Lawlor — The Cathach of St. Columha. 311 



St. Columba of lona, or the story passed from the legend of the former to the 

 legend of the latter. If it is decided that St. Columba of lona is the borrower, 

 there is certainly considerable difficulty in believing that the story which 

 includes this as one of its incidents has any foundation in fact. But it seems 

 to me that the contrary supposition is much more probable. Anecdotes 

 travelled easily from one saint to another, as they still travel from man to 

 man. In this case the process was no doubt helped by the identity of name. But 

 the direction is usually from the greater to the less. It is far more likely that 

 Terryglass should import from lona edifying material for a life of its founder 

 than that lona should return the compliment. Further, it is quite clear that 

 elsewhere the Life of the Terryglass saint attributed to him deeds which a 

 more ancient tradition ascribed to Columba of lona. For it is not possible 

 that both of them should have been credited, independently, with visiting 

 Tours and bringing back thence relics of St. Martin.' The evidence for this 

 tradition in the case of St. Columba of lona is too strong to be explained by 

 any hypothesis of borrowing from another saint.^ 



But there is one part of the passage quoted above which seems to bear the 

 mark of a relatively early date. It is the prosaic statement that the lamps 

 went out sooner than was expected, and the implication that supernatural light 

 would not have been forthcoming if there had been oil in the house. There 

 is a parsimony of miracle here which is not usual in later hagiography. The 

 clauses in which it is found would certainly have been omitted in the course 

 of centuries from the life of Columba of Terryglass, as they have been omitted 

 by O'Donnell. If they had remained in his narrative, it would have been 

 more evident than it now is that the miracle of the light is an excrescence on 

 an ancient story. 



There is a more extensive, if in certain respects not quite so close, a 

 parallel, in a chapter of the Vita S. Flannani, which recounts an adventure 

 of his while he was in the monastery of St. Molua.^ 



Molendinum itaque predictum, ut iussus fuerat, suramo diluculo intrans, usque ad 

 crepusculum nootis sequentis annonam mole porrigendo solus ministrauit. Diurna uero 

 luce deficients ac nullo sibi lumen aliunde apportante, diuino fretus auxilio ore sue 

 sinistre manus digitos quinque insufflauit et ad modum et similitudinem quinque larapa- 

 dum totum molendinum diuina luce per totam noctem illustrauit. Proinde dum celerariua 



' See Acta Columbae de Tyre da Glass, 7 (Cod. Sal., 488) : Perrexit ergo Columba ad 

 Romani . . . et uenit ad ciuitafcem Martini, et ibi iuxta sancti Martini reliquias Dominum 

 rogaret. Cuius aduentum sanctus Martinus longe ante predixerat. Nam cum Martinus 

 prope mortem infirmatus esset dixit populo suo, ' Ecce post obitum meum ueniet ad uos 

 quidam hospes sanctus de Hybernia insula . . . Hie autem hospes meas reliquias de 

 sepulcro eleuabit in tempore congruo. Ponite ergo istud crismale et trabem iuxta me in 

 .scrinio, quia hec uexilla hospes ille a uobis postulabit, et dabitis illi." 



• See Reeves, p. 324 ff. ^ 5 5 f . See Cod. Sal., col. 647. 



