Celtic Scotland : a history of ancient Alban / by William F. Skene.
- William Forbes Skene
- Date:
- 1886-1890
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Celtic Scotland : a history of ancient Alban / by William F. Skene. Source: Wellcome Collection.
519/546 page 489
![Conaill1 the vice-abbotship of the same place, and the head- ship of its divines. He 2 went afterwards to Drumcliff,:! and blessed that place, and left a man of his people there, viz., Mothairen4 of Drumcliff; and he left the headship, and the patronage, and the comarbship, of that place with the Cenel-Conaill1 for ever.] One time Brigid was going over the Curragh of the Liffey.5 And when the virgin saw the beautiful shamrock-flowery0 plain before her, what she said in her mind was, that if she had the ownership7 of the plain, she would present it to the Lord of the elements. This thing, moreover, was manifested to Colum Cille, and he in his recles8 in Sord;9 and he said, with a loud voice, ‘ What has occurred to the virgin saint is strange; for it is the same to her if the land she offered to Him belonged to the Lord,10 as if it rightfully belonged to herself.’ He went afterwards to the Leinstermen, with whom he left numerous churches which he had founded, including Druim- monach11 and Moen,12 and several other churches. Colum Cille proceeded afterwards to Clonmacnois, with the that flowed through it, the abhain- Lifii, or river of the Liffey. 6 Shamrock-flowery. Scoth-sem- rach. Scoth signifies a flower ; and sew rack is an ad j. derived from semar, trefoil. The word ‘shamrock ’ seems a dimin. of semar or semmor, as it is written in the Book of Leinster, 112 b. i. (old pagination). 7 Ownership. Comns; lit. ‘power.’ 8 Recles. Put here for ‘ church. ’ 9 Sord. Swords, Co. Dublin. 10 To the Lord. The construction of this clause in the orig. texts is rather rude ; but it is better in Lis- more than in A. L. and L. B. 11 Druim-monaeh. This church is not in the list of Columban founda- tions given in Reeves’s Adamnan, p. 276 sq. *- Moen. Now Moone, in the parish of the same name, Co. Kildare. 1 Cenel-Conaill. The descendants of Conall Gulban (son of Nial Naoi- ghiallach) from whom Colum Cille was descended in the third genera- tion. 2 He. This parag. is also found only in A. L. * Drumcliff. In the barony of Carbury, Co. Sligo. 4 Mothairen. This saint is men- tioned in the Martyrologies of Tai- laght and Donegal at the 9th of June ; but in the notes to the Fes- tology of Aengus he is identified with a St. Torannan, whose festival is entered under June 12th. 5 Curragh of the Liffey. Now the Curragh of Kildare. It is worthy of note, that whilst the name of the plain (Liffe, or Magh-Life), of which the Curragh formed a part, has been lost as regards the plain, it should still be preserved in that of the river](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24873470_0519.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
