quern Angli vocant Columkillum, doctrina et virtutibus
mirabilis, futuronim presagiis preclarus, utpote prophetico'^
spiritu plenus, in illo glorioso cenobio quod est^ insula Yi con-
struxerat degens, in lumine Sancti Kentegerni non ad horam,
sed assidue exultare volebat. Ex multo enim tempore audiens
famam sancte opinionis ejus, cupiebat ad ilium venire, visitare,
videre, familiaritatem ejus sibi arcius ascicere ; et de hiis que
cordi ipsius adjacebant sacrarium sacrati pectoris consulere.
Cum autem tempus accepisset oportunum pater Sanctus Columba
egrediebatur ; et multa discipulorum turba et aliorum, faciem
1 B. M. clara et cara. ^ B. M. clariora et cariora.
3 B. M, inserts voluptatibus diffluiret. '' B. M. inferunt.
^ B. M. omits here qui voluptatibus diffluent.
" B. M. omits virtutibus. ^ B, M. proi)lieto. ^ B. M. omits est.
230 VIT.'E SANCTORUM SCOTM<..
viri spectabilis visere et videre desiderantium, ilium comitaba-
tur. Et cum appropinquasset loco vocabulo Mellindenor,i ubi
tunc temporis Sanctus manebat, in tres turmas omnes suos
divisit, et nuncium qui Sancto presuli ejus et suorum indicaret
adventum ante se premisit.
Sanctus pontifex letatus in hiis que dicta sunt ei de illis,
adjunctis sibi cleris et aliis similiter tripharie distinctis, cum
canticis spiritualibus, processit obviam illis. In prima proces-
sionis fronte locabantur juniores tempore, in secunda etate pro-
vectiores, in tercia cum illo gi^adiebantur inveterati dierum
bonorum canis nivei, vultu, gestu, habitu, et ipsa canitie vene-
randi. Omnesque canebant, In viis Domini quam magna est
gloria Domini! Et iterum subjunxerunt. Via justorum recta
facta est, et iter sanctorum preparatum est. Ex parte Sancti
Columbe dulcisona voce modulabantur,^ Ibunt sancti de virtute
in virtutem ; videbitur Deus deorum in Syon, cum alleluia.
Interim quidam qui cum Sancto Columba venerant interro-
gantes eum dicebant, " JSTumquid in primo choro canentium
venit Sanctus Kentegernus ? " Eespondit Sanctus, " Neque in
primo, neque in secundo, sed in tertio venit pontifex almus."
Illis autem percunctantibus qualiter hoc ei constaret, ait, " Video
columpnam igneam, in modum corone auree, stelliferis gemmis
intexte, de celo super capud ejus descendentem, et instar cujus-
dam velaminis lucem claritatis ettheree circumfusim circumful-
gentem, et contegentem eum, iterum^ ettliera* repetentem. Quo-
circa ilium a Deo electum, et sanctificatum, sicut Aaron evidenti
inditio daret ;^ qui amictus lumine sicut vestimento, et super
capud ejus corona aurea expressa, signo sanctitatis mihi ap-
paret." Convenientes ergo hii duo Deifici viri in mutuos
amplexus, et sancta oscula ruunt; et divinorum eloquiorum
prius spiritualibus epulis faginati, postmodmn corporeo ali-
mento sese reficiunt. Quanta vero fuit dulcedo divine con-
templationis, in eorum sacrosanctis pectoribus, non est meum
denodare;*^ nee mihi, vel niei similibus, datum est indagare
manna absconditum, et nisi gustantibus, reor,^ omnino incog-
nitum.
' B. M. Mellinrlonor. ^ q m nioclulabant voce. ^ B. M. iterumrjne.
•* B. M. etlierea. ■• B. M. claret. « B. M. enodare.
^ B. M. ut rotor.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 231
[Ca}x. xl] — '§t fapite arietie ,Sancti ^ntegerni amputate :
quomoli0 in lapiiiem fuerit nmtattim.
^TUM aiitem isti duo viri, superius memorati, mutiio junger-
entur quasi due columpne in atrio templi^ Domini, fide et
dilectione firmiter fundati, et in eo coiroborati ; quorum imita-
tione et eruditione multi populi, tribus, et lingue, intraverunt,
et adhuc intrant in templum celeste, gaudium videlicet Domini
sui ; qui venerant cum Sancto Columba, iilii alieni, mala con-
suetudine inveterati sunt, et claudicaverunt a semitis viri Dei.
Quomodo enim non potest Etthiops mutare pellem suam, sic
assuetus ad furtum veP rapinam difficile mutat malitiam suam.
Venerunt igitur quidam cum beato Columba, columbine inno-
centie expertes, pedum incessu, non devotionis affectu, nee
morum progressu. Qui dum iter agerent, gregem unum Sancti
pontificis pascentem eminus, conspexerunt ; et relinquentes
iter^ ambulantes per vias tenebrosas, sicut in Proverbiis de
talibus dicitur, illuc divertunt ; vervecem pinguissimum, reni-
tente et reclamante pastore diripiunt. Opilio vero in nomine
Sancte Trinitatis, et auctoritate Sancti Kentegerni, prohibuit
ne talem rapinam, inuuo sacrilegium in gregem sancti presulis
committerent, ammonens eos ut si petere vellent arietem a
Sancto, procul dubio acciperent. At unus iUorum pastorem
injuriis affectum, mortem etiam ei minitans,* reppulit, arietem-
que abstulit, alter arrepto ferro capud ejus amputavit. Deli-
beraverant apud se cadaver secum asportare, et tempore et
loco suo sceleri competenti, illud excoriare ; ac suis usibus sicut
velle se noverant accuratius parare.
Sed sane mirum dictu, sed multo mirabilius apparuit visu.
Yervex capite absciso ad gregem suum sub inestimabili festina-
tione recucurrit, ibique corruit ; capud vero in lapidem muta-
tum, manibus tenentis et ferientis, quasi aliquo indissolubili
glutino compactum firmiter adhesit. Qui vero vivum et integ-
rum vervecem^ valuerunt precurrere,® capere, tenere, capud abs-
cidere, jam truncatum subsequendo, aut concuiTcndo nequi-
verunt comprehendere ; nec^ capud, immo jam lapidem, licet
omnium^ annisu conarentur, de manibus projicere. Dirriguer-
unt ergo viri, et emortuum est cor eonim, quasi lapis, lapidem
gestantiimi, initoque tandem salubri consilio ad Sanctos^ acces-
serimt, et prostrati ante pedes Sancti Kentegerni, penitentes et
^ B. M. ill ad templum. ^ B. M. et. ^ B. M. iyiserts rectum et.
* B. M. minans. ^ B. M. veretem. ^ B. M. percurrere.
^ B. M. vero. * B. M. omni. ^ B. M. Sanctum.
Y
232 VIT.E SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
confusi cum lacrimis sibi indulgeri petierunt. Sanctus autem
presiil, benigna eos increpatione redarguens, et ne ulterius fraii-
dem, furtum, rapinam, et quod detestabilius est sacrilegium,
perpetrare presumerent coinmonens, a dupplici vinculo, peccato
scilicet et detentione lapidis, eos absolvit, corpus occisi arietis
illis dari jussit, et abire permisit. Capud tamen in saxum con-
versum nianet ibi, usque in diem hodiernum, ad signi testi-
monium, et meritum Sancti Kentegerni predicat etiam mutum.
Plane hoc mii'aculum, ut mihi videtur, ex magna parte ab
illo non degenerat quod liber Genesis in uxore Loth gestum
memorat. Postquam ultrix divine injurie flamma celestis, sceles-
tos naturalis usus humane procreationis subversores del ere ^ jussa
jam immineret. Loth angelico edoctus oraculo, et eductus ammini-
culo,- subverse, et submerse Sodome declinavit incendium. Uxor
vero ejus, contra preceptimi celitus datum, retrospiciens mutata
est in cautem, conversa in salis effigiem, ut esset brutorum
condimentum animalium. Hie transmutatur capud verveci-
num in lapidem, ad confutandam duriciam et crudelitatem
aliena rapientium. In'effigie uxoris Loth, docente Domino,
convenitur et conmonetur quilibet fidelis, ne a sancto proposito
semel arrepto desipiendo recedat.^ In capite mutato in lapidem
edocetur omnis Christianus ne in* furtum, five fraudem, seu
rapinam, vel violentiam ullam, in res ecclesiasticas, et substan-
tiam servoyum Dei ullatenus committat. In illo loco ubi istud
miraculum per Sanctimi Kentegernum factum, in conspectu
Sancti Columbe, et aliorum multorum, innotuit ; alter alterius
baculum, in pignus quoddam et testimonium mutue dilectionis in
Christo suscepit. Baculus vero quem Sanctus Columba dederat
Sancto pontifici Kentegerno, in ecclesia Sancti Wlfridi^ epi-
scopi et confessoris apud Eipun,^ multo tempore conservabatur ;
et propter utriusque sanctitatem, dantis videKcet et accipientis,
magne reverentie habebatur. Aliquantis igitur diebus Sancti
isti simul degentes, de hiis que Dei sunt, et ad animarum salu-
tem spectant, ad invicem contulerunt: postea sibimet vale-
facientes, non sese ulterius visiiri, in caritate^ utrimque data, ad
propria digressi sunt.
[dTap-. xU.] — i^noh pluribu© in locxs bir ^omtni cxncts txzxit,
ptx qutis uQcinz in pxtszns miraatla sunt farta.^
^^^ENEEABILIS pater Kentegernus antistes habebat in con-
suetudine, ut in locis quibus predicando populum adquisitionis
^ B. M. dolore. ^ b_ m. atnniiraculo. ^ g y[ recedet.
* B. M. omits in. ^ B. M. Wilfridi. « B. M. Ripum.
' B. M. inserts benedictione. * B. M. omits facta.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 233
nomini Christi subdiderat, et fide^ crucis Cliristi illos imbuerat,
aut ubi aliquantisper deguerat, triumphale vexilluin sancte
crucis erigeret, quatinus cunctis daretur intelligi quod in cruce
^omini nostri Jhesu Christi, quam in fronte portabat minime
erubesceret. Sed^ ut mihi videtur, Sancti viri consuetude
sanctissima viva ratione multipliciter subnixa est.^ Ideo namque
Sanctus hoc vitale et sanctum et terribile* signum erigere consue-
verat, ut sicut fluit cera a facie ignis, sic inimici humani
generis, potestates tenebrarum harum, a conspectu signi hujus"
liquescentes defiuerent, territi atque fugati procul aufugerent.
Congruum est etiam^ ut milites regis eterni, sui imperatoris
invincible vexillum intuendo agnoscentes, ad ilhid, tamquam
turrini fortitudinis, a facie inimici, et a facie impiorum, qui eos
afifligunt, confugiant ; et quod'^ adorent, et in quo glorientur pre
oculis habeant. Et quia contra aerias potestates in celestibus,
et contra ignita jacula diaboli secundum apostolum jugis eos
manet colluctatio, dignimi est et salubre^ ut hoc signo se sig-
nando muniant, atque protegant; et passionem Christi imi-
tando,^ et stigmata vulnerum Christi in suis corporibus, cum
apostolo circvmiferendo, pro^^ amore crucifixi carnes suas cum
viciis et concupiscentiis, et se ipsos mundo, et mundum sibi-
met, crucifigant.
Inter plures igitur cruces quas pluribus in locis vir Domini
erexit,^^ duas usque in presens miraculorum efQcativas extruxit.
Unam vero in civitatem suam Glasgu fecit a latomis^^ de
lapidicino mire magnitudinis secari, que coadunatis pluribus
hominibus, et machinis confectis, in cimiterio ecclesie Sancte
Trinitatis in qua episcopalis collocatur cathedra precepit ele-
vari. Set omnis labor eorum in cassum consumitur; omnis
machina nichil effecit, nullatenus industria humana valuit, aut
yirtute erigi, licet multum diuque desudatum sit. At ubi
ingenium humanum, et^^ auxilium defecit, Sanctus ad divinum
confugit. Nocte namque sequenti que dominica habebatur,
dum pro hac re famulus Jhesu Christi Domino preces pro-
funderet,^* angelus Domini descendit de celo, et accedens revol-
vit lapideam crucem illam, et erexit in loco in quo hodie sub-
sistit; eamque benedicens crucis signo signavit, sanctificavit,
et recessit. Populus vero mane ad ecclesiam conveniens, et
quod gestum est agnoscens, obstupuit, et Deum in sancto suo
1 B. M. et de. 2 g ]^i iji^gj-ig et. ^ ^ m. est subnixa.
* B. M. interrihli. ^ g ^i hiijus signi. ^ B. M. etiani est.
^ B. M. confugiat quod. * B. M. salutare. ^ B. M. mutaiido.
^0 B. M. per. n B. M. extruxit. 12 g. M. latonis.
13 B. M. autem. ^* B. M. profundet.
234 VITiE SANCTORUM SCOTL-E.
glorificavit. Erat qiiippe magna valde; nee ab uUo^ tempore
magna caruit virtute. Multi enim arrepticii, et a spiritibus im-
mundis^ vexati,^ nocte dominica solent ad criicem iUam alligari ;
et in crastinum inveniuntur mentis compotes, liberati et mun-
dati, sive aliquociens mortui aut cita morte defuncturi.
Aliam* criicem incredibilem dictu, nisi posset explorari visu
et tactu, in Lothwerverd/ juste et religiose de resurrectione
cogitans, de sola arena maris construxit. In quo loco ipse
yjiito6 annorum spatio mansit. Quis enim ambigere debet quod
Dominus non resuscitet mortalia corpora nostra, licet resoluta
in pulverem, quandoquidem hoc ipse ore suo benedicto promisit,
cum in ejus nomine iste Sanctus, similis nobis passibilis, de
arena maris orans ad Dominum crucem extruxit ? Sane creden-
dum est omnino quod. Domino volente, congregabuntur ossa
mortuorum ad ossa, juxta Ezechielis vaticinium, et quod Domi-
nus dabit super eos numeros'^ et succrescere faciet super eos
carnes, et super extendet in eis cutem, et dabit in eis spiritum,
et in eternum vivent ; quando ad precem mortalis adhuc homi-
nis de minutissime harene, et ut ita dicam athomis, in solidam
et integTam materiam moles extenditur, harene massa conden-
satur, et in crucem effigiatur, quam nee sol urens per diem, nee
gelu per noctem, nee aeris aliqua inclementia dissolvere valet.
Ad argumentum ergo fidei nostre crux ista figitur, preostendens
quod corruptibile nostrum induct incorruptionem ; et quod
multitude filiorum Israel, si fuerint velud arena maris reliquie
salvabuntur in fide crucis Christi; et quod amici Dei super
arenam multiplicabuntur, per Eum qui steUas cell, et arenam
maris, et pluvie guttas,^ et dies secidi dinumerat. Ad hane
etiam crucem plures variis languoribus gravati, et maxime
furiosi, et a demonio vexati, ad vesperum vinciuntur ; et mane
multociens sani, et incolumes inventi ad sua libere revertuntur.
Multa sunt et alia loca in quibus degebat et maxime quadra-
gesima, nobis incognita, que Sanctus sancte sua^ commorationis
presentia sanctificavit.^° Plerique tamen connitiunt plura ex
iUis, que certis indiciis sanctitatem illius adhuc redolent, et^^
meritis ejus infirmis multa beneficia prebent, et efficaciam
signorum habent.
1 B. M. illo. 2 B M. in mundis. 3 p{_ y[ inserts et.
* B. M. inserts quoque. ° B. M. Lothwerwerd. ^ g ^ o^to.
"^ B. M. nervis. * B. M. omits guttas. ^ B. M. sua sancte.
'" B. M. sanctificavit presencia. n B. M. que.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 235
[Ca^j. xU:.] — Quamobxr quobam subUgart mcnttttn ensitnUbtt'ii ;
zi ail ^xitum animc sc puparaberit.
►EATUS Kentegerniis, nimio^ senio confectus, crebris ruinis^
domiis sue terrestris ruinam senciens imminere; sed consola-
batur animam ejus fundamentum fidei in petra collocatum.
Qua, post dissolutionem terreni habitaculi, confidebat se domum
non manu factam in celis proeparatam habere. Et quia turn
pro^ nimia senectute, turn quia tactus erat infirmitate, compago
numerorum* in toto corpore ejus pene tota emarcuit, et dissoluta
fuit, quodam subligari lineo, per medium capitis et de submento
circumducto, nee nimium laxo vel stricto, mentum et maxillas
sustentavit. Quod ideo vir lionestissimus fecit, ne mento
decidente, ex biatu oris aliquid indecens in ipso appareret. Et
ut tale fulciamentum ad proferendum que posset, et vellet ex-
peditiorem redderet.
Sciens denique dilectus Deo et hominibus, quia appropin-
quabat hora ut transsiret ex hoc mundo, ad patrem luminum,
sacra unctione remissionis effectiva, et viviiicis sacramentis^
dominici corporis et sanguinis, se munivit ; ut serpens antiquus
calcaneo ejus insidiens dentem venenosum infigere, et letale
vulnus infligere nequiret ; sed contrito capite confusus abiret.
Sic sic nimirum conterente Domino sathanam sub pedibus ejus,
velociter ne confunderetur sancta ipsius anima, cum in exitu de^
Egipto loqueretur inimicis suis in porta ; expectans expectavit
ut hinc'' tamquam optimus proreta Dominum, qui salvum eum
fecit a tempestate hujus seculi. Etiam^ vicinus litori in portu
cujusdam interne quietis placida navigatione appiilsus post tot
marina^ discrimina pericula,^*^ finibus^^ desideriorum suorum, spei
anchoram alligatam in solido ac tuto jactaverat, incendentem^^
nimirum usque ad interiora velaminis, quo precursor pro se
introi\dt Dominus Jhesus. Et huic^^ sohim egressum de taber-
naculis Cedar,^'* et ingressum in terram^^ viventium, prestola-
batur ut, tamquam optimus athleta, in ilia civitate virtutum,
videKcet Jerusalem celesti, de manu regis superni percipiet^^
coronam glorie, et diadema regui quod non coiTumpetur. Suos
ergo discipulos, coram se adunatos, in quantum ^^ ei vires suppe-
tabant, commonuit de observantia sancte religionis, de conser-
^ B. M. jejunio. 2 g ^j j-imig 3 g m, per.
* B. M. et pago nervorum. ^ B. M. sacratis. ^ B. M. et.
"^ B. M. expectabat exhinc. * B. M. Et jam. ^ B. M. in amia.
^^ B. M. ojiiifs pericula. ^^ B. M. funibus. ^- B. M. iucedentem.
^^ B. M. Ex hinc. ^* B. M. solum de tabemaculis Cedar egressum.
^^ B. M. internum in terra. ^^ B. M. perciperet. ^^ B. M. quantis.
236 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
vatione miitiie caritatis et pacis, de hospitalitatis gratia, de
orationis et sancte lectionis instancia. Sed et ante omnia ab
omni specie mala symoniace pravitatis cavenda, et omni hereti-
corum et scismaticorum communione ac societate fugienda ; de
sanctorum patrum decretis, et maxime sancte^ ecclesie matris
omnium institutis, et consuetudinibus, firmiter custodiendis,
licet compendiosa forcia tamen dedit eis et dereliquit precepta.
Deinde singidis, sicut decebat, genibus flexis coram se Immili-
atis, oscidum pacis porrexit; et elevata manu prout potuit
benedixit, ac ultimum vale faciens eis, tutele Sancte Trinitatis
et protectioni sancte Dei genetricis^ omnes committens, in
lectulo suo illo nobili lapideo se collegit. Tunc vox una
plangentium passim sonuit; tunc luctus lamentabilis quasi
quidem^ horror confusionis omnium ora induit.
[Cap. xliii.] — '§z bis£ijpuU0 t]xxQ, commtninm ab relum iptUn-
tibus ; et Ibz c-nixbo lab aero tjus.
^^iUIDAM autem eorum, qui Sanctum Dei arcius dilexenmt,
cum lacrimis ante ilium prostrati dixerunt, "Scinms, domine
episcope, quia cupis dissolvi et esse cum Christo. Senectus
enim vestra venerabilis, et valde diuturna, ac multorum annorum
numero computata,^ necnon et vita tua,^ immaculata id expe-
tunt ; sed nostrum queas semper® miserere, quos in Christo
parturisti. Quicquid enim humana fragilitate deliquimus,
semper in conspectu tuo confitentes, ad arbitrium discretionis
tue satisfacientes emendavimus. Quia ergo non est nobis
facultas te nobiscum ulterius retinendi, pete a Domino dari
nobis posse ex hac valle lacrimarum, ad gaudium Domini tui
tecum commigrandi. Credimus propter quod, et loquimur, quia
quicquid pecieris concedet tibi divinitas propitia, quum voluntas
ejus directa est in manu tua ab olescentiaJ Indecens nobis
videtur^ ut pontifex sine clero, pastor absque aUquo de grege
suo, pater sine filiis intret ad tarn festiva, tam sublimia loca,
immo quanto festiviora et celebriora, tanto ilium comitari debet
celebrior secum suorum frequentia." Cumque in hunc modum
multa cum lacrimis promerent, vir Dei pietatis visceribus
affluens, collecto flatu^ ut valuit, dLxit, "Voluntas Domini de
nobis omnibus fiat; ut^° sicut melius novit, et ei placuerit, de
nobis disponat."
^ On margin Romane. B. M. also i7iseris Romane.
2 B. M. i7iser(s Marie. 3 b. M. quidam. * B. M. computati.
^ B. M. vestra. 6 g n quesimns. '^ B. M. adolesceutia.
* B. M. videretur. » B. M. fletu. i" B. M. et.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 237
Post hec Sanctus siluit ; et animo celo anelans prestolabatur
de corpore anime exitum : discipulique ejus vigilantes custodie-
bant eiim tanquam morti proximum. Et ecce dum lucifer
matutinus, aurore bajulus, lucis diurne prenuncius, nocturne
caliginis pallia disrumpens, radiis flammigeris rutilaret, angelus
Domini cum ineffabili fulgore^ apparuit, et claritas Dei circum-
fulsit ilium. Pre timore autem ejus exterriti sunt custodes
sancti episcopi et attoniti valde in vasis fragilibus, non^ ferentes
tante claritatis pondus facti sunt velud mortui. Sanctus autem
senex ex visione, et visitatione angeKca, confortatus, et quasi
etatis et infirmitatis oblitus, robustiorque effectus, jam instantis
beatudinis quasdam primitias pregustabat ; et cum angelo tam-
quam amicissimo et familiarissimo mutua colloquia conserebat.
Nuncius autem etthereus hec ei locutus est, " Kentegerne
electe, et dilecte Dei ! exulta, et letare, magnificetque anima
tua Dominum, quum^ magnificavit misericordiam suam tecum.
Exaudita est deprecatio tua, et preparationem cordis tui audivit
auris divina. Fiet enim tibi super discipulis, commeatum
tecum petentibus, sicut vis. Constantes ergo estote : videbitis
auxilium Domini super vos. Cras egrediemini de corpore
mortis hujus ad vitam indeficientem, et Dominus erit vobiscum
et vos eritis cum Eo in perpetuum. Et quia tota vita tua in
hoc mundo juge fuit martyrium, placuit Domino, ut mitiorem
ceteris hominibus habeas mortis exitum. Fac ergo tibi in
crastinum parari calidum lavacrum, ingTediensque in eo,* absque
angustia gravi obdormies in Domino, et requiesces in pace in id
ipsum. Postquam autem nature in eo debitum solveris, statim
antequam tepuerit aqua, dum adhuc caluerit^ ex te, lavacrum
istud fratres illi post te ingTcdiantur, et continuo mortis vinculis
absoluti tecum commigrabunt comites itineris tui, et introducti
in splendoribus sanctorum, tecum intrabunt in gaudium Domini
tui."
Hiis dictis angelica visio et allocutio disparuit ; sed fragTan-
tia niiri et indicibilis quodam modo odoris locum ilium, et
omnes habitantes in eo, respersit. Sanctus autem, convocatis
ad se discipulis, angelicum misterium eis seriatim reseravit : et
sicut Dominus ei per angelum mandavit suum balneum fieri
inperavit. Fratres autem supra memorati immensas gratias
Deo omnipotenti, et sancto patri suo Kentegerno rettulerunt.
Et certi de^ oraculo modis omnibus quibus poterant, divinis
muniti sacramentis, ad talem articulum sese preparaverunt.
' B. M. inserts ei. ^ B. M. nee. ^ B. M. quia.
« B. M. eum. ^ B. M. caleacit. " B. M. Dei.
238 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTI.E.
[Cajr. xHb.]— ^ttaliter tx hu tita migrabcrit : ti xjuob multis
miraculis poet htctSQUvx tjuQ tUxdsmt
^X UMQUE illucesceret dies Dominice apparitionis octavus,
in quo singulis annis sacro baptismate consuerat^ abluere mul-
titudinem populi, ipse pontifex almus ; dies plane Kentegerno
optabilis, et spuitibus filioriim adoptionis ejus ; ingreditur sanc-
tus, manibus eorum^ gestatus, in vasculum aqua calida plenum,
ab eo prius signo salutari sanctificatum : reique exitum ex-
pectat circumstans corona fratrum. Cumque modicam^ moram
in eo sanctus complesset,* elevatis in celum, manibus et oculis^
quasi in placidum resolutus sompnum, inclinato capite tradidit
spiritum. Tam enim videbatur a dolore mortis liber, quam a
corruptione carnis, et illecebris hujus seculi, extitit^ immunis
et integer.
Discipuli videntes que fiebant, elevantes sanctum corpus de
lavacro illo, certatem in illud sese inmerserunt. Sicque singuli,
antequam aqua frigesceret,'^ in magna quiete obdormientes in
Domino, gustata morte cum patre suo sancto antistite, ad
etthereas mansiones commigraverunt. Postquam autem^ aqua
refriguit, non solum mortis apprehensio verum etiam totius
incommodi scintillula cessavit.
Conferendum censeo hoc lavacrum illi probatice piscine in
qua post descessionem^ angeli, et motionem aque, sanabatur a
quacunque detinebatur infirmitate unus. Sed iterum moriturus.
In ista vero lavatura plurimus sanctorimi cetus ab omni egri-
tudiue sanabatur,^° in eternum cum Christo victurus. Aqua
illius lavacri diversis in locis diversis personis distribuitur ; et
multis infirmis salus midtimoda ejus potatione seu aspersione
confertur.
Exuunt fratres Sanctum communibus vestibus, et pro reli-
quiis preciosis partim eas reservant, partim disperciunt et sacra-
tis vestimentis que talem decebant pontificem ilium induunt.
Deinde in chorum, cum canticis et psalmis, a fratribus defertur:
et salutaris victima Deo a pluribus pro eo offertur. Diligenter
et devotissime, ut iUius ecclesie tunc^^ temporis mos exigebat,
celebratis exequiis, in latere dextro altaris illud virtutum domi-
cilium, ilium lapidem preciosum, multum decentius quo
poterant sub lapide recondunt. Per cujus meritum vel tempus
colligendi lapides ad celestis templi edificium affuit, et multi
^ B. M. consueverat. ^ B. M. suorum. ^ B. M. medicam.
* B. M. explesset. ^ B. M. elevans manibus et oculis in celum.
« B. M. exivit. '^ B. M. fiigeret. » g. M. vero.
^ B. M. clecensionem. ^^ B. M. saciatur. ^^ B. M. cum.
VITA KENTEGEENI. 239
electi et lapides vivi, cum ista margarita, in thesauros suinnii
regis assumpti^ repositi sunt. Horum omnium fratrum sacre
glebe decenter, et disposite, eo ordine in cimiterio sepulture
tradite sunt, quo de hoc seculo post sanctum presulem trans-
sierunt.
Beatus itaque Kentegernus plenus dierum, cum esset centum
octoginta quinque annorum, meritis maturus, signis et pro-
digiis et presagiis preclarus, tali modo transsivit ex hoc mundo
ad patrem : de fide ad speciem ; de labore ad requiem ; de exilio
ad patriam ; de stadio ad bravii coronam ; de presenti miseria
ad gloriam eternam. Beatus inquam homo cui celi patent,
qui penetravit in sancta, qui intravit in potencias Domini, ceti-
bus angelicis exceptus, patriarcharum, et prophetarum,^ cuneis
acceptus, apostolorum choris consertus ; martyrum inmixtus
agminibus rosei sanguinis purpura laureatis; et consociatus
confessoribus Domini sacratis; concoronatus niveis virginum
choreis. Nee mirum. Ipse namque angelus fuit^ Domini, officio
et merito, qui pacem et salutem hiis qui procul et prope fuerunt,
in sanguine Jhesu Christi nunciabat ; * cujus labia scientiam
veram custodiebant ; de cujus ore legem Dei plurimi requirebant
et reperiebant. Ipse namque^ etiam propheta altissimi fuit,
qui multa absentia cognovit ; futura multa previdit et predixit.
Ipse enim jure dicitur, et est, Cambrine regionis apostolus; cum
ipsius incole, et alie gentes perplures, signa sint ^ apostolatus
ejus. Ipse merito martp" nominatur, qui assiduo et continuo
martirio semetipsum pro Christo mortificans, ad quodlibet genus
mortis, si se occasio ingessisset, cor paratum^ habuisse conpro-
batur. Pro Christi enim nomine, et defensione veritatis et
justicie, sepe numero persecutioni, proscriptioni, insidiis, et
gladiis inimicorum crucis Christi se opposuit ; ac de came, de
mimdo, de diabolo, et ejus satellitio, fortiter et feliciter trium-
phavit. Ipse antonomasice^ dicitur Christi confessor, qui coram
gentibus et regibus nomen Christi confitendo, confidenter pre-
dicabat; et omnes ad professionem nominis Christi, et con-
fessionem Christiane fidei, et laudis Dei, et^ peccati proprii
provocabat.
Ipse nichilominus speciali quadam prerogativa virgineum^*'
decus et decorem optinet, qui de mirica expressit opobalsamum,^^
de urtica^^ lilium^^ ; dum in fragilis et labilis corporis vascido
numquam perturbaverit ut aiunt vel nee aspectu angelicum
M. et patriarcharum prophetarum.
M. annunciabat. ^ B. M. omits namque.
M. i^aritum. ^ B. M. athonomasice.
M. virginum. ^' B. M. opibalsamum.
M. inserts et.
^ B. M. inserts et.
2B.
3 B. M. fuit angelus.
4B.
6 B. M. sunt.
" B.
9 B. M. in.
10 B.
2 B. M. utica.
13 B.
240 VITiE SANCTORUM SCOTIA.
celibatum, et in vase fictili castimonie celicum conservavit
thesaiiriim. Ideo sane de virgineo corpore ad virgineum^ col-
legium convolavit canditatum, ut sine macula assistat ante Dei
et Agni thronum. Ipsumque sequens quocunque ierit cunctis
indicibile, exceptis illis qui non iuquinaverunt vestimenta sua,
novum cantet canticum. Merito ergo sanctus iste omnium^
sanctorum consors, concivis, particeps existit ; qui cum omni-
bus Sanctis in vita sua participationem habuit, et Sancto sanc-
torum, Sanctificatori omnium, placere, obsequi, adherere, spiritu
nniri, semper studuit : et nunc et in eternum cum Eo, illis con-
junctus, gloriatur et vivit.
Translate ad regna syderea spiritu Sancti Kentegerni, quod
mater omnium terra dedit in ventrem suum recollegit. Sed
tamen signorum virtus, in ipso vivente^ viguit, non cespite
terrea obrui, aut mole saxea operiri valuit, sed extrinsecus
erupit. Ab illo nam que die sepulture ejus, usque in presens,
sacra illius ossa creberrimis miraculis noscuntui^ de loco suo
pullulare ; et quod in memoria eterua sit Justus iste in celo et
in terra, multigenis infirmitatibus beneficia prestita,^ non cessant
declarare. Ad ejus tumulum cecis visus, surdis auditus, claudis
gressus, mutis loquela, leprosis cutis munditia, paraliticis mem-
brorum valitudo, fiuiosis sensus, restituunter. Impii, sacrilegi,
perjuri, et pacis ecclesie ejus violatores, et sancti loci inquina-
tores, condigna pena plectuntur.
Aliquocieus etiam quidam de Glasgu vaccam furto abduxerit
nocte f que mane ad pedem latronis extincti viva repperitur, et
ligata ; stuporemque querenti cum leticia incusserat. Perplures
etiam perpetrato contagio carnalis flagicii, dum pollutis gressibus
locum sanctum temerare non verebantur, aliquando repentina
morte multabantur, multociens mutilabantur, membris quando-
que^ incurabili morbo aliquociens diuturno puniebantur. Hoc
et effractores pacis illius sepe paciebantur. Multi etiam qui
diem sollempnitatis ejus, in qua ad ecclesiam in Glasgu, ubi
sanctissimum^ corpus ejus requiescit, confluere consuescit mul-
titude de diversis partibus, ad deposcenda sancti suffragia, et
videndi^ miracula, que ibi fieri solent, aliquo servili opere teme-
rare presumpserunt, scelerem vindictam sepissime in se^ ipsis
senserunt.
1 B. M. virginum. - B. M. commiuii. 3 g -\ji q^ig in vivente.
* B. M. prestata. * B. M. nocte abduxerat.
^ B. M. membris multociens mutilabantur quum. "^ B. M. sacratissimum.
8 B. M, videnda. ^ B. M. omits se.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 241
[Cap. xl\3.] — '§t pr0}jhcda cujttsbam : jct )3£}XttUura Sanc-
torum in (§la09n.
.ODEM anno quo Sanctus Kentegernus rebus exemptus
humanis ad celos migravit, Eex Eederech, sepe nominatus, in
villa regia quae Pertnech ^ nuncupatur, diutius solito commoratus
est. In curia ejus quidam homo fatuus, vocabulo Laloecen^
degebat, qui^ victualium et vestitus necessaria, ex Regis muni-
ficentia, perciebat.* Solent enim optimates terre, filii regni,
vanitati dediti, homines hujusmodi secum retinere ; qui et ipsos
dominos, et familiam, verbis et gestibus fatuis possunt^ in jocos
et cachinnos commovere. Hie homo post depositionem Sancti
Kentegerni gravissimis lamentis se afficiebat ; nee aliquara con-
solationem ab aliquo accipere valebat.^
Qui cum perquireretur cur tarn inconsolabiliter lugeret,
respondit Regem Eederech dominum suum, et quemdam de
primoribus terre nomine Morthec, non posse post mortem Sancti
episcopi diutius in hac vita morari, sed illo anno presenti in fata
concessurosJ Qaod dictum fatui quum non fatue, sed pocius
prophetice, prolatum fuerit, mors prefatorum eodem anno sub-
secuta^ evidenter comprobavit. Nee multum mirandum, si per
OS fatui quod a Domino diffinitum fuerat^ omnium Opifex pre-
dici voluerit, cum et Balan^° ariolus, ipso inspirante, multa et
magna mente presaga previdens predixerit ;^^ et Cayphas popu-
lorum redemptionem morte Christi proventm-am prophetaverit :
et per os asine prophete insipientiam corripuerit ; ut Jerosoli-
morum excidium per os cujusdam furiosi prenunciaverit/^ ut
Josephus scribit. Eodem ergo anno quo pontifex sanctus
decessit Kentegernus, et Eex, ac princeps, predicti obierunt ; et
in Glasgu sepulti sunt.
In hujus civitatis ecclesie cimiterio, ut incole loci, et patriote
asserunt, sexcenti et^^ sexaginta quinque, sancti requiescunt.
Et omnes magnates regionis illic, multis temporibus, funerari
consueverunt. quam metuendus est locus ille, et quante
reverentie habendus ! quern tot pignora Sanctorum, velud
suum reconditorium venustant; quem tam preciosus confessor
suis sacris exuviis condecorat, tam crebris miraculis illustrat,
ut si omnia scripto mandarentur volumina magna implere vide-
rentur! Non solum in loco iUo,^* ubi corporaUter requiescit,
1 B. M. Pertinet. ^ g m_ Lalolcen. ^ B. M. insej-ts in.
* B. M. percipiebat. ^ B. M. possint. ^ B. M. volebat.
^ B. M. cecessuros. * B M. secuta. ^ B. M. fuerit.
1" B. M. Balam. ^^ B. M. predixit. ^- B. M. pernunciavit.
^3 B. M. omits et. ^* B. M. Nee solum illo in loco.
242 VITyE SANCTOKUM SCOTIA.
licet ibi frequentius, et maxime in natalicio^ ipsiiis, signis
radiare consuescit ; sed et in omnibus fere locis, in quibus ejus
habetur memoria,^ in ecclesiis, seu capellis, sive altaribus, adest
validissirnus adjutor, in opportunitatibus, in tribulatione positis,
diligentibus se, confidentibus in se, clamantibus ad se. Et ubi
fides vel certa ratio exposcit miraculis choruscare non desinit, ad
laudem et gloriam Domini nostri Jhesu Christi ; cui est gloria,
laus, decus, et imperium, per infinita secula seculorum. Amen.
Explicit bita ^anrtiseimi ^cntcgcrni, (S^piscopx ti Clonfes-
00ri0, xjttt d £^nnq\i^ ncittinatttr,
^ B. M. natalicia. ^ B. M. memoria habetur. ^ quique in Glasghu.
III.
VITA KENTEGERNI IMPERFECTA,
AUCTORE IGNOTO.
PROLOGUS.
MuLTAS quidem perlustravi regiones, earundem
mores et cleri plebisque devociones diligenter perscru-
tans : omnem patriam Sanctos suos provinciales pro-
priis et alternis laudum preconiis venerantem inveni.
Cum autem ad regnum Scottorum demum pervenerim,
illud Sanctorum reliquiis valde optimum [qu. opimum),
clericis prefulgidum, principibus gloriosum repperi :
nichilominus ad ceterorum instar regnorum quasi
negligencie torpens ignavia in Sanctorum suorum
reverencia adhuc pigritabatur. Enim vero cum in
spaciosis Sanctorum honorificencie raritatem animad-
verterem, sumpto calamo, ad honorem sanctissimi con-
fessoris atque pontificis Kentegerni qui juxta ceteros
velut Lucifer inter astra rutilat, quemadmodum
Symeon monachus olim Dunelmensis de Sancto suo
Cuthberto historiam contexuit ita et ego qualem-
cunque, clericus Sancti Kentegerni, de materia in vir-
tutum ejus codicello reperta et viva voce fidelium
2 14 PKOLOGUS.
michi relata, intimante venerando Glasguensi episcopo
Herberto prout potui devote composui.
Sanctissimi confessoris atque pontificis Kentegemi
vitam et miracula Christo juvante descripturus, in
primis lectures decenter ammoneo ut fidem dictis
adhibeant et res magis quam verba perpendant : que
etiam si forte illis rustice videantur esse composita,
hoc recolant proverbium beati Jeronimi dicentis, Multo
melius est vera rustice quam diserte falsa proferre.
Reminiscantur insuper regnum Dei non in eloquencie
exuberancia, sed in fidei constare florulencia : Et nee
ob aliqua onomata inculta aut audientibus dicta ob-
scura locorumque vocabula, quorum barbaries ut estimo
extere gentis linguas rudificant, utilium et non sine
divina opitulacione gestarum despiciant rerum pro-
nunciacionem. Hoc autem omnes communiter sciant,
quod de beate memorie viro plura studio brevitatis
memoria digna ad scribendum pretermittens, quasi
pauca de plurimis ob evitandum lecturorum fastidium
stili apicibus propalabo. Et hoc fideliter poterit quis-
que annotare qui ejus miraculis adhuc per Cambriam
apparentibus diligentiam voluerit adhibere. Ad horum
etiam paucorum compositionem que nunc breviter con-
texere glisco, sic Deo annuente ordiri dispone.
VITA KENTEGERNI. 245
[dap. i] — lie rattsa witr^pticnis <Sancti ^cntcgcrnt.
'^t tnatris £JU0 ronstantia in tribulatione.
^^UONIAM Deus, in Sanctis suis semper mirabilis, per se
ipsum et per illos quecunque disponit mirabiliter facit, quedam
illorum que per beatum Kentegernum pontificem operatus, ut
audivimus,scimus etintelligimus,fideliter fidelibus propalabimus.
Eex igitur Leiidonus, vir semipaganus, a quo provinciaquam rege-
bat Leudonia nomen sortita in Brittannia septen^onali, filiam
habuit novercatam que Thaney vocabatur, Hec quippe puella,
fide tamen Christiana postquam apostoKce sonus doctrine in
auribus ejus ventilabatur, Christianis se ritibus quos discere
potuit devotissime mancipavit. De virginali etiam honore et
de materna beatudine sauctissime Virgiuis Marie, matris Domini
Nostri Jesu Christi, iugiter meditabatur, et in corde suo revol-
vens simpliciter dicebat : quam gloriosum nomen bujus vir-
ginis generose, et quam gloriose celebratur ab omni populo per
iiij°'' climata mundi constituta ! Utinam in virginitate et in partu,
ad honorem et salutem gentis mee in partibus saltern aquilon-
alibus, illi possem assimilari. Ilia utique hec cotidie promul-
gando ab omni ,voluptate libidinis animum et mentem com-
pescebat : Et propter honestam devocionem concipere meruit
sed aliter quam voluit, quoniam volebat sicut fieri non potuit.
Ob mentis autem imposte presumptionem, vaneque glorie petu-
lanciam, tormenta dira et magna sustinuit. Erat namque procus
ejus juvenis quidam elegantissimus, Ewen videlicet fiUus Erwe-
gende, nobilissima Brittonum prosapia ortus. Sed verbis neque
donis amori satis congruis animum virginis ad suum connubium
nullatenus potuit promovere. (In gestis historiarum vocatur
Ewen filius regis Ulien.) Et quanto iUa plus renitebatur,
tanto ardencius iste in ejus amorem accendebatur. Cum autem
Eex pater puelle, post multa verba dulcia et sermones blandos,
quibus animum ejus juvenis amori putabat posse converti, se
incassum laborasse conspiceret, illi procaciter intulit : Aut cure
subulci traderis aut adolescentis hujus connubio perfoueris : ex
his igitur binis decretis nunc elige quod vis. Hoc quippe rex
dixit, estimans animum puelle in juvenis amorem quoquomodo
provocare. PueUe vero, optione data, legit abjecta esse in domo
pauperis famula et virgo inviolata, magis quam habitare in
tabernacuhs regalibus prepotens domina et femina corrupta.
Ilia itaque subulcanum eligendo ministerium indignacionem
regis et iram incurrit maximam. Subulcus vero suscepte pueUe
quantum potuit honorem contuht, quia et ipse castus erat, et
occulte Christianus : qui nempe, in campis et domi, que a Chris-
246 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTIiE.
tianis doctoribus didicerat, illam cotidie diligenter edocebat.
Susceperat etiam in Scocia a beato Servano, doctore sacro fidei,
Christiane legis doctrinam. Iste quoque Servanus in primitiua
Scottorum ecclesia fuit discipulus venerandi Palladii primi
Scottorura episcopi, qui etenim anno dominice incarnacionis
cccc.xxx. a Celestino papa primus Scottis credentibus mittebatur
episcopus. Hie invenit beatum Servanum in Albania ante
ilium, virum Christianum : quern ab ipso postmodum ecclesi-
astica doctrina sufficienter imbutum ejus fecit suffraganeum,
quos non posset ad docendum. Ewen autem virginis procus,
videns quod spreta esset a patre suo amoris ejus causa vene-
randa puella, condoluit uimis in corde suo, quia illam valde
amabat. Furtivo itaque inito consilio, misit quampiam ad
illam latenter mulierem, si forte animum ejus, in miseriis con-
stitute, in ipsius amorem aliquibus sermonibus adulatoriis sen
assiduis exhortationibus attrahere posset, quod, ilia in deliciis
dudum manente, ipse nequibat. Veniens sic quidem sepissime
ad puellam hec mulier dixit : Heu tam illustrem regiam prolem
tam velle subire ministerium vile ! Cum autem his verbis bis-
que similibus animum puelle nullatenus potuit in amoris ejus
amorem excitare, inquit ad juvenem : Facilius possunt saxa in
ligna et ligna in lapides converti, quam hujus virginis animus
ab incepta stulticia revocari.
[^nip!. it.] — (SJuomoluj conct:jf\n& sit <Sattcttt0 ^enteg^rmts.
I^OC juvenis audito naturalis amoris igne inflammatus in
corde suo cum anxiis dixit suspiriis : Si fortuitu hujus puelle
nodum virginitatis tangere valerem, forsitan mihi postea con-
senciet. Erat quidem adolescens imberbis, et cum muliebri
cultu indutus, ac si esset alicujus famula patrisfamilias opera-
tione agresti occupata, venit sepius ad puellam per rura porcorum
greges pascentem. Quadam igitur die, de latebris prorumpens,
invenit puellam absque comite solam sedentem secus torrentem
cujusdam fonticuli prope cilium alicujus silve decurrentis, ubi
frequenter potatum manusque ablutum ipsa rite venire solebat.
Hanc adolescens dulciter convenit et verbis allicit, dicens :
Salve virgo, proles regia, puellarum pulcherrima : veni mecum
obsecro, soror carissima, quoniam de lignis sarcinam siccis com-
posui, nee habeo hominem qui humeris meis illam imponat.
Surge igitur in adjutorium michi, ut Deus omnium retributor
bonorum in cunctis executionibus tuis te reddat feliciorem.
Credo quoque, si mecum venire non pigriteris, quod usque in
sempiternum felicior eris. Hoe autem dixit juvenis, estimans
illam per castum coitum de ara suili attrahere ad regale pala-
, VITA KENTEGERNI. 247
cium, et de custode suium dominam facere militum. Mitis
igitur puella orationis effectu quani ab ore juvenis audivit
nimis potiri desiderans, quoniam iunocens credit omni verbo,
mox juvenem feliciter subdolum simpliciter quo voluit seque-
batur. Cumque pervenissent ad locum juvenis voluntati com-
petentem, arripuit repente juvenis puellam quasi ludendo, et
velut in eccho resultu ab ictu fecundavit vi oppressam totis
nisibus reluctantem. Puer autem statim consurgens, quam
putavit fuisse virginem, estimavit subulci esse concubinam.
Tepescente igitur juvenis amore, dixit ad puellam pro lacrimis
singultivis loqui non valentem, Noli flere, soror mea, quoniam
non novi te ut homo virginem nosse solet. Nonne mulier sum
ego sicut et tu ? Improbitatis est ergo pro ludo lugere : vade
in pace, et in tuo sit arbitrio vel flere vel tacere.
[dTap. iii.] — ge simpHritate matris rjus,
Jk^ECEDENTE itaque juvene, virgo squalidissima et mesta
remansit, hesitans utrum esset libata vel non : quoniam a juvene,
quem mulierem esse rebatur, se non tangi audierat quemad-
modum virgo tangitur a viro, et precipue quia sexus femineus,
sicut in omni muliere tempore prolis conceptionis, in ipsa tunc
florere incipiebat : signum agnosci non potuit certum corrup-
tionis, licet dolorem passa sit carnis. Omni namque tempore
menstruo, dissolutis naturaliter membrorum compagibus tarn in
virginis quam in femine janua, patrdus patet semper introitus.
Et quia hie latuit juvenem, adeo seductus abibat, ut vicem de-
spectionis quam dudum a vii'gine passus est, in ilia retortam
letus reliquit. Quod ergo factum pro nichilo deputatum illi,
donee per sanctum Kentegernum filium suum tempore longo
elapso ad memoriam revocasset, ut in sequentibus scriptum est.
Virgo autem, in pristina voluntate perseverans, nolebat cuiquam
rei eventum propalare. Crescente itaque in utero prole et matre
nihilominus hoc silente, omnibus domum innotuit quia preg-
nans est. Quam cum pregnantem ac Christi nomen invocantem
Eex pater ejus agnovisset, secundimi patrie legem, quasi filiam
fornicariam legisque paterne prevaricatricem lapidibus obrui
jussit. Legis enim decretum eorum tempore illo jubebat ut
omnis mulier, ex nobilibus orta natalibus, si deprehensa fuisset
in fornicatione, lapidum ictibus obrueretur : ancilla vero, signo
nequicie in facie sua expresso, in obprobrium omnibus haberetur.
[QTap. ib.] — (Quomoio Uberata sit a mortc in mentis rimia.
J^EADITA ergo spiculatoribus pregnante juvencula, contentio
orta est inter eos, quis primum in illam jaceret lapillum. Sed
z
248 VIT^ SANCTORUM SCOTI.E.
quia nullus exactorum in regiam prolem lapidem mittere pre-
sumebat, et decretum judicium si Meet in dictum vocari nequa-
quam audebant pretermittere, ducta est in supercilio mentis
qui Kepduf vocatur, ut in biga posita ab ipsius cacumine pre-
cipitata dire neci commendaretur, et sic exactores quasi innoxii
mortis ejus viderentur. Cumque in mortis periculo jam esset
constituta, ejus causam infortunii divino agnoscens spiramine,
directis oculis et manibus in celum clamavit et dixit : O sanc-
tissima virgo Maria, quia quod nullatenus potest fieri hoc
insipienter desideravi, tibi videlicet comparari, "que nee primam
similem visa es habere nee sequentem," hoc mihi reor pericu-
lum merito esse predestinatum. Nunc ergo lacrimosis te flagito
suspiriis, ora filium tuum dominum meum ut saltem ob infan-
tem quem incorrupta mente, licet fragilitate carnis fallente,
circumventa concepi, de mortis angustia in hac instanti me
ruina misericorditer salvet. Credo namque sanctorum sanctis-
sima domina mea, non solum mea sed et omniimi exceUentis-
sima regina, quaquodcumque poposceris a domino meo filio tuo,
cunctorum rege, protinus erit impetratum sine mora. Signo
itaque vivifice crucis confidenter munita, sicut nullam volun-
tatem in compendio libidini prebuit, quamquam a viro depressa
conceperit, ita de montis ardui cacumine in plaustrum retro-
verso violenter depulsa ad pedem montis illesa descendit.
[dap. b.] — ^z miranilis irt rupe ap^par^ittbtt©.
]]^REGNANS vero juvencula simplex et casta, a tanto peri-
culo indempnis habita, estimans se utpote preoptaverat ab
angelo Domini fecundari, gratias agit Deo, dicens: A finibus
terre ad te clamavi, Domine, dum anxiaretur cor meum in peri-
culo, et exaudisti me de monte sancto tuo. Non ergo timebo
millia populi circumdantis me, quoniam tu quidem adjuvasti
me et consolatus es me. Ex hoc igitur in tanta fidei constantia
affigebatur cor ejus, et in operibus virtutum probabatur, quod
sane potest ad illam referri quod scriptum est oraculum : Muli-
erem fortem quis inveniet, et cetera. In supradicta miranda
ruina altera ad laudem Dei contigit fieri miracula. Quoniam,
cum a manibus speculatorimi plaustrum a monte retroversum
(cum) muliere fecunda impingeretur, mox conversum ruendo
de montibus vergens rostrum confixum est in terra. Quo
extracto, statim cepit fons liquidissimus scaturire, qui usque in
hodiernum diem manare non desinit: tracti etiam in silice
sulci duro rotarum miraculum adhuc grande cernentibus pre-
bent. res stupenda et valde miranda, quia lignum tenerri-
inum saxum durissimum ut ceram calidam cauare potuit !
VITA KENTEGERNI. 249
Astantes autem, viso miraculo, dixerunt pregnantem vita potius
et reverentia esse dignissimam quam mortis subire sententiam.
[Cap. bi.] — Quomobxr sit sola in mari rdida.
jK^EX autem rursus in illam incitatus a legis sue magistrati-
bus, hoc miraculirm artis malefice prestigium tunc dicentibus,
ne videretur regni ejus justicie pietatem filie preponere, dixit :
si vita sit digna, neptuno tradatur, et liberet eam a mortis
periculo deus ejus si vult. Ductam itaque ad fretum quod
distat a monte Kepduf quasi tria millia passuum, in ostium
scilicet fluminis quod Aberlessic vocatur, id est ostium fetoris,
quoniam tanta piscium capture copia et fertilitas tempore illo
abundabat, ut piscium multitude de cimbis in sabulo projecta
tedium auferri liominibus prebebat : et tanta ex piscibus in
ostio littoris relictis putredo irrupit, arena sanie conglutinata,
quod fetor infeste fetulentie multos illuc advenientes inde citius
repellere suevit. Comitantibus autem illam usque ad mare
viris multis ac mulieribus amare flentibus, dixerunt quidam:
O quam judicium horrendum a patre nate illatum ! Quid pro-
meruit regis filia ut tot mala subeat letalia? Crudelitas est
magna bis in eodem exercere vindictam. Pereat igitur judex
indiscretus, omnis crudelis. Ilia vero equori tradita, vox
omnium lamentancium communiter facta est, dicens : Dominus
qui te de morte libera vit in terris, ipse de periculo te liberet in
aquis. Audiens autem voces moerentium insons mulier morti
addicta cepit clamare ad Dominum, dicens; Judica Domine
nocentes me, expungna impungnantes me, apprehende arma et
scutum et exurge in adjutorium michi.
[€np. bii.] — ^ttomoio jjater qus ultionc bibirta sit int^r^mptus.
Sft^NTEEEA pro nichilo deputata est Eegi nex filie, nisi sub-
ulcus simili clade periret. Persecutus est igitur ilium, citatis
anfractibus fugientem. Cumque vidisset se Eegem nequaquam
posse aufugere, declinavit se a via paulisper in loca palustria,
vite presidium petiturus. Cum autem nee ibi salubre refugium
habere valeret, arrepto jaculo per amentum post regis jaculando
ut transfixit. Amici vero Eegis, in loco ubi occubuit, erexerunt
in signum regale lapidem grandem, imposito illi desuper saxo
minore arte cauatoria, qui adhuc ibi permanet distans a monte
Dumpelder, in parte austrina, quasi uno miliario. quam
justi judicis arbitrium cunctis predicandum ! quia quod indis-
cussa rei veritate pretermissa insontibus rex indiscretus irro-
gare prepropere deliberaverat, in se reflexum recepit. Mater
250 VITvE SANCTORUM SCOTLE.
interim prolis beate adhuc in utero matrera divinitus guber-
nantis, missa est in laubo, videlicet scapha ex corio confecta,
reducta ultra insulam May in maris profundum. Verum cum
ab ostio lit oris prefati pregnans juvencula duceret, omnes pisces
ejusdem labri marini cum sua processione illam velut dominam
comitabantur, Et post diem discessionis ejus captura piscium
ibi cessavit. Ostium autem prefate fertilitatis, quia suscepit
infantem injuste condemnatum, permanet sterile usque in
hodiernum diem. Pisces quoque qui secuti sunt mulierem,
ubi ipsa dimittebatur et ipsi remanebant. Ab illo quippe tem-
pore in hunc diem, tanta piscium fertilitas ibi abundat ut, de
omni littore maris, Anglici, Scottici, etiam a Belgie et Gallie
littoribus, veniunt gratia predicandi (piscmidi ?) piscatores plu-
rimi, quos omnes insula May in suis rite suscipit portibus.
Mater vero prolis beate in medio mari sola relicta. Deo qui
fecit celum et terram, mare et omnia que in eis sunt, qui veri-
tatem custodit, et facit judicium injuriam pacientibus, conscien-
ciam puram quam hababat devotissime commendabat. Mane
autem facto, super arena maris prope Collenros, qui secundum
marinariorum computationem xxx. milliaria distat ab insula
May in Scotia, salubriter applicata, sed partus torminibus
dolorisque tortionibus graviter vexabatur.
[Ca|y. biii.] — Jlatibitati© b. '^znizQexxd.
3]^LLA nimirum jugi dolore affecta, et lacrymis redimim'' (sic)
genas perfusa, oravit dicens : Domine Jesu, pater omnipotens,
cujus manus mare et aridam fundaverunt, et in cujus nutu
elementa cuncta consistunt, qui me, etiam in terra et in mari
morti addictam, liic applicari indemnem fecisti, non me per-
mittas nunc perire. Scio enim, scio certissime quam brevi
impunitas vicia fovet, audaciam peccandi ministrat, et delicti
correptio nutrit virtutes, vias justicie demonstrat. Quaprop-
ter imploro, pater pie, ut castigacio in me jam bis exerta sit
peccatorum meorum omnium remissio : et si quid restat in me
puniendum unde vindictam sumere disponis, parce saltem
proli insonti quam in utero meo plasmare voluisti, ut in
extremis terre, quemadmodum desideraui priusquam concipe-
retur, salus tua per illam crescat uberrime. Ego enim smn qui
peccavi : ilia quippe nichil mali gessit. Ipsa itaque humi pro-
strata obnixe orante, ecce subito a borea flante cinerum quedam
congeries, que pridie a pastoribus secus maris littus aggerabatur,
torrenter percussa, quas intus absconsas tenebat scintillas spar-
sim effudit. Comperto igitur igne, pregnans juvencula ad
locum sibi a Deo significatum, prout potuit, mox accessit. Et
VITA KENTEGERNI. 251
sicut necessitas instans augebatur, de lignulis, que pridie ibi ad
focvim parandum a supradictis colligebatur pastoribus, struellam
exiguam cum anxiis fecit gemitibus. Et accenso igne, peperit
filium, duro tarn ejus nativitatis quam conceptiouis thalamo
existente, quia locus non fuit illi in diversorio. pauperiem
in rege laudabilem, que suum iterata ditavit militem ! Post-
quam ibi puerum esset enixa, et calamitas nimis instabat pro-
lixa, contigit ut gregarii supervenirent. Cum autem viderent
adolescentulam puerum habentem, et in suspiriis lacrimosis
singultim erumpentem, mox pietate commoti quidam focum
parabant ; quidam cibum quem secum attulerant illi ministra-
bant ; quidam vero ad beatum Servanum, qui eodem tempore
legem clericos docebat Christianam, perrexerunt pari voce,
dicentes, domine, sic et sic invenimus. Dixit autem Servanus,
A dia cur fir sin, quod sonat Latine, utinam sic esset ! Et
responderunt pueri dicentes, Utique, pater, veritatis est relatio
et non fabula quam proferimus. Quapropter rogamus, domine,
veni et vide, ut desiderium tuum citius consequatur effectum.
Ipse quoque, ut rei geste seriem cognovisset, gavisus est gaudio
magno : dixitque Peo gratias, hie enim erit carus meus, Quo-
niam puero nascente cum esset in oratorio solus orans post
laudes matutinas, audierat in sublimi Gloria in excelsis
solempniter cantare. Eecordatus est igitur gaudii angelorum
et visitationis pastorum apud Bethleem in Christo puero et
Maria matre ejus, videns quodammodo Domini natali servi
nativitatem assimilari, in angelorum videlicet solempnitate, in
pastorum visitatione, in loco solitiuo. Cum clericis ovanter
hos ymnos laudifluos, Te deum laudamus, et Gloria in ex-
celsis, voce sublimi decantavit. Eya ergo fratres karissirai,
quoniam cogitationes humane condition! nesciunt subjacere,
quia tam ea que displicent quam ilia que placent sepius inva-
dunt, omnium reor opinione fidelium esse hortandum, ne quis
presumat opinari hujus beati pueri conceptionem fornicationis
maculam contr'axisse. Videtur namque mihi patris ejus mat-
risque conventio sanctitate legitimum excellere matrimonium :
porro quoniam patris erat intentio ut virginis animum in suum
alliceret conjugium, matris vero erat devotio ut virginitatem
servando ab omni se excluderet virili consortio : ex utriusque
quippe consensu persone aliorum procedit desponsatio ; in isto-
rum connubio legitimus amor floruit ; et virginalis non defertur
devotio, licet et mater in concipiendo passa sit carnis corrup-
tionem, cum virginalem non perdidit devotionem. Ibi quippe
non deest virginitas ubi sancte devotiouis permanet integritas.
In lege etiani quasi corrupta non repudiatur que assensum
corruptori non prebuit, sed ut virgo suscipitur. Cum ergo
252 \ITM SANCTORUM SCOTI/E. i
quelibet Christi virgo violentiam patitur carnis, non amittit vir-
ginitatis lucrum, sed deputatur illi ad premium, dicente Lucia
ad Paschasium, Si invitam me feceris violare, castitas mihi
duplicabitur ad coronam. Et quoniam absque sexu virili vir-
ginis hujus nequibat explicari petitio, hujusmodi gratia indiciter
contigit fieri beati Kentegerni conceptio. Hec itaque sancta
credenda est conceptio, quam divina precanti contulit adoptio.
Fornicationi igitur non deputatur coitus quern predestinavit
fieri Dominus : justum quippe fuit quod etiam in partus serie
Domiuus manifestaret, in quantum virginis votum in adoptando
filium dilexit. Laus igitur soli polique regenti patriam qui
tanto patrono inter ceteros ditavit Brittanniam.
NOTES.
NOTES TO THE LIFE OF S. NTNIAN.
NOTE A.
In the Prologue it is stated " that a barbarous language
obscured the life of the most holy Mnian," and the first
chapter speaks of " a book of his life and miracles written in a
barbarous style." S. Ailred " brings it forth into the light of
Latin expression," The manuscript in the British JNIuseum
has at the commencement of the Life a rubric, which rims as
follows : —
"Incipit vita Sancti Niniani epi et confessoris ab Aelredo
Eieuallense abbate de Angiico in Latinu tiislata."
The BoUandist editor, alluding to S. Ailred's description of
the ancient book, merely remarks : —
"Suspicari licet usum fuisse libro de miraculis S. Niniani
conscripto, qui ad nos non per\^enit, solumque innotuit ex
bre^'iario manuscripto ecclesice Aberdonensis, ubi in of&cio
S. Niniani, lectione \di, dicitur laudatus liber harharice scriptus:
quam conjecturam meam firmat conformitas fere omuimoda
eorum, qua; in dicto officio recitantur et in edita S. Niniani vita
memorantur."^
It is not to be supposed that a British or Cambrian book
should have outlived all the troubles in Galloway, and first the
establishment and then the destruction of the Saxon hierarchy
at Candida Casa. Gildas- speaks of the writings and records
of liis own country, " which (if ever there were any of them)
have been consumed in the fires of the enemy or gone into
foreign lands."
It was the fashion of the day to modernize, or to pretend to
modernize, older biographies and annals. Geoffrey of INIon-
mouth, in his epistle-dedicatory to Eobert, Earl of Gloucester
of his History of the Britons, published before 1147, states,
that Walter, Archdeacon of Oxford, had bestowed on him
" Britannici sermonis librum vetustissimum," giving an account
of the kings of Britain from Brutus to Cadwalad^T. He speaks
elsewhere of the "librum Britannici sermonis.'"^ Joceline, in
^ Acta Sanctorum, Sept., t. v. p. 323. ^ Hist. sec. 4.
3 Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. j). 22.
256 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
his Life of S. Kentigern, with more probability, refers to an
earlier book, " quern vestra frequentat ecclesia/' and to " codi-
culum alium stilo Scotico dictatum."^
NOTE B.
The saint's name occurs under different forms. B^eda^ has
" prsedicante eis verbum Nynia episcopo reverentissimo." Wil-
liam of Malmesbury^ has " ubi beatus confessor Ninia requies-
cit." He gives also the accusative " sanctum hunc Niniam."
Alchine or Alcuin in his epistle has in the genitive " patris
vestri Nynia ;" and again, " Direxi ad sancti patris Nyniga
corpus suum holosericum;" finally, "sanctissimi patris Ninise."^
In Ireland he is Monenn,^ Maoineann,^ and Monein,^ in
which the name occurs with the honorific prefix mo.
After the time of S. Ailred he becomes Ninianus. In vulgar
Scotch he was S. Ringan or S. Eingen. In the north of
England a further debasement of the name occurs, in the forms
S. Trinyon and S. Triman. Bellenden has Niniane : " Amang
us were in thay dayis Sanct Niniane, the first bischop of Gal-
loway, quhair he biggit ane kirk in honour of Sant Martene,
his eime." ^
The occurrence, during the Irish occupation of Whithern, of
the names Nennio and Monennus, seems to suggest the notion
of an ecclesiastical eponymus.
NOTE C.
The Prologue, now printed for the first time, bears internal
evidence of having been addressed to the Bishop of Candida
Casa. He was, at the time of S. Ailred 's visit to Galloway,
Christianus, who, on the 19th of December 1154, being the
day of the coronation of King Henry, was consecrated at Ber-
mondsey by the Archbishop of Eouen acting for liim of York.^
He witnesses a charter at Dunfermline in the Parliament of
the same year :^^ at the same time he declared that he was
under the jurisdiction of Eoger, Archbishop of York (pertinere
ad legatiam), who had consecrated him according to the ancient
^ Prologus ad vitam S. Kentigerni. 2 Hist. Eccles. iii. 14.
3 Gest. Pontif. Aug. lib. iii. p. 256, ed. 1870.
* Diiffus Hardy's Descriptive Catalogue, vol. i. p. 45.
^ Mart. Tallacht. ^ Mart. Donegal. ^ Drummond Missal.
Bellendeii's Boece, vol. i. p. 255; Edin. reprint, 1821.
^ Chron. Sanctas Crucis in annum. i" Acts of Pari. vol. i. p. 52.
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 257
custom of the predecessors of both.^ As has been already-
stated, he was suspended from his episcopal office for refusing
to come to the Coimcil of Edinburgh summoned by the Legate
Vivian in 1177. He must have been a man of consideration,
for he was witness to the arbitration of Henry ii. between the
Kings Alfonso of Castile and Sancho of Navarre in the same
year. He died at Holm Cultram, Oct. 7, 11 86.^
NOTE D.
"His verbis manifeste insinuat auctor Vitse natum esse Sanc-
tum nostrum in antiquo Cumbrorum regno, quod propriis
regibus paruisse usque ad annum 946 constat ex Anglorum
annalibus ut ab Ussherio p. 664 et Camdeno p. 648 in Cumbria.
. . . At Balseus aliique euni Venodotum faciunt. Est autem Vene-
dotia pars Walliae borealis in Anglia. Utri de loco natali
S. Niniani non inquiro, cum solum hoc ex Beda certum sit,
eum fuisse de natione Britonum." ^
The place where S. Ninian is supposed to have been born is
indicated as being " in ea, ut putatur (observe the hesitation)
regione, quae in occiduis ipsius insula3 (Britanniae) partibus
(ubi oceanus quasi brachium porrigens et ex utraque parte,
quasi duos angulos faciens, Scotorum nunc et Anglorum regna
dividit) constituta, usque novissima ad Anglorum tempora
proprium habuisse regem, non solum hystoriarum fide, sed et
quorundam quoqiie memoria comprobatur." This evidently
points at a country lying on the coast of the Solway Firth, and
included in what was almost till Ailred's time the kingdom of
Cumbria. Christianity existed there, for S. Ninian was born
of a religious father. " This arm of the sea," says the author of
the Life of S. Ninian in the Lives of the Saints, " is evidently
the Solway, which on the cession of Cumberland to Henry ii.
in 1153, became the boundary of the two kingdoms; and it
was upon the western shore of the island, and in a district
which had kings of its own, ' usque ad novissima Anglorum
tempora;' that is, to the end of the Saxon times. The Cum-
brian Britons had kings of their own till the year 946, when
the last of their princes, Dunmail, fell in defence of their narrow
territories, and Edmund gave the country to the Scottish kings.
The British inhabitants continued as a separate race in the
^ Benedict. Abba.s in an. 1177.
2 Cliron. Mailros cit. Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. ii. p. 45.
^ Acta Sanctorum, 8ei)t. t. v. p. 32,'}.
258 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
time of S. Ailred, and took a conspicuous part in the Battle
of the Standard."^
Whether the saint's birthplace was in Cumberland or in
Galloway we cannot say with certainty. In some sense it is
undoubted that the land of his birth was the scene of his first
labours. Ailred says, " Relicta patria domoque patris, didicit in
terra aliena quod post doceret ad propria."
At 946 the Annales Cambrias^ have "Et Strat Glut vastata
est a Saxonibus." The Saxon Chronicle, anticipating a year,
has an. 945. " This year King Edmund ravaged all Cumber-
land, and granted it to Malcolm, king of the Scots, on the
condition that he should be his fellow-worker as well by sea as
by land." 3
In 974 Dunwallawn, king of Strathclyde, went on a pilgrim-
age to Eome.* One cannot accept what is said in the Tract
on the English Claims, that he slew Staterius, king of Scotland,
conquered his country, and handed it on to his sons Belinus
and Brennius.^ This has been forged. On the other hand, it
is quite in accordance with the spirit of his age and country
that, after leaving his kingdom, Dunwallawn should betake him-
self to religion, and go on pilgrimage.
i^OTE E.
As to the royal birth of Ninian, the Bollandists neither impugn
nor assert it, quoting the words of Alford, " Wlien you hear of
Ninian being a king's son, consider that it is the language of
legendaries, who are very liberal in bestowing that title. By
it they understood the princes and petty chiefs of the provinces,
of whom Britain in every century had plenty." Porphyry
speaks of Britannia as "fertilis provincia tyrannorum."^
Camerarius, who makes S. Ninian live with the Culdees
before he went to Eome, softens it into " Natus est parentibus
juxta seculi dignitatem nobilibus."^
NOTE R
There is a remarkable illustration of the devotion to S. Peter
at Whithern, preserved in a sculptured stone, evidently from
1 Lives of English Saints, S. Ailred, pp. 15, 16. ^ p_ jg.
3 Saxon Chron. p. 379, ed. Bohn ; London, 1847.
4 Skene's Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, p. 124. ^ Ih. p. 22.S.
^ Porph. ap. Hieronym. ad Ctesiph. adv. Pelag. xliii. See Haddan and
Stubbs, Councils, vol. i. p. 12.
^ Camerarius de Fortitudine Scotorum, p. 173 ; Paris, 1631.
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 269
its form and inscription very ancient. " On the upper part of
one of the faces is a cross within a circle, with the following:
inscription curiously arranged, in letters obviously of early
date, and resembhng the inscriptions on the ancient Welsh
stones — Loci t i Petri Apustoli. The monogram is added to
the upper limb of the cross on the right hand, which may be
regarded as another evidence of the early date of the monu-
ment."^ Dr. Stuart has called attention to the distinction
from the Pictish and Scoto-Irish sculptured stones which
marks those in the localities connected with S. Ninian, such
as Kirkmadrine and Kirkmaiden. They have a classical type,
and may have been erected in the time of the Provincia.
NOTE G.
Alford believes that S. Ninian went to Pome in the year
370, when Damasus was Pope. The law of Valentinian was
the cause of many going to Eome, and as it was given from
Treves it was soon known in Britain. Alford puts his consecra-
tion at 394, in the Popedom of S. Siricius, thus giving him
twenty-four years' residence in Eome; but the Bollandists, know-
ing that this is mere conjecture, think that it may have been
shorter, and are rather inclined to abbreviate the stay of the
saint in Eome, though it is impossible to determine the year
of the conversion of the Picts or the acceptance of the apostolic
gift by S. Ninian.2 Spottiswoode maintains that our saint had
lived with S. Martin before his journey to Eome, on which he
seems to cast a doubt,^ and the Bollandists think it would give
more time for a resj)ect for S. Ninian to grow up among the
people; but after all the matter must rest on the primary
authority of Bseda, and of the Life.
S. Ninian is stated to have found his way into Italy " per
Gallicanas Alpes." In the writings of Ammianus Marcellinus,^
there is a graphic description of the passage. " In his Alpibus
Cottiis, quarum initiimi a Segusione (Susa) est oppido, prse-
celsum erigitur jugum, nuUi fere sine discrimine penetrabile.
Est enim e GaUiis venientibus prona humilitate devexum, pen-
dentium saxorum altrinsecus visu terribile, prasertim verno
tempore : cum Uquente gelu, nivibusque solutis fiatu calidiore
ventorum, per diruptas utrimque angustias, et lacunas pruinarum
1 Stuart's Sculptured Stones, vol. ii. p. 53.
2 Act. SS. Sept. t. V. p. 324.
3 Hist. Ch. of Scotland, p. 12, ed. 1847.
* Lib. XV. ch. 10, t. i., p. 68, ed. Lipsias. 1808.
260 NOTES.— S. NINIAN.
congerie latebrosas, descendentes cunctantibus plantis homines
et jumenta procidunt et carpenta: idqiie remedium ad arcendum
exitium repertum est solum, quod pleraque vehicula vastis
funibus illigata, pone cohibente virorum vel boum nisu valido,
vix gressu reptante paullo tutius devolvuntur. Et hsec, ut
diximus, anni verno contingunt. Hieme vero humus crustata
frigoribus, et tamquam levigata, ideoque labilis, incessum prae-
cipitantem impellit, et patulse valles per spatia plana glacis
perfidse vorant nonnumquam transeuntes. Ob quse locorum
callidi, eminentes ligneos stilos per cautiora loca defigunt, ut
eorum series viatorem ducat innoxium : qui si nivibus operti
latuerint, montanis defluentibus rivis eversi, agrestibus prseviis
difficile pervaduntur. A summitate autem hujus Italici clivi,
planities adusque stationem nomine Martis (Oulx), per septem
extenditur milfia : et hinc alia celsitudo erectior, segreque super-
abilis, ad Matronse porrigitur verticem (Mont Gen^vre), cujus
vocabulum casus feminse nobilis dedit. Unde declive quidem
iter, sed expeditius adusque castellum Virgantiam (Briancon)
patet."
Varro, whose statement is transmitted to us by Servius in
his commentary on the u3i^neid, mentions five routes into Italy,
" Alpes quinque viis Varro dicit transiri posse : una quae est
juxta mare, per Ligures (the Corniche) : altera qua Hannibal
transiit (Mont Cenis) : tertia qua Pompeius ad Hispaniense
bellum profectus est (Mont Genevre) : quarta qua Hasdrubal
de Gallia in Italiam venit (Great S. Bernard) : quinta quae
quondam a Graecis possessa est, quae exinde Alpes Graiae
adpellantur (Little S. Bernard)."
NOTE H.
The schools of Eome bore a high character at this time.
S. Augustine in his Confessions ^ says, " Thou didst deal with
me, that I should be persuaded to go to Eome, and to teach there
rather what I was teaching at Carthage. And how I was per-
suaded to this I will not neglect to confess unto Thee ; because,
herein also, the deepest recesses of Thy wisdom, and Thy most
present mercy to us, must be considered and confessed. I did
not wish therefore to go to Eome, because higher gains and
higher dignities were warranted me by my friends, who per-
suaded me to this (though even these things had at that time
an influence over my mind), but my chief and almost only
^ Book V. c. viii. p. 74 ; Oxf. translation.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 261
reason was, that I heard that young men studied there more
peacefully, and were kept quiet under a restraint of more regular
discipline : so that they did not, at their pleasure, petulantly
rush into the schools of one whose pupils they were not, nor
were even admitted without his permission." It is true that
he afterwards found that, "to avoid paying their master's
stipend, a number of youths plot together and remove to another
— ^breakers of faith, who for love of money hold justice cheap." ^
At Eome theological studies were pursued with assiduity.
Valentinian^ thus wrote to Olybrius the prefect — " Quicumque
ad urbem discendi cupiditate veniunt, primitus ad Magistrum
census, provincialium judicum, a quibus copia est danda
veniendi, ejusmodi litteras proferant." "Anglorum scholae" are
alluded to by Bede, lib. v. c. 7. They were burnt down in 807,
and again in 847.^
NOTE I.
The date assigned to S. Ailred is given by Cave at 1150.*
In fact, he died in 11 66. Twenty-six years before tliis, in 1 1 40,
Gratian, a Benedictine monk of Bologna, after the labours of
twenty-four years, published the " Concordantia discordan-
tium Canonum," the great work which superseded every other
compilation, and became the sole authentic collection of eccle-
siastical law under the name of the Decretum Gratiani.^ " In
this work the Isidorian forgeries were combined with those
of the Gregorian writers, Deusdedit, Anselm, Gregory of Pavia,
and with Gratian's own additions. No book has ever come
near it in its influence on the Church, although there is scarcely
another so chokeful of gross errors, both intentional and unin-
tentional. It may be shown by certain examples going deep
into the development of the new Church system, how Gratian
the Italian forwarded by his own interpolation the grand
national scheme of making the whole Christian world, in a
certain sense, the domain of the Italian clergy through the
papacy. The earher Gregorians had not laid down so clearly
as Gratian that, in his unlimited superiority to aU law, the Pope
stands on an equality with the Son of God. Gratian says that,
1 Book V. c. xii. p. 81 ; Oxf. translation,
2 Lib. xiv. de Stud. Lib. urb. Rom. Co. Theodos., p. 197 ; ed. Lug. 1665.
3 Alford, Annals, vol. iii. p. 66. * Historia Litteraria, p. 672.
^ Influence of Canon Law, by J. E. Phillimore, Oxford Essays, 1S5S,
p. 224.
262 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
as Christ submitted to the law on earth, though in truth He
was its Lord, so the Pope is high above all the laws of the
Church, and can dispose of them as he will, since they derive
all their force from him alone." ^
Now it might be expected that the enormous impulse given to
the Eoman system by the Decretum should make itself felt in
all the ecclesiastical literature of the day, especially in that of
the Cistercian order, whose great ornament S. Bernard (+ 1153)
had been the intimate friend of Pope Eugenius ill. In the
most perfect faith, without a suspicion of forgery or inter-
polation, the religious authors naturally adopted the opinions
of the times in which they lived, and embellished them with
all the graces of the sincere piety and childlike simplicity
which were the distinctive Cistercian ideas. They who, bent on
developing the more spiritual part of their being by a Kfe of
seclusion and rigorous discipline, became the regenerating prin-
ciple of the world's civilisation, could not but contribute also
to the literature of the times by means of pious biographies,
and it is only natural that they should view past events in the
light of present ideas. It is very difl&cult,.nay, the result of
the highest culture, to abstain from doing so. The author can-
not be accused of bad faith in exhibiting the course of thought
which he believed must of necessity have passed through the
mind of S. Ninian. It is not likely that the " liber barbario
scriptus" contained these reasonings, but in all probability it,
in accordance with the practice of the times, did relate a visit
to Piome, a fact of wliich from another source we are made
aware — the veracious testimony of Bseda.
But this only represents a part of the truth. No student of
early mediaeval history can fail to observe that from the earliest
times there was a constant reference to Eome, and that the
saints of the most distant lands in Europe went thither on
pilgrimage, not merely on devotional grounds, to kiss the
thresholds of the apostles, but to bring themselves into closer
relation with the rest of Europe, by assimilating their own
practice, and also that of their flocks, to the liturgy and other
usages which at the time prevailed at Eome. Abundant traces
of this may be found in Bseda, Eddius, Alcuin, Boniface, and
many others who wrote long before the period of Gratian.
So in the letter of S, Boniface to Archbishop Cuthbert about
the year 741, he says, " Deere vimus autem in nostro synodal!
conventu, et confessi sunms fidem catholicam et unitatem et
subjectionem Eomance Ecclesioe fine tenus vitse nostras veUe
The Pope and the Council, by Janus, pp. 142-149.
NOTKS. — S. NTNTAN. 2C)?,
servare : Sancto Petro et vicario ejus velle subjici . . . et per
omnia prsecepta Petri canonice sequi desiderare, ut inter oves
sibi commendatas numereinur. Et isti confessioni universi
consensimiis et subscripsimiis, et ad corpus S. Petri principis
apostolorum direximus : quod gratulans clerus et Pontifex
Eomanus suscepit." ^
Even in the very ancient works of Gildas Sapiens, we find
allusion to pilgrimages thither: " Despising the commandments
of Christ, and being careful with their hearts to fulfil their own
lustfid desires, some of them usurping with unclean feet the
seat of the Apostle Peter." ^
As to the testimony of Bfeda, not to speak of the prominence
he gives to the conversion of England by S. Austin by the help
of Pope S. Gregory, we find constant reference to communica-
tions with Rome. S. Laurence of Canterbury and Ms Bishops
admonish the Irish (Scoti) to the Koman keeping of Easter.^
Mellitus goes to Eome to confer with Pope Boniface about the
necessary affairs of the English Church.* Acca visits Eome.^
The whole question about the observance of Easter, and the
tonsure, was a question between the authority of Eome and
that of the local churches.^ Osuiu sends Wisrhard to be con-
secrated at Eome, " intellexerat enim veraciter Osuiu, quamvis
educatus a Scottis, quia Eomana esset catholica et apostolica
ecclesia."'^ Wighard dying at Eome, Theodore is sent by Pope
Vitalian, and the whole of his policy, as well as that of Bishop
Wilfrid, is centralizing.^ Abbot John, archchanter of S. Peter's,
came with Benedict Biscop, " quatenus in monasterio suo cur-
sum canendi annuum, sicut ad S. Petrum agebatur, edoceret."^
Csedwalla and Ina both go to Eome.^'^ Naitan sent to Ceolfrid
" to seek assistance from the English, who had long since
formed their religion after the example of the Holy Eoman
Apostolic Church."" Eddi's Life of S. Wilfred ^^ jg curious as
indicating a great increase in the reference to Eome. In the
beginning he says, "Deinde . . . suggerente Spiritu Sancto,
appellare et videre sedem Apostoli Petri et apostolorum prin-
cipis adhuc inattritam viam genti nostrse tentare in cor adoles-
centis prsedicti ascendit." ^^ The young man's desires are very
like those which are attributed by S. Ailred to S. Ninian, " Sunt
vota mea Domino quae reddam, relinquero ut Abraham cog-
1 Ep. Bonifacii, sec. 2. 2 Gildas, Epistola 66.
3 Hist. Eccl., lib. ii. c. iv. « Ih. » Lib. iv. 13.
6 Lib. iii. 25, 26. 7 Lib. iii. 29. » Lib. iv. 5, 12, 1,3.
9 Lib. iv. 18. i» Lib. v. 7. " Lib. v. 21,
^- Historise Britannicre, Saxonicse, Anglodanicre Scriptores xv, opera Thomse
Gale; Oxford, 1691. i3 p 44
2 A
2G4 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
nationem et domum patris mei, ut visitem sedem apostolicam
et ecclesiasticae discipliiise regulas didicerim in augmentum
geutis nostras, ad serviendum Domino."^ In the same life
Theodore is described as " veniens ad regem Deirorum et
Berniciorum, statuta apostolicse sedis, unde emissus venerat,
secum deportans." ^
So Wilfrid himself, when driven from his see, " lUe vero
Episcopus noster tali judicio fraudabili non contentus, cum con-
silio coepiscoporum suorum, judicium apostolicae sedis magn^e
elegit."^ In his petition to Pope Agatho and the synod, he
speaks of directing his steps "ad hoc apostolicum fastigium,
tanquam ad locum munitum turremque fortitudinis."*
In Scotland, in the Pictish Chronicle, during the reign of
Culenrig or immediately after, we are told " Leot et Sluaga-
dach exierunt ad Romam."^
In 854 Indrechtaig, grandson of Finechta, Abbot of la, was
martyrized on his journey to Eome by the Saxons. ^
In 974, as we have before stated, DunwaUawn, king of
Strathclyde, went on a pilgrimage to Eome.^ S. Kentigern
was seven times at Eome.
In 1050, the devout and charitable Macbeth " Eomse argen-
tum pauperibus seminando distribuit." ^
The Welsh and Irish churches also referred to Eome. In the
Life of S. Aldus, our Scottish Modoch, it is written, " Molaceir
said. If I shall not go to Eome and to foreign nations, I shall
die. Then Aldus took him with him in a fiery chariot, and
they went together to Eome; and when they had remained
therein one night they again returned to the city of Treves."'^
In the Irish Church, until the time of its subjection to the
Eoman Church in the twelfth century, the relations are those
rather of veneration than of submission. One must be very
cautious in admitting the statements in the Lives of the Saints,
1 P. 45. 2 P. 59. 3 p, 63. * P. 66.
5 Skene's Cliron., p. 10.
" Annals Innsf alien, cit. Skene's Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 169.
7 Welsh Bruts, cit. Skene, p. 124.
^ Chron. Marianus Scotus, Pertz, Mon. t. v. p. 556.
^ Rees, Cambro-British Saints, p. 568. For a statement on the Roman
side of the relations between Britain and the Pope, see Epistola Historica de
mutuis officiis inter Sedem Apostolicam et Magnse Britannise reges Chris-
tianos, anglice olim Scripta ad Jacobum Regem, per Richardum Smitheum
S. T. D. nunc Episcopum Chalcedonensem ; Paris. 1654, pp. 403-417. See
on the other side. Chronological Vindication and Historical Demonstration
of our British, Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norman, English Kings' Supreme
Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction over all Spiritual and Religious Affairs, Causes,
Persons, etc., by William Prynne, Esq. ; Lond. 1666.
XOTKS. — S. NINIAN. 265
being written many hundred years after the death of their
subject. Thus S. Kieran of Saighir, one of the four saints
who are said to have preceded S. Patrick in Ireland, accordinc
to his life in the so-called Codex Kilkenniensis, is reported to
have come to Rome, been baptized there, and to have abode
twenty years, learning the divine Scriptures, collecting the
books of them, and studying the ecclesiastical rules.^ He was
ordained bishop there. He and S. Declan are said to have
met S. Patrick in Italy before his consecration.'^
In 458 S. Seginus went to Eome and was ordained bishop
tliere.^
In 630 S. Lasrean was sent by Pope Honorius to induce the
Irish to accept the Ptoman computation of Easter.
Gradually Ireland, known by the eminent scholars she sent
abroad, came into closer relations with the Continent.
Colgan^ gives the following list of saints who made the "pere-
grinatio ad Piomam :" — "Endeus: Erardus Albertus et Hildul-
phus cum aliis unde viginti sociis : Maura et Brigida cum His-
padio fratre et aliis : Declanus : Furseus : Nennideus : Kelius
et Virgilius : Ricarius et Caidocus : Gildas : Barreus Maidocus
David et Eulogius : Indractus cum ix. sociis : Mansuetus :
Dubslanius Macbethus et Malmurius : Marcellus et Marcus :
Eursseus : Einnianus Cathmail et Bitheus : Kieranus : Seginus :
Senanus : Daganus : Hibarus et Abbanas : Eridianus : Endeus :
Mocteus : Patricius : Cassanus Columbanus Lugadius : Lugacius
Mellanus et Kieranus."
Concerning this List, one must say in the words of Dr.
Lanigan,^ " Some of our hagiologists have sent to Rome several
Irish saints, who never were in that city."
Donatus of Eiesole seems to have been a bishop before he
undertook this pilgrimage to Rome. In the ninth century
this was very common. Mark and Moengal stop at S. Gall on
their way home. In 892 Dufflan Macheathath and Magel-
munen, after visiting King Alfred, go to Rome on their way to
Jerusalem.^
Dr. Lanigan^ believes the report of S. Abbanus's three visits
to Rome, where he was ordained priest by S. Gregory the
Great, to be "an iU-founded story," and combats the assertion
of Ware that Elannan was consecrated at Rome by John iv. in
639,^ but he admits that S, Eindan remained in Rome some
time.^
J Colgan, p. 4.5S.
4 Act. SS. Hib., p. 900.
7 Ibid. 15.
2 P. 464.
5 H. E., %'o]. iii. p. 149.
8 Ibid. 149.
3 P. 477.
« Ibid. 346.
'•' Ibhl. 237.
266 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
In the tenth century, i.e., in 926, Blessed Kelius, Duballius,
or Duballus, Abbot of Bangor, and Blessed Virgilius, Abbot of
Tyrdaglass, go to Eome " peregrinationis causa." ^
So late as 1134, we read that Bishop Imarus Hua Haodha-
gain, who restored the Basilica of S. Peter and S. Paul at
Armagh, died at Eome "in sua peregrinatione."-
NOTE K.
An excellent edition of the works of Sulpicius Severus has
been published at Vienna in 1866 as the first of a series called
Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum. It is termed
Sulpicii Severi Libri qui supersunt ; recensuit et commentario
critico instruxit Carolus Halm. Vindobonpe, 1866.
Besides the Life by Sulpicius Severus, there exist four books
on the virtues of S. Martin by S. Gregory of Tours, a Prose in
his honour, some epigrams by Venantius Fortunatus, a hymn
by S. Odo of Clugny, and a metrical life in six books by
S. Paulinus.^
NOTE L.
A SIMILAR circumstance takes place in the history of the
Saxon Church. Benedict Biscop brought from Gaul " cemen-
tarios qui lapideam sibi ecclesiam juxta Eomanorum morem
facerent."* I)r. Eeeves has an interesting note at p. 57 of his
edition of the Life of S. Columba, where, in reference to the
Gallic sailors who confirmed the miraculous account of the
Italian city which was burnt with fire from heaven, he draws
attention to the " mercatores Gallorum " who were at Clonmac-
noise when S. Kieran was abbot, and to the vessel at Nantes in
the time of S. Columbanus "quae Scotorum commercia vexerat."
As to the question whether or not the masons from Gaul could
understand the Britons, we cannot speak very certainly. In
Sulpicius Severus we find a hint as to the languages which pre-
vailed in Gaul. In the first dialogue we read " Tu vero, inquit
Posthumianus, vel Celtice aut si mavis Gallice loquerei dum-
modo Martinum loquaris."^
The difficulty here lies in the distinction between the Gallic
1 Colgan, Act. SS. Hib. p. 107. ^ i]jia. 795.
3 Biographi Veteres Sancti Martini Turonensis Episcopi et confessoris
Edidit Alexius Jordansky, Abbas B. Mar. de Szaszvar ; Posonii, 1817.
* Hist. Abb. Warem., sec. 5, cit. Reeves's Adamnan, p. 177-
^ Sulp. Sever. Op. ed. Halm., p. 179.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. ^ 2G7
and the Celtic language. Can it be that there prevailed in
France at the time two dialects, differing as much from each
other as the "Welsh and Irish ?
Fauriel, speaking of the language of Gaul, says, " Tout le
monde sait que Cesar avait distingu^ dans la Gaule trois races
d'hommes parlant chacune une langue tout a fait diverse de
celle des deux autres : ces langues etaient I'aquitain, le celtique
et le beige, qui aurait ete, ce que senible, beaucoup plus con-
venablement et plus historiquement distingue par le nom speciel
de Gaulois. Or de ces trois langues il y en a deux, I'aquitain
et le celtique, qui sont aujourd'hui representes en France par
deux idiomes vivants qui en sont des restes imm^diats, aussi
certains que curieux. Ces deux idiomes sont le Basque, qui se
parle encore dans quelques vallees des Pyr^n^es occidentales, et
le bas Breton qui persiste dans une partie de la Bretagne
Armoricaine. Ce n'est pas certainement depuis le cinqui^me
siecle, que les idiomes ont envahi les localites ou ils vivent
aujourd'hui : non seulement ils existaient des lors, mais il est
evident que, plus jeunes de 18 si^cles, il devaient en etre,
d'autant plus purs, et plus entiers. Les fait et le vraisemblance
se reunissaient pour coustater qu'ils dominaient alors sur une
plus grande etendue de territoire qu'aujourd'hui. Quant a la
troisi^me langue de Cesar, que je crois pouvoir nommer propre-
ment le Gaulois, il n'en reste aujourd'lmi en France de vestige
vivant : mais elles etaient selon toute apparence parlee encore au
cinquieme siecle dans quelques cantons particulier de la Gaule."
Then after telling the story from Sulpicius he adds, " A moins
de prendre ces paroles pour un insipide pleonasme, qu'il n'est
pas faute d'imputer a un ecrivain elegant et soign^ comme Sul-
pice Severe, il faut y voir une allusion formelle a deux des
anciens idiomes de la Gaule encore coexistants, un celtique et
un gaulois." ^ Mr. Skene says, " One of the points proved by
Zeuss is that the Welsh approached nearer to the ancient
Celtic of Britain and Gaul both in sound and grammatical
forms, while it differed so much from the Irish that no com-
merce of language was possible between them, either then or at
a much earlier age, while at the same time both languages show
that they sprang from the same fountain, and are one in their
original." '^ He adds, " The old Celtic of Gaul, if not the same
language with the British or Welsh, was much nearer to it than
the Irish." ^
^ Fauriel, Histoire de la Gaule meridionale sous la domination des cou-
querauts Germains ; Paris, 1836, pp. 433-436.
- Skene's Papers ou the Race aud Language of the Picts, No. 2, p. 4.
3 lOkl.
268 ^ NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
The Eev. Thomas Innes remarks : — " Buchanan seems to
import that in his time many of the inhabitants of Galloway
spoke the Welsh or British language, which was their native
tongue — ' Ea magna ex parte patrio sermone adhuc utitur ;' and
I have heard that some of the commonaltj^ of that country in
the remote creeks of it, continue as yet to speak a particular
language, different from the vulgar tongue of the Scots, but I
could get no certain information of it."^ The New Statistical
Account asserts that in Wigtonshire Gaelic did not entirely
disappear in the more remote parishes of the country till about
the beginning of the seventeenth century.-
NOTE M.
S. Ailred's description of Whithern is " qui locus super litus
oceani situs, dum seipsum mare longius porrigit ab oriente,
occidente, atque meridie, ipso pelago clauditur : a parte tantum
aquilonali, via ingredi volentibus tantum aperitur." This
opens up the question, Was the site of S. Mnian's Church
where the ruins of the Cathedral now are, or were they two
miles distant southwards at the port called the Isle of Whit-
hern ?
Symson, in his large description of Galloway, says, " There
was in this town a famous priory and a stately church founded
by S. Ninian, and dedicated by him to his unkle S. Martin,
Bishop of Tours in France, as I have heard it reported. Sure I
am there is a little hand-bell in this church, which in Saxon
letters tells it belongs to S. Martin's Church. The steeple and
the body of the church is still standing, together with some of
the walls of the precincts. The isles, crosses, chancel, and several
other houses belonging thereto are fallen ; but several large and
capacious vaults are firme and intire. The Bishop of Galloway,
as prior of Whitherne, hath here a regality comprehending not
only the lands about Whitherne and other adjacent parishes
holding of the prior, but also all the prior's other lands, which
were many in Carrick, Argyle, and severall other places.
The Earl of Galloway is heritable bayly of this regality." ^
Further on, speaking of the Isle, he says, " Neer to this place,
at the sea side, there is the ruines of an old chapel, called the
Chapel of the Isle, which, as it is reported, was the first that
was built for the service of Almighty God in this part of the
kingdom ; yea, as some say, in the whole kingdom."*
1 Innes, Crit. Essay, vol. i. p. 39. 2 n, g ^^ "Wigton, p. 219.
^ Syrason's Gallow.iy, p. 47. ■• lb. p. 49.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 269
For an account of Wliithern see Old Statistical Account of
Scotland, vol. xvi. pp. 275-298 ; New Statistical Account of Scot-
land, Wigtonshire, pp. 52-60 ; History of Lands and their
Owners in Galloway, Edin. 1870, vol. i. pp. 464-503 ; Nichol-
son's History of Galloway, vol. i. p. 115, Kirkcudbright, 1841.
Mr. Muir,^ while allowing that the question can never be
settled positively, ventures to think that the Isle of Whithern
is the site of the Candida Casa. " That the old chapel (there) can
have no connexion with the time of Ninian is obvious enough,
but what has that, or a fallacy in popular belief, to do with the
matter ? May not this small chapel be standing on the site of
the White House ; nay, may not even some of its rude stones
be parts of the very White House itself ? Cropping up here and
there around it are bits of rough masonry, which are evidently
the foundations of very old buildings ; and on an elevated spot
overhanging the shore, a few paces off, indications of other early
erections are equally apparent in the artificial swellings and
depressions of the turf These last, however, are more likely to
be the foundations of a British or Roman fort than of ecclesi-
astical buildings, and if so woidd seem to prove that at the
time of Mnian's mission the place was an important station,
and on that account, as well as from its advantageous position
on the sea, probably was more populated than was then the
site and neighbourhood of the inland borough."
As regards the Chapel at Isle of Whiihern, Mr. Muir, who
is our best authority on Scottish mediaeval architecture, says,
" From its appearance it should belong to somewhere about the
end of the thirteenth century, but more than this I fear we
shall never find out."^
Agreeing as I do with the date assigned by Mr. Muir, I
confess that it seems to supply an argument against the isle
being the site of the Candida Casa. Is it at all likely that
" about the end of the thirteenth century," when S. Ailred's Life
had been written, when the record of miracles was drawing
thousands to the sacred spot, the Prsemonstratensian monks
should have built this shabby little chapel as the record of the
spot where the great saint actually ministered ? At this time
Gothic architecture was just at its perfection, the First Pointed
merging into the Second Pointed or Decorated. To this epoch
the most beautiful specimens of Scottish art may be referred.
It is impossible to suppose that the earnest votaries of the saint,
whose zeal is alluded to in the Prologue of the Life, should sur-
round themselves with beauty at the place where they resided,
^ The Lighthouse, p. 3-1. ' lb. \y. 43.
270 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
while they speut so little care and money on the spot more
actually associated with him than even the place where his
relics were enshrined ? Ailred's Life gives no indication of his
dying in one place and being buried in another. Wliere he died,
there he was buried. " The biographer, after stating that he
was buried ' in ecclesia beati Martini,' has an expression that
indicates this, ' Ubi virtus quae in vivente claruerat, circa cor-
pus defuncti apparere uon cessat.'"
Moreover, neither in the Life of the saint, nor in the cultus
of the later Scottish Church, is there any trace of the transla-
tion of his relics. Those pompous ceremonials, often com-
memorated by a feast as solemn as the original day, when, per-
haps by the admonition of a dream or some celestial intimation,
all that was mortal of the ancient servant of God was carried
from the lonely place of his death to a shrine more worthy of
the estimation in which he was held by God and man, have
generally left their records, if not in history, at least in the
Kalendars of the Church. In the case of S. Ninian nothinsr of
this occurs, and we must therefore conclude that the celebrated
spot, where his body was visited by pilgrims for so many ages,
the modern town of Whithern, was the spot where he erected
the Candida Casa " more Brittonibus insolito."
Its present condition is best described by the learned archaeo-
logist, Mr. Muir, whose work has just been cited :— "What its
original form and dimensions were it would be hard to conjec-
ture by any means short of a thorough investigation of the
foundations, for all that is visibly remaining is what seems to
have been the nave of the Church, a plain narrow oblong,
measuring internally 74 feet in length. The tower, of which
there are still traces, stood at the south-west corner, and was
probably Norman; at any rate a small part of the church adjoin-
ing its site is in the style of that period, and contains a fine
semicircular headed doorway of four shafted orders, embel-
lished with the usual zigzags and other characteristic devices
of the twelfth century. Eastward of this the work is of
late thirteenth century date, and in it are some four or five
long single light windows with pointed heads, and near to the
east end a small pointed doorway with moulded jambs and
imposts carved into quasi capitals. In the east elevation there is
nothing particularly noticeable, the only features being a small
lanciform gable light, one of larger size under it, and a great
square aperture at the ground. . . . Internally tlie aspect of
the building is anything but interesting. ... Of original
features the only attractive ones are two large arched recesses
of ornamental character in the east end of the north wall.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 271
Eastward of the Church, and rising to what may have been
the original level of its floor, are several rudely constructed
crypts, respecting the age and uses of which I entertain no
definite opinion. It is likely that under and around the
Church there are many vaulted cells of the same kind." ^
NOTE K
The death of S. Martin, being the one liistorical fact recorded
in the life of S. Ninian, and therefore determining the epoch of
the saint, deserves a discussion of its own. The actual date is
difficult to determine, though for historical purposes it may be
surely fixed at the end of the fourth century. The Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, indeed, makes it so late as 440, but all other autho-
rities confine themselves within a range of four years between
397 and 401.
Ussher,- in his Index Chronologicus, places the death at 401,
and supports his view by these arguments :^ —
" S. Martinum ex hac vita transiisse media nocte, quai
Dominica habebatur, Attico Csesarioque Conss., refert Gregorius
Turonensis, eumque in chronico suo secutus Marianus Scotus :
qui annus neque cum charactere ab ipsis proposito (dies enim
transitus S. Martini, qui in capitularibus regum Francise et
Marty rologiis omnibus tertius Idus Novembris constituitur, anno
397 quo isti consulatum gesserunt, in quartam feriam incidit)
neque cum Severi Sulpitii, qui ipso Martino usus est familia-
riter, consentit testimonio, ab Euodii consulatu ad Martini exi-
tum sexdecim annos numerantis. Sextus decimus ab illius con-
sulatu annus nostrse epochse est 401, in quo media nox, Eomano
more, et decimi Novembris Dominicam claudebat (quae ob
communis ambiguitatem termini, Dominica idcirco, ut loquitur
Gregorius, habebatur) et undecimum ejusdem mensis diem, qui
tertius Idus Novembris fuit, aperiebat."
The accurate Tillemont enters into an exhaustive argument,
in which, after balancing between the years 397 and 400, he
concludes on the whole in favour of 397 : —
" C'est une grande question de savoir si S. Martin est mort
en I'an 397 on en I'an 400, y ayant bien des raisons de parte
d'autre. II nous en paroist neanmoins davantage pour I'an
397."*
1 The Lighthouse, pp. 4G-48. 2 Vol. vi. p. 562. 3 p ^yo.
^ Tillemont, Momoires pour servir a I'histoire ecck-siastique ; Paris, 1705,
t. X. p. 340. See also a learned note in the same volume, pp. 779-781.
272 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
He concludes, "Suivant done I'epoque de I'an 397 a laqiielle
nous nous arrestons, jusqu'^ ce que nous voyions quelque chose
de plus assure, il faut dire que S. Martin a vecu environ 81
ans e a gouverne son 6giise 25 ans, quatre mois, e quatre ou
sept jours, selon qu'on voudra mettre sa mort le 8 ou le IP de
Novembre."
The Church of S. Martin of Tours, which was destroyed at
the first great Eevolution, is described in a very scarce book, in
which many of the rites of the local Usages of France are
preserved.^ The author's real name was J. B. Le Brun Des
Marettes. He was the editor of the Breviaries of Orleans and
Nevers. He gives an interesting account of Tours, showing
how in the midst of the greatest splendour some remains of
the primitive simplicity of S. Martin continued till his time : —
" L'figlise de S. Martin de Tours est fort grande, mais grossi^re
et obscure. II y a trois rangs de vitres assez petites avec
doubles ailes autour de la nef et du choeur. Cette eglise si
illustre pars le tombeau de S. Martin a ete desservie par des
moines jusqu'au neuvieme siecle ; et il y a encore un cloitre au
cote de I'figlise. II y eut des clercs du temps de Louis le Debon-
naire ; et sous le r^gne de Charles le Chauve ces clercs par son
ordre et du consentement de la communaut^ furent fixes a deux
ans sous le titre de chanoines I'an 849. H y a encore en cette
eglise pres de trois cents Prebendes. Le clerge est encore com-
pose de 50 chanoines, de 50 vicaires perpetuels, et de 50 chape-
lains, chantres et musiciens avec 10 enfans de choeur. Entre
ces dix enfans de choeur on y recevait anciennement un grand
nombre d'enfans qu'on elevait dans I'esprit de la clericature.
On rcQoit encore de ces infans lorsqu'ils demandent a assister a
I'office, et on les installe comme les beneficiers ; c'est ce qu'on
appelle choristes.
" Tous ces ecclesiastiques etaient distribues en quatre rangs en
stations . . . entre les maritiers et Bedeaux ou Batonniers il y
a un pauvre de S. Martin fond^ par Louis xi., et qui est elu
par le chapitre a la pluralit(^ des voix. II est logi, vetu, nourri,
et entretenu de toutes choses, sain et malade, au frais du chapitre;
et il ne pent etre destitu^ que pour d^reglement des mceurs. II
assiste aussi a I'oifice des jours solennels vetu d'une robe mi-
partie de rouge et de blanc.
" II n'y a rien sur I'autel, seulement 1 2 chandeliers derriere.
Le saint Ciboire est suspendu au bout d'une crosse, sans images
^ Voyages Liturgiqnea de France ou recherches faites en diverses villes du
royaume, contenant plusieurs particularites touchant les Hits et les Usages
des Eglises, jiar le Sieur De Moleon ; Paris, 1757, p. 120.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 273
au cote. II y a un parement de contretable au dessus d I'autel,
et des rideaux aux cotes avec des balustres hauts de 6 ou 7
pieds qui ferment le sanctuaire.
" Derri^re le grand autel est le tombeau de marbre noir, blanc,
et jaspe, de S. Martin, fort simple et sans figures, ^leve de terre
environ 3 pieds. A toute lieure de jour il y a un concours de
peuple qui apr^s y avoir fait la pri^re se baisse avec respect
. . . Au dessus de ce tombeau il y a un autel de S. Martin, ou
Ton nionte par un escalier de 1 2 degres de chaque cote avec
des balustres de cuivre, de peur qu'on ne tombe en y montant
ou en y descendant. Ce petit autel est fort simple, sans image,
pas meme de S. Martin ; seulement un parement devant et au
dessus de I'autel, une croix sur I'autel, deux chandeliers au
cote, et rien dessus. Tout cela est d'une grande regularite.
On se sert de cire sacre dans cette dglise et d'un breviaire par-
ticulier qui n'est ni Eomain ni celui de Tours."
NOTE 0.
That this name was known in Strathclyde we learn from
Adamnan, who mentions that the father of King Eydderch
of Dunbarton was Tothail. In the genealogies appended to
Nennius he is termed Tutagual,^
NOTE P.
A SIMILAR miracle is found in the Life of S. Aldelm, " Per
idem tempus contigit Eome ut puer ex incesta matre incestoque
patre editus famam apostolici (Sergii) lederit ; quod cum ut
fieri solet vulgaris opinio ex pontifice genitum crederet. Anxius
Aldelmus multa amicitia federatum sibi presulem tali federi in-
famia: puerum novem dies a nativitate habentem exhiberi
precepit ; imperatque in virtute et in nomine Jesu Christi ut
fateatur si Sergius incesti conscius habeatur. Eespondet in-
fans absolutissimo sermone antistitem aflBnem criminis non esse;
nil ilium commune cum secundo sexu habere. Aldelmus itaque
et ab amico pontifice depulit infamiam et sibi accumulavit
gratiam \"^ and in Nennius's History of the Britons,^ Vortigern
seeks to affiliate his own child begotten upon his daughter on
S. Germanus.
^ Reeves's Adamnan. ^ C'apgrave, NoA^a Legenda Anglie, fol. x.
3 Sec. 39.
274 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
The miracle of the child revealing its paternity occurs else-
where. A similar one in the case of a bishop falsely accused
will be found in the eighth Lectio of the Feast of S. Brigida,
in the Aberdeen Breviary.^ A similar mu^acle is recorded in
the Life of S. Malachi.'^
NOTE Q.
We have happily not to enter at any great length upon the
long vexed question of the nationality of the Picts. That
strong race, first mentioned by Eumenius the orator, in his
panegyric on Constantius, a.d. 297,^ then by Ammianus Mar-
cellinus in the fourth century, who states they were divided
into two gentes Dicaledones and Vecturiones, at the same time
immortalized in verse by Claudian, and finally, not without
uncertainty, credited by Venerable Baida in the eighth with
a Scythian origin,^ are now known by the remains of their
language to have been part of the great Celtic or Gaelic stock,
which coming originally from Gaul, gradually peopled the
whole land;^ for although Ba^da, in the passage before alluded
to, speaks of the Pictish as one of the four distinct languages
used in Britain, and although there was such a difference
between the Irish and Argyleshire language and that of the
northern Picts in the sixth century, that S. Columba, at Brude's
Court at Inverness, was forced to use an interpreter, yet
philologers now have come to the conclusion that it is a dialect
of the Gaelic, having affinity to the Irish rather than to the
Cymric, Cornish, and Armorican families of that mother tongue ;
and the Book of Deer, a monastery of Scots monks in Pict-
land, in its version of the Scriptures, and in the curious charters
appended at the end, exhibits the Picts as cognate with the
rest of the Celtic family, the laws, the names, the language
being nearly similar. In the sixth century the Picts of Buchan
were of the same race as the Scots of Down; and there is
nothing to show that they were not the avro'x^dove'i, or at
least the first known race that had colonized the district.
Mr. W. F. Skene, in his valuable work on the Four Ancient
Books of Wales, has thrown much light on the Pictish question.
After showing that the ethnological traditions of every country
contain much historic truth of the earliest days of its existence,
just as the incidents of the child's life remain in the memory
1 Pars Hyemalis, fol. xlvi. - A. SS. Sept., t. v. p. 328.
^ limes, Crit. Essay, vol. i. p. 47. ■* Btt-da, H. E., lib. i. c. i.
^ Inues, Crit. Essay, vol. i. p. 72.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 275
when the circumstances of middle age are forgotten, and that
these traditions generally assume a twofold form, according to
which the tribes are either a series of colonists arriving at differ-
ent times from some distant land whose name has some analogy
to them, or are represented by an eponymus or common ancestor
whose name is derived from the people, he goes on to point out
how both these are to be found in the race of which he is treat-
ing. On the one hand, we have Albanus, the eponymus of the
Gwyddyl or Gael, called the brother of Brettus, and progenitor
of the Alban, from whom the Scots and Picts took their origin.
Also we find the ethnology of the inhabitants of North Britain
represented under the form of successive colonizations. Three
tribes are brought to Alban, according to the Triads, and remain
there, the race of Gwyddyl or Gael generally, the red Gwyddyl
from Ireland, that is the Scots, and the Gwyddyl Ffechti or
Gael Picts. " The whole testimony of the Britons themselves,
and the inferences to be drawn from tradition, clearly range
the Picts as a people with the Gaelic division of the great
Celtic race, and not with the Cymric or British. They point
to their race and language both being Gaelic ; but though this
may be true of a central body of this people, yet there are
indications that the more outlying or frontier Picts were mixed
with other races, especially with the Saxons, the Irish Scots,
and the Britons." Thus the Picts and Saxons are mentioned by
Ammianus as united in the second great barbarian invasion of
the Pioman Provincia ; and in Constantino's Life of S. German
the two races are mentioned in close union in 429. In
503 a settlement of Irish Scots occupied a portion of the
Pictish kingdom of Dalriada or Argyleshire, while Higden in
his Polychronicon declares that they were also mixed up with
the Britons. Each of these races occasionally saw a king of
their own upon the throne. At length the Scoti succeeded in
converting the accession of one of their race to the Crown, in
right of his Pictish blood through female descent, into a per-
manent supremacy over the Pictish population of the country,
when gradually the people disappeared among the Scots, and
the name became lost.
Besides the testimony of tradition in the two forms which
we have just indicated, there are three other sources whence we
may draw conclusions more or less satisfactory : — (1.) the allu-
sions in foreign contemporaneous writers ; (2.) the remains of
language indicating its own ethnical relation to languages
spoken by other races ; and (3.) the inferences to be derived
from the topography of the districts which the septs in question
have been known to have occupied. It is true that the evi-
276 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
dence from the last two must be taken with some reservation ;
there may have been the infusion of a foreign element in the
language, and the names of places may have belonged to a still
more primitive race. With these abatements, however, an
approximation to the truth may be obtained from all.
1. Under the first head, that of foreign writers, we learn that
the Picts unquestionably existed as a known people and as an
independent nation possessing a political organisation, a known
language in which they read the Holy Scriptures, till the middle
of the ninth century. Then till the twelfth the name of Picts
is known as the denomination of one element in a population
formed of two races, but combined under one monarch. After
the twelfth century the name disappears as applied to any por-
tion of the population of Scotland. Bfeda testifies to the fact
of these statements. Henry of Huntingdon, in 1135, writing
in the second period, makes the curious remark that the Picts
seemed destroyed, and their language so entirely obsolete that
it seemed like a fable that their mention was made in the
Annals. Considering that the Picts occupied a division at the
Battle of the Standard in the very year that Henry wrote, and
that Eichard of Durham says their language was still spoken
at Kirkcudbright, we must — even if we allow, which there is no
reason for doubting, that the mediaeval chroniclers understood
by Picts the same race that had existed some centuries before —
take the statement with the reservation that the Picts had
ceased to be a separate nation, and were fused with their neigh-
bours, while their language, which had once been written, had
degenerated into a provincial dialect or patois.
2. The scanty relics of the Pictish language are next very in-
geniously used by Mr. Skene to illustrate the ethnical position
of the nation ; and here we must remark en passant that the
singular advantage of being a scholar in Welsh, Gaelic, and
Irish, gives him a right to speak with such authority as few
scholars in England possess. After stating that the modern
condition of the different Celtic dialects probably represents
that of none of the ancient ones, he remarks that there run
through them all two distinctive differences which must have
existed before their introduction into Britain, if not before their
entrance into Europe. These differences sever the languages
into two — (1.) the Cymric, containing Breton, Welsh, and Cor-
nish ; (2.) the Gaelic, containing Manx, Irish, and Scotch Gaelic,
which resemble each other more closely than the three Cymric
dialects do each other. Each of the dialects composing the one
class possesses in common those great distinctive differences
which separate them from the three dialects which compose
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 277
the other class, but on the other hand, all are children of one
common parent. Two-thirds of the vocabulary are common to
all the dialects ; the great number of the primitive adjectives
are the same ; the irregular forms bear a smaller proportion to
the regular forms than usual, but these irregular forms bear a
remarkable analogy to each other. The permutation of the
initial consonants common to all gives the means of discrimi-
nating the different dialects. The phonetic laws of transforma-
tion between Gaelic and Welsh are perfectly well known, and
they become the test whereby to determine to which sept the
Pictish belongs. AVlien Scott wrote The Antiguari/ only one
Pictish word was known, and that had been preserved by
Venerable Bteda. It is Peanfahel. Since that time there have
been discovered Ur, Scolofth, Cartit, Duiper, and a considerable
number of proper names, both of places and persons. The
phonetic changes in these words exhibit Pictish as occupying
an intermediate place between Cymric and Gaelic, leaning to
the one in some of its laws, and to the second in others. It is,
to speak more correctly, a Gaelic dialect partaking largely in
Welsh forms. This is confirmed by the historical fact that
S. Columba,^ the Scot, could be understood in familiar con-
versation, but not in preaching by the Picts. " I consider,"
says Mr. Skene,^ " that Pictish was a low Gaelic dialect, and,
following out the analogy of high and low German, the result
I come to is, that Cymric and Gaelic had each a high and low
variety ; that Corrdsh and Breton were high Cymric dialects,
Welsh low Cymric ; that old Scottish, spoken by the Scotti,
now represented by Irish, Scotch Gaelic, and Manx, M^as the
high Gaelic dialect, and Pictish the low Gaelic dialect." When
the Picts came into contact with the Cymric in Galloway and
Manan, the mixed language and blended forms which resulted
from the communication is the language which is known to
Bede as Pictish.
3. The third source whence we may derive knowledge on
ethnology generally, and specially in the case of the Picts, is the
etymology of places, but here there is a danger lest the inquirer
be led astray by resemblance in sound only. Arguments from
mere similarity in sound to words in an existing language over-
look many important considerations, not the least weighty of
which is the gradual change and corruption which goes on.
The whole question is not arbitrary, but must be determined
by the strictest laws of philology. A double process can be
^ Reeves's Adamnan, p. 62 n, p. 145.
■^ Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, p. 138.
278 NOTES.— S. NINIAN.
detected. On the one hand, the language itself changes, and
no longer exactly represents the ideas which existed when the
local nomenclature was formed. On the other hand, the topo-
graphical terminology by corruption diverges day by day from
the spoken language. Where the population has remained the
same, and the dialect in which the names were given is still
the spoken language of the district, the names either remain in
their original shape, in which case they represent the archaic
form of the language, or they undergo a change analogous to
that of the written tongue. Obsolete names disappear as obso-
lete words drop out of the language and are represented by
more modern vocables. Wlien there has been a change in the
population, and the older race has been replaced by a people
speaking a kindred dialect, the names of places are subjected to
the dialectic change which characterizes the rest of the speech
of the inhabitants. There are some striking mstances of this,
where a British form has been superseded by a Gaelic one — e.g.,
Kirkintulloch, the old form of which Nennius informs us is
Caerpentalloch, kin being the Gaelic equivalent for the Welsh
pen ; Penicuick, the old name of which is Peniacop ; and Kin-
caid, the ancient designation of which was Pencoed. " When
the new language is of a different family, the old name is stereo-
typed in the shape in which it was when the one language
superseded the other, becomes unintelligible to the people, and
undergoes a process of change and corruption of a purely phonetic
character. In the former case it is chiefly necessary to apply
the philological laws of the language to its analysis. In the
latter, which is the case with the Celtic topography of the low
country, it is necessary, before attempting to analyse the name,
to ascertain its most ancient form, which often differs greatly
from its more modern aspect."^
It is with these that we have chiefly to do. The first impor-
tant thing is to distinguish between the generic terms, such as
the words for mountain, river, valley, and the like, and the
specific ones, great or small, etc. etc. When the objects of
nature remain in their eternity, the names applied by the
original inhabitants are generally retained by their successors,
but with some phonetic corruptions, as Aberbuthnoth becomes
Arbuthnot. On the other hand, when the districts are succes-
sively occupied by different branches of the same race speaking
different dialects, the generic terms exhibit dialectic differences,
thus the Welsh Pen is the Gaelic Ceann, and the Gaelic Fionn
is the Cymric Gwynn. The comparison of generic terms thus
' Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, p. 140.
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 279
helps to indicate the race of the aborigines, and even to discri-
minate between the different branches of the several races.
Bal, Cal, Dal, Drum, Inch, Inver, Aber, Pit, etc., are all generic
terms, and from these we may approximate to the knowledge
as to the branch of the great Keltic family to which each place
may belong.
Taking then the test of the Cymric Pen, G^vynn, Gwern, and
Gywdd, the Gaelic equivalents of which are Ceann, Fionn,
Fearn, and Fiadh, to determine whether the topography of the
country indicates a Welsh or Gaelic occupation, and applying
it to the names given in the works of the anonymous geographer
of Eavenna in the seventh century, Mr. Skene detects a Cymric
population along the Pioman wall from Tyne to Solway, and a
Gaelic one between Forth and Clyde. If the same test be
applied to the actual terminology, it will be found that with one
exception the British Pen does not occur north of the Forth,
and the other Welsh terms only occur in their Gaelic equiva-
lents. And, analysing a step further, with reference to the
Pictish language, we find five terms peculiar to the districts
occupied by that race — Auchter, Pit, Pitten, For, and Fin.
Thus while the generic terms do not show the existence of any
Cymric race north of the Forth, " we find traces of an older
and more recent form of the Gaelic, the one keeping labials and
dentals, the other gutturals ; the one hardening consonants into
tenues, the other softening them by aspiration ; the one having
Abers and Invers, the other having Invers alone ; the one a low
Gaelic dialect, the other a high Gaelic dialect ; the one, I con-
ceive, the language of the Picts, the other that of the Scots." ^
Having premised these general considerations as to the posi-
tion of the Picts generally, it is of importance to ascertain as
exactly as we can the actual scene of the missionary labours
of S. Mnian. They are termed by Bseda the Australes Picti,
and are described as being on the side of the line of high and
wild mountains which separate them from the northern Picts.
The line of mountains is evidently the great chain called the
Mounth, and now separating the counties of Aberdeen and
Forfar. These remained in Paganism. On the south side, in
the time of S. Ninian, the Picts extended as far as the Firth of
Forth, which was anciently the boundary between the Angles
and the Picts.^ The Australes Picti therefore inhabited the
modern coimties of Kincardine, Forfar, Perth, Kinross, Fife, and
^ P. 161. See The Four Ancient Books of Wales, containing the Cymric
Poems attributed to the Bards of the Sixth Century, by William F. Skene ;
Edin. 1868, and review of the same in the North British Review.
2 Baeda, lib. i. c. 1.
2 B
280 NOTES.— S. NINIAN.
Clackmannan. That the Picts also extended south of the Firths
of Clyde and Forth is maintained by Thomas lunes.^ After
stating that Tacitus, Dio, and Bteda limit the bounds of Cale-
donia and Pictland as mentioned above, he adds, " That did not
hinder the warlike people still in motion and ready to catch at
all opportunities of extending their dominions over the midland
Britains in the debateable lands, betwixt the walls, to make fre-
quent settlements there, and though often beaten out of them by
the Eomans, to return still with new vigour, till at last, about the
year 426, after the Eomans bade farewell to Britain, the Picts
took peaceable possession of all the midland provinces up to
the Northumbrian Wall ; at least towards the eastern coast,
obliging the provincial Britons of these parts to be either sub-
ject to them or to return partly to the south Britons, partly
towards the western coast, about Galloway, Clydesdale, and
Dunbretton ; and thus the bounds of the Picts towards the
south remained till the coming in of the Saxons about the year
4 4 9." 2 Now the question is. Were the labours of S. Ninian
confined to the Australes Picti north of the Forth, or to the
more extended kingdom ? The only suggestion we can obtain
is from the dedication of the churches. It must turn on the
fact whether in or about the year 400 there were Picts south
of the Forth. That from time to time they may have ravaged
the country, and obtained a temporary possession of it, is highly
probable, but we have no reason for supposing they made such
a permanent occupation as would entitle us to believe that Chris-
tianity was planted among them. It is true that the dedica-
tion of churches suggests the wider field. We find, that whereas
in Dalriada, if we except Bute and Sanda, there is not a single
church dedicated to him — for Kil Saint Ninian in Mull belongs
to Nennidius — he is not only found through all Pictland north
and south, but even in Northumberland and Cimibeiiand his
name is remembered.
At Fenton, four miles from Wooler, in the county of Northum-
berland, there was a chapel dedicated to S. Ninian. There is
his well, and a fair is also held on his day. In Westmoreland
he is the tutelar of the parish of Brougham, and there is an
ancient chapel called after him at Whitby.
So great was the devotion to him in the north of England,
that after the Eeformation Bishop Barnes, who was translated
from Carlisle to Durham in 1575, and lived till 1587, in liis
^ A Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the northern parts of
Britain or Scotland, vol. i. p. 93.
' Critical Essay, vol. i. p. 93 ; London, 17-9.
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 281
"Monicions and Iniuuctions," issued 1577, gives us amongst
others the following : —
" 6. Item, that no popishe abrogated hollydaies be kept holly-
dales, nor any Divine service publiquely saide or celebrated on
any suche dales, nor any superfluous faste be used, as those
called Lady fast or Saint Trinyon's fast, the Blacke fast. Saint
Margaret fast, or suche other invented by the devill, to the
dishonnoringe of God and damnacion of the sowles of idolatrous
and supersticious persons."^
But whoever the Australes Picti were, B?eda, who on this
subject is the " auctoritas prima," states that they were con-
verted by S. Ninian, while their brethren beyond the Mounth
remained in heathenism for more than a hundred years, till the
advent of S. Columba. Yet it must be observed, that though
Bseda speaks thus distinctly of the actual time of their conver-
sion, there are reasons which suggest the possibility of the
existence of an earlier Christianity. The celebrated passage in
TertuUian distinctly asserts the existence of some Christians
beyond the Eoman rule, " Britannorum inaccessa loca, Christo
vero subdita,"^ and in the remarkable letter of S. Patrick to
Coroticus, which most scholars accept as genuine, he speaks
of " Socii Scotorum et Pictorum apostatarunt," and again,
" Praesertim indignissimorum pessimorumque atque apostatarum
Pictorum." Apostasy implies a previous Christianity from
which it is the declension.
NOTE E.
It is certain that S. Ailred liere in -writing this sentence was
transferring the ideas of his own time to those of S. Ninian.
The better regulation and extension of the clerical orders, the
foundation of new bishoprics, and the establishment of parishes
with fixed bounds, were among the most potent means whereby
in his time and a little before that the Eeformation in Scotland
was advanced.
With the exception of the first point, the ordination of pres-
byters, almost every one of his statements is liable to question.
(1.) It is very doubtful whether among the southern Picts there
were ever more than one bishop at a time at Abernethy, or
elsewhere, as the case might be. Nor is it in the least likely
that among the Picts converted by S. Ninian, the enormous
^ The Injunctions and Ecclesiastical Proceedings of Richard Barnes, Bishop
of Durham ; Surtees Society Publications, vol. xxii. p. 17.
2 Contra Judaeos, 7.
282 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
number of bishops who were recognised in the Irish church,
should exist, or that any regular sees were established. There is
not a trace of this in any document or legend. The topography
of the countr}^ presents no indication of it. Probably Ailred
here drew entirely on his imagination. There seem to have been
very few bishops among the Picts ; Palladius, Ternan, and Ser-
vanus are all of whom we have any mention, and they seem to
have been tribal. The only locality among the Picts which
can in any sense be called a see was Abernethy. Doubtless the
conversion of the Australes Picti was carried on upon the same
principle that S. Martin converted France, by the development
of a certain form of the monastic system ; not that this was
antagonistic to the Episcopal platform, for Dr. Todd points
out the curious circumstance, that in the great monastery of
S. Martin at Tours, there was a monastic bishop coffitaneous
with the diocesan bishop, just as there was at S. Denis, but at
S. Martin's he survived till 1096, while at the other great
establishment the system was abandoned in the beginning of
the ninth century.^ The description of the establishment of
S. Servanus at Culros in the Life of Kentigern is probably
the normal type of the Christian institutions of Pictland.
Prior Eichard- says of S. Wilfred about 689, "Itaque eo
tempore, ille solus pontifex erat in toto regno regis Oswi, id est
in tota gente Deirorum et Berniciorum, et etiam super Brittones,
et super Scottos de Lindesfarnensi insula, et super Pictos,
quia Candida Casa nondum episcopum proprium habuerat."
(2.) The term parochia in S. Ninian's time was quite different
from what S. Ailred meant. " The word parochia," says T.
Innes, " signified of old as well dioceses as what we now com-
monly call parishes, which last, by all that I can find, were not
generally established even in the south of Britain till several
ages after this by Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury.",^
The word gradually contracted in its signification. In the
Apostolic Constitutions it is applied to Asia,* later it is applied
to a national or tribal church (appendebat ad parrochiam Pran-
corum),^ sometimes fur the territory of an abbey,^ but generally
it meant a diocese.^
1 Todd's S. Patrick, pp. 48-56.
2 Hist. Ch. of Hexham, p. 22 ; Surtees ed.
^ Civ. et Eccles. Hist., p. 43 ; Spalding edition.
* Apostolical Constit. lib. vii. c. xlvi. ed. Clark, p. 205.
^ MabilloD, Annal. Bened. t. iv. p. 384.
" Vita Audoeni apiid Surium, 24 Aug., p. 261, n. 26.
^ Vide Dii Cange ad verb., who refers to the seventy-fourth dissertation of
!Muratori in Antiqq. Ital. Med. JEv. torn. vi. p. 359.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 283
It became first applied in the modern sense in Africa, where
we knew from the number of bishops at the different councils
that the dioceses were exceedingly small.^ From Africa it
woidd seem to have extended to France, with which that pro-
vince had such close theological relations.^
From France it is quite possible that the system crossed over
into Cornwall and also into Wales,^ the elements of a parish
usually springing up round the churches of the local saint;
and, although we do not possess them in their primitive form,
the laws of Howel the Good, which belong to a.d. 928, imply
a parochial system. In England, Cedd, according to Baeda, in
G53 " fecit per loca ecclesias ;"^ and of Archbishop Theodore,
A.D. 673, it is written, " Excitabat fidelium devotionem et
voluntatem in quarumlibet provinciarum civitatibus nee non
villis ecclesias fabricandi, parochias distinguendi."^ However,
there were no settled parishes in Northumberland in the time
of S. Cuthbert, a.d. 670,^ nor in the beginning of Egbert's
Pontificate, a.d. 734.^
Apparently parishes were formed from time to time by the
piety of individuals. They were endowed with tithes, and a
church built, of which the founder and his family had generally
the presentation ; in most cases they were conterminous with
the secular lordship, the abuse of appropriations not yet
having prevailed. By the time of Edward the Elder, a.d. 900,
parishes prevailed universally, tithe and church-scot being the
law of the land.^
In Scotland, in the Celtic Church, the same conditions which
prevailed in Ireland obtained. The monastery there was the
centre of civil as well as ecclesiastical life. The halidome looked
to the Abbey for spirituals. A vassalage to the mother house
was one of the tenures of possession. We have the Gillserfs of
Clackmannan in relation to some convent of S. Servanus, pro-
bably Culross, and the Gillanders of Arbuthnott, standing in the
same relation to the see of S. Andrews though separated by
some fifty miles from the parochia. In Bute we have the
Brandane's men. Actual possession of the land, conceded by
^ ConciL Carthag., iv. c. 102.
2 Concil. Agath., can. 21 ; Vasense ii., can. 1, 2 ; Aurelian v., can. 9 ;
Arvern. 10.
3 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. i. p. 143.
* Bajda, H. E., lib. iii. c. 22.
^ Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, vol. iii. p. 122.
6 Bsda, H. E., lib. iv. c. 27.
^ Haddan and Stubbs, ubi sujira, where Wharton's Defence of Pluralities,
p. 89, is referred to.
* See learned note in Haddan and Stubbs's Councils, vol. iii. p. 637.
284 NOTES. — S. NLNIAK
the piety or fears of the neighbouring reguli, was the condition
of the existence of the Irish and Scots monasteries. They owned
the land and ministered to the souls of those who tilled it.
In the Celtic churches there were no parishes, for the
churches were tribal, and not territorial, and their monastic
character was opposed to it ; but when the secular clergy came
in from Northumbria in the eighth century, and wherever they
superseded the monastic clergy, parish churches may have
existed. The oldest name for a parish in Scotland proper was
schira, which shows its Saxon origin.
In Bernicia, at the time when the Lothians, now in pos-
session of Scotland, were being assimilated to the Norman-
English pattern by the policy of Queen Margaret's successors,
we get charter evidence of the creation of a parish. Thor the
Long had received from King Edgar of Scotland the land of
Edenham in a state of wildness. By the help of the king, and
by his own money (showing the first instance of the application
of capital to land), he made a manor for himself, and built a
church from the foundation, which he endowed with one caru-
cate of land. Here is a parish in its simplest form (a.d. 1107-
1124).^ " The wprd used in the oldest Irish records to denote
a diocese is parochia. Sulpicius Severus uses 'dioecesis' in the
sense of parish, and 'parochia' of an episcopal seat."^
NOTE S.
^ No record save this remains of the life of S. Ninian, or of
his devotional habits. In the parish of Glasserton at Phisgill,
" under a cliff at the sea-side, in a very solitary place, there is
a little cave called S. Ninian's cave, to which, as they say,
S. Ninian us'd sometimes to retire himselfe for his more secret
and private devotion."^
" Tradition here comes in and indicates a cave on the coast
of Galloway, in the parish of Glasserton, on the face of a lofty
and precipitous line of rocks, lying one-third of the way from
the bottom of the cliff, and accessible only by climbing and
springing from rock to rock. It is a deep recess running
back some twenty feet, and gradually narrowing from the
mouth, where it may be twelve feet high, and as many wide.
There is nothing to screen it from the winds and spray which
^ The charter is given by the photozincographic process in the Facsimiles
of the National Manuscripts of Scotland, Part i. No. xiv.
2 Reeves's Adamnan, p. 68, note 6. 3 Symson, p. 15.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 285
beat against the rock ; no bottom of earth to rest on, but only-
bare uneven stone. Here, the tradition of the country says,
S. Ninian used to come for penitential and devotional retire-
ment."i
Again his name is associated with the picturesque legend of
S. Medana,^ whose cave- chapel, near the Mull of Galloway, in
the parish of Kirkmaiden, is of great interest. " Descending a
high and steep rock of the shore, you find it secludedly shelved
in the face of the rock, and looking down upon huge jagged
rocks lying huddled in heaps at the foot of the crag, and run-
ning out in long pointed ridges a good bit into the bay. To its
situation its escape from total destruction must be attributed ;
nevertheless the roof is sadly dilapidated. The roof, probably
rudely arched, has long since disappeared. The artificially
builded portions consist only of the wall fronting the sea, and
that which is laid up behind against the face of the cliff, the
side ones being naturally supplied by great jutting slabs of
whin, or whatever it is. The area of the cell is nearly a square
of very small size, the builded work of great thickness, and
rudely made up of uncemented stones of all sizes and shapes.
The wall facing the sea contains traces of a doorway, and an
inwardly splayed window, the clear of which is no more than,
nine inches wide. In the other wall the doorway is happily
entire, forty-four inches in height, with slightly sloping jambs,
and long narrow stones roughly set over its massive lintel in
form of an arch. The cave to which this aperture gives
entrance is of very irregular form, small and low in the roof.
Of what height the roof of the cell or chapel was it is impos-
sible to say, but as in a building so diminutive it could not
have been great, it is puzzling to find the inner or cliff wall
reaching so much as twenty feet up from the ground. If by
this we are led to believe that another apartment — an upper
sanctuary or dormitory or refugium, whUst the wild Picts were
down on the shore — rose above the cell, what should we not
now-a-days give to have it entire ?"^
The New Statistical Account adds that "there is a pool in the
adjoining rock called the well of the Co' or the Chapel Well.
To bathe in the well as the sun rose, on the first Sunday in
May, was considered an infallible cure for almost any disease,
but was particularly efficacious in the recovery of ' backgane
bairns.' Till no very recent time it was customary for almost
^ Life of S. Ninian, Lives of the Saints ; Toovey, London, pp. 131-132.
2 Brev. Aber., pars estiv. fol. clviii.
3 Muir's Lighthouse, pp. 65-G8.
286 NOTES. — S. NINIAX.
the whole population to collect at this spot on the first Sabbath
(Sunday ?) of May, which was called Co' Sunday, to bathe in
the well, to leave their gifts in the cave, and to spend the day
in gossiping and amusement. It is a natural cylindrical hole
in the solid rock, about four feet in diameter and six deep,
filled with loose stones to about half its depth. Eound its
mouth are three or four small holes for bathing the hands and
eyes."^
A relic of the saint is his Bell, of which we have the fol-
lowing account : — '' The Clog Einny, or Bell of S. Ninian, of
malleable iron, is coated as usual with bronze, and measures
only 6| inches in height. It is rude enough to have been con-
temporary with the Candida Casa of Whithern in Galloway,
and to have summoned to the preaching of the Missionary
Bishop the first of the tribes of North Britain converted to the
worship of the true God."^ It was in the collection of the late
Mr. Bell of Dungannon.
Symson, in 1684, mentions the Campana S. Niniani at
Penyngham.
Four shillings were given by King James iv. in 1506 "to ane
man that bure S. Ninaines bell."
Sulpicius Severus, describing the monastery two miles out of
Tours, which Saint Martin established, says, "Ex uno enim
latere prtecisa montis excelsi ambiebatur, reliquam planitiem
Liger fluvius reducto paullulum sinu clauserat ; una tantum
eademque arcta admodum via adiri poterat. Ipse ex lignis con-
textam cellulam habebat multique ex fratribus in eundem
modum ; plerique saxo superjecti montis cavato receptacula
sibi fecerant."^ The practice of S. Martin and his disciples
would naturally commend itself to S. Ninian.
NOTE T.
No one has been able to identify this locality.
" The etymology given by AUred seems to be quite correct.
Fear, or Fcarr, is the Saxon for Taurus, Bos, and occurs in the
versions of the Old and New Testaments — e.g., Leviticus iii. 1,
p. 96, ed. Thwaites, 'uuwemme fear offe heafre,' 'a male or
female without blemish — of the herd ;' and in S. Matt. xxii. 4,
1 N. S. A., Wigtonshire, p. 208.
^ The Church Bells of Devon, with a supplement aboiit Bells of the Church,
by Rev. H. T. EUacombe ; Exeter, 1872, pp. 322, 323, quoting Wilson's
Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. ii. pp. 460-475.
3 Vita Martini, 10. 4, p. 120, ed. Halm; Vindobonae, 1866.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 287
" mine fearras and mine fugeles synt oplegene," " my oxen and
my failings " — ^he Saxon writer limiting a-cria-Ta to fowls, though
the word includes all creatures put up for fattening. There are
other Saxon writings in which the word occurs, and it is also
used for the sign Taurus in the Zodiac. The other word, ' last,'
is also the equivalent for ' vestigium, orbita,' a trace, footstep,
course. In Psalm Ixxvi. 19, 'Thy footsteps are not known' is
'fot-loest;' and it is quoted also several times from Caedmon."^
NOTE U.
The reigns of Stephen and of Henry ii. were not unlikely to
supply matter for the sorrow of good men in view of the relaxa-
tion of morals. It is natural to all earnest men to see in their
own times signs of the coming end in the wickedness of those
by whom they are surrounded, yet it cannot be doubted that
England in the twelfth century was sunk in profligacy, misrule,
and misery. " In Stephen's reign all was dissension and evil
and rapine. Against him soon rose rich men. They had sworn
oaths, but no truth maintained. They were all forsworn and
forgetful of their troth. They built castles, which they held
out against him. They cruelly oppressed the wretched men of
the land with castle work. They filled the castles with devils
and bad men. They seized those whom they supposed to have
any goods, men and labouring women, and threw them into
prison for their gold and silver, and inflicted on them unutter-
able tortures. Some they hanged up by the feet and smoked
with foul smoke ; some by the thumbs or by the beard, and
hung coats of mail upon their feet. They put them into dun-
geons with adders, snakes, and toads. Many thousands they
wore out with hunger. This lasted the nineteen years that
Stephen was king, and gradually it grew worse." '^
S. Ailred elsewhere in his homiletic works denounces the
universal corruption. " Infelicia hsec tempora in quae nostra
a3tas devenit in persona Ecclesise Ezechias deplorans : ' Ucce '
(inquit) ' i7i pace amaritudo mea amarissima.' Vere fratres
ita est, amara videbatur persecutio, sed in ipsa persecutione non
parva bonis est consolatio, quando non erat fictionis locus, nul-
lum otio vel dissolutioni tempus ; quando qutedam necessitas
cunctos fere cogebat esse perfectos, instantibus cunctis in gradi-
bus suis, tarn subditis quam prselatis. Sublato autem timore,
1 Note by Rev. W. E. Buckley, M.A., late Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the
University of Oxford. 2 Saxon Chronicle.
288 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
nata est dissolutio, crebuit ambitio, honores et divitise virtiitibus
preeponuntur, vitia deliciis nutriimtur."^
" In quibus modo mysterium operatur iniquitatis, cum multi
eorum, adhuc regnante ecclesia iidei quam publice prgedicant,
occulte detrahant, in scholis, quasi pro fide disputantes, in
thalamis et in angulis ipsam fidem deridentes."^
" Vse nobis, qui in ista incidimus tempora infelicia, in quibus
sol videtur conversus in tenebras. In quas inquis tenebras ?
Nolo dicere, fratres ; nolo dicere ne videar ponere in crelum os
meum. Ipsi viderunt. Eeducant ad memoriam eos, quorum
vices gerunt, quorum obtinuerunt cathedras, quorum infulis
gloriantur."^
S. Bernard mourns over a corruption that was wide spread.*
" Multiplicasti gentem, Domine Jesu, sed non magnificasti
letitiam : quoniam multi sunt vocati, pauci vero electi. Omnes
Christiani et omnes fere quse sua sunt queerunt, non quas Jesu.
Christi. Ipsa quoque ecclesiasticce dignitatis officia in turpem
qusestum et tenebrarum negotium transiere : nee in his salus
animarum sed luxus quperitur divitiarum. Propter hoc ton-
dentur, propter hoc frequentant ecclesias, missas celebrant,
Psalmos decantant. Pro episcopatibus et archidiaconatibus
impudenter hodie decertatur, ut ecclesiarum reditus in super-
fluitatis et vanitatis usus dissipentur. Superest jam ut reve-
letur homo peccati, filius perditionis, dsemonium non modo
diurnum sed et meridianum : quod non solum transfiguratur in
angelum lucis, sed extollitur supra omne quod dicitur Deus,
aut quod colitur."^
So also in his sermons In Cantica —
" Vse generationi huic a fermento Pharisaeorum, quod est
hypocrisis. Si tamen hypocrisis dicidebet, qua3 jam latere
prte abundantia non valet, et prse impudentia non quaerit.
Serpit hodie putida tabes per omne corpus ecclesiae, et quo
latius eo desperatius ; eoque periculosius quo interius. Nam
si [insurgeret apertus inimicus hsereticus mitteretur foras et
aresceret : si violentus inimicus abscouderet se forsitan ab eo.
Nunc vero quem ejiciet aut a quo abscondet se ? Omnes amici
et omnes inimici ; onmes necessarii et omnes adversarii ; omnes
domestici et nulli pacifici, omnes proximi et omnes qui sua
sunt qugerunt. Ministri Christi sunt et serviunt antichristo.
Honorati incedunt de bonis Domini, qui Domino honorem non
deferunt. Inde is quem hodie vides meretricius nitor, histrio-
^ Sermo iu Isaiain, ix. ^ Ihid, x. ^ Ibid.
* Serm. in Cantic. 33.
* In Psalmum Qui habitat, Serm. vi. 7, vol. ii. ji. 222 ; Paris. 1835.
I NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 289
iiicus habitus, regius apparatus. Inde aurum in frsenis, in
sellis et calcaribus ; et plus calcaria quam altaria fulgent. Inde
splendid ?e mensse et cibis et scyphis : inde commessationes et
ebrietates; inde scytliara et lyra et tibia; inde redundantia
torcularia et promptuaria plena, eructantia ex hoc in illud.
Inde dolia pigmentaria, inde refertur marsupia. Pro hujus-
modi volunt esse et sunt ecclesiarum prsepositi decani archi-
diaconi, episcopi, archiepiscopi. Nee enim hasc merito cedunt,
sed negotio illi quod perambulat in tenebris.
"Olim proedictum est et nunc tempus impletionis advenit:
ecce in pace amaritudo mea amarissima. Amara prius in nece
martyrum, amarior post in conflictu hgereticorum, amarissima
nunc in moribus domesticorum. Non fugare, non fugere eos
potest : ita evaluerunt et multiplicati sunt super numerum.
Intestina et insanabilis est plaga ecclesise; et ideo in pace
amaritudo ejus amarissima. Sed in qua pace ? et pax est et
non est pax. Pax a paganis et pax ab heereticis ; sed non pro-
fecto a filiis. Vox plangentis in tempore isto : filios innutrivi
et exultavi, ipsi autem spreverunt me ; spreverunt et maculave-
runt me, a turpi vita, a turpi qusestu, a turpi commercio, a
negocio denique perambulante in tenebris. Superest ut jam
de medio fiat demonium meridianum ad deducendos si qui in
Christo residui sunt, adhuc pernianentes in simplicitate sua.
Si quidem absorbuit fluvios sapientium et torrentes potentium,
et habet fiduciam ut Jordanus influat in os suum, id est sim-
plices et humiles qui sunt in ecclesia. Ipse enim est anti-
christus qui se non solum diem, sed et meridiem mentiatur,
et extoUatur supra id quod dicitur aut quod colitur Deus :
quem Dominus Jesus interficiet spiritu oris sui, et destruet
illustratioue adventus sui, utpote verus et eternus Meridies,
sponsus et advocatus ecclesiae, qui est super omnia Deus bene-
dictus in ssecula, amen."^
In John of Salisbury's (+ 1180) Polycraticus, the well-
known De Nugis Curialium,^ we find such words as these : —
" Sed quid majorum virtutem replico et revolvo ? Defecit aetas
nostra et fere ad nihilum redacta est, honoribus intumescit,
honorum nesciens gradus, vanitate nominum delectatur, con-
tempta rerum vanitate et fructu. Aleator, auceps, quodque
magis mirere, stulticines et qui nunquam virilia tractaverunt,
sed neque nota habuerunt officia, quum ad opera lasciviae pilo
fruticante, cuteque indurata tanquam inhabiles reprobantur,
militem induunt, primipilatum et ducatum affectant, et se duc-
^ In Cantic. Serm. xxxiii., cap. 15 and 16.
2 Lib. vi. c. 16, p. 39, ed. Giles ; Oxford, 1S48.
290 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
tores et doctores polliceutur officii, quod nunquam didicerunt.
. . . Duni armata nobis militia stertit, dum alienam expug-
nant pudicitiam, suani prostituuut, dum nobilium circumeunt
domos, convivia exploraut, ut epulentur quotidie spleudide, dum
ampullus projiciunt et sesquipedalia verba, sine cruore truci-
dante Saracenos et Parthos, et si quid aliud hostili censetur
nomine, dum hec faciunt milites gloriosi." So in Petrus Blesensis,
+ 1138,^ — "0 infelices mercatores, hujuscemodi ; qui seipsos
vendunt et suimet ipsorum pretium ipsum nihil accipiunt.
Legunt sed negligant vanos esse filios hominum in stateris, ut
decipiant de vanitate in id ipsum."
NOTE X.
The touching miracle of the Illicita Cogitatio suspending the
divine protection from the rain, " which speaks to us of the
protection which accompanies the just, the tenure on wliich it
depends, the negligence whereby it may be forfeited, the need
common to the weakest and strongest to watch and pray,"
is a beautifid form of marvel which frequently occurs in the
ancient hagiolosv. In the Life of S. Aldus of Ferns, " On a
certain day, when Aldus was there reading, the steward came
to him and said. Arise, take a coat, that thou mayest go with
the brethren. . . . The obedient boy rose immediately, and
through haste left his book open ; and although heavy rain fell
the book was not injured."^ "Again, some persons of the brethren
said, no one can move Aldus to strife. Then a certain brutal
man of them said, I can move him to strife. And Aldus was
clothed in the skins of foxes, and the brutal man went out and
threw him into the fountain. To whom Aldus said. Thou art
a most brutal man on account of this deed. And the young
man seeing that the clothes of S. Aldus were dry, without one
drop of water, said, I repent of what I have done."^
A more exaggerated form of the miracle is found in the Life
of S. Kentigern, ch. xxxv.
NOTE Y.
There seems some confusion here. The young man commits
a fault apparently at Candida Casa. Why should he seek a
vessel to convey him into Scocia ? Further down a wind springs
^ Tractatus quales sunt, p. 5S6 ; Paris. 1667.
- Eees's C'ambro-Britisli Saiuts, p. 557. ^ Ibid. p. 571.
NOTES.— S. NINIAN. 291
up " a parte orientali," and the people who receive him stand on
the western shore.
If we are to understand Scocia of Ireland, this is about the
latest use of the term. Perhaps S. Ailred copied from the old
book without attending to the detail of the geography.
The only other supposition is that the scene of S. Ninian's
miracle was at Cluau Conaire in Ireland, according to the life
mentioned by Archbishop Ussher; and then the British Museum
reading of " orientali" for " occidentali" would be the right one.
Dr. John Stuart, in a manuscript communication, says, " I
have no doubt that Scocia is Ireland, and perhaps it is possible
to understand the wind which blew from the east and landed
the young man on the west in a slightly loose way. Whithern
is placed on the east shore of the west side of the Bay of Wig-
ton. When the boat got out of the bay, and felt the eastern
blast, it would be blown round the point and get into shelter,
so that people on the west side of the peninsula would get
hold of it."
On this obscure point I am allowed to print the accompany-
ing note from Mr. Skene : —
" Your note about the story of the boy who fled from the rod
has called my attention to the difficulties of the narrative, and
since I returned your proofs this morning I have been consider-
ing it. I think the expression, ' navem quse transfretaret in
Scociam quserebat,' shows that the Scocia he wished to tly to
was separated by sea from Galloway, and that by sea was the
way to reach it. It was therefore either Ireland, and the sea
the Irish Channel, or it was Argyllshire, and the sea the Firth
of Clyde. When he arrives there he plants the baculum, which
becomes a tree, and a fountain flows from the root, 'infirmis
autem ob sancti merita utilem et salubrem.' I think this
implies that it was a well dedicated to S. Ninian, and known
in Ailred's days for healing the sick.
" Now against Ireland is —
" 1. Cluan Conaire is not on the shore.
" 2. The opening sentence implies the boy was tlie son of a
native ' nobibs.'
"3. In Ailred's time Scocia was Scotland north of the Firths
of Forth and Clyde. Ailred wrote in the reign of Malcolm iv.,
when the use of the term Scocia for Scotland was quite fixed,
and in his other works he always uses Scocia for Scotland.
" 4. We know of no S. Ninian's Well on the shore of Ireland.
" But suppose the boy, as was natural, was running home from
school, he would fly north to Loch Eyan, or the coast of Ayr-
shire, — not further than to the Irish Channel. Take your map
292 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
and you will see that an east wind would take his boat from
that coast to Kintyre, certainly in Scocia. The people stand-
ing on the east shore of Kint}Te see the boat coming without
sail, and with the baculum. On landing we find at once the
lands of S. Ninian in that part of Kintyre, and, if he landed
on Sanda, at the east corner of Kintyre, we find ' a small chapel
sacred to S. Ninian.' ' Not far from the chapel is a perennial
spring, noted for miracles, as the islanders and many on the
Continent informed me. Indeed, it was frequented in my own
time by the neighbours all around, chiefly by those in whose
minds any remains of the ancient religion dwelt.' ^ I am in-
clined therefore to think that this is the legend which connects
Sanda and the south end of Kintyre with S. Ninian.
" I see in the New Statistical Account the minister says that
in the burying-ground of the chapel is an alder tree, growing
over the reputed grave of the saint, over which should any
walk he is doomed to die. Is this the tree? We may suppose
the ' nobilis ' father of the boy giving the land to S. Ninian.
But whatever the solution of the difficulty may be, I consider
it simply impossible that Ailred can have used the term Scocia
for Ireland."
The connexion of S. Ninian with Ireland deserves considera-
tion. We have already seen that the Irish life known to
Archbishop Ussher not merely relates the foundation of his
monastery of Cluan Conaire, but asserts that he died there.
The martyrologists, as we have stated, also give him as
Maoineann on the 1 6th of September.
It was to be expected that Irish students and Irish ascetics
should betake themselves to Whithern. The Life of the friend
of S. Brigida, S. Modwena, who herself founded a chapel in
Galloway called Chill-ne-case, shows us that even so early as
her time, pious women such as Brignat were trained in Eosnat
or the Magnum Monasterium. This place became in the next
century a great school for Christian education, where many of
the religious from the neighbouring coasts of Ulster were trained.
Among these was the great S. Finnian of Magbile. He was
trained at Whithern by one Mugentius, whose hymn, and the
occasion of its composition, are alike remarkable. The hymn,
conceived in the spirit of the deepest penitence, is as follows : —
" Parce, Domine, parce populo Tuo quem redemisti, Christe,
sanguine Tuo, et non in eternum irascaris nobis. Deprecamur
Te, Domine, in omni misericordia Tua, ut auferatur furor Tuus et
ira Tua a civitate ista et de domo sancta Tua. Quoniam pec-
1 Orig. Parocli. iii. p. 820.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 293
cavimus, peccavimus Tibi, Domine, et Tu iratus es nobis, et
non est qui effugiat iiianum Tuam. Sed siipplicemus ut veniat
super DOS niisericordia Tua, Domine, qui in Ninueu pepercisti
invocantes Dominum. Exclamemus ut respicias populum Tuum
concalcatum et dolentem, et protegas Templum sanctum Tuum,
ne ab impiis contaminetur, et miserearis nimis afflicte civitati
Tue. Exclamemus omnes ad Dominum dicentes, Peccavimus
Tibi, Domine, peccavimus ; patientiam habe in nobis et erue
nos a malis que quotidie crescunt super nos. Dimitte, Domine,
peccato populi Tui secundum multitudinem misericordie Tue.
Propitius fuisti patribus nostris, propitius esto nobis, et imple-
bitur gloria Tua in universa Tua. Eecordare, Domine, die
angelo Tuo, percutienti populum Tuum, sufficit; contine manum
tuam et cesset interfectio qui grassatur in populo ut non per-
des omnem animam viventem. Exsurge, Domine ; adjuva nos
et redime nos propter nomen Tuum. Parce, Domine, peccanti-
bus, ignosce penitentibus, miserere nobis te rogantibus, Salvator
omnium Christe, respice in nos, Jesu, et miserere. Amen."
The scholiast's preface reveals the following strange circum-
stance. It is as follows : — " Mugent made this hymn in
Euterna (Whithern). The cause was this — Finnen of Mag-
bhile went to Mugent for instruction, and Eioc and Talmach,
and several others with him. Drust was king of Britain then,
and had a daughter Drusticc, and he gave her to Mugent to be
taught to read, and she fell in love with Eioc, and she said to
Einnian, ' I will give thee all the books which Mugent has if
thou wilt give me Eioc to marriage.' And Finnen sent Talmach
to her that night in the form of Eioc, and he knew her, and
from thence was conceived and born Lonan of Treoit. But
Drusticc supposed that Eioc had known her, and she said that
Eioc was the father of her son. But this was false, because
Eioc was a virgin. Then Mugent was wroth, and sent a certain
youth into the temple saying, 'Whosoever comes first unto thee
this night into the temple, smite him with an axe.' He said
this because Finnian was in the habit of going first to the
temple ; but notwithstanding, on that night, by the providence
of the Lord, Mugent himself went first to the church, and the
youth smote him, as the prophet says, — For his travail shall
come [upon his own head], and his wickedness shall fall on his
own pate.^ And then Mugent said 'Parce' because he thought
the enemies would spoil the people, or, this was the cause that
the hymn was made, that the sin thereof might not be visited
on the people."
1 Ps. vii. 17.
294 " NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
Capgrave's Life of S. Finan^ states that he taught Coelanus
or Machoioi (+ 497), Abbot of Nendrum (identified by Dr.
Eeeves as Mahee Island in Strangford Lough), and sent him to
a British bishop called Nennio, who had touched there, and was
returning to his see at the Magnum Monasterium. As it is
difficult to identify this Nennio either with Maoinnen or Moenu
of the Irish Annals, or with Monennus or Mancennus, tutor of
S. Tigernach, S. Eoghan, and S. Enna, it is probable " that the
name of Nennio, which is the same as Nennius and Ninianus,
was given to the Bishop of the Magnum Monasterium according
to the ancient custom of naming the comharb or successor after
the saint by whom the see was originally founded."^ If the
Mula mentioned as the birthplace of Ninnidius Lamhglan, the
son of Ethach, could be the Mull of Galloway, and not the
island of that name, then we may conclude that he also was
connected with the colony of Whithern.^
S. Ailred's account of the boat is very distinct : — " The
Cymric Britons, though they lived on an island, had no boats or
vessels except coracles, framed of slight ribs of wood covered
with hides. These frail boats are still used by the Welsh
fishermen on the Wye ; and it may be remarked that the Celtic
tribes in general have never taken to the sea, while the Teutons
seem always to have enjoyed the danger of the ocean."*
NOTE Z.
The Treasurer's Accounts,^ in the reign of King James iv,,
specify the different sacred spots at Whithern connected with
S. Ninian. The king offered in " the utir kyrk, the rude altair,
the hie altar, our lady altair, the reliques, the chapell on the
hill." On the 16th of July in 1507, the year before, he offered
"at the Kude Altair, at the ferter in the utir kirk, at the
reliques, at the hye altair, at the lady chapel, and in the
chapell on the hill." On the 1 8th of April the king offers " at
the towme, the reliques, the hie altar, the rude altar, and the
chapel on the hill."
From this we learn that the ferter or feretrum, the shrine in
which the actual body was kept, was in the outer kirk, an
object of devotion to the common people. The rood altar
^ Nova Legend. Anglie, fol. cxlvii.
2 Todd's Book of Hymns, fasciculus i. pp. 94-120; also Lanigan's Eccles.
Hist, of Ireland, vol. i. p. 437.
^ Colgan, A. SS. Hib. pp. 112-116, n. 16.
* Falgrave's Hist, of the AngloSaxona, p. 4. ^ See Note BB.
I
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 295
generally stood under the chancel screen. The " towme " is
probably the sarcophagus mentioned in the text as being near
the altar, unless it be the same as the ferter.
The chapel on the hill is probably what is termed in the
Ordnance Survey Map, Chapel Outon, which stands on a little
eminence of 200 feet, about one mile north of Whithern.
NOTE AA.
The reader will remember that such a torture as this is the
doom denounced by Dante against the diviners, augurs, and
sorcerers, who by help of incantations have sought to pry into
the future, which belongs to the Almighty alone : —
" Come il vise me scese in lor piu basso
Mirabilmente apparve esser travolto
Ciascun dal mento al principio del casso :
Che dalle reni era tomato il volto,
Ed indietro venir gli convenia
Perche il veder dinanzi era la tolto
Forse per forza gi^ di parlasia
Si travolse cosi alcun del tutto ;
Ma io nol vidi, nh credo die sia."^
NOTE BB.
By favour of Thomas Dickson, Esq., of the Eegister House,
Edinburgh, I am enabled to present the reader with some
extracts from the Accounts of the Lords Treasurers of the
Kings of Scotland, relating to royal pilgTimages to the shrine
of S. Ninian at Whithern, in the end of the fifteenth and be-
ginning of the sixteenth centuries, which throw much light on
the devotional and social habits of the day.
The first two entries refer to the pilgiimage of Queen Mar-
garet, spouse of James ill. ; those which succeed to those of
King James iv.
A.D. 1473.
Item gevin to Schir Alexander Naper, vltimo Julij, for thir thingis
laid doune be him in absence of the Thesaurare ; in the first, for pan-
yell crelis to the Qwene at hir passage to Sanct Ninianis, viij s.
Item, to Andro Balfoure, xx° Augusti, for lyveray govnis to sex ladys
of the quenis chalmire at hire passing to Quhytehirne, xxj eine of
gray, fra Dauid Gill, price elne x §., summa, . . x li. x s.
* Inferno, c. xx. 11-18,
2 C
296 NOTES.— S. NINIAN.
A.D. 1491.
Item [the xxx Octobris], to Dave Rudman, to pass to Quhitherne
to gar mak provision be the way for the king, . vj s.
Item, till a man, for a cran be the way passand to Quhitherne, v s.
Item, at Sanct Johnis Kirk, for the ferying of horss and men owre at
the water, . . . . . . vs.
Item, on Setterda the xij Nouembris, in Quhithern, to Johne of Kyn-
loycht to by him a horss, ^ . . . . ij ti.
Item, to the massonis of Quhitherne, to the drink, . xviij s.
Item, the xv Nouembris, for a horss boycht to the king be the way
cumand fra Grlenluss, . . . . vij ti. xiij s.
Item, the xviij Nouembris, to the massonis of the bryg off Ayre, x s.
A.D. 1497 (September).
Item, for the kingis hors meit in Bigar passand to Quhithirn quhare
the king batit, ..... xiiij d.
Item, the king passand at the Cald Chapel, giffin be the kingis com-
mand to pur folkis, ..... xxij d.
Item, to the preistis of Durisder, at the kingis command, iiij s.
Item, to pur folkis in almous quhen the king departit, . iiij s. viij d.
Item, to ane fidelar thare that playit to the king, . v s.
Item, to tua pur men be the way, . . . xvj d.
Item, at Sanct Johnis Kirk of Dalrye, to the preist, . xiiij d.
Item, to pur folkis thare, . . . . ij s.
Item, to ane woman with the grantgore thare, be the kingis com-
mand, . . . . . . iij s, vj d.
Item, to the wif of Durisder quhar the king lugeit, . xiiij s.
Item, to pur folkis at Wigtoun, . . . . ij s.
Item, in Qahithyrn, to the kingis offerand, . . xiiij s.
Item, to the pur folkis thare, . . . . ij s.
Item, to say ten trentalis of messis thare for the king, be his command,
and to his offerandis in Quhithyrn, . . . x tib.
Item, in Quhithirn, to the priouris man, of bridilsiluer for ane quhit
hors he deliuerit to the king, . . , . ix s.
Item, to Quintin, the lord Hamiltonis man, of bridil siluer that samyn
tyrae, . . . . . . iij s. vj d.
Item, for schoing of the kingis hors thare, . . xx d.
Item, to pur folkis cummand hame be the way, . . ij s.
Item, to tua gydis, that day, that gidit the king, be the kingis com-
mand, . . . . . . X s.
Item, quhar the king baytit, to the folk that plenyeit of the corn
citing, be the kingis command, . . . vi s. viij d.
Item, at our Ladie Kirk of Kile, to say five trentalis of messis for the
king, ....... V. tib.
Item, in Air, to say ane trentale of messis of Sanct Johne for the
king, be the kingis command, . . . xx 3.
Item, to the pur folkis at our Ladie Kirk of Kile, . xvj d.
Item, to ane man that gidit the king fra Kilmerno to Glasgo, xiiij d.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 297
Item, to the seke folk at the brig of Glasgo, be the kingis com-
mand, . . . , . . ij g.
Item, to say thre trentalis of messis in Ghi8go, . . iij tib.
Item, to the pur folk in Grlasgo, ... iij s.
A.D. 1498.
Item, the second day of Aprile, in Dumbertane, to the feryar for the
botis quhen the king passit to Quhithyrn, . . xvii] s.
Item, that samyn nycht in Air, for the kingis hors cost. ..."
Item, the thrid day of Aprile, at the fiut of the Stanschell, for the
kingis costis quhar the king baytit, . . . ij g.
Item, to ane pur wif be the way, at the kingis command, viij d.
Item, the thrid day of Aprile in Quhithyrn, giffin to Schir Andro to
gif to preistis thare that samyn tyme, . . v ti. viii s.
Item, to the kingis ofiPerandis in Quhithyrn, thre vnicornis, half ane
ros nobill and ane Franch croun ; summa, . iiij ti. v s. vj d.
Item, to yong Rudman the lutar thare, at the kingis command,
xj s. viij d.
Item, for aill that the kingis hors drank thare, . . viij d.
Item, to the man that kepit the kingis hors thare, . xiiij d.
Item, the ferd day of Aprile, for schoing of ane of the kingis hors in
Air, . . . . . . . XX d.
Item, be the kingis command, to Bell Hand seke in the toun of Air, v s.
Item, to the kingis oiFerand in our Ladie Kyrk of Kyle, xviij s.
Item, to the preist thare, to say a trentale of messis for the king, xx s.
Item, to the fery, cummand hame agane, . . ix s.
Item, for the kingis lugying in Dumbertane, to the gudwif, xviij s.
A.D. 1501.
Item, the xxij day of Aprile, in Kyrkcudbricht, giffin to the preistis
thare be the kingis command, .' . . xx s.
Item, to the freris of Kyrkcudbricht, be the kingis command, to by
thaim ane Eucharist, viij Fransche crounis ; summa, vti. xij s.
Item, the samyn day in Quhithirn, to Schir Andro Makbrek, be the
kingis command, to dispone amang preistis, . . v tib.
Item, that nycht, quhen the king com to Quhithirn, to his ofFerand at
the towme and at the reliques, . . . xxviij s .
Item, the xxiij day of Aprile, in Quhithirn, giffin to the kingis ofter-
andis at the towme, reliques, the hie altar, the Rude altare, and the
. chapel on the hill, v Fransche crounis ; summa, . iij ti x s.
Item, the xxiiij day of Aprile, in Aire, giffin to Schir Andro Makbrek,
to dispone thare to preistis, .... iij ti.
Item, the samyn day, to the freris of Air, be the kingis command, xiiij s.
Item, the samyn nycht, in Glasgo, giffin to preistis in Glasgo be the
kingis command, . . . . . iiij tib.
' * * * * * '
Sum illegible in ms.
298 NOTES,— S. NINIAN.
Item, the secund day of Julij, payit to the priest of Boithuile, that he
laid doun to the kingis offerand in Our Ladie Kirk of Kile, cum-
mand fra Quhithirn, ..... xiiij s.
Item, xj Sept., for xiij vnce brokin siluer deliuerit to Matho Auchlek,
goldsmyth, for the making of Sanct Ninianes arme, . vj ti. x s.
A.D. 1502.
Item, the xviij day of August . . . offerit in Quhithirn, . . .
Item, to the masonis in Quhithirn, be [the kingis] command, of drink-
siluer, ...... xiiij s.
Item, the samyn day, to the priour of Quhithirn[is man], of bridil-
siluer of ane hors he deliuerit to the king, . . ix s.
Item, to Johnesone the foular quhen his hors tyrit, be the kingis com-
mand, ...... xviij s.
Item, the samyn day [xix August], to Dande Doule and the laif of the
falconaris, be the kino^is command, . . . xviij s.
Item, to the piparis of Wigtoun, be the kingis command, xiiij s.
Item, the xxij day of August, be the kingis command, to Guilliam
taubronair, ...... xiiij s.
Item, to Anslee taubronar, be the kingis command, . xiiij s.
A.D. 1503.
Item, the viij day of Aprile, in Quhithirn, to the kingis oflferandis at
diuers places, vj Franch crownes ; summa, . . iiij ti iiij s.
Item, that samyn day, in Quhithirn, to Schir Andro [Makbrek] to dis-
pone, . . . . . .V lib. ij s.
Item, the viij day of Aprile, to the freris of Wigtoun, be the kingis
command, ...... xxviij s.
Item, that samyn day, in Wigtoun, to the freris and preistis to do
dirige and saule mes for the Erie of Mar, . . xl s.
Item, the ix day of Aprile, to Schir Andro Makbrek, in Air, to dispone,
be the kingis command, .... vij lib.
Item, the x day of Aprile, to the kingis offerand in the Kirk of
Kyle, ...... xiiij s.
*****
Item (the vj day of Maij), to the kingis offerand to the Haly Croce of
Peblis, ...... xiiij s.
Item, to the kings offerand on the bred in the kirk of Moffet, ix s.
Item (vij Maij), to the kingis offerand in Our Lady chapell at the toun
end of Drumfreis, ..... xiiij s.
Item, to the kingis offerand to ane preistis first mes in Drumfreis,
xxviij s.
Item, to the kingis offerand on the bred in the parisch kirk, ix s.
Item, to the freris of Drumfreis, . . . xiiij s.
Item, the xiiij day of Maij, to Schir Andro Makbrek, to dispone in
Quhithirn, be the kingis command, . . . v tib.
Item, that samyn day, to the kingis offerandez in Quhithirn at diuers
places, V Franch crounis ; summa, . . . iij tib. x s.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 299
Item, the xvij day of Maij, be the kingis conunand, to the lUak
Freris of Air, ..... xiiij s.
Item, that samyn day, to the Gray Freris thare, . xviij s.
Item, that samyn tyme, bo the kiugi.s command, to dispone in
Air, . . . . . . . XX s.
Item, the xviij day of Maij, to tlie kingis offerand in the kirk of
Kile, ....... xiiij s.
Item, payit to tlic comptrolhir that he hiid doun bo the kingis com-
mand to the Freris of Air and (Jllasgo, ipihen the king com fra (^iihit-
hirn ia Aprile bipast, vj Franeh crounis ; snmnia, iiij ti. iiij s.
A.D. 1504.
Item, the xxj day of Junij, in Jjinlithqw, to Schir Andro Makbrek, to
dispone to prcistis, ..... iij ti.
Item, the xxij day of Junij, in Ilamiltoun, to Maister Andro Makbrek,
to dispone to prcistis tliare, . . . . xx s.
Item, the xxiij day of 'iuiiij, to the Bhik Freris in Air, . xiiij s.
Item, to tho Gray Freris tliaro, . . . . xv s.
Item, to Maister Andro Makbrek, to the prcistis of Our Lady Kirk of
Kyle, . . . . . . XX s.
Item, tlie xxiiij day of Junij, Sanct Johnis day, to the kingis offerand
in Sanct Johnis Kirk in Air, .... xiiij s.
Item, that samyn day to tho Freris of Irrcwin, . . xiiij s.
Item, that day, to the prcistis in Air, be command, . iij ti.
Item, tho xxvj day of Junij, in Quhithirn, to the kingis offerandis at
diners places, v Franeh crounis ; summa, . . iij tib. x s.
Item, that day to the prcistis in Quhithirn, . . v ti.
Item, the penult day of Junij, in Air, cummand hame aganc, to
Maister Andro Makbrek to gif to prcistis thare, . iij tib.
A.I). ir)Or).
Item, the xxiiij day of Julij, in Dumbertane, to Schir Andro INTnk-
brek, . . . . . . xl .s.
Item, tho xx[v] day of Julij, to Schir Andro to dispone, . xx .s.
Item, that day to the kingis offerand on Sanct James bred, xiiij s.
Item, to the kingis offerand at the hie mes, . . xiiij s.
Item, to the lilak Freris thair, .... xiiij s.
Item, the xxvj day of Julij, in Eliotstoun, to tho kingis offerand in
the new college, ..... xiiij s.
Item, to the prcistis thair, . . . . xx .s.
Item, the xxvij day of .lulij, in Air, to the Blak Kreris, xiiij s.
Item, the xxviij day of Julij, to the kingis offerand in Our Lady
Kyrk of Kile, ..... xiiij s.
Item, to Schir Andro Makbrek to dispone thair, . . v tib.
Item, that samyn day, to him to tho Gray Freris of Air, xxviij s.
Item, the xxix day of Julij, to the monks of (Jorsr;iguell, xx .s.
Item, the penult day of .Julij, in Glenluss, to Schir Andro IMakbrek, xx s.
Item, the last day of Julij, in Quhithirn, to Schir Andro to dis-
pone, ...... V tib.
300
NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
Item, to the kingis offerand in the kirk in diners places, iiij Frauch
crounis; summa, . . . , . lyj g.
Item, to the kingis offerand in the chapell on the hill, . xiiij s.
Item, to preistis thair for the lady maistres, . . xiiij s.
Item, that samyn day, to the Freris of Wigtoun, . xiiij s.
Item, the secund day of August, to the monks of Dundranane, xx s.
Item, the thrid day of August, to the freris of Drumfreis, xiiij s.
Item, the ferd day of August, to Schir Andro Makbrek to dispone, xl s.
Item, the vij day of August to the kingis offerand in the Cors kirk of
r^eblis, ••.... xiiij s.
Item, to the preistis thair, . . . . iij lib.
Item, the viij day of August, to the kingis offerand in Sanct Katrinis
of the oly well, ..... xiiij s.
A.D. 1506.
Item, the xxvj day of Julij [Aprile], to the preistis of Paslay, xx s.
Item, the xxviij day of Julij [Aprile], to Schir Andro Makbrek to
'dispone, ...... iiij ti.
Item, to the kingis offerand in Our Lady Kirk of Kyle, . ix s.
Item, that day, to the Freris of Irwin, . . . xiiij s.
Item, to the Gray Freris of Air, . . . xlij s.
Item, the xxix day of Julij [Aprile], to the king to play at the kiles
in Glenlus, ...... xviij s.
Item, to the Abbot of Glenlus man, of bridilsiluer of ane gray hors
giffin to the king, ..... xiiij s.
Item, to ane Irland freir thair, . . . ' . ij g.
Item, the first day of Maij, in Quhithirn, to Schir Andro Makbrek to
dispone, ...... ix tib.
Item, to the kingis offerand thair at sindry places, vj Franch
crounis ; summa, . . . .iiij ti. iiij s.
Item, to ane pilgryme of Ingland that Sanct Niuiane kythit miracle
^o^j ....... xviij s.
Item, to pure folkis in Wigtoun, Schir Andro being absent, iiijs. viij d.
Item, to ane fithelair thair, . . . . xi i.
Item, to certane Inglis pilgrymes in Wigtoun, be the kingis com-
mand, ...... xiiij g.
Item, the secund day of Maij, to Schir Andro Makbrek to dis-
pone, ...... xl5.
Item, that day, to the freir of Wigtoun that sold haf sungin his first
mes the next Sonday, .... xiiij s.
Item, the thrid day of Maij, to the kingis offerand, . xiiij s.
Item, that day, to Schir Andro Makbrek to dispone, . xx s.
Item, the ferd day of Maij, to Schir Andro Makbrek to dispone in
Linclowden, . . . . . . xl s.
Item, that day, to the Freris of Drumfreis, . . xiiij s.
Item, ane relique quhilk the king offerit at Quhithirn, maid of the
kingis avn siluer, weyand xxvij^ vnce ; for the fasoun of ilk vnce
iiij s. : summa, . . . . . v li. x s.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 3Ul
Item, for ij Hary nobles and quik siluer to gilt the samyn, iij ti. iiij s.
Item, the vij day of Maij, to Schir Andro Makbrek, to dispone, iij ti.
Item, that day, to the kingis oQcrand at the Ilaly Croce of Pcb-
lis, ....... xviij s.
* .¥ # * if
Item, the vj day of August, to the kingis offerand in Our Lady kirk
of Kyle, ...... xiiij s.
Item, to the preistis thair, .... iij tib.
Item, that samyn day, to the freris of L'rewin, . . xiiij s.
Item to the freris of Air, .... xiiij s.
Item, the vij day of August, to the Gray Freris of Air, . xlij s.
Item, the ix day of August, to the kingis offerand in Quhithirn, at the
Kude altair, at the ferter in the vtir kyrk, at the reliques, at the hye
altair, at the Lady altair, and in the Chapell on the hill ; ilk place
xiiij s. ; sumraa, .... iiij tib. iiij s.
Item, the x day of August, Sanct Laurence day, to the kingis offer-
and at the reliques in Quhithirn, . . . xiiij s.
A.D. 1506-7.
Item, the ix day of March, to the kingis offerand at the oly well, xiiij s.
Item, the x day of March, to the kingis offerand in Bigar, xiiij s.
Item [xj March], to the wif of the Mure alhous, quhair the king
disjunit, . . . , . . vij s.
Item, in Lintoun, to the kingis belcheir, . . xiiij s.
Item, that nycht, in Dolphingtoun, to the preist, for fire, candill, and
belcheir, quhair the king lay, . . . xviij s.
Item, to ane pure man in Dolphingtoun hed ane kow slane, xviij s.
Item, in Bigar, quhair the king dynyt, in belcheir, . xviij s.
Item, to the wif in Lammyngtoun, quhair the king lay all nycht,
xxviij 5.
Item, to the wif of Cawod chapel, quhar the king dynyt, in belcher, vij s.
Item, that nycht to the wif of Craufurd, quhair the king lay, xviij s.
Item, the xij day of March, at the chapel of Craufurd Mure, quhar
the king dynyt, to ane pure man of belcheir, . . vij s.
Item, the xiij day of March, to the kingis belchere in Durisdere, xiiij s.
Item, to the vicar of Durisdere, quhair the king lay all nycht, xiiij s.
Item, that day, to ane pure man tald tales to the king, . vj s. viij d.
Item, to ane wif that hed hir siluer stoljin away, be the kingis com-
mand, . . . . . . vs.
Item, that day, to thre pur folkis at the "Water of Nyth, ij s.
Item, to the kingis offerand in ane chapel on the Water of [Nyth]
on the gait side, ..... xiiij s.
Item, to William Douglas, quhilk he wan fra the king at schuting
with the corsbow, ..... xxviij s.
Item, the xiiij day of March, in Penpont, to the kingis offerand on
the bred, . . . . . . ix s.
Item, to the four Italicn menstrales, be the kingis command, iiij
Franch crounis ; summa, .... Ivj s.
Item, to ane woman that sang to the king, . • xxviij s.
Item, to ane fithelar, be the kingis command, . . xxix s.
302 NOTES. — S. NINIAN.
Item, for soling of une pair schone to the king in Penpont, xvj d.
Item, the xv day of March, to the vicar of Penpont, in belcheir,
xxviij s.
Item, to the freris of Drumfreis thair, . . . xviij s.
Item, to the wif at the kirk quhar the king disjunit, . xiiij s.
Item, at Castell fern quhar the king dynit, in belchere, . ix s.
Item, that nycht, to the king, quhilk he tynt on schuting with the
corsbow with William Douglas, . . . xxviij s.
Item, for ane sark to the Franch boy, . . . vs.
Item, the xvj day of March, to the kingis belcheir in Dairy, xviij s.
Item, that day, to Quhynbore, taubroner, and his marrow, vi s.
Item, for the kingis belcher, quhair the king dynyt be the gait, ix s.
Item, that nycht, the king sowpit at Menegouf, for the belcher
thair, . . . . . . ix s.
Item, the xvij day of March, in Pennyghame, to the king, quhilk he
tynt with William Douglas, .... xiiij s.
Item, to ane pure man thair, .... viij d.
Item [the xvij day of March], to ane man that bure Sanct Ninianes
bell, . . . . . . . ix s.
Item, that day, to ane man that sang to the king, . iiij s.
Item, the xviij day of March, in Wigtoun, in belcheir, quhar the king
lay, ....... xxviij s.
Item, to the freris of Wigtoun, .... xiiij s.
Item, to ane man that gydit the king fra Wigtoun to Quhithirn before
day, ....... xiiij s.
Item, that day, to the kingis offerand in the Chapell on the hill,
xiiij s.
Item, that samyn day, in Quhithirn, to the kingis offerandis at the first
mes in the vtir kirk, syne at the Rude altair, at the hie altar, and
at Our Lady altair ; ilk place xiiij s. ; summa, . Ivj s.
Item, that day, to the kingis offerand at the reliques, . xviij s.
Item, that samyn day, to Schir Andro IMakbrek to dispone, vj ti.
Item, to the priour of Quhithirnis man in bridilsiluer of ane hors, xiiij s.
Item, to Adam Cokburn for iiij halkis met, . . ix s.
Item, to Craik the lutar, . . . . ix s.
Item, that nycht, to the king, to the tables with George Camp-
bell, ....... xiiij s.
Item, to the aid priour of Quhithirnis clarsha, . . xiiij s.
Item, the xix day of Marchc, to the kingis offerand to the reliques in
Quhithirn, ...... xiiij s.
Item, that day, to the kingis offerand in the vtir kirk quhair he herd
mes, ....... xiiij s.
Item, for iiij hors to the four Italien [menstrales fra Quhithirn to
Tungland, . . . . . . vs.
Item [the xx day of March], to the freres of Kyrkcudbright, xiiij s.
Item, to Rudman lutar, ..... xiiij s.
Item, that day, to Lord Flemingis taubronar, . . xiiij s.
Item, to Pate Harper, clarscha, . . . xiiij s.
Item, to tua trumpatis that wer at Quhithirn with the king, xxviij s.
NOTES. — S. NINIAN. 303
Item, to ane lutar of Galloway, .... xiiij s.
Item, to ane fithelar, be the kingis command, . . ij g.
Item, for the kingis fraucht cumand and gangaud at the water of
Bladno, ...... xvij s.
Item, to the freris of Wigtoun, quhar the king dynyt, in belcher, xiiij s.
Item, in Tungland, to the four Italien menstrales, to fe thair hors to
Lochmaban, ...... xvj s.
Item, the xxj day of March, to the freris of Drumfreis, . xiiij s.
Item, to the boyis of the kechin, . . • iij s. vj d.
Item, to ane pipar play it with the schawmis, . . vs.
Item, the xxij day of. March, to the four Italien menstrales to fee
thaim hors fra Lochmabane to Peblis, . . . x s.
Item, to the kingis offerand in the kirk of Lochmabane, . xiiij s.
Item, to ane dum cheld that kepit the yet in Lochmabane, xiiij s.
Item, to four menstrales that playit to the king in Lochmabane,
XV s. vj d.
Item, the xxiij day of March, to the kingis offerand to the Cors of
Peblis, ...... xiiij s.
Item, that samyn day, to the kingis offerand at the oly well, xiiij s.
Item, to the gude wif of the kingis lugeing in Peblis, of belcheir,
xvij s. vj d.
A.D. 1507.
Item, the first day of Julij, the king and quene tuke viage to Quhit-
hirn, giffin to the Abbot of Cambuskinneth he gaif in bridilsiluer of
ane hors, ...... xiiij s.
Item, for tua small coffrez, and for girthes and brases to the samyn to
turs the quenis chapel graith to Quhithirn, . . xxxix s.
Item, to the four Italien menstrales, to fee thaim hors for ix dayis to
cum, ....... xxxvj 3.
Item, the thrid day of Julij, to the kingis offerand to Sanct Ninianes
of Blaknes, ...... xiiij s.
Item, the vj day of Julij in Striuelin, to the kingis offerand to ane
preistis first mes, ..... xxviij s.
Item, the vij day of Julij, in Cummernald, to Lord Flemyngis
taubronar, ...... xiiij s.
Item, the viij day of Julij, to the masounis and wrichtis in Glasgo, in
drinksiluer, ...... xlij s.
Item [the ix day of Julij], to the masounis of Pasley, in drinksil-
uer, ....... xviij s.
Item, that day, to the wif quhair the ladyis drank be the gait, xiiij s.
Item, the x day of Julij, to the kingis offerand to the reliques in
Kilwynnin, ...... xiiij 5.
Item, that samyn day, to the freres of Irrewin, . . xiiij s.
Item, the xj day of Julij, to the kingis offerand to ane preistis first
mes in Air, ...... xlij s.
Item, the xiij day of Julij, to the portair of Bargany, . iiij s.
Item, the xv day of Julij, in Glenlus, to Campbell of the chamer, xiiij s.
Item, the xvj day of Julij in Quhithirn, to the kingis offerandis in
the vtir kyrk, the Rude altair, the hie altar, Our Lady altair, the
304 NOTES.— S. ^^INIAN.
reliques and the Chapell on the hill, yj Franch crounis; sura-
iiia, . . . . . . , iiij Yi. iiij s.
Item, that samyn day, to the freris of Wigtoun, . . xiiij s.
Item, for ane hors to ane lady, . . . . v ti.
Item, the xvij day of Julij, to the kingis oflferand at his moderis saule
i^GS, ....... xiiij s.
Item, for iij dosane pointis to the quenis chariot, . xiij s.
Item [the sx day of Julij], for j (^uartar carsay, quhilk mendit the
quenis littair graith, ..... xiiij d.
They returned by the same route, aud reached Stirling on
the 29th July.
A.D. 1507-8.
Item, the xxiij day of March, in Quhithirn, to the kingis oflferand in
the vtir kirk, . . . . . xv s. vj d.
Item, to the kingis oflPerandis at the reliques, the hie altar, the Lady
altar, and Rude altar, iiij Franch crounis ; summa, . Ivj s.
Item, to the king, quhilk he offerit for the quene in Quhithirn, xxviij s.
Item, to the preistis thair, . . . . vj lib.
Item, to the kingis oflferand in the chapeU on the hill, . xiiij s.
Item, to pure folkis in Quhithirn, Schir Andro Makbrek being
absent, . . . . . . xx S.
Item, to the priour of Quhithirnis man, in bridilsiluer of ane hors
giffin to the king, ..... iiij s.
Item, that day, passand fra Quhithirn, to pur folkis be the way,
ij s. iij d.
Item, the xxv day of March, Annunciatio Marie, in Bigar, to the
kingis oflferand, ..... xiiij s.
Item [the xsvij day of March], for ane relique quhilk the king oflferit
in Quhithii-n, .... xvij lib. xij d.
NOTE CO.
In addition to the miracles recorded by S. Ailred, Came-
rarius records one which was alleged to have taken place so
late as 1608, at the chapel of S. Mnian, not far from where the
Spey flows into the sea.^
In the Treasurer's Accounts we have this remarkable entry,
" To ane pilgryme of Ingland that Sanct Mniane kythit miracle
for, xviii. s."
The following is interesting as a late instance of pilgrunage : —
"Also I will that one be hyryt to go for me. . . . Seynt
Truyons in Scotlande, and offer [for] me a bende placke whyche
ys in my purs."^
^ Camerarius de Scotonun fortitudine, j). 174.
■■' Wm of Robert Ardean, 22 Oct. 1540, 32 Hen. viii., in Lancashire and
Cheshire Wills, published by the Chetham Society.
NOTES TO THE LIFE OF S. KENTIGERN.
NOTE A.
The twelfth century was an age of great religious activity
in Scotland. It was the age of the foundation of many impor-
tant relii^ious establishments. The monasteries sent forth men
who, for piety and administrative power, have left their mark
upon the history of their country. Naturally, the heads of the
abbeys, such as Guido of Lindores and Ascelinus of Kinloss,
are mentioned by the historians with due respect. Many of
the episcopal sees were now occupied by monks. Bishop Arnold
of St. Andrews and John of Aberdeen came from Tyronensian
Kelso. Simeon de Toner, Bishop of Moray, and Eeinaldus,
Bishop of Eoss, were elected from Melrose. The unfortunate
Adam of Caithness was Abbot there. So was the subject of
this note. Bishop Joceline of Glasgow.
He appears to have been a man of great ability. Con-
secrated at Clairvaux by Eskilus, Archbishop of Lunden in
Denmark, the Pope's Legate for that kingdom, he succeeded
Bishop Ingelram in 1175, in the fifth year of the reign of
"William the Lion.
Alexander iii. confirmed his election in a Brief, dated Eeren-
tinum, xvii. Kal. Januar., addressed to the Abbot of Jedburgh
and the other abbots in the patrimony of S. Kentigern, in
which he states that it had been made known to him by letters
from the King, and some of the bishops of the realm, and from
the Dean and Chapter, that the said Dean and Chapter, on the
death of the late bishop, had unanimously elected him, and
the Pope knowing the election was canonical, " multorum reli-
giosorum versorum testimonio," confirmed it.^ By another,
dated xvii. Kalend. April., in consideration of the most sincere
devotion which Joceline and the Cistercian order from which
he was taken entertain for the Eoman Church, he appoints that
he and the Church of Glasgow shall not be subject to any inter-
1 Rcgist. Ep. Glas., p. 32.
306 NOTES. — S, KENTIGEKN.
diet, suspension, or excommunication, save only by the Pope
himself or his Legatus a latere.^
In 1176, at the Council of Northampton, held under Cardinal
Uguccione S. Michael de Petra Leonis, King William brought
with him, among others, " Jocelinum Episcopum de Glasceu,"
who having resisted the claim of Archbishop Eoger of York to
superiority over Glasgow and Candida Casa, successfully main-
taining that his church was the special daughter of the Eoman
Church, and that if that of York had ever possessed domina-
tion over it, it was clear that it had lost it.^
In 1179, and for nearly ten years after, a great dispute raged
round the Cathedral of St. Andrews. On the death of Bishop
Eichard the canons elected John the Scot, while the King, in
spite of an appeal to the Pope, caused the prelates of the king-
dom to consecrate his chaplain Hugo. On this a nuncio
Alexius came from Pope Alexander iii., who confirmed the
election of John, and, " Eege nee prohibente nee eontradieente,"
caused him to be consecrated with great pomp in Holy rood by
his uncle, Matthew of Aberdeen. But John could not maintain
his place, and was obliged to betake himself to Eome. On this
the King, in 1181, was excommunicated and the country laid
under an interdict. A compromise was attempted by the
estranged parties, on the basis of John getting any other see
save St. Andrews, but the Pope would not hear of it, and
Bishop Joceline now comes on the stage. With Arnold, Abbot of
Melrose, and Osbert of Kelso, he went to Eome and persuaded
Lucius III. to remove the excommunication and the interdict,
A second compromise was now tried on the basis of the resig-
nation of both parties, which neither agreed to. They met at
Velletri, and Lucius in. assigned St. Andrews to Hugh and John
to Dunkeld ; but this was not accepted, and three years after,
in 1186, the controversy was renewed under Pope Urban, who
ordered Hugh to come to Eome, and appointed Joceline, with the
Abbots of Melrose, Newbattle, and Dunfermline, commissioners
to hear the cause and report. On the authority of this, Hugh
was suspended and John restored by Clement iii. King Wil-
liam at last consented, and Hugh with all his suite died of the
pestilence at Eome, August 4, 1188.
Pordun, quoting the Chronicle of Mebose,^ mentions that
" Once Jocelin, Bishop of Glasgow, and Arnald and Osbert,
Abbots of Melrose and Kelso, with other men of mark, went
1 Regist. Ep. Glas., p. 34.
2 Hoveden, ii. 91, 92 ; Robertson's Statuta Ecclesise Scot., vol. i. p. xxxii.
3 P. 92.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 307
off to Rome ou the business of their king and country ; and
when they had skilfully transacted it, they came home again
in good health and spirits." ^ What is euphemistically called
here the business of their king and. country was to obtain
from Pope Lucius ill. the absolution of the King from church-
censure.^ He was required by the succeeding Pope to
admonish the King with regard to his neglect to enforce
the dues of the Church with the power of the Crown.^
Dming his episcopate the great city of Glasgow received its
first form, being erected by William into a burgh, with a
Thursday market, " cum omnibus libertatibus et consuetu-
dinibus quas ahquis Burgorum meorum in tota terra mea
melius, plenius, quietius et honorificentius habet."* During
his time the Church in Glasgow possessed twenty-five churches,
seventeen of which seem to have been mensal, and acquired
large accessions of property both in land and churches. Balain
was granted to the bishop in recompence of excesses com-
mitted by the I^ing against S. Kentigern and his churches
after the decease of Bishop Ingelram.^ Can the " excessus a
me, et a meis pro me, Sancto Kentigerno et ecclesie Glasguen.
post decessum Engelrami illatis " mean the system of seizing
the revenues of the vacant sees, which was one of the crimes
of William Rufus ?
This erection by the King was confirmed by a Bull of Pope
Alexander iii., dated from the Lateran on the 1 3th of the Kalends
of May 1178.6
Lucius III. confirmed the privileges granted to Joceline by
Alexander in., and strengthened his authority '' by making his
decernments final in cases of disputed patronage, and forbidding
any religious person to hold a vacant benefice without the
bishop's permission,^ also by giving him the right to appoint to
benefices in the case of the failure of the patron to present
after three months.^ Urban ill. granted the Bishop of Glasgow
the right of excommunicating those who invade his churches
in spite of appeals, in which a curious allusion is made to the
practice of borrowing at usury from the Jews. This Pope
confiiTued all previous privileges, and forbade the bishop or
his clergy, as belonging to a Church which was the special
^ Fordun, Annals, xxviii., vol. ii. p. 275 ; ed. Skene.
2 Vide Bullarium, ad annum 1182.
^ Bullarium, and No. 182 of the Registrum, quoted in C. Innea's Preface.
■* Regist. Ep. Glas. 40, p. 36.
6 Ibid., Preface, xxiii. 6 p, 43. 7 Pp. 53^ 59.
8 P. 60. 9 P. 61,
308 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKX.
daughter of the Eoman Church, to be dragged out of the reahii
of Scotland on appeal.^
On January 6, 1179, Bishop Joceline consecrated Ernald
sixth abbot of Meh^ose, but the greatest work of his life was the
construction of the present cathedral, which he effected between
1181 and 1192. The dry Chronicle of Melrose at 1181
becomes enthusiastic in recording this work : " Jocelinus Epi-
scopus sedem episcopalem dilatavit et Sancti Kentigerni eccle-
siam gloriose magnificavit."^ It was effected by the aid of the
King, who in a to aching document^ speaks of the Cliurch of
Glasgow as the mother of many nations, hitherto lowly and
narrow, which he now desires to widen for the house of God,
and as demanding his succour and that of other good men for
its repair, because in his days it had been consumed by iire.
In 1197, on the 6th of July, and in the thirty-fourth year of
his episcopate, the Church which " ipse novam construxerat "
was dedicated by Joceline. Tlie fabric was not finished, for in
1242 a national collection was commanded to be made annually
by order of a CouncO.* Two years after the consecration, on
the 1 7th of March, he died in his own abbey of Melrose, and
was buried on the north side of the choir.^
In 1193 he had given Hazendean to the Church of Melrose,
and witnessed a grant of lands in Carrick, at Maybole, by Gil-
bert of Galloway, to the same convent.
In 1195, on Sunday, October 29, he had dedicated the Church
of S. Andrew at Peebles.^
The bishop seems to liave clung closely to monks during
his episcopate ; a wise and kind regulation touching the goods
of a defunct canon of his church is attested, among others,
by the Abbots of Kelso, Melrose, Newbottle, by E., a monk,
and his own chaplain, and by Harold, the Cellarer of Melrose.'^
The following eulogium on Bishop Joceline has been found
in the Bodleian Library by the Eev. W. D. Macray, by whose
permission it is now printed for the first time. It is numbered
Auct. G. Eawl. 38, f. 55 :—
" Uniuersis sancte Matris Ecclesie filiis, precipue autem viris
religiosis ad quos presentis scripti pagina peruenerit. Frater E.,^
seruus seruorum dei apud Melros deo seruiencium, humilisque
1 Regist. Ep. Glas., p. 69. ^ p_ 91^ g^ Stevenson.
3 Ibid. 76, p. 66. * Regist. Ep. Glas., xxviii.
5 Chron. Mailros., p. 103, cit. Hoved. fol. 450.
« Ibid. p. 102. '■ Regist. Ep. Glas., p. 47.
* Tlie R. here probably stands for Radulphus, who was abbot of Melrose
in 1194, after being successively prior of Melrose and abbot of Kinloss. He
was consecrated bishop of Down in Ireland.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 309
eiusdem loci coniientus [Ablias ?] salutem et oraciones. Llundane
varietatis ecliptica iiicissitiido parte quicquid orbis in qualibet
mortales ante conspectus quasi prouehit ad perfectum e lapsu
temporis ad niemoriam satis exigui irreparabilem uelud ex
inuidia deiecit in defectum. Siquidem glorie cujuslibet terrene,
inquam, quantumlibet inclita celsitudo in hac incolatus nostri
breuitate propter productionem aliquam, si cui forte diuina
uideatur in momento deiicitur, relictaque sui uix mencione
nullo nature beneticio, nulla ingenii sagacitate in statum omnino
pristinum restituitur. Sic ipsius nature sic omne artis opificium
operosa quamuis industria diligenter excultuni ab ipsa statim
sui consuniniacione festinat sub breuitate consunii. Decoreni
enim prime inditaum paulatim exuens, fuco quodam deformitatis
obducitur, nee ea assiduitate ad summum sue statim essencie
per incrementa prouehitur, qua per detrimenta continua inces-
santer ad non esse deducitur. In his autem omnibus imperiosa
sub celo prie omnibus humane sublimitas excellencie lapsu
deiectiore colliditur et quo ad eminenciorem gloriam concen-
derit, eo dimissius in terram detruditur. Indidit enim homini
inter subcelestia dingnitas condicionis imperium, sed induxit ex
delicto condicio mortalitatis excidium, vnde et quauto potencius
plurima sibi subiicit ex imperio, quantoque admiracior in
prelacione conspicitur: tanto miserabilior comparet in casu,
tantoque abiectius corruit ex defectu. A turribus in terram
prosternitur, a sericis in cilicium deuoluitur, a purpura in
puluerem deponitur. Sicque demum a superstitum conspectu
subtractus sub cespite collocatur beniuolis pro beneficijs dolo-
rem, inuidis autem relinquens detractionem. Sic est humane
glorie calamitosa felicitas. Sic procurat perniciem comes assidua
ex commisso contracta calamitas. Sic defectum inducit irre-
parabilem ruine semper exposita officiosa fragilitas. Sic in
nostra dissolucione trihumphat hostis publici consiliosa calli-
ditas. Hinc miseria nostre mortalitatis oppressio. Hinc miser-
abilis oppressionis nostre desolacio, dum in diebus hijs dierum
nostrorum decus et gloria Venerabilis Pater Jocelinus Episcopus,
redeunte utinam in celo spiritu, carnis on^^s depositum nobis
reliquit in terra deponendum. Cuius quanto fuit apud homines
commendabilior conuersacio, tanto nobis et specialius ei sub-
ditis et conjunctiori deuocione deuinctis maior conquestionis
occasio, et ad quos deuoluta fuerit, fauorabilior debet esse com-
memoracio. Ipsa enim adholescencie ipsius primordia quasi
certa future in eo dingnitatis indicia presingnabant et insingne
quiddam innuencia quasi ex desingnacione diuina Ecclesie dei
rectorem ydoneum preparabant. Ita siquidem erat in gestu
compositus, in actu prouidus, in sermone discretus ut ipsa
I
310 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERX.
morum composicio singularem ei quemdam faiiorem in oculis
intiiencium compararet. Unde et adliuc inpiibes ad sanctam
Melrossensem Ecclesiam tanqiiam a domino niissus accessit, et
in conspectu sancti patris Waldeui, cui spiritus domini bonus
non defuit, specialem gratiam promeruit intra dies paucos ab eo
ad conuersionem illectus, et post siisceptmn habitum quasi ex
presagio de die in diem pro sanctorum sub discreto patre disci-
plinate eonuersancium arbitrio magis dilectus. Vir quippe
sanctus, ut quodam quasi vaticinio, concilii celestis infallibilem
prouidenciam magnum aliquid circa iuuenem disposuisse pre-
ostenderet, quem in familiarem et filium specialiter adoptauerat
quamlibet ei fere monasterii administracionem, ut in singulis
excercitatum redderet suis successiue temporibus committebat.
Sicquid factum est ut post decessum patris beningnissimi, elapsis
anuis aliquot, uno iuterposito, quasi sic uir sanctus destinasset
concurrentibus uotis omnium, secundus ipse succederet. Qui
patris ac predecessoris e uestigio uias secutus in gerendis ita
negociis circumspecte agebat in regendis fratribus regulariter
adeo incedebat quod sicut ex religione modestia ita mansuetudo
creuisse in eo uidebatur ex prepositura. Ea tamen in omnibus
discrecio seruabatur, ut et delictis disciplina non parceret, et
delinquentibus correpcio non deesset. In corrigendis ac ulcis-
cendis excessibus moderacione adhibita, ut cum admissi im-
manitas debitam quandoque seueritatem expeteret. Agendi
micius si qua reperiri posset occasio, rigorem ordinis consueta
beningnitas temperaret. Erat etiam tante apud subditos reuer-
encie tantumque terroris eius inferebat offensa ut ipsius non
solum metus sed et mencio a committendo plerosque compes-
ceret qui tam ex singulari industria quam ex officiorum fere
omnium administracione cogitaciones euni quorumlibet cong-
noscere arbitrabantur. Talis ac tante uir sagacitatis et prudencie
tocius ordinis Cisterciensis gratiam tocius in quo manebat rengni
fauorem facile sibi quasi ex debito conciliauerat. Post modicum
autem sed decursis annis aliquibus dato tempore cum defuncto
pio patre Engerramo Episcopo sancta uacaret Glasguensis
Ecclesia ad populi peticionem a clero Ecclesie canonice et
unanimiter electus et illustrissimi Scottorum Eecjis W. incon-
• • • • • ^
tinenti quasi ex ipsius principis deuocione cum consensu gratiam
adeptus non prius ad ipsam accessit ecclesiam non ante suscep-
tam administrationem quam et a sancto Cisterciensi Capitulo
eius approbaretur electio, et ipsius generalis concilii suscipiendi
regimen ipse preceptum accepisset. Sicque sanctissimi patris
cuius memoria in benedictione est, Alexandri papse tercii
autoritate uices summi pontificis circa hoc exequente Vener-
abile Patre Escillo dacorum Arcliiepiscopo qui pro ecclesie sue
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEP.N. 311
libertate eo tempore exulabat in sancta Clareuallensi Ecclesia
tanquam manibus Apostolicis consecracionem accepit. Nee emn
diugnitatis excellencia extollere in aliquo uidebatur set eadem
in omnibus grauitate seruata non gestus fractior non aspectus
elacior non incessus solucior nee in aliquo uel mentis habitus,
uel corporis ipsius status, incomposicior habebatur. Cum tamen
ei in omnibus fauere adeo fortuna uideretur vit tarn principalis
excellencia quam dingnitatis Ecclesiastice reuerencia sicud et
populi communis affectus, pro maiore metueret pro patre
ueneraretur. Quot labores et quanta pericula pro ecclesia sua,
pro ipso etiam Eege Eegnoque suo frequenter susceperit et
sustinuerit quam liberaliter in exequendis Rengni negociis
facultates suas effuderit, remote etiam prouincie non ingnorant.
Ecclesiam suam in suscepcione sua satis exiguam quam excel-
lenter ampliauerit quam decencia per loca in diocesi edificia
construxerit, quantis quibusque libertatibus sicud et posses-
sionibus rem augmentauerit, futura post multos annos tempora
non tacebunt. Quanta fuerit carnis eius mundicia efFantur
ipsius familiares, qui uel notam cujusquam inquinamenti per
ullam unquam couiecturam poterant suspicari. Assidentibus
ei omnibus mensa quam dapsilis nota quam multis copia pro-
testatur cum Appositorum affluentia cibum ipse sibi potumque
ministrauerit, ut non sacietatem sed sustentationem suo dun-
taxat corpori procuraret. Ordinem de quo assumptus est
Cisterciensem quanta deuocione complexus sit, quanta diligentia
in se feruenter obseruauerit, consueta uestium asperitas suo ex
appetitu ciborum inuariata communitas retenta etiam in clero
circa has horas singulas regularium Idemptitas indicabant.
Cuius obseruancie quam perseueranter animum obligauerit,
dissimulare non poterunt ad quos ipse quiue ad eum eiusdem
ordinis professores aut casu aut uisitandi gratia peruenerunt.
Tanta erat eis cum eo familiaritas ut non prelatum aut ponti-
ficem sed confratrem se fratribus in omni humilitate exiberet.
Sua eis ita munifice communicabat ut acceptorum omnium
singuKs debitor uidereter. Si quid eis erat apud eum negocii
communiter tractabat, ut suum exequebatur. Qui se esse in
propriis tunc demum reputabat cum data conferendi copia uel
ad eum plures confluerent uel ipse apud eos suis in locis
aliquando moraretur. Precipuam autem gratiam apud religiosos
assecutus, summe apud subditos reuerencie egregie apud omnes
ueneracionis exactis in pontificatu annis circiter xx*' iiij""" labores
diutinos jussus est terminare. Soluto itaque in capite Jeiunii
quod ad diem pertinebat in prouincia sollemniter officio Eccle-
siam suam Melrossensem quinta feria uisitauit ex desiderio
eo destinatus ad requiem, ubi suscepto liabitu professus fuerat
2 D
312 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN.
religionem. Nocteque ipsa graui tactus molestia sexta statim
feria lecto decubuit et iielud infixa teli cuspide ad compunc-
tionem letaliter percussus in pectore primos illos tredecim
penitentie dies a sexta ilia feria usque ad quartam rursum
secunde Quadragesimalis (?) ebdomade feriam accepit ad pur-
gacionein. Dispositisque prudenter omnibus data assisten-
tibus, ac percepta benedictione retenta usque articulum tarn
niemoria quam loquela celeste depositum ad superna remisit
xvi° uidelicet Kalendas Aprilis, qua die ante annos circiter
quinquaginta in eodem monasterio habitum susceperat religi-
onis vi*''^que feria iiij*^° Kalendas Aprilis, qua die post emensum
probacionis annum accepta monachali benedictione ibidem pro-
fessionem fecerat et morum stabilitatem promiserat in tumulo
est uenerabiliter coUocatus quern ipse sibi ipsa in Ecclesia ante
annos aliquot fecerat preparari. Quod si casus hujuscemodi
uictu quasi diuino prouenientes circa ueterem aliquem diebus
antiquis uelud ad notum concurrissent et detractorum ora con-
cludere et malingnandi materia omnino precidere uiderentur et
ad perhennem memoriam scripto forte commendabili traderetur.
Quoniam autem in hac peregrinacione constitutis de consue-
tudine ad leuam leue est declinare fraternitatem uestram cum
lacrimis exoramus ut insufficiencie nostre suspiriis oracionum
uestrarum accedant subsidia et ad optinendam pie recordacionis
patri beningnissimo perfectam summe clemencie misericordiam
supplicacionibus assiduis sufifragentur, pro nobis et nostris in
conspectu Altissimi et uos orare precamur qui pro nobis et
uestris fraterne karitatis ex debito denote supplicamus. Valete
in Christo."
NOTE B.
" JocELiNE, a monk of Furness Abbey, in Lancastdre," accord-
to Mr. Morley, compiled, at the request and for the use of dif-
ferent monasteries, legendary lives of S. Patrick, S. Kentigern,
S. Helen, and other saints.^ He is the author of the Life of
S. Kentigern which is now presented to the reader. We do
not know much concerning him. We learn from the prologue
of his Life of S. Patrick, that he composed it at the request of
Thomas, Archbishop of Armagh, and Malachias, Bishop of Down,
and John de Courcy, the conqueror of Ulster, and therefore
flourished about 1185, He wrote a Life of S. Helen, an abridg-
ment of which is cited by Tanner as being found in MS. in the
Bodleian Library, and a Life of S. David of Scotland, extracts
of which are in the Sixth Book of Bower's Scotichronicon.
^ Henry Morley's English Writers before Chaucer, p. 602. Chapman, 1864.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 313
Tanner seems to think that he was a Welshman. Stowe, in
liis Survey of London, mentions a Treatise De Britoniim Epi-
scopis by him. The Life of S. Patrick is in Messingham and
Colgan's Acta Sanctorum.^
In Bower's continuation of Fordun, copious extracts are
given from a work of this author, in which the acts of S. Wal-
deve are narrated. It was dedicated to William the Lion.^
Furness Abbey, begun in Tulket in Amounderness in 1124
for the monks of Savigny, was three years after removed to the
present site, then called Bekangegell, by its founder King
Stephen. Stephen gave his forest of Furness with Wolney,
lands at Dalton, his demesne at Furness, Ulverston, a fishery at
Lancaster, and one or two villars with their property. Michael
Fleming and William de Lancaster were its chief benefactors.
It was much protected by the English kings, and could exhibit
Bulls of confirmation by Eugenius iii. and Innocent in.
The first Abbots were : — 1. Yvon de Albrenno, 1127; 2. Eudo
de Suderval; 3. Michael de Lancaster; 4. Peter de York, 1145;
5. Richard de Bayeux ; 6. John de Cannosfield ; 7. Walter de
Milium, 26 Hen. ii. ; 8. Joslin de Pennington, 1181 ; 9. Conon
de Baidoul.
The Chronicle of Melros records, on the Feast of S. Lucy
1211, the consecration there of three Abbots, those of Foun-
tain, Calder, and Furness, by Pu Dunensi Episcopo; that is,
Eadulphus, to whom we have already referred.
Eoger Pyle, with twenty-nine monks, surrendered the Abbey
to Henry viii., on the 9th April 1537, and received for pension
the rectory of Dalton, value £33, 6s. 8d. The gross value of the
monastery was £966, 7s. lOd., net £805, 16s. 8d. per annum.
In the fifth year of James i. it was granted to the Earl of Salis-
bury and John Preston.
Out of this place the bishops of the Isle of Man were formerly
wont to be chosen, this being the mother of many monasteries
both in that island and Ireland. The filiations of Furness were
Caldre ; Swyneshead ; Fermoy, or de Castro Dei, in Ireland ;
Ynes in Dioc. Down; Holy Cross or Wethirlagaan in Dioc.
Cashel ; Wythney ; Corkonrouth or De petra fertili ; Russyn, in
Man ; and De Surio or Yneselughenught in Dioc. Lismore in
Ireland.^
1 Florilegium Insute Sanctorum (Paris. 1624), pp. 1-85; Colgan, Trias.
Thaumaturgus, p. 64.
2 Scotichronicon, lib. vi. c. i. iii. vol. i. pp. 218, 219; ed. Goodal, c. xxv.
p. 340.
2 Dugdale's Monast. , vol. v. 245 ; ed. London, 1825 ; and see a few pages
on, Appendix, )i. 14, in ed. 1846.
L
314 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEllN.
NOTE C.
Although it was the fashion of the time, as in the case of
Geoffrey of Monmouth, to profess to found upon earlier docu-
ments, there seems no reason to accuse Joceline of falsehood
in this statement. When we know that some books written in
Ireland in the ninth century actually exist now, having survived
all the accidents consequent on the stormy history of that
country, there is no impossibility that a sacred book should
have been preserved from a time shortly subsequent to S.
Kentigern till the days of Bishop Joceline. Nor is it un-
reasonable that it should have been written in Irish " stilo
scotico," for though the relations of the Strathclyde Britons
with the inhabitants of the opposite coast were chiefly hostile,
as we may gather from the records of many conflicts in the
Annals of Ulster, yet the influence of the Irish Church was felt
along the whole west of Scotland, and the language was pro-
bably intelligible to all. As to the other book mentioned, the
faults criticised by Joceline point distinctly to that Life, of
which the fragment preserved in the British Museum is now
given in this volume. Perhaps Joceline himself, in comment-
ing upon the birth of the subject of his memoir, has not entirely
escaped the very faults which he attributes to the antecedent
biographer. An additional presumption in favour of Joceline's
veracity in this matter is, that he frankly confesses to having
found no account of the translation of the saint's relics, nor of
the miracles performed after his death.
NOTE D.
Joceline appears to have been very familiar with the Magna
Moralia of S. Gregory the Great. In it we find a comment
on the words " Qui extendit Aquilonem super vacuum."
" Aquilonis nomine, in sacro eloquio appeUari Diabolus solet,
qui ut torporis frigore gentium corda constringeret, dixit : sedebo
in monte testamenti, in lateribus Aquilonis. Qui super vacuum
extenditur : quia ilia corda possidet, quae divini amoris gratia
non replentur." ^
So al%o " unde et sponsi voce in Canticorum Canticis dicitur,
Surge Aquilo et veni Auster, perfla hortum meum et fluent
aromata iUius, Austro quippe veniente, Aquilo surgens recedit,
^ Mag. Mor. lib. xvii. col. xxiv. Op. S. Greg. torn. i. p. 547 ; eel. Paris. 1 705.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN. 315
cum adventu Spiritus Sancti expnlsiis antiquus liostis, qui in
torpore mentem constrinxerat deserit." ^
NOTE E.
The earlier Life dwells at greater length than Joceline's on the
nature of S. Thenew's imperfect religion, and it is well to ob-
serve that the description carries evidence of a true condition of
things. For one of the most remarkable results of the preach-
ing of Christianity is the tendency which that preaching has
to affect the surrounding heathenism without conquering it.
It projects a sort of shadow of itself on that with which it
comes into contact without absorbing it. By an opposite pro-
cess from that so common when the victorious Christianity
absorbs into itself and utilizes certain portions of, the earlier
religion, as illustrated by the cultus of stones and wells in
the Celtic Church, here the tendency is to create a spurious
imitation of itself without succeeding in conquest. Thus it is
generally believed that the remarkable similarity between the
rites of the Thibetan Buddhists and the ceremonies of the
Western Church are due to the preaching of the Dominican
and Franciscan missionaries, who in the time of Gengis Khan
and his successors penetrated into these regions. The Bhaga-
vad Gita, which is the great Shastra of the Bhukhtas or wor-
shippers of Crishna, a religion which seems to have sprung up
in the seventh century of our era, contains some verses which
seem to have been suggested by the Gospel of S. John, while
the description of the Sanyasi in the 5th Lectio is not unlike
that of the true Christian in the Stromata of Clemens Alexan-
drinus : — " Qui in hac ipsa vita perferre valet, ante liberationem
a corpore, impetum e cupidine et iracundia ortum, is devotus,
is vir beatus est. Qui intus delectatur, intus gaudet, quique
perinde intus illuminatur etiam, is devotus ad extinctionem in
munere, divinitatis particeps pervenit." ^
Speaking of the struggle of the New-Zealanders against the
foreign domination of the English, Mr. Trollope, a recent author
on the subject, says — " Of this nature also was the determina-
tion to which various tribes now came, to throw aside Chris-
tianity, and to set up, not any old Maori worship, but a new
religion in its place. This religion was called by its votaries
the Pai Marire, and they who practise it are called Hau-Haus
1 Mag. Mor. lib. ix. c. xvii. p. 266.
2 Lect. V. 24, Schlegel's Edition, Bhagavad Gita, p. 148 ; Bonn, 1823.
316 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
— pronounced How-Hows — from the fact that a considerable
portion of its ceremonies consist in the repeated and violent
exclamations of that word in the hour of battle, and when
fightinfT is imminent. It would be useless here to describe the
childish mixture of Bible legends and horrible Maori practices,
which constitute the forms of this faith." ^
I am allowed to print the following interesting remarks from
the pen of that distinguished prelate who has done so much
for the Maories. Bishop Selwyn thus writes : —
" I have lived among races speaking many tongues, and in
various stages of progress in religion and civilisation from zero
upwards. But I never met with any race in which the same
common features of character were not apparent.
" 1. Eeadiness to abandon religion varying in proportion to
the readiness to receive it. — S. Luke viii. (j.
" 2. Fusion into one of the old religion and the new, as in
the case of the Gnostics.
" 3. Tendency to accept the form of religion without the
spirit.
" 4. Eeligion made to serve worldly ends and aims.
" (1.) The ISTew-Zealanders willingly received the Gospel.
They had no educated mythology, no sacred caste, no elaborate
ritual, to retain them. They came by hundreds to be baptized ;
accepted all church order, as it was offered to them. A few,
especially the native clergy, were found faithful. The zeal of
the many grew cool ; daily services dwindled away. The
number of commuidcants fell off. Upon the back of lukewarm-
ness came positive stumbling-blocks, and then the religion of
the many passed into the second stage.
" (2.) Eetaining some of the forms and a little of the spirit
of the true religion, they mixed up with it scraps of many —
" Particulam undique disectam,
but chiefly —
" Insani leonis vim.
" The Pai-Marire religion adopted during the war contained
songs from their old heathenism, bits of Eomish and Wes-
leyan forms, w^ords of command from army and navy, as-
sumption of the power to work miracles, charms, sometimes
made more powerful by pilgrimage to sacred places, self-sacri-
fice, bloody sacrifice, prophecy, invulnerability, all mixed up in
a kind of witches' caldron.
^ Australia and New Zealand, by Anthony Trollope (London, 1873), vol.
ii. p. 413.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEEN. 317
" (3.) The most frequent, because the simplest form, was the
ceasing to work on the ' Sabbath ' day. I have seen an old
man whose whole religion seemed to be laying up his firewood
on the Saturday. To sleep all Sunday was the religion of
many.
" (4.) The Pai-Marire religion was a politic attempt to unite
Church of England, Eoman, and Wesleyan converts with the
small remnant of heathenism, in one compact body, in opposi-
tion to the English government.
" I could work out this subject by any number of examples,
but we have only to look at home, and I think we shall see
that New Zealand, Melanesia, and Cambria, differ nothing in
these respects from Great Britain and Ireland in the nineteenth
century."
The following interesting account of the Eebellion in China
may be read as confirmatory of these remarks : —
" They see it, as it were, through distinct mediums, which
gives to the representations of each quite a different colouring.
The principal features are often retained in both; but so
altered are they under the artist's style, that, as described by
one, it appears like a pleasing landscape lit up by sunny tints,
across which a shadow is certainly thrown here and there, but
so thrown as to give greater prominency to the brighter por-
tions of the picture ; whilst, as depicted by the other class,
' shadows, clouds, and darkness,' rest upon it ; the houses are
roofless, the streets deserted, the untilled land produces only
briers and thorns ; the dead lie unburied in the foreground ;
the human figures are an armed banditti dragging after them
their dishonoured female captives ; and the only light thrown
upon the scene is from the glare of villages burning in the dis-
tance. Both, no doubt, describe the movement as it appears to
them ; the one regarding it with the cool, calculating eyes of
worldly wisdom ; the other with all the fiery and enthusiastic
zeal of fanaticism.
" The missionaries, naturally and necessarily anxious for
proselytism, are only too prone to recognise as true believers
all who in any shape profess to worship the Saviour ; and, after
years of unceasing toil and labour, crowned with but little, if
any, success, their rapture knows no bounds when a host of
people start up in the field of their pilgrimage, breaking down
the carved images, against the worship of which they had long
been preaching, and declaring themselves converts to the re-
ligion of the Gospel.
" It is scarcely to be wondered at, therefore, that in their joy
at so much apparent spiritual good, they should lose sight of
318 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
the great evils attendant thereon. If such should be alluded
to before them, they at once remind you of the burnings, cruci-
fixions, and horrible tortures which have always accompanied
the introduction of any new creed into countries as uncivilized
as China is at present, where the character of the people is as
barbarous, and their ideas of right and wrong as confused and
ill-defined as those of the English in the tenth century.
" The style in which edicts are worded would be blasphemous
in the extreme, if it were not so essentially ludicrous. They
commenced by invoking the name of God the Father, Son,
Holy Spirit, Tien-wan, Christ's uterine younger brother and
junior lord ; this last being the above-mentioned son of the
great impostor. They all assert that as Jesus Christ came into
the world to save mankind, so has Tien-wan, Christ's uterine
younger brother, come down by God's command to establish
His kingdom upon earth.
" The Trinity, as believed in by us, is not conceived by them.
The same man who will repeat to you a doxology most glibly,
in which the three persons only are glorified, will, if you ques-
tion him, declare that Christ and Tien-wan, being uterine
brothers, are equal. They tell you that as all the earthly kings
are equal one with another, so is Christ and Tien-wan. They
have abolished the worship of ancestors ; but their respect for
age, and the superiority in dignity to which a father must ever
be entitled over his son, induces them to give a higher preced-
ence to God the Son. It is unnatural, say they, that a sou
should be equal to his father. I know this is a point upon which
a whole host of missionaries will contradict me, urging, in
strong denial of it, the doxologies which they are ever bandy-
ing about." 1
NOTE E.
The whole of Joceline's narrative here is directed at undoing
the weird legend in the earlier life, which gives the unedifying
account of the conception of Kentigern, and yet it would
almost seem that the British mind seemed to take delight in
the contemplation of such a birth as this. When Vortigern
retired to the mountain of Erir or Heremus to build a tower to
secure him against the barbarians, the materials vanished, and
on inquiring of his wise men, he was told to find a child born
without a father, whose blood was to be sprinkled on the
^ Narrative of the War with China iu 1860, by Lieut.-Col. C. G. Wolseley;
London, 1862, pp. 332-341.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEEN. 319
ground. A boy being found, his mother said, "In what manner
he was conceived, I know not, for I never had intercourse with
any man." Then follows the strange disputation between the
boy and the wise man, concluding by his declaring himself
Ambrose,-^ the son of a Eoman Count.^ It cannot be doubted
that the allusion in the text to " poetic songs " and " histories
not canonical," refers to Geoffrey of Monmouth's tale of the
conception of Arthur, which was brought about by the en-
chantments of Merlin, Uther the Pendragon being transformed
into the likeness of Gorlois, the husband of Igerna.^
But even the legend of the earlier life has authority else-
where. In the life of S. Dewi, " Eex ceretice regionis Deme-
ciam que nunc Northwallia dicitur pergens, inveuit sanctimon-
ialem sibi obviam nomine Nonnitam virginem pulchram nimis.
Quam concupiscens et vim inferens oppressit. Que filium con-
cepit et nee ante nee post virum agnovit : sed in castitate mentis
et corporis perseverans felicem vitam duxit."* Darker shades of
guilt are sometimes connected with the birth of saints, as in the
case of S. Cuimmin Foda.^ It may be that these facts have
prominence given to them to illustrate the power of Divine
grace, and the general law of Providence which brings good
out of evil.
NOTE G.
' Sir James Young Simpson alludes to this passage in his
work on this subject.^ He mentions that Mandragora was
extensively used by Hugo of Lucca in the twelfth century, and
the preparation employed by him, under the name of Spongia
Somnifera, is described to us by his son and successor, Theo-
doric, who died in 1278. In his Chirurgial, which he published
on entering the Church, and in which he made kno^vn most of
the chemical preparations and rules of surgery which had been
followed but kept secret by Hugo, we find that this sponge
was prepared according to a prescription there given by him.'^
NOTE H.
The superstition here reprehended by Joceline finds its
1 In British, Embres Guledig.
2 Nennius, Hist. Brit. § 42; Geoff. Mon. 1. vi. c. 17.
3 The British History of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Book viii. ch. 19, p. 1G9 ;
Londou, 1842.
* Capgrave, Nova Legenda, fol. Ixxxiii. ^ Mart. Donegal, p. 305.
6 Ana3sthesia, Hospitalism, and Hermaphroditism; Edin. 1871, p. 11.
7 P. 5.
320 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN.
parallel in beatlien times. Dollinger, quoting Servius ad ^n.
iii. iii., and speaking of Corybas, whom he identifies with the
mystery-God Atys or Zagreus, says, " In the Greek myth he is
the son of Cybele, i.e., Demeter and Jasion, or, according to
another accoimt, of Persephone, who bore him without a father;
that is, his paternity was a secret, in the same way as Zagreus
is sometimes reckoned the son of Demeter, sometimes the child
of her daughter."^
NOTE I.
JOCELINE says that among the ancient Saxons, even till
modern times, the law remained that every virgin of her own
will deflowered in her father's house was without any remission
to be buried alive, and her lover hanged over her sepulchre.
No trace of this excessive severity is to be found in the
Saxon codes that have come down to us. In the laws of
^thelbirht such sins are visited by a pecuniary mulct." ^ It
is the same in that of Alfred.^
Neither is there anything like this in the Laws of Howel
Dda, among the Welsh, but we find in the letters of S. Boniface
the following passage : —
" Nam in antiqua Saxonia, si Virgo paternam domum cum
adulterio* maculaverit, vel si mulier maritata, perdito ftedere
matrimonii adulterium perpetraverit, aliquando cogunt eam
propria manu per laqueum suspensam vitam finire, et super
bustum iUius incessae^ et concrematse corruptorem ejus suspen-
dunt : aliquando congregate exercitu fasmineo, flagellatam eam
mulieres per pagos circumquaque ducunt, virgis c^dentes et
vestimenta ei abscindentes juxta cingulum, et cultellis suis
totum corpus ejus secantes et pungentes, minutis vulneribus
cruentatam et laceratam de villa ad villam mittunt, et occur-
runt semper nova? flagellatrices, zelo pudicitise adductte, usque
dum eam aut mortuam aut vix vivam derelinquunt, ut cseterse
timorem adulterandi et luxuriandi habeant."*^
Other punishments were, however, laid on women : Du
^ The Gentile and the Jew in the Courts of the Temple of Christ vol i
p. 162; London, 1862.
^ Thorpe's Ancient Laws and Institute of Endand, vol. i. pp 7 25
3 lUd., pp. 69-73.
* Adulterio, stupro, fornicatione.
^ Incess«, other reading incenste.
^ S. Bonifacius, Epistola ad Ethibaldum, Eegem Merciorum, Epist. Ixxii.
in edit. Wurdtwein, Mogontiaei 1789, p. 192, quie est Epist. xix. in ed.
Serariana. I owe this reference to the Kev. W. E. Buckley.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 321
Cange says, in reference to Lapides Catenates, " Joann Stiern-
hookers de jure Sueonum, Ignominiosa lapidum ilia civitatis
gestatio in confusionem flagitiosi concubitus locus celebrata,
quae etiamnum extat." See also under the words Mantol and
Sten, what is said in Ihre, Lexicon Sueco-Gothicum, vol. ii. pp.
125, 765.
NOTE K.
The author exhibits a deplorable picture of the morals both
of the clergy and laity, " Ecce omnis sexus, omnisque conditio,
in omne volutabrum carnalis colluvionis . . . immergitur."
Gieseler,^ speaking of the period between 1073 and 1305,
says, " An effort was made at the end of the eleventh century
to restore in the religious foundations the canonical mode of
life, even in conformity with one of the stricter rules, the so-
called regula S. Augustini, but the new regulations were soon
relaxed. The celibacy of the clergy, which was now constituted
as an ecclesiastical ordinance of more general application than
before, could not be fully established until tlie thirteenth cen-
tury. But it introduced in its train a greater increase of the
most shameful licentiousness, from the readiness of the bishops
to overlook it. Besides that un chastity which already made
many thoughtful minds mistrustful of celibacy, utter worldliness,
and love of pleasures, avarice, and simony were the principal
faults for which the clergy at this time were commonly rebuked
with solemn earnestness, and upbraided with biting satire."
NOTE L.
The allusion here is to Job xli. 1-34, and also to Job xii. 12,
Ps. Ixxiv. 14, and to Isaiah li. 9, 10. The Leviathan or Dragon
in Holy Scripture is taken allegorically to mean the devil, and
the series of questions in the first citation are answered in the
affirmative by reference to the Incarnation. The first allusion
to this is in Origen, where we find the germ of so many mystical
interpretations, which in after ages became popular.^ S. Augus-
tine^ and S. Jerome ^ also use it, but Joceline was probably in-
debted to the Magna Moralia of Pope S. Gregory the Great, who
1 H. E., vol. iii. p. 203; Edin. 1853.
2 De Princip., i. 6.
3 In Ps. ciii., serm. iv. 6, torn. iv. p. 878 ; ed. Antw. 1700.
* In Ezechiel cxxix., torn. v. p. 412; Francof. 1534.
322 NOTES.— S. KENTIGERN.
iu that commenfary on the book of Job goes into the most
minute details of allegorical interpretation/ such as that which
immediately follows in the text "bestia montem tangit." S. Gre-
gory says, "Bestia montem tangit, cum mens irrationalibus
desideriis subdita, ad contemplationes altas se erigit, sed lapidi-
bus percutitur, quia summa non sustinens, ipsis superni ponderis
ictibus necatur." ^
NOTE M.
This is now called Traprain Law, and forms a part of the
Lammermuirs, in the county of Haddington. North Berwick
Law and Traprain Law are conspicuous objects in the topo-
graphy of the district. They are seven miles distant from each
other, and rise singly in the open plain — the former a beauti-
fully-shaped conical hill — to the height of 800 feet, the other
to 700 feet above the level of the sea.^ It is situated toward
the southern boundary of the parish of Prestonkirk. The
extent of this hill is about forty Scotch acres, and it affords excel-
lent pasturage for sheep, but is too steep and precipitous for
cattle. On the south side it is nearly perpendicular. It is
entirely formed of clinkstone. Its structure is slaty, with seams
running across the slates dividing it into imperfect columns.
The colour is generally a light mottled brown, sometimes
porphyritic. At one part of Traprain Law it has a bluish-grey
tint, greatly resembling greenstone.* The only considerable hill
in the parish is Traprain Law, formerly called Dun-pelder.^
The older Life calls the place Kepduff
NOTE K
ElCHARD, Archbishop of Canterbury, temp. Henry ii., in a cir-
cular letter in which he inveighs against the avarice of some
of the Cistercians in the matter of grasping at tithes, says, "It is
the voice of all men that the professors of the Cistercian Order
keep the footsteps of apostolic religion, in moderation of food
and raiment, in watching, in confession, in discipline, in psal-
1 S. Greg. Opera, torn. i. p. 1075-1142; ed. Paris. 1705.
2 Lib. vi. c. 58, S. Greg. Mag. Mor., tom. i, p. 209.
3 N. S. A., Haddington, p. .358. * N. S. A., do., pp. 18, 19.
^ Two Gaelic words signifying ''steeji liill." 0. S. A., vol. xi. p. 84:.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 323
mody, ill humility, in hospitality, in obedience, and in all other
points of law."^ One development of the order was a very great
increase in the cultus of the Blessed Virgin. The order was
" inter religionis cseteras glorios?e Virginis singiilaritate devo-
tionis ad scripta ex institutione primaria."^ All the churches
of the Cistercians are dedicated to her.
In this they followed their great ornament, S. Bernard. " Totis
ergo medullis cordium, totis prsecordiorum affectibus, et votis
omnibus Mariam hanc veneremur, quia sic est voluntas Ejus, Qui
totum nos habere voluit per Mariam. Ad Patrem verebaris
accedere, solo auditu territus, ad foHa fugiebas, Jesu tibi
dedit mediatorem, sed forsitan et in ipso majestatem vereare
divinam, qui licet factus sit homo manserit tamen Deus. Advo-
catum habere vis et ad Ipsum? Ad Mariam recurre. Pura
siquidem humanitas in Maria, non modo pura ab omiii con-
tamenatione sed et pura singiilaritate naturse."^
Dante, at the end of the Paradiso, introduces S. Bernard tell-
ing him that if he would obtain power to descry what remained
of the heavenly vision, he must unite with him in supplication
to Mary, and then follows the celebrated apostrophe,*
" Vergine Madre figlia del tuo figlio."
Chaucer has imitated this, and in the stanza preceding
alludes to his special devotion of the saint : —
" And thou art flower of virgins all
Of whom that Bernard list so well to write."
NOTE 0.
The narrative of the second life loses much of the pictur-
esqueness of the earlier one in the details of the exposure of
S. Thenew to the waves. There is no mention of Abeiiessic,
the " ostium fetoris," or of the Isle of May, or tlie termination
of her voyage. Neither are the two incidental circumstances
mentioned, which are noticeable. The fact that fishennen from
all coasts, Angles, Scots, Belgians, and French, used to resort to
the Isle of May in pursuit of their trade, which is an early
1 Petrus Blesensis, Ep. 82.
2 See Gieseler, vol. iii. p. 340, where he quotes Prestighini Gregorii ix., in
Manrique Annal. Ord. Cisterc, i. 10, 17.
3 Senn. in Nativ. B. Marias de Aquieductu.
* Paradiso, canto xxxii. 1. 132.
324 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN,
notice of the trade, is not recorded, and the fact of the enormous
quantity of dead and dying fish tainting the air at Aberlessic,
which finds its parallel at this day in the western world. The
following quotations are much to the point : —
"On the 17th September I returned again to Colville. The
Indian village is situated about two miles below the fort, on a
rocky eminence overlooking the Kettle Tails. These are the
highest in the Columbia river. They are about 1000 yards
across, and 18 feet high. . . . The sabnon commence their
ascent about the 15th of July [1847], and continue to arrive in
almost incredible numbers for nearly two months ; in fact there
is one continuous body of them, more resembling a flight of birds
than anything else in their extraordinary leap up the falls,
beginning at sunrise and ceasing at the approach of night. The'
chief told me that he had taken as many as 1700 sabnon,
weighing on an average 30 lbs. each, in the course of one
day. . . . None of these salmon coming up from the sea" [a
distance of between 700 and 800 miles] "ever return, but
remain in the river and die by thousands ; in fact, in 'such
numbers that in our passage down the river in the fall, when-
ever we came to still water, we found them floating dead or
cast up along the shore in such vast numbers as literally to
poison the atmosphere." ^
"The Salmon Eiver is one of the upper branches of the
Oregon or Columbia, and takes its rise from various sources.
... It owes its name to the immense shoals of salmon which
ascend it in the months of September and October. ... As the
season advances and the water becomes chilled, they are fluno-
in myriads on the shores, where the wolves and bears assemble
to banquet on them.
" Often they rot in such quantities along the river banks as
to taint the atmosphere.'""
, "2
NOTE P.
For an account of Culross see Old Statistical Account, vol. x.
p. 131, vol. xviii. App. p. 649, where it is mentioned that, "in
honour of S. Serf, there was an annual procession on his day,
being the 1st July, early on the morning of which all the
^ 1 Wanderings of an Artist among the Indians of North America, by Paul
Kane. London : Longman, Brown, and Co., pp. 308 and 311-313.
2 The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains
and the Far West, by Washington Irving. Author's Revised Edition,
Bohn, London, 1850. Chapter viii. p. 49.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN, 325
inhabitants, men and -women, young and old, assembled and
carried green branches through the town, decking the public
places with flowers, and spent the rest of the day in festivity.
The procession is still continued, though the day is changed
from the Saint's day to the present King's birthday." See also
New Statistical Account, Perthshire, pp. 597-607.
I am indebted to the Kev. William Bruce of Dunimarle for
the following interesting account of the honour paid to S. Serf
at Culross till very recent times : —
"The mformation respecting the observance of our patron
saint's festival which I have been able to pick up may be
summed up in a few words.
" From time immemorial the 1st of July was wont to be kept
as a holiday here. Soon after daybreak all the younger male
inhabitants of the little burgh, and such of the older ones as
had a mind for a ploy, repaired to the neighbouring plantations
and cut a quantity of boughs of birch and plane tree. These
w^ere brought to Culross and distributed to all of the community
who were disposed to take part in a procession which started
at midday from the Abbey Lodge, and perambulated the streets
of the town. AVhen this procession came to the open green in
front of the Town House, they walked several tunes round the
' Tron ' — the pedestal of which still remains. They then pro-
ceeded to the Town Cross, where the same circuitous perambu-
lation was repeated, and those fonning the procession disbanded
themselves ; the rest of the day being spent in mirth and
jollity.
" One informant — the Eev. "Wm. Stephen, our local antiquary
— tracer in this manner of celebrating the festival a reference
to the famous episode of Birnam Wood, in the victory over
jMacbeth by M'Duff, Thane of Fife, whose castle crowned the
eminence now occupied by the house of Dunimarle, adjoining
which masses of stone and run lime still indicate the founda-
tions of a very old building.
"The old Town Cross was w'ont on this occasion to be
decorated with evergreens, ribbons, etc., a usage still kept up
on the 24th of June (to which, as I shaU mention, the observ-
ance of the day was afterwards transferred) ; and the upper
part of the Cross was surrounded by a frame of hard wood, now
in the possession of Mr. John Harrower, joiner, wdiose ancestors
have for many generations lived at Culross ; the said frame
being made the foundation of a garland of flowers. But this
part of the decorations is now discontinued.
" After the accession of King George ill., his birthday began
to be observed on the 24th of June, — the neighbouring lairds of
326 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
Valleyfield, Torrie, and Balgownie, and the whole popidation of
the district generally, being strong Hanoverians ; but as their
loyalty was too apt to exceed the bounds of sober temperance,
and the two days of public rejoicing coming so near were found
to have rather an unsettling effect upon the community, the
magistrates decreed that one day was to serve for both ; and so,
long ago, — but how long ago I cannot precisely ascertain, — the
procession of bough-bearers was transferred to the royal birthday,
the 1st of July being thrown out altogether.
"Persons of middle age remember having taken part in
' beating the bounds ' (which use the procession also served) in
their boyhood. But now the only vestige of the old observance
is the 'busking' of the Cross on the 24th of June. This I am
very anxious to get transferred again to its original day ; and as
the memory of S. Serf is still green here, perhaps it may be
managed."
NOTE Q.
There is a Life of S. Servanus, whose day in all tlie Kal-
endars is the 1st of July, in Archbishop Marsh's Library in
Dublin. It is numbered v. 3. 4. 1 6, and has been printed by
Mr. Skene in his Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, at p. 412.
The curious scene of his temptation by the devil in the cave
at Dysart (now the wine-cellar of the Earl of Ptosslyn), has been
versified by Wynton, the Prior of Lochleven.^ It is probable
that the Life of S. Servanus preserved in Dublin is the sajne
that, according to the inventory of the possessions of the church
of Glasgow, was chained to the stall of the Precentor.^
NOTE Pt.
JocELiNE gives two etymologies of the name. He says first
that it means " capitalis dominus" (ch. iv.), and then that it
comes from "Kyen albanice caput" and "tigern, dominus."
The first is the meaning in Welsh, and the second in Gaelic.
The Welsh form, Cynderyn, is from Cyn, chief or principal,
that is, " capitalis," and Teyrn, in composition Deyrn, dominus.
The Gaelic form is Ceanntighern, from Ceann, a head, " caput,"
and Tigliearn, lord.^
The name of tlie mother of S. Kentigern is spelt and pro-
nounced differently. Joceline calls her Taneu, the elder Life
1 The Cronykil of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 41 ; ed. Laing, Edin. 1872.
2 Regis. Epis. C41as. 3 Information from W. F. Skene, Esq., LL.D,
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN. 327
Thaney. In the Welsh Bonedcl y Saint she is Dwynwen or
Denyw. In the Kalendar of the Breviary of Aberdeen she is
Thenewe ; and in Camerariiis, Thametis or Thennat ; in Adam
King, Thennow ; in Conseus, Thames. Bower has Thanes ;
Usslier has Thenis or Thenna or Themi ; Stewart's Metrical
Chronicle of Scotland, Cemeda, probably a misprint of Temeda.
NOTE S.
This is a Welsh word. Joceline translates it " earns amicus."
It comes from Mwyn, mild, amiable, gentle ; and Cu, in com-
position Gu, dear. This is the same termination as in Glesgu,
or, as in the British Museum MS., Deschu, wliich the same
author gives as the old name of Glasgow, and by him translated
into " cara familia."^
The name Mungo still exists as a surname in Scotland. It
frequently occurs in the Eetours, where it is Latinized into Quin-
tigernus. Tlie older name is found in the thirteenth century.
In a description of the lands of Stobo,^ among the witnesses we
find Matheus, Jacobus et Johannes, filii Cosmungho, sacerdotis,
apud Edolveston. In the same document we find a Cos-patricius
and a Cosouold. A variation of the same is found in the same
document under the form of " Queschutbrit." Mr. Skene thinks
that the prefix "cos" is the same as the Welsh "gwas," a
servant, and is equivalent to the "gille" of the Scotch, and
" cele" of the Irish.
NOTE T.
It is remarkable to see how the love of the lower creation
exhibits itself in all creeds and conditions of life. We have to
compare the beautiful lines of Catullus,
" Passer delicise mese puellse,"
with the account in the text, and a candid mind will allow that
the graceful description of the Cistercian of Furness holds its
own beside that of the most tender of all the Latin poets.
Indeed, the gentle spirit evoked by Christianity wells over
beyond humanity to love all the creatures of the good God.
Notably is this found in the life of S. Francis of Assisi. It is
quite possible that the Vituli Marini, which Ere, the chief of the
tribe Mocu-druidi, stole from S. Columba, were pets, for it is
hardly to be believed that the community lived on such stimu-
1 Information from W. F. Skene, Esq., LL.D.
^ Regis. Epis. Glas., p. 89.
2 E
328 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
lating food as the seal.^ In any case, we have the pretty stories
of the little bird that was seized by the kite, healed and restored
to its nest by the prayers of S. Kieran,^ and of that restored to
life by S. Cuthbert.^ S. Colman used to be awakened by a
mouse, and the line where he left off reading was noted by a fly.^
NOTE U.
The reader will at once call to mind the remarkable passage
in Bseda^ where the dream of S. Fursey is given, and also that
of the Hermit Drithelm.^ Fursey's life is given by Colgan ;^
his burial and subsequent miracles are told of by Mabillon.^
It is in the Acta SS. Jan.
NOTE X.
JOCELINE has here fallen into a curious error with regard to
Mallena and Lidon. He supposes them to be two rivers,
whereas Lido is "maris sestuatio" and "sestus maris." Bteda says
" Justus crescentes malinas, decrescentes autem placuit appellare
ledones." Du Gauge (ad verb.) says, "Est igitur Ledo seu
Ledona, iestus maris lang-uidior, qui per quatuor pene dies, tam
ante, quam post secundam atque ultimam Luna3 quadraturam,
mense unoquoque accedit, cum certis diebus languidius et min-
ore aquarum cumulo terree oras adlambit, malinaj contrarius, qua3
fit cum effusius et majori ajstuum quantitate in littus proruit et
effunditur." Yet although he has made this mistake in his
terminology, it is quite clear that he really meant two rivers,
and these rivers must be the Forth and the Teith.
NOTE Y.
It is difficult to assign the exact spot of the " Pons Servani."
The Life of S. Servanus gives the following localities in the
neighbourhood of the Forth,— Culenros, Tuligbotuan (Tullibody),
Tuligcultrin (TuUycultrie), Alveth (Alva), Atheren (Airthrey) ;
but the fact that on crossing, the Saint came at once to Cernach
or Carnock would indicate that the Pons Servani was near to
Alloa. We know that the church of Alloa was dedicated to
S. Kentigern; at the same time the river at Alloa is very broad,
and there is no tradition in the country of any bridge below
Stirling.
1 Reeves's Adainnan, p. 77. ^ Act. SS. Hib., 458. .3.
3 Ibid. 679. 4. 4 Colgan, Act. SS. Hib., p. 244.
s H. E., iii. 19. Ibid. v. 12.
' Act. SS. Hib., 75-98. » Annalea Bened. t. i. p. 410, lib. xiv. 1.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 329
NOTE Z.
This name is probably Fergus.
The miracle of the oxen carrying the dead body to its ap-
pointed place of sepnltiire, is repeated in the case of S. Fursey,^
S. Florentinus, S. Tressanus, S. Joava, S. Fachult, also in the
case of S. Patrick.^
In the case of S. Gall it was unbridled horses.^ When S.
Ablianus died, there was a great faction fight for his body, which
was appeased by two oxen with a wain, which led away the body
to the north, and two similar oxen led away the body to the
south, and then the oxen disappeared in the water at a place
called Ath dain Chedt, the fords of the oxen, who hid them-
selves.^
NOTE AA.
Kernach is certainly Carnock. It is not the parish of that
name in Fifeshire, though in the immediate vicinity of Culros,
but it is Carnock in the parish of S. Ninians. " When the carses
were a morass, the narrow space between them and the Lennox
hills afforded the chief if not the only line of communication
between the northern and southern parts of the island, nearly
cut asunder by the Firths of Clyde and Forth. Nor is it till
you reach this parish that there are any fords at which men or
horses can pass the Forth, and even now there are no bridges
lower down than Stirling."^
NOTE BB.
For a detailed account of the Strathclyde Britons, see Chal-
mers's Caledonia, vol. i. pp. 235-249. See also Haddan and
Stubbs' Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, vol. iii. p. 3 ;
Skene's Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, pp. Ixxix.-xciii., 15,
124, 407, xcv. 15 ; Skene's Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i.
pp. 58, 1G5, 179, 182, 242.
In order to understand the political situation in the time of
S. Kentigern, it is necessary to bear in mind that, from and
after the middle of the sixth century, Maelgwyn Gwynedd was
reigiring over the whole Cymmraeg tongue and nation, both
titularly and with rather more of authority than most of his
race were al^le to exercise. He was engaged in disputes, of
which the nature is obscure and mysterious, with the men of
1 Colgan, Act. SS. Hib., 85, xi. 157, xv. 273, xv. 442, xiv. 70G, x,
2 Ibid. 624. 47. 3 Ihid. 383, 384. ^ Ibid. G20, xlvi. xlvii.
^ New Statistical Account, Stirlingshire, p. 318.
330 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEEN.
the great northern forests. These debates, which ended in
the war of Ardderyd, were more immediately carried on by
Eederech Hael, son of Tudwal, son of Cedig, son of Dyvnwal,
lord of Alclyde and prince of the Strathclyde Britons. The
people who opposed him were nnder the rule of a certain
Gwenddoleu of Cediaw, a Cymry by name, and himself a bard,
of whose poetry a minute fragment survives. The principal
bard was Myrddyn, son of Morviyn, commonly called Merlin
Caledonicus, though some people said he was a native of
Demetia ; but this was merely a confusion between him and
Merlin Ambrose, who was born at Caermarthen — a mistake
probably originating with Geoffrey of Monmouth.^
Maelgwyn appears to have been one of those tyrants who so
frequently reproduce themselves in the history of Wales, com-
bining the licence of the tyrant and sensualist with the devotion
of the earnest Christian. The document published in the Pre-
face of the present volume from the Archseologia Cambrensis
exhibits both aspects of his character. On the one side,
Maelgwyn founded the see of Bangor and the religious houses
of Pennion and Caergybi. He built a church also at Llanrhos,
which he dedicated to S. Hilary .^ On the other hand, he is
the object of the fierce invective of Gildas, as Maglocunus the
" insularis Draco," and several of the events of his life are held
up to reprobation : his depriving many petty kings of their
kingdoms and their lives ; his oppressing the king, his uncle ;
his temporary dedication of himself as a monk; his sad relapse;
his incestuous connexion with his nephew's wife ; his murder of
that nephew and of his first wife ; his public marriage with the
widow of the slaughtered man.^ Geoffrey of Monmoutli de-
scribes Malgo as one of the handsomest men in Britain, a great
scourge of tyrants, a man of great strength, extraordinary
munificence, and matchless valour, but addicted to detestable
vice, by which he made himself abominable to God. He was
said to reign over the whole island, and to have annexed
Ireland, Iceland, Gothland, the Orkneys, Norway, and Dacia.'*
He occurs in Taliessin in the poem relating to the battle of
Ardderyd.^
I am permitted by Mr. Skene to enrich this work with the
following
" Notes on Cumbria.
" The terms Cumbria and Cumbri are not applied to any part
1 Vide Irish Nennius, pp. xxxiii.-xxxvi.
2 Thomas, Hist, of Diocese of St. Asaph, p. 4.
3 Gildas, Epistol. 33-36. * GeoS. Mon., xi. c. 7.
^ Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 368.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 331
of the territories and people of Britain by any writer prior to
the eleventh century.
" To Bede these terms were quite unknown. He terms the
people Britones generally, and on two occasions, where he ob-
viously alludes to this part of Britain — one where he mentions
their recovering their liberty after the defeat and death of
Ecgfrid, king of Northumbria, in 685 ; the other, where he
notices their adoption of the Eoman Easter — he calls them
simply ' Nonnulla pars Britonum.'
" Gildas, who was a native of this district, knows nothing of
these terms. To Nennius they were equally unknown, though
he refers to their kings by name. Adamnan calls Ehydderch
Hael a king ' qui in Petra Cloithe regnavit,' but knows nothing
of Cumbri or Cumbria. The Irish Annals term the kings who
reigned during the whole of the eighth century sunply ' Eeges
Alocluaithe,' but have no term to express the district they
reigned over.
" The extent of their kingdom may be gathered, however,
from the Life of St. Kentigern, with whose jparocliia it was co-
extensive. Jocelyn states that, like Severus's wall, it extended
from sea to sea.^ The wall meant is the northern wall, and it
thus included Stirlingshire, and possibly Linlithgowshire. It
contained Glasgow, Lothwerwerd or Borthwick, and Hoddelme,
that is, Lanarkshire, Peeblesshire, and Dumfriesshire. It also
apparently included Carlisle, but Galloway was excluded. See
c. xxxiv., where it is clearly stated to be beyond his diocese.
Jocelyn does not give the southern limit, but it may be fixed
at the river Derwent : —
" Is^, Because the dedications to St. Kentigern extend to the
Derwent, but there are none beyond it.
" 2d Because the districts south of the Derwent were con-
sidered as belonging to North Wales. There is a Welsh docu-
ment termed ' the Principal Territories of Britain,' which
states that Gwynedd, or North Wales, extended from ' Cantred
Orddwyv to Menai, including also Aerven and Teyrnllwg ;' and
again, that Teyrnllwg extended ' from Aerven to Argoed Der-
w^ennydd.' Aerven was an old name of the river Dee, and
Derwennydd is Derwent, and the district between them, called
Teyrnllwg, was thus considered as belonging to Wales. Jocelyn
is quite consistent with this, for when Kentigern leaves Carlisle
he goes to WaUia, and when recalled from Llanelwy by Ehyd-
derch, he is said to return from Wallia.^
" Zd. Palgrave very truly remarks, that ' ecclesiastical divi-
1 C. xi. - C. xxiii.
332 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN.
sions furnisli the surest clue to ancient geography,' and we
find that the districts between the Dee and the Derwent be-
longed to the ancient diocese of Chester, the Derwent being its
northern boundary.
The whole of this region, extending from the Derwent to the
Clyde, was under the dominion of the Angles of Northumbria
during the reign of King Ecgfrid, and probably that of his pre-
decessor. King Oswy ; and it is during this period that Cun-
ningham is said to have been a district of Northumbria, and
that Ecgfrid gave Carlisle and the circumjacent territory to S.
Cuthbert. By the defeat and death of Ecgfrid in 685, ' nonnuUa
pars Britonum' recovered its liberty, but Galloway remained
Anglic, as an Anglic bishopric was founded at Candida Casa
shortly before 731. This almost implies that the district south
of the Solway also remained Anglic, as without it access to
Galloway from Northumbria woidd liave been impossible. In
750, Kyle and the adjacent districts, that is, Ayrshire, was
added to the Anglic tenitories, and in 756 Eadbert, king of
Northumbria, and Angus, king of the Picts, take Alclyde, and
the Britons surrender, and in 780 Alclyde is burnt.
" In the next century a territorial name is for the first time
applied to these Britons. They are now called ' Britons of
Strathclyde, or Strathclyde Welsh.' In 872 we have in the
Irish Annals ' Artgha rex Britannorum Strathacluaidhe con-
cilio Constantini filii Cindedo occisus est;' and in 875 the
Saxon Chronicle tells us that the Danes subdued the whole
of Northumbria and ravaged the Picts (Peohtas) and the Strath-
clyde Welsh (Straecled Wealas). Asser, who wrote in the end
of this century, in narrating the same event calls them ' Pictos
et Strathduttenses ' (the d being written for d) ; but Ethelwerd,
who wrote in the end of the following century, between 975 and
1011, and whose Chronicle is in the main a translation of the
Saxon Chronicle into Latin, in his rendering of this passage
translates these names by ' Pictis Cumbrisque.'
" This is the first appearance of the name of Cumbri, and it is
obviously used to signify the same people who were previously
called Britons of Strathclyde or Strathclyde Welsh.
" As to the extent of the kingdom in this century, it seems
plain that the regions north of the Solway, including Strath-
clyde and the Picts of Galloway, were independent of the
Angles and of each other; but it would appear from the notices
from Simeon of Durham, quoted by Mr. Haddan (p. 819), that
the Angles still maintained a hold upon Carlisle and the dis-
tricts south of the Solway,
" In the following century we see the name of Strathclyde
Welsh passing over into that of Cumbri. In 924 the Saxon
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 333
Chronicle, in enumerating the people who became subject to
Edmund, the elder king of Wessex, names ' the king of
Straecled Weala and all the Straecledwealan ' or Strathclyde
Welsh ; but the author of the Life of S. Cadroe, writing
of the same period, has no name for this kingdom except ' terra
Cumbrorum.' The old edition of the Annales Cambrise, com-
piled in 977, has, under the year 946, ' Stratclut vastata est
a Saxonibus ; ' but the Saxon Chronicle, in narrating the same
event under the year 945, has ' King Edmund harried all Cum-
braland and gave it to Malcolm, king of Scots,' and Florence
of Worcester has ' tota terra Cumbrorum.' The kings too,
instead of being called ' kings of Alclyde,' are now called
' reges Britannorum,' ' Ei Breatan,' and ' Ei Breatan tuascert '
(North Britons).
" It is plain, from the Life of S. Cadroe, and from the terms in
which the cession to Malcolm is talked of by all writers, that
the districts extending from the Clyde to the Derwent formed
one kingdom, termed in Latin ' Terra Cumbrorum ' and in
Saxon ' Cumbraland.'
" In the next century we find Duncan, the father of Malcolm
Canmore, termed ' Eex Cumbrorum,' and Malcolm himself
* Eilius regis Cumbrorum,' and no doubt he retained what his
father had ruled over. The Chronicle of Carlisle, however, tells
us what the extent of this kingdom of Cumbria was. Under
the year 1069, that is, in the early part of Malcolm's reign,
' Cumbria dicebatur, quantum modo est Episcopatus Karliolensis
et Episcopatus Glasguensis, et Episcopatus Candida; Casai et in-
super ab Episcopatu Karliolense usque ad llumen Dunde.' Gal-
loway was thus now included in it, and the three bishoprics
named comprehend the whole region between the Clyde and the
Derwent. The additional territory added, extending from the
Derwent to the Dunde or Duddon, was what was afterwards
called the barony of Copeland, but it was not considered as in-
cluded in the term Cumbria, as appears from the Chronicon
Cumbrias, where King William is said to have given ' totam ter-
ram de comitatu Cumbrise Eanulpho de Meschiues et Willelmo
fratri eorum terram de Copland inter Duden et Darwent.'
" Tlie statement that these grants were made by King William
is of course erroneous, as they were actually made by Henry i. ;
but it shows the designation of the lands correctly enough ; and
the same Henry erected the bishopric of Carlisle ' in limbo
Anglife et Galwalliee;' in 1132 ' datis sibi ecclesiis de Cum-
berland et Westmariland ' (John of Hexham).
" Simeon of Durham also states that in 1070 Cumberland was
at this time ' under the dominion of Malcolm, not as a rightful
possession but as subjugated by force.'
334 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
"In 1092, according to the Saxon Chronicle, William Paifus
went north with a large army to Carlisle and wrested the dis-
trict south of the Solway from Malcolm ; and, according to the
Liber Feodorum, it was bestowed by Henry i. upon Eanulph de
Meschines.
"On the death of Edgar, king of Scotland, in 1106, Cumbria
north of the Solway was bequeathed to David his younger
brother, with the title of Comes. In the Inquisition made by
him into the possessions of the see of Glasgow in 1116, David
terms himself ' Princeps Cumbrensis regionis,' and the district
under his rule as ' Cumbria regio inter Angliam et Scotiam sita.'
He states, however, that he did not possess the whole of the
' regio^ Cumbrensis ' — ' non vero toti Cumbrensi region! domina-
batur.' The part he did not possess were the districts south of
the Solway, as appears from the charter by him to Ptobert de
Brus of the vaUey of the Annan, which is granted ' a divisa
Dunegal de Stranit usque ad divisam Ptandulfi Meschines . . .
cum omni])us illis consuetudinilxis quas Eandulfus Meschin
unquam habuit in Carduill et in terra sua de Cumberland.''^
"GaUoway, however, was included in David's principality,
as in the Chartulary of Kelso there is a grant to the monks of
Selchirch of the tithe of his Can of Galloway.
" It is apparent from the above that the ' regio Cumbrensis '
was stiU viewed as a whole, but that the name of Cumberland
began now to be appropriated to the southern parts.
_" Ailred, who wrote in the reign of Malcolm iv., terms it Cum-
bria, and the people Cumbri ; and Jocelyn, whose Life of S.
Kentigern was compiled about the same time, uses the «erms
' Eegio Cambrensis,' ' Eegnum Cambrense,' and ' Cambria.'
" We find, however, that contemporary historians, such as
Florence of Worcester and Simeon of Durham, begin now occa-
sionally to distinguish between Cumbri and StreatgledwaUi.
Thus, in narrating the people who became subject to Edward
the elder in 921, they have both Cumbri and Stretgiedweali ;
when the older writers have only one.
" It is in fact at this period, when the districts south of the
Solway had been dissevered from those north of it, that the dis-
tinction between an English Cumbria and a Scotch one began,
and the name in the form of Cumberland began to be appro-
priated to the former.
" The claims of the Scotch to this Cumberland were finally
abandoned by Malcolm iv., and in 1157 Cumberland and West-
moreland were annexed to the English crown, and in the suc-
^ National Mauuscripts, Part I., No. 19.
NOTES.— S. KENTIGERN. 335
ceeding reign of William the Lion we find the name of Cumbria
and Cumberland entirely transferred to the English portion, and
the Scotch portion, including the whole of the districts extend-
ing from the Solway to the Clyde, now comprised under the
name of Gallovidia, Galweya, or Galloway.^
" The name of Galloway or Gallwallia appears also now for the
first time in the contemporary historians. Thus Eoger of Wend-
over has in 921, instead of the Cumbri or Stretcledweali be-
coming sul3ject to Edward, Dux Galwalensium, and in 924 he
has Cumbri, Galwalensii. In enumerating the eight kings who
were said to be subject to Edgar in 973, he has 'Jacobus rex
Galwallie and luchil rex Westmerise ; ' but Mr. Eobertson has
conclusively shown in his Scotland under her Early Kings, vol.
ii. pp. 387, 388, that the titles given by Eoger to these kings
are entirely fictitious."
Mr. Skene finds in Arthuret the scene of the battle of
Ardderyd. " The parish of Arthuret, in Eskdale Ward, did
anciently enclose much of the northern part of this country
before the parish of Kirkandrew was severed therefrom. It
contains the barony of Lyddel, and consists of the following
divisions : — Esk, Arthuret, Stobhill, Carwinlaw, Speerdykes,
Eendlinton, Eston, North Eston, Brackerhill, Nichol Forest, and
the English part of the debateable lands." ^
NOTE CC.
Two irregularities are here mentioned as having occurred at
S. Mungo's ordination: 1st, Consecration by a single bishop ; and
2d, The custom of only anointing the head of the elect with
chrism, with invocation of the Holy Spirit, benediction, and
the laying on of hands. ]Mr. Haddan, commenting on this pas-
sage, says, " The custom intended is probably that relating to
unction only, but the single bishop at consecration is recognised
as well, and such is the practice recorded in the legendary lives
of Dubricius, Teilo, etc." It was the practice of the later Irish
also.^
Ordination by one bishop has always been held to be valid,
but irregular. ^Vhile the early Councils require the assistance
of all the bishops of the eparchy or province who might con-
^ See Int. to Chron. Picts and Scots, pp. 80 and 87, n.
2 Hutchinson's History of the County of Cumberland, vol. ii. p. 528 ; Car-
lisle, 1794.
3 Lanfranc, Epist. ad Terdelvac, a.d. 1074, and Anselm, Epist. ad Muriar-
dach, c. A.D. 1100, in Ussher, Syllog. Epist. Hibern., cit. Haddan ami Stubbs,
Councils, and Eccl. Documents, vol. i. p. 155.
336 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
veniently be jiresent, it soon came to be the practice that three
at least should take part in the ceremony/ the metropolitan and
the rest signifying their consent by writing. The rule, however,
was not absolute. Sometimes in addition to these bishops the
presence of the metropolitan was necessary ; at other times two
bishops were regarded as sufficient.^ Ordinations by one bishop
were regarded as irregular in the fifth century, but not disputed.
Pope Pelagius was ordained by two bishops and one presbyter ;
Dioscorus of Alexandria by two bishops, and they under ecclesi-
astical censure. Ordination by one bishop was quite common
among the Scotti. In Bseda we see symptoms of a tendency to
undervalue or cast doubt upon the Scotch consecrations.
Thus Theodore upbraided Bishop Chad that he had not been
duly consecrated. He, with great humility, answered : — " If you
know that I have not duly received episcopal ordination, I
willingly resign my office, for I never thought myself worthy of
it ; but, though unworthy, in obedience submitted to undertake
it." Theodore, hearing his humble answer, said he should not
resign his bishopric, and he himself completed the ordination
after the Catholic manner.^
But S. Gregory the Great, in his celebrated answers to the
questions put to him by S. Austin, distinctly asserts the validity
of consecrations by single bishops in the case of necessity.
" Truly, in the Church of the English, in which as yet you are
found the only bishop, you cannot ordain a bishop otherwise
than without other bishops."*
In Scotland, besides S. Kentigern, we have the cases of
SS. Ternan and Servanus. To this day, in countries where
there exists persecution, one bishop, with the assistance of two
priests, validly confers episcopal orders; nay, so strongly is
the doctrine asserted, that not even the exigencies of contro-
versy invalidate it. Wlien an Oriental bishop, calling himself
Bishop of Jerusalem, caused a schism in the ecclesiastical
province of Kiev in Poland, the Latin Poles declared that his
ordinations were invalid, and the same thing took place in
Belgium and Holland when the Bishop of Babylon, in partibus
infidelium, consecrated by himself the first archbishop of Utrecht,
who repudiated the Bull Unigenitus ; but Rome has always con-
sidered these ordinations valid, though wroncr.
I have been favoured by the following important communi-
cation from the learned Bollandist, P. Victor de Buck : —
^ Con. Nic. can. iv.
2 Cone. Arcli. ii. c. v. Apostolic. Constit. lib. viii. c. 27.
3 Baada, H. E., iv. 2. « BtEcla, H. E., lib. i. c. 27, 6.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 337
" Dans ma deriiiere lettre, j'ai parle de memoire de la
question des eveques ordonnes par un senl (^veque. J'ai dit
que cette question avait ^t6 surtout discutee en Belgique et en
France, a la suite de la consecration de I'archeveque jansdniste
d' Utrecht par Varlet I'dveque suspens de Bahylone i7i part ihis.
J'ai dit ^galement que des Catholiques avaient conteste la
validity de la consecration des eveques rutheniens faite par un
dveque grec, soi-disant patriarch de Jerusalem (Th^ophanes), qui
renouvela le schisme dans la province ecclesiastique de Kiew en
1621, et que le Saint-Siege avait considere ces consecrations
comme valides tout comme celles des Eveques jansenistes Hol-
landais et de Eeinkens, le pr^tendu (? ed.) vieux-Catholique, —
Benoit xiv. dans son livre de Synodo Dioccsand^\\h. xiii. cap. xiii.
num. 4 et seqq., indique plusieurs auteurs qui ont ecrit sur cette
question qui n'a jamais ete definie. II expose qu'il regne parmi
les theologiens trois opinions ; la premiere qui enseigne que la
consecration faite par moins de deux eveques est nuUe, parce
que, disent-ils, des prescriptions des canons en cette matiere
sont d'origine apostolique et remontent a Jesus-Christ. Selon
la seconde opmion, cette consecration est illicite mais valide,
parce que de temps immemorial I'Eglise a considere comme
valides les consecrations faites par un seul eveque et que, par
consequent, la presence de plusieurs ne saurait etre essentielle.
La troisieme opinion se tient entre les deux precedentes ; elle
soutient qu'une consecration faite par un seul eveque, autorise
a cela par le Saint-Siege, est valide et licite, et qu'une conse-
cration par un eveque non autorise est illicite et invalide.
Cette opinion s'appuie sur le sentiment des theologiens qui
disent que, hors du bapteme et de la S. Eucharistie, Notre
Seigneur n'a pas determine la species infima de la matiere et de
la forme des autres sacrements, mais qu'il a laiss^ cette determin-
ation k son Eglise qui pent, ou en corps ou par son chef le Pape,
introduire des modifications dans la mauiere d'administrer ces
sacrements. 1^ Celui qui defend le plus vigoureusement la
premiere opinion est le savant et judicieux Docteur de Sorbone,
Tournely : Praelectiones theol. de sacramento ordinis, pag. 452-
465. (C'est un volume d'une theologie complete. De toutes
les theologies catholiques, c'est, je crois, ceUe qui conviendrait
le mieux a Votre Grandeur, sauf que, non par conviction, mais a
cause de la loi de Louis xiv,, comme I'auteur I'avoue, il defend
le gallicanisrae.) 2°. Vuitasse, autre docteur de Sorbone, dans
son tractatus de sacramento ordi7iis, part. ii. pag. 251, ^tablit
brievement qu'un seul dveque suffit pour la validite. Mais il
traite longuement des chore veques (ihid. pag. 255 et suiw.),
pretendant que ceux-ci furent tantot eveques et tantot simples
338 NOTES.— S. KENTIGERN.
pretres, parce que, depiiis la publication des fausses decretales
de Mercator, on declara en plusieurs synodes que la consecration
des choreveques ^tait invalide ou ne valait qu'une ordination
presbyt^rale, et que les ordres majeurs confercs par eux ^taient
invalides. Ainsi dans la V® fausse decrdtale du pape S.
Damase, on lit : Quod enim e/piscopi non sint, qui minus quam a
tribus suAit ordinati episcopi, omnibus patet, etc. Et dans la
fausse decretale de Jean iii. : Omnia quoqiic concilia affirmant
[cela n'est pas vrai du tout] cum non episcopum esse qui minus
quam a trihus cpiscopis fucrit /actus episcopus. Or, gdndrale-
ment, les chor^veques etaient ordonnds par un seul eveque.
Mais Sbaralex {Disputatio de, sacris pravorum ordinationihus,
riorentiee, 1750, pag. 252-272) refute assez bien la distinction
introduite par Vuitasse et enseigne que, g^n^ralement parlant,
tons les choreveques etaient de vrais (jveques quoique ordonnes
par leur seul eveque urbain. Eeste la difficulte tres-reell^ qui a
sa source dans un capitulaire de Charlemagne. Dans ce capi-
tnlaire on lit que Leon iii. fit une declaration conforme aux
fausses decretales. 3". C'est le docteur Daemen, de Louvain,
qui a soutenu surtout la troisieme opinion contre Van Espeu,
le defenseur et le veritable auteur du schisme d'Utrecht.
Daemen publia en 1724 et 1725 deux dissertations dc numcro
cpiscoporum ad validam ordinationcin episcopi requisito : c'est le
travail le plus considerable sur la matiere. II contient et
discute tout ce qui s'est dit de part et d'autre. Cette opinion
resoud certainement les difficultes avec le plus de facilite, mais
je crois cependant que malgr^ les objections n^es des fausses
decretales et d'autres actes qui s'ajDpuient sur elles, il faut tenir
que les ordinations faites par un seul eveque sont valides mais
illicites. Je ne dis rien de Saint Gr^goire-le- Grand qui permit
a Saint Augustin de consacrer seul des dveques, en cas de
besoin ; cela est connu. On ecrirait facilement uu livre sur
cette matiere sans en tirer plus que ce que je viens de dire."
The second irregularity mentioned by Joceline as having
been received by the Britons by apostolic tradition seems to
rest upon this authority only. The Eev. Dr. Henderson, who
has devoted much time and thought to the subject, tells me that
" There is no trace of chrism in English Pontificals till the
first half of the eleventh century in the unction of bishops.
" The delivery of staff and ring with special forms is uni-
versal, except in Leofric's Sacramentary, which only gives the
fomi which is found in the Gelasian office.^
" In a Pontifical of the reign of the Confessor, there is the
1 Muratori, G24.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 339
delivery of 'sanctae crucis labarum v. signum' (sic), with a form
to the bishop.
" The mitre and its delivery does not appear till the twelfth
century.
" The laying the textus on the head or neck is to be found in
all English Pontificals except Leofric. Morinus thinks there
are traces of its original non-use in Africa up to the Donatists'
time.
" Admodum igitur j^robabile mihi est impositionem evangelici
codicis ad ordinatiouis episcopalis substantiam non pertinere,
cum ubique et semper non extiterit. Sed certum est hunc
ritum in oriente ab ipsa ecclesise infantia fuisse usurpatum
et ab oriente in occidentem emanasse : Primum in Africam,
deinde in Italiam Eomamque, serius in Galliam et Germaniam."
The passage in Morinus is so curious that I have thought it
right to print it at length : —
"Usurpatum non fuisse primitus hanc ceremoniam in Provincia
Carthaginensi ex iis quae in Ordinatione Cfficiliani perpetrata
sunt coiligi videtur. Donatistae Cseciliani Ordinationem calum-
niabantur, eo quod traditionis deificorum codicum reus esset.
Cum vero id probare non potuissent, in Felicem Cseciliani Or-
dinatorem crimen notaverunt. Quid ad haec Csecilianus? Ah
eo mandatum est, ut si Felix in se sicut illi arbitrdbantur, nihil
contulisset, ipsi tanquam adhicc Diaconum ordinarent Cmcilianum.
Tunc Furpurius solita nialitia frctus quasi ct Ccecilianu^ filius
sororis ejus esset, sic ait, exeat hue quasi imponatur illi manus in
Episcopatu et qiiassitur illi caput de Fcenitentia. His rebus
compertis iota Ecclesia Ca^cilianum retinuit ne se latronibus ira-
didisset. Purpurius iste ira et odio in Cfficilianum sestuans
liberiusque in eum invehens eo quod esset ejus ex sorore nepos,
manuum impositionem ordinationis propriam ad manuum im-
positionem quse in Poenitentia datur retorquet, furentisque
verbo utitur : Quasi diceret, Vult iterum manum sibi imponi, im-
ponatur; sed loco manus impositionis ordinatione quassatur
illi caput de Poenitentia, hoc est, detur illi manus impositio
Poenitentialis. Sane si Evangelici Codicis capiti impositio cum
manus impositione tum conjuncta fuisset, furenti multo con-
venientius erat exclamare : Exeat hue et quassetur illi caput
de Evangeliorum codice. Hoc posterius omnino quadrabat ver-
bo, quassetur, non autem Poenitentias impositio, cui metaphorice
tantum convenit. Admodum igitur probabile mihi est imposi-
tionem Evangelici codicis ad Ordinationis Episcopalis substan-
tiam non pertinere, cum ubique et semper non extiterit. Sed
certum est hunc ritum in oriente ab ipsa Ecclesise infantia3 fuisse
usurpatum et ab Oriente in Occidentem emanasse : Primum in
340 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
Africam, deinde in Italiam Romamque, serins in Galliam et
Germaniam."^
NOTE DD.
While Christianity was confined to the limits of the Eoman
Empire it of course told little upon the development of its
material resources. The towns were converted before the pagi or
country places, hence the term " pagani." In every great city the
Christian community was an impcrium in imperio governed by
its bishop and hierarchy, gi-adually absorbing all that was good
of the older system, but not challenging opposition by the erec-
tion of ostentatious buildings. Till the state establishment
there was no room for architecture. But it was quite different
when Christianity extended itself among the barbarians. Then
the wattled church, the fortified monastery, and the shrine or
memoria of the departed saint or martyr became the nucleus of
the city which gradually sprung up beside them. Houses were
built round the church or chapel, they grew into a village, the
village became a town, and ended by being a city. The bring-
ing of S. Cuthbert's body to Durham, then a rude and unin-
habited place, was the beginning of that beautiful city. Fulda,
Corby, Salzburg, S. Gall, all grew out of Benedictine or Colum-
ban monasteries. Such names as S. Neots, S. Ives, Bury S.
Edmunds, S. Germane's, S. Boswells, S. Johnstone, show how
entirely the municipality grew out of the ecclesiastical estab-
lishment. The present life of S. Kentigern records the process
in the case of the largest city in Scotland. It is true that a
cemetery had been consecrated there in the time of S. Ninian,
implying the existence of some population ; but the life exhibits
the aspect of a wild forest as the condition of Glasgow when S.
Kentigern established himself on the banks of the Mellendonor.
NOTE EE.
In the Welsh Church of the sixth century, and therefore pre-
sumably in that of Strathclyde, the dioceses in the main tallied
with the civil principality, though the bishop resided at one
place at the head of a monastery, the king or regulus at another.
S. Kentigern dwelt at Glasgu, Rederech at Alclyd. In 1258
John of Cheham, Bishop of Glasgow, claimed, in opposition to
the Bishop of Carlisle, that his diocese extended as far as the
1 Morinus, Comm. de Sacris Ecclesia3 Ordiiiationibus, pars iii., Exercit. ii.,
cap. i. sec. 8, p. 17 ; ed. Antwerji, 1G95.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEEN. ' 341
Eerecross in Staynmore, and to enforce his right he proceeded
to Eome, but died on the way.^ The diocese was conterminous
with the civil kingdom of King Kederech, and therefore must
have extended from Dumbarton and Stu-ling southwards. On
the east it would be determined by the measure of North-
umbrian aggression. On the south it extended at least to the
Eerecross, but probably further. About 900, Cumberland ex-
tended " as far as the Eerecross on Stanemore," ^ and about the
same time " usque Loidam civitatem (Leeds), quae est confinium
Normannorum et Cumbrorum." " This would take the district
only so far south as about Workington and the Derwent on the
coast side, and would include about two-thirds only of West-
moreland on the east ; although proljably including also the dis-
trict east of Wetherall in Cumberland up to the present county
boundaries of Northumberland and Durham." ^
" The bishopric of Carlisle extends into the two counties of
Cumberland and Westmoreland, but not to the whole of either;
for all that part of Cumberland called Allerdale Wood above
Derwent, and the barony of Kendal in Westmoreland, do lie
within the archdeaconry of Eichmond in Chester Diocese ; so
Alston Moor and also Over Denton (as is said) are in the diocese
of Durham." *
" The gTcat barony of Copeland, which lieth between the river
Dudden, the river Derwent and the Lee, was given by Henry i.
to William, brother of Eanulph de Meschines, who again granted
part of it to Waltheof, son of Gospatrick, Earl of Dunbar. He
caused the name of the barony to be changed from Copeland
and to be called the barony of Egremont, which name it retaineth
to this day."^
The following quotations shew that the aggressions of the
Saxons coincided with the diminution of the ecclesiastical
state of the Britons : —
" 883. (a^^ Alfredi Magni), sane ad episcopatum Lindisfar-
nensem pertinebant antiquitus Lugubalia, id est Luel et Nor-
tham ; omnes quoque ecclesise ab aqua qute vocatur Tweda usq.
ad Tinam Australem, et ultra Desertum usque ad Occidentem :
pertinebant illo tempore ad prijefatam ecclesiam et hac man-
siones, etc." ^
1 Chron. de Lanercost, in an. 1258, p. 65.
2 Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 204.
3 Haddau and Stubbs' Councils, vol. ii. p. 11.
* The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmoreland and Cum-
berland, by Joseph Nicolson, Esq., and Richard Burns, LL.D., London, 1777,
vol. ii. p. 6.
5 p. 8. " R. Hoveden, p. 418, t. i. p. 45 ; Rolls od.
342 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
" 990. Postquamepiscopi Danos metiientes,ad latebras qiiferen-
das compulsi, incertis sedibus vagarentiir; et regio haec uni versa
sic depopulata et immaniter a crudelissimis barbaris vastata
esset, ut quasi in solitudinem redacta, hominum multorum mil-
liarium spatio iion ostenderet, nisi imum aut altemm fortassis
Hibcrnum hinc inde oberrantem ; Eichmiindise Archidiaconus
Jurisdictionem ecclesiasticam totius Cumbriae Westmorlandise
et Alvedalise, a Lindisfarnensibus episcopis (qui jam Dunelmi
consederant) per multorum annorum cmTiculum neglectam,
usurpare paulatim coeperunt sibique asserere." ^
1082. In a charter of William of S. Carileph, Bishop of
Durham, Carlisle "cum omni circumjacenti" is reckoned as
part of his diocese.^
NOTE FF.
For an account of the supposed conversion of Britain in the
time of King Lucius and Pontificate of Eleutherus, see Haddan
and Stubbs' Councils and Ecclesiastical Documents, vol. i. p. 25
(Oxf. 1869), where the matter is summed up in these words, —
" It would seem therefore that the bare story of the conversion
of a British prince temp. Ekutheri originated in Rome during the
fifth and sixth centuries, almost 300 or more years after the
date assigned to the story itself; that Bede in the eighth
century introduced it into England, and that by the ninth
century, it had grown into the conversion of the whole of
Britain ; while the full-fledged fiction, connecting it specially
with Wales and with Glastonbury, and entering into details,
grew up between centuries nine and twelve." Joceline would
naturally have seen the accounts of his contemporaries, William
of Malmesbury and Geoffrey of Monmouth.^ He however mis-
took an expression of the former, who had said " prout carta
Patricii gcstaque Britonum testantur." The latter he ascribes
to Gildas, who is silent with regard to the legend. Nennius, in
the ninth century, is the first British authority on the subject.
NOTE GG.
The word used for the garment of the skin used by the saint
is Melotes. It is the word employed in the Septuagint for the
^ F. Godwin de Prjesul., p. 2, p. 144.
- Monast. Ang., v. i. p. 236.
^ Will. Malm. Antiq. Glaston., Geoff. Mon., lib. iv. c. xix.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN. 343
Adderetli or mautle used by Elijah, and it seems to have been
the distinctive dress of the prophets. " Made of rough materials
and black in colour, it marked the prophet, but it was often
made of the most costly materials and thus what Achan
stole is described as Addereth Shinar, a Shinar or Babylonian
robe."i
The Cuculla was the common covering of the head in monastic
houses. " CucuUis perparvis usque ad cervicis humerorumque
demissis confinia, quibus tantum capita contegant, indesinenter
diebus utuntur ac noctibus." — Ducange a.v.
The albe was the original lower vestment used by all who
ministered at the altar. It is well kno^\^l that the clergy and
bishops were required formerly by the decree of synods to wear
their albes constantly ; hence the rochets, which were merely
reduced albes, were introduced from reasons of commodity. "•^ In
a formula of visitation in the tenth century in Germany,
the bishop is to inquire whether the presbyter presumes to
sing mass, either without an albe, or in the albe " qua in suos
usus quotidie utitur."^
What Joceline mentions here of the change in the form of the
pastoral staff is borne out by fact. The early staves of the
British and Irish bishops were very short and simple. The
Bachal-more of S. INIoloch, in the possession of the Duke of
Argyll, and figured in the Origines Parochiales,^ is a black thorn
bludgeon, M-ith traces of a metal covering, measuring only 2 feet
10 inches in length. Several of the bronze Cambuttas pre-
served in the museum of the Irish Academy are little longer.
In the curious account of Erasmus and Colet's visit to Canter-
bury in the Colloquies, when examining the relics of S. Thomas
of Canterbury, and contrasting his simplicity with the splendour
of treasury at the time of the %'isit, there occurs this passage,
" Ibidem vidimus pedum divi Thomse. Videbatur arundo laming
argentea obvestita: minimum erat ponderis, nee altius quam
usque ad cingulum."^
In the second volume of MabiUon's Annales Benedictini
there is a very ancient image of S. Bertin, and of S. Momolin,
Bishop of Tournay and Noyon, who followed the ritus Scoti.
In the Acta Sanctorum, t. vii., October, Father Victor de Buck,
in giving an engraving of S. Momolin, has represented all that
refers to the subject.
^ Prophecy a Preparation for Christ. The Bampton Lectures for 18C9,
by R. Payne Smith, D.D., p. 184; London, 1869.
2 Pugin's Glossary of Ecclesiastical Ornament, p. 220.
2 Krazer, de Liturgiis, p. 257. * Orig. Par. vol. ii. p. 1G.3.
^ Desid. Erasmi, Colloquia, p. 303 ; ed. Pvoterodam, 1693.
2 F
344 NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN.
HH.
This name occurs in one of the poems of Taliessin : —
" From Penryn Wleth to Loch Reon,
The Cymry are of one mind, bold heroes."^
" Kentigern sits ' super lapidem in supercilio montis vocabulo
Gwleth.' Gwleth, forming in combination Wleth, signifies dew,
and this hill was afterwards known as the Dew or Dow hill in
Glasgow. Loch Reon is Loch Ryan, and this passage shows a
Cymric population extending from Loch Ryan to Glasgow."
" The chapel of S. Mungo without the walls, called also Little
S. Mungo's Kirk, was built and endowed in the year 1500, by
David Cuningham, Archdeacon of Argyle and Provost of the
Collegiate Church of Hamilton. It stood on the Dow Hill on
the north side of the Gallowgate, on the eastern bank of the
Molenburn, immediately without the Park, Certain trees
which grew there were called S. Mungo's trees ; a well beside
it had the name of S. Mungo's well ; a way which led to it still
retains the name of S. Mungo's road. It was surrounded by a
churchyard."^
This miracle of the hill rising is repeated in the case of
S. Endeus ^ and S. Mochuanus.^ While S. David was preach-
ing against the Pelagians, "terra sub ejus pedibus crescens
attollitur in altum, ut ab omnibus communiter ipse cernetur
tamquam in monte stans, qui quasi tuba esset exaltans vocem
suam, et hteresim confundens et fidem orthodoxam corroborans,
omnes veritati consentiunt."'''
NOTE II.
For corroboration of the statement as to the vicious condi-
tion of the clergy at this period, we may refer the reader to
the volume of the Anglo-Latin satirical poems of the twelfth
century, edited under the direction of the Master of the Rolls,
by Thomas Wright, Esq. ; the amusing poems of Nigellus
Wirecker, precentor of Canterbury; the Speculum Stultorum,
and the more solemn and classical invective of the Architrenius
of John de Hauteville,
^ Taliessin xiv. From The Four Ancient Books of Wales, vol. i. p. 276 ;
vol. ii. p. 404. 2 Orig. Par., vol. i. p. 6.
3 Act. SS. Hib. 707, 12, 1.3. * IhUl. 703, 14.
5 Vita S. Davidis, apud Colgan, p. 429, 23.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN.
345
NOTE KK.
The allusion to the flies is taken from S. Gregory, Magna
Moralia, lib. xviii. 68, p. 588, torn. i.
NOTE LL.
The custom of retiring for a time to a cave was very common
among the British and Scottish saints. The local tradition has
in many places preserved their memorial. In Scotland it can
point to these : —
S. Ninian,
S. Medana, .
S. Serf,
S. Phillan, .
S. Adrian,
S. Constantine,
S. Paile,
S. Ciaran,
S. Gernadius,
S. Laisren or Molio,
S. Fergus,
S. Margaret, .
S. Mac-ua-Charmaig,
S. Columba, .
S. Monan,
Glasserton.
Kirkmaiden.
Dysart.
Pittenweem,
Caipley.
Fifeness.
S. Andrews.
Cantyre.
Kenedor.
Holy Island.
Glamis.
Dunfermline.
Eilan Mohr.
Cove in Knapdale.
S. Monance.
The parish of Weem no do^^bt takes its name from the Weem
or Cave which probably was tenanted at one time by S. Cuthbert.
Hermits in Scotland before the Keformation seem to have
had a sort of legal possession to their hermitages. In the
description of the deanery of Stobbo in the Eegistry of the
Diocese of Glasgow (104, p. 89), Cristinos " heremita de kyn-
geldores and Cospatricius heremita de Kylbeuhoc."
In the Eegistrum Episcopatus Brechinensis is a charter by
James ii., granting to John Smyth, a citizen of the city of
Brechin, the hermitage of the chapel of B. Mary, in the forest
of Kilgerie, in the barony of Menmuir, with croft and grene and
its pertinences, as well as three acres of arable land, which of
old had been annexed to it, which Hugo Cuminche, the hermit
of the said hermitage, held hcrcditaribj of his proctor, William
deNudry, but resigned " per fustem et baculum" into liis hands,
for payment of services used and wont, saving the sufirages of
346 NOTES. — S. KENTIGERN.
prayers and other rights and services owed and accustomed
ere the resignation.^
NOTE MM.
Dr. Eeeves, in stating his predilection for the translation of
" servant of God," rather than " spouse of God," as rendering
the word Cde D^ says, " I have not been able to discover an
instance where sponsus or maritus Dei has been used as mona-
chus or servus Dei. It is true that the Irish may have taken
into account the celibacy of their ancient monks, their seclu-
sion from the world, and their entire devotedness to religion,
and in this sense have employed the expression ' spouse of
God ' to denote a class who owned no other master, no other
love, no other companion but God ; and this notion may pos-
sibly have suggested to Giraldus Cambrensis, when adverting
to the Coli dei, his emphatic ccelibes, and to Joceline his sin-
gulares clerici — the companions of God, to the exclusion of all
earthly ties ; being a life of utter poverty, in reUance upon His
unconditioned supplies ; members of such a class as that to
whom, as Probus relates, our apostle (S. Patrick) was directed
by the angel's precept, Vade ad plebem dei, id est eremitas et
solitaries nudis pedibus."^
NOTE NN.
The view taken in the text by Joceline as to the power
of miracles, is enforced with great eloquence by a modern
writer : —
" Miracles are the most striking proofs of the restoration of
man to his primitive rights. They recall the power which in
the beginning he received to rule over nature, and to command
it in the name of the Creator. That power, that prerogative,
may be regained by any man ; for all, in virtue of the creative
word, bear within them the force which subdues the elements,
rules over creatures, and commands the earth. But this force
is latent, degenerate, in chaos ; and the noble chief of creation,
the uncrowned king of this world, has by the original cata-
strophe fallen to a level of the creatures he was called to govern,
and even depending upon those whom it was his mission to
free. Hence, as says St. Paul, the groanings of those terres-
1 Regist. Epis. Brechin, vol. ii. p. 382 ; Aberdeen, 1856. See Stuart's
Sculptured Stones of Scotland, vol. ii., Notices of Plates, p. 21.
2 The Culdees of the British Isles, by W. Eeeves, p. vii. ; Dublin, 1864.
NOTES. — S. KENTIGEKN. 347
trial things, who sigh after their deliverance, and wait for the
manifestation of the children of God ; hence the laborious
work of liberation and purification which man has to accom-
plish upon earth ; and in proportion as he raises himself and is
restored to harmony with his eternal principle, in the same
proportion he recovers, with the gifts of God, his glorious pre-
rogatives, and participates once again in the mighty power of
God. (James iii. 7)"^
That in a prunitive state of society the Supreme Being should
deem it right to interpose more manifestly in the affairs of
everyday life than in more artificial states of society, where
the arguments for His providence ought to be better known,
is surely no absurd notion ; and correlatively, that men should
see, in what we now know to be the working of the ordi-
nary laws of nature, Divine interpositions, is still more to be
expected.
Again, it is possible that, in the case of the conversion of a
rude people, recourse may be had to those supernatural means
whereby Christianity was commended to the world in its in-
fancy, the more probably if the people were so barbarous as not
to be able to grasp arguments addressed to the intellect. With
every abatement for conscious fraud, unintentional deception,
mythical accretion, there still remains the fact of the conver-
sion of Scotland and Ireland without a single martyrdom,
except those which took place in the way of ordinary conquest
by heathen Danes and Saxons, and without any remarkable
access of, or increased condition of, civilisation accompanying
such conversions. It is more difficult to believe the fact of
this conversion without some exceptional supernatural means,
than to admit that they may have been used for such a pur-
pose. To those who disbelieve in any exceptions to what are
termed the laws of nature, this suggestion is inapplicable ; but
by all who admit the possibility of answer to prayer the thought
deserves attention.
NOTE 00.
It is possible that this Morken of Strathclyde can be the same
as the Morcant who fought with Urien Eederech and Guallauc
against Hussa. The four kine;s seem to have been kinsmen,
and it is not impossible that, after their alliance, when they
combined against the Saxon, on the death of Morken, Eed-
^ Ratisboune, quoted in Wolff, 181.
348 XOTES.— S. KEN'TIGEKN.
erech may have taken possession of his dominions. Erery-
thing seems to point to Eederecli absorbing into Ms kingdom
the lesser Eeguli, of whom ]^Iorken -vras probably one. We have
the pedigree of Morken in the Welsh additions to Xennius.
Thorpmorken, the place where he is said to have died, cannot
now be identified.^
XOTE PP.
It would seem from Joceline's mista kin 
