FEB 2 1954
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
JANUARY, 1888.
WAS ST. CUTHBERT AN IRISHMAN?
THIS is a very interesting question in itself, and there are
moreover, some special reasons why Aye should refer to
it at the present time. Last year was celebrated, on the 20th
of March, the twelfth centenary festival of the great apostle
of Northumbria. The occasion was also rendered still more
remarkable by a great Catholic pilgrimage to Holy Island,
which did much to revive the memory of St. Cuthbert in the
minds of the northern Catholics. During the year too, we
find that there were published or republished no less than
three different lives of St. Cuthbert from Catholic sources.
First of all we have had a third edition of Archbishop Eyre's
History of St. Cuthbert. It was first published in 1849, whilst
the author was still a young Northumbrian priest, and is in
every respect a truly excellent work, and if we venture to
differ from some of the learned prelate's conclusions, we do
not the less admire the loving care and laborious research
which are manifested throughout the entire book.
The Right Rev. Provost Consitt, of the diocese of
Hexham and Newcastle, also published during the past year
a smaller, and for that reason, a more popular life of St.
Cuthbert. The author has had some special facilities for the
task, which he undertook at the request of the late Bishop
Bewick, and with him also writing the history of St. Cuthbert
seems to have been a labour of love.
Then the Rev. Joseph Stevenson, S.J., gives us an
excellent translation of Bede's prose life of St. Cuthbert.
VOL. IX. A
2 Was St. Cuthbert an, Irishman ?
The life by Bede, so far as it goes, must always continue to
be the most authoritative account of St. Cnthbert's history, for
its author was uot only a man of great learning and holiness,
he had also excellent opportunities of procuring the most
accurate information regarding the life and virtues and
miracles of the great Northumbrian apostle. Bede Avas
about fourteen years old when Cuthbert died, so that he was a
neighbour and almost a contemporary of the Bishop of Lindis-
fariie. Then he had his information from men, who knew
St. Cuthbert well, especially from the priest Herefrith, 1 who
had been for many years the intimate friend and companion
of the saint. Hence we think Father Stevenson has done
well in giving to the public this excellent translation of
Bede's Life of St. Cuthbert, for it would be impossible to find
a more admirable specimen of religious biography.
We have, however, we are sorry to say, one complaint to
make against all these learned writers. In our opinion none
of them has fully and fairly discussed the question whether
Cuthbert was of Irish birth or not. We have had so many saints
of yore in Ireland, that we could very well afford to lend one
to Northumbria without saying much about it. But Cuthbert
is far too celebrated a saint to part with, especially if we are
to get no credit for our generosity, and so I propose to state
our claim and our complaint as clearly and as fairly as I can.
A\ 7 e complain then that these* modern writers do not fairly
discuss the question at the head of our article. On the
contrary they rather quietly assume, and, as it appears to us,
against the weight of evidence, that St. Cuthbert was of
Northumbrian birth, and almost entirely ignore the arguments
in favour of the Irish origin of the saint. In this respect Skene,
the learned author of Celtic Scotland, offers a very striking
contrast even to our Catholic writers, and gives in his admir-
able sketch of St. Cuthbert abundant proofs of a judicial
and impartial mind. He not only furnishes a most ac-
curate though necessarily a brief analysis of the " Irish
1 Father O'Hanlon in his Life of St. Cuthbert represents Bede as pre-
sent at the death of Cuthbert. We know that Herefrith was present at
the death scene, but we have no evidence that Bede then a boy of only
thirteen or fourteen was present at that beautiful death on Fame Island.
Was St. Cuthbert an Irishman ? 3
Life," of St. Cuthbert, as it is called, but he also calls the
reader's attention to the principal arguments, both for and
against the authenticity of that most important document.
We regret that the learned Archbishop Eyre has not tried
to investigate the authenticity of the Irish Life in the same
patient and impartial spirit instead of referring his readers
to Cardinal Moran and Mr. Skene. After what we cannot
but think a brief and unsatisfactory reference to the question
of Cuthbert's Irish birth, he sums up his own opinion by say-
ing that " there can be no doubt that Cuthbert was born in
Northumbria of Saxon parentage." In the previous para-
graph the learned writer disposes of the " Irish Life " by
observing that in all probability its author confounded Saint
Cuthbert with Saint Columba. " Columba," says Archbishop
Eyre, " was born of noble descent at Kelts in Meath, where his
house is still shown and where no tradition of any kind
connected with Cuthbert is known to exist." This statement
was a great relief to our mind. Columba born in Kells ! Every
Irish scholar knows that he was the great grandson of Conal
Gulban, that he was born at Gartan, in the heart of the tribe-
land of his royal ancestors in old Tirconnell, that he was
baptized at Temple Douglas in the neighbourhood, and that
he spent his early boyhood at Kilmacnenain, now called
Kilmacreuau, in the same county Donegal. 1 This is not only
the living tradition of the entire country, but the birth-place
is expressly named in the old Irish Life of St. Columba, and
indeed so far as we know has never before been questioned.
St. Columba had indeed a " house " at Kells, but in accordance
with a well-known Irish usage when speaking of saints, the
Teach or "house " means the oratory and cell .of the saint, not
the place of his birth or the habitation of his family. We
know too from the same old Irish Life of Columba, as well as
from our Irish Annals, that the site of the " house " at Kells
was given to Columba by King Diarmaid with the consent
of his son Aedh Slane, about the year 560, when Columba
was 40 years old, and that it was given to him for the place
1 See Reeve's Adanman, page Ixviii., and the Irish Life in Skene, vol ii.,
p. 468.
4 IT as St. Cutkbert an Irishman ?
of an oratory in atonement for an insult which the monarch-
had offered to Columba in the royal rath of Tara,
Monsiguore Consitt dismisses the question of Cuthbert's
birth-place in a still more summary, but at the same time in
a more satisfactory fashion. " We know nothing for certain "he
says, of the birth and parentage of St. Cuthbert. Though
many centuries later attempts were made to claim him as a
native of Ireland, and to invest his infancy with a halo of
romance, yet from the silence of his early biographers and
contemporary writers we cannot attach much credence to the
story." So far, this is fair enough, and the author adds that
it is " probable," but as he says above, not at all certain, that
he was born in Lauderdale.
The author of the article on Cuthbert in the new
Dictionary of Christian Biography is still more confident
in his assertions. He begins by saying that " Cuthbert
the great northern saint and bishop was born inthe first half
of the seventh century in that district of ancient Northumbria,
which lies beyond the Tweed." The writer of this article
is the Rev. James Raine, Canon of York, and yet in the library
of the Dean and Canons of York is the oldest manuscript
copy of that very " Irish Life," of Cuthbert, which cannot be
rejected or ignored, without at the same time throwing doubt
on several of the most authentic memorials of the ancient
church of Durham. When we read these lives of Cuthbert,
and the still shallower notices of the lives in some of our
Catholic reviews, we thought it high time to state the
evidence, such as it is, in favour of the Irish birth and
parentage of the great St. Cuthbert.
And, first of all, in reply to the confident assertion of
certain writers, that Cuthbert was of Northumbrian birth, it
is well to say at once, leaving the " Irish Life " out of the
question altogether, that any such statement is, as Monsignoro
Consitt admits, entirely unsupported by evidence. It is s-aid
the name is Saxon; but it is the Saxon equivalent of his Irish
name; and though Bede says in one poetic passage that Britain
produced (genuit) that radiant day-star to illuminate the
Angles, that statement is perfectly true no matter where he
was born, for at all events he received his religious training;
M^as Sf. Cuthbert an Irishman ? 5
in Northumbria. Yet that is all that can be said in favour of
his Northumbrian birth. Let us now hear the other side of
the question.
It is remarkable that although, even from his own times,
we have several different biographies of St. Cuthbert, yet
except the authors of the Irish Life, they are all silent about
his birth-place and parentage !
The earliest account of the saint is what is known as the
< Anonymous Life. " It was written about the year 700, that
is about thirteen years after the death of Cuthbert. JBede
embodied the substance of this treatise in his own larger
work.
Bede wrote two different lives of Cuthbert besides the
account which he gives of the saint in his Ecclesiastical
History. One, which seems to have been the earlier, was
written in heroic metre. The language is choice and elegant,
and in some passages reminds the reader of the grace and
tenderness of Virgil. It is in this Life that the passage occurs
by which; it is sought to prove that Cuthbert was] of
British origin
' Nee jam orbis contenta sinu trans aequora lampas
Spargitur el'fulgens, hujusquo Brittania censors
Temporibus genuit fulgur venerabile nostris,
A urea qua Cuthbertns agens per sidera vitam
Scaiidere celsa suis docuit jam passibus Anglos/'
There is here no reference to his birth at all, but as both
text and context clearly show, it refers merely to the sacred
light of that effulgent lamp which rose in Britain's skies and
taught the Angles to tread their lofty way to the golden stars.
If Bede wished to make any reference to Cuthbert 1 s birth-
place he would certainly have done so in the second or prose
Life, which gives a much fuller and more complete account
of the history and miracles of the saint. This prose Life is
a beautiful specimen both as to style and matter of religious
biography, yet this strange fact stares us in the face, that
although Bede's informants were the intimate associates of
Cuthbert himself, both at Mailros and Lindistarne, he makes
110 reference whatsoever to the birth, or parentage, or
nationality of the saint. He does not undertake to tell iis
H ns St. Cuthlert an Irishman?
like modern writers, that be was born either in Northumbria
or Lauderdale or anywhere else. He makes not even the
slighest reference to his parents or to his family. But, after
recording some miraculous stories of his youth, unconnected
with any specified locality, he first introduces him to our notice
as a youth (adolescens) tending his father's flocks on the banks
of the river Leader, a river flowing into the Tweed, in the
western part of Berwickshire.
"He [Bede]" says Skene, "must surely have known
whether Cuthbert was of Irish descent or not. He is himself
far too candid and honest a historian not to have stated the
fact if it was so, and it is difficult to avoid the suspicion that
this part of his narrative was one of the portions which he
had expunged at the instance of the critics to whom he had
submitted his manuscript." 1 This is honest and judicious
criticism, and it appears to us to suggest the only satisfactory
explanation of Bede's strange silence regarding the parentage
and nationality of St. Cuthbert. His birth, as we shall see>
was illegitimate. His mother, indeed, was blameless, but,
all the same, the great saint of Northumbria was the child
of shame. It would, they thought, disedify simple souls
to know the whole truth. The story of Cuthbert's birth in
Ireland and the circumstances connected with it were known
to comparatively few persons in Northumbria. Was it not
better that it should continue so, than to run the risk of
perhaps disedifying the faithful by a full narrative of the
whole story? So reasoned the good priest Herefrith, and
likely some others also, and, as Bede himself not obscurely
hints in his preface, they succeeded in persuading him to
omit the precious chapter. " Moreover, when this book [the
Life of Cuthbert] was completed, but not yet published, I
frequently gave it to be perused both by the Very Rev. Priest
Herefrith, when, sojourning with us, and by others also who
had lived for a long time with the man of God, and knew his
life intimately, and I opportunely allowed what I wrote to
be retouched [or perhaps expurgated, retractanda], and some
things, in deference to their suggestions, I carefully corrected,
1 Celtic Scotland, vol. II.. page 205.
II "as St. Cuthbert an Irishman? 7
and thus having cut down to the naked facts [ad puruml all
digressions likely to cause scruples, I have caused this
undoubted narrative of the truth, expressed in simple language,
to be committed to parchment, and carried into the presence
of your brotherhood." 1
This is a very significant passage and clearly shows that
Eede had inserted in his narrative certain stories gathered,
no doubt, from somewhat uncertain rumours regarding the
early life of St. Cuthbert. But as these stories might be
regarded, not only as somewhat doubtful, but also as rather
disedifying, he was induced to omit them by Herefrith and
some other associates of the saint, who were more zealous for
the fair fame of their master than for the completeness of the
narrative of his early life. The thing is done still by certain
well-meaning persons'who would surely make long excisions if
they were ever authorized to prepare a new and improved
edition of the Bible.
We now come to the "Irish Life" of St. Cuthbert, anda
in the case of Bede's Lives we have it both in poetry and
prose. The poetic life is evidently a versified reproduction
of the Irish prose life, but it is equally emphatic in asserting
the Irish birth and parentage of St. Cuthbert.
" Si cupis audire, Cutliberti miraque scire
Virtutis mirte, potes liunc sanctum reperire,
Sanctus Cuthbertus Anglorum tutor apertus
Regis erat natus et Hybernicus est generatus."
There is a copy of this poetic life in Leonine metre in the
British Museum (Titus A. II. 2), which unfortunately wants
five leaves, to the great grief of some admirer of the saint,
lu At digesto opusculo, sed adhuc in schedulis reteuto, frequenter et
Reverendissimo fratri nostro Herefrido presbytero hue adventanti, et aliis,
qui diutius cum viro Dei conversati vitam illius optime noveraiit, quae scrips!
legenda, atque ex tempore praestiti retractanda, ac nonnulla ad arbitrium
prout videbantur, sedulo emcndavi, sicque ablatis omnibus scrupulorum
ambagibus ad purum, certain veritatis indaginem simplicibus explicatam
sermonibus commendare membranis, atque ad vestrae quoqae fraternitatis
praeseutiam adsportare curavi." Praefatio ad vitam S. Cuthberti.
We have given the original of this important passage in full, in order
that our readers may judge for themselves as to the interpretation which
we have given to the text of Bede.
8 Was &t. Cuthbert an Irishman?
who has inserted the following note in the manuscript
* : Here wants fyve leaves, for which I wold gev five onlde
angells," How they loved God's saints in those glorious
" oulde " Catholic days in England !
The prose " Irish Life," it must be remembered, is so called,
not because it is written in the Irish language, but because it
professes to give from Irish sources the history of the birth
and parentage of St. Cuthbert. Its author calls it Libeling
de ortu S. Cutkberti de Historiis JHybernensium excerptus et
translatus. Colgan gives -a version of this Life in his Acta
Sanctorum, but it was taken from Capgrave, and Capgrave
seems to have derived his version from John of Tin mouth,
both being in all probability inaccurate copies of the same
original. The fairest copy of that life is now preserved in
the library of the Dean and Chapter of York, and was first
accurately published by the Surtees Society in 1835 1 (Biogr.
Misc. pp. 63, 87.)
Some modern writers have rejected the authenticity of
this Irish Life mainly, we suspect, because it relates the Irish
origin of St. Cuthbert. The Bollandist writer (Vita S. Cuth.,
20 Martii) also regards it as untrustworthy, on the ground of
certain alleged anachronisms and inconsistencies in the
narrative. " Let the Irish," he says, " keep their squalling
Nulluhoc to themselves, and leave Cuthbert to the Anglo-
Saxons." Later on, however, the Bollandists seemed to have
changed their minds, for at the life of St. Wiro, they merely
regard the Irish origin of Cuthbert as doubtful. The Surtees
editor, however, admits that "the Irish Life is a regular
biography, written in a good style, and not deficient in
incidental information on the subjects connected with the
periods in which it was written."
This " Irish Life" of St. Cuthbert has been printed from
a codex containing several tracts, dealing chiefly with the
history of the Church of Durham and its holy patron, and all
copied, though mostly in different hands, during the course
1 There is another manuscript copy in the British Museum (Titus A.
II. 3), but it was evidently made from the York manuscript or from the
same original.
ITrt,? St. Cutlibert an Irishman? 9
of the 14th century. The "Irish Life" is No. 8 in this
collection, and was in all probability written by Reginald,
prior of Coldingham, who is the admitted author of treatise
No. 6 in the same collection, lAbellus de miraculis S. Cuthberti
secundum Reginaldum de Coldingham, The entire codex was
compiled by the Benedictines of Durham and of Coldingham
in the 12th and loth centuries, and next to the body of St.
Cuthbert himself, it seems to have been regarded as the
greatest treasure of their church and monastery. The copy
now at York Avas probably made for Mathew of Durham, and
was carried to York by that prelate when he was translated
to the archiepiscopal See. In this way, although the original
Durham codices are probably lost for ever, the present copy
<ame to be preserved at York.
Now it is very singular that our modern critics should
admit the authenticity of all the other treatises in this
collection and reject the authority of the " Irish Life " alone,
especially as the author of the " Irish Life" seems beyond
any reasonable doubt to be that very Reginald of
Coldingham, who composed treatise No. 6 on the miracles
of St. Cuthbert contained in this very manuscript. Reginald
was not an Irishman, and that is just what we should
infer from the uncouth fashion in which he latinizes several
proper names in the " Irish Life." And in the preface the
writer of that Life identifies himself pretty clearly as the
author of the treatise on the miracles of St. Cuthbert. He
tells us that " after revolving in my mind for many years what
my pen might hand down to posterity in honour of St.
1 The York MS. XVI. I. 12 contains the following treatises :
1. De Statu et Episcopis Ecclesiae Hagustaldensis (Hexham).
2. Eatae Episcopi Hagustaldensis vita.
o. Reliquiae quae in Ecclesiae Dunelmonsi servantur.
4. De avibus Cuthberti in Insula Fame.
5. De llemissione Peccatorum.
6. Libellus de miraculis S. Cuthberti secundum lleginaldum de
Coldingham.
7. De Episcopis Lindisf amen sis Ecclesiae usque ad Eanbertum.
8. Libellus de ortu S. Cuthberti de Historiis Hybernensium excerptus
ct translatus.
9. De translatione Corporis S. Cuthberti.
10. 11, 12. The histories of Coldingham, Graystanes, and Chambre.
10 }\"as St. Cutfibert an Irishman?
Cutbbert, and diligently investigating the many wondrous
miracles hitherto unrecorded, which the saint had wrought, I
composed a * Libellus ' on the subject," which was exhibited
to his friends, and which is, no doubt, that very Libellus de
miraculis S. Cuthberti secunduin Reginaldwn de Coldingliam,
which we find in the York manuscript.
The writer then goes on to say in the preface to the Irish
Life " It was whilst engaged in these studies that a certain
pamphlet [qttaterniuncula] fell into my hands, which stated
that St. Cuthbert was born in Ireland, of a kingly race, and
clearly showed how it was that he came to the borders of
Anglia. Just then it came to pass that St. Cuthbert himself,
aiding our pious purpose, sent to our house [nobis~\ a holy and
learned Irishman, Eugenius Episcopus Harundiuensis (else-
where Hardionensis), whose testimony corroborated what we
had already learned from the pamphlet regarding the birth of
St. Cuthbert. Moreover, he told us many other wondrous
things, of which we had previously known nothing, for he
not only asserted that he [Cuthbert] was undoubtedly
[verissime] born in Ireland of a royal race, but he also more
clearly than anyone else explained to us the name of the place
and the name of the city, of which we had previously known
nothing. And, amongst other things, he said that King
Muriadach was his father, a prince who had justly reduced
all Ireland under his sovereign sway, and that his mother
was Sabina, a woman remarkable for sanctity, whose memory
was honoured, and whose relics were preserved in the
churches of her own country." The writer then adds that this
account was confirmed by the testimony (attestationeni) of
Archbishop Matthias, and of the bishops, Saint Malachy,
Gilbert and Allan, and also of some other aged priests and
monks, disciples of the aforesaid Malachy, so that in all
security he composed this " Irish Life," relying on the testi-
mony of these men.
Such is the preface to the Irish Life, and it is surely
difficult to find a clearer or more straightforward statement.
Of course there is some difficulty in identifying the Irish
names in the Latin dress of a foreign writer. Still, there can
hardly be any mistake made about them by those who are
familiar with Irish historv.
Was St. Cuthbert an Irishman? 11
Eugenius, mentioned in this preface, was bishop of
Ardmore, and is said to have written a life of St. Cuthbert.
He flourished about the period of Strongbow's invasion, and
was the last prelate of St. Declan's ancient see, which was
shortly afterwards united to Waterford. Matthias was pro-
bably Mathew O'Heney, Archbishop of Cashel, who flourished
towards the end of the twelfth century. He was a Cistercian
monk, and, no doubt, was personally acquainted with the
Benedictines of Durham. He also wrote a life of St. Cuthbert,
and we may be pretty sure that he sent a copy to the famous
monastery where the body of the saint was then enclosed in
the splendid shrine that was afterwards destroyed by the
agents of Henry VIII. Alan is supposed 1 to have been
Albinus O'Mulloy, abbot of Baltinglass and afterwards bishop
of Ferns, and, like O'Heney, was a great Irish scholar. It is
likely that the testimony (attestationem) of St. Malachy and
of Gilbert, bishop of Limerick, of which the author speaks r
was a written statement of these saints, or, perhaps, orally
communicated to him by the aged priests, their disciples,
whom he mentions ; for the saints themselves must have been
dead some thirty or forty years previously. It is not impos-
sible, however, that Reginald, supposing him to have written
the Irish Life even so late as 1180, might have himself
seen and conversed with Christian and Malachy in his-
youth.
In this preface the author says that a certain Muriadachr
king of Ireland, was father of St. Cuthbert. This statement
has caused some chronological difficulties. It is evident,
however, from the Life itself, that the word " father " here
must be understood in a wide sense, and is simply equivalent
to saying that Cuthbert was a MacMuriadach, which was
probably the expression used, or intended by his informants,
and which he translated after his own fashion in the Latin,
For, in the second chapter of the Life, it is not Muriadach,
the just king of Ireland, but the cruel king of Connathe, who
is represented as the father of Cuthbert. The statement in
the preface, therefore, simply means that Cuthbert, through
1 See Cardinal Moran's Lrixh Saint* in Great Britain, page 272.
12 Was St. Cuthlert an Irishman?
his mother Sabina was of the Hy-Muriadach race, and we shall
show that this expression has been actually used about that
period in our annals in reference to the descendants of this
same Muriadach.
Muiredhach, grandson of Niall of the Hostages, married
Erca, the beautiful daughter of Loarn, a prince of Scottish
Dalriada, and through this union he became the father of the
senior line of the Hy-Niall kings. His son Muircertaca, to
whom probably our author refers, was for many years supreme
king of Ireland, and the Hector of the Hy-Niall race,
imtil he was treacherously " slain, burned, and drowned" in a
vat of wine whilst trying to save himself from the flames
of his burning house, which was fired over his head on
November night, in the year 533. 1 His son Baedan and his
nephew, Eochaidh Finn, succeeded to the throne as joint
kings in 570, but were both slain in 572 or 573, and it is
remarkable that the accurate Chronicon Scotorum, in
recording their death, describes them as " two of the Hy-
Muiredach," which shows that even then that branch of the
Hy-Nialls was so described. If, as Colgan thinks, Sabina was a
daughter of this Baedan and a grand- daughter of Muircertach,
the renowned king of Ireland, and was very young at the
time of her father's murder, she could have been mother
of St. Cuthbert, at least if the saint were born in the early
years of the seventh century. And what lends some
plausibility to this view is that the slayer of Baedan was
king of Ciannachl, which is remarkably like the king of
Connathe, who was father of Cuthbert, according to the " Irish
Life."
There is, however, a subsequent entry in the annals which
in our opinion throws a flood of light on the facts recorded
in the " Irish Life." It is given thus in the Chronicon
Scotorum at the year corresponding with 620 A.D. "Murder
of the family of Baedan in Magh Lecet [recte Magh Slecht]
in the territory of Connaught viz., Aillil, son of Baedan;
Maelduin, son of Fergus, son of Baedan, and of Dicuil," so that
1 The Four Masters have 527, but the Annals of Ulster have 533 the
true date.
ITtw St. Cutlibert an Irishman ? 13
the race of Baedan Mac Hy Muiredhach was nearly extir-
pated on this occasion.
Let us now see how this remarkable entry corroborates
the statements in the Irish Life of St. Cuthbert, which
expressly appeals to the authority of the most ancient annals
of Ireland. It is in substance as follows :
" TK ere was a king who reigned in the city of Lainestri. This
king was treacherously attacked by a neighbouring prince who ruled
over Connathe and who slew him and all his family, except one
tender virgin (tenerrima puellula), whom for shame sake he spared,
but whom he carried off as a prisoner to his own territory. She
became an attendant on his queen, but rejecting the king's unlawful
love, the latter at length forcibly gratified his passion. The maiden
was then sent to the king s mother, who dwelt with her at a religious
house near Kenanus under the protection of a certain bishop, who at
the king's request took charge of the child when he was born, and
had him baptized under the name of Mullucc at a place called
Hartlbrechins (Ardbraccan). 1 This city of Kenanus is in the
region called Media, a district rich in fertile pastures and in cattle,
and in flowing streams and rivers, one of which called the Mana
flows by that city of Kenanus, and abounds in all kinds of fish."
This is a natural and consistent narrative, and contains
many incidental touches that go far of themselves to prove
that it is genuine. If a forger wished to invent a royal
parentage for St. Cuthbert, he would never have done it in this
fashion, and if he did, it never would have been accepted as
authentic by the monks of Durham, except it were confirmed
by the living tradition of that great monastery. Neither is-
it difficult to reconcile this narrative with the admitted facts
of Irish chronology andhistory.
St. Cuthbert died in 687 in senili aetate according to
Bede. He was an adolescent in 651, when according to the
same authority he entered the monastery of Mailros. In that
case we may fairly fix his birth about 625 four or five years
after that slaughter of the race of Baedan Hy Muiredhach
described in our Annals. Baedan's son Aillil was probably
that King of Lainestri, to whom the life refers, and his
daughter Sabina having been spared at the murder of her
family was carried off in the manner described. That murder
took place in Magh Slecht, near Fenagh, in Connaught, and
1 The bishop's name is not given here, but elsev/here he is called Eugenius..
14 Was St. Cuthbert an JMtman ?
although it is not expressly stated, 110 doubt, Aedh Finn,
King of North Connaught at that time, was the real author
of the crime. KelLs (Kenanus), too, was within his juris-
diction, or on the borders of his territory, for the princes of
Breiffney ruled almost from sea to sea. Lainestri is an
attempt at writing Leinster, that is the Irish J^aighen with
the Danish suffix ster signifying a place. Connathe is, of
course, Connaught, and Media is Meath, the fertile district
with its fish-abounding rivers.
The Irish Life then describes how after the death of the
'holy bishop who protected them, Sabina fearing, doubtless,
for the life of her son fled secretly with the child, and reach-
ing the sea-shore took passage and succeeded at first in
landing " at Galweia in the region called Renii," which, as
Skene points out, was doubtless Portpatrick, in the Rinns of
^Galloway the nearest Scottish land to Ireland. But Sabina
was anxious, it would seem, to reach her countrymen in the
Scottish Dalriada, so with a few companions she sailed
(northwards and " landed at a harbour called Letherpen in
Erregaithle, a land of the Scots." " This harbour was," the
writer adds, "between Erregaithle and Incegal, near a lake
-called Loicafan." This minute description borne out, too, by
.actual facts, does not look like an attempt at forging a story
J five hundred years after the alleged events took place. The
'harbour referred to was probably the northern angle of
Lough Crinan, in Argyle, close to Lough Awe, not far from
Dunadd, a strong fortress built on a rock, in the middle of
rthe great Moss of Crinan. It was tten the capital of the
Scottish Dalriada. Here, however, on landing, Sabina and
,her child narrowly escaped being robbed and murdered. So
they made their way we know not how to the borders of
" Scotia,'' which did not then include Argyle, and were kindly
received by Columba, first bishop of Dunkeld. St. Columba
of lona was then dead, and moreover was not a bishop, so
that this Columba, or Columbanus, must be one of the
.numerous prelates who bore that name, several of whom
may have preached in Scotland. The boy was educated
for some time together with an Irish girl called Bridget,
under the care of this holy bishop who told Cuthbert
Was St. Cuthbert an Irishman ? 15
that Providence destined him to preach amongst the Angles,
but that Bridget was reserved by God for the western Irish.
It has been said that this refers to St. Bridget of Kildare, and
is a manifest anachronism seeing that she died more than 100
years before. We know, however, that no less than seven or
<3ight saints who bore this name are mentioned in our martyr-
ologies, 1 so that it is a quite gratuitous assumption to
suppose that the reference is to Saint Bridget of Kildare.
We are then told that Sabina and her son paid a visit to
the monastery of lona, where no doubt they were kindly
received by the abbot who was descended like Sabina herself
from the great mother of their race Erca, the daughter of Loarn
Mor. After remaining some time in lona, both mother and
son left the island, and Sabina succeeded in finding her two
brothers Maeldan and Aetan, " who," we are told, " were both
bishops having Episcopal Sees in the land of the Scots." This
is an interesting statement, for we know from our martyr-
ologies that there were two saints, one called Maeldan or
Mellan, and the other Aetan or Aedan, who are both described
as belonging to the island of Inchiquin, in Lough Corrib, 2
and were most likely brothers. It seems the island took its
name from these two saints Inch-Hy-Cuinn and that they
derived this name from their great ancestor Conn the Hundred-
Fighter. There is hardly a doubt that they belonged to the
family of that Baedan to whom we have already referred,
and it may be that they left Inchiquin after the slaughter
of their kindred, and retired to the more friendly land of
the Scots, to preach the Gospel to the heathen. We know,
too, from the life of St. Fursey, that Maeldan of Inchiquin,
was his soul's friend or spiritual director, and that he and no
doubt his brother also, were raised to the episcopal dignity.
At this time, however, these prelates were probably old men,
but they readily took charge of Cuthbert and placed the boy
under the special tuition of a holy man in Lothian, where a
church, called Childeschirche, was according to the life after-
wards founded in honour of St. Cuthbert. That name, says
1 Colgan names fourteen.
2 St. Meldan's natalis is the 7th of Feb. ; St. Aetan's the 9th of Ort
See Colgan Ada S/S'., and the Martyrology of Donegal.
l(j The Irish in Belgium.
Skene, is now corrrupted into Ckaniielkirk, which is to this
day the name of a parish in the north western corner of
Berwickshire, near the head waters of the river Leader.
And so the Irish Life brings young Cuthbert to the very
place where Bede takes up the narrative of his life,,
when he was a young shepherd tending his flocks on the
banks of the Leader, among the southern slopes of the
Lammermoor hills. Sabina herself freed from any further
anxiety in reference to her son, for whom she had dared and
suffered so much, went, it is said, on a pilgrimage to Home,
but she afterwards returned to Ireland, where after some
years' sojourn in a religious house she died a most holy death.
Her name is said to be commemorated in some martyrologiew
on the 5th November. 1
We must reserve for another paper the examination of the
collateral evidence that goes to confirm this account of the
birth and parentage of St. Cuthbert contained in the "Irish
Life" of the Saint.
^ JOHN HEALY.
THE IRISH IN BELGIUM.
THE TRIBES AT LOUVAIN JUDGMENT.
' Quae regio in ten-is nostri non plena laboris ?"
JEXEID, Lib. /., 460.
DE BURGO in his Hibernia Dominicana 2 refers to the
Wardenship of Galway as an ecclesiastical institution
of which there was no second example in Ireland: " neque
quid simile reperitur in universa Hibernia." On the 8th of
February, anno 1484, Pope Innocent VIII. established it by
the Bull -Super gregem dominicum, which states that the
citizens were " modest and civil people, and that they lived
in the said town, surrounded with walls, not following the
customs of the mountainous and wild people of these parts."-'
1 See Colgan Notes to the Vita Secunda.
2 p. 323. Vide I. E. RECORD, vol. vii., p. 1100, #/</.
Vide Hardimaii's History of Gala-ay, App. p. II. ; or Hibernia
Dominicana, p. 440.
The Irisli in Belyiiiin. 17
Owing to considerable changes in the circumstances of the
Citie, as well as to difficulties continually arising in connec-
tion with the election or institution of vicars or wardens,
Pope Clement XII. issued the Bull Redemptoris, on the
23rd April, 1733. 1
On the 16th of July, 1830, Pope Pius VIII. addressed the
Brief Quod est vel maxime, to the Right Rev. Thomas Kelly,
Bishop of Dromore, and coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh.
In virtue of this authority Dr. Kelly came to Galway to
inquire into the circumstances of its ecclesiastical govern-
ment, for the Brief states " in florentissima Galviae Civitate,
quae in provincia Connacenci in Hibernia sita saepenumero
non omiiia ex ordine fiaut quae Guardiani et Vicariorum
election em respiciunt." 2 On the receipt of Dr. Kelly's reports at
the Propaganda, Pope Gregory X VL, on the 26th April, 1831,
issued the Bull Sediwu Episcopalium, which advanced the
Collegiate Church to the rank of a cathedral, and constituted
the Warden's district a diocese/ 5 The last Warden of
Galway, Right Rev. Edmund French, was Bishop of Kil-
macduagh and Kilfenora since 1824. On. the suppression of
the Wardeuship, which was partly effected through his own
efforts, he withdrew to his dioceses. He died at Gort, on
the 14th of July, 1852. The first Bishop of Galway was-
the Right Rev. George Joseph Pluukett Browne, who was
consecrated on October 23rd, 1831.
From a glance at the outline of Papal legislation given
above, the student oi Ecclesiastical history will easily
understand how many lesser procedures must have taken
place. Pope Gregory XVI. states that letters in reference
to the Wardenship were received at the Propaganda not
only from the Bishops of Counaught, but also from the
Bishops of the other provinces : " Tales profecto litterae, non
solum a Connaciensis Proviuciae, sed etiam a reliquarum
Hiberniae Provinciarum Episcopis, scriptae ac probatae ad
hanc S. Congregationem de Propaganda Fide fuerunt
1 Hibernia Dominicana, p. 442.
a Episcopal Succession of W. Maziere Brady, Vol. II., p. 223, sift.
3 Ibid., p. 225 &(fj.
VOL. IX. B
18 The Irish in Belgium.
missae." 1 The Archives of the Diocese of Gal way contain
innumerable letters, citations, and documents ; and from
references in them, we know that many such documents
existed elsewhere. But as all Irish business with the Holy
See was formerly transacted through the Internuncio at
Brussels, our attention is directed to Belgium.
The following document sets forth the origin of five years'
litigation : 2
"Whereas violence in this day's election (being candidates for the
Avavdianship, the Rev. Dr. Marcus Kirwan and the llev. Mr.
Hyacinth Bodkin) such as forcing the pole from the Gentlemen that
received the voices of the patrons, who complain'd that some of the
patrons, or pretended such, have been refus'd to receive their voices
without assigning any reason than a sic volo w ch has hinder'd a great
many more of the patrons to give their voices these and other
reasons w ch will appear in proper time oblige us to petition for an
adjournment of this election untill the eight of August .Instant, at
ten of the clock in the morning. Where unto we sign our hands this
first day of August. 1737.
" MARTIN KIRWAN.
" PATRICK KIRWAN."
The fulness of time developed the case. In November
of the same year, the Archbishop of Tuam, Bernard O'Gara,
heard the case in the parish chapel at Gal way. There was
an appeal to the Internuncio at Brussels, and pendant e lite the
tribes were not idle. They wrote to a kinsman at Lou vain
to watch their interests. The publication of this letter may
be excused :
" To Mr. Mark Kirwan, Merchant in Gallway.
" Sr TOUT'S arrived here the 24th instant, and no body at
present to take care of it. I took it in hand and am glad it came in
my way to serve you and maintain ye right of ye town, otherwise
you woud {sic} have no answer these two or three months to come.
I went to Brussels and spoke to Mr. Tempi (the Internuntio) who
gave me a full and satisfactory answer. I laid before him ye customs
1 saw practiced in my time, the privilege of ye town ; ye need not
fear even if ye gentlemen appointed and ye doe not agree, for then ye
will get others to decide ye matter ; and their writing to Uome (as I
believe they only pretend) will have no effect without ye informations
1 Episcopal Succession of W. M. Brady, Vol. II., p. 227.
2 Archives of Diocese, anno 1737. Other documents given in this
case are from the same source.
The Irish in Belgium. 19
of Mr. Tempi, who will proceed as his predecessors have done.
Mr. Arch-Deacon is appointed at their demand, Mr. Duffy at yours,
Mr. Kelly of Athlone ex officio to whom he wrote last week, before
yours came to hand, to give their opinions. The chief point, as I
understand, is to prove ye election, which I suppose you can easily
doe, for they pretend it null. Mr. Fouley's proceedings you'l hear
hereafter, and his sharp answer tho' well recommended by Mr, O'Gara.
I spoke to him about appointing Mr. Robert Kirwan and any of
rest, to w ch he answered he could not untill he would hear ye fore-
said's opinions, then if not agreed he'll appoint others, but always in
an unequal number. You may depend I spoke to him as feeling
concerning your affairs as I could, and doe not doubt but you'l succeed,
only I am in haste in sending ye the enclosed, and just come to town
from Mr. Tempi, I would acquaint you at large of what passed on ye
other side, for [ have seen ye most of it. Interim 1 remain your
most loving and affectionate friend to command,
"ROBERT BROWNE FITZ-JAMES."
" I beg you'l not let my name goe farther, but command me your's
as above, with your address if you think it proper, and dont use
allways ye same address for some letters are in ye way from here to
Ireland. Lovain, 7 bcr ye 30, 173S." 1
In the year following the Internuncio's Commission sat
in the Augustiniaii convent at Ballyhaunis. The members
were Rev. John Duff, Vicar-General of Achonry ; Walter
Kelly, S. Th. D., Parish Priest of Athlone ; and Rev. Patrick
Gaffry, Vicar-General of Elphin. In the meantime the case
was referred to the University of Louvain by the lay patrons.
The decision is dated and signed:
"I ta responsum, Lovanii hac LS Aprilis 1731).
U L. J. STKEITIIA.GEX, J. U. Doctor.
" Idem censeo K. A. PORINGO, J. U. Doctor et Sacrorum
" Canonum Professor Ordinarius.
" C. MAJAYE, J. U. Doctor, et SS. Prof. Odin."
It may be necessary to state that the verdict of a
University in those days was of the greatest importance.
Pages could be written recording questions referred from
Ireland to the several Continental universities, but one im-
portant example will show the bearing of the case. In the
The tribe of Browne, to which the writer of this letter belonged, was
of English origin. The head of it came to Galway not later than the
middle of the loth century. Motto : Fortiter et Fiddlier. Arms : An ea<?le
displayed, with two heads, sable. Crest ; An eagle's head, erased.
20 The Irish in Iklmwn.
year 1 603, an important decision was given by the Universities
of Salamanca and Valladolid, in favour of the struggle of
Hugh O'Neill against Elizabeth ; and to establish the
authenticity of the Brief of Pope Clement VIII. sent to
O'Neill. Some priests of the Pale raised a question as to
the justice of O'Neill's cause, and the authenticity of the
Brief. The declaration of the universities settled the
questions. The text and signatures of the declaration are
to be found in O'Sullevau Bear's Compendium, Lib. viii.,
cap. vii. ; and a translation of it in Pacata Hilerma, Vol. ii.,
p. 430. The Galway case went to the university again in
1740, as is evident from the following documents :
" To Mr. Nicholas Lynch litzJohn att Anthony Bodkin's, Merchant
in Galway, Ireland.
" Dear Cousin I'ain sorry you have been so long disappointed
in not having an answer ere now, which was occasioned by Cousin
Joyce's absence and mine until four days agoe we arrived. I proposed
your case yesterday as stated in ye enclosed to ye chief doctors of our
University here, and is signed by ye principal and first of them.
J should be very glad it were in my power to serve you or any of ye
gentlemen there, but if you have any commands for ye future I'l take
care to dispatch y m as soon as possible, and be pleased to state ye
case in Latin for fear of any error in ye translation. You'l be
pleased to salute my poor desolate mother, her family, and all other
friends there, and believe me to be,
" S r .
" Your affectionate kinsman to command,
" ROBERT BROWNE.
" P.S. In your next you'l be pleased to enquire of Mrs. Rose
Kelly, or her sister at ye boarding school, whether they had any
account of their brother Dominick who went to the Indies, we heard
here that he dyed, but no certainty. In so doing you'l oblige your's
as above.
'Lovain, 8 br ye 7th, 1740."
The following document was enclosed :
"Quaeritur: An Patroni seculares qui habcnt jus nominandi ad
beneficium die et loco secundum consuetum statutis, possint propter
indispositionem corporis, vel alia legitima impedimenta committere
procurator], ut vices suas agat, et personaliter cum nominations
ipsorum compareat in ordine ad effectum dictae nomiuationis."
RESOLUTIO :
" Infrascriptus, visa et examinata quaestioiie supra posita, ceuset :
Patrones legitime impeditos posse presentare vel nominare persona.s
The Irish in Belgium. 21
sivc clericos icloneos per procuratores ; ratio cst, quod quaecumque
persona alioqnin non prohibita, capax et habilis sit ad praesentandum ;
dein negotium sive actus praesentationis quocumqne die et hora ex-
pedire potest, neque ullibi numeratnr inter actus legitimos. Igitur
recte sequitur quod Patroni non valentcs praesentationern personaliter
facere, illud committere possint aliis personis, qnae facient praesenta-
tionem nomine Patroni.
" Ita resolutiim, Lovanii hac 6 Octobris, 1T40.
4< ARX. V, BUGGENHOUT, J. U. Doct. ; et SS. Canonum
" Antecess. Primarius "
But all this procedure could not flourish without the usual
adjumenta. So we find Monsignor Tempi writing to Gal way
in 1741 ; and in virtue of his mandate, the following order
was issued.
Shakespeare tells us that
44 Tavern bells are often the sadness of parting."
But the following note was the sadness of the lawsuit : -
'* Galway ye 20 April, 1741.
" To Mr. NICHOLAS LYNCH.
44 SIR, The above is a true copy of ye Nuncio's latest letter to us ;
wherein you see our power is sufficiently furnish'd and extended to
order you to pay Mr. Hyacinth Bodkin ye sum of money we order'd
you before to pay, and the expenses and trouble of us Arbiters. We
therefore, by virtue of ye Apostolical Commission and power lodged
in us, command you by ye 5J7 of April, this Inst. month, to pay ye
aforesaid Expences we condemned you in ; otherwise depend of a
consequence within our capacity of worse moment w ch must neces-
sarily be put in execution on said '27 April. J,We desir your separate
answers hereto before ye aforesaid limited day 27 April, and are,
" Rd. Sr. respectfully,
"Your humble servants,
"AMBROSE FFRENCH,
"Axow. KIRWAN,
"Roan: MARTIN."
The lawsuit traced in this paper serves to show the
ecclesiastical relations that existed between Belgium and
Ireland.
JOSEPH P. SPELMAN.
[ 22 ]
THE BTBLE ITS FRIENDS AND FOES.
MANY years ago, whilst turning over the pages of Dr.
Brownson's Quarterly Revieiv, I came across, in one of
the articles, an expression of opinion the remembrance of which
still rankles in my thoughts. The drift of the argument con-
tained in the article was, as far as my memory serves me,
on the general bearing of the Bible with regard to science,
and especially w r ith regard to those sciences which are,
practically, of modern growth. And in the argument it was
stated, as if passingly, that science real science had made
far greater progress amongst those men who rejected the
authority of sacred Scripture in toto 9 because, being freed
from the trammels of Scriptural authority with regard to the
numerous statements^ made therein in reference to Nature,
and the laws thereof, they could, by so applying
themselves to the study of Nature alone, be the better able
to judge of Nature's laws and principles. I had thus in a
few sentences, both a fact stated, and a principle laid down.
The fact seemed to me to be rather a painful one, and the
principle, or the judgment founded on the principle, either
a harsh or an unjust one. And, again, the great prestige
which the name of Dr. Brownson had won for itself would
again and again deter me from assuming that such in truth
was the judgment, which according to my idea, was conveyed
in his words.
Many truths revealed themselves to my mind, as time
rolled on, making me view in another light the facts and
principles I had found in the pages of the Quarterly Review,
and laying it clear to me, that if there are many names, great
in the world of science of men who have rejected the
authority of Sacred Scripture, even where Sacred Scripture
seems to speak of the Laws of Nature, it is not because they
have rejected the authority of Sacred Scripture, but because,.
though deeming themselves the foes of the Bible, they were,
like the prophet Balaam, through the power of God, the
friends and upholders of the Bible. How this has come to
pass will form the argument which the writer of these line .*
intends to lay before the readers of the RECORD.
The Bible Its Friends and Foes. 23
To the unprejudiced mind, the Bible is the most remark-
able book ever written in connection with any religion
whatsoever. It is hardly worth while to discuss the merits of
those sacred books of which the religions of the East have
been the sources and origin. Modern science has scarcely
deemed it worth while to confute the rhapsodies, the
unmeaning superstitions, that crowd the pages of the Vedas,
the works of Zoroaster, &c., &c. Even in the countries where
they have been the means of propagating the religions which,
I might say, gave them birth, they have never held, and much
less do they hold at the present day, the esteem and venera-
tion of the enlightened members of the community where
they circulate. And if they are quoted, as is the Koran of
Mahomet, it is by reason of the numberless references to the
manners and customs of the times when they were written,
or by reason of the philosophical tenets which may have held
sway in those schools out of whose ashes they have, as it were,
sprung. Modern science has not attacked such books. Its
very progress was a sufficient refutation of the absurd tenets
crowding their pages. The object for which they were
written was, I might say, local ; their arguments were local ;
their aim was local, and everything foreign to the spirit of
of the age wherein they were written, or to the country
where they were composed, was equally foreign to them.
They were not divine. Such, I fancy, are among the chief
reasons why the religious books of the different races on the
globe, excepting the Bible, have been so seldom, if ever,
brought into antagonism with modern science. And for these
special reasons, on the other hand, has the Bible held such
a prominent place in the calculations for good or ill, of
science.
The Christian student must, therefore, regard the Bible
as a book remarkable amongst the religious books of man-
kind. Year after year he will find its greatness and its
sacredness growing upon him. Ever as he enters the broad
domain- of science he will find the Bible still holding the same
place in his esteem nay, a deeper and a holier one ; for
many a mist which his first prejudiced, and perhaps ignorant,
reading of its pages may have raised up before his mind will
'24: The Bible Its Friends and Foes.
then disappear. He will find it, though perhaps in a sense
too often misconstrued, a veritable " Lumen pedibus," even
along the paths of science. Speaking historically of the
friends, and especially of the foes, of the Bible, I think the
history of the latter almost begins to dawn towards the close
of the last century. I could put this statement in another
form, by saying that up to the close of the last century, it
was rather the Inspiratio, or the Revelatio, or the Tnterpretatio
of the Bible, which was, one after another, attacked, but
hardly its Authenticitas. At least, leading questions turned
rather upon the laws of Inspiration, or of Revelation, or of
Interpretation, rather than upon the Authenticity of the book
itself; but a new era dawned upon the upholders of Biblical
lore, when it was found that human knowledge under the
garb of science sought to overturn the great structure which
generations had built upon the old interpretations which had
been given to page after page of the Bible. The age of
Galileo was the first to overthrow fancied theories which had
been credited to the Bible. 1 remember reading an amusing
amusing to a modern mind thesis, written during the time
of Galileo, against the " Solar System" then adopted by
Galileo and the followers of the school of Copernicus. As
far as I can remember the words of the writer, he rather
lavishly used with reference to Galileo the epithets, Hostis,
Tn'/micus ; Contra quern stat noster propheta Moyses.
Perhaps in a century or two the tables that are standing
*it present may be equally turned ; and many who look upon
the men of science as enemies of the Bible may find them-
selves in the camp of those who sought to shield their own
prejudices by means of the word of God. Now there are a
few principles which may be laid down with all safety, and
which must meet with the approval of everyone, both the
theologian as well as the scientist. If the Bible is the Word
of God, it cannot clash with what science teaches. That is
beyond Yea or Nay. God is the source of every truth,
whether he speaks to man through his shadow, which is
Nature, or more directly as through Revelation, it is our God
who is speaking nought but truth.
All this turns upon what I wish to bring forward as the
The Bible Its Friends and Foes. 25
leading idea in these pages the object of both Inspiration,
and Interpretation, or, perhaps, to speak more extensively,
the object of the Bible itself. If this could be settled ; if it
could be decided what the Bible does speak to man about ;
what it has for its object, for the object of every line stamped
upon its pages, then it would be very easy to show that every
conclusion drawn from the Bible, and antagonistic to the
conclusions of science, is a false conclusion, and, consequently,
is of no value. Yet the theologian must not be too generous
towards the demands of science. For what is given to the
world on to-day, as a legitimately scientific conclusion, on
the morrow is proved to have been but a mere baseless con-
jecture. So, vice versa, where the theologian feels convinced
that his interpretation of a certain phrase of the Bible is the
legitimate one, if in time the conclusion which he has drawn
therefrom turns out to be wrong, or clashing with a clearly
demonstrated conclusion from the principles of science, then
his first interpretation must have been an unlawful one. The
teaching of the Catholic Church on the extent of Divine
Inspiration is very clear ; and the conciseness of the terms
employed seems to be for the very purpose of setting aside
as unworthy of notice the opinions of those who would find
in the Bible, not merely God's word, leading man to life
eternal, and to the knowledge of such things as conduce
thereto, but would find in its pages principles which belong
to profane science, and conclusions which can be deduced
from scientific principles alone. The words of Trent,
and the decree of the late Vatican Council, bearing upon
the Tridentine decree are very clear. Both decrees, in
declaring that the Bible is inspired, declare at the
same time what properly constitutes the object of Biblical
inspiration. I had better give the words of the Vatican
decree in order to make the matter clear.
" Si quis Sacras Scriptural libros integros cum omnibus
suis partibus, prout illos Sancta Tridentina Synodus recen-
suit non receperit, aut eos divinitns impiratos esse nega-
verit, anathema sit." (De Revel).
Here it is evident that the Bible, as a whole is to be con-
sidered as the word of God, and consequently necessarily true.
2(> The Bilk Its Friends and Foes.
Questions have been raised among doctors of Theology from
time to time, as to whether a distinction should be made
between " matters of faith and morals," and " matters of fact,"
whether, it being absolutely certain that in the former every-
thing is true, the same must be concluded with reference to
the latter. Holding as I do to the mere statement of Trent
that the Bible " cum omnibus suis partibus " is inspired, I
hold that there is no statement in it whether in regard to
faith or morals, or even with regard to mere questions of
" fact " false or untrue. And I think^that such questions arose
by reason of an overlooking of the object of the Divine
Inspiration. That there are what appear to be statements
which in time have proved to be out of harmony with the
conclusions of science, I am willing to admit. Why there are
such apparent statements shall be made clear further on. It
is certain that the Bible is inspired " cum omnibus suis
partibus,'' but only with reference to the scope, to the object
God had in view both in revealing all He did reveal in
its pages, and in inspiring the sacred writers to write
down all they have written. That that scope never
extended as far as either to supersede science, or to
invade its domain or to enrich man's profane know-
ledge, is the teaching of the greatest doctors of the Church.
Petrus Lombardus, summing up the teaching of the
Church on this subject, says : " Hanc scientiam " [i. e.
the knowledge of Nature] " homo peccando non perdidit :
nee illam qua carnis necessaria providerentur. Et idcirco in
Scriptura homo de hujusniodi non eruditur, sed de scientia
animae quam peccando amisit." Dr. Reusch in his Der Bibel
und die Natur, treats this question very amply. His own
words (Lect. iii.) are very apposite. " For this end the
following simple but important principle must be adhered to ;
supernatural and divine revelation never has in view the
enriching of our profane knowledge ; therefore the Bible in
no place aims at giving us any knowledge whatsoever with
regard to nature." And in the same lecture he quotes the
leading writers both Catholic and Protestant, who treat on
this subject. Saverio Patrizi, one of the ablest of the Italian
exegists of the present day, writes very clearly on this
1/te Bible Its Friends and Foes. 27
subject. I cannot refrain from quoting the paragraph as I
find it given in the Italian in Reusch : " Per premunirci
contro 1'errore che la scienza della natura possa venire in
contraddizione colla Bibbia, dobbiamo non dimenticare che
gli scrittori della Bibbia non hanno in mira di trattare ques-
tioni di scienze naturali, e cosi non lasciarci nell' ignoranza
delle cose della natura " (DelV interpretazione della S. Scritt. ii
Vol. pp. 80 Roma, 1844). " In order to guard against the possi-
bility of fancying that natural science can clash with the
teaching of the Bible, we ought to remember that the Biblical
writers never had in view the treating of questions belonging
to natural science, and consequently they did not aim at
freeing us from ignorance with regard to the things of
nature." The object then of Divine Inspiration is evident.
The "cum omnibus suis partibus " can be received in its fullest
sense, and at the same time one may be able to explain such
references to Nature as may be found here and there through-
out the pages of the Bible, in apparent contradiction with the
conclusions of science, so as to derogate in no wise from the
dignity of the Bible, nor from the certainty of science. The
explanations that have again and again been given for such
statements, or rather apparent statements bearing upon the
laws of Nature, as are to be found in various parts of the
Bible, such as that contained in the words of Josue, when he
commanded the sun to stand still in the heavens, and other
such like statements, have ever seemed to me to be either
derogatory to the dignity of the Bible or else false. And
false assuredly were such explanations as would lead one to
believe that Divine Inspiration ceased the moment anything
the knowledge of which could be acquired through the
ordinary sources of information was introduced. The classi-
fying, therefore, of the "statements," and "facts " met with
in the Bible, into inspired statements, and non-inspired, seems
to be very derogatory to the sacred character of the Bible.
Such action betrays a great want on the part of those who so
attempt to' defend many passages met with throughout the
pages of Scripture a great want of being able to grasp the
knowledge of the mere aim and object of Biblical statements.
Such a course might be adopted, or rather those who would
28 The Bible Its Friends and Foes.
have to defend the Sacred Scriptures, would have to adopt it
if it were true that the Bible for one instant laid aside its
supernatural aim, and had entered into the field of science.
But the Bible has never entered that field. Another has it
occupied : not that which belongs to nature. It has left man
free wherever his powers his natural powers may list to lead
him. Yet one cannot deny that page after page is teeming
with numberless references to Nature, to her laws, to pheno-
mena observed in nature ; and the whole difficulty in being
able to reconcile the above statement with those facts, seems
to hinge hereupon. The explanation is very easy. It is true
that there are numberless references to the laws of nature,
etc., to be met with in the Bible ; and many of these references
are based upon principles which have long since been
exploded. There is the statement of the writer who wrote
about the prayer of Josue ; that the sun stood still : and many
others. But as the principle laid down in the beginning is
unassailable, such facts are beside the point, as far as proving
that the aim of the sacred writer was to show that the sun
really stood. It would be ridiculous to state anything of
the kind. It would be a straining of the whole text. What
the sacred writer did state was that the day was lengthened
through the prayers of Josue. How he did state that fact
was in the ordinary language of the people of his time. It
was not the language of Galileo or Newton that he used,
but the ordinary language of the people. Or if I put the
matter in other terms : the references to nature, met with in
the prayer of the Bible, are not statements as such, but the
habits of thought, and language employed by the sacred
writers to convey supernatural knowledge. I am sure my
readers will pardon me from quoting in full a passage from
Kepler's celebrated work Epitome Astronomiae Coperni-
canae, which seems very apposite to the explaining of
what has been stated above : "Astronomy explains the causes
of natural events, and examines ex professo optical illusions.
Sacred Scripture, on the other hand, teaches truths the most
sublime ; and in order that these truths be understood, makes
use of the language of every day life. It [i.e. Sacred Scripture]
speaks but incidentally of natural events, and even then,
The Bille Its Friends and Foes. 29
but as they seem to occur, and after the manner usually em-
ployed in speaking of them, etc., etc." Here then is an
astronomer of the highest eminence laying it down as a
principle that there are no statements in Scripture ex professo
which aim at the explaining of natural events, and that the
references to them that are found in the Bible are
nought but means employed to convey to the minds
of its readers those truths which it does teach ex professo.
What, then, is to be thought of those theologians who
seek in the pages of the Bible arguments for the support
of many a theory which, as far as can be judged,
may turn out to be as false and as baseless as the old
theory about the solar system? Indeed, when the true
object and aim of Biblical inspiration is understood, it is
very hard to fancy any possible clashing between the legiti-
mate aspirations of science and the teachings of Sacred
Scripture. They walk along the different paths, and it i&
not they that cross, but their rash upholders. And, on the
other hand, it is a sorry spectacle to see the scientist seeking
to find in the Bible statements which appear to him to clash
with the conclusions of science. He betrays a lamentable
ignorance of the legitimate aims of science, as well as of
those Divine Inspirations. Hand in hand the two orders of
truth, natural and divine, will march to the one destiny.
They will yet meet in a daytime when the lot of those whose
possession they were, will be fixed and made immutable. Yet
here the theologian should not be supine. The security with
which God has fenced in the word he has revealed to man
ought not be to him a motive for inactivity. Should he have
to struggle with science, real true science, it would be ever
easy to guard his loved t lore from danger : but the foe he
has to meet is human knowledge, or rather ignorance
masquerading in the garb of science. He has to meet
the scoffer and the sneerer. He has to meet the
cynic, as well as the zealot. The one will uproot
faith in 'the hearts of the simple ; the other will sap it
from the minds of the intelligent. Since the days of
Dr. Brownson science has made many strides. She has
pushed her limits far beyond those wherein she was then
30 The Bible Its Friends and Foes.
confined ; but not unto the dishonour, but rather unto the
honour and glory of Religion has been her progress. To-day
it is no longer true that the great names in the world of
science are men who ignore God's word. The name of Secchi
is in itself a sufficient answer to the sneer of La Lalande. It
is hardly necessary to mention any amongst the illustrious
men who at present are the glory of science, just as they
.are an honour to the Church of Christ and a living proof of
the unity of the principle whence springs all truth. Indeed
the clouds which threatened to gather, and darken the light
of Evangelical truth, have disappeared ; and as far as human
foresight can extend, the future of science is a future equally
glorious for the Bible. It will stand when the folly of
every other book which the religions of the world have
conceived will be made manifest. And for Catholics
especially will that future be brimful of hope ; for their
Church, which is the guardian of the Bible, will be a sharer
therein.
Even at the present moment there are signs of that
dawning future. The congress of Catholic scientific men,
which is to be held at Paris either next year or the year after,
will be awaited most anxiously by all who see in the progress
of science the promotion of God's glory. And it will be clear,
too, that the scientists of the 19th century, in breaking away
from the paths trodden by their predecessors of the 18th,
and ranking themselves amongst the friends of God's
written word, will have proved that the only antagonism
which can exist between Science and Religion is that which
springs from a vicious heart, buried in the midst of ignorance
.and passion.
J. L. LYNCH, O.S.F.
ETHNE AND FEDELM.
THE WHITE ROSE AND THE RED.
FATHER MORRIS informs us that the original idea of his
Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, was purely
devotional. He did not, then, go into any minute details of
topography in tracing the saint's footsteps through the
island. He has given us the main events of a marvellously
supernatural story, with sufficient proofs of its authenticity.
He has laid down general principles of criticism by which
may be successfully met those specious sophistries, by which
for over two hundred years learned men have striven to prove
that there was no St. Patrick, that St. Patrick was Palladius,
that St. Patrick was a Protestant, or that St. Patrick has
been so hidden from view by the wilful suppressions of
historians that his shadow is scarcely perceptible to the
ordinary reader, and only the powerful magnifying glasses
of discerning modern critics can descry the real saint in the
dim distance, and call him forth again to light and life.
The point to which 1 wish chiefly to draw attention is the
locality of one of the most remarkable events in the conver-
sion of the island, remarkable for the striking picturesqueness
-and life-like details, with which the scene has been described
in several of the ancient lives ; and for the glimpse it gives
us of the manners and customs, and social life, as well as
religious belief of the people of this island over 1400 years
ago, the baptism of the two daughters of King Laeghaire at
the fountain, on the slope of Cruachain.
Father Morris writes : " Before leaving Cavan St. Patrick
founded a church on the spot where he had overthrown the
idol (i.e. Magh-slecht) ; then turning his face westward, he
passed over the Shannon into Connaught, near the present
Clonmacnoise, and here we find him again in relations with
members of the reigning royal family. Ethne and Feidelm,
the two . daughters of King Laeghaire, were living at
Oruachan, the palace of the Kings of Connaught, which lay
near the place now occupied by the town of Roscommon,
and two of the King's druids, Mael and Caplait, Were
32 Eihne and Fedelm.
appointed to guard aud educate the royal maidens." 1 A
glance at the map of Ireland will show that to reach Cloii-
macnoise from Cavan, a journey to the south through
Leitrhn, Longford, Westmeath, and King's county would be
necessary ; and it seems improbable that the saint took this
circuitous route, returning on the other side of the Shannon,
when by crossing that river opposite Magh Slecht, such a
journey could be avoided. An attempt to explain this
portion of the saint's missionary travels has been made by
the present writer. 2
Rathcruachain, the royal seat of Conuaught, cannot be
said to be near the place now occupied by the town of
Roscommon. It lies nine Irish miles north of that town,
and a mile west of the village of Tulsk, nearly midway
between Belinagare and Elphin.
Father Morris gives in full the account of the princesses'
meeting with the Saint, from the Tripartite Life, remarking-
that " it is one of the most curious and interesting revelations
which we possess of the religious ideas of the time." It
begins thus : "Patrick went afterwards to the fountain, i.e.
Clibech, on the slopes of Cruachan at sunrise. The clerics sat
down at the fountain. Laeghaire M'Neill's two daughters
Ethne the Fair and Feidelm the Red, went early to the
fountain to wash their hands, as they were wont to do, when
they found the synod of clerics at the well, with white
garments, and their books before them."* The Book of
Armagh relates the meeting thus : " Deinde autem venit
Sanctus Patricias ad fontem qui dicitur Clebach in lateribus
Crochan contra ortum solis, ante ortum solis, et sederunt juxta
fontem. Et ecce ii. filiae regis Loigairi Ethne alba et Fedelm
rufa, ad fontem more mulierum ad lavandum mane venierunt,,
et senodum sanctam episcoporum cum Patricio juxta fontem
invenierunt." 4 The words " ante ortum solis " in the Book, of
Armagh, have no equivalent in the Irish Tripartite version,
l 'lhe Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, by William Sullen Morris
Priest of the Oratory. Second Edition, pp. 103, 104,
a Vide Irish Monthly^ Volume vii,, pp. 486, 487.
3 Fr. Morris's Life of St. Patrick, p. 103.
4 Book of Armagh, ed. Fr. Hogan, pp. 70-71.
Ethne and Fcdehn. 33
which has, however, the equivalent for ad ortum solix, viz.
towards the rising of the sun, i.e. towards the east. The sense
is, they (St. Patrick and his companions) came before sunrise
to the fountain on the slopes of Cruachan, looking towards
the rising of the sun (i.e. on the eastern slope of Cruachan
the fountain was). Probus calls the well " Dabhach." 1 He says
afterwards, that the virgins were buried "juxta fontem
Clebach."
Now I think there can be no doubt that this well is the
remarkable one beside the present graveyard of Ogulla. It
is to the east of Cruachairi, about a mile. It has been always
regarded as a holy well. The remains of church buildings
are visible at it and in the graveyard beside it, and the Lives
tell us that St. Patrick built a church in the same place. It
has all the appearances of a place of ancient devotion, is
surrounded by large stones, and shaded by old trees. The
flow of water from the fountain or well is constant and so
great that a large pool is formed by it, surrounded by
stones of great size, which would be suitable for washing or
bathing. The tradition of the place identifies the well of
Ogulla as the scene of the baptism of the king's daughters
by St. Patrick. An old and very intelligent man who
lives in the village, and understands Irish well, informs me
that this is the tradition of the neighbourhood. He him-
self learned the whole history, when a boy, from an old
schoolmaster, then eighty years of age, and also an Irish
scholar. He has frequently seen people performing Stations
at the well ; they were constantly performed in his youth.
No other well having these characteristics, or traces of ruins,
or held at a holy well, can be pointed out to the east of
Cruachain. The present writer had the pleasure some time
ago of walking from Cruachain down the eastern slope, to
the well of Ogulla, with a distinguished Q.C., and the learned
judge who took a great and most intelligent interest in Irish
antiquities, had no doubt whatever that this was the sceno
of the conversion, baptism, and burial of SS. Ethne and
Fedelm. He discovered beside the well the remains of an
i Probably Dabhach is a misprint for Clebach.
VOL. IX. C
o4 EtJuie and Fedelm.
. ancient stone crucifixion, the head and part of the arms of
the figure of our Lord being perfectly distinct, which had
anciently stood there, before which many a pious pilgrim to
this holy shrine of the Virgins, had devoutly prayed, but
which, doubtless, was thus broken to pieces in those days,
when, as the Four Masters say, " the men of England broke
down the monasteries, and sold their roofs and bells, and
burned the images, 'shrines and relics of the saints." The
identity of the locality is contained in the very name Ogulla,
which means the Tomb of the Virgins. Probus says that the
holy virgins were buried by the well of Clebech " fecerunt-
que eis fossam rotundam in similitudinem petrae incissae,
quae fossa consecrata est a Sancto Patricio, cum Sanctarum
Virginum ossibus, et celebrata est earum memoria ab eodem
sancto viro et ab heredibus ejus episcopis post se in secula :
nam ecclesiam virginum construxit in eodem loco." Hence
evidently the name of Ogulla, which is also the name of the
parish, the following explanation of which by one of our
most able and accurate Irish scholars, Dr. MacCarthy, of
Mitchelstown, I think eminently satisfactory :
"Ogulla is a compound, og ulad, Virgin tomb. The final d
became (in philological jargon) infected, i.e., a h was added to it
dh ; next the dk was dropped in the spelling, as it had already been in
the pronunciation, og-ulla, an instance of phonetic spelling. But
luckily the radical g of og has been preserved ; hence we can
determine the derivation with absolute certainty. Now for the
authorities (1) Book of Armagh (ed. Hogan) p. 73 ; fecerunt iossam
rotundam (in) similitudinem fertae, quia sic faciebant Scotii homines
et gentiles. Here fertae is used as a Latin genitive singular of ferta.
But /<?? is the Irish singular and ferta the plural mounds, graves,
and the meaning of the Book of Armagh is, therefore ; they made a
a circular mound in the likeness of a grave-mound. (2) Fert is
equated in O'Davoreu's Glossary (pp. 90-1) with ulaid, which (allow-
ing for the provection of a into the diphthong ai in later times) is pre-
cisely ulad = ula, ulla. Ullad thus means a grave-mound erected to
some distinguished dead person or persons, and in a Christian sense
it came to mean a shrine, as in (3) Leabher Breac, note upon the
Festology of Aengus (Stokes' Ed., p. cxxxiii) : atait athaisi in
nlaid Sen Patraic in n-Ardmacha ; but his (old Patrick's) relics are
in the tomb (shrine) of Sen (old) Patrick at Ardmagh.
" This seems conclusive on the etymology. The spelling naturally
varied : for the accent was on the first syllable. Hence when og was
pronounced long, the remaining syllables were slurred over and con-
.sequently varied in sound.''
Ethne and Fedelm. 35
I twill be remarked that Probus describes the monument
over the holy Virgins as a " fossa rotunda."
A walk from Cruachain to the well of Ogulla would
correspond exactly to the description in the opening of
Aubrey de Vere's beautiful poem, * c St. Patrick and the two
Princesses," drawn by the poet from the original sources :
; Like two sister fawns that leap,
Borne, as though on viewless wings,
Down bosky glade and ferny steep,
To quench their thirst at silver springs,
From Cruachan, through gorse and heather,
Kaeed the Royal Maids together.
" From childhood thus the Twain had rushed
Each morn to Clebach's fountain-cell,
Ere earliest dawn the East had flushed,
To bathe them 111 its well."
It may be remarked here that the Tripartite says that the
maidens went to the fountain " to wash their hands." The
Book of Armagh has " ad lavandum," to bathe. " Et ecce ii
filiae regis Loigaire, Ethne Alba, Fedelm rufa ad fonteni
more mulierum ad lavandum mane venierunt." " And behold
the two daughters of King Loigaire, Ethne the fair and
Fedelm the red, came early in the morning to the fountain to
bathe, after the custom of women.' It is believed by com-
petent scholars that the Tripartite has been translated from
the Book of Armagh, at least in parts. The version of the
Irish Tripartite is : " There came the two daughters of
Laeghaire MacNeil early to the well to wash their hands, as
was the custom for them, to wit, Ethne fair and Fedelm red."
Had the Irish version omitted mane early, we should at once
conclude that the translator mistook mane for maims (ad
lavandum mane), but he has given mane, Commoch. However
the mistake occurred, it seems pretty clear that the version
in the Book of Armagh is the correct one, and as a con-
sequence, that the Tripartite was translated from the Book of
Armagh. " Ad fontem more mulierum ad lavandum mane
venierunt." 1 Now, of course, men wash their hands just as
women do. Seeing this difficulty probably, the Tripartite
1 Book ofjirmagh, ed. Ilogan, p. 71.
30 JEthne and Fedelm.
translates " more mulierum " " as was the custom for them,''
i.e. these women, whereas the phrase is obviously not specific,.
but generic. It was the custom in ancient times for women
even of the highest rank, thus to go forth to bathe. Witness
Exodus ii., 5. "And behold the daughter of Pharao came
down to wash herself in the river, and her maids walked by
the river's brink." It would be unnecessary for the princesses
to make every morning a journey to a distant fountain to
wash their hands. Dr. MacCarthy, to whose kindness and
courtesy I am much indebted in this paper, is of opinion,
that the translator or author of the Tripartite mistook the
sense and is here unreliable.
It is curious and instructive to read Sir William Betham's
translation of the portion of the Book of Armagh relating to
the conversion of the royal maidens. Sir William Betham,
F.S.A., L.S., M.R.I.A., R.A.S., Z.S., Ulster King-at-Arms,
Keeper of the Records of the late Parliament of Ireland,
Deputy Keeper of the Records in Birmingham Tower in his
Majesty's Castle of Dublin, 1 is one of the great Protestant
authorities on St. Patrick. He considers it " very singular,
that Ware and Ussher saw, and extracted from, the Book of
Armagh, yet neither appear to have made themselves ac-
quainted with its most important contents." 2 He informs us
that he has " taken a view altogether novel with respect to
the ancient Church of Ireland, and St. Patrick's mission, and
indeed as to the History of Ireland generally." 3 The profound
study of the most ancient and valuable documents in the
Book of Armagh, hitherto so singularly overlooked by m en-
like Ussher and Ware, had opened his eyes to a rash system-
of imposture. " The period to which it [the Book of Armagh^
refers, has hitherto been enveloped in obscurity, rendered
more dark by fabricated legends, invented for the express
purposes of deception, to make posterity believe they saw
the substance, while a shadow was exhibited to their con-
templation, to give to Palladius the name and character of
Patricius, and to obliterate the recollection of the latter from
the minds and attachment of the grateful and affectionate
* Irish Antiquarian Researches, Title page. 2 Hid., part ii, p. 247.
., p, 248.
Ethne and F<>delm. 37
Irish, by giving his name to a phantom, raised at the end of
the sixth or beginning of the seventh century, for Palladium
or any of his successors was not called Patrick, nor had the
fraud been contemplated until that period." 1
Now was Sir William Betham, F.8.A., &c., &c., competent
to draw these or any conclusions from the Book of Armagh ?
Here is his translation of the account of the meetings of St.
Patrick and the princesses at the fountain " And behold the
two daughters of King Loigaire, Ethne the Fair and
Fedelmnufa came in the morning to bathe after the manner
of women, and they found the holy bishop Senodus with
Patrick near the fountain." 2 Book of Armagh : " Et Senodum
sanctam episcoporum cum Patvicio juxta fontem invenierunt,"
i.e., they found a holy synod of bishops with Patrick beside
the well. Again, after the saint had baptised the princesses,
Sir William Betham translates thus : " And they requested
to see the face of Christ, but the saint said to them, ' Unless
ye taste of death, ye cannot see the face of Christ, and unless
he receive your sacrifice.' And they answer, ' Give us the
sacrifice, that we may be able to see his son, our spouse.'
And they received them for the love of God, and when
sleeping in death, they placed them in a little bed, covered
with clothes, and they made lamentations." 3 Book of Armagh
(ed. Hogan) 1 : " Et postulaverunt videre faciern Christi, et
clixit eis Sanctus: nisi mortem gustaveritis, 11011 potestis
videre faciem Christi, et nisi sacrificium accipietis. 5 Et
responderunt, da nobis sacrificium ut possimus Filium,
nostrum sponsum videre. Et acciperunt Eucharistiam Dei,
et dormierunt in morte." The Triparite version is " And
they asked the vision of Christ face to face, et. dixit Patricius
eis : that they [recte you] could not see Christ, unless you
taste death before, and unless you receive the body of Christ
and his blood. Et responderunt filiae : give us the sacrifice
that we may be able to behold the promised (one) ; and they
received after that the sacrifice, and they slept in death."
This gives the sense of the Latin, except that promised is not
the correct translation of "sponsum." But what are we to
1 Ibid., pp. 244-iMo. l2 Ibid., p. 367.
3 l',tid., p. 37). 4 p. 72. r> accipietis for acceperitis.
38 Ethne ar<d Fcdelm.
think of the version of Sir William Betham? He was
manifestly unable to decipher correctly the Book of Armanli.
This is his text of an important part of the foregoing
passage : " Et acciperunt ea charitiam clei et dormientium
in morte," 1 which is altogether unintelligible. It may be
aelded that the Book of Armagh says r "Ecclesiam terrenam
fecit [P.] in eo loco." The word " terrenam" here denotes
" earth" in contradistinction to wood, as building material ;.
as the same book says elsewhere : :5 " Fecit Ecclesiam terrenam
de humo qvadratam, quia 11011 prope erat silva." By another
gross and palpable error Betham makes Aidus the writer of
the Life of St. Patrick in the Book of Armagli, whereas it was
written by Muirchu Maccu Machteni, at the request of Aed
or Hugh, Bishop of Sletty, as is stated in the book itself.
It is unnecessary to dwell here on the proofs of the
Blessed Eucharist and the Holy Sacrifice, which these
passages from " the oldest writings now extant in connection
with St. Patrick"^ afford, and on the importance of having
competent Catholic scholars to explain our ancient Celtic
documents.
The name Ogulla, then, the Tomb of the Virgins, recalls
to our minds the remarkable scene so vividly described in these
very ancient documents, with the striking personal details
which lend such life to the picture. We may imagine the
surprise of the royal maidens, when, glowing with health and
beauty, after their rapid morning's Avalk, they suddenly
beheld the venerable synod of bishops, seated by their
favourite fountain, perhaps on some of the large stones still
on the ground, clothed in their white garments, with their
books before them. Nobler than even their father Leogaire
on his royal throne, with his druids, his bards, and chiefs
around him, looked Patrick then, as, in peaceful majesty,
" Fronting the divwn lie sat alone :
On the star of the morn lie fixed his eye,
The crozier he grasped shone bright, but brighter
The sunrise flashed from St. Patrick's mitre."
v 1 lri#h AutiijtiurictH llcscarcliuf, Part II. Appendix, p. xxviii.
2 Ed. Hogan. p. 73. * llid*, p. 84.
4 Sixth Report of tin Deputy-Keeper of Pulllc Records in Ireland, p. 105-
6 Aubrey de Veve, Legends of St. I 'utricle, p. 5^.
and Fed elm. 3<*<
Fair were these royal maidens, the White Rose and
the Red, as they bounded lightly down the slopes of
Cruachain, when the rosy dawn was flushing the eastern sky ;
but fairer far were the royal brides, when wedded for ever to
their Kingly Spouse, " white and ruddy, chosen out of
thousands," they stood by Clebech's fountain, their virgin
souls purer than its crystal waves, looking out in extatic joy
from their love-lit eyes :
u Beyond all knowing of them beautiful.
Beyond all knowing of them wonderful,
Beautiful in the light of holiness," 1
They died through love of that Divine Spouse, to whom
they were united, even as died the Mother-Maid whose son He
was, whose brides they were now for evermore. Having found
Him whom their souls loved, they would not let Him go. For
them love was indeed stronger than death.
The feast of St. Ethne was observed on the 26th of
February, that of St. Fedelm on the llth of January. It is
conjectured that the reasons why their feasts were celebrated
on different days was because the body of one, probably St.
Ethne, was translated to Armagh on the 26th of February. 2
Few portions of the sacred soil of Eire og, inis na naomk
(Virgin Eire, Island of Saints) should be held more holy than
this memorable spot, hallowed by the synod of St. Patrick,
and by the conversion, baptism, communion, deposition, and
sacred relics of the blessed virgins, Ethne the Fair and Fedelm.
the Red. These holy maidens
" Lay on one bed, like brides new wed,
By Clebach well; and, the dirge days over,
On their smiling faces a veil was spread
And a green mound raised that bed to cover.
Such were the ways of those ancient days
To Patrick for aye that grave was given ;
And above it a church he built in their praise ;
For in them had Eire been spoused to heaven." ''
J. J. KELLY.
1 Tennyson. Holy Grail. ' J See Colgau's Notes, /lr.7. Sanct. Ilib.
3 Aubrey de Vere.
L 40 ]
PASTORAL MEDICINE.
IT must have occurred to every mission priest, who is
charged with the care of souls, that to some moral
questions, which intimately concern the welfare of his flock,
he finds it difficult to give a satisfactory solution, in con-
sequence of their close connexion with the science of
medicine.
The difficulty is one indeed, which has had its origin
in far-off times, when medicine was a sealed book to every
one save the practitioner. Nor, it must be confessed, has the
ever-widening knowledge of the "arcana medici," helped so
materially to solve the difficulty of the priest at the one side,
nor of the doctor on the other. The materialism of the age
has stepped in between the science of God and that human
frame, the most beautiful work of His plastic hand.
Students of medicine have little time and less love for
questions that have a bearing on Theology. Even had they
the will to do so, they could not gratify it in the University
or Medical School. We might go further and say, that
the practical lectures at many public schools, on the
Continent at least, and perhaps at some of our schools
at home, are on some points at variance with the teaching
of Catholic Theology, with the instincts of common sense
and with the canons of sound morality. The young
student here at home passes from the Intermediate school
to one or other of the different colleges, where the
science of medicine becomes the exclusive subject of earnest
thought and unremitting brain work for three or four
years. The whole scope and aim of his youthful ambition
is to gather within the compass of a very short period
of time such accurate information on the different subjects
that form the curriculum of studies, as will secure him at the
end of his terms an easy access to the different diplomas,
by which he is elevated to the dignity of the full-fledged
physician. His career in professional duties brings him
across a great many complicated matters, where the science,
of which he is an adept, touches upon the broad domain ot
Pastoral Medicine. 41
-Catholic Theology, and he feels that he is more or less
exposed to do violence to his own conscience, or that of his
patients through the lack of knowledge of certain positive
principles of the science of Catholic Divinity. To sit down
and commence the laborious task of mastering these prin-
ciples in detail, would be a work foreign to his tastes and
outside the obvious nature of the duties to which he is
committed. No doubt, it may be said, that practice and
experience in his professional business, his rudimentary
knowledge of Catholic truths, a wide acquaintance with the
instincts and habits of our Catholic people, added to his own
common sense and discretion, would supply the doctor in
some measure for the want of technical training in Theology.
He may also be a man of reading habits, thoroughly
devoted to his noble profession, and anxious, moreover, to
answer every claim which the legitimate authority of the
Church may call upon him to satisfy. He may too yearn
to bring his professional studies up to the full level of those
requirements, which an obedient son of the Church should
carefully master, and with a view to this, he may, alongside
of the investigations peculiar to his own craft, superadd
those kindred subjects, which branching out into the
physician's domain, nevertheless have their basis on the solid
foundation of Moral Theology. Books of " high thinking,"
where broad and cultured minds find free scope for the dis-
cussion of intricate and delicate questions, are brought within
the reach of the thoughtful student in our day. Catholic
reviews and magazines, opening their pages to the ventilation
of such questions, are becoming every day more numerous,
receive a larger share of public patronage, and more of that
thoughtful attention, which is due to the works, where solid
learning, convincing argument, lucidity of exposition and
apt illustration, are combined to assert the rightful claim,
which the masters of human thought hold over the govern-
ment of men's minds. In such works, no doubt, many
knotty points, common to the theologian and physician, are
cleared up. Others about which opinion is of a less
decisive character are brought within the range of practical
discussion.
42 Pastoral Medicine.
Like those star, which one looks upon as mere points in
the sky, but which by the aid of a powerful telescope and
astronomical calculation are discovered to be "centres of
life and light to myriads of unseen worlds," and the patches
of cloudy light, scattered among the stars, resolve themselves
into complete clusters, which science and careful observation
can map out each in its proper place ; so it is with many
truths that lay sheltered within the framework of the human
body. The scalpel of the surgeon and tiie Inquisitive mind
of the anatomist have brought them from their secret hiding
place, showing that they are not the exclusive possession of
one of the sciences, but common to others that deal with the
moral welfare and social happiness of mankind. And just
as men of inquiring minds, who would turn their research to
discover the origin of the world we inhabit, try to collect all
the information, which observation of the various existing
phenomena of nature can give ; they search the crust of the
earth for any facts which the rocks, their position, their
character, their fossil contents can afford. They take
notice of the arrangements of continents and seas, the
position and direction of mountain chains, and with
the aid of these letters of the geological alphabet, they
spell out the history of the globe. And hence whoever is
anxious to lay the foundation of a geological cabinet, never
passes by a stone-heap without examination, or never leaves
a quarry or gravel-pit unsearched. He will not allow his
ever deepening interest in his subject to be guided exclusively
by the principles peculiar to his subject : he will call in the
aid of the botanist, the chemist, the mineralogist, and even
the mathematician. And so it is with the medical practitioner,,
he must try to sound the depths by that line, which is sure
to touch the bottom.
He must call in the aid of other sciences, above all, that
noblest science, which lifts up the mind of man above these
surroundings which chain it to the earth, and carries it back
to Him, by whose word it was called into being, and by
whose providence it is guided, to explore the wonderful
works of His hands. But, on the other hand, the priest who
has charge of souls must now and again look outside the
Pastoral Medicine. 43*
realms of theological science for information on questions
that have no direct bearing upon his peculiar studies, nor,
perhaps, any charm for his tastes. Works on medical science
seem as foreign to the purpose and aim of his life as lectures
on Moral Theology do to the student of medicine.
How can what is foreign to each, respectively become a
source of useful and necessary information for both, and thus
serve a common purpose ? The exigencies of both should
determine the questions for discussion in such a work. It
would bring science and religion together in close proximity,
and would prove not merely useful to this or that class, but
it would show IIOAV harmoniously they can commingle, and,
so to speak, complete each other. It is hardly a matter of
useful information to refer to some of the many and cum-
brous works 011 pastoral medicine, which from time to time
have made their appearance, overloaded with scientific
details, jumbling together whole sections of Pastoral Theo-
logy with anatomy, pathology, therapeutics, &c. . . . An
elaborate treatment of everything contained in the works
could only be attempted with one result that most people
would be deterred from reading them at all, and those who
did so would leave their study with very unintelligible and
obscure notions of the true relations between theology and
medicine, and with no practical information for either the
good of soul or body. The gifted writer of Sanitary Sermom
shows at what a disadvantage a clergyman would labour,
who, wading his way through a multitude of quartos, treating*
of matter utterly outside the scope and limits of pastoral
medicine, would come out of their study with very little solid
information, which could easily be obtained from a volume of
very modest pretensions.
In this age of science and philosophy every intelligent man
is expected, in his own interest, to inform himself on the
method of living best suited for health of body and health of
soul ; and with regard to physiology, every intelligent man
ought to' have some knowledge of the body and its functions,
in order to live according to the laws of health. Such know-
ledge is not only useful, but even necessary for the priest,
particularly in regard to the sick. He- can reform abuses
44 Pastoral Metl.mne.
control prejudices, and keep away noxious influences, which
oftentimes help to spread and render fatal many an epidemic.
Those things, however, lie without the scope of the present
paper, which confines itself to matters absolutely necessary
for the priest in his vocation.
Without the aid of scientific training, he has to acquire
as best he can a ready acquaintance with what is needful,
and to accept, as a learned writer observes, facts and results
in the absence of erudite training in verba magistri. He may,
of course, if he choose, give his mind to a wide course of
study in medical matters, through the deep interest he feels
in what is man's greatest possession next to life ; or he may
have adesire to become acquainted with the most compli-
cated work of creation, to discover the best method of
investigating the various maladies to which flesh is heir, in
order to arrive at the fountainhead of those diseases which
threaten life.
The writer happened to know one of the clergy of a
southern diocese, whose skill in the diagnosis and treatment
of diseases won for him the widest reputation. Whether
such a practice would in our day be altogether unsuited to
the clerical calling and taste, or would be tolerated by
ecclesiastical authority, is a matter we need not discuss here.
One thing appears to commend itself as a general rule :
that persons outside of the profession had better leave medical
books alone ; for it lias been well known that the reading of
these books leads up to unpleasant effects, sometimes even
fatal in their consequences. To meet the requirements then
of the day, and to provide the clergy with a work, treating
exclusively on pastoral medicine, inspired a distinguished
physician of Germany, and a devoted son of the Church, to
bring out a volume of a very readable and useful character on
the subject.
Dr. Carl Capelmann's work passed very soon through
several editions, and it was very favourably noticed in many
of the leading German reviews. A large, and perhaps the
most important portion of his work treats of subjects con-
nected with the faithful observance, or criminal breach of the
Sixth Commandment. Jt was at the bidding of holy charity
Pastoral Medicine. 45
that the author undertook to lay bare some of the hideous
vices that degrade humanity. The consequences to soul and
body of these physical and moral evils led him, both in regard
to the dignity of the human being and through sympathy for
suffering, to attempt a cure or to alleviate a pain, at the cost
of laying open details of the most revolting and repulsive
character.
In addition to this portion of the subject, he deals with
many others of great importance, such as questions connected
with the Fifth Commandment, with the Sacrament of Baptism,,
the Blessed Eucharist and Extreme Unction ; and, lastly, he
gives very solid information to the clergy how to render
immediate assistance in sudden emergencies ; the better to
enable priests, especially in rural districts, to play a little the
part of the doctor. On the whole, the information conveyed in
the book is of a very useful character, by no means furnishing
that deep scientific acquaintance with medicine which would
enable the priest to act the doctor, nor, for more cogent
reasons, to enable the physician to assume the place of the
priest. One thing, at least, must strike a casual reader. It
is the outspoken, nay, fearless method he adopts in defending
his views, and the unshaken confidence he reposes in opinions
he supports against the teaching of St, Liguori and the
moralists, as he terms writers on Moral Theology.
Whether many of his conclusions are drawn from generally
admitted data, or whether some of them clash with the
scientific opinion of his professional brethren, or still further,,
whether they rest in some instances upon an unsafe assump-
tion, we must leave to the judgment of those who have
carefully analysed the work.
In one particular, no doubt, we may lawfully presume
upon the accuracy of his conclusions : it is that in some of
the latest discoveries of medical science, the improvements
made in rendering operations, formerly involving the severest
suffering, now almost painless, must call up a different
response, from that already given on questions common
to theology and medicine. The solid foundation upon which
some of those opinions rested, has shifted its position, and
through the intervention of a hitherto unknown factor
40 Pastoral Medicine.
appearing unexpectedly on the scene, views, dusty with
age, must abandon their long maintained ground, and pass
along a newly opened up channel, where the natural
vigour of the intellect, aided by scientific discovery, is set
free in directions that hitherto escaped observation. To
illustrate what is here meant, I shall quote for an instance
the case of an operation attended with risk to life. T.o
perform such operations in order to avert danger to life is
allowed, because, instead of probable death, there exists a
good chance of saving life, or at the outside, there is at least
the possibility. And this permission is even stretched as far
as a case where the danger to life is mediate, where the
strength, of the constitution is considerably impaired, and the
success of the operation endangered by a possible setting in
of some unforeseen treacherous disease of a deadly character,
which often lurks in the wake of the most scientific and
successful operations.
In each single instance, of course, the individual case of
the patient in question, the inconveniences occurring from
his state of health, the prospect of success, should be weighed
and the decision given accordingly. From this aspect of the
case we pass to the further question : Whether one is bound
to have an operation performed, which endangers life, with
the hope of its preservation. Theologians maintain that no
one is bound to undergo a severe operation, involving risk of
life, although by such a risk a good chance of saving life may
be thereby afforded. St. Liguori gives the common teaching
of theologians on this point, when he says : " Non teneris
vitas servanda^ causa pati amputatiouem cruris ant brachii,
aut incisionem ventris ad extrahendum calculum." And
Gury says (L.C.) *' Nou tenetur quis servare vitam remediis
extraordinariis, qut\3 maximum dolorem afferant ; non datur
enim obligatio servanda3 vitas, nisi mediis ordinariis qiuw
magna non adducant incommoda," and Scavini (Tract 7)
" Cum servare vitam operatioiie dolores nimis atroces
affereute extra communes vires positum est." We may seek
for the foundation 011 which these views rest in two con-
ditions, viz., the sufferings of the patient and the difficulty of
the operation. Dr. Capelmann questions the soundness of
Pastoral Medicine. 47
ihese decisions as being at variance with the present develop-
ment of medical science and surgery, by aid of which
difficult operations are now performed under greatly changed
circumstances, and with better success. The discovery of
chloroform as a surgical anaesthetic has, no doubt, conferred
incalculable benefit on the suffering human race, its use as
an agent for the relief of pain in difficult operations is widely
known and has served in a great measure to lessen the fear
of the surgeon's knife. Every living creature has a dread,
nay, a horror of pain, especially that caused by a surgical
operation. The anticipated dread of suffering, its real severity
under the operation ; the tendency of pain to depress the
nervous system; the struggles and the writhings of the
patient, presented serious obstacles to the successful practice
of surgery, and necessarily involved, on the part of the patient,
a sacrifice beyond the capability of human strength. Under
the influence of chloroform the surgeon operates with ease,
with care and a firm hand ; whilst the patient in the region of
unconsciousness is rescued, through the discovery of science,
from the hardships incidental to a natural process ; and
whilst the body is being disfigured under the cruel scalpel,
the will is at ease, the strength of the body is sustained, and
the patient without a struggle. Such a release from pain
through such a simple process must be reckoned among the
fortunate acquisitions of modern times. Of course in every
case a careful investigation must be made to ascertain
whether the patient's constitution, the severity of the
operation, its long duration, &c., would render the use of
chloroform very useful, or even necessary. Hence it may be
broadly stated, to use Dr. Capelmann's words, " that neither
patient nor physician can be allowed to use chloroform
except for urgent reasons." Viewing the matter from
these circumstances, the author of Pastoral Medicine would
think that the decisions given above by moral theologians
should be modified. He would not take it upon himself to
decide, .but would, I daresay, prefer to leave it to the
judgment and discernment of the theological reader.
A little further (page 45) on the duty of a mother
to nurse her own children, he quarrels with some of the
48 Pastoral Medicine.
opinions of the theologians regarding the reasons which
may excuse her from discharging that duty. " The mother's
milk," says he, " is the most natural nourishment, nay, the
only proper one, for the child."
Science, in spite of her utmost efforts, has not succeeded in
finding an adequate substitute to take her place. The rate
of mortality among infants, raised in an artificial manner, is
one of the strongest proofs of the mother's duty to nourish
her child with the milk of her breast, and not to withhold
from it the food given her by God for this purpose.
According to Gury (pa. I.e. Tom. 1. page 3(51) the Sententia
Communis of Theologians would not bind the mother to this
obligation, sub gravi, because the non-fulfilment of this duty
does not involve a grams deordinatio, i.e., if the mother refuses
the sustenance ordained by nature for the child's support, but
has it supplied through another channel. He then gives the
causes which exonerate the mother from all fault and cast
upon her action no stain of sin ; these are necessity, remark-
able utility, and the custom that prevails among families of
rank. He challenges the ruling of theologians on the gravity
and character of the obligation on the part of the mother to
supply that support that nature has clearly defined to be a
duty ; and in the second place he maintains that the custom'
prevailing among families of notable respectability to trans-
fer this important duty to a third party, is not invested with
that sanction of legitimate authority, so that it could safely
be followed in conscience. He tries to sustain the argument in
favour of the gravity of the obligation upon what he calls an
unquestionable fact that many infants pine and die in con-
sequence of having been denied the nourishment of their
mother's milk. The child's death, which, of course, does not
follow as a necessary result, but which may, and often does,
happen in consequence is, he says, most certainly a grains
deordinatio.
The law of nature is, that every new-born infant shall be-
fed with the milk of its own mother ; consequently the child
has a natural claim Avhich cannot, for manifest reasons, be
legitimately traversed by artificial contrivances, or the often-
times less wholesome food received at the breast of one who
Pastoral Medicine. 49
is made to take the part of the mother. Let us pass to what
he has to say regarding the custom which sanctions this
practice. He begins by asking the question : " Is then a
mere consuetudo to be accepted as a sufficient dispensation
from so grave an obligation ? Is custom to excuse from sin
one who neglects a positive duty imposed upon him by the
laws of nature?" But it may be answered: Has not this
custom obtained for generations? Those certainly, who
first set aside the instincts of humanity to satisfy the craving
of some sensual pleasure, to put themselves in line with the
mechanical forms and requirements of that social circle they
happened to move in, would indeed appear to have been
guilty of a breach of one of nature's noblest laws ; but can
the same be said, with equal truth, of those who, acting bona
fide, believe they are doing that with which social taste and
long-sanctioned fashion are associated ? Will not the cruel
exigencies of the ever- widening dominion which custom and
example are exercising, give to their action the tone of a
becoming duty, instead of branding it as an act of criminal
servility ? Can individuals disturb with a light hand what
is engrafted in the framework of social rank ? How can they
oppose, with courageous energy, the waves of ever-varying
fashion, which force their way over rock and sandbar to
stiffen and break on the shore of fickle fancy? Caustic
writer, fearless preacher, the weary, jaded spirit and surfeited
heart of the votary of the whims and caprices of social taste,,
offer only a qualified resistance to these forces which gather
in secret, like the lava in the volcano's cup, which bursts in
fury over the smiling fields and comfortable homesteads that
lay so sweetly happy and so thoughtlessly near the dangerous-
enemy, whose progress no human effort could retard. But
notwithstanding the bold energy of human devices to tamper
with duty and conscience, the voice of nature makes itself
heard in the heart of every mother, urging her to give to her
child that nourishment ordained for its support by the God
who rules, its destiny. But it might be asked : Is it custom
or the reasons which originated the evil practice, which still
support it and exert their influence upon every mother who
follows what appears to be condemned by ordinary common
VOL. ix. D
50 Pastoral Medicine.
sense as well as by the finer feeling of humanity ? And what
are these reasons? They are vanity, love of pleasure, the
desire of preserving those delicate features and that youthful
freshness which advancing age, the multiplied anxiety of
engrossing care and the duties of a mother, strip of their
charm and attractiveness. " Why," sa^s the author of
Pastoral Medicine, " would a femina nobilis be excused by
custom, when the duties which nature calls for in the noble
are similar to those she demands in the poor and unknown ?"
The requirements of nature allow of no distinction in these
matted in which the human race owe the same obligation to
the Divine Lord, as well as to that of nature. Nor could it
be maintained on the ground that one can afford to pay for a
substitute, whereas the other unites compulsion and duty in
discharging a function imposed alike upon all. As we have
said above, the argument of the author would appear to be
based upon solid ground when he asserts that it is the desire
to preserve physical beauty that weighs most with those who
would avoid the trouble and inconvenience which such a
duty necessarily imposes on a mother. And besides this,
there are other reasons, such as social enjoyment, the ball-
room, the concert, tea-parties, &c., which furnish, in the
opinion of those who have no great love for home, nor the
cares with which it is associated, sufficient ground for a dis-
pensation to have the mother's place taken by one who must,
at all events, be nutrix bona quoad mores et valetudinem. It is
an admitted fact, that in the nursing of the child great
influence is exercised not only over the body but also over
the soul. And it is strange, in the face of this adhesion, that
if the person who is to supply the place ot the mother is
found of good temper, intelligent, truthful and honest, her
moral character is the last matter that comes within the scope
of inquiry. Dr. Capelmann, speaking for Prussia, tells a sad
story of the wholesale neglect in this all-important matter
of moral virtue in the nurse. " Often," says he, " has it been
known that a fallen woman is asked to do this duty, because a
virtuous women could not be had, without any protest from
the mother, provided the substitute is of sound bodily health.''
He goes so far as to say that the employment of these nurses
Pastoral Medicine. 51
has had a deteriorating influence upon the morality of rural
districts. I shall tell it in his own words, which -are strong
enough to strike terror into the heart of every Christian man
who is anxious about the welfare of society. " Formerly,'*
says he, "a fallen girl in a small community came to shame
and grief, and had often to endure poverty and misery for
her lifetime. Nowadays the fallen woman leaves the place
after or before confinement, puts the child out to board, and
is sure to find very soon a good place as nurse. As such she
leads an easy life, gets good wages, and is able, not only to
pay easily the expenses of boarding her child, but even of
setting something aside. There are persons who like this
way of living so well, that they try to regain the faculty of
nursing, when they have lost it, sometimes scarcely conscious
of the crime they commit for that purpose. This is one of
the evil consequences of this unnatural custom. Who knows
how many children perish because their mothers do a mother's
duty for strange children, and owing to this circumstance,
says the Aerzliche Vereinsblatt, viz., mothers of illegitimate
children boarding out their offspring, . thousands of children
perish yearly in Prussia."
It must surely be admitted that a great share of the guilt
of the above evil consequences rests upon such mothers, and
we may well presume that the misfortunes of those neglected
children, who pine and die for want of attendance and
mother's milk, cry to heaven for vengeance against those who
without necessity have deprived them of that support which
should be theirs by inherent right and natural justice.
The crying evil here depicted by the German physician
has not, thank God, touched the shores of this old land ; or,
at all events, if it exists anywhere, it exhibits none of those
alarming features which the devotees of fashion have called
up by the forcible suppression of those natural functions
which the Almighty ordained for the good of individuals and
the welfare of society.
The Irish mother loves her home ; her attachment to all
its belongings grows with advancing years; but she loves
her children better, who, fed by no stranger's milk, are
nourished at her own breast and exult in that wonderful
52 Pastoral Medicine.
power her magic glance exercises over their souls. The
true Christian mother regards her maternal duties as a charge
entrusted to her by the Divine goodness ; she considers
her children as a sacred deposit committed to her care, for
which she is responsible before God. She seeks to deposit in
the soul, whilst she nourishes the body, the sacred character
of love, and sows there the seed of solid virtue, that grows
and ripens in the sunshine of motherly affection and generous
attachment. What a contrast must those children present,,
who are dragged up according to some of these mechanical
forms of society, whose infancy has not been penetrated by
the eye of a loving mother, and who are handed over
to the tender mercies of one, who perhaps an adept in
crime, must of necessity communicate to her unfortunate
charge some of those dangerous dispositions that have
stamped themselves upon her own character.
This sad state of things may possibly have arisen out of
the altered conditions of society and the lax morality pre-
vailing in certain quarters, where indulgence is claimed on
the plea that wealth and position should dispense those
blessed with riches from the observance of a law which
nature and its Author have imposed upon all. In former
times mother-substitutes were very rarely employed, and
when their service was deemed expedient, great care was
taken to procure one whose physical condition and moral
character were beyond suspicion. Very likely the evil con-
sequences and damaging effects, resulting from a practice
very prevalent in some Continental countries, may have
furnished the author with reasonable ground in giving a new
complexion to the theological aspect of the question we have
just now been considering.
As far as this country is concerned, we dare say the
author would not quarrel with the decision of theologians,
and he would, we are inclined to think, be ready to admit,
that, besides necessity, other sufficient reasons might exist to
justify the mother to abstain from the fulfilment of this law
of nature, especially when due caution and a prudent selection
would be observed in providing a proper substitute, who
would be daily under the control and care of the child's
parents.
Pastoral Medicine. 53
Dr. Capelmarm has in his work discussed many
subjects of great importance to the pastor of souls, as well
as to the medical practitioner. He possesses a very wide
acquaintance with those subjects in medical science, which,
in some of its latest developments, would appear to clash
with long entertained theological opinions. Endowed with
a vigorous intellect and a courageous spirit, he brings to the
discussion of matters, whose importance is of a far
reaching character, great boldness of thought, and with
a masterly hand struggles to elucidate what hitherto
had been a sealed book to the priest and a stumbling
block to the physician. His style is elegant and copious, and
free from that unintelligible jumble of words and phrases so
characteristic of modern German literature. Apt illustration,
the fruit of long experience and varied culture, strikes home his
convincing arguments ; and, whilst abounding in the fulness of
a clear exposition of what is useful and practical, it adapts itself
to those strange and technical difficulties, that a writer, ex-
ploring new ground and alighting upon unexpected obstacles,
can only overcome by patient labour and deep research.
Scientific knowledge in his case is most aptly brought into
play, when there is a profound acquaintance with disease of
every character and its almost infinite folds. He does not
rush upon his opponent to knock down the fortress of anti-
quated opinion and dusty views with sledge-hammer audacity.
A delicacy of touch and superior tact are required to combat
conclusions that had hitherto appeared to rest upon the
solid foundation of science. The error must be reached
without wounding susceptibilities, and the adversary must
be softly borne along to conviction by argument and per-
suasion, holding up before him the truth with all its attractions.
Whenever he enters into a contest, he tries to conduct it with
all possible courtesy, without neglecting the claims of charity
or the interests of religion. A very wide acquaintance with
professional duty, superior talents, and that piercing charity
that comes up from a solid faith and a devoted interest in
God's suffering creatures, must exercise a wide sway over
human hearts, especially when united with a rare capability of
bringing knotty questions to the broad level road of discussion.
54: llaynez Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
Dr. Capelmann shows clearly in these new questions, that he
has brought within the legitimate scope of inquiry the
extensive range of his privileged intelligence. If he defends
a theory boldly, he enters the arena forgetful of himself, and
Avhile he splinters a lance with some doughty champion, cutting
his way through his opponent's defences by his incisive logic
and ready command of recondite information, he does not
fail to shoAv the attractive sweetness of the cultivated man,
\vlio cannot only furnish a specific for an intellectual plague,
but can also pour out the balm of charity on the moral
diseases of the human heart. Very useful information is
likewise given to the priest, how he is in general to recognise
the approach 1 of death ; what diseases and sudden seizures,
more or less known to him, are dangerous, and hoAv to act in
siich emergencies. It is a matter of great importance to be
able to form a judgment of the proper moment to administer
sacraments; for not unfrequently functional derangements
are taken for organic disease, and what is often not visible to
the unprofessional eye of the young and inexperienced,
would become clear and patent in most cases of ordinary
sickness, practically speaking, when the details of Dr.
Capelmann's book are carefully mastered.
JOHN DOHENY, C.C.
HAYNES' OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF
IRELAND IN 1600. II.
FT! HE Englishe that were in the beginning planted in those
_L partes are in theire posteritie muche degenerated, and
Especially the two names of Geraldines and Butlers that
swaied the State notwithstandiuge nianie brave men Deputies
there. And manie suche as are come of the Englishe are
become soe Irishe, as that they have, in regarde of private
grudges amonge the Englishe, caste off their Englishe names
and become nieere Irishe, amonge whome yt is reported of
the Mac mahons in the North were Englishe descended of
llayncs* Observations on the State of Ireland in 1GOO. 55
the Urslanes. 1 Also the Mac sromes 1 in ulster were of the
vers in Englande, and disguised their names in hatred of the
Englishe. Also the Lo. Bremingham who was one of the
most ancientest Barons in Englande is become the most
Savage Irishe. 2 The greate Mortimer, who forgetting howe
greate he was in Englande sometyme, is now become the
most barbarous of them all, and is called Mac Nemara. 1 Not
muche better than they is the old Lorde Courcy, who, havinge
lewdlie 3 all the Landes and Seignories he had, is nowe become
Irishe. It hath beene observed that the Irishe Language
beinge permitted to be used of the Englishe hath beene noe
small question to drawe them further into their manners, and
nursinge of Englishe Children by Irishe Nurses doth breade
a smacke of the Language, and even of the nature and
dispositions, as the same will hardlie be given over againe.
Also the Marriages which the Englishe have made with
the Irishe hath much inforced the Englishe with theire
barbarous and filthy Condicions. The using of the Irishe
Apparrell is a meane also to continue the Irishe Customes,
and there be Statutes to inhybit it, but not executed, for
comrnonlie according to the attyre the mind is conformed.
The Irishe in their charge on horsebacke charge their
StafFe above hande, and not as the Englishe on the Thighe.
They ride but uppon a little Pillion without Stirropps,
and will Sodenlie mounte his horse goinge fast awaie. There
is used amonge the Irishe a Jacke of Leather and not onlie
Horsemen but Footmen weare it. The Footmen are called
Galloweglasses.* The Jackes were won'te to be worne in the
Field onlie under Shirtes of Mayle ; but nowe abused beinge
worne in Civill places in Townes, which abuse ys to be
removed.
To speake somethinge of the Gallow Glasses and kerne 4
they be of most barbarous Life and condition, for they
oppresse all men, they Spoyle as well the good subject
1 All are of Irish descent, as is well known. Spenser has " Fitzursulas,
MacSwines, Veres, Macnihrnarrih."
2 " naming himself Noccorish." 3 lewdlie wasted.
4 ^AlloglAcli, cecliejxu, cetcVieAjxnAcli, " men of great and mightie
bodies" (Dimmok). ceir1ie)\n, a company of soldiers (Chron. Scot.SQG.)
56 Ilaynes 9 Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
as the Enemye, they Steale, they are cruell and bloudye,
Full of revenge and Deadlie Execucion, Licentious, Swearers,
and Blasphemers, ravishers of Women and Murtherers of
Children. 1
They are valyante and hardye, great e indurers of Cold,
Labour, honger and all hardnes, verie active and stronge of
hande, verye Swifte of Foote, very Vigillente and circum-
spect in their enterprizes, verye present in Perrills and
altogeather scorne deathe.
And surelie the Irishe makethe as brave a Soldier as any
Nation whatsoever.
There are amonge the Irishe a kind of People called
Bards 3 who are a kinde of Poets or Rimers, and in their rymes
they sett downe the praises of the worste, and dispraises of
the best, they incourage the yonge heades to haunte after
wickedness, givinge that praise to some which shoulde be
geven onlie to vertue.
The Irishe Horseboys are 3 to be cutt off, though they nowe
serve for some use to the Englishe and Soldiers to attende
their Horses, havinge noe Innes nor Ostelers to attende them.
The Boys, after they have bene a little trayned upp in the
use of the peece, become Kernes and are most apt and
ready to cutt the throates of the Englishe, and therefore
needfull to be reformed. There are also a kinde of People
Carowes. called Carrowes 4 who Live onlie by resorting to
Gentlemen's Houses, and accustomes themselves to Play att
Cardes and Dice, and drawe others to their lewde and evil
Liefe alsoe to be reformed. The like are such as have Gentle-
mens Companie and goeth as Jesters who carrye Newes from
place to place a verye dangerous crewe also, which should
need to be cutt of by a Marshall.
The Irishe have a Custome of meetinge and assembling
togeather uppon a Rath 5 or Hill, to parlye as they saie of
1 This is false or exaggerated. 2 b:\ijA-o.
3 horse-boys or cuilles (Spenser); this must be for^iollA; Dimmok
calls them " dalonyes," i.e., t>Alcin, a stripling.
4 Kearroaghs ; ceA]\jAb1iAc1i, a gambler.
5 pAich, and ]AAc1i ; ]\AuVii = fossam castelli, Fossa lli^bAipc ; (Bk. of
Armagh and Brussels Codex}, vallum, atrium (Adamnan), murus (Jo?elin).
Haynes 1 Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 57
matters of Controversie between Townspipp 1 and Townshipp,
and betwene one private person and another, under whiche
collor Sondrie bad people resorte to the place to conferre of
evill practices and come armed, and what Englishe they
finde, they picke such Quarrells that manie are murthered
amonge them innocenthe. There are certeyne round Hilles
and Square places called Bannes 2 stronglie trenched for that
purpose and were called Talkemoots in times past, places to
conferr.
The Talkemots were made by the Saxons and the Danes
or Deanrathes, 3 by the Danes, Sodenlie to defende themselve
beinge too weake for the Enemie, and manie round Hills
were cast upp as memoryalls or Trophees of men Slayne in
Battayle.
Besides manie other Cessinge in the Contrye, there is one
where Soldyers are Cessed, they will challenge greater
allowance of Victual], money and other things than the
People can afforde or the place yeld, and then the Soldyers
use vyolence to the Sillyman 4 and Wife where they be Cessed
to the greatre disturbance and discontent of the Country e.
An abuse to be taken awaie.
The Landlords lett theire Lande but from yeare to yeare
or att will, neither will the Tenants take yt for more, because
the Lorde lookethe alwaies for chaunge and thincketh to see
a new world. And the Teiiante will not, because he maie
leave yt at pleasure and fall to any wicked enterprise.
The Lorde havinge the Tenaunt thus, byndeth him to
what evell course he will enioyne him, and the Tenaunt
maie likewise ruune into anie wicked action without feare
or loosinge anie greate matter, havinge no further State in
his Lande, where, on the contrary yf they had longer terrne
they would manure the same and be loath to adventure their
lyvinge.
1 recte, township, as in Spenser 2 ban, a green field.
3 perhaps danesfort, deanrath = -011111 a fortified hill, and ^Acti (?); this
may have caused the error about the Danes.
4 " the poore man and the sillye poore wife," says Spenser, who adds,
"for Ireland being a countrey of war (as it is handled), and always full of
souldiours," etc.
58 lluynes 9 Observations on the State of Ireland in 1GOO.
They are generally Papists, and yet most Igriorante aud
knowe noe grounde of yt, but maie be rather termed Atheists
and Infidells onelie they think yt sufficiente yf they can say
Ave Maria and Pater Noster. 1
The firste that came into Irelande to convert the People
from Atheism e and Paganism e was Palladinis, 2 from Pope
Coelestus, 2 who dyed there, and then came Patrick, a Brittauie,
and taught them by whom they were carried to theire blinde
Devotion. Religion.
The present rulers of the Churche doe seeme to excuse
them by reason of the troubles, but yf not Ignorance, negli-
gence or both of them have done them mucheharme. There
are in the Cleargie, there all evels Lurkinge, Grosse Symonie,
greedye Covetousness, Fleshly inconstancye, 3 careles Slothe,
Character of and all disordered Liefe. The Irishe Priests
tantdecrgy ^ a * nowe enioye Churche Livings are in
of Ireland^ manner Laymen, For they neither read the
Scripture, preache, nor Minister the Sacraments, but they
Christon after the Papishe manner, and they take all Tythes
and other Fruites and pay a Share to the Bishopps.
And the Bishopps of the Irishe, when a Benefice falleth,
putteth his owne Servants and Horseboy es to take upp the
Tythes and become themselves riche and purchase Landes
and build fayre Castles and collour the abuse sayeinge they
have noe Sufficient Ministers to bestowe them on, And indeede
there are fewe or none Englishe Ministers of sufficiency, that
will come over, unlesse suche as for bad behaviour* have
forsaken their Count-rye, And the Benefices are of soe small
proffitt that a Man cannot Live by them ; besides the People
are so dangerous uncivil and so untractable, That not onlia
a Man that is honest will not, nay a Stoute Man or Captaine
cannot, nor dare not dwell amonge them.
Manie abuses are in S.herriffs, Bayliffes, Purveyors, Senes-
calls, and others, but Especiallie in Captaines and Soldyors,
whoe dallie with their Service, and will not followe yt with
1 "without understanding what one woorde thereof meaneth," says
Spenser ! ! !
2 Palladius, Coelestinus. 3 incontinence.
4 This proves Dean Swift : " ridendo dicere verum."
Hay lies' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 59
such suretie, as beseemeth lest peace being had by their
Service, should be ended and the lacke Employment. And yet
some tyme they will bring in the head of some base Rebell
whom the Enemie himself e likewise malliceth and thrust eth
as yt were i rito their handes, and then they expecte com-
mendacion for cuttinge of suche dangerous men, as indeed
were nothinge neither of worth nor yet greatlie dangerous-
And Sometymes the Governors themselves doe practice suche
homelie flights, and will not performe or execute in their
Government whatsoever they maie, Least, that upon peace
beinge obteyned, they likewise should not need in theire
place. And therefore by dally en ge in their service they
wincke att raanie dangers which they might speedilie reforme.
Because their time of Government being neere expired
they will not quiett their State, least the next succeedinge
Governor fyiiding yt in peace should reteyne the praise.
And soe delay the Execution of things either under collor of
Parlye parlye for peace or giving preteccion for tyme ,
And thincke yt Sufficient yf they can keepe down the Flame
till they themselves be gone, That they maie break out into
open Mischiefe when the other cometh.
The Governors are for the most parte envious of others
Glory, and none that followeth will use the order of Govern-
ment that his Predecessor did ; But devyse some other
Course of his owne, least his Wisdome and policie should be
smothered by the former, which causeth suche a confusion in
the Kingdome that instead of Reformation they Studye and
bring in innovation, whereby the Contrye is in doubte which
waie to turne, as a Colt that krioweth not the hande of the
Ryder is aptest to turn head contrary. The course then
that hath been taken heretofore touching the Reformation of
this Realm by theis former Governors hath bene to no
purpose, but to make that worse which was bad before, and
therefore not to be so contynued. but to be dealte withall not
peasablie and gentlie, which will never reclaime them ; But
with a more mightie Power to subdue them, for submitt
themselves to the Englishe they will not because they hate
the English Government. And to make newe Lawes and
Statutes to tye them to a Reformacion is booteles, For before
60 IJaynes 1 Observations on tlie State of Ireland m 1600.
they be reformed to knowe and imbrace the Good and eschewe
the evell, It will be to no purpose to seeke to curbe them with
Lawes which they fear not to break. And therefore the
Sword must be the Lawe to reform theis People, For
without cuttinge this Evell by a Stronge hande there will
Manners be no hope for theis corrupt meanes of theires
excepte yt must be reformed by the Severitie of the Princes
Authoritie.
Wherein first there must be taken a course by a stronge
Army of Men to be sent thither as maie perforce bring in all
the Rebells that are in open Arraes, and all the Companies
that Lye in Woods that disturbe the People. Thoughe yt
maie be obiected that the Queue's Majestiehath bene of Late
at about 200000 charges against Tiron and hath since
continued 12000 a month and nothinge done, and therefore
harde to get a greater charge. But the sendinge of soe
small nombers over att a tyme, and so small sommes of
money to paye them, hath been the overthrowe of infynite
manie men, who for want oftentyrnes of Paye have been
starved, and of 10000 men 1 att their cominge Lustye and
stronge in halfe a year have not bene Lefte 500 men, and yett
the Captains have Challenged and have had their full paye,
which they allowed to greate Persones to obteyne yt.
But for this Service to be proceeded in, 1000 Foote, 1000
Quid Horse for one yeare Dimi 2 were Sufficient, and as
the heate of the Service abateth to abate the nomber in paye.
And in this Expedicion yt is not fit to seeke or follow the
Eriemie where he is, But place Garrisons in places that might
most annoye him. The Enemie lye most in Ulster, Conaught,
-and sometyme in Leinster.
To ymploye theis men therefore 8000 should be in
Garrison uppon Tyron in Ulster who is Strongest; 1000
Cavenaghes. upon Feagh macHughe and the jRavernaghes,
and 1000 uppon some parte of Connaghte. The 8000 in
Ulster should be devyded into 4 partes, 2000 Foote in every
Garrison, one uppon the Blackwater as high on the river as
1 1,000, iii Spenser.
3 The transcriber puts " quid'"? in the margin; demi = cum dimidio,
"and a half'' (Spenser).
Haynes Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. (51
might be, a Secondeat Castlecliffe, Castle Tynn 1 or thereaboute,
so that they should have all the Passage to Loughfoyle, a
Third aboute Fermnawgh 2 or Bondroit/ soe as they might Lye
betwene Connaght and Ulster to serve uppon both sides as
occasion shall be offered, And this to be the strongest Garrison
because yt should be most employed and that they might
putt Wardes at Bellashava 4 and Beltuk and all these passages.
The last about Monohan or Belterbert soe that yt should
fronte both on the Enemies that way, and keepe the Countrye
Cavan and Meth in awe from Passage of Straglers and out-
Gadders 5 from those partes whence the use to come forth and
oftentymes worke much mischeife, and to every of those
Garrisons of 2000 Foote men there should be 200 horsemen,
for the one without the other can doe little service. Theis
Garrison's should be Victualled for half a yeare. The Bread
should be in Flower, and to bake yt as they neede, Theire
drinke Likewise there brued, but the Beeffe to be Barrelled,
and to have Hose arid Shoes and suche like necessarilie
provided, because they should have noe cause to seeke
abroade, which is dangerous evill.
By theis 4 Garrisons the Enemie shall be on all sides soe
busyed as he shall notknowe howe to keepe his Creeke 6 and
hide himself, soe that our Winter ^ like to pull him soe Lowe
on his knees as he shall be hardlie at'le to ryse again. For
the Service of Irelande is fittest in the Winter, because then
the Trees are bare that must be his Pavillion, the Ground
cold and wett, that must be his Bedd, the Ayre cold and
sharpe for his naked sides ; and his Cattle Leane and yeld no
milke and with Calfe and with drivinge hither and thither
will cast calfe and soe deprive him of Milke the Sommer
following. After the Establishment of these Garrisons
proclamacioii should be made that who soe will absolutelie
1 Spenser has only Castle-liffar, now Lifford, teidib1ieA]A.
2 Fearneimmnagh (Sp.) ; VeAjMiTnA^h = Farney ; treAjAA-tnAtiAcli ==
Fermanagh.
3 Bondroise ; X)|AobAi]% gen. X)]AobAi^eo, in Bk. of Armagh.
4 Bellashaine, bet-AcliA-feAtiAigli ; Belike, toel-teice.
5 Cf . gA-oATohe, a thief.
6 creete, which is his most susteenance ; cAO]AAij;1ieAc1ic, herding, cattle-
drovers ; in Chrou. Scot. p. 316, imepcAine = droves of cattle.
62 Haynes* Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
submitt himselfe and come in within xx tie . daies should be
received.
That will stryke such a Terror that manie will drawe
themselves from their Leader and come in for in the Desmonds
AYarres he turned awaye all his unserviceable People. If
anie Gent, or other Accompt will come in and bring his
Create, they should be receaved, but not kept about anie of
the Garrisons, but sent to some partes of the Inland, for by
keepinge them under whatsoever Colour in the Garreson will
breade greate ill.
But yf they come not out at the firste Somons not to
receave them at all. There is noe suche waies to weary and
weaken theis Rebelles as by keepinge them from Killinge
and from the quiett enioyenge his Crease. For they will
thereby soone be brought to extreme miseries as in the
Warres of Minister, which was a most populous and plentiful!
place of Corne and Cattle yett in a year and halfe they were
all consumed with Famyne, dyeinge in the Woodes Eatirige
one another, yea the Dead Carkases one of another. The
Strength of this Countrie consisteth in their Kerne, Gallo-
glasses, Storagh, 1 Horsmen and Horseboies, Theis havinge
nothinge of their own, doe robb and Spoyle, as well theire
own Friends as their Foes, for they naturally delight in
Spoyles. The Contreye beinge then thus subdued and the
People brought into such a miserable State, her Majestie
maie perhapps pittye them as she did in the tyme of Lo.
Grey, who having brought them to a good awe by his Force
and pollycie and therein deservinge great Commendation was,
uppon the informacion of those Rebellious People, called home
and in sorte misliked for his Labor, and the Contrye Sett at
Libertie againe, and in short tyme brake out into their former
disobedience, Insomuche as all that he had most wiselie
brought to passe for the good of both Estates was altered by
contrary Corses.
This noble-man was Slanderously charged with harde
1 stokagh ; " ]-r6cAc1i, an idle fellow that lives in and about the kitchen
of the great folks, and will not work to support himself" (O'Brien's Diet.} ;
a young grown up fellow of 15 or 16 years of age (jlc V. Coneys}.
Jdayne* Observations on the State of Ireland in 1000. 63
ilealiuge with the Spaniards at Fennwick 1 forth, For that
where yt hath bene said that the Spaniarde by him had
promise of Liefe and freepasse. It is false. For theire
Cominge was held, as indeede they were unlawfully arrived
to ayde the Irishe, and therefore to geve them Life had bene
preiudiciall and dangerous for that they intended to ioyne
with the Irishe, and therefore in greate policie they were cutt
off without anie unlawful! promise or practise broken.
Sir John Parrott succeedinge this noble Governor, as a
man Skorninge the course before taken, tooke Councell of his
owne prowde and ambicious thoughts and soe betooke him
to a cleane contrary course, discountenancinge the Englishe
and favouriage the Irishe. And soe brought the Bodie neere
recovered to a Relapse, and more dangerous sicklies, pre-
tendinge some high matter for himselfe as after appeared.
But sith yt hath bene seene howe dangerous lenitie is to this
Reformacion of Irelande evills, It must be held, as indeed yt
is, most necessary to proceede with more sharpe meanes to
recover the same. And where suche Order beinge taken for
the placinge of Garresons, there must be Order also taken
that the Cap tain es doe not, as they have done, and bene
accustomed, putt awaie their men and stay their paye at
their pleasures. For by theis meanes the Service thus
secretlie intended maie be soone overthrowne. Let all that
have to deal in the oversight thereof, as her Majestie in full
paie, the Muster Master in vie win ge, and Lord Deputie, in
overlooking^, maie be all deceaved.
And, therefore, the Collonnell must be of specyall choise,
whoe must take due notice of the Companies, and that the
Captain e paie not the Soldyers, but a paie Mas r . to be
appointed, who accordinge to the Captaines Tickett, and the
accompte of the Clearke of the Bande, shal) pay the Soldyers.
Soe the Captaine, havinge noe benefitt by colouring the prac-
tizes of his men will rather covett to have a whole then a
broken iiomber.
It should be in the power of the Collonnell to protecte the
Saufe conducte, and to have martiall La we, and theis to be
1 Smerwicke; but, see Life of Raleigh by Sir J. Pope Henncssy, about
all this.
64 Hay nes' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
Limit! cd by very straight instructions. Namely, for protec-
cions, IIL shall after the first proclamation protect suche as
shall come in unto him with the xx tie . daies, and soe sende
him to the Lorde Deputie with saufe Conducte. And for her
Martiall Lawe to be done uppon the Soldyers, It must be
by formall Tryall by a Jury of his Fellowe Soldyers and
not at will or pleasure of the Collonnell. As for other of the
Rebells that shall light e into their hands, yt behooveth to
have greate regarde of what condicion they be, because some
are freeholders of greate Revenews, and, for that they have
not the due course of Justice, the Quene looseth her righte.
It is not like or necessarie to receave the Tiron into Subiec-
tion againe because, havinge Stoode so longe in hope of a
Kingdome and findirige that the Queene hath faintlie with-
stood him, thinketh himselfe able to stande and prevails, and
yet he maye offer himselfe under some Collor but not meane
yt att all. For yf he should come in and leave his Complices
as Odonel, MacMahon, MacGwyre, 1 and the rest in danger in
the middest of their Troubles, he maie thincke they would
cutt his Throate by whom they were drawn e into the
Accion.
And to geve anie Hostages for his true cominge in, he
Tyrone cannott. Tyrone beinge of Oneyl, seemeth to
make a kinde of false Claime to this Northe part, but he hath
noe right at all, for the Challenge of O'Neyll in the Seignorie
in the Northe is most uniust. Because the Kinge of Englaiide
conqueringe Irelande invested all the righte in themselves,
and to theire Heires and Successors for ever ; Soe as nothinge
was lefte in O'Neyl but what he had receaived back from
them.
Oneyl himself had never anie anciente Seignorie over that
Countrye but by Usurpation upon the death of the Duke of
Clarence, when by usurpacion he got uppon the Englishe,
whose Landes and possessions beinge formeriie wasted by
the Scotts under the leadinge of Edward LeBruze, and hath
ever since detayned them by reason of the Kinge of Eng-
lande beinge busyed about affayres att home could not intend
1 Magueeirke (Spenser), nuj uro1n|\.
Haynes Observations on tie State of Ireland in 1600. 65
to restreyne them from reigninge in the North in that dis-
soluciori ; But that Oneyl easilie might make himselfe Lorde
of those fewe people that remained in those partes and ever
since contynued his usurpacions. Soe that to Subdue him
him, beinge an Usurper, is not uniust Warre, but a restitution
of Ancient right possessions, as Englishmen, from which they
have been uniustlie expelled.
Pheagh Now as touchinge that base Pheaghe
MacHugh. MacHugh whoe hath long showed himselfe so
villanous a Traytor under the nose of the Englishe, to the
greate indignitie of the Queene. He discended of the Bimes
and Tooles who came of the ancient Brittaines, and inhabited
in the Eastern partes of Ireland notwithstanding the cominge
of the Englishe with Dermohugale 1 whoe belike despised
that mountanous Country, Suffered theis men to live there,
whoe built sondrie Castles, whose mines yett appeare and
by little and Little since that hath growne to such strength
andimboldnes by the good successe of this Pheagh MacHugh^
that they no we threaten Perill to Dublyn.
Tirons But this Pheagh had noe right or Title to
those partes for that was geven in inheritance by Dermouth
macMurrah, Kinge of Lempster, to Strongbow with his
Daughter, and Strongbow gave yt over to the Kinge and
his tieires. Soe as yt is now^absolute in her Majestie ; but yf
Obriue yt were not in her highnes yt was in Obrine
the ancient Lorde of that Country, and not in this Pheagh,
for he and his Ancestors were but followers to Obrine and
his Grandfather.
Shan MacTyrlagh was a man of meanest regarde amonge
them. But his Sonne Pheagh 2 mac Shan the Father of this-
Pheagh, first beganne to Lift up his hande 3 and throughe the
Strengthe and fastnes of Glen Malour 4 which ioined to his-
howse of Bellingore 5 drewe unto him manie Theeves and
outlawes that fled for succour unto that Glen by whom
1 Deurmuid-ne-galli 5 T)iAj\tTiAic HA n-^AU, D. of the foreigners, or
MacMorough.
2 recte Hugh. * head.
4 fastness of Glan-Maleeirh,
5 Ballinecorrih ; t>Aite-nA-ctnjAj\e.
VOL. IX.
<>6 Theological Questions.
manie Spoyles were brought unto him, whereby he grew
strouge and gotte name amonge the Irishe, and this his
Sonne contymiinge is become a dangerous Enemie yett not
so dangerous but a small power would have subdued him,
hadd he been taken in hand and the Countryes adioining
quieted, as that honorable man S r William Russell gave a
notable attempt, wherein yett he was crossed. But no we all
the parties aboute him being upp, as the Moores in Lyex,
The Cavenaghes in the County of Wexford, and some of the
Butlers in the County Kilkenny, all flocke unto him and to
his Country, thinkinge to be saufe from all them that pro-
secute them ; and from thence they brake out unto the
Countryes adjoiniuge as the Counties of Kildare and Dublyn,
Caterlagh, Kilkenny and Wexforde, and with the Spoyles
thereof victuall themselves, without which they would
quicklie starve. Soe yt appeareth that, of himselfe, is he
most base and of noe power.
(To be continued.)
THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS.
CASUS IN MATERIA S1GILLI.
" Would you kindly in the next number of the t. E. R. give your
views in the following case :
u Sophia et Joannes templum in urbe unicura suinmo mane petunt
ut post confession em et communionem matrimonio conjungantur.
Joannes ingreditur sacristiam et mentem suam Christophoro parocho
aperit. Hie jam fere paratus ad sacrum jubet eos finem missae
expectare, ut iis morem gerat. Finita missa, redit ex sacristia
snperpellice ac stola indutus, intrat in sanctuarium, annuitque
Joanni ut confessurus accedat. Confitetur inter caetera Joannes se
esse furem, latronem, impudicum, adulterum, verbo reum mille
scelerum, quae omnia copiose persequitur. Ohristophorus senex,
surdaster, querelus et iracundas eum altiori voce interrogat et objurgat.
Haec fere omnia ad aures Sophias perveniunt ; nam tot ac tanta
crimina exhorrescens ante finitam coiifessionem clam templo se sub-
Theological Questions. >7
duxerat. Joannes, videns puelltun autugisse, vadit ad cjus doimim,
interrogatque num ipsum deserere velit ob confessioneni auditarn et
parochi objurgationes. Respondet ilia : ' Nil habeo diceiulum ;
interroga conscientiam tuam.' Post rion nihil temporis amoto ob
aetatem Christophoro, Sophia Georgio, novo parocho, rein totam
narrat. Georgius an tern duris verbis in earn invehitur. 'Omisera'
inquit ' sigillum in damn urn Joannis violasti. Noil possum te
absolvere nisi vadas ad euni, veriiam petas, reconcilieris euinque roges
ut te ducat uxorem. Neque enim aliter reparare potes injuriain
quain infelici Joaiini sigilli violatione fecisti.' Respondit ilia se
potius inori velle qnam hisce conditionibus absolvi.
" SACERDOS."
Phiribus confessariis, iisque doctis, kunc casum pro-
posui ; qui, licet admitterent vem esse valde avduam,
pleric^ue clicebant nimis durum esse, ipsis judicibus,
absolutiouem in circumstantiis allatis Sophiae deuegare.
Hanc sentential!!, quam reprobare non auderem, priucipiis
tlieologicis stabilire valde difficile est. Imprimis si mulier
scientiam illarn de moribus perversis sponsi alio ex fonte,
licet sub secreto, hausisset, posset sine dubio ea utendo
recusare matrimoniurn et, si necesse esset, aufugere ne in
uniouem tarn infaustam inire cogeretur. Jarnvero, cum res ita
sese habeat, qui legit Suarezium Lugonemque de obligatione
sigilli sacramentalis, ni fallor censebit esse saltern probabile
sporisam in casu proposito jitstitiam, quatenus spectetur
prouti sejunota ab irrevereiitia erga sacramentum, graviter
non violasse.
At, etiamsi elementum justitiae semper sit diligenter
perpendendum, malitia longe longeque praecipua quae in
sigillo frangendo inveuitur est irreverentia ilia tremenda.
Etenim nee ad patriam defendendam nee ad fidem populo-
rum, si possibile esset, immunem servandam, scientia sacra-
meutali uti c^iiin rnauifestatione peccati poenitentis sine
licentia ipsius ulluinodo confessario licet. In hoc conveniunt
omnes. NOIL solum, vero, violatur sigillum quando mani-
t'estatur cognitio peccati ex scientia sacramentali acquisita,
sed etiam <^uando scientia ita communicata utitur confessarius
sive in gravamen poenitentis sive modo quo, si permitteretur,
confessio reipublicae Christianae redderetur odiosa. Dicendum
68 Theological Questions.
quidem est quosdam ex antiquioribus theologis obligationem
in bis casibus non urgere sub omni omnino discrimine.
Imo Bilkiart, qui tenet confessarium vitam propriam servare
posse alia via ad insidias paratas declinandas eundo, modo
poenitens non sit gravamen a ceteris cornplicibus infligendum
passurus, tantum " landabilins et tutius " censet viam con-
suetam non deserere, si aliter agendo mors esset poenitenti
obventura ; eoquod, etiamsi in casibus ejusmodi vix unquam
occurrentibus confessio redderetur odiosa, non tamen in
casibus ordinariis vitae humanae. Haec tamen sententia
rejicienda est. Si enim fideles scirenifin ullo casu scientia
sacramentali uti licere, sive ad peccatum manifestandum,
sive ad gravamen poenitenti ingerendum saepe timerent ne
confessarii perperam judicarent esse locum exceptionibus, et
proinde a sacramento poenitentiae averterentur. Solus casus,.
ut videtur, de quo verum existit dubium quoad confessarium
est ille in quo post confessionem vel agere debet in gravamen
poenitentis vel facere aliquod, quod vel est intrinsice malum
vel saltern ita esset in aliis circumstantiis. Exemplum traditur
apud Lacroix.
Hactenus, ad quaestiouem enucleandam, de obligationi-
bus confessarii. Pertinentne in omni sua intensitate ad laicos
qui casu audiunt poenitentem? Nemo peccatum non esse-
magis in confessario diceret aut homines esse eodem in modo-
a sacramento avertendos ratione usus scientiae in gravamen
poenitentis ex parte laici adstautis ac ex parte confessarii.
Modo, enim, sacerdos sit obligatus, poenitens generatim sese
tueri potest. Obligatio, tamen, mutatis mutandis, in iisdem
casibus oritur, quando nempe homines revera sic deterrer-
entur. Et in casu proposito nonne sponsi a confession-
averterentur, si sponsae scientia sacramentali uti possint ad
.aufugiendum ? Responderi quidem potest casum esse adeo-
rarum ut nemo hac formidine practice afficeretur, praesertim
quoniam sponsus sese tueri possit, si necessarium sit, peccata
sua non integre declarando. Sed e contra hie casus quau-
doque oriri potest, et agitur de eo qui ad novam vitam
inchoandam volebat omnia sua peccata integre declarare, et
probabilius nullum periculum vel saltern nullum effugium
apprehendebat. JNonne quoque in gratiam integritatis im-
TJieological Questions. 69
positum est sigillum ? Quodsi dicatur mulierem illam
potuisse aufugere, si scientia sacramental! intelligeret esse
impedimentum indispensabile se inter et Joannem, responderi
potest casum, in quo nisi gravamen irrogetur poenitenti
faciendum esset aliquid intrinsice malum, esse omnibus aliis
disparem, et ejusmodi qui nullum sanum a confessione
averteret. Praeterea plures negarent earn sic agere posse.
Urgeri quidem potest matrimonium illud infelix futurum
fuisse utrique valde malum. Sed, inter alia, qui jam sincere
confitetur peccata sua, sub gratia Dei in meliorem mutari
potest.
Eratne igitur mulieri ullum effugium ? Post corifessionem
sponsi videretur earn de quo dam ad sigillum pertinente
loquendi licentiam petere potuisse. Sic quidem aliquo
gravamine afficeretur poenitens, sed non multo majore
quam si licentia a confessario peteretur. Si permissio
recusaretur, vel data permissione matrimonium urgeretur,
mulier, quod sciam, Deo confisa deberet contractum perficere.
Sententiam tamen oppositam, praesertim vero confessarii
-qui teneret, fuga jam peracta, fore reverentiae erga sacra-
mentum satis consultum, si mulier ad Joannem scriberet
petendo veniam ratione fugae et dicendo, ob illam fugam,
longe melius esse utrique ipsos non esse conjunctos, etiamsi
secum numquam illi nubere statuisset, improbabilem dicere
non possum, nee practice periculosam. In casu hujus modi
confessarius dispositionem poenitenti s exquirere debet ante-
quam obligationem imponat, etiamsi certus sit de ejus
existentia. Denique satis doleri nequit Christophorum mun-
tts adeo excelsum tarn indigne pertractasse.
CASE OF MIXED MARRIAGE IN RELATION TO THE RECEPTION
OF THE SACRAMENTS OF PENANCE AND HOLY COMMUNION.
" Kindly assist me by your direction in the following embarrassing
case :
" A Catholic lady who has lived in my p arish for some years is
married to a Protestant. The marriage was celebrated clandestinely
in a certain part of, the Continent where the lady had resided for some
years. They did not appear before the parish priest, though the
decree Tametsi is in force there. The lady knew that she was doing
1/0 Theological Questions.
wrong in not having the marriage performed by the priest, but she-
did not connect the omission with possible invalidity.
" The usual conditions and promises required by the Church when
allowing a mixed marriage were omitted.
" The children are some of them Catholic some Protestant ; the
daughters go with the mother to Mass, the sons accompany the
father to the Protestant church.
" To add to my difficulty, the history of the marriage is pretty
generally known and believed in my parish.
" Now the married lady comes to confession, and asks for absolution
and Holy Communion. What must I require her to do (1) before
absolving her; (2) before admitting her to Holy Communion at the
the rails with the rest of the people ?"
1. Our respected correspondent's difficulty is somewhat
lightened by the bona fides of the person in question. He
rightly draws a distinction between the Blessed Eucharist
on the one hand and Penance on the other. This Catholic
lady cannot be allowed to receive Holy Communion with the
rest of the people if she is considered by her neighbours not
to be a married women at all. But if willing to promise a
sincere effort to remove scandal and comply with her other
obligations, her confessor may think it right to give her
absolution before her endeavours have succeeded.
2. The peculiar obligations of the situation in which she
finds herself range themselves under two heads. They either
regard her family or her marriage. In the first place, before
receiving absolution she must be sony for having violated
the laws of the Church so seriously, and promise to strive for
the conversion of her husband and non-Catholic children.
Secondly, if the marriage was valid, owing to the extension
of Benedict XIVs decree to the place where it was con-
tracted, it only remains to set the public right in regard to
it. But if it was invalid a dispensation should be sought.
o. 80 far the lady has been supposed to be in ignorance
of invalidity, if not actually married. Of course, if she
begins to entertain doubts, or if her confessor deems it
prudent to state how the matter stands, the proper admoni-
tions for such contingencies should be given.
P. O'D.
[ 71 ]
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS. 1
I.
THE SYNOD OF MAYNOOTH AND THE " UNCTIO $ENUM."
" Did the Synod of Maynooth in ordering the Roman Ritual to be
used impose an obligation binding priests when administering
Kxtreme Unction to apply the Unctio renum in all cases not excepted
in the Ritual ? " J. F. D."
Wherever the Roman Ritual is received no special legis-
lation is necessary to render obligatory the rites and ceremonies
prescribed by it for the administration of the Sacraments.
For in it are contained the " received and approved " rites
which no priest can without sin omit, as the Council of Trent
has declared. But though the Roman Ritual prescribes the
unctio renum in certain cases, it is well-known that even in
places where that Ritual is used, this unction has fallen into
desuetude. Our correspondent wishes, therefore, to know,
whether, owing to the Decree of the Maynooth Synod, priests
in this country are bound to apply the unctio renum as the
Ritual directs, or whether, notwithstanding this Decree,
they may omit the unctio renum in all cases.
To prevent misunderstanding, it is well to distinguish
between the obligation of using the Roman Ritual and the
obligation of observing in all their details the rites and cere-
monies prescribed in it. That the use of the Roman Ritual
is binding on all priests in Ireland is beyond question. The
Synod of Thurles says, (p. 16, 2), " Curandum est ut typis
edatur Rituale Romanum integrum quod omnes sacerdotes
nostri adhibere tenentur." The second obligation about
which the present question is particularly concerned would
likewise seem to bind priests in Ireland in other words, it
would seem that, from the special legislation of our National
Synods, priests are bound to apply the unctio renum as the
Roman Ritual directs. The words of the Synod of Maynooth
which are merely borrowed from the Synod of Thurles
1 [We should have mentioned in our last number that the question refer-
ring to the mode of carrying the Chalice, in the November number (vol viii.
page 1034) was not answered by the Rev. D. O'Loan, though incorporated
with the other Liturgical answers, which were written by him. ED. I.E.R.]
72 Liturgical Questions.
(loc. cit~) are, " Ritus omnes 'praescripti in Rituali Romano
. . . pro Sacramentorum administratione accurate obser-
ventur," (cap. x., v. 27. From the words Ritus omnes . . .
accurate .... it would appear that the obligation of
this Decree extends to the unctio renum. Indeed, O'Kane
assumes that the obligation of observing this ceremony as
directed by the Ritual follows as a matter of course from
the obligation of using the Ritual. He says, (n. 893),
" Wherever, the Roman Ritual is ordered to be observed as it
is in Ireland the unction of the loins is not to be omitted in
men unless in the case here excepted by the rubric itself."
II.
THE LESSONS OF THE FIRST NOCTURN IN THE FEASTS OF
SAINTS OTTERAN AND COLMAN.
" Where should the Lessons of the First Nocturn have been taken
from on the 27th and 29th October, the Feasts of Saints Otteran and
Colman both of double major rite ? The Or do speaks for itself : yet
some think they fc should have been from the common. " P.P."
The general rule regarding the Lessons of the first Noc-
turn in feasts of double major rite is given in a decree of the
Sacred Congregation of Rites of September 2, 1741, which
reads thus : " Duplicia majora habent Lectiones proprias
vel de communi, non autem de Scriptura occurrente." When,
however, the beginnings or initial lessons of certain books of
"Scripture cannot be read on any day of lower rite, before
the end of the week, within which they occur, they are
to be read on a feast of double major, or even more
solemn rite, though it should be necessary in order to do this,
to omit proper Lessons. Now, the Lessons from the
Scriptures for the fifth Sunday of October and the two
following feriae contain the history of Eleazar and of the
heroic martyrs the mother and her sons for which cause,
apparently, they are, as is mentioned in the Ordo at 27th
October, reckoned as the beginning of a book of Scripture,
and have therefore a right to be read if necessary on days on
which the ordinary Scripture occurring would not be read.
The Rubric regarding these Lessons is given in the Breviary
before the Feria V. of the week preceding the fifth Sunday
of October.
IMurrfical Questions. 73
III.
A DIFFICULTY WHICH OCCURS IN THE SECOND MASS WHEN A
PRIEST DUPLICATES.
" How should a priest who duplicates on Sundays and Holydays,
or, who celebrates three times on Christmas day, hold the chalice,
whilst he pours into it the wine and water for the offertory of the
second and ihird masses ? " MANY READERS."
We cannot answer our correspondent's question better
than in his own words. He says :
" In books of some authority on rubrical subjects, I find three
different methods prescribed :
" First In the instruction for a priest who celebrates two or
three masses in the same church, given in the appendix to the Roman
Ritual, lately 'published, it is laid down : ' Cum autem in secunda
missa sacerdos ad offertorium devenerit, ablato velo de calice, hunc
parumper versus cornu Epistolae collocabit, sed non extra corporale ;
factaque hostiae oblatione, cavebit, ne purificatorio extergat calicem,
sed eum infra corporale relinquens leviter elevabit, vinumque et
aquam eidem caute imponet, ne guttae aliquae ad labia ipsius calicis
resiliant, quern deinde millatenus ab intus abstersum more solito
offeret ' That instruction seems taken from Meratus who (p. iv.
tit. 3, n. 9) says ' Cavebit sacerdos in missa privata (secunda vel
tertia) ne purificatorio extergat calicem, sed eum infra corporale
relinquens^ leviter elevabit, ac,' &c.
"The second method is that prescribed by Martiuucci (lib. i.,
cap. 20, n. 6) : ' Quod ad secundam et tertiam missam spectat,
lecto versu offertorii calicem deteget, removebit paululum de medio,
relinquens ipsum a dextris suis et hostiae oblationem faciet. Veniet
postea in cornu epistolae, et calicem detectum siuistra accipiet,
vinum et aquam infundet, ut praescribitur, non vero deponet eum in
altari, sed elevatum sinistra sustinebit." 1
" St. Alphonsus in his book ' de Ceremoniis Missae,' gives a
choice between a third method and one of the two foregoing in these
words : ' In secunda et tertia missa Nativitatis Domini, cum in
calice sint reliquiae sanguinis, apponendam esse pallam super tobalea
altaris in qua cal'tx collocari 2>ossit : et potest apponi ipsa palla calicis,
ante quam diet us calix removeatur a corporali: aut etiam manu
sinistra teneri potest. 1 Whether this second method suggested by
S. Alphonsus be that recommended by Meratus, or Martinucci, is
not clear from the text. ' The Sacred Ceremonies of Low Mass,
74 TAturrtical Question*.
according to the Roman Rite, by a priest of the Congregation of the
Mission,' identifies it with that of Martinucci ; but the editor of
the Ratisbon edition of S. Alphonsus' work with that laid down by
Meratus and the appendix to the Ritual ; and he states that it is the
method practised at Eome and that the custom of using the pall is
unknown there. His words are : 4 Hie secundus modus a S. Doctore
indicatus Roinae practicatur, ubi usus oponendi pallam super tobalea
plane nescitur.'
u On the other hand we are told in a note, on page 4, of the Irish
Ordo : " In 2nda missa calix super pallam ponatur, dum
infunditur vinum cum aqua ad offertorium Ita Ordo Romanus:*
from which it is natural to infer that, the custom of using the pall,
is not unknown, but practised at Rome. And as the S. R. C. has,
to the following question : ' An in casibus dubiis adhaerendum est
Kalendario dioecesis. sive quoad officium publicum et privatmn, sive
quoad missam, sive quoad vestium sacrorum colorem, etiamsi
quibusdam videatur probabilior sententia Kalendario opposita ? Et
quatenus affirmative ; an idem dicendum de casu in quo certum
alicui videretur errare Kalendarium ;' responded : ' Standum
Kalendario :' the question arises : Is a priest, who is required to use
the Irish Ordo, bound, when he duplicates, to use the Pall in the
Second Mass, as described above ? Or should he follow the method
laid down in the appendix to the Roman Ritual and hold the chalice
elevated over the corporal ? Or, is he at liberty to adopt the method
of Martinucci, and to hold the chalice at the Epistle corner slightly
elevated above the altar table and carry it back to the corporal
before depositing it ? This liberty of choice seems implied in the
words of De Herdt : ' Dum vinum et aquam infundit, calicem
super corporale tenet, vel elevatum super mappam altaris. Potest
etiam palla deponi ad cornu Epistolae, ut Imic calix imponatur.' "
It is unnecessary to add a word to this very clear and
very full exposition of the question. Our correspondent puts
it beyond question by his citations from so many sources
that a priest may choose any one of the methods referred to.
The method recommended by Merati would be inconvenient
in many cases. For according to the Rubrics of the Missal,
which are of higher authority than the opinion of a Rubricist,
the priest while putting the wine and water into the chalice
should stand at the Epistle corner of the altar. " Deinde in
cornu Epistolae accipit calicem " etc. (De ritu Gel. Titulus 7.)
Qufstiones Academiac Lllnrmcac Romanae. 75
But, where the table of the altar is of considerable length, it
would be impossible for a priest to observe this rubric if
obliged to hold the chalice over the corporal. In this case the
use of the pall in the manner recommended by St. Alphonsus
would be, if not necessary, at least highly convenient. In
this country there is another reason for using the pall in this
manner. As the corporal according to our custom has to be
partly unfolded immediately before the offertory, it would
manifestly be " convenient for the priest while doing this to
be able to place the chalice outside the corporal.
The authority of the Ordo, however, need not trouble our
correspondent. It is true that Standum est Kalendario is the
rule to be observed in cases of controverted or doubtful in-
terpretation of the Rubrics. But in this case we are dealing
hot with the Rubrics which are silent upon the point but
with the directions given by Rubricists for the more conve-
nient performance of a certain action. And certainly no one
will hold that the plan which recommends itself to the com-
piler of the Ordo as being the most convenient, must neces-
sarily be the most convenient for all.
D. O'LOAN.
QUESTIONES ACADEMIAE LITURGICAE ROMANAE.*
QUOT ET QUAEXAM ET QUO ORDINE ORATIONES IN MISSIS PRO
DEFUNCTIS RECITANDAE SUNT. ,
P\\ r E have much pleasure in drawing 1 the attention of our readers
to the following paper, read in the Academy of Liturgy at Rome, in
the presence of Cardinal Paroechi, president, on the practical question as
to what prayers are to be said, and in what order, in a private Missa
Quotidiana de Requiem. The writer holds that the first prayer is not
to he always the one for bishops and priests (which is placed first in
the Missa Quotidiana) but the prayer special to the person or persons
for whom we offer the Mass. He explains the true meaning of the
various decrees which have been issued on this point, and advances
very good reasons for the view he advocates. We learn from the
1 Extracted from the Ephemerides Liturgicat, No. 4, p. 210 (April, 1887,
vol.1. Rome.
76 Questiones Academiae Liturgicae Romanae.
Editor of the Ephemerides Liturgicae that the Cardinal president con-
curred in the view of the writer, and remarked that this was always
his conviction. ED. I. E. R.]
********
Alterum quaesitum postulat, quid Rubrica Missalis
Sacraeque Rituum Congregationis decreta praescribant circa
Orationum species in Missis pro defunctis.
Praemittimus, quatuor esse Missas pro defunctis in Missali
assignatas : quarum dicitur l a in commemoratione omnium
fidelium defunctorum, 2 a in die obitus seu depositionis, 3 a in
anniversario defunctorum, 4 a in Missis quotidianis defunctorum.
Has inter Missas discrimen primum in epistola consistit et
evangelic. Cum tamen Rubrica post Missam quotidianam
dicat : Epistolae et evangelia superius posita in una Missa pro
defunctis, did possunt etiam in alia Missa similiter pro defunctis;
huiusmodi discrimen nihili esse faciendum satis patet.
Discrimen alterum constituunt Orationes, quae duplici
modo considerari possunt, nempe vel specifice vel numerice.
Quod ad numerum spectat, satis erit dicere, omnem Missam
solemnem unam tantum Orationem admittere, plures vero
Missas, quae eiusmodi non sunt (Ruhr. Miss. pars. 1 9 Tit. V.
De Miss, defunct.). lam vero, cum Rubrica ipsa ac Rubricae
expositores solemn es iudicent Missas, quae dicuntur in Com-
memoratione omnium fidelium defunctorum, die obitus seu
depositionis, tertia, septima ac trigesima, et in anniversario ;
sequitur, in his omnibus unam tantummodo dicendam esse
Orationem. Item sicuti iuxta Decretum in Briocensi (12 Aug.
1854 ad 11) omnis Missa cum cantu solemnis reputatur, haec
quoque unius pariter Orationis iure gaudet. Haec regula
unam patitur exceptionem, quae Missam respicit canendam
prima cuiusvis mensis die, et aliam feria secunda cuiusvis
hebdomadae libera ; in his enim ex decreto in Aretina (27
Februar. 1847) una aut plures dici Orationes possunt. Omnes
-aliae defunctorum Missae, quae aut non sunt aut non censen-
tur solemnes, semper plures Orationes exigunt, nunquam
minus quam tres, vel plures ad placitum Celebrantis, impari
numero servato (Deer, in Aquen. 2 Sept. 1741 ad 4). Haec
quidem de Orationum numero, sed progrediamur ad speciem.
Quoties in Missa defunctorum unica dicitur Oratio, haec
specialis est, animaeque debet respondere, pro quo Sacrifi-
Questioned Academiae Liturgicae Romanac. 77
cium offertur (deer. cit. in Briocen. ad 11). Eo in casu Oratio
erit Deus qui inter Summos Sacerdotes pro Pontifice, Deus qui
inter Apostoiicos pro Episcopo, pro Cardinal! presbytero, et
pro Sacerdote, mutatis mutandis iuxta Rubricam, pro Cardi-
nali diacono Oratio Inclina praescripta est. Pro reliquis
defunctis. sive clericis sive laicis, Missae depositionis, tertiae,
septimae ac trigesimae diei, sicuti et aniversarii, Orationem
determinatam habent in Missali. Missa quotidiana, si solem-
niter celebretur, speciali Oratione gaudebit, quae applicatione
respondeat, quaeque opportune eligenda erit inter multas,
post Missam quotidianam in Missali assignatas. In Duabus
Missis superius exceptis, si unicam Orationem habeant,
.dicatur Deus veniae largitor : si plures, illae dicentur quae in
ipsa Missa quotidiana positae sunt.
QUAENAM ORATIOXES RECITANDAE SUNT IN MISSA QUOTIDIANA
QUAE PRIVATE DICITUR.
Quaenam vero Orationes recitandae erunt in Missa quo-
tidiana, quae private dicitur ? Haec enim potior nostri casus
inquisitio est. Rubrica praescribit generic e, plures in ea
dicendas esse Orationes, sive numerice sive specifice sumptas.
Tres autem Orationes in quotidiana Missa assignatae sunt,
quarum l a est Deus qui inter Apostoiicos, 2 a Deus veniae largitor,
3 a Fidelium Deus omnium conditor. Plura decreta permittunt
secundae Orationi aliam quamcumque posse subrogari ex iis,
quae pro defunctis notantur in Missali. Cum ergo plures in
hac Missa dicendae Orationes sint, tres assignentur in Missali,
secundae alia impune subrogari possit, sequi videtur, primo
dicendam esse semper Deus qui inter Apostoiicos^ secundo loco
quamcumque ex assignatis, tertio loco Fidelium.
Certa ab incertis secernamus. Secundae Orationi aliam
subrogari posse citra dubium est (Deer, in Aquen. ad 4. 2 Sept.
1741). Ultimo autem loco dicendam esse Orationem Fidelium
Deus, item extra quaestionem ponitur, quod ex eodem nunc
citato decreto evidenter patet. Manet ergo quaestio circa
primam Orationem Deus qui inter Apostoiicos^ an scilicet haec
dicenda semper primo loco sit, an omitti, vel olio did loco valeat
iuxta Rubricas, illique Oratio *applicationi respondens possit iure
substitui.
Lex quidem prima Rubrica, quae tamen cum clara ad
7^ Questiones AcaJei/iiae lAtufgieae Romanize.
rein nequaquam sit, sapientiorum Rubvicae eiusdem iuter-
preturn iudicio stabimus. Sit ergo primus Merati in suis
annotationibus apud Ga van turn ; hie eiiim hanc quaestiouem
silet, iudieamus tameu a uemine quam a Merati eum sapien-
tius intelligi. Sapiens adnotator de lioc peculiar! casu dis-
serens ((jf-aeant. Tom. 1. pars 1. Tit. \\ n. XI) ait: "In
Missis quotidianis de requie servatur eadem regula ac de
feria et simplicibus, seu semiduplieibus." Inde prosequitur :
"Quando Missa applicatur generaliter pro defunctis. re-
gulariter dicuntur illae Orationes, quae in Missali pro Missis
quotidianis positae suut. Verum si Missa celebratur pro
aliqua, vel pro aliquibus determinatis personis, PRIMO LOCO
DICITUR ORATIO PRO us, PRO QUIBUS MISSA CELEBRATUR.
Eodemque loco (sub fine) item prosequitur : " In Missis quo-
tidianis celebratis etiam pro una certa et nota persona, 11011
unica tantuin, sed plures nempe tres Orationes dicendae :
QUARUM PRIMA ELICIENDA EST EX NUMERO ILLARUM, QUAE
POST MlSSAM QUOTIDIAN AM IN MlSSALI DEFUNCTORUM DESCRIP-
TAM, PONUXTUR. In praedicto igitur casu ELICIATUR PRIMA
ORATIO CONVENIEXS COXDITIOXI PERSOXAE, ix emus SUF-
FRAGIUM OFFERTUR SACRIFICIUM.
Eadem ratione eadem Rubrica explicatur et exponitur a
Guyeto, qui (Heortotog. Lib. IV, cap. XXIII. q. 29, Quarto)
post explicatam Rubricam de tribus Orationibus non mutandis
prima clie rnensis, si pro defunctis celebretur, addit : " Alias
vero PRIMA ORATIO ERIT PRO EO seu us DEFUXCTIS, PRO QUO,
seu PRO QUIBUS SACRIFICIUM OFFERTUR.
Eiusmodi iiiterpretationein suppetidat nobis Cavalerius,
sed acrioribus, quasi dicam, verbis ; nee de sua seiitentia
dubitans, veritatem proponere videtur. Ait enim, (Oper.
Liturg. Tom. Ill, elect' 177. m Onl. J,XXVIII 9 pag. 37, num.
XI) : " Aequum est ut sermonem convertamus raodo ad
Missas quotidauas reliquas, super quarum primam Orationem
etsi decretum taceat, non tamen tacent auctores, QUI OMXES
EAMDEM DEBERE ESSE SEXTIUXT DE EO, PRO QUO SACRIFI-
CIUM OFFERTUR. Et liiuc patet abusus uonnullorum, qui pro
quoc unique celebrent, praedictas tres Orationes iiidiscrinii-
iiatim adhibent, quasi in Missam quotidianam essent invectae,
ut communiter reoitentur pro quolibet, et non pro soils
Quest-tones Academiae Liturgicae Romanae. 79
defunctis omnibus, occafiione generalium suffragiorum.
Abusum huiusmodi satis evincunt Orationes particularium
defunctorum in Missali post Missam quotidiaiiam inductae et
respective dici praeceptae, et ipsa Ecclesiae praxis, quae
nedum Missas, sed etiam officium quodlibet absolvit cum
Oratione conveniente illi, de quo vel pro quo officium aut
Missa dicitur etc."
Quibus maximae auctoritatis commeutatoribus si alios
addas exteros, quos inter Lhoner, lansens, Roinsee, Brassine,
<et commumter omnes, ait De Herdt (Prax. Liturg. pars 1. De
Oration, in Miss. Defunct."), inficiandum non videtur, hunc
quern exposuimus, venim esse Rubricae sensum, ut aliter non
possit nee debeat ipsa intelligi.
Contra tamen hanc Rubricae exposition em plura citantur
decreta, quae consequenter recensere oportet. Primum est in
Aquensi (2 Sept. 1741 ad IV), in quo postulatur, utruin secunda
Oratio mutari possit ? Et S. R. C. respondet : " Pro ilia Deus
Veniae largitor impune subrogabitur alia ;" nil ergo contra sen-
tentiam nostram. Alterum est in Veronesi (27 Aug. 1836 ad
VII), in quo idem quaeritur quod in superior! decreto. Sacra
vero Congregatio oratorem remittit ad idem superius decretum,
haec addens : " Quoad prim am Orationem servetur ordo
Mifisalia" Tarn si nostrae non opponitur sententiae decretum
in Aquensi, ergo nee istud in Veronensi : de ordine Missalis
dicemus infra. Tertium decretum est in Mutinensi (23 Sept.
1837 ad A'/), in quo quaeritur: " quae Orationes in Missa
quotidiana pro defuuctis dicendae sint ?" Et S. R. 0. iterum
respondet : " Servetur Rubricae dispositio, et detur decretum
in A quensl ad IV :" quid contra nos ?
Decretum quarturn est in Briocensi (12 Aug. 1854, ad IV)
et inquirit : " Utrum in Missis quotidianis pro defunctis
teneatur Sacerdos recitare 1 loco Orationem pro defunctis
Episcopis seu Sacerdotibus, ut fert Missale Romanum ?" En
quaestio, in qua versamur, quam dirimere potuisset quidem
S. R. C. noluit tamen. Prosequitur dubium : " Potestiie
primo locro recitare Orationem Inclina... vel Quaesumus Domine
pro defuncto, cuius ad intentionem eleemosyna data est ?" Et
haec quidem clara petitio, cui clarion occurrere S. R. C.
responsione poterat. Sed audi : " Standum Missali." Advertit
80 Questiones Academiae Liturgicae Romanae.
tamen eadem Congregatio itermn, secundae aliam Orationem
ad libitum posse subrogari, ut alias decrevit. lam vero ex
eo quod alia Oratio secundae substitui possit, nil sequitur
contra propositam sententiam nostram ; iam enim ilia Oratio
aetate Cavalerii mutari poterat, qui tamen arbitratur et
primam esse mutandam.
Quintum reman et decretum in Tuscanensl (16 Septembris
1865) quod cum sententiam nostram damnare ac reprobare
videatur, operae pretium indicamus integrum referre.
Quaeritur ergo : a An in Missis quotidianis de requie
Sacerdos . . . private celebrans pro aliqua aut pro aliquibus
determinatis personis, debeat indiscriminatim dicere prirnam
Orationem Deus qui inter Apostolicos, primo loco in Missali
assignatam : an potius loco dictae primae Orationis teneatur
dicere aliam ex diversis in eodem Missali positis quae con-
veniat ei aut iis determinatis personis, pro quibus Missam
applicet ? Observa diligenter et perpende quaesitum : duo
inquiruntur, primo an Oratio Deus qui inter Apostolicos indis-
criminatim dici debeat ; secundo an loco liuius aliam Sacerdos
dicere teneatur iuxta applicationem. Ad primum S. R . C.
respondit : affirmative, ad secundum negative. Ergo, en
unica conclusio : Oratio Deus qui inter Apostolicos semper
dicenda pro quacumque persona celebret Sacerdos. Insuper
ipse Sacerdos non tenetur aliam illi subrogare in gratiam
illius personae pro qua celebrat. Ex quibus sequitur, hocce
decretum opinioni quam defendimus nulla ratione opponi.
Nos enim non sustinemus primam Orationem esse omittendam,
et aliam illi subrogandam ; sed tantummodo primam orationem,
esse posse quae applicationi respondeat, nee prima uec-
ultima ex orationibus omissis iuxta Missalis et decretorum
exigentiam.
Sed et aliud ultimum ex decretis ad rem opus est referre,.
quod prima fronte omnino contrarium videtur. Est aut em
decretum in un Ordin. Garmel. Excalc. Congr. Hispaniae (1(5
Februar. 1781 ad T/), in quo petitur: "Quae Oratio erit
dicenda in tali Missa?" hoc est in Missa quotidiana pro
defunctis privata. Porro S. R. C. respondet : " Deus qui inter
Apostolicos, ut in Missali." Verum hoc decretum de Missa
loquitur, ut videre est in collectione Gardelliniana, pro
Questiones Academiae Liturgicac Romanae. 81
defunctis vage sumptis, quo in casu idem et nos docuimus.
Ergo decreta S. R. C. sententiae Merati, consequenter
Gavanti, sicuti et Guyeti, Cavalerii, De Herdt, aliorumque
omnium Rubricarum, ut isti sentiunt, expositoribus, nullo
pacto contradicunt.
Superest nunc explicandus Ordo Missalis, de quo superius.
Hie non videtur esse ordo materialis Orationum, qui in Missa
quotidiana pro defunctis invenitur, quique saepe saepius ex
ipsa Rubricarum et decretorum vi invertitur. Hunc ergo
clar. Guyetus explicat (Heort. Lib. IV, Quaest, 29 ad quartum),
dicens : " Ordo autem illarum (orationum) est, ut quae pro
singularibus sunt, ponantur ante generales, et quae minus
generales ante generaliores." Ita hunc ordinem Missalis, ac
Rubricae dispositionem intellexerunt peritiores omnes ut a
Cavalerio docemur, qui hanc pertractarunt materiem.
Suflragatur et ratio iure liturgico innixa. Primo, in omni
Missa cum cantu, (excipe duas iam superius exceptas) dicitur
prima Oratio applicationi respondens ; ergo et in Missis sine
cantu, ubi enim eadem est ratio, eadem debet esse iuris dis-
positio. Secundo, Rubrica et S. R. C. decretis suis ordinem
hierarchicum exigunt in Orationibus pro defunctis, ut vel
particulares, vel minus generales Orationes ultima sequatur,
quae maxime generalis est, scilicet Fidelium Deus omnium
conditor. Hie vero ordo in sententia proposita apprime
obtinetur, in opposita fere semper hunc inverti necessum est.
Terlio, iuxta Rubricas prima Oratio in Missis semper festo
respondet, de quo vel factum est officium vel Missa dicitur :
atqui Missa in casu est de requie, et pro eo vel iis defunctis
offertur, pro quo vel quibus aut factum est officium, aut Missa
specialiter applicatur, ergo. 1 . . .
Ex dictis sequi videtur, 1. Orationem primam, in Missis
privatis defunctorum, applicationi respondentem, esse Ru-
bricis conformem, nee contra illam stare decreta S. C. R. 2.
Orationem Deus qui inter ApostolicosimnqyiSim esse omitten dam,
et post primam dicendam. 3. Alteri Deus veniae largitor posse
1 Emus. Farocchi Academiae Praeses interlocutos in Conventu aca-
demico superius indicate sententiam hanc defendit ; addiditque nunquam
se id habuisse in dubiis. Quanti autem valeat tanti viri iudicium norunt
omnes. Ed. Eph. Lit.
VOL. IX. P
82 Correspondence.
aliam subrogari, vel plures dici ex devotione Celebrantis.
4. In his Orationibus votivis imparem nnmerum semper esse
servandum. 5. Ultimam Orationem esse debere semper,
Fidelium Deus omnium conditor.
Ultimum quaesitum petit, cui ex duobus disc ep tan ti bus
faveat ratio. Brevi post dicta respondebimus. Imprimis
Sacerdos recitans primam Orationem, in omnibus Missis
privatis de requie, applicationi respondentem, nee contra
Rubricam agere videtur nee contra S. R. C. decreta. Riibri-
carum enim expositorum et quidem gravissimorum iudicio
stetit, qui tuentnr, id esse tarn Rubricis quam decretis omnino
conforme. Ad Orationem quod pertinet, Deus qui nos Palrem
et Matrem, quam dixit in anniversario suorum parentum, id
est pariter iuxta Rubricas. Et sane si casus extet, in quo
Rubrica dat facultatem Orationes dicendi, quae post Missam
quotidianam in Missali sunt positae, certo certius casus est
anniversario. Quod ultra patet ex speciali Rubrica, quae
dictis Orationibus praeponitur, nempe : " In die depositionis
"et Anniversarii etc." Ex qua evidenter resultat in die
anniversarii aptiorem ex illis eligi posse Orationem, magisque
Missae respondentem. Atqui Missa erat pro Patre et Matre
illius, ergo rite Orationem pro Patre et Matre selegit. Proinde
primo Presbytero, de quo in casu, tribuenda videtur ratio,
baud alteri, qui non recte, ut apparet, Rubricam intellexit,
sicut et S: R. C. decreta.
CORRESPONDENCE.
VERY REV. AND DEAR MR. EDITOR, I notice in the last number
of the I. E. RECORD that Father Dawson, the respected Chaplain of
the Boston-Spa Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, announces the
conclusion, so far as he is concerned, of the controversy between him
and me on the subject of |the oral system of teaching the deaf and
. dumb, as carried on through your kindness, for some months past, in
the pages of the RECORD. I am quite glad of it, as I find myself in
entire coincidence of wish with him, more especially as we may
expect soon to see the Official Pieport laid before Parliament of the
Documents. 83
Commissioners appointed to enquire into the education and condition
of the deaf and dumb.
I will, therefore, allow myself merely to observe, respecting his
paper in the last number of the RECOHD, that his allegation to the effect
that my references to the Conference in London ten years ago are
now out of date in consequence of the progress the system has since
made, can have but little weight, since we must bear in mind, that
the system has been in operation for over a hundred years in the
public schools of Germany, and surely it ought to have long since
brought forth whatever fruit it was capable of producing ; and it is
difficult to believe that the last ten years have improved it to any
appreciable extent.
Father Dawson, in conclusion, expresses his regret for having
been obliged, in the interest of the oral system, to enter upon this dis-
cussion. I must say, on my part, that I cannot sympathise with the
rev. gentleman, as I am very glad that my views to the contrary have
been subjected to such severe criticism at the hands of so able and
zealous an advocate of the system, and I trust, on that account, that
our interchanges must serve to dispel much of the obscurity that had
lain on the subject.
I have the honour to remain,
Very Rev. and dear Sir, very sincerely yours,
THE AUTHOR OF " CLAIMS OP THE UNINSTRUCTED
DEAF-MUTE TO BE ADMITTED TO THE SACRAMENTS."
DOCUMENTS.
BRIEF OF His HOLINESS LEO XIII. GRANTING INDULGENCES
ON THE OCCASION OF HIS SACERDOTAL JUBILEE.
SUMMARY.
A Plenary Indulgence, applicable to the souls in Purgatory, and
full remission of sins are granted
(1) to the faithful who make a pilgrimage to Rome on tlie
occasion of the Pope's Sacerdotal Jubilee ;
(2) to the faithful who in mind and spirit accompany tUese
pilgrimages ;
(3) to the faithful who in any way help towards the successful
carrying out of these pilgrimages ; provided
84 Documents.
(a) that for nine days preceding New Year's Day they make a
Novena, consisting of the recital of a third part of the Rosary each
day ;
(b) that they make a similar Novena any time, at choice, between
the 1st of January and 30th of June, 1888 the limits which bound
the Jubilee pilgrimages ;
(c) that both on New Year's Day, and on the Sunday or Holiday
immediately following the second Novena they approach worthily the
Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed Eucharist, visit the parish
or other public church, and there pray for peace amongst Christian
Princes, for the uprooting of heresy, for the conversion of sinners,
and for the exaltation of our Holy Mother, the Church.
Moreover, a Partial Indulgence of 300 days is granted to the
faithful who join with contrite heart in the Novena as described
above.
LEO PP. XTII.
Universis Christifidelibus praesentes Litteras inspecturis salutem
et Apostolicam Benedictionem. Quod primo adventantis anni die
Deo favente Saeerdotalis jubilaei nostri solemnitatem celebrabimus,
omnes ubique terrarum gentes et cujuscumque ordinis familiae, quasi
cor unum et anima una prae laetitia gestiunt, mirificisque modis in
hac temporum difficultate Nobis in sublimi Beatissimi Petri Sede
divinitus collocatis, solemnia suae fidei, studii, obsequii, et gratula-
tionis exhibent testimonia. Haec quidem omuia accepit referimus
Deo qui consolatur Nos in tribulatione Nostra, Eumque sine
intermissione obsecramus, ut dominico gregi universo propitius
benedicat, et optatam jamdiu pacem et concordiam concedat.
Nos exploratis hisce amoris et antiquae pietatis significationibus
permoti, precibusque ad id Nobis admotis obsecundantes, ut universi
filii ex Parent is sui festivitate aliquod sibi parent ad aeternam
facilius potiundam beatitatem emolumentum, Ecclesiae thesauros,
quorum dispensationem Nobis credidit Deus, reserandos censuimus.
Quare de Omnipotentis Dei misericordia, ac Beatorum Petri et
Pauli Apostolorum Ejus Auctoritate confisi omnibus et singulis
utriusque sexus Christifidelibus Romam occasione sacerdotalis jubilaei
Nostri peregre advenientibus, ut suorum populorum nomine publice
et palam pietatem et obsequium testentur, debitum supremae Nobis a
Deo traditae auctoritati honorem et obedieutiam praestent, nee non
omnibus pariter utriusque sexus fidelibus qui supradictas ad Urbem
peregrinationes mente et corde prosequantur, comitentur, itemque
omnibus et singulis, qui suam quovis modo in piarum hujusmodi
Documents. 85
peregrinationum bonum felicemque exitum operam conferant, si
novendialem supplicationem recitatione tertiae partis SS. E-osarii ipsi
sacerdotalis jubilaei Nostri diei, Kalendis nempe venturi Januarii,
praemiserint, et si earadem supplicationem novendialem intra prae-
stitutum piarnm peregrinationum hujusmodi admissionibus tempus
iteraverint, ac vere poenitentes et confessi ac JSancta Communione
refecti, parochialem suam vel aliam quamlibet ecclesiam aut publicum
oratorium visitaverint, ibique pro Christianorum Principum concordia,
haeresum extirpatione, peccatorum conversione, ac S. Matris Eccle-
siae exaltatione pias ad Deum preces effuderint, turn ipsa memoratae
solemnitatis Nostrae die, turn die festo, immediate subsequenti
supplicationem novendialem pro cujusque arbitrio intra praefixum
tempus ut supra repetitam, plenariam omnium peccatorum suorum
indulgentiam et remissionem in Domino concedimus. Universis
praeterea et singulis qui corde saltern contrito novendiales supplica-
tiones ut supra celebraverint, quovis ex hisce die id praestiterint,
trecentos dies de injunctis eis seu alias quomodolibet debitis poeni-
tentiis in forma Ecclesiae consueta relaxamus. Quas omnes, et
singulas indulgentias, peccatorum remissiones, ac poenitentiarum
relaxationes, etiam animabus in Purgatorio detentis applicari posse
indulgemus, et hoc tantum anno concessas volumus. In contrarium
facientibus, non obstantibus quibuscumque. Volumus autem ut
praesentium Litterarum transumptis seu exemplis etiam impressis,
manu alicujus Notarii publici subscripts, et sigillo personae in
ecclesiastica dignitate constitutae munitis, eadem prorsus fides
adhibeatur quae adhiberetur ipsis praesentibus si forent exhibitae
vel ostensae.
Datum Romae apud S. Petrum, sub Annulo Piscatoris, die-
1 Octol?ris MDCCCLXXXVII, Pontificatus Nostri anno x.
(L. 5 S.) M. Card. LEDOCHOWSKI.
QUESTIONS REGARDING SODALITIES AND CONGREGATIONS.
SUMMARY.
When a parish priest has been appointed Director of a Confrater-
nity, his successor in the parish does not require a new appointment
as Director.
The sick members of a Confraternity are allowed to substitute
same other pious work which they can perform instead of the visit to
the church.
"8f> Documents
It is necessary to get one's name inscribed on the register of
the Congregation and mere ceremony of Reception will not
suffice.
DECRETUM.
SOCIETATIS JESU DE CONFRATERNITATIBUS.
Die 1C Julii 1887.
Tres quaestiones huic S. Congregationi Indulgeutiarum et
SS. Reliquiarum dirirnendas proposuit Procurator generalis Societatis
Jesu. quae plura dubia complectuntur. Prima quaestio proposita est
de 'facilitate Episcoporum quoad designationem Rectorum Confra-
ternitatum, seu Sodalitatum, quarum statuta generatim ferunt ut
singulis annis, sicut cetororum officialiurn, ita et Moderatoruni fiat
electio. Quumvis vero haec S. Congregatio, edito generali decreto
sub die 8 Januarii 1865, declaraverit impertitam esse facultatem
Ordinariis, ut libere designare possent, si ita in Domino expedire
judicaverint, parochos pro tempore in Rectores, Moderatores Confra-
ternitatum, seu Sodalitatum, dubitatum tamen est a nonnullis, an
facnltas nominandi parochos pro tempore^ ita sit intelligenda, ut
defuncto actual! parocho, vel etiarn amoto, qui Moderator erat
alicujus Confraternitatis, vel Sodalitatis in sua parochial! Ecclesia
erectae, rovus parochus iterum indigeat Episcopi nominatione, ut
Rector Confraternitatis seu Sodalitatis eligatur.
Altera quaestio respicit generale decretum datum a f. r.
Clemente XIII. sub die 2 Augusti 1760, quo benigne concesserat, ut
confratres et censorores uniuscujusque Confraternitatis, seu Sodalitii
aut Congregationis ubique locorum existentis canonice erectae aliqua
corporis infirmitate laborantes, aut carceribus detenti, eisdem omnibus
et singulis Indulgentiis, quibus ceteri gaudent confratres et con-
sorores, gaudere valerent, dummodo loco visitationis Ecclesiae, fere
semper praescriptae, alia pia opera injuncta peregerint, quae pro
viribus peragere possent, simulque indulgebatur hanc gratiam
suffragari in perpetuum, et ad preces cujuscumque Sodalitii,
Confraternitatis, seu Congregationis concedi. Jam vero quum a
S. Congreg. Indulgentiarum quaesitum fuerit anno 1877 '* Utrum
confratres et corisorores cujuscumque Confraternitatis, tune existentis
facilitate in Decreto (Clementino) concessa gaudere possint et valeant,
sine recursu ad S. Sedem, vel ad hoc dictus recursus sit necessarius
ex verbis sequentibus praefati decreti voluitque Sanctitas Sua hanc
gratiam .... ad preces cujuscumque Sodalitii concedi ? ,"
et S. Congregatio respondisset : Negative ad primam partem;
Documents. 87
Affirmative ad secundam, et ad irentem : mens est supplicandum
SSmo, ut per Decretum generale extendatur ad omnes confratres
cujuscumque Confraternitatis, aut Sodalitii Indultum lucrandi
singulas Indulgentias, exercendo opera quae pro viribus peragere
poterunt ; pariter dubitatum est an illud Generale Decretum, quod ab
hac S. Congregatione evulgandum postulabatur, et tamen evulgatum
non existit, necessario adhuc requiratur, quura aliunde in Decreto
diei 25 Februarii 1877 expresse dicatur Summum ' Pontificem
expetitam gratiarn concessisse, absque ulla mentione generalis
decreti evulgandi.
Fostrema demum quaestio mota est de necessitate inscribendi
nomina confratrum in libro Confraternitatis, seu Sodalitii, praesertira
si agatur de Sodalitiis. seu Confraternitatibus, in quibus etsi ritus
adhibeatur in receptione confratrum et consororum, earumdem taraen
statuta inscriptionem minime requirunt, saltern explicite, uti con-
ditionem essentialem pro lucrandis Indulgentiis.
, [ Quare dubia solvenda haec simt :
I. An stante Decreto diei 8 Jan. 1861, quo Episcopis speciales
concessae sunt facultates nominandi parpchos pro tempore in Rectores
sodalitatum, defuncto actuali paroclio vel amoto, qui alicui Sodalitati
praeerat, novus parochus nova iternm indigeat Episcopi nominatione
ad hoc ut Rector Sodalitatia eligatur ?
II. Quum in Decreto [diei 25 Februarii 1877 in responsione ad
l m sermo sit de generali Decreto vulgando in favorem omnium con-
fratrum cujuscumque Confraternitatis. quumque Decretum liujusmodi
vulgatum non fuerit, quaeritur (1) an haec concessio nunc reapse
valeat pro omnibus Confraternitatibus seu Sodalitiis, aut Congrega-
tionibus sine speciali recursu cujusque Confraternitatis seu Sodalitii
ad S. Sedern, qui antea requirebatur ? Et quatenus affirmative
(2) utrum valeat tantum pro confratribus infirmis, vel carceribus
detentis, de quibus solis primaeva concessio Clementis Papae XIII
loquebatur ? an (3) etiam extensa sit ad confratres gravi alia ex
causa legitime impeditos ? Et quatenus negative ad tertiam partem
(4) humiliter ea extensio nunc petitur.
III. Utrum (1) concessio supradicta valeat tantum pro iis
confratribus, qui impediti sunt quominus praescriptam ecclesiae
visitationem peragere possint (2) an vero etiam pro ilhs qui pro-
hibentur quominus aliquam aliam conditionem ad lucrandas Indul-
gentias praescriptam impleant.
IV. Utrum in iis Sodalitiis, quae solemnem aliquem receptionis
ritum adhibent (ut Congregationes B. Mariae Virginis) confratres
88 Documents.
hoc solemn! modo a legitimo Sodalitatis Praeside recepti lucrari
possint Indulgentias, licet in libro Sodalitatis non inscribantur ?
V. Utrum genera tim inscriptio sit omnino necessaria ad lucrandas
Indulgentias, etiamsi statuta Confraternitatis, Congregationis vel
piae Unionis non explicite requirant inscriptionem tanquam con-
ditionem essentialem ?
Et Emi. ac Rmi. Patres in generalibus Comitiis ad Vaticanum
coadunatis die 25 Junii 1887 rescripserunt :
Ad I. Negative.
Ad l m . partem dubii II. : Affirmative, et supplicandum Sanctis-
simo pro promulgatione Decreti juxta resolutionem S. Congregationis
diei 25 Februarii 1877.
Ad 2 m . partem : Affirmative.
Ad 3 m . partem : Negative.
Ad 4 m . partem : supplicandum Sanctissimo pro benigna exten-
sione ad alia legitima impedimenta judicio discreti confessarii
dignoscenda, commutato tarn en ab eodem confessario opere injuncto
visitationis ecclesiae in aliud pium opus.
Ad 1 m . partem dubii III. : Affirmative.
Ad 2 m . partem : Negative.
Ad IV. Negative si agatur de Confraternitatibus proprie dictis.
Ad. V. Provisum in praecedenti.
De quibus omnibus facta per infrascriptum S. Congregationis
Secretarium relatione die 16 Julii 1887, Sanctitas Sua responsiones
Emorum Patrum confirmavit, simulque mandavit expediri Decretum
de quo in prima parte dubii secundi, et benigne concessit petitam
extensionem, juxta modum express um in responsione ad quartam
partem ejusdem dubii secundi.
Datum Romae ex Secretaria S. Congregationis Indulgentiis
sacrisque Reliquiis praepositae die 16 Julii 1887.
FT. THOMAS M. Card. ZIGLIARA, Praefectus.
ALEXANDER Episcopus Oensis, Secretarius.
r 89 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
DANTE'S DIVINA COMMEDIA: ITS SCOPE AND VALUE. From
the German of Mgr. Hettinger, Professor of Theology at
the University of Wiirzburg. P^dited by Henry Sebastian
Bowden, of the Oratory. London : Burns & Oates.
WITH the exception of the Bible we scarcely know of any book
that has had so many commentators as the Divina Commedia.
Its great author was not long dead when the people of Florence
called upon Boccaccio to give readings and explanations in public of
his wonderful work. Similar honours were conferred on the " Divine
Comedy " in Bologna, Pisa, Piacenza, Foligno, Mantua and Venice,
with such distinguished expounders as Filippo da Reggio and
Benvenuto da Imola. Endless commentaries in Latin, French,
Spanish, German and English, were devoted to explore the
mine of wealth which the noble Florentine exile had bequeathed to
the world. Through all the changes and vicissitudes of taste we
find him still in the front rank with no possible rival except Homer.
Many valuable expositions of his work have recently appeared in
Italy but the best and by far the most practical of them all is the
splendid Dizionario Dantesco of \ Professor Giacomo Poletto of
the Pontifical University. In Germany Dante has had many
commentators among contemporary writers. Dr. Gietmann, S.J.,
has collected his articles in the Stimmen aus Maria Ldach on
"Die Gottliche Komodie und ihr Dichter Dante Alighieri " and
Mgr. Hettinger has given us the present interesting volume for the
English version of which we are indebted to Fr. Bowden of the
London Oratory.
Mgr. Hettinger commences with an interesting life of the poet
and an account of his other works, the Nuova Vita, Compito, De
Vulgari Eloquio and De Monarchia. He then gives an analytic
sketch of the three great parts Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso.
He takes us with him through each of the circles of Hell and
Purgatory with explanations full of interest as regards history,
dogma, and the poetic art. We follow him perhaps with more
pleasure still through the " planets" and " spheres" of Paradise.
Though the Inferno and Purgatorio are always sure to remain more
popular with ordinary readers, it is really in the Paradiso that Dante
soars aloft in the divine flight and displays in these empyrean realms "
90 Notices of Books.
all the noble gifts of knowledge and of spirituality that have made
him immortal. In his interviews with St. Thomas of Aquin,
St. Bonaventure. St. Bernard, St. Peter Damien, &c., he enters into
the deepest and most subtle details of doctrine and of ascetic
perfection ; here he becomes really sublime when he contemplates the
higher beatitudes of the " Primum Mobile " or sees the angel Gabriel
"on poised wing " salute the Blessed Virgin with " Ave Maria, gratia
plena,"
44 To whose sweet anthem all the blissful court
From all parts answering, rang, that holier joy
Swept o'er the deep serene." Par. xxxii., 86.
or when he describes the all-pervading sense of bliss with which
the soul is floooded in the final transports of the ecstatic vision.
Mgr. Hettinger then takes up the leading dogmas of Catholic
philosophy and theology the nature of man, the spiritual and
rational soul, free will, redemption, atonement, justification. &c., and
shows what a full and exact knowledge the poet had of these
questions in all their bearings and details. Finally he discusses
Dante's notions on the temporal power of the Pope and his strictures
on the conduct of several individual popes and ecclesiastics. We
regret that this portion of the work is not more full and more
precise. One must go to Berardinelli's Dominio temporale del Papi nel
concetto politico di Dante Alighieri for complete and methodical
information on these points that are at present so warmly discussed
in Italy. It would be a mistake to look upon Dante's Utopia of the
empire as sketched out in the de Monarchia as an infallible key to
his meaning in several passages of the Divina Commedia. Yet, of
course, he has made mistakes which, however, were mainly due to
the bitterness of party strife in the end of the thirteenth and
commencement of the fourteenth century. The sense of personal
wrong under which he laboured sharpened his criticism of the use
to which the temporal power was sometimes turned as in the passage
Hell, xix., 118
" Ah Constantine to how much ill gave birth
Not thy conversion but that plenteous dower
Which the first wealthy father gain'd from thee."
This munificent gift through which the Church gained power and
as he says " became entangled in worldly affairs" he sometimes
regards as the cause of many scourges and not least of that personal
Notices of Books. 91
avarice with which the Ghibellines were always so ready to tax even
the best of popes.
" Not to this end was Christ's spouse with my blood
With that of Linus and of Cletus fed
That she might serve for purchase of base gold
But for the purchase of this happy life
Did Sextus, Pius and Callixtus bleed
And Urban." Purg. xxviii., 36.
These severe reproaches never prevent him, however, from showing
the greatest respect to' the office of the papacy as when he bends
his knee before Adrian V. in purgatory and shows his u reverence
for the keys" before Nicholas III. whom he so unjustly condemns to
hell for simony.
Unfortunately Gary's laboured rendering of the Divina Gommedia
in Milton's pompous language and style gives but a poor idea of the
graceful and harmonious " terza rima " of Dante, but we agree with
Fr. Bowden that it was the best choice he could have made for his
quotations under the circumstances. The translation is extremely
well done. We regret it was not in our power to give a notice of
the work sooner. It has already been welcomed everywhere by the
cultivated class of readers for whom it was intended. We have only
to recommend it to those who have not yet procured it, and we trust
that it will help to revive the study of the great Catholic poet
among the Catholics of these countries.
J. F. H.
THE INCARNATE WORD AND THE DEVOTION TO THE SACRED
HEART. By the Rev. George Tickell, S.J. London:
Burns & Gates (Limited).
FATHER TICKELL with skilful hand has culled from a fruitful
garden a few rich flowers, and has deftly arranged them in a beautiful
little bouquet. The Incarnate Word and Devotion to the Sacred Heart
is a very rare bouquet of doctrine. It is a clear and simple exposition
drawn from Sacred Scripture, Ecumenical Councils, and the Fathers
of the Catholic belief in the Word made Flesh. The Incarnation is
the great central truth of Christian dogma. It stamps the Christian
faith with the indelible impress of divine love, and bestows upon
creatures the spiritual birthright of brotherhood with Christ.
Christ is true God and true Man. In one person are united by a
substantial union two natures the Divine and Human. We adore
with the highest worship not only the Divine but also the Human
'92 Notices of Booh.
nature, because the Humanity of Christ is substantially joined to the
Word, and hence cannot be regarded without considering the Divine
nature as proper to It. The full object of adoration is the personal
Christ : the Human nature of Christ in Itself, though not on account
of Itself, is the partial object. The Body of Christ is adored because
it is the Body of the Uncreated Word, and adoration is paid to Him
whose Body it is.
We may view the Incarnate Word in His Humanity or in His
Interior Life and Passion, and also as acting or suffering in His
Sacred Humanity or in His Exterior Life and Passion. We adore
the Sacred Humanity, because in It the Eternal Word manifests
Himself for our adoration. We adore the Sacred Humanity acting
and suffering, because the actions and sufferings are the operations of
a God- Man. Now certain operations of the Word in His Flesh are
special objects of our love and adoration. So certain portions of the
Sacred Humanity present special reasons for being regarded as
manifestations of the Incarnate Word. Among the latter the Sacred
Heart holds the first place.
The learned author in vigorous and fervent tones tells us how
devotion to the Sacred Heart existed from the earliest times, how
Doctors with burning words of love defended it, how Saints grew in
perfection beneath its shadow, and finally how in these later days,
when charity was on the wane, the Church, exalted it by the most
solemn sanction, making it the distinctive devotion of our age.
Father Tickell's little book is an admirable one. He apprehends the
salient points of devotion with singular power, and discourses them
with clearness and simplicity. His method is scholarly. We earnestly
recommend this excellent treatise to all those who desire fruitful
instruction about the Incarnate Word and Devotion to the Sacred
Heart.
THE JEWELS OF THE MASS. By Percy Fitzgerald. London .
Burns & Gates (Limited).
THE Mass is a second Incarnation. Around the first are grouped
a multitude of holy actions and loving words which enshrine in a
halo the Word made Flesh. The words which Christ spoke and the
works He wrought, though distinct from the supreme act of the
Incarnation, are above measure profitable to us. In the second
Incarnation too, the great central act of Consecration is surrounded
by words and actions which are full of hidden meaning, and most
deserving our reflection. In the Mass the grand essential act, like a
Notices of Books. 9
precious stone of inestimable value, stands in relief, enriched by wise
rubric and deep thoughtful prayer; and these are the Jewels of the
Mass.
The Jewels of the Mass is a work of high merit. The author
views the Mass with the eye of an artist who, himself guided by a
strong and lively faith, laying before us the fitness and meaning of
every little part, inspires in us a deeper devotion, and excites us to
more earnest action. The reader will, moreover, gain much instruc-
tion from the story of the structural growth of the Mass.
The author's style possesses an energy and animation which
pleasantly carry us through this very attractive little book. To this
most instructive little book we wish every success, and unhesitatingly
promise a fruitful harvest.
ELEMENTS OF ECCLESIASTICAL LAW, compiled with reference
to the Syllabus, the Const. Apostolicae Sedis of Pope
Pius IX., the Council of the Vatican and the latest
decisions of the Roman Congregations, adapted especially
to the discipline of the Church in the United States. By-
Rev. S. B. Smith, D.D., formerly Professor of Canon Law,
author of the Notes, Counterpoints, The New Procedure
&G. Vol. II. Ecclesiastical Trials. Thoroughly revised
according to the Instruction " Cum Magnopere " and the
Third Plenary Council of Baltimore. New York ::
Benziger Brothers.
THIS edition of the second volume of Dr. Smith's Elements of
Ecclesiastical Law has issued from the press at a time when it is sure
to meet a general welcome. It contains an able and careful explana-
tion not merely of the various kinds of ecclesiastical trials established
by the Canon Law, but also a detailed exposition of the special
form of procedure sanctioned in 1878, and of the still more important
Summary Process promulgated in 1884 for conducting. Criminal Eccle-
siastical Causes in the United States of America. The author's reason
for retaining an explanation of the decree issued in 1878 is obvious.
The mode of proceeding laid down therein is still in force where the
Curia contemplated by the legislation of 1884 has not been as yet
established. Besides, a kindred method of trial is applied in other
lands where an English work on Canon Law is sure to find an entry.
The present edition, also, contains a full account of the pro-
cedure established in 1884 for the United States in Matrimonial
Causes. The work is enriched with several valuable appendices^
94 Xotices of Books.
and we know of no more reliable source of information in regard to
ecclesiastical trials than it places at the reader's disposal. American
priests will find this learned volume a safe guide to the Summary
Process now in force for criminal and disciplinary Causes in the
United States.
THE NEW PROCEDURE IN CRIMINAL >ND DISCIPLINARY CAUSES
OP ECCLESIASTICS IN THE UNITED STATES ; OR A CLEAR
AND FULL EXPLANATION OF THE INSTRUCTION " CUM
MAGNOPERE," ISSUED BY THE 8. CONGREG. DE PROP. FIDE.,
IN 1884, FOR THE UNITED STATES. By Rev. S.B. Smith, D.D.,
formerly Professor of Canon Law, Author of JVotes,
Elements of Ecclesiastical Law, Counterpoints, &c. New
York : Pustet, 1887.
THE name of this volume sufficiently indicates its subject matter.
The precise form of trial here explained is established for the United
States in the criminal causes of ecclesiastics. It does not, in all its
details, apply elsewhere, nor in America itself to civil causes nor to
those of laymen, whether civil or criminal. Yet, beyond doubt, one
who masters this exposition, will have little difficulty in understanding
the points of difference between the Summary Process described by
Dr. Smith and any other form of Canonical trial. What is more,
no one can read this volume with attention and fail to own in deep
conviction that the Canonical Procedure, which the Church pursues
in her trials, has never been equalled by any other in charity, justice,
and wisdom.
At first sight, it might seem 'strange to call this Procedure
" New," for as the author is careful to tell us, the Summary Process,
with occasional points of difference, has been in force since the time
of Clement V. for civil causes, and was permitted in 1880 for
criminal ones in Catholic countries not subject to Propaganda,
whenever the ordinary process cannot be observed without serious
inconvenience. But for America this Procedure is new. It takes
the place of the form of trial established by Propaganda in 1878.
It is contained in the Instruction " Cum Magnopere," issued in 1884,
and is embodied in the acts of the Third Plenary Council of
Baltimore, held in the same year. But, as Dr. Smith truly observes,
the receut Constitution " merely outlines the main features of the
procedure, and presupposes a full and accurate knowledge of the
Canon Law bearing on the subject." The outlines are filled in so
as to form a very presentable figure indeed by the excellent com-
Notices of Books. Da
inentary under review. We gladly commend it to every student of
this intricate subject. Only on one small point do we feel disposed
to offer an unfavourable criticism. While thankful to learn that the
third volume of Dr. Smith's erudite Element* of Ecclesiastical
Law is soon to see the light, we think the references to it from the
present work are somewhat too numerous for a publication whose
proportions should lead us to expect almost perfect independence.
The New Procedure is indeed in itself complete as an exposition of
the subject with which it deals. But these frequent references are
suggestive of the contrary.
P. O'D.
JAHRBUCH FUR PHILO SOPHIE UND SPEKULATIVE THEOLOGIE.
Herausgegeben unter Mitwirkung von Fachgelehrteii
von Prof. Dr. Ernst Comraer. Paderborn und Miinster :
Druck und Verlag von Ferdinand Schoningh.
Tins comparatively new German Quarterly is exclusively devoted
to philosophy and to speculative questions in Theology. It is edited
by Dr. Ernest Commer, Professor of Philosophy at the University of
Miinster, who is assisted by some of the best Catholic philosophical
writers in Germany. We have been favoured with all the numbers
of it that have appeared since its first publication in 1886, and we
are able to say that it appears to us by far the most satisfactory
review of Thomistic philosophy now published. The exclusive object
of its existence is probably the cause that it treats each subject much
more fully and exhaustively than any of the other German Catholic
reviews, and with all the learning and solidity for which German
literature of the kind is remarkable. Dr. Glossner's articles on
" Die Lehre des HI. Thomas und seiner Schule vom prinzip der
Individuation " constitute not only the clearest exposition that we
have seen of the scholastic principle of individuation but also the
ablest refutation of the Scotist " Haecceitas " and of the other more
recent theories on the same subject. The articles by Dr. Schnell on
" Der Gottesbegriff im Katholizimus und Protestantismus," and those
by Dr. Schneider on " Die Praemotio physica nach Thomas," are also
very full and written in a most readable and attractive style. On
the whole it would seem that the object held in view when establish-
ing this new organ and which was announced by the publishers is
about to be fulfilled.
"Es bezweckt, eine Verstandigung liber die grossen philosophis-
hen Fragen auf dem Bodeii der aristotelischen Principien anzu-
bahnen. Dazu sollen die Grundsatze der Lehre des h Thomas von
96 Notices of Books.
Aquin Mar dargelegt werden. Aber auch die neuere Philosophie
wird Berucksichtigung finden. Fur geschichtliche Forschung auf
dem Gebiete der Philosophic und Theologie fehlt es nicht an
Zeitschriften. Aber fiir die eigentliche speculative Arbeit, die in
den letzten Jahren einen neuen Aufschwung genommen hat, fehlt es
noch immer an einem Organe. Diesem Bediirfnisse soil das
Jahrbuch entsprechen."
With such an object in view it is hardly necessary to say that we-
wish this new German contemporary every success,
J. F. H.
THE NECESSITY, ADVANTAGES, DISPOSITIONS, AND OBJECTS OF
PRAYER. By the Very Rev. Thomas Geoghegan, V.G.,
Kildare. Dublin : James Duffy & Sons.
FATHER GEOGHEGAN gives us an excellent explanation of prayer
under each of the above headings. The many quotations from the
Scriptures and from the Fathers, with which the little book abounds
shows the author's intimate acquaintance with these sources. We are
sure many pastors will feel deeply grateful to Father Geoghegan for
enabling them to place in the hands of their flock, at the moderate
price of twopence, a most useful little book on the inexhaustible
subject of prayer.
VISITS TO THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT. New York:
Benziger Brothers.
THIS translation of the above work by St. Alphonsus is edited by
Fr. Grimm, C.SS.R., and is not in any way inferior to the many other
translations of this work that have been made. We cannot recom-
mend too highly this book. It is much to be deplored that Jesus
in the Blessed Sacrament has not more numerous visitors. Why,
we ask, is this so ? Why are our churches so much deserted ? We
hope it will not continue to be so, and it certainly will not if this little
book meets with the circulation it deserves.
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
FEBRUARY, 1888.
LEO THE THIRTEENTH.
FT1HE precursive signs, by which the magnificent celebrations,
J- just now going on in the Eternal City, were heralded,
awakened a world-wide interest, and gave rise to endless
speculations. Long before the advent of the New Year, 1888,
had iishered in the solemn festivities of the Papal Jubilee,
nations and princes, formerly hostile to the Successor of Peter,
had already commenced to pour their sympathy into his ears,
and to lay their gold at his feet. The well-known admiration
and pride, with which his own devoted flock in every corner
of the earth, regard the present illustrious Father of the
Faithful, made them look forward to the celebration of his
Sacerdotal .Jubilee, with deep interest and intense anxiety.
Clergy and laity alike, not merely in every country, but even
in every diocese throughout the world, have shown, during
the past months unstinted generosity and indomitable zeal, in
their endeavours to testify emphatically their filial affection
for their venerated Supreme Pastor, on the present happy
occasion. But not even the most sanguine among them ever
hoped that the event would be surrounded with such
splendour and eclat, each succeeding day disclosing some new
element of interest, and furnishing some new theme for
speculation. For there is one striking feature in this joyous
occasion, perfectly unique and unparalleled in the history
of such events. That a Pope, who is the pride and glory of
all his spiritual children, should receive from them con-
YOL. IX. a
<)8 Leo the Thirteenth.
gratulatory addresses and handsome presents, is scarcely to
be wondered at. But when we see all the important states
and sovereigns, heretical and infidel as well as Catholic,
throughout the civilized world, tendering their felicitations,
and with hardly an exception worth noting, sending costly
presents to the Supreme Head of a religion which many
of them detest, we may well marvel at this universal con-
currence of testimony to the worth and beneficence of our
beloved Pontiff.
Newspapers and periodicals, irrespectively of the creed,
race, or politics they represent, have, during the past month,
been teeming with interesting news about the doings in Rome.
The letters from crowned heads and princes, effusive in their
expression of kindly wishes towards his Holiness, the valuable
gifts accompanying them, and the probable future relations
between the Vatican and the various powers, have been viewed
from every standpoint, and discussed with ability and fulness,
by writers of all shades of opinion or prejudice. These facts
and inferences admittedly possess more than a passing signi-
ficance, but the question to which we purpose to address
ourselves now on the eve of the solemn reception of Ireland's
representatives by the Holy Father, is one which must present
itself to the least philosophic mind, viz. : AVhat is that ex-
ceptional excellence or dignity of character or conduct on.
the part of Leo XIIL, that has attracted so many thousands
of admirers to his presence, and evoked a constantly swelling
chorus of congratulation from the remotest ends of the earth,
on this memorable occasion of his Golden Jubilee ? For even
those that are most reluctant to credit the occupant of the
Chair of Peter with any good quality of head or heart, could
not help feeling the sentiment of the Roman poet: " Sunt hie
etiam sua praemia laudi," unconsciously stealing upon them,
as they read of the extraordinary tributes of esteem and
gratitude, offered to his Holiness during the Jubilee
celebration.
This question, we fancy, can be best answered by review-
ing briefly the substantial and enduring benefits, conferred by
him on the world at large; 1, in his character of scholar and
patron of learning ; 2, in his capacity of supreme spiritual
Leo the Thirteenth. 99
ruler: 3, as arbiter of nations, and 4, as the divinely-
appointed guardian of social order. Accordingly, we shall
first view him as the
PATRON OF LEARXIXU.
That a mau, who had not himself received a good literary
training in his early youth, nor afterwards prosecuted his
academic labours with growing success, until he had made
himself master of one or more departments of knowledge,
should contribute in any material way towards the intellectual
progress of his age, would indeed be a rare historical phenom-
enon. Ancient Rome attained the zenith of her literary
glory under the fostering encouragement extended by
Maecenas to men of letters ; but then Maecenas was himself
an accomplished scholar and a voluminous author of no mean,
reputation. On the other hand, if George I. of England, a
man " without the slightest tincture of literature or science,"
did not completely annihilate all literary enterprise in his
kingdoms, it was no merit of his.
Joachim Pecci, at present Head of the Universal Church,
was transferred from his native Carpineto at the tender
-age of eight, and entrusted by his parents to the care
and training of the Jesuits at Viterbo. Six years of close
application and rapid progress enabled him to complete
his preliminary studies here. He was next sent to Rome
to the Collegio Romano, then a most flourishing in-
stitution, manned by the ablest professors. The curriculum
embraced Rhetoric, Higher Mathematics, Natural Philosophy,
Moral Philosophy, and Theology. At the close of his
first year, he obtained the much-coveted distinction of
being selected to read the customary oration in Latin
in presence of all the students, and of the many dis-
tinguished scholars who attended on such occasions ;
besides, he was awarded First Honors in Greek. His
success in the less attractive studies of Moral Philosophy,
was even more brilliant ; at the end of his three years'
philosophy, he was chosen to defend, at a public disputation,
theses culled from the most intricate parts of the course, the
100 Leo the Thirteenth.
objectors being unrestricted as to the nature and form of the
difficulties they might propose.
He entered on the study of theology in 1830, and
here, in addition to his own natural, gifts, which were
always recognised as of the highest order, he had the
immense advantage of listening to the lectures of such
distinguished celebrities as Perrone and Patrizi. The
brilliancy and solidity of his theological attainments won
the admiration and applause of all, who were witnesses
of his two public examinations for degrees in the Sapienza.
He devoted the next three years of his life mainly to
the study of Law in the Academy of Noble Ecclesiastics
with the same assiduity and ardour, that had marked
his whole career of student. Finally he was promoted
to the priesthood in his twenty-seventh year, being, in-
the fullest sense of the phrase, a cultured and ripe
scholar.
His numerous encyclicals, from which we shall give
a. few quotations farther on, show a masterly grasp of
the subjects treated of, and the elegance and purity of
the Latin diction he employs, must charm the least
attentive reader. The composition of Latin verse, too, he
appears to have at all times cultivated with a special
pleasure. In his early years in college, he carried off the
first prize for a poem in Latin hexameters, and, to this
day, whenever he has a moment of leisure, he delights
to indulge in the amusement of composing a Latin ode.
Xo one familiar with Latin poetry can fail to recognise
the superior excellence, displayed in many of the inspirations
of his muse. Many of our readers, however, may not have
at hand a copy of his poems, and hence it will not be unin-
teresting to transfer to our pages one of his most recent
productions. The subject of it is a young man of respectable
connexions and good dispositions, but unfortunately addicted
to drink. He was presented to the Holy Father, who, observing
that his haggard looks and the too clear vestiges of dissipation
which he everywhere exhibited, betrayed a weakness de-
plorable in any man, but more especially so in a young
gentleman of his age and rank, addressed to him a short
Leo the Thirteenth. 101
paternal admonition, which lie afterwards turned into elegiacs,
as follows :
AD FJ.ORUM.
Flore puer, vesana din te fcbris adurit ;
Inficit immundo Innguida membra situ
Pira lues ; cupidis stygio respersa veueno,
Nee pudor est, lab i is pocula plena bibis.
Pocula sunt Circes ; apparent ora ferarum ;
Sus vel amica Into, vel truculentus aper.
Si sapis, o tandem miser expergiscere, tandem,
Ulla tuae .si te cura salutis habct.
Heu fuge Sirenum cantus, fuge litus avarum,
Et te Cartbusi, Flore, reconcle sinu,
Haec tibi certa salus ; Cartliusi e fontibus liausta 1
Continuo sordes proluet uncla tuas.
It is scarcely a matter for surprise, that such an inde-
fatigable student and such an ardent lover of knowledge,
should consistently, during his long and useful life, inculcate
and insist upon the paramount importance of a good educa-
tion. During the five years which he spent as governor or
delegate at Benevento, and afterwards at Perugia, inasmuch
as lie was largely responsible lor the civil administration of
the Papal provinces, of which these cities were the respective
capitals, though he did a great deal to promote learning, it
was his firmness in repressing crime, that was most conspicuous
and successful.
He was consecrated bishop before he had completed his
thirty-third year, and soon after appointed Papal Nuncio at
Brussels. Here he grudged not to divide all the time he could
spare from his more immediate and urgent duties, between
the Academy of Saint Pierre and the schools belonging to the
Convent of the Sacred Heart. In both these great educa-
tional institutions, where he was so familiarly known from
the frequency of his visits, his amiable countenance and his
encouraging admonitions were affectionately remembered,
long after his brief sojourn of three years in the Belgian
capita], had come to a close in April, 1845.
The important arch-diocese of Perugia had, in the mean-
time, been rendered vacant by the death of Consignor
J Ex consideratione scilicet rerum quae simt homini novissiniae.
102 Leo the Thirteenth.
Cittadini, and a representative deputation of the Perugians-
had waited on Gregory XVI. , and entreated him to send
them, as successor to their late bishop, Monsignor Pecci,.
whom they had esteemed and admired so much, when he
held the office of delegate in their city. The aged Pontiff,
who was at this time rapidly approaching his dissolution,,
gladly and promptly acceded to their request, inasmuch as
he thoroughly realised the importance of appointing to such
a prominent see a man of experience and erudition, who
would strenuously labour to stem, if possible, the tide of
anarchy and social disruption even then threatening the
Papal dominions. As soon as circumstances permitted, the
nuncio left Brussels, returned to Italy, and took solemn,
possession of his new See. Scarcely had he done so, when
he at once directed all the energies of his gifted mind towards
raising the standard of education in all its branches, and for
all classes of the community over which he was appointed to
preside. The scheme he devised for effecting these reforms,
could not at once be carried out in its entirety ; he proceeded
with wisdom, and undertook only what he was in a position
to perfect.
The diocesan seminary naturally claimed his first thoughts.
He enlarged the material building so as to connect it with the
archiepiscopal palace ; he created new chairs, and held out
every inducement to the most distinguished scholars to
ambition the honour of filling them; in fact, he gave such a
marvellous impetus to the educational machinery of that
institution, that it soon attained the highest pre-eminence
and fame. But his solicitude in the matter of education was
not confined to his clergy; his efforts in extending the
advantages and improving the efficiency of the University
of Perugia were equally earnest, persevering, and successful..
Finally, a select high school for the daughters of the nobility,
an academy for the daughters of the burgess or middle class,
and a free school for the daughters of labourers and artisans,
supplied ample facilities for the education of females.
Public opinion seconded his laudable endeavours, a healthy
spirit of emulation infused itself into all sections of the
entire community, and, though Monsignor Pecci was strict
Leo the Thirteenth. 103
in enforcing the observance of their respective duties
on masters and pupils alike, they as well as the rest
of the population, were affectionately attached to their
energetic and unselfish bishop. The strength and sincerity
of their devotedness to him were very strikingly de-
monstrated on the occasion of the seizure by the
Piedmontese Government of the Perugian Academy for
Boys. His duty of denouncing such a barbarous act of
spoliation, he discharged with firmness and dignity ; he had
the episcopal arms at once removed from the entrance ; he
cautioned his people against the dangers of the secularisation
system ; and such a complete victory did he gain over the
usurpers, that the new teachers alone disturbed the silence
and solitude of the Academy on the following day ; " the
teachers were there but the pupils were gone."
The realisation of his long cherished idea of founding an
Academy of St. Thomas at Perugia was delayed by the evil
influences at work in those critical times. Society was being-
re volutionised, and the most sacred rights of religion and
justice outraged with a recklessness, for which it would be
difficult to find a parallel. All obstacles, however, were at
length surmounted, and in 1872, the project, which was the
happy inception of the grand scheme for reinstating the
Angelic Doctor in his rightful position in the Catholic
seminaries of the world, received its embodiment in the
Perugian Academy of St. Thomas.
His very last pastoral, published shortly before his election
to the Papal throne, deals exclusively with the subject of
education. The well-worn calumny against the Church,
imputing to her hostility towards the progress of science, he
answers with force and clearness. " The golden saying of
Bacon," he writes, " that ' a little knowledge leads away from
God, but much knowledge leads back to Him,' is ever and
essentially true. Hence it is not the careful, deep explorer
whom the Church fears, but the vain, superficial scientist,
who forms his conclusions before he has proceeded far with
his researches."
The glad news of the creation of Cardinal Pecci as Pope,
on February 20th, 1878, had not long gone forth, when his
104 Leo the Thirteenth.
eminent literary attainments and bis untiring zeal and labour
in the cause of education, were published everywhere through-
out the Catholic world. A powerful impulse, since maintained
and augmented by the unceasing efforts of his Holiness to
advance Christian knowledge, was thus opportunely com-
municated to ecclesiastical colleges, and indeed to all the
higher Catholic schools. The vastness arid wisdom of his
eminently practical proposals for refining and elevating the
teaching system in such institutions, but more especially in
the department of mental philosophy, and his anxious
solicitude for the extension of a sound university education
to all parts of the Church, during the ten years of his
Pontificate, are familiar to the readers of the RECORD.
The keynote is sounded in his first Encyclical (Inscruta-
lili), addressed to all the archbishops and bishops of the
world, whose duty in this matter he clearly defines :
; ' Vestri autem muneris est, Venerabiles Fratres, sedulam impen-
<lere curam, ut caelestium doctrinarian semen late per Dominicum
agrum diffundatur et Catholicae fidei documenta fidelium animis
mature inserantur, altas in eis radices agant, et ab errorum contagione
incorrupta serventur. Quo validius contendunt religionis hostes
imperitis hominibus, ac juvenibus praesertim, ea discenda proponere
quae mentes obnubilent raoresque corrumpant, eo alacrius adnitendum
est, ut non solum apta ac solida institutionis methodus, sed rnaxime
institutio ipsa Catholicae fidei omnino conformis in litteris et discip-
linis vigeat, praesertim autem ia philosophia, ex qua recta aliarum
scientiarum acquisitio magna ex parte dependet : quaeque non ad
evertendam divinam revelationem spectat, sed ad ipsam potius sternere
viam gaudet ipsamque ab impugnatoribus defendere, quemadmodum
nos exemplo scriptisque suis Magnus Augustinus et Angelicus Doctor,
caeterique Christianae sapientiae Magistri docuerunt."
The publication of his celebrated Encyclical Aeterni
Patris, on the 4th of August, 1879, constitutes an epoch in
the history of scholastic studies in the Church. He treats
of the method and teaching of Saint Thomas Aquinas, and
explains, with consummate skill, the scope and excellence of
true philosophy. His just admiration of the Angelic Doctor
is pit! lily expressed, in the following memorable words :
" Inter Scholasticos Doctores, omnium princeps et magister, longe
eminet Thomas Aquinas : qui, uti Cajetanus animadvertit, veteres
doctores sacros quia siunme vsneratus est, idea intellect-urn omnium
Leo the Thirteenth. 105
quiodanmiodo sortitus est. lllorum doctrinas. vclut dispersa cujusdam
<iorporis membra, in unum Thomas collegit et coagmentavit, miro
ordine digessit, ct magnis incremeutis ita adauxit, lit Catliolicae
Ecclesiae singulare praesidium et decus jure mcritoque liabeatur . .
Vos omnes, Vcnerabiles Fratres, quam enixe liortamur, ut ad
Catliolicae fidei tutelam et decus, ad societatis bonum, ad scientiarum
omnium incrementum, auream Sancti Thomae sapientiam restituatis,
-et quam latissime propagetis."
Twelve months after, St. Thomas was constituted Patron
of all Catholic universities, colleges, and schools, and soon
an Academy of St. Thomas was founded at Rome under
auspices that ensured success, and with the choicest materials.
The Seminario Romano he likewise had reorganized, its
curriculum extended, its professoriate selected from the most
famous scholars in Italy, and the establishment rendered in
every respect a model ecclesiastical seminary.
His letter on the study of history, the throwing open of
the Vatican archives to men of learning, his co-operation
with the American bishops in devising a scheme for their
grand university, and his efforts to have universities founded
in Athens and Constantinople, were additional and emphatic
evidences of his practical interest in every branch and depart-
ment of education. So marked and fruitful has been his
zeal in this regard, that it is the first characteristic that sug-
gests itself to one, on taking a survey of his pontificate. The
next is the dignified independence and extraordinary ability
'he has displayed, in his capacity of
SUPREME SPIRITUAL RULER.
That he was a man of exalted genius, of vast and varied
attainments, and of warm religious feelings, no person ever
doubted ; but that a man of his well-known gentleness and
conciliatory disposition, would follow persistently in the foot-
steps of his illustrious predecessor, in asserting the inalienable
rights of the Papacy to its temporal possessions and power,
the enemies of religion believed to be more than improbable.
"Fere libenter homines id quod volunt, credunt." This
misty delusion was, however, soon cleared away by the first
Encyclical he published, in which he professed, in language
that was unmistakable, the same uncompromising attitude
IOC) Leo the Thirteenth.
towards the unjust usurpers of the Quirinal, which he has
recently shown in declining the proffered gifts of the so-called
King and Queen of Italy. " Exploratissimum est," he officially
aiid solemnly affirms, " cum de temporali Principatu Sedis
Apostolicae agitur, public! etiam boni et salutis totius
humanae societatis causam agitari. Ilinc praetermittere lion
possumus, quin pro officii Nostri munere, quo Sanctae Eccle-
siae jura tueri tenemur, declaration.es et protestationes omnes,
quas Pius IX. Decessor Noster turn ad versus occupatioiiem
civilis Principatus, turn adversus violatiouem jurium ad
Romanam Ecclesiam pertinentium pluries edidit ac iteravit,
easdem et nos hisce Nostris litteris omnino renovemus et
confirmemus." There still exists the anomalous spectacle of
two kings in the great imperial city on the Tiber, and no one
needs to be informed which wields the more extensive power,
and commands the more sincere homage.
The most striking victory his Holiness has achieved for the
Church has been won in Germany, almost the last country
in the world, where the voice of St. Peter's successor could
be expected to elicit any response. The notorious " May
Laws" had been in existence for five years before the
accession of the present Pontiff. These infamous enact-
ments transferred to the State the decision as to the
eligibility of aspirants to the priesthood, requiring a govern-
ment certificate as an essential condition, suppressed all
purely ecclesiastical seminaries, interdicted and exiled all
religious congregations, &c. This was but the culmination
of a systematic policy of persecution, that had been long and
severely felt by the Catholics living under the Prussian
Government, Pius IX. had remonstrated with the Emperor
William, and eventually declined to receive Cardinal Hohen-
lohe, who had been appointed German Ambassador at the
Roman court. The laAvs were, however, rigidly enforced,
the religious orders were banished, bishops and priests who
refused obedience to what were universally regarded as
iniquitous and unjust ordinances, the work of secret associ-
ations, were exiled or imprisoned, the many vacancies created
thus or by death remained unfilled, and the condition of the
Church in Germany became deplorable in the last degree.
Leo the Thirteenth. 107
Not long after the elevation of Leo XIII. to the Papal
throne, the tone of wisdom and conciliation, that pervaded
his letters and encyclicals, induced the astute Bismarck, who
now saw the pernicious effects of the recent legislation, and
felt the necessity of support from the Catholic parliamentary
party, to open negotiations with the Papal Nuncio at Munich.
It was not, however, till 1883, that any substantial mitigation
was effected in the penalties attaching to the exercise of the
Catholic religion in Germany. The Falk Laws were first
repealed ; then the banished bishops and clergy were
gradually recalled ; and, finally, the obnoxious May Laws,-
after a long struggle, were practically abrogated in 1886.
To bring about this happy result, required all the energy,
tact, and prudence of the present distinguished Pontiff, to
whom the destinies of the Church were entrusted in critical
and trying times.
The restoration of the Catholic Hierarchy in (Scotland,,
inaugurated and mapped out by Pius IX., was perfected by
his successor with the most satisfactory results. America's
first Cardinal received the hat at his hands, having been
solemnly named cardinal in the preceding reign ; two other
American archbishops have since been elevated to the same
exalted dignity. A cardinal, also, has been given to
Australia, in the person of that eminent scholar and writer,
Dr. Moran. In India, the hierarchy has been reconstituted
on a more workable basis ; in Persia, China, and Japan,
Catholicity has obtained favourable state recognition,
through the Pope's well-advised letters and representations
to the rulers of these countries. In one word, every part of
the universal Church has received some substantial evidence
of his paternal solicitude.
Not many centuries ago the Roman Pontiff was the
recognised
ARBITER OF NATIONS,
to whom even monarchs swore fealty and allegiance, and to
whose decision were referred conflicting claims to disputed
thrones or dominions, quarrels between rulers and their
subjects, &c. The essentially pacific nature of the power,
wielded by the Pope as Vicar of Christ, and the deep interest he
108 Leo the Thirteenth.
would naturally take in promoting concord and happiness
among his spiritual children, admirably fit him for the im-
partial discharge of such functions. Three years ago, the
enemies of the Holy See, were terribly mortified and alarmed
by a remarkable event, which could not but be regarded as a
partial revival of this ancient tribunal of arbitration the
appeal by Germany and Spain to the Pope to decide to which
kingdom the Caroline Islands rightfully belonged. The islands
bore a Spanish name ; Spanish ships had first discovered, and
brought men to colonize, them ; Spain alone had sent out
missionaries to enlighten the inhabitants, and to minister to
their spiritual wants. On the other hand, Germany alleged
that Spain had forfeited all her rights to the ownership of
these distant islands, by the continuous non-occupation of
them for a century and a half, and that, in such circum-
stances, by a universally recognised principle of international
law, they had become primi occupantis.
The rival claims were minutely and carefully investigated,
and at length the venerated Pontiff conveys his judicial
decision, through his Secretary of State. " Providence so
willed it," he says, " that two powerful and illustrious nations
should pay homage to the highest power in the Church, by
entreating it to preserve their threatened harmonious rela-
tions. This is a work of the salutary authority, which God
has attached to the Papal office. Placed above the envy of
rivals, and above the injustice of the age, it apprehends neither
extinction nor change." The equity and wisdom of the award
ensured its ready acceptance by both sides, and earned the
admiration of the world. The sovereignty of Spain over
the disputed islands was affirmed, on condition that she was
to establish there a regular and efficient executive administra-
tion ; but to Germany were reserved the rights of free
commerce, and of planting and tilling the islands on precisely
the same terms as the Spaniards.
The beneficent influence which Leo XIII. has exercised
to prevent the strained relations between France and Ger-
many from breaking out into a sanguinary war, has gained
the praise and gratitude of the peacefully disposed sections of
the population of both these great empires.
Leo the Thirteenth.
His heroic struggles and his scholarly pronouncements, m
his capacity of chief
CUSTODIAN OF SOCIAL ORDER,
deserve a more detailed notice, than is possible here. His-
Encyclical on Marriage and Divorce gives a beautiful
historical account of marriage from the earliest days down to
the present, and a vivid picture of the evils, that must result
from any encroachment by civil authorities, on the sacred and
inalienable rights of the Church in regard to marriage con-
tracts. His well-reasoned and forcible appeal to civil rulers,
is worthy of his erudition and his exalted station.
The celebrated impeachment of Freemasonry, as our
readers remember, was at once so crushing and so dignified^
that many learned Protestants, and among them Lord
Carnarvon, undertook to reply to it. Other secret societies
were censured and exposed with equal ability and unexpected
success. One of the means which he recommends of
extinguishing these pernicious associations, is to found
healthy societies, safeguarded by strict constitutions and
superintended by the ministers of religion. Whilst, therefore,,
he justly reprobates secret societies and guilds, whose
constitutions and objects are subversive of religion and
morality, he encourages and recommends organization for
just ends, and under prudent direction.
Now, as at all times, Ireland is fondly and firmly united to
the great centre of Christendom. Perhaps, at no period in
her history, were the bonds of gratitude and love so sigmilly
strengthened, as when, a few years ago, the Holy Father
repulsed, with an irrevocable "vade" the whisperer of
calumny and sower of discord, who would lain dictate the
line of policy his Holiness should pursue to defeat irreparably
the united wishes and aspirations of the Irish people, his
most faithful and devoted children. And among the many
nations represented at Rome, on this great occasion, none
raises its voice more unanimously, or with more unfeigned
sincerity than Catholic Ireland, in the fervent prayer and
grateful wish, fc 'Long live Leo the Thirteenth."
E. MAGUIRE.
[ no ]
WAS ST. CUTHBERT AN IRISHMAN ? II.
IN our last paper on this question we gave a brief analysis
of the more important statements recorded in the " Irish
Life" of St. Cuthbert. There are, however, many other facts
which go to confirm the substantial accuracy of that " Irish
Life," and to these we now invite the reader's attention.
First of all, it was the constant tradition of the Church of
Durham itself that Cuthbert was of Irish parentage. Of this
we have fortunately very satisfactory evidence in a work
published so long ago as 1672, and known as the 'Jhe Ancient
Rites and Monuments of the Monastic and Cathedral Church of
Durham. Walter Skirlaw was Bishop of Durham from 1388
to 1405, and was succeeded by Cardinal Thomas Langley,
who ruled the Se3 from 1406 to 1435. These two munificent
prelates did much for the adornment of the church and
monastery, in reference to whom the Rites of J)urham8uys:
" The two bishops [Skirlaw and Langley] were the two
first founders and builders of the said cloisters, and did bear
all the charges of the building and workmanship of the said
work, and were the first that did cause from the cloister door
to the church door to be set in glass in the window the whole
;story and miracles of that holy man, St. Cuthbert, from the
day of his birth to his dying day. And there you might
have seen his mother lying in childbed, and how after she
was delivered the bright beams did shine from heaven upon
her, and upon the child as he lay in the cradle, in so much
that to every man's thinking the Holy Spirit had over-
shadowed him, for every one that did see it thought that the
house had been all on fire, the beams did shine so bright over
all the house within and without, and the bishop baptized
the child and called him Yullock \_recte Mullucc] in the Irish
tongue in English Cuthbert. The bishop's name who
baptized and had the keeping of the goodly child was
Eugenius, the name of the city ivhere he was baptized was
Hardbrecimb, for he was blessed of God even from his
.mother's womb." 1
1 Surtoes, Vol ii., p. x.
Was St. Cuthhert an Irishman? Ill
So these two bishops of the Church of Durham had the
miracles and other circumstances attending the birth of
Chithbert, at Kells, as narrated in the " Irish Life," set in the
stained glass from the cloister to the church. His baptismal
name too, we are told, was that given in the " Irish Life," and
is equivalent in meaning to the Saxon " Cutlibert." Much is
sometimes made of this Saxon name as indicating a Saxon
origin. Here we have the ancient and simple explanation.
Cuthbert's baptismal name Mullncc, from mo and uallach, means
*' my proud or privileged one," mo being the usual
prefix of endearment, and uallach from the root uall meaning
*' one specially privileged," as the miracles attending his birth
showed that Cuthbert was so favoured by God. " Cudberct"
means the same in Anglo-Saxon " one illustrious for his
gifts," or for " his skill," and we know that it was not only
very natural but also very common, to have proper names
thus translated into the language of the speakers. Even
still it is quite usual in Ireland to change the old Irish
name into its corresponding equivalent in. English, and some-
times both are in use the one with the Irish and the other
with the English speaking people.
We know also from the same Rites of Durham that
amongst the " inscriptions beneath the figures of such monks
of the Benedictine Order as were painted upon the screen
work of the altar of St. Jerome and St. Benedict" was the
following in reference to Cuthbert :
" Sanctus Cuthbertus patronus ecclesiae, civitatis, et
libertatis Dunelmensis, natione Hibemus, regiis parentibus
ortus, nutu Dei Angliam perdue tus et apud Mailros monachus
est eifectus, 1 &c., &c." There can be no doubt, therefore,
that the " Irish Life" was received as authentic by the monks
and prelates of Durham.
Even at a still earlier period long before the founding of
Durham, the same belief in the Irish birth of Cuthbert seems
to have prevailed in the community of Lindisfarne over which
the saint had presided for several years. It is well known
that the monastery and See of Lindisfarne were founded by
1 llitcti of Durham, page 112.
112 If as St. Cuthbert an Irishman ?
an Irish monk from lona, the blessed Aidan, whose genealogy
is given in the ancient Feilire of Aengus written about the
beginning of the ninth century. 1 His immediate successors
Finan, Colman, and Tuda, were all Irishmen too. When.
Oolman was worsted at the Conference of Whitby, and
refused to accept the new discipline on the Easter question,
he returned to Lindisfarne, and taking up from the grave
the bones of the blessed Aidan, he, with his Irish brethren and
many Saxon monks, retired at first to lona, and after-
wards, as we are told in the Irish Annals, he sailed away
with his relics and his monks to the storm-swept Inisbofin on
the coast of Mayo, where they were free to folloAv their
ancient discipline and live and die in peace.
Tuda, Colman's successor, was, as Bede tells us, a
southern Irishman, and readily accepted the new discipline.
So also did Cuthbert. But in the history of the wanderings
of his body there is one incident which strikingly reminds us
of Colman's voyage to the far west of Ireland, bearing with
him his most precious treasure, the bones of the blessed
Aidau. When the incursions of the Danes made it impossible
to remain any longer with safety at Lindisfarne Cuthbert's
body too was taken up from the grave, fresh and incorrupt,
as on the day he died. For seven years his faithful children
bore that priceless treasure over the hills and valleys of
Northumbria, but could no where find a home or a secure
refuge. Then Bishop Eardulf arid Abbot Eadred took
counsel together, and they resolved to cross over to Ireland,
bearing with them, as Colman did, the body of their sainted
father to rest, it seems, with kindred dust. But such was not
the will of Providence. The vessel in which they embarked
was driven back to Galloway by a furious storm, and they
themselves, having narrowly escaped shipwreck, knelt down
on the shore beside the body of the saint and humbly
asked pardon of God and of Cuthbert for making the rash
attempt.
But why, we ask, attempt to fly to Ireland? The Danes
were there in 881, and many years previously, ravaging as
1 August 31st, Aedan, the bright sun of luis-Medcoit. See Gloss.
Was tit. Cutlilert an Irishman ? 113
remorselessly as ever they did in Northumbria ; why not
rather fly to Pictland or to Argyle, or to some district
of southern England? Why except that they knew
the saint was of Irish birth, and having the example of
Colman before their eyes they thought perhaps that it was
God's purpose that the body of the blessed Cuthbert should
be carried home to his native land ? We do not urge this
as of itself a convincing argument ; but we think it lends
much probability to the story of Cuthbert's Irish birth. And
we know the same thing happened not only in the case of St.
Aidan, but also in the case of the great founder of lona him-
self ; it was to his native Ireland his bones were brought by
his monks when the Danes were harrying the islands of the
western seas.
There are many circumstances, too, connected with the
religious life of Cuthbert which clearly point to his Celtic
origin. When he resolved to devote his life to the service of
God in a religious house it was to an Irish monastery he came,
for Mailros on the Tweed was in reality an Irish house. It
was founded from lona by an Irishman, and even in 651 its
spirit, its discipline, and most of its monks too, were still Irish,
as was also the case both at lona and at Lindisfaroe. This was
not the great Cistercian house, that "fair Melrose," Avhose
ruins have been glorified for ever by the genius of Sir Walter
Scott. The Irish monastery of old Melrose, founded by St.
Aidan and his Irish monks, was situated about two miles
further east on the southern bank of the Tweed, which at
this point takes a bold sweep to the south around the pro-
montory on which the monastery was built. " On the further
shore the river is overhung by lofty precipitous banks, and
was strongly guarded by natural defences on every quarter
except the south, where a wall was drawn across the
isthmus/' Eata, one of the twelve Saxon boys trained by
St. Aidan, was then Abbot of Melrose, but Boisil, a priest of
great holiness, was its prior ; and it was to this holy monk
that Cuthbe-rt made application to be received amongst the
brethren of the order in the year 651. "Cuthbert/' says
Bede, " was at this time keeping watch over the flocks com-
mitted to his charge on certain remote mountains" which
VOL. IX. H
114 Was St. Cut/ibert cm Irishman?
we know from the " Anonymous Life," were the soutlieru
slopes of the Lammermoor Hills, overlooking the upper valley
of the river Leader. This stream flows southward through
the west of Berwickshire, and falls into the Tweed close to
Old Melrose. It is sometimes inferred from the fact of
Cuthbert being a shepherd in this locality that he was a
native of Lauderdale. By similar reasoning it might be
inferred that St. Patrick was a native of the Co. Antrim,
because we find him in his youth herding swine for his master
on the slopes of the Slemish. How Cuthbert came to the
parish of Channelkirk in Berwickshire, we are told in the
41 Irish Life," and Bede tells the rest. One night on the
mountains, the 31st August, 651, when his companions were
asleep and he alone wakeful, " he saw a long stream of light
break through the darkness, and a glorious company of angels
first descending to the earth, and then returning back with a
glorified spirit of surpassing brightness, whom they were
'escorting to his heavenly home." When morning was come
Cuthbert went and made inquiry and soon found that it was
the blessed Aidan of Lindisfarne who died on that night, and
whose soul he saw going to heaven in such radiant glory.
This narrative seems to imply that Cuthbert had previously
known something of the life and virtues of Aidan, which is
not unlikely. His resolution, however, was taken at once.
He delivered up to their owner the sheep that he was feeding
011 the mountains, and riding down the valley of the Leader
lie came straight to the gates of Mailros, and was at once
admitted by the blessed Boisil, who was probably an Irishman,
into the community, and shortly after receiving the Irish
tonsure became a monk of Mailros.
Some ten years later Eata, the Abbot of Mailros, was sent
to found the monastery of Ripon in Yorkshire. He took
Cuthbert along with him, and gave him the responsible office
of guest-master in the new community. But they introduced
into Ripon the Irish discipline as still practised at Mailros, in
consequence of which, after the return of Wilfrid, they were
driven away from the Yorkshire monastery and returned to
Mailros. This was in 661, three years before the Conference
of Whitby, after which the Irish houses of Mailros and Lindis-
Was St. Cuthbert an Irishman 1 115
fame first began to give up their Celtic practices, especially
in the matter of Easter and the frontal tonsure so characteristic
of the early Irish monks. It is remarkable that Bede in
giving an account of the expulsion of Cuthbert and his com-
munity describes them as following the doctrine of the Irish
(Scoti). " King Alchfrid," he says, " gave him [Wilfrid] a
monastery of thirty families at a place called Wrypum, which
place he had lately given to those who had followed the
doctrine of the Irish (Scoti) to build a monastery upon. But
for as much as they afterwards being left to their choice
would rather quit the place than adopt the Catholic Easter
and other canonical rites according to the Roman and
Apostolic Church, he gave the same to him [Wilfrid]." 1
This passage still shows hoAv tenaciously the community at
Mailros adhered to these Irish practices of their mother-house
of lona.
But Cuthbert had not the same unyielding, not to say
stubborn, spirit as Colman. After the Conference of Whitby
and the death of Tuda, Colman's successor, who died of the
plague a few months after his appointment to the See of
Lindisfarne, he was himself sent as prior to that island, and
readily yielded obedience to the new discipline, and further-
more, by his patient firmness succeeded in inducing the
entire community to accept it. " And although," says Bede,
"there were some brethren in the monastery who preferred
their Irish ancient customs to the new discipline, he soon
got the better of these by his moderation and by his patience,
and by daily practice at length brought them round to the
better system which he had in view."
Cuthbert having spent twelve years as prior of Lindis-
farne with the permission of the abbot and the sanction of
his religious brethren resolved to devote himself entirely to
divine contemplation in absolute retirement. The life of an
anchorite has been generally considered in the Church the most
perilous, but at the same time the most perfect manner of
life. " The farther from men the nearer to God," was a
maxim of the Egyptian solitaries, and was also a recognised
1 Bede. Hist* Book v., c. 19.
11() Tlas St. Cuthberl
cm
principle of the Celtic saints. The most perfect amongst
them always longed to escape from community life, and give
their whole thoughts and hearts to God in perfect solitude.
So in thus retiring from the monastery Cuthbert gives a new
proof that he was animated by the spirit of his Celtic race
and kindred. At first he used to retire at intervals to a small
island quite close to the monastery of Lindisfarne, but there
he was constantly liable to interruption both from strangers
and from his monastic brethren. So he resolved to leave the
monastery for good, and to retire to a place where there
would be no danger of further intrusion. For this purpose
he chose as his place of retirement the small rocky islet of
Fame, one of a group of similar islands in the open sea
about seven miles south-east of Lindisfarne, and two miles
from the mainland at the royal castle of Bamborough. It
was a lonely and utterly desolate island without water, trees,
or fruits, and commonly said to be haunted by evil spirits, so
that no one had hitherto dared to remain in it for any length
of time except St. Aidan, who used sometimes retire to the-
place, like St. Cuthbert, to be alone with God. Here Cuth-
bert built himself a little cell and oratory; which in the Irish
fashion he surrounded with a circular rath, or rather a casliiol,
for the rampart was built of stones and earth about six feet
high on the outside, but rendered still higher on the inside
by the excavation of the rocky soil to furnish materials for
the wall. This was the invariable method of building adopted
by the Irish Celts, and shows that in this, as in other respects,
Cuthbert retained the usages and traditions of his Celtic
kindred. " The building," says Bede, " is almost of a round
form, from wall to wall about four or five poles in extent. The
wall on the outside is higher than a man, but within by ex-
cavating the rock he made it much deeper to prevent the
eyes and the thoughts from wandering, that they might be
wholly bent on heavenly things, and the pious inhabitant
might behold nothing from his residence but the heavens
above him." In reading this description of Cuthbert's enclos-
ure one would think that Bede had been describing one of
the similar enclosures erected by Brendan, Enda, and
Colman on the islands of the western coast of Ireland where
they are still to be seen in their ruins.
Was St. Cuthbert an Irishman? 117
From this blessed solitude the saint was most reluctantly
taken away to be made Bishop of Lindisfarne. For two years
he laboured with unremitting zeal in the discharge of his
episcopal duties, and even in that brief period he wrought a
great and lasting change for the better throughout his entire
diocese. But now his strength began to fail, and feeling his
end approaching he once more retired to his beloved retreat
on Fame Island. It was about Christmas in the year 686
that Cuthbert took his farewell of the brethren of Lindisfarne
and finally retired to his solitary cell to die. All hearts were
filled with sorrow for they felt they would see their beloved
father no more amongst them. He lingered on, however, for
two months more in his lonely island gradually growing
weaker, and then towards the middle of March it became
apparent to the brethren who came to visit him that the end
was at hand.
There is no more touching passage in the Lives of the
Saints than that in which the sympathetic pen of Bede
describes the beautiful death of Cuthbert in his cell on Fame
Island. The poor wasted body was weak unto death from
disease and lack of nourishment, but his spirit was strong
within him, and the light of God was shining in his eyes.
"Know and remember," he said amongst other things, and in
a truly prophetic spirit, " that if of two evils hereafter you
must choose one, I would much prefer that taking me up out
of the tomb and bearing my bones away with you, you should
leave this place and reside where ever God may direct you,
than that you should consent in any way to the wickedness
of schismatics and place a yoke upon your own necks."
Nearly two hundred years afterwards when the ruthless
Danes descended upon Lindisfarne these words of the dying
saint were remembered, his blessed body was taken up incor-
rupt from the grave, and borne by willing hands and faithful
hearts up and down through hill and vale, by lake and stream,
over all the wide bounds of Northumbria, until after 113 years
it found its final resting place in .Durham's stately fane. There
it was enshrined for 700 years more, down to the day when
the] commissioners of Henry VIII. visited the cathedral, de-
secrated the shrin,e, and profaned the holy ^corpse of St.
11$ Craniotomy.
Cuthbert. But since that evil day no one can say with
certainty where his sacred relics rest.
In conclusion, we have only to add that the weight of
authority, as well as the weight of evidence, is entirely in
favour of the Irish origin of the saint. The oldest and the
best authorities both of Scotland and England, as well as of Ire-
land, were in favour of that opinion. Colgan, whose honesty
is above suspicion, and whose competence to pronounce a
judgment will not be questioned, expressly declares that,
with the exception of a few (Dempster, Pitsaeus, Wion and
Posse vin) and those men of no great repute for scholarship
all other writers, and especially the English writers down to
his time, who refer to the native country of Cuthbert, unani-
mously assert that he was an Irishman. " Omnes tamen alii
et praesertini Angli, ad nostram usque aetatem qui de S
Cuthberti patria mentionem fecerint unanimi consensu et sine
controversia Hibernum fuisse contestantur." 1 In face of this
declaration we think it unnecessary to cite the testimonies of
these ancient writers, and we are content to leave the intelli-
gent reader to judge for himself how far certain recent authors
are justified in their confident statements regarding the birth-
place of the greatest of the Northumbrian saints.
j JOHN HE ALT.
CRANIOTOMY.
THE SACERDOTAL PHYSICIAN VERSUS THE MEDICAL.
" Has the Church sung her Requiem over the long vexed question
of Craniotomy ? Is it for ever morally buried ? Will it be the
obligation of every Catholic accoucheur to reply, if asked to perform
it, or to be a consenting party in a consultation regarding
Craniotomy : R.I. P. ?"
OW far all these queries must be answered in the
affirmative, I propose to shew by this brief essay.
I. Its importance its paramount and vital importance
made manifest, (1) to the confessor, (2) to the Catholic
1 Acta SS., 695.
H
Craniotomy.
accoucheur, to say nothing of the patient herself, when the
former remembers that he is exposed, at any time, to be asked
the staggering question : " Is craniotomy ever lawful to
save a mother's life " ? and the latter (i.e. the accoucheur)
that he must abide by the moral teaching of his Church, to
act conscientiously, and therefore safely, in those doubtful
and perplexing matters, in which the law of God, and the
morality of action are essentially involved. Hence, at the
very outset, I have used the words " morally buried ; " because,
as long as the world contains, as I suppose it ever will contain,
unscrupulous professional men men who accept as guides
only the feeble light of their own reason, only their own
deductions from science, whether in conformity or not with
the teaching of faith, or the moral guidance of the Church of
God craniotomy will never be physically or absolutely buried
i.e., unpractised.
It is for a similar reason I have used the qualification of
Catholic instead of Christian, as a prefix to the word physician
or accoucheur : for, though I am ready and willing to admit
that, outside the pale of the Catholic Church, physicians are
to be found as God-fearing and conscientious as within her
fold, it would be unreasonable to expect either from those,,
who accept as their only Rule of Faith the bare (dead) word
of God in Holy Scripture, with no other (no living) authority
than reason and science ; or, again, from those who practise
midwifery without professing any religion ; I say, it is
hardly reasonable to expect from these the same scrupulosity
or rectitude in their moral actions, as from those who look to
Divine authority, speaking through an infallible magisteriun
as their supreme guide in rebus moralibus sicuti in rebus
credendis. But before we advance another step, let us restrict
our attention to the sole point at issue : " Can craniotomy
be ever lawful ?" To do this we must first understand
what is precisely meant by craniotomy.
II. Though the scientific terms Craniotomy (Craniotomia)y
Embryotomy (Embryotomia), Embryothlasy (Embryothlasia),
Cephalotomy (Cephalotomia), and Cephalotripsy (Cephalo-
tripsia), have their own special signification, they are, at least,
synonymous in this, that all of them imply aliqua diminutio
120 Craniotomy.
artificialis fcetus in utero, in order to effect a delivery; and,
moreover, should the foetus be living (as all along we
shall suppose) 1 , they all involve the killing of the foetus,
in order that sive in toto sive in partibus per vim extrahi
possit.
And hence, although in the consideration of this question,
we are only dealing strictly with craniotomy and embryotomy
whatever we say of them, in their moral bearings, may be
equally said of any of the other operations which imply a
destruction of life in the foetus. Indeed, as far as embryotomy
(non mere occisio sed etiam mutilatio foetus in utero) is
concerned, as it almost always involves craniotomy, the
two terms are often used as synonyms. Craniotomy may
be described as " the lessening of the bulk of the foetal
head;" and this is accomplished by perforating the head
of the foetus with an instrument (most deadly), called
the Perforator, causing thereby an escape of the brain-
matter (or cerebral tissue) of the cranium ; and, as a
natural consequence, directly producing death to a living
foetus.
It has for its object, to terminate labour with safety to
the mother, in those cases where, propter disproportionem
inter infantem, (prassertim inter ejus caput), et matris pelvim,
foetus vivus nee per vires naturae nee per media artificial ia et
innocua (v. g. by the forceps) extrahi potest.
Such cases consequently involve certain conditions,
viz :
1 Agitur de abortu, proprie dicto ; non itaque de
partus acceleratione, comparative innocua, quando nempe
foetus vivus remanet, licet non perfecte maturus, (si, nempe,
&extum mensem compleverit).
E contra abortus lethalem partus accelerationem semper
supponit, quando foetus vivus et immaturus est, (v. g., ante
sextum menseni).
2 That the case is such that, if left to nature, the result
will be fatal both to mother and child. Consequently, unless
1 There is, of course, no unlawfulness, nay often an obligation extrahere
foetuni certo mortuum.
Craniotomy. 121
extracted by the Ciesarean operation 1 , or by laparo-elytro-
tomy' 2 , the child, in any case, must die, with or without
craniotomy.
o Hence it supposes, on. the one hand, ex parte capitis
foetalis disproportionem actualem, ita nt extractio foetus
capitis (etiam compressi) per pelvis aperturam impossibilis sit
sive idem propter alias complication es ex parte matris, and,
on the other hand, that the disproportion is not so great as
to prevent foetus extractionem, si mutiletur per embryoto-
miam.
4 Two things, then, are never to be forgotten ; namely,
that craniotomy always involves the certain loss of the child ;
while, in most cases, it secures the life of the mother. And
that, in the case of a living foetus, it always implies directa
fcctus occisio.
III. Let us now turn from obstetrics to the moral aspect
of the question. Indeed, I can well imagine a clerical reader
exclaiming : " It is surely time " ! " What is it all about ?
What Catholic theologian ever said a word in favour of
craniotomy"? " This all looks remarkably like a tempest in
a tm-pot"?
I shall ask my readers to kindly suspend all judgment till
the close of my article ; when, if they shall have learned
1 The Caesarean Section (operation) or as it is technically called
Hysterotomy, is pretty well understood by the reader. By it the fcetns
(living) is extracted through an incision made in the abdominal and uterine
walls. It is operated on matres mortuae, to try and save the living fostus,
or, at least, to baptize it ; and it is operated on matres vivae. with the hope
of saving both child and mother, in those complicated cases of which we
are treating in the text.
2 Laparo-Elytrotomy is a more recent, in fact, quite modern invention
by Dr. Thomas of New York. By this operation an incision is made
through the lower part of the abdominal wall, in such a manner and place
that it avoids the opening of the cavity of the peritoneum and of incising
the uterine tissue, etc., thus obviating the greater dangers of the Caesareaii
operation : indeed, it may be said that, no special surgical difficulties seem
to attend laparo-elytrotomy. It is still quite in its infancy, was like most
new things pooh-poohed at first, but now that it has met with success both
in England and America, modern writers on obstetrics are speaking of it in
graver terms, and giving it much more serious attention. There seems
little doubt that, where the choice lies between the two, preference will be
given to it over the C<esarean section, especially when it is a question of
operating on a living mother.
122 Craniotomy.
nothing new, they will, at least, have before them the
vicissitudes of craniotomy down to its late quietus by the
Holy See.
I shall now endeavour to state the case in its moral bear-
ings. To effect this satisfactorily or with any degree of
lucidity, I must put before the readers the two sides of the
question, or rather quote from respectable authorities the
opposite decisions to which they come : one side being for its
Hcitness, the other for its unlawfulness ; the one side declaring
it to be no evil in se, the other that it is nothing short of
murder.
A. FOR THE LlCITNESS OF CRANIOTOMY.
On this side I find advocates not only from the non-
Catholic, but even from the Catholic ranks. Let us take
first
1. Non-Catholic Advocates of Craniotomy.
(a.) One of the greatest of modern authors (English) on
Obstetrics thus writes on craniotomy :
" The question at issue the morality or immorality deslruendi
infantem vivurn, per craniotomiam has always been regarded in a three-
fold aspect, moral, theological, and obstetrical; the latter resting
upon and inseparably connected with the former, at least in the
opinion of one party ... I think it will be at once admitted that
occisio infant is in utero, and which I shall prove can be by no means
born alive , and which must die in a few hours, (but the prolongation
of whose life, even for a few hours, will most seriously if not irrepar-
ably, endanger that of the mother), cannot be brought under the
definition of murder ; there is no malice aforethought expressed or
implied [?] ; it is done from necessity [?] and without any evidence of
wicked, depraved, or malignant spirit ; it is not, therefore, in any true
sense murder 1 ... I have proved, on the highest legal authority, 2
that this stigma is unjust, and that it does not come under any true
definition of murder [?], inasmuch as it involves no malice [?] ; that
it is even something less than justifiable killing [?], inasmuch as the
child's death is inevitable without our interference ; we do but hasten
it . . . If it be physically impossible that the child be born alive,
then I hold that the accoucheur's responsibility for its life ceases
entirely no blame can rest upon him for its death . . . All he is
justly accountable for is depriving it of life a few hours before it
would otherwise cease to live. And for what ? The mother is in
1 The marks of interrogation in brackets are my own insertion.
2 He argues in his essay on the civil definition of murder given by-
Lord Coke, Sir Matthew Hale, Sergeant Hawkins, etc.
Craniotomy. 123
imminent danger, and will die if assistance be withheld, but she can
l>f. saved noic. I say, therefore, that if the assistance be not given,
the accusation of murder by omission would come with greater
force against the party who voluntarily allows the mother's life to be
imperilled. Granted, if you please, that hastening the child's death
is an evil, 1 so is the death of the mother ; which of the two is the
lesser evil, considering that you cannot prevent the first, and can
prevent the latter."
So much for the renowned Fleetwood Churchill, M.D.,
M.R.I.A., who, in addition to being a great authority on
obstetrics, lays open claim in his essay to being a Christian
and firm believer in the Church of England or Ireland.
(b.) Dr. Leishman,in his popular System of Midwifery, also
writes :
" Embryotomy is, in one sense, the most objectionable of all the
operations of midwifery ; for, of all other possible modes of procedure, 2
this is the one that most certainly involves destruction of the child
. . . circumstances do arise, when in the full knowledge of the fact
that the foetus lives, it may be the duty of the accoucheur unhesitatingly
to sacrifice the child, as this is the only means by which he may
reasonably expect to save the mother." System ofMidivifery, c. xxxii.
In our limited space we must content ourselves with one
more non-Catholic and, yet learned, modern authority on
obstetrics.
(c.) Dr. Playfair, in his (1884) edition of his Science and
Practice of Midwifery has the following :
" Even at the present day there are not wanting practitioners who,
in their praiseworthy objection to the destruction of a living child,
counsel delay until the child has died ; a practice thoroughly illogical
... In England, the safety of the child has always been considered
subservient to that of the mother ; and it has been admitted that in.
every case in which the extraction of a living foetus by any of the
ordinary means is impossible, its mutilation is perfectly justifiable."
Chap. v.
2. Catholic Advocates for Craniotomy.
I have said that advocates for Craniotomy have been
found in the Catholic ranks ; perhaps I shall surprise some
of my readers the more if I say they are even to be found
1 The writer endeavoured *o prove it to be no evil at all, in another
part of his essay.
2 Remark that this author candidly implies there are otlicr modes.
124 Craniotomy.
amongst theologians, modern as well as ancient. In making
this undeniable assertion I do not want to extend it beyond
just limits ; for I must acknowledge, in examining some of
the writings of theologians quoted by others, as favouring
craniotomy, that it is not always clear that they were not
sometimes speaking of other operations less deadly than
craniotomy. For instance, in some cases I find them only
treating the question of an enceinte mother taking certain
remedies for the cure or alleviation of disease, though such
remedies might indirectly injure the child or cause abortus.
It seems, however, that
(a.) Avanzini, who was until lately the editor of the Acta
SanctcB Sedis, defended the licitness of craniotomy under
c ertain cir cumstan c es.
(b.) The present editor Pennacchi (Roma>\ 1884) seems
to follow in Avanzini' s steps.
(c.) So also Viscosi (Napoli, 1877).
(d.) Appicella (Seafate 1879).
(.) d'Annibali (Theo. Mor. pars. II. n. 321).
(/.) Berardi expresses surprise at finding 01. Ballerini
inclined to favour licitness, who in turn cites several ancient
authors, and especially amongst them Tertullianus (De
Anima^ no. 25). While as tacitly inclined to it, Berardi also
mentions the reviser of Scavirii.
(g.) Many other tlieologi gravissimi are said to have defended
it to some extent, especially of the Roman school.
(7i.) Lehmkuhl will also appear to the reader too easy or
hesitating on the point, by the insertion of the word videtur.
(Tom. i. No. 841. V. et. pag. 505, 506, No. 848.) Berardi
himself, who will evidently rank amongst the first of modern
practical authors and who is pledged to the hilt against
craniotomy under any circumstances, briefly summarises the
reasons advanced by most of the above advocates for its
licitness, thus :
1. " Rationabile est ut, ex duobus alioquin certo certius et
proximo morituris, unus salvetur ; nempe mater quae majus ad vitam
jus habet et cujus conservatio magis interest . . . videtur quod
Deus qui vitae et mortis dominus est, cujusque leges nonnisi
sapient issimae esse possunt, id non jam interdicere sed permittere
debeat
Craniototny. 125-
2". " Si juxta inultos theologos eosque gravi-ssiinos, quando foetus
per se est causa mortis, licet eum dcstruere in casu flagrant! quiet
tanquatu af/yressor haletur, si sit inaiiimatus ; eccur non erit aggressor
si sit animatus ? Nonne eadein ratio viget in utroque casu ? . . .
3. " Medici operationem istam sine scrupulo jam hide a saeculis
semper fecerunt, ut ex Tertulliani textu patet ; et Ecclesia damnavit
quidem alias doctrinas de abortu, sed circa casum istum semper
tacuit t 1 imo crauiotomiam in recensitis circumstantiis esse licitam,
libris Eomae editis doceri sinit." (Berardi, Praxis Confess.,
No. 192, page 95.)
No wonder this author should say, when alluding to so
many modern authors favouring craniotomy, " Quod minim
mihi videtur!"
B. FOR THE I^LA^SYFULXESS OF CRANIOTOMY.
It is time to regard now what we shall see at the close of
this article is the only practically safe side of this important
and vexed question.
We shall state at once that craniotoiuy or the perforation of
the living fcetus in utero, as a means to save the life of the mother ,
though in any case the child must be sacrificed, is unlawful (omnino
iUieitumJaye, is nothing short of murder. For artificial
abortion must be regarded as wrongful or unjust killing. But
murder is prohibited both by divine and human law ; there-
fore artificial abortion or craniotomy is prohibited. Before
any attempt at further reasoning, let us see what authorities
have to say.
I quoted first on tiie other side Dr. Churchill who, in
an essay a few years ago, endeavoured to refute an article
which appeared in the Dublin Revieiu of April 1858. 2 It is
fair, therefore, to quote a few paragraphs from that Review
(a.) " But it will be said [the author writes] must the accoucheur
fold his arms and allow both mother and child to perish, when he
might probably save one of them ? To this we answer once more,
that he cannot commit murder ; that he must not do evil that good
may follow ; and that the medical man, like every other member of
society, must be prepared to encounter in this dim world a great
many calamities which he can neither remedy nor alleviate." (Dublin
llevieii', April number, 1858, page 100).
1 Until recently.
* Written by Professor Crolly, of Maynooth College.
Craniotomy.
(b.) In support of this protest against craniotomy as
murder, I find Cap ellmann, in his Pastoral Medicine, as good an
exponent of the common teaching of theologians as any I
"have read; 1 and for this reason I shall freely quote from
him :
"The moralists say [upon this question] : Nanquain licet directs
procurare alortum. Even in order to avert danger of life, artificial
abortion cannot be allowed. The objection that the well-being of
the mother is directly, the abortion indirectly only, intended, does not
hold good .... Any good effect directly intended should not
result from any forbidden effect which is the cause of the former, for
then this forbidden effect is necessarily directly intended ....
Let us take the case wherein all accoucheurs would regard perfora-
tion as indicated : for instance, let it be an alternative between
perforation and the Caesarean operation, 12 between the necessity to
terminate delivery in order to save the mother, and the mother's
unwillingness to have the latter operation performed, and even in
this case it can never be lawful for the physician to kill the child.
There is absolutely no other way open than to await the death of
mother or child, either of whose deaths he cannot avert by lawful
means, 8 and then to render to the surviving on 3 every assistance his
art may have taught him."
Here, you see, is another Catholic authority admitting that
sometimes " the accoucheur must fold his arms," and " be
prepared to encounter in this dim world a great many
calamities which he can neither remedy nor alleviate."
But you will say what about the trite argument of the
advocates for craniotomy, that the foetus in liter o is in such
cases an unjust aggressor of its own mother? The same
author, to my mind, disposes completely of this fallacy :
"Each individual human being, and, consequently, the foetus
humanus, has the right to live. This right cannot be disputed,
unless
" 1. The individual is deprived of it by acting against divine and
human laws, or by trespassing on all natural or social order; or
unless
" 2. By any unlawful attack on the body or life of another, this
other is justified, in self-defence, to harm the unlawful assailant, even
to the depriving him of his life to preserve his own.
1 Crolly (Vol. III., No. 143) may be read with great profit.
2 Or laparo-elytrotomy, see foot-note on page 121.
3 The supposition is that the mother objects to either the Caesarean
-operation or the other lawful operation, called laparo-elytrotomy.
Craniotomy. 127
" Now as to the 1. The child, during his foetal life, cannot forfeit
its right to live by acting against the law, or by trespassing on lawful
order, being in total passivity by constraint. Nobody can deserve
punishment remaining passive or not acting, when he is deprived of
the possibility of acting, without any fault of his own."
In face of this, how then could Dr. Churchill maintain
there is " no malice aforethought," " no wicked spirit," " no
murder," but rather that " it is justifiable killing " to deprive
such a passive, inert and irresponsible prisoner as the fostus
in uter o is? (Vide supra A a.)
Ad 2. "Neither can it be maintained that the foetus acts as an
unjust assailant on the well-being and life of the mother. The
embryo might eventually become a source of danger to the life of the
mother (indeed, this is supposed), but it becomes so involuntarily,
without any action of its own, without any act of its will. Thus
4 unjust aggression ' is completely absent. 1 Yet this element of ' unjust'
aggression is essentially necessary to justify a defence that may ex-
tend to taking away the life of the assailant. 2 But it is exceedingly
doubtful whether a child, which cannot be delivered without risk of
death to the mother, can be considered an assailant at all. In
most cases the hindrance to safe delivery lies with the mother, propter
pelvis niiniam arctitudinem^ <J-c. The actus parturitionis also does not
originate in the child, but in the mother. Consequently, if, through
a wilful act of the mother (conceptio\ the embryo in utero allocata est;
if its expulsion ex utero is aimed at by an action originating in the
mother ; if (generally at least) obstacles to this expulsion are seated
in the mother if by these circumstances all originating in the
mother, the lives of mother and child are endangered, how can the
child be called an aggressor, still less an unjust aggressor? The
mother, therefore, or the physician acting for the mother, cannot
appeal to the principles of self-defence. Consequently, artificial abor-
tion must be regarded as wrongful killing, as murder." (Capellmann,
A (1) on Abortus, p. 12).
IV. Having now seen what the physician both medical
and sacerdotal has to say on craniotomy, let us turn to our
Holy Mother the Church.
In the third series vol. vi. 1885 page 136 of the I. E.
RECORD, the reader will find the history of this question
briefly given.
1 Then again, lioic could Dr. ( 'hurchill and his fellow advocates declare it is
" no evil"" 1 or a u lesser evil " in face of the mother's self-imposed condition of
danger, to directly kill one u-ho is certainly not an unjust aggressor, if an
rciwor at all ?
'- Always keep in mind the killing is direct, not indirect.
128 Craniotoniii.
II L- will see that, although the Holy See had been fre-
quently asked to speak, she for a long time deferred her
decision.
The Sacred Penitentiary was first directly questioned in
1869. The answer was : " Consulat probates auctores'*
(Lehmkuhl. Tom. I., No. 848, page 506).
The Holy Office was again importuned in 1883 ; when on
the 10th December of that year, we received for answer that
the question was then under consideration.
On the 31st May, 1884, the' long-looked for decision was
given by the Congregation of the Holy Office, after long and
mature consideration, and that decision (in my opinion)
gives the quietus to and sounds the death knell of craniotomy :
" Tuto doceri non posse" (See I. E. EECORD, vol. vi., page 137).
As Roma locuta est ac proinde causa finita esf, we shall close
this long and, I fear, somewhat desultory article with a
corollary for patient, doctor and priest.
1 Obligations of Patient.
A mater gravida, learning that she is in the above critical
condition, cannot and dare not, ask for or sanction craniotomy.
She has but one of three alternatives : viz : either (a) to
consent to the caesarean section, or (b) to laparo-elytrotomy,
or, if unwilling to submit to either of these operations, to
await the natural course of events to commit herself to
Divine Providence and, if it be God's will, rather to die than
permit craniotomy. From this obligation it can be easily
deducted what a fearful responsibility, and even risk to the
salvation is it for a Catholic mother to engage non-Catholic
accoucheurs, especially where skilful Catholic doctors can be
procured, and whenever symptoms or the probability of such
uterine complications, manifest themselves.
2 Obligations of the Accoucheur,
It follows necessarily from what we have said that the
accoucheur can never have recourse to craniotomy or
embryotomy, unless the foetus in utero be certainli/ dead.
After advising one or other of the above lawful operations
Craniotomy. 129*
without success 1 he too " must be prepared to encounter in
this dim world a great many calamities which he can neither
remedy nor alleviate. He must, therefore, quietly await the
death of either child or mother, and then rally to the assistance
of the surviving one, and be grateful if he succeeds even in
this."
It is also his duty to secure as well as he can baptism in
utero sub conditione ; but, as the decisions of the S. Congre-
gation leave some doubt about the validity of this form of
baptism, the baptism should be again^administered condition-
ally post fast As mm extractionem. (See I. E. RECORD Vol. vii.,
p. 359).
In any case, where death is likely to overtake the fcetus in
utero, baptism (conditional) should be attempted, and upon
any part' 2 (fcetus) possible.
In consultation with other doctors who may be called in
if they should suggest craniotomy, it becomes his duty to
protest against it, and share no responsibility.
3 Obligations of the Priest.
Firstly, it is not necessary to say that, as neither the
accoucheur nor patient can have recourse to craniotomy, the
priest also cannot sanction it.
Secondly, not only must he look upon craniotomy as
sinful and unlawful ; but I even fear he can 110 longer safely
follow the advice of Cl. Archiep. Kenrick :
u Equidem quum utrinque periculum sit, puto baud oportere
(sacerdotem) se aliquatenus chirurgi ccmsiliis inmiscere ; nil enim
proderit, et in se mortis matris suscipiet odium . . . Si mater
pe.tat quid sibi faciendum sit, videtur dicendum, oportere cliirurgum
orare, ut vitae foetus, omni qua possit rationeconsulat."
It seems to me he may often be called upon to speak with
more precision. Moreover, he should never fail to counsel such
patients, if opportunity offers, to select from their medical
men Catholic doctors, when possible, and habiles vel periti
adsunt.
1 That is supposing the mother to object to the Caesarean section or
elytrotomy.
2 Si caput non sit in presentatione.
VOL. IX. I
130 Letters in Ancient Ireland The " Book of Kells."
I shall conclude this paper with a fact mentioned by Dr.
Playfair, and which I deem conclusive enough of the alarming
frequency of craniotomy. He states that in one hospital alone,
that of the Rotunda, instead of the forceps, craniotomy was
employed in twenty-one thousand eight hundred and sixty-
seven cases of labour during the mastership over that hospital
of one doctor alone. 1 (Science and Practice of Midwifery,
ch. v., p. 207.) And this, mark you, in Ireland. temporal
O mores ! Thank God some degree of reform is setting in,
even among British obstetricians.
U. E. U.
LETTERS IN ANCIENT IRELAND THE BOOK OF
KELLS."
IN proposing here to give the reader some account of the
MS. known as the Book of Kells, I am met with some
problems in connexion with it that seem to demand a
solution, namely, as to the date when it was written, and the
claims of Ireland to this and other MSS. which suppose the
existence of letters and the fine arts where they were pro-
duced ; for some writers have denied those claims. But if
it be made to appear that the learned of other countries
sustain our national traditions, in regard to those claims, then
the subject will be one of greater interest to the readers of
the RECOKD.
The first time the Book of Kells comes under the notice of
history 2 is in the year 1006, when it was abstracted from the
church there, where it was preserved, and found after two
or three months under a sod, but stripped of its ornamented
cover. It subsequently came into the possession of Ussher,
while Bishop of Meath, and was by him deposited in the
Library of Trinity College, where it has since been preserved
with great care.
l l flinch from giving his name.
2 See Annals of Ulster , and the Four Masters at the year 1006.
Letters in Ancient Ireland The " Book of Kells" 131
It is a large 4to. volume, of 344 leaves of vellum, the pages
about 11 inches long, 9 broad. It contains the Four Gospels
in Latin ; and these are preceded by matters appertaining to
the Prolegomena of Scripture, as the Canons of Eusebius,
interpretation of Hebrew proper names, summaries of the
chief matters contained in each of the Gospels, and some
biographical notices of the Evangelists. Besides these there
are some documents in Irish, put into vacant spaces on the
reverse of the illuminated pages, and referring to property
left to the Church of Kells for pious uses. These Irish
documents are all in a different hand, and inserted here at a
much later period, seemingly for their preservation.
To proceed in order there are two things in our MS.
that are to be considered : 1st, the style or form of the letters,
which the learned call the palaeography; and 2ndly, the
ornamental part, i.e. the capital letters and the illuminations.
The form of the letters is called uncial, or majuscule, from
their size, and by some, semiuncial, which is nearer the actual
size. They are of a somewhat rounded form, beautifully
turned, and written seemingly with great care. This style
was not used for books in ordinary use. It is contradis-
tinguished from what is called the minuscule or cursive
hand, which was of smaller size, the letters sometimes joined,
sometimes separate. This cursive style was the most ordinary
form for books, and most of our ancient Irish MSS. are of
that kind.
Mabillon 1 treats very fully of the form of letters used by
different nations, which he classifies as Roman, Gothic,
Anglo-Saxon, Lombardic, and gives facsimiles of each. The
Roman uncial letters of the first or classical period were like
the capital letters now used in the title pages of books, and
in no way like our MS. But in what he calls the Second
Roman period, after the Lombardic conquest, 569, the Roman
style was modified by the Lombardic ; and then, in the
specimens he gives, the similarity begins to appear, in the
form of the letters, to what we have in the Book of Kells.
One specimen very like, amongst others which he gives, is from
1 Mabillon, de Re Diplomatica, lib. 5.
132 Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Kells"
the Psaltery of Abbess Salisberga of Laon, in France, which he
attributes to the seventh century. He does not mention
Ireland, or any Irish style, when treating of the Anglo-
Saxon ; but of this again.
In the great work on Universal Palaeography, by Sylvester 1
and Champollion, speaking of the Anglo-Saxon style, they
say it was a compound of what the ancient Britons had during
the Roman occupation, and that brought into England by
St. Augustine. They mention a Psaltery in the British'
Museum that was brought by him from Rome. Facsimiles
of this are given by Mr. Westwood, and the form of most of
the letters is the same as in the Irish MSS. They say the
form of writing in England, Ireland and Scotland was from
a common type, but with differences peculiar to each ; all
which forms they call Anglo-Saxon, and the Irish style in
particular they hold to be unquestionably of Roman origin.
The specimens they give from Anglo-Saxon MSS. are very
like the Irish, but there is a mistake, I think, as they speak
of the Gospels of M'Regol as if it were an Anglo-Saxon MS.
while it is claimed by Mr. Gilbert to be Irish, as the writer's
name indicates.
Mabillon, as I said, does not mention any Irish style,
unless he understood it, as I think he did, to be included in the
term Anglo-Saxon, as Champollion uses that designation for
the writing forms of the three countries, while he recognises
a distinct Irish style. The other Benedictines, at all events
the editors of the Nouveau Diplomatique, do justice to Ireland.
They say the Anglo-Saxon style was not peculiar to England ;
that Ireland had the same form at an earlier period, both
which national styles they trace to a Roman origin. 2
1 Palssographie Universelle de tous les penples et de tons lex temps. 4 vol.
fol. Paris, 1840. The matters here referred to are from vol. iv. towards
the commencement. The pages are not numbered.
- The reader should observe there is question here of the form of
letters in the Book of Kells, and not of the antiquity of letters generally in
Ireland, which it had certainly since, the time of St. Patrick and earlier.
There were several other forms of letters it might have had.
If any should desire to find a home origin for the letters which the
Lombards brought into Italy, they should bear in mind that that people
came from those countries on the left bank of the Elbe which border on the
North Sea, and that Ireland had the colony of the Firbolgs, from the
adjacent countries. Here is a field for the industry of experts.
Letters in A ncient Ireland The u Book of KdU? 133
I will now place before the reader the views of
Mr. Westwood, 1 the distinguished Oxford professor. He
holds it was the Irish missionaries from lona, at Lindisfarne
that introduced what is called the Anglo-Saxon style of MSS.
into England; and that they, and the other Anglo-Saxon
missionaries, propagated it through other parts of Europe.
Mr. Digby Wyatt 2 holds the same opinion, and cites with
very warm approbation the language of Mr. Westwood;
adding that as the Anglo-Saxon MSS. were the most
numerous, that title was extended to them all.
I must observe that Mr. Westwood treats chiefly of the
ornamental part or illuminations, and its combination with
the letters then in use in Ireland, and does not enter so much
on the question of the more remote origin of those letters.
Mabillon on the contrary treats solely of the form of the
letters, and the others I have quoted treat chiefly of that.
Here let me digress for a moment. It was while the souls
of men in Northumbria were deeply stirred by the zeal of
the lona missionaries that the fame of that country from
which they came induced " many of the nobility and of the
middle classes of the English nation " to pass over to Ireland
" for divine studies, and a more holy life ;" and the generous
-hospitality with which they were received, and " supplied
gratuitously with books and tuition," is recorded by V. Bede, 3
in terms that give undying testimony to the schools and
literature of Ireland. We should not be surprised to inherit
from such a period a MS. like the Book of Kells.
The second thing to be considered in our MS . is the
ornamental part, i.e., the ornamental capital letters, and the
illuminations, of which I will give some brief details. But
first I would request the attention of the reader to consider
when and where it was written.
The Annals of Ulster, and those of the Four Masters, which
may be supposed to represent the national tradition on the
subject, call it the "Great Gospel of Columbkille " an ex-
pression that would imply not only the possession, but also,
1 Westwood, Palxoa raphia Sacra and Miniatures of An do- Saxon and
Irish MSS.
2 D. Wyatt, Art of Illuminating* 3 V. Bede's E. History, m. 27.
134 Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Kells."
I think, the authorship, if not by himself, at least in his times,
and by his disciples. Mr. D. Wyatt is of opinion it was
written by the disciples of St. Columba shortly after his death,
in honour of him, as the Gospels of Lindisfarne were written
by the disciples of St. Cuthbert. In the genealogy of our
Lord, given by St. Luke, in the ornamental part, a person
is represented pointing significantly to the name " Jona."
Now any of my readers who knows how Adaninau, in his
Life of St. Columba, so fondly dwells on his name, giving its
interpretation in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin Jona, Peristera.
Columba adding, " cum Jona propheta homonymum sortitus
nomen," will see considerable force in that circumstance to
connect our MS. with St. Columba and his disciples. These
circumstances seem to point to lona as the probable place
where it was copied. Kells is said not to have been any way
considerable till about 810, when Abbot Kellach brought
there from loua, for safety from the Danes, some relics and
other valuables ; and amongst these might be this MS.
In that case Kells would be credited only with its custody
thenceforward.
I will now call the reader's attention to the different read-
ings the Book of Kells presents, as compared with the Vulgate ;
not to discuss its merits or demerits as a faithful translation
which, of course, is the principal and more important matter.,
but which would lead me beyond the limits I must observe, anct
which also would be foreign to my present subject. I will
quote them only as a kind of internal evidence, the MS. itself
supplies of the time when it was copied. Some of those read-
ings are in the form of passages transferred from one place
to another sometimes from the same Gospel, sometimes
from a different one. I will give some instances from the
Gospel of St. Matthew. In chapter viii. v. 24, " Erat ventus
contrarius illis " is added, taken from xiv., 24, or from
Mark vi., 48. In ix., 15, "In illis diebus " is added, from
Mark ii., 20. In x., 29, " Qui in coelis est " is inserted. In
xxi., 31, we find " Primus et novissimus ;" the addition taken
probably from the parable in chapter xx. In xxv., 45,.
* Ambulantibus in nomine meo " is inserted after " Minoribus."
In xxvi., 26, after the words of Institution we find " Quod
Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Kells" 135
confririgitur pro saeculi vita;" the addition being formed,
1 think, partly from John vi., 33, and partly from the
" Klomenon " of the Greek text, 1 Cor. xi., 24. Also in the
same chapter v., 28, " Pro multis " is preceded by " Pro vobis,"
taken from Luke xxii., 20 ; as the Church unites both clauses
in the consecration of the chalice. Again, in xxvii., 49,
" Alms autem pupugit latus ejus, et exivit sanguis et aqua "
is added from St. John. 1 These instances, to which others
might be added from the other Evangelists, will suffice,! think,
for my purpose, as stated above. It seems clear to me they
prove our MS. to be derived from one of those less accurate
copies which were in circulation before the time of St. Jerome,
which he was ordered by St. Damasus to correct from the
Greek text ; as the readings in it are exactly such as he
says those copies contained. 2 Here then is abundant light
around the object of our inquiry. St. Isidore of Seville, who
wrote early in the seventh century he died in 636 says the
correction of St. Jerome was then received everywhere,
" Usquequa per omnes Ecclesias," and therefore we must
infer our MS. was written before that time. About the
time of St. Columba's death it was two hundred years since the
correction of the Gospels by St. Jerome was published; a
period long enough surely for it to be known and received
everywhere. But to suppose it to be unknown here up to
the eighth or ninth century is beyond all credibility.
The reader must observe that those different readings, as
the learned, I believe, admit with regard to different readings
generally, affect very little the integrity of the sacred text.
Most of them were manifestly added for the sake of explana-
tion ; placed probably at first in the margin, and afterwards
incorporated with the text by unskilful copyists. St. Jerome
justly censures such liberties taken with the sacred text ;
but the reader should bear in mind that the fault was in
those who first introduced them, not with those, as in this
case, who might unknowingly copy them.
1 In these quotations I liave availed myself of Dr. Abbot's work, in
2 vols., in which he gives the different readings of the Book of Kelts as
compared with the Vulgate.
2 St. Jerome's words are " Dum quod in eadem re alius Evangelista
plus dixit, in alio quia minus putaverint addiderunt." Ep. ad Damasw/n.
lotf Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Ketls"
The next thing to be considered in the Book of Kelts is
the ornamental parts. Of these several facsimiles have been
published of the ornamented capital letters and the principal
illuminations by Mr. Gilbert, Mr. Westwood, and others. It
is only by seeing them the reader can have an idea of them ;
any description must necessarily be very imperfect.
In the commencement of St. Matthew nearly every
sentence begins with an ornamental capital letter, but in the
subsequent parts they are not so numerous. The designs of
these are adapted to the form of the letter, and are of great
variety. Some of those designs are formed from likenesses of
different animals ; and by the learned are called zoomorphites.
Here a bird stands within the letter; projects its tail on one
side of it, and raises it head over the other, with plumage
sometimes that would seem too bright for our climate.
Again, the slender body of some animal is woven into and
around the letter, with limbs of disproportionate length ;
sometimes several of them coiled together. This form of
ornament is called " " Lacertine," from its supposed likeness
to the lizard (lacerta). A man is sometimes introduced seated
within the letter, his feet hanging down, and his hands
pointing to objects around. The word " Et" often begins a
sentence, and the upright line of the second letter is completed
into the form of the letter by a fish, of very slender propor-
tions and beautiful colours, that swims in front of it. This
connecting word furnished ground for what seems to have
been a favourite ornament. These are a few specimens out
of a great variety of the ornamental capitals. In all of them
various colours are imparted, as yellow, red, purple, green.
Besides these zoomorphites there are others without any
animal representation. The letter is divided into compart-
ments, each of a different colour. In all those the colours are
very fresh, particularly the green.
Besides those there are what are called Illuminations, by
which generally a whole page is occupied. There are about
fifteen of these seven in St. Matthew, and two or three in
each of the other Gospels. Four of these pages contain
portraits of the Evangelists ; one of St. John, one of St.
Mark : there are two in St. Matthew, one of that Evangelist,
Letters in Ancient Ireland The ''Book of Kells" 137
and the other is supposed by some to represent our Lord.
Each of those portraits is of large size, nearly filling an
entire page. St. John holds a book in his left hand, and in
the right what is supposed to be a stylus for writing. The
others hold each a book, the left hand beneath the robe sup-
porting it under, and the right hand uncovered placed on it
from above. They are all in flowing garments.
The four living creatures of the Apocalypse are represented
frequently. On each of the eight pages of the Canons of
Eusebius they are placed at the head of the page, and in each
of the Gospels besides there are illuminations representing
them. From this frequency, and the symbols of the Trinity
placed in one of them on the nimbus that surrounds the
eagle's head, I think the artist must have imagined that,
besides typifying the Four Evangelists, there was something
divine in those mysterious beings; or at least that they
symbolised those superior intelligences we read of that
descend to our lower world, and are ever watchful and active
for the salvation of souls.
Of the numerous illuminations in the MS. I can enter
into details only of a few. The first page of each of the
Gospels has one formed from the commencing letters, which
are very large, nearly filling the page ; and these surrounded
by beautiful tracery of different designs. There are two such
in St. Matthew, one at the first and the other at the eighteenth
verse on the words "Christi autem generatio," which are formed
into a beautiful illumination. The letters "Chr " are very large,
so as to fill nearly the entire page ; the others in smaller size
are placed at the bottom of it. The vacant spaces within the
large letters, and those between them and the margin are
filled with ornamental work of different kinds, chiefly with
circles, in each of which three smaller ones are inscribed, and
in each small one three still smaller. At the left side two
angels hold each a book. At the top a female head is placed
looking down, I think it is the Blessed Virgin. Another
head lower down, on the right side, in herma form, is pro-
bably intended for St. Joseph. On the shaft of the large
letter are some beautiful specimens of interlaced ribbon and
lacertine work, and other ornamental tracery. At the bottom
138 Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Kells."
of the page two cats are lying on the ground with their
kittens playing around them, by which familiar images it
seems probable to me the artist intended to temper the
austerity of the sublime mystery to which the words
referred.
There is an illuminated page in the Gospel of St. John
in form of an oblong square filling the whole page, with bars
diagonally connecting the opposite angles. The sides of the
square and those bars are each about an inch broad, and
beautifully ornamented. At the intersection of the crossbars
a figure of a diamond form is placed overlapping them, and
ornamented as a separate part. Similar square figures are
placed midways on the sidebars and on those at the top and
bottom, ornamented also as distinct parts. In the vacant
spaces between the crossbars and the sides the four living
creatures are depicted. One of those crossbars is overlaid
from end to end with flowers of the daisy pattern. Those
that form the groundwork are white. Others, green and
purple, are placed at regular intervals, so as to form an
agreeable picture. The other crossbar is overlaid with
lacertine ornament. The four squares on the sidebars inclose
each four spiral circles on a black ground. The central
diamond figure has interlaced ribbon all round. The living
creatures, with extended wings, are represented here in a
style much superior, I think, to those in any other part of
the MS., whether they were drawn by a different artist or
from some other cause. In this illumination each part may
be viewed by itself, and is complete ; while the entire page
collectively is but one, and also complete.
The first of the portraits in St. Matthew is the Blessed
Virgin seated in a chair, with the child in her arms. She is
attended by two angels, one each side, in the upper part of
the picture, each holding a staff with a round boss on the
end of it. Two other angels in the lower part of it hold in
their hands, one a similar staff, the other a branch of sham-
rock. The Virgin's head is surrounded with a nimbus, on
which are three crosses in form of those symbols that denote
divine persons : perhaps, in the artist's mind, those symbols
so placed were understood to refer to the Son whom she
Letters in Ancient Ireland The " Book of Kells." lot*
held in her arms. Probably in so early times those artistic
symbols Avere not limited to the way in which they are used
at preseiit. One thing at all events appears certain, there
was no deficiency of honour and devotion to the Blessed
Virgin.
In St. Luke, where the temptation of Christ is narrated,
there is a portrait of a divine person, as the nimbus with
three crosses indicates, and the more majestic features than
in any other of the portraits. There are two angels in the
air behind His head attending Him ; and two others in the
corners above, one holding in his hand an open book, the
other a closed one. The Lord is seated, His hands extended ;
the left holding a parchment roll, the right pointing to Satan,
who stands at the side of the picture, and, with his hands
extended, is addressing the Lord. There are three groups
of persons in profile to ornament the picture, but not, I
think, as being present at the action represented. This illu-
mination cannot well be understood, as some do, of Satan
appearing before the Lord, as in the Book of Job. It
would be out of place here and unsuitable. I think it must
be taken to represent the temptation of our Lord while on
the pinnacle of the Temple. The parchment roll would very
appropriately represent the words of the Sacred Scripture,
by which he repelled the tempter. But how the pinnacle of
the Temple of Jerusalem would be represented by this
illumination as it stands is not very clear.
We have thus in the Book of Kells, a noble monument of
which any nation might be proud, fresh from those early
times, with some imperfections, displaying proficiency in the
fine arts, which they made handmaids to their loving zeal
for the sacred writings. What labour and diligence and
time must have been devoted by the transcriber and the
artist, considering that all was done by hand, before the
invention of those arts that render such work easy now !
What Giraldus says of the MS. he saw in Kildare which
irom his description of the interlaced patterns in it, was
evidently of the same school as the Book of Kells that it
manifested the diligence of angels rather than of men,
would be very applicable here. I would instance particu-
140 Letters in Ancient Ireland The "Book of Kelts."
larly the ornamental page in St. John to which I have
referred, and the illumination on the 18th verse of St. Matthew*
Let me remind the reader, before I conclude, of what we
owe to the monastic orders for preserving to ns the ancient
learning ; and in Ireland, in those ancient times, the Clerical
and the monastic orders were, 1 believe, identical. I wish I
could present him with a view of those labourers in some Irish
monastery at their admirable work. But as I have not met
.in our Irish annals any such description perhaps a more
diligent search would discover it to me I hope the reader will
not consider as too violent the transfer of such a scene from
a neighbouring country. The Abbot Odo, of the Monastery
of St. Martin, at Tournay, happy to find his Prefect Radulf
careful in providing for the monastery all necessaries in food
and clothing, committed to him all the external affairs ; and
thus free from care, devoted himself entirely to the tran-
scription of books. Accordingly, under his arrangements,
says the historian, 1 " If you entered the cloister you would
see more than twelve of the younger monastic brethren
seated in chairs, and in silence writing on parchments that
had been carefully arranged and prepared." He adds that
those of mature age were employed in transcribing eccles-
iastical writings. But in what estimation such work was
held let us learn from Prior Uuigo 2 of the Carthusians, who
says, " This work," i.e. the transcribing of books, " is of an
immortal kind, its fruit is not transient but enduring. It is
-a work by which one is never fatigued ; in fine, a work that
of all others most becomes religious who received a learned
education." 3 So, those who esteem the poetry, the philosophy,
the history of the ancients, to say nothing of sacred or
ecclesiastical writings, will judge favourably of the monks
who were the means of preserving them to the period of the
Universities and the Art of Printing.
JOHN GUNN.
1 Heriman de Restaure, S. Martini Torns, c. 79.
2 Guigo de Quadr. exercitio cellse. Both these may be found in
D'Achery's collections.
3 Hoc opus opus immortale est, opus si dicere licet non transiens sed
manens, opus ut sic dicam et non opus, opus denique quod inter omnia alia
opera magis dicit viros religiosos literates.
THE "INITIUM CHAR1TATIS" AND "INCIPIENT
LOVE."
M r^ACERDOS"' in au all too complimentary letter which
J3 the courteous Editor of the RECORD has forwarded,,
asks C. J. M. to define " what is the precise difference between
that incipient charity which theologians hold to be necessarily
allied to attrition and the ' initium cliaritatis ' which, he says,
remits mortal sin." " Sacerdos" also asks, " does the penitent
who approaches the Sacrament of Penance with attrition
sufficient for the Sacrament, receive at the moment of abso-
lution the infused grace of perfect contrition and perfect
charity?" Finally he inquires " on what grounds do theolo-
gians hold that sprinkling oneself with Holy Water as well
as the use of other Sacramentals remits venial sin ? "
I. Commencing with the last question, it may be useful
to reproduce without curtailment the comprehensive teaching
of St. Thomas with regard to the remission of venial sin :.
" Triplice ratione aliqua causant remissionem peccatorum
venialium, uno modo in quantum eis infunditur gratia, et hoc
modo per Eucharistiam et Extremam Unctionem, et univer-
saliter per omnia sacramenta N. L., in quibus confertur gratia,
peccata venialia remittuntur. (2). In quantum sunt cum
aliquo motu detestationis peccatorum, et hoc modo confessio
generalis, tunsio pectoris, Oratio Dominica operantur ad re-
missionem peccatorum venialium. (3). Tertio modo in
quantum sunt cum aliquo motu reverentiae in Deum, et ad
res divinas. Et hoc modo benedictio Episcopi [vel cum SS.
Sacramento], aspersio aquae benedictae, quaelibet sacramen-
talis unctio, oratio in Ecclesia dedicata, etc., operantur ad
remissionem venialium peccatorum." This doctrine of St.
Thomas and of theologians generally is, it need not be added,
in strict consonance with the dogmatic teaching of the
Council of Trent, which, speaking (Sess. xiv., c. 5), of the
remission of venial sins, tells us that "venialia, quibus a
gratia Dei non excludimur, et in quae frequentiiis labimuiv
quanquam recte et utiliter citraque omnem praesumptionem in
confessione dicantur, taceri tamen citra culpam multisqiie aliis
142 The " Initium Charitatis*' and "Incipient Love"
.remediis expiari possunt." Amongst the universally recognised
remedia are " the sprinkling of Holy Water and the use of the
.Sacramentals generally."
If " Sacerdos" inquire how the Sacramentals produce their
effect, the answer of Ferraris will be found sufficiently ex-
haustive : "Per Sacramentalia remittuntur peccata venialia
[1] ex opere operate, remote tainen et mediate, quatenus nempe
per preces Ecclesiae junctas rebus sacramentalibus, dum eis
pie utimur, mouetur Deus (etsi non infallibiliter) ut in nobis
excitet pios illos motus quibus annexa est remissio venialium;
[2] partim ex opere operantis quatenus homo iis Sacramentali-
bus pie utitur . . . cum piis motibus displicentiae pecca-
torum, conversionis in Deum, amoris, adorationis, et
hujusmodi." They therefore operate chiefly and directly ex
opere operantis, for, as Lehrnkuhl writes, the " ritus et coere-
moniae, et res ab Ecclesiaconsecratae et benedictae 11011 fiunt
immediate nomine Christi, neque efFectum certum gratiae
eo ipso producunt quod instituta sunt et peraguntur, sed
effectum suum sortiuntur ex impetratione, qua Ecclesia per
suos ministros a Deo auxilia utentibus implorat."
II. With this scarcely more than cursory treatment of the
question of Sacramentals we must be satisfied, for, as every
student of theology will remember, any discussion of the
first problem, not wholly incommensurate with its practical
importance and the interest with which Ecclesiastical history
invests it, would far overstretch the limits allotted to any one
paper in the RECORD.
" Sacerdos" in his first question seems to insinuate that
theologians " necessarily" hold, and have always held, that
incipient love forms an essential part of the attrition which
is sufficient for the validity of the Sacrament of Penance.
That this is by no means true will appear a little later on.
In order the better to understand the point of the con-
troversy regarding the necessity of incipient love a
controversy which for generations raged with no inconsider-
able warmth, "nee absque fidelium scandalo," as Pope
Alexander VII. sorrowingly complains, it will be necessary to
keep in view the words of the Council of Trent :
"Disponuntur autem ad ipsam justitiam, dum excitati
The "Initium Charitatis" 1 and "Incipient Love." 143
divina gratia, et adjuti ... a divinae justitiae timore
quo utiliter concutiuntur, ad cousiderandum Dei misericor-
diarn se convertendo, in spem eriguntur, fidentes Detim sibi
propter Christum propitium fore ; illumque tanquam omuis
justitiae fontem diligere incipiunt, ac propterea moventur
adversus peccata, etc."
Assuming that the Holy Council in this chapter, which is
designated the " Modus Praeparationis," explicitly and
doctrinally expounds the essential elements of attrition, it is
manifestly no overstraining of its words to infer that some
species of incipient love is necessarily allied to all such
attrition as the validity of the Sacrament requires. Indeed
this interpretation of the Council's teaching has been the only
rendering tolerated by a large number of theologians from
the time of the Council down to the present day. When,
however, they come to define that Jove, the dawning or
inception of which constitutes an essential factor of true
attrition, the more early champions of initial charity and the
more modern are irreconcilably separated. The former
maintained that it is the " dilectio charitatis perfectae in
gradu remisso vel absque intensitate" which theory the latter,
in common with all modern theologians, uncompromisingly
reject. For all now hold, and have held for practically the
last two centuries, that the most intangibly minute act origi-
nating in the motive impulse of perfect charity, is itself an act
of perfect charity. Actus enim specificantur ex motivis. The
following brief extract from the writings of John Vigneri
one of the illustrious men of his school affords an interesting
illustration of the best palmary efforts by which the old and
long since exploded theory was sought to be justified :
" Contritio imperfecta est dolor voluntarie assumptus propter
Deum summe dilectum, sed non cum sufficient! et requisita
intentione, puta quia non est ex toto corde et ex iota merit e
etc. ; sicut cum motus naturalis a principle fit remissus et iu
fine velocissimus, et tamen est idem motus qui successive
perficitur.'' 'Vigneri forgot that there could be no actual
motion until the principium movens (namely vera dilectio)
had actually communicated its propelling impulse to every
microscopic atom of the objectum mobile ; that laying aside
144 The " Initiuiu CJtaritatis" and "Incipient Loce."
the metaphor the whole soul thus becomes actuated by true
charity ; and that " qui diligit, diligetur." Of this theory it
will be enough to say that no one would now dare to advocate
it.
Before considering the several phases of incipient love
that have found supporters amongst more modern writers, it
"will be convenient to review briefly the doctrine which
refuses to admit the necessity of any incipient love whatso-
ever. That such a theory should be at all tenable, especially
in view of the words of the Council of Trent, must, at the
first blush, have seemed perilously problematical to Melchior
Canus and those other still more eminent writers who first
ventured to promulgate it. In point of historical fact, how-
ever, not only was the doctrine successfully launched and
defended timorously at first, though afterwards boldly
enough but it quickly counted amongst its advocates the
majority of our Scholastic theologians. Benedict XI V.
(de Synodo : Lib. vii., c. 13) testifies that " sententia ilia vix
nata scholas omnes pervasit, et tanto plausu accepta est ut
plurimos ac magni nominis patronos invenerit, ' sed prae
cseteris,' inquit Morinus, ' hanc opinionem celebrem reddiderunt
duo Scholasticae theologiae clarissima et famosissima
luminaria, Franciscus Suarez et Gabriel Vasquez, quos
innumeri nunc sequuntur theologi.' " Pope Alexander VII.
in his famous Decree, published in 1657, certifies (1) that in
the controversy which then divided theological writers, the
question at issue was : " An ilia attritio quae concipitur ex
metu gehennae excludens voluntatem peccandi cum spe
veniae, ad impetrandam gratiam in sacramento Poenitentiae
requirit insuper aliquem actuin dilexionis Dei.' 1 He certifies (2)
" Sententiam negantem necessitatem aliqualu dilexionis Dei.
in perfecta attritione ex metu gehennae concepta, hodie inter
Scholasticos communiorem videri."
With this undoubted historical fact before us, and re-
membering that neither Pope Alexander nor any of his
successors has ever felt called upon to moderate what some
would call the extreme tendencies of the theory and practice
it reveals, we may pause for a moment to consider that other
alleged historical fact which comes to us from the olden times
The " Initium Charitatis " and " Incipient Love." 145
and has been quite recently put forward by Father Perrone
that np to the Council of Trent, or at any rate "usque ad
S. Thomam," Scholastic theologians were "unanimous" in
exacting, as a disposition for the Sacrament of Penance, the
incipient love that springs from the motive of perfect charity.
Two conflicting facts, such as these would be, having reference
to the essential elements of one of the most indispensable of
the sacraments, would involve on the part of shall I say the
Church? a volte face utterly and absolutely irreconcilable
with the immutability divinely secured to her. The essential
antagonism between these two statements of fact implies of
necessity the refutation of either, and we can have no
hesitancy in making our choice. Merely indicating this
invincible a priori argument, I must be content to refer the
reader, for a more interesting and developed disproval of
Father Perrone's statement, to the review of the teaching of
the Fathers and other ancient writers which he will find in
La Croix.
Nor has the " sententia communior " of Pope Alexander's
time yet lost or forfeited the approval of eminent and distin-
guished theologians. In our own day it is the key-note of
those marvellous exhortations through which the illustrious
Cardinal Manning has won so many souls to God. The space
at my disposal will permit me to select only a few brief
extracts from his Eminence's exquisite work The Love of Jesus
to Penitents :
" For all sinners whatsoever . . . there is but one condition
sorrow and the will to sin no more, and where this is, absolution is
sure and full [p. 21]. God requires that we should . . .
bring with us at least a sorrow for our sins ... If we can do no
more, we can at least be sorry. And yet in sorrow there are many
degrees so marked, that I might almost say there are many kinds,
reaching from the sorrow of fear to the sorrow of love, from the
sorrow which springs from the fear of judgment to cpme to the sorrow
which flows from the love of the Sacred Heart. He might justly
require from us the soi row of love, but He requires from us only the
sorrow of holy fear, that is from any supernatural motive of faith
. . . witli a desire of being reconciled to Him. A will not to sin
is the least amends we can make, and this is no more than the
retracting of the disobedient will whereby we have offended^ and a
returning to our obedience as children of God . . . If sinners
VOL. IX. K
146 The "Initium Cliaritatis" and " Incipient Lore."
can come with the sorrow of faith and hope, even though they have
not charity, the compassion of Christ will give them a full forgiveness,
and breathe into them the breath of life once more through this
Sacrament of His love [p. 24]. A penitent who brings nothing but
the sorrow of Faith and Hope to the Sacrament of Penance, receives
therein the sanctifying grace of the Holy Ghost, and Charity ; and
by the infusion of Charity is raised once more to the life of God, and
elevated to union with Him " (p. 69).
If it be asked how do these writers reconcile their teaching
with the seemingly conflicting doctrine of the Council of
Trent, they reply that the Holy Council, in the chapter
referred to, enumerates ex abundantia the various stages of
preparation that, ordinarily speaking, lead up to the maturing
of attrition, but that it nowhere professes to assign to each
and all of them separately the character of essential elements.
In point of fact we know that some of those so enumerated
constitute no necessary part of true attrition. As La Croix
(who, by the way, does not exclude incipient love), puts it :
" Quod Trideiitimim non vult omnes actus illos esse necessario
praerequisitos patet inde, nam praemittit etiam timorem
poenae : certurn autem est valere poenitentiam, quamvis non
sit concepta ex timore poenae, sed immediate ex spe
beatitudinis aeternae, vel ex alio adhuc perfection motivo."
There is what may be called an intermediate school of
theologians who, differing in theory from the latter while,
with them, repudiating the necessity of " aliqualis amor ex
motivo charitatis perfectae," strenuously assert the necessity
of some other species of inceptive love. Of the history of
this view it may be briefly stated that it has at all times had
many active patrons among our eminent theologians, and
that soon after the Decree of Pope Alexander VII. though
not in consequence thereof it in turn became the " sententia
communior." The several complexions under which this
intermediate theory presents itself may be reduced to two,
the first of which exacts, as an essential " initium dilexionis,"
a formal and explicit act of the " amor spei vel concupis-
centiae." They endeavour to establish the necessity of at
least thus much love, by a simple reference to the " modus
praeparationis " described by the Council of Trent. Indeed,
according to some copies of the Acta et Decreta Concilii, this
The " lidtium Charitatis " and ""Incipient Love." 147
is explicitly set forth in the chapter under consideration, in
which the wording runs : " fidentes Deum sibi propitium fore,
sicyue ilium tauquam omnis justitiae fontem diligere incipiunt."
Whatever we may say of this reading, the words of the
Council seem, in any natural rendering, sufficiently definitive
of a love conceived in the hope of pardon and reconciliation,
nnd sufficiently specific in excluding the necessity of love
from a higher motive. It proposes as the object of our in-"
cipient love not God as in Himself most perfect but God
as the Source of Mercy to which each man should hopefully
apply for the grace of Justification. That an explicit act of
hope and desire may be properly called the " initium
dilectionis," is taught in terms by St. Thomas : " Ex hoc
quod per aliquem speramus nobis posse provenire bona,
movemur in ipsum sicut in bonum nostrum, et sic incipimus
ipsum amare." " Ergo," says La Croix, " cum omnis contritio
nostra sit spes, vel fundetur in spe, etiam est actus quo in-
cipimus diligere Deum."
The words of this last-named writer introduce the
doctrine now (I think) most commonly received, and, in
many passages, involved in the work of Cardinal Manning,
from which I have made extracts. Its latest and not least
emphatic exponent is Lehmkuhl, who maintains that no
formal and explicit " initium dilectionis " is of the essence of
attrition ; but that if sorrow, arising from the consideration of
the " turpitudo peccati vel metus gehennae et poenarum," be
quickened and sustained in all due supernatural strength and
vigour if it be made up "iis actibus qui ad debitam attritio-
nem necessarii sunt " a sufficient " affectio erga Deum ipsurn
in se spectatum " follows of moral and psychological necessity.
No one indeed can " exile from his soul " all leaning to and
affection towards God Himself, if he have efficaciously re-
solved on abandoning sin and preserving the friendship of
his Creator consciously moved thereto by the voice of God
proposing to him a sorrow grounded on some supernatural
motive. This is the more manifest when we remember that
attrition is dogmatically described as the " Spiritus Sancti
irnpulsum," which implies the stimulation of the soul by
illuminating and exciting grace. Further, the intelligent and
148 1 he "Initium Charitatis" and "Incipient Love."
artistic formation of propositum brings into our immediate
prospect the duties of a Christian life, and we deliberately
undertake the responsibility of fulfilling them, knowing, all
the time, that amongst these obligations "the first and
greatest " is to love God. In all legitimate attrition we
consequently have (1) the consideration of a God justly
punishing sin ; (2) a hope of pardon arising from our reliance
on God's bountiful mercy ; (3) a resolution that henceforth
we shall be faithfully obedient to God's law ; with the
ultimate purpose of (4) being rescued from eternal death and
being admitted to the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision.
Any attrition that excludes that does not of our own
knowledge include a definite though, perhaps, an unanalysed
conception of those motives, will be regarded as inefficacious
and invalid. Should we secure such attrition as this, we are
safe in concluding with Lehmkuhl that we have compassed
u illud dilexionis initium cujus Tridentinum specialem
mentionem facit."
III. The next question submitted by " Sacerdos," though
suggesting matter for an interesting paper, must, at this
stage, be briefly answered. (1) The Iviii. proposition of
Baius was condemned, which stated, "Peccator poenitensnon
vivificatur ministerio sacerdotis absolventis, sed a solo Deo."
(2) At the moment of absolution the Sacrament of Penance*
becoming operative, remits sin, the removal of which is, in
praesenti ordine, always formally caused by the inpouring of
sanctifying grace. " Hanc dispositionem, seu praeparationem,
justificatio ipsa consequitur, quae non est sola peccatorum
remissio, sed et sanctificatio, et renovatio interior-is hominis
per voluntariam susceptionem gratiae et donorum." (Council
of Trent, Sess. vi. c. 7.)
C. J. M.
BOSSUET AND CLAUDE. II.
WE have seen in the November number of the I. E. RECORD
that Bossuet having come up to Paris for the proposed
conference with Claude, the hero of the Calvinistic party,
repaired on his arrival to the residence of Mademoiselle
de Duras according to appointment, in order to know from
her the special subjects she desired to have discussed, and
that whilst in conversation with her a message arrived to say
that Claude was obliged to decline the conference by order
of some superior authority, which he was bound to obey.
The announcement was quite stunning to Mademoiselle
de Duras, as she had staked her salvation, so to say, on the
treatment of her doubts by such representative men from
opposite sides. Urged accordingly by the irresistible anxiety
she felt, she used every exertion, and employed all the in-
fluence she could procure to bring about the conference, and
having succeeded she hastened next morning to where
Bossuet was staying to inform him of the result, accompanied
by a Mr. Coton, a respectable co-religionist, who had also
some religious difficulties, which he desired to submit to his
Lordship. He felt principally concerned about the question
of the Church's visibility, as to whether it should be perpe-
tually visible by a constant and unremitting external pro-
fession of her faith and practice of religion, or if she could
subsist in aninvisible state, for a time, and at different periods,
without any such external profession or practice. This was
a life or death question with the reformers, for if the idea of
an invisible church were inadmissible, they stood alone before
the world as a new self-constituted, self-created body, having
no connection with any other Christian communion then on
earth, or pre-existing at any assignable period before their
time. They endeavoured, therefore, by all possible means
to make the world believe that not only was the idea of an in-
visible church most reasonable, but that it was actually the
case for a series of ages in the Church of Christ, and that they
in God's own good time, as they pretended, were called to take
her from her hidden state, and exhibit her to mankind ivithout
150 Bossuet and Claude.
ft pot or wrinkle or ami such tiling, but in all her primitive purity
and holiness as instituted by her Divine Founder, and by way
of proof they referred, as Mr. Coton and Mademoiselle de
Duras observed, to what they represented as the universal
defection of the J ewish Church in the time of the Prophet
Klias, who complained to the Lord that " the children of Israel
had forsaken His covenant, that they had destroyed His
altars, that they had slain His Prophets with the sword, and
that he alone was left and that they sought his life to take it
away," (iii. Kings, xix. 14) ; from which state of things they
argued, why might not a similar defection take place under
the Christian Dispensation, and the position they insisted upon
was, that the Church of Christ became in course of time so
disfigured and deformed as to have lost her external identity,
and retained only an invisible existence.
Bossuet had no difficulty in meeting this pretension, which
lay at the bottom of everything in the superstructure they
sought to erect upon it.
He showed, in the first place, that the prophet did not
speak as a prophet in the passage referred to, but gave vent
rather to a sentimental outburst in the excessive anguish,
which oppressed him at the time, as appears from the subse-
quent words, in which, amongst other things, the Lord
declared to him, " I have left me seven thousand men, that
have not bowed their knees to Baal." (Rom. xi.-4). He
further observed that the complaint of Elias referred only to-
the kingdom of Israel, whilst, at the same time, the Church
was in a highly flourishing state in the kingdom of Juda
under Asa and Josaphatj; and going to the root of the matter
he showed that, so far from effacing the covenant between
God and the children of Israel in its external observance,,
they bore its seal stamped not on paper or parchment, but upon
their living bodies, by the unbroken practice of circumcision,
so that, whether they willed it or not, the covenant was
always maintained ineffaceably, and in external form, amongst
them. He even urged the objection farther than it was
pressed by the reformers themselves by referring to the state
of things in the kingdom of Juda under the wicked king
Achaz (iv. Kings, xvi.,) who closed the temple, made Unas the
Bossuet and Claude. 151
priest sacrifice to idols, and filled Jerusalem with abomina-
tions of all sorts, and still more under Manasses (iv. Kings xxi),
who to force the people into idolatry "filled Jerusalem up
to the mouth with innocent blood, besides his sins, where with he
made Juda to sin, to do evil before the Lord" (iv. Kings xxi-16).
He showed that all this had nothing to do with the question,
that during the reigns of these impious kings Juda had its
prophets, who protested against their impiety, retaining a
considerable portion of the population in fidelity to their
religion, as was manifestly proved by the persecutions which
could not have filled Jerusalem with innocent blood if there
had not been vigorous and extensive resistance, and with that
power of condensation for which the great prelate was so
remarkable, he passed in rapid review the entire history of
the people of God from the commencement, clearly showing
that the profession and practice of religion were constantly
upheld, that there was an unbroken succession of pontiffs and
priests and levites descended from Aaron and Levi, that,
moreover, there was the extraordinary ministry of prophets
as circumstances required, so that no interval could be pointed
out, in which through so lengthened a series of ages the
external and public worship of God was suspended or
obscured, and he wound up by exposing the silliness of the
argument sought to be taken from the .Jewish Church in
support of the pretension of an invisible Church in the
Christian Dispensation.
As he was bringing these explanations to a close the
Countess de Roye arrived, bearing a message from Claude to
say he would be ready to meet his Lordship at her house at
three o'clock, should that appointment suit his convenience.
THE CONFERENCE.
The meeting took place accordingly, and after an inter-
change of respectful assurances in the most graceful manner
on both sides, Bossuet opened the conference on the subject
of the Church's authority.
It is known, because the principle is proclaimed by the
reformers, that self-guidance, or everyone's individual
judgment as to what he is to believe, or not to believe
152 JBossuet and Claude.
according to the Word of God is the inherent right of
every Christian in forming his creed, and that conse-
quently independent inquiry for this purpose is, at once, a
correlative right and obligation. But in contravention of
this fundamental principle, as they hold it to be, they insist
also on an authority to control the religious faith of their
members just as much as the Catholic Church. This incon-
sistency between principle and practice Bossuet applied
himself to, in the first instance, by referring to the four acts
of the Calvinistic book of discipline noticed in his Exposition,
and treated of, as we have seen, in the conversation he had
with Mademoiselle de Duras on the day previous.
It maybe useful to recal these acts one by one, to see how
Claude endeavoured to escape the difficulty, in which they
placed him respectively.
The first is from chapter v. under the title " Consistories,"
Art. xxxi., where it is ordained that " disputes about
doctrine should, if possible, be determined by the Word
of God in Consistory, but if not, the matter is to be referred
to the Colloques, whence to the provincial, and finally to the
national, synod, where the entire and final decision was to be
passed according to the Word of God, in which decision, if
anyone should refuse to acquiesce point by point, and with an
express disavowal of his errors, he is to be cut off from the
Church."
The difficulty in which this ordinance placed Claude
was, how it was possible to reconcile the principle of
self- guidance, and private judgment inherent in every man
according to the doctrine of his communion, with the obliga-
tion under pain of excommunication of submitting to the
decision of their synods. On one side, freedom beyond all
restriction was insisted on, whilst on the other, coercion
without resource was enforced, and the question was, how
were these contrary positions to be reconciled ?
Claude entering on his explanation renewed his
expression of respect for his opponent, and after admitting
the difficulty to have been correctly stated in the words
quoted, he went on to say, that these words were intended to
convey that there were different degrees of jurisdiction, as
Bossuet and Claude. 153
pointed out in their discipline, but that throughout the force
of the decision was to be referred to the sole Word of God,
and that, as to the allegation, that the Word of God had been
proposed in the Consistory, from which, nevertheless, there
was a right of appeal, and as to the inference sought to be
deduced therefrom, that the final decision in synod, from
which there was no further appeal, appertained to the Word
of God, not as taken in itself, but as declared by the final
decision of the Church, that allegation was not what was meant
by them, because they held that the decision was altogether
attached to the pure Word of God, to which the Church did
no more than give expression from first to last in her assemb-
lies, but that these assemblies were established with different
degrees of authority to afford time to those, who might be in
error, to set themselves right. On this account it was, that,
in the first instance, they refrained from excommunication in
the hope entertained by the Consistory, that in a higher
assembly, such as the Colloque, and still more in a provincial
synod composed of a larger number of persons, and of persons
perhaps more to be respected, or, at all events, less to be
suspected, the party concerned would be more disposed to
listen to the truth. For the same reason the Colloque and
provincial synod used similar moderation from a like motive
of charity, but once the national synod had spoken, it being
the last human remedy, no further hope remained, and then
recourse was had to the final sentence, that of excommunica-
tion, as the extreme exercise of ecclesiastical authority.
However, it was not to be inferred from this that the national
synod looked upon itself as infallible any more than the
preceding tribunals, but that everything else having been
tried, recourse was had to the only remaining remedy.
The next difficulty was taken from the Synod of Vitre, as
reported also in the book of discipline. It relates to the letter
of deputation sent forward by the various churches with their
deputies to the national synod containing the following
oath: "Wepromise in the presence of God to submit to every-
thing, that will be decided in your holy assembly, persuaded
as we are that God will preside thereat, and guide you by
His Holy Spirit in all truth and equity by the rule of His
Word."
154 Bossuet and Claude.
The difficulty here presented was more serious than the-
preceding one, in as much as in the former case dissent and
consent were required only after the synod had spoken,
whereas in the present case they were required beforehand,
that was before the synod had even assembled to deliberate.
Claude explained by saying that the promise made previous
to the national synod was grounded merely on the hope that
the synod would follow the Word of God, and that the Holy
Ghost would preside thereat, which, however, did not mean
that there was an entire certainty thereof, and that moreover
the term " persuaded, as we are, that," was only a polite man-
ner of expressing a condition without wounding the reverence
due to so great an assembly, or the favourable presumption
to be entertained as to its mode of proceeding.
The third difficulty arose from the condemnation of the
sect of Independents recorded likewise in the book of discip-
line. They were condemned because they asserted that each
particular church should be allowed to govern herself without
any dependence elsewhere in ecclesiastical matters. This proposi-
tion had been condemned in the Synod of Charenton as
hurtful to Church and State, and as opening the door to all
sorts of irregularities and extravagances, doing away, at the
same time, with all remedies, and leading to the establishment
of as many religions as parishes.
The difficulty arising from this treatment of the Indepen-
dents was, that no matter what number of synods were held,
if people did not consider themselves bound to submit to
them, the evil complained of with respect to the sect was still
inevitable, and the door was open, not only, for the establish-
ment of as many religions as parishes, but, as Bossuet
observed, as many as there were heads.
Claude, however, endeavoured to explain by saying, that
with regard to the authority of his Church and her assemblies
there was something in them that agreed with the Catholic
Church, and something also that agreed with the Indepen-
dents, with the Catholic Church in so far as that ecclesias-
tical assemblies were useful and necessary, and that it was
essential to maintain subordination, with the Independents
in as much as such assemblies, however numerous they might
ftossuet and Claude. 155
be, were not, however, infallible. This being so, they were
obliged to condemn the Independents who denied not only
the infallibility, but moreover, the necessity and utility of
these assemblies, and of such subordination. It was in this,
he observed, that Independentism consisted, and he added,
that to maintain it was to overthrow order, and give room
for as many religions as parishes, there being no means left
for any agreement, whence he concluded, that whilst it was
understood that ecclesiastical assemblies were not infallible
resources, it sufficed, however, for the condemnation of the
Independents, that they were useful.
These three difficulties were presented by the book of
discipline printed at Charenton in 1667, and there remained
but one difficulty more taken from a book of a Mr. Blondel,
entitled Authentic Acts, printed at Amsterdam in 1655. It
consisted in a resolution of the national synod of Sainte-Foi
held in 1578, which appointed four ministers to assist at an
assembly convened to treat with the Lutherans about a
formulary for a common profession of faith. These ministers
were empowered " to decide every point of doctrine, as also
all other points that would be submitted for deliberation, and
to consent to this confession of faith without even communi-
cating further with the churches, in case time did not allow it.''
Bossuet pointed out two things in this resolution, one
was, that the entire synod compromised their faith by placing
it in the hands of four individuals, a thing more extraordinary
by far than to see individuals submitting to the whole church,
and the other, that the so called reformed church showed
herself but little satisfied with her confession of faith, since
she agreed to its being altered, and that in points so impor-
tant as those in controversy with the Lutherans, including
even the Real Presence.
Claude replied by saying the object of the synod was to
meet the Lutherans in coming nearer to them, the Calvinists,
or at least to establish a mutual toleration, which did not
require of them to make any alteration in their faith, which
they held to be unchangeable, and that moreover, whilst the
synod granted unlimited power to the four ministers, it
should, nevertheless, be understood that acts of the kind were
156 Bossuet and Claude.
subject to ratification in case the deputies overstepped their
instructions, like the ratifications required in treaties agreed
to by the plenipotentiaries of princes, and other cases, which
always suppose the condition of ratification by the prince, a
condition, which, although not expressed, is attached of their
own nature to all such vicarious transactions.
Having dwelt at considerable length, and in a clear and
confident manner on these difficulties, " M. Claude," observes
Bossuet, " addressing himself to me, said, that just and impar-
tial as he believed me to be, I would accept from him an
explanation of the articles of the discipline of his church, and
of her religious sentiments in the same way as I might well
expect of him to agree with me in what I might have to ex-
plain of our sentiments and our councils, such, for example,
as the Council of Trent."
" I replied," continues Bossuet, " by observing, that if there
was question of simply explaining their rites, if one could
employ such an expression, or their mode of administering
the^Word, or the Sacraments, or holding their synods, I should
by all means accept his explanations on such subjects, as
being better informed than I could pretend to be, but 1 con-
sidered that it happened to those of his religion, as to all
others who went astray, to fall into contradictions with them-
selves by being forced to establish what they had denied, and
that 1 knew they denied the necessity of accepting the
decisions of the Church without first examining them, whilst
I held the infallibility of the Church to be so indispensable,
that those who denied it in speculation, could not avoid in-
sisting on it in practice, if they would maintain any kind of
order amongst themselves. But if there were question of
pointing out any contradiction in the sentiments of the
Catholic Church, I did not pretend to oblige him to accept
from me whatever explanations I would offer him of her
sentiments or her councils, and it would, therefore, be open to
him to take from their words what inference he liked, and on
my part 1 expected he would allow me the same licence, to
which he had no difficulty in assenting.
' I did not intend dwelling to any great length on the synod
of Sainte-Foi, as it would take me too far off from the two
Bossuet and Claude. 157
propositions which I was desirous to make him acknowledge.
I therefore merely replied to his explanation respecting their
assemblies, that I agreed with him as to what he had advanced
respecting the necessity of ratification, although such powers
and compromises were somewhat extraordinary in matters of
faith ; and I was, moreover, willing to believe that the
intention of the synod was not that their deputies should
have authority to upset everything. But what struck me r
and what he did not appear to have explained in his reply,
was that the synod had doubts about their confession of
faith, since they authorised the framing of a different one ;
and I could not see how this was reconcileable with what had
been already stated, that this confession of faith contained
nothing but the pure Word of God, which everyone knew was
not susceptible of any change. As to what he alleged, that
there was question only of bringing over the Lutherans to
more reasonable sentiments, or, at least, of establishing
mutual toleration with them, two things stood in the way.
(1) That a power was spoken of to decide all points of
doctrine, which manifestly comprised the Real Presenc e
which the Lutherans would never surrender; (2) that to
establish mutual toleration there was no necessity of framing
a confession of a common faith, but simply to pass a synodal
decree, as was done at Charenton.
" M. Claude replied, that the point of doctrine to decide
was, if a mutual toleration could be established, and that the
confession of a common faith would have done nothing more
than proclaim it, which he did not deny could have been
done in a synod, as I should admit it could also by a con-
fession of faith, in which there might be an express article to
that effect.
" I replied that such a thing was never termed a confession
of a common faith, and I asked him if the Lutherans or them-
selves should retrench something in what one party said for
the Real Presence and Ihe other against it. He said, no,
whence I said, that each party was, therefore, to remain
within the terms of its own confession of faith, with nothing
in common between them but the article of toleration. To
this he said, there were several other points of agreement
Boss net and Claude.
I replied ' yes,' but that it was not on these points there was
question of coming to an agreement, for what was at issue was
the Real Presence with some other points, on which it was
impossible to make a confession of a common faith, unless
one of the parties made some change, or both consented to
some ambiguous phrases, which each could take advantage of
in favour of its own sentiments, a thing already frequently
attempted, as M. Claude himself would, in all candour, admit.
He quite agreed, and even instanced the Assembly of
Marbourg, and some others held for the same object. I,
therefore, concluded that I had every reason to believe that
the synod of Sainte-Foi had a similar object in view, and it
would be only trifling with the world to give the name of a
confession of common faith to what would present on the face
of it such flagrant oppositions on such important points of
Christian doctrine. I added yet more, that it was all the more
certain, that there was question in point of fact of a confession
of faith, as I said, in as much as the Lutherans had already
frequently declared against toleration, and nothing could be
expected of them in any other way than that which I
mentioned. The matter remained so, and I only said that
then every one had but to think what he had according to
his conscience to believe in a confession of faith, which an
entire national synod had consented to have changed.
"In reference to the letter ot deputation, which the
particular Churches sent to the national synod, as M. Claude
was explaining that the oath comprised in that letter of sub-
mission beforehand to every thing, that would be decided in
the synod contained a condition, I interrupted him by a short
word, saying yes, they hoped well of the synod, without, how-
ever, being certain with regard to its decisions, and, whilst
awaiting what would be done, they did not wait to swear
submission to it, M. Claude having observed that I had
interrupted him, and asking me to allow him to finish what he
wished to say, I became silent. But after having discussed
the matter of Sainte-Foi, I said that I deemed it necessary,
before proceeding further, that I would tell him in a few
words what I thought of his doctrine, in order that we might
not be speaking in the air; and I said to him, You say, sir
Bossuet and Claude. 159
that the words, persuaded as we are, that God ivill preside
thereat, and will guide you by His Holy Spirit in all truth and
justice by the rule of His Word, as contained in the oath re-
ferred to, are only a polite manner of expressing a condition.
He agreed ; and resuming 1 said, let us reduce the proposition
into its conditional form, and we shall see what meaning it
will have. It will be this, I swear, that I will submit to
everything that you will decide, it being supposed, or on con-
dition, that ivhat you will decide will be in accordance with the
Word of God. Such an oath is nothing better than a manifest
illusion, because in itself it asserts nothing, and I could swear
it myself to M. Claude, as he likewise could swear it to me.
But in this there is evidently nothingof serious import, whilst
as a sign that in point of fact something more particular was
meant, this oath was only taken to the synod, which spoke
in the last resort, although, according to M. Claude, it could
as well, and for a reason equally as good, be taken to the
consistory, to which submission was just as much due as to
the synod, supposing it to have the Word of God for its
guidance.''
Thus far Bossuet pressed his opponent on the infallibility
of the Church showing, that in this as in other matters, the
reformers were in flagrant contradiction with themselves by
denying in doctrinal utterances what they upheld in practice
with the utmost rigour; and we are now arrived at what we
may call the most acute and critical point of the discussion,
in Avhich Bossuet had to establish the two following proposi-
tions :
1. That, whilst the reformers "acted as if holding the
authority of the Church to be infallible and incontestable, it
was, nevertheless, a fundamental principle of their teaching,
that every individual, man or woman, however ignorant he
or she might be, was bound to believe that they could better
understand the Holy Scriptures than all the councils of the
Church, and the entire Church herself.
2. That there was a point, at which, as a consequence of
their teaching, a Christian was bound to doubt, if the
Scriptures be inspired by God, if the Gospel be true or false,
and if Jesus Christ was a Teacher of truth, or a public im-
postor.
160 Hay nes' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
But as the treatment of propositions so important would
occupy space beyond all reasonable limits in a single number
of the I. E. RECORD, I must reserve the continuation of this
celebrated conference for a further number of that invaluable
periodical.
THE AUTHOR OF THE " CLAIMS OF THE UNINSTRUCTED
DEAF-MUTE TO BE ADMITTED TO THE SACRAMENTS."
HAYNES' OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF
IRELAND IN 1600. III.
NOW the Avaie to Suppresse theis Rebells, is to plant
Garreson's in theis Neighbour parts, and that in this
manner as the Lorde Gray had plotted, namelie, att
Balemacoora, 200 Foote and 50 Horse to shutt him oute of his
Countrye, Greate Glen ; x at Knockloughe, 200 Foote and 50
Horse to answere the Countie of Carloo at Arclo ; at Wiclo 200
Foote and 50 Horse to defende that side towards the Sea ; in
Shileloghe 100 Foote to cutt him from the Cavenaghs and
Wexford ; and about the 3 Castles 50 Horse, which would
defend all the Countie of Dublin, and 100 Foote at Talbotts
towne which should keepe him from the Countie of Kildare.
Soe that he shall stirr no way, and then will his adherents
aforenamed leave him, and shall by noe meanes keepe his
Countrye saufe ; By means whereof he shall be so tossed that
he should not be able to stand one year. But towardes the
Effect of this Business and Service their must be sufficient
Captaines appointed, and suche as knowe the course of those
Warres, and not suche as are rawe therein as often are sent
out of England ; By whose meanes the matter would come
to ill Successe. The Service havinge a good ende and theis
inurthered Rebells brought under, It is necessary that pro-
clamacion should be made, to call in suche as would come in,
which will be in manner all uppon Condicion whatsoever
unarminge them altogeather, and takinge theire best men
for Hostages that none should revolt ; and so to place them in
1 recte, " out his great Glenu."
Haynes Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 161
Leinster, and there to geve them sufficient Livinge, whereupon
they male Live, anduseCivill Trades and manuring the grounds
as good subjects, the Landes of the Birnes and Tooles which
Pheagh MacHugh hath, and the Landes of the Cavenaghes
which are in Rebellion nowe, and other Lands which will
fall to her Majestie there, will be Large and spacyous enough
for them, for yt is 20 or 30 Miles wide; and uppon like
proclamacion to be made amonge them all the same tyme,upon
like assurance, to transferr them to Ulster with their creete,
that they maie Likewise manure that and Live as becometh
subjects. For they should be Tenants to Englishmen and
be placed here and there, and not dwell togeather as nowe
they doe whole Nations and Sectes. Soe shall they not be
able to execute theire Conspiracies as they have done.
And theis Englishe shall yeld her Majestie suche a
competent Rente, as they maie both well live and besides
contribute towardes the maintenance of suche Garresons as
shall be placed and contynue amonge them, as the Romaines
did att the conquest of Englande, who raised upon the
Countrye a Certaine Contribucion called Taxes to maintain
their Legions, which they placed in sondrye partes of the
Realme, and because this course was not taken when Ireland
was conquered by H. 2, the Irishe soone discontynued their
obedience. And because this was not regarded at the,
plantinge of Munster, it stood totteringly and straungely in
daunger of a Relapse. And although some maie thincke that
yt were as good or better that the Rente should be whollie
paide to the Queene's Majestie, and that all allowance should
be defrayed by discrecion as occasion should require, It is
not soe ; for thereby yt gro wethe That in tyme of anie shewe
of Peace the Garresons are discontynued, to the layinge open
of Opportunitie to the evell disposed to Rebell and for
foreign Enemies to invade; whereas were the Garresons
coritynued theis hazardes might be stopped ; and to rayse
sufficient allowance for theis Garresons, the Landes maie
be thus rated, 7 s - vii d everie plough Lande which is not
much above IcL of the Acre. And in Ulster there are, as by
recorde appeareth, 9000 Plough-landes everie of which con-
teyneth 120 Acres at 21 Foote the Pearche. Soe that yt
VOL. IX. i,
162 Haynes Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
conteyneth in the whole 124000 Acres, and yett the Rents
amounteth yearlie to 18000. And because the Countie of
Louthe being a parte of Ulster contayneth 152 Plough
Landes is not whollie to Escheate to her Majestie, because
they contynued dutifull in all theis Warres, there is 4 or 500
Plowlands maie paie xx s yearlie towards the maintenance of
Soldyers, Soe that 2 or 300 be to be deducted out of the
18000. It maie be raysed by the Fishinge there and by an
increase of Rente upon the best Lande, and this 18000 will be
Enterteynment for 1500 Soldyers, with some overplus to war des
the paie of the Victuallers of theis Garresons in Ulster, whiche
Garresons are to be of 500 men apeece, to be placed
1. The one at Siralan 1 or about Loughfoyle there.
2. Att the Forte above Lough Erne, Out of which wardes
to be taken for the Guardinge of Fermanagh, Bellick, Bally-
channon and all the Straightes towards Conaught.
3. The Thirde and last to be in their Forte att Monachan
and Wardes to be drawn out of yt to keep the Keys of that
Counttrye both downwardes and also upwardes towardes
Grills 2 and the Pale, some at
{Eniskelyn.
Belturbert.
Blackforte.
And soe alonge the river.
And necessarie yt were, that by theis Forts a State of a
Towne were planted and Merchants and other Members to be
placed, with Charters fitt for them ; which in tyme would
wynne manie from Englande to place themselves there, to
the greate Benefitt of her Majestie and good of the Countrie.
For by suche means Maryburghe and the Phillips Towne
are growne good Townes and the principall stayes of theis
partes of Leinster.
Furthermore to have the Gountrye devided into hundrede
Parishes and Shyres as yt was aforetyme, namelie theis :
TheCounties of -
^Strabane,
'Downe,
Golran,
Antrime,
Monaghan,
Louthe,
Terone,
Armagh,
Farmanugh,
.Gavan, &
Donergale. 1
2 O'Reilly's
3 Donegal, -oun
Haijnes Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 163
Which Donergall is a fitt place for a Presidente and a
Councell to keepe them iu awe and to administer Justice.
No we as touchinge Conaught and the setlinge of like
Garrisons and mainteyninge them there, It appeareth by
recorde att Dublyn that it conteyneth in the whole 7200
Plough Landes after the former measure, and ys of late
<devyded into sixe Shires or Counties.
( Clare, Gal way,
The Counties \ Littrum, 1 Mayo, &
^Rosscommon, Sligo.
Of which all the Countries of Mayo, the most parte of
Roscommon the most parte of Litrum, and a greate parte of
Galway and some of Clare is Like to escheate unto her
Majestie for the Rebellion of their presente possessors. The
which two Counties of Sligo and Mayo are supposed to
conteyne almost 3000 Plough landes which accordinge to the
former Rate amounteth almost to 6000 p. Annum.
The Countie of Roscomon, having what perteyneth to the
House of Roscomou and some other Englishe there planted,
is all oute and therefore is whollie likewise to Escheate to
her Majestie. So that Roscomon conteyneth 1200 Plough
landes which amounted to 2400 p. Annum, which with the
former two Counties Rente maketh about 8700 ; what the
Escheated Landes of Galway and Littrum will be yt is not
yet knowne because yt must be surveyed, beinge intermingled
with the Landes of the Earle of Clanricarde and others, but
they male be supposed to be 1000 Plough Lands ; Because
soe either of them conteyneth which is in the whole about
10 or 11000.
The other two Counties must remayne till their Escheate
appears, yett thus much is known for the Composition of
those two Counties, being rated at 16s. everie ploweland,
will amounte to above 13000, which togeather with the
Rente of the Escheated Landes of those two Counties, which
cannot be Lesse then 2000, will yeld paye Largelie for 1000
men and theire victualls and 1000 for their Governor.
| And althoughe the Reckoninge made uppon them might
be somewhat uncertayne, yett the Composition which is xx .
, Lcitrim.^
64 Ilaynes' Observations on tJte State of Ireland in 1600.
the Plough Lande, whereof the Acres in Ireland is 439200 it
will amount to the Some of 43920, and the rest to be rated
of the Escheated Landes which will fall to her Majestic in
the said Province of Ulster, Conaught, and that parte of
of Leinster under the Rebelles. Now for the placing ot
Garresons in Conaught there ought to be 1000 men, whereof
500 should be placed in the Countie of Mayo about Clan mac
Costulaghes, which shall keepe all Mayo and Burlis of mac
William Inter ; x the other 500 in the Countie of Clanricard
about Garadough, that they maie conteyne mac Connors and
Bourk's, the Kellyes and mac Murryes, with all thereaboute-
for the Garrison that is placed att Lough Earne will serve for
all occasions in the Countie of Sligo, for, beinge of neere-
adioynrnge, they maie be in one Night's march in anie place
thereof when neede shall require. And as before in Ulster
soe there to have two Corporate Townes and another att
Athlon with a convemente guarde in the Castle there, where
nowe their Governor lyeth, beinge indeede too farr of the
remotest places of all the Provinces.
And for the Deputie's lying att Dublyn, the utmost partes
of the Country e, It were fitt he laye about Athie neere that
unquiett Countrye where he might more easie overlooke the
Moores, the Butlers, the Dempsills, the Kellyes, the Cenors,
Oconor, Omoley 2 and all the heap of Irish Nations which lye
without anie to overawe them. To come no we to Lempster,
it must be there ordered as in Ulster, leavinge Garresons in
theire Forte and plantinge of Englishe in their Countrye
between Dublyn and the Countie of Wexford, which although
yt be full of mountaines, yett there be good Valleys and
Large Feedings which will drawe Inhabitants enoughe. The
Land, which is now under Pheagh mac Hugh there cannot be
rated because fewe are acquainted with the Particularities
thereof. But yt is devided into two Counties, the Countie of
AVicklo and the Countie of Femes. The most of which two-
Counties should Escheate, savin ge the Baron 3 of Arclo which
1 Enter (Spenser), Euter (Description of Ireland, 1598, p. 141). loc1icAi]\
= the Lower, tlAcliuAip, the Upper Me William. Rccie, the Burkes of
MacWilliam lochtair.
2 Dempsies, O'Connors, O'Carroll, O'Molloy. 8 baronye.
Haynes Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 165
Is the Ancionte inheritance of the Earle of Ormonde, and
Newecastle is S r . Henrie Harrington's from her Majestie, and
the Castle of Ferns Sir Thomas Mastersone, the rest is about
30 Miles over which conteyne about 2000 Plough-landes
which may be esteemed att 4000 Rente p. Annum. Of
Lempser being 7 Counties.
f Dublyne, Wexford, And Queeiies
The Counties of J Kildare, Kilkenny, Towne. 1
(^Caterlagh, Kings Towne, 1
Theis all conteyne 7400 Ploughlandes amounting to
.7400 for composicion for the Garreson, which maketh in the
whole 11400, which will yeld paie to 100 Soldyers wantinge
little, which maie be supplied oute of other Landes of the
Cavenaghes which are to be Escheated to her Majestie
throughe their Rebellion, thoughe indeede they be her
Majesties ancient demeasnes.
Theis 1000 men should be thus placed : 200 att Boallinglort 2
-to keepe the evell Personnes at Glanmalore and the Fastnes
thereabouts and alHhe mountaines of the Omenghes ; 3 200
more att Femes and upwarde in warde uppon the Slane ;
.200 at the Forte of Leyx to restreyne the Moores, Osbrig
and Ouarall ; 4 other 200 att the Forte of Offeley to curbe the
Conhors, Omolough, MacCoughan, MacCrogairj and the Irishe
bordering thereabouts.
Now for Meth, which conteyneth East Northe and West
North eand of late the Analay nowe called the Countrye of
Longfordes is accompted thereunto. Meth itself conteyneth
-after Recordes 4320 Ploughlandes, Longfords 347. In all
5267 Plouglandes of which composicion money will amount to
5207 towards the maintenance of the Garreson.
Because Meth lyeth in the bosome of the Kingdome yt is
alwaies quiett ynoughe and neede noe Garreson there, but
.in the Countie of Longford 200 Foote and 50 Horse at some
place betweene the Annaly and the Brenny as about Lough-
sillon, 7 soe that they might keepe both the O'Reiley's and
1 King's Co. and Queen's Co. 2 Ballinacorrick.
:{ Cavenaghs. 4 Ossory and O'Carroll.
5 O'Connors, O'Molloys, MacCoghlan, MacGeoghegan.
fi East Meath and West Meath. 7 tocli sileArm.
166 Haynes* Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
O'Farrolls and all the out paries of EastMeth in awe, because
they are Ficklee People the charge will be 3400 odd poundes
the overplus being 2000 will come clearlie to her Majestic*
Mounster Mounster conteyneth by record 1600 Plough-
landes the composicon whereof as the reste will be
1600 16000 per annum and for defence thereof
1000 Soldyers were necessary to mainteyu yt which will arise
to 12000 per annum, and the other 4000 maie defray the
charges of the Precedency and Councill for the Province.
And because the Composicon ought not to be Livyed uppon
the Landes of the undertakers who by their grauute
from her Majestic ought to be discharged. And therefore
that xx St for a PloughLande must be deducted out of her
Majesty's Rente, which is all one because thereby her
Majestye shall be discharged of the Precedency and have
1000 1000 Soldyers mainteyned. Theis 1000 men
ought to be placed thus : 100 att the Bantry to withstand
foreign invasion, and there would be placed a Towne, for the
Haven's good and the Fishinge Plentifull. The Lande is
escheated alreadye and kepte from her Majestie by force by
ODonnell Mac Carty, that proclaymes himselfe the Bastarde
Sonne of the Earle of Clanricarre, 1 100 men more at Castle-
mayne to keepe Desmond and Kerry, 200 men about Kilmore
in the Countie of Corke [to Answere both the Counties of
Limericke and Corke, 100 men at Corke, 200 men at Water-
ford, 200 more neere to Musgrywhirk 2 which arc the Countrye
of the Burks about Killpatrick. By which places all the
Passage of Theeves doe lye which convey their Stealth
from all Munster downwardes Towards Tipperary and the
English Pale upp unto Mounster, whereof they use to make a
common Trade. Necessary yt were that Tipperary had
some such strengthe to withstande the evell that is suspected
to fall daily there.
Waterford and Corke are too fitt receptacles for the
Spanyards arrivall, and not well affected to the English
Government, and therefore in them Especially Garresons
ought to be placed ; and because they shall not grudge at
1 Clanncare. 2 Moscrie Wliirke, tnuj'cpAiglie cliuij\c.
Ifaynes' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 167
other Townes that seem to be free from that charge, there
maie be a reasonable rate Layed also upon the reste, not
onlie towards theis Garreson's, but also as yt shall amounte
above that which maie be required thereunto, to be reserved
towardes other charges and the Precedency in the North, this
Rate, viz. :
Waterford
Cork
Limerick
Gallway
Dinglecashe 1 ...
Kinesale
Yoghall
Killmallock
Cloiimell
Kilkenny
Wexford
Tredaghe 2
Rosse . . .
Danclusk 2
Mollingare
Newry ...
Trime ...
Arthy 3 ...
Kelly 3 ...
Dublyn
25
25
25
21
18
10
10
10
10
10
10 4
100
50
50
50
10
10
10
10
10
Cashell 10
Fedard 1 10
V
This charge the Porte Townes may easilie rayse by
Shippinge, the Lande Townes by Corne and Cattle. For the
Victuallinge of theis Forces for the first yeare yt must be
whollie out of England from halfe yeare to halfe yeare, and
after that the English Pale and Mounster will be well
furnished towards it, and be able to supply a greate parte of
that charge. And necessarie yt were, that, hereafter when
more plentie is to have Stoare Howses and Milles erected in all
all those places of Garresoii for the Sodaine Victuallinge of
Shipps and Soldyers upon all occasions. In which Eng-
lande Seemeth very Slack trustinge too much to yearlie
supply e of Corne and Victualls that there is no Stoare pre-
served for anie Sodaine Service, which maie come unlocked
for, it maie hazarde the Kingdome. Nowe when by reason
of theis Garresons Ulster and Conaght is quiett and the
Countrye in peace, there maie be a warr made the more
easilie to reforme the abuses which bread the dangers, and
yett not Spdenly to remove the forces ; but rather to keepe
1 Dingellechooishe,
2 Drogheda, Dundalk ;
3 Ardye, Kells ;
tli chinf ; Fethard, pot> VI-AJVO.
uti-'OeAlsAn.
i, Cetion-oAf 4 100.
168 Hay lies' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
them there, which shall be iinto her Majestic noe more
; charge then nowe yt is in the tyme of most quiett. For her
Majestie maie have the good Soldyer brought upp to be
employed in anie good service placinge newe men in their
places. And if it please her Majestie she maie withdraw some
of them till she seeth the Countrye not to require them, and
returne their paye into her own Threasurye.
Thinges beinge thus ordered for the Suppressinge of
theis rebelleous People, and the Realme beinge quietted, It is
to be considered howe the Reformacion of the Lawes,
Customes, and Religion maie be wrought ; and because it will
be harde to Alter the comon Lawes there in all pointes, and
to make new Statutes repealinge all the former, It were good
to redresse onlie the abuses of them by Parlyament, wherein
because tha higher Howse will be of necessity of the Irishe,
that maie perchance be even head stronge.
It must be handled as Kinge Edwarde did amonge the
Lordes of the Cleargy whoe were not to be matched by the
Temporall Lordes, and therefore sent wrytts amongst the
most worthie Gent, and made them Barrons of the Parliament,
whereby their Obstinacye was sufficientlie curbed, and soe yt
maie be in this Business of the Reforminge of theis Irishe
Inconveniences.
And therefore for the better reforminge theis troubles yt
followes in truth, the Realme should be devyded into Shires,
Shires The Shires into Wappentake or hundreds,
Hundreds hundreds into Tythings, as yt was in the tyme
Ty things of Alured or Alfrido, whenEnglandewas infected
withlike Comon Robbers as Irelande noAv is, and the Borsholder
or, Tithingman was bound to Looke to all within his Tythinge
and to prosecute all lewde personnes ; yf he fayled the hundred
was bounde, yf the hundred fayled, the Wappentake must,
yf not the Wappentake the whole Shire wou'd endeavour to
finde out suche Offenders; which wrought suche Eifecte as yt
soone redressed manie evells as indeede yt would doe yf yt
were practized in Ireland.
But because a Borsholder or Tythingman is noe meete
Officer to comande, to keepe Gent, or noblemen, who indeede
have iust meanes to be looked into because of their wilfullnes
Hai/iies 1 Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 169
Sufferinge their Children and base Sonnes to come headlonge
to manie mischeifs against the peace of the Countiye : It
were good that one of them were bounde for another ; That
for feare of Loosinge their Landes they maie finde out the
offenders, and that they were Sworne to their allegeance and
fealty e to their Prince, for manie of them have taken their
Oathes, and receaved the Sacrament att the haiides of a
Priest, which they hold a greater bande than their allegeance
to their Prince.
And where heretofore yt hath bene accustomed that the
Lordes and greate men have had onlie the overlookinge of
the inferryor sorte, It hath bene to the greate preiudice of
the quiett of the Countrye ; for though att the first conquest
yt was graunted them by Charter, that they should have
Tenants to hold of them by suche Services, they onlie upon
occasion, when the Lorde Deputies have called them, have
raised greate Somes of money upon their Tenants, and
gathered a Troope of Rascallkerne 1 to follow them, who have
more Spoyled the Countrye where they have been, then the
open Enemies would doe. And, therefore, this kinde of
Government of the Nobles is most unfitt and their Graunts
verye unfitt, because the Grauntes being formerlie made to
awe the Irishe, nowe it is used to the preiudice of the Queene
herselfe ; and thoughe perhapps some of this great Lordes
maie thincke he hath wronge yf the former course should
prevent him of former Services, yett yt were most necessarie
that enquiry e be made by Commission under the great sealle
to knowe everye man's Tenure, because manie usurpe those
Services unto themselves which are due unto her Majestic,
and what wardshipp they uniustlie challenge, . and what
Englishe holdings they have translated to Irishe and
Thamistry Thamistry, 2 and manie other lawfull proffitt
which they nowe wrongfully withold from the Queene, which
As is supposed will amounte into 40,000 per Annum, whereof
she is nowe defeated.
In which Comission should suche discreete men be used,
as might signify the should by no meanes loose their Lawes,
1 loose Kerne (Spenser). a Tainistrie.
170 llaynes' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
but be brought to the English order, and have their Landes
Confirmed unto them by her Majestic, Soe that they may be
the better assured of her Lande then nowe they be; For
indeede they are nowe degenerate and become Irishe to
whom theis grauntes were made. Soe that yf all theis
t iTiumtes were made voycle they were not wronged, because
they are more to be blamed then the nieere Irishe, who
become more Civill, and they become more Wyld than the
Irishe, and more hatinge the Englishe calling them Sasonia, 1
which is a kinde of Vyle Raylinge, affirming that they onlie
have right unto their Lande, And that the Englishe onlie
intrude uppon them, because their Ancestors, they saie, Con-
quered the Lande, and that they ought not to be touched,
but tobearerule amouge themselves even as they liste, and to
be deputies as their Ancestors were, and not the Englishe,
and therefore yt hath bene feared to plante that Countrye
with Englishe least they should altar their nature as the
Lanes 2 did in Edward 2 tyme, who turned to the Scott, arid
favoured to bring him in and make him Kinge of Irelande.
But yt is not the nature of the Countrye that altereth
men, but the badd myndes of such as revett 3 to be wicked
Libertines, although comonlie yt appeareth that they must
wynne the Least, rather than the leaste the most to their
manners. But suche is the force of good Government and
discreet Carriage of men in office, that, thoughe they be fewe
that beganne to follow vertue the more will be wonne to
follow them. And therefore sith in Irelande, there are
most Irishe, and soma Englishe; It is conveniente
that a course were taken to bringe them to Conformitie of
manners to be one People, And to intermingle them soe that
the Irishe maie favour of the good manners and discipline
intended by daylie conversation with the Englishe, and to
disable the Evell ones to hurt the good, which can by noe
meanes better be done than by making an Irishman Tething-
man to take the Excepcions which he else might take of
1 " Alloonagh, with as great reproach as they would rate a dogge ; "
SACfoiiAch = a Saxon. Cf. -oo -0111 co SAxoVb, to go to England (Four
Masters, an. 1565).
2 Lacies. 3 revert ?
Ilayncs Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 171
.Parcialitie parcialitic, But the head boroughe, nainelie,
the chieff of the Luth 1 to be an Englishman, or an Irishe of
Special! assurance, And as for the head of the hundred to be
aii En^lishe of Speciall chief e to be a Filler to the Burough
Hundred under him. A hundred after some conteyneth a
hundred Villages, of some a hundred Plowlandes which the
Saxons called Cantred, and Cantred as is recorded in the
black Booke of Irelande 2 conteyneth 30 villages FerrlP
which some call Quarters of Lande and everie Villata ront*
400 Cowes and they be devyded into 4 heardes and
everie Villata conteyneth 18 Ploughlands as yt is there sett
down.
A Borrough Signifieth a free Towne whose principall
Officer is called a head bororighe, 5 and is to undertake for all
the Dwellers under him havinge forthe same Fraunchesies and
Priveledge graunted them by the Kinge, and thereof called
a Francke Pledge or franc plegium. But franc plegium is
not a Free Towne att this Daie, but a mayne pledge of 100
Persones more or less and Borgh in the Saxon Signifieth a
Pledge or suretie ; Nowe because theis Irishe stande muche
uppon their head and septe of their kyiine, and contynue
their surnames from one Generation to another, It were
uecessarie that all of them should take uppon them some
name accordinge to their Qualities of Bodye or minde or other
Facultye or Trade, or of their place or of their Dwelling,
that in tyme they might forget their sept, and not be com*
byned as they are together to such mischievous practices for
Love or allyance to their Kynne. And that all suche as
no we hereafter shall take uppon them or mac, which are
names given and affirmed by the head of the Septes, should
be innhybited soe to doe.
Moreover everye man ought to be addressed and
appointed to some Trade of Leife that cannot live of his
Freehold, and should be thereunto tyed and bounde to
folio we yt either manuall, intellyctali or mixed, that is to
husbandrye or handy Craffe Artes and merchandize to the
1 lathe. a of the Exchequer, or of Christ Church.
3 villatas terrae. 4 recte, " can maintain." 5 head-borough.
172 Hay ties' Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600.
Handy Graffs and husbandrye ; the Sroighs 1 and Horseboyes
are to be trayned which use their Strength to Stealth and
Villainy. And yt were good that fewer Cowes were kepte
which able personnes chieflie followe, Nursinge also theeves,
and that for everie xxtie Cowes a Plough might be kepte
for Tillinge for yt is most cause of manie mischeiffes there
and of Dearthe in Englande the want of Ploughes and
keepinge of two manie Cattle. The Sonnes of Noblemen and
Oent. should be trayned upp in vertue and in every parishe
should be an inferryor Schole-master of Grammer for
Learninge is of force to Temper the vilest and rudest nature.
Emollit mores nee sunt 2 esse feros.
There shall be a Provost Marshall also to take upp all
Bards, Carowes, Jesters, and such ronnagates and to ponnish
them accordinge to their desertes ; althoughe the Sherriffe
maie doo much good, yf he be diligente in his office, yett yt
were not good to give that Power of Leife and death into his
handes, because he maie be partiall and rigorous, having
Benefitt by the death of such as shall be thus apprehended.
As for the Reformacion of Religion yt must not be done
with rigor but mildlie begone and settled among them; and
because our English Ministers by their Lewde Lives and
little paines have given them a cause of hatred of their Pro-
fession ; It were good that some Godlie one of their owne
Ration were appointed to that work, whoe shall wynne more
than manie others to some inclyriacon to Godlie towardnes ;
moreover they must be restreyned from sendinge their Sonnes
to the universities beyonde the Seas, and that from beyond
the Seas wynne 8 over to perverte them, as indeede there are
manie that Lye in sondry corners Lurkinge that carry more
to Affect the Romish Religion then all our men can doe to
drawe them to the Christian Religion.
The Churches also are to be repaired and to be re-edifyed
which are even with theGrounde and most unseemelie which
loathe men to enter.
It were convenient that convenient waies were made in
1 scocAiglie, i.e., a boy attending on a kern, as Spenser says,
*' becommeth a horseboy or stocah on some kern."
12 sinit. 3 rumie?
Haynes* Observations on the State of Ireland in 1600. 173-
the Woocles of 100 yardes broad for more saufe Passage of
Travellers Avhoe are robbed and murthered therein. Also-
there were Bridges builte over the greate Rivers, and that
all Fordes were stopp'd, Soe that all Passengers should pass
over the Bridges, uppon which Bridges also should be Gates
and Gate howses to Stopp Night Stealthes which are com-
monlie driven in by waies; And by the high waies here and
there should be Townes builte Corporate and made market!
Townes, and the Passage soo Stopte that Passengers should
of necessitie passe through them, whereby manie Stealthes
and other dangers might be the more easilie prevented,
and the People by frequentinge those market Townes might
learrie the more Civilitie. And by those Townes the-
Countrye would be enriched the more, because men would
briiige thither the Fruites of their Trades, and seeinge their
Laboures profitable would endeavour the more Industriouslie
to increase wealth by paine takinge. And in theis market
Townes and not elswhere, as nowe they doe Secretlie bringe
all Cattle and Garrons 1 to be Bought and Sold, and not
abroade in coverte places, which could be a meanes to stopp
manie Stealthes, For feare that yf they brought them
to the market they might be descry ed. Manie suche Townes
have been in Ireland ; But when the Irishe soe prevayled
again ste the Englishe, they brought them to nought, whereof
the Ruines yet appeare, of some of the Names onlie and
nothinge else.
Nowe after this pacification the Reformacion should rest
as before in a Deputye or Justice over whom it were con-
venient A Lorde Lieutenante were placed, a man of most
noble regarde ot Englande, whoe should not discountenance
the Deputye but strengthen him in those things that he doth
for the Establishment of Justice and Reformation. Knowinge
this, that as the Case standethe nowe manie practices are
wrought to the hinderance of that which might worke the
good of that Realme, which by the Countenance and good
Carriage of the Lieutenante would be quallified and things-
better managed. And the Lord Deputie to have more
ii, a work-horsQ ; geA]A]\An AJYO> a hobby.
174 r lheolofjical Questions.
absolute power and not be soo controuled from the Counsell
here, but that what the Deputie and Councell doth yt should
stande because yt cannot be that they male be directed from
hence what to doe. Therefore presente occasions must
'have such consideracions and execucion as the nature of the
cause requirethe. Which can by noe meanes be foreseene
here, neither male they stay for direction from hence, Sith
in the meantime opportunitie maie passe and the advantage
of the tyme and occasion be loste, yett is he in some par-
ticular thinges to be restreyned, as that he shall not Sell noe
Offices for money nor pardons nor protections for Rewarde,
nor suche like. The Libertie whereof maie be an occasion of
manie Inconveniences.
THEOLOGICAL QUESTIONS.
,<T 1*
f 1. '-,
LETTERS REQUIRED FOR ENTERING INTO A RELIGIOUS ORDER
" Quas litteras mecum habere debeo ut ingredi liceat in Ordinera.
Religiosum proprie dictum"?"
Nullis opus est nisi Testimonial! bus. Ne ad ordin.es
quidem sacros suscipiendos requiruntur litterae sive Excor-
porationis sive Dimissoriales. Professio enim Religiosa in
Ordine proprie dicto excardinationern ipsa efficiet. Ante Pro-
fessionem Solemnem Superiores Religiosi litteras dimissorias
subditis suis dare non possunt, nisi pro prima tonsura et
ordinibus minoribus.
II.
DUPLIOATIOX.
" Could a priest duplicate on a Sunday when the following circum-
stances are present ?
" 1. A parishioner dies on Saturday morning after the priest lias
broken his fast,
" 2. The friends are most anxious to have Mass at the house
^before the burial takes place.
" 3. The burial is to take place on Sunday. Very many of the
r l lieological Questions. 175
friends and relations will not hear Mass on that day, as the house is a
long distance from the parish church.
"4. Should the priest have Mass at the house he is certain to
have a large number of people present, the full of an ordinary country
house, say between 30 and 40-
"5. Should he celebrate Mass at the house on Sunday he is certain
to receive a larger Honorarium for his labour than on any other
day.
" VICARIUS."
The case made by our correspondent is not one of those
in which the Common Law allows a priest to say a second
Mass the same day. Consequently a mere declaration from
the bishop will not suffice. If then duplication be at all
lawful in the circumstances stated by "Vicarius," that must be
in virtue of the dispensing power communicated by the
Formula vi. a
We need not delay to explain at any length that the dele-
gated faculty is very often available when a bishop could by
no means say that the circumstances were such as to warrant
him in deciding that the Common Law sanctioned duplication.
He has power to dispose in the Common Law ; but only for
a very good cause. Does such a cause exist in the case
before us ? The last point mentioned by our correspondent
is here of no account. Neither can an affirmative reply be at all
thought of, unless owing to some very special circumstances
the funeral cannot be reasonably deferred. For really
attendance at a wake during the time of the Mass on Sunday,
can be alloAved only to very few. But if the funeral must
take place on Sunday, and if it would be unreasonable to
expect those who attend it to go also to the parochial Mass
at a distance, there is sufficient reason for seeking and
granting permission to duplicate. " Vicarius," however, is
supposed not to do so without receiving the faculty, and
obviously, even in the hypothesis last made, the favour may
be refused on account of inconveniences that may be appre-
hended as likely to follow if it were granted.
R OU
[ 176 ]
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
I.
QUESTIONS REGARDING BENEDICTION OF THE MOST HOLY
SACRAMENT.
1. " A few evenings ago I went into a Church where devotions
were going on. The door of the Tabernacle stood open and the Pyx
covered with its veil, was exposed inside the Tabernacle. After the
usual prayer Deus qui nobis, etc., had been sung, the officiating priest
extracted the Pyx and gave Benediction with it. This being to me a
new practice, I made enquiries, and was told that Cavalieri approved
of it.
" May I ask (a) is it in keeping with the Rubrics or Decrees to
extract the Pyx from the Tabernacle and bless the people with it ?
(b) If in the affirmative, may a priest do this as often as he thinks it
conducive to the promotion of devotion among the people, or does he
require the permission of his bishop ?
" SACEKDOS."
2. " I would feel obliged if you would kindly answer the following
in the RECORD :
" Is it correct to have two Benedictions of the Most Holy Sacra-
ment in the same Church on the same day ; for example, one after
Mass, the other at the evening devotions ?
"A SUBSCRIBER."
3. " Would you kindly answer the following queries in your
valuable journal, and oblige,
" A CONSTANT READER."
" When Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament is given at the
evening devotions of Sundays, etc., it is usually preceded by the
Rosary and the Litany of the Blessed Virgin. Now the following
difficulties suggest themselves (a) Is the prayer which the priest
sings after the Litany to be changed according to the season as in the
Missal, or is the prayer given in the Ritual Concede nos famulos, etc.,
to be used all seasons ?
" (b) Is there any authority for saying the prayer of the day with
the Deus qui nobis, etc., after the Tantum Ergo ? Hughes, as far as I
remember, speaks of saying the prayer of the day after the prayer of the
Litany, but this seems contrary to what De Herdt has (vol. o, n. 74);
that without an indult it is not lawful^to add to the Litany of Loretto ;
Liturgical Questions. 177
though perhaps he is to be understood as referring principally to
making additions to the petitions of the Litany. On the other
hand, I can find no authority for adding the prayer of the day to the
Dens qui nobis, etc. De Herdt does not even contemplate the case."
1. The practice referred to by our esteemed correspon-
dent " Sacerdos " though rarer than it was in times past is by
no means new. As early as the year 1602 it was before the
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars. By a decree of this
Congregation bearing date 9th December of that year, and
by subsequent enactments, which bring us down to the time
of Benedict XIV. the rules regulating this practice were
laid down.
According to these rules a priest may on his own
authority open the door of the Tabernacle, and expose to the
assembled faithful the Pyx or Ciborium containing the
Blessed Sacrament, taking care, however, that the Ciborium
be covered with its veil of silk, and that it be not taken from
the Tabernacle. This, a priest may do without the express
permission of his bishop, but it is for himself to decide,
whether, especially in places where no such custom has
existed, it would be prudent to do it. Biit without the
bishop's leave a priest cannot take the Ciborium from the
Tabernacle to bless the people with it or to permit them to
adore the Consecrated Species which it contains.
These two statements are clearly contained in the decree
of the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars referred to
above. " Si quandocumque" it says, " privata ex causa
Sacrosancta Eucharistia exponenda videbitur a Tabernaculo
nunquam extrahatur, sed in Pyxide velata in aperto ejusdem
Tabernaculi ostiolo cum assistentia alicujus Sacerdotis stola
et superpelliceo induta, et cum sex saltern luminibus cereis
collocetur." By a private cause the Congregation means a
cause, not submitted for the approval of the bishop, but con-
sidered sufficient by a priest charged with the care of a
church. For such a cause a priest may expose the Ciborium
containing the Blessed Sacrament in the open Tabernacle,
but he may not take the Ciborium out of the Tabernacle,
and hence may not bless the people with it. For, to use the
words of Benedict XIV. " Si Sacramentum non debet a
VOL. IX. M
178 Liturgical Questions.
Tabernaculo educi facile intelligitur in designatis casibus
non esse illud efFerendum . . . et cum eodem benedictionem
impertiendam," (apud Gardellini Instructio Clementina).
To the questions proposed by our correspondent, then,
we reply : (a) it is not against the Rubrics or decrees servatis
servandis, of course to take the Pyx or the Ciborium from
the Tabernacle and to bless the people with it. (b) A priest
may not do this as often as he pleases, nor may he do it even
once without the express permission of his bishop.
2. From what has just been said in reply to the preceding
question the answer to the question of " A Subscriber " may
be inferred. For from the decree there cited it follows
that the Most Holy Sacrament cannot be exposed publicly,
that is, outside the Tabernacle, whether it be shut up in a
Ciborium, or placed in the Remonstrance, unless by permis-
sion of the bishop. This is still more clearly contained in
another decree of the Sacred Congregation which we sub-
join : " Nullo modo convenire nee posse per Regulares neque
Saeculares publice exponi (Sacramentum Eucharistiae) sine
expressa licentia Ordinarii, et ideo omnino prohibendos
contrafacientes." (Apud Gardellini, loc. cit. n. 4.) Now as
far as we know there is no decree limiting the number of
Benedictions of the Most Holy Sacrament in a given church
to one in the day. Hence a bishop may, if he so wish,
give permission to have Benediction in the same church
two or more times in the same day. With such permission,
then, Benediction may be repeated ; without it, or simply on
the authority of the priest in charge of the church, it would
not, as is clear from the decrees given above, be lawful to
have a second Benediction.
3. (a) The question regarding the prayer to be recited
after the Litany of the Blessed Virgin when sung at Bene-
diction was discussed in the RECORD, third series, vol. iii,
p. 314. The opinion there expressed is that the prayer
should not be changed with the seasons, but should be
always Concede nos 9 &c. The reason advanced seems to us
unanswerable. The prayer Concede is the prayer, and the
only prayer, given after the Litany in Pustet's edition of the
Ritual, every page of which was submitted to the Sacred
.Liturgical Questions. 179
Congregation. Now, it is well known that this Litany is
sung at Benediction at all times of the year. Hence we are
of opinion that in so accurate an edition of the Ritual as
Pustet's professes to be, some note should be inserted telling
us to change the prayer of the Litany with the seasons, if
the Sacred Congregation considered that such a change
should be made, From the absence of all note or sign to that
effect we are forced to conclude that the prayer is not to be
changed.
(6) The prayer of the day, that is, the proper prayer of
the Feast or Office celebrated on a given day, may be recited
at Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament, except on the
Feast and within the Octave of Corpus Christi, as is clear
from the reply of the Sacred Congregation to the following
question :
In Oratione quadraginta Horarum, eoque magis in Festo Corporis
Christi, duplicib usque primae et secundae classis quum populo
benediciturpost Tantitm ergo etc. quaeritur.
" An unica tantum Oratione de Sanctissimo Sacramento dicenda
sit vel addi possit aliqua collecta nempe Principis etc,"
To this question the Sacred Congregation replied :
"Affirmative in Oratione quadraginta Horarum et duplicibus
primae et secundae classis, negative vero in Festo et per Octavam
Corporis Christi."
Hence not only the prayer of the day but any approved
prayer may be said. And furthermore it would seem that
the number of prayers which may be said need not be con-
fined to one. Indeed, according to Hughes (The Ceremonies
of High Mass, p. 135), it is customary in Rome to sing at the
Benediction the prayer of the feast, the prayer for the Pope,
and all the commemorations made in the Mass of the day.
We have stated that these prayers may be said after the
Deus qui nobis, but we see no reason why they might not
just as well be said after the Concede which is recited after
the Litany.- Our correspondent is right in thinking that
Hughes approves of this. Not only does he approve of it,
but he says that it is actually the custom in Rome. Neither is
it contrary to De Herdt. For to sing or recite a prayer after
the Litany, is not to add anything to the Litany. Besides,
180 Liturgical Questions.
as our correspondent rightly suspects, and, indeed, as is clear
from De Herdt himself, the prohibition only refers to
additions to the petitions.
II.
ANNIVERSARY MASS "DE REQUIEM." WHAT MASS SHOULD'
BE SAID?
1. "Sometimes an Anniversary Office and High Mass are celebrated
by the wish of a friend for a deceased person. This Office, etc., enjoy*
no privilege. I am anxious to know what Mass should be said OH
such an occasion. Should it be the Mass In Anniversano Defunctornm 9 .
or the Alma Quotidiana ?
2. " Again, in some colleges a custom exists of celebrating
annually a Solemn Office and Mass for deceased benefactors. Here
the same difficulty about the Mass to be said occurs. I wish you to-
understand that in neither case does the Office enjoy any privilege.
" An answer in the RECOUD will oblige yours sincerely,
" SACERDOS."
1. A Solemn Office and Mass de Requiem if celebrated
on the real anniversary of the death or burial of the deceased
is always privileged, whether it was provided for by the will
of the deceased person himself, or founded by another in hi&
behalf, or is merely asked for each year, or in any particular
year by a friend. The first two cases are so well-known that
it would be superfluous to quote any authority in support of
them. As the third case is not so generally known, and
moreover, as we are at present more immediately concerned
with it, we give a reply of the Sacred Congregation of the
19 tk June, 1700, in which it is expressly stated that such an
Anniversary Mass may be said on a double minor. The
question was asked :
" Utrum ex privata devotione parochianoruin petentium saepius
per annum Anniversaria pro defunctis parentibus, fratribus, amicis et
aliis, Missa Solemnis in ruralibus Ecclesiis cantari possit de Requiem
in festo duplici minor! ?"'
To this the Congregation replied :
" Affirmative, dummodo sermo sit de die vere Anniversaria a die
obitus."
Now since " Sacerdos " takes such care to remind us
that the Anniversary Office of which he speaks enjoys no
Correspondence.
181
privilege, we must understand him to refer to an Office
celebrated on a day different from the real anniversary of
the death or burial. Such Office would not differ from an
-ordinary Office per annum, and hence the Missa Quotidiana
should be said.
There is just one other sense in which we may understand
our esteemed correspondent. If in the case he makes it was
intended that the Office and Mass should be celebrated on
the true anniversary day, but because that day was impeded
by a feast of higher than double-minor rite the Office had to
be transferred to another day, then it would enjoy no privi-
lege. In this case not the Missa Quolidiana, but the
Anniversary Mass should be chosen.
2. In the second case, as our esteemed correspondent again
Teminds us, the Office enjoys no privilege and consequently
can be said only on a day on which an ordinary Requiem
Mass is permitted. The Anniversary Mass should be said in
this case as we learn from a reply of the Congregation of
Rites of March o, 1870, to a question similar to the one we
.are now discussing. The question was in these terms :
" In Metropolitana Olomucensi a fundatione Capituli celebrantur
quotannis quinque Missae Solemnes, quarum una pro Benefactoribus
. , . Cum autem hi omnes recensiti non una eademque die
obierunt, quaeritur utrum praedictae Missae celebrari debeant ut in
Anniversario defunctorum, vel potius ut in Missis quotidianis."
"Affirmative" was the vejly "ad primam partem ;
(negative ad secundam."
D. O'LOAN.
CORRESPONDENCE.
THE ORAL SYSTEM OF TEACHING THE DEAF AND DUMB.
REV. AND DEAR SIR, I am an unwilling contributor to this
controversy, but having been personally alluded to by the Rev E. W.
Dawson on page 1105 of the December number of the I. E. RECORD
-as an oralist, I feel in duty bound to set both your readers and Mr
Dawson right.
Mr. Dawson while attempting to cast discredit upon the general
182 Correspondence.
statements of the author of some observations on the oral system of
Teaching the Deaf and Dumb, because some of them are held to be
erroneous, unfortunately lays himself open to precisely the same
charge. He says, " if his comment on this, the gravest of all his
points, is so unfaithful to the text book, his other observations may
justly be regarded with suspicion { until their truth is confirmed." So
that if any of Mr. Dawson's statements are not strictly true, his
others according to his own argument may also be regarded with
suspicion. " Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones.''
Mr. Dawson was, he says, careful in the whole of his (first) reply
to make no assertion which he did not know to be true from personal
knowledge. This cannot, however, be said to apply to his second
letter, for in reference to my late brother, the Rev. Samuel Smith, he
says, " since the death of this truly charitable man, his son who is
headmaster of the public institution at Bristol, has adopted the oral
system for his school.' 19 The error in the relationship is a small and
unimportant matter, but the assertion which I have put in italics
seems to have been made in utter carelessness, for nothing could
possibly be farther from the truth, and there is not the smallest par-
ticle of foundation for it. On the contrary, I am among the not
inconsiderable number of those who have not been carried away by
the tide of oralism, but have had the courage of their opinions, and
until I have proof more convincing of the superiority of the oral
system as applicable to all bona fide deaf and dumb children, I see n$>
reason for abandoning a system which is capable of educating the
deaf and dumb to a very high degree, and of rendering them such
useful and respectable members of society as it has in thousands of
instances succeeded in doing.
Again the statement that Mr. Elliott has held the head master-
ship of the London Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb for a period of
ttventy-five years appears to have been made equally at random, for
his appointment to the mastership of the Margate Branch was made
in 1876, and as head of the whole establishment in 1878, barely ten
years ago. This, it is scarcely necessary to say, is merely to show the
want of care on Mr. Dawson 's part, and not to detract from the merits
of Mr. Elliott,
There are several other statements that would not bear close in-
vestigation, and opinions from which I altogether dissent, but it
would occupy too much time and space to follow Mr. Dawson care-
fully through his lengthy letter. One more I must, however, not
pass over, viz., "since that time (1877) so many have changed their
opinions, that now most of the English schools have adopted the oral
Correspondence. 183-
system." This assertion is as delusive as it is extravagant. If, as
it would seem, Mr. Dawsou wishes to convey the idea that most of
the English schools are, as he claims for his own at Boston Spa, teaching
exclusively by means of speech and lip-reading, he will create upon
the minds of your readers a very wrong impression. That many of
the schools have adopted some oral teaching is no doubt true, but that
amounts in most instances to nothing more than the " combined "
system, which they do not even profess to have exceeded. It must
be understood that I am now speaking of the old established public
institutions, and not of private schools or those " founded by foreign-
ers." Now excluding the London and Manchester schools, which
have attained to the ideal position of having two departments one
oral and the other manual, for the separation of those who can from
those who cannot profit by oral teaching, the schools professing to-
teach on the oral system are four in number, and even these are not
allowed by purists to be " pure oral" schools. Against these six oral
schools \ve have seventeen combined or manual, or, including the
manual departments of London and Manchester, nineteen, the means
of instruction mainly relied upon in a large majority of these being,
not speech and lip-reading, but signs and the manual alphabet. The
change of opinion and practice has therefore been very small in pro-
portion to what Mr. Dawson fondly imagines. Taking the strict
definition of a " German" system, or " pure oral" school to be one
that rigidly excludes signs and the manual alphabet, I venture to say
that not one of the six can honestly be said to satisfy this condition ;
that is to say, where the manual alphabet is unknown and unpractised
among the pupils.
Mr. Howard, headmaster of the Yorkshire Institution at Doncaster,
recognising its value to the pupils in after life, says, in a paper oil
Our Pupils and their Future, " There is one other matter which
touches upon such tender ground that, as a ' pure oral ' teacher,
nothing but my heartfelt conviction of its importance would permit
me publicly to advocate, that is, a feeling that a manual alphabet will
always prove a boon to the deaf, ' oral ' or silent alike when they go
out into the world and have to mix daily and hourly with hearing
persons. Taking into consideration the slovenly manner in which
nine-tenths of the ordinary speaking population utter their words, the
deaf have but small chance of reading readily the lips of more than
one-tenth of those with whom they come into contact in daily life."
Mr. Dawson also advocates occasional recourse to " the means used
by those educated under the sign-system, viz., writing, manual alphabet
and signs." To have recourse to the manual alphabet at all, as in
184 Correspondence.
most cases they undoubtedly do, is surely to acknowledge its
superiority as a certain means of communication, and to admit that
speech and lip-reading fail to fulfil the claim that they enable the deaf,
taught on the oral system, " to dispense entirely with signs and the
finger alphabet and with the necessity of using pencil and tablets."
In his reply to the " Fourth Objection " " The oral system is
wanting in adaptibility in a very large number of deaf-mutes who can
be taught by the sign-system," Mr. Dawson objects to the evidence
or statistics of Mr. Weld because they were forty years old, and
flatters himself that your readers will not allow themselves to be
influenced by them. But I must remind him that Mr. Weld's
enquiries were made, not in England, but in the home of the
" German " system, which was not in its mere infancy, but had even
then been in existence about seventy years !
In conclusion allow me to give a few brief extracts from a paper
on The Results of the Oral Method in Germany, written by a German
teacher in the organ of the German Institutions for the Deaf, for
December, 188G, bearing upon this subject and the value of signs in
religious institutions.
" The German school so far achieves neither what it desires iior what it
promises. The same sentiment is expressed by Principal Vatter, 1 who
complains in No. 1 of the Organ for 1885, that, " while the German method
proceeds to win recognition [abroad, it fails to make good its claims in the
land of its birth. These censures are well founded, for they are supported
by existing facts," ....
" The remark of Jorgensen still holds good that " hundreds upon
hundreds of deaf-mute pupils leave the institutions annually with such a
minimum of knowledge and of ability to speak as to be below all criticism . . .
There must be separation of schools." ....
" Experience shows us every day that with a certain percentage of our
deaf pupils, the results in articulation are almost nil, and yet that these
children must be regarded as capable of education, since from their own
resources and powers they create a gesture language, or readily adopt that
already existing at the institution, use the same intelligently, and in every
way give the impression of being entirely rational.' 5 ....
It is not a little remarkable that while Mr. Dawson sees in oral
teaching such a perfect means of instruction applicable to all but
about G per cent of his pupils, and these imbeciles, the German
teachers are so painfully alive to its imperfections and shortcomings.
Thanking you for the space afforded me,
I am, your obedient Servant,
W. B. SMITH,
Institution for the Deaf and Dumb)
Bristol, 3Ist December, 1887.
1 Principal of the Institution at Frankfort -on -the -Main ; editor-in-chief of
the Organ.
[ 185 ]
DOCUMENTS.
TRANSLATION OF AN INDULGENCE WITH THE FEAST FOR WHICH
IT IS GRANTED.
SUMMARY.
When a Feast, which has an Indulgence attached to it, is trans-
ferred to another day of the month in perpetuum, the Indulgence is
also transferred with the Feast.
The Calendar which one regularly follows whether it be the
Roman, or the diocesan, or the Calendar of the Order or of the
Sodality will determine for each individual the question of both the
Feast and the Indulgence.
S. CONGREGATIO INDULGENTJAHUM.
Utrum indulgentiam alicui festo adjunctam lucretur quisquis
die ipsa juxta Kalendarium Breviarii Romani, vel potius juxta
Kalendarium unius cuj usque dioecesis. Ordinis, etc.
Item qui sodalitati cuicumque nomen dederunt, an indulgentias
acquirant die in qua festum celebratur in Or dine regulari, ad quem
attinet dicta sodalitas, licet sit diversa a die Kalendarii Romani, vel
dioecesani ?
RESP. Indulgentiam acquiri a Christifidelibus die fixa et rite
constituta in sua dioecesi ; a regularibus Ordinibus die rite constituta
in suo Kalendario ; ab hominibus, qui sodalitati nomen dederint,
quae ad regularem Ordinom attineat, indulgentiam acquiri die rite
constituta in Kalendario dioecesis, vel in Kalendario Ordinis, si
istius modi privilegio gaudeant, non tamen in utraque die.
1. Utrum, translate festo in perpetuum et perpetuo ad aliam
diem sive ex speciali decreto S. R. C. sive ex praecepto rubricarum
assignato, simul ad eamdem diem iterum festo assignatam transfer-
atur indulgentia eidem festo concessa, licet festum celebretur sine
solemnitate et publica functione?
Et quatenus affirmative :
2. Utrum eadern translatio indulgentiae, liat tarn in casu quo
translatio perpetua festi sit pro toto Ordine, quam in casu perpetuae
translationis festi pro sola regulari provincia ?
3. Cum festum assignatum est ad quamdam diem pro provincia,
et in aliqua dioecesi, vel in aliquo coenobio, ob occurrentiam alterius
festi praeferendi, translatum sit et perpetuo assi^natum ad aliam
diem, utrum indulgentia festo tributa adscribenda sit pro singulis
coenobiis ad diem quo unumquodque festum celebrat, vel potius sit
18 tf Document*.
retinenda tanquam lucrabilis in omnibus coenobiis cadem die
assignata pro provincia, dummodo tamea cxceptio non sit faoieoda
ratione solemnitatis vel externae publicae celebrationis ?
4. Quando aliquod festum ex novo indulto Kalendario adjuugen-
dum, eo quod impediatur die propria ad sequentern primam diem
liberam transferri et assignari debet, si ei concessa sit indulgentia,
iitrum haec adscribenda sit diei quo festum assignatur fixe in
provincia, et quoad omnia provinciae coenobia, quamvis non in
omnibus festum eadem die Jocum habeat ?
5. Utrum indulgentiae tributae alicui festo pro universis
fidelibus cum conditioue visitandi ecclesias determinatas Regular ium,
lucrari possint ab omnibus Christifidelibus, etiamsi ejusdem festi
celebratio cum indulgentia alia die in dioecesi locum habeat ?
RESP. Ad l m et 2 m : Affirmative.
Ad 3 m , 4 m et 5 m : Affirmative juxta modum, nempe indulgentia
semel tantum a singulis respective lucrari potest.
12 Jan. 1878.
A PRIEST ACCEPTING \VORK OUTSIDE HIS DIOCESE.
SUMMARY.
Without the permission of the bishop of the diocese for which a
priest was ordained, he cannot leave the diocese to undertake work
elsewhere.
CALAKITANA SEC UXELLEN. EXCAKDINATIONIS ET NOMINATIONS.
Die 29 JamiariilS&7.
Sess. 21 cap. 2 De reform.
COMPENDIUM FACTI. Vacante in metropolitana Ecclesia Calaritana
praebenda canonici poenitentiarii, ad concurs um, legitime indictum
pro die 11 octobris 1886, convenerunt Raymundus Ibba canonicus
theologus cathedralis Uxellensis, et sacerdos Daniel Vidili, qui,
quamvis extraneus legitime nunc in Dioecesi Calaritana dicitur incar-
dinatus. Canonicus autem Ibba, inconsulto suo Episcopo illuc
venerat.
Ex bulla Nuper pro parta Clementis XIV. canonici theologi
electio in Sardinia competit Episcopo una simul cum capitulo.
Itaque examine a concurrentibus peracto, capitulum ad scrutinium
convenit ; et in eo canonicus Ibba decem suffragia seu unanimitateni
votorum reportavit, dum sacerdos Yidili duo tantummodo vota favor
abilia retulit, cetera vero contraria.
Archiepiscopus, re cognita, a voto quidem abstinuit ; et rem Uxel-
ensi Episcopo communicans, enm hortabatur ne election! canonici
Notices of Books. 187
Ibba obsisteret, plura ad hoc adducens motiva. At hie Praesul allegata
motiva rejecit, et Archiepiscopo significavit, se ob ecclesiae suae
necessitates hand posse permitterc liunc sacerdotem discedere. Probus
enim omnium consensu est ac doctus, et a pluribus annis dogmaticae
ac s. Scripturae lectiones in Seminario Uxellensi tradit. Imo cum
scholasticus annus tune jam inciperet, datis prius amicalibus litteris,
et comminata dein suspensione, canonicum Ibba ad residentiam et ad
assuetum magisterii munus revocavit.
Paruit quidem Ibba ; et nuncium non misit election! de se factae
ad Calaritanam Poenitentiariam, quam imo consequi peroptat, juxta
etiam capituli, imo et Archiepiscopi votum. Quapropter Archiepis-
copus litteras ad S. (J. C. dedit, postulans approbationem electionis
canonic! Ibba.
DUBIUM.
An excardinatio et electio sacerdotis Ilia ad Poenitentiariam
Calaritanam sit admittenda in casu.
RESOLUTTO. Sacra Cong. Concilii re discussa sub die 29 Januarii
1887, censuit respondere : Negative ctfiat novus concursus.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
THOMAS A KEMPIS. By Francis Richard Cruise, M.D.
London : Kegan Paul, Trench. & Co.
Although the Imitation of Christ is now known and loved in every
Christian land, and even in the remotest corners of the world, into
which Christianity has only recently penetrated, it is hardly too much
to say that there is no country in which it is held in more affectionate
esteem, than it is in this island of ours. To many an Irishi
heart it has brought for centuries past the sweet balm of consolation.
It has taught them indeed, that those who follow Christ, and willingly
bear His cross, do not walk in darkness. It has cheered them in
many a struggle, strengthened them in danger, and filled them with
the unction of love for the society and the guidance of our Blessed
Lord. Many too it has drawn away from the snares of sin and
worldliness and taught them in the beautiful words of the second
book that : .
" The love of Things created is deceitful and inconstant .
The love of Jesus faithful and enduring."
In no book that has come, as Fontenelle says, from the " hand of
188 Xotices of Books.
man," are we lead to realize so fully, the words of the Master, " quia
initis sum et humilis corde," and that his " yoke is sweet, and his
burden light." It appeals to the noblest, and at the same time
to the most delicate sentiments of the human heart, as when it tells
us
"Love Him and keep Him for thy friend who, when all forsake thee,
will not leave thee, nor suffer thee to perish finally."
The nature of its persuasion is so strong and withal so gentle ?
that it suits every age] and rank and condition, and brings all under
the sway of the same divine influence ; for
"What can the world give thee without Jesus."
" If Jesus be with thee, no foe can harm thee ; and if thou drive Him
from thee and lose Him, to whom wilt thou fly V "
" We ought rather to choose to have the whole world against us than
offend Jesus/'
Therefore, every thing that concerns the Imitation is of great
importance in the eyes of Irish Catholics, but it is particularly inter-
esting and edifying to find an Irish Catholic gentleman, actively
engaged in one of the most engrossing of professions, devote so much
time and labour to the study of the work and of its authorship. The
result of Dr. Cruise's study, and of his own deep devotion to Saint
Thomas a Kempis, is contained in this work. He divides his subject
into five parts. In the first he gives some general considerations on
the nature of the Imitation, and quotes several passages from the
works of eminent writers, giving testimony to its wonderful power.
In the second] part we have an accurate account of the formation
-of the "Congregation of Common Life," and of the Convents of
Windesheim and Agnetenberg. The sketches of the lives of the
Venerable Gerard Groot, and of Florentius Radewyn, are particularly
interesting. The third part is devoted to the life and writings of St.
Thomas a Kempis. We are told in very vivid language how, while
still almost a child, he left his poor parents and his humble home at
Kempen, and travelled alone all the way to Deventer. From Deventer
he went in search of his elder brother to Windesheim and returned
-again to the former place to receive his education. The fathers of
Deventer were now according to the pious wish of Gerard Groot,
affiliated to the Canons Regular of St. Augustine. Here Thomas
spent seven years of his life, surrounded by holy youths who encouraged
him, and vied with him in every walk of virtue and piety. Then he
betook himself to another house of the order, Mount St. Agnes, near
Zwolle, of which his brother had been appointed Prior. He joined
Notices of Booh.
the order there, and commenced at once that life of prayer and sanctity
which in due time blossomed forth into the great works, the principal
of which are the Soliloquy of the Soul, the Elevation of the Mind,
and the Imitation, of Christ.
The fourth part is occupied with the discussion as to the authorship
of the Imitation. It is a clear and methodical exposition of the
claims of St. Thomas a Kempis. Before reading this part of the work,
we went through the arguments set forth by M. Vert in favour of the
great Chancellor Gerson, and those of Mgr.Puyol and Dom Wolf sgr liber
in favour of Gersen of Vercelli,and it appears to us that there is nothing
advanced by them of any importance that is not met often with full, but
always with fair success by Dr. Cruise. His evidence in favour of Saint
Thomas a Kempis is derived from contemporary witnesses, from ex-
ternal proofs manifested by the manuscripts, and from the internal
nature of the work itself. He then applies these three tests to the
other candidates, and to the theories of M. Arthur Loth, and Fere
Denifle, and concludes that there can be no doubt as to the claims of
St. Thomas. The author evidently took great pains with this part of
his work. He visited the Burgundian library at Brussels several
times to examine the manuscripts that were brought there from
Agnetenberg. He visited several other European libraries with a
similar object. He shows a practical knowledge of at least four or
five languages, and lie evidently knows enough about paleography ta
be able, if not to make a good guess himself as to the date of a manu-
script, at least to be a good judge of the qualifications of others.
In the fifth section we have a description of the author's visit to
the scenes of St. Thomas' life and labours with pencil sketches of
Kempen, Deventer, Windesheim, and Agnetenberg, and finally an
authentic portrait of the saint.
This is necessarily a brief outline of the volume. It is impossible
to read it without much profit and edification. A spirit of very deep
and genuine piety, can be traced through it from the outset.
The faults to be found are, on the other hand, in our opinion, few
and of little importance. In the first part, as the author went in for
giving extracts at all, we should have been glad to see a few short
ones from Fenelon, Leibnitz, St. Francis of Sales, and Joseph de
Maistre. We are inclined to think that the rather morbid sentiment-
ality of Madame George Eliot, was hardly the happiest choice that
could have been made tor a quotation. Again from a literary point of
view we think that the extract from Brother Azarias, striking though
it undoubtedly is and very beautiful, is altogether too long and dis-
190 Notices of Books.
proportionate to the rest of that section of the essay. When one goes
to read a book of this kind, he likes to read the author himself rather
than seventeen pages running of a totally different writer, especially
when Dr. Cruise could have given us just as good matter in his own
words with occasional assistance, if necessary, from other sources.
In the third part of the work the lives of Lubert Berner, Henry
Brune, Gerard of Zutphen and John Ketel, are rather inconveniently
interwoven with that of the saint himself, who is lost from the view
for a long time.
In the fourth part, as we have said, Dr. Cruise displays a spirit of
great research, and the patience with which he discusses each detail
contrasts very favourably with the tone of most other writers on the
same subject. There is a complete absence of the arrogance of Mgr.
Puyol on the headlong rush of the Gersenists generally. Yet Dr.
Cruise does not succeed in concealing that he regards the controversy
carried on in opposition to his views as very vexatious. The emphasis
with which he concludes some of his arguments, as if each one were
sufficient to sustain his thesis by itself alone, takes away somewhat
from the force of his proofs. Better give the argument for what it
is worth, and let the reader judge. For instance there are philologists
who hold that in Mgr, Malou's list of Flemish idioms there is not a
single one which could not be got over by the opponents of St. Thomas ;
and Gence makes out a very striking parallel between the phrases
and idioms of the Imitation, and those of Gerson's other works. Yet
Dr. Cruise is very emphatic as to the impossibility of both these
things, and in the contrast which he draws between the Imitation and
Meditatio Cordis, &c., he makes sweeping charges of aridity and
diffuse grandiloquence against Gerson, which in our opinion are not
at all justifiable, These internal arguments have their weight, no
doubt, in conjunction with the extrinsic proofs, which tell so con-
vincingly for Saint Thomas, but, by themselves they would hardly be
sufficient for anyone.
At page 260, Dr. Cruise gives some fatherly advice to the good
Cardinal Alimonda, Archbishop of Turin, who is a supporter of the
claims of the Abbot of Vercelli. It sounds rather strong in our ears
to hear his Eminence referred to'Jupiter's claim for existence, because
there are statues of Minerva, who came out of his brain, to be found
in Italy.
Finally there was a theory started in France some years ago, of
which we find nothing in Dr. Cruise's book. It was supported by
some distinguished writers, amongst whom were M. Michelet, M.
Notices of Books. 191
Victor Leclerc, and M. Ampere, and was to the effect, that as the
Homeric poems were long disseminated, and sung through Greece,
and were in reality the effusions of sundry bards collected by the care
of Pisistratns and Hipparchus, so the Imitation was long known in
the monasteries of the (middle ages before it was brought into its
present perfect shape; that in reality it was the work of many hands,
and contained the condensed thoughts of many minds. This will ex-
plain, according to those authors, the vast difference of thought, senti-
ment and language noticeable in various parts of the work, as well as
the simultaneous existence of so many manuscripts in several
monasteries of Europe. There can no longer be any objection to these
being ''compiled" in Agnetenberg, or Moelck, or Vercelli, by a,
Kempis or Gerson, by Cambaco or Gersen. Probably Dr. Cruise was
convinced that this theory, plausible though it may appear, would not
long stand his scientific test, and so set it aside as unworthy of notice.
These observations do not, however, modify our opinion that the
book is a truly excellent one. It is most creditable to a Catholic
layman, and even apart from the controversy may be read with
pleasure and profit by all classes of readers, We are sure that when
Dr. Cruise's fame as a physician will have perished, his name will be
gratefully remembered as the author of this work. J. F, H.
JOHN CANADA OR NEW FRANCE. Sequel to THE CASTLE OF
COETQUEN and THE TREASURE OF THE ABBEY. Translated
from the French of Raoul De Navery, by A. W. Chetwode.
Dublin : Gill & Son, 1887.
HAVING read through the pages of John Canada, we can safely
recommend it as an interesting story. As may be seen from the title
page, it is a work from the French of Raoul de Navery, translated
into English by A. W. Chetwode, and intended as a sequel to The
Castle of Coetquen and The Treasure of the Abbey.
M Its pages give a short account of the life and labours
of ''John Canada," whose zeal in defence of the Catholic faith
has earned for him a martyr's crown, while his patriotism has identi-
fied iiis fortune with that of New France.
The author has been most successful in the accomplishment of
his work. The delineation of character is faithful and natural
while the events described are highly interesting. He seems
to hold the reader's feelings in perfect subjection. At one time we
are spellbound, when reading of the captivity of Tanguy and Halgan
in the Huron camp, at another the death of our hero deeply moves us.
Notices of Book* .
This interesting story has not suffered at the hands of the
translator, who has been most happy in the choice of language.
To the old as well as to the young John Canada will prove
interesting, but especially to the latter, to whom by reason ot its high
moral tone it is a great boon.
The manner in which the work has been published reflects the
highest credit on the firm of M. II. Gill & Son.
READINGS WITH THE SAINTS. London : Burns & Gates (Ltd.)
PREACHERS ought to be very grateful to the compiler of this
little book. It contains the sayings of the saints on those subjects
which a priest most frequently puts before his people. Faith, Hope,
Charity, Occasions of Sin ; these are a few of the many headings
under which the extracts are arranged. The number of extracts
on each subject varies with the importance of the subject ; but on an
average there are eight pages under each heading. The saints from
whose writings most of the selections hare been made are those wha
were remarkable for preaching, and for their influence over their
fellow men : St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Francis Xavier,
St. Francis of Sales, St. Vincent of Paul, Cure d'Ars, &c.. As
Cardinal Manning says in his prefatory letter, this book requires no
censor, for everything it contains is taken from the writings of those
whose sanctity and orthodoxy have been acknowledged by the Church.
GUIDE TO THE CHURCH. Dublin : Duffy & Sou.
THE Guide to the Church will be useful to different classes of
readers. Catholics will find it an easily accessible source of much
valuable information, and it may be recommended to Protestants
anxious to examine the grounds of Catholic faith. It treats of kt The
Marks of the True Church," " The Rule of Faith," " The Authority
of the Pope," and many kindred questions. It contains also some
remarkable testimonies in favour of the Catholic Church given by
Protestant authorities, a list of the Popes, a treatise on the " Little
Virtues," a compendium of controversy, &c., &c.
MAXIMS AND COUNSELS OF ST. LIGUORI. Dublin : Gill & Son
Tins tiny volume contains maxims for every day in the year.
These are all extracts from the works of St, Liguori, and the name
of t heir sainted author is a sufficient guarantee of their worth.
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
MARCH, 1888.
FATHER MORRIS'S LIFE OF ST. PATRICK.
A third edition of Father Morris's Life of St. Patrick has
just appeared. This fact is a proof both of the merit
of the book and of a sustained interest in its ^subject.
"Patrician literature," as it is called, being r steadily on the
increase. Besides some modern lives of our National Apostle,
we have several articles and essays in various periodicals,,
dealing with some facts, or phases of the saint's history. No
doubt it were better that much oi this "^literature " had not
been written. For, whatever may have been the intention of
the writers, the tendency of their work often is, to obscure, to
mystify, to create doubt, or to deepen it where it already
existed. We have Lives of St. Patrick, which treat him, as if he
were a block of marble without life or soul ; we have Lives
written to prove that he never lived ; we have dissertations on
his birth-place, displaying much ponderous erudition; but
leading very directly to the conclusion that he was never born
at all. Our early Irish Reformer? would make St. Patrick a
Protestant. Ussher would allow him a Roman mission, with'an
anti-Roman creed. Ledwich, failing to make him a Protestant,
would make him a myth. The works of these writers, and of
others of their class, crumble like a house of cards, under the
crushing criticism of Dr. Lanigan, whose account of St. Patrick's
external acts is a splendid specimen of historical criticism,
though sadly defective as a picture of the inner life of the
saint. In our own time, the life of St. Patrick has been
reated from different points of view by Dr. Todd, and
VOL. IX. N
194 Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick.
Fr. Shearman, both men of undoubted ability, deeply read in
Patrician literature, and in Irish archaeology generally. But
they have done nothing to aid towards any definite conclusion
as to the life of St. Patrick. Dr. Todd revived most of the
exploded theories of his Protestant predecessor. According to
him St. Patrick had neither his mission nor his doctrine from
Home. Father Shearman was so amazed at the multiplicity
and magnitude of St. Patrick's labours, that he considerately
distributed them amongst three at least of the name, and thus
we had not one St. Patrick, but three to evangelize us.
Both works would be more correctly described, not as lives,
but as " Historic doubts concerning St. Patrick." Just
recently Professor Stokes in his Ireland and the Celtic Church,
and also in an article in Smith's Dictionary of Christian
Biography (vol. iv), gives us his view of St. Patrick's life
and works. But it is the old, old story no Roman mission
and anti-Roman doctrine, and strange to say, St. Patrick's
statement, that his father was a deacon, and his grand-father
a priest, is made the grounds of an innuendo against clerical
celibacy; an insinuation that would be intelligible coming
from a Rev. pater-familias of pronounced "Church Missionary "
principles, but that is saddening and sickening when coming
from one who is supposed to be a scholar.
It is a relief, a genuine pleasure, to turn away from such
literature to Father Morris's excellent Life of St. Patrick. The
present writer has even yet a distinct recollection of the
impression made on his mind some years ago by the reading
of the first edition of Father Morris's book. He then felt for
the first time that he could regard the life of St. Patrick, not
as a historic puzzle, designed to prop a pet theory, but as a
real " life " of a saint a picture of the saint as he really was
setting forth the inner life of a soul always communing
with God, as well as the saint's external history. Here, he
felt, was the faithful life-like record of an extraordinary, a
supernatural career a record calculated to instruct, to
edify, and to stir up within the reader's mind a devotion to
the saint such as must have inspired the author in the com-
position of his work. And this feeling is revived by the
perusal of the present edition. The time elapsed since the
Father Morris's Life of St. Patrick 195
first edition appeared has been well and diligently employed
by Father Morris. With him, to study the acts, and write the
history of St. Patrick, is clearly a labour of love. He tells us
that " it is now some twenty-five years since he began the
critical study of the original sources of St. Patrick's history"
(p. 11). And during that time "he has visited the chief
places in Ireland and France, where local monuments and
traditions illustrate the history of the Apostle of Ireland. He
has also personally examined the so-called Loca Patriciana of
Scotland " (p. 1). The fruits of all this study, thought, and
observation, we have in this volume, to which pious Catholics,
but more especially the spiritual children of St. Patrick, will
accord a genuine welcome. No doubt Father Morris's labours
during these years have been such as few men could endure;
his path has been often thorny, and very often ill-defined.
But he has been sustained by an enthusiastic devotion to his
subject ; and now that his work is completed successfully
completed the consciousness that he has done well will make
him soon forget that he has for so long borne the heat and
burden of the day.
The secret of Father Morris's success is, that he has got
the proper key to the extraordinary, the mysterious life and
character of St. Patrick. He has taken the saint's own
authentic writings as the foundation whereon to build. What-
ever he finds in the various lives, and other records, in
harmony with the saint's own words, he accepts, and
arranges judiciously in its proper place in his Life. Whatever
he finds in the lives, and other authorities, irreconcileable
with the saint's own writings he rejects, if he cannot satis-
factorily explain. And when he finds in the various authorities
statements not contained in the saint's genuine writings,
nor yet inconsistent with them, he judges such statements
on their own merits, and with a calm discretion which the
reader will seldom have cause to question. A Life of St.
Patrick, built on such a foundation, and on such a plan, wilt
be found consistent with itself, will be found singularly free
from those lana caprina controversies that have so long
disfigured the Life of our National Apostle ; and best of all
such a life will be a source of pleasure and profit to the pious
reader.
1% Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick.
Into the controversy on St. Patrick's birthplace, Father
Morris does not enter. But he clearly regards Gaul as the
saint's birthplace. His connexion with St. Martin, to whom
lie proceeded on his return from captivity, gives to this view
a high degree of probability. Father Morris says " OIK-
mysterious witness, one abiding landmark on the line of our
saint's journey, however, deserves special notice, for its own
sake, as well as an evidence of the immemorial tradition
which unites St. Martin and St. Patrick " (p. 73). The
allusion here is to the famous tree, a black-thorn, which marks
the spot where St. Patrick is believed to have crossed the Loire
on his way to St. Martin's famous monastery of Marmoutier.
Annually at Christmas time, and however intense the cold,
this tree is covered with its celebrated flowers, the Flowers
of St. Patrick. " And the tradition at St. Patrice, handed
down i'rorn father to son affirms, that, for fifteen hundred
years this phenomenon has been repeated at the same sacred
season, since the day when St. Patrick, returning from
Ireland, crossed the Loire to join St. Martin, and lay down
to rest at the foot of this tree." (Dublin Review, January,,
1883, p. 20.) Such a tradition existing for so long a
time, and in the immediate neighbourhood of St. Martin's
great monastery, strengthened, too, by other monuments in
the vicinity of devotion to St. Patrick gives to the theory of
his Gallic birth a probability which the advocates of any
adverse theory will find very difficult to remove. But what-
ever be the value of the tradition in the controversy as to
St. Patrick's birthplace, its history in the text and appendix
forms one of the most attractive portions of Father Morris's
book, and its perusal will repay the curiosity and gratify
the devotion of the reader.
It has been already stated that the special excellence of
Father Morris's book is his faithful delineation of St. Patrick's
interior life. He says (p. 33) " the boy who before the dawn,
on Slemish, ' was summoned to prayer by the snoAV, the ice,
and the rain,' had already the first fruits of graces which
were the pledge and promise of that plenitude of super-
natural domination which flashes on our souls in those
words of his Hymn of Tara, that sovereign faith and
'Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick. 197
'love to which God has linked His omnipotence." God
had literally led him into the desert that He might speak
to his heart, and there on the bleak hill-side did He pour
into the young captive's soul those abundant graces that
prepared him for his extraordinary mission. Here, separated
from friends and home, bereft of all earthly comfort, the
young captive turned to Him who feeds the birds of
the air, and gives to the lily of the field its beauty.
There* did he God's grace helping him learn that detach-
ment from the world, which made him regard as nothing
the sacrifices involved in his Apostolate : there did he lay the
foundation of that profound humility which made him look on
himself, as one of the least of men " ignorant, and a sinner."
There did he imbibe that spirit of prayer which, all his life
long, Avas the secret of his power; and there too did his
' faith grow daily stronger, and his love of God every day
more intense and ardent. No one can read, even cursorily,
8 1. Patrick's Confession, without a feeling of bewilderment at
the heights of sanctity to which God's grace carried him.
And the reader of Father Morris's book will find this abun-
dantly borne out by a beautiful selection of passages from
the Confession, which he has judiciously interwoven with his
text. Well and truly does Father Morris say : " The man who,
coming to Ireland in his old age, turned the current of her
national life, and in the evening of his days converted a
nation of warriors into a nation of saints, carrying men with
Mm, not by flattering, but by extinguishing their passions ;
who looking back on his work at the end of his life, saw
nothing of his own in it, so that, dazzled by the light, and
oppressed by the mystery, he was fain to cry out, k< Who am
I, or what is my prayer, Lord, who hast laid l^ire to me so
much of Thy Divinity? such an one is the master, not the
subject, of reason " (p. 14).
And this great sanctity, acknowledged and indisputable,
of our National Apostle, affords us the best answer to many
'of the difficulties which captious or creedless critic's bring
against his history. There is a class of writers, very numerous,
who discard 1 as valueless the ancient lives of St. Patrick
because of the many miracles recorded in them. Professor
198 Father Morris's Life of St. Patrick.
Stokes is the latest specimen of this class. He says confi-
dently : " One universal canon of criticism is this the more
genuine and primitive the document, the more simple and
natural, and, above all, the less miraculous ; the later the
document the more of legend and miracle is introduced"
(Ireland and the Celtic Church, p. 31). And after giving some
fancied proofs of his " one universal canon," he adds (p. 35,),
" These few specimens will, I am sure, satisfy you that
valuable as these lives may be for folk-lore .... they
have no claims whatsoever to the position of real historical
records." With this headlong dogmatism of the Trinity
College Professor contrast the language of Father Morris.
" The miracles of St. Patrick are unquestionably that part
which may be fairly disputed without any dishonour to the
saint himself. . . . They come to us on the authority of
ordinary witnesses. It is quite possible that they were some-
times mistaken, and it is vain to attempt to prove that they
were not. All that we can do is to ask those who believe in
miracles why they should withhold from St. Patrick's
witnesses the credence which they freely give to others. It
cannot be said that miracles were unlikely under the circum-
stances, and as to their character, they only difFerin degree and
not in kind from those of other saints " (pp. 34-35). And again,.
" Miracles are the credentials of the heavenly messenger, and
when they have secured the attention of his hearers their chief
work is done " (p. 13). St. Patrick was? a " heavenly
messenger " sent to convert a pagan nation. Can any one r
then, who believes in the Acts of the Apostles, deny that some
extraordinary manifestations of God's power may be vouch-
safed to such messengers to facilitate and confirm their work?
That the gift of miracles has accompanied such apostolic
labours is proved by the conversion of pagan nations from
the days of St. Paul to those of St. Francis Xavier, and later
even still. And the great personal sanctity of our Apostle
would render it more likely that the gift would be accorded
to him. It can be only a question of degree. It may be un-
reasonable to accept all the miracles recorded of St. Patrick,
but it is certainly unreasonable to reject them all. It is merely
a question of evidence, and it is no proof of great mental
Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick. 199
powers, nor of sound mental training to put them out of court
summarily as frivolous and absurd. Better, more reasonable
far, to act on the principle laid down by Cardinal Newman in
this beautiful passage : " Were a miracle reported to me as
wrought by a member of Parliament, or a bishop of the
Establishment, or a Wesleyan preacher, I should repudiate
the notion. Were it referred to a saint, or the relic of a
saint, or the intercession of a saint, I should not be startled at
it, though at first I might not believe it." For the super-
natural events recorded of St. Patrick, which seem so
incredible to those who measure the saints by their own
standard, we require just as much respect as the rules of
moral evidence demand from an intelligent, unprejudiced
Christian who knows what a miracle is. But we can have no
respect for the " one universal canon of criticism " nor for
the critic, that would discard as unauthentic as mere folk-
lore of recent date ancient Irish documents for no other
reason than that they record miracles and state certain points
of Catholic doctrine. There were miracles and Catholic
doctrines long before St. Patrick's time.
For twelve hundred years St. Patrick's character remained
in the undisputed possession of his spiritual children. They
lived, suffered, hoped, died in the profession of the faith
which he brought them ; they invoked his intercession : they
gloried in his name. But the " Reformation " came, and to
give it even a semblance of consistency it became necessary
to " reform " St. Patrick himself, as well as his spiritual
children. And hence the theory of the Religion of St. Patrick,
started by Ussher, has been ever since the eternal ding-dong
of Protestant controversialists. Into this controversy Father
Morris does not enter. Why should he ? Are we not sick
and tired "of routing the routed, and slaying the slain."
Father Morris says : " The Irish Church at home and abroad
was proved to be Roman by her works, and by the ecclesias-
tical offices entrusted to her missionaries." " The fact that
his [St. Patrick's] sous were founders of orthodox churches
in other lands, is cogent evidence that they were orthodox
at home" (pp. 25, 26). " St. Martin was St. Patrick's first
spiritual master, and therefore the one most likely to make an
200 Father Morris's Life of St. Patrick.
impression, and leave his mark on our saint's soul" (p. 84).
" St. Patrick lived in what is truly called the age of the
Doctors of the Church. He was the contemporary of
St. Jerome, St. John Chrysostom, St. Ambrose and St.
Augustine" (p. 90). " It is certain that St. Patrick was in
relations with St. Germanus of Auxerre, and that under the
guidance of this saint he was prepared for his episcopal
consecration" (p. 102). And hence Father Morris very
properly says : " The wonder is, that with these great facts
of history staring them in the face, Catholic writers should
allow themselves to be entrapped and detained by the objec-
tions of those professional critics who do not take the trouble to
learn the difference between a creed and a rubric" (pp. 24, 25).
The truth of this remark is fully borne out by the use made
of the Paschal controversy in determining the religion of
St. Patrick, and the orthodoxy of the early Irish Church. It
was a matter of discipline, not of faWi, a "-rubric" not a
" creed" and as we shall just see is a very strong proof that
St. Patrick had his mission as w r ell as his doctrines from
Rome. Father Morris rightly says that the Irish custom of
celebrating Easter, which gave rise to a somewhat bitter and
prolonged controversy in the seventh century, was nothing
else than a Roman custom introduced by St. Patrick two
hundred years before. (See also Smith's Diet, of Chr. Antiq.
Art. Easter, Eticyc. TheoL of Wetzer and Welte and Jungman,
Diss. 5). When St. Patrick came to Ireland the eighty-four
years' cycle was used at Rome, and it so continued for nearly
a hundred years subsequently. That cycle he brought with him
to Ireland, and his disciples adhered to it. Now is not this
fact of his adopting a Roman custom in preference to others
then in use a strong presumptive proof of his submission to
Roman authority? And the conduct of his disciples raises
this presumption to a certainty. For in the controversy the
Irish maintained that they got their faith and their customs
from Rome, and the controversy ended by their sending a
deputation to Rome to know their spiritual father's will
(Letters of St. Columbanus and Cummiaii). St. Patrick spent a
long part of his early life in France and in Italy. He was
the disciple, probably the nephew, of St. Martin, who was so
Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick. 201
much admired at Rome, that (as we learn from St. P animus
of Nola), his life by Sulpitius Severas made fortunes for the
Roman booksellers. And Paulinns himself says of him, that
he was " a most perfect model of a Christian bishop." And
with him St. Patrick spent just that period of life when his
character and opinions would assume a definite shape. Then
he was the friend of St. Germain, contemporary with some
of the greatest lights of the Church, and must have met with
many of them during his stay at Marmoutier. Surely then,
no honest inquirer can hesitate in forming an estimate of the
principles which St. Patrick must have imbibed from such
teach ers and companions, and in such circumstances. We
know for certain the faith of his teachers and companions,
we know for certain the faith of his disciples, therefore we
can have no doubt as to his own.
This same reasoning is quite sufficient to settle the ques-
tion of St. Patrick's Roman mission. A Roman mission, direct
'or indirect, is necessarily involved in the Roman Primacy.
Now St. Patrick must have established in Ireland that reli-
gious system in which he himself was trained by St. Martin
the admired of the Roman Church, and by St. Germain,
the Roman Legate, and of that system the Primacy of the
Pope was the very corner stone. But such reasoning weighs
little with controversialists who have a theory to maintain at
any cost. The latest specimen of this class is Professor Stokes,
and he deserves to be mentioned, not for the merit of his
book (Ireland and the Celtic Church), for it has none, but
because of his position. He says, "I do not indeed believe
in the Roman mission of our national Apostle" (p. 48). " The
writings of St. Patrick himself undoubtedly contain not even
the remotest hint of such a mission" (p. 47). And he dis-
believes it, "not only because his own language appears
inconsistent with it, but also on broader grounds. People
who read Church history through the spectacles of the nine-
'teenth century are very apt to fancy that the Pope occupied
then for the whole Western Church, the same position as he
does now in the Roman Communion" (p. 49). And after
informing us that, at present, the Congregation De Propa-
ganda Fide regulates the work of Catholic missions, he
202 Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick.
says: "But in the beginning of the fifth century it was not so [! I]
The pope neither then exercised the control nor received
the reverence afterwards yielded to him. '' (p. 49). Now
what is the value of this negative argument (if argument it
can be called) so much insisted on by Professor Stokes?
Let the professor himself answer, as he does most truly,,
and effectually, in the article on St. Patrick, written ly him
for Smith's Dictionary of Christian Biography. " The argument
from silence is notoriously an unsafe one 9 there are so many
reasons which may lead a writer to pass over even a burning
topic in his day." Quite true. This "argument from silence"
has been disposed of once for all in his reply to Dr. Todd by
the present amiable and learned Vice-President of Maynooth
College. In his Ancient Church of Ireland Dr. Gar gan. shows,
in a manner which leaves nothing further to be said, that
any reference to a Roman mission was altogether foreign to
the scope of those writings of St. Patrick which have come
down to us. Professor Stokes tells us that " the pope neither
then exercised the control, nor received the reverence after-
wards yielded to him." Indeed? Did not a pope restore
St. Athanasius to his patriarchate? Did not another pope
restore Flavian to Antioch, and another pope restore
St. John Chrysostom to Constantinople? And were not
many schismatics deposed from these and other sees by the
authority of popes? Did not the Councils of Ephesus and
Chalcedon pretty plainly testify their respect for the
authority, and their reverence for the character of the Pope ?
And do not these facts prove that the pope " exercised
control, and received reverence " in St. Patrick's time ?
Was not the Roman primacy accepted by St. Martin who
instructed St. Patrick? by St. German with whom "he read
the canons " ? and by all the other great lights of that age ?
AVhy then is St. Patrick made an exception, or can it be
that the Professor of History in Trinity College is unac-
quainted with the notorious facts just stated? Professor
Stokes admits that " documents and traditions which date
from the seventh century appear more or less to confirm "
.St. Patrick's Roman mission (pp. 47, 48). We find St.Columbanus-
in his letter to Pope Gregory II. stating that the Irish got
Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick, 203-
their faith from Rome ; Cummian in his letter on the Paschal
controversy reiterates the statement ; Probus states that
St. Patrick had his mission from St. Celestine. The Canon of
St. Patrick in the Book of Armagh, decrees that causae
majores are to be referred to Rome for final settlement.
Now, if Professor Stokes were to find a catena of authorities
of the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries, denying the
primacy of the pope, how readily would he accept their
denial? How loudly would he proclaim the value of his
discovery ? But when he finds them affirming that primacy
why does he act otherwise ? Because " all looks yellow to
to the jaundiced eye." Because there are "people [and the
the professor seems to be one of them] who read Church
history through the spectacles of the nineteenth century,"
and who having certain reasons for denying the primacy of
the pope in the nineteenth century, are anxious to involve
in their heresy the saints and fathers of the fifth. Too late
now to lay such clumsy snares for the children of St. Patrick,
walking as they are in the meridian sun-light of the faith
which he brought them. To that faith we have clung
through trials of the most terrible kind, and we cling to it
as tenaciously as ever, now that the long dark night is over,
and the power of anti-Catholic bigotry broken let us hope
for ever. Secure now in our inheritance, we shall honour
our spiritual father best by acting on the advice, beautifully
paraphrased from his Confession, by Aubrey de Yere, to whom
Father Morris pays a compliment as graceful as it is richly
merited :
" All ye who name my name in later times,
Say to this people, since vindictive rage
Tempts them too often, that their Patriarch gave
Pattern of pardon, ere in words he preached
That God who pardons. Wrongs if they endure
In after years, with fire of pardoning love,
Sin-slaying, bid them crown the head that erred,
For bread denied let them give Sacraments,
For darkness light, and for the House of Bondage
The glorious freedom of the sons of God."
Father Morris has done his work well. His book is a
model of good type and tasteful execution, and will find a
204 Father Morris s Life of St. Patrick
place on the table of every Catholic who reveres the memory
of St. Patrick. A large part of this edition is entirely new,
and annexed to the work is a general index, excellently
arranged, which will enable its readers to find out at a
glance all the more important parts of the book. In
language which the least educated can take in and as
beautiful as it is simple Father Morris has told the history
of our National Apostle. He paints, as none other of St.
Patrick's biographers has painted, "the interior spirit and
supernatural gifts" of our saint. He describes that extra-
ordinary zeal, seldom equalled, even among Apostolic men,
which sustained St. Patrick through his long, arduous labours
his great love for his disciples, so like that of his Divine
, Master, and that control which he exercised over the minds
of men, attracting them, fascinating them by the irresistible
force of the virtue which " went out from him." The spread
of devotion to St. Patrick is one of the most patent facts
of our time. All the world over, wherever the English
language is spoken, his name is invoked, and churches are
raised and dedicated to his honour by the sons of those to
whom he brought the glad tidings of salvation fifteen
hundred years ago. And just now, in that capital of the
Christian world whence he got his mission, Irish generosity,
prompted by Irish faith, is raising to him a worthy temple,
44 paying him back the deep debt so long due." And to
Father Morris it must be a source of genuine happiness to-
contemplate his own part in that great supernatural move-
ment. For he cannot but feel, as every one of "Iris readers
must feel, that love and devotion to our National Apostle
will be intensified by the perusal of his excellent book.
J. MURPHY, C.C.
[ 205 J
CREMATION.
CREMATION has formed the subject of many interesting
and learned articles during the ]ast few years. The
question has been considered and discussed upon sanitary
grounds, upon economic grounds, upon grounds of conveni-
ence and upon grounds of religion. In almost every case
the process has been advocated, encouraged and approved
of, yet so far at least with very little practical result.
Exceedingly few bodies have been cremated, and the
upholders of the more natural and usual method are silent
and irresponsive to the invitation to follow the new departure.
Either they regard the matter with supreme indifference, or
if they are strong supporters of the earth-to-earth system^
they are too confident of the strength of public opinion upon
their side, to fear any immediate or extensive change in the
ordinary form of burial.
Few, perhaps, take the trouble to study up the question^
or care to learn all that may be said in its favour. Those
few, however, who have given it due consideration will not
fail to see that, regarded merely from a sanitary point of view,
it is undoubtedly an improvement upon the old system,
Even the economist will admit the advantage of the change
almost as readily as the doctor and the town councillor. The
only effective opposition that it is likely to encounter is on
the grounds of religion and sentiment. Not that religion
would be compromised of necessity ; not that the body
burned would be thereby disqualified for resurrection ; but
simply that our sense of the respect, and even in a certain
measure our veneration for the human body would receive a
severe shock, and still more because we would seem to be
associating and sympathising with freemasons, atheists, and
materialists, who have taken this pagan custom under their
special patronage and protection. This is so well recognized
at Rome, that a decree was published as recently as May 19th,
1886, prohibiting Catholics from making use of cremation in
the disposal of their Christian dead. This is, after all, only in
keeping with the most spontaneous of Christian instincts.
206 Cremation.
For to one who possesses the faith, the body is really a sacred
thing. It is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and the medium
of supernatural graces. In order that the soul may be
cleansed it is the body that is washed in Holy Baptism ; in
order that the soul may be strengthened it is the body that
is anointed in Confirmation. And as the hands are anointed
with oil in the Sacrament of Orders, so in Holy Communion
the tongue supports the sacred species under which the
eternal Son of God Himself comes to feed and nourish our
-souls.
In the body too even though it be cold and stiff we
recognise no ordinary lifeless thing. That, we argue, is not
wholly and in every sense dead which may yet be roused to
renewed action. Nay, that does but sleep which the trumpet's
blast will awaken to renewed vigour and un diminished
strength. Thus the human body possesses a nature
and a destiny unlike all else. It is no common clay no
ordinary vessel which has served its purpose and has no
further interest or use, and so may be flung aside. There
is a history attached to it. Even its past history is wondrous
and beautiful, but it has a history still to be unfolded and
extending to the most distant future, far more marvellous
still. We look upon the cairn and placid face tof the dead
man, sleeping in his shroud. We scan the familiar features
of a departed father or mother, and our Catholic instincts
bring before our mind the words of the great Apostle:
" The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall rise again
incorruptible. This corruptible must put on incorruption, and
this mortal must put on immortality." We already hear in
.anticipation the solemn sound : we almost seem to witness
the transformation. Before the gaze of faith the soul returns
to claim its own, and the pallor of death gives place to the
ineffable beauty of the risen body, now immortal and im-
passible. In a word the whole condition and attitude of our
minds are related in an especial manner to the earthly
remains of a devoted friend and we feel an instinctive
reverence for every human form.
The instinct is natural and the feeling right. It is a
direct consequence of our belief in a future life and a
Cremation. 207
-general resurrection. To diminish this feeling, or even to
'disregard it, is uriadvisable. It would tend to lessen the
vividness and the intense realization of the great dogma
itself on which the feeling rests. For it is always hard to
lessen the shadow without at the same time lessening 1he
substance. It is customary to laugh at sentiment : to
ridicule and deride it. Yet sentiment is as much an element
of our nature as reason, and has its share in the formation of
our religious character. It is sometimes even so strong as
to overbalance its legitimate rulers, common sense and
prudence. This of course is sadly to be regretted. Yet it
does not invalidate the truth that sentiment is worthy of a
certain respect, and when not carried to excess, should be
allowed its due weight. That it must not be alloAved to
outweigh reason, goes without saying and proves nothing
neither must an ounce outweigh a pound, but an ounce for
all that has a certain value, and may sometimes turn the
scale. So it is with sentiment.
To burn the body in an hour is undoubtedly a more
expeditious plan, and may also be a more scientific, and a
safer one, than to allow it to rot gradually under ground.
There may be many considerations to recommend it, but
nevertheless it wounds our sensibilities. We feel ourselves
io be offending against the natural expression of the vener-
ation due to a deceased friend. This may be deemed a foolish
feeling, but we are conscious that a continuous disregard of
the expression of our veneration will tend very rapidly to
destroy the veneration itself. We have endeavoured to
analyse the causes of this feeling. It appears to us that it
may be accounted for on the grounds that wo associate a
-certain want of respect first, with any display of impatience
to hasten dissolution ; secondly, with any active and positive
co-operation of our own in producing the rapid incineration
here referred to.
The building of the furnace and the kindling of the
flames suggest a very different frame of mind to that
which would be associated with the simple lowering of the
body into the grave and the leaving it there for the earth to
complete the sad work of destruction, without any aid from
208 Cremation.
us, and without our offering any active co-operation. Again
it may be urged, this too is all sentiment. True. But as
we have already remarked, sentiment has an important office
in the economy of nature. It is often the custodian of
important truths, and certainly one of their most powerful
indices. Our feelings are in a large sense dependent upon
our belief, and our belief itself is not wholly uninfluenced
by our feelings. Thus, to give a single instance, a belief in
our own weakness and dependence on God is helped by
placing ourselves in a position to realize it. Though humility
in prayer is really compatible with any position, still, who
does not find it easier to excite emotions of self abasement
when prostrate in the dust than when seated in an arm-chair,.
or astride a high-stepping and gaily caparisoned palfrey?
Neither position has in se anything to do with the possession
of the virtue, yet per accidens it influences our mind. In the
same way the loving tenderness towards even the lifeless
body of a man helps to affect ourselves and others
with a strong sense of its future destiny and ultimate
resurrection.
To those who urge the advantages of cremation and its
many useful consequences, we reply, We are not utilitarians.
Were the advantages very great they might outweigh our
reluctance. We may quite conceive circumstances such
circumstances may even exist in the vast metropolis at this
present moment in which the utility of such a rapid and
economic method might force us to waive the objections of
sentiment, if not of religion, and hence induce us to seek a
dispensation from the decree of the Congregation of the
Inquisition, but the practice would assuredly not be
permitted universally, nor ever become generally adopted by
the Church. We repeat, We are not utilitarians. We do not
wish to be ruled and directed in every detail of life by mere
tangible gains and by advantages which may be tabulated
and classified. Our hearts and sentiments demand a little
breathing room too and freedom for exercise. The over
urging of utilitarian principles is becoming just a trifle
oppressive.
Besides, if everything is to be determined by rules of
Cremation. 20D
utility, and if that is to be the summum bonum and the
criterion of all ways and means, why stop at cremation ?
To hand the urn of cremated ashes to the disconsolate
widow or weeping orphan is not the most profitable way of
disposing of them. Indeed that too is sentimentality as far
as it goes. Why not strew them over the turnip field, or
enrich the crop of new year's grass by adding to the soil
this valuable chemical compound? Nay, let us go yet
further. Why, indeed, burn the body at all ? Why not
rather turn the bones iato pipe-stems and iieedlecases, and
tan the skin for winter cloaks or summer shoes ; throwing
only the refuse into the fire ?
Why not indeed? The answer is obvious. It is not
because we deny the greater usefulness of such a procedure,
since its usefulness or non-usefulness does not enter for one
moment into our calculations. It is wholly because we
regard such a suggestion as an outrage on our feelings, and
we resent the outrage. It is because it is an insult to our
best and tenderest impulses, and we repel the insult with
horror, pain, and indignation. We are naturally impatient
at a proposal which deprives us of the natural expression and
the outward signs of reverence. We would be almost
inclined to doubt the sincerity even of our own declarations
did we permit all external indications of them to be crushed
out by motives of mere expediency. Perhaps the unpleasant
suggestions we are venturing to make may be deemed
offensive to good taste. Our excuse must be that it is only
by pressing out a theory to its extreme consequences that we
can fully realise its weakness and inconclusiveness. That
very sentiment which causes us to repel the proposal of
manufacturing the bones of our relatives into buttons and
their fibres into fiddle strings, is the same at bottom as that
which induces us to oppose cremation ; it is the same in
kind but difiers in degree. The opposition in the former
case is vastly greater, but in both cases it is reducible to a
matter of mere sentiment, and a sentiment which may easily
be defended and which ought to be encouraged.
Then, as if to give weight to our preference, we have the
constant and universal Christian tradition. In all ages the
VOL. IX. O
210 Cremation.
burying of the dead has been associated with a belief in the
resurrection. The Old Testament contains abundant evidence
of this, as regards the chosen people of God. 1 To one who
would learn the practice of other nations let us say, " Con-
sulat probates auctores," since an historical digression would
be too lengthy and tiresome. Cremation has never been so
generally practised as ordinary earth burial, and those who
made use of it were not men who looked forward to a day
when the graves should give up their dead, and sinews and
bones should knit themselves together and stand up a great
army. The mesquite, pine, and cedar pyres were for the
Pah-Utes, and the suttees for the Hindoos ; but the earth
received the Christian confessor and the virgin saint. In
imitation of their Lord, they were laid in the tomb with the
fresh earth around them and the stone-slab above, or the
simple green grass. The bodies of the just are sown in the
furrow as the seed is sown in season, not to perish utterly,
but to await like it a glorious transformation, according to
the beautiful analogy of St. Paul. And whatever practice
can most readily suggest and keep alive that consoling truth
in our minds is best worth preserving.
Hence we conclude that if the unparalleled multiplication
of human beings and their unexampled concentration in par-
ticular spots of the earth should give rise to practical
difficulties and dangers, which seem to necessitate a speedier
and more effectual disposal of the dead, the Church will no
doubt consider the difficulty. Especial cases must be met by
especial methods. It is enough to insist upon the general
principle. The objections to cremation are not such,
we believe, that no consideration of expediency or prudence
could ever alter them. Our only contention is, that sentiments,
especially sentiments so sound and so well founded as those of
which we are now treating, are deserving of some consideration
and respect, both for their own sake and for the sake of what
1 It may be interesting to note that the Jewish community at Livomo,
one of the most important in Italy, applied, to the General Consistory of
the Rabbins at Turin, to know if it were now lawful for the Jews to burn
their deceased members. The Consistory replied that not only is it
contrary to the law of God to burn the bodies of the dead, but that it is
unlawful for the Jews even to take part in any such ceremony.
Mayo of the Saxons. 211
underlies them. To give them more than their due weight,
to submit to their ruling at all times and under all circum-
stances would be worse than wholly 'to ignore them. Mere
utilitarianism we hate, but mere sentimentalism we hate yet
more cordially. If one or the other must be our master then,
defend us, at all events, from mere vapid sentimentality.
The Church, whose word is our best reliance, it seems,
rests her objection on neither of these grounds. Her opposition
is due to the fact that cremation has always been regarded
as a tacit negation of all belief in a future life, and, therefore,
she very wisely and rightly condemns its use altogether
-among Christians, whose entire hope is beyond the grave.
JOHN S. VAUGHAN.
MAYO OF THE SAXONS.
IF the history of a country be written in its ruins, there is
no part of Ireland which possesses a more interesting or a
more voluminous record than the County Mayo. Interspersed
with its charming scenery, which for variety and pictu-
resqueness is unsurpassed in the world, one meets on every
side, some venerable monument of the past, silent and weather-
worn, still eloquently reminding us that
" The sorrows, the joys, of which once, they were part,
Still, round them, like visions of yesterday, throng."
The most attractive, perhaps, of these ivy-crowned relics
of antiquity are the ruins of the once famous " Mayo of the
-Saxons."
About midway between the towns of Castlebar and Clare-
morris, in the heart of a rich, undulating plain, the traveller
comes upon a few mouldering walls, reigning in melancholy
grandeur over a hecatomb of broken columns, pilasters and
bases, scattered around in fanciful confusion. The mere
superficial observer passes them by with indifference. For
him they have no interest. They are a sealed volume, a
sign by the wayside which he cannot read. But for the
212 Mayo of the Saxons.
archaeologist, and the student of history, they possess a world
of fascination. Every stone is a glowing page in the Golden
Era of the annals of Ireland.
Unlike many of the ancient Irish edifices of which un-
fortunately it must be said " perierunt etiam ruinae," the
story of the foundation and development of Mayo of the,
Saxons -thanks to Venerable Bede, the Father of English
History is ample and well authenticated.
Let us go back twelve centuries. On a summer's morning
in the year 668, a solitary traveller might have been seen
wending his way towards the tract of country, even then
known as Mayh-eo, or the plain of the Oaks. Eobedin along,
white woollen garment, wearing on his head a heavy cowl of
the same colour and material, and on his feet sandals, his
appearance might well have attracted more than an average
share of passing notice. Arrived at the eminence overlooking
the spot where the ruins now stand, he paused, as if uncon-
sciously, and his fine face, marked with lines of habitual
austerity, lighted up with a beam of pleasure, as he gazed at
the beauty of the landscape before him. It was truly an
enchanting picture. Mountains, plains, lakes and waving
forest trees combined and harmonized in charming propor-
tions. In the foreground the eye rested on groves of
gp.arled oaks, from whose rich foliage glimpses of surpassing
loveliness broke upon the view. Croagh Patrick's pyramids
shaped and clear-defined, smiled serenely on the placid
waters which glistened like silver in the sun ; while nearer
still, gloomy Nephin, surrounded by a cluster of cone-shaped
hills, and capped with perennial clouds, frowned like an
angry giant on the radiant cheerfulness of the valley below.
The stranger gazed long and wistfully on this smiling
scene, then with a muttered prayer, resumed his journey.
Who is the cowled and sandalled pilgrim ? He is a man
whose name is a household word, not alone in his native land,
but among the fastnesses of Northern Britain and Caledonia.
He is Colman of Mayo, Bishop of Lindisfarne, and Apostle^
of Northumbria.
Like a hundred other saints of the Irish calendar, the
materials for Saint Colman's life are provokingly meagre.
'Mayo of the Saxons. 213
The Venerable Bede, to whom we are indebted for nearly
everything we know of him, leaves us altogether in the dark
'concerning the events of his early life. Prefacing his
narrative by simply stating that Colman was a native of
Ireland, he continues to say that like his predecessors Aidan
and Finan, he was sent from lona to govern the North-
umbrian Church. It is evident, however, from other authentic
sources, that the County Mayo, the mother of many illustrious
'sons in the present as well as in the past, may justly claim
the honour of having given him birth. Of the date of that
event we have unfortunately no record. The best authorities
assure us that it probably occurred about the end of the
sixth century.
Born at a time when the country was still fragrant with
the odour of Saint Patrick's wonderful sanctity, and sur-
rounded from his infancy by scenes and associations con-
secrated by the visible presence of the Great Apostle, the
youthful Colman manifested at an early age his inclination
for the ecclesiastical state. When still a mere youth he
adopted the monastic vocation. Attracted by the fame of
Saint Columba, who was then at the zenith of his popularity,
and whose name he bore in a modified form a name symbol-
ical of the gentleness and purity of the Christian life, he
left his native Mayo, and entered the great monastery of
lona. So studiously did he conceal himself from the eyes of
the world, in the depths of that island sanctuary, that during
a, period which must have extended over sixty years, only one
glimpse of him, and that as if by accident, is afforded us.
Adamnan, the biographer of Saint Columba, raises for a
"moment the veil which shrouds our saint's life, and reveals
him to us in the solitude of his ocean wilderness. What does
that glimpse present to us ? No doubt we shall find the
future founder of 4i Mayo of the Saxons " absorbed in contem-
plation, transcribing and embellishing manuscripts, or engaged
in some other occupation which our fancy would deem in
keeping with the splendour which surrounds his name. But
no ! Our conjectures would have been at fault. In that
momentary vista, he appears to us working in the fields as a
common agricultural labourer. But let no one be surprised.
214 Mayo of the Saxons.
These old monks knew instinctively, what some so called
modern philosophers claim as a sapient discovery, the
dignity and sanctity of manual labour. Ennobled and con-
secrated by prayer, it was by this powerful engine that they
became the pioneers of civilization, that they conquered
themselves and conquered the world.
A short time before his death Saint Columba, looking out
from his cell, rested his eyes on some of his youthful disciples
working in the fields. He affectionately blessed and en-
couraged them. One of these, named Colman, is not im-
probably identified with Saint Colman of Mayo. Then the
curtain falls once more, and for over half a century the events
of our saint's life are found nowhere recorded except in the
annals of God. Like a ray in the sunbeam, or a drop in the
ocean, his actions become absorbed in the history of lona.
And in what a brilliant halo of glory have not Saint Colman
and his compatriots clothed that cold and inhospitable
island ?
Dr. Johnson has described it in immortal words as the
"luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and
roving barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the
blessings of religion." He might have also added that the
greater portion of England is indebted for its civilisation and
Christianity to the Irish monks of lona, and that his fellow-
countrymen, with fearful truculence, have repaid the debt
by seven centuries of brutal persecution.
One of the most charming features in the history of our
country during the era of its greatness was its cordial and
generous hospitality towards strangers. The natural bene-
volence of the Celtic character, purified by religion, mani-
fested itself by the most courteous attention to natives of
other lands who flocked to the shores of Erin to drink deep
draughts of knowledge and piety from the fountains which
flowed in perennial streams from its schools. Invariably
received with open arms, visitors from other countries were
maintained, supplied with books and educated free of
charge.
Among the crowds who came to loua in the year 617 were
two youths who were destined to change the history of their
Mayo of the Saxons. 215
nation, and link themselves inseparably with the missionary
labours of St. Colman and his predecessors in Northumbria.
They were named Oswald and Oswy, sons of Ethelfrid the
Kavager, and of the sister of the saintly King Edwin.
About seventy years before, their great grandfather Ida
and his tribe of Angles, encouraged by the good fortune of
their kinsmen, the Jutes and Saxons, left their homes among
the sandhills of Schleswig, crossed over the German Ocean
with their wives, children, and household gods, landed in
the fertile district since known as Northumbria, drove out
the native inhabitants by fire and sword, and settled down
permanently in the conquered territory. The interval
between their landing and the date of our sketch presents
anything but an entertaining picture. It is stained all
over with blood. After a turbulent reign of twelve years
Ida was killed fighting against the Britons, who resisted him
to the last. Of his twelve sons, only six survived him, and
their history is a blank. The last of these, having died in the
year 594, an inheritor of his grandfather's ferocity, and an
avenger of his death rose up in the person of Ethelfrid. He
was able, ambitious, and unscrupulous. Disregarding the
ties of kindred he banished his brother-in-law, Edwin, and
united the two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira. After a
reign of twenty-four years his own turn came. In. the year
617 he was killed on the borders of Mercia, fighting against
Redwald, king of the East Angles. Edwin became ruler of
the two kingdoms, and the sons of Ethelfrid went into exile.
Eanfrid, the eldest, took refuge with the Picts, while Oswald
and Oswy fled to the court of the King of Dalradia. By
him the young princes were sent to loria to be instructed in
the Christian faith. So well had they profited by the lessons
received in that great sanctuary, that when after an exile of
seventeen years they appear upon the stage of history they
show themselves possessed of Christian virtues and princely
qualities of the highest order. lona had been to them a
cradle of faith and an apprenticeship to royalty.
The throne of Northumbria having become vacant once
more by the death of Edwin, who was killed fighting against
the Britons, Oswald resolved to leave his retirement, re-
Mayo of the Saxons.
conquer bis country, and regain the inheritance of his fathers.
With vastly inferior forces he encountered and defeated his
enemies on the field of Denisesburn, the formidable Cadwallon,
the last champion of the Britons, being among the slain.
Oswald made good use of his victory. The scion and
representative of the Saxon invaders, he was like a lily
blooming among thorns. Naturally upright, generous and
chivalrous, his character had been ennobled by the influence
of the Christian teaching received at Ion a. Unlike his elder
brother, Eanfrid, who renounced his faith on the appearance
of the first obstacle. Oswald never forgot the lessons he had
learned from Saint Colman and his brethren. During his
brief reign of eight years he presents to us the perfect ideal
of a Christian prince. Pious and brave, gentle and strong,
firm and humble, he was, in mind and heart, a veritable king
of men.
Having united the two kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira
into one compact nation, and extended his sway beyond the
aspirations of his ancestors, he directed all the energies of his
active mind to a conquest of a higher and different order. It
grieved his heart to rule over subjects who, with few ex-
ceptions, were buried in the darkness of paganism. The fair
hills of his native Northumbria were crowned with idols of
the blood-thirsty Woden, and the forests resounded with
shouts of bacchanal revelry mingled with the groans of human
victims and the yells of sacrificing priests to appease the
wrath of the offended deity. The Anglo-Saxons bowed in
abject slavery under the galling yoke of idolatry.
Animated by the zeal of a true Christian, Oswald resolved
to ransom, his subjects from this degrading bondage, and win
them over to the sweet service of Christ. But how could he
accomplish a task of such difficulty ? Who would be his
allies ? Where should he find soldiers to carry on this new
warfare ? His mind turned instinctively to the foam-washed
island, where during the seventeen years of his exile he had
watched the white-robed monks warriors of Christ go forth
fearlessly to carry the standard of the Cross into the wilds of
Caledonia. Without further delay he despatched messengers
some say he went himself to the Abbot of lona urgently
Mayo of the Saxons. 217
requesting him to undertake the conversion of the Anglo-
Saxons. The royal invitation was cordially accepted. A
monk named Corman, whose austere sanctity of life seemed
to fit him for the work, was consecrated bishop, and accom-
panied by a train of devoted priests he set out for Northumbria.
Like that of Palladius to the Irish, his mission was a failure.
In a short time he returned to lona, declaring the Anglo-
Saxons to be a race of irreclaimable savages, whose conver-
sion was almost impossible. Undismayed by this unfavourable
turn of events, Seghine and his community held council to
arrange their future plan of action. Their deliberations were
pregnant with great results. Aidan, since known as the first
Apostle of Northumbria, and who seemed to be selected by
the finger of God, was commissioned to make a new and
more vigorous assault on the citadel of Anglo-Saxon idolatry.
The success which crowned his efforts constitutes one of
the brightest chapters in English history. His episcopate
lasted for sixteen years. The death of his royal friend,
Oswald, in the battle of Maserfield in 642, and the murder of
Oswyn, who rivalled the former by the purity of his life and
the nobility of his character, were crushing blows to the
great bishop. But he had ample consolation for all his
SOITOAVS in the marvellous fruitfulness with which God blessed
his labours. Like a diligent husbandman he had scattered
the Gospel seed broadcast not alone from end to end of
Northumbria, but throughout the extensive kingdom of
East Anglia, and a golden harvest was every whe;re springing
up. Having accomplished his work, he went to receive the
reward of the good and faithful servant in the year 651, and
was succeeded by St. Finan, another Irishman, and a monk
of lona. During the ten years of this holy bishop's rule, he
extended and consolidated the work of his predecessor, and
died in the odour of sanctity in the year 661.
St. Colman of Mayo then appears prominently for the first
time on the stage of history. He had already grown old in
his Master's service, but the events of his life, shrouded
by the lowly veil of monastic self-abnegation, are only
known to Him from whose hands alone he looked for his
reward. It [is not unreasonably supposed, however, that
218 Mayo of the Saxons.
he was one of the missionary priests who accompanied and
co-operated with the two first bishops of Lindisf arne. That
he was admirably fitted to continue the work of his predeces-
sors appears evident from the encomiums lavished upon him
by the Venerable Bede. He calls him a pontiff penetrated
by the same apostolic spirit which animated his predecessors.
The testimony of the venerable historian is all the more ap-
preciable, as he makes no secret of a singular dislike for the
Celtic race. His estimate of the great St. Columba is not
altogether flattering, and the painstaking minuteness with
which he dwells on the so-called eccentricities of the
abbot's spiritual children in Northumbria contrasts strangely
with his usual impartiality. His Anglo-Saxon prejudices
have not allowed him, however, to bias his sense of justice.
Possessing all the qualities of a great historian the portraits
he has left us of the three first bishops of Lindisfarne repre-
sent them to us as endowed with all the great virtues of the
First Apostles.
Tbe incidents of our saint's life, interesting in themselves,
are rendered more so by the undoubted fact that in his
history is epitomized the antagonism between the two races,
the countless benefits conferred by the one and the ingrati-
tude with which it was repaid by the other. This remark-
able feature gives colour to his whole public career, and
exercised an overwhelming influence on his life.
His entire episcopate was embittered by a controversy,
which had disturbed his predecessor's closing years, and was
destined ultimately to sever the bonds which during thirty
laborious years had bound lona to Northumbria. This was the
famous Easter difficulty. It was not a question of recent
growth. Almost as old as the Christian religion itself, it had
been a perennial source of strife to churchmen, and of
scandal to the faithful.
Into this oft-told dispute we need not go. Suffice it to
say that the isolated position of the Christians of that part
of the world now known as the British Isles, prevented
them for some time from becoming acquainted with an
important correction introduced into the Roman computation.
Even when made known to them, many showed a decided uu-
J3ossuet and Claude. 1
willingness to relinquish the old system. Among the Britons
the new ritual was looked upon with downright aversion. It
was an innovation, which right or wrong, came to them from
the hands of those who befriended the detested Saxons, with
whom they would have no communion here or hereafter.
The correct computation met with better success in the Irish
Church. After the Council of Leighlin, the new system was
adopted in the southern and midland counties.' Following
the example of lona, the North still held out. Strange to say
the children of Saint Columba adhered to their ancient
traditions, with obstinate fidelity, and one of the monks
nurtured within the bosom of that famous sanctuary has
transmitted his name to posterity as its special champion.
Rather than relinquish the style of computation transmitted
to him by Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, he resigned his
position as pontiff of a vast and influential diocese, and
retired into solitude.
This was Saint Colman whom in our next paper we shall
follow, step by step from the heights of Whitby to the plains-
of his native Mayo.
WILLIAM GAXLY, c.c.
(70 be continued.)
BOSSUET AND CLAUDE CONCLUSION.
80 far in our account of the memorable conference between
these two distinguished personages we have seen how
Bossuet showed that the reformers, whilst they denied in
their doctrinal teaching the infallibility of the Church, were
forced, nevertheless, to act as if the authority they exercised
over their co-religionists was to the last degree infallible,
as they enforced it with the utmost rigour ; and we arrived
at the stage, where he was to require of Claude the avowal of
the two following propositions :
1st, That, whereas the reformers acted as if holding the
authority of the Church to be infallible, it was, nevertheless,
41 fundamental principle of their teaching, that every
220 Bossuet and Claude.
individual, man or woman, however ignorant, was bound to
believe that he or she could understand the Sa.cred Scriptures
better than all the councils of the Church, and the entire
Church herself besides.
2nd. That there was a point, at which, as a consequence
of their teaching, every Christian was bound to doubt if
the Scriptures be inspired by God, if the Gospel be true or
false, and if Jesus Christ be a teacher of truth or a public
impostor.
Approaching the first of these propositions he accosted
Claude, and said, " Sir, if I rightly understand your doctrine,
you believe that an individual is free to doubt the judgment
of the Church speaking even in the last resort."
" By no means, " replied the other, " for there is no room
for doubt when there is every likelihood that the Church
will judge rightly ; and more than that, knowing the promise
of Jesus Christ, that they who seek shall find, it may be w^ell
presumed, that when people search well after the truth, they
will decide well, and this assurance puts us beyond all doubt.
But, when we see in councils such things as cabals and
party strifes, we have every reason to doubt if in such
assemblies there be not a mixture of what is merely Imman
which well warrants our doubting."
Bossuet with high disdain replied : "Please, sir, lay aside
these imputations, which have nothing to do with the
question at issue, and can serve only to throw dust in our
eyes, and let me ask you, if supposing we were quite certain
there were no cabals or party strifes, or anything of the sort,
but that everything went on in the most orderly manner,
should the decisions arrived at be accepted without examina-
tion? According to your doctrine you should say, by no
means ; whence 1, at once, conclude, that what you allege
about cabals and party strifes is mere sham, and it comes to
this, and we are arrived at the monstrous, the astounding con-
clusion, that an individual, man or woman, however ignorant,
not only may, but is bound to, believe that it is his or her
privilege to understand the AVord of God better than an
entire council collected, though it might be, from the four
quarters of the world, and the whole Church besides, and
Bossuet and Claude. 221
composed, though it might be, of men the most holy and
enlightened, that could be found under heaven ; nay, the
individual could come before the council, and ask the
question if he or she were bound to accept the decisions of
the council without examination, and the council according
to the Calvinistic teaching would be bound to say " no," and
to add, if further interrogated, that the individual in question
had a distinct right, and not only a right, but a conscientious
obligation, to'dissent from, and absolutely reject, the decisions
of the council, if he or she thought differently."
Claude appeared not in the slightest disconcerted by
the inference, crushing though it should appear, but coolly
replied, that the case had already happened in the condem-
nation of Jesus Christ by the Jewish Synagogue, an example,
which stood before the whole world, and would be
remembered to the end of time as an instruction to mankind,,
that authority may be wrong, and individual conviction
right. " For here," said he, " we have, on one side, the
Synagogue, the great oracle of the Jewish church, rejecting
the mission of Jesus Christ, and. on the other, the judgment
you, or I, or any individual would form on the occasion. We
would say, beyond all doubt, the Synagogue was wrong, and
generalizing the example we would be bound to conclude in
favour of the individual in conscientious conflict with author-
itative teaching."
The example made a deep impression on the Calvinists
present, and the inference presented by their great champion
seemed inexorable. They looked at each other with evident
satisfaction, as if intimating, " here is an insurmountable
poser for the Bishop." Bossuet noticing the impression was
for the moment somewhat embarrassed, not, as he says him-
self, from any difficulty in his own mind as to the solution,
but for fear that he might not find language sufficiently
intelligible for the audience so as to remove the impression
made so manifestly upon them by the objection. He, there-
fore, hesitated a little, and offered up, as he states, a silent
prayer, begging of God to aid him as to "how and what to
speak " in reply, after which he proceeded as follows : " it is
a strange thing, indeed, to compare the Synagogue hastening
222 Bossuet and Claude.
to its fall, when its reprobation was so clearly pointed out
by the prophets, with the Church of God, which was never
to fail. You say, sir, that the argument I use could have
warranted the error of individuals, who relying on the
authority of the Synagogue condemned Jesus Christ, whilst,
on the contrary, the same argument would have held up as
guilty of presumption, those who believed in Jesus Christ
according to their own individual convictions rather than
the Synagogue. Well then let us see if my argument
warrant such a conclusion. It consists in stating, that in
denying the authority of the Church no external means is left
by God for dissipating the doubts of the ignorant, and inspir-
ing the faithful with the humility so necessary for them ; and
to be warranted in using the argument you make as to the
time the Synagogue condemned Jesus Christ, there should
have been just then no external means, no certain authority,
to w^hich submission was necessarily due. But, sir, how can
this be said, since Jesus Christ Himself was then on earth,
the very truth, who showed Himself visibly and publicly
amongst mankind, the eternal Son of God, to whom a voice
from on High gave solemn testimony, saying : " r lhis is my
beloved Sou in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him" (Matt.
xvii. 5.) who in confirmation of His mission raised the dead
to life, gave sight to the blind, and performed so many
miracles, that the Jews themselves confessed that never had
^iny man wrought such wonders ? There was, therefore, an
external means, or visible authority at the time. The authority
was indeed disputed; but it was, nevertheless, infallible. In
the same way the authority of the Church is contested, as
you yourself contest it, whilst I maintain it should not be
contested by Christians. I insist that it is infallible, and I
further insist that there never has been a time here on earth
without a visible and speaking authority requiring obedience
and submission. Before Jesus Christ there was the Synagogue.
.At the moment it was to fail, Jesus Christ Himself appeared,
.and when Jesus Christ withdrew, He left His Church after
Him, to which He sent the Holy Ghost. If you make Jesus
'Christ come back, I have no further need of the Church; but
in the same way, if you take away the Church, I forthwith
Bossuet and Claude. 223
require Jesus Christ in person teaching, preaching, deciding
by miracles, and with an infallible authority. But, you say,
you have His Word. Yes, undoubtedly we have a Word, holy
and adorable, but a Word, nevertheless, leaving itself to be
explained, and treated, as every one pleases, making no
objection from itself to those, who explain it badly. I main-
tain, it is, therefore, necessary to have some external means
for solving all doubts, and that this means be certain and
indubitable ; and without going over again the reasons
already advanced, since at present there is question only of
answering your objection as to the error of the Synagogue in
condemning Jesus Christ, I affirm, that so i;ir from your
being able to say there was no sure external means, at the
time, or a speaking authority, to which it was a matter of
necessary obligation to submit one's judgment, there was an
authority, the highest and the most infallible, that ever
existed, which was Jesus Christ Himself, and thus there
never was a time, when there was less occasion for pressing
my argument against Protestants to the effect, that they
needed an external, infallible means for deciding questions
respecting the Holy Scriptures."
After having replied to several other difficulties presented
by Claude, and which are familiar to the theological student,
who has read any of our ordinary treatises on the Church,
Bossuet returned triumphantly on his proposition as irrefrag-
ably demonstrated, that whilst the reformers acted as if
holding the authority of their Church to be infallible, it was
nevertheless, a fundamental principle of their teaching, that
every individual, man or woman, however ignorant, was
bound to believe, that he or she could understand the Sacred
Scriptures better than all the councils of the Church, and the
whole Church herself besides.
The second proposition he undertook to prove was, as has
been mentioned, that there was a point, at which, as a
consequence of their teaching, every Christian was bound to
doubt if the Scriptures be inspired by God, if the Gospel be
true or false, and if Jesus Christ be a teacher of truth, or a
public impostor.
This proposition was, indeed, the great pinch of the
224 Bossuet and Claude.
conference, and Bossuet broached it by asking his opponent,
if one of the members of his communion on having the
Scriptures put into his hands was bound first to doubt, and
then examine for himself, if they were, or were not, inspired
by God, for, observed Bossuet, if he doubted, and examined
for himself, he by the fact renounced his faith, and commenced
the reading of the sacred volume by an act of infidelity, but if,
on the contrary, he doubted not, he thereby accepted it on
the authority of the Church, as she presented it to him, dis-
pensing w T ith all examination on his own part.
Claude replied by saying : *' The member of the faithful,
whom you suppose not to have yet read the Sacred Scriptures,
and into whose hands they are put for the first time, does
not, properly speaking, doubt ; he is simply ignorant, not
knowing what the Scriptures are, which he is told are inspired
by God. He heard from his father, or from those, by whom
he was instructed, that they were divinely inspired. For the
present he knows no other authority, and as to what the
Scriptures really are he does not of himself actually know,
ami, therefore, he cannot be called an infidel, or an unbeliever ;
and aow I must beg of you, sir, to make to yourself the
same argument in reference to the Church, that you make to
me with respect to the Scriptures. For, the member of the
faithful, to whom the authority of the church is proposed to
be believed, either believes in that authority without examin-
ing the subject, or he doubts it. If he doubt it, he is an
infidel by the fact, but, on the contrary if he doubt it not, by
what other authority is he to be assured ? Is the authority
of the Church a thing self-evident ? Is it not necessary to
find it out by some sort of examination ? Here is your own
difficulty recoiling on yourself, and you have to clear it up
just as much as I have. Either then let us both eschew it,
or let us solve it conjointly, and, as far as I am concerned, I
promise to reply to you in reference to the Scriptures what
you will reply to me in reference to the Church."
" I quite understand you," answered Bossuet, " but before
explaining to you how a Christian comes to believe in the
Church, it is necessary to recognize the fact, of which there is
question. Being a Christian he has been baptized, and in
J3ossuet and Claude. 225
virtue of his baptism the Divine virtue of faith is imparted
to him, so that he is in a state thereby to make an act
of faith, when an article of faith is duly proposed to
him, and consequently to say explicitly, as the Scriptures
are presented to him, recognized as they are to be the
inspired Word of God by the entire Church : ' I believe
the Scriptures, as presented to me, to be the Word of
God, as I believe God Himself exists.' But you acknow-
ledge that a Christian, who has not read the Scriptures,
or heard them read, is not in a state to make this act
of faith. This, sir, is a dreadful position, that a member of
the faithful cannot make so essential an act of faith. This is
not the case with us, for the member of the faithful receiving
with us the Scriptures from the hands of the Church makes
with the Church this act of faith, ' as I believe God exists, so
do I believe these Scriptures to be the Word of Him, in Whom
I believe,' and I maintain he cannot make this act of faith
unless by the faith he already has in the authority of the
Church, which presents the Scriptures to him. There are
two things to be taken account of just here. One is, who it
is that inspires the act of faith, by which we believe the
Sacred Scriptures to be the Word of God, and you and I
are agreed that it is the Holy Ghost. The other thing is, what
external means does the Holy Ghost employ to make us
believe in the Sacred Scriptures, and I maintain it is the
Church. To establish this we have only to look to the
Apostles' Creed, which is the first instruction the faithful
receive. The baptized Christian has not yet read the Sacred
Scriptures, and, notwithstanding, he already believes in God,
and in Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, and the Catholic
Church. So far he is told nothing about the Scriptures, but
it is proposed to him to believe in the Catholic Church, and
this immediately, as it is proposed to him to believe in the
Holy Ghost, so that these two articles, the Holy Ghost and
the Church enter into his mind at the same time, because
believing in the Holy Ghost he must necessarily believe in
the Church,' which the Holy Ghost guides and governs. 1,
therefore, maintain, that the first act of faith the Holy Ghost
inspires baptized Christians to make is to believe in the
VOL. IX. P
226 Bossuet and Claude.
Catholic Church together with the Feather and the Son and
the Holy Ghost, and I affirm that here we find the external
means whereby the Holy Ghost imparts to the minds of
baptized Christians the faith of the Sacred Scriptures. If
this means be not sure and certain, faith in the Scriptures
must consequently be insecure and doubtful, and it is because
the Catholic has always found this means to be certain, there
has not been a single moment, in which he was unable to
say, 4 as I believe God exists, so likewise do I believe He has
spoken to mankind, and the Scriptures are His Word,' and the
reason he can make this act of faith is because he has never
doubted in the authority of the Church, as it was also the
first thing the Holy Ghost put into his mind together with
faith in God and in Jesus Christ. As to your question, how
does he believe in the Church, I must observe that question
does not present itself here. It is enough for our present
argument to see that he does constantly believe in her,
because it is the first thing the Holy Ghost puts into his
mind, and she is the external means the Holy Ghost employs
to make him believe in the Scriptures, of which he has never
doubted for the reason th 
