but he candidly admits that after the meal what remained were bacon rinds and not bread crumbs. On a certain occasion a mother complained bitterly to him of the wilfulness and insubordination of her son. Cainnech had the boy taken and his feet fettered in iron, and took him with him to Britain. On the way he threw the key of the fetter that fastened the lad's feet into the sea, and declared that the fellow should not have his freedom till the key was recovered. Afterwards, when the youth returned to Ireland, he managed somehow to rid himself of the fetters, and pretended that he had recovered the key from the belly of a fish. On a visit made by Cainnech to S. Columcille at Iona, the two saints fell out. An Irishman named Tulcan had placed himself along with his little son in the monastery. Some of the monks complained to Columcille that Tulcan loved his son better than he loved God, and the abbot bade him take the boy to the top of a cliff and fling him over it into the sea. The heart-broken father obeyed. Happily, Cainnech at the time was returning from a neighbouring island in a boat, and managed to rescue the child. Going to Columcille he said, “From this time we are no more friends, because you gave too cruel a command, and afflicted a miserable stranger." 1 One day Cainnech came to a rich man's house and saw there a wretched starved dog, all skin and bones. He inquired whose duty it was to attend to the dog, and the mistress of the house replied that it was hers. "Then," said S. Cainnech, "till the end of the year give your victuals to this dog, and do you eat only what was given to the poor brute." It is asserted that she obeyed him; which may or may not have been the case. Walking in winter in the country of the Southern Hy Niall, he saw a cross with the snow capping it and resting on the arms. He inquired whose cross it was, and was informed that it was set up to Colmann MacDiarmid, King of Meath. Cainnech had known him, and had received favours from him. The saint went up to the cross, and leaning his head against it wept, and as he wept his tears melted the snow from the head and arms of the cross. There was good reason why the Saint should be unhappy for the fate of Colmann, and pray for his soul, for he had been a lawless and lustful prince, and had once carried away the sister of Bishop Aed MacBric, who had been a nun, and retained her in his fort near the hill of Uisneach, in West Meath. As Aed could effect nothing he 1 "Ex hoc nunc amici non erimus, quia tam crudele imperium precepisti, et miserum peregrinum afflixisti." Col. 374. induced Cainnech to visit the king and induce him to surrender the unhappy girl, and Cainnech succeeded. Colmann Bec, son of Diarmid, King of Meath, was killed by Aedh MacAinmire, King of Ireland, at Bealachfeadha, in 587.1 Cainnech was a good deal of his time in Meath and in Ossory. In the latter he was in good repute with the king, Colmann son of Feradach, who gave him grants of land and heaped benefits upon him. It was due to this prince that Cainnech obtained Aghaboe, the Field of the Ox, which became his principal monastery. The king's palace. was at Kells. The city of Kilkenny takes its name from Cainnech, who had a cell there. Colmann belonged to an intrusive race of kings, and during his reign there were frequent revolts of the Ossorians under Maelgarbh and Maelodhar, of the ancient Ossorian regal family. On one occasion the insurgents surrounded and set fire to the fortress. Cainnech, hearing of the danger of his friend. hastened to the spot, rushed into the burning fort, and dragged the prince forth, and conveyed him to a place of safety. There those of his party rallied about him, and he took the field and routed the insurgents.2 In his old age Cainnech retreated to an island in Loch Cree, since drained, and there wrote a commentary on the Four Gospels, which was called the Glass Kinnich or Chain of Cainnech, long preserved in his church. S. Brendan of Clonfert was making a gold chalice for his altar, but ran short of the precious metal. So he went to Cainnech and asked if he could supply him with some gold. At the moment the abbot was sick, and pointing to the vomit, bade Brendan take that or nothing. The biographer gravely declares that what he had ejected from his stomach was instantly converted into pure gold. At Aghaboe, Cainnech is said to have written the life of S. Columcille. Finding his end approaching, Cainnech was unwilling to receive the Holy Eucharist from the hands of a certain priest of his monastery, who was engaged to administer it, because he was in expectation of the arrival of his friend S. Fintan, abbot of Clonenagh, and this latter arrived in time and communicated him. S. Cainnech died on October II, 598, according to the Annals of Ulster and those of the Four Masters, at the age of eighty-four. Next to SS. Brigid and Columba, if we may measure popularity by dedications, the favourite Irish Saint in Scotland was S. Kenneth. His name occurs in the Aberdeen Breviary on October II. In the city of Kilkenny the feast of S. Canice is observed as a Double of the 1 Ulster Annals, and Chron. Scottorum (corrected). First Class with an Octave. His name occurs in all the Irish Calendars and Martyrologies; it is in Usuardus, and in Wilson's English Mart.; Whytford also on October II, "In Scotland the feest of Saynt Canuke an abbot." He is in the Drummond Calendar, in that of Arbuthnot, etc. One great token of his popularity in Scotland is that he gave a name, Kenneth, to Kings of the Scottish race. A fair, now discontinued, used to be held at Llangennech on October 12th, Old Style, and latterly on the 23rd. For a brief account of the life and miracles of S. Cainnech, see Kelly, Cal. Ir. SS., 125, 138 sq.; Forbes, Kal. Scott. SS., 295–7; Butler, Lives of the SS., x. 300; Lanigan, Eccl. Hist. Ir., ii, 188, 200 sq.; Trans. Soc. Antiq. Scot., iv, 300 sq.. with special reference to his connexion with S. Andrew's; Reeves, Adamnan, 121, 220, and Eccl. Ant., 374; O' Conor, Rer. Hib. Scrip., iv, 125; Ware. Ir. Writ., 6, 27, and Ir. Ant., 137; Ulster Journ. Arch., ii, 7, 235, 242. S. CAIRNECH, Bishop, Confessor THIS saint is often confounded with Carannog, who in Irish is also called Cairnech. They, however, belonged to different parts of Ireland. Carannog was British by birth and Cairnech Irish. The authorities for his history are: 1. A Life in Irish from the Book of Ballymote, printed with translation by Todd and Herbert in the appendix to their edition of the Irish Nennius, Dublin, 1848, pp. 178-193. Mr. Herbert says in a note, "This legend is probably subsequent to A.D. 1092, when the primacy of the see of Lyons was decreed." What grounds he has for drawing this deduction we are at a loss to see. All the Life says about Lyons is that after an apocryphal Council held at Tours, Cairnech went on "to Lien in pilgrimage." There can, however, be very little doubt that the Life is late, probably of the twelfth century. 2. The Tale of the Death of Muirchertach, or Murtogh Mac Erca, in the Yellow Book of Lecan, written in the fourteenth century, and another MS. about a century younger in the library of Trinity College, Dublin. This tale has been printed, with a translation by Mr. Whitley Stokes, in the Revue Celtique, xxiii (1902), pp. 195-438. Of this O'Donovan, in his edition of the Annals of the Four Masters, gave a summary, i, p. 173, note b. In the Life from the Book of Ballymote Cairnech is confounded with Carannog. Cairnech was the son of Saran, son of Coelchu, son of Tuathal, son of Fedhlim, son of Fiachra Cassan, King of Ulster in 236,1 whereas Carannog was son of Corun, son of Ceredig, son of Cunedda Wledig, who expelled the Irish from Wales. Saran, the father of the saint, was king of Dal Araidh, and was an obstinate pagan. He is almost certainly the man who opposed S. Patrick Mac Calpurn when he visited Ulster. He is described in the Tripartite Life as son of Coelbad, instead of Coelchu. A curious story is told of this Saran. Owing to his opposition, Patrick had cursed him that he should never possess heaven. Somewhat later, after a raid, Saran brought a number of captives into his territory, and Bishop Olcan, moved with pity at the brutal way in which they were being treated, begged that they might be given to him. Saran replied that he would do so on one condition only, that Olcan should promise him heaven as his reward. Olcan did so. A short while after Patrick met Olcan and was furious with him for having promised heaven to the man to whom he had denied it. Olcan entreated forgiveness, and knelt to Patrick in token of submission. But Patrick in a towering rage ordered his charioteer to drive over the prostrate bishop. "I dare not," said the charioteer, "drive over a bishop." Whereupon Patrick cursed the driver soundly for being so scrupulous.2 Saran married Erca, daughter of Loarn, who along with his brothers Fergus and Aengus had been blessed by Patrick. They invaded Alba, and conquered Argyll; Loarn gave his name to Lorne. The latter became king there somewhat later, and reigned from 503 to 513. Erca was, however, an unfaithful wife, and eloped with Muirdach, or Murtogh, son of Eoghain (d. 464) and grandson of Niall of the Nine Hostages (378-405). By Murtogh she became the mother of four sons, the most noted of whom was Murtogh Mac Erca, who was one of the most turbulent men of whom we read in Irish history. After the death of Murtogh, Erca was married to Fergus son of Conall Gulban (d. c. 464), another son of Niall, and by him also had four sons. Saran, as Erca had left him, married her sister Babona or Pompona, and became the father of Luirig, Bracan and S. Cairnech. According to the legend, Saran had extended his conquests into Britain, probably in alliance with his wife's uncles, Fergus and Aengus, and he was succeeded by his son Luirig. S. Cairnech also had come into Britain and established a monastery. 1 Colgan, Acta SS. Hib., Mart., pp. 713, 783. Stokes, Tripartite Life, i, p. 167; Colgan, Trias Thaum., p. 147 Murtogh Mac Erca had committed a murder in Ireland. He had put to death some cross-bearers, probably because they had composed lampoons upon him. This had been a legal privilege of the bards, and the right seems to have been assumed and exercised by the crossans or cross-bearers in religious ceremonies of the Church. For this murder, Murtogh fled to Alba, where soon after, 513, he murdered his grandfather, Loarn. Fergus at once succeeded his brother (513-540) and drove Murtogh Mac Erca out of Alba. He now went into Britain, intending to do all the mischief he could there, and he asked his cousin S. Cairnech to bless his arms. Cairnech consented on one condition. Luirig, Cairnech's brother, had erected a fortress on the lands that Cairnech claimed as belonging to himself, and this the Saint resented with an implacable spirit. He would bless Murtogh's arms if he would remonstrate with his brother. To this Murtogh cheerily consented, and went to Luirig, who when he heard the message and Cairnech's threats, replied with a scoff, “I value his remonstrances no more than the bleating of his pet fawn." Murtogh, who was double-dealing as well as a ruffian, at once returned to the Saint and repeated these words. Cairnech flew into a fury, and promised heaven to Murtogh if he would kill his (Cairnech's) brother, and he prayed God that a fawn might be the means to this end. Cairnech then commanded Mac Erca to go and destroy his brother, and he (Murtogh) immediately took upon himself to fight him. And God worked a great miracle there for Cairnech, viz., he sent a wild fawn out of the mountain into the king's assembly, and the host all went in pursuit of it except the king himself and his women. Then said Mac Erca, "If you had been just, my lord, towards your cleric, it is certain that it would have given increase of happiness to wear the royal robe of Luirig." Then Mac Erca ran his spear into the king's side, and he returned to the cleric, and the head of the king with him, as a token; and said, "Here is your brother's head for you, O Cairnech!" Then said Cairnech, "Leave me the bone, and eat thou the marrow, and every third coarb shall be thine for ever, here and in Ireland." Then Murtogh Mac Erca took hostages and the (royal) power of the district into his own hands, conjointly with Cairnech, for seven years, as also the supreme sovereignty of Britain and Caithness, the Orkneys and the Saxonland. But it was not likely that a partnership cemented by such a monstrous crime should last. Murtogh took the widow of Luirig (whom he had murdered), as his wife, and this seems to have given great offence to Cairnech. |