Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note

Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. Printer errors have been changed and are listed at the end.

Characters that could not be displayed directly in Latin-1 are transcribed as follows:

_ - Italics
^o - masculine ordinal
[.b] - lentition on top of b
[mc] - maltese cross
[V] - versicle
[R] - response

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.

DECEMBER, 1864.

THE DIOCESE OF ROSS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

The _Lives of the Irish Bishops_, published by Ware, in 1665, and rewritten by Harris in the beginning of the last century, have been long regarded as authentic history; and the statements of these learned writers have been generally accepted without hesitation, being supposed to rest on ancient and indubious documents. It is thus, to take a quite recent example, that the Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D., in the third volume of his _Records of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross_ (London, 1864), adopts, with only a few verbal variations, the whole narrative of Ware regarding St. Fachnan and his successors in the see of Ross. Nevertheless, many of his statements are inaccurate, and some of them, too, are wholly at variance with historic truth. At the very threshold of our present inquiry we meet with one instance which alone should suffice to render us cautious in accepting the assertions of such historians, when unconfirmed by other authorities.

"One _Thady_" (Ware thus writes), "was Bishop of Ross on the 29th of January, 1488, and died a little after; but I have not found where he was consecrated. One _Odo_ succeeded in 1489, and sat only five years. He died in 1494" (Ware, pag. 587. Brady, _Records_, etc., vol. iii., pag. 139).

How many errors are contained in these few words! This _Thadeus_ was never Bishop of Ross, and so far from Odo being appointed in 1489, he was already Bishop of the see on the accession of Pope Innocent VIII., in 1484. A letter of this Pontiff addressed to _Odo, Bishop of Ross_, on 21st of July, 1488, has happily been preserved, and it presents to us the following particulars connected with the see. No sooner had the see of Ross become vacant by the demise of its Bishop about 1480, than Odo was elected its chief pastor, and his election was duly confirmed by the Vicar of Christ. A certain person, however, named Thadeus MacCarryg, had aspired to the dignity of successor of Saint Fachnan, and as he enjoyed high influence with the civil authorities, he easily obtained possession of the temporalities of the see. Several monitory letters were addressed to him from Rome, exhorting him to desist from such an iniquitous course; but as these were of no avail, sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him by Pope Sixtus, and promulgated in a synod of the southern Bishops, held in Cashel in 1484; it was repeated by Innocent VIII. in 1488. Thus, then, the individual who is described by Ware as Bishop of Ross, was merely an usurper of the temporalities of the see, whilst the true Bishop, Odo, continued to govern the diocese till his death in 1494.

His successor was Dr. Edmund Courcy, who was translated from the see of Clogher to Ross, by Brief of 26th September, 1494. He was a Franciscan, and for twenty-four years ruled our diocese. The obituary book of the Franciscans of Timoleague, when recording his death on 10th March, 1518, describes him as a special benefactor of their convent, both during his episcopate and at his death. He enriched it with a library, and built for its convenience an additional dormitory and an infirmary. He also rebuilt its steeple, and decorated the church with many precious ornaments. This Franciscan church continued for nearly one hundred years a cherished devotional resort of the faithful, till, in Elizabeth's reign, its fathers were dispersed, and the convent reduced to a heap of ruins. The chronicler of the order, when registering the destruction of this ancient sanctuary, dwells particularly on the barbarity of the Protestant soldiers, who deliberately smashed its rich stained glass windows, and tore to shreds the costly pictures which adorned it.

A year before his death, Dr. Courcy resigned the administration of his see, and petitioned the then reigning Pontiff, Leo X., to appoint as his successor John O'Murrily, Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of _de Fonte Vivo_. The deed by which he thus resigned the see of Ross was drawn up in the presence of three witnesses, one of whom was the Lady Eleanor, daughter of the Earl of Kildare; and it assigns as the motive of his resignation, that he had already gained his eightieth year, and that his increasing infirmities rendered it impossible for him to give due attention to the wants of the diocese. King Henry VIII. wrote to His Holiness, praying him to accede to the wishes of the aged bishop, and to appoint to the see of Ross the above-named Cistercian abbot, who is described as adorned with every virtue, and especially remarkable for modesty, mildness, and learning. We give in full this letter of Henry VIII., as it is a solemn condemnation of the subsequent rebellion of that monarch against the authority of the Vicar of Christ:--

"Beatissime Pater, post humillimam commendationem et devotissima
pedum oscula beatorum. Exposuit nobis Reverendus in Christo pater
Episcopus Rossensis in dominio nostro Hiberniae, se quibusdam
idoneis caussis moveri ut suam Rossensem Ecclesiam Reverendo patri
Domino Joanni Abbati Monasterii Beatae Mariae de fonte vivo
resignet, quibus caussis a nobis cognitis et probatis, intellectis
praeterea egregiis dicti Domini Joannis virtutibus et imprimis
praecipua modestia, probitate ac doctrina, Vestram Sanctitatem
rogamus ut praedictam resignationem admittere, eundemque Dominum
Joannem ad supradictam Ecclesiam provehere dignetur. Praeterea ut
honestius ac decentius Episcopalem dignitatem sustinere queat,
quoniam dictae Ecclesiae Rossensis reditus et proventus admodum
tenues et perexiles esse cognovimus, Vestram Sanctitatem rogamus ut
una cum eodem Episcopatu Rossensi praedictam Abbatiam S. Mariae cum
nonnullis aliis beneficiis in commendam ei concedere dignetur. Quod
ut gratum nobis erit, sic eidem Ecclesiae utile futurum non
dubitamus. Et felicissime valeat Vestra Sanctitas, etc.

"Ex Regia nostra apud Richemontem die xvii. Julii, 1517"--(Theiner,
_Monumenta_, etc., pag. 520).

Before giving his sanction to the newly-elected bishop, Pope Leo ordered a consistorial investigation to be made, as was usual with the sees of all Catholic countries, and fortunately the minute of this inquiry is still preserved in the Vatican archives. We cull from it the following interesting particulars:

"The city of Ross was situated in the province of Cashel, in the
middle of a vast plain which stretched along the sea-shore. It
consisted of about two hundred houses, and was encompassed with a
wall. The country around was fertile, yielding an abundance of corn
and fruit. In the centre of the town was the cathedral church,
dedicated under the invocation of Saint Fachnan, an Irish saint,
confessor, whose feast is celebrated on the vigil of the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The walls of the church were of cut
stone, and it had two entrances--one lateral, the other in front,
and in both you descended by three steps to the level of the
church. Its floor was unpaved, and its roof was of wood, covered
with slates. The interior of the church presented the form of a
cross, and in size corresponded with the church of S. Maria del
Popolo in Rome. Its central nave was separated by stone pillars
from the aisles. Its choir was of wood, and at the head of the
choir was placed the high altar. Its sacristy was well supplied
with vestments and other sacred ornaments. It had a mitre and
crucifixes; its chalices were of solid silver, some of them being
gilt, and its crozier was also of silver. In the cemetery, outside
the church, there was a belfry built in the form of a tower, in
which there was one large bell. As for the dignitaries of the
church, there was a Dean with a yearly income of 12 marks, an
Archdeacon with 20 marks, and a Chancellor with 8 marks. There were
also twelve Canons, each having a revenue of 4 marks, and four
Vicars with a similar income. All these assist daily in choir, and
celebrate low Mass. On the festival days a solemn Mass is sung. The
Canons reside here and there through the diocese, which is twenty
miles in extent. The Bishop's residence is about half-a-mile from
the city, and is pleasantly situated on the sea-shore. The
episcopal revenue consists of corn, tithes, and pasturage, and
amounts annually to 60 marks. There are also twenty-four benefices
in the Bishop's collation"--(Theiner, _Ib._, pag. 528-9).

Before the close of 1517, Dr. O'Murrily was duly proclaimed in consistory Bishop of Ross. He governed the see, however, for little more than one year, and had for his successor a Spaniard named _Bonaventura_, of whom it is recorded that he founded a monastery in the small island of Dursey, which lies at the head of the peninsula between Bantry and Kenmare--(O'Sullivan. _Hist. Cath._, pag. 238). This monastery and its adjoining church of St. Michael shared the fate of most of the monuments of our ancient faith during the persecution of Elizabeth, and in 1602 was levelled to the ground.

Of the immediately succeeding Bishops we know little more than the mere names. Herrera tels us that an Augustinian friar, by name Herphardus, was promoted to an Irish see in the consistory of 21st February, 1530. By an error of the consistorial copyist, that see is styled _Sodorensis in Hibernia_. Elsius and some modern writers supposed the true reading to be _Ossoriensis_; but this arbitrary substitution is irreconcilable with the history of the see of Ossory; and it seems much more probable that the true reading of the consistorial record would be _Sedes Rossensis in Hibernia_.

The next Bishop that we find is Dermit M'Domnuil, styled in the consistorial acts _Dermitius Macarius_, who was appointed about 1540, and died in 1553. He was succeeded by Maurice O'Fihely (or Phelim), a Franciscan friar, and professor of Theology. The following is the consistorial entry: "Die 22^o Januarii 1554 providit Sanctitas Sua Ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia vacanti per obitum Dermitii Macarii de persona D. Mauritii O'Fihely ord. FF. Min. et Theologiae professoris". Early in 1559 this bishop, too, passed to his eternal reward, and his successor's appointment is thus registered in the same consistorial acts: "Die 15 Martii 1559, referente Reverendissimo Dno. Cardinale Pacheco fuit provisum Ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia per obitum bon. mem. Mauritii O'Phihil (O'Fihely) pastoris solatio destitutae de persona R. D. Mauritii Hea, presbyteri Hiberni".

Dr. O'Hea for less than two years ruled the diocese of Ross, and in the consistory of 17th December, 1561, Dr. Thomas O'Herlihy was appointed to the vacant see: "Die 17^o Decembris 1561, referente Cardinale Morono Sua Sanctitas providit ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia per obitum bon. mem. Mauritii O'Hea extra Romanam curiam defucti, vacanti, de persona D. Thomae O'Hierlahii presbyteri de nobili genere ex utroque parente procreati, vita ac scientia idonei, in curia praesentis, quem pater David sacerdos Soc. Jesu in Hibernia existens suis litteris commendavit, cum retentione beneficiorum competentium et jurium quae obtinet".

It would require a much longer article than our present limits allow, to give an adequate idea of the sufferings and zealous labours of this illustrious confessor of our holy faith. He was a native of the parish of Kilmacabea, and many members of his family were reckoned amongst the ancient dynasts of the district. Being consecrated in Rome, he hastened to take part in the deliberations of the council of Trent; and in the metrical catalogue of the bishops of that sacred assembly we find him described as being in the flower of his age and adorned with the comeliness of every episcopal virtue. Towards the close of 1563 he landed on the Irish coast, anxious to share the perils of his faithful flock and to guard them against the many dangers by which they were now menaced. O'Sullivan attests that "his labours were incredible in preaching against heresy, administering the sacraments, and ordaining youthful Levites for the sanctuary". After some time, however, he was seized on by the emissaries of Elizabeth, and thrown into the dungeons of London, where, for three years and seven months, he was the companion in suffering of the renowned Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Creagh. After his liberation, he continued his apostolical labours throughout the whole kingdom. Many important commissions from the Holy See were confided to him, as may be seen in the _Hibernia Dominicana_ and elsewhere. A Vatican paper of 1578, reckoning the strenuous upholders of the Catholic cause in Ireland, mentions amongst others "Episcopus Rossensis doctus qui interfuit Concilio Tridentino"; but adds that he was then "an exile from his see". Many other particulars connected with this holy bishop, may be seen in _Introduction to the Lives of the Archbishops of Dublin_, page 137. It is the tradition of the country that he died in prison; however, Wadding and Ware inform us that he died in the territory of Muskerry, and was interred in the convent of Kilchree. The day of his death has, also, been happily transmitted to us; it was the 11th of March, 1580; or, according to the old computation, the 1st of March, 1579.

His successor was without delay appointed by the Holy See, but owing to the destruction of the monuments of our Church, his name has not come down to us. He is thus commemorated in 1583 by the English agent in Italy: "In April there came from Rome to Naples an Irishman, _whom the Pope created Bishop of Ross in Ireland_" (_Letter of Francis Touker to Lord Burghley_, 22nd July, 1583). He is also mentioned by the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Cornelius O'Mulrian, in a letter addressed from Lisbon to Rome, on the 29th October, 1584: "Episcopus Limericensis et Episcopus Rossensis postquam venerant Romam in curia Regis Hispaniarum degunt" (_Ex Archiv. Vatic._) No further particulars connected with this Bishop of Ross have come down to us. He had for his successor the renowned Owen M'Egan, who with the title and authority of Vicar-Apostolic of this see was sent to our island by Pope Clement VIII. in 1601. A bull of the same Pontiff granting some minor benefices to the same Owen M'Egan in 1595, is preserved in the _Hibernia Pacata_, page 670. In it he is described as a priest of the diocese of Cork, bachelor in Theology, master of arts and "most commendable for his learning, moral conduct, and manifold virtues". Towards the close of the century he undertook a journey to Spain to procure aid for Florence M'Carthy and the other confederate princes of the South: and he himself on arriving in Ireland as Vicar-Apostolic in 1601, shared all the privations and dangers of the Catholic camp. At length, as Wadding informs us, he was mortally wounded while attending the dying soldiers, and on the 5th January, 1602-3, passed to his eternal reward. The hatred borne to him by the agents of Elizabeth is the best proof of his disinterestedness and zeal. His death, says the author of _Hibernia Pacata_, "was doubtlessly more beneficial to the state than to have secured the head of the most capital rebel in Munster" (page 662).

As regards the Bishops nominated by the civil power, we find one commemorated during Henry's reign. So little, however, is known about him, and that little belonging to a period when a canonically appointed Bishop held the see, that even Protestant historians scarcely allow him a place amongst the bishops of Ross. During Elizabeth's reign Dr. O'Herlihy was indeed deprived of the temporalities of the see in 1570, yet no Protestant occupant was appointed till 1582. Sir Henry Sidney wrote to her Majesty in 1576, soliciting this bishopric for a certain Cornelius, but his petition was without effect. Lyons was more successful; he not only obtained the see of Ross in 1582, but subsequently annexed to it the dioceses of Cork and Cloyne. The following extract contains the local tradition regarding the reception given to this Protestant Bishop, and has been kindly supplied by a priest of the diocese, whose parish was, in early times, the theatre of the apostolate of many a distinguished saint of our Irish Church:--

"Lyons was an apostate from the beginning; he went to England and
acknowledged the Queen's supremacy, and was left in quiet
possession of the revenues of the diocese till his death, a period
of about thirty-five years. On his return from England he was
deserted by his clergy, who secreted all the plate connected with
the cathedral and monastery, as also the bells, and chimes of
bells, all solid silver, which were then valued at L7,000. The
commissioners subsequently hanged all the aged friars that
remained, on pretence that they knew where the above-named property
was concealed, and refused to reveal it. At all events, the plate
remained concealed, and to this day it never has been found.
Tradition says it was all buried in the strand, which contains two
or three hundred acres of waste, covered by every tide, having
three feet of sand in most places, and underneath a considerable
depth of turf mould".

The account here given of the diocesan plate is certainly confirmed by the consistorial record already cited in the beginning of this article. Whilst, however, the clergy thus resolved to remove the sacred plate at least from the grasp of the Protestant prelate, the people were determined that the old Catholic episcopal mansion should not be contaminated by his presence. The commissioners of the crown in 1615, report that he found no house on his arrival in his see of Ross, "but only a place to build one on". They further add, that he, without delay, built a fine house for himself which cost L300, but even this "in three years was burnt down by the rebel O'Donovan"--(_Records of Ross_, etc., iii.-50). It will suffice to mention one other fact connected with his episcopal career. In Rymer we find a patent dated 12th June, 1595, and amongst others it is addressed to our Protestant dignitary, commissioning him "to consider and find out ways and means to people Munster with English inhabitants".--_Rym._, tom. 16, pag. 276.

P.F.M.

THE RULE OF ST. CARTHACH. (OB. A.D. 636.)

[The learned O'Curry, in his eighteenth lecture on the MSS.
materials of Irish History, when enumerating the Ecclesiastical
manuscripts, gives the second place to the ancient monastic rules.
He says (page 373-4):

"The second class of these religious remains consists of the
Ecclesiastical and MONASTIC RULES. Of these we have ancient copies
of eight in Dublin; of which six are in verse, and two in prose;
seven in vellum MSS., and one on paper.

"Of the authenticity of these ancient pieces there can be no
reasonable doubt; the language, the style, and the matter, are
quite in accordance with the times of the authors. It is hardly
necessary to say that they all recite and inculcate the precise
doctrines and discipline of the Catholic Church in Erinn, even as
it is at this day.

"It would, as you must at once see, be quite inconsistent with the
plan of these introductory Lectures to enter into details of
compositions of this kind; and I shall therefore content myself by
placing before you a simple list of them in the chronological order
of their authors, and with a very few observations on their
character by way of explanation.

"The fifth in chronological order is the Rule of St. _Carthach_,
who was familiarly called _Mochuda_. He was the founder of the
ancient ecclesiastical city of _Raithin_ [near Tullamore, in the
present King's County], and of the famous city of _Lis Mor_
[Lismore, in the present county of Waterford]; he died at the
latter place on the 14th day of May, in the year 636.

"This is a poem of 580 lines, divided into sections, each addressed
to a different object or person. The first division consists of
eight stanzas or 32 lines, inculcating the love of God and our
neighbour, and the strict observance of the commandments of God,
which are set out generally both in word and in spirit. The second
section consists of nine stanzas, or 36 lines, on the office and
duties of a bishop. The third section consists of twenty stanzas,
or 80 lines, on the office and duties of the abbot of a church. The
fourth section consists of seven stanzas, or 28 lines, on the
office and duties of a priest. The fifth section consists of
twenty-two stanzas, or 88 lines, minutely describing the office and
duties of a father confessor, as well in his general character of
an ordinary priest, as in his particular relation to his penitents.
The sixth section consists of nineteen stanzas, or 76 lines, on the
life and duties of a monk. The seventh section consists of twelve
stanzas, or 48 lines, on the life and duties of the _Celidhe De_,
or Culdees. The eighth section consists of thirty stanzas, or 120
lines, on the rule and order of the refectory, prayers, ablutions,
vespers, and the feasts and fasts of the year. The ninth and last
section consists of nineteen stanzas, or 76 lines, on the duties of
the kingly office, and the evil consequences that result to king
and people from their neglect or unfaithful discharge".

Among the manuscripts of Professor O'Curry in the Catholic
University, there are two lives of the holy author of this rule.
One of these lives is in Irish; the other a translation from the
Irish.

We publish to-day about one-half of the "Rule", the remainder, with
any notes deemed necessary for its elucidation, shall appear in our
next number.]

_"Incipit the Regulum (sic) of (St.) Mochuda, Preaching the Commandments to Every Person"._

1. This is the way to come to the kingdom of the Lord,
Jesus, the all-powerful!
That God be loved by every soul,
Both in heart and in deed.

2. To love him with all your strength,
It is not difficult if you be prudent;
The love of your neighbour along with that,
The same as you love yourself.

3. Thou shalt not adore idols,
Because of the great Lord;
Thou shalt not offend thy Creator
By improper pride.

4. Give honour unto thy parents,
Give submission to the king,
And to every one who is higher
And who is older in life.

5. Give honour unto the Abbot,
The Son of Mary never-failing;
Thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not conceal,
Thou shalt not kill any one.

6. Thou shalt not be covetous of the world,
Nor of ill-gotten gain;
Thou shalt not bear false evidence against any one,
Thou shalt bring bitterness to none.

7. What thou wouldst desire from all men
For thyself, of every good,
Do thou that to every one,
That you may reach the kingdom.

8. What thou wouldst not desire for thyself
Of injury that is evil,
For no person shalt thou desire it
As long as thou art in the body.

FOR A BISHOP.

9. If you be a bishop of noble order,
Assume thy government in full;
Be thou obedient to Christ, without guile;
Let all others be obedient to thee.

10. Heal the difficult disorders
By the power of the pure Lord,
And conciliate the lay multitudes--
Check the noble kings.

11. Be thou the vigilant shepherd
Over the laity and over the Church;
Be orthodox in thy teaching,
Be stimulative, be pleasant.

12. To subdue the wicked,
Who love the doing of evil,
To magnify every truth,
Is what is due of thee.

13. Thou shalt know the Holy Scripture
At the time that thou takest orders,
Because thou art a stepson of the Church
If thou art deficient and ignorant.

14. For, every unwise man is ignorant--
This is the truth and the right--
Of the Lord he is not the representative,
He who reads not the Law.

15. To condemn all heresy, all wickedness,
To thee, of a truth, belongs;
There shall not, then, be evil in thyself,
In word or in deed.

16. Rising[A] shall not be made for thee,
Nor shalt thou be obeyed;
If you be meek with these,
You will be guilty yourself.

17. For it is certain that you shall pay,
When the great assemblage comes,
Along with your own transgressions,
The sin of every one who is under your government.

FOR THE ABBOT OF A CHURCH.

18. If you be the chief of a church,
It is a noble distinction;
It shall be well for you if you worthily assume
The representativeship of THE KING.

19. If you be the chief of a church,
It is a noble distinction;
Administer with justice the church,
From the least to the greatest.

20. That which Christ, the All-pure, commands,
Preach unto them in full;
And what you command unto others,
Be it what you perform yourself.

21. The same as you love your own soul,
Do you love the souls of all others;
'Tis thine to promote all good,
And to banish all evil.

22. Not like a candle under a bushel,
Shall be thy learning without cloud;
Thine it is to heal all thy hosts,
Be they weak, or be they powerful.

23. It is thine to judge each according to his rank,
And according to his deeds,
That they may accompany thee at the Judgment,
In the presence of THE KING.

24. It is thine to exhort the aged,
Upon whom have fallen disease and grief,
That they beseech the Son of THE KING
With torrents of gushing tears.

25. It is thine to instruct the young people,
That they come not to evil--
That the dark demon drag them not
Into the stinking death-house.

26. It is thine to return thanks
To every one in turn
Who performs his work
In the holy, pure Church.

27. It is thine to reprove the silly,
To rebuke the hosts,
To convert the disorderly to order,
And the stubborn wretched ignorant.

28. Patience, humility, prayers,
Fast and cheerful abstinence,
Steadiness, modesty, calmness,
From thee besides are due.

29. To teach all men in truth
Is no trifling achievement;
Unity, forgiveness, purity,
Rectitude in all that is moral.

30. Constant in preaching the Gospel
For the instruction of all persons;
The sacrifice of the body of the great Lord
Upon the holy altar.

31. One who does not observe these
Upon this earthly world,
Is not the heir of the Church,
But he is the enemy of God

32. He is a thief and a robber:
So declares THE KING;
It is through the side of the Church,
Should he enter into it.

33. He is wild, like unto a doe,
He is an enemy all hateful;
It is he that seizes by force
The Queen of the Great King.

34. After having seized her by force,
It is then he devours her;
He is the enemy of truth;
He is manifested in his concealment.

35. I do not myself think
(It is true, and no falsehood)
That the land of the living he shall reach,
He who gives her unto him.

36. It were better for the young priest
To seek the pure Christ;
He cannot be in unity with us
Until he submits to obedience and law.

37. Those who are of one mind
To violate the king,
Shall be together punished in the pains of hell
Unto all eternity.

OF THE DUTIES OF A PRIEST.

38. If you be a priest, you will be laborious;
You must not speak but truth;
Noble is the order which you have taken,
To offer up the body of THE KING.

39. It is better for you that you be not unwise;
Let your learning be correct:
Be mindful, be well informed
In rule and in law.

40. Let thy baptism be lawful--
Such does a precious act require;
Noble is thy cooperative man,
The Holy Spirit from heaven.

41. If you go to give communion
At the awful point of death,
You must receive confession
Without shame, without reserve.

42. Let him receive your Sacrament,
If his body bewails:
The penitence is not worthy
Which turns not from evil.

43. If you will assume the order--
For it is a great deed--
Thy good will shall be to all men
In word and in deed.

44. Excepting unrighteous people,
Who love their evil ways;
To these thou shalt never offer it
Until the day of thy death.

OF THE DUTIES OF A SOUL'S FRIEND WHO TAKES UNTO HIM PENITENTS HERE.

45. If you be any body's soul's friend,
His soul thou shalt not sell;
Thou shalt not be a blind leading a blind,
Thou shalt not allow him to fall into neglect.

46. Let them give thee their confessions
Candidly and devoutly;
Receive not their alms
If they be not directed by thee.

47. Though you receive their offerings,
They [the offerings] abide not in thy love;
Let them be as if fire upon thy body,
Until you have distributed them in your might.

48. Of fasting and praying
Pay thou their price;
If you do not you shall pay
For the sins of the host.

49. Teach thou the ignorant,
That they bend to thy obedience;
Let them not come into sin
In imitation of thyself.

50. For sake of gifts be not false,
By denial, by penuriousness;
For thy soul to thee is more precious
By far than the gifts.

51. You will give them to the strangers,
Be they powerful, or be they weak;
You will give them to the poor people,
From whom you expect no reward.

52. You will give them to old people,
To widows--'tis no falsehood;
You will not give them to the sinners,
Who have already ample gifts.

53. You will give them in real distress,
To every one in turn,
Without ostentation, without boasting,
For 'tis in that their virtue lies.

54. To sing the requiems
Is thine by special right,
To each canonical hour,
In which the bells are rung.

55. When you come to the celebration,
The men of earth in all faith
You will there contemplate,
And not each in turn.

56. Mass upon lawful days,
Sunday along with Thursday,
If not upon every day,
To banish every wickedness.

57. It is lawful, too, in solemnities--
I should almost have said
The feast of an apostle or noble martyr,
The festivals of pure believers.

58. Masses for all the Christians,
And for all those in orders;
Masses for the multitudes,
From the least unto the greatest.

59. For every one who merits it,
Before you offer it for all,
And who shall merit
From this day until the Judgment comes.

60. When you come unto the Mass--
It is a noble office--
Let there be penitence of heart, shedding of tears,
And _throwing_[B] up of the hands,

61. Without salutation, without inquiry,
With meekness, with silence,
With forgiveness of all ill-will
That is, shall be, or has been;

62. With peace with every neighbour,
With very great dread,
With confession of vices,
When you come to receive.

63. Two hundred genuflexions at the _Beata_
Every day perpetually;
To sing the three times fifty
Is an indispensable practice.

64. If you are desirous of preserving the Faith
Under the government of a pure spirit,
You shall not eat, you shall not sleep
With a layman in a house.

65. There shall be no permanent love in thy heart
But the love of God alone;
For pure is the Body which thou receivest,
Purely must thou go to receive it.

66. He who observes all this,
Which in the Scripture is found,
Is a priest--it is his privilege;
May he be not privileged and unworthy.

[TO BE CONTINUED.]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote A: To stand up in reverence at his approach.]

[Footnote B: [Gaelic: dica[.b]ail na lain.]

THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.

_Is Good News from Ireland True? Remarks on the position and prospects of the Irish Church Establishment._ By H. S. Cunningham, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law. London, Longman, 1864; pp. 45.

Autumn leaves do not fall in Vallombrosa more frequent than the invectives which, for the last thirty years, have been constantly directed against the Irish Church Establishment. Men of views the most unlike, have contributed their share to this hostile literature. Lord Normanby and Count Cavour present very dissimilar types of mind and feeling, and yet both are of accord in condemning the Establishment in Ireland. Lord Palmerston and Mr. Disraeli see things from opposite standpoints, and yet neither of them has praise to bestow upon it. Every species of composition which could be employed as a weapon of offence has been made to tell the wrath of men against the monster grievance. This rich variety of arguments against the Establishment has its advantage and its disadvantage. It is, no doubt, an advantage that light should be poured in upon every side of a question so important. But it is a disadvantage to discover the question to have so many sides, that it becomes a task to master them all. It is not our present purpose to increase the literature of this subject by adding another to the already large list of attacks of which we have spoken above. Our object is rather to set forth the one argument against the Establishment, which, upon an analysis of that literature, is found to underlie all the others. If we consider the various charges against the Law-Church in Ireland mainly in reference to what they have in common, we discover that they are, generally speaking, modifications of this one objection, viz., that the Irish Establishment is an unjust application of state funds. No doubt there are other and more solemn reasons to be urged against it. No Catholic can be indifferent to the presence within it of that poison of error which robs the Church of so many children, and Heaven of so many souls. Judged upon grounds such as these, it is already condemned. But the struggle is now mainly transferred to a field other than that of religious principles. We base our objections against the Establishment on this--that it is a political and social injustice. We cannot expect all to agree with us in believing the Establishment to be a fountain of erroneous doctrine; but Mr. Cunningham's little work, named at the head of this article, is an excellent proof that right-minded men, of whatever creed, will join us in protesting against it as a political and social wrong. The proof that the Established Church is an unjust application of state funds may be stated thus:--

The State has some six hundred thousand pounds to administer every year in the religious interests of the population of Ireland. Of that population, seventy-seven per cent. are Catholics, the remainder belonging to various sects of Protestantism. The State, when it does not persecute, at least completely ignores the religion of the seventy-seven per cent., and gives that enormous sum of the public money of the country to the religion of the remaining fraction of the population. Can any injustice be more flagrant than this?

The force of this argument rests on two assertions: One, that the Catholics have an immense numerical majority over the Protestants; the other, that an enormous sum of public money is squandered upon the Establishment. If these assertions can be once proved, the argument is simply crushing in its conclusiveness. Now, the proof of these assertions is easy, and cannot be too often repeated to the Catholics of Ireland.

On the 17th of April, 1861, the resident population of Ireland were taken as follows:--

Members of the Established Church, 11.9 per cent.
Roman Catholics, 77.7 "
Presbyterians, 9.0 "
Methodists, 0.8 "
Independents, Baptists, and Quakers, 0.1 "
All other persuasions, 0.3 "

Thus out of a total population of 5,798,900, there were in round numbers, Catholics, four millions and a half; Protestants of all denominations, rather more than a million and a quarter. In Connaught the Catholics are 94.8 per cent. of the inhabitants; in Munster, 93; in Leinster, 85; in Ulster, 50 per cent. The Presbyterians in Ulster are 26.3 per cent. of the whole population. In none of the other provinces do they reach one per cent.

"The Established Church ranges from 38.4 per cent. in the county of
Fermanagh, its highest level, to 2 per cent. in Clare. In Armagh it
numbers 30 per cent.; in the suburbs of Dublin 35 per cent.; in the
counties of Dublin, Wicklow, Antrim, and Londonderry, between 15
and 20 per cent.; in King's and Queen's counties, Cavan, Carlow,
Kildare, Donegal, Monaghan, and the City of Cork, between 10 and
15; in the counties of Longford, Louth, Meath, Westmeath, Wexford,
Cork, Tipperary (North Riding), Leitrim, and Sligo, and in the
cities of Kilkenny, Limerick, and Waterford, members of the
Establishment are between 5 and 10 per cent.; in the counties of
Kilkenny, Limerick, the South Riding of Tipperary, Kerry,
Roscommon, and the town of Galway, the per-centage is between 3 and
5; while in the counties of Waterford, Galway, and Mayo it is
between 2 and 3, sinking at last to 2 per cent. in Clare.

"The Roman Catholic population has decreased by very nearly two
millions, from 6,430,000 to 4,500,000. The dioceses where the loss
has been greatest have been those of Tuam, Killaloe, Meath, Elphin,
and Cloyne; each of which has lost something more than one-third of
its Catholic inhabitants. Achonry has escaped with the loss of
one-thirtieth, Waterford of that of one-eleventh, while the two
Dioceses of Dublin and Connor have the rare distinction of showing
a slight increase in numbers. In nine dioceses Roman Catholics are
between 95 and 99 per cent. of the total population; in ten they
range between 90 and 95; in four, between 85 and 90; in one,
between 80 and 85; in two, between 75 and 80; while in three their
numbers fall as low as between 26 and 35 per cent....

"Turning to the classification of parishes, we find that there are
at present 199 parishes--5 less than in 1834--containing no member
of the Established Church; 575--nearly one-fourth of the entire
number--containing more than 1 and less than 20 members; 416
containing more than 20 and less than 50 members; 349 where there
are between 50 and 100; and 270 with between 100 and 200 members;
309 between 200 and 300; 141 between 500 and 1,000; 106 between
1,000 and 2,000; 53 between 2,000 and 5,000; 8 parishes only range
as high as 5,000 to 10,000, and 2 between 20,000 and 30,000.

"The Roman Catholics have 532 parishes, to set against 53
Protestant, in which their numbers range between 2,000 and 5,000;
133 parishes with from 5,000 to 10,000 members; 32 in which the
numbers lie between 10,000 to 20,000; and 3 ranging from 20,000 to
30,000. Of landed proprietors 4,000 are registered as Protestant
Episcopalians, 3,500 as Roman Catholics, which seems to prove that
a considerable area of land has now passed into the hands of
Catholic owners, who have accordingly a good right to be heard as
to the employment of state funds, with which the soil is primarily
chargeable".

In face of these statistics there can be no doubt but that the first assertion is abundantly proved.

As to the second, all the state aid granted to Catholics is involved in the grant to Maynooth. The Presbyterians have the "Regium Donum", first given by Charles II., who allowed them L600 secret service money. William III. made it L1,200 per annum. In 1752 it amounted to L5,000. To-day it amounts very nearly to L40,000, and is capable of extension on very easy terms.

The funds of the Established Church, in round numbers, may be stated as follows:

Annual net income of episcopal sees, L63,000
Revenues of suppressed sees and benefices,
now held and administered by the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, 117,000
Tithe rent-charge, payable to Ecclesiastical
persons, 400,000
________
L580,000

These figures give an inadequate idea of the real riches of the Church. The _Dublin University Magazine_, quoted by Mr. Cunningham, says:

"We have before us a letter from a dignitary, whose statement is,
that his predecessor was twenty years in possession, that he leased
severally to one relation after another, as each dropped off, the
lands from which came the emoluments of his office; and, finally,
to his son, who for twenty years after his death is to hold the
land for one-sixth of Griffith's valuation, which, as every one
knows, is as a general rule twenty-five per cent. under the rental,
with a small renewal fine. So that though this dignitary did not
preach in any of his parishes, for he was a pluralist also, for
nearly thirty years, and died leaving a very large sum of money, he
managed to impoverish his successor for the benefit of his heirs
for twenty years after his death. _Qualis artifex pereo!_ must, we
should imagine, have been the reflection of this successor of the
Apostles, as he lay on his bed of death and reflected complacently
on his literal fulfilment of the scriptural mandate, to provide
'for them of his own household', no less than for the interests of
'the Church of God'".

Besides this pilfering on the part of the prelates, we must not forget the enormous sums sent into this country to help the proselytising societies in their work. Let Mr. Cunningham give us a few examples from which we may gain a fair idea of the working of the rest.

"The Hibernian Bible Society, established for diffusing copies of
the Scriptures, of course in a Protestant interest, has, since
1806, spent L80,000 in this way, and has given away more than
3,000,000 copies. The Primitive Wesleyan Methodist Home Missionary
Society has for its object 'the propagation of the Gospel in
Ireland', and employs fifty missionary agents and upwards of fifty
circuit preachers. The Hibernian Wesleyan Methodist Missionary
Society has an income of L137,000,849 missionaries, 1,000 paid, and
15,000 unpaid agents, of whom 25 missionaries, 54 day-school
teachers, and 166 Sunday school teachers are employed in Ireland.
Besides these there are the Irish Evangelical Society, 'for
promoting the Evangelization of Ireland, by the agency of
ministers, evangelists, town missionaries, schools, etc.'; the
Parochial Visitors' Society, for enabling the clergy near Dublin to
'have the assistance of fit persons to act under their direction in
matters which the spirit and constitution of the United Church of
England and Ireland allow its clergy to depute to such agents'; the
Scripture Readers' Society for Ireland, with sixty-four readers,
each with a regular district; the Incorporated Society for
promoting English Protestant schools in Ireland; the Islands and
Coast Society, 'for promoting the scriptural education of the
inhabitants of the islands and coast'; the Irish branch of the
Evangelical Alliance, under the presidency of the Earl of Roden;
the Society for promoting the Education of the Poor in Ireland,
which has educated at its model schools in Kildare Street, 43,000
children, trained 3,000 teachers, and issued a million and a half
of cheap school books; the Church Education Society, maintained in
distinct antagonism to the national system, and to all appearance a
very formidable rival; it has fifteen hundred schools in connection
with it, and 74,000 children on its rolls, of whom, be it observed,
no less than 10,000 are Catholics, receiving 'scriptural
instruction' at the hands of Protestant teachers, and consequently
the objects of as distinct proselytism as can be well imagined.
Then, under the presidency of the Dowager Duchess of Beaufort,
there is the Ladies' Hibernian Female School Society, for
'combining a scriptural education with instruction in plain
needlework'; Gardiner's Charity for apprenticing Protestant boys;
the Sunday School Society, with 2,700 schools on its books, 21,000
gratuitous teachers, and 228,000 scholars; the Irish Society for
promoting the 'scriptural education of Irish Roman Catholics'; the
Ladies' Irish Association, with a similar object; Morgan's Endowed
School, 'for forty boys of respectable Protestant parentage';
Mercer's Endowed School, 'for forty girls of respectable Protestant
parentage'; the Protestant Society, with 430 orphans; the
Charitable Protestant Orphan Union, for 'orphans who, having had
only one Protestant parent, are therefore ineligible for the
Protestant Orphan Society'; and last, though not least, on the
imposing catalogue, the Society for Irish Church Missions to Roman
Catholics, and the West Connaught Endowment Fund Society".

In addition, then, to six hundred thousand pounds of public money, all this enormous income is yearly spent to uphold in Ireland the religion of a fraction of the population!

It would take us too far out of our way to follow the author in his investigation of the results obtained by these powerful resources, especially in the west of Ireland. Let it be enough to say that he rejects the current stories about wholesale conversions to Protestantism among the peasants of the West. But we cannot pass over the following remarks made by Mr. Cunningham on the handbill method of controversy adopted by the proselytisers.

"After politely requesting the reader not to 'be offended on
receiving this', the handbill goes on to state that the invocations
of the Madonna and saints are 'pronounced by the Bible to be the
awful sin of idolatry, and that all idolaters have their place in
the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. Do not be hurt',
continues this agreeable mentor, 'at this strong statement, but
think! is it true?' Do not be hurt! And this, after a summary
statement that the religion of three-fourths of the Christian
world, the creed of whole generations of the best, purest, and most
devoted of mankind, the hope and joy in life and death of millions
of humble and faithful saints--is pronounced by the Bible to be
punishable with the everlasting torments of hell fire! Verily, if
this be the 'spirit and manner' of these 'true Christian pastors',
the less we hear of this new Reformation the better!"

The charge of being a political and social injustice, which we have brought against the Establishment, is fully proved by what has hitherto been said. Even if there were no other arguments on which to rest our case, save the single one which we have developed above, it must be admitted that we have made good our accusation. "I hold", said Lord Palmerston in 1845, "that the revenues of the Church of Ireland were destined primarily for the religious instruction of the people of Ireland.... It is impossible, in my opinion, that the present state of things in Ireland, in regard to the establishments of the two sects, can be permanent". But there is more. Evil is ever the parent of evil; and in one comprehensive injustice like the Irish Establishment are involved a thousand minor wrongs. The effects of these wrongs in Ireland, and the mischief wrought by them on our people, we daily see with our own eyes, and hear with our own ears. But to Mr. Cunningham we are indebted for a striking and rather novel view of the Establishment, as a source of mischief to England also. The very guilt she has incurred by the perpetration of so great an injustice, is, in Mr. Cunningham's opinion, the greatest of misfortunes. "To do wrong is a far greater misfortune than to endure it. No man enjoys a wrongful privilege, tramples on his fellow-citizens, or violates fair play, without forthwith incurring a moral loss, compared with which, any external advantage is a bauble indeed". Noble words these: and most refreshingly do they fall upon Catholic ears, wearied with the noisy utilitarian philosophy of the day. Nor does the Establishment confer any external or material advantage on England. On the contrary, it is preparing for her some grievous and humiliating calamity. Who sows the wind must expect to reap the whirlwind; and no other harvest but calamity can possibly be gathered from the evil seed of disaffection on one side, and of tyranny on the other, which the Establishment has sown in Ireland. Mr. Cunningham thus describes how the chronic disaffection of Irishmen is produced:

"The church funds of Ireland belong, without the possibility of a
cavil, to the Irish nation; that nation has, from one reason or
another, persistently refused to follow us in deserting the general
creed of Christendom. They have clung and still cling to their
faith with that desperate tenacity which persecution best
engenders.... But the gradual abandonment of the atrocious penal
code--as one by one its provisions became revolting to the
increased humanity of the age--was a virtual confession that we
gave up all hope of driving the Irish Catholics within the pale of
our church.... Angry at resistance, the English government,
cooperating with English fanaticism, set itself deliberately to
persecute, degrade, almost destroy, those whom it could not succeed
in converting. All has been tried, and the Establishment remains,
as of old, the privilege of a powerful minority, the badge of
conquest upon a prostrate race, a perpetual source of
irritation--and nothing more. So far from being Protestantised, the
Irish are already the hottest Ultramontanes in Europe, and are
assuming more and more the triumphant air to which their numerical
ascendancy entitles them. There is not the ghost of a chance of
Ireland becoming other than she is, or of the Establishment making
such strides as might render her present position less
transparently absurd. The one question is this, whether we choose
to perpetuate a state of things condemned by all statesmen as
vicious in principle, and proved by long experience to be
productive of nothing but a tyrannising temper, on the one hand,
and chronic disaffection on the other. Every Irish peasant has
sense enough to appreciate the injustice of the arrangement which
obliges him to build his chapel, pay the priest, and gives his
landlord a church and parson for nothing. He may be excused too for
a feeling of annoyance, as he trudges past the empty parish church,
supported at the public expense, to some remote chapel crowded with
peasants, out of whose abject poverty the necessary funds for its
support have to be wrung. He may be excused if his notions of fair
play, equal rights, and political loyalty, are somewhat indistinct,
and that where the law is from the outset a manifest wrong-doer, it
should be sometimes superseded by rougher and more effective
expedients. He is naturally a rebel, because the state proclaims
herself his enemy. He naturally thinks it monstrous that any
proprietor of the soil should have it in his power to refuse the
inhabitants a spot of ground on which to celebrate their religious
rites; that men, women, and children should be obliged to walk
five, six, and even ten miles to the nearest place of worship; that
education should be constantly refused, except coupled with open
and systematic proselytism; that terrorism and coercion, the mean
contrivances of bigotry, should be suffered to do their worst,
without the strong hand of government intervening to lighten the
blow, or provide means of protection"--pages 28, 29.

All this is well said: nor is the author less happy in his description of the tyrannising temper which it fosters on the part of the Protestants.

"And if the Establishment works ill as regards the Catholic masses,
its effects on the privileged minority seem to us scarcely less
disastrous. It engenders a tone of arrogant, violent, uncharitable
bigotry, which happily is unknown in this country beyond the
precincts of Exeter Hall and the columns of the 'religious'
newspapers. Indeed, we have only to turn to 'Good News from
Ireland', to assure ourselves of the detestable temper in which
these modern Reformers set about the process of evangelisation, and
of the extraordinary hardihood of assertion by which their
ministrations are characterised. The creed of an Irish peasant may
be superstitious--where is the peasant whose creed is anything
else?--but religion in Ireland has at any rate, in the true spirit
of Christianity, found its way to the wretched, the degraded, the
despairing: it has refined, comforted, ennobled those whom
external circumstances seemed expressly designed to crush them into
absolute brutality. The Irish peasant is never the mere animal that
for centuries English legislators tried to make him. He is a
troublesome subject, indeed, and has a code of his own as to the
'wild justice' to which the oppressed may, in the last instance,
resort; but in the domestic virtues, chastity, kindliness,
hospitality, he stands, at least, as well as English or Scotch of
the same condition in life. As regards domestic purity, indeed,
Ireland, by universal confession, rises as much above the ordinary
standard as Scotland falls below it: and as regards intemperance,
there has been in Ireland of late years a marked improvement, for
which unhappily no counterpart is to be found in any other part of
the United Kingdom. Yet we are gravely invited to believe, on the
testimony of a few hot-brained fanatics, that the whole Catholic
system in Ireland is one vast conspiracy against piety, happiness,
and civilisation....

"That Protestants are perfectly well aware of the mortification
entailed upon their Catholic fellow-subjects by the existing state
of things, and regard it with complacent acquiescence, is not the
least painful feature of the case. The Irish Church is bad, not
only in itself, but as being the last of a long series of
oppressions which fear, passion, or necessity have at various times
led the English to inflict upon their feeble neighbour. There have
been periods when the deliberate idea of even intelligent
politicians was, that the one population should exterminate the
other; and Burke has pointed out how the religious animosities,
which seem now the great cause of dispute, are in reality only a
new phase of far earlier hostility, grounded originally on
conquest, and strengthened by the cruelties which conquest
involved. It is to some such fierce mood, traditionally familiar to
the ruling race, that an institution so unjust in principle, so
troublesome in practice, so incurably barren of all useful result,
can appeal for sanction and support. The blind and almost ferocious
bigotry of Irish Presbyterians is owing, one would fain hope, less
to personal temperament than to the tastes and convictions of a
ruder age, embodied in evil customs and a conventionally violent
phraseology. And the same is more or less true of their
Episcopalian brethren. It is from the calmer feelings and more
discriminating judgment of the English nation that any remedial
measure is expected"--pages 33-37.

We have nothing to add to this. Every Catholic will recognize the truth of the picture thus ably drawn. Our obligations to Mr. Cunningham do not, however, end here. There is still another lesson which, although he does not mean to teach it, we are glad to learn from him. It is this. Speaking of the paid clergy of the Establishment, he says:--

"So far from assisting the government in its schemes, they are
among its bitterest opponents. Dr. Cullen himself is hardly more
hostile to the National Education System than these paid officials
of the state, for whom the one possible excuse would be an
unflinching support of state measures. The Church Education
Society numbers something like two-thirds of the Established clergy
among its adherents, and is one of the most serious difficulties
with which at present the cause of National Education has to
contend. What shall be done with these spaniels that forget to
cringe, but bark and snap at the hand that feeds them? Might they
not, at any rate, be scourged and starved into a more submissive
mood?"--page 43.

These words reveal to us the position which men of the world would expect a clergy paid by the state to assume towards the state. From being ministers of God, they are to become paid officials of the state; from being the stewards of things divine, they are to recommend themselves to their masters by an unflinching support of the state measures. And if conscience should at any time call upon them to refuse the support demanded at their hands, the government has the power and the will to scourge and starve them into a more submissive mood. What a practical commentary does Mr. Cunningham here offer on the words used by Mgr. Brancadoro,[C] in declining the pension offered by the British Government in 1805! Better, far better, poverty with the liberty of the sanctuary, than rich endowments with slavery. We demand the abolition of the Establishment on the broad grounds of social equality and justice, and not because we wish to enrich ourselves with its spoils. We are rich enough in the love of that noble Irish race, than which none other ever gave more blessed consolation to the ministers of Christ.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote C: I. E. RECORD, No. II., page 50-55.]

ANCIENT RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF ARDAGH.