A.D.

597-599.

Brendan.

According to the law which regulated the succession to the abbacy in these Irish monasteries, it fell to the tribe Baithene, of the patron saint to provide a successor; and Baithene, son of the cousin and confidential friend and associate of Columba, and superior of his monastery of Maigh Lunge in Tiree, who was also of the northern Hy Neill, and a descendant of Conall Gulban, became his successor, 'for,' says the Martyrology of Donegal, it was from the men of Erin the abbot of I was chosen, and he was most frequently chosen from the men of Cinel Conaill.' He appears to have been designated by Columba himself as his successor, and to have been at once acknowledged by the other Columban monasteries; for Adamnan tells us that Finten, the son of Tailchen, had resolved to leave Ireland and go to Columba in Iona. 'Burning with that desire,' says Adamnan, he went to an old friend, the most prudent and venerable cleric in his country, who was called in the Scotic tongue Columb Crag, to get some sound advice from him. When he had laid open his mind to him, he received the following answer: As thy devout wish is, I feel, inspired by God, who can presume to say that thou shouldst not cross the sea to Saint Columba?" At the same moment two monks of Columba happened to arrive; and when they remarked about their journey, they replied, "We have lately come across from Britain, and to-day we have come from Daire Calgaich," or Derry. "Is he well," says Columb Crag, "your holy father Columba?" Then they burst into tears, and answered, with great sorrow, "Our patron is indeed well, for a few days ago he departed to Christ." Hearing this, Finten and Columb and all who were there present fell on their faces on the ground and wept bitterly. Finten then asked, "Whom did he leave as his successor?" Baithene, his disciple," they replied. And we all cried out, "It is meet and right." Columb said to Finten, "What wilt thou do now, Finten?" He answered, "With God's

A.D.

599-605. Laisren, son of Feradhach.

"42

permission, I will sail over to Baithene, that wise and holy man; and if he receive me, I will take him as my abbot." Baithene enjoyed the abbacy, however, for two years only, and died in the year 599, on the same day of the year as Saint Columba, on which day his festival was likewise held.43

His successor was Laisren, son of Feradhach, who was also a descendant of Conall Gulban, and had been superior of Durrow during Columba's life. It was in his time that the discussion commenced between the Roman and the Irish Church regarding the proper time for keeping Easter. The mission of Columbanus to Gaul in the year 590, and that of Augustine to Britain in 597, had now brought the Roman Church in contact with the British and Irish Churches, and this-the most salient point of difference between thembecame at once the subject of a contest for the enforcement of uniformity on the one part, and the maintenance of their ancient customs, to which the Celtic mind clings with peculiar tenacity, on the other. Augustine, on his death in 604, was succeeded by one of his companions, named Laurentius; and this prelate, Bede tells us, 'did not only attend to the charge of the new church that was gathered from the English people, but also regarded with pastoral solicitude the old natives of Britain, and likewise the people of the Scots who inhabit the island of Ireland adjacent to Britain. For observing that the practice and sentiments of the Scots in their own country, and also those

42 Adamnan, B. i. c. 2. It is unnecessary to follow Finten's proceedings further. He is the Finten, surnamed Munnu, who founded Tach Munnu, now Taghmon, in Ireland, and to whom the churches of St. Mund in Lochleven and Kilmund in Cowal were dedicated.

43 598 Quies Baethin abbatis Ea anno lxvi etatis sue.-Tigh. Tighernac antedates the deaths of Co

lumba and Baithene one year. The Martyrology of Donegal records two anecdotes of him. When he used to eat food, he was wont to say Deus in adjutorium meum intende between every two morsels. When he used to be gathering corn along with the monks, he held one hand up beseeching God, and another hand gathering corn.'-Mart. Don. p. 165.

of the Britons in Britain itself, were contrary to church order in many things, particularly because they used not to celebrate the solemnity of Easter at the proper time, but supposed, as we have shown above, that the day to be observed in commemoration of the Lord's resurrection was included in the week from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the moon, he, in conjunction with his fellow-bishops, wrote them a letter of exhortation, beseeching and entreating them to keep the bond of peace and Catholic observances with that church of Christ which is extended all over the world. The beginning of his letter is here given: 'To our lords and most dear brethren the bishops or abbots throughout all Scotia (or Ireland), Laurentius, Mellitus and Justus, bishops, the servants of the servants of God. When the Apostolic See, according to her practice in all the world, stationed us in these western parts to preach to the pagan nations here, and so it came to pass that we entered into this island which is called Britain, before we were acquainted with it, supposing that they walked in the ways of the universal church, we felt a very high respect for the Britons as well as the Scots, from our regard to their sanctity of character; but when we came to know the Britons, we supposed the Scots must be superior to them. However, we have learned from Bishop Daganus coming into this island and Abbot Columbanus coming into Gaul, that the Scots differ not at all from the Britons in their habits. For Bishop Daganus, when he came to us, would not take meat with us, no, not so much as in the same lodging where we were eating.' 44 This letter does not appear to have had any effect; but it shows the spirit in which

the two churches came into contact with each other.

A.D. 605-623. Fergna

Laisren died in the following year. 45 His successor was Fergna Brit, or the Briton. From what he derived this epithet it is impossible to say, for certain it is Brit, son of Bede, H. E., B. ii. c. 4. 45 605 Obitus Laisreni abbatis Iae.-Tigh.

Failbhe.

246

that he also was of the tribe of the patron saint and a descendant of Conall Gulban. He had apparently been a pupil in the monastery of Iona during Columba's life, and Adamnan mentions him as Virgnous-the Latin form of Fergna- a youth of good disposition, and afterwards made by God superior of this church in which I, though unworthy, now serve.' In his time we again hear of two of the three great island monasteries which are specially mentioned in the Irish Annals. In 611 Tighernac records the death of Neman, bishop of Lismore; and in 617 of Donnan of Egg having been burnt on the fifteenth day before the kalends of May, or 17th April, with his martyr clerics.47 The tale of their martyrdom is thus told in the gloss upon the Martyrology of Angus the Culdee already quoted. It says, 'Donnan then went with his muintir, or monastic family, to the Gallgaedalu, or Western Isles, and they took up their abode there, in a place where the sheep of the queen of the country were kept. This was told to the queen. Let them all be killed, said she. That would not be a religious act, said her people. But they were murderously assailed. At this time the cleric was at mass. Let us have respite till mass is ended, said Donnan. Thou shalt have it, said they. And when it was over, they were slain every one of them.' The Calendar of Marian Gorman has the following commemoration: Donnan the great with his monks.

There came pirates of the were, and slew them all. The island of Egg is the

Fifty-two were his congregation. sea to the island in which they Eig is the name of that island.'48 most easterly of a group of islands lying between the promontory of Ardnamurchan and the island of Skye. It faces a wild and rugged district on the mainland, extending from Ardnamurchan to Glenelg, still known by the name 46 Adamnan, B. iii. c. 20.

47 611 Neman Abbas Lesmoir.Tigh. 617 Combustio Donnain Ega hi xv kalendas Mai cum clericis

martiribus.—Tigh. Chron. Picts and Scots, pp. 68, 69.

48 Dr. Reeves's Adamnan, 1874,

p. 294.

The Christian

of the Garbhcriochan, or rough bounds. religion appears to have as yet hardly penetrated the western districts north of Ardnamurchan, as is indicated by the dedications of their churches. The island of Egg was probably at this time connected with this district as a pasture island reserved for their flocks of sheep; and, while the people would seem to have been favourable to the little Christian colony established in the island by Donnan, the rule had passed into the hands of a queen who was still pagan and employed pirates to destroy them, who burnt the wooden church in which they were celebrating the eucharist, and the whole community accordingly perished. We have also at this time a slight trace of the Columban Church in the eastern districts of the northern Picts in the Irish Annals, which record in 616 the death of Tolorggain or Talarican, who is associated in the Scotch Calendars with the Church of Fordyce on the south shore of the Moray Firth, and who gives his name to the great district of Cilltalargyn, or Kiltarlity, in the district of the Aird, extending from the river Ness to the bounds of Ross-shire.49

In the year 617 noble Angles of

The only other event which took place while Fergna Brit was abbot was one which was destined to lead to a great extension of the Columban Church. there arrived at Iona some young and Bernicia. They were the sons of Aidilfrid, king of Bernicia, who, while still pagan, as were his people, had been slain by Aeduin, king of Deira. Bede tells us that his sons, with many of the youth of the nobility, took refuge among the Scots or Picts, where they lived in banishment during the whole of Aeduin's reign, 'and,' says Bede, 'were there catechised according to the doctrine of the Scots, and regenerated by the grace of baptism.' 50 Many of them were no

49 Chron. Picts and Scots, p. 168. Bishop Forbes's Calendars, p. 449. 50 Bede, Hist. Ec., B. iii. c. 1.