34 Ussher, Colgan and
Bollandus
prefer it.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v2
^s Colgan, too, thinks this probable, on account of the latt—er
for her death-period have been stated. Thus, the
—nt and so
authority being so ancie respectable.
She is even eighty-seventh year. ^^
but without correctness
to have attained her
'^ " See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
Quarta Vita S. Brigidse, lib. li. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 559. Also, Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. Iviii. , p. 582.
fecit quinariam literam transcriptoris error ;' i. e. , the transcriber mistook dxxii. for dxxu. "
^4 This story, about such a term of years '7 In his Annals. This, however, is not intervening between the deaths of the two
"
Chronicle of Ireland," saints, has been taken from that spurious published in 1809 at Dublin, by the Hiber- tract, called St. Patrick's Testament, in
to be found in his
nia Press Company.
'^
which we find the favourite division of our Apostle's years into thirties. To these was added another thirty, at the end of which
This is the opinion of Ussher in his
"Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum,"
cap. xvii. , p, 884, and in his "Index St. Brigid was to bless Ireland. Hence, it
Clironologicus," A. D, 523, as also of Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib. i. , cap. ii,, p, 9.
'9 The "Martyrology of Tallagh," com-
piled by St. ^ngus and St. Maelruan, in
"
got into he Fourth Life of St. Brigid, and it became popular. Marianus Scotus, hav- ing assigned St. Patrick's death to a. d. 491, placed, agreeably to this supposition, that of St. Brigid in 521 ; while, the sticklers for A. D, 493, following the same principle, fixed
the ninth century, has this record :
Ca-
lendis Februarii. Dormitio S. Brigidse, it at A. D, 523. One of these was Bollandus,
Ixx. , anno setatis suie. " See Rev. Dr. when commenting on the Acts of St. Brigid ; Kelly's edition, p. xiv. but, his successors, Henschennius and Pape-
^°
The Annals of Ulster, or of Senat Mac brochius, rejected these thirty years, and
Mognus, cited by Ussher, agree, where at
madeoutanothercalculation. This,however,
cannot be admitted in their observations ; for,
A. D. we read 523,
:
" S. Quies
p. 3. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," tomus iv.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, p.
457-
^s For this statement, there appears to be
little probability. Yet, an Irish Life of St. Brigid concurs in the previous calculations.
^^
At the year 523. we find entered in William M. Hennessy's "Chronicum Sco- torum," the Dormition of St. Brigid in the 87th year of her age, or 77th as some assert, pp. 40, 41.
^^
According to the computation of Friar
Clyn, that she was born a. d. 439, and of
Hanmer, that she died a. d. 510, she must
have departed in her seventy-first year.
^'^
tion, pp. 36, 37.
=^3 In a comment, Dr. Todd adds at this
Brigidge This is also Colgan's
anno Ixx. aetatis suae. "
own opinion. See Annales Ultonienses, departure to a. d, 506 or 517, See Dr.
See Rev, Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edi-
date, A. D, 525 :
"
The more recent hand has
corrected this date to 522, adding in the
margin, this note :
*
ex ii. binario numero
on St. Patrick's Acts, they assign St. Brigid's
conjectured
i8o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
i.
[February
The year or epoch of St. Brigid's death has been variedly calculated or
recorded. Thus the "Annals of Boyle" have it so early as a. d. ^o\. '^^ Dr.
Meredith Hanmer says her death occurred, a. d. 510. =^ The rest of St. Brigid
is noted at 514, in the Annals of Innisfallen. ^? Other authorities place it, at
A. D. 518. 3° From a calculation which he makes, as to the year of St. Patrick's
death, being 458, and St. Brigid's decease taking place sixty years afterwards,
Nenniuswouldconsequentlyassignherdeparture,totheyear518. 3^ Again, the year 520 has been mentioned. 32 The year 521 is set down by certain
writers. 33 The year 523, however, is a very generally accepted date for her demise. 34 Thus, Colgan endeavours to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a. d. 523, was the true date for her death. 3S These dates, a. d. 506 and 517, appear to have been given, from a supposition, that St. Brigid survived St. Patrick exactly thirty years ;36 and, as the year of the Irish Apostle's death has been disputed, in like manner, differences as to com- puted dates for St. Brigid's have consequently occurred. 37 The year 523 or 524
is entered in the " Annals of Ulster. "3^ the These, also, go by
" Annals
title, of Senat-mac-Magnus," and are cited by Ussher. 39 Moreover, the
"
Annals
**
**
*7 See
of Boyle. "
nicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 3.
=^See "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 91.
Still Colgan thinks, the year 518 should have been inserted in Hanmer's work, but for a casual error.
'9 See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemi- carum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 5.
3° Thus, Sigbert in his "Chronology,"
Annals Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber-
Annales Buelliani," or
523. Secondly, According to different au- thorities, St. Columkille was born four years before St. Brigid's death. As the former is said to have died on the 9th of June, A. D. 596, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and as he i» related to have been bom on the 7th of December, St. Columba's nativity must have been cast about the end of A. D. 519. The fourth year after such a date would be A. D. 523, and consequently that assigned for St. Brigid's death. Thirdly, According to certain Irish tracts, St. Brigid was veiled and died on Wednesday ; while, all autho-
"
John Capgrave in his "Vita S. Brigidse," cap.
Felix in his
Martyrology," at 1st February,
"
Hibemica," dist. iii,, cap. 17, "Annales rities agree, she departed this life on the ist
ult. , Giraldus Cambrensis, in
Topographia
Vawerliensis,"&c. , date her demise.
3' Yet, Dr. Lanigan does not consider 458 to have been the true date for St. Patrick's
of Februar}'. Now, if we admit her being contemporaneous with the Emperor Justin, Pope Hormisdas and Murchertach, King of
death ; and, as the antecedent is false, so Ireland, the 1st of February fell on Wednes-
must be the consequent, viz. , that St. Brigid day, in the year 523. The hymn in praise "
Cloen, must have been written in this case soon after her death ; for, Alild, son of
Dunlang, reigned in Leinster, when it was written. This prince died A. D. 526. See
"Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Qu. irta ad Acta S. Brigidre, cap. vii. , p. 619. The learned Dr. O'Conor also agrees in this opinion with Colgan, in his edition of the
died A. D. 518. See Ecclesiastical History of St^ Brigid, composed by St. Brogan
of Ireland," vol, i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , and n. 84, pp. 455, 457.
3^ The " Chronicon Rudimentum Novi- tiorum," at A. D. 520, has noted St. Brigid's death. It states, during the second year of the Emperor Justin, that our saint died in Scotia, being bom there, and of noble pa- rents.
33
Thus, Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, Baronius, Masseus, Spondanus, Gordon, Rosweyde, Mirseus, Ware. The "Annales Cambriae," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, concur, p. 3.
34 Ussher, Colgan and Bollandus prefer it. See, also. Rev. Thomas Innes* "Civil and Ecclesiastical of book
p. 128.
35 He prefers this, for various reasons.
First, Henry of Marlborough, Ussher, Ware, &c. , are of accord regarding it. And, St. Brigid lived thirty years after St. Patrick's deat—h ; accordingly, St. Patrick, dying in
" Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores," tomus iv.
History Scotland," ii. ,
3* Thus, Tillemont justly remarks, that Henschennius and Papebrochius have not adduced any weighty proof for these dates. See "Memoires P9ur servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. , p. 470.
37 See Dr. "Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sec. ii. , n. 25, pp. 382, 383, chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, P- 457-
38 See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi- camm Scriptores," tomus iv. , p. 3. At A. D. 523 is noted, likewise, the "Bellum Cainri ^\\\Neili:'
butas —
thinks vi^as the true
591 Colgan 593
"
clesiarum," cap. xvii. , p. 884.
year of his decease
should place the death of St. Brigid at A. D.
39 See
De Primordia Britannicamm Ec-
this latter conclusion
"Annals of Ulster," n. 3, p. 13.
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. I8l
of the Four Masters," quoting some other old chronicles, and the " Annals of Ulster," referring to more ancient authorities, have a. d. 525. 4° Ussher observes, that some books referred to in the Ulster Annals mark St. Brigid's death, as occurring at 525, which date has been followed by the Four Masters. This latter year seems to agree best, with what Nennius relates, regarding St. Columkille's birth, which took place four years before St. Brigid's departure. *^ The "Annals of Ulster," citing the book of Mochod, again give a. d. 527. This latest mentioned date is omitted in Colgan, but instead of it, he pro-
"
duces the same authority, noticing
monachorum,"a. d. 528. Theoriginalauthorityseemstohavebeenidentical, in both the latter instances, with the difference of a date, in distinct copies.
The English Martyrology, at the ist of February, has a. d. 540. The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life enters a. d. 548, as Colgan thinks, through a copyisfs error, and from the mention of contemporaneous persons. With the angels, present at her couch, and waiting to bear her soul to Paradise, the holy abbess was prepared for her final summons. 4^ She earnestly desired to receive the sacraments for the dying. Finding her final hour fast approaching, Holy Viaticum-^s was administered to her by an attendant priest, named Nennidh,44 whoappearstohavebeenattachedtotheserviceofhernunnery. 45 Hebe-
longed probably to the clergy residing at Kildare. ^^ Muriertach Mac Erc,47 KingofIreland,thenlivedatTara,astheFourthLifestates. Irishhistorians state this monarch to have died in the year 527, after a reign of twenty-four years. 48 He was succeeded in the sovereignity of Ir—eland by Tuathal Mael- garbh, who was slain—after a reign of eleven years in the year 538. St. Brigid's death took place, it is noted, during the first year of the Emperor Justinian's reign. 49 Hormisdas is said to have been Pope at the time, and he sat in the chair of St. Peter, from a. d. 514 to a. d. 523,5° when he died. s^
4° See Dr. O'Donovan's
*'
Annals of the
ii. , No. 30, p. 70 *'
Swiftly, swiftly '
:
now the soul is
flying,
Dying, dying,'
Are the words the watchers speak,
While the shade of death is shading
All the patient face, and fading All the rose-tints from the cheek. Yet, there comes no sound of wailing,
No blinding burst of hopeless grief ; The soul is calm, if strength be failing,
Dormitio S. Brigidae secundum codicum
582. Quarta Vita S. Brigidce, lib. ii. , cap.
Ixiii. , p. 559.
4° See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 82, p. 456.
47 Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four
Masters," vol. to 180, 181. i. , pp. 174 177,
4^ A very curious account, regarding this
will monarch and his family connexions, be
found in " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius," edited by Rev. Dr. James Henthorn Todd, and the Hon. Alger- non Herbert, pp. 178 to 193, with accom-
panying notes.
49 Justinian began his reign in the year
527, according to Baronius, and most other authors. Colgan thinks rather the name of
Justin, who began to reign in 518, should
The Lord Himself hath sent reUef. "
«See Rev. M. J. Brenan's "Ecclesi- "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Quarta S.
astical History of Ireland. " Fifth Century,
chap, iii. , p. 51.
^ See Rev. P. J. Carew's *' Ecclesiastical
Histoi-y of Ireland," chap, vi. , p. 241.
4S He is called simply vir and sacerdos in
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 170 to 173.
4' See ' ' Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
quitates," cap. xvii. , p. 467.
42 Applicable to the calm tranquillity of
that departure are these lines by the Rev.
M. J. Mac Hale " the Bedside," intituled, By
as found in " The I—llustrated Monitor," vol.
.
the Fifth Life of St. Brigid, without any assigned to the 6th of August. See pp. 40,
allusion to his having embraced the monastic profession. IntheFourthLifeofourSaint, it is said, he went to Britain, while another account tells us he journeyed to Rome. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Quinta Vita S. Brigidae," cap. Ivii. , Iviii. , pp. 581,
41, and n. 4, ibid.
s^Wherefore,ifSt. Brigiddepartedduring his time, she must have died, rather during
the first year of the Emperor Justin's reign, A. D. 518, than during the first year of the
Emperor Justinian's rule, A. D. 527.
be substituted for that of Justinian. See
Brigidae, lib. ii. , cap. xcix. , p. 562. "
5° Yet, in William M. Hennessy's Chroni- cum Scotomm" his death is placed at A. D. 520. This, however, is corrected in a note by O'Flaherty to A. D. 523, and his death is
l82 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i.
It has been stated, likewise, that twice six Sovereign Pontiffs of Rome lived contemporaneously with St. Brigid. s^ This statement, however, does not
hardly adjusts the inaccuracy. 54 It is possible, and even probable, St. Brigid lived in the time of eight successive Popes, supposing her to have died a. d. 518 or 523, and in the seventieth year of her age. 55 The Fourth Life of St.
Brigidunpardonablyasserts,thattheholyabbessdieda. d. 548. Thisdate, if not the error of a scribe, defers her death to nearly the middle of the sixth
century.
Nearly all the holy woman's Acts are concurrent, that the illustrious
Patroness of Ireland departed this hfe on the ist of February. s^ It is an honoured day in the Irish Church. 57 After having obtained a glorious victory, over the powers of darkness and the illusions of this world, she now reigns eternally and conspicuously among the celestial choirs of Heavenly Jerusalem, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles, Martyrs, and spotless Virgins, with the Angels and Archangels of God. 5^ Crowned with a diadem of effulgent
seem to accord with exact chronology. 53 An attempt to correct it
5=" It is set down in these lines : —
" Illis temporibus bis senos legimus esse
Pontifices summos Roma vivente puella,"
St. Brigid to have died in the eightieth year of her age, and of Christ 518, as the authors of her Fourth and Sixth Lives seem to indi- cate, she must have been born, about A. D. 439, during the Pontificate of St.
for her death-period have been stated. Thus, the
—nt and so
authority being so ancie respectable.
She is even eighty-seventh year. ^^
but without correctness
to have attained her
'^ " See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga.
Quarta Vita S. Brigidse, lib. li. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 559. Also, Quinta Vita S. Brigidse, cap. Iviii. , p. 582.
fecit quinariam literam transcriptoris error ;' i. e. , the transcriber mistook dxxii. for dxxu. "
^4 This story, about such a term of years '7 In his Annals. This, however, is not intervening between the deaths of the two
"
Chronicle of Ireland," saints, has been taken from that spurious published in 1809 at Dublin, by the Hiber- tract, called St. Patrick's Testament, in
to be found in his
nia Press Company.
'^
which we find the favourite division of our Apostle's years into thirties. To these was added another thirty, at the end of which
This is the opinion of Ussher in his
"Primordia Ecclesiarum Britannicarum,"
cap. xvii. , p, 884, and in his "Index St. Brigid was to bless Ireland. Hence, it
Clironologicus," A. D, 523, as also of Sir James Ware, "De Scriptoribus Hibernise,"
lib. i. , cap. ii,, p, 9.
'9 The "Martyrology of Tallagh," com-
piled by St. ^ngus and St. Maelruan, in
"
got into he Fourth Life of St. Brigid, and it became popular. Marianus Scotus, hav- ing assigned St. Patrick's death to a. d. 491, placed, agreeably to this supposition, that of St. Brigid in 521 ; while, the sticklers for A. D, 493, following the same principle, fixed
the ninth century, has this record :
Ca-
lendis Februarii. Dormitio S. Brigidse, it at A. D, 523. One of these was Bollandus,
Ixx. , anno setatis suie. " See Rev. Dr. when commenting on the Acts of St. Brigid ; Kelly's edition, p. xiv. but, his successors, Henschennius and Pape-
^°
The Annals of Ulster, or of Senat Mac brochius, rejected these thirty years, and
Mognus, cited by Ussher, agree, where at
madeoutanothercalculation. This,however,
cannot be admitted in their observations ; for,
A. D. we read 523,
:
" S. Quies
p. 3. Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," tomus iv.
Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, p.
457-
^s For this statement, there appears to be
little probability. Yet, an Irish Life of St. Brigid concurs in the previous calculations.
^^
At the year 523. we find entered in William M. Hennessy's "Chronicum Sco- torum," the Dormition of St. Brigid in the 87th year of her age, or 77th as some assert, pp. 40, 41.
^^
According to the computation of Friar
Clyn, that she was born a. d. 439, and of
Hanmer, that she died a. d. 510, she must
have departed in her seventy-first year.
^'^
tion, pp. 36, 37.
=^3 In a comment, Dr. Todd adds at this
Brigidge This is also Colgan's
anno Ixx. aetatis suae. "
own opinion. See Annales Ultonienses, departure to a. d, 506 or 517, See Dr.
See Rev, Drs. Todd's and Reeves' edi-
date, A. D, 525 :
"
The more recent hand has
corrected this date to 522, adding in the
margin, this note :
*
ex ii. binario numero
on St. Patrick's Acts, they assign St. Brigid's
conjectured
i8o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
i.
[February
The year or epoch of St. Brigid's death has been variedly calculated or
recorded. Thus the "Annals of Boyle" have it so early as a. d. ^o\. '^^ Dr.
Meredith Hanmer says her death occurred, a. d. 510. =^ The rest of St. Brigid
is noted at 514, in the Annals of Innisfallen. ^? Other authorities place it, at
A. D. 518. 3° From a calculation which he makes, as to the year of St. Patrick's
death, being 458, and St. Brigid's decease taking place sixty years afterwards,
Nenniuswouldconsequentlyassignherdeparture,totheyear518. 3^ Again, the year 520 has been mentioned. 32 The year 521 is set down by certain
writers. 33 The year 523, however, is a very generally accepted date for her demise. 34 Thus, Colgan endeavours to show by various authorities, compu- tations and inferences, that a. d. 523, was the true date for her death. 3S These dates, a. d. 506 and 517, appear to have been given, from a supposition, that St. Brigid survived St. Patrick exactly thirty years ;36 and, as the year of the Irish Apostle's death has been disputed, in like manner, differences as to com- puted dates for St. Brigid's have consequently occurred. 37 The year 523 or 524
is entered in the " Annals of Ulster. "3^ the These, also, go by
" Annals
title, of Senat-mac-Magnus," and are cited by Ussher. 39 Moreover, the
"
Annals
**
**
*7 See
of Boyle. "
nicarum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 3.
=^See "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 91.
Still Colgan thinks, the year 518 should have been inserted in Hanmer's work, but for a casual error.
'9 See Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hibemi- carum Scriptores," tomus ii. , p. 5.
3° Thus, Sigbert in his "Chronology,"
Annals Dr. O'Conor's " Rerum Hiber-
Annales Buelliani," or
523. Secondly, According to different au- thorities, St. Columkille was born four years before St. Brigid's death. As the former is said to have died on the 9th of June, A. D. 596, in the seventy-seventh year of his age, and as he i» related to have been bom on the 7th of December, St. Columba's nativity must have been cast about the end of A. D. 519. The fourth year after such a date would be A. D. 523, and consequently that assigned for St. Brigid's death. Thirdly, According to certain Irish tracts, St. Brigid was veiled and died on Wednesday ; while, all autho-
"
John Capgrave in his "Vita S. Brigidse," cap.
Felix in his
Martyrology," at 1st February,
"
Hibemica," dist. iii,, cap. 17, "Annales rities agree, she departed this life on the ist
ult. , Giraldus Cambrensis, in
Topographia
Vawerliensis,"&c. , date her demise.
3' Yet, Dr. Lanigan does not consider 458 to have been the true date for St. Patrick's
of Februar}'. Now, if we admit her being contemporaneous with the Emperor Justin, Pope Hormisdas and Murchertach, King of
death ; and, as the antecedent is false, so Ireland, the 1st of February fell on Wednes-
must be the consequent, viz. , that St. Brigid day, in the year 523. The hymn in praise "
Cloen, must have been written in this case soon after her death ; for, Alild, son of
Dunlang, reigned in Leinster, when it was written. This prince died A. D. 526. See
"Trias Thaumaturga. " Appendix Qu. irta ad Acta S. Brigidre, cap. vii. , p. 619. The learned Dr. O'Conor also agrees in this opinion with Colgan, in his edition of the
died A. D. 518. See Ecclesiastical History of St^ Brigid, composed by St. Brogan
of Ireland," vol, i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , and n. 84, pp. 455, 457.
3^ The " Chronicon Rudimentum Novi- tiorum," at A. D. 520, has noted St. Brigid's death. It states, during the second year of the Emperor Justin, that our saint died in Scotia, being bom there, and of noble pa- rents.
33
Thus, Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, Baronius, Masseus, Spondanus, Gordon, Rosweyde, Mirseus, Ware. The "Annales Cambriae," edited by Rev. John Williams ab Ithel, concur, p. 3.
34 Ussher, Colgan and Bollandus prefer it. See, also. Rev. Thomas Innes* "Civil and Ecclesiastical of book
p. 128.
35 He prefers this, for various reasons.
First, Henry of Marlborough, Ussher, Ware, &c. , are of accord regarding it. And, St. Brigid lived thirty years after St. Patrick's deat—h ; accordingly, St. Patrick, dying in
" Rerum Hibemicarum Scriptores," tomus iv.
History Scotland," ii. ,
3* Thus, Tillemont justly remarks, that Henschennius and Papebrochius have not adduced any weighty proof for these dates. See "Memoires P9ur servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. , p. 470.
37 See Dr. "Ecclesiastical His- Lanigan's
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, viii. , sec. ii. , n. 25, pp. 382, 383, chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 87, P- 457-
38 See Dr. O'Conor's "Rerum Hibemi- camm Scriptores," tomus iv. , p. 3. At A. D. 523 is noted, likewise, the "Bellum Cainri ^\\\Neili:'
butas —
thinks vi^as the true
591 Colgan 593
"
clesiarum," cap. xvii. , p. 884.
year of his decease
should place the death of St. Brigid at A. D.
39 See
De Primordia Britannicamm Ec-
this latter conclusion
"Annals of Ulster," n. 3, p. 13.
February i. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. I8l
of the Four Masters," quoting some other old chronicles, and the " Annals of Ulster," referring to more ancient authorities, have a. d. 525. 4° Ussher observes, that some books referred to in the Ulster Annals mark St. Brigid's death, as occurring at 525, which date has been followed by the Four Masters. This latter year seems to agree best, with what Nennius relates, regarding St. Columkille's birth, which took place four years before St. Brigid's departure. *^ The "Annals of Ulster," citing the book of Mochod, again give a. d. 527. This latest mentioned date is omitted in Colgan, but instead of it, he pro-
"
duces the same authority, noticing
monachorum,"a. d. 528. Theoriginalauthorityseemstohavebeenidentical, in both the latter instances, with the difference of a date, in distinct copies.
The English Martyrology, at the ist of February, has a. d. 540. The author of St. Brigid's Fourth Life enters a. d. 548, as Colgan thinks, through a copyisfs error, and from the mention of contemporaneous persons. With the angels, present at her couch, and waiting to bear her soul to Paradise, the holy abbess was prepared for her final summons. 4^ She earnestly desired to receive the sacraments for the dying. Finding her final hour fast approaching, Holy Viaticum-^s was administered to her by an attendant priest, named Nennidh,44 whoappearstohavebeenattachedtotheserviceofhernunnery. 45 Hebe-
longed probably to the clergy residing at Kildare. ^^ Muriertach Mac Erc,47 KingofIreland,thenlivedatTara,astheFourthLifestates. Irishhistorians state this monarch to have died in the year 527, after a reign of twenty-four years. 48 He was succeeded in the sovereignity of Ir—eland by Tuathal Mael- garbh, who was slain—after a reign of eleven years in the year 538. St. Brigid's death took place, it is noted, during the first year of the Emperor Justinian's reign. 49 Hormisdas is said to have been Pope at the time, and he sat in the chair of St. Peter, from a. d. 514 to a. d. 523,5° when he died. s^
4° See Dr. O'Donovan's
*'
Annals of the
ii. , No. 30, p. 70 *'
Swiftly, swiftly '
:
now the soul is
flying,
Dying, dying,'
Are the words the watchers speak,
While the shade of death is shading
All the patient face, and fading All the rose-tints from the cheek. Yet, there comes no sound of wailing,
No blinding burst of hopeless grief ; The soul is calm, if strength be failing,
Dormitio S. Brigidae secundum codicum
582. Quarta Vita S. Brigidce, lib. ii. , cap.
Ixiii. , p. 559.
4° See Dr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical His-
tory of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, ix. , sec. vi. , n. 82, p. 456.
47 Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the Four
Masters," vol. to 180, 181. i. , pp. 174 177,
4^ A very curious account, regarding this
will monarch and his family connexions, be
found in " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius," edited by Rev. Dr. James Henthorn Todd, and the Hon. Alger- non Herbert, pp. 178 to 193, with accom-
panying notes.
49 Justinian began his reign in the year
527, according to Baronius, and most other authors. Colgan thinks rather the name of
Justin, who began to reign in 518, should
The Lord Himself hath sent reUef. "
«See Rev. M. J. Brenan's "Ecclesi- "Trias Thaumaturga. " Vita Quarta S.
astical History of Ireland. " Fifth Century,
chap, iii. , p. 51.
^ See Rev. P. J. Carew's *' Ecclesiastical
Histoi-y of Ireland," chap, vi. , p. 241.
4S He is called simply vir and sacerdos in
Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 170 to 173.
4' See ' ' Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
quitates," cap. xvii. , p. 467.
42 Applicable to the calm tranquillity of
that departure are these lines by the Rev.
M. J. Mac Hale " the Bedside," intituled, By
as found in " The I—llustrated Monitor," vol.
.
the Fifth Life of St. Brigid, without any assigned to the 6th of August. See pp. 40,
allusion to his having embraced the monastic profession. IntheFourthLifeofourSaint, it is said, he went to Britain, while another account tells us he journeyed to Rome. See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. " Quinta Vita S. Brigidae," cap. Ivii. , Iviii. , pp. 581,
41, and n. 4, ibid.
s^Wherefore,ifSt. Brigiddepartedduring his time, she must have died, rather during
the first year of the Emperor Justin's reign, A. D. 518, than during the first year of the
Emperor Justinian's rule, A. D. 527.
be substituted for that of Justinian. See
Brigidae, lib. ii. , cap. xcix. , p. 562. "
5° Yet, in William M. Hennessy's Chroni- cum Scotomm" his death is placed at A. D. 520. This, however, is corrected in a note by O'Flaherty to A. D. 523, and his death is
l82 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [February i.
It has been stated, likewise, that twice six Sovereign Pontiffs of Rome lived contemporaneously with St. Brigid. s^ This statement, however, does not
hardly adjusts the inaccuracy. 54 It is possible, and even probable, St. Brigid lived in the time of eight successive Popes, supposing her to have died a. d. 518 or 523, and in the seventieth year of her age. 55 The Fourth Life of St.
Brigidunpardonablyasserts,thattheholyabbessdieda. d. 548. Thisdate, if not the error of a scribe, defers her death to nearly the middle of the sixth
century.
Nearly all the holy woman's Acts are concurrent, that the illustrious
Patroness of Ireland departed this hfe on the ist of February. s^ It is an honoured day in the Irish Church. 57 After having obtained a glorious victory, over the powers of darkness and the illusions of this world, she now reigns eternally and conspicuously among the celestial choirs of Heavenly Jerusalem, with the Patriarchs and Prophets, the Apostles, Martyrs, and spotless Virgins, with the Angels and Archangels of God. 5^ Crowned with a diadem of effulgent
seem to accord with exact chronology. 53 An attempt to correct it
5=" It is set down in these lines : —
" Illis temporibus bis senos legimus esse
Pontifices summos Roma vivente puella,"
St. Brigid to have died in the eightieth year of her age, and of Christ 518, as the authors of her Fourth and Sixth Lives seem to indi- cate, she must have been born, about A. D. 439, during the Pontificate of St.
