IRISH Ecclesiastical Record. 1898
4th series. Jan. -June. v. 3 *
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
I
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
& ilontfjfo Journal, untJcr Episcopal Sanction
VOLUME III.
JANUARY TO JUNE, 1898
jFourtfj Scries
DUBLIN
BROWNE & NOLAN, LIMITED, NASSAU-STREET
1898
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Nihil Obstat.
GlKALDUS MOLLOY, S.T.D.,
CENSOR DEP.
Jtnprimatur.
* GULIELMUS,
Arehiep. Diillin., Hiberniae
BKDWXE & NOLA?:, LTD., XA.SSAU-STKEET, DUBLIN.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Aileach of the Kings : A Brief Sketch of the History and Traditions
of the Ancient Northern Residence of the Irish Kings. By Most
Rev. Dr. O'Doherty - - ?,S">
Archbishop Troy. By Rev. N. Murphy, p.p. - - , 232
Cardinal Wiseman, The Policy of. By Rev. "William Barry, D.D. •• 117
Continuity Theory, The. By Right Rev. Mgr. John S. Vaughan 18
Convention of Drum Ceat, The. By Most Rev. Dr, O'Doherty - 289
Correspondence :—
The Ancient Irish Church - . 74, 174,264
The Priest in Nationality - - 549
Dante's First Defender. By Edmund G. Gardner, MA. - 156
^Documents :—
Accumulating Impediments, Faculties for - - 464
Archconfraternity of Our Lady o£ Compassion - , - 179
Banners to be carried in Procession - 365
Baptism, Form of, up to fourteen years of age - - - 471
Books prohibited by the Ordinary - - 468
Books, The Decree of the Index on the Prohibition and Censure of 564
Burial, The, of Amputated Members - - - 567
Ceremonies of Low Mass - - 369
Churches and Church Practices in England, Decision of Congre-
gation of Rites - 371
Commentarius de Judicio Sacrimentali - 287
Condiments on Fast Days - - 375
Confraternities at Procession of Blessed Sacrament - - 366
Conversion of England - 179
Decree regarding Pious Unions and Societies - 662
' Decreta Authentica ' of the Congregation of Rites - 376
Dispensations in Ago, Extent of Bishops' powers - - 365
Encyclical of His Holiness Leo XIII. to Canadian Bishops - 272
Error in ' Supplex Libellus ' - 564
Excommunications by Roman Congregations - 365
Extraordinary Confessors of Nuns 27H
Faculties for Accumulating Impediments .... 464
Faculties granted to American Bishops - - 557
Fasting during Advent, Dispensation in the law of 559
Faculties, Succession of 465
Form of Baptism up to fourteen years of age . - 471
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DOCUMENTS — continued.
Glass. Decision regarding the use of, in the ' Crescent Lunette ' 555
Indulgences for St. Anthony of Padua - 463
Indulgence of a Privileged Altar - 563
Italian Priests in America 559
Leo XIII. to God and the Virgin Mother - 88
Litanies of the Holy Family 373
Litanies, Special - 374
Manitoba Schools' Encyclical 272
Marriages of Freethinkers. Sectaries, and Catholics who refuse to
fulfil their Christian Duties - - 565
Method of Filling a Vacant Bishopric in Ireland 4*2
' Oratio Irnperata ' in another Diocese - 376
Ordinatiou, The Form of, corrupted by Inadvertence .">57
Ordination, Certain Defects in 367, 471
Paschal Baylon, St., Patron of Eucharistic Congresses - 469
' Per Modum Potus,' What is meant by, in dispensations in the law
of Fasting 5(i8
Relics of the Sacred Passion - - 561
Requiem Masses, The Privilege of Singing, twice a week - - ").">•">
' Sanatio in radice,' A Case of - 466
Solution of Doubts regarding Extraordinary Confessors of nuns - 278
Some of the Fruits of Fifty Years : Annals of Catholic Church in
Victoria 285
Succession of Faculties 465
Water and Cement, The Ble-sing of, for the Altar - 55(5
Ecclesiological Art in Ireland, The Decadence of. By Michael J. C.
Buckley, M.E.S.A.I. 317
Exiles, Irish, in Brittany. By Rev. A. Walsh, o.s A. 32:5
Glen of Altadavin. The. By Rev. T. Livius, C.SS.E. 316
Kilkenny and Bishop Rothe. By Rev. N. Murphy 536
Letters, Another Batch of. By Hev. Matthew Russell, s.J. 345
Modern Scientific Materialism. By Rev. E. Gaynor, C.M. 193
Monasteries, Irish, in Germany. By Rev. J. F. Hojran - r>>ti
'Muls' and 'Gils', The: Some Irish Surnames. By Rev. E.
O'Growney 4'? 3, 4'I2
•Rotes an& (Queries :—
LITURGY (By Rev. Daniel O'Loan, D.D.) :—
Candles, The quality of, to be used during Mass &c. 2fi2
Chasuble, Why did Gothic, fall into disuse - 260
Expo>ition of the Blessed Sacrament •"> 1 7
Mitre, Why was present large, substituted for small one of earlier
times ? - 260
Procession and Benediction, Questions regarding - 258
Scapulars, Questions on the - -257
Throne, May a Movable, be used for Exposition of M<.sf Holy
Sacrament ':
Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost
TABLE OF CONTENTS vii
NOTES AXD QUERIES — continued.
THEOLOGY (By Kev. Daniel Mannix, D.D.) : —
Absolution from a Reserved Sin and the Maynobth Synodal
Decrees - - 358
Condemned Secret Societies - 449
Communion of the Sick 70
Mass on board ship - 4.">0
Masses for the Dead - 171
Maynooth Synodal Decrees and Absolution from a Reserved Sin - 358
Matrimonial Dispensations, Cumulation of - - 451
November Offerings - 72
Nuptial Blessing : Can Catholics, validly married at a Registry
Office or in a Protestant Church, subsequently receive the
Nuptial Blessing r - 254
Protestant Witnesses at Marriage of Catholics - - . 254
Sick, Communion of - 70
•Notices of JSoofcs :—
America, Our Lady of, 476; Annals of the Church in Victoria,
285; Augustine, St., Life of, 93; Biblia Sacra juxta Vulgatae
Exemplaria et Correctoria Romana, 91 ; Blessed John of Avila,
Life of, 574 ; Breviarium Rornanum, 186, 473; Canonical
Procedure in Disciplinary and Criminal Cases of Clerics, 569 ;
Catholic Ceremonies and Explanation of the Ecclesiastical
Year, 381 ; Cantus Sacri, 382 ; Chants, Twelve Eucharistic,
383 ; Commentarius de Judicio Sacramentali, 287 ; Data of
Modern Ethics, 382 ; Eucharistic Christ, The, 280 : First
Christian Mission to the Great Mogul, 95 ; General Introduction
to the Study of Holy Scripture, 92 ; Gregorian Music, 478 ; Hand-
book of Rules for Singing and Phrasing Plain Song, 478 ; Horac
Diurnae, 186, 473 ; Institutiones Theologiae Dogmaticac, 187 ;
Le Costume et les Usages Ecclesiastiques selon la Tradition
Romaiiie, 474 ; Missa Immaculata i. h. B. M. Virginis Immaculatae
ad III. voc. aequ, 381; Missa in Honorem Sancti Spiritus, 383 ; Missa
in Houorem Purissimi Cordis, B.V.M., 383 ; Missale Romanum
(Mame etFils), 473 ; Moral Principles and Medical Practice, 379 ;
My Life in Two Hemispheres, 279 ; Missa : Mater Salvatoris, 574 ;
Praelectiones Dogmaticae quas in Collegio Ditton Hall habebat
Christianus Pesch, s.j., 378 ; Rituale Romanum (Mame ct Fils),
473 ; Sermons, 190 ; Sermons and Moral Discourses for all the
Sundays of the Tear, 377 ; Shall and Will, 89 ; Sister Aime
Katharine Emmerich, 573 ; Songs of Sion, 18o ; Theologia Month's
per Modum Conferentiarum, 382 ; Very Rev. Father Dominic of
the Mother of God, Life of, «">75 ; Vita Jesu Christi, 478 ;
Wiseman, Cardinal, Life and Times of, 89.
Oliver Kelly, Archbishop of Tuam. 13y R. J. Kelly, Esq., B.L. - 417
Origin and Conservation of Motion. By Rev. M. Barrett - 60
Phoenicia and Israel. By Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P. 38
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Reason's Synthetic Judgments. By Rev.T. J. O'Mahony, D.D. -J4o
Redmond O'Gallagher, the Martyr-Bishop of Derry. By Most Rev.
Dr. O'Doherty • 1
Socialism, The Economic Aspect of. By Rev. M. Cronin, D.D., M.A. 140
Tara, Pagan and Christian. By Most Rev. Dr. Healy 97
Two Great Spiritual Associations. By J. A. Cullen, s.j. - - 513
Victor Vitensis on the Vandal Persecution. By Philip Burton, C.M. - 481
Yellow Steeple of Trim, The/. By Very Rev. Philip Gallery, v.r., v.r. - 438
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, THE MARTYR*
BISHOP OF DERRY
IN reading over the history of the Church in these
kingdoms during the Elizabethan period we are struck
with the similarity of the sufferings endured by our
ancestors in the early days of the Reformation, with
the account which St. Paul gives of the sufferings inflicted
on God's servants in the Old Law. Indeed, one would
think it was Elizabeth's victims that great Apostle was
sketching, and that he wrote from Ireland instead of from
Italy to the Jews in Palestine. What truer description of
the lives of the Irish bishops and priests in the penal days
could be given than that
They were stoned, they were cut asunder, they were tempted,
they were put to death by the sword ; they wandered about in
sheepskins, in goatskins, being in want, distressed, afflicted ; of
whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts, in
mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the earth.1
It was a sad period — an anticipation of the days of
Antichrist. In England the scaffolds reeked with blood ;
the dungeons were rilled with the flower of the nobility ;
whilst the fiendish atrocities to which priests and bishops
were alike subjected make one pause to inquire were the
authors of these barbarities human. In Ireland it was still
1 Heb. xi. 37 38
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — JANUARY, 18(J8.
2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
worse ; for here, to the greed of gain and hatred of
the Church, was added that racial hatred which has ever
existed since the days of the second Henry, and which at
that period stirred to its lowest depths the savage nature of
the British myrmidons. Their rulers urged them on to
exterminate the ' mere Irish,' and wealth and honour
crowned the murderer of the priest or the bishop. Altars
were desecrated, churches were razed to their foundations,
education banned, and innocent blood poured out, amid the
scoffs and jeers of a brutal soldiery. Such, in Ireland, was
the reign which in cruel irony has been called glorious, such
the fate of those faithful servants of Christ who had the
courage to profess themselves children of that Church
whose centre is the See of Peter.
Raymund, or Redmond, O'Gallagher was a prominent
figure in the Irish Church during nearly the whole of
Elizabeth's reign, having been murdered only two years
before that sovereign's death. He had been a bishop before
she came to the throne, having been appointed Administrator
of the see of Killala in 1545, two years before the death of
Henry VIII., and consecrated bishop of that same see
three years later. Redmond 0' Gallagher was a native of
the diocese of Raphoe, County Donegal, and was of noble
family. The O'Gallaghers once held a conspicuous place in
that county, and were the owners of extensive property.
It was not, however, his nobility of birth that recom-
mended him to the Holy See, but his character for learning,
piety, and prudence. His appointment to administer a
diocese whilst he was scarcely twenty-four, and his conse-
cration at the unusually early age of twenty-seven, are
proofs of his extraordinary qualifications and of the con-
fidence reposed in him by the Holy Father. And that
confidence was fully justified by his whole long career after-
wards as administrator and bishop, covering in all a period of
nearly fifty-six years. The following is a translation of the
record of his appointment to the see of Killala : —
On the 7th November, 1545, the Holy See deputed as adminis-
trator, until he attain the twenty-seventh year of his age, in
spiritual matters, of the church of Killala, in Ireland, then
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 3
vacant by the death of Eichard Baired [Barrett], formerly Bishop
of Killala, who died outside the Eoman Curia, of happy
memory, D. Baymund Ogalcubait [0 'Gallagher], cleric of the
diocese of Eaphoe, aged twenty-four years or thereabouts, of
noble origin ; and then in his person makes provision for the
same church, and appoints him as its bishop ; tax, 11 florins.1
Later on we shall get a glimpse of his zeal in the cause
of discipline and religion whilst in that diocese.
After governing the diocese of Killala for twenty-four
years — three as administrator and twenty-one as bishop —
he was, in 1569, translated to the see of Derry. The
following is the record of his translation : —
On the 22nd of June, 1569, the Court of Eome absolved
D. Eedmond Ogalchur, Bishop of Killala, from the bond of
the church of Killala, and transferred him to the church of
Derry, vacant by the death of Eugene Idocharti (O'Doherty),
with the power of retaining the priory of Eachini, of the order of
Canons Eegular of St. Augustine, and all things annexed thereto,
in the diocese of Killala ; value, 24 marks sterling. 2
A few years after his translation to Derry he was
appointed vice-primate by the Holy See. The faculties
then granted him are thus recorded in the Secretaries Brevium
in Eome : —
To the Venerable Brother Eedmund, Bishop of Derry, for his
own diocese and for the entire province of Armagh, as long as the
Venerable Brother Eichard, Archbishop of Armagh, shall be absent
from his diocese and the province of Armagh (13th April, 1575).
In 1580, O'Gallagher is mentioned in a Vatican list as
a Bishop of Derry who had not taken the oath of alle-
giance. 0' Sullivan Bear, in his Catholic History,3 refers
to him as vice-primate. Relating certain events in tthe
Elizabethan wars, he says : —
There were present some ecclesiastics, chief among whom
was Eaymund O'Gallachur, Bishop of Luci and Vice-Primate of
Ireland, who absolved from the ban of excommunication those
who passed over from the royal to the Catholic army.4
1 Barberini and Vatican Archives.
2 Barberini Archives. See Brady's Irish Bishops, and Rev. J. M'Laughlin's
Bishops of Derry.
3 Chap, ix., B. iii.
4 The excommunication here referred to was that pronounced by Pius V.
against Elizabeth and her adherents. Note by Dr. M. Kelly, in his edition of
0' Sullivan.
4 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
An interesting reference to O'Gallagher occurs in a
curious work, translated from the Spanish by Robert
Crawford, M.A., and published during the past year by
Elliott Stock, of 62 Paternoster-row, London. It is entitled,
Captain Cuellar's Narrative of the Spanish Armada and his
Adventures in Ireland. Cuellar was a captain in the
Armada, and on the wreck of that ill-fated flotilla was cast
upon the Irish coast; with many others of his countrymen.
Afte". narrating the hardships and perils he had passed
through in Connaught and Ulster, he tells what happened
to him in O'Cahan's country — the present County Derry.
The English soldiers were everywhere searching for the
unfortunate shipwrecked Spaniards ; but they were making
a special search for Captain Cuellar, who, they had
discovered, was in the neighbourhood : —
Information about me [says he] had already been given to
them, and no one passed by whom they did not ask if he had
seen me . . . The boy was such a good lad that, upon learning
this, he returned to his hut, and informed me of what had
occurred ; so that I had to leave there very early in the morning,
and to go in search of a bishop who was seven leagues off in a
castle) where the English kept him in banishment and retire-
ment. This bishop was a very good Christian, and went about
in the garb of a savage x for concealment ; and I assure you, I
could not restrain tears when I approached him to kiss his hand.
He had twelve Spaniards with him, for the purpose of passing
them over to Scotland ; and he was much delighted at my
arrival, all the more so when the soldiers told him that I was a
captain. He treated me with every kindness that he could for
the six days I was with him, and gave orders that a boat should
come to us to take us over to Scotland, which is usually done in
two days. He gave us provisions for the voyage, and said Mass
for us in the castle, and spoke with me about some things
concerning the loss of the kingdom, and how his Majesty had
assisted them, and that he should come to Spain as soon as
possible after my arrival in Scotland, where be advised me to
live with much patience, as in general they were all Lutherans,
and very few Catholics. The bishop was called Don Esimundo
Termi (?) [Bishop of Times], an honourable and just man. God
keep him in His hands, and preserve him from his enemies.
The translator fails to identify this bishop, and calls him
rm for a native of the country.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 5
by the unmeaning title of 'Bishop of Times.' The word
Termi is evidently a mistake for Derrie, as Derry was then
usually spelled ; and it is quite certain that the bishop was
Eaymund O'Gallagher, the then bishop of the diocese, who
lived in disguise at this period in O'Cahan's country, and
who, tradition says, used to tend sheep by day on the
mountains, and visit by night the sick and dying of his
flock. It may be interesting to readers of the I. E. RECOBD
to know that Captain Cuellar, with a number of other
Spaniards, was soon afterwards, by the kindness of Sir James
M'Donnell, sent in a boat from Dunluce to Scotland.1
This same year, 1588, we have a letter from O'Gallagher
to Cornelius O'Devany, Bishop of Down and Connor, and
dated from Tamlaghtard, better known as Magilligan.
This letter was found on O'Devany's person shortly after-
wards, and in consequence he was imprisoned in Dublin,
and kept in confinement for two years. Though liberated
for a time, he was taken prisoner again, and ultimately put
to death in the metropolis, in 1612. The letter was as
follows : —
We, Eedmond, by the grace of God and favour of the
Apostolic See, Bishop of Derry and Vice-Primate of All Ireland,
to the Most Reverend, our dear brother, Cornelius, Bishop of
Down and Connor. Seeing that we cannot, without incurring
imminent peril of life, make visitation of your territory, we.
therefore, by the authority of Letters Apostolic and by the
authority of the primatial dignity, by the purport of these pre-
sents, do appoint you in our stead for a full year from the date
hereof, and for the same period we give and grant you power to
absolve from episcopal and also from papal cases each and every-
one who has recourse to you, obligations of conscience being
safeguarded, and salutary penance in proportion to the fault
being enjoined.
Given in the Parochial Church of Tamlaghtard, the 1st day
of July, 1588.
E., Bishop of Derry and Vice-Primate.
Another letter of his, written some years after this, and
addressed to Clement VIII. , may be introduced in this
1 Ulster Journal of Archceology, vol. i., No. 3, n. 3, 1895.
6 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
place. It refers to the sufferings for the faith in Ireland,
and the noble stand then being made against English power.
It runs thus : —
1 am confident your Holiness knows that our leading nobles — •
doubtless by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost — have made a
courageous stand against the malicious oppression inflicted on
them by the English, and have done so with a spirit and daring
more than human. By their manful resistance in the battle-field
they have baffled and foiled the English devices, their rancour
and satanic rage. Yet every day brings changes more numerous
than one could tell ; and so, to give our nobles greater courage,
to strengthen them, and to make them steadfast in their glorious
undertaking by the hope of succour, a person has come here, a
little ago, from Spain for the purpose of making a report that
will be relied on to his Catholic Majesty of the actual state of
affairs. He is the bearer of this letter. I recommend your
Holiness to have unhesitating confidence in his testimony. I
ask you to do so, and to cast a kindly look on Ireland, always
faithful to you — Ireland which now presents such a dismal
appearance, so wretched and so mournful, suffering for so long
a time, and suffering so many disasters at the hands of the
heretics. The present opportunity is specially favourable. I am
convinced it is a gift of God. I ask your Holiness to seize it at
once, remembering that opportunity is usually bald on the back
of the head. Make kindly provision as speedily as in your power
for those who are your own dependents — yes, and the most faithful
of all your dependents since Christianity came into the world.
Do not disappoint myself and the bearer of my letter in the
hopes we have formed and set our hearts on. I leave to him to
tell your Holiness many other matters that need to be mentioned.
And, taking into account what I know of his family, his dili-
gence, his uprightness, his sincere and earnest zeal for faith and
country, I beseech your Holiness to bestow some favour on him,
to have no hesitation in granting him the dignity of N., thereby
approving with your own authority the action I am taking in
the present emergency.1
Protected by the still powerful sept of O'Cahan, it
would seem that O'Gallagher was all this time able to exer-
cise his ministry with a certain amount of security. In a
State Paper, dated 28th July, 1592, the following account of
him is given : —
First in Ulster is one Eedmundus O'Gallagher, Buishopp of
Dayrie, alias Daren, Legate of the Pope and custos Armaghen,
1 For the original Latin letters see Meehan's Flight of the Earh.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 7
being one of the three Irish buishoppes that were in the Council
of Trent. This buishopp used all manner of spiritual jurisdic-
cion throughout all Ulster, consecrating churches, ordeyning
priests, confirming children, and giving all manner of dispensa-
cionS; rydeing with pomp and ceremony from place to place, as
yt was accustomed in Queen Marye's days. And for all the rest
of the clergy there, they use all manner of service there nowe as
in that tyme, and not only that, but they have changed the tyme
according (to) the Pope's new invencion. The said Buishopp
O'Gallagher hath bin with diverse governors of that land upon
protecion, and yet he is suffered to enjoy the bishoprick, and
all the aforesaid aucthoryties, these xxvi years past and more,
whereby it is to be understood that he is not there as a man
without aucthority or secretly kept. l
Though this statement is inaccurate in some of its
details, and is considerably exaggerated, still it is important
as showing the zeal and influence of O'Gallagher in Ulster
at this period. It is not correct to say that he was one
of the Irish bishops who attended the Council of Trent.
The three who did attend, were Donald M'Congail, Bishop
of Raphoc ; Thomas O'Herlichy, Bishop of Boss ; and
Eugene O'Hart, Bishop of Achonry. Nor is it true to say,
that he was legate of the Pope. He had merely received
from him extraordinary jurisdiction to be exercised in the
absence of the Primate, and hence in most documents of
the time he is styled Vice-Primate. It is by no means
likely that he was in the habit of ' rydeing with pomp
and company from place to place,' for the English soldiers
had gained a footing in O'Cahan's country at this time, and
one of their great objects was to seize the Bishop who
was regarded as their most powerful opponent. Though
exercising his ministry, he did so disguised as a peasant,
and under the protection of the chieftains who were not as
yet entirely shorn of their power. Though residing, as a
general rule, in O'Cahan's territory, we find that occasionally
he dwelt in the city, and also at Fahan, on the shores 01
Lough Swilly. In a MS. paper in the State Paper Office,
dated 12th April, 1601, and endorsed : ' The Description of
Lough Foyle, and the country adjacent,' we find the
1 See Kilkenny Arch, Jour, for 1856-7.
8 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
following entries : — ' Three miles above Culmore stands the
Derrie, where the bishop dwells, who is one of the sept of
the Gallocars.' And again : ' Over against Elloghe, in
O'Dovgherdie's country, is a castle and a church called the
Fanne, but broken down synce our aryvall, — Here dwells
the Bishop O'Galchar.'1
Except occasional references to him, these are all the
facts that have hitherto been recorded regarding him, till
we come to the record of his death. That sad occurrence
is mentioned by several authorities, but all are not agreed
as to the year in which it took place. Dr. Burke, in a note
to the eighteenth chapter of his Hibernia Dominicana, after
recounting the names of many who had suffered for the
faith, says : —
To these are to be added, deceased shortly after Elizabeth,
Eedmund Galcharius, vernacularly, O'Gallagher, bishop of
Derry, who about his seventieth year being taken prisoner
by heretical soldiers of the garrison who were scouring the
country, and being pierced by them with many wounds, died
in the year 1604.
O'Keilly, in his Sufferers for the Catholic Faith in Ireland,
adopts, apparently without any inquiry, the chronology of
De Burgho. O' Sullivan Bear gives the same date in
enumerating various victims that were put to death for the
faith under James, the year after his coming to the throne.
' Baymund O'Gallagher, Bishop of Derry or Luci, was slain
by the English with two-edged swords, and beheaded about
his eightieth year.'2 Others give the date as 1602 ; but
even this is not correct except in so far as the old style
corresponds with the new. The date given by the Annals
of the Four Masters, and by Donatus Mooney in his
MS. History of the Franciscans, compiled in 1617, is the
correct one. The annalists, under date 1601, say in their
usual terse style : ' Eedmund O'Gallagher, Bishop of Derry,
was killed by the English in Oireacht-Ui-Chathain, on the
1 See U!st. Jour, of Arch., vol. v. Though dated 1601, this paper was
written at least a year before that.
8 B. ii., chap, iv., Cath. Hist.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 9
15th day of March;' and Mooney writes : 'Kedmund Galchur,
martyr, died in 1601, the 8th of March, being an old man,
and as was considered the oldest, by ordination, of all the
bishops of Europe.'1
It is strange that none of all these writers mention the
place where he was murdered, except the Four Masters, and
even they make only a vague reference to it ; yet on the
strength of that reference some modern writers fix the place
as midway between Limavady and Dungiven. Notwith-
standing repeated inquiries, the present writer could never
discover any reliable authority for this statement. He
believes, however, that he can now fix the exact spot of the
murder, and the burial of the martyred bishop, as well as
give many details of his life not hitherto published. In the
library of Trinity College, Dublin, there is an unpublished
manuscript of Dr. Lynch, the author of Cambrensis Eversus,
in which he gives a tolerably good summary of the life of
O'Gallagher, and furnishes, moreover, the details of his
death, and where it occurred, with a minuteness which
enables an investigator to fix almost to a certainty on
the very spot where it took place.2 Though some of the
facts already given will of necessity be repeated in this
extract from Lynch, yet even at the risk of repetition it
seems better to give the text in its entirety. He writes
as follows : —
We see from the Eecords at Borne that Eedmond O'Gallagher,
one of the clergy of the diocese of Eaphoe, the son of Gilduff,
was on the 6th Nov., 1545, when he was only twenty-four years
of age, or rather somewhat less, created bishop of Killala, then
vacant by the death of Bichard Barret. The Kecords speak
of Bedmond as of noble family. It may well be that, as Pliny
says about Macrinus, in merit he could compete with those
more advanced in years, in whose dignity he was a partner.
At any rate he was not the only person we read of, who for
unusual merit was elevated before the age of thirty to the
episcopal rank, whose progress in virtue far outstripped their
1 See note to O'Sullivan Bear's Cuth. Hist.
2 The MS. is numbered 1445, is written in Latin, bound in two largo
volumes, and a note prefixed to it states that it was transcribed in 1863, by
Mr. John Rathbone, from the original in the Bodleian Library. Its title is : —
Historic* Eccletiastica Hibernite or De Frcesnlibus Hibirnice.
10 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
progress in years. The Pope wrote to him in the year 1553.
Beyond all that, it appears to me to be a powerful testimony to
his worth, that during a period when the most of the bishops
of Ireland, not only those that were appointed by the king, but
those who were appointed by the Pope, were infected and
corrupted by the guilt of the revolt of the State against the
Church, Kedmond, who had been made bishop by the Pope,
when Henry VIII. was still reigning, faithfully fulfilled his
duties as bishop of Killala during the reigns of Edward and
Mary, and until far on in the reign of Elizabeth. The legislation
of Edward against the faith never obtained power or validity in
Ireland, or, at any rate, was not enforced in the distant parts of
the country. It was told to me, that Eedmond, strange to say,
had detached from the see lands a farm, and conveyed it to
his sister's husband. The time of this transaction is not
mentioned, and I am of opinion that it took place (that is if
ever it took place) during the reign of Edward. Kedmond,
seeing that Edward was making over the church lands to lay
persons, preferred to have the farm in the hands of his sister
than of a stranger, to whom certainly the king would give all the
lands of the see of Killala that he could get hold of by open war
or private violence. Accordingly Eedmond is in nowise touched
by the excommunication issued by Victor II., in the Council
of Florence against those who alienate church lands ; neither
does he incur the rebuke of Peter Damian, that ' the reverence
for the sanctuary is weakened when by alienation of this kind
its ministers are in miserable want, when the poor, the widow,
the orphan, and the pilgrim cry out : ' We are being cut off by the
sword of hunger from the face of the earth ; ' adding that a bishop
of Bologna lost the power of his speech for having alienated
ecclesiastical property. Eedmond's great zeal for the repression
of heresy, and for the spread of the Catholic faith, was shown
by his holding, in 1566, in conjunction with Andrew O'Crean,
bishop of Elphin, and Eugene O'Hart, bishop of Achonry, a large
assemblage of the clergy in the form of a provincial Council
(at which, it appears, he presided as senior bishop), and they
there passed a decree, that their observance in their full integrity
of the decrees of the Council of Trent was of universal obligation.
Later on provincial Councils were held to enforce the observance
of those decrees on the subjects of these three dioceses.
On the plea that there was a suspicion of undue familiarity
between Eedmond and the wife of a certain man of the nobility,
he was imprisoned, his goods confiscated, and himself exiled
from his diocese by Sir John Burke, son of Oliver, who had
obtained the dignity of the Mac William, and the presidency of
lower Connaught, attached to that dignity, and who died in
1580 ; and by Sir Edmund Burke. So Sanders is correct enough
in saying, that he was either imprisoned or exiled, not for any
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 11
crime, but that what he suffered, whether exile or imprisonment,
was because he was a Catholic and a bishop ; suggesting that
what he wrote he had heard, and had no other foundation for
believing it beyond the common proverb : ' There is usually truth
in a rumour.' The misfortunes that befel the descendants of
those who persecuted Bedmond, seem to clear him of that
wicked and malicious suspicion, especially when we take into
consideration, that had a stain of so gross a nature attached to
him, he never would have been translated to the see of Derry,
or dignified with the title of Vice-Primate. I do not know the
year in which he was translated, but he was bishop of Derry,
when Gregory XIII., as we know, wrote to him, 6th June, 1575,
the fourth year of his pontificate. In that letter the Pope gives
instructions about promoting to holy orders, and to benefices
some persons who had been born out of lawful wedlock.
In Ulster, at any rate, the public exercise of the Catholic
religion was at that time unmolested and prosperous. The
princes and nobles of Ulster continued by force of arms to
exclude heresy from their dominions. Now, Eedmond, it seems,
was the tower of strength of the Ulstermen and their bond of
union, and to him was due the long continuance of their indepen-
dence. At any rate, the heretics believed him to be the person
who kept alive the war and kept up the spirit of the forces, for
they singled him out as the one person for whose destruction all
their efforts were to be combined.
Many a work he engaged in, in rooting up the thorns and
brambles of heresy, and in planting the true vine of the Catholic
faith ; nor was his zeal confined to Ulster, for by a letter of
8th August, 1596, from Belhena, by virtue of his power as Vice-
Primate, he appointed Bernard Macaghowan Vicar-General of
Tuam and Mayo, and John O'Dongal Guardian of Mayo.
The defeat of the Ulster forces left him unprotected — a
mark for the enemy's vengeance. The following year, abandoned
by Neil Garve O'Donnell, who (as Coppinger states) then took
part with the heretics, Henry Docwra, with the Lough Foyle
garrison, got on his track, and at last seized him in Cumalia, an
out-of-the-way hamlet about a mile from Derry, on the way
which leads to Strabane, where there was a parochial church.
A short time before the bishop had learned the arrangements the
enemy had made for getting hold of him, and had in consequence
hid himself in a bog, winter though it was ; but the bitter cold and
his enfeebled old age compelled him to slip into a house at the
dead of night. On the approach of the enemy all in the house
took to flight, except himself. Unable to fly, he hid himself among
some sheaves of corn. The enemy having got up to the house,
and having laid hold on a woman and boy, slaughtered them
both, and went away. The people of the place then went into
the house, and asked was there anyone there still alive. The
12 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
bishop, from his hiding-place, answered that he was still alive.
One of the army scullions of the enemy, who was lurking close
by, overhearing the voice, hurries off to his party with his utmost
speed, urges them to come back, which they do without delay,
fall upon the bishop, thus taken by surprise, mangle him with
many a wound, and leave him lifeless. That was in 1602.
It is believed that God inflicted punishments on the authors
of this foul murder ; that is, Neil and Docwra ; for Docwra was
set aside, and Henry Folliat was made Governor of Ballyshannon
in his place — an event which was miraculous, even in the eyes
of the English, that the very man who regained Ballyshannon
should be dismissed from being governor. Neil was so indignant
that, after all his loyalty to the English, Eory O'Donnell should
be set over him, that, rushing headlong to his own destruction,
he took to himself the title of O'Donnell, and thereupon
obtained a prolonged abode in the Tower of London, wherein he
kept his abode till his death.
The bishop was buried in the graveyard of the parochial
church I mentioned, at the side where the eastern window stood,
the interior of the church having been desecrated.
From this passage we learn of the zeal of O'Gallagher
in introducing the Tridentine regulations, and in enforcing
the rules of morality and religion, a zeal which, no doubt,
provoked the anger of the irreligious, and excited their
malice against the saintly bishop. We know the lawless
nature of some of the Irish chieftains, and the lax notions of
virtue that prevailed among not a few ; and woe to the cleric
that dared to upbraid them for their vices. O'Gallagher, as
Bishop of Killala, probably found it his duty to reprove
some of those chiefs for their loose lives, or for their
defection from the faith, and in return they determined to
check his virtuous zeal, as the Arians of the fourth century
did with the great St. Athanasius. They resorted to the
same species of calumny as did the Arians, and added
violence to their defamation ; but God vindicated his
innocence as He did that of Athanasius, and his fellow-
bishops, as well as the Supreme Head of the Church,
manifested their faith in his virtue by his promotion to
the see of Derry. To this the Sovereign Pontiff soon
afterwards added the dignity of Vice-Primate.
His labours in the cause of faith and fatherland, 'while
Bishop of Derry, made him a tower of strength to the
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 13
Catholics of the north, and a terror to his enemies. No
wonder, then, that the English incessantly sought his life.
The O'Cahans and other chieftains of the district protected
him as long as they had the power, but their territory had
become the prey of the invader, and the life of the aged
bishop was no longer secure in the mountains of Dungiven
or Magilligan. His only safety was in flight. He was pro-
bably sojourning at his house in the city of Derry — for as we
saw above he sometimes resided in the city, and sometimes
at Fahan, as well as in the O'Cahan country — when he
discovered the machinations of Docwra against his life. If
he could escape to his native Tyrconnell he might elude the
bloodhounds of Docwra, and obtain protection among his
own kith and kin. This would seem to have been his object
in taking the route he did when flying from the city. Lynch's
minute description at this point enables us to follow the
aged fugitive step by step to the spot where he met his
doom. He went from the city, says Lynch, by the road
that leads to Strabane. The only road then leading from
Derry to Strabane was that on the western side of the
Foyle, which passes through the towns of Carrigans
and St. Johnston, and thence to Lifford No bridge then
spanned the river at Derry, and consequently there was no
communication between the city and the eastern side of the
Foyle, except by means of a ferry. To attempt to cross
this ferry with the soldiers of the garrison on the look out
for him, and with Protestants manning the ferry-boats,
would have been sheer madness on the part of the
bishop. Besides, the route was the very opposite to that
he should have taken, if, as we suppose, he intended going
to Tyrconnell.
Setting out by night, he reached a hamlet which, Lynch
says, was about a mile from Derry, and where there was a
parochial church. Here he at first concealed himself in a
bog, but the intense cold induced him to slip into a house
about midnight to get himself warmed. Now the only
parochial church in that direction was the church of Killea,
which was one of five rural churches which depended on and
were attached to the great church in Derry. Killea is three
14 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
miles from the city ; but we could not expect Lynch, a
stranger to the locality, to know the exact distance. His
meaning, clearly, is, that the place was a short distance
from Derry. Evidently the place was well known to
O'Gallagher, as he betook himself there for safety, and he
felt he could trust himself in the cottages of the poor
Catholics there. Killea corresponds exactly with Lynch's
description. There was the bog in which he concealed
himself at first. The bog is now exhausted, but in the
present writer's early days it was still extensive, and
supplied the entire neighbourhood with fuel. The
church stood on a gentle slope above this bog, and its
ruins were standing until a few years ago, when they were
taken down, and the materials used in building a new wall
around the graveyard. The latter is still used for inter-
ments. The church gives its name to the adjoining parish
of Killea, which in the Protestant division is still a distinct
parish, but in the Catholic division is amalgamated with a
number of other small parishes to form what is called
the parish of Taughboyne and All Saints. The parish of
Killea is in the diocese of Raphoe, but the townland and
church of Killea are in the diocese of Derry. The north-
west Liberties, which extend three miles in every direction
from the city, on the western side of the Foyle, were cut off
from Donegal by Docwra, and added to the county of Derry.
This explains the reason of the parish being at present in
a different county from the church which gave it its name;
and this too may explain the expression of the Four Masters,
that O'Gallagher was killed in O'Cahan's territory, since the
Liberties were now part of the county Derry. More likely,
however, they took it for granted, that it was in county
Derry he had been killed, since it was there he had
generally dwelt during the time of his episcopate. The
hamlet of which Lynch speaks, like most of our old
Irish villages, has disappeared, though a number of
houses are still scattered around the vicinity of the old
church.
In Lewis's Topographical Dictionary mention is made
of two cairns in the townland of Killea, one of which, the
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 15
writer says, is in the bed of a rivulet called the 4 Priest's
Burn,' from a tradition, that a priest was killed on the spot.
This, too, helps to indicate the place where O'Gallagher was
slain ; for from the testimony of a native of the place, now
in his ninety-third year, the present writer has learned,
that there was a cairn formerly at Killea Burn a few
hundred yards below the church, at the edge of the bog,
where he believes the hamlet stood which Lynch describes,
and where the aged bishop was done to death by the brutal
soldiers of Elizabeth.
If for nothing else this MS. of Dr. Lynch is of the
utmost value as furnishing data for fixing on the place of
O'Gallagher' s martyrdom and burial, and for giving so many
details of his life. The topography is so accurately described
that no doubt whatever remains on the mind of the writer
as to the spot where the saintly bishop fell and was interred.
That he fell by Killea Burn, and was interred in Killea
graveyard by the ruins of the old church, at the side where
the eastern altar stood, seems to be beyond a doubt if we
are to accept the history given by Lynch ; and there is no
reason for calling its accuracy into question. At the time
of his martyrdom he was in his eightieth year, having been
twenty-four at the time of his appointment to Killala, and
having exercised jurisdiction for fifty-six years afterwards.
His was an eventful and fruitful episcopate. Ever
battling for the Church, rebuking when necessary the vices
of the great, even, as we have seen, at the risk of defamation
and loss of liberty ; supporting the weak, strengthening the
wavering, bringing hope and consolation to the sick and
dying, urging the chieftains to fight strenuously against the
inroads of heresy, he was truly another St. Paul to the perse-
cuted flock over whom he ruled, and a tower of strength to the
Catholics of Ulster. His heartless and brutal murder was
but one in the long, dark catalogue of crimes which charac-
terized the reign of Elizabeth, but one sufficient in itself to
mark an epoch. In the same month, two years afterwards,
she followed him to her final account ; but how widely
different the death of the bishop and the death of the
queen ! The one, after a long and faithful stewardship in
10 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the vineyard of the Lord, after preaching Christ's Gospel,
and putting into practice its precepts, gives up his life for
the Church and the faith which he had so long and so
vigorously defended ; the other, after a regime stained by
every crime, after overthrowing the religion of her ances-
tors, murdering the innocent Queen of Scots, slaying the
ministers of God's Church, assuming to herself the
prerogatives of Christ's Vicar on earth, ' drunk with the
blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs
of Jesus,' sinks at last despairing into the arms of death,
not daring to invoke the name of that God against whom
she had warred during life, nor permitting a prayer to
be breathed by her bedside as she went before the
judgment seat to receive her final sentence.1
The murder of Eedmond O'Gallagher was but the
prelude to the martyrdom of a host of priests, both secular
and regular, who were slain in Derry during the reign of
James I. and his successors, till the catalogue was closed by
the death of the Kev. Clement O'Colgan, O.P.P., who,
after an imprisonment of two years, died for the faith in
Derry jail, as late as the year 1704. If sword and flame,
confiscation of property, outlawry of priests and bishops,
destruction of churches and monasteries, could have
destroyed Catholicity, it might well have been extin-
guished in the city of Columbkille and in the diocese of
St. Eugene ; but it still survived with that indestructible
life which Christ promised to His Church on earth. The
storm of persecution became exhausted by its own fury ;
fanaticism grew weary of its tyranny, and bigotry learned
to be ashamed of its atrocities. Happier days began to
dawn, and with them came the revival of religion and the
reconstruction of its sacred edifices. Just like some valu-
able palimpsest, from whose page the skill of the modern
chemist has effaced the writing of the later scribe, restoring
thereby to the world the priceless characters first written on
the parchment, so the purifying hand of time has obliterated
1 For a description of the last days of this queen, see Dr. Lee's Church
- Elizabeth.
REDMOND O'GALLAGHER, MARTYR-BISHOP OF DERRY 17
from the Church of Derry the handwriting of evil men, and
has restored to the light of day the beauty and glowing
fervour of its ancient faith.
Redmond O'Gallagher has long since gone to his ever-
lasting crown ; his heartless and cowardly murderers have
passed to their account ; but the faith which they endea-
voured to destroy, and for which he fought, the Church
which they blindly hoped to crush, and for which he shed
his blood, still live on, purified and strengthened by the
ordeal through which they have passed. Ezechiel's vision
has again been fulfilled ; for the Spirit of the Lord has
breathed once more over the dry bones of the plain, and a
new race has arisen to fill up for Mother Church in Derry
the place of her martyred dead.
K. O'DOHEBTY.
VOL. III.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY
T)EFOBE entering upon the subject of this essay, I think
J3 it will make my task lighter, if I begin by stating
exactly what I am going to do. I am going to compare the
Church of England as it existed before the sixteenth
century with the Church of England as it exists to-day.
I call the first the ' Pre-Eeformation Church,' and the
second the ' Post-Keformation Church.' But what kind of
comparison am I going to institute ? Am I going to prove
that the one is true, and the other false? No. Am I going
to prove that the one is a divine, and the other a human
institution ? No, nothing of the kind. My purpose is far
more simple. I am going to prove merely that the one
Church is not the other.
The issue is, therefore, very simple. The sole question
before us is this : Is the ' Pre-Beformation Church ' the
same Church as the ' Post-Beformation Church,' or is it a
different one ? Is the faith professed by the English
sovereigns and people in the twelfth, thirteenth, and four-
teenth centuries the same as that professed by the
sovereigns and people in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and
nineteenth centuries ? Have the same doctrines and eccle-
siastical government continued century after century, or
has there been a rupture, a severance, a breaking away, a
dislocation ? In a word, has there been a distinct interrup-
tion, or has there been an unbroken continuity? We, as
Catholics, answer emphatically that there has been a most
decided interruption ; while, on the other hand, certain of
our Anglican friends declare with equal emphasis that there
has not.
Take note that we are concerned with doctrine, faith,
religious observance, and ecclesiastical government ; not
with mere external possessions. "When pagan Borne
was converted to Christianity the Christians, in many
instances, transformed the pagan temples into places of
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 19
Catholic worship. But because they occupied the same
territory, lived in the same towns, and retained the same
buildings, we cannot upon that ground argue that there
was any real ' continuity,' in doctrine or religious belief,
between paganism and Christianity. So, for a like reason,
when the Reformers took possession of the Catholic
cathedrals and churches, and of the abbeys and the abbey
lands, and clothed themselves with the spoils of the monas-
teries, we can no more argue that they were on that account
of the same creed as the monks and priests whom they
turned adrift, transported, or hanged, than we can argue
that the wolf is of the same nature as the sheep, on the
ground that, having slain the sheep, he now wears its
fleece. He is still as much a wolf as ever.
We are perfectly well aware that the grand old English
cathedrals, such as those of Bath and Wells, of Canterbury
and Durham, of Gloucester and Hereford, of York and
Ely, and Worcester, Lincoln, Salisbury, Winchester, and
Norwich, and many more (though designed by Catholic
artists, built by Catholic hands, and paid for by Catholic
gold) have been appropriated by that Protestant Reformed
religion, established by law, which King William and Queen
Mary, and presumably all English sovereigns since, in their
coronation oaths, have solemnly sworn to defend.1
We are well aware that the Universities of Oxford and
Cambridge, together with the moneys and emoluments,
and the sums left as bequests for Masses, and many other
things of a material and pecuniary value, which once
belonged to the ' Pre-Reformation Church,' were taken
away, and have now become the property of the ' Post-
Reformation Church.' But the religion and faith of the
' Pre-Reformation Church ' — that is to say, that which
constitutes its very essence, its innermost spirit and life —
have not descended to the English as a nation. The wolf
i CORONATION OATH, 1689-1702.
To King William and Queen Mary.
Archbishop. — ' Will you, to the utmost of your power, maintain the laws
of God, the true profession of the Gospel, and the Protestant Reformed
Religion, established by law ? '
' We -will,' &c.— (The Book of Riyhts. By Edgar Taylor, p. 215.)
20 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
has got the fleece. True ! But there still remains a mighty
and essential difference between the wolf and the sheep.
But how does it happen that all Protestants, as well as
Catholics, are not agreed upon this point ? Well, let us
see.
People read history very differently, according to the
manner in which the facts may affect their own particular
interests ; and we cannot but feel that, whether consciously
or unconsciously, the upholders of the theory, which we
are examining here to-day, are not impartial, but so strongly
biassed in its favour as to think they see proofs even where
none exist. Of such men may be said, with the alteration
of a single word, what Shakspeare says of the jealous :
' Trifles light as air are to the biassed (jealous) confirmation
strong as proofs of Holy Writ.' 1
But is there a strong motive to maintain the continuity
theory at any cost ? Well, I think we shall find there is.
Indeed, Anglicans must cling to this theory, because it is
essential to their position — I might almost say to their
very existence. It may be an improbable theory, it may
be an impossible theory, it may be a theory which
history, loud and trumpet toned, denies and contradicts ;
a theory derided and scouted by the overwhelming
body of Christians throughout the world ; but it is essential
to the position of the little local Church that defends it.
Therefore, in mere self-defence, and in virtue of the
natural instinct of self-preservation, these good people
close their ears to every argument, and remain blind
to the most unassailable evidence. They have ears,
but hear not ; eyes, and see not, because they really cannot
afford either to see or to hear. To do so would be to admit
themselves in the wrong. To give up continuity is equiva-
lent to affirm that their Church is less than four hundred
years old ; it is implicitly to admit that it is not the Church
of Christ, which was established in this land more than a
thousand years earlier ; and, if not the Church of Christ,
then, of course, not a true Church at all. Further, it is to
1 Othel., iii 3.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 21
admit that they have no real right to the doweries and
emoluments and the ecclesiastical legacies and Church
lands. No, no more than a supposed heir to a property has
a right to that property when it is discovered that he is,
after all, no true son, but only a bastard. The thought of
these and many other consequences puts religiously-minded
men in a position in which we can no more wonder at their
clinging to any vestige of an argument, and to any shred or
shadow of a proof, than we can wonder at a drowning man
clasping and snatching at any floating straw or drifting
weed that comes within his reach.
But, even in spite of all this, so clear and so irresistible
is the evidence against the continuity theory, that the more
clear-headed, learned, honest, and impartial of Anglicans
themselves have felt obliged to admit that there has been
really no true and real 'continuity' in the Church of
England at all. They admit, in a word — and the admission
being so contrary to their own interests is of quite excep-
tional value — that the Church of England, as now existing,
is radically different from the Church of England of four
hundred years ago — that, in a word, the present Church of
England started into existence only as late as the sixteenth
century, and was the creation of Henry VIII. and
Elizabeth.
Now, it is not our purpose to try and force our own
belief, however certain, down anybody's throat ; nor need
we accuse any individual of dishonesty because evidence
which convinces others does not convince him. The law
courts afford us innumerable cases of evidence completely
satisfying eleven jurymen, and yet altogether failing to
convince the twelfth. So it may be in the case of contin-
uity. Now, there are at present in my mind theological
reasons which, altogether independently of historical facts,
absolutely satisfy me that the English Church of to-day is
totally distinct from the English Church of St. Thomas of
Canterbury and of Archbishop Chicheley; but I am not
going to produce any theological arguments now. As there
is not time for everything, I will confine myself to the
evidences of history, and I will call up various weighty
22 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
witnesses. Nay more; in order to give my Anglican friends
every advantage, I will pack my witness-box, and select my
witnesses, not from among Catholics, who might be thought
biassed against the continuity theory, but from among
non-Catholics, and non-Catholics alone.
The first I will summon is Mr. E. A. Freeman, Eegius
Professor of Modern History, Oxford, whom Canon Bright
calls ' a great master of English history.' He witnesses as
follows : — l
England was the special conquest of the Roman Church,
the first land which looked up with reverence to the Eoman
Pontiff, while it owed not even a nominal allegiance to the
Roman Caesar. . . . The English folk were first called to cast
aside the faith of Woden, and to embrace the faith of Christ by
men who came on that errand from Rome herself, at the bidding
of the acknowledged father of Western Christendom.
I will now call upon the Rev. F. C. Warren, a recognised
Anglican authority on the liturgy of the ancient British
Church. He, like Freeman, emphatically testifies to the
essentially Eoman character and condition of the early
English Church : —
Roman [he says] in origin, owing her existence to the fore-
sight of one of the greatest Popes, and fostered at first by
Roman missionaries and bishops, the Church of England had
been constantly and loyally Roman in doctrine and practice. Her
liturgical books, as well as her vestments, and church ornaments
came direct from Rome, being sent from Gregory to Augustine.
Her archbishops, from the very first, applied for and wore the
pall.2
This is pretty strong evidence, as coming from an
Anglican clergyman. But let us now dismiss him and
call our next witness.
What has the Protestant historian, Child, to say on the
subject ? Turning to his well-known work, we come across
the following : —
When Henry died, a complete revolution had been effected in
the history of the Church. Instead of the Church in England, it
1 Eniycl. Brit., art. 'England,' pp. 277-278.
2 Intro, to Leofric's Missal, p. 24. Rev. F. C. Warren.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 23
had become in good truth, the Church of England ; instead,
that is, of an integral part of that great western province of
Christendom, to which it owed its first conversion, and with
which it had been one ever since, for nearly a thousand years, it
had become for the first time in its history, a separate Christian
community, of which little could be affirmed, but that, for the
time being at any rate, it agreed with no other; that it retained
an anomalous and decapitated form of Catholicism ; and that, in
practice, if not in theory too, it owed its doctrine as well as
whatever of discipline it retained to its lay supreme head.1
So much for Mr. Child. We will now ask his Lordship
the Eight Eev. Protestant Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. Short,
to state his honest conviction upon this interesting point : —
The Englishman [writes Bishop Short] who derives his blood
from Saxon veins will be ungrateful if he be not ready to confess
the debt which Christian Europe owes to Borne ; and to confess
that whenever she shall cast off these innovations of men, which
now cause a separation between us, we shall gladly pay her
such honours as are due to the country which was instrumental
in bringing us within the pale of the Universal Church of
Jesus Christ.
And further on Dr. Short admits that the existence of
the Church of England, as a distinct body, and her final
separation from Home, may be dated from the period of the
(Henry's) divorce.
This is an unequivocal testimony. If the English
Church separated from Eome in Henry's time, then she
must have been united with Eome before Henry's time.
The historian, Gardiner, in his Student's History of England?
also states, that ' The English Church was in all outward
matters regulated in conformity with that of Eome.'
Herzog affords us yet another testimony. In his
Encyclopcedia of Theology, article ' Church of England,'
though he impartially state, that many Anglicans advance a
claim to antiquity for their Church, he expresses his own
opinion : ' Its history begins with the reign of Henry VIIL,
when breaking with the Pope, he was declared the head of
the Church in his dominions.'3
1 Church and State under the Tudors, pp. 264-5.
2 Page 50.
3 History of the Church of England to the Revolution, 1668, p. 8.
24 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
We now call upon another witness, the learned author
of a work entitled Celtic Scotland.1
Now Mr. Skene testifies to the identity of doctrine and
practice in the Koman and ancient British Churches in
these words : —
Suffice it to say that during the Eoman occupation the
Christian Church in Britain was a part of the Church of the
Empire. It was immediately connected with that of Gaul, but
it acknowledged Eome as its head, from whom its mission
was considered to be derived, and it presented no features
of difference from the Konaish Church in the other western
provinces. We find it in close connection with the Gallican
Church, and regarding the Patriarch of Eome as the head of the
Western Church, and the source of ecclesiastical authority and
mission, and with the exception of the temporary prevalence of
the Pelagian heresy in Britain, we can discover no trace of any
divergence between them in doctrine or practice.
Some of our antagonists would have us make a dis-
tinction between Protestantism and Anglicanism, but as
the Archbishop of Melbourne truly observes : ' This distinc-
tion has no foundation in the history of the Reformation.'
The following statement of historical facts, written, not by
Catholic, but by the Protestant historian Child, will satisfy
every impartial reader. He says : —
It is difficult to study the actual facts of the sixteenth
century history, putting apart preconceived ecclesiastical
theories, without arriving at the conclusion that the English
National Church was as completely the creation of Henry VIII.,
Edward's Council, and Elizabeth, as Saxon Protestantism
was of Luther, Swiss of Calvin, or of Zwingle. 2
The history of the Church in England was continuous from
the mission of Augustine, or, if we prefer it, from the Synod of
Whitby, to the time when Henry VIII., upon a disagreement
with the Pope about his divorce, cast off his allegiance to the
Papacy. From that time to the present, with the short interval
between the reconciliation under Mary and Elizabeth's first
Parliament, it has been severed and excommunicated by the
great body of the Catholic Church ; and as the latter was before
precisely that which it has continued since, it is clear that the
former must have been something not the same. And it is not the
mere retention of a few names and titles, used in a kind of ' second
. ii., pp. 2,7. " Church and State, &c., pp. 272-4
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 25
intention,' and a few more or less amputated rites, which will
ever make persons, intelligently instructed, believe that an
establishment which obviously is a mere creature of a single
state, is the legitimate and adequate representative of that
imposing Western Church, which is older than any existing
state in Europe, and grander than anything the world has ever
seen, and which has been picturesquely described by an old
writer as ' the ghost of the old Boman Empire,' sitting robed
and crowned upon the grave thereof.1
A fair consideration of the actual facts of the Tudor history
serves to show that, a theory like that which prevails so widely
at present, which represents the English Church in any other
light than that of one (though it may, perhaps, be admitted, the
greatest and most dignified) of the Protestant Churches which
arose in the sixteenth century, is a novelty which took its very
earliest rise some half century or more after the separation from
Eome, as a direct consequence of Elizabeth's determination to
give no quarter to the early Puritans, and which made little or
no progress for another half century still. The evidence is simply
overwhelming, which shows that, during the whole period from
1552 onwards, the English Church was considered by friends
and foes alike to be, for all intents and purposes, one with the
Swiss Churches of Zurich and Geneva.2
The truth upon this subject is so patent to the unpre-
judiced mind that, not in serious histories merely, but even
in the daily press, and on the public platforms it is taken as
a matter of course. An instance or two here will not be
out of place.
Taking up a Protestant paper3 1 came across an account
of a meeting at which Sir G. Osborne Morgan, M.P.,
took the chair. Though a Protestant himself, and son
of the Kev. M. Morgan, Protestant Vicar of Conway,
Carnarvonshire, he nevertheless delivered himself in the
following words : —
What was the Church of England as by law established?
He would answer the question in the words of the highest
legal authority in the land. ' The Established Church,' says the
Chief Justice of England, ' is a political institution, established,
created, and protected by law, absolutely dependent upon
Parliament.' Why, every student of English history knew that
1 Child, Church and State, pp. 272-4.
2 Ibid., pp. 272-4.
3 The Manchester Guardian, Sept. 21st, 1893.
26 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
if a very bad king had not fallen in -love with a veiy pretty
woman, and desired to get divorced from his plain and elderly
wife, and had not compelled a servile Parliament to carry out
his wishes, there would, in all human probability, never have
been an Established Church at all. Last year, just before the
General Election, he had stated this fact, upon which a reverend
gentleman, Canon West, of Manchester, had offered 4*10 towards
his election expenses if he could name the Act of Parliament by
which the Church of England was established. He had named
six of these Acts, but he never got his £10.
The baronet then went on to say that —
When the Established Church said, ' Orthodoxy is my doxy,
and heterodoxy is everybody else's doxy,' it could not claim,
like the Church of Eome, a divine mandate, but only a Parlia-
mentary mandate for the assertion.
The Puseyites of the last generation, or the Anglo-Catholics,
as they called themselves, insisted that the Church of England
was the only true Catholic Church, and that the Church of Home
was nothing but a corrupt and heretical departure from the same
primitive Church. But when they came to look around them,
and saw from one pulpit a man preaching Calvinism and
another Deism, and found that their only protection against their
errors was a human tribunal — i.e., the Privy Council, upon which
Jews and infidels might sit — everyone of them who had a grain
of honesty in his nature went over with Cardinal Newman to
the Church of Eome — a Church which, at least, rested its claim
to infallibility on something higher than an Act of Parliament or
a judicial committee.
I will now make an extract from a Protestant London
daily.1 In a conspicuous leader, this influential paper
expresses its opinion in these outspoken words : —
The Anglicans may still persist in patronizing the Roman
Catholics as a new set of modern dissidents under the old name.
It is the sort of vengeance which, under favourable circumstances,
the mouse may enjoy at the expense of the elephant. If he can
mount high enough by artificial means, the smallest of created
things may contrive to look down on the greatest, and to affect
to compassionate his want of range. For purposes of contro-
versy the Anglican could talk of himself as a terrestrial ancient
of days, and regret the rage for innovation which led, not to his
separation from Eome, but to Rome's from him. So might the
pebble, if determined to put a good face on it, wonder what had
become of the rock, and recite the parable of the return of the
prodigal to the Atlas range.
1 T)iv Daily Xews, Sept. 19th, 1893.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 27
Thus far we have quoted merely the serious judgment of
a few among the many Protestant bishops, clergymen,
historians, and ecclesiastical authors, as well as the common
press and platform utterances, which sometimes indicate
more clearly than history, the common-sense view of any
question before the public mind. Now, we shall not call up
any more living authorities, for they can, at best, but declare
what the result of their study of the Keformation period
may be, and what conclusions they have come to ; but I
will turn to simple, undeniable contemporary facts. I am
going to invite you, my readers, to pass your own judgment
upon these facts, and ask you candidly whether these facts
support the continuity theory, or whether they utterly
destroy it. As the very touch-stone, I will select the
attitude of the early English Church to the Vicar of Christ,
the Pope.
(A.) English history tells us that in 1245 the English
bishops and clergy, assembled in convocation, wrote to
Pope Innocent, and in their letter, which anyone who
understands Latin can read for himself, assured him that
the ' said kingdom of England was specially devoted to the
Most Holy Koman Church ; ' and, further, that amongst the
glories of the ' English Church ' was the fact that she was
' a special member of the Most Holy Church of Koine.'
They add that they themselves are ' devoted sons of the
Most Holy Eoman Church. '
(B.) About the same year the nobles of England sent an
address to the Pope, complaining of the monetary exactions
of the Curia, in which they protest in these words : —
Our mother, the Eoman Church, we love and cherish with
all our hearts, as our duty is ; and we seek her honour, increase,
welfare, with all the affection of which we are capable.
They also declare that the King of England is not ' the
head ' of the Church, but ' a most dear son of the Koman
Church.' Now, let me pause here to ask, will the represen-
tative of the continuity theory assert that men who wrote
and spoke these words were not ' Koman Catholics ' ? Does
he mean us to believe that a Church can be ' a special
28 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
member of the Most Holy Church of Borne,' and yet not
Koman Catholic ? Or does he expect us to hold that the
clergy and nobles of England were not Koman Catholic,
although they themselves declare that they are ' faithful and
devoted sons of the Most Holy Eoman Church ' ? We want
a plain, straightforward answer.1
(C.) The English Primate, Arundel, in 1413, with the
advice and assistance of convocation, drew up the following
profession of faith, to be used as a test to the Catholic
creed, as then professed in England, against the doctrines
of the Lollards. We retain the old spelling : —
Christ ardeyned Seint Petir the Apostell to ben His Vicarie
here in erthe, whose See ys the Church of Rome, ordeyning and
graunting the same power that He gaf to Petir should succeede
to all Petir's successours, the wychh we now callyn Popes of
Eome, by whos power in Churches perticuler special be ordeyned
prelates as archbysshopes, bysshopes, curates, and other degrees,
to whom all Chrysten men ought to obey after the lawes of the
Church of Rome.2
If Archbishop Arundel, writing to his clergy, had but
declared that ' the Pope hath no jurisdiction in this realm of
England,' the Anglican of to-day might claim him and the
English Church of that period. But, since he did nothing
of the kind, since, in plain truth, he said precisely the
opposite, and what every Boman Catholic in England says
and believes at this moment, will he explain how the
Primate and Convocation were not Boman Catholics ?
(D.) In 1427 the Bishops of England addressed a
letter to Pope Martin V. on behalf of Chicheley, Archbishop
of Canterbury, who had been accused at Borne. Now,
hearken to their words, and say are they the words of
genuine Boman Catholics or of Anglicans. They run as
follows : —
Most Blessed Father, one and only undoubted Sovereign
Pontiff, Vicar of Jesus Christ upon earth, with all promptitude
of service and obedience, kissing most devoutly your blessed
feet, &c.
1 Matthew Paris, pp. 992 and 930, edit. 1571.
2 This test declaration may be seen in the record of Convocation in
Wilkins's Concilia, vol. iii., p. 355.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 29
They then proceed to defend their Archbishop, and in
doing so bear witness that ' the Archbishop of Canterbury
is, Most Blessed Father, a most devoted son of your Holiness
and of the Holy Eoman Church.' Nay, cnore ; they declare
that —
He is so rooted in his loyalty, so unshakable in his allegiance,
especially to the Roman Church, that it is known to the whole
world, and ought to be to the city [of Rome], that he is the most
faithful son of the Church of Rome, promoting and securing
with all his strength the guarantees of her liberty.
Again, will our continuity friends explain how a man
can be ' the most faithful son of the Church of Home,' so
rooted in his loyalty to her that ' his allegiance is known to
the whole world,' and yet not be a Roman Catholic ? The
bishops add that ' they go down upon their knees to
beseech the Pope's favour for the Archbishop, and in doing
so declare that they are ' the most humble sons of your
Holiness and of the Koman Church.'
(E.) So much as regards the bishops. Let us now appeal to
the University of Oxford. That renowned seat of learning,
at the same time, wrote to the Pope, declaring itself the
' handmaiden of your Holiness,' and adds : —
We, with united hearts, undoubtedly recognise you as the one
Sovereign Pontiff, the Vicar of Christ upon earth, and the most
true successor of St. Peter.
Kecalling the favours the University had received from
the Pope, it adds : —
Thence on bended knees, and prostrate with all obedience, at
the feet of your Most Holy Papacy, from our hearts we pay you
the tribute of our thanks. Casting ourselves, Most Blessed
Pather, at your blessed feet, with the utmost humility.
They then entreat that the Pope will not listen to any
accusation against the Archbishop, and in their turn bear
witness that ' he is a trusty son of your Holiness and of the
most Holy Eoman Church.' Bear in mind that this is not
the sentiment of a mere individual, or of an ignorant body,
but of the picked men of the greatest university in England.
The letter is signed : ' The most devoted sons of your
Holiness, the Chancellor and the unanimous body of the
30 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Masters of the University of Oxford.' Such was the
language of the men whom we are asked by certain
Anglicans to believe were not Koman Catholics !
(F.) Finally, Archbishop Chicheley himself wrote at the
same time to the Pope, addressing him in the following
terms : —
Most Blessed Father, kissing most devotedly the ground
beneath your feet, with all promptitude of service and obedience,
and whatsoever a most humble creature can do towards his lord
and master (domino et creatori), &c., &c.
He then assures the Pope that, he has been at all times
most faithful to the Apostolic See,' and that there is not a
' scintilla ' of grounds for the rumours spread against him.
He adds : —
Long before now were it not for the perils of the journey
and the infirmities of my old age, I would have made my way,
Most Blessed Father, to your feet, and have accepted most
obediently whatsoever your Holiness would have decided.1
Imagine the present Archbishop of Canterbury writing in
such a strain to Leo XIII. ! Will our continuity friends
kindly and frankly declare whether the above is the speech
and attitude of a member of the present Church of England,
or of a Koman Catholic?
(G.) Or, take the following letter, not from bishop,
nor priest, nor university, but from the dread King and
Sovereign of England himself, and say is it the letter of a
Koman Catholic King or of an Anglican king. It was
written nearly a hundred years before the letter just quoted
viz., A.D. 1339 (An. Eegni xiii. Edward III). The King
addresses the Pope in these terms : —
Let not the envious information of our detractors find place
in the meek mind of your Holiness, or create any sinister opinion
of a son who, after the manner of his predecessors, shall always
firmly persist in amity and obedience to the Apostolic See. Nay,
if any such evil suggestion concerning your son should knock for
entrance at your Holiness's ears, let no belief be allowed it, till the
son who is concerned be heard, who trusts and always intends
1 WilkinB, vol. iii., pp. 471-486.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 31
both to say and to prove that each of his actions is just before the
tribunal of your Holiness, PKBSIDING OVER EVERY CREATURE, WHICH
TO DENY is TO MAINTAIN HERESY. And, further, this we say,
adjoining it as a further evidence of our intention and greater
devotion, that if there be anyone of our kindred or allies who
walks not as he ought in the way of obedience towards the
Apostolic See, we intend to bestow our diligence ''and we trust to
no little purpose), that, leaving his wandering course, he may
return into the path of duty, and walk regularly for the future.
Alluding then to some supposed unkindness on the part
of the Pope, the King thus continues : —
That the Kings of England, our predecessors, those illustrious
champions of Christ, those defenders of the faith (fide athletas),
those zealous asserters of the right of the Holy Eoman Church,
and devout observers of her commands, that they or we should
deserve this unkindness, we neither know nor believe. And
though, for this very reason, many do say (we say not so) that
this aiding of our enemies against us seems neither an act of a
father nor a mother towards us, but of a stepmother ; yet not-
withstanding we constantly avow that we are, and shall continue
to be, to your Holiness and your seat a devout and humble son,
and not a stepson.
He speaks also of ' the pre-eminence of your sacred
dignity,' and in another place of —
Your Holiness, who best knows the measure of good and
just, and in whose hands are the keys to open and to shut the
gates of heaven on earth, as the fulness of your power and the
excellence of your judicator requires . . . We being ready not
only from your sacred tribunal, which is over all, humbly receive
information of the truth, &c.
In his reply Pope Benedict XII. says : —
Being desirous that you should follow the commendable foot-
steps of your progenitors, kings of- England, who were famous
for the fulness of their devotion and faith towards God and the
Holy Eoman Church, &c.
In King Edward III.'s letter to Pope Clement, the Holy
Father is styled ' by divine Providence, Chief Bishop of
the Holy Koman and Catholic Church.' The King not
only addresses the Pope ' Most Holy Father,' and ' Your
Holiness,' but speaks of him as 'supplying the place of the
32 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Son of God on earth,' and ' having the care of the souls of
all Christians,' &C.1
Now if a king of England could indite such a letter as
that, and express himself in such terms, and yet not be a
Roman Catholic, then, all I can say is, no Roman Catholic
ever yet existed either in England or out of it.
(H.) For several centuries before the Reformation, cen-
turies during which the Pope was the Supreme Court
of Appeal for the English Church, and decided hundreds
of disputed ecclesiastical elections, the majority of the
bishops in every see were appointed summarily by the
Pope, who issued Bulls of provisions for this purpose.
During that period every Archbishop of Canterbury, and
every suffragan1 bishop took solemnly and publicly on
the day of his consecration the oath of allegiance to the
Pope.
Whoever reads over the oath will find thai it contains
the following passages, passages which, it appears to me,
knock the bottom out of the continuity theory altogether.
I [name] , Archbishop of Canterbury, will be from this hour
henceforth faithful and obedient to St. Peter, and to the Holy
Apostolic Eoman Church, and to my lord the Pope [name] and
to his canonical successors. Neither in counsel, or consent, or
deed will I take part in aught by which they might suffer loss of
life, or limb, or liberty. Their counsel which they may confide
to me, whether by their envoys or their letter, I will, to their
injury, wittingly disclose to no man. The Eoman Papacy and
the royalty of St. Peter I will be their helper to defend and to
maintain, saving my order, against all men. When summoned
to a synod I will come, unless hindered by a canonical impedi-
ment. The Legate of the Apostolic See I will treat honourably
in his coming and going, and will help him in his needs. Every
third year I will visit the thresholds of the Apostles, either per-
sonally or by my proxy, unless I am dispensed by Apostolic
licence. The possessions which pertain to the support of my
archbishopric I will not sell, nor give away, nor pledge, nor
re-enfeoff, nor alienate in any way, without first consulting the
Roman Pontifi
(I.) A plain and very sure evidence of the Romanism
1 PagcH 126, 130, History of Edward III., by J. Barnes, Fellow of
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 1668. Sir T. Sykes Library.
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 33
of the English Church in the same period is the fact,
that during the trials for heresy, the test approved
and applied by the English bishops, and convocation as the
touchstone of orthodoxy was a formula in which the person
was made to declare their adherence to the Catholic faith
'according to the determination of the Church of Rome.'
These words may be seen over and over again in the process
of the fifteenth century. A similar test is also inserted in
the form for the abjuration of heresy, drawn out in the
Exeter Pontifical, used at the same period.
Will any Anglican say that a Church that was ready to
send men to the stake who would not accept the Catholic
faith ' according to the determination of the Church of
Rome' was not Roman Catholic ?
If, indeed, we wish to know whether the generations of
Englishmen and women who lived and died here before the
Reformation were or were not Roman Catholics, how are
we to find out ?
Surely the simplest thing to do is to ask the people
themselves. If we wish to ascertain what religion a man
professes we just question him. We think he ought to be the
best authority upon what he himself believes: if he is not,
who is? And we feel that his free and serious statement
upon the point, ought to be decisive. For instance : were
my supposed Anglican objector to tell me, as no doubt
he would, that he is 'a member ' of the present English
Church, or that he is a ' faithful and devoted son ' of the
present Church of England, I and everyone else would
know precisely what he means, and no one would dream of
doubting him. But, if further, we were to stand and hear
him actually swear a solemn oath of allegiance to the
Established Church, our certainty on the point would be
doubly certain.
Now if we put this question to the English nation before
the Reformation, we shall find, as I have already pointed
out, that in Parliament, in Convocation, in the Universities,
the King, the Lords, the Bishops, the Clergy, on behalf of
themselves and their people, declared in 1245, as well as
at other epochs, that they were ' the faithful and devoted
VOL. III. C
34 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
sons of the Holy Koman Church ; ' and that the Church in
this country was a 'special member of the Holy Church of
Rome.' Why will not the Anglican of to-day accept their
cwn declaration of their own belief 1 He believes they were
Catholics ; he hears them testify that they were ' members,'
and ' sons,' and ' most devout sons ' of the Church of Eome.
Now, will anybody explain how a man can be a Catholic,
and a member of the Church of Rome, and yet not a Roman
Catholic, or will he have the hardihood to deny that they were
Catholic ? No, he cannot ! Will he deny that they were
'members ' and ' sons' of the Church of Rome? Impossible,
unless he contradicts his own words, and practically tells
whole generations of Englishmen, that he knows all about
their religion far better than they do themselves ! Will
he then persuade us that it is possible to be a Catholic and
not a member of the Church of Rome ? If so, I certainly, for
one, would not care to carry such a brief before the common
sense of an English jury. Nor is this steadfast declaration
of the English nation in any sense a ' fugitive utterance,'
as some Anglicans try to make out. We find it in docu-
ments which just precede the Reformation. We find it in
the declaration made by the kings, Parliament, bishops,
and University of Oxford in 1427. We find it in the
records of Convocation in 1440. We find it again in the
declaration of the King, Parliament, bishops, and clergy
in 1245. We find equivalent expressions in the letters of
Peckham, Beckett, Anselm, and Lanfranc. And if any-
thing more plainly still, in the dutiful letter of the Anglo-
Saxon King, Kenulf, in which (long before the existence of
the false Decretals, to which our continuity friends love to
refer), he declares himself the ' son of His Holiness .the
Pope, whom he embraces in all the strength of obedience.'
Is our continuity friend still incredulous ? Then let us take
the long line of bishops and archbishops in every see, for
centuries, who corne one by one, swearing the oath of
allegiance to the Pope, and to the ' Church of Rome.' If
this host of English bishops cannot be believed, even upon
their oath, as to the fidelity to the Roman Church, and if
such a declaration does not mean 'Romanism,' then I
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 35
really fail to see what kind of testimony would avail to
convince him. To crown this, we have the tests adopted
by the bishops and clergy in Convocation, by which the
Church in England refused to recognise any man as a
Catholic unless he ' assented to the Roman Church,' and
received all the articles of the Catholic faith, ' according to
the determination of the Church of Rome.'
We Roman Catholics feel that this is Roman Catholicism.
If it is not, will somebody tells us what it is? Nor was
this a ' fugitive utterance ; ' for we find it not only repeated
again and again in the documents of Convocation, but in
a standing form in the English ritual (vide the Exeter
Pontifical), and it therefore took its place in the permanent
usage of the Church life of the country.
It may be well to remark here, that much is made by
some of our antagonists about the disputes concerning what
is known as the ' statute of pro visors,' an important episode
of governmental friction between the English Parliament
and the Court of Rome. But it must be borne in mind
that the Act never received the assent of the bishops. The
archbishops formally entered their protest on the rolls of
Parliament against it. Over and over again, Convocation
petitioned for its repeal. The English Crown at the
treaty of Bruges practically recognised the Pope's right to
provide bishops, and the English kings themselves frequently
petitioned the Pope to exercise this right. Finally, so much
was the statute a dead letter, that as a matter of fact the
Popes provided far more bishops after the passing of the
statute than they did before it.
We do not expect educated and honest men to descend
to the childish plea of the mere Qhurch Defence lecturers,
whose practice is to pass off cases of friction between
England and the Roman Curia, as proof that England was
not Roman Catholic. No doubt, English Roman Catholics,
in those times, complained of and resented the heavy
monetary exactions of the Papal Court, and the intrusion
of foreigners. But so should we, had we been in their
place, and we should have held, that we were not one whit
less loyally Roman Catholic for doing so. Besides, any
36 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
reflective mind would naturally ask, ' If there be any weight
in this argument, where is it to stop?' "Where, throughout
the whole of Christendom, is the Catholic nation to be
found which has not had its quarrels with the .Roman See ?
France, and Spain, Hungary, Germany, Florence, Venice,
and Naples, and Genoa : who has not heard of their
numerous conflicts with Legates and Bulls, and Eoman
excommunications? Every historian and politician knows
that such elements enter into the staple of the history
of the most loyal Catholic nations. Catholic England was,
of course, no exception ; or, if an exception at all, an excep-
tion only in the sense of being, if anything, somewhat more
patient, forebearing, and reverential and devoted towards
the Holy See than the continental nations, and somewhat
more favoured by Eome in return, as Archbishop Peckham
himself tells us. If this fact of friction can prove that a
nation is not Koman Catholic, it would also prove, that
there never was, and never will be such a thing as a Koman
Catholic country at any time, or any place, in Europe, or
out of it, and consequently that the Eoman Catholic Church
never existed at all. When the Ecclesia Anglicana (the
technical term which Eome still uses to denote the province
of the Catholic Church which lies in England) protests, in
the thirteenth century, and at other times along the line of
her history, that she is a ' member of the Church of Eome,'
will someone be good enough to tell us why she should be
disbelieved any more than the Ecclesia Gallicana, the
Ecclesia Hispanica, the Ecclesia Florentina, or the Ecclesia
Neapolitina of the same period? In a word, it amounts to
this. Are we to believe the modern Anglican, who says
that our ancestors were not Eoman Catholics, and loyal
sons of the Eoman Church ; or are we to believe the
generations of pre-Eeformation Englishmen themselves,
when they protest that they were, and when their bishops
for centuries come forward to attest the fact upon their
solemn oath before the Church and before the country ?
In conclusion, I will put to any favourer of the con-
tinuity theory three simple questions : —
1. For more than four centuries before the Eeformatiou,
THE CONTINUITY THEORY 37
did, or did not the bishops and archbishops of the English
Church publicly swear an oath of obedience and allegiance
to the Roman See ?
2. Are, or are not Catholic bishops and archbishops
who swear obedience to the See of Rome, Roman Catholics ?
3. If the bishops and archbishops of the English
Church for centuries before the Reformation were Roman
Catholics, is it, or is it not absurd to maintain that the
English Church was never Roman Catholic?
Are these sufficiently plain questions, and is it unreason-
able to expect equally plain answers ?
The action and oath-taking of the whole of the bishops
of the Church in this country for four centuries is a tangible
fact and testimony. Let us then keep fast to the point. I
want the objector to fix his attention on those four hundred
years, and then to say straightly — Yes or No — were those
bishops who took the oath for those four centuries, Roman
Catholics or not ? And if not, then explain how a man can
be a Catholic, and in sworn obedience to (not in mere
communion with) the Roman See and not be a Roman
Catholic ?
JOHN S. VAUGHAN.
[ 38 ]
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL
THE natural advantages of Phoenicia having been such
as we described, the people who now occupied it
were in every sense well qualified to make good use of
such conveniences as the land afforded. Their great
source of power as a nation was their navy. Cradled
as they were on the shores of the Erythraean sea, they
were accustomed from very early years to a life on the
ocean, and the name of the 'world's first sailors' is quite
their due. They, and they alone, seem to have possessed
a navy at a time when other great powers, such as
Egypt and Assyria, could not build, much less efficiently man,
a fleet of vessels. Their migration from the shores of the
Persian Gulf did not extinguish these tastes, and their new
homes only tended to foster them more. Their skill as
sailors and navigators earned for them the respect of more
powerful nations, who made use cf them when conducting
expeditions by sea, though the Phoenicians themselves did not
use their fleet so much to acquire new territorial possessions,
except when founding some fresh colony, as for the
development of their trade. That the Egyptian monarch s
made use of their fleet we have good proof in the fact that
in those places where we know Phoenician colonies existed,
we find also relics of Egyptian domination which date back
to the time of the latter country's greatest influence abroad,
namely, to the reigns of Thothmes III. and his successors
of the eighteenth and nineteenth dynasties. Such is the
case at Cyprus, also along the north coast of Africa and
among the islands of the -ZEgean Archipelago. This idea is
confirmed by the fact that Egypt had at that time no fleet
of her own, and yet supported a large fleet upon the Ked
Sea, the navigation of which is very difficult ; many years
later too we find the Bible recording that: ' King Solomon
made a fleet in Asiongaber, which is by Ailath on the shore
of the Ked Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 39
sent his servants in the fleet, that had knowledge of
the sea.'1
It is probable then that the Egyptian sovereigns availed
themselves of the services of these skilled navigators, and
by their means opened up trade with Yemen, and the
almost fabulous Ormuz and Ophir, which were such sources
of wealth to the potentates of those days. Their merchants
thronged the markets of Tyre, as the prophet tells in his
description of the glories and riches of the city : ' The men of
Dedan were merchants in tapestry for seats. Arabia, and
all the princes of Cedar, they were the merchants of thy
hand ; thy merchants came to thee with 'rams, and lambs,
and kids. The sellers of Saba and Keema, they were thy
merchants ; with all the best spices and precious stones, and
gold, which thy set forth in thy market.'2 The power which
thus accrued to Pho3nicia can easily be imagined. They
became the great carriers of the world, the trade of all the
great nations passed through their hands ; there was no other
power to compete with them; they were welcome everywhere,
for, as we have seen, they did not seek territorial aggrandise-
ment, but only commercial influence; they brought wealth,
ease, and refinement wherever they went, and the surround-
ing nations depended almost exclusively upon them for the
luxuries of life. When Sidon fell and Tyre took her place,
the latter's wealth and magnificence became the wonder of
the world, and Ezechiel thus describes the fittings of her
vessels : ' With fir-trees of Sanier they have built thee, with
all thy decks for the sea ; they have taken a cedar from
Libanus to make thee a mast ; they have cut thy oars
from the oaks of Basan ; and they have made thee benches
of Indian ivory, and cabins with things brought from the
islands of Italy. Fine-broidered linen from Egypt was
woven for thy sail to spread on the mast ; blue and purple
from the lands of Elisa were made thy covering. The
inhabitants of Sidon and Aradians were thy rowers; thy wise
men, O Tyre, were thy pilots. The ancients of Gebal and the
wise men thereof furnished mariners for the service of thy
1 3 Kings ix. 26, 27. 2 Ezech. xxvi. 20-22.
40 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
various furniture, all the ships of sea and their mariners
were thy factors.'1 Tin, the metal requisite for making
bronze, was only to be obtained through the hands of
the Phoenicians. Babylon, it is true, had her own native
supply ; but their intercourse with Babylon was difficult, the
distance was great, and caravans were at the mercy of the
roving desert tribes. The Phoenicians devoted their energies
to opening up new sources for the supply of this precious
metal, and then quest led them to the shores of the Euxine,
and thus commenced their immense trade with Armenia,
and the Caucasus. Spain too was visited, and mines opened
there, while the search for the same metal drew them in
after years to our own Cornwall.
Nor while their ships were thus busy at sea, were they
idle on land. Jerusalem, according to Rabbinical tradition,
is the centre of the earth, and be this as it may, the Holy
Land was certainly the centre of the then inhabited world.
Day by day caravans filed forth from Tyre and Sidon, and
the Phoenician cities ; some wended their way southwards,
passing through Palestine and Egypt, or, turning aside at
Jerusalem, crossed the burning desert to the south-east and
directed their steps to Arabia, carrying spices, perfumes,
and precious stones, as long ago we know the Midianite
merchants did when they bought Joseph and sold him into
Egypt. Others, again, leaving Phoenicia would pass through
Damascus, and halting at Palmyra, would strike thence
across the desert for the Euphrates, and so find their way
to Nineveh and Babylon ; while a third party would go
Northward, and entering Hamath would turn aside to the
land of the Hittites, to Tipsah on the Euphrates, till they
came to Armenia and the shores of the Black Sea. Even
India was not unvisited, but yielded its quota to their
markets. Ingots of gold and bars of silver, rare and
precious woods, strange animals, apes and peacocks, spices
and perfumes, cloth and tapestries, ivory in the shape of
huge elephant tusks, and other trophies, constituted their
trade. Nor must we omit slaves, whom they supplied to
1 Ezech. xxvii. 5-9.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 41
the surrounding countries. Circassia, then as now, yielded
a rich harvest in this respect, and the beauty and grace
of the Circassian maidens ensured a high price to their
Phosnician captors.
And we must not imagine that these great merchants
were merely the carriers of other nations. They had their
own wares and their own produce to barter. Glass has
been claimed as their invention, though this can hardly be,
since we find it mentioned in Egyptian inscriptions which
date back so early as the fourth and fifth Dynasties. But
though we may not cede to the Phrenician the glory of having
first invented a commodity without which we should now
find life hardly tolerable, we can yet safely and fairly say
that in the hands of these unrivalled artists, glass became a
medium for obtaining the finest possible results in design
and colouring. Certain processes for the production of
variegated patterns are said, indeed, to have perished with
their inventors, and those who are learned in such matters
affirm that the relics of Phoenician glass-work which remain
to us, surpass in elegance of design and beauty of colouring
the best work of the great Venetian glass-makers. They
seem to have possessed certain secrets of their art, which
were handed down from generation to generation, and
kept as a precious deposit — an heirloom perhaps— in certain
families, just as the Scriptoria and colouring-rooms of the
monasteries jealously guarded their secret processes and
quaint recipes from the vulgar gaze, with the result that
no modern art can give us stained glass which for richness
of tint and fixedness of colour may vie with the work of
our cunning predecessors. For embroidery too and tapestry
work, the Phoenician women were famous in Homer's time.
The poet often mentions Sidonian work as of an especial
value, an offering fit for the gods. Thus Hecuba offers
Minerva a garment embroidered by Sidonian women : —
She meanwhile
Her fragrant chamber sought, wherein were stor'd
Kich garments by Sidonian women worked.
Again, the tin which they imported so largely was not
1 Iliad, vi. 334-336 (Earl of Derby's translation),
42 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
destined merely for Egypt, nor to fashion weapons of war
for the use of their less peaceably-disposed neighbours, for
they themselves were expert workers in all kinds of metals,
particularly bronze. It might seem from the words of
Ezechiel that it was the peculiar province of Carthage to
supply Tyre with the various ores required in this branch of
the arts. ' The Carthaginians, thy merchants, supplied thy
fairs with a multitude of all kind of riches, with silver, iron,
tin, and lead.' l For a long time the Phoenicians seem to have
been the sole providers of bronze implements, and statuary,
and ornaments wrought in this metal together with bronze
vessels and instruments, were exchanged by them in lands
which had not yet emerged from the comparative thraldom
of the stone age. Nor were they less expert in carving
ivory ; and many beautiful examples of their skill in working
in this material have been discovered in the islands of the
Mediterranean ; monuments of their work both in bronze
and ivory may be seen in the Vatican at the Louvre.
These commercial instincts of the Phoenicians had two
main results. One we have already noticed, viz. : the
establishment of a vast naval power, whose rule over the
waters was well-nigh despotic ; the other, the natural
outcome of the former when used by a great trading power,
was the gradual formation of a series of colonies at a com-
paratively short distance from each other, and bound to the
mother city by the ties of mutual support, and the bonds of
commerce. These colonies were spread over the whole
littoral of the Mediterranean, and, though at first merely
small trading stations, became in time the nuclei of
great cities and commonwealths such as Utica and Carthage.
The great work, however, which they achieved, though all
unconsciously, was the civilization of the Western world.
The spread of the arts which they practised so assiduously,
and the gradual diffusion of the more luxurious commodities
of life, exerted a softening influence upon the rude nations of
the West. Greeks and Bomans, Gauls and Britons, all alike
came under the sway of these bold sailors and merchants,
1 Ezech. xxvii. 12.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 43
till bit by bit, first one barrier then another melted away,
new modes of thought, new ideas of the good and beautiful
replaced the rough and uncouth manners of the inhabitants
of the Morea and Italy, preparing them for the day when
Rome and Athens, not Thebes or Tyre, Nineveh or Babylon,
should be the centre ; indeed, disregarding for the moment
all supernatural ends, we may look upon this as the special
purpose for which the Phoanicians were raised up. What
would have become of the arts and treasures of Babylon,
Nineveh, Thebes, and Memphis, had not the Tyrian sailors
disseminated them abroad ? It was through them that the
nations dwelling on the Northern coast of Africa or peopling
the isles of the .ZEgean Sea became more amenable to the
softening influences of literature and art. Sculpture and
architecture, embroidery and weaving, found not only a
home among the Phosnicians, as in Egypt and Assyria, but
also a ready channel through which they might diffuse them-
selves abroad amongst the rude and still unpolished peoples
of the Western Hemisphere. Moreover, their skill as
navigators enabled them to penetrate into portions of the
world which had hitherto been unknown to the peoples of
the East. For many years, indeed, they had confined them-
selves to the Mediterranean and to the Bed Sea ; they seem
to have had a strange fear of passing the Pillars of Hercules,
and for a long time the rivalry subsisting between Tyre and
Carthage prevented the sailors of the former city from
prosecuting their efforts in this direction ; but their genius
for discovery and exploration led them to face dangers,
which the mere love of gain could never have overcome,
and we find them exploring for a considerable distance along
the western coast of Africa, in spite of the rough and heavy
seas to which they were probably but little accustomed.
This then was the nation whose future destinies were to
be so closely linked with those of the Israelites, and we
have given at some length the foregoing account of what
we may call their physical and commercial history, because
we felt that a knowledge of this lends an additional interest
to that portion of their domestic history with which we are
immediately concerned.
44 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
At the time of the Exodus, the Phoenician towns were
evidently at the height of their power ; Josue speaks of
' Great Sidon . . . and the strong city of Tyre,' l and though
these cities were assigned to the tribe of Aser, it seems doubt-
ful whether the latter was not rather subject to his formidable
vassals : ' Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield
dainties to kings,'2 prophesied Jacob; while Moses said of
him : ' Let him dip his foot in oil ; ' 8 words which hardly
imply those warlike qualities requisite for the conquest of
Tyre and Sidon. The relations subsisting between Phoenicia
and Israel are of a very different kind from those which
at different times prevailed between the latter country and the
surrounding nations. Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, when they
interfered in Jewish affairs, were always masters, and always
claimed the rights of suzerains over the chosen people.
Philistia and Syria, by turns conquerors and conquered, and
when conquerors hard taskmasters, were never really subject
to the Hebrews ; if the latter rallied under some one of their
numerous Judges, the invader was merely driven back, the
Israelite did not conquer him and sell him into slavery, as they
did the peoples of Moab, Ammon, and Midian. These latter,
indeed, generally appear in a state of subjection, incomplete
indeed, and not inconsistent with a smouldering discontent
which showed itself in an occasional raid into their neighbour's
territory when bloodshed and rapine marked their route.
But of a very different kind was the relationship of Phoenicia
to Israel. The former never domineered over the Israelite,
nor was she ever his superior. Her influence upon him
was of a totally different stamp. Rivalry there must always
have been between the two nations, but war was not a
Phoenician pastime, nor was territorial aggrandisement her
aim. If she warred against Judaea, her caravans might be
cut off on their way to Ormuz and Ophir, and her inter-
course with Egypt by land might be seriously affected ; hence
the two peoples remained on friendly terms, at least in
outward appearance. But at the bottom of all this external
show, there lay, at least on the part of the Phoenicians, a
1 Jos. six. 28, 29. * Q.eni xijX( 2Q. » Deut. xxxiii. 24.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 45
deep-seated hatred which betrayed itself when Jerusalem
lay humbled in the dust before Nabuchodonosor. Tyre,
though the fallen city's ally against the Babylonian, could
ill conceal her joy at the awful destruction of the ill-fated
city, and her ill-timed exaltation brought down upon her
the terrible, denunciation of Ezechiel : ' Because Tyre hath
said of Jerusalem : Aha, the gates of the people are broken,
she is turned to me ; I shall be filled, now she is laid waste :
therefore thus saith the Lord . . . she shall be a drying-place
for nets in the midst of the sea.' 1 And this hatred cannot
have sprung from commercial jealousy ; rather the contrary,
for Jerusalem bought wealth to Tyre as all the other nations
did : ' Juda and the land of Israel, they were thy merchants
with the best of corn, they set forth balm and honey and oil
and rosin in thy fairs.' 2
What, then, was its origin ? If we read the Book of
Josue attentively we think the clue to this deadly enmity
will appear. The Holy Land was promised to the Israelites,
with the proviso that they should destroy the Chanaanites
from the land, and the Book of Josue is little more than a
list of Israeli tish successes against them ; the abominations
practised by these nations had roused the wrath of the
Lord, and He had determined to extirpate them; the
Israelites, with Josue at their head, were but His humble
instruments ; and hence He said to them : ' Hear, 0 Israel :
Thou shalt go over the Jordan this day, and shall possess
nations very great and stronger than thyself . . . say not
in thy heart when the Lord shall have destroyed them in
thy sight : For my justice has the Lord brought me in to
possess this land, whereas these nations are destroyed for
their wickedness. For it is not for thy justice and the
uprightness of thy heart, that thou shalt go in to possess
their land ; but because they have done wickedly they are
destroyed at thy coming in.' 3 One after another their kings
were slain, and their people put to the sword: 'All tic-
kings,' that Josue slew, 'thirty and one.'4 And who were
these Chanaanites ? We saw at the outset that they were
1 Ez. xxvi. 3-5. a Ez. xxvii. 17. 3 Deut. ix. 1-5. * Jos. xii. 24.
46 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one division of that large body which emigrated into Pales-
tine from the shores of the Erythraean Sea. The Phoenicians
formed the other division of this body ; they settled on the
sea-shore between Lebanon and the Mediterranean, while
their companions chose the plain for their dwelling, and
were cut off by the sword of the Hebrews. Thus the
Chanaanites whom Josue slew were own brothers to the
Phosnicians.
Now we see the cause of the hatred which rankled
under the external friendliness of the Tyrian and the Jew.
Though the Phoenicians had themselves escaped, yet the
fear of the Hebrews had fallen upon them as upon all the
other nations : ' Now when all the kings of the Amorrhites,
who dwelt beyond the Jordan westward, and all the kings
of Chanaan who possessed the places near the great sea,
heard that the Lord had dried up the waters of the
Jordan before the children of Israel, till they passed over,
their hearts failed them, and there remained no spirit
in them, fearing the coming in of the children of Israel.' 1
The roving tribes of the desert were then as now the carriers
and postmen of the country. Here to-day, there to-morrow,
coming and going mysteriously, living from hand to mouth,
and shifting their quarters according to the supply of forage
and water, they made themselves acquainted with every-
thing that was doing, and we can well believe that the news
thus transmitted from one scout to another, and passed on
from camp to camp and from tribe to tribe, was strangely
distorted by the time it had gone the round. The Amalecite
would hear, as he hung upon the skirts of the wearied bands,
how the Hebrews had been fed miraculously with bread
which came down from heaven ; he would hear of waters
gushing from a rock in a place which he had always known
to be parched and arid, but which now tempts him to give its
fortunate possessors battle, and claim it for his own ; while
lastly, some straggler would tell him of the marvellous
scenes on Mount Sinai, and of the promises made to the
people ; they were going to claim a land which they said
1 Jos. v. i.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 47
was theirs by right of promise from God ; they were to drive
out and put to the sword all its occupants, because they had
offended against that same God, and their coming was to be
the signal for fear and horror and dread which should fall
upon all their foes. Thus would the tale pass like lightning
from mouth to mouth, growing daily with each successive
victory gained by the Israelites. ' I know,' said Kahab,
' that the Lord hath given this land to you : for the dread
of you has fallen upon us and all the inhabitants of the land
have lost all strength.'1 And as the list of the slaughtered
kings and pillaged towns daily swelled ; as the danger and
the terror came nearer to Phoenicia ; as they heard of now
one familiar tribe, now another, falling into the hands of the
invader, how deadly a hatred, begotten of fear, would they
conceive for this seemingly ruthless destroyer whose power
was evidently supernatural, whose sword seemed to know
no dulness, whose heart no pity ; who slew women and
children like sheep and oxen, who levelled towns to the
ground after one day's siege, or blew his trumpets and
gained an entrance into the city over its prostrate wall.
But Josue's successes came to an end at last ; the want
of rest and repose, the hitherto unknown joys of a country
flowing with milk and honey enervated the Israelites, and
they settled down to the enjoyments of their new possession
ere their work was completed. The Chanaanite by the sea-
shore had escaped his doom, and henceforward was to dwell
side by side with the destroyer of his brethren. Generation
after generation would pass away, but can we think that the
story of that night of horror would fade from the Phoenician
heart '? ' Who are the Israelites ? ' would the Phoenician
child ask. And the answer would be the oft-told tale of the
Exodus, of the crossing of the Jordan, and of the slaughter
of the tribes ; garnished it would be, doubtless, with strange
and fanciful additions, but still a tale sufficient to kindle
the flame of hatred in the Phoenician heart, sufficient to
make the Tyrian of many years after rejoice in the fall of
Jerusalem. A contributor to Kitto's Biblical Encyclopedia
1 JOB. ii. 9.
48 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
mentions a Phoenician inscription which runs as follows :
' We are those who fled before the face of Joshua the robber
the son of Nun.' Another inscription is given by Suidas :
'We are the Canaanites whom Joshua the robber perse-
cuted.' There seems to be some doubt regarding the
authenticity of the latter ; but even so, the two are interest-
ing as bearing witness to the reality of the terror inspired
by the Israelite invasion, a terror which was, doubtless, part
of the punishments intended for them by Almighty God as
a penalty for their crying offences.
And now Phoenicia has a part to play : ' An angel of the
Lord went up from Galgal to the Place of Weepers, and said,
I made you go out of Egypt, and have brought you into the
land for which I swore to your fathers ; and I promised that
I would not void my covenant with you for ever, on condition
that you should not make a league with the inhabitants of
this land, but should throw down their altars ; and you would
not hear my voice. Why have you done this? Wherefore
I would not destroy them from before your face, that you
may have enemies, and their gods may be your ruin.' x
Phoenicia was to be a thorn in the side of Israel, an instru-
ment in the Lord's hands, slowly but surely working out
the punishment which His erring people had incurred. It
was not to be by force of arms ; it was not to be by intriguing
against her with foreign enemies; it was not to be by cutting
off her supplies, or by destroying her trade with the surround-
ing nations ; it was not to be by harassing guerilla warfare ;
but it was to be by the consuming canker-worn of idolatry,
the seeds of which they planted in the Israelitish heart.
Though it is certain that all the surrounding nations had
contributed their share towards the corruption of Israel,
whose children had been initiated into the rites of innumer-
able strange gods, yet to none was this leavening with heathen
superstitions so directly due as to the Tyrians and Sidonians.
They thus revenged themselves upon the destroyers of their
brethren; but they were the all-unconscious instruments of
the offended God of Israel. He had put life and death before
1 Judges ii. 1-3.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 49
them : ' I call heaven and earth to witness this day, that I
have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing.
Choose, therefore, life that both thou and thy seed may
live.' x And they chose death.
How, then, was this brought about ? Shortly after the
fall of Sidon, which we have described as taking place in
the year 1209 B.C., the Phoenician towns entered into an
offensive and defensive alliance against the Philistines. Of
this league Tyre gradually assumed the hegemony, a position
which she was to retain for many years to come. It is from
this time that her influence upon Israel dates. In the year
1015 B.C., when Solomon was preparing to carry out his
father David's behest, and build the temple so long promised
to the Lord, he made a commercial treaty with Hiram,
King of Tyre, who had been a friend of his father and
himself, sought this alliance with Solomon.2 Perhaps he was
led to this by the increased power of Israel, for Solomon's
dominions now entered from Ailath on the Bed Sea to
Tipsah on the Euphrates, and the kingdom was at the
height of its commercial fame and military renown. For
the Phoenicians, however, the strip of land constituting
Phoenicia proper was sufficient : the seas were their
inheritance, and their indifference to territorial possessions
in Palestine was shown by Hiram's disregard for the gift
which Solomon made him in return for his assistance in
the building of the temple. The king offered him twenty
cities in Galilee, but when the Tyrian monarch came to look
at them, ' they pleased him not, and he called them the
land of Cabul (displeasure) unto this day.' 3 A cursory
reading of the Third Book of Kings might tempt us to
think very little of this famous friendship as affecting the
future of Israel, but readers of the Bible must have been
struck by the seemingly sudden and inexplicable reversion
of the people to idolatry at the mere call of Jeroboam ; and,
perhaps, the clue is to be sought in this friendly alliance
between Solomon and Hiram. First of all we are told that
over one hundred and eighty thousand men were employed
1 Deut. xxx. 19. 2 3 Kin^s v. 1. 3 3 Kings ix. 12, 13.
VOL. III. \)
50 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
in the forests of Lebanon, cutting down trees and hewing
stones for the intended building; and as Solomon was
occupied in building during the best part of his reign of
thirty-nine years, we can safely assign twenty-five years as
the period during which this fellowship lasted. Besides this
we read of united fleets of the two nations trading in the
Red Sea, and even visiting Tharsis together ; 2 and further,
Phoenician and Jewish tradition have it that Solomon at
this time married one of Hiram's daughters. Does not such
an intimacy as this explain the ready response to Jeroboam's
call? Nay, was not this apostacy the natural result of so
deep and so persistent a leavening with idolatrous notions
and superstitions ?
The curse comes upon King Solomon because he has
worshipped Astarte, the goddess of the Sidonians ; adversaries
are raised up against him, and the end of his reign is sorrow
and affliction. Meanwhile Hiram dies, and a period of wild
anarchy succeeds. Usurper after usurper strives to establish
a new dynasty in Tyre, until at last Ethbaal, priest of Astarte,
places himself upon the throne, and succeeds in transmitting
it to his son. Juda and Israel too are torn asunder, and
living at feud with one another ; Jeroboam dies, and after
seme years there succeeds to the throne of Samaria a man
whose wickedness was to surpass even Jeroboam's: 'Achab,
the son of Amri, did evil in the sight of the Lord above all
that were before him.' 8 The advent of Achab marks the
flood-tide of Phoenician influence over Israel. He cemented
the already existing alliance with Tyre by marrying the
impious Jezabel, daughter of Ethbaal, and from that time
onward his career was one of crime and idolatry, than which,
excepting, perhaps, that of Manasses, we have none worse
depicted for us in the pages of Scripture. ' He did more to
provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings
that were before him.' 4 And so universal was the idolatry
which these two companions in iniquity encouraged by their
example, that the Prophet Elias, who seems to have been
especially raised up to combat their evil influence, could cry
1 3 Kings v. 13, 16. » 3 Kings xvi. 30.
2 3 Kings ix. 27, and x. 22. * 3 Kings xvi. 33.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 51
to the Lord : ' The children of Israel have forsaken Thy
covenant, they have destroyed Thy altars, they have slain
Thy prophets with the sword, and I alone am left, and they
seek my life to take it away.' 1
And what was this idolatry which exercised so peculiar
a fascination for the Israelites ? Was it connected with a
ritual more gorgeous or more marvellous than that of the
law? Was it more joyous in its celebration, or better
calculated to appeal to the senses than the religion of
Jehovah? With our tastes and ideas so different from
those of the Jews of old, it is hard, perhaps, to give an
absolutely fair answer to this question, but from the little
we know of the Pho3nician religion we should be inclined
to give a decidedly negative reply. Baal-worship means
the worship of Baalim or Gods, for Baal is a Hebrew
word meaning ' master,' and each god was a master or Baal
in the sense that each ruled in his own particular sphere of
influence. This sphere of influence is sometimes philo-
sophical, sometimes religious, but more often merely local.
Hence we hear of Baal-Phegor, Baal-Tsour (Tyre), Baal-
Sidon, and even of Baal-Zebub (the Lord of Flies). All
these Baalim were, however, but personifications of one
Primordial Deity, who at Tyre was known under the
name of Melkartb. This name Lemormant thinks to be
merely a corruption of trrv&p, Melek-Erath, the king
or Baal of the city. Melkarth retains this name merely
as the tutelar deity of the city, but according as he
assumes other functions so he assumes other names, and
we hear of Baal-Chon (the Lord of Life), and of the
awful Baal-Moloch (the Lord of Destruction). The rites
and ceremonies of this Baal-worship seem, with few
exceptions to have been of a very gloomy description.
Fanaticism and superstition were the order of the day, and,
as we see in the contest between Elias and the prophets of
Baal, the latter's votaries were compelled to cut themselves
severely, while many of the gods were thought to demand
from their devout clients frequent and terrible scourgings.
r3 Kings xix. 14.
52 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
One rite, however, stands out from amidst the surrounding
gloom, and excites our attention by the poetical myth with
which it is connected. Famous amongst the sidereal gods
of the Phosniciaus stands Adonis or Thammuz. According
to the legend, he is beloved by the goddess known as
Baalith ; but at the end of spring, when summer killed the
spring, Adonis was slain, funeral gatherings took place,
women wept, and lamented for Adonis, and offered funeral
baked meats to the goddess until the god was brought back to
life. Again he died in the autumn, when the autumn killed
the summer, and at this season, in order to aid the people in
their fantastic devotions, the priests took advantage of a
curious phenomenon, frequently observable during the year,
but more especially during autumn : for then the rivers
were at flood, and, charged with the rich red soil of the
hill country, poured their seemingly blood-stained waters
into the sea, tinging the azure waves of the Mediterranean
with blood, for many miles down the coast. This was the
blood of Adonis, and consequently lamentations for his
untimely fate occupied the time of flood, till the waters at the
river's mouth regained their normal colour, and the priests
declared that the god had risen again and rejoined his bride.
Upon this announcement a scene of licentious revelry
replaced the gloomy celebrations of the preceding days, and
the whole country round was given up to orgies of the
wildest and most revolting description. Such was the story
of Adonis, and the ceremonies connected with his worship
are alluded to by the prophet Ezechiel : * And he said to me,
If thou turn tbee again, thou shalt see greater abominations
which these commit. And he brought me in by the door of
the gate of the Lord's house, which looked to the north ; and
behold women sat there mourning for Adonis.'1 But this
legend, which has some of the glamour of poetic imagery
thrown around it, stands out by the way of contrast with the
surrounding abominations. Fire was supposed to be the
principle of many of their deities, and hence arose the
iJEzech. viii. 13,
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 53
awful sacrifice to Moloch, which Milton so powerfully
describes : —
First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood
Of human sacrifice and parents' tears,
Though for the noise of drums and timbrels loud,
Their children's cries unheard, that passed through fire
To his grim idol.
It is awful to think that so hideous an idol should ever
have reared its ghastly head near to God's temple in
Jerusalem !
This, then, was the gloomy religion which the Phoenicians,
combined indeed with other nations, introduced into Israel ;
and it is hard to understand how so awful, so depressing,
and so licentious a form of worship can ever have taken hold
of a religious-minded people like the Hebrews. Terrible
indeed was the denunciation fulminated by the Lord against
the guilty couple who had led all Israel astray : ' And of
Jezabel also the Lord spoke, saying : The dogs shall eat
Jezabel also, in the field of Jesrahel. If Achab die in the
city, the dogs shall eat him ; but if he die in the field, the
birds of the air shall eat him. Now, there was not such
another as Achab. who was sold to do evil in the sight of the
Lord, for his wife Jezabel set him on.'1 But the evil was
not to cease with them. If Israel was steeped in Baal-
worship ; Juda had as yet escaped comparatively unscathed,
though tainted, indeed, by the idolatry introduced by
Solomon. But in an evil day, Joram, the son of Josaphat
married the daughter of Achab and Jezabel.2 He was head-
strong and wilful, but Jezabel's daughter had inherited all
her mother's wickedness, and, if possible, a double share of
her strength of character. In both these daughters of Tyre
we see the same domination over their husbands : the weak
Achab was led on by Jezabel, the headstrong Joram was
ruled by Athalia : ' He walked in the ways of the kings of
Israel as the house of Achab had done, for his wife was a
daughter of Achab, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.'3
Baal-worship is established, the temple is profaned, the
sacrifice ceases, the whole land groans under the curse of
1 3 Kings xxi. 23-25. 24 Kings viii. 18. » 2 Paralip. xxi, 6.
54 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
idolatry. But worse is to follow, Jorain dies and is succeeded
by Ochozias his son. ' He also walked in the ways of the
house of Achab, for his mother pushed him on to do wickedly.'
He, however, met his death at the hands of the Syrians ; and
his mother, worthy daughter of Jezabel, added to the already
long list of her crimes by a butchery which has but few
rivals in the blood-stained history of oriental despotism.2
' Athalia, his mother, seeing that her son was dead, rose up
and killed all the royal family of the house of Jorarn.'
She then established herself upon the throne, and for six
years was free to indulge her idolatrous tastes till she met
her well-merited death at the hands of Joiada, the High
Priest, who had sheltered Joas, the son of Ochozias, when
he escaped the slaughter of his brethren.3 Such were the
evils which this Tyrian alliance had brought upon the chosen
people. The curse, as foretold long ago, had come upon
them : — ' If you will embrace the errors of these nations
that dwell among you, and make marriages with them, and
join friendships ; know ye for a certainty that the Lord your
God will not destroy them before your face, but they shall
be a pit and a snare in your way, and a stumbling-block at
your side, and stakes in your eyes, till He take you away and
destroy you from off this excellent land which He hath given
you.' * The day of retribution was coming on apace. The
second Assyrian Empire was daily gathering strength,
Salmanaser and Sargon would soon be before the walls of
Samaria ; the terrible name of Sennacherib would soon strike
terror to the heart of Ezechias, and Jerusalem was preparing
for Nabuchodonosor and Babylon.
To return to the history of Tyre. From the fall of Sidon,
in 1209 B.C., to the foundation of Carthage, in 872 B.C., may
be reckoned the period of Tyre's greatest glory. But just as
Sidon yielded to the growing importance of her daughter,
so Tyre, in turn, paled before the splendour of Carthage.
The history of the foundation of Carthage is briefly as
follows : King Ethbaal, as we have seen, had succeeded in
founding a dynasty which endured for four generations. The
1 2 Paralip. xxii. 3. » 2 Paralip. xxiii. 16.
3 2 Paralip. xxii. 10. * Jos. xxii. 12, 13.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 55
third of these was that of Mathan, who died leaving two
children, Piimelioun and Elissar: the former is better known
as Pygmalion, the latter as the famous Dido of the Aeneid.
Their father had wished them to reign conjointly, but this
the democratic party in the state refused to allow, and
seated Pygmalion on the throne to the exclusion of his
sister. The latter married, but her husband was shortly
afterwards slain by her brother's orders, and Elissar, in fear
of a like fate, fled with great numbers of the aristocratic
party to Cambe in Africa. Cambe had been founded a few
years before by Sidon, but was as yet undeveloped owing to
the flourishing condition of the neighbouring Tyrian colony
of Utica; it was now, however, to be changed into the historical
city of Carthage, which name is probably a corruption
of nnnTy — New City. From this time Tyre's importance
gradually waned : she was still rich and opulent for many
years, but Carthage was a rival power in the heart of her
colonies.
Hitherto the only troubles which we have seen inter-
fering with the happiness and prosperity of Phrenicia have
been either periods of revolution and anarchy amongst
themselves, or occasional predatory incursions on the part
of the Philistines. With the Egyptians the Phosnicians
always managed to remain at peace, even when the former
marched year by year through Palestine to fight against the
warlike Hittites on the Orontes ; for they never despised the
easy though ignoble means of pacifying such formidable foes,
and prompt submission with large payments from their
treasury always enabled them to rest in security. But a
power now comes upon the scene which is to change the
destinies of the nations. About the year 900 B.C. the king-
dom of Assyria awoke from the state of lethargy in which
it had so long lain, and its kings began a career of conquest
which lasted for close upon three hundred years. Year after
year the barbarian monarch would cross the Euphrates at
the head of his army and direct his steps to Syria or Palestine
or Asia Minor. Towns were burned and pillaged, cities
levelled to the ground, and whole peoples carried of into
a cruel captivity. About the year 880 B.C., Assurnazipal,
56 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the reigning monarch, turned his attention to Phoenicia and
exacted a heavy tribute from the cities of the district in
silver and gold, steel and bronze, besides implements of
iron, curious woods and rich stuffs. From that time till
the end of the Assyrian Empire, Phoenicia was forced to
acknowledge its sovereignty, with the exception of one
short interval ; and when Nineveh crumbled away, its
place as the ' hammer of nations,' was taken by Babylon,
whose king, Nabuchodonosor, wreaked a fearful vengeance
upon the luckless Tyre for refusing to pay the tribute yearly
demanded of her. From the year 720 B.C. the history of
Tyre is practically the history of her sieges ; and perhaps no
city in the world, not even excepting Troy, ever endured
such terrible blockades or defied for so many years the efforts
of a beleaguering army. In that same year, 720 B.C., the
famous Sargon appeared before the city walls. The other
Phoenician cities, and even Palae-Tyrus itself, the portion
of the city which stood upon the mainland, bowed before the
invader, and even helped him in his assault upon the island
citadel. Perhaps the reason of this defection may be sought
in the hegemony of Tyre : she may, as head of the league,
have exacted a deference and submission wThich galled upon
the neighbouring towns. But, though everywhere else
successful, and fresh from the storming of Samaria, which
his predecessor Salmanasar had been besieging for nearly three
years, Sargon was not so successful here. For five years
his armies encompassed the beleaguered city, but the island-
fortress defied all his efforts, and the baffled monarch was at
length compelled to draw off his forces and retire discomfited.
A few years afterwards, however, the city succumbed before
the terrible Sennacherib, who stormed the city in the year
700 B.C. Elouli, the same king who had so successfully
withstood Sargon twenty years before, threw himself into
his citadel, and prepared to defend it with the same vigour as
he had shown against his assailant's father ; but the assault
of Sennacherib overwhelmed him, and the unhappy island
was compelled to surrender. Sidon, as soon as the avenger
had departed, claimed the hegemony which she had lost
more than six hundred years before, and after a few years
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 57
she ventured to refuse the annual tribute demanded by the
Assyrian Court ; but the reigning monarch, Assurbanipal,
stormed the town and decimated the inhabitants.
But Tyre, though beaten, was not destroyed. She still
retained her fleet, and Sennacherib would seem to have
treated her with leniency. Her trade and her wealth
remained to her, and she pursued her commerce beyond the
seas with the same ardour as before. Yet the end of her
disasters had not come, she had still to endure a siege which
surpassed all its predecessors in severity. The despotism of
Nineveh had been succeeded by that of Babylon, and from
the year 609 to 588 B.C. the Chaldeans kept up a continual
succession of incursions into Palestine ; until finally, in 588,
they took Jerusalem,and carried its inhabitants into captivity.
Jerusalem had leagued with Egypt and Tyre against the
oppressors, and Nabuchodonosor was bent on the destruction
of the coalition. As soon, therefore, as he had crushed
Judaea, he turned his arms against Tyre. Ezechiel had
prophesied the siege with all its horrors, for Tyre had
rejoiced at her rival's fall, and therefore the wrath of God
was directed against her : ' Behold, I will bring against Tyre,
Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, the king of kings. . . .
and he shall set engines of war and battering-rams against
thy walls, and shall destroy thy towers with his arms . . .
with the hoofs of his horses he shall tread down all thy
streets ; thy people he shall kill with the sword, and thy
famous statues shall fall to the ground. They shall waste
thy riches, they shall make a spoil of thy merchandise ; and
they shall destroy thy walls, and pull down thy fine houses ;
and they shall lay thy stones, and thy timber, and thy dust,
in the midst of the waters/ * For thirteen years the hapless
city resisted all the efforts of the besiegers, but the end
came at last. According to ecclesiastical historians
Nabuchodonosor succeeded in taking the city in the year
574 B.C.; but Chaldean accounts, which the Greek historians
follow, say that the mighty Assyrian found the task beyond his
power, and had to retire from before the walls as Sargon had
1 Ezech. xxvi. 7-12.
58 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
done more than one hundred years before. Ezechiel,
however, distinctly prophesied the capture of the city by
Nabuchodonosor, as we have seen, and St. Jerome states it
explicitly in his introduction to his commentary upon that
prophet . At the same time it may be pointed out, that one
passage in Ezechiel would seem to imply that the city was
taken after all by the Assyrian monarch : ' Son of man,
Nabuchodonosor, king of Babylon, hath made his army to
undergo hard service against Tyre; every head was made
bald, and every shoulder was peeled ; and there hath been
no reward given him nor his army for Tyre, for the service
that he had rendered me against it.'1 It is quite certain that
Nabuchodonosor would not have in any way spared the
city or its unfortunate inhabitants if he had once penetrated
within its walls after such a lengthy and exhausting siege; and
hence it may be well supposed that the city was so impoverished
as to afford little or no booty to the expectant soldiery.
It has been even suggested that an earthquake resulting
in the total, or at least partial submersion of the city, similar
to that which took place in the year 1837, bore an important
part in the reduction of the place ; and certainly the prophet's
words would seem to bear this out : ' For thus saith the
Lord God, when I shall make thee a desolate city, like the
cities that are not inhabited, and shall bring the deep upon
thee, and^many waters shall cover thee ; ' 2 and again : ' Now
thou art destroyed by the sea, thy riches are at the bottom
of the waters, and all the multitude in the midst of thee is
fallen.' 3 This would explain why Tyre yielded no reward
to Nabuchodonosor — ' thy riches are at the bottom of the
waters.' But Ezechiel's prophecy does not end with the
capture of the city by the Assyrian, as St. Jerome seems to
have expected, when he remarked with astonishment, that in
his days, Tyre, in seeming defiance of the prophet, was the
most beautiful city in Phoenicia. The destruction of the
city by the sea may be only now accomplished, and certainly,
in spite of her reverses, Tyre seemed possessed of a hydra-
like vitality which only the incursion of the sea could crush.
In the year 538 B.C., she came under the Persian domination,
1 Ezech. xxiv. 18. « Ezech. xxvi. 19. 3 Ezech. xxvii. 34.
PHOENICIA AND ISRAEL 59
and though possessing only a shadow of her formsr greatness,
she was still comparatvely free and wealthy ; she even
ventured to rebel against Xerxes when he wasted the
Phoenician fleet in his attack upon Greece ; but the Persian
despot at once crushed the revolt and punished the city,
Sidon, which had joined with Tyre, suffering severely. Two
hundred years later we find the indomitable city ready to
stand another historical siege at the hands of Alexander.
He succceeded in taking the stronghold by filling up the
intervening sea with a gigantic mole ; he then garrisoned it
with a body of Carian soldiery, who made such good use of
the immense strength of its naturally impregnable position,
that eighteen years later it was hotly besieged and equally
stoutly defended by Alexander's rival generals. From this
time we hear but little of Tyre till the time of our Lord.
But how sad a change is revealed by St. Luke's words in the
Acts ! How terrible a fall ! How awful a fulfilment of the
prophecy ! Accustomed to domineer over Jerusalem and
the neighbouring cities, the canker-worm of pride had eaten
its way into her heart : ' Thy heart was lifted up with thy
beauty ; thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty ; ' ' the
prince of Tyre had said : ' I am God, and I sit in the chair of
God in the heart of the sea,' 2 but now he hails his Idumean
conqueror with fulsome praise : ' It is the voice of a god.'3
And so the glory of Tyre gradually waned. In the time
of the Crusaders it lived to endure yet another siege, bat has
since dwindled away, till, in the year 1837, it was almost
completely submerged by the inrush of the sea consequent
upon an earthquake. Some forty years ago but little re-
mained beyond a few scattered fishermen's huts, whose
owners unconsciously fulfilled the ancient prophecy : ' She
shall be a drying-place for nets in the midst of the sea,
because I have spoken it, saith the Lord God.' 4 ' What city
is like Tyre, which is become silent in the midst of the
sea ? ' 5
HUGH POPE, O.P.
1 Ezech. xxviii. 17. 2 Ezech. xxviii. 2. 3 Acts. xii. 22.
4 Ezech. xxvi. 5. 5 Ezech. xxvii. 32.
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF
MOTION1
WHAT a grand idea of motion must arise in the mind
of a man who watches the sun and the innumerable
other orbs in the heavens and fancies that all are
revolving round him ! But cruel astronomy tells him
that, though magnificent, it is all a dream ; that it is he
that moves with the earth while it spins round on its axis ;
and that the apparent motion of the heavenly bodies is,
consequently, a mere illusion. One solid fact, however, he
has got : the earth moves on its axis. Other real motions,
also, he may find in sufficient abundance to enable him to
paint anew, as it were, a lasting picture of far greater
grandeur than the one that was shattered. The earth, in
company with the other planets, moves round the sun ; and
it is not unlikely that the solar system is only a unit in a
grand sidereal or cosmic system revolving round some undis-
covered centre. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are
violent motions and proofs of more violent motion in the
earth's interior. And on the earth's crust what an amount
of motion is discernible ! The restless waves and the resist-
less tides show forth most convincingly the motion of the
illimitable sea. What a cycle of motion there is in the
water that rises in vapour from the ocean, falls in soft flakes
of beautiful crystals on the ground, is melted, and again
carried off to its source ! The storm that dashes the angry
breakers against the rocky shore, and the cyclone that tears
up trees and overthrows houses in its course, proclaim that
there can be considerable motion even in the impalpable air.
In the vegetable world what an amount of motion there is
in the unceasing production and decaying of plants I What
a flow of motion there is in the springtime, and what an
1 Motion : Its Origin and Conservation. An Essay by the Rev. Walter
McDonald, D.D., Prefect of the Dunboyne Establishment, St. Patrick's College,
Maynooth. Browne & Nolan, Ltd., Nassau-street, Dublin.
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 61
ebb in the autumn ! Who can count the motions, or even
varieties of motions, of animals ? And, then, in each
animal and plant there is another cycle of motion from the
time matter is taken in as food until it is discharged as
waste. All this science tells to the disillusioned star-gazer,
as if to compensate him for the vision of glory she dashed
from him. She tells him, moreover, that the several chemical
and physical phenomena of gravitation, electricity, and the
rest, are all modes of motion, and that even the most
unsuspected and quiescent particles of matter are simply
seething with motion. And, above and beyond all, there is
the motion of man, who not only moves, but is master of
his motion. Everywhere and in everything motion may be
discerned. What is the nature and origin of motion, and
how is it kept on ? These are the main questions discussed
in the volume under review.
It must not be supposed that Dr. McDonald's book is a
condensation of the various physical treatises, with a little
metaphysics thrown in to give consistency, and that conse-
quently one need only obey the index to find a convenient
explanation of any physical phenomenon such as capillary
attraction or the Rontgen rays. Motion, in general, is the
subject of the essay, not the particular kinds of motion. These,
however, are frequently referred to either as illustrations or
to serve as the basis of an argument. The term motion
has two meanings. In its wider sense it means any change
of state or condition ; in its stricter and ordinary sense it
means merely change of place. As all other motions are
either founded on or analogous to local motion, the consi-
deration of the latter alone is regarded as of fundamental
importance. Accordingly the author restricts the inquiry;
though, indeed, as may be expected, he frequently passes the
bounds he has set himself.
How, then, is motion to be accounted for ? To answer
this question two theories are propounded — the dynamic
and the kinetic. It would be a mistake to assume that
these names are well known in the schools, and that a
formal comparison of their merits is to be found in every
hand-book of scholastic philosophy. Dr. McDonald, in
62 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
contrasting them, has, to a large extent, broken new ground.
He has, at all events, given a name to the theory he advo-
cates. This theory he outlined in a paper read at the
International Catholic Scientific Congress, held at Freiburg
last August. After the newspaper accounts appeared he
had ample reason to complain, with Mr. Balfour, that the
title of his essay had attracted more notice than the con-
tents. Everybody was inquiring what a kinetic theory of
activity meant. One curious wight from the antipodes even
went so far as to ask : ' Who was Kinetic ? ' The reprint of
the paper in the October issue of the I. E. RECOKD disclosed
to the lonely traveller and all other inquirers the inmost
nature of the kinetic theory.
It is scarcely necessary to repeat here the expositions of
the rival theories. The question at issue is : Is there in
nature, corresponding to the idea of force, an active capacity
not merely notionally, but really distinct, on the one hand,
from the motion it causes, and, on the other hand, from the
substance and its quality ? All Catholic philosophers, except,
perhaps, a few followers of Descartes, agree that substance,
qualities, and motion have a real existence. The only
controversy is about the existence of ' force.'
In writing this essay Dr. McDonald had two objects
in view. He wished, of course, to prove that the
kinetic theory is true; but his primary object was to
show, that it is not opposed to Catholic teaching; and
that, consequently, the door of the Church is not to be
shut against men of science who are driven, or fancy they
are driven, by scientific investigations to hold that there is
no such thing as force. There is, unfortunately, too great
a tendency to brand with some severe censure all with
whom we cannot agree. The stern legislation of the
Church is an indication of the extent to which this tendency
prevailed even in the holy men who carried on the con-
troversy De Auxiliis. Whether Dr. McDonald has proved
his theory or not, he has shown, at least, that it is not
uncatholic, and that anyone who will be censured for holding
it will suffer in excellent company; for, by an examina-
tion of several passages from Aristotle and St. Thomas,
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 63
he shows, that the great masters of philosophy did not
believe in the existence of a reality called force. Clearly
the passages cannot be cited and examined here. One
extract, however, must not be omitted. It is the distinction
of Ferrariensis which is so useful in explaining and defend-
ing the kinetic theory : —
God causes the act of the will immediately with an
immediateness of virtue, but not with an immediateness of
supposit, as has' been already shown with regard to the
other faculties. On the other hand, the will causes the
same volition immediately with an immediateness of supposit,
but not with an immediateness of virtue.
Some persons may be tempted to despise Ferrariensis
as an obscure theologian ; but the present Supreme Pontiff
commends him specially as a channel through which the
pure stream of St. Thomas's doctrine is transmitted to
succeeding generations. The above extract is found in
page 70 ; the preceding page contains the same truth
worded differently by St. Thomas himself. The distinc-
tion made by Ferrariensis is so clear, to anyone who knows
the meaning of the technical philosophical terms employed,
that explanation is unnecessary. His manifest meaning is,
that just as God creates the substance and its faculty, so, too
He puts into them the motion in virtue of which the substance
is moving. The actual motion, then, is immediately from
God and the creature, but with the difference already
indicated. Fr. Dummermuth's attempt to explain the
distinction from a dynamist's point of view only strengthens
one's convictions that Ferrariensis clearly believed in
the truth of the kinetic theory. From the testimony
of the physical experts and witnesses cited in the
seventh chapter, even dynamists ought to be convinced
that, at least, modern scientists are against them. The
word 'force' is almost banished already from scientific
terminology, and ' potential energy ' is fast sharing the
same fate. The undoubted tendency is to reduce all
physical activity to kinetic energy, or energy of motion.
Hence Dr. McDonald has done good service in informing
men of science, that they are merely returning to the
64 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
teaching of the Angelic Doctor; and that, accordingly, even
the most conscientious Catholic scientist may pursue his
investigations on these lines without fear of incurring
theological censure.
Apart from the weight of authority, ancient, mediaeval,
and modern, in favour of the kinetic theory, there is a great
profusion of what may be called intrinsic arguments scattered
throughout the essay. The publication of some of these
reasons in the Freiburg paper makes it unnecessary to
advance proof here, except for form's sake.
In the first place, then, the very simplicity of the kinetic
theory ought to recommend it considerably, especially to
those who respect the principle of parcimony, or ' Ockham's
razor,' as it is sometimes called : ' Beings are not to be
multiplied beyond necessity.' Unless the existence of a being
is evident to some one of our faculties, it must be proved ;
and unless valid proof be forthcoming nobody ought to
assert that the being exists. Now, force is surely of this
class. None of our faculties tells us of its existence. Its
ardent advocates may be beguiled into the belief that
consciousness is a witness in its behalf; but they are
mistaken. Its existence, then, must be proved ; a case must
be made out in its favour. To establish the kinetic theory
one has only to rebut that case.
Dynamists would say that if there is nothing in the
acting agent but its substance and faculty, created by God,
and its motion, infused by God, occasionalism must
be admitted, and the freedom of the human will cannot
be defended ; and, consequently, there is a manifest neces-
sity for something in addition, namely, force. In reply it
is urged that the admission of force militates very strongly
against one of the most important dogmas in theology,
namely, the universality of the immediate Divine concur-
rence with second or created causes in their actions. Thus
though introduced for the purpose of smoothing away
difficulties, it is naughty enough to excite new troubles.
Is not semi-pelagianism as false as occasionalism ? Moreover,
the charges against the kinetic theory cannot be sustained;
for according to that theory bodies really act efficiently, and
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 65
man may act freely. As an agent exists by the being God
has given it, why may it not act by the motion God has
given it ? We get our bodies and souls from God, yet we
call them our own. The motion, too, that God gives us we
may call our own. Hence as we truly are, we truly act.
Where, then, is the occasionalism or the Calvinism ? One
may be assisted in forming a judgment in this matter
by reflecting on the distinction of Ferrariensis, and by
meditating on the words of St. Paul, Phil. ii. 13, " For it is
God who worketh in you both to will and to accomplish
according to His will."
The charge of destruction of human liberty is equally
unfounded. What is required for liberty ? In this case, as
in the case of force, consciousness may, like a most obliging
witness, give, or appear to give, information suggested by
the questioner. Hence we ought to be on our guard. From
a consideration of the free act of the will we might easily
be led to believe in the existence of a cluster of subsidiary
acts, and from frequently thinking over them we may be con-
vinced that consciousness testifies to their actual existence.
May it not be that the charge of destruction of liberty that
is levelled against the kinetic theory is based on a misleading
analysis of the free act itself? What, as a matter of fact,
is required for liberty? Is not the agent acting freely when
at each moment of his action he may cease to act ? If that
be so, the kinetic theory certainly does not clash with the
doctrine of human liberty. Minor counts in the indictment
against it may be easily disposed of. Where, then, is the
necessity for this mysterious entity called force ? Notwith-
standing all its persistence, it does not stand the application
of the old Franciscan's ' razor.'
In proving and rendering intelligible the received
doctrine of the positive conservation of all things by the
Creator, the kinetic theory has a great advantage over its
rival. One of its upholders would have no difficulty in
giving the desired reply to the question of St. Paul (1 Cor. iv.) :
' What hast thou that thou hast' not received ? ' A reservation
need not be made in favour of the actual exercise of that
active capacity called force. An examination of the Divine
VOL. III. K
6(5 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
concurrence, too, is rendered less perplexing when one is
spared the necessity of inquiring how God immediately
concurs with the creature in that something, whatever it is,
contributed by that same active capacity.
The only other argument that need be discussed is the
argument from resistance. The argument is given at length
in the October number. The reasons given, together with
the authority of Aristotle, St. Thomas, and Suarez, ought to
place beyond doubt the proposition that resistance is due,
not to motion, but to absence of motion ; so that, if a body
were perfectly immovable, it would offer absolute resistance.
How, then, can resistance be a force ? Just imagine the
very perfection of active capacity exerting all its energy in
doing absolutely nothing !
But someone may say Dr. McDonald's argument was
wide of the mark. Formal resistance clearly is not
a force ; dynamists could not say that ; they can only mean
that the complex phenomenon — the rebound — is caused by
force. Let us summon as a witness Father Tillrnan Pesch,
one of the most recent and most outspoken of the
dynamists. In the Institutiones Philosopliiae Naturales,
vol. i., n. 69, this scholion is found : —
All forces of (inorganic) bodies are conveniently reduced
to three : nistive force (cohesion, expansion, resistance,
elasticity, repulsion), conserving force (inertia, reactio), communica-
tive force (chemical affinity, attraction, impulsion).1
This evidence of Father Pesch, this enumeration of
resistance, cohesion, and elasticity, as three distinct forces,
drives home and clinches, as it were, Dr. McDonald's
argument.
Almost innumerable points in the essay call for special
notice. There is scarcely an interesting question in theology,
philosophy, or what some persons would call the philosophy
of physics, that is not referred to. A volume would be
required for even a brief survey of them all. Only a few
can be selected, and the consideration of these must be very
meagre.
.THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 67
Theological questions, such as the physical causality of
the sacraments, may be left to theologians. To them, too,
may be entrusted an appropriate response to the strictures
passed in the 8th chapter, especially on moral theologians,
for their treatment of that "most shamefully ill-used " word,
occasion. The ultimate explanation of motion — God creates
a body now, now, &e., or here, here, &c., in adjacent
moments or places, as it were — seems to reduce motion to
mere resultance. This conclusion, however, is not the
genuine view of the author, for he repeatedly insists on the
reality of motion — the ' form in flux' of St. Thomas.
His notion of moral causes, and the explanation of
physical phenomena that arises from that notion, are, to say
the least, wonderfully novel. According to the ordinary
acceptation of the term a moral cause is one that causes an
effect through the medium of the free-will of another agent,
i.e., by persuading, threatening, or otherwise inducing a free
agent to produce the effect. In Dr. McDonald's view any-
thing that may have a right may be a moral cause, and
everything, and perhaps even nothing, may have a right.
An example from page 230 will make the view and its
application clearer. The question is — how is the reflection
of light to be explained ? —
We find ... it is a question of right. Now, of these rights
there are two : one in the vibrating ether to continue to exist
somewhere ; the other in the mirror, to exclude the ether from
its place. . . . (God) is bound to act in such a manner as will
secure to both substances the rights He gave to each.
In the next page he explains this seemingly ridiculous
use of the term right :—
Conservation is natural, and therefore due, in some way, even
to brute matter. ... If a vibration or a mirror may have some-
thing due to it, it has the same thing undoubtedly in some way as
its right.
Even granting the lawfulness of using the term right in
this sense, what does the explanation of the phenomenon
amount to ? Simply this : — It is natural to the ray of light
to go on in its course : it is natural to the mirror to block
the way ; hence God must reflect the ray of light. Not
68 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
merely that, but God sends back the ray of light in such a
manner that the incident and reflected ray have a common
plane with the normal to the reflecting surface, and both
make equal angles with that normal. Surely this solution
merely leaves the question as it found it.
This same doctrine of rights is applied to solve another
difficulty. All Catholics hold that this material universe is
limited in extent ; actual space, therefore, is finite : —
Thus far extend, thus far thy bounds ;
This be thy just circumference, O World !
On the other hand, according to the kinetic theory,
motion is never converted into potential energy or into
force ; whenever a body in motion strikes another body, the
two form one for the time being ; the motion of the first
passes into the second, which then has motion in itself.
Whether it will move with molar or molecular motion after
that, depends on its qualities; but move it will, assuredly.
Thus motion is never lost ; it is always conserved by the
Prime Mover. When this motion arrives at the ' just
circumference ' of the world, what happens ? Is the motion
lost ? or does the moving mass protrude beyond the
bounds ? '
No, answers Dr. McDonald, and rightly ; but his
reason seems queer. The ' pure space ' beyond is endowed
with impenetrability, resists the vibrations, and back they
go, as from a most perfect reflector, with undiminished
vigour ' to journey through the aery gloom,' until they are
again repelled at some other point of the impassable ' cir-
cumference.' The ultimate reason of this is, of course, the
decree of the Creator and Conservor of the universe. As a
more proximate reason the impenetrability of ' pure space '
is useless ; for ' pure space ' is nothing, and how can nothing
sustain an accident ? In exploring the mystery of the
Eucharist Dr. McDonald confounds 'pure space' with
' real space.' In the Eucharistic species there is actual
extension, and therefore real space. The impenetrability
of ' pure space ' is not an explanation of the extraordinary
phenomenon described above. Impenetrable nothingness
THE ORIGIN AND CONSERVATION OF MOTION 69
is a fine expression, but it has no meaning. A more satis-
factory explanation may, perhaps, be derived from an inquiry
into the optical phenomenon known as total reflection by
refraction.
. The finiteness of the space allotted to this review is an
insuperable obstacle to the working out of that explanation,
as well as to the consideration of several most interesting
subjects discussed in the essay, such as the production of
forms accidental and substantial, the nature of vital actions,
the temporal beginning of mechanical motion, the possibility
of an infinite series, and its effect on the dynamists' proofs
of the existence of God.
The reader may not embrace the author's conclusions ;
he may even regard them as not merely unproved and
opposed to the traditional teaching of the schools, but as
utterly subversive of the most sacred and fundamental
truths. He cannot, however, deny that the attempt to
harmonize the immutable great truths of religion with the
findings of the physical sciences is a noble work ; that it
was undertaken in obedience to a noble and most charitable
motive ; that extensive research, prolonged labour, and
vigorous, penetrating thought were lavished upon it ; that
an earnest desire, at all hazards , to discover and embrace
the truth is manifested from beginning to end. Neither can
he withhold a tribute of gratitude to one who made him
think for himself, not merely by force of brilliant example,
but by taking him by the hand, as it were, and in a simple,
familiar, almost colloquial style, leading him, confident and
undismayed, into a consideration of the most profound and
perplexing problems that can engage the attention of the
human mind. He must be very exceptional, too, if he can
lay down the essay without regret, or without giving expres-
sion to an ardent wish that the distinguished head of the
Theological Faculty of Maynooth may, at no distant date,
favour him with another intellectual treat by publishing his
views on some one of the many subjects of interest, that,
like nuggets in a gold mine of surpassing richness, are met
with in such abundance in this remarkable volume.
M. BARRETT.
[ 70 ]
IHotes anb (Queries
THEOLOGY
COMMUNION OF THE SICK
EEV. DEAR SIR, — "With reference to the concluding remarks
of your reply to ' Sacerdos Americanus,' in the November issue
of your valuable journal, may I ask what construction ought to
be put on No. 54 of the Acts and Decrees of the Synod of
Maynooth.
In virtue of the 3rd Statute of the Dublin Dioc. Synod of
1879, the old rule or principle, ' de S. Viatico ministrando,'
as given in Dublin Dioc. Synod of 1831, seems to have been
modified or abrogated to make room for the above No. 54.
As the old text of 1831 clearly embodied one of the opinions
of theologians — allowing Communion but once a-week — the
communior opinio, says St. Alphonso, the only admissible one
according to de Lugo, the question seems to me to arise, which of
the remaining more benign opinions — three, I think — might more
likely be understood as aimed at, and thus recommended in
practice to the Dublin priests, secular and regular, under the
Synodal enactment (No. 54) now in force 'that Communion or
Holy Viaticum may be given, not only once a week, as formerly,
but iterum et saepius,' yositis pomendis, of course.
I beg you, therefore, to kindly give your readers the advantage
of some statement on the above.
NEMO.
The Statute of 1831, to which our correspondent refers,
was promulgated in all the dioceses of the Dublin province.
It was as follows : —
Durante eadem infirmitate, Eucharistia, semel tantum, per
modum Viatici administrari debet ; sed singulis hebdomadis,
infirmis dari potest per modum communionis, etiam non sint jejuni,
si adhuc in pei'iculo 'mortis versentur. (See ' Statuta Diocesesana,
per Provinciam Dublinensem observandum,' etc., p. 95.)
It will be observed that there is question of those who,
during a long illness, remain in danger of death — adhuc in
periculo mortis versentur. Two things are laid down in
NOTES AND QUERIES 71
connection with the administration of the Eucharist to such
persons — (1) In the same illness, i.e., in eodem periculo
mortis, the Eucharist should be administered once, and
once only, per modum Viatici, i.e., with the special form
assigned in the Eitual for the administration of the Via-
ticum ; (2) the Eucharist might be afterwards administered
— etiam non jejunis — once a week — not, it would appear,
more frequently — per modum communionis, i.e., with the
ordinary form, as long as these same persons remained in
periculo mortis.
It may be assumed that the Synod of Dublin fairly reflected
the common teaching of the time ; but the question is now of
purely speculative interest. A distinct departure from the
teaching of 1831 was made at the Plenary Synod of Thurles,
in 1850. Among the decrees of the S)'nod of Thurles we
read : —
In eadem infirmitate, si longius protrahitur, parochi saepius
sacro Viatico aegrotos reficiant, cum illud iterum et saepius licite
dari possit. (Decreta Syn. Plen. Eps. Hibern. apud Thurles 1850.)
The Plenary Synod of Maynooth, in 1875, repeated this
decree unchanged. And, of course, the decrees of these
Synods have, as our correspondent points out, since found a
place in various Diocesan Synods, and have moulded the
universal practice of this country.
As against the Synod of 1831, the Synods of Thurles and
Maynooth clearly convey, in the decree above quoted, that the
Viaticum may, in the same protracted illness or danger of
death, be administered, not once only, but frequently — iterum
et saepius- In the later Synods, too, it will be remarked that
the restriction insinuated in the clause 'singulis hebdomadis'
is omitted. No time is defined for lawfully repeating the
administration; it merely said, saepius licite dari possit;
and, lastly the words used in the decrees of Thurles and
Maynooth — 'parochi saepius sacro Viatico aegrotos reficiant,'
might seem to indicate that, while danger of death lasts, Com-
munion should be administered, not in the ordinary form, but
per modum Viatici. However, many theologians hold — for no
solid reason that we can see — that Communion should be
administered per modum Viatici only once in the same danger
72 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of death. According to this teaching, once the Viaticum has
been administered, Communion — whether the recipient be
fasting or not — should be administered with the ordinary
form Corpus Domini, &c.
How often may Communion be given to those in danger
of death ? The Synod of Maynooth says, saepius daripotest,
and leaves the confessor to determine how often, accord-
ing to the needs and dispositions of the sick person. The
confessor must, therefore, rely on his own judgment. He
should remember, however, that Communion should be more
freely conceded to persons at the hour of death than during
life. Moreover, he is perfectly safe in giving even daily
Communion to the sick person, if he thinks that the
devotion of the sick person is such as to render so frequent
Communion profitable. In giving Communion so frequently
the confessor may be acting against the opinion of certain
theologians — even modern theologians; but he will have
amply sufficient authority in his favour, and he certainly will
violate no law, divine or ecclesiastical. Lehmkuhl puts the
whole matter briefly and well : —
Durante periculo, toties quoties devotio et dispositio poeni-
tentis hoc suadit, S. Communio eodem raodo [i. e., aegroto non
jejuno] repeti potest, jejunio neglecto. Neque quod aegrotus,
quum sanus erat, S. Communionern non tarn frequenter sumpsit,
ratio est cur etiarn nunc, modo satis dispositus sit, raro ad earn
admittatur (ii. n. 161).
NOVEMBER OFFERINGS
EEV. DEAR SIR, — I should feel grateful for an answer to the
following question : —
To what return are clergy bound who receive from their
people ' November offerings ' ? In some parishes it is announced
that people may send in the names of deceased friends to be
specially commemorated on All Souls day. An offering is always
expected to accompany the names sent in, and in some cases the
sum of such offerings is very considerable. To what are the clergy
receiving these offerings bound ? Is it enough to offer the Mass
on All Souls day ? Or should other Masses be offered, and if so
what proportion should the number of Masses bear to the offerings
received ? SACERDOS.
The conditions on which these November offerings are
NOTES AND QUERIES 73
given and accepted are, we believe, regulated in some
dioceses by local legislation. Such laws, wherever they
exist should, of course, be respected. But, apart from special
local legislation, the clergy should let their people clearly
understand what return may be expected for offerings made.
Needless to say, the undertaking given should be faithfully
and scrupulously fulfilled. Further than this there is no
obligation.
It may be interesting to give here a reply of the Congre-
gation of Propaganda, 30th July, 1877, to a question very
similar to that of our correspondent. We quote from
Collectanea Cong, de Prop. Fide : —
. . . Invaluit consuetude ut pro unica Missa, quae in die
commemorationis omnium fidelium defunctorum cantatur, fideles
contribuant pecuniam. Summa autem pecuniae sic collecta
ordinarie tanta est ut pluriurn centenarum missarum eleemosynas
facile exaequet. Inter eos qui pecuniam hoc modo contribuunt,
plurimi sunt de quibus dubitari merito possit utrum earn hoc
modo collaturi forent si rite edocerentur animabus purgatorii,
quas sic juvare intendunt, melius provisum iri si tot Missae pro
iis licet extra diem commemorationis omnium fidelium celebra-
rentur. Quot juxta taxam diocesanam continentur stipendia in
summa totali sic contributa ut erroneae opinioni occuratur, in
quibusdam dioecesibus statute synodali cantum est ut nisi
singulis annis praevia totius rei explicatio populo fiat, missio-
nariis earn fidelium pecuniam pro uuica ilia Missa accipere
non liceat. Quae . . . precor ut . . . ad dubia sequentia
respondere dignetur (1) utrum praedicta consuetude absolute
prohibita sit. Quod si negative (2) utrum tolerari possit casu
quo quotannis praevia diligens totius rei explicatio populo fiat.
Quod si affirmative (3) utrum si timor sit ne missionarii praeviam
illam diligentem eamque plenam totius rei explicationem populo
praebeant, vel populus non satis intelligat, Ordinarius istam
consuetudinem prohibere possit et missionariis injungere ut, pro
tota summa contributa, intra ipsum mensem Novembris
tot legantur vel cantentur Missae quot in ea continentur
stipendia pro Missis sive lectis sive cantatis. Quod si affirmative
(4) utrum ob rationem quod Missae illae intra ipsum mensum
Novembris legendae vel cantandae sint, Ordinarius consuetum
Missarum sive ligendarum sive cantandarum ob etipendium pro
aequo suo arbitrio pro illis Missis possit augere.
S. Cong. . . . rescribendum censuit : nihil innovetur ; tantum
apponatur tabella in Ecclesia qua fideles doceantur quod iJlis ipsis
eleemosynis una canitur Missa in die com-nemorationis omnium
fidelium defunctorum. — (Vid. Collect. Cong. Prop. Fid., n. 893.)
D. MANNIX.
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
EEV. DEAR SIR, — Dr. MacCarthy having made a second
attack on The Ancient Irish Church as a Witness to Catholic
Doctrine, I have again to solicit the editorial indulgence while I
reply. In doing so I shall not mould my manners to his model.
I shall continue, in what I have to say, to give him his name.
He, however, not to dwell upon the general discourtesy of his
tone, has never once given me mine, but perseveres in the
designedly (though feebly) offensive substitute for it to which I
drew passing attention in my previous article. Evidently the
opinions of a mere layman are of sovereign indifference to
Dr. MacCarthy ; yet I cannot help observing that his studied
disregard of all politeness is a defect in his constitution as a
critic that has very often been remarked upon in the past, and one,
too, that redounds, whatever Jie may think of it, more to his own
discredit than it does to the disparagement of the various
writers, myself the latest and least distinguished of the number,
upon whom he has, from time to time, vented his spleen and his
bad grammar.1
With some curiosity I have been asking myself in what way
can I have contributed to arouse the initial ire of Dr. MacCarthy,
for he is the originator of this controversy, and began it with
regretable taste and temper. The same question is being put to
me by my friends among the clergy. I know not what to answer.
I am unconscious of any manifestations of ill-will towards
Dr. MacCarthy. I refer to him in my book as ' the learned
Dr. MacCarthy.'2 There is nothing uncomplimentary in that. In
1 As a sample of Dr. MacCarthy's grammar, take the following from his
review of the Li res of Saints from the Rook of Litmote, edited by Dr. Whitley
Stokes : — ' Thereby, however, he has let slip an opportunity which those
foreigners which he fawns upon so would (if they had the wit to perceive
it) give a deal to perceive it, give a deal to possess.' 'Foreigners
which ' ! The ' it ' after ' perceive ' is an ungrammatieal redundancy ; and
the sentence would have stumbled less had he placed the ' so ' before ' fawns. '
See the I. E. RECOHD, 3rd series, xii., p. 15."> : Dublin, 1891.
2 Tin Am- tent Irish C/tuicJt ax <i Jl'Hiiess to Catholic Doctrine, p. 93 : Dublin,
1897.
CORRESPONDENCE 75
no manner do I run across him in it. Can it be — but, surely, it
cannot — that he became angry with me when he found me
tacitly preferring (as some critics do openly) the Oxford Edition
of the Stoive Missal to that for which he is himself responsible ?
Be this as it may, my little volume, undertaken in the interest of
the faith, has earned Dr. MacCarthy's contempt ; and I must
only console myself with the reflection that cardinals, arch-
bishops, bishops, &c., have condescended to put pen to paper to
commend it. As to any practical effect that has so far resulted
from Dr. MacCarthy's strictures, all I can say is, that he has
sent up my sales by hundreds. For this I am his not ungrateful
debtor. As an advertising agant I pronounce him a success.
And now to consider the substance of his last communication.
The Bobbio Missal is again prominent. To keep matters
clear, the point in debate may be repeated. It is this : Is it, or
is it not, allowable to adduce that ancient document as evidence
of the dogma of the early Irish Church? As the foundation-
stone of an argument for the affirmative, I, in the November
I. E. RECOED, brought forward Dr. MacCarthy's admission :
' The Bobio [sic'] Missal, in transcription, was the work of an
Irishman.' He now complains, as of something serious, that I
gave no indication of what appears in the next paragraph to that
from which I quoted. It is this : ' But it does not follow, because
the writing is Irish, that a MS. was written in Ireland ; much
less upon Irish subjects. In the present case the Mass of
St. Martin and the names introduced into the Canon tell as
plainly as the most explicit Colophon that the Missal was drawn
up for a church in Gaul.' I must confess that I fail to discern
how, or in what particular, I have misrepresented Dr. MacCarthy.
Take his belief that the Bobbio Missal is of Gaulish origin. That
was made sufficiently manifest by me, along with my own assent
to the proposition, when I said, in the November I. E. EECOED :
'My critic contends (p. 367) that the Missal in question " was
drawn up for a church in France, most probably in Burgundy."
Be it so. I am sure I have nothing to say to the contrary. I
am so far of his opinion, as my Appendix shows.' On this point,
then, there has been no misrepresentation of Dr. MacCarthy. As
to the rest of the unquoted matter, I had, and could have, no
object in suggesting, as Dr. MacCarthy's opinion, anything
contrary to what is therein expressed ; for it certainly formed
no part of my argument, for the propriety of appealing to the
76 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Bobbio Missal as an indication of early Irish faith, that the
Bobbio Missal, because of its Irish writing, ' was written in
Ireland ; ' neither did it form any part of my argument that
the Bobbio Missal is ' a MS. upon Irish subjects.' For the
moment I have no interest in ascertaining where the MS. was
written. Parvo contentus, I am satisfied to have the broad fact
admitted that the writing in tJie MS. is Irish. On that I base the
conclusion that the doctrine traceable in the Bobbio Missal is in
perfect harmony with ancient Irish doctrine. I am not prepared
to picture Irish monastic scribes, even in vinous Burgundy,
where the scribe of the Bobbio Missal wrote, as utterly
indifferent to what theological scripts they employed their
pens upon, like printers, who care not to what description of
religious works, Catholic or Protestant, they lend their type, or
as at all disposed to perpetuate documents which they could not
but consider pernicious and heretical, if the contents were in
doctrinal opposition to what they had learned in Ireland to regard
as the true faith. The soundness of the principle thus implied,
namely, the writing in certain ancient ecclesiastical MSS. being
Irish, the dogma inculcated in them is the same as that professed
by our early forefathers, is very easily brought to the test.
What is entirely to the present purpose, it is triumphantly con-
firmed in the individual instance of the Bobbio Missal itself ;
for there is not a single dogmatic point, such as the Canon of
Scripture, the Petrine privileges, the reality and efficacy of the
Eucharistic Sacrifice, prayer for the dead, invocation of saints,
devotion to our Blessed Lady, veneration of relics, &c. , on
which the text of that famous Missal has been copiously
extracted in my book, that is not equally established there, as
Irish faith, by direct quotations from what, for distinction
sake, I shall call }wme material, to the relevancy of which even
the captiousness of Dr. MacCarthy might be invited to take
exception.
To continue to afford proof of the propriety of citing the
Bobbio Missal as evidence of Irish doctrine, though further
proof is, perhaps, not really necessary, a strong presumption that
this MS. was actually used at the celebration of Mass by Irish
clergy (though out of Ireland) is found in the fact that on one of
its folios the name ' Munubertus ' is written, and on another
' Elderatus ; ' the first a Latinised Irish name ; the other a
Latino-Hebraisation (meaning the Servant of God) of the name
CORRESPONDENCE 77
of St. Deicolus, or Deicola, one of the twelve companions who
accompanied St. Columbanus from Ireland to Gaul, to share in
his apostolic labours.
I had said, in my November article, that the Bobbio Missal
was in use at Bobbio itself, where for a long time there were
always Irish monks ; and Dr. MacCarthy, I thought, would not
have traversed either statement. But he traverses the first one,
and appeals to Mabillon to maintain his opinion. The same
Mabillon, however, will inform him that the name ' Bertulfus ' is
to be read on one of the folios of the MS., and he (Mabillon)
believes this Bertulfus to have been the Abbot of Bobbio of that
name who ruled the monastery in the middle of the seventh
century.1 I take this circumstance to denote temporary posses-
sion of the MS. by Bertulfus, and as suggestive of a reasonable
presumption that the Missal was in use at Bobbio, at least in his
time. Nor is it at all certain that Mabillon thought anything to
the contrary. When Mabillon says that the Missal was not ad
usum monachorum Bobiensium, he may only have meant to convey
that it was not for Bobbio that the Missal was drawn up. He
extends his view to other monasteries, and gives his reasons.
But the probability of use by the Bobbio community is not thereby
absolutely excluded. Mabillon, it is to be noted, employs the
same expression, ad usum, when he expresses his opinion as to
the locality that the Missal, he believes, was drawn up for, namely,
the Province of Besan9on, containing the monastery of Luxeuil,
one of the foundations of St. Columbanus, A.D. 590 or 591, from
which the saint proceeded to found Bobbio, A.D. 612 or 613. 2
And now here is a question which I should very much like
Dr. MacCarthy to answer. For what purpose was this
Missal brought from Luxeuil to Bobbio, by some disciple of
1 ' BEBTULFUS alicubi legitur in ora folii cujusdam, quem putamus ease
ipsum Bertulf um loci abbatem medio sseculo septimo. In alio folio ELDEEATUS ;
item in alio MUNTJBEETUS,' See Mabillou, Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii,, p. 276 :
Paris, 1724.
2 ' Cujus porro provincise f uerit hoc Missale, non obvium 3st definire.
Forte ad usum erat Provinciae Maximse Sequanorum, id est Vesontionensis, in
qua situm est Luxoviense monasterium, unde Columbanus Bobium migravit.
Favethuic conjecture Alissa de sancto Sigismundo rege Burgundionum. Certe
hie codex non fuit ad usum monachorum Bobiensium. Nihil enim in eo de
sanclis Bobiensibus, Columbano, ejusve discipulis. Nihil item de rebus
monasticis; non benedictio Abbatis, aut monachorum; non benedictiones pro
monasterii officials, in ejusmodi libris jnonasticis usitatae:' See Mabillon,
Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii., p. 276; Paris, 1724.
78 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
St. Columbanus, perhaps the Burguudian Bertulf, * if not to
be used at Mass? To be made a mere curiosity of? To be
tossed into the armariitm as a thing of lumber? Surely not.
And as to the absence of any reference in the Bobbio Missal to
monastic matters, that may be accounted for by supposing, with
Dr. Lanigan , that it was ' a general Missal for the clergy both
secular and regular ; and in such case there was no necessity
for specifying monastic matters, or introducing into it the name
of St. Columbanus, &c. Besides, that copy was probably written
before the death of St. Columbanus.'2 The latter circumstance
is strongly borne out by some parallelism of idea and language,
between the Missal and St. Columbanus, which I place in the
notes. 3
In the opinion of Dr. 0' Conor, the Bobbio Missal was a
portable Missal, employed by the Irish missionaries of Luxeuil and
Bobbio in their labours among the Burgundians and Lombards.*
' Be this as it may,' says Dr. Lanigan, ' we may be sure from its
having been copied by an Irishman, that it was used by Irish
priests.' 5 With what object in view, I ask, does Dr. MacCarthy
differ radically, not partially only and on a secondary point as I
do from some of them, from the O'Conors, the Lanigans, the
Morans, the Malones, the Healys, the Greiths, and seek to deprive
the Irish Church of its powerful testimony ?
And now for another matter. Before passing away from this
portion of the subject, I am curious to know from Dr. MacCarthy,
1 ' De hoc eximio Missale, unum et idem sentiunt ambo [Mabillon and
Ruinart]. Sacramentarium esse, sive Missale, ante annos inille exaratum, quod e
Luxoviense S. Columbani Monasterio Hibemico, a quodam S. Columbani Din-
cipulo allatum fuit Bobium, steculo Vllmo, forte a Bertulfo, qui fuit teriius,
post Magistrum Columbanum, Monasterii i.stius Abbas, et Missale fitisse portatile
<td Sacra in ipsis itineribus cflebranda,' See O'Conor, Rerum Hibcrnicanim
Scriptores Veteres, Epistola Nuncupatoria, i., p. cxxx. : Buckingham, 1814-1820.
3 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical Hixtory of I i eland, iv., p. 373-374: Dublin, 1S29
:t From the Bobbio Missal (italics mine) : — ' Oremus Dominum dilectissimi
nobis, quia amara nobis adveniunt tempora & periculosi adproximant ainii.
Mtttantur regwi, vacant ur (rentes,' See Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i., pt. ii.,
p. 371 : Paris, 1724.
Compare with the Epistloof St. Columbanus to Pope Boniface the Fourth: —
' Dominus appropinquat, et prope jam in fine consistimus inter tempora pcri-
ciilota. Ecce contnrbantnr gentes, inclinanttir regna.' See Migne, Patrologia
Latitia, Ixxx., col. 277; Paris. 1863.
4 ' Ex dictis satis conwtare opinor, Codicem Bobiensem de quo agimus, esse
Missale Portatile Hibernorum Luxoviensium et Bobiensium, qui exeunte
Saeculo VI.. fidem Christi Burgundiis et Longobardis pnedicavere.' See
O'Oonor, Kcnnn Hibcrnicai"uin Scriptores Veteres, Epistola Nuncupatoria, i.,
pp. cxli.-cxlii. : Buckingham, 1814-26.
5 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, iii., p. 336: Dublin, 1829,
CORRESPONDENCE 79
who carps so hypercritically at some of my translations from the
Latin, whether, in the passage which he produces and translates
from Mabillon on the Bobbio Missal, Nihil enim in eo de sanctis
Bobiensibus is satisfactorily rendered, as to its full meaning and
point, by — ' For there is nothing in it of Bobio ' [sic].
A word also on the orthography of ' Bobbio. ' I had put it to
Dr. MacCarthy whether ' Bobio,' the spelling which characterises
his essay On the Stoive Missal, has the sanction of Italian writers,
who are the proper judges of what it ought to be, seeing that the
place is in Italy. In the tail-end of a note he mentions 'Bobiensis,'
' Bobiensibus,' and ' Bobio ' (the ablative, in the case specified,
of 'Bobium'), and, in a faint voice, says : — ' Note the single b ;
never bb.' But the Latin language, though the parent of the
Italian, is not to be allowed to decide how Italian place-names
are to be written, any more than the Anglo-Saxon language, the
parent of the English, is to be allowed to decide how we ought to
spell the names of localities in England ; otherwise, we should
all commence to write ' Theocsbyrig ' for 'Tewkesbury,' ' Gypes-
wic' for 'Ipswich,' 'Med-waege' for the 'Medway,' 'Medweagestun'
f or ' J\l aidstone ' (enough of itself to give one the typhoid fever),
' Scrobbes-byrig ' for 'Shrewsbury,' ' Searsysbyrig ' for 'Salis-
bury,' and demonstrate our pedantry in five hundred similar ways.
I append a couple of extracts from Italian books, just to show
how Bobbio is written.1 It would be a veritable puzzle to
discover a single Italian work in which the name appears as
'Bobio.' In practice, Dr. MacCarthy now admits his error.
He spells Bobbio correctly all through his last letter, except
where he is 'translating from Mabillon, and then, with amusing
inconsistency, he reverts to the single b — I suppose, in hazy
compliment to his author's Latin.
St. Cummian's Penitential is Dr. MacCarthy's next point.
Its authorship is matter of doubt. A Vatican MS. of the ninth
or tenth century attributes it to St. Cummian the Tall, referring
to it as inquisitio Acumiani Longii [sic] '-', and this St. Cummian
1 ' Fra' monaci ancora vi f urono alcuni che coltivarono a questi tempi gli
studi sacri ; e un monastero singolarmente .-i rendette sopra gli altri illustre,
dico quello di Bobbio, etc.' See Tiraboschi, Storia dclla Lettcratura Italiana, iii. ,
pp. 189-190 : Milano, 1822-26.
'Bobbio — Citta della Liguria cisappeunina, frammezzo le Alpi Cozie
distante circa quaranta miglia da Pavia,' etc. See D'Avino, Enciclopedia dell',
Ecclf.siastico, i.( p. 376 : Torino, 1863-66.
2 Moran, Essays on the Origin, Doctrines, and Discipline of the Early Irish
Church,^. 252: Dublin, 1864.
80 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
wrote in Ireland. Some authorities give it to St. Cummian the
Fair. Nevertheless — for argument sake — I am not unwilling
to assume that this Penitential was composed by another
St. Cummian — the St. Cummian who, at seventy-five, went to
Bobbio, and died there at upwards of ninety-five, somewhere in
the reign of Luitprand, King of the Lombards, A.D. 711-744,1 and
that the Penitential, so far, is ' continental in its origin and
application. ' What then ?
Granting all this, and granting too that extracts are given in
it from Penitentials which are not Irish, may it not be cited as
illustrating the nature of ancient Irish doctrine and discipline ?
Though possibly the production of an exile, is it not still that of
a typical Irishman? Or is a religious work, penned (say) by
Cardinal Moran in Sydney, even with some Antipodean applica-
tion, to be no indication whatever of what the Irish ecclesiastics
of to-day, and Irish Catholics generally, adhere to as the faith ?
I certainly fall short of the sublimated intelligence that could
appreciate an argument which, on the score of irrelevancy, would
seek to shut out this or any analogous evidence. The Bobbio
St. Cummian, when he proceeded to the Continent, an old man,
and wrote this Penitential, if he really did write it, did not then,
surely, learn for the first time to recognise the Sacraments of
Confirmation and Penance, the utility of praying for the dead,
the necessity of clerical celibacy, the use of altar-cloths, or any
of the other doctrinal and disciplinary points upon which its
testimony is quoted by me, and which are all equally substan-
tiated, as in the case of the Bobbio Missal, by citations from what
has already been denominated home material.
With regard now to a certain correspondence which is to be
traced between portions of St. Cummian' s Penitential and the
Penitential of Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, A.D. 668-690,
it in no way affects my position — again for the sake of argument —
to allow that St. Cummian took extracts from Theodore. This,
apparently, could not well be true of any but the Bobbio
St. Cummian. The opinion, however, may be mentioned — an
opinion not unknown to Wasserschleben, and held by Theiner,
Kunstmann, Cardinal Moran, and others — that matters were
another way about, and that one of the St. Cummians — some
say St. Cummian the Fair, some St. Cummian the Tall — was the
1 Wassercchleben, Die Bussordnnngen der abemUandischen Eirche, pp. 64-65:
Halle, 1851.
CORRESPONDENCE 81
unnamed Irish author whose libellus was among the sources of
Theodore's Penitential, according to the ancient preface of that
Penitential itself.1 This is made probable by the fact that in the
seventh chapter of the first book of Theodore's Penitential,
following a series of canons almost literally agreeing with
enactments in the Cummian Penitential, there is this ancient
annotation : — Ista testimonia sunt de eo, quod in praefatione diximus
de 'libello Scottorum, in quo, ut in ceteris, aliquando inibi fortius
firmavit de pesslmis, aliquando vero lenius, ut sibividebatur, modum
imposuit pusillanimis. 2
As a proof that heresy was not unknown in Ireland when
St. Cummian's Penitential was drawn up, and that I was justified
in citing St. Cummian's canons in token of how heretics were
regarded, I, inasmuch as dispute prevails as to which of the
three St. Cummians wrote the Penitential, in giving some
extrinsic references to heresy and heretics, purposely made those
references sufficiently elastic to fall in with the life of all. If
however, Dr. MacCarthy now believes that the Penitential belongs
to the seventh century rather than the eighth, why has he not
dealt with the Roman letter, written in 640, in which the appear-
ance of the Pelagian heresy in Ireland is referred to ? Why has
he not even ventured to parade the good old stock answer, that
the native Annals, &c., are silent on the subject ? But, doubtless,
he knows better than to submit such a rebutting argument to a
serious trial of its worth.
He next glances at the St. Gall Ordo of Penance. Of this
there is another copy among the Irish MS 3. at Basle. In August,
Dr. MacCarthy asserted that this Ordo was ' purely Anglo-Saxon.'
As a matter of notoriety, the form is one that was pretty general.
The Anglo-Saxons had not the monopoly of it. Now, he allows
that the writing in the St. Gall Ordo is Irish. The Irish, it
should almost seem, according to him, were always copying
Missals, Ordines, &c., which they never used themselves ! He
still insists that I have libelled our forefathers. Why ? Because
the Ordo alludes to incestuous practices. But I adverted to the
1 'In istorum quoque adminiculum est, quod raanibus vilitatis nostre divina
gratia similiter praevidit, quae iste vir ex Scotorum libello sciscitasse quod
difEamatum est, de quo talem senex fertur dedisse sententiam, ecclesiasticus
homo libelli ipsius fuisse conscriptor.' Sec "Wasserchleben, Die Bmsordhtuigen
der alcndlandischen Kirchc, p. 18:> ; Halle, 1851.
2 Wasfiersehleben, iJie Tiiisuwdnxnyen der abcndlandischen Kirche, p. 191:
Halle, 1851.
VOL. III. t'
82 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
fact that the forbidden degrees were not always sufficiently
observed in Ireland ; that marriage with the widow of one's
brother was not unknown ; that this Jewish practice was
condemned in an ancient Irish Synod ; hence toleration of it
must have previously characterised some of the Irish clergy ;
that its lawfulness was maintained by a certain heretical bishop,
a countryman of ours ; * that disregard of spiritual affinity con-
stituted incest ; and Dr. MacCarthy makes not the least attempt
to meet all this, or to show now where the libel comes in.
It is to make up for this evasion, perhaps, that the typo-
graphical errors of my book are again well to the front.
Excluding the last two pages, which contain the Irish Litany,
the little volume is as clear of faults of the press as I believe
most books are usually found to be ; and I explained, as far as
I am called upon to explain, how those that do exist in it arose.
Few objects are beneath the notice of Dr. MacCarthy, who
seems to have been tracking my footsteps very closely. He now
produces three mistakes in pagination, two of which were already
known to me ; and there my impeachment stands. If he could
even discover the grave total of one per cent, of such slips in
over eleven hundred minute references, it would be still no great
matter. Page 258 for 257 ; page 237 for 257 ; page 120 for 220,
are errors which anyone might fall into ; and Dr. MacCarthy
may magnify and make the most of them. I would only say, of
him, what Gibbon says, in regard to some similar petty oversights
objected to by that historian's critic, the Rev. H. E. Davis : —
' I sincerely admire his -patient industry, which I despair of being
able to imitate ; but if a future edition should ever be required,
I could wish to obtain, on any reasonable terms, the services of
so useful a corrector.' a
We turn now to the question whether Bishop O'Coffey is to
be considered Archbishop O'Murray's father, on the strength of
1 Lest Dr. MacCarthy should deny that Clemens was a bishop, I quote a
distinguished Church historian : — ' Bei eiuem andern Widersacher, dem
Trlandischen Bischof Clemens, mit welchem sich jene Synode zugleich
beschuftigte, zeigte sich eine ungleich grossere Besonnenheit ; ihm war die
Kirohe, wie sie damals im alttestamentlich theokratischen Principe erschien und
wirkte, anstossig." See Alzog, Universalgeschichte der christlichen Kirche, p. 400 :
Mainz, 1844.
:ilso the characterisation of Clemens in O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish
Saints, vi., p. 173 : Dublin, n. d.
2 Gibbon, A Vindication of some Passages in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth
Chaptuts of The Decline nnd Fall of the Roman Empire, p. 16: London, 1779.
CORRESPONDENCE 83
the term athair, applied to him in the Annals of Ulster. The
surnames being different, it has been suggested that O'Murray
may have been the Archbishop's mother's name ; but proof was
challenged by me, that in the Ireland of the twelfth century,
children, especially sons, ever received or took their mother's name
instead of their father's. None is forthcoming. Dr. MacCarthy,
like others, is unable to supply any. He lays it down, however,
that had the Annals of Ulster intended to convey that Bishop
O'Goffey was only Archbishop O'Murray's fosterer or tutor, they
would have employed not athair, but aite, a word which lives
under the form of oide in the spoken language. As if languages
that have words for ' fosterer ' and ' tutor ' do not sometimes
express that office by the very same word as that by which they
denote a father in the full parental sense ! Take the Latin.
I place a remarkable example of pater, in its secondary signifi-
cation, in the notes ; extracted from a sermon in which
St. Gaudentius of Brescia introduces the name of his patron and
predecessor in that see, Philastrius, who, certainly, was not his
natural father.1 Does Dr. MacCarthy mean to intimate that
athair, the Irish for the male parent, is never used except to
signify an actual progenitor ? Like its equivalent in other
languages, is it not, for instance, applied to a priest ? My view
of the point being at least probable, why does Dr. MacCarthy
impugn it? And what, I am curious to divine, is his special
object in wishing, so strenuously, to give Bishop O'Coffey a son ?
At page 104 I said : — ' Public confession is alluded to in some
of our ancient canons ;' and to this statement I attached a reference
to the Penitentials published by Wasserschleben. It appears in
the foot-notes as follows : — Arreum anni triduanus in ecclesia
sine cibo et potu et somno et vestitu sine sede et canticum psalmorutn
cum canticis et oratione horarum et in eis XII. geniculationes post
confessionem peccatorum coram sacerdote et plebe post votum.
This passage I produced for the sake only of the concluding
portion, which establishes what 1 affirmed. Dr. MacCarthy
1 ' Quonam ergo haec spectat tractatio ? Nempe ut vestra dilectio evi-
denter intelligat, quanta vis meara compulerit parvitatem arduis obsecundare
prseceptis, atque aperire os meum sub tantorum prsesentia sacerdotum, &
inaxime post illam venerandse memoriae p-itris mei (italics mine) Philastrii
eruditissimam vocem,' etc. See Sancti Gandenlii Brixice Epitcopi Sermonet,
pp. 158-159: Augsburg, 1757.
2 ' AcAij\, gen., ACAJ\, a father, a general title by which the clergy are
addressed in Ireland.' See O'Donovan, Supplement to 0'Reilly'& Irish-English
Dictionary, s. v. : Dublin, 1864.
84 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
now entertains himself with a gratuitous criticism of the ancient
Arrea or Commutations themselves. ' Triduanns,' he says, ' is a
vox nihili in this case ; ' and he substitutes triduum from another
copy, a Paris codex. Triduanus is simply a scribal corruption of
triduana, a three days' fast.1 He then goes into what he takes
to be conveyed by the entire passage — a matter not dwelt upon
by me at all. From sine vestitu he conceives that a year's
penance was to be commuted by standing three days in a church
without clothing, and says : — ' One has heard of gods and
goddesses standing naked in the open air; but to read of
Christian men and women in that condition in a church some-
what strains one's trust in the informant.' That informant,
however, is neither myself nor the Arreum: it is Dr. MacCarthy's
own imagination. I see, like Lowell's ' John P. Robinson he,'
that they don't ' know everything down in Judee.' A little light
may be advantageously let in on the subject. In the document
quoted, sine vestitu no more means naked than plain nudi itself
does, which, let me inform Dr, MacCarthy, is to be sometimes met
in ancient decrees of penance.2 It only implies — not in the
ordinary array. In what condition then ? The public penitent
might be (1) either partially stripped, of which we have instances,
or (2) clad in a penitential vesture. This last is what is conveyed
by the Paris version of the Commutations, which reads that he
was to stand in the church cum vestimento circa se. Now, from
the words cum vestimento circa se, meaning that the penitent
was to stand in the house of God with a garment around him, I
might just as well foolishly gather that when he was not in the
church, or was about his daily avocations, he wore nothing at all,
as Dr. MacCarthy that he was entirely naked, or, at least, is
rDucange exemplifies triduana (tridui jejunium") from St. Jerome. See
his Olotsariinn Media; it InfimcK Latliiitatis, viii., p. 182: Niort, 1883-87.
Biduano, from bidnanus, a similar barbarism for biduana, is found in the
ft 'modus AgiiHonalit Eritanniae in Wasserchleben, fhe Bussordnungcn der abend-
landischfn Kirche, p. 103: Halle, 1851.
1 Carpentier, in his Supplement to Ducange, gives the following from an
episcopal document dated 1224 : — ' Robertus et Herveus publicam Pcenitentiam
fuciant nudi (italics mine) et discalciati, virgas in manibus portantes ad pro-
ressionem in ecclesia Carnotensi in instant! Ascensione Domini, et per manum
episcopi Carnotensis vel sacerdotis, secundum consuetudinam ecclesise accipiant
discipfinam,' etc. It is plain, however, from another decree which he quotes,
containing the words dincalciati et nudi, braccis tanttt»i»ir>Jo retmtis, that public
penitents were not absolutely naked, and that tnidi, wherever it appears alone,
is to be interpreted with a modification. See Ducang.-, (Jlostarinin M
Infinite Latinitatis, vi., p. 384: Niort, 1883-87.
CORRESPONDENCE 85
represented as entirely naked, in the sacred edifice, because it
is stated in the other copy of the Arreum that the penitent was
to appear there sine vestitu. Both expressions amount to
the same thing— divested of his customary raiment and in
penitential garb.
Following the above, exception is taken to my manner of
dealing with the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal.
It exhibits, I am told, my ' textual recension and grammatical
knowledge.' Here is the entire passage referred to, agreeing,
to a comma, with Mabillon's printed text1 of the Missal in
question : — ' MEMENTO ETIAM DOMINE, & eorum nomina, qui nos
praecesserunt cum signo fidei & dormiunt in somno pacis. Com-
memoratio defunctorum. Ipsis & omnibus in Christo quiescentibus
locum refrigerii, lucis, & pacis ut indulgeas deprecamur, per
Christum dominum nostrum.' This I translate thus: — ' Eemem-
ber also, 0 Lord, the names of those who have gone before us
with the sign of faith, and sleep in the sleep of peace. [Com-
memoration of the Dead.] To these, and to all resting in Christ,
grant, we beseech Thee, a place of refreshment, light, and peace,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.'
As verbs of remembering and forgetting sometimes take an
accusative case,2 Dr. MacCarthy can hardly object to my render-
ing Memento nomina, ' remember the names,' on the mere score
of grammar. But he pronounces nomina a rubric. Well, the
great Benedictine Mabillon, who edited the Bobbio Missal, was
as learned a rubricist as Dr. MacCarthy, and evidently he did not
consider nomina a rubric in this case. His punctuation, to be
seen above, is against any supposition that he did : besides, we
have the fact that he in no way distinguishes the word nomina,
or marks it out from the text by either italics or brackets. The
real rubric is at the end of the sentence, i.e., Commemoratio
defunctorum. This, and this alone, he italicizes. To him, more-
over, all the recensional details belong. I am satisfied to have
a Mabillon on my side, and a Dr. MacCarthy against me.
My rendering of Quorum meritis precibusque concedas ut in
omnibus protectionis tuae muniamur auxilio per Christum Dominum
nostrum, ' To whose merits and prayers grant that we may be
1 Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i., pt ii., p. 281 ; Paris, 1724.
2 On such a point it is superfluous to quote an authority ; nevertheless, see
Donaldson, Complete Latin Grammar, p, 279: Cambridge, 1867; also additional
examples, in Andrews, Latin Lexicon, s. v. memitii ; London, 1375.
86 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
defended with the help of Thy protection in all things, through
Christ our Lord,' is then carped at. ' To whose merits and
prayers/ it is said, should be ' By whose merits and prayers.'
Well, in point of Latin grammar, it might be either. In point of
the sense, too, it might be either. But if there is any superiority
as between the two versions, mine, if I mistake not, has it. The
protection asked for is granted us by God, and to the merits and
prayers of the saints. To their merits and prayers means — in
consideration of them.
In ' Sunday within the Octave of Easter,' the word ' within '
(p. 220) crept in inadvertently.
Dr. MacCarthy criticises me for saying : ' The mode of com-
puting Easter is an astronomical . . . question.' He might as
well have quoted me in full, and given the three words which he
represents by three dots. What I said (p. 41) was this : ' The
mode of computing Easter is an astronomical, not a theological
question.' He adduces Ideler to tell me that Easter is computed
by cycles, as if I had never mentioned such things. At p. 42 I
say, speaking of the variation of the old Irish Easter from the
Eoman : ' It was occasioned by using different cycles ; the Celtic
and British Churches calculating the paschal date by a discarded
system — the cycle of 84 years— while Rome, and the Christian
world in general, proceeded by a cycle of 19 years, which was
more astronomically correct.'!
Does Dr. MacCarthy hold that astronomy has nothing what-
ever to do with Easter, as he finds fault with my characterisation
of the question ? Dr. Lingard agrees with me. He says : ' The
time of Easter was not a theological question ; it could be solved
only by astronomical calculation.' ] Dr. Lanigan, too, says : ' It
was a dispute of mere astronomical calculation, similar to that
between the abettors of the Gregorian, or new style, and those of
the old one. Neither faith nor morals were in any wise connected
with it.' 3
There are one or two other points in Dr. MacCarthy's
criticism upon which I might say something ; but this letter is,
perhaps, already too long. For the present, then, I must post-
pone my observations.
1 Lingard, History and Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, L, p. 381 :
London, 1845.
2 Lanigan, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, iii., p. 67: Dublin, 1829.
CORRESPONDENCE 87
In conclusion, and to place facts in their legitimate light, I am
not the aggressor in this controversy. My book was undertaken in
response to numerically strong and influential solicitation ; and I
have never, in my experience, heard of a work, written in defence
of Catholic truth, that was assailed, on such trivial grounds, by
a Catholic priest before. Eeliable authorities among the clergy
have been pleased to say, since this correspondence began,
that my small volume fills a void for which even the learned
Dr. MacCarthy, in his life-long literary labours, has made no
provision. — Yours, &c
JOHN SALMON.
[ 88 ]
DOCUMENTS
LEO XIII. TO GOD AND THE VIRGIN MOTHER
DEO ET VIRGINI MATEI
EXTBEMA LEONIS VOTA
Extremum radiat, pallenti involvitur umbra
lam iam sol moriens ; nox subit atra. Leo,
Atra tibi : arescunt venae, nee vividus humor
Perfluit ; exhausto corpore vita perit.
Mors telum fatale iacit ; velamine amicta
Funereo, gelidus contegit ossa lapis.
Ast anima aufugiens excussis libera vinclis,
Continue aethereas ardet anhela plagas ;
Hue celerat cursum ; longarum haec meta viarum
Expleat oh clemens anxia vota Deus !
Oh caelum attingam ! supremo munere detur
Divino aeternum lumine et ore frui.
Teque, o Virgo frui ; rnatrem te parvulus infans
Dilexi, flagrans in sene crevit amor.
Excipe me caelo ; caeli de civibus unus,
Auspice te, dicam, praemia tanta tuli.
LEO PP, XIII.
[ 89 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF CARDINAL WISEMAN. By Wilfrid
Ward. London : Longmans, Green & Co, Two Vols.
As a full review of this work is being written for the
February number of the I. E. RECORD, by the Rev. William
Barry, D.D., we need not do more at present than to express the
very great satisfaction with which we have read every page of the
two volumes. For Catholic readers, no more fascinating work has
issued from the press for many a year. The biography of the great
Cardinal could not have been entrusted to abler hands. Men might
have been found to write the Life of Wiseman, who could do justice
to him as an ecclesiastical ruler and prince of the Church, but who
would be incapable of appreciating other aspects of his character,
his proficiency in oriental studies, his deep theological knowledge,
his interest in archaeology, in art, in science, in literature, his
intercourse with men of distinction at home, and abroad, his wide
range of sympathies and broad views on all matters that stirred
the passions and the interest of his cotemporaries. Mr. Ward
seems as much at home in dealing with one phase of the
Cardinal's life as with another. He embraces them all in these
two volumes ; and, we think, we could not recommend to our
readers a more enjoyable occupation during their leisure hours of
the new year than the perusal of a work which brings -out in such
striking relief the noble figure of the man who fought the battle
of the Church in England at one of the turning-points of its
existence. We can also promise those who read the biography
that their admiration will not be confined to Cardinal Wiseman,
but that, in its own measure, it will extend as unreservedly to
Mr. Ward. J. F. H.
THE IRISH DIFFICULTY, SHALL AND WILL. By Gerald
Molloy, D.D., D. Sc. London, Glasgow, and Dublin :
Blackie and Son.
As the greater part of this work has already appeared in the
pages of the I. E. EECOBD, it needs no introduction to our
readers. The proper use of ' shall and will ' has exercised the
minds of English grammarians since English grammars were
90 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
invented ; but, as Dr. Molloy justly remarks, there was no book
in which the subject was treated with any approach to complete-
Bess. This can certainly be said no longer ; and we are much
mistaken if Dr. Molloy 's interesting volume does not remain for
future ages a standard work on the subject not only for Irishmen
but for Englishmen as well. There are some people, it appears,
who think that Irishmen have no difficulty in the employment
of these auxiliaries. We imagine that these are just the people
who would profit by a careful perusal of the volume before us.
Their public utterances might gain something by the study in
correctness if not in elegance of diction. Again, we are told
that Dr. Molloy's elaborate treatment of the subject tends to
confuse the minds of those who endeavour to get at the root
and cause of the difficulty. Such people are, it must be
admitted, rather easily confused, and we fancy that Dr. Molloy
will not be greatly surprised at their trouble. Anyone who
reads the work in a spirit that is not captious, even though
the author were entirely unknown, should admit that it is the
production of an accomplished scholar. In precision and correct-
ness of expression, as well as in the elegant and dignified
manner in which the author deals with a subject so dry we
have a fine example of literary refinement. A careful perusal
of the numerous quotations from the best authors will of itself
be an admirable help to all except to those who are above such
aid. How far the latter can afford to dispense with Dr. Molloy's
assistance their readers are possibly better judges than they are
themselves.
We are happy to think that this is not the only work of
the learned Eector of the Catholic University which first
appeared in instalments in the pages of the I, B. EECOBD.
Nobody, of course, will think of comparing a study which
has been only one form of literary recreation indulged in
persistently for many years with the important volume on
Geology and Revelation which first appeared in the pages of
the I. E. KECOBD, and made Mgr. Molloy's name known and
honoured in the schools of many countries besides Ireland.
We are, nevertheless, thankful for the fruits of grammatical
investigation as for the earlier and more precious fruits of
scientific and theological study ; and we are convinced that our
readers at home and abroad will ever welcome anything that
comes from one whom they have so many reasons to honour and
revere. J. F. H.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 91
BIBLIA SACEA JUXTA VULGATAE EXEMPLAEIA ET COEEEC-
TOEIA EOMANA DENUO E DIBIT, DIVISIONIBUS LOGICIS
ANALYSIQUE CONTINUA SENSUM ILLUSTRANTIBUS OENAVIT
A. C. FILLION. Paris : Letouzey, Ane & Cie.
WE have given the title of this work in full, because it
indicates at once the scope and method of Professor Pillion in
preparing this edition of the Latin Vulgate. Each of the sacred
books is divided into parts, sections and paragraphs, in accordance
with what Professor Fillion, after consulting the best commen-
tators, considers to be the logical division of the book. Thus,
to take as an example the Gospel of St. Matthew, the book is
divided into an introduction and four parts. The genealogy of
our Lord constitutes the introduction (i. 1-17) ; the first part
deals with the infancy and private life (i. 18-ii. 23) ; the second,
with the public life (iii. 1-xx. 34) ; the third, with the last days
of Jesus, or week of the Passion (xxi. 1-xxvii. 66) ; the fourth,
with our Lord's resurrection (xxviii. 1-20). Each of these
divisions is so clearly marked that the reader cannot fail to per-
ceive at once the broad outlines of the Gospel history, Then the
parts are subdivided into various sections, and these again into
well-defined paragraphs, with a marginal indication of at least
the pith of each paragraph.
No one can fail to see how much better, at least for the ordinary
student, this arrangement is than that usually adopted in
editions of the Vulgate. The summaries usually given at the
heads of chapters are often jejune, and generally of small utility,
while the bold division into chapters instead of sections frequently
breaks the continuity and mars the sense. We are glad also
to see that Fr. "Fillion discards the mischievous practice of
beginning each verse with a new line, as is the case in the
ordinary editions of the Vulgate, as well as in our Catholic
English Version. If only the recognised numbering of the verses
is retained, such a practice is wholly unnecessary, while it
undoubtedly tends frequently to obscure the logical connection.
In the poetical books and parts the verses are so printed by
Fr. Fillion as to exhibit at once the Hebrew parallelism, the
most distinctive feature of Hebrew poetry.
The labour involved in preparing an edition of the Vulgate like
that before us, is much greater than might appear at first sight.
A careful analysis of every book of the Bible implies much
study and thought, and we are sincerely glad to find that Father
92 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Fillion's labour has beeii appreciated. The present is the fourth
edition in ten years.
It goes without saying that there is room for much difference
of opinion as to the propriety of some of the paragraphic
divisions ; but in no case, as far as we have been able to see, is
any division adopted that is not supported by good authority.
Occasionally, as, for example, in the twenty-fourth chapter of
St. Matthew, one might fairly expect in the margin a clearer
indication of the editor's views ; but, on the whole, the work is
well and conscientiously done, and will help much to a better
understanding of God's inspired word. J. M'K.
A GENEBA.L INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF HOLY
SCRIPTURE. By A. E. Breen, D.D.
THIS is an important contribution from the New World to
Catholic Biblical literature. The author, Dr. Breen, is Professor
of Sacred Scripture in St. Bernard's Seminary, Eochester, New
York. The work is a royal octavo volume of 606 pages ; and, with
the exception of Biblical antiquities, which are not mentioned,
discusses the various subjects that we should expect to find dealt
with in a General Introduction. The nature and extent of
inspiration, the question of the Canon of the Old and New Testa-
ment, the history of the original texts and of the various ancient
versions of the Bible, the origin and authority of the Vulgate,
the history of modern English versions, the various senses of
Scripture, and how to find them — all these questions are discussed
fully, fairly, and reverently, yet with an American independence
that does credit to the honesty and judgment of the author.
The treatment of the Canon is particularly full ; but consider-
ing that the work is intended for a class-book, it would have been
much better, in our judgment, if the author had contented
himself with summarizing results regarding the Canon, and
published the extended treatment of the subject, with the nume-
rous quotations, in a separate volume. In a work of 606 pages
we should hardly expect to find 340 pages devoted to this one
subject, especially if the work is to serve as a class-book.
On page 33, in the treatment of the question of Obiter Dicta,
there is some confusion, to which we feel it our duty to call
attention . The author raises two questions — 1 . Whether Obiter
Dicta are inspired. 2. Whether it is of faith kthat they are
inspired. The first question he rightly answers in the affirma-
NOTICES OF BOOKS 93
tive ; but when he comes to discuss the second question, strangely
enough, it is the first question he raises again, and again he
answers in the affirmative. Had he really dealt with the second
question — that is, whether the inspiration of Obiter Dicta is
of faith— the whole context and the authorities he quotes
approvingly, force us to believe that he would have answered
iu the negative.
We cannot agree with the author that ' the Deuterocanonical
books of the Old Testament primarily existed in the collection
of the Jews of Palestine/ If they did, why were they afterwards
excluded ? It cannot have been on account of their Messianic
character, for it has been truly said that a single psalm often
contains as much that is Messianic as all the Deuterocanonical
books taken together. In the chapter on English Versions we
are surprised to find that no mention is made of the two Catholic
translations of the New Testament, by Drs. Nary and Witham
respectively. The former was published in London, in 1705, and
the latter at Douay, in 1730, as may be seen by a reference to
Dr. Dixon's General Introduction. We trust these omissions
will be supplied in a second edition, for our Catholic English
translations are so few that we can ill afford to pass by
any of them unnoticed.
Naturally so large a work is not entirely free from slips and
misprints, but those that occur are of trifling importance. Thus,
in the note on p. 55, the Apostolic Constitutions are referred to
the second century, while from the note on p. 122 it might be
supposed that the author is doubtful whether they are earlier
than the third century. It is, of course, owing to an oversight
that the Prologus Galeatus, or helmeted prologue of St. Jerome,
is spoken of, in p. 145, as the Prologus Galeaticus.
Notwithstanding the points to which we have thought it right
to direct attention, we welcome the work as one of considerable
value, the result of much conscientious labour, and a decided
boon to Catholic students.
J. M'R.
THE LIFE OF ST. AUGUSTINE, BISHOP AND DOCTOE. A
Historical Study. By Philip Burton, C.M. Third and
enlarged edition. Dublin : M. H. Gill & Son. 5s.
TEN years have now elapsed since this ' Historical Study '
first appeared. In the meantime it has had a large circulation,
94 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and has engaged a large share of public patronage. Two editions
having been exhausted, the author has, with commendable zeal,
undertaken and accomplished the onerous task of bringing out
a new and enlarged edition to meet the demands of an ever-
growing circle of readers. A work that has been accorded
so signal a mark of general approbation scarcely needs any
critical notice, so that we feel we shall best do our duty in
emphasizing its claims to a still warmer reception at the hands
of an admiring public.
St. Augustine's personality has a distinct and decided charm
peculiarly its own. The study of his varied and versatile career
appeals to us with an almost fascinating interest. With varying
feelings we follow him through the strange vicissitudes of his
strange life : from innocent childhood to sinful boyhood ; and,
again, from a boyhood steeped in degrading excesses to a
manhood elevated by faith and ennobled by virtue. In its way,
nothing can be more interesting than to read how the erring
youth became the brightest ornament of the Church, the
greatest of her doctors, and the most vigorous defender of her
doctrines. From the back-ground of the early fathers,
St. Augustine stands forth in high relief, first and foremost
of that noble band, unsurpassed in the penetrating subtilty of his
genius, and unrivalled hi the fervour and glow of his faith. In
portraying, then, such a subject our author has found a theme
worthy of his powerful pen. And it is but paying him a well-
deserved compliment to say that he has acquitted himself in a
manner eminently successful. He brings to the accomplishment
of his design a ripe scholarship, a sound and impartial judgment,
and a deep research, calculated to render his biography thoroughly
appeciative. Not only has he a mind well stored with the
details of St. Augustine's life, and well informed by personal
observation, as to all its manifold surroundings ; but he has also
a keen insight into the history of the age in which the saint
played so prominent a part, a mastery of the nature of the
heresies he had to combat, and a grasp of the spirit that ruled
in the early African Church. On the face of it, Father Burton's
volume bears evidence that it is the outcome of a philosophic
mind. He weighs his facts carefully, but he does not forget
to put their circumstances into the scales also. Perhaps the
most characteristic feature of the biography is the intimate
knowledge which Father Burton displays of the voluminous
NOTICES OF BOOKS 95
writings of St. Augustine. The number and aptness of quotations
given lead us to believe that he must have made a life-long
study of these beautiful works. And here we may invite atten-
tion to the rules he lays down (pp. 330, 331) for correctly
interpreting the great Doctor. If these rules were observed many
of the gross misrepresentations of St. Augustine's views and
writings would be effectively obviated. In an additional chapter,
which has not appeared in the earlier editions, the author
criticizes St. Augustine's views on the Bible. To many this
will not be the least interesting portion of his readable book.
We are grateful to Father Burton for supplying us with such
a charmingly written biography of a saint that holds a high
place in all Christian hearts, and we wish his book a still larger
share of popularity than it has yet secured.
P.M.
THE FIKST CHRISTIAN MISSION TO THE GREAT MOGUL. Or
The Story of Blessed Acquaviva and his Companions in
Martyrdom of the Society of Jesus. By James Goldie, S. J.
Dublin: M. H. Gill & Co. London: Art and Book
Company.
WHILE the Spanish conquests in America opened a way for the
introduction of Christianity into the New World, the arms of
Portugal in the Indian Peninsula afforded a means for the
evangelization of that benighted land. Under King John III.
of Portugal, St. Francis Xavier preached the Gospel to the
Indians, and all Europe rejoiced in the marvellous success that
attended his labours. When the grave closed over the remains
of that glorious missionary, his apostolic spirit still lingered in
the breasts of many of his brothers in religion, aud there were
several members of the great society to which he belonged,
whose one great desire and ambition in life was to convert the
heathen or win a martyr's crown in the attempt. Accordingly,
in the sixteenth century missionary volunteers were numerous.
Scarcely a ship left the southern ports bound for India that did
not include among its passengers some few souls whose mission
was to illumine those that sit in the darkness of unbelief. To
such a class belonged the Blessed Acquaviva and his four
martyred companions, whose history is graphically described in
these pages under notice. Descended, nearly all of them, from
96 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the very first families of Italy, they renounced the world for the
seclusion of the Society of Jesus, and, burning with a thirst to
win souls from infidelity to God, they became missionaries, a
district in India being appointed them as the seat of their opera-
tions. With what zeal they worked in this vast vineyard ; with
what fearless intrepedity the Blessed Acquaviva penetrated into
the heart of the mighty empire, and even to the court of the
Great Mogul ; how the five were appointed to a dangerous
position in Salsette; and how, in fine, they were here brutally
murdered by the fanatic Brahmins, we leave our readers to
glean from the very beautiful and pathetic narrative of
Mr. Go! die. The cause for the martyrdom of these five
missionaries was pleaded as early as 1598, but it was early
in 1893 that the process was completed, when the Congregation
decreed the beatification might take place.
A word of thanks is due to the writer of this instructive
history for preserving these honoured names from oblivion, and
to the publishers for the neatness and taste displayed in the
bringing out of the book.
P. M.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN
M
Y purpose — at least my main purpose — in selecting
this subject for my address this evening is to
create and foster in the minds of the students
of this college a deep and abiding love for the
historic sites and ancient monuments of our native land.
In the highest sense of the words, you are the heirs, and
you ought to be, as it were, ex officio the custodians, of the
historic monuments of the Gael. It would be strange,
indeed, if the British Parliament should deem it its duty to
preserve many of these monuments at the public expense,
and that an Irish priest should be either ignorant of their
history, or show himself indifferent to their defacement or
destruction. No man can do more than a priest to aid in
their preservation, and every sentiment of genuine patriot-
ism, of national honour, and even of professional zeal,
should move him to aid in the noble work of illustrating
the history and guarding the integrity of these ancient
monuments, which are at once eloquent witnesses of our
vanished glories in the past, and hopeful emblems of a
higher national life in the not distant future.
Now, my young friends, of all the historic sites in
Ireland, there is no other that can at all approach the Hill of
1 Lecture delivered to the students of Maynooth College, Nov. 25, 1897.
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — FEBRUARY, 1898. G
98 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Tara, either in antiquity, in historic interest, or in the variety
and suggestive significance of its ancient monuments. If we
are to accept, even in substance, the truth of the bardic
history of Ireland — and I see no good reason to question its
substantial truth — there was a royal residence on the Hill
of Tara before Rome was founded, before Athena's earliest
shrine crowned the Acropolis of Athens ; about the time,
perhaps, that sacred Ilium first saw the hostile standards
of the kings of Hellas. But before I sketch the history of
the Royal Hill, I must first tell you something of its
physical features, which alone have remained, through all
the changeful centuries, unchanged and unchangeable.
I. PHYSICAL ASPECTS
Tara is not a high hill, its elevation above the sea being
only about five hundred feet. It is rather broad and flat-
topped, with gently sloping declivities. Still it commands
a far-reaching prospect of surpassing beauty. On the north-
east the hill of Skeen rises to the sky-line, and shuts out a
wider view of the swelling plains beyond ; but on every
other side the prospect from Tara, of a fine summer's day,
is one of enchanting loveliness. Nearly the whole of the
great limestone plain of Ireland lies in view, with all its
varied scenery of grassy plain, and deep embowering woods,
and noble mansions peeping through their sheltering foliage.
Then there are the towers of Trim, and the silvery wind-
ings of the Boyne, stealing, serpent-like, through sunlit
meadows, with glimpses of the hoary walls of Bective and
Columcille's ancient shrine, whose sweet-toned bells once
tolled across the fertile fields and populous villages, where
herds of cattle now roam in what is almost a primitive,
though still a rich and grassy wilderness. Then, far away
to the south-east, the Wicklow mountains rise up like giant
ramparts against the blue of the sunlit sky. The smoke of
Dublin shrouds its spires in the distance. Beyond Dnndalk
the hills around Cuchullin's ancient home are distinctly
visible. To the north and north-west the peaks of Cavan
and Monaghan are well defined against the sky, while to
the south and south-west the isolated hills of the great
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 99
plain rise in solitary grandeur, with the immense range of
Slieve Bloom on the southern horizon, which the men of
old regarded as nature's barrier between the Hy-Niall and
the warriors of Leagh Mogha. It is difficult to get any-
where else in Ireland, except, perhaps, from the Hill of
Usnach, in Westmeath, and that is somewhat similar, a
prospect to equal the view from Tara Hill in extent, in
variety, in picturesque beauty, and historic interest. You
may get grander and wilder scenes, but nothing more attrac-
tive to the eye, or more suggestive to the mind, than the
matchless landscape revealed from the summit of Tara
Hill.
It is no wonder, then, that the fertility of the soil, and
the beauty of the prospect from Tara Hill, attracted the
attention of even the earliest colonists in Ireland. These
ancient men of barbarous times, in one thing, at least,
showed far more taste and judgment than the cultured
people of this nineteenth century. They chose for their
dwellings and strongholds the breezy summits of fertile
hills, which at once gave them health and security, and
above all a far-reaching vision of picturesque grandeur.
No doubt it was necessary for them to see the country far
around them, so as to be able to notice the approach of the
foe, and take measures for their own defence in unsettled
times. But I think there was something else in their minds
besides this idea of self-defence. They appreciated, in their
own simple way, the manifold beauties of their island -home ;
they loved to see them and enjoy them ; and the vision
gave them loftier thoughts and bolder hearts. They would
not dream — no, not the smallest Irish chief — of building
his dun in a swampy plain or secluded valley. You will not
see, in any part of the country, an ancient rath occupying
such a site. No ; they were in their own land, and they
built their homes on the windy crests of the swelling
uplands, where they could see their wide domains, their
flocks and herds, the approach of the foe, and the
gathering of the warriors to defend their hearths and
homes.
100 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
II. HISTORY OF TAKA HILL
Of the colonists that came to stay in the land, the
Firbolgs were the earliest ; and the bards tells us that Slainge,
the first high king of that race, chose Tara Hill as the site of
his royal palace,1 and called it Druim Caein or the Beautiful
Hill. If we can trust the chronology of the Four Masters,
Slainge was contemporary with Abraham in the Land of
Canaan : so that we must go back some nineteen hundred
years before the Christian era for the first dun that crowned
the Eoyal Hill. I do not ask you to believe this. I
merely quote the statement ; and it is probably as well
founded as a good deal of what is set down as ancient
history. 0 'Flaherty's chronology, however, which fixes the
advent of the Firbolgs about the year 1250 B.C. is far more
probable.
It is, however, to the second colony that occupied
Ireland — the Tuatha de Danann that the origin of the
Koyal City of Tara is more commonly traced. Nine kings
of the Firbolgs, it is said, ruled the land ; but as they reigned
in all only thirty-seven years, they could not have done
much for Tara. It was the new colony — a more civilized
and powerful people — who brought the ogham lore to Erin
and the Lia Fail to Tara, which they made — so the bardic
story tells us —their Cathair, or capital city. Stone-buildings
were certainly not abundant at Tara ; but still as it is called
a Cathair by the poet Kineth O'Hartigan, in the tenth
century, we need not hesitate to adopt the term.
Tara was called Cathair Crofinn even before it was
called Tara ; and Crofinn is said to have been a queen of
the Tuatha de Danann, remarkable both for her talents
and her beauty. Doubtless she was buried within the
precincts of the Royal Rath, to which she gave her name ; that
is, if she did not, like many others of her people, take up her
abode in the Land of Youth, either under the grassy slopes
of Tara, or some other of the beautiful enchanted hills
of Erin.
i Poem ascribed to Caoilte MacRonain.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 101
They were a strange people, these Tuatha de Danann,
dark-eyed and brown-haired, of unknown origin, but of much
culture, ingenuity, and weird mysterious power, who left no
survivors in the land of Erin, at least, amongst the children
of mortal men. Would they had not vanished so completely,
for the bardic story that tells of their advent and depar-
ture is full of a strange subtle interest which takes and
keeps the mind by a secret, silent influence that cannot
be measured or analysed. It pervades alike our history
and our romance, the tales of our childhood, and the
wanderings of our maturer fancy in mystic realms of a
fairyland that is not all a fable.
It was the Tuatha de Danann who brought to Tara that
wonderful Lia Fail, the Stone of Destiny, of which you all
have heard something. Some say it is still in Tara, others
that it is under the Coronation Chair in Westminster
Abbey. I shall speak of it presently, but it is quite natural
that the enchanted stone should be the gift of the enchanted
people ; and its history — part fact and part fable — is as
strange and mysterious as their own.
So when the Milesian colony came to Erin, Tara,
though not yet called by that name, was already the chief
royal seat of the monarchy. Heremon was married to his
cousin, a beautiful and accomplished princess named Tea,
and she asked her lord, even before they landed, to give her
as her dower her choice hill in Erin, " that she might be
interred therein, and that her mound and grave-stone might
be raised thereon," and " where every prince to be born of
her race should dwell for ever." This favour was guaranteed
to her ; and then we are told that she chose Druim Caein,
called also Laeth-Druim, the Beautiful Hill, which from
her is called Tea-Mur, i. e., Tara, the Mound of Tea, and
therein she was interred- The Irish form was Tea-mur,
latinized Temora, which by a kind of metathesis has
become Tara in the genitive case. Other explanations of
the name have been also given ; but this is at once the most
ancient, the most natural, and the most poetic. The pillar
stone still standing on Tara Hill, over the Croppies' grave,
which Petrie thinks was the original Lia Fail, was in my
102 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
opinion the gravestone raised over Tea's monument more
than three thousand years ago. We know that such
monumental pillars, ' hoary inscrutable sentinels of the
past,' were raised elsewhere over royal graves, as at Rath-
croghan over the grave of King Dathi, and at Roscam, near
Galway, over the grave of King Brian, the great ancestor
of the Connaught kings ; and in some cases they came to be
worshipped as idols. So Tea's pillar-stone was raised at
Tara over her mur or grave mound, from which it was
removed after 1798, but only a few paces, to place over the
Croppies' grave, where the foolish insurgent youths made
their last vain stand. And still it stands through all the
changeful centuries, and the ashes of Tea's offspring, who
died for the land she loved, now rest in peace beneath its
shadow.
III. THE FEIS OF TAEA
One hundred and twenty kings of the Scotic or Milesian
race reigned in Erin from Heremon to the cursing and
desolation of Tara in A.D. 565 ; and it may be regarded as
fairly certain that all these high-kings kept their court (at
least for a time) on the Royal Hill. The history of Tara
would, in fact, during all this time, be the history of Ireland.
So we can only refer to a few of the most noteworthy events
in its annals specially connected with the place itself.
Ollarnh Fodhla, the fortieth in the list of Irish kings, after
a reign of forty years, died, we are told by the Four Masters,
' in his own house at Tara. He was the first king by whom
the Feis, or Assembly of Tara, was instituted ; and by him
also a Mur Ollamhan was erected at Tara.' The king's real
name was Eochy, the term Ollamh Fodhla, or Doctor of
Erin, being given to him as an agnomen on account of his
learning. There are not wanting critics who doubt of the
existence of this ancient king ; but the entry proves at least
one thing, that the ' Feis Tara ' was in popular estimation
of very ancient origin. Reference is frequently made to this
famous assembly in all our ancient literature, both sacred
and profane. It was, in fact, the national parliament of the
Celtic tribes in Ireland, and as such must have exercised a
very great influence on the national life. It was held trien-
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 103
nially for one week at Samhaintide, that is three days before
and three days after November Day. It is probable that in
fine weather the chiefs met in council on the green of Tara
in the open air ; but if the weather were inclement then the
meeting was held indoors, and most likely in the great ban-
quetting hall, which was the largest building in Tara. Its
object was to discuss all matters of national importance,
especially the enactment of new laws, the assessment of
tribute, the examination and purification of the national
annals, the settlement of tribal disputes, and the mainten-
ance of a militia for the preservation of the peace and the
protection of the nation. All broils between individuals or
factions during its sessions were punishable with death,
without the option of an eric, and it would seem that it
was forbidden to bear deadly weapons, or engage in martial
exercises, lest they might lead to strife amongst the
champions. The place of every king and chief was fixed by
the public heralds with the greatest exactness, and his arms
and shield hung above the head of the chieftain, but were not
worn in the hall. When the day's work was done the revels
were begun, the feasting and drinking being often prolonged
to a late hour of the night ; and they sometimes found it con-
venient to sleep beneath the couches on which they sat.
The next famous reign in connection with the history of
Tara is that of Tuathal Teachtmar. In connection with
Tara his most important proceeding was to take a portion
from each of the old provinces to form a mensal kingdom
for the high-king. These united together formed the new
province of Meath, which henceforth was reserved for the
maintenance of the royal court and royal levies of the high-
king. The ancient Feis of Tara was preserved ; but Tuathal
directed that yearly assemblies should be held in each
of the four parts of his dominions taken from the other pro-
vinces. So he ordained that at Tlachta, near Athboy, a
religious festival should be held at Beltane; that a great fair
should be held at Usnach about mid-summer; and that a
marriage-market, with sports and games, should be estab-
lished at Taillteann on the first Sunday of August, called in
consequence Lugnasa ; but this latter was probably of far
104 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
earlier origin. He also required an oath from the kings and
chiefs assembled at the Feis Tara, that they would be loyal to
his house for ever, and never set up a king from the Attacots,
or even from any rival house. These were all just and wise
regulations, which tended to concentrate and consolidate
the royal authority over the whole nation in a single royal
family — a thing greatly needed and much to be desired in
Erin. But he was also partly responsible for another insti-
tution, which caused much bloodshed in Tara and much
strife in Erin for many centuries, and contributed long after-
wards, at least indirectly, to bring it under foreign domina-
tion. This was the establishment of the celebrated
Borrumean Tribute.
IV. ORIGIN OF THE BORRUMEAN TRIBUTE
It arose in this way. Tuathal had two daughters ' more
beautiful than the clouds of heaven,' The King of Leinster
sought the eldest in marriage, and obtained his request ; but
after a while he heard that the younger was the more beauti-
ful. So he sent a false message to Tara, saying that the
elder sister had died, and that he now wished to marry her
younger sister. This request was also granted ; but after a
little the two sisters happened to meet face to face in the
dun of Naas. Then the eldest, heart-broken at the deceit
practised against herself and her sister, died of shame, and
the younger shortly afterwards died of grief at the cruel fate
of her unhappy sister.
Word of these proceedings was soon brought to Tara,
and to the kings of Ulster and Connaught, who were the
foster-fathers of the maidens in question. A great army
was raised; Leinster was harried with fire and sword; the
wicked king was slain; and its princes and people were
required to pay annually a tax of 1,500 sheep, 1,500 pig?,
1,500 kine, with many other things also ; amongst the rest,
a brazen boiler large enough to boil twelve oxen and twelve
pigs at one go for the hosts of Tara. For more than five
hundred years this oppressive tax was the cause of con-
tinuous bloodshed. It was often levied, but never without
a fight ; it was oftener successfully resisted, but always
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 105
caused hatred, strife, and slaughter between the two king-
doms until its final remission through the prayers and
diplomacy of St. Moling. One enduring effect it produced
was a great estrangement between the men of Leinster and
Conn's Half, which was not without its influence in induc-
ing the Lagenians to side with the Danes at Clontarf, and
at a later date in moving false Diarmaid MacMurrough to
bring in the Norman, in order to be revenged on his own
countrymen. Such are the far-reaching consequences of
public crime and injustice.
V. COEMAC MAC ART
One hundred and twenty years later the majestic figure
of Cormac Mac Art is seen on Tara Hill ; and Tara never saw
another king like him — neither his grandsire Conn, nor
Niall of the Hostages, nor any other pagan monarch of
Ireland. If he had an equal at all it was Brian Boru, who
may justly be regarded as the greatest of the Christian kings
of Erin, even as Cormac was of the pagan kings. The
monuments of Tara especially were the creation and the
glory of Cormac. Most of its monuments were erected or
restored by him; he appears as the central figure in its
history, the hero of its romantic tales, the guardian of its
glories, and the champion of its prerogatives. For forty
years he reigned in Tara ; he drank delight of battle with
his peers in a hundred fights; but he was not only king but a
sage, a scholar, and lawgiver, whose works, at least in outline,
have come to our own times, and have challenged the
admiration of all succeeding ages. When he came to die he
refused to be laid with his pagan sires in Brugh, but told
them to bury him at Rosnaree, with his face to the rising
sun, that the light from the east just dawning in his soul
might one day light up with its heavenly radiance the gloom
of his lonely grave.
Cormac appears first of all as a historian and chronicler.
He it was who assembled the chroniclers of Ireland, at
Tara, say the Four Masters, ' and ordered them to unite
the chronicles of Ireland in one book called the Psalter of
Tara.' That great work is no longer in existence; but
Cuan O'Lochan, a poet of the tenth century, gives us a
106 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
summary of its contents, which would lead us to infer that
the Psalter of Tara was somewhat like the Psalter of
Caskel, the contents of which are embodied in the Book of
Rights. As a lawgiver, Cormac may be regarded as the
original author of the great compilation known as the
Senchus Mor, of course not in its present form ; but he laid
the foundations on which that immense superstructure was
afterwards erected. And it is not improbable that in the
text, as distinguished from the commentary of the older
work, we have many of the legal dicta uttered, if not
penned, by Cormac himself.
The learned work known as Teigasc na Eiogli has also
been attributed to Cormac by our antiquaries, who say that
he composed it for the instruction of his son and successor,
Cairbre, when he himself was incapacitated to reign from the
loss of one of his eyes. He was equally renowned as a
warrior, and broke fifty battles against his foes, north,
south, east, and west. He was the great patron of Finn
MacCumhal and his warrior band, who really composed his
staff and standing army ; and to secure the friendship of that
great warrior Finn, Cormac gave him his daughter Graine
in marriage. The lady, however, was by no means faithful
to her liege lord, and her elopement and wanderings with
Diarmaid formed the theme of many a song. Cormac was
also a great builder. He erected the rath, which still bears
his name at Tara; he restored and enlarged the great
banquet hall ; he erected for his handmaiden Carnaid,
the first mill known in Ireland, and thus made Tara the
great capital of all the land — the centre of its strength, its
power, its grandeur, and its civilization. An ancient writer
has preserved a picture of Cormac presiding at the feis of
Tara, which we have no reason to think exaggerated.1 He
describes Tara as a beautiful sunny city of feasts, of goblets,
of springs, as a world of perishable beauty, the meeting-
place of heroes, with twice seven doors and nine mounds
around it, a famous strong cathair, the great house of a
thousand soldiers, lit up with seven splendid, beautiful
chandeliers of brass. Cormac himself sat at the head of all
1 Kenneth 0' Hartigan.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 107
the princes of Erin, clothed in a crimson mantle, with brooch
of gold, a golden belt about his loins, splendid shining
sandals on his feet, a great twisted collar of red gold
around his neck. We might well doubt the accuracy of this
description, but that the twisted collars of gold have been
found at Tara, and a golden brooch of exquisite workman-
ship, with many other ornaments -not far off. Cormac was
a Connaught-inan ; at least, his mother was a Connaught-
woman ; and he himself was born and nurtured under the
shadow of Kesh Corran, in the county of Sligo.
VI. ST. PATKICK AT TAB A
Cormac was the link connecting Pagan and Christian
Ireland. The next scene on the Hill of Tara brings the two
religions face to face in the person of St. Patrick and the
Druids of King Laeghaire. My description of this meeting
must be very brief, yet it was the most momentous event
that ever took place in the history of Ireland, for it was a
struggle to the death between the old religion and the new.
Here let me observe that Druidism was not an immoral
and debasing superstition, such, for instance as now may be
seen in many parts of Africa. It taught the immortality, or
at least the transmigration, of souls, it inculcated the necessity
of many natural virtues; and, though it was idolatrous and
tolerant of fratricidal strife, its very superstitions were
romantic, for it deified all nature. Hence the cult, as a whole,
was very dear to the hearts of our Celtic forefathers, and
was closely interwoven with their national life. As McGee
has well said of the Druids : —
Their mystic creed was woven round
The changeful year — for every hour
A spirit and a sense they found
A cause of piety and power,
The crystal wells were spirit springs,
The mountain lakes were peopled under,
And in the grass the fairy rings
Excelled rustic awe and wonder.
Far down beneath the western sea
Their Paradise of youth was laid,
In every oak and hazel tree
They saw a fair immortal maid, —
Such was the chain of hopes and fears
That bound our sires a thousand years.
108 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The battle then between Patrick and the Druids was a
battle to the death; and the saint could not conquer without
visible help from on high. There are critics that accept the
natural but reject the supernatural facts in the narrative.
The testimony for both is precisely the same ; so their
proceeding is extremely foolish; That Patrick could con-
quer the Druids on Tara Hill without a miracle, would,
in my judgment, be a stranger thing than any miracle he
wrought there.
It was Easter Sunday morning, A.D. 433. Laeghaire
with the remnant of his followers had returned at dawn of day
from his disastrous journey to Slane. He and his chiefs
and Druids were gathered together to take a meal they
needed much in the great mid-court or banquet-hall, and at
the same time to take counsel for the future, when suddenly
and unexpectedly, although not uninvited, Patrick with his
few companions having divinely escaped the ambushes of the
king, stood before them. Laeghaire was confounded at the
sight, but the laws of Irish hospitality were imperative, and
being there, Patrick was invited to sit beside the king, and
eat and drink. Patrick accepted the invitation; but just before
he took the cup the wicked Druid found time to pour in a
drop of poison unnoticed into the ale. Patrick blessed the
cup with the sign of the cross; the poison curdled, and when
the cup was slightly turned fell out ; whereupon the Saint
drained the cup as if nothing had happened.
Failing in this, the Druid challenged him to work
wonders. Patrick accepted the challenge, and the Druid
brought a fall of snow on the plain, but he could not remove
it : he was powerful for evil, but not for good ; whereupon
Patrick blessed the plain, and the snow instantly disappeared.
Then the Druid brought on a thick darkness over all the face
of the country, yet he could not at Patrick's challenge
remove it. But the moment the saint made the sign of the
cross the darkness disappeared, and the sun shone out in its
splendour. Still the contest was not yet over.
Both sides had books — books of power — the Gospel of
Patrick, and the magic rolls of the Druids. 'Fling them into
the water,' said Laeghaire, ' into the stream close by, that we
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 109
may see which comes out uninjured.' ' No,' said the Druid,
' water is his God.' ' Then cast them into the fire,' said
Laeghaire. ' No,' said the Druid, ' fire he has also for his
God,' alluding to the fire of the Holy Ghost. Then said
Patrick to the Druid: 'Let the matter be settled in another
way. Let a house be made, and do thou, if thou wilt, go
into that house, which shall be completely shut up, with my
chasuble around thee, a cleric of my household will also go
in with thy Druid's tunic around him. Let the house be
fired ; and so may God deal doom on you both therein.'
The men of Ireland thought that a fair challenge, and it
was reluctantly accepted'; yet even there Laeghaire was false,
for he caused the Druid's part of the house to be built of
green timber, and Benen's part to be built of dry wood.
Then a mighty marvel came to pass when the house was
fired; the green part thereof was burned, and the Druid
within it too, although Patrick's chasuble in which he was
clothed was not even singed; whilst Benen's part of the
house though dry was not burned at all, only the Druid's
cloak around him was burnt to ashes, he himself being
untouched by the flames.
The site of Benen's house is still shown on the hill. The
wicked king enraged at the death of his Druid would slay
Patrick, but God scattered his men, and destroyed many
thousands of them on that day. Then the king himself was
sore afraid, and he knelt to St. Patrick, and believed in God ;
' but he did not believe with a pure heart,' and continued to
be half a Pagan all his life, and he died a Pagan's death, and
was buried like a Pagan in his grave. Many thousands of
the king's people also believed on that same day, when they
saw the wondrous signs wrought by Patrick on the Kcyal
Hill.
This was the crowning victory of the Cross at Tara ; but
it had for a thousand years been the chief seat of idolatry
and druidism in the kingdom, and the same spirit lurked
there long afterwards.
Oilioll Molt, the immediate successor of Laeghaire, does
not seem to have been a Christian ; Laeghaire's son,
Lughaidh, who reigned for twenty-five years towards the
110 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
close of Patrick's life, was not a Christian, and was struck
by lightning from heaven at Achadh-Farcha for his impiety.
Draidism was not indeed finally destroyed at Tara until the
year A.D. 565, when another memorable scene was enacted
on the Koyal Hill to which we must now briefly refer.
VII. THE CUESING OF TARA
The high-king at the time was Diarmaid, son of
Ferghus Cearrbhoil, an able and accomplished prince, who
was resolved to maintain the king's peace, order, and
discipline, throughout the land. His purpose was certainly
good ; and it is greatly to be regretted that in enforcing his
authority he acted in a very high-handed way, which brought
him into conflict with the saints of Erin who triumphed
over him.
In the first place there is strong evidence that Diarmaid,
though generous to Clonmacnoise, kept Druids in his
court and army, and was still secretly attached to the
druidical rites. Then, again, he was high-handed in
carrying out his laws, without counting the consequences.
This led him into conflict with his own cousin, the great
St. Columcille, whose person he insulted at Tara by tearing
from his arms a youth who fled for refuge to the saint and
who was not really a criminal, but, accidently, a homicide.
This outrage raised all the north against the king, and led
to his defeat in the bloody battle of Cuildreimhne ; but this
was not, it seems, warning enough for him. He sent his
herald and his high steward over the country to see that the
king's peace was duly kept and the royal authority duly
respected. This official, to show his own consequence,
carried his spear cross-wise before him ; and if the entrance
to a chief's dun were not large enough to admit his spear
thus crossed before him, he caused it to be pulled down, and
made wider for the king's courier and for all others. In this
manner he came down to the south of the Co. Galway, near
the place now called Abbey, in Kinelfechin. The chief of
the district who was going to get married and bring home
his bride, had a short time before strengthened his dun, and
raised a strong palisade of oaken posts over the earthworks.
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 111
But for security sake, the entrance was narrow, and the
king's bailiff could not carry in his spear cross-wise. ' Hew
down your doors,' said the bailiff. ' Do it yourself,' said
Aedh Guaire, and at the same moment he drew his sword
and with one blow struck off the man's head. It was
treason against the king, and Guaire knew it well, so he fled
for refuge, first to Bishop Senach his half-brother, and after-
wards to St. Euadhan of Lorrha, who was also his relative.
But Kuadhan also feared the king, and advised the criminal
to fly for safety to the King of Wales. But, even there, the
king demanded his extradition ; so that, in despair, he came
once more to Kuadhan. Then Euadhan hid him in a hole
under his own cell, afterwards called poll Euadhan. Where-
upon the king, hearing that Guaire was at Lorrha, came in
person to demand the criminal. ' Where is he ?' said the king.
' Give him up to me at once.' ' I know not where he is if he
is not under this thatch,' said Euadhan. As the king could
not find him, he departed ; but reflecting that Euadhan
would not tell a lie, and that he must therefore be on the
premises, he returned and discovered the unhappy fugitive
whom he carried off to Tara.
Now, this was a violation of the right of sanctuary, ie.,
monastic sanctuary, which, if it were ever defensible, would
be most defensible in that lawless and sanguinary time. So
Euadhan, summoning to his aid the two St. Brendans, his
neighbours, and many other saints whom he had known at
Clonard, in the school of St. Finnian, followed the king to
Tara to demand the fugitives. The king refused ; but they
were not to be put off. They fasted on the king, and it
seems the king fasted on them. One old chronicler says
that for a full year ' they anathematized Diarmaid, and
plied him with miracles, he giving them back prodigy for
prodigy.' This would seem to imply that there was once
more a conflict between the Druids and the Saints. But in
the end the Saints were completely victorious. ' They
chanted psalms of condemnation against him, and rang
their bells hardly against him day and night ; ' and several
of the royal youths of Tara died suddenly, without
apparent cause. The king, too, had a dream, in which he
112 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
saw a great spreading tree on Tara Hill hewn down by
strangers, and the mighty crash of its fall awoke him. ' I
am that tree,' said Diarmaid, ' and the strangers who chop
it are the clergy cutting short my life. By them I am over-
thrown.' So when he rose he yielded to the clergy, and
gave up the prisoner ; but, at the same time, he said : ' 111
have ye done to undo my kingdom, for I maintained the
righteous cause ; and may thy diocese,' he said to Ruadhan,
' be the first one that is ruined in Ireland, and may thy
monks desert thee.' And so, says the old tale, it came to
pass. Then upon the royal hearth Ruadhan imprecated
the blackness of ruin — ' that never more in Tara should
smoke issue from its roof-tree.' This certainly came to
pass ; the king died a violent death before the year was
over ; and no king after him, though they were called kings
of Tara, ever dwelt on the Royal Hill.
This, in substance at least, is authentic history ; but it is
clear that there is more beneath this story than appears at
first sight. The conflict really was not between the king
and the saints so much as between the saints and his
counsellors, the Druids ; and it was for that reason that the
king was excommunicated, and that Tara was ' cursed,' or
interdicted. Yet we cannot help feeling some sympathy for
the king, and greatly regretting that ' never more in Tara
should smoke issue from its roof-tree.' The curse has been
marvellously accomplished ; but what a pity that the home
of a hundred kings, the royal house of Tuathal, and Cormac,
and Niall should be desolate j1 that the grass 'should
grow in its empty courts ; that the cattle should herd where
the sages and warriors of the Gael once held high revel. It
is surely a sad thing, and it was, moreover, a fatal blow at
the unity and power of the nation. With a high-king
ruling in Tara there was some chance of welding the tribes
of Erin into one great nation ; but when Tara fell it might
be said that hope had disappeared.
Yet, though Tara was deserted by its kings, for none of
them would risk the penalty of dwelling in the accursed site,
1 Even the author of fiacc's Hymn said : ' I like not that Tara should be
made desolate.'
113
it was later on chosen by St. Adamnan and others as a place
to hold great ecclesiastical synods. It may be that Adamnan,
wiser than Euadhan, wished to undo the ancient curse, and
prepare Tara to become once more the seat of the monarchy.
He certainly held a synod there of the prelates and chiefs
of Erin, about the year 697, in which women were formally
and authoritatively exempted from military service ; so that
they became non-combatants, entitled to the protection of
all true Christian soldiers on either side.
VIII. THE EXISTING REMAINS AT TARA
The remains still existing at Tara, seen in the light o(
the lamp of history, are eminently interesting, and well
worthy of a visit. I wish I had a luminous map on which I
could exhibit them to you ; but, failing that, I shall try to
describe them as briefly as I can.
Now, suppose you approach the Koyal Hill by the great
road from the south, anciently called Slighe Dala, and still
in existence, at least on the same lines, you turn a little to
the left at the southern slope of the hill, .and first of all you
meet the triple rampart of Bath Laeghaire. It may have
been the private residence of the king ; but its chief interest
for us is that its outer rampart was certainly the burial-place
of the king himself. Laeghaire had in his character some
traits which we-. cannot help admiring — bad traits, if you
will, but still noteworthy. He was, above all, a steadfast
Pagan, and a great hater of Leinsterrnen. ' I cannot
believe,' he said, ' for my father, the great Niall, would not
allow me to believe, but told me to have myself buried like
a Pagan warrior on the brow of Tara, face to face against
my foes ; and so shall I stand till the day of doom.'
Well, he obeyed his sire. He had sworn a great Pagan
oath, by all the elements, that he would no more exact the
Borrumean tribute from the men of Leirister, and he was
released by them from captivity on the faith of his oath.
But he did try to exact it, and he was slam by the elements —
by the sun and wind — on the banks of Liifey. But the
dying king was still true to his promise to his father. ' Carry
my body home to Tara,' he said, ' and bury me like a king.'
VOL. III. H
Ill THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
And so they interred him, with all his weapons upon him, in
the south-eastern rampart of his own royal rath, standing up
with shield and spear, and his face to Leinster, defying
them, as it were, from his grave until the day of doom. I
wonder is he still there, or did they do to him what the men
of Tir Conall did to another old hero who gave similar direc-
tions— carry him off by night from his royal grave, and bury
him flat in a marsh with his face down, that he might no
more fight from his grave against his hereditary foes. At
any rate, when Monsignor Gargan brings you to Tara do
not miss Bath Laeghaire, and carefully examine its south-
eastern rampart.
Now, leaving Rath Laeghaire, continue due north about
one hundred paces, and you come to the outer rampart of
Eath na Biogh — where it was rather — for much of it has
been carried away. "Within this outer rampart were all the
most ancient monuments of Tara. It was also called
Cathair Crofinn from the Tuatha de Danann Queen; and most
likely contains her grave. A little to the right within this
great inclosure on the east was ' Cormac's House,' the
palace which he built for himself, where he dwelt, and
which was the scene of his glories. It had, at least, a double
rampart round it to separate the palace from the other
buildings of the Koyal City ; and was of considerable extent.
Further on, only a few paces, was the Farradh or Hall of
Meeting; the word also means a seat, and doubtless
signified the place of the royal seat or throne, where the
kings and chiefs of Erin assembled in council round the
monarch. Then beyond the Farradh, still to the north, we
find on the right or east side the Mound of the Hostages —
Dumha-na-Giall — where the royal hostages were kept some-
times in fetters of gold to indicate their quality, but fettered
all the same, for otherwise the light-limbed youths in
bondage would soon clear the ramparts of Tara, and make
their way to their distant homes. On the left, but close by,
was the site of the famous Lia Fail, or Stone of Destiny. I
have already indicated that there is a great controversy
about the identity of this stone, and I have signified my own
opinion. This stone never could have served the purpose of an
TARA, PAGAN AND CHRISTIAN 115
inauguration- stone ; for it is a true pillar-stone, and the king-
elect could not be expected to stand upon it. The Lia Fail,
we are told, was the stone on which the kings were
inaugurated, and on which they planted their feet in symbol
of sovereignty. Then, if the prince were of true royal line,
the stone bellowed loudly to signify approval, otherwise it
was dumb. This stone, we are told, was taken over to
Scotland by Fergus Mor MacEarc, a brother of the high-
king of Tara at that time, the beginning of the sixth
century, that he might be inaugurated on this ancestral
stone as king of the Scottish Dalriada. It was taken from
Scone, it is said, in the time of Edward I., and is now under
the coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. Petrie's chief
objection to this story is two-fold — first, that we have no
reference to this translation in our ancient annals; and,
secondly, that the Milesian chiefs would never allow the
stone to be carried out of the kingdom.
Well, in reply to the last point we can only say that most
likely one brother lent the stone secretly to the other
without consulting his chiefs; and the same thing would
account for the silence of the Irish annalists. It is not
recorded in the annals of the nation. The story of the
translation came from Scotland, and is told only by our later
antiquaries. It is a question, though very interesting, not
yet by any means settled.
Outside Bath na Riogh, to the north-east, was the well
Neamhnach, which still flows away to the north-east. It is
chiefly interesting as the site of the first corn mill ever
erected in Ireland. Cormac had a beautiful handmaiden,
a bondswoman called Carnaid, whose duty it was to grind
the corn on the hand quern. He pitied the hard toil of the
maiden, and having got some idea of water mills during his
foreign wars, he erected this to lighten the labour of the
maiden. The well still flows, and until quite recently we
believe its waters turned a mill at Tara.
Beyond the outer rampart of Rath na Riogh, still north-
ward, was the Rath of the Synods — Rath Seanadh — where
Adamnan, and Patrick before him, held a synod of the clerics
and chiefs of Erin. It has been practically defaced by the
116 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
wall of the Protestant Church, a recent structure, wholly out
of place on such a site.
Just a little north-east of this point, between the
Eath of the Synods, and the southern extremity of the
banquet-hall, on the very summit of the hill, the five
great roads that led to Tara had their meeting-point.
They can still to some extent be traced from the crown
of Tara radiating in all directions. It is said that they
were discovered on the night that the great Conn was
born ; but probably it merely means that his father, who
had finished their construction, declared them formally
open in honour of that event. I cannot now describe them
at length, but it may be said that in general they ran in the
route of the modern trunk lines of railway to all parts of
ancient Erin.
Just beyond the Eath of the Synods still going to the
north, we find the great Teach-Miodhcuarta, the mid-court
house, or the mead-circling house, as others have translated
it, by far the most interesting of all the existing monuments
of ancient Tara. Its site can still be distinctly traced from
north to south, and the measurements correspond with the
accounts of the building given in our ancient books. It was
no less than eight hundred feet in length, and from sixty to
eighty feet in breadth, with six or seven great entrances on
either side. You will at once perceive that this was an
immense hall, larger than one of the sides of your largest
square, and capable of accommodating an immense number
of chiefs and warriors, either at meat or in council. There
was a great range of couches all round the walls ; the tables,
loaded with meat, were in the centre; the lower portion
seems to have contained a great kitchen for roasting and
boiling, and we are told that some of the large pots could
contain several beeves and pigs which were boiled together.
When the meal was ready the attendants plunged huge forks
into the boilers, which carried out several joints at once to
be deposited as they were, without covers we may pre-
sume, before the assembled kings and warriors. At that
time and long after, knives and forks were unknown ; but I
have no doubt skeans and daggers were called into
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 117
requisition, and perhaps did the work of carving quite as
well.
I hope I have said enough to awaken in you a keener
interest to know for yourselves all about the Eoyal Hill ; and
if so, then I have gained my purpose in speaking before you
here of ' Tara, Pagan and Christian.'
»fr JOHN HEALY.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN1
IT would be a pleasant occupation to deal with volumes so
full of character and incident as these in the light of
literature, and to compare them with some other famous
biographies of celebrated modern men. But my task is not
so easy, nor the scope at which I shall aim so level to the
apprehension of those who read while they run their several
ways, and who take up The Life of Cardinal Wiseman for
their amusement. To me it appears that Mr. Ward has
raised a vital issue, not only in his last far-reaching and
speculative chapter on ' The Exclusive Church and the
Zeitgeist,' but from his very setting out. In exhibiting
Cardinal Wiseman as a preacher, a controversialist, a ruler,
and a restorer, he has traced the lines upon which the first
archbishop of a new Catholic England desired that the
movement of recovery should go forward ; he has drawn
out a policy, and directed our attention to principles of such
high importance, if we once accept them as our own, that
no ecclesiastical statesman or student, no public writer in
the orthodox camp, no theologian or metaphysician, who
dreams of being heard outside his college walls, can afford
to pass them over in silence. If the Cardinal knew his age,
the methods which he pursued in the hope of winning it
deserve our closest examination. Nor will they lose in
power or persuasiveness, should it be demonstrable that in
1 The Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman. In two volumes. By Wilfrid
Ward. London and New York : Longmans, Green, and Co. 1897.
118 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
following them, as he did, through a most varied and
enthusiastic career, this great cosmopolitan and father of
the Church in our day was one of a number whose thoughts
and designs have at length had the seal of authority set
upon them by Pope Leo XIII.
Not that we can separate Wiseman from his work, or
leave him on one side as a msre abstraction, as the name
we attach to a system, and an ens rationis, after the manner
of certain scholastic pedants who, at their best, were a
volume of impersonal syllogisms. The Irish heart of this
lonely and sensitive student was exceedingly human. He
suffered much, and knew that he suffered. With all his
ardours, enterprises, and hopes he felt the need of sympathy,
which was often denied him, and never, perhaps, quite
answered his large expectations. He remained a shy
creature, this imposing and stately person, with his six
feet two inches of height, his breadth and bigness, his
robes, and trains, and equipage. He was not in the least
that dexterous, self-confident ' Bishop Blougram ' fished up
by a pattern Protestant in Italy — I mean Kobert Browning
—from the depths of his early but unfounded imaginations
of what a Roman cardinal must ever be — no fool, but more
than three parts knave, and wholly Epicurean. In that
dark house of the Via Monserrato known as the Collegio
Inglese, Wiseman lived a curious, dreamlike existence, free
to study as he pleased, wrapt up in Eastern books and
manuscripts, bent over his Syriac and his Hebrew, face to
face with the sacred text so little familiar to many of those
about him ; and he went through a trial of fire that left its
mark upon his spirit, and must have contributed towards
the shaping of his policy in later years. I shall be allowed
to quote this pregnant passage, in which we find the true
Wiseman, simple, as he always was, loyal and candid ; a
witness to the faith wherein, if he now had his severe
difficulties, yet, even thus, he could not be shaken :—
Many and many an hour have I passed [he writes to a nephew,
in 1848] alone, in bitter tears, on the loggia of the English
College, when everyone was reposing in the afternoon, and I was
fighting with subtle thoughts and venomous suggestions of a
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 119
fiendlike infidelity which I durst not confide to anyone, for there
was no one that could have sympathized with me. This lasted
for years ; but it made me study and think, to conquer the
plague — for I can hardly call it a danger — both for myself and
others . . . But during the actual struggle the simple submission
of faith is the only remedy. Thoughts against faith must be
treated at the time like temptations against any other virtue — •
put away — though in cooler moments they may be safely
analyzed and unravelled.
In another letter of 1858 he speaks with painful feeling
of these years as ' years of solitude, of desolation . . . years
of^ shattered nerves, dread often of instant insanity, con-
sumptive weakness, of sleepless nights and weary days, and
hours of tears which no one witnessed.' l
Remarkable, surely, is this disclosure of a depth below
the surface that his friends did not imagine, and of expe-
riences in which they could not share. Wiseman writes at
all times with transparent sincerity ; but his too florid style,
which is the Spanish of Gongora or the Italian of Marini,
seldom touches the heart. In these brief and broken words
it is piercing. We seem to hear the accents of Lamennais ;
nor would it be difficult to detect in that sombre correspon-
dence of the Breton cries which ascend in a like enthralling
strain of mingled faith and perplexity. Are we astonished
at a resemblance which turned out to be no sameness in the
sequel ? Those, certainly, will be far from taking scandal
who are much travelled in the Lives of the Saints, and
who do not forget the desolate hours of St. Ignatius and
St. Theresa. If any man will be a guide through the
Valley of the Shadow of Death, let him first explore its
dolorous ways, and taste that darkness which may be felt.
Nay, as the most lightsome of moderns has told us — and he,
perchance, by temper a real Epicurean — whoso has not
eaten his bread with tears, shall never know the heavenly
powers ; so true is it that sorrow is the beginning of
wisdom. To have learned ' patience, self-reliance, concen-
tration,' to have been ' self -disciplined ' during a conflict
i Ward, i., pp. 64-65.
120 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
so absorbing — this, the Cardinal affirms, made him what he
was: —
Amid these trials [he continues] I wrote my Home Syriacae,
and collected notes for the lectures ' On the Connection between
Science and Revealed Religion ' and the ' Eucharist." Without
this training I should never have thrown myself into the Puseyite
controversy of a later period.
The testimony is clear as it is striking. To days and
years of a torture that, in Montaigne's strong language,
' strips the man to his shirt,' that burns up delusions, and
shows in what a fearful and mysterious world our lot is
cast — to this baptism by fire, and meditation in the wilder-
ness, we owe the Cardinal Wiseman who met the Oxford
movement half way; who realized that faith is a gift of
grace, and not the fruit of controversy ; who was never self-
righteous, or hard upon the weak and feeble ; and who
would not quench the smoking flax which others were
sometimes tempted to trample into its ashes.
At his only English school, Ushaw, "Wiseman describes
himself as a ' lone unmurmuring boy,' dull and friendless,
fond of reading, overlooked by superiors, but still not
unhappy. The journey to Borne stirred his imagination.
He was one of five students from St. Cuthbert's who began
the new career of the Collegio Inglese, which had been shut
up since the French depredations of 1798, and was opened
now under Cardinal Consalvi's patronage. From that day
Eome laid a spell upon the young Irish-Spaniard, a lad of
sixteen, more at home always on the Continent than he felt
himself to be later on at Oscott or York-place, and hence-
forth delivered from the narrowing influences that had given
something harsh and stern, as well as an insular tone of
thought, to the excellent, stubborn, old-world Catholics
among whom he might have continued to vegetate save for
this unexpected change of situation. He became an absolute
Roman.
The season was, in Europe at large, a stormy spring-
tide. Old things were passing away; the new were
putting forth buds of promise. A mighty reaction had set
in with Joseph de Maistre, with Chateaubriand, Lamennais,
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 121
Gorres, and the Schlegels ; all of whom quickened the
Romantic movement which was looking to the Middle Age
for inspiration, and which saw in the Catholic Church a
majesty and a charm unapproachable by the sects, and
enhanced by her recent victory over Napoleon. The grave
religious figure of Pius VII., a suffering saint, represented
to Wiseman that beauty of holiness, that hidden strength;
and he went about Rome, studying it as an open book, as the
visible and most touching evidence of a Christianity which
gloried in its martyrs, and offered sacrifice in its Catacombs,
and dedicated the ancient judgment-halls as its basilicas,
and took over as its inheritance the arts, the literature, the
laws, and the imperial instincts of that earlier city, the
world's mistress. Rome was an epitome of the ages, not
more mediaeval than modern, abounding in memories of the
Renaissance, but mindful yet of St. Gregory, of St. Callistus,
of the Apostles themselves. Who could know its ways
intimately and not be versatile, as a man that has learned
how different is one period from another, how many are the
tongues in which our faith is chanted, how obstinate and
distinct are the characters of those countless tribes that
come on pilgrimage to St. Peter's ? The government of a
Universal Church must be conciliatory, else it will fall into
endless disasters. Schools of thought exist in the unity of
the creed which no Pope or Council would allow to condemn
or to extirpate their rivals ; and yet the Augustinian, the
Jesuit, the Dominican, the Scotist and the Thomist, the
Aristotelian and the Platonist, agree to differ on points which
are closely knit up with principles of immense and vital
consequence to mankind. Often the Church's decision has
been that she will not decide ; she sets bounds to human
rashness, and she leaves a wide domain for private explora-
tion. She keeps a steady gaze on past centuries, suffers
their memorials to persist side by side, is tolerant of many
forms, takes her language from the current phraseology,
chooses rather than creates, is willing to make the best of
circumstances, developes by selection, and is at home with
Orientals, Africans, Byzantines, Franks, Normans, Celts,
and Teutons, indifferent to all their varieties, though neither
122 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
supercilious nor disinterested; and she cares at last for one
thing only, ' the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.'
We shall never grasp Wiseman's ruling idea if we fail
to understand this politic but sincere acquiescence in men's
human qualities, so long as they did not run counter to any
truth of Revelation. He was perfectly tolerant because he
had learned to be orthodox in the Roman sense ; large with
the exquisite good-nature and the fine balance that belong
to a system in which every phase of history has its assignable
position. His first impulse could never be to anathematize
a novel growth in the world around him, but to see whether
it would not bear grafting on the Roman olive, and give its
fruit and its richness to the sanctuary. The genuine Roman
spirit is neither sectarian nor syncretist ; for it relies upon
a tradition that knows its own ; and by long practice it has
learned the wisdom of waiting, until light descends from all
sides to illuminate the question at issue. In matters so
delicate, and as momentous as they are full of a perplexing
subtlety, haste is more to be dreaded than the longest delays.
For submission to the Church's magisterium secures the
faith ; and it lies in the nature of development that contribu-
tions of knowledge will be frequently made by those without.
All judgment, even that of the unerring Master, has its
needful preliminaries, which, while they are indispensable,
cannot be forced, and will not be anticipated.
The distinction which we may claim for Wiseman is
that he never lost sight of either element in Church history.
Rome offered him as a great series of facts and institutions,
of memories and monuments, the philosophy in visible
shape that to others, like Newman writing his Development
of Christian Doctrine, or Mohler contemplating systems of
grace and summing up decrees of Councils, was an infer-
ence painfully to be deduced from remote historical premises.
He could say, with his future heroine, St. Agnes, ' Ecce,
quod concupivi, jam video, quod speravi, jam teneo ; ' what
proof was equal to the vision that came about him on every
side, ' in splendoribus sanctorum,' and that refreshed his
weary heart when difficulties and doubts assailed him,
drawn these, not from the facts which he beheld, but from
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 123
a critical survey of problems darkened by their immeasur-
able antiquity and scribbled over with the comments of
unbelievers ? If Home were one and the same thing as the
Christian religion, for Wiseman this lower sphere must have
been simply the gate of heaven. And when his ' desolate
years ' came to an end, when the yawning gulfs suffered
him to rise towards the light once more, this Kome it was
which he made the centre of his preaching. He knew no
other Gospel ; the touchstone of all good was the Cathedra
Petri. How would it affect the doctrines, customs, prejudices,
.aspirations, activities, of those whom he was intended to
convince or to govern ?
As a boy he had seen something of the old English
Catholics. Now he was making acquaintance, as a student
of Eastern languages, a writer upon questions of Bible
scholarship, a professor and a preacher in the Borne of
Pius VII. and Leo XII. , with antiquarians, tourists, ambas-
sadors, and a mixed society, in which we do not hear of
sceptics or German philosophers. Wiseman spoke and
wrote in many dialects. It was too early for Westerns to
busy themselves about Russian. And, well as he had learnt
the speech of the Fatherland, it does not appear that he was
deeply read in the classics of Germany. I cannot find any
tokens of his intimacy with Kant, or Hegel, or Goethe, or
Lessing. Abstract metaphysical studies had no charm for
him; and St. Thomas Aquinas occupied but a little space
in the curriculum of the Roman University or the Apollinare
of those innocent days. The Romantic Movement, which
suffered a severe defeat towards the middle of the century,
had attended to letters more than to science or systems of
pure thought, and its promise went beyond its performance.
Still, we must remark, how liberal, in comparison with the
Oxford of 1830, was the interest which Wiseman displayed,
not only in exegesis and in the collation of Syriac manu-
scripts, but in physical science, in the philosophy of language,
and in the movement of ideas throughout Europe at large.
He corresponded with Tholuck, Mohler, and Dollinger;
he was an eager disciple of Mai and Mezzofanti ; with
Lamennais he has recorded a most significant conversation ;
124 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and his friendship at the Prussian Embassy, when Bansen
resided there, led to his first acquaintance with Newman.
Thus he had come into contact, before his thirty-second
year, with old Catholics, modern Liberals of many schools,
orthodox as well as heterodox, and the Via Media of the
Church of England. But the school to which he belonged
himself was at once Catholic and progressive, bent on
reconstruction, and much more enamoured of conciliation
than of controversy.
Home was larger, as he found by an intimate experience,
than Ushaw, Oxford, or Tubingen. On returning to England,
in 1835, he was amazed as well as saddened by the apathy
of which his Catholic friends everywhere gave tokens, in the
presence of a new world of ideas into which they did not
care to enter. Like the men in Plato's allegory of the cave,
their eyes, so long turned to darkness, could not endure
the fresh light that was streaming in upon them out of a
morning sky. They were a remnant, helpless and divided.
They lagged behind the age; but many of them had lost
the brave old spirit of their religion — a hundred years or so,
since the ruin of the Jacobite cause, had inflicted grievous
wounds upon them, — the apostasy of great families, the
infection of free-thinking, distrust or dislike of the Holy
See, a Gallican gloom and rigour, a sense of total frustration
and unavailing fatigue. They stood aloof as much almost
from Rome as from England. Their devout men, with
honourable exceptions like Milner, had fallen upon methods
dry and harsh, foreign as they were now become to the
Vita Mystica which is the heart and soul of Catholic piety.
Good priests cried out against the Litany of Loreto, would
not endure the devotion to the Sacred Heart, and looked on
the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament as a strange
thing. Pictures, statues, processions, — all the outward and
visible signs of Catholic grace, — were abhorrent to their
feeling. They showed the irritation and the feeble con-
tempt of invalids for healthy enterprise, which seemed to
them fraught with peril and doomed to inevitable failure.
Comparison with a more active form of religion roused
them to bitterness ; it was cruel, false, impertinent. Yet
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 125
they could not help feeling proud when Wiseman's lectures
at Moorfields drew all eyes upon him, stirred the country
to its depths, and announced a champion whose learning,
warmth, and courage, lent a charm that had long been
absent to argument in this ancient quarrel. They presented
addresses, and for the moment stood up frankly in the open
air. But it struck upon most of them like a biting east
wind. As soon as Wiseman had gone back to Kome, they
retreated into their catacombs.
And yet the days were bringing on a wonderful change.
Wiseman had set in the forefront of the battle not detached
squadrons of arguments on a hundred points of doctrine, but
the one argument, which was, and is, decisive — namely, that
there must be, in matters of religion, a supreme, visible,
historical authority as the safeguard and the witness of
revealed dogma, from which authority there can be no
appeal. He had not read De Maistre or talked with
Lamennais, and failed to apprehend their governing prin-
ciple. Upon them that principle had dawned in history, or
was the secret of a universal philosophy ; Wiseman knew it
as the city which was eternal, his beloved Rome. The new
Laudians of Oxford were still like men in a dream ; slowly
and intermittently they laid hands now on one great Catholic
truth, now on another, feeling about in the visions of the
night of antiquity for objects which appeared to them as dim
but real, certain yet obscurely visible, while in Rome these
very truths were embodied in sacred rites and institutions,
not open to cavil, nor asking any subtle ratiocinations, in
order to be recognised. In the British Critic Newman con-
templated the discourses at Moorfields as a triumph over
English divines whose principles were still those of the
Reformation. He spoke of ' Romanism ' as having in it
truths ' which we of this day have almost forgotten, and its
preachers,' he said, ' will recall numbers of Churchmen and
Dissenters to an acknowledgment of them.' Wiseman was
sure to win converts, and the Papal system would spread.
Tract 71 opens with the admission that ' the controversy
with Roman Catholics has overtaken us like a summer's
126 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
cloud ; ' that ' from long security ' no preparation had been
made against it ; and that
The same feelings which carry men now to dissent will carry
them to Eomanism ; novelty being an essential stimulant to
popular devotion, and the Eoman system, to say nothing of the
intrinsic majesty and truth which remain in it amid its corrup-
tions, abounding in this and other stimulants of a most potent
and effective character.1
Sorry comfort these sayings offered to the multitude,
who were not unwilling to be disciples of Laud, but who for
years had thought of Home as dead and buried. They spoke
their indignation. Yet Newman was the witness of an
influence far more concrete and actual than he realized in
1836. Not only was the ^Reformation victoriously borne
down in argument ; the foundations of the National Church
were undermined.
A singular and dramatic episode followed upon this
engagement of distant artillery between the two leaders.
Wiseman was made president of Oscott ; but in his study
at Monte Porzio, looking out towards delightful Tusculum
and Camaldoli, he had put together, piece by piece, the
elements of a demonstration which was founded in the
fathers' writings, yet by one stroke passed out of folios and
planted itself alive in the nineteenth century. Mr. Ward
has described the whole situation, in 1839, with candour and
insight ; nor do I hesitate to say, and the acknowledgment
is surely due from those who have read his pages, that they
furnish no unworthy supplement, at this critical turn, to
the Apologia itself, which keeps in view rather what was
occurring in England than the general hopes and fears of
Christendom. Abroad, the logic of the matter was more
clearly seen on both sides ; authority made its claim against
the omnipotence of individual reason or Private Judgment,
and Private Judgment resisted. But there was no confusing
issue of antiquarianism which could masquerade, though a
disembodied ghost, in the outward shows of an Establish-
ment. Keligious minds at Oxford, haunting libraries, lived
1 Via Media, ii., pp. 87-91.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 127
in a realm of shadows; they opposed Antiquity to Authority,
never observing that it is only by the power and prerogative
of Authority now present that Antiquity does not fade away
from the millions of struggling mortals who cannot be scholars
and whose life is moulded by action, not by erudition or the
fathers. To bring this controversy, otherwise interminable,
to an issue, Antiquity itself must be made to pronounce, by
one regal sentence, in favour of Authority as its living voice.
The sentence was extant in St. Augustine. There had been
Anglicans of the fourth century, as there were Donatists of
the nineteenth — bishops and churches and local usages, and
appeals to times past, exactly the same in both provinces,
Carthage and England. But St. Augustine was Antiquity ;
and he, the greatest of the fathers, had cut through all these
questions with a statement of simple fact. Schism, he said,
was apostasy ; and to be divided from the visible Church
was to be a schismatic : ' Quapropter securus judicat orbis
terrarum bonos non esse qui se dividunt ab orbe terrarum,
in quacunque parte orbis terrarum.' 1
These miraculous words pulverized the Via Media, and con-
verted Newman. But I think it has not been remarked
that ' securus judicat orbis terrarum' is the very principle of
Lamennais, translated from the region of metaphysics —
where it is capable of doing harm, and may be so handled
as to deserve condemnation — to the domain of history and
revelation. It excludes private judgment from a subject in
which that judgment can possess no a priori axioms or self-
evident intuitions. The Gospel is a treasure confided to
divinely-appointed keepers ; if its home i& not an historical
society from which it cannot be lost, it will have undergone
the fate of all previous and subsequent philosophies, which
time and tide have disintegrated, broken up, and left at the
mercy of mere speculation. Dogma is a fact — or it is
nothing better than the fancies of Epicurus or Spinoza.
And, if it is a fact, the proof of its existence will lie in the
meridian of facts ; we shall need only to open our eyes and
see it, instead of searching through a thousand volumes for
1 Ward, i. 32:5, seq.
128 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
evidence that it once existed. The parallel to Lamennais'
denunciation of idealism is perfect. Lamennais said, ' You
cannot prove the world to be a reality ; no proof is possible,
for none is requisite ; your belief in a world is antecedent to
all proof.' In like manner, the Via Media was Idealism in
theology. Given the fathers, said Oxford, the problem is to
arrive at an actual Church. Wiseman replied by showing
that the problem was far more simple, and that its solution
lay close at hand ; that the fathers judged between heretics
and Catholics by the test of obedience to authority ; and that
they gave as a sufficient token of authority the vincuhtm
pads, or unity in visible communion. It was obvious, from
this point of view, that no Church could be at once apostolic
and schismatical ; for schism abolished, at one blow, the
notes and prerogatives of a Christian Church, and reduced
its disciples to a crowd of incoherent dissenters.
When Newman read that famous article, he was
staggered. Never again did he see his English Church in
the same fair light ; and if he was not prepared to offer his
submission, yet the Via Media had disappeared. His sole
ground of reluctance was a Protestant one — belief in Roman
corruptions which had crept in since the beginning. But
were they corruptions ? How if they should turn out to be
not corruptions but developments? He yielded imme-
diately, as one may say, to the negative force of Wiseman's
quotation from St. Augustine ; of its positive or protecting
force as regards dogma he had yet to be convinced. In
sound logic — I mean if the Gospel was to endure ' usque ad
consurnmationem sseculi ' — the charisma of unit}' which
guarded against schism could not fail to guard against
corruption ; the one Church must be truly Apostolic, and
the Creed was, therefore, safe in her keeping. However,
this demonstration from the nature of the case would not
satisfy Newman. He resolved to work it out in detail, so
far, at least, as to realize for himself the identity, under laws
of development, which existed between different phases and
epochs of the society whose unbroken record lay before him.
And here, too, by a most happy combination of circum-
stances, Wiseman led the way.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 129
It was in October of that same year, 1839, at the opening
of St. Mary's, Derby, that the preacher who had just taken
the ground from under Newman's feet delivered a sermon
which might have been printed in October, 1845, as a
summary or a preface of the Development. Mr. Ward has
done well to give the long extracts from it which we read in
his first volume ; and, considering how significant is their
anticipation of the New Apologetics, theological students
will find their reward in turning back to so clear and unmis-
takable a recognition of principles, never, indeed, unknown,
yet during this present century brought home to the
Christian consciousness with startling vivacity. We must
always bear in mind that it was not from Newman the
preacher had acquired his doctrine or his illustrations. So
much the more instructive is their spontaneous agreement.
Wiseman's text, the ' grain of mustard-seed,' becomes,
under his calm and conclusive handling, a theory, but a
theory which as it moves along calls upon the events of past
ages to confirm all that is advanced. If the Old Testament
proceeded by way of growth and expansion — so runs his
argument — the New has not lost this quality of life.
These principles [he observes, speaking of sin and the need
of redemption, on which the Jewish Dispensation rested as upon
a corner-stone] did yet seem to be neglected until gradually
brought forth by circumstances into a clearer light, and made
leading ideas of the first importance.
This is the very tone and spirit of Bishop Butler's
Analogy ; l yet I am disposed to think that not Butler so
much as Joseph de Maistre had taught Wiseman a view
which is common to St. Augustine and St. Vincent of
Lerins. He continues : —
So, in the New Law, we might be led to expect a similar
course, and not be surprised if we have to trace practices or
feelings which became, at particular times, the leading charac-
teristics of religious thought to doctrines or principles which
originally lurked as one seed in the furrow among others of
greater magnitude. . . Nothing is more common, yet nothing is
more mistaken, than to confound the greater manifestation of
things with their first origin. 2
1 See, especially, Butler, Part ii , ch. 3, p. 160. 2 Ward, i., p. 315.
VOL. III. I
130 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
He proceeds to give instances of ' outward growth ' and
1 interior development ' : —
Everything [he says] was gradual. At first the Jewish
worship was attended, and many of its ceremonial rites observed,
with scrupulous precision . . . The hierarchy was not planted by
our Saviour, nor by the Apostles themselves, in a systematic
form ; but the episcopal body, if I may so speak, evolved from
itself, in due season, the priestly order . . . The very doctrines
of Christianity were communicated with a similar proportion.
And, having laid down this large principle, he applies it,
as Newman was to do later on, to the powers of the Holy
See and the cultus of our Lady. Religious belief does not
alter in its essence, but it grows and expands, and has its
full effect according as circumstances allow. ' The germ
only existed in the beginning ; ' still, as that germ was a
living thing, it contained within itself developments of the
grandest compass. ' Through the medium of the affections,
as much as through dogmatical investigations,' the mysteries
of the faith reached their perfect stature ; nay, heresy itself
brought out their meaning. Moreover, while
The vivid impressions of one age grew faint under the influence
of succeeding agencies, yet enough was left of the spirit of each
to be borne down to succeeding generations as a record of the
vicissitudes through which their religion had passed. In this
way the very evidences of Christianity partook of the character
of all else connected with it, being themselves capable of
increasing development.1
Here is a view, we may confidently pronounce, which
for the stationary or crystallized Church, whether of
Anglicans or Russians, substitutes a doctrine of progress
which it makes not so much a part as the whole of our
creed, and declares to be the secret whereby, as Catholics,
we maintain ourselves under the stress of opposition, as
well as advance in the spiritual life. How little Wiseman
was afraid of drawing inferences from his own principles of
assimilation and evolution, both in dogma and ritual,
was already manifest in the Letters to Mr. John Poynder,
who had assailed the Roman Church as at once heathen and
•Ward, i., p. 318.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 131
idolatrous, on the ground of her borrowing from Pagan
antiquity. The answer came, not in the form of denial,
but as a deliberate acknowledgment, for which the justifica-
tion might be found in St. Augustine's De Civitate Dei, in
Clement of Alexandria's Stromata, and in St. Gregory's
Epistles. There was a wider conception of Providence
than English Puritan theology had grasped. Religious
truths, and the symbolism by which they are fittingly
shadowed forth, lie dispersedly in fragments, suggestions,
gleams, and strange distorted figures, all over the surface of
the world. Inspiration, without antecedents or material
to work upon, is not the power which has established
Christianity from of old.
If Eome has borrowed, so has Judea. The most peculiar
of the dogmas confessed by every Church throughout the
West — the Incarnation itself — may be paralleled in earlier
forms of belief, and are not unknown to those enormous
systems that have long held sway among Hindus or
Egyptians.1 In other words, the principle once admitted
of a germ of divine life which grows by taking up into its
circulation all the truths accessible to human intelligence,
we cannot draw the line at any given stage in the Old
Testament or the New ; we must resolve the history of
mankind into a series of 'moments,' or of a religious
dynamics, where every single force acts upon every other,
and nothing is so common or unclean that it cannot be
purified, given the freedom of the spirit, and assumed into
the heavenly synthesis. The sufficient reason of a method
which some may think very bold is laid down in a hundred
places by St. Augustine when he is refuting the Manichees.2
He had discovered, after years of pain and anguish, that evil
is a negation of good, not a substance in itself, nor a force,
nor anything real apart from the truth which it denies or
the virtue which it rejects. ' Total depravity ' is a figment
of the imagination ; nature always keeps some element which
it has received from its Creator, moral, physical, or rational,
else it would cease to exist. This, then, is the underlying
1 Ward, L, pp. 247,248. 2 Contra Faustitm, passim.
132 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
unity, as it is the inexhaustible mine, from which we draw
in assimilating, on our own principles, to a supernatural
faith, capacities and acquisitions hitherto unblest, or standing
in need of consecration.
It is singular that Newman, who had granted so much
of this view, and expressed it with deep feeling, in his Arians
of the Fourth Century,1 where he was an enthusiastic disciple
of the Alexandrians to whom he always clave, did not per-
ceive its bearing on controversies of lesser moment. For
who will compare the development of Papal prerogatives
with the effulgence in Hebrew Monotheism of a doctrine so
strange to it, in many eyes, as that of a Logos incarnate, of
one substance with the Father, yet a Second Person in the
Trinity? And what is the extent of the change in our
religious attitude which the veneration of Mary brings
with it to a mind already Christian, if we have at all
measured the mental revolution that must have taken place,
when those who had adored an unseen Deity in Jerusalem
now bowed down to a crucified man as their God and
Saviour ? On the other hand, it was a direct consequence
of the spirit in which Luther and Calvin approached history,
that when they had bereft the Church of her charismata on
the ground of abuses, they should go on to divide between
the world and its Maker in such wise as effectively to
resuscitate Manicheism. The antidote which alone could
neutralize that deadly influence was to show the Catholic
genius in its true light, engaged from the beginning upon
its task of redemption, not laying life itself under anathema,
but proving all things, and holding fast in its own strength
to that which was good.
This new style of controversy perplexed the elder school
which had been brought up on Bossuet's Variations, an
admirable though incomplete statement of the points in
dispute, now so successful as to be no longer needed. They
failed to perceive a Catholic promise in the Oxford move-
ment. To them movement of any sort was distasteful.
They knew nothing of the philosophy of religious dynamics.
1 Chap. i.p p. 82, 3rd edit.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 133
They were not even sensible of the loss which they had
themselves sustained by not attempting to march onward
when their brethren in other countries set them an example.
They had ceased to assimilate, and they were ceasing to
live. Wiseman established The Dublin Review that in its
pages, contributed from all parts of the Catholic world
as he meant them to be, some clear picture might emerge
of the great things our religion had done in former times,
and was capable of doing still, if a lair field were not
denied to her children. It was to ' treat of living questions '
and 'grapple with real antagonists.' In all its disquisitions,
antiquarian or historical, the present nineteenth century
was to be kept in view. But he also desired, says Mr. Ward,
'to fashion a zealous and cultivated priesthood,' as 'the
first step in that general reformation of the English Catholic
body on which his heart had been set since his English
campaign of 1835.' And he writes with unusual sagacity
as regards this training : —
What is principally to be aimed at [he tells Dr. Newsham, of
Ushaw], is accustoming them from the early part of their course
to think and judge, of which they seem to have little idea. They
do not seem to know how to make things out for themselves, or
to make one bear upon another ; whatever they learn they seem
to put up in their heads, and not to have it at hand when wanted
for some other purpose.1
He did not reform the education of the clergy, despite
his excellent intentions. Without trained masters, shut out
from the universities, and themselves appointed to teach
before they had been taught, the next generation differed
very little from their predecessors. Nevertheless, a current
of life and animation flowed through Oscott while he reigned
over the College, that made it a centre not unworthy to
draw within its influence strangers from abroad, and the
Tractarians who were soon to help Wiseman, or to occasion
him fresh anxiety, in his efforts to make of Catholicism a
force which should overcome the spirit of the age. He
could reckon upon Pugin, that powerful but erratic genius,
when he would restore the liturgical offices to their ancient
1 Ward, i., p, 268.
134 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
splendour. But he still felt himself alone. As Lord Acton
testifies, the motley group of men whom he found, or brought
together at Oscott, followed their old instincts, nor took
any severe trouble to make his thoughts and projects their
own. Some of them who survived the Cardinal into my
time, as I remember, did not appear to be living in the
nineteenth century at all ; they were shadows with faint
voices, murmuring like pallid spectres of the only years in
which they had drawn breath, long ago in some other world
not known to moderns. What they felt when a being so
versatile and hopeful stepped down among them, it is not
easy to imagine.
He had from his first coming to Oscott [says Mr. Ward]
marked the place out, in spite of the smiles of his critics, as the
site of important accessions to communion with the Holy See ;
but the fulfilment of his dreams had not materially changed the
attitude of the English Catholics who opposed the movement.
The old fashion was to be extremely slow in accepting converts,
and even to discourage them.1
Lingard, judging the Oxford men by their ancestors
in the time of Laud and Archbishop Wake, cherished no
hopes of their submission. The Vicar Apostolic of London
thought schismatics never came back to the Church.
Another talked of Newman as a traitor, whose kiss of
peace meant everything that was false and dangerous. The
missionary spirit was dead among English Catholics. Oscott,
says Wiseman in a touching fragment written at this time,
was ' a mere place of education,' and how few were willing
to see in it ' a great engine employed in England's conver-
sion and regeneration ! ' He, therefore, as Newman felt,
was ' the chief or rather the only promoter ' among these
hereditary Catholics, of those objects which all through,
however unconsciously to themselves, the Tractarians had
aimed at realizing.
But alone, or with Pugin and Spencer, he did bring
them in after an anxious interval, thanks to the spirit of com-
passion and charity which he had acquired in Rome, nor
without the aid and approbation of the Holy Father and the
1 Ward, i., p. 447.
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 135
due ecclesiastical authorities. At Propaganda no difficulties
were raised. His Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury, which
discussed the terms of what has since been described as
' corporate reunion,' passed without censure, although it
came close to Tract Ninety, and suggested, as a basis of
negotiation, the Thirty-nine Articles, subject, of course; to
explanations which were to follow the Council of Trent.
After 1845 it was still his task to protect the neophytes, who
were looked upon as doubtful Christians by many of their
Catholic brethren — while they, in turn, experienced that
strange, unpleasant sensation which was sure to spring up
within them at the sight of a people so unlike the company
from which they had separated. The cure for all this, in
Wiseman's unalterable judgment, was Home. Converts
needed to make a pilgrimage thither, as St. Paul went up to
Jerusalem to see the Prince of the Apostles, lest he should
' have run in vain.' Old Catholics needed the establishment
among them of Koman devotions, of religious and ascetic
communities, of the Vita Contemplativa and the full liturgy;
of Canon Law and Christian art, and all they had lost in this
long Babylonish exile from the life of the Universal Church.
We cannot but admire the simple greatness which adherence
to this principle manifested on Wiseman's part. He did
not exalt any article in so large a design out of its relation
to every other ; he was remarkably well-balanced, and saw
the whole as from its proper centre. And there is something
magnanimous, and, one had almost said, philosophical—
though he could not claim to be a philosopher — in his view
of the divers elements that go to make up a fully-developed
Catholic.
Wiseman did not commit himself willingly to any violent
extreme. He was not the man to overlook the importance
to Catholicism in fact of acquaintance with modern criticism,
with literature and languages, with physical and mental
science, as it is cultivated in the great schools of France or
Germany, with Oriental studies, explorations, and documents.
But it was his misfortune that opportunity never came to
him of training disciples or raising up a succession of
learned men. His practice, like Newman's theory, of
136 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
development, though surely destined hereafter to mould the
Catholic spirit which will brine; in a second and still
grander Middle Age, encountered opposition, misunder-
standing, and the wrath of those to whom their own history
and antecedents were a book with seven seals. They held
by the Creed with entire faithfulness ; but how they came
to have a creed at all they never had considered. They
were Ptolemaics in doctrine for whom the earth stood still.
Had Wiseman enjoyed robust health after he came to
Westminster, and had his life been prolonged another ten
or fifteen years, it is possible that the Church, not only in
England, but on the Continent, might have escaped some
grievous troubles. For he was the one Cardinal of European
fame who exercised a moderating influence, where modera-
tion was the secret of progress. He never would have
alienated Newman, since, in spite of remarkable differences
in training and temper, he understood that rare kind of
genius, and saw further into the principles of dogmatic
development than his successor, Cardinal Manning, largely
as Manning was to hansel them at the Council of the
Vatican. He could have done much, and with the best
grace in the world, to keep in check the Gallic ardour of the
Veuillots and the Gerbets and the Gaumes, which has cost
our dearest hopes some twenty years of superfluous disap-
pointment. Perhaps he might have held back the more
spiritual-minded among the disciples of Munich from their
fatal step in 1870. Given, at all events, the strong constitu-
tion which he never had, there was no reason why he should
not have inaugurated a scheme of Oriental and German
studies, the want of which is telling now, as it has told these
many years, with disastrous effect on English theological
education. Though not himself deeply read in the meta-
physics of the School, he would have held out his right hand
to St. Thomas ; but his other hand would have been
extended to modern research ; and the unsatisfactory skir-
mishing which went on, thirty-five years ago, round the
Rambler and the Home and Foreign Revieio, would have
given place to a critical acquaintance with the text of the
Bible, and to the sustained efforts, by which alone we shall
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 137
arrive at a genuine common measure, between the language of
Eastern prophets and the exegesis of Western philosophers.
Wiseman's last ten years seem now, indeed, a time big
with calamities ; but they cannot be laid at his door. The
worst charge ever brought against him may remind us of
Newman's lines to St. Gregory Nazianzen : ' Thou couldst
a people raise, but couldst not rule.' He was full of plans,
missionary, ascetic, educational ; but opposition threw him
back, and some would call him faint-hearted. There is
another light in which he appears, like a man forespent
with long struggling, and none to help. Bead, for instance,
his singularly touching letter on the disappointment which
was occasioned by those religious orders introduced solely
through his exertions into London, the rules of which for-
bade them to take their place in evangelizing the mixed and
modern population which lay on every side of them. He
turned to the Oratorians, who did what was asked. But
when he established, for a like purpose, the Oblates of
St. Charles, that weary campaign of old Catholics against
new began, which was not to end until a fresh generation
grew up, intent on larger prospects. Our permanent loss,
on looking back, appears to have been chiefly in the province
of literature, sacred and secular. Catholics were debarred
from Oxford until the other day, though having no university
of their own in England to which they could resort ; and the
revision of the Bible, to which Newman had put his hand, was
arrested; on what grounds it would be worth while to inquire,
though, doubtless, they were as petty and inadequate as the
reasons commonly assigned for other hindrances to the
general advance on the part of hereditary believers.
Concerning this last project Newman has a significant
passage, as early as the first days of 1847. He tells
Wiseman : —
The Superior of the Franciscans, Father Benigno, in the
Trastevere, wishes us, out of his own head, to engage in an
English authorized translation of the Bible. He is a learned
man, and on the Congregation of the Index. "What he wished
was that we should take the Protestant translation, correct it by
the Vulgate, and get it sanctioned here.1
i Ward, i., p. 354.
THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
This was not done; but an English Catholic Bible is
still indispensable and will some day be attempted. As for
that ' blessing of an elevated secular education,' as Wiseman
himself terms it, in the ancient seats of learning, it could be
denied only so long as the hope was held out of a university
founded and carried on with our small resources. When
time bore witness against so ambitious a scheme, the doors
were unlocked, always with due caution, which admitted
Catholic young men to a share in the culture and the public
life of their own generation. Thus Wiseman's original
thought has proved to be the issue of a perplexed and irritat-
ing question, kept open — certainly not to our advantage—
for no less than thirty years.
His lectures to mixed audiences, upon subjects remote
from controversy and in their nature scientific or antiquarian,
led to some criticism which we now perceive was not only
futile but extremely shortsighted. The preacher who had
delighted thousands at Moorfields, found himself, after the
storms of 1850, no longer on friendly terms with his country-
men ; but the platform was not inaccessible on which he
could win their hearts by an eloquence and a frankness
that were among his most taking qualities. He lectured to
England, not in vain. He would not retire into his tent,
or abide cloistered and secure, but ineffective. His literary
success made it seem natural for the great Englishman who
came after him to undertake a social and humanitarian
crusade, not once, but repeatedly, until he attained the
memorable triumph of the Dockers' Strike. Between
Wiseman and Manning there was no difference of tactics.
They both knew and felt that the day of isolation must
come to an end. Nevertheless, in range of outlook and accu-
racy of vision, it will be difficult to deny that Wiseman was
superior. He did not regard life or literature, the arts or
the sciences, with a coldness such as the born Puritan finds
instinctive in himself; constitutionally, he was more sanguine
than severe, but he would have justified his views on the
Koman principle, which has in it a wealth of sunshine, and
is tolerant because it has learned what Mark Pattison truly
calls, ' the highest art — the art to live.' That is an art
THE POLICY OF CARDINAL WISEMAN 139
which, since the Reformation had its way, is not much
cultivated among Englishmen. They are full of movements
and counter-movements ; but their Religion has too often
aimed at suppression instead of regulation, nor has taken
into account the joy of life.
It would be incumbent on one who was reviewing
Wiseman's policy at length to show what I shall here briefly
indicate — how it was of the same texture as that which will
make Leo XIII. a great historical name among popes and
reformers. We may describe it as constructive ; but who
can construct without materials, or in the discarded and
obsolete style of another period, if his purpose aims at
housing the present generation ? Again, it may be termed
a missionary plan, which takes for its object the winning to
Christian faith and practice, not of barbarians, but of the
civilized and the progressive. Hence it demands learning,
sympathy, largeness, and a delicate sense of what lies nearest
the hearts of moderns. It is universal in its enthusiasm
for the different yet beautiful aspects of God's world, and
it puts under anathema nothing but sin. The language
employed by Cardinal Wiseman, as by Pope Leo, is
studiously self-controlled, even where it condemns or refuses
assent to untenable propositions. It allows of immense
variety in tastes, in judgments, in peculiarities of disposi-
tion, and while tolerant of parties will not allow any of
them to usurp the name or dignity of the Church. * Peace
within and conciliation without ' may be said to express the
spirit in which the modern Catholic programme is drawn
up. But its designs cannot be fulfilled except at the cost of
unceasing effort. When we relax in the contemplation of
revealed truths, and decline to apply them in detail to the
world in which we find ourselves, we are already weakening
our hold upon them. Theology is not a science of the dead
past, but of the living present ; and as it goes back to
Scripture in one direction, so in another it moves forward
as the ages move, taking and giving, learning and teaching,
not ashamed to borrow from to-day for its own high purpose,
even as it made ample use of the Stoic and Platonic philo-
sophies, and knew how to welcome the Aristotelians, and
140 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
has been a debtor to Maimonides, to Avicenna, and to the
Arabians. Neither would it now be impossible to point out
advantages which have come to us from a knowledge of
Kant, Hegel, and Schopenhauer. But let these mere hints
suffice. That regard which we owe to Wiseman's memory
will, it is imagined, be most deeply felt by Catholics who
pursue, as he did, the study of the Bible by turning to the
languages in which it was written ; who 'cultivate science,
and are alive to the ever-growing significance of art and
literature in modern days ; and who throw themselves into
the generous policy which Rome invites them to carry
onward into the new age, under her guidance and blessing.
WILLIAM BAEEY.
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM
II.
question before us is a definite one. It deals with
__ but one of the many issues of socialism. With its
possibility as a political scheme, we have nothing to do. It
would be difficult to say whether, in theory, the threads of
labour might run unentangled through an intricate national
collective industry. Practically, I think that the details of
commerce could never be controlled by any government,
centralized or federal. The socialist schemes remind us, as
a rule, of those chosen few, whom, Lord Bolingbroke tells
us, are ' specially nurtured in the world by Providence for
the maintenance and spread of impossible ideals.' Neither
are we concerned with the attitude of socialism towards
religion and the Church. Indeed beyond the decided trend
of the revolution from which it sprang, and the tone and
character of its advocates and adherents, socialism as a
system does not profess to have any definite tenet or aim in
reference to doctrinal matters at all. At times the public
actions of its leaders evince the action of secret springs
that undoubtedly are not of God. 'Us aiment,' says
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 141
M. Louis Eeybaud, ' s'escrimer dans 1'ombre, et, quand on
les presse trop vivement ils s'enveloppent de leurs nuages.'
Such matters have no interest for us now. We are
occupied with but one inquiry — the attitude of socialism
to the production of wealth. The innumerable questions
that this originates, the methods, aims, and promises of
socialism ; its virtue as an expedient ; its adaptability to the
varying market tides; its subtlety in ekeing out of the holes
and corners of industry the treasures they afford to skilful
manipulation, may all be embodied in this one inquiry —
how will the proletarian fare when private capital has
become effete, and collectivism supervenes ? This is the
question that concerns us now. To answer it we shall have
to digress, at no small length, from the main topic under
consideration.
To bring this matter to a definite issue, we may put it
thus hypothetically. What would happen if every half-
penny of the capital of England were disbursed from the
coffers of private owners, and poured en masse into the
national treasury, that ensuing profits might be dealt out
evenly, or proportionally to each one's work? Popular
feeling would certainly run high were such a law suddenly
enacted. And naturally so. No economic scheme yet known
offers to the unreflecting mind such rich and abundant fruits
as socialism. It is this that has made it a popular creed. Now
we can easily see how far such promises are likely to be realized.
Let us examine them briefly. A little reflection will enable
us to see, that the nationalization of our whole capital
would be quite as unprofitable as the idea is chimerical.
The greater number of our private concerns require for their
existence the exertions of one who is conscious to himself,
that he must sustain whatever is lost, as well as gain what-
ever is gained. Then, too, to confiscate the land in its
entirety would be quite useless on socialistic lines. It
would be much easier, in the socialistic state, for the
smaller landowners to draw their income from the land
they till, than to send the products to the national treasury,
and then receive their yearly divide. The abolition of
the richer landowners would quite fulfil the Socialistic aims,
142 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
because their incomes are a great deal in excess of what they
could expect from the national divide. Indeed it is to those
larger and more permanent factors in our industry, such
as the large estates, the railways, and (outside of industry),
the National Debt, and the expenses of royalty, that the
popular mind naturally turns as the centre of its hopes.
The workman is envious that the greater part of the
product of lands should go into the pocket of an idle land-
lord, whilst his own daughter has to toil daily in the din
and fluff of a city factory. He, naturally, hopes that at
some future date, when rent, railway profits, and the
interest on the National Debt are apportioned, without
distinction of class, he maybe saved, at least, from the pinch
of hanger, if not from the need to work. ' The first impres-
sion of the intelligent population,' says Mr. Kuskin in his
Crown of Wild Olives, 'is this, that as in the dark ages
half the nation lived idle, in the bright ages to come the
whole of it may.'
Let us now suppose, that all these things have been
effected. Every farm of over a thousand acres has become the
property of the nation. Railways are under government con-
trol, and the capital belongs to the whole people. Every soul
in the realm has now its share in the interest of the National
Debt. Eoyalty, too, has disappeared, and with it the heavy
expenses of the court. What additions will now accrue to
the incomes received under the old system ? I shall take
these items separately. The land account would be worth
to each a little less than three farthings a day. If the
whole rent were divided amongst us this income would be
increased by a penny farthing. Eailway profits and the
National Debt would afford us each about three half-pence
a day. If the royal court were abolished to-morrow, we
should each be enriched by sixpence a year, or the one-
thirty-sixth of a penny a day. Into such figures the socialist
Utopia shrinks and dissolves. With such miserable results
awaiting the proletarian, his eyes are made to swim, in
the delusive vision of future greatness, and wealth, and ease.
This style of argument, I must admit, smacks strongly
of the Chrysippean fallacy. Items that, separately, are
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 143
of little account, may be formidable enough when taken
conjointly. What then about those lesser concerns from
which considerable profits are at present realized ? I answer,
first: that the number of concerns it is possible to nationalize
is a very insignificant portion of our industry. As I have
said already, the greater number of private concerns depend
for their existence on the energy and tact of a single
capitalist, and can exist only because he is imbued and
stimulated by the thought that whatever is lost, is lost to
himself, and whatever is gained will be his own. But
let us examine the more chimerical hypothesis, and suppose,
for an instant, that the entire capital of the British nation
is actually centralized in the national treasury. How
far, we ask, would the ensuing profits exceed the wages
apportioned in our industry for average labour in an
average market? We are not contemplating the division
of capital, but only of profits furnished by its use. The
national income of England now, allowance being made
for second countings, is about ^£1,200,000,000 a year. If
every halfpenny of this money were divided, according to
gradation of age and sex, Mr. Mallock computes that the
result would be approximately as follows : —
s. d.
For each adult male ... 19 6 a week
,, ,, female ... 14 6 ,,
„ youth ... 10 0 „
„ infant ... 40,,
Now each of these with the exception of the infant
would have to work for the amount received. Compare
these figures with the average wages received for labour in
the English markets. Mr. Giffen has shown that the
average wage is over 20s. a week. Forty-one per cent, of
the labouring population are in receipt of more than 25s.
Only twenty-three per cent, earn less than 20s. Few boys
and girls in the English factories are in receipt of less than
10s. a week. Most of them earn a great deal more. Of
course, more women would be working than now, and that
would be some increase to trade ; and the support of the
infant is not to be despised. But, as I said, the case is quite
144 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
chimerical. Our figures will fall on a slight analysis. I am
not now referring to the decay of industry that should
necessarily follow the introduction of socialism. I am
speaking of quite another matter. Let us examine the
nature of the national income, and then we shall see that
an enormous portion of that same income is really not
divisible at all, and that consequently the figures given
above will be found to shrink to a smaller compass. Of
the £1,200,000,000 that make up our profits, only £38,000,000
are represented by coin. An immense portion of what
remains could never be divided as money can, consisting as
it does, of service, transports, new works of art, expensive
furniture, plate, &c. Even of that portion which is actually
divisible, more than one half is made up of imports given in
exchange for goods exported. But such exchange will
last only as long as the untiring energy of capitalist
and entrepreneur can put their products into competition
with the best goods in the world's markets. We shall
afterwards see how unfavourable socialism is likely to prove
to the exercise of industrial energy.
We see now that that portion of the £1,200,000,000
income, divisible into lots falls very short of the total
itself, for a picture cannot be cut in strips and served out
to buyers like common cloth.
But a matter of importance awaits us yet. We have
taken it for granted in the computations made, that our
present income would continue to exist quite independent
of the industrial revolution that socialism is to bring about.
We have taken it for granted, that the profits of industry
are a constant quantity, having nothing to do with parti-
cular systems of production, management, and administration
of capital. But now I say that a very great part of our
national income must necessarily vanish in the socialistic
state. To prove it, we must see what is the cause of the
immense additions that have accrued to capital in the
century that has just now passed. We cannot do better in
answering this question, than to follow the lines laid down
by Mr. Mallock in his account of the growth of capital in
England. But before doing so, there are other matters that
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 145
he has not touched, that must claim the reader's closest
attention. A century ago the capital of England amounted
to about £1,600,000,000. It now stands at £10,000,000,000.
What is the origin of this increase ? The answer is plain —
capital has increased because profits are saved. £200,000.000
are put by annually, and added to the store of existing
capital. But profits are saved because they belong to a few
rich men, who cannot spend half of their income. If each
could spend his entire income very little capital could be saved
at all. This is the use industry makes of the Rothschilds,
Vanderbilts, &c.
But now I ask, on whom in reality do the profits of
these . savings finally devolve ? Who benefits most by the
yearly additions that are made to capital ? It is often said
that the rich grow richer, and the poor poorer as capital
increases. This, of course, would be a serious objection to
the thesis I am defending : that socialism runs counter to
the workman's interest, because it is unfavourable to the
accumulation of capital. But what now are the facts of
the case ? Since 1843 the income of capital has increased
only by one hundred per cent. But, on the other hand, the
amount of capital has increased in the time as much as one
hundred and fifty per cent. Thus the income of capital has
been steadily declining in relation to the growth of capital
itself. But I have not yet touched the crucial point. Let
us put out of sight a few rich men like Vanderbilts,
Rothschilds, Goulds, &c. Now how, I ask, has capital
increased by one hundred and fifty per cent, in fifty years?
Is it by additions to each man's capital, or by the augmenta-
tion of the number of capitalists? Mainly, I say, in the
latter way. The number of capitalists has considerably
increased, as can be seen from the statistics of probate
duties. Capital then has reached its present dimensions,
principally because with the progress of industry and
wealth the proletarians have become so rich that a consider-
able number are enabled yearly to pass over to the body of
capitalists. This then is the effect of the accumulation of
capital. The poor are not poorer, but have benefited
exceedingly by the increase of capital. But the increase 01
VOL. III. h
14G THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
capital was absolutely necessary for the lii'e oi' industry.
It will be easily seen, that the prime condition of increase
of wealth, particularly in newly-opened countries, is the
amassing together of sufficient capital to keep her thousands
of wheels flying, and maintain the din and roar of her
factories. How has capital been increased in America ?
It has increased because her rich men cannot spend their
profits. Not a tenth part of the product of their capital
could possibly be spent by the most extravagant owners.
The rest is saved, and put out as capital, with this result,
that in a hundred years the wages of labour have more than
quadrupled, and that innumerable labourers are becoming
capitalists, renewing the vigour and life of trade, and setting
fresh industries afloat.
But the reader may object, if socialism were once
established, could not such capital be saved by the state,
before the general distribution of the profits ? In this she
might maintain her industries quite as efficiently as can
now be done. This brings me to the central point of this
whole critique. We shall see that the state could not hoard
up capital, and for this one reason, that socialism entails the
decay of industry, and the consequent decline of the profits
ot capital. We shall see that the incentives that now
quicken trade will be altogether wanting in the socialistic
state, and that in the vapid industry that will then ensue
the growth of capital must be impeded. Let us remember
too, that in a living industry the very same process that
impedes the growth, must carry on finally to industrial
decay.
Let me briefly restate the question to be treated. We
have just been treating as a chimerical hypothesis the
division of the entire capital of England. We admitted,
however, that if such a division could be carried out, the
poorer families would be slightly richer than they are under
our present regime. This is quite natural. The levelling
down of the rich man's profits, the sum to be divided
remaining the same naturally entailed a rise elsewhere.
The increase, however, was slight and disappointing. Now
socalism would destroy the interest on capital, and bring all
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 147
salaries to a common level. To keep the salaries of the
entrepreneur at their present level, would entail the accu-
mulation of private capital. This must not be in the Socialistic
State. Salaries must fall to a very low level, and the poor
man's wages accordingly rise. This is the balance on which
socialism works. But now let us notice that the balance
in question rests, as on a fulcrum, on one condition, viz.,
that the sum to be divided is a constant factor. That
condition I must now examine. We shall see that it never
could be fulfilled. We shall see that the extinction of
private capital, and the general levelling of wages for work,
will entail the instant decay of industry, and the consequent
decline of profits and capital.
To what shall we attribute the increase of profits in
the century that is about to close. A century ago the
income of Great Britain was £140,000,000. The labouring
population was then ten millions. To these ten million,
half the income, that is £70,000,000 were annually assigned.
What is the state of labour to-day. Every ten" million
labourers to-day receive not £70,000,000, but £200,000,000.
Let us mark this well. These ten million labourers are
now in receipt of £60,000,000 a year more than if the
whole (not half) of the entire income were divided amongst
them a century ago. These are figures that ought to be
engraven on every mind. They surpass the wildest dreams
of socialism. They proclaim, moreover, an accomplished
fact, whilst socialism is only tentative. Let us examine
this matter closely. To what are we to attribute the
vast increase in our national income? Is it to labour?
Decidedly not. Labour was more skilled two thousand
years ago than it is to-day. The skilled labour of the
ancient Greeks, as evinced, for instance, in the cutting of
gems, will be looked for in vain in the workshops of to-day.
Labour as such is unprogressive. What, then, is the source
of the growth of profits? It is not Labour. It is not Capital.
It is not the Land. The economic factors in the production
of wealth must henceforth be written Land, Labour,
Capital, and Ability. Ability in investing, ability in main-
taining, in extending the range, and perfecting the methods
148 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and deepening the intensity and life of our industries. Ability
is not mere idle genius. It is talent, and tact, and energy,
and prudence strained to the utmost in trade and commerce.
Ability is more than mere skilled labour. One stroke of
ability can reach to thousands. It increases the product of
each man's labour. Skilled labour affects one labourer
alone- One stroke of ability, Cartwright's invention, left
two hundred and fifty thousand men idle, with their
hand looms beside them in the market-place. But ability
employed them and enriched them again. Skilled labour
may teach me to push my barrow, or hold my file, or adjust
the tin sheet in the lamp stamp; but it cannot make
me facilitate the work, and increase the products of
thousands of men. But inventions are barren, and often
destructive when not directed by able men. The ability of
the entrepreneur is of more importance than that of the
inventor. The terrible evils of over-production, that have
merged whole cities in the blackest ruin, are an instance of
what invention may do without the exercise of directive
ability. Let diligence sustain and ability direct the
pace of industry, and then invention is a source of wealth.
England's wealth is fabulous to-day ; but let her keen
business-men depart from her shores, let her ceass to inspire
them with the hope of gain, and her independence and
wealth would decline more rapidly even than they
rose. When trade declined in '91 cheeks grew pale at
the catastrophe that threatened. It is the keen eye of
the entrepreneur that keeps us yearly from such calamities.1
And what has been eliciting the exercise of ability ? The
hope of gain ; of gain proportioned to the worth and work
of one who knows that he is worth more than a hundred
labourers in the manipulation of capital, and the production
of profits.
The man who must live from week to week, who
1 In tin interesting article, ' Le regne del'argcnt,' in the December number
of Les deux Motides, M. Anatome TJeanlieu writes as follows : — ' S'il n'y avait a
la Bourse que des hommes d'affaires, des financiers, des banquiers, les crises
seraient plus rares, et les chutes moins profondes. Ce qui en fait la frequence
Ct la gruvite, t'est le plus souvent 1'intervention du public.'
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 149
receives just what keeps him for the week, and cannot make
capital out what is left, who is sure of the pittance that the
nation allots him, with no overseer to spur his energies, or
with an overseer who is paid like himself, as secure as
himself, as unaffected by loss as himself; will such a man
spend sleepless nights, and toil all day, studying, devising,
planning new modes, and selecting grooves for the industry
he directs ? ' The knowledge,' says professor Walker, ' that
he will gain what is gained, and lose what is lost, is essential
to the temper of a man of business.' This, I repeat, could
alone have induced him to watch with anxiety the tides of
trade, to grasp the opportunities of fitful markets ; and to
propel his industry through dangerous channels, when so
little might have submerged it. Mr. Dale Owen had lived
with the socialists at Nashoba, and he writes thus : —
A plan which remunerates all alike, will, in the present
condition of society, ultimately eliminate from a co-operative
association the skilled, and efficient, and industrious members,
leaving an ineffective and sluggish residue, in whose hands the
expedient will fail both socially and pecuniarily.
And Mrs. Annie Besant, apparently for the moment off
her guard, admits
That the abnormal development of the gold hunger [which
characterizes our present system] will disappear upon the
certainty for each of the means of subsistence. Lat each indi-
vidual feel absolutely secure for his day's subsistence. Lst every
anxiety as to the material wants of the future be swept away,
and the tyranny of pecuniary gain will be broken, and life will
begin to be used in living, and not in struggling for the chance to
live.
I know that the theory I have been propounding is not
in accordance with that noble trust that the socialists evince
in future man. The socialist heart revolts at the idea that
man is moved by the hope of gain. They deny that the
dynamics of the human heart are naturally selfish or
material. They tell us, too, that socialism will come, not
with revolution, but with the evolution of the human
ideal, when selfishness shall have passed away. We can
only say, that such a process is by no means visible in the
150 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
facts and periods of the history of industry. Socialists, like
Mr.Kirkup, affirm that the selfish system is of recent growth.
Evolution then has been working backwards. The poverty
and isolation of the proletarian succeeded to happier feudal
days. The classes then separated more and more. The
labourer sank till he could sink no further. The capitalist
fed him as he fed his horse. He gave him just what kept
him alive, that his hands might not drop whilst he dug the
gold out of the capitalist's industrial gold mine. ' 0 God,'
said Hood, ' that bread should be so dear, and flesh and
blood so cheap.' And if labour has advanced in recent
years, to what are we to refer its progress and power? To
what shall we attribute the power of the trades-unions ? To
the evolution of the philanthropic man ? No. Mr. Howell,
their greatest advocate, informs us that trades-unionism is
now recognised in the land solely on account of its ' innate
strength.'
I have dwelt on this, not because it is worth considering
on its own ground, but because the socialists have been so
tenacious in offering their idea of the ' unselfish man.'
Listen to this, from Mr. Blatchford's volume on Merrie
England. He speaks of those who think men selfish :—
These flaws [i.e., the opinions we have been propounding]
are due to the fact that the founders and upholders of the system
of grab and greed are men who have never possessed either the
capacity or the opportunity for studying human nature. Mere
bookmen, schoolmen, logic-choppers, and business men can be
no authorities on human nature. The great authorities on human
nature are the poets, the novelists, and the artists . . . The only
books for the study of human nature are the works of men like
Shakspere, Hugo, Cervantes, and Sterne, and others who have
studied in that school.
The day is coming, therefore, when poets and artists
shall direct our industries. Business men know nothing of
the tendencies and wiles of buyers and sellers. Let poets
and artists, therefore, rule our factories, our imports and
exports, our markets and salehouses ; let them dream their
day-dreams in our banks and exchanges ; let Hamlet, and
Don Quixote, and The Muleteer replace our weekly market
journals and financial reviews. ' Then shall the eyes of the
blind be opened.'
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 151
Let us now inquire what are the incentives which the
socialists substitute for the hope of gain. Mrs. Annie Besant
enumerates them thus — (1) The starvation that would follow
on the cessation of labour ; (2) the determination of our
fellow-workers not to allow us to shirk our work ; (3) the
joy in creative work, the longing to improve, the eagerness
to win social approval, the instinct of benevolence, &c. Let
us review them briefly. But first let me say that these
incentives are supposed to stimulate not only ability, but
also the work of the ordinary labourer.
The first incentive I may instantly dismiss with this one
remark, that we are not concerned with the existence of
industry, but with its maturity, pace, and growth. We are
not questioning the cessation of labour, but only its decline.
Both managers and men may cling on to their employment,
and receive the wages appointed by the state; but this is
not the point at issue. The work of the dilettante may
keep him from starvation. But what we ask is this — what
incentive has the socialist to offer to that keen, unresting,
untiring energy that has brought our industry to its present
state ?
The second incentive is the eye of our companions.
Life shall become a system of mere universal espionage.
Will such a system be welcome to mankind? It were
better to be poor, most men would reply, than that every
man should be my keeper.
Tanti tibi non sit opaci,
Oninis arena Tagi, quodque in mare volvitur aurum
Ut somno careas, ponendaque praemia sumas
Tristis, et a magno semper timearis amico.1
But let us consider the case as it stands. Two men are
working at the same lathe ; they both earn a pound a week.
A idles most of his time. He has a right only to ten
shillings a week ; but the state pays him his full wages. It
is evident that the divide will suffer by this. Now, to what
extent is B injured ? To the one seventy-six-millionth
of a pound. The same objection might be put also in
1 Juvenal, Sat.
152 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
another form — will it not be a man's own interest to work
his best? His idleness ultimately recoils upon himself.
The profits to be divided will not be so large. The answer
is the same as in the last case. If a man were to live to
the age of sixty, and during most of that time, were to
neglect his work, spending his time drinking and sleeping ;
to what extent would he suffer in the end ? The calcula-
tion is very simple. He would lose about the one forty-
thousandth of a pound, or the one-hundred-and-sixtieth part
of a penny. Such trivial effects are not likely to stimulate
either his neighbour's vigilance or his own energies. Besides,
does he not know that numerous workmen throughout the
country are wasting their time and receiving money, and
shall he strive to do justice to the nation, whilst others
are living at his expense?
Thirdly, there are, the joy in creative work, the longing
to improve, the eagerness for social honours, the instinct
of benevolence, &c. The first two of these could never
maintain or push on our industries. They might influence
a race of poets and artists, but they have little effect on the
mass of labourers. Social honours are much more palpable.
What these honours are to be is not yet decided. They
will, probably, resemble the honours of Nashoba, i.e., 'the
very good, good, indifferent, and bad,' indicated by the colour
of the ribbon on the head ; such honours as these have been
generally adopted in our infant schools, and are found to
work very effectually. Even grown-up men have set much
value on the medals of the Humane Society ; but if twenty
millions were to receive them yearly they would scarcely
incite us to deeds of heroism. I have already spoken of the
instinct of benevolence. These then are the incentives that
the socialists offer for the maintenance and progress of our
industries. We can scarcely regard them as very effectual.
Let me sum up briefly what I have been saying on the
benefits we may expect from socialism. The present system
of the market entails fixed wages for the proletarian, which,
taken from the varying product of industry, leaves for the
capitalist a varying and uncertain profit. In the socialistic
state the case is reversed. Fixed wages for the manager,
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 153
but a varying divide for the mass of labourers, from a
very, changeable and uncertain product, that is supposed
to be kept at its present level by certain sentimental
stimuli, that for the mass of men are wholly ineffectual,
and for all are necessarily short-lived.
I come now to a matter that has probably suggested
itself to the reader already. I have been endeavouring
to show, that socialism entails the decay of industry,
from want of appropriate and adequate incentives. But
does not the existence of co-operative industries portray
in miniature what might be expected from the socialistic
state ? The principles and results of both are the same ; but
co-operative industries continue to exist, and afford their
shareholders an annual divide. I am not now speaking of
joint stock companies, with a few capitalists, and a host of
efficient and well-paid managers. I speak, for instance, of
co-operative stores, where the entepreneur is almost dis-
pensed with. I answer, the cases are very different. For
we may store up as capital whatever we reap from co-
operative industries, and put it out at premium, which
could not be done in the socialistic state. But, as a matter
of fact, what has been the history of co-operative industries?
Have they succeeded where they have been tried? We
can answer only by appealing to facts. The co-operative
cotton mills that were started in England either failed or
were converted into joint stock companies. The co-
operative stores that were started in France, after the
revolution of '48 were an utter failure. In Switzerland,
where everything favoured their adoption, the people never
took kindly to them. Even joint stock companies with
a number of capitalists, where no one has heavy stakes to
risk, are not likely to advance like private concerns. Studnetz
informs us that, in 1878, he found the mills of New York
all idle, and those of Philadelphia working away; and he
attributes the fact to this alone, that the former were under
joint stock companies, but the latter belonged to private
owners. It will be readily seen that the co-operation of
which I have been speaking has nothing to do with that
co-operation which is advocated in agricultural matters,
154 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a system that has proved of use to farmers here and
elsewhere.
I shall just refer to one other matter. The reader may say
I have treated this question as if socialism demanded a
number of centres; as if England, France, Germany, &c.,
were each to possess its own treasury. But the aims of
socialism may be wider than this. If nations were linked
one to another, and the whole world were but one treasury,
would not depressions of trade in a particular centre be
counteracted by a proportional rise in another department
of the universal industry, as surface depressions in particular
places are followed by the upheaval of hills elsewhere.
Thus the fluctuations of local markets would have no effect
in the final divide. Now, the reader will admit that the
system of industry here advocated is certainly one of the
impossible ideals of which I spoke in the beginning of this
paper. But let us examine it for what it is worth. I say
that the objection that has just been offered embodies a
serious economic fallacy, a fallacy that assumes many
different shapes throughout the course of economic science.
The fallacious principle involved is this — that any depres-
sion in a particular industry, carried through the easy
channels of commerce in a perfectly adjusted organic system,
is necessarily followed by a rise elsewhere. The principle
means that capital and profits are a constant quantity, and
that, consequently, whatever is lost to a particular market
is gained by another, as a matter of course. I might call it
the fallacy of the ' profit fund,' from its close resemblance to
'the ' wages fund.' Now, I say profits are not a constant
quantity. They are capable of growth and diminution. They
are more unstable than capital itself. We know very
well that the failure of an industry in a particular place will
often occasion its rise elsewhere, as the Lancashire cotton
famine some years ago stimulated to a very large extent the
growth of cotton in India, Egypt, and Brazil. But I fail to
see why the economic effects of over-population or of over-
production of market goods is bound to enrich a market
anywhere. Products often have a limited market, inside
of which alone they can sell. The surplus supply cannot be
THE ECONOMIC ASPECT OF SOCIALISM 155
transferred. In a case like this over-production is necessarily
a loss. A case like this may easily entail the general collapse
of trade and commerce. Now, the want of incentives is of
such a kind ; where incentives are not adequate, industry
must flag. "We must also remember that industry does not
right itself. If equilibrium is ever established, it is secured
by artificial means, by positive interference on the part of
the manager. But such interference is often useless, and
often it is quite impossible. We sometimes unconsciously
touch a spring that sets markets heaving all over the world,
for the springs of commerce are very hidden, and often
utterly out of our control. In 1885 it was impossible to tell
why trade was depressed in 1882. Mr. Giffen could only
conjecture the cause. He said it was probably due to the
fact that the demand for gold was very great, and the supply
was so small, after the enormous output of that metal that
followed the Australian and Californian discoveries.
I say then that we have no reason to expect, that the
centralization of the world's industry will ensure the
stability of profits and salaries. On the contrary, I can
easily retort, that no security may be hoped for -in a system
where the least convulsion in any locality would thrill
through every fibre of our industry, and set markets heaving
in the remotest places.
There are many points on which I have not touched,
that bear down intimately on the question in hand. But we
must leave them aside for the present. I have shown, I
hope, that socialism would not favour the production of
wealth ; that labour would suffer by such a system ; that
all that socialism might have attempted in the past, has
been secured on quite other lines ; that the same success
could not have been reaped had socialism been the national
system ; that, therefore, we have nothing to hope for from
its adoption, but a very great deal to fear.
The reader may ask, is there no redress, then, for our
present evils? I answer that socialism could offer none.
But the future is full of hope for labour. It is only recently
that the rights of labour have been really recognised.
Capitalists see that it is more in accordance with their own
156 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
interests to give to labour what is due to it. The system
that Macaulay described so vividly is already passing or passed
away, and it has come to this that labour is in a position to
exercise its rights, and capital is not in a position to ignore
them. Political economy is an altered science, for the
school of laissez-faire is dead. ' It needs,' says Mr. Howell,
' no prophet to foretell that human labour will not in the
future be divorced from the man-worker, and be treated as
a mere commodity like pigs or potatoes, corn or cabbage, as
was the tendency of most writers, more than a generation
ago.'
Let us hope that in the future we may see accomplished
what the Church's voice has been ever advocating, the
recognition of our common destiny, to be reached by many
diverse paths.
M. CRONIN, D.D., M.A.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER
AT the beginning and at the end of Dante's life, Bologna
produced two poets closely connected with the singer
of the Divine Comedy : Guido Guinicelli, and Graziolo de'
Bambaglioli. The one was as the morning star to the sun,
the other a fainter light just visible in its setting. Both,
like Dante, were exiles, and like him solaced their banishment
with song ; Guido Guinicelli, Dante's master and father in
poetic art, was exiled for his devotion to the Empire ;
Graziolo de' Bambaglioli, his earliest apologist, and almost
his first commentator, for his adherence to the party of the
Church.
Graziolo, or Bonagrazia, de' Bambaglioli was born about
1291, of an old Bolognese family. His father was a wealthy
citizen who had held various offices under the Eepublic, and
seems to have possessed estates in the country. Our poet
became a notary, and rose to considerable eminence and
authority in the Guelph party of Bologna ; and, in July,
1321, he was elected Chancellor of the Commune, at a
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 157
peculiarly critical time when a revolution had violently
expelled Homeo de' Pepoli (a rich usurer, who had become
practically lord of the city), and had established a new form
of government, in many respects resembling the famous
popular constitution of the Florentine Republic, with its
Priors of the Arts and its ' Gonfaloniere di Giustizia.' Two
months later, on September 14th, Dante died at Eavenna.
The poet of a renovated Empire and a purified Church had
passed away upon the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,
which he represents in his poem as the connecting band with
which Christ had united the two.
It was while Chancellor of Bologna that Ser Graziolo
wrote the first of his two great works that still remain to
us, his commentary upon the Inferno. Dante's writings,
perhaps, excited even greater interest in Bologna than else-
where, although in the Inferno he had assailed the moral
character of its citizens and treated its renowned University
with scant courtesy. His lyrics were certainly known and
sung there before their author's exile. In the early days of
his banishment Dante had probably been a well-known
figure in the city, before the disturbance of 1306 hounded
the exiles out of Bologna too. Towards the end of his life
those charming pastoral letters in Latin hexameters which
he interchanged with Giovanni del Virgilio, a young lecturer
of the university, show that there was a cultured Bolognese
circle who eagerly read the Divine Comedy, as its cantos
appeared ; and that the city would gladly have bestowed the
laurel crown upon its author. But, above all, the De
Monarchia must have appealed strongly to the Bologna
University, which in spite of the Guelphic politics of the
Commune remained in theory ardently Ghibelline and
imperialist, and from whose jurists the emperors had often,
in times past, applied for confirmation of their pretended
rights over the Italian cities.
The conflict between the Pope and Ludwig of Bavaria,
following soon after Dante's death, increased the interest
taken in his writings, and added the stimulus of a burning
political question. Boccaccio tells us that the Imperialists
used arguments from the De Monarchia in support of
158 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Ludwig's pretensions, and that the book, which until then
was little known, became very famous. Calumniators and
detractors now arose. Antonio Pucci, a Florentine poet,
who wrote nearly half a century later, declares that in his
days the Pope and the cardinals would have been among
the foremost champions of Dante's reputation. But at the
time things were not so obvious. Not only did such free
lances as the poet Cecco d' Ascoli sharpen their tongues
against him, but even the official clerical party in Bologna
fiercely assailed Dante's orthodoxy and denounced his works
as heretical, both from the De Monarchia and from certain
passages in the Inferno. A Dominican friar from Rimini,
Fra Guido Vernani, made himself their spokesman. "With
Escalus, ' we shall find this friar a notable fellow,' although
nothing seems known of him except his extraordinary attack
upon the memory of the divine poet. De Potestate sumini
Pontificis et de reprobatione Monarchiae compositae a Dante
AUgherio, is the title given by the Dominican to this
remarkable production, which he dedicates to ' his well-
beloved son, Graziolo de' Bambaglioli, Chancellor of the
noble Commune of Bologna,' probably as one of the leading
Guelph politicians of Bologna, distinguished alike for his
undoubted orthodoxy and for his enthusiastic admiration of
Dante. In his exordium, Fra Guido represents Dante's
works as a growing danger to the faith, as a vessel lovely to
look upon, but containing cruel and pestilent poison. The
poet, according to him, is an agent of the father of lies, a
fantastic and verbose sophist, who, by his alluring eloquence
and sweet siren strains, by uniting the philosophy of
Boethius to his own poetical imaginations and fictions, and
combining paganism with theology, is deluding 'not only the
weaker brethren, but even studious and learned persons.
Dismissing Dante's other works with contempt, this daring
friar proceeds confidently to make manifest the worthlessness
of the treatise on the Monarchy, from which attempt he
trusts that Ser Graziolo will derive much spiritual profit
and edification : —
This then do I send to thee, well-beloved son, in order that
thy intellect clear by nature and acute by divine grace, eager in
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 159
the investigation of truth, as far as the great affairs committed to
thee allow, whilst studious of the beauties of this man's work, may
choose and love what is useful, reject what is false, curtail the
superfluous, and avoid the useless and harmful.
It must be admitted that the friar sometimes manages to
score rather heavily off the poet, especially where he answers
two of Dante's favourite arguments about the divine appro-
bation of the Empire. Thus, when Dante declares that
Christ approved the empire of Caesar when He willed to be
born under the edict of Augustus, the friar answers that it
would follow from this line of argument that the devil acted
justly in tempting Christ, and Judas by betraying Him, the
Jews by crucifying Him with their tongues, the soldiers
when they scourged Him, and Pilate when he condemned
Him to death ; for Christ willed to be in their power, and
was offered up because it was His will. Again, Dante argues
that, if the Eoman Empire did not exist by right, the sin of
Adam was not punished in Christ, and that the judgment of
Pilate must have been the sentence of a regular judge under
the Emperor, who had universal authority over all mankind.
Fra Guido answers that this is mere nonsense, for the
punishment of original sin cannot possibly be subject to
the power of any earthly judge, or else such a judge might
lawfully put to death the new-born child.
Fra Guide's dedication clearly implies that Ser Graziolo
was known to be engaged upon a commentary on the divine
poet ; and it was probably in answer to this challenge that
Graziolo produced the work, which still in part remains to
mark its author as the first Catholic apologist for Dante,
the first in the long line of writers from Bellarmine to
Hettinger and Cornoldi, who have written from the
essentially Catholic point of view, to show the true
relationship of the Church towards her greatest poet.
The key-note to the intention of Graziolo's commentary
is struck in the passage where he explains Dante's treat-
ment of the suicides : Credo tamen auctorem praefatum
tanquam fidelem Catholicum omni prudentia et scientia
clarum, suo tenuisse judicio quod ecclesia sancta tenet : ' I
believe that our author as a faithful Catholic held what holy
160 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Church holds.' This commentary first appeared about three
years after Dante's death. It became very famous ; contem-
porary, and even later commentators quoted and borrowed
from it. The author of the Ottimo Commento, generally
called the Ottimo, who wrote about ten years later, in 1334,
twice quotes Ser Graziolo as a defender of Dante's orthodoxy,
although he himself holds that there is no need of any
such defence, and that the Paradiso in itself contains a
sufficient answer to any accusation of heresy. Already in
1334, theories casting doubt upon Dante's Catholicity were
regarded by the poet's best commentators as mere antiquated
curiosities.
Ser Graziolo's commentary has come down to us in an
early Italian translation, and in a very fragmentary version
of the original Latin. The former was published by Lord
Vernon, in 1848 ; the latter was first edited by Professor
A. Fiammazzo, in 1892. 1 It is mainly its position in the
history of the literary study of the Divine Comedy which
gives this commentary its interest, and invests it \\ith
charm. It gives us, about certain special points, the opinion
of one who was perhaps Dante's first commentator, and who
may even, like Pietro Alighieri and the Ottimo, have been
in personal contact with the divine singer. It is clearly
Graziolo's own enthusiastic admiration for Dante, and the
resulting desire to defend his hero from all detractors, that
is the prime object of his undertaking. His generous proem,
full of genuine enthusiasm, will find an echo in the heart of
every loving student of Dante : —
Although the unsearchable Providence of God hath made
many men blessed with prudence and virtue, yet before all hath
it put Dante Alighieri, a man of noble and profound wisdom, true
teacher of philosophy and lofty poet, the axithor of this marvellous,
singular and most sapient work. It hath made him a shining
light of spiritual felicity and of knowledge to the people and
cities of the world, in order that every science, whether of
heavenly or of earthly things, should be amply gathered up in this
public and famous champion of prudence, and through him be
1 Fiammazzo, // Commento air Inferno di Graziolo de'Bambaglioli, Udine,
1892. Cf. also Rocca, JH Alcimi Commciiti del'.a D.C. composti nci primi rent' anni
dojjo la morte di Dautc, Firenze, 1891.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 161
made manifest to the desires of men in witness of the Divine
Wisdom ; so that, by the new sweetness and universal matter of
his song, he should draw the souls of his hearers to self-knowledge,
and that, raised above earthly desires, they should come to know
not only the beauties of this great author, but should attain to
still higher grades of knowledge. To him can be applied the
text in Ecclesiasticus : ' The great Lord will fill him with the
spirit of understanding, and he will pour forth the words of his
wisdom as showers.' And of him can be expounded the writing
of Ezechiel : ' A large eagle with great wings, long-limbed, full of
feathers, and of variety, came to Libanus, and took away the
marrow of the cedar ; he cropt off the top of the twigs thereof,
and carried it away into the land of Chanaan.'
Certainly this comparison would have delighted the
heart of Dante, finding himself likened to the emblem of his
universal Roman monarchy, the Bird of God, the sacrosanct
sign, whose praises he had sung in the sixth Canto of the
Paradiso. It is to be devoutly hoped that a copy of this
work penetrated into the Dominican Convent of Eimini,
and was carefully studied by Fra Guide Vernani.
Throughout his commentary Ser Graziolo rather dis-
regards the general allegorical meaning, that splendid but
difficult field upon which the Ottimo, and, later in the
century, Benvenuto da Imola, were to do such admirable
work. He is strong upon the personal aspect of the poem.
According to him, the sleep that Dante describes in the first
Canto is the poet's own sinful life ; he had wandered from
the way of truth, and was stained with luxury, pride, and
avarice. Virgil represents Reason ; he appears in order to
lead Dante to true knowledge, to awaken his conscience,
and so raise him from vice and dispose him to virtue.
Graziolo seems likewise to distinguish between a literal and
an allegorical Beatrice; in the one sense, she is some supreme
virtue, summa virtus ; and in the other, the noble soul of
Lady Beatrice, anima generosa dominae Beatricis. True
to his intention of, above all, defending Dante's orthodoxy,
Graziolo manages to very much tone down the terrible
and bitter words addressed to Pope Nicholas III.,1 and
turns away Dante's shaft from the Papacy to strike the
1 Inferno xix.
VOL. III. I*
1(V2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
great and mighty of the world in general. In comment-
ing upon the famous and much-disputed passage : Colui
che fece per vitiate il gran rifiuto,1 ' He who made
through cowardice the great refusal,' Graziolo admits that
St. Celestine V. is the person meant, but tries to interpret
the passage so as to defend both St. Celestine and his
successor : ' Through the carefulness and sagacity of Pope
Boniface, he renounced the papacy.' It was a far easier
matter to prove Dante's complete orthodoxy on the two
points which his enemies had specially seized upon as
heretical ; the one in connection with the power and influ-
ence of fortune, which was supposed to involve a denial
of the possession of free will ;2 and the other on the
fate of the suicides whose souls were apparently never
to be reunited to their bodies,8 which was represented
as opposed to the resurrection of the body. In neither
case did the hostile critics think it worth while to look
beyond the special passages to the Cantos in which these
two sublime Catholic doctrines are so fully and splendidly
treated ; and Graziolo, instead of pointing out the absurdity
and triviality of such objections, solemnly protests his con-
viction that the poet adhered to the Church's doctrine upon
these and all other subjects, and then enters into a rather
long and dreary digression upon each. It does not -even
occur to him that Dante's treatment of the suicides is
merely a fine poetical fiction; but he regards it as a meta-
phorical way of speaking, and thinks that perhaps the poet
only meant that there is no remedy for this sin of despair,
so as to give men a terrible warning against cutting them-
selves off from the hope of divine mercy by committing
suicide.
Perhaps, of all the problems arising out of the Divine
Comedy ; not one has proved so incapable of certain solution
as that most mysterious prophecy uttered at the beginning
of the poem, of the coming of a Deliverer, the Veltro or grey-
hound, who is to be the salvation of Italy, and to hunt the
horrible she-wolf back to hell. Hardly two critics are in
* Iufn-Ho iii. a Inferno vii. :< Inferno xiii.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 163
complete agreement as to what Dante really meant by this
prophecy, which in slightly varied forms is repeated several
times in the course of the poem ; and the fancies of modern
commentators have run riot in suggesting fresh and impos-
sible interpretations of the wolf and his mysterious destroyer
The position of Ser Graziolo at the very beginning of the
critical study of the Divine Comedy gives peculiar interest
to his interpretation of the question. For him the wolf is
cupidity, radix omnium malorum, and he sees no political
meaning in the matter. He mentions that even then a great
variety of views was held upon the Veltro, but declares that
it ought certainly to be understood in two ways — in a divine
sense and in a human sense, both of which he works out in
detail. In the former, this Veltro refers to the coming of the
Son of God at the last judgment ; in the latter, the Veltro is
some Pope or Emperor, or some other hero who will arise by
the influence of the heavens, under whose wise and just rule
universal peace will be established, and the human race will
again turn to virtue and truth. And Ser Graziolo, in support
of his view, quotes the famous canzone or ode which Dante
wrote in exile, commencing with the line : —
Tre donne intorno al cor mi son venute.
'Three ladies have come around my heart.' These three
mystic ladies are Kighteousness, Generosity, and Temper-
ance ; exiles too, they appear to Dante in his banishment,
and assure him that, although the virtues have been all
expelled from men's hearts, yet they are not dead, and that
a nobler age is to come in which the sacred darts of love
will again shine brightly amongst men : —
We to the eternal rock may turn ;
For, be we now sore driven,
We yet shall live, and yet shall find a race
Who with this dart shall each dark stain efface.1
It was in this canzone, so loved by Graziolo, that Dante
exulting in these noble spiritual companions in misfortune,
1 Plumptre's translation.
164 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
had uttered the sentence which strikes the key-note of his
life :—
L'esilio che m'e dato onor mi tegno.
'I hold my exile as an honour.' And Dante's defender
and commentator was now to experience the same fate.
Bologna lay restlessly beneath the strong hand of
Cardinal Bertrando del Poggetto, who had been sent into
Italy by Pope John XXII., in 1326, as Papal Legate to
defend Tuscany and the Komagna against the petty
tyrants who were rising up on all sides. Abusing the
authority committed to him to serve his own ambitious ends,
Bertrando had taken advantage of the alarm and confusion
caused by the Italian expedition of Ludwig of Bavaria to
make himself lord of Bologna and several of the neighbouring
cities. His rule was at first eminently popular; but, em-
bittered by suspicion and carried away by success, he
gradually assumed the part of a typical Italian tyrant, and
by his arrogance and cruelty aroused the fiercest animosity
in the very men who had hailed him with acclamations as
the Church's champion, and the deliverer from the hated
Bavarian Emperor. Amongst other arbitrary acts, he
gained considerable notoriety by a disgraceful attempt to
desecrate Dante's tomb at Eavenna. At last, in 1334, the
Bolognese rose against him. The Cardinal found himself
besieged in the castle he had built to overawe the city, until,
after a blockade of twelve days, he was allowed to escape
under the protection of the Florentines, by virtue of a secret
understanding with the leaders of the Bolognese, who were
anxious to recover their liberties without embroiling them-
selves with the Pope.
The part played by Graziolo in these events was probably
only a passive one ; but, nevertheless, he became involved in
the Cardinal's fall. Through the assistance of the Florentines
a new form of communal government was now established
at Bologna, not without more disturbances, in which the
party that had overthrown the Cardinal drove out their
opponents. It is said that in June, 1334, more than a
thousand Guelphs were thus expelled from Bologna, or sent
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 165
into exile, including nine members of the Bambaglioli
family, and amongst them the Chancellor himself.
Ser Graziolo does not seem to have been one of those who
were violently expelled, but to have pledged himself to obey
the decree of the Commune and remain in banishment. His
paths are hidden in obscurity, but it is probable that he
never returned to his native cit}' . In 1340 there is a record
of money given to the Franciscans for Masses to be said for
the repose of his soul ; and in 1343 he is mentioned as dead
in an application of his son's to the Commune.1
Like his great master Dante, Ser Graziolo in exile turned
to poetry, and with the same noble end : ' To rescue those
who live in this life from their state of misery, and to guide
them to the state of blessedness,' though with immeasurably
slighter powers, and therefore by humbler means. With a
more modern poet, Graziolo might say : —
Of heaven or hell I have no power to sing.
He could not, like Dante, set forth the hideousness of
vice and the beauty of virtue by a sublime vision of the
world beyond the grave. He set himself, therefore, to attain
the same end more simply, by plainly treating of the moral
virtues, of their effects upon human society, and of the
evils resulting from vice ; and so, in his own way, to render
testimony to his Maker : —
A tua eterna lode, alto signore.
This Trattato sopra h Virtu Morali, or Treatise on the
Moral Virtues, which is the work of Graziolo's exile, as the
commentary upon Dante had been the literary product of
his political life, was originally sent by its author, together
with a Latin commentary and a dedicatory letter, to
Bertrando del Balzo, the kinsman of King Robert of Naples.
In this way the treatise became afterwards ascribed to
King Robert himself, under whose name it has more
frequently been published than under that of its real
author. In the dedication Graziolo describes himself as
olim civitatis Bononiae cancellarius, and imitates the
1 Fantuzzi, Notizie degli scrittori Bolognesi, Bologna; 1781.
166 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
epistolary style occasionally employed by Dante : exul
immeritus, humilis. The letter itself is exactly in the
spirit of Hamlet's words : —
Sure, He that made us with such large discourse,
Looking before and after, gave us not
That capability and godlike reason
To fust in us unused.
The divine wisdom and clemency, he says, made man
to His own image and likeness, that he should not fust in
pernicious idleness and uselessness, but should use his intel-
lect in speculation, so as to seek and find the truth ; for
this does the Gospel, through St. Matthew, summon the
labourers, whom no man has hired, to work in the vineyard
of the Lord : —
Wherefore I, since no man has hired me to humbly labour or
to hold office in the state, in order to remain no longer in idle
waste of time during this unjust exile which envy prepared for
me, have drawn out this treatise on natural morality from the
approved writings of venerable authors.
The work is divided into three sections, each composed
of a number of sentenze, short Italian stanzas of varying
length and structure. Quadrio called it one of the finest and
wisest of early Italian poems, and, although such praise is
more than excessive, the treatise certainly has great merits.
Before Graziolo, Francesco da Barberino and Dino Compagni
produced somewhat similar works ; but Graziolo at the
outset strikes a higher note, and his opening stanza : —
Amor che muovi '1 ciel per tua virtute,
shows that he had studied Dante's philosophical lyrics, as
well as the Divine Comedy : —
Love, that movest the heaven by Thy power, and by the
\vorking of the stars dost alter all things here below, transfer-
ring kingdoms from state to state and from nation to nation ;
mercifully lend ear, Almighty Lord, and deign to inspire me that
I may make manifest man's virtues and the result of his actions ;
to Thy eternal praise, Lord, for right affections can never be
without Thy potent aid.
In its own modest and humble way, Ser Graziolo's poem
is a supplement to the Purgatorio. The Purgatorio repre-
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 167
sented allegorically the life of man upon earth, striving to
reach the Earthly Paradise in accordance with the moral
and intellectual virtues. Graziolo, therefore, treats of the
virtues which especially pertain to this life, the cardinal
virtues which attain to human reason, and which ' perfect
the intellect and appetite of man according to the capacity of
human nature.' As for Dante in his Purgatorio, so for
Graziolo the whole system of the poem is based upon the
supremacy of free will.1 The Lombard Marco, in Purgatorio,
Canto vi., had exposed the 'admirable evasion' of man's
referring his own misdeeds to the ' enforced obedience of
planetary influence;' and Graziolo, in very similar strains,
asserts the freedom of man's will and his own moral respon-
sibility in spite of the planets. And, just as the Purgatorio
is based upon the universality of love, and the consequent
need of setting love in order, and centres in the doctrine
that love is the cause of every action, so the first part of
Graziolo's Trattato deals with love, starting with that noble
invocation to the Supreme Love that moves the sun and the
stars, and passing thence to love of charity and true friend-
ship. Love and friendship unite all ranks in the common
weal, put an end to strife, open all roads. Through love
the world has peace and the heavens have beauty. Love
exalts the lowly, makes the weak strong. To the state it
gives unity for self-defence. It fills the world with sweet-
ness and nobleness. The true lover, il vero amico, in pros-
perity and in adversity, loves and serves alike, expecting no
reward. There are stern words, too, against ingratitude and
against false friends ; in many passages it is the exile's voice
that is heard, pleading for that charity which opens gates,
dispels civil strife, unites cities, and produces true peace
and happy security.
The second part treats of the four cardinal virtues. It
shows to some extent the influence of Dante's Convito ; but
the treatment is more slight and popular, and they are
throughout considered with an eye to the direction of
conduct in a man who is called upon to deal with politics,
and with special reference to the maintenance of the state,
1 Cf. F. Faleo, Moralinti Italia ni del trecento, Lucca, 1891
168 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and the order and welfare of the commune. It might,
indeed, be described as a practical handbook of the cardinal
virtues in their application to life in an Italian commune of
the fourteenth century. Under Prudence there is a curious
sketch of the duties of an ideal ruler towards his city, his
household, and his subjects. He must curb his own will,
and be ever intent upon the good of the commune ; a very
centre of charity, loving all his subjects in union, and win-
ning their love in return ; affable and pleasant to all, he is a
bond of peace and unity. Especially he must be very careful
as to the behaviour and morality of his own household, and
at once weed out any undesirable member. He is to be
prudent in rewarding and honouring merit, to beware of
flatterers, but be open to receive good counsel from discreet
and trusty friends. Warnings against indulging in plots on
the part of the subject, and against unjust sentences on the
part of the ruler, are followed by general denunciations of
calumniators. Like Dante, Ser Graziolo had known what
it was to suffer injustice,
Through sin of cursed slander's tongue and tooth.
The sentences on Fortitude are indeed applicable to the
poet's own position. In adversity, he says, mental peace
and joyfulness should be cultivated, for sadness is not only
useless, but real spiritual suicide. Leave all vengeance to
heaven, and await the turning of fortune's wheel. The man
of true fortitude will thus experience how honour is gained
in noble suffering : —
Come del bel soffrir s'acquista onore.
What Divine Providence permits is to be sustained with
patience, for such things lead through body's loss to the
eternal felicity of the soul in God :—
Per dar felicitate
Allo spirto che in Dio vive eternale.
There is here almost a faint foretaste of Shakespeare's
sonnet : —
Then, soul, live thou upon thy servant's loss,
And let that pine to aggravate thy store ;
Buy terms divine in selling hours of dross;
Within be fed, without be rich no more.
DANTE'S FIRST DEFENDER 169
The third, and concluding section treats of the seven
deadly sins, and of the vices and defects of human life. It
must be admitted that our good Graziolo has nothing very
new to tell us upon these themes, and the best and most
poetical passages are those in which he catches an echo
from the Convito or the Divine Comedy. The two final
sentenze are a kind of corollary ; the first laments the malice
of party spirit, and the second finds a cause for this, and for
the resulting ruin of Italy, in the utter selfishness of states
and individuals alike. The common good is neglected; each
looks only to his own gain ; the most zealous partisans will
readily change sides for mercenary considerations; states
are no longer in arms for great causes, but to maintain the
power of individuals.
As he had commenced by invocation of the divine grace
for his poem, so, before closing it, Graziolo gives thanks
that his prayer has been answered, and ends by lifting the
thoughts and desires of his readers from the life to which
these virtues pertain, to that eternal and celestial life on the
way towards which they are a step. The stanza has usually
been omitted from the published editions of the Trattato; but
it is, in its own very humble way, as essential a conclusion
to the whole work as the Paradiso is to the Purgatorio : —
Opra novella, poich' hai dimostrato
Li vitii e le virtu d'umana vita,
Consiglia che ciascun' anzi 1'uscita
Proveggia bene al suo eterno stato ;
Poi renda lode, gratia e reverentia
All' infinita e superna eccellentia,
La qual per pietade
Ti ha spirato per la veritade.
' My little book, since thou hast shown the vices and
virtues of human life, counsel each one before his
death to provide well for his future state. Then render
praise, thanks, and reverence to the infinite and supreme
excellence which in compassion hath inspired thee for the
truth.' There is, perhaps, a faint echo here from the
Convito,1 where the noble soul in the fourth and last period
1 Book iv.
170 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of life returns to God, and blesses the voyage she has made ;
and Graziolo's accompanying commentary ended in a
similar strain : ' That with the heavenly citizens of the
triumphant and holy Jerusalem we may glory and be at
peace in Him, who is the last end of perfection and glory,
who alone perfectly fulfils and sets at rest all human
desires.' Thus we take leave of one who, although him-
self neither a great poet nor a very profound thinker, yet by
his rectitude and sincerity wins respect in every fragment
of his that remains to us, and who certainly claims con-
siderable interest from his connection with Dante and the
Divine Comedy, at the time of the poet's death and the
beginning of the critical study of his work.
EDMUND G. GARDNER.
[ 171 ]
IRotes anb (Queries
THEOLOGY
MASSES FOB, THE DEAD
KEV. DEAB SIR, — From the answer given with reference to
the 'Dead List ' in the December number of the I. E. KECORD, it
would seem that the November offerings must be looked upon as
honoraria, and that the obligation attached cannot be fulfilled by
saying second Masses when honoraria are already received for
the first.
Now, if the method of division can be taken as determining
whether these offerings are to be regarded as honoraria or dues,
it seems to some and to me that a sound distinction would
regulate the matter. If the offerings are distributed as honoraria
the obligation is the same as for any other honoraria, and, con-
sequently, it is prohibited to attempt to satisfy it by the second
Mass when a stipend has been taken for the first ; but when the
division has been made according to the mode of parochial dues,
then the celebrant is free to discharge his obligation by the
second, as dues are not regarded as honoraria, but part and
parcel of his official endowment or salary. As the question is
important, practical, and subject to diversity of interpretation, I
would be glad to hear more on the matter from the wise and the
learned among your readers.
DUBIUS DUPLICANS.
The readers of the I. E. EECOED will, no doubt, readily
understand our correspondent's point of view when he
insists that this is an important and a practical question.
But we decline to believe that, learned or unlearned, they
will take his estimate of the relevancy or force of the
argument on which he relies. Apart from the taste in
making the distinction, we venture to think that our
correspondent was singularly unfortunate in addressing his
argument to the ' wise and learned ' among our readers.
What are generally known as ' November offerings ' our
172 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
correspondent prefers to describe and regard as ' dues.' We
must confess to a preference for the ordinary designation ;
but the point is quite immaterial. Our correspondent
conveys that the ' November offerings ' are, in his parish,
divided among the parochial clergy after the manner of the
ordinary ' dues.' He seems to think that the custom of his
parish or diocese is universal, and that it should settle
terminology and practice. In both particulars he is in
error. The practice of his parish is not universal ; it can-
not, therefore, settle terminology — still less practice. "We
gather from his letter — (1) that a portion of the November
offerings reaches him ; (2) that there is attached an obliga-
tion to offer a certain number of Masses for those whose
names are on the ' Dead List ' ; (3) that he has sometimes
legitimate permission to duplicate on Sunday ; and (4) that,
without any dispensation, he considers himself justified in
offering his second Mass on Sunday in discharge of one of
these ' November Masses,' though he has already taken a
stipend for his first Mass on that same day. We are
informed that this view is shared by others whom our
correspondent has consulted. For the present, we prefer
to believe that he has misunderstood these theologians.
It is admitted that in accepting his share of the Novem-
ber offerings, he contracts in justice to offer the requisite
number of Masses for the dead. Otherwise, his difficulty,
in case of duplication, could not arise. Now, that obligation
in justice being admitted, it is manifest that our correspon-
dent, if he acted on his own opinion, would take two stipends
on the Sunday on which he celebrates his first Mass for an
ordinary honorarium, and his second in satisfaction of the
obligation arising from the ' November offering. ' He may
call the latter stipend ' part of his dues,' and he may have
come by it by any process of division that ingenuity can
suggest ; it is still a stipend, and usually a good one, with
an obligation in justice attached ; he cannot take two such
when he duplicates ex dispensations.
This is true enough, our correspondent admits, when
there is question of ' honoraria,' but not, he thinks, when
there is question of offerings divided ' after the mode of
NOTES AND QUERIES 173
parochial dues. ' For ' then the celebrant is free to discharge
his obligation by the second Mass, as dues are not regarded
as honoraria, but part of his salary.' We take it that our
correspondent is a curate. Of course, apart from offerings
such as these so-called ' November dues,' the maintenance
that a curate receives from the parish imposes on .him no
obligation regarding the application of his Masses, and,
therefore, does not affect the question of a double stipend.
But, our correspondent has probably heard that a parish
priest, in accepting his dues, contracts in justice to offer
certain Masses pro popido, and, moreover, that a parish
priest, duplicating on Sunday, cannot at one Mass take an
ordinary honorarium, and by the other lawfully satisfy the
obligation of celebrating pro populo. So, too, a curate
duplicating on Sunday, is not justified in taking an ordinary
honorarium for one Mass when he wishes by the other to
satisfy the obligation in justice arising from his ' November
dues.' We assume, of course, that he has not got a
dispensation to take a double stipend.
Our correspondent cannot hope to hear from the ' wise
and learned ' readers of the I. E. RECORD until the March
number appears. Meantime, as the question is ' important
and practical ' from points of view other than his, we have
thought it our duty to illustrate his alleged liberty by
contrasting it with the obligations of his parish priest.
D. MANNIX.
t 174 ]
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
REV. DEAB SIB, — Whether designedly or otherwise, the
compiler of The Ancient Irish Church has adopted an effectual
method of bringing the present discussion to a close. A tirade
of thirteen pages, with less than half devoted to a defence, such
as it is, and affecting to treat as trivial, whilst ignoring, grave
charges, including breaches of good faith, cannot lay claim to
serious attention.
Contra verbosos noli contendere verbis.
It only remains, accordingly, in dismissing ' this little publi-
cation/ to give typical instances of the errors alluded to at the
end of the letter in the December number.
To show the intelligent use made of the ' works quoted,' the
following is accepted as correct : ' the Brehon Laws assume the
existence of a married as well as an unmarried clergy. They
make reference to two classes of bishops: the "virgin bishop,"
and the "bishop of one wife." The "virgin bishop," if he
lapsed into grievous sin, did not, they say, recover his grade or
pristine perfection, according to some; but the "bishop of one
wife " did, provided he performed his penance within three days '
(pp. 136-7). A reference is given, ' Senchus Mor, i. p. 57.'
Here, as in so many other instances, the compiler has taken
statements upon trust. Had he used his own eyes, as he was
strictly bound to, he would have seen that the Brehon Laws contain
nothing of the kind. To state the matter briefly. The native
Corpus Juris consists of statutes, running commentaries and
verbal glosses. In the MSS., these three are respectively written in
large, medium, and small script, — a lucid arrangement, adopted,
as to Irish and English, in the official edition. Among the four
territorial magnates liable to degradation for malfeasance, the
Law (in large letter) places a stumbling (i.e., incontinent) bishop
(i. pp. 55-56) (The gloss, it has to be remarked in passing, gives
an etymology of stumbling — tuisledach — that is beneath notice.)
Hereupon is the commentary (in medium character, pp. 56-59),
which the compiler mistook, at second or third hand, for the
CORRESPONDENCE 175
Law ! These are the full data, and they prove that the ' objection '
in question was the outcome of ignorance or malice.
Now, for the scholium. This affords internal evidence that
it was composed at a time when married bishops did not exist.
In the (sixth- century) Penitential of Finnian, both the delin-
quents named in the commentary received six years' penance,
and were to be rehabilitated in the seventh year. Whence it
follows that to make one culprit incapacitated for life and restore
another equally guilty after three days' fast never represented an
actual state of things. Equity of the sort was devised for Utopia.
Nor is this all. Once more, as in the case of the St. Gall
Ordo, the proof can be extended and completed by aid of a volume
not on the compiler's list. Another commentary (in medium
hand), treating, inter alia, of punishments and fines to be
imposed for assaults upon bishops and priests, applies the
distinction of ' virgin ' and ' of one wife ' to the two grades
(Brehon Laws, iv, pp. 362-9). By good fortune, however, the
enactments themselves, most probably in the original language,
are extant. They are the (eight) decrees of a Synodis Hibernensis,
and they mention episcopus and presbyter without qualification
(Wasserschleben, Bussordnungen, pp. 140-1).
Thus, neither in the Civil nor in the Canon Law of ancient
Ireland is the existence of a married clergy assumed. Such, no
doubt, existed (down to what time, it is immaterial for the present
purpose to discuss) ; but this falls short toto coelo of proving
that the number was so great as to obtain formal recognition in
the legislation of Church and State. The commentaries, accor.d-
ingly, were purely fantastic, — arising from the misdirected (and
in this case perhaps malicious) ingenuity inveterate in the Brehon
legists.
The value of the Irish testimonies is apparent in another of the
three extracts that profess to be taken directly from the Speckled
Book. This excerpt, containing little more than eight lines, will
be found to present no fewer than eighteen errors, whether of
transcription or press ; whilst, in addition, a clause of nine words
is not rendered in the translation, leaving the English reader to
infer that the native writer did not believe in the Crucifixion
(p. 79) !
Coming to the Latin, one page (37) is adorned with a rescen-
sion and a translation, each equally notable. Qui potestatem
habens, ' who hast the power ; ' adversariis potius maims dantia
176 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
quam resistcntis, ' yielding help to, instead of withstanding the
enemy.' ' Tried by the Dictionaries,' this version, it must be
admitted, ' may claim an acquittal ' : maims dare, to give hands ;
i.e., to yield help to ! At the risk of being taxed with ' hyper-
critical carping,' one is tempted, however, to question whether
this was the sense which Columbanus (the words are from a
Letter of the Saint) learned, in the school of Bangor, to attach
to the expression.
Elsewhere (pp. 201-2), a quotation from the Book of Armagh
has crucem quae erat juxta viam sitam and interrogavit qua
morte abierat. The two editions referred to have the emenda-
tions sita and obierat. The compiler, it may be, judges these
' recensional ' details to be erroneous.
In the matter of ' the early hymnology of the Irish ' (p. 163),
the compiler is a veritable pundit. The severe rescensions he
approves of remind one of Hebrew without the points. For
example (p. 161) : —
Celebra iuda festa christi gaudia
The scansion and translation are equally striking. ' Eendered
as English prose ' the words, we learn, signify ' Celebrate, O festive
Juda, the joys of Christ.' The humdrum prosody, in vogue before
St. Patrick's Day, A.D. 1897 (when the new Gradus ad Parnassum
burst upon the world), had it that the line was made up of two
parts of five and seven syllables respectively, thus expressed : —
Celebra, Juda, || festa Christi gaudia.
Festa would consequently be accusative plural, not vocative
singular ; agreeing with gaudia, not with Juda : —
Celebrate, 0 Juda, the festal joys of Christ.
These, however, are doubtless some of the results of ' a slender
acquaintance with the study ' (p. 163).
The adoption of Warren's text of the Stowe Missal has resulted
in some drastic liturgical changes. To appreciate them to the
full, and for a reason to be mentioned later on, the rejected
readings of the Eoyal Irish Academy edition are likewise
supplied.
The Ancient Irish Church, Trans. E. I. A.y xxvii.
p. 158. p. 192.
Libera nos christe . . . libera nos [Ps. cliii. 7].
audi nos christe Christe audi nos ;
Christ, deliver us. Christe audi nos ;
Christ, hear us. Christe uudi nos.
CORRESPONDENCE 177
[a]
Trans. E.I. A., xxvii. pp. 193-4.
'To facilitate comparison to some extent, numbers are placed on
the margins.)
Propitius esto, parce nobis, Domine,
Propitius esto, libera nos, Domine.
Ab omni malo, libera nos, Domine.
Per Crucem tuam, libera nos, Domine.
[5] Peccatores, te rogamus, audi nos.
Fill [Filii, MS.] Dei, te rogamus, aiidi nos.
Ut pacem dones, te rogamus, audi nos.
[8] Agne Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi,
miserere [misserere, MS.] nobis.
[b]
The Ancient Irish Church, p. 160.
(The petitions are here arranged in the usual order ; on the
page quoted from, they are given continuously, ' for the special
satisfaction of scholars.')
Propitius esto. Be propitious.
Parce nobis domine. Spare us 0 Lord.
Propitius esto. Be propitious.
Libera nos, domine, ab Deliver us 0 Lord from all
omni malo. evil.
[5] Libera nos, domine, per Deliver us 0 Lord by thy cross.
crucem tuam.
Libera nos, domine, pec- 0 Lord deliver us sinners,
catores.
Te rogamus audi nos. We beseech Thee hear us.
Filii Dei, te rogamus audi Son of God, we beseech Thee,
nos. hear us.
Ut pacem dones, te roga- We beseech Thee, grant us
mus. peace.
Audi nos, agne Dei. Hear us 0 Lamb of God.
[11] Qui tollis peccata mundi, Who takest away the sins of the
misserere nobis. world, have mercy on us.
Thus by chopping and changing which elude specific classifica-
tion and comparison, ihe eight items of a have been expanded
into eleven in b ; the petition here given in italics being, it will
have been observed, the only one that is left intact. To cap the
climax the five Irish virgins of the Litany are individually invoked
under the title Sancte ! The original, written in a hand as plain
as print, has Sancta in every case,
VOL. in. M
178 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The Canon of the Mass, it consequently appears, is not the
sole part of the Liturgy that has felt the reforming zeal of the
compiler. "Whether his labours in these directions ' in the interest
of the faith' are destined to merit the approval of competent
authority, will doubtless be seen in the ' proposed enlarged edition.'
Meanwhile, to set the seal on his critical judgment and show at
the same time how closely he has kept in touch with the subject,
it has to be recorded that, as far back as ten years ago. Warren
publicly disavowed and apologized for the errors of his transcript ;
leaving that ' for which ' the editor of the Academy edition ' is
himself responsible ' the Textus Receptus !
Quern secutus es errantem, sequere poenitentem.
Still further to show his ' tacit preference,' having stated that
the Stowe Missal, ' in part, is thought ' to date ' about the early
seventh century,' the compiler is careful to add that Warren
refers the whole MS. to the ninth (p. 48 ; cf. p. 61). Yet once
more, however, a volume not found among the ' works quoted '
will enable readers to rightly appraise this attribution. In his
Liturgy and Ritual, etc. (1881), which is on the list, Warren
assigns the two parts to the ninth and tenth centuries respec-
tively (pp. 199, 201). But in his Manuscript Irish Missal, issued
only two short years before (1879), he was himself the first to print
the Preface and Canon of the Stowe Mass. These he heads
(p. 2) : " STOWE MISSAL. (Seventh and ninth centuries.} "
Then, to mark the changes of script, he has " 9th century
hand " and " 7th century hand" alternating four times throughout
(pp. 2-12) ! Such is the rigid consistency of the 'ripe erudition '
(p. 220) that captivated the compiler.
Sooth to say, the conclusion is foregone. A compilation of
sheer diligence, pervaded with such radical defects as have been
set forth (and the list defies exhaustion still), arising from glaring
inability to deal at first hand with the sources and materials of
our Sacred Archaeology can only prejudice the cause it professes
to serve. A weak defence is an aggravated betrayal.
B. MACCAKTHY.
[ 179 ]
DOCUMENTS
THE CONVERSION OF ENGLAND
ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF OUR LADY OF COMPASSION
BRIEF OF ERECTION AND STATUTES
LEO XIII., POPE
IN PERPETUAL REMEMBRANCE
IT is known to all men that the efforts of Our Apostolic Ministry
have long been specially directed to securing the return to the
centre of Catholic Unity of those Christian nations which the
sad vicissitudes of past centuries have torn from the bosom of
their Mother the Church. Inspired by this ardent desire, We
have been solicitous for the return to religious union of the
Oriental nations, and have devoted unusual care to this task. In
like manner have We cast our eyes upon the illustrious British
nation, which for so many conspicuous reasons has won the
especial good- will of the Eornan Church. Our earnest wishes are
centred upon Great Britain, in union with the wishes of so many
men distinguished by sanctity, learning, and dignity, more
especially St. Paul of the Cross, the religious founder M. Olier,
Father Ignatius Spencer, and Cardinal Wiseman. We have,
indeed, good hope that Our voice, like good seed, may some day
produce the wished-for fruits in that land whose past history is
so glorious, and whose present splendour and civilization dispose
it to follow the highest aims. Yet We are sensible that all
efforts and labours towards this end will be unfruitful without the
powerful help of Divine Grace. This grace We have never
ceased to invoke from the bottom of Our heart, and We have
asked also the prayers of the Universal Church.
But now, desiring to add to these efforts, so that there may
be a more widely extended and more powerful combination of
prayer, We have erected a pious Society, in the form of an Arch-
confraternity, with the object of hastening, chiefly by constant
prayer, the reunion of Great Britain with the Eoman Church.
In this work of charity We have Ourselves, in a manner, led the
way. For two years ago We addressed a Letter to the English
People, in which We treated of the all-important subject of
180 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Christian unity ; and after exhorting to repeated prayer for Our
English brethren, especially the recitation of the Angelical
Salutation, We appended to the Letter a special prayer to the
Most Holy Virgin. This prayer We have enriched with indul-
gences, and have recommended it to the members in the Statutes
or Eules of the recently-erected Archconfraternity, which are
comprised under nine headings. We have placed this Society or
Archconfraternity at St. Sulpice, as a centre for the whole
Catholic world, from which other Confraternities, like streams
from an abundant spring, may flow forth into every part of the
Lord's vineyard.
We have selected the Church of St. Sulpice as the seat of this
Society, both because Prance is near to and in very easy communi-
cation with Great Britain, and also because M. Olier, the founder
of the Congregation of St. Sulpice, together with his disciples,
most earnestly longed for the reconciliation of England with the
Koman Church. Moreover, as the Congregation of St. Sulpice
extends to almost every part of the world, it will be able to
establish other Confraternities of the same kind in every country.
For We are particularly desirous, as, indeed, the object itself
requires, that this pious Society be spread far and wide ; and,
therefore, We earnestly exhort all Catholics, not only in France,
but throughout the world, who are solicitous for the cause of
religion, to enrol their names in this Society.
Wherefore, absolving and holding as absolved, for this present
purpose only, all and every one to whom these Our Letters are
directed, from all sentences of excommunication and interdict,
and all other ecclesiastical sentences, censures, and penalties, in
whatever manner or for whatever cause imposed, if by them
incurred, by Our Apostolic Authority and by virtue of these
present Letters, We erect and constitute, in the Church of
St. Sulpice, an Archconfraternity of prayers and good works for
the return of Great Britain to the Catholic Faith, under the
patronage of Blessed Mary the Sorrowful Virgin. This Arch-
confraternity We place first under the patronage of the great
Mother of God, ' whose dowry England is ; ' and We assign as
its heavenly patrons St. Joseph, the most chaste Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin ; St. Peter, Prince of the Apostles, under whose
patronage England is placed : St. Gregory the Great, Pope,1 and
1 St. Gregory was added by the Holy Father after the date of this Brief.
DOCUMENTS 181
St. Augustine, bishop, the thirteenth centenary of whose coming
to England, to bring the Catholic Faith and the means of
salvation, is at this time specially celebrated.
Moreover, by the same authority, We grant in perpetuity to
the presidents, officials, and members of the Archconfraternity,
both present and future, the right and permission to aggregate
other Confraternities of the same object and name, existing in any
part of the Catholic world, observing, however, the form of the
constitution of Our predecessor, Pope Clement VIII., and other
Apostolic Ordinances on this matter ; and to communicate to
them all and every one of the indulgences granted to the
Archconfraternity, and communicable to others.
The following are the indulgences granted : —
The members shall be able to obtain a plenary indulgence—
I. On the day of enrolment in the Archconfraternity.
II. At the point of death.
III. On each of the Feasts of the Most Holy and Sorrowful
Mary, the one during Lent, and the other during the month of
September ; also on the Feasts of St. Joseph, Spouse of the
Blessed Virgin Mary ; of St. Peter the Apostle, of St. Gregory
the Great, Pope ; and of St. Augustine, Bishop, Patron of
England.
IV. On the day of the monthly meeting provided for in
Article IX. of the Statutes or Rules.
Moreover, We grant a partial indulgence of fifty days, to be
obtained once a day by those members who shall piously recite
the Hail Mary, as provided in Article IV. of the Statutes or
Eules of the Archconfraternity.
The members, if they wish, may apply all these indulgences,
both plenary and partial, to the Souls in Purgatory.
And We decree that these Our Letters are and shall remain
firm, valid, and efficacious, and shall have and obtain their
plenary and full effect, and shall be of full avail to all whom they
concern, and may concern in the future, in all respects and in all
circumstances, and shall so be judged and defined in their
premises by all judges whatsoever, ordinary and delegate ; and
that whatsoever shall be attempted, wittingly or unwittingly, by
anyone with any authority otherwise in this matter, shall he null
and void, notwithstanding Apostolic Constitutions and Ordinances,
1&2 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and all others whatsoever, even though deserving of special and
individual mention, of contrary tenor.
Given at St. Peter's in Home, under the Eing of the Fisher-
man, on the twenty-second day of August, 1897, in the twentieth
year of Our Pontificate.
L. *S.
ALOISIUS CAED. MACCHI.
THE STATUTES
The following are the Statutes of the Primary Association of
Prayers and Good Works, under the patronage of Our Lady of
Compassion, for the return of Great Britain to the Catholic
Faith :—
I.
The object of this pious Association is that its members shall
endeavour, by prayers and the exercise of good works, to obtain
from God the return of Great Britain to the Catholic Faith.
n.
To attain the object of this pious Association, the members
shall not be content only with prayers, but shall add to prayers
the practice of good works of every kind, whether of piety or of
charity, such as the frequentation of the Sacraments, the exact
observance of the commands of God and the precepts of the
Church, &c., and the putting in practice of all that may
efficaciously contribute to the end of the Association.
in.
Besides the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, the pious Association
venerates as its special protectors St. Joseph ; St. Peter, Prince
of the Apostles, and Patron of England ; St. Gregory the Great,
Pope;1 and St. Augustine, Bishop and Apostle of England.
IV.
To take part in the Association, and to gain the Indulgences
with which it is enriched, the associates shall every day add to
their daily prayers a special prayer — at least a Hail Mary — in
order to obtain from God the conversion for which the Associa-
tion is founded. They are specially exhorted to recite the prayer
to the Most Holy Virgin, for our English brethren, inserted in
the Apostolic Letter Ad Anglos of April 15th, 1895.
1 St. Gregory was added by the Holy Father after the date of the Brief
and of those Statutes.
DOCUMENTS 183
v.
The primary Association has its seat in the city of Paris, at
the church of St. Sulpice ; and it has the right to aggregate any-
other similar Associations which may be erected throughout the
world with the consent of the respective Ordinaries. The
Sulpicians, however, have the right of erecting the Association in
their church wherever they have a residence.
VI.
The President of the Primary Association is the Superior-
General, for the time being, of the Sulpicians, who shall be able
to delegate as his representative a Father approved by him for
the transaction of business. The Presidents of the diocesan
Associations, wherever canonically erected and aggregated to
the primary one, shall be nominated by the respective
Ordinaries.
VII.
The President of the Association may select from among
those members who are specially distinguished for zeal and piety,
Zealators of either sex in such number as he shall judge fitting ;
and these Zelators shall devote themselves, as far as possible to
promoting the welfare of the Association. For this purpose they
shall meet together with the President at certain fixed times of
the year, in order to take such measures as may seem opportune
for the welfare of the Association.
VIII.
It shall be the duty of the Zelators to endeavour, as far as
possible, to increase the number of members, and, with the
authorization of the President, to issue to them the certificate of
enrolment. They must be careful to keep a register of the names
enrolled to be given to the President himself, who shall tran-
scribe the names into the general register of the Association.
IX.
On one Sunday of the month, to be definitely fixed, there
shall be a meeting of the members in every church where the
Association is erected, for the purpose of praying together, if
possible, before the Blessed Sacrament exposed, in order to
implore more efficaciously from God the wished-for return of
Great Britain to the Catholic Church.
The present copy perfectly agrees in all its parts with the
184 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
original of the Statutes preserved in Rome, in the archives of
the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars.
Given at Rome, in the Secretariate of the aforesaid Sacred
Congregation of Bishops and Regulars, on the 30th day of
August, 1897.
L.ifcS.
A. TEOMBETTA, Secretary.
PRAYER FOR THE ENGLISH PEOPLE
The Decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops and
Regulars by which the Statutes were confirmed, and which was
approved by the Holy Father is then given, and after it the
following prayer from the Apostolic Letter Ad Anglos : —
' 0 Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, and our most gentle
Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy
"Dowry," and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.
By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope, was given
unto the world ; and He has given thee to us that we might
hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive
and accept at the foot of the cross, 0 sorrowful mother. Inter-
cede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one time
Fold they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of
thy Son. Pray for us all, dear Mother, that by faith fruitful in
works, we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with
thee, in our heavenly home. Amen.'
[ 185 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
SONGS OF SIGN. By Mary Stanislaus MacCarthy, O.S.D.,
Sion Hill, Dublin. Dublin : Browne & Nolan, Ltd. 1898.
THIS volume of sacred verses has already been well described
as ' a holy and a beautiful book.' It is impossible to read it
through without acknowledging the genuine religious fervour of
the ' Songs,' and the truly uncommon gifts of imagination and
expression with which their author was endowed. Owing to the
systematic oppression of the Church in these countries, and the
persistent denial of higher education to Catholics, our religious
poetry had not, until recent times, reached a very high standard.
A few gifted writers of the present day have done much, how-
ever, in spite of all obstacles, not the least of which was a want
of appreciation and cultivated taste amongst the public at large?
to fill up this vacant space in Catholic literature. Amongst the
number, limited though it be, Sister M. Stanislaus must be
awarded a very high place. Superficial and half-educated
persons may be inclined to discount religious poetry, and even to
exclude it altogether from the field of interest of the modern
world ; but genuine poets, and men and women of the highest
intellectual cultivation, in all the centuries of the Christian era*
have ever admired religious poetry, and found enjoyment and
happiness in the strains that called them away from earthly
cares. From the humble cell of Hermann Contractus, in a
lonely island in the Lake of Constance, come down to us the
' Salve Eegina ' and the ' Alma Redemptoris Mater.' St. Francis
of Assisi, in an age of feudalism and of chivalry, did not hesitate
to sing of ' Holy Poverty ' as the lady of his heart, his fiancee,
and his spouse. St. Bonaventure, Fra Pacifico, Jacomino da
Verona, and the Blessed Jacopone da Todi, have achieved, in
poetry alone, a glory which the materialistic versifiers of modern
times are never likely to rival. Do we not find religious poetry at
the fountain-head of all the great literatures of the world — English,
German, French, Spanish, Portuguese ? And in our own country
we know how our Irish ancestors devoted the very best of their
genius to that religious poetry which is not yet entirely lost, and
186 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
which Irish scholars of the present day take a pride in rescuing
from oblivion.
It is in this celestial garden that Sister Mary Stanislaus
has culled the precious flowers that grace this handsome volume.
She sings of Him whom she had chosen and loved beyond all
human love, and of His angels and saints, and of the monuments
of His boundless love, His Sacraments, His churches, His
hospitals, His schools. These are the themes of her Songs of
Sion. It is but poor praise to say that the author of such excel-
lent poems would have achieved high repute in the world, if she
had devoted her talents to the worldly aspects of life, or if she
had aimed at more finished literary effect in these religious
verses. They are, as they stand, the outcome of a fervent and
cultivated mind, uttered as occasion called them forth ; and as
such they will remain a lasting monument of honour to ' Sion
Hill,' and the worthy expression of a pure life. We have only to
say, in conclusion, that the publishers have turned out the volume
in perfect style. The paper, type, and binding are all in keeping
with the contents, and reflect the highest credit on Messrs.
Browne & Nolan, Ltd., who have now established themselves as
capable of executing all sorts of artistic work, in binding as well
as in printing.
J. F. H.
BREVIARIUM EOMANUM. Tornaci Nerviorum. Surnptibus
et Typis Soc. S. Joannis Evangelistae. Desclee, Lefebvre
et Soc. Pontif. Editorum. 1897.
HORAE DIURNAE. Same Publishers.
WE have much pleasure in bringing under the notice of our
readers this excellent edition of the Breviary, published by
Messrs. Desclee, Lefebvre & Co., of Tournay. It is in many
respects the most convenient edition of the Breviary that has
come into our hands. Its great advantage is that there is the
least possible turning of leaves, the fine quality of the paper
making it possible for the publishers to print the psalms, versicles,
&c., in many of the special offices, whilst in other breviaries one
is constantly obliged to turn over for them to the common or to
offices of similar feasts in other parts of the Breviary. The
edition which has been sent to us is printed on fine, though
rather thin, India paper, which has the advantage, notwith-
NOTICES OF BOOKS 187
standing its slender leaf, of being perfectly opaque. It is bound
in black, flexible Morocco, with gilt edges and round corners.
It seems to us excellent value for £1 16s. 2d. Messrs. Desclee,
Lefebvre & Co., have besides, a large stock of more expensive
breviaries ; but for practical use, we believe this is the one that
is most in demand.
The Horae Diurnae, which costs 6s. 9^., has the same charac-
teristics as the Breviary ; but, besides the ordinary contents of
the Horae, it has, at the end, the prayers of the priest before and
after Mass, before and after confession, together with some most
useful excerpts from the Koman Eitual, such as the method of
administering Holy Communion to the sick, the rite of Extreme
Unction, the ' Benedictio Infirmi,' the ' Benedictio Eosariorum
B. M. V.,' the ' Forma Brevior Benedicendi et imponendi Scapulare
B. M. V. de Monte Carmelo,' Benedictio Imaginis vel Numis-
matis,' ' Benedictio Domorum.' ' Benedictio ad Omnia.' This
supplementary part will, we have no doubt, be found very useful.
We should mention that the Irish proper is included in both
Breviary and 'Horae ' at the prices mentioned ,
J. F. H.
INSTITUTIONS s THEOLOGIAE DOGMATICAE. Auctore E.P. J.
Herrmann, Congr. SS. Eedemptoris. 3 vols., of about
650 pages each. Eome, Cuggiani. Vico della Pace, 35.
Bureaux de la Sainte-Famille a Antony, Seine, France,
1897. 12i francs.
THE Bishop of Malaga, in an official paper, which appeared
on the 16th of June, 1897, wrote : —
' The theology of Father Herrmann is a complete work of its
kind. His method, his clearness, and the great purity of his
doctrine . . . makes his work more adapted for a class-book than
any we know. A student may with the greatest facility make
the contents his own ; and whoever does so can rest assured that
he has acquired the knowledge most necessary for our times, while
he enters at the same time on the road opened to us by the great
restorer of theological studies, the great Pontiff, Leo XIII.'
The Holy Father himself, through his Eminence Cardinal
Rompolla, wrote to the author : —
' Multum gavisus est de amore ac diuturno et frugifero
studio, quo animum applicuisti ad exponendas mentibusque
alte inserendas doctrinas Angelici Doctoris Thomae et
188 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
S. Doctoris Alphonsi : quas ipse Pontifex doctrinas memorandis
commendarat documentis. Id quoque singulariter ei gratum
accidit quod te in veritati defensionem, tanta haurire subsidia
ex actis concilii vaticani et ex Litteris suis encyclicis.'
The Revue Ecclcsiastique de Metz points out that Father
Herrmann has really given us something new. We all know
St. Alphonsus as universal master in moral theology ; but how
few there are who realize that he has written much on the
dogmas of our holy religion. He popularized St. Thomas, adding
at the same time, in many questions both practical and specu-
lative, the weight of his own authority, which certainly counts
for something since he too is Doctor of the Church. ' In hisce
exarandis institutionibus [says the author] Ducem et Magistrum
S. Thomam sequi conatus sum.' He has even kept his word
as far as the limits of a compendium allowed. He adds : —
1 Propositum etiam mihi fuit, ut, praeter Doctorem angelicum,
sanctum quoque Doctorem Alphonsum de Liguorio in Ducem et
Magistrum mihi assumerem, eo nomine (verba sunt SS. D.N.
Leo PP. XIII.) quod eum sanctus auctor saepe in scriptis suis
angeli scholarum doctrinam se sequutum fuisse glorietur; ex
hujusmodi recentioris Ecclesiae Doctoris erga ilium obsequio
nova S. Thomae doctrinae laus accedat et gloria.'
At page 656, vol i., we find a long list of St. Alphonsus'
dogmatic works, and these are referred to in the Breve Concess.
tituli Doctoris, die 7, 1871, in which Pius IX. says : —
' Nullum esse vel nostrorum temporum errorem qui, maxima
saltern ex parte, non sit ab Alphonso refutatus.'
Moreover St. Alphonsus examined thoroughly many difficult
questions discussed by the older theologians, and drew from his
examination conclusions quite his own. Thus, for example, in
the question : how we are to conciliate grace and liberty, he has
now his own system. In vol. ii., cap. iv., p. 429, under heading
Systema Caiholica, we have systema Thomistarum, Auguistinia-
norum, Molinistarum, Conquistarum et Systema S. Alphonsi de
Liguori. In future in discussions on this subject this last system
must have its place. Light is often thrown on obscure passages
in St. Thomas by the teaching of St. Alphonsus. Hence, in
uniting these two Doctors, the author has given us what is both
new and useful. Useful, for the Breve cited above continues : —
' Hujus Doctoris libros, commentaria, opuscula, opera denique
omnia, ut aliorum Ecclesiae Doctorum, non modo privatim, sed
NOTICES OF BOOKS 189
publics in gyrnnasiis, Academiis, Scholis, Collegiis, Lectionibus,
Sermonibus, omnibusque aliis ecclesiasticis studiis . . . citari,
proferri, atque, cum res postulaverit, volumus et decernimus.'
Father Herrmann has given effect to this mandate of the
Holy See in his Institutiones. He has done for dogmatic
theology, as far as the matter permits, what Mare and Aertnys
have done in moral theology ; and for this he deserves the thanks
of both students and professors.
The universal praise with which this work has been received,
and the high place which has been assigned to it as a manual,
has led us to examine it with particular care. We have found it
complete as to matter, wonderfully clear in diction, and methodic
throughout. The schemas which precede the different tracts give
the student a bird's-eye view of what is before him. Each part
therein indicated is taken up separately, and so logically and
clearly subdivided that the task of learning is made compara-
tively easy. This is enhanced by the perfect manner in which the
book is printed. By a careful selection of type, the propositions,
divisions, proofs, and objections immediately catch the eye and
keep the memory. Moreover, that which every student should
know is in bold type, while certain questions which are useful,
but not necessary, or aspects of questions which the more talented
students will study and develope with profit, are put in smaller
type. To this end he gives at the beginning of each tract auc tores
consukndi. Full room is left to professor for further development
of doctrine.
We do not venture to say that this manual is perfect, but we
are of opinion that in most respects it is excellent, and that
professors will soon see that Father Herrmann has profited of
his long experience of the needs and capabilities of students.1
And now we wish to go a step further, and say that we believe
this work to be a most useful hand-book for priests on the mis-
sion. Its conciseness, clearness, and order make it admirable
for dogmatic instructions. The schemas, of which we have
already spoken, the indices of each volume, and especially the
two general indices at the end of the third volume, are excellent,
1 In 'a second edition which is sure to be soon called for, the author might
consider whether it would not be better to unite what he has written, de Fontilits
Firlei, vol. i., Nos. 10 and 17, and the fuller treatment, Pars, iii., cap. i. and ii.,
of Scripture and Tradition. We think also that in some places the texts taken
from St. Alphonsus might have been more to the point.
190 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one Index Berum notabilium; the other, Index continens Alpha-
betico ordine Errorum Fautores : this is, in reality, a compendious
dictionary of errors and their authors.
Before finishing this necessarily short notice, we call special
attention to Tractus Quintus, vol. ii., Marialogia. A glance at
the Conspectus generalis, p. 281, shows how fully and with what
perfect order the subject is treated. We see in the pages that
follow how solid were the principles on which St. Alphonsus,
devotion to the Madonna rested ; also to Tractatus Sextus, De
Gratia. Priests who have to labour for the saving and perfecting
of souls will read with pleasure the proofs given of two proposi-
tions proposed by one who is rightly called an apostle of prayer,
namely : —
' Gratia sufficiens, quae, urgente praecepto, omnibus com-
muniter conceditur, ita est immediate et proximo ad orandum
sufficiens, ut quilibet cum ea actu orare possit, si velit, et per
orationem uberiora auxilia, quibus ad difficiliora peragenda et ad
salutem consequendam indiget obtinere,' No. 1,225.
And:—
' Ad gratiam efficacem obtinendam oratio est medium neces-
sarium et omnino infallible,' No. 1,226.
Just as in his moral and ascetic theology, so likewise in
his dogmatic treatises, St. Alphonsus is pre-eminently practical.
Father Herrmann has, it seems to us, thoroughly seized his
holy founder's spirit, and he has given us a book which has
come to stay.
J. M.
SEBMONS. By Father John Kelly, B.A., late Hector of
St. Joseph's, Birkdale. Manchester: P. Deschamps,
Blackfriars Bridge.
THE author of this volume of Sermons belonged to the
diocese of Liverpool, where he served at first as Secretary to the
Bishop, and afterwards as pastor of more than one important
district. As far as can be known, the discourses now collected
were all prepared and delivered during the author's missionary
career, and were addressed to ordinary town and country congre-
gations. They were not written with a view to publication, but
were collected after the author's death by one of his friends, who
found many of the manuscripts in a dilapidated condition, some
NOTICES OF BOOKS 191
written in pencil and in many places nearly illegible. They
narrowly escaped being burned as worthless, — a fate which has
befallen many similar efforts which in their day served to kindle
divine love in the hearts of Christians.
Most missionary priests will, I imagine, think all the more of
these discourses of Father Kelly's, forasmuch as they are here
printed as they were prepared, for delivery in the ordinary routine
of parochial work. It has been often said that a man's truest
biography is to be found in the letters which he may have written
to intimate friends, wherein he unaffectedly reveals his passing
thoughts and feelings. Writing with a view to publication is like
sitting for a portrait ; it develops an unconscious but inevitable
tendency to pose. There is a charming frankness and simplicity
in discourses which are intended merely for the faithful of the
parish, — one's own household and familiar friends, as it were, —
and in which there is no attempt, consciously or unconsciously,
to satisfy the larger and more critical audience to which a
published discourse necessarily appeals.
There is another point of view from which the volume before
us is of special interest. It is a chapter, so to speak, from the
biography of a gifted and zealous priest, in which he reveals
quite unconsciously the kind of work he did on the mission, and
from which others may learn not only what a good pastor should
endeavour to do, but what one has actually done in the way of
preaching to and instructing his people. During our college
course and at the annual retreats the lesson is again and again
repeated, that preaching without preparation — which for many
years, at least, means without writing out the discourse before
hand — is of little value. But so many impediments arise in the
missionary's daily life ; and it is so easy to find excuses for
appearing in the pulpit after a hurried preparation. Now, here
is one who was neither a college professor nor a conductor of
retreats, but the rector of many important and populous missions,
where the work pressed heavily on a delicate constitution. And
here are samples of the discourses he used actually to deliver to
his people, just as he delivered them ; the ordinary Sunday
morning or evening lectures, which he never imagined would
reach a larger audience than was collected for the occasion
within his parish church. What has been done by one may be
done by others in similar circumstances ; not, perhaps, as grace-
fully and well as by Father Kelly, for all have not his talents ;
but according to the capacity with which each one is endowed.
192 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
It remains to say something of the sermons as sources which
may be utilized by others in preparing for similar work. It
seems to me that from this point of view there are two kinds of
discourse : one formal, \vith the various divisions pointed out
explicitly, as well as the principal arguments and appeals with
which each point is amplified ; the other free and flowing, not
making so many divisions, nor distinguishing them so formally
one from another, but content to propose some one lesson, and to
illustrate and enforce this in many ways — from theology, philo-
sophy, history, art, science, experience of men ; each sentence
and paragraph arising out of the preceding almost imperceptibly,
and leading to a more artistic if not a simpler and more useful
whole.
For those who can afford to make but a hurried preparation,
the first kind of sermon is manifestly the most valuable ; and
Father Kelly's discourses are not of that kind. Those preachers,
however, who carefully write out their sermons, and aim at
producing not only solid but artistic results, will find very
valuable suggestions in the volume before us. It would also
serve, I think, as useful spiritual reading, especially for the laity,
inasmuch as it was for the laity the instructions were originally
prepared.
W. MCDONALD.
^
Isi^^^i^^^^^i^^^^^^i&^^^ii^^^^^^^i^^^^^^^^fjtrfiii^
A NECESSITY OP THOUGHT
WE crave the reader's indulgence for this brief
excursion into a region more or less abstract.
The abstract atmosphere is, we admit, un-
pleasantly thin. Its first effect is not unlike
that of a great mountain height ; we experience a difficulty
in catching our intellectual breath, and are disposed to grow
dizzy at the surrounding emptiness. Then it is such a
ghostly place — the home of disembodied ideas, entities as
elusive as the sprite. We altogether prefer the bustling
concrete, where ideas wear bodies of some sort through
which you can lay hold of them, and exhibit them before the
great popular tribunal of common sense, and make them
show cause why they should not be regarded as disturbers of
the public mind. However, it is with a view to afterwards
doing all this the more effectually that we now propose
to have a short consultation with that eminent chamber
lawyer— consciousness.
The subject we are about to discuss is of great —
even of supreme importance. It is, therefore, industriously
hidden away by the ' scientific philosophers ' under vague
forms of words that seem profound while they are
really only indefinite. In fact our present subject shows
us our philosophers in a new light. Whatever their
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III.— MARCH, 1898. N
194 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
shortcomings, we have not hitherto had occasion to charge
them with want of courage to go on. It is therefore
the more surprising to find them come to a dead stop
at a point of the philosophic road which is clearly not
the end, declaring that they have reached the limit of
speculation even for them. They boldly trace the universe
back to a certain primordial condition, and then, muttering
something about ' the unknown and unknowable,' leave it
an unsolved problem. Nor must anyone else touch it. It
must be held inscrutable, a mystery, something lying out-
side the pale, not only of science, but of thought. Having
seen the universe ground down in the philosophical mill to
elementary matter and force, you must be content to stop
there, to regard that condition as ultimate. You must not
seek to know where these elements of a universe came from,
or who or what established among them those special
relations which, according to the teaching of ' advanced
philosophy,' led to all subsequent developments. You are
left to conclude, as the only way of pacifying your insub-
ordinate reason, that the great elements probably constituted
an effect so prodigious that it could dispense with a cause !
Of course the conclusion is not to be put forward in that
shockingly naked form. Artistically shrouded in the mystery
of ' the unknown and unknowable,' it will begin to look
quite reasonable !
In fact we have in this great problem of the ultimate
origin of the universe the veritable skeleton in the philo-
sophers' cabinet, and they are never quite at ease about it.
Hence, even while solemnly ticketing it ' unknown and
unknowable,' they at the same time try to convey an
impression that science has somehow partly solved it in
the negative, or at least is just about to do so. And as a
last resource, they metaphorically snap their fingers at it as
an unpractical speculation, a mere metaphysical subtlety
which may be dismissed by practical men.
But like the calling of spirits from the vasty deep, the
dismissal of the ultimate problem of causation from the
human mind is hampered with a fatal difficulty in practice —
it won't go. Try all we may, we cannot think out a reason-
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 195
able theory of the universe without coming at last face to
face with the question of its origin. The solving of that
question in some fashion becomes for us, therefore, a neces-
sity of thought. Further, we contend that the solution is
equally inevitable — that as reasonable beings we can come
to only one conclusion, viz., that the existing universe had
an originating cause, which primary cause was necessarily
a transcendent intelligence. This conclusion we shall
now endeavour to work out with as little abstruseness as
may be.
We suppose it is unnecessary to say a . single word as to
the importance of the question and its answer. The special
note of the scientific philosophy is the elimination of the
idea of an intelligent First Cause from the system of nature,
that is to say, the elimination of the idea of God. In the
hands of the infidel philosophers the universe has become
the great argument against the existence of its Creator. As
we see it around us now, it can be explained without refer-
ence to any such being ; and when traced to its primordia
condition, it vanishes ' behind the veil.' That is the sum of
the scientific philosophy ; and whoever would retain his
belief in a God must be prepared to meet it.
The line of thought followed in this paper was suggested
by some pregnant sentences in the concluding paragraph of
Sir John Herschel's lecture On the Origin of Force.1 Having
called attention to the fact that the universe, as far as it
is observable by us, presents to us three orders of phenomena
— viz., physical, vital, and intellectual — Sir John Herschel
continues : —
The first and greatest question philosophy has to resolve in
its attempts to make out a Cosmos — to bring the whole of the
phenomena exhibited in these three domains of existence under
the contemplation of the mind as a congruous whole — is whether
or not we can derive any light from our internal consciousness of
thought, reason, power, will, motive, design : whether, that is to
1 Familiar Lectures.
196 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
say, nature is or is not more interpretable by supposing these
things (be they what they may) to have had, or to have, to do
with its arrangements.
The suggestion here thrown out really takes us down to
the very root of all profitable study of natural phenomena.
The very first question certainly is — How are we to approach
the study of these phenomena ? What standards have we
to refer them to ? What weights and measures have we to
gauge them with ? To answer this fundamental question
we turn the search-light of our intellect in on ourselves, and
examine how we stand related to the phenomena of which
we have the best because the most immediate experience —
namely, our own works as free agents. How do we account
for these phenomena of our own production to ourselves or
to our fellowmen ? — why we did that act, or went to that
place, or bought or sold that thing ? At once we discover
ourselves referring them to internal, intellectual conceptions
more or less clear and deliberate. And the more closely we
watch the process of explanation the more we realize that a
work of ours is always and only explicable when clearly
referable to a prototypal thought ; that such perfections and
defects of the work as are not merely mechanical are trace-
able to the thought; and that confusion in the work or its
interpretation comes of confusion in the thought. The
steps that lead to the phenomena we produce ourselves — our
works as free agents — we thus find to be substantially these :
(1) a conception, clear or confused, of an end to be gained —
a design ; (2) a conception, also more or less clear or con-
fused, of means to be applied to gain that end — a plan}
(3) the actual carrying out, with more or less success, of the
different parts of the plan, thus realizing, more or less per-
fectly, the original design. This last step is still traceable
to a mental origin in reason and will.
In all the steps of this process we of course recognise
that we are handicapped by the limitation of our powers,
mental and physical. We have also to admit that, owing to
our limitations, the steps are not always so clearly distin-
guishable as here set forth. Indeed occasionally the first
two steps seem to be reversed, the conception of means
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 197
coming first and suggesting possible ends. Still these defects
do not in the least shake our belief in the truth of the general
conclusion at which we have arrived — namely, that our
works are external projections, more or less perfect, of
previous intellectual conceptions ; that they existed as
thoughts before they existed as facts ; that they are ideals
more or less perfectly realized. The first result, then, of
self-observation is to trace back all self-produced phenomena
t.o the initial influence or impulsion of some of those intel-
lectual powers or forces named by Sir John Herschel. In
so far as we are conscious of being originators of formative
force, leading to the production of phenomena, we are to the
like extent conscious of the purely mental origin of that
force. In other words, all phenomena of our own produc-
tion— our works as free agents — are traceable to previous
formative thought. This is unquestionably the testimony of
our consciousness. It is information directly gained, or, as
we may say, at first hand.
We now proceed to extend the range of our knowledge
by inference ; and the first extension we give it will hardly,
we think, be questioned. It rests on our reasonable convic-
tion of the unity of human nature — that mankind is all of a
piece. Therefore the works of our fellowmen are related
to them as ours to us, that is, they are expressions of
previously existing intellectual conceptions. This consider-
ably increases the number of phenomena clearly interpretable
by a rule founded on our own consciousness. The category
now embraces all the works of man as a free agent. Looked
at through the medium of our consciousness, every such
work of man stands forth against the background of an
interpreting thought. Any particular work of man is a
puzzle to us only when we cannot clearly refer it to its
intellectual background.
Let us assure ourselves by experiment, so to speak, that
all this is no mere abstract dreaming, but a true account
of what we are instinctively doing every day of our lives.
Let us suppose ourselves viewing one of those triumphs
of modern engineering — a great steel railway bridge.
198 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
What association of ideas would be most likely to occur to
us — the bridge and the foundry, or the bridge and the
engineer ? Certainly the latter. Even if the first did occur
to us, we could not rest in it ; for this association of ideas
would be really our instinctive reference of the work to its
origin, and no conceivable wealth of machinery would here
fulfil the idea of that relation. Inevitably we should go
back to the mind of the engineer, when the great work
would resolve itself into a great thought. Then and not till
then should we feel that we had satisfactorily accounted to
ourselves for the existence of this particular phenomenon.
This is a solitary instance of an ever-recurring act, always
substantially the same. We pass a neat cottage on the
roadside. Instantly we refer its neatness, not to the white-
wash and creepers, but to an aesthetic ideal in the mind of
the occupant. Even a heap of broken stones, if we notice
it at all, is instinctively referred to an ideal, good, bad, or
indifferent, in the mind of the humble operator, or, further
back, in that of Macadam.
Hence we may safely conclude that we have here got
hold of something like a law of our intellectual nature, in
virtue of which we trace things to thoughts, and feel fully
satisfied only when we can so trace them. Without the
background of thought the works of our fellowmen become
unintelligible to us. Nay, even our own works, if perchance
we forget the thoughts that inspired them, become equally
unintelligible. We have all had experience of this curious
verification of our principle. How often have we had to
stop before one of our own works quite puzzled to account
for its occurrence or existence. Why did I do this ? Why
did I place this here ? We know well we did the work in
question ; but that does not explain it to us. That was a
stage in its production, not its origin. We are as certain of
a mental origin farther back as we are of the actual exist-
ence of the work there confronting us. There was an
originating thought, whatever has become of it. And until
that thought is traced and found in the memory, the work
remains unintelligible — an effect without a cause.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 199
And here let us hark back for a moment to check our
work by comparison with our text. The question proposed
was, whether natural phenomena become more interpretable
by referring them to mind. Towards the solution of this
question we have made this much progress. We have found
that the phenomena most within reach of our experience
are more or less interpretable according as they are more or
less clearly referable to mind. This reference to mental
prototypes thus establishes itself as a rule of interpretation
for these phenomena. Further, we have found it to be our
only rule in these cases — the one principle by which we
could satisfactorily account for the existence of the pheno-
mena in question. When it failed us, we were for the time
intellectually lost. The work of our fellowman, and even
our own, became a puzzle when the thought that underlay
it could not be traced. This last, or negative result of our
inquiry, is by far the most important for the object in view.
It was a good thing to find out that for certain phenomena
we had an instinctive method of interpretation which we
found to be quite satisfying to us as rational beings. It was
a still better thing to find out that we had no other method
that gave us any satisfaction. For this latter discovery has
prepared us to give full, intelligent acceptance to Sir John
Herschel's final extension of our principle, at least in its
negative form, to all the phenomena of nature — 'Constituted
as the human mind is, if nature be not interpretable through
these conceptions [of relation with mind], it is not interpret-
able at all.' Here we have at last reached a great general
rule for the interpretation of nature — a rule which, on the
warrant alike of intellectual necessity and of strictly
scientific analogy, claims the whole field — a rule woven into
the very texture of our minds, and so interwoven with our
intuition of cause itself that to strangle one is to paralyze
the other. Let us thoroughly convince ourselves of all this —
(1) that we have, de facto, in this rule a reliable guide to the
satisfactory solution of the great puzzle of the universe —
the origin of things ; and (2) that all attempts to solve the
problem on other principles invariably lead to intellectual
chaos.
200 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
When we look at our triple universe of matter, life, and
mind, we cannot help regarding it as a work — a product ol
the operation of some power, force, energy, or whatever
other word will properly express the ultimate Efficient
Cause.1 It bears the stamp of workmanship on every part,
great and small. So patent is this that few, even of the
most reckless of the ' advanced philosophers,' venture to
question it. They too, like ourselves, instinctively refer the
universe and its parts to causes, thereby admitting that they
have to view them as effects — as works of some agent or
power. But having thus far followed the lead of their intel-
lectual instincts, when they come to take the next step —
that of tracing the work to its source, they deliberately
abandon what is for them as for us ' the method of nature '-
a method that is as much a part of our intellectual outfit as
the intuition of cause itself. In doing this they necessarily
also turn their backs on that boasted ' scientific method ' by
which they profess always to interpret the ' ultra-experien-
tial ' in nature by analogy of the observed and known. The
works of man they can only account for satisfactorily by
tracing them, like ourselves, to an intellectual origin ; but
the far more elaborate works with which the three -fold
universe overflows they are content to refer to the action of
unintelligent forces. To be consistent they should also
content themselves with referring the bridge to the foundry,
maintaining that the varied and powerful machinery there
was the ultimate and sufficient cause of its existence, and
that its pedigree went no further back. They say in fact :
' We cannot account for the existence of this bridge without
going back to the mind of the engineer, from which came
the plan that was worked out by the mechanical and
chemical appliances of the foundry. But this other work —
the solar system, or this one — the growing plant, or this
1 According to some recent authorities it would seem that a correct use of
the terms force and energy is almost as rare an accomplishment as that of shall
and intf. As regards the more common term, force, we take shelter behind
Faraday : — ' "What I mean by the word force is the cause of a physical action —
the source or sources of all possible changes amongst the particles or materials
of the uui verse.' — Experimental Researches, p. 460.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 201
one — the sentient animal, or even this one — man himself,
with his wonderful originating power — all these we trace,
not to an intellectual origin, but to the interaction of the
ordinary forces of mindless matter. We cannot indeed
imagine unintelligent forces planning the bridge, but we can
fancy them forming the engineer ! '
Let it not be said that this is but a travesty of the
' advanced philosophy.' Those who have had the patience
to follow us throughout, know that we are not overstating
the case. They will easily recall many pronouncements of
the ' philosophers ' that would entirely bear us out. ' The
existing world lay potentially in the cosmic vapour.' There,
according to Professor Huxley, is the remotest thinkable
origin of all the exquisite and intricate works of nature we
see around us. But is such an origin really thinkable as
ultimate ? Can we stop there ? Do we not here realize the
full truth of what Sir John Herschel says — that, constituted
as our minds are, we must interpret nature by reference to
mind, or not at all? There is no use in offering us matter
and force in any quantity. "We can no more stop at these
than we can at the ore and the foundry in tracing the bridge.
No doubt the bridge ' lay potentially ' in the ore, and was
' evolved ' out of it by the powerful machinery of the foundry.
But is all this thinkable by us as an ultimate origin ? The
potential existence of the bridge in the ore might have
continued till doom's day, and never become actual existence,
but for the thought in a man's head. That is the only
ultimate origin that satisfies us. So with 'the existing
world.' Granting that it ' lay potentially in the cosmic
vapour,' and granting to the said ' cosmic vapour ' all the
properties that can reasonably be claimed for mere matter —
forces, motion, high temperature, whatever you like — the
formation of the existing world out of it all is still unthinkable
without some representation of the engineer, some intelligent
power to plan, to initiate, to guide.
Here Professor Huxley tries to baffle us by one of those
metaphysical suppositions that seem for a moment to confuse
the reasoning powers — ' Our present universe,' he pleasantly
suggests, ' may be but the last stage of an eternal series of
202 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
metamorphoses.' Now this may sound very imposing, but it
is really no better than cuttle-fish philosophy — a meaningless
phrase designed to darken a clear issue. As the wily professor
very well knew, an 'eternal series' of things is to the average
man as slippery as a circulating decimal. You may go on for
ever trying to see to the end, and it keeps always just out of
sight. It is like Jack's cable that kept on steadily coming
up out of the water until he was ready to swear that ' the
devil must have cut the other end off ! ' It does not demand
much reasoning to show that this eternal series of changes
in matter is no more than a philosophical scarecrow— a
frightful figure in the path, which it is hoped you will not
go near enough to examine. When you do examine it you
find it to be only a mystifying way of saying that an effect
does not need a cause. For each change — each new stage
in the series — is an effect arising from, or in some way caused
by, the preceding one. Admittedly no particular stage can
be conceived to arise except from a preceding one ; that is
to say, no stage can be conceived as an absolute beginning,
an ultimate cause of all that follows. In other words, the
supposed 'series of metamorphoses' can have no ultimate
cause. Whence ' our present universe ' stands forth as the
biggest and grandest instance within our ken of an effect
without a cause ! So this high-sounding ' eternal series of
metamorphoses ' is at bottom a negation of our intuition
of causality, and impliedly of the capacity of human con-
sciousness to bear reliable witness to anything. Even so
thorough-going an evolutionist as Weismann rejects the
notion of eternal matter as an adequate substitute for a
First Cause. — ' The assumption of eternal matter with its
eternal laws by no means satisfies our intellectual need for
causality.' 1
Has Professor Huxley anything further to say to the
question? Yes; he has just one thing more: — 'The scientific
investigator is wholly incompetent to say anything at all
about the first origin of the material universe.' (What !
not even ' hocus-pocus ' ?) This will, perhaps, seem at first
i Studies in the Theories of Descent, 1882, p. 716.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 203
sight the one sane statement the Professor has made on the
subject ; yet not even with this can we agree. We hear a
great deal at times from all the ' advanced philosophers '
about ' the scientific method ' by which they are enabled to
' cross the boundary of experimental evidence,' and ' discern '
wonderful things that lie outside the region of experience.
These are ' derived by a process of abstraction from
experience. ... In this way, out of experience, arise
conceptions which are wholly ultra-experiential.' I Agam —
' Having determined the elements of their curve in a world
of observation and experiment, they [i.e., the scientific
philosophers] prolong that curve ' 2 into regions of thought
beyond.
Furnished with this ' open sesame,' how can Professor
Huxley declare himself 'wholly incompetent to say anything
at all about the first origin of the material universe ' ? Is
not this a case where we can ' determine the elements of
our curve ' of causality * in a world of observation and
experiment,' namely, the world of phenomena of our own
originating? In that world of our immediate experience
the elements of the curve are found to be all purely mental.
Must not its prolongation, therefore, through and beyond
'the primitive nebulosity,' lead us to an analogous originating
cause there ? If we are to credit ' the scientific method '
with the powers claimed for it, this must inevitably be the
result of its application here. But perhaps that is just the
reason it is not applied !
This agnostic pose is rather a favourite one with our
' advanced philosophers.' It gives the impression of moder-
ation and caution, and contrasts favourably with ' the
intolerant dogmatism of theology.' Mr. S. Laing in his
Modern Science and Modern Thought, having traced energy
back to the cosmic atoms, continues : —
If we ask how came the atoms into existence endowed with
this marvellous energy, we have reached the furthest bounds of
human knowledge, and can only reply in the words of the poet —
1 Tyndall, Belfast Address.
2 Id., Scientific Use of the Imagination.
204 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
'Behind the veil, behind the veil.' We can only form meta-
physical suppositions, or I might rather call them the vaguest
guesses,1
This may be taken as a typical statement. We have it
reproduced in many impressive forms by Tyndall, standing
with bowed head before the Mystery of Matter ; by Spencer,
in the sanctuary of his own special deity, ' the Unknown
and Unknowable;' by Huxley, also worshipping in silence
' at the altar of the Unknown and Unknowable ;' 2 and by
many lesser lights eager to parade their emancipation from
the trammels of worn-out creeds, and their adoption of ' the
scientific idea of a First Cause, inscrutable and past finding
out.' 3 A.S this is 'a more sublime as well as a more rational
belief than the old orthodox conception,' it is worth examining
a little. Passing by the ' sublime,' let us look at it from the
' rational ' side.
Whatever we know, or seem to know, of atoms and energy,
are but deductions from phenomena ; for atoms and energy
themselves are just as much ' behind the veil ' as their First
Cause. Now the phenomena which teach us all that we
know of atoms and energy — do they not speak with equal
plainness of a third thing, mind ? This, at any rate, was the
view of Sir John Herschel — no weak-kneed metaphysical
guesser, but as robust a scientific thinker as the century has
produced. ' It is reasonable,' he says, 'to regard the force of
gravitation as the direct or indirect result of a consciousness
or a will existing somewhere.' 4 Certainly this is no more
than ' reasonable.' If the planetary motions prove the
existence of a linking force, surely they prove just as plainly
the prevalence of a far-reaching order and plan, implying
' a consciousness or a will existing somewhere.' Our
' philosophers ' are not always so blind to the evidence of
design, nor so slow to draw the proper conclusion. When
5 Page 70. This book is an able, and therefore a dangerous, popular statement
of the agnostic philosophy. In ten years it has had a sale of over twenty
thousand.
2 Lay Sermons, p. 14.
3 Modern Science and Modern Tlwuyht, p. 222.
* Outlines of Astronomy, 5th ed., p. 291.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 205
the matter is one that seems to favour their own theories
they are only too ready to conclude. Their proof of the
remote antiquity of man is a case in point. Fragments of
flint chipped in a peculiar way have been found in ancient
drift deposits. These flints, the ' philosophers ' tell us, show
evident marks of design — of having been ' intentionally
chipped into their present forms.'1 They scout the idea
that such forms could result from any conceivable action of
the forces of nature, or could be the handiwork of any kind
of ape however ' anthropoid.' The signs of. purpose are too
evident ; and purpose is unanswerable proof of a reasoning
intelligence- Therefore beyond all doubt, they conclude,
man existed at the drift period. We are not now considering
the validity of this proof, but only the method of it. Let it
be borne in mind that not a scrap of human bones has been
found with these flints, nor in any certainly coeval deposits
elsewhere. Consequently the proof is purely inferential —
a conclusion from the evidence of design to the necessary
existence of an intelligent being. Behold the chameleon
consistency of the ' philosophers ' ! A few doubtfully-marked
fragments of stone are sufficient evidence of plan and pur-
pose to prove intelligent authorship ; but the elaborate and
exquisite works of nature are quite incompetent to establish
a similar conclusion. The men of the drift are clearly seen
in their very questionable works, but the Author of Nature
is ' behind the veil.'
Taking the three factors of the universe — matter, force,
and mind — we find the same state of things. The
' philosophers ' see as much as they want to, and no more.
These three mysterious entities lie equally ' behind the veil,'
are equally 'metaphysical conceptions.' Natural phenomena
bear witness to the existence of all three in exactly the
same way, viz., by special characteristics from which we
necessarily infer the existence of each. From the reality of
these phenomena we infer a real basis, matter ; from their
actual occurrence we infer an agent or power at woik, force ;
from their orderly character we infer a controlling and
1 Sir John Lubbock, Scientific Lectures, p. 149.
206 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
guiding influence, mind. Why are two of these inferences
valid, although they point to things ' behind the veil,' while
the third is to be regarded as invalid because it too points to
something ' behind the veil ' ? If we are able to read the
existence of two of the things in their effects, why not that
of the third as well ? The evidence is as plain in one case
as another. Nay, we can bring forward proof that the
evidence for the third is actually plainer than for either of the
other two — that mind is more clearly revealed in nature
than either matter or force.1 To this the forms of ordinary
speech — the crystallized thought of the people — bear un-
deniable testimony. When the ' scientific philosophers '
attempt to describe natural phenomena, they find that they
must use the language of design if they wish to be understood.
We have only to look into any of their books to see this ;
Darwin's Origin, for instance, is full of it. What does this
show? It shows how natural phenomena present them-
selves to the eyes of mankind in general. Whatever the
philosophers may do, the people describe things as they see
them. When, therefore, we find that the notion of design
in natural phenomena has so moulded the usages of the
common speech that all must recognise it if they would be
intelligible, the fact is clear proof that design is the most
generally evident characteristic of these phenomena.
Our ' philosophers ' may answer superiorly that in a
matter of this kind the people are incompetent witnesses :
in fact, like the law, 'the people is a h-ass.' No doubt
from the scientific standpoint the people is a very poor
concern. It knows little or nothing of sciences or '-ologies.'
It stands agape at the most elementary scientific demonstra-
tion. It has no proper reverence for that great mechanical
providence, the law of inverse squares. But there is here
no question of scientific attainments. The question simply
is — What special characteristic of natural phenomena most
strikes the popular mind ? And the answer recorded in
1 This would seem to be the impression made on Tennyson himself, from
whose In Memoriam the phrase ' Behind the veil ' is quoted. ' Matter,' he said,
'is a greater mystery than mind' — a thing less plainly revealed in nature.
See Life, by his^son, vol. ii., p. 424.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 207
the forms of every civilized speech is design, intelligence.
Science has nothing to do with this unanimous testimony
but to accept it as a fact, and to ponder its significance. A
common intuition, as Balmes says, is ' a land-mark of
philosophy';1 and this seems to be one. 'That philo-
sophy,' continues Balmes, ' must be erroneous which is
opposed to a necessity, and contradicts an evident fact.'
This exactly describes the position of the agnostic philosophy.
It is opposed to a necessity of human thought, and contra-
dicts a fact so evident that it has stamped itself on the
speech of every civilized people.
In fine, we will call two individual witnesses whose claims
to speak for Nature no one will venture to dispute. One
shall speak for the Universe of Life, the other for the
Universe of Matter and Force, and both will testify to the
all -pervading evidence of Mind.
Whatever we may think of Darwin as a philosopher, no
one questions his eminence as a naturalist. He cannot be
suspected of any desire to favour the doctrine of mind in
nature, seeing that the whole tendency of his system is to
eliminate mind altogether from natural phenomena. There-
fore when we find him in his later years, after all his unique
experience, forced to bear unwilling witness to the over-
powering evidence of an intelligent First Cause which living
nature supplies, we can hardly overrate the importance of
his testimony: In a private memoir written in 1876, we
find this remarkable statement : —
Another source of conviction in the existence of God, con-
nected with the reason, and not with the feelings, impresses me
as having much more weight. This follows from the extreme
difficulty, or rather impossibility, of conceiving this immense
and wonderful universe, including man with his capacity for
looking far backwards and far into futurity, as the result of
blind chance or necessity. When thus reflecting I feel compelled
to look to a First Cause having intelligent mind in some degree
analogous to that of man.2
1 Fundamental Philosophy, vol. i., p. 267.
2 Life and Letters, vol. i., p. 312. Nevertheless he concludes inconsequent! y
— ' The mystery of the beginning of all things is insoluble by us : and I for
one must be content to remain an agnostic.'
208 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
In the year of his death (1882), discussing this question
with the Duke of Argyll, he admitted that the conviction of
design in nature often still came over him ' with over-
whelming force.'1
What have our agnostic philosophers to say to these
repeated admissions, dragged, so to speak, from the reluctant
lips of the very father of the philosophic faithful, ' the
Abraham of scientific men ' ? 2 At Belfast Tyndall proudly
paraded Darwin as rejecting ' teleology ' and ' the notion of
a supernatural Artificer.' What hollow mockery it all seems
in the light of the pitiful revelation here made ? For it is
pitiful to see this really great naturalist, in the interests of a
mistaken idea, blindly struggling to free himself from a
necessity of thought, to stifle the voice of consciousness
within and nature without, to persist in saying ' no ' while
the universe thundered ' yes.'
Our second witness is the Seer of modern science, the
man whose scientific inspirations are still a fruitful source of
scientific discovery, Faraday. Who will question his insight
into the mysterious universe of matter and force ? And the
revelation it made to him is conveyed, not inappropriately,
in the language of another and higher revelation. ' I believe
that the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are, even His eternal power and Godhead.' 3
One more witness we take leave to call — that peculiar
American genius — philosopher, lecturer, essayist, poet — the
Carlyle of the New World, Emerson. Tyndall apparently
would appropriate him ; but we dispute his claim. We do
not say he agrees with us in all, or even in much ; but we
do say that he has more in common with us than with
materialism. We might quote many passages in support of
our contention, but we restrict ourselves to two — one from
each of his essays on Nature.
Through all its kingdoms, to the suburbs and outskirts of
things, [Nature] is faithful to the cause whence it had its origin.
1 Ibid., p. 316, note.
2 Tyndall, Science and Man.
3 Experimental Researches, p. 465
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 209
It always speaks of Spirit. It suggests the absolute. It is a
perpetual effect. It is a great shadow pointing always to the
sun behind us.
And to the like effect these two golden sentences —
'Nature is the incarnation of a thought. . . . The world
is mind precipitated.'
But there is little to be gained by arguing this question
with the ' advanced philosophers.' As far as they are con-
cerned, the ease is closed. Their intellectual position might
be represented by the figure of Justice without the scales,
or Sam Weller when he ' didn't see ' his father in the
gallery, though he 'rayther thought ' he was there. Pat into
words, regardless of ' bulls,' it might be expressed thus :
' There is no evidence of God in nature ; and if there is, we
won't see it.'
Let us briefly resume the argument before leaving it.
Three classes of phenomena, viz., our own works, our neigh -
bour's, and the universe, present three cases of causation.
All three are alike inexplicable without reference to mind.
All three alike become quite comprehensible by reference to
mind. Of the mental origin of the first we have the most
absolute certainty we can have of anything. Of the mental
origin of the second we have a certainty almost as absolute,
resting on our certainty of our neighbour's likeness to our-
selves, and on his constant testimony regarding the origin of
his own works. Therefore in the third case, from the analogy
of these two, and prescinding altogether from any testimony
there may be in the shape of a revelation, it becomes a
necessity of thought with us to assume a mental origin — an
intelligent First Cause. We cannot stop at the agnostic
terminus. We cannot say — ' I admit the first because I
have the testimony of my own consciousness ; I admit the
second because I have the testimony of my neighbour, rest-
ing on that of his consciousness ; but I do not admit the
third, because, not believing in a revelation, I have no
testimony.' This is to deny the validity of every sort of
evidence but human testimony — an absurdity which would
at once make a clean sweep of three-fourths of the conclusions
VOL. in. o
210 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
of physical science ! As Professor Asa Gray says : — ' In
Nature we have no testimony ; but the argument is over-
whelming.' l If that silent but overwhelming argument is
to be set aside, the sooner we disabuse ourselves of the notion
that we are reasonable beings the better. In fact the only
real justification of agnosticism is Darwin's ' horrid doubt —
whether the convictions of man's mind, which has been
developed from the mind of the lower animals, are of any
value or at all trustworthy. Would anyone trust the convic-
tions of a monkey's mind ? ' 2 On this view of the nature of
the mental faculties, and on this alone, does agnosticism
become logical. If we are highly developed apes, and no
more, not only our conclusion about a First Cause, but all
our conclusions become untrustworthy. But in that case it
would not matter much one way or the other.
The agnostic philosophers are fond of pointing to the
inconceivableness of creation as proof that it is impossible
and cannot have taken place. Is creation inconceivable,
and therefore impossible ?
Let us begin by clearing up the term of comparison,
inconceivable. A thing may be inconceivable (1) relatively
to us by reason of some deficiency in ourselves, as colour is
inconceivable to a person always blind ; or (2) absolutely in
se by involving a necessary contradiction which renders it
unthinkable, as that two and two make five, or that a
triangle may be round.8
Evidently the only sort of inconceivableness that involves
impossibility is the second. Is creation inconceivable in
that sense ?
In creation we distinguish two things — the act and the
mode; and it may be conceivable or inconceivable as regards
the one and not as regards the other. By the act of creation
1 Danciniana, p. 74.
2 From a letter written in 1881, the year before his death. Life and Letters,
vol. i., p. 316.
3 Tiiure is a third and looser sense in which a thing is often said to be
inconceivable : when it is so fantastic, so opposed to the nature of things as
known to us, that we refuse to believe it possible ; e.y., the existence of such
being's as the fabled Centaurs.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 211
is meant ' the transition of a substance from not-being to
being by virtue of the productive action of another sub-
stance.' 1 Is this transition inconceivable ? Taking for
granted the existence of the First Cause — already sufficiently
demonstrated — we have in this transition ' only the idea of
causality in its highest degree, that is, as applied to the pro-
duction of a substance* But since we have the idea of cause,
the idea of creation is not a new and inconceivable idea, but
the perfection of an idea which is common to all mankind.'
So far then from the act of creation being inconceivable in
the sense of self-contradictory and therefore impossible, we
see that it is, on the contrary, the most perfect expression,
the most complete realization in fact of a common
fundamental intuition.
Is the mode of creation inconceivable? In the first
place let us say that we are not much concerned to prove
whether it is or no. Having once established the possibility
of creation in se, and its entire conformity with right
reason, the mere question of how represents a point of very
secondary importance. Whether the mode of creation be
conceivable or not cannot in the least affect either the
possibility or the fact of creation. How many things do we
recognise as indisputable facts without knowing the how of
their existence. Can anyone tell us how we see things ?
We can trace the light -picture as far as the back of the eye,
but then it becomes something else, which we call sensation,
while in the brain it becomes still another thing, which
we call vision. How all this happens, who can say ! That
it does happen we can all say. To the astronomer the force
of gravitation is a fact, but the man who will demonstrate
how it is exercised will at once take his place beside Newton,
if not above him. Let it be clearly borne in mind, then,
that the rest of this discussion has no bearing whatever on
the possibility or the fact of creation. They are established.
1 Balmes, Fundamental Philosophy, vol. ii., p. 453.
2 Balmes distinguishes between the power of a ^finite cause, which is
limited to the production of modifications of substances already existing, and
that of the Infinite Cause, which extends to the production of substances them-
selves. The mode of production, however, we judge to be alike ia both cases,
viz., by icilling.
212 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The question now is merely whether we can conceive hoiv
it took place. Whether we can or no, the fact remains a
fact. Our investigation henceforward possesses that merely
scientific interest which attaches to the study of every great
and wonderful phenomenon. In this attitude of reverent
scientific curiosity we repeat our question — Is the mode of
creation inconceivable ?
The only way in which we can form any idea at all of
the mode of creation is by observing the manner in which
we exercise the faculty of causation ourselves. We find
that it is by an act of will. We will the things which, as
free agents, we do. As this is the only mode of original
causation with which we are acquainted, we must conclude
that it was the mode of creation — that the Creator produced
all things from nothing by an act of w ill.
How far is such a production conceivable by us ? Just
as far as the production of our own acts is conceivable by
us. We can conceive a thing beginning to be in response
to an act of the Creator's will, just as we can conceive a
thing beginning to be in response to an act of our own will ;
but how such effects in either case follow from such a cause
is incomprehensible to us. We know no more, and no less,
how an act of the Creator's will produces a thing out of
nothing than how an act of our own will moves a limb.
The one is as inexplicable as the other.
To this then is the inconceivableness of creation reduced,
viz., to the manner in which the production of a thing
follows from the willing of it. But, as we have insisted at
such tiresome length, this inconceivableness of mode does
not touch the possibility or fact of production. It would
not matter in the least if it were shown to-morrow that our
theory as to the Creator's mode of operation was all wrong —
that His way of working is quite different from ours, or from
any conception we can form of it by analogy of our own.
In the absence of any other clue, the said analogy supplies a
tolerably satisfying basis of inference in a matter of compara-
tively speculative interest. In assuming that the Creator
works as we do by willing, we are simply making the most
of our limited intellectual resources.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 213
As to the nature of this inconceivableness attaching to
the mode of creation, it is clearly of that relative kind
which arises from a deficiency in ourselves owing to the
limitations of our state — limitations which make so many
things within us as well as without us mysteries to us.
Yet are they none the less facts to us. Who doubts his
capacity to will, and by willing to do ? Yet who knows
how the doing springs from the willing ? This relative
inconceivableness of mode affords no more ground for
denying the possibility of creation, than for denying the
possibility of the acts we are ourselves doing every moment.
For the relation of these acts to our will is as incompre-
hensible as the relation of created things to the will of the
Creator.
The following lively statement of the point by Balmes
is well worth adding : —
God wills, and the universe springs up out of nothing : — how
can this be understood ? To him who asks this I say — Man
wills, and his arm rises ; he wills, and his whole body is in
motion : how can this be understood ? Here is a small, weak,
and incomplete, but true image of the Creator — an intelligent
being who wills, and a fact which appears. Where is the
connection ? If you cannot explain it to us in so far as concerns
finite beings, how can you ask us to explain it with respect to the
Infinite Being? The incomprehensibility of the connection of
the motion of the body with the force of the will does not
authorize us to deny the connection. Therefore, the incompre-
hensibility of the connection of a being which appears for the
first time with the force of the infinite will cannot authorize us
to deny the creation.1
When Agnosticism rejects creation as inconceivable,
presumably it has a more conceivable substitute to offer
us instead. Herbert Spencer, at any rate, is bound to provide
such a substitute, for he maintains that, 'while the process of
special creation cannot be rationally conceived, the negation
of it is perfectly conceivable.'2
We might set off against this the equally dogmatic
1 Fundamental Philosophy, vol. ii., p. 483.
2 Nineteenth Century, November, 1895.
214 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
declaration of Professor Huxley, that the hypothesis of
creation is ' perfectly conceivable, and therefore no one can
deny that it may have happened ' — that it is an alternative 'not
scientifically unthinkable.' J However, let us take ' the Apostle
of the Understanding' on his own ground, and see how he
himself ' rationally conceives ' this 'negation.' His 'perfectly
conceivable ' substitute for the creation of matter is a
' persisting force ' which ' transcends human knowledge
and conception,' and is ' an unknown and unknowable
power ! ' There is no denying that ' negation ' is here at
a discount ; the ' perfect conceivableness ' is hardly so
apparent. The reader will recall with new interest the
same ' Apostle's ' eminently ' rational conception ' of the
origin of life heretofore quoted; it is very concise, but
supplies endless food for thought. Life arose ' through
successive complications ' !
In conclusion we will reward the reader's patience with
a tit-bit of ' advanced philosophy ' — something our American
cousins would call '"reel" good' — an up-to-date agnostic
Genesis. We extract it from a wildly gushing life of
Darwin, contributed to the ' English Worthies ' series by
Mr. Grant Allen, a gentleman who, since the extinction of
greater lights, has been making himself very prominent as
an evolutionist of the most ' advanced ' type. This tour
d1 imagination pourtrays the ideal realization (if we may use
such a combination of words) of ' the illuminating doctrine
of Evolution ' as representing ' a cosmical process, one and
continuous, from nebula to man, from star to soul, from
atom to society.'2 Comment seems needless; and we
content ourselves with directing the reader's attention by
means of italics to a few specially pure gems of thought or
reasoning.
The evolutionist looks out upon the Cosmos as a continuous
process unfolding itself in regular order in obedience to definite
natural laws. He sees in it all, not a warring chaos restrained
by the constant interference from without of a wise and beneficent
1 Nineteenth Century, February, 1886, pp. 202, 203. 2 Page 191.
MODERN SCIENTIFIC MATERIALISM 215
external power, but a vast aggregate of original elements [?]
perpetually working out their own fresh redistribution in accord-
ance with their own inherent energies. ...
In the very beginning [?] the matter which now composes the
material universe seems to have existed in a very diffuse and
nebulous condition. The gravitative force, however, with which
every atom of the whole vast mass was primarily endowed,
caused it gradually to aggregate around certain fixed and definite
centres [?]•••
Biology next steps in with its splendid explanation of organic
life, as due initially to the secondary action of radiated solar
energy on the outer crust of such a cooling and evolving
planet (!]... How the first organism came to exist, biology
has not yet been able fully to explain to us ; but aided by
chemical science it has been able to show us in part how some
of the simple organic bodies may have been originally built up^
and it does not despair of showing us in the end how the earliest
organism may actually have been produced from the prime
elements of oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon.
Psychology in the hands of Herbert Spencer and his followers,
not wholly unaided by Darwin himself, . . . has traced the
origin and development of mind, ivithout a single break, from its
first faint and half-unconscious manifestation in the polyp or the
jelly-fish, to its final grand and varied outcome in the soul of the
poet, or the intellect of the philosopher.
Sociology . . . taking from biology the evolving savage . . .
has shown how he has grown up to science, to philosophy, to
morals, and to religion.
And there you are !
E. GAYNOB, C.M.
216
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN
"Y first visit to Altadavin was in the month of August,
1883, during a mission in Aghaloo, the next parish
to Errigal-Truagh, in which Altadavin is situated. The
Kev. Daniel O'Connor, then P.P. of Errigal-Truagh, now
Canon and P.P. of Newtownbutler, was my kind cicerone.
In May and June, 1884, we gave a mission in Errigal-
Truagh, where my work lay in the outlying district of
Portclare, in which the Glen is situated, which I then twice
revisited.
My object in writing the present article, is to draw,
attention to this remarkable spot, which, much to my
surprise, has, I find, received scarcely any mention either in
ancient or modern authors, and except to those living in its
neighbourhood, and to some few interested in archaeology,
appears to be generally unknown even in Ireland. I shall
first, then, give simply my own description of Altadavin,
from the impressions left on my memory after a lapse of
fourteen years, interspersed with a few topographical
notices ; and shall then say what of interest I have gleaned
from ancient authors and archaeological sources that sheds
any light on its history and surroundings. And this I
shall do especially to show, that the claim which the
local tradition has ever made to the connection of
Altadavin with St. Patrick rests on most probable and
solid grounds.
Errigal-Truagh is a very extensive parish, of the diocese
of Clogher, chiefly situated within the county of Monaghan,
but having some fifteen or sixteen townlands, called the
Portclare district, belonging to county Tyrone, of which
Altadavin, in the barony of Clogher, is one. There are
three churches in the parish : the principal one, that of
St. Mary, Ballyoshin; that of the Sacred Heart, Carrickroe ;
and that of St. Patrick at Clara, within two miles of
Altadavin.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 217
This is a small valley or glen,1 some four miles south-
east of Clogher, extending nearly a mile from north to south.
The hills that bound it on either side are from a hundred to
a hundred and fifty feet high , lined with steep rocks and
jutting crags. The sides and the glen itself are thickly
wooded with fir trees, stunted oaks, larch, ash, birch, hazel,
holly, and underwood. A small clear stream runs murmur-
ing through the glen. This stream is nameless, both in the
map, and in local nomenclature. Issuing from Lough
More (i.e., the Great Lake), half a mile south of the head of
the glen, it flows through Lough Beg (the Little Lake),
which lies quite near the entrance of the valley. Both
these lakes are small ; the latter much the smaller one, and
not bigger than a good-sized fish-pond. They are named
in Irish great and little, only by way of comparison.
I may mention, en passant, that Lough Beg has a tiny
islet on its waters. It is a floating island planted with a
few shrubs of the sallow genus. To those living within view
of the island, along the hill-side of Cullabeg, which is very
near Lough Beg, and of Cullamore,2 near to Lough More,
it serves the purpose of a barometer, as they readily con-
jecture by its movements, when rain or storm is at hand.
The little stream, after running through the glen, passes by
the eastern side of Lough Fimore (i.e., Great Wood), another
small lake half a mile north of the glen, and sends a tiny
tributary to its waters; thence it pursues its course
to join the river Blackwater, whose ancient name was
Avomnore (Abhain-Mor), at Favour Eoyal.
Apropos of this demesne, I regret to learn from Canon
O'Connor, that
Mr. Moutray, its proprietor, and 'lord of the soil,' some
seven or eight years ago, denuded the Glen of its fine umbra-
geous adornment of trees, and even the holly and hazel had
to yield before the woodman's axe. He [the Canon] was
pleased, however, on revisiting the Glen, last summer, to find
a dense undergrowth of natural trees again growing up. But it
1 Marked in the Ordnance Map, Long. 7g4'30." Lat. 5° 24'
2 In the map it is called Culla Mugg, and is 848 feet high.
218 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
must be many years before they reach the stately proportions
of the former forest trees which lent such a secluded and
picturesque aspect to the spot.
To return to my own description of Altadavin, as it was
on my visit in 1883. The varied scenery of the lonely glen ;
its purling stream, its dense green shade, its rocks and
craggy steeps charmed me — as though I had entered upon
some new fairy- land — with its romantic beauty, which is at
once soft and calm, weird and grand, sometimes even wild
and savage ; and the enchantment grew the more with
every onward step. On passing nearly half way through the
glen, a tongue of rocky ground, spread thick with trees and
underwood, rises to the height of some forty or fifty feet,
intersecting the valley for about three or four hundred paces,
and forming on either side a deep ravine. That to the
right has a path which runs down the whole valley ; whilst
that on the left, through which the stream flows, terminates
by opening out into a meadow-like green sward, enclosed on
the east by the precipitous ridge which here ends, and on
the north and west by hilly slopes, on which rise tall firs
and other trees ; whilst the little stream to the left winds
round these slopes, to continue its course through the rest
of the valley.
This little green meadow, so to call it, is perhaps a
hundred yards long by forty wide, smooth and soft as some
velvet lawn ; and being entirely secluded, in the midst of its
wild and romantic surroundings, from all view of outside
scenery, with the sky of the heavens above for its canopy, it
forms a spot of singular loveliness and charm. On the right,
close under the side of the rocky steep, is a well or fountain
of pure water, of crystal clearness and most refreshing
coldness, springing from the cliff. It is a spot where the
imagination, unaided, may readily draw vivid pictures of
scenes, which, one is told, here had place long ages ago. For
the tradition in the neighbourhood of Altadavin is, that here
in this little meadow St. Patrick preached to the people,
instructed his neophytes, and at this very well — blessed by
himself, and ever since called by his name — he baptized
them in its waters.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 219
From beside the well we ascended the cliff by a very
steep, narrow path, midst a growth of underwood and
tangled froughans.1 About twenty feet above the meadow
there opened on our right, with a view of the valley below, a
small, fairly-level space of ground, paved, as it were, with
large layers of detached rock. Here stood by itself, resting
on layers of rock below the surface, a great block, between
four and five feet high, nearly square — perhaps, as I have
been told, thirty or forty tons weight. In its centre is
a round natural hollow, forming a basin some fourteen
inches in diameter at the top, and a few inches less in depth,
which was then at least half full of clear water.
Following the directions of my cicerone, I baled out the
water. At the bottom of the basin were a large number of
pins which visitors, it may be of many generations, had
deposited there from some traditional custom, or perhaps in
lieu of votive offerings.2 Placing these on the margin of the
basin, I wiped it quite dry, and examined it carefully to see
if there was in it any aperture or perforation by which the
water might ascend, but could discover none. It appeared
to me to be smooth, hard, and solid. After replacing
the pins, 1 watched for a few minutes until I saw the
water reappearing. I was told that it would take some
twenty minutes for it to reach the level at which it was
before, and that the basin was never known to be
without water, whatever might be the heat and dryness
of the season.
We then continued our ascent to the summit of the
1 I.e., bilberry stalks.
2 There are other traditional ways of thus exteriorizing the interior sentiment,
by making "use of some outward sensible token; v.g., there is the practice eo
common at holy wells of leaving behind small pieces of rag attached to the bushes
or shrubs close by. This custom prevails not only in many parts of Ireland, but
survives also to the present day amongst the Protestants of Celtic Cornwall. Or,
to give another example : — On occasion of a Redemptionist mission at Fanad in
Co. Donegal, the late Primate M'Gettigan, then Bishop of Raphoe, conducted
the Fathers to St. Columkille's cell and holy well on the western shore of Lough
S willy, where he was careful to instruct each one of us to observe religiously the
immemorial practice of every visitor casting a large stone over his shoulder ; thus
to add another to the huge pile of accumulated mementos that had been heaped up
behind us by the numerous past generations of devout visitors to the Saint's
rude hermitage.
220 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ridge, some twenty or thirty feet above the rock-basin, where,
on turning a corner to the left, comes close in view a massive
structure of natural rock, wearing rudely the shape of a fixed
altar, with rock rising behind to serve as its reredos. Both
together form one huge monolith. The altar is nearly four
feet in height, not less than six feet in length, and more than
two feet in width. In the middle of the altar-table a portion
is marked out by a deep carving, doubtless for the sacred
vessels at the celebration of Mass. And here alone, it would
seem, has the hand of man been exercised on the
monuments of Altadavin, which, for the rest, are all of
purely natural formation ; and no chisel was ever laid on
them.
Fronting the altar on the gospel-side is another huge
structure of rock, so formed by nature out of a single
massive block as to have the appearance of a gigantic high-
backed chair. It measures from the basement to its head
not less than eight feet ; the square high back rising some
six feet above the seat. In this chair, tradition reports,
St. Patrick sat, and at this altar celebrated the Sacred
Mysteries ; and from time immemorial both altar and chair
have been called by his name.
We then retraced our steps down to the rock-basin. The
water was still rising, and had nearly reached the level at
which we had first found it. I watched till it had done so
and had ceased to flow. My first thought, to which I at
once gave utterance, was a strong desire that the British
Association, when they next held their meeting in Ireland,
should make a pilgrimage to Altadavin, and endeavour to
explain, if they could, by what natural causes this marvellous
phenomenon is effected. It may, no doubt, be capable of
such explanation ; but to my unscientific and superficial view
it appeared to be nothing short of miraculous. For the
block, in which is the basin, rises entirely isolated ; beneath
it are layers of other large detached rocks, so that the idea
of its being fed by a spring from below appears to be out of
the question ; whilst that of the basin being supplied from
the droppings of overhanging boughs is obviously untenable;
moreover, the basin, though of a porous and absorbent
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 221
sandstone,1 always contains a certain quantity of water,
even in the driest seasons.
I can here only state my own experience as to the
measure ol water, and the time it took to rise in the basin,
which were the same on the three visits- I made to the
rock — and Father Callan, the present P.P., tells me that
he has a like experience as to the time. But I have since
been informed that these points are not, perhaps, to be relied
upon as always uniform ; and, of course, after heavy rains
the basin may be found full and overflowing.
I do not remember being told whether, according to any
local tradition, this rock-basin held any place in the religious
ceremonial of St. Patrick, or what that might be. I learn
from Canon O'Connor that experts who have visited Alta-
davin are of opinion that the rocky ridge which intersects
the valley is a moraine, consisting of immense boulders of
sandstone, and that the hollows and basins found in many
of them were formed naturally, perhaps during the glacial
period, by the friction of harder substances upon them
in some mighty convulsion or upheaval of nature. Many
of these huge blocks are, on the other hand, quite smooth ;
according as they were torn up from their situs in the
bed-rock.
Amongst the more notable visitants at the Glen in recent
times have been Archbishop M'Hale, in 1870, in company
with Bishop M'Nally of Clogher, who then resided in that
town ; Bishop Loughlin, of Brooklyn ; Monsignor Farley,
now Assistant-Bishop of New York, on the occasion of the
Dedication of St. M'Cartin's Cathedral at Monaghan ; and
the Most Eev. Dr. Healy, Bishop of Clonfert, in company
with Dr. Lennon> of Maynooth, and Canon O'Connor, the
18th of August, 1897. The Most Eev. John Hughes,
Archbishop of New York, was brought up in the neighbour-
hood of the Glen. I have sought in vain for some reference
in ancient authors to Altadavin ; whilst in writers of more
1 Canon O'Hanlon. in his notice of Altadavin, says that the rock there is
' pronounced by experts to be of a very silicious sandstone of the Yoredale
series.' — (17 March, vol. iii., p. 670.)
222 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
modern date I have met no mention of its name except in
O'Hanlon's Lives, and in Lewis's Dictionary.1
The connection claimed for Altadavin with St. Patrick
rests solely on the tradition that lives in the neighbourhood,
which is supported by many reasons of the highest proba-
bility, and these it is now my object to set forth. It is, in
the first place, quite certain, from the Tripartite and other
Lives, that the Saint spent some time, on more than one
occasion, at Clogher, which is only four miles distant from
the Glen of Altadavin ; and that he made several apostolic
journeys in its neighbourhood. On his way to found the
churches of Donagh, Tehollan, Tullycerbet, Aughnamullen,
and Donaghmoyne, as described in the Tripartite, his course
lay in the direction of the glen. Between Altadavin and
Donagh he blessed a well, since called St. Patrick's Well,
situated in a remote locality, in the townland of Derryveagh,
where a tongue of that townland extends between Derry-
nerget and Dernalusset, near Carrickroe, before referred to
as one of the three districts of Errigal-Truagh, where our
fathers said Mass, and preached on the Sundays of their
mission in that parish.
On the lands of Lislana [says Canon O'Hanlon], not far from
Clogher,2 in the direction of Augbentain, may be seen another
St. Patrick's chair and holy well. They are situated in a most
exquisitely beautiful wooded glen. The ' chair ' is simply a
hollow recess in the natural rock, and the well is a tiny spring
close to it.3
Again, we learn from the Lives that St. Patrick frequently
in his apostolate came into direct antagonism with the
whole system of Druidism ; since its prevalent influence was
one of the chief hindrances to the conversion of many to
Christianity* Hence he opposed the Druids wherever he
found them, overturning their idols and pillar-stones, and
burning their books. Thus we read in the Book of Lecan,
that St. Patrick at one time burnt one hundred and eighty
1 O'Hanlon, vol. iii., p. 670. Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 1837,
vol. i., p. 609 ; "Errigal-Trough."
2 That is three miles west,
s Vol. iii., p. 678.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 223
druidical books. And it was on account of the Saint's
determined opposition to their superstitions that the Druids
made many attempts on his life. Now, it is generally
thought, and on very probable grounds, that Altadavin was
specially set apart by the Druids for the exercise of their
religious worship. The wild rocky glen is just the sort of
place they would naturally select : —
For [writes Bishop Healy] the Druids worshipped not in
temples made with hands, but in ' groves,' and on ' high places '
under the shade of the spreading oaks. . . . Their dwellings
were surrounded with oak groves whose dark foliage threw a
sombre and solemn shade over the rude altars of unhewn stone
on which they offered theii sacrifices.1
Here they could in secret solitude perform their weird
and mystic rites at the overshadowed well, and immolate
their victims at the altar on the high place. The legendary
folk-lore which still lingers among the people from ancient
time, and has been embodied in the tales of William
Carleton, who was born and brought up in the immediate
neighbourhood of the glen, point to it as a spot of awe and
marvel. Moreover, its proximity to Clogher would render
the connection of the Druids with Altadavin all the more
probable. For Clogher was the chief city of an ancient
territory, known as Ergal (Anglice, Oriel), the people of
which were distinguished as Orghialla ; and at Clogher was
the principal royal residence. I will here again avail myself
of a quotation from the Bishop of Clonfert : —
One of the principal functions of the Druids was to act as
haruspices, that is, to foretell the future, to unveil the hidden,
to pronounce incantations, and ascertain by omens lucky and
unlucky days. Hence we always find some of them living with
the king in his royal rath ; they are not only his priests, but still
more his guides and counsellors on all occasions of danger and
emergency. It is probable that one or more of them abode in
the raths of all the great nobles who claimed to be righs, or
kinglets in their own territories. They were sworn enemies of
Christianity, and frequently attempted to take St. Patrick's life
by violence or poison. In the remote districts of the country
1 Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars, p. 3.
224 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
some of them remained for several centuries after the island
ge'nerally became Christian ; and to this day we can find traces
of ancient Druidism in the superstitions of the people.1
Again, at Clogher, was one of the principal colleges of
the Bards 2 who, with the Druids and Brehons, were the
three great orders and privileged classes of pagan Ireland.
The Bards were allied with the Druids in many of their
superstitions ; from all such St. Patrick sought to purify
the Order, for, so far from being hostile to it, he encouraged
it much. In the college, at Clogher, the Bards studied in
order to qualify themselves for taking the degree of Ollamb,
that is, chief poet, or doctor in poetry. But as this degree
could not be obtained without the performance of certain
rites which involved offerings to idol gods, St. Patrick
abolished these profane rites, and thus made the profession
pure and lawful for those who should become Christians.
This college, however, seems to have gradually declined
before the monastery founded by St. MacCairthinn, the first
Bishop of Clogher, by the direction of St. Patrick.3 On
this, Walker, in his Historical Memoirs, 1786, observes : —
* All the eminent schools delectably situated, which were
established by the Christian clergy in the fifth century,
were erected on the ruins of these colleges.' *
Clogher had been from ancient times a special seat of
pagan worship. There was there a celebrated oracular
pillar-stone, dedicated to a god called Kermand Kel stack,
covered over with plates of gold. According to legend, a
hero of antiquity, Connor MacNessa, in the first century of
the Christian era, consulted the oracle at Clogher, which
predicted that, though a younger son, he should obtain the
sovereignty of Ulster. The prophecy proved true. He
became king of Ulster; and the ruins of his palace of
Emania, now called Navan Fort, are still seen two miles
west of the city of Armagh.5 Cathal Maguire, a leading
1 Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars, pp. 4, 5.
a Irish Druids and Old Ireland's Religions, p. 37. Bonwick, 1894. He
mentions other colleges of the Ollambs at Armagh, Lismore, and Tamer.
3Brennan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, c. ii., p. 31.
*Bonwick, p. 37.
5 See Pagan Ireland, by Wood- Martin, M.R.I.A., 1895, and Joyce's Short
History of Ireland, p. 36.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 225
ecclesiastic of Clogher, who died in 1498, records that the
stone was preserved up to his times (doubtless without the
gold) inside the porch of the cathedral. From this stone,
Cloch-oir, ' stone of gold,' according to Colgan and others,
Clogher derived its name. But others hold this etymology
doubtful ; since it is always written Clochar ; i.e., ' a stony
place,' and not Clochoir; besides, there are other places in
Ireland called Clochar.1
I have mentioned the above details, which otherwise
might appear irrelevant, with the view of showing that
St. Patrick, during his residence at Clogher, and his evange-
lization of that city and its neighbourhood, would certainly
have directed all his efforts to extirpating the prevalent
pagan and druidical rites, and to diverting their profane
objects to Christian uses ; for, as Petrie says : ' It was not
uncommon for St. Patrick to dedicate pagan monuments to
the worship of the true God.' 2 And, in one of the Lives of
St. Patrick it is related that he preached at a fountain (well)
which the Druids worshipped as a god.3
The following passage from the Tripartite relates some-
thing analogous to the phenomenon of the rock-basin : — •
' Patrick went into Grecraide of Loch Technet. He founded
a church there, to wit in Drumne ; and by it he dug a well,
and it hath no stream [flowing] into it or out of it ; but it
is full for ever ; and this is its name, Bith-ldn (' Ever-
full').'4 It thus appears in Tirechan's Collectanea: 'Et
perexit ad tramitem Gregirgi, et fundavit aecclessiam in
Drummse, et fontem fodi [vit juxta earn : non habet flu] men
in se et de se, sed plenus semper.'5 What is here called
Grecraide of Loch Technet, and Trames Gregirgi (or
Gregaridhi) — which means the lower boundary of the
district of Gregary, now Lough Gara, once known as Loch
Technet — is co-extensive with the barony of Coolavin,
Co. Sligo.
1 Todd's St. Patrick, pp. 129, 407.
*3omcickt p. 138.
3 Ibid., p. 240.
4 Tripartite, Partii,, Rolls' Series, 1887* P. i , i ,, 100.
5 Ibid., Partii., p. 319.
VOL. lit. $
2'26 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Altadavin, locally pronounced as if written Altadhowen,
has been interpreted by some to mean ' the glen of the
gods, or of the demons,' but its truer meaning, generally
accepted by the learned, is the glen of the descendants
of Damene, Alt-ui-damene, Damhin or Davin being a
patronymic of the ancient king or dynast of the territory
of Oriel,1 who resided at Clogher. Hence Clogher in the
time of St. Patrick, and later on, is called in the Annals,
Clogher-mac-damene ; i.e., Clogher of the sons of Damene.2
But before any mention of the royal line of Damene, we
have historical record of Clogher and its kings. The follow-
ing is from the Four Masters ' —
The age of Christ, 111. The first year of the reign of
Feidhlimidh Keachtmar, 3 son of Truathal Teachtmar, as king
over Ireland. Baine, daughter of Seal [king of Finland], was
the mother of this Feidhlimidh. It was from her Cnoc- Baine in
Oighialla [Oriel] was called, for it was there she was interred.
It was by her also Kath-mor of Magh-Leamhna [Moy Leney] in
Ulster was erected.4
Queen Baine, in her day, must have been a sovereign of
more than ordinary mark, for she still lives in popular
legend and story, though her memory has been invested in
the course of ages with much that is fabulous and grotesque.5
Two great monuments that record her reign endure to
the present day, viz., the fort of Eathmore, which she built
for her royal residence, and Cnocbaine, the place of her
interment.
Canon O'Connor has conclusively identified Cnoc-Baine
with the Hill of Knockmany — a modernized form of the same
name — very near to Clogher, where is what Mr. Wakeman,
the distinguished artist and antiquarian, entitled ' the
1 O'Flaherty's Cgygia, translated by Hely, Bookiii., ch 75.
2 Mac in Irit-h means son, and Ui (or O) grandson or descendant.
:l He is commonly known as King Felimy. For records of his reign, see
O 'Flaherty and Kvating.
* Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Matters, from the earliest
period to 1616, vol. i., p. 103. Edited by John O'Donovan, LL.D., M.R.I.A.
1856.
5 Thus the witch Oouagh, in Carletou's Ltycnd of Enockmavy, is said to
bo no other thuu the historical Queen Bainu.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 227
megalithic sepulchral chamber of Knockmany.'1 Here
Queen Baine was interred, and a remarkable cromlech of
the second century stands over her grave. The name of
Queen Baine is also still preserved in that of the hills and
townland of Mullaghbeney, situated in close proximity to
Knockmany, and in Knockabeny, near Carrickroe. Canon
O'Connor likewise identifies Rathmore (the Great Rath),
erected by Queen Baine, with the large earthen fort situate
within the palace grounds of Clogher, which was the chief
stronghold and place of residence in after ages of the princes
of Oriel.
Moy Leney, or Leinain, which was also anciently called
Clossach, is described by Colgan as ' a level district of
Tyrone in the diocese of Clogher.' It extended for some
distance west of Clogher to beyond Ballygawley, which
places, as also Errigal-Keeroge2 and Augher to the norih,
were included in its area. The river Blackwater flows
through the territory. Near Augher was the ford, Ath-ergal,
across the river, where passed the interesting conversation
between St. MacCartin and St. Patrick, to be given presently
from the Tripartite. A stream formerly called the Laune,
or Launy, which has its rise to the south among the hills
beyond Ferdross, flows by Clogher to the Blackwater, through
Moy Leny, whence it derives its name, which it preserved
long after that district had become merged in the more
extensive territory called Oriel, which, besides a part of
Tyrone, embraced the counties of Louth, Monaghan, Armagh,
and Fermanagh.
As Lemain was the scene of several interesting incidents
narrated in the Tripartite of St. Patrick's missionary work
whilst he was in the immediate neighbourhood of Clogher
1 See his learned article under that heading in the Journal of the Royal
Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, 1876.
2 Errigal (Aireagal, pronounced Arrigle), according to Joyce, primarily
means a habitation, and is often applied to an oratory, hermitage, or small
church. He connects it with the Latin oraculum. Thus Errigal-Truagh would
mean the church in 'the barony of Trough (anciently called Truich Ched
Chladaigh). Others say it means a bright fishing weir. Other? , again, say
that Errigal, Ergal, Oirghialla, are various forms of the same name, Anglicc,
Oriel ; and that these two parishes of Errigal retain to the present day the
etymon of the old territory.
228 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and Altadavin, I shall here recall them, and shall do so in
the original words of St. Evin, his biographer : — l
Once as St. Patrick was coming from Clochar from the
north, his champion, to wit, Bishop MacCairthinn, lifted him
over a difficult place.2 This is what he said after lifting Patrick :
' Oh ! oh !' ' My God's doom !' saith Patrick, ' it was not usual
for thee to utter that word.' ' I am now an old man, and I am
infirm,' saith Bishop MacCairthinn, ' and thou hast left my
comrades in churches, and I am still on the road.' ' I will
leave thee, then, in a church,' saith Patrick, 'that shall not be
very near, lest there be familiarity [?], and shall not be very far,
so that mutual visiting between us be continued.' And Patrick
then left Bishop MacCairthinn in Clogher, and with him fhe
placed] the [silver reliquary called] Domnach Airgit,8 which
had been sent to Patrick from heaven when he was at sea coming
towards Ireland.
Thereafter Patrick went into Lemain : Findabair 4 is the
name of the hill on which Patrick preached. For three days and
three nights he was preaching, and it seemed to them not longer
than one hour. Then Bridgit fell asleep at the preaching, and
Patrick let her not be wakened. And Patrick asked her after-
wards what she had seen. Dixit ilia ; ' I saw white assemblies,5
and light-coloured oxen, and white corn-fields, speckled oxen
behind them, and black oxen after these. Afterwards I saw
sheep and swine and dogs and wolves quarrelling with each
other. Thereafter I saw two stones, one of the twain a small
stone, and the other a large. A shower dropt on them both. The
little stone increased at the shower, and silvery sparks would
break forth from it. The large stone, however, wasted away.'
' Those,' saith Patrick, ' are the two sons of Echaid, son of
Crimthann.' Coirbre Damargait6 believed, and Patrick blessed
1 According to the learned^the Vita Keptima or Tripartite (i.e., Life in three
parts) excells all the other six original Lives which compose the Acta S. Patricii
in Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga, in length, antiquity, and authenticity. St, Evin,
who wrote it, was living in 504, and had probably seen and conversed with
St. Patrick, who died in 493.
2 This was Ath-ergal. See above. St. Patrick was generally accompanied
in his missionary journeys by his family or household, twenty-four in number,
all in holy orders. Their names and functions are given in the Tripartite. Of
these Bishop MacCairthinn was his champion, or rather strong man, to bear
him over the floods, and perhaps defend him against nide assaults in an age of
lawless violence. See Ireland's Ancient Schools, &c., ch. iii., p. 65.
:} This was a copy of the Gospels, some fragments of which still remain,
preserved in the shrine called Domnach-Airgid, now in the Museum of the
Royal Irish Academy.
* Or Finn Abhuir, now called Findermere, near Clogher.
5 Canditatorum synodum, Tr. Th., p. 150.
r> The younger son, from whom a long line of Oriel princes and many
Saints were descended — whilst Bressal, the elder ton, died childless.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 229
him and blessed his seed. Bressal, however, refused [to become a
Christian] , and Patrick cursed him. Patrick, besides, expounded
the vision of Brigit in an excellent manner.1
Patrick raised Echaid, son of Crimthann, from death. Echaid
had a daughter, to wit, Cinnu. Her father desired to wed her to
a man of good lineage, namely, to the son of Cormac, son of
Cairbre son of Niall. As she was walking, she met holy
Patrick with his companions.2 Patrick preached to her to unite
herself to the Spiritual Spouse, and she believed and followed
Patrick, and Patrick baptized her afterwards. Now, while her
father was a-seeking her, to give her to her husband, she and
Patrick went to converse with him. Patrick asked her father
to allow her to be united to the Eternal Spouse. So Echu
allowed that; if heaven were given to him for her, and he
himself were not compelled to be baptized. Patrick pro-
mised those two things, although it was difficult for him
[to do sol. Then the king allowed his daughter Cinnu to be
united to Christ, and Patrick caused her to be a female disciple
of his, and delivered her to a certain virgin to be taught, namely
[to] Cechtumbar3 of Druimm Dubain, in which place both
virgins have their rest. Now, after many years, the aforesaid
Echu reached the end of his life ; and when his friends were
standing around him, he spake : ' Bury me not,' he saith, ' until
Patrick shall have come.' And when Echu had finished these
words he sent forth his spirit. Patrick, however, was then at
Saball Patraic, in Ulster, and Echu's death was made manifest to
him : and he decided on journeying to Clochar Mace n Doimni.
There he found Echu [who had been] lifeless for twenty-four
hours. When Patrick entered the house in which the body was
lying, he put forth the folk who were biding around the corpse.4
He bent [his] knees to the Lord, and shed tears, and prayed, and
afterwards said with a clear voice : ' 0 king Echu, in the name
of Almighty God, arise !' And straightway the king arose at the
voice of God's servant. So when he sat down steadily, he
spake, and the weeping and wailing of the people were turned
into joy. And then holy Patrick instructed the king in the method
of the faith, and baptized him. And Patrick ordered him, before
the people, to set forth the punishments of the ungodly, and the
blessedness of the saints, and that he should preach to the
1 Visionera, quse erat, et prsesentis £t futuri status Ecclesiae Hibernise
imago, coram adstantibus exposuit S. Patricias. — Tr. Th., p. 150. 'A pre-
diction,' says Dr. Healy, ' that has been wonderfully verified by the event.' —
Ireland's Ancient Schools, &c., p. 111.
2 See supra, p. 228, note 2.
3 Cetamaria, Colgan, Tr. Th.t p. 150. She is also called Ethembria,
Cethuberis, Cectamania.
* Compare Matt. ix. 25 ; Mark v. 40 ; Luke viii. 54 ; Acts ix. 40.
230 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
commonalty that all things which are made known to them of
the pains of hell and of the joys of the blessed who have obeyed,
were true. As had been ordered to him, Echu preached of both
things. And Patrick gave him his choice, to wit, fifteen years in
the sovranty of his country, if he would live quietly and justly,
or going (forthwith) to heaven, if this seemed better to him.
But the king at once said : ' Though the kingship of the whole
globe should be given to me, and though I should live many
years, I should count it as nothing in comparison to the blessed-
ness that hath been shown to me. Wherefore I choose more
and more that I may be saved from the sorrows of the present
world, and that I may return to the everlasting joys which have
been shown to me.' Patrick saith to him, ' Go in peace,- and
depart unto God.' Echu gave thanks to God in the presence of
his household, and he commended his soul to the Lord and to
Patrick, and sent forth his spirit to heaven.'
This quotation is the more interesting, as containing the
only mention made of St. Brigid in the Lives of St. Patrick.
The Saint had just then founded the church of Clogher for
St. MacCairthinn, who, it is stated in Tirechan's Collections
in the Boo A' of Armagh, was the uncle of the holy Brigid —
1 Brigtae ' — the abbreviated form of the name. This fact
would explain her presence at Clogher on this interesting
occasion.2
The beautiful story of ' St. Patrick and King Eochaidh '
has been clothed in graceful verse, adorned with poetic
description, by Aubrey De Vere, in his Legends of St. Patrick.
Druim-Dubhain (pronounced, I have been told, Drum-
da vin and Drumhain) was a church, says Colgan, close
beside Clogher.
To the east of Eathmore [writes Canon O'Connor] in the
hollow ground fronting the Palace, are to be seen two adjoining
springs of limpid water, tastefully surrounded by a brick-work
enclosure. They still are called to this day ' The Sisters,' and
were so called on account of a convent which stood on the
sloping ridge towards the south of these springs, which ridge of
hill is yet called the 'Nun's Hill.' This hill would seem to
correspond with the ancient name, Druim-dribhain, on which
stood a celebrated convent.
It had been originally founded by St. Patrick himself,
1 Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. Part iii., Rolls' Series. 1887, pp. 175-181.
2 Ireland's Awient Schools, &c., p. 111.
THE GLEN OF ALTADAVIN 231
and over it he had placed St. Cechtumbar, the first of all
the Irish virgins who received the veil from the Saint. To
her care he entrusted Cinnu, the daughter of King Echu,
who entered the convent, and in time became superioress.
She was still living in 482. Both she and her saintly novice-
mistress were interred in the church of Druim-dubhain,
together with many other holy virgins, and seven bishops.
I would fain linger over many other Saints, disciples of
St. Patrick, gathered from around Clogher and Altadavin ;
such as St. MacCarthinn, Clogher's first bishop ;
St. Fanchea, V. (Jan. 1), known also as St. Faine ; her
three sisters, Saints; and her brother, Enda, whom she
drew from his life as a soldier, to the immediate service
of Christ, to become the celebrated abbot of Aran, and a
great Saint; St. Dympna,1 too, V.M., surnamed Scene, or
the fugitive, who had to fly, in company with the old priest,
St. Gerebern, who had baptized her, and a married couple
as servants, from her native Clogher to Belgium, that she
might avoid the face of her unnatural father. He pursued
her to her retreat at Gheel, where, after causing the holy
priest to be slain by his officers, and on their refusal to
murder his daughter, then himself beheaded her with his own
sword. From that time, throughout Belgium and Holland,
she has been venerated and invoked as the titular Saint of
those afflicted with insanity. Hence Gheel for some twelve
centuries has been a sanatorium for persons subject to
nervous and mental disorders, where they are treated with
great success, and innumerable cases of cure and relief are
recorded to have been obtained by visiting her shrine. In
certain parts of Ulster St. Dympna is still held in high
veneration, and one parish in Monaghan, ten miles from
Clogher, viz., Tedavnet, takes its name from the virgin
Martyr.2
I could make mention of many more, but must forbear ;
1 Called also Damnoda arid Domnat, May loth.
2 See the brief notices of early Irish saints in Joyce's admirable Short
History of Ireland, pp. 172-179. The name Te-davnet is thus derived: Te,
i.e., Teach, a house ; and Damnoda, orDavnet, i.e., Dympna. Hence, the house,
or religious foundation of Dympna.
232 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and will conclude with the touching words of St. Patrick
himself in his Confession, his last work, written as he was
drawing to his end, and reviewing the wondrous things for
Ireland that God had wrought through him : ' The sons of
the Scoti and the daughters of the chieftains appear now as
monks and virgins of Christ, especially one blessed Scottish
lady of noble birth, and of great beauty, who was adult,
and whom I baptized.' This lady is believed to be
St. Cechtumbar, who was the first to receive the veil
from St. Patrick's own hands, and whom he appointed to
preside over what hence was probably the earliest of his
religious foundations in Ireland, namely, the Convent of
Pruim-dubhain at Clogher.
T. LIVIUS, C.SS.R.
ARCHBISHOP TROY
THE POLICY OF ' BALLY ' AND CONCILIATION
II.
IT was at one time surmised that Dr. Troy might be
Coadjutor of Armagh. But a communication was
received by Archbishop Butler, from the Cardinal Prefect of
Propaganda, Salviati, dated November 17, 1781, intimating
that there was no intention of deviating from an old-
established rule drawn up for the General Congregation, by
Cardinal Prefect Corsini, to the effect, that it would not be
expedient to appoint a member of a religious order to the
primacy. The see of Dublin having become vacant,
October 29, 1786, by the death of Archbishop Carpenter, a
strong opposition was organized against the appointment of
Dr. Troy as his successor.1
Dr. Butler, writing, December 2, of that year, to
1 The appointment of Dr. Troy to Dublin was carried with difficulty,
though strongly protected. No objection was taken to his character. He
had studied at Rome, and was respected there, but the fact of his being a
Dominican Friar was by many considered as a valid objection, — Casflimir/h
Correspondence, vol. iii., p. 457.
ARCHBISHOP TROY 233
Dr. Plunket of Meath, refers to the appointment of a
proper person to the see of Dublin : —
The Archbishop of the capital of Ireland, being, as it were,
the representative of us all in the eyes of Parliament, Govern-
ment, and the whole nation; nay, to Rome itself, his appointment
is interesting to our national Church, to our hierarchy, and to the
general good of religion. I am told by several that Dr. Troy is
most likely to be the elect. All I can say is, I should be afraid,
since the late storm against the Regulars, and from the Act of
Parliament, and from what was confidently told me by one high in
the Administration, in the affair of a coadjutor to the Primate, that
the voting at the present critical time for a Regular might hurt
the cause of religion on a future day.
On the very next day after the penning of this letter,
December 2, Dr. Troy's translation to Dublin was sanctioned
by Pope Pius VI., having been recommended by Propaganda,
on the 27th of November, same year. Dr. Troy took
possession of the Metropolitan See, February 15, 1787, to
the greatest satisfaction of all classes in the Archdiocese, as
D'Alton assures us.1,
In 1787, there was another fierce outbreak of Bightboy-
ism. Fitzgibbon, the Attorney-General, brought in a bill
for preventing tumultuous assemblages. Amongst other
insulting clauses, this proposed measure included one
directing the magistrates to demolish the Eoman Catholic
chapels in which any combinations should have been formed
or an unlawful oath administered. Archbishop Butler
had shown, in his Justification of the Tenets of the
Eoman Catholic Religion, that many of the Rightboys had
evinced as much enmity towards the Catholic bishops and
priests, who denounced them, as they had towards Protestant
ministers; and had taken forcible possession of those chapels
in which their acts were most reprobated. He mentions
fifty Catholic chapels which the rioters nailed up and
blockaded. An accusation was also urged against the
Rightboys by Mr. Fitzgibbon ; that it was their custom
to drag those supposed not to be friendly to them from their
beds at night, and to bury them alive in a grave lined with
1 Archbishops of Dublin, p, 483.
234 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
thorns, or to place them naked on horseback, and tied to a
saddle covered with thorns : and, in addition, to have their
ears sawed off. Mr. Grattan, whilst anxious to check the
lawlessness, called the attention of the House to the
condition of the peasantry of the south, who were ground
to the earth, having to pay £6 and £1 an acre for land, with
a wage of only 5d. or 6d. a day ; and, in addition, a lO.s. or
12s. tithe for potatoes. In Connaught potatoes paid no
tithe ; and the hearth tax in the North, only a very moderate
one. Mr. Grattan denounced the penal clause pf the bill
in his most vigorous style : —
He had heard of transgressors being dragged from the sanc-
tuary, but never of the sanctuary being demolished. This would
go far to hold out the laws as a sanction to sacrilege. . If the
Roman Catholics were of a different religion from Protestants,
yet they had one common God, and one common Saviour with
the hon. gentleman ; and surely the God of the Protestant temple
was the God of the Catholic temple. What, then, did the clause
enact ? That the magistrate should pull down the temple of his
God ; and should it be rebuilt, and as often as it was rebuilt for
three years, he should again prostrate it, and so proceed, in repe-
tition of his abominations, and thus stab the criminal through
the sides of his God : a new idea, indeed ! But this was not all ;
the magistrate was to sell by auction the altar of the Divinity to
pay for the sacrilege that had been committed in His house.
A petition against this abominable clause was presented
to the Irish Parliament, signed by Dr. Troy and the
Archbishops, on the part of the clergy ; and by the Earl of
Kenmare, on behalf of the Catholic gentry and laity : —
Your humble petitioners have been most earnest, whether
in the midst of foreign alarms, or intestine commotions, to prove
the sincerity of those sacred and unreserved assurances which
they gave of allegiance to their Sovereign King George the Third,
and zeal and goodwill to their country and fellow-subjects.
Popular commotions are not peculiar to any period of time,
any nation or religious denomination of the people, but happen
in every age and every country, and so far from being the
offspring of the Roman Catholic tenets, are in open violation of
them.
In the suppression of the disturbances which happened of late,
in the south of Ireland, the Catholic nobility and gentry, their
ARCHBISHOP TROY 235
prelates, and inferior clergy, have been most active, and will
continue the same strenuous exertions on every future occasion.
During the late paroxysms of popular phrenzy, everything
most sacred in your petitioners' eyes has been abused and
profaned, chapels have been nailed up and blockaded, their pastors,
threatened and insulted in the most opprobrious manner, and in
many places driven from their parishes.
In a Bill brought into the honourable House, they have read
with equal concern and astonishment, a clause empowering the
civil magistrate to pull down, level, and prostrate any Eoman
Catholic chapel in which, or in the vicinity of which, any
unlawful oath is tendered, upon the testimony of one witness.
They consider such a clause disgraceful to their religion as
Christians ; injurious to their honour, character, and loyalty as
subjects (as naturally impressing the mind of their Sovereign
with the notion that his Catholic subjects are combining, in the
most awful and sacred of all places, against his crown and
dignity), and eventually destructive of the indulgence which of
late a mild and humane legislature has granted them, after a long
trial of their fidelity, while it laboured under the severest oppres-
sions ; as such a clause, besides holding forth a suspicion of their
allegiance, has a natural tendency to afford a pretext for repealing
the favours already granted to the whole body of their communion,
in case any deluded individual, either actuated by licentiousness,
or stimulated by their enemies, should oppose the magistrate in
the prostration of chapels which were left standing in times of
persecution.
Your petitioners have also seen with great apprehension and
concern, in another clause of the said Bill, to prevent outrageous
obstructions of divine service, that any protection of the Eoman
Catholic chapels is carefully avoided, while the Dissenting
meeting-houses are specifically provided for, in an equal degree
with the churches of the Established religion — a distinction which
your petitioners can consider in no other light than as meaning
to lay their houses of worship open to all the violations of any
lawless rabble, and thereby bring additional disrespect upon the
only influence in their power, which they have so anxiously
exercised to preserve peace and order.
Amidst the profligacy of morals, of late so prevalent amongst
the lower orders, who have shaken off that restraint under which
they had been heretofore kept by their pastors, and from other
collateral causes, it is to be feared, that the utmost advantage
would be taken of such an apparent liberty ; and it is too evident
that not only one witness, but several will be easily found, who
would swear before a magistrate that such oaths as are prohibited
had been tendered in the specified places, although no such oaths
had been so administered.
236 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
As was usually the case in the Irish Parliament, more
candour and liberality were to be found with the English
statesmen than with Irish Government officials ; and so
Mr. Orde, the Secretary, remarked that : —
He never could have concurred in the clause for pulling down
the chapels, and he was happy that it was abandoned by his
friend. He lamented that anything should have appeared in
print purporting that those insurrections had arisen from a popish
conspiracy. He declared that he not only did not believe it true,
but in several places he knew it not to be true. He affirmed that
the insurgents had in some places deprived the Koman Catholic
clergy of one-half their income.
April, 1789, on the occasion of the recovery of George III.
from his fit of insanity, a solemn High Mass was celebrated
in the old chapel of Francis-street, by Dr. Troy. A new
Te Deum, specially composed by the celebrated Giordani,
was then sung for the first time. Plowden informs us
that
So illustrious an assemblage had never met in a Catholic place
of worship, in Ireland, since the Eeformation. Besides the
principal part of their own nobility and gentry, there were
present the Duke of Leinster, the Earls and Countesses of
Belvedere, Arran, and Portarlington, Countesses of Carhampton
and Ely, Lords Tyrone, Valentia, and Delain, M. De La louche
Mr. Grattan, Major Doyle, and several other persons of the first
distinction.1
When the country was disturbed by the Protestant
Peep-of-Day Boys, and the Catholic Defenders, Dr. Troy
zealously co-operated with the other Catholic prelates to
suppress their disturbances, and was instrumental in
establishing comparative harmony in the archdiocese of
Dublin. As an acknowledgment of these important services,
the Marquis of Buckingham transmitted the following letter
to Dr. Troy :—
SIR, — The infirm state of my health having laid me under the
necessity of requesting his Majesty's permission to resign the
government of Ireland, I feel that I cannot close the public duties
of my administration without expressing to you the strong
sense I entertain of the zeal and loyalty which you have mani-
1 Hist. Review, vol ii., pp. 273, 274.
ARCHBISHOP TROY 237
fested upon every occasion towards his Majesty's person and
government.
My sense of the very praiseworthy conduct of the Catholics
of Ireland (as a body), will be best collected from the testimonials
which I have borne to their good conduct in my official and
public communications with them. But I wish to avail myself
of this opportunity of repeating that testimony to you individually
as placed at the head of the Catholic Church, in Dublin, and of
assuring you of the satisfaction I shall feel in representing to
his Majesty your meritorious conduct in endeavouring to impress
upon the mind of your people every principle that can tend to
endear to them the blessings of our Constitution, and the person
of our excellent Sovereign.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your very humble servant,
NUGENT BUCKINGHAM.
STOWE, October 25, 1789,
Eight Eev. Dr. TBOY,
Titular Archbishop of the
Eoman Catholic Church of Dublin.
In Cogan's Meath,1 a letter appears, dated July 24, 1789,
addressed by Dr. Butler of Cashel, to Dr. Plunket of Meath,
which cast a curious side-light on the ecclesiastical history
of the time : —
You have heard before this that the Eev. Dr. Lanigan has
been appointed, on the 25th of last June, Bishop of Ossory,
notwithstanding the strong postulation sent to Eome in favour of
the Eev. Father O'Connor (a Dominican), and subscribed to by
three metropolitans, Armagh, Dublin, and Tuam, and I may say,
by the four, as my name, I find by what my agent writes to me,
was also affixed to it, not only without my consent, but with my
express and strongest opposition to it. Several other bishops, I
am told, had joined in the demand ; nay, the Queen of Portugal
and Mr. Fitzherbert, the late Secretary, were gained over to
second the cause. Such a push in favour of a friar, had it suc-
ceeded, would have severely wounded not only our hierarchy,
the authority and influence of our secular clergy, but would
have also furnished our enemies when anything would be
proposed in our favour in Parliament, with powerful arguments
to oppose it. Thanks to God ! His Providence has most season-
ably prevented the evil, and I am the more happy at it as I am
confident it was on account of what I wrote last May to Cardinal
Antonelli, and to my agent, of the fatal consequences that might
1 Vol. iii., p. 131.
238 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ensue to religion from Eome's naming those in preference to the
vacant sees of this kingdom, who are the most obnoxious to
Government. Your lordship remembers how near we were to
seeing the nomination of the E. C. bishops of Ireland pass into
the hands of the King, and can't but feel with me the imprudence
of takihg a step which could recall an event we had at the time
I allude to, such difficulty to ward off. Dr. Troy's and the friar's
interest, Mr. Bodkin, my agent writes to me, begins to decline
very fast.
In 1791, divisions made their appearance amongst the
Irish Catholics. Two parties were formed in their General
Committee, the aristocratic and the democratic. The
former regarded with suspicion and dislike the relations
between some of the agents of the democratic party and the
French revolutionists ; and, moreover, they did not approve
of their sturdy and outspoken method of seeking redress
from the Irish Parliament. Sixty-four members of the
aristocratic party seceded from the Committee. As a result
of a temporary compromise, Bichard Burke, only son of tbe
celebrated Edmund Burke, was invited over from England,
and appointed Parliamentary Agent to the Irish Catholics.
The" object of this appointment was that Mr. Burke would be
guided by the advice of his illustrious father ; and that what-
ever was supported by the great opponent of the French
Revolution could not be supposed to rest on French
principles.
The result was a very moderate measure of relief, intro-
duced by Sir H. Langrishe, and seconded by Mr. Secretary
Hobart. The bill, when passed (1) admitted Catholics to the
practice and profession of law ; (2) it took away the necessity
for a licence from the Protestant bishops to open a Catholic
school, as enjoined by the Act of 1782 ; (3) it repealed the
Statute which prohibited and made illegal marriages between
Catholics and Protestants ; (4) it removed those obstructions
to arts and manufactures that limited the number of
apprentices.
The Catholics were not at all satisfied with the miserable
measure of relief granted by this Act. By direction of their
committee, Mr. Simon Butler, brother of Lord Mountgarret,
published a pamphlet, entitled a Digest of the Popery Laws,
ARCHBISHOP TROY 239
bringing into one view the whole body of penalties and
disabilities to which Catholics still remained subject : —
Excluded from every trust, power, or emolument of the State,
civil or military ; excluded from all the benefits of the Consti-
tution in all its parts ; excluded from all corporate rights and
immunities ; expelled from grand juries, restrained in petty juries ;
excluded from every direction, from every trust, from every
incorporated society, from every establishment, occasional or
fixed, instituted for public defence, public police, public morals, or
public convenience ; from the Bench, from the bank, from the
exchange, from the university, from the College of Physicians ;
from what are they not excluded ?
A vindication of the conduct and principles of the Koman
Catholics of Ireland from the charges made against them
by certain grand juries and other interested bodies was also
published by order of the committee :—
As to tumult and sedition, they challenge those who make
the assertion to show the instance. .Where have been the riots,
or tumults, or seditions which can in the most remote degree be
traced to the proceedings or publications of this committee ?
They know too well how fatal to their hopes of emancipation any-
thing like disturbance must be. Independent of the danger to
those hopes, it is more peculiarly their interest to preserve peace and
good order than that of any body of men in the community. They
have a large stake in the country, much of it vested in that kind of
property which is most peculiarly exposed to danger from popular
tumult. The General Committee would suffer more by one week's
disturbance than all the members of the two Houses of Parliament.
Plowden, the official historian of the Irish hierarchy of
that period, states1 that : —
The Roman Catholics being sensible of the calumnies
attempted to be affixed to them by their enemies, and wishing to
screen themselves against the mischievous imprudence of some
individuals, whose close connections with the political societies of
the North, most of them condemned, agreed upon the expedient
of giving the most solemn publicity to their real sentiments, by
circulating through the nation the following admonition, com-
posed and signed by Doctors Troy, O'Reilly, Bray, Bellew, and
Cruise, five bishops then in Dublin : —
' DUBLIN, January 25, 1793.
' DEAR CHRISTIANS, — It has been our constant practice, as it
is our indispensable duty, to exhort you to manifest, on all
1 Hist. Review, vol. ii., p. 398.
240 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
occasions, that unshaken loyalty to his Majesty, and obedience
to the laws, which the principles of our holy religion inspire and
command. This loyalty and obedience have ever peculiarly
distinguished the Eoman Catholics of Ireland. We do not
conceive a doubt of their being actuated at present by the same
sentiments ; but think it necessary to observe that a most lively
gratitude to our beloved Sovereign should render their loyalty
and love of order, if possible, more conspicuous. Our gracious
King, the common father of all his people, has, with peculiar
energy, recommended his faithful Roman Catholic subjects of this
kingdom to the wisdom and liberality of our enlightened Parliament
How can we, dear Christians, express our heartfelt acknowledg-
ments for this signal and unprecedented instance of royal
benevolence and condescension? Words are insufficient; but
your continued and peaceable conduct will more effectually
proclaim them, and in a manner, if not more satisfactory to
his Majesty and his Parliament. Avoid then, we conjure you,
dearest brethren, every appearance of riot; attend to your indus-
trious pursuits for the support and comfort of your families;
fly from idle assemblies ; abstain from the intemperate use of
spiritous and intoxicating liquors ; practise the duties of our
holy religion. This conduct, so pleasing to heaven, will also
prove the most powerful recommendation of your present claims
to our amiable Sovereign, to both Houses of Parliament, to the
magistrates, and to all well-meaning fellow-subjects of every
description. None but the evil-minded can rejoice in your being
concerned in any disturbance.
' We cannot but declare our utmost and conscientious detes-
tation and abhorrence of the enormities lately committed by
seditious and misguided wretches of every denomination, in some
counties of this kingdom ; they are enemies to God and man, the
outcasts of society, and a disgrace to Christianity. We consider
the Roman Catholics amongst them unworthy the appellation,
whether acting from themselves, or seduced to outrage by arts of
designing enemies to us, and to national prosperity intimately
connected with our emancipation.
' Offer your prayers, dearest brethren, to the Father of Mercy,
that He may inspire these deluded people with sentiments
becoming Christians and good subjects ; supplicate the Almighty
Ruler and Disposer of empires, to direct his Majesty's councils,
and forward his benevolent intentions to unite all his Irish
subjects in bonds of common interest, and common endeavours
for the preservation of peace and good order, and for every
purpose tending to increase and secure national prosperity.'
A Declaration had been already published, signed by
Dr. Troy and his clergy, and afterwards by the Catholic
clergy and laity of Ireland, disavowing, as Catholic teaching,
ARCHBISHOP TROY 241
any such maxims, as that princes excommunicated by any
authority could be lawfully deposed or murdered ; that the
Pope could absolve subjects from their oath of allegiance ;
that any heretic could be lawfully injured or murdered ; or
that faith ought not to be kept with heretics.
The Catholic Convention (Back-lane Parliament), having
assembled in Tailor's Hall, Back-lane, Dublin, a petition
to the King, containing a representation of the Catholic
grievances, was signed by Dr. Troy and Dr. Moylan on
behalf of themselves and the other Roman Catholic prelates
and clergy of Ireland, and by several delegates for the
different districts, which they respectively represented. On
the 2nd January, 17^3, the delegates attended the levee at
St. James's, were introduced to his Majesty by Mr. Dundas,
Secretary for the Home Department, and had the honour of
presenting their petition to the King, who was pleased most
graciously to receive it.
The result was a message from the King at the opening
of Parliament, recommending that ' the situation of his
Catholic subjects should engage their serious attention.'
February 4, 1793, Mr. Secretary Hobart presented to the
House a petition signed by John Thomas Troy, Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Dublin; Archbishops O'Keilly, Bray;
Dr. Bellew of Killala ; and some representatives of the
Catholic laity, setting forth
That the petitioners are subject to a variety of severe and
oppressive laws, the further continuance of which they humbly
conceived their dutiful demeanour and unremitting loyalty for
more than one hundred years, must evince to be equally impolitic
and unnecessary.
The petition was read, and ordered to lie on the
table. Mr. Hobart then introduced his new Emancipation
Bill.
1. It restored to Catholics the right of voting at elections
for Protestant Members of Parliament, and to vote for
magistrates in cities and towns.
2. They were allowed to serve on grand juries and to
become justices of the peace.
3. The 29th of George II. was repealed so far as allowing
VOL. III. Q
242 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a challenge against any Catholic on a petty jury, in causes
where a Protestant and a Catholic were parties.
4. Catholics could enter Trinity College, Dublin, and
obtain degrees.
5. They might open colleges to be affiliated to Trinity
College, provided they were not exclusively for the education
of Catholics, and the masters, fellows, &c., not exclusively
Catholic.
6. Catholics were rendered capable of being elected
professors of medicine upon the foundation of Sir Patrick
Dun.
7. Catholics seized of a freehold of one hundred pounds
a-year, or possessed of a personal estate of one thousand
pounds ; and Catholics, on taking the Oath of Allegiance,
seized of a freehold of ten pounds a-year, or possessed of a
personal estate of three hundred, were allowed to keep and
use arms and ammunition.
8. Many civil and military offices were open to Catholics
on taking the oath — a very insulting one.
9. Finally, it proposed that no Catholic shall be liable or
subject to any penalty for not attending Divine Service on
the Sabbath Day in his or her parish church.
The motion for the introduction of the Bill was seconded
by Sir Hercules Langrishe.
On the 9th April the Bill was passed into law, principally
on account of the recommendation of the King and the
support of the Government.
It has been well observed that during these negotiations
the Catholics were led by men of capacity. They availed
themselves of every circumstance, and every ally — the
Opposition, the Court, the French success — without binding
themselves so far to any as to exclude the assistance of the
other. The French success, by terrifying their enemies,
served the Catholic cause very much, but the Catholics had
too much sense to express their approbation of French
principles. Their prudent conduct made the king their
patron, and his lieutenant's secretary moved their Bill. The
Opposition struggled to get for them everything ; but if not
everything, as much as they could, and not to break with
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 243
Government because they could not get all at once. The
Catholics very prudently, therefore, did not in terms ask for
everything, whilst they left everything open for themselves
to ask, and Parliament to give.1
N. MURPHY.
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS2
I INTEND to treat this subject mainly in the way of reply
to the Eev. Fr. Fuzier, who, in a paper presented to the
last Congress, professed to refute my teaching in regard to
certain judgments which I held should be called at once
synthetic and a priori. The paper to which I allude is found
in the third section of the general report of that last
Congress, and its pretended refutation of my teaching
commences there at page 25 under the italicized heading:
' Refutation des jugements synthetiques a priori du Eev.
O'MaJiony.'
At the beginning of his remarks Fr. Fuzier took care to
remind his hearers that a detailed explanation of the doctrine
he proposed to refute was published in the first volume of the
general report of the Congress of 1888. Let me add that the
explanation there given occupies ten pages of forty- five lines
to the page, that is to say, extends to four hundred and fifty
lines of the volume. Now, of these four hundred and fifty
lines, the Eev. Father presents, as it were, a precis extending
to sixteen lines, in the form of three non-consecutive extracts.
The first of these gives examples of the kind of judgments I
considered ought to be called at once a priori and synthetic,
naturally understanding these terms according to the sense
in which I distinctly stated I wished to understand them,
and in which alone, I explained at some length, I considered
that in this question they should be understood.
1 Plowden, Hut. Review, vol. ii., p. 432.
2 A Paper read in French by the Author at the late Scientific Congress of
Catholics held at Fribourg.
244 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The examples Fr. Fuzier quoted are not all those I
presented in the course of my paper as illustrating the
general truth of my teaching. But they are sufficient to
give a true account of it, and more than sufficient to effect
its refutation, if that teaching can be refuted. Fr. Fuzier
rightly notices that they form a ' series. ' He even remarks
that I had given certain rather curious series of such judg-
ments— ' des series assez curieuses.' I hold there is only
one series of the kind, and that quite other than curious, as
it offers only judgments which are the first natural dictates
of common sense; given through each thinking mind's
immediate experience, and, for that reason synthetic ; given
by the pure act of thought, reason's own act, and for that
alone to be called a priori.
Taking them as they are found in the first extract my
critic has chosen, in the descending order of the perfections
they express, these judgments are : — (1) ' There exists an
intelligent being,' or, ' a being actually living is intelligent ; '
then, what that supposes; (2) 'There is a being that lives,'
in other words, ' something actually acting is living ; ' then
(3) ' Something existing acts,' or, ' there is an agent ; ' and
finally, what all that presupposes (4) ' Something exists.'
Here, in reality, we have but four judgments with certain
changes of terms, and still further changes of the kind may
be introduced without adding to the truths these judgments
express. For instance, the proposition, ' there is an agent,'
is really no other than the statement that there is a cause ;
taking the word ' cause ' in its primary sense as signifying
a subject apt to cause or which may cause, whether as a
matter of fact it has caused or is actually causing or not.
In this way several other propositions of which there is
frequent question in philosophy, may be referred to one or
other of these four.
Taking them as I did immediately after Fr. Fuzier's first
extract, in the ascending order of their perfections, they
are:— (1) a being (something) exists, (2) something existing
acts, (3) something acting lives, (4) something living thinks.
There [I said] you have judgments just as true, and, as true
judgments, just as synthetic in form as the contingent ones I drew
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 245
from the fact of our existence ; nevertheless just as necessary in
their order, and as evidently so in their way, as any analytics
you like. I say, in tJieir order, which is the real, as that of
analytics is the ideal ; and in ilieir way, that is, seen to be
essential through reason's synthesis of subject and attribute,
just as the analytics are seen to be through thought's analysis of
the subject.
So much for the judgments to be considered, and my
teaching in regard to them. Now for my critic's promised
refutation.
I.
I first note that he does not deny those judgments to be a
priori. His contention is that they are not synthetic. Of
all the reasons I brought forward in favour of my position
in regard to them he takes notice only of those given in a
passage where, accentuating the synthesis they present, I
remarked, 'first, they are evidently synthetic, since the
idea of agent, for instance, does not give that of life nor any
reason for attributing life to it ; which should also be said
of the notion of life in regard to that of thought. And
this is precisely why we have no right to say every thing
that is acting is living or every living being thinks ' — though,
I would here add, we have a right to say ' every thinking
being lives,' and ' every living being acts ' ; the latter two
judgments being as clearly analytic as the two previous
ones are synthetic.1 On this point I shall have something
more explicit to say. For the present let it suffice to note
that admitting, at least not denying, my judgments to be
a priori, Fr. Fuzier only undertakes to refute the assertion
that they are synthetic.
Apparently in view of his intended refutation, and as if
making quite a new observation, at any rate, as it were
laying down his refuting principle, he remarks : ' These
1 Thus even it may be said, because the ideal judgment 'a thinking being
lives ' is analytic or explicative, having a predicate that represents but part of
the subject, the converse, viz., ' a living being thinks ' being a real judgment
is synthetic or ampliative, having a predicate that superadds to the subject : for,
in reason's order, thought adds perfection to life, as life does to act, and
act to actuality, and actuality itself to reality or existence to real essence in
contingent being.
246 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
judgments belong to the real and existing order.' Exactly,
that is what I observed, as has been noticed, immediately
after his first extract. More, it is a remark I frequently
reverted to in the course of my paper. I even insisted on it
at the beginning when determining the exact sense of the
problem I desired to propose to the Congress :—
Are there [I said] judgments so formed that in the simple
consideration of the subject we see no reason for attributing to it
the predicate (and which should consequently be called synthetic),
yet which have the character of judgments such that their truth
presented to the spirit as actual is by it immediately recognised
as essential (thus to be termed a priori) as uncaused truths,
independent of any hypothesis, evidently primordial in the real
order and, as such, in that order absolutely necessary ?
Why did I insist so much on this point ? Because it
touched the very root of the question I proposed to discuss.
I had asserted, and it was known that in several articles on
this and cognate subjects, published in France and elsewhere,
I had maintained, that in the ideal order all a priori judg-
ments are analytical, and are so for the simple reason that,
in this order, all judgments are analytical. If, consequently,
I considered any a priori ones not analytical, clsarly in my
opinion they should be of the other order, all of the real.
There, then, I held and hold— among judgments of the real
order of knowledge — there, and there only lies the root of
the question as to whether or not there are those which
should be called at once ' Synthetical ' and a priori.
It could not accordingly be here a question of abstract
judgments such as ' a straight line is the shortest way from
one point to another,' or any such Kantian formulas. No
more could it be a question of general principles or axioms
such as ' all that commences or changes does so by the act
of another,' or ' every phenomenon is effected,' or ' every
effect requires an effector or cause,' or any such axiomatic
utterances so often discussed in our Congress under the
general title of ' Principle of Causality.' With their
universal subjects and admittedly abstract character, these
judgments being all of the ideal order, ought, I have held,
all be called analytic. In definitive then, my questior was
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 247
this — granted that there are not any of the universal,
abstract, or ideal kind, are there synthetic a priori judgments
among those of the real order ?
I maintained there are, that there is a series of them, a
series which elsewhere I called that of ' the vertebrae of real
science, the backbone of philosophy, the objective basis of all
our knowledge.' ' Hence,' I said in concluding the second
section of my paper, ' these judgments are in the real order
the dialectic principles on which rests Ihought's self-evidence
for its supreme truth, for the existence of the Essential, of
the Real-Ideal, whereunto as to its term every spirit aspires.'
It is therefore evident that in giving examples of judgments
of that sort, my fundamental supposition, the very founda-
tion of my position, ought to have been that they are — as
Father Fuzier observed those I gave are— all of the real
order.
n.
Up to this, it will be seen, my critic and I are in perfect
agreement. There is not on his side a shadow of 'refutation.'
Here it ought begin to show. Here a beginning at least of the
promised refutation ought to appear, and that by the appli-
cation of his supposed principle of refutation to the four
judgments in question. Well, before going farther, I remark
that, without word of comment, he passes by the first two,
which in my eyes are rather more noteworthy than the
others as being more manifestly a priori. Perhaps he left
them aside for being the first, and as such, the least strikingly
synthetic. Be that as it may, aside he has left them. He
makes no mention of them in the course of his supposed
' refutation.' He apparently only thinks of trying to refute
the two last. But, how does he do so ? I here quote his own
words, for here, if anywhere, ought to show the point of his
argument : —
These judgments [he premises] are of the real and existing
order, and, therefore, the concept of the subject is not the generic
concept of agent or living, but the specific concept of such and
such a category of agents and living beings (d' agents etde vivants),
that is to say, of the agents and living beings (des agents et des
vivants) of which it was question in the attribute.
248 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Having thus laid down and explained his refuting
principle, he proceeds : —
Consequently, in these judgments ' some agents live,' ' some
living beings think ' (cfes agents vivcnt, des vivants pensent) the
subject and the attribute are identical, their comprehension is
the same, enveloped in one, developed in the other ; and if, by
analysis, you develop the comprehension of the two subjects,
you have the following tautologies : —
Certain agents, these that live, are living ;
Certain living beings, those that think, are thinking.
These j udgments are therefore analytic : you find in the subject
such as it is taken in the proposition, the reason to attribute to it
the predicate.
These judgments ! What judgments ? Not mine : my
judgments are — ' an agent lives, a living being thinks ' (un
agent vit, un vivant pense). Thus they appear in each of
the three passages my critic has chosen. Neither there nor
anywhere else in my paper is it question of ' certain agents,'
or ' some agents,' ' certain living beings,' or ' some living
beings ' (ou des agents ou des vivants).
Let me not be told that there is here indeed a difference
from the point of view of grammar, or at most of logic, but not
of philosophy, at least not in regard to the present question.
There is here the greatest possible difference of the kind, and
especially from the latter point of view. It is just as if I had
said : — ' Undeniably a being actually living is infinitely
powerful,' and then someone should say to me : — ' It is not
undeniable that some beings actually living are infinitely
powerful. I deny your statement. I undertake to refute it
by a very simple argument.' What could I reply but —
' Please don't trouble yourself with drawing up an argument
on the subject, simple or complex. Simply note that the
proposition you mean to refute, any way you take it, is not
mine.'
in.
Of course, there is here no question of good or bad faith,
of any kind of intended injustice on the part of Father Fuzier.
The good Father had already given my judgments quite
correctly, and that twice in my own words; a fact which
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 249
renders this transformation on his part so passing strange •
all the more that, immediately after, in view of a fresh
remark, he cites a third passage from my paper, in which
they are again given as — ' an agent lives, a living being
thinks.' The passage is : —
It is enough for us to become aware of the fact that an agent
lives, or a living being thinks, to know that not only has there been
always an agent living, and always a living being thinking, but
what says much more, that the fact of life in general as well as
that of thought is uncaused. It is enough, I say, for reason to
cognize the truth thus presented to it as actual in order to
recognise it as essential and as such a priori.
' There,' my critic kindly remarks, ' is a very high
conception, but it too is furnished by analysis and not by
synthesis.' He apparently there confounds the question as to
the existence of a priori ' conceptions,' which I reject, with
that as to the existence of apriori 'judgments,' which, in the
sense explained, I maintain, and of which alone it is here
question. Throughout, indeed, he appears to me somewhat to
confound conception and judgment, the direct act of forming
concepts with the reflex act of comparing them, and there-
upon deciding how, in reason's way, one is to be affirmed of
the other, or denied. Even when speaking of ' judgments
relating to the real and existing order,' he seems to me
not to think of real as distinct fromjdeal or verbal attribu-
tion. What in English is called the ' existential import of
propositions ' does not, apparently, occur to him at all.
This possibly is how these subjects of real judgments got
transformed, in his mind, into logical ' categories ' calling for
some rational analysis. Be the explanation what it may, the
transformation of terms I have noticed once effected, his
subsequent criticism proceeds on the assumption that he is
dealing with judgments having equivalently plural nouns for
subjects — des agents et des vivants, telle ou telle categorie
d' agents et de vivants.
Now, these and all such judgments are radically different
from mine, particularly so in regard to the present question,
for the simple reason that they are obviously not a priori —
250 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
'as objective judgments or by reason of the truth expressed.'1
Each of Fr. Fuzier's propositions may be taken as represent-
ing an undeniable truth — one, moreover, that for us now
may be called a ' first truth ' (une verite premiere) , like
motion or sensation, but not a primordial truth (pas une
verite primordiale), not an essential, not a necessary first
truth ; hence not a priori in the sense at present commonly
received, and which I distinctly explained I meant to adopt
in the present discussion.2 True, for my propositions, as
for those which were put in their place, ' the comprehension
of the subject is the same,' but the extension of the subject
is different ; and that here makes all the difference in the
world. It makes the difference between judgments show-
ing truths given to each rational agent by the natural act of
reason, so naturally recognised as primordial, as a priori
truths, and judgments of which this can in no sense be said.
For instance, take the last one of mine Father Fuzier
quoted — ' A living being thinks ; ' that is manifestly given
to each thinking soul by the very act ol thought ; while the
one substituted for it — ' some living beings think ' — is as
manifestly not so given. Again, supposing thought's neces-
sity, which must be supposed if the proposition be a priori,
it is necessary that there should be one thinking, absolutely
speaking, there need be no more ; ' some beings think ' is
a contingent, therefore an a posteriori truth, since clearly
one suffices for thought, as one does for life, for act or for
actuality. Precisely on that account, real reason's essential
first truths, such as mine, all radically differ from the
contingent first truths of sense, such as motion, suffering
or simple feeling, and all such data whereof modern scientists
1 ' En tant que jugements objectifs ou a raison de la verit6 exprimee,
doivent etre dits a priori : ' words taken from my first paper, explaining the
precise point of the question to be discussed.
2 See my original paper. Compare Dr. Ward, 'Philosophical Axioms,'
Dublin Review, 1869. By Axioms,' he says, ' We mean, necessary first truths.'
That he then takes as a sufficiently practical definition for ' a priori judgments.'
So I have taken it. I would, however, observe that by ' Axioms ' are commonly
understood necessary and universal first truths. Now my question was in
effect : — Are there not truths as thoroughly first, and as truly necessary as any
yet which are not universal, not being of the ideal or abstract order, and
precisely for that reason, not analytic ?
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 251
would make the only real principles of science. These are,
indeed, for us here now abiding truths, like those of my
critic's propositions, but, as also like them, importing
plurality of beings, are not essential, not primordial, not
a priori. Thus, ontologically as well as logically, philo-
sophically, in the full sense of the word, his formulas are
different from mine, and are so in regard to the present
question, to the extent of having nothing whatever to do
with it.
CONCLUSION
Here, then, briefly, is my answer to Fr. Fuzier's Befu-
tation des jugements synthetiques a priori duRev. O'Mahony.
Speaking only of the four he quoted, I say that, in the way
of criticism, he did not touch the two first, and touched the
two last only to put two others essentially different in their
place. Not alone, therefore, has he not effected his promised
' Refutation,' he has not yet tried to effect it. Now, let him
try. To any one of the series let him make an objection
serving to show it is not synthetic, or, being so, is not
a priori. I shall reply to his objection with pleasure, all
the more for feeling sure that any objection of the kind,
however answered, cannot fail, if not in my sense to solve,
at least to make clearer and clearer what I hold to be the
problem that really lies at the root of this question.
Touching his criticism of the judgments which he put
in place of mine, namely, that, as appertaining to the real
and existing order, they are tautologies, and, therefore,
analytic, let him look to it. But, I ask, can the same be
said of mine? Can it be said that in each of them the
predicate only repeats the subject ' as it is taken in the
proposition,' and that this subject means but the person
thus actually judging ? So that these admittedly first facts
of philosophy : ' Something exists ' (aliquid existit), ' some-
thing existing acts/ and the like, rightly worded out, come
to mere tautological platitudes, such as : ' Something exist-
ing (myself here now) exists ; ' Something acting (myself at
present) acts,' and so on ! Is that a true criticism of the
natural judgments of man's reason as to the significance, the
252 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
necessity and the import, of existence, action, life, and
thought ? Certainly not. Being self-affirmatives of reflec-
tion, real principles of reason, the subject in each of them
is indefinite as the attribute is essential and the attribution
unconditioned. The affirmation accordingly thereby under-
stood to be made is that of the necessity of existence,
or actuality, action, life, and thought in general.
Assuredly what consciousness primarily testifies to each
one is that he is here now thinking, with all that for him the
fact imports. No man thereupon dreams of judging that
thought's truth, any more than that of life, or act, or
actuality, depends on its being true of him as subject.
Each one thinking knows that in a few hours he shall have
ceased to think. Meanwhile, sitting on reason's throne, in
the universal court of reflection, in the light of the law
and in virtue of the powers of reason's ,act, now his, he
self-affirms that there is always someone thinking, that,
unlike motion or sensation) of absolute necessity there must
be thought, as there must be truth, and in act there must
be being.
True, in the formulas which express these principles,
the copula is non-modal, simply ' is ; ' for exists, acts, lives,
thinks, logically mean is existing, acting, living, thinking.
But it should always be remembered that as copula of
reason's self -judgments in reflection's order, synthetic or
analytic, real or ideal, the verb-substantive is taken, not
in the active only, but in pure act's voice, therefore in
parfection's unconditional mood and eternity's absolutely
present tense. In the course of my first paper I explained
how such self-affirmation is logically made. I showed how
the truths these judgments represent, naturally cognised by
experience as actual, are, at the same time, as naturally
recognised by reason as essential, so seen to be ' absolutely
primordial verities : ' hence are self-affirmed, not in virtue
of any Kantian or Kaiserine ' imperative dictate ' ab extra,
perforce blindly binding, but in harmony with the law of
reason's own inmost light and life.
For the fundamental position of my thesis it would be
quite enough to maintain that any judgment of the series,
REASON'S SYNTHETIC JUDGMENTS 253
were it only the first, has both the characteristics thus
claimed for it. Still I maintain they all have them.
They are all synthetic, as given by the immediate act of
experience ; they are a priori, for the act that gives them is
reason's own.1
T. J. O'MAHONY.
1 Part of the foregoing1 had to be omitted in the reading, so as to keep
within, the prescribed twenty minutes. When the main point of the conclusion
had been read, the President asked if Father Fuzier was present. As he was
rot, discussion commenced on the subject in the usual way. Upon this, I note,
no one took up Father Fuzier's contention, that the judgments in question are
not synthetic ; the discussion was wholly confined to the sort of a priori
character I claimed for them, referring to it in a thoroughly appreciative
though rather brief, report of the proceedings of the Philosophical Section of
the Congress (Ileviie Neo-Scolasfique, Nov. 1897), Father de Munnynck (of
Louvain) writes : ' Mgr. Ki*s drew attention to the properties which Kant
assigns to his synthetic a priori propositions. He begged Dr. O'Mahony to
observe that not one of his examples is a universal proposition, and that,
consequently, they should not be called synthetic a priori in the sense of Kant.'
I beg to add I replied, in effect, that I did not say they should, and in my
original paper had specially emphasized the fact that they should not, as not
being universal. The remark of the eminent Professor of the Univsrsity of
Buda-Pesth was thus in reality tantamount to observing that my thesis was
what it professed to be, and, being that, was quite other than Kant's, its
assertions and the examples given in proof thereof being wholly other than
his. What my thesis in this way formally asserted was, that there are a priori
judgments, in the sense ^commonly received since Kant's time, propositions
giving 'absolutely primordial verities ' or 'necessary first truths' (Dr. Ward),
yet which, unlike those of Kant, are not universal, not being, like his, of the
ideal or abstract order of attribution, but real judgments, statements of
immediate experience, and, therefore, truly synthetic ; while all Kant's
examples, and all similar abstract, universal principles, I held to be analytic in
one or other of the three ways in which I had previously shown a judgment
might be said to be so. Father de Alunnynck concludes his notice with the
remark that the point at issue is ' by no means a question of words, but one
which involves very grave psychological and ontological problems.' All the
more reason ought there be for laying bare the root of it, and trying, at least, to
show where its last fibres enter the ground of self-evident truth.
[ 254 ]
IRotes anfc (Queries
THEOLOGY
PROTESTANT WITNESSES AT THE MARRIAGE OF CATHOLICS
CAN CATHOLICS VALIDLY MARRIED AT A REGISTRY
OFFICE, OR IN A PBOTESTANT CHURCH, AFTERWARDS
RECEIVE THE NUPTIAL BLESSING?
EEV. DEAR SIR, — 1. Can a priest on the English mission
permit Protestant witnesses to a marriage in his church on his
own responsibility? They are valid witnesses I know— are they
licit ?
2. Can he (a priest on the English mission) give the nuptial
blessing — privately of course — to a Catholic couple who were
married in the Begistrar's office, or in a Protestant Church?
Yours, &c.,
SACERDOS.
1. A priest should not, on his own responsibility, admit
non-Catholics to assist as witnesses at a marriage. An
answer to this effect was given by the Holy Office,
19th August, 1891:—
Se sia lecito assumere gli eterodossi a testirnoni nel matrirnonio
dei Catholici.
And the reply was : —
Non esse adhibendos ; posse tamen ab Ordinario tolerari ex
gravi causa, dummodo non adsit scandalum.
According to this reply, therefore, non-Catholics should
not per se be admitted as formal witnesses of a marriage.
They may, however, for a grave cause be admitted where
no scandal will be given. The bishop — not the officiating
priest — is the judge of the sufficiency of the reason for their
admission. If there be anywhere a recognised custom of
admitting non-Catholic witnesses, we may assume that the
bishop regards their admission in that place justified by the
circumstances, and we require no express authorisation to
follow the usual practice.
NOTES AND QUERIES 255
2. In England — for it is to that country only our
correspondent refers — even Catholics may, of course, marry
validly before a registrar or a Protestant clergyman. We
assume that they are not peregrini contracting in fraudem
legis. But such a marriage is gravely sinful ; and if the
parties contract before a heretical minister (as such), and
with a heretical rite, they incur excommunication, specially
reserved to the Holy See in the Bull Apostolicae Sedis.1
Manifestly a priest's first duty, in regard to such persons,
is to bring them to repent of their sin, make reparation for
the scandal given, and seek absolution from censure, if a
censure has been incurred. In some dioceses special legisla-
tion defines the manner in which public reparation of the
scandal given is to be made. Having succeeded in getting
the parties to repent of and repair the evil done, our
correspondent asks whether he should give them the nuptial
blessing.
By the nuptial blessing, we may understand either the
simple blessing of . the Ritual or the solemn blessing of the
Missal. Many theologians hold (and rightly, we think) that
per se there is, in ordinary cases, an obligation sub veniali,
to seek the solemn blessing.2 All must admit that there isper
se a obligation to give the solemn blessing to those who ask
it. Others think it is not strictly obligatory to receive the
solemn nuptial blessing, though the Church strongly exhorts
the faithful to receive it/ But, outside a case of necessity,
Catholics contracting marriage are bound, under pain of
mortal sin, to receive the blessing of the Ritual, and that
even where the law of Trent has not been promulgated.4
Nor does this obligation ceasB when a marriage has been,
lawfully (in case of necessity) or unlawfully, though validly,
contracted without the presence and blessing of a priest.
Clarum est [says Gasparri] inito valide mafcrimonio praecep-
tum grave manere sponsos petendi hanc Eitualis benedictionem
1Conf. Collect. Prop. Fid,, n. 2,202; Bucceroni, Comment. DC Comfit. Apos.
Sedis, p. 7, n. 9.
a Sanchez, St. Alphonsus, Becker, De Spans, et Mat., p. 358 ; Gasparri, De
Mat., n. 1,021 ; Rosset, De Sac. Mat., v., n. 2,868.
•LehmkoM, ii., n. 693; Feije, n. 554.
*Conf. Lehmkuhl, ii., n. 693.
256 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
. . . Haec vera sunt non modo de matrimonio defectu parochi
coram testibus contracto, sed in genere de matrimoniis validis
clandestinis*
Catholics, then, who have contracted validly, in the
office of a registrar or in a Protestant church, are still bound
to present themselves to receive, and the priest should
impart — if the parties have satisfied the requirements above
mentioned — the simple blessing of the Kitual. The matri-
monial consent is not to be renewed, for the marriage is
already, we assume, certainly valid. The priest does not recite
the words of the Bitual : Ego vos conjungo, &c. ; but every-
thing else is done as the Kitual prescribes in the ordinary
marriage rite. So much for the blessing of the Kitual.
May the solemn blessing of the Missal be also given to
such persons at a nuptial Mass ? Even some of those who
maintain that there is an obligation to receive the solemn
blessing, in the first instance, concede that there is not an
obligation to supply it afterwards, when it has been omitted
at a marriage validly contracted. It is, however, in ordinary
cases, certainly lawful to supply this blessing ; nor is there
anything to prevent the parties in the question proposed
from getting it. Local legislation should, of course, be kept
in view ; and, moreover, ic may easily, in certain circum-
stances, give offence and scandal if such persons were to
get the solemn blessing, in a place where the blessing is not
usually given to more faithful and deserving members of the
Church.
We do not quite understand why these blessings, if given
at all, should be given « privately.' The public reception of
the blessing of the Ritual would be one of the best, not to
say the most necessary, means of repairing the scandal.
The solemn blessing cannot, unless by special dispensation,
be separated from the nuptial Mass, and, therefore, the
question of imparting it privately does not seem to arise.
D. MANNIX.
1 Gasparri, DcJfal.,ii., n. 1,009.
NOTES AND QUERIES 257
LITURGY
QUESTIONS ON THE SCAPULARS
EEV. DEAR SIR, — Would you kindly answer the following : — •
1. Is there any decree ordering that, when several scapulars
are worn on one pair of strings, each scapular should be joined to
the strings ?
2. Does the decree demand that there should be immediate
contact between each of the scapulars and the strings ; or is it
enough, if the strings actually touch only one of the scapulars,
provided that the other scapulars are joined mediately to the
strings, by being sown to them, through the scapular to which
they are immediately attached ?
3. Supposing that the decrees mentioned in 1 and 2, exists,
is a scapular invalid if it be not made in accordance with
them?
SACEBDOS.
No decree, such as that to which our correspondent refers
in his first question, exists, as far as we have been able to dis-
cover. On the contrary, there exists a decree which, implicitly
at least, declares that all the scapulars need not be attached
to the same cord or strings.1 All that is essential is that the
scapulars should consist of a square or oblong piece cf woollen
material of the requisite colour ; that they should be joined
together at the edge to which the strings are attached ; and
that one set of the scapulars thus united should hang on the
breast, the other on the back of the wearer. The colour of
the strings is immaterial, unless in the case of the red
scapular. For the red scapular has received the approbation
of the Holy See, and has been indulgenced only on condition
that it be made according to the pattern shown to Sister
Apolline Audriveau by our Lord Himself. And in this
pattern the red scapulars were united by strings of red
woollen material resembling that of which the scapulars
themselves were composed. Hence, when a number of
1 Deer. Auth., 408, 1°.
VOL. in. a
258 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
scapulars, including the red scapular, are attached to the
same strings, these strings should be red in colour and of
woollen material. It is not certain that, in the case just
mentioned, the red strings should be immediately attached
to the red scapular. Probably if the several scapulars were
suspended as a whole to the red strings, the condition
regarding the red scapulars would be sufficiently fulfilled
even though the red strings were not in direct and immediate
contact with the cloth of the scapulars. But, for precaution's
sake, we would advise that the red strings should be attached
directly to the red scapulars, and that the other scapulars
be attached by a few stitches along the edge to the red
scapular.
Our correspondent's second and third questions are based
on the hypothesis that the decrees referred to in his first
question in reality exists. As no such decree does exist it is
unnecessary to reply to these questions.
QUESTIONS REGARDING PROCESSION AND BENEDICTION
BEV. DEAR SIR, — Will you kindly answer the following
queries in next issue of I. E. EECORD and oblige.
INQUIRER.
1. May banners of the B.V.M. or of the saints be carried in
procession of the Blessed Sacrament ?
2. May prayers in the ' vernacular,' other than those pre-
scribed for October devotions, be recited by the minister while
the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for Benediction ?
3. May the choir sing hymns in the ' vernacular ' while the
Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
1. Nothing could be more appropriate, nothing more
in accordance with the spirit of the Liturgy, or the custom
of the Church, than to carry in processions of the Blessed
Sacrament, banners bearing pictures of our Blessed Lady, or
representations of the mysteries of her life, or of the power
of her intercession, or of the depth of her love for the souls
redeemed by the Blood of her Divine Son. The same is
proportionately true of banners bearing pictures real or
NOTES AND QUERIES
allegorical of the saints. Such banners, like the vestments
of the clergy, the canopy, the candles and lanterns, add to
the solemnity, as well as to the impressiveness of the proces-
sion, and contribute to the external majesty and pomp,
which should, as far as possible, surround our Sacramental
Lord when borne in public procession.
It should hardly be necessary to prove the admissibility
of these banners in processions of the Blessed Sacrament.
The custom of bearing them in procession is, we think,
almost, if not altogether, universal. To convince sceptics,
however, we may just mention that the various bodies who
take part in processions of the Blessed Sacrament, whether
they be school children or members of confraternities, are
to have their own peculiar banner borne at their head.
Speaking of the order of the procession of the Blessed
Sacrament on Corpus Christi, Wapelhorst says :—
(b) Pueri et puellae scholam catechismumve frequentantes
praelato eorum vexillo.
(GJ Confraternitates laicorum cum siiis insignibus.
2. This question, too, is to be answered in the affirmative.
Prayers approved of for public worship may be publicly
recited in the vernacular while the Blessed Sacrament is
exposed. The only condition, in order that prayers in the
vernacular may be recited in presence of the Blessed
Sacrament exposed, is, that they should have the approval
of the Ordinary of the diocese. Surely our correspondent
would not impugn the lawfulness of reciting, in presence
of the Blessed Sacrament exposed, the prayers in honour
of the Sacred Heart, which are usually recited during
the time the Blessed Sacrament is exposed for Benediction
on the first Fridays, or first Sundays of the month ?
Neither, we hope, would he impugn the custom of reciting
during the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament the Divine
Praises, to the recitation of which, in these circumstances,
the Congregation of Indulgences has recently attached an
additional indulgence.
3. The answer to the third question is the same as that
given to the second. Vernacular hymns, approved of by
260 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the Ordinary of the diocese, may be sung during the time
the Blessed Sacrament is exposed previous to or after
Benediction. This point has been explicitly denned by
the Congregation of Kites in several decrees, two of which
we here quote from The Ceremonies of Ecclesiastical
Functions : — 1
Quaes. An liceat adhibere publicain quarundam precum
recitationem vulgar! sermone conscriptarum coram SSmo.
Sacramento exposito ?
Resp. Affirmative dummodo agatur de precibus approbatis.
Qtiaes. Utrum liceat generaliter ut chorus musicorum (id est
eantores) coram SSmo Sacramento solemniter exposito, decantet
hymnos in lingua vernacula ?
Resp. Posse, dummodo non agitur de hymnis Te Deum et aliis
quibuscunque liturgicis precibus, quae nonnisi latina lingua
decantari debent.
MAY A MOVABLE THRONE BE USED FOR EXPOSITION OF
THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT P
WHY DID THE QOTHIC CHASUBLE FALL INTO DISUSE?
WHY WAS THE PRESENT EPISCOPAL MITRE SUBSTITUTED
FOR THE SMALLER ONE OF EARLIER TIMES?
EEV. DEAR SIR, — May I trouble you for an early reply to
the following questions ?
LAICUS.
1. When the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly exposed in the
monstrance, may the monstrance be elevated on a movable
throne placed on the altar?
2. When and why did the old chasuble, known as the
Gothic chasuble, fall into disuse ?
3. Why is the present large and unshapely mitre used instead
of the small and beautiful one of pre-Keformation days ?
1. When the Blessed Sacrament is solemnly exposed in
the monstrance, the monstrance should, generally speaking,
be placed on a throne of some kind, more or less elevated
above the table of the altar. This is prescribed for the
Page 156,
NOTES AND QUERIES 261
solemn exposition of the forty hours, in the Instructio
Clementina, and by nearly all writers for any solemn exposi-
tion whatsoever. But nowhere, so far as we are aware, is
it decided that the throne should be a permanent structure,
such as those that we frequently find erected over the
tabernacle on the high altar in modern churches. Indeed
historically speaking, the movable throne was introduced
long prior to the permanent one ; and, moreover, it is of the
movable throne that most writers, including Clement XI.
in his famous Instruction, speak. The fixed throne form-
ing part of the structure of the altar is comparatively
modern, and was, doubtless, introduced as much for its
ornamental effect as for its convenience. Our correspondent
need not, therefore, have any doubt about the lawfulness of
a custom which dates back to the time when solemn
exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was first introduced,
and which is still widely prevalent.
2. Writers are not agreed as to the time at which the
ancient Gothic chasuble dwindled from its ample portions
into its present handier if less picturesque form. Some say
the change was made as early as the tenth century,
while others maintain that the change took place in the
sixteenth century. Probably we may reconcile these
extreme opinions by saying, that the change began at
the earlier date, but was not completed until the later-
This much seems to be certain, the change had taken place
by the sixteenth century, and so great was the change it
seems also to be certain, that it must have been brought
about very slowly and gradually.
The reason for the change is manifest. The Gothic
chasuble covered the whole body, including the arms, in its
ample folds. Hence, when the celebrant had to use his
hands, as at the incensation, consecration, &c., the chasuble
had to be rolled up to his shoulder, and held there by the
sacred ministers. A relic of this custom is still to be seen
in our modern Solemn Mass, when, during the incensation,
the sacred ministers hold up, or make a pretence of holding
up, the celebrant's chasuble at the shoulder, and in both
Solemn and Low Mass when, at the consecration, the
262 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ministers raise the celebrant's chasuble. The inconvenience
felt in saying private Masses with the Gothic chasuble soon
brought about a modification, and gradually reduced the
chasuble to its present form. The following, translated
from Cardinal Bona, bears out the views we have just
expressed : —
The Latins, to avoid the inconvenience arising from the width
and fulness [of the Gothic chasuble], covering, as it did, the
whole body and arms, began by degrees to cut away the sides,
until it was reduced to the form which we use at the present day.
3. De gustibus non est disputandum is a venerable adage,
and out of respect for it we will refrain from discussing the
relative aesthetic qualities of the older and newsr forms of
the episcopal mitre, and will content ourselves with answer-
ing our correspondent's question. The question implies that
the small mitre endured until the time of the so-called
Reformation, or thereabouts. This is not so. The middle
of the thirteenth century might be put down as the date at
which the change from the old to the new form began. At
the beginning of that century the old form still prevailed,
as we learn from contemporary paintings of bishops of the
period ; while from a similar source we know that at the
beginning of the fourteenth century the mitre had assumed
proportions as great, if not greater, than the mitres now in
use ; and from the fourteenth century to the eighteenth the
mitres increased in height, until they had become really
' unshapely.' But in the present century a change in the
opposite direction has taken place, and the mitres worn by
bishops, in these countries, at least, resemble in height and
appearance, the mitres of the late thirteenth century.
THE QUALITY OF THE CANDLES TO BE USED DURING
MASS, &c.
A correspondent wishes to know whether it is lawful to use
other than wax candles at Mass, at Benediction of the Most
Holy Sacrament, when giving Communion outside of Mass, and,
generally, when the Blessed Srcrament is exposed. He is aware
that some priests contend that only wax candles should be used
NOTES AND QUERIES 263
on these occasions, while others maintain that it is not obligatory
to use wax candles at all ; and others again assert that when
several candles must be used some should be of wax, but, also,
that some may be of another material.
The candles used at Mass should all be wax. This is a
strict obligation, unless, on the score of poverty, a dis-
pensation has been procured. Of course we speak only of
the candles prescribed by the rubrics; that is, the two candles
which should be lighted during the Mass celebrated by a
simple priest, and the four with which the altar should be
adorned during a prelate's Mass. In addition to these
candles, which are purely ceremonial, there may be others
of a.n inferior material for the purpose of giving light.
During any exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, whether
it be the exposition which immediately precedes Benediction,
the exposition for the Forty Hours' Adoration, or any other
exposition whatsoever, at least ten wax candles should be
lighted. One author would allow Benediction with as few
as six wax candles ; but we are inclined to believe that he
had in mind private, rather than solemn exposition and
Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament. The Instructio
Clementina commands that twenty wax candles should be
kept continuously burning during the Quarant 'Ore; and
although this instruction does not impose any obligation
outside of Borne, and is concerned solely about the exposition
of the Forty Hours, its provisions present a model which
should be followed as far as circumstances permit in every
solemn exposition of the Most Holy Sacrament. Of course,
in addition to the prescribed number of wax candles, any
number of candles of a cheap material may be lighted round
about the altar on which the Blessed Sacrament is exposed.
When giving Communion outside of Mass two wax
candles should be lighted on the altar. The obligation of
using wax candles in this case is the same as the obligation
of using them at Mass.
D. O'LoAN.
[ 264 ]
CORRESPONDENCE
THE ANCIENT IRISH CHURCH
KEY. DEAR SIR, — It is not without disappointment, a feeling
which I share with very many others, that I contemplate
Dr. MacCarthy's latest and (as we are to infer) last communication.
It is a production that calls for even a ' compiler's ' pity. For
in what relation do we, the great Dr. MacCarthy and the
humble author of The Ancient Irish Church as a Witness to
Catholic Doctrine, now stand ? Mark but the present position of
our controversy. It is this. In the January I. E. EECOBD I
placed before my polite antagonist a series of solid facts and
arguments. With these — unless he preferred to beat a succession
of retreats, more than any Xenophon could fittingly record,
from quite a number of his chosen entrenchments — it was
absolutely indispensable for him to seriously and systematically
grapple. That this was his only alternative, I take sober and
independent judgments to witness. We are now in possession of
his reply. And what are its contents? In any one way does he
traverse, or even try to traverse, the case which I presented?
No. Does he deal with one solitary division of it '? No. With
one particle of a part of it? No. But, to cover his graceful retire-
ment, he devotes a letter of five printed pages to the introduction
and discussion of new matter, and is as silent as a Harpocrates
on all that ought to have first engaged his earnest consideration ;
with now not a word to say about the Bobbio Missal, or about the
facts which annihilate his contention that that venerable document
is inadmissible as evidence of early Irish doctrine; not a word to
say for his misspelling of ' Bobbio,' in face of Italian literature
which condemns him; not a word about the pretended (but never
proved) irrelevance of St. Cummian's Penitential to the special
subjects of my book, by whichsoever of the St. Cummians, all
Irishmen, that Penitential was written; not a word to show that
heresy had made no inroad into Ireland in the age in which that
Penitential was drawn up ; not a word about the appearance here,
for instance, of Pelagianism towards the year 640, as noticed
in the pontifical letter to which, for the second time, I invited
his attention; not a word about the St. Gall Ordo of Penance,
CORRESPONDENCE 265
treated by him as another piece of irrelevance on my part, his
original assertion that this Ordo is ' purely Anglo-Saxon ' being
subsequently modified (and nullified) by the admission that the
writing in the MS. is Irish ; not a word about the incestuous
unions (in regard to which I was charged with libel) l formerly
somewhat prevalent in Ireland, as facts uncontroverted make
apparent ; not a word about Bishop O'Coffey or his alleged
parentage of Archbishop O'Murray ; not a word about the laugh-
able meaning erstwhile appended by my critic to sine vestitu in
the ancient Arrea or Commutations ; not a word about nomina, or
the rubric in the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal,
once Mabillon, the erudite editor of that Missal, is brought into
court against him ; not a word about the tremendous question of
by versus to, both expressions yielding the very self-same sense in
the passage in the Canon referred to,2 although, against the use
of to, I was heretofore solemnly threatened with Menard, who has
not been produced yet, for the sufficiently satisfactory reason that
he left nothing whatever behind him upon English translations
of the Mass, and so wrote nothing that could clothe the one
English preposition with any degree of preference over the other.3
There even exists no proof that this famous French Benedictine
had the least knowledge of the English language.4 Nor, let me
here say, are all the English Prayer Books that have ever been
published unanimous for by, as Dr. MacCarthy will find out for
himself if he will only extend his researches over a large enough
number. In fine, my critic no longer combats my statement, my
inoffensive statement, that the computation of Easter is an
astronomical question, now that Lingard and Lanigan, to whose
authority that of many others might easily be added, are arrayed
against him. Thus, former strongholds are abandoned all along
1 Dr. MacCarthy, who brands me as a libeller, maligned the monastic scribes
in his December letter, by ridiculing the idea that they were at all regardful of
what tenets might characterise the theological scripts which they undertook to
copy ; and this month we have him talking of the ' perhaps malicious ingenuity
inveterate in the Brehon legists.' What next, I wonder !
2 Adrien Baillet says of a critic : — ' C'est un Chicaneur . . . lorsqu'il fait
un proces sur ime particule inutile, ou ?ur un article qui ne change rien au sens '
[italics mine]. See his Juaeniens det Savant, i., p. 54 : Paris, 1722.
3 Menard's note is simply the following: — '43. Quorum meritis. Ita in
versione Codini ; in liturgia quae sancto Petro tribuitur : avrivuv rf/ 7rpeo-/3ei'a,
id est, quorum intercessione.' See his Not a et Observations in 8. Gregorii Magni
Libntm Sacra »ieiitorion, Migne, Patrol ogia Lattna, Ixxviii., col. 276 : Paris, 1862.
4 In Menard's time (15S5-16H) but few of the continental literati thought
English worthy of notice.
•2()(3 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the line of operations by Dr. MacCarthy ; and so, to enlist an old
expression, he evacuates Flanders. He allows that I have
1 adopted an effectual method of bringing the present discussion
to a close ;' and, doubtless, not a few will be disposed to agree
with him, if having put forward so much, so very much, that he
is unable to answer, can count for anything towards such
an issue. Saith an Arabian adage, 'He who defends his nose
sometimes cuts it off ; ' 1 and with the wisdom of the aphorism
my courteous opponent seems disinclined to quarrel. Of course it
is not for me to urge any man to his destruction.
Here, before entering upon Dr. MacCarthy's new matter, I
desire to add something to my last letter on two points : (1) on
nomina in the Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal ; (2) on
the O'Coffey and O'Murray question.
First, with regard to the Memento. It has already been pointed
out that Mabillon evidently did not consider nomina a rubric in the
Memento of the Dead in the Bobbio Missal. I have now to say
that the use and custom of that Missal are totally against its being
so treated. Ancient Missals, it is hardly necessary to premise, are
not, without due inquiry, to be read through modern Missals, with
which they do not quite correspond, but by their own individual
light. Now, in the Bobbio Missal, wherever names were to be
introduced, the uniform rubric is the abbreviated pronoun ' ill.'
(the MS. has it 'II'2) or 'ill. & ill.,' as circumstances require.
Of this rubrical direction I have counted in its pages no fewer
than sixty-six examples, unrelieved by a single occurrence of
nomina, or AT., or NN., or N. et N. ; 3 and this, on the point
raised against me, should, I conceive, be decisive in my favour.
The following is a specimen instance from the Missa Roinensis
Cottidiana : — ' In primis quae tibi offerimus pro ecclesia tua
sancta catholica . . . una cum devotissimo famolo tuo ill. Papa
nostro, sedis apostolicae & Antestite nostro/ &c.4
From this we revert to the case of Bishop O'Coffey and
Archbishop O'Murray. In the Annals of Ulster the former is
briefly mentioned as the latter' s athair or ' father.' Dr. MacCarthy
iFreytag, Arabum Proverbia, i., p. 526 : Bonn, 1838.
2 Mabillon, Museum Itnlicum, i., pt. ii.( p. 346, note : Paris, 1724.
3 Mabillon, Mmettui Italicum, i., pt. ii., pp. 279, 322, 324, 344, 346, 347,
348, 350, 351, 352, 356, 359, 360. 361. 362, 364, 378, 384, 385, 386, 388, 389,
390, 391 : Paris, 1724. Some of these pages contain two, three, four, or five
instances of 'ill.' as a rubric.
4 Mabillon, Mmeum Italicum, i., pt. ii., p. 279 : Paris, 1724.
CORRESPONDENCE 267
contends that Bishop O'Coffey, had he been only Archbishop
O'Murray's ' fosterer or tutor,' would have been referred to as his
aite, not athair. It was not at all unusual, however, for an aite
— a ' fosterer or tutor ' — to receive the title of athair, or ' father.'
For example, in the Irish Life of St. Senan in the Book of
Lismore, that holy man is represented as addressing his aite as
' O father Notal," A atJiair, a Notail: again, ' O chosen father,'
A atJmir thogaidhi ; and Notal replies to him as ' My dear son,'
A meic inmain.1 Hence the mere presence of athair in the
Annals of Ulster, in connection with Bishop O'Coffey, is insufficient
to prove that Bishop O'Coffey was Archbishop O'Murray's parent :
while the difference in their surnames presents a difficulty which
Dr. MacCarthy will in vain struggle to get over.
We pass on now to the new criticisms. In his third paragraph
Dr. MacCarthy says : — ' To show the intelligent use made of the
" works quoted," the following is accepted as correct : " the
Brehon Laws assume the existence of a married as well as an
unmarried clergy. They make reference to two classes of bishops :
" the virgin bishop " and the " bishop of one wife." The " virgin
bishop," if he lapsed into sin, did not, they say, recover his
grade or pristine perfection, according to some ; but the " bishop
of one wife " did, provided he performed his penance within
three days.' Misled by the foregoing, many readers of the
I.E. RECORD must have concluded that /'accept as correct'
the existence of ' a married aa well as an unmarried clergy ' in
early Christian Ireland, and that in doing so I claim to be
supported by the authority of the Brehon Laws. They will
be somewhat astonished when I inform them that what is
set forth as my view is not mine at all, but is a Protestant
argument which I devote some space to refuting! How then
have I been so misrepresented? By the omission of the five
words which I now place in italics. ' Another common objection
is this : the Brehon Laws assume the existence of a married as
well as an unmarried clergy.' And so forth. In a manner which
will, no doubt, gain him many additional admirers, Dr. MacCarthy
chooses to commence his quotation of me at the colon ; and this,
with his own introductory remark, puts a false construction on
my language. The word ' objection,' it is true, occurs twenty
lines further on in his letter ; but, so far is it from helping any
1 Lives of Saints from the Book of Lismore, p. 61 (lines 2038-2042) : Oxford,
1890.
268 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one to a right understanding of the matter, that I appeal to
candour to determine whether he has not conveyed, to those who
have not my little book to refer to, the impression that I profess
an opinion which assuredly I do not. One who can fearlessly
mutilate an author in the fashion indicated should be particularly
chary of any talk about ' breaches of good faith.' 1
As to the wording of the aforesaid objection, now that it is
clearly established as such, I may say that I had the Vicar of
Ballyclough, the Eev. Thomas Olden, M.A., in my mind when I
stated it. An extract from his Church of Ireland is appended
for comparison.2
Dr. MacCarthy makes much ado about nothing when he writes
that the references to the ' virgin bishop ' and the ' bishop of one
wife' (an expression which is cleared up in my book) are to be found
in the ancient commentary on the Brehon Laws, not in the Laws
themselves. The Brehon Laws and the Brehon commentaries,
however, are preserved in the same MSS., and these MSS. may
be called the Brehon Laws for all practical purposes. The very
editors of the official edition are not superior to such a general
designation of their contents.3 Nor is the phenomenally accurate
Dr. MacCarthy, who, like Hudibras of yore, can
1 distinguish and divide
A hair 'twixt south and south-west side,'
above describing a MS. which contains — (1) excerpts from
St. John's Gospel ; (2) a Missal ; (3) an Ordo of Baptism ;
(4) an Ordo of Visitation of the Sick, including Extreme Unction
and Communion ; (5) an Irish tract on the Mass ; (6) three Irish
spells — by the name of the Stowe Missal.* Truth to say,
1 Only one charge of this sort was made against me. After I showed its
injustice Dr. MacCarthy did not revive it.
2 ' Still more important is it that the Brehon Laws assume the existence of
both married and unmarried clergy. Amongst the provisions relating to
ecclesiastics we find that if a bishop should fall into sin, a different penalty is
prescribed in i he case of the married and the celibate. If the offender is a
bishop of one wife, he may recover his grade or position by performing penance
within three days, but if he is a celibate he cannot recover it at all.1 See Olden,
The Church of Ireland, pp. 121-122 : London, 1892.
3 They say : — ' According to these Laws he could not leturn to his dignity
of bishop, but he might attain to a "higher grade," that is, that of aibhillteoir,
i.e. thaumaturg or miracle-worker, either as a hermit or a pilgrim. Now this
provision is in the commentary. See Senchns Mor, i., pp. 57, 58, 59 : Dublin,
1865.
4 The opening sentence of his paper On the Sfotce Missal, is: — 'The MS.
known as the Stowe Missal was enclosed in a costly shrine,' &c. See
Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, xxvii., p. 135 : Dublin, 1877-86.
CORRESPONDENCE 269
it is the chief contents that give the style to the whole in these
composite MSS. But, in this respect, Dr. MacCarthy should
allow others as much liberty as himself.
Dr. MacCarthy is at some pains to suggest that my knowledge
of the Brehon Law collection is ' second or third hand. ' For this
supposition there is no foundation in reality.1 The particular
volume of the Senchus Mor to which I gave a reference — the
Eev. Mr. Olden's reference is a wrong one — has been in my
possession for twenty years.
We are not done yet, it seems, with errors of the press.
Dr. MacCarthy points to some more. I admit them. The clause
not rendered in a translation from the Leabhar Breac — 'and
which was crucified by the unbelieving Jews, out of spite and
envy ' — appears in my manuscript as supplied to the compositor.
Evidently, in setting the type, his eye skipped from the ' which '
at the end of one line to the ' which ' at the end of the next
one ; hence the omission. Hardly anyone, however, except
Dr. MacCarthy, would say that this omission leaves ' the English
reader to infer that the native writer did not believe in the
crucifixion.'
Dr. MacCarthy should not be too severe upon printers' errors.
There is a very fair crop of such in his own various publications.
There are some in all the letters that he has written against me.
In his last we have ' a Synodis Hibernensis,' and ' rescension.'
As ' rescension/ however, occurs twice, perhaps it is the critic, not
the compositor, that is to blame for this specimen of bad spelling.
'P. 161,' too, a reference to my book, should be 'p. 164.'
But to continue. In quoting a letter of St. Columbanus, it
seems that I exhibit ' a recension ' (I correct Dr. MacCarthy's
orthography of the word) 'and a translation, each equally notable.'
Well, the Latin, whatever may be said against it, was taken by
me from Migne's edition of the writings of St. Columbanus ;
and it is precisely the same in that of Gallandus. As to the
translation of adversariis potius manus dantis quam resistentis,
if Dr. MacCarthy has any fault to find with ' yielding help to,
instead of withstanding the enemy,' I would refer him to the
learned Catholic archaeologist, the Eev. Daniel Eock, D.D.,
1 Charging those whom he attacks with trusting to second-hand information
seems a favourite proceeding with Dr. MacCarthy. He supposes even the
veteran Dr. Whitley Stokes not to have ' acquaintance at first-hand with national
history.' See the I, E. RECORD, 3rd Series, xii., p. 158 ; Dublin, 1891.
270 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
author of the immortal works The Church of our Fathers and
Hierurgia, who renders the passage in this identical fashion.1
Next, I am remarked for having sitam for sita, and abierat for
obierat, in a quotation from the Book of Armagh. The correct
Latin is, of course, sita and obierat. But, after all, in the actual
Book of Armagh, both words are exactly as I give them. Of the
two printed editions referred to by me, one (that from which I
made the extract) follows the readings of the MS. for the text,
and gives the necessary emendations in footnotes : the other
does the reverse. I suppose if I had written sitam [sita],
abierat \obierat~], Aristarchus himself could have said nothing
against me.
' Celebrate, 0 festive Juda, the joys of Christ ' — a translation
of the opening line of St. Cummian Fota's hymn — should certainly
be : ' Celebrate, O Juda, the festive (or ' festal ') joys of Christ ;'
and it stands so, I find on inspection, in my manuscript. The
transposition of the word ' festive ' is the work of the compositor.
Hence, all that is said about ' the new Gradus ad Parnassum ' is
uncalled for, as far as I am concerned. I am prepared to admit
that Dr. MacCarthy is very great in Latin prosody. It is a pity
that he is not equally great in English syntax. I gave a single
specimen of his free and easy defiance of the rules of grammar in
my last letter. A hundred such atrocities — I have been going
through his writings lately — in present stock. . Terms moderate :
country orders carefully executed : parcels of the broken head
of Lindley Murray forwarded with despatch.
With regard now to the petitions in the Stoive Missal, eleven,
as with me, are reduced to eight by Dr. MacCarthy 's scheme
of punctuation. But where does he get that punctuation?
He will not, I opine, tender us the assurance that he can trace it
all to the original MS., the punctuation of which is rather peculiar.
And is the sense materially, or at all, affected by his doughty
alterations ?
Dr. MacCarthy is visibly not among the admirers of Dr. Warren,
a liturgiologist of the first order. It was very honourable, however,
of that gentleman, who, perhaps, like Person, thinks errors ' the
common lot of authorship,'2 to apologise for the mistakes of his
1 Rock, Did the Early Church in Ireland acknowledge the Pope's Supremacy ?
answered in a Letter to Lord John Manners, p. 50 : London, 1844.
2 Porsoa, Letters to Mr. Archdeacon Travis, Preface, p. xxxiv. : London,
1790.'
CORRESPONDENCE 271
transcript. Whatever I have seen, I have not seen any of
Dr. MacCarthy's apologies. The ' Textus Receptus,' as, in an
access of modesty, he calls his own edition of the Stoive Missal,
is not immaculate, any more than Dr. Warren's. No doubt,
in his scorn of the Oxford editor, Dr. MacCarthy, as it were,
falls down in adoration before himself, as to an unerring
transcriber. It is an amusing fact, nevertheless, that (to say
nothing of ancient MSS.) he cannot transcribe from himself or
others with entire correctness : he must either add or leave out,
or otherwise change. In the little that he now professes to take
from his own edition of the Stoive Missal he varies from himself
in punctuation in four instances : in his December letter, he alters
the punctuation in the two lines which he copies from Mabillon,
and substitutes a small letter for a capital : in the same letter
he leaves out three words (i.e. ' Far from it ') in the course of an
extract, on the first page, from his own essay On the Stoive Missal,
and again substitutes a small letter for a capital : in his August
effusion, he interpolates two words, not mine (I place them in
italics), in a quotation from The Ancient Irish Church, stating that
the Quartodecimans ' kept Easter on the 14th day of March,1 no
matter what day of the week it fell upon ;' and so I might go on,
launching forth among his publications, till there was more space
run away with than you would care to waste on such a subject.
In conclusion, if I am to part from Dr. MacCarthy at this
point, I am sorry for it. He attacked my book — which, like every
other book, has its demerits — intending to do it harm. He has
done it nothing but service ; a service for which I again thank
him. His assaults have had a stimulating effect upon the sales ;
and, otherwise, I have made more by the controversy than he
has. As the Spanish proverb says : — ' The ox that horned me
tossed me into a good place ' — El buey que me acorneo en baen
lucjar me echd. — Yours, &c.,
JOHN SALMON.
[This controversy must now cease. — ED. I. E. BECOBD.]
As previously noted, ' March ' is here a typographical error for 'moon.
[ 272 ]
DOCUMENTS
ENCYCLICAL OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIII. TO THE
CANADIAN BISHOPS ON THE MANITOBA SCHOOL
QUESTION
SANCTISSIMI DOMINI NOSTBI LEONIS DIVINA PBOVIDENTIA PAPAE XIII.
EPISTOLA ENCYCLICA AD ARCHIEPISCOPOS EPISCOPOS ALIOSQUE
LOCOBUM OBDINABIOS FOEDEBATABUM CIVITATUM CANADENSIUM
PACEM ET COMMUNIONEM CUM APOSTOLICA SEDE HABENTES.
VENERABILIBUS FBATBIBUS ABCHIEPISCOPIS EPISCOPIS ALIISQUE
LOCOBUM OBDINABIIS FOEDEBATABUM CIVITATUM CANADENSIUM
PACEM ET COMMUNIONEM CUM APOSTOLICA SEDE HABENTIBUS
LEO PP. XIII.
VENEBABILES FBATBES SALUTEM ET APOSTOLICAM BENEDICTIONEM
Affari vos, quod perlibenter atque amantissime facimus, vix
Nobis licet, quin sua sponte occurrat animo vetus et constans
Apostolicae Sedis cum Canadensibus vicissitudo benevolentiae
consuetudoque officiorum. Ipsis rerum vestrarum primordiis
comitata Ecclesiae catholicae caritas est : maternoque semel
acceptos sinu, amplexari vos, fovere, beneficiis afficere numquam
postea desiit. Certe, immortalis vir Franciscus de Laval Mont-
morency, primus Quebecensium episcopus, quas res pro avorum
memoria pro salute publica felicissime sanctissimeque gessit,
auctoritate gratiaque subnixus romanorum Pontificum gessit.
Neque alio ex fonte auspicia atque orsus agendarum rerum
cepere consequentes episcopi, quorum tanta extitit magnitude
meritorum. Similique ratione, si spatium respicitur vetustiorum
temporum. non istuc commeare nisi nutu missuque Sedis Apos-
tolicae consuevere virorum apostolicorum generosi manipuli,
utique christianae sapientiae lumine elegantiorem cultum atque
artium honestissimarum semina allaturi. Quibus seminibus
multo eorum ipsorum labore sensim maturescentibus, Canaden-
sium natio in contentionem urbanitatis et gloriae cum excultis
gentibus sera, non impar venit. Istae sunt res Nobis omnes
admodum ad recordationem iucundae : eo vel magis, quod earum
permanere fructus cernimus non mediocres. Ille profecto per.
DOCUMENTS 273
magnus, amor in catholica multitudine sfcudiumque vehement
divinae religionis, quam scilicet maiores vestri primum et maxime
ex Gallia, turn ex ETibernia, mox quoque aliunde, auspicato
advecti, et ipsi sancte coluerunt et posteris inviolate servandam
tradiderunt. Quamquam, si optimam hanc hereditatam tuetur
posteritas memor, facile intelligimus quantam huius laudis partem
sibi iure vindicet vigilantia atque opera vesira, venerabiles
Fratres, quantam etiam vestri sedulitas Cleri • omnes quippe
concordibus animis, pro incolumitate atque incremento catholici
nominis assidue contenditis, idque, ut vera fateamur non invitis
neque repugnantibus Britannici imperil legibus. Itaque com-
munium recte factorum vestrorum cogitatione adducti, cum Nos
romanae honorem purpurae Archiepiscopo Quebecensiurn aliquot
ante annis contulimus, non solum ornare viri virtutes, sed
omnium istic catholicoruni pietatem honorifico afficere testimonio
voluimus. Ceterum de institutione laborare ineuntus aetatis, in
qua et christianae et civilis reipublicae spes maximae nituntur,
Apostolica Sedes numquam intermisit, coniuncto vobiscum et
cum decessoribus vestris studio. Hinc constituta passim ado-
lescentibus vestris ad virtutem, ad litteras erudiendis complura
eademque in primis florentia, auspice et custode Ecclesia, domi-
cilia. Quo in genere eminet profecto magnum Lyceum Quebecense,
quod ornatum atque auctum omni iure legitimo ad legum ponti-
ficiarum consuetudinem, satis testatur, nihil esse quod expetat,
studeatque Apostoliqua Sedes vehementius, quam educere civium
sobolem expolitam litteris, virtute commendabilem. Quamobrem
summa cura, ut facile per vos ipsi iudicabitis, animum ad eos
casus adiecimus, quos catholicae Manitobensium adolescentu-
lorum institution! novissima tempora attulere. Volumus enim et
velle debemus omni, qua possumus, ope et contentione eniti atque
efficere ut fides ac religio ne quid detriment! capiant apud tot
hominum millia, quorum Nobis maxime est commissa salus, in
ea praesertim civitate quae christianae rudimenta doctrinae non
minus quarn politioris initia humanitatis ab Ecclesia catholica
accepit. Cumque ea de re plurimi sententiam expectarent a
Nobis, ac nosse cuperent qua sibi via, qua agendi ratione utendum,
placuit -'nihil ante statuere, quam Delegatus Noster Apostolicus
in rem .praesentem venisset : qui, quo res statu essent exquirere
diligenter et ad Nos subinde referre iussus, naviter ac fideliter
effectum dedit quod mandaveramus.
Caussa profecto vertitur permagni momenti ac ponderis. De
VOL. Ill, S
271 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
eo intelligi volumus, quod septem ante annis legumlatores Pro-
vinciae Manitobensis consessu suo de disciplina puerili decrevere :
qui scilicet, quod leges Canadensis foederis sanxerant, pueros
professione catholica in ludis discendi publicis institui educarique
ad conscientiam animi sui ius esse, id ius contraria lege sustulere.
Qua lege non exiguum importatum detrimentum. Ubi enim
catholica religio aut ignoratione negligitur, aut dedita opera
iinpugnatur : ubi doctrina eius contemnitur, principiaque unde
gignitur, repudiantur ; illuc accedere, eruditicnis caussa, adoles-
centulos nostros fas esse non potest. Id sicubi factitari sinit
Ecclesia, non nisi aegre ac necessitate sinit, multisque adhibitis
cautionibus, quas tamen constat ad pericula declinanda nimium
saepe non valere. Similiter ea deterrima omninoque fugienda
disciplina. quae, quod quisque malit fide credere, id sine ullo
discrimine orane probet et aequo iure habeat, velut si de Deo
rebusque divinis rectene sentias an secus, vera an falsa secteris,
nihil intersit. Probe nostis, venerabiles Fratres, oranem disci-
plinam, puerilem, quae sit eiusmodi, Ecclesiae esse iudicio
damnatam, quia ad labefactandam integritatem fidei tenerosque
puerorum aniraos a veritate flectendos nihil fieri perniciosius
potest.
Aliud est praeterea, de quo facile vel ii assentiantur, qui
cetera nobiscum dissident : nimirum non mera institutione litte-
raria, non solivaga ieiunaque cognitione virtutis posse fieri, ut
alumni catholici tales e schola aliquando prodeant, quales patria
desiderat atque expectat. Tradenda eis graviora quaedam et
maiora sunt, quo possint et christiani boni et cives frugi probique
evadere : videlicet informentur ad ipsa ilia principia necesse est,
quae in eorum conscientia mentis alte insederint, et quibus
parere et quae sequi debeant, quia ex fide ac religione sponte
efflorescunt. Nulla est enim disciplina morum digna quidem hoc
nomine atque efficax, religione posthabita. Nam omnium offici-
orum forma et vis ab iis officiis maxime ducitur, quae hominem
iungunt iubenti, vetanti, bona malaque sancienti Deo. Itaque
velle animos bonis imbuere moribus simulque esse sinere religionis
expertes tarn est absonum, quam vocare ad percipiendam virtutem,
virtutis fundamento sublato. Atque catholico homini una atque
unica vera est religio catholica : proptereaque nee morum is
potest, nee religionis doctrinam ullam accipere vel agnoscere,
nisi ex intima sapientia catholica petitam ac depromptam. Ergo
iustitia ratioque postulat, ut non mode cognitionem litterarum
DOCUMENTS 275
alumnis schola suppeditet, verum etiam earn, quam diximus,
scientiam morum cum praeceptionibus de religione nostra apte
coniunctam, sine qua nedum non fructuosa, sed perniciosa plane
omnis futura est institutio. Ex quo ilia necessario consequuntur :
magistris opus esse catholicis libros ad perlegendum, ad ediscen-
dum non alios, quam quos episcopi probarint, assumendos :
liberam esse potestatem oportere constituendi regendique omnem
disciplinam, ut cum professione catholici nominis, cumque officiis
quae inde proficiscuntur, tota ratio docendi discendique apprime
congruat atque consentiat. Videre autern de suis quemque liberis,
apud quos instituantur, quos habeant vivendi praeceptores, mag-
nopere pertinet ad patriam potestatem. Quocirca cum catholici
volunt, quod et velle et contenders officium est, ut ad liberorum
suorum religionem institutio doctoris accommodetur, iure faciunt.
Nee sane iniquius agi cuin iis queat, quam si alteratrum malle
compellantur, aut rudes et indoctos quos procrearint, adolescere,
aut in aperto reruni maximaruni discrimine versari.
Ista quidem et iudicandi principia et agendi, quae in veritate
iustitiaque nituntur, nee privatorum tantummodo, sed rerum
quoque publicarum continent salutem, nefas est in dubium
revocare, aut quoquo modo deserere. Igitur cum puerorum
catholicorum institutionem debitam insueta lex in Manitobensi
Provincia perculisset, vestri muneris fuit, venerabiles Fratres,
illatam iniuriam ac perniciem libera voce refutare : quo quidem
officio sic perfuncti singuli estis, ut communis omnium vigilantia
ac digna episcopis voluntas eluxerit. Et quam vis hac de re satis
unusquisque vestrum sit conscientiae testimonio commendatus,
assensum tamen atque approbationem Nostram scitote accedere :
sanctissima enim ea sunt quae conservare ac tueri studuistis,
studetis.
Ceterum incommoda legis Manitobensis, de qua loquimur,
per se ipsa monebant, opportunam sublevationem rnali opus esse
concordia quaerere. Catholicorum digna caussa erat, pro qua
omnes omnium partium aequi bonique cives consiliorum societate
summaque conspiratione voluntatum contenderent. Quod, non
sine magna iactura, contra factum. Dolendum illud etiam magis,
catholicos ipsos Canadenses sententias concorditer, ut oportebat,
minime in re tuenda iunxisse, quae omnium interest plurimum:
cuius prae magnitudine et pondere silere studia politicarum
rationum, quae tanto minoris sunt, necesse erat.
Non sumus necii, emendari aliquid ex ea lege coeptum. Qui
276 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
foederatis, civitatibus quique Provinciae cum potestate praesunt,
nonnulla iam decrevere minuendorum gratia incommodorum, de
quibus expostulare et conquer! catholic! ex Manitoba merito
insistunt. Non est cur dubitemus, susteptum id aequitatis amore
fuisse consilioque laudabili. Dissirnulari tamen id quod res est,
non potest : quam legem ad sarcienda damna condidere, ea
manca est, non idonea, non apta. Multo maiora sunt, quae
catbolici petunt, quaeque eos iure petere, nemo neget. Praeterea
in ipsis illis temperamentis, quae excogitata sunt, hoc etiam inest
vitii quod, mutatis locorum adiunctis. carere effectu facile possunt.
Tota ut res in breve cogatur, iuribus catholicorum educationique
puerili nondum est in Manitoba consultum satis : res autem
postulat, quod est iustitiae consentaneum, ut omni ex parte con-
sulatur, nimirum in tuto positis debitoque praesidio septis iis
omnibus, quae supra attigimus, incommutabilibus augustissimis-
que principiis. Hue spectandum, hoc studiose et considerate
quaerendum. Cui quidem rei nihil obesse potest discordia peius :
coniunctio animorum est et quidam quasi concentus actionum
pernecessarius. Sed tamen cum perveniendi eo, quo propositum
est et esse debet, non certa quaedam ac definita via sit, sed
multiplex, ut fere fit in hoc genere rerum, consequitur varias
esse posse de agendi ratione honestas easdemque conducibiles
sententias. Quamobrem universi et singuli meminerint modestiae,
lenitatis, caritatis mutuae : videant ne quid in verecundia pec-
cetur, quam alter alteri debet : quid ternpus exigat, quid optimum
factu videatur, fraterna unanimitate, non sine consilio vestro,
constituant, emciant.
IT, Ad ipsos ex Manitoba catholicos nominatim quod attinet,
futuros aliquando totius voti compotes, Deo adiuvante, confidimus.
Quae spes primum sane in ipsa bonitate caussae conquiescrit :
deinde in virorum, qui res publicas administrant, aequitate ac
prudentia, turn denique in Canadensium, quotquot recta sequ-
untur, honesta voluntate nititur. Interea tamen, quam diu
rationes suas vindicare nequeant universas, salvas aliqua ex parte
habere ne recusent. Si quid igitur lege, vel usu, vel hominum
facilitate quadam tribuatur, quo tolerabiliora damna, ac remotiora
pericula fiant, omnino expedit atque utile est concessis uti,
fructumque ex iis atque utilitatem quam fieri potest maximam
capere. Ubi vero alia nulla mederi ratione incommodis liceat,
hortamur atque obsecramus, ut aucta liberalitate munificentiatque
pergant occurrere. Non de salute ipsorum sua, nee de prosperi-
DOCUMENTS 277
tate civitatum merer! melius queant, quam si in scholarum
puerilium tuitionem contulerint, quantum sua cuique sinat
facultas.
Est et aliud valde dignum, in quo communie, vestra elaboret
industria. Scilicet vobis auctoribes, iisque adiuvantibus, qui
scholis praesunt, instituere accurate ac sapienter studiorum
rationem oportet, potissimumque eniti ut, qui ad docendum
accedunt, affatim et naturae et artis praesidiis instructe accedant.
Scholas enim catholicorum rectum est cum florentissimis quibus-
que de cultura ingeniorum, de litterarum laude, posse contendere.
Si eruditio, si decus humanitatis quaeritur, honestum sane ac
nobile iudicandum Provinciarum Canadensium propositum,
augere ac provehere pro viribus expetentium disciplinam insti-
tutionis publicam , quo politius quotidie ac perfectius quiddam
contingat. Atqui nullum est genus scientiae, nulla elegantia
doctrinae, quae non optime possit cum doctrina atque institutione
catholica consistere.
Hisce omnibus illustrandis ac tuendis rebus quae hactenus
dictae sunt, possunt non parum ii ex catholicis prodesse, quorum
opera in scriptione praesertim quotidiana versatur. Sint igitur
memores officii sui. Quae vera sunt, quae recta, quae christiano
nomini reique publicae utilia, pro iis religiose animoque magno
propugnent : ita tamen ut decorum servent, personis parcant,
modum nulla in re transiliant. Vereantur ac sancte observent
episcoporum auctoritatem, omnemque potestatem legitimam :
quanto autem est temporum difficultas maior, quantoque dis-
sensionum praesentius periculum, tanto insistant studiosius
suadere sentiendi agendique concordiam, sine qua vix aut ne vix
quidem spes est futurum ut id, quod est in optatis omnium
nostrum, impetretur.
Auspicem coelestium munerum benevolentiaeque Nostrae
paternae testem accipite Apostolicam benedictionem, quam
vobis, venerabiles Fratres, Clero populoque vestro peramanter
in Domino impertimus.
Datum Eomae apud S. Petrum die vm Decembris, An.
MDCCCXCCII Pontificatus Nostri vicesimo.
LEO PP. XIII.
278 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
SOLUTION OF DOUBTS REGARDING EXTRAORDINARY
CONFESSORS OF NUNS
DUBIA QUOAD CONFESSARIOS EXTRAOKDINARIOS RELIGIOSARUM
Die 1 Februarii 1892.
1. II favore accordato alle monache di ricorrere ad uno
straordinario 'quoties ut propriae conscientiae consulant ad id
adigantur ' e cosi illimitato e incondizionato che esse se ne pos-
sano servire costantemente senza ricorrere mai al confessore
ordinario e senza poter essere sindacate neppure dal Vescovo
su questo punto, e da esso in qualche rnodo impedite se fossero
guidate da ragioni biasimevoli e insulse ?
2. I confessori aggiunti ban no alcuni doveri di coscienza di
rifiutarsi ad ascoltare le confessioni delle suore, quando ricono-
scono che non esiste un plausibile rnotivo che le astringa di
ricorrere ad essi ?
3. Se parecchie suore (e peggio ancora se la maggior parte
di esse) ricorressero costantemente a qualcuno dei corifessori
aggiunti, il Vescovo deve tacere, o intervenire con qualche prov-
vedimento per tutelare la massima sancita nella bolla ' Pastoralis ' :
' Generaliter statutum esse dignoscitur, ut pro singulis monia-
lium monasteriis unus dumtaxat confessarius deputetur ' ?
4. E posto che debba intervenire, qual provvedimento potra
legalmente adottare ?
Ad I. Negative.
Ad II. Affirmative.
Ad III. Negative ad primam partem. affirmative ad secundam.
Ad IV. Moneat Ordinarius moniales et sorores, de quibtis
agitur, dispositionem Articuli IV Decreti ' Quemadmodum ' x
exceptionem tantum legi communi constituere, pro casibus dum-
taxat verae et absolutae necessitatis, quoties ad id adigantur,
firmo remanente quod a S. Concilio Tridentino et a Constitutione
s. m. Benedicti XIV mcipien. ' Pastoralis Curae ' praescriptum
habetur.
1Decretum hoc relatum fuit voL xxiii. , 505.
[ '279 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
MY LIFE IN Two HEMISPHERES. By Sir Charles Gavan
Duffy. Two vols. 32s, London ; T. Fisher Unwin.
THESE two splendid volumes relate the principal events in
the life of one of the most remarkable Irishmen of the nineteenth
century. They are full of interest from many points of view.
Here, however, we are naturally concerned most with those parts
of them which deal with the relations of Church to society in our
own country and in our own times ; for Sir Charles, from his
earliest days, was closely connected with ecclesiastics, and took
all through his life the deepest interest in the action and govern-
ment of the Church, and in its influence on the course of public
affairs. It is, therefore, not alone to the Church historian of the
future, but also to those members of the clergy who desire, at the
present day, to influence the world around them, and to be guided
in their action by the experience of the past, that these volumes
will be found most useful.
"We do not say that the author is to be regarded either as a
prophet or as a guide ; but his views on things ecclesiastical are
always worthy of attention. They are the views of a very
friendly critic, and of one who, though a Liberal and champion
of Liberalism, evidently values the Catholic faith as the most
precious gift that any man can possess, and who would be as
ready, if the occasion called for it, to sacrifice every earthly
interest, as his Northern forefathers were, in order to preserve it
intact for himself and others. In his second volume he tells us
that he looked up to Montalembert ' as the ideal of what a
Catholic gentleman should be, genuinely pious and a strict
disciplinarian, but entirely free from religious bigotry or intole-
rance, the rooted enemy of despotism, and the friend of personal
and political liberty everywhere.'
This is clearly not the place to review the history of Liberalism
and Conservatism in Church government, or to discuss the merits
of the fierce contests that raged in France and elsewhere
between the champions of the two great schools. It is sufficient
280 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
to note that Duffy is always on the left, but never on the extreme
left.
We must refer our readers to the volumes themselves for
confirmation of this appreciation of ours ; but, in the limited space
at our disposal, we wish to emphasize the importance of the
autobiography from the point of view of ecclesiastical history. No
one can accurately gauge the strength of the forces that were at
work in Ireland from 1848 to 1879, who does not read this work.
The two ecclesiastics who were most closely associated with
Sir Charles, though in very diverse ways, were Dr. Murray of
Maynooth, and Canon Doyle of Wexford. There is frequent
mention of them in the two volumes.
There are very many other interesting references to matters
and persons ecclesiastical — to Cardinal Cullen, Dr. Newman,
Father Burke, O.P. ; Dr. Moriarty, Dr. O'Hanlon, Canon Doyle,
Father O'Shea, &c. We may not always accept the prin-
ciples of the writer; we may not agree with him in all his
appreciations of persons and of things; but we must always
recognise in him a Liberal of the very best and highest type, a
genuinely religious Catholic, and a man of extraordinary versa-
tility. Perhaps the element that attracts us most in these volumes
is the sympathy of the author with art, literature, and science,
and the evidence of his intercourse with many of the greatest
men of his time in all these departments. This is a feature
which he possessed in common with his model, Montalembert,
and, indeed, with nearly all the men of the mid-century period
who were noted for their high political ideals.
J. F. H.
THE EUCHAKISTIC CHEIST. By Eev. A. Tesniere. Trans-
lated by Mrs. A. R. Bennett-Gladstone. New York :
Benziger Brothers.
IN 1856 a religious society of priests, called the Congregation
of the Most Holy Sacrament,1 was founded in Paris by Pere
Eymard. Six years later it obtained the canonical approval of
Pius IX., and in 1895, besides the mother house in Paris, there
were foundations established in Marseilles, Eome, Brussels, and
Montreal. This Congregation, as its name implies, is devoted
exclusively to the worship and apostolate of the Blessed Sacra -
1 See I. E. RECOBD, June, 1895.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 281
ment. In their churches there is perpetual exposition ; and by
sermons, writings, and the organization of Eucharistic associa-
tions and congresses, the fathers of the Congregation seek to
awaken and propagate devotion to Jesus, hidden under the
sacramental veil.
To one of those associations, viz., the Confraternity of Priest-
adorers, attention has already been directed in the pages of the
1. E. EECOBD. 1 We may state here that this aggregation, as it is
called, was canonically erected at Eome, on the 16th January,
1887, with the approval of the Pope and the commendation of a
large number of archbishops and bishops from different parts of
the world. It consists of priests who undertake ' to make every
week one continuous hour of adoration before the Most Holy
Sacrament, either exposed or shut up in the tabernacle.'2 It is
scarcely necessary to specify the objects of the Association.
Briefly they are — 1. To draw the priest nearer to the Eucharist.
2. To form ardent apostles of the love of Jesus for man. 3. To
secure the triumph of the Church by united prayer before the
tabernacle. 4. To make reparation for the coldness and ingrati-
tude of indifferent Catholics. It is not surprising that an idea
at once so beautiful in itself, and so practical from the point of
view of personal sanctification and missionary success, should
have ' struck a responsive chord.' At present there are over fifty
thousand priests enrolled in the Association. Of these, three
thousand are in the United States, and nearly three hundred in
Ireland, where, it should be added, the devotion has only been a
few years established.
' In the interest of this Confraternity [writes Dr. M'Mahon, in
his learned preface to the book before us] many works have been
published in French. The present, The Eucharistic Christ, is
the first that has been put into English dress, in the hope that
its reflections and pious thoughts may find favour among the
American members of the Confraternity. '
We trust they may also find favour among ourselves, and that
the circulation of this book will help to propagate a devotion
which is peculiarly suited to the needs of our age. Advertise.
1 See I. E. RECORD, July, 1894.
2 This is the principal condition of membership. The Rev. A. Simon,
Wilton College, Cork, the Director-General for the United Kingdom, will
send full conditions of membership on application, with stamped envelope
enclosed.
282 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ment, show, making a noise, are now more than ever in fashion.
To see one's name in leaden type as having done, or spoken, or
written something suitable, is the ambition of not a few, possibly
of not a few whose serene wisdom should have taught them —
' The ocean deep is mute, while shallows roar. '
In contrast with the brawling ways of man, how fearfully
quiet and unobtrusive is the presence of God in His own world-
So also remarks the writer of the preface : —
' May we not also say [he writes] that the Spirit of the Blessed
Sacrament, which Father Faber so beautifully shows to be the
Spirit of the Holy Infancy, namely, simplicity and hidden life,
is directly opposed to the spirit of the age, ever desirous of
proclaiming and extolling its various beneficent deeds.'
In one hour of continuous adoration before the Most Holy
Sacrament a thoughtful man cannot fail to learn this much, and,
if it be not his own fault, he will derive from this exercise such
refreshment as the world, with all its food-stuffs, and drink-stuffs,
and mind-stuffs, cannot give. We have great pleasure, then,
in introducing The Eucharistic Christ to the readers of the
I. E EECOKD.
The first chapter is introductory, and explains at length the
' Object and End of the Adoration ' : —
' The adoration has a threefold object, and ought to be con-
sidered in a threefold relation. It is, first, our Lord Jesus
Christ that it ought to honour beneath the Eucharistic veils ;
next it is the love of the adorer, which it ought to sanctify;
and, lastly, it is our neighbour, which it ought to assist and to
help, and especially the Church.'
The second chapter is occupied with the ' Method of Adoration.'
Taking as a basis the following sentence from St. Thomas, which
is a condensed treatise on religion : ' Homo maxime obligatur Deo
propter Majestatem egus, propter beneficia jam accepta, propter
offensam, et propter beneficia sperata.' F. Eymard designed
the ' Method of the Four Ends of Sacrifice.' The third chapter
contains a programme of ' Acts of the Faculties and of the Virtues
in each of the Four Ends ; ' so that the adorer is furnished with
a scientific and practical method of adoration, which makes it not
only possible but easy to occupy the whole hour with appropriate
thoughts and affections. But the author has done very much
NOTICES OF BOOKS 283
more. In the succeeding chapters this method is applied to the
following subjects, viz. : — ' The Institution of the Eucharist,' 'The
Fact,' 'The Masterpiece of God,' 'The Priest,' 'The Sacrifice,'
' The Eucharist a Memorial of the Passion,' « The Most Holy
Body of Jesus,' ' The Precious Blood,' ' The Heart of Jesus in the
Eucharist,' 'The Five Wounds,' 'The Eucharistic State,' 'The
Diffusion of the Eucharist,' ' The Perpetuity of the Eucharist,'
1 The Universality of the Eucharist.'
From this brief outline of its contents it will be seen that the
book is admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was
written. The first chapter will go far to induce the reader to
become a member of the association ; the second tells the novice
how he is to carry out the principal condition of membership ;
while the bulk of the volume may be called, Hours before the
Most Holy Sacrament.
So much for the merits of this work. Has it any faults?
The style is tolerable ; it might be better ; but it is good enough
for any reader, and particularly for anyone who intends to use the
book as an aid to devotion. In such a work we look more to
substance than to form. From this point of view the only positive
fault we noticed is a certain amount of theological vagueness in
the discussion of that most profound mystery, viz., the modus
existendi of Christ in the Eucharist. We read, for instance, in
page 50 : — •
' And in this point of consecrated bread, imperceptible, inde-
visible, . . . Christ continues to be living . . . with His face and
its sweet expression, with His Heart whose palpitations our love
or our coldness hastens or abates.'
And again on page 95 : —
' The eyes of Jesus behold us through the holy species ; His
ears hearken to our prayers.'
But on page 149 we are told the Eucharistic annihilation is
' inaction . . . there is neither sensibility nor movement, nor a
glance of the eyes.'
We do not deny that those apparently contradictory state-
ments may be true in different senses. We think, however, that
an author should avoid the semblance of contradiction, and take
care that his expressions leave no confused or false impressions
on the minds of his readers. A footnote of reference to Franzelin,
which evidently he had at hand, would at least have indicated
284 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
to the inquisitive reader a means of discriminating between the
author's rhetoric and his theology. We shall discuss the two
expressions that seem most contradictory, viz. , ' The eyes of Jesus
behold us through the holy species/ and, there is neither sensi-
bility . . . nor a glance of the eyes.'
That Jesus sees us in some real way there can, of course, be no
doubt. But has Jesus, as He is the Eucharist formaliter, the use of
His eyes so that He looks at us through the Sacramental Species?
It would seem that according to the common teaching of
theologians, the mode of Christ's existence in the Eucharist
excludes a connatural use of His eternal senses. ' Ex modo
existendi inextenso in thesi declarato sequitur. . . . Christum
Dominum, formaliter ut in hoc modo existendi sacramental i
se constituit non posse naturali virtute suae humanitates
evercere actus transeuntes in alia corpora, nee posse, spectata
solum naturali virtute animam Christi agere in proprium corpus
sive ad motum sive ad exercitium sensuum externorum.'
(Franzelim de SS. Eucheristia Thesis XI.) The italics are
Franzelin's, and are meant to convey that vision and hearing
are not connatural to the sacramental mode of Christ's existence
in the Eucharist. This learned theologian then proceeds to discuss
the question whether or not by a special miracle the Word com-
municates such exercise of the senses to His sacred humanity
(even as it is formaliter in the Eucharist) as befits the end of
the sacrament, for instance, seeing and hearing. Here is his
answer : —
' Hanc supernaturalem communicationem actuum visionis
et auditionis per sensus ipsos Sacratissimi Corporis in statu
Sacramentali quamvis communior sententia theologorum non
admittat, ut fatetur Card. Cienfuegos amplissimus ejus assertor
ac defensor, affirmant tamen S. Bonaventura, Tsambertus et
alii non pauci saltern ut probabilem ; simpliciter ut veram
Lessius, Cornelius a Lapide, Gamacheus, Martinonus, Tannerus ;
prae caeteris vero . . . Card. Cienfuegos . . . Mihi certe
haec sententia non propter diserta testimonia Scripturae et
Patrum, quae proferuntur parum efficacia, sed propter ejus
connectionem cum dignitate Sacratissimae humanitatis et cum
scopo et fine Sacramenti . . . videtur probabilissima et pia;
dummodo tamen non ita defendatur, ac si ea non admissa Christus
in sacramento non vivens sed instar mortui conceipi deberet.'
(Thesis XI.)
What then is to be thought of the expression : ' The eyes
NOTICES OF BOOKS 285
of Jesus behold us through the holy species.'? 1. It is
certainly true in this sense that Jesus has the same per-
ceptions in the Eucharist that He has in heaven, arid there-
fore, that nothing is hidden from Him who is present under
the Sacramental veil. 2. According to a probable opinion the
eyes of Jesus, as they are in the Eucharist, are, by a special
miracle, endowed with power of actual vision. The expression,
' there is no glance of the eye,' is true in this sense, that the eyes
of Jesus as they are in the Eucharist, are by the nature of the
Eucharistic state destitute of actual vision, although, according
to the probable opinion just mentioned, there is ' a glance of the
eye ' by a special miracle. It is beside my purpose to discuss the
probability of this special miracle, as I have had in view only to
reconcile our author's apparent contradictions. Sound theology,
however, should be the basis of all devotion, and it is hard to say
which is the greater misfortune ; that theologians don't do more
writing of spiritual books, or that spritual writers too often try to
improve on theology.
T. P. G.
SOME OF THE FEUITS OF FIFTY YEARS : ANNALS OF THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH IN VICTORIA. By the Most Kev.
Thos. J. Carr, Archbishop of Melbourne. Melbourne :
Massina & Co.
Some of the Fruits of Fifty Tears is a happy alternative title
of this quarto volume of ninety pages, which is more officially
styled the Annals of the Catholic Church in Victoria. Those
fruits are not merely recorded, but are rendered visible to the eye
through the medium of finely executed illustrations of all the
varied ecclesiastical buildings of Victoria. The Most Rev.
Author's design in compiling this work was, it appears, twofold :
(1) to commemorate the consecration of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Melbourne, which took place on the 31st October, 1897 ; and
(2) ' to preserve to distant generations a knowledge of the early
history of missions, churches, schools, and religious houses, which
if not now carefully compiled would, in great part, be lost for
ever.' Judged by the illustrations alone which adorn the book, it
must at once be confessed, that the material progress of the
Catholic Church in Victoria is simply marvellous. Fifty years
ago, Dr. Goold was appointed first Bishop of Melbourne, with
286 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
jurisdiction over the whole of Victoria. At that date there were
only some six thousand Catholics in the whole Colony which was
alike destitute of churches and schools. To-day this Colony forms
an ecclesiastical province containing four bishoprics, namely, the
archiepiscopal see of Melbourne, and the dioceses of Ballarat,
Sandhurst, and Sale, each of which is equipped with churches,
presbyteries, monasteries, and schools. Standing apart by reason
of its style, position, and dimensions, is St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Melbourne. It was commenced in 1858, and its consecration last
October, in the presence of the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney,
the Governor of the Colony, the Australasian bishops, and an
immense concourse of all creeds and classes, synchonized with
the Golden Jubilee of the diocese of Melbourne. Tt occupies an
enviable position on the Eastern Hill. Some idea of its splendour
may be obtained from the following details : —
4 Length along nave and sanctuary, 340 feet ; length along
transepts, 185 feet. Width across nave and aisles, 82 feet ; width
across transepts and aisles, 82 feet. The height of nave and
transepts is 95 feet ; of the central tower, 260 feet, and of each
of the front flanking towers, 203 feet. The dignity of the
building externally is enhanced by the flying buttresses and the
carved pinnacles. The whole building is lit with electric light.
The carrying of the aisles along the sides of the transepts is
another important feature, providing as it does, along with the
chapels and arcaded sanctuary, imposing vistas and an air of
dignity and mystery. The style is a late form of early English
Gothic or decorated. The total area of the Cathedral is
35,000 square feet. The expenditure so far has amounted to
.£200,000.'
We have transcribed those items from the detailed description
contained in the work which want of space compels us to omit.
It is a pity the publishers did not contrive to give us some views
of the interior of this noble minster, but we feel it is ungracious
to make even so slight an adverse comment on a volume, the
artistic workmanship of which is, on the whole, sumptuous and
splendid.
Need we add, that the matter, which is both well ordered and
detailed, is most interesting as affording an insight into the
growth of the Church in the fairest province of Australia.
T. P. G.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 287
COMMENTARIUS DE JUDICIO SACRAMENTALI.
Baptistae Pighi, S. Theol. Doct. Ad Frutinam vocatus
a G. M. Van Kossum C.SS.R, S. Off. Cons. Editio
altera.
THE first edition of this work appeared in August. In less
than a month a new edition was called for. This is not sm*prising
when we consider the importance of the matter. The occasion of
the work was the Commentarius of Professor Pighi, which treated
especially of Occasionarii and Eccidivi. He dedicated his
work to St. Alphonsus, and professed to follow his teaching.
Father Van Kossum, therefore, as he tells us, expected to find
' Salutarem S. Doctoris in re tanti rnomenti doctrinam fideliter
expositam et expugnatam ' (p. 7). But he says : ' Quo magis
in legendo progrediebar, eo magis auctorem deflectere animadver-
tebam a prudentissima S. Alphonsi doctrina ' (p. 7). While,
therefore, declaring that the author was free to propose his own
opinions, he thinks it unfair to give them to his readers as those
of St. Alphonsus. 'Hanc,' says Father Van Eossum, 'mon-
strabo doctrinam cl. Professoris Pighi a saluberrimis S. Alphonsi
praeceptis omnino alienam ; simulque propriis S. Doctoris verbis
quid ipse de occasionariis et recidivis doceat exponam ' (p. 9).
This work, as a clear exposition in a few pages of the teaching of
St. Alphonsus, is of permanent utility, apart from the occasion
which called it forth. It gives, moreover, the teaching of our
best guides in those important matters.
We learn from words addressed to Benevolo Lector (p. 5),
that Professor Pighi published an Appendix in Italian, in which
he answers the Ad Trutinam as to the more important points.
This new edition deals with these, each in its proper place.
As to the form and order, the author gives the first chapter to
' Quo loco cl. Pighi S. Doctoris Alphonsi authoritatem, atque
doctrinam habeat.' Here, and indeed everywhere, he seems to us
to cite Professor Pighi fully and fairly. ' Probe animadvertatur, '
says St. Alphonsus, ' poenitentium salutem maxima ex parte
dependere a bona agendi ratione confessariorum in danda aut
differenda absolutione occasionariis et recidivis.' Here we
have indicated the matter of the second and third chapters :
De Occasionariis et De Recidivis. The matter is too important
to attempt an analysis ; but we cannot help thinking that the
languor in faith, and feebleness in dispositions with which
288 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Professor Pighi seems to credit his countrymen, must be confined to
the great centres of population ; and even in these, can we believe
that they are general? At. home we have rarely to deplore such
a state of things, and we are thankful that our people are well
able to bear the remedies that are either necessary or useful for
the cure of evil habits. We quite agree with Father Van Eossum
that it would be fatal to make a rule of that which should be an
exception. We willingly subscribe to the concluding words of
No. 80, p. 150 :—
' Deinde ex eo quod plures hodiedum inveniuntur, quibus
absolutio differenda non sit, non ideo cum omnibus poenitentibus
eadem ratione est agendum. Quod fides languet apud multos
non ideo languet apud omnes; quod languet in magnis civi-
tatibus, non ideo languet in omnibus urbibus ; quod languet
iri'urbe non ideo ruri languet ; quod ' languet in quibusdam
regionibus, non ideo languet ubique terrarum. Propterea magna
prudentia, discretione et circumspectione opus est, ne exceptiones
in regulam mutentur, ne ea, quae in extremis, sunt tentanda, in
ordinario verum statu adhibeantur, ne cum omnibus ubique indis-
criminatim agatur, acsi ubique et apud omnes fides languet.
Nihil enim efficatius fidem everteret et morum corruptelam
praecipitaret innumerarumque produceret animarum ruinam.'
We have been informed by the author of this work that owing
to the difficulty of procuring it ;outside Italy, it will be sent to
any priest in England, Ireland, or Australia, and may be paid for
by means of a shilling postal order addressed V. R. — S. Alfonso,
via Merulana, Eoma.
T M
•. . J . •»-!••
J ,i i . . .1. 1
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT
A.D. 590
I. THE SITE OF THE CONVENTION
WITH truth has it often been said that the
history and the scenery of our country share
a similar neglect, and that both are permitted
to remain unnoticed and uncared for, unless
when the sneer of a Thackeray, or the calumny of a Froude,
draws attention to the one or the other. It cannot be
denied that there are in our land beauties of mountain,
lake, and valley, which, were they found in Switzerland or
in Italy, instead of in Ireland, would be famed throughout
the world. ' The cold chain of silence ' which thus hangs
over our scenery, exerts an equally baneful influence over
the most interesting episodes of our history, such as to the
writer of ancient Greece or Home would have furnished fit
subjects for the display of eloquent narrative, or glowing
declamation. It is true that at times our annals are
defective, and that the critical writer hesitates to accept as
facts what at best may only prove to be probable conjectures;
still, had Livy, and Sallust, and Plutarch carried out that
rule, where now would be the thrilling eloquence and
touching biographies of pagan times ? But, without
wandering into the region of conjecture, we have more
than enough of interesting material to engage the pen of the
FOURTH SERIES, VOL. III. — APRIL, 1898. I
290 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
essayist in the authentic and well-substantiated facts of our
national history. Of these not the least inviting theme,
and, as it seems to us, not the least important, is the
Convention of Drom-Ceat, held, according to the best
authorities, in the year 590.1
On the eastern shore of the Foyle, by the scanty stream
of the deep-channelled Koe, near the modern town of
Limavady, in the present county of Londonderry, is the
site of this famous convention. It is a spot which the pen
of Macaulay would have gloried to depict. Scenes of sylvan
beauty spread everywhere around. Wood and water,
mountain and glade, smiling villas and lordly demesnes
fill up a picture of no ordinary magnificence. And, as might
be expected, it is as interesting in its historical, as it is in
its natural aspect. The entire locality is teeming with
reminiscences of the past, which even the Ulster Plantation
was not able to destroy. Saints have hallowed this soil
by their labours ; some, like Canice, have shed a lustre upon
it by their birth; others, like Neachtain of Dungiven,
Muireadach O'Heney of Banagher, and Cadan of Magilligan
(nephew of St. Patrick), have either founded churches in the
vicinity, or sought a final resting-place by the slopes of the
adjacent mountains. Princes and warriors have fought for
the suzerainty of the rich champagne country around. In
his castle by the Eoe did O'Cahan dispense hospitality in
a truly Irish fashion, till that honoured name was stained
by the treason of Donald Ballagh, who became the foul
instrument of treachery in the unscrupulous hands of
Chichester and Montgomery — the latter of whom, with a
zeal not altogether apostolic, grasped the mitre and the
revenues of the united sees of Derry, Clogher, and Eaphoe.
But neither natural beauty, nor historical recollections,
no matter how interesting, have contributed to render
the spot so memorable as did the remarkable assembly
convoked by .ZEdh MacAinmire, the powerful king of Ireland,
1 Different dates have been assigned for this Convention, but we have
adopted the year 590 liecause it seems supported by the best authorities.
Dr. Reeves, in Colton's J'in'talion. gives this date, but in his Adamnin he seems
to incline to the year f>"4 as the proper date.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 291
and which was honoured by the presence of Columba,
the great father of western monasticism, and apostle
of the northern isles of Scotland. It may seem strange
that the site of so remarkable an event should now be a
matter of conjecture ; but such is the case not only regard-
ing this spot, but also regarding other equally memorable
places in the north of Ireland.
Dr. Keeves, and after him Dr. O'Donovan, fixed upon the
Mullagh, or Daisy Hill, in Eoe Park, beside Limavady, as
the site of the Convention ; but we trust to give reasons
sufficiently satisfactory for differing from authorities usually
so reliable. It is worthy of remark that the Four Masters
make no mention whatever of this Convention, though it
is referred to by Adamnan, and all the ancient annalists,
with whose writings they must have been familiar ; but
O'Donovan in a footnote to the Annals, under the year 575,
speaks of the assembly, and names the Mullagh as the place
where it was held. In Colton's Visitation, under the word
' Drumachose,' n., p. 132, Dr. Beeves thus writes : —
Independently of its connection with St. Cainech, this parish
is distinguished as having been the scene of the celebrated
convention called Mordail-Droma-Ceat, which was held in the
year 590, for the purpose of deciding the Dalriadic controversy,
at which St. Columbcille was present. Adamnan styles it ' Begum
in Dorso-cette Condictum.'
O'Donnell has preserved for us this clue to its position [we
quote from Colgan's Latin version of O'Donnell as given by
Dr. Keeves]. 'Columba, after sailing across the aforementioned
river [that is Lough Foyle], at the part where it is broadest,
turned the prow of his vessel to the river Eoe, which flows into
the aforesaid river, and the vessel of the holy man glided, with
the divine assistance, up this stream, though from the scantiness
of its waters it is otherwise unnavigable. But the place in which
the boat was then anchored, thenceforth from that circumstance
called Cabhan-an-Churaidh, i.e. "the hill of the boat," is very
near Drumceat. After making a moderate delay at that place,
the holy man, with his venerable retinue, set out to that charm-
ing, gently-sloping hill, commonly called Drumceat.
' Columba memoratum euripum [i.e. Loch Feabhail] qua longe
patet, emensus, navigii cursus dirigi fecit per Eoam amnem, in
predictum euripum decurrentem ; quern fluvium, quamquam
aquarum inopia alias innavigabilem, navis sancti viri divina
virtute percurrit. Locus autem in quo navicula subinde stetit,
292 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
deinceps ab eventu Cabhan an Churaidh, id est, collis cymbae
appelatus, Druimchettae pervicinus est. Caeterum modica eo loci
mora contracta, Vir Sanctus cum sua veneranda comitiva contendit
ad per amaenum ilium collem, leniter acclivem, vulgo Druimchett
vocatum.'1
Though at present [continues Dr. Eeeves] there are no local
traditions to help in the identification of the spot, it was well
known in Colgan's time, who writes : ' To-day and for ever
venerable, especially on account of the many pilgrimages, and
the public procession of the Blessed Sacrament, which on the
festival of All Saints is there annually made with an immense
concourse from all the neighbouring districts in memory of the
aforesaid synod there celebrated. ' ' Hodie et semper venerabilis,
maxime ob multas peregrinationes et publicam Theophoriam,
quae in festo omnium sanctorum in praedictae synodi memoriam
ibidem celebratae in eo quottannis fit, cum summo omnium vici-
narum partium accursu ' (Act. SS. p. 204, n. 13). The hill called
' the Ready,' which commences about two miles out of Newtown-
limavady, might be supposed, from the apparent similarity of the
name, to be the spot, but there can be little doubt that the artificial
mound in Eoe Park, called ; The Mullagh,' and sometimes • the
Daisy Hill,' is the real Drumceatt. It is situate in a meadow, at
a little distance from the house, on the N.W. ; it rises to the
height of about twenty feet, and measures about one hundred and
ninety by one hundred and seventy feet. The prospect from
it is exceedingly extensive and varied, commanding a view
of Magilligan, with its Benyevenagh, Aghanloo, Drumachose,
Tamlaght-Finlagan, and part of Innishowen. There is no local
tradition about the spot, except that it is reckoned ' gentle,' and
that it is unlucky to cut the sod. The truth is, the effects of the
Plantation have utterly effaced all the old associations of the
place. 2
We have thought it but just to Dr. Reeves to give
his note in extenso, inserting at the same time the
translation of the two Latin quotations for the benefit of
non-classical readers of the I. E. RECORD, that our reasons
for differing from him may be the more immediately and
clearly understood. We believe the site of the Convention
to have been a small hill on the opposite side of the Roe
from the Mullagh ; and we believe, moreover, that the
Ready derives its name from, and is only a modernized form
1 iii. 4, Tr. Th. p., 431.
2 Colton's Visitation, edited by Dr. Eeeves, Note under the parish of
Drumachose.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 293
of the latter part of the word Drum-Ceatta. The initial C in
Irish words being pronounced hard like the letter K would
give us the word as if written Keatta, precisely similar in
sound, and not very different in spelling from the modern
Keady. The river Roe at this particular part may be said
to run east and west, and the bank on either side may be
correctly enough termed northern and southern. This will
assist the reader to some extent in understanding the relative
position of the hills for which claim is made for being the
Drumceat of history. On the southern bank of the river
is the Mullagh ; about a quarter of a mile farther up the
stream than where it passes the Mullagh, the river is
engaged among rocks ; so it may be assumed, for certain, that
the hill of the Convention, on whatever side of the river
it lies, cannot be farther up than the Mullagh; i.e., we are
to look for it somewhere near the Roe, and between the
Mullagh and the mouth of the Roe. There are numerous
hills on both sides of the river, and to select out one of them
appears to be, to some extent, a question of probabilities.
The hill required, probably is a remarkable one ; so is the
Mullagh. This seems to be the sole reason and sum total
of its claims. Dr. Reeves, in a letter to the present writer,
in 1876, stated that: 'when he first saw the Mullagh, he fixed
on it as the site of the Convention,' without apparently any
reason beyond conjecture, and Dr. O'Donovan adopted his
view without further inquiry. This is the sole reason for the
Mullagh being selected in preference to any of the other
adjoining hills. The name Mullagh, however, is much
against it : — 1. Because a Mullagh cannot be a Drium.
2. As Drumceat was a well-known place, the Irish-speaking
people would never have changed its name into the common-
place appellation Mullagh. No doubt the Irish traditions
and language have now died out in the district, but they
had not died out when this name was given to it.
A little farther down the river, on the same southern
bank, is a ridge called Drumbally-Donaghey. Donaghey, if
it be not a family name, might retain traces of Donagh
(i.e. Dominica), and, therefore of the religious functions that
used to be celebrated there. Near to Drumbally-Donaghey is
294 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a pool in the river called ' the boat-hole,' which might be
supposed to correspond with Cabhan-an-Churaidh, but it
is a place where a boat usually was, and even now is
occasionally kept ; so no argument can be drawn from this
in favour of Drumbally-Donaghey. Nor does there seem to
be any reason for selecting any other of the ridges on the
same side of the river.
On the north side of the stream, and just opposite the
Mullagh, is a hill whose form attracts attention whether you
view it when descending the river, that is, coming from
Dungiven to Limavady, or ascending by the same road
which runs along the southern bank of the river. The
name of the hill is Enagh. Enagh is the Irish name still
for a fair. In earlier times it meant a gathering for political
purposes, and in later times an assembly for religious
purposes.1 The name, therefore, suggests that this was the
hill so well known in Colgan's time, which, he says, is
To-day and for ever venerable, especially on account of the many
pilgrimages, and the public religious ceremonies [Theophoriamj,
which, on the festival of All Saints, in memory of the aforesaid synod
there celebrated, is there annually made, with an immense con-
course from all the neighbouring districts.
Drumceat (i.e., the drum or ridge of the pleasant swell-
ing ground), being a commonplace appellation, would easily
give way in the lapse of time to the name Enagh. If you
stand on Enagh, you have the most beautiful view in the
valley of the Roe. Looking northwards you have Lough
Foyle sweeping from Innishowen Head round the lovely
shores of Greencastle, Moville, and Iskaheen, and bounded
from this point of view by the range of hills which culminate
in the ruined-crowned summit of Greman, once known as
' Aileach of the Kings.'
Still looking north, but on this side of the Foyle, you see
to your right the lowlands of Myroe, and Magilligan rising
by swelling ridges like mimic Sierras, till they mount into
the grand romantic ranges of Beneyevenagh, and the Keady.
In fact, you find you are standing on a somewhat insulated
1 See Joyce's Irish Names of Places.
THE CONVENTION OF DRUM-CEAT 295
ridge, which rears itself up one hundred and sixty feet high ,
in a valley stretching north and south, its narrowest part
being that in which you stand, whilst before you it spreads
out into the lowlands of Lough Foyle shores, and on the
south it widens out in the direction of Dungiven, only
turning more to the west. If you examine the rising swells
just near you, you will see the ruins of Drumachose,
St. Canice's Church, crowning one of them ; whilst turning
and looking up the south opening of the valley, you could,
were it not for the intervening groves, see the ruins of
Tamlaght Finlagan, St. Finloch's Church. The Eoe, how-
ever, runs between the two, but there is a very shallow ford
just in the line between them. It is probable that a hill
would be selected, convenient for the clergy of both churches,
and also on the side nearest to the more important church —
the 'Magna Ecclesia de Ko;' and, we might also add, on the
side nearest the county Antrim, for the convenience of those
coming thence to the Convention. On what we have desig-
nated the north bank of the river — the side opposite to the
Mullagh — there is an insulated rock like a huge mile -stone
or finger-post marking out Enagh, and called the 'Boat
Rock.' It is the first you meet on either side when passing
up the river from the Foyle. There is no other, indeed,
for nearly half a mile further up, where the gorges of the
river commence abruptly.
This particular spot is such as would just invite a boat's
crew to land. The juxtaposition of this rock to Enagh
(and from this point the hill looks most picturesque), and
its being on the same side of the river with it, weigh much
with us in deciding in favour of Enagh, not only as against
the Mullagh, but against any other of the hills that rise along
the river. The proximity of Enagh to the Ready (not the
hill, but the townland of that name) seems to us also
an argument in favour of our theory. It is probable that
what we know did occur in many other cases occurred also
in this, viz., that the name Ready, which is now confined
to one townland, once extended over the whole district, and
that the district got that name, perhaps, from this very hill.
When a large townland was divided into two or three smaller
296 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
ones, the smaller got what we may term surnames. By
degrees the later, or distinctive name, alone was preserved,
while the original name clung to one of the divisions, and
to that one because the original possessor may have retained
it for himself. Colgan's description suggests to the mind
that the hill was not juxta, but some little distance from the
Roe. It was ' pervicinus,' i.e. quite near. The venerable
man, he tells us, made a slight delay at the place where he
landed, and then ' went to the assembly.' All the other
hills are either too near or too remote to answer this
description. The Mullagh is almost on the brink of the
river. The appearance of Enagh is such as, from most
points of view, would suggest to a Latin writer the deri-
vation for Drumceat of Dorsum Cete, i.e. the back of
a whale. No other hill around would suggest the same.
Enagh agrees in every respect with the description of
Drumceat. It is a ' collis,1 for it is insulated ; and it is at
the same time a ' drum ' or ridge. A ' drum ' is a back-
bone; a spur that a mountain sends out, but more prolonged,
and more easy of slope on its flanks than what we ordinarily
mean when we speak of the spur of a mountain, and
projecting also from a lower elevation of the mountain. It
is not easy to find a place which one person could with pro-
priety call a drum, and another with equal propriety term
a collis ; but it seems to us that both designations are
applicable to Enagh, and to no other of the hills around.
It is ' peramsenus ' whether considered in its own aspect,
or in the delightful prospect it affords. It is 'leniter
acclivis,' which none of the other hills are, and certainly
not the Mullagh. These are the principal arguments that
lead us to adopt Enagh in preference to the Mullagh, and
though there may be but a balance of probabilities in favour
of our theory, still the Mullagh seems to us entirely out of
competition for claiming the ancient title of Drumceat.
The most that can be said of it is, that it is a remarkable
hill near the Eoe, and when we have said this, we have
repeated all that can be said about it.
An interesting tradition in favour of Enagh signifying
a fair, and of a fair having been held there till the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT '297
time of Donald Ballagh O'Cahan at least, may be worth
preserving in this place. The tradition was received from
Mr. John O'Connor, a native of the locality, who died fifteen
years ago at a very advanced age, and who was regarded as
a depository of all the authentic traditions of the district.
On one occasion O'Cahan, then lord cf the territory, mounted
on a superb horse, and accompanied by his daughters all on horse-
back, visited the fair which was being held at Enagh. As he
entered the place a beggarman solicited him for an alms.
O'Cahan answered him only with a lash of his riding-whip. The
beggarman drew himself up to his full height, and, gazing fixedly at
the cruel and haughty chieftain, pronounced, in tones that struck
terror into the listening crowd : —
' Gar cnoc gan aonac,
Gar Ciannac gan eac.'
Which literally translated means : —
Soon the hill without fair,
Soon Cahan without horse.
Whether the words were uttered as a prophecy or a
curse, their quick and unexpected fulfilment impressed them
indelibly on the minds of the hearers, and made them be
handed down from generation to generation. Enagh then
means a fair, in this instance, just as it meant a place of
religious assembly in Colgan's time.
To sum up the arguments in favour of Enagh, we say,
that after the Mullagh — (1) Enagh is at least the most re-
markable hill ; (2) from its situation the hill likely to be
chosen for the assembly ; (3) answering perfectly to the
description of Drumceat ; (4) retaining (by its neighbour-
hood) traces of the name; (5) by its name indicating a
place of religious concourse; (6) on the same side of the
river, with and near to a remarkable rock standing up out
of the bank, and called the 'Boat Rock,' with no reason that
we can now see for prefixing the term ' boat ' to it ; (7) and
lastly, affording space on its summit for the royal pavilions
and tents, which O'Donnell tells us were scattered over the
hill in the manner of military camps. On the top of the
Mullagh there is no space for the like; Enagh, at least,
is required for this. So much then for the site of this
298 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
famous Convention, a convention which left its mark not
only on that, but also on subsequent ages, and which did
so much for the consolidation and improvement of our
ancient code of laws. We shall now see what were the
principal objects of this great national assembly.
II. OBJECT AND RESULTS OF THE CONVENTION
In his Lectures on the Manners and Customs of the
Ancient Irish,1 Eugene O'Curry sets forth in brief terms
the principal objects for which this great parliament was
held at Drumceat : —
The meeting at Drom Ceata [says he] was the last great
occasion on which the laws and general system of education were
revised. It took place in the year 590, in the reign of that Aedh
the son of Ainmire, whose resistance to the impudent demands of
the profession of poets, I had occasion to refer to in the last
Lecture. Very soon after the refusal of the king to submit to the
threats of satire on the part of the poets, and the consequences
then supposed to follow from poetical incantations, he happened
to be involved in two important political disputes. One of these
was touching the case of Scanlan Mor, king of Ossory, who had
unjustly been made a prisoner by the monarch some time before,
and kept in long and cruel confinement ; the other concerning the
right to the tributes and military service of the Dalriadian
Gsedhelic colony of Scotland, to which king Aedh laid a claim
that was resisted by Aedan Mac Gabhrain, the king of that
country. For the more ample discussion of these weighty matters
Aedh convened a meeting of the states of the nation at
Drom-Ceata [a spot now called Daisy Hill, near Newtown-
limivady, in the modern county of Derry] ; which meeting took
place, according to O'Donovan's Annals of the Four Masters,
in the year 574.
This great meeting was attended by all the provincial kings,
and by all the chiefs and nobles of the island ; and Aedh invited
over from lona the great patron of his race, St. Colum Cille, to
have the benefit of his wise counsels in the discussion, not only
concerning the special objects for which the meeting was first
intended, but many others of social and political importance.
And so it happened that at this meeting the affairs of the poets
and the profession of teaching were also discussed.
It was solemnly resolved at this meeting that the general
1 Vol. ii., Lect. iv,
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 299
system of education should be revised, and placed upon a more
solid and orderly foundation ; and to this end the following scheme
[according to Keating] was proposed and adopted.
Then follows the scheme referred to.
That St. Columb was not invited by King Aedh to this
meeting is quite certain, and O'Curry corrects his mistake
on this point in a subsequent lecture. ' St. Columcille
having heard of this meeting and its objects,' says he, ' and
being a great patron of literature, came over from his island
home at I, or lona, whither he had retired from the world
to appease the king and the people, and quite unexpectedly
appeared at the meeting. The poets at this time, with
Dalian Forgall as their chief, were collected in all their
numbers in the vicinity of the hill of meeting, anxiously
awaiting their fate ; but their anxiety was soon relieved, as
their able advocate had so much influence with the monarch
and his people to procure a satisfactory termination to the
misunderstanding between them and the priests.'* It was
on this occasion that Dalian Forgall, chief of the Bards,
composed the famous poem in praise of the saint, entitled
'Amhra Chollium Chille,' or ' The Praises of Columb of the
Church,' This poem is still in existence, and is constantly
referred to by O'Curry in his lectures as one of the most
beautiful specimens of ancient Irish poetry.
St. Columba's arrival at the meeting seems to have
been an unpleasant surprise to King Aedh and his household.
The king well knew the powerful influence of the saint, and
naturally feared his opposition ; but as he was his own near
relative, and had come in the interests of peace, he could
not do otherwise than treat the holy Abbot with at least
outward reverence. Not so, however, his spouse. Filled with
jealousy at the veneration manifested toward St. Columb
and his followers, she secretly ordered her son Connall
to insult and maltreat them, an order which he only too faith-
fully executed. In the old Irish Life of St. Columba,
translated by Mr. W. M. Hennessey, and printed as an
1 Vol, iii., Lect. xxxi.
300 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
appendix to the second volume of Skene's Celtic Scotland,
the story is thus narrated : —
They afterwards saw Colum Cille going towards the conven-
tion, and the assembly that was nearest to him was the assembly
of Conall, son of Aedh, son of Ainmire ; and he was a worthy
son of Aedh. As Conall saw them, therefore, he incited the
rabble of the assembly against them, so that threescore men
of them were captured and wounded. Colum Cille inquired,
' Who is he by whom this band has been launched against us ?'
And it was told to him that it was by Conall. And Colum Cille
cursed Conall, until thrice nine bells were rung against him, when
some man said, ' Conall gets bells fclogal,' and it is from this that
he is called 'Conall Clogach." And the cleric deprived him of
kingship, and of his reason and intellect in the space of time that
he would be prostrating his body.
Colum Cille went afterwards to the assembly of Dornhnall,
son of Aedh, son of Ainmire, and Domhnall immediately rose up
before him and bade him welcome, and kissed his cheek, and
put him in his own place. And the cleric left him many blessings,
viz., that he should be fifty years in the sovereignty of Eria, and
be battle-victorious during that time, and that every word he
would say would be fulfilled by him ; that he would be one year
and a half in the illness of which he would die, and would receive
the body of Christ every Sunday during that time.
Of course the story would not be complete without a little
more cursing on the part of the saint, for his ancient
biographers are always crediting him with most extra-
ordinary maledictory powers. The queen, it seems, was
indignant at seeing her son Conall driven mad and deprived
of the right to the throne, and Domhnall, who was only
her stepson, appointed in his place. In her wrath she
nicknamed the saint, calling him ' a crane ' on account of
his tall stature and emaciated form. Colum Cille retorted : —
' Thou hast leave to be a crane,'
Said the cleric furiously.
' As just punishment to thy handmaid,
She'll be a crane along with thee.'
Aedh's wife and her waiting-maid,
Were turned into herons.
They live still, and make complaints,
The two old herons of Druim-Ceata.
Notwithstanding the immortality promised these lady-
herons, their place, alas! knows them no more. The waters
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 301
of the Eoe no longer re-echo their sad lamentations; the
loneliness of Dromceat is no longer disturbed by their
pensive wailings. We think they must have died.
It is not easy to explain this practice of the old Irish bio-
graphers of the saint, representing him as uttering maledic-
tions so frequently, except we understand them as using the
figure oxymoron to a very large extent. The very name he
bears was given him by his young companions from the
dove-like gentleness of his disposition, and indicated the very
opposite of what his mistaken biographers attributed to
him.
One of the objects for which this assembly was convened [says
Dr. Reeves] was to determine the jurisdiction of the Albanian
Dalriada. The question at issue is variously stated. O'Donnellus
would have it that Aiden laid claim to the sovereignty of the Irish
Dalriada, and required that it should be exempt from the rule of
the Irish monarch. Keating and O'Flaherty, on the other hand,
state that the dispute arose from the demand of Aidus, the Irish
king, to receive tribute from the Albanian prince as from the
governor of a colony. They agree, however, as to the decision,
which was that the Irish Dalriada should continue under the
dominion of the king of Ireland, and that the sister kingdom should
be independent, subject to the understanding that either power
should be prepared, when called upon, to assist the other in
virtue of their national affinity.1
It appears pretty clear that the Irish colon}' which had
gone to Scotland from that part of Antrim called Dalriada
(which corresponds, we believe, with the modern district of
the Eoute), were still subject for many years to the Irish
monarchy, just as the American colonies were subject after-
wards to the British crown ; but, when grown strong enough
to throw off the yoke, they determined to assert their inde-
pendence. They refused to be any longer tributary; and
Aedh, the Irish king, feeling the loss to his treasury, as well
as to his prestige, arising from this policy of independence,
resolved to fix upon them irrevocably the law of subjection.
This was the first object he had in view in summoning the
national parliament of Drumceat. We may here remark in
passing that Aedh selected this place for the meeting because
^Antiquities of Down and Connor, Appendix, pp. 321-322.
302 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
it was within his patrimonial territory, where he was
surrounded by friends and faithful clansmen, and where he
was more secure than he would be at the palace of Tara.
Some give him credit for wishing to accommodate his Scotch
friends by selecting a locality convenient for them ; but there
seems to be no foundation for this surmise.
The Dalriadian question first, and the total suppression
of the bards next, were the points to be laid before the
assembly at its opening.
The bards had become at this time simply intolerable.
Their exactions were impoverishing the people, and their
insolence had gone so far as to demand from the king
the Royal Brooch, which was the most highly-prized and
sacred heirloom of the royal family. We may form some
idea of their numbers when we learn that in Meath
and Ulster alone they exceeded at this time one thousand
two hundred. Twice during his reign before this had
Aedh banished them from the precincts of the palace,
and they were obliged to take refuge in Ulidia, a little
principality corresponding to the present county Down.
Now, however, he was determined to utterly exterminate
them. To give some idea of the mode in which the bards
lived upon the people and oppressed them, and the reason
why Aedh was maddened into adopting means to suppress
the order, we will transcribe from O'Curry a brief sketch
of the circumstances: —
At this time [says he] the Fileadh, or poets, it would appear,
became more troublesome and importunate than ever. A singular
custom is recorded to have prevailed among their profession from"
a very early period. They were in the habit of travelling through
the country, as I have already mentioned, in groups or companies,
composed of teachers and pupils, under a single teacher or master.
In these progresses, when they came to a house, the first man of
them that entered began to chant the first verse of a poem, the
last man of the party responded to him, and so the whole poem
was sung, each taking a part in that order. Now each company
of poets had a silver pot, which was called Coire Sainnte, literally
the Pot of Avarice, every pot having nine chains of bronze attached
to it by golden hooks, and it was suspended from the points of
the spears of nine of the company, which were thrust through
the links at the other ends of the chains. The reason — according
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 303
to the account of this custom preserved in the Leabhar Mor Duna
Doighre, called the Leabhar Breac [E.I. A.] — that the pot was
called the 'Pot of Avarice,' was, because that it was into it that
whatever of gold or silver they received was put ; and whilst the
poem was being chanted, the best nine musicians in the company
played music around the pot. This custom was, no doubt, very
picturesque, but the actors in it were capable of showing them-
selves in two different characters, according to the result of their
application. If their Pot of Avarice received the approbation of
the man of the house in gold or silver, a laudatory poem was
written for him ; but if he did not, he was satirized in the most
virulent terms that a copious and highly-expressive language
could supply.
Now, so confident always were the poets in the influence which
their satirical powers had over the actions of the people of all
classes, that, in the year of our Lord 590, a company of them
waited on the monarch Aedh [or Hugh] son of Ainmiret and
threatened to satirize him if he did not give them the Both Croi
itself — the Koyal Brooch — which from the remotest times
descended from monarch to monarch of Erinn, and which is
recorded to have been worn as the chief distinctive emblem of the
legitimate sovereign. Aehd [Hugh], however, had not only the
moral courage to refuse so audacious a demand, but in his indig-
nation he even ordered the banishment of the whole profession
out of the country ; and, in compliance with this order, they
collected in great numbers into Ulidia once more where they
again received a temporary asylum.1
The question, then, of the bards formed the second great
subject which the Convention had to discuss ; and the third
important motion to be brought before the assembly was the
unjust imprisonment of Scanlan Mor, son of the king of
Ossory. These were not, of course, the only points to be
settled. The whole laws of the kingdom were to be revised
and reduced to form, and regulations were to be made to
provide for the education of the people, and to secure for
the professors in the different learned branches a suitable
maintenance. Considering the century in which these
measures were adopted, and their influence on after genera-
tions, it will not seem wonderful that our country acquired
at an early date the proud title of 'Insula Sanctorum et
Doctorum.' Hence King Alfred, about a century after this
1 Manners and Customs, &c., vol. ii., lect. iii.
304 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
parliament, in a poem composed during his banishment in
Ireland, thus wrote :—
I found in each great church,
Whether internal on shore or island,
Learning, wisdom, devotion to God,
Holy welcome and protection.
To St. Columb's defence of the hards at Drumceat may be
justly give the credit of that learning which in after years
made Ireland the lamp of Europe, and her sons the great
evangelists of science and literature in the various lands of
the Continent. On Columb's arrival at the council, king
Aedh proposed to leave to his decision the vexed question of
the Dalriadic tribute, but the saint modestly declined the
honour, thereby reserving to himself the greater liberty
of speech afterwards in opposing what he considered an
unjust imposition. Colman, the saintly bishop of Dromore,
was then called on to expatiate on the question at issue, and
to defend the policy of the Irish monarch. He had been
specially chosen by the clergy as their spokesman, and an
abler at the time did not exist in the Irish Church. But the
lustre of his eloquence paled before the more brilliant powers
of lona's abbot. The fate of a rising colony, and the very
existence of the bardic order hung in the balance, and the
side to which the scale would now incline depended on the
great apostle of Scotland. He was no ordinary man in any
sense of the word. ' Angelic in appearance, elegant in
address, holy in work, with talents of the highest order, and
consummate wisdom,'1 he was well calculated to sway the
councils of princes and prelates, many of whom were of his
own kith and kin.
Both nature and education [says T. D. Magee] had well fitted
Columbkill to the great task of adding another realm to the
empire of Christendom. His princely birth gave him power over
his own proud kindred ; his golden eloquence and glowing verse —
the fragments of which still move and delight the Gaelic
scholar — gave 'him fame and weight in the Christian schools
which had suddenly sprung up in every glen and island. As
prince, he stood on equal terms with princes ; as poet, he was
1 Adamnau, 2nd Preface.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM^CEAT. 305
affiliated to that all-powerful bardic order, before whose awfut
anger kings trembled, and warriors succumbed in superstitious
dread. A spotless soul, a disciplined body, an industry that never
wearied, a courage that never blanched, a sweetness and courtesy
that won all hearts, a tenderness for others that contrasted
strongly with his rigour towards himself — these were the secrets
of success of this eminent missionary — these were the miracles by
which he accomplished the conversion of so many barbarous
tribes and pagan princes. 1
Such was the man on whom now devolved the noble
duty of defending the cause of liberty and learning. Every
eye in that vast assembly was turned upon him as he rose,
and every breath was hushed, till the gentle murmur of
the Koe, as it hastened to the Foyle, was the only sound
that broke the death-like silence. The monarch and his
courtiers alike were awed; princes and prelates became
willing listeners ; nobles and clansmen were swayed by his
eloquence; and the unarmed Abbot from the lonely and
desolate isle in the northern seas became the bloodless
conqueror of the Irish monarch and his mailed followers.
Skilfully blending together the two great questions under
discussion, he dwelt with all the passionate eloquence of his
fiery nature on liberty — God's priceless gift to man — and
learning, which teaches us to use that gift aright. Admitting
that the bards had at times forgotten the rules of moderation,
and forgotten too the fealty and homage due to the sovereign ,
these were faults, he argued, which salutary laws could
easily correct, and which had only arisen from the deficiency
of former legislation. In words to the following effect he
continued : —
Is an entire order to be suppressed for the faults of a few of its
members? and must our annals remain henceforth unwritten,
our valiant men sink to earth unsung, because no tuneful bard
exists to pen the one, or raise the mournful dirge at the grave
of the other ? Vice may then reign triumphant, for no wandering
minstrel will dare to lash it ; virtue may wither and die, for no
learned Ollamh will survive to defend it. All that is sacred in
the past, all that is cherished in the present, all of good that we
hope for in the future, must perish in the common ruin of
genealogists, historians, poets, astronomers, and physicians which
III.
1 His'ory of Ireland, by T. D. Magee.
306 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
is sought to be accomplished to-day. If you would throw back
your country to the darkness, not only of pre-Christian, but of
pre-Druidic times, then suppress the energies of the rising colony
in Argyle, and drive for ever from your shores the learned bards
who have given you the inheritance of literature, and raised your
name for erudition in foreign lands. But, if you would cherish
liberty and learning, if you would secure for yourselves trust-
worthy allies and faithful historians, then break to-day the
shackles that have too long bound your kinsmen in Scotland,
and give to your bards a code of laws that will at once preserve
and restrain them.
The eloquence and reasoning of Columba prevailed.
The colonists were freed from the odious taxation, and a
code of laws was enacted for the proper maintenance of
learned teachers, and of approved schools, and at the same
time for the due restriction of the number and privileges
of the bards : —
It was solemnly resolved at this meeting [says 0 'Curry J that
the general system of education should be revised, and placed
upon a more solemn and orderly foundation; and to this end
the following scheme [according to Keating] was proposed and
adopted. A special ollamh, or doctor in literature was assigned
to the monarch, as well as to each of the provincial kings, chiefs,
and lords of territories ; and to each ollamh were assigned free
lands, from his chief, and a grant of inviolability to his person,
and sanctuary to his lands, from the monarch and the men of
Erinn at large. They ordered also free common-lands for the
purpose of free education in the manner of a university (such as
Masraighe in Breifne, or Breifney-Eath-Ceamaidh in Meath, &c. )
in which education was gratuitously given to such of the men of
Erinn as desired to become learned in history, or in such of the
sciences as were then cultivated in the land. The chief Ollamh of
Erinn at this time was Eochaidh, the Poet Eoyal, who wrote the
celebrated elegy on the death of St. Columcille, and who is better
known under the name of Dalian Forgaill ; and to him the
inauguration and direction of the new colleges were assigned.
Eochaidh appointed presidents to the different provinces. To
Meath he appointed Aedh [or Hugh], the poet ; to Munster he
appointed Urmael, the arch-poet and scholar ; to Connacht he
appointed Seanchan Mac Cuairfertaigh ; to Ulster he appointed
Ferfirb Mac Muiredhaigh ; and so on.
It will have been observed that the endowed educational
establishments placed under these masters were, in fact, National
Literary Colleges, quite distinct from the great literary and
ecclesiastical schools and colleges which, about this time, forming
themselves round individual celebrity, began to cover the land,
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 307
and whose hospitable halls were often [as we know] crowded
with the sons of princes and nobles, and with tutors and pupils
from all parts of Europe, coming over to seek knowledge in a
country then believed to be the most advanced in the civilization
of the age. ... It appears, also, from the Brehon Laws, that the
pupils were often the foster-children of the tutor. The sons of
gentlemen were taught not only literature, but horsemanship,
chess, swimming, and the use of arms, chiefly casting the spear.
Their daughters were taught sewing, cutting or fashioning, and
ornamentation, or embroidery. The sons of the tenant-class were
not taught horsemanship, nor did they wear the same clothes as
the classes above them.
All this has, in the law, distinct reference to public schools,
where the sons of the lower classes waited on the sons of the
upper classes, and received certain benefits [in food, clothes, and
instruction] from them in return. In fact the ' sizarships ' in
our modern colleges appear to be a modified continuation of the
ancient system.1
It would be tedious, and, to most readers, uninteresting
now to enter into all the details of the laws enacted on the
score of education at this assembly. Suffice it to say that
they were such as gave an impetus to learning for ages in our
island, and made the names of Bangor, Moville (Co. Down),
Clonard, and Clonmacnoise more familiar in Europe than
are Oxford, Cambridge, and Paris to-day. But a few of the
traditions and legends connected with St. Columba's coming
to the Convention, and his stay at it, may prove more enter-
taining than a history of the laws enacted on the occasion.
We trust we wont be accounted sceptical if we decline
making an act of faith in all the venerable traditions of that
time, or if we venture to explain some of the reputed miracles
on natural principles. The very fact of so many traditions
existing about St. Columba — absurd and incredible though a
number of them be — goes to prove that he was no ordinary
man, but one whose influence was felt, and whose life far
transcended that of his contemporaries ; for with truth has
Longfellow said : —
The heights by great men reached and kept,
Were not attained by sudden flight ;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
1 Manners and Customs, &c. vol. ii, Lect. iv»
308 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
III. LEGENDS ABOUT COLUMBA — HIS CHARACTER
In A.D. 1532 Manus O'Donnell, chief of Tyrconnell,
compiled a Life of St. Coluinb in the castle of Port-na-tri-
namad, i.e., the 'Port of the Three Enemies,' now called
Lifford, and into this Life he compressed every tale and legend
accessible at the period. Colgan, who translated a great
part of this work of O'Donnell's from Irish into Latin, gravely
reproduced it with the accuracy of a faithful translator in his
Trias Thaumaturga, leaving, of course, to the Tyrconnell
chieftain whatever honour accrued from the collection and
compilation of the Columbian legends. Among these mar-
vellous tales is a description of the saint's voyage from
Scotland to Drumceat, the substance of which we beg to give
in English. After stating that Columba set out with a
retinue of many bishops, forty priests, thirty deacons, fifty
clerics of lower grades, and Aedan, king of the Albanian
Scots, with many chieftains, to attend the Parliament at
Drumceat, he proceeds to tell us of a great tempest, excited
by a ferocious sea-monster, which threatened to submerge
the vessels and their crews. Those on board, in terror and
alarm, begged of the holy man to deliver them from this
monster, but the saint gave them to understand that God
had reserved that honour, not for him, but for St. Senachus,
who dwelt by the distant shores of Lough Erne. Just at
the same moment Senachus, who was engaged in his forge
(for he was a smith) in heating and hammering out iron,
beholding by Divine permission the pressing danger of the
servants of God, rushing forth from his worKshop, flung the
fiery missile aloft into the air. With a precision and velocity
truly wonderful was it borne through the air from the woody
shores of Doire Broscaidh to the ocean, where it fell direct
into the gaping jaws of the furious monster, and, as might
be expected, immediately killed it. In order that all might
know that to St. Senachus was it due that he (St. Columb)
and all in the vessel owed their escape, he prayed that
to whatever shore of Ireland they might reach, there also
might the carcase of the monster whale be driven. His
prayer was granted, for when their barque touched the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 309
shores of Lough Foyle, there they found the wild beast,
rolled by the waters of the sea, beiore them. Opening its
jaws, they took out the mass of iron, which St. Columba
sent back to its lawful owner, St. Senachus, and out of it
the clever blacksmith manufactured .three bells, which he
bestowed upon three several churches. Whether or not
they were employed to peal the requiem of the slaughtered
whale, and to perpetuate the memory of this successful
mode of harpooning, the legend fails to state; but, to say the
least, it is a wonderful story.
As miraculous events marked the early part of the saint's
voyage, so, according to O'Donnell, did they continue to bless
his entrance into the classic waters of the Foyle. Judging
from pagan as well as from Christian traditions, this river
seems to have been at all times endowed with wonderful
understanding and feelings of commiseration for the dis-
tressed ; for, as of old it rolled in pity a monumental stone
over Feval, the son of Lodan, and even assumed the name of
the hapless youth, so now it rose in reverence to the holy
Abbot, and, gently swelling the scanty stream of the tortuous
Eoe, bore the sacred band in safety to the very spot where
the assembly was -convened. We think, however, that it is
most probable the aid of a miracle was not required in this
instance to enable St. Columb to sail up the Koe. To the
most superficial observer it is evident that Myroe and the
lowlands of Magilligan were at no very remote period part of
Lough Foyle, and that the waters of the Lough came within
an exceedingly short distance of Limavady. In a field about
a quarter of a mile from that town portions of an anchor and
some other remains of a boat were dug up not many years
ago, and the field in which they were found is not much above
the high-water level. The sub-soil is sand, such as is usually
found along shores, and everything about the locality indi-
cates that the whole district has by degrees been rescued from
the waters. The very name — Myroe — points in the same
direction. This word does not — as a modern derivation of it
states — signify the territory or district of the Eoe, for the
word was not originally Magh-Ko, but Murrough or Murragh,
as may be seen in the appendix to Sampson's tiurvey, where
310 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
mention is made of Bally-Murragh. According to Dr. Joyce,
Murragh means a low-lying district, covered at times by
the sea- water — a sea marsh, and this would aptly enough
describe this locality at a period probably much later than
that of the Convention of Drumceat. Now if the Foyle
flowed up to Limavady, or near it, the waters of the Roe
would at high tide be considerably swollen, and consequently
would not be so unnavigable as at present. From its
distant source in Glenshane mountain the Roe is fed by
many tributaries in its course, notably by the 'Burn of the
round Bush,' which rises in Sheskin-na-Mhadaigh, or
'The Dog's Quagmire,' and by the stream from Lig-na-
Peasta, or the 'Pool of the Serpent;' sweeping majestically
past the old church of Dungiven, and the historic tomb
of Cooey-na-Gall, it forms no inconsiderable volume of
water before reaching the locality of Drumceat. If we
suppose this volume checked in its course, and driven back
by the incoming tide at Leim-a-Mhadaigh (Limavady),
' The Dog's Leap,' it will at once be quite intelligible how
the light curraghs of St. Columb and his followers could
with ease sail up the Roe, till they anchored at the memorable
rock, henceforth known as Cabhan-na-Churaidh.
Another circumstance related in an ancient poem ascribed
to St. Molaise, is that St. Columb came blindfolded to
the assembly, and remained so till its close. The reason
assigned for this is that on his banishment, or his voluntary
exile, whichever it was, he had been commanded by bis
confessor never again to look upon the land of his birth, and
that now, when duty compelled him to come, he carried out
to the letter the injunction laid upon him, and came to the
great assembly at Drumceat with a sear-cloth covering his
eyes. This story, though often repeated, seems highly
improbable. If we believe the account of St. Columb's
leaving Ireland to have been the result of an injunction of
St. Molaise, and not the voluntary act of a man burning with
zeal to spread the Gospel, we must regard his return to his
native land as a violation of the spirit, if not of the letter, of
his extraordinary penance. Such an ascetic as Columba was
not likely to be guilty of such a violation. Besides, if he
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 311
remained in Ireland the entire time of the convention, as we
are told he did, and that it lasted for thirteen months, it
would be preposterous to suppose that, he remained blind-
folded for all that time. Moreover, we know that during his
sojourn in lona he visited, three times at least, his Irish
monasteries, and there is no mention of this blindfolding
then. This seems to be one of those idle tales which a
mistaken zeal for his glory has foolishly interwoven with his
history. It has, however, furnished a subject for the poet's
pen, which has been turned to good account. In an ancient
Gaelic poem attributed (but incorrectly) to St. Columb him-
self, and paraphrased most beautifully by Mr. T. D. Sullivan,
the saint, whose longing eyes ever turned westward, fearing
the violation of his penance if he settled in any island from
which Erin could be seen, thus urges his companions to seek
a distant settlement : —
. To oars again, we may not stay,
For, ah ! on ocean's rim I see,
When sunbeams pierce the cloudy day,
From these rude cliffs of Oronsay,
The isle so dear to me.
I may not look upon that shore
However low and dim it lies ;
Dear brothers, ply the sail and oar,
My word is passed — I see no more
That glory of my eyes.
Away o'er calm and angry tides,
Where'er our fragile craft is blown.
Whatever wind or current guides,
Away, away, till ocean hides
The hills of fair Tyrone.
Through Derry's oak-groves angels white
In countless thousands come and go ;
And gleams, as if of God's delight,
Fall calm and clear to mortal sight
IJpon beloved Raphoe.
But fear from Deny, far from Kells,
And fair Raphoe my steps must be ;
The psalm from Durrow's quiet dells,
The tones of Arran's holy bells
Will sound no more for me.
312 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
When the questions of the Dalriadic tribute, and of the
existence of the bardic order had been satisfactorily settled,
St. Columb then undertook to plead the cause of Scanlan Mor,
the captive son of the king of Ossory. But here his eloquence
was fruitless, for Aedh obstinately refused to liberate him.
As usual, O'Donnell simplifies the whole matter by the
introduction of a convenient miracle, which soon unbolts
the doors of Scanlan's prison, which, by the way, was
adjacent to St. Columb's monastery, the Dubh Eegles of
Perry. He tells us that when Aedh refused the request of
the saint, Columba replied, that the Lord would liberate the
prisoner for him. After this he set out for his monastery
at Derry, which was some miles distant from Drumceat ;
and the following night he betook himself to prayer for the
liberation of the captive. Whilst thus engaged, a fearful
tempest, accompanied by peals of thunder, and flashes of
lightning, raged among the camps of the assembly at
Drumceat, and a luminous cloud sent forth brilliant beams
of light, which penetrated the gloom of the prison in which
Scanlan was confined; and then was heard a voice command-
ing the prisoner to go forth from his cell. Scanlan followed
an angel who acted as his guide, and having in a moment
of time, and without any apparent movement, transferred
him from the prison to the monastery at Derry, left him
there and immediately disappeared from sight. Probably
the good Prince of Tyrconnell, at the time he wrote this,
l.ad been reading over the history of St. Peter's liberation
from prison by angelic ministry, and by mistake trans-
ferred the substance of the story into the life of his patron.
Adamnan's account of the matter is simpler, and we will
transcribe it : — l
At the same time, and in the same place [i.e. Drumceat], the
saint wishing to visit Scanlan, son of Colman, went to him where
he was kept in prison by king Aedh, and when he had blessed
him, he comforted him, saying: 'Son, be not sorrowful, but
rather rejoice and be comforted, for king Aedh, who has you a
prisoner, will go out of this world before you, and after some
time of exile you shall reign in your own nation thirty years.
1 Adamnan, Book i., ch. ii.
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 313
And again you shall be driven from your kingdom, and shall be
in exile for some days ; after which, called home again by your
people, you shall reign for three short terms,' all of which was fully
accomplished according to the prophecy of the saint : for after
reigning for thirty years, he was expelled, and was in exile for
some space of time, but being invited home again by the people,
he reigned not three years, as he expected, but three months,
after which he immediately died.
He remained captive at Derry until the death of Aedh,
who was killed by Bran Dubh in the battle of Dunbolg
near Baltinglass in the county Wicklow, in 594, or accord-
ing to others, in 598.
One other circumstance in connection with St. Columb's
coming to Drumceat we may be permitted to notice before
closing, and that is the fact of so many bishops following in
his retinue and yielding him obedience. As belonging to
the superior or highest grade of the priesthood, the bishops
would naturally be expected to have the precedence ; but
here that order is reversed, and no less than twenty bishops
follow in the wake of the illustrious abbot with a docility
and submission worthy of novices. This circumstance was
noted and satisfactorily explained by the Venerable Bede,
and still later by Geoffrey Keating, in his History of Ireland,
and by Dr. Coyle, Bishop of Eaphoe, in his Collectanea Sacra,
or Pious Miscellany. In the appendix to his Antiquities of
Down and Connor, Dr. Eeeves gives the substance of these
remarks, and though the question is not of much importance
in our present essay, a portion of Dr. Beeves' explanation may
not be unacceptable to the readers of the I. E. RECORD : —
In the year 590 was convened a council at Drumceat, on the
river Eoe, one great object of which was to arbitrate between the
respective claims of Aidus, king of Ireland, and Aidan, king of
the British Scots, to the kingdom of Dalriada, in Ireland. And
hither Columbkille also came from his monastery at Hy, attended
by a company which is thus described by his contemporary,
Dalian Forgall :—
' Twoscore priests was their number,
Twenty bishops of excellence and worth,
For singing psalms, a practice without blame,
Fifty deacons and thirty students.'
These lines, though written with great poetical licence, are
of undoubted antiquity, and not only illustrate the ancient
frequency of bishops, but confirm what Bede said of the
314 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
subjection of the neighbouring provinces to the Abbot of Hy.
This subjection is satisfactorily accounted for, to use the words
of Bishop Lloyd, by the consideration that : ' Whereas in almost
all other places there were bishops before there were monasteries,
and then it was not lawful to build any monastery without the
leave of the bishop, here at Hy, on the contrary, there was no
Christian before Columba came thither. And when he was come,
and had converted both king and people, they gave him the
island in possession for the building of a monastery ; and withal,
for the maintenance of it, they gave him the royalty of the
neighbouring isles ; six of which are mentioned by Buchanan as
belonging to the monastery. And, therefore, though Columba
found it necessary to have a bishop, and was pleased to give him
a seat in his island, and, perhaps, to put the other isles under his
jurisdiction, yet it is not strange that he thought fit to keep the
royalty still to himself and his successors. It is no more strange
that it should be so there than that it is so now in many places ;
and at Oxford particularly, where a bishop now lives, and is as
well known to be a prelate of the English Church as any other ;
the government in the University exclusively of him ; and not
only the Chancellor and his deputy have precedence of the bishop,
but every private scholar is exempt from his cognizance and
jurisdiction. ' The power of order and jurisdiction, it is to be borne
in mind, are quite distinct. 'A person may be consecrated bishop,
to all intents and purposes as to the power of order without pos-
sessing any jurisdiction. Vice versa, a person of the clerical order
may, although not actually a bishop, be invested with episcopal
jurisdiction. Thus, if he be elected to a see, and regularly con-
firmed, he becomes, prior to his consecration, possessed of the juris-
diction appertaining to said see, and if it be metropolitan, the
suffragan bishops subject to him as if he had been actually
consecrated.'
The latter part of this extract Dr. Reeves gives on the
authority of the learned Dr. Lanigan.
We have dwelt thus in detail on the circumstances, tra-
ditions, and legends connected with the ancient parliament
held on the banks of the Roe, not .so much for their own
sake, as for that of the great assembly with which they are
linked. Our English neighbours, it is true, are wont to scoff
at our boasting of the ancient civilization of our country, and
to turn into ridicule those great men of our land, who are
still fresh in the minds of the people, and
"Whose distant footsteps echo
Through the corridors of time ;
but, their sneers notwithstanding, we love to dwell on the
THE CONVENTION OF DROM-CEAT 315
days of old, and like eagles to gaze upon the sun of glory
which then illumined our island. We feel it an honour to
belong to the race which led the van in evangelizing
and educating the proudest nations of modern Europe ; who
founded schools and universities where the sacred fire of
knowledge was guarded with more than vestal care during
the stormiest periods of Vandal and Gothic barbarism ; who,
when the lamp of learning was extinguished from the Seine
to the Tiber, opened the monastic halls of holy Ireland to the
thousands of students that flocked to her shores. Surely the
land and the age that produced such men as Columbanus,
Virgilius, Fridolin, and a host of others equally celebrated,
are not to be regarded as barbarous. And where in the
history of any country is there a name more dearly or more
deservedly cherished than that of the ' Dove of the Church,'
our own saint Columbkille? No name brings before the
Irish mind more glorious reminiscences than his ; and
whether as a stripling in the paternal halls of Kilmacrenan,
as a youth by the banks of Strangford Lough, in the school
of St. Finnian, or as the great apostle in the lonely and
penitential cell of lona, he is ever to us a model of spotless
purity, of burning fervour, of distinguished wisdom and
prudence, and of a patriotism that, next to his love of God,
consumes his very soul. Thirteen centuries have passed
away since he breathed his last amid his sorrowing monks
in Hy, and yet is he familiarly spoken of by the Irish people
in every region, as if he had lived and moved amongst them
from their childhood. The holy wells, popularly believed to
have been blessed by him; the stones where he knelt in
prayer, and left the sacred impress of his knees; the blessings
or the maledictions uttered by him — what are they all but
mementos — fond, though it may be fanciful — that a grate-
ful race has cherished and nursed for generations regarding
this wonderful man. The tall commanding form, the keen
and flashing eye, the angelic loveliness of the countenance, the
rich melodious voice, the copious and impressive eloquence
which subdued even kings and courts, and swayed the
destinies of nations yet unborn ; the statesmanlike and
highly-cultivated mind — these have all been familiar to us
316 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
from childhood, and are pictures on which fancy has loved to
dwell from our earliest years. Nowhere, however, does the
innate nobleness of his character shine to greater advantage
than at the Convention of Drnmceat,where, in the presence of
hostile kings and mutually jealous clans, he pleaded the cause
of justice, of learning, and of mercy. The princes and the
rulers of the land were there ; the prelates, and priests, and
poets had their respective positions in that assembly; various
feelings and various interests were at work ; but the master-
hand of the Abbot of Ion a blended into one harmonious
whole the conflicting interests of the assembled thousands,
and like another Moses, swayed a people scarcely less
stubborn, and scarcely less fickle, than the tribes of Israel.
If war between the Dalriadian colony and the parent country
were averted, to Columba is the honour due ; if the cause of
learning in the persons of the poets were preserved from
destruction, to the apostle of Scotland must the credit be
given ; and if the fetters of the captive, Scanlan Mor of
Ossory, were not broken, it was not that the fervid eloquence
of Columbkille was wanting, but that the heart of Hugh
was steeled against the inroads of the slightest feelings of
mercy for his prisoner.
What good for future generations the wise counsels
of the saint effected at the Convention we cannot now
sufficiently appreciate ; but we know that it was the
salutary regulations there enacted that made the schools
of Ireland for so many centuries afterwards the light and
glory of Christendom. To Columba was this mainly due,
and to him must every son of Ireland, in ages yet to come,
reverently bow, as the great father and protector of litera-
ture. Though the schools which sprang into existence
about that time are now no more ; though Bangor,
Clonmacnoise, Clonard, Moville, Kells, and Derry, are
stripped of their ancient glories; though the bards who
governed the colleges have, like their schools, long since
passed away ; still the name of him, who pleaded so well
the cause of master and pupil, is written, and for ever
shall be indelibly written, on the hearts of the Irish people.
While the Koe steals down from its distant fountain in
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 317
Glenshane, and mingles its waters with the turbid Foyle;
while the winter storms beat vainly against the rocky
battlements of Magilligan, and howl in fury round the
summit of the Keady ; while returning spring scatters its
thousand beauties over the broad lands of O'Cahan, and
restores the buds and blossoms to the widowed forests, so
long shall the name of Columbkille be handed down with
benedictions from generation to generation, and the blessings
that his golden eloquence won for the people at the Parlia-
ment of Drumceat, be for ever lauded by the patriot, the
philanthropist, and the scholar.
<% JOHN K. O'DoHERTY.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART
IN IRELAND, AND SUGGESTIONS AS TO
ITS REVIVAL
'Domine, dilexi, decorem domus tuae.'
IN the present state of art, and especially ecclesiastical
art, in this country, we are living in a most remark-
able period. It may safely be asserted that more churches,
chapels, parochial and conventual buildings have been
erected in Ireland during the last fifty years than during any
corresponding period since the close of the twelfth century.
On every side we see large edifices, costing great sums of
money, rising in cities and towns, and even in small country
villages. It seems now that the moment has come to
review our progress in ecclesiological art as expressed in
these buildings of every degree. I use the word ' ecclesio-
logical ' advisedly, for the knowledge and the practical
application of ecclesiology seems to me to be not only
rarely shown, but to be absolutely wanting in the greater
number of these church buildings, especially in their
interiors, and what ought to be their essential fittings and
318 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
furniture. The study of ecclesiology, in its applied forms,
is utterly neglected ; whereas that of archaeology, as a
popular science, is ardently pursued, whether it relates to
historical or mediaeval buildings, or to the rude structures
and labours of pre-historic periods. Every quarter of
the year produces its own crop of archaeological treatises
on all sorts and conditions of objects of antiquity, possessing
either a historic or artistic value — at least in the eyes of
those who write about them. But as far as ecclesiology,
pure and simple, is concerned, we seldom, if ever, read
any article of interest or instruction, which might serve
to guide us in the difficult task of re-edifying and restoring
all those adjuncts to the services of the Catholic Church,
which were swept away so ruthlessly during the last three
centuries.
No student of our ancient ecclesiastical history can
enter one of the numerous ruined churches in this land
without noticing remains of these adjuncts, such as sedilia,
aumbries, corbels, or holes for the reception and support
of parcloses or screens, and rood beams, along with
(in many cases) spacious porches, chancel-crypts, and the
almost total absence of ' vestries ' from the greater number
of such antique churches and oratories. In this day of
building and restoration, I think it highly advisable that
we should endeavour to get back again those portions
of the sacred edifices of the Church of which we have
been so long deprived, without in the least degree impairing
the usefulness of the buildings as regards the social
needs of modern life and practice. It will not suffice,
however, to stop short at the mere fact of restoring the
buildings; we must try by studying what has been done
around us in other lands, to recover and take up again the
golden traditions of good taste which were abandoned in
the sixteenth century, from two causes : namely, the
destructive influence of the ' New Learning,' as it was then
called (somewhat like the ' New Criticism ' of our days), and
the giving up of Christian models for the Neo-Classical
forms, which were then being so ardently pursued by the
talented architects, artists, and designers of the Benaissance.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 319
In looking at the dire effects ot the powerful wave of
classicalism which swept over the minds and thoughts
of European nations, from Italy to the furthest confines
of the north, and even to the newly-discovered lands of
America, we now see how many things that were both
beautiful and true, in harmony with nature, and the genius
ot the different peoples that produced them, were despised,
neglected, and laid aside for the revived so-called pagan
ideals of Greece and Home. I am fully aware that the art
of the middle ages, in its struggle to obtain supremacy over
brute matter — as in its solving of the complex problems
involved in the solution of ' vaulting,' and the ' thrust ' of
vast masses of masonry — ran riot in the luxuriance of the
flamboyant forms of its latter architectural period. Bat
it had this merit, at least, that it was a glorious contest of
human intellect against matter, in struggling to attain to
the perfection of such marvellous creations as we still see
left in an unfinished state, in such magnificent edifices as
the cathedrals of Rouen, Chartres, Bourges, Amiens, and
even our own beautiful specimen of late work in the choir
of Holy- Cross Abbey, county Tipperary.1 Now, in spite of
the terrible stoppages which occurred in all literary or
artistic works in the country after the close of the fourteenth
century, and even previous to that time, I consider that
Irish ecclesiastical art was slowly but gradually advancing
in the way of progress, on sure and certain lines. I have
perceived many traces of this progress, even in the smallest
and least known of the numberless churches and oratories
which cover the face of our country. Take, for instance,
one familiar example, amongst many, which occurs to me
at this moment, in the now ruined and ivy-grown church of
Kilmolash, in the county Waterford, on the banks of the
1 In this choir, which was evidently planned by masons thoroughly
acquainted with the southern European style (having worked in Portugal at
the Abbey of Batalha, under Bishop William Hackett, of Kilkenny, circa
A.D. 1465), there is a ' sedilia ' which — so dense the ignorance respecting such
matters — has been the subject of violent discussions between Irish archaeologists
in past years, some asserting that it was a tomb, others that it was not ; all
seemingly unaware of its being simply the seat for the use of the ministers at
the altar.
320 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Finisk river. In this small but interesting edifice I can
trace the progress of architectural knowledge and taste from
the close of the sixth up to the beginning of the sixteenth
century. Herein I have found decided signs of the
' iconostasis ' cr chancel-screen which separated the sanc-
tuary from the nave, as in the Greek Church even to the
present day ; the aumbries, or deep square receptacles in
the walls near where the altars were placed, and in the
western fa9ade, there is a late pointed doorway, of which
the mouldings are of a distinctly flamboyant type, showing
how the later builders were imbued with the taste then
prevailing in the rest of Europe. I could multiply such
instances.1 My reason for now citing this one, is to
demonstrate how the Irish ecclesiologists and architects
of that day were progressing towards a style which, if it
had not been rudely interrupted by civil and religious
warfare, would have led to a development of architecture
in Ireland, destined to produce works that would have
been, doubtless, a glory to their country.
For, I believe firmly, as the Irish were distinguished not
only as illuminators of manuscripts, and workers in metal,
but also as builders — as witness Cormac's chapel at
Cashel, Kilmalkedar, Aghadoe, and Tuam — long previous to
the Norman invasion, so by their Celtic quickness of intellect
and their intuitive faculty, especially in the domain of art,
they would have attained a high degree of perfection in
constructive and decorative work of every description.
Many persons object to this theory, that all such artistic
forms as are shown in the buildings that I have mentioned,
have been importations from Byzantine and other foreign
sources. Still, admitting that our Irish types had been, in
a great measure, derived from such extraneous sources, I
assert that the Celtic mind had modified, in a most remark-
able degree, the leading characteristics of such imported
models, so as to make them ' racy of the soil,' and full of
1 There is a charming specimen of late work, most probably design*, d and
erected by Bishop Hackett, in the shape of a small pointed arched doorway,
carved in limestone, with profiles admirably adapted to the material, now
standing in the outer wall of Kilkenny cathedral.
THE DECADENCE OF ECCLESIOLOGICAL ART 321
that quaint beauty which displays itself, to the admiration
of civilized Europe, in the graceful curves of its manuscripts
and of its goldsmiths' works.
In submitting these preliminary remarks to the readers
of the I. E. EECOED, I am desirous of reviving in Ireland,
and especially amongst the clergy and educated laity, the
spirit of research into the past artistic story of our old
churches, leaving aside for the moment their purely historic
and archaeological aspects ; and seeing whether we, in this
day of revival, cannot take hold again of the golden cord of
artistic tradition and of Catholic ritual in its fulness, which
may lead us through the chaotic labyrinth of the mis-
named— in so many cases — ecclesiastical art of the present
day in our land.
Instead of the depressing silence which now broods
over all such studies in this country, I wish to see intelligent
criticism evoked and used fearlessly and pitilessly as regards
all the buildings, furniture, and other objects employed in
the services of the Church. Public interest must be
awakened to the absolute necessity of restoring the art
forms which were thrown aside at an unfortunate period,
and which drifted away from men's memories, during
the dark days of wars, rebellions, and penal laws which
so long prevailed in this unhappy island. We see our
neighbours, in England as well as in Belgium, fully
awake to the consciousness that the ' talking about,'
and the ' writing on ' ecclesiology, as a sort of pseudo-
science, does not avail much in a practical way in these
practical days ; but that the results of the investigations
and the knowledge acquired during this last half century,
must be brought to bear on artistic productions, for the use
of the Church in our times.
We are too near the twentieth century to be any
longer producing merely ' correct ' copies of ' correct '
churches and cathedrals, a la Pugin type. Without
pursuing the ' Will-o'-the-Wisp ' idea of a bran-new
architectural style, our English and Belgian ecclesiological
friends are beginning to discover by degrees that a real
architectural style is being developed out of the elements of
VOL. in. x
322 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
preceding centuries, which show that it is a worthy product
of these latter days, and is admirably adapted to the needs
of the present time, as we see in the works of learned
ecclesiologists, such as the late John Sedding, Pearson,
Bodely, Caroe, Delacenserie, Bethune, and many more of the
band of gallant workers who with hand and brain, pencil and
pen, hammer and chisel, are delivering us from the thraldom
of the cold, cast-iron forms, and inept traditions which still
prevail throughout Ireland, in all their ' out-of-date,' and
painfully ' correct ' reproductions of the thirteenth century
Cistercian churches, and Hiberno-Lombardic chapels, mostly
all derived from French sources, without the slightest attempt
to show that the buildings belong to the present day, and
are not merely clever archgeological puzzles, to be both
wondered and smiled at by succeeding generations of
educated Irish people.
I shall endeavour, if I receive the hospitality of the pages
of the I. E. RECORD, to show what a pressing need there is for
a diffusion of ecclesiological knowledge among the clergy and
laity of Ireland, and especially for the practical teaching of
such knowledge in colleges and seminaries, as has been
organized for more than thirty years past by the well-known
Professor Reusens, in the Catholic University of Louvain,
of which course a most admirable resume has lately been
published.
MICHAEL J. C. BUCKLEY, M.E. S.A.I.
323
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY
IV.
fT! HE storms that swept over the Irish Church in the
J_ course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries should,
humanly speaking, have destroyed every vestige of the ancient
faith in the land. Bishops were proscribed and banished,
priests were hunted, altars overthrown, and on their ruins
another cultus had been raised which, in any other country,
might have become in popular esteem the national religion.
There seemed no hope left for the faith of our fathers. The
prelates were gone ; the ministry of the priests who stayed
with their stricken flocks was accomplished only at the cost
of a heroism which could never be the normal condition of
any Church ; and for the future there appeared but little
chance that with the years better things might come. Irish
politics at this juncture had become hopelessly Anglicized,
and the fortunes of the country no longer rested on ' native
swords and native ranks,' but found their only support in the
precarious honour of a royal house which certainly does not
live in history for its fealty to principle or friends. So that
the actual state of the Church in Ireland, bad as it was, yet
might have issued in a condition of things still worse, if some
plan had not been found to fill up the decimated ranks of the
clergy by others who were able to hand on unquenched to
another generation the flickering lamp of the national faith.
In point of fact, this work was done, and well done ; and
nothing in our annals more splendidly attests the superb
tenacity of the national conscience to the Catholic faith
than the army of youths who for over a hundred years had
sought in foreign lands the training and the learning needed
in every age for those who should bear the burden of the
Christian priesthood. They left home at a tender age, ran
all the risks of travel by sea and land, at that time infested
by the enemies of their mission abroad ; and all this that
they might be buried, in the flower of their age, in an
324 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
obscure corner of some foreign city, and so grow worthy of
their future work, whose highest crown would be martyr-
dom, and which, in any event, was sure to be accompanied
in its course by every species of privation and suffering. I
think this picture has no counterpart in history, and enough
has scarcely been done to put it in its right relief before the
students of our national annals. Travelling was not then
the luxury it has since become ; the mystery of time and
distance had not then been solved as it has been for us ; and
the weary vigils of our scholars abroad, in the eighteenth
century, had little of the solace which very easily comes to
modern exiles. They were cut off absolutely from their
people, and every day might easily have imagined that ruin
had, at length, reached their homes through the incidence
of the incessant wars and persecutions of the time. This
alone must have been a terrible accompaniment to the years
of study and prayer which should elapse before they too
might take part in the struggle, and taste all the bitter
fortunes of war. One cannot imagine any human motive
for this voluntary torture. It could not be love of letters,
for these might be had at home at a certain price ; nor mere
love of country, for this would hardly place them in a
position so little likely to further state interests ; so that we
are compelled to hold that perfect loyalty to God and His
Church alone explains the generous sacrifice of home, and
youth, and pleasure made by so many Irishmen in the past,
in order that they might prepare their hearts and minds for
the duty of ministering, in dark and evil days, to the
spiritual needs of their suffering -country.
It renders the history of the Irish exiles in Brittany still
more interesting, and fully typical of the times, that a
seminary for their use was established at Nantes, whose
constitutions and various fortunes can be fully followed
from its earliest moments to its final close. It will be the
scope of this chapter to deal with this foundation, and,
happily, I have under my hands the documents necessary to
sustain the narrative.
I had not been in Nantes but one day when I heard of the
Rue des Irlandais, and of the buildings that still evidence
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 325
the presence of our countrymen in the city. This fact first
suggested to me the idea of compiling these notes, and
awakened my interest in gathering the details of the Irish
colony here. The site of the seminary is still occupied by
a noble pile of buildings, some of which were in actual
possession of the exiles, while others have been since added,
and now serve for municipal uses. What remains of the
older buildings is marked by a very beautiful, if severe, style
of architecture, and the halls and refectory witness to the
elaborate scale of the foundation. The new section is a
superb structure, crowned by a square tower, which goes by
the name of ' La Tour des Irlandais,' and admirably serves
to perpetuate the memory of those whose residence there gave
a peculiar mark to the neighbourhood. It is of interest to
know that the Irish museum, now kept in another part of
the city, will eventually rest within these buildings, and
so permanently unite all the evidence which proves the
presence of Irish footsteps in the historic strata of Nantes.
The first form of this foundation was rather that of an
hospice than of a seminary. The necessity for such an
institution arose from the peculiar circumstances which
arose towards the close of the seventeenth century, when
Nantes was crowded by numbers of Irish ecclesiastics,
without employment and without means. In the course of
time some were enabled to undertake ministerial functions,
and became more or less incorporated with the diocesan
clergy ; others, however, were not so happily circumstanced,
and became a source of anxiety to the authorities. It is
said that some of them laid aside the ecclesiastical dress,
and sought their livelihood in purely secular pursuits. I
have no means to determine what proportion of the exiled
priests fell so far below the level of their state of life, but I
believe it cannot have been very large. The greater number
either assisted the local clergy or else opened schools, and
so solved the most urgent problem of life. It is said that
these schools were not notably successful. They had often
to open their doors to students who had been rejected from
other academies, and this element did not raise the tone
either of study or discipline. At length the disorder became
326 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
so extreme that the University 1 intervened, and revoked the
licence for teaching, so that the exiles were once more with-
out occupation, and the diocese face to face with the problem
of making provision for their needs. At this crisis the
authorities determined that the best and only means of
meeting the difficulties of the situation was the establish-
ment of a hospice, where the Irish priests might enjoy the
security of community life, and where responsible superiors
could exact discipline, and enforce a rule whose sanction
would be immediate and personal.
This community was founded by the Rev. Dr. Ambrose
Madden, of the diocese of Clonfert, and the Eev. Dr. Edward
Flannery, of Waterford.2 Its first quarters were in the Rue
de la Paume, now the Rue du Chapeau-Rouge,3 and here the
society remained for about five years. The date of the
foundation was about 1689, when the Irish element was
very strong in the city owing to the arrival of the Jacobites,
who sought in great numbers asj'lum in France after the
defeat of their cause. Their stay in this place extended
over five years, and as far as I can gather was not marked
by any incident of note. At the close of this period an
opportunity of better quarters was given them by the vaca-
tion of the Manoir de la Touche by the religious congregation
who had been some time in residence there, and to this
noble residence the exiles passed in 1694. This good fortune
came to them through the generosity of the Bishop of
Nantes, Monseigneur Gilles de Beauveau, who showed
himself peculiarly favourable to our countrymen. Their
new bouse was a place of distinguished souvenirs, and had
been occupied by the dukes of Brittany.4 Later on it
served as the episcopal palace5 for a lengthened period. Its
position is one of the best in the city, as it is high up the
slope from the river on which the city is mainly built, and
it touches the very heart of the most populous quarters. A
1 Instruct ion publique. Par L. Maitre, p. 167.
2 Sir James Ware, Antiquities, vol. ii., p. 255.
* Guimar, Annales, p. 476 .
* Jean v y etait mort, le mercredi 29 aout, 1442, Ogee. Diet, de Bretngne.
•* Archives du Chapitre.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 327
fine garden is attached to the property, and this rendered it
still more suitable for the purposes of a seminary. There is
no question that if the city was searched, even now, a more
desirable site could hardly be found ; and so the exiles had
one more solid reason to bless the generosity of their
princely benefactors.
The contract between the Irish priests and the bishop
was signed on May 5, 1695 ; but the consent of the Chapter
was not given until January 23, 1697. The document in
which the canons consented to the transfer is worth giving
here, as it shows quite a sharp business spirit, and clearly
describes the condition of the property : —
Messieurs Barrin, chantre, et Daniel, tous deux chanoines,
deputes pour voir les batiments de la maison du bois de la Touche,
et les espaces de terre que Mons. 1'Eveque de Nantes a affeages a
la communante des prestres hibernois, etablie en cette ville,
ont fait rapport que par 1'information qu'ils ont fait, sur les lieux,
ils ont connu que lesdites choses affeages ne valloient de revenu
annuel que la somme de cent cinquante livres portee par 1'acte
d'affeagement, que lesdits prestres hibernois se sont oblig6 de
payer, par an, de rente feodale. Outre que les batiments sont
sujets a de grosses reparations qui en doivent notablement dimi-
nuer le prix, desquelles ladite communante les doit entretenir ;
mesme y pourra faire des augmentations ; qu'ainsi ledit affeage-
ment est profitable audit Seigneur Evesque et a ses successeurs.
Apres quoy, le chapitre deliberant a consenti pour son interest
que ledit afleagement subsiste en la forme et teneur de 1'acte
rapporte par Pesneau et Alexandre, Notaires Koyaux, le 5e Mars,
1697.
Mercredy, 23 Janvier, 1697.1
The work of reparation was at once begun, and such
disposition of the manoir was made as rendered it suitable
to its new occupants. Sir James Ware 2 tells us that the
chapel was restored, and gives as a particular fact, that a
statue of St. Gabriel, to whom it was dedicated, was placed
over the high altar. He further states, that the archangel
was represented with his wings outspread over the figure of
a youth ; and in this we may see the symbol of the objects
of the foundation.
1 Archives du Chapitre de Nantes.
-Antiquities, vol. ii.( p. 255.
328 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Such was the material structure that should give asylum
to the outcast priests. One should have said that those for
whom it was established would have taken the shortest
route to its hospitable doors, and eagerly entered into the
possession of a calm and regular life. Will it be believed
that it turned out quite otherwise? The house was open
and ready, but the guests were in no haste to come. Some,
whose love of study and observance made a life of routine
and work a source of delight, eagerly accepted the proffered
hospitality ; but they were comparatively few. The greater
number, who were probably among those who had felt ' the
weight of too much liberty,' were in no haste to narrow
themselves to this ' scanty plot of ground,' and, resisting all
ordinances and inducements, somehow managed to continue
a life which must have been, at times, a heavy burden to
carry. Owing to these causes the hospice had at first but
little success, and a quarter of a century had passed before
the community could be said to be seriously established.
This was at last effected through the vigorous action of the
bishop, who put an end to what seems to have been a period
of license and disorder by the issue, in 1725, of the following
ordinance : —
Christopher-Louis Turpin Crisse de Sausay par le misericorde
le Dieu . . • . :\ tous les Doyens, Eecteurs, Cures ou Vicaires de
notre diocese, Salut et Benediction.
II nous a ete represented que plusieurs pretres et ecclesiastiques
Irlandois, ne demeurent pas dans la communaute qui a ete etablie
pour les former aux fonctions de leur ministere ; et se privent
ainsi des avantages que nos Predecesseurs ont eu dessein de leur
procurer par un si sage erection ; et que, par une suite comme
necessaire, ils se trouvent exposes a tous les dangers qui sont
inseparables de la dissipation et de 1'oisivete.
C'est pour y remedier efficacement que nous avons resolu de
les rassembler en communante, et que nous allons incessamment
donner nos ordres pour 1'arrangement de la maison qui leur est
destines et leur procurer une honnete subsistance. Nous esperons
que la p iet£ des Eideles qui vous aident si liberalement dans les
autres osuvres de charite, nous secondera dans celle-ci, d'autant
plus volontiers qu'il ne s'agit pas seulement de pourvoir aux
besoins des ministres de Jesus-Christ, mais encore a ceux de
1'eglise ; puisque ces Pretres instruits par nos soins des devoirs
de leur etat et affermis dans les pratiques, les maximes et les
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 329
principes de notre sainte religion, seront en etat, lorsqu'ils sont
rapelles dans leur Patrie d'y confirmer dans la foi ceux de leurs
Freres qui ont ete assez heureux pour la conserver dans sa
purete ; et de faire rentrer dans le sein de 1'eglise Eomaine ceux
que ,le schisme et l'H6resie en ont retranche.t
A ces causes Nous ordonnons.
1. A tous les Pretres et Ecclesiastiques Seculiers Irlandois
qui sont, on qui seront dans la suite, dans notre diocese de ne
faire leur demeure ailleurs que dans la maison que leur est des-
tinee et s'y retirer au plus tard au premier Janvier prochain.
2. Leur defendons, sous peine de suspense encourue par le
seul f ait, de dire la Messe dans notre diocese ni d'exercer aucunes
fonctions de leurs ordres, ledit jour passe, sans une permission
par ecrit de nous, ou de nos Grands-Vicaires.
3. Declarons que nous n'accorderons ladite permission qu'a
ceux qui demeureront dans ladite communaute et qui nous rapor-
teront un certificat de capacite et de bonne conduite du Prefet
que nous avons etabli pour le Gouverner ; lequel nous chargeons
de faire observer le re'glement que nous avons dresse pour le bon
ordre de cette maison, sans qu'il lui soit permis d'y rien changer
que de notre consentement.
4. Voulons que les permissions que Nous leur accorderons
pour dire la Messe dans la chapelle dite de Bon-Secours ou autres
eglises ou chapelles de notre Diocese, ne puisse valoir que pour
six mois ; lequel temps expire leur defendons sous les memes
peines de suspense ipso facto de s'en servir, qu'ils n'en ayent
obtenude Nous la renovation, en Nous representant une nouvelle
attestation du Prefet.
5. Leur defendons de quitter ladite communaute pour servir
dans les paroisses ou chapelles domestiques sans une permission
par ecrit dudit Prefet, qui ne s'accordera que rarement et pour un
mois tout au plus.
From the three following sections of this severe regula-
tion we learn that other foreign ecclesiastics lived in Nantes
at this period, for whom special ordinances had also to be
made. As their affairs do not come within our scope, we
pass on to the paragraphs that affect the affairs of our
people :—
9. Kevoquons toutes les permissions de dire la Messe qui
auroient ete ci-devant accordees ausdits Pretres Irlandois, ou
autres etrangers et leur defendons sous les memes peines de s'en
servir, ledit terme premier Janvier expire.
1 From this passage it is evident that the foundation was essentially a
seminary where provision was made for the training of Irish missionaries for
home work.
330 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
10. A 1'egard des Pretres etrangers, meme les Irlandois qui
viendront a 1'avenir dans notre Diocese, nous accordons huit jours
u ceux qui ne retireront pas 1'honoraire de leur Messe, pendant
lequel temps ils pourront dire la Messe dans notre Diocese ; et le
sudit terme expire, leur defendons, sous la meme peine de la
cele'brer, sans notre permission ou celle de nos Grands-
Yicaires.
11. Nous n'entendons neanmoins comprendre dans notre
presente ordonnance, les Pretres Etrangers, meme les Irlandois
qui auroient quelque titre ecclesiastique dans notre Diocese, ou
quelque emploi, approuve de nous ou qui demeureroient dans
Notre Grand et petit Seminaire.
Enjoignons i\ Notre Promoteur de tenir la main a 1'execution
de notre presente Ordonnance que nous voulons etre lue et
publie'e aux Prones des Paroisses et affichee daus les Sacristies,
et partout ou besoin sera, afin que personne n'en ignore.
Donne a Nantes, dans notre Palais Episcopal, ce 29 Novembre
1725.
(Signe) f^f CHBISTOPHE-I/EVEQUE DE NANTES.
Par Em. de Mgr. :
M. BBULE, pretre, Ch. Sec.1
We are assured that this ordinance was carried out in all
its [details by the authorities of the diocese. First of all,
the building was set in order, and rendered suitable for the
reception of a large number of occupants. The resources
needed for this work were, no doubt, in some degree, supplied
by the generosity of the faithful, to whom the bishop had
made such a strong appeal ; but in some measure, at least,
the expenses were also defrayed by funds in the possession
of the exiles themselves, as we find testified in a contempo-
rary document.2 In 1727-1728 new buildings were added,
and the whole seemed a large and commodious establish-
ment. We are told that the seminary contained a common-
room, lecture-rooms for the classes in theology and philo-
sophy, a refectory, with ten tables ; four apartments for
the professors, and seventy-two cells for the students.
1 Statitts et ord. de Mgr. Tttrpin, I74o. p. 14o.
2 Decf. liens du Cler/je, n. 7, Nantes.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 331
From this it will be seen that, at length, the Irish
seminary in Nantes was well under way and satisfactorily
equipped, at least materially, for its beneficent and patriotic
mission.
The years immediately following were not marked by
any incident of note ; indeed, they have left, so far as I can
gather, absolutely no trace of themselves upon the records
of the time. This, however, should not occasion surprise ;
as the very nature of the foundation, in its initial stages,
should lead us to expect a very quiet and hum-drum
character in all its affairs. It was simply a rendezvous for
the poor exiled priests, whose principal concern must have
been to find the means to sustain themselves in their new
home. It would be unreasonable to look for intellectual
output from such a society of worn-out veterans, whose
enthusiasm for study and literary pursuits can hardly have
survived the stress of the careers they had hitherto been
forced to follow. The fact is that no work of any kind
remains to give a clue to their character or talents ; there is
no list even of those who came into residence after the
bishop's mandate ; and for twenty years absolute silence
broods over the history of the place.
Towards the year 1745 the Annuaire of the diocese
begins to give evidence of the presence of Irish priests in
Nantes. In the list of university doctors there occurs, in
that year, the unmistakable Irish patronymic, Donnellan,
which appears again in 1748. In 1751 he is mentioned
among the officials of the diocese as Promoter and Doctor
in the Faculty of Theology, and with him the singular
name of Hargadane (?), who is credited with being Vicar-
General of Tuam, in Ireland. In this year also I find the
name Mac-hugo, who is given as belonging to the Irish
foundation. In 1752 these three names again occur. In 1755
the superior of the Irish foundation is given as M. O'Byrne,
Doctor of the University, and with him the above-named
Hargadane and Mac-hugo. This community remained
unchanged for four years, when the name Salver is added,
with the quality of Professor of the Faculty of the
seminary. These officials continued in office during 1760,
332 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
1761-1764, but in 1765 Salver was withdrawn. In 1760
the names are given in this order : —
Sup. M. DANIEL 0' BYRNE, University Doctor.
M. DOYHEMIARD (?), Treasurer of the Cathedral, Protonotary
Apostolic.
Univ. Docteurs : MAC-HUGO.
O'LOGHLIN.
SHERMANT.
This year marks an epoch in the annals of the house,
and deserves special mention, for within it was conceded
the charter by which the foundation became a seminary,
and was entitled by law to receive students for the Irish
mission. The royal letters by which this favour were con-
ceded were granted at the prayer of Father Daniel Byrne,
who had been superior from 1755. It would appear from
this interesting document that a strong community was for
some time in residence at the Manoir de la Touche, and
that the immediate reason for demanding the legal status of
a seminary was the distance of the house from the diocesan
seminary, where evidently studies had hitherto been pursued,
and the consequent necessity of having a teaching faculty in
residence. It would further seem that the corporate capacity
of the institution had not had complete legal acceptance,
and needed a royal charter to have the legal right to accept
legacies and donations. All these favours were granted by
the King, in letters dated 1765, and given at Fontainbleau
in the fifty-first year of his reign. It would serve no useful
purpose to cite them at their full length ; but some extracts
may be of interest, as they illustrate the position of the
seminary, and also give us an idea of how such things were
done in the France of that day.
The opening sentence puts us au courant with the state
of the seminary at that time : —
Louis, par le grace de Dieu, roy de France et de Navarre, a
tous presens et a venir, salut : notre trer cher et bien-aime le
pere Daniel Byrne prestre superieur du Seminaire irlandais de la
ville de Nantes nous a fait representer que le feu roy, Louis XIV.
notre tres-honore seiyneur et bis aieul aurait autorise 1'etablisse-
ment des prestres irlandais dans plusieurs villes de notre royaume
et leur avait donne des maisons et differents bien fonds pour
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY, 333
pouvoir s'y soutenir ; que plusieurs prestres de la meme maison
persecutes dans leur parrie a cause de la religion Catholique se
seraient refugies a Nantes en 1'annee 1695 et eauraient ete recus
par les, evesques de cette ville dans une maison nommee bois de la
Touche et dependente de 1'eveche de Nantes, que ladite maison
ou ces prestres ont vecu dabord en communaute a ete erigee
eusuite en seminaire ou ils sont actuellement pres de soixante ; que
leurs principales fonctions consistent dans la desserte de plusieurs
paroisses ou ils exercent avec beaucoup de zele les fonctions du
St. Ministere ; qu'ils sont encore employes en qualite d'aumoniers
dans les hospitaux, sur nos vaisseaux, sur ceux de la compagnie
des Indes, et sur les navires marchands ; mais comme leur etab-
lissement n'a pas ete par nous encore autorise et par cette raison
il n'a pu jusqu'ji present estre pourvu a sa dotation, 1'exposant
nous a fait tres humblement fait supplier de vouloir bien approuver
et confirmer par lettres patentes ledit seminaire, ensemble de lui
permettre de recevoir et d'acquerir par dons, legs et donatives, etc.
From this it would appear that the authorization
hitherto given was purely local, and came altogether from
the bishops of Nantes. It would also seem to follow, from
the words cited, that the students and priests came to
France, not with the intention of returning home after their
ordination, but with the purpose of permanently settling
down in the ministry abroad. This is a point worth noting,
especially in reference to the further disposition now made
by the King, and more clearly still stated by the local
authorities. The letter goes .on to say : —
(Nous) Permettons en outre au dit sieur evesque de Nantes de
faire del reglement qu'il jugera convenable tant pour le spirituel
que pour le temporel dudit seminaire ou la philosophic de meme
que la theologie pourra estre enseignee par des professeurs de la
nation irlandaise, accordons a cet effet aux etudiants la faculte de
prendre leurs degres dans 1'universite de Nantes en subissant les
examens et soutenant les theses ordinaires, sans toutefois que
nos presentes lettres puissent prejudicier ou porter atteinte aux
droits des evesques de Nantes et a ceux de Tuniversite de la dite
ville.
From these passages we may gather that the national
character of the foundation became more emphasized, as it
is laid down as a condition that the professors be of Irish
birth, in view evidently of the real scope of the College,
which was to prepare priests for the work of the sanctuary
334 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
in Ireland. By this document, too, we learn that the juris-
diction of the Bishops of Nantes was supreme in the
community, and consequently to them we must trace the
selection of the superiors and the appointment of the staff.
In this the seminary differed from all such establishments
now in existence, whose affairs, I believe, are invariably
directed by the hierarchy at home.
Before the privileges conceded by the King could be
actually enjoyed, the letters patent had to be submitted to
the local authorities ; the permission of the University had
to be obtained for the institution of the new teaching
faculty ; and ultimately the Breton Parliament had to
sanction the whole proceeding. From the action of the
University authorities we can see how extensive their powers
were. They would seem to have not alone the right to rule
their institute proper, but to have had territorial jurisdiction
with respect to all educational work. They took the question
of the Irish seminary into consideration at a meeting held
in Nantes, on May 20, 1766, and laid down with great preci-
sion the conditions which should qualify the powers granted
by the royal authority. First of all, they lay down that no
derogation of the rights of their corporation can be per-
mitted, for to them, they hold, ' the care and supervision of
studies have been confided by the laws of Church and
State.'1 Then they proceed to determine exactly the
character and nationality of those who should be members
of the new school, and accord the right of affiliation only
to students of Irish birth who wish to prepare for the Irish
mission, and who are bound to return home on the comple-
tion of their studies.2 For such they permit that —
The school which is to be established in the community of
Irish priests, situated in the parish of St. Nicholas, in the city of
*Sans qu'il soil neanmoins porte aucune atteinte aux droits de ladite
universite a qui le soin et 1'inspection des etudes sont speciallement confiees
par les loin de I'eglise et de 1'etat. (Registres des deliberations de F university dc
Nantes.}
2 L1 universite voulant, d'un costs, procurer aux prestres Irlandais la
facultd de s'instruire et de s'acquerir les connoisances qui puissent les mettre
en etat de travailles dans la suite au progres de la religion catholique dans leur
patrie en laquelle ils sont tenus de retourncr aussi tost apres leurs etudes
(Registres des deliberations de Funiversite de Mantes, 20 Mai, 1766.)
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 335
Nantes, should become a school of the University, with the view
of granting to the students of philosophy and theology the right
of taking the degrees of the University.1
These concessions were, however, qualified by the
following conditions, which go to show how rigid was the
supervision of schools at this period, and how jealous the
corporations of the learned were of giving others any part
in their prerogatives. The extract is, I fear, somewhat
long, but it will interest all who are concerned with the
history of educational methods.
In the University registers already quoted I find the
following regulations : —
A I'effet que les etudians de ladite ecole tant de philosophic
que de theologie puissent prendre des grades dans ladite universite
aux conditions suivantes :
PBIMO
Ladite ecole tant de philosophic que de theologie ne sera que
pour les seuls ecclesiastiques venus d'Irlande et des isles Britani-
ques en France pour y faire leurs etudes et demeurant dans ladite
communaute sans qu' aucuns externes de quelque pays, nom ou
qualite qu'ils soient, meme Irlandais, puissent prendre des lemons
dans ladite ecole.
SECUNDO
Leurs deux professeurs de philosophie et' de theologie de la
dite ecole se feront recevoir maitres es arts, en subissant les
examens ordinaires avant de commencer leurs lecons, et ils presen-
teront leurs lettres de maitres es arts et leurs mandements de
professeurs a la faculte des arts que le doyen fera assembler a
cet effet, indiquant aux dits professeurs le jour et 1'heure de
ladite assemblee.
TEKTIO
Les professeurs de theologie qui ne peuvent pas etre plus de
deux a la fois seront au moins Bacheliers en theologie avant de
commencer le cours de leurs leQons ; ils seront tenus en outre de
prendre le bonnet de docteur en theologie dans ladite universite
au moins dans 1'espace de trois annees, en sontenant les theses et
autres actes que les bacheliers ordinaires sont obligees de soutenir
sans que leurs qualites de professeurs puissent les en exempter ;
et ils presenteront a la faculte de theologie la mandement qu'ils
auront eu de leur superieur pour professor suivant 1'usage des
autres professeurs de theologie.
1 Eegistres des deliberations de ^universite de Nantes,
336 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
QUARTO
Les dits professeurs de philosophie et de theologie commence-
ront leurs cours de Ie9ons a 1'ouverture des ecoles de 1'universite
et ils ne finiront pas avant la cloture des cours academiques de
ladite universite ; les dits professeurs donneront aux sindics des
facultes de philosophie et de theologie a 1'ouverture des ecoles les
noms de leurs ecoliers,
QUINTO
Les dits professeurs de theologie et de philosophie auront soin
de faire soutenir, chaque annee au moins, a quelq'un de leurs
ecoliers des actes et theses publiques en leur maison et commu-
naute ; et ils seront tenus de faire examiner et indiquer leurs
theses encore bien qu'elles ne soient pas destinees a 1'impres-
sion, scavoir, les theses de philosophie par le sindic de la faculte
des arts et leurs theses de theologie par le sindic de la faculte
de theologie, suivant 1'usage et 1'arrest de la cour du vingt-deux
aoust mil sept cent cinquante neuf ; et les professeurs avant de
soutenir se presenteront devant le Eecteur de 1'universite pour
qu'il leur prescrive le jour et heure convenable des theses,
afin que le dit sieur Becteur y assiste si bon lui semble conforme-
ment audit arrest ; les dits actes et theses s'ils sont imprimes
le seront par Fimprimeur de 1'universite.
SEXTO
A chaque prima mensis d'aoust les dits professeurs se presen-
teront a la faculte de theologie suivant 1'usage des autres profes-
seurs pour lui indiquer les traittes qu'ils se proposeront de donner
a leurs ecoliers dans le cour de 1'annee suivante, et la faculte
veillera a ce qu'ils enseignent a leurs dits ecoliers les traittes et
matieres les plus utilles et les plus convenables ; et pour qui^est
de la philosophie les professeurs enseigneront a leurs ecoliers les
differentes parties de la philosophie suivant 1'usage dans le cours
des deux annees.
SEPTIMO
Les dits professeurs de theologie enseigneront a leurs ecoliers
les quatre propositions du clerge de France de mil six cent quatre
vingt deux et les leur feront soutenir dans les theses suivant que les
matieres les demanderont, et ceux de leurs e'coliers qui voudront
prendre des grades en la faculte de theologie seront de soutenir
obliges leurs actes pour les dits grades dans la salle ordinaire de la
faculte.1
1 This article shows what a high price our students paid for the privileges
accorded to them. We may easily imagine that the sturdy Irish faith of many
of them revolted against the doctrine they found themselves forced to defend.
This article is of further interest to those who study the history and develop-
ment of theology in the Irish Church, and gives a clue to some peculiar
opinions held by some Irish Churchmen far into the course of the present
century.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 337
OCTAVO
Les ecoliers qui apres leurs cours de philosophie voudront se
faire receiver maitres es arts se presenteront a la faculte des arts
pour estre examines comme le|sont les etudiants de la philo-
sophie, apres quoi ils assisteront a 1'inauguration solennelle de la
Magdeleine pour y recevoir le bonnet de maitre es art suivant
1'usage
NONO
En quelque nombre que soient les docteurs Irlandais Anglais
ou Ecossais en la faculte de theologie, il ny aura jamais que les
deux professeurs en theologie et exerceant actuellement et recus
docteurs, comme il est dit cy dessus, a avoir voix et suffrage dans
les assemblies et actes tant de la facults que de I'universit6 sans
qu'ils puissent estre supplies ; et quand aux assemblies de 1'uni-
versite qui seront de ceremonies publiques, les autres docteurs
pourrent y assister sans pouvoir deliberer ayant ete resus gratis.
DECIMO
Les gradues et docteurs Irlandais se conformeront au surplus
a tous les reglemens de 1'universite et des facultes cy devant faits
a leur regard en ce qui ne se trouvera point du contraire aux
presentes conditions notament au sujet du decanat et rectorat.
II a encore ete arreste et enonce par Monsieur le Eecteur
qu'une copie de la presente sera delivree au Sieur O'Byrne et
une autre envoyee a Monsieur le Procureur General du parle-
ment et que les lettres patentes, arrest de la cour et requeste
dont il s'agist seront enregistrees sur le livre des deliberations
pour y avoir recours au besoin.
Signe
BONNAMY, Pr. General.
Such were the constitutions of this university college of
the eighteenth century, and no one can doubt the ability
and precision with which they were framed. They were at
once accepted by the Parliament, which added scarcely a
word to them, except to emphasize still more that the
foundation was for Irish students, and no others, and that
its sole raison d'etre was the preparation of priests for the
mission in Ireland, whither they were bound to return on
the completion of their college course. They repeat the
order of the University with respect to the local colour of
the theology to be taught in the new seminary, and they
ordain that nothing be taught ' de contraire aux libertes de
VOL. III. *
338 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
1'eglise Gallicane, surtout a la declaration de 1682.' l They
further confirmed a clause in the royal letters by which
the Irish Seminary was entitled to receive donations and
bequests, and they agreed also to the suppression of the
priory of St. Crispin, in the diocese of Nantes, which was
held by the president as a personal appanage, but which
henceforward was to belong to the Seminary in its corpo-
rate capacity. All these facts and privileges were registered in
the Bureau of the Breton Parliament, on 14th August, 1766. 2
Having given at such length the conditions of studies
and tenure of the Seminary, we may now resume the annals
of the house. In 1767 the personnel remained unchanged,
except that a new member joined the faculty as professor.
His name is given as Dr. Picamilli, which certainly does
not savour of Ireland. There was then no change until
1769, when Dr. O'Donoghue came into residence. This
community continues until 1777, when the Annuaire gives
the list of priests as follows : —
Superior, M. DANIEL O'BYKNB.
Univ. Docteurs : MAcHuoo en Irlande.
O'LOGHLIN ,,
SHENANT ,,
DONOGHUE ,,
O'FALON Professeur de faculte aux Irlandais.
O'FuNN Professeur de Philosophic aux Irian-
dais.
In 1778 we find Father O'Falon absent, and in 1779
Father O'Connor comes into view. In 1780 the position of
president is marked vacat, and here Father Daniel O'Byrne
falls out of the annals of the place ; for on December 18,
1778, I find the following record : —
V. et D. O'Byrne, pretre superieur du Seminaire des Irlandais
de Nantes oii il est mort.
I am sorry I cannot give any particulars of the birth or
lineage of this distinguished man. The details concerning
his personal character can only be deduced from the public
1 Archives Curieuses de la Vilk de Nantes. Par F. J. Verger, tome iii.,
p. 242.
2 Jieyistres dc la Chambre des Comptes de Bretagne.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 339
acts associated with his name. That he was a man of
ability is evidenced by his academic distinction, and his tact
and energy are clearly shown by his success in the difficult
work of obtaining tha royal charter for his college. I should
be glad to fix the diocese that gave the Irish exiles in
Brittany such a distinguished leader ; but the absolute
dearth of evidence hinders me giving any opinion which
would avail more than the merest conjecture in settling the
question. Perhaps some documents may be found in Ireland
that can throw some light upon his early days; but I am safe in
saying there are none such in Nantes. I cannot even
determine the place of his burial, and must be content to
breathe a prayer that he may rest well in his nameless
foreign grave.
The members of the community for 1780 are given in
this form in the Annuaire : —
(Super, (vacat)
Univ. Docteurs : O'LOGHLIN en Irlande.
SHENANT ,,
O'DONOGHUE ,,
O'FuNN Professeur de la faculte aux Irlandais.
O'CONNOR Vicaire de la Marne.
JEAN WALSH en Irlande.
This is the first mention of the name Walsh in connec-
tion with the Seminary, but it afterwards occurs every year
until the revolution. In 1781 the list reads : —
Superior, Monsieur WALSH.
Univ. Docteur : O'LOGHLIN en Irlande.
SHENANT ,,
DONOGHUE ,,
O'FLINN professeur de la faculte aux Irlandais.
JEAN WALSH en Irlande.
J. B. WALSH l Docteur de la Faculte de Paris
agrege i\ cette de Nantes, Superieur de
Seminaire des Irlandais.
1 This very distinguished man was not a native of Ireland, but came of
Irish ancestry. His family reached Nantes with James II., and were noted
for their fealty to the royal cause. They became nobles of France, and settled
at the Chateau of Serrant, in Anjou. They, perhaps, were the best known of
340 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
In 1782 the same names occur, with the addition of
these others : —
O'KEARDON en Irlande.
GRANGER Irlandais.
In 1783 a very interesting list is given, which throws
some light upon the antecedents of the members of the
community. They reached this year the largest number
yet recorded, and are given in this way : —
Superior, M. WALSH.
Univ. Docteurs : O'LOGHLIN Archediacre de Killaloe en Irlande.
SHENAN Vicaire de Kilfenora „
O'DoNOGHUE Eecteur de Birr ,,
O'FLYNN Professor de la faculte aux Irlandais.
O'CoNOR Aumonier du Eegiment du Maire.
JEAN WALSH Vicaire de Couna (?) en Irlande.
WALSH docteur comme en 1681.
L'ouis WALSH Vicaire de Eoss en Irlande.
STAPLETON Procureur du Seminaire.
GRANGER Professeur dudit Seminaire.
O'EioRDAN en Irlande.
From this it follows that many members of the house
were not in residence, but retained their rights in it even
after they had returned home, and entered upon the work
of their dioceses. From the important charges confided to
them by their ordinaries we may conclude that the discipline
and schools of Nantes were successful in moulding worthily
the characters and talents of the men confided to their care.
The year following1 the list remains unchanged, except that
Father Coyle is added, with his residence given as at
Home. In 1787 the new president is given as Monsieur
the Irish exiles, and have won great distinction from the brilliant writers they
have given to France during the past two centuries. When about to undertake
my researches in the archives and libraries of the city, I had some doubt as to
whether I should receive all the help I needed, but was assured by a member
of the Comeil General of the department that my name would be an 'open
sesame ' to all the archaeological treasures of the city.
1 At this period the Superioress of the Hotel Dieu of the city is given in
the Annuaire as Madame "Walsh, who must have been of Irish birth or
extraction.
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 341
O'Byrne, and with him the following doctors of the
University : —
O'LoGHLiN ut supra.
SHENAN ,,
O'DONOGHUE „
O'FLYN a Aigrefeuille.
O'CoNNoE ut supra.
JEAN WALSH ,,
Louis WALSH ,,
J. B. WALSH docteur de la faculte de Paris
aggrege a cette de Nantes, a chateau de
Serrant.
O'KiOKDAN en Irlande.
GRANGER ,,
STAPLELON ,,
COYLE ,,
The new president was an alumnus of the college which
he was now to rule. He was born, in 1757, of respectable
parents, in the parish of Clonfeacle, county Tyrone, and at
the close of his classical studies came as a student to Nantes.
At the close of his course he stood the usual tests of the
University, and, having made all the acts according to the
charter, was declared doctor of divinity, en Sorhonne. He
was afterwards chaplain to the Due d'Angouleme, and on
the occasion of his appointment was presented with a rich
set of vestments, which are still, I believe, in the possession
of some of his kinsmen in the diocese of Armagh. His
term of office in Nantes coincided with stirring times, as we
shall see in the sequel.
In 1788 the community remained practically the same,
the last in the list for this year being another Dr. O'Byrne,
of the Faculty of Paris, who is given as Professor of
Theology and Hector of the Irish Seminary. From the
records I cannot judge exactly whether this is not the same
as the Superior of Nantes, who this year is entitled grand
vicaire d' Armagh. In 1789, Dr. Walter Walsh is added to
the names given in the preceding year ; but he is a non-
resident member of the community. The house remained
practically unchanged during the two succeeding years, and
in 1792, for the last time, the community of Irish priests is
342 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
given in the Annuaire of the province. It consists of the
following : —
O'BYKNE (Patrice-Jacques) superieur, docteur en Sorbonne,
Grand Vicaire d' Armagh.
COYLE, pretre, docteur en theologie,
O'CONNOR „ „
O'DONOGHUE „ „
STAPLETON ,, ,,
WALSH (Gautier) (Jean-Baptiste).
Le Seminaire contient de 70 a 80 seminaristes.
During the year 1792 the fatal tide of the great revolu-
tion was flowing at its highest through France, and was fast
submerging in its waters every vestige of religious prin-
ciples. The whole fabric of religion was being sapped to
its very foundations, and there seemed no one left to make
any worthy resistance to the influences that were openly
destroying the true life of France. It is a fact of which we
may well feel proud that our countrymen in the Seminary
of Nantes did not remain inactive at this supreme crisis.
Among the faithless they were faithful found, and through
their brave resistance to the principles of those evil days
they brought upon themselves the anger of the authorities,
who in Nantes, as elsewhere, had already caught the deadly
contagion. On July 2, 1792, their action was brought before
the Municipal Council, and the following order was issued
in their regard : —
Le Conseil ou'i ces renseignements, considerant que les pretres
Irlandais, d'apres les sentiments qu'ils ont manifestos sur notre
glorieuse revolution ne peuvent que concourir par des manoeuvres
secretes, conjointement avec les pretres non-assermentes a executer
et entretenir les troubles et le fanatisme; considerant que le local
dont ils jouissent est un demembrernent du domain national,
auquel il doit etre reuni ; considerant qu'infractaires des condi-
tions auxquelles ils ont promis d'etre fideles et de se soumettre
aux lois civiles et religieuses de 1'etat ils ont eux memes rompu le
traite qui leurs garantissent un asile paisible et les bienfaits d'un
peuple libre et genereux ; considerant enfin qu'il serait aussi
injuste qu'impolitique que la loi qui a frappe les pretres qui
refusent de reconnaitre cette souverainete du peuple n'atteignit
pas ceux-ci par ce qu'ils sont etrangers, eux qui veulent mecon-
naitre cette scuverainete qui les protege, le procuretir de la
commune entendu dans ses conclusions le conseil general est
IRISH EXILES IN BRITTANY 343
d'avis que le directoire du department peut et doit exercer a leur
egard les memes moyens de repression et se resaissir au profit de
la nation des biens dont elle leur avait conditionellement accorde
la jouissance.1
However false the conclusions of the Council may have
been, there can be no doubt that their premisses were
absolutely true. Further evidence of the spirit prevailing
in the Seminary was brought before the authorities in
August 23 of the same year,2 when it was testified, in public
session, that the Masses celebrated by the Irish priests at
the Chapel of Bon Secours brought together large crowds,
which became the occasion of disorder and tumult, such as
the authorities were bound to prevent ; and in consequence
the Irish priests were forbidden to celebrate Mass in the
Chapel of Bon Secours,3 or in any other except that attached
to their residence.
This measure did not suffice to repress the ardour of the
exiles, and a further order was made, on September 10,
1792, which took from them what remained of their liberty.
In the municipal register for that date I find the follow-
ing :—
Sur la plainte portee par plusieurs citoyens centre quelques
pretres Irlandais, pour injures et propos tres grossiers par eux
tenus contre la garde national, le Conseil charge de Procureur de
la Commune de leur notifier 1'ordre qui leur defend jde sortir de
leur maison et de vaguer dans les rues de cette ville sous peine et
d'etre detenus au chateau, meme d'etre exportes de la France.4
Life had evidently become insupportable under such a
regime as this ; the reign of terror had at length been
realized in all its horrors ; and it was only a question of a
little time until the last threat should be verified. How the
interval was spent in the Seminary, which was now become
their prison, I have no document to sustain any surmise ;
1 Archives Curicuses de la Vilde den Nantes. Par F. J. Verger, tome iii.,
p. 242.
2 fbulem, p. 280.
3 This chapel was near the cathedral, and close by the river ; its ruins are
yet to be seen. The altar in use during the last century is now in a
church at Basse-Goulaine, near Saint- Sebastien. My attention was called by
Monsieur Bonamy de la Ville to this interesting relic of our exiled countrymen.
* Verger, tome v., p. 289.
344 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
but that strange things must have happened between
September, 1792, and April 5, 1793, we may deduce from
the following paragraph : —
Les pretres Irlandais detenus aux Carmelites obtiennent la
permission de s'embarquer sur un navire de leur nation, la
' Peggi,' allant a Cork.1
So ended the story of the Irish Seminary at Nantes.
The further fortunes of the returned exiles lie outside the
limits of this paper, and I cannot follow them in their
subsequent careers. Of the distinguished man who was the
last superior I may, however, be allowed to say a word. On
his return to Ireland he ruled successively two parishes in
his diocese, and then became President of Maynooth, hold-
ing this high office for three years, when he resigned. I
believe his portrait is still in the National College. He
afterwards became Dean and Vicar-General of the prima-
tial see, and died as parish priest of Armagh.
I have given at such great length the history of the
Nantes' Seminary because it is the strongest link in the
chain that binds Ireland to Brittany. I regret the material
under my hands does not enable me to give the narrative
any of those personal touches that give life and colour to
such a story. I have been able only to give a bare outline
of facts which, though of great moment to the purpose I
have in view, yet cannot but be, from the nature of the case,
very dry reading. The absence of all .literary remains
on the part of the occupants is remarkable in relation to a
college of such eminence ; but not a line, so far as I can
find, survives to show what manner of men those were
who, in their day, attained to such academic distinction.
We must suppose that the stress of their daily duties
absorbed all their intellectual energies, and left no time for
the more enduring work which outlives its author, and
grows more precious with the passing of the years.
Perhaps, too, my personal sympathy enters more largely
1 Premier register des deliberations du Comite Central. Verger, tome v., p 433.
a I rather suspect this Italian name may well have had another and more
familiar form ; in fact, I believe under this disguise we have the name whose
praises Father Prout sang so well.
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 345
into this than the other chapters, and in this way I have
been led to seek out its details with all possible fulness.
With all the exiles I have a fellow-feeling, but with these
especially, since within a stone-throw of their home I am
engaged in work precisely similar to that to which they
devoted their lives.
A. WALSH, O.S.A:
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS
IN August, 1897, this review put into print a few un-
published letters of Cardinal Newman, Father Peter
Kenny, S.J., Dr. Kieran of Dundalk, and Dr. Whitehead
of Maynooth. The example thus set was meant to be
contagious. It may, indeed, in cases that have not come
under our notice, have induced some to look over their
bundles of old letters ; and in two instances it has added
to our own store of such documents.
Sir Henry Bellingham, Bart., of Castlebellingham, in
County Louth, broke through all the prejudices of his race
and class, and entered the Catholic Church about thirty
years ago. He married Lady Constance Noel, daughter
of another convert, the Earl of Gainsborough, better
known, perhaps, by the title which he held at the time
of his conversion, Viscount Campden. Ten years ago
Mr. Bellingham — as he then was, in the lifetime of his
father Sir Allan Bellingham — seems to have mentioned to
Cardinal Manning a letter addressed by the latter to
Lord Gainsborough, which had come into Mr. Bellingham's
possession.
ARCHBISHOP'S HOUSE, WESTMINSTER,
January 2Qth, 1888.
MY DEAR MR. BELLINGHAM, — Your mention of the letter which
I did not know to exist, is very interesting to me, and makes me
wish to see it. If you will kindly let me have it, it shall be
returned to you. Or come here, and let me see it.
Always very truly yours,
<?& HENRY B., Card. Archbishop,
To HENRY BELLINGHAM, ESQ., M.P.
346 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The following is the letter asked for, written thirty-
seven years before, when Archdeacon Manning had just
given up his Anglican living : —
44, CADOGAN PLACE,
January ]4</t, 1851.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — Your letter has just reached me. Eumours
have already made premature statements of the step you now
announce. God grant it may have been His will and guidance.
I c^n never forget the bond which is (I will not say was) between
us, and I trust it may never be dissolved.
Since we parted I have been through deep sorrow. My
conviction had long been formed that I could not continue to
hold on, under oath and subscription ; but obedience to others
made me wait. When this anti-Eoman uproar broke forth, I
resolved at once. I could lift no hand in so bad a quarrel,
either to defend a Royal Supremacy which has proved itself to
be indefensible, or against a supremacy which the Church for
six hundred years obeyed. I therefore at once went to the
Bishop of Chichester, and requested him to receive my resigna-
tion. He was most kind in desiring me to take time; but I,
after a few days, wrote my final resignation.
What my human affections have suffered in leaving my only
home and flock, where for eighteen years my whole life as a man
has been spent, no words can say ; but God gave me grace to
lay it all at the foot of the Cross, where I am ready, if it be His
will, to lay down whatever yet remains to me. Let me have
your prayers for light and strength.
May God ever keep you.
With my kindest remembrances to Lady Campden,
Believe me, my dear friend,
Yours very affectionately,
H. E. M.
To THE VISCOUNT CAMPDEN.
Sir Henry Bellingham, to whose kindness we owe
the privilege of printing the preceding letter, published,
about twenty years ago, a valuable work on the ' Social
Aspects of Catholicism and Protestantism.' Lady Constance
Bellingham presented a copy to Dr. Newman. Here is his
letter of thanks : —
THE ORATORY,
June 8th, 1878.
DEAR LADY CONSTANCE, — Thank you for your kind and
welcome letter and for the gift which it heralded. I am very
glad to have a volume on a subject so interesting and at this
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 347
time so needing a careful discussion. I have read enough already
to understand with great satisfaction that Mr. Bellingham,
abstaining from the generalities and assumptions so frequent just
now, argues out his points on the basis of an accumulation of
facts and of unbiassed and even hostile testimony. I am often
asked by Catholics for a book on the subject he has taken, and
it is so pleasant to have reason for anticipating that he has supplied
so serious a want.
I am, my dear Lady Constance,
Sincerely yours,
JOHN H. NEWMAN.
To LADY CONSTANCE BELLINGHAM.
Nearly ten years later Cardinal Newman wrote the
following letter to Sir Henry Bellingham : —
THE ORATOKY, BIRMINGHAM,
Feb. 1th, 1887.
MY DEAR SIR, — I thank you very sincerely for your kindness
in sending for my perusal the interesting correspondence between
the Bishop of Winchester and Canon Wilberforce. I have taken
the date of the newspaper in which it occurs, and will bring it
before those who are able, and may be willing, to take the subject
up. But it is a subject which requires very delicate and exact
treatment, and a complete knowledge of the facts of the case.
Speaking under correction, I should say that the High
Church, even the ' High and Dry,' have always held, as by a
tradition, that the identity of the Anglican Church was not
broken at the Reformation. The peculiarity of Ritualists is not
this principle, but the introduction of Roman doctrines into their
worship, such as the Mass. The Ritualists and High Church
agree together in holding the ante and post identity of the
Anglican Church, resting, as they can, on the unlucky fact of its
having continued all along in possession. This has been its one
note, to the exclusion of the four notes of the Creed. What
Ritualism, as well as Tractarianism, has risen up to oppose and
rival is not High Churchism, but the Evangelical schools.
My fingers will not write, and a friend has been kind enough
to take my pen for me.
Very truly yours,
ifc JOHN H. CARD. NEWMAN.
To H. BELLINGHAM, Esq.
Another document which the August ' Batch of Letters '
was the means of placing in our hands is a long letter
which the Very Kev. James Maher, P.P., of Carlow Graigue,
348 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
uncle to Cardinal Cullen, sent from Rome to his brother-in-
law, Mr. Edmund Cullen, more than fifty years ago. The
physicians had ordered for him a long period of rest after a
serious illness. He spent the year 1845 in the Eternal
City, returning to Carlow in June, 1846. We may mention
that he was born in 1793, and died in 1874.
This letter was not discovered in time to be included
in the large volume which Cardinal Moran published of his
grand-uncle's correspondence. We owe it to the kindness of
Mrs. Maher, of Moyvoughly, who received it from Mother
Paul, of the Convent of Mercy, Westport, the only survivor
out of the large family of the gentleman to whom this letter
was addressed. Father Maher's two sisters were married
to two brothers — Mary to Hugh Cullen, father of the first
Irish cardinal of our day, and Margaret to Edmund Cullen,
the recipient of the following letter : —
THE IBISH COLLEGE, ROME,
11th February, 1845.
MY DEAR SIR, — Your friends at Eome, though they have not
troubled you with many letters, have never been forgetful of you.
Every day we remember you at the altar in our supplications. It is
one of the great consolations of our holy religion, that friends, no
matter how far separated, are, as it were, brought together daily,
and united by charity, helping and aiding each other by their
prayers and good works.
Father Tom has left us a few days since, bringing with him the
affectionate regards of all his Eoman acquaintances. He was a
great favourite in the Irish College ; his time in Italy has been
turned to the best account ; he has laid up a good store of
ecclesiastical knowledge, which he will find of infinite advantage
in the discharge of his sacred duties. He has, we have every
reason to believe, imbibed the true spirit of his vocation:
zealous for spiritual things — the honour and glory of God — and
perfectly indifferent as to the things of this life. May heaven
grant him grace to persevere to the end !
Dr. Cullen, in consequence of his delicate health (and he is far
from being strong) is thinking of going to Ireland after Easter, and
I remain for a time to look after the affairs of the establishment.
He will travel home in company with Dr. Haly. The bishop's
visit to Eome has improved his health ; he is greatly pleased with
everything here in the Christian capital, especially with the
talent, piety, knowledge, and ecclesiastical spirit of the Irish
College ; he has sent a candle by Father Tom to his mother,
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 349
blessed by the Pope, and carried by the bishop in the procession
at St. Peter's, on the Feast of the Purification. It is, perhaps,
the prettiest piece of waxwork you have ever seen. It has not, I
hope, been injured by the journey ; it will be a fine emblem of our
faith, burning brightly, as, entering the dark portals of death, we
close our eyes for the last time upon the transitory glories of this
world, to open them, as we humbly hope, to the beatific vision of
God in the next.
How many unexpected events have occurred since last I had
the pleasure of writing to you. Four priests of the diocese (three
of them rather young) have been called to the other world. On
hearing of Father Doran's death (a priest whom I greatly
esteemed), the thought forced itself on me, times innumerable,
that we, whether old or young, have in good truth very little
business in this life, beyond making a good preparation to leave
it. Who could have thought a few months ago, that the grave
would so soon have closed over him ? How much of life and vigour
and health he enjoyed when I, one year since, left him, delicate
and infirm myself; and yet here am I now in health (how
inscrutable are the ways of heaven !) discoursing of his death. If
death be on his march, and sure to triumph whenever he arrives,
we are not, however, blessed be God, without cheering prospects
at the other side of the grave, ' God so loved the world [his
Apostle tells us], as to give His only begotton Son, that whoso-
ever believeth in Him may not (perish,' but may have life
everlasting. Here we have firm footing ; here we have the
ground of hope. Earthly life is only the infancy of man, a
mere commencement of existence. When we pass it, eternal
life begins. To see Jesus Christ, our divine Saviour, in His
glory even for one moment, would afford more happiness than
has ever been enjoyed by mortal in this life. The thought of our
sinfulness damps our hopes. No doubt all have sinned, but
if we have repented, it is equally certain that God has
forgiven us. Sin is beyond comparison the greatest evil that can
befall man. All other evils — the loss of property, even the
overthrow of kingdoms — leave not a trace behind in a few
generations; whilst sin, if not effaced by penance, involves the
offender in punishment which never ends. It is, therefore, clearly
the greatest of all evils, and to be proportionately detested ; but we
have a sacrifice for sin, an atonement for our iniquity : the
Saviour has offered Himself to suffer in our stead, and His
sufferings have been accepted in liquidation of our debt. Oh, how
heinous must sin be which requires such an atonement, and
how supereminently holy must God be to whom such a victim for
the violation of His law has been offered !
If, then, we be fast approaching the boundary line which
separates time and eternity, detesting as we ought, and as I hope
we all do, all past transgressions, and relying with full but humble
350 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
hope on the mercies of Him who laid down His life to save us,
what evil can befall us? Our hope is in Him who has triumphed
for us over death and hell. We have faith . Oh yes, we believe ;
we are not tossed by every wind of doctrine, for, aided by the
grace of Jesus Christ, we believe whatever God has revealed, and
what the Church, the organ of communication with us, proposes
to our belief. We receive all truth with a full and unhesitat-
ing faith; we see, at present, under the sacramental symbols, by
the light of faith, the victim of our salvation, our security, our
hope ; but when the mystic veil necessary to our present con-
dition shall be removed, we shall see Him, face to face, as He is
in Himself. Then heaven begins.
Let us wait with patience for awhile, every hour preparing ;
1 for He that is to come, will come, and will not delay.'
In viewing with an eye of faith the mysteries of religion,
nothing strikes us so forcibly as the excessive love of Jesus
Christ for man— ' The Son of God loved me [says St. Paul], and
delivered Himself for me.' Paul was a sinner, a persecutor of
the Church, at that time ; and yet Christ so loved him as to
make Himself responsible for Paul's sin, and thereby saved him.
Now what He has done for the Apostles He has done for us all.
He has suffered in His own person the chastisement which,
were it not for His love for us, would have fallen upon our own
guilty heads. No wonder then that St. Paul should have
exclaimed : ' Who can comprehend what is in the breadth and
length, and height, and depth of the charity of God which
surpasseth all knowledge !' Nay, St. Paul goes farther. Inflamed
with the love of the Saviour, and filled with a holy indignation
against our sensibility, he cries out : ' If any man love not our
Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,' that is, accursed.
Who, taking time to reflect upon the subject, can remain
insensible to the divine love, and not seek to repay it by a return
of love ? God is entitled to the affections of the heart, and will be
satisfied with nothing less. As the night is approaching in which
no man can work, we ought certainly to use every moment at
our disposal to increase in faith, in hope, in charity; these
virtues will not come of themselves, we must acquire them by
aid from above, by fervent prayer, by meditation on the passion
of our Saviour, by frequenting the sacraments : we must exert
ourselves, not only every morning, but really every hour in the
day we ought to turn our thoughts to God, to thank Him for
past favours, to implore the graces which are still wanting to us,
to disengage our hearts perfectly from all earthly concerns, to
prepare us for Himself. The closing scene of life is too
important to the Christian to waste any portion of it in those
affairs which shall so soon end. By our efforts, we can, even
amidst the infirmity of old age, lay up for ourselves treasures
in heaven. Faith, and hope, and charity are the legitimate title-
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 351
deeds to the inheritance of the children of God, the passport
to the kingdom of heaven ; with these in our hands — and
through the grace of God, we may be furnished with them —
have we not, as we advance to the house of eternity, bright
prospects before us ?
Instead of a letter, I have, I find, been writing a sermon. To
hear something of Italy might amuse for a moment; but we
know enough if we only know how to love the Lord Jesus Christ,
who first loved us, who has created and redeemed us for Himself.
It is better, then, to write about the affairs of eternity.
A letter from Edmund reached the Irish College a few days
since, bringing us the most welcome news of your improvement
in health. What favour has not heaven bestowed upon you ?
The prayers of those holy virgins who have grown up under your
roof, whom you watched from infancy, educated, and amply
provided for ; their prayers in your behalf have been heard in
heaven. I often look back to the three happy years in which I
myself had the happiness to be one of your family. The eleven
children were then all at Crawn, both the parents and the parish
priest. What a crowded house we had, and, as latter events
have proved, what a seminary of virtue ? How many religious
vocations cherished and brought to maturity in our family? Six
out of eleven have already resigned the hopes of the world, conse-
crated themselves by vow to God. One has visited Eome, the
centre of Catholic unity, to drink at the fountain-head of that
water springing up into life everlasting. Another has crossed the
Atlantic. May heaven protect our dear sister Josephine to wait
on the Lord in the person of the poor. The rest have left father
and mother, house and lands, nay, have counted with
Saint Paul, ' all things to be loss for the excellent knowledge of
Jesus Christ,' and Crawn has paid her thousands to enable them
to effect their holy designs. These deeds, my ever dear sir, will
tell on the great accounting day. With the royal prophet you
ought often to exclaim, ' Not to us, 0 Lord, not to us ; but to
Thy name be glory given.'
I have filled my paper, and yet have said very little of all I had
to say ; but I must be satisfied. Prepare for the other life under
the protection of the ever Blessed Virgin ; the preparation will be
the better made, and the more easily, through her aid. She
makes such matters very easy, smooths down all our difficulties,
removes unnecessary fears, and consoles and sweetens our last
days. Don't forget her ; she has been left to us by her Divine
Son as our most affectionate and loving mother. On His cross,
addressing Saint John, He said, ' Behold thy mother,' alluding to
the Virgin.
Give my love to my sister. How can she be sufficiently
grateful to heaven for th? rich graces of religious vocations which
have been so abundantly bestowed on her children ? The
352 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
prophecy of old, descriptive of the multitude and magnitude of
the graces and mercies to be enjoyed under the Gospel dispen-
sation, has been verified : ' And it shall come to pass in the last,
days,' saiththe Lord, ' I will pour out of My Spirit upon all flesh,'
All have partaken of it, some more abundantly than others, by
corresponding faithfully with the first graces received.
Eemember me to Hugh and Pauline ; they will, I doubt not,
be as good as those who have gone before them. Affectionate
regards to James and Alicia and the little ones, especially Clare.
Best respects to Edmund and Mary and the young brace, and to
sister Juliana : but I intend in a short time to write to the
convent to discharge all my obligations there. Dr. Cullen and
P. Moran1 desire to be most affectionately remembered to you
all. The latter has grown very tall, enjoys good health, and is a
very promising young ecclesiastic. The bishop has the greatest
regard for him. We have just heard to-day of the death of
Sister Vincent Benny, of the Mercy Convent. The recollection
of all her virtues will long survive ; she was a most amiable
and perfect soul, all innocence, all purity, devoted with her
whole heart to the service of her Creator ; she has had a
happy exchange. May our last end be like unto hers !
Well, I must finish. Farewell ! May heaven protect you
and yours, and may we never forget the one thing necessary.
Affectionately yours,
JAMES MAHER.
It would be interesting to ascertain the number of
priests and nuns that have come from those united
families of Cullens, Mahers, and Morans. Some delightful
books have treated of the biography, not of individuals, but
of many generations of the same family — the Herschels,
the Trenches, the Mendelssohns. An interesting book of
another kind might be devoted to the history of a family
such as we are referring to. The lady to whom we owe
Father Maher's epistolary sermon has kindly supplied the
following list of the relatives of Cardinal Cullen who became
priests or nuns : —
Paul Cullen, who was destined to play so important a
part in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland, was the son of
Hugh Cullen and Mary Maher. His father's brother,
Michael, and his mother's brother, James, were parish
priests in the diocese of Kildare. Two sisters of his mother
1 His Eminence the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney.
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS
entered the Presentation Convents at Carlow and Kildare,
in which latter Convent his sister also became a nun. ' His
nephew, Patrick Francis Moran, is now Cardinal Archbishop
of Sydney ; and the Most Eev. Michael Verdon, Bishop of
Dunedin, is another nephew.
The late William Cullen stood in the same relationship
to our first Irish Cardinal, as do also the Eev. James Maher,
late Vice-Eector of the Irish College, Home ; the Eev.
Edmund Cullen, C.M., and the Eev. Paul Cullen, C.M.
Amongst the Cardinal's nieces are Mrs. Cullen, of the
French Sisters of Charity at Darlington ; Mrs. Keatley, of
ths Convent of Mercy, Drogheda ; and Mrs. Cullen, Irish
Sister of Charity, Superior of St. Vincent's Hospital,
St. Stephen's-green, Dublin. Of the Cardinal's grand-
nieces, two bearing his name are amongst the French
Sisters of Charity in North William-street, Dublin, and
Dunmanway, co. Cork ; while two of the Cummins family
are Sisters of Mercy at Callan, and a third at Westport.
The Eev. Michael Cullen, S.J., Beaumont College, Windsor,
is a grand-nephew of Cardinal Cullen. The letter we have '
printed speaks of ' Father Tom,' a cousin of the Cardinal's,
namely, Father Thomas Cullen, P.P., of the diocese of
Kildare. Cousins of the name of Cullen are, or were, Sisters
of Mercy at Westport and Pittsburgh, and two together
in the Convent of Mercy, Carlow, while a fifth was a
Presentation Nun in Mountmellick.
Other cousins of the name of Maher entered the
Dominican Convent, Wicklow, and the Convents of Mercy,
Athy, Callan, and Carlow ; while two of the Kenna family
joined the Presentation Convent, Kildare. In the next
degree of kinship stand the Eev. Edmund Cullen, C.C., of
Kingstown ; the Eev. Hugh Cullen, C.C., Naas ; Eev. Walter
Hurley, C.C., Delgany ; Eev. Gerald Cummins of the Kil-
dare diocese ; three Dominican Nuns of Wicklow, and a
Sister of Mercy at Westport. Our catalogue furnishes other
names, amongst which are those of Mother de Eicci Maher,
of the Dominican Convent, Cabra ; Mother Columba Maher
of the same Convent ; Eev. John Kearney and Eev. Edmund
Kearney of the Kildare diocese ; Eev. Thomas Maher, S. J. ;
VOL, m. z
354 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Rev. Martin Maher, S. J., &c. But we need not trace further
the branches of this remarkable Levitical family.
Amongst the not very numerous letters which Dr. Russell,
President of Maynooth College, 1857-1880, preserved out of
his vast correspondence was the following from Mr. John
Rogers Herbert, R.A. This distinguished painter would,
doubtless, have had more vogue if he had continued, as at
first, to draw his inspiration from pagan or worldly themes.
But, when drawn into the Catholic Church about his
thirtieth year, in 1840, partly through the influence of the
enthusiastic convert, Augustus Welby Pugin, he seems to
have deemed it a duty to devote his talents to the illustration
of religious subjects, not so popular among the English
public of the nineteenth century as in the country and the
century of Fra Angelico. But Mr. Herbert's reputation
stood sufficiently high to secure him the commission to
decorate with frescoes the Peers' robing room in the Houses
of Parliament at Westminster. To these he alludes in this
letter. He chose the subjects from the Old Testament — the
Fall of Man, the Building of the Temple, &c. The greatest
of his works is said to be ' Moses bringing the Tables of the
Law.' The son, whose soul he commended to Dr. Russell's
prayers, was already dead seven years. Though Arthur
Herbert was only twenty-two years old when he died, in
1856, he had exhibited paintings two years with success in
the Royal Academy. Before Mr. J. R. Herbert died, in his
eightieth year (1890), he had also lost, in 1882, a son of still
greater promise, Cyril Wiseman Herbert : —
7, GKAVESEND PLACE,
ST. JOHN'S WOOD-ROAD,
Sept. 15th, 1863.
VERY EEV. DEAR SIR, — I have not forgotten the very kind
expressions which fell from your lips when I spoke of the loss of
my dear son Arthur John — that you would say a mass for his
soul if I reminded you of the anniversary of his death. Friday,
the 18th November, is the day.
I am sure you will be pleased to hear that the members of the
Government have been greatly impressed with my doings at
Westminster, and that the enemies in the House of Commons
have become warm friends, and that they have it I am a sort of
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 355
Master in Israel. I am glad if Catholic Art rises, and commends
religious thoughts to the spectator. I shall not become vain at its
success. It has not been done with ease, and if I am entrusted
with any talent it is for good, and not of my own making.
Forgive my having spoken of my own doings, but I know you are
interested in them, and I have ventured to give you the tidings of
the impression of my work. How glad I shall be to see you here
or at Westminster whenever you come to London.
My friend Mr. Kenelm Digby invites me to Ireland. I am
uncertain of my plans. If I can get west, I shall, I hope, get your
blessing at Maynooth ; and meanwhile I beg it now.
My daughters join me in hearty wishes for your health and
every good thing to you.
Believe me, Very Bev. Dear Sir,
Your faithful humble servant,
J. B. HERBERT.
The writer of this letter shares with the friend whom he
mentions the distinction of being the only Englishmen who
were elected honorary members of the Irish Ecclesiological
Society, which had been organized a little earlier, under the
presidency of Dr. Kussell, of Maynooth. All these names
occur again in a letter of the poet Denis Florence
MacCarthy, which followed me to St. Beuno's, a month
after the date of the preceding letter : —
SUMMERFIELD HOUSE, DALKEY,
28th October, 1863.
DEAR MR. EUSSELL, — I am glad to find that new duties, new
associations, and new scenery have not quite put out of your
head all recollection of the little (or big) circle at Summerfield.
It would give me great pleasure indeed to visit North Wales
while you are there; not, indeed, in search of the picturesque,
because to those who have eyes the beautiful is everywhere, but
for the romantic variety of the picturesque which North Wales so
abundantly provides. I do not, however, see. much probability of
my being able to do so. Besides, your mention of Dr. Johnson
sets my back up even against the Vale of Clwyd. I would be
inclined to say (if you were not there) as that sturdy old hater
said of the Giant's Causeway, that it was worth seeing, but not
worth going to see. But I withdraw the disparaging quotation,
and will go sometime or other, you may rely upon it, if I can.
I fear for my poor ' Underglimpses ' in the hands of a
Coleridge. Attuned as his ear must be almost hereditarily to
356 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the melody of ' Genevieve ' and ' Kubla Khan,' my impromptu
pipings must seem very small indeed.
Since I last saw you, I had the pleasure of making the
acquaintance in an accidental way of one of your late reverend
associates at Limerick, Sir Christopher Bellew. Dr. Madden and
I were going over Killiney one day to pay a visit to Kenelrn
Digby. In a shower of rain we both sheltered under a hawthorn
tree, and were joined by a distinguished-looking priest, who had,
as I unpatriotically thought, an Oxford or Cambridge look about
him. In a few minutes after, we met at Mr. Digby's, who was
good enough to introduce us to him, and I found to my amaze-
ment that he was as well up in the Marquis de Villars' controversy
and the Chevalier de Chatelain's Rayons et Reflets as I was
myself. Your uncle, Dr. Eussell, also, was good enough to call
here one day with Mr. Kenelm. Digby, whose acquaintance I was
very glad to make, and who impressed us all here very favourably.
Your uncle kindly asked me to Maynooth to meet the Attorney-
General, but unfortunately I could not go. See what an auto-
biography you have brought upon you by your friendly note.
Believe me, dear Mr. Eussell,
Sincerely yours,
D. F, M'CARTHY.
The two out-of-the-way books which afforded Father
Bellew an opportunity of gratifying Mr. MacCarthy, at their
first meeting, by showing his familiarity with them, were,
of course, connected with the poet himself. Rayons et
Reflets gave French metrical translations of some of his
sweetest lyrics, and the Memoires de Villars was a curious
old book, published by the Philobiblon Society, in 1862, 6n
which MacCarthy had read a very erudite paper before the
Koyal Irish Academy. This drew from Lady ' Speranza '
Wilde a remonstrance in blank verse, beginning : —
Descend not, poet, from the heights.
A certain college professor, better known afterwards as a
preacher and as dean of a great diocese, had a little of that
amiable vanity which has distinguished some very good and
very able men. One day, walking with a colleague up
and down in front of the college (not Maynooth), he and
bis companion passed a donkey that was browsing placidly
on the lawn, 'That poor animal,' said he, 'little knows
ANOTHER BATCH OF LETTERS 357
how much theology is passing by.' That hawthorn-tree
upon Killiney Hill, under which Denis Florence MacCarthy
and Richard Robert Madden sought refuge from a summer
shower, on their way to the author of Mores Catholici and
The Broadstone of Honour, was just as little aware how
highly it was honoured in sheltering, at the same moment,
the sweetest of our poets, the venerable historian of the
United Irishmen, and the only Irish baronet who ever gave
up the world to become a priest.
MATTHEW RUSSELL, s.j.
358 ]
IRotes anb Queries
THEOLOGY
ABSOLUTION FROM A RESERVED SIN AND THE MAYNOOTH
SYNODAL DECREES
KEY. DEAR SIR, — Would you kindly give your opinion on the
force and value of the following sentence, to be found in the Acts
and Decrees of the Maynooth Synod, par, 86, cap. xvi., De
Poenitentia : ' Casus reservatus in dioecesi confessarii non subtra-
hitur reservation! ea de causa quod non reservatur in dioecesi
poenitentis.' My difficulty is whether a confessor in Ireland can
absolve a penitent coming from another diocese in Ireland from
a sin, which is reserved in the diocese of the confessor, but not in
that of the penitent. According to many, if not most, modern
theologians, it is solidly probable that a confessor can absolve a
penitent when the sin is reserved in the diocese of confessor, but
not in the diocese of penitent. They ground their opinion on
the commonly-received belief that the penitent's bishop supplies
jurisdiction when the subject confessed in another diocese, and as
he has not reserved the sin in the case made, the confessor can
freely absolve.
I should have no hesitation in following this opinion in
practice were it not for the sentence in the Maynooth Decrees
already referred to. Does this sentence prevent a confessor in
Ireland from following the opinion just given ? If it does, then
it must have the force of a legislative enactment to this extent,
that the bishops collectively and individually refuse jurisdiction
on behalf of their subject in such circumstances. I don't think
this sentence can have such meaning or force, but if it hasn't, it
seems to be merely the expression of a theological opinion on the
part of their Lordships ; and so it may be departed from in
practice by any confessor who thinks the opposite more probable
or solidly probable. You will much oblige by enlightening
myself and others on this matter. — I remain, &c.
DUBITANS.
Our correspondent contemplates the case, for example, in
which a penitent from another diocese confesses to him a
NOTES AND QUERIES 359
certain sin reserved in loco confessionis, but not in dioecesi
poenitentis. Can lie absolve such a penitent ? It is assumed,
of course, that the penitent is not in danger of death, that
there is no special necessity for receiving absolution, and
nothing to prevent the penitent from having recourse to his
superior. We assume, moreover, that the confessor has not
got special faculties for absolving from the reserved sins of
his diocese.
The question may be considered from the point of view
of the general law of the Church, or with special reference
to the law that obtains in this country. Viewing the matter
from the standpoint of the general law, theologians are
divided on this question. They differ as to the source from
which the diocesan clergy (as distinct from regulars) derive
the jurisdiction to absolve peregrini, and hence arises a
diversity of opinion on the question raised by our corre-
spondent. Some derive the jurisdiction over peregrini from
the bishop of the place where the confession is heard, and
hence infer (rightly or wrongly) that a peregrinus is subject
to the reservations of the place in which he confesses.
Others derive the jurisdiction from the bishop of the
penitent, and hence infer that a peregrinus can be absolved
from all sins not reserved in his own diocese. Others,
again, think that jurisdiction to absolve peregrini is a
legal jurisdiction coming from the Pope, inasmuch as he
approves the general custom according to which confessors
treat peregrini (fraude seclusa) just as they treat other
penitents. We need not stop to specify further modifications
of these opinions. The two latter opinions are now very
generally admitted to be both probable. We look upon the
opinion last mentioned as the more probable of the two.
But our correspondent can undoubtedly claim good authority
for the opinion which derives the jurisdiction over peregrini
from the bishop of the penitent's domicile, and lays down
that a confessor can absolve a, peregrinus from a sin reserved
in loco confesssioni tontum.
Lehmkuhl says : —
Practice statui potest ut peregrinuin absolvere liceat nisi
aut (1) peccatum reservatum sit utrobique, i.e., in loco confessionis
360 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
et in loco domicilii poenitentis aut (2) ' in fraudem legis ... in
alienam dioecesim se transtulerit.'1
And Haine : —
Si casus est reservatus tantum in loco confessionis [confessarius
absolvere potest] . Et haec sententia est practice tuta ; turn quia
stante solida probabilitate hujus sententias, reservatio jam evadit
dubia [ideoque nulla], turn quia licitum est ex communi DD.
absolvere cum jurisdictione probabili probabilitate juris.
We have no right, therefore, to quarrel with our cor-
respondent's practical conclusion when he says that, viewing
the matter from the standpoint of the general law, he would
have no hesitation in following the practical rule laid down
by Lehmkuhl.
We think, however, that the general law — and here we
differ from our correspondent — is modified in this country by
the words above quoted from the Synod of Maynooth. We
cannot admit that these words express a mere theological
opinion, the authority of which may, as our correspondent
suggests, be discounted by the weight of authority
against it.
In form, indeed, the words quoted are not mandatory,
but affirmative. And it is for this reason, perhaps, that our
correspondent understands them to contain a mere expres-
sion of theological teaching. On the other hand, however,
it may be contended that we should not, in any case, expect
the words to take an imperative form ; for the obligation, if
there were one, was to fall on the legislators themselves —
binding them to withdraw jurisdiction. But, moreover —
and this is what weighs with us — we should not assume
unnecessarily that the bishops undertook, in these words,
what they had no power whatever to accomplish. They
had no authority to decide, or to attempt to decide
definitively, a question hotly disputed among the first theolo-
gians of the time. Yet the interpretation suggested to us
makes the bishops adopt, and seem to teach, one of the rival
opinions, without as much as condescending to notice any
1 ii n. 403.
NOTES AND QUERIES 361
other. They are made to decide by implication, and teach
us the origin of jurisdiction over peregrini, -wit}! the same
apparent confidence and authority with which they tell
us, a page or two before, that the Easter-time begins in
this country on Ash Wednesday, and ends on Ascension
Thursday, or on the octave-day of the Feast of SS. Peter
and Paul. We could admit such an interpretation only
under compulsion.
But there is no necessity for having recourse to it.
Whatever the bishops thought speculatively of the merits
of the controversy above referred to, they came to the
conclusion, we may suppose, that the ends of reservation,
the good of penitents, and the convenience of confessors
as well, would be best served by a common arrangement
that, in this country, a confessor should not, for the confes-
sions of peregrini, have jurisdiction over a case reserved in
loco confessionis, though not reserved in dioecesi poenitentis.
That the bishops could have made such an agreement cannot
be disputed. That they actually did make this arrangement
will be admitted by all who refuse to accept the only alter-
native of placing the bishops of the synod in a false and
untenable position.
Our interpretation does no violence to the words of the
Synod ; and so far, perhaps, it can claim no advantage over the
alternative interpretation. But, our interpretation avoids
the necessity of supposing that the bishops of the Synod
took up an untenable view of their authority. For this reason
we commend it to our correspondent. We may further remark
that confessors find it sometimes difficult enough to master
the reserved cases of their own diocese ; in our cor-
respondent's view, they would need, for the efficient
discharge of their duties, to know the reserved cases of the
dioceses as well. The bishops at the Maynooth Synod
ruled that confessors must (unless in case of fraud) treat
peregrini just as they treat their own penitents, and so in
most cases practically relieved confessors from the trouble of
knowing the reservations of other dioceses than their own.
We doubt if the interests of confessors or penitents would,
as a rule, be served by reverting to the state of things
362 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
practically existing under the general law. Penitents
would more frequently escape the reservations of their own
pastors, and confessors would have more need to be familiar
with the reservations of neighbouring dioceses.
The special inter-diocesan arrangement for this country
holds, of course, only so long, and so far, as the bishops of
the country continue to abide by the regulation of the
Maynooth Synod. There is nothing, for instance, to prevent
two bishops from reverting to the common law, or making
an express agreement in virtue of which the confessors of
their dioceses would have the power which our correspondent
is desirous to exercise. Manifestly, too, the arrangement
does not in any way suggest our correspondent's jurisdiction
over a peregrinits who does not belong to an Irish diocese.
D. MANNIX.
LITURGY
THE VOTIVE MASS OF THE HOLY GHOST
EEV. DEAK SIR, — I shall feel very much obliged, if you will
kindly answer the following question : —
Can a priest say the Mass of the Holy Ghost to obtain some
temporal favour; v.g.t to prevent the loss of cattle, to relieve or
cure a person suffering from a severe malady, &c., on a semi-
double, simple, or ferial, not within an octave, or other time
which excludes Votive Masses ?
The reason of my asking the question, is, that some priests
affirm that the Mass of the Holy Ghost cannot licitly be cele-
brated, even on these days, except for some grave spiritual
necessity.
Until I heard this opinion advanced, I thought that as a
priest was free to say a requiem ; Mass on these days for a
deceased person, so he was equally free to say the Mass of the
Holy Ghost on the same days for the temporal benefit of a
person, in the usual way in which Mass is offered up to obtain
any temporal favour.
If a priest cannot lawfully say the Mass of the Holy Ghost
363
except for a grave spiritual necessity, perhaps it may be con-
sidered that such a necessity is generally present with the
temporal one for which the priest is asked to celebrate the
Mass.
Yours sincerely,
P.P.
Our correspondent need have no scruple about saying
the Votive Mass of the Holy Ghost on any day on which
the rubrics permit the celebration of a Requiem or other
Votive Mass. The object for which this Mass is offered
need not necessarily be a spiritual one, either grave or other-
wise ; it may quite lawfully be offered for the purpose of
obtaining temporal blessings. Our correspondent's advisers
seem to possess hazy notions of one or two correct prin-
ciples. It is true that the Mass of the Holy Ghost is one
of the three that may be said as a Solemn Mass of thanks-
giving ; it is also true that a Solemn Votive Mass cannot be
celebrated unless for a grave cause. But it is nowhere
stated that a Solemn Votive Mass, whether of the Holy
Ghost, of the Holy Trinity, of the Blessed Virgin, &c.,
cannot be celebrated for any other object than ' a grave
spiritual necessity.' On the contrary, a grave temporal
necessity affords quite the same justification for the cele-
bration of a Solemn Votive Mass as does a similar necessity
in the spiritual order.
We may seem to be wandering from the question which
we have undertaken to answer ; but our object is not merely
to show our correspondent that he was not wrong in follow-
ing the practice to which his friends objected, but also that
the opinion put forward by his friends could not, in any
conceivable circumstances, be right. A private Votive Mass
of the Holy Ghost may be offered for any becoming object
on any day permitting a Votive Mass, and a Solemn Votive
Mass of the Holy Ghost may be offered for temporal as
well as for spiritual objects. We give the following extract
from De Herdt in support of the latter statement, because
we are quite certain that it was some confused notion regard-
ing Solemn Votive Masses that led our correspondent's
364
friends to tender him the erroneous advice to which he
refers. We may remark that a grave public cause is
required to justify a bishop in permitting a Solemn Votive
Mass : —
Quae est causa gravis et publica quae requiritur ad cantandum
votivam solemn em ?
Resp. Talis est spirituals vel] temporalis necessitas, quae
communitatem vel saltern majorem ejus partem afficit v.g. pro
obtinenda pace, serenitate aeris, etc. pro acquirendo gravi et
publico beneficio, vel avertendo malo, pro recuperanda sanitate
Pontificis, Episcopi Eegis, etc. ; si gratiae pro magno accepto
beneficio sint agenda,1 etc.
D. O'LoAN.
1Toni vi., n. 27.
[ 365 ]
DOCUMENTS
BISHOPS WHO HAVE POWER TO DISPENSE IN AGE
CAN DISPENSE SECULAR AND REGULAR CLERICS
EX S. CONG. S. R. U. INQUISITIONIS
EPISCOPI QUI POTIUNTUK FACULTATE DISPENSANDI A DEFECTU
AETATIS, DISPENSARE VALENT CLERICOS SAECULARES ET
REGULARES
Feria IV, die 29 Ian. 1896.
In Congregatione General! S.E. et U. I. habita coram Emis
et Emis DD. Cardinalibus contra haereticam pravitatem Gene-
ralibus Inquisitoribus propositum fuit sequens dubium :
In facultatibus quinquennalibus S. C. de Propaganda Fide sub
formula III. n. 13 conceditur facultas ' Dispensandi super defectu
aetatis unius anni, ob operariorum penuriam, ut promoveri possint
ad sacerdotium si alias idonei fuerint.' Quaeritur utrum haec
facultas extendatur etiam ad Eegulares.
Et omnibus diligenti examine perpensis, praehabitoque
DD. Consultorum voto, iidem Emi ac Emi DD. Cardinales
respondendum mandarunt : ' Affirmative, facto verbo cum SSmo.'
Feria vero V. die 30 eiusdem mensis et anni in solita Audientia
r. p. d. Assessor! impertita, facta de suprascriptis accurata
relatione SSmo D. N. Leoni PP. XIII, Sanctitas Sua resolutionem
Eminentissimorum Patrum approbavit et contirmavit.
I. CAN. MANCINI, S. E, et U. I. Not.
EXCOMMUNICATION BY ROMAN CONGREGATIONS
EXCOMMUNICATIO LATA A SS. CONGR. ROMANIS NON RESERVATUR
ROM. PONTIFICI CEU ILLA AB EO LATA IN COMMUNICANTES IN
CRIMINE CRIMINOSO
Feria IV., die 16 luim, 1894.
In Congregatione General! S. E. et U. I. habita coram Emis
et Rmis DD. Cardinalibus, contra haereticam pravitatem Gene-
ralibus Inquisitoribus, propositum fuit sequens dubium :
In Constitutione s. m. Pii Papae IX. quae incipit ' Apostolicae
Sedis,' excommunicatione Eom. Pontifici simpliciter reservata
366 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
innodantur : ' Communicantes cum excommunicate nominatim a
a Papa in crimine criminoso, ei scilicet impendendo auxilium vel
favorem.' Quaeritur utrum his verbis comprehendantur etiam
excommunicati a Komanis Congregationibus, saltern quando
earum decretis accedit approbatio Sumrai Pontificis.
Et omnibus diligenti examine perpensis, praehabitoque DD.
Consultorum voto, iidem Enii ac Bmi DD. Cardinales respon-
dendum mandarunt : ' Negative.'
Feria vero VI., die 18 eiusdem mensis et anni, in solita
Audientia r. p. d. Adsessoris S. O. impertita, facta de suprascriptis
accurata relatione SSmo D. N. Leoni PP. XIII., Sanctitas Sua
resolutionem Eminentissimorum Patrum adprobavit et con-
firmavit.
I. CAN. MANCINI, S. B. et U. I. Not.
SHOULD MEMBERS OF CONFRATERNITIES FOLLOW THE
PROCESSION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT WITH HEADS
UNCOVERED P
DUBIUM, QUAEEITUR AN SODALES PROCEDERE DEBEANT CAPITE
OMNINO NUDO IN PKOCESSIONIBUS CUM SSMO SACRAMENTO
Postulate Sacrae Bituum Congregationi exhibito : Utrum in
processionibus cum SSmo Sacramento confraternitatum sodales
semper nudo omnino capite procedere debeant? Sacra eadem
Congregatio, referente Secretario, auditoque voto Commissionis
Liturgicae respondendum censuit : Affirmative, ad tramites
BitualisBomani,CaeremonialisEpiscoporum et Decretorum Aesina
23 Januarii 1700 ad 2 ; Mutinen. 22 Septembris 1837 ad 2 ; et
Toletatm, 21 August! 1872, ad II. Atque ita rescripsit, die 22 Julii
1897.
C. CARD. MAZELLA EP. PRAENESTIN. S. B. C. Praef.
L. *S
D. PANICI, S.R.C. Secret.
BANNERS TO BE CARRIED IN PROCESSION
DE ADMITTENDIS NECNE VEXILLIS, TUM INTRA ECCLESIAS, TUM IN
POMPA FUNEBRI DUCENDA, CLERO COMITANTE
Ab H. S. Inquis. sequentis dubii solutio ex postulata, est
nimirum :
Utrum! admitti possint vexilla, sive vexillum dictum nationale,
DOCUMENTS 367
in Ecclesiis, occasione functionum religiosarum, et in adsociatione
cadaverum ad coemeterium cum funebri pompa et interventu
cleri ?
Responsum fuit die 3 Oct. 1887 :
' Quatenus agatur de vexillis, quae praeseferunt emblem ata
manifesto impia vel perversa, si ea extollantur in pompa funebri,
clerus inde recedat ; si in Ecclesiam per vim inducantur, tune
si missa nondum inchoata fuerit, clerus recedat, si inchoata,
post earn absolutam auctoritas ecclesiastica solemnem protes-
tationem emittat de violata templi et sacrarum functionum
sanctitate. Quatenus agatur de vexillis ita dictis nationalibus,
nullum emblema de se vetitum praeferentibus, in funebri pompa
tolerari posse, dummodo feretrum sequantur, in Ecclesia vero
non esse toleranda.'
Quid vero agendum, si vexilla dicta nationalia violenter in
Ecclesiis introducantur ?
Idem S. Officium, sub die 24 Nov. 1897 respondit : ' detur
Decretum S. Poenitentiariae in Apuana sub die 4 Aprilis 1887.'
Decretum autem sic sonat :
' Quatenus agatur de vexillis, quae praeseferunt emblemata
manifeste impia vel perversa, si ea extollantur in pompa funebri,
clerus inde recedat ; si in ecclesiam per vim inducantur, tune si
missa nondum inchoata fuerit, clerus recedat ; si inchoata post
earn absolutam auctoritas ecclesiastica solemnem protestationem
emittat de violata templi et sacrarum functionem sanctitate.
Quatenus agatur de vexillis ita dictis nationalibus, nullum
emblema de se vetitum praeseferentibus, in funebri pompa
tolerari posse dummodo feretrum sequantur ; in ecclesia vero
non esse toleranda, nisi secus turbae aut pericula timeantur.'
CERTAIN DEFECTS IN ORDINATION
ITEBETUB SECBETO OBDINATIO DIACONI, IN QUA EPUS CEBTO CAPUT
OBDINANDI, PHYSICE NON TETIGIT
Beatissimo Padre.1
N. N. prostrate ai piedi della S. V., umilmente espone che
egli, due anni or sono, fu ammesso all' ordinazione del Diaconato.
1 N. N. ad pedes S. V. provolutus humiliter exponit quod duobus abhinc
annis, ad recipiendum Diaconatus Ordinem fuit admissus. Nunc autem circa
hanc ordinationem dubiis premitur. Optime enim meminit quod Epus, dum
manus imponeret, ipsum physice nou tetigit; de hoc aliquamdiu turbatus
368 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Oggi pero ha del clubbii su quella ordinazione. Egli ricorda
bene che il Vescovo nello imporgli le mani, non lo tocco fisica-
mente : ne visse inquieto per qualche tempo ; ma pensando che
il tatto fisico non e essenziale, si lascio poco dopo promuovere al
sacerdozio. Se non che, avendo non guari appreso che la imposi-
zione delle mani senza contatto corporale rendeva dubbia 1' ordi-
nazione, agitato da novello timore, chiede se la sua ordinazione a
diacono debba essere reiterata sotto condizione. — Che ecc.
Far. IV, 26 lanuarii 1898.
In Congregatione Generali S. R. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
E.mis ac R.mis D.D. Cardinalibus Generalibus Inquisitoribus,
proposito suprascripto dubio, praehabitoque RR. DD. Consul-
torum voto, iidem EE,mi ac RR.mi DD.ni responded man-
darunt :
Detur Decretum Fer. IV 2 lanuarii 1875 ; scilicet iteretur sub
conditione Ordinatio Diaconatus, quae iteratio fieri potest a quo-
cumque catholico Episcopo secreto, quocumque anni tempore
etiam in sacello private, facto verbo cum SS.mo.
Feria vero VI, die 28 eiusdem mensis et anni, in solita
Audientio R. P. D. Adsessori S. 0. impertita, facta de his omni-
bus relatione SS. D. N. Leoni PP. XIII, idem SS. Deminus
resolutionem EE. ac RR. Patrum confirmavit ac facilitates omnes
necessarias et opportunas impertiri dignatus est.
I. Can. MANCINI, S. M. et U. I. Not.
OBDINANDUS BEGEPIT PBIMAU ET SECUNDAM IMPOSITIONEM MANUUM
CUM INTENTIONS NKUTBA, QUAM AFFIBMATIVAM EFFECIT ANTE
MANUUM CONSECBATIONEM : ACQUIESCAT
Beatissimo Padre.1
N. N. prostrate ai piedi della S. V., umilmente espone che
egli fu ordinato sacerdote con questa intenzione : Dubitando se
exstitit ; sed putans tactum physicum non esse essentialem, ad sacerdotium, se
promoveri indulsit. lamvero quam nuper audierit, ex impositione manuum
sine contactu corporal! peracta, dubiam evadere ordinationem, iterum timore
pressus, postulat utrum sua ordinatio ad Diaconatum, debeat sub conditione
iterari.
1 N. N. ad pedes S. V. provolutus humiliter exponit se sacrum recepisse
presbyteratus ordinem cum sequent! intentione : quum enim dubitaret utrum
ad presbyteratum idoneus esset necne, ex una parte volebat excludere inten-
tionem reeipiendi characterem, ex altera vero illam ponere volebat Tandem
ita sibimet dixit : pono illam intentionem, quam in decursu ordinationis pro
certa statuam. Ita dubitans, primam et secundam manuum impositionem
recepit; et tune solum, intentionem reeipiendi sacerdotium efformavit, quum
ad manuum consecrationem perventum est. Nunc autem, conscientia presnus,
postulat utrum valida sit ordinatio sic recepta.
DOCUMENTS 369
era idoneo o pur no al presbiterato, da una parte voleva togliere
la intenzione di esser prete, dall'altra voleva metterla. Final-
mente disse cosi : metto quella intenzione che determinero certa-
mente in qualche punto dell'ordinazione. Dubbioso semprc,
ricevette la prima e la seconda imposizione delle mani ; e solo
quando si fu alia consacrazione delle mani risolse di esser prete
Or, inquieto di coscienza, chiede se sia valida 1'ordinazione cosi
ricevuta.
Per. IV, 26 lanuarii 1898.
In Congregatione Generali S. E. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
EE.mis et KE.mis DD. Cardinalibus Inquisitoribus Generalibus,
proposito suprascripto dubio, praehabitoque voto ER. DD. Con-
sultorum, responderi mandarunt :
Acquiescat.
Feria vero VI, die 28 eiusdem mensis et anni, in soliti
Audientia E. P. D. Adsessori impertita, facta de his omnibus
relatione SS. D. N. Leoni PP. XIII, idem SS. D.nus resolutionem
EE.morum PP. adprobavit.
I. Can. MANCINI, S. R. et U. I. Not.
THE CEREMONIES OF LOW MASS
PARISIEN
VAEIA SOLVUNTUR DUBIA QUOAD GENUFLEXIONES CORAM"
SS. SACRAMENTO, ETC.
E. D. Augustinus Dauby, Sacerdos et Moderator pii Institubi
a Sancto Nicolao nuncupati, in Civitate Parisiensi, de consensu
sui Emi Ordinarii, sequentium Dubiorum solutionem a Sacra
Eituum Congregatione humillime expetivit, nimirum :
I. Quoad genuflexiones faciendas a ministro Missae privatae,
quae iusta de causa et praevia licentia celebretur in Altari
expositionis SSmi Sacramenti, quaeritur :
1. Minister, qui transfert missale a cornu Epistolae ad cornu
Evangelii et genuflectit in piano ante medium Altaris, debetne
etiam genuflectere in accessu ad cornu Altaris et recessu ?
2. Quando idem minister ad oflertorium et purificationem
ascendit ad Altare et descendit, ubinam genuflectere debet ?
II. Rubricae Missalis ad titulum ' Eitus servandus in celebra-
tione Missae V., n. 6, praescribunt ; " Si in altar i fuerit taber-
naculum SSmi Sacramenti, accepto thuribulo, antequam incipiat
VOL. in, 2 A
370
incensationem, genuflectit, quod item facit quotiescuinque transit
ante medium altaris ; " ' quaeritur : Utrum etiam in Missa privata
debeat Sacerdos genuflectere :
1. quando defectu ministri, ipse transfert Missale a cornu
Epistolae ad cornu Evangelii, et vicissim ;
2. quando in Maiori Hebdomada transit a cornu Epistolae ad
cornu Evangelii ad legendam Passionem ?
III. Bituale Eomanum in tit. * Ordo ministrandi Sacram
Communionem,' haec habet : ' Sacerdos reversus ad allare dicere
poterit : 0 sacrum convivium, etc., v. Domine exaudi, etc. Et
clamor, etc., Dominus vobiscum, etc. ;' quaeritur:
1. Utrum istae precea convenienter dicantur, iunctis manibus
antequam cooperiatur pyxis et digiti abluantur ?
2. Utrum Sacerdos duas genuflexiones facere debeat, unam
statim ac deposuit pyxidem super Altari et antequam earn
cooperiat ; alteram priusquam, reposita in tabernaculo pyxide,
ipsius tabernaculi ostiolum claudat ?
IV. luxta Caeremoniale Episcoporum, ad benedictionem
impertiendam cum SSmo Sacramento ipse celebrans accipit
ostensorium super Altari positum ; sed receptum est, ut Diaconus
accipiat ostensorium et porrigat celebranti, qui post benedictionem
Diacono tradit super Altari collocandum, quaeritur: Utrum liceat
in bac duplici ostensorii traditione ritum servare, qui praescribitur
pro feria V in Coena Domini et in festo SS. Corporis Christi ante
et post processionem SSmi Sacramenti ?
V. Licetne aliquid canere lingua vernacula.
1. In Missa solemni dum sacra Communio distribuitur per
notabile tempus ?
2. In solemni processione SSmi Sacramenti, alternatim cum
hymnis liturgicis ?
VI. luxta Caeremoniale Episcoporum in solemni Officio ad
nonam Lectionem et in Laudibus Hebdomadarius et Assistentes
pluviali sunt induti, quaeritur :
1 . Utrum idem fieri possit a principio Matutini ?
2. Utrum lectori septimae Lectionis Evangelii homiliae duo
acolytrn' cum cereis accensis assistere possint, durante lectione
Evangelii ?
Et Sacra Congregatio, ad relationem subscripti Secretarii,
exquisito voto Commissionis Liturgicae, omnibusque accurate
perpensis, rescribendum censuit :
Ad I. quoad primam quaestionem ; Unicam genuflexionem
DOCUMENTS 371
esse faciendam in piano ante medium Altaris ; quoad alteram
quaestionem : Tarn ante ascensionem ad Altare, quam post de-
scensionem de eodem in piano genuflexionem esse faciendam.
Ad II. Negative ad utrumque.
Ad III. Quoad primam partem : Negative et preces dicendae
sunt infra ablutionem et extersionem digitorum. Quoad alteram
partem : Affirmative iuxta Decretum in Romano, d. d. 23 Decem-
bris 1862, et praxim Basilicarum Urbis.
Ad IV. Aut servatur ritus a Caeremoniali Episcoporum lib.
II., cap. 32, § 27 praescriptus, aut, iuxta praxim Romanam,
Diaconus ostensorium celebranti tradere vel ab eodein recipere
potest, utroque stante.
Ad V. Negative ad utrumque.
Ad VI. Si non adsit legitima consuetude, Negative et servetur
Caeremoniale Episcoporum lib. II., cap. VI., § 16.
Atque ita rescripsit. Die 14 lanuarii 1898.
C. CAKD. MAZZELLA, Ep. Praenestinus S. R. C., Praef.
D. PANICI, Secret.
L. *S.
VARIOUS QUESTIONS REGARDING CHURCHES AND CHURCH
PRACTICES IN ENGLAND
Bmus Dnus Cuthbertus Hedley, Ordinis S. Benedict!,
Episcopus Neoporten. Sacrae Eituum Congregationi ea quae
sequuntur humillime exposuit, nimirum :
I. In Anglia nee dari Paroecias strictim dictas, nee Beneficia,
quibus adnexum sit onus Divini Officii recitandi ; verurn Ecclesiis
singulis addictos esse unum vel plures Sacerdotes, qui ibidem
residences, munia quasi parochialia in Territorio sive (ut aiunt)
in Districtu Missionario ipsius Ecclesiae ratione muneris exer-
cent.
II. Rectores Ecclesiarum alios esse ad nutum Episcopi
amovibiles, alios vero nonnisi praevio Processu Canonico vel
Resignatione sponte oblata et accepta : universes autem Vicarios,
sive Sacerdotes Assistentes esse ad nutum Ordinarii amovibiles.
III. Ecclesias per Angliam perpaucas esse consecratas, ceteras
benedictas sub invocatione Sancti Titularis : nonnunquam vero
Fideles (deficiente Aede Sacra) congregari ad Missam audiendam
Sacramentaque suscipienda in Schola vel alia Aula congrua pro
publico Oratorio ab Ordinario designata.
372 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Quare idem Emus Episcopus Orator, apprime cupiens cuncta
quae cultum divinum respiciunt in sua Dioecesi ad tramites
Decretorum Sacrae Eituum Congregationis disponere, enixe
postulavit, nempe :
I. An apud Anglos in Ecclesiis Cleri Saecularis Calendarium
Dioecesanum a laudata Sacra Eituum Congregations approbafoyn
et singulis annis iussu Ordinarii editum, additis festis SS. Titula-
rium, Dedicationis, atque aliis (si quae fuerint) a Sancta Sede
concessis, censeatur Calendarium uniuscuiusque Ecclesiae, cui
proinde quivus Celebrans in Sacro faciendo atque Sacerdotes
Ecclesiae, etiam in Officio Divino recitando se conformare
debeant ?
II. An liceat Eegularibus, si quando ipsis precario committe-
retur una cum cura animarum administratio alicuius Ecclesiae
Saecularium, Sacras Functiones iuxta ordinem Calendarii propriae
Eeligiosae Congregationis peragere, relicto Calendario Dioecesano,
cui populus iam assuetus fuerit ?
III. An Eegularis, Ecclesiae Saeculari aliquando ad tempus
sive ad beneplacitum Episcopi (Superiore Eeligioso assentiente)
praepositus, atque privatim recitans Horas Canonicas, adhibito
iuxta decreta a S. Eituum Congregatione Calendario proprii
Ordinis, teneatur nihilominus ad Officium Sancti Titularis Eccle-
siae Saecularis praedictae et quidem sub ritu duplicis primae
classis cum Octava?
IV. Item, an, commissa absque tempore praefinito, administra-
tione Ecclesiae Eegularis Sacerdoti saeculari, huic liceat. amoto
Calendario Eegularium, quo hactenus usus fuerit Clerus illius
Ecclesiae, ordinare Missas et Officia publica iuxta Calendarium
Dioecesanum ?
V. Quid decernendum de Calendario illorum Districtuum
(sive sint de iure Cleri Saecularis sive de iure Cieri Eegularis)
ubi, Ecclesia nondum aedificata, populus ad Sacra adunetur in
aedificiis, nonnisi transitorie ad cultum destinatis ?
VI. Cum saepenumero eveniat (vi privilegii a Sancta Sede
concessi) Canonicos Ecclesiae Cathedralis praepositos esse, cum
cura animarum et onere residentiae, Ecclesiis dissitis nee a
Cathedrali dependentibus, utrum a Canonico Eectore huiusmodi
Officium divinum sit persolvendum iuxta Calendarium Cathe-
dralis, vel potius iuxta Galendarium Ecclesiae, cui hac ratione et
stabili modo sive etiam vita perdurante ipse fuerit adscriptus ?
VII. Ad Sacerdotes A ssistentes sive Vicarii teneantur in reci-
DOCUMENTS 373
tatione privata divini Officii se conformare Calendario Ecclesiae,
cui sunt addict! ?
VIII. Ad liberum sit Canonico Rectori, quamdiu hoc munere
fungitur, statuere pro arbitrio Calendarium Cathedralis pro
Calendario Ecclesiae et Districtus Missionarii, sive quasi Paroe-
ciae, cui, ut supra praeest, ne scilicet Missa ab Officio discrepet ?
IX. Utrum Officium Vesperarum Dominicis festisque diebus
publice decantari solitum, ordinandum sit iuxta Calendarium
Ecclesiae, in qua persolvitur : an potius concordandum cum
Officio privatim recitaudo a Rectore Ecclesiae, partes, ut pluri-
mum, hebdoniadarii agente?
Et Sacra eadem Congregatio, ad relationem subscript! Secre-
tarii, exquisite voto Commissionis Liturgicae, omnibusque mature
perpensis, rescribendum censuit :
Adi. Affirmative.
Ad II. Negative.
Ad III. Negative.
Ad IV. Affirmative.
Ad V. Calendarium Dioecesanum adhibendum est.
Ad VI. Negative ad primam partem, Affirmative ad secun-
dam.
Ad VII. Affirmative.
Ad VIII. Negative.
Ad IX. Affirmative ad primam partem, Negative ad secundam.
Atque ita rescripsit. Die 4 Februarii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Ep. Praenestinus S.JR.C. Praef.
D. PANICI, Secret.
L. * S.
LITANIES OF THE HOLY FAMILY
DUBIUM
SERVENTUR DKCRETA CIRCA RECITATIONEM LITANIARUM, NON
OB8TANTE CONSUETUDINE
R. P. Petrus Blerot e Congregatione SSmi Redemptoris et
director generalis Archiconfraternitatis a Sancta Familia nuncu-
patae, quae Leodii in Belgio anno 1844 canonice erecta, titulo
Arcbiconfraternitatis anno 1847 ab Apostolica Sede decorata fuit,
a Sacra Rituum Congregatione, de expresso consensu plurium
Rmorum Antistitum, sequentis dubii solutionem humUlime effla-
374 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
gitavit ; nimirum : Utrum, attentis decretis a Sacra Rituum
Congregations editis relate ad recitationem Litaniarum, conti-
nuari possit consuetudo, qua sodales praedictae Archiconfraterni-
tatis in congressibus, ad quos in Ecclesiis et Oratoriis publicis,
etiam ianuis clausis, ipsi soli admittuntur, et extra functiones
liturgicas, non privatim sed communiter recitant quasdam
Litanias, gesta et exempla Sanctae Familiae, a qua nomen
habent. referentes et a plerisque Rmis Ordinariis approbatis ?
Et Sacra eadem Congregatio, ad relationem subscripti Secre-
tarii, exquisito voto Commissionis Liturgicae; omnibusque accu-
rate perpensis, proposito dubio respondendum censuit : Serventnr
decreta, non obstante conmetudine.
Atque ita rescripsit, et servari mandavit.
Die 11 Februarii 1898,
C. CARD. MAZZELLA. Ep. Praenestinus S.R.C. Praef.
DIOMEDES PANICI, Secret.
L. i*S.
SPECIAL LITANIES
DUBIA
CIRCA RECITATIONEM LITANIARUM
Praeter tres Litanias pro usu publico in universali Ecclesia
approbatas, h, e., Litanias Sanctorum, Litanias B.M.V., et
Litanias SSmi Nominis lesu, peculiares quaedam Litaniae
habentur ex. gr. de Sacratissimo lesu Corde, Purissimo Corde
B.M.V., aliaeque ab uno vel altero Rmo Ordinario pro usu tantum
privato approbatae, quae idcirco neque in Breviario neque in
Rituali Romano continentur.
Quaeritur 1. num eiusmodi peculiares Litaniae ita strictim
prohibeantur, ut Monialibus sive religiosis Institutis non liceat
illas privatim canere vel recitare ad instar precum oralium ?
2. Et quatenus negative, num iisdem religiosis Familiis illas
liceat canere vel recitare communiter in Choro, aut respective
Oratorio ?
3. Item quaeritur num peculiares, eiusmodi Litanias liceat
Fidelibus in publica Ecclesia sive privatim sive communiter
cantare, vel recitare ad modum quarumcumque precum?
Et Sacra Rituum Congregatio, ad relationem infrascript
Secretarii, omnibus in casu perpensis, ita rescribendum censuit,
videlicet :
Ad I. Negative, h. e., ita strictim non sunt prohibitae, ut
singulis privatim eas non liceat cantare, vel recitare.
DOCUMENTS 375
Ad II. Affirmative, h. e., ita strictim prohibentur ut commu-
niter in Choro publico, vel publico Oratorio illas Litanias cantare
vel recitare minime liceat.
Ad III. Ad I. partem, h. e., privatim, Affirmative : ad ii.
partem, h. e., communiter, Negative.
Atque ita rescripsit, et servari mandavit.
Die 11 Februarii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Ep. Praenestinus SM.C. Braef.
D. PANICI, Secret.
L. * S.
CONDIMENTS ON PAST DAYS
E SACRA POENITENTIARIA
CIRCA CONDIMENTA IN DIEBUS JEJUNII 1
II Sac. Evaristo Mosconi, Parroco di S. Maria delle Grazie
presso Montepulciano, propose alia S. Penitenzieria i seguenti
dubbi :
1. Nei di in cui e permesso il condimento di strutto e lardo,
chi usa il lardo medesimo per condire minestra, polenta, frittata
ecc., puo liberamente mangiare quei pezzetti di lardo che restano,
dopo essere stati soffritti per estrarne lo strutto ?
2. Nei di di stretto magro, ne' quali sono vietate le uova, si
puo bagnare leggermente coll'uovo sbattuto le erbe, v. g. i
carciofi ?
3. Nei giorni di stretto magro & lecito 1'uso dell'olio in cui
siasi fritta la carne, o almeno e oio lecito nei giorni di semplice
astinenza ?
Sacra Poenitentiaria ad proposita dubia respondet ut sequitur :
Ad lum Affirmative dummodo pergant esse pars condimenti.
Ad 2"m Condimentum ex ovis quando haec prohibentur, non
licere.
Ad 3um Qui ita agunt non ess inquietandos.
Datum Bomae in S. Poenitentiaria die 17 novembris 1897.
B. POMPILI, S. P. Corrector.
A. C. MARTINI, S. P. Praef.
Tersio lalina.
1 1. In diebus in quibus pennittitur condimentum ex adipe et larido, ille
qui adhibet laridum pro condimento offae, pubnenti ex farina eesami, ovorum '
intritae, potestne licite edere ilia fragmenta quae supersunt ex larido, postquam
fricta f uerint ad extrahendum adipem ?
2. In diebus strictioris abstinentiae, in quibus ova vetantur, licetne parum-
per perf undere cum ovis permixtis, herbas, ut v. g. cinaras ?
3. In diebus strictioris abstinentiae estne licitus usus olei, in quo perfricta
uerit caro ; vel salteii} licitusne erit in diebus simplicis abstineqtiae p
376 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
NEW VOLUME OF ' DECBETA ATJTHENTICA '
DECRETA AUTHENTICA CONGRIS 8ACKOBUM KITUUM, VOL. I.
Sanctissimus Dominus Noster Leo Papa XIII, cujus jussu efc
auctoritate Sacra Eituum Congregatio Decreta c suis regestis
selecta, revisa et typis commissa in lucem profert, in Audientia,
subsignata die, ab infrascripto Cardinale sacrae eidem Congre-
gation! Praefecto habita, collectionem horum decretorair, quae in
praesenti volumine ceterisque mox edendis continentur, apostolica
sua auctoritate approbavit, atque authenticam declaravit ; simul-
que statuit Decreta hucusque evulgata in iis, quae a Decretis in
hac collectione insertis dissonant, veluti abrogata esse censenda,
exceptis tantum quae pro particularibus Ecclesiis indultis seu
privilegii rationem habeant. Insuper idem Sanctissimus Dominus
noster de praedictis praesens Decretum in forma authentica
expedire, atque huic editioni cusae typis Sacrae Congregation is
de Propaganda Fide, praefigi mandavit contrariis non obstantibus
quibuscunque, etiam speciali mentione dignis.
Die 16 Februarii anno 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Ep. Praenestinus,
SM.C., Praefectus.
k,*S;
DIOMEDES PANICI, S.R.C., Secretarius.
THE ' OR ATIO IMPEBATA ' OF ANOTHEB DIOCESE
DUBIUM
Quum juxta decretum Sacrorum Rituum Congregationis datum
9 Decembris 1895 omnes sacerdotes sive saeculares sive regulares
Missas in aliena Ecclesia vel alieno Oratorio publico celebrantes
omnino se conformare debeant dictae Ecclesiae vel Oratorio, ab
eadem Sacra Congregatione expostulatum fuit : ' Utrum sacerdotes
alienae Dioecesis obligentur etiam ad dicendam Orationem prae-
scriptam ab Episcopo loci, ubi celebrant, an potius sint liberi ab
hac oratione imperata ?'
Et sacra ipsa Congregatio, ad relationem subscript! Secretarii,
exquisito etiam voto Commissionis Liturgicae, reque mature
parponsa, proposito dubio respondendum censuit : Affirmative ad
p'rimam partem ; Negative ad secundam Atque ita rescripsit.
Die 5 Martii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Praefectus.
L. * S.
D. PANICI, Secretarius.
[ 377 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
SERMONS AND MORAL DISCOURSES FOR ALL THE SUNDAYS
OF THE YEAR ON THE IMPORTANT TRUTHS OF THE
GOSPEL. Edited and in part, Written by Kev. F. X.
McGowan, O.S.A. 2 Vols. New York and Cincinnati :
Pustet & Co.
IN the preface to the first of these volumes the author,
gives expression to the hope that the sermons will prove
' interesting, useful, and instructive.' After careful perusal of
of several of the discourses, selected here and there at random,
we have come to the conclusion that this hope has been fully
realized. For, even if there be nothing in the subject matter
which has not been touched upon already in works of a similar
kind — and the author makes no pretentions to novelty on this
score — still the method of treatment is sometimes original and
often attractive, the ideas are clothed in clear and well-chosen
language, and the themes treated of are among the most practical
in the domain of moral and religious truth. So that the collection
seems to have before it a great future of usefulness for the
missionary priest.
For a long time it has been our conviction that the sermon-
book is, more or less, an evil. If we had no such ready aids to
preaching, we should be compelled to go for our information to
the sources of Theological and Scriptural knowledge, to plan the
framework out of designs of our own invention, and to fill in with
matter collected after the expenditure of much careful labour.
All this would have the happiest results. Our intellectual culture
would be still more perfected ; our acquaintance with the sacred
sciences more amply extended, and our memories stored to better
advantage with facts which would be useful for future occasions.
But while there are numbers of hard-worked missionary priests
who profess not to have enough respite from duty to undertake
so elaborate a method of preparing their discourses, the use
of the set sermon book as a model is, at the least, a necessary
evil. And to those who aim at putting together in a brief
space of time, with order and lucidity, some thoughts to serve
378 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
as an instruction on the Gospel of the day, or on any of the
great Christian truths, we heartily recommend the two volumes
under notice.
The book is brought out by the well-known firm of Pustet,
New York, and wants nothing in the way of good binding and
printing.
P. M.
PBAELECTIONES DOGMATICAE, quas in Collegio Ditton-Hall,
habebat Christianus Pesch, S. J. Tom. V., De Gratia,
de lege positivia divina. Tom. VI., De Sacramentis in
Genere, de Baptismo, de Confirmatione, de Eucharistia.
Tom. VII., De Sacramento Poenitentiae, de Extrema
Unctione de Matrimonio. Freiburg : Herder.
THE favourable impression created by the earlier portions of
Father Pesch's work on Dogmatic Theology is maintained, if not
further enhanced, by the merit of the three volumes now before
us. They continue to exhibit what was so observable in their
earlier brothers — erudition, depth of thought, lucid arrangement,
and strength of treatment. Like all parts of the book, they are
written well up to date, and the latest discussions appertaining to
their subject matter will be found embodied in their pages.
Beyond these statements of general excellence it is unneces-
sary to particularize the treatment of special questions. In the
treatise De Gratia, the whole Pelagian controversy will supply a
good example of the author's learning, his acquaintance with
original sources, and his profound grasp of theological principles.
On the everlasting controversies as to the nature of Grace,
sufficient and efficacious, and the harmonizing of the latter with
Free-will, he is a Molinist of the Molinist, and it would be hard to
find a stronger presentation than his of the Jesuit system.
One of the best features of the book is, and has been through-
out, its copious extracts from Patristic writings — a feature most
commendable ; for it not only familiarizes students with the
language of the fathers, but awakens in their opening minds a
desire for the personal examination of ancient records. For
instance, the well-known friendly discussion between St. Jerome
and St. Augustine as to when the Old Law ceased to be lawful
and became |* mortifera,' is here transferred bodily from their
writings, and occupies three pages of Father Pesch's book.
NOTICES OF BOOKS 379
We were not surprised to find him in the treatise De Sacra-
mentis in Gen ere, an uncompromising opponent of the Physical
Causality of the Sacraments; but having sided with Lugo here as
against Suarez, he restores the balance of power, rather unex-
pectedly too, in the tract De Eucharistia*; for on the question as
to how far ' destructio victimse,' is required for a sacrifice, and
how this idea is verified in the sacrifice of the Mass, he boldly
rejects the very widely received, and since Franzelin's time, very
popular opinion of De Lugo, adopting in preference the opinion
of Suarez — we must admit too with considerable weight of
reason.
On Father Pesch's volume on Penance, Indulgences, Orders,
Matrimony, we could write many well-deserved encomiums, but
we have said enough to show our appreciation of the book in all
its parts. Of course we do not endorse all the author's con-
clusions. For instance, in the Matrimonial treatise he propounds
the opinion that the ' Casus Apostoli ' applies to the case when
the converted party is a convert to a heretical sect. This opinion,
we are aware has been advanced by other theologians, but we
have never seen ' a reasonable reason ' for it. Father Pesch, we
suspect, would readily admit that the arguments mentioned by
him are not, to say the least, conclusive. On the other hand, the
opinion seems to run counter to the clear words of Scripture
when there is question throughout of the ' fidelis ' who in the
text is surely not a baptized heretic, but a member of the true
Church — the 'frater' and ' soror.' Besides, in addition to the
express and formal statement of Innocent III., one cannot help
asking, is it likely that this privilege, whether we regard it as
coming immediately or mediately from Christ, was ever intended
per se or per accidens as a favour to heresy ?
MOBAL PRINCIPLES AND MEDICAL PRACTICE. By Eev.
Charles Coppens, S.J. New York, Cincinnati, and
Chicago : Benziger Brothers.
THIS handy volume of 222 pages, brought out in Benziger's
usual high-class style, contains the lectures addressed by the
author to the medical students of the John A. Creighton Medical
College, Omaha, Nebraska. Fr. Coppens is not a lawyer, but a
Jesuit priest of considerable versatility, being author, as he tells
us himself, of text-books on Metaphysics, Ethics, Oratory, and
380 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Rhetoric. These lectures do not profess to give a full and elaborate
exposition of the various enactments of the United States
legislature concerning medical men. They contain rather the
principles that ought to underly medical jurisprudence. These
principles are the ordinary conclusions of moral theologians and
moral philosophers applied to the special cases that may be
expected to trouble [and perplex medical practitioners. The
lectures, however, contain many of the special medical enactments
of the United States legislature, and more than once set forth the
judicial decisions of the British courts as denning the common
law of the United States.
In his preface Fr. Coppens gives us the reason for the publi-
cation of these lectures : ' The leading medical writers and
practitioners are sound at present on the moral principles that
ought to direct the conduct of physicians. It is high time that
their principles be more generally inculcated on the younger
members, and especially on the students of their noble profession.
To promote this object is the purpose aimed at by the author.'
That the book is calculated to promote that object, nobody
can reasonably deny. For the orthodox teaching of theologians
in those difficult cases that may disturb the consciences of some
physicians is inculcated clearly and forcibly. Though eloquence
is seldom aimed at, the interest in the subject is well sustained
throughout, and, in a word, the lectures are very readable. A
glance at the titles of the chapters will satisfy us that no serious
difficulty is evaded ; all the most difficult which are also frequently
the most unclean questions are grappled with. The author is to
be congratulated on having lectured so forcibly and convincingly
on such subjects as craniotomy, abortion, and venereal excesses,
without saying or suggesting anything that could disturb the
most sensitive conscience. Often, indeed, plain speaking is
necessary, but there is never the slightest suspicion of pandering
to pruriency.
The book is, in the first instance, intended for medical
students, and they must find it a great boon to have at hand so
trustworthy and convenient a guide through their difficulties. But
its sphere of usefulness is by no means restricted to the students.
The lectures possess exceptional interest, and ought to be of
considerable use, not only to medical men generally, but to all
who are interested in the scrupulous application of moral
principles to medical practice.
M.B,
NOTICES OF BOOKS 381
MISSA IMMACULATA I.H. B.M. VIEGINIS IMMACULATAE AD
III. voc. AEQU. Auctore P. Griesbacher, Op. 26. Score
and Parts. Ratisbon : CopDenrath.
THIS Mass of Griesbacher's for three equal voices is scarcely
as classical in style as most of his earlier efforts. The composer
has moderated his polyphonic part-writing in favour of a more
simultaneous progression of the voices. A slight touch of senti-
mentality is sometimes imparted through the use of such
' modern ' accomplishments as the ' chord of the ninth,' or chord
formations produced by parallel motion of the three parts, as at
the beginning of the second Kyrle, or the minor subdominant in
major cadences. The rather frequent use of sequences, too, in
our opinion somewhat detracts from the ideal beauty of the
composition. Most of these things, however, will probably
recommend the Mass all the more to those choirs for whom
it is written. They will find, moreover, besides a sweetness of
harmonies, that melodic interest in all the parts which betrays
the hand of a master to whom contrapuntal thinking is quite
natural. The organ accompaniment requires a fairly good player,
to whom it affords plenty of scope.
H. B.
CATHOLIC CEREMONIES AND EXPLANATION OF THE
ECCLESIASTICAL YEAR. From the French of the
Abbe Durand. With 96 Illustrations of articles used
at Church ceremonies, and their proper names. New
York, Cincinnati, Chicago : Benziger Brothers, 1896.
THIS little book gives, on 283 24mo pages, a good deal of
excellent information on the ceremonies and prayers of the Mass
and Vespers, explaining the sense of the prayers, and the sym-
bolical meaning of the actions performed, as well as the things
used in the Liturgy, such as the altar, sacred vestments and
vessels, &c. A short, but fairly exhaustive explanation of the
ecclesiastical year is added, and well brought out and judiciously
selected illustrations serve to give the reader a clear idea of the
things spoken of. The book is intended primarily to introduce
the faithful to the spirit of the Liturgy, to give them an interest
in the grand and impressive ceremonies of the Church, and to
enable them to follow these ceremonies with intelligence and
devotion. For this purpose the book is admirably adapted, and
we should like to see it in the hands of every Catholic.
382 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
CANTUS SACRI. Eight Easy Benediction Pieces, with the
Psalm Laudate Dominum in the VI. and VIII. Tones
for two Parts (Soprano and Alto), with organ accom-
paniment. By J. Singenberger. Score and Parts.
Batisbon : Pustet & Co.
SINGENBERGER, the President of the American Society of
St. Cecilia, knowing the conditions of a large number of church
choirs, has made a special study of the art of writing easy music
without becoming either trivial or monotonous. Hence we can
give his compositions the best recommendations. The above
Benediction pieces will probably be particularly welcome to
choirs wanting in high Soprano voices, and to nuns who have
frequently to sing before breakfast, as the Soprano part does
not, as a rule, ascend above F 2. Only in two pieces F 2 $ is
required ; but as these pieces are in D and A respectively, a
transposition downwards can easily be effected.
H. B.
DATA OF MODERN ETHICS EXAMINED. By John J. Ming,
S. J. Second Edition. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago :
Benziger Brothers.
WE are glad that this reply to the Data of Modern, that
is evolutionary, Ethics of Mr. Herbert Spencer, has reached a
second edition. The second edition does not differ in anything
substantial from the first, which was already reviewed in the
I. E. EECORD. Suffice it to say, that it has the same excellences
to commend it as the first edition, and that in the exposition of
the system the author examines much may still be desired.
THEOLOGIA MORALIS PER MODUM
Auctore Clarissimo P. Benjamin Elbel, O.S.F. Novis
CurisEdidit P.F.Irenaeus Bierbaum, O.S.F. , Provinciae
Saxoniae S. Crucis Lector Jubilatus. Editio secunda
(iii.-iv. Mille). Cum Approbatione Superiorum. Volumen
Tertium. Continens Partes Tres. Paderbornae. Ex
Typographia Bonifaciana (J. W. Schroeder).
ELBEL'S Moral Theology is justly famous on account of its
exhaustiveness, clearness of style, reliableness, and practical
usefulness for priests on the mission. Fr. Bierbaum 's re-edition
NOTICES OF BOOKS 383
of the work, revised and completed so as to meet all modern
requirements, met with so much approbation that a second
edition became necessary, of which the third and last volume is
the one under review. To facilitate the sale of the excellent
work, the publisher has reduced the price, notwithstanding the
fact that this second edition is enlarged as compared with the
first.
MISSA IN HONOEEM SANCTi SpiRiTUS. For two Parts,
Soprano and Alto (Tenor and Bass ad lib.), with organ
accompaniment. By J. Singenberger. Score and Parts.
Hatisbon : Pustet & Co.
THIS Mass is described by the author as ' very easy,' and
ought to be within the power of the weakest choirs. It is very
simple, of course ; but with proper declamation of the words it
ought to produce a pleasing and dignified effect. Tenor and
Bass parts may be added ad libitum, an arrangement which may
recommend the Mass to choirs that only occasionally have the
assistance of male voices.
MISSA IN HONOEEM PuEissiMi CoEDis B.V.M. For four
mixed voices, with organ accompaniment. By J. Singen-
berger. Score and Parts. Ratisbon : Pustet & Co.
IN this Mass the composer has allowed himself a wider scope,
and produced a work of a festive splendour. Occasionally he
makes use of the licence of subdividing parts, so as to attain
fuller harmonies. On the whole, however, the work is by no
means difficult, and can be recommended to choirs of moderate
attainments. It is modern in style, easy to comprehend, and
will probably give pleasure and edification to both singers and
listeners.
H. B.
TWELVE EUCHAEISTIG CHANTS. For two or three female
voices, with organ accompaniment. Edited by Alban
Lipp. Score and Parts. Augsburg and Wien: A. B ohm
and Sons.
THIS is a collection of chants by various composers. Naturally
they differ both in artistic excellence and in liturgical suitability.
384 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
But there is no number that must be pronounced as unworthy of
the house of God, though we should be slow to recommend
No. 5, an 0 Salutaris by Lohle. One of the most interesting
numbers is a Panye lingua, by Bruno Stein in which the Alto
part is formed on the Gregorian melody of that hymn, and,
according to a note of the author, is to be made prominent in
performance. The full contents of the collection is : Two two-
part and two three-part Pange lingua, by Bill, Bruno Stein, Lipp,
and Eeidl ; a two-part 0 Salutaris, by Lohle ; a two-part
Adoramus, and a two-part Vexilla Regis, by Griesbacher ; a
two-part 0 Sacrum Convivium, by Bruno Stein ; a two-part Jesu
dulcis memoria, by Bill ; a two-part Adoro te, by Thaller ; a two-
part Ad&ramus, by Beidl, and a three-part 0 Esca Viator urn, by
Frz. Miiller.
H. B.
g3^mra^^
AILEACH OF THE KINGS: A BRIEF SKETCH
OF THE HISTORY AND TRADITIONS OF
THE ANCIENT NORTHERN RESIDENCE OF
THE IRISH KINGS
God bless the grey mountains of dark Donegal !
God bless royal Aileach, the pride of them all ;
For she sits evermore like a queen on her throne,
And smiles on the valleys of green Innishowen.J
C. G'. DUFFY.
I. THE ORIGIN AND SITE OF AILEACH
ON the eastern shore of the Swilly, on the summit
of a hill 802 feet above the level of the sea, lie
the remains of a cyclopean fortress, with whose
history was closely interwoven the story of our
country in the forgotten years of the hazy past. Few of the
pleasure-seekers who visit it in the glowing summer or the
mellow autumn, and who gaze enraptured on the glorious
scenery it presents to their view, think for a moment that
the soil they tread on is both royal and sacred, the former
court of kings, and the arena of Patrick's combat with
paganism. Yet so it is ; for here on Greenan Hill was the
Northern Tara, known to us in history as ' Aileach of the
Kings ; ' and here did Ireland's great apostle, when visiting
' Tyrowen of the Islands,' as Innishowen was then called,
confront and conquer the learning of the Druids, and win
to the faith the monarch himself.
One requires, indeed, to be told that this was once the
FOUKTH SERIES, VOL. III. — MAY, 1898. 2 B
386 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
seat of royalty, for no indication of its former greatness
now remains, save the debris of the fallen palace that crowns
the mountain. Kerne and gallowglass are now supplanted
by browsing sheep and lazy kine, and the matin hymn of
the sky-lark awakes the echoes instead of the soldier's
trumpet ; but still there is a halo of bygone glory about the
place which even its present desolation cannot utterly
destroy. Its history stretches back to remote ages, but the
misty atmosphere of uncertainty hangs about its origin ; so
that we can trace it but dimly, just as one traces from afar
the outlines of a city revealed only by the faint reflection of
its lamps in the midnight air. Nor can we, in this sketch,
pretend to more than a collection of some of the reliable
historical authorities regarding it ; but these, inasmuch as
they are not accessible to all, may possess some interest for
readers of the I.E. KECOBD.
So thoroughly had our local history been buried in
obscurity, that the origin of the name and the very site of
the palace of Aileach had long been matter of dispute ; but,
thanks to the researches of Petrie, O'Donovan, O'Curry, and
a host of others, these vexed questions are now satisfactorily
settled. The general outlines and, as far as. possible, the
details of this sketch have been mainly drawn from the
authority of these antiquarians ; and though all, perhaps,
may not be disposed to adopt their particular views, at least
all will respect the learning and the zeal which these men
displayed in the cause of their country's history and anti-
quities. The importance of their writings on the subject of
this essay must be our apology for drawing so largely upon
them.
O'Curry, in his Lectures on the Manners and Customs of
the Ancient Irish, commenting on the historical poems of
Flann Mainistrech, or, as he is more popularly called,
Flann of the Monastery, speaks thus : —
The seventh is a poem of thirty-five stanzas, or one hundred
and forty lines, on the origin and history of the ancient palace of
Aileach [near Deny, in the present county of Donegal). The
origin of this celebrated palace, according to this account of it
[containing a specimen of poetic etymology which I only quote
387
for what it is worth], was shortly this : — When the great Daghda
was chief king of the Tuatha de Danaun in Erinn, holding his
court at Tara, he on one occasion entertained at his court
Corgenn, a powerful Connacht chief, and his wife. During their
stay at Teamair, Corgenn's wife was suspected of being more
familiar with the monarch's young son, .ZEdh [or Hugh], than was
pleasing to her husband, who in a fit of sudden anger slew the
young prince in the very presence of his father. Corgenn's life
would have paid for the murder on the spot, but that the old
monarch's sense of justice was too strong to kill a man for
avenging a crime so heinous as he believed his son to have been
guilty of ; but, although he would not consent to have his guest
put directly to death, he passed on him such a sentence as,
whether he intended it so or not, ended in the same manner.
The singular sentence which the king passed upon the unfor-
tunate Corgenn was [according to the story] to take the dead
body of the prince on his back, and never to lay it down until he
had found a stone to fit him exactly in length and breadth,
and sufficient to form a tombstone for him, and then to
bury him in the nearest hill. Corgenn was obliged to submit,
and accordingly set out with his burden. After a long search
he found at last the stone he sought for, but found it only
so far off as by the shore of Lake Feabhail [now called Loch
Poyle, at Derry]. Here, then, depositing the body on the nearest
eminence to him, he went down, raised the stone, and carried it
up the hill, where he dug a grave and buried the prince, and with
many an ach [or groan] placed the stone over him ; but, wearied
by his labour, he had hardly done so before he dropped dead by
its side. And it was from these achs, or groans, of Corgenn that
[compounding the word ach with ail, an ancient Gaedhelic name
for a stone] the old monarch, when informed of what had
happened, formed the name of Aileach. for his son's grave — that
is, stone and groan — a name that the place has ever since
retained. It was the custom in ancient times in Erinn, when a
great personage had died, to institute assemblies and games of
commemoration at his grave; and this was done at his son's
grave at Aileach by the monarch Daghda.
The poem, however, contains two further explanations of the
name of Aileach. In some time after the death of Corgenn, it is
said Neid, son of Indai [a semi-mythological personage who may
be called the Mercury of the Tuatha de Danaun], brother to the
monarch the Daghda, built a palace and- fortress here, after which
it was called Aileach-Neid. Neid was himself afterwards killed
by the Pomorians or Pirates, and the place having gone to ruin,
its history is not recorded from that time down to the reign of
the monarch of Erinn, Fiacha Sraibtine, who was slain at the
battle of Dubh-Chomar, A.D. 322. In this Fiacha's reign, how-
ever, it is stated that Frigrinn, a young Scottish chief, eloped
388 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
with Ailech, that is, ' the splendid,' daughter of Fubtaire, the
King of Scotland, brought her over to Erinn, and put himself
under the Irish king's protection. And it is said that King
Fiacha gave the youthful lovers the ancient fortress of Aileach
for their residence and security, and that here Frigrinn built the
magnificent house which is described in the poem, whence the
place got the name otAileach-Frigrinn, as well as the older name
of Aileach-Neid.
Flan n' s curious poem begins : —
Should anyone attempt to relate
The history of host -crowded Aileach,
After Eachaidh the illustrious. —
It would be wresting the sword out of Hector's hand.
I must observe here, however, that the ancient name of
Aileach was certainly Ail-each-Neid, and the investigations of
antiquaries [including the cautious Dr. Petrie] have led to the
same conclusion to which we should come by following the
ancient manuscript authorities — that the stone ruins at Atieach,
as well as several other similar stone erections in several parts of
Erinn, must be referred to the Tuatha de Danaan, if not to the
Firbolgs, certainly to a race superior to the Milesians. A simpler
etymology may easily be suggested for the name, for when we
remember that the Milesians always used wooden buildings in
preference to the stone used by their predecessors, we can easily
understand why they should emphasize such an erection under
the name of Aileach. The word aileach itself may, in fact, signify
simply ' a stone building,' since ail is a stone, and ach the
common adjective termination ; so that ail-each would literally
signify ' stony,' i.e., of, or belonging to, or made of, stone.
The eighth poem of Flann's is one of thirty-four stanzas, or
one hundred and thirty-six lines, also on Aileach, and apparently
a continuation of its history from his former poem. It gives the
names and the lengths of the reigns of every king of the race of
EogJian, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who reigned in it as
king of the northern O'Neills, from Eoghan himself down to the
Domhnall O'Neill mentioned above, who died in the year 978.
This poem begins :— -
Four generations after Frigrinn,
By valiant battle,
The noble Aileach was taken by the warriors
Of the hosts of Eoghan.
The Eoghan mentioned here, whose clann took possession of
Aileach under compact with his other brothers, was Eoghan the
son of Niall of 'the Nine Hostages,' who gave name to the
territory, which ever after bore his name, as Tyr Eoghan [or
Tyrone — a name, however, now applied to a more limited district].
This Eoghan was visited, at his palace of Aileach, by St. Patrick,
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 389
when he embraced the Christian faith, and received baptism at
the hands of the great apostle.1
In the third volume and nineteenth lecture, O'Curry
again returns to the subject of Aileach, and treats of its
antiquity and the style of its architecture : —
The next great building [says he], in point of antiquity and
historical reminiscence, is the great Bath, or rather Cathair, of
Aileach [in the county of Donegal], so well described by
Dr. Petrie in the Ordnance Memoir of the parish of Templemore.
This great Cathair is said to have been originally built by
The Daghda, the celebrated king of the Tuatha de Danann, who
planned and fought the battle of the second or northern Magh
Tuireadh against the Fomorians. The fort was erected around
the grave of his son, ^edh [or Hugh], who had been killed
through jealousy by Corgenn, a Connacht chieftain.
The history of the death of Aedh, and the building of
Aileach [or ' The Stone Building'], is. given at length in a poem
preserved in the Book of Lecan, which poem has been printed,
with an English translation [but with two lines left out at
verse xxxviii.], by Dr. Petrie, in the above memoir. The follow-
ing extract from this curious and important poem, beginning at
verse 32, will suffice for my present purpose : —
Then were brought the two good men,
In art expert,
Garbhan and Imcheall, to Eochaid (Daghda),
The fair-haired Vindictive ;
And he ordered them a rath to build
Around the gentle youth :
That it should be a rath of splendid sections —
The finest in Erinn.
Neid, son of Indai, said to them,
(He) of the severe mind,
That the best hosts in the world could not erect
A building like Aileach.
Garbhan, the active, proceeded to dress
And to cut (the stones).
Imcheall proceeded to set them
All around the house.
The building of Aileach's fastness came to an end,
Though it was a laborious process ;
The top of the house of the groaning hostages,
One stone closed.
In a subsequent verse of this poem [verse 54] the author says
that Aileach is the senior, or father, of the buildings of Erinn : —
It is the senior of the buildings of Erinn —
Aileach-Frigrind ;
Greater praise than it deserves
For it I indite not.
It appears clearly from this very ancient poem that not only
1 O'Curry, Lectures, vol. ii., Lect. 7.
390 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
was the outer rath, or protective circle of Aileach, built of stone
by the regular masons, Imcheall and Garbban, but that the
palace and other houses within the enclosure were built also of
stcne [nay, even of chiselled and cut stone]. All these buildings,
probably, were circular, as the House or Prison of the Hostages,
certainly must have been, when, as the poem says, it was ' closed
at the top with one stone.' This, however, is a matter concerning
which I shall have something to say in a future lecture.
The time to which the first building of Aileach may be
referred, according to the chronology of the Annals of the Four
Masters, would be about seventeen hundred years before the
Christian era ; but another and much later erection, within the
same Rath of Aileach, is also spoken of in ancient history, and
as having conferred a name upon this celebrated palace.
It is stated further in this poem that Aileach, in after
ages, obtained the name of Aileach-Frigrind, as it is, in fact,
called in the stanza quoted above. According to another poem
[written by Flann of Monasterboice], preserved in the Book of
Leinster, this Frigrind was a famous builder, or architect, as he
would be called in our day. Having travelled in Scotland, he
was well received at the court of Ubtaire, the king of that
country, where, having gained the affections of the king's
daughter, the beautiful Ailech, she eloped with him, and he
returned to his own country with her. Fearing pursuit, however,
he claimed the protection of the then monarch of Erinn, Fiacha-
Sraibhthine [the same who was slain in the battle of Dubh-Chomar,
in Meath, A.D. 322 J ; and the monarch accorded it at once, and
gave them the ancient fort of Aileach for their dwelling-place, for
greater security. Here Frigrind built a splendid house of wood
for his wife. The material of this house, we are told, was red
yew, carved, and emblazoned with gold and bronze, and so thick
set with shining gems, ' that day and night were equally bright
within it.' I may observe that Aileach is one of the few spots in
Ireland marked in its proper place by the geographer, Ptolemy of
Alexandria, who nourished in the second century, or nearly two
hundred years before the time of Frigrind. By Ptolemy it is
distinguished as a royal residence.
II. GREENAN ERRONEOUSLY REPUTED A TEMPLE OF
THE SUN
That this place was the principal or chief residence of
the Tuatha de Danann princes, and was known then by the
distinctive appellation of Aileach-Neid, at the time that ItJi,
the uncle of Milesius, visited this country, we learn from
Keating. In his account of Ith's voyage to and landing in
AILEACH CF THE KINGS
this island, Keating informs us that the prince landed on a
certain part of the northern coast, and, after sacrificing to
Neptune, inquired the name of the country, and of the king
who governed it. He was told that the country was called
Inis-Alga, and was governed at that time by three princes
(who were grandsons of the Daghda), and that they were
then residing at their palace of Aileach-Neid. He was,
moreover, informed that they were at that time quarrelling
amongst themselves about a quantity of jewels that had
been left them, and that their dispute, if not soon amicably
settled, was likely to end in blood. Ith set out immediately
for Aileach, was kindly received by the princes, and, after
hearing the causes of their disagreement, proposed such
an arrangement as gave satisfaction to all. On leaving he
urged them to union and fraternal love, pointed out the
great advantages of their country, and how little reason
there was for disputes among them ; in a word, spoke as a
man who had closely observed the fertility of their soil and
the natural wealth of their country. After his departure
the princes meditated on his words, and, suspecting that
he had some evil design on their kingdom, they gathered
together a chosen band of followers, and pursued the
strangers. Overtaking them soon, a battle was fought, in
which Ith was slain, and his companions routed ; and the
plain was called from that time Magh-Ith ; that is, the
Plain of Ith. It has long been a subject of dispute where
the exact spot lies in which this battle was fought; but
O'Donovan, in a note given in his edition of the Book of
Eights, states that ' it is an extensive plain in the barony of
" Kaphoe," Donegal. The church of " Donaghmore," near
the little town of Castlefinn, is mentioned, in the Tripartite
Life of St. Patrick,1 as in this plain.' He then quotes the
words of Colgan in support of this statement. However,
the settlement of this point is not to our present purpose ;
it is enough for us to learn that, at the remote period
referred to, the palace of the De Dauann was known as
Aileach-Neid.
iLib. ii., c. 114.
392 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Like most of the kingly residences of remote times,
Aileach suffered many an attack, was frequently plundered
and reduced to ruin, but was again restored by its royal
masters. Thus in A.D. 674, we read in the Annalists : ' The
destruction of Aileach-Frigrinn by Finnshneachta, son of
Dunchadh.' Again, at A.D. 900, we are told that ' Aileach-
Frigrinn was plundered by the foreigners;' and we are
informed that thirty-seven years later 'Aileach was plundered
by the foreigners against Muircheartach, son of Niall, and
they took him prisoner, and carried him off to their ships,
but God redeemed him from them.'
Aileach ceased to be the residence of the kings of Ulster of the
Ui-Neill line after the death of Muircheartach, the son of Niall
Glundubh, who was killed in a battle with the Danes at Ath-
Firdiadh (now Ardee), in the year 941. 1
However, though it may not have been the permanent
residence of the Ulster kings from this period, it must still
have been their occasional abode till the time of its final
destruction, which the Four Masters thus record under the
year 1101 : —
A great army was led by Muircheartach Ua-Brian, King of
Munster, with the men of Munster, Leinster, Osraighe, Meath,
and Connaught, across Eas-Euaidh, into Inis-Eoghan, and
burned many churches and many forts about Fathan-Mura, and
about Ardstraha, and he demolished Grianan-Oiligh, in revenge
for Ceanncoradh, which had been razed and demolished by
Donihnall-Ua-Lochlain some time before, and Muircheartach
commanded his army to carry with them from Oileach to
Luimneach a stone [of the demolished building] for every sack
of provisions which they had. In commemoration of which was
said : —
I never heard of the billeting of grit stones,
Though I heard of the billeting of companies,
Until the stones of Oileach were billeted
On the horses of the Kings of the West.
To understand the meaning of this novel mode of taking
revenge, we must turn to the Annals ofThomond to learn its
cause. We read there that : —
In 1064 MacLoughlin, Prince of Aileach, invaded the princi-
pality of Mortoghmore O'Brien, King of Munster ; among other
1 O'Curry, Lect. xx.
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 393
predatory acts he plundered and demolished the Palace of
Kincora. Mortagh, after re-edifying it, marched into Ulster and
burned down the royal Palace of Aileach, and made each man of
his army bring away a stone of it into Thomond. How peace-
fully he waited for three years, during which time he had his
ancestral palace in course of construction before he thought of
bringing away the stones of Aileach from the North. This was
an act of vengeance with a vengeance, which put to the blush the
wildest exploit of his fiercest enemy.
The date 1064 in this extract is at variance with that
given by the Annalists of Donegal. The correct date is
1088.
In his Lays and Legends of TJiomond, Michael Hogan,
the ' Bard of Thomond,' thus refers to this event in his lines
on ' The Destruction of Kincora ' : —
But the King to the blue North his wrathful face turned,
And Aileach the Pompous to ashes he burned !
And his clansmen returned, each bringing a stone,
Of the proud palace walls by his vengeance o'erthrown.
This [says Petrie] is the last notice of Aileach, as a royal resi-
dence, to be found in the Irish annals, and it appears never again
to have been re-edified. The kings of the Kinel-Owen, or
Northern Hy-Niall, still indeed retained for some time the name
of Aileach as their title, as the kings of Southern Hy-Niall did
that of the deserted Temur, or Tara ; but they transferred their
residence to Inish-Enaigh, iu the parish of Urney, in Tyrone,
where they probably continued to reside till after the arrival of
the English. It may also be remarked that this destruction of
Aileach, like that of Emania, was regarded as an epoch in Irish
history. 1
Aileach, however, was known by the distinctive title of
Grianan-Aileach, and the former part of the name is that by
which it is at present known under the form of Greenan,
though until a comparatively recent period it was still desig-
nated Greenan-Ely. The fact of another ruined castle,
named Elagh, situated about two miles distant, being in
existence, sufficiently explains why the name of Aileach
connected with Greenan fell into disuse. Mistakes were
likely to occur from having two places so near each other
bearing the same name ; and therefore Aileach, or, as the
1 Ordnance Memoir of the Parish of Templemore.
394 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
people called it, Ely, was dropped, and the distinctive
appellation of Grianan, or Greenan, was retained.
But the very name of Grianan, or Greenan, has been
made an argument against the theory of the royal palace of
Aileach having ever been built upon this hill. It is urged
that the present ruin is the remains of a ' Temple of the
Sun,' and that the name itself is proof of this. In the
Ordnance Memoir already referred to, Dr. Petrie takes up this
argument, and shows its want of foundation ; still, we find
it repeated in a comparatively recent work, and Petrie' s
proofs contemned as worthless assumptions. Mr. Anthony
Marmion, in the Introduction to the fourth edition of his
History of the Maritime Ports of Ireland, thus writes : —
But not only these caves, but also what is called the Military
Eath, as well as the Dane's Fort and Eound Tower, were all
originally connected with sun-worship. The name of the rath at
Lough Swilly, already described, would indicate this, notwith-
standing Mr. Pe trie's chapter on Antiquities in the Ordnance
Memoir to the contrary, who interprets Grianan as synonymous
with duna, fortress or palace, and calls Grianan-Aileach a royal
palace ; but its more correct translation is Grianan, the sun, and
Aileach, a stone building — Grianan-Aileach would, therefore, be.
the Stone Temple of the Sun.
Nearly thirty years before this edition of Mr. Marmion's
work appeared, the same argument was advanced in an
elegant and forcible manner in an article on ' Burt Castle,'
published in the second volume of the Dublin Penny
Journal : —
This we know [writes the author of that article] on the
concurring testimony of Keating, Vallencey, and O'Connor, that
the Phoenicians and Celts brought into this country the sun-
worship of their own. This was undoubtedly one of their
temples, and the very etymology of its name strongly corroborates
the opinion, for the Celtic name of the sun is Gryan, and Ane is a
temple ; similar names have been given to other places dedicated
to the same divinity. Strabo, confirmed by Pausanias, mentions
a Grynium at Eolis, and described it as a temple and grove
of Apollo (or the sun). Eupherion of Chalais, writing on the
origin of Oracles, describes a circular Grynium sacred to Apollo.
So Virgil, in his sixth Bucolic : —
' His tibi Grynai nemoris dicatur origo
Ne quis sit Iticus, quo Be plus jactet Apollo.'
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 395
In these two quotations is foand the substance of all the
arguments advanced in favour of the sun-temple theory.
Petrie refutes them at such length, that it would be impos-
sible to introduce here his reasoning in extenso. We shall,
therefore, content ourselves with the principal portions, and
refer the reader to the Ordnance Memoir for the remainder: —
It has, indeed, been supposed by some ingenious writers
[says he] that this curious remains of antiquity was erected as a
temple of the sun — a conjecture resting on the etymology of its
name Grianan, which, as they state, does literally mean ' the
place of the sun,' or, 'appertaining to the sun.' But etymology
is at best but an uncertain foundation for historical hypothesis ;
and the habit so generally indulged in by Irish antiquaries of
drawing positive conclusions from etymological conjectures, has
done more to retard than advance the knowledge of the history
and antiquities of the country.
That Crrian, or the sun, was an object of worship among the
Pagan Irish is not to be denied ; but that the word Grianan
was ever applied to denote a temple of the sun, or a temple of any
kind, no authority has been as yet adduced, or found, while there
are abundant evidences that it was constantly used, in a figurative
sense, to signify a distinguished residence, or a royal palace. It is
thus explained by O'Eeilly : — ' Grianan, a summer-house, a walk,
arched or covered over on a hill for a commodious prospect [a
balcony], a royal seat.' O'Brien, an earlier and better authority,
also explains it as a ' royal seat ;' and gives as an illustration the
name of the very place in question ; — ' Grianan-Oilig, the regal
house of O'Neill in Ulster.' . O'Flaherty and MacFirbis, without
explaining the word, use it to express a royal habitation.
After quoting the authority of Keating, and his learned
translators, John Lynch, Colgan, Cormac Mac Cullenan,
apd giving examples from each, of the word being used in
the sense he explains it in, he shows that it was also
synonymous with Dun, a fortress, and proves this from
extracts taken from a MS. in Trinity College, and from a
tale in the Book of Glendalough. He then proceeds :—
In like manner, examples almost equally numerous might be
quoted, from similar documents, of the application of this term to
the palace, or royal fortress, of the northern Irish kings. Of
this fact two instances may here suffice, as others will be found
in the succeeding pages. Both these occur in the poem of
Cormacan Eigeas, the bard of Murtagh of the Leather Coats,
396 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
written in the year 939, and which has been given in full in the
general history of the county, prefixed to this work, viz. :—
O Murtagh, son of noble Niall,
Thou hast taken the hostages of Inis-Fail ;
Thou broughtest them all 10 Aileach,
Into the Splendid Grianan of horses.
Conor, son of Tiege the bull-like,
Puissant arch-king of Connaught,
Came with us without a bright fetter,
Into the green Grianan of Aileach.
But, even though it were allowed that the word Grianan was
sometimes applied to the temple of the sun, the Irish authorities
still abundantly prove that this — the Grianan of Aileach — was
not a monument of that description. In all the Irish histories
the palace of the Northern Irish kings is designated by the name
Aileach simply, or Grianan- A High, Aileach-Neid, or Aileach-
Fririn; and its situation is stated to have been on a hill in
the vicinity of Derry.
So far Petrie on the meaning of the word, and its
application to the ruin on Greenan Hill.
Professor W. K. Sullivan, in his introductory volume
to O'Curry's Lectures, already quoted, writes as follows
on the word Grianan :—
In duns and large raths there was also a special chamber
placed in a sunny aspect, and called from this circumstance a
Grianan. This chamber appears to have been erected on the
wall of the dun, or in some elevated 'position, so as to command
a view of the surrounding country, and escape the shadow of the
encircling mound.
In this we find nothing to favour the sun-temple theory.
If the opinion relative to Greenan having been a temple of
the sun, were not of modern origin, it is strange that John
Toland would have passed it over in his History of the
Druids. Toland was himself a native of Inishowen, born,
as Harris states, in Iskaheen, and educated in his earlier
years at Kedcastle, in the parish of Moville. His work on
the Druids was expressly written to give an account of their
mode of worship, and of the remains of their temples or
monuments. In his second letter on the subject he makes
mention of the Cam, or Druidical remain, on the top of
Fahan Hill, and of another opposite on the top of Inch Hill,
397
both distant only a few miles from Grianan-Aileach, and
within sight of it, but says not a word of Greenan Hill.
This is the more remarkable inasmuch as in this same letter
he explains the word Grian, and of Greannach, an Irish
adjective which he translates as ' long-haired,' and which,
he says, ' is a natural epithet of the sun in all nations.'
From the foregoing our readers will be able to form a
pretty accurate notion of the meaning of the term Grianan,
and in what sense it is to be taken in the present instance.
"We shall now return to Ailech, and treat as briefly as
possible of its former importance in Ireland, and of the part
taken by some of its leading kings in the events of the
several periods in which they respectively lived.
III. — THE KINGS OF AILEA.CH
Making all due allowance for the amount of fable mixed
up with the accounts of its origin and early history, still
from every reliable document on ancient Irish history we
learn that it was a place of the greatest importance long
before the Christian era. Its very situation, which now
seems to us so ill chosen and so unsuited to a royal fortress,
is just such as we might expect to be selected by the eastern
people who are said to have been its founders. It was
modelled after what they had seen in the east ; surrounded
with three several walls, or fortifications, at stated distances
from each other ; inaccessible to any sudden attack from an
enemy, and commanding a most extensive view of the
waters of the Foyle and of the Swilly. No hostile fleet
could enter either lough, without being at once perceived ;
and by land it would be difficult for any force to approach
without being observed from afar, and means being adopted
to repel them. It was what Thomas Davis designated " a
rath on a far-seeing hill," which commanded the view of
the country far and wide, and which could scarcely be
surprised by an enemy. Petrie, in his Antiquities of Tara
Hill, remarks the great similarity in the sites of Tara,
Emania, and Aileach, with the exception that Aileach was
on a much more elevated situation than either of the
others. However, Aileach was not without a parallel as to
398 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the loftiness of its position even in the north of Ireland, for
on a hill about four miles west of Coleraine (now called the
Giant's Sconce) are the remains of a cyclopean fortress,
identified by Dr. O'Donovan as the famous ' Munitio
Cetherini ' mentioned by Adamnan. This fortress derived
its name from Cethern, son of Fintau, one of the heroes
of the Red Branch, who flourished in Ulster about the
beginning of the Christian era. This hill is 797 feet above
the sea-level.1 Another similar pile exists on the top of a
hill in the parish of Cloncha (Malin), but its history is
buried in obscurity. The ruin is known simply by the title
of ' The Castle,' and the hill is called Knock-Eath, or the
Hill of the Eath or Fort. Mr. Petrie points out the
similarity as to situation, encircling ramparts, &c., between
Ecbatana in Media, described by Herodotus, and Aileach ;
and shows that there is nothing strange in the selection of
such an elevated situation for the royal palace and fortress.
The importance of Aileach, or rather of its kings, can
best be estimated by the power which they wielded, and by
the tributes that were paid them. These are set down very
clearly and definitely in the Book of Eights; and though we
may be inclined to smile at times at the primitive mode of
paying taxes observed by our ancestors, we must admit that
it answered their purpose just as well, if not even better,
than our income-tax and poor-rates do at present. At
certain periods the King of Aileach was also King of Ireland;
but when this was not the case, he was to receive a stated
revenue from the Irish chief king, in consequence of his
high position as head of the northern Hy Niall :—
The King of Aileach himself, then, when he was not King
of Eire, is entitled to sit by the side of the King of Eire at
banquet and at fair, and to go before the King of Eire at treaties,
and assemblies, and councils, and supplications. And he is
entitled to receive from the King of Eire fifty swords, and fifty
shields, and fifty bondmen, and fifty dresses, and fifty steeds ;
these for the King of Aileach.
And when the King of Cashel was for the time being
1 See Reeve's Adamnan, p. 94, n. 1.
AILEAGH OF THE KINGS 399
supreme King of Ireland, he was to pay a certain tribute to
the King of Aileach, as follows :—
Fifty drinking horns and fifty swords,
Fifty steeds with the usual trappings
To the man of prosperity of the Doires of goodly fruit,
To the prince of Aileach who protects all.
The special revenues due to the King, as king of Aileach
are set down separately by themselves, and are very consi-
derable, indeed. The catalogue of them begins thus :—
The right of the King of Aileach ; listen ye to it.
Among the oak forests immeasurable
He is entitled to income, no trifling tribute,
From the tribes [and] from the Forthuatha.
A hundred sheep, a hundred cloaks, a hundred cows,
And a hundred hogs are given to him
From Culeantraidhe of the war
To the King of Aileach laboriously.
Three hundred hogs, &c., &c.
Then follow all the districts subject to Aileach, and the
amount of tributes, or rights, that they paid ; but certain
districts were exempted from the taxation, because, as
0 'Donovan explains in a note, they were of the same race
as the King of Aileach himself. These districts were —
Tullahogue (the Hill of the Youths), in the barony of
Dungannon ; Crabh (Crew or Creeve), a district on the west
side of the lower Bann; Magh lotha (the plain of Ith),
believed to be an extensive plain in the barony of Eaphoe ;
Inis-Eoghain, and Tyr-Connell. The limits of this last-
named district corresponded almost exactly with the
boundaries of the present county of Donegal, with the
exception of Inishowen, which belonged to Tyr-Eoghain,
or the territory of Eoghain. This district was far more
extensive than the present county of Tyrone.
Of course, we are not to suppose that the kings of Aileach
had not their duties as well as their rights to attend to. These
are just as carefully marked down for them as are their
privileges, and are equally curious and interesting ; but the
amount of tribute, or rights, as they termed it, paid to them
evinces clearly the great power and high position they held
among the kings of Ireland.
400 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The succession of kings in Aileach, from the time of
its restoration by Frigrinn, is difficult to trace ; but from
the notice by the annalists of Eoghan (whom St. Patrick
converted and baptized), it seems certain that the place
was regarded then as an ancient seat of royalty. In the
Tripartite Life of St. Patrick the account of King Eoghan's
conversion is given, where, after stating that the King went
out to meet and welcome Patrick as soon as he heard he
was in his territories, the writer goes on to tell that —
The man of God accompanied Prince Eoghan to his palace,
which he then held in the most ancient and celebrated seat of
the kings, called Aileach, and which the holy bishop consecrated
by his blessing, promising that from the seed of Eoghan many
kings and princes of Ireland should spring ; and as a pledge of
which he left there a certain stone, blessed by him, upon which
the promised kings and princes should be ordained. l
Dr. Petrie considers it most probable that this stone still
exists, and possibly is that called St. Columb's Stone, in the
garden of Belmont, about a mile from the city of Derry.
Eoghan's principality, known by the title of Tyr-Eoghau,
embraced the present county of Tyrone, the county of London-
derry, parts of Armagh, and the peninsula of Inishown. Eoghan
was one of the sons of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and his
death is recorded by the Four Masters under the year 464 : —
Eoghain, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages [from whom are
descended the Cinel-Eoghain], died of grief for Conall-Gulban,
son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, and was buried at Uisce-
Chain, in Inis-Eoghain, concerning which was said : —
Eoghan, son of Niall died
Of tears — good his nature —
In consequence of the death of Conall, of hard feats,
So that his grave is at Uisce-Chain.
The place where he was buried in Iskaheen is now
unknown, but it was probably in or near the old graveyard
at the chapel in that parish.
Passing over the intervening kings from the time of
Eoghan, we come to one who, a century later, acted a pro-
minent part in Irish affairs, and left in an unmistakable
manner his ' footprints on the sands of time.' This was
(or Hugh), the son of Ainmire, King of Ireland.
1 Triad. Tfianm., p. 145.
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 401
Ainmire was first cousin of the famous St. Colurnba, so that
Mdh and Columba stood in relation to each other of first
and second cousins. In his twenty-fifth year St. Columbkille
was obliged to leave the Monastery of Glasnevin, beside
Dublin, in consequence of a plague that had broken out in
that locality, and to return to the north. He came to
Derry, which was then an island on which was a royal fort ;
and ^Edh, who was then very young, and who at the time
was residing there, offered him the southern portion of the
island as a site for a monastery. Some say that .ZEdh was
then too young to be in power, and that it was his father
Ainmire who bestowed the gift on his saintly cousin. How-
ever, be it given by whom it might, St. Columba accepted
the gift, and founded there his first great monastery, A.D. 545.
In after years Columba's heart ever turned with an inde-
scribable love to this his first foundation, and from the place
of his exile would he strain his gaze to catch even a glimpse
of the distant hills that environed his beloved oak grove of
Doire-Calgach. There is an ancient Irish poem attributed
to the saint, in which he expressed his great and undying
love for the green island in the Foyle. Dr. Douglas Hyde
has lately given us a charming metrical paraphrase of this
poem, and were it not for fear of occupying too much space,
we would gladly transcribe this paraphrase in its entirety.
We will just venture to give a few stanzas : —
And oh ! were the tributes of Alba, mine,
From shore unto centre, from centre to sea,
The site of one house, to be marked by a line,
In the midst of fair Derry, were dearer to me.
That spot is the dearest on Erin's ground,
For the treasures that peace and that purity lend ;
For the hosts of bright angels that circle it round,
Protecting its borders from end to end.
That spot is the dearest on Erin's ground,
For its peace and its beauty I gave it my love ;
Each leaf of the oaks around Derry is found
To be crowded with angels from heaven above.
My Derry, my Derry, my little oak grove,
My dwelling, my home, and my own little cell ;
May God the Eternal, in heaven above,
Send woe to thy foes and defend thce well.
VOL. in. 2 c
402 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Shortly after his accession to the throne of Ireland,
gave permission to his son Comasach to make a friendly
circuit round the various courts of the kingdom, where,
however, he conducted himself in a most insolent manner.
Bran Dubh, King of Leinster, determined to put an end to
this haughty youth's career, and had him assassinated. The
melancholy tidings were borne in due time to JEdh, who
was then residing at his palace of Aileach, and he collected
together his forces, and marched into Leinster to avenge the
death of his son. But the expedition proved a fatal one to
him, for he was slain in the battle of Dunbolg (near Baltin-
glass), A.D. 594. This ,3£dh it was who had summoned the
great Convention at Drumceat, where such salutary laws
and regulations were enacted.
Leinster seems to have been an unfortunate terri-
tory to the northern kings, for, in the year 718, Fergal
Mac Maoileduin, monarch of Ireland, setting out from
Aileach to collect the Boromean tribute in that province,
was slain at the battle of Almhain (now the Hill of Allen, in
the county of Kildare), with six thousand of his mercenaries,
and a great number of the northern chiefs and warriors.
None of the kings of Aileach were more fortunate in
having their names and exploits handed down to posterity
than Muircheartach, or Mortogh of the Leather Cloaks, son
of Niall Glundubh, or Niall of the Black Knee, who was a
most distinguished king, but was killed in a battle against
the Danes, near Dublin, A.D. 919, after a reign of three
years. Muircheartach was son-in-law of the supreme
monarch, and was, moreover, Koydamna, or heir presump-
tive to the throne of Ireland. He was a bold and successful
warrior, and made many hostile incursions into Leinster,
Connaught, and Ulidia; sailed on one occasion to the
Hebrides, plundered them, and subdued their inhabitants ;
contended frequently against the Danes, who once took him
prisoner, and twice destroyed his palace at Aileach ; opposed
his father-in-law in battle more than once, but in the end
coalesced with him against the common enemy, the Norse-
men. In 941 he planned and executed his famous circuit of
Ireland, which has transmitted his name to posterity. He
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 403
was fortunate enough to have in his retinue a distinguished
poet, named Cormacan Eigeas, who, in the year following
the expedition, committed to verse a history of the whole.
This poem has been translated into English and annotated
by Dr. O'Donovan, and published by the Irish Arch geological
Society. Muircheartach was, as we have said, heir apparent
to the throne of Tara ; but he well knew that his claims
would be disputed. He determined, therefore, to anticipate
any opposition, and to reduce to subjection all those who
were likely to oppose him. With this object in view, he
selected a thousand chosen warriors, dressed them in
leathern cloaks — from which circumstance he was ever
after known as ' Murtogh of the Leather Cloaks ' — and in
the depth of winter, when he knew his foes would be unpre-
pared, he marched to Dublin, whence he took Sitric, the
Danish King, with him as a hostage. He then proceeded
against Lorcan, King of Leinster, whom he also carried
with him; marched from thence into Munster, and took
Cellaghan, king of that district ; advanced next into
Connaught, where Conchobar, son of Teige, came to meet
him ; and then returned to Aileach, carrying with him his
royal hostages. In the spirit of a true chevalier, he was
unwilling to bring so large and unexpected a party to his
beautiful queen — ' Dubhdaire of the black hair ' — without
due notice ; and he, therefore, despatched a courier before
him, to apprise her of his coming : —
From the green Lochan na n'each
A page was despatched to Aileach,
To tell Dubhdaire of the black hair
To send women to cut rushes.
' Eise up, 0 Dubhdaire ' [spake the page] ;
Here is company coming to thy house ;
Attend to each man of them
As a monarch should be attended.'
' Tell to me ' [she answered], ' what company comes hither,
To the lordly Aileach-Figreann ;
Tell me, 0 fair page,
That I may attend them.'
' The Kings of Erin in fetters ' [he replies],
With Muircheartach, son of warlike Niall,
Ten hundred heroes of distinguished valour,
Of the race of the fierce fair Eoghan.'
404 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
For five months Murtagh detained his hostages at
Aileach, but at the end of that time he sent them to his
father-in-law, Donnchadh, King of Ireland. Donnchadh,
however, not to be outdone in generosity, sent them back
again, and it is probable they remained at Aileach till the
death of Murtogh, which occurred in 943. The Four
Masters thus record his death : —
Muircheartach of the Leather Cloaks, son of Xiall Glundubh,
lord of Aileach, the Hector of the west of Europe in his time,
was slain at Ath-Fhirdiadh by Blacaire, son of Godfrey lord of
the foreigners, on the 26th of March.
The modern name of the place where he was slain is
Ardee, in the County Louth.
The Venerable Charles O'Connor, of Balanagare, in his
Dissertations on the History of Ireland, contrasting the
characters of Cellaghan, King of Munster, and Murtagh
King of Aileach concludes thus :—
Murkertagh made improvements in the art of war. His
character lies entombed in the history of a people, hardly inquired
after in our own time. He had as] great a genius for war as any
man that this island has, perhaps, ever produced. The endow-
ments of his heart were still greater. He, for some time, valued
himself and his party too much ; but loving his countiy more, he
relented, and reconciled himself to his sovereign and his brother-
in law [recte, father-in-law]. Thenceforward he never relapsed
into faction. Of all enemies, he was the most generous ; of all
commanders, the most affable. He never descended from his
dignity; but reconciled familiarity to rank, which, in the ordinary
course of things, must be kept separate from it. Elevated, bene-
volent, and captivating, he was, unhappily, taken off at a time
when his character put him in possession of a power which
probably would have relieved his country from bondage.
In 956, Domhnall O'Neill, son of Muircheartagh, came
to the throne, and we find his death recorded under date
A.D. 978. It was this monarch who was visited at Aileach
by the famous poet MacCoise, whose palace in Meath had
been plundered by O'Neill's people. O'Curry, in the 6th
of his Lectures, already quoted so often, gives a full and
interesting account of this visit, and of the curious poem
MacCoise recited on the occasion to the monarch. It will
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 405
repay a perusal, and, were it not for its length, we would
introduce it here. Suffice it to say, that the poem had its
desired effect, and procured for its injured author a full
compensation for all the losses he had sustained.
But though Aileach boasts many distinguished kings
and princes, it is questionable if any of them have stronger
claims to a prominent place in our history than the last
resident king, who reigned and held his court there.
Domhnall Ua Lochlainn, or Donnel O'Lochlin, was a
warrior of whom any nation might be proud ; and had he
lived in a country less torn asunder by petty jealousies
and factions, would probably have ranked in the first class
of renowned heroes. As it is, he occupies no inconsiderable
place in our annals ; and the palace of Aileach, first inha-
bited by the memorable Daghda, found, at the time of its
final destruction, a worthy occupant in the person of
Ardghar's royal son. His entire reign, both as King of
Aileach, and afterwards as King of Ireland, exemplified
strongly the words that ' man's life upon earth is a warfare ;'
for he seems to have been cradled in the camp, and schooled
in the battle-field, and to have turned to the best account
the military genius with which nature had endowed him.
His kingly air, his strength of mind, his unbounded gene-
rosity marked him out for his high position ; and, though
success is not always the proof of valour, still, when victory
crowned all, or nearly all, the battles of eight and thirty
years of warfare, it is impossible to withhold from
Domhnall Ua Lochlainn the fame of a noble and daring
soldier.
Under date A.D. 1088, the Four Masters tell us that
Domhnall proceeded into Connaught, obtained hostages of
all that province, whose king likewise joined him in his
expedition, marched into Munster ; burned Limerick, plun-
dered the province of Munster; destroyed Kincora, the
ancient palace of the Munster kings, and carried off eight -
score heroes as hostages and pledges. Two years later a
great meeting took place between Domhnall, the King of
Cashel, the Lord of Meath, and the King of Connaught, and
all agreed to deliver hostages to the King of Aileach as a
THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
token of their submission to him. In the year 1093
Domhnall blinded .ZEdh Ua-Canannain, Lord of Cinel-
Connaill ; and in the following year he slew the King of
Ulidia in the battle of Bealach-Guirt-an-inbhair ; that is,
as O'Donovan explains it, 'The Koad or Pass of the Field
of the Yew.' ' This Pass was at Gortimire, in the parish
of Killelagh, barony of Loughinsholin, in the county of
Londonderry.' The same year he marched to Dublin,
joined by the chiefs of the Kinel-Conaill, Cinel-Eoghan,
and others, proceeded to Oughterard, in Kildare, and after
burning that town routed the Munstermen in battle.
In 1100 his old enemy, Murtagh O'Brien, brought a
great fleet of the ' foreigners ' to Derry, but the indomitable
King of Aileach completely destroyed them ; and in the
same year he took prisoner the King of Ulidia, and many of
his chiefs together with him. The King of Munster was the
one persistent enemy who disturbed the rest and peace of
Domhnall during his whole long term of sovereignty. He
it was, who, in one of his predatory incursions into the
North, destroyed the regal fortress on Greenan, and caused
each of his soldiers, as we have already seen, to carry back
to Limerick a stone of the demolished palace. It is true
this destruction of Aileach by Murtagh O'Brien in A.D. 1101
was but an act of retaliation for the destruction of the
palace of Kincora by Domhnall in 1088, but the carrying
off of the stones from the ruined mansion was a refinement
of savagery ill becoming a kingly mind.
The remaining portion of Domhnall' s reign was princi-
pally made up of incursions into Meath, Connaught, &c.,
until in A.D: 1121 we find recorded the death of this
wonderful man in that quaint style of eulogy so peculiar
to the Donegal annalists :—
Domhnall, son of Ardghar MacLochlainn, King of Ireland, the
most distinguished of the Irish for personal form, family, sense,
prowess, prosperity, and happiness, for bestowing of jewels and
food upon the mighty and the needy, died at Doire-Choluim-
Chille, after having been twenty-seven years in sovereignty over
Ireland, and eleven years in the kingdom of Ailech, in the seventy-
third year of his age, on the night of "Wednesday, the fourth of
the Ides of February, being the feast of Mochuarog.
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 407
The title did not die with him, for, thirty "years later, we
find recorded by the same authorities that ' the hostages of
Leinster were sent to his house, to the son of Niall, grandson
of Lochlainn ; i.e., King of Aileach and Teamhair.' On
till the close of the twelfth century the title of King of
Aileach is met with in our annals ; but after that time it
disappears from our history, and is lost for ever.
IV. LEGENDS OF AILEACH. — THE PEOSPECT FROM THE
GRIANAN. — THE PENAL DAYS
The royal abode of so many kings and warriors thence-
forth became the prey of ' time's destroying fingers.' The
sound of revelry and the clang of armour alike were stilled
within its walls. Captive kings no longer sat at the
monarch's board, and ' the house of the groaning hostages '
held no more its fettered inmates; but, when the reality was
gone, imagination would still people it with warlike hosts,
ready to come to their country's deliverance when the time
arrived, and the signal was given them. In a cave underneath
the mountain, say the legends, lies entranced in magic
slumber a troop of horse belonging to Hugh O'Neill. They
have not, like the fallen soldiers of Sennacherib, ' the dew on
their brow, and the rust on their mail,' but are equipped in
perfect armour, well mounted on fiery chargers, whose reins
they hold with one hand, while the other rests upon the hilt
of a shining blade. The spell that binds them can only be
broken by their destined leader, and everyone else is power-
less to disenchant them. On one occasion a man wandered
accidentally into this cave, and was terrified at the sight of
the armed soldiers. One of them raised his head, and asked
' was the time come ; ' but when no answer was given him,
he fell back again into his magic slumber. Duffy, in his
spirited ballad, entitled Inishowen, refers to this legend : —
When they tell us a tale of a spell-stricken band,
All entranced, with their bridles and broadswords in hand,
Who await but the word to give Erin her own,
They can read you that riddle in proud Innishowen.
Another very beautiful but melancholy legend is fre-
quently told in connection with Aileach ; but as Keating
408 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
relates it as having occurred at Emania, in the time of
Connor MacNessa, King of Ulster, we will merely given an
outline of it here.
A certain noble, who was of a warlike disposition,
wishing to perfect himself in the exercise of arms, went
for that purpose to Scotland, to receive instructions from
Sgathach, a lady of masculine bravery and experience. Here
Congculionn, or Cuhullin, fell in love with a Scotch lady,
named Aoife, and had his affection returned. He was
obliged suddenly, and sooner than he expected, to return
to his native land; but ere leaving he gave directions to Aoife
how to train up their child, if a son. She was to have him
instructed in the military art by the best teachers, and at a
certain age he was to be sent to Ireland to seek out his
father. A chain of gold which he gave her was to be put
about the youth's neck when setting out for the shores of
Erinn, and by this was his father to know him and
acknowledge him as his son.
Three obligations, however, she was to impose on him
with all a mother's authority when setting out on his
journey, and to insist strictly on their observance. The
first was, that he should never give place to any person
living, but rather die than be obliged to turn back. The
second was, never to refuse a challenge from the boldest
champion alive, but to fight with him even though he was
bure to fall in the encounter. And the third was, never to
disclose his name to anyone asking it. In due time a son
was born, and named Conlaoch. His mother got him trained
by the same Amazon who had instructed his father, and he
became the greatest proficient in the military art in Scotland.
At the appointed time he came to search for his father,
Congcullion, and directed his steps to the king's palace,
where a great meeting was at that time being held to de-
liberate on matters relating to the province of Ulster. On
coming to court the young Conlaoch refused to disclose his
name even to the king's messengers; and Cuhullin, who
formed one of the assembly of nobles then met together,
asked the king's permission to see this haughty youth, and to
force him to obedience. To Cuhullin's inquiry as to his
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 409
name and the object of his coming, Conlaoch refused an
answer, till the father, incensed by the obstinacy of the
young warrior, struck him with his spear. Roused to fury,
Conlaoch sprang at Cuhullin, and, ' as meet two troubled
seas, with the rolling of all their waves, when they feel
the wings of contending winds, in the rock-sided firth of
Lurnon,' so met the warriors in deadly combat. Never was
deadlier struggle witnessed; but the fire of youth was in
Conlaoch's veins, and the hitherto unconquered Cuhullin had
to yield to the prowess of his adversary. Worsted in the
conflict, he was forced to take advantage of a ford in the
stream to save his life. Maddened by his defeat he called
upon one of his officers to bring him the spear, called in Irish
the Gai Builg, with which he was sure to destroy his adver-
sary. Grasping it in his hand, he threw it with all his force,
and surely enough pierced the body of the unfortunate youth,
who fell dead upon the spot. Pity for his fate and unmerited
death now seized upon the heart of Congcullion, and bend-
ing over his fair young victim, from whose cheek and brow
the bloom of boyhood had scarcely worn away, he descried
the chain which years before he had entrusted to the hands
of the enamoured Aoife. His grief can be better imagined
than described, for he was now heartbroken. They buried
the ill-fated Conlaoch in the green valley below, and raised
above him a hero's tomb. The summer passed, the autumn
died away, and surly November breathed over the landscape,
stripping the quivering branches of their foliage, and sending
the withered leaves through their weird, fantastic dances.
On an evening at this season a female form was seen at
Conlaoch's grave, and the morrow found her still kneeling
there. It was Aoife, the loving mother, who, fearing for the
fate of her son, had followed him to Erin ; and, learning the
sad story of his melancholy end, had come to die at her
loved one's tomb. The green sward opened its bosom for
her too, and she sleeps with the child of her love in this
northern valley, far from the home of her youth and the
graves of her kindred.
The prospect from the summit of Greenan is grand in
the extreme. ' It commands,' says Petrie, ' one of the most
410 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
extensive and beautifully varied panoramic prospects to be
found in Ireland.' Westward lies Tyrconnell, with its
glorious mountains and verdant valleys ; away towards the
north stretch the realms of O'Doherty, historic Inishowen ;
eastwards rise up the basaltic headlands of Magilligan and
the dark hills of Derry ; whilst the blue mountain ranges of
Tyrone close in the beauteous picture towards the south.
It is a region of romantic story, the scene of a thousand
battles, the natal soil of many a saint, the asylum of the
poet and historian, and the field where the expiring patriot-
ism of Ireland fought its last death-fight against the
encroachments of English power.
And around this old ruin, which crowns the summit of
Greenan, how many glorious as well as sad reminiscences
cluster ! What revolutions has it not witnessed ! what
wonderful changes has it not beheld ! How many generations
have come and gone, have played their part upon the stage of
life, and then retired behind the curtain of death, since first
the Daghda's murdered son was laid to rest upon the summit of
this mountain ! Nearly a thousand years before Sardanapalus
perished amid the smoking ruins of Niniveh did Corgeann
sink here beneath his cruel burden ; and the towers of Rome
did not fling their shadows over the yellow Tiber till ten
centuries after the first De Danann palace had been erected
at Aileach. Almost coeval with Grecian Thebes, ancient
as Thyatira, it was centuries old before Antioch was founded
by Seleucus Nicator, and before Solomon had raised his
magnificent temple in the sacred city of Sion. It preceded
and survived the rise and fall of many kingdoms and empires ;
it has seen the strange vicissitudes of fortune in the old
world and the new ; and whilst the proudest cities of bygone
ages have melted away like the snowflake, it still rests on
the brow of the mountain, looking out, as of old, on the
Swilly and the Foyle, and guarding, like a faithful sentinel,
the lands of O'Doherty, from the peaks of the Scalp to the
distant shores of Malin.
It has seen countless changes in the religious and
political systems of the world. The strange doctrines of
Buddha, the more elevated system of the sun and fire
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 411
worshippers, the absurd theories of Grecian and Roman
philosophers, have passed, in turn, before it, and the mystic
rites of the Druids have been celebrated around its very
walls. The voice of Ireland's great apostle has echoed
here, and in this spot the warlike son of Niall the Great
reverently bowed to Patrick's teaching.
Even in the immediate locality around, what astonishing
political revolutions, what changes of dynasty, what cruel
butcheries, have not been witnessed ! What temples of reli-
gion has Aileach not seen rise in its very vicinity, then fall,
in the lapse of years, beneath the worse than Vandal power
of the enemies of society ! There, beyond the modern
ramparts that connect Inch with Inishowen, once arose the
cloisters of St. Mura, or Muranus, a famous monastery
founded by St. Columbkille, and governed, in the beginning
of the seventh century, by the illustrious man whose name
it ever afterwards bore. St. Mura wrote the life of the
founder of the monastery (St. Columb), and from this
life the Martyrology of Donegal makes several extracts.
Here, too, died, in A.D. 884, a most distinguished
scholar and writer, Maelmura, or servant of Mura, abbot
of Fahan. In recording the event the Four Masters thus
write : —
Msealmura, the learned and truly intelligent poet, the erudite
historian of the Scotic language, died. It is of him this testimony
was given : —
There trod not the charming earth, there never flourished at affluent
Teamhair,
The great and fertile Ireland never produced a man like the mild, fine
Maelmura.
There sipped not death -without sorrow, there mixed not a nobler face with
the dead,
The habitable earth was not closed over a historian more illustrious.
Well was that place named Fathen, or Fahan (which
means shelter or enclosure), for the north winds may rave,
and the tempests roar, but Fahan heeds not their violence.
Nestling at the foot of the semicircular hills that shield it
from the north, it for ever woos the sunshine, and smiles in
perpetual verdure when all around is wintry gloom and
desolation. But the monastic glories of Fahan are gone,
412 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and only a crumbling ruin of the beauteous church now
remains to indicate the site of its once famous schools and
sacred cloisters.
Across the lake, on the opposite shore of the Swilly,
stood the abbey of Kil-o'-Donnell, a Franciscan foundation
established by the great Tyrconnel chieftains. It belonged
to the Tertiaries, or third Order of St. Francis, and, like its
great parent house in Donegal, was both founded and
endowed by the O'Donnells. Farther down along the
shore was the Carmelite Convent of Rathmullen, opposite to
which ' dauntless Red Hugh ' was entrapped in his fifteenth
year by the wily stratagem of Sir John Perrott, and carried
away captive to Dublin Castle, in whose dungeons he
languished for four years. He was captured in 1587, and
exactly twenty years afterwards another vessel sailed from
that same Fanad shore, bearing away for ever, from their
native land, the noblest and most skilful generals that
Ireland ever produced. These were the ' Earls,' as they
were usually styled, and the numerous retinue that accom-
panied them. Than Hugh O'Neill, who for so many
years out-manoauvred all the generals of Elizabeth ; and
Rory O'Donnell, a man in every way worthy of the princely
name he bore, our annals can produce no grander characters.
Never did Aileach look down upon a more melancholy
scene : —
For it is certain [say the Four Masters] that the sea never
carried, and that the winds never wafted from the Irish shores,
individuals more illustrious or noble in genealogy, or more
renowned for deeds of valour, prowess, and high achievements.
Sad though was their fate, it is consoling to know that
in this our day justice has at length been done to their
memory, and that the glowing and truthful pen of one of
our best writers (the late Father Meehan) has pourtrayed
their sufferings and their wrongs in his Fate and Fortunes
of Neill and O'Donnell.
Southwards from Fanad lies Gartan, the birthplace of
the most remarkable man in Irish history, St. Columbkille.
Remarkable was he in every sense, for, like St. Bernard in a
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 413
later age, his word swayed the councils of kings, and gave a
direction to the current both of politics and religion. From
Greenan can we count the sites of the many religious houses
he established, stretching from Derry, his first great founda-
tion, to the distant Tory, amid the waves of the Atlantic.
And when the mists ascend, and leave undimmed the blue
expanse across the waters, the last scene of his missionary
labours — the isles and highlands of Scotland — rise before us
like distant cerulean cloudland, flecked with living streaks
of golden sunshine.
Immediately below, on this side of the Swilly, and
adjoining the base of Greenan, stretch the rich plains of
Burt, one vast garden of luxuriance and beauty, and the
border fortresses of O'Doherty — like wounded gladiators,
now tottering to their fall — lend an indescribable charm to
the picture. These are the castles of Burt, Inch, and
Elagh, which, with that of Buncrana, were used alternately
by the lord of Inishowen as pleasure or convenience sug-
gested. Tradition states that these castles were built in the
beginning of the fifteenth century by Neacthan O'Donnell
for his father-in-law, O'Doherty. Their last owner was the
chivalrous but ill-fated Sir Cahir, who was killed near
Kilmacrenan, A.D. 1608. With him passed away the power
and the glory of the old sept, and his lordly possessions were
seized upon by Sir Arthur Chichester, one of the most cold-
blooded and heartless reptiles that ever crawled from the
mire of English corruption. Sir Cahir's name and history
fill a gloomy page in the history of our country. What he
might in time have become is now vain to conjecture, for,
with a burning feeling of personal injury rankling in his
soul, and with the standard of battle once raised, he pro-
bably would have proved a deadly and troublesome enemy
to the English power in the North, had his fate not been
sealed so early on the Eock of Doon.
To barely enumerate the historical spots visible from
Greenan, and to recount the incidents connected with them,
would be to compress into an essay the material of a portly
volume. There is not a foot of ground on either side the
classic Swilly or lovely Foyle that does not bear testimony
414 THE TRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
equally to the prowess and the piety of the ancient race ; and
the crumbling arches of the ruined cloisters, like voices from
the dead, remind us that learning and religion flourished
here at a time when the tide of barbarism had swept away
everything sacred from the rest of Europe.
Greenan, too, is a mute memorial of the cruel legislation
of the penal days ; for here, in the last century, were the
persecuted Catholics wont to assemble, and to offer to God
that homage which their faith dictated. This was not, as
Colonel Blacker in his sun-temple theory has stated, by any
means ' a certain proof of the traditional sanctity of the
spot/ but was rather a proof of the fear and trembling with
which the persecuted race regarded the priest-hunters of the
time, and which induced them to select a situation from
whence their enemies could be seen from a distance, and
imprisonment or death be consequently avoided. That such
precaution was not unnecessary we must admit, when we
bear in mind how these traffickers in human blood were
ever following in the wake of their victims, and how
With eye of lynx, and ear of stag,
And footfall like the snow,
they were ever alive to the least movement of the banned and
outlawed race, and were only too ready and willing to betray
them to the soldiery. We can well remember to hear our
venerated grandsires tell, in the days of our childhood, how
they attended Mass on Greenan Hill, when Dean O'Donnell
(afterwards Bishop of Derry) was the celebrant ; how they
arose long hours before day, and accompanied their parents
through the dreary hills to the sacred try sting-place ; and
how in that temple of nature, whose floor was the damp
heather, and whose canopy was the azure sky, they learned
practically the truth and sweetness of the doctrine that
' blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake.'
But though, happily, those days are gone for ever, yet the
impress they made was too dsep to be easily obliterated, and
the emancipated children of shackled parents can scarcely
yet realize their freedom.
We cannot close this little sketch without referring to
AILEACH OF THE KINGS 415
an effort made a few years since to restore what remains
of Aileach to its pristine form. The palace itself, as we
already saw, was destroyed by O'Brien in 1101, but what
Dr. Petrie calls the \cashel ' was apparently not interfered
with. In the lapse of years it gradually fell, and having
been constructed originally of uncemented stones, it pre-
sented at the time of the Ordnance Survey the appearance
of a cairn. As, however, the walls still remained standing
to the height of five or six feet, Petrie and his collaborateurs
were able tD take measurements, and to sketch out with
wonderful accuracy the plan of the building. The surround-
ing wall was circular, enclosing a space 77 feet 6 inches
in diameter, and the breadth of the wall at its base varied
from 15 feet to 11 feet 6 inches. There was one doorway
on the eastern side, there were stairs inside in the walls,
which led to galleries, and brought one to the top gallery or
platform. Petrie conjectured the height of the external
wall had been twice or even four times the height of the
portion of the wall then standing, i.e., that it might have
been 12 or even 24 feet high. It was evidently intended
for a watch-tower, and as a place of defence from which
assailing enemies could be advantageously repelled. It
would serve, moreover, as a store-house for the military
weapons used at the period.
Dr. Bernard, a medical gentleman residing in the city of
Derry, undertook the work of restoration some years ago,
and having enlisted the sympathies of the farmers of the
locality, he secured valuable assistance from them in carrying
out the work. He followed the plans sketched out in the
Ordnance Memoir, and after earnest and persevering labours
he completed his self-imposed task. To him it was a labour
of love, for he is a most devoted antiquarian, and his labour
has been the means of reviving the interest in the place, and
of attracting numbers of tourists in the summer months.
He well deserves the gratitude of all who take an interest
in the bygone glories and in the ruins of their native
land.
Silence and desolation now brood over this ancient seat
of royalty ; the music of the harp and the sigh of the
416 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
captive alike are stilled within its walls ; decay, with foot-
steps as noiseless as the summer mist, has pressed upon it ;
and the green grass grows in its kingly courts, and the
tempests of the North howl over its fallen battlements.
Yet, though all its grandeur and greatness are no more ;
though its kings and warriors have long since mouldered
into dust ; it has still a charm for us in its past, and we
love to hear — as Ossian expresses it — ' a tale of the times
of old — the deeds of days of other years.' When the future
antiquarian shall investigate the history of our neglected
ruins ; when the golden dawn of a genuine patriotism shall
light our countrymen in the study of bygone ages, then
shall we find that not the least interesting memorial of
Ireland's forgotten glories is the mouldering palace of
the Daghda — the time-honoured halls of ' Aileach of the
Kings.'
ifc JOHN K. O'DoHEETY.
OLIVER KELLY, ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM
VEEY little is now known, or has been ever published
in any connected form, concerning the distinguished
career and the arduous life and labours of Dr. Oliver Kelly,
Archbishop of Tuam. In the Lives of the Archbishops of
Tuam, written by the late Sir Oliver J. Burke, for which
the learned author received the order of the Papal knight •
hood, but very scant notice is taken of the personal character
of this prelate, and a short account only given of his public
action. This poverty of material seemed unavoidable, as
Dr. Kelly lived in a period of stress and storm in Ireland,
when there was little time or thought to record the passing
events of his day ; and, coneequently, there remain but
scattered and incomplete memorials of that eminent eccle-
siastic. That Dr. Kelly was a distinguished and a remarkable
man is evident from several facts. It is recorded of him
that when intelligence of his death reached Rome, whither
he was bound at the time, the Pope (Gregory XVI.) ' wept
as for the loss of an old and valued friend; ' and we fiud
that when the assembled bishops of Ireland met, in 1834,
to make a pronouncement upon the Veto, Dr. Kelly, Arch-
bishop of Tuam, was chosen as their presiding chairman ;
and his name, as such, appears appended to the patriotic
resolutions they issued, showing the high position of promi-
nence he must have attained in the Irish Church.
With the aid of some material lately discovered in old
newspapers and from other sources, as well as local tradi-
tion, I am enabled to put on paper some few connected facrs
respecting the deceased prelate which, seeing the light after
being so many years immured in these old, dusty records,
may be of interest not alone to the wide -scattered sons of
the see of Tuam, which he so worthily filled, but also to
the ecclesiastics generally of our Church.
Oliver Kelly was born at Crumore, or Curraghmore, in
the county of Galway, in the year 1777, of pious and
VOL. III. 2 D
418 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
respectable parents, members of the old Catholic families of
Connaught, who clung to the faith with the well-known
tenacity of the Celt. A writer in the Catholic Magazine
of 1834, says :—
At the age of fourteen he was obliged to seek in a foreign
country that education which, by the barbarous penal laws, it
was deemed a crime to receive in his native land— that land so
famed in days of yore for communicating religion, arts, avid
civilization, not only to persecuting England, but to various other
nations more grateful for the blessings they thus received.
Under the learned priest, who was subsequently Primate
of Ireland (Most Kev. Dr. Curtis), at Salamanca, Oliver Kelly
received that sound education he used so admirably for
the promotion of religion. About 1802 he returned to
Ireland ordained a priest, and being then twenty-five years
of age, was appointed by Dr. Dillon, Archbishop of Taam,
as Administrator of the parish of Tuam. At that time,
when the sound of a bell for worship could not be heard in
that Catholic town, and when, instead of the proud com-
manding prominence it now occupies, verily situated on a
mountain top, as it were, their church, of unpretending size
and style, was hidden away in an obscure quarter known as
Chapel-lane. The bishop and priests lived together in a
small, thatched house on the Tullinadally-road. It was
destined for Oliver Kelly to build, not only the present
Cathedral, but the bishop's house and the presbytery, and it
was left for the present eminently public-spirited and careful
prelate to secure, out of his own resources, all these places
for the use of the church, free from the restrictions of
tenancy, and the responsibilities of rent. Working assi-
duously in Tuam for some years, Father Kelly was appointed
parish priest of Westport. There he commenced that
wonderful career of church building, for which he was so
distinguished. While in Westport he built the present
Catholic chapel upon the Mall, a very pretty edifice in the
Grecian style of architecture, and having inscribed outside
the words of Holy Writ : ' This is an awful place.' Upon
the death of Dr, Dillon, in 1809, Fr. Kelly was appointed
Vicar Capitular of the Archdiocese by his brother priests.
OLIVER KELLY, ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM 419
These were troublous times for the Church, and the Pope, a
prisoner of the French Emperor, was unable to discharge
his high functions. Consequently, Tuam remained without
a bishop, and there was an interregnum for five years in the
see of Jarlath, It was only on the 4th of October, 1814,
that Pope Pius VII. was able to issue his rescript, and that
Dr. Kelly received his appointment. On the 12th of March,
1815, he was consecrated in the old Church at Chapel lane.
In 1829 he received the Pallium from the Holy See. In
Sir Oliver Burke's brief account of Dr. Kelly, 1814 is given
as the date of his appointment, but the above are the exact
dates. In the Catholic Magazine for June, 1834, we read of
Dr. Kelly :-
His unalterable attachment to the purity of the Catholic
faith, and his desire to preserve it in Ireland against the wily
machinations of State tricks, were unequivocally manifested in
his opposition to the rescript of Quarrantotti, in 1814, to the Vote
under every shape, and to the pensioning project of 1825. He
not only headed his own immediate bishops and clergy in
denouncing those measures but on account of his peculiar firm-
ness was chosen President of the assembled bishops of Ireland,
in Synod, in 1815, when in the spirit of that great national
apostle they declared that the giving of any direct or indirect
influence to the Government of this country by veto, nomination
boards, or pension, over the Catholic clergy, would be as destruc-
tive to the peace of the country as it would be subversive of the
Catholic religion in Ireland.
Upon his appointment to Tuam, Dr. Kelly appointed
Dean Burke his successor in Westport, and he was its last
parish priest, as upon that good priest's death it was attached
to Tuam by Dr. MacHale as a mensal parish, and it so
continues. Dean Burke was an intimate friend of the
bishop, and was regarded by priests and people as his
probable successor, for the translation of Dr. MacHale from
Killala by Rome was at the time somewhat of a surprise in
Tuam. In 1822 famine stalked the land, and the labours at
that time of Dr. Kelly were so untiring, so anxious and
arduous, that they undermined his health, and he was never
the same afterwards. Even so did the rigours of black '47
make such an impression on the late Bishop of Clonfert,
420 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
then parish priest of Cummer, that he never could shake
off its effects upon his spirits and strength. A Belief
Committee was formed in Tuaru consisting of the two
Archbishops, Dr. Kelly and Dr. Trench (the last Protestant
Archbishop of Tuam). It may be incidentally mentioned
that it was the abolition of the Archbishopric of Tuaru, after
Dr. Trench's death, by the Derby Ministry, that first made
Dr. Newman consider the Erastian character of the Pro-
testant establishment, and which made him doubt its divine
origin. A contemporary writer says of Dr. Kelly during
this trying time : —
This illustrious bishop was to be seen on the wilds of
Connemara, or upon the remote mountains of the West, relieving
the starving portion of his flock, and, like his Divine .Master,
administering to the wants of the poor and afflicted.
In 1825 Dr. Kelly, with Dr. Curtis, Dr. Murray, Dr. Doyle,
and Dr. Magauran, were summoned to give evidence be-
fore a Committee elected by Parliament to examine into
and report upon the tenets, morals, and discipline of the
Roman Catholic Church, and upon the state of Ireland in
general. The evidence of these prelates had a powerful
effect in opening the minds of the English people ; but that
of Dr. Kelly, ' if possible,' says the same writer, ' exceeded
the evidence of the others in opposing the then contemplated
pensioning and vetoistical arrangements. '
In 1827 Dr. Kelly commenced the erection of the magni-
ficent Cathedral of Tuam, ' the ornament and glory of town
and diocese.' As was then said of it, 'for beauty of
architecture, unity of parts, and chasteness of design, it is
superior to any modern temple in the empire.' It may
have some compeers to-day in Ireland, but it must be
remembered it was the first of its size and style that was
attempted after the dark night of persecution had to give
way to the opening dawn of religious liberty. At this
period Dr. Kelly threw himself with all his characteristic
energy into the struggle for Catholic Emancipation, and
from the first was one of the staunchest friends and ablest
advisers of O'Connell. In a letter dated from Merrion-
OLIVER KELLY, ARCHBISHOP OF TUAM 421
square, the 30th December, 1827, Daniel O'Connell thus
addressed Dr. Kelly :—
The public papers will already have informed your Lordship
of the resolution to hold a meeting for petitions in every parish
in Ireland on Monday, 31st January. I would not presume to
call your Lordship's particular attention to this measure, or
respectfully solicit your countenance and support hi your diocese,
if I was not deeply convinced of its extreme importance and
utility. The combination of national action — all Catholic Ireland
acting as one inan — must necessarily have a powerful effect on
the minds of the ministry and the entire British nation. A
people who can thus be brought to act together and on one
impulse are too powerful to be long opposed.
We know the results of that splendid combination, even
if we are not, by reason of our own apathy and want of
co-operation, yet reaping the full fruits of O'Connell's
victory.
Towards the end of 1833 Dr. Kelly's health declined.
He visited the Continent, under medical advice, in the hope
of recovery in that more genial clime, and away from the
cares of his diocese. He spent some months in the South
of Europe ; and returning to Eome from Naples, he was
taken ill at Albano, near the Holy City, and, at the early
age of fifty-seven, there breathed his last on the 18th of
April, 1834. The account of his death is thus given in the
Catholic Magazine of August 2, 1834 : —
After struggling with various attacks he left Eome for Albano
on the 13th of April, 1834, and early on the morning of the 18th
he calmly resigned his spirit into the hands of his Creator, after
receiving the consolations of religion from the pastor of that
district. On that day a splendid funeral service was performed
in the Cathedral of Albano, and the Pope having heard of his
death [letters from Eome acquaint us] shed many tears and
ordered every respect to be paid to his remains, and that they
should be conveyed to Eome, where his Holiness, attended by
the Cardinals, the Superiors and the Students of the Irish,
English, and Eoman Colleges, formed the awful [sic] procession
to the Church of the Propaganda. After the funeral service pre-
scribed by Eoman ritual had been performed, his body was
placed in the vaults attached to the Church. On the 22nd of
April another Office and High Mass were celebrated, attended by
nearly the same persons. The church, magnificently hung with
422 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
black, and illumined by the numerous wax candles which usually
adorn the churches on the Continent on such solemn occasions. The
Eight Eev. Dr. Baines, Vicar Apostolic, officiated as High Priest.
Dr. Kelly was the intimate friend and favourite of Leo XII.,
Pius VIII., and Gregory XVI., the present Pontiff, who, during
his stay in Rome, paid him marked attention, and lamented in
his death the demise of one of the first prelates of the Irish
Church. What a gratifying account for his friends — what an
example for his successor to follow !
Such is the writer's account of Dr. Kelly, and such was
Tuam's bishop, whose merits and fame are so little known
even in the place adorned by his virtues, and where an
enduring monument to his memory, the magnificent
Cathedral of Tuam, stands to attest his zeal and love for
religion. To Dr. Kelly Tuam's archdiocese is indebted, also
for the foundation of the classic College of St. Jarlath (so
called by Dr. Kelly in commemoration of the patron saint
of the archdiocese), that school of learning as famous in
its day as was its predecessor at Cloonfush (Cluamfois) in
the years before the English invasion which, three miles
from Tuam's town was founded by St. Jarlath — that place
which has been for over sixty years the training ground for
all the priests, not alone of Tuam's large diocese, but of so
many scattered over the United States and the Colonies.
In the Catholic Magazine of June, 1834, we read : —
The Tuam Cathedral, now nearly completed, has received, per
the late Most Rev. Dr. Kelly, donations from Lady Elizabeth
Russell of £15, and £5 from James Daly of Great Charles-street.
St. Jarlath's College is receiving that degree of public support
it so justly merits. The Rev. Mr. Brown, Principal, and the
Professors, show extraordinary care and attention to its inte-
rests. Mr. Stack, the gifted Professor of Elocution, is employed
in giving a series of lectures to the students there.
Dr. Kelly's successor in the see was Dr. MacHale, who
completed and consecrated the Cathedral, and dying full of
years and honour was succeeded by the present illustrious
prelate, Dr. MacEvilly, who has laid out upon necessary
repairs of Dr. Kelly's church over £10,000, making it
exteriorly and interiorly one of the finest places of Catholic
worship in the country.
EICHAED J. KELLY.
[ 423 ]
THE 'MULS' AND THE 'GILS': SOME IRISH
SURNAMES.
I.
IT is not generally known that at least one hundred
thousand people of Irish birth or descent bear, in their
every-day surnames, a record of the zeal for piety and
learning which distinguished early Christian Ireland.
According to the last census, there are in Ireland alone
eight thousand three hundred persons called (in Irish, of
course) ' descendant of the servant of the Church.' Then
there are thousands of ' descendants of the servants of God,'
of Christ, of Mary, of John, of Brigid, of Finian, of
Brendan, of Aidan. I am confident that many will read
these phrases without at all recognising in them their own
family names. So far as I know, the subject is wholly
untouched ; but now that the Irish people are at last begin-
ning to learn their own language, they will find that their
surnames, and many other things which, so far, must have
appeared meaningless, have really a striking and often
beautiful signification.
In the present paper, I propose to discuss some surnames
formed from the names of twenty-six patrons, chiefly Irish
saints. The surnames, in their English garb, amount to
about seventy. I have thought it necessary to say, first of
all, something about Irish names in general.
Most Irish surnames, although grievously disfigured in
passing into their present English forms, are easily recog-
nisable as such. It is to be hoped that, by this time,
everyone who bears an Irish name knows, at least, that Mac
and 0, the two familiar signs of Gaelic descent, are just
ordinary nouns, meaning son and grandson, but now in our
surnames standing for descendant. So that every Irish
name beginning with Mac or 0 means 'descendant of
some ancestor whose name, in the genitive case, forms the
remainder of the surname. All Irish surnames are derived
424 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
from the names of ancestors, and, accordingly, all should
have either Mac or 0. I speak of names originally Irish,
for there are some names of foreign origin, though now, and
most deservedly, classed as Irish, such as Burke, Hyde,
Walsh, which have neither Mac nor 0, but either retain the
de (in the case of the Norman names), oftened softened to a,
as de Biirca or a Biirca, de h-Ide, or assume an adjectival
form, as Tomds Breathnach, Thomas Walsh.1
In Irish, all names of men have either Mac or 0, and
names of women have Ni, daughter. Custom has extended
the use, in English, of Mac and 0 to women's names.
Mac should be written at full length, not Mc. We do not
write Johns11. Many Irish surnames have lost Mac or 0 ;
for this there are various reasons, all discreditable.
The English forms of most of our Irish surnames origi-
nated during the last two centuries, many in this century.
We must not forget that in 1800, Ireland was to but a slight
extent an English-speaking country. Education had been
prohibited even in the English tongue. We find the first
forms of our surnames, as a rule, in those precious legal
documents which declare that Dermot Mac So-and-So or
O'So-and-So, being a ' meere Irishman,' is hereby declared
to have forfeited the lands, &c. The English forms are but
rough and ready phonetic equivalents of the Gaelic names ;
and as everyone could devise a phonetic system of his
own, there were and are often, several forms for the same
family name.
To the student of the meanings of Irish surnames the
English forms of these names are not only of little or no
use, but sometimes are positively misleading. Thus, in
names that are now spelled Twomey, Twohill, Gilfeather,
^la.cAvenue, we see what strange results come from an
attempted equation of parts of these names with certain
English words. To study Irish surnames to any effect, we
must leave the English forms out of sight for the moment,
1 From such names, possibly, originated the practice of saying an BrunacJi,
an Jiurcach, corresponding to the modern English titles of The Magillicuddy,
The O'Neill — forms unknown in classical Irish, although they are found in.
modern Scotch Gaelic. Possibly, however, the us-age is of French origin.
THE 'MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 425
and analyze as far as we can the original Gaelic names.
Some of these names, coming to us in their present form
from prehistoric times, may defy our analysis ; but others —
and these fortunately happen to be large classes — can be
easily resolved into their constituent elements. In the
present paper I propose to discuss two classes of surnames.
These are the names which begin, or which should begin, in
O^VIul- and MacGil- (Gaelic O'Maoil- and MacGiolla-), but
which are found beginning in Mai-, Mel-, Mil-, Mol-, Mul-,
and MacEl-, Macll-, Gil-. Kil-, MacL-, C1-, L-, and other
forms. !
We take the Mul- names first. Any surnames beginning
in O'Mul-, — let us say O'Mulblank, — means 'descendant of
Mulblank.' Mulblank is an ancestor from whom the family
derives its surname, and as surnames did not come into use
generally before the tenth or eleventh century, the ancestral
Mulblank must be looked for before that date. In most
names of this class, as we shall see, the ancestor belongs to
the age of the great Christian schools of Ireland ; but some
Mul- names originated in prehistoric times.
What, then, was the meaning of the name borne by the
original Mulblank ? In other words, what is the meaning
of the Mul- prefix ? In modern Irish the Mul is written
maoi, and this maol represents different older Irish words
in different names, (a) In most of our present names the
Mul stands for 'servant of,' or 'votary of.' And most of these
names are of Christian origin, and of very great interest.
Thus, many centuries ago, a person devoted to St. John, for
example, would assume the name Maol-Eoin, ' servant of John'
Hence arose the modern surname O'Maoil-Eoin, descendant
of the servant of John — O'Malone, Malone. (b) In other
surnames the Mul stands for an old Gaelic word meaning
1 hero, magnate.' (c) In others, Mul probably represents a
word for ' head.'
The Gil- names have had a similar origin. Many
1 There are a few surnames in O'Gil. The Scotch surname, Ogilvy
(Ogilvie), which is sometimes quoted as the only 0 name in Scotland, is probably
not Gaelic at all. The accent of the name is on the first syllable, and the name
is probably a Lowland, not a Highland, one.
426 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
centuries ago there lived persons who answered the name,
Gilblank. In some of these names, Gil, Irish giolla, older
form gilla, meant ' servant,' as G-iolla-brigJide, pron. gilla-
breeda, servant of St. Brigid. And now we have the sur-
name, Mac-Giolla-Bhrighde, descendant of the servant of
St. Brigid — in English Gilbride, Kilbride. In others of the
Gil- names the Gil- prefix must be translated by ' person,
fellow,' as Mac-Giolla-bhdin, descendant of the white
(haired) person, now Macllvaine.
The Mul- names originated much earlier than those in
Gil. In fact, we find no record of Gil- names until after the
Danish invasion ; and some maintain that the word gilla is
of Danish origin. On the other hand, we find Mul- names of
prj-Christian, and even of prehistoric origin. As far as can
be ascertained, the original form of the prefix was a word
maglos, connected in meaning with the Latin magnus, and
meaning ' magnate/ ' hero,' or something similar. There
is a Gaulish inscription, of course of the prehistoric period,
mentioning a certain magalomarus, or ' great hero.' When
Irish came to be written in the Roman alphabet, the word
had become mad, and we have record of great numbers of
ma el names of the pre-Christian period. Thus we have
Mael-Midhe, hero of Meath ; Mael-Caisil, hero of Cashel,
Then we find the prefix assuming the secondary meaning of
' one devoted to a servant of,' as Mael-Bresail, servant of
Bresal ; Mael-cluiche, addicted to play, gambling ; and Mael-
bracha, devoted to malt ! We see, therefore, that the ma-el
prefix had the meaning of ' servant ' even in pre-Christian
times, and we may assume that it is the same word, origi-
nally maglos. which we find in names like Malone, and all
names meaning servant of a saint.1
No doubt, people already accustomed to such names as
' servant of Bresal ' found it very appropriate, when they
fell under strong religious influences, to assume such names
as ' servant of Patrick,' ' servant of (St.) Michael,' ' servant
1 Some writers, however, think that the prefix, in the surnames formed
from the name of a saint, is the adjective mael, bald, applied by the Irish to the
first Christian missionaries on account of their remarkable tonsure We find
in a mediaeval poem the phrase Melcisedec mael. M., the priest ; and St. Patrick
himself is often called ' adze-head.'
THE 'MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 427
of Mary.' Accordingly, we find that such names were used
very soon after the conversion of Ireland to the Christian
faith. In an old life of St. Cellach of Killala, himself one of
the early Irish saints, we find mention of persons called
4 servant of St. Ibar ' (one of the most ancient Christian
missionaries in Ireland), and * servant of Senach ' (another
early Irish saint). The bulk of these saint-names, however,
do not occur so early ; they are found chiefly in the annals
of the seventh to the tenth century, the earliest entry in the
Four Masters being that of ' servant of Brigid,' at the year
645. As we have seen, the Gil-names do not occur so early,
the first such record made by the Four Masters being that
of a ' servant of Kevin,' at the year 981.
Reserving the other names in Mai and Gil, we shall find
it convenient to discuss, in the first place, the large, and,
from the Catholic standpoint, most interesting class of
surnames which contain the name of a patron saint.
II.
It was in the golden age of the early Irish schools, when
Ireland was a lodestar that attracted students, scholars, and
pilgrims from Britain, France, and Germany — from Borne
itself, and even from the distant East— that the names
which we shall now examine had their origin. Around the
great schools grew up towns filled with native and foreign
students, in some cases amounting to thousands. Then
even the surrounding peasantry, with that admiration for
learning which is characteristic of even the humblest class
in Ireland, gloried in th3 fame for learning and sanctity
of the great doctors and teachers of the colleges. What
wonder if, in the lecture-rooms of Clonard, and through the
neighbouring country, should be found many who bore the
name of 'servant of Finian;' if Derry, Kells, Durrow, lona,
and many other shrines should shelter ' servants of Columba;'
or if the innumerable places connected with the names of
Patrick and Brigid should be visited by pilgrims who would
take, and bear ever afterward, the names of those national
patrons ? Probably the first to adopt this practice were the
clerics attached to the church or college founded by the
428 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
saint.1 The adoption of such names would have been facili-
tated by the custom of changing the names of religious on
their entrance of the service of the altar. The national
apostle, we know, was in early life called Succat, a name
which, could we but explain it, would solve for us the vexed
question of St. Patrick's birthplace. St. Columba, too,
changed his ancestral name of Criomhthann, ' fox,' for
Colum, ' dove.' There are many later examples. Many of
the clerics, in all probability, already bore such names as
Maelbresail, servant of Bresal, &c., and would find it very
easy and very appropriate to substitute a patron saint for
the Bresal or other prehistoric ancestor. The practice, if it
began with religious, soon extended to all classes, and to
both sexes. If we find the names of women recorded but
seldom, we must remember that the early annals deal, as a
rule, with transactions in which men are generally the actors.
In the tenth century there must have been a large
number of persons bearing Mul- names ; and a little later,
when surnames began to be formed, there were evidently
plenty of ' descendants of servants of Patrick ' and of other
patrons. Heuce, though many such surnames became
obsolete, and have not reached our days, we have still, in
English garb, about one hundred and fifty such surnames.
Let us now see them in detail. From Dia, God, came
the name Gilla-de, ' servant of God,' often recorded in
mediaeval annals, and giving us in later times the surname
Mac-Giolla-de, ' descendant of the servant of God,' in
English dress Gildea, Gilday, Kilday (United States).
O'Dea, O'Day (U.S.), is an old Gaelic name of pre-
Christian origin, but the rage for anglicization has led some
persons of the name to change it for Goodwin — Dia-God-
Good.
Coimhde, Lord, gave the personal name Giolla-coimhde,
( servant of the Lord,' and thus arose the surname
MacG. coimhde, ' descendant of the servant of the Lord.'
O'Donovan gives the English form as MacGilcarry, which I
have not met in use ; but we have Macllharry, hence an
1 On the theory that the Mul- prefix stands for ,nao1, a tonsured cleric, this
would, of course, be the case always.
THE <MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 429
unwarranted form Macllhenry (U. S.). It is possible that
Macllhargy and Macllhagga are the same name, although
the former would seem to come from St. Forga, as noted
below. ' Descendant of the servant of Christ ' has survived
in the two forms ; the Mul- form is Mylechrist, now used
only in the Isle of Man, and the Gil- form is Gilchrist,
Gilchreest, Kilchrist. In all these names the initial K
represents the final consonant of the Mac- prefix. The
name losa, Jesus, gave Maol-Iosa and Giolla-Iosa, both of
frequent occurrence in the old annals. We read of one
1 servant of Jesus,' who was Archbishop of Armagh, or, as
the annalist puts it, ' successor of Patrick ; ' another was
Maelisa O'Daly, poet-in-chief of Scotland and Ireland, who
died in 1185. Walter Scott, who has so much of the
mediceval spirit, has quoted the name in the Lady of the
Lake : —
' Hail, Malise, hail ! his henchman came.
Give our safe-conduct to the Graeme.'
From the Gil- form comes ' descendant of Jesus' in
the various forms MacAleese, Maclise, McLeish, Gilleece,
Gillies.
The name of Mary was particularly honoured by 1
early Christian Irish, and we find record of numbers of
people, of all ranks of life, who bore the name of ' servant
of Mary.' In the Four Masters we note, among others,
' a daughter of Nial,'- an ' abbot of Ardbraccan,' a ' tanist
of Leix,' a ' priest of Clonard,' ' a ' successor of Patrick,'
or Bishop of Armagh, who bore this name, in either of
its forms Maelmhuire or Gillamhuire. The scribe of the
Lebhar Brec, one of the greatest Irish manuscripts that has
come down to us, was a « servant of Mary,' whose father
was Conn, ' friend of the poor.' One of the most striking
characteristics of our native Christian literature, from its
earliest period down to the present day, is its constant and
tender reference to the name of Mary. In Scotland, where
the Christian faith was carried by Irish missionaries, we
find that even in the districts now for three centuries
non-Catholic, the cry of suffering in the old tongue is still
430 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a Mhoire, Mhoire I 0 Mary, Mary !l Both in Scotland and
Ireland Maolmhuire is in common use as a baptismal name,
and in Ireland it has given the surname O'Maoilmhuire,
' descendant of the servant of Mary, in English Mullery,
Mulry.' As a baptismal name, the English translation was
first Meyler, and later Miles, a name which really has no
more connection with the Gaelic form than has Ned with
Nebuchadnezzar. From the Gil- form came the surnames
MacElmurry, Kilmurray, Kilmary, Gilmary, Gilmore — all
intended equivalents for Mac-Giolla-Mhuire.
To the lively faith of the Gael, the angels were very real,
We have a striking poem of early date (if not, as tradition
would have it, the composition of Columbcille himself)
describing the angelic patrons of Arran. To St. Michael, in
particular, there was a peculiar devotion, and to the present
day his name is of frequent recurrence in those household
hymns of great antiquity, which, in the Gaelic-speaking
districts, have never been superseded by the forms of prayer
we are accustomed to in modern times. On the Sceilg mhor,
the great lonely Skelligs rock that rises precipitously out of
the Atlantic to the west of the Kerry coast, is buried, accord-
ing to the old legends, the warrior Ir, one of the great
ancestors of the Irish. These, too, for many centuries, have
been a favourite shrine of St. Michael, and on the adjoining
mainland the surname Mulvihil (Mulville, Mulverhill, U.S.),
or descendant of s. of Michael — O'Maoilmhichil is most
abundant. MacGilmichael, with the same meaning, was
formerly an Ulster name, which is possibly now represented
by MacElmeel, although that name may be from the
adjective maol, as noted further down.
' Servant of the saints ' is now obsolete as a first name,
but has left us the surname Mac-Giolla-na-naomh, d.s. —
descendant of the servant — of the saints, in English spelling
MacElnea, MacAneave. Eoin Bruinne, or ' John of the
Bosom,' is a usual, and, as all will admit, a most appropriate
name in Gaelic for St. John. As we might expect, we find
1 In Irish-Gaelic a Mhttire, Mhuire (a wirra wirra). So also, a Mhuire is
truagh (a wirra iss throoa), 0 Mary, pity.
THE 'MULS' AND « GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 431
that s. (servant) of John was a popular name : one of this
title, Maeleoin, or Malone, was Bishop of Trim in 929.
The surname O'Malone, ' d.s. of St. John,' is well known,
and the Gilla-Eoin form survives in Maglone, MacAloone,
MacLoone, Gilloon. In Scotland the word Eoin is pro-
nounced Eain ; Highland scholars now spell it Iain ; the
more English form, Ian, is familiar to readers of nowaday
literature. The Highland ' d.s. of John ' is, accordingly,
Mac-Giolla-Eain — or, as they misspell it, Mac-Illeathan—
and is anglicized MacLane, McLean.1 Maelpedair, Maelpoil,
two names we find in the old books, have left us only
Mullpeters (U. S.); from the other forms we have Gilfedder,
Gilfidder, Gilfeather, and Gilfoyle, Kilfoyle— d.s. of SS. Peter
and Paul respectively.
The teacher of St. Patrick, St. Martin of Tours, has
always been honoured in Ireland, and Martin as a baptismal
name, is very common at the present day. The feast of
St. Martin is still observed with curious ceremonies in some
places. Maelraartin, s. of Martin, is recorded as having
been used by various individuals in Clonard, Clonmacnoise,
Kells, and Connor. It is now obsolete, but Gilmartin,
Kilmartin are to the fore — d.s. of St. Martin. Churches,
cells, and holy places without number recall St. Patrick,
our great national apostle. Templepatrick, Donaghpatrick,
Kilpatrick, Toberpatrick mark, in many places, the lines of
his progress through Ireland. The annals of the middle
ages are filled with the names of princes, priests, abbots,
and bishops who bore the title of Maelpatraic, s. of Patrick,
now obsolete, and Giolla-patraic, which has left us the sur-
names Kilpatrick, Gilpatrick, MacElfatrick, MacElfederick.
These two last names occur only in north-east Ulster. The
MacGillapatricks, most notable, were the princes of Ossory,
and their descendants, as well as many other families of the
name, have translated themselves to Fitzpatrick, although
1 On account of some similarity of sound between Lttati, the word for
Monday, and the last syllable of 'd.s. of John,' this name is in parts of
Donegal translated Munday ! To my own knowledge, a young man named
MacKeane (MacTain) was advised, by one who should have known better, to
transform himself to Piggott — MacKeane=r;«Mi«M=pigotte ! He refused, and
kept to the grand old Gaelic name, nor did he regret it a few years later.
432 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the prefix Fitz is wholly out of place here. The name of
our saint is offered by some modern lights of philosophy to
explain the legend of the banishment of the snakes from
Ireland, and the subject deserves a passing reference.
Scientific men are nothing if not iconoclasts, and, according
to the latest theory, St. Patrick had nothing to do with
banishing snakes. Snakes had disappeared from Ireland at
least by the time of the Danish invasion, and the Danes,
noticing the absence of the reptiles, and hearing much of
the name of St. Patrick, interpreted this name as an Irish
attempt at padrekr, from the Scandinavian paddarekr, toad-
expeller. And so, according to this theory, the legend
arose at first among the Danish-speaking invaders, and
afterwards was adopted by the Irish.1
St. Brigid, ' the Mary oi the Gael,' had many mediaeval
clients named Maelbrighte and Gillabrighte. The famous
scholar of Mayence, who is known in Latin as Marianus
Scotus, was, in Gaelic, a ' servant of Brigid.' We have now
Mulbride, MacGillbride, MacBride, Kilbride, and — horresco
referens — Mucklebreed; all meaning d.s. of St. Brigid.2
There are, of course, many places named Kilbride, or
church of Brigid, and Tubberbride, or holy well of Brigid.
A ' Bride's Well' existed in London until Keformation times.
Whether the Irish or the Swedish saint was the patron, I do
not know ; probably the Irish saint, as the Swedish name is
properly Birgitta, Anyhow, when the Eeformatiou came
there was no further use for the holy well, but somehow
jails were in great demand, and so even the buildings sur-
rounding ' St. Bride's Well ' were ' converted,' and hence-
forth rendered service as a prison, and the name ' bridewell '
became synonymous with 'prison.' To such base uses do
even words descend ! 3
1 See Folk-lore, December, 1894.
- Readers may, perhaps, question the actual use of some of our less common
surnames, but I give only names I have heard myself or taken from the
daily papers (especially reports of local meetings), or others whose use is
guarantred by the Secretary of the General Registry Office in Dublin,
Mr. Mathieson, to whose reports and personal letters I am much indebted
3 Although Birgitta and Brigid are now different names, the former may
possibly have been of Irish origin. At the time of the Danish invasion some
THE 'MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 433
4 In the east and the west.' as the old phrase ran, or in
Scotland and in Ireland, St. Columcille is venerated as the
one in whom all the highest ideals of the Gaelic mind are
found united. Tradition has it that his name in childhood
was Criomthann, ' fox,' and that his late name, Colum,
' dove,' was assumed on his entrance into religious life. Oat
of Ireland he is better known by the Latin Columba, ' dove.'
The name ' servant of Colum ' has descended in the form
Maolcoluim, Malcolm, used only by Scotch families, although
a more suitable Irish and Catholic name it would be hard to
find. From it come the rather rare surnames Mulholin,
Maholm, and from the Gil- form comes MacElholm, descen-
dant of Colum. At a baptismal name, Colum is still used
in the Gaelic-speaking districts of both Ireland and Scotland
(in the latter country in the form Calum), giving the sur-
names MacColum (Scotch MacCallum), Colum, descendant
of a person named Colum. The rage for anglicization has
led to the fearsome form ' Pidgeon,' used as a surname by
some benighted individuals.
In his student days Columba had been a pupil of both
the Finians, of Clonard, and Moville. Of him of Clonard
says the Donegal Martyrology : ' Finian of Clonard, in
wisdom a sage; tutor of the saints of Erin in his time.
... In life and ethics he resembled Paul the Apostle.'
The same ancient record likens Finian of Moville to James
the Apostle. There are several saints now named in English
Finian, in Latin Finianis. The older form Finan, used by
Bede, was much nearer to the original Gaelic Finnan,1 a
very common name in ancient Ireland.
' Servant of Finian ' has left us the surname Mac-
giolla-Fhionndin ; in English, MacAleenan, MacAlinnion,
Scandinavian names were adopted in Ireland, such as Auliff, Ivar, Otter,
Sitrice, which have given us modern MacAuliffe, Maclvor, MacKeever, Ivers,
MacCotter, Cotter, MacKittrick ; and some Irish names, such us Oscar, "Niall,
Fergus, were adopted by the Scandinavians, who use them to the present
day.
1 It is a diminutive of the adjective Jinn, now fionn, fair-haired ; but a
recent and not unplausible theory takes the word, in these saint-names, to
mean fair, pure, holy. The names of Finnan of Clonard, Fiunan, also
Barr-fhinn, of Moville, and Finn Barre of Cork, are all Latinized Finnianus
(also Vennianus and Vennio, Venioneiu) . There is also a modern form Finghin,
translated by ' Florence,' although there is no apparent connection
VOL. III. 2 E
434 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
MacLennon, McClennan, Lennon, Glennon, Gleenan,
Giifinnen, Finnan, and the translated form Leonard; that
is to say, some d.s. of Finian have assumed the foreign
name Leonard, because it had a certain resemblance,
in the first .syllable, to Lennon. I once spent a very
pleasant couple of weeks at the house of one Padraig
Mac-Giolla-Fhionnain in Southern Connemara. In English
he was known as Paddy Leonard ; and this particular
servant of Finian would have made the fortune of a
dozen folk-lore societies, as his memory was a regular
treasure-house of Gaelic tradition.
Some of the Irish Gilfillans, I am inclined to think, are
rather Gilfinnens, and take their name from Finian, and
not from St. Fillan, who is more identified with Scotland,
and is alluded to in Scott's well-known lines : —
Harp of the North ! that inoldering long hast hung
On the witch-elm that shades St. Fillan's spring.
His name is preserved also by Glenfillan, one of the
most beautiful spots in the Highlands, where, at the head
of Lough Shiel, lies the little island of St. Fillan, with its
ancient bells of the saint, a short distance from Glenaladale,
the home of the MacDonalds, from where come Archbishop
Angus MacDonald and Bishop Hugh MacDonald, both good
Gaelic scholars and lovers of the old tongue. ' Servant of
Fillan,' is represented now by the names Gilfillan, Gilliland,
MacClellan, MacLeland, Leland. As a baptismal name
Finian is still used in Kerry, but in Cork the 'translated'
form Florence has taken its place in English. Derrynane,
the home of O'Connell, is the ' wood of Finian.' Doire
Fhionnain — this is not Finian of Clonard or Moville, but
Finian of Inisfallen.
One of the ancestors of Finian of Clonard was the famous
pagan warrior Celtchar, who was destined to have among his
descendants not only such a pillar of the Christian Church
as Finian, but also a most bitter enemy of the new faith in
Eonan, who had two girls tied to stakes on the beach,
to be drowned by the incoming tide, for refusing to abjure
Christianity. Konan had a son to whom he gave the name
THE <MULS> AND ''GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 435
of Maelcelchair, or servant, admirer of the great pagan
ancestor already mentioned. Such, however, is the irony
of fate, that this same Maelcelchair became the apostle
of south-west Kerry, where his beautiful stone oratory,
Kilmalhedar, still stands in perfect preservation, one of the
chief glories of Irish archaeologists.
Bishop Ere, of Slane, in Meath, was one of the early
nomadic missionaries who travelled from place to place
preaching the Gospel. From his name comes the surname
Mullarkey, d.s. of St. Ere.
Dunshaughlin takes its name from St. Seachnall — in
Latin, Secundinus — whom tradition represents as nephew
of St. Patrick. For many centuries, ' servant of Seachlann '
(the metathesized form of Seachnall) was a popular bap-
tismal name, and is represented in English history books
by Melaghan, and often by the foreign name Malachy, with
which it has no further connection than some phonetic
resemblance of the first syllables. One of the name was
the Malachy that —
wore the collar of gold
Which he won from the proud invader.
This is the Malachy who is buried in an island in the
beautiful Lough Ennell, now, I regret to say, more usually
called Belvedere, in Westmeath. The name is still in
popular use as a given name in the forms Loughlin (more
informally ' Lack,' ' Loughie ') and Malachy (' Mai'), the
latter form being usual in the south-west, where the
other Biblical forms, Jeremiah and Timothy, are also
mistakenly used. The surname O'Melaghan, d.s. of
St. Secundinus, has become merged in that of MacLoughlin ;
and this probably accounts for the abundance of folk of this
name in Ireland — 17,500, according to the census of 1891.
The forms Loughlin, Lafliii, Claflin (U.S.), are also met
with.
A great body of Gaelic literature centres around the
two St. Kierans, of Saighir, now called Serkieran, and of
Clomnacnoise, by the Shannon. From him of Clonmacnoise,
probably come the names 0'Maoilchiarain,MacGiollachiaraint
Mulhern, Mulheerin, Macllherron, d.s, of St. Kieran,
436 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Kilalla takes its name from St. Alladh — hence the Latin
form of the name of the diocese, Alladensis. From him the
surnames Mulally, Lally, d.s. of St. Alladh. Another
bishop of the same see was St. Cellach, from whom the
place name Kilkelly, or church of Cellach, and also the
surname Kilkelly, MacGiolla-Ceallaigh, d.s. of St. Cellach.
This St. Cellach had a very chequered career. Born of a
royal house, he was destined for the service of the altar, and
became a student at Clonmacnoise. The student was called,
by the death of his father in battle, to be the reigning prince,
and afterwards was, in turn, a fugitive, again a cleric, Bishop
of Kilalla, a hermit on an island of Lough Con, and finally
victim to the jealousy of his enemies. Something of a poet,
too, was this western hermit. Awaiting his death the
morning of his murder, and seeing, as he thought, all
those dark omens to which Gaelic tradition attached deep
meaning, he sang a lay, of part of which this is a
translation : —
Hail to the morning fair, that, as a flame, falls upon the
earth ! Hail to Him, too, who sends it — the many-virtued
morning, ever new ! O morning fair, so full of pride — sister of
the brilliant sun — hail to thee, beauteous morning, that lightest
my little book for me ! Thou seest the just in every dwelling,
thou shinest on every tribe and race, hail ! 0 thou white-
necked, beautiful one, here with us now — 0 golden-fair and
wonderful !
My little book, with chequered page [Scripture] tells me my
life has not been aright. Maelcroin [one of the assassins], 'tis
he whom I do well to fear ; he comes to smite me at the last.
O scaldcrow, and O scaldcrow ! gray-ccated, sharp-beaked,
wretched bird ; thy desire is apparent to me ; no friend art
thou to Cellach. O raven ! thou that makest croaking, if hungry
thou be, 0 bird, depart not from this rath until thou hast a feast
of my flesh. Fiercely the kite of Chuan-Eo's yew-tree will take
part in the scramble ; bis horn-hued talons he will bear away
tilled ; he will not part from me in kindness. To the blow that
kills me the fox in the darkened wood will answer at speed; in wild
and trackless places he, too, shall devour a portion of my flesh and
blood. The wolf in the rath on the eastern side of the hill will
come to rank as chieftain of the meaner pack. On Wednesday
night last I saw a dream, I saw a dream : the wild dogs dragged
me east and west through the russet ferns. I saw a dream :
into a green glen men took me . Four were they that brought
THE 'MULS' AND < GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 437
me thither, but (so meseemed) ne'er brought me back again. I
saw a dream : to a house my fellow-students led me ; for me they
poured out a draught ; a draught they quaffed off for me. 0 tiny
wren ! most scant of tail, dolefully thou hast piped a prophetic
lay ; surely thou, too, art come to betray me, and to curtail my
gift of life.
0 Maelcroin, and 0 Maelcroin ! pelf it is that thou hast taken
to betray me ; for this world's sake hast thou accepted it, accepted
it for sake of hell. All precious things whatsoever I had, on
Maelcroin I would have bestowed them, that he should not do
me this treason. But Mary's great Son above thus addresses
speech to me : ' Thou must have earth, thou shalt have heaven.
Welcome awaits thee, 0 Cellach ! " *
As Kilkelly comes from Cellach, so Kilkenny, both the
names of the city best known outside Ireland as the resi-
dence of the famous legendary cats, and the surname of the
same form, comes from the name of St. Canice. Kilkenny,
accordingly, means d.s. of St. Canice. There were at least
four early missionaries of the name, one of whom is
venerated at St. Andrew's in Scotland. The Gaelic form of
the name Canice is Coinneach, and gives the surnames
Kenny in Ireland and MacKenzie in Scotland.
Mulholland, Maholland are d.s. of St. Callan, from whom
comes also Tyrholland, or the House of Callan, in the diocese
of Clogher.
Senanus is known to general readers better than the
majority of our early saints, on account of Moore's poem of
the Holy Isle, as the saint had
Sworn that sainted sod
Should ne'er by woman's foot be trod.
Kiltannanlea, or Church of Grey Senan, still preserves his
name, and also the surname Gilsenan, Giltenan, d.s. of
Senan. Not improbably, however, some of the older name,
MacUinnsionain, have been absorbed by the more familiar
name, Gilsenan. Some of the names have 'translated'
themselves to ' Shannon.'
Gilvarry, a western surname, comes from St. Berach.
abbot, of Cluaincoirpthe, in Connaught. Mulrennin, in
1 See Silva Gadelica, i. 56 ; ii. 59. This is the best book procurable to give
a general idea of the character of Irish literature.
438 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Gaelic 0' Maoilbhrenainn, means d.s. of St. Brendan, the
navigator whose name marks the map of Ireland and Scot-
land from Mount Brandon to St. Kilda, and whose Voyages
are a curious medley of Pagan tradition blended with actual
experience of explorations of the Atlantic,
This brings us to a second class of saint-names in Mul
and Gil, which deserve to be treated separately.
E. O'GROWNEY.
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM
ON the left, or northern, bank of the Eiver Boyne, not
more than thirty perches from the old Church of
St. Patrick's, Trim, stands the stately tower known as the
Yellow Steeple. Competent authorities regard it as one
of the finest specimens of Anglo-Norman architecture in
Ireland. It is built on a portion of the ground granted
to Patrick and Loman by Feidilmid ' together with his
son Fortchern till the day of judgment.' From whatever
side the traveller approaches Trim, the first object that
catches his eye is the tall commanding form of this ancient
ruin. Sir William Wilde, on the occasion of his visit to
Trim, in 1849, looking at it from a point of vantage, on the
Dublin-road, near Newtown, admiring its grim sentinel-like
appearance, and contrasting it with the other remarkable
remnants of antiquity extending for the space of above a
mile, styles it, in his own poetical language, ' the guardian
genius of the surrounding ruins.'
Anyone looking at the building, even now, can see it was
evidently a square tower of Gothic architecture, and, like
most towers of that period, used as a place of refuge and
defence in time of danger. Ireland, at the time, and indeed
ever since the Norman invasion, was in a very unsettled state.
Feeling ran so very high amongst the Anglo-Irish and the
native Celts that the slightest breath of provocation was
sufficient to set ablaze the smouldering embers of dis-
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM 439
content. As an evidence of the strained relations that
subsisted, I may mention a little incident that took place
in the court-house at Trim. The son of Barnewall, a local
lord, and the then treasurer of Meath, beat a Caimen (a
stroke of his finger) upon the nose of Mac-Mec-Eeorais
(Bermingham's son), which deed he was not worthy of, and he
entering on the Earl of Ormonde's safeguard, Mac-Feoaris
felt so indignant at the slight put upon him, that he
stole out of the town that night, went straight to O'Conor
Offaly, and entered into an alliance with him. The result
was a confederacy of war, made by the Berminghams and
Calvagh O'Conor against the English. With their united
forces they came into Meath, and preyed and burned a great
part of the royal county ; so it is hard to know, the old
chronicles add, if ever was such abuse better revenged than
the said Caimen; and thence came the notable word 'Cogadh
au Caimen.'1 Such was the state of feeling that prevailed
when Richard Duke of York was sent into Ireland as Lord
Lieutenant, and, by letters patent, invested with almost
royal authority. The King, Henry VI., was of weak mind,
so weak that the real power of governing may be said to
have fallen practically into the hands of his wife, Queen
Margaret of Anjou, aided by her favourite minister, the
Earl of Somerset. On more than one occasion, when the
unfortunate king was wholly out of his mind, the Duke
of York was appointed Protector.
It may be well, also, to bear in mind that the Duke was
Henry's nearest relative, and even when the King's son
Edward was born, he had still a strong, if not the strongest,
claim to the crown, as his mother belonged to the elder
branch of the Mortimers descended from the Duke of
Clarence. It was the assertion of his claim that afterwards
gave rise to the disastrous and prolonged struggle for
supremacy between two rival houses, known as the War ot
the Eoses. Margaret, the Queen, a far-seeing and ambitious
woman, took in the situation, and was anxious to have the
Duke, whom she feared as a formidable rival, put out of the
1 Arch, Mac., v, i.,p. 202,
440 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
way. Hence, he was sent to Ireland as Lord Lieutenant,
in the hope that he would either perish in the attempt to
rule the rebellious Irish, or at least that he would, by his
drastic measures of repression, lose his reputation. But the
queen and her wily advisers were wrong in their calcula-
tions. Contrary to their expectations, by his mild and
gentle behaviour he won the haughty feudal lords and the
native Irish, and secured their obedience without being
obliged to use force ; and, in fact, so endeared himself to
them, that, with the exception of the family of Ormonde,
they were afterwards loyal to himself and his connections, even
in their greatest misfortunes. In 1449, the first year of his
lieutenancy, he held his court in his hereditary castle at Trim,
and not only repaired the castle, but built in a style of great
magnificence the tower known since as the Yellow Steeple,
the subject of our present sketch. The portion that is still
standing, the eastern wall, 125 feet high, with its fine geo-
metrical window and delicate tracery, parts of the side walls,
with the various port-holes, into which the joists were
inserted, indicating the several landings, are sufficient to
give us an idea of the colossal size and splendour of the
building in its original shape. From a rude engraving that
is given in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1786, it would seem
that three sides of the tower were then standing. The
following letter, that appeared in the same magazine, may
not be without interest at the present time : —
MB. URBAN, — I herewith send you an inelegant yet tolerably
just representation of an old tower called the Yellow Steeple, at
Trim, in Ireland. Above one-fourth of it is now ruined, having
been blown up by Cromwell. The principal curiosity in the
present state is the part marked almost at the top of the building,
which overhangs several feet, and has done so long before any
person now living remembers this edifice. Dangerous as the
attempt may be, the boys often mount unto the top of this tower
by ladders to the place where the stairs begin, and which is about
the place marked. The tower is now undermined just at one of
the angles, and probably will soon fall. But as the inhabitants
of the town, as well as those of the adjacent country, give them-
selves no trouble to repair or preserve this elegant piece of
antiquity, I was tempted to trouble you with this coarse view of
it, should you please to preserve any appearance of so venerable
a monument of our ancestors' piety. A. M. T.
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM 441
A beautiful lithograph of it in its present shape is given
in Wilkinson's Irish Architecture. The staircase alluded to
in the above letter is now gone, but was in existence in the
memory of the present inhabitants of the town. Amongst
the boys credited with the dangerous feat of climbing to the
top was Edward Crosbie, afterwards Sir Edward of balloon
notoriety, who used to attend the Diocesan School of Meath
situated close by the Yellow Steeple. Amongst the boys
attending the same school was the celebrated Duke of
Wellington. When young Crosbie had reached the summit
of the tower in his youthful freak, he took out a pencil, and
made what he called his will, disposing therein of his game
cocks and other boyish valuables, in case he should be killed
in coming down. He threw down the paper, which was
eagerly seized on by his playmates on the ground. Arthur
Wellesley must have been a very small boy at the time, for
when he saw nothing was left to him, the future Iron Duke
forthwith began to cry.
Time is telling its tale upon this old historic tower.
But its present dilapidated condition is due not so much to
the effacing finger of time as to the disastrous effects of
Cromwell's cannon. Gough, in his additions to Camden,
states that the greater part of the tower was demolished by
Oliver Cromwell, against whom it held out for a considerable
time as a garrison. There is, however, hardly sufficient
historical evidence for the statement that it held out as a
garrison, or that Cromwell himself ever appeared in Trim.
This much only is certain. The day after the siege of
Drogheda, Cromwell, with a chosen company of his veterans,
and a number of his heavy guns, marched along the Boyne
by the Bective road, and put up for the night at a house
since identified as Trubly Castle, the ruins of which are still
standing three short miles to the east of Trim. Next morn-
ing, coming along with his foot, horse, and artillery, he
reached the corner of the main road leading to Dublin . There
the Constable of Scurlogstown Castle had the hardihood
to challenge his approach. The Protector forthwith ordered
his men to charge, and turning against the castle one of his
heavy guns, by the first volley he split the building from top
442 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
to bottom, and the huge fissure on the eastern side of the
castle was distinctly visible up to the year 1858, when the
castle itself toppled to the ground. Cromwell found there
was no need to proceed to Trim, for the castle there and the
Yellow Steeple were both abandoned by O'Neill and the
men under him ; but lest any of the supporters of the royal
cause should return and resume possession, from a fort close
by, since called 'Cromwell's Fort,' he dismantled the Castle of
Trim and demolished more than one-half of the Yellow
Steeple, and next day wrote a letter from Dublin to the
Parliament in England, thanking the Lord in his own puri-
tanical fashion for all His crowning mercies vouchsafed to
His unworthy servant.
But there are other associations clustering around the
venerable walls of this ancient ruin of far more than historic
or antiquarian interest. The Yellow Steeple is all that
remains of the renowned Abbey of St. Mary's. It is the
one solitary link connecting us with the past, and marking
the hallowed spot where stood for ages the far-famed statue
of our ' Ladye of Trymme.' The history of that statue,
the wonders wrought through its agency from time imme-
morial, the circumstances that led to the demolition of the
shrine, are matters of such absorbing interest, that I offer
no apology for presenting a short summary of them to the
readers of the I. E. BECOBD. The abbey of the Canons
Kegular of St. Augustine, whose conventual chapel con-
tained the shrine, was founded by St. Patrick, the first year
of his arrival in Ireland, and was built upon a site given for
that purpose by Felimid, son of Laighaire, and grandson of
Niall. A list of the several abbots who lived and died in
this monastery, with other interesting information, is given
by Colgan and other historians down to the year 1402, when
Henry IV., in the third year of his reign, at the supplica-
tion of the abbot of St. Mary of Trim, 'took under his
protection all pilgrims, whether liege men, Irish or rebels,
going on pilgrimage to said abbey, according to immemorial
privilege.' l
i Rot. Pat. 3 Henry IV.
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM 443
Thirteen years later his successor, Henry V., confirmed
the same privilege, and enacted that ' all Irish rebels and
liege men, of whatever condition, wishing to come to said
place for the sake of pilgrimage in honour of the Blessed
Mary, could go there and return from thence without
impediment of the king, of the lords of Meath, or of any
other person whatsoever.'1 In 1472, the twelfth year of
Edward IV., a certain amount of property around Trim
was granted by a Parliament, held at Naas, to the Abbey of
St. Mar}', ' for the purpose of erecting and supporting a
perpetual wax-light before the image of the Virgin (in said
house), and for supporting four other wax-lights before the
said image on the Mass of St. Mary.' It was also enacted
that ' if any person should attempt to rob or assault any
pilgrim on his way to or from this abbey, the person or
persons so offending should be attainted of felony, and
totally excluded from the royal protection ; and no charter
of pardon whatever should be available, except by the
express order of Parliament.'
Statutes such as these, passed through Parliament, and
stamped with the seal of successive kings, are quite enough
to show the vast amount of attention which the celebrated
shrine of our ' Ladye of Trymme ' commanded in olden
times, and the position of prominence it had attained even
in the minds of the civil rulers of the country. If one were
inclined to moralize, he would have here a rich field for
reflection, a veritable Klondyke, where he could sink his
shaft, and draw up treasures of priceless value. He could
picture to himself Celt and Saxon, lord and vassal, liege
men and rebel, rich and poor, all sinking their social,
economic, and political differences, kneeling before the same
altar, and offering their homage before the same shrine,
thereby giving striking proof of the unity of their faith, and
of the benign, harmonizing influence of religion. The
protection extended by Parliament to the various classes of
pilgrims, journeying from afar, is also very suggestive ; for
it affords a practical proof of the beneficial results that, in
1 Rot. Pat. 2 Henry V,
444 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the mind of the legislators, were likely to flow from a visit
to the consecrated shrine of our Blessed Lady. Surely
those responsible for the government of the country would
never have allowed a free pass to rebels and persons labour-
ing under other disabilities, unless they were convinced that
the homage offered at the hallowed shrine would have a
humanizing effect, and would contribute more to the sup-
pression of crime and the reformation of morals, than the
most stringent measures that could be adopted by the law.
That numberless favours were granted, and miracles
wrought, in favour of those who knelt in reality or spirit at
this hallowed shrine of our Ladye, is one of the best authen-
ticated facts recorded in history. In confirmation of this
statement I refer the reader to that great standard work,
The Annals of the Four Masters, edited by O'Donovan. At
the year 1397, we read that Hugh McMahon received his
sight by fasting in honour of the Cross of Raphoe and the
image of the Blessed Mary at Ath-Trim.1 Again, we find it
recorded that in the year 1412, the image of Mary of Ath-
Trim wrought many miracles. O'Donovan, in a note, quotes
also from The Annals of Ulster, 1412, ' The image of Mary
at Ath-Trim wrought great miracles this year.'2 Finally, at
the year 1444, it is narrated that great miracles were
wrought by the image of Mary at Trim — viz., it restored
sight to a blind man, speech to a dumb man, and the use of
his feet to a cripple, stretched out the hand of a person to
whose side it had been fastened ; and then follow other
particulars about a striking case, which can be read with
interest by those who consult page 937 of the same volume.
I might multiply quotations, but the passages cited are
sufficient to show that it would be hardly any exaggeration
to call the Trim of those days the Lourdes of Ireland.
But, it may be asked, is this miraculous statue, that for
centuries attracted so many thousands of pilgrims, and shed
such a halo of splendour on the ancient town of Trim, still
in existence, or is there any evidence to show what became
of it ? On this particular point our ancient annals give
1 Vol. iv., p. 751. 2/*id.,p. 809.
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM 445
some Very important and interesting information. A valu-
able manuscript volume of annals preserved in the Library of
Trinity College, Dublin, gives the following account at the year
1538. The Irish text is given with the following translation : —
The most miraculous image of Mary, which was at Baile-
Atha-Truim, and which the Irish people all honoured for a long
time before that, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame,
and every disease in like manner, was burned by the Raxons.
This event is also thus recorded by Sir James Ware, in
his Annals of the Reign of King Henry VIII., p. 96 :—
Also about the same time, among the famous images where-
unto pilgrimages were designed, the statue of the Blessed Virgin
Mary was burned, then kept at Trim, in the abbey of the Canons
Eegular of St. Austin, and the gifts of the pilgrims were taken
away from thence.
The Four Masters have also on record how this remark-
able relic, that was held in such veneration from time
immemorial up to the period of the Eeformation, was
publicly burned as an instrument of superstition :—
A heresy and a new error broke out in England, the effects of
pride, vain-glory, avarice, and sensual desire, so that the people
of England went into opposition to the Pope and to Eome. They
gave the title of Head of the Church of God during his reign to
the King. There were enacted by the King and Council new
laws and statutes after their own will. They ruined the orders
who were permitted to hold property — viz., monks, canons, nuns,
Brethren of the Cross, and the four Mendicant Orders, and their
possessions and livings were taken up for the King. They broke
up the monasteries, and the roofs and bells, and the sacred
furniture and vessels were sold for the King. They further burned
and broke the famous images and shrines of Ireland and England.
After that they burned in like manner the celebrated image of
Mary which was at Ath-Trim , which used to perform wonders
and miracles, which used to heal the blind, the deaf, the lame,
and the sufferers from all diseases ; and so great was the persecu-
tion that it is impossible to tell or narrate it, unless it should be
told by him who saw it.
According to all these authorities, the statue of our
Lady of Trymme was publicly burned by the Saxons who
went into heresy, and were fired with a fanatical hatred for
every ^emblem of Catholicity. The date of the burning is
set down by the Four Masters, at 1537; by "Ware and the
other historians, at 1538. The latter date is the correct
446 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
one. Dr. O'Donovan proves clearly that the statue was in
existence in 1538.
For, on the 10th of August, in that year, a letter from
Thomas Allen to Thomas Cromwell (Earl of Essex), and
Vicar-General to Henry VIII., has the following passage : — l
The thre, viz., Archbishop Browne, Mr. Treasurer, and
Master of the Eolls, wold not corne in the Chapell where the
Idoll of Trym stode, to the intent, they wold not occasion the
people ; notwithstanding my Lord Deputie veray devoutley
kneling before hir hard thre or fower masses.
The Lord Deputy, in 1538, was Lord Grey.
But though this famous statue was cast into the fire, it
must have been rescued from the flames. For, more than
a century later, we find that this precious relic, all charred
and blackened as it was, and called, therefore, the ' black
statue,' was kept religiously in the house of Laurence
Hammon or Hammond, the leading Catholic family in Trim
in those days. This statement may seem strange and novel
to most readers, and yet it is not a mere conjecture or
surmise. It rests upon a solid basis, and has strong
documentary evidence to support it :—
In the year 1641, the Irish [the Celts] bethought to garrison
Trim. Pursuant thereto all Westmeath forces, and the Eeyllies
from the County of Cavan, marched thither. Those had some
inklinge that Coote was thither corninge, and though making the
best speed they could, Sir Charles Coote arrived first, and had the
towne without one blowe. The weather being somewhat could,
whereof Sir Charles complained, and commanded a fire to be
made (he lodged in Mr. Laurence Hamon's house). Fuell being
verie scarce there ; his son Rice Coote (quails arbor tails fructus)
bitted upon a great ancient portraiture or image of our Blessed
Ladye engraven in wood ; kept with great veneration in said
house since the Suppression of Holy Church in Henry the 8th his
time which young Coot caused to be cutt and cloven in sunder
to make fire thereof, for his father against his cominge in.
But God Almighty, the righteous judge, did not prolongs the
punishment of this impietie, for as soon as Sir Charles thought
to enjoy the benefit of that transformed divine fire, worde came
that the Irish had already entered the town. Starting forth,
trumpett sounded and drum beaten, all ran to the alarum, being
very late in the evening, Sir Charles wasshott orothcrwise wounded,
and making as much examination in this behalf as reasonable I
1 Stale Fiipersy vol. iii., p. 10.5.
THE YELLOW STEEPLE OF TRIM 447
might, could never learne how or by whom wounded, however, it
being mortall, was conveyed to his lodging dead. Next day,
Sir Charles his corps was carried to Dublin bemoaned by all the
Parliamentarians, and interred with the ensuing epitaph : —
England's honour, Scotland's wonder,
Ireland's terror here lies under.
The above graphic description is given verbatim in that
highly-interesting book, the Aphorismical Discovery,1 edited
by Sir J. Gilbert, in two volumes ; and from it, it is clear
that the statue of our Lady of Trim was in existence more
than a century after the Reformation, when so many shrines
and sacred images were burnt as objects of superstition.
And there are many holy souls around Trim who cannot
be induced to believe but it is in existence still. The town
of Trim, they say, was burnt more than once. The very
church in which the statue stood was burned, and two
hundred persons who fled there for refuge perished in the
flames, and yet God preserved this sacred relic.
When the Reformers came, and ruined everything, the
sacred image again escaped ; and though cloven in two to
make fire for old Coote, see how he paid for his firing !
They even point out, with a feeling of pride, the garden,
close by St. Mary's Abbey, where the statue is hidden away,
and show you a large stone that formed part of the pedestal
on which the statue once stood. Be this as it may, one thing
is unquestionable — the deep-rooted reverence of the people
for everything connected with the honour of the Mother of
God. Even now the people are giving practical proof of
their devotion, in the efforts they are making to build a
church on the bank right opposite old St. Mary's, and their
determination to erect therein a special altar dedicated to
our Blessed Lady. Some time ago, in replying to an address
from the people of Trim, the venerated bishop of the diocese
Dr. Nulty, made special allusion to this point ; and with his
Lordship's feeling words I will conclude this paper : —
There is one feature that touches my heart very deeply. In
my early life, when a curate here, I made the history of this
ancient town a subject of study. The history of it is very
interesting and very exceptional. The town did not spring into
existence in the usual way, and was not built for the natural
1 From ^ir J. Gilbert's ^iph. Discovery, vol. i., p. 32.
448 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
advantage of its surroundings. What gave rise to this town is
the broad historic fact, viz., the Blessed Virgin having, in her
kindness and goodness, chosen this town and invested it with
sanctity, like unto that of Lourdes or some shrine equally blessed
by her visible presence. Our Blessed Lady selected the site of
the Yellow Steeple beyond for the manifestation of her miracu-
lous power and goodness to our forefathers long ago ; and her
miraculous interposition had the effect of attracting multitudes
of pilgrims from every part of the kingdom, who came here to
visit the sanctuary of our ' Ladye of Trymme. ' Hence arose
that most gorgeous church, even the remnant of which impresses
with awe the visitor at the present time. That church was not
erected by the people of Trim, but it was erected almost exclu-
sively by the generosity of the pilgrims to this hallowed ground.
People came here from all quarters, and to provide for their
accommodation there sprung up, round the shrine of the Blessed
Virgin, this town of Trim. That is how Trim began. That
sanctuary was revered and hallowed for centuries, until at last
the despoiler, the tyrant came, and laid his unholy hands
on the temple of God. He demolished the sacred edince,
and the statue of the Blessed Virgin was burnt in the
market-place. This is our history. Gentlemen, I had fondly
hoped that the Blessed Virgin Mary would return again to
this town of Trim. We are going to invite her. That church
which is in course of building outside is nothing like the former
church erected to commemorate the special graces bestowed upon
Trim ; but when complete it will be a very handsome church,
indeed. I had fully expected to see it completed and finished.
The people of Trim would never be able to complete that church ;
but I knew that the love of the people of this diocese for the
glory of God and the honour of His Virgin Mother, and their
regard for your popular parish priest of Trim, will enable you to
erect a worthy edince in your town, and to re-establish the devo-
tion to our Blessed Lady in this place. Who knows but that the
Mother of God would give renewed proofs of her presence amongst
us? I expect to see that beautiful work consummated in my
lifetime, and I had myself intended to have brought over from
Eome a statue of our Blessed Lady worthy of the holy place,
and to place it in the church, with the inscription that was on
the pedestal of the original statue : ' To our Lady of Trymme.'
I shall add nothing to those eloquent and inspiriting
words of his Lordship, beyond the expression of a wish that
our venerable and venerated pastor shall not sing his Nunc
Dimittis until he sees the fond hopes, so feelingly alluded
to in the above speech, realized to the full.
PHILIP CALLARY, P.P., Y.F.
[ 449 ]
IRotee anb (Queries
THEOLOGY
CONDEMNED SECRET SOCIETIES
IN reply to our correspondent, 'Anxious,' who desires to
have the Documents in which certain secret societies have
been expressly condemned, we print the following document,
which comes from the Congregation of the Holy Office : —
I. An societas ' Independent Order of Good Templars,' nun-
cupata excommunication! subjaceat latae contra societates
secretas in constit. Apos, Sedis ? Et quatenus negative ;
II. An prohibitum sit sub gravi nomen dare isti societati ?
Porro Emi. Patres Inquisitores Generates, se mature perpensa,
in comitiis habitis die 9 Augusti, 1893, sequens cum approbatione
Summi Pontificis ediderunt decretum.
Ad I. Dilata.
Ad II. Affirmative, seu deterrendi fideles a dando nomine
huic societati.
As for the other societies about which he inquires, ' The
Oddfellows,' ' The Sons of Temperance,' and ' The Knights
of Pythias,' were condemned in a letter sent to the bishops
of the United States through Mgr. Satolli, 20th August,
1894. The document will be found in full in the I. E.KECOBD
for June, 1896, page 568. The following extract will suffice
here : —
Cunctis per istas regiones Ordinariis esse omnino connitendum,
ut fideles a tribus societatibus praedictis et ab unaquaque earum
arceantur, eaque de re fideles ipsos esse monendos ; et si moni-
tione insuper habita velint adhuc eisdem societatibus adhaerere,
nee ab illis cum effectu separari, a perceptione sacramentorum
esse arcendos.
It may be of interest to add that subsequently, in answer
to a question of Cardinal Satolli, as to whether persons who
had already joined these benefit societies were bound forth-
with to break off all connection with them, and thereby lose
for themselves and their families the right to grants of
money on the occasion of illness or death, or whether they
VOL. in. 2 s
450 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
might, avoiding all other communication with the condemned
societies, continue to pay their subscriptions in order to
maintain their claims against the societies, the following
answer was returned by the Holy Office, 19th January,
1896 :-
Generatim non licere et ad mentem. Mens est, quod hoc
tolerari possit sequentibus conditionibus et adjunctis simul in
casu concurrentibus sell. 1° si bona fide sectae primitus nomen
dederint, antequam sibi innotuisset societatem esse damnatam ;
2° si absit scandalum vel opportuna removeatur declaratio, id a
se fieri, ne jus ad Emolumenta vel beneficium temporis in agere
aliendo solvendo amittat, a quavis interim sectae communione et
quovis interventu etiam material! ut praemittitur, abstinendo ;
3° si grave damnum sibi aut familiae in reiiuntiatione obveniat ;
4° tandem ut non adsit vel homini illi vel familiae ejus periculum
perversionis ex parti sectariorum spectato praecipue vel infirmi-
tatis vel mortis, neve similiter adsit periculum funeris peragendia
ritibus catholicis alieni ; 5° demum SSmus D. Leo XIII., haec
approbans jussit, ut uniformis regulae servandae causu, in casibus
particularibus pro tempore Delegatus Apost. Washingtonopoli
provideat.
MASS ON BOARD SHIP
REV. DEAR SIB, — I will ask you to reply to the following
questions : —
1st. Is a priest on a voyage from Ireland to America or
Australia justified in saying Mass on board, without special per-
mission, in order to give himself and the other Catholic passengers
an opportunity of hearing Mass ?
2nd. In case special permission is required, from whom should
it be obtained?
SACEBDOS.
The priest in question would not be justified in celebrating
Mass without special permission. He would require a special
indult, which, at the present day, at all events, is granted
only by the Pope, or, in virtue of special faculties, by the
bishop of the place from which the ship sails.1 The indult
is granted subject to the condition that there be no danger
of irreverence. It is usually required, moreover, that there
be a second priest or a deacon to hold the chalice.
1 Via. Putzer, 161, iii. c. ; Edit. Quart.
NOTES AND QUERIES 451
CUMULATION OF MATRIMONIAL DISPENSATIONS
We would direct the attention of our readers to a reply
of the Congregation of the Inquisition printed among the
Documents in the present issue.1 According to the hitherto
received teaching, a bishop having extraordinary Apostolic
faculties to dispense in various matrimonial impediments
— diriment or prohihent — could not, without a further special
indult, use these extraordinary faculties to dispense in a case
in which there are two or more impediments over each of
which singly he possesses (extraordinary) jurisdiction. Even
the most recent writers make no distinction between private
and public impediments.2 This matter was explained,
according to the received teaching in a former number of
the I. E. EECORD.3 Now, however, according to a decree
reaffirmed and published 18th August, 1897, by the Holy
Office, the prohibition against using Apostolic faculties,
in the event of cumulation, does not extend to the case
in which the Cumulation arises from the existence of an
occult with a public impediment. If the two impediments
were public, special faculties are still required to remove
them ; if one is public, the other occult, no special indult is
required. It would seem to follow from the document now
published, that even the cumulation of one public impedi-
ment with tioo or more occult impediments is not a bar to
the exercise (without a special indult) of extraordinary
Apostolic faculties.
D. MANNIX.
1 See page 464.
2 Vid. Putzer, Ed. 4, 1897. Becker, De Spons, et Mat., 1895, p. 297.
Feije, Ed. 4, 1898, n. 631, E. Gasparri, Ed. 2, 189.3, n. 448.
3 Vid. I. E. RECOBD, February, 1897, p. 171.
[ 452 ]
DOCUMENTS
METHOD OP FILLING A VACANT BISHOPRIC IN IRELAND1
DECRETA SACRAE CONGREGATIONS DE PROPAGANDA FIDE CIRCA
MODUM COMMENDANDI PRESBYTEROS, QUI AD EPISCOPATUM IN
HIBERNIA PROMOVEANTUR
SANCTISSIMO PATRI AC DOMINO NOSTRO LEONI PP. XII.
BEATISSIME PATER,
Constans atque paterna solicitudo, quam cunctis retroactis
seculis expertae sunt Ecclesiae Hiberniae a sanctis et venerabili-
bus Antecessoribus tuis, successoribus S. Petri, quibus Dominus
noster, Jesus Christus, Filius Dei vivi, universes ubique terrarum
fideles regendos commisit, nobis addictissimis tuis in Christo
filiis, Archiepiscopis et Episcopis Hiberniae, pignus amplissimum
ultro suppeditat vigilis illius curae, qua Sanctjtas Tua cuncta
negotia nostra respicit atque tuetur. Animo autem nobiscum
volventibus plurimas eximias dotes a Supremo Numine, in
Sponsae suae dilectae beneficium, Sanctitati Tuae collatas,
sapientiam illam singularem et fere divinam consiliis tuis moder-
antem, egregiam illam prudentiam singularum orbis Christian!
Ecclesiarum necessitatibus, baud secus ac si unice commissae
fuissent, prospicientem, imprimis autem sedula mente reputanti-
bus, quot quantisque beneficiis Ecclesias Hiberniae jam inde ab
incoepto Pontificatu cumulasti, non solum admiratione, memor-
isque animi sensibus perfundimur erga Sanctitatem Tuam, verum
Deo omnium bonorum largitori, gratias quam maximas pectore
ab imo referimus, qui Sanctitati Tuae istam infuderit mentem ad
propriarn ipsius gloriam redundantem, saluberrimamque Clero
Populoque Hiberno, quibus jure quam optimo in Domino gloriari
licet, Sedis apostolicae observantissimos, atque verae avitaeque
fidei tenacissimos, semper extitisse.
Quae cum ita sint, Beatissime Pater, necessitatum nostrarum
memores, ac bonitati tuae expertae confisi, votis, humillimis
supplicarnus, ut dignetur Sanctitas Tua animum advertere ad
gravia incommoda, Sedi apostolicae jam bene nota, quae in
1 These Letters and Decrees, which have never hitherto been published
in the I.E. RECOKD. may be found useful as well as interesting to the clergy.
DOCUMENTS. 453
Hibernia enascuntur, ex defectu cujusdajn fixae ac determinatae
formae, juxta quam, sede aliqua vacante, digni habiti qui ad
Episcopalem dignitatem promoveantur, Apostolicae Sedi com-
mendarentur.
Ad quern finem, omni qua par est reverentia, liceat Nobis
Archiepiscopis et Episcopis Hiberniae, frequenti ordine apud
Dublinium pridie Nonas Februarii convocatis, ad Sanctitatem
Tuam referre quae nobis unanimi consensu circa istud caput
disciplinae utilissima visa sunt.
Igitur Sede aliqua Episcopali, sive per Antistitis obitum,
translationem, aliamve ob causam in posterum vacante, Vicarius
juxta formam a sacris canonibus praescriptam constituatur, qui
Dioecesi viduatae, durante vacatione, praesit. Metropolitanus
Provinciae ubi vacatio contigerit, simulatque de. vacatione et
Vicarii electione certior factus fuerit, literis mandatoriis Vicario
edicet, ut in diem vigesimum a dato edicto in unum convocet
omnes quibus jus competat Summo Pontifici commendandi
tres dignos Ecclesiastici ordinis viros, quorum unus a Summo
Pontifice Dioecesi vacanti praeficeretur. Quos autem suffragii
jure gaudere volumus, formamque in convocando conventu ser-
vandam, eodemque post convocationem regendo, sequenti ordine
exponemus.
Qui in Hibernia nuncupantur Parochi, scilicet, clerici ad
ordinem Sacerdotalem evecti, censurarum immunes, quique
Parochiae seu Parochiarum unitarum actuali et pacitica posses-
sione gaudeant, hi soli ad comitia convocandi sunt. Vicarius,
edicto Metropolitani accepto, intra octo dies singulos Presbyteros
supra designates literis scriptis admonebit, ut loco quodam
opportune, in eadem monitione nominatim exprimendo, adsint,
die in edicto Metropolitani statute, ad tractandum de negotio
ibidem descripto. Metropolitanus ipse, vel unus ex suffraganeis
ejus Episcopis ab ipso delegatus, comitiis praesidebit, et nulla
prorsus et invalida habenda sunt ibidem acta et statuta, non
servata forma supra definita, sive in convocando, sive in
raoderando conventu.
Parochis, die et loco statutis, mane in unum congregatis,
Missa solemnis de Spiritu Sancto celebretur, Missaque finita,
Praeses super sedile in medio Ecclesiae ascendet, omnibusque
quorum nihil interest, exire jussis, foribusque Ecclesiae clausis,
Vicarius, catalogum nominum omnium Parochorum Dioecesis
vacantis Praesidi tradet, qui eorundem nomina, clara ac distincta
454 THE IRISH. ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
voce, a Secretario suo recitari mandabit, et unicuique Parocho,
postquam nomini respondent, sedem propriam assignabit. Si
unus aut plures Parochi absint, Praeses a Vicario probationem
exquiret, absentibus sine fraude revera edictum fuisse, et tali
probatione admissa, absentia cujusvis numeri, raodo quarta pars
totius Parochorum numeri adsit, nihil obstabit quominus rata et
valida sint quae in comitiis gerantur. Parochis, qui Vicarii
monitione, sive propter adversam valetudinem, aliamve ob causam
parere non valeant, liberum erit suffragia sua, propria ipsorum
manu scripta, involucre sigillato inclusa, et extrinsecus ad
Praesidem directa, cuivis alio Parocho ejusdem Dioecesis con-
fidere, et suffragio sic tradito et probato, eadem inerit vis ac si
Parochus ipse praesens adesset : modo literae certificatoriae de
adversa ejus valetudine a duobus artis medicinae peritis sub-
scriptae, ad Praesidem transmittantur. Insuper Parochus iste
priusquam suffragium modo supra descripto ferat, eandem
declarationem emittet, quam caeteris Parochis inter comitia
emittere coram Praeside incurnbet, ejusque declarationis coram
duobus Parochis emissae probatio, in medium proferenda coram
Praeside, antequam suffragium admittatur.
Comitiis ita compositis, ac Praeside tractanda proponente,
duo Scrutatores juxta consuetas canonum formas eligantur, dein
suffragatores ad Urn am supra mensam positam, singuli accedent,
et clara altaque voce, tactis simul manu pectoribus, coram Deo,
pro se quisque amrment, se, neque gratia, neque favore inductos,
ei suffragaturos quern dignissimum, digniorem, aut dignum, pro
diversis candidatorum mentis, judicent, qui Dioecesi vacanti prae-
ficeretur ; postea suffragio in Urnam immisso, singuli ad propriam
sedem recedent.
Tres suffragiorum series, totidemque scrutinia institui volumus,
suffragatoribus unum tantum nomen singulis vicibus in Urnam
mittentibus ; nempe prima vice unusquisque suffragabitur ei quern
dignissimum judicat, et nomen illius qui, facto scrutinio, majorem
suffragiorum numerum, ultra medietatem, reportarit, clara altaque
voce, a scrutatoribus ad Praesidem, et a Praeside ad conventum,
renuntiandum est. Secunda vice, unusquisque suffragabitur ei
quern digniorem, et tertia vice, suffragabitur ei quern dignum
judicet ; eademque forma respectu numeri suffragiorum, et
nomina declarandi servanda est, quae prima vice servata est.
Quibus peractis, et nominibus eorum, qui in unaquaque serie
majorem suffragiorum numerum ultra medietatem obtinuerint,
DOCUMENTS 455
cognitis et publicatis, Praeses narrationern authenticam in scrip tis
redactam, parari coram comitiis, ejusdemque duo exemplaria a
seipso et Secretario atque Scrutatoribus subsignanda, exscribi
curabifc. Ex istis exemplaribus, alterum Vicario tradendum, qui
idem ad Sedem Apostolicam transmittat, alterum vero Metropo-
litano, cujus munus erit idem ad suffraganeos ejus Episcopos in
unum congregates referre. Quaecumque jura, privilegia, et
munera supra recensentur, tanquam Praesidi conventus propria,
eadem, sede Metropolitan a vacante, seniori Provinciae Suffraganeo
communicari volumus. Episcopis Provinciae, Praeside Metro-
politano, aut ipsius defectu, seniori Provinciae Suffraganeo, in
unum convocatis, et narratione authentica supra memorata
coram ipsis prolata, de eadem coram Deo judicium sententiamque
ferant. Si unanimi consensu, aut majori suffragiorum numero,
approbaverint a Parochis commendatos, eodemque ordine, quo
in narratione inseruntur nomina, idem propria uniuscuj usque
Episcopi, necnon et Praesidis manu subscriptum, et sigillo
munitum, ad sedem Apostolicam Praeses transmitted Si
consensu unanimi, aut majori suffragiorum numero, commendatos
quidem approbent, sed non in eodem ordine ,istud quoque ad
Sanctam Sedem referent, ordine nominum ipsis probato, et
motivis quibus eorum judicium innititur, simul expositis. Si
concordibusanimis, vel majori suffragiorum numero, consenserint
unum aut duos ex commendatis parum dignos esse, qui ad
ordinem Episcopalem evehantur, summum Pontificem de ea
quoque re certiorem facient, simulque mentem exponent de
dotibus alterius commendati. Si tandem consensu unanimi, aut
majori suffragiorum numero, judicaverint, tres commendatos
parum dignos esse ex quibus unus ad Episcopatum promoveretur,
Summum Pontificem de suo judicio certiorem facient, ejusque
Sanctitati supplicabunt, suffragatoribus per Metropolitan! edictum
mandare, ut tres alios juxta jam descriptam formam de novo
commendarent. Si suffragatores animo obstinate pravoque,
eosdem iterum commendent, Summus Pontifex accepta relatione
Episcoporum Provinciae, et supra, pro sua sapientia Dioecesi
viduatae de Pastore providebit. Si agatur de Episcopi Coadjutore,
cum jure successionis cuivis Episcopo assignando, eadem quae
sede vacante commendandi forma servanda est, cauto tamen varia
privilegia, jura, et munera, Metropolitano aut seniori Episcopo
suffraganeo jam attributa, ad Archiepiscopum aut Episcopum,
cui Coadjutor assignandus est, unice pertinere, illaeso tamen
456 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
servato jure Metropolitan!, quando suffraganei ejus Episcopi ad
ferendum judicium convenerint.
Tandem quicumque Sedis Apostolicae approbation! com-
mendentur, cives sint Indigenae Hiberniae serenissimo Imperil
Britannici Regi, fidelitate incorrupta obstricti, morum integritate,
pietate, doctrina, caeterisque, quae Episcopum decent, dotibus
insigniti.
Haec sunt, Beatissime Pater, quae pro meliore in posterum
regimine Ecclesiarum nobis, licet indignis, commissarum, ad
Sanctitatem tuam humillime referre muneris nostri esse duxinius.
Apostolica benedictione, flexis genibus implorata, Deum O.M
precamur, ut Sanctitatem tuam, ad Ecclesiae universalis coin-
modum, diutissime incolumem servet ac sospitet.
Beatitudinis Tuae.
Observantissimi atque Amantissimi Filii.
Datum Dublinii, die 17 Februarii, An. 1829.
Nomine totius Praesulum Coetus rogati subscribimur.
PATRITIUS, Archiepiscopus Armacanus.
DANIEL, Archiepiscopus Dubliniensis.
KOBEETUS, Archiepiscopus Casseliensis.
ILLUSTRISSIME AC BEVERENDISSIME DOMIKE
SSmo Domino Nostro Pio PP. VIII. gratissimae fuenint
literae die 17 Februarii, Amplitudinis Tuae et reliquorum
Archiepiscoporum ac Episcoporum Hiberniae nomine, Dublino
scriptae, de methodo quam tenendam esse censuistis in com-
mendandis Sedi Apostolicae iis quibus aliquis Hiberniae
Episcopatus conferendus sit. Sanctitas sua enim accepit eas
literas tanquam novum perspicuum argurnentum illius studii
singularis quo praestatis, ea omnia diligenter procurandi quae ad
Religionis Catholicae incrementum et honorem spectare possunt.
Laudavit autem praecipue sapientiam vestram, qui intelligentes
quam grave sit negotium electionis Episcoporum, et quantopere
cum Ecclesiae utilitate conjunctum, ut rite sancteque absolvatur,
vestram curam eo praesertim convertendam arbitrati estis, ut
methodus ejusmodi in ea re servanda statueretur, qua fieret ut
Sedes Apostolica certissimam habere notitiam posset meritorum
eorum sacerdotum, pro quibus commendationes afferuntur, ut ad
aliquem Hiberniae Episcopatum eh'gantur.
Amplissimis quoque laudibus, vestram ea de re solicitudinem,
DOCUMENTS 457
sacra Congregatio prosequuta est, quae memoratas vestras literas
in General! Conventu, die prima Junii habito, perpendit, una
cum supplici libello ab E. P. D. Oliverio Kelly, Archiepiscopo
Tuamensi die 4 Maii allato, quibus vestro etiam nomine ex-
ponebat methodum de convocandis conventibus Capitulorum ad
commendationes eas faciendas, si alia methodus quae in literis
die 17 Februarii, de convocandis, ad earn rem peragendam,
Parochorum conventibus, sacrae Congregationi non placuisset.
Itaque Amplitudini Tuae, et per te caeteris Archiepiscopis
atque Episcopis Hiberrdae significandum habeo, Sacram Con-
gregationem judicasse, expedire methodum aliquam certam
statuere, quam sequi oporteat in commendandis iis, qui ad
aliquem Hiberniae Episcopatum eligi debeant : aliquibus vero
adhibitis modificationibus probavit methodum a vobis, recensitis
superius literis, propositam : Eae autem modifications sunt
quae sequuntur : 1. Ubi adest Capitulum convocentur cum
Parochis etiam Canonici. 2. In documento ad sanctam Sedem
transmittendo, nihil inveniatur quod electionem, nominationem,
postulationem innuat, sed simplicem commendationem. 3. In
eo omittatur relatio ac mentio trium scrutiniorum, sicuti et
judicium de dignissimo, digniori ac digno, sed tantum requisita
proferantur ac merita singulorum. 4. Hujusmundi autem do-
cumentum sit in forma supplicis libelli, ita concepti, ut inde
pateat nullam in Sanctam Sedem inferri obligationem eligendi
unum ex commendatis. 5. Denique semel peracta commenda-
tione, si Episcopi judicaverint tres illos commendatos minus
dignos esse quorum unus ad Episcopatum promoveatur, tune,
quin detur novae commendationi locus, summus Pontifex, pro
sua sapientia, viduatae Ecclesiae provideat. Haec sunt quae in
exposita a vobis methodo sacra Congregatio immutanda censuit,
atque his ita positis methodum ipsam probavit. Verum eodem
tempore Sacra Congregatio declaravit salvam semper atque
illaesam manere debere, Apostolicae Sedis libertatem in eli-
gendis Episcopis, ita ut, commendationes lumen tantum et
cognitionem, Sacrae Congregationi, nunquam tamen obligationem,
sint allaturae.
Amplitudinis Tuae diligentiae et summae in gravibus rebus
gerendis peritiae erit, ita agere, ut quae Sacra Congregatio
immutanda esse arbitrata est, in methodi a Sacra Congregatione
probatae expositione, accurate serventur.
Precor Deum interea, ut te caeterosque Collegas tuos,
458 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Archiepiscopos et Episcopos de religione optirne meritos, diu
sospitem ac felicem servet.
Komae ex Aedib. Sacrae Congreg. de Propag. Fide, 20 Junii,
1829.
Amplitudinis Tuae
Ad officia paratissimus,
D. M. CARD. CAPPELLARI, Praefectus,
Loco tfr Sigilli, C. CASTBACANE, Secretarius.
E. P. D. PATRITIO CURTIS,
Archiepiscopo Armacano.
DECRETUM SACRAE CONGREGATIONIS GENERALIS DE PROPAGANDA
FIDE, HABITAE DIE PRIMA JUNII, ANNO 1829
Cum ad gravissimum Electionis Hiberniae Episcoporum
negotium rite sancteque absolvendum, certam aliquam methodum
ubique in eo regno servandam statuere in primis opportunum esse
Sacra Congregatio intellexerit, qua fieret, ut Sedes Apostolica
exploratam notitiam habere possit meritorum Sacerdotum pro
quibus commendationes afferuntur, ut ad aliquem Hiberniae
Episcopatum eligantur, eadem Sacra Congregatio, postquam diu
multumque de ea re definienda cogitavit, in generali tandem
conventu die prima Junii anno 1829, referente Eminentissimo et
Reverendissimo D. D. Mauro S. R. E. Cardinali Cappellari,
Sacrae Congregationis Praefecto, censuit ac decrevit, methodum
in toto regno Hiberniae super ea re servandam in posterum, esse
debere earn quae hie describitur.
Sede aliqua Episcopali, sive per Antistitis obitum trans-
lationem, aliamve ob causam in posterum vacante, Vicarius,
juxta formam a sacris canonibus praescriptam, constituatur,
qui dioecesi viduatae, durante vacatione, pracsit. Metropoli-
tanus Provinciae, ubi vacatio contigerit, simul atque de vacatione,
et Vicarii electione certior factus fuerit, literis mandatoriis
Vicario edicat, ut in diem vigesimum a dato edicto in unum
convocet omnes, ad quos pertinebit Sum mo Pontifici commendare
tres dignos ecclesiastici ordinis viros, quorum unus a Summo
Pontifice Dioecesi vacanti praeficiatur. Qui sint ii qui convocari
debent, quae forma in convocando et regendo conventu servanda
sit, habetur ex sequenti expositione.
Qui in Hibernia nuncupantur Parochi, scilicit clerici ad
ordinem Sacerdotalem evecti, censurarum immunes, qui paro-
chiae, seu parochiarum unitarum, actuali ac pacifica possessione
DOCUMENTS 459
gaudeant, ad comitia convocandi sunt. Ubi vero adest capitulum,
convocabuntur cum parochis etiani Canonici. Vicarius, edicto
Metropolitan! accepto, intia octo dies, singulos Presbyteros
supra designates, literis scriptis, admonebit, ut loco quodam
opportune, in eadem monitions nominatim exprimendo, adsint,
die in edicto Metropolitan! statute, ad tractandum de negotio
ibidem descripto. Metropolitanus ipse, vel unus de Suffraganeis
ejus Episcopus ab ipso delegatus, comitiis praesidebit, et
nulla prorsus, et invalida habenda sunt ibidem acta, et sta-
tuta, non servata forma supra definita, sive in convocando,
sive in moderando conventu. Parochis, caeterisque de quibus
supra, die et loco statutis, mane in unum congregatis, Missa
solemnis de Spiritu Sancto celebretur : Missaque finita, Praeses
super sedile in medio ecclesiae ascendet, omnibusque, quorum
nihil interest, exire jussis, foribusque ecclesiae clausis, Vicarius
catalogum nominum omnium Parochorum et Canonicorum, si
adsit ibi capitulum, dioecesis vacantis Praesidi tradet, qui
eorumdem nomina, clara ac distincta voce, a Secretario suo
recitari mandabit, et unicuique eorum, postquam nomini res-
ponderit, sedem propriam assignabit. Si unus aut plures Parochi
absint, Praeses a Vicario probationem exquiret, absentibus sine
fraude edictum fuisse, et tali probatiorie admissa, absentia cu-
jusvis numeri, modo quarta pars totius Parochorum numeri
adsit, nihil obstabit, quominus rata et valida sint, quae in
comitiis gerantur. Idem servandum erit circa Canonicorum
numerum, in dioecesi in qua Capitulum adest. Parochis
ac Canonicis, qui Vicarii monitioni, sive propter adversam
valetudinem, aliamve ob causam parere non valeant, liberum
erit, suffragia sua propria ipsorum manu scripta, involucro
sigillato inclusa, et extrinsecus ad Presidem directa, cuivis
alio Parocho vel Canonico ejusdem Dioeceis confidere ; et
suffragio sic habito et probato, eadem inerit vis, ac si Parochus
aut Canonicus ipse praesens adesset ; modo literae certificatoriae
de adversa ejus valetudine, a duobus artis medecinae peritis
subscriptae, ad Praesidem transmittantur. Insuper Parochus
iste vel Canonicus priusquam suffragium, modo supra descripto
ferat, eamdem declarationem emittet, quam caeteri Parochi ac
Canonici inter comitia emittere coram Praeside debebunt ;
ejusque declarations coram duobus Parochis vel Canonicis
emissae probatio, in medium erit proferenda coram praeside,
antequam suffragium admittatur. Comitiis ita compositis, ac
460 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
pracside tractanda proponents, duo Scrutatores juxta consuetas
canonum formas, eligantur. Dein Suffragatores tactis simul
manu pectoribus, coram Deo pro se quisque affirment, se neque
gratia, neque favore inductos ei suffragaturos, quern dignum
judicent, qui Dioecesi vacanti praeficiatur. Postea suffragio in
urnam immisso, singuli ad propriam sedem recedent.
His peractis, clara altaque voce a Scrutatoribus ad prae-
sidem, et a praeside ad conventUm, renuntianda sunt nomina
trium eorum Sacerdotum, in quos major suffragioruin numerus
convenerit. Tune praeses, narratiohem authenticam in scriptis
redactam parari coram comitiis, ejusdemque duo exemplaria a
seipso et secretario atque scrutatoribus subsignanda, exscribi
curabit. Ex istis exemplaribus alterum Vicario tradendum, qui
idem ad Sedem Apostolicam transmittat ; alterum vero ad
Metropolitanum, cujus munus erit idem ad suffraganeos suos
Episcopos in unum congregatos referre. Quaecumque jura,
privilegia, et numera supra recensentur tanquam praesidi
conventus propria, eadem, Sede Metropolitana vacante, Seniori
Provinciae Suffraganeo communicari volumus.
Episcopis Provinciae, Praeside Metropolitano, aut ipsius
defectu Seniori Provinciae Suffraganeo in unum congregatis, et
narratione authentica supra memorata coram ipis prolata, de
eadem coram Deo judicium sententiamque ferent. Praeses
Episcoporum suffraganeorum sententiam, de meritis trium
sacerdotum qui Sedi Apostolicae commendantur, literis consig-
natam, uniuscujusque Episcopi et Praesidis manu subscriptam,
sigilloque munitam, ad Sedem Apostolicam transmitted Semel
peracta commendatione, si Episcopi judicaverint tres illoa
commendatos minus dignos esse, quorum unus ad Episcopatum
promoveatur, tune quin detur novae commendation! locus,
Summus Pontifex, pro sua sapientia, viduatae ecclesiae
providebit.
Si agatur de Episcopo Coadjutore, cum jure successionis
cuivis Episcopo assignando, eadem, quae, sede vacante, com-
mendandi forma servanda est, cauto tamen varia privilegia, jura
et munera Metropolitano, aut Seniori Episcopo Suffraganeo jam
attributa, ad Archiepiscopum, aut Episcopum, cui coadjutor
assignandus est, unice pertinere, illaeso tamen servato jure
Metropolitani, quando suffraganei ejus Episcopi ad ferendum
suffragium convenerint. Tandem quicumque Sedis Apostolicae
approbation! commendentur, cives sint indigenae Hiberniae,
DOCUMENTS 461
Serenissimo Imperil Britannic! Eegi fidelitate incorrupta obstricti
morum integritate, pietate, doctrina, caeterisque quae Episcopum
decent, dotibus insigniti.
Haec sunt, quae in commendandis Sedi Apostolicae Sacer-'
dotibus pro episcoporum Hiberniae electione, Sacra Congregatio
servanda praescripsit. Ea vero decernens, significari omnibus
voluit, in documentis de hac re pertractantibus, ad sanctam
sedem transmittendis, nihil inveniri debere, quod electionem,
postulationem, nominationem innuat, sed simplicem commen-
dationem : memorata praeterea documenta esse debere jussit,
in forma supplicis libelli ita concepti, ut inde pateat nullam
in sanctam sedem inferri obligationem eligendi unum ex
commendatis.
Declaravit denique Sacra Congregatio, salvam semper atque
illaesam manere debere Sedis Apostolicae libertatem in eligendis
Episcopis, ita ut commendationes, lumen tantuni, et cognitionem
Sacrae Congregation!, nunquam tamen obligationem, sint
allaturae.
Datum Eomae ex Aedibus dictae Sac. Congregationis, die
17 Octobris, 1829.
Gratis sine ulla omnino solutione quocumque titulo.
D. M. CARD CAPPELLARI, Praefectus.
* C. CASTRACANE, Secretarius.
(Verum Exemplar.)
ILLUSTRISSIME AC REVERENDISSIME DOMINE
Initum a sacra Congregatione eonsilium ut certain methodum
in regno Hiberniae servandam decerneret circa sacerdotes
commendandos Apostolicae Sedi quando agitur de Episcoporum
electione in eo totum versatum est, ut memorata methodo
accurate servata, Apostolica Sedes exploratam notitiam habere
possit, meritorum sacerdotum pro quibus commendationes
afferuntur. Quare sacra Congregatio in decreto quod die prima
Junii 1829 ea de re factum fuerat ac die 17 Octobris ejusdem
anni promulgatum est, declaravit mentem suam esse ut
commendationes illae lumen tantum ac cognitionem sibi
compararent circa eos inter quos Apostolica Sedes Episcopos est
electura. Voluit quidem Dioecesanum Clerum consuli atique
ejusdem opinionem circa sacerdotes commendandos per secreta
suffragia requiri. Id autem ea tantum de causa factum est, ut
462 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Sanctae Sedi constaret quinam praecipue sacerdotes aestima-
tionem obtineant Cleri Dioecesani, et tale testimonium con-
sequantur, ex quo intelligi posset eos apud Dioecesanum clerum
' ad Episcopatum consequendum idoneos censeri. Hoc vero unico
scrutinio fieri posse manifestum est, et revera decreti superius
memorati contextus hie est, ut in uno tantum scrutinio res
peragatur, atque ex eo scrutinio constet quinam sint tres
sacerdotes in quos major suffragiorum numerus convenerit.
Ad Sacrae Congregationis notitiam nuper pervenit in
aliquibus Hiberniae Dioecesibus hoc obtinuisse ut in conventibus
qui habentur a Clero Dioecesano ad sacerdotes Sanctae Sedi
commendandos ex quibus Episcopus aliquis eligatur, non ununi
sed tria fiant : intelligens Sacra Congregatio hinc evenire posse
ut non tres praestantiores ex clero, sed unus revera commendetur
atque ei duo alii veluti ad formam tantum adjungantur, meritis
omnino inferiores : cupiens praeterea eadem Sacra Congregatio
ubique in Hibernia eandem methodurn circa ejusmodi com-
mendationes servari, scribendum judicavit Amplitudini tuae hanc
epistolam, caeteris Archiepiscopis cominunicandam, ut in Dioece-
sibus omnibus Hiberniae constet unicum scrutinium in con-
ventibus Cleri peragendurn esse ad tres sacerdotes Sanctae Sedi
commendandos antequam ipsa deveniant ad Episcopi alicujus
Hiberniae Dioecesis electionem, et hunc verum decreti diei
1 Junii 1829 sensum esse. Precor Deum interea ut Arnplitudinem
Tuam diu sospitem ac felicem servet.
Eomae ex ^dib. Sacrae Congreg. de Propag. Fide, 25
Aprilis, 1835.
Amplitudinis tuae
Ad officia paratissimus,
J. C Card. FRANSONIUS, Praefectus.
Loco >!« Sigilli. A. MAIUS, Secretarius.
E. P. DANIELI MURKAY,
Archiepiscopo Dubliniensi.
Concordat cum Originali.
Ufa DANIEL MURRAY.
DOCUMENTS 463
INDULGENCES FOB ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA.
TOT INDULG. PLEN. CONCEDUNTUR CHBISTIFIDELIBUS QUI, SEBVATIS
SEKVANDIS, FER 13 FERIAS TERTIAS, VEL 13 DOMINICAS
CONTINUAS INFRA ANNUM, IN HONOREM S. ANTONII PATAVINI,
PIE ORAVERINT ETC.
LEO PP. XIII.
Ad perpetuam rei memoriam. lucundo aniraum Nostrum sensu
perfuderunt, Nostrisque plane responderunt optatis supplices
litterae, quas modo Dilectus Films Laurentius Caratelli Ordinis
Minorum S. Francisci Conventualium Minister Generalis ad Nos
dedit significans cupere se atque optare, ut S. Antonii Patavina
cultus ubique gentium augeatur in dies singulos et provehatur.
Verum catholici omnes propriam habent rationem cur Beatum
Antonium praecipuo prosequantur honore, excolant obsequio.
Ille enim singular! Dei concessu et munere gratias et beneficia
quotidiana populo christiano conferre ita solet, ut ipsa Ecclesia
cohortetur quemlibet fidelem ad eum confugere, si quaerit
miracula. Accedit etiam calamitosis hisce temporibus quod
Antonius Patavinus quasi icto caritatis foedere cum S. Vincentio
a Paulo quodammodo consocietur, atque ambo amice coniurent
ad levandas vel saltern deliniendas aerumnas miseriasque tenuioris
plebis, ita ut beneficiis alter panem comparet, alter, diribeat. Et
multis quidem in templis ad stipem cogendam in alimentum
egenorum posita est suavis imago S. Antonii in ultris gestantis
Puerum Deum, et quasi gratias ab Eo implorantis, qiiae imago
invitare quodammodo christifideles ac provocare videtur ad ex-
petenda beneficia, quibus acceptis dant stipem obligatam, quae
absumatur in emptionem panis pro pauperculis. Ex quo fit ut
Vincentianae Sodalitates, quae proletariorum familiis necessaria
vitae cibaria ex institute dispensant, validum ab Antonio prae-
sidium et columen sibi polliceantur. Quae cum ita sint volenti
lubentique animo Nos admotis precibus obsecundamus, et ad
augendam fidelium religionem animarumque salutem coelestibus
Ecclesiae thesauris pia charitate intenti, omnibus et singulis
utriusque sexus christifidelibus, qui vere poenitentes et confessi
ac S. Communione refecti tredecim feriis tertiis continuis et non
interpolatis vel tredecim Dominicis item continuis et non inter-
polatis, quolibet intra annum tempore, ad cuiusque arbitrium
eligendis, piis meditationibus vel supplicationibus vel aliis pietatis
exercitationibus ad Dei gloriam et eiusdem Sancti honorem
464 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
vacaverint, qua ex his feriis tertiis vel Dominicis id praestiterint
Plenariam omnium peccatorum suorum Indulgentiam et remis-
sionem vel defunctis applicabilem misericorditer in Domino
concedimus. In contrarium faeientibus non obstant. quibus-
cumque. Praesentibus perpetuis futuris temporibus valituris.
Volumus autem, ut praesentium Litterarum transumptis seu
exemplis etiam impressis manu alicuius Notarii publici subscriptis
sigillo personae in ecclesiastiea dignitate constitutae munitis
eadem prorsus fides adhibeatur, quae adhiberetur ipsis praesenti-
bus, si forent exhibitae vel ostensae; et praecipimus, ut prae-
sentium Litterarum (quod nisi fiat nullas easdem esse volumus)
exemplar ad Secretariam S. Congregationis Indulgentiis Sacrisque
Reliquiis praepositae deferatur, iuxta Decretum ab eadem S.
Congregatione die XIX lanuarii MDCCLVI latum et a Benedicto
XIV Decessore Nostro rec. mem. die XXVIII dicti mensis pro-
batum. Datum Eomae apud S. Petrum sub annulo Piscatoris die
I Martii MDCCCXCVIII Pontificatus Nostri Anno Vigesimo.
Pro Dno CARD. MACCHI.
NICOLAUS MAEINI, Substitutus.
FACULTIES FOB ACCUMULATING IMPEDIMENTS
VI FACULTATUM CUMULANDI, DISPENSAEE POTEST EPUS CIRCA IMPE-
DIMENTUM DIRIMENS SECRETUM, CONCURRENTE ETIAM ALIO IMP
DIR. PUBLICO ; SI VERO UNUM SIT DIRIMENS, ALIUD VERO IMPE-
DIENS (CUIUS DISPENSATIO RESERVATUR S. SEDl) INDIGET
SPECIALI FACULTATE
BEATISSIME PATER,
Episcopus Mysurien. ad pedes S. V. provolutus, humiliter
exponit se interdum ancipitem haerere in usu facultatum cumu-
landi (ut aiunt) quibus in tribuendis dispensationibus matri-
monialibus pollet. Hinc enixe petit insequentium dubiorum
resolutionem :
I. Utrum concurrente aliquo impedimento dirimente secreto,
seu fori interni, cum alio impedimento item dirimente, sed
publico, necessaria sit ad dispensationem specialis cumulandi
facultas.
II. Utrum concurrentibus duobus impedimentis, quorum
unum sit dirimens et alterum impediens tantum, eo excepto quod
DOCUMENTS 465
mixtae religiouis dicunt, pariter necesse sit ad dispensatioriem
specialis cumulandi facultas.
Per. IV., 18 Augusti, 1897.
In Congregatione General! S. E. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
Emis ac Emis DD. Cardinalibus Generalibus Inquisitoribus, pro-
positis suprascriptis dubiis, praehabitoque EE. DD. Consultorum
voto iidem EEmi ac EEmi DDni responderi mandarunt :
Ad I. Negative ; et detur Decretum diei 31 Martii 1872 in
Coimbaturen.
Ad II. Affirmative quoad impedimenta impedientia, quorum
dispensatio reservatur S. Sedi, ea nempe quae oriuntur ex mixta
religione ut aiunt, atque ex sponsalibus et ex voto simplici per-
petuae castitatis ; secus in reliquis, circa quae Episcopus uti
poterit iure suo.
Feria vero VI., die 20 eiusdem mensis et anni, in solita
Audientia E. P. D. Adsessori S. O. impertita, facta de his omnibus
relatione SS, D. N. Leoni PP. XIII. , idem SSmus Dominus reso-
lutionem EE. ac EE. Patrum in omnibus adprobavit.
Decretum autem die 31 Martii 1872 datum occasione dubii a
E. P. D. Vicario Apostolico Coimbaturen. propositi, prout constat
ex actis S. Congr. de Propag. Fide, sic se habet : ' SSmus
Dominus declaravit generatim prohibitionem concedendi absque
speciali facultate dispensationes, quando in una eademque per-
sona concurrunt impedimenta matrimonialia, non extendi ad eos
casus, in quibus cum impedimento natura sua publico aliud
occurrit impedimentum occultum, seu fori interni.'
I. CAN. MANCINI, S. E. et U. Inq, Notarius.
SUCCESSION OF FACULTIES
FACtJLTATES SPECIALE8, HABITUALITEB A S. SEDE ORDINAEIlfS
CONCESSAE, TRAN3EUNT AD SUCCESSOEES, PRO TEMPORE ET
IN TERMINIS CONCESSIONS.
Feria IV., 24 Novembris 1897.
In Cong. Gen. S. Eom. Univ. Inquis. habita ab Emis ac Emis
DD. Card, in rebus fidei et morum Gen. Inquisitoribus. iidem Emi
Patres, rerum temporumque adiunctis mature perpensis, decev-
nendum censuerunt : Supplicandum SSmo, ut declarare seu
statuere dignetur facilitates ouines speciales habitualiter a S. Sede
Episcopis aliorumque locorum Ordinariis concessas non suspend!
VOL HI. 2 G
466 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
vel desinere ob eorum mortem vel a munere cessationem, sed ad
successores Ordinaries transire ad formam et in terminis decretia
Sup. hac Cong, editi die 20 Februarii 1888 quoad dispensationes
matrimoniales.
Insequenti vero feria VI., die 26 Novembris 1897, in solita
audientia K. P. D. Adsessori S. 0. impertita facta de his omnibus
SSmo D. N. D. Leoni Div. Prov. Pp. XIII. relatione, Sanctitas Sua
Emorurn Patrurn resolutionem adprobavit, atque ita perpetuis
futuris temporibus servandum mandavit, contrariis non obstanti-
bus quibuscumque.
los. CAN. MANCINI, S. E.ct U. I.,Notarius.
CASE OF ' SANATIO IN BADICE '
EX S, CONOR. S. R. U. INQUISITIONIS, EPISCOPI STATUUM FOEDE-
RATORUM AMERICAE SEPTENTRIONALIS CONCEDERE VALENT
1 SANATIONEM IN RADICE ' IN CASU DISPAKITATIS CULTUS,
EXCEPTO CULTU IUDAICO.
BEATISSIME PATER,
Ad pedes Sanctitatis Vestrae humiliter provolutus expono :
Dionysius (non baptizatus) tribus annis elapsis matrimonium
contraxit cum Maria losepha (catholica) coram magistratu civili.
Pars acatholica omnino renuit consentire conditionibus ab Ecclesia
requisites in matrimoniis mixtis, praesertim relate ad baptisrna et
catholicam prolis educationem, quamvis uxori liberum sit facere
quid vellet relate ad puellarum educationem. Huic condition!
ante matrimonium Maria losepha consensit. Nunc earn poenitet
id fecisse ; attamen quum vir sit bonus paterfamilias et optimus
provisor pro prole, haud speraudum se virum derelicturam. Quare
ad validandum matrimonium et prolem legitimandam et pro bono
spirituali matris et filiorum rogo cum ' sanatione in radice,' dis-
pensatio ' disparitatis cultus ' concedatur, quum vir renuat dare
consensum, et mulier sciat suum matrimonium esse invalidum.
<% GULIELMUS ENRICUS, Archiepiscopus Cincinnati*.
RESPONSUM.
Feria VI. die 3 lunii 1892.
Sanctissimus D. N» Leo divina providentia PP. XIII in au-
dientia r. p. d. Assessor! S. 0. impertita, attentis peculiaribus
circumstantiis in casu concurrentibus et indubiis resipiscentiae
DOCUMENTS 467
signis Oratricis catholicao, Mariae losephae, benigne remisit
preces prudent! arbitrio et conscientiae r. p. d. Ordinarii Ciucin-
natensis, ut, quatenus utraque pars in consensu de praesenti
perseveret, sanare valeat in radice matrimonium initum ab ipsa
catholica Maria losepha cum acatholica non-baptizato, dummodo
Oratrix spondeat serio se curaturam totis viribus educationem
totius prolis in religione catholica, et dummodo perseveret par-
tium consensus. Ipse vero Ordinarius in hoc sibi commisso
munere explendo declaret se agere nomine Sanctitatis Suae et
tanquam ab Apostolica Sede specialiter delegatum . Serio moneat
Oratricem de gravissimo patrato scelere : ' salutares poenitentias
ei imponat,' a censuris absolvat simulque declaret ob praesentem
dispensationis gratiam a se acceptatam matrimonium fieri validum,
legitimum et indissoluble iure divino, et prolem susceptam et
suscipiendam legitimam habendam esse. Oratrici etiam gva-
vissime imponat ac declaret obligationern, qua semper tenetur
curandi pro viribus conversionern viri ad catholicam tidem et
prolis utriusque sexus tarn natae quam nasciturae in catholica
religione educationem. — Cum autem de matrimonii validiUite in
foro externo constare debeat, idem Ordinarius nomen cum consueta
personali indicatione tarn mulieris quam viri in Eegestis describi
iubeat, simulque autographum documentumpraesentis concessionis
cornmunicationis, acceptationis, absolutionis et declaratiormni
Oratricis ut supra facturam, servetur in Curia Cincinnatensi, et
exemplar authenticum eidem Oratrici sedulo custodiendum
tradatur. Contrariis non obstaiitibus.
I. CAN. MANCINI, S. B. et U. I. Not.
KOMAE, 20 lunii 1892.
ILLUSTRISSIME AC KKVEKENDISHIME DOMINE,
Amplitude Tua literis datis die 24 superioris mensis aprilis
sanationern in radice expetebat matrimonii contract! a Maria
losepha catholica cum L'etro Dionysio non baptizato, nee non
matrimonii contract! a Maria N. cum quodam Henrico M. pariter
non baptizato. Rescriptum S. Officii quoad sanationem matri-
monii Mariae losephae iam paucos ante dies ad te misi, nunc
vero heic adnexum mitto rescriptum eiusdem Suprerni Tribunalis
circa sanationem alterius matrimonii supra niemoratii. Tibi
autem ex parte eiusdem S. Otiicii summopere commendandum
habeo ut velis omni sollicitudine adniti quo proles in catholica
religione educetur. lisdem vero literia Amplitude Tua duo
468 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
proponebat dubia : primum erat utrum recta fuerifc dispensatio a
te aliquando concessa cum ' sanatione in radice ' circa matri-
monia nulla ex impedimento ' disparitatis cultus ' cum pars non
baptizata renueret satisfacere conditionibus de educatione prolis
etc., dum pars catholica promitteret se, in quantum fieri posset,
curaturam ut filii filiaeque baptizarentur et in religione catholica
educarentur.
Alterum dubium erat num non obstante speciali clausula de
iudaeis in facultatibus quas habes, recte dispensaveris nonnun-
quam cum mulieribus catholicis ut inira possent matrimonium
cum iudaeis, qui cupientes huiusmodi nuptias contrahere in
scriptis ludaismo renuntiaverint.
Haec dubia delata pariter fuerunt solvenda ad Supremum
Tribunal Sancti Officii, et illi End Patres Inquisitores Generales
in Congregatione feriae V, loco IV, die 2 vertentis mensis lunii,
sequentes dederunt resolutiones a Summo Pontifice adprobatas :
Ad I. ' Quatenus urgeret necessitas, consensus perseveraret,
et imposituin fuerit matri onus baptismi et educationis prolis
totis viribus curandae, potuisse uti facultatibus.'
Ad II. Quod ad praeteritum, ' supplicandum Sanctissimo pro
sanatione in radice,' quatenus opus sit (quibus precibus Surnmus
Pontifex annuit). Quod ad futurum, recurrat (Ordinarius) in
singulis casibus, expositis omnibus circumstantiis.
Haec tibi erant per me significanda : interim omnia fausta
felicia Tibi a Domino precor.
Amplitudinis Tuae
Addictissimus Servus,
M. CAKD. LEDOCHOWSKI, Praef.
IGNATIUS Archiep. TAMIATHEN, Secret.
DOMINO GULIELMO ELDEK,
Achiepiscopo Cincinnatensi.
BOOKS PROHIBITED BY THE ORDINARY
EX S. CONGREGATIONE INDICIS, QUOAD LIBKOS AB OEDINAKIIS
LOCOBUM PROHIBITOS
Feria FJ, die 6 Decembris 1895.
Proposito dubio : utrum qui habent generalem facultatem
legendi libros in Indice librorum prohibitorum contentos, legere
licite possint etiam libros ab Ordinario proscriptos, sine speciali
eiusdem Ordinarii licentia V Emi Patres responded mandarunt :
Negative.
DOCUMENTS 469
ST. PASCHAL BAYLON, PATRON OF ET7CHARISTIC
CONGRESSES
E SECBETAE. BREVIUM
S. PASCHALIS BAYLON DECLARATOR PATRONUS COETUUM, EUCHA-
RISTICORUM, OMNIUMQUE SOCIETATEM A SSMA EUCHARISTIA
LEO PP. XIII.
AD PERPETUAM REI MEMORIAM
Providentissimus Deus fortiter sauviterque disponens omnia,
singular! quadam cura Ecclesiae suae ita prospexit, ut quum
inclinatae maxime res viderentur, ex ipsa temporum acerbitate
insperita eidem solatia suscitaret. Id, quum saepe alias, turn
potissimura videre licet his rei christianae ac civilis temporibus.
Quum enim communis tranquillitatis osores, insolentius se in dies
efferentes, quotidiano impetu eoque validissimo adnitantur Christi
fidem omnemque poene societatem evertere, placuit divinae
bonitati his rerum fluctibus praeclara studia pietatis obiicere.
Quod quidem plane declarant, et sanctissimi Cordis lesu longe
lateque propagata religio, et excitatus ardor ubique terrarum
provehendi cultus Marialis, et inclyti eiusdem Deiparae Sponsi
adaucti honores, et catholicorum coetus in vario rerum genere ad
omnemque fidei defensionem parati, aliaque complura, promo-
vendo divino honori et mutae caritati fovendae, sive amplificata,
sive primum invecta. Quae quidem omnia etsi animum Nostrum
suavissime afificiunt, nihilominus divinorum munerum summam
hanc esse putamus, auctam in populis in Eucharistiae sacramen-
tum religionem post habitos in earn rem coetus per haec tempora
celeberrimos. Nihil enim efficacius videtur Nobis, quod alias
significavimus, catholicorum animis excitandis turn ad fidem
strenue profitendam, turn ad virtutes christiano nomine dignas
exercendas, quam ut alantur et acuantur studia populi in admira-
bile illud amoris pignus, quod pacis vinculum est atque
unitatis.
Quum igitur tanta res maxime Nobis curae sit, quemadmodum
coetus eucharisticos saepe laudavimus, ita nunc uberiorum spe
fructuum permoti, faciendum ducimus ut iis patronus coelestis
assignetur ex sanctis coelitibus qui in augustissimum Corporis
Christi sacramentum vehementiore affectu flagarunt. Inter eos
vero, quorum ardor pietatis in praecelsum hoc fidei mysterium
efferbuisse magis visus est, locum obtinet dignissimum Paschalis
470 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Baylon. Qui animum sortitus rerum coelestium apprime studio-
sum, postquam adolescent! am in custodia gregis transegit inno-
centissime,severioris vitae institutum amplexus in Ordine-Minorum
strictioris observantiae, earn ex contemplatione divine convivii
meruit haurire scientiam, ut rudus ac litterarurn expers potuerit
et de rebus fidei difficillimus respondere et pios etiam libros con-
sci'ibere. Idem Eucharistiae veritatem publice palamque pro-
fessus inter haereticos multa et gravia perpessus est, ac Tharsicii
martyris aemulus, ad necem quoque crebro petitus. Eum denique
pietatis affectum defunctus etiam retinere visus est : quippe
iacens in feretro, ad duplicem sacrarum specierum elevationem,
bis oculos dicitur reserasse.
Igitur apparet, coetus catholicorum, de quibus loquimur,
nullius in tutela melius esse posse. Propterea qua ratione
Thomae Aquinati cupidam litteraruni iuventutem ; Vincentio a
Paulo consociationes caritatis causa initas ; Camillo de Lellis
et loanni de Deo aegrotos et quotquot aegrotis adiutandis dant
operam, opportune commendavimus, ita, quod bonum faustumque
sit et rei christianae benevertat, suprema auctoritate Nostra,
praesentium vi, sanctum Paschalem Baylon peculiarem coetuum
eucharisticorum, item societatum omnium a sanctissima Eucha-
ristia, sive quae hactenus institutae, sive quae in posterum
futurae sunt, Patronum coelestem declaramus et constitui-
mus. Atque ab eiusdem Sancti exemplis patrocinioque hunc
fructum fidenter petimus, ut e populo christiano quotidie
plures animum, consilia, amorem ad lesum Cbristum serva-
torem referant, omnis salutio summum augustissimum-
que* principium. Praesentibus perpetuis futuris temporibus
valituris. Non obstantibus in contrarium facientibus quibus-
cumque. Volumus autem, ut praesentium litterarum tran-
sumptis seu exemplis etiam impressis, manu alicuius Notarii
publici subscriptis, et sigillo personae in ecclesiastica dignitate
constitutae munitis, eadem prorsus fides adbibeatur quae adhibe-
retur ipsis praesentibus, si forent exhibitae vel ostensae.
Datum Eomae apud S. Petrum sub anulo Piscatoris die
XXVIII. Novembris MDCCCXCVIL, Pontificatus Nostri Anno
Yicesimo.
A. CARD. MACCHI.
DOCUMENTS 471
FORM OF BAPTISM UP TO FOURTEEN YEARS OF AGE
E. S. R. UNIV. INQUISITIONS
IN BAPTISMO CONFERENDO, SERVATUR ORDO BAPTISM! PARVULORUM,
ETSI BAPTIZANDI ATTIGERINT AETATEM 14 ANNORUM
EME AC RME DNE OBLME.
A Sacra Eituum Congregatione remissum est Supremae huic
Congregationi dubium expositum ab Em. Tua, utrum scilicet
baptizari possint, servato ordine Baptismi parvulorum, ii pueri
neophyti qui scholis catholicis admissi baptizantur ante primam
Communionem.
Porro Emi Patres una mecum Inquisitores generales, mature
perpenso proposito dubio, respondendum esse duxerunt ' Affirma-
tive ; ' responsiones autem praescriptae dentur a pueris baptizandis
insimul cum eorum patrinis. Haec autem Emorum Patrum
responsio a SS. D. N. rata ac confirmata est.
Attamen mens est eiusdem S. 0. ut Em. Tua qua pollet
apostolica charitate, parochorum zelum excitet, qui current ut ii
pueri catholicorum scholis recepti opportune tempore ad baptis-
mum accedant.
Haec autem dum pro rnei muneris ratione E. Tuae commu-
nico, quo par est obsequio eiusdem manus humillime deosculor.
Emae Tuae
Eomae, 10 Maii, 1879.
Humill. Dnus servus verum.
P. CARD. CATERINI.
EMO CARDINALI GUIBERT. Archiepo Parisien.
SOME DEFECTS IN ORDINATION
IMPOSITIO MANUUM OMISSA CERTE FUIT A SACERDOTIBUS ADSISTF.N-
TIBUS, ET PROBABILITER AB IPSO EPO ORDINANTE t ORDIXATIO
DENUO FIAT SECRETO ET SUB CONDITIONE
BEATISSIME PATER,
Episcopus N. N. ad pedes S. V. provolutus, humiliter exponit
quod in ordinatione sacerdotis B. ex mera oblivione, omissa fuit
impositio manuum ex parte Sacerdotum adsistentium ; insuper
non recordatur Episcopus (neque alii adstantes recordantur)
utrum tenuerit manus elevatas super caput ordinandi, durante
472 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
secunda impositione quando recitabatur oratio ' Oremus fratres
carissimi,' etc., quapropter a supremo oraculo 'petit quid nunc
agere debeat.
Feria IV die 17 Martii 1897.
In Congregatione Gen. S. E. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
EE. et EE. DD. Cardinalibus Generalibus Inquisitoribus,
proposito suprascripto Dubio, iidem EE. ac EE. DDni responderi
mandarunt : ' Sacerdos B. ordinetur secreto et sub conditione
quacumque die, etiam feriata, obtenta a SSmo facultate.
Sequenti vero fer. V die 18 eiusdem mensis et anni, in solita
Audientia E. P. D. Adsessori impertita, facta de his omnibus
relatione SS. D. N. Leoni PP. XIII, idem SS. Dominus resolu-
tionem Emorum et Emorum Patrum in omnibus adprobavit,
facultatem concedendo.
I. CAN. MANCINI, S It. et U. Inq. Notarhis.
[ 473 ]
NOTICES OF BOOKS
MlSSALE KOMANUM, BREYIAEIUM KOMANUM, HOR^E DlURN2E
KITUALE EOMANUM. Tours : Alfred Mame et Fils.
WE have received from the great publishing firm of
Mame of Tours several specimens of their missals, breviaries,
and other liturgical publications, which they have asked us to
bring under the notice of the Irish clergy. We do so with
pleasure. The works that have been sent to us deserve the
highest encomiums. The large and medium-sized missals, bound
in dark-embossed shagreen, with gilt edges, black and red letters,
seem to us excellent value, the former for 29 f. 50 c., and the latter
for 21 f. 50 c. In most churches and chapels on the Continent two
missals are kept, one for every-day use, and one at least for great
feast days and special celebrations. Whether such a luxury can
be indulged in here in Ireland depends very much on the locality.
There is, we know, a general desire that the missal, like all
the furniture of the altar, should be neat and becoming. The
excellence and cheapness of the missals we have before us will
enable all who have care of churches or chapels to have a book
on the altar in keeping with its spotless surroundings. Those who
require a really splendid missal can have one for about £4, richly
bound in Morocco. Those whose means will not allow them to
offer such a present to the altar may well be content with the
missals at 21 f. 50 c.
As for the breviaries, they are of ail shapes and sizes. As an
excellent serviceable breviary , we recommend the edition in 18mo
(No. 52 in catalogue), which is quite up to date in every respect,
and costs 45 or 38 francs, according as the binding is first or
second class. A really beautiful breviary, one of the best in
existence, is that in 12mo (marked 88 in catalogue), and costing
from 41 to 57 francs, according to the binding. The bound
copy at 48 francs seems to us a splendid book. There is also
a ' Totum,' costing 16 francs, and an edition of the whole
breviary in two volumes in 16mo, nicely bound, at 28 francs.
There is a handsome ritual for 5 f. 50 c. It is well printed, but the
size is a little large, and would be somewhat inconvenient for
474 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
' sick calls. ' There is also a very serviceable ' Horse ' at
8 f . 25 c. In France the house of Mame has a great and honourable
reputation. In a country in which bad literature abounds, the
press machines of Maine's great establishment have never been
sullied by corrupt or even doubtful work. Their proprietor has
built up for himself and his family an immense fortune, and
has done so by giving the best value that trade competition
would allow him to give. If we must send money out of Ireland,
it is, at all events, satisfactory to know that it is going into
worthy hands.
J. F. H.
LE COSTUME ET LES USAGES ECCLESIASTIQUES SELON LA
TRADITION EOMAINE. Par Mgr. Barbier de Montault.
Toure Premier Regies Generates, Le Costume Usuel,
le Costume de Choeur. Paris: Letouzey et Ane,
Editeurs.
THIS is the first volume of a book which, when completed, will
be a unique publication. The subject of the present volume is
ecclesiastical dress, taken in its widest sense to include the details
of every-day wearing apparel and of choir costume. The author's
object has not been to write a history of ecclesiastical costume,
but to set forth the practice of the Eoman Church as contained
' in law, tradition, and custom,' with a view to set up a standard
to which ecclesiastics throughout the world should, as far as
possible conform. Koine has been his guide — not France — where,
according to himself, ' la regie a disparu et on lui substitue une
volonte, absolue et arbitraire.' The volume before us is divided
into three books. The first is a collection of the texts of Canon
Law, the Pontifical Briefs (arranged in chronological order), and
the decrees of the Sacred Congregations which bear on the subject
of the work. These are very useful and interesting, as indicating
the mind of the Church. The author does not discriminate
between what in them is of strict obligation and what is not, and
thus, of course, relieves himself of a very onerous undertaking.
Reading over those wise regulations of ecclesiastical authority we
cannot help noticing the constant anxiety of the Church to keep
her ministers from the pursuit of woi'ldly avocations, pastimes,
and fashions.
' Clerici officia vel commercia secularia non exerceant . . .
NOTICES OF BOOKS 475
Ad aleas et taxillos non ludant . . . Pannis rubeis aut viridibus,
nee non manicis aut secularibus conseuticiis, fraenis, stellis pec-
toralibus, calcaribus deauratis non utantur.' — Decretals.
The distinction between the long and short dress has long
been canonically recognised, but the short soutane or coat
(soutanelle) should reach the knees. ' Nous permettons nean-
moins a 1'occasion d'un voyage que les susdits vetements soient
plus courts, de fa$on toutefois qu'ils couvrent les genoux et qu'ils
soient conformes a la modestie ecclesiastique.' — Edit du Cardinal
de Carpegna (1708).
The second book deals with 'Le Costume Usuel,' i.e., every-
day dress. The author's treatment of this department is quite
exhaustive, beginning with the feet and ending with the crown of
the head. ' Le mot costume,' he writes, (s' etend a tout 1'ensemble
de la toilette ; chaussure, habillement de dessus et de dessous,
chevelure, coiffure et accessoires. L'examen de ces diverses
parties va se faire en detail en comme^ant par les pieds pour
n'nir par la tete.' In a preliminary dissertation he states that the
use of velvet is reserved to the Pope, and that inferior clergy
should not affect even velvet trimmings. But he cites no
authority for this view. He evinces a prejudice against red
shirts. ' Laissons,' he writes, ' les chemises rouges aux
Garibaldiens,' and he would have us relinquish pantaloons and
laced boots for culotte, long stockings, and buckled shoes. He
presumes, however, the soutane is worn over them on ordinary
occasions.
' Le Costume de Choeur,' is the heading of the third book ;
and while here we notice the same attention to minutiae, we meet
less of the author's predilections. The material, cut, and use of
all the various articles of choir dress are fully described. This
book and the preceding are profusely illustrated. Bishops in
cappa, mozzetta, mantelleta ; prelates in mantellone ; canons in
cappa; priests in short dress and long dress, in surplice and
soutane, are exhibited in different attitudes, and altogether
constitute a pictorial collection of ecclesiastics of unexceptionable
tenue.
We sympathize with the author's desire to secure uniformity
according to the Eoman usage, and we have no doubt this
interesting and learned volume will do something to realize his
ideal. It is not too difficult to abolish unrubrical choir costumes,
v.g., the wearing of a surplice over a short coat ; but local usage,
476 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
climate, taste, and convenience, must, we think, be always
allowed to exercise a reasonable influence on the every-day dress
of the priest. T. P. G.
VITA JESU CHRISTI. Ex textibus quatuor Evangelorum
distinctis. Auctore : L. Mechineau, S.J. Paris :
Lethielleux.
THE letters affixed to the author's name are usually a guar-
antee of soundness and scholarship, and accordingly we opened
the volume before us with high expectations. Nor were we
disappointed. We venture to say that no more satisfactory life
of our Lord has yet been written. For here there is no padding,
no speculations, no pious or other exaggerations, no human
eloquence. In the first part of the book each page is divided
into six columns. In the first are numbers, in the second facts
arranged in historical sequence, and in the remaining four refer-
ences to the four Gospels. So we have a synopsis of the life of
Christ in which each individual fact is numbered (for convenience),
located, and authenticated. In the second part, under corres-
ponding numbers, the texts referred to in the first part are
printed in parallel columns. The reader is thus enabled to see at
a glance the inspired records of any individual fact in our Saviour's
life. These two parts constitute the main body of the work. A
learned 'praeambula de Medio Historico Vitae Christi,' and a
closing exegetical dissertation on selected questions, complete a
work which deserves to be widely circulated among ecclesiastics
T. P. G.
OUR LADY OF AMERICA. Liturgically known as ' Holy Mary
of Guadalupe.' By Kev. G. Lee, C.S.Sp. Baltimore and
New York : John Murphy and Co.
THIS is an attractively written history of the rise, growth, and
fruits of the Guadalupan devotion in honour of the Blessed
Virgin, which, for well-nigh six centuries, has been a feature of
the Catholicity of the New World — as beautiful as it is inspiring.
The conquest of Mexico by Spain was accompanied by the intro-
duction of Christianity among the conquered races, and the good
work of evangelizing the natives was forwarded by a very special
Divine Providence. Our Lady seemed to take a particular joy in
bringing about the widespread conversion of the Indians. For,
while the Mexican Church was still in its infancy, she appeared
NOTICES OF BOOKS 477
in this land, which formerly had been the scene of so many
abominations, ' spoke to its people, and left them a wondrous
memorial of her visit.' An humble Indian peasant was the privi-
leged one to whom this heavenly visitant manifested herself.
To Juan Diego the Mother of God appeared on the Hill of
Tepeyae, near the Mexican capitol. Him she commanded to go
to Zumarrago, the devout Bishop of Mexico, with a request that
he would cause a temple to be erected to her honour on the spot
where she stood. In proof of the authenticity of his commission
she painted upon the coarse canvas of the Indian's cloak the
picture which ever since has been held in deep veneration by the
faithful, and whose miraculous origin is not only attested to by
the highest human authority, but also stands revealed in its mar-
vellous beauty, its faultless perfection as a work of art, and in its
undecaying freshness. The main facts of this wonderful appari-
tion and picture our author undertakes to prove to be not only
morally and historically, but also theologically and ecclesiastically,
certain. And, indeed, we cannot read his interesting narrative
without being fully convinced of the justice of his contention.
In Father Lee the Guadalupan shrine has found an able exponent,
a loving client, and a powerful advocate. He shows us that
Eoman Pontiffs have believed in Guadalupe, enriched the devo-
tion with many privileges, granted a feast in its honour to be
celebrated as a double of the first class with an octave, and
finally proclaimed Our Lady, under the title of Guadalupe,
patroness of New Spain. But, perhaps, he is most interesting
when he treats of the extraordinary influence wielded by Guada-
lupe in stimulating religious fervour and enthusiasm among the
simple people of this country, in moulding their lives in habits of
virtue, and in fostering among them a deep and tender love for
the Mother of God. Guadalupe is to the New World what
Lourdes is to the Old. In both God's favours are abundantly
bestowed on deserving suppliants, and both, too, seem to bear
the stamp of the supernatural. We commend the book to our
readers as delightfully interesting, as breathing a spirit of lively
faith in God's special revelations, and, above all, as being a tribute
of warmest love to our Blessed Lady. We hope, too, with the
author that these pages will make this holy Mexican shrine more
widely known and still more deeply venerated, and that, before
long, our Blessed Lady, under the title of Guadulupe, will be
enshrined the patroness, not of New Spain only, but of the whole
of Central America. P. M.
478 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
GREGORIAN Music. An Outline of Musical Paleography.
Illustrated by Fac-similes of Ancient Manuscripts. By
the Benedictines of Stanbrook. London and Leaming-
ton : Art and Book Company.
HANDBOOK OF BULBS FOR SINGING AND PHRASING PLAIN-
SONG. By the Benedictines of Stanbrook. Same
Publisher.
IN recent times there is a growing conviction that for the
proper understanding and satisfactory rendering of the Gregorian
melodies, even in the abbreviated form of the Editio Medicaea.
some knowledge of the results of the archaeological researches
instituted in this subject is necessary. The literature on this
matter, while very extensive, is not very accessible for the general
reader. There is a particular dearth of books in the English
language. The Elements of Plain-Song, published by the Plain-
Song and Mediaeval Music Society, has up to recently been the
only publication to be mentioned in this connection. We must
be very grateful, therefore, to the Benedictine nuns of Stanbrook
Abbey for laying before English readers the principal results of
musical paleography, especially of the Paleographie Musicale,
the quarterly publication of the Benedictine monks of Solesmes,
which holds the foremost place amongst the publications on this
subject.
Gregorian Music opens with a nicely-written chapter on the
aim of Church music. Some general idea on the subject of
musical paleography having been given, the origin and develop-
ment of the neumatic and diastematic notation are clearly set
forth. The fifth chapter deals with the important and practical
question of liquescence. We are not quite satisfied that the
explanation of the reason of liquescence given in this chapter is
correct. We certainly should not like to hear the word confun-
dentur pronounced anything like conL'-fun°-dene-tur. But the
subject itself is very important for the rhythm of plain-chant, and
without a knowledge of it it will scarcely be possible to do justice
to the Gregorian melodies. Unfortunately, liquescent notes are
not indicated in the Eoman chant books. Recourse must, there-
fore, be had to the manuscripts, or printed editions reproducing
their notation, in order to acquire that refinement of rhythmical
feeling which will enable one to determine with accuracy in what
cases liquescence should take place. But the hints given in the
NOTICES OF BOOKS 479
present book, together, perhaps, with the suggestions in
Dr. Haberl's Magisler Choralis, chapter 45, under 3, will give
some help to the student.
After a fairly exhaustive exposition of the Eomanian signs and
letters, three chapters are devoted to rhythm, the cursus, and
the adaptation of texts. These we are inclined to consider as
the best part of the work, and we imagine that nothing is better
calculated to produce a delicacy of rhythmical feeling than a
careful study of these chapters.
A few special remarks on execution bring the body of the
work to a conclusion. An appendix deals with the modes and
psalmody. The former are dismissed pretty summarily, a pro-
ceeding to which we do not object, as the subject is by no means
fully investigated, and not very practical. The reproduction of
the numerous mediations and endings of mediaeval psalmody is of
not much use for those following the Eoman usage, but the prin-
ciples of treatment are the same. The management of the addi-
tional note required when a dactylic word formation has to be
fitted to the cadences of trochaic structure, is very instructive.
The method of dealing with such formulas as the mediation of
the third tone is particularly interesting, and we should like to
see it generally adopted. But, unfortunately, the rules governing
this additional note are not expressly stated. The reader has to
abstract them for himself from the examples given.
The Handbook of Rules is a little pamphlet intended to be put
into the hands of singers. It gives simple and plain rules on pro-
nunciation of Latin, accentuation, voice production, plain-song
scales, notation, &c. In the chapter on the value of notes, the
vexed question whether accent means prolongation, is solved, to
•our mind satisfactorily, in the following manner: — ', . . an
accent is brought out, not by being lengthened, but by being
strongly marked. In practice, however, it will inevitably become
a little longer ; but this is by no means to be aimed at. ' As to
the rendering of the neums, the rule now frequently accepted by
writers is given that the first note of each neum is the accented
one. While freely admitting that at every first note of a neum
the voice receives a slight renewal of impulse, we cannot make up
our minds that this note in all cases should bear the greatest
stress. In a scandicus, for instance, if it stands by itself, not
influenced by any modifying exigencies of the text, we should
consider as the natural expression an increase of strength towards
480 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the last note, and we believe that is the method adopted by the
best choirs. At the same time, we consider that too much
importance cannot be attached to the rule given in the same
chapter, that the ^force of the accented syllable must be put on
the first note of the first group of notes set to it.
In the chapter on pauses, we meet, among other excellent
rules, the one that a consonant beginning a new syllable should
be pronounced on the last note of the previous syllable. This
rule works out most admirably in practice, though it is based
rather on an illusion, inasmuch as most consonants cannot be
pronounced on any definite pitch.
In conclusion, we congratulate the nuns of Stanbrook Abbey
on their excellent publications, and hope that for the benefit
of Church music these books will meet with an extensive
circulation.
H. B.
VICTOR VITENSIS ON THE VANDAL
PERSECUTION
READEKS of the I. E. EECOED who remember so
well our Irish persecutions, will be interested in
a short account of one exactly similar which
took place a thousand years before — the Vandal
persecution in Africa — of which Victor, to a great extent
an eyewitness, has left us an account in a work which
Sirmond calls ' a golden book, ' and again, ' one of the
most illustrious monuments of all antiquity.' Victor's
identity was a long time disputed, but can be so no longer,
since Liron, one of his commentators and biographers,
clearly proved that he was a priest of Carthage, who lived
there during the reigns of Genseric and Huneric, and then
became Bishop of Vita in the province of Byzacene, where
he wrote this work about the year 487. No more is known
of him with certainty; but all admit that he was a very pious
and learned man, and a most judicious historian.
By keeping in mind the following dates we can more
easily follow Victor's narrative of events. The Vandals
crossed over to Africa at the beginning of 428, and had
completed their conquest at the death of St. Augustine in
430, with the exception of the three cities of Hippo, Cirta,
and Carthage. By the treaty of Hippo, in 435, they restored
Mauritania and Western Numidia to the Empire, but kept
1 Migne, tomus Iviii., Tatrologlat Latince,
FOUUTtt SERIES, VOL. Ill JUNE, 1898.
2 H
482 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
"this treaty only to the death of Valentinian, in 455. They
took Carthage in 439. Genseric reigned to 477, and was
succeeded by his son Huneric, who died in 484. He was
succeeded by ais nephew Guntabund, who reigned twelve
years, and was succeeded by his brother Thrasamund, who
died in 525, and was succeeded by Hilderic, who was
dethroned in 530 by Gelimer, the last Vandal king.
Belisarius, the great general of Justinian, expelled the
Vandals in 534, and the country remained subject to the
Greek Empire until the Arab conquest in 665.
Having already noticed l that part of Victor's narrative
which was connected with the conquest, I shall begin the
present notice from the taking of Carthage. The savagery
we shall often meet with in this narrative is so revolting,
that I must ask my readers to remember, for the honour of
humanity, that the Vandals were an exceptional race among
all those that invaded the tottering Empire in the fifth
century. All the other races divided the lands with the old
inhabitants, and left the Catholic Church undisturbed; the-
consequence was that the conquerors gradually imbibed the
civilization and religion of the vanquished ; and even in
Britain this process would probably have taken place only
for the obstinacy of the old natives. But the Vandals, like
our own Cromwellians, respected nothing ; they confiscated
all the lands ; and, as fanatical Arians, banished, tortured,
or murdered every Catholic bishop or priest on whom they
could lay their hands. They spared as many of the common
people as they needed to cultivate their lands, to exercise
the various handicrafts, carry on their trade and commerce,
keep the financial and administrative accounts, &c., &c. ; for
of all these things the Vandals were completely ignorant,
and remained so to the end. The only progress they ever
made was in the effeminacy engendered by sudden wealth
and a delightful climate, and to this, like their predecessors
the Africo-Eomans, they owed their final downfall.
This Vandal persecution was carried on by means of a
penal code and spasmodic outbursts. The Vandal kings
1 Life of St. Atiffiistine, chaps, xvi., xvii.
VICTOR VITENSIS ON THE VANDAL PERSECUTION 483
were absolute, and their edicts were laws. Victor's narrative,
in five books, embraces the reigns of Genseric and Huneric ;
the books will be indicated by Koinan numerals, the chapters
by ordinary figures.
The first thing Genseric did on entering Carthage was
to seize the Bishop, Quodvuldtdeus, with as many of his
clergy as he could lay his hands on, and pack them on board
rotten ships without provision of any kind. He then divided
the confiscated lands among his soldiers, and issued an edict
of banishment against all the bishops and nobles of the
country, under the penalty of perpetual slavery in case of the
slightest resistance or delay. Victor adds,1 that he knew
many bishops and distinguished laymen who thus became
slaves to the Vandals. A number of bishops and nobles from
the provinces, who had already lost everything, came to
Carthage, and humbly asked for the bare permission to live
among the afflicted people to console them; but Genseric
answered, ' I have decreed the extermination of your race
and name, and you dare to make such a request.' It was
only by the entreaties of his own courtiers that he was pre-
vented from having them all cast into the sea. Having
seized upon all the churches of Carthage, some for the
Arians, he ordered all the churches of the country to
be closed or confiscated ; and, says Victor, 2 * they then
celebrated the divine mysteries as they could, and where
they could.' But even from this they were terrified by
another edict 3 forbidding ' all opportunity for prayer or
immolation.' The next edict4 ordered all thesacred books
and vessels to be delivered up ; and a veritable fiend
named Proculus was sent to the country to see this
edict executed. A holy bishop named Valerianus, having
refused to submit to this sacrilege, was cast out on the
public highway, where no one could even speak to him;
' but/ says Victor, ' unworthy as I am, I had the honour to
salute him.' He was over eighty years of age, and was left
almost naked to perish.
4. -2i. 5. »i. 7,. M, 12.
484 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
The next paragraph vividly depicts the state to which
the Catholics were reduced by all these edicts : — l
In a place called Eegia, the faithful forced open their church
to celebrate Easter day ; the Arians heard of it, and immediately
one of their priests, named Adduit, at the head of an armed
mob, rushed upon the innocent multitude. Some rushed in with
drawn swords, others mounted the roof, while others discharged
their darts through the windows. The people were listening or
singing, and the lector in the pulpit chanting alleluia, when,
pierced in the throat by an arrow, he fell dead, the book having
fallen from his hands. Many others were killed on the very steps
of the altar, being pierced with arrows and darts ; and those who
were not then slain by the sword were nearly all put to death by
order of the King, especially those of mature age. Elsewhere, as
at Tinuzuda and Ammonia, for example, when the Sacraments of
God were being administered to the people, they rushed in
breathing vengeance, scattered the body and blood of Christ on
the pavement, and trampled it under their polluted feet.
This was the state of things during the whole reign of
Genseric, with only a few short respites procured by the
Emperors. A few personal facts will help to complete the
picture.
Genseric was himself a most able, and, to some extent,
an educated man ; but he had among his followers no men
capable of filling the high administrative posts in his vast
kingdom ; he had therefore to fall back on some of the old
imperial officials. One of these was Count Sebastian 2 ' a
man greatly needed, but also much feared by Genseric ; a
man valiant in war and wise in council.' One day the King
sent for him, and in presence of his bishops and courtiers
said : —
Sebastian, you have sworn to be faithful to us, and your acts
prove your sincerity ; but that your friendship may be more
lasting, it is the wish of our priests here present that you should
embrace the religion which we and our own people venerate.
Sebastian refused, and gave his reason in a beautiful
parable which reduced them to silence. But another pretext
was found, and his life was taken by order of the King.
1 i. 13. 2 j. G,
VICTOR VITENSIS ON THE VANDAL PERSECUTION 485
At this time 1 Genseric, at the instigation of his bishops,
issued orders that no one but an Arian should hold office in
his own palace or in those of his sons. Armogastes held
office in the palace of Theodoric, the King's third son ; and
when it came to his turn, as Victor expresses it, his legs
were bound tight with cords — a torture which was long
continued, and often repeated. They also beat and cut his
forehead, on which was marked the sign of the cross — an
African custom, as St. Augustine often tells us ; 2 the holy
man looking up to heaven all the time. The cords burst,
but the executioners brought others of hemp, and much
stronger. They too burst, the victim only invoking the
name of Christ. They then suspended him, head down-
wards, by one foot ; but he looked to the spectators like one
reclining on a bed of down. Theodoric then ordered him to
be beheaded, but he was dissuaded by his priest, Jocundus.
Lest he should be honoured as a martyr, he counselled some
slower process. He was then banished to the province of
Byzacene, to dig trenches ; but, for his greater humiliation,
he was afterwards brought back, and placed as a cowherd
near Carthage. In this occupation he at last felt his end
approaching, and sent for his friend Felix, procurator of the
prince's household, and a good Christian. He told him that
his hour was at hand, and pointed out the spot where he
wished to be buried. 'No,' said Felix; 'you shall be
buried with honour in one of the basilicas ' — a thought
savouring more of zeal than of prudence — for Genseric had
strictly forbidden all Catholic burial rites. But Armogastes
replied : ' By the faith which we both hold, and as you shall
answer to God, bury me here.' A few days later the holy
confessor died, and while digging the grave Felix came upon
a marble sarcophagus fit for a king. His name occurs in the
Koman Martyrology, March 29.
Saturus, procurator in the house of Hunneric, the King's
eldest son, was summoned to choose between Arianism and
all he held dear in this world. Riches and honours were to
reward his compliance ; loss of position, substance, home,
i i. 4. a Serin, xxvii., &c.
486 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and family was to be the penalty of his refusal ; and, to
crown all, his wife was to be made the spouse of a camel-
driver before his face. He did not hesitate a moment, but
told them to do quickly what they had to do. His wife was
then brought upon the scene. She found him alone in prayer.
Her garments rent, her hair dishevelled, surrounded by her
children, and an infant in her arms, she embraced his knees,
and filled the whole place with her lamentations. ' 0 my
beloved husband,' she cried, ' have pity on me, have pity on
these children, have pity on yourself. Comply with this
order, and God will see that you only do by compulsion
what others have done, perhaps, willingly.' But he answered
her in the words of Job : ' Thou hast spoken like one of the
foolish women.' l My spouse, you have made yourself the
emissary of Satan, as if there was no other life but this. I hold
fast to the promise of my Lord : if anyone will not renounce
wife and children,' &c. ' They then deprived him of every-
thing ; but his baptismal robe they could not take away,'
says Victor.
Archinimus 2 was one of those on whose perversion
Genseric had set his heart. He even stooped to exert all
his personal influence, lavishing on him caresses and pro-
mises. But it was all in vain ; and then, without further
ceremony, he sent him to the scaffold, with this satanic
order to the executioner, that, if he yielded at the last
moment, his head was to be struck off ; if he held firm, he
was to be brought back alive. He did hold firm ; and, says
Victor, ' although cheated of the glory of martyrdom, that
of confessor could not be taken from him.' Even Gibbon
cannot plead ignorance in this case for Genseric, who was
himself an apostate.
To understand the following pathetic story3 we must
remember that the southern borderers of Roman Africa,
from Tripoly to the Atlantic Ocean, were the pagan Moors
and Gestulians. These, from the very first, Genseric adopted
as allies, and left them undisturbed in their vast terri-
tories. Hence, during the whole Vandal period, one of the
Mi. 10. 2i. 15. ai. 10.
VICTOR VITENSIS ON THE VANDAL PERSECUTION 487
most ordinary punishments inflicted on bishops, priests,
nobles, &c., was to be sent as slaves to the Moors.
A Vandal millenarian (captain of a thousand) had among
his slaves four brothers and a consecrated virgin named
Maxima, young, beautiful, and intelligent, and mistress over
the entire household. The brothers were ordinary Christians;
but from the moment they came under the influence of
Maxima they advanced constantly in fervour. The Vandal
discovered this by a series of occurrences too long to men-
tion here, and ordered them all to join his sect. They
refused, and were subjected to various tortures. Again and
again they refused, and were again and again flogged almost
to death. They were then cast into prison, manacled, and
racked before a great multitude. A curse fell upon the
Vandal ; his cattle died, his children died, and at last he
died himself, leaving only a desolate widow, who gave these
slaves to one Sesacni, a cousin of the King, who at once
ordered him to continue the persecution ; until at last
ashamed of his failure with Maxima, he ordered her to be
dismissed as an incorrigible. The four brothers he ordered
to be given to Capsur, a Moorish chief of an oasis called
Caprapicta. By word and example they converted Capsur
and his people, built a church, and sent a great distance (ad
civitatem Eomanam} to the nearest bishop for a priest to
baptize them, and live among them. When all this came
to the ears of Genseric, his rage knew no bounds. He
ordered the four brothers to be seized, bound, fastened to
the tail of a cart, and dragged by wild horses over briers
and thorns, and rocks ; and in this way they were crowned
with a glorious martyrdom. Miracles were wrought at their
tomb, and their names are found in the Roman Martyrology
on the 16th October. Maxima was still alive when Victor
wrote, and abbess of a large monastery.
When about to give these details, Victor says : ' If, as
everyone knows, martyrs were then numerous, confessors
were more numerous still.' l Gibbon, unable to deny or
conceal the facts, is not ashamed* to offer excuses for all this
i. 10, * Ch,
488 THE IRISH f ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
savagery ; and certainly some of his excuses are a curiosity.
Genseric, he says, was an apostate, and could expect no
favour from the Catholics ; the Catholics exasperated him by
their constancy ; the Arian clergy were few and ignorant, and
no match for a clergy so numerous and learned as their
adversaries ; the Catholics refused to proclaim the principle
that truth and error had equal rights. He also insinuates
that Genseric dreaded a Catholic rising, and actually asserts1
that there was such a rising, but takes care to give neither
date nor reference. There is no record of such a rising, and
Genseric had no such fear ; he knew that his Catholic sub-
jects were an unwarlike race, and were completely unarmed,
as they had always been, even under the Romans. His fears
were of a very different kind : he feared the Emperors whose
territories he raided in his annual piratical expeditions ; he
feared the constant risings and incursions of the Moors ; but
above all, he feared the conspiracies of his own people, many
of whom despised him as a base-born usurper, while others
hated him as the murderer of the legitimate heirs. Gibbon
admits in this very chapter, that during his reign more
Vandal blood was shed on the scaffold than on the field of
battle.
A word now about the respites already alluded to, and
which were very short and few. In 439, the Primate arrived
at Naples in his rotten ship, and had to remain in exile until
his death, in 452. In 454, Genseric, at the request of
Valentinian, allowed the churches of Carthage to be re-
opened and a bishop consecrated; this bishop was Deogratias,
who lived only three years, and was almost entirely occupied
in alleviating the miseries occasioned by Geiiseric's sack of
Eome, in 455. We shall allow Victor to describe this in his
own words2 :—
Were I to attempt a full account of the wonders wrought by
God through this holy bishop, words would fail me. For, after
his ordination, Eome, that most noble and famous city, was
taken by Genseric , and, on his return to Carthage, the multitude
of captives was divided as usual among the Moors and Vandals,
1 Ch. xxxiii. '2 i. 8.
VICTOR VITENSIS ON THE VANDAL PERSECUTION 489
husbands being separated from their wives, parents from their
children. At once the man of God sold the gold and silver vessels
to redeem the captives and restore the husbands to their wives,
the children to' their parents. And, as no other place could
shelter such a multitude, he gave up to them two great churches
which he filled with beds and litter, attending daily to the distri-
bution of food &c. And as most of them had suffered from the
sea, to which they were unaccustomed, and from the hardships of
captivity, there was much sickness among them. The holy bishop
attended to them like a tender nurse, went the rounds with the
physicians, and saw himself that each was supplied with the
nourishment he needed. Nor did he cease from this work of
mercy during the night, but went round the beds asking each one
how he felt ; and this he did without a thought of rest for his weary
limbs or his decrepit old age. The Arians were so enraged that
some of them plotted against his life ; and it is my belief that the
Lord called him away so soon only to save his poor sparrow from
the hawks. The grief of these poor captives at his death was so
great that they felt as if they had been delivered up again to the
barbarians. He spent three years in the ministry, and such was
the veneration of the people that he had to be buried privately,
during- the usual prayers, lest they should tear his body in pieces.
His name occurs in the Kornan Martyrology on the 22nd
of March.
On the death of this bishop the churches of Carthage
were again closed and the clergy banished ; a special decree
was also issued against any attempt to ordain a bishop within
the Province of Carthage, usually called Proconsularis, and
sometimes Zeugitan a.1 The next and last respite in Genseric's
reign was in 475, when Severus, the ambassador of the
Emperor Zeno, obtained the reopening of the churches of
Carthage and the return of the clergy.* We do not find any
mitigations of the penal laws obtained for the rest of the
country during Genseric's reign. He died in January, 477.
We can now form a tolerably clear idea of Genseric's
persecution. His plan was to exterminate the clergy and
the gentry, and then make what he liked of the common
people. This plan succeeded against the gentry, who had
only the chance of becoming tenants under exorbitant rents
on the worst lands of their former estates, or emigrating to
other countries, or being sold into slavery; both the Eastern
i. 9. 17. a i. 17.
490 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and Western empires were crowded with these illustrious
exiles. His plan succeeded with the clergy, too, as far as their
property, movable and immovable, was concerned ; but in
every other respect it was one of the most signal failures
recorded in history. Looking at the means employed,
anyone would expect to see the African Church completely
extinguished ; but, on the contrary, it never before was so
illustrious, not even in St. Augustine's time.1 Having already
endeavoured to describe the moral and religious state of
Africa at the arrival of the Vandals, I can only say now that
it was immeasurably better at the death of Genseric. The
proof of this will be more clearly seen at the end of the whole
Vandal persecution which has still half a century to run.
How did all this happen ? Well, in the first place, as Liron
one of Victor's commentators, remarks, not a single bishop
— there were neary five hundred — deserted his post unless
dragged away by violence. Ordinations were forbidden, but
the sees were never left vacant,2 except in Carthage and its
immediate neighbourhood, where the King and his satellites
were ever on the watch. Even at Carthage there were
always priests to attend to the wants of the faithful. Victor
himself lived there all through Genseric's persecution, as
Liron clearly proves. In the next place, as Victor tells us,3
' the people of God held firmly to their faith, and even grew
stronger and stronger in it, fulfilling these words4 " the more
they were oppressed, the more were they multiplied and
strengthened." ' Finally, and above all the rest, extraordinary
graces and supernatural favours were freely lavished on
these faithful Christians.
Nor must we omit the human means which, in the
providence of God, contributed to Genseric's discomfiture.
1. During the first twenty years of Genseric's rule, the
western half of the country was subject to the Empire, and
was thus able in various ways to help the persecuted
Christians in the east.
1Zt/c of St. Augustine, chap. xvi.
2 This was clearly verified in 481, when King Huneric obtained a complete
list of the Bishops by pretended clemency and most heartless fraud.
3 i. 7. 4 Exod. i. 12.
2. North Africa is entirely mountainous, except a narrow
strip on the coast. In the very worst times there were
convents and monasteries in these mountains, and, of
course, individual bishops and priests could escape notice
still more easily.
3. The eastern provinces, where the Vandals chiefly
resided, were so very populous, that their presence was
hardly perceptible in the daily life of the people. In the
other provinces, the only Vandal to be met with, outside
the towns, at any time was the new landlord, and, at stated
times, the king's tax-gatherer.
4. The extent of the complete kingdom was immense,
1,500 miles from east to west ; and the Vandals were never
more than some thousands among millions.1
5. During his whole life Genseric had many other
troubles to attend to beside the persecution of the Catholics.
Victor mentions no apostates in this reign, but it is hard
to think there were none. He mentions2 spies and informers,
and these must have been apostates, for they penetrated into
the religious assemblies of the faithful and if the preacher
happened to mention such names as Pharao, Holofernes, &c.,
he was denounced as having alluded to the king, hunted
down by Genseric's satellites, and sent at once into exile or
sold into slavery. Victor gives a list of bishops who were
seized in this way, among them one named Crescens who
was Metropolitan over one hundred and twenty bishops.
Kuinart remarks in a note that this word Metropolitan
was unusual in Africa. Besides the Bishop of Carthage, who
r The Vandals were not a numerous race ; Salvian (-De Gubcrnationc I>ei,
i. 7.), thinks they were the least of all the barbarian races of the time. Yet,
by the mere terror of their name, they made the greatest conquests of all.
Genseric ruled over Africa, Sardinia, Corsica, Majorca, Minorca, and Sicily,
which Odoacer held from him as vassal. He had a strong piratical fleet, manned
by Moors and desperados of all nations, with which he ravaged annually the
coasts of the Mediterranean, bringing back to Carthage slaves and treasure.
Like our own Cromwell, he prostituted religion to his de«igns: when once
asked by the pilot, on leaving Carthage, whither he was to steer this time, he
answered, to those with whom God is angry. But, as Gibbon remarks, he took
good care to direct him afterwards to the place which he knew from his spies to
be richest in treasure and weakest in protecting force. On land he had always
a Bible carried before his standard.
2i. 7.
492 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
was Primate of all Africa and also local Primate of
Proconsularis, there were five other provincial primates
called Primas, or Senex from the fact that they succeeded
by seniority ; they had power to ordain the bishops of their
province. Victor thus concludes the first book : ' Here ends
our persecution under Genseric ; so cruel, yet so sublime.'
PHILIP BURTON, C.M.
THE 'MULS' AND THE * GILS': SOME IRISH
SURNAMES
III.
ONE of the most striking characteristics of the Irish race
has always been a great veneration and affection for
those consecrated to the service of religion. As far as we
can gather from the native literature, the Druids seem to
have held a strong position in the popular favour, even
though they spoke of the world beyond with no very certain
voice. Celtic Paganism had lost all definiteness of teaching
at the time St. Patrick came to Ireland, and the strong con-
trast between the vague, cheerless generalities of Druidic
tradition, and the definite and consoling assurances of the
Christian faith was, no doubt, one of the reasons of the
wondarfully rapid conversion of Ireland. We are not to be
surprised, therefore, that the early Christian teachers who
with St. Patrick, or after him, taught the new faith, should
hold a warm place in the hearts of the nation. We speak
now of but one indication of this, connected with our present
subject. It was very usual in early Christian Ireland, in
speaking of the early missionaries, to add to the names of
many of them the endearing diminutive terminations -an or
-6c (modern og).1 Thus, St. Colurncille is often found with
' There is a curious and somewhat analogous usage in English in such
expletive phrases as ' by'r lakin ' = by our Lady-kin (Shakespeare), ' ods
bodkins' = by God's body-kins, and some others •which I have not seen in print,
though they exist in our Anglo-Irish dialect, such as ' upon me soiikins '
(alitei~) 'sukkins ' = my soul-kins, and similarly ' fekkins ' = faith-kins. These
last examples are from Meath ; the -kin, -kins, is the diminutive termination
as in m Minikin.
THE 'MULS' AND < GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 493
the name Colmoc ; hence Staholmock, or ' house of little
Colm.' The Isle of Rona, north of the Hebrides, takes its
name from St. Kona, who is also called Ronan and Ronoc
(modern Ronog). The -an form was easily Latinised, and
so we usually find these names ending in Latin in -anus, and
in English (after the Latin) ending in -an, as Ronan, Colman,
Aidan. There was also the still more curious practice of
prefixing to the names the endearing particle mo, my ; thus
' the church of (St.) Kona ' is the translation of the name of
a ruin at the east end of Loch Lomond ; the name itself is
Kil-ma-ron-og, ' Church of my little Rona.' It is the same
Rona (venerated at lona and elsewhere on February 7th)
that Walter Scott alludes to when he speaks of
A vot'ress in Maronnan's cell
— mo-ron-dn, my little Rona.
Some of our Irish saints have had their names much
disguised, like that of Rona in the line just quoted ; such as
St. Molua, really moLua, or my Lua, possibly one of those
from whom Cill-dd-Lua or Killaloe (Church of the two
Luas) takes its well-known name, just as Timoleague stands
for Tigh-mo-Laga, house of ' my Laga,' usually called
St. Molaga. The patron saint of Kinsale, in English called
Multose, is in Gaelic2 mo-Elte-og, my little Elte, a pupil of
St. Barre of Cork. Portmarnock, Kilmarnock, Inchmarnock,
contain another well-disguised name, for those places are the
' landing-place,' ' cell,' and 'island,' respectively, of m" Ern-uc,
my little Erna, the same St. Erna who was with Columba in
Clonmacnoise. He is, perhaps, better known by the other
diminutive form of his name, Ernan. Hence comes the
surnames MacAlearney, MacLerney, MacLarney, Millarney
(= o' Maoil-Erna, if not merely a rapid pronunciation of
MacLarney), MacAlernon, MacLernon, MacClernand, Mac-
Lorinan; all meaning d.s. of St. Ernan, whose feast day is
August 18th.
We may take it that a name of this class was the origin
of the Latin Columbanus, the Irish Colman being a very
2 So I am informed by Father Lyons, P.P., Kilmichael.
494 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
common name at all times, and used to the present day.1
Several of these names are given in a quatrain quoted in the
old Martyrology of Donegal : —
Mo-Lua ba hanamchara do Dabid
Dar muir modh-mall,
Is dom Aedhog, is dom Chaemog,
Is do Chomgall.
' My-Lua was soul-friend (= spiritual director) to David over
the slow-rolling sea (i.e., in Wales), and to my-little-Aedh, and
to my-little-Caem (Kevin), and to Congal.'
This quatrain refers to the time when there was constant
and friendly communication between the schools and
churches of Ireland and the Welsh and English coasts, when
Welsh students came to study in the Irish colleges, and
brought back with them to Wales many Irish traditions
that can still be recognised in Welsh literature. This was
the time when Alfred, a student in Ireland, laid the founda-
tions of that love for learning which afterwards caused him
to solicit the aid of his former Irish professors in founding
the first University of Oxford. The quatrain also contains
the name of one of our saints, a name disguised more effec-
tually than any other, that of St. Aedh, if we may venture
to call him so. Aedh is really his name. It is one of the
commonest Irish names, and is now represented in English
by Hugh, a name with which it has no connection whatever.
The saint, however, is never known by his mere name Aedh,
but is called either Aedhan, little Aedh, or m'Aedh-6g (pro-
nounced mayogue) , literally ' my little Aedh.' The former
form is in English Aidan, the latter Mogue. The saint is
generally known by the name Aidan, and is the patron of the
diocese of Ferns, in which Aidan and Mogue are both used
as baptismal names. In a sense, Aidan and Mogue are the
same name ; they mean practically the same thing, although
i It is curious to note how at present people called in Gaelic Colum are
named Colman in English. The name Colman in this place calls to mind the
theory — which has the merit of novelty at least— that the name Columbanus,
derived from an Irish Colman, gave rise to a South-European family name
Colombo or Columbus, one of which family discovered a new world, known
later as Columbia. Perhaps it is needless to add that the author of the theory-
hails from the country in question,
THE 'MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 495
differing so very much in appearance. The records of the
Registrar-General in Dublin bear witness to the fact that
many people called Mogue, in familiar and ordinary life,
insist on writing themselves down as Moses. But do not
both words begin with Mo-? and is not that sufficient
reason for getting rid of an old Irish name, in times when
Anglicization is fashionable — although this particular case
is rather one of Judaization?
St. Aidan, or Mogue, was much honoured in early
Ireland and Scotland. In the latter country he is found
venerated at Kilmaddock, in Perthshire, and his name in
the form Maddock (Scott refers to him as St. Maddox) is
familiar to students of Scottish archaeology. As we might
expect ' servant of Mogue ' was a popular name ; we read of
one who was ' Abbot of Armagh ' in 1136. This was the
friend of St. Bernard, whose Gaelic name Mael-mhaodhog,
or servant of Mogue, is Latinised Malachy (O'Morgair).
The surname directly descended from this name is rarely
met with now-a-days in its proper form, Mullavogue or
Mullawogue, most bearers of the name having taken the
name Molloy, as less jarring on English ears. This also
accounts for the fact that in Donegal, at least around
Killybegs and Glencolumcille (so far as I can learn from
Mr. J. C. Ward and Mr. Patrick O'Byrne) the English
name Mulloy is used by families called in Gaelic O'Ludhog,
the usual English of which is Logue. Evidently this Gaelic
name is but part of the full O'Maolmhaodhog, d.s. of Aidan,
just as Lally is but a shortened form of Mulally. O'Ludhog
represents fairly well the Ulster sound of the Gaelic name,
after the mao of the prefix has been dropped. In Westmeath
the Leinster pronunciation of the same ending is well repre-
sented by the local surname Leeogue, which, like Logue,
also means d.s. of Aidan.1 So that the primatial see of
Armagh, adorned centuries ago by a ' servant of Aidan,' is
once more filled by an eminent inheritor of the same
1 What then accounts for the other Gaelic form of Logue, O'Loig ? I
believe it is a recent formation taken from the English form itself. A real
Gaelic name would not end in -oig, even in the genitive, as the -6g termina-
tion, in such names as Maedhog, was invariable in all cases,
496 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
title. The Gil- form with the same meaning is MacGiolla
Mhaodhog, now MacElvogue. Boolevogue also seems to
have taken its name from the saint.
One of the great Irish school-founders was St. Carthage,
who first conducted the great school of Eahan, and after-
wards, when obliged to abandon Rahan, founded Lismore.
This saint has two names ; in Gaelic he is usually called
Mochuda and his English name, borrowed from the Latin
form Carthagus,1 is founded on his other Gaelic name,
Carthach. Mochuda ( = mo-Chuda = my Cuda) may have
been his personal name, and Carthach, or Carthy, the name
of his clan. Hence the surname MacGillicuddy, d.s. of
St. Mochuda. Other forms are MacElcuddy, MacElhuddy
(Huddy ?), and, apparently, MacElligott.
Another name with the diminutive terminations -an and
-6g is that of St. Fintan ; at least it seems to me that the
surnames MacAlinden, McClinton, McClintock, are Mac-
Fialla-Fhionntain, Fhionntog,1 d.s. of Fintan. Fintan is one
of the few ancient names still in use as a baptismal name.
St. Fintan is one of the many saints who, like Columba,
Fillan, Erna, Mogue, were venerated in both Scotland and
Ireland. There were many bonds of union between Ireland
and the highlands ; the people were of the same race, they
spoke the same language ; had the same traditional literature ;
forages they professed the same faith, and venerated the
same patrons, Patrick, Brigid, and Columba, being the chief
in both countries. And, although, for many centuries there
has been no active intercourse between the Gaels of
Scotland and those of Ireland, and although the two
countries have been influenced in very different ways, still
we find many traces of old times in the language and
customs of Scotland. The Scotch-Gaelic forms of the
surnames are the same as ours, except that they write
Macllle phonetically, instead of MacGiolla. In some
localities of Ireland a ciolla would be the phonetic form, as
iNot Carthage, although I have heard et intercede/lie beato Cavtliagine sung
at a solemn function.
. 2 Professor MacKinnon Trrites the name Mac Ille Fhionntaig. In Irish-
Gaelic we do not change the 6c, off, termination.
THE 'NTULS' AND 'GILS': SOWfE IRISH SURNAMES 497
a ciolla-mhaire , Gilmor. This Gaelic name is used in the
Highlands and is often translated Morrison. The Scotch
have few Mul names, MacMillan, Mellis (for Maelisa,
according to Mr.Flannery), and Maolmoire, servant of Mar)T,
which we shorten too much, to Maoilre. One name i
curiously misspelled by our Highland cousins : Macllleathar,
properly Mac Ille Eain, our Mac Giolla Eoin, d.s. of St. John
There is at least one Highland saint who has left his
memory in two surnames, St. Cattan of Kilchattan — there
are three places of the name, in Argyle, Bute, and Colonsay
— as recalled by the surnames Mulhatton and MacElhatton,
d.s. of St. Cattan. The saint was probably one of the Clann
Chattan of Caithness, of whom Scott writes in the Fair Maid
of Perth. The adjectival form Cattanach is used as a
surname in Scotland,
Here we may give a few names omitted from the first
part of this paper. St. Senach has left us MacElhenney,
McAlinnay, Gilheany, Mcllhaney, McEllany. MacElkenny,
another form of Kilkenny, already given. Maelmochta, client
of St. Mochta, of Louth, is now represented by Moughty,
a rare name (Westmeath) ; Kilcnllen, like the place-
name similarly spelled, indicate a St. Cullen, there is
one of the name in O'Gorman — Macllhargy seems to be
d.s. of St. Eorga, of Killargy or Killargue; and the Antrim
Macllhagga is either the same name or a form of Macllharry
already mentioned. Mulvennon, at first sight, would seem
to be d.s. of St.Benen or Benignus, one of St. Patrick's
converts, and afterwards his constant companion ; but I
am told that in Gal way the form Mulvrennan is heard : in
that case the meaning is d.s. of St. Brendan. As we have
seen, Mulrennin is another form, and still another is
Mulreany. This last form is misleading, although it is now,
perhaps, the form in most general use in English, the Gaelic
form used by the same persons being O'Maoilreanail (for
-reanain).
We cannot always translate the Mul prefix by the same
English word. When it is followed by a saint's name,
1 Compare Dingle from Gaelic Daingoan, and Bandanil for Baldwin iq
Finghin O'Mahony's loth century translation of MjiuudeviUe,
VOL 111. 2 I
498 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
' servant of ' or ' client of is a good translation ; but there
are some names in which ' one who loves,' 'one zealous for
or anxious for ' will better represent the meaning. Such a
name was Maeldomhnaigh, 'one who loves the church,'1
giving our modern surnames Muldowney, Mullowney,
Moloney, and similarly MacEldowney, Gildowney, Downey,
all meaning ' descendant of one who loves the church.'
Compare Colum Cille, ' Colurn who loves the church, cell,'
and the obsolete Maeldithraibh, ' one who loves the
hermitage.' There were many beautiful names of this class
in ancient Erin, such as Maelaithgin, ' one anxious for
regeneration,' Maelbeannachta, 'one anxious for blessings,'
Maelbeatha, ' one anxious for (eternal) life.' This last name
is given as the proper title of Shakespeare's Macbeth, whose
more familiar name is equivalent to 'son of life,' a usual
phrase for a converted person, believer. There was also
mac bnis, ' son of death,' a reprobate. Macbeth is still in use
as a surname, with the alternative for us, McBeith, McAbee,
MacVeigh, McAvay. Maeldeoraidli, ' servant of the stranger,
pilgrim,' is the original of Muldarry, Mulderry ; we have also
Macllderry. Gillespie is servant of the bishop. Used as a
Christian name, it is translated Archibald, in Scotland.
Maeltola, ' one devoted to the will (of God),' was a common
name, and perhaps some who now bear the name Tully may
be descended from an ancestor of this title.
Here end the surnames connected with religion, with
the exception of those about which there is more or less
doubt, and which we discuss further on.
IV.
We turn now to another class of names in Mul and Gil.
In this class there are two groups ; Molloy and Mulconry
will serve as types, with forms in Gil to correspond. In the
Molloy group the prefix is followed by an adjective or its
equivalent ; in the Mulconry group the second element is a
proper name.
* Doinhnach , church, from Latin domiaiea (domus), also means a shrinr. Al><>
means Sunday, doiniirica (dies). Maoldonaich is yet used in Scotland as a
Christian name, and for some reason unknown to me is translated Ludovic.
THE 'MULS> AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES
Molloy (Mulloy, Milloy, Meloy— all these forms are
met with, the last two, at least, in the United States) is a
type of the oldest surnames in Mul. Most of the names
of this class have disappeared within English-speaking times.
Here the Mul prefix has its original meaning of hero,
chieftain ; thus mael-muaidh, noble chieftain, gave the sur-
name O'Maoil-mhuaidh, O'Molloy, d.s. of the noble chieftain.
Compare the name of the river Moy, ' the noble ' river.
Mael-ftibhaill was an old Gaelic name, meaning apparently
' one fond of travel,' from fabhall, journey. It seems that
the name used to be duplicized Mulfavill, and the form
Mulavill is yet used about Gort. But in most of Galway
and Mayo, where the name is quite common, the last two
syllables are so manipulated as to produce the French-looking
name Lavelle. Probably some persons educated in France,
and ignorant of the true origin of the name, gave the lead in
the use of this form. There is on record an instance where a
priest, in the course of a few years, caused the disappearance
upon a whole district of an old Gaelic name by always sub-
stituting a more modern name for the old ones when proposed
at the baptism of children. Let us see now if something
can be done to re-introduce the old names, Colum, Ita,
Finian, and the like, in the districts specially connected with
their names.
Mullanphey, Melanophy is a name more generally known
in the United States, owing to the great Mullanphey Hospital
of Saint Louis, than at home in Ireland. We find the name
occurring in Tyrconnell, early in the seventh century,
Mael-anfaidh, chief of the tempest, or tempestuous person.
Compare the surname Mulgeehy, also from Donegal, chief of
storm, stormy person. It seems that some families have
abandoned the name for that of Magee — thus the old name
gradually disappears,1 and there are cases where it has been
translated by Wynne, Mael-gaoithe : gaoth=vtiud=win' in
Anglo-Irish = Wynne. In these names we see how the Mul
1 Immigrants of the lost century to New England bore the old forms of these
names, and then, living among a Puritan population, landed on the Irish
surname to some descendant with an old Testament-given name ; thus I find an
article by one " Micaja McGehee," in the 1891 Toltuneof the Century Magazine.
500 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
prefix gradually loses its original meaning of ' chief, hero,'
for the less uncommon one of ' person,' ' man of,' the same
meaning that we find attaching to the Gil prefix in
MacElhoney, Mcllhune, Macllhone, MacElhone, MacAloney
all for — Macgiolla-O'-chonnaidh, the man of the wood, fuel.
Of similar import are Killemet, Killemeade, the man of the
wood, timber (adhmad), and MacElhoyle, MacElhill, the
man of the wood, forest (coill). All these names are duly
translated by 'Woods.' MacAlivery (and probably the Islay
name MacLiver, which Professor MacKinnon tells me of;>
represents descendant of the man of winter (geimhreadh),
and is accordingly translated Winters. It may thus be
compared with the old Gaelic name Maelniithimh, person
dedicated to June, on account of some connection with
that month.
The name Mulmoghery, ' one fond of early rising,' has
entirely disappeared, being replaced by the translation
Early. We find many recorded examples of this name
in the annals, such as a ' bursar of Clonmacnoise,' in the
tenth century, and a ' lecturer at Clonard,' in the eleventh.
Mac-giolla-meidhre has given us the equivalent name
Merryman. Another name which has practically disap-
peared is O'Maoltuille (O'M. alias Fludd,' in the Elizabethan
records quoted below), now used only near Ballinrobe in
the form MacAtilla, but usually translated Flood. The
Galway Gaelic form has tuinne, genitive of tonn, wave,
instead of tuille, and perhaps this is the origin of the
surname Tunney. It is probable, indeed it is positively
stated by some families, that some of the present Tullys
are in reality Multullys. It is not unlikely, also, that
O'Maoltuille in many, or possibly in all cases, represents the
old common name Maeltola, or Maeltoile, ' one zealous for
the will (of God),' people having substituted the better-
known word tuille, flood, tide, for the genitive of toil, will.
Another instance of substitution is offered by the history of
the old Gaelic name Maelmor, great hero, often translated
Malmore. Eeligious influences caused this name to give
1 Silva Gadelica, ii. 574.
THE ' MULS ' AND ' GILS > : SOME IRISH SURNAMES 501
way to Maelmuire, servant of Mary, translated Mulmorie in
Elizabethan records, and in later times represented by
Meyler. Later Norman influences introduced the present
translation Miles.
Our next names are those in which the Mul or Gil
prefix is followed by a proper name, such as Mul-conry,
Mul-ryan. If a man attached himself to the service of
another, he would naturally be called 'follower of that
other, and this is expressed by the prefix ; Mulconry
Mulryan, therefore, meant ' follower of Curio ' (genitive
Conroi) ' follower of Ryan.' So that from some mediaeval
personal names we have, not only surnames in 0 and Mac,
but others in O'Mul and Machl. Mulrine is another spelling
of Mulryan ; and some families, now known as O'Ryan,
Ryan, are really Mulryans, and are so called in Irish.
Mulready, Murready, Mulreed come from the same
original Riada as the names Macready (= MacRiada),
Ready. Mulrooney, Marooney, Moroney are descendant of
the follower of some Ruanaoh, or Rooney, whose own name
meant ' hero.' Mulcahy is des. of foil, of Cathach, whose
name means ' the warlike.' From some one of the name the
island of Iniscathaigh or Inniscattery is called. ' Follower
of Miadhach (the honourable one) ' is the translation of
Mulvey. Mulcreavy seems to be Maol-mhic-Biabhaigh,
follower of MacCreavy, M'Greavy, a name equivalent to
' descendant or the gray man.' Mulcreavy is sometimes
translated by Rice, possibly because the two names, Rice
and Riabhach, begin with the same syllable ! Kilcawley,
Gilkawley, is apparently Giolla-mhic-Amhlaibh , follower of
MacAuliffe, Kilgannon, follower of Geanan or Gannon, a
familiar name. Mulcrowney, a rare name, stands for Maol-
congamhna, contracted to Maol-criamhna. Mac-Congamhna,
is the present Mayo Gaelic form of the old tribe-name of
the Cinel Cinngamhna. The name is now ' translated ' by
Caulfield; this translation resulting from a curious and
characteristic popular equation : Caulfield = Calf-head
= Cinngamhna! Thus English names find a footing. So,
Lestrange is regarded by the few people who speak Irish
in County Meath, as a translation of Coffey (as if from
502 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
coimhthidheach, a stranger). Mulcrowney is also con-
nected with the name of the present writer, and has for
him, at least, a special interest.1
Mulroy, Kilroy, MacElroy are types of another class of
names, in which the prefix is followed by an adjective,
usually one denoting the colour of the hair. In such
names we may take Mul to represent the Gaelic maol, skull,
a noun from maol, bald.2
It would matter little what the origin of the Mul
prefix is in these names, as Mulroy would be either
' descendant of red-skull,' or ' descendant of the red (haired)
individual;' the idea conveyed is much the same. There
is no difficulty about the Gil prefix ; here, as before, it
means 'person,' or, as our philological friends are fond
of translating it, ' wight, ' carle.'
The surnames can be most easily classified after the
adjectives from which they are derived. Thus Dubh, black,
gives Maliffe, MacElduff, Kilduff— descendant of black-
haired person. Ban, white-haired, gives Macllwaine, Gil-
bane, Gillivan. Mulvane I have met once with the very
unlrish praenomen Phineas — the bearer was evidently a
descendant of an early immigrant among the Puritans of
New England. Ruadh, red-haired, gives Mulroy, Milroy,
Mulroe, MacElroy, Kilroy, Gilroy, MacElroe, all meaning
descendants of a red-haired person.
1 Relative? of mine, of the last generation, used, in writing only, the name
Gaffney, as if their usual name was but a form of O'Gomhna or MacGamhna.
This tradition leaves the r unexplained. On the other hand, an old Irish-
speaking neighbour of ours insisted that the name was ' the Irish of; Caulfield, '
a statement I could not understand until recently. The original is Mac-
Cungamhna, shortened to MacCYi'amhna, Magramhna. Compare the colloquial
Gaelic O'Connach for MacDonough.
2 It is the theory of some that this word maol is the original form of the
Mul prefix, not only in ths class of names, but wherever the prefix is followed
by the name of a person or thing connected with religion, the word passing
from its natural sense of ' bald ' to mean ' tonsured,' and then coming to mean
'a cleric,' 'priest,' ' one consecrated to, ' 'one devoted to.' Others regard the
Mul prefix, except in the class of names we are about to consider, as niael,
in its various senses from ' hero ' to ' slave.' Hence we findMaelthain O' Carrol,
the aumcfiara, soul-friend or director of Brian Born, rendering his name in Latin
by Cairns perennus, while a distinguished French Celtologue translates it ' esclace
tie VEternel.' It seems to me that the first translation is too literal to be
intelligible ; taking the name as one given for religious motives the meaning
seems to be ' constant client or votary,' or, better still, ' a priest for ever.'
THE < MULS ' AND 4 GILS ' : SOME IRISH SURNAMES 503
There is also the Mulroy Bay in Donegal, taking its name
from St. Maelrabha, from whom is called also Loch Maree
in the north of Scotland. I have noticed a surname Maree
in Mayo, and it also may be from Maelrubha, who was
greatly honoured in early Christian times. He is mentioned
by the Four Masters, under date of G71, as ' Abbot of
Bangor in Ulster, and of Abercrossan in Alba.'
From buidhe, yellow, come MacElwee, Kilboy, MacEvoy
Odhar, dun-coloured, gives us MacAleer, MacLear, MacAlery.
Cr6n, brown, liath, grey, and laclitna, greyish or drab, give
Mulchrone (Mayo), Killilea, and Mulloughney, unless this
last is d.s. of St. Fachtna, patron of Koss, as it may well be,
for all the guidance the sound gives.
Riabhach means literally striped, brindled, but is used
for 'iron-grey.' It gives Mulreavy, Milreavy, Mulleavy,
Leavy, MacGillreavy, and probably MacAleavey, descendants
of the grey-haired man. Maol, bald, gives MacElmoyle,
MacElmeel, MacMeel. Kildunn (Mayo) is from donn,
brown-haired. Mulgrew, Magrew, and probably Kilgarriff,
certainly come from garbh, coarse, as MacElveen, descen-
dant of the smooth or sly person, is from min, smooth.
Kilgar, Gilgar, a Donegal name, is from gearr, short.
The great majority of our Whites, Blacks, Grays, &c.,
belong to this class, the English names being translated
from the Irish. In 1465, by an Act of Edward IV. of
England, it was decreed 'that every Irishman ... in
the County of Dublin, Meath, Uriell, and Kildare . . .
. . . shall take to him an English surname of one town
... or colour, white, blacke, browne . . . ! ' And
even at the present day, according to the records of the
Registrar-General, there are instances of families having two
surnames, one the English, 'and the other the Irish word for
the same colour. Thus, according to the records of the
Registrar's office, there are families that go by the two names
of Gormley and Bloomer (gonn = blue) ; others that have
the two names, M'Glashan and Green (glas = green); others
again are called both Colreavy and Gray (riabhach, gray).
The word maol, bald, gives the noun maoldn, a bald head.
From this come MacMullan, MacMillan, also O'Mullen,
504 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Moylan. The Mulligans, Milligans, are descendants of a
person whose name, maolagan, means simply little bald
man. O'Maolagain is represented in parts of Donegal at
least by ' Molyneux.'
McGillan, Gillan, Gilligan, Gilgan, MacElligon (U.S.),
are all from the diminutives of giolla, and mean descendant
of the little fellow.
The prefix MacGiolla, as used in the various classes of
names which we have reviewed, is often used by itself as
a surname, just as Mack is used as the surname of some
families, the name of the ancestor having fallen off.
MacGiolla thus used is represented in English by McGill,
Magill, Gill, and Mackle.
V.
Up to this point we have been discussing surnames, the
explanation of which may be regarded as fairly certain ; but
we cannot be surprised to find that there are other names
about the meaning of which there is more or less doubt.
The study of the native annals, and of the literature gene-
rally, will probably bring to light the original forms of these
names ; for the modern English spelling is often not only
not a help in that direction, but is positively mislead-
ing. Then, again, we are not always able to translate the
original name, even when we have it before us, as the study
of ancient Irish has not yet ascertained the meaning of all
old words. I shall, at least, endeavour to classify the names
which I cannot explain. To summarize all that has been
said up to this, the surnames fall into the following
classes : —
1. Those in which the prefix is folio vved by the name of
a person or thing connected with religion — typical names
are Malone, Mallowney, Maglone, and MacEldowney.
2. Those in which Mul has its various stages of meaning,
from ' hero, chief,' as in Molloy, down to ' person ' — with
Gil also meaning ' person,' as in MacElhill.
3. Those like Mulconry, Mulryan, Kilgannon, in which
the second element is a personal name, and the prefixes
mean ' follower of,'
THE 'MULS' AND < GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 505
4. Those like Mulroy, Kilroy, MacElroy, where the
prefixes are followed by an adjective describing personal
appearance.
5. Diminutives like Mulligan, Gilligan.
Mulloughney (Class 1 or 4) is a Tipperary name. The
Registrar's report gives it as a synonym of Moloney ; but
this is surely wrong, as. the gh represents, I take it, a
guttural sound. It is probably mael-laclitna , grey-headed
person, or mael-Fhaclitna, servant of St. Fhachtna, of
Boss. Loughney seems to be a shortened form — compare
Lally for Mullally. Possibly Loughrey may be but another
form of the same name.
Kilcar occurs as a surname in West Mayo ; it is pro-
bably d.s. of St. Gilla Carthach, from whom Kilcar, in
Donegal, takes its name.
Kilrane may be descendant of the follower of Ryan
(compare the spelling Mulrean, Mulrane, for Mulryan),
or it may contain the name of a minor saint, such as the
patron of Cill-Riain or Cill-Rioghain, Kilrane, in Donegal,
or Cill-Raighne, near Kinnegad.
Mulhall is probably 0' MaoilfhabhaiU , ' descendant of the
traveller,' a name already mentioned. ' Descendant of the
follower of Cahill ' is a less likely interpretation, as the
form Mulcahill would, I think, have been preserved had
this been the meaning.
Mulleady, Meleady, Meledy, are forms of frequent
occurrence. Can we see in this a name of the first
class, O'Maoil-Ida, d.s. of St. Ita (of Limerick — compare
Killeedy), Cill-Ide, Church of Ita ? I am afraid this inter-
pretation is not well authorized, and that we must see in
these names the modern representatives of the annalists.
Mael-eitigh, exactly equivalent to Cinneitigh, Kennedy.
The translation, ' Ugly-head,' is not very flattering ; but it
will be consoling to reflect that those who originally deserved
these names are dead many centuries.
Mael-caere occurs in the Four Masters, and is now
represented by Mulcaire and Wilhere (= ui mliaoil-cliaere).
The meaning is, apparently, servant of Caere (Class 3).
Perhaps this Caere is the original of the present name Carr,
506 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Kerr. The name seems to have come to us from Scotland,
where the famous Carr, Carrach, are used, leading to the
English Carr. Some branches of the family, however, claim
the Gaelic name Cearr, left-handed, and have a tradition,
that endeavours to justify the name. This form would give
Kerr in English, and is the form used in Donegal, where
the Carrs are called Mac-giolla-cheairr, d.s. of the left-
handed person. There is also an English MacElhair
coming from this Gaelic form. The Gaelic form used about
Galway is Mac-giolla-Chearra. Is the Mayo name Morcarey
connected ?
MacElmeel most probably belongs to Class 4, and means
' descendant of the bald person.' There is not much proba-
bility that it contains the name of St. Michael ; the name
formerly written MacGillmichael seems to have died out.
MacMeel has lost the I sound of the giolla prefix — just
as MacEvoy has lost it. I think we should also class
here MacAdorey, MacEleavey, which seem to be Mac-
giolla-dorcha, d.s. of the dark (featured) man, and
Mac-giolla-riabhaigh, d.s. of the grey man. Here
MacAtamney would at once suggest (as a mere con-
jecture, however) the analysis Mac-giolla-tSamhna,
descendant ,of a person connected in some way with
the old pre-Christian feast of Samhain,1 the memory of
which is handed down in the curious popular obser-
vances connected with Hallow-eve. The occurrence of a
form MacAtimney is most favourable to this conjecture.
In the United States the form MacTammany is more
common.
MacElrone seems to have religious connections. The
ending appears to be the same as in the name of the famous
Abbot Maelruain of Tallaght ; but how he obtained his
name of servant of Euan, or who (if a person at all) Buan
was, are questions I cannot answer. Another name that
seems to go back to the ages of the Irish saints is the
Tipperary name Mollumby, which at first sight recalls the
1 Compare the English surnames Christmas, Pentecost, Easter, Hajhnyes,
Spring, Summers, Winter, M'ln-h, &c.
THE ' MULS' AND 'GILS'; SOME IRISH SURNAMES 507
well-known inscription at Clonrnacnoise : ' A prayer for
Suibhne inac Maele-umai.' But how few ever heard of
this venerable Gaelic saint and scholar, the thirty-fourth
Abbot of Clonmacnoise, who is set down by the Irish,
English, and Welsh annalists of the time as doctor Scotoruin
peritissimus — the most learned teacher of the Gael. In 891
he, with other learned Irish teachers, was called to England
to advise with King Alfred, who was then busy developing
the studies of the University of Oxford, founded, in 886, in
imitation of the great Irish schools, where Alfred, like many
another English student, had found hospitality and educa-
tion. Probably the Abbot of Clonmacnoise had been one of
Alfred's own teachers in his student days.
The name Mael-uma, if we may venture to attempt a
translation, may mean ' worker in brass,' and would be an
appropriate name in those days for the craftsmen who
wrought such marvels of metal- work as we can see in
museums. But, if this is the meaning of the name, the
modern form would be O'Maoil-umha, and could not be
the original of Mollumby ; so perhaps we should place this
surname in Class 1, and explain it as Maoil-Lomma, d.s. of
St. Lomma or Lomman. A saint of the name is remem-
bered at Portloman, on the southern shore of Lough Owel,
in Westmeath ; arid the first Bishop of Trim bore the same
name. The form Malumy, which I find in a list of Antrim
names, is, therefore, nearer to the original Gaelic, if it is the
same name, as it most probably is if the accent is on the
middle syllable.
Mulvany, Melveney, O'Melveney (Los Angelos,
California), Mulvenna, MacElvenna, Macllvany, Gilvany —
all these forms evidently mean descendant of the follower
or servant of some person named Bena, Mena, or Menach,
Benach ; but who this person is, whether a saint or a Gaelic
ancestor, is a problem. If we look upon the names as
coming from an ancestral name we shall probably be right
in regarding that ancestor as Maenach, from whom the
O'Dooleys take their tribal name of Claim Mliacnaicli. The
names given above would then belong to Class 3, and
would mean descendant of the follower of Maenach. From
508 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
a person of the same name comes the name O'Maonaigh,
which is O'Mooney in the North of Ireland, and is, perhaps,
the original of Meany in the South. On the other hand,
can we find in these names the name of one of the Irish
saints? I have seen, but where I cannot recollect, and no
one that I have consulted can ascertain, the name of a
Menoc, one of the 'host of the saints of Erin.' This name
presupposes a simpler form, Men or Mena, and I have
noticed a mention of a place called Kilvany, which might
contain the name. I prefer the first interpretation; the
latter, if correct, would have the advantage of explaining
the names Manogue, Minogul, Minnoch, and Mannix, all
meaning d.s. of St. Mena or Menoc. I hope that someone
who has an opportunity of consulting suitable authorities
will be able to locate the reference to St. Menoc.1
Mulqueen, Mulkeen, Kilcoyne, are names which are like
those in the previous paragraph. If they contain the name
of a saint, it is probably St. Kevin, as both Mael-Caeimhghin
and Gilla-Caeimhghin occur in the Index to the Four
Masters, but they rather seem to mean descendant of the
follower of Conn — a name from which came also Quinn,
M'Queen, Kilgun, MacElgunn, seems to be 'follower of
Gunn.' They could hardly mean 'the man with the
gun.' The name MacElrath (Macllwrath, Mucklewraith),
not uncommon in Ulster, is probably Mac-giolle-raith, d.s.
of Eath, an ancestor from whose name are derived Magrath
(= MacKaith), Magraw, MacEae, and perhaps also O'Eaine.
One might be tempted to class it with Moloney and such
names, as ' d. s. of grace,' but this is not a likely meaning.
Perhaps one of the Maloney class is found in Magillivray,
which may be ' one zealous for judgment day ' — Mac-giolla-
brcitha represents well the pronunciation. Carmichael is
another Scotch name that, at first sight, would seem to
belong here ; but I think that with Kirkpatrick it is to be
regarded as originally a place-name, which afterwards was
1 About Scarriff, according to the Registrar's report on surnames and
their synonyms, Minnogue and Mannix are regarded as the same name, the
latter name being formed from the root minog, manog, by the addition of s,
as Cairns, Burns, are formed from Kieran, Byrne.
THE <MULS' AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 509
adopted, like York, Birmingham, and others, as a family
name. Caer- now seems to be the Welsh word for ' seat,'
just as Kirk- is the familiar Lowland- Scotch for 'church.'
Anyhow, they are both Lowland and non-Gaelic names, the
Highland forms being MacMichael (in Gaelic Mac-giolla-
mhichil) and Kilpatrick. Another Scotch name is Maclurg
— one would like to class it with Macll-Largy, but it is not
very probable that a local Irish patron, as far as I know, like
Forga, would be remembered in Scotland. Maclehose is
another Scotch name that would seem to belong to the Gil-
class, but I am unable to throw any light on it. It is,
perhaps, like Meiklejohn, a Lowland name with no connec-
tion with Gaelic. Maclure (M'Clure, MacLure) is probably
Mac-giolld-uidhir, d. s. of the brown-haired person, the
same as our MacAleer.
I had finished these notes when there came into my
hands a large volume of 600 pages containing an immense
list of Irish surnames as they were written in Elizabethian
times. It is the Twenty-Second Report of the Deputy-Keeper
of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1890, price two
shillings) and is full of interesting points, although it is
merely an index to other publications. Very few of our
surnames then existed in their present forms, as given in this
' index of Fiants ; ' they are much nearer to the original
Gaelic forms as McEna for McKenna, and often preserve
the Gaelic system of spelling. Many of the names then in
full force have now disappeared, or have been much changed.
Mulmorie, servant of Mary, occurs commonly.
' O'Maeltulye ' was still in use — perhaps, indeed, it is
our present name Tully. This index throws some light on
the difficult names, Mulooly, Gilooly (Gilhooly, Gilhool,
&c.). The old Gaelic Maelguala — which I cannot translate
— seems to be the original of Mulaoly, and the form Gilla-
guala would explain the various forms McGilgowlye, Gille-
gooly, Gilleguly, occurring in the Fiants. But these would
not explain the form Gilhool, which is still in use, and which
is evidently the descendant of the names McGillehole,
McGillechomhaill (here the Fiants preserve partially the
510 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Gaelic spelling), occurring in the Elizabethan index, and
traceable to the Gaelic original meaning ' servant of
St. Congal ' recorded in the Annals. The Four Masters
give a spelling Mac-giolla-shiiiligh, descendant of the sharp-
eyed person ; but I fancy the worthy annalist invented this
on the spur of the moment. There were, probably, two sets
of names, one from the obscure guala (probably a personal
name) quoted above, and the other from the name of
St. Congal of Bangor. And it would be strange, indeed, if
his name should not be put in remembrance with those of
the other Irish saints. Few were more honoured in early
times, says the Book of Leinster : ' Congal, of Bangor, in
Ulster, Abbot, of the race of Trial. A man full of God's
grace and love was he ; one that trained and edified many
other saints, in whose hearts and minds he enkindled and
inflamed the unquenchable fire of God's love, as in Erin's
ancient books is evident. In life and manners he resembled
James the Apostle.' Such a one could not fail to have
clients in early Ireland, and accordingly we find both Mael-
comhghail and Gilla-comhghaill on record, servants of
Congal.
From these come at least some of our present Muloolys
(many of whom have adopted the more usual name Molloy)
and Gilhoolys. Owing to the strange habit of throwing
away family names that are any way rare, and adopting
names somewhat similar and more common, it is now im-
possible to say what is the original Irish form of many
names. Thus, we -have seen in this paper, that the name
Molloy has been adopted by two other families who had no
right whatever to it. In the same way, which the name
Malone may be usually taken to stand for d.s. of St. John
(O'Maoil-Eoin), there can be little doubt that it sometimes
stands for the obsolete O'Maoilbhuadhain and other names.
A few more names and we shall have done. Muldoon, a
name of which we have very early record, is, of course, d.s. of
Dun; but whether Dun was a person, or as it seems perhaps
more probable, a place, we have no reason to decide. Here
we may recall that one of the earliest of the Imrama, or
voyage narratives, is that of Maeldun, which Tennyson has
THE <MULS> AND 'GILS': SOME IRISH SURNAMES 511
rendered in verse. If Muldoon means ' one fond of the dun
or fort,' it is of the same class as Mael-achaidh, ' one fond
of the field,' a name on record in the annals, but now obsolete.
We have, however, Kilahy and Killackey, which may be the
Gil forms with the same meaning. Are Leahy, Lahy, in
any way connected with this ? Kilgallon, is a name on which
I cannot throw any light ; also Mullany, although I
think O'Donovan has a reference to it somewhere in his
voluminous notes. Kilcline might be analyzed as d.s. of the
stooped (claon) person, but the old Elizabethan forms
McGillacleyne, McGillacloyne, McGillacleyny, rather point
to d.s. of knavish (cluaineach) person. But compare the
Elizabethan Malacline, for Melaghlin, seemingly Mulhane
is but a form of Mullen ; compare Culhane and Collins both
from O'Coileairi. Names ending in — ane (pronounced aaii)
abound in Cork and Kerry ; the sound given to the Gaelic
endin din, in these names, is quite exceptional in modern
Gaelic. The Gaelic equivalent of Lysaght seems to be
Macgiolla-iasachta, d.s. of the ' borrowed ' person ! AVhy so
called, I surely cannot tell. Cuskelly (Elizabethan McGilla
cosglie) and McCluskey also appear to belong to this class ;
and, apparently, also McGlew, McLagan, McClatchy. The
names Kilgore, Kilburn, Maclldowie, are obscure to me.
In addition to Gaelic names in Mul and Gil, there are
names of foreign origin beginning in the same way ; such as
Mulgrave (which was the original of some of our McGrews
or Mulgrews), Gilbert, Gilbreath, a form of Galbraith,
Gillick seems to be an abbreviation of MacUlick, a name
that occurs frequently in the Elizabethan records. The
name Gilleran (Killeran) occurs in the annals, and is
yet in use ; the annal form is O'Gillarain (' O'G. abbot of
Trinity Church at Tuam,' died 1256), and if the final syllable
is short, as it seems to be, the name is not of the class we
have been considering. It is probable that we have the
Mul prefix also in O'Maille (O'Malley).
I find, on review of this paper, that we can count more
than two hundred fairly different modern forms of our Mul
and Gil surnames.
I bring to an end this very imperfect treatment of an
512 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
interesting subject. Most of the surnames are familiar to
us all ; some that are rather rare I have collected from
current newspapers and similar records. The index to the
Annals of the Four Masters contain the original Gaelic forms
of many of the names. I owe to the kindness of Mr. Patrick
O'JBurne, of the New York Gaelic Society, a copy of the
part of this index containing all names of the classes here
discussed. I have also to thank Dr. Meyer of Liverpool,
and Professor Mackinnon, of Edinburgh, for their courtesy
in answering many queries of mine in reference to old
Gaelic and Highland names. It is pleasant to find men of
learning so ready to place their knowledge at the disposal
of inquirers. Mr. Matheson, of the Kegistrar- General's
Office, in Dublin, has published two very interesting lists
of synonyms and alternative forms of surnames in Ireland.
Such work, however, can be done but imperfectly by anyone,
however zealous, who has not a knowledge of Irish, as many
things will be quite clear to a Gaelic scholar that would be
a mystery to another.
I venture to express the hope that those who have access
to Irish books and manuscripts, and particularly to the
works, printed and manuscript, of O'Donovan, and the
Genealogies of MacFirbis, will supply whatever is needed
in the way of correction and improvement to this paper,
written at a distance of many thousand miles from Ireland,
and with no access to authorities of any kind.
E. O'GROWNEY.
[ 513 ]
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS
I.
AMONG the spiritual organizations which the Church
of our day employs for the advancement of God's
interest on earth, there is hardly one that exercises a more
powerful aiid widespread influence, than the rapidly extending
devotion, popularly known as the ' Apostleship of Prayer.'
Quite recently it has attracted a considerable share of
attention, as the Holy See by its legislation in 1896 has
greatly enlarged the sphere of its operations and of its
efficiency over the Catholic world. As a knowledge of the
events which led to its formation and growth will interest
our readers, we shall give in outline its history, and to it
we shall add a brief notice of the ' Archconfraternity of the
Sacred Heart.'
About seventy miles from Lyons, in the South of France,
lies Puy, one of the most picturesque cities of Southern
Europe. It is celebrated for its ancient shrine and magnifi-
cent statue of Our Lady. Not far from the shrine stands a
large college, which, until the expulsion of the Religious
Orders from France, was a Scholasticate, or House of
Studies for the younger members of the Society of Jesus.
This college gave many apostolic men to the Church, and
its pious students were always remarkable for an ardent
desire to labour in the foreign missions.
In the year 1844 the Spiritual Director of the College
was Father Gautrelet, S. J. On the 3rd of December, the
Feast of St. Francis Xavier, he pointed out to the scholastics
that by consecrating all their thoughts, words, actions, and
sufferings, to the Sacred Heart, and offering them to the
Eternal Father for the interests of Jesus Christ, they could
find, even during the course of their ecclesiastical studies
ample scope for satisfying their missionary zeal. The
proposal was received with enthusiasm by the young
religious, and thus were laid the first foundations of the
' Apostleship of Prayer,' which was destined to spread with
VOL. III. 2 K
514 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
wondrous rapidity throughout the world, and to inscribe on
its registers many millions of associates. By degrees other
communities joined this Holy League of Prayer; and in
1849, five years after its foundation, it was enriched by
Pius IX., then an exile at Gaeta, with many indulgences.
In 1861 appeared the first number of The Messenger of
the Sacred Heart. The monthly issue of this periodical
led to a prodigious development of the ' Apostleship of
Prayer.' Numerous additional indulgences were granted
by the Sovereign Pontiff ; and, in 1866, the League received
a definite organization through the approval of its statutes
by the Congregation of Bishops and Eegulars.
The present glorious Pontiff, Leo XIII., was then Arch-
bishop of Perugia, and in a letter addressed to the Central
Director of Italy, he said : ' The Apostleship of Prayer is
so beautiful a work, and unites so much fruitfulness with so
much simplicity, that it assuredly deserves all the favour of
ecclesiastical authority. I rejoice to see it established in my
diocese, and I shall never tire of promoting it.' And in a
pastoral letter of 1868, he adds : ' The plentiful fruit which
the Holy League has already produced, no less than its rapid
extension, shows plainly how pleasing this Association must
be to our Lord.'
Diffused not only through France, but through Germany,
Spain, Switzerland, in North and South America, India,
China, and even in Oceanica, the ' Apostleship of Prayer '
may, in the truest sense of the word, be called a Catholic work.
The statutes of the Holy League were perfected and con-
firmed in 1896 by Leo XIII., who, since his election to the
Chair of Peter, has continued as warm a friend and patron of
the Association as he was while Archbishop of Perugia. No
less than eight successive briefs or rescripts, each conferring
some new grace or privilege, have marked the Holy Father's
appreciation of the labours and fruits of the League, and
have raised its organization to its present perfect state.
The development of the ' Apostleship ' within the last
twenty years is sirrply marvellous. The League now
numbers 20,000,000 Associates. It is still spreading far
and wide throughout the Catholic world, and its organ, The
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 515
Messenger of the Sacred Heart, is issued every month in
seventeen different languages.1
Considering the extraordinary development of the Holy
League, the simplicity of its organization, the multiplicity
of means it is capable of employing to advance God's
interests, and the abundant blessing that the Sacred Heart
pours on the united efforts of its millions of Associates, it is
evident that this peaceful crusade is one of the principal
institutions raised up by Divine Providence for the succour
of the Church in these days of coldness and infidelity.
It will hardly be necessary to trespass on the patience of
our readers to define the nature and work of the 'Apostle-
ship of Prayer,' for it has become, within the past few years,
almost a household word in every Catholic homestead in the
land. Even tiny school-children can now grasp its meaning
and lisp its definition, as they tell us in their own simple
words that, the 'Apostleship of Prayer ' means ' praying
with Jesus in the Tabernacle.' In more formal phrase, the
more grown associates accurately describe it as ' praying in
union with Jesus for the advancement of His interests on
earth — praying for the accomplishment of His holy will —
praying for the establishment of His kingdom in every
human heart, in every Christian family, in society, and in
nations.' And, indeed, the ' Apostleship of Prayer' is
nothing else than praying with the Heart of Jesus in the
Tabernacle, that the power of the Evil One may be crushed,
and that the kingdom of our Heavenly Father may be
universally established on earth. Two petitions of the
Lord's Prayer embody and reveal its object : ' Thy kingdom
come ; Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'
If we ask why this 'Union of prayer with Jesus praying'
has assumed the title of 'Apostleship,' the answer becomes
apparent when we remember that an ' Apostle ' is one sent
to accomplish some work or execute some errand, while an
' Apostleship ' signifies the work to be performed by the
516 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
apostle or person to whom it is entrusted. Hence we
correctly conclude that in this vast enterprise of ' united
prayer' Jesus Himself is the Great Apostle, and His work
on earth and in heaven, an Apostolate of Prayer.
During the course of His divine mission in Judea, over
and over again, He reminded His hearers, that He was an
Apostle, or One Kent in His human nature by His Heavenly
Father to do a great work. ' As the Father hath sent Me,'
He said, ' I also send you.' ' I am not sent but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel,' &c. We may also recall how,
as the Apostle of his Heavenly Father, after a night spent
in lonely prayer on the mountain side, coming down at day-
break to the shore of Lake Tiberias, Jesus chose twelve
fishermen to share His Apostolate, and to help Him in His
work. They, in turn — personally, and through their
successors — were commissioned to choose and invite
others to co-operate and assist in this glorious under-
taking of the Redeemer. The ' Apostleship of Prayer ' in
our own day and in our midst, is the outcome and
response to this invitation.
This vast enterprise which the Son of God thus came
down from Heaven to accomplish, and which is being
worked out by His servants, night and day, all the world
over, is mainly effected by prayer — that is, prayer in union
with Jesus, both praying in the Tabernacle, and praying in
Heaven, too, at the right hand of His Father, where ' He is
ever living to make intercession for us.'
That this Divine Apostolate might be more efficaciously
realized, the Church, the Spouse of Christ, has stamped it
with the seal of her fullest approbation, and enriched with
unstinted indulgences the organization of the ' Apostleship.'
A passing word explanatory of this organization to some
will not be unwelcome.
The members of the 'Apostleship,' who m&y be regarded as
a vast army of soldiers of their Heavenly King, are divided
into three spiritual battalions or divisions, called technically
the 'Three Degrees.' The Associates of each 'Degree' have
certain simple but easy conditions of membership to fulfil.
Once admission by enrolment into tbe ranks has been
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 517
effected, members registered in the ' First Degree' are only
required to make a ' Morning Offering' of all their thoughts,
words, and sufferings of the day in union with those of Jesus
in the Tabernacle. Thus, their every thought, word, work,
and suffering becoming supernaturalized, is united with His
and entitled to eternal recompense — and their lives, blended
like streams with His, run in one channel with His divine
life. So in truth, they can say, ' I live now, not I, but
Christ Jesus lives in me !' This 'First Degree' entitles to
membership, to a vast number of indulgences, and to a share
not only in the satisfaction of all the good works of the
members, but, as well, of all the good works of religious
orders who have generously granted this inestimable
privilege to the 'Apostleship.' Should members desire to
mount a step higher and reach the ' Second Degree ' (and
vast multitudes of the members enjoy this additional
blessing), they undertake to say, in addition to the
'Morning Offering,' the Papal Decade, which consists of
one Our Father and ten Hail Marys, offered for the in-
tentions of our Holy Father and for the further advance-
ment of the interests of the Heart of Jesus. Such priceless
value does His Holiness attach to the recital of this Decade,
that he assigns a special intention for each month of the
year, and for it he entreats the prayers of all the members.
To the recital of this Papal Decade immense indulgences
are also annexed, while the monthly Papal Decade Leaflets
are reminders that this prayer is not lightly to be overlooked
or omitted.
One step higher still and the summit of the ' Apostleship '
is gained. This step is the ' Third Degree,' which following
the ' Morning Offering' and ' Papal Decade,' gives the work
its final perfection and magnificence in the ' Communion of
Reparation.' Gathered round the Altar, the members of the
' Third Degree,' in addition to their ' Morning Offering '
(and, if they so will, in addition to the 'Papal Decade')
come to atone by their love, sorrow, and reparation, for the
innumerable insults and outrages offered to the Adorable
Heart of Jesus in the Sacrament of His infinite charity.
This is the crown and completion of the idea and of the
518 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
work of the ' Apostleship.' One day, in each month, is
specially set apart and richly indulgenced by the Holy See
for this special devotion, and is called the day of ' General
Communion of Separation.' On it all the members are
invited to approach the altar in order to receive and console
their Divine Redeemer and His Suffering Heart.
That nothing may be wanting to the perfection of the
organization, all the members — where at all possible — are
divided into guilds or circles of fifteen. Each 'guild' or
' circle ' includes one of the members styled Promoter, who,
so to speak, is entrusted with some spiritual and unobtrusive
charge over the others, gets their names registered for
admission, supplies them with their monthly ' Papal Decade
Leaflet,' &c., and presides over the 'guild' or ' circle.' In
parishes where the ' Apostleship ' is regularly organized as
a Confraternity in the Church, one of the ' circle ' acts as
Prefect or Promoter.
It is important to note here, that the ' Apostleship '
supplies a great devotional want, often experienced by both
priests and the faithful, regarding those, who on account of
distance, age, delicacy, or other hindrance, cannot possibly
attend Church Sodality Meetings. Since they cannot attend
the ' Apostleship' Meetings in the church, the 'Apostleship'
goes to them in their homes, in the person of zealous
Promoters who enrol them, bring to them their ' Papal
Decade Leaflets,' apprise them of the ' Monthly Intention,'
&c., and so keep them in touch with the life and spirit of
the organization.
Over these promoters a Kev. Local Director is constituted
by diploma. He meets his Promoters once each month,
discusses with them the work of the ' Apostleship,' its
interests, advancement, and everything in connection with
it. These monthly meetings of Promoters may be regarded
as the very soul of the organization, infusing into it con-
* stantly renewed life and activity.
The Rev. Local Directors (parish priests, or curates dele-
gated by them, or, in case of institutions, Rev. Chaplains)
receive their powers by diploma from the Rev. Diocesan
Director, who is designated by the Ordinary of the diocese,
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 519
where the ' Apostleship ' is established. The Director-
General of the ' Apostleship of Prayer ' is the Father-General
for the time being, of the Society of Jesus. Higher still in
its hierarchy, if we be permitted so to speak, is our Holy
Father, who with unremitting vigilance and interest never
ceases to watch over its gigantic work. But, highest of all,
controlling its destinies and ensuring its spiritual success, is
Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, Whose kingdom it
helps to establish, and "Whose Divine Will it assists to
accomplish.
Such is the nature and object of the 'Apostleship of
Prayer,' and such the methods it employs to compass its
Divine mission. And although, as we have said, scarcely
fifty years have passed since its inception, in that brief period,
we find it striking root in every quarter of the globe and,
broadly speaking, in every nook and cranny of the Church.
Here, we see it in the broad daylight, creating, vivifying, or
consolidating vast confraternities for honouring the Sacred
Heart in public churches. Elsewhere, we find it like some
frail exquisite flower breathing the fragrance of holiness in
the peaceful solitude of countless cloisters. Now, we come
across it in the crowded school-room, lighting up the minds
and warming the hearts of the young ; or, again we meet it
in the busy workroom or crowded factory, where Christian
toilers are working side by side from early morning to sun-
down, or on through the night. Often, we discover its
emblematic Badge lying beneath the regimentals of the
soldier in the barrack-room, or, on the battlefield ; and m any
a time, thank God I it rests on the breast of the Catholic
sailor or fisherman, ' rocked on the bosom of the deep.'
Thus here, there, and everywhere, and under widely
varying and often unexpected circumstances, the ' Apostle-
ship of Prayer' testifies to the extraordinary grasp which
devotion to the Sacred Heart has taken on the Church ;
bringing home, as it does, with marvellous distinctness to
every sincere Catholic, the mystery of the Incarnation of
the Son of God.
All over the world this same ' Apostleship ' has called
into almost miraculous prominence the devotion to the
520 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
' Nine First Fridays,' and fills our churches with such crowds
of frequent and fervent communicants, as have not been
witnessed since the time of the early Christians. And,
stranger still, under its influence this wonderful spiritual
activity has broken almost instantaneously, and as if by
magic, on the normal life of the Church ; and in some conti-
nental countries, far less blessed than holy Ireland, it has
startled the faithful into religious energy, which has filled
even themselves with amazement. Thus, to the most casual
observers, it has revealed what latent fire of faith and charity
still exists everywhere in the Church, needing but a spark
from the furnace of the Heart of Jesus to set it all aglow.
It almost reminds one of the miraculous, sacrificial fire,
hidden by the Jewish priests before they were hurried into
Captivity, whose damp ashes burst anew into consuming
flames, beneath the noonday sun, when they were needed
for sacrifice.
II.
THE ' ARCHCONFRATERNITY OF THE SACRED HEART* AND
ITS RELATION WITH THE ' APOSTLE SHIP '
Before terminating our notice of the 'Apostleship of
Prayer,' we will briefly call attention to the intimate
connection which has always subsisted between it and the
1 Archconfraternity of the Sacred Heart,' established by the
Canons della Pace, in Eome. Inaccurate information, and
loose, vague statements regarding their kindred object
and relations have left room for some words of needful
explanation. We may premise that, with regard to the
requisite conditions for the valid erection and consequent
conveyance of the indulgences and privileges of the Arch-
confraterrity, there exists occasionally some misapprehen-
sion. A brief historical notice of the ' Archconf raternity ' and
of some of its privileges will, perhaps, serve best to dissipate
this misconception, and remove grounds for anxiety.
Our readers will, we are sure, permit us to avail
ourselves of this paper to record our grateful recognition of
the cordial and unstinted bestowal of alliance and spiritual
treasures accorded to the ' Apostleship ' by the Supreme
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 521
Directorate of the ' Arcliconfraternity ' at Borne. We find a
striking instance of this uninterrupted friendship in the
renewal of the faculty granted in favour of the Kev. Local
Directors of the ' Apostleship,' by which they are still
personally empowered to aggregate members to the ' Arch-
confraternity.' (April llth, 1897.)
Although the history of the devotion to the Sacred Heart
of our Lord is perfectly known to all instructed Catholics,
yet it may serve to increase their interest, and throw some
light upon the work of the ' Archconfraternity,' if we direct
attention to some of the distressing circumstances which
surrounded its early beginnings. Students of Church
history will easily remember that, scarcely had our Lord
revealed His Sacred Heart to Blessed Margaret Mary, than
Jansenism, frantically branded the new devotion as heresy
of the darkest dye — as opposed to the dogma of the
Incarnation — and as upsetting its own system of permitting
persons to communicate only at rare intervals, and hence
as dangerous to faith and morals. Subsequently a pseudo-
council was convened at Pistoia to obstruct and condemn
the devotion, and Galilean theologians denounced it as a
nefarious Jesuitical intrigue, designed to secure influence
in Christendom by appealing to the emotional fervour of
hair-brained devotees. And, when on the eve of its
suppression, the Society of Jesus stood on trial before the
tribunal of its implacable foes, one of the leading counts
of accusation against it was the unpardonable crime of
teaching and propagating devotion to the Sacred Heart. To
these deadly enemies of the Church it mattered little that
Christ Himself had pre-eminently entrusted to the Society of
Jesus the mission of expounding and spreading this devotion,
as Blessed Margaret expressly states in her ninety-fifth
letter.1 Nay, in seeking to compass their unworthy object
they aimed, naturally enough, a first blow against a devotion,
which was earnestly preached by a body of men, whose
1 ' Jesus Christ has shown me in a manner that admits of no doubt, that it
was especially by means of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus that He wished
to establish everywhere this solid devotion, and by means of it to make to
Himself an infinite number of faithful servants, perfect friends, and tnily
grateful children.' (Letfn* of Blessed Margaret Mar;/.)
522 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
destruction they were plotting. And since these gloomy
days of Pombal,1 the devil has never ceased by open
obstruction and hidden artifice to discredit and defeat,
wherever he could or can, this latest revelation of God's
love to man.
After this explanation, we may now proceed to unfold
the nature and object of the ' Archconfraternity of the Sacred
Heart.' We fancy that now-a-days there are few devout
Catholics who are not aware that the object of this wonderful
' Archconfraternity ' is to offer to the Sacred Heart in the
Tabernacle an unfailing tribute of praise, reverence, honour,
and glory — to return It love for love — to thank our Blessed
Redeemer for the institution of the Most Holy Sacrament—
and to make some reparation for the coldness, ingratitude,
and insults, that are offered to His infinite Charity.
Authentic records prove that this 'Archconfraternity' has
sprung from and rests on the revelations vouchsafed to
Blessed Margaret Mary. This holy nun testifies in one of
her Letters (lllth) to the exceeding joy which she
experienced on learning of the establishment of a Confra-
ternity of the Sacred Heart, at Coutances in France, and
expressed her ardent desire that a similar one might be
established later on in Paris. Scarcely had three years
elapsed after her death, when a Confraternity of the Sacred
Heart was inaugurated at Paray-le-Monial, 1690, which
Benedict XIII. solemnly confirmed in 1728, and enriched
with precious indulgences. In the following year, 1729,
St. Leonard of Port Maurice, assisted by Father Gallifet, S. J. ,
founded in the Church of St. Theodore another Confraternity
of the Sacred Heart, which, in 1732, was raised to the rank
of an Archconfraternity. During the subsequent eleven
years, seven hundred Confraternities were affiliated to it, and
thirty years later the number of its affiliated Confraternities
reached one thousand and ninety.
Soon afterwards, the anarchy and carnage of the French
revolution briefly interrupted the progress of this great work,
1 Pombal was the Portuguese Prime Minister, who chiefly contributed by
threats and intrigues to the suppression of the Society of Jesus, under Pope
Clement XIV.
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 523
but when more peaceful times followed, the ' Archconfrater-
nity' with apparently redoubled life and vigour, recommenced
and extended its operations. This notable expansion of the
devotion was brought about in the following way. On the
14th February, 1801, a number of devoted priests who had
founded among themselves the 'Pia Associatio Sancti Pauli
obtained from the Holy See the requisite permission to
establish anew the Confraternity of the Sacred Heart in their
Church of Sancta Maria ad Pineam, known as in Capella.
In a Brief, dated 25th January, 1803, it was elevated to the
dignity of an Archconfraternity, with power to affiliate to
itself all Confraternities bearing the same title and pursuing
the same object ; and moreover, to communicate to them the
numerous indulgences which it had already acquired. The
seat of this Archconfraternity was transferred in 1827 to
the Church of Sancta Maria della Pace, and from that time
up to the hour in which we write, it has never ceased tD
spread itself like a golden network, and with almost light-
ning-like rapidity, over the whole Church. In 1881 it
had aggregated to itself no less than nine thousand seven
hundred and sixty-eight branches.
For a moment, we may pause to observe here, that
among the privileges and indulgences granted by Pius VII.,
to the ' Roman Archconfraternity,' and to its duly erected
canonical Affiliations, are included some that are very special
and remarkable in their character. One of these privileges
is, permission to establish in the same locality several
Confraternities of the Sacred Heart. Moreover, such Con-
fraternities may be erected in churches and chapels of
religious without its being necessary to take into account
(as usually happens) the existence of similar Confraternities
of the Sacred Heart established in the immediate vicinity.
The Spiritual Director of each newly-affiliated Confraternity
(after the reception of his diploma of affiliation from Eome),
has the right to celebrate a special feast of the Sacred Heart ;
and, on the day which he selects for this celebration, not
only the priest who celebrates the High Mass, but all priests
who celebrate in the church of this Confraternity are privi-
leged to say the Mass of the Sacred Heart. Any day can be
524 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
selected for this local feast, provided it be not Sunday of
the first or second class, or fall within a privileged octave,
or on a holiday or privileged vigil. Lastly, priests holding
powers from the Archconfraternity, and who are not
entrusted with the charge of such a local Confraternity of
the Sacred Heart, can admit persons to membership, if
there be no similar existing Confraternity in the neighbour-
hood, or if there be some difficulty which prevents its
erection. A priest enjoying this special power should
forward the names of the members whom he enrols to the
Secretary of the Archconfraternity at Borne.
This is but a bird's-eye glance over the history of the Arch-
confraternity. (For further information we direct attention
to the able work of Father Nilles, S.J., entitled De rationibus
Festorum Sanctissiml Cordis Jesu : Oeniponte, 1885.)
After these explanatory remarks, we will conclude by
considering the nature of the relations which exist between
this glorious ' Archconfraternity of the Sacred Heart ' and
the ' Apostleship of Prayer.' From what we have already
stated, we may easily gather that the 'Archconfraternity' or
its branch affiliations, do not necessarily suppose or require
public services or meetings such as we see and know to exist
in our Church sodalities. It points only to the divine Object
of the devotion, and enriches with multiplied privileges
and indulgences those who fervently recite the prayers
prescribed in its honour, or approach the sacraments for a
similar intention. But, beyond recommending the devout
celebration of the annual Feast of the Sacred Heart, the
reception of the Holy Communion on the first Friday or
Sunday of each month, counselling assistance at some public
devotions of the Sacred Heart, and the daily recital of some
indulgenced prayers, the Archconfraternity neither imposes
nor suggests devotional details.
It is precisely to meet this want that the 'Apostleship'
proves an invaluable auxiliary to the ' Archconfraternity ' by
supplying it with an organization at once simple, strong,
elastic, and furnished, as we have seen, with many rich privi-
leges and indulgences by the Holy See ; and, thus united,
they can embrace not only those who assemble together in
public Church sodality services, but also those who, for any
TWO GREAT SPIRITUAL ASSOCIATIONS 525
legitimate reason, cannot assist at such sodality or meeting
away from their homes.
Nor must we suppose that the scope of their joint
operations is confined exclusively to adult sodalities or
individuals — for one of the most important functions of the
' Apostleship ' relates entirely to children of both sexes, who
are still engaged in their studies. This branch is styled the
' Apostleship of Study,' and is enriched with special favours
and indulgences by the Holy See. Moreover, controlled by its
direction, any works affecting the spiritual interests of the
faithful — as, for example, temperance, &c. — may be efficiently
organized and worked. To realize that these are not mere
words but concrete facts, we have but to cast a glance over
the Church to-day. Europe, Asia, America, South Africa>
and still more distant Australia, witness to the unexaggerated
truth of the statement.
Having thus sketched in very faint outline— but, we trust,
with accuracy — the origin, growth, and spread of these two
branches of a parent stem , we should leave incomplete their
description, did we not add that we feel that the Heart of
our Blessed Master has designed them to be the complement
of each other — both separate, yet united in the one object of
procuring the greater glory of the Sacred Heart — both, so
to speak, leaning on each other for mutual support and
mutual advancement — both drawing divine fire and light
from the glowing furnace of that Human, yet Divine Heart,
from which both have issued ! And this view fully explains
why the Superior- General of the ' Archconfraternity of the
Sacred Heart ' in Kome, and for the whole world, with the
sanction of our Holy Father Leo XIII., expressed in
Pontifical Letters, dated June 7th, 1879, and again in
April llth, 1897, bestowed on all actual Directors of the
' Apostleship of Prayer,' and on their successors, the personal
faculty of aggregating members of the ' Archconfraternity.'
J. A. CULLEN, S.J.
1 For the valid canonical erection of the ' Archconfraternity of the Sacred
Heart,' as well as of the ' Apostleship of Prayer,' the permission of the Ordinary
of the diocese is required to procure the diplomas of affiliation essential to the
gaining- of the indulgences.
We shall be happy to forward the necessary printed forms of petition to
be forwarded to the Right Reverend Ordinaries, and to Rome.
[ 526
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY
COLOGNE
C~ OLOGNE was nothing more than a small collection of
huts and sheds when Germanicus pitched his tent
on the site which the city now occupies in the early years
of the Christian era. It was there that his daughter,
Agrippina, was born, amidst the noise of arms and the
chatter of legions. This princess, who afterwards became
so famous and so unfortunate as the mother of Nero, took
a life-long interest in the place of her birth. She sent a
colony of Roman nobles to found a settlement there ; and
the place was called Colonia Agrippina, to commemorate
the circumstances of its foundation. Only the noblest patri-
cians were allowed to take part in the enterprise ; and to
this fact the hereditary pride of the modern magnats of
Cologne is duly traced. Those noble Romans undoubtedly
marked with the impress of their genius and their taste the
institutions and the buildings of their city. Colonia soon
became the stronghold of the empire in the North of Europe.
She was to the barbarians of Germany and Gaul the image
and the eye of the mother city. The patricians of Rome and
princes of the empire came in crowds to visit the new
capital, to enjoy its baths, its palaces, its theatres, and its
brilliant society. Vitellius was there when he was called to
the throne, and Trajan assumed the royal purple within its
walls.
Soon, however, on the break up of the mighty power
which had ruled the world for close on a thousand years,
a new order succeeded to the old. In Germany, as else-
where, the change was preceded, accompanied, and followed
by revolts, conspiracies, and foul deeds of every kind. When
Clovis was crowned at Cologne, in 508, as King of the
Franks of Austrasia, turmoil and confusion seemed to reign
supreme. Nor did Clovis succeed in suppressing the out-
bursts of vice and crime that surrounded him on all sides.
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY 527
For upwards of a hundred years the superstitions of pagan-
ism, which had taken so strong a hold of the Teutonic
nature, dominated the native tribes, and drove them to the
most monstrous excesses of barbarism and cruelty. It was
only towards the end of the seventh century that Christianity
began to take root and flourish at Cologne.
No doubt Christian blood had been shed in the city as
early as the end of the third century, when the martyrs of
the Theban legion were, according to tradition, massacred
there. It was there, too, that St. Ursula and her compa-
nions gained their crown of martyrdom, in the fifth century.
No doubt the line of bishops of Cologne extends back as far
as St. Maternus, a converted soldier, who preached the
Gospel to the Ubii about A.D. 350 ; but under him and
several of his successors the great mass of the population
clung on to paganism.
No genuinely organized effort was made to introduce
Christianity amongst them till the year 690, when the Irish
monk, Tilmo, built a chapel in an Island on the Rhine, close
by the city, and began to preach the good tidings of the
Gospel to the pagans around him. St. Egbert of England
had made some attempt to convert them on the occasion of
his mission to the Frisians, but his efforts bore no fruit, and
he was compelled to return to Hy. A similar fate was
reserved for his countryman, Wigbert,1 who had spent several
years in close retirement in Ireland in preparation for his
mission. He too returned, disappointed and disheartened, to
make up, by the austerities of his life and the examples
of his virtues, for the failure of his missionary career.
St. Egbert, however, urged others to attempt the task in
which he confessed that he himself had failed ; and a
full band of twelve monks, with Willibrord and Suidbert
at their head, were directed towards the territory of
1 ' TJnus tamen ex ejus (Egbert!) sociis Wigbertus nomine et ipse contemptu
caeculi et doctrinae scienti a insignia, qui mnltos annos anachoretieam inHybernia
vitam sectatus fu<-rat in Frisiam trajecit ac duobus continuis annis genti illi
regique ejus Radbodo verbum salutis praedicavit, Sed cum nullum tanti
laboris fructum ex barbaris illis retulisset reversus est, et qui extenris prodesse
ad fidem iion poterat. nuarum virtutum exemplia prodesse suis studuit.' —
(Mabillon, Annales Lcncd., i., an, 090.)
528 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
the Frisians and of the pagan tribes that dwelt on their
confines. Of these adventurous messengers, Tilmo, an
Irishman, was one ; and in the division of territory
mapped out to the labourers, Cologne and its people
fell to his lot.
That Tilmo was a native of Ireland1 seems quite certain.
The constant tradition of Cologne is to that effect. The
oldest chronicles of the monastery of St. Martin speak of him
as a native of Scotia, and tell us that he was at first a soldier,
then a monk, and finally a preacher of the Gospel on the
banks of the Rhine. Almost all the missionaries of this
region were educated either in Ireland or in Hy ; but when
they went abroad to preach the Gospel they usually marked
the institutions which they founded with the seal of their
nationality. Hence it was that the establishment of Tilmo
soon attracted other Irishmen, who immediately grouped
themselves around him, and took up the work which he had
initiated.2 The following lines of an old poet simply hand
down the tradition of centuries :—
Agrippae dulces salvete Napaeae,
Dique Deaeque omnes quorum sub nomine terras
Liquimus Hybernas, atque has intravimus oras ;
Has sedes servate Scotis, hie sistere terris,
Exiliique vagos liceat finire labores .
In the course of a few years Tilmo3 was joined by several
1 ' Tilmon, natione Scotus, vir illustris, de milite factus monachus, ab
Egberto Abbate Anglo missus in insula Rheni prope Coloniam, coenobiticam
vitam egit, anno Christi nati D.C'X.C. constructo sacello quod infra sacristiae
absides visendum perstat.' — (^.ntiquitates JUonasterii Sancti Martini Majoris
Coloniensis, p. i., II., by J. H
2 St. Egbert, St. Wigbert, the two saints Ewald (the dark and the fair),
St. Willibrord and St. Suidbert, had all come to Ireland to prepare for their
mission. .What is related of St. Willibrord maybe said in substance of all the
others : —
4 Deinde audita sanctorum virorum in Hibernia turn eruditione, turn sancti-
monia, eorum religions incitatus, praecipue Egberti mox laudati, quern sanctum
vocabant etWigbertivenerabilis sacerdotis qui ambo ob coelestis patriae amorem,
domo, patria, cognatione relictis, in Hiberniam secesseraut ; cum permissu
abbatis et fratrum suorum ad eos contendit ut eorum contubernio et sancta
conversatione frueretur ; ibique duodecim annos inter eximios 'piae religionis
simul ac sacrae lectionismagistros, f uturus ipse multorum populorum praedicator,
eruditus, informatusque est ' — (Mabillon, Annales Bated., torn i., p. 592.)
3 Sub auspiciis postea Pipini de Heristallo et Plectrudis ejus conjugis
coenobium erectum est. sub patrocinio divi Martini Turonensis Episcopi circa
annum 708, quo tempore Sancti Wiro, Plechelmus et Otgems Pippini et
Plectendis subsidio suff ulti, Scotorum contubernium in insula conatruxerunt.
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY 520
other Irishmen, whose nationality is universally admitted,
amongst them saints AViro, Plechelmus and Ofcger.
With their assistance a monastery, was established and
dedicated to St. Martin of Tours, a saint whose renown was
in all the churches in those days, and whose memory was
specially venerated in Ireland as well as in France.
The Irish monastery of St. Martin was, therefore, the
first Christian establishment regularly founded in the city of
Cologne. From this rich granary the seed of Christian faith
was distributed and scattered broadcast over the land,
taking such deep root that it lasts to-day, and flourishes in
one of the fairest gardens of which the Church can boast.
In the course of some years these Irish monks were
joined by natives, and one of these, named Wicterp, made
such progress under the Scoti, that he one day became
Abbot of the monastery, and afterwards Bishop of Ratisbon.
To this position his noble origin and powerful connection
naturally helped him in a feudal age. The missionaries
took advantage of his kinship with Plectrude, the wife of
Pepin ofHeristal, to secure the favour of princes and people.
Wicterp was succeeded in turn as abbot by Alpho, Herbod,
Aldegar, Patrick, Blasius, Heynian, Bartholf, Gottfried,
Martin, Adolf, Benedict,' Dithard, and Berthold. That some
of these were native Teutons and some Scoti is quite certain.
That some of these bear German names is no proof that
they were not Irish, as many of the Irish missionaries
modified their names to suit the tongue of the people to
whom they ministered. Beatus, Virgilius, Fridolinus do
not sound very Irish, yet all admit their nationality.
German Protestant historians have no doubt about the
Irish nationality of ' Clement the Heretic ;' yet Clement
does not sound particularly Hibernian.
During the eventful period that intervened between (590
and 975, in which the above-named abbots lived and ruled,
their monastery passed through many vicissitudes. Twice
it was levelled to the ground by merciless invaders — first, by
the Saxons, and then by the Normans. In the year 972,
Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne, brought Berthold, one of the
monks of Lorsch or Laureeham, to govern St. Martin's.
VOL. in. 2 t
530 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Gero, his successor, conferred many privileges on the
monastery ; but Warinus, whose curious history is one of
the romances of the annals of Cologne, and who succeeded
Gero, restored the monastery to Irish monks, and confided
its government to the Irish abbot Mimborinus.1 Warinus
also signalized his term of office by building, in the neigh-
bourhood of the monastery, a chapel, in honour of St. B rigid
of Kildare,2 which afterwards became, and long remained a
parish church in the city of Cologne.
On the death of Mimborinus, in 987, one of the monks,
named Kilian, was appointed to succeed him. He is
described as a very religious man ; and, we are told,
that the Archbishop, Evergerus, with the consent of the
Emperor Otho III., presented to him, for the use of his
monastery and pilgrim monks, several farms, with the
fishing of the Ehine attached; three churches, several
manses, vineyards, and exemption from some of the taxes
in the city and in the empire. He also got charge of the
monastery of St. Pantaleon, in the city, as well as of
St. Martin's. It is evident there must have been Irish monks
in the former as well as in the latter of these monasteries.
The most remarkable of the line of abbots of St. Martin's
was, however, Helias, whom the ancient annals of Cologne
unanimously designate as St. Helias. He had come ori-
ginally from the monastery of Monaghan in Ireland. He
led a most austere life, Trithemius tells, and was on that
account an object of hatred to wicked men, who feared his
reproof. On the other hand, he was the bosom friend and
counsellor of St. Heribert, Archbishop of Cologne, whose
biographer, Landberth, tells us that when this illustrious
prelate felt his end approach, he sent for his beloved Helias,
who prepared him for death, and administered to him the
Gross St. Martin in Koln. By Anton Ditges -Kaplan, pp. 13, 14.
2 ' Warinusqui Geronemvivus sepelivissedicitur.posteafaotus Archiepiwcopus
de crimine penitens Romani ivit etinde reversus monasterium nostrum melioravit
et Scotis iterum immolavit anno 975 quibus praefecit venerabilem virum Mim-
borinum, nntione Scotum, qui praefuit annis 12. Indc Marinus faotus est
hie monaehus et tumbam Sancti Eliphii gloriose ornavit. Construxit etiam
Sacellum S. Brigidae Virginis Scotae quod postea factum est ecclesia parochialie.
Extract from ancient chronicle of St. Martin, published in Keasel's. '—Antiquitates
Suited Marttiti Majuris CuluniKHsis, xi.
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY 531
Sacrament of Extreme Unction, and all the final consolations
of the Church.1
On the death of Heribert, however, the new Archbishop,
Pilgrinus, conceived an inveterate dislike for the Irish
monks, and for Helias in particular, to such an extent,
indeed, that he threatened to expel them from Cologne on
his return from his pastoral visits through his diocese. He
reckoned, however, without St. Helias, who prayed that if
God was for the Irish monks Pilgrinus might never return
to Cologne.' 2 Whether this be a legend or a fact, certain it
is that Pilgrinus never did return. He died, as Marianus
Scotus informs us, at the town of Neomagus, in 1035.
Helias was honoured with the confidence of his successor,
Herrmann, and ruled his two monasteries, St. Martin and
St. Pantaleon's, with the greatest success. He was remark-
able, however, for uncommon strictness in the enforcement
of discipline. A French monk of St. Pantaleon having
written, without permission, a neat copy of the Missal for
the use of the community, Helias burned it, lest others
should presume to act without previous licence.3 He died
in the odour of sanctity, and was buried in the chapel of
St. Benedict, with the epitaph : —
Haec tumuli fossa conduntur Praesulis ossa
Heliae miri mirificique viri.
It is stated by many writers that Helias was a skilled
musician, and that he was the first to bring the Bonian
chant to Cologne, Mabillon goes so far even as to suggest
1 ' Mimborino successit Kilianus, vir multum religiosus, cujus intuitu
Evergerus Archiepiscopus, consentieiite Ottone Imperatore III., in usus momi-
chorum peregrin orum pro remedio animae siiae donavit curies dominicatas
"Rodenkirchhoff et Flitherte, cum piscatione Rheni in tractibus et justitia quae
dicitur Ban. Insuper quidquid in villis Wicerheim et Asoha habebat funditus
nobis inancipavit. Ecclesias quoque tres in Sutlere, aliam in Wische, tertiam
in Flitherte. Insuper in urbe Colonia macellum omne et areas a porta frunieuti
usque ad occidentalem murem civitatis et iterum a porta fori usque ad nusum
Rheni dedit. Curtem quoque dominicatem in Winningo cum xv. macsibus t-t
quidquid vinearum ibi habuit nobis condonavit et alia plura beneficia praestitit
in quorum vicem perpetua ejus memoria apud noa peragitur.' — (Kessel,
op. cit,, p. xi.
2 ' Si Deus in nobis eat peregrinis, nunquam vivus ad Coloniam veniat
Pilgrinus.'
;! SeeLanigan, Ecc. Hist., vol. iii., p. 442.
532 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
that he is the ' Stranger and Pilgrim ' to whom Berno of
Reichanau dedicated his work on The Laws of Symphony
and Tone,1 a work well known in the history of music.
If Cologne was thus indebted in the eleventh century
for the Koman chant and for musical education to an
Irishman from Monaghan,2 who had studied in Rome, it
must be admitted that she is now paying back the debt,
with interest, to Ireland, after a lapse of over eight hundred
years.
The learned historian of the diocese of Cologne,
J. H. Kessel,8 published, in the year 1863, a most inte-
resting volume containing all the ancient documents
bearing on the history of St. Martin's monastery. In
the introduction to this work he bears eloquent testimony
to the heroic labours of the Irish missionaries not only in
Cologne, but all over Europe. He takes good care, in speak-
ing of these Scottish monks, to make it clear that in ancient
times ' Scotia ' was not the name of modern Scotland.
Amongst the earliest apostles of Germany, he says, the
Irish hold the first place. He gives a short account of the
introduction of Christianity into Ireland, of its rapid con-
quest of the whole people, of its fruitful development, and
of the great number of monastic schools that arose all over
the country, and became what he truly calls the fountain-
heads4 of many streams that flowed over this favoured
land, and fertilized the soil of regions which the
1 Berno'« letter is addressed : ' Domino, Deoque Dilecto Filio, Grinovero,
mundi hujus advenae et peregrine.' On which Mabillon comments : — ' Quis sit
iste Grinoverus cui Berno librum suum nuncupat non liquet. Quod cum iHumll
htij'us advenam et peregrinum dicit, conjicicere licet eum fuisse Scottum, et forte
Sancti Pantaleonis aut Scti Martini Majoris Colon iensis praesulem seu Abbatem.
Nam abbates nonnunquam praesules appellabantur. Verum Elias eo tempore
utriusque monasterii abbas erat. An binominis erat Elias, qui cantum Romanum
ex urbe Roma Coloniam primus attulisse dicitur ? . . . Aliis divinaudum relin-
quo.' — Mabillon, Annales Benedicttnortun, torn, iv., p. 207.
3 See Colgan, AA. SS. Hib., p. 107.
z Attiiquitates Monasterii Syncti Martini Majoris Colontcnsin, J. H. Kessal,
Presbyter Coloniensis.
4 ' Quibus factis quum fontes religionis christianae in Hybernia largisnime
scattirirent, plurimi hide rivuli decursu temporis in eas Scotiae partes quac
adhuc siccitate et vanitato superstitionum paganarum laborabaut, feliuiter
deduct! sunt.' — (Op. cit., p. 21.)
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY 533
vanity of superstition had hitherto rendered barren and
worthless.
Whilst this noble race of the ' Scoti ' [he continues ' | was
enjoying the heavenly light of Gospel trutn, and was bearing
such fruits of virtue and good works as ever reward the labours
of those who live according to its standard, Germany lay buried
in the darkest and densest of superstitions. She had not even
any hope of better fortune, either as to the preparation for a
future life or the conception of any duty towards a Supreme
Being. Nor can we be surprised at the fact, for traces of the
superstition which we find to have existed at Cologne, in the
sixth century, prove to us how crass and vile were the pagan
ideas and customs that then existed in our city. To rescue the
Germans from such darkness the Almighty seems to have chosen
the ' Scoti,' who, yielding with joy to His divine will, proceeded
to make new conquests for the kingdom of Christ. As Mabillon,
in his Annals of the Benedictines, remarks, the Scoti conferred
four benefits on the German people — 1. The faith which gives
salvation. 2. The erection of bishoprics. 3. The introduction
of arts and letters. 4. The knowledge of agriculture. Those
who wish to realize the full extent to which we are indebted to
the Scoti for these blessings have only to read the work of the
learned Spittler, which is worthy of the closest attention.2
These missionaries feared neither the dangers of sea nor of
land. Armed with the cross alone they preached Christ crucified
to kings and peoples. They gave their lives for the salvation of
our forefathers who had not yet been born anew through the
waters of Baptism. What bitter trials they sustained,3 what
giant labours they performed, what adversaries they faced and
obstacles they overcame, the learned Abbot Martinus Gerbert*
and Lumper,* the historian, have fully told us, giving to each of
these Scottish missionaries his share in the gifts of preaching or
in the advancement of Christian virtue, of civilization, and of
letters. It is, therefore, not wonderful that these Scots gained
such authority, and won the favour of all good men to such an
extent, that the vicissitudes of centuries could neither subvert
1 ' Interea dum nobilissitna Scotorum gens suavi evangelicae veritatis luce
ganderet talesque virtutum bonorumque operum fructus ferret . . • Germania
tristissimis densissimisque superstitionum paganarum tenebris obruta jacebat.'
2 Grnndriss d'Gescfiichte d' ChristticJte Kirche, 2 ter.( p. 98.
a ' Quo in munere perfungeudo quot aerumnas et labores, quot adversaries
pertulerint et impedimenta superariut luculenter et prolixe exponunt Martinus
Gerbert doctissimus Abbas et Lumper singulis antiquissimae memoriae Mis-
sionariis Scoticis, qui aut praedicationis munere aut singulari virtutum
litterarumque laude praecelluerunt, laudatis.'
4 Mart. Ger'bert, Vet. Liturg. Alem., torn, i., p. 28.
5 Lumper, Inst. Hist., p. 226.
534 1HE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
nor undermine the veneration in which they were held. All this
is mainly to be ascribed to the fact that they not only brought to
the Germans the treasure of divine truth, but all the civilizing
institutions of the Christian religion — schools, hospitals, asylums,
shelters for the poor, and all similar retreats. In the year 844,
several of these institutions having been allowed to fall into
decay, either by the negligence of the bishops or the vicissitudes
of the times, a decree was passed, at the Council of Meaux, held
in that year, ordering hospitals and such foundations to be
restored, ' such as they had been instituted by the Scots of old. '
Every province of Germany proclaims this race as its benefactor.
Austria celebrates St. Column, St. Virgilius, St. Modestus, and
others. To whom but to the ancient Scots was due the famous
' Schottenkloster ' of Vienna ? Salsburg, Eatisbon , and all
Bavaria honour St. Virgilius as their apostle. Similar honour
is paid, in different regions, to SS. Alto, Marianus, and Macarius.
To whom but to these same monks was due the famous monastery
of St. James at Katisbon ? Burgundy, Alsace, Helvetia, Suevia,
with one voice proclaim the glory of Columbanus, Gall, Fridolin,
Arbogast, Florentius, Trudpert, who first preached the true
religion amongst them. Who were the founders of the monas-
teries of St. Thomas at Strasburg, and of St. Nicholas at
Memmingen, but these same Scots ? Franconia and the
Buchonian forest honour as their apostles St. Kilian and
St. Pirmin. . . and those Scottish monasteries of St. Aegidius
and St. James, which in olden times flourished at Nuremburg
and at Wurzburg, to whom are they to be ascribed but to the
holy monks of ancient Scotia? The land between the Rhine
and the Moselle rejoiced in the labours of Wendelin and Disibod.
. . . The old and famous monastery of St. James, at Mayence,
was founded, according to the best writers, by these same Scots.
The Saxons and the tribes of Northern Germany are indebted
to them to an extent which may be judged by the fact that the
first ten bishops who occupied the see of Verden belonged to that
race.
The immediate successor of St. Helias, as abbot of
St. Martin's, was Mariolus or Molanus, who, according to
Florence of Worcester, died in 1061. He is described by
the poet -chronicler, Oliver Legipont, as —
Vir niveo candore micans et Pallade clarus.
Five other names complete the roll of Irish abbots of
St. Martin's — they are : Felan, Wolfhard, Hezelin, Isaac,
and Arnold. Of the last-named, who died in 1103, the
chronicler tells us —
Ultimus ille fuit praesul de gente Scotorurn.
IRISH MONASTERIES IN GERMANY 535
This was the period of decay iu Irish monastic life at
home owing to the Danish wars and other domestic causes.
The monasteries abroad shared in the downfall of the
establishments that had given them birth, and soon fell into
the hands of the stranger.
The abbey of St. Martin, at Cologne, did not disappear,
however, with its Irish monks. On the contrary, it con-
tinued to be one of the most important centres of civiliza-
tion and learning in Germany. Nobles, and even princes
became its mitred abbots. Many of its monks were heard
in the halls of the University of Cologne by the side of
Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, and Duns Scotus. Its
library was frequented by scholars from all parts of Europe.
But though it survived t'ae storms of a thousand years, it
succumbed to the French Revolution. By a decree of the
9th of June, 1802, it was declared national property. The
goods of the monastery were seized, and the church was
handed over to the pastor of St. Brigid's, to serve henceforth
as a parish church. On the 3rd of July, 1803,1 the last
abbot of St. Martin's celebrated his first Mass as parish
priest of St. Martin's. The church, however, still remains a
splendid memorial of the old foundations of the ' Scoti.'
Around it cling the most sacred traditions. To the modern
people of Cologne it recalls the most cherished memories of
the Christian faith.
J. F. HOGAN.
1 'Am 3 Juli, 1803, feierte der letze Abt, als erster Pf arrer von St. Martin
in der geretteten Kirche der ersten Parrgottesdienst.'— (Gross St. Martin in
Kiiln. Anton Dityes, p. 29.)
[ 536 1
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE
following very instructive and eloquent lecture was
J_ delivered by the Very Rev. M. Kelly, Professor of
Ecclesiastical history in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth,
at the Athenaeum, Kilkenny, March 8th, 1857. It is, in my
opinion, well worthy of preservation, and nowhere could it
be more suitably and more profitably preserved than in
the pages of the I. E. RECORD : —
In the subject which I have selected for this evening,
if I cannot range with you over the boundless empire of
science in earth, and sea, and sky, I can at least dwell with
you on the most remarkable objects in that spot which is
dearest to you on earth; objects whose very name recalls
to the Kilkennyman, wherever his lot may be cast, the fair
city on the banks of the crystal Nore, and the cloudless skies
under which he first drew breath. It is this interest which
I know you feel in the monuments of your city ; it is the
solemn lessons, and immortal Catholic memories connected
with St. Canice's, and the very genius of the place in which,
if anywhere, the muse of Irish Catholic history has estab-
lished shrine, that emboldened me to connect with Kilkenny
buildings some remarkable events in your civic history, and
indeed I may say in the history of Ireland.
Kilkenny, if we believe accounts, hardly existed until the
Cambro-Norman invaders built the castle. They certainly en-
larged and beautified the town ; and when we consider its
name, so called from the patron saint of the surrounding terri-
tory (St. Canice), who lived five hundred years before, and
that round tower of other days which overtops St. Canice's,
we may believe that centuries before the arrival of the
Cambro-Normans, or before the conversion of the northern
half of Europe, there was a church at Kilkenny, and that the
Prince of Ossory, after paying his devotions to the patron
saint, often surveyed from this central point the whole extent
of his dominions, from Brandon Hill to Kilcooley, and from
Slievenamon to Slievebloom— a dominion famous in the
annals of Ireland, and specially blessed by St. Columba.
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE 537
The round tower — a building, I may observe, never found
except near a church — often protected the clergy and their
books and sacred treasures from the sudden incursions of
the Dane, until assistance could be summoned by a signal
fire from the top ; but the tower was no protection against
the Normans — a wonderful race — who, after dwelling two
centuries in France, conquered England at Hastings,
founded other kingdoms in Europe, and carried off the
palm of chivalry in the early crusades. The people were
building here a new church, on the magnificent scale then
the fashion in Europe, when the invaders came upon them,
and after some hard battles, gained the victory. But they,
too, continued and completed the church ; and thus cemented
with the blood of two Catholic nations — one building on the
foundations laid by the other, St. Canice's arose, not less
spacious or beautiful, and far more famous in the history of
the two nations than any other Irish cathedral. About the
same time, and nearly in the same circumstances, were
erected two other great religious houses, Jerpoint and Kells.
From that day to the present, during seven hundred
years, with more than their full share of revolutions in
customs, in property, in laws civil and political, and religious,
Kilkenny has, in one important respect, admitted little
change. Now and then her faith is the same. During
nearly four centuries her citizens, all members of the one
fold, thronged on the great festivals in the aisles of
St. Canice's ; during the three following centuries the old
faith, driven out from that and the other great churches,
still lived among us so fresh, so pure, so vigorous, that the
moment the chain was struck off, she began to erect monu-
ments of her power which shall make the times in which
we live an epoch in our history. With these memories in
his heart, and high aspirations for the future swelling within
him, can the young man who has sincerely adopted your
rules (the Young Men's Society) look upon your new
cathedral, the admiration of every stranger, or on St.Kieran's
College, not less admired, and of which the city may be
equally proud — can he look upon them, and not ask himself,
' How can I, as a citizen of Kilkenny, contribute to the
THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
stability of religion in her new abodes, and make her
throne as secure in Kilkenny of the future as Kilkenny of
the past ? How was religion preserved ? What lessons
do our domestic annals teach ? In modern times we hear
much of progress, and the advance of civilization, with a
broad assertion, or sometimes only a hint, that there was
nothing of the kind formerly. We cannot now descend to
particulars, but even in a general view, it is quite certain,
that with all the appliances of modern civilization, Kilkenny
of the present has so clear a superiority over the Kilkenny
of the past. I do not speak of the secure and Christian
provision for the poor, administered by the Church, and all
the other beneficent appendages to a cathedral in those
days; but just picture to yourselves three great convents
in this small city, with their public libraries, and their
paintings, and their gardens for the good of the public.
Survey the massive pile of the Dominicans, the light and
graceful tower of the Franciscans, the famous window of
St. John's, the wonder of Ireland. Take a Sunday trip to
the ever- open doors of Jerpoint or Kells — Jerpoint of the
Cistercians, the men who, to the chaunt of the Church,
felled the forests — and reclaimed the deserts of Europe — and
tell me, if you can, that you have not an education which
refines as well as instructs, an education not only in the
useful and religious, but also in the beautiful and the grand.
Some young friend, who has read history, is saying,
perhaps, that during these four hundred Catholic years,
Kilkenny was an English colony, an English stronghold.
She hated the Irish, and when they were growing strong,
shut them out of St. Canice's, and never once rose against
an English king, until, in truth, there were no English at
home, and until Cromwell cast all the citizens out, and for
a time planted Puritans in their place. Well, young friend,
it is against the first rule in history to judge the past by the
present, without taking into account the difference of cir-
cumstances. Kilkenny was the great meeting-place of the
Parliaments, and National Conventions of the Anglo-Irish
nobles and gentry — a colony, if you will, but who loved the
land of their adoption, and spent their princely revenues
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE 539
at home. See their tombs in St. Canice's ; even in death,
by these beautiful monuments, they employed the artist,
adorned the church, and by the expression of Christian hope
on their placid and noble countenances raise our thoughts
beyond the grave.
Miserable wars and dissensions there were in these
times throughout Ireland ; but if Kilkenny, or Ireland of that
day, is summoned to condemnation, can Ireland of the
present be the first to cast the stone ? To illustrate the
state of society in these days, and the feelings which the
citizens must have had to their Irish neighbours, if our
worthy mayor, and some aldermen, taking a drive a few
miles out of town were carried of by a Murphy or a
Kavanagh of St. Mullin's, or Scullogh Gap, or by an
O'Carroll, or an 0' Moore to the bog of Allen, or Dunamaise,
would we not rise against the indignity, and vindicate our
rights, and be very cautious about letting such dangerous
neighbours have livings in our churches, or property within
our walls ? But if Kilkenny was at war, she loved the old
glories of Ireland. Yes, the nurse of Irish history always
loved Kilkenny. Of the two principal volumes in which the
lives of Irish saints are preserved, one is known to every
scholar as the Codex Kilkenniensis. The only two respect-
able histories of the Anglo-Irish, Clyn's and Grace's, were
compiled in the convents of Kilkenny ; and the spirit has
remained amongst us. For, omitting for the present our
Catholic historians, Harris was educated here, and here
Archdall prepared the only history of the monasteries ; and
here Ledwich, too, prepared his Antiquities ; and from the
same quarter we have a history of St. Canice's, which, I
believe, the character both of the publishers, and of the
authors (Messrs. Prim & Graves), will guard against the
prejudices in some of those I have mentioned. Thus if
Kilkenny was in these days always loyal to those whom she
regarded as her own kindred and natural allies, she included
in her sympathies also the noblest interests of the whole
kingdom ; and shortly before the Eeformation, when the
antipathies of race were dying away, the old Irish enjoyed
within her walls, not only liberty and property, but the
540 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
highest offices in her Church, a gradual preparation for the
great contest then approaching, when both races combined
for the Catholic faith. For when, at the time of the
Keformation, Ireland, emerging from the comparative
obscurity of the four last centuries, appeared before Europe
as the Catholic nation, when she alone of all the northern
nations stood fast by the chair of St. Peter ; when in France,
and Austria, and Belgium, and Italy, and Spain, her name
became a household word for patience and martyrdom, as
it had once been for learning, you have devoted examples
here of constancy in the faith. At the Keformation it was
remarked as extraordinary, and by the English condemned as
unnatural (to use the phrase of the day), that the Anglo-Irish
sternly refused to conform to the change of religion, and that
in many places they were more scrupulous in their adhesion
to Catholic observances than the old Irish themselves.
Now, of these Anglo-Irish, many must have imbibed
this spirit in Kells and Jerpoint, v/hich were then the great
schools for all those who wished to receive an English
education. On this very ground, when Henry VIII. was
suppressing all monasteries, the Lord Deputy of Ireland,
and his counsel petitioned that Kells and Jerpoint should be
exempted from the general fate, this mercy being asked only
for four others, of which two were in Dublin, and one at
Grace Dieu, near Dublin, where all the ladies were educated.
But the petition was rejected. What mercy could be
expected from him ? Kells and Jerpoint were unroofed ;
they went down to the cry of the Reformation, and of progress
and light ; they went down to the cry that brought all evil
into this world — the serpent hiss that blasted the first glory
of paradise, when the woman was told she would be a God.
Light ! light ! the favourite shape into which the angel of
darkness has ever since transformed himself when deluding
the poor sons of Eve. Yes, Kells and Jerpoint went down,
but lived in the young hearts that loved them, who sought
no light but what they gave — the light of faith.
It is impossible to overrate the influence for good or evil
of a school, and we had another example of it here which
we owe to a little courage shown by the clergy and people
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE 541
of the city. Such an opinion had they of the faith of Kil-
kenny that they sent their most learned man as Protestant
bishop here in the reign of Edward VI. So signal, however,
was his failure that there never was such a procession in
the city as when he retired in the beginning of Queen Mary's
reign. All the clergy and canons went in solemn procession
around the town with light and incense and song, making
the whole place resound with the joyful Litanies of the
Blessed Virgin and acclamations of the people ; and so
exuberant was their enthusiasm that even the venerable
canons, forgetting the decorum of their age and station,
flung their caps in joy to the battlements of St. Canice's.
The spirit shown by them on this occasion warned Queen
Elizabeth to proceed with caution in Kilkenny, for although
they passed statutes easily enough, they bided their time in
enforcing them. If they found the watchman timid, they
terrified him ; if they found him simple, they deceived him ;
if they found him corrupt, they threw him a sop and silenced
him ; if they found him prudent and strong, they respected
him apparently, but they watched their opportunity, and
when he too was off his guard, the chain was flung around,
the bolt was shot, and religion left to mourn great oppor-
tunities lost — the slavery of centuries entailed by insensibility
to danger, which steady organization might at once have
crushed. It was fortunate for Catholic Kilkenny that it had
this courage. There is a book written by the son of the
Speaker of the House of Commons that passed the laws of
Elizabeth against the Catholic Church (Stanihurst). It was
printed at Antwerp, in 1584. It gives a full account of a
school in which, fortunately for himself, he was educated,
just near St. Canice's, founded by Earl Pierse and Margaret
Fitzgerald, Countess of Ormonde, so well known by tradi-
tion still. Peter White was the master of the school. He
was driven from the deanery of Waterford because he would
not deny his faith ; but he found protection in Kilkenny,
immediately after Elizabeth had passed her laws against
the Church ; and well for Kilkenny he did. So fondly does
his pupil dwell on his memory, so minutely does he describe
this city, that you might imagine he was writing a guide
542 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
book for the Spanish Armada, then about to sail, and that
the lazy Scheldt, though laden with the commerce of the
vast Spanish Empire and the glorious cathedral itself, and all
the arsenals of Antwerp then resounding with the din of the
mighty preparation, did not impress him so strongly as his
reminiscences of Kilkenny. Oh, the influence of the school
on the feelings and opinions of the man. He remembers
even the waters of the Nore — so cold, he says, in summer —
he was thinking of the Bishop's Meadows on a bright warm
day, and of the bound and the splash and the ringing cheer
in that water, so cold in summer ; and of the gardens along
its banks, just as they are now ; and the great forests
extending the whole way from Troyswood to the Queen's
County, so thick that when the Lord Deputy wanted to pay
a visit (not a friendly one) to Mountgarret, he was several
days cutting a pass through them ; and the rich plain at
the other side of the city, and the clear air, and the beautiful
monuments — alas ! where are they now ? and, in fine, as he
says himself, better than all, citizens most refined, and of
most sterling worth. Then come the names of his school-
fellows— names, except a few, so familiar to us still — all men
of great talent and learning ; and, I will add, some of them
priests. These were the men, the scholars of Peter White,
who preserved religion in Kilkenny during the dreary forty
years and upwards of Elizabeth's reign.
From that page, when it appeared, a Kilkenny boy, about
ten years of age may have learned his first lesson in Latin,
taught, perhaps, by one of the priests whose fame it pre-
serves. On Sunday after hearing their Mass in the crowded
private houses or in the store of the wealthy Catholic mer-
chant (for no other places were allowed), when he came out
in the fresh autumn air he saw the rank grass growing at
the doors of all the churches, and every day's wind and
rain making havoc on the windows of St. John's, and the
thoughtless boy, perhaps, or the avaricious dealer, stealing
or defacing some image of a saint or cross. Again, at his
return in the evening, if he stood on the height at Temple
Maul little church, he remembered how he had been told by
his father that twenty years ago, at that sweet hour of sun-
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE 543
set, all the towers rising over the city, beyond the river,
from the Castle to St. Canice's (now so mournful and
silent), used to send forth the soft and pensive note of the
Angelus bell, answered from the other bank of St. Maul's,
St. Stephen's, and St. John's. When coming into the city
at dusk, he summoned courage to look in at the Black
Abbey, and saw there, by the moonlight streaming in through
the rent roof, the owl sailing noiselessly up the aisle, and
hooting on the desecrated altar, what must this boy have
felt ? Why are these churches closed ? Why does not our
natural sovereign, Queen Elizabeth, redress this injustice?
Do not our city musters march out every day under her
banners ? Are not her sentinels on our walls ?
It was in these influences that a young mind was formed,
which I now introduce to your notice. And here, young men
of Kilkenny, I say most unaffectedly I wish it had fallen to
more able hands to do — what I feel I am utterly unable to
do — justice to his memory. Connected with the most
respectable families in the city — families who represented
her in more than one Parliament — he made for himself a
place in her history which no wealth nor family descent
could confer ; and not only here in this city and in this
diocese, but in the surrounding dioceses and in all Ireland,
and wherever the name of Ireland was known to the ecclesi-
astical scholar, the name of David Kothe, Bishop of Ossory,
was known and revered. Forty years before his death he
was praised in a book, published in 1611, as a great prelate
whom everyone knew that knew Ireland, and one of the
most distinguished scholars that had left the University of
Douay. His perilous commission, abstracting altogether
from its ordinary responsibilities, had terrors at that time
which none but souls of chivalrous devotion could face
without blenching. There were very few bishops then
residing in Ireland, and of those few one, a bishop of Down
and Connor, was imprisoned in Dublin on a groundless
charge of high treason, for which he was tried and put to
death, in 1612. To console this bishop, and to nerve him
against the terrors of the scaffold, in a beautiful letter, still
preserved, was one of the first duties of Dr. Eothe, himself
544 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
remember, being at the time exposed every moment to the
same danger.
I cannot recount all his services to Ireland and to
religion ; but to be brief, what should he do that he has not
done ? A scholar with a ready and clear pen, he used it to
publish the ancient religious glories of Ireland, and attract
sympathy for her sufferings, and, though his contributions
to this branch of literature may displease modern inquiries,
they were gratefully received not only by Catholic writers,
but by his contemporaries, the most eminent Protestant
scholars that the Established Church of Ireland has ever
produced. A diplomatist, with the same pen he exposed to
the scorn of Europe the hollow pretence of the time — that
there was no persecution in Ireland — and unmasked the policy
of James I. so effectually that towards the end of this
monarch's reign there was some slight and gradual relaxa-
tion of the persecution ; and, moreover, he kept the woes of
Ireland constantly before the eyes of the Pope, the common
father of the faithful. What would we know of the Catholic
martyrs during Elizabeth's reign but for his Analecta ? A
patron of learning, and to rear up in this city a school of
Catholic learning, he cherished for many years of what he
might call comparatively the bad times, the hope of one
day seeing the Jesuits established there. Nor was he dis-
appointed, for in his own, or in his brother's house, opposite
the court-house, the Jesuits had their first, and, I believe,
their only noviciate in Ireland. But, above all, he was the
tender and loving pastor, preaching the Gospel to the poor,
and consoling them in their afflictions. Disguised as a soldier
or a physician, as a pedlar, and sometimes as a beggar, he
discharged his episcopal functions not only here and in the
neighbouring dioceses, but through all Ireland, for during
several years he was invested with the primatial authority.
An eminent author, Dr. Lynch, states that David
Kothe was for some few years the only bishop resid-
ing in Ireland, and that whether he lay concealed in the
forest or went along the by-roads, or enjoyed the secure
shelter of the faithful Catholic house, the children were
brought in crowds to him to be confirmed. Pre-eminently
distinguished for his love of peace and harmony among the
KILKENNY AND BISHOP ROTHE 545
clergy, and having by his great reputation and personal
intercourse with them in different parts of Ireland, obtained
an influence such as none other could command, he succeeded
in 1620, in founding an 'Association of Peace' (the first of
the kind in Catholic annals), which by degrees spread
throughout all parts of Ireland, and embraced in one bond
of love and devotion the clergy of all classes, secular and
regular, Irish and Anglo-Irish. Oh, that it had been his lot
to know only the ' Association of Peace ! ' The influence of
that association with other causes during twenty years had
restored to the Catholics nearly all their rights. They had
the numbers and the wealth, landed and commercial, and
soon must have had a political power, when they were driven
to arm in self-defence, in 1641. I say, driven to arm, for dire
compulsion alone could, even at the time, combine the Irish
and Anglo-Irish in the same ranks. Dr. Kothe had no con-
nection with the first general rising; but when the Catholics
from all quarters came pouring in disorder into Kilkenny,
he was generally believed to have organized them into that
Catholic Confederation, which, in the first vigour of its prime,
brought nearly all Ireland under its sway to swear fidelity to
the Catholic religion, and allegiance to Charles I.
Much has been written in ignorance and malice against
the Catholic Conferation ; but have its critics refuted
the assertion of that great statesman, Edmund Burke,
that the Confederation would have given to the whole
Irish nation what the Irish Parliament of 1782 gave
to a party? That, in reality, it wanted nothing but success
to have it proclaimed as the glorious and immortal revolu-
tion ! But I am not discussing the politics of that famous
assembly, which are the burden of many a dismal tome ; nor
are we to criticize the course adopted by our illustrious
David in all the distracted discords that soon shattered the
vigour of the nation. The wonder is how he outlived them,
for the snows of seventy winters were on his head, when,
surrounded by all the Catholic nobles and Catholic prelates,
and Catholic gentry of Ireland, his venerable form was seen
moving in solemn procession up the great aisle of St. Canice ;
and, there, after the lapse of eighty years, the Mass was
VOL. iij. 2 M
54(3 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
again offered up to the clashing of arms, to the pealing of
cannon, and all the imposing ceremony of a Catholic king-
dom. When the pomp was over, when the enthusiastic
march of that armed generation which had grown up since
he came a prelate to Ireland, had died away in the narrow
streets, rolling on to the Castle or the Parliament House,
and left the patriarch alone in the church, no sound but the
echo of his own footfall in the spacious aisle, no object
present to his sight but the altar and the lamp, what
wonder if he doubted the reality of the scene ? When he
saw from his cathedral the swelling woods of Freshford and
Lisdowney, from which, more than thirty years ago, he had
governed the Irish Church, could he suppress anxious
emotion at the perilous splendour of her present position?
Single-handed he had then encountered her enemies with
success. Many councillors now brought destruction. Feeling
he had done all that man could do, he soon selected his grave
and prepared a sacred bequest for his people. He had lived
to see his city placed under the patronage of the Virgin, and
her statue enthroned on the Market Cross ; he selected his
grave in her Chapel of St. Canice's. He lived to celebrate
in that church the divine mysteries with which he had so
long sanctified every forest and lonely glen in Ossory. He
bequeathed to his people as a monument of his gratitude
and love, with other treasures, the sacred vessel used at
Benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament, the beautiful
monstrance, so long preserved in the honoured family of
Bryan, and now in the possession of Dr. Kothe's revered
successors in this historic diocese.1
N. MUEPHY.
1 Lynch, in his MS. Lives of the Irish Hishops, relates, that after the
surrender of Kilkenny to Cromwell, March 28. 16/>0, Bishop Rothe in his
carriage ' accompanied the garrison, who were allowed to march away with all
the honours of war. but at the distance of two miles from the town, a troop of
the enemy attacked and plundered the rear-guard, and seizing the bishop's
carriage carried off one hundred pounds, which was all that he now possessed ;
wherefore, by Cromwell's permission he was brought back to his friends in the
city, among whom he expired on the 20th of the following month of April,
being 82 years of age. He was interred in the family tomb which his ancestors
had erected in St. Mary's Church, his obsequies being duly performed by his
friends according to the Catholic rites, and torches burning around his bier
throughout the whole night that preceded his interment.' His monument in
St. Canice's Cathedral was left uninjured, although it bore engraven on it
figures of the crucifix and the B. Virgin, and other saints.
[ 547 ]
IRotee anb (Queries
LITURGY
EXPOSITION OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT
EEV. DEAR SIB, — In a recent number of the I. E. RECORD
you answer a question asked by ' Laicus,' and say : — ' When the
Blessed Sacrament is solemnly exposed in the monstrance, the
monstrance should, generally speaking, be placed on a throne of
some kind, more or less elevated, above the table of the altar.
This is prescribed for the solemn Exposition of the Forty Hours
in the Instructio Clementina, and by nearly all writers for the
solemn exposition.'
But the Instructio Clementina prescribes that there should not
only be a throne, but also a white canopy. ' Sopra detto altare
in sito eminente vi sia un Tabernaculo o Trono con baldachino
proporzionato di color bianco.' I believe the Instructio is not
binding extra urbem. But may I ask is there any other rubric
prescribing a canopy on the occasion of the exposition ? If not,
may I further ask, is it not the custom, in Catholic countries, to
use a canopy in the exposition of the Blessed Sacrament ? and, if
so, are we not bound, in some way, to conform to their custom ?
May I further ask, whether it would not be more becoming to
open the tabernacle door, and give Benediction with pix, say after
twelve o'clock Mass, on Sunday, when there are no special
devotions recited before the Blessed Sacrament, and whether a
P.P. can do this without consulting the Ordinary? — Yours
faithfully,
A DUBLIN P.P.
1. The Clementine Instruction does prescribe the use of
a white canopy for the exposition of the Forty Hours, as
the extract given by our correspondent abundantly proves.
But, as he himself remarks, this Instruction binds only
in Eome, and, even there, only on the occasion of the
Exposition of the Forty Hours. Hence, so far as the
Clementine Instruction is concerned, the use of the white
548 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
canopy is not obligatory in any exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament, outside of Home. And, in reply to our cor-
respondent's inquiry regarding the existence of some other
source of obligation, we must reply that there is none, as
far as we know. Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament,
being an extra-liturgical service, is not regulated by any
precise or unchangeable code of rules. What the Church
expects, and what reverence for this great mystery demands
is, that everything about the altar, and especially everything
directly connected with the exposition, should be becoming,
and as worthy of the place it occupies as the circumstances
of the church wherein exposition takes place will permit .
It is, we believe, customary in Catholic countries, to have
the throne in which the monstrance is placed crowned with
a canopy, from which oftentimes depend folds of the same
material behind the monstrance, and to the right and left,
thus concealing it from every side unless that one which is
turned towards the people. This continental custom is
copied from the Clementine Instruction, and is, no doubt,
very praiseworthy ; but, surely, we in this country are not
bound to follow a custom which cannot be binding —
unless by reason of national or diocesan legislation — in the
countries in which it prevails.
2. It is forbidden to take the pyx or ciborium out of the
tabernacle for the purpose of blessing the people with it.
Private exposition of the Blessed Sacrament is allowed.
This consists in merely opening the door of the tabernacle,
and in placing the ciborium, covered as usual with the veil,
in such a position within the tabernacle that it may be seen
by the people kneeling in front of the altar. But the
ciborium must not, by any means, be taken out of the
tabernacle for the purpose of giving Benediction with it.
A parish priest may privately expose the Blessed Sacrament
in this manner for a reasonable cause without the permission
of bis bishop.
D. O'LOAN.
t 549 ]
CORRESPONDENCE
THE PRIEST IN NATIONALITY
REV. DEAR SIR, — In view of the approaching third annual
meeting of the Maynooth Union, I trust you will allow me a
little corner of your valuable space for the purpose of bringing
under the notice of the members a subject that deserves their
united attention, and might very profitably be admitted for dis-
cussion at the meeting in June. Though I am myself a member
of the Union, it will be impossible for me to take part iu the
proceedings of the June meeting, and I write this letter in the
hope that priests intending to be present at that meeting, who
may happen to read it, would bestow in the interval a serious
thought on its contents, and try to form for themselves a
responsible judgment and elicit the judgment of the Union on
the mooted question.
The matter about which I write may turn out to have only a
remote connection with the topics arranged as formal items for
the programme, but I have reason to believe that it would be in
order for discussion under some of the papers announced to be
read ; and at any rate, on its own merits, it is not beneath the
notice of the collective clerical wisdom which the Union aims at
drawing forth and directing to practical ends.
The question itself which I wish to have raised is akin to that
discussed at last year's meeting by the Bishop of Clonfert, and in
the scale of importance it scarcely yields to Dr. Healy's subject.
This is asserting a strong claim on my own behalf to a serious
hearing, but I am convinced it is a reasonable claim. 4 The
Priest in Politics ' is only the title of a special chapter in the
general subject, ' The Priest in Nationality,' and there is pretty
much the same necessity for examining and adjusting the priest's
relations under the general head as under the special. Politics is
only one field in the great domain of nationality, and it will be
found that the same reasons, ultimately, which recommend or
necessitate political action on the part of the priest hold good to
the same extent for interference in other fields of national life and
activity. The interests indeed that chiefly concern m as a priest
are, as a rule, more imminently involved in political questions
550 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
and their issues; but the same interests are also involved, some-
times just as directly, in other matters of a national character,
distinct from politics ; while on the grounds of mere patriotism,
which is also to be considered, those matters have as true a
claim on the priests of Ireland as any political movement can
have. It would, therefore, be a very inadequate view of our
indirect sphere of work that would include only the arena of
politics. As priests and as Irishmen we cannot be indifferent
about the progress and development or the decay, as the case may
be, of nationality in the higher and wider sense ; and no matter
how signally praiseworthy our services to political nationality, we
should fail to satisfy a notable part of the national claims upon
us were we to stand idly by while some of the best qualities and
most precious possessions of our traditional nationality are dis-
appearing with alarming rapidity, and a new nationality, unlike
the old, is growing up in our midst.
In order to give a more definite purport to these general
remarks it will be sufficient to refer to a few leading points.
And to begin with the national language, it has decayed more
during the present century than it had done during the six
centuries before, during which it was proscribed by a more
rigorous ban ; nor has any truly national effort been made to
check the decay and bring about a revival. Priests and people
alike — the great bulk of them — have seemed to be unconscious
of suffering any loss ; their apathy, in fact, has looked like a
voluntary yielding up of their most ancient national heritage. I
do not forget the grand exceptions to this attitude of in-
difference, but what I say is undeniably true of the general state
of the case. Nor am I speaking by way of blame — a sufficient
explanation may be given of all that has occurred. But it is a
matter for reasonable surprise that the apathy still continues.
Perhaps it is that the loss of the old tongue is not regarded as an
absolute loss at all, but only as a profitable and beneficial exchange.
The new language, it may be said, is more useful to our race in
the battle of life, and forms in itself a richer possession by reason
of its priceless literature, while the direct loss to nationality may
be repaired by preserving the ancient spirit which is independent
of any tongue.
But waiving the question of utility, this view has little
to recommend it. It is all very good to talk of preserving the
spirit of nationality, but it cannot be denied that a distinctive
CORRESPONDENCE 55 i
language is the greatest safeguard of distinctive nationality, and
no other influences can fully supply its place. And the Irish
language was something more than a mere external safeguard of
Irish nationality. It was the living embodiment and perpetuating
instrument of many of the most beautiful national characteristics.
Just to mention one instance, which ought to appeal especially to
the priest, nothing could be more worthy of all admiration than
the spirit of lively faith and earnest piety which was embedded,
so to speak, in the very texture of the language, and spoke in its
every sentence. You could not speak Irish as our fathers spoke
it without being in frequent contact with God and His Holy
Mother and your Angel Guardian and the saints, and you have
only to go among those who still speak the old tongue to be con-
vinced that this familiarity with the supernatural was not an
unconscious, much less an irreverent, habit, but the earnest
expression of the prayerful heart. It may be said, of course, that
these and similar characteristics ought to survive the loss of the
language, that any language may be applied to such pious uses ;
and I admit that our people who have lost the old tongue have
retained, in a large degree, the habits of religious thought
reflected in it. But this is only a proof that things change slowly,
for that a change in this respect is really in progress nobody has
a better opportunity of observing than the missionary priest ;
and I think it will be borne out by the general experience that
where the language of faith has died, the outspoken spirit of
faith has declined. The grand old forms of pious salutation
exclamation, purpose, and so on, that were common-places in the
old tongue, are now no longer heard, or so seldom as to create
surprise, except among the older and more rustic people who
still retain the fashion and spirit of a bygone age. Such
usages, in fact, are a sign of rusticity ; modern enlightenment
laughs them out of court, and they must not appear where its
influences prevail. I admit, of course, that such a change is not
in the nature of things a necessary consequence of the change of
language ; but it is inevitable that such a change should follow,
when with the new language, new notions and ideals and
principles and standards, which contradict the old, have come in
and taken possession of the public mind.
This change, however, it must be remembered, is only one
phase of a widely growing tendency in the same direction, and is
not to be taken as a full presentation of the case. I am
552 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
suggesting merely one particular point of view. And continuing
from that same point of view, it is evident that the most potent
influence in working the change is the influence of what counts as
English literature . I do not speak of what is really good in that
literature, but of what is bad and pernicious, openly or insidiously
infidel and immoral, to which may be added what is merely
natural and purely worldly to the exclusion of everything of a
higher order and interest. The increasing quantity of such
literature and its circulation among our people is a matter for
grave alarm ; every priest comes face to face with the evil in
some form and degree, and all are of one mind that it is an evil
to be fought with every available weapon. It is not an evil of
native origin, but has come in from without in consequence of the
loss of our language ; and it cannot be doubted that whatever is
done for the preservation and restoration of the national language
is so far a counteracting remedy. Personally, 1 believe in the
feasibility of restoration on an extended scale ; the example of
the Welsh and Flemish revivals seems to place it beyond a doubt,
and priests as a body ought to have made an earnest trial of the
movement before they despair of its success. Belgian priests
regard the Flemish revival as one of the greatest blessings that
has come to their nation, chiefly because of the effective barrier
it has set up against the inroad of corrupting French literature.
So strong, indeed, is their feeling on the question of their
national language that it has actually decided the appointment
to at least one episcopal see. When may we expect such a
state of feeling here at home ?
But even though Irish is never again to become a living
national language, it is entitled to national reverence. Some
knowledge of it and some appreciation of its literature ought to be
a first qualification for an educated Irishman ; and were such a
national fashion in possession a great deal would have been done
to destroy the power of the false-culture fashion that dominates
in our day. On this wider ground I would press my appeal on
the attention of my fellow-priests.
And this leads up to a still wider portion of the general
subject with which I set out. In saying so much about the
language I do not mean to imply that it is the sole or even the
chief point of importance : but as I have taken up so much space
with it, I cannot deal so fully as I would wish with some other
leading points. A few brief remarks must suffice.
CORRESPONDENCE 553
What I have said of the neglect of the national language is
true, I fear, almost in the same degree of other elements in the
life of genuine nationality. Irish history, for instance, and
kindred subjects get practically no recognition in the existing
public systems of education. The primary system, though calling
itself national, is notorious for ignoring and excluding everything
having the slightest flavour of nationality about it. The Inter-
mediate is very little better in this respect ; and we have no
university system to supply the deficiencies of the lower
systems. The consequence is that our people are thrown on
their own resources for whatever national education they receive.
Popular national literature is the only school to which they can
have recourse. But the national knowledge diffused and national
good accomplished in this way is only a token of what could be
further done in the same way were there a more widespread
appreciation and encouragement of national literary work.
Priests have been often accused of remissness in this respect, and
the charge is not without foundation. Certain it is that if they
would give their own patronage in this matter as extensively and
as liberally as in politics, for instance, and exert their influence
in securing popular patronage, a vastly greater amount of good
could be accomplished, while the evil above referred to of bad
and worthless reading would be diminished in a corresponding
measure. But there are special lines in which priests would be
naturally expected to take the lead, but in which very little,
comparatively, is being done by them. There are no popular
lives of many of our greatest saints, and what is more, no demand
for them ; their work, and their names even, are generally un-
known, devotion to them unheard of. Similarly, our martyrs are
neglected. And as to sacred topography and archaeology and
such like, their cultivation and promotion are left, strange to say,
chiefly to those who have no proper claim to the glory that
lingers around the places and monuments associated with the
ancient faith. Surely it is not fitting that things should
be so.
But I must not prolong the subject. My object in writing
will be gained if someone be found to take up what I have aimed
at suggesting, and set on foot some movement that may bear
fruit. There could be no occasion more suitable than a meeting
of the Maynooth Union for considering such subjects as this. I
have no doubt that many members of the Union will agree with
554 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
all I have said, and more that I should like to have said ; and if
any encouraging response to this letter appear at the re-union or
elsewhere, it may be practicable to proceed beyond mere words,
and establish, for example, a league or association of priests to
propagate and carry into effect, by working on definite lines
which could easily be specified and arranged, the policy which I
have partially outlined. It would be premature now to put
forward any definite proposals.
SACEKDOS.
555
DOCUMENTS
DECISION REGARDING THE USE OF GLASS IN THE
CRESCENT LUNETTE
K SACRA CONGREGATIONE RITUUM
SS. HOSTIA REPONI POTEST INTRA DUO CRYSTALLA MODO SINT BENE
CLAUSA, NEQUE ILLA TANGAT
DUBIUM
In plurimis Galliae Ecclesiis atque Oratoriis usus invaluit
postremis hisce temporibus sacram Hostiam, quae in Ostensorio
exponenda est, recondendi intra duo crystalla apte cohaerentia,
eamque in Tabernaculo reponendi absque ulla capsa, seu costodia.
Hinc a Sacrorum Eituum Congregatione expostulatum fuit :
' An eiusmodi praxis licita sit ?'
Atque eadem Sacra Congregatio, ad relationem subscript!
Secretarii, exquisito etiam voto Commissionis liturgicae, ac re
mature perpensa, proposito Dubio respondendum censuit : Affirma-
tive ; dummodo sacra Hostia in dictis crystallis bene sit clausa,
atque crystalla non tangat, iuxta alias Decreta.
Atque ita rescripsit die 14 lanuarii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Praef.
D. PANICI, Seer,
L. $? S
THE PRIVILEGE OF SINGING REQUIEM MASSES TWICE
A WEEK
PRIVILEGIUM CANTANDI MISSAM DE REQUIE BIS IN HEBDOMADA,
PRAETER DIES LIBEROS, NON EXTENDITUR AD MISSAS LECTAS
In Actis Synodalibus dioeceseos Bugellensis, pag. 3 legitur :
' Missa etiam in pauperum funeribus, praesente cadavere, si
fieri potest, cani debet : legatur autem, si cani nequit, diebus
per decreta S. Eituum Congregationis permissis.'
Hinc ab ipsa Sacra Congregatione expetitum fuit : Utrum
concessio facta die 4 Aprilis 1878 Ecclesiis vel Oratoriis publicis
praedictae dioeceseos celebrandi biduo in qualibet Hebdomado,
exclusis duplicibus primae et secundae classis, festis de praecepto
servandis, feriis, vigiliis, octavisque privilegiatis, missam cantatam
556 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
de Eequie, extendatur etiam ad missam de Eequie sine cantu,
seii lectam ?
Et Sacra eadem Congregatio, ad relationem subscript! Secre-
tarii, exquisito etiam voto Commissionis Liturgicae, omnibusque
accurate perpensis, rescribendum censuit : ' Negative, nisi agatur
de Missa, die obitus seu depositionis pro paupere defuncto.'
Atque ita rescripsit, die 28 lanuarii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Praef.
D. PANICI, Seer.
THE BLESSING OF WATER AND CEMENT FOB THE ALTAR
DE BENEDICTIONE AQUAE ET COEMENTI PRO F1RMANDA TABULA
SUPER SEPULCHRUM ALTARIUM
Bmus. Dnus. Salvator loannes Baptista Bolognesi, Episcopus
Bellunensis et Feltrensis, qui per Kescriptum Sacrorum Eituum
Congregation is d. d. 23 Novembris anni elapsi 1897, obtinuit
facultatem consecrandi sive per se, sive per Sacerdotem, Apostoli-
cae Sedis nomine a se delegatum, quaedam altaria, adhibendo
breviorem ritum ac formulam iuxta instructionem ad ipsum
transmissam, ab eadem Sacra Congregatione sequentium Dubio-
rum solutionem humillime efflagitavit ; nimirum :
I. An aqua, cum qua fit malta seu coementum ad firmandam
tabulam seu lapidem super sepulchrum reliquiarum, benedici
valeat cum formula inserta in Missali Romano ?
II. An ipsum coementum benedicendum sit ?
III. An supradicta benedictio turn atque turn coementi, necnon
facultas consecrandi Altaria, in quibus lapis sepulchri ob omissum
coementum movetur, Apostolicae Sedis nomine delegari possit
simplici Sacerdoti, vi obtenti Eescripti ?
Et sacra eadem Congregatio, ad relationem subscripti Secre-
tarii, exquisito etiam voto Commissionis Liturgicae, reque
accurate perpensa, rescribendum censuit :
Ad 1. Negative, sed in benedictione eiusinodi aquae adhibenda
est formula, quae habetur in ipso Pontifical! Eomano.
Ad II. Affirmative iuxta Pontificate Eomanum.
Ad III. Affirmative quoad utramque partem.
Atque ita rescripsit. Die 21 lanuarii 1898.
C. CARD. MAZZELLA, Praef.
D. PANICI, Seer.
DOCUMENTS 557
FORM OF ORDINATION CORRUPTED BY INADVERTENCE
E S. B. UNIV. INQUISITIONE
CIRCA COKRUPTAM EX INADVERTENTIA FORMAM IN S. ORDINATIONE
PRESBYTERALI.
BBATISSIME PATER,
N.N. ad pedes S. V. provolutus humiliter petit quid agendum
sit cuidam clerico, in cuius ordinatione presbyterali Episcopus
inadvertenter ita corrupit formulam ut dixerit : ' Accipe Spiritum
Sanctum ; quorum retinueris peccata, remissa sunt : et quorum
retinueris, retenta sunt.'
Feria V, loco IV., 9 Decembris, 1897.
In Cong. Gen. S. et U. I. habita ab Emis et Emis DD. Card,
in rebus fidei et morum Gen. Inquisitoribus, proposito supra-
scripto dubio, praehabitisque KB. DD. CC. S. Officii votis, iidem
Emi ac Emi Patres respondendum censuerunt :
' Secreto et sub conditione quovis anni tempore suppleatur ad
cautelam a quovis Episcopo cum Sancta Sede communionem
habente, induto de moro, tertia manuum impositio et forma
respectiva : Accipe, Spiritum S. etc. : et quoad praeteritum,
acquiescat.'
Insequenti vero feria VI, die 10 dicti mensis et anni in solita
audientia E. P, D. Adsessori S. 0. impertita, facta de his omni-
bus SSmo D. N. D. Leoni Div. Prov. Pp. XIII. relatione, S. S.
resolutionem Emorum Patrum, contrariis non obstantibus quibus-
cumque, in omnibus adprobavit.
I. CAN. MANCINI, S. E. et U. I. Not.
FACULTIES GRANTED TO AMERICAN BISHOPS
E SACRA CONGREGATIONE PROPAGANDAE FIDEI
DE UNICO VICARIO GENERALI DELEGABILI QUOAD CASUS MATRI-
MONIALES FORMULAE D. ET B.
Pittsburg, 3 Nov., 1896.
EMINENTISSIME PRINCEPS,
Accepi novas Formulas modificatas Facultatum Extraordin.
quas mihi, die 9 lulii huius anni, misisti ; at dubium exortum est
eo quod in hisce Formulis legitur Episcopo concedi potestatem
subdelegandi quasdam Facultates Extraordinarias suo Vicario
558 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Generali^ dum in Formulis olim datis, Episcopus pollebat pote-
state subdelegandi easdem Facultates suis Vicariis Generalibus.
Quaeritur, ergo, utrum in novis Formulis modificatis, potestas
Episcopi limitetur. adeo ut, nunc temporis, valeat tantum sub-
delegare has Facultates unico Vicario Generali, an pluribus, uti
antiquitus ?
Omnia qua par est reverentia et benevolentia permaneo,
Addictissimus in Xto,
E. PHELAN, Episcopus Pittsburgensis.
Pittsburg, die 12 Nov., 1896.
BEATISSIME PATEB,
Infrascriptus Episcopus Pittsburgensis, ad pedes B. V. pro-
vrolutus, humillime exponit ac petit :
Die 9 lulii currentis anni B. V. dignata est concedere Epis-
copo Pittsburgensi — inter alias facultates— potestatem subdele-
gandi Vicario Generali facultates contentas in Formulis D. et E.
' quoties absit a residentia vel lagitime sit impeditus.'
lamvero, attentis peculiaribus circumstantiis huius Dioecesia,
haec potestas parvi valet, quum ex duobus Vicariis Generalibus,
unus ad Ecclesiam S. Petri — trans flumen, in civitate Alleghany,
alius, ad Ecclesiam S. Mariae, in hac ipsa civitate Pittsburgensi,
at tria circiter rnillia passuum distans a residentia Episcopali
domiciliatur — et aditus ad illos, plerumque difficilis, semper
inconveniens foret.
Unde humillime supplicatur B. V. ut infrascripto concedere
dignetur potestatem subdelegandi Cancellario Episcopali, qui
secum in domo residet, easdem facultates, aeque ac Vicario
Generali.
Pro qua gratia, &c ,
E. PHELAN, Episcopus Pittsburgensis.
Eomae, 22 Dec., 1896.
S. Congregazione di Propaganda Fide
Protocollo N. 20993-20992.
Oggetto. Circa Subdelegationem facultatum
uni Vicario gen.
ILLME AC RME DOMINE,
Per duas epistolas in mense Novembri nuper elapso mihi
datas Amplitudo Tua postulabat ab hac S. Congregatione utrum
DOCUMENTS 559
illae facultates quae per novas formulas ab Ordinario subdelegari
possunt suo Vicario General! possint etiam omnibus Vicariis
Generalibus dari, si hi plures sint, et insuper petebat facultatem
subdelegandi easdem facultates etiam Cancellario residenti in
Curia, si Vicarius Generalis non ibi resideat. lamvero cum novae
formulae iuxta praescriptiones et decreta Suprema Congregationis
Sancti Officii editae sint, hinc illis omnino standum est. Cae-
terum sufficienter urgentioribus casibus provisum est cum dicitur
in una ex his formulis, nempe extr. E, Ordinarium subdelegare
posse facultates in ea formula contentas non solum suo Vicario
Generali sed etiam duobus vel tribus Presbyteris sibi benevisis
in locis remotioribus propriae Diocesis pro aliquo tamen numero
casuum urgentiorum, in quibus recursus ad ipsi haberi non possit.
Si igitur Amplitude Tua difficilem putat esse accessum ad
Vicarium Generalem, si alibi resideat, et opportunius esse ut
facultates habeat aliquis, qui degat in Curia, potest uni alterive
sacerdoti in remortioribus Dioecesis partibus degenti facultates
delegare ad normam formulae et alium sacerdotem in urbe resi-
dential! habitantem Vicarium suum Generalem nominare cui soli
inter Vicarios eiusmodi poterunt dictae facultates subdelegari.
Interim Deum precor ut Te diutissime sospitet
A. T. Addictissimus servus.
M. CABD. LEDOCHOWSKI, Praef.
A. ABCHIEP. LABISSEN., Secret.
E. P, D. EICHABDO PHELAN,
Episcopo Pittsburgensi.
ITALIAN PRIESTS IN AMERICA
EPISTOLA CIBCULABIS AD EPISCOPIS ITALOS ET AMEBICANOS,
BELATE AD SACEBDOTES ITALOS, QUI AD AMEBICANUS BEQIONES
EMIGBANT
Non sine magno animi moerore Sanctissimus Dominus Noster
Leo Papa XIII. accepit, nonnullos sacerdotes ex Italia, prae-
sertim meridionali, ad Americanas regiones emigrates earn
ducere vitam, quae a morum integritate et sanctate quam eccle-
siasticus vir praeseferre debet, prorsus abhorret.
Volens icatque Beatissimus Pater tanti mali ulteriori dilata-
tion! pro viribus obsistere, eas renovando et ampliando cautelas
ac remedia, quae praeteritis annis iam fuerant adhibita ; audito
voto Cardinalium sacrae Congregationis Concilii, mandavit eidem
560 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Congregationi mittere ad Episcopos et Ordinaries turn Italiae turn
Americae sequentes praescriptiones.
I. Quoad Italos sacerdotes emigrates in America commor-
antes, locales Antistites contra delinquentes summarie procedant
ad formam Sacrorum Canonum, etiam tamquam Apostolicae
Sedis delegati, si opus sit.
II. Quoad futurum vero, prohibetur absolute Italiae Episcopis
et Ordinariis concedere suis presbyteris de clero saeculari litteras
discessoriales ad emigrandum in regiones Americae.
III. Exceptio tantummodo admitti poterit, onerata Episcopi
conscientia, pro aliquo eius diocesano sacerdote maturae aetatis,
sufficient! sacra scientia praedito, et omnino iustam afferente
emigrationis causam. Qui tamen bonum testimonium habens
intemeratae vitae in operibus sacri ministerii cum laude veri
spiritus ecclesiastici et zeli salutis animarum hactenus peractae ;
idcirco fundatum spem exhibeat aedeficandi verbo et exemplo
fideles 'ac populos ad quos transire postulat nee non moralem
certitudinem praestet nunquam a se maculatam iri sacerdotalem
dignitatem exercitatione quarumcumque vulgarium artium et
negotiationum.
IV. Sed in huiusmodi casu idem Italus Episcopus et Ordi-
narius, omnibus rite perpensis et probatis, rem, absque sacerdotis
postulantis intermedio, directe agat cum Ordinario Americano ad
cuius dioecesim ille transire cupit, et habita ab ipso Americano
Ordinario eiusdem sacerdotis formali acceptatione una cum pro-
missione eum ad aliquod ministerii ecclesiastici munus deputandi,
de omnibus et singulis, praefatae Sacrae Congregationi Concilii
referat. Qae si tandem consensum dederit, tune poterit Epis-
copus discessorias litteras concedere, communicando Americano
Antistiti per secretam epistolam, nisi et iam cognitae sint, notas
personales emigrantis sacerdotis, ad effectum impediendi fraudes
circa subiecti identitatem. Ex ea dioecesi ad aliam in America
idem sacerdos emigrare nequeat absque nova sacrae Congrega-
tionis licentia.
V. Excluduntur in quacumque hypothesi presbyteri ritus
orientalis.
VI. Quod si non agatur de emigratione, sed de aliquo Italiae
sacerdote, qui ob personales et honestas tempo raneas causa
pergere velit ad Americae partes, satis erit ut proprius Ordinarius,
his perspectis, ac dummodo de catero nihil obstet, eum muniat in
scriptis sua licentia ad tempus (unius anni limitem non excedens),
DOCUMENTS 561
in qua praefatae abeundi causae declarentu, cum conditione, ui
suspensus illico maneat a divinis expirato praefixo termino, nisi
eius legitimam prorogationem obtinuerit.
VII. Non comprehenduntur his legibus de emigrations in
Americanus ii sacerdotes, qui ad hoc speciali aliquo gaudent
apostolico privilegio.
Datum Bomae ex S. Congregatione Concilii die 27 lulii, 1890.
RELICS OF THE SACRED PASSION
E SACRA CONGKEGATIONE KITUUM
NON INNOVETUR CIRCA DECRETA RESPICIENTIA CULTUM EXHIBEN-
DUM RELIQUIIS PASSIONIS D. N. I. C.
Emus P. Commissarius Generalis Fratrum Minorum Obser-
vantium de Provincia Calabriae Sacra Eituum Congr. ea quao
sequuntur humillime exposuit, nimirum : — In Conventu Fratrum
Minorum Franciscalium de Observantia prope Petiliam Policas-
trum ac de Provincia Calabriae, abhinc tribus saeculis una colitur
Spina Coronae D. N. I. C. sanguine conspersa et quondam a
Emo Archiepiscopo S. Severinae, in cuius dioecesi siturn est oppi-
dum, iuridice recognita et approbata. Haec autem S. Eeliquia
cum exponitur fidelium venerationi, super tabernaculum collocari
solet in quo SSmum Sacramentum asservatur, et ante ipse trans-
euntes utrurnqu^ flectunt genu ; et ipse Sacerdotes ante earn
expositam celebrantes omnia peragunt, quae ante SSmum Sacra-
mentum expositum fieri solent. Idem vero Rmus P. Commis-
sarius Generalis sua canonica visitatione haec omnia nonnisi
SSmae Eucharistiae ratus conrenire ex ecclesiastica institutione,
iussit ab his abstineri et omnia peragii ad tramitem Decretorum
Sacrae Eituum Congregationis. Quod aegre ferentibus quibug-
dam, ut efficacius, in casu, omnis abusus eliminetur, et debitus
honor sacrae Spinae D. N. I. C. tribuatur, praedictus Orator ab
eadem Sacra Congregatione enixe postulavit :
I. Utrum praefati usus approbari, vel saltern tolerari possint ?
II. Et quatenus negative, quis sit legitimus cultus eidem
S. Spinae tribuendus ?
Et Sacra ipsa Congregatio, referente subscripto Secretario,
attentis expositis, utrique postulato rescribendum censuit : ' Stetur
Decretis, praesertim decreto in Tridcntina d. d. 12 Martii, 1836,
aliisque respicientibus cultum exhibendum ac praescriptum pro
yot. in. % N
562 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Keliquiis vivificae Crucis aliorurnque instrumentorum Passionis
Dominicae.'
Atque ita rescripsit. Die 17 Septembris, 1897.
L. M. CAKD. PAROCCHI.
D. PANICI, Secret.
DECREE REGARDING PIOUS UNIONS AND SOCIETIES
DB ERECTION ET AGGREGATIONE PIARUM UNIONUM SEU SOCIETA-
TUM, ETC.
Cum hisce temporibus poene innumerae exortae sint in
Ecclesia piae Uniones seu Societatis. quae etsi quandoque Con-
fraternitatum nomine decorentur, nihilominus inter veras et pro-
prie dictas Confraternitates minime sint recensenda ; merito dubi-
tatum est, an leges, quae a Constitutione dementis VIII., quae
incipit : Quaecumque, pro Confraternitatibus et Congregationibus
iussae sunt, novis istis piis Unionibus seu Societatibus forent
applicandae. Quaestio insuper mota est pro nonnullis Confra-
ternitatibus ad Eegulares Ordines pertinentibus, quoad consensum
Ordinariorum, cum illae in Ecclesiis eorumdem Kegularium
Ordinum eriguntur. Quare huic Sacrae Congregationi Indul-
gentiis Sacrisque Keliquiis praepositae sequentia dubia dirimenda
sunt exhibita :
I. ' An Piae Uniones seu Societates, quae sub Confraterni-
tatum et Congregationum nomine minime veriunt comprehendan-
tur sub sanctionibus Constitutionis Clementis VIII., quae incipit
Quaecumque ? '
II. ' An ad erectionem Confraternitatum, puta Sanctissimae
Trinitatis, Sanctissimi Eosarii, B. M. V. de Monte Carmelo, vel a
Virgine Perdolente, aliarumve huiusmodi, quae a Keligiosis
Ordinibus in suis respectivis Ecclesiis origuntur, necessarius sit
Ordinarii consensus ? '
Et Eini Patris Vaticanis Aedibus in generali Congregatione
coadunati sub die 5 Augusti, 1897, ad proposita dubia responde-
runt :
Ad Inni: Affirmative, ' quoad erectionem seu institutionem,
quoad approbationem statutorum, quoad aggregationem et quoad
publicationem Indulgentiarum.'
Ad II""1: ' Si agatur de Confraternitalibus proprie dictus, id
est ad modum organic! corporis et cum sacco constitutis, Affirma-
tive: si de Confraternitatibus late acceptis, satis provisum per
DOCUMENTS 563
consensum praes itum ab Ordinario pro erections Conventus
Ordinis in Diocesi.'
De quibus omnibus facta SSmo Dno Nostro Leoni XIII.
relatione in Audentia habita ab infrascripto Cardinal! Praefecto
die 25 Augusti, 1897, Sanctitas Sua resolutiones Emorum Patrura
approbavit.
Datum Eomae ex Secretaria eiusdem S. C. die 25 Augusti,
1897.
FB. HIEKONYMUS MAKIA, CAED. GOTTI, Praefectus.
L. * S.
ifc A. AKCHIPISC. ANTINOEN., Secretarius.
INDULGENCE OF A PRIVILEGED ALTAR
DECBETUM SQUILLACENSIS
DE INDULGENTIA ALTABI PBIVILEGIATO ADNEXA
Episcopus Squillacensis huic S. Congregarioni Indulgentiarum
sequentia dubia enodanda proposuit :
I. 'An Indulgentia Altaris Privilegiati separari possit ab appli-
catione seu fructu Sacrificii, quando Sacrificium est celebrandum
pro defun-ctis ? '
• II. ' An eadem Indulgentia Altaris Privilegiati separari possit,
quando celebratur Sacrificium pro vivis, ita ut Indulgentia prae-
dicta applicari possit pro defunctis ad libitum Celebrantis ? '
III. ' Quomodo intelligenda sit inscriptio, quae reperitur in
aliquibus Altaribus, huius tenoris : " Altare Privilegiatum pro
vivis atque defunctis ? "
Et in generali Congregatione habita in Palatio Apostolico
Vaticano, die 5 Augusti, 1897, Emi Patres rescripserunt :
Ad lum et Hum : (Negative.)
Ad Ilium. ' Interpretanda est ita, ut tarn pro vivis, si in
Altari, de quo agitur, Missae Sacrificium pro vivis applicetur,
quam pro defunctis, si pro his S. Sacrificium applicetur, intelli-
gatur concessa Plenaria Indulgentia ; pro vivis ad modura
iurisdictionis, pro defunctis ad modum suffragii. '
Et facta per me infrascriptum Card. Praefectum SSmo. D. N.
Leoni Pp, XIII. de his relatione, in Audientia habita die 25 Augusti,
1897, Patrum Cardinalium responsiones Sanctitas £ua ratas
habuit et confirmavit.
Datum Romae ex Secretaria eiusdem S. Congregationis die
25 Augusti, 1897.
Fr. H. M. CABD. GOTTI, Praef.
L. »frS.
Archiepisc. ANTINOEN, Secret.
564 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
THE DECREE OF THE INDEX ON THE PROHIBITION AND
CENSURE OF BOOKS
E SACRA CONGREGATIONE IND1CIS. CIRCA INTERPRETATIONS!!
VERBORUM 'ABSQUE COMPETfiNTIS AUCTORITATIS LICENTIA,'
ART. 17 CONST. ' OFFICIORUM '
A Sacra Congregations Indulgentiarum, sub die 13 lulii
1897 huic S. Indicis Congregationi propositum fuit sequens
Dubium : —
Utrum in Decreto N. 17 Decretorum Generalium ' De prohi-
bitione et censura librorum,' nupsr a SSmoD. N. Leone PP. XIII
editorum, verba haec 'nonpublicentur absque competentisauctori-
tatis licentia,' ita sint intelligenda, utin posterum Indulgentiarum
libri, libelli, folia, etc. omnes ad solos locorum Ordinaries pro
impetranda licentia sint referendi? Ad vero subiiciendi sint
censurac aut Sacrae Congregationis Indulgentiarum, aut Ordinarii
loci secundum normas ante novam Uonstitutionem ' Officiorum ac
munerum ' stabilitas ?
Sacra Indicis Congregatio, omnibus mature perpensis
respondit : —
Ad lam Partem Negative.
Ad lam Partem Affirmative.
Datum Romae ex Secretaria, S, Indicis Cong, die 7H Augusti
1897.
A. CARD. STEINHUBER, Praef.
Fr. M. CICOGNANI, 0. P. Secret.
ERROR IN 'SUPPLEX LIBELLUS'
E SACRA POENITENTIARIA SUSTINETUR DISPENSATIO, LICET IN SUP-
PLICII LIBELLO ERROR ADFUERIT IN EXPRIMENDO STIPITE, EX
QUO PROVENIEBAT UNUM EX IMPEDIM CONSANGUINITATIS
BEATISSIME PATER,
Sub die 30 Martii, 1897, Joannes B. . . . et Rosalia J. . . N. . . .
dioecesis, a Dataria Apostolica rescriptum dispensationis repor-
taverunt k supra secundo in linea aequali ex uno, ac duplici quarto
ex tertio ' stipitibus provenien. consanguinitatis gradibus.
Ita ferebat rescriptum, dum revera dispensatio postulata fuerat
super ' secundo ex uno, quarto ex altero ac demum item quarto
ex tertio' stipitibus provenien. consanguinitatis gradibus.
lamvero cum tcmpus urgerut et error rescript! circa quid
DOCUMENTS 565
accidentals versaretur, Ordinarius N. . . . rescriptum executus
est, sponsique in facie Ecclesiae rite copulati sunt. Hinc
quaerit : —
1. Utrum rescriptum valide et licite executus fuerit ?
Die 1 Februarii, 1895, cum quidam Ordinarius in libello
supplici se originis Ordinarium affirmaverit, dum revera
Ordinarius domicilii esset, S. Poenitentiaria sciscitanti respondit
dispensationem valide et licite fuisse datum, verum errorem
corigendum esse. Hinc :
2. Utrum ipse Ordinarius N. . . . debeat et in casu actuali
errorem rescript! corrigere ?
Et Deus
Sacra Poenitentiaria Ordinario N. . . . super praemissis
respondet : Pacta correctione acquiescat.
Datum Eomae et Sacra Poenitentiaria die 2 lunii, 1897.
B. POMPILI, S.P., Corrector.
V. CANCUS LUCCHETTI, S.P., Secrius.
MARRIAGES OF FREETHINKERS, SECTARIES, AND CATHOLICS
WHO REFUSE TO FULFIL THEIR CHRISTIAN DUTIES
E. S. R. UNIV. INQUISITIONE. CIRCA MATBIMONIA LIBEKORUM
PENSATORUM, SECTARIORUM ET CATHOLICOKUM QUl CHRISTIANA
OFFICIA ADIMPLERE RECUSANT
Feria III., loco IV., die 25 Mali 1897.
In Eelatione Status Ecclesiae Tabescensis, exhibita S. Con-
gregation! Concilii die 27 Novembris 189G, sequens legitur sub
num. I Postulatum :
'His in Eegionibus frequenter occurrit ut viri impii, vulgo
liberi pensatores, matrimonium inire cupientes cum mulieribus
catholicis, praeviam confessionem facere renuant, eo quod, ut
explicite fatentur, fidem Sacramenti Poenitentiae corde incredulo
reiecerunt et totam fidem negaverunt. Peto an hi, infidelibus
deteriores, debeant aut possint admitti ad contrahendum matri-
monium, cum magno mulieris catholicae et familiae detrimento
et periculo.'
Cum hoc Postulatum transmissum fuerit ad hanc Supremam
S. K. et U. Inquisitionem, in Congregatione Generali habita ab
EEmis et EEmis DD. Cardinalibus Generalibus Inquisitoribus,
proposito suprascripto dubio, praehabitoque EE. DD. Consultorum
voto, iidem EEmi ac. EEmi DDni responderi mandarunt :
566 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
' Supplicandum SSmo, ut in Decreto Feriae IV., die 30
lanuarii 1867.'
Feria Vero IV die 26 eiusdem rneiisis SSmus, per facultates
Emo Cardinal! S. E. et U. Inquisitionis Secretario concessas,
benigne annuit pro gratia.
Porro citatum Decretum fer. IV. diei 30 lanuarii 1867 sic se
habet :
I. ' Quid agendum quando vir baptizatus, sed apostasium a
fide verbis et corde profitens, asserensque nominatim se non cre-
dere Sacramentis Ecclesiae, petit matrimonium coram eiusdem
Ecclesiae facie, unice ut desiderio sponsae satisfaciat ?
II. ' Quid si idem vir petit sectae condemnatae muratorum vel
simili addictus, qui licet fidem non omnino amiserit, sectae tamen
debite renunciare recusat ?
III. ' Quid si idem postulat vir, qui fidem non abiecit, sed earn
profiteri, officiaque cbristiana adimplere abnuit.'
Kesponsum fuit : Adi. ' Quoties agatur de matrimonio inter
unam partem catbolicam et alteram quae a fide ita defecit, ut
alicui falsae religioni vel sectae sese adscripserit, requirendam
esse consuetam et necessariam dispensationem cum solitis ac
notis praescriptionibus et clausulis. Quod si agatur de matri-
monio inter unam partem catholicam et alteram quae fidem
abiecit, at nulli falsae religioni vel haereticae sectae sese adscripsit,
quando parochus nullo modo potest huiusmodi matrimonium
impedire (ad quod totis viribus incumbere tenetur) et prudenter
timet ne ex denegata matrimonio adsistentia grave scandalum vel
damnum oriatur, rem deferendam esse ad E. P. D. Episcopum,
qui, sicut ei opportuna nunc facultas tribuitur, inspectis omnibus
casus adiunctis, permittere poterit ut parochus matrimonio passive
inter sit tamquam testis ' authorizalibis,' dummodo cautum omnino
sit catholicae education! universae, prolis aliisque similibus
conditionibus.'
Ad II. ' Dandum esse Decretum diei 28 lunii, 1865, quod est
huiusmodi : " Quoad matrimonia; in quibus una contrahentium
pars clandestinis aggregationibus per Pontificias Constitutiones
damnatas adhaeret, dummodo absit scandalum, Ordinarius,
habita circumstantiarum ratione pro casibus particularibus, ea
decernat quae magis expedire iudicaverit. "
Ad III. ' Consultet probatos Auctores, et praesertim Bene-
dictum XIV De Si/nodo Dioeces. L. VIII, Cap. XIV, n. 5.'
I. C. MANCINI, S. R. et U. Inquis. Not.
DOCUMENTS 567
THE BURIAL OF AMPUTATED MEMBERS
DE MEMBEIS HUMANIS AMPUTATIS SEPELIENDIS
BEATISSIMI PATER,
Superiorissa Generalis ' Sororum a Matre Dolorosa,' quarum
Domus matrix Eomae extat, devotissime exponit, in Hospitalihus
Congregations, quae in America Septentrionali extant, singulis
hebdomadibus evenire ut unius vel alterius aegroti brachium seu
eras amputetur. Sorores adhuc bona fide eiusmodi membra recisa
sive in terra profana sepelierunt, sive, suadente medico, igne
combusserunt. Quum vero humilis Oratrix anxia haereat, num
Sorores in hac parte recte egerint, devotissime quaerit, utrum
eiusmodi agendi ratio eti am in future prosequi possit vel' non :
sive agatur de aegrotis catholicis, sive de acatholicis seu infide-
libus. luvat forsan adnotare eiusmodi membrorum sepulturam
in aliquo coemeterio saepissime moraliter et baud semel physice
impossibilem evadere.
Et Deus, etc.
Ferialll, loco IV, die 3 Augusti 1897.
In Congregatione Generali S. E. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
EEmis et ER. DD. Cardinalibus in rebus fidei et morum
Generalibus Inquisitoribus, propositis suprascriptis precibus,
praehabitoque EE. DD. Consultorum voto, idem EE. ac EE.
Pati-es rescribendum mandarunt :
'Quoad membra amputata acatholicorum, Sorores praxim
suam tuto servare possunt. Quoad membra amputata fidelium
baptizatorum, pro viribus curent ut in loco sacro sepeliantur. Sin
vero graves obstant diflficultates quominus in loco sacro condi
possint, circa praxim hucusque servatam non sunt inquietandae.
Quoad membrorum combustionem praecipientibus medicis, pru-
denter dissimulent et obediant. Et ad menem.' ' Mens est
quod, si fieri potest, in proprio horto domui adnexio, deputetur
aliquod parvum terrae spatium,ad sepelienda membra catholicorum
amputata, postquam fuerit benedictum.'
Feria vero VI. die 6 eiusdem mensis et anni, in solita audientia
E. P. D. Adsessori S. 0. impertita, facta de his omnibus SSmo
D. N. Leoni Div. Prov. Pp. XIII. relatione, SSmus resolutionem
EEmorum Patrum adprobavit.
I. C. MANCINI, S. B. et U, Inquis. Not,
568 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
WHAT IS MEANT BY 'PER MODUM POTUS ' IN DISPENSA-
TIONS IN THE LAW OF FASTINQ
QUID VENIAT RUB DICTIONE ' PER MODUM POTUS,' ADHIBITA
INDISPENSATIONIUUS CIRCA IEIUNIUM NATURALE
BEATISSIMO PADRE,*
N. N., prostrate ai piedi della 8. V. umilmente espone che egli
ottenne a causa di'cronica malattia la facolta di prendere qualche
riatoro ' per modum potus ' priuna della Communione. Aggravate
vieupiu il suo male, e non bastandogli solo delle bevande, sup-
plica la V. S. che degni permettergli anche qualche cosa di solido
per sostentarsi. Che ecc.
Feria III, loco IV, die 7 Sept. 1897.
In Congregatione (lenerali S. E. et U. Inquisitionis habita ab
EEmis et ERmis DD. Cardinalibus in rebus fidei et morum
Generalibus Inquisitoribus, propositis suprascriptis precibus,
praehabitoque EE. DD. Consultorum voto, iidem EEmi ac ERmi
Patres rescribendum mandarunt :
' Eespondeatur ad mentem, ut in Abellinen. 4 lunii 1893. '2 'La
mente eche quando si dice per modum potus, s'intende bensiche si
possa prendere brodo, caffe, od altro cibo liquido,in cui sia inesco-
lata qualche sostanza, come p. e. semmolino, pangrattato ecc.,
purche 1'insieme non venga a perdere la natura di cibo liquido.'
Feria vero VI, die 10 eiusdem rnensis et anni, in solita
audientia E. P. D. Adsessori S. 0. impertita, facta de his omnibus
SSmo D. N. Leoni Div. Prov. Pp. XIII relatione, SSmus resolu-
tionem Emorum Patrum adprobavit.
I. C. MANCINI, S. It. et U. Inquis, Not.
1 Latina Versio.
N. N. ad pedes S. V. provolutus hutniliter exponit quod ob chronicum
morbum iam obtinuit facultatem sumendi aliquid per mod HIM potus ante Com-
muuionem. Quum antem notabiliter fuerit aggravatus morbus, nee satis ei sint
potiones consuetae, S. V. deprecatur ut concedatur facultas sumendi etiam ad
sustentationem aliquid solid! cibi.
2 Mens est ut quando dicitur per modum potus, significatur etiam quod
permittitur usus iusculi, caffei, aliorumque ciborum liquidorum, cum quibus
juisceri poteat aliqua substantia, uti v. jr. o( ndita farina, friatus panis,
du:mnodo dicta mixtio non amittat naturaio cibi liquidi.
NOTICES OF BOOKS
CANONICAL PROCEDURE IN DISCIPLINARY AND CRIMINAL
CASES OF CLERICS. A Systematic Commentary on the
'Instructio S. C. Epp. et Beg., 1880.' By the Eev.
Francis Droste. Edited by the Eev. Sebastian G.
Messmer, D.D., Professor of Theology. Benziger
Brothers.
WE shall leave to the Editor the task of introducing himself,
the author, and the work : —
'When in the year 1880 the S. Congregation of Bishops and
Eegulars sent to the bishops of Italy the now famous Instruction
on the Summary Procedure in Disciplinary and Criminal Causes
of Clerics, it soon became evident that the reform thus initiated
would not remain confined to Italy, but would gradually find its
way to other countries. Anticipating this, the Eev. Francis
, Droste, a priest of the diocese of Paderborn, wrote a short and
simple commentary on the new procedure, which he designed
more for practical use than legal speculation. . . . The Third
Plenary Council of Baltimore in 1884, complying with the request
of the S. C. de Prop. Fide, adopted the same Instruction, with a
few slight modifications. It is a mere question of time when
these same provisions shall be extended to all English-speaking
missionary countries ; and as an English commentary on the
Instruction was desired, a German priest of the diocese of
Covington, Ky., translated Fr. Droste's little book. To be of
greater service, however, the work needed adaption to conditions
for which it was not originally intended. This labour was
intrusted to the present writer, who confesses to having taken
very great liberty with the translation, as well as with the
original work. ... In a word, the original has been so
radically changed that the author will hardly recognise his
German offspring in this "naturalized American edition."
We shall, therefore, consider ourselves justified in regarding
Dr. Messmer not merely as editor, but as author, for purposes of
criticism.
The work may be divided generally into two parts, the pre-
liminary portion and the Commentary proper. Under the former
section, among other matters, are treated the relation between
Canon and Civil Law, Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction in general and
570 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
its application to contentious cases ; and lastly, the general
organization of Ecclesiastical courts. Then follows the Com-
mentary which forms the body of the work. After this come a
number of appendices containing the text of the Instruction and
other important documents bearing on the subject. Finally
comes that valuable appendage known as an Index, which is
fairly complete in the present instance.
We are not sure that the preliminary portion of the work
enhances the value of the whole ; indeed, any devil's advocate of
ordinary ability would, we fancy, find plenty of matter here to
work upon. In the first place, the different questions are treated
far too meagrely. This fault, perhaps, would not be such a bar to
effective treatment, were it compensated for by clearness or
accuracy ; but both these qualities are, at least to a notable
extent, wanting. Thus, the arrangement of paragraphs seems to
be a purely arbitrary proceeding ; as we find subjects dove-tailed
into one another which of their nature stand apart, while matters
are sundered which call for closer union. This is a fault which*
to a greater or less degree, permeates the book from beginning to
end. Moreover, there is a want of clearness within narrower
limits, namely, inaccuracy of expression and seemingly of
thought. Let us give an example or two of this latter dual
defect : —
' The truth is, that whenever the Church sat in judgment over
purely temporal matters (the italics are ours), this right had been
conceded to her by the State . . . ; or the people, unable
to get any justice from the . . . secular authority . . .
turned to the Catholic Church who had a nicely wrought system
of criminal procedure, even in the time when in the secular courts
the proof of a crime committed, &c. '
Surely, this is to take a very innocent view of the nature of
crime. Again, in dealing with the question of quasi-ordinary
jurisdiction as distinguished from delegated, the author seems to
be more or less at sea ; for, in page 29, we find a definition, or
description, of quasi-ordinary jurisdiction — not very accurate
indeed, but passable as far as it goes — which is pretty effectually
contradicted by an example of purely delegated jurisdiction
mentioned in the very next page. Either that, or else his con-
ception of quasi-ordinary jurisdiction, is rather peculiar.
The editor, or author, states in the preface that, with regard to
legal phraseology, he 'has tried to use English rather than Latin,
NOTICES OF BOOKS 571
notwithstanding his very imperfect knowledge of the former
language.' As soon as we had read this statement we naturally
concluded that it was merely a sample of that commodity yclept
' humilitas cum hamo,' and were inclined to cry out ' don't
please ! ' but now that we have had a wider experience of the
editor's capabilities as an English scholar, we beg to state that the
aforesaid confession is — especially in relation to the preliminary
part of the work — a sample of the most refreshing candour
imaginable. In fact, not merely in the matter of legal phrase-
ology, but also in the case of ordinary work-a-day English, it is
very often a question of 'trying,' and trying without any signal
success. A few illustrations may prove interesting. On page 16
we come across the following sentence : —
' Whether a person have actually committed a delict, and, if
so, what be its disciplinary or criminal nature ; in other words,
what be the real matter of fact, can only be determined by inquiry
and information.'
Quaint; is it not? Again, on page 22, we find this
statement : —
' But more especially is to be borne in mind that crimianl
procedure is but a means to an end.'
Were it not that ' more especially ' has never been known to
have laid claim to the distinction of being a substantive, whether
proper or common, we should be inclined to think that the said
' more especially ' occupied the position of nominative in the first
part of the sentence. The following is plainer English — that is
supposing it to be English at all : —
'We shall occupy our self with explaining only the ecclesias-
tical disciplinary and criminal procedure as now in use. . . Still
we do not confine ourself to strictly judicial proceedings, &c.'
But here is a nut for anyone who is able to crack it : —
' In the course of centuries several kinds of canonical criminal
procedure were contemporaneously and successively in use, but
are no longer at present.'
By way of climax, we would offer the following piece of
English : —
'Judge in the third and last instance in disciplinary and
criminal causes of clerics is the Pope, &c.'
572 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Of course on reading this bit of information we naturally put
ourselves the question : Who is Judge? And when did he
become accredited with this supreme authority claimed for him
here ? We were searching hopelessly for light when some good
fairy whispered in our ear that the said Mr. Judge rejoiced in the
somewhat unpoetic Christian name of • The ' ; thus the veil was
lifted.
The Commentary proper is a decided improvement on the
introductory portion, an improvement we would say in every
respect. We confess, indeed, that we experienced a mild species
of electric shock when on page 165 we came across a chapter
whose sub-heading was in this wise : ' The Auditor's Inquest.'
So far we had not stumbled on any murder or death of any sort,
and we anxiously awaited developments. Behold the develop-
ment, or ddnouement, or whatever you wish to call it : —
' When the fiscal procurator has a well-founded suspicion
. . that a crime has been committed, he must first
inquire, extra-judicially . . . This extra-judicial and pre-
liminary inquest, &c.'
A poor look-out for the suspected culprit, we should say.
Shocks of this kind, however, are few and far between in this
portion of the book. Accordingly, since this is the body of the
work, and since, in a canonical work, the canonical principle
' accessorium sequitur principale ' is specially applicable, we are
justified in saying that the book, as a whole, is a fairly presentable
one, and we beg to recommend it. It may not be so practical for
us here in Ireland at present, but it is not too much to say that
its use may become apparent in the near future ; for the signs of
the times seem to whisper a 'transitus ab informitate ad speciem'
with regard to the question of canonical procedure here in
Ireland.
The editor says in the preface that he hopes (with the
publishers' permission) that the book may remain on the shelf.
Seeing that the ^publishers have consented to give permanent
expression to this wish of the editor, we are led to infer that the
shelf in question belongs, not to the publisher, but to the
purchaser. With this reservation we beg to echo this hope of the
editor.
At any rate, it is not the publishers' fault if the book is not
found on many purchasers' shelves. In fact, the manner in which
NOTICES OF BOOKS 573
they have catered for the reader's interest would satisfy
Mr. Euskin even in his most fastidious moods. Commenda-
tion in this respect can go no further.
D. D.
LIFE OF SISTEE ANNE KATHARINE EMMERICH. Translated
from the French by Eev. Francis X. McGowan,
O.S.A. New York, Cincinnati, Chicago : Benziger
Brothers.
FKOM the dawn of Christianity suffering and persecutions have
ever been the lot of the chosen servants of Christ. That the ways
of Divine Providence are the same in this regard in the nine-
teenth century is clear from the life we have before us. Katharine
Emmerich appeared in the midst of a corrupt age to make atone-
ment by her trials and sufferings for the sins of a wicked world.
Gifted from her infancy with a clear insight into the super-
natural, she followed through the course of her life faithfully in
the footsteps of her Divine Master. Bearing after Him a cross,
which seemed, and indeed to unaided human nature would be,
insupportable, she was supernaturally strengthened and con-
soled, being favoured, not merely with frequent interior consola-
tions, but also for many years of her life with the rare privilege
of bearing visibly on her body the sacred signs of our redemption.
The present Life of this saintly Augustinian nun, for whose
beatification steps have been undertaken within recent years, is
a translation from the French of a work originally written in
German. In many parts of the book there appears a want of
unity and dignity of expression which would be unpardonable if
literary perfection were the aim of the author. But as we are
told in the Preface that the ' only ambition of the author in
giving this work to the Catholic public has been to increase the
veneration for this saintly servant of God,' we are of opinion that
notwithstanding the few imperfections of style, the book is
eminently calculated to effect this purpose. Though the Life is
dedicated ' to fervent young souls who aspire to the privileges
and joys of the religious state,' we think that all classes might
find in it much interesting and useful matter for spiritual reading
and pious meditation.
J.C.
574 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
LIFE OF BLESSED JOHN OF AVILA. By Father Longaro
Deglia Oddi, S.J. Edited by J. G. Macleod, S.J.
London : Burns and Gates, Limited. New York,
Cincinnati Chicago : Benziger Brothers.
THIS work is a translation from the Italian of the Life of
John of Avila, published on the occasion of his beatification,
November, 1893. The book is divided into two parts. The first
is devoted to the early life of this great servant of God, his
apostolic spirit and labours, and the wonderful effects produced
throughout almost the entire Church of Spain by his zealous
preaching, advice, and example. The second part treats of his
heroic virtues, his precious death and the miraculous graces
obtained through his intercession. The work of translation has
been done, as we might expect, by a member of that Society,
which at its beginning received such signal services from
Blessed John. Between him and St. Ignatius there existed the
closest ties of mutual veneration and friendship, and in his letters
and other writings he pays many tributes to the excellence and
utility of the then infant Society of Jesus. The book is one
which we can safely say will be found by all to be instructive
and edifying, but we can recommend it specially to secular
priests and ecclesiastics in general, for it presents to them a truly
noble model of the perfection of their state, and an inspiring
example of the rich harvest of souls that may be reaped by the
zealous priest.
J.C.
MISSA MATER SALVATOBIS. Ad IV voces inaequales cuni
Organo composuit H. P. Allen. Opus 10. Laudy & Co.,
139, Oxford-street, London, W.
THE composer of this Mass evinces considerable talent. From
a mere musical point of view the playing over of the score has
given us much pleasure. The modulations are here and there
not quite convincing, and the fugal writing is a little primitive ;
but there is, on the whole, a delightful flow and cohesiveness in
the composition which proves real inventive power. We cannot,
however, unreservedly approve of the style of the Mass. There
are a great many things in it that we should take exception to,
but it is a great improvement on what is usually produced in
England, and from this point of view we give it a hearty recom-
NOTICES OF BOOKS 575
mendation. The Kyrie appears to us disproportionately long. It
will probably have to undergo considerable ' cuts ' in actual per-
formances. The winding up of this movement, which recurs in
the Agnus Dei, is disappointing after the very reverent beginning.
The Credo seems to have given the composer most trouble-
Changes of time, complicated modulations, virtuoso tricks in the
accompaniment, all are had recourse to in order to keep up the
interest. This is a proof of the difficulty, not to say impossibility,
of producing a long movement without thematic counterpoint.
The Agnus Dei is rather poor. The figuration in the bass under
the plain harmonies of the upper voices is particularly dry, and
the sentimental ending already referred to does not leave the
pleasantest impressions behind. All the same we welcome the
Mass as a musicianly work and a marked sign of improvement.
H. B.
LIFE OF THE VEKY KEY. FATHER DOMINIC OF THE
MOTHER OF GOD (BARBERI), PASSIONIST, FOUNDER
OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE PASSION, OR PASSION-
ISTS, IN BELGIUM AND ENGLAND. By the Eev. Pius,
Passionist. London : B. Washbourne, 18 Paternoster-
row. New York : Benziger Brothers.
- THE present volume is both appropriate and opportune. It
was fitting, indeed, that the memory should be perpetuated of
the humble Passionist father who introduced into England, about
half a century ago, the illustrious Order of St. Paul of the Cross,
and who, during the Oxford Movement, laboured in that country
with conspicuous success for the conversion of souls to the true
faith. Then the publication at this moment of the facts of his
life will have a noteworthy interest, in view of the processes
which are being initiated to have his name placed in the
Calendar of the Saints. When the friends and admirers of
Father Dominic selected Father Pius to write his life-history, the
choice was exceedingly happy. No one could be found with
better qualifications for the task. He wields a facile pen, he is
possessed of many scholarly attainments, and he has already
won an enviable reputation in many literary fields. The result is
that those who, some time ago, were charmed with -the Life of
Father Ignatius Spencer, by the same author, are now' presented
with an equally agreeable and interesting biography in the Life
of Father Dominic.
576 THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD
Born in Viterbo, in Italy, the subject of this biography was,
after various vicissitudes, received into the Congregation of the
Passion at Paliano. Here he made such progress in tte sacred
sciences — though on his entrance to the order he .had no literary
training of any kind — that he wrote books of some repute on
theological and philosophical subjects ; while, at the same time,
he gave such proofs of solid piety and sound judgment, that he
was, at a comparatively early age, made ruler of several houses
of the congregation. Throughout his conventual life his heart
burned with a feverish desire to convert England ; and great was
his joy when, in 1841, in company with two others, he landed on
her shores, and planted on her soil an offshoot of the great order
to which he belonged. How, too, must he have rejoiced when
Newman and other distinguished Oxonians came to be received
at his hands into the Catholic Church ! The record of the few
years of Father Dominic's life in England will be found very
interesting reading ; and here we may remark that the two last
chapters of the book on the Perversion and Conversion of England
respectively, are very readable, and contain within the compass
of a few pages some of the most thoughtful reflections we have
yet seen on the difficulties that must be overcome before the
consummation is brought about of her return to the fold. With
the exception of some few printer's errors, the \ lume is
excellently brought out, and we are sure it will attrr ,t large
circle of readers.
P. M.
BX 801 .168 1898 SMC
The Irish ecclesiastical
record 47085658
Does Not Circulate