Acta Sanctorum). This was begun in the convent of Donegal on 22 Jan. 1632, and finished there on 10 Aug. 1636. The convent, of which the ruins still remain, had been unroofed by fire in 1601, and the book was written in a cottage within the precincts (O'Donovan, Preface, p. xxix). The ‘Annals’ have been translated and edited by John O'Donovan [q. v.], and fill six volumes 4to. Fragments had before been translated by Dr. Charles O'Conor (1764–1828) [q. v.] and by Owen Connellan [q. v.] Michael O'Clery signs the dedication to Fearghal O'Gara, M.P. for Sligo in 1634, and is mentioned first in the approbation signed by the guardian of the convent, Bernardin O'Clery. The same approbation states that the other chroniclers and learned men engaged in the work were Muiris and Fearfeasa O'Maolchonaire, Cucoigcriche O'Clery, Cucoigcriche O'Duibhgenáin and Conaire O'Clery, and mentions the chief manuscripts used by them. Many of these are extant, and demonstrate the fidelity of the compilers. The ‘Annals’ begin with the coming of Ceasair, granddaughter of Noah, to Ireland in a.m. 2242, and at first contain only brief statements of names and acts and explanations of nomenclature. Obits, battles, and successions, with occasional quotations from the historical poets, form the substance of the events of the year, and the entries become fuller and fuller as time advances, till in the later years up to 1616 the authors often write as literary historians, and not as mere chroniclers. Their style is somewhat stilted, and a diction more archaic than the literary language of the time is often used. The poetical quotations are generally brief; very rarely, as in the history of the battle of Killaderry in 866, there is a passage of verse long enough to suggest comparison with the Brunanburh song in the ‘Saxon Chronicle.’
An original copy of the ‘Annals’ is in the library of the Royal Irish Academy, in two parts, of which that up to 1171 was formerly at Stow, and then in the Ashburnham collection; while the latter, 1172–1616, once belonged to Charles O'Conor (1710–1791) [q. v.], who received it in 1734 from his uncle, Bishop O'Rourke, to whom it had been given by Colonel O'Gara, a descendant of the Fearghal O'Gara of the dedication. Michael O'Clery's handwriting last appears in the nine lines which end the account of the year 1605 (O'Donovan, Introduction, p. xiv, note c).
After the completion of the ‘Annals’ O'Clery produced in November 1636 ‘Martyrologium Sanctorum Hiberniæ,’ a complete calendar of the saints of Ireland, giving short lives of the more famous saints, with some verse quotations; names and localities of others, and the names only on their feast-days of the remainder. He had enlarged this work from a shorter compilation made by himself in 1629, and both have as their basis a large collection of Irish hagiological literature, of which the chief compositions are the ‘Felire of Aengus,’ a metrical calendar, extant in a manuscript written about 1400 (edited by Stokes, with other texts and translation, Dublin, 1871); the ‘Martyrology of Tallaght,’ probably composed about 900, of which a twelfth-century copy exists; the ‘Calendar of Cashel,’ which Colgan states was written about 1030, but which is not known to exist; the ‘Martyrology of Marianus O'Gormain,’ written in Irish verse about 1167. Numerous early poems and more than thirty lives of saints were also consulted. When complete the work was formally approved by Flann, son of Cairpre MacAedhagain of Ballymacegan, co. Tipperary, Flann being the most learned living member of a family of hereditary men of letters (1 Nov. 1636), and by the head of another family of hereditary men of letters, Conchobhar MacBruaidedha of Kilkeedy, co. Clare (11 Nov. 1636). It was afterwards commended by four bishops, all of them famous as Irish scholars—Maolseachlainn O'Cadhla, archbishop of Tuam; Baothalach MacAodhagain, bishop of Ross; Thomas Fleming, archbishop of Dublin; and Ross MacGeoghegan, bishop of Kildare, who dated his approval 8 Jan. 1637. The original manuscripts of this ‘Martyrology’ are preserved in the Burgundian Library at Brussels (xvi. 5095–6). The text, with translation by J. O'Donovan, was published in Dublin in 1864, edited by James Henthorne Todd [q. v.] and William Reeves [q. v.] In 1643 O'Clery printed at Louvain ‘Focloir no Sanasan Nuadh,’ a glossary of difficult Irish words, dedicated to Baothghalach MacAodhagain, bishop of Elphin. This book was already very rare in 1686, when Patrick MacOghannain made the manuscript copy in the Cambridge University Library.
The Burgundian Library also contains, in O'Clery's hand, two volumes of lives of Irish saints, written in 1628 and 1629; a copy of the ‘Cogadh Gaedhel re Gallaibh,’ or wars of the Irish with the Danes, made from a manuscript of Cuchonnacht O'Daly in 1635; a volume of poems on the O'Donnells of Donegal, from various sources; a volume containing a collection of Irish historical poems; and a copy of the ‘Félire of Aenghus Cele Dé’ He also translated into Irish the rules of the religious order of St. Clare, and there was a copy of this work in the Stowe Library (O'Reilly).
