144 CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 



in Ms vessel " The Sea Monster," and they saluted each other. 

 A picture of the vessel of S. David was painted and framed in 

 in gold, and was long preserved at Ferns."* 



Pinbar seems to have made acquaintance also with S. Aidan 

 and S. Oadoc. 



On his return to Ireland, Finhar founded a monastic settle- 

 ment on Lough Eirke, at a place that still bears his name Gongane 

 Barra, or the Chasm of S. Barr. The place soon became famous, 

 and many disciples resorted to him, and he became the head of a 

 large congregation both male and female. 



However, the place was incommodious, and S. Finbar aban- 

 doned it for Cloyne about fifteen miles from Cork, where he 

 remained for seventeen years. But this site did not satisfy his 

 requirements, and he finally migrated to Corcagh-mor, the Great 

 Marsh, as the name signifies, near the mouth of the Lee, and there 

 he founded twelve churches, and about his settlement in process 

 of time grew up the city of Cork. To consecrate the place S. 

 Finbar fasted and prayed incessantly for three days and three 

 nights. The other alternative method was moderate fasting and 

 frequent prayer for forty days. Finbar chose the severer but 

 more rapid method of appropriating and dedicating a site. 



In the life of S. Senan of Iniscathy we are told that that 

 saint took ten foreign monks from his monastery to S. Finbar, but 

 it is difficult to reconcile dates. According to legend, S. Finbar 

 went fi'om Cork to Rome in company with S. Aedh or Madoc of 

 Ferns, S. David and twelve monks to receive consecration from 

 Gregory the Great ; Gregory however refused to consecrate him, 

 because it had been revealed to him that Finbar was to receive his 

 episcopal orders in heaven itself. Then comes a nonsensical story 

 of how Finbar and Mac Corp were carried up into heaven and 

 were there elevated to the ofiice of bishops, and how a miraculous 

 spring of oil broke out and flowed over the ankles of those who 

 stood looking up expecting the return of the saints. This stuff 

 may at once be dismissed, and we must not be misled by the intro- 

 duction into the story of Gregory the Great (590-604). For how 

 long S. Finbar remained at Cork after he had founded it we do 

 not know, but there he died and was buried. 



*Vit. S. David, Cambro-Brit. SS. p. 435. 



