324 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



sense it is common enough in classical Latinity.' The phrase is merely an 

 example of the depreciatory way in which so many ecclesiastical writers liked 

 to refer to themselves. 



Similarly it would be incorrect to infer from the words " uirtutes quas 

 nou sohim audiuimus, sed etiam oculis nostris uidimus " in section 34, that 

 Cogitosus meant us. to iinderstand that he was a contemporary of St Brigid. 

 He is evidently referring to events which took place long after her death. 



It may then be taken that all valid arguments agree in assigning Cogitosus 

 to the period 620 to 680. That he is to be especially connected with Kildare 

 cannot be doubted.^ His son Muu'chu is closely associated with Co. Wieklow,' 

 and Cogitosus refers several times (sections 1, 2, 40) apparently to the monks 

 of Kildare as "fratres." In section 2 he greatly exaggerates the influence 

 and importance of the bishop and monastic church there/ though the double 

 monastery which he mentions appears to have really existed in his time. It may 

 be doubted whether such institutions were to be found in Ireland as early as 

 St. Brigid's time.° In sections 37-39 he gives us a minute description of the 

 monastic church at Kildare. 



The value of Cogitosus' Vita from the historical point of view is naturally 

 small. The greater portion consists of an enumeration of various mir-acles 

 performed by St. Brigid or at her intervention. Names of persons or 

 descriptions of customs or local topography, which constitute the most 

 interesting features of these kinds of documents, are very uncommon here. 

 The most remarkable thing in the work is perhaps the detailed accoimt of 

 the monastic church at Kildare (sections 37-39), from which Petrie and Dom 

 Louis Gougaud have extracted some useful information." 



The compilation of the present memoir has necessitated the consultation 

 of a great many catalogues and books of a somewhat unusual nature,' and it is 

 my pleasant duty to offer here my sincere thanks to all those friends and 



1 Cf. Cicero, In Catil. 2, 4, 7 ; De Lege Agr. 1, 1, 2 ; Pro Quint. 12, 40 : Horace, Epist. 1, 15,^ 

 36; 2,2, 193; Epod. 1, 34: Sat. 1, 4,49; 1, 8, 11; 2, 1, 53; 2, 3, 225. 



- This may fairly be inferred from his having written a Life of St. Brigid of Kildare. 



_3 Cf . Bury, Life of St. Patrick, 1905, p. 255. 



* Cf. Gougaud, Les Chretienles Celticiues, 1911, p. 218. 



= Cf. Gougaud, Revue Benedictine, 25, 1908, p. 172 : Les Chretientes Celtiques, p. 93. 



' Petrie, Round Towers of Ireland, 1S45, pp. 194-205. Petrie pointed out that in Colgan's text 

 (.iota Sanctorum Hihcmiae, t. ii, Trias Thaumaturga, p. 523, col. 2, last line) for Or'ientali we should 

 read Oecideiitali. It is interesting to note that the edition of the BoUandists (section 37 end) and the 

 London and Oxford mss. all have the correct OmdehtaU. Petrie (loc. cit., p. 197) asserts that there 

 were stone churches in Ireland in. the time of Cogitosus. This appears to be very doubtful; cf. 

 Dom Gougaud's discussion of the texts dealing with this subject (Dictionnaire d'Aroheologie 

 Chretienne et de Liturgie, fasc, 22, 1910, art. Celtiques (liturgies), cols. 2993-2996 ; Les Chretientes 

 Celtiques, 1911, pp. 317, 318). 



' Very many more than are actually cited in this paper. 



