Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-08
By THE REV. coLUMBANUS DwYER
] 0. S. r.

W D r.
ECAUSE of the scholarship and
- his resources Of rare manuscripts
transcribed from the writings Of
L. the pagan Irish preserved for
us by the early Christian monks
Of Ireland, the history of Ireland, writ
ten by the Very Rev. Godfrey Heating,
about the middle of the seventeenth
century, has always been recognized as
the. standard history of that country.
He had brought to light many things of
importance to Ireland. and because
there are always the iconoclasts. the
skeptics. the would-be "know-betters. .
he faced much unwarranted opposition.
Especially on the question Of the
establishment of heraldry in Ireland
has Heating been made the object of
much sarcasm by the uninitiated, but
without any argument on their side.
How unjustifiable is such opposition We
shall see.
Many years ago it was my good for
tune to visit the Emerald Isle. Few
things there interested me as much as
the ruins rich in historic value. l held
no key to the solution of many curious
markings / came across, but in after
life cursory study of Irish antiquities
gave me at least little illumination on
gaze.
LEGEND Of wild Bears.
Browsing over the markings in a de-
serted cemetery in Bearhaven. Cork
County, I was led to an old tomb. II
was quadrangular, with heavy slab on
top. After much rubbing two animals
were seen to be outlined, evidently fig-
ures of the wild boar. They were in
fba vAOeif{o,, 1,l i,, Idyty
pass counter pass" which means that
one was passing one way and the other
the opposite. When / asked what this
meant my companion told me the fol-
lowing story:
"The boars are there to bring to
mind the brave act of one of the O'Sul-
livans who ruled this district in very
ancient times. There is a stream near
this graveyard, and in the daytime a
serpent lived in 1t, but at night he
turned into a wild boar, and when he
up the earth and eat the bodies OF the
dead. One night as O'Sullivan was re-
turning to his home he saw the mon
ster boar in the cemetery. He drew his
sword and after terrific struggle killed
the beast. The reason one boar is going
one way and the other the opposite is
because he came and went regularly"
Such is the legend the young man told
me. OF course I had my doubts as to
the verscity OF the story, but I have
since learned that those rude markings
had antiquarian value, for the coat Of
arms Of the O'Sullivans Of Bearhaven Is
given in Burke's General Armory as fol-
| lows: "Per pale, sable and argent; a
feSs between in chief a boar pass, and
in base another counter pass; all coun-
terchanged, armed, hoofed and bristled
| or"
Ancient Markings Solved.
All that needs to be said about this
/ is that the boars as given by Burke are
in the position seen in the old cemetery
| The ancient markings were solved in
after years
The arms. of the O'Sullivan sept are
different, but include in the sinister base
quarter those of the Bearhaven branch
The Sept Arms are very. ancient and no
doubt their charges come down to us
from pagan times, for the central and
original charges is the "snake-twined
| spear later so augmented as to make
one Of the mcst beautiful coatS-of-arms
/ known
John L. Suliivan's ancestors lived in
| the vicinity Of the cemetery above noted
and there are many wonderful stories
told Of them. 1t is unfortunate that
those who have written biographies Of
him did not know it,
The incising of armorial bearings on
| tombstones is ancient in Ireland, the
custom being-as we shall see-of pagan
origin. Heating has been upheld by the
genuinely great scholars of ireland
Either that or they held respectful
silence on matters they could not I'M
derstand. On the question Of heraldry
! in Ireland, however, l shall content my.
self with quoting British authors.
Singularly enough, among the strong