Zeitschr
Martyrological notice
Austerities. — It is hard to say whether Irish saints or Indian yogis practised the cruelest austerities. Many of them are described in Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore, p. cviii, and in Cuimmin's poem, Zeitschr. fur celtische Philologie, i. 62-66. In the present work the strangest are ascribed to Findchu, who used to lie the first night with every corpse that was brought to his church for burial, and at other times sat suspended by a sickle in each of his armpits (p. 246). Ciaran of Saiger's bolster was of stone (p. 88). Columb cille's broth was made of nettles (p. 146). Flagellation is mentioned in p. 280, as practised by Oengus himself. Ite kept a stag-beetle to pierce her side (p. 42), and Fursa transferred to his own stomach the devouring reptile which Maignenn had entertained in his belly (p. 44). The story of Scothme sleeping with two maidens (p. 40) tends to prove the existence in Ireland of an ascetic practice favoured by an early Christian sect and by Robert d'Arbrissel the founder of Fontevrault.1
Historical martyrology witness · The Martyrology of Oengus the Culdee (1905)
Austerities. — It is hard to say whether Irish saints or Indian yogis practised the cruelest austerities. Many of them are described in Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore, p. cviii, and in Cuimmin's poem, Zeitschr. fur celtische Philologie, i. 62-66. In the present work the strangest are ascribed to Findchu, who used to lie the first night with every corpse that was brought to his church for burial, and at other times sat suspended by a sickle in each of his armpits (p. 246). Ciaran of Saiger's bolster was of stone (p. 88). Columb cille's broth was made of nettles (p. 146). Flagellation is mentioned in p. 280, as practised by Oengus himself. Ite kept a stag-beetle to pierce her side (p. 42), and Fursa transferred to his own stomach the devouring reptile which Maignenn had entertained in his belly (p. 44). The story of Scothme sleeping with two maidens (p. 40) tends to prove the existence in Ireland of an ascetic practice favoured by an early Christian sect and by Robert d'Arbrissel the founder of Fontevrault.1