Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 4.djvu/94

 CLONMACNOISE

66

CLOTILDA

and all Ireland will be full of thy honour. This island will be protected under the shadow of thy favour, and multitudes will be satisfied with the grace of thy fast- ing and prayer. Go then, with God's word, to a bank of a stream, and there found a church." Ciaran obeyed. On reaching the mainland he first paid a visit to St. Senan of Scattery and then proceeded towards the " middle of Ireland ", founding on his way two monasteries, in one of which, on Inis Ainghin, he spent over three years. Going farther south he came to a lonely waste by the Shannon, and seeking out a beautiful grassy ridge, called Ard Tiprait, or the "Height of the Spring," he said to his companions: "Here then we will stay, for many souls will go to heaven hence, and there will be a visit from God and from men forever on this place". Thus, on 2.3 Janu- ary, 544, Ciaran laid the foundation of his monastic school of Clonniacnoise, and on 9 May following he witnessed its completion. Diarmait, son of Cerball, afterwards High King of Ireland, aided and encouraged the saint in every way, promising him large grants of

land as an endowment. Ciaran's government of his monastery was of short duration ; he was seized by a plague which had already decimated the saints of Ire- land, and died 9 September, 544.

It is remarkable that a young saint dying before he was thirty-three, should have been the founder of a school whose fame was to endure for centuries. But Ciaran was a man of prayer and fasting and labour, trained in all the science and discipline of the saints, humble and full of faith, and so was a worthy instru- ment in the hands of Providence for the carrying out of a high design. St. Cummian of Clonfert calls him one of the Patrea Priores of the Irish Church, and Alcuin, the most illustrious ahtmnus of Clonmacnoise, proclaims him the Gloria Gentis Scotorum. His fes- tival is kept on 9 September, and his shrine is visited by many pilgrims.

Ciaran left but little mark upon the literary annals of the famous school he founded. But in the charac- ter which he gave it of a seminary for a whole nation, and not for a particular tribe or district, is to be found the secret of its success. The masters were chosen simply for their learning and zeal; the abbots were elected almost in rotation from the different prov- inces; and the pupils thronged thither from all parts of Ireland, as well as from the remote quarters of France and England. From the beginning it enjoyed the confidence of the Irish bishops and the favour of kings and princes who were happy to be buried in its shadow. In its sacred clay .sleep Diarmait the High King, and his rival Guaire, King of Connaught; Tur- lough O'Conor, and his hapless son. Uoderick, the last King of Ireland, and m.any other royal benefactors, who believed th:it the prayers of Ciaran would bring to heaven all those who were buried there.

But Clonmacnoise was not without its vicissitudes. Towards the close of the seventh century a plague car- ried off a large number of its students and professors ; and in the eighth century the monastery was burned three times, probably by accident, for the buildings were mainly of wood. During the ninth and tenth centuries it was harassed not only by the Danes, but also, and perhaps mainly, by some of the Irish chief- tains. One of these, Felim MacCriffon, sacked the monastery three times, on the last occasion slaughter- ing the monks, we are told, like sheep. Even the monks themselves were infected by the bellicose spirit of the times, which manifested itself not merely in de- fensive, but sometimes even in offensive warfare. These were evil days for Clonmacnoise, but with the blessing of Ciaran, and under the "shadow of his fav- our", it rose superior to its trials, and all the while was the Alma Mater of saints and sages.

Under date 794, is recorded the death of Colgu the Wise, poet, theologian, and historian, who is said to have been the teacher of Alcuin at Clonmacnoise (see CoELCHu). Another alumniisol vast erudition, whose gravestone may still be seen there, was Suibhne, son of Maclume, who died in 891. He is described as the "wisest and greatest Doctor of the Scots", and the annals of Ulster call him a "most excellent scribe". Tighernach, the most accurate and most ancient prose chronicler of the northern nations, belongs to Clon- macnoise, and probably also Dicuil (q. v.), the world- famed geographer. In this school were composed the "Chronicon Scotorum", a valuable chronicle of Irish affairs from the earliest times to 11.35, and the "Leabhar na h-Uidhre", which, excepting the "Book of Armagh", is the oldest Irish historical transcript now in existence. In the twelfth century Clonmac- noLse was a great school of Celtic art, architecture, sculpture, and metal work. To this period and to this school we owe the stone crosses of Tuam and Cong, the processional cross of Cong, and perhaps the Tara Brooch and the Chalice of Ardagh. The ruined towers and crosses and temples are still to be seen; but there is no trace of the little church of Ciaran which was the nucleus of Clonmacnoise.

Chronicon Scotorum. ed Henxesst (London, 1S66); Lives of TrUh Saints from Book of Lismore, ed. Stokes (O.xford, 1S90): HEALT./rWand's Ancient Schools and Scholars {Dublin, 1890).

John Healt. Clonmacnoise, Diocese of. See Ardagh.

Clotilda (Fr. Clotilde; Ger. Chlothilde), Saint, Queen of the Franks, b. probably at Lyons, c. 474; d. at Tours, 3 June, 545. Her feast is celebrated 3 June. Clotilda was the wife of Clovis 1, and the daughter of Chilperic, King of the Burgimdians of Lyons, and his wife Caretena. After the death of King Gundovic (Gundioch), the Kmgdom of Burgundy had been divided among his four sons, Chilperic reigning at Lyons, Gondebad at Vienne, and Godegisil at Geneva; Gondemar's capital is not mentioned. Chilperic and probably Godegisil were Catholics, while Gondebad professed Arianism. Clotilda was given a religious training by her mother Caretena, who, accorduig to Sidonius .\pollinaris and FortunatiLS of Poitiers, was a remarkable woman. After the death of Chilperic, Caretena seems to have made her home with Gode- gisil at Geneva, where her other daughter. Sedeleuba, or Chrona, founded the church of Saint-\'ictor, and took the religious habit. It was soon after the death of Chilperic that Clovis asked and obtained the hand of Clotilda.

From the sixth century on, the marriage of Clovis and Clotilda was made the theme of epic narratives, in which the original facts were materially altered and the various versions found their way into the works of different Prankish chroniclers, e. g. Gregory of Tours, Fredeg.arius, and the "Liber Hi.storia> . These narratives have the character common to all