Martyrology of Tallaght
Encyclopedia
Martyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs , arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches...
, a list of saint
Saint
A saint is a holy person. In various religions, saints are people who are believed to have exceptional holiness.In Christian usage, "saint" refers to any believer who is "in Christ", and in whom Christ dwells, whether in heaven or in earth...
s and their feast days assembled by Máel Ruain and/or Óengus the Culdee at Tallaght Monastery
Tallaght Monastery
Tallaght Monastery was founded in the eighth century by Máel Ruain, at a site in Tallaght, a few miles south west of present-day Dublin, Ireland. It operated until the Protestant Reformation.-History:...
, near Dublin. The Martyrology of Tallaght is in prose and contains two sections for each day of the year, one general and one for Irish saints. It also has a prologue
Prologue
A prologue is an opening to a story that establishes the setting and gives background details, often some earlier story that ties into the main one, and other miscellaneous information. The Greek prologos included the modern meaning of prologue, but was of wider significance...
and an epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
.
Prologue and Irish paganism
The prologue contains a famous verse on the declining pagan faith in Ireland:
Senchatraig na ngente/iman roerud rudad/itfossa can adrad/amail Lathrach Lugdach.
Ind locáin rogabtha/dessib ocus trírib/it rúama co ndálib/co cétaib, co mílib.
which reads in translation as
The old cities of the pagans to which length of occupation has refused are deserts without worship like Lugaid
Lugaid
Lugaid is a popular medieval Irish name, thought to be derived from the god Lug. It is borne by a number of figures from Irish history and mythology, including:High Kings of Ireland...
's House-site.
The little monastic sites that were settled by twos and threes are Romes with multitudes, with thousands.
Title and authorship
The earliest mention of the Martyrology of Tallaght by that name is in the 12th-century Martyrology of Gorman (Félire Uí Gormáin), written between 1166 and 1174 by Mael Muire Ua Gormáin, abbot of Knock, County Louth. Ua Gormáin attributes the Martyrology of Tallaght to Mael Ruain and says that Óengus based his work on it: "...because it was thus in the Martyrology of Tallaght of Mael Ruain, out of which he [Óengus] composed his félire".The 17th-century scholar Michael O'Clery
Mícheál Ó Cléirigh
Mícheál Ó Cléirigh , sometimes known as Michael O'Clery, was an Irish chronicler, scribe and antiquary and chief author of the Annals of the Four Masters, assisted by Cú Choigcríche Ó Cléirigh, Fearfeasa Ó Maol Chonaire, and Peregrinus Ó Duibhgeannain.-Background and early life:Grandson of Tuathal...
made a copy of the Martyrology of Tallaght, and headed it "Here begins the Martyrology of Oengus mac Oibleain and Mael Ruain", but he did not give a source for this statement.
The Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
John Colgan
John Colgan
John Colgan was an Irish hagiographer and historian.-Life:...
, another 17th century scholar, pointed out that Óengus and Maelruain could not have completed the Martyrology of Tallaght as it stands, as several entries are from periods after the death of both, but he also formed the opinion that the later entries had been made at Tallaght
Tallaght Monastery
Tallaght Monastery was founded in the eighth century by Máel Ruain, at a site in Tallaght, a few miles south west of present-day Dublin, Ireland. It operated until the Protestant Reformation.-History:...
, where Óengus and Maelruain worked together, so justifying Ua Gormáin's use of the name Martyrology of Tallaght.
Based on oral traditions and on older texts, the work may have been first completed in 790. However, Pádraig Ó Riain of University College, Cork, a leading authority, has argued that the Martyrology of Tallaght and the Martyrology of Oengus date from about 830. Ó Riain has shown that the general sections of the Martyrology of Tallaght are based on a Northumbria
Northumbria
Northumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
n copy of the Martyrologium Hieronymianum
Martyrologium Hieronymianum
The Martyrologium Hieronymianum was a medieval list of martyrs, one of the most used and influential of the Middle Ages...
.
Manuscripts
The earliest surviving manuscript of the work is in a fragment of Áed Ua CrimthainnÁed Ua Crimthainn
Áed Ua Crimthainn , also called Áed mac Crimthainn, was abbot and coarb of Terryglass , near Lough Derg in County Tipperary, Ireland...
's 12th-century Book of Leinster
Book of Leinster
The Book of Leinster , is a medieval Irish manuscript compiled ca. 1160 and now kept in Trinity College, Dublin, under the shelfmark MS H 2.18...
. This consists of ten folios which had been separated from the main volume of the Book of Leinster by 1583. These came into the possession of Michael O'Clery in 1627 and were deposited at the Franciscan friary of Donegal
Donegal
Donegal or Donegal Town is a town in County Donegal, Ireland. Its name, which was historically written in English as Dunnagall or Dunagall, translates from Irish as "stronghold of the foreigners" ....
. In 1631, the Martyrology of Tallaght folios were sent to St Anthony's at Louvain
Catholic University of Leuven
The Catholic University of Leuven, or of Louvain, was the largest, oldest and most prominent university in Belgium. The university was founded in 1425 as the University of Leuven by John IV, Duke of Brabant and approved by a Papal bull by Pope Martin V.During France's occupation of Belgium in the...
, where John Colgan
John Colgan
John Colgan was an Irish hagiographer and historian.-Life:...
added some marginalia. In the late 18th century they passed on to St Isidore's College
Irish College
Irish Colleges is the collective name used for approximately 34 centres of education for Irish Catholic clergy and lay people opened on continental Europe in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. The Colleges were set up to educate Roman Catholics from Ireland in their own religion following the...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and in 1872 were returned from there to Ireland, to be kept first in the Franciscan convent at Merchant's Quay, Dublin, later at Dun Mhuire, Killiney
Killiney
Killiney is a suburb of Dublin in south County Dublin, Ireland. It is within the administrative area of Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County. The area is by the coast, south of neighbouring Dalkey, and north to Shankill area in the most southern outskirt of Dublin....
. In 2000, the manuscript came into the possession of University College, Dublin, where it is known as MS Franciscan A3. This 12th-century manuscript is now lacking the text for some one hundred and fifty days of the calendar, but what is missing is supplied by Michael O'Clery's 17th century transcript.
The related Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee, which is in verse, survives in a number of other early medieval manuscripts.