and rugged this they report for thereis no end of such reports to be the gâ—ts of that great Serpent metamorphised into stones the walking bareroot on which and the like places is no small part of the penance which the pilgrimes undergoe In this Island there was a little Church dedicated to S. Patricke called Reglis covered with shingles and being within the walls 40. foot long and nine foot broad out of this on the South side an Arch did give entrance into a small Chappell being ten foot wide and fifteen foot long the walls of both being two foot and a halfe thicke In the North-side of the wall there was a Stone whereon it is said S. Patrick was wont to rest himselfe being of some use in this pilgrimage as after When M. Coppinger a gentleman purposely drawne thither with the fame of the place did view it the Church was thus furnished At the East end with an high Altar covered with linen over which directly did hang the Image of our Lady with our Saviour in her armes on the right hand did hang the picture of three Kings offering their presents to our Saviour and on the left hand the picture of our Saviour on the Crosse neare the Altar upon the South side there did stand upon the ground an old worm 〈◊〉 Image of S. Patricks And behind the Altar on the end of the Stone-worke another of the same fabricke elder in shew called S. Avioge or Avogh or Yavock for I suppose them all one And on the right hand upon the Altar stood one like the former called S. Uoluscius But all these soone vanished not being observed of any that since that time went to see the place On the North-side of the Church and from it ten foot distant appeared that whence the Island hath the name S. Patricks Cave Pit or Purgatory for by all these names it is knowne There is another Purgatory bearing the same name but differing from this both in place and eminency of which we shall have occasion hereafter to discourse But this of which we now treat is that which we finde every where so highly extolled and to be above all the monuments of Ireland and places of note the most famous and holiest But he that shall take notice of the face and complexion of it shall finde nothing to be more despicable The entrance thereinto was without any or very little descending the wallâ— thereof being built of ordinary stone the top covered with bâ—â—ad stone and overlaid with earth being over growne with grasse It was two foot and one Iuch wide in most places and three foot high so that they are enforced to stoope that goe into it the length was sixteene foot undone one halfe whereof right forward twelve foot and the reverse or turning toward the Church foure foot and one halfe At the corner of the said turning there was a little Crevice which as it served to convey a little and that but a very little light into the Cave so served it for two other uses the one that The spirituall Father resorting thither might comfort those who are shut in especially if he understand that any of them be troubled with any temptation The other that He might take his place there who among them that are shut in is appointed to repeat the Canonicall houres Into this Cave not promiscuously but men by themselves and women by themselves were admitted The incapacity of which place because it could not but hinder the dispatching of so many pilgrimes was supplyed by the erecting of a second Cave the one being for men the other for women And thus were they to be seen when M. Coppinger was in the Island But this Addition seemed too much to differ from the first Institution Therefore soone after for avoiding of offence That of the new erection was taken away without being obser-served in the after descriptions whereof many have come to mine hands Neither doth M. Richard Ash take notice of any such thing who was in that Island before M. Coppinger he purposely going thither on his late Majesties command yet in the relation given to me by Sir James Dillon we find some provision intended for this inconvenience as That there should be many small Cottages built that for such as with conveniency cannot enter in the Cave these might serve the turne But what effect this had taken I doe not yet understand In this Island of S. Patricks Purgatory are not very many Trees on one of which being a Yow-tree did hang a Bell usually rung at their Solemnities neither must it be imagined there being so few of them and they in so holie a place they could be there without a miracle It is therefore fancied that the yow-tree had been of long standing but being out downe by some wicked person and cast into the fire part thereof was by a devout man snatehed out and new set which is that now extant But this seemeth to be lately done it not being above ten foot high and about the thicknesse of a mans legge which might happen by being too much scorcht with the fire neither are the rest of any great growth Between the Church and the Cave there is a small rising of ground and an heape of Stones with a little stone-crosse part broken standing therein and on the East-end of the Church there is another heape on which there was another crosse made of twigs interwoven This is known by the name of S. Patricks Altar on which there doth lye three peeces of a Bell which they say S. Patrick used to carrie in his hand Here also was laid a certaine Knottybone of some bignesse hollow in the midst like to the Nave of a wheele out of which doe issue as it were naturall Spokes This was shewed as a great rarity being part as some say of that Serpents taile which we have before remembred But others would rather have it be beleeved That this is part of one of those Serpents which S. Patrick expelled out of Ireland in memory whereof this is usually shewed But I leave them to beleeve either the one or the other as they shall finde occasion Toward the narrowest part of this Island and Westward from the Church were six Circles as some call them from their figure or Saints beds or beds for penance These were Mansions for so also are they termed dedicated to some of the famous irish-Irish-Saints They were of Stone and of a round building being about three quarters of one yard high having a dore or entrance into them And these Cells are of severall capacities That for Briget being ten foot over within the wals Collum-Kille nine Katharine mine Patrick sixteen Yavock or Avogh and Moloissny or Blash ten these two last Avogh and Blash are placed in one Cell and that also joyned to that other of S. Patricks The fixt is that which is assigned to S. Blenyn or as I take it Brenyn or S.
Brendan which is ten foot over To this S. Brendan we reade a peculiar Purgatory to belong of which M. Camden thus Besides this of Patricks there hath been another Purgatory of Brendan in this Island he meaneth Ireland But seeing I finde not the place Take what I finde of it in this Tetrastick of Nechams which I reduce to this Disticke For purging soules and fitting them for Heaven A place by fame there is to Brendan given Which not to be meant as if it were placed in this Island of S. Patricks Purgatory whereof we now speake as it is plaine out of Camdens owne words he not knowing where to place it So shall we find it in a different quarter of the Kingdome if we beleeve Roth a diligent writer of this Subject out of Radulphus It is saith he to be in the first place observed that amongst forraigne writers there is mention made of two Purgatories in Ireland one is S. Patricks in the Northerne part of the Kingdome the other S. Brendans which Radulphus saith â—s to be found in the Westerne parts of the same Kingdome This of these two Purgatories together with what I shall after have occasion to adde of a third Purgatory is to be observed for avoiding ambiguitie I returne from whence I made this digression These Cells or Beds serve for a great part of their devotions who resort to this Pilgrimage about which and in which there are often pacings and kneelings to which end they are compassed with sharpe stones and difficult passages for such as goe barefoot as all must In the farthest part and Northward there are in the Island where it is narrowest certaine heapes of stones cast together as Memorials for some that have elsewhere been buried trusting by the prayers and merits of those who daily resort to this Purgatory to finde some release of their paines in the other Purgatory Lastly in the Island are severall Irish houses covered with thatch and but lately built together with a foundation for a building of lime and stone And another house for shriving confessing of those that come thither which is on the left hand of the entrance into the Island Among these there are foure places assigned for receiving such as from the foure Provinces of Ireland Leinster Munster Connaght Vlster resorted thither Thus have we the perfect Description of this place with all therein contained as it did stand but little before the demolishing thereof The Manner Rites and Customes of this Pilgrimage offer themselves next to be considered Wherein I shall follow those relations we finde set out of it in which no great choice is to be made onely supplying out of the best and latest information that hath come to mine hand what shall be found not so much omitted in the other but it may be rather lately added for in severall Ages it hath received much alteration as wil appeare upon the comparing of them Of the last kind I esteeme most of that discourse given to me by the Right Honourable the Lord Dillon in the taking whereof his Lordship hath been most carefull The order of which Pilgrimage to use his owne words I had from the mouth of an Ancient native there who said he had been the guide and conductor of the Pilgrimes for many yeares which I the rather credit finding it to agree with what others have reported of it in most things I will then begin with what hath been of old herein observed Anciently if any were desirous to enter into this Purgatory as O Sullevan observeth in the pilgrimage of The Spanish Uiscount of which after First he must have leave so to doe of the Bishop in whose Diocese the Purgatorie did stand The Bishop useth at first with weightie Arguments to disswade the adventurer setting before him the danger and that some have gone in thither that never returned But if he finde the man firme in his resolutions he doth recommend him by letters to the overseer of the Purgatory He also laboureth with the like earnestnesse to remove him desiring him rather by some other penance to expiate his sinne But if he be immoveable he leadeth him into the Church and enjoyneth the performance of his penance and prayers during the time prefixed Then he calleth together the Priests adjoyning celebrating with singing and solemnitie that Masse Requiem aeternam dona ijs Domine usually said for the dead The Pilgrim receiveth the Sacrament of the Lords Body He is sprinkled with Holy water the Priests in procession singing the Letany and the people following to the dore of the Purgatory to which he is conducted There againe being forewarned of his danger he is intreated not to adventure but if he be constant he is signed with the holy crosse which also all the Priests together doe and the doore being opened he is let in and there he is left shut up and praying The next day returning at the same houre if opening the doore the man be found he is with the same solemnitie brought back to the Monasterie where while he pleaseth he is entertained But if at the usuall houre he be not found thèn certaine it is that he is damned both body and soule and if any such disaster doe happen the whole religious Society doe with strict fasting macerate their bodies for fifteene dayes together Thus hath it been Anciently by which it doth seeme that the Resort to this Purgatory was not then so frequent and they that did come were not so easily admitted but by all at the least seeming meanes to be diverted The contrary to both which is now practised no place more frequented and the more the welcommer which being considered and that there is much more stirre in these later pilgrimages than formerly had been with an Addition of many more circumstances it will be therefore necessarie to take a second view of the particulars The time in these later times appointed for this worke is the space of 9. dayes wherein they doe prepare themselves and observe all the Ceremonies following First the pilgrimes being examined and admitted their first flight is into the Church they being barefoot and kneeling downe before the Altar they doe say a Pater Ave and Credo and There they beginne their holy Circuits seven times within the Church and as oft in the Church-yard At their comming out they kisse the Church-doore so doe they the stone-crosse between the Church and the Cave then They betake themselves into the Penitentiall mansionâ— Beds or Cells as they call them of the Saints which are round every of which they compasse seven times walking so many times without barefoot and going about as oft within on their knees Next goe they into the water where the stone standeth whereon S. Patrick was wont to kneele which they compasse thrice saying five Paters and Ave's with one Credo after to the other stone called Lackevanny where they also say one Pater
SAINT PATRICKS Purgatory Containing The Description Originall Progresse and Demolition of that superstitious place By Henry Jones Bishop of Clogher 2 Thess. 2. 10 11. Because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lye LONDON Printed for Richard Royston and are to be sold at his Shop in Ivy Lane at the Signe of the Angell 1647. The CONTENTS Chap. 1. 1. THe description of S. Patricks Purgatory in Ireland 2. The customes and manners of that Pilgrimage 3. The Author and beginning of it 4. And why it is called a Purgatory 1. Chap. 2. The Progresse and flourishing estate of Saint Patricks Purgatory in the esteeme it had at home and abroad Whereof some probable conjectures Some Pilgrimages thither set downe Together with an examination of the truth of them 54. Chap. 3. How this Purgatory did begin to decline and fall from its esteeme being first suspected and found fabulous and lastly quite demolished 116. SAINT PATRICKS PVRGATORY CAP. I. 1. The Discription of S. Patrick's Purgatory in Ireland 2. The customes and manners of that Pilgrimage 3. The author and beginning of it 4. And why it is called a Purgatory IN the North edge of the Province of Ulster in Ireland on the borders of Tirconnell Fermannagh Donegall there is invironed with a marvailous great waste of bogs and mountaines a certaine Lough as they tearme it or Lake of a great compasse called Lough-Derge a place famous and celebrated by the pennes of many at home and abroad as that which encloseth and compasseth within it that which is of greatest observation and use I say not onely in this Kingdome of Ireland but if reports be true in the whole world beside of which I 〈…〉 〈◊〉 discourse S. Patricks â—… It 〈…〉 this Purgaâ—… that tedious 〈◊〉 concerning the name of Lough-Derge As that neare that Lake in the shin-bone of one that had been murthered there was bred a Serpent which did grow to an incredible greatnesse for â—o must we beleeve if it did as they say it did swallow downe 2410. men at once That the Serpent being slaine and his bloud running into the Lake the complexion of the water was changed and continued Red for 48. houres That hence it was that from Lough-â—â—n or the White-logh by which it was before knowne it was after called as now it is Lough-Derge or the Red-Logh For confirming whereof that there may not want something besides the bare name among other Reliques there did remaine ready to be shewed a great Knotty bone said to be one of the least joints of that Serpents Tayle A fable I confesse not worthy to take place in a serious discourse did I not finde it sutable to those relations we are hereafter to meet withall in our treating of this Subject they being I doubt not as true and I assure my selfe no lesse strange and monstrous than this is Within this Lake there are many small Islands but two of especiall note above the rest The one is called the Island of S. Avoge or Abheoge wherein that Saint is said to be buried or the Island of S. Fintanus as others would have it In which Island there is seated a Convent of Cannons Regular of the order of Saint Augustine subject to the Abbot and Monastery of the Apostles Peter and Paul scituate in the Cittiâ— of Ardmagh yet he who within the Lake is chiefe of the Monks is honoured with the Title of Prior of the Purgatorie of these Monks by turnes two are continually resident in the Island of Purgatory to be there for the entertaining and directing of such Pilgrimes as doe come thither to be purged This is that which is called Iusula dâ—moniaca for so we sometimes finde it into which S. Patrick is said to pursue those evill Spirits which he had driven from the mountaine Chruan in Connaught yet did they possesse one part of this Island of which Nicholas Harpsfeldius out of Giraldus Cambrenfis thus He Giraldus reporteth that in Vlster there is a famous Island in a certaine Lake the one part whereof is pleasant and delightfull and much spoken of in respect of Angels and Saints there frequenting and appearing the other part thereof being no lesse terrible as haunted with Devils which are there often seene The truth whereof I leave to the Authors But there is nothing that doth make this place so famous as another Island not farre from this being something lesse than a mile as may be supposed from the shore which by reason of the Cave that is in it of which so much is spoken is knowne by the name of S. Patricks Purgatory It is altogether rockie from the one end of it to the other exactly levell it cannot be said and yet not very uneven no one part thereof being much higher than another The Figure of it is Oblong extending it selfe from South to North unto which the nearer it runneth the narrower it groweth It doth containe about halfe an Irish acre and eleven perches in all 41. perches and one halfe in circuit each perch being 25. fâ—â—t for thus was it exactly surveyed by that truely Honourable the Lord Dillon Le. Bâ—… of Kilkenny West in whose presence it was 〈◊〉 asured by Anthony Lipset whom for that purpose I brought with me into the Island and whom I accompanied into the Cave and the rest of the places that were measured saith he The Mappe whereof as it was then made have I here unto preâ—… acknowledging my self here in bound to that Noble Lord and his Lordships sonne Sir Iames Dillon Knight both curiously inquisitive in this whose observations have been imparted unto me Without the compasse of this Island and within the water toward the North-east of the land about two yards from the shore doe stand certaine Rocks or Stones distant from each other whereof two are of especiall use in this pilgrimage The one which is the least and next the shore is that whereon they say S. Patrick was wont to kneele one third part of the night as he did spend one other third part in the Cell which they call his Bed of which after and the other third part in the Cave or Purgatorie In this stone there is a clift or print reported to be made by S. Patricks kneeling or standing thereupon This it may be is that which Lumbard meaneth yet being mis-informed writing by heresay he placing it within the Cave whereas indeed there is no such thing there The other Stone is much greater further in the Lake and covered with water called Lackevanny this is esteemed to be of that singular vertue that the onely standing thereupon doth heale the sorenesse of the Pilgrimes feet occasioned by their going barefoote on sharpe Rocks and Stones The entrance into the Island for there is but one and that about the South-south-east point thereof is narrow rockie
Ave and Credo of which stone and the vertue thereof it is said That after all these goings about and that for the most part in sharpe and rugged wayes and comming to the Lake they doe fixe there many times mangled but alwayes wearied feet on the stone covered with water where in lesse than one quarter of an houre while they say the Lords Prayer and the Apostles Creed they doe finde such a refreshing and strength by reason of the stone under their feet on which S. Patrick himselfe was said to have prayed and in it to have left the impression of his feet that they doe finde themselves inabled to goe those stations againe which yet they may not doe without sometime between After this they come out of the water and returne to the Church where they say before the Altar the Bedes of fifteene houres called the Ladies Psalter But here I had almost forgotten that which above all the rest must not be forgotten That provision must be made for the workes of Charitie aswell as of Pietie there are Altars to offer upon there are Fryars to extend their benevolences unto nay and both in this Kingdome and elsewhere there are Convents and Seminaries that must not be forgotten by whose prayers a farre larger retribution and returne is expected This order in their pilgrimage doe they observe thrice each day at Morning Noone and Evening for seven dayes together But On the eight day they double their circuits that they may satisfie for that and the next day in one for then they are not to goe out of the Cave much lesse to goe about as they were wont But if the number of Pilgrims be greater than can conveniently be dispatched in that case no set-day is limitted for the going into the Cave but it may be dispensed withall at the discretion of him who is the Chiefe And as nine dayes is the time commonly allotted for this worke so are there nine persons set out who according to the time of their comming thither are to goe into the Cave together In all which time of their nine dayes pilgrimage they eat but once in 24. some say 48. houres their diet being but oat-meale or bread and water yet have they liberty to refresh themselves with the water of the Lake which also is said to be of that vertue that although thou shouldest fill thy selfe therewith yet would it not offend thee but is as if it had flowed from some Minerall And thus being tired at night They lodge on hay or straw without caddow pillow or paslet tumbling themselves in their mantles or wrapping their heads in their breeches or trowses as they call them their lodging is in one of the cottages before mentioned onely That some one night of the eight they take up one of the Saints beds such I suppose as they most fancie These eight dayes being thus spent in praying fasting and Almesdeeds they goe to be shriven and doe confesse themselves on the evening of the said eight day being readie the next morning early to goe into the Cave when in imitation of the old custome the priest laboureth to divert them from going forward adding That already two companies have been lost that one more must be and warneth them to take heed it doe not light on them But they not being to be altered towards the Purgatory or Cave they goe With the Banner of the crosse carried before them together with other solemnities so that it may well seeme to carrie the shew of some funerall pompe neither indeed is it otherwise esteemed for being As it were a passage to another world and leaving this in what Agonie doe they goe groaning and sighing desiring forgivenesse and forgiving all that have offended them in which manner for the most part they goe into the Cave with sighing weeping and teares and the doores being shut without they that waited on the funerall returne saith Roth whom as the most exact I could finde in this part have I followed Thus with some sprinkling of holy water are our Pilgrimes shut up for twentie and foure houres without any repast or crâ—… of comfort other than some few good words given at the Crevice before spoken off through which the Priest doth sometimes comfort them if he finde any of them to be troubled with Temptations but among themselves not a word for conference is prohibited while they are in the cave This alone being reported to bring present death with it least perhaps there might be some discoverie of the Imposture Lastly when the 24. houres are expired for now are we come to the last Act They are revisited by the overseer of the pilgrimes by whom they are brought to the water-side where they duck themselves over head in that water by which expiation being purged as new Souldiers of Christ and by the hath of repentance being borne againe they goe into the Church where according to the custome they give God thanks for the ending of their penance being thereby renued to goe forward boldly in their Christian warfare and couragiously to carrie the Crosse of Christ. And thus is this great work finished A Pilgrimage certainely of very great solemnitie and exceeding strictnesse so that I can easily be induced to credit him who telleth us how troublesome it is for Whether it be in Summer who can be ignorant how tormenting a thing it is to be shut up so close so obscurely so long and that troubled with the violent heat of the Sunne abroad and the smoothering aire of so many pressing one upon another within If in Winter how difficult a matter would it be to endure the ducking in the water euen to mortification And what time soever it be yet how painefull is the walking barefoot so many dayes galling their feet in those rockie Cells and rough Stations and the often kneeling in them Their fasting lying on the ground dreames and the rest neither is that the least which he so easily passeth over The great Fast imposed on them If it were onely for three dayes yet might it be ground enough to inspect what â—rasmus doth speaking of this Purgatorie That There doe not want very many at this day who descend thither but first almost killed with three dayes fasting least they should goe in thither with their wits about them What then would he have said of our nine dayes fast nay what of fifteene dayes for so we finde it used in the Ancienter pilgrimages when he perceiveth that the penitent is not with any terror to be removed he commandeth him to keepe a spare diet for fifteene dayes Altogether provided that his bodie doe give way to so great abstinence So great an abstinence is meant as may try the strength of the Body and not simply A spare diet of which indeed great Fast we have in Jacobus de voragine an instance shewing it not onely
Purgatory and that to this end that it should be every where divulged which concludeth with the former the words are these Awake thou man and remember my Rhyme in haste Let it spread East and West and be written with a pen. I am Patrick Chiefe or head of the Clergie who have obtained from God no small thing A gift large and liberall which was never found till I did come to it A Purgatory for punishment here and no other Purgatory to be after What boldnesse then what rashnesse who but an Innovator and one deserving to be hissed out of the company dare question who other than Patrick should be the finder or founder of this Purgatory It is you see concluded by a generall Tradition by the common consent of the Church and approved by a Vision an Argament in that Church not inferior to any other the thing I confesse do not deserve so much inke but I have the rather observed it that the confidence of these men may be seen imposing for undeniable verities matters doubtful most uncertain For notwithstanding all these loud-cryes to the Contrary we shall finde this not to be any new Question whether or not S. Patrick were the Author of this Purgatory The Originall of this den hath bred some difference among Writers saith a most judicious Writer and one favouring the cause but this is too generall Others finde us work denying that S. Patrick was either the beginner or finder of this monument saith the same Author And so obscure is the Question that a Jesuite findeth such difficulties and improbalities in their opinions who attribute it to S. Patrick that he clearly conceiveth it cannot be Two things I muse at saith he That neither the Time nor the Author of so strange Erection was preserved concerning the time one Record putteth it in anno Domini 302. which is 128. yeares before Patrick converted Ireland and sixtie and fix yeares before his birth So that it will not be I trust any absurditie in us to examine this and make some while a stand before we rashly assent with the vulgar to a thing it may be no lesse unlikely than Questionable especially seeing Roth himselfe even there where he seemeth most confident of this could not but tacitely confesse it not to be altogether so generally confessed as men usually esteemed it that is to say without Contradiction but this he must have to be understood with a Modification of Almost which we say useth to salve from a lye speeches too farre strained such as that is Neither is it without controversie to which of the Three Patricks if to any of them this Purgatory should be ascribed But to the second of that name doth Raâ—nlphus give it whom John Brampton followeth and both agree with Henry of Saltry yet doth not Henry mean him whom Ranulphus calleth the lesse who flourished about the yeare 850. as the Compiler of the Antiquities of Glastenbury hath it as it is observed by the now most learned Primate of all Ireland But he whom Henry nameth is that Great Patrick who converted the Irish to the Christisn Faith which no man will I suppose say was done 〈◊〉 850 being rather more than 400. yeares before that is to say in the year 432. for this Purgatory is said to be one chiefe meanes of the conversion of Ireland to which end it was supposed to be first instituted for so Thyreus out of others He did mollifie their unbridled minds with the terrour of infernall paines that so he might as it were force them to beleeve For He as undoubted Tradition and many credible Authors report did shew this signe to those incredulous men doubting of the paines and punishment of the damned and thereof requiring some visible demonstration for He made a Circle in the earth within the compasse whereof there was an opening of the earth great and terrible to be seene through whose secret and winding passages oft times are heard lamentations wailings and dolefull sounds where we have S. Patrick the Author the time at the first conversion of the Kingdome and the manner and thing it selfe wonderfull and miraculous But if we should call upon Thyreus for a confirmation of these so confidently delivered Assertions our best answer would be that we must relie on undoubted Tradition and on the testimonies of credible Authors how undoubted the Tradition hereof is shall likewise hereafter appeare But who are these Authors in this is he silent for in very truth we finde neither credible Authors nor any Author at all that for more than 700. yeares after S. Patrick doth write one word of this Purgatory which will seeme incredible to any that shall consider either the Times or the Subject to be treated off As for the Times whether we consider that in which S. Patrick lived or those next following no ages were if not this more learned and Christianitie planted here by S. Patrick had so good progresse that if we beleeve Iocelin writing of S. Patricks life In a very short time there was no wildernesse nor almost any corner of the land or place in the Island so remote which was not with perfect Monks and Nuns replenished insomuch as Ireland was by a speciall name and that deservedly called the Island of Saints for they lived according to the Rule by S. Patrick prescribed unto them they contemning the world and desiring heavenly things with an holy mortifying of the flesh and denying their owne wills Equall were they both in merit and number to those Egyptian Monks so as by doctrine and life they did informe and teach forraigne and farre distant Nations Thus Iocelin And can it be imagined that among so many learned and devout men living in the same or the next following ages to S. Patrick there should not be so much as any one found that doth but once mention this Purgatory if then it had been likely it is it would not have been hid especially in the first rising of it it being of so great observation that the whole Kingdome is pretended to be moved with it and converted by it Object If it be said that although those ages might afford learned men yet perhaps not many Writers or if such there were yet might their works not come to our hands and so This passe unobserved Reas. Which things were they so and that many such writings might miscarry yet what shall we thinke of them whose works doe appeare or if no other Writer would do it why doth not our great Patrick himself write of it or but glance at it he having so fit an occasion to doe it in his booke intituled De tribus habitaculis said to be his The words I doe insert There are three dwelling places under the command of Almighty God The Highest Lowest and the Middle whereof the highest is called the Kingdome of God or the Kingdome of Heaven The lowest is called Hell this present
Knight and what the Knight saw and felt are such things and like things to what others are said to see and felt and reported themselves to have seene and felt before And yet such things did that Abbot with whom Henry consulted say he never did heare of in his countrey a matter very unlikely if eyther they were so frequent or at all and if we should restraine it onely to this pilgrimage of the Knight why should it not rather bee first knowne in Ireland before it did flie to forraigne Nations if which I rather beleeve the Knight might not want confidence of opening himselfe therein at home and so nigh where he might be laughed out of his dreame and therefore rather chuseth to begin abroad that winning credit there the newes might returne more authenticall it being a shame to deny what the world proclaymeth and more wisedome though otherwise for the Natives to dissemble it then to loose the repute the Nation may have abroad by the supposing of their having so admirable and strange a Monument among them it being the honour of the countrey as after We loose time therefore while wee expect to finde the originall of this Purgatory from Saint Patricke or any of the Patricks Wee have hitherto seene nothing that could induce us to beleeve it and it hath appeared how groundlesse their faith is who are misled by so generall a tradition that it is of Saint Patricks owne Frection which to contradict were the true Symptome of a frenzie if we should appeale to them And yet notwithstanding all this confidence we shall see the cause shamefully deserted at last for having wearied themselves labouring in vaine to make Saint Patricke the Author of it they give over the search miserably begging the question that if we would grant them the thing they will not much contend for the founder It is Messingams last resolution after he had put himselfe out of breath Had wee not laboured for sifting the Truth saith hee which how happily hee hath performed hath beene seene We needed not to quarrell so much as we doe about the Author of this Purgatory Is it not sufficient that we have it by whomsoever it were found out And that our countrey dath enjoy from God so singular a Priviledge so saving a benefit But speake freely without these 〈◊〉 Was Saint Patricke the Author of it or was hee not he was not For so have wee it at last confessed by the same Messingham If it bee true that wee grant the place to have beene before Patricke was borne which also the history of the Knight to bee after described doth plainely insinuate This is something plainer than before although yet with too much reservation but let him go forward The history is this Wherefore while Saint Patrick by fasting watching and prayer was earnestly praying the holy Sonne of God appeared to him and leading him to a desert place did shew to him a Cave which was round and darke within c. Which hath this marginall note therefore was it made before And heare that which before wee heard of Saint Patrick's making a Circle with the staffe of Iâ—SVS within which the earth did open by which Saint Patricke was made the finder of this Purgatory This I say is now rejected and justly for the former reasons But to shut Saint Patricke thus out of this businesse will not doe well by leaving it indifferent to some other to be the Author of it â—or let this be granted and it will be demanded Why then it should be called Saint Patrick's Purgatory if not so And if it be not so then Why may we not as well doubt of the Truth of all the rest of the reports as of that For much or most of the reverence this place hath gayned was from hence that it was still esteemed to be Saint Patrick's Purgatory Was it not then high time thinke you for him to runne hard that commeth next in to helpe the matter By whom we are told that although the place were before Saint Patricke and that hee was onely the finder of it Yet was not the place before then accommodated to any solemne religious use So that in respect at least of the use of it Saint Patricks may be still thought to be the Author But neither will this bee allowed as altogether true if the religious use of it bee extended to superstition In which sence it may perhaps be thought to be aswell before as after Saint Patricke frequented and esteemed and the former fictions to be the ground of what followed for therewant not some who make Ulysses the founder of it out of these Verses of Claudian A place neere Gallia's utmost bounds with Seas Environed round there stands Vlysles there With bloud it said the sâ—ent Ghosts t' appease Where mournefull plaints scarce heard yet men doâ— heare Of slitting shades paâ—e images there bee And walking Farmes of men erst dead that see Into this place doth Seephanus Forcatadus make Arthur King of the Britaines to enter when hee saith The King did take the paines to visit the Den which â—at long and darke into which he put himselfe having left the open ayre There is not there any vicissitude of light and darkenesse but the descent rough and steepe with a continued darkenesse as remarkeable by nature as fabulous For through that Hole there was a passage to the place of Spirits or where the Soules of them are purged who whiles they lived poluted themselves with vice and such staines as might bee washed away That being purged from all offences they might thence joyfully fly into Heaven In which words our Author seemeth to deliver onely what the opinions of others were of this place whereas hee himselfe esteemed it no otherwise than as a Bugg-beare for so it followeth It may be Patricke made use of this witty device to terrifie the cruell and fierce people from committing sinne shewing them a Revenger to bee so neere at hand But to goe forward that we may finde out the Originall of it Forcatulus bringeth in Merline the Welch-prophet informing the King herein Merline being divinely inspired ascribed this Cave of Patrick's to Vlysses being in his travels somuch spoken of driven into Ireland As that first Vlysses had with his Sword digged it about a Cubit deepe and that after in processe of time the Hole was inlarged is sinking to a great depth of which Forcatulus thus And truely this is not farre from truth for Homer Odyss 11. saith that Vlysses being desirous to consult with infernall spirits went to a place neere to the flowing of the Seas and that there hee made a memorable Pit or Hole to which also Claudian hath reference Est locus extremum c. where the Verses before are cited Out of this place the Poet faigneth Maegera the Fury to come and perswade Ruffinus to unhappie courses Hitherto Forcatulus to whom let us adde Iohannes Camers on Solinus speaking
of that place in Claudian There are that thinke this to bee the same place which the Inhabitants of that Region doe name Saint Patrik's Purgatory of which strange things and almost fabulous are reported By which Solinus as Forcatulus before would conclude that Vlysses had beene driven into Ireland for the truth whereof I will not contend Yet how neere these two I had almost said fables doe agree who seeth not and that as in other particulars of which hereafter principally in the manner of the making of the place both by Ulysses and Patricke the one with his Sword the other with his Staffe so neere that the one seemeth to have beene raysed out of the other to use the words of one comparing this Purgatory with Trophonius his Cave which two who so compareth shall finde no two things more like We have the fiction in Plutarch of Timarchus his going into that place He desirous to know the power of Socrates his Demon went into Trophonius his Den all solemnitie first performed where having continued two nights and one day and many giving up for lost his familiars also bewayling him earely in the morning hee came out with a chearefull countenance And after he had devoutly worshipped God and rid himselfe from the throng of people he told us of many strange things by him seene and heard He related that when hee descended into the Pit hee was at the first compassed with darknesse that after looking downewards he saw a vast gaping and that round like an hollow Globe but very horrible and deepe whence were heard infinite roarings and groanings of living creatures Children crying with Men and Women pitifully wayling together noyses and undistinct tumults were heard a farre off by which hee said hee was exceedingly terrified All the passages are too many here to bee inserted which if they were compared with some one of the pilgrimages into this Purgatory I needed not trouble the Reader with any paralâ—ell betweene them they would of themselves so plainely appeare to be so like that hee might well joyne in opinion with Erasmus Plutarch saith he in his Commentarie on Socrates his Demon doth tell of on Timarchus that entred into Trophonius his Cave who being thence returned related himselfe to have seene many things prodigious to be spoken Not unlike what Bede and other Christian writters report of those that have appeared with whom agreeth that Caveat and Censure of Canâ—s The Reader is to be admonished not to take for granted that whatsoever Authors of great estâ—eme have written is to be therefore absolute for sometimes they fayle and fall under their burden Sometimes also they give themselves to please the vulgar The which things may justly say of Bede and Gregory the one in his History of England the other in his Dialogues writting certaine miracles commonly knowne and beleâ—ved Truely I should have allowed those Histories the more had the Authors of them according as they ought to the gravitie of their judgements joyned care in making choyce of their matter hitherto Caâ—â—s But for that of Timarchus Erasmus proceedeth which fable of Traphonius cruely seemeth unto me so like to that which is of Saint Patrick's Cave that it may be beleeved the one to have raysed out of the other Neyther will the conjecture seeme unlikely if we but compare them in one particular passing by or rather referring the rest to another place It was anciently beleeved saith the same Erasmus that who went into Trophonius his Cave would neuer after laugh Hence to say of a man that hee hath prophesied in Trophonius his Den was in effect the same arte call him a very melancholy and craâ—â—ed man And doe wee not finde the same reported of S. Patrick's Purgatory They who descend thither say thâ—â— all their life after they have no desire to laugh in which Erasmus agreeth with that of Iacobus de Vitriace There is a place in Ireland called Saint Patrick's Purgatory hee that 〈◊〉 into it not being truely penitent and 〈◊〉 is presently snatcht away and killed by divels nover more to bee seene But being truly contrite and confessed he shall bee there purged being drawne through fire and water and a thousand kinde of torments And he that shall siâ—â—e after this shall in the same place be more cruelly punished But hee that returneth from that Purgatory and is purged can never after laugh play or â—â—ve any thing in this world but alwayes â—â—menting and greaning forgetting the things that were behinde he wholly addresseth himselfe what is before Thus Vitriatus of which Roth giveth this Censure That these things for the most part are not true We are thought â—y common experience if he speake of that Cave which is not knowne and frequented for many there are who have gone thither againe and againe who being returned play laugh and that heartily too they converse in the world with worldlings and goe about their worldly affaires 〈◊〉 otherwise than if they had never gone thither Then which there can be nothing more certaine But why doth he so mince the matter if it be so Is it not true for the most 〈◊〉 saith he nay not true a◠〈◊〉 which cannot be denied See then his avoydance But whether Vitriacus doth speake of this present and visible Purgatory or of that other which is hidden c. I will not determine any thing It is not yet determined that there is such an hidden Purgatory and to suppose it is to begge the question of which more after Neyther was it fit that hee should determine any thing in this for so in confuting Vitriacus he had falne foule on Florentianus one of Salteriensis his good Tutors who taught the same that Vitriacus doth here as was seene before But why spend wee so much time in searching after the originall of this fiction Fitter surely it is to be rancked as it is with heathenish and Poeticall figments and with Fortunatus his Purse and Cap than to be obtruded to Christians to bee beleeved Where because we have named that Fable of Fortunatus if the Reader can with patience peruse it hee shall finde his going into Saint Patrick's Purgatory with Leopoldus his servant There may you have the description of the place with the whole story of Saint Patrick's finding it at first The relations made to him of those that had gone in before his asking leave to enter according to the Custome with many other Circumstances observable in that Pilgrimage and what there happened unto him Also lively representing what wee read of other Pilgrimages justly deserved to be reserved in the Abbey with the rest of those who did enter in Saint Patrick's owne time For I beleeve if the matter were narrowly sifted this and they will be found to be of one stampe and done much about the same time a place also wee may afford it in Ariosto in Orlando Furiose where wee finde this memory of
it Where men doe tell strange tales that long ageâ— Saint Patricke built a solitary Cave Into the which they that devoutly goe By purging of their sinnes their Soules may save Now whether this Report be true or no I not affirme and yet I not deprave And here may M. Burton for his deep search into the secrets of Nature be fitted with a place such as we could wish I would saith he have a convenient place to goe downe with Orpheus Vlysses Hercules Lucians Menippus at Saint Patrick's Purgatory at Trophonius denne Hecla in Island Aetna in Sicily to descend and see what is done in the bowels of the earth But I proceed to what remayneth That seeing we cannot sinde the Author of it which Messingam conceiveth not to bee so materiall yet that we see the use of it and why it is called a Purgatory Wee have before seene the solemnitie and strictnesse of of the Pilgrimage so great paines deserveth some great and large benefit And greater cannot be if that be true which Ranulphus reporteth and yet but by heare say of it There is Saint Patrick's Purgatory that was shewed at his prayers to confirme his preaching and his lore when he preached to misbeleeved of sorrow and paine that evill men should suffer for her wicked workes and of joy and blisse that good men shall receive for her holy deeds He telleth that who so suffereth the paines of that Purgatory if it be enjoyned him for penance he shall never suffer the paines of Hell but he shall die finally without repentance of sinne as the example is set more fully out at the Chapters end Where he speaketh of the History of Owen the Knight of whom before But his translator Trevisa teacheth us better doctrine But truly no man may be saved but if he be very repentant whatsoever penance he doe And every man that is very repentant at his lives end shall be sickerly saved though he never heare of Saint Patricks purgatory What the effects are of the suffering those paines of which Ranulphus did speake we were before told by Vitriacus That it purgeth him that undergoeth them But it was not for purging men that Saint Patricke did intend it for they of the ancientest that make Saint Patricke the founder of it speake onely of that infernall fire of the damned not of any purging flames of which Giraldus Cambrensis thus While the Holy Man disputed with that incredulous nation of the infernall paine of the reprobate and the eternall and true life of the Elect after death that so great so unusuall so strange a noveltie might by what they should see make a sure impression in the mindes of these infidels through great feruency of prayers he deserved to obtaine for that stiffe-necked people the great admirable and profitable demonstration of both upon Earth a demonstration of both saith hee that is of eternall blisse and joy which who will say is seene or found in Purgatory a place of torment And the torments also of which he made demonstration was of that which they doubted the infernall paines of the reprobate And thus much did Thyraeus speake before That these incredulous men doubting of the paines and punishment of the damned and requiring some visible demonstration of it hee made a Circle in the earth c. As for that other That God had further revealed to Saint Patricke that in that place there was a purgatory of which before it is but a late fancie and on better considerations brought in to helpe the matter Now that the eternall torments of Hell should purge is surely a new thing and such as none of them I suppose will take upon him to defend This is that if any that was shewed by Saint Patricke neyther did he but shew it to terrifie those that doubted of them which needed not to continue the worke being finished and they now beleeving Yet let it be supposed that in that place the paines of Purgatory may be understood and that not the reprobate but the truely contrite is there purged being by Divels drawne through fire and water and a thousand dangers as Vitriacus would have it Yet I hope they will not say that this Fire or Water or I cannot tell what thousand dangers doe purge them that suffer them not And will they say that all who in our dayes goe into this Purgatorie doe lye frying in such flames or be frozen in water or runne any such dangers at all Sure I thinke they will not And if any should common experience would crie them downe Since the writing hereof saith Campian the Iesuite I met with a Priest who told mee that he had gone that pilgrimage and affirmed the order of the premisses but that for his owne part he saw no sight in the world save onely fearefull dreames when hee chanced to nodd and they said hee were exceeding horrible Neyther is it thus onely in these dayes but if wee looke many ages before it will bee found no otherwise and well may it be doubted if ever it were more Iohn Stow in his Annals of England hath a discourse to this purpose of Iohn Froissart the French Historian who lived Annâ— 1395. about 244. years since after Henry of Saltry 255. much alâ—ut the middle time it is this About this time Sir Iohn Froissart Chanon of Chymay in the Earledeme of Heynault as himselfe reporteth came into England He demanded of Sir William Lisle who had beene with the King in Ireland he meaneth Richard the second the manner of the Hole in Ireland that is called Saint Patricks purgatory if it were true that was sayd of it or not Who answered that such an Hole there was and that himselfe and another Knight had beene there while the King lay at Dublin and sayd they entred into the Hole and were closed in it at the Sunne-set and abode there all the night and the next morning issued out againe at the Sunne-rising Hee said that when hee and his fellow were entred and past the Gate that was called the Purgatorie of Saint Patricke and that they were descended and gone downe three or foure paces as into a Cellar a certaine hot vapour rose against them and strake so into their heads that they were faine to fit downe on the stayres which were of stone And after they had sate there a season they had great desire to sleepe and so fell into a sluâ—â—ber and slept there all night In which sleepe they had marvailous dreames otherwise than they were wont to have in their Chambers but in the morning after they had issued out they had cleane forgotten their dreames and visions Thus Stow of Froissart whose owne relation if it be rather desired is as followeth I John Froissart knowing peace to be concluded by Sea Land between the English the French had a great desire to see England towards which I presently tooke shipping where
having beene some few dayes I went towards the Court and by the way chanced in an Inne to meete an English Knight The next day both of us taking Horse we did ride together one dayes journey and in our way discoursing of many things at last I enquired whether in the last voyage into Ireland he had accompanied the King He told me he did Then I demanded of him whether those things reported of Saint Patricks Cave were true Hee answering seemed to confirme all that others had reported of it and that he with another English knight while they stayd some dayes in Dublin went to see it where they were both shut up for a whole night I asked him if hee did see any strange thing or spectar there Hee replyed When I with my Companion had entred the dore of the Cave which they commonly call aint Patricks Purgatory and descending three or foure steps so great and suddaine an heate we found in our heads that we were enforced to lay us downe on the stone stayres where sitting a great drowsinesse tooke us so that we slept all the night I enquired whether being in sleepe they did know where they were and what visions they saw Hee answered that he saw in his sleepe many phantasies and sights and many other things which as it seemed to him are not wont to be seen by him lying in his bed All this he affirmed to be true but when as earely in the morning the dore was opened and wee were come out immediately all these fearefull things seene in our sleepe were quite forgotten Thus he so that 244. yeares since we finde none of those reports of going into I know not what places within this Cave and tumbling in fire and water and thousands of dangers But for helping this one biddeth us not to looke so low but rather to Saint Patricks time for these things Such as in our memory goe into this place faith hee are sensible of no terrour unlesse it may bee they might be surprised with a sound sleepe But in the first planting of Religion at which time Miracles are for the most part most frequent it seemeth to me likely that there used to appeare to those penitents many strange and terrible sights It is but likely you see that it might be so in the first age of it and if then it were so and that that time might require that miracle for setling Christianitie yet is it not now requisite so that whatsoever it was in Saint Patricks time it is confessed that now no newes are to be found of Fire Water and such grievous Torments as wee are borne in hand to bee true for the purging of those that goe into this Purgatory which if now vanished how then are the pilgrims purged And if they be not purged why are they deluded as if they were Why is this then called a Purgatory unlesse it bee as Campian telleth us That because devout men have resorted thither for penance and reported at their returne strange visions of paine and blisse and therefore they call it Purgatory As if visions of joy and blisse of torment and paine may be said to purge So that now to shut up this first part of this discourse we have seene how into nothing this Purgatory is now shruncke and shriveled up although esteemed vener able for the Author Saint Patricke and religiously respected for it selfe as being a Purgatory But no Saint Patricke can wee finde to father it And for the Name of a Purgatory we see it turned to smoake if we may say there is so much as smoake where no Fire is for so is it heere Therefore no purging therefore no Purgatory Yet notwithstanding all which wonderfull it is to consider how much this fiction for so wee may now be bold to call it hath prevayled that the whole world almost should bee so bewitched as to bee deluded by so grosse an Imposture and amazedly to runne as it were Hoodwinked after it so farre as it did and how farre it did so is that which in the following Chapter I purpose to discover CAP. II. The progresse and flourishing estate of Saint Patrick's Purgatory in the esteeme it had at home and abroad Whereof some probable Conjectures Some Pilgrimages thither set downe Together with an examination of the Truth of them IN the former Chapter we laboured to finde out the beginning and Originall of that place commonly called Saint Patricks Purgatory of which wee could finde no footesteps for for many ages together and howsoever it slept for 700. yeares that is to say from the yeare 4 2. if wee begin it with Saint Patricke to the yeare 1140. about which time wee first read of it in Henry of Saltry from thence forward notwithstanding it did so strangely rise by degrees that all places were full of it and that also so suddainely that The fame of that place did seeme to fly over all the parts of Europe saith Thyraeus and as readily did all parts of Europe fly hither unto it This Cave being of old with the greatest devotion frequented by strangers of forraine Nations saith another Neither is it so much to bee admired that strangers and such as were further off should thus be deluded they trusting to the relations of others herein But that they who lived nearest to it even in the same kingdome should not be able in so long a time to discover the fraud and finde out the imposture it is to me a thing of all others most admirable whereas on the contrary we finde it countenanced with the greatest Testimonies of credit that eyther our Church or Common-weale could afford it and that for some hundreds of yeares after the first rising thereof For if a Man would search into the Recordes of England hee might finde testimonials of this nature I will instance in one which wee meete in the raigne of Edward the third the Tenour whereof is as followeth The King unto all and singular to whom these Our Letters shall come sendeth Greeting Maletesta Ungarus which I doe rather thinke to bee his Sirname than that hee was an Hungarian both in respect of his Name and the place Ariminum both being in Italy hee being A noble gentleman and Knight of Ariminum Comming to our presence declared to us that hee having left his owne Countrey had with much labour gone in pilgrimage into Saint Patricks Purgatory in our land of Ireland And that he continued there shut up as the Custome iâ— one whole day and night together Earnestly beseeching us that for the Confirmation of the truth of the premisses wee would be pleased to afford him these our Princely Letters Wee therefore taking into our Consideration the dangers and hazards in that his pilgrimage and howsoever the report of so noble a man might be to us sufficient yet are we further informed thereof by Letters from our Right trustie and welbeloved Almaricke of Saint Amand Knight our Iustice
of Ireland and from the Pryor and Convent of the said Purgatory with others of great credit As also by other cleere evidences that the said Nobleman hath duly and couragiously performed that his pilgrimage we have therefore thought sit favourably to give unto him Our Royall testimonie concerning the same And to the end there may be no question made of the premisses and that the Truth of them may more clearely appeare unto all men We have thought good to grant unto him these our Letters sealed with our Royall Seale Given at our Pallace at Westminster the 24. day of October Like Letters and of the same Date hath Nicholas of Ferrara a Lumbard See here to what an height from so obscure a beginning it is now risen not onely visited from all parts but also Tested in so high and eminent a manner and that as you have heard done with so great deliberation and advice as a matter of the greatest consequence Yet how farre the Teste runneth you see that it is but onely of The due performance of the pilgrimage And here it is to be observed that in the times of Edward the third of England the Esteeme of this Purgatory was at the height after it had been rising thereunto 186. years for so long it is betweene Henry of Saltry anno 1140. and Edward the third anno 1326. And within the compasse of this Kings Raigne wee shall finde much more noyse of it and pressing to it even from farre then eyther before or after as that of Ramon the Spanish Viscount Anno 1328. if wee beleeve the date in the beginning of his Raigne of whom wee shall hereafter have occasion more largely to discourse together with that following being 37. yeares after Yet in the said Kings raigne also That I meane which wee finde Recorded in the Registrie of Ardmagh sent unto me by the now most learned Primāte for the furthering of this worke being Letters recommendatory from Milo Archbishop of Ardmagh in the yeare 1365. on the behalfe of certaine Pilgrims The words are these Milo by divine permission Archbishop of Ardmagh Primate of Ireland to the religious and prudent man the Pryor of Saint Patricks Purgatory in Loghderg within the Diocesse of Clogher And to all others the Cleargie and Laitie within the Province of Ardmagh everlasting health in the Lord. Iohn Bonham and Guidas Cissi comming to us have related that they have for devotions sake gone in pilgrimage and visited many holy places and that they are desirous for the health of their Soules to see the place called the purgatory of Saint Patricke our Patron which is in the Diocesse of Clogher aforesaid Wee doe therefore entreat and exhort in the Lord all and every by whom these strangers shall passe that you would entertayne and receive them courteously And that of the goods which God hath bestowed upon you you would afford them some charitable helpe not suffering asmuch as in you lyeth any molestation or disturbance to bee given them By which meanes we doubt not but that you shall be partakers of that their devout labours Dated in the Citie of Downe the fifteenth day of March in the yeare of our Lord one thousand three hundred sixty and five And of our Consecration the fift It were easie to exceed in testimonies of this kinde yet will I adde onely One more being 120. yeares after This in the yeare 1485. about the beginning of the Reigne of Henry the seventh King of England That it may be seene how long it held up in that great esteeme These are Letters Testimoniall of Octavianus Archbishop of Ardmagh given to certaine French Pilgrims Unto all the Children of our mother the Church to whom these our letters Testimoniall shall come Octavianus by the grace of God and of the See Apostolike Archbishop of Ardmagh Primate of all Ireland wisheth everlasting salvation in the Lord wishing you would without question credit what followeth Seeing it is an holy and meritorius thing to give your Testimonie unto the Truth chiefly seeing our Saviour Christ the Sonne of God came downe from heaven into this world to beare witnesse of the truth Hence it is that by these presents we make knowne unto you that Iohn Garhi and Francis Proly of the Citie of Lyons Priests and Iohn Burgesse their boy and servant the bearers hereof Men of good repute and piously affected did visit the Purgatory of the holy Confessor Saint Patricke the Apostle of Ireland within which the sinnes of offenders are even in this world purged And the mountaine in which the said holy Confessor did fast without Temporall meate forty dayes and fortie nights together with other holy places of devotion and things of greatest observation in Ireland And that afflicting their bodies in fasting and prayer according to the Ceremonies of that place they did for acertaine time remaine in that Purgatory as it cleerely appeareth to us And that by the power of CHRIST our redeemer they did contemplatively encounter all the fraudes and fantasticall temptations of the Devill devoutly so finishing their pilgrimage and desiring the merits and prayers of the said Saint to the most High whom by these presents we receive into the protection of us our Church of Ardmagh and of the said holy Confessor whose manners life and perfection we doe recommend unto you all of which wee are confident having two yeares conversed with them Which few among infinite others will sufficiently declare the wonderfull rising and as strange continuance of this purgatory that from the times of Henry of Saltry that I may not with others rise higher untill this of Octavianus Ann. 1485. that is for 345. years For after this did it begin to Decline againe For we finde it solemnely demolished within twelue yeares after in the yeare 1497. during the Reigne of the said King Henry the seuenth of which in its due place Yet if what hath beene said seeme strange unto any that eyther so obscure a thing should so befoole the world into so great an admiration of it or that so generall a delusion and of so long continuance should on so small or no grounds be mantayned let him consider the slavish feare into which by the Popish Doctrine of purgatory the world had bin brought with feare whereof many have all their lives long been held in bondage being told that all the sorrowes in this life labours want banishments prisons shame miseries calamities wounds nay death it selfe are nothing to the paines of purgatory All which with how great cost men seeke to redeeme is not unknowne Hence those Masses and prayers for the soules departed that they might bee eased if not delivered of those paines Hence those large Legacies both of Lands and Annuities bestowed for the continuance of that charitable worke But the hazards are great and much uncertaintie is there in this course And first for the Rich and the most bountifull in this kinde it may happen that the care
into Saint Patricks Purgatory Neyther will I divulge all that there I saw onely those things which I might lawfully relate When Charles the French King was dead to whose care I was recommended by my dying Father I did repayre to Iohn King of Aragon in Spaine whose subject I was by the law of Nations my possessions lying within his Dominions He did alwayes esteeme of me asmuch as a King could a subject and mine observance of him was as great Hee first made me Master of his Horse and after gave me the Command of three Gallyâ—s for the service of Pope Clement And after his death I served under his successor Pope Benedict the thirteenth at which time the newes was brought to me of my Kings death with which sad relation much perplexed I did earnestly desire to know in what estate the Kings Soule was or if in Purgatory it were what paines it there suffered whereupon I called to minde what I heard reported of Saint Patrickes purgatory and resolved to visit it that I might aswell know some certaintie of the King as for obtayning pardon of God for my sinnes And first fearing I might fayle of my dutie if without leave from the Pope I had undertaken that pilgrimage to him I made knowne my resolutions desiring his favour that I might be gone But he so mamely apposed himselfe to mine intentions that scarcely did I know how to gayne-say But at the last by much impoâ—…itie I gayned so farre with Pope Benedict the thirteenth that I was with his blessing confirmed in it and so departed from Avignion where hee then was in the yeare after the birth of our Lord one thousand three hundred twenty and eight in the Month of September about the Even of that day which is sacred to the blessed Virgin First I went to the French Court in Paris whence I departed with the Kings Letters of Recommendations to his Sonne in law the King of England of whom I courteously was received and with his Letters sent away into Ireland When I was come to Dublin the Metropolis of the Kingdome I did addresse my selfe to the Earle of March brothers sonne to Richard being then Deputy of Ireland he having received the King and Queenes Letters did receive me honourably But understanding my resolution he laboured by all meanes to disswade me laying before me the great dangers of that Purgatory in which many had miscarryed but prevailing with me nothing he sent me to Drogâ—eda to the Archbishop of Ardmagh to whom in matters of Religion all the Irish without contradiction are subject who having perused the King and Queenes Letters with those from the Earle of March hee entertayned me lovingly and freely and endeavoured to divert mee shewing how difficult the enterprise was and that many went thither who never returned But seeing my resolution he did absolve me dismissing mee with Letters to O Neyle the King from whom with gifts I departed to a Village called Tarmuin that is to say Protection or a Sanctuary The Lord of this place with his brother shewed me great courtesies and in Ferryes waâ—ted me and my followers into the Island where the Purgatory was together with many others who from severall Nations flocked thither to visit this Purgatory I was conducted into the Church of the Monastery and being by the Pryor in the presence of many questioned I shewed the reason of my resolution that I purposed to commit my selfe into the Purgatory then he Thou hast undertaken a difficult and dangerous thing which some few have attempted yet could not compasse I doe confesse indeed that to descend into purgatory is easie but-the chiefe worke is to returne thence For the torment of that place is beyond all credit in which men otherwise of good constancie have so fayled that they have lost themselves bodies and Soules To all which I answer that seeing I came thither purposely and to that end it was expedient I should proceede To which he If such be your resolution then doth it be hove that thou observe the rites of this place in manner as they were by Saint Patricke appointed and by my predecessors observed Shortly after the Priests adjoyning with all the Religious of the Convent being called together that Masse was Celebrated with Musicke and solemnity which is used to be sayd for the dead which being finished and all Ceremonies observed the Priests being placed in order I was in Procession brought to the Doore of the Cave where the Letanie being sung I was sprinckled with holy Water and the Doore being opened the Pryor thus said publikely Behold the place into which thou doest desire to enter but if yet thou wiâ—t be by me advised change yet thy resolution yet if thou wilt needs goe forward attend while I briefly tell what shall happen to thee First Gods messengers shall meete thee and by them shalt thou be taught what to doe After shalt thou see devils who by all meanes will seeke to deceive thee sometimes by flattering speeches againe by threatnings other whiles with tormenting thee but thou shalt be freed from all their cruelty by pronouncing these words CHRIST the Sonne of the living God have mercie upon me a Sinner These things have we heard to have happened to those who have returned from purgatorie After this I kissed them all and bade them farewell So going into the Cave after whom followed an English Knight we were forbidden to discourse on which they report death to be imposed So the doore being locked the Pryor with the people returned Now when I was shut in and had taken notice of the greatnesse of the Cave which I conceive to be about foure Elnes I found the inner part thereof to turne and extend it selfe a little to the left hand as I went in Where I had troden I found the ground under mee so weake and shaking that it seemed as though it could not beare a man therefore fearing to fall into some unknowne depth I did step backe and having setled my selfe in the Catholike Faith and being firme in my resolution I did cast my selfe on my knees to pray supposing there had beene no more to be done But about one houre after I did begin to tremble everie joynt of me to sweat and to be heartsicke to vomit also as if I had beene in some long voyage at Sea In which troubles I was overtaken with sleepe but againe rowsed up with the noyse of a great Thunder which was not heard by me alone but of as many as were in the Island with which they were the more astonished in that it was a cleare and faire day The feare of which suddaine thunder was not over when a new and greater terror seized on me for scarcely was I awake when that I did slide downwards about six Elnes with which suddaine fall notwithstanding that I were fully awakened and affrighted yet did I not recover my selfe untill I had sayd those words the Pryor taught me Christ thou
let him who desireth to be satisfied in it read Dionysius Carthusianus in his worke of the foure last dayes and of the judgement of the Soule Where hee doth report the like historie of others who have returned from this purgatory at large prosecuting the subject and resolving all the arguments and difficulties concerning it And both he and other Authors relate many more passages of the paines of Purgatory of which also Virgil thus singeth Non mihi si linguae centum fuit oraque centum c. If I had an hundred mouths and as many tongues c. Where seeing he seemeth to doubt some question might bee made of the Truth of this Relation it will not bee amisse if we examine what Probabilities there may be of it all gathered out of it selfe And then what strong Arguments are produced for the confirming thereof First then for the generall I will onely propound the judgement of a Iesuit writing of this subject That if any be so delicate that not a jot thereof will sinke into his head Who shall controule him Neyther hee nor wee are bound to beleeve any story besides that which is delivered us from the Scriptures and the consent of Gods Church Let the discreet Reader judge of it But this will seeme too generall Let us therefore heare his owne opinion of it Touching the credit of these matters saith hee I see no cause but a Christian man assuring himselfe that there is both Hall and Heaven may without vanitie upon sufficient information bee perswaded that it might please God at some time for considerations to his infinite wisedome knowne to reveale by miracles the visions of joyes and paines eternall But that altogether in such a sort and that so ordinarily and to such persons and by such meanes as the common fame goeth and some Records thereof doe utter I neyther beleeve nor wish to be regarded He proceedeth It appeareth by Trevisa in his addition to Polychronicon that a superstitious opinion was then conceived of this purgatory which he disproveth And a man of indifferent judgement may soone suspect that in the drift strength of imagination a Contemplative person would happily suppose the sight of many strange things which he never saw Hitherto Campian part of which discourse I had before occasion to use But where here he saith We are not bound to beleeve any history except what is contayned in the Scriptures or strengthened with the consent of Gods Church or delivered unto us upon sufficient information which agreeth with that of Aquinas Nititur fides nostra Revelationi Apostolis Prophetis facta qui Canoniâ—es libros scripserunt non autem revelationibus si qua fuerunt alijs doctoribus factae And so farre is this from the two first kinds that it sayleth of the latter for what is Recorded of it neyther he himselfe beleeveth nor would he approve of his Iudgement that would considering the foolery of imagination and the weake ground of an Argument concluding an act from the possibilitie of it Now what reason Campian had so to esteeme of these kinde of pilgrimages and for us to thinke no lesse of this of our Viscount may be seene by a more particular survey of the severall circumstances thereof And first see the ground of it This is layd for a position That it is not lawfull for any man to enter into that Cave but for to expiate his sinnes And would you know what it was that moved our Adventurer to this pilgrimage not Religion so much as Curiositie Among other rules given by Salmeron the Iesuit for judging of Revelations or visions this is one Videndum an revelatio continet aliquidinutile aut curiosum quia ex his facile discerâ—i possit But for our Viscount I earnestly desired saith hee to know in what estate the Soule of the King was the King of Aragon his Master And if it were in Purgatory what paines it there suffered Which if it be not to pry into Gods secrets and to be wise above that which is written I know not what is Neyther so onely but contrary to the Law of God doth hee consult and conferre with him being dead it being one of those things that are abhomination to the Lord. So Maldonat the Iesuit on Luk. 16. 29. Vult Christus vivos Scripturarum testimonijs esse contentos nec à mortuis quid in alter â geratur vitâ audire velle ut Isay. 8. 19. Numquid inquit non populus à Deosâ—io requiret visionem pro vivis à mortuis ad legem potius testimonium Yet notwithstanding with what applause is this Adventurer received by the holy Fathers bothin Purgatory and in Paradise It is confessed that it is also said that hee went thither for to expiate his sinnes yet doth not that excuse this sinne neyther doe we finde this esteemed to be a fault that required expiation Besides out of the whole discourse it is apparant that the other was rather the moving and principall cause For Newes being brought unto him of his Kings death I was saith he with that Relation much perplexed and did earnestly desire to know in what state the Kings Soule was or if it were in Purgatory what paines it there suffered whereupon I called to minde what I did heare reported of Saint Patrickes purgatory and resolved to visit it that I might aswell know some certaintie of the King as to obtaine from God pardon for my sinnes But we passe this and follow him into the Cave where we will not stand on that groundlesse relation That the place he stood upon seemed so infirme as if it were not able to beare him This being but a fiction or at the best but an idle fancie as shall after appeare when we shall see the foundations searched to the very bottome but let us see him going forward and passing into A very large Hall not having one continued wall but being Arched and standing on Pillars in which after I had walked saith he I sate downe admiring the structure Elegancie and beutis of that strange worke which in my judgement surpassed all humane skill By which discription I should have taken this place to have beene the Pallace of the Sunne set out by the Poet had it not beene that it is heere added that it had no more light than is our winter twilight where a man would wonder how these Romish builders with untempered mortar found light enough in that darke place to build as they have done And indeed this maketh the wonder farre greater by no light or as good as none our winter twilight when the neerest objects are not discernable by us yet to judge of colour beautie and proportion so distinctly as he saith he did by which light he saw twelve Men come towards him cladin white and all this at a great distance the Hall being exceeding large and hee sitting downe at one part thereof But it may
One of this kinde demolished like Hydra's heads the cutting off of one being the reviving of another Which may yet further discover the Imposture For if this were not that Cave which Patricke had from God We would know whether there were one before it that was the true If so how came that to vanish into nothing If it were taken away as this is the reason may be as probable that it was a counterfeite aswell as this and all as truely of S. Patrickes erection as any of them And if all be such or at the least if wee must with this uncertainetie receive them what cause have wee with greater assurance to entertayne those vaine Legends and foolish dreames going beyond all reason or common sence Neyther was the indiscretion of the Framers of those Fables I suppose any small cause of this discoverie For in the history of Owen the Knight as that also of the Spanish Viscount and of others sayd to be of the ancienter sort they over confidently reporting a subterrane all passage to be out of the Cave into Purgatory Hell and Paradise and that said to be so many hundreds of yeares before after-ages finding not the realitie hereof had good cause to suspect out of those histories and ancient Bookes as they are called The present Cave not to be that which Saint Patricke had from God Lombard called it An horrible gulfe and bottomlesse pit Thyrâ—… describeth it to be A round place within whose secret and windings pussages were heard weeping waylings and lamenrable voyces like as credible tradition and many-not ignoble Authors doe report saith he of which Simon Mayolus also a Neapolitan Bishop writing of Caves and great gapings in the earth he ranketh this with the chiefest There is saith he another most deepe gaping that famous Cave in Ireland which before wee leave off wee will remember when S. Patricke did preach to the Irish and could not convert them by miracles neyther by threatnings of future paines Or promises of future blisse God by his prayers intreated shewed him a place of a wonderfull and unsearchable profunditie through which a passage leadeth into Purgatory This I say and such like discourses with this great confidence delivered howsoever they carry terrour to keepe backe if possible it might bee any from being too quicke-sighted or desirous through curiositie to Try this vast profunditie yet could it not but in time â—ay 〈◊〉 open when none in that age could so speake of it as formerly but that it might justly be suspected not to be the place so much spoken off and if it be not the same justly deserving to be so as it was demolished And if thus it fared with that Purgatory not to goe higher what shall we thinke of this late upstart the ruines whereof are yet fresh in our owne memory which hath occasioned this our discourse A place carrying the name of the same Founder and by the cunning relators imposed on us as if it had been the same which was said to be of the first Election neither is it lesse beleeved by the ignorant surely if we looke after the first rising of it we shall finde it as obscure as was the originall of that first Purgatory were it not that we have this generall aime left us that after the yeare One thousand foure hundred ninety seven it must have sprung up that is about 142. yeares since men sleeping as formerly and the place neglected and as it is solitarily seated so fitter for any imposter in time convenient to appeare when the memory of the former were somewhat worne out which how much it hath gained we have seene the glory of this last being little inferiour in their relations to the first we have seen the concourse of the people to this nothing short if not greater supposing that to be true which we have heard delivered of it and notwithstanding the last dissolution thereof it therein laying it selfe open to all men most evidently not to be that place which it is pretended to be yet is the desire of the people being not yet rightly informed of the reasons bent unto it For all the Exceptions taken to the former stand in their full strength against this latter If it be questioned whether or no this be the same place which was said to be shewed to S. Patricke by God it will be found howsoever others must not know so much that it is a Quâ—re so intricate as that it standeth yet undetermined among the learnedest Writers of it and some of them despaire ever of knowing of it Let us here one of them and that one of the most diligent searchers of it His words are these It is thirdly to be noted that some are of opinion that the Cave or Pit snewed by Christ our Lord to S. Patrick is either unknown or not to be seen or at the least that it is not the same into which Pilgrims goe and wherein they are shut up foure and twenty houres but that either it lyeth hid underneath or is distant some few paces from it So out of antient Tradition hath it been told me by the R. Iohn Gamnhey or Gaffne Abbat of Leathra and Iohn mac Kegan a Priest of seventy yeares of age others thinke that the place is altogether unknowne And that it shall not appeare to men but in the end of the world That as the ancient Hebrewes report of Sepulchre of Moses and of the Arke of the testament before the returne from Babylon so we should thinke of this Pit And this is by Tornius Mulchonry one addicted to the study of Antiquity and one well stricken in yeares said to be the opinion of F. Eugenius Dusse of the Order of S. Francis How great uncertainties where the place is is not knowne saith one or if it be knowne yet it is not now visible neither shall be to the end of the world saith another howsoever that now frequented is not it saith a third How then doth our Author satisfie himselfe in this diversitie of opinions Heare him Whether that relation of Duffe Gamnhey Conry Kegan and others be true which yet is not that which is most received for my part I will not now conclude on either side But grave men say that we ought not rashly to leave the common opinion and perswasion which all assent unto That this Cave which in the Island of Loghderrg is seen and shut up in a low vault is the true place where the Pit is which we seeke You see how he will not say any thing against the Vulgar opinion that this is that place so will he not conclude against them that hold the contrarie how blindely therefore are the Ignorant sort of people led with a certaine perswasion that this and no other is the very place And for all triall by the History of the Knight and other Ancient Relations in that kinde it is now out of use for as it is confessed there is