Uses of the Round Towers of Ireland, tyc. 171 



" Preterea ilia sancta ecclesia, quce est in Montanis, licet in magna reverentia haberetur oh antiquis 

 propter Sanctum Keywinum, qui ibi duxit vitam eremeticam; nunc tamen ita deserta est et desolate 

 per quadraginta fere annos, quod de ecclesia facta est spelunca latronum, foma furum ; ita quod 

 Omicidia committuntur in ilia Valle, quam in olio loco Hibernise propter desertum et vastam solitudi- 

 nem." Harris's Ware, Bishops, p. 376. 



From this ancient Life of St. Kevin we gather that in the earlier years of 

 the saint's ecclesiastical life, having dwelt in solitude for four years in various 

 places in the upper part of the valley, between the mountain and the lake, 

 his monks erected for him a beautiful church, called Disert-Cavghin, on the 

 south side of the upper lake, and between it and the mountain, and drawing 

 him from his retirement, prevailed on him to live with them at that church, 

 which, as the writer states, continued to be a celebrated monastic church even 

 to his own time ; and he adds, that here St. Kevin wished to- remain and die : 



"....& exivit ipse ab eis solus ad superiorem ipsius vallis partem, quasi per unum milliarium 

 a monasterio ; & constituit mansiunculam ibi in loco angusto, inter montem & stagnum sibi, ubi 

 erant densse arbores & clari rivuli : & prascepit Monachis suis, ut nullum ciborum sibi genus da- 

 rent ; & nemo ad eum veniret, nisi pro maxima causa. Et ita solus, in superiore vallis plaga, inter 

 montem & stagnum, in diversis locis, per quatuor annos Eremita fuit, in jejuniis & vigiliis conti- 

 nuis, sine igne & sine tecto ; & habetur incertum, utrum radicibus herbarum, an fructibus ligno- 

 rum, sive ctelesti pastu, suam sustentavit vitam : quia ipse nemiui indicavit hanc qua;stionem : sed 

 sui Monachi claram cellam, in eremo ubi S. Coemgenus habitabat, inter superius stagnum & mon- 

 tem, in Australi parte, construxerunt ; ubi modo est clarum monasterium, in quo semper viri 

 religiosissimi habitant ; & illud vocatur Scotice Disert-Caugliin ; quod sonat Latine, Eremus Coem- 

 geni ; Et ibi plures habitaverunt ; & ferse montium & silvarum, feritate posita, mites comitabanttir 

 S. Coemgenum, & aquam de manibus ejus domestice bibebant. Et post praedictum tempus, multi 

 Sancti convenientes, duxerunt S. Coemgenum de desertis locis invitum ; & fecerunt eum habitare 

 cum suis Monachis in prsedicta cella ; ibique S. Coemgenus semper voluit habitare, & ad Christum 

 migrare ; adhuc jam illic inter Fratres satis stricte vixit." Vita S. Coemgeni, Die tertia lunii, 

 c. iii. Ada Sanctorum, torn. i. p. 315. 



After remaining here, however, for a few years, he was induced by an angel, 

 the usual agents introduced in those legendary Lives of saints on such occa- 

 sions, to remove his monastery to the east of the smaller lake, near the conflu- 

 ence of the two rivers, where his own resurrection should take place, and 

 where a great city gradually rose up in his honour. 



" Et in ipso loco clara & religiosa civitas in honore Sancti Coemgeni crevit, quse nomine prse- 

 dictae vallis, in qua ipsa est, id est Gleam-daelach [Glean daloch, in the Kilkenny MS.] vocatur : 

 ipsaque civitas est in oriente Laginensium, in regione qua? dicitur Fortuatha." Ib. cap. iv. p. 318. 



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