Berach sained the air, and made the sign of the cross over Colman's eyes; and they three, Berach and Colman Cael, and Ciaran Mael, saw Rome, and praised the Lord in that place, and erected a cross and a mother church there to Berach, and to Ciaran Mael, and to Colman Cael. And another cross was erected there to Paul and to Peter.

  - Michael O'Clery, Life of Berach (Irish, 17th century)

They answered him, "We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone."

  - John 8.32

Irish hagiography is by far the most difficult genre of Celtic Christian literature from which to gain any benefit. Most of it was written after the period of the Celtic revival, and most of what it contains is at best only tangential to history. The primary purpose of the lives of Irish saints appears to be more for political advantage than the true record of history.

Michael O'Clery was a Franciscan monk, one of the "Four Masters" who are regarded as keepers of the ancient Irish literary and historical record. His work includes the Life of Berach, a mid-fifth century Irish leader, a contemporary of the great Coemgen and the even greater Colum Cille. Both appear in his Life.

But unlike other hagiographies which Fr. O'Clery copied, there is no evidence, according to Kenney, of an early manuscript for the story of Berach. O'Clery appears to have written it himself. And much about this particular story is strikingly different from the others he perserved.

The mention of other great saints, for example, including Patrick, while not uncommon, is curious here. In the cases of Coemgen and Colum Cille these two are made almost dependent on and blessed by Berach, when we would expect the opposite. The Life of Berach contains more place names in Ireland - all of which are ceded to Berach - than all the other Lives combined. A persistent thread in the Life involves stories of Irish kings who devote themselves and their lands and legacies to Berach "until doom." Berach performs the most amazing miracles of all Irish saints; he brings peace between feuding armies; he preserves native Irish scholarship and overcomes pagan religions. He builds monasteries and blesses churches.

And, at the end of his life, he had a vision of Rome and erected a cross to Paul and Peter, symbolic of the submission of himself and everything for which he had charge to the Roman pontiff.

The problem here is that the Celtic Revival did not encounter the presence and influence of Roman Catholicism until well into the seventh century. The Synod of Whitby, when the Celtic bishops and abbots first devoted themselves to Rome, was not until 663/4. Yet Berach, if he ever existed at all, is reported to have flourished in the middle of the sixth century, 100 years before the Celtic Revival came under Roman authority.

Michael O'Clery was a man of his age (early 17th century). In his day, Protestant legates from England, trying to forestall the expected re-Catholicizing of English interests under the newly-crowned Charles I, were rigging documents and bribing clerks throughout Ireland to secure lands and estates for English and Protestant possession. "No man's property was safe in Ireland," wrote Mary Frances Cusack. These Parliamentary legates were especially aggressive in the region of Connaught, one of the areas prominently mentioned in the Life of Berach, and an area where Michael O'Clery was known to have spent much time researching antiquities.

It appears both Protestants and the Catholic O'Clery were busily re-writing history to suit their own interests and purposes - just as the Jewish leaders of Jesus' day had done, in convincing themselves and the people under their charge that they had never been nor were under Rome anything other than free men.

Ignorance of history leads to two terrible consequences. One is the blessing to be gained by knowing where we've come from, who our heroes are, and what the legacy is which they have left to us. Contemporary Christians are almost entirely ignorant of their historical legacy and, thus, all but deprived of this great blessing. The second is that those who seem to have some knowledge of history are able to bend "history" to suit their own purposes, which are not usually noble or true.

Christianity is a historical religion, and its true history narrates the progress of a spiritual Kingdom of great transforming power. There is no way to explain the shape of history from the first century to the present apart from the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

If we forfeit this legacy, or leave it to be re-written by the enemies of the Gospel, we and our children will be the losers of a great blessing and boon. We must not neglect the story of our faith, and we do not need to re-write it. We can tell it, warts and all - desperate O'Clerys and conniving Protestants - and still sort out the story of God's ever-advancing grace and truth.

For a short list of books to read in learning the Christian legacy, write me, and I'll send it along free of charge.

T. M. Moore, Principal This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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