447 



336, 



MaidoG^"^ Modoche,^^ Modoch,"^^ Madoes,^^ Mogue?^ By this process, two 

 names so dissimilar in sound as Eli and Mogue are proved to be iden- 

 tical. 



S. Moedoc was born, about the year 555, at 

 Inis-Breaghmuigh,-' a small island in a lake, in 

 the territory of East Breffny,^*^ which then be- 

 longed to Connacht, but is now reckoned in the 

 province of Ulster, as part of the county of 

 Cavan. His father's name was Sedna, and he 

 was descended from Colla Uais,^^ the ancestor of 

 several clans of the Airghialla, and among them 

 of the Eer Luirg, to which St. Moedoc is said by 

 ^ngus to have more immediately belonged.^" 

 His mother, Ethne, was of the race of Amhal- 

 gaidh, whose descendants gave name to Tir- 

 awley, in the county of Mayo. "While yet a 

 little boy, he was delivered as a hostage by the 

 Hy Briuin, of whose territory he was a native, to 

 Ainmire, king of Ireland, who ascended the 

 throne in 568,^^ and reigned three years. Hav- Moedoc. 

 ing returned after a short detention, he became 



a diligent student, in company with Laserian or Molaisse, the sub- 

 sequent founder of Devenish. Desiring to fly the honour which 

 awaited him at home, he was preparing to depart, but Aedh Einn, 

 the king of the Hy-Briuin, opposed the project, and was only 

 induced to acquiesce by the promise of spiritual blessings. Thence 

 Moedoc removed to Leinster, and from that passed over to St. David's 

 monastery of Kill-muine, in Wales. Here he lived for some years in 

 great sanctity, and rose so highly in the esteem of his master, that his 

 history became interwoven with that of Menevia ; and his abode in Bri- 



CoLLA Uais, 

 King of Ireland, a. d. 

 i 



Eochaidh, 

 I 



Earc, 

 I 



Cairthenn, 

 I 



Muiredhach, 

 I 



Amhalgaidh, 



Feradhach, 

 I 



Earc, 



Sedna = Ethne, 



22 Alban Butler, Lives of the Saints, Jan. 31. 



23 King, Calendar of Scotland, Jan. 31. 



24 T. Innes, Civil and Eccles. Hist, of Scotland, p. 161. 



25 His parish in Perthshire is called St. Madoes, formerly St. Madois. New. Stat. 

 Account, vol. X,, p. 607. 



26 The vulgar pronunciation of the name in the counties of Wexford and Cavan. 



27 Now Brackley island, in a lake of the same name. See his Irish Churches, 

 No. 3, infra. 



28 In Hy Briuin BreifFne, the eastern portion of which, now the county of Cavan, was 

 the territory of O'Reilly ; the western, now the county of Leitrim, that of O'Rourke. 

 The race derived its name from Brian, son of Eochaidh Muighmedhoin, through Duach 

 Galach. 



29 His pedigree, with some variations, is given in the Naemsenchus, in the Book of 

 Lecan, fol. 39 ac ; MacFirbis's Geneal. MS., pp. 361c, 714 a ; O'Flaherty's Ogyg., p. 362. 

 Colgan gives two lines, which also vary, namely, one from Cormac and Maguir, and ano- 

 ther from his Menelogium Genealogicum, Actt. SS., p. 222 5. 



30 " Aedh of Ferns, i. e, Moedoc, of the men of Lurg, on Loch Erne." Now the barony 

 of Lurg, in the north of the county of Fermanagh. See Reeves's Eccles. Ant., 

 p. 293. 



31 Reeves's Adamnan's Life of St. Columba, p. 32, note''. 



