130 
in their ecclesiastical history, I meet no mentios of this truly great 
and holy man. 
So celebrated was Aran for the numbers of holy men, who crowded 
to its shores and were interred in its cemetries, that it obtained the 
appellation of the Island of Saints, Ara-na-Naoimh, an honour also 
conferred upon Ireland. The author of the life of St. Kieran in- 
forms us, that in this island a multitude of holy men resided, and 
that there were interred numberless saints, too numerous to be 
known, only to the Almighty God.* In fact, it was for centuries 
the chosen retreat of sanctity and learning,—of clerical students, 
anchorites, and confessors. ‘The islanders have a tradition, that 740 
persons, of this description, had arrived there, at one time, in a 
body, for obtaining instruction, and forming habits of contempla~ 
tive holiness. What a remarkable transition from the thick dark- 
ness of heathenism to Christianity’s brightest splendors ! 
The following document is extracted from a survey and division 
of the lands, within the Islands of Aran, belonging to the bishop- 
rick of Anaghdown, taken at Arkin, on the 6th of October, 1590, 
before John Enot Esq. third Baron of the Exchequer, and others :-— 
* The three islands called the Islands of Saints, and commonly known 
by the name of the Isles of Aren, are divided into three parts, of 
which one belongs to the Archdiocess of Tuam, in right of the 
bishoprick of Anaghdown, except a parcel called Canonaght or 
Farinneprioraght, which belongs to the Queen in right of the monas- 
tery of Anaghcoin, upon which there is a ruined edifice, called 
Monastroconnaught.”-+ 
The present view of the ecclesiastical history of Aran closes with 
* In qua Insula multitudo virorum sanctorum manet : et innumerabiles sancti, omnibus incog- 
niti nisi solo Deo omnipotenti, ibi jacent. 
+ Ex offic. cap. Rem. 
