Chapter XX: The Schools of Desmond (2)

The island of Innisfallen in the Lower Lake of Killarney has been long celebrated both in song and story for its wonderful scenic beauty. It is commonly regarded as the Queen of Irish Islands, and one enthusiastic admirer has declared that it is the most beautiful spot in Europe. The monks of old were great lovers of nature, and hence, as might be expected, we find that at a very early period a monastery was founded on the island of Innisfallen. It offered many advantages to saintly men, who wished to give themselves up entirely to a life of holiness and learning. It was not merely its own sweet beauty and the glory of the lake and mountains round about, that made it a desirable place of seclusion; it had more prosaic advantages to commend it. It was near enough for convenience to the promontory of Ross, yet far enough for security; for it was surrounded by deep water and was within sight of that noble keep whose friendly owners were always the protectors and benefactors of the monks of Innisfallen. It is true, indeed, the monks had been there long before the present picturesque ruin was built, but then there was always some dun or fort on Ross Island, as it is now called, for it is a spot not only of singular beauty but also admirably situated for defensive purposes.

All our authorities agree that the monastery of Innisfallen was founded by St. Finan; but to which St. Finan it owes its origin is another question. There were many saints who bore that name, of whom two were particularly distinguished, St. Finan the Leper, and St. Finan Cam, or the Crooked. It is commonly said that St. Finan the Leper was the founder of Innisfallen. After a careful examination of his Acts as given by the Bollandists on his feast day, which is believed to be the 16th of March, we can find no evidence to support this statement, which in itself also is sufficiently improbable. It is true, indeed, that St. Finan the Leper came of the old Desmond race, for his father, Conal was fourth in descent from Ollioll Olum, the common ancestor of all the great Munster families. But Finan belonged to that branch of the race of Cian, son of Ollioll Olum, which was settled in the portion of Bregia, called from him Keenaght, extending from Dromiskin to Dublin; and it is highly probable that Finan himself was a native, not of Ely O'Carroll, as Colgan says, but of Sord, now called Swords, where his family seems to have resided. He was called the Leper, because on one occasion when a poor woman brought to the saint her son, who was blind, deaf, and leprous from his birth, the saint prayed to God to cure the child and offered himself to bear its leprosy. His prayer was heard--the child was made whole, but the saint was stricken with the dread disease, which he endured for thirty years. St. Finan the Leper is said to have been a disciple of St. Columba, and to have been placed by that saint over his own foundation at Swords; but at what time it is difficult to determine. The saint is also said to have founded Ardfinnan on the Suir in Tipperary, which took its name from him. He is also mentioned in connection with Clonmore in the co. Carlow, founded by St. Maedhog,[357] and according to the writer of his Life, he was buried there. His connection, however, with Innisfallen in Lough Lein is very doubtful, and unsupported by any satisfactory evidence that we have seen. It is much more likely that the Inisfaithlen referred to by his biographers was the island off the Coast of Dublin, now called by its Danish name of Ireland's Eye, but which in ancient times was known as Inisfaithlen--a fact of which Colgan does not seem to have been aware. The same name was also given to the island of Beg Erin, or Begery, in the Bay of Wexford.

On the other hand, St. Finan Cam was a Kerry man by race and birth, and moreover spent most of his life in the West of Kerry, which has many places connected with his name and memory. He was born in that wild promontory of Corkaguiny (Corca-Duibhne) which is swept bare by the wild Atlantic blasts. His father Mac Airde[358] is mentioned in the Life of St. Brendan--for it seems to be the same person--as a man of considerable wealth, who made a present of thirty cows with their calves to that saint shortly after he was born. Indeed it seems highly probable from the narrative that the family of St. Brendan and St. Finan were connected by ties of consanguinity. We are told too in the Life of Finan in the _Salamanca MS._ that St. Brendan was the first tutor of the boy, and that the latter spent seven years in Brendan's corner--contra fornacem--whilst he was learning to read and study monastic discipline under the guidance of that great master. This was probably in the early part of the sixth century, whilst Brendan was still living in his native Kerry, before he went on his Atlantic voyages, or founded any of his monasteries in the province of Connaught.

It was by the direction of the same saint that young Finan, who was already far advanced in holiness, left his father's territory, and went to Slieve Bloom, the utmost boundary of his native Munster towards the north, and there, about A.D. 560, founded the monastery of Kinnity, near Birr, at the roots of Slieve Bloom, with which his name has been ever since associated. It is a singular fact that so late as the year A.D. 907, we find that Colman, Abbot of Kinnity, _and King of Corca-Duibhne_, was slain in the fatal field of Ballaghmoon, where Cormac Mac Cullinan, and so many of his Munster nobles lost their lives.

Finan, however, returned after a brief sojourn at Kinnity to his native territory; and thenceforward we find that almost all the events recorded in his life took place in Kerry.

There is one incident mentioned, which goes far to show that this St. Finan Cam was the founder of the monastery on Innisfallen. For we are told that a boat was built on 'St. Finan's Island,'[359] and that a message was sent to Fedelmith, the King of Lough Lein, to carry away the boat. The king came with thirty men to bring the boat to the water, but they could not carry it. Then the angels of God, with Finan, carried the boat down to the Lake Lugdech. It is true this seems to refer to Finan's Island on Lough Currane, but the incident certainly shows that Finan had friendly relations with the King of Lough Lein, who in return would very naturally grant the holy man one of the islands on his own lake for a religious house.

On another occasion we find that when Finan's horse died, another steed came out of Lough Lein, and for three years drew the saint's waggon; and then at the bidding of Finan once more returned to his stable beneath the waves of Lough Lein. So the saint then probably had his own 'home' on the shore, or in an island of the lake. Once again, on a particular occasion, when Finan was living on a certain island, and his horses were on the mainland grazing, having, it seems, their feet tied, they swam to the saint's house, without loosening the bonds, and at his bidding swam back again to the shore. We find him also protecting his tribesmen of Corkaguiny against the attacks of Nechtan, King of the Hy-Fidhgente, who dwelt beyond Slieve Lougher, in the west of the County Limerick. This prince, refusing to listen to the prayers of Finan, was conquered in battle, and forced to fly from his kingdom. We are then told that he betook himself to Diarmaid, King of the Hy-Niall, which fixes the date of these events at some time between A.D. 544 and 565, the limits of the duration of King Diarmaid's reign. He returned, however, more than once to his monastery of Kinnity, where many monks lived under his rule and guidance. We find him also, towards the close of the sixth century, at an assembly of the Munster chiefs, probably at Cashel, in the time of Failbhe Flann. Failbhe succeeded his brother as King of Munster in A.D. 619; but he was, no doubt, for many years previously a prince of much influence and power. On this occasion Finan wrought some wondrous miracles before the king, and Failbhe did penance, and granted all the requests of Finan--one being to allow him 'to take a census of the population,'--it means rather to remit a tax that pressed on the people. We also find the saint nigh to Lough Lugdech, which seems to be the lake now called 'Lough Currane,' in the south-eastern extremity of Iveragh, near the Bay of Ballinskelligs. It seems to have been a favourite haunt of the saint; and the remains of his oratory are still to be seen on an island in the lake. On this occasion Finan wanted to get his horse shod; but the smith had broken his tongs, and could not hold the glowing iron. "Take it in your hands," said the saint. The smith did so, and held it without inconvenience, whilst he fashioned the shoe with his hammer! This is a fair specimen of some of the extravagant miracles attributed to Finan by the writer of his Life.

"Lough Lugdech, now," says O'Donovan, "called Lough Luigeach (Lee), or Currane Lough," is of oval form, about three miles long by two broad. It abounds with salmon and white trout, which, no doubt, often furnished a luxurious meal to the abstemious saint. On the south it is surrounded by a range of bold mountains, partly covered with woods in Smith's time,[360] but now quite bare of timber. The remains of Finan's Church and cell were to be seen on the largest of three small islands in the lake,[361] when Smith wrote about 140 years ago; and he says that they keep his (Finan's) festival on the 16th of March. This is the day generally assigned to Finan the Leper in our Martyrologies--the 7th of April being the festival of Finan Cam, according to the Martyrology of Tallaght--the change may have taken place from the confusion of names, for no one says that the Leper saint ever penetrated as far to the south-west as Lough Currane. The obliquity which gave Finan the surname of 'Cam,' was in his eyes, not in his body, adds the same eminent authority.

Derrynane also takes its name from our saint; it means the oak-grove of Finan--_Daire Fionain_--the letter 'f' being aspirated, and not sounded in the compound. The old abbey, however, situated on the shore, is of mediæval origin, as its ruins tell. St. Finan's Bay, north of Bolus Head, also speaks of the saint. It is quite open and exposed to all the fury of the Atlantic billows.

St. Finan was in all probability the first founder of the oratory on the Greater Skelligs, which is directly opposite the bay to the south-west. When the Danes swarmed round our coasts, the monastery was removed from the island to the mainland, and its dilapidated walls may still be seen in the only sheltered corner at the head of St. Finan's Bay. Several holy wells also bear the saint's name, and his memory is still vivid in various parts of Kerry. In our opinion this St. Finan Cam, not St. Finan the Leper, was the founder of the monastery of Innisfallen.

V.--THE ANNALS OF INNISFALLEN.

There are only two entries referring to Innisfallen in the _Four Masters_; one A.D. 1144, merely records the death of Flanagan of Innisfallen, a distinguished _anmchara_, or soul's friend--that is counsellor and confessor--or as we now say, spiritual director. The other entry, however, is an earlier and far more important one. It records the death in A.D. 1009 (_recte_ 1010) of Maelsuthain O'Cearbhail (Carroll) of the community or family of Innisfallen, "chief doctor of the western world in his time, and lord of the Eoghanacht of Lough Lein," who died 'after a good life.' This Maelsuthain was a very celebrated man, and in all probability the original compiler from older authorities of the _Annals of Innisfallen_. Hence he deserves special notice at our hands. The Eoghanacht of Lough Lein, of whom he was chief, was that branch of the great Eugenian race of Desmond, whose territory surrounded the beautiful Lakes of Killarney, and included the greater part of the Barony of Magunihy. O'Donoghue of Lough Lein, whose principal stronghold was on Ross Island, was the chief of this wide territory. He derived his descent from Cas, son of Corc, King of Munster, whose elder brother, Nadfraich, was the ancestor of the great MacCarthy family. In A.D. 1015 was slain Domhnall, who commanded the forces of Desmond at Clontarf, and he was father of Donchadh, from whom the family name has been derived. The O'Carrolls of Lough Lein were sub-chieftains under the O'Donoghues, and derived their descent from a younger brother of that Nadfraich above referred to as ancestor of the MacCarthy Mor.

Maelsuthain O'Carroll was in the beginning of the eleventh century head of this sub-tribe, and hence is called lord of Lough Lein. The School of Innisfallen was one of those which appear to have suffered least from the ravages of the Danes. This, no doubt, was mainly due to its remote insular situation amongst the mountains of Kerry. It is highly probable that Brian Boru, the hero of Clontarf, was educated at Innisfallen; at least we find that Maelsuthain, the head of the island school, was his intimate friend and counsellor during many years of his victorious career. When Brian marched in triumph to Armagh, he laid an offering of twenty ounces of gold on the High Altar of the cathedral; and our Maelsuthain O'Carroll, of Lough Lein, who accompanied him, made the following entry in the name of the king, in the _Book of Armagh_:--"St. Patrick, when going to heaven, ordained that all the fruit of his labour, as well of baptisms, as of causes and other alms, should be carried to the apostolic city, which in Irish is called Ardd-Macha. So I have found it in the libraries of the Scots. This I have written, that is, _Calvus Perennis_, 'the ever bald,' (which is equivalent to the Irish Mael-suthain), in the sight of Brian, Emperor of the Scots, and what I have written he determined for all the kings of Maceria,"[362] that being the Latin equivalent of Cashel.

Maelsuthain is sometimes called the Anmchara[363] of Brian; but as it seems that he was a layman, the word must mean rather counsellor than ghostly adviser. That Maelsuthain was a renowned professor of the Innisfallen school is apparent not only from the eulogy of the Four Masters and the Ulster Annals, which call him 'chief sage of Ireland,' but also from the curious tale about Maelsuthain that has been translated by O'Curry. It is in substance as follows. Maelsuthain was so renowned a professor that three students came all the way from Connor, in the County Antrim, to his school at Innisfallen, in which they spent three years. Then they resolved to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but their professor told them that it was now high time to pay him something for their education. They had no money, however, which is always a scarce commodity with students, but offered to spend three years in service with their teacher as a recompense for their education. "No," said he, "go to Palestine, and all I ask is that when you die, as you will in the Holy Land, you shall come to me, and let me know whether I also shall die in the peace of the Lord." They agreed to this, and went to Palestine, where they died in grace; but they asked permission from St. Michael to return to their old professor, and tell him his fate before going to heaven themselves. St. Michael granted this request, and bade them tell Maelsuthain that he had only three years and a-half to live, and then he was to be condemned to hell for all eternity. So they came to Maelsuthain, in the shape of three white doves. He bade them welcome, and asked what was to be his future lot. They told him. "And why am I to be sent to hell?" said he. They told him the reasons also, as St. Michael had directed them: first, because he interpolated the canons; secondly, because of unchastity; and, thirdly, because he had given up the Altus. "I shall not go to hell all the same," replied the professor, "for God has promised that 'the impiety of the wicked shall not hurt him in whatsoever hour he shall turn himself away from it.' I will turn away from my sins; I will put no sense of my own in the canons; I will perform a hundred genuflections every day; I will recite the Altus seven times every night to make up for my past neglect; and I will keep a three days' fast every week." On the day of his death the three white doves returned, and told him that his penance was accepted by God, and that they saw his place in heaven, and would now accompany him into eternal glory. So he was anointed by the clergy around his bed; and his three pupils parted not with him until they all went to heaven together. "And," adds the tale, "it is this good man's writings (or manuscripts--_screptra_), that are in Innisfallen in the church there still."

This reference seems to designate some well-known writings connected with Innisfallen, of which Maelsuthain was the author or compiler, and which can hardly be any other than the well known _Annals of Innisfallen_. Eugene O'Curry tells us that it has been a constant tradition in the South of Ireland that the _Annals of Innisfallen_ were compiled by Maelsuthain, and he adds that he himself had no doubt the O'Carroll was either 'the original projector of the compilation,' or that he enlarged the previous meagre outlines kept in the monastery of Innisfallen into this more regular and extensive historical work.

The principal copy of these _Annals_ is at present preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. "It contains," says Dr. O'Conor, "fifty-seven leaves (of parchment), of which the first three are considerably damaged, and the fourth partly obliterated. Some leaves at the beginning are also missing." The missing leaves seem to have begun with a short account of the creation and the history of the early patriarchs extracted from the Book of Genesis. At the sixth begins the history of the Kingdom of the Greeks; then it treats of the general history of the great empires of the world down to the year A.D. 430 (at folio 9), where their real interest begins. Thenceforward there is a brief chronicle of Ireland in different hands, down to the year A.D. 1319. The first scribe has written down to the year A.D. 1130 (at folio 30). The writing of this portion is free and elegant; the initial letters are coloured and adorned; and everything seems to point to the fact that the original scribe of this manuscript wrote no further. But afterwards the work becomes more rude and careless; there is no attempt at ornamentation; in fact, the appearance of the manuscript is a faithful picture of the state of the country--daily going from bad to worse. It is fruitless now to speculate how this venerable monument of Irish learning came into the Bodleian Library of Oxford.

The work known as the _Dublin Annals of Innisfallen_ is a translation in Trinity College Library, which Theophilus O'Flanagan testifies[364] that he made into English "about nineteen years ago, from a copy perfected under the direction of Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Cloyne and Ross, from the original in the Bodleian Library." Dr. O'Brien's scribe was, according to O'Flanagan, a priest of the name of Conroy, who was well versed in the Irish language.

There is another copy in the Royal Irish Academy in Irish and English, beginning with A.D. 250, and coming down to A.D. 1320. It is on paper, and contains 320 folios. During the later years it deals chiefly with the affairs of Munster. At A.D. 1010 we find the following entry:--"Maelsuthain, son of O'Carroll, King of the Eoghanacht of Locha Lein, and _the Primate of Ireland_, died in Aghadoe." In the Irish it is 'Priomfaidh Eirion,' which appears to mean, 'chief sage of Ireland.' More than half this volume deals with the period from A.D. 1170 to 1320, and it contains many interesting entries during that time. The chronology is, however, very defective.

Poetry, it seems, was cultivated in Innisfallen as well as history--for we are told that in A.D. 1197 Gilla Patrick O'Huihair went to his rest. He was archdeacon of the island--which shows that there was a considerable community there at the time--and superior of the convent. He also founded many religious houses, to which he gave books, vestments, and other necessaries. He was, moreover, the Annalist tells us, 'a celebrated poet;' and was held in the highest estimation for his chastity, piety, wisdom, and universal charity. We have also another entry, A.D. 1208, which gives us a beautiful picture of a reverend priest of 'Cloonuama,'[365] who died in this abbey, where he passed the evening of a life chequered by misfortune in penitence and prayer, and was buried in the cemetery of the Abbey of Innisfallen.

There is one significant entry a few years earlier--"anno 1180, this abbey of Inisfallen being ever esteemed a paradise and a secure sanctuary, the treasure and the most valuable effects of the whole country were deposited in the hands of its clergy; notwithstanding which we find the abbey was plundered in this year by Maolduin, son of Daniel O'Donoghue. Many of the clergy were slain--even in their cemetery--by the MacCarthys. But God soon punished this act of impiety and sacrilege, by bringing many of its authors to an untimely end."

During the eleventh century the O'Donoghoes of Lough Lein rose to great power and influence--one of them became king of Cashel, and several of them are described as royal heirs of Cashel. It was an O'Donoghue who restored the cathedral church of Aghadoe in the twelfth century--he was slain in A.D. 1166. In all probability this Maolduin, son of Daniel, was in feud with his own family, who were always the protectors of the monks of Innisfallen, and he called in the MacCarthys to help him in plundering this venerable shrine. It is satisfactory to know that vengeance soon overtook the despoilers of this paradise, as the chronicler aptly describes it.

Yes, Innisfallen is, in truth, an earthly paradise. The island contains about twelve acres; but this small area is dowered with every charm that can gratify the senses. The surface, fringed with evergreen bowers, is gently undulating, and covered with a carpet of green, so pure and so soft, that the eye loves to linger on its hues. There are miniature creeks, where the wavelets die in gentle ripples; there are giant elms and hoary ash trees, that have lived for centuries; the holly and the arbutus are not shrubs, but forest trees, and their bright green leaves, with blossoms of purest white, or berries of deepest red, gleam through the heavy-laden boughs. Then there are the manifold associations of religion, and history, and poetry, and romance, called up before the mental vision by the aspect of the ruined churches on this queen of islands. You have, besides, the mingled melodies of whispering leaves, and singing birds, and murmuring waters, filling the ear, and inviting the listener to contemplation and repose. Of old, the tinkling of bells was heard from these ruined cloisters, and the gray Franciscan habit was seen stealing along the shores of Muckross, and the cathedral chimes of Aghadoe were borne over the waters to the students' ears. Now they are all gone--no lectures within these silent roofless walls; no midnight vigils of the gray friars in Muckross; no bishop's throne in Aghadoe. Yet young Killarney rivals these ivy-grown haunts of ancient learning and holiness in all things save one--the unapproachable beauty of the sites chosen by the monks of old. Their successors live nigh to scenes of beauty; but they have so placed themselves that they can never see them. They seem to prefer naked walls and flat fields to the glorious vision of nature's unapproachable beauties, which she has poured out with lavish hand, by mountain, stream, and woodland all around this peerless Lake of Learning.[366]