Biography

Cellanus was the abbot of Péronne

Péronne

Péronne is the name or part of the name of several communes in France:* Péronne, Saône-et-Loire, in the Saône-et-Loire département* Péronne, Somme, in the Somme département* Péronne-en-Mélantois, in the Nord département...

 in Picardy

Picardy

This article is about the historical French province. For other uses, see Picardy .Picardy is a historical province of France, in the north of France...

. At the time, Péronne was known as Perrona Scottorum on account of its fame as a home to Irish peregrini.

He was a penfriend and correspondent

Correspondent

A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is a journalist or commentator, or more general speaking, an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, location. A foreign correspondent is stationed in a foreign...

 of Aldhelm, and it is from a surviving letter that much of our knowledge of Cellanus originates. Ludwig Traube believed him to be identical with the Abbot Cellanus who's obit is recorded in the Annales Laureshamenses

Annales laureshamenses

The Annales laureshamenses or Annals of Lorsch are a set of annals of the history of Francia covering the years from 703 to 803 with a brief prologue. They were perhaps begun as a continuation of the "Minor Chronicle" of Bede, contained in his De temporibus...

 under 706; and was probably the Cellan mac Sechnusaigh, sapiens, recorded in the same year in the Annals of Ulster

Annals of Ulster

The Annals of Ulster are annals of medieval Ireland. The entries span the years between AD 431 to AD 1540. The entries up to AD 1489 were compiled in the late 15th century by the scribe Ruaidhrí Ó Luinín, under his patron Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa on the island of Belle Isle on Lough Erne in the...

 (pp.96-119, 1900). Traube furthermore attributed two hexameter

Hexameter

Hexameter is a metrical line of verse consisting of six feet. It was the standard epic metre in classical Greek and Latin literature, such as in the Iliad and Aeneid. Its use in other genres of composition include Horace's satires, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. According to Greek mythology, hexameter...

 poems to Cellanus (Traube, pp.105-08, 1900).

Panegyric to Saint Patrick

Cellanus was thought to have been the composer of a panegyric

Panegyric

A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...

 in honour of Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints....

 after the manner of Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

, which was inscribed on the walls of a basilica

Basilica

The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...

 at Peronne which was dedicated to Patrick. However, Lapidge (1994 pp 110–15,) attributes this to Abbot Boniface. Against this, Hoffmann (2001 p 17) and Howlett (1998 p 38), think the poem is probably Hiberno-Latin

Hiberno-Latin

Hiberno-Latin, also called Hisperic Latin, was a learned sort of Latin literature created and spread by Irish monks during the period from the sixth century to the tenth century.-Vocabulary and Influence:...

. On this subject, Charles D. Wright states:

Reference

• O Roma nobilis. Philologische Untersuchungen aus dem Mittelalter, Ludwig Traube, pp.399-395, Abhandlungen der königlichen bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Klasse 19, 1894.
• Perrona Scottorum, ein Beitrag zur Überlieferungsgeschichte und zur Palaeographie des Mittelalters, pp.469-538, Vorlesungen und Abhandlungen, ed. Franz Boll
  Franz Boll
  Franz Boll was a German scholar. He became Professor of Classical Philology at the University of Heidelberg.He is known for his editorial and biographical work on Claudius Ptolemy. He also wrote on astrology. He is quoted as saying "Astrology wants to be religion and science at the same time; that...
  
  , Paul Lehmann
  Paul Lehmann
  Dr. Paul Lehmann was a Korvettenkapitän of the Reserves with the Kriegsmarine during World War II and a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross...
  
  , and Samuel Brandt, München 1900 (1901, 1920).
• Autographs of Insular Latin Authors of the Early Middle Ages, pp.103-36, Michael Lapidge, in Gli autografi medievali. Problemi paleografici e filologici. Atti del convegno di studio della Fondazione Ezio Franceschini. Erice, 25 settembre–2 ottobre 1990, ed. Paolo Chiesa and Lucia Pinelli, 1994.
• Insular Acrostics, Celtic Latin Colophons, pp.27-44, David Howlett, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies 35, 1998.
• Autographa des früheren Mittelalters.”, pp.1-62, Hartmut Hoffmann, Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters 17, 2001.
• Hiberno-Latin Literature to 1169, Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
  Dáibhí Ó Cróinín
  Dáibhí Ó Cróinín is an academic Irish historian, the current Professor of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway . M.Phil., Ph.D. , and Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is a grandson of Elizabeth Cronin , an Irish traditional singer...
  
  , chapter XI, A New History of Ireland, volume I, 2005.

External links

• http://www.mun.ca/mst/heroicage/issues/4/Grimmer.html