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
then a being as we are borne in hand so will it seeme much more impossible if the nature of the thing it selfe be looked into for had it been a thing obscure or of none account it would be the lesse wonder that it should be forgotten but being of all other things that which is of greatest note it could not be hid nor neglected nothing deserving to be more or so much remembred as this So O Sullevan writing of Ireland There doth yet remaine that which of all the memorable things of Ireland is most memorable of which I should have spoken in the first place and that is S. Patricks Purgatory saith he Peter Lumbard also the late popish Primate of Armagh writing of the places in Ireland of greatest note doth above all the rest extoll this Purgatory Of all of them the most famous and most holy is that which is called the place of S. Patricks Purgatory and if so it were in those dayes esteemed it ought not it could not be forgotten as it was by all the writers of these former ages Neither will it serve to say that this Purgatory was then in the Infancy therof and not well known or frequented so as much notice to be taken of it at the least so much as in after times for to passe by what before I touched considering it was supposed to be obtained by Patrick from God for the Conversion of the whole Nation and that it did worke that effect by which all must have taken speciall notice of it we shall further find these men to conclude that even in S. Patricks owne time also pilgrimages were very frequent thither for so O Sullevan While S. Patrick lived many went into that Purgatory for the purging of their sinnes whereof some who were doubtfull never returned but they who were armed with a firme and unmoved faith being returned reported that they had seen Hell and endured great Torments that also they had seen great felicity and rest Many saith he went in even in S. Patricks time They flocked thither by troopes saith another by whom many miracles were related of which some are recorded in the Monuments of Antiquity but where are these Monuments The Revelations of men that went in S. Patrick yet living are kept within the said Abby saith the third but yet let the producing of them be pressed and no such can be found such and more than enough of such may be easily found of a late stampe but farre short of S. Patrick or many ages after To come then to the time of the first discoverie that we reade of it the first newes we heare of it was in the age of Steven King of England and that by that Henry of Saltry whom we have before named who flourished about the yeare 1140. many even seven ages after S. Patricks conversion of this Kingdome which was about the yeare of our Lord 432. before which Henry and he also a stranger to the Kingdome and so taking it onely on hearesay we finde not any footsteps of it any where and with him doth Roth one that hath swet in this matter beginne as at the head To our testiâ—…ies at home saith he late ones all as may appeare We have assenting the suffrages of Stangers as of Henry of Saltry and Matthew Paris in that vision of Owen the Knight where we finde two Authors reporting one and the same history it being the first we finde commonly called the History of the Knight these Two againe we must reduce to One The one of these writers borrowing from the other Matthew Paris being also a stranger who lived about the yeare 1245. relating what he doth out of that Henry after whom he lived more than 100. yeares and after Iocelin 60. yeares a long time especially in superstitious times for such a Relation to take head and possible it is considering the times to find many reporters and such also as might be more readie to help it forward by adding to it for the best advantage of which kinde we finde to be in the first place these two first Henry and Matthew as may appeare by the circumstances of the relation of the grounds I meane and inducements for our beleeving the thing of which in the next place without touching upon the passages of that Pilgrimage which well examined would afford abundant matter for its owne confutation but that I referre to the following Chapter The proceedings in Matthew and Henry are these in substance for the particulars were tedious That there was a certaine Knight by some called Egnus but of others and more commonly Oenus as in Matthew Paris whom herein I follow This Owen was borne in Ireland and followed Steven King of England in his Warres from whom returning into Ireland his native Countrey to visit his parents and after some time taking into a serious consideration the great disorders of his ungodly life past he doth apply himselfe by way of confession to an Irish Bishop I know not whether Florentianus bishop as I conceive of Clogher he who did labour so much with Salteriensis to worke in him a beliefe of this Purgatory of which after This Bishop whosoever he was being about to enjoyâ—e our delinquent his Penance is prevented by Owen of himselfe making choice of going into S. Patrick's Purgatory notwithstanding the earnest solicitation of the Bishop to the contrary but being resolved The Bishop dismisseth him with Letters to the Prior of that Purgatory by whom after fifteene dayes exercise and preparation he is admitted and shut up alone in the Cave After whose returne we have him the Author of a very strange relation the ground-work of all that followed in that kind as that through that Cave he did passe into many subterraneall spatious Rooms and Passages by which he is led into all the corners of that Generall Purgatory as it is called this againe guiding him into Hell it selfe these two supposed not to be farre distant over which by the benefit of a bridge he passeth into Paradise the same Paradise out of which our first Parents were cast from whence and all this in a few houres is he back againe at the entrance of the Cave In all which what incredible and portentous reports we meet shall be referred to its owne place to be revised and examined Our Pilgrim now returned goeth another Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and thence backe againe into England where hee doth certifie the King of his resolution of forsaking the World and wholly addicting himselfe to a Religious life At which time saith Matthew or Salteriensis rather whose discourse is verbatim in Matthew It happened that Gervasius Abbet of the Monastery of Luda obtayned leave from the King of England for to build an Abbey in Ireland and to that end hee sent a Monke called Gilbert to the King that he might have the grant of a place for the Abbey Gilbert comming to the King did complaine that
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
Manes His ubi tum Natum Anchises unaque Sibillam Persequitur dictis portaque omittit Eburna Two gates of sleep there were of home one was By which men say true spirits use to passe The other made of purest Ivory Whence by the ghosts false dreams are sent on high Through this Anchises his discourse being done Dismist Sybilla and with her his sonne Thus have we seen neither can it be denyed but that this is one of the most pregnant proofes for this Purgatory the description of the place and the severall passages in the pilgrimage being so sutable To conclude then as in the former Chapter it appeared that the Reverence gained to this Purgatory did first proceed from him who was supposed the Author of it S. Patricke and yet with what uncertainty that could be beleeved was there shewed so here we finde it much more esteemed for it selfe out of the opinion of the strange effects of it Certainely strange if true and that accompanied with so many strange sights as were reported to be seene both strong motives to satisfie either Curiosity and Devotion all which granted what wonder was it to finde it so much looked after and so much flocked unto from farre and neare And yet with what foppery with how many contradictions with how great an heap of absurdities this was followed hath been in this Chapter considered So that again and again I say it it cannot be sufficiently admired that not onely the multitude but men otherwise rationall and learned should be so drawn on as to relish and digest such grosse Fables and Fooleries and still to reverence so poore and base a thing as this Cave is as if men were resolved to be missed or Not receiving the love of the Truth but holding it in unrighteousnesse God justly sending such strong delusions that should beleeve a lye But yet cannot we judge thus of all as if all of them had purposely shut their eyes and captivated their Iudgements so to be led on blind-foulded and against Reason to beleeve all reports concerning it For it cannot be thought that in so long a time and among so many thousands of Pilgrims there being so many eyes to pry into it it should be possible but that some more ingenious than others should at last discover the Imposture And therefore as this Purgatory did grow to that great height so did it groane under its own burthen being first discovered to some few after to all and lastly and that more than once deservedly demolished Of all which more fully in the following Chapter CHAP. III. How this Purgatory did begin to decline and fall from its esteeme being first suspected and found Fabulous and lastly quite demolished HAving formerly sought after the beginning of this Purgatory And after observed the Rising and increasing of it Order now leadeth to take notice of its continuance which if we should begin with the Time of Saint Patrickes converting this Kingdome Anno 432. unto which it is commonly referred with a supposed continuance thereof untill the yeare one thousand sixe hundred thirtie two the peryod of its dissolution It would make up a computation of one thousand two hundred yeares A time surely wonderfull if true for so grosse an Imposture to stand without discovery even potent States having suffered many alterations in a shorter time and among others none more than this Kingdome of Ireland which also maketh the matter yet more strange that this Cave should notwithstanding subsist a midst so many combustions But hee that shall observe the severall passages shall finde it to have its sencible declinings and that as it did please God to open the eyes of men and to disperse the mists of ignorance So that now by the full Sun-shine of the Gospell it is quite vanished without any memoriall which is the thing we are next to search after Neyther must the matter be so taken as if all this were done in an instant but as it did rise so fell it by certaine steps and degrees Yea the very rising not being without tottering and its progresse followed with a continuall staggering which notwithstanding it be evident out of what is before declared yet for the more cleare manifestation thereof I shall reduce all that hath beene said unto these three heads wherein as it were in one view the rising and falling thereof may at once be apparant The first step was out of the beliefe of having the Institution of it from Saint Patricke the Apostle of the Irish as being a meanes of the conversion of the Nation Which were it true deserved much of that respect and flooking unto it which hath beene afforded it and as a memorable and ancient monument and memoriall thereof ought it still to be preserved But this hath fayled it Saint Patrickes age would not owne it neyther had it a name for many ages even seven hundred yeares after And when in the yeare one thousand one hundred and forty it began to peepe up it would not be acknowledged by some eminent persons of that time by whom Henry of Saltry desired to bee informed of it whereas his Relators for it spake but by heare-say and so weake was the report that howsoever it seemed then to get head yet within fortie five yeares it is husht againe and no more newes for a while heard of it I meane in Iocelines times in the yeare one thousand one hundred eighty five of which before at large Secondly it having notwithstanding these rubs againe recovered its motion and gained a Name of throughly purging a penitent from all his sinnes in the Compasse of a naturall day where also strange sights of torments and joyes should be discovered to him by which meanes almost from all parts the concourse thither was so great as scarcely to be credited yet even in that very age was it as confidently rejected as a meere fable not consisting eyther with Reason or Religion as before wee heard out of Vincentius Belluacensis Anno 1240. being but one hundred yeares after that Henry of Saltry To which I will adde that of Bonaventure the Seraphicall Doctor within 25. yeares of Vincentius Anno 1265. esteeming it no other than a fable his words are these It is written that I Patrick obtayned that one should be punished in a certaine place within the Earth and from hence it was fabulously reported that Purgatory was in that place which to be meant of this Purgatory is by Gabriel Pennottus acknowledged by whom it is so farre stretched as to be a full casting off of all things delivered of it as Fables Truely faith he not withstanding that Bonaventure in 4. dist 20. par 1. quaest ult suspecteth all reported of the said Purgatory to be fabulous yet he saith that S. Patrick obtained that one should be punished in a certaine place of the earth out of which it was fabulously reported that Purgatory was there This you see is confessed but Pennottus his glosse