14. Both of them meet on the same festival,
a hostful sea!
Nem the vigorous descendant of Bern,
with Benedict the victorious.
14. Nem, i.e. a pope who is in Aran, and he is a successor of Enda of Aran, and of the Dal Birn of Ossory he is, and a brother of Ciaran of Saiger. Nem great-grandson of Bern. He was called by three names, to wit, Nem and Pupu and Cailbe. Nem primum nomen etc. Whence Senan of Inis Cathaig sang Abbas almus amabilis etc. A successor of Peter and Paul, Cailbe came from the east from Rome, Nem, great-grandson of Bern, a bright brother, whose name is Pupu of Aran.
1. Nem - the saint's original birth name.
2. Pupa - because of his quest for the chair of Peter.
3. Cailbe - derived from caol-bheo, 'slender-alive', because of his 'thinness' during his life.
Nem/Pupa also features in the Life of Saint Brendan, where he appears, along with Saint Enda, as one of the well-wishers seeing off the Navigator of Clonfert at the start of his famous voyage. As the Martyrology also mentions, Saint Senan is made to declaim a Latin quatrain beginning Abbas almus amabilis, in praise of Saint Nem. Thus is this 'Pope of Aran' honoured within the Irish sources, although he seems to be an obscure figure today.
Content Copyright © Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae 2012-2015. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment