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An Irish Apocryphal Apostle: Muirchú's Portrayal of Saint Patrick

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Aideen O'Leary
Aideen O'Leary
Affiliation:
Girton College, Cambridge, England
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Extract

In his Vita sancti Patricii, written in the late seventh century, Muirch depicts St. Patrick, the national apostle of Ireland who lived in the fifth century, with a number of interesting characteristics. In this paper I shall demonstrate that the sources behind Muirch's account of Patrick included biographies of New Testament apostles. These biographies provide a background in religious literature for some of the events which, according to Muirch, befall Patrick on his missionary journey around the island of Ireland.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 89 , Issue 3 , July 1996 , pp. 287 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1996

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References

1 Bieler, Ludwig, ed. and trans., The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1979) 62–123Google Scholar; Hood, Allan B. E., ed. and trans., St. Patrick: His Writings and Muirchu's Life (Chichester: Phillimore, 1978) 61–98Google Scholar; and Bollandiani, Socii, eds., Bibliotheca hagiographica latina (2 vols. and suppl.; Brussels, Bollandiani:1898–1911) no. 6497Google Scholar. See also Kenney, James F., The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical (2d ed.; New York: Octagon, 1966) 331–34Google Scholar. Throughout this paper, references to the text of Muirch's Vita sancti Patricii will be given, followed by page numbers for the Bieler and Hood editions, separated by a slash (for example, 63/84).

2 There is another life of St. Patrick: Collectanea de sancto Patricio by Tirechán, also datable to the late seventh century (see Bieler, Patrician Texts, 122–67; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina, no. 6496). That work is very different in character from Muirch'; nevertheless the two appear to share a common source for the basic elements of the story. It is not possible to date this common source, but it could have been composed by Ultán, Tírechán's mentor. Tírechán notes: Tirechan episcopus haec scripsit ex ore uel libro Ultani episcopi, cuius ipse alumpnus uel discipulus fuit (“Bishop Tírechán has written this, based on the words and [or?] the book of Bishop Ultán, whose fosterling and pupil he was”) ([Collectanea 3.1 Tírechán], Bieler, Patrician Texts, 124–25); he also may describe his source as follows: in libro. … apud Ultanum (“in a book [by?] in the hands of Ultán”) (ibid.). Insofar as the material that I shall discuss here is absent from Tírechán's account, it is best treated as the contribution of Muirchu himself.

3 An earlier version of this paper was delivered to a conference entitled “Saints: Old World, New World,” held at the University of California, Los Angeles, May 1995. I wish to thank the organizers for inviting me to speak and in particular Professors David N. Dumville, Patrick J. Geary and Joseph F. Nagy for a valuable discussion of the issues involved.

4 Muirchú Vita 1.2 (1) 68–69/63, 83: “he. … tramped for twenty-eight days through desert, as did Moses, although in a different sense” (bis denis simul et octenis diurnis luminibus Moysico more alio licet sensu per desertum fatigatus).

5 Muirchú Vita 1.2 (1) 68–69/63, 84.

6 Muirchú Vita II.5 (1) 116–17.

7 See pp. 292–93.

8 Dan 3:1–7; Muirchú Vita 1.15 (2) 84–85/67–68, 88.

9 McCone, Kim, Pagan Past and Christian Present in Early Irish Literature (Maynooth: An Sagart, 1990) 86–99.Google Scholar

10 Dictionary of the Irish Language, s.v. recht 26. 77–86; liter, 167. 49–74. The genitive singular form, litre, was used by writers of church law in a number of phrases to refer to written (and therefore Christian) law: another example is suí Litre, “an expert in the Law.”

12 Compare Tirechán Collectanea 2.3 (1); Bieler, Patrician Texts, 122–23.

12 For a perceptive overview of Moses' place in Irish literature and pseudohistory, see Hennig, John, “The Literary Tradition of Moses in Ireland,” Traditio 7 (1949–51) 233–61CrossRefGoogle Scholar; reprinted as the third article in idem, Medieval Ireland, Saints and Martyrologies (Northampton: Variorum, 1989). For an analysis of comparisons of the one hundred twenty-year-long lives of Moses and Patrick, see Dumville, David N., “Celtic-Latin Texts in Northern England,” Celtica 12 (1977) 19–49Google Scholar, esp. 30–33, reprinted as the eleventh article in idem, Histories and Pseudo-Histories of the Insular Middle Ages (Aldershot: Variorum, 1990).

13 Bieler lists such echoes in the index fontium to his edition of Muirchú's Vita sancti Patricii; see Patrician Texts, 249.

14 Muirchú Vita 1.15 (2) 84–85/68, 88.

15 See below pp. 291–92.

16 Binchy, Daniel A., “The Fair of Tailtiu and the Feast of Tara,” Ériu 18 (1958) 113–38, esp. 128–31.Google Scholar

17 Ibid., 129.

18 Ibid., 114–15.

19 Byrne, Francis John, Irish Kings and High Kings (London: Batsford, 1973) 48–69Google Scholar, esp. 64–65; Dumville, David N., et al. , Saint Patrick, A.D. 493–1993 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 1993) 47–50Google Scholar. Charles Doherty proposes the interesting theory that by setting the festival at Tara, Muirchú was flattering the Uí Néill dynasty. He notes that the extent of this dynasty's influence at that time was so great that only family members could expect to be inaugurated as kings of Tara, and suggests that Muirchú desired to flatter the powerful (“The Cult of St. Patrick,” in Picard, Jean-Michel, ed., Ireland and Northern France, AD 600–850 [Dublin: Four Courts, 1991] 53–94, esp. 86)Google Scholar; compare Byrne, Irish Kings, 50–51. Muirchú's account of the war over Patrick's relics, however, appears impartial (see Muirchú Vita 11.13 [1]–14 [3] 120–23).

20 See below, pp. 294–97.

21 Binchy, “The Fair of Tailtiu,” 130.

22 Fabricius, Iohannes Albertus, ed., Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti (2d ed.; 2 vols.; Hamburg: Schiller & Kisner, 1719), 2. 402–742Google Scholar; Giles, J. A., ed., Codex Apocryphus Novi Testamenti (2 vols.; London: Nutt, 1852) 1. 256–456Google Scholar. I am currently working toward a new edition of this material.

23 Book 6, chap. 20; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 628; Giles, Codex, 1. 389; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina nos. 7749–51.

24 See Acts 22:3; Muirchú Vita 1.6 (2) 70–71/64, 84.

25 See Acts 7:55; Muirchú Vita 1.28 (l)–(2) 100–1/76–77, 97.

26 Muirchú Vita 1.1 (3) 66–67/62, 83.

27 Lipsius, Ricardus Adelbertus and Bonnet, Maximilianus, eds., Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha (2 vols.; Leipzig: Mendelssohn, 1891–1903) 2.1. 128–50Google Scholar, esp. 131; book 8, chap. 2; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 673; and Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 1002.

28 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 129–31; book 8, chap. 1; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 671.

29 Book 10, chap. 2; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 738–39; Giles, Codex, 1. 454–55; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 6814.

30 Muirchú Vita 1.10 (7) 76–77/66, 86.

31 Muirchú Vita 1.10 (4) 74–77/65, 86.

32 Muirchú Vita 1.13 (2)–(3) 82–85/67, 88.

33 Muirchú Vita 1.15 (1) 84–85/67, 88.

34 Muirchú Vita 1.15 (l)–(2) 84–85/67–68, 88. I have used Hood's translation; idolatriae sollempnitatem, quam gentiles incantationibus multis et magicis inuentionibus nonnullisque aliis idolatriae superstitionibus, congregatis etiam regibus, satrapis, ducibus, principibus et optimatibus populi, insuper et magis, incantatoribus, auruspicibus et omnis artis omnisque doli inuentoribus doctoribusque uocatis. … exercere consuerant.

35 Muirchú Vita 1.15 (4) 84–87/68, 89.

36 Muirchú Vita 1.15 (5) 86–87/68, 89.

37 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 141–48; book 8, chaps. 5–8; Fabricius, Codex, 2.677–84.

38 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 148; book 8, chap. 8; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 684–85; my translation; dixit ad eum Astriges rex, “Tu es qui euertisti fratrem meum?” Cui apostolus dixit, “Ego non euerti eum sed conuerti.” Dicit ei rex, “Tu es qui deos nostros fecisti comminui?” Dicit ei apostolus, “Ego dedi potestatem daemonibus qui in eis erant ut ipsi conquassarent idola uana in quibus degebant, et omnes homines relicto errore crederent omnipotenti Deo qui in caelis habitat.”

39 Muirchú Vita 1.17 (5) 88–89/69, 90. Bieler interprets this phrase as referring to Patrick's prayer to the Lord that Lochru would be punished; Hood (St. Patrick, 90) says that it refers to Patrick glaring at Simon (“as once Peter did with Simon”). Bieler's position seems more tenable.

40 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 1. 223–34, esp. 231–32; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 6667.

41 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 1. 118–77, esp. 165 and 167; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 6660.

42 Muirchú Vita 1.17 (6) 88–91/69, 90; the similarity is noted in Bieler, , The Life and Legend of St. Patrick: Problems of Modern Scholarship (Dublin: Clonmore & Reynolds, 1949) 115Google Scholar; idem, “Ancient Hagiography and the Lives of St. Patrick,” in Forma Futuri, Studi in onore del Cardinale Michele Pellegrino (Turin: Bottega d'Erasmo, 1975) 650–55, esp. 651, reprinted as the eleventh article in idem, Studies on the Life and Legend of St. Patrick (London: Variorum, 1986); Stokes, George T., Ireland and the Celtic Church: A History of Ireland from St. Patrick to the English Conquest in 1172 (2d ed.; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1888) 75–76Google Scholar; and Zimmer, Heinrich, The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland (London: Nutt, 1902) 95Google Scholar.

43 Vouaux, Léon, ed. and trans., Les Actes de Pierre (Paris: Letouzey & Ané, 1922) 228–397Google Scholar.

44 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 1. 45–103, esp. 83; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 6656, under the title Actus Petri cum Simone. Compare Lipsius, Richard Adelbert, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten und Apostellegenden (2 vols.; Brunswick: Schwetschke, 1883–90) 2.1. 174–94Google Scholar. Lipsius calls them Actus Vercellenses; he named the text Actus Petri cum Simone, however, when he edited it in the following decade. Vouaux was critical of the later title (Les Actes, 228).

45 Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten, 2.1. 174–94 and 384–90; Bibliotheca hagiographica latina nos. 6663–64 and 6574 respectively.

46 Bieler, Life and Legend, 115; idem, “Ancient Hagiography,” 651; idem, Patrician Texts, 88.

47 Muirchú Vita 1.17 (5)–(6) 88–91/69, 90; Hunc autem intuens turuo oculo talia promentem sanctus Patricius ut quondam Petrus de Simone cum quadam potentia et magno clamore confidenter ad Dominum dixit: “Domine, qui omnia potes et in tua potestate consistunt, quique me missisti hue, hie impius qui blasfemat nomen tuum eleuetur nunc foras et cito moriatur.” Et his dictis eliuatus est in aethera magus et iterum dimissus desuper uerso ad lapidem cerebro comminutus et mortuus fuerat coram eis, et timuerunt gentiles.

48 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 1. 231–32; Simon autem ascendens turrem extensis manibus coepit in altum uolare, omnisque populus ut uidit clamare nimium coepit. … Petrus autem iterum faciem eleuans in caelum extensis manibus ait: “Increpo uos, daemonia qui eum fertis, per Deum patrem omnipotentem et per Iesum Christum Filium eius, ut sine mora eum dimittatis. Omnes enim dicent quia ipse est saluator huius mundi.” Cumque hoc diceret, uenit Simon ex alto in terram et crepuit medius; nee tamen continuo exanimatus est, sed fracto debilitatoque corpore, ut poenam suam et ruinam cognosceret. … post paululum cum diabolo eius anima discessit in gehennam.

49 Muirchú Vita 1.24 (1)–(16) 108–13/74–75, 95–96.

50 Muirchú Vita 1.24 (2) 108–9; Vita II.4 116–17.

51 Muirchú Vita 111 (1) – 1.12 (4) 76–81/66–68, 86–87; Doherty, “The Cult,” 85–86.

52 Binchy, Daniel A., “Patrick and his Biographers: Ancient and Modern,” Studia Hibernica 2 (1962) 7–173Google Scholar, esp. 59–60.

53 For a study of the significance and reliability of Liber Angeli, see Sharpe, Richard, “Armagh and Rome in the Seventh Century,” in Ni Chatháin, Próinséas and Richter, Michael, eds., Ireland and Europe: The Early Church (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1984) 58–72Google Scholar, esp. 68–72; and idem, “St. Patrick and the See of Armagh,” Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies 4 (1982) 33–59, esp. 44–59 (including a close critical analysis of previous scholarship).

54 Tírechán, Collectanea II.3 (5): Bieler, Patrician Texts, 122–23, and idem. Life and Legend, 89; Sheehy, Maurice P., “The Relics of the Apostles and Early Martyrs in the Mission of St. Patrick,” Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 5th ser., 95 (1961) 372–76Google Scholar. Compare Brown, Peter, The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981) 123.Google Scholar

55 Bede, , Historia Ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum (eds. and trans. Colgrave, Bertram and Mynors, Roger A. B.; Oxford: Clarendon, 1969) 546–49Google Scholar (book 5, chap, 21); Wasserschleben, Hermann, ed., Die irische Kanonensammlung (2d ed.; Leipzig: Tauchnitz, 1885) 211–12Google Scholar (book 52, chaps. 3–4). Compare Padraig Ó'Néill, “Romani Influences on Seventh-century Hiberno-Latin Literature,” in Ní Chath´in and Richter, Ireland and Europe, 280–90, esp. 285–86.

56 Book 4, chap. 3; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 518; Giles, Codex, 1. 328.

57 Book 4, chaps. 3–4; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 518–21; Giles, Codex, 1. 329–30; and Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 4057.

58 See below, p. 298.

59 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (1)–(15) 92–97/70–72, 91–92.

60 Muirchú Vita 1.10 (1) 74–75/65, 86. I have used Hood's translation.

61 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (1) 92–93/70, 91.

62 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (1) 93.

63 Muirchú Vita 1.19 (5) 92–93/70, 91.

64 Book 5, chaps. 20–21; Junod, Eric and Kaestli, Jean-Daniel, eds. and trans., Acta lohannis (2 vols.; CChr SA 1–2; Turnhout: Brepols, 1983) 2. 824–27 (chap. 8)Google Scholar; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 531–90, esp. 575–81; and Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 4316.

65 Junod and Kaestli, Acta, 2. 770–90, esp. 787–88; on sources of this episode, 849–53.

66 Ibid., 2. 824; book 5, chap. 20; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 575.

67 Junod and Kaestli, Acta, 2. 825 (chap. 8); book 5, chap. 20; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 577.

68 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 1–37, esp. 24–26; this possibly sixth-century text, now known as the “Letter of Priests and Deacons of Achaia” (Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 428), is a passion narrative independent of Pseudo-Abdias.

69 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (4) 94–95/71, 91.

70 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (3): Bieler, Patrician Texts, 94–95: Nolo contraria uoluntati Dei inducere (“I do not want to bring about anything against God's will”); Hood, St. Patrick, 70, 91.

71 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (8) 94–95/71, 92.

72 Book 4, chap. 4; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 520–21; Giles, Codex, 1. 329–30.

73 Muirchú Vita 1.20 (15) 96–97/71, 92.

74 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 13; my translation.

75 Muirchú Vita 1.19 (3) 92–93/70, 91.

76 Book 4, chap. 2; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 517–18; Giles, Codex, 1. 327–28.

77 Lipsius and Bonnet, Acta, 2.1. 141–48; book 8, chaps. 5–8; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 677–84.

78 Max Bonnet, ed., “Georgii Florentii Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Liber de miraculis beati Andreae apostoli,” MGH, Scriptores Rerum Merovingicarum 1 (1885) 821–46, esp. 832–34; reprinted with French translation by Prieur, Jean-Marc, ed. and trans., Acta Andreae (2 vols.; CChr SA 5–6; Turnhout: Brepols, 1989) 2. 564–651, esp. 592–99Google Scholar (Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 430).

79 Max Bonnet, ed., “Passio sancti Andreae apostoli,” AnBoll 13(1894) 373–78. Conuersante et docente (Bibliotheca hagiographica latina no. 429) is distinct from the “Letter of Priests and Deacons of Achaia,” for which see n. 68 above.

80 Book 3; Fabricius, Codex, 2. 456–515; compare Lipsius, Die apokryphen Apostelgeschichten, 1. 137–38.

81 Fontaine, Jacques, ed. and trans., Sulpice Sévère: Vie de saint Martin (3 vols.; SC 133–35; Paris: Cerf, 1967)Google Scholar; Hoare, Frederick R., trans.. The Western Fathers (London: Sheed & Ward, 1954) 10–44Google Scholar. It was also influenced by the apocryphal acts (Fontaine, Sulpice Sévère, 1. 116–18). For the extent of its influence on other texts, see Bullough, Donald A., “Columba, Adomnan and the Achievement of Iona, Part I,” Scottish Historical Review 43 (1964) 111–30Google Scholar, esp. 126; and idem, “Columba, Adomnan and the Achievement of Iona, Part II,” Scottish Historical Review 44 (1965) 17–33; Stancliffe, Clare, “The Miracle Stories in Seventh-century Irish Saints' Lives,” in Fontaine, Jacques and Hillgarth, Jocelyn N., eds., The Seventh Century: Change and Continuity (London: Warburg Institute, 1992) 87–115Google Scholar.

82 Muirchú Vita Prologus (2) 62–63/61, 81.

83 Muirchú Vita Prologus (3) 62–63/61, 81.

84 Zimmer, The Celtic Church, 95.

85 Hughes, Kathleen with Otway-Ruthven, A. Jocelyn, A History of Medieval Ireland (2d ed.; London: Benn, 1980) 1–33Google Scholar, esp. 16; reprinted as the first article in Hughes, Kathleen, Church and Society in Ireland A.D. 400–1200 (London: Variorum, 1987)Google Scholar.

86 See above pp. 294–99.

87 For an example of a fascinating docetic apocryphon in this genre in Ireland in Muirchú's time, see Dold, Alban and Eizenhöfer, Leo, eds., Das irische Palimpsestsakramentar im Clm 14429 der Staatsbibliothek München (Texte und Arbeiten 53–54; Beuron: Beuroner Kunstverlag, 1964) 44–47Google Scholar. There is similar usage of prayers from apocryphal acta in later English prayer books (ca. 800) with Irish textual backgrounds, and in later Irish liturgical manuscripts; see McNamara, Martin, The Apocrypha in the Irish Church (Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1975) 92–93 no. 80BGoogle Scholar; 98–99 no. 84; 101–2 no. 86B.

88 For a survey of the apocrypha known in early medieval Ireland, see Dumville, David N., “Biblical Apocrypha and the Early Irish: A Preliminary Investigation,” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 73 C (1973) 299–338Google Scholar.

89 Their influence evidently continued, as can be seen from the “Irish Reference Bible” (Bernhard Bischoff, “Wendepunkte in der Geschichte der lateinischen Exegese im Frühmittelalter,” in idem, Mittelalterliche Studien: Ausgewählte Aufsätze zur Schriftkunde und Literaturgeschichte [3 vols.; Stuttgart: Hiersemann, 1966–81] I. 205–73, esp. 231–36) and the Book of Cerne (David N. Dumville, “Liturgical Drama and Panegyric Responsory from the Eighth Century?: A Re-examination of the Origin and Contents of the Ninth-century Section of the Book of Cerne,” JTS, n s., 23 [1972] 374–406). This influence later grew with the translation into the vernacular of many apostolic passions (for example, Atkinson, Robert, ed. and trans., The Passions and the Homilies from Leabhar Breac [Todd Lecture Series 2; Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1885–87] 86–113 and 329–58)Google Scholar.