Doubtless much of the importance of Ciaran is reflected back from
the outstanding importance of his great foundation--the monastic
university, as it is fair to call it, of _Cluain maccu Nois_ (in an
English setting spelt "Clonmacnois"), on the shore of the Shannon. But
this cannot be the whole explanation of the esteem in which he
was held; it must be at least partly due to the memory of his own
character and personality.

Such a conclusion is indicated if we examine critically the _Lives_ of
this saint, translations of which are given in the present volume, and
compare them with the lives of other Irish saints. In studying all
these documents we must bear in mind that none of them are, in any
modern sense of the word, biographies. A biography, in the proper
definition of the term, gives an ordered account of the life of its
subject, with dates, and endeavours to trace the influences which
shaped his character and his career, and the manner in which he
himself influenced his surroundings. The so-called lives of saints are
properly to be regarded as _homilies_. They were composed to be read
to assemblies of the Faithful, as sermons for the festivals of the
saints with whom they deal; and their purpose was to edify the hearers
by presenting catalogues of the virtues of their subjects, and,
especially, of their thaumaturgic powers. Thus they do not possess
the unity of ordered and well-designed biographies; they consist
of disconnected anecdotes, describing how this event or that gave
occasion for a miraculous display.

It follows that to the historian in search of unvarnished records
of actual fact these documents are useless, without most drastic
criticism. They were compiled long after the time of their subjects,