# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Condlaed

Conlaíd in the ODNB.
​CONDLAED of Kildare (d. 520), bishop and saint, according to the pedigree in the 'Book of Leinster' and other authorities, was descended from Cucorb, king of Leinster, and through him from Ugaine Mor, monarch of Ireland, who was also the ancestor of St. Brigid [q. v.] in another line. His original name was Ronchend, and he is first heard of as a 'solitary adorned with every virtue' who dwelt in the south of the plain of the Liffey. At this time Brigid had determined to erect here the famous monastery of Kildare. This establishment comprehended both sexes, and Brigid thought it necessary to have 'a high priest to consecrate churches and to settle the ecclesiastical degrees (i.e. to ordain clergy) in them.' Sending for her relative Condlaed from his 'desert,' as the abodes of those hermit saints were called, she engaged him to 'govern the church with her in episcopal dignity that nothing of sacerdotal order might be wanting in her churches.' He had the episcopal chair, she the virginal chair (cathedra puellaris), and he was pre-eminent among the bishops of all Ireland as she was among the abbesses of the Scots, in happy succession and perpetual order.' It is in vain that Colgan and Lanigan endeavour to bring these facts into harmony with the ecclesiastical usages of later times. Condlaed was, in fact, a monastic bishop under the orders of the head of the establishment, who might be a presbyter, as in the Columbian monasteries, or a woman as here. In the life of St. Brigid by Cogitosus, from which these facts are taken, Condlaed is termed 'archbishop of the Irish bishops.' There were no archbishops at that time, but Dr. Todd has shown that the writers of both the lives in which it occurs were Irish, and used the term as the nearest translation of 'ard-epacop,' the vernacular word used by the scholiast on the 'Hymn of Fiacc.' Its real meaning is 'eminent bishop,' and it refers only to his personal distinction, and conveys no idea of jurisdiction. Condlaed once, at least, had travelled abroad, visiting a country called 'Leatha.' Colgan and others took this to mean Italy, while Dr. O'Donovan supposed it to mean Armories. It appears that the name was applied to both, but in its earliest sense meant Armorica (Zimmer). This fact, and the known connection of the Irish church with that of Gaul, make it probable that Armorica is its meaning here. In his absence in Leatha, Brigid impulsively gave away to the poor 'certain transmarine and foreign vestments' belonging to him which he only used on great festivals. According to Broccin's 'Hymn,' a miracle was wrought to avert the consequences. 'When there was danger to her, her Son [Christ] rendered the event propitious. He brougnt [like] raiment in a confer of sealskin in a chariot of two wheels.'
On the last occasion of his setting out on his travels he wished to visit Rome, but Brigid, in the exercise of her authority, objected, and when he disregarded her wishes she prayed, according to a legend of later times, tnat he might come to a sudden death; and accordingly, before he had gone more than eleven or twelve miles from home, he was devoured by wolves at a place near Dunlavin in the county of Wicklow. His desire to visit Rome was perhaps not unconnected with his love of art, for he is described as 'Brigid's brazier,' or, according to the 'Calendar ' of Œngus, her 'chief artist.' The word denotes a worker in gold, silver, or other metal, a maker of those bells, croziers, and shrines of which so many still exist. The only specimen of his art remaining is the crozier of St. Finbarr of Termonbarry in Connaught, now in the museum of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin.
In the curious description given by Cogitosus of the church of Kildare, as it existed before A.D. 836, when it was ravaged by the Danes, he says: 'The bodies of Bishop Condlaed and the holy virgin St. Brigid are on the right and left of the decorated altar depositedin monuments adorned with various embellishments of gold and silver, and gems and precious stones, with crowns of gold and silver depending from above.' This has been thought improbable, but it derives confirmation from the independent authority of the ​'Annals of Ulster,' where, at the year 799, the entry is: 'The placing of the relics of Condlaed in a shrine of gold and silver.'
In the 'Calendar' of Œngus his death is recorded thus: 'The death of Condlaed, a fair pillar,'and the scholiast understands the name paid a portion of his salary to the latter as a to mean 'Ædh (or Hugh) the friendly.' In the third and fourth lives in Colgan his name appears as Conlianus, which is a latinised form of Condlaed. In these lives he is referred to as 'the bishop and prophet of Gad.' Nothing is recorded of any prophecies of his, and it seems highly probable that the latter term has reference rather to the expounding of the holy scriptures, in which sense it is used in the earliest Irish glosses. It was misunderstood in later times, like many other terms, and hence the many spurious prophecies attributed to famous Irish saints. Condlaed's day is 3 May.
[Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga; Book of LeinsBter, 351 n; Petrie's Round Towers of Ireland, p. 197; Guidelines, p. 146 Lanigan's Eccles. Hist. i. 409; Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 11-26; Zimmer's Keltische Studien, zweites Heft; Annals of the Four Masters, i. 171; Cal. of Œngus, p. lxxxiii; O'Curry's Manuscript Materials, p. 338.]
T. O.