The Ancient Irish Church

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3>t; //33?/?^.

HARVARD COLLEGE
LIBRARY

FROM THE BEQUEST OF

JAMES WALKER

(Class of 1814)
President of Harvard College

being gircn to works in tho InteUeetnal
■ad Moval ScimoM**

THE

ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

o

THE

ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

JOHN HEALY, LL.D.
Rector of Kells

C

• iLontifln '' .

THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.

56, Paternoster Row ; 65, St. Paul's Churchyard

AND 164, Piccadilly
1892

y

-7.1 "."■"'

•if / - ''' /

/

/

BuTLVK k Takker,

The Selwood Printiwo Wobks,

FuoME, AND London.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

Introduction 7

CHAPTEK I.
Early Christianity 11

CHAPTER II.
The Arrival of Saint Patrick 17

CHAPTER III.
Missionary Labours of Saint Patrick ... 26

CHAPTER IV.
Character of the Ancient Irish Church ... 38

CHAPTER V.
Saint Columba 52

CHAPTER VI.
Saint Columbanus 70

CHAPTER VII.
Ascetics and Anchorites 82

CHAPTER VIII.
The Ministry of Women 89

CHAPTER IX.
Church Officers Peculiar to Ireland ... 99

5

6 CONTENTS,

PAGE

CHAPTER X.
Saint Augustine of Canterbury and the Irish

Church 109

CHAPTER XI.
Points of Difference between Ireland and

Rome 115

CHAPTER XII.
Conclusion of the Easter Controversy . . . 126

CHAPTER XIII.
The Eighth Century 130

CHAPTER XIV.
The Danish Invasions 141

CHAPTER XV.
Influence of the Danish Invasions on the

Church 148

CHAPTER XVI.
Conversion of the Danes 156

CHAPTER XVIL
Rise and Progress of the Romish Party. . . 162

CHAPTER XVIII.
The Synod of Kells 176

CHAPTER XIX.
The Anglo-Norman Invasion 181

CHAPTER XX.
Conclusion 187

INTEODUCTION.

The History of the Ancient Irish Church has an
importance of its own. It concerns not merely the
Irishman who naturally desires to learn how Chris-
tianity came to be preached in his own land, for the
subject is of scarcely less interest to the dweller in
England or Scotland. The former finds in Ireland
the counterpart of the old British Church, and traces
to that island, besides, the source whence much of
the Christianity of the Anglo-Saxon was first derived.
As he marks how from time to time the English
Church struggled for liberty — how, long before the
time of the Reformation, the authority of the Pope
was resisted or rendered only a grudging recognition
— he will rightly trace this independent spirit to the
tone originally given to the Church by the Celtic
missionaries. The latter looks to the Church of
Ireland as the parent Church of his own. The story
of lona, and of the conversion of the tribes of Cale-
donia, is as much Irish as it is Scotch. But to the
student of general Church History, Ireland is also
important. Just as, in some unfrequented islands,
types of animal and vegetable life exist which have
become extinct elsewhere, and by study of these we
may learn much of the former fauna and flora of
places where all the conditions of life have changed ;
so Ireland retained rites and ceremonies and forms of

7

8 INTRODUCTION.

government long after they had ceased to exist in
every other country. In this way we may learn
much of the general state of the Church in the fifth
century from the state of Ireland as late as the
twelfth.

Perhaps the greatest interest of all will be felt
by those who, rejoicing in the liberty of a reformed
faith and an emancipated Church, will see in Ireland
the last of the Western Churches to acknowledge
the supremacy of the Pope. When all other parts of
Western Europe had already for centuries acknow-
ledged his sway, Ireland was still independent.

In the following short sketch I have endeavoured
to present as true a picture as I could make. I have
consulted histories written by men of all shades of
opinion, but for the facts I have relied almost entirely
on the original authorities themselves. Of the Lives
of Patrick and the other saints I have made but
sparing use. They are too full of the marvellous
to be of much value in ascertaining mere sober fact.
I have therefore preferred, where possible, the older
and more authentic works of Patrick himself.^ Bede
has been largely drawn upon for the incidents of the
Irish missions in England. He was devoted to the
Roman interest, but he is not unfair to his opponents.
Much use has also been made of the works of Giral-
dus Cambrensis ; but he is so prejudiced against
everything Irish, and at the same time so credulous,
that his work is to be used with caution. The Life
of Malachy, who was the great instrument in bring-
ing Ireland under the sway of the Pope, has been
written by Bernard of Clairvaux, and I have made
much use of it; but the discrepancies between Ber-

* A convenient edition of these works has lately been issued
by the Religious Tract Society.

INTRODUCTION. 9

nard and the Irish Annals are so numerous and
important that the two cannot be reconciled; and
the latter have seemed to me in general the more
worthy of credence, for the simple reason that Ber-
nard's work is written with a purpose, whereas the
Annals are pure unadorned records of the events.

The other sources of information are for the most
part indicated in the text or the notes.

THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

CHAPTER I.

EARLY CHRISTIANITY.

Before the close of the fourth century the Christian
Church had passed through many vicissitudes and
had gained many victories. When the contest began
between the small company of believers — despised
and persecuted as they were — on the one hand, and
the great power of Imperial Rome on the other, few
would have ventured to predict that Christianity
would ever take the place of paganism as the religion
of the multitude ; and yet, long before the time of
which we write, it had been shown that the weak-
ness of God is stronger than men, and that He in
His great providence had chosen the weak things of
the world to confound the things that are mighty.
As early as the time of Justin Martyr, the Christian
apologist could boast that * there is no race of men,
whether of Barbarians or of Greeks, or bearing any
other name, either because they live in wagons
without fixed habitation, or in tents leading a

pastoral life, among whom prayers and thanks-

11

ii

12 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

givings are not offered to the Father and Maker of
the universe, through the name of the crucified
Jesus.' But in the year 400 it needed not that an
apologist should direct attention to the fact. The
old worships were already for the most part forgotten.
The temples of the gods had been destroyed or
turned to Christian uses. The spread of Christi-
anity was in some respects a more striking fact then
than it is even at the present moment, for the diffu-
sion of knowledge and the discoveries of modern
times have revealed to us the existence of millions
who have not as yet heard the sound of the Gospel ;
whereas in that age men's minds never went much
beyond those countries which were subject to the
imperial power. ' All the world ' was to them
synonymous with the Roman Empire, and in this
sense, * all the world ' was Christian.

This abundant success was not without its serious
drawbacks. The converts in the earliest ages were
gathered from those whose hearts God had touched,
and who, having been brought to a true knowledge
of the Saviour, were ready to make any sacrifices
and to endure any persecutions for His name's sake.
But the case was far different when, after the
conversion of Constantine, Christianity became the
religion of the State, and multitudes changed their
faith without abandoning their superstition. Men I
who had been taught that they should worship
some god, but that it mattered little which, might
easily become converts ; but they were scarcely the
class of men who would aid in preserving the purity
and zeal of the earlier ages.

Accordingly we find that the fourth century,
although it was a time when large numbers were
added to the Church, was not an age of real
missionary enterprise. Instances are recorded of

EARLY CHRISTIANITY, 13

new Churches having been founded at that period,
but none of them owe their origin to the labours
of apostles solemnly sent forth for the purpose of
evangelization. In the case of Abyssinia, for ex-
ample, two youths, who had been taken prisoner by
the inhabitants, instructed their captors in the faith
of Christ, and spread among all the people the light
of the Gospel. In Georgia, too, a captive was the
first to preach amongst the people the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and thus a ' little maid ' was
honoured of God in being chosen to be the means
of their conversion.

The Christian Church, in its corporate capacity,
gave no sanction to these and similar enterprises,
and had quite forgotten that its mission was to
preach the Gospel to every creature. In the apos-
tolic age the idea was that Christianity should be
like a great sea, spreading over the whole earth. In
the fourth century Christians were content that it
should be like a river — a broad and mighty river,
it is true, but with heathenism as banks on each
side, unmeasured in extent, and not to be reached
by the healing waters.

When Christianity became generally diffused over
Western Europe, two nations were passed over.
The Irish were not evangelized until the fifth., cen-
tury, and the tribes of Germany and the northern
parts of the Continent remained in heathenism for
some centuries later. Both of these facts have to
be kept in mind when we come to study the history
of Christianity in Ireland.

The particular time at which a Church was
founded must necessarily influence its future to a
great extent, particularly when, as in Ireland, the
country is more or less isolated from the rest of the
world, and is scarcely, if at all, influenced by the

<\- »

A* t . »

14 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

intellectual and spiritual movements in other lands.
It is thus that the peculiar monastic character of
Irish Christianity is to be explained. If it had been
founded earlier or later, monasticism might have
been introduced, but it would have been different in
kind, and would never have become the sole rule of
the Church. On the continent of Europe the old
monastic ideas soon became antiquated, and new
developments so revolutionized the system that it
retained in the end no resemblance to the original
institution. Ireland continued through many ages
to perpetuate that which in other places was only a
passing fashion. In many ways too, as we shall see,
Ireland retained for centuries the peculiarities of the
age in which she first received the faith ; and it is
this, indeed, that lends particular interest to her ,
history, for in no other country of Europe could wo
find, even down to the twelfth century, a survival of
the peculiar doctrines and usages that existed in the \
fifth.

The paganism of the German tribes and Norsemen
had also its influence on the Irish Church. First of
aU it afforded scope for missionary enterprise, and
provoked enthusiasm and zeal, which were crowned
with abundant success, and which must have reacted
most beneficially on the Church that sent forth her
children to preach the Gospel. In later years the
heathen Norsemen, having made settlements on the
Irish shores, brought trial and suffering to the Chris-
tians, breaking up many of the religious establish-
ments and schools of learning ; and at a still later
period, when these same Norsemen had been con-
verted to Christianity they had no small share in 1
revolutionizing the Celtic Church and in bringing *J'
itjnto, subjection to the see of Eome. "- - ''■'^, . ! '.

When it is said that Irish Christianity dates from j ."

EARL Y CHRISTIANITY, 1 5

the fifth century, it is not meant that there were
absolutely no Christians in the country before that
time. Many reasons, on the contrary, would lead us
to beUeve that some progress in the work of evan-
gelization had already been made. For example,
we ]^iasf that before this time Christianity had
obtained a footing in Britain, and there is every
reason to believe that a constant intercourse was
kept up between her and the neighbouring island.
Irish ports, too, were often visitea by Roman mer-
chants, and some of these were very probably Chris-
tians.

Irishmen, again, were great travellers, and occa-
sionally rose to eminence as bishops and presbyters
of th> Church in different countries. Mansuetus,
first bishop of Toul (a.d. 360), is said to have been
Irish, and so also was Celestius, who became one of
the chief propagators of the Pelagian heresy. We
have not, it is true, any historic record of these
Christian Irishmen returning to their own country,
or keeping up correspondence with their friends at
home ; but it is not improbable that some of them
did so, and thus introduced the religion which they
had learned in a foreign land.

Another probable source of Christian instruction
was the number of slaves obtained either by pur-
chase or conquest, sometimes from Britain, and
sometimes even from Caul. Patrick himself was a
Christian slave in Ireland long before he thought of
visiting the country as a missionary.

These conjectures are borne out by the fact that
the ancient legends, however inconsistent they may
be in other respects, nearly always agree in stating
that a Christian Church existed in the country long
before the time of Patrick.

Finally, we have Prosper of Aquitaine telling us

i6 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

in his Chronicle^ in a passage quoted afterwards by
the Venerable Bede, that Pope Celesline, in the year
431, consecrated one Palladius, and sent him to the
Irish believing in Christ as their first bishop. This
has been accepted by most historians as prooi positive
that there were at that time some who ha^'^)l5eady
received the faith.

But when full weight has been given to all tl\ese
considerations, it will nevertheless appear certain
that before the preaching of Patrick the numbei* of
Christians in Ireland must have been very sriall.
Prosper speaks in another place of Palladium as
' having made the barbarous island Christian,' irom
which one would be led to conclude that his mission
was that of an evangelist to the heathen rathe:f than
that of a bishop for the faithful. But it is very
evident that Prosper was only imperfectly acquainted
with the facts of the case. For this latter statement
he seems to have had no grounds whatever. From
Irish sources we learn that Palladius was very far
indeed from making the barbarous island Christian;
on the contrary, his whole mission was a failure.
He landed, it is said, on the coast of Wexford, but
found that the * Irish believing in Christ,' whom he
was sent to shepherd, were non-existent ; and he
met with such determined opposition from the
prince of that district that he shortly afterwards
re-embarked, and never set foot again on Irish soil.
Accordingly, when Patrick, the great apostle of
Ireland, entered his missionary labours in the begin-
ning of the fifth century, he found the whole country
given over to the superstitions of Druidism. Indeed.
Ireland and Scotland and the more remote parts oi
Brittany were then the only places where that
ancient cult survived.

CHAPTER n.

THE ARRIVAL OF SAINT PATRICK.

The end of the fourth century and beginning of the
fifth was a time of trial to the inhabitants of Britain.
Under the protection of the Romans they had
made considerable progress in ci^alization and the
arts of peace, but they had become quite unused to
the science of war. Accordingly, when the Roman
legions were withdrawn, the Britons found them-
selves in a defenceless condition, and exposed to the
hostile attacks of those tribes which had never been
brought under the imperial yoke. Picts came down
from the northern parts of Scotland, Scots crossed
over from the coasts of Ireland ; they destroyed the
villages, plundered the possessions, and sometimes
even seized the persons of the more civilized, but
less warlike inhabitants of the country from which
the protectors had been withdrawn.

In one of these piratical expeditions, a prey of
' many thousand men ' was brought across the sea,
and placed as slaves among the tribes of Ulster.
Among the rest was a young lad of sixteen, son of
a deacon and grandson of a priest, who was destined
by God to be thus prepared for a great mission, and
to be the instrument in His hands of leading a whole
nation to the knowledge of the truth. His baptismal
name was Succat. He became better known to
posterity by his Latin name of Patricius or Patrick.

There have come down to us a hymn in the Irish

17 B

1 8 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

language, and two short works in Latin said to have
been written by this famous man. In one of these,
his Confession^ he gives a short epitome of his life.
In the other, his Epistle to Coroticus^ he pleads with a
Welsh prince for the liberation of some slaves who
had been carried into captivity on the very day of
their baptism. The Latin of these two documents
is rude and archaic. The quotations from Scripture
are numerous, and they show that the writer was
not acquainted with Jerome's translation, but em-
ployed one of those older Latin versions^ which
were in use before the so-called Vulgate had obtained
general acceptance. Both these considerations form
a strong presumption in favour of the age and
authenticity of these writings; and the presumption
is further strengthened by the fact that they differ
most essentially from the compositions of succeeding
centuries, in the entire absence of the miraculous
and the marvellous. These works, therefore, must
be our principal guide in ascertaining the facts of
Patrick's life.

We learn from the Confession that the hardships
of his captivity were regarded by him as a just
punishment for his sins. *I knew not the true God,'
he says, * and was led away captive into Ireland with
many thousand men, according to our deserts ; be-
cause we had gone back from God, and had not kept
His commandments, and were not obedient to our
priests, who used to admonish us for our salvation ; ^
and the Lord brought upon us the anger of His
indignation, and scattered us among many, nations,
even to the ends of the earth.'

* For an account of the version used by Patrick and other
early Celtic writers, see chapter xiii.

^ This is curiously like a passage in the Second Epistle of
Clement, chap. xvii.

d

THE ARRIVAL OF SAINT PATRICK, 19

The immediate result on Patrick was to lead him
to seek earnestly the grace of God. Day and night
he continued instant in prayer, and the answer that
came to his soul cannot be better described than in
his own words. * The Lord made me conscious of
my unbelief, that all too late I might remember my
faults and strengthen my whole heart towards the
Lord my God, who had respect to my low estate,
and had pity on my youth and ignorance. He kept
me before I knew Him, and before I had sense
or could distinguish between good and evil, and
protected and comforted me, as a father his child.
Therefore I cannot, nor indeed ought I to keep
silence concerning so great benefits and such great
grace bestowed on me in the land of my captivity ;
for this is the only recompense we can offer, that
after GtxJ has reproved us or caused us to know our
sinfulness, we should exalt and confess His wonders
before every nation that is under the whole heaven.'

The history of the Christian Church furnishes us
with many examples of what pious slaves can do ;
but it does not seem to have entered Patrick's mind
at this time that as he had received so many blessings
from the hand of God, he should endeavour to be a
means of blessing to those who were around him.
His only thought was of deliverance. Tending the
sheep day by day, he was all the time longing for
his liberty. After six years of servitude, acting on
the impulse of a dream, he fled from his master
and made his way to the shore. There he lived
for a time in a rude hut which he constructed for
himself, but was at length taken on board a vessel,
and after some adventures found his way to his
father's home in safety. But the freedom he had
so earnestly desired did not bring the contentment
that he had anticipated. Finding himself once more

20 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

amongst Christian people, and enjoying the privileges
of Christian worship, his thoughts were reverting
continually to the people of Ireland, and a great
purpose gradually formed itself in his mind : to
return to the land of his captivity as a Christian,
missionary.

While these thoughts were in his heart, and he
was pondering whether he should hearken to his
relatives and friends, who counselled that as he had
gone through so many tribulations he should go
nowhere from them ; or whether he should follow
the dictates of that inward prompting which seemed
to urge him forward, towards the great work, a voice
seemed to come to him, which said, ' He who gave
His life for thee is He who speaks in thee/ On
another occasion he saw in a dream one, Victor,
coming from Ireland, the bearer of innumerable
letters, on one of which was written the words, * The
Voice of the Irish.* In describing this vision, he
says, * While I was reading the beginning of the
letter, I thought that I heard in my mind the voice
of the men themselves — those who live near the
Wood of Foclut, which is beside the Western Sea.
And thus they cried, "We pray thee, holy youth, to
come and walk amongst us." And I was greatly
pricked in my heart, and could not read any more;
and so I awoke. Thanks be to God that after many
years the Lord has given them the answer to their
prayer.'

Notwithstanding these which he regarded as
Divine intimations of the great mission which was
before him, Patrick remained many years before
giving himself up to the work. On every hand he
encountered nothing but opposition. The members
of his family earnestly besought him to relinquish
the idea. They offered him many gifts and en-

THE ARRIVAL OF SAINT PATRICK, 21

treated him with sorrow and tears. His seniors
reasoned with him, and were offended because he
would not yield to them. Others were hindering
him, and were talking behind his back and saying,
* Why does he run into danger amongst enemies
who know not God ? ' They objected that one rustic
in his manners and without proper education was
unfit for the work. They even went so far as to
bring against him an indiscretion of his boyhood,
and to urge that by it he was for ever rendered
unfit for the office of a Christian missionary. *It
was on account of the anxiety which it occasioned
me,' he says, *and With a sorrowful mind that I
unbosomed myself to my dearest friend, telling him
what I had done in my youth in one day, nay,
rather, in one hour, because I was not yet able to
overcome.' His 'dearest friend' on this occasion
betrayed his confidence, hoping by this means to
dissuade him from what seemed to be a most hazar-
dous enterprise. So persistent was the opposition
with which he was met that many refused to the last
to recognise his work. He obtained in the end an
abundant reward for his labour — * beautiful and
beloved children,' as he puts it, ' brought forth in
Christ in such multitudes.' Thus it was shown that
his work was the work of God. But not even then
did his friends regard his mission with favour.
'Mine own people,' he says regretfully, 'do not
acknowledge me : a prophet has no honour in his
own country.'

It is not to be wondered at that under such
circumstances Patrick hesitated long before taking
the decisive step. It was a grief to him in after
years that he was so slow in obeying the heavenly
call. 'I ought to give thanks to God without
ceasing,' he says, ' who often pardoned my uncalled-

22 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

for folly and negligence, who did not let His anger
burn fiercely against me ; who allowed me to work
with Him, though I did not promptly follow what
was shown me, and what the Spirit suggested.'

It is only incidentally that Patrick gives any
information as to how he was occupied during this
time of waiting. He tells us that he was living
with his relatives * in the Brittanias ' ^ at the time
when he had the dream about the * Voice of the
Irish.' He seems also to have been with them when
his final resolve was taken, for he tells us that in
going to Ireland he gave up all the advantages
arising from his father's social position. ' My father
was a decurio,' he says. *I do not blush, neither
am I sorry that I have bartered my nobility for the
good of others.' From this it would appear that
most of his time was spent with his family at their
home in Britain.

In other places he speaks of his brothers in Gaul,
probably using the word brothers in a religious
sense, that is to say, members of the same ecclesiasti-
cal community. He says that his object in writing the
Confession is that after his death he might leave it
to his brethren in Gaul. And again he tells us that
he sometimes earnestly desired to leave his work in
Ireland in order that he might ' go as far as Gaul, to
visit his brethren and see the face of the saints of
the Lord.' The two statements are not incom-
patible. He may well have spent part of his time

^ The Eomans divided England into six provinces, of
which two were named Brittania (Prima and Secunda).
Brittania Prima was mostly south of the Thames, Brittania
Secunda was in the west, and included Wales and some
ad^joining parts of England. Patrick speaks of his home
being in the Brittanias, but gives no more precise informa-
tion.

THE ARRIVAL OF SAINT PATRICK, 23

in his father's house, and part in one of the monas-
teries of Gaul, where he would have enjoyed spiritual
and educational advantages which could not be had
in Britain, owing to the disturbed state of the
country and the withdrawal of the Roman legions.

So far we have followed Patrick's own writings,
using them the more freely because there is such
good reason for believing that the documents are
authentic. But when we take up any of the large
number of ^ Lives of St. Patrick ' which have been
written, we feel that we are breathing an entirely
different atmosphere. In the one case the moderate
and unsensational character of the narrative disposes
us to accept it as a truthful story. In the other, the
preponderance of the miraculous element and the
high colouring which manifestly belongs to a later
age cause us to pause, and throw a considerable
shadow of doubt over the whole account.

The oldest of Patrick's biographies is generally
believed to have been composed not much more
than a century after his death. Of this Life a
manuscript exists^ written in the first years of the
ninth century, and in it the scribe complains that
the copy from which he was transcribing had in
many cases become illegible by reason of its age.
Documents which can boast such a respectable
antiquity are not to be lightly cast aside; but
nevertheless they must always be used with extreme
caution.

Thege old writers never made any distinction
between the biography and the panegjnric. They
would have considered themselves unfaithful to their
duty if they doubted any story that seemed to them
to be creditable to the subject of their work. Even
if the story were palpably untrue, they would have
no hesitation in admitting it if they imagined that

24 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

it would do good to the reader. Often, too, they
were led into anachronisms by asking themselves
what (mght the subject of their memoir to have
done, and then answering that question according
to the ideas of the age in which they themselves
lived.

In making use of these ancient sources of infor-
mation, there are therefore two errors which are to
be avoided. In the first place, that credulity which
accepts every story, no matter how far-fetched or
improbable ; and in the second place, that scepticism
which refuses to acknowledge any groundwork of
truth, because some of the accessories of the story
are manifestly untrue.

The biographers fill up this period of Saint
Patrick's life with varied and extensive travels.
He visits Saint Martin at Tours, and remains with
him four years. He also becomes for a time the
disciple of Saint Germanus, and with him visits
Britain and aids in refuting the Pelagian heresy.
He crosses the Alps into Italy. He visits some
islands in the Mediterranean, and in one of them
obtains the miraculous crozier known as the * Staff'
of Jesus,' which was venerated as a most precious
relic up to the time of the Reformation. Finally,
he repairs to Rome, is consecrated by Pope Celestine,
and with the apostolic commission thus obtained,
sets out for his work in Ireland.

We can trace to some extent the growth of the
legend. In Patrick's own works we have no in-
timation that he ever came in contact with any of
the eminent men of other lands, but he intimates
that he had some connection with Gaul, his bio-
graphers therefore considered it only fitting that he
should have been instructed by the great religious
leaders of the age in that country. Accordingly the

THE ARRIVAL OF SAINT PA TRICK, 25

story of his having been the disciple of Martin and
Germanus is the first to make its appearance. At a
later time the Papal sanction was regarded as indis-
pensably necessary, and consequently we find that
the story of his consecration by Pope Celestine then
came forth, and was accepted by all succeeding bio-
graphers.

Happily it is not necessary for us now to enter
at any length on the question as to how much of
this should be received, and how much rejected.
We know that the influence of Martin and Ger-
manus was largely felt in Ireland. They were the
leaders of the movement towards monasticism in
Gaul, and from that movement Ireland to a great
extent obtained its inspiration. But this influence
can easily be accounted for without supposing that
there was any personal contact between Patrick and
the Gaulish leaders. This part of the story may
therefore be regarded as doubtful, but not impos-
sible.

On the other hand, the assertion that Patrick was
consecrated by Pope Celestine labours under the
most serious difiiculties; for Roman influence was
conspicuously absent from Ireland, and in the cen-
tury after the arrival of Patrick the Roman teachers
were met with bitter, and one might almost say
unreasoning, hostility. Moreover, the legend did
not take its rise until a Romanizing party had
sprung up in the Church. We can therefore scarcely
allow that Patrick ever had a commission from Rome.
Patrick himself mentions no call except the inward
call of the Spirit. He believed that God had chosen
him for the work, *and believing that, he made a
full and unreserved dedication of himself to the
service.

CHAPTER III.

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK.

Ox the subject of Patrick's missionary labours, he
gives us but little information himself. He excuses
himself, saying, ' It would be a long task to enume-
rate one by one my labours, or even a part of them.
Briefly I may say that the very loving God has often
delivered me from slavery, and from twelve perils by
which my very life was endangered, besides many
snares, and that which I am not able to express in
words.'

But if he does not tell us much about his labours,
he is not at all reticent as to the results which
followed. * Truly I am debtor to God,' he says,
^ who has bestowed such great grace upon me, that
through me many people should be bom again in
God, and that ministers should everywhere be or-
dained for this people newly come to the faith, whom
the Lord took from the ends of the earth.' He tells
us that the number of his converts is to be counted
by many thousands ; — that * those who never had
any knowledge of God and worshipped only idols
and abominations have lately become the people of
the Lord, and are called the sons of God,' and that
these * sons of the Scots and daughters of princes '
were ready to suffer reproaches and persecution for

2C

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK, 27

the sake of Christ. That all this should be accom-
plished within the life of one man, and principally
as the result of his exertions, is a fact almost un-
exampled in the history of the Church.

This success must be attributed to a variety of
causes : the earnestness and zeal and faith of Patrick
himself, the methods he employed, and the state of
preparedness in which he found the people. The
extracts already given from his own writings show
sufficiently how truly the spirit of the missionary
breathed in him. The methods that he employed
show him to have been as wise and judicious as he
was pious.

We shall often have occasion to speak of the
tribal system of the Irish. During Patrick's life it
was in full force. Each chieftain was like the father
of a family, and those who belonged to his clan
looked to him for direction and leadership in every-
thing. Recognising this fact, Patrick always en-
deavoured in the first place to gain if possible the
favour of the petty kings and bring them to the
obedience of the faith. In many cases he was suc-
cessful, and the conversion of the tribe followed as
a matter of course. But the converts thus made
were not left in what must have been at best a mere
nominal Christianity. As soon as permission was
obtained from those in power, a Christian settlement
was formed, a small church was erected — generally
an unpretending structure made of wattles and clay
— and some one was placed in charge who was con-
secrated to the office of the ministry, and who un-
dertook the further instruction of those who had
expressed their willingness to adhere to the new
faith.

On his arrival in Ireland, Patrick's first care was
to visit his old master, in order that he might pay

28 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

in money for his own ransom, and that so no loss
might be sustained by the slave's desertion. He
also hoped to gain him as a convert, and thus be-
stow on him a richer kind of wealth. This charit-
able project was frustrated by the strange conduct
of the master. He heard that Patrick was approach-
ing, and he knew that his former slave's persuasive
powers were ^uch that he could convince him of
anything that he wished. Lest therefore he should
be converted by the instrumentality of him who
had once been his bondsman, he gathered all his
valuables together into a house, set fire to it, and
himself perished in the flames.

Having thus ineffectually endeavoured to dis-
charge what he considered to be his first duty,
Patrick hastened to present himself at the court of
King Leary, the monarch of all Ireland. This was
an undertaking of the greatest risk, but it was one
which if successful would open the way as nothing
else could for the spread of the Gospel.

It may be well here to explain that there were at
this time five kings in Ireland, each of whom ruled
over one of the provinces, nearly conterminous with
those into which Ireland is at present divided,
except that a fifth province, Meath, now included
in Leinster, was then a separate kingdom. One
of these kings — generally the ruler of Meath — was
styled Ard'Righ^ or chief king ; and to him the pro-
vincial kings were supposed to render the same
loyalty as was in turn paid to them by the lesser
chieftains who held sway in their several districts.

The story as told by the biographers is a striking
one, though overloaded with those embellishments
of miracle which they deemed essential to the proper
dignity of a saint. They tell us that on Easter Eve
in the year 433, Saint Patrick found himself on the

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK, 29

Hill of Slane, in the county Meath. Here, although
the elevation is inconsiderable, a very extensive view
of the surrounding country is obtained. Beneath
flows the river Boyne — beyond is the great plain of
Magh Breagh — and the horizon is bounded by gentle
hills, on one of which, the Hill of Tara, there stood
at that time the king's palace, the chief residences
of the Druids, and some other buildings connected
with the seat of government.

Among the Christian ceremonies of that age was
the custom of having illuminations on Easter Eve,
to symbolize the enlightening of those who on
Easter Day were to be admitted by baptism into
the Church, and also as setting forth the issuing of
the^rLight of Life from the darkness of death. In
accordance with this custom Patrick and his com-
panions had lighted their Easter fire on the night in
question. At the same time a druidical ceremony
was taking place on Tara Hill. This consisted also
in the kindling of a fire.

Among all the Celtic nations these fire festivals
have held a prominent place. At certain seasons —
notably on the first day of May (Beltaine) and on
the first day of November (Samhain) — all the fires
in the country were extinguished under pain of
death. The *needfire,' obtained by friction, was
then solemnly ignited by the Druids, and from this
sacred flame all the domestic hearths were kindled.
The custom no doubt had its origin in the worship
of fire, though it afterwards came to be regarded
as magical rather than a religious act. While the
spark was being procured certain incantations were
repeated, and it was believed that the prosperity of
the ensuing season was secured by the due per-
formance of the rite, because it was in this way that
the sorcery to which famine and disease were invari-

30 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

ably attributed would be rendered powerless. But it
was also believed that if by any mischance the cere-
mony was not rightly carried out — if the correct
words of the incantation were not used, or, worst of
all, if any of the old fire were allowed to remain un-
quenched, the spell was broken; the witches and
magicians could work their evil will unchecked, and
disasters of every kind would most certainly follow.

The different versions of this story which have
been handed down to us are not quite consistent.
All agree in saying that it happened at Eastertide ;
bat some say that the pagan festival was the Feast
of Tar^, which we know to have been held in
November; according to some it was the Feast of
Beltaine, which comes nearer to the time requijfed ;
others again say that it was the king^s birthday.
It seems, however, that no pagan festival of which
we have any record was held at exactly the same
time as the Christian Easter. This should not lead
us to reject the story altogether ; for besides the fact
that it is probable in itself, it must be remembered
that the Celtic Druids did not use the Julian Calendar,
and that therefore it is impossible for us to say
exactly when any of their feasts were held.; and
besides, it was not unusual, in times of calamity —
particularly when pestilence appeared among the
cattle, to have a special kindling of the * needfire.'
Indeed, this last explanation is suggested to us by
the fact that Patrick is said not to have been aware
that the festival was being held, which could scarcely
have been the case if it had been one of the ordinary
annual ceremonies.

The spread of education and enlightenment have
happily made it difficult for us to understand the
terror which must have seized the assembly at Tara
on that eventful night when in the midst of their

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PA TRICK". 31

solemnities, and while the Druids were still repeat-
ing their incantations, a Kght was discerned shining
in the distance — the Easter flame kindled by Saint
Patrick. No conclusion seemed possible but that
this was the work of a magician, and one too who
would cast his evil spell over the land and .bring to
them desolation and death. The priests on being
consulted gave it as their opinion that if the fire
were not quenched before morning it would fill the
whole land, and they therefore urged the monarch
to execute immediate vengeance on him who had
transgressed the laws of their religion.

Accordingly, Eling Leary ordered horses and
chariots to be got ready, and set off with a consider-
able retinue in the middle of the night, towards the
Hill of Slane, at the foot of which he arrived after
two or three hours' travelling. There he paused,
having been advised not to trust himself within the
circle of the magic fire, lest he should be bewitched
by the mysterious stranger. A messenger was then
sent, summoning Patrick to appear before the king.
The Christian teacher gladly embraced the oppor-
tunity, hastened to present himself to the monarch,
and when he perceived the armed retinue that came
against him, he commenced chanting with his com-
panions the appropriate words, *Some put their
trust in chariots, and some in horses ; but we will
walk in the name of the Lord our God.'

K he had at this moment shown the least timidity,
nothing would have saved him ; but the fearless
manner in which he approached, though unarmed,
together with the strange chanting, must have
confirmed the idea in the minds of the pagans that
they were in presence of a great magician. Patrick
followed up his advantage vigorously, and offered
to appear before the court at Tara. We can well

32 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

believe that the king and his retinue would have
been much better pleased if he had remained away,
but they were afraid to refuse his offer, and accord-
ingly within a few days he presented himself at the
king's palace, ready to preach the Gospel and con-
fute the. Druids.

Amid all the extravagances and impossible mir-
acles with which the story of his preaching at Tara
has been embellished, it is easy to recognise the

feneral drift of the arguments used on that occasion,
^atrick did not deny the power of the Druids. He
would have been entirely too far in advance of his
age if he had not believed that all ministers of the
false religions were more or less in league with the
devil, and were able with his assistance to work many
wonders. But though he admitted the power of the
Druids, he contended that their power was limited,
and that the great God, whose religion he proclaimed,
was able to protect those who trusted in Him ' from
every hostile savage power, the incantations of false
prophets, the black laws of heathenism, the spells
of witches and smiths and Druids, the knowledge
that blinds the soul.'

He also seems to have urged that the Druids
could use their powers only for destruction and evil,
whereas the power of God was a manifestation of
goodness. The heathen priests could bring calami-
ties of different kinds — they could turn summer into
winter and light into darkness ; but they were
unable to reverse the process. Even the evils which
they were able to inflict they were powerless to
remove. But the almightiness of God was not only
infinitely beyond any power wielded by the Druids
— it was different in kind. It brought light and
healing and blessing instead of cursing and destruc-
tion.

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK. 33

It will easily be understood that reasoning of this
kind could scarcely fail to convince. The preacher
stood before his audience as a living proof of the
doctrine that he preached. The Druids professed
to be able to destroy with their curse any one that
opposed them. They were never weary of citing
the case of Cormac Mac Art, the greatest of the ante-
Christian kings, who, they said, was choked by a
fish-bone because he had denied the truth of their
idolatrous religion. But Patrick publicly defied
them, and showed in himself that they were utterly
powerless.

On more than one occasion they tried to destroy
him by stealth. On his way to Tara they laid wait
for him, but he managed to elude the ambush, and
when the would-be assassins reported that nothing
passed them except eight deer followed by a fawn,
the astonished people jumped to the conclusion that
this herd of deer was nothing else than the saint
and his companions miraculously disguised.

All this explains to some extent the fact that
Patrick was listened to from the first, and that his
success was assured from the moment he stood
before the king. But there was another and still
more powerful reason which must not be kept out
of sight. It is this ; that Patrick was a man of
faith, that he had the love of God in his heart, and
an earnest desire to bring men to the knowledge of
the truth, and that the truth which he preached
was the simple Gospel of the grace of God.

As an example of the doctrines that he preached,
and as showing to some extent the spirit in which
he undertook his work, we may here quote the
hymn commonly known as fkiint Patricks Breast-
plate. The original is written in Irish of a very
ancient dialect, and it is quoted in the seventh

c

34 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

century as the work of Saint Patrick. As it par-
takes somewhat of the nature of a Creed, it will tell
us some of the beliefs of the ancient Irish Church.

SAINT PATRICK'S BREASTPLATE.'

I bind to myself to-day,
The strong power of an invocation of the Trinity,
-•^he faith of the Trinity in Unity,
The Creator of the Elements.

I bind to myself to-day,
The power of the Incarnation of Christ, with that of His

Baptism,
The power of the Crucifixion, with that of His Burial,
The power of the Resurrection, with the Ascension,
The. power of the coming to the Sentence of Judgment.

I bind to myself to-day.
The power of the love of Seraphim,
In the obedience of Angels,
In the hope of Resurrection unto reward,
In the prayers of the noble Fathers,
In the predictions of the Prophets,
In the preaching of Apostles,
In the faith of Confessors,
In the purity of Hoi 3' Virgins,
In the acts of Righteous Men.

I bind to myself to-day.
The power of Heaven,
The light of the Sun,
The w^hiteness of Snow,
The force of Fire,
The flashing of Lightning,
The velocity of Wind,
The depth of the Sea,
The stability of the Earth,
The hardness of Rocks.

I bind to myself to-day.
The Power of God to guide me,

' From Todd's Life, of SL Patrick, p. 246.

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK. 35

The Might of God to uphold me,
The Wisdom of God to teach me,
The Eye of God to watch over me,
The Ear of God to hear me,
The Word of God to give me speech,
The Hand of God to protect me,
The Way of God to prevent me.
The Shield of God to shelter me,
The Host of God to defend me,

Against the snares of demons,

Against the temptations of vices.

Against the lusts of nature.

Against every man who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near.
With few or with manj-.

I have set around me all these powers,
Against every hostile savage power, ■*

Directed against my hodj^ and my soul.
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism.
Against the false laws of heresj'^.
Against the deceits of idolatry.

Against the spells of women and smiths and Druids, ^
Against all knowledge which blinds the soul of man.

Christ protect me to-day.

Against poison, against burning.
Against drowning, against wound.
That I maj^ receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot-seat,
Christ in the poop.

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in every e3'e that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself to-day.
The strong power of an invocation of the Trinity,

36 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

The faith of the Trinity in Unity,
The Creator of the Elements.

Salvation is of the Lord,
Salvation is of the Lord,
Salvation is of Christ,
May Thy salvation, Lord, he with us evermore.

It is said that this hymn was composed by Patrick
when he was about to appear before King Leary.
In after times it was used as a kind of charm. It
was believed that those who recited it were thereby
protected from the assaults of demons, from poison,
envy and from sudden death. Most of the old Irish
hymns were put to a similar use at one time or
another. * Saint Columba^s Breastplate,' for ex-
ample, another composition of the early age, used
to be recited by travellers as a protection on their
journeys. There is nothing in the hymns themselves
which would countenance the idea that they were
originally composed with any such intent.

In Saint Patrick's Hymn it will be noticed that
all those doctrines which a modern Evangelical Pro-
testant would consider to be of the first importance
are prominently asserted ; the Trinity, the Incar-
nation of Christ, His Death and Resurrection, the
need of God's help in all the varied circumstances
of life, the intimate union of the soul with Christ,
and the great fact that the Lord is the Author of
our salvation.

On the other hand, the peculiarities of the Church
of Rome are simply ignored. It has been urged
that a mere omission proves nothing, and that Saint
I Patrick may have been as ready to invoke the
Blessed Virgin and the saints as he was undoubtedly
ready in every moment of difficulty to seek the
help of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we have given
characteristic extracts, the Confession of Saint Patrick,

MISSIONARY LABOURS OF SAINT PATRICK. 37

and from his Letter to CorofictiSj and have quoted
his hymn iji extenso. These are the only extant
works, and they speak for themselves. We have no
contemporary evidence that he held any other beliefs.
One thing is quite certain : the man who wrote such
works as these was one who exalted Christ, and
preached Christ, and realized the abiding presence
of Christ, and knew well what was the great hope
to place before perishing sinners.

Having dwelt at such length on Saint Patrick's
preaching at Tara, it is not necessary that we should
pursue his career any further. He went through
the length and breadth of the land, but his method
of procedure was always the same. He appealed in
the first instance to the chiefs, and obtained from
each one when possible a site on which to found a
religious estabUshment. Here he left a small com-
munity, who continued the enterprise after he had
gone ; these in turn became centres of life and light ;
and thus the good work was carried on and strength-
ened. The accounts of his success may possibly be
greatly exaggerated ; but there can be little doubt
that before his death there was scarcely a district in
which the Gospel had not been preached, and few
places where there were not some found who gave
themselves up to the work of evangelization. Many
— perhaps the great majority — may have been con-
verts only in name ; but even the mere outward
profession brought them under the influence of
Christian teaching ; and doubtless it must have often
happened that the man who had accepted baptism
without much thought of its real import, was led
afterwards to a true consecration of heart and mind
to the Saviour.

CHAPTER IV.

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

We have now to ask, What were the distinguishing
characteristics of the Church thus founded by Saint
Patrick and his companions? Concerning the
doctrinal teaching nothing need be added to what
has been aheady said. We have seen that the
great central truths of Christianity were clearly
taught, and that as far as we can now judge, they
were not obscured by those additions and corrup-
tions which in after ages caused them to be almost
forgotten. In some matters of organization and of
rites and ceremonies the Church of Ireland stands
by itself and is unique in the history of Christen-
dom. Let us dwell for a short time on these
peculiarities.

The first thing that strikes us in the state of
the ancient Irish Church is its intensely monastic
character. In other countries monasticism has
formed one of the institutions of the Church. In
Ireland the whole Church was monastic. Some
writers have urged, as an explanation of this pheno-
menon, that there must have been an early con-
nection between Ireland and the East — in fact, that
Ireland owed its first knowledge of Christianity to
an Eastern source.

Monasticism is undoubtedly of Eastern origin. It
arose in times of persecution, when Christians,

38

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH 39

sooner than give up their faith, or even take out-
ward part in the rites of heathenism, left the cities
and took refuge in the deserts, sheltering themselves
until the time of danger was over. All were not so
enthusiastic. Many conformed outwardly to the
pagan worship, and were allowed to remain in their
homes unmolested. In this way the Christians
were divided into two classes — those who preferred
the desert to a denial of their faith, and those who,
less inflexible in their principles, were ready to
make concessions for the sake of peace. After the
persecutions had ceased the two classes continued to
be distinct. Men still retired to the desert, not now
to escape from prison and torture and death, but from
the worldly pleasures and pursuits that were absorb-
ing the thoughts of men and hindering them from
paying due attention to their eternal interests.
Naturally, the hermit was still regarded as the better
Christian, when compared with him who continued
in the world, and took part daily in the business
and pleasures of life.

Amid all its extravagance, we can discern in
this development of monasticism a germ of sound
principle. Multitudes of those who professed Chris-
tianity when the profession began to be a mark of
honour rather than disgrace knew little and cared
less for the faith which they embraced. The name
of Christ was on their lips, but the spirit of pagan-
ism was in their hearts. There were, no doubt, other
and better ways in which earnest men could have
protested against the formality of the age than that
of separating themselves from their fellows, but still,
it was a protest, and we know that in some ways it
had its influence in directing men's minds to the
paramount claims of our holy religion.

The institution soon grew in popularity and

40 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

spread rapidly, not only in the East, where it
took its rise, but also in the West, where the more
practical and less emotional disposition of the
people would have led us to suppose it would never
have found favour. Amongst its advocates were
some of the greatest men of the age. Basil and
Athanasius, Augustine and Jerome, Ambrose and
Martin, and many besides, vied with one another
in extolling the virtues of what was called the
' religious ' life, and in inducing men and women
to follow its rule.

The movement was at its height when Christi-
anity was first preached in Ireland. Saint Martin had
already founded his famous establishments at Tours
and Poictiers. Tradition says that Saint Patrick
was for a time an inmate of one of these monasteries.
He certainly was very much influenced by the ex-
ample that they presented. Full of enthusiasm for
the system, he went forth, and wherever he obtained
a footing his first care was to found a religious com-
munity.

The appearance presented by these establishments
was as different as can well be conceived from any-
thing that we have at the present day. A wall
built of earth or of loose stones formed an enclosure,
and served as a means of defence against enemies, as
well as of separation from the rest of the tribe. With-
in this cashel or wall were the churches — exceedingly
small of size, and quite unsuitable for anything ap-
proaching what might be called ' stately ' worship.
Any one who has ever seen the ruin of an Irish
church belonging to the period before the twelfth
century will not need to be told that the ritual of
that age must have been of the simplest character
possible. In some places there would be only one
such church within the enclosure. In other places

CHARACTRk OP THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH, 4!

there might be as many as seven. Seven was indeed
a favourite number, and the remains of these groups
of seven churches are still to be found in several
places, while the memory of seven churches formerly
existing is continued by tradition in many others.
They were all simple rectangular buildings, without
chancels. All around the churches were grouped
the cells of the members of the community — small
bee-hive shaped huts, each inhabited by one or two
or three of the inmates. Beside these there was
sometimes a general refectory, where the meals were
partaken in common, also a hall for penitential
exercises, and possibly some other buildings. There
would also be a cemetery — occasionally two, one for
the women and another for the men. The churches
were in like manner sometimes restricted to one sex.
The buildings were mostly of wood, or of wattles
daubed with clay ; only rarely were they made of
stone.

The remains of monasteries similar in many re-
spects to the description just given have been found
in the East. Like the Irish, they have the encir-
cling wall, and the dwellings also are separate huts,
instead of being one large building, as in the more
modern establishments. The explanation of this
resemblance is simple, and does not imply such
immediate intercourse between Ireland and the East
as has been supposed. All monastic establishments \
were originally much on the same model, but in the
beginning of the sixth century a reformation of the
system was brought about by Benedict, whose rule
entirely superseded the older system in every'
country of Europe, Ireland excepted. In Ireland
and the East alike his reforms were never received,
and therefore the resemblances which we find
arise from the survival in both places of the older

y
/

/

J

42 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

form, when everywhere else it had become a thing
of the past.

Another point must be kept in mind : that al-
though there are remarkable resemblances between
Eastern and Irish monasteries — resemblances suffi-
cient to make it probable that they were both
derived from the one original — yet the differences
between them are still more remarkable. Let us
briefly trace some of these differences.

Before the introduction of Christianity, the Druids
formed communities similar in many respects to the
early monasteries. They were not only priests, but
lawgivers, philosophers, historians, teachers and
bards. To all these offices the Christian ecclesiastics
succeeded. Their establishments were not only
centres of religious worship, but schools where what-
ever learning the land possessed could alone be found.
In them, too, the laws of the land were made, for
neither in pagan nor Christian times were the kings
lawgivers merely by virtue of their office. In some
cases a monarch of exceptional wisdom was also an
ollat^ but as a general rule the duty devolved on
the wise men who by natural ability and a long
course of mental training had been prepared for the
oiBfice.

It is needless to say that such * wise men ' were
found not among the warriors, but among the re-
ligious communities. This will perhaps explain the
curious phenomenon that the ancient laws of Ireland
had no * sanction' beyond the force of public opinion.
The hrehon or judge was in reality a mere arbitrator,
and had no way of enforcing his decisions. It is also
a remarkable instance of the survival of old customs
that we find at the present day the unwritten law
of public opinion to be regarded by the native Irish
as infinitely more sacred than the law of the land.

v^

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

Englishmen cannot understand this, and it forms
one of the great difficulties in the government of the
country.

The bards were also for the most part taken from
among the monks. The great Columba was him-
self a bard. These kept alive by their songs the
memory of the heroes, and were in fact the his-
torians of the land. All this so revolutionized monas-
ticism that it became in Ireland an entirety diiferent
thing from what it had ever been in the Thebaid of
Egypt. In every important feature it is easier to
find contrasts than resemblances. The Irish monks,
if monks they can be called, were not of a kind who
separated themselves from the world and the in-
terests of men. On the contrary, they became at
once an important factor in society. They instructed
the youths and legislated for the people in time of
peace, and they advised and encouraged the heroes
in time of war.

How far celibacy was practised or encouraged in
these communities it is difficult for us now to say.
Most of the information we possess comes from men
who found it impossible to conceive the idea of a
monastic life without the vow of celibacy. Yet
even they have preserved enough to show that such
a vow was far from being of universal acceptance.
All authorities agree in telling us that Saint
Patrick's father was a deacon, and his grandfather
a priest, and he himself states the fact as if there
was nothing in it unusual or that required explana-
tion. Very many monasteries were open to both
sexes — a state of things to which we shall again
refer when we come to speak of the position of
women in the ancient Irish Church.

A curious document exists which is supposed to
have been composed in the middle of the eighth cen-

42 . THE ANCIENT IklSti CHURCH.

tury.^ In this we are told that there were three
classes of Irish saints, the first of which was mo.s-^
lioly^ the second very holy^ and the third holy. The
first class was like the sun, the second like the moon,
the third like the stars. The first order, the most
holy, were led by Patrick, and had one Head, Christ.
Of these, it is said that * they rejected not the
services and society of women, because, founded on
the rock Christ, they feared not the blast of temp-
tation.' The second order, however — very holy,
although not as holy as the first, and later in date
— * refused the' services of women, separating them
from the monasteries.' The kind of monastic life
revealed in this description of the first order, and
which is said to have existed for a considerable time,
shows how much the ideal of the East had been
modified before it found favour in the eyes of the
western islanders.

When we come to the legends of the saints we
meet with evidence at every step that both sexes
were to bo found together in the monasteries. Not
that these legends are at all to be taken as serious
history. It would require a very large share indeed
of faith to receive the half of what they tell us.
But we may be certain that they never contain
anything that would be considered improper or un-
worthy of a saint, according to the ideas of the age
in which they were composed ; and if they record
that women were commonly found in the monasteries,
it may be taken as a plain proof that it was then
neither an unusual nor unheard-of occurrence. To
this may be added the fact that until a very late

^ See this document given in full in Haddan and Stubbs'
Councils and tkcleaiastical Documents relating to Great-
Britain and Ireland^ vol. ii., p. 292. Dr. Todd gives a trans-
lation in his Life of St, Patrick^ p. 88, nota.

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH 45

period there is abundant evidence that in some eases
at least the highest ecclesiastics were married men.

The monastic system was still further modified
by the spirit of clanship which pervaded all Irish
institutions of that age. The Irish chiefs were
nominally subject to the kings, but within their own
territory they were absolute masters, and wielded a
power of life and death over their subjects. It is
said that these powers were sometimes shamefully
abused, but if so, the abuse did not prevent the
members of the tribe from rendering the most faith-
ful adherence and obedience to the hereditary chief.
The same spirit was imported into the religious com-
munities. As Montalembert well says, * The great
monasteries of Ireland were nothing else, to speak
simply, than clans reorganized under a religious
form. From this cause resulted the extraordinary
number of their inhabitants, which were counted
by hundreds and thousands, and from this also came
their influence and productiveness, which were still
more wonderful.' In some cases, the original grant
of a site carried with it the right of chieftainship,
and the ecclesiastical superior thus became the head
of the tribe. In others the lay element prevailed,
and the chief who led the warriors to battle presided
also over the affairs of the monastery. Generally,
however, the rule was that the monastic superior
should be chosen from the ruling family, and in
all cases the monastery and the clan were so closely
connected that the interest of the one was identical
with the interest of the other.

The clanship of the Irish had its influence on the
Church another way. As each tribe was practi-
cally independent of all others, and settled its own
aflfairs in its own way, it was natural that each tribe
would desire to have its own bishop. It would

46 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

never have been tolerated by the chiefs nor desired
by the subjects that one belonging to another clan
should in any way have authority beyond the circle
of his own people. Accordingly we find at a very
early age the number of bishops was increased
abnormally. Every tribe — in some cases every
family — had its own bishop. The present * rural
deaneries ' were nearly all ancient bishoprics, and
they correspond almost invariably with the terri-
tories of the old Irish tribes.

Moreover, as the abbot was a kind of chieftain,
and generally near of kin to the ruling house, it is
plain that the principle of selection in his case was
different from that which would regulate the choice
of bishops, and that it would often Jiappen that the
abbot would be both unsuitable and unwilling to
hold the episcopal office. Under such circumstances,
the spirit of clanship led the people to cling to their
leader, that is, the abbot, and put the bishop in
the second place. The result was that the office
of bishop was entirely dissociated from territoriaJ
authority — he had no diocese — and the cases were
numerous where he was under the control of the
abbot, exercising episcopal functions only under
his direction. This, in its turn, led to a further
increase in the number of bishops. As none of
them had a see in the modern sense of the word, and
therefore there was no possibility of one prelate inter-
fering with the jurisdiction of another, it began to
be a matter of pride in some monasteries to have
a number of bishops amongst their inmates. In
some cases it seems to have been the usage to have
seven belonging to the same establishment. In
the Litany of AUngus the Culdee, said to have been
composed in the ninth century, there is a list of* one
hundred and forty-one places in Ireland where this

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH, 47

institution of seven bishops existed. Saint Bernard
informs us that up to the eleventh century there
were no dioceses, bishops were multiplied and
changed without order and regularity, so that almost
every church had a bishop of its own.

A curious relic of the ancient system of clanship
survives in the Irish Church to the present day. In
most countries the churches and parishes are dedi-
cated to a * patron saint.' In Ireland the church
was always called after the ibunder. It is at present
easy to tell by the name whether a church has been
founded before or after the Anglo-Norman invasion.
If it be a church of Patrick, Columba, Kevin, or any
Irish saint, it is almost certainly pre-Norman, and it
is so called because the saint named founded, or is
supposed to have founded, a church on the spot.
But if it bear the name of St. Mary or St. Peter, or
any saint not associated with Ireland itself, there
need be no hesitation in deckling that its origin is to
be looked for in that period when the combined in-
fluence of Rome and England was changing the old
institutions. The reason is that in the ancient Irish
Church every community was called the * family '
of the saint by whom it was first established, and
each succeeding abbot was regarded as the successor
of the founder, inheriting in the church a chieftain-
ship which was similar in many ways to the chief-
tainship which the leader of the tribe inherited.

There is an old poem extant which purports to
give a list of those who composed the * family ' of
Saint Patrick. It is found in one of the ancient
biographies of Patrick, and has also been copied into
the Annals of the Four Masters. If it is in any way
a fair description of what an ecclesiastical family was
in the early ages, it presents us with a picture very
different from anything that we have been accus-

48 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

tomed to associate with the monastic life. Instead
of speaking of a monastery, we would be more in-
clined to call it an industrial colony — a tribe of men
and women who in the midst of a warlike nation
devoted themselves entirely to the arts of peace.

Several bishops and priests are mentioned as
members of this family ; but from amongst them,
one bishop, named Sechnall, and one priest, named
Moehta, are singled out as those who use their office
for the special benefit of the community. The others,
although ecclesiastics in rank, occupy themselves in
secular duties. Bishop Ere, for example, acts as
judge, and Bishop Maccaeirthinn has the still more
secular office of champion, or mighty man. From
this we may conclude that the community was free
from outside control, that it made its own laws,
and carried on its own wars. The presence of a
champion and a body of armed retainers was most
necessary, for the rival kings and chiefs often attacked
the monasteries. We have also reason to believe
that in some (let us hope exceptional) cases the reli-
gious communities themselves carried on aggressive
warfare, and attacked one another with a vigour
which their secular neighbours could not surpass.

Of those who are mentioned as priests we have
Mescan the brewer, Bescna the poet, Manach the
wpodman, and Logha the helmsman. Other officers
were the singer, the chamberlain, the bell-ringer,
the true cook (the expressive adjective shows how
his services were appreciated), three smiths, three
artificers, a charioteer, a shepherd, and a scribe.
Nor were the women forgotten. The two daughters
of Gleaghrann, famous for their beauty, were mem-
bers of the family, and three other ladies are named,
including Lupait, Patrick^s own sister, who exer-
cised daily their skill in embroidery. That men and

^

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH. 49

women enjoyed unrestricted social intercourse is
shown by the fact that scandals sometimes arose.
Of the three embroideresses, two were at one time
more or less under a cloud. It was deemed advis-
able that Lupait should not continue any longer
under the same roof as her nephew Mel, although
he was a * saint ' and a bishop ; and another ladj'',
Ere, was only cured of her passion for Benin the
singer by an illness which brought her to death's
door.

Once more, it is well to remark that these accounts
are not to be taken as history. It never happened
that aU those mentioned as belonging to the family
of Saint Patrick formed members of the same estab-
lishment. What we do learn is, that at a much
later period than the time of Patrick the ideal of an
ecclesiastical community was an association where
both sexes met on equal terms ; where the services
of the Church were duly celebrated ; where copies of
* the Scriptures and of other books were made ; where
workers in metal and wood and stone pursued their
avocations ; where the dijfferent operations of hus-
bandry were carried on ; where the brethren were
averse to war, yet able and ready to defend them-
selves when called on ; where excursions by land and
water, in the chariot and in the boat, were not in-
frequent. All this must be borne in mind when we
speak of the monastic character of the Irish Church.
It bears out fully the view expressed above, that
these families would be better described as indus-
trial colonies or Christian communes than by the
more usual but misleading name of monasteries.

It will be seen that the constitution of the Irish
Church was one that suited itself to the character of
the people. This conformity to their national insti-
tutions must have aided considerably in the rapid

D

so THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

spread of the Gospel amongst them. Nevertheless,
it was not altogether an advantage. Under the
Druidical system the duties of religion were for the
most part vicariously performed. The priests oflfered
the sacrifices, pronounced the incantations, and per-
formed the rites that were necessary, and the fight-
ing men rested content that the favour of heaven
had been secured, although they themselves took no
part in the religious exercises, and never dreamt of
their religion having any effect on their lives. It is
to be feared that a state of things almost similar
existed when the tribe nominally had become Chris-
tian. The warriors were bloodthirsty and cruel as
of old, and left the duties of religion to be performed
by those who had given themselves up to that par-
ticular work. At one time, Ireland was known as
the Island of Saints. The history of the country in
that age is somewhat disappointing, and would lead
us to doubt whether the flattering title was deserved.
It differs but little from the history of other periods.
We have the same war and bloodshed, the same
turbulence and disunion. The explanation is simply
this : that two nations, as it were, existed — the one
given up to the offices of religion, to the production
of books and the pursuit of learning — the other
retaining all the lawless and turbulent spirit which
had characterized the land from of old. There are
few countries in the world where such incongruous
elements can exist side by side. But even at the
present daj^ it is to some extent the same. Men
have been known to pause in the excitement and
frenzy of a faction fignt and respectfully wait while
a funeral passes by, only to break out the moment
after in the same untamed and untameable fury.

The other distinguishing characteristics of the
Irish Church are its missions and its independence

A

CHARACTER OF THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH. 51

of the see of Eome. The former will occupy our
attention when we come to consider the work of
Saint Columba and his companions, and of others
who left Irish shores to found communities in diffe-
rent countries. The latter will be dealt with in
connection with the controversies to which it gave
rise.

CHAPTER V.

SAINT COLUMBA.

In the last chapter we have been considering insti-
tutions rather than events. But in truth the events
of the period can for the most part be only vaguely
guessed. We know more of the results than of the
processes by wliich they were brought about. We
can plainly see that a great transformation was
effected in Ireland — that whereas the first years of
the fifth century saw her entirely pagan, the early
years of the sixth century saw her entirely Chris-
tian.

In the meantime, events of the highest importance
were happening both in Britain and on the continent
of Europe. It was in this century that the great
empire of Home came finally to an end. The last of
the Caesars was dethroned, and a barbarian usurper
ruled over the mistress of the world. It was in tJiis
century too that Gaul became France, and Britain
became England. The only influence that these
revolutions had upon Ireland was of a negative
character, although it was none the less important
on that account. They cut off Ireland, to a great
extent, from European influences. The wars in
France and Italy — the overthrow of kingdoms and
setting up of new dynasties — finally, the conversion
to Christianity of the barbarian conquerors: these
were events that so occupied the minds of men that

.^■A

SAINT COLUMBA, 53

there was no time to think of the lone island in the
Western Sea, which all the time was undergoing a
revolution, more peaceful, but none the less impor-
tant, and was founding and developing its Christian
institutions in its own way — modifying them and
adapting them, as we have seen, by its own native
genius.

The invasion and subjugation of England made
this isolation more complete. The Angles and other
German tribes who landed in England, unlike their
brethren on the Continent, were bitterly hostile to
the faith of the people whose lands they seized. The
Q-auls submitted to and made friends with their
conquerors, and the result was that they soon brought
them under the power of their religion and civiliza-
tion. The Britons, on the contrary, contested every
inch of their territory, and provoked a war of exter-
mination, in which their nation and religion were
alike obliterated. The testimony of language wit-
nesses to us what a radical difference there was in
the two cases. When the Franks conquered Gaul,
its language was Latin ; but that language of the
vanquished held its ground, and quite overcame the
tongue of the victors, so that modern French may
be said to be the direct lineal descendant of the
language spoken before the conquest. The English
tongue, on the other hand, has not been appreciably
influenced by the ancient British. The Celtic
element is insignificant at the best, and has been
in great part derived from other sources. Thus it
happened that while Ireland was being converted to
Christianity, a reverse process was taking place in
England. There the old British Church was being
destroyed, and heathenism was being set up in
its place. The effect of this was to introduce a
bitterly hostile and unbelieving nation which, like

54 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

a wedge, separated the Christian Church of Ireland
from the Christian countries of Europe.

In the north of Britain the Picts continued still
practising the rites of Druidism. They were the
only tribe of Celts which had remained unevange-
lized. They were on more or less friendly terms
with the Scots or Irish^making common cause with
them occasionally against the British. It seemed
natural therefore that the establishment of Christi-
anity, which had begun so auspiciously and progressed
so favourably in Ireland,*should also be accomplished
among those tribes who were of the same race,
followed the same manner of life, and had the same
tribal organization. The story of how the Irish
Church undertook this work and carried it to a
successful issue is one of the most interesting, as it
is one of the best authenticated in her whole history,
and deserves to be told at some length.

In the year 521, that is, about ninety years after
the coming of Saint Patrick, Columba was bom.
He was of the family of the O'Donnells, and was
nearly related to the royal house which held sway
in the north of Ireland and south-west of Scotland.
The story of his early life was written after his later
years had shed much lustre on his name, and we
are not therefore astonished to find that it is filled
with many presages of his future greatness. When
quite a youth he became a disciple at one of the
large monastic schools for which Ireland was soon to
become famous, and at the early age of twenty-five
he is said to have himself founded a school and
religious establishment at the Oak Grove of Cal-
caigh, which was the ancient name of Londonderry.
Similar establishments were founded at Durrow in
the King^s County, Kells in Meath, Moone in Kildare,
Swords near Publin, and other places. His after life

^.^A'-jt.

SAINT COLUMBA, 55

shows him to have been a man of great determina-
tion, strong will and considerable ability. It is
therefore not at all improbable that the legend here
preserves the truth, and that these and possibly
many other foundations owe their origin to his early
zeal. We should have heard little about him, how-
ever, if it were not for what many would call a
strange chance,but which was in reality a remarkable
dispensation of Providence, which changed the whole
course of his life.

Columba was visiting at the monastery of Saint
Finnen of Moville, and while there obtained the
loan of a copy of the Psalter. The translation must
have been different from that to which he had been
accustomed, for he desired at once to obtain one like
it for himself. Finnen, however, seemed to think
that the value of his book would be diminished if it
were not unique of its kind, and Columba knew that
it would be useless to ask him to allow a copy to be
made. So he secretly worked by night, when he
thought that he was unobserved, and in a short
time had made for himself the copy that he desired.
Unfortunately, the secret was not as well kept as he
had imagined. Finnen was made aware of what
was being done, and in the end made a claim, that
as the original was his, the copy belonged to him
also. Columba very naturally failed to see the
matter in that light. He had with his own hand
made the copy, and he point blank refused to part
with it. Ultimately the matter was brought before
King Dermaid, who gave the remarkable judgment,
* To every cow belongs its calf, therefore to every
book belongs its copy.' This only roused the
temper of Columba, who, still holding to his precious
possession, replied, ^ This in an unjust decision,
Dermaid, and I will avenge it on you.' Other causes

56 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

of irritation followed. An open rupture ensued, and
Columba escaped from Tara, fled to the north of
Ireland, roused the clans of the O'Donnells, and
challenged the king to battle.

In all this, it is well to remark, we have a good
example of the system of clanship already described,
which pervaded the Church. Columba here acted
in exactly the same way as one of the chieftains
would have acted if he imagined himself to have
been insulted. The result in this case was a battle
fought at Cooldreeny, near Sligo, in which Columba
and the 0*Donnells were victorious, and the King
of Ireland was forced to retreat, after three thou-
sand Meath warriors had been laid dead on the
field.

The king, worsted in battle, had recourse to other
methods. The great fair of Teltown was one of the
old institutions of the countr5^ People flocked to it
from all parts for the transaction of business, the
celebration of games, and the holding of national
assemblies. There the king called together a synod
to consider the case. Teltown was in the heart of
Meath, and we can therefore well understand that
although men came from all quarters, the Meath
men would be in an overwhelming majority. Ac-
cordingly, when Columba appeared before them he
found himself in presence of a hostile assembly. In
spite of the spirited support which he received from
some — notably from Brendan, the Abbot of Birr —
a sent-ence of excomlnunication was pronounced
against him' for having been the cause of so much
bloodshed.^' ' "

• Columba himself, like many another man of hot
temper, was soon sorry for wnat he had done. In
the moment of irritation he had not thought that
such terrible loss of life would result from his impetu-

\
'A

SAINT COLUMBA, 57

osity. Nothing shows more clearlj' the depth and
reality of his religious life than the way in which he
acknowledged and openly confessed his fault. Nor
was his repentance merely in word. He was resolved
to exhibit in his life tne penitence which he ex-
pressed with his lips, and with this end in view he
repaired to his * soul friend/ Molaise of Devenish,
and consulted with him how he could make atone-
ment for the evils which he had caused. The advice
given was that he should leave Ireland, devote him-
self to missionary work amongst the heathen Picts,
and labour until as many had been won for Christ
as had been lost in the battle of Cooldreeny. With
a heavy heart, but with firm determination, Columba
at once accepted the task thus proposed to him, took
with him twelve companions, as well as a retinue of
followers, and sailed from the shores of his native
country. They first landed on the Island of Oronsay,
but as the hills of Ireland were still in view they
took again to their boats, pursued their way farther
to the north, and eventually settled on the Island of
lona.

In crossing the sea they were not parting from
their own countrymen. The south-western portion
of Scotland formed the territory of what was practi-
cally one of the tribes of Ireland. It was the only
{)art of North Britain that bore the name Scot-
and ; that is, the country of the Scots or Irish.
Among the many changes that time has effected in
the names of places, none is more remarkable than
that the mother country, Ireland, whence all the
Scots came, should no longer be called Scotland,
and that Alba, as North Britain was then called,
should appropriate to itself the name of what -was
at first one of the smallest provinces. The ruler of
this Irish kingdom in Scotland, or, as it would be

58 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

more correctly expressed, Scotic kingdom in Alba,
was a near kinsman to Columba, and therefore, the
right to settle in the island was secured without any
difficulty ; the favour and protection of the prince
were given as a matter of course, and the members of
the community set about building a monastic village,
formed exactly after the pattern of those to which
they had been accustomed in Ireland.

The 'story of Patrick's preaching was now, as it
were, repeated. Pursuing the same tactics, Columba
presented himself first of all before Brude, King of
the Picts. His success was great from the very
beginning. Notwithstanding some opposition, he
obtained the protection of the prince, and had per-
mission to go through the land for the purpose of .
preaching. His biographers tell us of his many
miracles, by which he silenced the adversaries and
won the respect of the people ; Bede, with more
truth, tells us that ' he converted the nation to the
f aijth of Christ by his preaching and example.' From
that time, and for some centuries following, the little
island of lona became a centre of religious life.
Isolated from the rest of the world, it was unin-
fluenced by the great movements which were causing
changes in other countries. Even such matters
as the reform of the calendar were unknown in the
little northern island, where the community con-
tinued their round of fast and festival, unconscious
of the fact that their times differed from all the rest
of Christendom.

In other and more important things the difference
was still more clearly marked. The monastic reforms
of Benedict were working great changes among tlie_
religious communities of the West; but their in-
fluence was bounded by the sea. Even in South
Britain they were long unknown — while in Ireland

SAINT COLUMBA, 59

and lona centuries elapsed before they were intro-
duced. The general tendency of the Church in
that age was towards increased splendour of cere-
monial, but in lona the same simple unpretending
worship continued as heretofore. Their sanctuary
was still only a lowly thatched building made of
clay, and much of their worship must have been
conducted in the open air. The cultus of the Virgin
Mary and the practice of the Invocation of Saints
were spreading rapidly throughout Christendom ;
but lona knew nothing of them. The universal
supremacy of the see of Rome was beginning to be
a recognised doctrine. Innocent and Leo had both
i^igned before lona was established ; Gregory had
become Pope while Columba himself was still living;
but these great names were almost unknown at lona.
There was little communication between distant
countries in that early time ; and especially when a
land was far removed from the highways of com-
merce, it knew little indeed of what was going on
in the world around, and was simply beyond the
influence of the thoughts and opinions that were
moving men's minds in other countries. Hence it
is that we have in Ireland and in lona a survival for ;
several centuries of Church life as it existed else-.'
where- in the beginning of the fifth century.

The earliest Life of Saint Columba was written by
Adamnan, who was born about twenty-five j'^ears
after Columba's death, and who became afterwards
his successor as Abbot of lona. He was thus re-
moved by only one generation from the subject of
his biography, and he must have known and con-
versed with many who had seen the saint. His
work is interesting in many ways — not the least as
showing how short a time it requires for a name to
become surrounded with a whole atmosphere of

6o THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

myth and legend. The book is not a biography in
the strict sense. The author does not pretend to
give us a detailed account of the incidents of Saint
Columba's life, but dwells first on the prophecies,
secondly on the miracles, and thirdly on the visions
of the saint. As may well be supposed, many of the
anecdotes he relates must have been simple ordinary
events, which may easily have happened without
any miraculous element at all. But Adamnan sees
miracles in everything. He revels in the extra-
ordinary ; and as we read story after story, in some
places one more impossible than the other, we are
sorely tempted to give it all up in disgust. But not-
withstanding all its improbable miracles, the book is
most valuable. It was written while the isolation
of Irish Church life was still to a great extent un-
broken, and the incidental references it contains
portray for us all the more truthfully, because unin-
tentionally, the life led by the community at lona in
its earliest times ; and as lona was formed on the
same pattern as the monasteries of Ireland, the de-
scription of it will enable us to picture to ourselves
the kind of scene which they also presented.

We have to imagine to ourselves a centre of busy
activity and cheerful toil. Members of the com-
munity were continually coming and going. Some-
times it would be on a missionary expedition to preach
amongst the pagan Picts. At other times it would
be to visit a king or chief with whom it was of import-
ance to make a kind of treaty, or who was perhaps
to be rebuked for some unlawful act that ne had
done. Often they went to treat for the ransom of
captives, or to beg for pity on behalf of the con-
quered. Occasionally, too, they were sent to Ireland,
where perhaps a synod was being held, or where it
was necessary to visit their brethren, followers of

^

SAINT COLUMBA, 6i

the same rule in the different establishments, and
bring advice from headquarters. Then when they
returned, all the brethren would assemble, a report
would be given of the results of their mission, and
action would be taken accordingly.

Visitors to the settlement were not infrequent.
Standing on the opposite shore, they shouted, as a
signal that they desired to get across. Then some
of the brothers embarked in their coracle,^ and
ferried them over the narrow strait. On arrival
they were hospitably welcomed, and found a special
house, the * strangers' hospice ' or * guest room,' set
apart for their entertainment.

These visitors were of a varied class. Perhaps
it would be a slave who had fled from his master.
This the brethren never encouraged ; and while
they protected the runaway, they endeavoured to
persuade him to return to his service; though in
some cases they begged for his freedom, or them-
selves provided the ransom that was necessary.
Until the slave was thus made legally free, they
would not receive him as a member of the com-
munity. Then, again, there were fugitives escap-
ing from the avenger. Some of these were crimi-
nals ; others were unjustly accused ; but to all the
monastery was a City of Refuge. When once
within its shelter, they were sure they would not be
slain without a fair trial, and that the judge would
be one that would incline to mercy rather than to
severity. Others came seeking medical advice, for
the brethren were skilled in the virtues of herbs,
and had cures for many ailments. Then there would
be those who were pursued by the robber bands of
hostile tribes. In the monasteries on the mainland

* The coracle is a small boat made of wicker work covered
with skins.

62 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

the people would often come, carrying their valu-
ables and driving their flocks and herds before them,
for within the consecrated Termon^ ^as the only
place of safety. The transporting of cattle to lona
would not be an easy task, but the less cumbersome
possessions would often be borne by fugitives across
the waters. Some too would come to take counsel
in their difficulties, spiritual and temporal ; young
men, in the enthusiasm of their early days, desiring
to give up their lives to the work of the Lord ; or
perhaps old men, tormented by conscience, wanting
to know how they could make atonement for a life of
sin ; sometimes even kings, desiring to explain thq
grounds of a quarrel before they would make a
declaration of war. Then there would be brethren
from other parts of the country ; abbots and bishops,
attracted by the renown of the saint, who would
come to sit at his feet for a while —perchance to
purchase from him one of his beautiful manuscripts,
or to consult with him in some difficulty which had
arisen in the administration of their office.

If the visitor were an eminent man, a special feast
was made in his honour, and the laws of hospitality
being considered paramount to those of ascetism,
if he happened to come on a fast day (and they
ordinarily fasted both Wednesday and Friday),
the abstinence was foregone for that occasion, and
the feast of welcome took its place. This was the
custom in all the monasteries ; for not only do we
read of such feasts being given to distinguished
strangers in lona, but we find that the same compli-
ment was paid to Columba when he went to visit
other places, and we learn further that all the people
in the neighbourhood were accustomed to contribute

* The Termon was the boundary of the monastic grounds.
It was generally marked by a stone cross.

M

^^ tA^Ze^^K dL^jnu 9vMa^' /U4 ^^^i>f^Tntu)

[) ' sji/nt c6lumba, 63

towards the banquet. As soon as the visitor
arrived, one of the brothers proceeded to wash his
feet, as a token that while he stayed with them they
were all willing to wait upon him as his servants ;
because, too, the Irish Church at that time retained
many Jewish ordinances, among which was the
frequent washing of feet before entering upon the
services of the sanctuary. At the ninth hour they
partook of the common meal. The bread was
blessed according to the example of our Lord, and
then the company of the brethren partook of it, the
strangers at the same time joining the party. But
though there was thus a hearty welcome, the visitor
was not allowed to prolong his stay indefinitely. If
he meant to remain for any great length of time, he
was requii'ed to take his place in the community,
which of course meant that he would have to do his
part in the regular work of the establishment.

This work was of a varied character. Some of
the inmates were ^ hardy fishermen,' who plied their
task in the not very peaceful waters that surrounded
them. Probably these also looked after the seals,
which were * preserved ' by the islanders, and seem
to have been used by them as an article of food.
Other members of the community tilled the ground,
and as the day wore on, the prior drove round in
his chariot and visited them at their work. At lona
they all worked in common, and made their way
home to their abodes in the evening, often very
wearied, particularly in harvest time, and each one
carrying a heavy load. It was a kind of family life
that they lived, and we are told how Columba used
to be always grieved when they returned late to the
monastery. In other places — Clonmacnois, for
example — each of the brethren seems to have had
his own piece of land to till, for which he was held

64 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

responsible. Besides the tilling of the ground there
was the work of tending the animals. Night and
morning the milk had to be carried from the
' milking field,' and as each returned thus laden, he
paused at the door of Columba's cell, and obtained
the saint's blessing. A horse was also employed in
this daily task of carrying the milk. Then there
was occasional building work to be done. Some of
the huts were made of wooden planks, and the
timber had to be hewn and prepared for them. This
was at times very hard work, especially when
storm and rain had to be encountered. Other huts
were formed of wattles and clay. Although these
did not require the same expenditure of labour at
first, they must have been very often in need of
repair. Boats, too, had to be built ; frail crafts they
were, made of wicker covered with skin, yet wonder-
fully long voyages were sometimes taken in them.
Then there was the work of the household. The
butcher, the cook and the baker are mentioned,
showing that there was a division of labour, in which
each had his own task.

Tha-most important business of all, and that for
which the Columban monasteries were famous, was
the writing and illuminating of copies of the Scrip-
tures. At lona this work was carried on continu-
ously, and was under the special superintendence of
Columba himself. He made it a rule that none of
his establishments should be without a copy of the
Word of Grod, and most of the books wluch were
thus scattered through the length and breadth of
the land were produced at lona. The magnificent
copy of the Grospels known as the Book of Kells,
now in the library of Trinity College, Dublin,
though not, as had once been imagined, as old as
the time of Columba, is scarcely a century later in

.1

SAINT COLUMBA. 65

date, and was most undoubtedly produced by the
"brethren who followed his rule. It is by far the
most beautifully illuminated manuscript of its age
in existence. The greatest care was taken that
these copies should be correct. After the writing
was finished a number of brethren carefully ex-
amined it, lest there should be any error or omission.
Then it was jealously preserved in a cover made of
precious metal, and a leathern satchel was used to
protect it from any injury. It is said that on the
day before Columba's death, although his increasing
bodily weakness made him conscious that his end
was approaching, he was still at his favourite work,
and sat for some time in his cell, transcribing the
Psalter. At last he came to the words (Ps. xxxiv.
10), ' They that seek the Lord shall not want any
good thing.' * Here, he said, at the end of this
page I must stop. Let Baithen write that which
follows. The last verse that he wrote was indeed
suitable to the saint who was then passing away, for
to him eternal good things shall never be wanting.
And the verse following was equally suitable to
the father who succeeded him, the teacher of his
spiritual children : " Come, ye children, hearken
unto me ; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."
And he did succeed him, as Columba had advised,
not in teaching alone, but in writing.' ^ We shall
see afterwards that there is reason to believe that
not only was the work of transcription thus carried
on continually, but that the Irish, or at all events
the Celtic Church, produced translations of the
Scriptures for itself, differing in many important
ways from the translations in use elsewhere.
Admission to the monastery was easily procured.

* Adamnan, Yii. Columh,^ iii. 23.

E

66 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

No novitiate was required, and if vows were taken,
they were not necessarily lifelong. Any member of
the cjommunity could return to the world when he
pleased. No one was admitted, however, who had a
father or a mother dependent on him for support.
Even when there were younger brothers able to
perform the duty, the parents could not be deserted
until a guarantee had been obtained that the
younger would take the place of the elder. Married
couples were not allowed to separate. The story is
told of a woman who sought admission to the con-
vent, and offered to do anything that the saint
desired her, provided he did not ask her to live with
her husband, whom she hated. The saint simply
took the unhappy pair, fasted and prayed with them,
and continued these religious exercises without
intermission, until at last they agreed to be recon-
ciled, when he sent them away, united in affection,
to live happily all the rest of their lives.

As to the doctrines taught, little need be added to
what has been already said. They taught in Scot-
land exactly the same truths which Saint Patrick
had enforced in Ireland. The Venerable Bede tells
us that the Bible was their oiie rule of faith, to the
exclusion of alLother. ^ They had none,' he says, * to
bring them the synodal decrees for the observance
of Easter, by reason of their being so far away fix>m
the rest of the world ; wherefore they only practised
such works of piety and chastity as they could learn
from the prophetical, evangelical and apostolical
writings.' ^' Men who were led by such a rule might
of course make some mistakes — mistakes, the impor-
tance of which wbuld perhaps be magnified by those
who imagined themselves to be better instructed —

^ Bede, Eccl, Hist., iii. 4, Bohn's Ed.

SAINT COLUMBA, 67

they might be quite unable, for example, to calculate
the right time for keeping Easter ; they might
continue to follow customs that were never intended
to be permanent; they might exaggerate the
importance of precepts that were intended to be
only ][yartial and local in their application : but in
every essential point they must have been in the
right way. Those who practise the works of piety
and chastity which they learn from the prophetical,
evangelical and apostolical writings cannot do so
without receiving the inward light of the Holy
Ppirit, and being led to place their trust in Him of
whom all these writings testify.

As Christianity was first preached in Ireland at
the beginning of the fifth century, the impress of
that age continued for long afterwards. The pecu-
liar monasticism, which was such a striking feature
of Irish Christianity, and which was reproduced
at lona, was an example of this. So were also the
severe penances of which we sometimes read (though
jiot in connection with lona), the practice of praying
for the dead, and the use of the sign of the cross.
We may trace the germ — although only the germ
— of auricular confession in the institution of ' soul
friends,' which will be more fully explained farther
on. They were advisers rather than confessors, but
we can easily see how the one would readily de-
velop into the other. As yet, however, confession
was public ; the penance imposed was als6 . public,
and absolution was not given until thee required
penance was complete.

More remarkable was the existence of some
practices which we are accustomed to regard as
Jewish. We have already alluded to the washing
of feet before entering the sanctuary. They had
also the distinction of meats into clean and unclean.

68 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

Vessels too became ceremonially unclean when any
defiling substance had come in contact with them.
This usage enabled them at one time to show their
abhorrence of Romish teachers in a peculiarly irri-
tating manner. Whenever a vessel had been used
by one of those who followed the foreign rule, the
Irish ostentatiously cleansed it, as if it had been
defiled by the contact. They observed the Jewish
ordinance of the Levirate marriage, that when a
man died and left no seed, his brother should take
his wife and raise up seed unto his brother. Con-
secrated salt was used in some ceremonies. Baptism
was administered by preference in running water,
and was most probably by immersion. This is
mentioned in the lately-discovered Teaching of the
Twelve Apostles as having been an early custom in
other places. Some of these usages became modified
afterwards ; but there is abundant evidence that in
the earlier times they were all observed.

A closer bond of union joined the several establish-
ments where the rule of Saint Columba was followed
than was usual in Ireland. True to the tribal in-
stincts, the abbacy was confined to the kinship of
the founder ; but in the election of abbots all the
Columban monasteries seem to have taken part, and
the Abbot of lona, who was in some measure the
head of the order, might have been chosen from any
of them. They regarded themselves as the same
brotherhood, though living in different places and
under different rulers ; and this federation of the
seyeral monasteries continued until a very late date.

Several incidents might be cited in illustration of
this. For example, when lona was attacked by the
Norsemen in the beginning of the ninth century,
the relics and valuable possessions of the community
were transported to Kells. Again, in the eleventn

d

SAINT COLUMBA, 69

centunr, we have the Kells workmen making a
metal book-shrine for the O'Donnells of Donegal, to
whom they owed allegiance because Columba was
an O'Donnell. At a much later date, early in the
thirteenth century, the Columban monastery of
Derry sent some of its inmates to lona to repel the
Bishop of Man, who wanted to assert his authority,
and had erected some buildings there. This was of
course a considerable time after the Anglo-Norman
invasion of Ireland, and shows how long the con-
federation, and to some extent the independence of
the Columban monasteries, continued.^

* See Stokes' Ireland and the Amjlo-Norman Churchy wliero
a most interesting chapter deals with the continuance of tlie
Celtic Church in Ireland in Anglo-Norman times.

CHAPTER VI.

SAINT COLUMBANUS.

A GREAT missionary enterprise, like that which re-
sulted in the establishment of a monastery at lona,
and through it the conversion of the whole nation
of the Picts, bespeaks a Church in which energy and
zeal are no rare virtues. But missionary labour has
also a wonderful reflex action. It is the product of
holy energy and zeal, and in' turn it produces the
game. It is the Churches most interested in missions
that are ever foremost in undertaking new missions,
and it is these also that are most in earnest about
their own home work. The Pictish ' mission was
almost, if not entirely, in the hands of the followers
of Saint Columba ; but their example provoked to
jealousy many of the other communities which were
established in Ireland. We are not therefore sur-
prised to find that the generation, which saw Columba
and his companions landing at lona, was quickly
followed by one when Irish missionaries went forth
in many directions, and became famous as evangel-
izers and teachers. >

It is a curious coincidence that the most remdrk-
able of these missionaries was a namesake of the
great apostle of Scotland. He is generally known
now by the name Columbanus, to distinguish him
from the founder of lona, who is always called
Columba or Columkill. But it need hardly be

70

),

SAINT COLUMDANUS, 7»

pointed out that the two names are really the same.
Both mean *Dove.' The termination Icill means
' Church'; so that Columkill is * Dove of the Church.'
The addition is said to have been made in token of
the great piety which Columba exhibited at an early
age.

Columbanus, of whom we have now to speak,
belonged to the monastic school of Saint Comgal
at Bangor in the County Down. It is said that
there were three thousand scholars in this establish-
ment. This is scarcely credible, the less so as we
know that the old biographers never stuck at a little
exaggeration. On the other hand, if they exaggerate
the numbers, they altogether underrate the learning
with which these old schools abounded, for they
w^re quite unable to appreciate it. When we read
their works we are sorely tempted to think that the
men whom they commemorate were as narrow-minded,
as credulous, as superstitious, and as ignorant as
they were themselves ; and then when we find
places described in general terms, and in very bad
Latin, as centres of learning and wisdom, we are
somewhat inclined to put the learning and wisdom
along with the miracles in that region of myth
where everything is quite too unsubstantial and
visionary for the founding of any serious historical
argument.

Happily, we have better evidence than the writ-
ings of the biographers. In this case, for example,
some of the works of Columbanus have come down
to us, and they tell us what could be learnt in the
old Irish schools, because it is certain that whatever
learning he possessed was obtained before he left
the country. From these works we find that he
wrote Latin, both prose and verse, in excellent style ;
that he knew Greek, which was more than the Pope

72 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

of Rome could have said ; and that he was not
unacquainted with Hebrew. He interprets his own
name in the three languages, and says, ' I am
called in Hebrew, Jonah ; in Greek, Peristera ; and
in Latin, Columba/^ He not only knew these lan-
guages, but shows an acquaintance with Latin and
Greek literature ; and altogether his writings give
us an entirely different idea of the progress that
learning had made from that which we should have
at first imagined. This school of Bangor seems to
have been very jealous of the school of lona. On
one occasion the jealousy brought on actual war-
fare. At other times, however, the rivalry was of
a healthier kind.

Columbanus was born in the year B43. He was
therefore twenty-two years younger than his name-
sake of lona. Of his early life in Ireland we have
but little knowledge, except that he studied at several
schools before he became a disciple of Comgal at
Bangor. It was not until after his fortieth year
that he began his missionary labours. First, he
passed over to England, and from thence he made
his way to France. His idea had been to have gone
farther, and to have spent his energies in the evan-
gelization of the heathen tribes beyond ; but he.
found that there was no necessit}^ to seek farther
than the nominal Christians of Gaul, who seem to
have gained little more than a new superstition from
their conversion, while they retained all the cruelty
and treachery of barbarism.

At the invitation of Guntram, King of Burgundy,
he settled in that country. He was absolutely fear-
less in his denunciations of sin, and like another

* Adamnan gives the same explanation in his lAft of
Columha of lona.

.^

SAINT COLUMBANUS, 73

John the Baptist stood before the highest in the land
and rebuked them to their face. Like the Baptist,
too, he attracted great multitudes to his preaching,
and even the princes whom he reproved were con-
tented to hear him gladly, and sometimes, like
Herod, * did many things,' though it is to be feared
without any real change of heart. Still further
bearing out the resemblance, it was through the
inter^ence of a wicked woman that his fabours
were in the end brought to an abrupt termination,
though happily, in his case, they were not ended by
martyrdom. Refusing to give his blessing to the
illegitimate children of Theodoric II., which were
presented to him by Brunehault, the queen regent,
he excited her resentment, and this resentment
followed him persistently, until she had prevailed on
her grandson to banish the fearless monk from his
dominions. He was placed on board a vessel, the
intention being to send him to Ireland ; but after
it had put to sea a contrary wind drove them back
a^ain, and the master of the ship, taking this as a
Divine intimation that Columbanus was not to go
to Ireland, landed him at the mouth of the Loire,
and went on his journey without him. From thence
Columbanus made his way to Switzerland, where
one of his followers. Saint Q-all, was left behind,
and founded the establishment which has given
name to one of the cantons. Eventually, he settled^
in North Italy, where he founded the famous
monastery of Bobbio, near which he died in the
year 615.

' The incidents in the life of Columbanus are full
of interest, but are for the most part outside the
scope of this present work. He was the great
competitor with Benedict in the reformation of the
monastic system \ and such was his success and the

74 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

popularity of his rule that at one time it seemed as
if his induence, and not that of Benedict, was to
change the aspect of monasticism in all succeeding
ages. Moreover, his followers worked with such
fearless and, untiring activity, and presented in
themselves such examples of self-denial and devotion,
that, as has been well said, * For a time it seemed as
if the course of the world^s history was to be changed ;
as if the older Celtic race that Eoman and Q-erman
had swept before them had turned to the moral con-
quest of their conquerors ; as if Celtic and not Latin
Christianity was to mould the destinies of the
Churches of the West.' ^ All this, however, is beside
our present purpose. We have only to consider the
life and work of Columbanus in so far as it throws
light on the history of the Church in Ireland, the
country which sent him forth as an apostle and
evangelist.

The rule which Columbanus imposed on those
who we]fe his followers is still extant, and is gener-
ally supposed to have been derived from that already
in force in ComgaPs establishment at Bangor. If
so, Bangor must have been very different from
lona. The picture drawn in the last chapter of the
life of those who looked up to Columba as * father,'
is that of a peaceful Christian community, where
the highest law is the law of love, and punishments,
if they existed at all, occupy such a secondary place
that they are never mentioned by the saint's bio-
grapher. There are penances, of course, but they
are all for open and scandalous sins — ^never for mere
breaches of discipline ; and it cannot be said that
they erred on the side of severity. A man who had
been guilty of fratricide and incest was not too

* Green, ^ort Hist, of the Eng, People, ch. i. § 3.

SAINT COLUMBANUS, 75

harshly dealt with when sentenced to twelve years'
exile among the Britons — particularly when it was
left quite optional with himself whether the sentence
was to be carried out or not.

When we come to the * Rule ' of Columbanus, we
are on very different ground. We have none of the
genial feasts made for the welcome of visitors ; no
killing of oxen for the common meal ; but day fol-
lows day in one monotonous and continued fast,
barely enough food for sustaining life being taken,
and that consisting merely of vegetables, pulse, meal,
and biscuit — only varied by a fast still more strict
imposed as a punishment for some paltry offence.
Brutal inflictions of the lash are threatened at every
step. For speaking in a loud voice there were six
stripes. The same punishment for not repressing a
cough at the beginning of a psalm, or for omitting
to say, Amen. For some offences, as many as two
hundred stripes are ordered, to be given twenty-five
at a time.

The difference between the two systems is so
striking, that a doubt naturally arises in the mind
as to whether Columbanus founded his rule on that
Comgal after all. There is another possibility : that
Bangor was not so very different from lona, and that
Columlj^anus, being dissatisfied with what he con-
sidered its laxity, left it for the purpose of following
a stricter rule ; and that these terrible whippings are
of his own invention. At all events, it is pleasant
to remember the picture that Adamnan gives of
lona, which shows us that whatever Bangor may
have been, other places in Ireland were very far
indeed from accepting such a tyranny as Columbanus
would have wished to impose.

This excessive severity, repugnant as it is to all
our ideas, was one of the great factors in the success

76 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

of Columbanus. When carelessness and indiffer-'
ence abounded, the intense earnestness of these men
must have been the more remarkable; and when
the people thought of religion at all, they could
scarcely help being attracted by those to whom the
Faith was such a reality that they were ready to
give up everything of pleasure and indulgence for
its sake.

In the work of Columbanus we have the Irish
Church brought for the first time into contact with
the outside world. Columba and the monks of lona,
when they invaded Pictland, left the isolation of
Ireland for a still greater isolation. Columbanus, on
the other hand, found himself surrounded by an
ecclesiastical organization in some respects very
different from any that he had known at home.
The bishops were real spiritual magnates, instead of
being, as often in Ireland, subject to the abbot of a
monastery. They exercised territorial jurisdiction,
and they all of them paid allegiance to the Bishop
of Rome. In Ireland, Rome seemed to be a very
distant and unknown place ; and they had but
little conception of that great system of Church
government which was being perfected under her
auspices.

Columbanus, when he went to France, carried
with him all the ideas in which he had been brought
up. He never thought of conforming himself to the
usages of those into whose land he had come. His
monasteries were in Gaul, but they were not Gallic^
Whatever was the country in which he sojourned,
he was still an Irishman, and it never entered his
liead that he should belong to any other than the
Irish Church.

The differences soon became apparent. Colum-
banus computed the time for celebrating the feast of

SAINT COLUMBANUS. TJ

Easter differently from those who were around him.
and therefore while one was keeping the fast of
Lent, the other was commemorating with a fea#t the
Itesurrection of oar Liord. Here was a visible token of
nonconformity. Any one coold see that the Church
of Ireland and the Chnrch of France were not in
accord. The matter was considered to be of soffi-
cient importance to warrant the assembling of a synod
of the French bishops, who considered the advis*
ability of expelling Ck>lumbanas from the country.
To this synod the latter addressed an epistle, in which
he begs that he and his companions may be allowerl
' to live with you in peace and charity, in silence
amongst these woods, near to the bones of our seven*
teen brothers who are dead, in the same way as up
to the present we have been allowed to live amongst
you these twelve years, and that as we have hereto-
fore done, we may still fulfil our duty in praying for
you.' He goes on to argue with tliem the question
in dispute, and finally, he makes an appeal for
mutual forbearance. But he gives no sign of being
ready to alter his practice in the least, or of conform-
ing to the ways of those who were around him. At
the same time he wrote a letter to Pope Gregory the
Great on the subject. This, as well as another letter
written at a later period to Pope Boniface IV., is of
the highest importance as throwing light on the
position which he took with regard to the Pope, and
as telling us from his example something of tne way
in which the subject of papal supremacy was re-
garded by the Irish Church. That Columbanus
was altogether wrong in his arguments on this
particular question, whereas the Church of Rome
was right, does not concern the matter one way
or the other. At present we have onljr to consider
how far he as a member of the Irish Church

78 THE ANCIENI IRISH CHURCH,

considered himself bound by the authority of the
Pope.

Columbanus wrote to Pope Gregory in the hope
of inducing that pontiff to use his influence for the
purpose of quelling the storm that was raging round
the Irish missionaries by reason of the opposition of
the prelates. He insinuates rather than asserts that
the agitation was set on foot by those who did not
care to have their evil deeds brought to light, and
that many of the bishops had obtained their positions
through simony, and therefore were uncanonically
ordained. He adduces the authority of Saint Jerome
for the Irish practices, and warns the Pope that there
ought to be no disagreement between his holiness
and the saint, for whoever contradicted the authority
of Saint Jerome would be looked upon as a heretic
and rejected with scorn by the Churches of the West.
He ridicules the idea that the decision made by one
pope should in all cases bind his successors. Gregory's
predecessor had been Leo, and Columbanus, in a
quaint though not very complimentary manner,
reminds him that *a living dog is better than a
dead lion,^

The letter to Pope Boniface is still more remark-
able. He begins it by words which have been often
quoted to show that Columbanus of all the fathers
uses the strongest language in asserting the Pope's
supremacy. He addresses his letter thus : * To the
most renowned Head of all the Churches of all
Europe, the most charming Pope, the highly exalted
prelate, the pastor of pastors, the most reverend
overseer : a humble individual addresses himself to
him who is highly exalted, the least to the greatest,
a rustic to the polished citizen, a man of feeble
utterance to him who is most eloquent ; the last
speaks to him that is first, the stranger addresses

^AINT COLUMBANUS, 79

the homebom, the poorest comes to him who is
most mighty: nay, wonderful to relate ! a thing
never heard of before ! that strange bird, the com-
mon wood pigeon (Palumbus) ^ dares to write to
Father Boniface.'

This paragraph is interesting, as showing that
Irishmen in the past, like those in the present, are
sometimes disposed to regard the superlative adjec-
tive as most important of all the parts of speech. It
is certainly an extraordinary introduction for the
tirade that follows, in which he unburdens his mind
with a vigour of language that is as unique as is the
accumulation of compliments with which he begins.
He is himself conscious of the fact that what he
writes will be distasteful to the authorities at Eome,
for at the beginning he endeavours to excuse him-
self by reminding them that better are the wounds
of a friend than the deceitful kisses of an enemy.
He then goes on to tell the Pope that * the name of
God is blasphemed among the Gentiles on account
"of you who are contending, both of you. For I
confess, I grieve at the infamy that attaches itself
to the chair of Saint Peter.' He gives as his justi-
fication of the right to lecture the Pope in this
fashion that, * we Irish — all of us — though we dwell
at the very ends of the earth, are disciples of SS.
Peter and Paul, and of all the disciples who by the
power of the Holy Spirit wrote the Divine Canon.
We receive no doctrine beyond that of the Evan-
gelists and Apostles. "We have had amongst us no
heretic or Jew or schismatic, but the Catholic faith
as it was first handed down by you, that is to say,
by the successors of the holy apostles, is still kept

* By way of showing his humility, he will not call himself
Columba, * the dove,' but only Palumbus, * the wood pigeon.'

8o THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

by US unshaken.' He goes on to tell his holiness
that if he desires not to lack apostolic honour he
must preserve the apostolic faith. He acknowledges
the supremacy of the see of Rome in so far as to
give it the second place in all the world, Jerusalem
being first; but he says that it is a painful and
lamentable case if the Catholic faith be not held
in the apostolic see ; and that under certain cir-
cumstances a Church very much younger, but one
which has never harboured heretics (in which
description he not obscurely designates the Church
of Ireland), might sit in judgment on the Church
of Rome, and cut it off from communion * until the
memory of the wicked be effaced and consigned to
oblivion.'

"We are not to suppose that these writings of
Columbanus were current in Ireland, or that any
one in that country took such a decided stand with
regard to the points of controversy. As a matter
of fact the question as to the keeping of Easter,
which was the subject of the letter to Pope Gregory,
had not yet arisen in Ireland, and the * Controversy
of the Three Chapters,' which caused the letter to
Pope Boniface, never arose there, and was in all
probability quite unknown. The works of Colum-
banus only show us in what way an Irishman of
that age regarded the question of Papal supremacy
when brought into close contact with it for the first
time. The life of Columbanus brings us down to i
the beginning of the seventh century (61B), and tells
us that up to that time the Church of Ireland was
independent in so far as to claim the right to inter-
pret for itself the "Word of God and ordain its own
rites and ceremonies ; that it took for its sole rule of
faith the writings of the Evangelists and Apostles ;
that it ignored (and if occasion had arisen would

SAINT COLUMBANUS, 8i

have rejected) papal supremacy ; and that while
conscious of its independence and of its difference in
some points from the other nations of Christendom,
it nevertheless held itself to be a part of the great
Catholic Church.

«

CHAPTER VII.

ASCETICS AND ANCHORITES.

From the beginning of the mission of Saint Patrick
to the death of Columbanus occupies a period of
about two centuries — roughly speaking, the fifth
and sixth. The end of that time saw one national
Church for Ireland and Scotland, both countries
being governed by the same rules, and holding the
same doctrines ; that is to say, they held the doc-
trine and discipline of the Church of Q-aul as it
was at the end of the fourth century. If any de-
velopment or change had taken place, it must have
been brought aboub independently of any outside
influence. It is, therefore, a matter of great interest
to the student of general Church history that we
should obtain as accurate a picture as possible of
the Irish Church in that age. There is perhaps no
other way in which we can get as clear an idea
of the state of Christendom, for, when changes are
taking place, when new developments of doctrine
and discipline are being worked out, it is often very
difficult to say afterwards how far the process had
gone at one particular time. But if at that time
there has been a portion separated from the rest, and
this portion has continued for centuries isolated, and
free from the influences that were producing change
elsewhere, we can form a fairly accurate picture of
the state of things that existed when the separation

S2

J

ASCETICS AND ANCHORITES, 83

took place, by a careful study of the phenomena
presented, and an elimination of those peculiarities
that are due to merely local causes.

The difference between the rule of Columba and
that of Columbanus, which latter may have been
founded on that of Comgal, has already been noted.
We may hence conclude that in some places a stricter
rule was followed than in others, and the conjecture .
may be hazarded that there was a regular grada-
tion, from simple Christian villages which were
called monasteries, but were monastic only in name,
to those in which the strictest discipline was ob-
served and the extreme asceticism of the East was
more than emulated.

Some countenance to this idea is given by one of an
ancient body of canons, attributed to Gildas, who is
said to have come to Ireland in the latter part of the
sixth century, at the invitation of the chief monarch,
for the purpose of restoring ecclesiastical order,
^ because all the inhabitants of the island had aban-
doned the Catholic faith.' This story of the mission
of Gildas is discredited by the fact that the period
when Ireland is said to have apostatized was in fact
one of great spiritual activity, as shown by the
works of evangelization undertaken by the different
missionaries. But there can be no doubt that the
canons are connected with the Irish Church, though
probably they belong to a later period. The canon
says that * an abbot who is lax ought not to prohibit
his monk from seeking a stricter rule.' Then by
way of explanation, it is said, * monks flying from a
lax to a more perfect discipline, and whose abbot is
irreligious or immoral and unfit to be admitted to
the table of the saints, may be received even without
the knowledge of their abbot. But those whose
abbot is not excluded from the table of the saints,

84 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

ought not to be received. How mncli more those
who come from holy abbots, whose only fault is that
they possess cattle, and ride in chariots, either from
the custom of the country or because of infirmity.
For these things are less injurious, if they are
possessed in humility and patience, than labouring
at the plough, and driviug stakes into the earth
with presumption and pride.' ^

From this we may learn not only that some .had
stricter rules than others, but that there was con-
siderable jealousy between the two classes. Those
of lax rule had no sympathy with the stricter ones ;
and on the other hand the extreme ascetics looked
down upon those abbots as unworthy who rode in
chariots and had wealth of cattle. It was unavoid-
able, from the very circumstances of the case, that
there should be this diversity. The greatest advo-
cates of monasticism had never dreamt of its be-
coming the one rule of the Church ; but this was
the case in Ireland, and therefore it necessarily
followed that the system should be modified to meet
the circumstances of the case. Extreme asceticism
might suit a few enthusiastic souls; but for the
ordinary members of the Church, or even of the
clergy, it was a yoke which they were not able and
could not be expected to bear.

It was not merely in different monasteries that
there was this difference in strictness ; even in the
same establishment the inmates were not all bound
by the same rule. A man might become an ascetic
without separating himself from his abbot, even
though the abbot were one that did not follow a
very strict rule himself or impose it on his followers.
This brings us to consider the institution of anchorites^

^ Quoted from Todd, Life of St. Patrick, p. 144.

ASCETICS AND ANCHORITES, 85

which forms such a very striking feature in the
early Irish Church. These were men who were not
contented with the ordinary Christian Ufe, but were
supposed to practise greater austerities than those
among whom they lived. They dwelt apart, in the
* Desert,' as their portion of the monastery was
called.

The name, Desert, recalls to us the fact that the
original anchorites were monks of Egypt, who retired
into a real desert, for the purpose of spending lives
of loneliness and devotion. As far as we are able
to judge of them, they presented a not very inviting
picture. They were for the most part not only
ignorant, but they gloried in their ignorance ; they
never engaged in any useful work ; some of them seem
to have laid aside every vestige of civilization and
decency ; they placed no bounds to their fanaticism ;
they banished from their hearts every human affec-
tion. Though their lives were in one sense ex-
amples of extreme self-denial, in another sense they
were examples of extreme selfishness. "Whatever
may be thought of cenobites, or monks living in
community, there can only be one opinion about the
hermits. They were as a general rule useless and
lazy, and under the cloak of humility were filled
with spiritual pride.

When the monastic system was introduced into
the West, the names were retained, but the things
signified were far from being the same. When we
speak of the Irish ' anchorites ' living in a * desert,'
we must dismiss from our minds nearly all the ideas
that we usually connect with these two words.
First of all, the anchorites had scarcely one point in
common with those of Egypt and Syria. They ,did
not live lives of isolation, but formed part of the
community. In later years there were ' enclosed

86 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

anchorites' found in Ireland. These never left their
cells, but spent their whole time each on the grave of
his predecessor and with his own grave open beside
him. But the old Irish Church was a thing of the
past before these made their appearance. They
were quite unknown in the period we are now con-
sidering. The old Irish anchorites had their duties
to perform, like the rest of the monks. In lona, for
example, one of them was a bridge maker. It was
not at all uncommon for the anchorite to be abbot
of a monastery. Others were bishops, scribes, law-
givers, teachers. Some were even travellers. Of
one we are told that he died in Italy.

A good idea of the life they were expected to lead
is given us in an ancient * Rule,' written in Irish,
which is attributed to Columba, and belongs, if not
to his age, at all events to an early period. Here
the religious brother who prefers solitude * is recom-
mended to reside in contiguity to a principal church,
in a secure house with one door, attended by one
servant, whose work should be light, where only
those should be admitted who converse of God and
His Testament, and in special solemnities only. His
time was to be spent in prayers for those who re-
ceived his instructions and for all those who had died
in faith, the same as if they had all been his most
particular friends. The day was to be divided into
three parts, devoted respectively to prayers, good
works and reading. The works were to be divided
into three parts ; the first was to be devoted to his
own benefit, in doing what was useful and necessary
for his own habitation ; the second part to the bene-
fit of the brethren ; and the third to the benefit of
the neighbours. This last part of his pious works
was to consist of precepts or writing, or else sewing
clothes or any other profitable industrial work : so

^

ASCETICS AND ANCHORITES, 87

that there shall be no idleness, as God says, Thou
shalt not appear before Me empty.' ^

The 'desert ' in which these anchorites lived was
simply a place set apart for themselves. Sometimes
this was near the monastery, as at Glendalough;
sometimes it was actually in it, as in the case con-
templated by the rule just quoted, and as we know
to have been the case at Kells. The desert was a
place where penitents might retire for a while and
obtain ghostly comfort and advice, for many of the
anchorites were famous as anmcharas, or *soul
friends.' For the regulation of these, both penitents
and advisers, there was an officer appointed, who
was called the * Head of the Desert.'

When these facts are considered, it will be seen
that it is most important that we should not be
misled by words, when the terms used for the exist-
ing circumstances in one country are transferred to
those of another. The words, monastery, monk,
anchorite, desert, and the like have done more than
anything else to give wrong ideas as to what the
ancient Irish Church was like. "We have seen that
in Ireland the anchorite was simply a stricter monk,
and when we remember that he was allowed to keep
a servant and to receive visitors, we can scarcely say
that his rule was too strict. It is very probable,
however, that at first no such institutions existed,
and that a considerable time elapsed before such a
development was thought of. The ancient catalogue

* O'Curry, MS. Materials ofAnc. Irish Hist., p. 374. The
last sentence is given in Latin : * Ut Deus ait : Non apparebis
ante me vacuus.' The passage occurs in four places (once in
the Apocrypha), but in no case is the Vulgate exactly as here
quoted. It will be noticed that the meaning unemployed
is given to vacuus^ though the Biblical context requires the
meaning empty-handed.

88 . THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

of the Irish saints to which reference has been
already made tells us that it was the third order of
saints who * used to dwell in desert places, and to
live on herbs and water and the alms of the faithful.
They despised all earthly things and wholly avoided
all whispering and backbiting.' But they were the
least holy of the three orders, which shows that
asceticism, though it existed at the time, was not re-
garded as a sign of great sanctity. On the contrary,
those were more highly esteemed who needed no
such help for the overcoming of sin. The catalogue
further tells us that they were later in date than the
first order of saints, who established mixed monas-
teries and had Saint Patrick for their leader. They
were later also than the second order, which enforced
celibacy, and indeed did not come into existence
until the seventh century. That the movement was
due to foreign influences is probable, from the fact
that while some of them followed the usages of the
Irish Church, others conformed to the rules observed
by the Continental Churches. This is also borne out
by the fact that the Annalists do not chronicle the
death of famous anchorites until towards the close
of the seventh century.

The conclusion therefore to which we are led is
that this institution never at any time had much
resemblance to that of the same name in Egypt and
elsewhere, and although characteristic of an early
age of the Irish Church, was unknown in the very
earliest times.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN.

The position occupied by women in the ancient
Irish Church is a rather difficult, but most interest-
ing subject. In the olden times the women of
Ireland were admitted to many employments that
are generally regarded as being outside their pro-
vince. Even in the field of battle they took their
place, and it was not until the year 690 that they
were exempted from service in the military expedi-
tions. When Tara was in all its glory, the * barrack
of the warlike women ' stood within the enclosure,
not far from the palace of the king. From the
first they played an important part in the history of
the Church. They were, as we have seen, admitted
freely to the monasteries, or at all events to some of
them, and being admitted, they were not always
confined to the less important offices. Some of the
abbots evidently did not care much for this mixed
system. Columba is said to have objected even to
cows, giving as his reason, ' where there is a cow
there must be a woman, and where there is a woman
there must be mischief.' This, by the way, has been
triumphantly quoted to show that women were
excluded from lona. But surely it is the very
opposite inference that should be drawn. There
were cows in lona ; therefore, according to Columba,
there must have been women.

89

90 THE ANCIENl IRISH CHURCH.

If the Lwes of the Saints are to be believed, how-
ever, there were some who obstinately excluded
women from their communities. In doing so they
encountered determined opposition. Kevin of Glen-
dalough is said to have hurled a woman into the
lake, because in no other way could he overcome
the persistence with which she insisted on obtaininjg
admittance into the monastery. A curious story is
also told about Senanus, the saint who has given his
name to the River Shannon, He established himself
with his followers in an island, and on one occasion
a woman sailed across and demanded admission. He
met her with a repulse : * What have women in
common with monks ? "We will not receive thee nor
any like thee.' She began to argue with him:
* What ! if thou believest that my spirit can receive
Jesus Christ, why repulse my body ? ' But the
saint was unmoved by the appeal, * I believe thee,'
he said ; * but no woman shall ever enter here. Gto ;
G-od save thy soul; but go, return to the world;
among us thou wouldest give scandal ; thy heart
may be chaste, but thy sex is in thy bodjr.' Stories
like these could never have taken rise if it had not
been a recognised institution at one time for women
and men together to form portion of the same com-
munity.

In other places they were far from resting con-
tented with such unfriendly exclusion or grudging
toleration. They became the instructors of men,
and took upon them the training of those who were
to be admitted to the priesthood. We read of one
who did duty as * Erenach ' at Derry,^ and who
must therefore have transacted all the business of
the establishment, superintended the farm opera-

» .

iiinals of the Four Masters^ a.d. 1134.

THE MimSTRY OF WOMEN, 9^

tions, and received the visitors. Of another, we are
told that she acted as * soul friend/ or spiritual
adviser to one of the opposite sex. In the Life of
Saint Aidan, we are told, * After Aidan had come to
Ireland, he said, I am sorry that I did not ask my
instructor who in this island of Ireland should be
my soul Mend. He was returning to Saint David,
walking on the sea, when an angel met him and
said. There was great confidence in what thou hast
done, in going on foot over the sea. To which Aidan
answered, I have not done this through confidence,
but through the strength of faith. And the angel
said to him, It is not necessary that thou shouldest
have a soul friend, for God loves thee, and between
thee and God there will be no intermediary one. If,
however, thou wishest for a soul friend, thou shalt
have Molue, the mother of Choche.' ^ A story like
this could never have arisen if it were considered
unworthy of a saint to have a woman for his soul
friend.

Several instances are recorded of women rising to
the highest offices in the Church, and becoming
abbesses ; that is to say, not mere superiors to com-
munities of women, but heads of establishments
formed after the same pattern as the rest, with
priests and bishops amongst the inmates, who
meekly submitted to the rule of the woman who
was the head of the religious ' family.'

The most famous of these abbesses was Bridget,
whose monastery at Kildare continued to be famous \
for many centuries. She was the il legitim ate I ^
daughter of one of the Irish chiefs, ana is said* /
to have been remarkable for her beauty, until, find-
ing it to be an obstacle to her usefulness, she prayed

* Bees, Lim8 of the Camhro-British Saints,

CvJirO^

92 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

that she might be deprived of it ; from which time
she became remarkably plain. Probably this simply
means that she was disfigured by an illness such as
small-pox, and was thus led to dedicate herself to a
religious life. At all eveiits, she was one of the
earliest converts, and for a time became the com-
panion of St. Patrick, whom she accompanied in his
preaching tours through the country. Eventually,
she founded the monastic establishment at Kildare,
which, like the others of that age, consisted of both
sexes living together, and bound by the same rules.
Having erected her monastery * on the sure founda-
tions of faith,' it soon became * the head of nearly
all the Irish churches, and the pinnacle towering
above all the monasteries of the Scots, whose juris-
diction spread through the whole Hibernian land
from sea to sea.'

After a time, she reflected that she ought * to pro-
vide with prudent care regularly in all things for
the souls of her people,' and came to the conclusion
that * she could not be without a high priest, to
consecrate churches and to settle the ecclesiastical
degrees in them."^ Accordingly, after a time a
bishop, who was also a worker in brass, was admitted
to the community; but he became subject to the
abbess in the same way as in some other places the
bishop was subject to the abbot. Sometimes there
was more than one bishop at Kildare. As far as
we can judge, the establishment resembled in most
respects the ordinary monasteries around them.
There was the same entertaining of distinguished
strangers and the coming and going of visitors ; the
same ceremony of washing the feet was observed,

^ See Todd, Life of St. Patrick^ pp. 11, 12, who here quotes
from Cogitosus, Vita S, BriyidcR.

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN. 93

only it was done bv the sisters instead of by the
brothers ; the same kind of work, too, went on ; the
ground was tilled, mechanical arts were pursued, and
especially the work of producing illuminated manu-
scripts occupied a considerable portion of their time.
Giraldus Cambrensis gives us a wonderful account of
a copy of the Gospels which existed in his time, and
which must have been of the same class as the Book
of Kells. He tells us that it was miraculously pro-
duced. Every night an angel showed the scribe in
a dream a copy of the designs he was to execute
on the following day, and by the prayers of Bridget
he was then enabled to reproduce them. *In this
manner the book was composed, an angel furnishing
the designs, Saint Bridget praying, and the scribe
copying.'

In later times the abbesses seem to have had less
authority, and the establishment was nearly always
under the control of some member of the royal family
of Leinster, not unfrequently the heir to the throne.
A remarkable peculiarity of the monastery at Kildare
was the keeping up of a perpetual fire. Giraldus
mentions it among the * Wonders and Miracles of
Ireland.' He tells us that * this fire is surrounded
by a hedge, made of stakes and brushwood, and
forming a circle, within which no male can enter ;
and if any one should presume to enter, which has
been sometimes attempted by rash men, he will not
escape the Divine vengeance. Moreover, it is only
lawful for women to blow the fire, fanning it or
using bellows only, and not with their breath,' There
has been much speculation as to the meaning of this
fire, but its origin is lost in mystery, and is not im-
probably to be traced to the old Druidism. Henry
de Londres, one of the Anglo-Norman archbishops of
Dublin, believing it to be of idolatrous origin, caused

I

94 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

it to be extinguished in 1220, but it was again re-
lighted, and continued until the time of the dissolu-
tion of the monasteries in the reign of Henry VIII,
It furnishes us with an example of how the old Celtic))
usages were often tolerated by the Bomish party
when they could not be abolished.

There were many establishments in Ireland which
owed their origin to Kildare. Saint Bridget's in-
fluence, we are told, * like a fruitful vine, spreading
all around with growing branches,' extended itself
through the whole country. But their record seems,
for the most part, to have perished. In a few places
we read of abbesses, as for example in Clonburren on
the Shannon, and Clonbroney in the County Long-
ford. The latter was founded in the year 734 by
Samthann, who was a poetess, and who is herself
celebrated in verse by the literary king, Hugh Allen.
He writes concerning her :

* Samthann for enlightening various sinners,
A servant who observed stem chastity,
In the northern plain of fertile Meath
Great suffering did Samthann endure.
She undertook a thing not easy,
Fasting for the kingdom above,
She lived on scanty food,
Hard were her girdles.
She struggled in venomous conflicts,
True was her heart amid the wicked;
To the bosom of the Lord, with a pure death
Samthann passed from her sufferings.' *

It is not quite clear whether there were other
establishments in Ireland where both sexes were
united under the rule of the abbess, as at Kildare.

' Annals of the Four Masters, a.d. TS-l,

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN. 95

But it is certain that in England and on the conti-
nent there were many hke it, where Irish, or at all
events Celtic, teachers had made their influence felt.
In France, for example, Saint Fara's monastery at
Brie followed at first the Eule of Saint Columbanus.
Earcongota, daughter of Earconbert, King of Kent,
and her kinswoman Ethelberga, were inmates, and
the latter was at one time abbess. But the establish-
ment included brethren as well as sisters, for when
Earcongota died, ' many of the brethren of that
monastery that were in the other houses declared
that they had then plainly heard concerts of angels
singing, and the noise as it were of a multitude
entering the monastery.' ^

The famous Saint Hilda presided over such a
monastery at Whitby in YorKshire, and was in her
day the upholder of Irish customs, although at the
time the Roman missionaries in England were using
all their influence against them.^ She had been
converted by Paulinus, first bishop of the North-
umbrians, but had received most of her religious
education from Saint Aidan, who came forth from
lona. She was strict in her discipline, and insisted
on community of goods, * so that after the example
of the primitive Church no person was there rich,
and none poor, all being in common to all, and none
having any property.' * She obliged those who
were under her direction to attend so much to the
reading of the Holy Scriptures, and to exercise
themselves so much in works of justice, that many
might be there found fit for ecclesiastical duties, and
to serve at the altar.' In this way she trained a
large number for the sacred ministry, of whom no less
than five became bishops. She seems to have been

* Bede, Ecd. Hist, iii. 8. 2 j^.^ iij, 25.

96 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

not only a ruler, but a preacher, for we are told that
notwithstanding sickness, she never failed * publicly
and privately to instruct the flock committed to her
charge/ ^

Among those who acknowledged her as abbess
was one whose name has come down to us as the
first of the Anglo-Saxon writers, CsBdmon, whose
Metrical Paraphrase of Holy Scripture is not only a
monument of literature, but presents us with the
earliest attempt to translate tne Bible into the vul-
gar language of the people. ^ Bede tells us that * he
sang the creation of the world, the origin of man,
and all the history of Genesis : and made verses on
the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt,
and their entering into the land of promise, with
many other histories from Holy Writ ; the Incarna-
tion, Passion, Resurrection of our Lord, and His
Ascension into heaven ; the coming of the Holy
Ghost, and the preaching of the Apostles ; also the
terror of future judgment, the horror of the pains of
hell, and the delights of heaven ; besides many more
about the Divine benefits and judgments, by which
he endeavoured to turn away all men from the love of
vice, and to excite in them the love of and application
to good actions ; for he was a very religious man,
humbly submissive to regular discipline, but full of
zeal against those who behaved themselves other-
wise ; for which reason he ended his life happily.'

A branch of Hilda's establishment was founded
thirteen miles from Whitby, and again a lady was
placed at the head of it. Saint Bega, from Ireland,
who is still commemorated by the name Saint Bees,
which the place bears at the present day, and where
in the well-known Theological College the same

» Bede, Ecd, Hist., iv. 23. ^ u^ j^^^ 24.

THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN, 97

work of training candidates for Holy Orders is now
carried on. At Barking, Coldingham and Watton
there were monasteries conducted on similar prin-
ciples. The arrangement does not seem to nave
struck the Venerable Bede as incongruous or extra-
ordinary, although he does relate some not very
creditable incidents, which show that in some cases
at least the system produced those evils which, on a
priori grounds, one might expect would have destroyed
it before a generation had passed. For example, one
of the monks of Coldingham had, he tells us, a
vision of an angel, who said to him, * I having now
visited all this monastery regularly, have looked
into every one's chambers and beds, and found none
of them except yourself busy about the care of his
soul ; but all of them, both men and women, either
indulge themselves in slothful sleep, or are awake in
order to commit sin ; for even the cells that were
built for praying or reading are now converted into
places of feasting, drinking, talking, and other de-
lights; the very virgins dedicated to God laying
aside the respect due to their profession, whenso-
ever they are at leisure, apply themselves to wearing
fine garments, either to use in adorning themselves
like brides, to the danger of their condition, or to
gain the friendship of strange men ; for which reason
a heavy judgment from heaven is deservedly ready
to fall on this place and its inhabitants by devouring
fire.' ^ The result of this warning was a temporary
reformation, but after a time, relaxing again into
their former habits, the judgment threatened came
upon them, and a fire destroyed the whole mon-
astery.

All these English establishments, which were

* Bede, Eccl, Hist., iv. 25.

98 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

under the control of women, were founded by those
who were of Irish origin, or had come under Irish
influence. One may therefore conclude that this
institution of the mixed monastery was one peculiar
to the ancient Celtic Church, and that the position
occupied by women was one of greater importance
than was the case in any other country.

CHAPTER IX.

CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND.

In order to complete the description of the peculiari-
ties of the Irish Church, a few words must be said
on some Church oflficers which seem to have been
found only in Ireland.

The head of every monastery is sometimes called
the abbot of the place, but still more frequently he
is designated the Coarb of the founder. This title
arose from the tribal organization. Coarb means
inheritor or mccesfior. Thus, the Abbot of lona was
Coarb of Columkill. The same title would be taken
by the Abbot of Derry, or Kells, or Swords, or of
any other Columban monastery. The Abbot of
Clonmacnois was .Coarb of Kerian; the Abbot of
Armagh was Coarb of Patrick; and similarly, the
head of every establishment was called after the
first founder. Sometimes the head of the chief com-
munity of any order was called Arch-Coarb. This
signified that he was the inheritor not only of the
tribal rights of the founder, but that he had also
authority over all the lesser places where the same
rule was followed. Thus the idea of succession
rather than of locality was that which was promi-
nent in their minds. In other countries, the opposite
rule held. The names of our own parishes and
dioceses, for example, are simple territorial distinc-
tions, and have no suggestion in them of each

99

100 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

ecclesiastic carrying on the work begun by his
predecessors. In Ireland, however, not only was
this idea of inheritance kept in view, but they seem
to have thought that other Churches were all formed
on the same model. Even the Pope is spoken of as
Abbot of Rome and Coarb of Peter, as if he were
the head of an establishment in Rome similar in
character to one of the monastic schools of Ireland.
The Coarbs were elected in the same manner as the
secular chieftains. Chiefs and kings obtained their
positions by election, but the hereditary principle
was so far recognised that no one could be elected
who did not belong to the ruling family. In the
same manner, every member of the community had
his voice in the election of coarb, but was restricted
in his choice to one of the family of the founder.

The community itself was generally called a
'famil3^^ We have this term used as late as the
year 1203, when the * family of Derry' went over
to help the '- family of lona ' in one of their dis-
putes. Here again, it is needless to remark, we have
the system of clanship showing itself. Every tribe
was regarded as a family bearing the name of its
first chief, and in the same way every religious
establishment was a family bearing the name of its
first founder.

The business affairs of the brotherhood were in
the hands of the Erenach and the EconomM. The
former, who is often erroneously called an Arch-
deacon by those who forget that such an office was
unknown in the ancient Irish Church, used to man-
age the outlying farms, which were sometimes let
to heytagJis or Church tenants. They were the dis-
pensers of hospitality, and in some cases distributed
the alms of the community. The economist appor-
tioned his work to each inmate of the monastery, and

.jkiid

CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND, lol

was bursar and general business man. He was not
always a popular officer. When a brother was fond
of reading and study, he did not care to be sent off
to cut timber or engage in farm work. The econo-
mist, however, had to be obeyed, and no one was
allowed to shirk his share of the manual labour.

The Anmchara or *soul friend' was one of the
most remarkable institutions of the Irish Church.
It has been often assumed that the office was simply
that of confessor, and its existence has been appealed
to as showing that auricular confession and priestly
absolution were both practised in the early Irish
Church. Such a view is reduced to an absurdity by
the story already given about Saint Aidan. When
his life was written it was not considered impossible
that the office should be held by a woman. And all
that we know of soul friends leads us to the same
conclusion. They were advisers, not confessors; and
they gave guidance and direction, not absolution.
It is highly probable that Irish teachers of that age
would have called Deborah the soul friend of Barak.
The position she occupied was exactly that which the
soul friends of old occupied. A few examples will
be the best way of explaining the kind of service
that they rendered.

After the battle of Cooldreeny, and when Columba
had been excommunicated by the Synod of Teltown,
he sought his soul friend for advice, and it was he
who suggested the missionary work which was
begun and set forward in lona.

We have another example in the life of Fintan or
Munna, founder of Taghmon in the County Wexford.
He was one of the many visitors at lona, and arrived
there shortly after the death of Columba. To
journey as far as lona had long been the great
desire of his life, and one would have thought that

102 THE ANCIENT IRlSti CHVRCH,

the undertaking was not of such tremendous magni-
tude but that he might fairly have made the journey
on his own responsibility. He, however, thought it
better first to have recourse to his soul friend, Colum
Crag, and * take advice from his better counsel ' ;
and it was only when he had ' laid his mind open to
him,' and had received his consent and encourage-
ment, that he began the journey. We are told that
as the two were discussing the matter together, some
of the brethren from lona arrived. On being asked
about their journey, they answered, ^ We have lately
landed from Britain, and this day we have come
from Derry.' * Is your holy father, Columba, well ? '
asked Colum Crag. But they, bursting into tears,
exclaimed with great sorrow, * The patron is indeed
well, for a few days ago he departed to Christ.' ^

Another interesting example of a soul friend hav-
ing been consulted is given in an old manuscript, at
present in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.
One of the minor kings, Fiacha by name, who lived
in the middle of the seventh century, was killed by
his own people, and his brother Donnchadh * came
upon them in revenge ; but he stayed his vengeance
until he should consult his soul friend, the Coarb of
Saint Columkill, to whom he sent a message to lona,
to ask his advice on the case.' The answer, brought
back by two confidential clerics, was a strange one.
Donnchadh was advised ^ to send sixty couples of the
men and women of the offending tribe in boats out
upon the sea, and then leave them to the judgment
of God. The exiles were accordingly put into small
boats, launched upon the water, and watched so that
they should not land again.' A curious development
of the story is that the Hwo confidential clerics,'

^ Adamnan, Life, of Columba^ i. 2.

CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND. 103

instead of going back to their abbot, as of course
they would have done if vows of obedience were
then in force, * determined to go of their own will on
a wandering pilgrimage,' and eventually followed
the fortunes of the castaways, who had landed safely
on an island. ^

A very remarkable * soul friend ' was Maelsuthain
O'CarroU, who lived in the early years of the eleventh
century. He was himself a chief, and for a great
part of his life had lived as an ordinary petty King.
In his later years, however, he was an inmate of the
abbey at Innisfallen, in one of the Lakes of Killarney,
and became soul friend to the famous Brian Boru.
The Four Masters tell us that he was chief doctor of
the Western world in his time, and that he died after
a good life. His handwriting is still to be seen in
the Book of Armagh. He was manifestly a very
learned man, and seems to have been employed as
scribe and historian by Brian Boru. Being a man
of the world, he may well also have been adviser as
to matters of state. But. with regard to the good
life with which the Annalists credit him, the evidence
seems to be all the other way. His immoralities
were notorious — so much so, that it is difficult to see
how he could have been soul friend with spiritual
advantage to any one.

In many ways there is considerable resemblance
between the soul friends and some of the prophets of
whom we read in the Old Testament. They were,
it is true, quite unlike such men as Elijah and Isaiah
and Jeremiah, but they were consulted much in the
same way as Nathan was consulted by David and
Micaiah by Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Like^ Samuel,
they sometimes suggested that a war should be

' O'Curry, MS. Materials of Arte. Irish Hist, p. 333.

104 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

undertaken, and at one time it seems almost to have
become a rule not to engage in battle until their
opinion as to the merits of the contest had been
obtained. In the story of the battle of Kilmashoge,
as related by the Four Masters under the year 917,
the soul friend plays much the same part as would
have been taken by one of the old Hebrew prophets.
The Irish leader, Neal Glunduff, was incited to
attack the Danish invaders by his soul friend, who
prophesied victory, accompanied the army into the
field, and when the fortunes of war were going
against his countrymen, refused to give Neal a horse
to carry him away from the battle.

All these instances, and many more that might
be quoted, show us how different the soul friend was
from a confessor. The office was simply what the
name implied, and was very far indeed from carry-
ing with it the ideas of auricular confession and
priestly absolution. As an example of the kind of
confession that was really practised in the Irish
Church, and the doctrine of absolution that was
preached, we may take the story of Fechnus, as
related by Adamnan : * He (Fechnus) confessed his
sins in the presence of all who were there. The
saint then, shedding tears likewise, said to him,
" Arise, my son, and be comforted. The sins which
thou hast committed are forgiven, because, as it is
written, a contrite and humble heart God does not
despise." ' ^

It is a question of considerable difficulty to deter-
mine how far the ancient Irish Church succeeded
in making its influence felt on the people in general.
The monastic form, while in one way a source of

^ Adamnan, Life, of Columba, i. 30. The verse from Psalm
li. 17, as here quoted, difters from the Vulgate in having
spernlt instead of deapiciea.

CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND. 105

strength, because it joined men together in a holy
brotherhood, yet was in another way a source of
weakness, since it left those who were outside bereft
to some extent of that leaven of goodness which the
presence of even a few earnest and good men would
have given them. The battles which were waged
continually between the different tribes would make
us suspect that the Gospel of peace had made but
small progress in melting the hearts of the barbarian
warriors; and when we find the Christian com-
munities also joining at times in the fray, we are
almost ready to conclude that the Church itself was
corrupt, and had altogether failed in its mission. It
is a subject, however, on which mistakes may easily
be made. Many of the old battles that are duly
recorded by the Annalists, would now be regarded as
mere faction fights, and are only magnified by their
antiquity into acts of national warfare. It must
always bo remembered, too, that much of the dis-
order of the age is due to the system of government.
When a small country is divided into a large number
of independent or semi-independent kingdoms, it is
almost certain to have wars and fightings without
end. Even the personal loyalty of the subjects,
though an estimable quality in itself, would only
help the disorder, because it made them ready to
follow their leader in blind obedience, making his
quarrel their own, without pausing to enquire as to
the rights and wrongs of the question.

On the other hand, the Church was in many cases
the helper of the weak, the asylum of the fugitive,
the arbiter of justice. As an illustration of how the
Church interposed at times to secure justice between
the different tribes, we may take the case of what
was called the Boromean tribute. This was a tribute
of cows which the King of Leinster was required to

to 6 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

pay every third year to the monarch of Ireland. It
was originally imposed in the first century of our '
era, as a punishment for the disgraceful conduct of
the King of Leinster at that time. But for centuries
afterwards it was exacted, and was from time to time
the fruitful cause of war and bloodshed. The in-
justice of continuijig the imposition for an offence
personal in the first instance, and committed so long
in the past, seems never to have been considered^
until the matter was taken up in the latter part of
the seventh century by Saint Moling, who had
founded a monastery in the County Carlow. This
Leinster Christian effected what the Leinster armies
were unable to accomplish. He brought the monarch
to see that the tax was unjust, and ou^ht to be
abolished. Accordingly Finachta the Festive, in the
year 680, decreed that the tribute would be no
longer required, and thus what had been the cause
of more civil war than anything else in the whole
history of the nation, came to an end. Strange to
say, when the king on this occasion consulted his
soul friend, he was advised by him to continue the
tax ; but happily he had enough good sense to dis-
regard the evil advice, and do that which was just
and right. This was all the more remarkable, as
the ecclesiastic whose guidance he followed belonged
to the tribe of his enemies.

A powerful weapon in the hands of the Church,
and one not unfrequently employed, was what may
be called the ' ecclesiastical curse.' The most re-
markable instance in which this was used was the
case of the royal palace and city of Tara, and it will
illustrate well the great power which it enabled the
Church to wield. The king, Dermot — the same
monarch who fought with Saint Columba — took
prisoner and afterwards condemned to death a

CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND, 107

brother of Saint Euan of Lorrha, in the County
Tipperary. The judgment was unjust, and the
cause was warmly taken up by the prisoner's saintly
kinsman. But reasoning and entreaty were alike in
vain, and the sentence was carried out. Saint Euan
immediately repaired to Tara, and *laid his curse
upon it ' ; the result being that the whole place was
deserted, the Feast of Tara, which was one of the
national institutions, was discontinued, and it ceased
from that time to be the royal residence.

It must have been this institution of the ecclesi-
astical curse that Giraldus Cambrensis had in his
mind when he penned the curious chapter in which
he sets forth how the saints of Ireland appear to be
of a vindictive temper. The explanation that he
gives is a remarkable one, and is perhaps worth
quoting in this place. ^As the Irish people,' he
says, * possessed no castles, while the country is full
of marauders who live by plunder, the people, and
more especially the ecclesiastics, made it their prac-
tice to have recourse to the churches, instead of
fortified places, as refuges for themselves and their
property; and by Divine Providence and permission,
there was frequent need that the Church should
visit her enemies with the severest chastisements ;
this being the only mode by which evil-doers and
impious men could be deterred from breaking the
peace of ecclesiastical societies, and for securing
even to a servile submission the reverence due to
the very churches themselves from a rude and
irreligious people.'^

Finally, it deserves to be noticed, as bearing on
the influence of the Church, that it was a very usual
thing for kings and other great men, after having

* Giraldus Camb., Top, Hih„ ii. B5.

io8 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

spent the greater part of their life in warfare and in
managing the affairs of state, to retire at length
and finish their days in ^ one of the monasteries.
Though thus retired from the world, they would be
far from losing their influence. The young king
would naturally consult his father in cases of emer-
gencj'^ ; the youthful warriors would take counsel
with those who had been the leaders of a former
generation, and this would be in many instances
almost the same as taking counsel with the abbot
and bishop, so that the influence of the Church
would be very powerful indeed. How much in this
way it moderated violent passions, and promoted
the cause of justice and goodness, it is not easy for
us now to estimate ; but the Church which has left
such an excellent record as a missionary organiza-
tion, and in which the Word of *God was so much
studied and honoured and prized, cannot have been
other than a great power for goodness. We shall
hereafter see how it promoted art and learning and
civilization to an extent that we would never have
imagined if we only thought of the barbarism and
lawlessness which overspread the country at a later
age.

CHAPTEE X.

AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY AND THE IRISH CHURCH.

We have now to consider how the Irish Church
came to be moulded by exterior influences. Up to
the present our attention has been confined to such
developments as took place independently. The
Irish Church, as we have seen, stood alone beyond
the reach of the revolutions and controversies that
produced such changes in other parts of Christen-
dom. It is a remarkable fact that it was her own
missionary enterprise that first brought her within
the sphere of foreign influence. The peculiarities of
the Irish Church were well known. Columbanus
and other Irish travellers had, in most countries of
Europe, founded institutions which were formed
after the model of those at home. The points in
which they differed from those around them fur-
nished subjects for discussion to popes and synods,
but no effort seems to have been made to influence
Ireland itself, or bring it into conformity with the
other Western countries. It was only when in
England the Irish missionaries met those who had
been sent from Rome, and absolutely refused to
regard them as other than heretical, that any action
was taken ; and even then it was anything but
effectual. In regard to the particular matter — the
Paschal controversy — which was first in dispute, it

was the influence of native scholars and travellers

109

I lo THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

that at length prevailed, and the concessions that
were made, were made on account of the arguments
brought forward by them, and not in deference to
any exterior authority.

We shall first see how the Bomish and Irish
ecclesiastics were brought into contact, and we will
then consider the differences which made themselves
at once apparent.

The Saxons first landed in England in the year
449, after which date they continued to arrive in
successive immigrations, until they had occupied
a great part of the country. It was not until a
century and a half later that any serious effort was
made tor their conversion. In the meantime they
had driven the Britons before them, had destroyed
the churches, and had set up the worship of Woden
and Thor where the name of Christ had formerly
been invoked. When Pope Gregory the Great was
as yet but a deacon in Bome, he had a great desire
to dedicate himself to the work of evangelizing this
nation. But the obstacles raised by admiring friends,
who desired to retain him in their midst, prevented
liim from carrying his purpose into effect, and it
was only after his elevation to the papal chair that
he found another who possessed the same enthusi-
asm, and was ready to undertake what must have
seemed at the time to be a hazardous enterprise.

The mission of Augustine of Canterbury, to whom
this work was committed by Pope Gregory, is an
event with which all readers of English history are
familiar, and its story need not be repeated nere.
The older historians have for the most part assumed
that English Christianity was all the result of this
mission from Rome. It is now recognised that such
a view is quite erroneous. The work of Augustine
was confined to the southern part of the country,

AUGUSTINE AND THE IRISH CHURCH, iii

and even there his success was more apparent than
real, and has been magnified by succeeding writers,
who considered it a matter of conscience to ignore
or disparage any missionary effort that did not draw
its inspiration from the Church of Brome. The
whole enterprise depended on the enthusiasm of the
one man. The companions of Augustine were re-
luctant in entering upon the work ; they had
scarcely put their hand to the plough when they
wanted to turn back ; and they were ready to desert
it as soon as he was dead. Then, the great majority
of the converts were Christians only in name. The
preachers, acting under the advice of the Pope, made
every possible concession to idolatry. The idol
temples for example were retained ; and, when
dedicated to Christian worship, the people were en-
couraged to make feasts beside them, in the same
way as they used to do in celebrating the sacrificial
rites of heathenism.

The result was that when Augustine died, and
the missionary enterprise passed into the hands of
less enthusiastic workers, nearly the whole nation
relapsed into idolatry.

The British Church — now confined to the western
parts of the country — held itself sullenly aloof from
the work of evangelization. Augustine rightly
regarded this as a dereliction of duty, and made
overtures to them, in hopes that they might be
brought to recognise their obligation in this re-
spect, and would join with him in the common
labour of preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles. He
made arrangements for assembling a synod, which
was to consist of both parties, at a place still called
in the time of Bede, Augustine's Ac, that is of
Augustine's Oak. Up to that time both he and his
party had held the Britons and Irish in great esteem

112 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

for sanctity, being, it would seem, quite unaware
that their usages differed in any wise from those
to which they had been accustomed in Rome. No
sooner, however, was the synod assembled, than the
differences made themselves at once apparent, and
the party separated without coming to any con-
clusion.

A second meeting was arranged, and in the mean-
time the British delegates took counsel with an
anchorite, celebrated for his wisdom, who advised
them to be led by Augustine, if he were a man of
God. On being asked how they were to know this,
the anchorite replied, that if he were a man of God
he would be meek and humble, and would show his
humility by rising up to greet them when they
arrived at the synod. Unfortunately Augustine
failed in the test. The Britons designedly came
late, in order that Augustine, being already seated,
should have the opportunity of rising up at their
approach ; but he continued sitting in his chair, and
the British delegates, observing this, were in a
passion, charged him with pride, and endeavoured
to contradict all that he said.^

The British Church was in doctrine and discipline
almost identical with the Church of Ireland ; but
the Roman missionaries were not aware of this fact,
and were hoping better things from the Irish.*
They learned, however, from Columbanus in France,
that Irish and Britons were both alike, and when
at length they did actually come in contact with
an Irish bishop, he absolutely refused to join in their
communion, and expressed his hostility not only by
refusing to eat with them, but even to take his
repast in the same house as that in which they were

^ Bede, EccL lllst., ii. 2. ' 76., ii. 4,

AUGUSTINE AND THE IRISH CHURCH. 113

entertained. This looks like a display of temper ;
yet, strange to say, this bishop (Saint Dagan) is said
by Irish authorities to have been remarkable for
his meekness.^ Probably he considered that eating
under the same roof with them would be equivalent
to the making of a league. .

In one respect the Britons and the Irish were very
different. The former had carried their hate of the
Saxons so far as to deliberately withhold from them
any knowledge of the Christian reUgion. * We will
not preach the faith/ they said, * to the cruel race
of strangers who have treacherously driven our
ancestors from their country, and robbed their
posterity of their inheritance.' The Irish, on the
other hand, were in the full enthusiasm of mis-
sionary enterprise ; their labours among the Picts
had been crowned with a brilliant success, and they
now began a similar work in the north of Eng-
land.

Oswald, King of Northumbria, had once as a
refugee been hospitably entertained in the island
of lona. When he found himself with the reins of
government in his hands, he asked that a teacher
should come from thence to instruct his people in
the religion of Christ. Bishop Gorman, who was
first sent, met with no success, and soon returned,
reporting that he had not been able to do any good
to the nation he had been sent to preach to, because
they were uncivilized men, and of a stubborn and
barbarous disposition. A young man in the as-
sembly, hearing this report, gave a gentle rebuke
to the disheartened labourer. * I am of opinion,
brother,' said he, * that you were more severe to
your unlearned hearers than you ought to have

^ See Card. Moran, Iriah Saints in Great Britairiy p. 211.

H

114 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

been, and did not at first, conformably to the apos-
tolic rule, give them the milk of more easy doctrine,
till being by degrees nourished with the Word of
God they should be capable of greater perfection
and be able to practise God's sublimer precepts.' ^
This sentiment seemed to contain so much wisdom
that the speaker, Saint Aidan, was at once fixed
upon as the fittest for the work. He accordingly set
out, accompanied by some companions like-minded
with himself. They were favourably received by
King Oswald, who allowed them to choose for them-
selves a site on which to found their first establish-
ment. They, taking lona as their model, chose the
small island of Lindisfame, in which they repro-
duced as nearly as possible the different features
of the parent monastery. Their work, prosecuted as
it was with vigour and tempered with wisdom and
prudence, was eminently successful, and the whole
nation was brought to the obedience of the faith.
Lindisfarne became in the very best sense a second
lona. In the meantime some of the faiut-hearted
in the Roman mission, becoming ashamed of their
cowardice, had returned to the conflict ; new helpers
had joined them, and they began to build up again
the Church which had been so suddenly destroyed.
The result of all was that Saxon England had two
Churches : one in the south in communion with the
Church of Rome, and one in the north in com-
munion with the Church of Ireland. When these
two parties met, the isolation of the Irish Church
was for the first time broken, and the differences
between it and the Church of Rome became at once
apparent.

Let us now ask what these differences were.

* Bede, Ecd* Hist^ iii. 5.

CHAPTER XI.

POINTS OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME.

The first and most important difference that showed
itself when the Roman missionaries in England and
the Irish Church came into contact was, that the
former were subject to the Pope, whereas the latter
was not. This has been denied by some, but the
proof of it is simply overwhelming. Every point of
ritual, unimportant in itself, in which the Irish re-
fused to conform to the Romans goes to show that
this difference existed. In all their discussions it
is tacitly assumed. The favourite argument of the
Romans is that they are followers of Saint Peter,
an honour which they altogether deny to their
opponents. The Irish consider it a sufficient reply
that they follow Saint John, or even Saint Columba.
On one famous occasion a decision was given against
the Irish, not on the merits of the question, but
because the one side could quote the verse, ' Thou
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven ' ; wnereas the other side could show nothing
of the same kind about Columba. Such a way of
deciding the question would have been impossible
if both sides acknowledged equally the supremacy
of the see of Rome. Then, the ignorance which the

"5

ii6 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

Eomans display concerning Ireland and everything
Irish, shows that whatever theory may have been
held in papal circles as to the subjection of all other
Churches, as a naatter of fact Ireland had been left
to go its own way without any assertion of authority
on the part of the Pope. Augustine and they who
were with him never knew until they were in
Britain that .the British Church was different from
their own ; and when they were made painfully
conscious of this fact, they still thought that the
Irish must be like themselves. Finally, the fact
that they denied the validity of the Irish ordina-
tions is the clearest possible proof that in their eyes
at all events the Church of Ireland was not in com-
munion with Rome.

It is of no avail to bring forward, as is often done,
the many points of agreement between Some and
Ireland. That the two Churches did agree in many,
nay, in most points, is historically certain, and it
would be a mistake to represent the Irish Church
as being in all respects like the Protestants of to-day.
But, just as the Churches of the East and West at
the time when they were not only independent, but
hostile, were yet in agreement on every ftindamental
doctrine, so the Irish Church, though it differed
from the Church of Rome only on those points in
which Rome of the seventh centurj^ differed from
Rome of the fifth, yet owed no allegiance to the
papal see, and does not seem to have been conscious
of the fact that Rome had already made a universal
demand for such allegiance.

A less important, but more striking difference
between the two Churches, was the method of com-
puting the time for holding the festival of Easter.
Easter is always held on the first Sunday after the
fourteenth day of the first Jewish month. As the

i^

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME, 117

Jewish months follow the moon, the feast necessarily
comes each year at a different period, and in order to
calculate this time correctly a computation is made
of the number of years after which the moons will
come on exactly the same days as before. This
term of years is called a * cycle.' If in any year
Easter falls say on the last day of March, it will
again fall on that day when the number of years
in the cycle have gone by. The calculation requires
a considerable amount of astronomical knowledge,
and a great many different numbers have been pro-
posed. The Metonic cycle, called after its inventor
Meton of Athens (b.c. 432), was a period of nineteen
years. The Jewish cycle, followed by the early
Christians, was one of eighty-four years. The
famous Hippolytus (a.d. 230) proposed a cycle of
one hundred and twelve years. The Alexandrians,
after the Council of Nicaea, fell back on the old
Metonic cycle of nineteen years ; but their adhesion
to it was not constant. Theophilus of Alexandria
(a.d. 380) proposed a cycle of four hundred and
thirty-seven years, and Cyril of Alexandria (a.d. 412),
one of ninety-five years. Meantime the Church of
Rome had mostly followed the eighty-four year
period, sometimes called the cycle of Anatolius (a.d.
284), although really of much older date than his
time. Finally a cycle of five hundred and thirty-
two years was proposed by Victorius (a.d. 463), and
this in the end received general acceptance. It is
now generally known as the cycle of Dionysius
Exiguus (a.d. B27), and is practically the cycle
used at the present day.

When Christianity was first preached in Ireland
the eighty-four year cycle of Anatolius was in use.
The Irish Church therefore continued to use it, and
when the Church of Rome changed it for a better

Ii8 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

and more accurate computation, Ireland was uncon-
scious of the change, and continued in the old way.
They also followed the rule that when the fourteenth
moon iell on a Sunday, Easter might be kept on
that day, whereas the Romans, following the Nicene
canon, held that it should not be kept until the
Sunday following. The matter involved no doctrine,
except indirectly the authority of Rome ; but as it
led to the keeping of the great Christian feast at
different times — the two computations sometimes
ditiering by nearly a month — it was a diversity of
use that was very apparent, and prevented union in
worship more than other differences of much greater
importance would have done.

When the matter came to be argued there was an
astonishing amount of ignorance or dishonesty dis-
played. For example, the Roman missionaries
charged the Irish with the quartadeciman heresy,
This was either a mistake or a misrepresentation.
The quartadeciman controversy was, it is true, about
the time when the feast of Easter ought to be held,
but it had no concern as to the particular cycle
which should be employed. The Romans also boldly
claimed the authority of Saint Peter for the cycle
first put forward by Victorius in the year 463. The
Irish, on their part, claimed the authority of Saint
John for the cycle of Anatolius. In this they pro-
bably were partly right. It is verj^' likely that this
was the cycle actually used by Saint John ; but the
subject is one on which we have little authentic
information.

It may seem strange to us that a question like
this, which after all was astronomical rather than
theological, could have been regarded as of such
immense importance. But when we remember how
often some outward act, indifferent in itself, may

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME. 119

become the way of expressing belief in a particular
doctrine, we can easily see that the controversy
may, after all, have been as important as it was
most certainly believed to be by both sides that took
part in it. The difference between the two words
hojnoousios and homoioufiioft may seem insignificant,
yet underlying it was the great question which con-
vulsed the whole Church at the time of the Arian
controvers3\ In our own day it may seem a paltry
subject of dispute whether a clergyman should
stand at the side or end of the holy table ; yet it
becomes quite different when the posture comes
to be regarded as the outward expression of
doctrine. In somewhat the same way this Easter
controversv was regarded. It was the visible
method of declaring to which Church a man be-
longed. As Bede says of Saint Aidan, * He could
not keep Easter contrary to the customs of those
who had sent him.'^ In other words, this was
his method of declaring that he owed his allegiance
to the Church of lona, and not to the Church of
Rome.

Another difference, unimportant in itself, but
zealously clung to for the same reason, was the ton-
sure. The practice of shaving the head in token of
dedication to God was found among some heathen
nations, and was not unknown among the Jews. It
was introduced into the Christian Church in con-
nection with monasticism. In the Eastern Church
the tonsure consisted in shaving the whole head ;
in the Western, only the top of the head was shaved,
leaving a circle of hair which was supposed to have
a resemblance to the crown of thorns. The Celtic
tonsure differed from both, and consisted in shaving

^ Bede, EccL Hist, in. 25.

I20 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

the front of the head in a line from ear to ear. The
origin of this curious custom has not as yet been
satisfactorily investigated, nor is it possible for us
now to say whence this Celtic tonsure was derived.
But it will be easily understood how a peculiarity of
this kind is clung to, when it becomes the badge of
a party. History furnishes us with numberless
examples in which some particular way of cutting
the hair, some peculiarity in dress, some simple
ornament, the wearing of one particular colour or of
some flower, has been adopted as the distinguishing
mark of a religious or political party, and has been
at once raised to an importance that it would not
otherwise possess. It has given zealous men an
opportunity of displaying their zeal, it has compelled
time-servers and waverers to declare themselves, it
has shown the strength of the party, and for these
reasons has been clung to with the greatest devotion.
The white and red roses of York and Lancaster —
the cropped hair of the Roundheads and the flow-
ing locks of the Cavaliers — the broad-brimmed hats,
poke bonnets, and sombre grey of the Quakers — the
orange and blue of the Revolution — are all cases
in point. In the same way the Celtic tonsure was
regarded by the Irish as the outward mark of their
ecclesiastical independence, and for that reason was
zealously preserved.

Of more importance was the question of ordina-
tion ; but unfortunately we cannot now say in what
the difierence between the two Churches consisted.
Bishops among the Irish were consecrated by a
single bishop, whereas among the Romans there
were ordinarily three employed. But the rule was
not a strict one. When Augustine of Canterbury
asked the question, whether a bishop might be or-
dained by him without other bishops being present.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME. 121

Pope Gregory answers, *As for the Church of
England, in which you arQ as yet the only bishop,
you can no otherwise ordain a bishop than in the
absence of other bishops.' It is evident therefore
that this of itself would not have rendered the Irish
ordinations invalid in the sight of Rome. Yet it
is quite clear that they were so regarded. The
very answer of Pope Gregory shows it, for he
completely ignores the bishops of the British and
Irish Churches who were already in the country.
According to modern Romish doctrine, the sacra-
ment of orders cannot be repeated ; yet we find
that re-ordination was insisted on in the case of
Celtic bishops.

Let us take, for example, the case of Saint Chad.
When he was first consecrated bishop, the ceremony
was performed by Wini, Bishop of the West Saxons,
assisted by two British bishops who kept Easter
according to the Roman method, ' for at that time,'
Bede informs us, * there was no other bishop canonic-
ally ordained besides that Wini ' — that is to say,
the British and Irish were all regarded as outside
the pale of the Church of Rome. Here we have
the canonical number of consecrators, and one of
them at least had orders which were recognised by
the Church of Rome; but the form used on the
occasion must have been the Celtic, for Archbishop
Theodore of Canterbury afterwards upbraided Bishop
Chad, that he had not been duly consecrated, and
himself ' completed his ordination after the Catholic
manner.' ^ Chad had received his religious training
from the Irish, and in his youthful days had spent
some years in Ireland ; for a long time, too, he had
upheld the Celtic customs against the teachings of

^ Bede, Eccl, Hist., iv. 2.

122 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

Eome ; but at length, becoming a convert, he had
experiences curiously similar to those with which
the men who have followed his footsteps in more
modern times have been made familiar.

That this was not the mere excess of zefll of one
particular archbishop, is shown by the fact that
one of the canons of the old Anglo-Saxon Church
enacts, * That such as have received ordination
from the bishops of the Irish or Britons who in
the matter of Easter and the tonsure are not united
to the Catholic Church, must again by imposition
of hands be confirmed by a Catholic bishop.' It
is probable that the Irish on their part behaved
similarly towards any that came from the Bomish
party to them. We have no record as to how
thej'' dealt with ecclesiastics, but ordinary people
leaving the ' Catholic party ' had to undergo a
forty days' penance before the Celts would receive
them.

On the subject of the celibacy of the clergy we
must speak with less confidence, as the evidence is
to some extent conflicting. When Saint Patrick's
mission began celibacy was highly esteemed in Gaul
and Western Europe, but was not universally im-
posed on the clergy ; and this seems exactly to re-
present the state of the case in Ireland. There is
extant a Book of Canons, attributed to Saint Patrick,
but which bears internal evidence of belonging to
the eighth century, one of which ordains that when
the wife of a clergyman goes abroad she must wear
a veil on her head. The learned Cardinal Moran
enters into an elaborate argument to show that the
canon does not imply a married clergy — that the
wife referred to is after all not the clergyman's wife.
The subject, however, is not one for argument,
but for taking words in their plain and obvious

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME. 123

meaning. I therefore give the canon in the original
Latin, leaving it to the reader to translate, and to
decide whether the deduction I have drawn from it
is justified. It is as follows : * Quicunque clericus
ab hostiario usque ad sacerdotem sine tunica visus
fuerit, atque turpitudinem ventris et nuditatem
nop tegat, et si non more Romano capilli ejus
torisi sint, et uxor [ejusj si non velato capite am-
bulaverit, pariter a laicis contemnentur, et ab
Ecclesia separentur.' ^

Shortty before the Anglo-Norman invasion, there
is reason to believe that some of the highest ecclesi-
astical dignitaries in the land were married men ;
but, on the other hand, these cases must have been
exceptional, for Giraldus Cambrensis, who delights
in mentioning anything he can find disparaging to
the Irish Church, whilst he charges the Irish clergy
with habitual drunkenness, says that they are
especially eminent for the virtue of continence, and
goes on to remark that it may be considered almost
a miracle that where wine has the dominion lust
does not rule also. On the other hand, there was
still in his day much resemblance between the
Welsh and the Irish ; and he tells us that in the
"Welsh Church there was to be found a married
clergy, for he says, * The sons after the decease of
their fathers succeed to the ecclesiastical benefices
not by election, but by hereditary right, possessing
and polluting the sanctuary of God.^ He also tells
us that the same habit was followed in Brittany — a

* Haddan and Stubbs Councils and Eccl. Documents relat-
ing to Great Britain and Ireland, vol. ii. p. 328. Some MSS.
omit the word ejus, put in brackets above, and the cardinal
builds greatly on this. To any ordinary person, * a man and
wife ' and * a man and his wife * would mean the same thing.

12 i THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

place where Celtic influence continued until a very
late date. The married clergy of Wales were an old
institution, for we have the curious record under
the year 1>G1 : ' The same year Padam, Bishop of
Llandaff, died, and Rhodri, son of Morgan the Great,
was placed in his room, against the will of the Pope,
on which account he was poisoned. And the priests
were enjoined not to marry without the leave of
the Pope, on which account a great disturbance
took place in the diocese of Tielaw, so that it
was considered best to allow matrimony to the
priests.' *

In the case of the Irish abbots it, no doubt, must
often have happened that the tribal instincts would
prove stronger than the ecclesiastical, and that a
married abbot would be chosen in preference to one
of another family. The general tendency, however,
seems to have been towards celibacy, but without
imposing it as a hard and fast rule.

As to the difference between the Irish and Bomish
doctrine of confession and absolution, nothing need
be added to what has been already said in connection
with the * soul friend.'

There were also some differences of ritual. The
Irish Church had its own peculiar liturgy until the
time of the Anglo-Normans. They administered
baptism with rites different from those of Rome,
using single instead of trine immersion, and omit-
ting the use of chrism. But it is not necessary
that we should go into these minor details — all
the more so as our sources of information are very
scanty.

The points of difference between the Church of
Ireland (or, to speak more correctly, the Celtic

* Haddan and Stubbs,

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN IRELAND AND ROME, 125

Churches, for the Scotch, British, and in many
respects the Armorican Churches agreed with it)
and the Churches of Western Europe may therefore
be classed under seven heads : —

1. Independence of Rome.

2. Method of computing Easter.

3. Tonsure.

4. Ordinal.

6. Toleration of Married Clergy.

6. Public instead of Auricular Confession.

7. Ritual and Liturgy.

CHAPTER Xn.

CONCLUSION OF THE EASTER CONTROVEBSY.

For a considerable time the two Churcheswith their
diverse usages existed side by side in England, not
without considerable friction. Matters were at
length brought to a crisis by the inconvenience of
having two Easters in the house of Oswy, King of
Northumberland. The monarch himself followed
the Irish computation, as did most of the clergy in
his kingdom. The queen had been educated by the
Roman missionaries, and followed the rule that was
propounded by them. The result was that while
one part of the household was keeping the fast of
Lent, another part was celebrating the feast of
Easter. It was then proposed to get over the diffi-
culty by having a public discussion of the question
in the presence of the king, and whichever side
brought forth the best arguments was to be followed.
by the whole kingdom.

It is remarkable that when the matter came thus
to be argued, the speakers on both sides were from
Irish monasteries. On the Romish side was Wilfrid,
who had received his early education at Lindisfame.
After leaving that place he had travelled much, both
in France and Italy, had been treated with great
honour by the ecclesiastics of both countries, and
had returned to England full of admiration for
Romish ceremonies and altogether in sympathy

CONCLUSION OF THE EASTER CONTROVERSY, 127

with Romish ideas. The first ecclesiastical ofiice
which he held in England was that of abbot of a
monastery from which the Irish had been ejected,
because they, 'being left to their choice, would
rather quit the place than adopt the Catholic Easter
and other canonical rites according to the custom of
the Roman Apostolic Church.' His opponent in the
controversy was Colman, Bishop of Lindisfame, who
had been sent out from lona.

The result of the discussion was a foregone con-
clusion. "When the Irish had already been made to
choose between conformity to Rome and expulsion
from the king's dominions, it was not hard to guess
to which side that king's verdict would be most
favourable. He decided against the Irish use. Most
of the Saxons who had been instructed in the Irish
way were contented to abide by the king's decision.
But Colman, with many followers, both English and
Irish, chose to retire rather than conform. ' Perceiv-
ing that his doctrine was rejected and his sect
despised,' he returned to lona, and afterwards settled
with his followers at Innisboffin, ' the island of the
white heifer,' off the west coast of Ireland.

Meanwhile, an effort, though not a very vigorous
one, was made to bring the Irish Church itself to
the Roman way of thinking. Laurentius, who was
successor of Augustine in the see of Canterbury,
wrote a letter in the year 605 to the ' Lords, bishops
and abbots throughout all Ireland.' Only the be-
ginning of this epistle has been preserved. And
it seems to have been altogether without effect, as
indeed might have been expected. It was not by
such easy-going efforts that the Irish would be in-
duced to give up the usages to which they had been
for so long a time accustomed.

In 634 Pope Honorius addressed a letter to the

128 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

Irish, * earnestly exhorti ng them not to think their
small number, placed in the utmost borders of the
earth, wiser than all the ancient and modern Churches
of Christ throughout the world ' ; and a further letter
from Pope John IV. was sent shortly afterwards, in
response to a letter of inquiry from some of the
bishops of Ireland. In all these the keeping of
Easter was the principal — one might almost say the
only — subject discussed.

The point was eventually settled by the Irish
themselves. The contests between their mission-
aries and the Romans, both in England and on the
Continent, and the travels undertaken by some of
their most eminent men, made them aware that
their practice in this respect was singular, and
naturally led them to study the subject on their
own account. The south of Ireland, where there
was most of this foreign intercourse, was the first
to conform to the Roman method of computation.

The chief mover in bringing about the change
was Cummian, who had formerly belonged to lona,
but who afterwards joined the Romish party. He
wrote an apologetic letter on the subject, which is
still preserved, and which is a remarkable production
in its way. It displays very considerable learning,
and it tells us that, however much the doctrines of the
ancient Irish differed from those of Irish Protestants
of to-day, the spirit displayed then was very much
the same as now. The fact that any practice was
followed by the Church of Rome was enough to con-
demn it in their eyes, however innocent it may have
been in itself. He represents the upholders of the
Irish custom as saying, * Rome errs, Jerusalem errs,
Alexandria errs, the whole world errs ; the Irish and
the Britons alone think right.' His plea is one for
mere toleration ; and his words on this subject would

^1

CONCLUSION OF THE EASTER CONTROVERSY, ii^

be worthy of remembrance in more modern contro-
versies : * What I am saying is, I perceive, a burden
to you ; what you say is also a burden to me, unless
you shall prove it by the word of Holy Scripture.
Let us then bear one another's burdens, and so shall
we fulfil the law of Christ. For if we wound each
other's weak conscience, it is against Christ we sin.'
The conciliatory spirit displayed, and the excel-
lence of the arguments brought forward, had their
desired effect. The early years of the seventh cen-
tury saw the whole of Munster following the Roman
computation. It was not, however, until a century
later that the north of Ireland and lona followed,
and that conformity was established all through the
land. But as this result was brought about by the
arguments and investigations of members oi the
Irish Church itself, the alteration was made without
any surrender of independence. The change, too,
was a gradual one ; and while it removed one of the
barriers which prevented the Church of Ireland and
the Church of Rome from coalescing, and thus pre-
pared the way for events that happened some
centuries later, it is to be remembered that these
further changes were as yet in the distant future.
On the one hand, no serious effort was made on the
part of Rome to bring the Irish Church into subjec-
tion; and on the other hand, the Irish Church, in
admitting greater friendliness than before, had no
intention of bartering her liberties, or of occupying
any other than the independent position which she
had held from the first.

CHAPTEE XIII.

THE EIGHTH CENTURY.

Several writers have remarked that the eighth
century is a barren one in Irish ecclesiastical history.
The Easter controversies were brought to a con-
clusion in its early years, and the Danish invasions
belong to the next century. No great event hap-
pened in the meantime. It is therefore in one
sense a period that has no history.

Even in political affairs the time was compara-
tively uneventful. A great battle was fought at the
beginning of the century between the hereditary
enemies, Meath and Leinster, in which the latter
were victorious. In another great battle the Meath
men avenged their defeat. Otherwise the period
has little to record.

The quietude of the country caused the Church
to increase in power and usefulness. The great
schools of Ireland rose to the zenith of their glory.
Many countries sent their sons to obtain education
in the peaceful establishments of the Western Isle ;
and on the other hand, some of the alumni of the
Irish schools, having left their native land, were
distinguished for their brilliancy and learning in
many a foreign kingdom. Such names as Clement
and Albin, the wisdom-seekers, and Virgil the Geo-
meter, are perhaps now seldom mentioned; yet in

their day their fame had spread through many

130

THE EIGHTH CENTURY. 131

countries of Europe. Of the two first we have
an interesting story given in the history of the times
of Charlemagne. ' Two Scots of Ireland came to
the shores of France with some British merchants.
They were men who both in secular and sacred
writings were incomparably learned. They used to
expose nothing for sale, but to cry to the crowd
who flocked round for the purpose of buying, If any
of you wishes for wisdom, let him come to us and
obtain it, for that is what we have on sale.^^ Of
the last, Virgil, who became Bishop of Salsburg, it
is said that he anticipated the discoveries of later
astronomers, and hardly escaped being condemned
as a heretic for maintaining the existence of anti-
podes.

It is to this century that most of the illuminated
manuscripts which still exist are to be attributed.
In no age of the Church was the scribe held in such
high esteem. ' Sixty-one remarkable scribes are
named in the A^mals of the Four Masters as having
flourished in Ireland before the year 900, forty of
whom lived between a.d. 700 and 800.' ^ If no
other evidence were left to us than the books them-
selves, we should have reasons enough to conclude
that the eighth century was an age of learning and
art. Our only regret is that the remains of that
period are so few. The Norseman of the next century
cared little for books, and delighted in ' drowning '
the volumes which came into his sacrilegious hands.
Most of the precious manuscripts therefore have
been destroyed, yet enough is left to make us
pause in astonishment, for no other country has ever
had scribes like these.

Connected with these manuscripts a very inter-

* Migne, Patrol, Curs., torn, xcviii. p. 1371.

'^ Miss Stokes, Early Christian Art in Ireland, p, 10.

132 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

esting question arises. It is as to whether there
existed a translation of the Bible peculiar to the
Irish or Celtic Church. All the Irish Biblical manu-
scripts of the eighth century are, it is true, copies of
the Vulgate ; yet in many places they have read-
ings peculiar to themselves. The subject is still
one that awaits fuller investigation. Up to the
present the Irish manuscripts have been regarded
as the special possession of the archsBologists. The
BibHcal critics do not seem to have thought of
taking them in hand and collating them with other
manuscripts of the same age. Their importance in
this respect has, however, been partly realized, and
Dr. Westcott says concerning them, that *they
stand out as a remarkable monument of the inde-
pendence, the antiquity and the influence of British
(Irish) Christianity.'^

Haddan and Stubbs have collected for us a large
amount of evidence bearing on this point. They
have taken the different quotations from Scripture
to be found in the earliest Latin works written by
Celtic authors ; and they have compared them one
with another, as well as with the Vulgate and with
the old Latin translations which were in use in
Africa and Italy before the time of Jerome. The
conclusion they arrive at is that Saint Patrick was
not acquainted with Jerome's Vulgate, but that
after his time it gradually made its way in the
Celtic Churches — traces of the old Latin being
found as late as the tenth century. They say also
that the evidence is * exceedingly strong,' that the
version thus gradually superseded was a special
British and Irish revision of the old Latin.^

* Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Art. * Vulgate.'
2 Haddan and Stubbs, Councils and Ecclesiastical DocU'
menfs relatimj to Great Britain and Ireland,

.imA

TIJE EIGHTH CENTURY, 133

It has been generally assumed that the Irish
Church had no translation of the Bible into the ver-
nacular. Haddan and Stubbs say briefly, ' There is
no trace of any Celtic version of the Bible.' This
is a mistake. There is actually in existence a copy
of such a version, contained in an old manuscript
volume, known as the Speckled Book, at present
preserved in the library of the Royal Irish Academy.
O'Curry tells as that this Speckled Book 'appears
to have been written by some member of the
learned family of the Mac ^gans, about the close of
the fourteenth century. It is not a transcript of
any one book, but, as will be seen, a compilation
from various ancient books, preserved chiefly in the
churches and monasteries of Connaught, Munster
and Leinster.' Amongst its contents are found ' a
Scripture narrative from the Creation to Solomon ;
the birth, life, passion and resurrection of our Lord.' ^
In another work - he speaks of this part as a ' trans-
lation, or rather paraphrase of the Old Testament,'
and he gives two examples. One of these he renders
into English in the very words of the Douay version
of Exodus XV. 20 ; and the other, which is taken
from 1 Samuel xxv. 18, he translates, ' The woman
gave him five sheep, and two hundred loaves, and two
paits (leather bottles) of wine ' — a rendering which
represents in a fairly accurate way the original
Hebrew. If these are to be taken as examples of the
work, there can be no doubt that there was in early
times a translation of the Bible into Irish ; and in
any case the book gives evidence that the facts of
Scripture were presented to the people in the lan-
guage that they understood.

^ O'Curry, MS. Materials of Anc, Irish Hist, p. 352.
' Manners and Customs of the Anc. Irish,

134 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

It was the glory of the ancient Irish Church that
she always prized the Word of God and taught it to
her people. In this connection we cannot do better
than quote from an old Irish treatise, said to have
been written towards the close of the period we are
now considering. 'One of the noble gifts of the
Holy Spirit is the Holy Scripture, by which all
ignorance is enlightened and all worldly affliction
comforted ; by which all spiritual light is kindled,
by which all weakness is made strong. For it is
through the Holy Scripture that heresy and schism
are banished from the Church, and all contentions
and divisions reconciled. It is in it well tried
counsel and appropriate instruction will be found
for every degree in the Church. It is through it
the snares of demons and vices are banished from
every faithful member in the Church. For the
Divine Scripture is the mother and the benign nurse
of all the faithful who meditate and contemplate it,
and who are nurtured by it, until they are chosen
children of God by its advice.^ ^

Although the eighth century was in one sense
uneventful, we are not to suppose that it was without
its important changes. Foremost among them was
the bringing of Armagh into prominence, and the
decline of the influence of lona and the Columban
monasteries. Up to the present, when we have
spoken of Church life, of missionary labour, of
religious controversy, it has been mostly in con-
nection with lona and its dependent establishments.
Armagh has not played the same important part.

^ From an Ancient Treatise on the Mass, contained in the
Speclded Book. O'Curry, MS. Materials^ p. B76. In the
remainder of the extract given hy O'Curry, the doctrine of
the Eeal Presence is asserted, but not that of Transubstan-
tiation.

THE EIGHTH CENTURY, 135

All this was reversed by the time that the eighth
century had drawn to a close. The Four Masters
refer to Armagh only six times in their annals of the
seventh century. In the eighth century they have
twenty-three references, and in the ninth fifty-one.
On the other hand, lona, which is referred to twenty
times in the eighth century, is only mentioned seven
times in the ninth. Let us inquire how these
changes were brought about.

When lona was first established, the south-west
portion of Scotland was under the same government
and bore the same name as the north-east of Ireland.
Under the influence of Columba the Scotch portion
became an independent kingdom. The immediate
results of this change were small. The Scotch resi-
dents did not give up their nationality, but con-
tinued to interest themselves in the affairs of
Ireland, and to take part in the tribal quarrels as
before. Nevertheless, the ultimate result was
inevitable. They were drawn towards the Picts,
who were their near neighbours, and who, by the
efforts of Columba and his followers, were gathered
into the Christian Church, while they were sepa-
rated by the sea from their own fellow tribes in
Ireland. The Irish never regarded them as other
than an outlying and uninfluential kingdom. In
Scotland they soon became the most powerful of all
the clans.

lona and its daughter monasteries in Ireland,
though thus disunited* politically, were kept in close
union by the power of missionary zeal. Men from
different parts of the country — from Durrow and
Swords and Derry and elsewhere — were coming
and going to lona, and passed through on their way
to their work amongst the heathen — first the Picts
and then the Saxons. lona thus formed an outlet

136 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

for enterprise and energy. The men of greatest
learning and of greatest talent alike looked to her to
provide scope for the employment of their abilities.
All this was changed by the issue of the Easter con-
troversies. The Saxons in a body went over to the
Roman party, and those who refused to conform had
to leave the country. The Irish missionaries were
therefore compelled to retire from the field, and find
for themselves other habitations. Thus Colman, as
we have seen, led his small body of followers first to
lona, and then to the west coast of Ireland. There
could scarcely have been a greater change, and we
find it hard to understand how men who had been
accustomed to the one life could ever have been able
to endure the other. At Lindisfarne they directed
a great spiritual enterprise. They were the re-
ligious leaders and teachers of the people. The
work of education, of evangelization, and of the
Christian ministry occupied their time; and they
had besides the excitement of controversy, which
though no doubt in many ways an evil, yet produces
a certain amount of enthusiasm, and stimulates
mental and spiritual activity in no inconsiderable
degree. At Innisboffin all was changed. The mis-
sionaries were forced to become hermits. Every
condition of existence was reversed. We are not
surprised that some of them found the new rdgime
unendurable, and that those who could work together
" with loyalty and good-will could not live together
in comparative idleness, but had to separate into two
distinct communities.

In lona itself the change must have been very
great. From the time of its foundation the very
reason of its existence was its missionary work, and
when suddenly its whole mission field was closed
against it, the inmates must have felt that nothing

THE EIGHTH CENTURY, 137

short of a revolution had taken place. The prepara-
tion and training of workers — the consecration of
missionary bishops and abbots — the solemn sending
forth of labourers with the blessing of the com-
munity — the meetings at which reports of success
and failure were discussed — all these, which formed
the life and soul of the community, were at an end.
In Ireland, the Easter disputes divided the Church
into two parties. Bede tells us of Adamnan, who
had been abbot of lona, and whose life of Saint
Columba is one of our contemporary sources of in-
formation about this period. In the year 683 the
Saxons made a descent upon Ireland, devastated
the great plains of Meath, and returned to England
bearing with them a multitude of captives and
great spoil. The year following, Adamnan went
into Saxonland to plead the cause of the prisoners,
and conducted their case with so much skill that he
obtained the release of those who had been carried
away, and a 'full restoration of everything he asked.'
During his stay amongst the English, he learnt much
about the ' canonical rites of the Church,' which he
seems never to have known before, and after a time
' changed his mind, and readily preferred those things
which he had seen and heard in the English Church
to the customs which he and his people had hitherto
followed.'^ Returning to lona, he thought he could
easily persuade his own people to follow his example.
In this he was mistaken. So much did they resent
his unfaithfulness to their traditional usages, that
he soon found his position untenable, and he was
forced to resign the abbacy and depart from them
into Ireland. Here he met with greater success,
and induced nearly the whole country, with the

1 Bede, Eccl, Hist,^ v. 15.

138 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

exception of those who belonged to the Colnmban
monasteries, to accept the new ideas. There were
therefore, as I have said, two parties : the followers
of Columba on the one side, and the rest of the
Irish Church on the other.

A little before this time, and probably in connection
with these very Easter disputes, the King of Ireland
had decreed that the monasteries of Columba should
not enjoy the same privileges as those of Patrick,
Finnian and Keiran; that is, that lona and its
dependencies should not be in as favourable a posi-
tion with regard to immunity from taxation, and
probably in other ways, as were the monasteries at
Armagh, Clonard and Clonmacnois. Adamnan is
said to have cursed the monarch for making this
unrighteous law, but his own subsequent conduct
only helped in the degradation of his order.

Armagh soon identified itself with the new doc-
trines, and as it was at this time rising into eminence,
and was beginning to assert that supremacy which
it afterwards obtained, its influence helped in great
measure to destroy the old Irish peculiarities.

The documents belonging to this age have many
of them been framed manifestly with a view to up-
hold the claims of Armagh. For example, the old
manuscript volume known as the Book of Armagh,
contains among other documents, a canon which
provides that cases of extreme difficulty which are
beyond the powers of ordinary judges are to be
referred to *the archbishop of the Irish, that is,
of Patrick, and the examination of this abbot,' and
if found too difficult for him, to * the chair of the
Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of
Rome.' This canon is said to have been decreed by
Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus and Benignus: but
it need hardly be remarked that if really made by

A

THE EIGHTH CENTURY, 139

them and recognised by succeeding generations,
much of the history which we have already sketched
would have been impossible. It is generally believed
to belong to the eighth century.

The biographies of Saint Patrick have all the same
tendency. Incidents the most improbable were in-
vented, and stories of miracles were told — all with
the purpose of exalting Patrick, and making it
appear that Armagh was the central point from
which his work was directed. It is a remarkable
fact, when taken in connection with the extra-
ordinary number of Lives of Saint Patrick written
from the eighth century onward, that Adamnan, the
biographer of Columba, never mentions him ; nor
does Bede, whose information was derived from
Columban sources, seem to have been aware of his
existence. The first knowledge we have of him
from any source besides his own works, is the simple
phrase, * Patrick our Pope,^ used by Cummian in
634.

The influence of Armagh was for the most part
directed to the bringing of Ireland into conformity
with the practices of the Romans. The see rose into
prominence as the upholder of the new fashions, and
it was no doubt in turn helped in its struggle for
supremacy by the exterior support which it thus
obtained. The very name Celepedair, ' Servant of
Peter, ^ borne by an abbot of Armagh who died in
757, tells us how this devotion to Rome was begin-
irig to take root. Irish ecclesiastics were fond of
taking names of this kind. For example, we have
Maelpaudhrig, which means Servant of Patrick;
Malcolm, Servant of Columba; Celetighearnach,
Servant of Tighernach, and many others ; but the
saints they chose to serve were almost invariably
natives of Ireland.

140 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

It ought perhaps also to be mentioned among the
causes which led to the advancement of Armagh,
that for thirty years of the eighth century the mon-
astery numbered amongst its inmates Flaherty,
King of Ireland, who, after a reign of seven years,
relinquished his crown and took upon him the
habit of a monk. The loyalty of the people would
not be denied to the king because he no longer held
the reins of government ; nor did it follow that he
had given up all ambition because he had ceased to
be a monarch and had become an ecclesiastic.

But though the eighth century saw the pre-
eminence of Armagh fairly established, we are not
to suppose that this meant anything like the
'primacy' of modern times. Ireland had many
who were called archbishops from the very first,
but they were merely men eminent among their
own order. ' Arch ' was nothing more than a prefix
of excellence, and might be applied to any office
in the Church, and so we have arch-lector, arch-
senior, arch-soul-friend, and the like. That some at
this time entertained the idea of establishing a real
arch-bishopric at Armagh is more than probable,
and no doubt this would have been accompanied
by a submission of the Church of Ireland to the see
of Rome. Both these projects were postponed for
some centuries by the events that were about to
happen. It was not until the year 1152 that metro-
politans were appointed in Ireland. Four of the
Irish bishops were then raised to the rank of arch-
bishop by the Pope, and received the pall at the
hands of his legate.

-k..M

CHAPTER XIV.

THE DANISH INVASIONS.

The position of Ireland, at the extreme west of
Europe, has rendered it less liable to invasion than
countries otherwise more advantageously situated.
England was conquered by Romans and Saxons ;
but the former never set foot on Irish soil, and the
latter only came on insignificant plundering expedi-
tions. The third invasion of England, however,
was one in which Ireland had its share. In the
year 787, three ships of Northmen from Denmark
appeared off the south coast of England. Eight
years later they had made their way round to the
coast of Antrim.

The story of their invjisions is in many respects
very similar for both countries. Fii'st, they came
only in small parties, as pirates rather than in-
vaders, their one object being plunder. Then they
formed larger and better organized expeditions ;
they boldly attacked strongholds and fortresses ; as-
sumed the offensive in warfare, and endeavoured to
dethrone the reigning sovereigns and usurp their
authority. Finally, they made for themselves settle-
ments, built cities, and erected castles, relinquishing
more or less their roving and unsettled life, and
making for themselves a home in the land which
they had gained with their swords.

We should, however, be quite mistaken in sup-

«4i

142 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

posing that the Danes of Ireland ever came in such
formidable numbers as those who landed on the
coast of England, or that the struggle with the in-
vaders ever reached such a pitch of intensity as
when in England the Saxons had to fight for their
very national existence. Only once was there any-
thing even remotely approaching an attempt to
subjugate the whole island. On that occasion, a
Norse leader named Turgesius is said to have united
the different bands which up to that time had acted
independently. With their help he made an attack
simultaneously on different parts of the country,
defeated the native kings, and set himself up as
chief monarch of the land. The story is one highly
coloured, and abounding in dramatic incidents. The
subjugation of the country is said to have been so
complete that all the churches were destroyed, all
schools closed, all meetings prohibited. Every vil-
lage had a Danish ruler. Every house had in it a
Danish soldier. Every adult had to pay a tribute to
the Danes for the mere right to live. The tyranny
lasted for thirty years, until at length the country
was delivered by the valour of fifteen beardless
youths, who, disguised as maidens, went as escort to
the king's daughter, after a demand had been made
by Turgesius that she should be delivered up to
him. These, suddenly producing daggers from be-
neath their robes, killed the principal Danish war-
riors, made the Viking leader himself a prisoner, and
then raised the cry of battle from one end of the
land to the other.

That this whole story is founded on fact is no
doubt true ; but it seems equally certain that it has
been greatly exaggerated. The works of the Norse
chroniclers are searched in vain for any mention of
Turgesius, and this omission effectually disposes oi

:J

THE DANISH INVASIONS. 143

the idea that he was such a great leader as he is
generally represented to be. On the other hand,
the Annals of the Four Masters, which are very full
in their record of the Danish incursions, only men-
tion his name once, and the events which they nar-
rate for the years in which he is said to have held
sway would have been quite impossible if a tithe of
the story of his oppression were true. The principal
source of our information respecting him comes from
English authors, like Giraldus Cambrensis, who
imagined that the number and fierceness of the
Danish warriors in England was to be taken as the
measure of their strength in Ireland ; and who, when
they met with a good story, had not the remotest
idea that it was the duty of a historian to reject it,
merely because it was not true.

On this whole subject of the Danish invasions
there has been an immense amount of exaggeration.
On the one hand, their insignificant piratical ex-
peditions have been spoken of as if they were great
national movements ; and on the other, they have
been credited with the introduction of that art and
civilization which they did their best to destroy.
There is perhaps no better corrective to the extra-
ordinary statements which have been made on this
subject than the study of local names. Nearly four-
teen hundred names of Danish origin have been
enumerated in the middle and northern counties of
England. This tells us that there was a real in-
vasion, carried on by an overwhelming and vic-
torious force. Not more than fifteen of sach names
can be found in the whole of Ireland, and these are
nearly all on the east coast. ^ We may therefore
conclude that nothing more than small seaport settle-

^ See Joyce, Irish Names of Places, vol. i. p. 105.

144 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

ments were ever attempted, or at all events accom-
plished, by the Danes in Ireland.

When they first came, the religious establish-
ments, especially those on the coasts and in the
islands, were the greatest suflFerers. The Norsemen
have obtained for themselves a historical reputation
for bravery. It is doubtful if this reputation would
ever have been gained if they had nothing to show
but the record of their campaigns in Ireland. Their
first attacks were all directed against the monas-
teries.' In them they encountered the least resist-
ance, for though ecclesiastics sometimes joined in
battle, they were necessarily for the most part given
to peace. The monasteries, too, had the greatest
wealth, and that of a portable kind. In them were
produced the works of gold and silver and metal —
in them the stores of industry were garnered — ^in
them were to be found costly shrines, book covers
and altar vessels, curiously wrought and adorned
with precious stones. In- them, therefore, were the
greatest hopes of plunder. As soon as the work of
pillaging was accomplished, they retreated to their
ships. They risked as few combats as possible. Once
on board their vessels, they knew that they were safe.

In the year 795 they made their first appearance,
when a small company landed on the island of
Rathlin, off the coast of Antrim, burnt the houses
and churches, and carried off the shrines and all the
other valuables they could find. Three years later
they attacked the little island of Innispatrick, oppo-
site Skerries. There the remains of Saint Dochonna
were preserved in a shrine, which the Norsemen
broke and carried away. Then, sailing towards the
north, they cruised along the coast, landing and
plundering whenever they found a favourable op-
portunity.

THE DANISH INVASIONS, 145

lona, from its exposed situation, suffered more
than any other place. In 802 the Norsemen landed
and burned a great part of the establishment. In
806 they returned with a larger force, and seemed
determined to destroy it completely. Everything
on which they could lay their hands was seized ;
sixty-eight of the inmates were killed, and the rest,
hastily embarking in their coracles, and bringing
with them whatever valuables they could collect,
escaped to Ireland, made their way to the monastery
of the same order at Kells, and there built a church
and erected * as it were a new lona.'

As the years went by they arrived in greater
numbers. They even ventured inland, and met
the native Irish in pitched battles. But till stheir
tactics were the same. Churches and monasteries
were the prey for which they sought, until in the
end there was not a religious establishment of im-
portance in Ireland which had not suffered more or
less at their hands.

It is not an unnatural mistake that many his-
torians, both ancient and modern, have made in
supposing that these expeditions of the Danes had
a religious character, and that their deliberate aim
was to destroy the Christian faith, and set up in
its stead the worship of the Scandinavian deities.
Among the stories about Turgesius is one, that at
Armagh and Clonmacnois he actually used the
Christian churches for the celebration of heathen
rites, and that in the latter place his wife officiated
as priestess. That such ideas should have been
entertained at the time and have passed at once into
history is not a subject of wonder ; and yet any
one who considers the question will see that this
view of the case is most improbable, particularly
when another and much simpler explanation is forth-

146 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

coming. The Norsemen were simply plunderers,
and not religious enthusiasts ; and they attacked
the monasteries and churches, not because they
hated Christianity, but because they found in them
the most booty and the least resistance.

The result was almost as disastrous to the Irish
Church as if the Danes had come of set purpose to
destroy it. Amid all the troubles and disturbances
of tribal warfare, the Irish had for the most part
respected those peaceful settlements in their midst
where the worship of God was celebrated. Occa-
sionally, an act of sacrilege would be committed, but
it was viewed with abhorrence by the nation in
general. The result was that learning flourished,
;ind the Church became more and more a power in
the land. But the Danes changed all this. Bishops
and teachers had to fly for their lives. Scribes saw
their precious manuscripts in the rough hands of the
barbarians, who took a brutal delight in destroying
them, because they knew them to be so highly
prized. And the native Irish were not long in fol-
lowing the pernicious example. Soon it came to be
a recognised method of warmre that one chief should
destroy the sanctuaries in the territory of his rival.
Sometimes the churches of a whole province were
ravaged because an unfriendly king was making
war on its ruler. Under such circumstances learn-
ing could make but little progress. The Church
itself became infected with the spirit of the age.
The era of the * saints and doctors ' was at an end.

One of the more immediate results was the emi-
gration of several Irish ecclesiastics to England and
the Continent ; and we learn incidentally that in the
ninth century, as in the seventh, those churches
which were in communion with the see of Borne
refused to acknowledge the validity of the Irish

THE DANISH INVASIONS, I47

ordinations. In a synod held at Chalons-sur-Saone
in 813, one of the canons has the title ' On the nullity
of the ordinations conferred by the Irish, who call
themselves bishops.' And in 816, at a synod held
at Cealcythe, in England, it was enacted that no
one of the Irish race should be allowed to exercise
any priestly function, the reason given being that
amongst them * neither rank is given to metropoli-
tans nor honour to other bishops/ ^ This shows us
that however much the Irish Church may have ap-
proximated to Romish doctrine, it had not gone far
enough to be acknowledged as belonging to the
Communion of the Romish Church.

* Both canons are given in Todd*s Life of St. Patrick
pp. 40, 43.

CHAPTER XV.

INFLUENCE OF THE DANISH INVASIONS ON THE CHURCH.

We have seen that in the eighth century there was
a decrease of influence in the Columban order, and
a corresponding increase in the power of Armagh.
The ninth century and the Danish invasions did still
more for the diminution of the one and the advance-
ment of the other. The repeated attacks made on
lona itself, and the transference from thence of the
leading members of the community with all their
most precious possessions was in itself a terrible blow.
Kells, the * new lona/ never obtained the prestige
of the old, and ceased after a time to be considered
the mother church of the order. Derry afterwards
obtained the pre-eminence : but this shifting of the
central authority, accompanied as it was with fre-
quent attacks from the barbarians, could only weaken
the influence of the order, and quickly bring to an
end that supremacy which it once enjoyed.

A serious dispute arose about this time between
the followers of Columba and one of the most power-
ful of the Irish kings of the ninth century. We are
quite in the dark as to how the controversy arose, or
what were the questions on either side. We only
know that in 814 * the families of Columkill went to
Tara and solemnly cursed and excommunicated the
king.' There was a time when such a ceremony

would probably have cost the monarch his throne.

148

..^

INFLUENCE OF THE DANISH INVASIONS. I49

Tara itself was deserted simply because an ecclesi-
astic had cursed it. But the ' families of Columkill '
were now of little account. The king was unmoved
by the curse ; the other churches in Ireland did not
recognize the excommunication, and the monarch
died at length in the odour of sanctity. Such an
incident must have done much to diminish the
already lessened influence of the Columban order.

On the other hand, the progress of Armagh was
no less marked. Its inland position saved it from
the first onslaughts of the Danes. While other
churches were being burned and plundered, it re-
mained in peace ; and when, at length, it began also
to taste the horrors of war, the struggle had become
a national one, the whole country had been already
aroused, and Armagh came to be regarded as a centre
of national life. In the early years of the ninth
century she had a succession of ambitious and able
prelates, whose aim was not merely to uphold her
ancient prestige, but to extend her influence all over
the land. In connection with these abbots we have
to notice the curious fact that their right to the posi-
tion was fiercely contested, and that for the first
fifty years of the century there were opposing lines
of ecclesiastical succession. With the meagre in-
formation that we have on the subject, it is not easy
now to decide exactly why this contention arose and
continued so long. It is not improbable, however,
that the opposing abbots were the nominees of rival
kings, and that the contention was as much political
as religious.

In the year 783 the rule of Armagh was extended
over part of Connaught. Up to that time it would
appear that Armagh stood alone — an important place,
it is true, but without daughter establishments like
those which belonged tolona. In this year, however,

ISO THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

Dubdaleithe went to Cruachain for ' the promulga-
tion of Patrick's law/ in other words, to bring the
establishment under the control of Armagh, and to
impose on it the same rules. This Dubdaleithe was
the first to raise a contest as to the abbacy. Fain-
dealach was the rightful occupant, and the two were
in contention, setting up rival claims, as long as they
lived.

Connaught was again visited by the Abbot of
Armagh m 810, and in 822 an emissary named
Airtri, with the aid of the reigning kings, caused all
Munster to be brought into subjection. After that,
he completed the work begun in Connaught, * pro-
mulgating the law of Patrick among its three divi-
sions ; ' and finally he endeavoured to eject his
superior, Eoghan, the Abbot of Armagh, and set him-
self in his place. In this last, however, he was un-
successful. Eoghan was soul friend to Niall, one of
the most powerful chieftains of Ulster, and utilizing
the influence which he thus possessed, ne sent to him
this quatrain, threatening him with the ecclesiastical
curse if he did not take up arms in his favour :

' Say to Niall that not lucky for him will be the curse
of Eoghan, son of Anmchad.
He will not be in the kingdom in which he is, unless
his soul friend be abbot.'

The result was that the chieftains made the cause of
the contending abbots their own. A fiercely con-
tested battle was fought, which lasted three days,
with the result that Niall was victorious and Eoghan
was retained in his abbacy. Some members of the
community would have wished the dispute to have
terminated otherwise. One of the seniors of Armagh
has left the record of his dissatisfaction in these
words : —

INFLUENCE OF THE DANISH INVASIONS, 151

*Not well have we gained our goal,
Not well have we passed by Leire,
Not well have we taken Eoghan
In preference to any pilgrim in Ireland.'

Eoghau's rival died before him ; but no sooner had
he himself passed away than the dispute sprang up
afresh. Dermot, one 01 the ambitious school, became
abbot, and proceeded to Connaught with the law of
Patrick, for the western province does not seem to
have taken kindly to the rule of Armagh, and re-
quired several successive efforts to bring it into sub-
jection. In 834, however, Forannan was put up in
opposition to Dermot, and the two continued as rival
abbots until the death of both in the same year, 851.

These episodes deserve particular attention, and
throw a great deal of light on the subsequent history.
We see that the position of Abbot of Armagh had
become so important that for years members of the
royal families contended for its possession. We see,
too, its influence becoming more and more widely
extended, until the ruler at Armagh becomes ruler
throughout the whole of Munster and Connaught,
as well as of course Ulster, the province in which it
is itself situated. An extension of power like this
would be sure to arouse still greater ambitions. The
time when the Abbot of Armagh was to enjoy archi-
episcopal rank was as yet far in the distance, but the
seeds were already sown which were sure to spring
up in due time. Meanwhile, we may see how its
political influence had increased, from an event which
happened in the year 889. Two chieftains had
' conflict and dissension ' at Armagh, and were with
difficulty separated by the abbot. One would think
that there the matter would have ended. A good
deed had been done, and virtue might well have
been left to be its own reward. Not so, however.

152 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

Each of the contending parties had to pay for the
abbot's peaceful interference, and were mulcted in
the sum of thirty times seven cumhals (a cumhal was
the value of three cows) ; he was also required to
give hostages for his future good behaviour, and to
give up four of his followers to be hanged. Thus it
will be seen that the Abbot of Armagh had become
like one of the ordinary chiefs. Like them, he
demanded his * eric ' or fine, for the oflfence com-
mitted, with the alternative of war.

There are few countries in which the Church has
not, at some time or other, gained abnormal secular
power. This has never worked for good. The
weapons of the Church's warfare are not carnal, and
when she lays aside the armour that belongs to
her, and assumes that of the world, she ceases to
be of any power in the pulling down of the strong-
holds of Satan.

It will not surprise us now to learn that not only
at Armagh, but in most parts of the country, the
Church became thoroughly secularized. Forced as
it was to take up arms in its own defence against
the Norse invaders, those arms soon came to be
used in internecine strife. Abbots and bishops who
ought to have been foremost in promoting peace,
became foremost in stirring up causes of civil war,
and joined in the battles themselves, forgetful of
their sacred profession. In Munster the ofl&ce of
spiritual and civil ruler became united in one, and
the succession of bishop-kings founded a kingdom so
powerful that eventually it became the greatest in
the whole country. The case of one of these bishop-
kings will best illustrate the entire secularization of
the Church, and the low ebb of spiritual life to which
she was brought by the influences then at work.

A certain Felim united in himself the offices of

INFLUENCE OF THE DANISH INVASIONS, 153

King of Munster and Bishop of Cashel in the early
parts of the ninth century. We first find him associ-
ated with Airtri, Bishop of Armagh, in bringing the
churches of Munster under the ' law of Patrick.'
From this we might conclude that he took a great
interest in the spiritual welfare of his kingdom ; but
when we see his subsequent career, and find also
that this Airtri was put up as bishop in opposition
to the nominee of the northern kings, we cannot
help suspecting that this religious zeal covered an
ambitious design — possibly the hope that he would
become ArdrigU^ or chief king, by the help of the
northern bishop — a dignity that was actually ob-
tained by one of his successors, the famous Brian
Boru. The next thing we read of Felim is his
attacking the district near Clonmacnois. Shortly
afterwards he burned the churches of the same
place, and killed numbers of the * family.' The
same year he was at Durrow in the King's
County, where a Columban monastery existed, and
he was still at the same work of sacrilege and
devastation. He made several plundering expe-
ditions into Connaught. He tooK the oratory at
Kildare in defiance of Forannan, Bishop of Armagh.
Several times he made incursions into Meath, plun-
dering and burning wherever he went. Then
he led an army towards Wexford, but King Niall
went against him, and defeated him. In the ac-
count of the battle we learn incidentally that this
precious bishop — * the devout Felim,' a bard calls
him — had actually taken his crozier with him into
the battle. Finally, he went again to Clonmacnois,
and plundered the sanctuary once more. This time
he met a spiritual foe. An internal disease took him,
and the aggrieved ecclesiastics at once asserted that
Saint Keiran had appeared to him, and had given him

154 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

a thrust of his crozier. He lingered in mortal sick-
ness for nearly a year, and in the end died of the

* internal wound inflicted by the miracle of God and
Keiran.' After all this terrible record, the Annalists
do not hesitate to speak of him as * anchorite and
scribe, the best of the Irish in his time.' And one
of the bards wrote concerning him :

* There never went on regal bier a corpse so noble ;

A prince so generous under the King of Albain never shall
be born.'

If in Felim we have the bishop-prince at his worst,
in Cormac, one of his successors, we have the same
character at its best. He was a warrior, but not a
plunderer; he had all the ability of a statesman, and
at the same time he was the liberal patron of art and
literature. Though he never actually secured supre-
macy for himself, he made it an easy task for his
successors to place Munster at the head of all the
kingdoms of Ireland. Yet his greatness was alto-
gether that of a soldier and king ; and from the very
excellence of his character we can see how incon-
gruous was the combination of secular and spiritual
rule in the one person. We may admire the brave
king leading his followers to battle, and falling in
the midst of the fighting men ; but when we find
him described as ^ a bishop, an anchorite, a scribe,
and profoundly learned in the Irish tongue,' we
cannot help thinking that his place should have
been in the quiet cloister, rather than in the noisy
battle-field.

The monastic system of the Irish Church, modified,
as it was by the tribal organization, had proved itself \
excellent in many ways. It had provided peaceful \
retreats where pursuits of learning and industry 1
might be followed, even in the midst of turmoil and 1

INFLUENCE OF THE DANISH INVASIONS, 155

strife. It had proved itself effectual as a missionary
organization ; but it failed to stand the test of time,
and it utterly broke down under the strain of foreign
invasion. A Church differently organized might not
have produced so many ' saints ' and men of learn-
ing, but it would not have suffered such complete
demoralization merely because some of its sanctuaries
had been destroyed.

OHAPTEE XVI.

CONVERSION OF THE DANES.

By the middle of the ninth century the Danes had
established themselves permanently in settlements
along the coast, and had founded the seaport towns
of Dublin, Waterford and Limerick. From that
time they maintained a continuous warfare with the
natives, and had varying success. Sometimes they
penetrated into the interior of the country, at other
times they were driven from their own strongholds ;
but notwithstanding these vicissitudes, their position
remained practically unchanged. They never ex-
tended their dominions beyond the few cities at first
occupied, and from these positions the Irish were
never able permanently to dislodge them. Before long
they took their place to all intents and purposes as
one of the tribes of Ireland. They formed treaties
with the different kings, and fought side by side
with the natives in the tribal disputes which form so
large a part of the history of the country at that time.
After defeat, they were quite ready to give hostages,
pay tribute, and acknowledge the supremacy of the
Irish kings ; but they held their ground, and as soon
as they felt strong enough, they renewed the contest,
and shook off the yoke that had been placed on them.
This state of things continued down to the time of
the Anglo-Norman invasion.

The Norsemen who thus made a settlement in the

156

CONVERSION OF THE DANES. 157

land were at the first all pagans, and as far as
we can learn, there was no serious effort made on
the part of the Irish for their conversion. It was
through the influence of their own compatriots in
England that they were at length brought to the
knowledge of the truth.

The Danes who landed in England found no insur-
mountable obstacle to prevent their coalescing with
the Angles. They were of the same race, and spoke
alosmt the same language ; they had the same forms
of government, and very nearly the same code of
laws. When at one time the Danes became rulers
of the nation, the transference of power was scarcely
perceived by the people in general — the same laws
and usages continued in force ; it caused no break in
the national life. It was more like a mere change
of dynasty than the subjugation of the country by a
foreign power. The political result was that Danes
and Saxons became in the end one homogeneous
people. The religious result was that the paganism
of the Danes imperceptibly faded away, and that by
degrees they accepted the religion of Christ, which
was established all around them.

During all this time the Danes of Ireland did not
forget their kinsmen beyond the Channel. Though
settled in Dublin, or Waterford, or Limerick, they
were not Irish. Just as in an earlier age the in-
habitants of the south-west of Scotland belonged to
the Irish, and not to the Pictish people, so these
Danes were really Englishmen living in Ireland. In
times of defeat they sent to England for help ; and
when some of their warriors could be spared from
the defence of their possessions, they went across
the water and took their part in the contests with
Saxons and Britons which were being continually
carried on. When the Danes of England became

158 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

Christian, the conversion of their brethren in Ireland
followed as a matter of course. The change was
very gradual, and the Christianity which they at
first professed was very httle removed from the
paganism which they abandoned. Eventually, how-
ever, idolatry became quite extinct amongst them ;
they founded churches more imposing in proportions
than any others to be found in Ireland, and they
established a ritual and liturgy similar to that which
was followed at the time by the Churches of England.
It is not easy to assign dates to these events, but '
speaking generally, we may say that the conversion ;
of the Danes was being accomplished from the \
middle of the tenth to the middle of the eleventh ■
century. Ireland was thus brought for a second i
time in contact with the Church of England.

We have seen how in England the missionaries
from lona were forced to retreat before the para-
mount influence of Eome, and how the English
Church thus became subject to the Pope. It was
easier, however, to banish the teachers and abolish
the ceremonies of the Irish than to alter the tone
which they had given to the Church. Of course
this, too, would have been changed in time, if the
advantage gained by the Romanists had been vigo-
rously followed up; but the unsettled state of Sie
country, consequent on the Danish invasions, cut off ■/
England to some extent from intercourse with the^
Continent; and the result was that the Anglo-Saxon
Church drifted into a state of quasi-independence.
In theory it acknowledged the Pope, and was in
communion with the other Churches on the CSonti- .
nent, but practically it was independent. 'It was to ^
an extraordinary degree a national church: natiolial
in its comprehensiveness, as well as in its exolusive-
ness. . . . The interference of foreign Churched^'

CONVERSION OF THE DANES. 159

was scarcely, if at all, felt. There was no Roman
legation from the days of Theodore to those of Offa,
and there are only scanty vestiges of such inter-
ference for the next three centuries; Danstan boldly I
refused to obey a papal sentence. Until the evel
of the Conquest, therefore, the development of the
system was free and spontaneous, although its sphere
was a small one.' ^

This independence was far from being an unmixed
blessing. The fighting bishop became as well known
in England as he had been in Ireland. * Two West-
Saxon prelates fell in the battle of Charmouth in
A.D. 835 ; and Bishop Ealhstan of Sherborne acted
as Egbert's general in Lent in a.d. 826, and was one
of the commanders who defeated the Danes on the
Parret in a.d. 845.'^ Despite the efforts of reformers
such as Dunstan, the Church had become secularized,
and sorely needed an infusion of new life. Such
was its condition when both Church and State were
revolutionized by the Norman conquest.

One of the first acts of William the Conqueror
was to place men of his own nation in all the most
important bishoprics. These foreign ecclesiastics —
men of ability and energy — set themselves to repro-
duce in England the state of things to which they
had been accustomed on the Continent. Thus, when
the realm of England was brought under the sway
of the Conqueror, the Church of England was
brought under the sway of the Pope.

With the exception of Donat, first Bishop of Dub-
lin, who was consecrated in 1038, all the Danish
bishops of Ireland were appointed subsequently to the
advent of William the Conqueror. They were there-

* Stubbs, Constitutional Hist, of England^ 2nd ed., vol. i.
p. 245.
2 lb., vol. i. p. 237.

i6o THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

fore, to all intents and purposes, Bomish bishops.
They all of them went to Canterbury for consecra-
tion, and regarded themselves as sumagans of the
Primate of England. Some historians have seen in
this submission * a wholesale betrayal of the liberties
of the Irish Church.' This, however, is a mistake.
That it paved the way for the subjection of the Irish
C'hurch is true enough; but there was no betrayal.
The case was exactly analogous to the case of Gib-
raltar at present. The Bishop of Gibraltar is subject
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, not because he
wishes to bring the Spanish Church into subjection
to the Anglican metropolitan, but simply because
Gibraltar is English, and not Spanish. In the same
way the Danish bishops of Dublin were subject to
Canterbury, because Dublin was an English and not
an Irish city.

In the pontificate of Alexa nder IL it was ordered
that no bishop should exercise his functions until he
had received the confirmation of the Holy See.
Possibly it was in pursuance of this edict that
Patrick, second Bishop of Dublin, proceeded to Rome,
after he had been consecrated by Lanfranc, Arch-
bishop of Canterbury. Hildebrand, the actual framer
of the decree, was then the occupant of the papal
chair ; and as he was always watchful for opportuni-
ties of extending the sway of that ' city of God,'
which it was the one object of his life to establish,
we can well believe that he gave directions to the
Danish bishop to use his influence for the bringing
of the Irish Church into a stat« of canonical obedi-
ence. At the same time he himself wrote to Turlogh
O'Brien, King of Ireland, telling him that the Holy
Church is placed above all the kingdoms of the earth,
the Lord having put into subjection unto her princi-
palities and powers and all that seems possessed of

CONVERSION OF THE DANES. i6i

grandeur and dignity in the world, and that the
Universal Church owes to Peter and to his vicars a
debt of obedience, as well as of reverence. He then
exhorts that this debt of obedience should be dis-
charged by the Irish, and that they should cherish
a.*id maintain the Catholic peace of the Church. A
few years afterwards Gilbert, Danish Bishop of
Limerick, was appointed Papal Legate — the first \
that Ireland had ever seen. Waterford, too, had/
its Danish bishop consecrated at Canterbury. Thus
the Church of Rome obtained a footing in the coun-
try. We shall see that it was not long before the
whole Irish Church was brought under its power.

CHAPTER XVII,

RISE AND PROGRESS OP THE ROMISH PARTY.

We must now retrace our steps, and ask how the
Irish Church itself fared in that age which saw the
conversion of the Danes and the establishment of a
branch of the English Church on Irish soil. We
have seen how the old monastic system broke down,
and ceased to be an effective power against the sur-
rounding lawlessness. Some of its worst features,
however, survived. From the first, the rule was fol-
lowed that wherever possible the abbot of every
monastery should be of the same family as the
founder. This easily developed into a kind of
heredity. Celibacy, though encouraged, was never
very strictly enjoined , and often the abbacy or
bishopric passecl irom father to son. When ecclesi-
astical positions became sources of wealth and influ-
ence, they were as jealously confined to the ruling
families as were the offices of king and chieftain.
In Armagh the one family kept possession of the see
for two hundred years, and Bernard of Clairvaux
stigmatizes it as ' an evil and adulterous generation,
for although clergy of that race were sometimes not
to be found amongst them, yet bishops they never
were without.' ^

It is, however, not at all certain that this condem-

* Bernard, Life of MalacTiy.

263

RISE AN'D PROGRESS OF THE ROMISH PARTY, 163

nation was fully deserved. The turning of the
bishopric into a hereditary office was no doubt a
great evil ; still, it is well to remember that the
authority of the hereditary abbot and bishop (for
both offices were now united) was cheerfully recog-
nized by bitterly opposing factions. The period of
which we are treating saw a long-continued struggle
between North and South ; but the kings of Mun-
sfcer were as ready to acknowledge Armagh as were
those of Ulster. Perhaps, after all, this very heredi-
tary succession secured the peace of the Church as
nothing else could have done. If reigning families
fought for spiritual as they did for temporal power,
the whole country would have relapsed into barbar-
ism, and soon no religion of any kind would have
been left.

I have shown that as Armagh increased in power
there was a corresponding decrease in the influence
of the Columban order. In the period we are now
considering, Armagh occupies by far the most promi-
nent part of the history. But it is to be remembered
that the materials at our disposal for the history of
this period are nearly all derived from sources in sym-
pathy with Armagh, and that therefore it is hard for
us to say in how far it really enjoyed ecclesiastical
pre-eminence. When we read of a bishop resigning
one see because he has been appointed to another,
we naturally conclude that the new appointment is
one of more importance than the old. This is what
actually happened in 988. Dubhdalethe was Abbot
and Bishop of Armagh. He was an able and ambi-
tious man. He aspired to the abbacy before it was
vacant ; and Muiredeach, who held the see in 966,
was set aside in his favour. In 973 he made a cir-
cuit of the churches of Munster, demanding and
obtaining tribute from them. In 986 he asserted

i64 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

his rights against the monarch of Ireland. The
king had removed the shrine of Saint Patrick from
Ardee to Assey on the river Boyne. For this not
very heinous oifence he was obliged to pay a heavy
fine to Dubhdalethe, giving tribute from every por-
tion of his kingdom. Some of the bishop's historical
poetry remains ; he was therefore a bard as well as
an ecclesiastic, and in that age this would have
added greatly to his reputation.

In 988 he ' assumed the coarbship of Columkill
by the advice of the men of Ireland and Alba.' ^
Ten years he continued in his new office, and in the
meantime Muireagan of Bordoney took his place as
Abbot of Armagh and Coarb of Saint Patrick. That
a man such as Dubhdalethe appears to have been,
would have relinquished a greater for a lesser posi-
tion, is not to be believed. We are therefore led to
conclude that as late as the end of the tenth century
the Coarb of Columkill took rank above the Coarb
of Patrick. We have no other example that we can
place beside this, and the incident is therefore to be
regarded as the last token of that ascendency which
lona had once enjoyed.

One hundred years later, the see of Armagh had
advanced immensely. There could no longer be any
question as to its supremacy. The abbot had be-
come a veritable prince of the Church, imposing and
receiving tribute from all parts of the country.
But in other respects he had few of the prerogatives
of an archbishop. It was by no means considered
necessary that his advice should be asked or sanction
obtained before other bishops were consecrated.
They owed him no canonical obedience. They did
not repair to him for ordination.

^ Annals of the Four Masters^ a.d. 988.

h

A'/SE AND PROGRESS OF THE ROMISH PARTY. 165

Under the old Irish monastic system, the bishop
was merely one of the, officers of the community^.
Nearly every monastery had a bishop — sometimes
more than one — amongst its inmates. When that
system broke down, the eflFect of this unusual
arrangement remained. In some cases the bishops
had for diocese the territory of the tribe to which
they belonged — in other cases they seem to have
had no jurisdiction. Anselm of Canterbury com-
plains concerning them, * The episcopal honour
suffers no little disparagement when he who is in-
vested with the pontificate knows not when he is
ordained where he is to go, or over what certain
place he is to preside in his episcopal ministry.'
Every bishop felt quite free to consecrate another
bishop, if he were a man of learning and eminence,
even though he was to have no diocesan authority.
The rule of requiring three consecrators was one
that had never been followed in the Irish Church.
It is manifest that all this would require to be com-
pletely changed before the head of Armagh could in
any real sense be said to be an archbishop. At first
the exaction of tribute was all that was desired ; but
afterwards foreign travel made the heads of the
Church acquainted with the ecclesiastical arrange-
ments of other countries ; and nearer home, the
three Danish bishops rendering canonical obedience
to the Archbishop of Canterbury, furnished a pat-
tern which the ambitious prelates of Armagh soon
endeavoured to reproduce in Ireland.

The first steps towards thus modifying the con-
stitution of the Church of Ireland were taken by
Ceallach, who became Coarb of Patrick by the election
of the men of Ireland in a.d. 1105. He was not for-
getful of the temporalities of his see. In Ulster he
exacted * a cow from every six persons, or a heifer

1 66 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

in calf for every three persons, besides many other
offerings/ In Munster he obtained 'seven cows,
seven sheep, and half an ounce of silver from every
cantred, besides many lewels.' Other places fi:ave
him siiUar offerings When the see of Dul)Un
became vacant by the death of Bishop Samuel in
1121, Ceallach assumed the episcopal office in that
city. Bishops were elected by tlhe votes of both
clergy and laity, and he obtained a majority in his
favour. Although Dublin was a Danish kingdom,
the Irish in it far outnumbered the Danes, and on
an occasion like this could secure the election of
any candidate they pleased. But the minority
of foreigners were not to be baffled in this way.
Seeing that they were outvoted at the first assembly,
they held another meeting on their own account;
selected one of themselves, Gregory, a layman, for
the vacant post ; sent him off to Canterbury for
consecration to all three orders of the ministry, and
wrote at the same time a letter to the archbishop,
requesting him to promote their nominee to the
order of episcopacy, if he wished to retain Dublin
under his jurisdiction, or that otherwise the rights
of Canterbury would be usurped by Armagh.

Ceallach was equally energetic in the reformation
of what he considered to be defects in the govern-
ment of the Church. He assembled synods at
different places, and caused enactments to be made
reducing the number of bishops, appointing to each
bishop his diocese, and imposing on them, as far as
possible, the obligation of canonical obedience to
himself.

In these efforts he found an able helper, or rather
director, in Gilbert, Danish Bishop of Limerick.
This Gilbert had been the disciple of Anselm, had
been accustomed in his early days to the ecclesiastical

RISE AND PROGRESS OP THE ROMISH PARTY. 167

arrangements of France, was a devoted adherent of
the Papacy, and was the first in Ireland who ever
held the office of legate to the Pope. To his mind
the irregularities of the Irish Church rendered it
schismatical. He therefore spared no labour in
endeavouring to bring the liturgy and government
of the Church into conformity with England and
Rome. He attended the synods which Ceallach
assembled, and helped to frame their canons. Ac-
cording to Romish authorities, he presided at these
synods in his capacity of papal legate. The Irish
Annalists, however, say that it was Cellach who
presided.

No immediate success crowned these labours.
The institutions which had existed from the very
first were not to be so easily set aside. It was not
difficult to frame rules. It was a task of much
greater magnitude to put the rules into practice.
One thing was soon made evident : that no effectual
change could be brought about so long as the
hereditary system of succession to ecclesiastical
appointments prevailed. Armagh itself was the
greatest offender of all in this respect, and its won-
derful growth in importance made it the subject
of special notice. Cellach was a member of the
family that for two hundred years had thus obtained
possession of the see. It seemed therefore as if the
greatest obstacle of all was without remedy.

On the death of Cellach, an effort was made to
break through this long prescription. He was at
Ardpatrick in the County Limerick at the time
when he was taken with his last sickness, and had
therefore near him Gilbert and those who were
urging him on in his schemes of reformation. Under
their influence he was induced on his death bed to
make a kind of will, appointing Malachy, Bishop

1^8 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

of Down and Connor, to succeed him in the see of
Armagh. This would have been to introduce new
blood into the succession, and by bringing in one
whose sympathies were decidedly with the Bomish
movement to pave the way for still greater changes.
That an episcopal see should be treated as a legacy
and made the subject of a will was of course contrary
to all order. It was just as uncanonical as the
hereditary succession which it was intended to dis-
place ; but it seems to have been thought that in
no other way could the old arrangement be broken
through ; and, as a matter of fact, it eventually
accomphshed all that was intended.

Not at first, however, nor in the way that had
been anticipated. Cellach's successor was appointed
from the same family, in utter disregard of any
claims that Malachy could put forward. The new
bishop, Murtagh, took possession of the insignia of
office — the Book of Armagh, and the ancient crozier,
known as the Staff of Jesus, and having these he
was acknowledged by the whole country as the
rightful coarb. Gilbert assembled a synod of clergy,
in which the claims of Malachy were upheld. But
the time had not yet come when the Pope's legate
could assert his authority as such ; so it was all to
no purpose. Then, as now, possession was nine
points of the law. Murtagh had possession of the
see, and he retained it to the day of his death.

As soon as the bishopric was again vacant, the
struggle was renewed. Niall, kinsman of the
deceased prelate, was immediately installed in his
place ; but this time, partty by physical force and
partly by purchase, Niall was deposed, and Malachy
took his place. The next year, however, the contest
was renewed ; the abbacy was restored to Niall, and
Malachy was again without his coveted prize.

.->

RISE AND PROGRESS Of THE ROMISH PARTY. 169

After this Malachy gave up the contest, and
devoted himself to the carrying but of his designs
in a different way. He professed to be contented
with his small diocese of Connor, but he managed
that another rival should be put in opposition to
Niall. Against himself there seemed to be a popular
prejudice, and it suited him as well to have in
Armagh one whom he could bend to his own will.
A bishop, therefore, was brought from Derry, Mel-
bride O'Brolcan, one of a family that had been for
many years most influential in the Irish Church.
He was put up in opposition to Niall, and receiving
the popular suffrages was made coarb in his stead.
From what we know of the O'Brolcans, it is very
doubtful whether Melbride would have lent himself
to the designs of Malachy ; but the question never
arose. Scarcely had he enjoyed his elevation for two
years when he died. The same year Niall passed
away, and thus at length every obstacle seemed to
have been removed. Malachy, however, made no
further attempt to assert his right ; but he managed
to secure the election of Gelasius, one like-minded
with himself, who was contented to take him as
guide and leader in everything.

Bishop Gelasius was appointed in the year 1139,
and retained his bishopric until 1174. Between
these two years lie some of the most eventful inci-
dents of Irish history. He himself changed his
position of simple Coarb of Patrick for the more
magnificent rank of Archbishop of Armagh and
Primate of all Ireland. When he was appointed,
Ireland was a nation ; when he died, it was an
English province. A similar change passed over
the Church. When he was appointed, the Church
of Ireland was independent ; when he died, it had
been brought into subjection to the see of Home.

170 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

Gelasius, however, was one who had greatness
thrust upon him. In all these events he was a
leading figure, yet his actions were for the most
part controlled by others. The real work of sub-
jecting the Church of Ireland to the see of Borne
was done by Malachy.

With regard to this Malachy we have a very
remarkable source of information. His Life has
been written by no less a personage than Bernard
of Clairvaux. From that life we learn that in his
early years he came under the influence of the
Danish Bishop of Waterford, that he learnt the
Romish method of chanting and of saying the Mass,
and became so much enamoured with foreign usages
and ways, that in the end he became quite unlike
an Irishman. 'He was born in Ireland,' says
Bernard, ' of a barbarous race. There he was edu-
cated; there he received the knowledge of letters;
but for the rest he drew no more from the barbarous
country of his birth than the fishes of the sea draw
from their native element.'

Bernard's life is a panegyric, and he intends these
words for praise. They explain to us why his
friends were among the Danish bishops rather than
the Irish, why his sympathies were with Borne
rather than with his own country, and why he
preferred the gorgeous ritual of the continental
churches to the simple modes of worship in his own.

Bernard, whose information must have been
largely derived from Malachy himself, speaks of
Irish Christianity as if it were no better than
paganism. Thus he describes the diocese of Con-
nor, telling us that when Malachy first went there,
* this man of God saw that he had to deal not with
men, but with beasts. Nowhere had he met such
people, no matter how barbarous the place; nowhere

RISE AND PROGRESS Of THE ROMISH PARTY, 171

had he found any so froward in their manners, so
gloomy in their forms of worship, so unfaithful to
their oaths, barbarous in their laws, stiflF-necked
with regard to discipline, unclean in their lives ;
Christian in name ; in reality, pagans/

After this terrible tirade he descends to parti-
culars, and it is quite a relief to find that the awful
crimes which he so unsparingly condemns are as
follows : ' They did not give either tithes or first-
fruits ; they did not enter into lawful wedlock ;
they did not make confessions ; there could not be
found any who either desired penance or would
impose it.' This, after all, was only saying that
the Church of Ireland was primitive, and not Boman.
The only serious charge in the list — that they did
not enter into lawful wedlock — can only mean that
their marriage rites were not like those of the
Romans, for we have abundant evidence that con-
jugal fidelity was at that time strictly enforced and
observed.

In another place he tells us that ' there was
throughout the whole of Ireland a relaxation of
ecclesiastical discipline, a weakening of authority,
a mere empty kind of reUgion. Everywhere instead
of Christian gentleness there has crept in unaware
a savage barbarism ; indeed, it is a kind of paganism
that has been introduced under the Christian name.'
Here, again, is a very sweeping statement, and we
might be led to conclude from it that religion had
altogether departed from the island. We are re-
assured, however, when we read on, and find that
what he means by * savage barbarism ' and ' pagan-
ism ' is that ' bishops are changed and multiplied,
without order, without reason, at the will of the
metropolitan, so that one bishopric was not contented
with one bishop, but that almost every church must

172 7'HE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

have its own separate bishop.' This was no doubt
contrary to ecclesiastical law, but it was the system
in vogue when Ireland showed her religious vitality
by her missions, and when the successful and
enthusiastic preachers of her race contrasted most I
favourably with the faint-hearted workers sent from]
Rome.

Although, therefore, Bernard's work is useful
and instructive, it must not be impKcitly followed.
Happily we have other and more reliable sources ot
information, which enable us to correct in some
measure the extravagances into which he allowed
himself to be led. One idea, however, runs through
the whole of his book. It is that the Church of
Ireland did not acknowledge the authority of the
Pope, and was not in ecclesiastical subjection to him.
The Life of Malachy is meaningless on any other as-
sumption. The life-work of Malachy was to bring
about a change in this respect. It is for this that
he is lauded by his biographer. It was in recogni-
tion of his success that he obtained the unique honour
of being the first Irishman resident in Ireland who
was canonized by the Pope. If the Irish Church
was already subject to Rome, the whole biography
is inexplicable.

We have already noted the doctrines and usages
in which the Church of Ireland differed from Rome
in the seventh century. We are now at the twelfth.
It may be well to pause again, and ask how the case
stood after five hundred years had passed away.

The controversies as to the time of keeping
Easter and of the mode of tonsure had become
things of the past. In the other points which have
been noted, the old customs survived, and the posi-
tion of the Church was very much the same in the
twelfth century as in the seventh. The attitude

- ki

J^ISE AND PROGRESS OF THE ROMISH PARTY. 173

with regard to the Pope was unchanged. His
supremacy was neither admitted nor rejected. It
was simply ignored. This was shown very clearly
in the way in which bishops and the more powerful
ecclesiastics were appointed. Clergy and laity alike
had their voice, and when their votes were given, no
other sanction was thought necessary. When, as
in the case of Malachy, a candidate came with
the recommendation of the Papal legate, he was
promptly rejected, and the popular nominee success-
fully held the place against him.

In the matter of ordinations exactly the same
differences continued as before. Only one bishop
officiated in the consecration of new bishops, and
the institution of archbishop did not exist. The
celibacy of the clergy was little insisted on, and in
the higher orders was seldom followed. Auricular
confession was unknown, as was priestly absolution
and the so-called sacrament of penance. They still
had their peculiar liturgy, stigmatized by the Pope's
legate as schismatical, and so dijfferent from the
Romish that a person accustomed to the one form
of worship found himself unable to follow the service
when the other form was employed. In baptism
they still omitted the use of chrism.

That many believed in the doctrine of transub-
stantiation is more than probable. That the doctrine
was not universally received is shown by an interest-
ing incident related by Bernard. The case arose in
Lismore. This was one of the places where an old
Irish monastery existed, with an Irish monastic
bishop and abbot. No sooner, however, was a Danish
bishop appointed to the neighbouring town of Water-
ford than he began styling himself ' Bishop of Lis-
more,' as if he were the representative of the old
Irish Church, whereas he really had no jurisdiction

174 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

beyond the walls of the town, and was by education
and ordination an Englishman. One of the Irish
clergy in this place, — ' a man of exemplary life, so it
is said ' — gave public expression to his views on the
Holy Communion. 'He, being wise in his own eyes,
presumed to say that in the Eucharist there was
only a sacrament, and not the thing represented by
the sacrament ; that is to say, that there is only a
consecration, and not the true Body.' Malaohy
reasoned with him in private, but it was all to no pur-
pose. Then a meeting was summoned, from which,
contrary to the Irish customs, the laity were ex-
cluded. Here ' he endeavoured with all tne strength
of no mean abilities to assert and defend his error.'
Malachy met him first with argument and then with
threatening, but all to no purpose. He left the
meeting ' discomfited but not corrected,' and pro-
testing that * he was conquered not by reasoning,
but overpowered by the authority of the bishop.'
A sentence of excommunication was pronounced
against him, but he was still unmoved. * Thou, O
Malachy,' he said, ' without reason thou hast con-
demned me this day. Thou hast spoken not only
contrary to the truth, but against thine own con-
science.' Then turning to the rest of the assembly
he added, ' All you care for the man rather than the
truth. I accept no man's person, if in doing so I
must forsake the truth.'

Bernard tells us that this sturdy Protestant re-
pented on his death bed ; but he never admits that
Malachy made a mistake or failed in any enterprise
he took in hand. He altogether suppresses the
fact that Malachy was unable to retain the see of
Armagh, and attributes to his great humility his re-
treat from the position which he found to be unten-
able. We may therefore be excused for suspecting

mSE AND PROGRESS OF THE ROMISH PARTY. 175

that this incident of the death-bed repentance is an
embellishment put in by Bernard to save the credit
of his hero. But whether this be the case or not, the
significance of the incident remains the same. The
denial of the doctrine of transubstantiation comes
from an Irish clergyman. The assertion of the
doctrine and condemnation of the heretic comes not
from the Irish, but from the Romish party. There
can be no doubt, however, that the leaven of Roman-
ism was spreading, and that the country was thus
being prepared for the important events which were
shortly to take place.

CHAPTER XVm.

THE SYNOD OP KELLS.

Whkx Mai achy had secured the election of Gelasins
to Armagh, the way seemed clear for the carrying
out his scheme for Romanizing the Church of Ire-
land. With this end in view, one of his first acts
was to rej)air to Rome, and seek a personal audience
with the Pope. On his way he visited the monastery
at Clairvaux and made the acquaintance of Bernard,
who afterwards became his biographer. When he
arrived at Rome, he was graciously received by Pope
Innocent II., who inquired of him particularly con-
cerning Ireland, and who, before his departure, gave
him special tokens of his favour, and appointed him
legate in the place of Grilbert of Limerick, who now
through old age and infirmity was no longer equal to
the duties of the office.

Malachy placed his views before the Pope, and
presented his schemes of reformation — chief amongst
which was the establishment of a regular hierarchy
under the control of the papal see : the Pope to send
palls to the archbishops, thus at the same time as-
serting his authority and procuring from them an
acknowledgment of the same. The Pope at once
entered into his ideas, and agreed to raise the sees of
Armagh and Cashel to metropolitan rank. 'With
regard to the palls, ^ said the sovereign pontiff, 4t is

well to act in a more solemn way. Having called

176

THE SYNOD OF KELLS, 177

together bishops, clergy and nobles of the land, you
must hold a general council ; and thus by the con-
sent and common vote of all, send some honourable
persons over to ask for the pall, and it shall be
given you.'

On his way back from Rome, Malachy again
visited Bernard, and arranged that some young men
from Ireland should be received at Clairvaux, and
after having spent some time there, should return to
their own country with others from the same con-
vent, and establish a branch of the Cistertian order.
The result of this was that in 1142, the abbey oi
Mellifont, near Drogheda, was founded. Shortly
afterwards several other branches of the same order
were planted in different places. The influence of
these Cistertian monks did more than anything
else to hasten the Romanizing of the Church of
Ireland.

We have so often spoken of the monastic institu-
tions of the Irish Church, that one might readily
fall into the mistake of supposing that we have here
nothing more than the mere bringing in of a new
order of monks, who were to take their place side
by side with those already in the country. But
we must remember that the same name is often
given to things that differ most materially. We
speak of the constitution of the ancient Irish Church
as ^ monastic,' and we speak of the establishment
at Mellifont as ' monastic ' ; we use the same name,
but the two systems had scarcely any resemblance.
The Irish Christian * families,' busied with the
cultivation of the ground, with the work of education
and the arts of civilization, had nothing in common
with the cloisters where men were bound with the
vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Malachy
and Bernard knew well that the two tilings were

178 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH,

quite different, for the one says of his countrymen
that they might have heard of the name, but had
never actually seen a monk; and the other asserts
that Ireland never had any experience in monastic
religion.

The Cistertians thus imported into the country
were zealous propagandists. Like all enthusiasts,
they were narrow-minded, and could see no merit in
anything beyond their own system. They therefore
toiled incessantly, and laboured in season and out of
season for what they deemed to be the reformation
of the Church.

Agreeably to the Pope's instructions, Malachy
assembled a synod for the purpose of sending a
formal request to Rome that the pall should be
bestowed on the Irish archbishops. But for some
unexplained reason several years were allowed to
elapse before this was done. In the meantime,
besides establishing branches of the Cistertian order,
he endeavoured to obtain the election of his own
supporters whenever a see became vacant. In this
way he secured that the bishops of Clogher and
Cork, as well as the three Danish bishops and the
Archbishop of Armagh, should be supporters of his
policy and ready to second him in anything that he
would propose. The synod was at length held at
Holmpatrick in the year 1148. It is worthy of note
that this place, which has now reverted to its old
Irish name of Skerries, was within the Danish king-
dom of Dublin. This fact, together with the long
delay and the fact that the synod was a small one,
would lead us to suppose that the project which he
had in mind was one that did not commend itself to
the majority of the people. There are few things,
however, that cannot be carried in a popular
assembly when a small band know exactly what

THE SYNOD OF KELLS. 179

they want, and work together in order to obtain it.
The synod accordingly agreed to ask for the palls,
and Malachy himself undertook to go to France,
where the Pope was at the time, and present the
petition in person. Death came to him before he
could accomplish his mission. He had gone as far
as the monastery at Clairvaux, but found that the
Pope had returned to Italy. While waiting there,
intending shortly to pursue his journey, he was
taken with fever, and after a few days breathed his
last in the place where above all others he would
have wished to die.

The petition which he had intended to present to
the Pope was taken in hand by the Cistertians, who
forwarded it in due course to Rome — the result being
that after a time Paparo, a cardinal, was deputed
to visit Ireland, and bestow the palls that had been
desired. He arrived towards the end of the year
1151, and spent some time in the country. He
remained a week at Armagh, and probably visited
some other of the bishops. Early in the following
year arrangements were made for the holding of a
synod, which actually met at Kells on the 9th of
March. The place was well chosen, as Kells was
the site of an important Columban monastery, and
it might disarm opposition to have the meeting held
at a centre where all the associations were -purely
Irish. But the whole business of the assembly was
managed by the foreign monks of Mellifont, and the
synod was regarded with suspicion by many of the
native Irish. The Columban party stayed away.
Even the Bishop of Kells kept aloof, and several
others were conspicuous by their absence.

As soon as the proceedings opened, it was made
manifest that this synod was to be different from
any ever held before in Ireland. Formerly, when

i8o THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

laity and clergy met, it was to take counsel, and
decide by a majority of votes what was for the good
of the Church. Now it appeared that they were
merely assembled to receive the commands of their
ruler. At Holmpatrick they had asked for two
palls — one for Armagh and the other for Cashel. The
Pope, however, was swayed by other influences, and
had already decided that four were to be bestowed.
Dublin and Tuam were also to have archiepiscopal
rank, and thus the Danish see, which had been only
a few years in existence, and had never been in
communion with the Church of Ireland, was put on
a level with places which had historic associations
and had grown with the Church's growth. Some
of the clergy were indignant, specially those of
Armagh and Down. An old Irish account tells us
that ' it was in violation of the rights of the clergy
of Patrick and Columkill that the pall was given
to the church of Dublin, or even to that of Tuam.' ^
But it was too late now for such protests. When the
Coarb of Patrick was only third — an 'Italian priest
(Cardinal Paparo) and a Danish bishop (Christian, of
Waterford, papal legate) taking precedence before
him — when no place at all was found for the Coarb
of Columkill — when French Cistertians were masters
of the ceremonies, and Irish abbots were barely
tolerated : there was no place left for the assertion
of Irish independence. As a free and national insti-
tution, the Irish Church ceased to exist at the Synod
of Kells.

* Book of FlciH)} MavEoga)}^ quoted by Bp. Reeves. Anti"
qultles of Don: n^ Connor and Dromore^ p. 141.

CHAPTER XIX.

THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION.

The decrees of the Synod of Kells were followed up
by other measures which had the same end in view :
the bringing of the Church of Ireland into conformity
with the Church of England and of Rome. At a synod
held at Clane, on the Liffey, it was enacted that the
teachers in all the ecclesiastical schools should receive
their education at Armagh. This, if it could have
been carried out, would have been the most efficacious
method of all. Then the Cistertians extended them-
selves, and soon six large establishments were in
connection with the order in Ireland. But all this
might have had but little effect were it not for an
event — the most momentous in Irish history — which
happened shortly after, and which completed the
work of bringing Ireland under the power of the
Pope. I mean the Anglo-Norman conquest.

Early in the reign of Henry II. of England, the
king had turned his attention to the conquest of the
neighbouring island. A plausible pretext for thus
attacking a perfectly independent state presented
itself in the slave trade which the Irish had long
carried on, buying the children of needy English-
men, and disposing of them in different parts of
Ireland. As further justification there was the
religious one, that Ireland alone of "Western nations

i8i

i82 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

was not subject to the see of Rome, and that,
according to the current ideas of that time, the posi-
tion of her Church was schismatical and heretical.

Henry, though not overburdened with religion,
was fully alive to the advantage of the Church's
sanction. It was by the interposition of the Church
that he had been raised to the throne ; for it was the
Archbishop of Canterbury who arranged the terms
of the Treaty of Wallingford, whereby it was agreed
that Stephen was to hold the throne for his life, but
the succession was to be secured to Henrj'. A trusty
messenger, therefore, laid his designs concerning
Ireland before the Pope, who, by a strange coincid-
ence, happened to be the first and last Englishman
that ever occupied the papal chair. The result was
that a Bull was issued authorizing the conquest,
recognizing that to subjugate Ireland would be to
* widen the boundaries of the Church,' claiming
that Ireland belongs of right to the Holy See, simply
because it is an island, and reserving an annual
tribute of one penny for every house in the country.

No sooner had this BuU been received than Henry
brought the subject forward at the Council of Win-
chester, proposing that an expedition should set out,
and that the kingdom should be conquered and
handed over to his brother, William of Aiijou. The
opposition which the king received caused him to
relinquish the project for a time ; and soon other
concerns so fully occupied his attention that it
seemed as if the authorization he had obtained
would never be utilized.

At length an opportunity presented itself, arising
from the disputes among the Irish leaders themselves.
Dermot, King of Leinster, had drawn upon himself
the enmity of Tiernan, Prince of Breffni. The chief
King of Ireland took up the prince's quarrel, and in

. i

THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION. 183

the battle that ensued Dermot was defeated and had
to fly for his life. He made his way to England,
and thence to France, presented himself before the
King of England, and obtained his sanction to raise
what forces he could among the king's subjects.

The story of the conquest of Ireland is one
that belongs to the secular history, and need not
here be repeated. We have only to consider its in-
fluence on the religious condition of the country.
On the English side the conquest was regarded as a
holy war. The Irish were enemies to the Church,
and were to be subdued in order to bring them to
obedience. The papal blessing was bestowed on the
project from the first. Not only did Pope Adrian
issue the Bull to which reference has been already
made, but his successor, Alexander III., followed it
up with a confirmatory Bull, and wrote letters on
the subject to nearly all the parties concerned. In a
letter of this latter prelate, he accuses the Irish of
the crimes of incest and concubinage ; but he some-
what weakens the force of his rebuke by coupling
with them, as crimes of equal enormity, that they
eat meat in Lent, and pay no tithes. In another
letter he says, that * our dearly beloved son in
Christ, the illustrious Henry King of England,'
undertook the subjugation of Ireland, because ' he
was pressed in his conscience by the voice of a
Divine inspiration.' The whole expedition, there-
fore, was undertaken under cover of religion, and
had for one of its professed objects the subjugation
of the Irish Church.

One of the first acts of Henry in Ireland was to
assemble those of the ecclesiastics who were willing
to answer his summons. The bishops answered with
alacrity. We have already seen that the dominant
party amongst them consisted of men who were either

i84 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

foreigners or Irishmen brought up under foreign in-
fluence, and who, like Malachy, ' drew no more from
the country of their birth than the fishes of the sea
draw from their native element.' Their sympathies
were with Henry more than with any Irish ruler.
Answering to the king's summons, they assembled
in synod at Cashel in 1172, and passed enactments
decreeing uniformity between the Irish and the
English Churches.

Only one thing remained to be done. It was to
destroy those establishments where the old Irish
monastic system remained still in force. According
to the Romish view, these places were well described
by Pope Adrian as * nurseries of vice.' They kept
alive a spirit of opposition to the innovations of the
new-comers ; and they had with them the hearts of
the people — a thing in which the new-comers had to
a great extent failed. As long as they remained,
the decrees of synods were made only to be broken.

If Henry had been able to establish a vigorous
control over the whole of the island, this work
could have been easily and promptly accomplished.
But the English over-lordship was for a long time
only a moderate extension of the old Danish settle-
ments. The allegiance rendered by the native kings
who swore fealty to the English sovereign, was very
like the allegiance which in former times they gave
to their own ardrigh or chief king ; that is to say,
it was a variable, and often a negative quantity.
Within certain circumscribed limits English law
reigned supreme, and in these districts the native
establishments were ruthlessly destroyed. New
monasteries were founded on the ancient sites, and
in some places it was made a rule that no Irishman
should for the future be admitted as an inmate.
These proceedings caused bitter hatred on the part

THE ANGLO-NORMAN INVASION 185

of the natives, but the new rulers utterly disregarded
them. .

A tragic story is told of Hugh de Lacy, to whom
was given the lordship of Meath. He was the
founder of many monasteries, which he richly en-
dowed with wealth that was not his own. In found-
ing these he destroyed many of the old Irish estab-
lishments. Amongst other places, he built an abbey
at Durrow, in the King's County, and before doing
so dispersed one of the oldest and most important of
the Columban communities. He also erected a castle
at the same place. One day while he was superin-
tending the erection of the new buildings, a young
man suddenly rushed upon him, severed his head
from his body with one blow of his axe, and before
the bystanders had recovered from their surprise he
had made his escape to the friendly Irish, by whom
he was sheltered and regarded as a hero. * This was
in revenge of Columkill,' is the remark made by the
Annalists. They tell us, too, that De Lacy was * the
profaner and destroyer of many churches.' The
foreign monasteries thought differently. The monks
of St. Thomas, Dublin, contended with the Cister-
tians of Bective for the honour of obtaining De
Lacy's body, just as if his relics were the relics of a
saint. The authority of the Pope had to be invoked
for the settlement of the dispute.

In the more remote parts of the country, where
English authority did not extend, the case was
different. There the old Irish customs still pre-
vailed, and the people clung to the traditions of their
fathers. But the cause was a failing one, The new
regime had everything in its favour. The old sys-
tem had lost its vitality, and only showed the last
gasps of a life the vigour of which belonged to
another age.

1 86 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH

For the most part the English Church party
treated the Irish with the bitterest hostility. But
its friendship was still more to be dreaded. An Irish
abbot or bishop who accepted any rank from the
new-comers gave up at once his independence, and
by the very act made himself subject to the Pope.
And when it suited their purpose they could change
their hostility to friendliness.

We have an example in the case of Flaherty
O'Brolcan, a contemporary of Gelasius of Armagh.
He was Abbot of Derry, and became the leader of
the Columban party in Ireland. Under his vigorous
rule there was a partial resuscitation of the old life
of the order. But it held quite aloof from the inno-
vating movements, and was therefore for the most
part ignored by the Danish and English party. An
effort was, however, made to identify Flaherty with
the Romanizers. A synod was held near Trim in
1158. The papal legate was present, with bishops
and clergy, but the laity were excluded. This was
in itself characteristic of the new methods, for the
Irish synods always admitted the laity. Here Fla-
herty was given rank, like the other bishops, and the
special dignity of Arch-abbot of Ireland was invented
for him. But they were only partially successfiil in
securing his adhesion, and so we hear no more men-
tion of the arch-abbacy.

CHAPTER XX.

CONCLUSION.

Little more remains to be said. We have seen that
the two parties continued for a time to exist side by
side. Envy, bitterness and bigotry remained long
after every other distinction had passed away.
Strange as it may seem, the enmity between Protest-
ants and Roman Catholics, which is still charac-
teristic of some parts of the country, is historically
connected with this bitterness of feeling which once
existed between the Irish and the Romish Church.

If we are to pay attention to the foreign sources
of information which have come down to us, we
must believe that the Irish Church had sunk so low
that there was nothing to regret in its final extinc-
tion. Immorality and incest are said to have been
openly practised in the land ; and it must be ad-
mitted that several authorities bear the same testi-
mony. Nothing in the native sources of information,
however, would lead us to conclude that there was
the least truth in the charge. It is admitted, too,
on all hands that it was a question of morality
which first gave the Anglo-Normans a footing in
Ireland., and that it was they who supported the
adulterer, and not the Irish. There is also reason to
suspect that all the authorities who charge the Irish
with immoral practices derived their information

from the same source, and that they represent, there-

X87

1 88 THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH.

fore, not many testimonies, but only one, and that
one most unfriendly and unjust to the Irish. Surely,
then, we may allow that the charge labours under
considerable doubt, and is certainly very much
exaggerated.

A further charge has also been made that the
Irish had become uncivilized and barbarous. With
regard to this, it is no doubt true that in backward
places there were then, as now, some who were not
abreast with the progress of the age. But that the
charge is otherwise without foundation is shown by
the clearest of all arguments. A few of the works
of that age have escaped the destroyer, and remain
to the present. In buildings, there are the round
towers and the stone-roofed oratories; in stonework,
there are the sculptured crosses ; in metal, there are
the various shrines, book-covers and croziers. These
all display an originality and ability far removed
from barbarism. The next age swept most of such
things away, and brought in nothing to take their
place. There is not one ancient Irish work of illu-
minating, sculpture, or metal-working which does
not date from before the time when the Church of
Ireland was made subject to the Church of Borne.

One cannot help regretting that no reformer was
raised up by Grod to bring into order those things
which had become disordered, at the same time re-
taining the independence of the Church. But God's
ways with communities, as with individuals, are
past finding out. Perhaps there is still some work
reserved for the Irish Church. Once she held aloft
the lamp of truth, and was a shining light to all
Western Europe. The Lord may again choose her
for the accomplishment of His high and holy pur-
poses. When that call comes, God grant that she
may be ready !

INDEX.

Abbots, J6 ; liow elected, H8.

Abyssinia, founding of Chui*ch
of, la

Adamnan, Abbot of lona, Life
of ^'^ Coluniba, 59 ; visits
iSaxonland, 187 ; adopts and
advocates Koman Easter, ib, ;
banished from lona, ib.

Adrian, Pope, Bull of, 182.

Aidan, 8aint, 91, 114.

Alexander III., Bull of, 183.

Anchorites, 81, sq. ; not in ear-
liest times, 88 ; enclosed, 86.

Anmchara or soul friend, 101 :
an adviser, not a confessor ^
ih. ; resemblance to Old Tes-
tament prophets, 103.

Archbishop, title given to those

who were not Metropolitans,
140.

Ardrigh, 28.

Armagh, rises to prominence in
eighth century, 134 ; Book of,
138 ; influence of, on E-omish
side, 139; contest as to the
abbacy of, 149, sq. ; rule ex-
tended to Connaught, etc.,
149, 150.

Augustine, fcJaint, of Canter-

bury, his work confined to
south of England, 110 ; over-
tures to the British Church,
111 ; meets the British dele-
gates, 112 ; curious test as to
his character, 112.

Baithen, Abbot of loua, 65.

Bede, 8.

Bega, or, Bees, Saint, 96.

Bernard of Clair vaux. Saint,
Life of Malachy^ 8, 170; his
description of the Irish
Church, 171.

Bishops, position of, 46; great
numbers of, ib. ; fighting, 139.

Boromean tribute, 105.

Bridget, Saint, 91 ; bishops sub-
ject to, 92.

Brie, Saint Fara's monastery
at, 95.

British and Irish Churches
alike in doctrine, 112.

Brude, King of the Picts, 58.

Caedmon, 96.

Cashel, archbishopric of, ISO ;

synod of, 184.
Celestius, 15.

189

190

INDEX,

Celibacy, 43, 122.

Cellach, Bishop of Armagh,
165.

Chad, Saint, ordination of, 121.

Churches, dedication of, 47.

Cistertian Oi'der, introduction
of, 177.

Claue, synod of, 181.

Clement and Albin, 130.

Coarb, 01).

Coldingham , 07.

Columba, or Columkill, Saint,
birth of, 54; founder of
Derry, i6. ; dispute with Fin-
nian, 56 ; leaves Ireland, 57 ;
preaching of, 58; death of,
65.

Columbian Order, decline of,
134, 148.

Columbanus,tobedistinguished
from Columba, 70; meaning
of name, 71, 72 ; writings of,
71; settles in Burgundy, 72;
banished by Theodoric, 73 ;
reform of monasticism, 74 ;
rule of, 74, 75 ; letter to the
French bisho^js, 77 ; to Pope
Boniface, 77, 78; to Pope
Gregory, 78; on the supre-
macy of Rome, 80.

Comgal, monastic school of, at
Bangor, 71.

Confession and absolution, 104.

Cooldreeny, battle of, 50, 101.

Cormac of Cashel, 154.

Cormac Mac Art, 33.

Cornian, Bishop, fails to evan-
gelize the Saxons, 113.

Cummian, 128.

Curse, ecclesiastical, 106.

Danes, 141, sq. ; invasions of,
141 ; not as formidable as in
England, 142; attacked the
monasteries, 144; first appear-
ance of, %K ; not religious en-
I thusiasts, 145; settlements
of, 156; retained their con-
nection with England, 157;
conversion of, 158 ; their
bishops ordained at Canter-
bury, 160.

Dermaid, King, remarkable
decision of, 55.

Dermot, King of Leinster, 182.

Deserts in Irish monasteries, 85.

Destruction of British Christi-
anity, 53.

Druidism, 29, 42.

Dublin, Archbishopric of, 180.

Easter controversy, 116, ^q.,
126, aq,

Easter fires, 29.

Eastern monasticism, Irish re-
semblances to, 41 ; differences,
42.

Economist, 100.

Erenach, 100.

Family, ecclesiastical, 100.
Felim, Bishop and King of

Cashel, 153.
Fintan, visit to lona, 101.

Gall, Saint, 78.
Gelasius of Armagh, 169.
Georgia, founding of the Church

of. 13.
Gilbert, first papal legate in

Ireland, 161, 166.

.A

INDEX,

191

Gildas, 83.

Giraldus Cambrensis, 8.
Gregory, Pope, sends Augustine
to England, 110.

Henry II., King of England, 181.
Hereditary succession in Irish j
bishoprics, 162. '

Hilda, Saint, 95.

Holmpatrick, synod of, 178. j
Honorius, Pope, letter of, 127.
Hugh de Lacy, death of, 185.

Immorality, charged against ,

Irish Church, 187.
lona, 58, 60, aq.^ 135 ; decline of,

136 ; attacked by Danes, 145.
Isolation of Irish Church, 53; j

increased by Saxon invasion !

of England, ih.
Island of Saints, 50.

Justin Martvr, 11.

Jewish rites in Irish Church, 67.

I^ells, the new lona, 115;

synod of, 179, sq.
Kildare, 91; illumination of

manuscripts at, 93; sacred

lire of, ih.

Learning in Irish monasteries.

71.
Lindisfarne, 114.

Maelsuthain, soul friend to
Brian Boru, 103.

Alalachy, Saint, appointed
Bishop of Armagh, 167 ; ejec-
ted, 168 ; Life of, by St. Ber-

nard, 8, 170; visits Eome, 176 ;

death of, 179.
Mansuetus, 15.
Manuscripts, illuminated, 64.
Mellifont, 177.
Molaise, soul friend to Columba,

57.
Monastery, Irish, described, 40;

for both sexes, 44, 95.
Monastic system of Irish

Church, 14, 38, 66 ; origin of.

38; disadvantages of , 50 ; dif-

fei*s from modern monasti-

cism, 177.
Monastic Kules, lax and strict,

83.

Needfire, 29.

Norsemen, not evangelized until
a late period, 13.

O'Brolcan, Flaherty, 186.

Ordinations, difference of, be-
tween Rome and Ireland, 120 ;
of Irish not admitted by
Rome, 147.

Oswald, King of Northumbria,
113.

Palladias, 116.

Palls for Irish Archbishops, 176.

Paparo, Cardinal, visits Ireland,
179.

Paschal Controversy, 77, See
Easter.

Patrick, Saint, captivity in
Ireland, 17 ; writings of, 18 ;
life in Britain, 22; bio-
graphies of, 8, 23, J39; con-
nection with Gaul, 24; sup-

192

INDEX,

posed mission from Rome,
24, 25; preaching of, 26;
Breastplate^ 34; evangelical
doctrine preached by, 36;
' family ' of, 47.

Picts, missions to, 54.

Prosper of Aquitaine, 15.

Saints, three classes of, 44.
Hamthann, abbess, 94.
Scotland, name of, 57.
Scribes in eighth century, 131.
Scriptures, Celtic revision of,

132; vernacular translation

of, 133; esteemed by the

Irish, 134.
Secularization of the Church,

152.
Senan, Saint, 90.

Soul-friend, see Anmchara.
Supremacy of the pope rejected,
115.

Tara, 29 ; desertion of, 107.
Teaching of Irish Church, 66.
Teltown, synod of, 56.
Tonsure, 119, sq,
Transubstantiation, 173.
Tribal system, 27, 45, 56.
Trim, synod of, 186.
Tuam, archbishopric of, 180.
Turgesius, 142.

Virgil the Geometer, 131.

William the Conqueror, 159.
Women, ministry of, 89, »g. ;
Columba^s objection to, 89.

Btttl«r k Tanner, Iht Selwood Friutiug Works, Yrome, and London.

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