Cogitosus (fl. c. 650) was an
Irish monk
A monk (; from , ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a man who is a member of a religious order and lives in a monastery. A monk usually lives his life in prayer and contemplation. The concept is ancient and can be seen in many reli ...
, who wrote the ''Vita Sanctae Brigidae''.
Life
Cogitosus was a monk of
Kildare
Kildare () is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. , its population was 10,302, making it the 7th largest town in County Kildare. It is home to Kildare Cathedral, historically the site of an important abbey said to have been founded by Saint ...
, an important monastery in Ireland, who wrote the oldest extant vita of
Saint Brigid, ''
Vita Sanctae Brigidae'', around 650.
[Bitel, Lisa M (2002). '' Textual Practice'' Summer 2002, Vol. 16 Issue 2. Academic Search Premier (EBSCOhost). P. 211.] There is a controversy as to whether he was related to Saint Brigid.
names Cogitosus as the first Irish hagiographer.
Cogitosus writes in fairly good Latin, much better indeed than might be expected in that age,
[ likely drawing from earlier documents which had preserved older traditions of Brigid's life. His description of the church of Kildare with its interior decorations is specially interesting for the history of early Irish art and architecture. He describes in some detail the tombs of Brigid and Conleth. There are at least two contemporary English translations of Cogitosus's ''Life of St Brigid'': one by Connolly and Picard in 1987 and another in 1993 by Liam da Paor.][''St Patrick's World'', Liam de Paor, Four Courts Press, Dublin, 1993 - chapter 33]
Cogitosus's Life of St Brigid the Virgin
accessed 13 February 2012
See also
* Caolánn
* Cadac-Andreas
* Manchán of Min Droichit
* Irish Augustine
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cogitosus
Irish male writers
Christian hagiographers
Irish Christian monks
7th-century Irish writers
People from County Kildare
Irish writers in Latin
7th-century writers in Latin