202 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



whom she might be identified — (1) St. Bega, venerated at Dunhar, 

 "who lived in an island called Cumbria in the Ocean Sea as an anchoret, 

 visited occasionally by St. Maura, and dying on September 3rd, was 

 buried in her island, whence the Rector of Dunbar, attempting to 

 fetch her remains, was driven back by a storm; (2) St. Begga, an 

 Irish princess, given in marriage by her parents against her will, hears 

 of the Gospel as preached in England, flies to England to Oswald and 

 Aidan, and becomes the first abbess of nuns in England. She has her 

 home in a desert island, and, in her old age, resigns her abbey to 

 St. Hilda, under whose rule she ends her days (October 31st). After 

 460 years her remains were removed to Whitby (Brev. Aberd. pars 

 ^stiv., fo. 145 and 136). Here are probably some reminiscences of 

 St, Heiu. She was probably a local saint of the eighth century. The 

 monastery bearing her name was founded as a cell to St. Mary's at 

 York in the reign of Henry I." This same Dictionary also mentions 

 " St. Begha, Yirgin, circa a.d. 660, also called St. Bex and St. Begagh. 

 She left her home in Ireland on hearing of the flourishing state of 

 Christianity in Britain, and, in order to avoid a marriage intended for 

 her, fled into Scotland in a ship that was in waiting. She received 

 the veil at the hands of Bishop Aidan in the reign of King Oswald in 

 Britannia, and ruled a community in a cell constructed by him in a 

 certain desert island. When St. Hilda returned from Gaul (Bede, 

 Eccles. Hist., iv., c. 23), St. Begha prayed that she might be freed 

 from the burden of government, and that St. Hilda might be conse- 

 crated Abbess in her stead, and this was accordingly done. After 

 many years she died in the odour of sanctity, attested by many 

 miracles at her tomb (Brev. Aberd. pars ^stiv. f. c. xxxvi). Bede 

 mentions a nun called Begu, in the monastery of Hacanos, thirteen 

 miles fi'om Whitby, to whom the death of St. Hilda was revealed in a 

 vision CEccl. Hist., iv., c. 23), St. Begha is honoured at Kilbagie 

 and Kilbucho in Scotland ; but her greatest foundation was within 

 the kingdom of Strathclyde at St. Bees,'^ which takes its designation 

 from her. It was founded in a.d. 656." 



P. 305. " There was a cell of this house at IS'endi'um or Mahee 

 Island in Down County (see "Description of Nendrum," by Eev. 

 William Beeves, d.d., 1845), and his Eccl. Antiq., 163, 190-199 for 

 the grant of the Island of Nedrum, or jSTendrum, by Sir John de 

 Courcy in 1178 to the Priory of St. Bega de Copeland'' (Bishop 

 Forbes, " Kal. of Scotch Saints," pp. 248-52). 



In the " Proceedings of the Pioyal Irish Academy," vol. viii., 

 p. 258, there is a Paper by Dr. Wm. Bell (read by Dr. Beeves) on 



