Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-06-13

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 they got their lessons off by heart, re-
 clining at full length, as described ill
 after days by Blessed Edmund Cam
 pion, s. J. The lounge, Or settle bed
 was the primitive dormitory, ranged
 on benches in the interior of the wat.
 tie cell.
 The students of those faraway days
 notwithstanding all the inconven-
 fences they must necessarily have suf-
 fered for the sake of knowledge, had
 happy time of it. There were nc
 newspapers, no printed journals, nc
 classical texts with translations, nc
 ranges, no gas-stoves. no electrical in-
 ventions, neither rail, steam or auto mobiles--and yet, what great schol- ars were congregated in those prim- itiye outlying cabins. Who can es- timate the incessant zeal of those
 holy professors, who were never done copying out rare texts for their
 pupils. and elucidating all their diff fculttes? Two monks of the dio- cese of Lismore, St. Reuben and St. Cucuimne, in the first decade of the eighth century, compiled the Syn odical Decrees of the early Irish church-valuable manuscripts which have come down to our own day. The latter saint is the author of lovely hymn, "Contemus in ompi die," in honor of the Blessed Virgin, one of the versions of which dates from the year 695. In word, religion, liter ature, art and music were sedulous- ly cultivated in the schools of Lis- more from the seventh to the open ing of the twelfth century.
 From 1924 to 1040 Lismore was the seat of government, in as much as Corcoran, sole regent of Ireland, lived there. His death is chronicled at Lismore, in 1040, and he IS said by the old annalists to have been a celebrated divine, so greatly excel ling all western Europe in piety and learning that every contest through out the Kingdom was referred to his decision"
 In particular, the monastic Cath edral of Lismore was a damliag ia word which Is Anglicised as Duleek) that is, stone church and hence it escaped the different ravages by the Danes. mention this fact as one of the many arguments that may seem to refute the oft repeated fiction that there were no stone churches in Ire- land till the twelfth century. It is here only necessary to quote one en- | try from the Annals of the Four Masters" wherein under date of 1051 we read. "Phelan, son of Bradan, son of Breac, was killed in the stone church of Lismore.
 St Maelduin. whose family are said to have given their name to Cnoc Maolduin (though some authorities equate Knockmealdown with ''the bare brown hill'), bishop of Lismore, died on May 21, 1090, and his name is found in the Acta Sanctorum, un- der the Latinised form of St Maeld- od!us. His successor was the famous Mall MacAedhucan (MacEgan), who ruled the vast territory of the decies, from 1090 to 1096, when the see of Waterford was formed. His beauti- full pastoral staff was accidently dis covered in the castle of Lismore in 1874, as was also the famous Book of Lismore."
 All students of Irish art are fami- liar with the "Lismore Crozier" which, in truth, is an exquisite speci- men of the goldsmith's art in Ireland during the last decade of the eleventh century. It is carefully preserved in a glass case, in the billiard room at Lismore castle, where 1t may be in- spected by all visitors through the courtesy of the Duke of Devonshire. The inscription on it may be English ed thus: Pray for Mall MacEgan. for whom this crozier was made. Pray for Nectar. who made this work of art" Bishop MacEgan died 1113, after rule of thirteen years and was succeeded as bishop of Lismore by Gilla Mochuda O'Regan.
 E Murtag nor O'Brien, king of Nun ster, so lauded by St Anselm, resign ed his crown to his brother, Dermot, in 1117, and retired to the monastery of Lismore, where he died on March IS, 1119. His counsin. Donal O'Brien, also retired to Lismore, where, as a professed monk, he followed the rule of St Carthage, and died at a very advanced age. 1135. It was the privi- lege of St Malchus. bishop of Lis more, whose Irish name was Mael- muire Ua Soingrig, to instruct the H. lustrious St Malachy, in 1126, and also to receive as pilgrim King Cor mac Mccarthy of Munster in 112S. St Celsius, archbishop of Armagh, who died in 1129. was, at his own request buried at Lismore. In the cemetery of the bishops. Some twenty years ago. the present writer was fortunate ly enabled to trace the Relic, or bishops cemetery, formerly attached to St Carthage's monastery, of which now not a single trace remains. Alasl the present generation scarcely knows the name. much less the site of the last resting place of numerous prin- ces. archbishops. bishops and pilgrims but the churchyard is now represent ed by the field on the left hand side of the avenue leading to the Riding House" of Lismore castle.
 St Malachy visited Lismore in 11s3 and again In 1136 on which latter occasion, as successor of St Patrick, he presided at a Synod in Lismore The succeeding primate of Armagh, St Gelasius. also made a of Munster in 113s, and re- ceived his customary tribute.
 One of the greatest ornaments of the schools of Lismore was GIIle Christ or Christians, the friend of Pope Eugenius and St Bernard at