The Latin Irish Lives of Ciaran

Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran,
The

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Title: The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian
Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints
Author: Anonymous
Translator: R.A. Stewart MacAlister
Release Date: August 8, 2005 [EBook #16479]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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TRANSLATIONS OF CHRISTIAN LITERATURE. SERIES V
LIVES OF THE CELTIC SAINTS
THE LATIN & IRISH LIVES OF CIARAN

By R.A. STEWART-MACALISTER
* * * * *
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE. London
The Macmillan Company. New York
1921

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
A HARMONY OF THE FOUR LIVES OF ST CIARAN
THE FIRST LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE SECOND LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE THIRD LATIN LIFE OF ST CIARAN
THE IRISH LIFE OF ST CIARAN
ANNOTATIONS TO THE FOREGOING LIVES
THE LATIN TEXT OF THE SECOND LIFE
INDEX

THE LATIN AND IRISH LIVES OF CIARAN

INTRODUCTION
Of all the saints of Ireland, whose names are recorded in the native
Martyrologies, probably there were none who made so deep an

impression upon the minds of their fellow-countrymen as did Ciaran[1]
of Clonmacnois. He stands, perhaps, second only to Brigit of Kildare in
this respect; for Patrick was a foreigner, and Colum Cille accomplished
his work and exercised his influence outside the shores of Ireland.
Doubtless much of the importance of Ciaran is reflected back from the
outstanding importance of his great foundation--the monastic university,
as it is fair to call it, of Cluain maccu Nois (in an English setting spelt
"Clonmacnois"), on the shore of the Shannon. But this cannot be the
whole explanation of the esteem in which he was held; it must be at
least partly due to the memory of his own character and personality.
Such a conclusion is indicated if we examine critically the Lives of this
saint, translations of which are given in the present volume, and
compare them with the lives of other Irish saints. In studying all these
documents we must bear in mind that none of them are, in any modern
sense of the word, biographies. A biography, in the proper definition of
the term, gives an ordered account of the life of its subject, with dates,
and endeavours to trace the influences which shaped his character and
his career, and the manner in which he himself influenced his
surroundings. The so-called lives of saints are properly to be regarded
as homilies. They were composed to be read to assemblies of the
Faithful, as sermons for the festivals of the saints with whom they deal;
and their purpose was to edify the hearers by presenting catalogues of
the virtues of their subjects, and, especially, of their thaumaturgic
powers. Thus they do not possess the unity of ordered and
well-designed biographies; they consist of disconnected anecdotes,
describing how this event or that gave occasion for a miraculous
display.
It follows that to the historian in search of unvarnished records of
actual fact these documents are useless, without most drastic criticism.
They were compiled long after the time of their subjects, from tales,
doubtless at first, and probably for a considerable time, transmitted by
oral tradition. It would be natural that there should be much
cross-borrowing, tales told about one saint being adapted to others as
well, until they became stock incidents. It would also be nothing more

than natural that many elements in the Lives should be survivals from
more ancient mythologies, having their roots in pre-Christian beliefs.
Nevertheless, none of these writings are devoid of value as pictures of
life and manners; and even in descriptions of incredible and pointless
miracles precious scraps of folk-lore are often embedded. In most, if
not in all, cases, the incidents recorded in the Lives are to be criticised
as genuine traditions, whatever their literal historicity may be; few, if
any, are conscious inventions or impostures.[2]
In the Lives of Ciaran there are many conventional incidents of this
kind, which reappear in the lives of other saints. In the Annotations in
the present edition a few such parallels are quoted; though no attempt is
made to give an exhaustive list, the compilation of which would occupy
more time and space than its scientific value would warrant. But there
are certain other incidents of a more individual type, and it is these
which make the