Biography
Mael-Isu Ua Brolchain was a religious poet from Donegal who was a member of the Armagh community. His death in Lismore is mentioned in the Annals of Innisfallen in 1086. He is recognized as one of the primary poets of his age, and there is a full-page account of his life and family in the sixteenth century Acta Sanctorum by Colgan. He was educated in the monastery of Both Chonais, Gleneely, beside the present day Culdaff, County Donegal. W. Reeves suggests a site in the town land of Carrowmore outside Culdaff. His death is mentioned in all major annals, but the Annals of the Four Masters give a longer notice than others:
The senior scholar of Ireland, learned in wisdom, in piety and in poetry in both languages. So great was his erudition and scholarship that he himself wrote books and compositions of wisdom and intellect. His spirit ascended into heaven on the 16th January, as is said: On the sixteenth of January/ on the night of fair Fursa’s feast,/ Mael-Isu O Brolchain perished,/ Oh! Who lives to whom this not a great distress.
Mael-Isu reveals no personal details in his poetry but genealogical sources give his father as Mael-Brfgte and his three brothers as Aed, Diarmait, and Muirecan. The Uf Brolchain descended from the Ulster king Suibne Mend and further from Niall Naf nGiallach.
His Work
The manuscript sources attribute eight poems to Mael-Isu: A Aingil, beir, A Choimdiu baid, A Choimdiu, nom-chomet, Buaid crabuid, Deus Meus, adiuva me, Dia hAine ni longu, In Spirut Naem immunn, and Ocht n-eric na nDualach. Many of these are published in the anthologies of lyrical poetry by Gerard Murphy, David Greene, and James Carney. A full collection of the poems are published by M. Nf Bhrolchain. Scholars mention him as the possible author of four further compositions. Fr. F. Mac Donncha suggested that he may also be the author of the Passions and Homilies because he was well educated with a deep knowledge of the scriptures and of Latin and had access to an extensive library.
The content of his poems reflect the concerns of his age, the secularization of the church and the budding reform. He composed devotional, personal prayers as well as didactic poems that reflect the beliefs and the teaching of the Ceili De (culdees) in preaching restraint, fasting, continence, and study as a way of life. He prays directly to the Trinity, to Saint Michael, and to God himself, using his poetry as a vehicle for religious teaching and for personal prayer. Some of the poetry may be directed at his students—Dia hAine ni longu says: "You eat,/ as for me, I shall fast,/ on account of fire which water does not extinguish/ and cold which heat does not quench." He may have moved to Lismore in search of the reforming spirit that was absent in the secular world of Armagh.
The poetry appears in a wide range of manuscripts including Laud 610 and 615, the Yellow Book of Lecan, 23 N 10 and 23 Q 1 in the Royal Irish Academy. He utilizes a wide range of meter such as Treochair, Rinnard, AiFreisligi and Cro cummaisc etir casbairdni ocus lethrannaigecht moir.
Three poems are attributed to him by Carney; A Chrinoc, At-lochar duit, Mo chinaid i comlaine; and Kuno Meyer cites him as the author of Rob soraid. Carney argues cogently for A Chrinoc’s being a poem to a Psalter that the poet rediscovers in old age. Greene accepts the attribution with the caveat that nothing else of Mael-Isu’s work attains the same standard. The metaphoric style of A Chrinoc is not found in any other of Mael-Isu’s poetry. All three poems address the themes of old age, sickness, a sinful life and impending death. Carney’s ascription is primarily based upon the poet’s reference to his northern origin and the improbability that two northern poets, both ill and dying, should reside in Munster at the same time. The poem At-lochar duit also refers to the north of the country. Carney does not examine considerations such as material, style, and meter. Rob soraid was attributed to him by Meyer and in common with Mael-Isu’s poetry it pleads protection for a journey and shows similarities of phrases with some others of his verse. In the shorts prayers and invocations such as In Spirut Naem immunn and the prayer to St. Michael, A Aingil, beir, he begs protection against the vices of the world. The three syllable initial line of A Aingil, beir intensifies the emotion: "Do not delay!/ bring my exorbitant prayer/ to the King, to the High-King." The lorica A choimdiu, nom-chomet seeks protection from the eight deadly sins for eight parts of the body: eyes, ears, tongue, heart, stomach, male organ, hands, and feet. The sins associated with each are outlined, for example:
"Protect my ears so that I do not listen to scandal, so that I do not listen to the foolishness of the evil world," and he continues: "Do not allow me to fall into the principal sins of the eminent, reputed eight, Christ come to me, to hunt them, to defeat them." In this he follows the teachings of the Penitentials as he does in his longest poem Ocht n-eric na nDualach that treats the eight vices. Some five or six stanzas are given over to each vice and to its cure, for example: "Greed— what it does is/ to force miserliness upon you;/ a craving for all things,/ pillage, plunder and robbery. The sole cure is/ contempt for the dark world,/ being in continual poverty/ without acquiring wealth."
The renowned bilingual Deus Meus adiuva me is still used as a hymn in the modern Irish church, a testament to Mael-Isu’s talent: "My God help me!/ Son of God give me your love/ Son of God give me your love/ My God help me!."
