OORNISH DEDICATIONS. 487 



Kieran replied, " Thou hast no power over me. Thy 

 strength is but a vain shadow." 



According to the legend, at this juncture news arrived that 

 Dimma's dun was on fire; that is to say, the wooden and wicker- 

 work structures within the fort were blazing. At the tidings, 

 the chief hastily left the convent, in hopes of rescuing some of 

 his valuables from the flames. 



Dimma is by no means a fabulous personage, he was chief 

 of the Cinel Fiachai; he was fourth or fifth in descent from Niall 

 of the Nine Hostages, King of Ireland, who died 405, and was 

 even uncle of a Saint, Aid Mac Brie, who died in 588. 



It was clearly undesirable for Kieran to remain in the place, 

 and it is possible that it was at this time he removed to 

 Cornwall, taking the damsel Bruinech with him. She is said to 

 have lived many years afterwards. 



Kieran or Piran became Bishop about 538, and he is 

 thought to have died about 550, but this is mere conjecture, as 

 the Irish Annals do not give the date of his decease, and as this 

 occurred out of Ireland we may put his migration to Cornwall 

 at about 520. Buriena is identified with Bruinech by several 

 martyrologists. 



Nothing is recorded of the acts of S. Buriena in Cornwall, 

 but the general tradition is that she spent the rest of her days 

 in good works. It is rather remarkable that her settlement 

 should have been near the foundation of S. Senan, rather than 

 near any of those of S. Kieran. Her settlement must have been 

 of considerable importance, for it had a Sanctuary, which implies 

 this. The Sanctuary, with its oratory, remains about a mile 

 south-east of the parish church that bears her name, beside a 

 rivulet, on the farm of Bosliven. There are traces of extensive 

 foundations near the oratory. Probably popular veneration 

 attached to this place, long after the transfer of the church, for 

 it excited the rage of Shrubsall, one of Cromwell's Officers, 

 and he almost totally destroyed it. 



The day of S. Bruinech, in the Irish Calendars is on May 

 29, and this indeed is the day marked as that of S. Buriena in 

 some English Calendars. But at Burian the feast is now held on 



