Olden — On the Consortia of the First Order of Irish Saints. 419 



and thus vindicating her character, although this looks somewhat 

 inconsistent with his decision. Similar stories are told of the Breton 

 saints Gwenole and St. Malo.^ 



It is evidently impossible to accept the account given of these two 

 Orders as literally true, either as regards their mode of life, or the 

 exactly defined periods in which they flourished. It can only be 

 treated as an attempt to explain and illustrate the special sanctity of 

 the earliest saints by representing them as alone capable of enduring 

 the fiery trial referred to. In the view of the author, the holiness of 

 a saint was to be measured by the intensity of the temptation which 

 he overcame, and hence h.e ascribes to the First Order as a special 

 distinction the universal practice of the Consortium. The Second 

 Order being inferior in holiness he represents as fleeing from it, 

 being unable to stand the test. The Catalogue, though merely a 

 fanciful account of the early saints, is, however, valuable as acquaint- 

 ing us with the fact that the Consortium was practised in Ireland, a 

 circumstance which has not been recognized by writers of our 

 ecclesiastical history. Hence, the mention of sisters has always been 

 understood literally, and serious errors have arisen from the mistake. 

 As an instance I may mention Mr. "Whitley Stokes' translation of the 

 " Tripartite Life of St. Patrick." When he came to the passage relating 

 to Bishop Mel and his sister, he felt that the rumours referred to 

 could not apply to his real sister ; and it seemed to him that he had no 

 alternative but to depart from the literal meaning, and, accordingly, 

 he rendered the word siur sister, as "kinswoman," which in the light 

 of the foregoing facts he now sees to be incorrect. Nor is he the only 

 eminent scholar who has been led astray by the popular view, for Dr. 

 Todd® also, in referring to the same case, following Jocelyn, treats St. 

 Mel as St. Patrick's nephew, and the lady as St. Patrick's sister, and 

 therefore his aunt. It is thus Jocelyn endeavours to explain the 

 suspicious relations existing between them. But the Saint, as already 

 observed, had no real sisters in Ireland, and the person referred to was 

 one of the consort sisters, and if we accept Jocelyn' s account, she was 

 the Lupait before referred to. 



The Irish language bears witness to this early appropriation of the 

 word siur, sister, to the religious relation, for in consequence of it 

 it became necessary to prefix the word derh, true, in order to express 

 the relation of consanguinity, and thus we have the compound 



5 Revue Geltique, April, 1889, p. 254. 



6 St. Patrick, p. 90, note 2. 



2 F 2 



