COKNISH DEDICATIONS. 49 



Mancen or Maucan, the Irish saint, belonged to a family of, 

 professional bards, and as already said, his father was the poet 

 attached to the person of Laoghaire, the High King of Ireland. 



Dubhtach must have known something about Christianity 

 before the arrival of Patrick, for, from the first, he warmly 

 seconded the apostle, who entertained the highest opinion of the 

 poet, and consulted him in many of his difficulties, 



Dubhtach contributed largely to the success of S. Patrick, 

 in that he had the ear of the king, and that he was a man of 

 wisdom and prudence. He used his best endeavours to disarm 

 opposition to the progress of the gospel, and Ireland has never 

 thoroughly recognised how much she has owed to his good 

 offices. 



At the same time that Dubhtach was baptized, 447, his son 

 Mancen was received into the Church. 



When S. Patrick went into Tirawley in Mayo, he converted 

 the seven sons of the king, Amalghaid, or Awley, on which 

 occasion twelve thousand persons followed the example of their 

 chiefs. This abundant ingathering demanded a corresponding 

 supply of labourers, and S. Patrick placed over them this same 

 Mancen " surnamed The Master, a holy man, well read in the 

 Scriptures, and at eacher of faith and doctrine." These epithets 

 do not apply to him at this period, but describe the Mancen who 

 was left in Tirawley, as he was afterwards, well known as 

 "The Master," — a great teacher of theology. 



The apostle of Ireland crossed between Waterford and 

 Porth Mawr in Pembrokeshire, about 468. In the life of S. David 

 we are told that the apostle took a vast fancy to the spot, 

 where he could sit on a rock, afterwards called "The Chair 

 of S. Patrick," and watch the summer sun go down in amber 

 and gold behind the mountains of distant Waterford. He 

 would have liked to remain there, but felt that the good work 

 he had begun must be carried on and completed ; and he went 

 back to his duties. However, he seems to have fixed on this 

 spot, within sight of Ireland, as a suitable site for a nursery 

 of missionaries for Munster and Leinster. Over this establish- 

 ment he placed Mancen. In like manner for Ulster and 

 the whole north, a collegiate establishment was founded at 



