Scéla Colmáin meic Duach ocus Guairi meic Colmáin
Background information
References in the Annals of the Four Masters, the Annals of Ulster and the Annals of Tigernach
M662.6 Guaire (i.e. Aidhne), son of Colman, King of Connaught, died.
U663.1 Death of Guaire of Aidne.
T663.1 Guaire of Aidne died, and his burial at Clonmacnois.
The History of Ireland (Geoffrey Keating)
pp. 65-67 Now Guaire had a brother called Mochua, a holy virtuous man, and on a certain occasion he went to observe Lent to a well of spring water, which is a little to the south-west of Buirenn, five miles from Durlus Guaire, attended only by one young cleric, who used to serve him at Mass, and neither himself nor the young cleric took more than a meal every day-and-night, and then they took only a little barley bread and spring water. And when Easter day had come, and Mochua had said Mass a desire for meat seized the young cleric, and he said to St. Mochua that he would go to Durlus to visit Guaire in order to get enough of meat. ‘Do not go,’ said Mochua, ‘stay with me, and let me pray to God for meat for thee.’ And on this he knelt on the ground and prayed with fervour to God, asking for meat for the young cleric. At the same time while food was being served to the tables of Guaire’s house, it came to pass through Mochua’s prayer that the dishes and the meat they contained were snatched from the hands of those who were serving them and were carried out over the walls of the dwelling, and by direct route reached the desert in which Mochua was; and Guaire went with all his household on horseback in quest of the dishes; and when the dishes came into the presence of Mochua he set to praise and magnify the name of God, and told the young cleric to eat his fill of meat. The latter thereupon looked up and saw the plain full of mounted men, and said that it was of no advantage to him to get the meat, seeing how many there were in pursuit of it. ‘Thou needest not fear,’ said Mochua, ‘these are my brother and his household, and I beseech God to permit none of them to advance beyond that point until thou hast had thy fill.’ And on this the horses’ hoofs clung to the ground so that they could not go forward till the young cleric had had his fill. Then Mochua prayed God to set his brother and his household free. On this they were set free, and they came into Mochua’s presence. Guaire knelt before St. Mochua and asked his forgiveness. ‘Thou needest not fear, brother; but eat ye your meal here.’ And when Guaire and his people had taken their meal they bade farewell to Mochua and returned to Durlus. It is a proof of the truth of this story that the Road of the Dishes is the name given to the five miles path that lies between Durlus and the well at which Mochua then was.
pp. 71-73 Mochua and Columcille were contemporaries, and when Mochua or Mac Duach was a hermit in the desert, the only cattle he had in the world were a cock and a mouse and a fly. The cock’s service to him was to keep the matin time of midnight; and the mouse would let him sleep only five hours in the day-and-night, and when he desired to sleep longer, through being tired from making many crosses and genuflexions, the mouse would come and rub his ear, and thus waken him; and the service the fly did him was to keep walking on every line of the Psalter that he read, and when he rested from reciting his psalms the fly rested on the line he left off at till he resumed the reciting of his psalms. Soon after that these three precious ones died, and Mochua, after that event, wrote a letter to Columcille, who was in I, in Alba, and he complained of the death of his flock. Columcille wrote to him, and said thus: ‘O brother,’ said he, ‘thou must not be surprised at the death of the flock that thou hast lost, for misfortune exists only where there is wealth.’
Related saga online:
Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ocus Óenu moccu Loígse (The story of Guaire mac Colmáin and Óenu moccu Loígse)
Standish H. O’Grady (ed. & tr.), Silva Gadelica, (London: Williams and Norgate, 1892), Volume 1, p. 401; Volume 2, p. 437.
Irish text at Archive.org (p. 401); English translation at Archive.org (p. 437 (471))
Related saga online:
Scéla Guairi meic Colmáin ocus Meic Teléne (The Story of Guaire mac Colmáin and Mac Teléne)
J. G. O’Keeffe (ed. & tr.), Mac Dá Cherda and Cummaine Foda, Ériu, 5, 1911, pp. 26-33.
Digital Edition at JSTOR (pp. 26-33)
Related poem online:
Kuno Meyer (ed. & tr.), King and Hermit:a Colloquy between King Guaire of Aidne and His Brother Marban, (London: David Nutt, 1901), pp. 10-21.
Digital Edition at Archive.org (pp. 10-21); Irish text at Archive.org (pp. 455-457); English translation at Hermitary.com
The Battle of Carn Conaill (Stokes), Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, 3, 1901
Guaire’s burial at Clonmacnoise, p. 219, §37
Imtheacht na Tromdháimhe (Connellan)
Durlas Guaire, Bóthar na Mias and Tobermacduagh (See Section 8), pp. 120-123
D = The Martyrology of Donegal (O’Donovan)
G = The Martyrology of Gorman (Stokes)
O = The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (Stokes)
D: 3 February, Colman, Bishop, i.e. Mac Duach of Cell-mic-Duach in Connachta. He was of the race of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muidhmheadhoin. Great were his virtues and miracles. Ua Sechnasaigh says that the festival of Mac Duach is on the 27th of the month of October, for he was his own patron and his relative (See Section 1), p. 39 (101)
G: 3 February, Colmán mac Duach from Cell meic Duach (See Section 1), p. 29
D: 27 October, Colman, Ua Fiachrach, of Senbotha in Ui-Ceinnsealaigh (Templeshanbo, in the barony of Scarawalsh (Map), Co. Wexford). He is of the race of Fiachra, son of Eochaidh Muidhmheadhoin (See Section 1), p. 287 (349)
G: 27 October, Colmán grandson of Fiachra, from Senbotha in Húi Cennselaig (See Section 1), p. 205
O: 27 October, Colmán descendant of Fiachra, i.e. in Senbotha fola in Húi Cennselaig (See Section 1), p. 219 (278), p. 229 (288)
R = The Rennes Dindshenchas (Stokes), Revue Celtique, 15-16, 1894-1895
M = The Metrical Dindshenchas (Gwynn)
B = The Bodleian Dinnshenchas (Stokes), Folklore, 3, 1892
R: Mag n-Aidni §62 (See Section 7), Part 2, pp. 460, (‘Mag n-Aidni’)
M: Mag nAidni (See Section 7), Volume 3, pp. 331-333, pp. 537-538
B: Mag nAidne §22 (See Section 7), p. 489, (‘Mag nAidne’)
Cóir Anmann: Fitness of Names (Stokes), Irische Texte, Ser. III.2
Connachta §76 (See Section 1), p. 325, p. 414
Wikipedia
Yellow Book of Lecan
Cycles of the Kings
Guaire Aidne mac Colmáin (d. 663); Kings of Connacht; Kings of Uí Fiachrach Aidne; Uí Fiachrach Aidne
Saint Colman MacDuagh
Saint Colman of Templeshambo; Saints of Ireland
Dunguaire Castle
Erenagh
Kilmacduagh Monastery
Early Christian Sites in Ireland
Keelhila
Kilmacduagh