Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 34.djvu/270

 gall, and a quatrain given in the ‘Martyrology of Donegal’ records that Molua was the soul-friend of both St. Comgall and St. Mochoemog, as well as of St. David and St. Maedhog. All except the last were senior to Molua. His friendship with St. Maedhog is further supported by the life of that saint, in which it is reported that Maedhog, as bishop, used his influence to prevent Molua from visiting Rome. The entry in the ‘Martyrology of Donegal’ (p. 211) makes Molua abbot of Clonfertmulloe, of Slieve Bloom, and of ‘Druimsnechta in Fernmhagh,’ now Drumsnat in co. Monaghan. The writer says he is uncertain whether Cuimin of Connor's lines in praise of the humility of a certain Molua apply to the abbot or not; but in the ‘Martyrology of Tallaght,’ edited by Kelly, the lines read differently, and call him Molua of Clonfert. The writer lived in the seventh century (Mart. of Don. p. xix). In the letter of Cumine Ailbhe [q. v.] to the Abbot Segienus, Lugidius of Clonfertmulloe is mentioned as one of the elders whom Cumine consulted (, Sylloge, p. 33).

Two versions of a legendary life have been printed, that of the Bollandists from a Salamanca MS., now at Brussels (, Catalogue, i. 178), which they ascribe to the twelfth century or later, and that of Fleming from the so-called ‘Book of Kilkenny,’ of the fourteenth century (, Celtic Liturgy). In these lives Molua is said to have been a pupil of St. Finian at Clonard after he had been a pupil of St. Comgall; but St. Finian died in 551 (Dict. Christ. Biog.), and St. Comgall founded Bangor probably in 558. The story of the presentation of St. Molua's monastic rule by Bishop Dagan to Pope Gregory the Great is highly improbable (, ii. 209), as well as the saint's visit to Cronan [q. v.] at Seanross, and his relations with St. Evin. On the whole, the lives must be rejected as untrustworthy where they are unsupported from other sources, and on this ground the arguments of the Bollandists in favour of 602 as the year of St. Lugid's death cannot be accepted. The choice lies between 605 (Annals of Kingdom of Ireland), 608 (Annals of Ulster), and 609 (, Annals, and Chron. Scot.) All agree in giving 4 Aug. as the day of his death. In one of the marginal notes to ‘Félire’ (p. xl), an apocryphal story is told of the announcement of his death to Moelanfaid, abbot of Darinis.

St. Lugid must not be confused with another Lughaide, a leper for twenty years before his death, or with St. Molocus of Lismore, the founder of one hundred monasteries. In the list of Irish saints of the second order, generally ascribed to Tirechan ( and, Councils, vol. ii. pt. ii. p. 293), a Lugeus is mentioned, who is generally identified with the abbot of Clonfertmulloe, on insufficient evidence. 

LUKE, SAMUEL (d. 1670), parliamentarian, eldest son of Sir Oliver Luke, knight, of Woodend, Bedfordshire, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Valentine Knightley (Visitation of Huntingdonshire, 1613, p. 61, Camden Society, 1849; Gent. Mag. 1823, pt. ii. p. 28). Luke was knighted on 20 July 1624 (, Book of Knights, p. 183). In the Short parliament of April 1640, and in the Long parliament, Sir Samuel Luke represented Bedford borough, while his father was one of the members for the county (Return of Names of Members of Parliament, i. 480, 485). Both took the side of the parliament, and belonged to the presbyterian section of the popular party. In July 1642 Samuel Luke was wounded in endeavouring to arrest Sir Lewis Dyves (Lords' Journals, v. 246, 268). He was present at the battle of Edgehill as captain of a troop of horse, and on 4 Jan. 1643 was commissioned by Essex to raise a regiment of dragoons in Bedfordshire (Commons' Journals, iii. 156;, History of Banbury, p. 406). His newly raised regiment was surprised by Prince Rupert at Chinnor on 18 June 1643, fifty killed and 120 taken prisoners. Luke himself was absent, but fought by Hampden's side in the defeat at Chalgrove field on the same day, and greatly distinguished himself by his courage. ‘Great-spirited little Sir Samuel Luke,’ says a parliamentary paper, ‘so guarded himself with his short sword, that he escaped without hurt, though thrice taken prisoner, yet rescued, and those to whom he was prisoner slain’ (His Highness Prince Rupert's late beating up the Rebels' Quarters at Portcomb and Chinner, 1643, 4to, p. 4; A Letter from Robert, Earl of Essex, relating the true state of the late Skirmish at Chinner, 1643, 4to, pp. 2, 6;, Life of Hampden, p. 371). On 5 July 1643 and again on 28 Sept. Luke was thanked by the parliament for his services. He became scoutmaster-general of the army of the Earl of Essex, assisted in the recovery of Newport-Pagnell (29 Oct. 1643), and became governor