diaboli et sequacium ejus; vidit etiam suum infelix inter tales carcerem, quo miserabilius ipse, desperata salute, periret, sed viventibus, qui hæc cognovissent, causam salutis sua perditione relinqueret. Factum est hoc nuper in provincia Berniciorum; ac longe lateque diffamatum multos ad agendam, et non differendam, scelerum suorum pœnitudinem provocavit. Quod utinam exhinc etiam nostrarum lectione literarum fiat.

Quo tempore plurima pars Scotorum in Hibernia, et nonnulla etiam de Britonibus in Britannia, rationabile et ecclesiasticum Paschalis observantiæ tempus, Domino donante, suscepit. Siquidem Adamnanus presbyter et abbas monachorum, qui erant in insula Hii, cum legationis gratia missus a sua gente venisset ad Alfridum regem Anglorum, et aliquandiu in ea provincia moratus videret ritus ecclesiæ canonicos; sed et a pluribus, qui erant eruditiores, esset solerter admonitus, ne contra universalem ecclesiæ morem, vel in observantia Paschali, vel in aliis quibusque decretis, cum suis paucissimis et in extremo mundi angulo positis vivere præsumeret, mutatus mente est; ita ut ea, quæ viderat et audierat in ecclesiis Anglorum, suæ suorumque consuetudini libentissime præferret. Erat enim vir bonus et sapiens, et scientia Scripturarum nobilissime instructus.

Qui cum domum rediisset, curavit suos, qui erant in

Devil and his followers; the unhappy wretch also saw A.D. 704-9. his own prison among them, to the end that, despairing of his salvation, he might die the more miserably; but might by his perdition afford cause of salvation to the living who should hear of it. This happened lately in the province of the Bernicians, and being reported abroad far and near, inclined many to do penance for their sins without delay, which we hope may also be the result of this our narrative.

CHAP. XV.

-SEVERAL CHURCHES OF THE SCOTS, AT THE INSTANCE OF ADAMNAN, CONFORMED TO THE CATHOLIC

EASTER; THE SAME PERSON WROTE A BOOK ABOUT THE

HOLY PLACES.

T this time a great part of the Scots A.D. 703.
in Ireland, and some also of the
Britons in Britain, through the
goodness of God, conformed to the
proper and ecclesiastical time of
keeping Easter. Adamnan, priest Adamnan.
and abbot of the monks that were

in the isle of Hii, was sent ambassador by his nation to Alfrid, king of the English, where he made some stay, observing the canonical rites of the church, and was earnestly admonished by many, who were more learned than himself, not to presume to live contrary to the universal custom of the Church, either in relation to the observance of Easter, or any other decrees whatsoever, considering the small number of his followers, seated in so distant a corner of the world; in consequence of this he changed his mind, and readily preferred those things which he had seen and heard in the English churches, to the customs which he and his people had hitherto followed. For he was a good and wise man, and remarkably learned in Holy Scripture. Returning home, he endeavoured to bring his own

Hii, quive eidem erant subditi monasterio, ad eum, quem cognoverat, quemque ipse toto ex corde susceperat, veritatis callem perducere, nec valuit. Navigavit itaque Hiberniam, et prædicans eis ac modesta exhortatione declarans legitimum Paschæ tempus, plurimos eorum et pene omnes, qui ab Hiiensium dominio erant liberi, ab errore avito correctos ad unitatem reduxit catholicam, ac legitimum Paschæ tempus observare perdocuit. Qui cum, celebrato in Hibernia canonico Pascha, ad suam insulam revertisset suoque in monasterio catholicam temporis Paschalis observantiam instantissime prædicaret, nec tamen perficere, quod conabatur, posset, contigit eum ante expletum anni circulum migrasse de seculo. Divina utique gratia disponente, ut vir unitatis ac pacis studiosissimus ante ad vitam raperetur æternam, quam, redeunte tempore Paschali, graviorem cum eis, qui eum ad veritatem sequi nolebant, cogeretur habere discordiam.

Scripsit idem vir De Locis Sanctis librum legentibus multis utillimum; cujus auctor erat docendo ac dictando Galliarum episcopus Arculfus, qui locorum gratia sanctorum venerat Hierosolymam, et, lustrata omni terra Repromissionis, Damascum quoque, Constantinopolim, Alexandriam, multasque maris insulas, adierat; patriamque navigio revertens vi tempestatis in occidentalia Britanniæ littora delatus est; ac post multa ad memoratum Christi famulum Adamnanum perveniens, ubi doctus in Scripturis sanctorumque locorum gnarus esse compertus est, libentissime est ab illo susceptus, libentius auditus; adeo, ut quæcunque ille se in locis sanctis memoratu digna vidisse testabatur, cuncta mox ille litteris mandare curaverit. Fecitque opus, ut dixi, multum utile, et maxime illis, qui longius ab eis locis, in quibus patriarchæ et apostoli erant, secreti, ea tantum de his,

people that were in the isle of Hii, or that were subject A.D. 703. to that monastery, into the way of truth, which he had learned and embraced with all his heart; but in this he could not prevail. He then sailed over into Ireland, to preach to those people, and by modestly declaring the legal time of Easter, he reduced many of them, and almost all that were not under the dominion of those of Hii, to the Catholic unity, and taught them to keep the legal time of Easter.

dies.

Returning to his island, after having celebrated the canonical Easter in Ireland, he most earnestly inculcated the observance of the Catholic time of Easter in his monastery, yet without being able to prevail; and it so Adamnan happened that he departed this life before the next year A.D. 704. came round, the Divine goodness so ordaining it, that as he was a great lover of peace and unity, he should be taken away to everlasting life before he should be obliged, on the return of the time of Easter, to quarrel still more seriously with those that would not follow him in the truth.

This same person wrote a book about the holy places, most useful to many readers; his authority, from whom he procured his information, was Arculf, a French bishop, who had gone to Jerusalem for the sake of the holy places; and having seen all the Land of Promise, travelled to Damascus, Constantinople, Alexandria, and many islands, and returning home by sea, was by a violent storm forced upon the western coast of Britain. After many other accidents, he came to the aforesaid Adamnan's servant of Christ, Adamnan, who, finding him to be Holy Places. learned in the Scriptures, and acquainted with the holy places, entertained him zealously, and attentively gave ear to him, insomuch that he presently committed to writing all that Arculf said he had seen remarkable in the holy places. Thus he composed a work beneficial to many, and particularly to those who, being far removed from those places where the patriarchs and apostles

book on the

quæ lectione didicerint, norunt. Porrexit autem librum hunc Adamnanus Alfrido regi, ac per ejus est largitionem etiam minoribus ad legendum contraditus. Scriptor quoque ipse multis ab eo muneribus donatus in patriam remissus est. De cujus scriptis aliqua decerpere ac nostræ huic Historiæ inserere commodum fore legentibus

reor.

CAP. XVI.-QUE IN EODEM LIBRO DE LOCO DOMINICE NATIVITATIS, PASSIONIS, ET RESURRECTIONIS,

RAVERIT.

COMMEMO

CRIPSIT ergo de loco Dominicæ nativitatis in hunc modum; "Bethleem, civitas David, in dorso sita est angusto ex omni parte vallibus circumdato, ab occidente in orientem mille passibus longa, humili sine turribus muro per extrema plani

verticis instructo; in cujus orientali

angulo quasi quoddam naturale semiantrum est, cujus exterior pars nativitatis Dominicæ fuisse dicitur locus; interior Præsepe Domini' nominatur. Hæc spelunca tota interius pretioso marmore tecta supra locum, ubi Dominus natus specialius traditur, sanctæ Mariæ grandem gestat ecclesiam." Scripsit item hoc modo de loco Passionis ac Resurrectionis illius; "Ingressis a septentrionali parte urbem Hierosolymam, primum de locis sanctis pro conditione platearum divertendum est ad ecclesiam Constantinianam, quæ Martyrium appellatur. Hanc Constantinus imperator, eo quod ibi crux Domini ab Helena ejus matre reperta sit, magnifico et regio cultu construxit. Dehinc ab occasu Golgothana videtur ecclesia, in qua etiam rupis apparet illa, quæ quondam ipsam affixo Domini corpore crucem pertulit, argenteam