Tírechán, in his Collection, states that the nun Mathona, founder of the 'free church' of Tamnach (Ireland), swore a pact of friendship with the successors of *Rodanus (priest of Patrick at Dumech, 5th c., S02267) over that same saint's relics. Written in Latin in Ireland, probably shortly after c. 668.
E06253
Literary - Hagiographical - Other saint-related texts
Literary - Hagiographical - Monastic collections (apophthegmata, etc.)
Literary - Hagiographical - Monastic collections (apophthegmata, etc.)
Tírechán, Collection (BHL 6496)
For an overview of this text, see E06131.
24.
(1) Et uenit apud se filia felix in perigrinationem nomine Mathona soror Benigni successoris Patricii, quae tenuit pallium apud Patricium et Rodanum: (2) monacha fuit illis et exiit per montem filiorum Ailello et plantauit aeclessiam liberam hi Tamnuch et honorata fuerat a Deo et hominibus et ipsa fecit amicitiam ad reliquias sancti Rodani et successores illius epulabantur ad inuicem.
'(1) And a blest maiden came to him in pilgrimage, named Mathona, a sister of Benignus the successor of Patrick, and took the veil from Patrick and Rodanus; (2) she was a nun to them, and she went out across the mountain of the sons of Ailill and established a free church at Tamnach, and she was honoured by God and men, and entered into a solemn compact with the successors (?) of holy Rodanus, swearing by his relics, and his successors dined together (with her).'
Text and translation: Bieler 1979, 140-43.
Cult building - independent (church)
Cult building - monastic
Activities accompanying CultFeasting (eating, drinking, dancing, singing, bathing)
Non Liturgical ActivityComposing and translating saint-related texts
Oath
RelicsUnspecified relic
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits
Women
Theorising on SanctityUsing saints to assert ecclesiastical/political status
Source
Tírechán’s now-untitled account of Patrick’s life (Collectanea is a modern editor’s invention) survives in only one 9th century Irish manuscript, the Book of Armagh (Trinity College Dublin Ms 52), where it almost immediately follows Muirchú’s Life of the same saint (E06132). The text as we have it is probably incomplete or unfinished, and its division into two books may not be Tírechán’s own. We are told that Tírechán was a bishop, although not where he held his see. His naming of Ultán of Connor (bishop of Ardbraccan, ob. c. 655) as both his source and mentor would seem to date the work to the second half of the seventh century, while his reference to a recent plague (ch. 25) suggests a terminus post quem of 664-8, although there were further outbreaks in 680 and 700. Bieler suggested in his edition of 1979 that there was no clear indication as to whether Tírechán wrote before or after Muirchú, but ‘there is now a general agreement’ (Sharpe 1991) that the Collectanea is the earlier work, probably composed not long after the devastations of the 664-8 epidemic.For an overview of Tírechán's Collection, see E06131.
Discussion
This appears to be the only reference in the corpus of (securely datable) pre-700 Irish Latin hagiography to the swearing of oaths over relics.Bibliography
Edition and translation:Bieler, L., The Patrician Texts of the Book of Armagh (Scriptores Latini Hiberniae 10; Dublin, 1979), 122-67.
Further reading:
Bury, J.B., "Tírechán’s Memoir of St Patrick," English Historical Review 17 (1902), 235-67.
MacNeill, E., "The Earliest Lives of St Patrick," Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 58 (1928), 1-21.
Sharpe, R., "St Patrick and the See of Armagh," Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 4 (1982), 33-59.
Sharpe, R., Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives: An Introduction to Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Oxford, 1991).
Swift, C., "Tírechán’s Motives in Compiling the “Collectanea”: An Alternative Interpretation," Ériu 45 (1994), 53-82.
Benjamin Savill
16/09/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01962 | Patrick, missionary and bishop of Ireland, 5th c. | Patricius | Certain | S02267 | Rodanus, priest of Patrick at Dumech, 5th c. | Rodanus | Certain |
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