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ADDITIONAL NOTES.

NOTE A.

The Preface to the Hymn.

HE following is a literal translation of the historical Preface or Introduction to

T this Hymn:

"CHRISTUS IN NOSTRA.

Ninnidh Laimidan, son of Eochadh, was he who made this Hymn in honour of Brigid. Or it was Fiach of Slebte that composed it. Dicunt alii, that it was Ultan of Ardbreccan who composed it for it was he that put together the miracles of Brigid in one book. Audite virginis laudes is its beginning. The alphabetical order is in it. Moreover he composed it in rhythm. There are three chapters in it, and four lines in each chapter, and sixteen syllables in each line. Dicunt alii, that this Hymn was originally long, but that there remain here only four chapters of it, viz. the first chapter, and the last three chapters, causa brevitatis."

Three writers are here named to whom the authorship of this Hymn was variously ascribed. The first is Ninnidh, Ninnidius, or Nennius, surnamed Laimidan [laim 10dhan] of the undefiled hand, from a circumstance recorded in the Lives of St. Brigid. His first meeting with her, when a youth, is thus described in the ancient Life which Colgan attributes to St. Ultan (cap. 78):

"Quadam die S. Brigida cum suis virginibus ambulabat in loco campestri, et vidit quendam juvenem scholasticum, currentem velociter; et ait illi, Juvenis, quo tu curris tam cito. Ille respondit, dicens, Ad regnum Dei. Dixitque ei Brigida, Utinam merear tecum currere: ora pro me, ut istud valeam. Respondit scholasticus, Tu roga Deum, ut cursus meus non impediatur, et ego vicissim pro te rogabo ut tu et mille comites tecum vadant ad regnum Dei. Tune S. Brigida pro juvene rogavit Dominum: et in illis diebus ipse poenitentiam egit, et fuit religiosus usque ad mortem suam."

The later lives add to this simple narrative that the young scholar was Ninnidh, son of Eochaidh, afterwards abbot of Inis-muighe-samh [now Inishmacsaint], an island in Loch Erne, and that Brigid on this occasion predicted that from his hand she herself should receive the holy viaticum on the day of her death. On hearing this prophecy Ninnidh enclosed his right hand in a brazen (others say a silver) case, which he kept

continually locked, lest the hand destined to give the holy Communion to St. Brigid should ever be defiled by the touch of anything unclean. From this circumstance he derived the appellation of "Ninnidh of the undefiled hand".

St. Brigid is supposed to have died A. D. 523, and Ninnidh, as we learn from his genealogy, was the fifth in lineal descent from King Loegaire, who flourished in the time of St. Patrick. He may therefore have lived until the middle of the sixth century. See his Life collected by Colgan at the 18th of January.

The second author to whom the Hymn is ascribed is Fiach, Bishop of Sletty, the same who composed the Irish poem in praise of St. Patrick, which Colgan has published as the first Life of that saint. This author died about A. D. 530. See Colgan, Tr. Thaum., pp. 4 and 217.

The third author is St. Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan in Meath, who died at a great age A. D. 656.

The claims of this last author are by Colgan strongly preferred, on the ground that he is stated by the ancient scholiast, or author of the Preface, to have composed a Life of St. Brigid; and as the ancient Life found in the monastery of St. Magnus, at Ratis

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Of the undefiled hand.-The story is thus told by the author of the fourth Life, which Colgan attributes to Anmchad or Animosus-"Ninnidius volens ab illa die manum suam mundissimam servare, de qua beatissima Brigida prædixit, ut in die exitus sui divinum viaticum sumeret, fecit circa eam æneam arctam manicam cum sera et clavi, ne illa corpus suum tangeret, neque de aliquo immundo tangeretur. Inde agnomen ipse habet: nam Scotice vocatur Ninnidh lam glun, quod sonat Latine Ninnidius manus mundæ."-Cap. 63, p. 559. According to the spelling of the name in the Liber Hymnorum, the etymology of it is lam 10dhan, rather than lam glan.

The ancient Life.-In the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, there is a paper copy of this Life, taken in the seventeenth century from an ancient MS. in the Cottonian Library. It has been collated throughout by Archbishop Ussher in his own hand, and various readings added in the margin; and it appears from the following autograph note in the beginning, that Ussher also was disposed to regard it as St. Ultan's. He says: "Descripta est Vita hæc Brigidæ ex antiquo MS' Bibliothecæ Cottonianæ, cui consimilis, sed aliquanto plenior, habetur in vetus

tissimo Codice cœnobii S. Magni, Canonicorum Regularium B. Augustini ad pedem pontis Ratisbona in Bavaria. Ad cujus finem habetur Hymnus in Laudem Brigidæ, cujus initium 'Christus in nostra insula, Quæ vocatur Hibernia, &c.' quem in aliis codicibus Ultano Ardbraccanensi attributum invenimus virtutum S. Brigidae scriptori, quem hujus Vitæ authorem fuisse omnino existimamus. Unde, ex Stephani Viti apographo, variantes lectiones ad marginem apposuimus: additis hic capitibus illis quæ a codice Cottoniano absunt."

This MS. does not contain the Hymn at the end; and it also omits several chapters, amongst others the following (adopting Colgan's numbering)-c. 14, 28, part of c. 46, c. 47, 48, 55, 68, 69, 70, 78, 79.

The Bollandists have published this Life as of an anonymous author, without noticing the opinion of Colgan that St. Ultan was the author. They have edited it from a MS. in the Church of St. Omer's, which does not appear to have had the Hymn at the end. At least the Editor has made no mention whatsoever of the Hymn, either at the end of the Life, or in his Prolegomena, but passes it over in complete silence, as if ignorant of its existence.— Actt. Sanctorum, tom i. Febr. p. 118 sq.

bon, contains at the end this very Hymn, Colgan draws the double conclusion; first, that that Life is the work of St. Ultan alluded to by the scholiast, and second, that St. Ultan was therefore the author of the Hymn. He says:

"Porro S. Ultanum esse authorem illius hymni, et per consequens hujus Vitæ, colligimus ex vetusto Scholiaste ejusdem hymni . . . . . . . Nam licet ipse ibi dubitet an S. Nennidius, an S. Fiegus, an potius S. Ultanus sit author istius hymni, colligitur tamen ex verbis ejus S. Ultanum esse et hymni et vitæ hujus authorem ; cum dicat ipsum et hymnum in laudem S. Brigidæ scripsisse, et hymnus idem, quem ille citat, uno volumine habeantur; et utrumque juxta dicta, ab eodem authore sit conscriptum; relinquitur quod S. Ultanus sit author utriusque, non vero quispiam ex illis aliis, qui nusquam leguntur Vitam S. Brigidæ uno vel pluribus libris scripsisse."-Tr. Thaum., p. 542.

The scholiast, however, does not say that St. Ultan composed a hymn in praise of St. Brigid; all he does assert is, that St. Ultan brought together into one book the miracles of Brigid, and that some have therefore supposed him to be the author of the hymn in question. In fact, Colgan's argument rests on a weak foundation; and we must content ourselves with leaving the question of the authorship of the Hymn in the same ambiguity and doubt in which it is left by the ancient scholiast; a doubt which must also attach itself to the authorship of the Life which Colgan has attributed to St. Ultan. For it is evident that he builds too much on the circumstance that the Hymn before us has been appended to this Life, and written by the ancient scribe as if it were a part of it. This appears to have been the case in one MS. only, and is certainly not the case in all the MSS. of that Life. Nothing was more common than to write such verses at the end of similar works; and an example of this custom is exhibited by Colgan himself, who has published from another MS. of this very same Life, a quite different set of verses, which were undoubtedly not written by St. Ultan, or at least not by the author of the Hymn.

It would seem that Colgan's MS. of the Liber Hymnorum had a Preface to the Hymn before us, which, although for substance the same, differed in some particulars from that now published. The following is his account of it (Tr. Thaum., p. 545, note 80):

"Idem Hymnus habetur in Codice illo vulgari Hibernico quem nostri Antiquarii Leabhur Iomann, id est, Liber Hymnorum, vocant, in eo enim continentur multi hymni a diversis Hiberniæ sanctis compositi; et ex eo ultimum versum in codice S. Magni desideratum accepimus; in eoque huic nostro hymno vetustus Scholiastes prefigit hoc prohemium seu argumentum. Sanctus Nennidius laimh-iodhan, id est mundimanus, composuit hunc hymnum in laudem S. Brigida; vel sanctus Fiegus Sleptensis. Audite Virginis laudes est eius initium; vel S. Ultanus de Ardbrecain composuit in S. Brigidæ laudem: ipse enim com

c Habeantur.-There is evidently some misprint, and very probably the omission of a line or two in this passage. This portion of Colgan's work is full of typographical blunders of the most careless de

scription. He evidently meant to say that the Life by St. Ultan and the Hymn were to be found in the same volume. But this statement is not made in the Preface of the ancient scholiast.

prehendit miracula S. Brigidæ uno libro. Ordo alphabeticus in eo servatur, et ad imitationem rithmi Noscarii compositus est. Quatuor sunt in eo capitula et quatuor lineæ in singulis capitulis, et sedecim syllaba in qualibet lineů.”

This agrees with the Preface of the Dublin MS., except as to the number of capitula of which the Hymn is said to consist. The Dublin copy gives two opinions on this point; one is that the Hymn had but three capitula, namely, the three which begin with the letters X, Y, and Z. The other opinion is, that the Hymn had originally a capitulum for every letter of the alphabet, but that of these only four now remain, viz. that beginning Audite virginis laudes, which was the first, and the three beginning with X, Y, and Z, which were the last, all the intervening capitula being lost.

Colgan's Liber Hymnorum, however, states that the Hymn has four capitula, without noticing any other opinion, and without intimating that it was originally longer, or that any of it was omitted or lost. Both Prefaces agree in excluding the lines beginning Brigida sancta sedulo, which are therefore no part of the Hymn, but are of the nature of an antiphon to be said after the Hymn.

It must be evident to the critical reader that the stanza Audite is a subsequent addition, and that the three preceding stanzas are in fact the Hymn, as stated in the Preface to the Dublin copy. The verses Audite, &c., do not obey the laws of the metre either as to assonances or number of syllables, and cannot therefore have been a part of the Hymn to which the other stanzas belonged.

With respect to the lines Brigida sancta, &c., Colgan tells us incidentally that they do not occur in the ancient Ratisbon MS. from which he edited this Life of St. Brigid. They are therefore probably of a later date. In the Dublin MS. they are written as prose, although they are evidently verses, and obey the laws of the metre both in number of syllables and in the assonances.

Brigida sancta sedulo || sit nostro in auxilio

Ut mereamur coronam || habere ac lætitiam

In conspectu Angelorum || in secula seculorum.

Colgan adds the following, which does not occur in the Dublin copy, and which has too many syllables to be considered as the fourth line of the stanza:

"Christe Jesu, author bonorum, miserere, obsecro, omnium."

But perhaps we should read,

"Christe Jesu, author bonorum, miserere, obsecro.

Amen."

To this Colgan adds another short poem, or carmen, as he styles it, of higher pretensions, and of more elaborate composition. It is found in the MS. of the monastery of St. Autbert at Cambray, and is, in that MS. (as Colgan declares) attributed to the same author who composed the Life and the Hymn.

Brigida nomen habet, gemino et diademate fulget,
Quam colimus fratres, Brigida nomen habet.
Virgo fuit Domini, mundo et crucifixa manebat,
Intus et exterius Virgo fuit Domini.
Despiciebat ovans instantis gaudia Vitæ,

Et falsos fastus despiciebat ovans.

Horruit et fragiles mundi fallentis honores,

Divitias, pompas, horruit et fragiles.
Gaudia perpetuæ spectans et præmia vitæ,
Suscepit certæ gaudia perpetuæ.

E superis resonat intus cum sedibus Echo
Tubarum sublimis", e superis resonat.
Mitte beata preces, pro nobis, Virgo benigna
Ad Dominum semper mitte beata preces.

It is difficult to suppose that these verses are by the same authore who composed the rude lines that precede. They do not occur in the Liber Hymnorum.

With respect to the Metre of the Hymn, it is described in both copies of the Scholiast's Preface, as consisting of stanzas or capitula of four lines, with sixteen syllables in each line. But instead of the words in the Dublin MS., Tre pithim dna do signed, which appear to allude to the assonances in the middle and end of each line, Colgan's MS. seems to have had a different reading, which he translates, "et ad imitationem rithmi Noscarii compositus est." What the Rithmus Noscarius is, the Editor is unable to say. Could it be an error of the press for Rythmus Nostratis, intimating that the Irish rules of concord or alliteration in the initial consonants are observed? (See O'Donovan's Grammar, p. 413, 414). Thus, ver. 1 has in, insola, Hibernia; ver. 2 has ostensus est, ho, m, m; ver. 3 has per, per, vi, vi; ver. 4 has pre, pro, m, m, m, and so on.

NOTE B.

St. Brigid the Mary of the Irish.

IN the MS. called the Leabhar Breac, preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy, there is a panegyric or Life of St. Brigid, containing an abstract of her miracles, evidently drawn up from the Life which Colgan ascribes to St. Ultan. This piece, which, from its language, appears to be a production of not later than the tenth cen tury, was obviously intended as a sort of sermon to be read to the people on the feast

d Tubarum sublimis.-This is obscure. Colgan proposes to read, "Cum tuba sublimis," and explains it thus: "quasi sensus sit, quod petat intercessionem Beata Brigidæ, cum resonabit tuba supremi Judicii."-Not. 83, p. 545. But could it not mean "the sublime echo of trumpets?" A learned friend suggests that "certæ," in line 10, ought to be casta, used as a substantive in the sense of virginis. He also proposes turbarum limbis," for tubarum sublimis, in ver. 13.

66

e Same author.-Colgan says, "Huic carmini subscriptum reperio, quod sit ejusdem authoris, qui vitam præcedentem et hymnum composuit."-Note 82, p. 545. It is to be regretted that he did not give this subscriptum just as he found it. We are to conclude, it is presumed, that the MS. of St. Autbert's contains the hymn Christus in nostra, as well as the Carmen; but it would have been interesting to know whether this MS. had the supposititious stanzas, Audite, and Brigida sancta.

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