Jocelin of Furness (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1175–1214) was an English

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...

, known for his Lives of Saint Waltheof,

Saint Patrick Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British culture, Romano-British Christian missionary and Archbishop of Armagh, bishop in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Irelan ...

, Saint Kentigern and Saint Helena of Constantinople. He is probably responsible for the popular legendary association of Saint Patrick with snakes, which he purportedly cast out of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Biography

He was a monk of Furness Abbey (now in

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town and civil parish (as just "Barrow") in the Westmorland and Furness district of Cumbria, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the county of Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borou ...

Cumbria Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders the Scottish council areas of Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders to the north, Northumberland and County Durham to the east, North Yorkshire to the south-east, Lancash ...

), and translated or adapted

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

hagiographical material for Anglo-Norman readers. He wrote for Jocelin,

Bishop of Glasgow The Archbishop of Glasgow is an archiepiscopal title that takes its name after the city of Glasgow in Scotland. The position and title were abolished by the Church of Scotland in 1689; and, in the Catholic Church, the title was restored by Pope ...

, a Life of Kentigern, and for

John de Courcy Sir John de Courcy (c. 1150–1219) was an Anglo-Norman knight who lived in Ireland from 1176 until his expulsion in 1204. He conquered a considerable territory, endowed religious establishments, built abbeys for both the Benedictines and the ...

and Thomas (Tommaltach),

Archbishop of Armagh The Archbishop of Armagh is an Episcopal polity, archiepiscopal title which takes its name from the Episcopal see, see city of Armagh in Northern Ireland. Since the Reformation in Ireland, Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic success ...

a Life of St Patrick. His Life of Waltheof was written to promote the cult of a former abbot of Melrose. The Life of St Helena was probably commissioned by a female community in England. Another work attributed to him was a book of British bishops. It has been claimed that he was also Abbot of Rushen Abbey, and an architect, but this is one of several different identifications which have been put forward.

Writings

Jocelin's writings are the topic of a major survey by Helen Birkett, and a volume of conference proceedings. * Life of St Patrick, ed. by Ingrid Sperber and Ludwig Bieler, in ''Royal Irish Academy Archive of Celtic-Latin literature'', ed. by Anthony Harvey and Angela Malthouse (2nd development and expanded edition, ACLL-2), http://www.brepolis.net (subscription) * The most ancient lives of Saint Patrick, including the life by Jocelin, by James O'Leary (New York, 1904) (free) * Life of St Kentigern, ed. and trans. Alexander Penrose Forbes, ''Lives of S. Ninian and S. Kentigern'' (Edinburgh, 1874) * Life of St Waltheof, ed. by George McFadden, 'An Edition and Translation of the Life of Waldef, Abbot of Melrose, by Jocelin of Furness' (unpublished PhD thesis, Columbia University, 1952) * The Life of St Helena (1198 × 1214), ed. by Antonina Harbus, ''Helena of Britain in Medieval Legend'' (Cambridge: Brewer, 2002); trans. by Ingrid Sperber and Clare Downham,
''The Life of St Helena'' by Jocelin of Furness'

Biography

Writings

Notes

References

Further reading