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XI. 



OX THE EARLIEST TATIX LIFE OF ST. ERIGID OF KILDAEE. 



By MAEIO ESPOSITO, B.A. 



Plates XXXII-XXXY. 



Bead June 24. Piiblislied Septemher 12, 1912. 



SoiiE two years ago I colleei^'ed the idea of re-editing the most ancient Latin 

 document dealing with St. Brigid of Kildare — the Life by Cogitosus' — which 

 has not been independently edited since 1658. For this purpose I collated 

 thoroughly two Jiss., one at London, the other at Oxford ; but I soon found 

 that a host of other MSS. of this Vita existed in many continental libraries ; 

 and as no opportunity of seeing them turned up, I was obliged to renounce 

 my design. It has, however, occurred to me that the publication of the notes 

 I had collected might serve to draw the attention of other more fortunately 

 placed scholars to this subject. 



I. — The Editions. 



(1.) A paraphrased abridgment of Cogitosus' Vita. Sandae Brigidae was 

 first printed without the author's name at Milan, before the year 1480, by 

 Boninus ilombritius in his Sanctuariuin.- This work, which is excessively 

 rare,' was reprinted at Paris in 1910.' It is not now possible to ascertain from 

 what MS. Mombritius prepared his abridgment.^ 



(2.) The first edition of the complete text of Cogitosus was given by 

 Canisius in 1604.'^ His edition was reprinted, with a few additional remarks, 



' Cf. Heiuiathena, 1909, xv, p. 333; 1910, xvi, p. 62 ; 1911, xvi, p. 329. 



- Sanetuaiium seu Yitae Sanctorum [Mediolaiii, c. 1480], fol. t. i, if. 144-146 v°. 



' There is no copy in any Dublin library. 



* Bonini iloinbritii Sanctuurium seu Vitae Sanctorum. Noram editionem curaveruiit duo 

 Monaclii Solesmenses, Parisiis, 1910, t. i, pp. 257-261, cf. pp. x, 633. 



° The brief lives of St. Brigid given by John of Tynemoulli (Nova I.egenda Anglie, ed. Horstman, 

 1901, t. i, pp. 153-160j and by Surius (De probatis Sanctorum historiis, Coloniae Agrippinae, 

 fol. 1.576, t. i, pp. 806-809) are not abridged from the Vita hy Cogitosus, but from the first Vita in 

 the edition of the Bollandists (Acta Sanctorum, Feb. t. i, pp. 118-134). The Vita given in the 

 fourth edition of Surius (Coloniae Agrippinae. 161S, tom. ii, pp. 21-25) is, however, that of 

 Cogitosus. 



' Canisius, Antiquae Lfctiones. 4to. Ingolstadii^ 1604, t. v, j/ars 2, pp. 623-641. 



Il.I.A. PKUC, VOL. XXX., SECT. C. [421 



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