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well as from the Irish writers of the heroic legends, that the Druids formed communities, that these were presided over by an Arch-Druid, that in them were educated the sons of the kings and nobles, and that the heads of these schools had lands for their support. By no other way can we explain the marvellous expansion of the educational establishments which took place after Ireland became Christian, than on the supposition that the saints entered in upon an institution already existing, and brought into it a new life. S. Cyndeyrn at Llanelwy had in it 965 monks. At Bangor Iscoed, according to Bede, there were seven choirs, numbering 300 in each. S. Lasrian is said to have ruled over 1,500 disciples, S. Cuana had 1,746 scholars under him. At a later period, S. Gerald of Mayo had in his establishment 3,300.

Some of these great schools or monasteries contained females as well as males, and the double monasteries so prevalent among the Angles were formed on the Celtic model. S. Brigid at Kildare ruled such a double house of monks as well as nuns. As many of the pupils tarried on to prepare for the clerical life, and some of the damsels resolved on embracing the ecclesiastical profession also, these young people were thrown together a good deal, and the results were not always satisfactory. Accordingly, one or other of the saints induced at sister, or a mother, or some other approved matron, to establish a girls' school, subject to his supervision, yet at a distance from his college for youths, sufficient to prevent the recurrence of scandal.

The course of instruction in these schools consisted in the quadrivium, arithmetic, music, geometry and astronomy. Of S. Catwg it is said that his master Meuthi during twelve years instructed him in Donatus and Priscian, i.e., in grammatical learning. The psalter had to be acquired by heart. The Book of Ballymote contains a schedule of the studies in these great colleges during the twelve years that a pupil was supposed to spend in them. 10

That the saint was expected to minister in sacred things to those of the tribe stands to reason. If his first duty was to be the education of the young, his second was to conduct worship, and to bury the dead. To the monastery the people went, especially at Easter, to receive Communion and to bring their oblations. The churches were small, usually of wattle and dab,11 and could not contain large.

"

Ducange, Glossarium ad scriptores media et infimæ Latinitatis, s.v. Quadrivium. The tradition of "the seven liberal arts of the trivium and quadrivium was current in Wales in at least the fifteenth century. Iolo MSS., p. 327. 10 O'Curry, Manners and Customs of the Ancient Irish, Lond. 1873, ii, pp. 171-3.

11 "

'More Britonum ecclesiam, et cæteras officinas, de lignis levigatas.

congregations. But crosses were erected as stations in different localities occupied by the tribe, from whence the saint preached, and where probably he also ministered the sacrament. 12 There would seem to have been only one cemetery in each tribe that was consecrated, and to which the bodies of the members of the tribe were conveyed. This, however, is not so certain.

Something more will have to be said about the third obligation of the saint, that of cursing the enemies of his tribal chieftain.

We shall have to quote Irish sources to illustrate what was customary in Wales, as the religious systems were identical in both, and as authorities are more copious in Ireland than in Wales.

The Hy Many in the fifth century were becoming too populous for their district. Now, at that time the Firbolgs occupied Connaught. Maine Môr and his people coveted their land; accordingly, they called on S. Grellan to curse the Firbolgs. He did so, and then the Hy Many defeated them and took possession of Connaught. Attributing their success to his imprecations, they bade him impose on them dues for ever; and this he did. A scruple out of every townland, the first-born of every family, every firstling pig or firstling lamb, and the firstling foal. Let the Hy Many protect my Church and frequent it, refuse not their tribute, and my blessing shall be on the race. It shall never be subdued carrying my crozier-that shall be the battle-standard of the race." 13

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We may take a remarkable illustration from the Life of S. Findchua, of the manner in which the saints were called in, as Balaam was by Balak, to curse the enemies of the tribe to which they were attached.

Findchua had been baptized by S. Ailbe of Emly. He made a present to the son of the King of the Déisi of his place in heaven. So he had, he supposed, to earn for himself another place. To do this he had made for him seven iron sickles, on which he hung for seven years. The men of Meath were attacked by pirates from the sea, coming yearly and committing great depredations, so Findchua was sent for to curse them. When the saint heard that ambassadors for this purpose were coming to him, he ordered for their entertainment "a vessel of ale sufficient to intoxicate fifty men," and meat in proportion. Then he came down from his sickles and went with the dele

ædificare jam incohabant." Vit. S. Kentigerni, Pinkerton, Lives of Scottish SS., ed. Metcalfe, Paisley, 1889, ii, p. 51.

12 Venerabilis pater Kentegernus antistes habebat in consuetudinem ut in locis quibus prædicando populum adquisitionis nomini Christi subdiderat . . triumphale vexillum sanctæ crucis erigeret." Ibid. p. 86.

13 O'Donovan, Tribes and Customs of the Hy Many, Dublin, 1843.

gates to Tara. He found the men of Meath in great distress because the pirates had landed and were spreading over the country. "Then,” we read, "the cleric's nature rose against them, so that sparks of blazing fire burst forth from his teeth." Led by the saint roaring his incantations, the men of Meath rushed against their assailants and exterminated them, "slaying their gillies, burning their ships, and making a cairn of their heads." In return for this service Findchua was granted a dun, with the privileges that went with the possession of such a fortress, also the King's drinking horn, to be delivered to him every seventh year.

When war broke out against Leinster, the aid of Findchua was again invoked; and we are expressly told that he was sent for only because the Druid, whose proper function it was to curse the enemy, was too old to do the job. The King of Leinster was in his dun at Barrow; Findchua advised him to march against the enemy, and he himself would lead the van. Then a prophetic fury seized on him, "a wave of Godhead" it is termed, and he thundered forth a metrical incantation that began

"Follow me, ye men of Leinster."

Then "wrath and fierceness" came on the saint. The result was that victory declared for the arms of the men of Leinster. The leader of the enemy, Cennselach, threw himself on the protection of Findchua, and surrendered to him "his clan, his race, and his posterity." In return for his services, the King of Leinster granted the saint a hundred of every kind of cattle every seventh year.

We have, in the case of Findchua, not only an instance of getting possession of a dun, but also of becoming the tutelary saint over an entire tribe-that occupying Wexford.

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Again war broke out, this time between Ulster and Munster, and the King of the latter sent to Findchua for assistance. Then Findchua drove in his chariot with his staff in his hand, without waiting for any of the clerics, until he got to the dun," where the King was. Again he marched at the head of the army, brandishing his crozier, and again victory was with those who trusted in him. For his aid. he was granted a cow from every farm, and a milch-cow to the clerk who should carry the crozier in battle, thenceforth, whenever it led to battle. The King of Munster, moreover, agreed to rise up before Findchua's comarb.14

We need follow the story no further. Suffice it to say that in later life the saint got a glimmer of thought that being mixed up

14 "Book of Lismore," Anecdota Oxoniensia, Oxf. 1890, p. 241. The title given to S. Findchua was The slaughterous hero," p. 240.

with so much bloodshed was not quite in keeping with the new religion so imperfectly assimilated, "and he repented of the battles which he had fought, and the deeds which he had done for friendship and for love of kindred," and, we may add, for very liberal payment.

When Diarmid Mac Cearboil went to war against the Clan Niall of the north, whom S. Columba (Columcille) had stirred up against him-although he was a Christian, he took with him in his campaign a Druid to perform enchantments and pronounce curses on the enemy; and the Hy Niall had the saint with them to work his counter charms and deliver his counter curses. 15

The office of cursing originally formed part of the duties of the Druid. He was a functionary called in likewise at the conclusion of contracts. When two individuals entered into a compact, the Druid was present to utter imprecations on him who should break the agreement. Beside the Druid, the file or poet was called in, and he gave a guarantee that he would compose a lampoon against the transgressor. This was part and parcel of a process that was legal. When S. Patrick, S. Carantoc, and the rest of the Commission revised the laws of Ireland, the least possible interference was made with existing social and legal systems.

As the Druid ceased to be esteemed, insensibly the Saint stepped into his functions. He had thrust on him the duties formerly discharged by the Druid. From being professional curser of the tribal foes, it was but natural that the saint should take on him to curse those who interfered with the privileges of his monastery, broke sanctuary, or even gave him personal offence.

It was held that a curse once launched could not be recalled, it must fall and blight; if it did not strike him at whom it was directed, it recoiled and smote the saint or bard who had pronounced it. For instance, S. Cieran of Clonmacnois encountered King Diarmid Mac Cearboil, who had offended him, and he cried out against him, “I will not deprive thee of heaven and earth, but a violent death I wish thee, by wound, by water, and by fire." The king at once offered to pay any price desired by the saint to escape such a fate. "Nay," said S. Cieran, "the missile that I have delivered, by that same I myself would be hurt to my death, if it fell not on thee." 16

Columba visited S. Loman with the White Legs, who hid his books lest his visitor should ask to have them as a loan. Thereupon Columba cursed the books that they should no more profit the owner, and when Loman went for them he found that the wet had so stained

15 O'Donovan, Tribes and Cust. of the Hy Many.
16 Silva Gadelica, ii, p. 78.

them that they were well nigh illegible. S. Patrick cursed Brenainn that he should have neither son nor successor. A saint's curse by no means struck only the living; it affected after generations. Thus S. Patrick cursed the sons of Erc for stealing his horses, that their descendants should fall into servitude. 17 S. Malo cursed a man to nine generations who had spoken abusively of him. 18

Some jugglers performed their tricks before Patrick. He had no food to give them, so he sent to King Loman hard by for some meat. At the time Patrick's deacon, Mantan, was cooking the King's dinner. Loman and Mantan declared that they would not spare any of the meat for those mountebanks. Thereupon Patrick cursed them, that Loman's race should never after produce a king or a bishop, and that Mantan should never become noted as a saint, but that sheep and swine should run over his grave. 19

In the same way David cursed Joab: Let there not fail from the house of Joab one that hath an issue, or that is a leper, or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword, or that lacketh bread." 20

When we consider that at least some, if not all, of the non-Semitic inhabitants of Canaan belonged to the same stock as that which formed the substratum of the population in Ireland and Great Britain, we need not be surprised to find the same ideas relative to the force of a curse prevalent in Palestine as in Ireland. A curse, once launched, as already said, could not be recalled. If wrongfully pronounced, then it reverted and fell on the head of him who had pronounced it; but no amount of repentance, no amends made, could render it innocuous. S. Patrick cursed the Hy Ailell because his horses were stolen. The bishop he had set over them implored his pardon. He wiped the hoofs of Patrick's horses in token of submission, but all in vain.

The curse must fall.

It is worth while to show how the conviction of the efficacy of a curse remains unshaken to the present day.

George Borrow, in his Wild Wales, mentions his encounter with an Irish woman. When about ten yards from me, she pitched forward, gave three or four grotesque tumbles, heels over head, then standing bolt upright, about a yard before me, she raised her right arm, and shouted in a most discordant voice-'Give me an alms, for the glory of God!"" On entering into conversation with this woman, he learned that she had been a well-to-do respectable widow with a farm and two sons. One day she refused charity to a beggar woman,

17 Tripartite Life, p. 109.

18

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Vita Ima in Bulletin de la Soc. Arch. d'Ille et Vilaine, t. xvi, p. 304. 19 Tripartite Life, p. 203. 20 2 Sam. iii, 29.

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