M. E. Byrne (ed.), Ériu 1 (1904) pp. 225–228 — translated from the Irish.

THE following short poem is an example of a not uncommon form of Irish prayer addressed to the saints who preside over the different seasons. It is contained in four manuscripts: a Brussels manuscript, from which a transcript of the poem was made by Dr Whitley Stokes, and three Royal Irish Academy manuscripts, 23 P 3, fol. 19a; 23 G 23, p. 42; and 23 G 27, p. 204. Of the Academy manuscripts, 23 G 23 and 23 G 27 — two paper manuscripts called the O’Longan manuscripts, of which the former bears various dates from 1790 to 1831, and the latter the date 1815 — are of no interest as regards this text, the copy contained in them being clearly transcribed from 23 P 3 with the spelling modernised. This latter manuscript, a small folio on vellum written in the year 1467 and consisting almost entirely of religious pieces, has been catalogued by Dr Meyer in Archiv, vol. ii, p. 136. The Brussels manuscript containing the poem is a thin paper quarto consisting of 214 leaves. It is preserved in the Bibliothèque Royale, where it is marked 5100–4, and was transcribed about the year 1630 by Michael O’Clery. A full description of its contents is to be found in the introduction to Stokes’s edition of the Martyrology of O’Gorman. Our poem begins at fol. 92, line 21.

The poem is composed in the metre called Rinnard. A full description of this metre, which is also employed in the Félire of Oengus, is given in Revue Celtique, vol. xx, p. 192. In it, each stanza consists of four verses, and each verse contains six syllables. The second and fourth verses rhyme; and the final word of the third verse assonates with some word in the fourth — e.g. ádain, Grígair, gaire, Maire, rann, spirat, etc. This assonance is obligatory, however, only when there is no assonance between the final syllables of the second, third and fourth lines. If we have this triple assonance, the metre is called Rinnard tri n-ard, as in the stanza “In feilire” etc., where the three words sár-uaibh, randaibh, naemhaibh rhyme.

Here begins the Saints’ Calendar of Adamnan, to his mother.

¹ The saints of the four seasons — I long to pray to them; may they save me from torments, the saints of the whole year!

² The saints of the glorious spring-time, may they be with me by the will of God’s fosterling — together with Brigid, a maiden pure, with Gregory and Patrick.

³ The saints of the dry summer — about them is my poetic fervour — that I may come from this land to Jesus, Son of Mary.

⁴ The saints of the beauteous autumn — I call upon a company not inharmonious — that they may come near me, together with Mary and Michael.

⁵ The saints of the winter I pray to; may they be with me against the throngs of demons, around Jesus of the mansions, the holy, heavenly spirit.

⁶ This saints’ calendar [i.e. the calendar of Oengus], which noble sages will have — though more numerous in verses, it is not more numerous in saints.

⁷ I beseech the saints of the earth, I beseech all the angels, I beseech God Himself, both rising and lying down: whatever I do or whatever I say, may I inhabit the heavenly land.

[Editorial notes: the copy in the Brussels MS (B) has marginal variants — “mor sin” (so be it) at stanza 2; “Gid lia hé” (“though many they”) at stanza 6, with the alternative gloss: “Nocha lia do randaibh cipsa lia do naomhaibh — that is, the verses are not more numerous than the saints, even though there are more verses in it than in these few.” Readings of the other MSS.: naema (“saints”), amlaid (“thus”), budéine (“himself”), dénum (“I may do”), déram (“I may say”), gur trebhum (“that I may inhabit”). Dr Strachan suggested taking “daltai” as an irregular derivative of daltae (“fosterling”), “God’s fosterling” being an epithet for Christ; the phrase “not inharmonious” renders an apparent compound of dá (“good”) and ceól (“music”).]