Cú Chuimne

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Cú Chuimne was a monk of Iona who died in 747. Cú Chuimne, along with Ruben of Dairinis, was responsible for the great compendium known as Collectio canonum Hibernensis (Irish collection of Canon law).

Little is knownn of Cú Chuimne. He is credited with composeing the hymn Cantemus in omni die. Yet he was well enough known among his contemporaries to inspire the following verses:

Cú Chuimne in youth

read his way through half the turth.

He let the other half lie

while he gave women a try.

Well for him in old age.

He became a holy sage.

He gave women the last laugh.

He read the other half.

Of which Dáibhí Ó Crónín recently remarked: "We are not told which he preferred."

[edit] Sources

• "Hiberno-Latin Literature to 1169", Dáibhí Ó Crónín, "A New History of Ireland", volume one, 2005.
• Die irische Kanonensammlung, ed. Hermann Wasserschleben, Leipzig, 1885.
• Some seventh-century Hiberno-Latin texts and their relationships, Aidan Breen, Peritia, iii, pp. 204-14, 1984.