Lawlok — The C'athach of St. Coliimha. 297 



Sfc. Columba the sentence of banishment ? There are several answers. One 

 names the Archangel Michael (§ 174). This may have been a fairly old 

 legend.' But later on we are told (§ 180) that after the battle, on the advice 

 of the saints of Ireland, Columba made his confession to Molaise of Damh 

 Inis, and that he " ratified " the sentence of the angel. But why should the 

 sentence of Michael the Archangel need the approval of Molaise ? Obviously 

 O'Donnell is ingeniously finding a place for a rival account of the sentence. 

 He may have taken it from the Life of Molaise.^ But that is not all. By 

 way of confirmation he quotes (§ 181) a couple of lines from St. Columba's 

 Farewell— a poem to which reference has been made above — which allude 

 to the sentence as " Molaisi's words at the Cross of Ath Imlaise."' But 

 unfortunately the reference here is to another Molaise, the patron saint of 

 Inishmurray, the well-known island off the coast of Sligo, which is included 

 in the parish of Ahamlash.* Thus O'Donnell reveals his knowledge of three 

 different stories of the sentence. All these cannot be true ; and it would be 

 hazardous to affirm that any one of them is to be accepted. There were indeed 

 other traditions which perhaps O'Donnell did not know, or did not find 

 capable of combination with those which he selected. The author of the " De 

 Causa Peregrinationis S. Columbae " in one place states that St. Finnian the 

 bishop, who is also called Finnbarr — that is to say, St. Finnian of Maghbile — 

 was the author of the sentence^ ; in another, with greater probability, as I 

 venture to think, he tells us that after the synod at which St. Columba 

 narrowly escaped condemnation, Brendan advised him to adopt the " theoric 

 life in a remote place."' Here there is no word of a formal sentence. 



But we must continue our examination of O'Donnell's Life. Every 

 reader will observe the abrupt transition which takes place towards the end 

 of § 168. When Diarmaid has delivered his judgement, Columba declares, "It 

 is a wrong judgement, and you shall be punished for it." With that the 

 narrative about Finiiian's book comes to an abrupt end. In the next sentence, 



1 It is probably to be associated with the tradition that 3't. Mioliael fouglit witli 

 Columba's forces (§ 175), which is evidently alluded to in an addition to Vita Brendani 

 Prima, 90 (Plumnier, i. 144). Brendan declares that he has heard the angel of the land 

 of Ui Maine lighting in his name. Tlie hagiographer explains this as a reference to the 

 battle of Cul Dremhne. 



2V. Lasr. 31. 



3 Reeves, p. 287. 



^ Colgan apparently noticed this inconsistency, for he omits the words " of Damh 

 Inis " in § 180. 



^ § 6. For Finnian the bishop, see Reeves, 103, 195. 



''5 11. St. Brendan of Birr is meant. See Adamnan, iii. 3. It is remarkable that 

 the action of the synod and the advice of St. Brendan are not connected with the battle 

 of Cul Dremhne, but with another misdemeanour of the saint. 



K.I A. WiOC, VOL. XXXm., SECT. c. [43] 



