served in the Book of Lecan (MS. Royal Irish Academy), gives the following genealogy of St. Cummain Fota: Rim ingen Fiachna mic Fiachraċ Gairine, mic Duach iarlaithi, maċair Cumaine mic Fiachna, 1 Comgain Mic Dacerda, 1 Guani mic Colmain, & Crimthaind caeil mic Aeda Cirr, rig laigen, 1 Cuana mic Carlène. laech Liathmuine,bracain Dairindre. Rimh, daughter of Fiachna, son of Fiachra Gairine, son of Duach Iarlaithi, was the mother of Cumaine, son of Fiachina; and of Comgan Mac Dacerda; and of Guari, son of Colman; and of Crimthann Cael, son of Aedh Cirr, King of Leinster; and of Cuana, son of Cailchine, Laech Liathmuine [the hero of Liathmuine]; and of Bracan of Dairinis. 2. And in his book on the Genealogies of the Saints, the same author gives the pedigree thus: "Cuimmine Fota, son of Fiachna, son of Fiachra, son of Duach, son of Maine, son of Cairpre, son of Corc, son of Lughaidh, son of Ailill Flann beg." 3. The Scholiast on the Felire of Aengus has preserved the following Rann, or short historical poem: Mugain, ingen rachna finn, mathair Cummaine ceoilbind; sispi Mugain a maċair seissium dissi derbraċair .1. da mac .x. po geisat uaite, .1. re herpoic, & se rig, im Cuimin, im Comgall. Mughain, daughter of Fiachna the fair, Mother of Cummaine of the sweet tones; This Mughain was his mother, He to her was brother. Twelve sons were born of her, viz. six bishops and six kings, including Cummin, and Combgall. The six bishops and six kings, however, are not enumerated. 4 Again, in the Martyrology of Marianus Gorman, at the 12th of November, we have the following account of St. Cummain Fota:— Cummin Fota mac Fiachna do Cojanaċt Loċa Léin, Epscob Cluana ferta brenainn. ⱭoŎ a ċed ainm diles, & Druim daliter ainm a baile. Cummain Fota, son of Fiachna, of the Eoghanacht of Loch Lein, Bishop of Clonfert Brenainn. Aodh was his proper name first, and Druimdaliter was the name of his town. 5. The Martyrology of Donegal has the same account of St. Cummain in the same words, but adds the following: Do riocht Cuire mic luigdech, mic Oiliolla Flainn bicc, mic Fiatać Muilletain, mic Cogain moir, mic Oiliolla Oluim He was of the race of Corc, son of Lughaidh. son of Oilioll Flann Beg, son of Fiacha Muillethan, son of Eoghan Mor, son of Oilioll Oluimt. And t Oilioll Oluim.-See the Genealogical Table in O'Donovan's Battle of Mugh Rath, p. 343, from which, with the genealogy above given, we can complete the pedigree of St. Cummain from his ancestor Oilioll Oluim, King of Munster, who died A. D. 234:—thus-Oilioll Oluim,-Eoghan mor,— do, Rimh a deirbsuir fein ba matair do, amail as follas in a beċaid. Mide an of naomta do ba buime do. Leastar neccna a aimsire an ferra. Proiceptaid eargna breitre De. Aeir Crist an tan so faith a spirit do cum nime 661. Adeir an sein leabhar memraim, ag labairt ar brigit, 1o. Feb. & ar Patraicc 17o Mart. go raibe Cuimin Fota cosmail a mbearaiba mbeataid re Grizoir mora lium. Rimh, his sister, was herself also his mother, as is manifest in his Life. Midhe" [i. e. St. Ita] the holy virgin was his nurse. A vessel of learning was this man in his time, a learned preacher of the Word of God. The year of Christ when he resigned his spirit to heaven was 661. The old parchment book says, in speaking of Brigid (1st Febr.), and of Patrick (17th March), that Cummain Fota in his manners and life resembled Gregory Moralium". 6. The Four Masters, at the year 661, give the following account of St. Cummain, together with a short historical poem on his death: S. Cummine Foda mac Fiachna epscop Cluana Ferta brenainn, decc, in dara la deg do Nouember. Colman ua Cluaraig, oide Cummine, so said na rannsa Ni beir Luimnech for a druim, Ma do teigedh neach tar muir, Mo cumasa iar cCumine, on lo so foilged a árc, : St. Cummine Fota, son of Fiachna, Bishop of Cluain Ferta Brenainn, died the twelfth day of November. Colman O'Cluasaigh, tutor of Cummine, composed these verses :— Never did the Luinneach" bear on its back, Of the race of Munster, into Leth Chuinn, If any one went across the sea To sit in the chair of Gregory, If from Ireland, it was not meet for him, Except he was Cummine Fota. Ah! woe is me after Cummine! From the day that his corpse was covered in, My eyelids drop tears, there has not ceased Mourning, since the destruction of his boat". Fiacha Muilleathan (King of Munster, A. D. 260),— Oilioll Flan beg (King of Munster), -Lugdach-Corc (King of Munster),—Cairpre Luachra,—Maire,— Duach Iarlaithe,- Fiachra-Gairine, — Fiachna,Cummain Fota. u Midhe. For mo Idha, my Ida, or my Ita. Colgan has explained this mode of expressing devotion to a saint.-Acta SS., p. 71, n. 2, 3. A corresponding phrase,-Our Lord, Our Lady, My God, is still in use. Gregory Moralium.-See above, p. 70. "The Luimneach.-This was the name of the Lower Shannon, from Limerick to the sea. * Leth Chuinn.-Conn's half; the Northern half of Ireland. The chair of Gregory.-i. e. to become Pope. Gregory the Great was celebrated amongst the Irish. See O'Donovan's note, Four Masters, A. D. 590, and O'Flaherty's West Connaught, p. 8o. Of his boat.-Or, "of his bier." It was the custom to destroy the bier after the interment of the corpse. The death of Colman O'Cluasaigh, the writer of these verses, is recorded at the same year by the Four Masters. 7. The following curious story, in which Cummain Fota, Guaire Aidhne, and St. Caimine, of Inis Cealtra, are brought together, is told by the Scholiast on the Felire of Aengus, and has been loosely translated by Colgan, Acta Sanctorum, p. 746. It occurs in a note on the twenty-fifth of March, which was the festival of St. Caimin: Feachtas do Guaire Aidne & do Chumain Foda & do Caimin innsi Cealtra isin ecclais i ninis Cealtra for loċ nDeircc-deirc, edon in ecclas mór do ronaŎ la Caimine ann. battarsoṁ din ag tabart anmcairdera for Guaire. Mait a ghuaine, ol Caimine, cio beit mait lat do lionad na hecclaisi i ttám. Frecerais Guaire he, & ised a dubairt, so ba mait lim a lan di or darccatt, & ni ar saint an domainsi, act dia tiodlacad for manmain do naemhaibh, 1 do eccalsaib, & da zać nech do iarrfaid e arcena. Do rad Dia furtaċt duit a Ghuaire, ol Caimine, & do bertar duit an tsaileċtain do ronais dia tabert ar t’anmain, 1 rodbiɑ nem iaraim. As buide linn, ol Guaire. Tura imorro, a Chuimin, ar Guaire, cid beit mait lat do beit ann. Ro pad mait lim, ap Cumin, a lan do leabraib dia toidect do aes leiginn, & do fiolað breitre de ccluasaib caid dia ttabert do lurcc diabail do cum an coiṁded. Tusa imorro, a Chaimine, ol siatt, cid beit mait latsa do beit ann. Freccrais Caimine iad, & issead a dubairt, so ba mait lim alan do saet & do falar do beit im corp, & me fein occ impulang mo pian. Ro frit imorro a niomraite o Dia .1. an talaṁ do Guaire, & eccna do Cumain Foda, & do radad saeth, & galar do Chamíne, conach deachad cnaim de friaroile i ttalmainn, act so leżad imorro a peoil & a fetae re haincessaib gach galair dia mboi Fair. Co ndeacatar immorro for neamh uile la nimraitib isin ecclais. FINIS. : Once upon a time that Guaire Aidline and Cumain Foda, and Caimine of Inis Cealtra, were in the church of Inis Cealtra in Loch Deirgdheirc, namely, the great church that was built by Caimine there; they were then giving spiritual counsel to Guaire. "Well, O Guaire," said Caimine, "what wouldst thou wish to have this church in which we are filled with ?" Guaire answered him and said, "I would wish to have it full of gold and silver; and not from covetousness of this world, but that I might give it for [the good of] my soul to saints and churches, and in like manner to every one that would ask for it." "God will give thee help, O Guaire," said Caimine," and will grant thee the expectation thou hast formed for the good of thy soul; and hereafter thou shalt possess heaven." "We are thankful," said Guaire. "But thou, O Cumain," said Guaire, "what wouldst thou wish to have in it ?" "I would wish," said Cumain, แ to have it full of books to instruct studious men, and to disseminate the word of God into the ears of all; to bring them from following the devil unto the Lord." "But thou, O Caimine," said they, "what wouldest thou wish to have in it ?" Caimine answered them and said, "I would wish to have the full of it of disease and sickness to be on my body, and myself to be suffering my pain." And so they obtained their wishes from God, viz. the earth to Guaire, wisdom to Cumain Foda, and sickness and disease to Caimine, so that not one bone of him remained united to the other on earth, but his flesh dissolved, and his nerves, with the excess of every disease that fell upon him. So that they all went to heaven according to their wishes [expressed] in the church. Finis. II. It remains now to make some remarks on the foregoing authorities, including the Scholiast's Preface in the Liber Hymnorum. 1. The history of the unhappy lady who was the mother of St. Cummain is obscure and unsatisfactory in almost every particular. Her very name is given variously. The Scholiast of the Liber Hymnorum calls her Flann, or Lann. Aengus the Culdee gives her the name of Rim, or Rimh, and she is also so called in the Martyrology of Donegal. Colgan, quoting the former authority, gives her the same name in the Latinized form Rima', but adds, "rectius Mugania," which last is her appellation in the ancient Rann preserved by the Scholiast on the Felire of St. Aengus. She is also called Mughain in the modern interpolated version of her story, in the Betham MS. quoted above, p. 81, note. The reason of these different appellations does not appear. 2. The account given of her sons is also full of difficulties. In the extract above quoted from Aengus, De Matribus Sanctorum, she is said to have been the mother of six sons, viz.: (1.) Cummaine, or Cummain, the son of her father Fiachna. (2.) Comgan-Mac Dacerda, who was so called, not because he was the son of Dacerda, as might at first sight appear to be the meaning of the words, but (as the title is explained) because he was of weak intellect, with occasional fits of prophetical inspiration, so that he was called Mac da cherda3, the boy or youth of two arts, viz. the extreme of folly, and the extreme of knowledge. He is mentioned in the Life of St. Molagga, as printed by Colgan, and in the "Acts of the idiots Comdhan (or Comghan) and Conall," quoted by the same author. A copy of this last work (but unfortunately a very bad one) is preserved in the Betham MS. (22 a), in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy; and in it we find the following account of Comgan Mac da Cerda: He was the son of Maolochtair, King of the Decies of Munster, and of Mughain, daughter of Fiachna, son of Fiachra Gairine. Some time after his birth, Mughain, stung with remorse for the scandal which had arisen from her early history, consulted her son Cummain, and by his advice resolved upon separating from her husband Maolochtair, and devoting the rest of her days to seclusion and penitence. This resolution being a Rima.-Colgan. Acta SS., p. 148, n. 4. b Mac da cherda.-In the Life of St. Molagga (Colgan. Actt. SS., p. 145), he is called "Comdhanus cognomento Mac da-chearda,” and Colgan tells us: "Lusit in ipso mirabiliter natura, vel verius divina voluntas, cujus mirâ dispositione plerumque hominis rationis usu seu judicio carentis, aliquando etiam, quando lucida quædam habuit intervalla, sagacissimi et prudentissimi actus exercebat, responsaque dabat sapientissima, quæ veluti oracula accipiebantur: et hinc cognomentum da cheard, i. e. duarum artium accepit, quia nempe nunc extreme fatuus, mox summe prudens."— Colgan, ib. p. 149, n. 8. The belief that idiots are under an occasional inspiration from heaven is still common in Ireland. c The same author.-He says: "Vide plura de ipso... in actis Cumdhani et Conalli idiotarum ; in quibus in apographo quod vidi, inter plura vera, quædam apocrypha et fabulosa, maxime de. S. Declano et Molagga referuntur."-Acta SS., p. 149, n. 7. accomplished, Maelochtair married another wife, Ailgineach, daughter of Maoldubh, who, after some time, conceived a criminal passion for Comgan, her stepson, who was remarkable for manly beauty, grace, and accomplishments. He was insensible to her blandishments, and her love was converted into the most deadly hatred. On one occasion, a fair and assembly having been held by the men of Munster in South Tipperary, Comgan carried off the victory in all the sports and exercises of the day, and won the applause of all spectators. Maelochtair's Druid was especially charmed with his prowess, and celebrated his praises above all the rest. The malicious stepmother, seeing this, accosted the Druid, and said to him, "You are the last person who ought to praise Comgan, for he is criminally attached to your wife, and has access to her at his pleasure. Observe him when he rides around to receive the congratulations of the ladies, and you will see that your wife regards him with peculiar favour." "If this be so," said the Druid, "his power of acquiring favour with her or any other woman shall cease for ever." Soon after, Comgan arrived at the head of his troop of cavalry, and rode around the assembly, according to custom, to receive the congratulations of the fair ladies who were witnesses of his success, and addressed to each some courteous words; to the Druid's wife amongst the rest. Although the unconscious Comgan in reality paid no more court to her than to others, yet to the Druid's eyes, already filled with jealousy, his passing compliment seemed an undoubted confirmation of all the suspicions with which his mind had been poisoned; and when Comgan retired to wash his horses and himself in a neighbouring river, the Druid followed him, and suddenly struck him with a magical wand, or, according to another account, flung upon him a wisp of straw, over which had been pronounced some fiendish incantation. The result was, that when Comgan arose from bathing, his flesh burst forth in boils and ulcers, and his attendants were forced to carry him to his father's house. At the end of the year he had wasted away, his hair fell off, his intellect decayed, and he became a bald and senseless idiot, keeping company only with the fools and mountebanks of his father's court. Some time after, his half-brother Cummain was invited to accept the primacy of Armagh, and having prayed to the Lord, with fasting, for direction in the case, an angel appeared to him and repeated two lines of a quatrain, which he was directed to commit to memory, and then go in search of the person who could supply the other two lines, from whom he should receive the advice he sought. Cummain therefore went about repeating the lines to every one, but without finding anybody who could complete the quatrain. At length he went to the palace of Maelochtair, to visit his brother, whom he found asleep in the Stranger's Hall of the palace. Cummain addressed him in verse, repeating two lines, which contained an allusion to his unhappy condition. Comgan answered in two other lines, which corresponded to or rhymed with Cummain's, who replied by another distich, and so they went on until they had N |