THE CULDEES.
had
we may
the orthodoxy of theu- outward profession,
incousisteiit with
secret mysteries
55
—
two ways the external, or testimony dii-ectly bearing on the fact of their
approach
such secrets and the internal, or indications of specific evils appearing in the course
having
of their history.
The first mode resolves itself into this question Are tliey charged with
in
it
;
:
having
is
secrets
They
?
by ancients and moderns, although the
are, botli
fact of their being so
neither notorious nor prominent."
We
or
Columban^
the
man
went
"
they made their appearance in the Continent under Colman
"Whilst in Burgundy, the courtiers of the king inflamed him against
are next informed that,
in a.d. 589.
and urged him
of God,
to the
manners of the
to
permitted
to go
and examine into his
The king accordingly
religion.
and demanded of the holy abbot why he departed from the
of the province, and why access within the more secret enclosures was not
monastery of Luxeuil,
rest
He
Christians?
all
also
went on
Columban wished the royal
to say that if
admitted into all places. The man of God replied, if you come
hither for the purpose of destroying the coenohia of the servants of God, and casting a stain on
support, all
persons must
the regular discipline,
"
From
be
know
that your
kingdom
will entirely fall
and perish."
excluded strangers from their septa
in Burgundy and dissonant from the mores
this statement it appears that the early Culdees
in such a
secretioria
manner
as
was unknown
"
cast a stain upon their
comprovinciales, and sufficing to raise up doubts of their religion, and
"
and that Columban neither denied, nor explained, nor in any way modified the circumrule
;
He
his system, and shown that
the Gallican or comprovincial usages permitted it or he might have maintained its general
expediency, whilst inviting the most searching investigation of his secret places, things, and
stances complained of
might have denied the peculiarity of
;
he might, in some way,
liave sought his own compurgation, and exposed his calumniators, but he did not.
All this
amouuts to the substance of the proposition sought for viz., that their system was actually
practices,
by a commission
of holy bishops, or other suitable persons
:
—
censured of old, not for this or that
evil,
but for the secrecy which
may
(if
abused) cloak any
evil whatsoever."
In the view of the same writer, " the most remarkable incident to Culdeism
human sacrifice " and the legend of St Oran is subjected to minute criticism.
;
he
"
says,
was overwhelmed, and an end
the mysteries of early Culdeism, as
known
for ever
to those
put to his prating.^
who had
the idea of
is
"
Poor Oran,"
Hence we
learn that
penetrated into the scpita secretioria,
contained an acknowledgment of the falsehood of the Christian religion as outwardly taught
The founder suppressed those dangerous avowals.
But on what grounds ?
by the Culdees.
because the blabbing of secrets, so manifestly true ^ as Oran's resurrection might seem
Solely
to
make them, was
secrecy vindicated
'
he
" UiR
by murder),
is
doctrine, maintained
as clearly set forth in
Columbanua.
^
Double
impolitic.
!
UiK
!
air beal
"
Grain ma'n labhair & tuile comli
A
not blab more
by organic secrecy (and that
the traditions of Columba as any
— 'radh"— " Earth
!
Earth
(Donald Mackintosh,
Historical Account of the Ancient Culdees of lona, 1811, p. 20; and ante, p. 8.
'
Mr Herbert here relies on some passages in Tirechan's annotations on the
may
the ancieut MS. called the
"Book
of
!
on the mouth of Oran,
Collection of Gaelic Proverbs, 1785, p. 66).
Armagh," and
life
of St
See
Dr
Patrick,
considers that St Oran's denial of a futiire
J.
tliat
Jamieson,
preserved in
judgment may
rest
upon the idea that Ireland and the Hebrides were to be destroyed by a deluge of water seven years before the
To this island the chosen saints from all parts might
day of judgment, and that lona alone was to be unsubmerged.
have been destined
p. 249).
to repair, there to taste the glories of a
temporal day of judgment (British MagaEine,
vol. x,xvi.,