St. Erk of Slane

St. Erk of Slane, Bishop
Friend of St. Brigid of Kildare, co-consecrator of St. Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare.

“St. Erk, ‘the sweet spoken judge’, was, in all probability, a native of Munster; and is said to have been page to King Laoghaire at the time he showed this respect to St. Patrick. [Lanigan, vol. 1, p. 346] He was consecrated some time before the year 465, and was the first bishop of the ancient diocese of Slane, and abbot of the monastery which was erected there by St. Patrick. He is said to have been the preceptor of St. Brendan, and was an intimate friend of St. Brigid. At the synod of Magh-Femyn, in Tipperary, it is related that Erk spoke highly of the great abbess of Kildare, and of the miraculous favours with which she was endowed by the Almighty. He assisted at the consecration of Conlaeth, first bishop of Kildare, and took an active part in all the ecclesiastical movements of the age… Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November Probus, writing of him in the tenth century, says: “Hercus, filius Dego, cujus reliquae nunc venerantur in civitate, quae vocatur Slane.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

St. Erk of Slane, pray for us!

Diocese of Clonard (Part 1)

The Catholic Heritage Association had a great privilege to make a first pilgrimage to St. Finian's Church, Clonard.

The history of the See of Clonard, subsumed into the Diocese of Meath, is extensively set out in Fr. Anthony Cogan's The Diocese of Meath Ancient & Modern (Published: Dublin, 1862 by John F. Fowler):

"There were anciently eight episcopal sees in the present diocese of Meath viz Clonard, Duleek, Kells, Trim, Ardbraccan, Dunshaughlin, Slane and Fore. All these dioceses except Duleek and Kells were consolidated and their common see fixed at Clonard before 1152.

DIOCESE OF CLONARD

There are few places in Ireland with which so many remembrances are connected or which were so closely identified with the literary and religious glories of our native country as the ancient and far famed Monastery of Clonard. Slane was a great religious establishment in its day, so too were Duleek, Ardbraccan, Kells, Trim, Dunshaughlin and Fore. They were the centres of the various dioceses into which the ancient kingdom of Meath was subdivided. Eahan, Durrow, Fennor, Kilskyre, Trevet, Skryne, Dulane, Castlekieran, Donaghpatrick, Donaghmore, Lann Leire, not to mention other places were pillars of light in the war of religion with the powers of darkness. And in subsequent years the great abbeys of Bective, Athboy, Ballybogan, Beaubec, Drogheda, Meath side Kilmainhambeg, Lismullen, Navan, Newtown, Odder, Ballinamore, Kilbeggan, Mullingar, Multifernham and Tristernagh perpetuated the literary and religious renown of Meath, shed lustre on the Pale, and handed down through generations the sacred deposit of Faith. Yet over all these homes of sanctity above all these halls of science and learning towered like a colossal mountain the genius and piety of Clonard. Its schools rivalled for centuries those of Armagh, Bangor, Clonmacnoise and Lismore. It trained up some of the ablest scholars sent forth from its peaceful shades the greatest ornaments and lights and as an indication of the esteem in which it was held as a proof of its recognized career of usefulness few abbeys were more frequently plundered bore more vivid traces of the cupidity and Vandalism of the ruthless Scandinavian or were more generously rebuilt and reendowed by the faithful and grateful Irish than the great Abbey of Clonard.

Clonard indeed is gone. Lismore is gone. Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Bangor, Glendalough, Kildare, Devenish - all these ancient landmarks have been swept away. The hand of the spoiler has torn up these sanctuaries of the faith and charity of our fathers. Their halls are no longer filled, the door of hospitality is no longer open to the poor man the traveller or the wayfarer. Silence, the silence of the grave, reigns around these holy places where the cheerful laugh of youth the pious chant of the monks the sacred song and the holy sacrifice amidst incense and ceremony once resounded. All that the powers of this world could effect has been done. The monastery the gorgeous temple the abbey church have disappeared The abbey lands have been seized the patrimony of the poor was confiscated. As if to show the strength of God's word, the interposition of His providence and His merciful designs for the Irish nation all the external aids which the charity and philanthropy of past ages have conferred on religion were permitted by Him to be torn away."

Slane Abbey

From Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy:

Slane Abbey

Slane six miles west of Drogheda and on the north side of the Boyne. It was formerly a town of note and a borough in the palatinate of Meath. On the hill of Slane, visible from the heights of Tara, St. Patrick, in violation of a standing law, enkindled a fire by which he attracted the notice of the monarch and the court. St. Erc was bishop of Slane. Dagobert king of Austrasia, a part of France, was sent to Ireland by Grimoald, mayor of the palace, to be instructed and is said to have remained in Slane many years until he was recalled and placed on the throne.

AD 746 the first abbot of this monastery whose name is preserved in history was Colman son of Faelan and called the Briton

AD 797 died the abbot Aillil, son of Cormac, a man skilled in philosophy and who was an upright and learned judge

AD 838 the Danes plundered this abbey

AD 854 Sodamna bishop of Slane was martyred by the Danes

AD 947 the Danes received a great defeat in this town where Blacar, their commander, with sixteen hundred of his men were slain in battle

AD 948 the Danes set fire to the abbey and Probus, the prelector of the school of Slane, lost his life, together with several of his holy companions and the pastoral staff of St. Erc and many other relics of the saints and the best bell in Ireland were wholly consumed.  Probus or Caenachair was the author of the life of St. Patrick written in two books and which is esteemed as one of the most circumstantial and correct records which has been handed down on that interesting subject. This eminent man was chief lecturer in the schools of Slane in this year and having taken shelter in the belfry of the church with many others was consigned to the flames.

AD 1042 this year Eochagan a celebrated author, professor of Swords and archdeacon of this abbey died at Cologne

AD 1170 MacMurrough king of Leinster with a body of the English led on by Earl Strongbow burned and sacked the town

AD 1175 the English forces repeated their barbarities. They seem to have been more cruel than the Danes who generally were content with carrying off the moveable property of those places which they ravaged. The English depredators not only seized the moveable but they also took possession of the immoveable property of the country without regard to the rights of the native Irish whom they also put to death. Dermot MacMurrogh, who was the Nero of Ireland, died an awful death. By his plunder of the churches he added crime to crime sacrilege to sacrilege and like his prototype Nero gloated over the misfortunes which his crimes and oppressions brought on the unhappy land that gave him birth. Strongbow, to whom he gave his daughter Eva in marriage, died also a death which his crimes against the sanctuaries of Ireland well deserved. The abbey of Slane was rebuilt with some degree of elegance in the year 1512, having been refounded for Franciscans of the third order by Christopher Fleming, lord of Slane, and his wife Elizabeth Stuckle, who finding Malachy and Donagh O'Brine, friars of the same order, dwelling in the ancient hermitage of St. Erc, removed them to this new house, having obtained a proper and sufficient license for so doing. In the present remains of lord Slane's building are several fragments of the ancient abbey and many of the architraves were evidently cut out of the ornamental parts particularly one with the appearance of a head crowned.

In the thirty second of Henry VIII the prior of Slane was seized of a church and belfry dormitory garden and two closes containing one acre annual value 18s. The family of Fleming obtained it by grant. It subsequently became forfeited in the year 1641 and was given to the family of the marquis of Conyngham.

The Conversion of Tara

From Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy:

In this territory were many episcopal sees Clonard, Duleek, Kells, Trim, Ardbraccan, Donshaghlin, Slane and Foure. Except Duleek and Kells, they were united before the year 1152 and the common see fixed at Clonard, the sees of Duleek and Kells were also incorporated. In the fifth century the present county of Meath and the greater part of Westmeath were the residences of kings princes and warriors.

In the year 79 of the Christian era the reigning monarch of Ireland, Tuathal, having gained successive victories over the Albanians and his domestic foes summoned a general convocation of his princes and nobles to Tara, the monarch during the session of this national assembly obtained a tract of land from each of the four provinces in each of which he erected a palace and these tracts now form the territory of Meath and Westmeath. The site of the royal residence erected on the Munster tract was called Flactga, that of the Connaught tract was called Visneach, and the third royal seat belonging to Ulster was Tailtean. The palace of Tara was reserved for the monarch himself and here the estates of the kingdom assembled at stated times in order to institute such laws as the well being of the country demanded.

The festival of Easter was approaching and St. Patrick resolved to celebrate this holy festival in the vicinity of Tara where the monarch and his princes were in convocation assembled. The apostle of Ireland determined to proclaim the mysteries of redemption at the seat of government and before the princes of the nation guided by the example of St. Peter who planted the cross in the imperial city of Rome then mistress of the nations and the patroness of error and superstition as she is now the spiritual mistress of Christ's kingdom on earth and the seat of truth and faith refreshing the people of the universe with the waters of her apostolic fountain. St. Patrick and his companions having reached the plain in which the palace of Tara was situated lodged in the house of a respectable man named Sesgnen by whom they were hospitably received. In reward of his kind treatment he obtained the grace of conversion with his family and his son Benignus who accompanied the Saint to Tara, became the companion disciple and successor of the apostle in the see of Armagh.

In compliance with an usage which was sanctioned by venerable antiquity St. Patrick ordered the paschal fire to be enkindled and thus at once attack in its stronghold the national superstition. This primitive custom of lighting the paschal fire was observed in memory of the resurrection of Christ. The ancient Irish worshiped the sun and this luminary was considered by them as the principal and supreme Deity, hence it is that fire worship was the leading dogma of Irish superstition. In compliance with an annual rite the king and princes of the country were celebrating a festival and in conformity with the Druidical worship the eve of that festival was observed with peculiar religious solemnity. By a standing law all the fires of the country were on this eve to be extinguished and no one was permitted under pain of death to kindle a fire until the sacred one should be first lighted on the hill of Tara, as a signal for the rest of Ireland. In violation of this law, the paschal fire was enkindled on the hill of Slane and, when seen from the heights of Tara, the king and his princes became alarmed and enraged at this opposition, as they supposed to the laws and religion of their country.

"This fire which we see, unless extinguished this very night," said the magi to the monarch, "will burn for ever and moreover will excel all the fires of our rite and he who kindles this fire will scatter your kingdom." Leogaire the monarch then enquired who these were who dared to infringe the law and incur the penalty which the national code enjoined. The king in company with two of the magi and attended with a numerous retinue proceeded to the place where St. Patrick had erected a temporary habitation and, having ordered the Saint to be brought before him, St. Patrick obeyed without delay, and before his arrival in the presence of the monarch, it was arranged that no mark of kindness or attention should be paid him, however, when the Saint was ushered into the royal presence. Here the son of Dego, in disregard of this uncourteous ordinance, arose and accosted him with a kindly salutation. The holy man in return imparted his benediction to the noble and generous youth who greeted his approach, nor was it bestowed in vain, as through the Divine goodness the grace of his immediate conversion to the faith was annexed.

Though the national code enjoined the penalty of death on those who violated the law relative to the observance of the national ceremony it does not appear that the monarch or the magi desired its enforcement. On the contrary, the interview with St. Patrick seemed to allay the fears of the king and conciliate his benevolence towards those strangers. On the morning which calls to our minds the glorious event of Christ's resurrection, St. Patrick for the first time proclaimed the Gospel and the mysteries of redemption to the monarch and nobles of the land assembled in the halls of Tara. On this occasion the most eminent of the bardic institute, Dubtach, arose and saluting the Saint became a Christian. In the national assembly, the bards of Ireland were particularly revered. Theirs were the duties of recording in harmonious strains the achievements of their countrymen, the wisdom of the senator, the bravery of the chieftain, the exploits of the patriot. The care of preserving an exact registry of the genealogies of families and the prerogatives of the nobles and of the boundaries which marked out the possessions of the chieftains was confided to the members of this order and it was wisely ordained that at stated times their writings should be submitted to a tribunal over which the monarch himself and a certain number of nobles presided. Before this tribunal the works of the bards were examined and from the entire collection extracts duly authenticated were deposited in the royal archives of Tara. The acquisition of Dubtach to the cause of truth was a just tribute to the force and power of the Saint's address and which was as irresistible as that of St Paul to the Areopagus at Athens. By it was torn up the bias of education and the prejudice of habit and others followed the powerful example which the conversion of the chief bard afforded in his own person. Yet the monarch hearkened not to the voice of truth but remained obstinate in his superstition although he granted permission to St. Patrick to preach the Gospel on condition that the peace of the kingdom should not be disturbed. St. Patrick, on the following day, repaired to Tailtean, where public amusements were celebrated and which were attended by the court of Tara. There also he multiplied the number of his converts and among them was Conall, brother to the king, who believed and was baptized. Visiting other parts of Meath his preaching was everywhere attended with success. Having erected a church at Drumconrath in the barony of Slane and one at Dromshallon near Drogheda, he directed his course to Delvin and thence to the hill of Usneagh, reducing the whole mass of the people to the sweet yoke of the Gospel.