Saint Ailbe or Elvis | |
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| Born | 5th Century |
| Died | 528 |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodox Church |
| Canonized | Pre-Congregation |
| Feast | 12 September[2] |
| Patronage | Munster,[3] the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, wolves |
Saint Ailbe (Irish:Ailbhe[ˈalʲəvʲə];Latin:Albeus, Alibeus), usually known in English asSt Elvis (British/Welsh),Eilfyw orEilfw,[4] was regarded as the chief 'pre-Patrician' saint ofIreland (although his death was recorded in the early 6th-century). He was abishop and latersaint.[5][6]
Little that can be regarded as reliable is known about Ailbe: in Irish sources from the 8th century he is regarded as the first bishop, and later patron saint of Emly in Munster. Later Welsh sources (from the 11th c.) associate him withSaint David whom he was credited with baptizing and very late sources (16th c.) even give him a local Welsh genealogy making him anAncient Briton.
Saint Ailbe is venerated as one of the four great patrons of Ireland. Hisfeast day is 12 September. He is thepatron saint of theArchdiocese of Cashel and Emly.[7]
Thelife of Ailbe is included in theVitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (VSH), a Latin collection of medieval Irish saints' lives compiled in the 14th century. There are three major manuscript versions of the VSH: the Dublin, Oxford, andSalamanca. Charles Plummer compiled an edition of the VSH based on the two surviving Dublin manuscripts in 1910.[8]
Professor William W. Heist of the University of Michigan compiled an edition of thesingle Salamanca manuscript in 1965[9] Oxford professorRichard Sharpe suggests that the Salamanca manuscript is the closest to the original text from which all three versions derive. Sharpe's analysis of the Irish name-forms in theCodex Salamanticensis showed similarities between it and theLife of Saint Brigid, a verifiably 7th-century text, leading him to posit that nine (and possibly ten) of the lives were written much earlier,c. 750–850.[10]
He further proposed that this earlier Life of Ailbe in the Codex Salmanticensis was originally composed to further the cause of theEóganacht Church ofEmly.The Law of Ailbe (784) was issued, possibly in response to theLaw of Patrick.[11]
The later lives of the Dublin collection go further and make Ailbe the principal 'pre-Patrican' Saint of Ireland (the others areCiarán of Saighir, Declan of Ardmore,Abbán of Moyarney andIbar of Beggerin or Beggery Island)[12] The Dublin Life of Ailbe asserts that Munster was entrusted to him by Saint Patrick, while to similar effect, Ailbe is called a "second Patrick and patron of Munster" (secundus Patricius et patronus Mumenie) in the Life of SaintDeclán of Ardmore.[13]
Further material is provided by the lives of related saints such asPatrick. All include numerous miraculous events and obvious inconsistencies and anachronisms.[14] In fact the earliest mention of the nameAilbeus would seem to be inTirechan's late 7th century Life ofSaint Patrick[15] although this seems to be about a different 'Ailbe', a priest associated with theUi Aillello, in Connaught, latterly known as 'Saint Ailbe of Sencua (Shancoe in County Sligo)'. Other early mentions of Ailbe are in the 8th centuryNavigatio Brendani ("Voyage of SaintBrendan")[16] and in theMartyrology of Tallaght andMartyrology of Oengus from the early years of the 9th century.[17]
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In a legend that goes back to theVita, or 'Saint's Life', Ailbe's father fled King Cronan before the child's birth and his mother's servants—ordered by the king to put the baby to death—instead placed him on a rock in the wilderness where he was found and nursed by a she-wolf.[18] Long afterwards, when Ailbe was bishop, an old she-wolf being pursued by a hunting party ran to the bishop and laid her head upon his breast. Ailbe protected the wolf and thereafter fed her and her cubs every day from his hall.[5] Ailbe was discovered in the forest by visiting Britons: these British foster parents were said to have planned to leave him in Ireland when they returned home but were constantly and miraculously unable to make the passage until they consented to take him with them.[19] They then took Ailbe with them when they returned to Wales (Vita Albei 2).
A tradition also going back to the earliestVita (Vita Albei 9) held that he went to Rome and was ordained as a bishop bySaint Hilary who was thenpope. Upon being ordained in Rome, he was said to have fed the people of the city for three days before returning home.[19] At the end of his life, a supernatural ship came and he boarded to learn the secret of his death. Returning from the faerie world, he went back to Emly to die and be buried.[19]
The earliestVita states that Saint Ailbe was baptised by Palladius (Vita Albei 2), something that might be compatible with the tradition that made him a 'pre-Patrician' evangelizer of Ireland (since Palladius was recorded as having been sent to Ireland in 431, most likely before Patrick's time). The year of his death – 528 - that is recorded in the 'Annals of Innisfallen' (compiled at Emly probably in 1092),[20] is not, however, compatible with a 'pre-Patrician' career. It may well be, though, a reflection of the fact that many suchobits (records of the date of death) of Irish saints were retrospectively added to the annals.
Ailbe was said to have founded themonastery anddiocese ofEmly (Irish:Imlech[21]), which became very important inMunster. He was said to have been responsible for KingAengus's donation of island lands forSaint Enda's monastery.[22] He is also associated with the 6th-century foundation ofClane Friary, in modern County Kildare.
The Life of Saint David, written by Rhigyfarch in the late 11th century,[23] states that Ailbe baptizedSaint David,[24][25] thepatron saint ofWales. In Welsh traditions, he thenfostered the boy[1] while serving asbishop of Menevia (present-daySt David's) before leaving on amission to convert southern Ireland. He was also regarded as the founder ofLlanailfyw orSt Elvis inPembrokeshire,[14][26]
Late Welsh sources[27] give him a British ancestry. Thus the 16th c.Achau’r Saint records "Eilvyw a Dirdan Saint Breudan" (variant : "Breudain") while a 16thc. Manuscript ofBonedd y Saint records "Ailvyw vab Dirdan". This would make him a descendant ofGuorthemir (Modern Welsh:Gwerthefyr; English: Vortimer the Blessed), and a cousin ofsaintsDavid,Cybi, andSadyrnin.[1]
ProfessorPádraig Ó Riain suggests the cult of Saint Ailbe may have pre-Christian origins.[28] The nameAilbe figures quite extensively in a context of Irish folk tale, with its likely origins mainly in pre-Christian pagan mythology. For instanceAilbe was the name of the 'divine hound' in "The Tale of Mac Da Thó's Pig"[29] associated with theMag Ailbe or 'plain of Ailbe',[30] where stood aLia Ailbe, or 'stone of Ailbe'. The 'divine hound'Ailbe defendedLeinster, the chief centre of which wasAillen, whose female eponym,Aillen, owned a marvellous lap dogAilbe, according to the 'MetricalDindsenchas'.To these 'canine' associations, one might compare the tradition which identified Ailbe's father as ‘Ol-chu’ (‘Olcnais’ inVita Albei 1), 'great-hound', as well as the (likely related) story of the infant Ailbe being cared for by a she-wolf.
An ‘Ailbe Grúadbrecc’, meanwhile, was the daughter ofCormac mac Airt (premier mythical Irish king) and a wife (as her sisterGráinne) ofFinn (= literally, 'white') orFionn mac Cumhaill in theTochmarc Ailbe,[31]Echtrae Cormaic maic Airt[32] and "The Burning of Finn's House".[33] Ailbe was also the name of several of Finn'sfianna (comrades in his band), and their women inAcallam na Senórach[34] andDuanaire Finn. AnAilbe was also daughter ofMider, son of theDagda.[35]
The nameAilbe was explained in theVita Albei as a derivative ofail 'a rock' andbeo, 'living'. In the words of Baring Gould and Fisher[36] this is "a very doubtful etymology". It is clearly related to the story of his being exposed behind a rock after his birth, before being cared for by a wolf (Vita Albei 2)[37] and looks very much likefolk etymology. Nevertheless, we can note a sporadic association of Ailbe (as a saint or mythological figure) with ' rocks' (Irishail). TheLia Ailbe (stone of Ailbe) on theMagh Ailbe (plain of Ailbe) may be in origin tautological, while aSliabh Ailbe was associated with a legendary figureAilbe inDuanaire Finn.[38] TheInbher Ailbhine mentioned in Tirechan'sVita Patricii (Tirechan 5.2)[39] may containail, 'a rock', according to Watson.[40] It is at a "marvellous stone altar ( = prominent rock with religious associations ) on the mountain of theUi Ailello" where Patrick was said to have installed the second St Ailbe (ofSencua) - probably at the old site of the church of Shancoe, County Sligo, where a large rock overlooks a well:.[41] This might all be best explained by a typical process of sound assimilation ofail 'a rock' to the nameail-be.
The rootalbho- 'white, bright' as in Latinalbus, 'white' appears to figure in the names of various deities or semi-deities, or names with likely mythological associations, hence theMons Albanus.Albula as an old name for the Tiber and the legendaryAlba Longa in Latium; the Germanic deitiesAlbiahenae[42] the semi-divine prophetess,Albruna mentioned by Tacitus (Vulgar LatinAurinia:Germania 8) or the spiritual or demonic beings from the Germanic world, which are represented in modern English by the word, 'elf';[43] theAlphito which was recorded as the name of an 'ogress' or 'nursery bugbear' and might well have been appropriate to an earlier strata of Greek gods;[44] and possibly the ‘R̥bhus’ of Indian mythology and the Rhig Veda.[45] This root may also be found in the names of Celtic deities such asAlbarinus,Albocelo[46] (if they do not contain LatinAlbus) and possibly the deityAlbius recorded in a single inscription from Aignay-le Duc,.[47]
However the rootalbho- 'white, bright' does not figure in Irish or in fact in any of the extant Celtic languages. It may figure in the Celtic language of ancient Gaul (as in the names above) but there it may, in fact, have been borrowed from the ancient Ligurian language (the root is very common in place names from ancient Liguria). There does, however, appear the rootalbi(i̭)o-, 'world' in the Brittonic Celtic languages: as seen for instance in Weshelfydd, 'world, land'. In fact, this root has convincingly been argued to be related to the rootalbho- 'white, bright'[48] and it certainly appears in the Gaulish divine namealbio-rix ("king of the world", parallel toDumno-rix andBitu-rix of similar meaning) .[49] However it does not appear in Irish, with one sole exception: the Irish name for 'Britain', that is the Irish version of the nameAlbion found in ancient sources as the oldest recorded name for Britain. This appears in Irish asAlbe-,Alpe- andAlbu,Alpu. There is, however, no obvious explanation for this name to appear in the formailbe and the rootalbi(i̭)o- would not take that form in Irish, according to the way that language normally developed. Thei, in theai ofAilbe, is not a full vowel but represents an audible 'glide' before a palatalisedl.[50] This palatalisedl, withi-glide is not found in IrishAlbu, 'Britain'.
All of this renders the precise form of the nameAilbe, in Irish, arguably, somewhat mysterious.
InEmly, there is aCatholic church dedicated to St Ailbe which dates to the late nineteenth century. An ancient and weatheredCeltic cross in its churchyard is known as "St Ailbe's Cross". The early nineteenth-century church of St Ailbe is now used as the village hall. A ninth-century monastic rule, written inOld Irish, bears his name.[51][52]
AlthoughSt Elvis in Wales is now in ruins,[53] there is still a shrine to the parish's namesake at51°52′12.7″N5°10′43.2″W / 51.870194°N 5.178667°W /51.870194; -5.178667, which bears an inscription concerning his name and connection to St David.[54]
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