COKNISH DEDICATIONS. 51 



Fiacc to evangelise their relatives the Hy Cinnselacli in Wexford. 

 He went thence very shortly after to South Wales to organise the 

 college of Ty Gwyn. In the collections of Tirechan he is called 

 Manchan, hut in the Tripartite Life he figures as Ninidh, 

 There can, however, be no doubt as to these two names belonging 

 to the same person. 



There is but one incident recorded relative to his work 

 among the Hy Cinnselach. S. Fiacc of Sletty had a bad leg. 

 S. Patrick heard of it, and sent him a chariot and a pair of 

 horses, to enable him to get about. This aroused the jealousy 

 of Sechnall (Secundinus), another of his missionaries, and he 

 scolded Patrick soundly as giving way to partiality. But after 

 he became cool, Sechnall repented; he had intercepted the 

 present, and he sent it to Mancen, and begged him to forward it 

 to Fiacc. This Mancen did, with an apology; but Piacc, too 

 charitable to receive a gift that had caused heart-burnings, 

 restored chariot and horses to Patrick, and refused to use them. 



Mancen is called variously "The Master," as the great 

 trainer of saints, and " The Bard," as a member of an hereditary 

 family of poets. To him, but hesitatingly, is attributed a Latin 

 hymn on the occasion of a plague. 



Parce domine peccantibus 



Ignosce penitentibus 



Miserere nobis rogantibus 



Salvator omnium Christe 



Respice in nos Jesu, et miserere, f 



We next hear of him at Ty Gwyn or Rosnat. He is named 

 as its master in the Lives of the Saints who were his pupils. 



In the life of S. Tighernach, the monastery is called 

 " Monasterium Rosnacence, alio nomine Alba"; and in the life 

 of S. Eoghain we are expressly told that "Sanctus et sapiens 

 Nennio qui Mancennus dicitur, de Rosnacensi monasterio," 

 received him and Tighernach. Another name by which the 

 establishment was known was "Monasterium Magnum" or 

 Banchor. It was one of those double houses that afterwards 

 became common, and were introduced among the Northumbrians 

 from Hy. The arrangement had great practical disadvantages. 



tlyiber Hymnorum, ed. Henry Bradshaw Soc, 1898, p. 24. 



