amongst a dark belt of trees frowns Castle Cole, the residence From its lofty funeral of Art of a grim chieftain in the reign of Richard II. "No ash-tree in Shillelah was more comely to the eye- Strange to relate, no sculptured cross or melancholy yew marks the grave of Leinster's "Greatest Captain," and the rank grass waves alike over his bones and those of his meanest kern. He died of a dose of poison, administered by a woman in New Ross, Co. Wexford, in the year 1461, having reigned over Leinster for forty years. He is described by Caxton, Marlburgh, and Holinshed as "the chief captain of the nation"—" the canker that lay in the heart of Leinster"— 'M'Murgh, at whose mighty prowess all Leinster trembled," and the like phrases. Centuries before the ashes of Art M'Murrough were laid to rest under the green sod of Saint Mullin's, a saintly hermit might be seen each morning descending the zig-zag path, and filling his pitcher at the brink of the Barrow. This was St. Mullin, first Bishop of Ferns, from whose sanctuary and church the present village takes its name. He died on the 7th of June, 696, and was buried beside his monastery. Unlike the grave of the King of Leinster, the spot where St. Moling lies is revered by the pilgrim, and tradition tells of mighty cures and petitions granted through his intercession. For his headstone a rude altar stands shadowed by a stone canopy which afforded shelter to the priest celebrating Mass, and encircling the grave runs a low parapet, protecting the hallowed soil from desecration. Before the saint's time, the place was called "Rosbroc or Badger's Wood." It was his saintly fame which drew myriads to enrol themselves under his banner, and obliged him to build the monastery for their accommodation. He himself dwelt in a stone cell, which is still shown, and it was his hand that planted the hoary white-thorn tree which overhangs the adjoining wall. Many a time have the bare walls of the cell witnessed his shoulders bleed from the stroke of the discipline, and echo the midnight cry for mercy, uttered four centuries before by St. Patrick when he prayed for the Irish nation: "Wherefore may it never happen to me from my Lord to lose my people, whom He has gained in the utmost parts of the earth." At the present day the stone cell is deluged with water, and a spout has been erected inside, where pilgrims bathe their diseased limbs and call on St. Moling for help.. It would be vain to assign any particular style of architecture to the monastery erected by the saint. As his community increased, rows of cells were added, with quaint nooks and gables. The ruin stands on a gentle eminence skirting the Barrow and considering its antiquity remains in fair condition. During the wars of Richard II. this locality was laid waste by the invaders, and the barges of McMurrogh often chased the enemy up the river which coils round the base of the monas-tery. St. Moling was a true Celt in his love of roaming. Though he ended his days in this peaceful retreat, he did not begin them here. We find him first in Listerling, in the Co. Kilkenny, building himself a hermitage beside a wall. In Ireland, as well as in the East, the anchorite's cell and holy well are generally found united. Water formed an essential element in the hermit's meagre fare, and beside a bubbling spring he invariably took up his abode. Thus we find St. Moling and his well linked together. For a time our saint resided at Listerling. Some article was stolen from him whilst sojourning there, and he left the place in anger, declaring that Listerling would never be with-out a thief. To the present day the peasants tell you that this prophecy has been literally fulfilled. Calling together his disciples, he proceeded at their head to Mullinakill (two miles to the North-West). They chanted litanies as they went. It is worthy of note that he is the only one of our Irish saints who pursued this form of devotion. When Mullinakill had been reached he betook himself to a cave or grotto, half a mile from the present holy well of Mullinakill (Mullin's Church). To this well he came each morning to wash his feet, which were ulcerated. One day a woman who owned three cows seeing him perform his ablutions, and not knowing who he was, wished him bad luck. "Oh, unlucky woman," replied St. Moling, "it were better for you to have staid at home." She knew not that the incredible amount of milk which the cows yielded was due to the fact that he had bathed his feet in the stream in which the water-cresses grew which the cows ate. To Mullinakill the crowds began once more to flock, and the saint fled to Columbkill near Thomastown. There they followed him, until goaded by their presence he' walked across the rugged side of Brandon Hill. More than a century before, St. Brendan of Clonfert (the renowned traveller) had pitched his hermitage on this same mountain. The wanderings of this patriarch and the venturous voyages of Columbus had the same motives and, it would seem, a like .success. Both Irish Saint and Genoese mariner gained their object, the first-in discovering "a vast tract of land lying far to the west of Ireland, where he beheld wonderful birds and trees of unknown foliage, which gave forth the perfumes of such excellent spices, that the fragrance thereof clung to 1 their garments when the travellers returned to their native shores "; the second in reaching the El Dorado of his dreams-America.. Our readers will pardon this digression in favour of St. Brendan and we shall proceed with our sketch of St. Moling. Crossing Brandon Hill (called after St. Brendan) he took up his abode at Rosbroc, since named St. Mullins. There he blessed a well and planted the traditional hawthorn bush. After some years, gathering his disciples round him, he foretold his death. He had no earthly goods to bequeath them; but he left them a copy of the Gospels written by his own hand. He calmly expired on June 17th, 697. The Cavanaghs of Borris, Co. Carlow, descendants of Dermot McMurrough (King of Leinster in the reign of Henry II.) took possession of the parchment scroll, and held it for centuries. It is now in the MSS. Library, Trinity College, Dublin. The water flowing from St. Moling's well continued after his death to work many miracles. Brother John Clynn of the Franciscan Abbey, Kilkenny, tells us that during the plague which devastated South Munster in 1348, "Bishops, prelates, churchmen, and religious lords and commons came to the waters of St. Mullins, and might be seen in thousands wending their way there, some through devotion, but others—and they were the greater part-from dread of the plague, which was then very rife." In our own time the festival of St. Moling is celebrated at his holy well on the 25th July. The saint is honoured in two or three sanctuaries, and the "patron day" has been varied for the convenience of pilgrims. Numbers still frequent the undulating slopes of St. Mullins, and bathe their maimed limbs in its salutary waters. The writer was present on one September evening when a ragged boy and his mother toiled up the hill leading to the ruined shrine. The youth had come from Dublin to be cured of a violent pain in his head. He firmly believed in a miracle being worked in his behalf, nor was his mother less hopeful. Let us trust they were not disappointed in the Saint's intercession. The mullein plant grows here in vast luxuriance. The remains of a Danish rath stands close to the river, and clothing its sides and summit, grows the mullein plant. Perhaps it takes its name from the patron saint of the place. A row up the River Barrow, terminating in a visit to this sanctuary of Ferns' first bishop, will amply repay the tourist and archæologist. Here, both will find food and recreation for the mind, and they will not hesitate to rank St. Mullins amongst the " Holy Places of Ireland." LAURA GRAY. THE THIRD ORDER OF ST. FRANCIS. (Continued from page 430.) ST. FRANCIS had instituted his First Order in 1209. It was in 1212 that the Second Order came into being. During the time of the Seraphic Father's preaching in Assisi, St. Clare, who came of one of the noblest of the families of that town, put herself under his direction with the purpose of attaining Christian perfection. Her younger sister, St. Agnes, and some other maidens of the town, anxious to lead a more religious life, followed her example. St. Francis, with the desire of separating them from the world, gave them a rule of life which was based on the poverty of the Gospel. Such was the beginning of the Second Order, called that of the Poor Dames, or Clares, after St. Clare, the first Abbess. The new institution spread with almost the same miraculous rapidity as that of the Friars Minor, or First Order. The example of a young girl sacrificing youth, beauty, fortune, and all the expectations which her position in the world held forth, to become the Spouse of Christ, made a deep and lasting |