“If it was God’s will,” said Kevin, “I should prefer to remain until my death near this place, where I have laboured in His service.” “Nay,” said the Angel, “if you dwell where I say, many thousands of happy souls will have their resurrection there, and go with you to the heavenly kingdom.” Then the Angel led the saint, after he had spent four years at Lugduff, to the eastward of the smaller lake, and marked out the site of his church and monastery; and “there he built that celebrated monastery of the Valley of the Two Lakes, which was the mother house of many others.”
And there, too, he lived as of old in the practice of the most rigid austerity. “He was clothed in the coarsest garments; his bed was the bare ground; he broke his fast at evening on a meal of herbs and water; he kept constant and prayerful vigils often in the open air; and so he lived a long time in the monastery, as he used to live in the desert, until at the earnest entreaty of many holy men he consented at last to live like his monks in the ordinary monastic way.” It is evident that the saint was most reluctant to give up those habits of extreme asceticism which he had adopted in the desert; and he only yielded in deference to the entreaties of other venerable men who feared to lose so precious a life.
It is not to be wondered at that large crowds of disciples came to the monastery of this great servant of God, and were anxious to place themselves under his guidance, so that Glendalough became a seminary of saints and scholars, who went forth from its halls to found other monasteries, and rule other churches. In fact, it became quite a ‘city’ in the desert, whose citizens were “cives sanctorum et domestici Dei,” clothed with human nature, but living like the household of God in heaven.
At this period Kevin must have been still a comparatively young man, certainly not exceeding forty years of age. For all these events are narrated in his life as if happening before he left Glendalough to pay a visit to the holy abbots, Columba, Comgall, and Canice, who met the saint of Glendalough at the celebrated hill of Uisnech (now Usney) in Westmeath. This visit is represented as having taken place only a few days after the death of St. Ciaran at Clonmacnois, which happened in A.D. 544, so that the large monastery of Glendalough was probably founded about A.D. 540, when the saint was 42 years of age. The hill of Uisnech was from time immemorial a celebrated place of meeting, being situated in the centre of Ireland, and, though belonging to Meath, it was considered neutral ground, with the privilege of sanctuary during these meetings. It is probable these holy abbots, Columba of Kells and Durrow, Comgall of Bangor, Canice of Aghaboe, were met together for the transaction of some weighty matters arising from the accession of the new king of Tara, Diarmaid Mac Cearbhaill, and they invited to their meeting the already famous abbot of the great Leinster monastery. In the Life of Kevin it is said that he went to establish, or confirm, a league of brotherly friendship with these saints; and so much was he respected that Columba stood up at his approach, and remained standing until he arrived. And when the ruder multitude (plebs) censured the great Columba for acting thus in deference to an unknown stranger, Columba warmly replied:—“Foolish men! why should not I stand at the approach of that servant of God, in whose honour God’s Angels in heaven will yet rise from their thrones?”
After his return to Glendalough he presided over that great monastery and school for 60 years more, leading still the same heavenly life, training others by word and example to walk in the paths of holiness, and confirming his teaching by the performance of many miracles. But as was well said by one of his disciples, his own life was the greatest miracle of all. Special mention is made of two of his favourite disciples—St. Berach, who himself afterwards founded a great monastery at Cluaincairpthe, since called Tarmonbarry, on the banks of the Shannon, and Mochoroy, a Briton, who was for many years a loving disciple of the saint and founder of the Church of Delgany. He enjoyed the great privilege of giving the Viaticum to Kevin, when the holy old man was about to be called away to his reward. St. Kevin died on the 3rd of June, A.D. 618, at the great age of 120 years, and was buried by his sorrowing children in his own church at Glendalough.
The memory of St. Kevin is greatly revered, not only in Wicklow but in all parts of Ireland; and he seems to hold a place in popular affection next after the great patron saints of Ireland, Patrick, Bridget, and Columcille.
Some writings have been attributed to the saint, amongst others a Life of St. Patrick, but without sufficient evidence. He was certainly the author of a very celebrated monastic Rule, which unhappily is no longer extant. It would be invaluable as exhibiting the special bent of his mind in the formation of the religious character. It was in this that his great influence made itself felt during the long years of his life. It was by this means he stamped his own character on the minds of his disciples, and made Glendalough famous during subsequent centuries as a nursery of holy and learned men. His monastery was for the East of Ireland for many ages what Aran of St. Enda was for the West—a great school of asceticism, a novitiate for the training of the young saints and clergy of Erin in virtue even more than in knowledge. It was also his noble ambition to elevate the standard of ecclesiastical knowledge, and make the cloister not only the home of all virtue, but an asylum of the liberal arts. This was all the more necessary in a turbulent and semi-barbarous age, when the strong hand made its own laws. In this respect the seclusion of Glendalough, as well as the sanctity of its founder and of its holy places, rendered it a most secure asylum down to the advent of the Danes, and even after their departure down to the time of the Anglo-Normans.
II.—Ruins at Glendalough.
The existing ruins in the ancient city of Glendalough may, as we have observed, be divided into two groups—those at the shore of the Upper Lake, to which we have already referred, and those at the junction of the two rivers and east of the Lower Lake, which constitute the city proper. This group of buildings was enclosed by a caiseal, or strong stone wall, which not only served the purposes of defence, but also marked the limits of the clausura, or enclosed space, which females were not allowed to enter, nor the monks to leave without permission. Within this enclosure are the ruins of the following buildings:—(1) the cathedral; (2) the round tower; (3) Cro Coemghin, or St. Kevin’s kitchen; (4) the Church of the Blessed Virgin.
The wall of the cashel has now almost entirely disappeared; but the magnificent gateway by which it was entered, after crossing the bridge of the Glendasan river, still remains. “This gateway was very nearly a square, being sixteen feet between the side walls and sixteen feet six between the perforated or arched walls.”[324] It was built of mica slate—the stone of the district—except the arches and pilasters, which are built of large chiselled blocks of granite. The two arches are of equal height—five feet to the chord and ten to the soffit. A tower arose originally over this double arch, but it has now quite disappeared. There can be no doubt that the gateway tower and cashel were coeval with the completed monastery, and date from the beginning of the seventh century.