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Aní
día fil manchine Cloinde Colmáin <ocus> Síl
Aodha Sláine do Chlúain
(aka Cenngalar Diarmata meic Cerbaill)"The
reason for Clann Colmán and Síl nÁedo
Sláine's service to Clonmacnoise"
(aka "Diarmait mac Cerbaill's Headache")
Edition
- P. Grosjean (ed & tr), 'Un miracle posthume de S.
Ciarán de Clúain en faveur du roi Diarmait mac
Cerrbéoil', Analecta
Bollandiana 69 (1951) 96-102. (The translation is into
French.)
Manuscripts
- Brussels MS 5057-5059, fol. 37-37v (pp. 39-40)
- British Library, Harley 5280, fol. 73v (includes only the
first two sentences with the rest of the page remaining blank)
Date
- The Brussels copy has been modernized to the language of
the seventeenth century, but the story must have arisen at Clonmacnoise
by some time in the twelfth century at the latest.
Characters
- Diarmait mac Cerbaill (544-565), king of Tara from the
Southern Uí Néill
- Cíarán mac int Saír, saint and founder
of Clonmacnoise. He died some time in the mid-sixth century, but
the exact date is not certain.
- The following characters play small roles in the text:
- Colum Cille (d. 597), saint and founder of Iona.
- Lugna mac Lugach, a priest at Clonmacnoise
- Colmán Mór (d. 555), son of Diarmait and
eponymous ancestor of Clann Cholmáin Móir (a branch of
the Southern Uí Néill)
- Áed Sláine (d. 604), son of Diarmait and
eponymous ancestor of Síl nÁedo Sláine (a branch
of the Southern Uí Néill)
- Colmán Becc (d. 587), son of Diarmait and ancestor
of Caílle Follamain (a minor branch of the Southern Uí Néill)
Notes
- This narrative is part of the Cycle of Diarmait mac
Cerbaill.
- Other accounts of these events appear in Aided Diarmata meic Cerbaill (1)
and the Annals of Clonmacnoise s.a. 547. See also The Latin and Irish Lives of Ciarán
(pp. 161-163).
- According to the foundation legend of Clonmacnoise (Co.
Offaly), Eclais Becc ("Little Church") was the first building
constructed on the site (see
Aided
Diarmata meic Cerbaill). It is also where St.
Ciarán was buried. Although the original wooden building
does not survive, the site is now occupied by the ruins of a stone
structure known as Teampall
Chiaráin (? tenth century). The sacred earth
referred to in the story can still be collected at the site.
- A new edition of this text with English translation by D. Wiley is
forthcoming.
Summary
When Díarmait mac Cerbaill gets a
headache that is so severe
he can no longer attend to his duties as king, he visits the saints of
Ireland
seeking a cure. Upon Colum Cille’s
advice, he goes to Clonmacnoise. The
priest Lugna mac Lugach brings out the Fionnchloch (a bell), inside of
which
are water and some soil from St. Cíarán’s grave (ní d’ úroibh
Cíaráin). After
fasting in Eclais Becc (the site
of the saint’s tomb), Díarmait
washes
his head with the contents of the bell and is immediately healed. He marvels at the bell, saying that it is
possessed of miraculous powers (fertach).
Hence, it is renamed in
Fertach.
Díarmait then grants some land to Clonmacnoise and
asks that he be buried
there when his time comes. The priests
agree.
Returning
home, Díarmait summons his sons--Colmán Mór,
Áed Sláine, and Colmán Becc. He
tells
them to pledge Clonmacnoise their service (mainchine) and to seek their
spiritual direction (anmchairdine)
from its clergy. All his sons agree, and
their pledges, the saga affirms, have
been fulfilled up to the present.
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