{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_10937/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_10937","id":"gutenberg_10937","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10937","summary":null,"tags":["Carthach, Saint, Bishop of Lismore, active 570-637 -- Legends","Category: Biographies","Category: History - Ancient","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"LIFE OF ST. MOCHUDA OF LISMORE\n\n(Edited from MS. in Library of Royal Irish Academy).\n\nTranslated from the Irish With Introduction\n\nby\n\nREV. P. POWER, M.R.I.A. University College, Cork.\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE\n\n\nIt is solely the historical aspect and worth of the two tracts herewith\npresented that appealed to their edition and first suggested to him\ntheir preparation and publication.  Had preparation in question depended\nfor its motive merely on considerations of the texts' philologic\ninterest or value it would, to speak frankly, never have been\nundertaken.  The editor, who disclaims qualification as a philologist,\nregards these Lives as very valuable historical material, publication of\nwhich may serve to light up some dark corners of our Celtic\necclesiastical past.  He is egotist enough to hope that the present\n\"blazing of the track,\" inadequate and feeble though it be, may induce\nother and better equipped explorers to follow.\n\nThe present editor was studying the Life of Declan [Project Gutenberg\nEtext #823] for quite another purpose when, some years since, the\nzealous Hon. Secretary of the Irish Texts Society suggested to him\npublication of the tract in its present form, and addition of the Life\nof Carthach [Mochuda].  Whatever credit therefore is due to originating\nthis work is Miss Hull's, and hers alone.\n\nThe editor's best thanks are due, and are hereby most gratefully\ntendered, to Rev. M. Sheehan, D.D., D.Ph., Rev. Paul Walsh, Rev. J.\nMacErlhean, S.J., M.A., as well as to Mr. R. O'Foley, who, at much\nexpense of time and labour, have carefully read the proofs, and, with\nunselfish prodigality of their scholarly resources, have made many\nvaluable suggestions and corrections.\n\nP.P.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION--GENERAL\n\nA most distinctive class of ancient Irish literature, and probably the\nclass that is least popularly familiar, is the hagiographical.  It is,\nthe present writer ventures to submit, as valuable as it is distinctive\nand as well worthy of study as it is neglected.  While annals, tales and\npoetry have found editors the Lives of Irish Saints have remained\nlargely a mine unworked. Into the causes of this strange neglect it is\nnot the purpose of the present introduction to enter.  Suffice it to\nglance in passing at one of the reasons which has been alleged in\nexplanation, scil.:--that the \"Lives\" are uncritical and romantic, that\nthey abound in wild legends, chronological impossibilities and all sorts\nof incredible stories, and, finally, that miracles are multiplied till\nthe miraculous becomes the ordinary, and that marvels are magnified till\nthe narrative borders on the ludicrous.  The Saint as he is sketched is\nsometimes a positively repulsive being--arrogant, venomous, and cruel;\nhe demands two eyes or more for one, and, pucklike, fairly revels in\nmischief!  As painted he is in fact more a pagan deity than a Christian\nman.\n\nThe foregoing charges may, or must, be admitted partially or in full,\nbut such admission implies no denial of the historical value of the\nLives.  All archaic literature, be it remembered, is in a greater or\nless degree uncritical, and it must be read in the light of the writer's\ntimes and surroundings.  That imagination should sometimes run riot and\nthe pen be carried beyond the boundary line of the strictly literal is\nperhaps nothing much to be marvelled at in the case of the supernatural\nminded Celt with religion for his theme.  Did the scribe believe what he\nwrote when he recounted the multiplied marvels of his holy patron's\nlife?  Doubtless he did--and why not!  To the unsophisticated monastic\nand mediaeval mind, as to the mind of primitive man, the marvellous and\nsupernatural is almost as real and near as the commonplace and natural.\nIf anyone doubts this let him study the mind of the modern Irish\npeasant; let him get beneath its surface and inside its guardian ring of\nshrinking reserve; there he will find the same material exactly as\ncomposed the mind of the tenth century biographers of Declan and\nMochuda. Dreamers and visionaries were of as frequent occurrence in Erin\nof ages ago as they are to-day.  Then as now the supernatural and\nmarvellous had a wondrous fascination for the Celtic mind. Sometimes the\nattraction becomes so strong as seemingly to overbalance the faculty of\ndistinguishing fact from fancy.  Of St. Bridget we are gravely told that\nto dry her wet cloak she hung in out on a sunbeam!  Another Saint sailed\naway to a foreign land on a sod from his native hillside!  More than\nonce we find a flagstone turned into a raft to bear a missionary band\nbeyond the seas!  St. Fursey exchanged diseases with his friend\nMagnentius, and, stranger still, the exchange was arranged and effected\nby correspondence!  To the saints moreover are ascribed lives of\nincredible duration--to Mochta, Ibar, Seachnal, and Brendan, for\ninstance, three hundred years each; St. Mochaemog is credited with a\nlife of four hundred and thirteen years, and so on!\n\nClan, or tribe, rivalry was doubtless one of the things which made for\nthe invention and multiplication of miracles.  If the patron of the\nDecies is credited with a miracle, the tribesmen of Ossory must go one\nbetter and attribute to their tribal saint a marvel more striking still.\nThe hagiographers of Decies retort for their patron by a claim of yet\nanother miracle and so on.  It is to be feared too that occasionally a\nless worthy motive than tribal honour prompted the imagination of our\nIrish hagiographers--the desire to exploit the saint and his honour for\nworldly gain.\n\nThe \"Lives\" of the Irish Saints contain an immense quantity of material\nof first rate importance for the historian of the Celtic church.\nUnderneath the later concoction of fable is a solid substratum of fact\nwhich no serious student can ignore.  Even where the narrative is\notherwise plainly myth or fiction it sheds many a useful sidelight on\nancient manners, customs and laws as well as on the curious and often\nintricate operations of the Celtic mind.\n\nBy \"Lives\" are here meant the old MS. biographies which have come down\nto us from ages before the invention of printing.  Sometimes these\n\"Lives\" are styled \"Acts.\"  Generally we have only one standard \"Life\"\nof a saint and of this there are usually several copies, scattered in\nvarious libraries and collections. Occasionally a second Life is found\ndiffering essentially from the first, but, as a rule, the different\ncopies are only recensions of a single original.  Some of the MSS. are\nparchment but the majority are in paper; some Lives again are merely\nfragments and no doubt scores if not hundreds of others have been\nentirely lost.  Of many hundreds of our Irish saints we have only the\nmeagre details supplied by the martyrologies, with perhaps occasional\nreference to them in the Lives of other saints. Again, finally, the\nmemory of hundreds and hundreds of saints additional survives only in\nplace names or is entirely lost.\n\nThere still survive probably over a hundred \"Lives\"--possibly one\nhundred and fifty; this, however, does not imply that therefore we have\nLives of one hundred or one hundred and fifty saints, for many of the\nsaints whose Acts survive have really two sets of the latter--one in\nLatin and the other in Irish; moreover, of a few of the Latin Lives and\nof a larger number of the Irish Lives we have two or more recensions.\nThere are, for instance, three independent Lives of St. Mochuda and one\nof these is in two recensions.\n\nThe surviving Lives naturally divide themselves into two great classes--\nthe Latin Lives and the Irish,--written in Latin and Irish respectively.\nWe have a Latin Life only of some saints, and Irish Life only of others,\nand of others again we have a Latin Life and an Irish.  It may be\nnecessary to add the Acts which have been translated into Latin by\nColgan or the Bollandists do not of course rank as Latin Lives.  Whether\nthe Latin Lives proper are free translations of the Irish Lives or the\nIrish Lives translations of Latin originals remains still, to a large\nextent, an open question.  Plummer (\"Vitae SSm. Hib.,\" Introd.) seems to\nfavour the Latin Lives as the originals.  His reasoning here however\nleaves one rather unconvinced.  This is not the place to go into the\nmatter at length, but a new bit of evidence which makes against the\ntheory of Latin originals may be quoted; it is furnished by the well\nknown collection of Latin Lives known as the Codex Salmanticensis, to\nwhich are appended brief marginal notes in mixed middle Irish and Latin.\nOne such note to the Life of St. Cuangus of Lismore (recte Liathmore)\nrequests a prayer for him who has translated the Life out of the Irish\ninto Latin.  If one of the Lives, and this a typical or characteristic\nLife, be a translation, we may perhaps assume that the others, or most\nof them, are translations also.  In any case we may assume as certain\nthat there were original Irish materials or data from which the formal\nLives (Irish or Latin) were compiled.\n\nThe Latin Lives are contained mainly in four great collections. The\nfirst and probably the most important of these is in the Royal Library\nat Brussels, included chiefly in a large MS. known as 'Codex\nSalmanticensis' from the fact that it belonged in the seventeenth\ncentury to the Irish College of Salamanca.  The second collection is in\nMarsh's Library, Dublin, and the third in Trinity College Library.  The\ntwo latter may for practical purposes be regarded as one, for they are\nsister MSS.--copied from the same original.  The Marsh's Library\ncollection is almost certainly, teste Plummer, the document referred to\nby Colgan as Codex Kilkenniensis and it is quite certainly the Codex\nArdmachanus of Fleming.  The fourth collection (or the third, if we take\nas one the two last mentioned,) is in the Bodleian at Oxford amongst\nwhat are known as the Rawlinson MSS.  Of minor importance, for one\nreason or another, are the collections of the Franciscan Library,\nMerchants' Quay, Dublin, and in Maynooth College respectively.  The\nfirst of the enumerated collections was published 'in extenso,' about\ntwenty-five years since, by the Marquis of Bute, while recently the gist\nof all the Latin collections has been edited with rare scholarship by\nRev. Charles Plummer of Oxford.  Incidentally may be noted the one\ndefect in Mr. Plummer's great work--its author's almost irritating\ninsistence on pagan origins, nature myths, and heathen survivals.\nBesides the Marquis of Bute and Plummer, Colgan and the Bollandists have\npublished some Latin Lives, and a few isolated \"Lives\" have been\npublished from time to time by other more or less competent editors.\n\nThe Irish Lives, though more numerous than the Latin, are less\naccessible.  The chief repertorium of the former is the Burgundian or\nRoyal Library, Brussels.  The MS. collection at Brussels appears to have\noriginally belonged to the Irish Franciscans of Louvain and much of it\nis in the well-known handwriting of Michael O'Clery.  There are also\nseveral collections of Irish Lives in Ireland--in the Royal Irish\nAcademy, for instance, and Trinity College Libraries.  Finally, there\nare a few Irish Lives at Oxford and Cambridge, in the British Museum,\nMarsh's Library, &c., and in addition there are many Lives in private\nhands.  In this connection it can be no harm, and may do some good, to\nnote that an apparently brisk, if unpatriotic, trade in Irish MSS.\n(including of course \"Lives\" of Saints) is carried on with the United\nStates.  Wealthy, often ignorant, Irish-Americans, who are unable to\nread them, are making collections of Irish MSS. and rare Irish books, to\nIreland's loss.  Some Irish MSS. too, including Lives of Saints, have\nbeen carried away as mementoes of the old land by departing emigrants.\n\nThe date or period at which the Lives (Latin and Irish) were written is\nmanifestly, for half a dozen good reasons, a question of the utmost\nimportance to the student of the subject.  Alas, that the question has\nto some extent successfully defied quite satisfactory solution.  We can,\nso far, only conjecture--though the probabilities seem strong and the\ngrounds solid.  The probabilities are that the Latin Lives date as a\nrule from the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when they were put into\nsomething like their present form for reading (perhaps in the refectory)\nin the great religious houses.  They were copied and re-copied during\nthe succeeding centuries and the scribes according to their knowledge,\ndevotion or caprice made various additions, subtractions and occasional\nmultiplications.  The Irish Lives are almost certainly of a somewhat\nearlier date than the Latin and are based partly (i.e. as regards the\nbulk of the miracles) on local tradition, and partly (i.e. as regards\nthe purely historical element) on the authority of written materials.\nThey too were, no doubt, copied and interpolated much as were the Latin\nLives.  The present copies of Irish Lives date as a rule from the\nsixteenth and seventeenth centuries only, and the fact that the Latin\nand the Irish Life (where there is this double biography) sometimes\nagree very perfectly may indicate that the Latin translation or Life is\nvery late.\n\nThe chief published collections of Irish Saints' Lives may be set down\nas seven, scil.:--five in Latin and one each in Irish and English.  The\nLatin collections are the Bollandists', Colgan's, Messingham's,\nFleming's, and Plummer's; the Irish collection is Stokes' (\"Lives of\nSaints from the Book of Lismore\") and the English is of course\nO'Hanlon's.\n\nMost striking, probably, of the characteristics of the \"Lives\" is their\nvery evident effort to exalt and glorify the saint at any cost.  With\nthis end of glorification in view the hagiographer is prepared to\nswallow everything and record anything.  He has, in fact, no critical\nsense and possibly he would regard possession of such a sense as rather\nan evil thing and use of it as irreverent.  He does not, as a\nconsequence, succeed in presenting us with a very life-like or\nconvincing portrait of either the man or the saint.  Indeed the saint,\nas drawn in the Lives, is, as already hinted, a very unsaintlike\nindividual--almost as ready to curse as to pray and certainly very much\nmore likely to smite the aggressor than to present to him the other\ncheek.  In the text we shall see St. Mochuda, whose Life is a specially\nsane piece of work, cursing on the same occasion, first, King Blathmac\nand the Prince of Cluain, then, the rich man Cronan who sympathised with\nthe eviction, next an individual named Dubhsulach who winked insolently\nat him, and finally the people of St. Columba's holy city of Durrow who\nhad stirred up hostile feeling against him. Even gentle female saints\ncan hurl an imprecation too.  St. Laisrech, for instance, condemned the\nlands of those who refused her tribute, to--nettles, elder shrub, and\ncorncrakes!  It is pretty plain that the compilers of the lives had some\nprerogatives, claims or rights to uphold--hence this frequent insistence\non the evil of resisting the Saint and presumably his successors.\n\nOne characteristic of the Irish ascetics appears very clear through all\nthe exaggeration and all the biographical absurdity; it is their spirit\nof intense mortification.  To understand this we have only to study one\nof the ancient Irish Monastic Rules or one of the Irish Penitentials as\nedited by D'Achery (\"Spicilegium\") or Wasserschleben (\"Irische\nKanonensamerlung\"). Severest fasting, unquestioning obedience and\nperpetual self renunciation were inculcated by the Rules and we have\nample evidence that they were observed with extraordinary fidelity. The\nRule of Maelruin absolutely forbade the use of meat or of beer.  Such a\nprohibition a thousand years ago was an immensely more grievous thing\nthan it would sound to-day.  Wheaten bread might partially supply the\nplace of meat to-day, but meat was easier to procure than bread in the\neighth century.  Again, a thousand years ago, tea or coffee there was\nnone and even milk was often difficult or impossible to procure in\nwinter.  So severe in fact was the fast that religious sometimes died of\nit. Bread and water being found insufficient to sustain life and health,\ngruel was substituted in some monasteries and of this monastic gruel\nthere were three varieties:--(a) \"gruel upon water\" in which the liquid\nwas so thick that the meal reached the surface, (b) \"gruel between two\nwaters\" in which the meal, while it did not rise to the surface, did not\nquite fall to the bottom, and (c) \"gruel under water\" which was so weak\nand so badly boiled that he meal easily fell to the bottom.  In the case\nof penitents the first brand of gruel was prescribed for light offences,\nthe second kind for sins of ordinary gravity, and the \"gruel under\nwater\" for extraordinary crimes (vid. Messrs. Gwynne and Purton on the\nRule of Maelruin, &c.)  The most implicit, exact and prompt obedience\nwas prescribed and observed.  An overseer of Mochuda's monastery at\nRahen had occasion to order by name a young monk called Colman to do\nsomething which involved his wading into a river.  Instantly a dozen\nColmans plunged into the water.  Instances of extraordinary penance\nabound, beside which the austerities of Simon Stylites almost pale.  The\nIrish saints' love of solitude was also a very marked characteristic.\nDesert places and solitary islands of the ocean possessed an apparently\nwonderful fascination for them.  The more inaccessible or forbidding the\nisland the more it was in request as a penitential retreat.  There is\nhardly one of the hundred islands around the Irish coast which, one time\nor another, did not harbour some saint or solitary upon its rocky bosom.\n\nThe testimony of the \"Lives\" to the saints' love and practice of prayer\nis borne out by the evidence of more trustworthy documents.  Besides\nprivate prayers, the whole psalter seems to have been recited each day,\nin three parts of fifty psalms each. In addition, an immense number of\nPater Nosters was prescribed. The office and prayers were generally\npretty liberally interspersed with genuflexions or prostrations, of\nwhich a certain anchorite performed as many as seven hundred daily.\nAnother penitential action which accompanied prayer was the\n'cros-figul.'  This was an extension of the arms in the shape of a\ncross; if anyone wants to know how difficult a practice this is let him\ntry it for, say, fifteen minutes.  Regarding recitation of the Divine\nOffice it was of counsel, and probably of precept, that is should not be\nfrom memory merely, but that the psalms should all be read.  For this a\ngood reason was given by Maelruin, i.e. that the recitation might engage\nthe eye as well as the tongue and thought.  An Irish homily refers to\nthe mortification of the saints and religious of the time as martyrdom,\nof which it distinguishes three kinds--red, white, and blue.  Red\nmartyrdom was death for the faith; white martyrdom was the discipline of\nfasting, labour and bodily austerities; while blue martyrdom was\nabnegation of the will and heartfelt sorrow for sin.\n\nOne of the puzzles of Irish hagiology is the great age attributed to\ncertain saints--periods of two hundred, three hundred, and even four\nhundred years.  Did the original compilers of the Life intend this?\nWhatever the full explanation be the writers of the Lives were clearly\nanimated by a desire to make their saint cotemporary and, if possible, a\ndisciple, of one or other of the great monastic founders, or at any rate\nto prove him a pupil of one of the great schools of Erin.  There was\nspecial anxiety to connect the saint with Bangor or Clonard.  To effect\nthe connection in question it was sometimes necessary to carry the life\nbackwards, at other times to carry it forwards, and occasionally to\nlengthen it both backwards and forwards.  Dr. Chas. O'Connor gives a not\nvery convincing explanation of the three-hundred-year \"Lives,\" scil.:--\nthat the saint lived in three centuries--during the whole of one century\nand in the end and beginning respectively of the preceding and\nsucceeding centuries. This explanation, even if satisfactory for the\nthree-hundred-year Lives, would not help at all towards the Lives of\nfour hundred years.  A common explanation is that the scribe mistook\nnumerals in the MS. before him and wrote the wrong figures.  There is no\ndoubt that copying is a fruitful source of error as regards numerals.\nIt is much more easy to make a mistake in a numeral than in a letter;\nthe context will enable one to correct the letter, while it will give\nhim no clue as regards a numeral.  On the subject of the alleged\nlongevity of Irish Saints Anscombe has recently been elaborating in\n'Eriu' a new and very ingenious theory.  Somewhat unfortunately the\nauthor happens to be a rather frequent propounder of ingenious theories.\nHis explanation is briefly--the use and confusion of different systems\nof chronology.  He alleges that the original writers used what is called\nthe Diocletian Era or the \"Era of the Martyrs\" as the 'terminus a quo'\nof their chronological system and, in support of his position, he\nadduces the fact that this, which was the most ancient of all\necclesiastical eras, was the era used by the schismatics in Britain and\nthat it was introduced by St. Patrick.\n\nAs against the contradiction, anachronisms and extravagances of the\nLives we have to put the fact that generally speaking the latter\ncorroborate one another, and that they receive extern corroboration from\nthe annals.  Such disagreements as occur are only what one would expect\nto find in documents dealing with times so remote.  To the credit side\ntoo must go the fact that references to Celtic geography and to local\nhistory are all as a rule accurate.  Of continental geography and\nhistory however the writers of the Lives show much ignorance, but\nscarcely quite as much as the corresponding ignorance shown by\nContinental writers about Ireland.\n\nThe missionary methods of the early Irish Church and its monastic or\nsemi-monastic system are frequently referred to as peculiar, if not\nunique.  A missionary system more or less similar must however have\nprevailed generally in that age.  What other system could have been\nnearly as successful amongst a pagan people circumstanced as the Irish\nwere?  The community system alone afforded the necessary mutual\nencouragement and protection to the missionaries.  Each monastic station\nbecame a base of operations. The numerous diminutive dioceses,\nquasi-dioceses, or tribal churches, were little more than extensive\nparishes and the missionary bishops were little more in jurisdiction\nthan glorified parish priests.  The bishop's 'muintir,' that is the\nmembers of his household, were his assistant clergy.  Having converted\nthe chieftain or head of the tribe the missionary had but to instruct\nand baptise the tribesmen and to erect churches for them.  Land and\nmaterials for the church were provided by the Clan or the Clan's head,\nand lands for support of the missioner or of the missionary community\nwere allotted just as they had been previously allotted to the pagan\npriesthood; in fact there can be but little doubt that the lands of the\npagan priests became in many cases the endowment of the Christian\nestablishment.  It is not necessary, by the way, to assume that the\nChurch in Ireland as Patrick left it, was formally monastic. The clergy\nlived in community, it is true, but it was under a somewhat elastic\nrule, which was really rather a series of Christian and Religious\ncounsels.  A more formal monasticism had developed by the time of\nMochuda; this was evidently influenced by the spread of St. Benedict's\nRule, as Patrick's quasi-monasticism, nearly two centuries previously,\nhad been influenced by Pachomius and St. Basil, through Lerins.  The\nreal peculiarity in Ireland was that when the community-missionary\nsystem was no longer necessary it was not abandoned as in other lands\nbut was rather developed and emphasised.\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION--ST. MOCHUDA\n\n\n\"It was he (Mochuda) that had the famous congregation\nconsisting of seven hundred and ten persons; an angel\nused to address every third man of them.\"\n(Martyrology of Donegal).\n\nIn some respects the Life of Mochuda here presented is in sharp contrast\nto the corresponding Life of Declan.  The former document is in all\nessentials a very sober historical narrative--accurate wherever we can\ntest it, credible and harmonious on the whole.  Philologically, to be\nsure, it is of little value,--certainly a much less valuable Life than\nDeclan's; historically, however (and question of the pre-Patrician\nmission apart) it is immensely the more important document.  On one\npoint do we feel inclined to quarrel with its author, scil.:  that he\nhas not given us more specifically the motives underlying Mochuda's\nexpulsion from Rahen--one of the three worst counsels ever given in\nErin.  Reading between his lines we spell, jealousy--'invidia\nreligiosorum.'  Another jealousy too is suggested--the mutual distrust\nof north and south which has been the canker-worm of Irish political\nlife for fifteen hundred years, making intelligible if not justifying\nthe indignation of a certain distinguished Irishman who wanted to know\nthe man's name, in order to curse its owner, who first divided Ireland\ninto two provinces.\n\nThree different Lives of Mochuda are known to the present writer. Two of\nthem are contained in a MS. at Brussels (C/r. Bindon, p. 8, 13) and of\none of these there is a copy in a MS. of Dineen's in the Royal Irish\nAcademy (Stowe Collection, A. IV, I.)  Dineen appears to have been a\nCork or Kerry man and to have worked under the patronage of the rather\nnoted Franciscan Father Francis Matthew (O'Mahony), who was put to death\nat Cork by Inchiquin in 1644.  The bald text of Dineen's \"Life\" was\npublished a few years since, without translation, in the 'Irish Rosary.'\nThe corresponding Brussels copy is in Michael O'Clery's familiar hand.\nIn it occurs the strange pagan-flavoured story of the British Monk\nConstantine.  O'Clery's copy was made in January, 1627, at the Friary of\nDrouish from the Book of Tadhg O'Ceanan and it is immediately followed\nby a tract entitled--\"Do Macaib Ua Suanac.\"  The bell of Mochuda, by the\nway, which the saint rang against Blathmac, was called the 'glassan' of\nHui Suanaig in later times.\n\nThe \"Life\" here printed, which follows the Latin Life so closely that\none seems a late translation of the other, is as far as the editor is\naware, contained in a single MS. only.  This is M. 23, 50, R.I.A., in\nthe handwriting of John Murphy, \"na Raheenach.\" Murphy was a Co. Cork\nschoolmaster, scribe, and poet, of whom a biographical sketch will be\nfound prefixed by Mr. R. A. Foley to a collection of Murphy's poems that\nhe has edited.  The sobriquet, \"na Raheenach,\" is really a kind of\ntribal designation.  The \"Life\" is very full but is in its present form\na comparatively late production; it was transcribed by Murphy between\n1740 and 1750.  It is much to be regretted that the scribe tells us\nnothing of his original.  Murphy, but the way, seems to have specialised\nto some extent in saint's Lives and to have imbued his disciples with\nsomething of the same taste.  One of his pupils was Maurice O'Connor, a\nscribe and shipwright of Cove, to whom we owe the Life of St. Ciaran of\nSaighir printed in \"Silva Gadelica.\"  The reasons of choice for\npublication here of the present Life are avowedly non-philological; the\nmotive for preference is that it is the longest of the three Lives and\nfor historical purposes the most important.\n\nThe Life presents considerable evidence of historical reliability; its\ngeography is detailed and correct; its references to contemporaries of\nMochuda are accurate on the whole and there are few inconsistencies or\nnone.  Moreover it sheds some new light on that chronic puzzle--\norganisation of the Celtic Church of Ireland.  Mochuda, head of a great\nmonastery at Rahen, is likewise a kind of pluralist Parish Priest with a\nparish in Kerry, administered in his name by deputed ecclesiastics, and\nother parishes similarly administered in Kerrycurrihy, Rostellan, West\nMuskerry, and Spike Island, Co. Cork.  When a chief parishioner lies\nseriously ill in distant Corca Duibhne, Mochuda himself comes all the\nway from the centre of Ireland to administer the last rites to the dying\nman, and so on.\n\nThe relations of the people to the Church and its ministers are in many\nrespects not at all easy to understand.  Oblations, for instance, of\nthemselves and their territory, &c., by chieftains are frequent.\nOblations of monasteries are made in a similar way.  Probably this\nsignifies no more than that the chief region or monastery put itself\nunder the saint's jurisdiction or rule or both.  That there were other\nchurches too than the purely monastic appears from offerings to Mochuda\nof already existing churches, v.g. from the Clanna Ruadhan in Decies,\n&c.\n\nLismore, the most famous of Mochuda's foundations, became within a\ncentury of the saint's death, one of the great monastic schools of Erin,\nattracting to his halls, or rather to its boothies, students from all\nIreland and even--so it is claimed--from lands beyond the seas.  King\nAlfrid [Aldfrith] of Northumbria, for instance, is said to have partaken\nof Lismore's hospitality, and certainly Cormac of Cashel, Malachy and\nCelsus of Armagh and many others of the most distinguished of the Scots\npartook thereof. The roll of Lismore's calendared saints would require,\ndid the matter fall within our immediate province, more than one page to\nitself.  Some interesting reference to Mochuda and his holy city occur\nin the Life of one of his disciples, St. Colman Maic Luachain, edited\nfor the R.I.A. by Professor Kuno Meyer.\n\nThere are many indications in the present Life that, at one period, and\nin the time of Carthach, the western boundary of Decies extended far\nbeyond the line at present recognised. Similar indications are furnished\nby the martyrologies, &c.; for instance, the martyrology of Donegal\nunder November 28th records of \"the three sons of Bochra\" that \"they are\nof Archadh Raithin in Ui Mic Caille in Deisi Mumhan\" and Ibid, p.\nxxxvii, it is stated \"i ccondae Corcaige ataid na Desi Muman.\"  Not only\nImokilly but all Co. Cork, east of Queenstown [Cobh] and north to the\nBlackwater, seems to have acknowledged Mochuda's jurisdiction.  At\nRathbreasail accordingly (teste Keating, on the authority of the Book of\nCloneneigh) the Diocese of Lismore is made to extend to Cork,--probably\nover the present baronies of Imokilly, Kinatallon, and Barrymore.  That\npart, at least, of Condons and Clangibbon was likewise included is\ninferrible from the fact that, as late as the sixteenth century\nvisitations, Kilworth, founded by Colman Maic Luachain, ranked as a\nparish in the diocese of Lismore.  Further evidence pointing in the same\ndirection is furnished by Clondulane, &c., represented in the present\nLife as within Carthach's jurisdiction.\n\nThe Rule of St. Carthach is one of the few ancient Irish so-called\nmonastic Rules surviving.  It is in reality less a \"rule,\" as the latter\nis now understood, than a series of Christian and religious counsels\ndrawn up by a spiritual master for his disciples.  It must not be\nunderstood from this that each religious house did not have it formal\nregulations.  The latter however seem to have depended largely upon the\nabbot's spirit, will or discretion.  The existing \"Rules\" abound in\nallusions to forgotten practices and customs and, to add to their\nobscurity, their language is very difficult--sometimes, like the\nlanguage of the Brehon Laws, unintelligible.  The rule ascribed to\nMochuda is certainly a document of great antiquity and may well have\nemanated from the seventh century and from the author whose name it\nbears.  The tradition of Lismore and indeed of the Irish Church is\nconstant in attributing it to him.  Copies of the Rule are found in\nnumerous MSS. but many of them are worthless owing to the incompetence\nof the scribes to whom the difficult Irish of the text was\nunintelligible.  The text in the Leabhar Breac has been made the basis\nof his edition of the Rule by Mac Eaglaise, a writer in the 'Irish\nEcclesiastical Record' (1910).  Mac Eaglaise's edition, though it is not\nall that could be desired, is far the most satisfactory which has yet\nappeared.  Previous editions of the Rule or part of it comprise one by\nDr. Reeves in his tract on the Culdees, one by Kuno Meyer in the 'Gaelic\nJournal' (Vol. V.) and another in 'Archiv fuer C.L.' (3 Bund. 1905), and\nanother again in 'Eriu' (Vol. 2, p. 172), besides a free translation of\nthe whole rule by O'Curry in the 'I. R. Record' for 1864.  The text of\nthe 'Record' edition of 1910 is from Leabhar Breac collated with other\nMSS.  The order in the various copies is not the same and some copies\ncontain material which is wanting in others.  The \"Rule\" commences with\nthe Ten Commandments, then it enumerates the obligations respectively of\nbishops, abbots, priests, monks, and culdees [anchorites]. Finally there\nis a section on the order of meals and on the refectory and another on\nthe obligations of a king.  The following excerpt on the duties of an\nabbot ('I. E. Record' translation) will illustrate the style and spirit\nof the Rule:\n\n\"Of the Abbot of a Church.\n    1.--If you be the head man of a Church noble is the power,\nbetter for you that you be just who take the heirship of the\nking.\n    2.--If you are the head man of a Church noble is the\nobligation, preservation of the rights of the Church from the\nsmall to the great.\n    3.--What Holy Church commands preach then with diligence;\nwhat you order to each one do it yourself.\n    4.--As you love your own soul love the souls of all.  Yours\nthe magnification of every good [and] banishment of every evil.\n    5.--Be not a candle under a bushel [Luke 11:33].  Your\nlearning without a cloud over it.  Yours the healing of every\nhost both strong and weak.\n    6.--Yours to judge each one according to grade and according\nto deed; he will advise you at judgment before the king.\n.    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .    .\n    10.--Yours to rebuke the foolish, to punish the hosts,\nturning disorder into order [restraint] of the stubborn,\nobstinate, wretched.\"\n\nReservation of the Coarbship of Mochuda at Lismore in favour of Kerrymen\nis an extremely curious if not unique provision.  How long it continued\nin force we do not know.  Probably it endured to the twelfth century and\npossibly the rule was not of strict interpretation.  Christian\nO'Connarchy, who was bishop of Lismore in the twelfth century, is\nregarded as a native of Decies, though the contrary is slightly\nsuggested by his final retirement to Kerry.  The alleged prophecy\nconcerning Kerry men and the coarbship points to some rule, regulation\nor law of Mochuda.\n\n\n\n\nLIFE OF ST. MOCHUDA\nor\n\"BEATA MOCUDA\"\n\nThe renowned bishop, Carthach, commonly called Mochuda, was of the\nterritory of Ciarraighe Luachra [North Kerry] and of the race of Fergus\nMac Roigh.\n\nThe illustrious bishop, who is generally known as Mochuda, was of the\nCiarraighe Luachra; to be exact--he was of the line of Fergus Mac Roigh,\nwho held the kingship of Ulster, till the time that he gave the kingship\nto a woman for a year and did not get it back when the year was over.\nHis descendants are now to be found throughout various provinces of\nIreland.  He fell himself, through the treachery of Oilioll, king of\nConnaght, and the latter's jealousy of his wife, Meadbh, daughter of\nEochaid Feidhleach.  Finghen Mac Gnaoi of Ciarraighe Luachra was father\nof Mochuda, and his mother was Mead, daughter of Finghin, of Corca\nDuibhne, in the vicinity of the stream called Laune in the western part\nof Ireland.  The forthcoming birth of Mochuda was revealed to St.\nComhghall by an angel, announcing--\"There will be conceived a child in\nthe western part of Erin, and Carthach will be his baptismal name and he\nwill be beloved of God and men--in heaven and on earth.  He will come to\nyou seeking direction as to a proposed pilgrimage to Rome--but you must\nnot permit the journey for the Lord has assigned him to you; but let him\nremain with you a whole year.\"  All this came to pass, as foretold.  In\nsimilar manner the future Mochuda was foretold to St. Brendan by an\nangel who declared:  \"There will come to you a wonder-working brother\nwho will be the patron of you and your kindred for ever; the region of\nCiarraighe will be divided between you and him, and Carthach will be his\nname; to multitudes his advent will be cause for joy and he will gain\nmultitudes for heaven.  His first city will be Raithen [Rahen or Rahan]\nin the region of Fircheall, territory of Meath and central plain of\nIreland; this will become a place revered of men, and revered and famous\nwill be his second city and church, scil.:--Lismore, which shall possess\nlordship and great pre-eminence.\"\n\nOne day when there was a large meeting of people at a certain place in\nKerry, the men and women who were present saw descending a fiery globe,\nwhich rested on the head of Mochuda's mother, at that time pregnant of\nthe future saint.  The ball of fire did no one any injury but\ndisappeared before it did injury to anyone. All those who beheld this\nmarvel wondered thereat and speculated what it could portend.  This is\nwhat it did mean:--that the graces of the Holy Spirit had visited this\nwoman and her holy child unborn.\n\nMochuda's father was a rich and powerful chieftain owning two strong\nlioses--one, on the south side of Slieve Mish, and the other, in which\nMochuda first saw the light, beside the River Maing [Maine].  Both\nplaces were blessed for sake of the Saint, who was conceived in one of\nthem and born in the other; it is even said that no evil disposed or\nvicious person can live in either.  Carthage in due course was sent to\nbe baptised, and, on the way, the servant who bore the infant, meeting a\nsaintly man named Aodhgan, asked him to perform the ceremony.  There was\nhowever no water in the place, but a beautiful well, which burst forth\nfor the occasion and still remains, yielded a supply.  With the water of\nthis well the infant was baptised and Carthach, as the angel had\nforetold, was the name given him.  Nevertheless 'Mochuda' is the name by\nwhich he was commonly known, because he was so called, through affection\nand regard, by his master (St. Carthach Senior).  Many scarcely know\nthat he has any other name than Mochuda and it is lawful to write either\nMochuda or Carthach.  Speaking prophetically Aodhgan said of him:--\"This\nchild whom I have baptised will become famous and he will be beloved by\nGod and men.\"  That prophecy has been fulfilled, for Mochuda was\ngraceful of figure and handsome of features as David, he was master of\nhis passions as Daniel, and mild and gentle like Moses.  His parents\nhowever despised him because he valued not earthly vanities and in his\nregard were verified the words of David:--\"Pater meus et mater mea\nderliquerunt me, Dominus autem assumpsit me [Psalm 26(27):10] (For my\nfather and my mother have left me and the Lord hath taken me up).\"  Like\nDavid too--who kept the sheep of his father--Mochuda, with other youths,\nherded his father's swine in his boyhood.\n\nOn a certain day as Mochuda, with his companion swineherds and their\ncharges, was in the vicinity of the River Maing, he heard that the king\nof Ciarraighe Luachra was at his residence called Achadh-di; he waited\non the king by whom he was kindly and politely received.  The king,\nwhose name was Maoltuile and who wished to see Mochuda frequently,\ninvited the youth to come every day to the royal lios and to bring with\nhim his companions, who would be made welcome for his sake.  One evening\nas Mochuda sate in the king's presence Maoltuile gazed so long and so\nintently at the youth that the queen (Dand, daughter of Maolduin Mac\nAodha Beannan, king of Munster) reproved her husband asking why he\nstared every evening at the boy.  \"O wife,\" answered the king, \"if you\nbut saw what I see, you would never gaze at anything else, for I behold\na wondrous golden chain about his neck and a column of fire reaching\nfrom his head to the heavens, and since I first beheld these marvels my\naffection for the boy has largely increased.\"  \"Then,\" said the queen,\n\"let him sit there beside you.\"  Thenceforth the youth sate as\nsuggested.  Sometimes Mochuda herded the swine in the woods and at other\ntimes he remained with the king in his court.\n\nOne day as Mochuda was keeping his herd as usual beside the river\nalready alluded to, he heard the bishop and his clerics pass by,\nchanting psalms as they went along.  The Spirit of God touched the boy's\nheart and leaving his pigs Mochuda followed the procession as far as the\nmonastery called Tuaim [Druim Fertain] [into which the clerics entered].\nAnd as the bishop and his household sate down to eat, Mochuda, unknown\nto them, concealed himself--sitting in the shadow of the doorway.\nMeanwhile the king, Maoltuile, was troubled about the boy, noticing his\nabsence [from the homestead at Achaddi] that evening and not knowing the\ncause thereof.  He immediately sent messengers to seek the youth\nthroughout the country, and one of these found him sitting, as\nindicated, in the shadow of the doorway of the bishop's house. The\nmessenger took Mochuda with him back to the king.  The latter questioned\nhim:--\"My child, why have you stayed away in this manner?\"  Mochuda\nreplied, \"Sire, this is why I have stayed away--through attraction of\nthe holy chant of the bishop and clergy; I have never heard anything so\nbeautiful as this; the clerics sang as they went along the whole way\nbefore me; they sang until they arrived at their house, and thenceforth\nthey sang till they went to sleep.  The bishop however remained by\nhimself far into the night praying by himself when the others had\nretired.  And I wish, O king, that I might learn [their psalms and\nritual].\"  Hearing this the king at once sent a message to the bishop\nrequesting the latter to come to him.\n\nAbout this time Mochuda's father gave a feast in the king's honour and\nas the company were at supper the king calling Mochuda before him\noffered him a shield, sword, javelin, and princely robe, saying:  \"Take\nthese and be henceforth a knight to me as your father has been.\"  But\nMochuda declined the offer.  \"What is it,\" asked the king, \"that you\nwill accept, so that [whatever it be] I may give it to you?\"  Mochuda\nanswered:--\"I do not long for anything of earth--only that I be allowed\nto learn the psalms of the clerics which I heard them sing.\"  In this\nanswer the king discerned the working of divine grace, whereupon he\npromised the youth the favour he asked for.  Shortly afterwards the\nbishop, Carthach, whom we have mentioned as sent for by the king,\narrived, and to him the latter entrusted Mochuda to be instructed in\nreading and writing.  With great joy the bishop undertook his charge for\nhe saw that his pupil was marked by grace, and under the bishop's\nguidance and tutelage Mochuda remained till his promotion to the\npriesthood.\n\nMochuda was very handsome of features with the result that at different\ntimes during his youth maidens to the number of thirty were so enamoured\nof him that they could not conceal their feeling.  But Mochuda prayed\nfor them, and obtained for them by his prayers that their carnal love\nshould be turned into a spiritual.  They afterwards became consecrated\nreligious and within what to-day is his parish he built them cells and\nmonasteries which the holy virgins placed under his protection and\njurisdiction.\n\nFinntan Mac Cartan, bringing with him an infant for baptism came to\nBishop Carthach.  The latter said to him:--\"Let the young priest there\nwho was ordained to-day baptise the child.\" Whereupon Finntan handed the\ninfant to the young priest.  Mochuda enquired the name he was to impose,\nand the father answered--Fodhran.  Having administered baptism Mochuda\ntaking the infant's hand prophesied concerning the babe--\"This hand will\nbe strong in battle and will win hostages and submission of the Clan\nTorna whose country lies in mid-Kerry from Sliabh Luachra [Slieve\nLougher] to the sea.  From his seed, moreover, will spring kings to the\nend of time, unless indeed they refuse me due allegiance, and if, at any\ntime, they incur displeasure of my successors their kingship and\ndominion will come to an end.\" This prophecy has been fulfilled.\n\nSometime afterwards Mochuda with his master, Carthach, visited King\nMaoltuile, whom they found at a place called Feorainn, near Tralee, from\nwhich the lords and kings of Kerry take their name. Said Bishop\nCarthach:--\"Here, Sire, is the youth you gave me to train; he is a good\nscholar and he has studied the holy writings with much success.  I have\nordained him a priest and (his) grace is manifest in many ways.\"  \"What\nrecompense do you desire for your labour?\" asked the king.  \"Only,\"\nreplied Carthach, \"that you would place yourself and your posterity\nunder the spiritual jurisdiction of this young priest, the servant of\nGod.\"  The king, however, hesitated--because of Mochuda's youth.  Soon\nas Carthach perceived this he himself inclined to Mochuda and bending\nhis knee before him exclaimed:--\"I hereby give myself, my parish and\nmonastery to God and to Mochuda for ever.\"  Touched by the bishop's\nexample the king prostrated himself before Mochuda and pledged to God\nand to him, his soul and body and posterity to the end of time.  Then\nMochuda placed his foot upon the king's neck and measured the royal body\nwith his foot.  Against this proceeding of Mochuda's a member of the\nking's party protested in abusive and insulting terms--\"It is a haughty\nact of yours, laying your foot upon the king's neck, for be it known to\nyou the body on which you trample is worthy of respect.\"  On hearing\nthis Mochuda ceased to measure the king and declared:--\"The neck upon\nwhich I have set my heel shall never be decapitated and the body which I\nhave measured with my foot shall not be slain and but for your\ninterference there would not be wanting anything to him or his seed for\never.\"  Addressing (specially) the interrupter, he prophesied:--\"You and\nyour posterity will be for ever contemptible among the tribes.\"\nBlessing the king he promised him prosperity here and heaven hereafter\nand assured him:--\"If any one of your posterity contemn my successors\nrefusing me my lawful dues he will never reign over the kingdom of\nKerry.\"  This prophecy has been fulfilled.\n\nNext, Mochuda, at the suggestion of his master, the bishop, and the King\nMaoltuile, built a famous cell called Kiltulach [Kiltallagh] at a place\nbetween Sliabh Mis and the River Maing in the southern part of Kerry.\nHere his many miracles won him the esteem of all.  In that region he\nfound two bishops already settled before him, scil.:--Dibhilin and\nDomailgig.  These became envious of the honour paid him and the fame he\nacquired, and they treated him evilly.  Whereupon he went to Maoltuile\nand told him the state of affairs.  Soon as the king heard the tale he\ncame with Mochuda from the place where he then was on the bank of the\nLuimnech and stayed not till they reached the summit of Sliabh Mis, when\nhe addressed Mochuda:  \"Leave this confined region for the present to\nthe envy and jealousy of the bishops and hereafter it will become yours\nand your coarbs' to the end of time.\"  The advice commended itself to\nMochuda and he thanked the king for it.  Thereupon he abandoned his cell\nto the aforesaid bishops and determined to set out alone as a pilgrim to\nthe northern part of Ireland.\n\nIn the meantime an angel visited Comghall and repeated to him what had\nbeen foretold him already--that there should come to him a young priest\ndesirous for Christ's sake of pilgrimage beyond the seas--that Comghall\nshould dissuade him and, instead, retain the stranger with him for a\nyear at Bangor.  \"And how am I to recognise him?\" asked Comghall.  The\nangel answered:--\"Whom you shall see going from the church to the\nguest-house\" (for it was Mochuda's custom to visit the church first).\n[See note 1.] Comghall announced to his household that there was coming\nto them a distinguished stranger, well-beloved of God, of whose advent\nan angel had twice foretold him.  Some time later Mochuda arrived at\nComghall's establishment, and he went first to the monastery and\nComghall recognised him and bade him welcome.  In that place Mochuda\nremained a whole year, as the angel had said, and at the end of the year\nhe returned to his own country where he built many cells and churches\nand worked many wonders, winning many souls to religion and to good\nworks.  Many persons moreover placed themselves, their children, and\ntheir kindred under his jurisdiction, and the great parishes of their\nown territory were assigned to him, and finally the episcopate of Kerry\nbecame his.\n\nSubsequent to this Mochuda, having committed the care of his cell and\nparish to certain pious and suitable persons, set out himself,\naccompanied by a few disciples, through the south of Munster to visit\nthe Monastery of Ciaran Mac Fionntan at Rosgiallan [Rostellan].  From\nCiaran Mochuda enquired, where--in south Munster (as the angel had\nmentioned to Comghall)--the chief and most distinguished of these\nchurches should be.  Ciaran, who possessed the spirit of prophecy,\nreplied--\"You shall go first to Meath where you will found a famous\nchurch in the territory of Ibh Neill and there you will remain for forty\nyears.  You shall be driven thence into exile and you will return to\nMunster wherein will be your greatest and most renowned church.\"\nMochuda offered to place himself under the patronage and jurisdiction of\nCiaran:  \"Not so, shall it be,\" said Ciaran, \"but rather do I put myself\nand my church under you, for ever, reserving only that my son, Fuadhran,\nbe my successor in this place.\"  This Mochuda assented to and Fuadhran\ngoverned the monastic city for twenty years as Ciaran's successor in the\nabbacy.\n\nNext, Mochuda entered the territory of the Munster Decies where dwelt\nthe Clanna Ruadhain who placed themselves and all their churches under\nhim, and one Colman Mac Cobhthaigh a wealthy magnate of the region\ndonated extensive lands to Mochuda who placed them under devout persons\n--to hold for him.  Proceeding thence Mochuda took his way across Sliabh\nGua looking back from the summit of which he saw by the bank of the Nemh\n[Blackwater] angels ascending towards heaven and descending thence.  And\nthey took up with them to heaven a silver chair with a golden image\nthereon.  This was the place in which long afterwards he founded his\nfamous church and whence he departed himself to glory.\n\nHence Mochuda travelled to Molua Mac Coinche's monastery of Clonfert\n[Kyle], on the confines of Leinster and Munster.  He found Molua in the\nharvest field in the midst of a 'meitheal' [team] of reapers.  Before\nsetting out on this present journey of his Mochuda had, with one\nexception, dismissed all his disciples to their various homes for he,\nbut with a single companion, did not wish to enter the strange land\nostentatiously.  The single follower whom Mochuda had retained wishing\nto remain at Clonfert, said to St. Molua:  \"Holy father, I should wish\nto remain here with you.\"  Molua answered:--\"I shall permit you,\nbrother, if your pious master consents.\"  Mochuda, having dismissed so\nmany, would not make any difficulty about an individual, and so he gave\nthe monk his freedom.  Mochuda thereupon set out alone, which, Molua's\nmonks observing, they remark:--\"It were time for that aged man to remain\nin some monastery, for it is unbecoming such a (senior) monk to wander\nabout alone.\"  They did not know that he, of whom they spoke, was\nMochuda, for it was not the custom of the latter to make himself known\nto many.  \"Say not so,\" said Molua (to the censorious brethren), \"for\nthe day will come when our community and city will seem but\ninsignificant beside his--though now he goes alone; you do not know that\nhe is Mochuda whom many obey and whom many more will obey in times to\ncome.\"\n\nAs Mochuda went on his lonely way he met two monks who asked him whither\nhe was bound.  \"To Colman Elo,\" he answered.  Then said one of them to\nhim:--\"Take us with you as monks and subjects,\" for they judged him from\nhis countenance to be a holy man. Mochuda accepted the monks and they\njourneyed on together till they came to Colman's monastery [Lynally].\nMochuda said to Colman:  \"Father I would remain here with you.\"  \"Not\nso,\" replied Colman, \"but go you to a place called Rahen in this\nvicinity; that is the place ordained by God for your dwelling and you\nshall have there a large community in the service of God and from that\nplace you will get your first name--Mochuda of Rahen.\" Having said\nfarewell to Colman and obtained his blessing Mochuda, with his two\nmonks, set out for the place indicated and there in the beginning he\nbuilt a small cell and Colman and he often afterwards exchanged visits.\n\nColman had in the beginning--some time previous to Mochuda's advent--\ncontemplated establishing himself at Rahen and he had left there two or\nthree [bundles] of rods remarking to his disciples that another should\ncome after him for whom and not for himself God had destined this place.\nIt was with this material that Mochuda commenced to build his cell as\nColman had foretold in the first instance.  He erected later a great\nmonastery in which he lived forty years and had eight hundred and eighty\nseven religious under his guidance and rule.\n\nSubsequent to Mochuda's foundation of Rahen his miracles and the marvels\nhe wrought spread his fame far and wide through Ireland and through\nBritain, and multitudes came to him from various parts of those\ncountries to give themselves to the service of God under his guidance.\nIn the beginning he refused worldly gifts from others although his\nchurch was honoured and patronised by neighbouring kings and chieftains\nwho offered him lands and cattle and money and many other things.\nMochuda kept his monks employed in hard labour and in ploughing the\nground for he wanted them to be always humble.  Others, however, of the\nSaints of Erin did not force their monks to servile labour in this\nfashion.\n\nMochuda was consecrated bishop by many saints and from time to time he\nvisited his parish in Kerry, but as a rule he remained at Rahen with his\nmonks, for it is monks he had with him not clerics.\n\nOn a certain day in the (early) springtime there came to tempt him a\ndruid who said to him:--\"In the name of your God cause this apple-tree\nbranch to produce foliage.\"  Mochuda knew that it was in contempt for\ndivine power the druid proposed this, and the branch put forth leaves on\nthe instant.  The druid demanded \"In the name of your God, put blossom\non it.\"  Mochuda made the sign of the cross [over the twig] and it\nblossomed presently.  The druid persisted:--\"What profits blossom\nwithout fruit?\" [said the druid].  Mochuda, for the third time, blessed\nthe branch and it produced a quantity of fruit.  The druid said:--\n\"Follower of Christ, cause the fruit to ripen.\"  Mochuda blessed the\ntree and the fruit, fully ripe, fell to the earth.  The druid picked up\nan apple off the ground and examining it he saw it was quite sour,\nwhereupon he objected:--\"Such miracles as these are worthless since it\nleaves the fruit uneatable.\"  Mochuda blessed the apples and they all\nbecame sweet as honey, and in punishment of his opposition the magician\nwas deprived for a year of his eyesight. At the end of a year he came to\nMochuda and did penance, whereupon he received his sight back again and\nhe returned home rejoicing.\n\nOn another occasion there came to Mochuda a secular who brought with him\nhis deaf and dumb son whom he besought the saint to heal.  Mochuda\nprayed to God for him and said, \"My son, hear and speak.\"  The boy\nanswered immediately and said, \"Man of God, I give myself and my\ninheritance to you for ever,\" and thenceforth he possessed the use of\nall his senses and members.\n\nAnother day a young man who had contracted leprosy came to Mochuda\nshowing him his misery and his wretched condition.  The saint prayed for\nhim and he was restored to health.\n\nAt another time there came to Mochuda a man whose face was deformed.  He\nbesought the saint's aid and his face was healed upon the spot.\n\nOn yet another occasion in the springtime a poor man who dwelt some\ndistance from the monastery of Rahen, came to Mochuda, and asked the\nloan of two oxen and a ploughman to do a day's ploughing for him.  But\nMochuda, as we have already said, had no cattle, for it was the monks\nthemselves who dug and tilled the soil.  Mochuda summoned one of his\nlabourers named Aodhan whom he ordered to go into the nearest wood to\nbring back thence a pair of deer with him and go along with them to the\npoor man to do the spring work for him.  Aodhan did dutifully all that\nMochuda bade him--he found the two deer, went with the poor man and\nploughed for him till the work was completed when the deer returned to\ntheir habitat and Aodhan to Mochuda.\n\nOn another day there came to Mochuda a man troubled by the devil.\nMochuda cured him at once, driving the demons from him and the man went\nhis way thanking God and Mochuda.\n\nOnce, when the brethren were at work in the fields and in the kitchen,\nMochuda went to the mill to grind meal for the monk's use, and nine\nrobbers, who hated him, followed with the intention of murdering him.\nThe chief of the band sent each member of the gang to the mill in turn.\nNot one of them however could enter the mill because of a violent flame\nof fire which encircled the building round about, through the goodness\nof God protecting Mochuda from the robbers.  The latter, through the\nmill door, watched Mochuda who slept portion of the time and was awake\nanother portion.  And while he slept the mill stopped of itself, and\nwhile he was awake it went of its own accord.  The gang thereupon\nreturned to the chief and told him all they had seen, which, when he\nheard, he became enraged.  Then he hastened himself to the mill to kill\nMochuda.  But he experienced the same things as all the others and he\nwas unable to hurt Mochuda.  He returned to his followers and said to\nthem--\"Let us stay here till he comes out of the mill, for we need not\nfear that he will call help nor need we fear his arm.\"  Shortly\nafterwards Mochuda came out carrying his load.  The robbers rushed on\nhim, but they were unable to do him any injury for as each man of them\ntried to draw his weapon his hands became powerless, so he was unable to\nuse them.  Mochuda requested them to allow him pass with his burden and\nhe promised them on his credit and his word that he should return to\nthem when he had deposited the sack in safety. They took his word and he\nwent, deposited his bag of meal in the kitchen, and returned meekly to\nmartyrdom.  The brethren imagined he had gone to a quiet place for\nprayer as was his custom.  When he returned to the robbers they drew\ntheir weapons several times to kill him but they were unable to do so.\nSeeing this wonder they were moved to repentance and they gave\nthemselves to God and to Mochuda for ever and, till the time of their\ndeath, they remained under his guidance and rule and many subsequent\nedifying and famous acts of theirs are recorded.\n\nAn angel came to Mochuda at Rahen on another occasion announcing to him\nthe command of God that he should go that same day to Mac Fhiodaig, king\nof his own region of Kerry Luachra, and administer to him Holy Communion\nand Confession as he was on the point of death.  Mochuda asked the angel\nhow he could reach Kerry that day from Rahen.  The angel thereupon (for\nreply) took him up through the air in a fiery chariot until they arrived\nat the king's residence.  Mochuda administered Holy Communion and\nConfession and the king having bestowed generous alms upon him departed\nhence to glory.  Mochuda returned that same day to Rahen where he found\nthe community singing vespers.\n\nOn another occasion Mochuda visited Colman Elo at the latter's monastery\nof Lynally and requested Colman to come with him to consecrate for him\nhis cemetery at Rahen, for Colman, assisted by angels, was in the habit\nof consecrating cemeteries and God gave him the privilege that no one\nshould go to hell who was interred in a grave consecrated by him.\nColman said to him:--\"Return home and on the fifth day from now I shall\nfollow.\"  Mochuda returned home, where he remained till the fifth day,\nwhen, seeing that Colman had not arrived he came again to the latter.\n\"Father,\" said he, \"why have you not kept your promise?\"  To which\nColman replied, \"I came and an angel with me that day and consecrated\nyour cemetery.  Return now and you will find it marked (consecrated) on\nthe south side of your own cell.  Lay it out as it is there indicated\nand think not that its area is too small, because a larger will be\nconsecrated for you later, by the angels, in the southern part of Erin,\nnamely--in Lismore.\" Mochuda returned and found the cemetery duly marked\nas Colman had indicated.\n\nAbout the same time clerics came across Slieve Luachra in the territory\nof Kerry to the church of Ita, honoured [abbess] of Conall Gabhra.  They\nhad with them a child upon seeing whom Ita wept bitterly.  The clerics\ndemanded why she cried at seeing them.  \"Blessed,\" she answered, \"is the\nhour in which that youth in your company was born, for no one shall ever\ngo to hell from the cemetery in which he will be buried, but, alas, for\nme, that I cannot be buried therein.\"  The clerics asked what cemetery\nit was in which he should be buried.  \"In Mochuda's cemetery,\" said she,\n\"which though it be as yet unconsecrated will be honoured and famous in\ntimes to come.\"  This all came to pass, for the youth afterwards became\na monk under Mochuda and he is buried in the monastic cemetery of\nLismore as Ita had foretold.\n\nA child on another occasion fell off the bridge of Rahen into the river\nand was drowned.  The body was a day and a night in the water before it\nwas recovered.  Then it was brought to Mochuda who, moved with\ncompassion for the father in his loss of an only son, restored the boy\nto life.  Moreover he himself fostered the child for a considerable time\nafterwards and when the youth had grown up, he sent him back to his own\ncountry of Delbhna. Mochuda's foster son begat sons and daughters and he\ngave himself and them, as well as his inheritance, to God and Mochuda,\nand his descendants are to this day servile tenants of the monastery.\n\nOnce as Mochuda, with large offerings, was returning from Kerry to Rahen\nhe passed through the confines of Delbhna [Lemanaghan?] by the lake\ncalled Muincine [Lough Gur?] where he and his party were overtaken by\nnight.  They found here before them by the roadside revolving wheels,\nwhich an artisan, who was erecting a mill on the stream from the lake,\nhad set up for a joke.  As the wheels revolved they made a terrific\nnoise which was heard by the whole neighbourhood.  Many of the\ninhabitants of the neighbouring villages aroused by the noise rushed\nout, with appeals for help and loud cries, to investigate the matter.\nMochuda's people were frightened by the din and their pack and riding\nhorses stampeded and lost their loads and it was not without difficulty\nthat they were caught again.  Mochuda knew what caused the noise and he\ntold the workmen who had played this mischievous trick that they should\nbe scattered throughout the different provinces of Ireland, that they\nshould be always worthless and unprofitable, that the mill they were\nengaged on should never be finished and that their progeny after them\nshould be valueless race of mischief-makers.  The latter are called the\nHi-Enna [Ui Enna Aine Aulium] to-day.\n\nOne day Mochuda came to a place called Cluain-Breanainn where apples\nabounded.  His followers asked some apples for him but the orchard owner\nrefused them.  Said Mochuda:--\"From this day forward no fruit shall grow\nin you orchard for ever,\" and that prophecy has been fulfilled.\n\nMochuda had in his monastery twelve exceedingly perfect disciples,\nscil.:--Caoinche Mac Mellain [Mochua Mac Mellain or Cronan], who was the\nfirst monk to enter Rahen; Mucoinog [Mochoemog]; the three sons of\nNascainn--Goban, Srafan, and Laisren; Mulua [Molua]; Lugair; Mochomog\nEile; Aodhan [Aedhan]; Fachtna Coinceann [Fiachna or Fiochrae]; Fionnlog\nand Mochomog who became a bishop later.  The virtue of these monks\nsurpassed belief and Mochuda wished to mitigate their austerities before\ntheir death.  He therefore built separate cells for them that they might\nhave some comfort in their old age as a reward for their virtue in\nyouth; moreover he predicted blessings for them. He made [a prophecy]\nfor one of them, mentioned above, scil.:--Mochua Mac Mellain, for whom\nhe had built a comfortable cell at a place called Cluain-Da-Chrann.  He\nsaid to him:  \"Your place of resurrection will not be here but in\nanother place which God has given you.\"  That prediction has been\nverified.  To a second disciple, scil.:--Fiachna, Mochuda said:--\"Your\nresurrection will not be in this place though I have made you a cell\nhere; you will have three further abiding places, nevertheless it will\nbe with your own companion, Aodhan, that your remains will rest and your\nresurrection will be in the territory of Ui Torna, and it is from you\nthat the place will get its name.\"  For this Aodhan alluded to Mochuda\nlikewise built another cell in the land of Ui Torna close by Slieve\nLuachra, and speaking prophetically he said to him:  \"The remains of\nyour fellow-disciple, Fiachna, will be carried to you hither and from\nhim will this place be named.\"  That statement has been verified, for\nthe church is now called Cill-Fiachna and it was first called\nCill-Aeghain.  Concerning other persons, Mochuda prophesied various\nother things, all of them have come to pass.\n\nA child born of secret adultery was abandoned close by the monastery of\nRahen and Mochuda fostered the child until he became a bishop, though no\none knew his name or his progenitors. Mochuda said:--\"This child's name\nis Dioma and his father is Cormac of the race of Eochaidh Eachach.\"  All\nthereupon magnified the foreknowledge of Mochuda, which he had from no\nother than the Holy Spirit.  Having consecrated him bishop, Mochuda\ninstructed him:  \"Go in haste to your own native region of Hy-Eachach in\nthe southern confines of Munster for there will your resurrection be.\nWar and domestic strife shall arise among your race and kinsfolk unless\nyou arrive there soon to prevent it.\"  Dioma set out, accompanied by\nanother bishop, Cuana by name, who was also a disciple of Mochuda's.\nThey travelled into Ibh Eachach and Dioma preached the word of God to\nhis brethren and tribesmen.  He made peace between them and they built a\nmonastery for him and he placed himself, his kindred, and parish under\nhis chosen master, Mochuda, and he ended his life (there) in peace.\n\nOn another occasion Mochuda travelled from Rahen to the provinces of\nMunster and entered Ciarraighe Corca.  It happened that Cairbre Mac\nCriomhthain, who was king of Munster, was at that time in Magh-Cuirce,\nthe place to which Mochuda came.  At the same time there fell a fire\nball which destroyed one of the king's residences, killing his wife,\nmany of his people and his son, Aodh Mac Cairbre, who were buried in the\nfalling ruin. There were killed there moreover two good carriage horses\nof the king's.  Cairbre besought Mochuda that he would restore the queen\nand his son to life, and when the saint saw the king's faith he prayed\nfor him to God and then addressing the dead he said,--\"Arise.\"  They\narose thereupon and he gave them safe to the king and they all gave\nglory and thanks to God and Mochuda. The king moreover made large\nofferings of land and servile tenants to Mochuda.  But one of the\ntenants, through pride and jealousy, refused to obey Mochuda,\nnotwithstanding the king's command.  Mochuda said:  \"Your posterity will\ndie out and their inheritance, for sake of which you (mis)behave towards\nme, shall become mine for ever; whosoever takes from me that which\nanother has given me shall be deprived of heaven and earth.\"  That man\nand his posterity soon came to nought.\n\nOn another occasion Mochuda sent a golden belt to Fergus Mac Criomhthan\nwho suffered from uncleanness of skin arising from kidney disease and\nupon application of the girdle, by the blessing of Mochuda he recovered.\n\nAnother time again a king of Munster, Cathal Mac Aodha, in the region of\nCuirche, was a sufferer from a combination of complaints--he was deaf,\nlame, and blind, and when Mochuda came to see him the king and his\nfriends prayed the saint to cure him. Mochuda therefore prayed for him\nand made the sign of the cross on his eyes and ears and immediately he\nwas healed of all his maladies--he heard and saw perfectly, and Cathal\ngave extensive lands to God and Mochuda for ever, scil:--Oilean Cathail\nand Ros-Beg and Ros-Mor and Inis-Pic [Spike Island].  Mochuda placed a\nreligious community in Ros-Beg to build there a church in honour of God.\nMochuda himself commenced to build a church on Inis-Pic and he remained\nthere a whole year.  [On his departure] Mochuda left there--in the\nmonastery of Inis-Pic--to watch over it, in his stead, and to keep it in\nperfect order--the three disciples whom we have already named (scil:--\nthe three sons of Nascon, i.e. Goban a bishop, Srafan a priest, and holy\nLaisren) together with the saintly bishop, Dardomaighen [Domangenum],\n(who had conferred orders on them in presence of Mochuda) and forty\nmonks.  Thereupon Mochuda returned to Rahen.  That island we have\nmentioned, scil.:--Inis-Pic, is a most holy place in which an\nexceedingly devout community constantly dwell.\n\nMochuda next directed his steps eastward through Munster and he crossed\nthe river then called Nemh, and now named the Abhainn More.  As he\ncrossed he saw a large apple floating in the middle of the ford.  This\nhe took up and carried away with him in his hand.  Hence (that ford is\nnamed) Ath-Ubhla in Fermoy [Ballyhooley].  His attendant asked Mochuda\nfor the apple, but the latter refused to give it saying--\"God will work\na miracle by that apple and through me to-day:  we shall meet Cuana Mac\nCailcin's daughter whose right hand is powerless so that she cannot move\nit from her side.  But she shall be cured by the power of God through\nthis apple.\"  This was accomplished. Mochuda espied the child playing a\ngame with the other girls in the faithche [lawn] of the Lios.  He\napproached and said to her:--\"Take this apple.\"  She, as usual, put\nforth her left hand for the fruit.  \"You shall not get it in that hand,\nbut take it in the other.\"  The girl full of faith tried to put out the\nright hand, and on the instant the hand became full of strength and\nblood and motion so that she took the apple in it.  All rejoiced thereat\nand were amazed at the wonder wrought.  That night Cuana said to his\ndaughter:  \"Choose yourself which you prefer of the royal youths of\nMunster and whomsoever your choice be I shall obtain in marriage for\nyou.\"  \"The only spouse I shall have,\" said she, \"is the man who cured\nmy hand.\"  \"Do you hear what she says O Mochuda?\" said the king.\n\"Entrust the child to me,\" answered Mochuda, \"I shall present her as a\nbride to God who has healed her hand.\"  Whereupon Cuana gave his\ndaughter Flandnait, together with her dowry and lands on the bank of\nNemh, to God and to Mochuda for ever.  Cuana was almost incredibly\ngenerous. Mochuda took the maiden with him to Rahen where she passed her\nyears happily with the religious women there till Mochuda was expelled\nby the kings of Tara as you may hear.  He took Flandnait with him (from\nRahen) in his party to her own native region that she might build\nherself a cell there.  She did build a famous cell at Cluain Dallain in\nMochuda's own parish.\n\nPrevious to his expulsion (from Rahen) Mochuda visited the place where\n(later) he built Lismore and he heard the voice of persons reading at\nRahen, wherefore he said to his followers:  \"I know that this is the\nplace where God will permit us to build our monastery.\"  This prophecy\nwas subsequently verified.\n\nOn a certain occasion Columcille came to Rahen where Mochuda was and\nasked him:--\"Is this place in which you now are dear to you?\" \"It is,\nindeed,\" answered Mochuda.  Columcille said:  \"Let not what I say to you\ntrouble you--this will not be the place of your resurrection, for the\nking of Erin and his family will grow jealous of you owing to\nmachinations of some of the Irish clergy, and they shall eventually\ndrive you hence.\"  Mochuda questioned Columcille who had a true\nprophetic gift--\"In what other place then will my resurrection be?\"\nColumcille told him--\"The place where from the summit of Slieve Gua you\nsaw the host of angels building a chair of silver with a statue of gold\ntherein on the bank of the Nemh--there will your resurrection be, and\nthe chair of silver is your church in the midst of them [,and you are\ntruly the golden statue in its midst].\"  Mochuda believing what he heard\nthanked and glorified God.\n\nAs Mochuda on another day was at Rahen there came to him a priest and\nmonk of his own community from the northern part of Munster; he made a\nreverence as was the custom of the monks, in Mochuda's presence and said\nto him, \"Father, I have complied with all your commands and the precepts\nof God from the day I left Rahen till now--except this--that, without\nyour permission, I have taken my brother from the secular life.\"\n\"Verily I say to you,\" answered Mochuda, \"if you were to go to the top\nof a high hill and to shout as loudly as you could and were to bring to\nme all who heard the cry I should not refuse the habit of religion to\none of them.\"  Hearing these words all realised the character and extent\nof Mochuda's charity and returned thanks to God for it.\n\nOn a certain day about vesper time, because of the holiness of the hour,\nMochuda said to his monks:--\"We shall not eat to-day till each one of\nyou has made his confession,\" for he knew that some one of them had ill\nwill in his heart against another.  All the brethren thereupon confessed\nto him.  One of them in the course of his confession stated:  \"I love\nnot your miller and the cause of my lack of charity towards him is this,\nthat when I come to the mill he will not lift the loads off the horses\nand he will neither help me to fill the meal sacks nor to load them on\nthe horse when filled.  And not this alone but he does everything that\nis disagreeable to me; moreover I cannot tell, but God knows, why he so\nacts.  Often I have thought of striking him or even beating him to\ndeath.\"  Mochuda replied, \"Brother dear, the prophet says--'Declina a\nmalo et fac bonum' [Psalm 36(37):27]. Avoid evil and do good.  Following\nthis precept let you act kindly towards the miller and that charity of\nyours will move him to charity towards you and ye shall yet be steadfast\nfriends.\" Things went on thus for three days--the monk doing all he\ncould to placate the miller.  Nevertheless the miller did not cease his\npersecution, nor the brother his hate of the miller.  On the third day\nMochuda directed the brother to confess to him again. The brother said:\n--\"This is my confession, Father, I do not yet love the miller.\"  Mochuda\nobserved:--\"He will change to-night, and to-morrow he will not break\nfast till you meet him and you shall sit on the same seat, at the same\ntable, and you shall remain fast friends for the rest of your lives.\"\nAll this came to pass; for that monk was, through the instruction of\nMochuda, filled with the grace of the Divine Spirit.  And he glorified\nand praised Mochuda, for he recognised him as a man favoured by the Holy\nGhost.\n\nOn another occasion two British monks of Mochuda's monastery had a\nconversation in secret.  Mochuda, they said, is very old though there is\nno immediate appearance of approaching death--and there is no doubt that\nhis equal in virtue or good works will never be found--therefore if he\nwere out of the way one of us might succeed him.  Let us then kill him\nas there is no likelihood of his natural death within a reasonable time.\nThey resolved therefore to drown him in the river towards close of the\nfollowing night and to conceal all traces so that the crime could never\nbe discovered.  They found him subsequently in a lonely place where he\nwas accustomed to pray.  They bound him tightly and carried him between\nthem on their shoulders to the water.  On their way to the river they\nmet one of the monks who used to walk around the cemetery every night.\nHe said to them:  \"What is that you carry?\"  They replied that it was\nportion of the monastic washing which they were taking to the river.  He\nhowever, under the insistent suggestion of the Holy Spirit, believed\nthem not. He said:  \"Put down your load till we examine it.\"  They were\nconstrained to obey and the burden proved to be--Mochuda.  The monk who\ndetected [the proposed murder] was the overseer of the homestead.  He\nsaid mournfully, \"My God, it is a dreadful work you are about.\"  Mochuda\nsaid gently:--\"Son, it were well for me had that been done to me for I\nshould now be numbered among the holy martyrs.  And it were bad for them\n(the two wicked monks) for it is with Judas the betrayer of his Lord\nthey should be tortured for ever, who had desired my death for their own\nadvancement.  Neither these wretched men themselves nor anyone of their\nnation shall be my coarb for ever, but my successors shall be of his\nrace through whom God has rescued me.  Moreover my city shall never be\nwithout men of the British race who will be butts and laughing-stocks\nand serve no useful purpose.\"  The person who saved Mochuda was of the\nCiarraighe race and it is of that same people that the coarbs and\nsuccessors of Mochuda have commonly been ever since.  [See note 2.]\n\nMochuda refused for a long while, as we have already said, to accept\ncattle or horses from anyone; it was the monks themselves who dug and\ncultivated the land and they did all the haulage of the monastery on\ntheir own backs.  St. Fionan however who was a kinsman of Mochuda and\nhad just returned from Rome, came at this time on a visit to the\nmonastery.  He reproached Mochuda saying: \"Mochuda, why do you impose\nthe burden of brute beasts upon rational beings?  Is it not for use of\nthe latter that all other animals have been created?  Of a truth I shall\nnot taste food in this house till you have remedied this grievance.\"\nThenceforth Mochuda--in honour of Fionan--permitted his monks to accept\nhorses and oxen from the people and he freed them from the hardship\nalluded to.  Sometime later the holy abbot, Lachtaoin [St. Lachten],\ncompassionating Mochuda and his monks because of their lack of cattle\npaid a visit to Rahen bringing with him a gift of thirty cows and a\nbull, also a couple of cattlemen and two dairymaids.  Coming near Rahen\nhe left the cattle in a secluded place, for he did not wish them to be\nseen.  Thereupon he went himself to the monastery and simulating illness\nrequested a drink of milk.  The house steward went to Mochuda to tell\nhim that Lachtaoin was ill and required milk.  Mochuda ordered the\nsteward to fill a pitcher with water and bring it to him--and this order\nwas executed.  Mochuda blessed the water which immediately was changed\ninto sweet new milk apparently of that day's milking.  He sent the milk\nto Lachtaoin but the latter identified it as milk miraculously produced;\nhe in turn blessed it with the result that it was changed back again\ninto water.  He complained:--\"It is not water but milk I have asked\nfor.\"  The messenger related this fact publicly.  Lachtaoin declared:--\n\"Mochuda is a good monk but his successors will not be able to change\nwater to milk,\" and to the messenger he said--\"Go to Mochuda and tell\nhim that I shall not break bread in this house until he accept the alms\nwhich I have brought to the community.\"  On Mochuda agreeing to accept\nthem he handed over the cattle and dairymen to the monks of Rahen and\nthe stewards took charge of them.  Mochuda said thereupon, that he\nshould not have accepted the cattle but as a compliment to Lachtaoin.\nLachtaoin replied:--\"From this day forward there will be plenty cattle\nand worldly substance in your dwelling-place and there will be a\nmultitude of holy people in the other place whence you are to depart to\nheaven (for you will be exiled from your present home).\"  After they had\nmutually blessed and taken leave and pledged friendship Lachtaoin\ndeparted.\n\nOnce, at harvest time, the farm steward came to Mochuda complaining\nthat, though the crop was dead ripe, a sufficient number of harvesters\ncould not be found.  Mochuda answered:  \"Go in peace, dear brother, and\nGod will send you satisfactory reapers.\"  This promise was fulfilled,\nfor a band of angels came to the ripest and largest fields, reaped and\nbound a great deal quickly, and gathered the crop into one place.  The\nmonks marvelled, though they knew it was God's work and they praised and\nthanked Him and Mochuda.\n\nThe spirit of obedience amongst Mochuda's monks was such that if any\nsenior member of the community ordered another to lie in the fire he\nwould be obeyed.  As an instance of this,--some of the brethren were on\none occasion baking bread in an oven when one the monks said to another\nyounger than himself, \"The bread is burning:  take it out instantly.\"\nThere was an iron shovel for drawing out the bread but the brother could\nnot find it on the instant.  He heeded not the flames which shot out of\nthe oven's mouth but caught the hot bread and shifted it with his hands\nand suffered no hurt whatever.  On another day the monks were engaged in\nlabour beside the river which runs through the monastery.  One of the\nsenior monks called upon a young monk named Colman to do a certain piece\nof work.  Immediately, as he had not named any particular Colman, twelve\nmonks of the name rushed into the water.  The readiness and exactness of\nthe obedience practised was displayed in this incident.\n\nGreat moreover was their meekness and patience in sickness or ill-health\nas appears from the case of the monk out of the wounds of whose body\nmaggots fell as he walked; yet he never complained or told anyone or\nleft his work for two moments although it was plain from his appearance\nthat his health was declining, and he was growing thinner from day to\nday.  The brothers pitied him very much.  At length Mochuda questioned\nhim--putting him under obedience to tell the truth--as to the cause of\nhis decline.  The monk thereupon showed him his sides which were torn by\na twig tied fast around them.  Mochuda asked him who had done that\nbarbarous and intolerable thing to him.  The monk answered:--\"One day\nwhile we were drawing logs of timber from the wood my girdle broke from\nthe strain, so that my clothes hung loose.  A monk behind me saw this\nand cutting a twig tied it so tightly around my sides that it has caused\nmy flesh to mortify.\"  Mochuda asked--\"And why did you not loosen the\ntwig?\"  The monk replied--\"Because my body in not my own and he who tied\nit (the withe) has never loosed it.\"  It was a whole year since the\nwithe had been fastened around him.  Mochuda said to him:--\"Brother, you\nhave suffered great pain; as a reward thereof take now you choice--your\nrestoration to bodily health or spiritual health by immediate departure\nhence to eternal life.\"  He answered, deciding to go to heaven:--\"Why\nshould I desire to remain in this life?\"  Having received the Sacrament\nand the Holy Communion he departed hence to glory.\n\nThere came to Mochuda on another occasion with her husband, a woman\nnamed Brigh whose hand lay withered and useless by her side:  she\nbesought the saint to cure her hand.  Moreover she was pregnant at the\ntime.  Mochuda held out an apple in his hand to her as he had done\nbefore to Flandnait, the daughter of Cuana, saying--\"Alleluia, put forth\nyour nerveless hand to take this apple.\"  She did as she was told and\ntook the apple from his hand and was cured; moreover as she tasted the\nfruit parturition came on--without pain or inconvenience, after which\n[the pair] returned to their home rejoicing.\n\nIn fulfilment of the prophecy of Columcille and other holy men that\nMochuda should be expelled from Rahen the king of Tara, Blathmac, the\nson of Aodh Slaine, and his brother Diarmuid came, together with some\nclergy of the Cluain Earaird [Clonard] community, to carry out the\neviction [in A.D. 635].  They said to him, \"Leave this monastery and\nregion and seek a place for yourself elsewhere.\"  Mochuda replied--\"In\nthis place I have desired to end my days.  Here I have been many years\nserving God and have almost reached the end of my life.  Therefore I\nshall not depart unless I am dragged hence by the hands against my will,\nfor it is not becoming an old man to abandon easily the place in which\nhe has spent great part of his life.\"  Then the nobles returned to\nBlathmac and they made various complaints of Mochuda, accusing him\nfalsely of many things; finally they asked the king to undertake the\nexpulsion personally, for they were themselves unequal to the task.  The\nking thereupon came to the place accompanied by a large retinue.\nAlluding prophetically to the king's coming, previous to that event,\nMochuda said, addressing the monks:--\"Beloved brothers, get ready and\ngather your belongings, for violence and eviction are close at hand: the\nchieftains of this land are about to expel and banish you from your own\nhome.\"  Then the king, with his brothers and many of the chief men,\narrived on the scene.  They encamped near Rahen and the king sent his\nbrother Diarmuid with some others to expel Mochuda and to put him out by\nforce--which Diarmuid pledged his word he should do.  It was in the\nchoir at prayer that Diarmuid found Mochuda.  Mochuda, though he knew\nhis mission, asked Diarmuid why he was come and what he sought.\nDiarmuid replied that he came by order of King Blathmac to take him by\nthe hand and put him out of that establishment and to banish him from\nMeath.  \"Do as you please,\" said Mochuda, \"for we are prepared to\nundergo all things for Christ's sake.\"  \"By my word,\" answered Diarmuid,\n\"I shall never be guilty of such a crime; let him who chooses do it.\"\nMochuda said:--\"You shall possess the kingdom of God and you shall reign\nin your brother's stead and your face which you have turned from me\nshall never be turned from your enemies.  Moreover the reproaches which\nthe king will presently cast upon you for not doing the work he has set\nyou, will be your praise and your pride.  At the same time as a penalty\nfor your evil designs toward me and your greater readiness to drive me\nout, your son shall not succeed you in the sovereignty.\" Diarmuid\nreturned to the king and told him that he could do no injury to Mochuda.\nThe king retorted [sarcastically and] in anger, \"What a valiant man you\nare, Diarmuid.\"  Diarmuid replied:--\"That is just what Mochuda promised\n--that I should be a warrior of God.\"  He was known as Diarmuid Ruanaidh\nthenceforth, for the whole assembly cried out with one voice--truly he\nis Valiant (Ruanaidh).\n\nNext, the nobles present cast lots to decide which one of them should go\nwith the king to lay hands on Mochuda and expel him from the monastery.\nThe lot fell upon the Herenach [hereditary steward] of Cluain Earaird.\nHe and the king accompanied by armed men went to the monastery where\nthey found Mochuda and all the brethren in the church.  Cronan, a\ncertain rich man in the company, shouted out, \"Make haste with the\nbusiness on which you are come.\"  Mochuda answered him--\"You shall die\nimmediately, but on account of the alms which you gave me for the love\nof Christ and on account of your uniform piety heretofore your progeny\nshall prosper for ever.\"  That prophecy has been fulfilled. Another man,\nDulach by name, winked mockingly with one of his eyes; moreover he\nlaughed and behaved irreverently towards Mochuda.  Mochuda said to him:\n--\"Thus shall you be--with one eye closed and a grin on your countenance\n--to the end of your life; and of your descendants many will be similarly\nafflicted.\"  Yet another member of the company, one Cailche,\nscurrilously abused and cursed Mochuda.  To him Mochuda said:--\n\"Dysentery will attack you immediately and murrain that will cause your\ndeath.\"  The misfortune foretold befell him and indeed woeful misfortune\nand ill luck pursued many of them for their part in the wrong doing.\nWhen the king saw these things he became furious and, advancing--himself\nand the abbot of Cluain Earaird--they took each a hand of Mochuda and in\na disrespectful, uncivil manner, they led him forth out of the monastery\nwhile their followers did the same with Mochuda's community.  Throughout\nthe city and in the country around there was among both sexes weeping,\nmourning, and wailing over their humiliating expulsion from their own\nhome and monastery.  Even amongst the soldiers of the king were many who\nwere moved to pity and compassion for Mochuda and his people.\n\nOne of Mochuda's monks had gout in his foot and for him Mochuda besought\nthe king and his following that he, as he was unable to travel, might be\nallowed to remain in the monastery; the request was, however, refused.\nMochuda called the monk to him and, in the name of Christ, he commanded\nthe pain to leave the foot and to betake itself to the foot of Colman\n[Colman mac hua Telduib, abbot, or perhaps erenach only, of Cluain\nEaraird], the chieftain who was most unrelenting towards him.  That\nsoreness remained in Colman's foot as long as he lived.  The monk\nhowever rose up and walked and was able to proceed on his way with his\nmaster.\n\nThere was an aged monk who wished to be buried at Rahen; Mochuda granted\nthe request, and he received Holy Communion and sacred rites at the\nsaint's hands.  Then he departed to heaven in the presence of all and\nhis body was buried at Rahen as he had himself chosen that it should be.\n\nLeaving Rahen Mochuda paid a visit to the monastic cemetery weeping as\nhe looked upon it; he blessed those interred there and prayed for them.\nBy the permission of God it happened that the grave of a long deceased\nmonk opened so that all saw it, and, putting his head out of the grave,\nthe tenant of the tomb cried out in a loud voice:  \"O holy man and\nservant of God, bless us that through thy blessing we may rise and go\nwith you whither you go.\"  Mochuda replied:--\"So novel a thing I shall\nnot do, for it behoves not to raise so large a number of people before\nthe general resurrection.\"  The monk asked--\"Why then father, do you\nleave us, though we have promised union with you in one place for ever?\"\nMochuda answered:--\"Brother, have you ever heard the proverb--necessity\nis its own law [necessitas movet decretum et consilium]?  Remain ye\ntherefore in your resting places and on the day of general resurrection\nI shall come with all my brethren and we shall all assemble before the\ngreat cross called 'Cross of the Angels' at the church door and go\ntogether for judgement.\" When Mochuda had finished, the monk lay back in\nhis grave and the coffin closed.\n\nMochuda, with his following, next visited the cross already mentioned\nand here, turning to the king, he thus addressed him:--\"Behold the\nheavens above you and the earth below.\"  The king looked at them:  then\nMochuda continued:--\"Heaven may you not possess and even from your\nearthly principality may you soon be driven and your brother whom you\nhave reproached, because he would not lay hands on me, shall possess it\ninstead of you, and in your lifetime.  You shall be despised by all--so\nmuch so that in your brother's house they shall forget to supply you\nwith food.  Moreover yourself and your children shall come to an evil\nend and in a little while there shall not be one of your seed\nremaining.\"  Then Mochuda cursed him and he rang his small bell against\nhim and against his race, whence the bell has since been known as \"The\nBell of Blathmac's Extinguishing,\" or \"The Bell of Blathmac's Drowning,\"\nbecause it drowned or extinguished Blathmac with his posterity.\nBlathmac had a large family of sons and daughters but, owing to\nMochuda's curse, their race became extinct.  Next to the prince of\nCluain Earaird who also had seized him by the hand, he said:  \"You shall\nbe a servant and a bondman ere you die and you shall lose your territory\nand your race will be a servile one.\"  To another of those who led him\nby the hand he said:--\"What moved you to drag me by the hand from my own\nmonastery?\"  The other replied:--\"It pleased me not that a Munster man\nshould have such honour in Meath.\"  \"I wish,\" said Mochuda, \"that the\nhand you laid on me may be accursed and that the face you turned against\nme to expel me from my home may be repulsive and scrofulous for the\nremainder of your life.\"  This curse was effective for the man's eye was\nthereupon destroyed in his head.  Mochuda noticed that some of\nColumcille's successors and people from Durrow, which was one of\nColumcille's foundations, had taken part in his eviction.  He thus\naddressed them:--\"Contention and quarrelling shall be yours for ever to\nwork evil and schism amongst you--for you have had a prominent part in\nexciting opposition to me.\"  And so it fell out.\n\nThe king and his people thereupon compelled Mochuda to proceed on his\nway.  Mochuda did proceed with his disciples, eight hundred and sixty\nseven in number (and as many more they left buried in Rahen).  Moreover,\nmany more living disciples of his who had lived in various parts of\nIreland were already dead.  All the community abounded in grace:  many\nof its members became bishops and abbots in after years and they erected\nmany churches to the glory of God.\n\nUnderstand, moreover, that great was the charity of the holy bishop, as\nthe following fact will prove:--in a cell without the city of Rahen he\nmaintained in comfort and respectability a multitude of lepers.  He\nfrequently visited them and ministered to them himself--entrusting that\noffice to no one else.  It was known to all the lepers of Ireland how\nMochuda made their fellow-sufferers his special care and family, and the\nresult was that an immense number of lepers from all parts flocked to\nhim and he took charge and care of them.  These on his departure from\nRahen he took with him to Lismore where he prepared suitable quarters\nfor them and there they have been ever since in comfort and in honour\naccording to Mochuda's command.\n\nAs Mochuda and his people journeyed along with their vehicles they found\nthe way blocked by a large tree which lay across it. Owing to the\ndensity of underwood at either side they were unable to proceed.  Some\none announced:--\"There is a tree across the road before us, so that we\ncannot advance.\"  Mochuda said:  \"In the name of Christ I command thee,\ntree, to rise up and stand again in thy former place.\"  At the command\nof Mochuda the tree stood erect as it was originally and it still\nretains its former appearance, and there is a pile of stones there at\nits base to commemorate the miracle.\n\nIt was necessary to proceed; the first night after Mochuda's departure\nfrom Rahen the place that he came to was a cell called Drum Cuilinn\n[Drumcullen], on the confines of Munster, Leinster, and Clanna Neill,\nbut actually within Clanna Neill, scil.:--in the territory of Fearceall\nin which also is Rahen.  In Drum Cuilinn dwelt the holy abbot,\nBarrfhinn, renowned for miracles. On the morrow Mochuda arrived at\nSaighir Chiarain [Seirkieran] and the following night at the\nestablishment where Cronan is now, scil.:--Roscrea.  That night Mochuda\nremained without entertainment although it was offered to them by Cronan\nwho had prepared supper for him.  Mochuda refused however to go to it\nsaying that he would not go out of his way to visit a man who avoids\nguests and builds his cell in a wild bog far from men and that such a\nman's proper guests are creatures of the wilderness instead of human\nbeings.  When Cronan heard this saying of Mochuda he came to the latter,\nby whose advice he abandoned his hermitage in the bog and he, with\nMochuda, marked out the site of a new monastery and church at Roscrea.\nThere he founded a great establishment and there he is himself buried.\nMochuda took leave of Cronan and, travelling through Eile [Ely\nO'Carroll], came to the royal city named Cashel.  On the following day\nthe king, scil.:--Failbhe [Failbhe Flann], came to Mochuda offering him\na place whereon to found a church.  Mochuda replied:--\"It is not\npermitted us by God to stay our journey anywhere till we come to the\nplace promised to us by the holy men.\"\n\nAbout the same time there came messengers from the king of Leinster to\nthe king of Munster praying the latter, by virtue of league and\nalliance, to come to his assistance as Leath-Chuinn and the north were\nadvancing in great force to ravage Leinster. This is how Failbhe was\nsituated at the time:  he had lost one of his eyes and he was ashamed to\ngo half-blind into a strange territory.  As soon as Mochuda realised the\nextent of the king's diffidence he blessed the eye making on it the sign\nof the cross and it was immediately healed in the presence of all.  The\nking and Mochuda took leave of one another and went each his own way.\nThe king and his hosting went to the aid of Leinster in the latter's\nnecessity.\n\nMochuda journeyed on through Muscraige Oirthir the chief of which\nterritory received him with great honour.  Aodhan was the chief's name\nand he bestowed his homestead called Isiol [Athassel] on Mochuda, who\nblessed him and his seed.  Next he came into the Decies.  He travelled\nthrough Magh Femin where he broke his journey at Ard Breanuinn\n[Ardfinnan] on the bank of the Suir. There came to him here Maolochtair,\nking of the Decies, and the other nobles [or one noble, Suibhne] of his\nnation who were at variance with him concerning land.  Mochuda by the\ngrace of God made peace amongst them, and dismissed them in amity.\nMaolochtair gave that land to Mochuda who marked out a cell there where\nis now the city of Ardfinnnan, attached to which is a large parish\nsubject to Mochuda and bearing his name.  The wife of Maolochtair,\nscil:--Cuciniceas, daughter of Failbhe Flann, king of Munster, had a\nvision, viz.:--a flock of very beautiful birds flying above her head and\none bird was more beautiful and larger than the rest.  The other birds\nfollowed this one and it nestled in the king's bosom.  Soon as she awoke\nshe related the vision to the king; the king observed:  \"Woman you have\ndreamed a good dream and soon it will be realised; the flock of birds\nyou have seen is Mochuda with his monks coming from Rahen and the most\ndistinguished bird is Mochuda himself.  And the settling in my bosom\nmeans that the place of his resurrection will be in my territory.  Many\nblessings will come to us and our territory through him.\"  That vision\nof the faithful woman was realised as the faithful king had explained\nit.\n\nSubsequently Mochuda came to Maolochtair requesting from him a place\nwhere he might erect a monastery.  Maolochtair replied: \"So large a\ncommunity cannot dwell in such a narrow place.\" Mochuda said:  \"God, who\nsent us to you, will show you a place suited to us.\"  The king\nanswered:--\"I have a place, convenient for fish and wood, beside Slieve\nGua on the bank of the Nemh but I fear it will not be large enough.\"\nMochuda said:--\"It will not be narrow; there is a river and fish and\nthat it shall be the place of our resurrection.\"  Thereupon, in the\npresence of many witnesses, the king handed over the land, scil.:--\nLismore, to God and Mochuda and it is in that place Mochuda afterwards\nfounded his famous city.  Mochuda blessed the king and his wife as well\nas the nobles and all the people and taking leave of them and receiving\ntheir homage he journeyed across Slieve Gua till he came to the church\ncalled Ceall Clochair [Kilcloher].  The saint of that church, scil.:--\nMochua Mianain, prepared a supper for Mochuda to the best of his\nability, but he had only a single barrel of ale for them all.  Although\nMochuda with his people remained there three days and three nights and\nalthough the holy abbot (Mochua) continued to draw the ale into small\nvessels to serve the company, according to their needs, the quantity in\nthe barrel grew no less but increased after the manner of the oil\nblessed by Elias [3 Kings 17:16].  Then one of the monks said to\nMochuda, \"If you remain in this place till the feast ends your stay will\nbe a long one for it (the entertainment) grows no smaller for all the\nconsumption.\"  \"That is true, brother,\" said Mochuda, \"and it is fitting\nfor us to depart now.\"  They started therefore on their way and Mochua\nMianain gave himself and his place to God and Mochuda for ever.  On\nMochuda's departure the ale barrel drained out to the lees.\n\nMochuda proceeded till he reached the river Nemh at a ford called\nAth-Mheadhon [Affane] which no one could cross except a swimmer or a very\nstrong person at low water in a dry season of summer heat, for the tide\nflows against the stream far as Lismore, five miles further up.  On this\nparticular occasion it happened to be high tide.  The two first of\nMochuda's people to reach the ford were the monks Molua and Colman,\nwhile Mochuda himself came last. They turned round to him and said that\nit was not possible to cross the river till the ebb.  Mochuda answered:\n--\"Advance through the water before the others in the name of your Lord\nJesus Christ for He is the way the truth and the life\" [John 14:6].  As\nsoon as they heard this command of Mochuda's Molua said to Colman,\n\"Which of the two will you hold back--the stream above or the sea\nbelow?\"  Colman answered:--\"Let each restrain that which is nearest to\nhim\"--for Molua was on the upper, or stream, side and Colman on the\nlower, or sea, side.  Molua said to Colman--\"Forbid you the sea side to\nflow naturally and I shall forbid the stream side.\"  Then with great\nfaith they proceeded to cross the river; they signed the river with the\nsign of Christ's cross and the waters stood on either hand and apart, so\nthat the dry earth appeared between.  The side banks of water rose high\nbecause there was no passage up or down, so that the ridges were very\nelevated on both the sea and stream sides.  The waters remained thus\ntill such time as all Mochuda's people had crossed. Mochuda himself was\nthe last to pass over and the path across was so level that it offered\nno obstacle to foot-passengers or chariots but was like a level plain so\nthat they crossed dryshod, as the Jordan fell back for Josue the son of\nNun [Josue 3:17]. Soon as Mochuda had crossed over he blessed the waters\nand commanded them to resume their natural course.  On the reuniting\nagain of the waters they made a noise like thunder, and the name of the\nplace is The Place of Benedictions, from the blessings of Mochuda and\nhis people.\n\nNext the glorious bishop, Mochuda, proceeded to the place promised to\nhim by God and the prophets, which place is the plain called\nMagh-Sciath.  Mochuda, with the holy men, blessed the place and\ndedicated there the site of a church in circular form. There came to\nthem a holy woman named Caimell who had a cell there and she asked,\n\"What do you propose doing here, ye servants of God?\"  \"We propose,\"\nanswered Mochuda, \"building here a little 'Lios' [enclosure] around our\npossession.\"  Caimell observed, \"Not a little Lios will it be but a\ngreat ['mor'] one (Lis-mor).\" \"True indeed, virgin,\" responded Mochuda,\n\"Lismore will be its name for ever.\"  The virgin offered herself and her\ncell to God and Mochuda for ever, where the convent of women is now\nestablished in the city of Lismore.\n\nAs Colman Elo, alluded to already, promised, Mochuda found his burial\nplace marked out (consecrated?) by angels; there he and a multitude of\nhis disciples are buried and it was made known to him by divine wisdom\nthe number of holy persons that to the end of the world would be buried\ntherein.  Lismore is a renowned city, for there is one portion of it\nwhich no woman may enter and there are within it many chapels and\nmonasteries, and in which there are always multitudes of devout people\nnot from Ireland alone but from the land of the Saxons and from Britain\nand from other lands as well.  This is its situation--on the south bank\nof the Avonmore in the Decies territory.\n\nOn a certain day there came a druid to Mochuda to argue and contend with\nhim.  He said:--\"If you be a servant of God cause natural fruit to grow\non this withered branch.\"  Mochuda knew that it was to throw contempt on\nthe power of God that the druid had come.  He blessed the branch and it\nproduced first living skin, then, as the druid had asked--leaves,\nblossom and fruit in succession.  The druid marvelled exceedingly and\nwent his way.\n\nA poor man came to Mochuda on another occasion with an ill timed request\nfor milk, and beer along with it.  Mochuda was at the time close by the\nwell which is known as \"Mochuda's Well\" at the present time; this he\nblessed changing it first into milk then into beer and finally to wine.\nThen he told the poor man to take away whatever quantity of each of\nthese liquids he required.  The well remained thus till at Mochuda's\nprayer it returned to its original condition again.  An angel came from\nheaven to Mochuda at the time and told him that the well should remain a\nsource of health and virtues and of marvels, and it still, like every\nwell originally blessed by Mochuda, possesses power of healing from\nevery malady.\n\nMochuda, now grown old and of failing powers and strength, was wearied\nand worried by the incessant clamour of building operations--the\ndressing of stones and timber--carried on by the multitude of monks and\nartisans.  He therefore by consent and counsel of the brethren retired\nto a remote, lonely place situated in a glen called \"Mochuda's Inch\"\nbelow the great monastery.  He took with him there a few monks and built\na resplendent monastery; he remained in that place a year and six months\nmore leading a hermitical life.  The brethren and seniors of the\ncommunity visited him (from time to time) and he gave them sound,\nsweetly-reasoned advice.  He received a vow from each to follow his\nRule, for he was the support of the aged, the health-giver to the weak,\nthe consoler of the afflicted, the hope-giver to the hopeless, the\nfaith-giver to the doubting, the moderator and uniter of the young.\n\nAs soon as Mochuda saw the hardship to the visiting brothers and elders\nof the descent from Lismore and the ascent thereto again--knowing at the\nsame time that his end was approaching--he ordered himself to be carried\nup to the monastery so that the monks might be saved the fatigue of the\ndescent to him.  Then it pleased God to call to Himself His devoted\nservant from the troubles of life and to render to him the reward of his\ngood works.  He opened the gates of heaven then and sent to him a host\nof angels, in glory and majesty unspeakable.  When Mochuda saw the\nheavens open above him and the angel band approaching, he ordered that\nhe be set down in the middle of the glen and he related to the seniors\nthe things that he had seen and he asked to receive the Body of Christ\nand he gave his last instruction to the monks--to observe the Law of God\nand keep His commands.  The place was by the cross called \"Crux\nMigrationis,\" or the cross from which Mochuda departed to Glory.  Having\nreceived the Body and Blood of Christ, having taught them divine\ndoctrines, in the midst of holy choirs and of many brethren and monks to\nwhom in turn he gave his blessing and the kiss of peace according to the\nrule, the glorious and holy bishop departed to heaven accompanied by\nhosts of angels on the day before the Ides of May [May 14], in his union\nwith the Holy Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for ever and ever.\nAmen.\n\nFinit 7ber [September] 4th, 1741.\n\n\n\nNOTE 1\n\nOne of our scribe's predecessors omitted a word or two from the text\nhere, with disastrous results to the sense.  The Latin Life comes to our\naid however and enables us to make good the omission; the latter, by the\nway, puzzles our scribe who is like a man fighting an invisible enemy--\ncorrecting a text of which he does not know the defect.  Insertion of\nthe words \"walking backwards\" immediately after \"church,\" in the angel's\nanswer, will enable us to see the original writer's meaning.  The text\nshould probably read:\n\nThe angel answered:--\"Whom you shall see going from the church walking\nbackwards to the guest-house\" (for it was Mochuda's custom to walk\nbackwards from the door of the church).  Comghall announced to his\nhousehold that there was coming to them a distinguished stranger,\nwell-beloved of God, of whose advent an angel had twice foretold him.\nSome time later Mochuda arrived at Comghall's establishment, and he went\nto the monastery first and he did just as the angel foretold of him and\nComghall recognised him and bade him welcome.\n\n\n\nNOTE 2\n\n\nThe obits of Mochuda's successors, down to Christian O'Conarchy,\nare chronicled as follows:--\n\nA.D. 650.  Cuanan, maternal uncle and immediate successor of\nMochuda (Lanigan).\nA.D. 698.  Iarnla, surnamed Hierologus (Four Masters).  In his\ntime King Alfrid was a student in Lismore.\nA.D. 702.  Colman, son of Finnbhar (Acta Sanctorum).  During his\nreign the abbey of Lismore reached the zenith of its fame.\nA.D. 716.  Cronan Ua Eoan (F. Masters).\nA.D. 719.  Colman O'Liathain (Annals of Inisfallen).\nA.D. 741.  Finghal (F. Masters).\nA.D. 746.  Mac hUige (Ibid).\nA.D. 747.  Ihrichmech (A. of Inisf.)\nA.D. 748.  Maccoigeth (F. M.)\nA.D. 752.  Sinchu (F. M.)\nA.D. 755.  Condath (Ibid).\nA.D. 756.  Fincon (Annals of Ulster).\nA.D. 761.  Aedhan (F. M.)\nA.D. 763.  Ronan (Ware).\nA.D. 769.  Soairleach Ua Concuarain (F. M.)\nA.D. 771.  Eoghan (Ibid).\nA.D. 776.  Orach (Ibid).\nA.D. 799.  Carabran (Ibid).\nA.D. 801.  Aedhan Ua Raichlich (A. of Inisf.)\nA.D. 823.  Flann (F. M.)\nA.D. 849.  Tibrade Ua Baethlanaigh (F. M.)  At this period the\ntown was plundered and burned by the Danes who had sailed up\nthither on the Blackwater.\nA.D. 849.  Daniel (A. of Inisf.)\nA.D. 854.  Suibne Ua Roichlech (F. M. and A. of Ulster).  What is\nprobably his gravestone is one of five Irish-inscribed slabs\nbuilt into the west gable of the Cathedral.\nA.D. 861.  Daniel Ua Liaithidhe (F. M.)\nA.D. 878.  Martin Ua Roichligh (Ibid).  Another of the inscribed\nstones above referred to asks \"A prayer for Martan.\"\nA.D. 880.  Flann Mac Forbasaich (A. I.)\nA.D. 899.  Maelbrighte Mac Maeldomnaich (Ibid).\nA.D. 918.  Cormac Mac Cuilennan (A. I.)  He is to be\ndistinguished from his more famous namesake of Cashel.\nA.D. 936.  Ciaran (F. M.)\nA.D. 951.  Diarmuid (Ibid).\nA.D. 957.  Maenach Mac Cormaic (Ibid).\nA.D. 958.  Cathmog (Ibid).  He was also bishop of Cork.\nA.D. 963.  Cinaedh (F. M.)\nA.D. 1025.  Omaelsluaig (Cotton's \"Fasti\").\nA.D. 1034.  Moriertach O'Selbach, bishop of Lismore (Cotton).\nA.D. 1064.  Mac Airthir, bishop (Cotton).\nA.D. 1090.  Maelduin O'Rebhacain (Ibid).\nA.D. 1112.  Gilla Mochuda O'Rebhacain (A. of I.)\nA.D. 1113.  Nial Macgettigan.  His episcopal staff, possibly\nenclosing the venerable oaken staff of the founder of the abbey,\nis still preserved at Lismore Castle.  [Also known as the\n'Lismore Crozier,' in 2004 it is housed in 'The Treasury' exhibit\nat the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare St., Dublin 2.]\nA.D. 1134.  Malchus.  Most probably he is identical with the\nfirst bishop of Waterford.  During his term both St. Malachy and\nKing Cormac MacCarthy dwelt as fugitives, guests or pilgrims, at\nLismore.\nA.D. 1142.  Ua Rebhacain.\nA.D. 1186.  St. Christian.  He had however resigned the\nbishopric.\n\n\n\n\n+-------------------------------------------+\n|                                           |\n|                        __   __---_        |\n|                   ,-~~~  ~\\/      ~\\      |\n|                 ,_/                 |     |\n|                /,_                   /    |\n|           _       _/                 ~\\   |\n|        /~~ ~\\/~-_|                    /   |\n|       \\                            /~     |\n|       \\ _                       _\\/       |\n|         ,'                     |          |\n|       /~                Tara    \\         |\n|       \\                     *    |        |\n|        '~|__-     Rahen          /        |\n|         .- ,/~         *          \\       |\n|           |                      /        |\n|          /                       |        |\n|        /_,_/~                    |        |\n|        /         Cashel         /         |\n|    ,--~             *           |         |\n|   /---         Lismore   __|_-_/          |\n|   ,-~               *-,-~                 |\n|   \\_-~/          \\ /~                     |\n|    ,-~/=        _/~                       |\n|    --~/_-_-/~'~                           |\n|                                           |\n+-------------------------------------------+\n|              MAP OF IRELAND               |\n+-------------------------------------------+\n\n\n\n\nTRANSCRIBER'S NOTE\n\n\nThe source for this text includes the Irish text & English translation\non facing pages and notes.  The notes are quite lengthy and should take\nlonger to transcribe than the English text.  Except for a few notes\ntransplanted in brackets to the body of the text I have not transcribed\nthem.  Due to inexperience with the Irish language and its script I have\ndecided not to attempt to transcribe the Irish text.  Hopefully someone\nwith the appropriate talent and interest will undertake that task some\nday.  I have corrected the errata as indicated in the source and a few\nobvious printer errors.","title":"The Life of St. Mochuda of Lismore","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":19513}