St. Columbkille (d. 597)

a

"Hearkent thou, Until I relate things that shall come to pass in the latter ages of the world. Great carnage shall be made, justice shall be outraged, multitudinous evils, great suffering shall prevail, and many unjust laws will be administered. The time shall come when they will not perform charitable acts, and truth shall not remain in them. They will plunder the property of the church, they will be continually sneering at each other, they will employ themselves at reading and writing. They will scoff at acts of humanity, and at irreproachable humility; there shall come times of dark affliction, of scarcity, of sorrow, and of wailing; in the latter ages of the world's existence, and monarchs will be addicted to falsehood. Neither jus

tice nor covenant will be observed by any one people of the race of Adam; they will become hard-hearted and penurious, and will be devoid of piety. The clergy will become fosterers, in consequence of the tidings of wretchedness, (that will reach them) ; churches shall be held in bondage, (i.e., become private property), by the all-powerful men of the day. Judges will administer injustice, under the sanction of powerful, outrageous kings; the common people will adopt false principles, oh, how lamentable shall be their position! Doctors of science shall have cause to murmur, they will become niggardly in spirit; the aged will mourn in deep sorrow, on account of the woeful times that shall prevail. Cemeteries shall become all red (dug up), in consequence of the wrath that will follow sinners; wars and contentions shall rage in the bosom of every family. Excellent men shall be steeped in poverty, the people will become inhospitable to their guests, the voice of the parasite will be more agreeable to them than the melody of the harp touched by the sage's finger. In consequence of the general prevalence of sinful practices, humility shall produce no fruit. The professors of science shall not be rewarded, amiability shall not characterize the people; prosperity and hospitality shall not exist, but niggardliness and destitution will assume their place. The changes of seasons shall produce only half their verdure, the regular festivals of the Church will not be observed; all classes of men shall be filled with hatred and enmity towards each other. The people will not associate affectionately with each other during the great festivals of the seasons; they will live devoid of justice and rectitude, up from the youth of tender age to the aged. The clergy shall be led into error by the misinterpretation of their reading; the relics of the saints will be cosidered powerless, every race of mankind will become wicked ! Young women will become unblushing, and aged people will be of irascible temper; the kine will seldom be productive, as of old; lords will become muderers. Young people will decline in vigour, they will despise those who shall have hoary hair; there shall

be no standard by which morals may be regulated, and marriages will be solemnized without witnesses. Troublous shall be the latter ages of the world, the dispositions of the generality of men I will point out, from the time they shall abandon hospitable habits-with the view of winning honour for themselves, they will hold each other as objects for ridicule. The possessors of abundance shall fall through the multiplicity of their falsehoods; covetousness shall take possession of every glutton, and when satiated their arrogance will know no bounds. Between the mother and daughter anger and bitter sarcasms shall continually exist; neighbors will become treacherous, cold, and false-hearted towards each other. The gentry will become grudgefuL with respect to their trifling donations; and blood relations will become cool towards each other; Church livings shall become lay property. Such is the description of the people who shall live in the ages to come; more unjust and iniquitous shall be every succeeding race of men. The trees shall not bear the usual quantity of fruit, fisheries shall become unproductive and the earth shall not yield its usual abundance. Inclement weather and famine shall come and fishes shall forsake the rivers. The people oppressed for want of food, shall pine to death. Dreadful storms and hurricanes shall afflict them. Numberless diseases shall then prevail. Fortifications shall be built narrow

during those times of dreadful danger."

b

"Then a great event shall happen. I fail not to notice it: rectitude shall be its specious motive, and if ye be not truly holy, a more sorrowful event could not possibly happen."

c

"I cannot observe after the death of Conn, aught but a sameness among his kindred clans-until the son of Ruadh from the glen appear, the span of the kingly reign shall be but brief. After the blameless son of Ruadh, Cathbarr from Cruachin shall assume the sovereign power, though many fraudulent acts will be committed during his reign, he will be upon the whole a friend to the church."

d

"After the conclusion of a long and bloody rule of THE PROPfiETIC TEXTS

Ireland by England 'the garment of death will descend and

the rowing wheels will arrive. Ten hundred compartments

shall be in the fleet, and each compartment shall contain ten

hundred men. The armament will spread its forces over sea and

land and rear up mounds with mangled bones. They will

inflict on their enemies a severe, flesh-hew-ing course of warfare

to such a degree that scarce a man of them shall escape. The

fleet of rowing wheels will remain two short years and a half.'

"This fleet that will come across the sea shall consist of ten

ships, ten hundred fairy barks (planes?), ten hundred boats,

ten hundred cock-boats and ten hundred spacious skiffs. The

principal seaport belonging to the country abroad shall look to

the west. Such a large assemblage of men never before met in

the east or west; and never again shall such a muster congre

gate while Ireland is a seagirt island.

"The nobility shall sink into humble life before the great

war; that war that will be proclaimed against them from be

yond the seas, by means of which the frantically-proud race

shall be subdued. The enemies of the English shall be aroused

into activity-they who reside in the eastern and western parts

of the world-so that they will engage in a battle on the circum

scribed sea (Mediterranean?), in consequence of which the

English shall be defeated.

"A fleet belonging to a foreign country will come hither, manned by the descendants of Golimh of the gold-embroidered garments, they shall lay prostrate the Galls of the ships, and "berate the people who have been held in bondage. This fleet that will arrive here from the east, cannot be impeded on the mighty ocean; through the impetuosity of its noisy breathing, its strange appearance shall be marked by flaming mouths. I They will engage in a furious conflict, it shall be a wonder that it will not be a mutual slaughter, the conflict of those who will come hither to sever the intricate knot.

1This description of a battleship may be based on Job 40: 20f£, where the "Leviathan" is spoken of. See Ressehc: The Leviathan.

"After the English shall be defeated in this battle, they shall be harassed from every quarter; like a fawn surrounded by a pack of voracious hounds, shall be the position of the English amidst their enemies. The English afterwards shall dwindle down into a disreputable people, and every obstacle shall be opposed to their future prosperity: Because they did not (rather: so long as they do not) observe justice and rectitude, they shall be forever after deprived of power! Three warnings will be given them before their final fall, the burning of the Tower of the great kings; the conflagration of the dockyard of the English, and the burning of the Treasury where gold is deposited."