Celtic and Old English Saints 17 September
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* St. Brogan-Cloen of Rostuirc
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September 17 is, according to some sources, the feastday of Saint
Brogan-Cloen, Abbot of Rostuirc. He is the second of the authors who
composed a hymn to Saint Brigid to be commemorated this month. The account
of his life below has been taken from O'Hanlon's Lives of the Irish Saints:
St. Brogan Cloen, Abbot of Rostuirc, in Ossory. [Seventh Century.]
Although by some, the present saint has been identified with a St. Brogan,
of Maethail-Bhrogain in Waterford , or Brocan the Scribe commemorated in the
Feilire of Oengus at the 8th of July yet is he to be distinguished, as the
author of an Irish Poem, in which are celebrated the life and virtues of the
great St. Brigid. It is possible the attribute of being a scribe, with the
accidental synonym applying to both, may have produced such an impression.
The Bollandists, apparently calling his cultus in question, still introduce
their notices of Broganus, at the 17th of September. This saint is also
called Bercan, Brechan, Brecan and Brocan. In Latin, his name is usually
written Berchanus, Broganus or Broccanus.
On this day, in the Feilire of St. Oengus, there is a festival for Bracan or
Broccan, of Ruiss or Roiss Tuircc. In a scholion appended, this place is
indicated as being in Mag Raigne in Ossory ; and, by the commentator, he is
said to have been connected with Cluain Imorchuir, for which a mysterious
derivation is given. We find, at the 17th of September, this entry, "Broecan
Rois tuiric," in the Martyrology of Tallagh. According to the Calendar of
Cashel and Marianus O'Gorman, he is venerated on this same day. St. Brogan
Cloen was born, it has been supposed, about the close of the sixth or
beginning of the seventh century.
At the request of St. Ultan of Ardbraccan, Brogan composed the Life and Acts
of St. Brigid in an Irish poem. In it, her sanctity and miracles are
recorded. The place where this tract was written is said to have been either
at Slieve-Bloom or at the Cluainmore of St. Maidoc. These accounts are
gleaned from an anonymous writer or scholiast in a short preface ; and
Colgan places this Irish poem, with a literal Latin translation, foremost
among his six Lives of St. Brigid. He assigns its authorship to a.d. 526,
but this is manifestly too early a date for its composition, as it ranges
back to a year long previous to St. Brogan's birth. The " Chronicum Scotorum
" places the death of Ultan Mac Ui Conchobhair on the second of the Nones of
September in the year 653. However, as the Annals of the Four Masters give
Ultan's age to be one hundred and eighty years, when he died on the 4th of
September, 656 ; Colgan argues, that he may have been living a.d. 526, to
assist St. Brogan Cloen in the composition of that Hymn in praise of St.
Brigid. St. Brogan is named as abbot of Rostuirc, at the year 525, by
Archdall, who rests his statement on the authority of Colgan. That early
date, however, cannot be allowed. It is said by an old scholiast, that St.
Ultan of Ardbraccan collected the Acts of St. Brigid for St. Brogan Cloen.
The same scholiast informs us, that our Saint's poem, on St. Brigid's
virtues and miracles, had been composed in the time of King Leogaire's son
Lughadh, Monarch of Ireland, and when Alild, son to Dulaing, was King of
Leinster. But Colgan justly thinks this poem in question could not have been
written in King Lugad's time, as the latter died over twenty years before
the rest of St. Brigid, an allusion to which latter event is contained in a
concluding stanza of that hymn. The death of Lugad also occurred before
Alild obtained the government of Leinster. Ailild died in the year 526, and
in the twentieth year of his reign, according to the three different
catalogues of the Leinster Kings. Colgan supposes it nearer the truth to
maintain, that Brogan's Hymn was composed, in the time of Muircheartach,
King of Ireland, who was contemporary with the aforesaid Alild of Leinster.
Hence he imagines, this poem was written, about the year 525. It was most
probably composed in the seventh century, as Sir James Ware reckons Brogan
amongst the writers of that period ; although his editor, Harris, adopts
Colgan's opinion.
The poem in honour of St. Bridget contains fifty-three stanzas. In it the
author celebrates the virtues and powerful intercession of the Holy Virgin,
and manifests his own tender devotion towards her. He also indicates, that a
certain measure of reward should be vouchsaved to those, who read or hear it
recited. According to O'Reilly, there are Manuscript copies of this Hymn
extant, in Trinity College Library, Dublin. After Colgan's time, this poem
was again published in 1792, by Mr. Richard Plunkett, of the County of
Meath. It was accompanied by a rendering in modern Irish. In a small
brochure intitul
