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ESSAYS 
 
 ORIGIN, DOCTRINES, AND DISCIPLINE 
 
 ®foe te% §xi$\\ ®k\mh 
 
 THE EEV. DR. MORAN, 
 
 VICE-RECTOR OF THE IRISH COLLEGE, ROME 
 
 ,. Of THE * 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 Of 
 
 DUBLIN : 
 JAMES DUFFY, 15, WELLINGTON-QUAY; 
 
 LONDON: 22, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 
 
 1864. 
 
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 J-rC , pF <?t PATPTGK 
 
 DUBLIN: 
 
 frinieb bg $. It. ©'STooIc anb Smt, 
 
 7, GT. BRUNSWICK-STREET. 
 
TO 
 
 THE MOST REVEREND DR. JOSEPH DIXON, 
 
 gircbbisbcrp of SUmagb, primate of all Inland, ttr. 
 
 When about to present to the public the following Essays 
 on the origin, doctrines, and discipline of the ancient 
 Church of Ireland, I felt irresistibly inclined to connect 
 them in some way with the ancient See over which you 
 preside, and to place them under the protection of the 
 successor of St. Patrick, to whose labours we owe the 
 blessings of the true religion, which I have been endea- 
 vouring to defend. 
 
 When investigating the ancient records of our country, 
 everything tended to inspire me with veneration for 
 Armagh, the centre from which the word of truth went 
 forth to all Ireland — the See founded by our apostle, and 
 the principal theatre of his labours, to which he be- 
 queathed the fullness of his authority — a See for which 
 the blessing and prayers of its founder have secured, through 
 the lapse of so many centuries, a succession of prelates 
 illustrious for zeal, piety, and knowledge, and their 
 labours in propagating and defending the faith. The 
 praises of your predecessors, St. Celsns and St. Malachy, 
 are known to all; who, repairing the ruins of the temple, 
 occasioned by Danes and other northern barbarians, 
 restored and preserved the purity, integrity, and beauty 
 of religion. What shall I say of the illustrious archbishop 
 Dowdal, who, at a later period, and in difficult times, 
 whilst filling the primatial chair, unawed by regal power 
 and secular persecution, nobly defended the rights of 
 Christ's Church against the tyranny of Henry and Edward, 
 and the violence and perfidy of pretended reformers, proving 
 himself worthy of the dignity in which he had been con- 
 
 L82 
 
IV DEDICATION. 
 
 firmed by apostolic authority ? Nor is the learned Waucop 
 less worthy of our admiration, who, acting for the Holy 
 See, contributed so much to check the growth of heresy 
 in Germany; and whilst holding the see of Armagh, 
 assisted with the other bishops of Christendom in Trent, 
 in illustrating the faith, defining its dogmas, and con- 
 demning those who sought to alter or corrupt it, and 
 cutting them ofT as rotten branches from the mystic vine. 
 And would not the constancy, patience, and other virtues 
 of Dr. Creagh, who was doomed to pine away for many 
 years in the horrors of a fetid prison, because he was 
 faithful to his trust ; and of the illustrious Dr. Plunket, 
 the last martyr in the United Kingdom, be sufficient to 
 shed lustre upon the annals of any Church ? 
 
 But it would be too long to pass in review the other 
 glories of Armagh, or to dilate on the wonderful provi- 
 dence with which St. Patrick has watched over his See. 
 Suffice it to say, that it has given to the Church of God a 
 long and unbroken line of prelates and martyrs — true lovers 
 of Ireland and its ancient faith ; and that it is now occupied 
 by one whose virtues, learning, meekness and zeal render 
 him equal to any of his most distinguished predecessors, 
 whilst he surpasses them in the courage with which he 
 has determined to raise up, even in the midst of the 
 poverty of our country, a Church in honour of St. 
 Patrick, which will reflect lustre upon all Ireland, and 
 excite the admiration of future generations. 
 
 Filled with these sentiments for the primatial see of 
 Ireland, and its present occupier, I take the liberty of 
 dedicating to your Grace, and placing under your patron- 
 age, the Essays now going forth to the public; which, 
 though not worthy of your acceptance, I present as an 
 humble testimony of my sincere respect and veneration 
 for your exalted virtues and high station. 
 
 Your very humble devoted servant, 
 
 P. F. MORAN. 
 
 Irish College, Rome, 
 Utk April, 1864. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Essays have been written with the view of 
 illustrating the origin of the Irish Church, and showing 
 that the doctrines which she held in the earliest ages of 
 her existence were the same as those which, after a lapse 
 of more than fourteen centuries, she now professes. 
 
 Founded with the blessing and sanction of Christ's Vicar 
 on earth ; connected from the beginning with the rock of 
 Peter, and participating in its solidity, our Church has been 
 ever zealous in promoting the blessings of true religion, 
 giving, at the same time, to the world the noblest examples 
 of courage, devotedness, and fidelity, in preserving the 
 sacred deposit of the faith committed to her by St. Patrick. 
 
 Immediately after the conversion of our country, it 
 became distinguished for a love of learning and a missionary 
 spirit, and was known as the island of saints and sages : in 
 later times, when the storm of persecution swept over the 
 land, when Catholic property was confiscated, when educa- 
 tion was prohibited, when those who were faithful to the 
 old religion were driven into exile, or cast into prison, or 
 doomed to purple the scaffold with their blood, such was 
 the constancy and heroism of our forefathers in professing 
 the true faith, and suffering for the cross of Christ, that 
 they acquired for our island the name of the martyred 
 nation of the West. 
 
 This constancy in adhering to her religion is Ireland's 
 greatest glory — a peerless privilege, which every true lover 
 of his country should be anxious to defend and preserve. 
 
 We have lost our property, our commerce, our indepen- 
 dence, but our religion could not be rooted out ; so that 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 our illustrious poet Aubrey de Vere could truly sing of 
 Ireland in one of his beautiful poems lately published — 
 
 " But fixed as fate her altars stand ; 
 Unchanged like God, her faith ; 
 Her Church still holds, in equal hand, 
 The keys of life and death."* 
 
 To contribute, however feebly, to illustrate the ancient 
 faith of Ireland, and to encourage our people to imitate 
 the glorious examples of their fathers, was the only object 
 of the writer in compiling the Essays now about to be 
 presented to the public. 
 
 The first Essay treats of the origin of the Irish Church, 
 and of the labours of SS. Palladius and Patrick. Evidence 
 the most incontrovertible is alleged to show that our apostle 
 derived his authority from Rome, and founded our Church 
 with the sanction of Christ's Vicar on earth, whilst the 
 arguments in favour of a contrary opinion, brought forward 
 by Usher and others in past times, and by the learned Dr. 
 Todd in a late work, are proved to have no foundation. 
 The reader of the Essay will find that the ancient monu- 
 ments of our country, our liturgies, our penitentials, as 
 well as the deeds of our fathers, all unite in extolling the 
 dignity of the Apostolic See, and proving that Ireland 
 always acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. 
 
 The second Essay treats of the blessed Eucharist, and 
 shows the profound devotion of our ancient writers to 
 that holy Sacrament, in which our Divine Lord manifested 
 the excess of His love for mankind, leaving to us His 
 body and blood, with His soul and divinity, to strengthen 
 us in our pilgrimage through this valley of tears. 
 
 The third Essay treats of the Blessed Virgin. The praises 
 attributed to her by our ancient writers, in strains as 
 eloquent as those of St. Bernard, show that they had 
 nothing in common with modern heresy and infidelity, 
 which appear to delight in assailing the most noble of all 
 
 * Aubrey de Vere, Inisfail, etc. p. 21 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 creatures, imitating the example of the serpent cursed by 
 God, that bites at the heel by which it is crushed. 
 
 To these dissertations we have added several Appendices, 
 which treat of important matters connected with our civil 
 and religious antiquities. In some of the canons which 
 we have collected, the reader will admire the wisdom with 
 which the Church, without using violence or interfering 
 with the rights of others, brought about the abolition of 
 slavery;* whilst some extracts which we have been able 
 to make from old Irish manuscripts in Rome, show how 
 much mistaken were Dr. Todd and others in their remarks 
 on the disciplinary laws of our Church regarding the 
 celibacy of the clergy.f 
 
 We now commit the humble results of our researches to 
 the public, trusting that what we have written may tend 
 to promote a study of Irish antiquities, to exalt the name 
 and glory of our country, and above all to strengthen and 
 increase among our people the true faith, which is the 
 victory that overcometh the world. 
 
 * See Appendix No. III. p. 264-268. 
 f See Appendix No. VI. p. 304. 
 

 
 ERRATA. 
 
 COfcRIGE. 
 
 Pag. 12, lin. 10, 
 
 Analius, . 
 
 . Auxilius. 
 
 n 24, „ 4, 
 
 history, 
 
 . history and Acts. 
 
 
 , 60, „ 20, 
 
 6, 
 
 . 46. 
 
 
 , 61, „ 27, 
 
 remarks, . 
 
 . marks. 
 
 
 , 77, „ 5, 
 
 last, 
 
 . last lost. 
 
 
 , 80, „ 25, 
 
 keeping, . 
 
 . heaping. 
 
 
 , 85, „ antepen. 
 
 a never, . 
 
 . an ever. 
 
 
 , 108, „ 5, 
 
 dato, 
 
 . dabo. 
 
 
 , 111, „ 26, 
 
 pectalicus, 
 
 . petalicus. 
 
 
 , 129, „ 14, 
 
 cousarum, 
 
 . causarum. 
 
 
 , 176, „ antepen. 
 
 Jones, 
 
 . Jonas. 
 
 
 , 179, „ antepen. 
 
 som, 
 
 . some. 
 
 
 i 193, „ 27, 
 
 Yeolmkill, 
 
 . YColmkill. 
 
 As the Author, residing in Rome, had not an opportunity of seeing the proof sheets, 
 If there he other mistakes, he trusts that the reader will not hold him responsible for 
 them. 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE 0EIG1N OF THE IEISH CHUECH, 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS CONNEXION WITH THE HOLY SEE. 
 
 The close union of the Irish Chnrch with the See of St. Peter, 
 during the past three centuries of persecution, has justly been 
 regarded as the source of that heroic fortitude which her children 
 displayed in defence of the Catholic faith. Rome watched over 
 Ireland with maternal care, — strengthened her in her weakness, 
 — consoled her in her trials, — welcomed to a secure asylum her 
 exiled children, — corrected her in her faults, — and rejoiced with 
 her in her many triumphs. 
 
 In the days of Ireland's glory, when peace and piety smiled 
 upon our country, and the Christian religion poured out its 
 blessings with no unsparing hand upon the sons of St. Patrick, 
 not less dear to our island was the chair of St. Peter — not less 
 close were the bonds which united her with the See of Rome ; 
 and her poets and her sacred writers may be said to vie with 
 the modem panegyrists of Catholic faith, in extolling the pre- 
 rogatives of that central see of the Catholic world. 
 
 That our connexion with the Holy See, from which so many 
 spiritual blessings have been derived, and especially the preserva- 
 tion of our faith, the most precious of all treasures, was originally 
 established by St. Patrick, has been the universal belief of Irish 
 Catholics during the lapse of fourteen hundred years. Hence, 
 their love and gratitude towards St. Patrick, are only equalled by 
 their devotion and attachment to the see of Peter — the source of 
 their spiritual life. 
 
 B 
 
2 THE IRTSH CHURCH DERIVES ITS ORIGIN FROM ROME. 
 
 Among Irish ' Protestants, however, the feeling is different. 
 Though it cannot be said that they have manifested much respect 
 for the name or labours of St. Patrick,* yet they have occasionally 
 claimed him as their own ; and in order to show that his views 
 were conformable to theirs, they have not hesitated to assert 
 that he received no sanction for his mission from Ptome, and 
 that he established a church in Ireland something like the Irish 
 Anglican Church, hostile to, or at least independent of, the suc- 
 cessors of the Prince of the Apostles. 
 
 Since the days of the learned Usher, this theory has been re- 
 peatedly proposed, and arguments of every kind have been 
 employed to render it popular, and to give it at least the sem- 
 blance of plausibility. 
 
 The object of the present essay is to pass in review the early 
 records of our ecclesiastical history, as far as they are connected 
 with this subject, and to show that no fact can be more clearly 
 established by the weight of historical evidence, than the original 
 connexion of the Irish Church with Rome, the seat and centre of 
 all spiritual jurisdiction. 
 
 Abundant materials for our undertaking are supplied by the 
 classical works of Father Colgan, the Bollandists, and Dr. Lanigan. 
 It is not necessary to add, that we avail ourselves of the valu- 
 able publications of Dr. Todd, Dr. Reeves, Dr. Petrie, the late 
 lamented O'Donovan and 0' Curry, and others, whose laborious 
 and impartial researches have contributed very much to illustrate 
 the origin and the antiquities of our Church. We have also drawn 
 largely on the documents which are preserved in the libraries of 
 Italy and other parts of the continent. 
 
 The question before us is one of great interest, national and 
 religious : we shall discuss it on its intrinsic merits, and decide 
 it by the mere authority of historical records and critical argu- 
 ments. We cannot, however, be cold or indifferent when 
 
 * At the time of the Reformation, the last resting-place of St. Patrick 
 was profaned, and his remains disturbed. His celebrated crozier, called 
 tin- Staff of Jesus, was burned in Dublin. — (See Dr. Todd's St. Patrick, p. 
 .'!•_>!», note.) Irish Catholics, on the other hand, like loving children, cherish 
 with unbounded respect the name of their father in the faith, and have 
 erected innumerable churches under his invocation, at home and abroad. 
 
MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. O 
 
 attempts are made to sully the lustre of the Catholic Church 
 in Ireland, or to deprive us of the glorious traditions of him 
 to whose labours we owe the knowledge of the Gospel, being 
 reminded by St. Paul to venerate the memory of our apostle, and 
 to defend the doctrines he has handed down to us : " Fratres, 
 mementote prsepositoruni vestrorum qui vobis locuti sunt verbum 
 Dei, quorum intuentes exitum conversations, imitamini fidem." — 
 St. Paul, Heb. xiii. 7. 
 
 In the present essay (Part I.) we shall treat of St. Palladius, 
 and of the labours of St. Patrick, and his mission from the Holy 
 See; and then refute (Part II.) various theories laid down in 
 modern times, in regard to our apostle or the origin of our 
 Church. We shall also (Part III.) collect various passages of our 
 earliest writers, to illustrate the doctrine of the ancient Church of 
 Ireland on the supremacy of the Pope. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. 
 
 St. Palladius sent to Ireland by St. Celestine in 431. — Palladius as 
 deacon held a high place in Pome. — Ireland called Scotia. — St. 
 Palladius founds some churches in Wicklow, but fails in his mission : 
 he dies in Scotland. 
 
 Until the pontificate of Pope Celestine, Ireland was not num- 
 bered amongst Christian islands. Some of her children had, no 
 doubt, already given their names to Christ, and scattered con- 
 gregations here and there may have assembled to preserve, as 
 best they could, the blessings of the faith which had been granted 
 to them ; as yet, however, no apostle had visited her shores — 
 no sun had risen to dissipate the clouds of paganism, nor did 
 her hills and valleys as yet echo with the glad tidings of re- 
 demption. 
 
 St. Prosper, who held a high post in the Roman Church, 
 
4 MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. 
 
 published, about the year 434, a brief chronicle, in which he 
 registered under each successive year some few of the leading facts 
 connected with its history. It is in the year 431, during the 
 consulship of Bassus and Antiochus, and whilst the bishops of 
 the Christian world were assembled at Ephesus to solemnly pro- 
 claim the exalted dignity of the Mother of God, that he thus 
 records the first mission from the Apostolic See for the conversion 
 of our island : 
 
 "Ad Scotos in Christum ere- "Palladius was consecrated by 
 
 dentes ordinatur a papa Crelestino pope Celestine, and sent as the 
 
 Palladius et primus episcopus mit- first bishop to the Irish believing 
 
 titur."* in Christ." 
 
 This mission of St. Palladius to the Irish shores, bearing the 
 light of faith, and with it the bonds of union with the Apostolic 
 See, is one of the few points of our history on which all historians 
 are now agreed. The authority of Prosper is such as none can 
 controvert ; and the words of his testimony are so clear, that they 
 allow no room for hesitation or doubt. A few remarks will there- 
 fore suffice to illustrate the passage we have cited. 
 
 But little is known of the early career of St. Palladius. One 
 other short notice in the chronicle of Prosperf comprises all the 
 information that can be gleaned concerning him : 
 
 " Agricola, a Pelagian, son of Severianus, a Pelagian bishop, corrupted 
 the churches of Britain, by insinuation of his doctrine ; but through the 
 instrumentality of Palladius, the deacon, pope Celestine sends Germanns, 
 bishop of Auxerre, in his own stead (vice sua), to root out heresy, and 
 direct the Britons to the Catholic faith." 
 
 The simple title of Palladius in the former extract, and the 
 epithet, The Deacon, given to him in the words just cited, imply 
 that he was well known to the Romans, for whom Prosper was 
 writing, and held the office of deacon in the Roman Church. The 
 Irish writers, and especially Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni, in the Book 
 of Armagh, supply all the explicit evidence we could desire on 
 
 Vetustiora Latinorum Scriptorum Chronica, by Thomas Boncallius, 
 Padua, 17S7, torn. i. p. 520. 
 t Ibid. 
 
MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. 
 
 that head ; for they expressly style him deacon and chief-deacon 
 of St. Celestine. This was a post of high honour and responsi- 
 bility in the Roman Church. Many of the early pontiffs were 
 elected to the popedom from being deacons of Rome ; and during 
 the vacancy of the see or the captivity of the pontiff, the whole 
 administration of affairs devolved on them. Even two centuries 
 later than the period of which we now treat, when archbishop 
 Tomian of Armagh, and other Irish prelates, addressed a letter to 
 Rome on the Paschal Question, the reply, which was written during 
 the vacancy of the See, bears the names* of " Hilary, archdeacon, 
 guardian during the vacancy of the Apostolic See," and " John 
 the deacon," who was, moreover, pope-elect, and soon after 
 ascended the papal throne as John IV. 
 
 Thus, in his office of deacon of Rome, Palladius was entitled to 
 represent to the pope the wants of the Christian Church, and his 
 solicitations in favour of Britain were sure to meet with a favour- 
 able response. His subsequent mission, as first evangelizer of 
 our island, is quite in accordance with his high dignity in Rome, 
 and with the views of the Holy See, which ever attached the 
 greatest importance to the bringing of the Gospel light to pagan 
 nations.f The example of pope Gregory at once recurs to mind, 
 who, though bearing the burden of the Church of Rome, would 
 
 * Labbe, torn. v. Concilior ; Usher Syllog. Epp., No. ix. ; Bede, Hist. 
 Eccl., ii. 19. 
 
 f From the earliest days of Christianity, the Roman pontiffs have 
 occupied themselves with the conversion of pagan nations, and con- 
 tinue to do so to the present time, carrying out the commission given to 
 them in the person of St. Peter by Christ, to feed his lambs, and to feed 
 his sheep. St. Innocent the First, writing to Decentius in the year 402, 
 refers to this fact : "Is it not known to all," says he, "that the things 
 which have been delivered to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of 
 the Apostles, and preserved ever since, shoidd be observed by all ; and 
 that nothing is to be introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed else- 
 where ? Especially as it is manifest that no one has founded churches fox- 
 all Italy, the Gauls, Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except 
 such as were appointed priests (or bishops) by the venerable Peter and his 
 successors." " Cum sit manifestum in ornnem Italiam, Gallias, Hispanias, 
 Africam, et Sicilian!, insulasque inter jacentes, nullum hominem instituisse 
 ecclesias, nisi eos quos venerabilis Petrus aut ejus successores constitu- 
 erunt sacerdotes." (Ap. Co us taut.) All the northern nations of Europe 
 were converted by missionaries sent by Rome ; and at present any pro- 
 gress made in converting the heathen is due to the successors of St, 
 Peter. The missionaries sent by Protestant societies or churches produce 
 no effect. — See Marshall's excellent work, "Christian Missions: their 
 
6 MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. 
 
 faiu go iii person to renew the Gospel-seed in the wasted plains 
 of Albion. 
 
 Some reader unacquainted with the records of Ireland in her 
 first ages of faith, may be surprised at seeing Scotia marked by 
 St. Prosper as the field of Palladius' apostolate. However, in the 
 fifth century Ireland was the only country known by the name of 
 Scotia. This was at one time a matter of angry discussion ; but 
 at length all controversy has ceased. The researches of the Scot- 
 tish antiquaries themselves, and their open acknowledgment of 
 the fallacy of the opinion which referred that name to modern 
 Scotland, have set this question at rest for ever.* We shall, there- 
 fore, on this head, merely remark with Dr. Todd, that " whoever 
 reads the works of Bede and Adamnan, will not need to be in- 
 formed that, even in their times, Scotia meant no country but 
 Ireland, and Scoti no people but the inhabitants of Ireland."! 
 
 As regards the result of the mission of Palladius, his preaching 
 was not destined to bear much fruit, or gather the inhabitants 
 of our island into the fold of Christ. The following extracts con- 
 tain all that is known of his missionary labours in Ireland. 
 
 The life of St. Patrick in the Book of Armagh, written by 
 Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni before the year 700, relates that — 
 
 "Palladius, archdeacon of Pope Celestine, Bishop of Rome, and 45th 
 successor of St. Peter in the Apostolic See, was ordained and sent to con- 
 vert this island, lying under wintry cold. But he was unsuccessful, for 
 no one can receive auything from earth unless it be given to him from 
 heaven; and neither did these fierce barbarians receive his doctrine 
 readily, nor did he himself wish to remain long (transigere tempus) in a 
 land not his own ; wherefore, he returned to him who sent him. On his 
 way, however, after passing the first sea, having begun his land journey, 
 he died in the territory of the Britains. — Liber Armac. fol. 2, ap. Petrie, 
 Essay on Tara, R.I. A. xviii. pag. 84 ; Todd's St. Patrick, p. 288. 
 
 Agents, their Method, and their Results," London, second edition, 1863. 
 The solicitude of the Roman Pontiffs extended itself even to the temporal 
 wants of remote churches. Eusebius (lib. iv. c. xxviii. Eccl. Hist. ) gives 
 a letter of St. Dionysius of Corinth, written in a.d. 176, which bears 
 ample testimony to this fact. 
 
 * Pinkerton's Enquiry into the History of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 261 ; 
 Chalmer's Caledonia, vol. i. ; Iunes' Civil and Eccl. Hist of Scotlaud, etc. 
 
 t Todd's St. Patrick, p. 282. 
 
MISSION OF SAINT PALLADIUS. 7 
 
 The scholiast ou St. Fiacc's hymn, of which we shall have occa- 
 sion to speak hereafter, further informs us that Palladius landed 
 in Hy-Garrchon, the present Wicklow, and thence penetrated to 
 the interior, where he — 
 
 "Founded some churches, viz., Teach -na- Roman, or house of the 
 Romans, Killfiae, and others. Nevertheless he was not well received by 
 the people, but was forced to sail around the coast towards the north, 
 until he was driven by a tempest to the land of the Picts, where he founded 
 the church of Fordun ; and there he is known by the name of Pledi." — 
 Ap. Colgan, Tr. Thaumat. p. 5. 
 
 Another ancient record, known as the Vita Secunda, gives some 
 additional details : — 
 
 "The most blessed Pope Celestine ordained bishop the archdeacon of 
 the Roman Church, named Palladius, and sent him into the island of 
 Hibernia, giving to him relics of the blessed Peter and Paul, and other 
 saints ; and, moreover, the volumes of the Old and New Testaments. 
 Palladius entering the land of the Scots, arrived at the territory of the 
 men of Leinster, where Nathi Mac Garrchon was chief, who was opposed 
 to him. Others, however, whom the divine mercy had disposed towards 
 the worship of God, haviug been baptized in the name of the sacred 
 Trinity, the blessed Palladius built three churches in the same district — 
 oue which is called Kill-fine (i.e., church of Finte : perhaps the present 
 Dunlavin), in which, even to the present day, he left his books received 
 from St. Celestine, and the box of the relics of SS. Peter and Paul, and 
 other saints, and the tablets ou which he used to write, which, in Irish, 
 are called from his name, Pallere — that is, the burden of Palladius, and 
 are held in veneration ; another was called Teach-na- Roman, the house of 
 the Romans; and the third, Domnach-ardech (Donard, near Dunlavin), 
 in which repose the holy companions of Palladius, viz., Sylvester and 
 Salonius, who afe still honoured there. A fter a short time Palladius died 
 at Fordun, but others say that he was crowned with martyrdom there." 
 Ap. Colgan, Tr. Thaumat. p. 13. 
 
 We shall conclude our extracts with the narrative of the Vita 
 Quarta, whose author is supposed to be St. Aileran, and which 
 seems to have been compiled about the middle of the seventh cen- 
 tury. After mentioning the consecration of Palladius by Pope 
 Celestine, it thus continues : — ■ 
 
 "When, therefore, Palladius arrived in the territory of the Lagenians, 
 he began to preach the word of God. But as the Almighty had not predes- 
 tined the Irish people to be brought by him from the errors of heathenism 
 
8 GENERAL SKETCH OF SAINT PATRICK'S HISTORY. 
 
 to the faith of the holy and undivided Trinity, he remained there only 
 a few days. Nevertheless some few did believe through him; and 
 in the same district he founded three churches, one of which is called 
 Church-F'mte (Ecclesia Finte), in which, to the present day, are preserved 
 his books received from St. Oelestine, and a box with the relics of the 
 blessed apostles Peter and Paul and other saints, and the tablets on which 
 he used to write, which are called from his name, in Irish, Pallad-ir, and 
 are held in great veneration. Another church was built by the disciples 
 of Palladius, and is called the House of the Romans. The third is the 
 church which is called Domnach-arda, in which are the holy companions 
 of Palladius, viz., Silvester and Solinus, whose relics, after some time, 
 were carried to the island of Boethin, * and are there held in due honour 
 But St. Palladius, seeing that he could not do much good there, was 
 anxious to return to Rome, aud migrated to the Lord iu the region of the 
 Picts. Others, however, say that he was crowned with martyrdom in 
 Ireland." — (Ap. Colgan, Trias Thaumat., p. 38.) 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 GENERAL SKETCH OF SAINT PATRICK'S HISTORY. 
 
 Early life of St. Patrick.— His captivity and liberation. — He studies 
 at Lerins in France. — Visits Rome a first time. — Accompanies St. 
 Germanus to Britain. — Sent a second time to Rome. — Consecrated 
 bishop in France. 
 
 No doubt can be entertained as to the due claim of St. Patrick to 
 be the Apostle, of our island ; and it is equally certain that we are 
 indebted under God to his missionary labours for the conversion of 
 our country to the Christian faith. Now, it is to Rome that the 
 most ancient of our Christian monuments point, as the source 
 
 * This island belongs to the towuland of Inishboyne, not far from Ark- 
 low, county Wicklow. It derived its name from St. Boethin, who 
 flourished in the beginning of the seventh century. The monastery there 
 was plundered and destroyed about the year 774, as the Annals of Ulster 
 (ad h. a.), and the Four Masters (ad an. 770), attest. Thus we have in 
 this passage an intrinsic proof that this life of St. Patrick was not written 
 later than the eighth century. We have also an argument that the Vita 
 Secunda, just cited, was written at least before the relics of SS. Sylvester 
 and Solinus w r erc transferred to Inis-Boethiu, and hence cannot be later 
 than the year GOO : for it expressly records of Donard, "in qua sunt sancti 
 viri de familia Palladii, Sylvester et Salonius et ibi honoranturj' — Ap. 
 Colgan'sTr. Th., p 13; Todd, p. 297- 
 
GENERAL SKETCH OF SAINT PATRICK'S HISTORY. 9 
 
 whence St. Patrick derived his spiritual mission ; they attest with 
 one accord that his preaching amongst us bore impressed on it the 
 seal and sanction of the Vicar of Christ. 
 
 Whilst as yet in boyhood, and living with his parents in the 
 vicinity of Boulogne,* Patrick was led a captive to Ireland, and 
 sold there as a slave to a chieftain named Milchu. Being by divine 
 interposition freed from captivity, in his twenty-second year, he 
 resolved to dedicate himself to the service of God. It was the 
 famous monastery of Marmontier, half a league from Tours, and 
 as yet replete with the perfume of the virtues of its great founder, 
 St. Martin, that he chose as the preparatory school for his mission- 
 ary career. Thence, after a few years, he journeyed on to the 
 island of Lerins, to perfect himself still more in piety and learning. 
 Lerins was at this time styled the insula beata,\ and holy men from 
 every part of Christendom nocked thither as to a blessed sanctuary 
 and silent retreat. The founder of this great school of literature 
 and virtue, St. Honoratus, was still living ; j and contemporaries 
 
 * Much has been written about the birth-place of St. Patrick. In the 
 " Confession" it is merely stated that his family had a farm near the town 
 Bonavem Tabernice, and that he himself was made captive there. (Todd, 
 St. Patrick, pag. 362.) Another passage fixes this town in Armoric 
 Lelha (ibid. 361) ; and Lanigan well proves that it was not far from the 
 present Boulogne-sur-Mer. (Ec Hist. i. 92 seqq.) But was St. Patrick 
 born in this same place ? The most ancient authority, i.e. St. Fiacc, 
 mentions JSfemthur as the place of our saint's birth. But what town is 
 indicated by this name ? The Vita Secunda identifies Nemthur and 
 Campus Tabumce. The Vita Tertia makes the same statement, as also 
 the Vita Quarta (cap. L). This woidd seem to prove that Nemthur was 
 the name of the place near Bonavem Tabernice where St. Patrick was 
 made captive. Probus further writes, that he had ascertained as a matter 
 of certainty that the Vicus Bannave Taburnioi regionis was situated in 
 Neutria. It is resting on these authorities that many writers refer the 
 birth-place of St Patrick to Armorica. On the other hand, the scholiast on 
 Fiacc's hymn tells us that Nemthur was the same as Alcluicla; and the 
 Tripartite Life repeats the same statement. It does not, however, 
 follow from this, as Ussher and many others to the present day assert, 
 that he was born at Alcluaid in Scotland, now called Dumbarton. Per- 
 haps the Vita Quarta gives us the key to reconcile the apparently con- 
 flicting statements, as it not only identifies Nemthur with the Armoric 
 Bonavem, but adds (cap. i.), that this town was in regione Strato-clud, or 
 Alcluid. 
 
 t St. Hilarius in Vit. St. Honorati, cap. 17, ap. Bolland. in torn. ii. 
 Januarii ; also S. Eucherius, De Laude Eremi, pag. 342, seqq. See 
 The Monks of the West (vol. i. pag. 463, seqq.), by Montalembert, for 
 an eloquent description of this monastery. 
 
 % He died in 428. 
 
10 GENERAL SKETCH OF SAINT PATRICK'S HISTORY. 
 
 with our apostle in its hallowed retreat, were St. Hilary of Aries, 
 St. Eucherius of Lyons, St. Lupus of Troyes,* and the author of 
 the golden Commonitorium, Vincent de Lerins. 
 
 From the biographies of our saint we may gather, that from 
 Lerins he proceeded to Rome, and represented to the Holy 
 Father the spiritual darkness which hung over our distant island. 
 Italy, however, was still distracted by the barbarian invasions, and 
 the time marked by Providence for Patrick's apostolate had not 
 yet come ; he therefore returned once more to Gaul, and devoted 
 himself anew to the study of the science of the saints, under the 
 guidance of Germanus, the great Bishop of Auxerre. 
 
 We have already seen how, in the year 429, at the solicitation 
 of the deacon of the Roman Church, missionaries were sent into 
 Britain to combat the growing errors of Pelagius. St. Germanus 
 of Auxerre was appointed special legate of Rome, by the Pontiff 
 Celestine ; his associate was St. Lupus of Troyes, and amongst 
 those chosen to accompany them in their sacred expedition, was 
 the friend and disciple of these holy men — our own apostle St. 
 Patrick. Thus was he not only trained for his future apostolic 
 labours in communion with Rome, but his first spiritual triumphs 
 were also won under the guidance of the legate of the Holy 
 See. 
 
 Whilst these holy missionaries were rooting out heresy in Britain, 
 St. Palladius was destined to combat paganism in our island. 
 No sooner was this intelligence conveyed to Germanus than he 
 fixed his eyes on Patrick, as one who was specially suited to be 
 associated in this sacred enterprize, and who, by his acquaintance 
 with the language and inhabitants of Ireland, seemed prepared 
 by Heaven itself to be harbinger to it of the blessings of faith. 
 The first care of our apostle was to secure the blessing of Christ's 
 Vicar for his new career : " St. Patrick," writes Probus, " poured 
 forth to God the following prayer :f * Lord Jesus Christ, lead 
 
 * ITe was appointed bishop of Troyes in 427. 
 
 t This prayer of St. Patrick is evidence of the faith in the supremacy 
 of the .See of Peter, which he professed. Whilst other bishops are 
 restricted to a certain territory, and cannot exercise authority beyond its 
 limits, the Pope alone, as successor of St. Peter, has jurisdiction over the 
 
GENERAL SKETCH OF SAINT PATRICK'S HISTORY. 1 1 
 
 me, I beseech thee, to the seat of the holy Roman Church, that, 
 receiving authority there to preach with confidence Thy sacred 
 truths, the Irish nation may, through my ministry, be gathered to 
 the fold of Christ.' And soon after, being about to proceed to 
 Ireland, this man of God, Patrick, went, as he had wished, to 
 Rome, the head of all churches, and having asked and received 
 the apostolic blessing, he returned, pursuing the same road by 
 which he had journeyed thither."* 
 
 St. Patrick was accompanied to Rome by a holy priest named 
 Segetius, who was instructed by Germanus to attest the virtues 
 of our apostle, and to represent him as " a strong husbandman, 
 well suited for the culture of the harvest of the Lord." St. 
 Celestine, no doubt, offered but little opposition to a proposal 
 which was thus urged by one in whom he placed such unbounded 
 confidence as Germanus ; and everything induces us to receive, 
 as having foundation in historic truth, the long-received tradition 
 of Rome, that the assistant clergy of Pope Celestine all declared, 
 of one accord, that for the mission to the Irish people, no one was 
 so ivell suited as St. Patrick ; whilst they, at the same time, 
 declared him to be " a man of religious life and sanctity, of 
 angelic aspect, adorned, moreover, with heavenly wisdom, and 
 enriched with every virtue."f 
 
 whole world, can send missionaries to every region, and establish new- 
 dioceses in countries which had never previously received the yoke of 
 the Gospel. Hence the anxious desire of St. Patrick to obtain jurisdic- 
 tion from him. Before the days of St. Patrick, St. Athanasius, by ap- 
 pealing to Pope Julius, and St. John Chrysostom to Innocent the First, 
 acknowledged the authority of the Holy See. Whilst our apostle Patrick 
 was preaching the Gospel, the great St. Leo (epist. 14, ap. Bailer), in a 
 letter to Anastasius, bishop of Thessalonica, thus beautifully explains 
 the' nature of the primacy: "Vices nostras ita tuae credidimus caritati 
 (Anastasius was the Pope's representative) ut in partem sis vocatus 
 solicitudinis, non in plenitudinem potestatis." Then he adds : "De qua 
 forma, episcoporum quoque orta est distinctio, et magna ordinatione 
 pro visum est, ue omnes sibi omnia viudicarent, sed essent in singulis 
 provinciis singuli, quorum inter fratres haberetur prima sententia, et 
 rursus quidam in majoribus urbibus constituti, solicitudinem susciperent 
 ampliorem, per quos ad unam Petri sedem ecclesiaa universalis cura con- 
 flueret et nihil usquam a suo capite dissideret." As the church is one 
 sheepfold, one kingdom, one body, it was necessary that it should have 
 one head, from which all spiritual jurisdiction should be derived. 
 
 * Probus in Vita S. Patricii ; ap. Colgan, Tr. Thaum. p. 49 ; also, Opp. 
 Bedae, torn. iii. edit. Basil, 1563. 
 
 t Officium Canonic. Lateranen. Antiquiss. printed in 1622. It would 
 
12 SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMAN US. 
 
 It was only a short time before the death of pope Celestine 
 that St. Patrick thus secured the blessing of the Apostolic See 
 for his future labours in our island. Without delay he journeyed 
 back to Auxerre, to his friend and patron, St. Germanus ; and as 
 he thence hastened towards the western coasts, to the vineyard 
 assigned for his spiritual toil, two disciples of Palladius bore to 
 him the tidings of that bishop's death, " whereupon, " adds his 
 biographer, "he bent his way to a neighbouring bishop, St. 
 Amatorex,* and having received episcopal consecration at his 
 hands, set out, accompanied by Aualius, Iserninus, and some 
 others, for the Irish shores, in the summer of the year 432. 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 ST. PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH ST. GERMANUS. 
 
 Documents which prove that St. Patrick was the disciple of St. Germanus, 
 papal legate : St. Fiacc, Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni, Eric, Irish Nen- 
 nius, Probus, and many other writers, attest this fact. 
 
 We have thus endeavoured to weave into a concise narrative 
 the chief facts connected with St. Patrick's mission to our island. 
 In regard to many of the minor details, conflicting narratives may 
 be found in the ancient lives of our apostle ; but the whole 
 tradition of the Irish Church, from the fifth to the twelfth cen- 
 
 be interesting to compare the character of St. Patrick, and his prepara- 
 tions for his mission to Ireland, with the life and character and prelimi- 
 nary career of Drs. Brown, Curwin, and Loftus, Bale, Staples, etc., the 
 iirst propagators of the Reformation in Ireland, who were corrupt, 
 rapacious, and cruel. — See introduction to History of Archbishops of 
 Dublin, by Dr. Moran, ch. i. p. 36; ch. iv. p. 97. 
 
 * The Book of Armagh, fol. ii., styles this bishop Amatorex, " a won- 
 derful man and chief bishop ;" and subsequently calls him Matorex, " a 
 holy bishop." The other lives of St. Patrick generally call this bishop 
 A m<dor. Who this bishop was, is a puzzle to our saint's biographers. 
 (See Colgan, Tr. Thaumat, p 9, note 34; Lanigan, i. 200; Todd, 318.) 
 In such a matter of uncertainty, it may be lawful to hazard a conjecture, 
 that the Irish writers indicated by that name the see of St. Lupus of 
 Tioyes. Whilst the Irish lives all conspire in referring to this Amatorex 
 and ( I crmanus the chief part, after Celestine, in sending St. Patrick to 
 our island, the old Latin treatise on the Irish liturgy refers it to the 
 representations of Lupus and Germanus. 
 
SATNT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITII SAINT GERM ANUS. 13 
 
 tury, without a dissentient voice, attests the two main facts : 1. 
 That St. Patrick was trained for his future apostolate under the 
 guidance of the papal legate, St. Germanus ; and 2. That his 
 mission to the Irish nation was sanctioned by the blessing of 
 the Roman pontiff, St. Celestine. 
 
 We shall give a few of the early documents which illustrate 
 these two cardinal points of all our Christian history: 
 
 St. Fiacc, first bishop of Sletty, which was once a remark- 
 able town, situated not far from Carlow, on the banks of the Barrow, 
 is the author of a hymn in the Irish language, in praise of St. 
 Patrick.* From being a pupil of the Druidical bard Dubtach, he 
 became a disciple of our apostle, and under his guidance preached 
 the faith throughout the greater part of the present territory of 
 Leinster. St. Patrick (Tirechan thus writes in his annotations, 
 preserved in the Book of Armagh) conferred the degree of bishop 
 upon him ; so that he was the first bishop that was ordained among 
 the Lagenians, and Patrick gave a cumtach (i. e., a box or case) 
 to him, with a bell and a menstir, and a crozier, and afelire; and 
 he left seven of his people with him.f 
 
 This authentic witness as to the history of his great master, 
 leaves no doubt as to St. Germanus having prepared our apostle 
 for his future missionary career. He thus writes : 
 
 " The angel Victor sent Patrick over the Alps ; 
 Admirable was this his journey — 
 Until he took his abode with Germanus, 
 Far away in the south of Letha. 
 
 " In the isles of the Tyrrhene sea he remained : 
 In them he meditated ; 
 He read the canon with Germanus, 
 This, histories make known. "J 
 
 * Ware, De Script. Hibernia?, lib. i. cap. 1 ; Colgan, Trias Thaum., 
 p. 7 ; Cnrry, Lectures, p. 342 seqq. ; Lanigan, Eccl. Hist., i. SO. 
 
 t Petrie, Pound Towers, p. 333 ; Irish Glosses, by Stokes, I.A.S., 
 1860, p. 103. Some of these ecclesiastical presents seem to have been 
 subsequently bequeathed by St. Fiacc to his church. The Vita Tripar- 
 tita writes : " Ecclesiam edificavit primo S. Fiechus in loco qui ex ejus 
 nomine Domnach-Fiacc, postea appellata est, eique reliquit sacram 
 supellectilem, cymbalum nempe ministeriale, epistolas Paulinas, et 
 baculum pastoralem." — (Ap. Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 152.) 
 
 t See the original text in Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 1 : Curry's Lectures, p. 
 503: Whitley Stokes' Irish Glosses, I.A.S. p. 125. This ancient poem 
 of St. Fiacc is preserved in the Liber Hymnorum, of which one MS. of 
 
1 4 SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS, 
 
 From this passage we learn that St. Gerrnanus was chosen by 
 
 St. Patrick for his spiritual master; and reference is made to earlier 
 
 written records which attested the same fact. What these records 
 
 may have been, it is now impossible for us to determine. It seems 
 
 probable, however, that St. Patrick himself left to his disciples 
 
 some record of his pilgrimage. Thus, in the Book of Armagh, 
 
 which Dr. Graves has with so much skill proved to have been 
 
 transcribed in the year 807,* are preserved the Dicta Sancti 
 
 Patrilii, one of which partially, at least, illustrates the words of 
 
 St. Fiacc : — 
 
 " Tiraorem Dei habui ducem itine- "The fear of the Lord was 
 
 ris mei per Gallias atque Italiam guide of my journey through 
 
 etiam iu iusulis quse sunt in mari Gaul and Italy, and to the islands 
 
 Tyrrheno.f which are in the Tyrrhene Sea." 
 
 The next document we shall refer to, is the sketch of St. Patrick's 
 life, written by Miiirchii-Maccu-Mactheni, which is also preserved 
 in the Book of Armagh. This writer assisted at the famous 
 ecclesiastical convention known as the Synod of Adamnan, pre- 
 sided over by Flann Febhla, the Abbot of Armagh, in 697.J His 
 brief notice of St. Patrick is addressed to St. Aidus, Bishop of 
 Sletty, who assisted at the same synod, and whose death is recorded 
 in the Annals of Ulster in 699. § In the preface he states, that 
 many had hitherto endeavoured to present an accurate narrative 
 of the past events of sacred history : his own father, Cogitosus, 
 was perhaps the only one who had safely steered amidst the rocks 
 and whirlpools of this dangerous course : he himself, however, 
 " with little skill, without any certain guide, with frail memory, 
 
 the ninth or tenth century, is extant in Trinity College, Dublin, and 
 another of. the same age in the College of St. Isidore, Home. 
 
 * Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, November 30, 1846. 
 
 f Liber Armacan. fol. 9, cited by Usher in his Primordia, and by Petrie, 
 Essay on Tara Hill, p. 35. The word Letha, used by St. Fiacc, was often 
 used to indicate Italia. — (See Curry's Lectures, p. 502-4 ; Irish Nennius, 
 LA .S. 1848, p. 09. ) The ancient gloss in the MS. of the Liber Hymnorum, 
 in Trinity College, Dublin, adds on this passage, "i.e. Italia in quafuit 
 Germanus. 1 * — Ap. Curry, loc. cit. 
 
 X The decrees of this synod are preserved in the Burgundian Library, 
 Brussels, No. 2,324. — See Colgan, Act. SS. p. 382. Reeves' Adamnan, 
 pref. p. 2, and 179. 
 
 § In the end is also added, " Haec pauca de sancti Patritii peritia et 
 virtutibus, Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni, dictante Aidaeco Slebtiensis civi- 
 tatis episcopo, conscripsit. " — Liber Arniac. fol. 20. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS. 15 
 
 humble ideas, and barbarous style, but with most upright inten- 
 tion, in obedience to the command, and through reverence for the 
 piety and authority of Aldus," undertakes " to cull here and there 
 some few from the many deeds of St. Patrick."* The first chap- 
 ters of this memoir of our apostle, thus written before the close of 
 the seventh century, are unfortunately lost. The titles, however, 
 of the lost chapters still remain ;f and one of these makes known to 
 us that the sixth chapter referred " to St. Patrick's journey into 
 Gaul, where, having found Germanus, he remained with him.":}: 
 Moreover, the second folio retains quite sufficient to attest the 
 connection of our apostle with the holy Bishop of Auxerre : — 
 
 "The Angel Victor announced to him that the time was come when 
 he should go forth with evangelic net, to gather in those fierce and bar- 
 barous nations, for whose instruction God had destined him. . . . When, 
 therefore, the opportunity presented itself, he set out, strengthened by the 
 aid of Heaven, to undertake the missionary career for which he had been 
 long prepared : and Germanus sent with him a holy priest named Segetius, 
 that he might be at the same time, a companion and a witness ; for as yet 
 he had not received from St. Germanus the episcopal consecration."§ 
 
 Amongst the Cottonian manuscripts there was one containing 
 a short, but very ancient, treatise on the liturgy as used in the Irish 
 
 * Quoniam quidem, mi Domine, Aide, multi conati sunt ordinare narra- 
 tionem, utique istam, secundum quod Patres eorum et qui ministri ab 
 initio fuerunt sermonis, tradiderunt illis, sed propter difficillimum narra- 
 tionis opus diversasque opiniones et plurimorum plurimas suspiciones, 
 numquam ad unum certumque historian tramitem pervenerunt. Ideo ni 
 fallor juxta hoc nostrorum proverbium, ut deducuntur pueriin anibithea- 
 trum in hoc periculosissimiun et profundum narrationis sancfoe pylagus 
 (sic) turgentibus proterve gurgitum aggeribus inter acutissimos carubdes 
 per ignota fequora insitos a nullis adhuc lintribus excepto tantum uno 
 Patris mei Cognitosi (sic) expertum atque occupatum, ingenioli mei pueri- 
 lem remi cymbam deduxi. Sed ne magnum de parvo videar fingere, pauca 
 hsec de multis S. Patrick' gestis, parva peritia, incertis auctoribus, memoria 
 labili, attrito sensu, vili sermone sed affectu piissimo, caritatis etiam 
 sanctitatis tuae et auctoritatis imperio obediens carptim gravatimque 
 explicare aggrediar." — Lib. Armac. fol. 20. 
 
 t Book of Armagh, fol. 20. 
 
 | " De inv r entione sancti Germani in Galliis et ideo non exivit ultra." 
 — See these titles of the lost chapter, in Petrie, Essay on Tara, p. 87- 
 
 § " Visitavit (angelus) dicens ei adesse tempus ut veniret et evangelico 
 rete nationes feras et barbaras ad quas docendas miserat ilium Deus ut 
 
 piscaret Opportuuo ergo tempore imperante comitante divino 
 
 auxilio caeptum ingreditur iter ad opus in quod olim pneparatus fuerat 
 utique evangelii : et misit Germanus seniorem cum illo, hoc est Segitium 
 presbyterum ut testem comitem haberet quia nee adhuc a sancto domino 
 Germano in pontificali gradu ordinatus est ." — Liber Armac. fol. 2. 
 
J SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERM ANUS. 
 
 Church. Ussher merely describes it as " written before the time 
 of Bede ;" * but Spelman, f when publishing it in his British 
 Councils, adds, that the manuscript itself belonged to the seventh 
 century. This curious treatise makes St. Mark the author of the 
 Cursus Scotorum, or Irish liturgy, and adds : — 
 
 "In after times it was used by the most blessed Cassianus, who was 
 associated with the blessed Honoratus, in the monastery of Lerins. After 
 him, blessed Honoratus, its first abbot, and St. Cesarius, bishop of Aries, 
 and the blessed abbot Eucherius, who was in the same monastery, 
 used this liturgy; and with them in that monastery were blessed Lupus 
 and Germanus, who, in conformity with their rule, sang the same liturgy, 
 and through their saintly life attained the most exalted episcopal dignity. 
 They subsequently preached to the Britons or Scots, as the life of St. 
 Germanus of Auxerre, and the life of St. Lupus testify ; and they 
 spiritually trained up and nourished with sacred learning the blessed 
 Patrick, whom, being consecrated bishop, they, by their commendatiou, 
 elevated to the chief episcopate of the Scots and Britons."! 
 
 Thus we trace St. Patrick once more to Lerins, and to the school 
 of St. Germanus. 
 
 Eric, author of the life of St. Germanus, was himself numbered 
 amongst the clergy of Auxerre : he flourished, moreover, at the 
 time of Charles the Bald, when France was inundated with a num- 
 ber of learned and holy men from the schools of Ireland.§ Hence 
 he was acquainted alike with the traditions of Ireland and with 
 those of the church of St. Germanus. He, moreover, appeals to 
 earlier monuments regarding our apostle, as attesting the facts 
 which he records : — 
 
 " As the discipline of children redounds to the glory of their father, I 
 have deemed it opportune to briefly commemorate one, and one the most 
 illustrious of the many children whom St. Germanus brought forth to 
 Christ, and instructed in the doctrines of faith. I mean Patrick, who, 
 as the history of his life records, was the chief apostle of Ireland, and 
 spent fourteen years under the most holy tutorship of Germanus, and 
 
 * Ap. Lanigan, i. 62. f Concilia, etc., i. p. 167. 
 
 X Spelman, loc. cit. ; Usher, Primord., p. 840 ; Wilkins, Concil. Magna; 
 Brit, vi. p. 741. We shall give this curious tract in full, with some 
 remarks, in the appendix. 
 
 § Eric himself writes: "Quid Hiberniam memorem contempto pelagi 
 discrimine, pene totam cum grege philosophorum ad nostra littora mi- 
 grantem." — Epist. ad Carolum Calvum, prof, ad act. S. Germani. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS. 17 
 
 drank in no small share of learning regarding the heavenly Scriptures, at 
 the very source of this rich fountain."* 
 
 This testimony is surely one of great weight in confirming the 
 proposition which we have laid down. It proves that three hundred 
 years from the death of St. Patrick, the panegyrists of the great 
 apostle of Auxerre made his tutorship of our saint a theme of 
 eulogy ; it proves that St. Patrick was reckoned amongst the most 
 remarkable of the saints who went forth from his school of sanc- 
 tity; it proves that the written memorials of our apostle attested 
 the spiritual bonds which united him with St. Germanus. 
 
 The learned Franciscan, John Colgan, published in his Trias 
 Thaumaturga a commentary on the hymn of St. Fiacc, full of 
 interesting details regarding the various facts which are there com- 
 memorated. Much has been said about intrinsic arguments as to 
 its date and importance. Such arguments, however, often receive 
 their colouring from the preconceived opinions of those who propose 
 them. For us it at present suffices to remark, that the most skil- 
 ful of our Celtic philologists refer its language to the seventh or 
 eighth century, whilst, as Petrie remarks, itself is preserved in 
 MSS. which cannot be later than the ninth.\ This scholiast thus 
 commemorates the connection of our apostle with St. Germanus : — 
 
 "Germanus was bishop of a city called Auxerre, and Patrick applied 
 himself to study under his guidance .... It happened that Germanus 
 came to Britain to root out the Pelagian heresy, and he came accom- 
 panied by Patrick, and many others ; and he unceasingly laboured to 
 root out that heresy, until intelligence was brought to him that his own 
 city had begun to be infected with it. Then he and Patrick returned to 
 France, and applied themselves to combat the same pestilential errors."! 
 
 * " Et quoniam gloria Patris in suorum clarescit moderamine filiorum, 
 e multis quos in Christo filios, in religione creditur habnisse discipulos, 
 unius tantum ejusdemque famosissimi, castigata brevitate sufficit inseri 
 mentionem. Patricius, ut gestorum ejus series prodit, Hiberniae peculiaris 
 apostolus regionis, sanctissimo ejus discipulatui xviii. addictus annis non 
 mediocrem e tanti vena fontis in Scripturis coelestibus hausit eruditio- 
 nem." — Lib. i. cap. 2. sec. 21 ; AA. SS. Julii, torn. vii. The numeral 
 xviii., which is found in the printed text, is a clerical error for xiiii. 
 
 t Essay on Tara, p. 71- 
 
 t Tr. Thaumat. p 5. Colgan thus speaks of the author of these scholia : 
 "Scholiastes hie Fieci scripsit partim Latine, partim Hibernice praefa- 
 tionem sive argumentum operi S. Fieci prsefixum, et scholia in idem opus, 
 in margine adnotata, et ipsa codicis vetustate ptene exesa et ex parte 
 
 C 
 
18 SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS. 
 
 He then goes on to state that, in a city where their preaching 
 was unsuccessful, Germanus took counsel with our apostle as to the 
 course they should pursue : St. Patrick answered, " Let us for three 
 days observe a rigorous fast at the city gates ; and then let us 
 leave the matter in the hands of God." This counsel was followed, 
 and their preaching was crowned with complete success. In the 
 subsequent commentary, too, the scholiast more than once returns 
 to this subject of the connection of St. Patrick with Germanus; of 
 his having learned from that holy man " Sacros canones, omnesqne 
 ecclesiasticas disciplinas ;" and in fine, of St. Germanus having sent 
 Patrick to Celestine, and given him as a companion the priest 
 Segetius, who was to bear testimony to his merit and virtues. 
 
 The Irish Nennius, published by the Irish Archaeological 
 Society, in 1848, is not a mere translation of the old British 
 author. In everything connected with Ireland, it is an original 
 independent work, generally based on the authentic records of 
 our country. After detailing, at considerable length, the history 
 of St. Germanus, it thus briefly sketches the career of St. 
 Patrick:—* 
 
 "At this time Patrick was in captivity in Erin with Miline ; and at 
 this time Palladins was sent to preach in Erin. Patrick went to the 
 south to study, and he read the canon with Germanus. Palladius was 
 driven from Erin, and he went and served God in Fordun in Mairne. 
 Patrick came to Erin after studying, and baptized the men of Erin. To 
 describe the miracles of Patrick to you, men of Erin ! were to bring 
 water to a lake : they are more numerous than the sands of the sea, and 
 [ shall therefore pass them over, without giving any narrative of them 
 just now." 
 
 We now come to the lives of St. Patrick published by Colgan 
 and the Bollandists, all of which attest the same fact, of St. Ger- 
 manus having been the spiritual tutor and guide of our apostle. 
 
 The Vita Secunda, judged by Colgan to have been written 
 
 obliterata. Author videtur antiquitatum patria3 longe peritus, et satis 
 vetus qui ut dicemus videtur floruisse circa annum 580, vel saltern ante 
 sneculi sexti finem." — (Loc cit. p 7-) Ussher, too, in his Primordia, reckons 
 these scholia as holding the place of a distinct and most ancient life of 
 St. Patrick — Primordia, etc., p. 827, seqq. 
 * Irish Nennius, I. A. S., 1848, pag. 107. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERM ANUS. 19 
 
 by a disciple of St. Patrick in the sixth century, and bearing 
 intrinsic evidence, as Dr. Todd remarks, of his having used very 
 ancient materials in its composition, devotes its 22nd chapter to 
 the training of St. Patrick by Germanus : — 
 
 " Crossing over the British sea, he sought a certain most holy man, 
 remarkable for his zeal in the cause of faith, the head of the church of 
 Gaul, the bishop of Auxerre, by name Germanus ; with him he remained 
 for a considerable time, like Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, in humble 
 submission and obedience, and with a fervent mind applied himself to 
 
 the study of wisdom and of the Scriptures It was in the island of 
 
 Lerins that Patrick was instructed by Germanus. He was then thirty 
 years of age ; for thirty years he was under the guidance of Germanus, 
 and for sixty years did he preach to the Irish." * 
 
 The Vita Tertia is even more full in its details. In a heavenly 
 vision he was instructed to proceed to foreign parts, and lay in a 
 store of sacred learning : " he went therefore to the most wise 
 Germanus, who in the city of Auxerre was honored by all the 
 bishops of Gaul, and remained with him for four years, studying 
 and fulfilling the Scriptures, being a virgin both in body and mind." 
 From Auxerre he proceeded to Lerins (insula Tamerensis) ; and 
 " having spent nine years there, Patrick wished to proceed to Rome, 
 the head of all churches, whither the Christians resorted from all 
 
 * Ap. Colgan, Tr. Th. pag 13. The island of Lerins is in this passage 
 and in many other documents called insula Aralanensis. The thirty years' 
 study of St- Patrick, under St. Germanus, have been a great puzzle to the 
 modern biographers of our saint. They are, nevertheless, mentioned in 
 nearly all the old Irish documents. It was in 418 that St. Germanus was 
 chosen by St. Amator bishop of Auxerre. Before that time he was 
 engaged in some of the highest civil and imperial offices ; so we cannot 
 suppose that he received any disciples before the year 418. Now, how is 
 this to be reconciled with the thirty years tuition of St. Patrick, and with 
 the date of St. Patrick's mission to Ireland, which was in 432 ? Some 
 writers with Colgan (loc. cit. pag. 30, n. 18) endeavour to explain it, by 
 supposing that Germanus may, many years earlier, have taught St. Patrick 
 the rudiments of secular learning ; others pass to the extreme of hyper- 
 criticism, and reject the whole statement as a mere invention of the 
 writers themselves. Dr. Todd (St. Patrick, 319, note i) concludes from 
 it that there are insuperable difficulties to reconcile it with the facts of history. 
 Perhaps, however, the statement of the ancient writers is historically 
 true, and that it only implies that St. Patrick for thirty years looked to 
 St. Germanus as his spiritual guide. It certainly cannot mean that he 
 was for thirty years living with him ; for during this period they describe 
 St. Patrick as visiting Lerins and Rome, etc. Now from 418 till St. Ger- 
 manus' death was precisely thirty years ; and hence the statement of 
 these ancient lives had its origin in the fact, that even after St. Patrick's 
 arrival in Ireland, he looked still to St. Germanus for counsel and spiritual 
 guidance. 
 
20 SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS. 
 
 parts of the world. This was approved of by St. Germanus, who 
 sent with him a venerable priest named Segetius, as a witness to 
 his religious career.** 
 
 The life attributed to St. Aileran by Colgan, and which bears 
 internal evidence of having been written before the year 774,f 
 repeats the same narrative. It moreover adds, that St. Ger- 
 manus received Patrick with the greatest honour (summa cum 
 veneratione) ; Lerins was the name of the island where he was 
 under the direction of Germanus ; and thirty years was the period 
 during which he followed his guidance. Whilst with Germanus, 
 our apostle was favored with an angelic vision, summoning him to 
 evangelize our island ; and the news of Palladius' death having 
 been received, " St. Germanus sent Patrick to Rome for the apostolic 
 license ; for this was required by the ecclesiastical law."J 
 
 Probus, in his invaluable life of our saint, states, that when 
 setting out for Rome, he tarried for some time with Germanus, sub- 
 mitting himself in all things to his guidance — " in patience, 
 obedience, charity and chastity, in sanctity of heart and soul : pre- 
 serving his virginity in the fear of the Lord, and living in goodness 
 and simplicity during the whole period of his mortal career." 
 During his sojourn with Germanus, he was often favored with 
 angelic visions ; and being admonished that the time was come for 
 him to hasten to the theatre of his missionary labours, St. Germanus 
 sent with him as a companion and a witness, the holy priest 
 Segetius. "§ 
 
 In the Leabhar Breac, there is preserved a fragmentary ancient 
 life of our apostle ; it too briefly commemorates, that " Patrick 
 went to learn wisdom and religion in the south-east of Italy, to the 
 bishop Germanus."|| 
 
 The Vita Tripartita, published in Latin by Colgan, had not 
 its due weight assigned to it till it was discovered, in the ancient 
 
 * Ap. Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 23. t See ante p. 7-8. 
 
 X "Misit ergo 8. Germanus B. Patricium Romam ut cum Apostolicre 
 Sedis episcopi licentia ad prsedicationem exiret : sic enim ordo exigebat." 
 — Ap. Colgan, loc. cit. p. 39. 
 
 § Ap. Colgan, loc. cit. p. 48. 
 
 || See the original Irish text with some remarks, published by I. A. S. 
 Tribes and Customs of Hy-Fiachragh, by O'Donovan, 1844, pag*. 413. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH SAINT GERMANUS. 
 
 21 
 
 Irish language, in the British Museum in 1849.* Colgan, relying 
 on ancient testimonies and other arguments, had referred this 
 life of our apostle to the sixth century ; aud Curry, after diligently 
 examining the Irish text, concludes : " As far as my judgment and 
 my acquaintance with the idiom of the ancient Gaelic language will 
 bear me, I would agree with Father Colgan' s deductions."! St. 
 Evin is supposed to be its author : he was founder of the old mo- 
 nastery, which with the name gave origin to the town of Monaster- 
 evan ; and hence he is invoked by iEngus,'in his Festology, as 
 11 the fair saint from the banks of the Barrow."! According to 
 this very ancient record, St. Patrick in a vision heard the voices of 
 the Irish youths from the wood of Fochlut, calling on him to go 
 and preach to them. Guided by the angel Victor, he resolved first 
 to apply himself to sacred science, and placed himself under the 
 guidance of St. Germanus : " This bishop was most illustrious by 
 birth, and dignity, and life, and learning, and ministry and 
 miracles ; from him Patrick received the successive degrees 
 of the ecclesiastical orders." Not satisfied with having spent 
 many years under the holy guidance of so great a master, Patrick 
 " resolved to visit the see of St. Peter, who was endowed with the 
 firmness of the rock, that thus he might the more fully learn the 
 canonical practices of the holy Roman Church, and have his own 
 career blessed by the apostolical authority. Having disclosed this 
 matter to Germanus, this holy bishop approved of his sacred 
 resolve, and gave him the servant of Christ, Segetius, as a com- 
 panion, and a witness of his unblemished life."§ 
 
 We have now brought the first part of our enquiry to a close, 
 and if historical evidence can bear with it any force of persuasion, 
 
 * See a very interesting history and analysis of this ancient life, in 
 Curry's Lectures, pag. 345, seqq. 
 
 t Curry, Lectures, pag. 350. 
 
 t iEngus' Festology, ad 22 Dec. ; ap. Curry, loc. cit. 
 
 § Sedet animo Patricii sedem sancti petere Petri in petra fundati et 
 S. Romanse ecclesise canonicis institutis uberius imbui cupiens auctori- 
 tate apostolica et actus suos roborari. Cum antem quod corde conce- 
 perat, enodasset B Germauo, approbavit sanctum ipsius propositum S. 
 Germanus adjungens ei Christi servuni Segetium presbyterum itineris 
 soeium, laboris solatium, sanctae conversationis testem idoneum. — Colgan, 
 Tr. Thaumat. p. 70. 
 
22 
 
 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 we rest assured that the authorities produced in the preceding 
 pages will convince any unprejudiced reader, that it was the 
 universal tradition of our country, even from its earliest ages 
 of faith, that St. Patrick was prepared for his missionary labours 
 in Irelaud, under the guidance of the legate of the Holy See, the 
 great bishop of Auxerre, St. Germanus. 
 
 CHAPTER IV, 
 
 ST. PATRICK'S MISSION FHOM ROME. 
 
 St. Patrick's Mission from Rome proved by St. Patrick's proverbs, St. 
 Columbanus, St. Ultan, the Leabhar Breac, St. Eileran, Marianus 
 Scotus, St. Prosper, and others. 
 
 We now proceed to the second point of our inquiry, in which 
 we assert that our apostle's sacred expedition to our island 
 was undertaken with the approval and sanction of the Vicar of 
 Christ and successor of St. Peter. 
 
 Many of the passages which have just been cited from our 
 early writers, whilst they connect our apostle with St. Germanus, 
 represent him, too, as united with Rome, the head and centre 
 of the Catholic world. Indeed this may be viewed as a 
 corollary from what has been already proved ; and as St. Patrick 
 received his religious training from Germanus, we may at once 
 conclude that his mission to our island bore impressed upon it 
 the seal and sanction of the Vicar of Christ. Hence, many of 
 the most learned of our Protestant writers have admitted as 
 indubious this mission of St. Patrick from Rome. Petrie, though 
 questioning many other matters connected with our apostle, looks 
 on this as a fact in attesting which all the ancient records conspire. 
 Ussher, too, lays down this connexion with Rome as a primary prin- 
 ciple for explaining other matters of controversy. [ To remove, 
 however, the scruples of those who are accustomed to regard as 
 
 * Essay on Tara, p. 92. 
 
 t A Discourse on the Religion anciently professed by the Irish : 
 Dublin, 1815, p. 84. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 23 
 
 unsupported by historic evidence those facts which are endeared 
 to the popular tradition of our country, we shall briefly present 
 some of the chief monuments which prove that St. Patrick was 
 commissioned by Rome to preach the Gospel in our island. 
 
 St. Patrick himself, in one of those beautiful proverbs called 
 the Dicta Sancti Patritii, preserved in the Book of Armagh, 
 refers to the See of Peter as the source whence the sacred truths of 
 faith were brought to us ; and takes occasion from this remark to 
 exhort his spiritual children to be ever faithful to the Church 
 of Rome : 
 
 "De saeculo requissistis ad Paradisum, Deo gratias : recclesia Scot- 
 torum immo Romanorum ; ut Christiani ita et Romaiii sitis." 
 
 These words are undoubtedly obscure ; but still, considering the 
 connexion of the members of the whole passage, it admits of no 
 meaning but the following : — 
 
 " Thanks be to G-od : you have passed from the kingdom of Satan to 
 the city of God ; the church of the Irish is a church of Romans ; as you 
 are children of Christ, so be you children of Rome."* 
 
 It was less than a hundred years from the death of St. Patrick, 
 when Columbanus erected for himself and his companions a few 
 rude huts in the gloomy forests of Burgundy. His fame for 
 wisdom and miracles soon attracted disciples around him ; in a 
 few years the continent was filled with his monasteries, and he 
 is deservedly ranked amongst the apostles of France, Switzerland, 
 and North Italy. Before he set out on his missionary career, he 
 had, for fifty years, assiduously devoted himself to sacred learning 
 in our island : he conversed with those who had been themselves 
 disciples of St. Patrick, and he enriched his mind from the 
 abundant stores which were gathered together in the great 
 monastery of Bangor. Now, this illustrious ornament of our 
 island in the sixth century, when sketching on the continent the 
 character of his countrymen, declared that " the Irish are the 
 scholars and disciples of Rome;" and, addressing the Roman 
 pontiff, he adds : 
 
 * Liber. Armacan. fol. 9. 
 
24 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 ' ' The Catholic faith is held unshaken by us as it was delivered to us 
 by you, the successors of the holy Apostles."* 
 
 St. Ultau of Ardbraccan.was one of the first writers who re- 
 duced to order the history of our apostle, and comprised them in a 
 regular life.f This saint is commemorated by JEughus on the 
 4th of September — 
 
 " Great is the happiness of the children 
 Around Ultanof Ard-Breccain,"J 
 
 which words allude to the parental care with which he provided 
 for those infants whose mothers had been cut off in the plague of 
 656. The Four Masters, and our other authentic annals, fix his 
 death, at a very advanced age, in 657. § The loss of his life of 
 our apostle has been partly compensated, by the many extracts 
 from it made by his own disciple, St. Tirechan, which are pre- 
 served in the Book of Armagh. In one place Tirechan speaks 
 of himself as belonging to a family specially dedicated " to 
 God and St. Patrick :"|| elsewhere he is expressly styled the alum- 
 nus vel discipulus of St. Ultan; and it is added, that the memoirs 
 of St. Patrick which he compiled were extracted from the book, or 
 written at the dictation, of his master : " Tirechan episcopus hsec 
 scripsit ex ore vel libro Ultani episcopi."^" Thus we may justly 
 conclude that this work of Tirechan was written before the death 
 of St. Ultan. The fact of its being preserved in the Book of 
 Armagh,* 4 * which was transcribed, as we have seen, in the year 807, 
 
 * "Toti Heberi sumus, ultimi habitatores mundi . . . Sed fides sicut 
 a vobis primum sanctorum scilicet apostolorum successoribus, tradita est 
 inconcussa tenetur." — Epist. ad Bonifac. IV. Biblioth. PP. Gallandi, 
 xii. p. 352. 
 
 t He is expressly commemorated as such in the MS. Irish Tripartite 
 Life, in British Museum, pp. 9 and 39; conf. Curry, Lectures, etc., p. 
 607-8. 
 
 X See the original Irish quatrain of .ZEnghus in Martyrol. of Christ's 
 Church, I.A.S. 1844, pref. p. lxxiv. 
 
 § The Four Masters say he was 180 years of age : the Calendar of 
 Donegal says he died in his lS9th year. 
 
 || See Todd, St. Patrick, p. 444-5. 
 
 IT Confer. Curry's Lectures, p. 608. 
 
 ** For many interesting details about the Book of Armagh, see West- 
 wood,Palaeographia Sacra. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 25 
 
 adds still more weight to its statements, as it proves how impor- 
 tant and accurate a record it was esteemed even at that early date. 
 The chief scribe of Armagh, named Ferdomnach, is supposed to 
 have transcribed these writings from the original copies into this 
 Book of Armagh ; and Dr. Graves has judiciously remarked/-' 
 that " the annotations of Tirechan were evidently becoming illegible 
 at the time that Ferdomnach's copy of them was made. This is 
 sufficiently indicated by notes in the margin, which show that the 
 scribe found it difficult to read the manuscript from which he was 
 transcribing." 
 
 It is in the following concise, but singularly expressive, terms 
 that this ancient writer attests the mission of St. Patrick from 
 pope Celestine : — 
 
 "Decimo tertio anuo Theodosii "In the thirteenth year of the 
 
 Imperatoris a Caelestino episcopo, emperor Theodosius, the bishop 
 
 papa Romse, Patricins episcopus ad Patrick was sent by Celestine, 
 
 doctrinam Scottomm mittitur qui bishop and pope of Rome, to in- 
 
 Cselestinus xlv. episcopus fuit a struct the Irish. This Celestine 
 
 Petro Apostolo in urbe Roma. was the forty- fifth successor of St. 
 
 " Palladius episcopus prirno mitti- Peter in the city of Rome, 
 
 tur qui Patricius alio nomine appel- " Bishop Palladius was first sent, 
 
 labatur, qui martyrium passus est who was also called Patrick by a 
 
 apud Scottos ut tradunt sancti anti- second name, and he was martyred 
 
 qui. among the Irish, as the old saints 
 
 "Deinde Patricius secundus, ab have said, 
 
 angelo Dei, Victor nomine, et a " Then the second Patrick was 
 
 Caelestino papa mittitur cui Hiber- sent by the angel of God, Victor, 
 
 nia tota credidit, et qui earn pene and by pope Celestine : all Ireland 
 
 totam baptizavit."f received his teaching, and nearly 
 
 all of it was regenerated by him in 
 baptism. 
 
 The Leabhar Breac is described by Petrie as " the oldest and 
 best Irish manuscript relating to Church history now preserved, 
 or which perhaps the Irish ever possessed."! Professor Curry 
 more than once commends it in his Lectures, as " of great interest 
 and importance," and presenting " the chief collection of religious 
 
 * On the date of the Book of Armagh : by Rev. Charles Graves ; Pro- 
 ceedings of R.I. A. vol. iii., Nov. 30th, 1846. 
 
 t Liber Armacan. fol. 16; ap. Petrie, Tara, p. 85; Transactions of R.I. A. 
 vol. xviii. part 2nd, 1837. X Ibid. p. 74. 
 
20 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 compositions," which are extant in the Gaelic language.* Amongst 
 the other treasures which it contains, is an ancient tract on the 
 life of our apostle, written in Irish, which abounds with references 
 to continental events, and to the earlier writers of our island ;| and 
 expressly attests the mission given by pope Celestine to Palladius 
 and Patrick to preach the Gospel in Ireland : — 
 
 "We ought to kuow at what time Patrick, the holy bishop and chief 
 instructor of the Irish, began to come to Ireland to preach and baptize, 
 and to resuscitate the dead, and to cure all diseases, and to banish all the 
 demons from Ireland, and to sanctify and consecrate, and to ordain 
 and bless, and to contest and triumph; for the Apostle says: I have fought 
 a good fight, etc. The year, therefore, that Patrick came to Ireland was 
 the four hundred and thirty-third from the Incarnation, in the ninth 
 year of the reign of Theodosius, king of the world, and in the first year 
 of the episcopacy of Sixtus, the coarb [i, e. successor) of Peter, and in the 
 fourth year of the reign of Leoghaire Mac Niall, at Tara, and in the 
 sixtieth year of his own age : and for sixty years he baptized and instructed 
 the men of Erin, as Fiacc says : 
 
 He preached for three score years 
 
 The crucifixion of Christ to the tribes of the Feni. 
 
 And here is the character given by Heleran of Patrick, at the time 
 when he brought an account of him to Clonard : 
 
 Meek and great was the son of Calphurn, 
 A vine-branch laden with fruit 
 
 Palladius was sent by pope Celestine with a gospel for Patrick to 
 preach it to the Irish. This was the four hundred and first year from the 
 crucifixion of Christ.^ In the year after this, Patrick went to preach in 
 Ireland, /Etius and Valerius being consuls. It was in this year that 
 Sixtus assumed the supremacy of Pome after Celestine, and it was the 
 fourth of the reign of Leoghaire son of Niall, at Tara."§ 
 
 Thus this ancient tract corroborates the former evidence, and, in 
 its own singular form of expression, represents our apostle as coni- 
 
 * Lectures, p. 352 seqq. 
 
 t Having mentioned the death of St. Patrick, the writer adds a series of 
 the subsequent principal events, the last of which is the death of king 
 Conchobhar of Tara, and Artri, abbot of Armagh, both of whom, as we 
 learn from the Annals of Ulster, died in 832. This fixes the date of the 
 composition of this tract. 
 
 X The Irish writers generally place the crucifixion in the year 31 of the 
 present era. This date is also assigned in the tract which we are citing, 
 a little further on, as may be seen in Petrie, Tara, p. 80. 
 
 § The whole of this curious tract is given by Petrie, in his Essay on 
 Tara, p. 74 seqq. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 27 
 
 missioned by pope Celestine, through Palladius, to evangelize our 
 island. 
 
 The verse from St. Eileran, given in this passage, is also cited 
 by iEnghus in his Festology, on the 1 7th of March. St. Eileran 
 receives from our Irish writers the epithet of the Wise — " Eileranus 
 sapiens ;" and, according to the Four Masters, died in 664. He 
 was abbotof Clonard, and, besides a life of St. Patrick, was author 
 of a Latin treatise on the genealogy of our Saviour, and of a 
 beautiful Irish litany, extracts from which were first published by 
 the late Professor O'Curry. It is to him that Colgan attributes the 
 life known as the Vita Quarta; and in it we find thus regis- 
 tered the blessing of pope Celestine granted to our apostle : — 
 
 " St. Germanus* seut the blessed Patrick to Rome, that thus he might 
 receive the sanction of the bishop of the Apostolic See to go forth and 
 preach; for order so requireth. . . . And Patrick, having come to Rome, 
 was most honourably received by the holy pope Celestine ; and relics of 
 saints being given to him, he was sent into Ireland by that pontiff, "f 
 
 * St. Germanus could not have acted otherwise without putting himself 
 in opposition to the doctrines and practices of the Church of Gaul. St. 
 Ireneus, bishop of Lyons, the disciple of Polycarp, who received his doc- 
 trines from St. John, in the second century writing of the Church of Rome, 
 says : " Ad hanc ecclesiam propter potiorem principalitatem necesse est 
 omnem convenire ecclesiam, hoc est, eos qui sunt undique fideles, in qua 
 semper ab his, qui sunt undique, conservata est ea qute est ab apostolis 
 traditio." (Lib. iii. c. 3, adv. hser. ) St. Zozimus, who was pope at the time 
 of St. Germanus, thus writes (Epistola 5a) to all the bishops of Gaul: 
 " Jussimus praecipuam, sicuti semper habuit, metropolitanus episcopus 
 arelatensium civitatis in ordinandi* sacerdotibus teneat auctoritatem ; 
 viennensem, narbonensem primam et secundam provincias ad pontiticium 
 suuni revocet. Quisquis vero posthac contra apostolicaa sedis statuta, et 
 prsecepta majorum, omisso metropolitano episcopo, in provinciis suj>ra- 
 dictis quemquam ordinare preesumpserit, vel is, qui ordinari se illicite 
 sciverit, uterque sacerdotio se carere cognoscat." A little afterwards, 
 all the bishops of the province of Tarracon, complaining of the uncanonical 
 ordination of a bishop, thus address pope Hilary: " Proinde nos Deuni 
 in vobis penitus adorantes ad fidem recurrimus apostolico ore laudatam, 
 inde responsa quaarentes unde nihil errore, nihil praesumptione, sed ponti- 
 ficali totum deliberatione praecipitur. . . . Quaesumus sedem vestram, ut 
 quid super hac parte observari velitis, apostolicis afflatibus instruamur. " 
 Instructed in a school which held such doctrines, St. Patrick must have 
 been devotedly attached to the Holy See. Certainly he transmitted to 
 his disciples an unbounded devotion to the successors of St. Peter. 
 
 t Misit ergo ut praefati sumus, Sanctus Germanus, beatum Patricium 
 Romam, ut cum Apostolicse Sedis episcopi licentia ad praedicationem 
 exiret ; sic enim ordo exigebat. Igitur per mare Tyrrhenum navigando 
 transivit. . . . Perveniente vero illo Romam, a sancto papa Caslestino 
 honorifice est susceptus, et traditis sibi sanctorum reliquiis ab eodeni 
 papa Cajlestino in Hiberniam missus est. — Colgan, Tr. Thaumat p. 39. 
 
28 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 We have already seen how the scholiast on the hymn of St. 
 Fiacc attested the connection of St. Patrick with the bishop of 
 Auxerre. He is equally minute in detailing the subsequent 
 events of our apostle's life, preparatory to his Irish mission : 
 
 " When Patrick had applied himself to the study of the canons, and 
 other ecclesiastical learning under Germanus, he told Germanus that he 
 had often, in vision, heard the voices of infants from the place called 
 Caille Tochlaide, inviting him to go and aid the Irish Germanus replied 
 to Patrick : Go, therefore, to the successor of St. Peter, that is, to Celes- 
 tine, that he may authorize you ; for this privilege belongs to him. 
 Patrick, therefore, went to pope Celestine ; but he did not sanction his 
 design, for he had already sent Palladius to Ireland to evangelize it. . . . 
 Patrick, however, admonished Germanus a second time of the visions 
 with which he was favoured ; wherefore, Germanus sent back Patrick 
 a second time to Celestine, accompanied by Segetius, who should give 
 attestation in his name. Celestine hearing of the death of Palladius, 
 .said : No man can receive anything on earth, save he to whom it is given 
 from above. Then Patrick was consecrated by the permission of Celes- 
 tine and of Theodosius the younger, who was the king of the world. 
 It was Amatorex that consecrated him ; and Celestine, it is said, did not 
 live more than one week after the ordination of Patrick. Pope Sixtus 
 succeeded him, and in the first year of his pontificate, Patrick came 
 into Ireland. He, too, most favourably regarded Patrick, and gave to 
 him a portion of the relics of SS. Peter and Paul, together with many 
 books."* 
 
 It will be sufficient to briefly refer to the other lives of St. 
 Patrick, all of which repeat the same fact, of his having received 
 the mission from pope Celestine to preach the Gospel in Ireland. 
 Thus, the Vita Secunda, after describing the deeds of Pal- 
 ladius, adds : " Patrick was sent by the same pope into Ireland."! 
 The third life is equally explicit : " Patrick, by the command of 
 pope Celestine, returned to this island." I The words of Probus 
 have been already given in the preceding narrative (page 10) : he 
 commemorates the prayer breathed by our apostle, that Heaven 
 might conduct him to Rome, the head of cities ; and he adds that 
 
 * Apud Colgan, loc. cit., p. 5. The phrase, in conspectu Cehstini et 
 T/ieodosii, can only mean with the countenance or sanction of, etc. This Latin 
 phrase is often thus used by the writers of the iron age. 
 
 t Patricius ab eodem papa Cselestino in Hiberniam transmissus, etc. — 
 Ap. Colgan, Tr. Thaumat. p. 13. 
 
 % Tunc S. Patricius ex imperio papa3 Caelestini reversus est ad hanc 
 insulam.— Ibid. p. 23. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 29 
 
 this prayer was heard ; " and St. Patrick having asked for and 
 received the apostolic blessing," hastened to his spiritual labours 
 in our island. In fine, the Tripartite Life thus writes : 
 
 " The angel Victor admonished Patrick that he was commanded by 
 
 God to proceed to Ireland, and preach to them the faith of Christ 
 
 In obedience to the angel's admonition, and to the divine command, 
 Patrick resolved to visit the see of Peter — the mistress of faith, and the 
 source of every apostolate ; that thus his journey and preaching might 
 be strengthened and consecrated by its authority. He made known this 
 design to Germanus, who, approving of it, sent with him the priest 
 Segetius as a companion, and a witness of his spotless life. . . . Where- 
 fore, the intelligence of the death of Palladius being received, the divinely 
 pre-ordained mission, and the conversion of the Irish nation was, by the 
 apostolical authority, committed to Patrick* Celestine, with the ap- 
 proval of Germanus and Amatorex (the Roman), ordained him bishop, 
 and gave to him the name of Patrick."* 
 
 These ancient lives, in many of the details, are found to vary ; 
 but all conspire in attesting the one great fact of St. Patrick's 
 mission having been sealed by the supreme authority of the Vicar 
 of Christ. The lives of some of our other saints are equally 
 explicit, when referring to this early union of our Church with 
 Rome. For instance, the life of St. Kiaran, which is much 
 extolled by Ussher,f thus commemorates St. Patrick's apostolate : 
 
 • "The glorious archbishop Patrick being sent by pope Celestine, came 
 over to Ireland, and by God's grace converted the leaders, chiefs, and 
 people to Christ : and all Ireland was filled with the faith and baptism 
 of Christ. "X 
 
 St. Eric of Auxerre was not content with describing the prepa- 
 ration made by our apostle for his future mission, under the guid- 
 ance of Germanus; he further relates the blessing given to his 
 apostolate by the Roman pontiff, St. Celestine. Patrick, he says, 
 drank in the heavenly truths from the holy bishop of Auxerre; 
 " and as Germanus saw him magnanimous in religion, eminent for 
 
 * Colgan, Tr. Thaumat. p. 122-3. 
 
 t Primordia; Dublini, 1639, p. 790. 
 
 J Deinde gloriosus archiepiscopus Patricius missus a Coelestino papa 
 venit in Hiberniam qui Dei gratia reges, duces, prineipes, populosque ad 
 Christum convertit : et tota Hibernia repleta est tide et baptismo Christi." 
 —Ibid. 
 
30 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 virtue, strenuous in the sacred ministry, and thinking it unfit that 
 so strong a husbandman should be listless in the culture of the 
 harvest of God, he sent him to holy Celestine, the pope of the city 
 of Rome, accompanied by his own priest, Segetius, who might bear 
 testimony of ecclesiastical probity in his regard at the Apostolic 
 See. Being thus approved by its judgment, leaning on its authority 
 and strengthened by its blessing, he journeyed to Ireland, and 
 being given to that people as their chosen apostle, he illustrated 
 the whole nation at that time, indeed, by his preaching and mira- 
 cles, as he continues at the present day to do, and will continue 
 for ever to illustrate it by the wonderful privileges of his apos- 
 tolate."* 
 
 Earlier than St; Eric was the holy bishop Marcus, who, after 
 devoting himself for many years to the practice of virtue in the 
 Irish monasteries, illustrated the north of Italyf by his learning and 
 piety. His Historia Brittonum was written in the year 822, 
 and was long regarded by British writers as a sort of text-book 
 for the history of their country. J In it he introduces a short sketch 
 of the life of our apostle, which we may justly regard as embodying 
 the narrative of the most authentic records of the Irish Church : — 
 
 " Under divine guidance Patrick was instructed in the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and then he went to Rome and remained there a long time, study- 
 ing, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, learning the holy Scriptures and 
 the sacred mysteries. And whilst he was there applying himself to these 
 pursuits, Palladius was sent by Pope Celestine as first bishop to convert 
 the Irish to Christ ; but God, by some storms and signs, prevented his 
 success ; and no one can receive aught on earth unless it be given to him 
 from above. This Palladins, returning from Ireland to Britain, died 
 
 * " Ineptum ducens (Germanus) robustissimum agricolam in Dominica? 
 segetis torpere cultura ad sanctum Caelestinum urbis Romse papam per 
 Segetium presbyterum suum, eum direxit : qui viro prasstantissimo probi- 
 tatis ecclesiastic® testimonium apud Sedem ferret Apostolicam. Cujus 
 judicio approbatus, auctoritate fultus, benedictione denique roboratus 
 Hiberniaj partes expetiit, gentique illi proprie datus apostolus, turn qui- 
 dem earn doctrina et miraculis, nunc quoque et in perpetuum miriticis 
 apostolatus sui illustrat privilegiis." — Ericus, loc. cit. lib. i. cap. 2, ap. 
 Bolland. Julii vii. p. 258. 
 
 t Mabillon's Acta SS., torn, vi., ad an. 8S4. Eckhard, Casus S. Galli ; 
 Pertz's Monumenta Germanica, vol. ii. p. 78. 
 
 X See Introduction to Irish Nennius, p. 18, for a full and interesting 
 account of this writer and his work.. 
 
SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 31 
 
 there in the land of the Picts. The death of bishop Palladium being 
 known, the patricians Theodosius and Valentinian being the Roman 
 rulers, Patrick was sent by pope Celestine, the angel of God, Victor, 
 accompanying, guiding, and assisting him, and by bishop Germanus, to 
 convert the Irish to the belief in the holy Trinity."* 
 
 It now remains to notice the ancient and most authentic of our 
 annalists who, whilst fixing the arrival of St. Patrick in our island 
 as the great starting point of the Christian era in our history, 
 without a dissentient voice, derive his mission from the Holy See. 
 Thus, the Four Masters write : " St. Patrick was ordained to the 
 episcopacy by the holy pope Celestine, the first who commissioned 
 him to come to Ireland and preach, and give to the Irish the pre- 
 cepts of faith and religion. "f The Annals of hinisf alien also record 
 that " Patrick came from Rome bishop into Ireland, and devoutly 
 preached here the faith of Christ."! The Annales Senatenses, 
 better known as the Annals of Ulster, thus begin : — 
 
 "Anno ab Incarnatione Domini, 431, Palladium ad Scotos a Coelestino 
 urbis Romae episcopo, ordinatur episcopus, ^Etio et Valeriano coss. 
 Primus mittitur in Hiberniam ut Christum credere potuissent, anno 
 Theodosii 8vo. 
 
 "Anno 432. Patricius pervenit ad Hiberniam ix. anno Theodosii 
 junioris; primo anno episcopatus Sixti, 42di. episcopi Romanse Ecclesise : 
 sic enumerant Beda et Marcellinus et Isidorus in Chronicis suis ; in 12°. 
 anno Leoghaire Mac Neill 
 
 "Anno 439. Secundinus, Auxilius, et Iserninus mittuntur episcopi 
 ipsi in Hiberniam in auxilium Patricii."§ 
 
 In the year from the Incarnation of our Lord 431, Palladius was by 
 pope Celestine ordained bishop of the Irish, JEtius and Valerianus being 
 consuls. He was the first that was sent to Ireland that they might be 
 converted to Christ. This was in the eighth year of Theodosius. 
 
 In the year 432, Patrick came to Ireland in the ninth year of 
 Theodosius the younger, and first of the episcopacy of Sixtus. Sixtus was 
 the forty- second bishop of Rome, as Bede, and Marcellinus, and Isidore 
 reckon in their chronicles. This was in the twelfth year of Leoghaire, 
 son of Niall. 
 
 * "Historia Brittonum edita ab anarchoreta Marco ejusdem gentis sancto 
 episcopo." Ex codice Vatic. Saec. decimi. This work was published 
 in 1819, in London, by W. Gun ; but his MS. seems to have been full of 
 inaccuracies. 
 
 t Four Masters, by O'Donovan, ad. an. 432. 
 
 J Ap. O'Conor, Rerum Hibernic. Script, vol. ii. p. 95. See an interest- 
 ing account of these Annals in Curry's Lectures, p. 75, seqq. 
 
 § Petrie's Essay on Tara, p. 82 j Curry's Lectures, p. 90, seqq. 
 
32 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 In the year 439, Secundums, Auxilius, and Iserninus, were sent bishops 
 into Ireland to assist St. Patrick. 
 
 Dr. Petrie, when citing the first portion of this entry, has fallen 
 into a singular mistake, and thence taken occasion to undervalue 
 the testimony of these annals. Authorities, he says, are appealed 
 to, viz., Bede, Marcellinus, and Isidore, as evidence of St. Patrick's 
 mission ; " but unfortunately no passages relating to Patrick's 
 mission are found in any printed edition or manuscript copy of the 
 works referred to."* This, indeed, if true, would be a singular 
 inaccuracy of these annals; their reference, however, to other 
 authors has no connection with St. Patrick's mission. It was a 
 debated point amongst our Irish annalists, as it is indeed amongst 
 historians to the present day, what was the precise number of 
 popes from St. Peter to Sixtus. Some reckoned St. Clement merely 
 as a coadjutor of St. Peter; others regarded Anacletus as not 
 distinct from Cletus. In the passages already cited we have seen 
 how pope Celestine was styled, by Tirechan and the author of the 
 Tripartite Life, the forty-fifth pope. Hence the Ulster annalist, 
 having given his opinion that St. Sixtus was the forty-second pope, 
 cites as references for this opinion, Bede, Marcellinus, and Isidore ; 
 but he does not cite them, as would be wholly contrary to the custom 
 of our annalists, in regard to domestic events, as an authority for the 
 arrival of St. Patrick in our island : this event he absolutely records 
 in the ninth year of Theodosius, the first of pope Sixtus, and the 
 twelfth of king Leoghaire.f 
 
 Even the Irish annalists, who on the continent won an illustrious 
 name for themselves and their country, were not forgetful of the 
 event which brought the blessings of Catholic faith to our island. 
 Marianus Scotus, whose Irish name was Maelbrigte (i.e. servant of 
 Brigid), was born in Ulster in 1028. He had for his master the 
 famous Tighernach of Boirche, coarb of St. Finnian in the monas- 
 
 * Petrie's Tara, pag. 82. 
 
 t The present Annals of Ulster give the reading xlii. episcopi. See 
 Curry and Petrie as above : we suspect, however, that this is an error of 
 the copyist for xlv. Similar mistakes abound in the ancient manuscripts. 
 
SATNT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 33 
 
 tery of Moville.* In 1052 he assumed the monastic habit in 
 Ireland, and four years later he entered the Irish monastery of St. 
 Martin at Cologne. Beiug ordained at Wurzburg in 1059, he 
 embraced the austere life of a recluse, and was immured for ten 
 years at Fulda. He thence removed in 1069 to Mentz, where he 
 pursued the same penitential course, and in complete seclusion 
 worked out his great chronicle of the world. " This work (says 
 Reeves) is the most elaborate historical production of the middle 
 ages, and has always enjoyed the highest encomiums of the learned."! 
 The autograph of this chronicle, with Marianus's own signature, is 
 preserved in the Vatican, and has been accurately printed by Pertz, 
 in the Monumenta Historica Germanise, j It is thus that this 
 illustrious Maelbrigte chronicles the mission of St. Patrick to 
 Ireland : — 
 
 " In the eighth year of Theodosius, Bassus and Antiochus being con- 
 suls, Palladius was ordained by pope Celestine, and sent as first bishop 
 to the Irish believing in Christ. After him was sent St. Patrick, who, 
 being a Briton by birth, was consecrated by pope St. Celestine, and sent 
 to the archiepiscopate of Ireland. There, during sixty years, he con- 
 firmed his preaching by signs and miracles, and converted the whole 
 island to the faith of Christ." 
 
 Thus we have endeavoured to lay before the reader some of the 
 chief, direct, and positive arguments which render historically 
 certain that St. Patrick, when coming to gather in the Irish nation 
 into the fold of Christ, bore with him, solemnly impressed on his 
 apostolate, the seal and sanction of the Vicar of Christ. The 
 indirect testimony of Prosper should, however, have of itself sufficed 
 to convince any unbiassed mind of the truth of our assertion. 
 St. Prosper, in his work against Cassian, written whilst Sixtus 
 
 * See Annals of Four Masters, ad. an. 1061 and 1098. Lanigan errs 
 when making him successor of St. Finnian of Clonard. — (Eccl. Hist. iii. 
 446.) Others confound him with the great annalist Tighernach O'Braoin, 
 who was abbot of Clonmacnois. Marianus himself, however, in the 
 autograph copy of his annals, styles his master Tighernach of Boirche, the 
 district now called Mourne. 
 
 t Wattenbach's Papers on the Irish Monasteries in Germany ; Leipzig, 
 1856 ; translated by Dr. Beeves, p. 13, note q. 
 
 % Tom vii. pag. 481, seqq. Fac-similes of the original MS. are given, 
 with an elaborate critical apparatus, by Professor Waitz. 
 
 D 
 
34 SAINT PATRICK'S MISSION FROM ROME. 
 
 was Pope, between the years 433 and 440, thus claims for St. 
 Celestine the conversion of Ireland : — 
 
 " Whilst that pope (he says) laboured to keep the Roman island 
 (Britain) Catholic, he caused also the barbarous island to be gathered 
 to the fold of Christ, by ordaining a bishop for the Irish."* 
 
 The first words refer to the mission of St. Germanus to Britain, 
 which freed that country from the infection of the Pelagian 
 heresy ; the subsequent words attest that Ireland was, at the 
 time he wrote, a Christian nation, and that this blessing was borne 
 to our island by another mission from pope Celestine. This surely 
 cannot refer to the unsuccessful preaching of Palladius, and can 
 only be understood of the mission of St. Patrick, who was the 
 chosen one in the counsel of God, to be the dispenser to our island 
 of the blessings of redemption. 
 
 * "Ordinato Scotis episcopo dum Bomanam insulam studet servare 
 Catholicam, fecit etiam barbaram Christianani. " — Prosper contra Gollato- 
 rem, cap. 41. It is published in the appendix to St. Augustine's works, 
 torn. x. part 2, p. 196. A passage of this work in which he says that 
 St. Augustine addressed a letter to Xystus, then, indeed, a simple 
 priest, but now pope, tunc Presbyterum Xyslum, nunc vero Ap. Sedis 
 Poniijicem, proves that it was written during the pontificate of Xystus, 
 who succeeded St. Celestine in 432, and died in 440. 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE OKIGIN OF THE IEISH CHUKCH, 
 
 gatb its €anntxtaxi fotfjj i\t ipfllg ^n. 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 The remarks made in the past chapters will probably have 
 sufficed to convince every unprejudiced mind, that St. Patrick 
 embarked on his missionary career with the sanction and blessing 
 of the Yicar of Christ. Many theories, however, have been put 
 forward from time to time, conflicting more or less with this 
 undoubted fact ; and hence, in order that its truth may be placed 
 in clearer light, we shall briefly pass in review the chief systems 
 invented by these modern theorists to throw doubt on the mission 
 of our glorious apostle. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Theory of Dr. Ledwich, that St. Patrick never existed, refuted. 
 
 Dr. Ledwich, in a work entitled " The Antiquities of Ireland," 
 vindicated to himself the unenviable claim of being the first and 
 only universal sceptic as to the life and history of St. Patrick. In 
 one sweeping proposition he rejects altogether the existence "of 
 the saint, resting this theory on the gratuitous assumption, that 
 St. Patrick was unknown to and unmentioned by any writer 
 previous to the ninth century. 
 
 This foolish theory will not detain us long. All the Christian 
 traditions of our country are clustered around the memory of St, 
 
36 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 Patrick. Our hills, and islands, and streamlets, and fountains 
 re-echo his name. Every monument that traces the line of sepa- 
 ration between Christianity and paganism in Ireland, rests for its 
 basis on his existence. And hence, even should we suppose the 
 assumption of Dr. Ledwich, as regards the silence of our early 
 records, to be true, yet it would not suffice to warrant the conclu- 
 sion which he would fain deduce from it. 
 
 That assumption, however, is wholly at variance with truth. 
 The writers of the ninth century that commemorate St. Patrick, 
 refer to the earlier writers of his life. In the eighth ceutury, 
 JEngus, in his Felire, thus marks the feast-day of our saint : 
 
 " The blaze of a splendid sun, 
 The apostle of stainless Erin, 
 Patrick, with his countless thousands, 
 May he shelter our wretchedness."* 
 
 The Irish " Collection of Canons" existing in MSS. of the 
 eighth century, contains decrees enacted by St. Patrick. Litanies 
 preserved in continental MSS, of the same century, as well as in 
 the famous Stowe Missal, of at least the same period,f rank him 
 amongst our patrons. Alcuin celebrates him as " Scotorum gloria 
 gentis ;" and a hymn in honour of St. Brigid, transcribed before 
 the close of the eighth century, mentions amongst the titles of her 
 praise, that she was the disciple of St. Patrick — alumna Patricii, 
 and had as her bulwark of defence his powerful patronage — opima 
 Patricii patrocinia.% 
 
 In the seventh century, the monuments are still more numerous 
 that commemorate our glorious apostle. Thus, St. Adamnan 
 speaks of a holy bishop who was "Sancti Patricii Epi. discipulus."§ 
 What shall we say of the many records of our saint, preserved in 
 the now famous Book of Armagh. Two of its chief monuments, 
 composed in the seventh century, by Maccutheni and Tirechan, 
 
 * See Curry, Lectures, etc., p. 368 ; and Petrie, Essay on Tara, p. 89. 
 
 t See the paper read by Dr. Todd before the 11. 1. A., June 23rd, 1S56, 
 on the Ancient Irish Missal, etc., p. 33. 
 
 % Mone, Hynini Med. JEv., iii. 241 ; Reeves' Early Irish Caligraphy, 
 p. 29. 
 
 § Reeves' Columba. 
 

 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 37 
 
 appeal to earlier sainted bishops of our island as their vouchers 
 aud the sources of their narratives. The antiphonary of Bangor, 
 composed before the year 691,* presents the hymn of St. Secun- 
 dinus in his honour, and entitles it, M Hymnus S. Patricii Magistri 
 Scotorum." St. Cummian Fota, who died in 661, has left a 
 hymn in honour of the apostles, ably edited by Dr. Todd,f from 
 the Liber Hymnorum ; its sixteenth strophe is devoted to our 
 apostle Patrick : 
 
 ' ' Patricii Patris obsecremus merita, 
 Ut Deo digna perpetremus opera." 
 
 St. Cummian Albus, abbot of Iona, in his life of the founder of 
 that great monastery, commemorates at the very outset, " St. 
 Patrick, the first apostle of Ireland." St. Cuimin of Connor lived 
 at the same time, and in his Irish poem " on the characteristic 
 virtues of the Irish saints,*| one verse is devoted to, the fasting 
 of " Patrick of Ardmacha's city, the son of Calphurn." The year 
 634 was rendered remarkable by the letter of the abbot of Durrow 
 on the Paschal Question ;§ in it, one of the arguments to prove the 
 antiquity of the Roman cycle, is precisely its having been used by 
 " Patritius papa noster." 
 
 In the sixth century, we find St. Patrick's name registered by 
 the hand of St. Columba himself. This great apostle of the Picts, 
 in the precious copy of the Gospels [| which he transcribed, ter- 
 minates his labour by breathing a prayer to " the holy bishop 
 Patrick," The hymn of St. Fiacc, commemorating some of our 
 apostle's deeds, bears intrinsic evidence of great antiquity, and even 
 its scholia, being written in the most ancient Gaelic of the Brehon 
 laws, were judged by Usher to belong to the sixth century. The 
 same judgment was passed by Eugene Curry on the Vita Tripar- 
 tita of our saint, attributed by Colgan to St. Evin.^f Aud yet 
 
 * Conf. Lanigan, Eccl. Hist. i. 59, seq. 
 
 t Lib. Hym. fasc. i. p. 77- 
 
 % Translated by Curry, aud edited by Dr. Kelly, in Martyrology of 
 Tallaght, pag. 161. 
 
 § Usher, Sylloges Epp. ep. 11. 
 
 || Conf. Reeves' Columba, pag. 242 and 327 : Westwood Pala?ogr. 
 Sac. ; O'Conor, Script. Rer. Hib. 1-182 j Lhuyd, Archaeolog. p. 242. 
 
 U Curry, Lectures, etc. p. 386. 
 
38 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 what shall we say, when St. Fiacc refers to still earlier written 
 records regarding St. Patrick : and St. Evin not only cites such 
 documents, but also registers customs and proverbs which had their 
 origin in his deeds and teaching. Some of the earlier records thus 
 referred to, are still happily preserved. Such is the hymn of St. 
 Secundinus, addressed to St. Patrick whilst yet living:* it is thus 
 referred to in St. Fiacc's hymn: — 
 
 " The hymn which was sung to thee whilst living, 
 Will be a protecting lorica unto all. "t 
 
 Surely such evidence as this, is more than sufficient to attest the 
 historical reality of our apostle. Bat still, supposing that none of 
 this evidence was at hand, the writings of St. Patrick ; his " Con- 
 fessio" ; the "canons" which he enacted; his letter to Coroticus; 
 the prayer or "lorica," which he composed, to say nothing of his 
 other writings, all which are now admitted, and proved to be the 
 genuine composition of our saint,J are such monuments as render 
 the fact of St. Patrick's existence as certain to many of the present 
 generation, as is the fact of the existence of the great Dr. Ledwich 
 himself. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Theory of Sir William Betham, that St. Patrick lived long before the 
 year 432. — Theory of Usher, that Ireland possessed a hierarchy before 
 the days of St. Patrick. 
 
 The second theory passes to the other extreme, and is equally 
 paradoxical ; its appearance in the literary world is due to the 
 fantastical imagination of Sir William Betham. " The truth is," 
 writes this author, " as will be shown in the following pages, that 
 the first apostle of Ireland, Patrick, the Roman-Briton, introduced 
 
 * Lib. Hymn, fascic. i. etc. p. 11. 
 
 t Colgan, Trias Thaumat. pag. 3. This passage is not happily trans- 
 lated by Todd, Hymn, pag. 33. 
 
 J See excellent remarks on some of those writings of our apostle in 
 Todd'g St. Patrick, 425, seqq. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 39 
 
 Christianity into Ireland centuries before the year 430, and Pal- 
 ladius was truly sent to the Scots believing in Christ, i.e. } a nation 
 of Christians," etc.* 
 
 Strange enough, the author of this theory appeals to the Book 
 of Armagh, which was then a sealed book to Irish readers: and 
 yet, in that very Book of Armagh, the year 432 is marked for the 
 mission of St. Patrick, the Roman emperor Theodosius is named 
 as then in the eighth year of his imperial authority, and pope 
 Celestine is commemorated as the occupant of St. Peter's See.t 
 Elsewhere in the same book, St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland is 
 placed subsequent to the death of Palladius, the archdeacon of 
 Celestine.j And yet this book was appealed to as evidencing 
 that the mission of St. Patrick took place centuries before the year 
 430! 
 
 Another authority appealed to is that of Prosper, who describes 
 Palladius as sent to the Scots believing in Christ. But surely it is 
 strange that Sir William did not remark, that in the very same 
 sentence, Prosper styles Palladius the first bishop destined to our 
 shores: " Palladius primus epus. mittitur." Hence the anchorite 
 Marcus, in his Historia Brittonum, when paraphrasing this 
 passage of Prosper, describes Palladius as sent ad Scotos conver- 
 tendos ad Christum. Undoubtedly, St. Patrick did not find our 
 island a nation of Christians, as his own writings sufficiently 
 attest ; and yet, all the monuments of our history link together 
 the names of Patrick and Germanus of Auxerre,§ and Celestine 
 of Rome, and Leoghaire of Ireland. || How, then, can our apostle 
 and his nation of Christians, be assigned to a period earlier by 
 centuries than the year 430 ? 
 
 The formula used by Prosper in his chronicle — ad Scotos in 
 Christo credentes — may, perhaps, seem strange to some of our 
 
 * Betham's Antiquarian Researches, p. 248. 2 iS'p . 
 
 f Maccuthenus, ibid. fol. 2. 
 
 J Tirechan in Lib. Armac. fol. 16, ap. Petrie, Essay on Tara, p. 85. 
 
 § St. Germanus was appointed bishop in 418. See his life, by a con- 
 temporary, Constantius, in A A. SS., Julii vii., p. 213, seqq. 
 
 || Leoghaire, the son of JMiall of the Nine Hostages, became monarch 
 of Ireland in 428 or 429, as all our annalists are agreed.— See Petrie, 
 Tara, p. 28, seqq. 
 
40 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 readers. There is much in the recent work of Dr. Todd* to 
 explain this passage, and prove that there existed before the time 
 of our apostle, scattered converts in our island. The life of a holy 
 Irishman, disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre, will also illustrate 
 this point.f He was son of an Irish prince, and received the 
 light of faith from Germanus in Britain, in 429. Returning to 
 Ireland, his friends and retainers listened to his exhortations, and 
 gladly received at his hands the waters of baptism. It is more 
 than probable that there were many such cases throughout our 
 island ; and surely St. Germanus made known to the pontiff, St. 
 Celestine, the happy tidings of some rays of faith having thus 
 shone upon our pagan country, and prayed him to send a bishop 
 to guide these neophytes, and entirely conquer and consolidate the 
 new spiritual kingdom thus opened to the missionaries of our 
 faith. This is the only meaning that the contemporary monu- 
 ments permit us to assign to the words of St. Prosper.J 
 
 THEORY OF DR. USHER. 
 
 The learned Usher, whose opinion was adopted by Harris, to 
 omit a host of subsequent superficial writers, defended as a 
 favourite theory, that the Irish Church already possessed a 
 hierarchy when Palladius and Patrick were destined to our shores ; 
 and SS. Ailbe, Declan, Ibar, and Kieran were ostentatiously put 
 forward as predecessors of these missionaries in the episcopate of 
 Ireland. 
 
 This theory, however, has found no followers since the time of 
 Lanigan, so clearly did he reveal its inconsistency and falsehood ; 
 and Dr. Todd has placed in still clearer light the arguments of 
 this best of our ecclesiastical historians. 
 
 * St. Patrick, p. 189, seqq. 
 
 f Acta SS., Maij, torn. i. p. 259. Eric of Auxerre mentions a certain 
 Michomeris, an Irishman, who followed St. Germanus on his return to 
 Auxerre. — Acta SS., Julii, torn vii. p. 256. 
 
 X The other sophistical reasons put forward by Betham, iu defence of 
 his theory, may be seen well refuted in D' Alton's Essay on the Antiquities 
 of Ireland, Dublin, 1830, p. 193. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 4 1 
 
 St. Ailbe's death is recorded by our annalists in 527,* St. 
 Declan is described in the life to which Usher refers, as having 
 survived St. Ailbe, and as having had for his contemporaries St. 
 Colman of Cloyne, who died in the year 600 ; St. Dimma Dubh, 
 who was bishop of Connor, and died in 658 ; and St. Ultan, who, 
 as we have seen (p. 24), died in the year of the great mortality, 
 in 657. There is an ancient Irish verse preserved on these two 
 saints, which proves that in our early Church they were not looked 
 on as predecessors of St. Patrick : 
 
 " Humble Ailbe is the Patrick of Munster, 
 With all due honour ; 
 Declan is the Patrick of the Desii : 
 The Desii are with Declan for ever."f 
 
 St. Ibar's death is found registered between the year 500 and 
 504, in all our annalists ; and Tirechan, in his annotations, 
 preserved in the Book of Armagh, expressly names St. Ibar as 
 one of the bishops consecrated by our apostle St. Patrick. St. 
 Kieran's life admits of still less controversy : he was a disciple of 
 St. Finnian in the famous school of Clonard, which was founded 
 in 540 ; and amongst his contemporaries were St. Ciaran of 
 Clonmacnois, St. Ruadhan of Lodhra, and St. Brendan of Birr ; 
 all of whom are reckoned in the second order of our saints, and 
 died about the middle of the sixth century. 
 
 It would be easy to add other arguments which refute this once 
 fashionable theory. Palladius, as we have just seen, is styled by 
 his contemporary Prosper, and by Bede, " the first bishop of the 
 Irish." Our own apostle, too, was evidently unacquainted with 
 these his saintly predecessors; for towards the end of his earthly 
 career, full of gratitude to God for the abundance of His mercy 
 to our island, he thus exclaims : 
 
 " How has it come to pass in Ireland, that those who never had any 
 knowledge of God, and hitherto worshipped only idols and abominations, 
 
 * This is the date in the Annals of Tighernach, Annals of Ulster, 
 Annals of Innisfallen. The date of 541 is given by the Four Masters ; 
 but it may have been another saint of the same name, whose death is 
 also recorded in 541 by the Annals of Ulster. 
 
 t Usher, Primord., p. 866 ; Todd, St. Patrick, p. 219. 
 
42 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 should be lately become the people of the Lord, and are called the chil- 
 dren of God ? The sons of Ireland and the daughters of its chieftaius 
 now appear as monks and virgins of Christ."* 
 
 We shall not, however, dwell on these arguments, but we shall 
 rather remark, that the facts recorded in the lives of these saints, 
 corroborate more and more what has been proved in the preceding 
 chapter, that, forsooth, Rome was universally regarded as the 
 source whence the blessings of faith were borne to our island; 
 and furthermore, that our apostle St. Patrick received from Rome 
 his mission for the apostolate of Ireland. 
 
 An extract from St. Kieran's life, regarding St. Patrick, has 
 been already cited ; and from other passages produced by Usher, 
 we learn that St. Kieran devoted himself to religious pursuits in 
 Rome for twenty years, till he was ordained there and sent as 
 bishop " ad annunciandam fidem in Hibernia."f 
 
 St. Ailbe is also said to have been sent by his master, St. 
 Hilary, to the Roman pontiff. He went thither accompanied by 
 fifty holy men, all natives of Ireland, and having remained for 
 more than a year in Rome, he was consecrated bishop by the 
 pope, aud sent to evangelize our island. J 
 
 St. Ibar, too, in the Aunals of Innisfallen, is described as 
 " coming from Rome a bishop into Ireland." As for Declan, he 
 is said to have met in Rome his future friend and fellow-labourer, 
 St. Ailbe ; and, some years after the departure of this saint for 
 his missionary labours, " was consecrated a bishop, receiving from 
 the pope a special commission to return to his own country and 
 evangelize the Irish people. "§ When journeying towards our 
 island, he met with St. Patrick, who was proceeding from Gaul to 
 Rome, to prepare himself for the apostolate of Ireland. It was in 
 Rome, too, that St. Kieran was said to have received the pro- 
 phetical announcement from St. Patrick, that the bleak Saighir 
 would become a great city, springing up around the monastery of 
 Kieran. || 
 
 * Confess. S. Patritii in fine. 
 
 t Usher, Primord., p. 512 ; O'Conor, Rerum Hib. SS. ii. p. 12. 
 
 \ Ibid. § Todd, p. 209. || See Todd, ibid. p. 200, seqq. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Dean Murray's theory, that St. Patrick had no mission from Rome, 
 examined. 
 
 The late Protestant dean of Ardagh, having prepared for 
 the task by writing an " Introduction to the Study of the Apo- 
 calypse," and other similar works, turned his attention to the 
 history of the Irish Church, and as the result of his researches, 
 published to the world, " Outlines of the History of the Church 
 in Ireland," which, under the improved title of " Ireland and 
 her Church," was published a second time in 1845.* The 
 reader will naturally expect some novel theories from such a 
 writer ; and, indeed, should he have the patience to peruse a 
 few pages of dean Murray's work, he will meet with them be- 
 yond all his expectations. As regards St. Patrick, he candidly 
 enough admits his existence,! but qualifies this admission by 
 rejecting as groundless the mission of our apostle from Rome. 
 The whole reasoning on which this theory rests, is thus condensed 
 by the learned dean : " While the papal (i. e., foreign) writers 
 make Palladius the first apostle, and take no notice of Patrick, 
 the Irish make Patrick the first, and take no notice of Pal- 
 ladius.":!: 
 
 We shall take no notice of his subsequent foolish remarks on the 
 corruptions of Rome. Suffice it to say, that Dr. Todd, with more 
 candour, acknowledges, in his late work, that in the fifth century, 
 at least, such corruptions could not be found in the Roman Church. § 
 We shall rather inquire into the truth of the assertion so boldly 
 hazarded by the worthy dean. 
 
 Is it true, then, that the foreign or papal writers take no notice 
 of St. Patrick ? is it true that the Irish writers consign to oblivion 
 the name of Palladius ? 
 
 As regards the Irish writers, we have seen that St. Tirechan 
 
 * Ireland and her Church, by the Very Rev. Richard Murray, D.D., 
 dean of Ardagh, second edition, London, 1845, introd. p. 7. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 20. \ Ibid. p. 22. § Pref. page 6. 
 
44 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 mentions both Palladius and Patrick ;* that the scholiast of Fiacc 
 gives us the acts of Palladius as well as those of our apostle ;f 
 that, in a word, Muirchu-Maccu-Macthenus, the Leabhar Breac, the 
 Annals of Ulster, and the various Irish lives of our saint, expressly 
 commemorate as well St. Palladius as St. Patrick, as commissioned 
 by pope Celestine to evangelize our island. 
 
 The other member of dean Murray's assertion is equally incon- 
 sistent with truth. Many foreign writers might easily be produced 
 who expressly commemorate our apostle and eulogize his labours. 
 Bede, in his Martyrology, and Alcuiu, though Saxons,f refer to 
 him as the apostle of our island. Eric of Auxerre gives full 
 details of his relations with Rome. The venerable monk of Gem- 
 blours, Sigebert, further adds : " Pope Celestine sent to the Irish 
 believing in Christ, Palladius as first bishop. After whom to the 
 same, by the same, was sent Patrick, a Briton by birth, the son of 
 Concha, sister of St. Martin of Tours ; his baptismal name was 
 Suchat, which was changed by St. Germanus into Magonicus, and 
 again into that of Patrick by pope Celestine, by whom he was 
 consecrated the archbishop of the Irish. Remarkable for his mira- 
 cles, and holiness, and preaching, during sixty years, he converted 
 the whole island of Ireland to the faith of Christ."§ Similar pas- 
 sages from Giraldus Cambrensis (whom dean Murray regards as 
 one of the first introducers of Romanism into Ireland), and John of 
 Tinmouth, may be seen in Usher, page 845. We shall merely cite 
 the words with which Ricemarch describes the mission of St. 
 Patrick to our island : — 
 
 "Patrick, skilled in the language and doctrine of Rome, accompanied 
 by a train of virtues, and consecrated bishop, set out for the country from 
 which he had fled before." 
 
 And after a little while he registers an angelic announcement 
 made to our apostle : — 
 
 * Liber Armacan, fol. 16. t Vid. sup., p. 4. 
 
 % It is curious how, even in these early centuries, the Saxon writers en- 
 tertained a jealousy of their Irish neighbours. See a remarkable example 
 in the chronicle of the eighth century, published by Card. Maij, Spicileg. 
 Roman, vol. ix. p. 120. 
 
 § Chronicon Sigeberti ad an. 431, edited by Vossius in 1627. 
 
JFORK& 
 
 MODERN TIIEORTES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 45 
 
 " The Lord lias made you ruler of the island of the Irish, which as yet 
 has not received the word of truth. To that island you are to devote 
 your labours — there has God fixed your abode ; you will there become 
 illustrious by miracles and virtues, and you will subjugate the whole 
 nation to the sweet yoke of the Gospel."* 
 
 These passages will suffice to prove how repugnant to historical 
 truth is the statement of dean Murray. He seems, indeed, to have 
 been led into error by the silence of Prosper, and Bede in his 
 Chronicle, and some other historians of Rome. For their omission 
 of an historical fact, however, they alone are responsible ; and their 
 silence cannot surely justify the sweeping assertion of the learned 
 dean. Prosper, as we have already remarked, merely commemo- 
 rates one or two distinctive facts of each successive year. The 
 connection of Palladius with Rome, and his mission, being the first 
 destined to our pagan island, justified that writer in commemo- 
 rating it in 431. When Prosper was writing in 434, perhaps the 
 intelligence had not as yet reached Rome of St. Patrick's success, 
 to justify the special commemoration in the following year. At 
 all events, the death of Celestine, and the election of Sixtus, were 
 events quite sufficient to mark the year 432. As for Bede, he 
 mentions St. Patrick in his Martyrology. In his Chronicle, how- 
 ever, which is very brief, he commemorates only such events as 
 have special reference to Britain. Fordun, in his Scoto-Chronicle, 
 acts in the same way. Speaking of the reign of the Pictish king, 
 Durst, he says : " Duriug whose reign bishop Palladius was sent by 
 pope Celestine to teach the Scotch, who, however, had long before 
 received the faith of Christ." Thus he takes the words of Prosper 
 and applies them to Scotland, and omits all mention of Ireland and 
 St. Patrick. The Irish translator of this chronicle was evidently 
 not pleased with the omission ; and in the passage just referred to, 
 omits all mention of Scotland and Palladius, substituting in its 
 stead the simple commemoration : " In the nineteenth year of his 
 reign, holy bishop Patrick arrived in Ireland."! 
 
 * Ricemarchi ap. Usser. Primord., p. 843. 
 t See Irish Nennius, I.A.S., 1848, p. 161. 
 
46 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Some opinions of Dr. Lanigan and Br. Petrie examined and refuted, 
 
 The most illustrious name on the roll of ecclesiastical historians 
 of Ireland is that of Rev. John Lanigan. His critical remarks 
 have contributed more than those of any other writer to illustrate 
 the early life of our apostle. When fixing his death, however, 
 he abandoned the straight road of facts, and wishing to establish 
 a favourite theory,* he involved in inextricable confusion the 
 missionary labours of St. Patrick. 
 
 He therefore fixes the death of our apostle in the year 465, and 
 rests this opinion on three arguments — 
 
 1. The statements of some writers who commemorate about thai 
 time the death of Sanctus Patritius senior. 
 
 2. The chronicle of Marianus Scotus, which limits our apostle's 
 preaching to forty years. 
 
 3. The Annals of Innisfallen, which place the death of St, 
 Patrick precisely in the year 465. 
 
 I. The existence of an Irish saint of the name Patrick, and 
 characteristically designated Sen-Patrick, or Patrick senior, was 
 a very problematic question in the time of Dr. Lanigan. It is 
 now, however, a matter of certainty; and the remarks of Petrief 
 have well proved that he was a native of our island, who, having been 
 for some time tutor of our apostle, had received from him in return 
 the light of faith, and proceeding to Glastonbury, was famed for 
 his virtues and miracles, and died there in 457. He is thus com- 
 memorated in the Festology of iEngus, on the 24th of August : — 
 
 " The glory of the people of Glastonbury, 
 As fame has handed down to us, 
 Is Sen- Patrick, leader of the hosts, 
 The meek tutor of our patron." 
 
 * Ecclesiastical Hist, of Ireland, vol. i. pag. 361, seqq. 
 t Essay on Tara, pag. 69- 73. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 47 
 
 The Annals of Gonnaught* expressly commemorate his death in 
 457 ; and what is more important, the annotations of Tirechan, 
 in the Book of Armagh, confirm the same date. Thus, then, 
 the "first statement which Dr. Lanigan's theory rests on, has no 
 reference to our apostle St. Patrick. 
 
 II. As regards our famous annalist Marianus, his text, as known 
 at the time of Lanigan, recorded the preaching of St. Patrick, in 
 our island, per xl. annos. So well known, however, is the inaccu- 
 racy of copyists in regard to the numerals, that this passage, un- 
 supported by other evidence, should be unhesitatingly supposed an 
 error for Ix. annos, especially as Marianus records the arrival of 
 St. Patrick in Ireland in 432, and his death in 493. The auto- 
 graph of Marianus is happily still preserved in the Vatican library, 
 and was accurately edited by German antiquarians within the past 
 few years. Now in this autograph manuscript we find written in 
 full, by Marianus' own hand, " per annos sexaginta" so that so 
 far from Marianus giving any countenance to Dr. Lanigan's theory, 
 he fully corroborates the concurrent testimony of all our annalists, 
 that our apostle terminated his earthly pilgrimage in the year 493. 
 The ancient Irish quatrain, cited under this year by Tighearnach, 
 as also by the Four Masters and other writers of our history, is 
 thus translated by Petrie : — 
 
 " From the birth of Christ, a pleasant period, 
 Four hundred above fair ninety, 
 Three noble years after that 
 To the death of Patrick, chief apostle."f 
 
 III. The third argument is equally unfounded. The Annals of 
 Innisfallen, as cited by Lanigan from Harris' MSS., recorded 
 " Quies Patricii, 16 kalendas Aprilis, anno 432, a passione Dni." 
 Whence Dr. Lanigan argued, that as our Saviour died in the year 
 33, the date assigned to St. Patrick's death in the Annals of Innis- 
 fallen corresponds to the year 465. We have seen, however, that 
 
 * ' ' Anno cccclvii. dormitatio S. Senis Patricii Episcopi G-losoniensis 
 Ecclesise." — Annals of Connaught, ap. Petrie, loc. cit. pag. 69. It is 
 curious that Usher, quoting this passage, gives the numerals ccccliv., 
 which was probably the reading of his MS. — Primord. pag. 895. 
 
 t Loc. cit. 88. 
 
48 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 the Irish annalists place the death of our Saviour in the year 31, 
 so that even admitting the accuracy of Dr. Lanigan's text, the 
 year 465 could not be proved from it. However, the ancient copy 
 of the Annals of Innisfallen, cited by Petrie, reconciles the whole 
 passage with the other authentic annals, for it prefixes the date* 
 cccclxxxxiii. ; and further adds, in the same year with the death 
 of St. Patrick, " quies Meic Cuiluid Luscai." Now, as we learn 
 from the Annals of Ulster and Tighearnach, the holy bishop of 
 Lusk, MacCullen, died about the year 495 ; hence we may con- 
 clude, that the incidental date from the death of our Lord should be 
 462, which, according to the Irish computation, coincided with the 
 year 493 of our era. 
 
 THEORY OF DR. PETRIE. 
 
 George Petrie, Esq., whose zeal in the promotion of the study 
 of our national antiquities, has elicited the applause of all lovers of 
 our literature, in one of the most remarkable of his essays,! pre- 
 sented to the public, not indeed as a matter of certainty, but rather 
 as a probable conjecture, a novel theory regarding our apostle. 
 
 Having sufficiently proved that besides the Patrick characteristi- 
 cally styled the Apostle of our island, there was another saint of 
 the same name, distinguished by the designation of Sen -Patrick, or 
 Patrick senior, who died in 457, Petrie proceeds to remark : — 
 
 1st. That the acts of these two saints have been so blended 
 together by our ancient writers, that it is no longer possible to say 
 what belongs to the apostle Patrick. 
 
 2nd. That the apostle Patrick of the Irish writers, was possibly 
 no other than the Palladius of the Eoinan authorities. 
 
 1. As regards the first point of this theory, Petrie brings forward 
 no argument to prove that the acts of the two saints Patrick were 
 actually blended together by our ancient writers. It is merely from 
 the similarity of name, he judges, that such a confusion is possible ; 
 and hence, that the reader must remain in suspense, unable to 
 
 * Conf. Petrie, loc. cit pag. 90. He prints the text, indeed, cccclxxxviii., 
 but this is evidently a copyist's mistake for cccclxxxxiii. 
 
 t "On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill," by George Petrie, 
 Esq., published from the Transactions of K. I. A., in Dublin, 1839. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 49 
 
 decide to which of the Patricks each individual fact is to be referred. 
 But let us take a somewhat similar case. It is only within the 
 past few years that the learned Dr. Reeves satisfactorily esta- 
 blished the claim of our country to number an Augustine amongst 
 its ecclesiastical writers ; and proved, moreover, that the tract 
 entitled "De Mirabilibus Sacra? Scripturae" was his production. 
 Now, would we not be deemed sceptical were we to thence conclude, 
 that the facts connected with the great Augustine's life were doubtful, 
 and that we should pause before deciding to which of the Augustines 
 each individual fact was to be referred ? 
 
 It is precisely so in the case of our own apostle. The existence 
 of fifty other Patricks could not be said to interfere with his charac- 
 teristics and historic personality, — indeed, there is scarcely an 
 historic personage on record whose' individuality can be said to be 
 more clearly defined than is that of the great St. Patrick. All the 
 ancient documents of our history agree, in assigning the apostolate 
 of our island to one who had at first been led a captive to its shores ; 
 who subsequently prepared himself for his sacred mission under the 
 guidance of St. Germanus ; who was often divinely aided in his 
 difficulties and trials by the angel-guardian of our country, St. 
 Victor; who, in 432, was commissioned to enter on his holy 
 apostolate ; who, in fine, after sixty years of unwearied toil and 
 penitential deeds, passed to an eternal reward. Surely, with such 
 characteristics emphatically assigned to him by a series of writers, 
 from the fifth century to the present time, St. Patrick's history 
 must be said to be endowed with an individuality which none can 
 controvert, and which a similarity of name can nowise destroy. It 
 is precisely to such a Patrick that all our ancient writers assign a 
 mission from the Holy See, to bear the Gospel-light to the Irish 
 shores. 
 
 2. The second part of Petrie's theory is even weaker than the 
 preceding one : and hence, though Dr. Todd, in his late work on St. 
 Patrick, eagerly adopted many of the other principles of Petrie, he, 
 nevertheless, deemed it necessary to abandon altogether this ground- 
 less hypothesis. 
 
 Indeed, the dignity enjoyed by Palladius in the Church of Rome 
 
50 MODEBN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICE. 
 
 cannot easily be reconciled with the career of our apostle, Patrick. 
 The office of deacon of Rome was second only to that of the pontiff. 
 The popes in these early ages were frequently chosen from their 
 rank, and the temporal concerns of the Holy See were all confided 
 to their care. Now, that St. Patrick occupied so influential a 
 position, was wholly unknown to his contemporary panegyrists, as 
 well as to the numerous writers of his life. 
 
 Again, it was through the influence of Palladius, that St. Celes- 
 tine sent Germanus and his companions to Britain, to root out the 
 spreading evil of Pelagianism. Now, one of the humble associates 
 of Germanus in that expedition — so humble, indeed, that all the 
 continental writers of St. Germanus' acts leave his name unregis- 
 tered in " connection with his mission to Britain — was the future 
 apostle of our island. 
 
 But it is unnecessary to pursue this line of reasoning, since all 
 our ancient writers, whilst presenting the characteristics of St. 
 Patrick, define also the distinctive features of Palladius. All of 
 them are agreed in defining with precision the year in which each 
 of these prelates received his mission from Rome : they record the 
 names of the assistants who accompanied them : they commemorate 
 the relative results of both missions ; and whilst the preaching of 
 Palladius proved unsuccessful, that of Patrick gathered the whole 
 nation into the fold of Christ : they register, in fine, how, even in 
 the sixth and seventh centuries, it had become a proverbial saying 
 in our island, that " not to Palladius, but to Patrick, was given by 
 God the apostate of the Irish." 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 51 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion, that St. Palladius was not a deacon of Rome. 
 
 The latest writer on the history of our apostle,* whilst illus- 
 trating many complicated questions connected with the early 
 centuries of the Irish Church, has given his name to some theories 
 which are repugnant to the traditions of Ireland, and are in direct 
 contradiction to the explicit testimony of the earliest and most 
 authentic of its records. We shall reduce to three heads the special 
 theory connected with St. Patrick, thus put forward by the learned 
 professor of Trinity College, Dr. James Henthorn Todd. He 
 asserts : 
 
 1. That St. Palladius was not a deacon of the Roman Church, 
 but only a deacon of the bishop of Auxerre, St. Germanus. 
 
 2. That St. Patrick did not enter on the apostolate of our 
 island earlier than the year 440 ; and 
 
 3. That, consequently, St. Patrick's mission to our island had 
 no connection with, or sanction from, the Roman pontiff, St. 
 Celestine. 
 
 Let us make a few remarks on each of these heads : 
 Petrie had referred to St. Patrick all that was usually 
 assigned to Palladius : Dr. Todd goes to the opposite extreme, 
 and assigns to Palladius all that our writers have recorded regard- 
 ing the mission of St. Patrick, and his connection with St. 
 Germanus. To prepare the way for this singular theory, Dr. 
 Toddf asserts that Palladius was not deacon of Rome, but merely 
 deacon of Germanus. " It is nowhere said," he writes, " that 
 Palladius was of Rome, or deacon of Rome, much less that he was 
 deacon to pope Celestine. All this is unauthorized assumption 
 and fancy. It seems much more natural to interpret the words 
 
 * St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, etc., by James H. Todd, D.D., 
 Dublin, 1864. 
 t Todd, p. 276. 
 
52 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 of Prosper's chronicle as signifying that Palladius was St. Ger- 
 manus's deacon." 
 
 Now, without descending to examine the laws of Latin con- 
 struction, the words of Prosper — " ad actionem Palladii diaconi, 
 papa Celestinus Germanum Antissiodorensem Episcopum vice sua 
 mittit," — have been hitherto supposed, not only by the continental 
 writers, but by Stillingfleet and Usher, and the other leaders 
 of Anglican teaching, to imply that Palladius was deacon of Rome, 
 The simple title Palladii diaconi, seems to suppose that his name 
 and office were familiar to the Romans, for whom Prosper was 
 writing. The phrase, " ad actionem Palladii," implies an influence 
 in the deacon which, as we have seen, is quite consistent with his 
 office in Rome, but which we have yet to learn would be allowed 
 by the Roman pontiff to the deacons of other churches. 
 
 But is it true that it is nowhere said that Palladius was of Pome, 
 or a deacon of Pome, much less that he was deacon to pope Celes- 
 tine ? Indeed, such an assertion might be justly characterized 
 as an unauthorized assumption and fancy. Does not the famous 
 Book of Armagh expressly style him chief deacon of pope Celes- 
 tine — for it is thus Dr. Todd himself teaches us to translate 
 archidiaconus, archiepiscopus, and similar words in the ancient 
 monuments of our Church ?* We have already given the long 
 extract from the life of St. Patrick, by Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni,f 
 and Dr. Todd gives the same passage at page 288 ; it is given by 
 Petrie in Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xviii. part 
 2nd, p. 84 ; and it is found in the Liber Armacanus, fol. 2. J But 
 it seems strange, indeed, that Dr. Todd, when translating that 
 passage of our early writer, merely says : " Palladius was ordained 
 and sent," etc.,§ and omits the phrase which would alone suffice to 
 falsify his subsequent assertion: "Palladius, chief deacon of pope 
 
 * Page 14, seqq. t Chap. i. pag. 15. 
 
 X The following is the original passage from this monument of our 
 early Church: "Certe enim erat quod Palladius archidiaconus papse 
 Ccelestini, urbis Romte episcopi, qui tunc tenebat Sedem Apostolicam 
 quadragesimus quiutus a sancto Petro Apostolo, ille Palladius ordi- 
 natus et missus fuerat ad hanc insulam sub brumali rigore positam 
 convertendam," etc.— Lib. Armac. fol. 2. 
 
 § Page 2S8. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. , 53 
 
 Celestine^ bishop of the city of Home." Nor is the Book of Armagh 
 the only monument that expressly describes Palladius as deacon of 
 Rome. The Vita Secunda, in a passage which Dr. Todd himself 
 judges "probably not later than the eighth century,"* but which, 
 as we have remarked above,f might be well referred to the seventh 
 century, not only speaks of Palladius archidiacoiws being sent by 
 pope Celestine, I but further expressly writes :§ 
 
 "For pope Celestiue ordained bishop the chief deacon of the Roman 
 Church, named Palladius, and sent him into the island of Hibernia."|| 
 
 Again, does not the very ancient life referred to St. Aileran 
 expressly state : " Palladius, chief deacon of pope Celestiue was 
 ordained by that pope, and sent to preach the faith in Ireland " ?^[ 
 and, to omit other authorities, does not Probus, in express terms, 
 style Palladius the deacon of pope Celestine^' and commemorate his 
 ordination by that pontiff, and his mission to our island ? 
 
 Dr. Todd,ff to render plausible his opinion in regard to Palladius 
 being deacon of Germanus, refers to Bingham as illustrating how, 
 according to the usages of that age, it is precisely his deacon that 
 St. Germanus would send to negotiate with pope Celestine, and 
 further adds, that the Palladian family had some members in 
 France, and gave two archbishops to Bourges — one in the year 
 o77, the other in 472. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, for Todd's theory, no historian records 
 a negotiation of Germanus with St. Celestine ; but they speak 
 rather of a commission sent by pope Celestine to Germanus.Jt 
 
 As regards the Palladian family, it was easy for Dr. Todd to 
 find a few of them in Gaul. "We find a Pcilladius, too, in Constan- 
 
 * Page 293. t Chap. i. pag. 7- X Chap, xxiii. § Chap. xxiv. 
 
 || Ap. Colgan, Tr. Th. p. 13. \ Ibid, p. 38. 
 
 ** " Necdum tamen vir Dei Patricius ad Pontificalem gradmn fuerat 
 promotns ; quod ideo nimirum distnlerat qnia sciebat qnod Palladius 
 archidiaconus Coelestini qni qnadragesinms quintus a S. Petro Apostolicae 
 Sedi prseerat, " etc. — Probus, cap. xxiv. loc. cit. p. 48. 
 
 ft Pages 277 and 279. 
 
 XX Wishing to avoid all incidental questions, we make no remark on the 
 statement of Dr. Todd that Germanus' deacon would be the proper officer 
 to carry on this negotiation. Bingham has not one word that justifies 
 this assertion. 
 
54 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 tinople, and we have still preserved the letter addressed to him by 
 St. Gregory Nazianzen ; and we find a Palladius in Africa, whose 
 relations with St. Austin are well known to the students of eccle- 
 siastical history. Even were our Palladius born in Gaul, it would 
 not affect his high dignity in the Roman Church. St. Laurence, 
 though a Spaniard, became the deacon of pope Sixtus ; and we 
 find a Dalmatian signing the letter to Tomian, archbishop of 
 Armagh, as " John, the deacon of the Roman Church." 
 
 Rome, however, was the centre from which all the Palladii 
 went ; and to mention merely a few coincidences with the Palladius 
 of whom we speak, it is a singular fact, that in the very year 431, 
 in which Palladius was sent by the pope as bishop to Ireland, 
 another Palladius, holding high dignity in the imperial household, 
 was sent by the emperors Theodosius the younger and Valen- 
 tinian as bearer of their letters to the Council of Ephesus.* It is 
 also a curious coincidence, that whilst the deacon Palladius was 
 urging on pope Celestine to root out Pelagianism from Britain, 
 there should be a Palladius commissioned by the emperors, then 
 living at Ravenna, first to expel from Rome all infected with that 
 heresy, and then to punish them with rigor in any other place 
 wheresoever they might be found — " quibuscumque locis potuerint 
 rursus reperiri.f The edict, promulgated in Rome by this Pala- 
 dius, prefect of the Pretorium, and directed, " in Pelagium atque 
 Cselestium Catholici dogmatis fidem saevis tractatibus destruentes," 
 is still happily preserved.! Even in the ecclesiastical world of 
 Rome, the name Palladius was not unknown ; and in a fragmen- 
 tary inscription from the Catacombs, of about the year 400, there 
 is registered a Palladius exorcista as then belonging to the Roman 
 Church.§ 
 
 * " Corpus legum ab Irnperatoribus Rornanis ante Iustinianum latarum," 
 by Gustavus Haenel, Leipsic, 1857. The origiual letter of the emperors 
 with the title Missce per Palladium magisterianum, is given, p. 246. 
 
 t Ibid, pag. 238. 
 
 X Haeuel, loc. cit. pag. 239. 
 
 § I am indebted for this interesting fact to the distinguished archaeolo- 
 gist, Chevalier Giov. Batt. de Rossi, whose name is well known to the 
 English visitors of Rome. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion, that St. Patrick did not commence his apostolate 
 until 440, examined. 
 
 The main point, however, of Dr. Todd's theory is, that St. 
 Patrick did not begin his apostolate in Ireland till the year 440. 
 We shall consider in order the arguments with which he seeks to 
 establish this novel opinion. 
 
 First Argument. — In the epistle to Coroticus, which Dr. Todd 
 ably proves to be a genuine production of our saint, and which 
 must have been written between the years 480 and 490, St. 
 Patrick states that he sends it to Coroticus " by a venerable priest 
 whom he himself had instructed from infancy." From this passage 
 Dr. Todd thus argues — " If he had brought up from infancy one 
 who was then a priest, and fit to be put at the head of a delicate 
 mission, we cannot assign less than 30 or 40 years to his previous 
 episcopal labours. Therefore, taking some year between 480 and 
 4^0 as the approximate date of the epistle, we may assume 440 to 
 450, or, at latest, 460, as the limits within which must be found 
 the year of the consecration of St. Patrick, and of his arrival as a 
 missionary in Ireland."* Now, with Dr. Todd's kind leave, we 
 must say that this argument is quite illogical. There is nothing 
 in this passage or elsewhere to indicate that this " venerable priest" 
 was baptized in the first year of St. Patrick's episcopate. Let us 
 suppose, then, that our apostle administered to him the sacrament 
 of regeneration in the year 450, why are we to assert that the year 
 450 was the first year of his apostolate ? If St. Patrick came to 
 Ireland in 432, might he not have baptized this holy man in the 
 year 450, and hence is not the old chronology of St. Patrick's life 
 quite consistent with this record of the letter to Coroticus ? But 
 we may say still more : this statement of our apostle, in his letter 
 to Coroticus, is an additional proof to corroborate the long-cherished 
 
 * Dr. Todd, St. Patrick, pag. 392. 
 
56 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING ST. PATRICK. 
 
 tradition of our island in regard to his missionary career. For if 
 this letter was sent to Coroticus between the years 480 and 490, 
 through one who was baptized by St. Patrick, and having, in after 
 years, been ordained, had grown old in the sacred ministry, 
 we must surely say that his baptism cannot be referred to a much 
 later period than 433, and hence that so far from establishing Dr. 
 Todd's theory, it corroborates more and more the unanimous attes- 
 tations of our writers, that for sixty years St. Patrick preached 
 the Gospel truths in our island. We have already cited many 
 passages of the ancient writers, who expressly fix this period as 
 the term of his apostolate. Thus Fiacc, in his hymn, relates : 
 
 " He preached for three score years 
 The crucifixion of Christ to the tribes of the Feni."* 
 
 And, as we have mentioned in a preceding chapter, (p. 26) the 
 Leabhar Breac cites this verse of Fiacc as proving that "for sixty 
 years he preached and baptized the men of Ireland." We have 
 also cited the ancient annalists (p. 31). who, whilst recording the 
 death of our apostle in 493, without a dissentient voice, register his 
 mission to Ireland in the year 432. 
 
 Second Argument. — Dr. Todd next argues from the Irish version 
 of Nennius, a work which, in the preface to the edition of the I. A. S., 
 iu 1848, is referred to the year 1050, — a rather late date, indeed, 
 to upset the unanimous assertion of the ancient monuments of our 
 country. This Irish Nennius, at page 107 (edition of I. A. S.), 
 after mentioning the return of St. Germanus from Britain, adds: — 
 
 "At this time Patrick was in captivity in Erin, with Milchu, and it 
 was at this time that Palladius was sent to Erin to preach to them. 
 Patrick went to the south to study, and he read the canons with Germanus. 
 Palladius was driven from Erin, and he went and served God in Fordun 
 in Mairne. Patrick came to Erin after studying, and baptized the men 
 of Erin." 
 
 Now Dr. Todd argues from this passage that " when Palladius 
 was sent to Ireland, Patrick was a captive with Milchu in Dala- 
 radia," whence it would necessarily follow, that as Palladius came 
 * Ap Colgan, pag. 1, and Petrie, Tara, pag. 75. 
 

 
 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 57 
 
 to Ireland in 431, St. Patrick could not have been sent as our 
 apostle in the following year.* 
 
 Now if the learned doctor insists on the phrase at this time being 
 taken in a strict sense, it would follow that his own theory is 
 equally false with that of the other Irish writers ; for as St. Patrick 
 tells us, in his Confession, that he was forty-five years of age when he 
 received episcopal consecration, and as he was only in his twenty- 
 second yearf when he was freed from captivity, it would follow from 
 Dr. Todd's statement, that our apostle did not receive his mission till 
 about the year 455, that is to say, fifteen years after the date 
 assigned to it by Dr. Todd himself. However, the Irish phrase, 
 at this time, is often used in a mere transition sense, and has its 
 reference only to the chief subject of the subsequent narrative. 
 For instance, in the Book of Lecan we read : — 
 
 "It was at this time of king Lughaidh that Patrick came to Ireland, 
 and he went to Tara, where Lughaidh was, and offered him wheat without 
 tillage, constant milk with kine during his life, and heaven at the end 
 of his life, etc. ; and because Lughaidh did not assent to that, Patrick 
 cursed him," etc. J 
 
 Now as Lughaidh did not ascend the throne till the year 479, 
 we should, according to Dr. Todd's theory, conclude that St. Patrick 
 did not arrive in our island till after that year. It is manifest, 
 however, that the words, at this time, only refer to the main subject 
 of the following context, that is, to the cursing of king Lughaidh 
 by our apostle. Applying this rule to the passage above cited 
 from the Irish Nennius, it results, that at this time, that is, when 
 Germanus had returned from Britain, " St. Patrick was destined 
 to Ireland," — a statement which sufficiently refutes Dr. Todd's 
 theory, and corroborates the ancient tradition of our island. 
 
 We are the more obliged to adopt this interpretation in the 
 present instance, as this same Irish Nennius, in another passage, 
 expressly mentions the year of St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland. 
 When giving the chronology of the Pictish kings, it states that 
 
 * Todd, pag. 394. 
 
 t For both these statements, see Todd, pag. 392 and 394. 
 
 % See the original Irish text in Petrie's Tara, pag. 63. 
 
58 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 " in the nineteenth year of king Drust, Patrick, the holy bishop, 
 arrived in Ireland,"* which year, according to the Scotch writers, 
 would coincide with 433 of our era. They place the commence- 
 ment of his reign in a.d. 414.f 
 
 Third Argument. — There is a curious tract on the Synchronisms 
 of the Irish Kings, which, " in an extract quoted by Usher and 
 O'Flaherty, tells us that the battle of Ocha, in which king Oilioll 
 Molt was slain, happened exactly xliii. years after the coming of 
 Patrick to Ireland."^' Eesting on this principle, Dr. Todd thus 
 argues : " The battle of Ocha, according to the Annals of Ulster, 
 was fought a.d. 482 or 483 ; and therefore counting 43 years back, 
 a.d. 439 or 440, would be the date of Patrick's coming." § 
 
 The authority of this writer on the synchronisms of our kings is 
 not well defined: Usher only styles him non novitias author; 
 whilst O'Flaherty expressly accuses him of inaccuracy, even in the 
 very passage to which Dr. Todd refers. We shall therefore be 
 very brief in our remarks on this argument. 
 
 In the first place, the battle of Ocha is commonly placed in the 
 year 478. Curry, in his Lectures, publishing some very ancient 
 poems on this battle, always refers it to this year.|| It is to the 
 year 478 that it is also referred in the Annals of the Four Masters, 
 in which we read " a.d. 478, Oilioll Molt, the son of Dathi, after 
 having been twenty years on the throne of Ireland, was slain in the 
 battle of Ocha."i[ The Chronicon Scotorum places the beginning 
 of his successor's reign in 480. 
 
 But the numerals of the original text, which, as given by Dr. 
 Todd, are written xliii., are a still weaker point in his argument. 
 The learned writer, in the very next page, gives us an example of 
 how easily the ancient v (which in the Irish MSS. is written like 
 the modern u) is confounded with ii.** Another precisely similar 
 case is given by Dr. Todd, in his translation of the Irish Nennius, 
 for the I. A. S. pag., 160, in which the original iv. was mis- 
 written iii. 
 k Now, applying these simple data to the text of the above -cited 
 
 * Edition of [. A. S. page 161. f Ibid, appendix, pagexlvii. 
 
 t Todd, page 394. § Ibid. 395. || Page 482, seqq. 
 
 1 Edit, of O'Donovan, ad an. 478. ** Page 395, note i. r ~ 
 
 <i^ «.,/.„~ lU '^ "s^h^lAlc &fe (r^-f/afC^^ f. 3f. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 59 
 
 Irish tract, we have the battle of Ocha fought in 478 ; and deduct- 
 ing the period of xlvi years, which intervened since the mission of 
 St. Patrick, we have the date of this latter event once more accu- 
 rately assigned to the year 432. 
 
 We must, however, make one further remark. Dr. Todd rests 
 this argument on the date assigned to the battle of Ocha in the 
 Annals of Ulster. And why then does he reject the clear state- 
 ment which these same annals place as the starting point of all 
 their chronology ? 
 
 " Anno ccccxxxii. Patricias per- " In the year 432 St. Patrick ar- 
 
 venit in Hiberniam, ix. anno Theo- rived in Ireland, in the ninth year 
 
 dosii junioris, primo anno episco- of Theodosius the younger, and the 
 
 patus Sixti."* first of the popedom of St. Sixtus." 
 
 The Fourth Argument is taken from the following record of 
 Tirechan, preserved in the Book of Armagh: — 
 
 "From the passion of Christ to the death of Patrick, are in all 
 ccccxxxvi. years. But Leoghaire reigned two or five years after the 
 death of Patrick, and the total duration of his reign was, in our opinion, 
 thirty- six years." 
 
 From this passage, Dr. Todd argues that St. Patrick's death is 
 recorded in the year 469 from the nativity of our Lord : whilst 
 the beginning of king Leoghaire's reign is marked in 438. As, 
 therefore, it was in the fourth year of this king's reign that St. 
 Patrick came to evangelize our island, he surely cannot have come 
 till many years after the death of St. Celestine. 
 
 It is certainly too bad for Dr. Todd to appeal to the authority 
 of Tirechan, as supporting his novel theory in regard to the date of 
 St. Patrick's mission to Ireland ; for, Tirechan in a passage already 
 quoted (p. 25) from the Book of Armagh, expressly records, that 
 "In the thirteenth year of the emperor Theodosius, Patrick was sent 
 by bishop Celestine, the pope of Rome, as bishop, to preach to the 
 Irish:" and lest there should be any mistake as to the Patrick of 
 whom he speaks, he adds, that this Patrick was sent by the angel 
 of God, Victor, and by pope Celestine, and all Ireland received his 
 
 * Ap Petrie, Tara, pag. 82. 
 
60 
 
 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 teaching," etc.* Here, St. Tirechan clearly states his opinion, and 
 no vague calculations are required to conclude that St. Celestine 
 commissioned our apostle to evangelize our island. 
 
 Let us, however, suppose Dr. Todd's calculations to be accurate. 
 In the second argument, already produced, he asserts, that in 431 
 St. Patrick could not be more than twenty-two years of age. The 
 Confession, however, of our apostle, clearly asserts that he was 
 forty-five years old at the time of his consecration :f therefore, this 
 consecration must be referred to the year 454. And, if St. 
 Patrick died in the year 469, what then becomes of the venerabilis 
 senex of Dr. Todd's first argument ? And will Dr. Todd assign the 
 year 454 as the fourth year of Leoghaire's reign ? If so, since he 
 reigned, according to the above passage, thirty-six years, he must 
 have lived till 486 : and how then could his successor, Oilioll Molt, 
 after reigning twenty years, be killed in 482, as Dr. Todd affirms 
 in the third argument ? 
 
 But, to seriously examine the meaning of the passage cited above 
 from Tirechan, we must remark with Petrie, that it refers, not to 
 the death of our apostle, but to Sen-Patrick, who, as we have seen 
 (p. 4), died in 457, and our annals are at present found to vary as 
 they did in Tirechan's time ; some assigning the death of Leoghaire 
 to the year 458 or 459, some to the year 463.J Now, taking this 
 last date as the one referred to by Tirechan, who precisely agrees 
 with those annalists in marking thirty-six years for Leoghaire's 
 reign, we should place the beginning of his reign in 428; and 
 thus, in 432, St. Patrick might well be destined to our island by 
 pope Celestine, as Tirechan expressly asserts, and both passages 
 are found to proceed in harmony. 
 
 From this we should conclude that the date ccccxxxvi., in the 
 passage above cited, was a mere error of the copyist for ccccxxvi. 
 The Irish writers assigned the passion of our blessed Lord to the 
 year thirty-one of our era, as a passage from the Leabhar Breac, 
 given by Petrie, § clearly proves: and hence, the year 426 from 
 
 * Book of Armagh, fol. 16 ; ap Petrie, Tara, pag. 85. 
 + Todd, pag. 392. % Petrie, Tara, pag. 28. 
 
 Tara, pag. 78-80. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 61 
 
 the passion, would be the year 457 of our era, the precise date of 
 the death of St. Sen-Patrick. 
 
 Fifth Argument. — The next argument of Dr. Todd is taken 
 from an Irish bard of the eleventh century, named Gilla-Caemhain, 
 whose testimony " supplies abundant evidence of the existence of 
 a chronology inconsistent with the mission from Celestine."* This 
 abundant evidence, however, is reduced to the simple fact, that 
 having linked together several events between the arrival of St. 
 Patrick and the death of St. Gregory, and marked out the respec- 
 tive number of years that intervened ; it would appear from the 
 sum of these intervals, that the " writer counts 162 years from the 
 advent of St. Patrick to the death of pope Gregory the Great. 
 Gregory the Great, as is well known, died March 12th, 604;]- 
 therefore, the advent of Patrick, according to Gilla-Caemhain, must 
 be dated 442."{ 
 
 It is painful to be obliged to characterize so repeatedly this 
 learned professor's arguments as illogical. In order that the 
 present argument might be of any force, Dr. Todd should have 
 informed his readers to what year the Irish bard referred the death 
 of St. Gregory. It is certain that our Irish writers were often 
 inexact in marking continental events. For instance, in the 
 Leabhar Breac, there is a similar series of events linked together 
 to mark the arrival of St. Patrick in Ireland. Its last link is : — 
 
 " Ten years from the death of Augustine until Palladius was sent by 
 pope Celestine."§ 
 
 At the same time the writer*»marks this latter year expressly as 
 the 431st of our era, and the last of Celestine's pontificate. As, 
 therefore, we are in this case obliged to assert, either that the 
 copyists tampered with the dates, or that the writer erred in 
 regard to St. Augustine's death (for its true date is 430), so we 
 might, perhaps, without further investigation conclude, that some 
 similar accident led to the defective chronology of our bard. 
 
 * Page 396. 
 
 t Dr. Todd himself, however, p. 302, had already referred this pontiffs 
 death to a.d. 6U2. 
 
 % Page 396. § Ap. Petrie, Tara, p. 79. *4». 7^./.^ Lf*. {r0.s/<r<U 
 
62 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 The reader will the more readily adopt this conclusion when he 
 reflects that one, at least, of the links in this chronological series 
 of our bard is plainly defective : " from the death (he says) of 
 king Diarmait MacCarroll, to the death of pope Gregory, are 
 thirty-three years." Now the death of king Diarmait, as regis- 
 tered in the Irish annals, must be referred to about the year 560. 
 It is an important era, as it marks the abandonment of the royal 
 abode of Tara. According to the Four Masters, Diarmait ascended 
 the throne in 539 ; and all the ancient records, including the very 
 poem we are speaking of, limit his reign to twenty-one years. 
 The latest year assigned to his death is 465 ; and hence the inter- 
 val of thirty-three years between his death and that of St. Gregory 
 is manifestly erroneous. 
 
 We shall ask, however, why does not Dr. Todd admonish his 
 readers, that in this very passage of the Irish bard which he refers 
 to, an interval of 129 years is assigned from the arrival of St. 
 Patrick to the death of king Diarmait ? And as it is only a desire 
 to discover truth that guides his inquiry, why does he not acknow- 
 ledge, that such an interval is quite consistent with the arrival of 
 St. Patrick in Ireland in the year 432 ? For if we place king 
 Diarmait's accession to the throne in 539, as it is marked by the 
 Annals of the Four Masters, whose date is adopted by Colgan* and 
 many others, it will follow that 560 was the year of his death, with 
 which date may easily be reconciled, without any special chronolo- 
 gical acumen, the date 432, and the intervening period of 129 years. 
 
 We shall conclude by remarking, that Dr. Todd is rather unfortu- 
 nate in the witnesses which he brings forward to show that St. 
 Patrick's arrival in our island did not take place in 432 : instead of 
 rejecting, they are all found to corroborate, more and more, that pre- 
 cise date. Even the bard Gilla-Caemhain, in the passage produced 
 by Dr. Todd, is far from impugning it ; whilst, as we learn from the 
 Transactions of the Iberno-Celtic Society for 1820, p. 80, this same 
 poet and historian in another work, which commences " Noble Erin, 
 island of kings," and of which copies are extant in the Books of 
 Ballymote and Lecan, " gives the names of the monarchs, and the 
 * Tr. Thaum. p. G. 
 
MODERN TIIEORTES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 63 
 
 number of years that each reigned, until the coming of St. Patrick, 
 in the reign of Leoghaire, a.d. 432." 
 
 Sixth Argument. — The last argument produced by Dr. Todd is 
 taken from a chronological tract preserved in the book of Lecan, 
 which says, that " Leoghaire reigned thirty years, and his succes- 
 sor, Oilioll Molt, twenty." This latter king was killed, according 
 to the Annals of Ulster, in 482 ; therefore, 432 was only the first 
 year of Leoghaire's reign.* 
 
 Here Dr. Todd's argument is once more based on the Ulster 
 Annals, which refer the death of Oilioll Molt to 482. We have 
 already remarked, in examining his third argument, that some of 
 our annalists refer that event to 478, and that it is inconsistent in 
 the learned writer to cull one incidental date from these Annals of 
 Ulster, whilst he rejects their express statement regarding the year 
 432, which is the fundamental date of all their chronology, and in 
 which they mark the arrival of St. Patrick in our island. The 
 same Annals of Ulster thus register St. Patrick's death in 492: 
 " Patricius Archipostolus Scotorum quievit, sexagesimo anno ex 
 quo venit ad Hiberniam ad baptizandos Scotos." 
 
 As regards the passage from the chronological tract here referred 
 to by Dr. Todd, its literal translation is as follows : — 
 
 " Now Leoghaire, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, held the kingdom 
 for thirty years after the arrival of Patrick did he retain the kingdom." 
 
 Dr. Todd arbitrarily puts a stop, and divides this passage after 
 the word years, although even as the subsequent words, so is the 
 corresponding preceding word annis written in Latin. 
 
 Petrie cites this very same passage from the same MS. Book of 
 Lecan, and translates it as stating that ''Leoghaire held the govern- 
 ment thirty years after the arrival of Patrick." 
 
 O'Flaherty, in his Ogygia, p. 429, states that in his MS. of the 
 Book of Lecan, the whole sentence was distinctly expressed in 
 Latin — triginta annis regnum Hibernian post adventum Patritii 
 tennit. 
 
 What, however, removes all difficulty, and sets at rest for ever 
 
 * Pp. 396-7. t Tara, p. 63. 
 
64 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 all doubt as to the meaning of this chronological tract, is the 
 discovery made by Dr. Todd himself, that it is nothing more than 
 " an enlarged copy of the older form of the same tract in the 
 Book of Leinster."* Now, in the Book of Leinster this tract ex- 
 pressly states that Leoghaire, son of Niall, " triginta annos regnum 
 Hibemice post adventum Patricii tennit."f Thus, then, so far from 
 this chronological tract being an argument to reject the usually 
 received date of St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland, it only serves to 
 corroborate it more and more, and to explain the origin of the 
 various dates assigned for the death of Leoghaire. The date of 
 St. Patrick's arrival was the fixed point on which all were agreed ; 
 the beginning of Leoghaire's reign, in 428-9, was also a point 
 which involved no controversy. The records, however, of the 
 length of Leoghaire's reign were found to be ambiguous : some 
 assigning thirty years for the whole duration of his reign, and 
 hence placing his death in 458 ; others reckoning thirty years 
 from the arrival of our apostle, and hence registering Leoghaire's 
 death in 462. And thus, every record and tradition of our island 
 combines in perfect harmony with the one great central point of 
 all our civil and religious history — the arrival of St. Patrick in 
 our island in the year 432. 
 
 Were we examining the opinions of another author, we should 
 not have wasted so much time in refuting such trivial arguments. 
 From the fact of so able a writer as Dr. Todd having been obliged 
 to take hold of them, and rest on them his favourite theory, 
 the reader may easily conclude what little solidity that theory 
 possesses. It has not even the merit of novelty : for Tiliemont 
 already put forward the conjecture that St. Patrick did not come 
 to Ireland till 440.J Tiliemont, however, knew nothing of the 
 ancient records of our island, and was, therefore, excusable. 
 
 This date (432) of our apostle's arrival is the one chief point 
 on which all our annalists and writers are found to agree. 
 
 It is expressly assigned by the Chronicon Scotorum, the Annals 
 of Ulster, of Innisfallen, of the Four Masters, of Marianus, etc. 
 
 * Ibid. p. 396, note 3. f Ap. Todd, ibid. p. 184. 
 
 X Memoires, etc., xvi. p. 784. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 65 
 
 It is assigned by the most authentic of our records in the Book 
 of Armagh ; it is confirmed by all the writers of our apostle's 
 life, who refer his mission to the last year of St. Celestine, or to 
 the first yeiir of his successor Sixtus ; for Celestine died in 432, 
 and Sixtus was chosen his successor in the summer of the same 
 year. Indeed, so universal is the testimony of our writers on 
 this head, that Colgan, when minutely discussing each particular 
 of St. Patrick's history, deemed it unnecessary to cite any docu- 
 ments in proof of it : " hax sententia vicletur tarn indubitata et 
 tarn recepta, ut pro ea non judicaverim operas prastium esse pro- 
 ducere testimonial* Usher repeats the same : " There is no 
 discrepancy," he says, " amongst Irish writers as to the year 
 of St. Patrick's mission into Ireland ;"f and Dr. Lanigan was 
 able, even in his day, to conclude that " it would be a waste of 
 time to adduce proofs of this being the true date."! And yet 
 it was since Lanigan wrote that Tirechan's authority became 
 known, confirming the same date — that the life in the Leabhar 
 Breac was found to expressly record our apostle's mission in the 
 year of the Christian era 432, "the ninth year of Theodosius, king 
 of the world, the first year of the episcopacy of Sixtus, coarh of 
 Peter, and the fourth year of the reign of Leoghaire ;" and subse- 
 quently it adds, that Patrick came to Ireland in the year after 
 Palladius: " JEtius and Valerius were the two consuls of that 
 year; it ivas in this year Xystus assumed the supremacy of Rome 
 after Celestine. This was the fourth year of the reign of Leoghaire" 
 Two ancient treatises on the Brehon laws were also brought to 
 light, giving their testimony to confirm the same statement ; one 
 of them, alluding to the compilation of the Seanchus Mor, in 438, 
 supposes that even then " the purity of the faith was acknowledged 
 by the men of Ireland, and the Gospel of Christ was preached to 
 them all." The other still more expressly cites an ancient pro- 
 verbial quatrain : 
 
 " Patrick baptized with glory, 
 In the time of Theodosius ; 
 He preached the Gospel, without falsehood, 
 To the worthy people of the sons of Mile' ;" 
 
 * Tr. Thauniat. p. 254. f Prirnordia, p. 880. % Eccl. Hist. i. 209. 
 
60 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 and a little lower down records " the coming of Patrick into Ire- 
 land to propagate baptism and faith, in the ninth year of the reign 
 of Theodosius, and in the fourth year of Leoghaire, son of Niall, 
 monarch of Ireland."* Hence, even Dr. Petrie, after all the 
 progress made during late years in exploring our early monu- 
 ments, was able to assert that the year 432 " is the year in 
 which, according to all authorities, St. Patrick came to Ireland."f 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion, that St. Patrick received no mission from Rome, 
 examined and refuted. — It rests almost entirely on negative argu- 
 ments ; whilst the mission of our apostle from Rome is confirmed by 
 positive evidence of the greatest weight. 
 
 The third point of Dr. Todd's theory rested mainly for its sup- 
 port on the supposition that St. Patrick had not set out for our 
 island till 440. From such a principle it would, indeed, be a very 
 natural deduction, that his mission to Ireland had no connexion 
 with the Roman pontiff, pope Celestine, who, in 432, had passed to 
 a better life. This foundation, however, being removed, the 
 assertion of Dr. Todd, that our apostle had no mission from St. 
 Celestine, and had not prepared himself for his future apostolate 
 under the guidance of St. Germanus, will be found to rest on very 
 weak arguments for its support. 
 
 We have seenj the direct evidence which proves beyond all 
 possibility of doubt the two-fold fact, of the mission of St. Patrick 
 from Rome, and his preparation for the sacred ministry in the 
 school of Germanus. Every monument of our early Church con- 
 nected with the life of St. Patrick, serves to illustrate one or other 
 of these main principles of his missionary career. Now, to all this 
 positive evidence, Dr. Todd has merely to oppose the silence of 
 four ancient documents, viz: the Confession of St. Patrick, the 
 Hymn of St. Sechnall, the Hymn of Fiacc, and the Memoir of our 
 
 * See Petrie, Ibid, page 48 and 52-3. f Essay on Tara, page 75. 
 
 X Part. 1, c. iii. p. 12, and iv. p. 22. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. fi7 
 
 Saint, by Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni. We shall briefly examine 
 whether these documents justify the conclusion which the learned 
 author would fain deduce from them. 
 
 The Confession of St. Patrick was written towards the close of 
 his apostolate, when the whole nation had been illumined with the 
 light of faith, and many of its inhabitants were to be found aspir- 
 ing to the highest degrees of religious perfection. His object in 
 writing' it was to proclaim to the world the mercies of God, shown 
 to himself and the Irish people, that thus the faith of his spiritual 
 children might be strengthened, and those who had upbraided him 
 with rashly assuming such a spiritual charge, be persuaded that he 
 was divinely guided to bend his shoulders to that spiritual burden : 
 it thus begins: 
 
 "I, Patrick, a sinner, the rudest and least of all the faithful, and the 
 most despicable amongst men, had for my father, Calphurnius, a deacon, 
 son of the late presbyter Potitus ; he was of the town Bonavem Taberniae, 
 and he had a farm in the neighbourhood where I was made captive, when I 
 was nearly sixteen years old. I knew not the true God, and 1 was carried in 
 captivity into Ireland with a multitude of men, according to our deserts ; 
 for we had withdrawn ourselves from God, and had not kept his com- 
 mandments, and were not obedient to our priests, who used to admonish 
 us for our salvation. And the Lord brought upon us the wrath of his 
 displeasure, and scattered us among many nations, even unto this extre- 
 mity of the world, where at present my unworthiness is seen to abide 
 amidst strangers. And there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief, 
 that even late I should remember my sins and be converted with my whole 
 heart unto the Lord my God, who had regard unto my lowliness, and had 
 compassion on my youth and ignorance, and preserved me before I knew 
 Him, and before I could distinguish between good and evil, and pro- 
 tected me, and comforted me as a father would a son. Wherefore, I am 
 not able, neither woidd it be right, to be silent regarding such great benefits 
 and such great grace, which hath been vouchsafed unto me, in this country 
 of my captivity ; for this is our return to Him, that on being corrected and 
 brought to know God, we should exalt and confess His wondrous works, 
 before every nation which is under the whole heaven." 
 
 He then makes a short profession of his faith in the most ador- 
 able Trinity, and adds : 
 
 " Wherefore, I thought of writing long ago, but hesitated until now for 
 I was afraid of incurring the censure of men ; because I have not read 
 like others who have been well imbued with sacred learning, and have 
 
()8 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 never abandoned their studies from infancy, but have ever added more 
 and more to their perfection ; but my speech and language have been ex- 
 changed for another tongue." 
 
 Thus he continues repeatedly acknowledging his own lowliness, 
 and the debt of gratitude which he owed to God ; and he concludes 
 the first chapter: 
 
 " Be astounded all ye who are great, as well as ye who are small : ye 
 learned ones who fear the Lord, and ye who are ignorant of the Lord, 
 attend and examine who it was that selected me, a fool, from the midst 
 of those who are wise and eloquent, and skilled in all things : and He 
 indeed inspired me above others, though the most despicable of all others in 
 this world. But it matters little that I be such, so as with humility and 
 respect, and without reproach, I may faithfully benefit that people whom 
 the charity of Christ bestowed upon me, even with my life, should I be 
 found worthy to have that grace accorded me, and thus humbly and truly 
 serve Him according to my ability." 
 
 Such are the sentiments which everywhere pervade this treatise 
 of our apostle. In the subsequent chapters, only such facts are 
 commemorated as reveal a special divine interposition in his 
 favor : his being freed from captivity — the angelic visions which 
 admonished him to undertake the Irish mission, — the divine fruit- 
 fulness which blessed his apostolate. In fine, he concludes the 
 whole Confession with these words: — 
 
 " Behold, once again I briefly repeat the words of my confession, and I 
 attest in truth and with joy, before God and His holy angels, that I never 
 had any inducement except the Gospel and its promises, to return back 
 to the nation from which I fled before. But I pray those who believe 
 and seek and fear God, whosoever may condescend to look into, or receive 
 this writing, which Patrick the sinner, although unlearned, wrote in Ire- 
 land, that what little soever I may have done or administered, may not 
 be referred to me, but be ye persuaded, and verily believe, that it was the 
 gift of God. This is my confession before I die." 
 
 The reader will probably ere this have asked, how can Dr. Todd 
 have argued from the mere silence of such a spiritual treatise, that 
 St. Patrick had no mission from Rome, and that his education by 
 Germ anus had no foundation as an historic truth ? The following 
 is the argument of the learned author : — 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. C9 
 
 " One object of the writer of the Confession was to clef end himself from 
 
 the charge of presumption Had he received a regular commission 
 
 from the see of Rome, that fact alone would have been an unanswerable 
 reply."— (p. 310.) 
 
 This argument, however, displays more ingenuity than solidity* 
 Were St. Patrick accused of presuming to set out uncommis- 
 sioned, and of his own accord, for the Irish mission, his appeal 
 to Rome would have been unanswerable. But there is no indica- 
 tion, nor even hint, that any such accusation was made against 
 him. The temerity of which he was accused, was merely that one 
 so poor and lowly and ignorant, should have accepted such an 
 onerous mission. His mission from Rome was a matter of course : 
 and as St. Patrick does not commemorate his baptism, or his con- 
 secration as bishop, so neither does he deem it necessary to com- 
 memorate his mission from pope Celestine. His predecessor 
 Palladius had received a similar mission, and though learned and 
 high in position and authority, had failed. How was it that 
 Patrick, without learning or any other temporal influence, could, 
 without temerity, have accepted the same mission? Such, and such 
 alone, was the accusation to which our apostle replies. His reply 
 is one that would have been worthy of the apostle of nations : ho 
 acknowledges his earthly lowliness ; the phrases by which he de- 
 signates himself are parvitas meet, pusillitas meet, ignorantia meet. 
 He dilates on his unworthiness, his ignorance, the sinfulness of 
 his early life. But it pleased God, he adds, to magnify his power, 
 by bestowing his mercies on the most despicable of all, — to make 
 known to me his having chosen me for this apostolate, — and to 
 sanction my mission, by giving fecundity to my ministry, and be- 
 stowing on me the whole Irish nation as the portion of my spiritual 
 inheritance. The mention of a mission from Rome would have 
 nothing to do with such an accusation. The special divine mani- 
 festations that were made to him, impelled him to accept the 
 burden imposed on him by pope Celestine; and they are now 
 commemorated as truly freeing him from the reproach of temerity, 
 in accepting a task for which, humanly speaking, he was so un- 
 
70 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 saint, whilst narrating his mission from pope Celestine, detail, at 
 the same time, these supernatural manifestations of Heaven, sum- 
 moning our apostle to Ireland, as the destined field where his 
 missionary labours would bear abundant fruit. 
 
 The reasoning by which Dr. Todd endeavours to persuade his 
 readers that St. Patrick had no connection with Germanus, is still 
 more characteristic. St. Patrick, he says, had he studied in the 
 schools of Germanus, could not write in such rude Latinity, nor style 
 himself ignorant and unlearned.* 
 
 The school of St. Germanus, however, was not as Cambridge or 
 Trinity College, or other such establishments of the British crown. 
 It was a school of saints; and whilst each one, according to his con- 
 dition, acquired the necessary secular learning, the main object of 
 all was to mortify their passions, and acquire the practice of every 
 virtue. St. Patrick's whole life, and the very work we are speak- 
 ing of, proves what progress he had made in the school of sanctity. 
 If he styles himself ignorant and contemptible, the apostle of 
 nations had described himself in a like manner ; for the saints of 
 God did not preach the Gospel according to the Protestant rule 
 of human wisdom, but resting on the power and wisdom of God. 
 In the passage, however, above cited from the Confession, St. 
 Patrick explains to us why his Latinity was not more elegant, and 
 better impressed with the traces of the classic style of the Augus- 
 tan age. His early life, he says, and especially his six years 
 slavery, had rendered distasteful to him the higher pursuits of 
 secular learning. Even the little literature he had acquired in the 
 hallowed retreat of Lerins, must well nigh have been forgotten when 
 the Confession was penned, and when, for almost sixty years, he had 
 made himself all to all in our pagan island, and, as he himself ex- 
 presses it, had exchanged his former style and language for the 
 harsher accents of his spiritual children. However, with all the 
 rudeness of his Latinity, St. Patrick, as Tillemont already observed, 
 proves himself to be thoroughly acquainted with the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, and shows that he had drunk in their spiritual meaning at 
 no ordinary source. 
 
 * Todd, page 311. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK, 71 
 
 Besides the Confession, there are a few other writings of our 
 apostle, one of which, known as his Lorica Prayer, was ably vindi- 
 cated to St. Patrick by Petrie, and has been presented to English 
 readers in an elegant and accurate version by Dr. Todd. We may 
 now ask this learned writer, why did he not appeal to the silence 
 of this Lorica, as an additional proof of our apostle having had no 
 mission from Rome ? Simply, because no one in his senses would 
 expect St. Patrick to thus commemorate in his form of prayer, his 
 relations with Germanus and pope Celestine. And why, then, does 
 Dr. Todd appeal to the silence of the Confession as a proof of his 
 novel theory, since the Confession, too, is nothing more than a 
 religious outpouring of our apostle's soul, and a record of the 
 mauifold supernatural mercies which had been vouchsafed to him 
 by God. A few other fragments of our apostle are also preserved 
 in the Book of Armagh ; and as we have already seen (p. 14), one 
 of his proverbial sayings there recorded, registers his having sought 
 for spiritual wisdom in Gaul, and Italy, and the islands of the 
 Tyrrhene Sea. Another (p. 25) linked the newly-converted Church 
 of Ireland in the closest bonds of fellowship with Rome. By-and- 
 by, too, we shall have occasion to refer to a canonical statute, 
 by which he marked out Rome as the depository of apostolic truth, 
 to whose tribunal all grave controversies should be referred. These 
 express statements are a sufficient indication of the mission which 
 our apostle bore with him to our shores. 
 
 The Hymn of St. Sechnall, better known by his Latin name, Secun- 
 dinus, is nothing more than a commemoration of the virtues of our 
 apostle. By recounting the many graces bestowed upon St. Patrick, 
 that loving disciple wished to liken his master to the angels of God, 
 and to the first apostles of our blessed Lord.* No special historic 
 facts are mentioned in it ; and Dr. Todd merely reveals the weak- 
 ness of his cause, when he appeals to the silence of this document 
 in regard to Germanus and Rome, as a proof that our apostle 
 received no commission from the Holy See to evangelize our island. 
 There is, however, one passage of the hymn which is certainly mis- 
 
 * Conf. verse i. in Liber Hymnorum, p. 11. 
 
72 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 translated by Dr. Todd, as we shall see in the third part, and 
 which, with as much precision as we could expect in such an 
 eulogistic hymn, refers to this mission of St. Patrick from that 
 central see of the Christian world. It occurs in the third verse, 
 and eulogizes our saint as " being firm in the faith as Peter, upon 
 whom the Church is built, aud of whose apostolate he was made 
 partaker by God, against whom the powers of hell cannot prevail."* 
 This is a clear reference to the fact that St. Patrick received his 
 mission from Rome, being thus made partaker of the apostolate and 
 mission of St. Peter. We shall reserve to the next chapter (p. 80, 
 seq.) a more minute examination of this interesting passage. 
 
 The Hymn of St. Fiacc is a very valuable fragment of our ancient 
 Church ; but, unfortunately, it commemorates merely a few facts 
 connected with our apostle. All that St. Patrick possessed in 
 common with others is passed over in silence ; and hence, too, his 
 mission from Ptome, which was a matter of course in those ages, 
 and which but a little while before had accompanied Palladius to 
 our coasts. We may, however, be permitted to ask Dr. Todd why 
 he deems the silence of St. Fiacc of such importance regarding one 
 fact, whilst he rejects, without ceremony, another fact which is 
 expressly attested by the same writer. We have cited above 
 (page 13) the beautiful passage of this hymn which records the 
 connection of St. Patrick with Germanus ; and we have also seen 
 how St. Fiacc assigns sixty years to the missionary labours of our 
 apostle, who hence must have come to our island in the year 432. 
 All this testimony, however, is declared to be valueless by Dr. 
 Todd, whilst the silence of Fiacc regarding a fact which we never- 
 theless very naturally might expect to find omitted by him, is 
 deemed of sufficient importance to reject that fact as groundless. 
 This, indeed, is a novel theory in the philosophy of history. 
 
 There is one case illustrative of this matter, which we wish to 
 recall to the mind of Dr. Todd. A few years after the death of 
 St. Germanus, a lengthy and detailed life, commemorating his 
 virtues, and especially his labours in rooting out Pelagianism from 
 Britain, was written by a monk named Constantino : this life is 
 
 * Liber Hymnorum, p. 12. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 73 
 
 justly regarded as one of the most precious monuments of the 
 Church of France in the fifth century, and yet it makes no mention 
 of the commission given to that saint by pope Celestine. Eric 
 of Auxerre repeated in verse the life of the same saint Germanus, 
 and he, too, is silent regarding that fact. Bede, too, sketches 
 minutely that portion of Germanus's history, but makes no allu- 
 sion to his mission from Rome. Nevertheless, other monuments 
 commemorate it; and Dr. Todd, in his late work, devotes some 
 pages to prove, that the mere silence of these writers is a matter 
 of no consequence, when the fact which they omit is commemo- 
 rated by other authentic monuments. Now, in regard to St. 
 Patrick, how much less important must be deemed the silence of 
 hymns composed more as a panegyric than a history, and which 
 not only do not minutely detail the particular events of our 
 apostle's life, but scarcely commemorate a single fact connected 
 with his apostolate ? Hence, though these documents were well 
 known to Usher and other writers during the last two centuries, no 
 one ever dreamed of deducing from their silence that St. Patrick 
 had no mission from Rome, although many of the monuments 
 which now illustrate this Roman mission of our apostle were then 
 unknown, and have been brought to light only within the past 
 few years. 
 
 Only one other document now remains, which, as Dr. Todd 
 iuforms us, passes over in silence the mission given to St. Patrick 
 by the then ruling pontiff St. Celestine, and whose silence is put 
 forward as a sufficient counterbalance against all the explicit 
 historic evidence which we have advanced in the preceding pages. 
 This important document is the tract of Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni^ 
 preserved in the Book of Armagh. 
 
 At the very outset, however, of our inquiry, we are struck by 
 the singular contradiction which Dr. Todd's arguments present to 
 us. One of the most explicit monuments that asserted the close 
 relationship binding our apostle to St. Germanus, was this very 
 tract of Mactheni; yet his express testimony is rejected by Dr. 
 Todd as worthless, whilst his silence is, in the present case, put 
 forward as of paramount importance. 
 
74 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATKICK. 
 
 What, however, is the fact regarding this document ? It is an 
 unfortunate and as yet unexplained circumstance, that within the 
 last two hundred years, the first leaf of the tract of Mactheni has 
 disappeared; and with it have been lost those chapters in 
 which we would expect to find commemorated the close relations 
 of St. Patrick and pope Celestine. I say within the past two 
 hundred years, for in Usher's time the tract was complete ; and 
 yet Usher could record the mission of St. Patrick from Rome as 
 attested, without a dissentient voice, by the historians of his life. 
 Perhaps in future time another leaf may disappear, and then some 
 disciple of Dr. Todd's historic school can appeal to the silence of 
 Mactheni in regard to Germanus, as a resistless proof that the 
 training of our apostle in that school of Catholic sanctity, was 
 ignored by the ancient writers of his biography. Thus, then, the 
 silence of Muirchu-Maccu- Mactheni is a rather mysterious silence, 
 and one to which we hope Dr. Todd will not refer again. 
 
 Dr. Todd, however, further argues, that the account given in 
 this tract of the ordination of St. Patrick by Germanus, and his 
 subsequent departure for Ireland, is inconsistent with a mission 
 from Rome ; but we reply that this is all a mere gratuitous asser- 
 tion of the learned writer. There are other monuments descriptive 
 of St. Patrick's life, which commemorate in the very same terms 
 as the present tract his ordination by Germanus ; and, neverthe- 
 less, they too, in their preceding chapters, had referred his mission 
 to the Apostolic See. It is thus in Probus, in the Vita Quarta, 
 and other documents already cited. 
 
 In the text of Muirchu-Maccu- Mactheni regarding Germanus, there 
 is not a word stating that St. Germanus had been authorized by 
 pope Celestine to send St. Patrick to our island, but neither is 
 there one word to exclude that hypothesis ; and judging from the 
 analogy of its record with the other ancient documents regarding 
 our apostle, we should conclude that Germanus, on receiving intel- 
 ligence of the death of Palladius, commissioned St. Patrick, with 
 
 * See Graves on the Date of the Book of Armagh ; Reeves' Memoir of 
 the Book of Armagh ; Petrie, Tara, p. 86. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 75 
 
 the blessing, and by the authority of pope Celestine, to evangelize 
 our island. 
 
 But, adds Dr. Todd, when St. Patrick received the angelic sum- 
 mons to go forth and fish with evangelic net, he was apparently in 
 France, and set out immediately to the work of the Gospel in Ire- 
 land (page 315). The word immediately is, no doubt, the basis of 
 this argument ; and unfortunately for the logic of him who 
 constructs his argument on it, this word is altogether wanting in 
 the original text of Muircku-Maccu-Mactheni. Instead of it, the 
 phrase opportuno ergo tempore is used by Mactheni : and in the 
 corresponding words of Probus, we find nacttis ergo tempus oppor- 
 tunum. This formula is carefully passed over unnoticed by Dr. 
 Todd, and yet it is the key to the whole discourse of Mactheni. 
 St. Patrick, though admonished by the angel Victor, that God had 
 chosen him for the mission of Ireland, did not set out immediately, 
 but waited till the opportune time should come, that is, he awaited 
 the sanction of his mission by the divinely-constituted authority 
 on earth, and having received this sanction, and the blessing of 
 Christ's vicar, he joyfully set out to evangelize our people.* 
 
 But if there is no sufficient ground in the text of Mactheni for 
 denying the mission of St. Patrick from pope Celestine, at least in 
 the summary or heads of the lost chapters, sufficient data are pre- 
 sented to us for excluding this connection of our apostle with the 
 Holy See. Thus argues Dr. Todd, page 315. 
 
 To understand this argument we may remark that in the Book 
 of Armagh,f are preserved the titles of all the chapters of the pre- 
 ceding life of Mactheni, and amongst them are found those too 
 of the chapters which have most unaccountably disappeared : — 
 
 1. " De ortu Patricii et ejus prima captivitate. 
 
 2. "De navigio ejus cum gentibus et vexatione deserti, cibo sibi et 
 gentilibus divinitus delate 
 
 3. " De secunda captura quam senis decies diebus ab inimicis pertu- 
 lerat. 
 
 4. " De susceptione sua a parentibus ubi agnoverunt eum. 
 
 * See the origiual text of Mactheni, in Petrie, Tara, page 84. 
 t Fol. 20, a. 
 
76 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 5. "De setate ejus quando iens videre Sedein Apostolicam voluit 
 discere sapientiam. 
 
 6. " De inveutione Sancti Gerraani in Galliis et ideo non exivit ultra. 
 
 7. " De setate ejus quondo visitavit eum augelus ut Veniret adhuc. 
 
 8. " De reversione ejus de Galliis et ordinatione Palladii et mox morte 
 ejus. 
 
 9. "De ordinatione ejus ab Amathorege episcopo, defuncto Palladio."* 
 
 Here, then, argues Dr. Todd, it is stated that " St. Patrick desired 
 to visit the Apostolic See, and there to learn wisdom ; hut that 
 meeting with St. Germanus in Gaul, he went no further.'" 
 
 In this argument of our learned theorist, we have an addi- 
 tional example of the means he has resorted to to prop up his 
 cherished opinion : St. Patrick's going to the Apostolic See, and 
 his meeting with St. Germanus, are two distinct sentences which 
 are blended into one by Dr. Todd, in order to suit his own purpose. 
 Now Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni in his chapters does not follow the 
 mere chronological order of events. For instance, the eighth chapter 
 speaks of St. Patrick's leaving Gaul, etc. ; whilst it is only in the ninth 
 chapter that his ordination in Gaul by Amathorex is commemorated. 
 There is no reason, therefore, why Dr. Todd should construct as 
 one continuous sentence the two distinct summaries of the fifth and- 
 sixth chapters. As far as this testimony is concerned, St. Patrick's 
 journey to Rome in search of heavenly truth forms a special epoch 
 in his life : another distinct epoch being his sojourn with Germanus. 
 
 But what is the meaning of the latter formula in the summary 
 of the sixth chapter ? If we take it in its strict interpretation, it 
 should imply that St. Patrick, having met with Germanus, " never 
 more departed from him." No one, however, can suppose that this 
 is more than a generic formula, expressive of our apostle's having 
 placed himself under the spiritual guidance of Germanus, and 
 adopted him as his master in the school of saints. St. Patrick 
 may have journeyed to Lerins or Rome or elsewhere, and still have 
 been as truly under the spiritual care of Germanus as if he were 
 within the precincts of Auxerre. At all events, one interesting 
 result is gained from the capitular summaries which we have 
 quoted, that, forsooth, St. Patrick, in search of sacred truth) directed 
 * Ap Petrie, Tara, pag. 87. 
 
MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 77 
 
 his steps towards Rome; and that at another period of his life he 
 chose for his guide and master one who was selected by pope 
 Celestine to be special representative of the Apostolic See. 
 
 We shall, howevei\ take one step further, and endeavour to re- 
 construct the k?&fc^chapter of Muircha-Maccu-Mactheni. It has 
 often been remarked, that the life of St. Patrick which bears the 
 name of Probus, is nothing more than an amended text of 
 Mactheni. Many chapters have been published by Usher and 
 Petrie.* Dr. Todd has given a further proof of this identity of 
 the two lives in the very long translated extract from Mactheni, on 
 the donation of Armagh made by the chieftain Daire, to our 
 apostle,f the original text of which had been already known from 
 the essay of Reeves on the Churches of Armagh, % published in 
 1860. In fact it is now well known that when the summary of 
 the chapter of Mactheni finds a corresponding subject in Probus, 
 the narratives of the event in Mactheni and Probus are identical. 
 Now as regard the seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters of Mactheni, 
 with which the present text of the Book of Armagh begins, both 
 narratives are completely identical ; so do the titles of the fifth and 
 sixth lost chapters find corresponding matter in the immediately 
 preceding words of Probus. What, then, shall we conclude ? Why 
 we must conclude that the text of Probus still preserves to us these 
 two chapters of Mactheni, which have mysteriously disappeared 
 from the Book of Armagh, and that this portion of the lost work 
 may thus, with all certainty, be reconstructed in the identical words 
 of Probus : — 
 
 (5). " St. Patrick poured forth to the Lord the following prayer : Lord 
 Jesus Christ, who hast guided my steps through Gaul and Italy to these 
 islands, conduct me, I beseech Thee, to the seat of the Holy Roman 
 Church, that thus receiving due authority to preach with confidence Thy 
 truths, the people of Ireland may, through my ministry, be gathered to 
 Thy fold. 
 
 * ' And not very long after the man of God, Patrick, proceeded as he 
 had desired, from Ireland to Rome, the head of all churches, and there 
 having asked for and received the apostolic blessing, he returned by the 
 same road by which he had gone thither. 
 
 * Tara, page 53, 59, 84, etc. t Page 472-4. £ Page 45, seqq. 
 
78 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK. 
 
 (6). "Having crossed, however, the British sea, and entered on his 
 journey to Gaul, he came, according to his design, to Germanus, bishop 
 of Auxerre, a most holy man, most revered for his faith and learning, 
 (hominem sanctissimum ac probatissimum in fide ac doctrina) the illus- 
 trious head of all the Church of Gaul ; and having remained with him in 
 all submission for no little time in the practice of patience, obedience, 
 charity, chastity, and perfect spotlessness in mind and soul, maintaining 
 his virginity in the fear of the Lord, and persevering in goodness and 
 simplicity of heart, during the whole time of his earthly pilgrimage." 
 
 Such were, undoubtedly, the fifth and sixth chapters of Mactheni, 
 and such was a portion, at least, of the lost pages of the Book of 
 Armagh. Surely they need no comment, that the reader may 
 understand how St. Patrick affectionately revered the Apostolic 
 See, and received from it the mission to evangelize our island. 
 
 We may now conclude our analysis of Dr. Todd's vain theory, 
 as we hope to have made sufficiently manifest that Palladius was 
 deacon of the Church of Rome ; that St. Patrick's arrival in Ireland 
 cannot be put back to the year 140 ; that in fine he received from 
 pope Celestine his mission to preach the Gospel in Ireland. 
 
 Let us, however, before closing, for an instant suppose that the 
 three contradictory assertions of Dr. Todd's theory are based on 
 truth. It will result, that though there are many surprising inci- 
 dents in the ancient lives of our apostle, the course adopted by 
 their authors in regard to these three points would be the most 
 surprising feature of all. 
 
 Though they were desirous, as Dr. Todd informs us, to consign 
 to oblivion the acts of Palladius, they should have exalted him 
 from being a mere deacon of Germanus to the high dignity of 
 deacon of the Church of Rome. 
 
 Though they were most accurate in assigning the date of the 
 mission of Palladius, as is confirmed by the record of Prosper and 
 other continental writers, they should all have erred in registering 
 the one all-important date of the arrival of our apostle in our 
 island ; and in the long array of monuments which mark the year 
 of St. Patrick's mission, not even one should be found to disclose 
 a ray of truth, and refer it to the close of Sixtus' pontificate, or to 
 the twelfth year of king Leoghaire's reign. 
 
 In fine, if St. Patrick rested his preaching solely on a divine 
 

 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING SAINT PATRICK, 79 
 
 summons to evangelize our people, and rejected all ecclesiastical 
 authorization derived from Rome, why is it that the ancient writers, 
 all vieing with each other in extolling the special privileges of St. 
 Patrick, and eulogizing his characteristic deeds, should have con- 
 signed to utter oblivion this the greatest of all his special privi- 
 leges ? and why would not some one of them, at least, have recorded 
 that our apostle was not a missionary of the stamp of Palladius or 
 Germanus, or other such who bore impressed on their preaching the 
 seal of the pope of Rome, but that his mission was of a higher 
 order, solely proceeding from the direct authority and inspiration 
 of God ? 
 
 We have seen, too, how often Dr. Todd appeals to the silence of 
 records as a sufficient criterion for rejecting events : may not some 
 student of history conclude, that in like manner the mysterious 
 silence of all the ancient monuments of our Church, in regard to 
 Dr. Todd's three principles, is an additional proof that such prin- 
 ciples have no foundation in reality and historic truth ? 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE IRISH CHURCH, 
 
 §tnb iis €awnzxion fottlj tht fSalg &tz. 
 
 PART THE THIRD. 
 
 VVA 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH REGARDING 
 
 ROME. 
 
 "We propose, in this third part, to inquire what were the senti- 
 ments entertained by our early fathers regarding the special prero- 
 gatives of St. Peter and the See of Rome. Did their hearts turn 
 to Rome with filial reverence ? did they acknowledge its divinely 
 guaranteed authority ? did they seek, in its decisions, for light, and 
 guidance, and instruction, or rather, like the Protestants of now-a- 
 days, cM they delight in keepin g obloquy on the successors of St. 
 v Peter ? did they repudiate their claims of spiritual supremacy, and 
 
 was insult to Rome a pass-word to pre-eminence and dignity in our 
 sainted Church ? To proceed with order in our inquiiy — 
 
 We shall, in the first chapter, examine the few fragments that 
 remain to us of our ancient writers ; 
 
 We shall, in the second chapter, interrogate the canonical de- 
 crees which regulated the discipline of our Church ; 
 
 And we shall also see, in the third chapter, that the deeds of 
 our forefathers corresponded with their words, and displayed the 
 fulness of affectionate devotion and filial piety for the vicars of 
 Christ. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME, 
 
 81 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Two Ancient Hymns of the Irish Church on St. Peter, published by 
 Mone. — St. Cummian Fota's Hymn and Penitential. — St. Sechnall. 
 —Dr. Todd refuted.— St. Mochla, of Louth. 
 
 We are indebted to the eminent German antiquarian, Mone, for 
 two very ancient hymns of the Irish Church, which he discovered 
 amongst the papers of the old Irish monastery of Reichenau, and 
 which he published, from Irish manuscripts of the 8th and 9th 
 centuries, in his invaluable work entitled " Hymni Latini Medii 
 iEvi."* 
 
 The first and most ancient poem is an alphabetical hymn on the 
 apostle Peter, the initials of each strophe presenting successively 
 the whole series of the letters of the alphabet. We now give 
 it to the reader, as printed by Mone,f and we unite with it a 
 literal translation, for which we are indebted to the kindness of the 
 Rev. Mr. Potter, Professor of All-Hallows College, Dublin : — 
 
 1 " Audite fratres fama 
 
 Petri pastoris plurima 
 Baptismatis libamina 
 Fundit veluti flumina. 
 Adsiut nobis sublimia 
 Sancti Petri suffragia. 
 
 2 ' ' Bis ref ulsit ut f ulmina 
 
 Sana sanctorum agmina 
 
 1 "List, Brothers, whilst our 
 
 hymn of praise, 
 To Peter's name we humbly 
 
 raise; 
 From whose blest hand the 
 
 waters ran, 
 Which life restored to fallen 
 man. 
 
 May Peter's love our 
 
 path attend, 
 And guide us to our 
 happy end. 
 
 2 "Bright as the lightning's glow- 
 
 ing sheen, 
 He, twice, 'mid ranks of saints, 
 was seen ; 
 
 Friburg, 1855. 
 
 t Vol. iii. pag. 68. 
 
82 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME, 
 
 Flentes duxit ex ordine 
 Gentes divino carmine. 
 
 Whilst nations lost in fear and 
 
 love, 
 Hear chants divine from realms 
 
 above. 
 
 3 " Celebravit egregia 
 
 Evangelii preeconia, 
 Facta prostrata legia 
 De Satana victoria. 
 
 4 ' ' Dudum elegit dominus 
 
 Petrum ut optimum oleum, 
 
 Ut obitaret dominum 
 Essetque pastor oviiun. 
 
 H ' ' Elaboravit ubique, 
 Curas datus historic, 
 Fundamentum dominicae 
 Ecclesiee Catholicae. 
 
 6 " Facta crucis martyria 
 
 Fecit magna prodigia 
 Sequutus per setheria 
 Christiana vestigia. 
 
 7 " Gloriosum apostolum 
 
 Deus ornavit gloria 
 Romse urbis qua in 
 Vivit cum victoria. 
 
 3 " With fearless tongue he pleads 
 
 the cause 
 Of Christ's divine and holy 
 
 laws ; 
 And all the baffled hosts of 
 
 hell 
 His Master's glowing triumph 
 
 tell. 
 
 4 "In years long past, in by- gone 
 
 time, 
 As highest prince, to post sub- 
 lime 
 Was Peter chosen to succeed, 
 And Christ's ne'er-failing flock 
 to feed. 
 
 5 "Nor clime, nor space, might 
 
 bound his zeal, 
 
 And pages writ his deeds re- 
 veal ; 
 
 On him, the rock so strong, 
 so sure, 
 
 Christ's Church shall ever firm 
 endure. 
 
 6 "Fixed to the cross, he closed 
 
 his days, 
 And wonders dread proclaimed 
 
 his praise : 
 To realms above, to die no 
 
 more, 
 He soar'd, as Christ had soar'd 
 
 before. 
 
 7 "And, now, in deathless glory 
 
 crowned, 
 The earth doth with his praise 
 
 resound ; 
 And thou, the first, sweet 
 
 mother Rome, 
 His see, his battle-field, his 
 
 home. 
 
V, V 
 
 Of 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGj 
 8 "Habundabat justitia, 
 
 83 
 
 Plenus divina gratia 
 Expandit retia sparsa 
 Per mundi spatia. 
 
 9 " Judseorum malivolas 
 
 Vitse formavit animas 
 Missusque capsit pluriinas 
 Evangelii per sagias. 
 
 10 "Kasta librorum legimus, 
 
 Petri plenos virtutibus, 
 Mcestas divinis fletibus, 
 
 Pastoris sumini nutibus. 
 
 11 " Luxit ut Phoebus ssecula, 
 
 Christi secutus opera 
 Binse legis oracula 
 (A line wanting). 
 
 12 "Mirum pastorem piissimum 
 
 Flagitare non desino, 
 
 Ne demergar cum pessima, 
 Intercedas pro misero. 
 
 13 " Nunc dignare, apostole, 
 
 Aperire cum clavibiis 
 
 Regnum quod olim quseri- 
 
 mus 
 Nos instantes prae foribus. 
 
 8 "Hence, in God's grace, in jus- 
 
 tice bright, 
 
 And led and guided by their 
 light, 
 
 Through all the world, from 
 eud to end, 
 
 Did Peter's care his nets ex- 
 tend. 
 
 9 "E'en cruel Jews, from vice and 
 
 strife, 
 Were led to walk the path of 
 
 life; 
 And, soon, the Gospel's seine 
 
 might tell 
 Of countless souls redeemed 
 
 from hell. 
 
 10 "Historic lore proclaims his 
 
 fame, 
 And all the glory of his name; 
 "Whilst at his nod, from sinful 
 
 eyes 
 Tears rise, as incense, to the 
 
 skies. 
 
 11 "Like Phoebus shining o'er the 
 
 world, 
 Christ's saving standard he un- 
 
 furl'd, 
 And, walking in his Master's 
 
 ways, 
 Proclahn'd God's laws through 
 
 all his days. 
 
 12 "That I may be this pastor's 
 
 care, 
 Shall surely be my constant 
 
 prayer ; 
 Oh, Peter, pray, lest I be tost 
 By angry waves, and, wretched, 
 
 lost. 
 
 13 "Oh deign, apostle, pure and 
 
 meek, 
 To guide us to the realm we 
 
 seek ; 
 We stand, we pray, we faint 
 
 outside, 
 Oh, ope to us those portals 
 
 wide. 
 
84 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON 
 
 14 " Opus delator sublinris, 
 
 Te rogamus assidue, 
 Recordare martyrise 
 Et auxilium tribue. 
 
 15 "Petri precamur veniam, 
 
 Si qua mala peregimus, 
 
 Resistentes dsemonibus 
 Nunc evalere legimus. 
 
 16 " Qui nostri spiritus serias 
 
 Prsesta salutis galeas, 
 Simon Johannis, audias 
 Nostras preces, ut audias. 
 
 17 " Regis regnum apostolorum, 
 
 Precor precamine, 
 
 Me morantem in limine 
 
 Mortis desolve valide. 
 
 18 " Salvat horis in munere, 
 Mundi ferebat famiua, 
 Cui concessa numina, 
 
 Relaxare peccamina. 
 
 19 " Turbae sanctorum magister, 
 Ovem errantem eruat, 
 
 Negligenter ne pereat, 
 
 Adjutorium tribuat. 
 
 THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 14 "With never- failing lips we 
 
 pray, 
 Thy aid and belp, our hope, 
 
 our stay ; 
 And, mindfid of thy own sad 
 
 throes, 
 Grant help and comfort in our 
 
 woes. 
 
 15 "Thy pardon, Peter, we implore, 
 
 With hearts resolved to sin no 
 more; 
 
 With Satan's hosts fierce war 
 to wage, 
 
 And, trustiug, all our foes en- 
 gage. 
 
 16 "Then, Simon John, oh, list our 
 
 cry, 
 
 And bear us succour from on 
 high; 
 
 And on our brows bind hel- 
 mets bright, 
 
 To keep us harmless in the 
 fight. 
 
 17 " With humble cry, with humble 
 
 prayer, 
 Apostles' Lord, I crave thy 
 
 care ; 
 That, trembling on death's 
 
 awful shore, 
 Nor sin, nor hell, may claim 
 
 me more. 
 
 - 18 "As every hour the sinner's cry, 
 Doth rise in sadness to the sky ; 
 His chains unbound — behold 
 
 him free, 
 For God's right hand doth 
 
 work with thee. 
 
 19 "Oh, master of the sainted band, 
 O'er erring sinners keep thy 
 
 hand; 
 And, lest our feet should sadly 
 
 stray, 
 Oh, guide us in the narrow 
 
 way. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS 
 
 20 " Uisitando cum trophseo, 
 
 Fidei tectus clipeo, 
 Cujus vires ut sapio 
 Fari omnino uequeo. 
 
 21 " Xristi martyrum lucifer, 
 
 Legis lator altissimi, 
 Cm daemones pessimi 
 Obediebant impiissimi. 
 
 22 " Ymuo dicto de laudibus 
 
 Petri, utcunque fecimus, 
 
 Nostris virtutum opibus 
 Propitiatur precibus. 
 
 23 " Zona prsecincti placidis 
 
 Totis vivamus debitis, 
 Ut fruamur infinitis, 
 la angelorum editis." 
 
 ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 85 
 
 20 "With faith's bright shield thy 
 
 flock enshroud, 
 
 And glad them with thy tro- 
 phies proud ; 
 
 But mortal tongue may never 
 tell 
 
 The saving strength we know 
 so well. 
 
 21 "Of martyrs bright the brightest 
 
 name, 
 
 God's people, all, thy praise 
 proclaim ; 
 
 Whilst demons dread thy aw- 
 ful sway, 
 
 And trembling fiends thy power 
 obey. 
 
 22 "As best we may, to Peter's 
 
 praise 
 This humble song we humbly 
 
 raise ; 
 May he our cry benign attend, 
 And guide us to our happy end. 
 
 23 "With girded loins, with duty 
 
 done, 
 
 With cheerful hearts, till all 
 be won ; 
 
 May we, when life's stern fight 
 is o'er, 
 
 Be crown'd with bliss for ever- 
 more. Amen." 
 
 We could not desire a fuller exposition of the prerogatives of 
 St. Peter than is contained in this poem ; he is the apostle divinely 
 chosen " to hold the place of Christ and feed his sacred fold ;" 
 he is " the foundation of the Christian universal church" (funda- 
 mentum Dominica Ecclesice Calholicce) ; he is " the master of the 
 choir of saints ;" " the prince of the martyrs of Christ ;" the 
 legislator of the Most High," and moreover, he is adorned " with 
 the aureola of Rome, in which city he is destined to reign with a tO 
 Jever-enduring triumph." 
 
 The second poem is equally explicit ; it styles the apostle the 
 key-bearer of the heavenly kingdom, not for awhile only, but 
 
86 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 throughout all time ; he is the pontiff of souls, the prince of 
 apostles, the shepherd of all the fold of Christ. We now give it 
 in full, with a literal translation : — 
 
 1. " Sanctus Petrus, apostolus, 
 
 Quondam piscator optimus, 
 Altuni mare cum uavibus, 
 Temptabat remis, retibus. 
 
 2. "Qui de prof undo gurgitum 
 
 Magnam raptor nuctivagam 
 Jactis nave reticulis 
 Praedam captabat piscium. 
 
 3. ' ' Christum vocantem sequitur 
 
 Sponte relictis omnibus 
 Dignus erat apostolus 
 Factus piscator hominum 
 
 4. "Sancto Petro pro merito 
 
 Christus regni coelestium 
 Claves simul cum gratia 
 Tradidit in perpetuum. 
 
 5. " Animarum pontificem, 
 
 Apostolorum principem 
 Petrum rogamus omnium 
 Christi pastorem ovium. 
 
 1. " Great Peter, saint, apostle 
 
 blest, 
 
 In fisher's lowly garb once 
 drest, 
 
 With ship and oar did brave 
 the deep, 
 
 Whilst searching nets the bil- 
 lows sweep. 
 
 2. "Full oft where surges wildly 
 
 play, 
 Where, heedless, sport the 
 
 finny prey; 
 His fish he takes, in seine or 
 
 weel 
 Wide spread beneath his 
 
 trusty keel. 
 
 3. "But, lo, he hears the Master's 
 
 call, 
 With joyful heart abandons 
 
 all; 
 And, office dread, unheard till 
 
 then, 
 Is fisher made of ransomed 
 
 men. 
 
 4. " The keys which ope the por- 
 
 tals blest, 
 That lead the way to endless 
 
 rest, 
 To him Christ gives, with 
 
 grace to tend 
 And guide his flock safe to the 
 
 end. 
 
 5. " Great Pontiff of Christ's chosen 
 
 band, 
 Apostles round thee humbly 
 
 stand ! 
 O'er Christ's true flock strict 
 
 watch still keep, 
 Still guard His lambi^ still 
 
 guard His sheep. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 87 
 
 G. " Ne mens gravata crimiiie 6. "Ne'er may our souls, with 
 
 crime opprest, 
 Nostra torpescat pectore Find rest or peace within our 
 
 breast ; 
 Reddamus Christo gloriae May we to Christ, glad songs 
 
 of praise, 
 Cantemus in perpetuum. In realms of bliss, for ever 
 
 Amen. raise. Amen. 
 
 St. Cumrnian Fota (i. e. the tall) was born about the year 590, 
 and died in 661. He was bishop of Clonfert ; and being remark- 
 able for his skill in sacred literature, was styled by his con- 
 temporaries the Gregory the Great of our Irish Church. In the 
 martyrology of Donegal, he is called (12th of November) "a 
 vessel of learning — a learned preacher of the word of God." The 
 scholiast on the Felire of iEngus, states, that when he and other 
 saints prayed to God for various graces, the gift of wisdom fell 
 to the share of Cumrnian. So also in the old historical poems, 
 cited by the Four Masters, when registering his death in 661, one 
 verse declares : 
 
 " If any one went across the sea, 
 To sit in the chair of Gregory the Great. 
 If from Ireland no one was fit for it, 
 If we except Cumrnian Fota."* 
 
 A short hymn on the Apostles, written by this great ornament 
 of our early Church, has fortunately beer preserved to us ; and 
 though there is only one strophe commemorating each apostle, 
 still, that which refers to St. Peter, sufficiently indicates his pre- 
 eminence and special prerogatives. It is as follows : — 
 
 " Celebra, Juda, festa Christi gaudia 
 Apostolorum exultans memoria, 
 Claviculari Petri, primi pastoris, 
 Piscium, rete evangelii, captoris."t 
 
 * See Liber Hymnorum, I. A. S. , pag. 85, seqq. 
 
 t Liber Hymnorum, I. A. S., pag. 73. The ancient gloss adds, that 
 Juda indicates the Church ; and that the word Claviculari is put for clavi- 
 cularii, which was a characteristic name for St. Peter in the early Churcb. 
 Thus, St. Clement is styled by St. Althelm, " ccelestis clavicularii 
 primus successor." — De Laud. Virginit. §. 25. 
 
88 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 "Rejoice, New Jerusalem! solemnize the gladsome festivals of 
 Christ, and exult in the commemoration of the apostles — of Peter the 
 key-bearer — the first pastor — the mystic fisherman, who, with the 
 Gospel-net, draws in the spiritual fish of Christ." 
 
 About two hundred years ago was first published, in the Collec- 
 tanea Sacra of Fleming, from an ancient manuscript of Bobbio, 
 the famous " Penitentiale S. Cummiani." This penitential code 
 was the groundwork of many similar writings in the eighth, ninth, 
 and tenth centuries. As there were many saints of the name of 
 Cummian in our Irish Church, and as the manuscript from which 
 Fleming published his text, added no special epithet to designate 
 the author, many modern writers have referred it to St. Cummian 
 Albus, who was abbot of Hy in the beginning of the sixth cen- 
 tury ; or again, to St. Cummian, who made a pilgrimage to Italy, 
 and died at Bobbio during the reign of king Luitprand, about the 
 year 720. A Vatican manuscript collection of canons of the 
 beginning of the tenth century, fortunately removes all this uncer- 
 tainty, for it expressly cites this Penitential as the work of St. 
 Cummian the Tall.* 
 
 Now, in this Penitential, St. Cummian prescribes a fast of forty 
 days for him who, through ignorance, should permit a heretic to 
 celebrate Mass in a Catholic Church ; this penance was to be ex- 
 tended to a whole year, if such permission was granted to any one 
 whose heresy was publicly known : — 
 
 "But (adds the Penitential), should he thus permit any individual to 
 celebrate through contempt for the Catholic Church, and for the customs 
 of Rome, he himself shall be cast off as a heretic, unless he do penance ; 
 and his penance shall last for ten years, "f 
 
 Thus, then, according to St. Cummian, a contemptuous bearing 
 towards Rome, so far from beiug the forerunner of high ecclesi- 
 astical preferment, should be punished with the severest penalties, 
 and be regarded as an indubious sign of irreligion and heresy. 
 
 * See some further remarks on this penitential in appendix No. 2. 
 
 t Fleming, Collectan. Sac. ; Bibl. PP. Lugdunen. xii. 47 ; Wasser- 
 schleben, Die Bussordnungen der abendle. Kirch, — Halle, 1851, pag. 
 460. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 89 
 
 St. Sechnall, generally called by his Latin name, Secundinus, 
 was a disciple and relative of our apostle. Being advanced to the 
 episcopal dignity, he assisted St. Patrick in the administration of 
 the see of Armagh till his death, which is assigned by the Four 
 Masters to the year 448. vEngus, in his Festology (27th of 
 November) styles him : — 
 
 " A stream of wisdom with nobility, 
 Sechnall, the crown of our chief." 
 
 and another writer of the tenth century, whose quatrain is pie- 
 served in the Leabhar Breac, commemorates him as 
 
 " Sechnall son of Ua Baird, the gifted, 
 The most gifted of living men, 
 Of the race of the pure, fierce, white- coloured 
 Longobards of Letha." 
 
 His name is found in all our Irish martyrologies, and in that of 
 Christ Church, published by the I. A. S. in 1844, he is thus 
 mentioned : — 
 
 "Sancti Secundi episcopi et confessoris, qui Longobardorum nobili 
 genere ortus, beatum Patricium ad Hiberniam secutus post eum primus 
 episcopatum tenuit ; ibique recto morum tramite exempla illius perfecte 
 complens, quievit in pace."* 
 
 Such is the writer whom Usherf reckons as a clear assertor of 
 the Protestant tenets regarding St. Peter and the see of Rome. 
 His only work now preserved is an alphabetical hymn in praise of 
 our apostle, and the Protestant primate appeals to one special 
 passage of this hymn, which he thus translates : — 
 
 " Patrick is constant in the fear of God and immoveable in the faith ; 
 upon whom the Church is built as upon St. Peter, whose apostleship also 
 he has obtained from God, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
 him." 
 
 Dr. Todd, in his Memoir of St. Patrick, though cautious not 
 
 * Publications of Irish Arch. Soc. 1844, pag. 183. 
 f Religion of the Ancient Irish Church, p. 73. 
 
90 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 to refer to the Protestantism of St. Sechnall, translates the passage 
 in a somewhat similar manner : — St. Patrick, he says, is described 
 as " constant in the fear of God, immoveable in faith, one upon 
 whom, as a second Peter, the church is built, who obtained from 
 God the apostleship of the Church, to the injury of which Church 
 the gates of hell prevail not."* 1 
 
 Now even supposing the accuracy of this translation of the text 
 of St. Secundums, we would be far from admitting the justness of 
 Usher's claim to number him among the witnesses of the Protestant 
 teaching of our early Church. We should merely conclude from 
 the passage thus translated, that St. Patrick was chosen to hold 
 that post of honour and jurisdiction, and special privilege in the 
 Irish Church, which belonged to St. Peter in regard to the universal 
 Church. 
 
 We are indebted to the Irish Archaeological Society for an elegant 
 and accurate edition of the original text of this hymn of St. 
 Sechnall. f Nothing, indeed, can be conceived more Catholic than 
 the spirit which pervades the whole composition. St. Patrick is 
 described as keeping the blessed commands of Christ in all things: 
 his good works shine illustrious before men, who, following his holy 
 and wonderful example, thus magnify as their Lord the Father who 
 is in heaven. He was sent by God to fish with the nets of faith, and 
 thus draw the believers from the world unto grace; the chosen 
 Gospel talents of Christ were dispensed by him with usury amongst 
 the Irish people; he preached by works as well as by words, and stimu- 
 lated to holiness by his example; he ivas humble in spirit and in body, 
 and in his flesh bore the stigmata of Christ, in whose cross alone 
 he gloried, being sustained by its saving power ; he feeds the faithful 
 with the heavenly banquet lest they should faint in the way of the com- 
 mandments of Christ; his flesh he maintains in chastity through love 
 of the Lord (ob amorem Domini) preparing it to be the temple of the 
 Holy Ghost, and offering it as an agreeable sacrifice to God: he 
 prays daily for the sins of his people, and offers in their behalf the 
 
 * Page 312. 
 
 t Publications of I. A. S., 1855; Liber Hyranorum, p. 12, seqq. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 9 1 
 
 sacrifice worthy of God; he is a faithful ivitness to the Lord by his 
 Catholic teaching (in lege Catholica); he chants the hymns, the 
 Apocalypse, the Psalms, and expounds them for the instruction of the 
 people. 
 
 Surely, there is nothing in all this to justify a prima facie Pro- 
 testant interpretation of our text ; and equally un-Protestant is the 
 beautiful versicle, which in the old manuscripts terminates the 
 hymn, and which seems to have formed part of some ancient office 
 of our saint : — 
 
 " Patricii laudes semper dicamus "Let us unceasingly extol our 
 
 Ut nos cum illo defendat Deus. apostle Patrick, that through him 
 
 God may defend us. 
 Hibernenses omnes clamant ad " All the Irish youth cries out to 
 
 te pueri thee : oh ! come St. Patrick, hasten 
 
 Veni Sancte Patrici salvos nos to protect us." 
 facere." 
 
 But to return to the passage to which Usher appeals, it forms 
 the third strophe in the hymn, and runs thus in the original text : 
 
 " Constans in Dei timore et fide immobilis 
 Super quem edificatur, ut Petrus, ecclesia : 
 Cujusque apostolatum a Deo sortitus est 
 In cujus porta ad versus inferni non prevalent."* 
 
 The word porta has been adopted from the Roman MS. of the 
 Liber Hymnorum : the reading of the text, in the Dublin MS., is 
 portae, which seems to have crept in, from the Gospel words of 
 which this passage is a paraphrase, the literal translation of which 
 must be as follows : — 
 
 " He is constant in the service of God, and immoveable in the faith as 
 Peter, upon whom the Church is built, and whose apostolate he received 
 from God, against whose bulwark the assaults of hell cannot prevail." 
 
 The translation which was given by Usher and Todd upon 
 whom (Patrick) as upon Peter, or again, upon whom as a second 
 Peter, is contrary to the grammatical construction, and would 
 require the accusative form, ut Petrum, which was the reading, 
 indeed, adopted by Usher, but is now no longer tenable, since the 
 
 * Lib. Itym., p. 12. 
 
92 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Leabhar Breac, and the Dublin MS. of the Book of Hymns, 
 expressly read ut Petrus; and we may confirm their reading by 
 the authority of the Roman MS., which retains precisely the same 
 formula. Moreover, the phrase " and whose apostolate," etc., 
 remains wholly devoid of sense in their interpretation. The 
 ancient gloss on the text preserved in the Leabhar Breac expressly, 
 too, excludes their translation ; for it adds, in the beginning of the 
 second line, to illustrate the subject to which reference is made : 
 
 "Super quern, id est, Petrum;" 
 
 and lest any one might, perhaps, suppose that it was referring to 
 some other Peter, and not to the Prince of the Apostles, the same 
 gloss adds : 
 
 "Petrus, ut dicitur : Tn es Petrus et super hanc petram edificabo 
 ecclesiam meam."* 
 
 Thus, then, the relative does not refer, as Dr. Todd and Usher 
 affirm, to St. Patrick, but to the apostle Peter ; and hence, the 
 translation must necessarily be as we laid down — " he is immove- 
 able in the faith as Peter, upon whom the Church is built." 
 
 So far, therefore, from there being anything in the text of St. 
 Secundinus to assail or depreciate the prerogatives of St. Peter, it 
 serves to illustrate them more and more ; as first, the firmness of 
 St. Patrick's faith is eulogized by comparison with the immoveable 
 solidity of the apostle Peter ; second, the characteristic preroga- 
 tive of this apostle is asserted, that forsooth " upon him Christ 
 built his Church ;" third, it is made a special eulogy of St. Patrick 
 that he became partaker of St. Peter's apostolate ; and fourth, 
 hence is derived his spiritual solidity ; for the powers of hell must 
 ever rage in vain around the sacred citadel of Peter.f 
 
 St. Mochta of Louth, whose name was anciently written 
 
 * Lib. Hym. I.A.S., p. 12. 
 
 t To one unacquainted with the singular custom of transposing words 
 which was followed by the Irish poets, it may seem strange to see the 
 phrase, ut Petrus, placed so far down in the sentence. As a similar 
 instance, we may quote the hymn to St. Martin, Lib. Hym. Roman MS. 
 f oL xi. , in which we read : 
 
 "Martine te deprecor pro me rogaris patrem, 
 Christum ac Spiritual Sanctum habentem Mariam matrzm." 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 93 
 
 Mactens,* was a disciple of St. Patrick, and his death is assigned 
 to the year 534, by Tighernach, the Annals of the Four Masters, 
 and the Annals of Ulster. His name is commemorated in our 
 martyrologies on the 24th of March, and the 19th of August. 
 JEngus adds to his name the epithets of faithful and devout — the 
 great good leader ; and Marianus O'Gorman styles him " the 
 lamp of Louth — the father of an illustrious family." The gloss 
 on iEngus adds, that he was bishop of Louth, and cites the follow- 
 ing curious poem : — 
 
 " Poverty abode not 
 With the family of Mochta in his fort of Louth ; 
 Three hundred bishops and one hundred priests were there with him. 
 Eighty psalm-singing noble youths 
 Were his household : royal is the enumeration : 
 Without ploughing — without reaping — without drying of corn, 
 They laboured not, save at learning only." 
 
 Amongst our many ancient saints, he was remarkable for his 
 longevity and abstinence, both which traits are thus alluded to by 
 St. Caimin of Connor, in his poem on the characteristic virtues of 
 the Irish saints : — 
 
 " Mochta of Lugh-magh (Louth), loved 
 By law and by rule, 
 
 That no dainty food should enter his body 
 For the space of one hundred years. "t 
 
 The life of this saint records that, guided by an angelic 
 admonition, he proceeded to Ptome, and there applied himself to 
 the study of sacred literature ; and it further commemorates the 
 
 * The Irish a being pronounced like the diphthong au or o, was one of 
 the chief causes of the discrepancy in registering the name of this saint. 
 In some manuscripts of Adamnan, he is styled Mauctaneus, Maveteus, and 
 Maucteus. The Vita S. Dagei calls him Moccheus, and subsequently 
 Mochteus. Jocelyn, in his life of St. Patrick, gives his name as Moc- 
 cheus ; and with continental writers, he is commonly known by the 
 name Macceus. Tighernach thus records his death, in 534 : "Dormitatio 
 Moctai discipuli Patricii, xvi. kalend. Septembr. Sic ipse scripsit in 
 epistola sua ; Mocteus peccator presbiter Sancti Patricii discipulus in Domino 
 salutem." This same entry is given in the Annals of Ulster ; but he is 
 said to have signed his own name Macutenus. — See Peeves' Adamnan, 
 page 6, seqq. ; Colgan Acta SS. page 729, seqq. ; Martyr, of Christ 
 Church, I. A. S., 1844, page lxix. ; Todd, St Patrick, page 39, seqq.; 
 Ware, de Script Hib. lib. ii. cap. 1. 
 
 f Martyrology of Tallaght, append, page 161. 
 
94 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 offering of a ceraculum, or writing-tablet, which he made to the then 
 ruling pontiff. When he visited Eome, the memory of the heretic 
 Celestius was still familiar to the faithful of that city, and the 
 well-known words of St. Jerome were fresh in their ears : " Satan, 
 though silent himself, barks through a huge and corpulent moun- 
 tain dog, who can do more damage with his claws, than even with 
 his teeth; for he is by descent of the Scotic nation, which is 
 adjoining Britain, and like another Cerberus, according to the 
 fables of the poets, must be struck down with a spiritual club, 
 that thus he may be silent for ever with his master Pluto."* 
 Some seem to have feared that Mochta might, perhaps, be infected 
 with a similar contagion, and for this reason he was compelled to 
 vindicate the sincerity of his faith, by presenting, about the year 
 460, to the great St. Leo, a profession of his belief, of which a 
 copy, written about the year 700, was discovered by Muratori 
 amongst the precious manuscripts of the once famous Irish monas- 
 tery of Bobbio, and was published in his Anecdota Ambrosiana.f 
 St. Mochta, in this formula of faith, dwells almost exclusively on 
 the doctrine of the blessed Trinity and on the Apostles' Creed ; in- 
 deed it presents a striking similarity with the creed recited by St. 
 Patrick in his Confession, whilst scarcely a hint is given regarding 
 any of those heresies which disturbed the Churches of Britain and 
 the continent. Of his own Church, he says : " we are as yet only 
 in the way to truth" (nos adhuc hi fenestra, id est, in via lucis); and 
 of himself he adds : " why do people interrogate me whence I 
 come ? I am a pilgrim" (ut quid quaeritur patria mea ? Pere- 
 grinus ego sum) ; and subsequently he thus briefly but beautifully 
 tells us what was his opinion as to the special prerogative of Rome : 
 
 " If, for the fault of one individual, the inhabitants of the whole coun- 
 try are to be deemed accursed, let that most blessed disciple, too, be 
 condemned, I mean Rome itself, from which hitherto not only one but 
 two, or three, or even more heresies have gone forth ; and, nevertheless, 
 none of them could get hold of, or contaminate the Chair of Peter, that 
 is to say the see of faith."J 
 
 * Comment, in Jerem. lib. iii. prrefat. f Vol. ii. p. 1, seqq. 
 
 % " Si pro culpa unius, totius provincne anathematizanda generatio est, 
 damnetur et ilia beatissima discipula, hoc est, Roma, de qua non una sed 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 95 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 (continued.) 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Missal of St. Columbanus. — His letters to pope Boniface — Answer to 
 the objections drawn from them by dean Murray of Ardagh. — 
 St. Columbanus' s letter to St. Gregory. 
 
 There is another monument which serves to illustrate more and 
 more our present subject of inquiry, and for which we are also 
 indebted to the archives of Bobbio. It is commonly known as the 
 Missal of St. Columbanus, and was brought from Bobbio to the 
 Ambrosian Library in Milan, by cardinal Frederick Borromeo. We 
 are indebted for its publication to the learned Mabillon, who de- 
 scribes the manuscript as being in his day more than a thousand 
 years old. Everything connected with it bespeaks its Irish origin ; 
 its material writing is that of the ancient Scotic school ; its special 
 forms of Latinity are those peculiar to the Irish writers ; its multi- 
 plicity of prayers was a characteristic feature of the Irish liturgy, 
 whilst its Penitential Canons strikingly and unmistakeably proclaim 
 its origin in our island. In a word, the whole Missal attests its 
 connexion with St. Columbanus, and probably it was used by him 
 in his monasteries of Luxieu and Bobbio, to both of which, as is 
 recorded by a writer of the seventh century, he bequeathed " the 
 Irish Liturgy"* 
 
 Now this ancient Irish Missal plainly attests the unbounded 
 reverence entertained by the Church of our fathers for St. Peter 
 and his successors. Amongst its Masses there is one specially 
 assigned for the feast of the " Cathedra Sancti Petri," and in it 
 
 duse vel tres ant eo amplius haereses pullularnnt et tamen nulla earum 
 Cathedram Petri, hoc est, sed emfidei tenerepotuit ant rnovere." — (Loc. cit. 
 pag. 12). This profession of faith of St. Mochta being extremely rare, we 
 will present it in full to the reader, with a translation, in the appendix 
 No. 3. 
 
 * For further particulars regarding this important monument of our 
 early Church, see the appendix No. 4. 
 
96 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 that apostle is said to have received omnejus gentium Judceorumque; 
 that is, a all authority over both Jews and gentiles," and his are 
 declared to be* " the keys of heaven, the dignity of the pontifical 
 chair ; so great a power, that what he binds none can loosen, and 
 what he loosens shall be loosed also in heaven; a throne of exalted 
 dignity, where he will sit in judgment on all the nations of the earth." 
 The first Collect of the same Mass thus begins : — f 
 
 ' ' Oh God ! who on this day didst give to St. Peter, after thyself, the 
 headship of the whole Church, we humbly pray Thee, that as Thou didst 
 constitute him pastor for the safety of: the flock, and that Thy sheep 
 might be preserved from error, so now Thou mayest save us through his 
 intercession." 
 
 Similar expressions are elsewhere repeated in this ancient 
 Missal. Thus, in the Mass for Sundays (Missa Dominicalis), it is 
 said that the divine Redeemer, stretching forth His hand to St. 
 Peter when sinking in the waves, was an emblem of how " the 
 wavering faith of that apostle was consolidated, and he himself 
 confirmed as Head of the Church."J And again on the feast-day 
 of the apostles Peter and Paul (in Natali Petri et Pauli) it is 
 declared that, " from the whole body of the apostles, the Redeemer 
 chose St. Peter as the foundation of the Church, and confirmed his 
 faith, to the great joy of all the disciples."§ 
 
 The monastery of Bangor, eloquently described by St. Bernard 
 as " multa millia monachorum generans, multorum monasteriorum 
 caput," was the school of sanctity from which Columbanus went 
 forth, towards the close of the sixth century, to renew the well- 
 nigh spent civilization of Gaul, and Germany, and Italy. The 
 memory of few of our saints has been better preserved on the con- 
 
 * Museum Italicum seu collectio veterum scriptorum ex Bibliothecis 
 Italicis eruta a D. Johaune Mabillon et D. Michaele Germain ; Paris, 1724, 
 vol. i. page 297-8. 
 
 t "Deus qui hodierna die beatum Petrum post te dedisti caput ec- 
 clRsise . . . te supplices rogamus, ut qui dedisti pastorem ne quid de 
 ovibus perderes ut grex effugiat errores ; ejus intercessione quern prsefecisti 
 salvifices." — Ibid, page 297- 
 
 t Pag. 381. 
 
 § Ex quibus beatum Petrum in fundamentum ecclesiae conlocasti 
 cujus fidem omnium discipulorum tuorum gaudio conlocasti, etc." — lb. 
 343. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 97 
 
 tinent than that of Columbanns, and of none do so many written 
 memorials still remain. It is owing to this circumstance that we 
 are able to enter more fully into an examination of his teaching 
 concerning the prerogatives of the Holy See, than we have done in 
 regard to the other ancient writers of our Church. Indeed his 
 letter to pope Boniface is so replete with expressions of reverential 
 devotedness to Rome, that it is difficult to refrain from quoting the 
 whole of that noble document. Our saint had just settled in 
 North Italy, and on every side was encompassed by those who 
 warmly defended the well-known schism of " the three chapters." 
 King Agilulf, at whose request St. Columbanns wrote this letter 
 to the pontiff, was himself the patron of the schismatics, and hence 
 the holy man, fearing lest he might, perhaps, be betrayed into some 
 error by the influence of those that surrounded him, at the very 
 outset of his letter declares that whatever " he shall say useful 
 or orthodox, was to be reputed to the pontiff's praise," but if 
 any word, perchance, should bear the impress of intemperate 
 zeal, it was to be referred " not to any insubordination, but to his 
 own individual lack of wisdom and discretion."* 
 
 The letter is addressed " to the most beautiful Bead of all the 
 Churches of the whole of Europe; to the beloved Pope; the exalted 
 prelate; the most reverend overseer; the pastor of pastors," etc. Sub- 
 sequently the popes are styled " the masters, the steersmen, the 
 mystic pilots of the ship spiritual, that is, the Church ;" whilst of 
 his countrymen he says : " We are the scholars of St. Peter and 
 Paul, and of all disciples subscribing by the Holy Ghost to the divine 
 canon ; all are Irish, inhabitants of the remotest part of the whole 
 world, receiving nothing save what is the evangelic and apos- 
 tolic doctrine. None of us has been a heretic, none a Jew, none 
 a schismatic ; but the faith just as it was at first delivered by 
 you, the successors of the holy apostles, is held unskaken." And, 
 at the close of his letter, he adds : " We are, as I said before, 
 
 * This letter, with the other writings of St. Columbanns, were collected 
 by the Franciscan Fleming, and published by Sirinus, in Collectanea 
 Sacra, — Louvain, 1667 ; it is also found in the Biblioth. Patt. of Gallandi, 
 torn. xii. pag. 346, seqq. 
 
 H 
 
98 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 bound to the Church of St. Peter. For although Rome is great and 
 illustrious, yet it is only through this chair that she is great and 
 renowned amongst us." 
 
 Surely these phrases should suffice to show, 1st, the close union 
 that existed between Ireland and Rome in the sixth century ; 
 2nd, The pre-eminence and special dignity of the see of Peter ; and 
 3rd, The necessity of communion with the bishops of Rome, since 
 none others can belong to the mystic ship of Christ, save those 
 who are steered by the pilot Peter. 
 
 Nevertheless, it is precisely to this letter of St. Columbanus that 
 some modern assailants of the Catholic tenets of our fathers appeal, 
 in order to justify their attacks. Their various arguments are well 
 condensed by the late Protestant dean of Ardagh, in his History 
 of Ireland and her Church,* and we wish to examine them in de- 
 tail, that thus the reader may more fully enter into the spirit of 
 St. Columbanus, who was one of the greatest ornaments of our 
 island in the sixth century, and see, at the same time, the flimsy 
 reasonings, to which our adversaries are obliged to have recourse, 
 to obscure in some way the bright lustre of the Catholic teaching 
 of our sainted Church. 
 
 1. In the first place, then, they appeal to the general language 
 of the letter, which they say is " too strong to allow us to suppose 
 that the Irish monk who used it, considered pope Boniface, whom 
 he was addressing, to be the head of the Church." 
 
 To this we reply, that the language of St. Columbanus is often 
 strong indeed ; the whole letter is written with frankness and 
 liberty, and with all that energetic earnestness which we might 
 expect from one who had grown old, not only in the practice of 
 virtue, but also in the apostolate of Italy and Gaul. It is the saint 
 himself, however, that reminds the pontiff that he writes " not as 
 a stranger, but as a friend, a disciple, a servant," and he adds, as 
 if anticipating the difficulty which dean Murray would one day 
 seek to deduce from the freedom of his words : " therefore, freely 
 will I speak, for I address our spiritual masters, the steersmen and 
 
 * Pag. 79, seqq. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 99 
 
 pilots of the mystic ship." — Ut amicus ut discipulus, ut pedissequus 
 vester not ut alienus loquar; ideo libere loquar nostris ut pote 
 magistris ac spiritualis navis gubernatoribus ac niysticis proretis."* 
 
 2. The next difficulty they find is in the doctrine of Columbanus, 
 by which he asserts that " it was possible for the see of Rome to 
 forfeit apostolic honour by not preserving the apostolic faith. "f 
 
 The original text of St. Columbanus to which this reasoning 
 refers, is as follows : — " Ut ergo honore Apostolico non careas, con- 
 serva fidem Apostolicam, confirma testimonio" etc. Thus, then, the 
 argument* of our adversaries is a wilful corruption of the testimony 
 of Columbanus. The successor of St. Peter might, perchance, be 
 slow in stigmatizing the assailants of truth, and in cutting off from 
 the unity of the Church the enemies that waged war against her : 
 in the opinion of Columbanus, he would, for such negligence, merit 
 reproach, not praise ; but surely these demerits could not affect the 
 dignity and preeminence of his see ? 
 
 Our adversaries should have taken one step beyond the 
 threshold of their inquiry : they should have asked, what did St. 
 Columbanus mean when he summoned the pontiff to preserve the 
 Apostolic faith ? Did he look upon pope Boniface as a simple 
 bishop, whom he exhorts not to be dilatory in defending the cause 
 of truth ? Oh ! no ; but he addresses him as the common father 
 and pastor of the whole universe : " the Catholics of the whole 
 world," he says, "the sheep are affrighted by the approach of 
 wolves; wherefore use, Pope, the whistlings and the well-known 
 voice of the true shepherd, and stand betwixt the sheep and the 
 wolves, so that casting away their fear, the sheep may in everything 
 find thee to be the first pastor? Again, he thus summons the holy 
 pontiff : — " Set, in a manner, higher than all mortals, and exalted 
 near unto the celestial beings, lift up thy voice as a trumpet, that thou 
 mayest show their wicked doings to the people of thy Lord, entrusted 
 to thee by Him." Nor is even this sufficient : " I strive (he adds) 
 to stir up thee as the prince of the leaders ; for unto thee belongeth 
 the peril of the whole of the Lord's army:" and then he again 
 
 * Biblioth. PP. xxii. 351. t Dean Murray, page 79 
 
100 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 addresses him : " thou hast the power of setting all things in 
 order, — of beginning the war, — of arousing the leaders, — of com- 
 manding arms to be taken up, — of drawing forth the ranks into 
 
 battle array," etc " fearing do I moan unto thee alone, who 
 
 from among the princes, art the only hope, having authority 
 through the privileges of the apostle Peter." 
 
 Truly, nothing can be more unprotestant than all this. St. 
 Columbanus reminds the pope, that he is bound to be at his post ; 
 and he declares that that post is the office of first pastor who holds 
 the care of the fold of Christ, the guardianship of the people of God. 
 Surely few writers have more clearly than this asserted the privi- 
 leges of St. Peter's see, and reading these passages, the mind 
 recoguizes instinctively the same spirit that dictated the words of 
 the alarmed apostles, when the storm raged around them, and they 
 cried out to the Redeemer, " Domine, non est tibi curae quod 
 perimus." It is with such sentiments, and such sentiments alone, 
 that St. Columbanus summons the Roman pontiff to watch and 
 preserve the flock of Christ from impending danger. 
 
 3, St. Columbanus, however, according to our adversaries, asserts 
 " that the sword of St. Peter signifies, not temporal power or spiritual 
 jurisdiction, but a true confession of the faith in a synod" But 
 how different are the original words of our great saint : " lest the 
 old robber," he says, " bind men with this long cord of error, let 
 the cause of schism, I pray, be immediately cut off by thee, with 
 the sword of St. Peter, that is, by a true confession of the faith in 
 a synod, and by the rejection and anathematizing of every heretic* 
 From this passage it results: 1. That the Roman pontiff wields 
 "the sword of St. Peter." 2. That it belongs to him to cut off 
 schism from the Church with that spiritual sword. 3. That the 
 opportune means for cutting off the schism of which St. Columbanus 
 speaks, was to synodically proclaim the faith of Peter, and then 
 anathematize all who would not receive that faith. For which 
 
 * Ne igitur hoc fune erroris longissimo liget latro antiqims homines, 
 causa schismatis incidatur, quneso, confestim a te, cultello quodamniodo 
 sancti Petri, id est vera in synodo fidei confessione et hoereticorum omnium 
 abominatione ac anathematizatione," etc. — Biblioth. Patt. loc. cit. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 101 
 
 reason he had already lamented that the Pope, who was endowed 
 with full authority, (ut pote qui potestatem legitimam habuistis) 
 had not, on the first appearance of the schism, solemnly proclaimed 
 his faith, and then condemned and excommunicated whosoever should 
 even dare to slander the presiding see of the orthodox faith" (qui vel 
 infamare auderet fidei orthodoxae sedem principalem). 
 
 These words of our great Irish saint are such as merit the at- 
 tentive consideration of the learned Protestant dean and his asso- 
 ciates ; and were St. Columbanus writing at the present day, he 
 would still cry out : Beware all you who heap calumny on the see 
 of Eome ! — repent, oh, you, who, alas ! have been cut off by the 
 sword of St. Peter from the sacred membership of the mystic 
 body of Jesus Christ I 
 
 4. But, at all events, thus continues the good dean Murray, 
 St. Columbanus explicitly lays down, tc that the Chair of Peter is 
 capable of being defiled by doctrinal error, and that it is possible 
 for the Catholic faith not to be held in the Apostolic See." 
 
 To this we shall very briefly reply : There is no such explicit 
 statement made by St. Columbanus ; and neither can any such im- 
 plicit teaching be found in his whole epistle. He speaks, indeed, 
 of the mist of suspicion having gathered around the see of Peter, 
 and of the popes being ranked among the patrons of heretics ; but 
 he takes good care to let the Holy Father and the readers of his 
 letter know that such were not his own sentiments, but merely the 
 sentiments of the schismatics, who, like many now-a-days, were ma- 
 ligners of Rome, and against whom St. Columbanus summons pope 
 Boniface to unsheath his spiritual sword. Hence, in one place he 
 says, that he had written this letter in order to arouse the pon- 
 tiff "against those men who blaspheme such as are thine, 
 and clamour against them as the receivers of heretics." 
 
 Subsequently he adds : — 
 
 "See that the mist of suspicion be drawn aside from the Chair of St. 
 Peter ; for the reception of heretics is, as I hear, imputed to you : but, 
 God forbid that I should believe it : it never has occurred, and never will 
 occur till the end of time." (Quod absit credi verum fuisse, esse vel fore.) 
 
102 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Even all this did not suffice for St. Columbanus; and before con- 
 cluding his letter, he again summons the pope to use courageously 
 the spiritual sword, — 
 
 ' ' That my glorying for you may not be in vain, and that your assail- 
 ants may be confounded and not we ; for, as befits disciples in regard to 
 their master, I declared in your name that the Roman Church admits to 
 its communion none who impugns the Catholic faith." 
 
 Thus, then, the assailants of Rome in former times, and those 
 who seek to obscure the glory of St. Columbanus in our own 
 days, only serve to bring out in bolder relief the teaching of our 
 early Church regarding Rome, and to present that great saint to 
 us as an illustrious champion of the prerogatives of the Holy 
 See. It would be easy to multiply other passages from his 
 writings, in which he repeats the same sentiments of devotedness 
 and affection for Rome. His soul glowed with the sacred fire of 
 faith, and his great desire was to visit in person the Yicar of 
 Christ, and drink in spiritual delights at the living source of 
 truth : 
 
 11 These questions," he thus writes in a letter to the great St. Gregory, 
 would I have put to thee in person, were it not that my weak health 
 and a solicitude for my pilgrim- companions kept me fast at home, 
 although I was anxious to go to thee, that I might drink of that spiritual 
 vein of the living water of knowledge flowing down from heaven, and 
 springing up unto life eternal. And if the body would follow the 
 mind, Rome should once again put up with a slight upon herself, just as 
 we read in the narrative of the learned Jerome, how certain men, many 
 years ago, went to Rome from the farthest limits of the Heuline shore, 
 and, wonderful to relate, searched in Rome for something besides Rome 
 itself. Just so would it be with me : I should eagerly seek out thee, not 
 minding Rome, save in that reverence which is due to the ashes of the 
 saints."* 
 
 * In Bib. Parum. Galland. xii. 346. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 103 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 (continued.) 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Claudius. — Usher refuted.— Ancieut Irish hymn. — St. Cummian. — Con- 
 ference of Whitby and St. Colman. — Curry's MSS. in Catholic 
 University. — Lives of St. Patrick, St. Furseus, Gillibert. 
 
 Usher, when inquiring into the doctrine of the ancient Irish 
 Church, devotes his seventh chapter to " the great question which 
 relates to the Head and the Foundation of the Church." On this 
 important subject, however, he could only discover two Irish 
 writers,* whose detached sentences seemed to insinuate something 
 not unlike the Protestant tenets : one of these was St. Sechnall, 
 whose testimony we examined in the preceding article : the other 
 is Claudius, whose words we shall now cite ; and who, as we shall 
 prove, so far from attesting the Protestant feeling of our Irish 
 Church in regard to Rome, repudiates in express terms every item 
 of Protestant teaching, and, in perfect harmony with the other 
 writers of our early centuries, asserts the privileges and preroga- 
 tives of the Vicar of Christ. 
 
 In the beginning of the ninth century, there were two distin- 
 guished writers in France, both known by the name Claudim. 
 One was a Spaniard by birth, who, being advanced to the see of 
 Turin, in Italy, fell into many errors. The other was an Irishman, 
 better known as Claudius Clemens, who was appointed to the see 
 of Auxerre, and was famed especially for his Gospel commentaries. 
 The similarity of name has been a cause of great confusion regard- 
 ing these writers — the more so, as Claudius of Turin was also 
 
 * Usher cites also some extracts from the Irish commentator, Sedulius ; 
 but as they merely commemorate the privileges of St. Paul, and have no 
 bearing on the qiiestion now before us, I pass them over in silence. They 
 convey beautiful Catholic sentiments, and express iu the very words still 
 used by Catholic writers, the singular privileges and dignity of the Apostle 
 of Nations. 
 
104 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME 
 
 kuown to have written a commentary on many parts of the sacred 
 Scripture. 
 
 As regards the commentary on the Gospels which bears the 
 name of Claudius, and of which one copy was preserved in the 
 university library of Cambridge, whilst two similar copies are 
 found in Rome, there seems no doubt that its authorship must be 
 referred to the Irish Claudius. In the first place, the style of its 
 preface is quite different from that of the preface to the commen- 
 tary on the Epistles of St. Paul, which was certainly the work of 
 Claudius of Turin.* And secondly, in the Cambridge manuscript, 
 the commentary on the Gospels, as Usher informs us, bears the 
 indubious title, Claudii Scoti commentarius.lf 
 
 For these reasons we, without hesitation, subscribe to the 
 opinion of Usher, Harris, Ware, Colgan, and David Rothe — that 
 the present commentary, of which we speak, was written by the 
 Irish Claudius. Whether the commentary on the Epistles of St. 
 Paul, which has been more than once reprinted, is to be attributed 
 to our Claudius, or to the bishop of Turin, is a matter of uncer- 
 tainty. A preface to a commentary on these epistles, published 
 by Card. Maji (loc. cit.), is certainly the work of the Turin prelate ; 
 for his see is expressly described in that introduction as situated 
 in the north-west of Italy, and as suffering from the Saracen 
 invasions. Until, however, the full commentary connected with 
 that introduction be published, we must remain in doubt as to 
 whether the hitherto published commentaries are to be referred to 
 him. The style of the commentaries themselves affords us no 
 clue as to their author : for the commentary, as was usual in the 
 ninth century, is nothing more than a series of testimonies of the 
 ancient Fathers linked together, so as to form a continuous whole. 
 The preface to the commentary on the Gospels, which is preserved 
 in the Vallicellian manuscript, is the only criterion as to style 
 which the published commentaries present to us. The style of 
 Claudius of Turin, as is seen in the preface to the epistles, is 
 
 * See ap. Card. Maj., Scriptt. Vett. Vaticaua Collect. 1838, vii. part 1, 
 p. 274. 
 
 t Ap. Usher, Syllog. p. 37. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 105 
 
 turgid and bombastic to an excessive degree; the style of the 
 preface to the Gospel commentary is, on the contrary, plain 
 simple, and unaffected. 
 
 Usher deems the judgment of Claudius, to be of great impor- 
 tance, as illustrating the Protestant teaching in regard to the see 
 of St. Peter ; and he devotes three pages of his work to extracts 
 from Claudius's commentaries, in which, first, it is asserted that 
 the foundation of the Church is Christ ; second, St. Paul is made 
 sharer in the apostolate and primacy of Peter ; third, to all bishops 
 are referred the words addressed by our Lord to Peter. We shall 
 make a few remarks on each of these heads, in order to illustrate 
 the Catholic teaching of Claudius regarding the prerogatives of 
 Kome. 
 
 1. The first statement of Claudius is thus proposed by Usher: 
 " The famous passage of Scripture* where the Romanists lay the 
 main foundation of the papacy, Claudius expounds in this manner: 
 Upon this rock will I build my church; that is to say, upon the 
 Lord and Saviour who granted to his faithful friend, lover, and 
 confessor the participation of his own name, that from Petra (the 
 rock), he should be called Peter." 
 
 We shall not readily pardon the worthy Protestant primate for 
 asserting that these words of Claudius are in opposition with the 
 the teaching and doctrine of the Catholic Church ; for Catholics 
 agree with Protestants in laying down, that Christ is the true rock 
 on which the Church of God is built ; Catholics, however, dissent 
 from Protestants in this, that we assert that St. Peter was divinely 
 made sharer and participator in our blessed Redeemer's privilege ; 
 and this precisely is what Claudius here asserts, when he declares 
 that our Saviour granted to Peter " the participation of his own 
 name." 
 
 There is another passage in Claudius's commentary! which is 
 carefully passed over in silence by Usher, but which serves to 
 render still clearer the words under consideration. He is com- 
 menting on the list of the Apostles, and he says : 
 
 * Matthew, xvi. 18. t Codex Vatic, p. 42 a. 
 
10!) EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 "Primus Simon qui dicitur "The first was Simon, who is 
 
 Petrus : idem ergo Grasce sive called Peter ; the name, therefore, 
 
 Latine Petrus quod Syriace Cephas, which in Latin is Petrus, and in 
 
 et in utraque lingua nomen a petra Syriac Cepha, is derived from the 
 
 derivatum est, haud dubium quin rock — without doubt, from that 
 
 ilia de qua ' Paulus dicit : Petra rock of which St. Paul speaks; 
 
 autem erat Christus.' Nam sicut 'and the rock was Christ:' for, as 
 
 lux vera Christus douavit aposto- Christ, the true light, granted to 
 
 lis ut lux mundi vocentur, sic et the Apostles that they might be 
 
 Simoni qui credebat in petra called the light of the world, so 
 
 Christo, Petri largitus est nomen : too, to Simon, who believed in the 
 
 cuj us alias alludens ethimologise rock Christ, was the name of Peter 
 
 dixit : Tu es Petrus et super given : to the meaning of which 
 
 hanc petram eedificabo ecclesiam name Christ alludes in another 
 
 meam." place, saying, ' Thou art Peter, and 
 
 upon this rock I will build my 
 
 church." 
 
 Thus does Claudius again repeat the Catholic doctrine, and em- 
 ploy, moreover, the very illustration of it used by Catholic theolo- 
 gians at the present day : Christ grants to Peter a participation 
 of His own headship of the Church, precisely as he who was the 
 true light of the universe, granted to all the apostles a participa- 
 tion of this prerogative, so that they too are styled " the light of 
 the world." 
 
 2. Usher thus continues : " Yet does the same Claudius acknow- 
 ledge that St. Peter received a kind of primacy for founding the 
 Church, in reference to which he terms him the Prince of the 
 Church, and the prince or chief of the apostles; but he adds, 
 ' St. Paul also was chosen in the same manner to have the primacy 
 in founding the churches of the Gentiles.' " This extract is from 
 the commentary on the epistle to the Galatians ; and Usher adds 
 some other passages from the same commentary, in which St. 
 Paul, in his apostolate and ministry, is compared with St. Peter. 
 
 We shall not dwell on these passages, as it is nowise certain that 
 our Irish Claudius was the author of that commentary. Suffice it 
 to remark, that we accept, without hesitation, all that is said in 
 those passages in regard to the apostolate and prerogatives of St. 
 Paul; and, moreover, we joyously hail the titles which he confers 
 on St. Peter, " Prince of the Church, Prince and Chief of the 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 107 
 
 Apostles" together with the beautiful passage, of which only a 
 portion is translated by Usher, but which runs as follows : — 
 
 "Petrum solum uominat et sibi " He only names Peter, and com- 
 comparat : quia primatum ipse ac- pares him with himself : because - 
 cepit ad fundandam Ecclesiam ; se on Peter was conferred the primacy 
 quoque pari modo electum ut pri- for the foimdation of the Church ; 
 matum habeat in fundandis Gen- and, in like manner, he himself 
 tium ecclesiis."* was chosen to hold the primacy in 
 
 founding the churches of the Gen- 
 tiles." 
 
 From this we must conclude that to St. Peter was granted an 
 universal primacy, comprising the whole Christian Church, whilst 
 to St. Paul a primacy, too, was granted, which, however, was 
 limited to the churches of the Gentiles. Surely we could not wish 
 for a clearer statement of the Catholic doctrine of St. Peter's ex- 
 alted prerogative. 
 
 3. In the next passage Usher returns to the genuine commen- 
 tary of our Claudius on St. Matthew ; and it is difficult not to accuse 
 him of " bad faith" in his manner of citing it : " it is also observed 
 by Claudius," he says, " that as when our Saviour propounded the 
 question generally to all the apostles, Peter answered as one for 
 all ; so what our Lord answered to Peter, in Peter he answered 
 all; and, therefore, 'however the power of loosing and binding 
 might seem to be given by the Lord to Peter, yet without doubt it 
 is to be known that it was given to the rest of the apostles also, 
 as Himself witnesses, who, appearing to them after the triumph of 
 His passion and resurrection, breathed on them and said to them 
 all, receive the Holy Ghost, whose sins ye remit,' " etc. 
 
 We may well understand that it was but little to Usher's pur- 
 pose to add the words which immediately follow the passage just 
 cited, and in which Claudius declares ihat by the Redeemer's 
 words was granted not only to Peter and the other apostles, but 
 also to all bishops and priests till the end of time, the power of 
 remitting sins. But what excuse can the learned archbishop plead 
 for omitting two other passages, one of which immediately precedes, 
 
 * Ad Galat. cap. ii. 
 
108 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 the other follows in the same page the text now cited, and which 
 alone afford the key to understand the commentary given by Clau- 
 dius in regard to the dignity of St. Peter ? 
 
 The first passage, then, which Usher omits is as follows : — 
 
 " Tibi dato claves regni coelorum. Non est ergo clavis ista mortalis 
 artificis aptata manu, sed data a Christo est potestas judicandi. Qui 
 regem coelorum majori prse caeteris devotione confessus est, nierito prae 
 ceteris ipse conlatis clavibus regni coelestis donatus est."* 
 
 " To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of heaven. The word 
 hey, then, does not here refer to anything material formed by the hand of 
 man, but it indicates the judiciary power. He who with a zeal greater 
 than the rest, acknowledged Christ, was deservedly in a special manner 
 endowed with the keys of the kingdom of heaven." 
 
 Thus, according to Claudius, all the apostles, indeed, received 
 the judicatory power from Christ ; but in a special manner, and 
 prce cceteris, the power of the keys was granted unto Peter. 
 
 The second passage which is omitted by Usher is still more im- 
 portant; for after stating that to all the apostles, nay, and to all 
 bishops and priests, was given the power ligandi atque solvendi, 
 Claudius adds : — 
 
 "Sed ideo beatus Petrus qui Christum vera fide confessus, vero est 
 amore secutus, specialiter claves regni coelorum et principatum judiciariae 
 potestatis accepit, ut omnes per orbem credentes intelligant, quia qui- 
 cumque ab imitate fidei vel societatis illius quolibet modo semetipsos se- 
 gregant, tales nee vinculis peccatorum absolvi nee januam possint regni 
 coelestis ingredi." 
 
 "But blessed Peter, who had acknowledged Christ in the fulness of 
 faith, and loved Him with a true love, received, in a special manner, the 
 keys of the kingdom of heaven and the princedom of judiciary authority, 
 that thus all the faithful throughout the universe might understand, that 
 whosoever in any manner separates himself from the unity of his faith 
 and communion, such a one can neither be absolved from the bonds of 
 sin, nor enter the jwrtals of the kingdom of heaven" 
 
 Now why did Usher omit these beautiful words ? If he was 
 desirous of illustrating the opinion of Claudius, surely this passage, 
 in the clearest manner, presents his opinion to us ; but probably 
 the Protestant primate feared to let his readers see how explicitly 
 our Irish commentator, as far back as the year 800, asserted the 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 109 
 
 dignity and prerogatives of St. Peter, and how he expressly de- 
 clared, that the power and privileges granted to the Church by the 
 divine Redeemer, were all centred in that chosen apostle ; and 
 perhaps, too, he feared that some of his readers might meditate on 
 the concluding words of Claudius, that whosoever, throughout the 
 whole world, is not united with St. Peter in the bonds of commu- 
 nion and faith, can neither obtain the remission of his sins, nor 
 enter into the enjoyment of the heavenly kingdom. 
 
 Claudius was, indeed, a curious witness to bring forward in favour 
 of Irish Protestantism. As the prophet of old, when brought to 
 curse, pronounced blessings on the people of Israel, so do all the 
 Irish writers who are cited by our adversaries, invariably proclaim 
 the Catholic teaching of our Church. 
 
 We have already, more than once, referred to the fragments of our 
 ancient writers preserved in the Liber Hymnorum, or ancient collec- 
 tion of hymns used in the Irish Church. Only a portion of this valu- 
 able repository has been as yet published by the Irish Archaeological 
 Society; and in the unpublished portion is a short rhythm on the 
 apostles Peter and Paul, which we cite in full, as illustrative of our 
 present subject ; it occurs in fol. 13 of the Roman manuscript : — 
 
 " Deus dele facinora, 
 Nostra peccata plurima, 
 Tua magna dementia, 
 Et pietate nirnia. 
 Per sanctorum suffragia 
 Apostolorum fortia 
 Petri -cla vicularia 
 Cui data potentia, 
 Pauli et tali gloria 
 In divina scientia 
 Et per Christum in specula 
 Dominantem infinita." 
 
 Thus is invoked the aid of God through " the powerful interces- 
 sion of St. Peter, to whom was given the key-bearing authority, and 
 of St. Paul eminent for his divine knowledge, and through Christ 
 who rules unto eternal ages." 
 
 Amongst the letters of our early sainted writers, published by 
 
1 10 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 Usher in his valuable Sylloges Epistolarum, there is one on the Pas- 
 chal Question, addressed to Segienus, abbot of Hy, and to Beccan, 
 who is styled " a solitary, and a brother both in spirit and blood" 
 (Beccanoque solitario, caro carne et spiritu fratri). The writer of 
 this letter was St. Cummian, who himself led the penitential life of 
 a solitary; the abode of such hermits was known by the name 
 disert* amongst the Irish, and hence St. Cummian's monastery was 
 called Disert-comin, and subsequently Kil-comin by our ancient 
 annalists. It was situated not far from Roscrea ; and it was from 
 this hermitage that he wrote his famous letter in 634 ; for in one 
 passage he states : " These things, I say, not in order to impugn 
 your teaching, but to defend myself who, as the solitary sparrow, 
 am lying hid in my resting-place." At another period of his life, 
 he seems to have ruled as abbot the famous monastery of Durrow,f 
 and, perhaps, also that of Hy ; one other fact can also, with cer- 
 tainty, be mentioned connected with his life, that forsooth, he 
 enriched his monastery of Disert-Comin with relics of St. Peter 
 and Paul, which were venerated there for many years, till they 
 were for greater security translated to Roscrea.J 
 
 In his letter St. Cummian speaks with all reverence of Saint 
 Columbkille, and the other saints who had followed the Irish com- 
 putation; but he declares himself compelled, by the practice of the 
 universal Church, to abandon that ancient system and conform to 
 the new computation. He says, that he consumed a whole year 
 in studying the subject in dispute, searching the holy Scriptures, 
 
 * See Reeves' Adamnan, p. 366. t See Lanigan, ii. 397. 
 
 X Some have confounded this writer with St. Cummian Fota ; but the 
 Irish scholiasts, though diffuse in detailing the leading features of Cummian 
 Fota's life, are silent as to his connection with Durrow. (Conf. Todd, Book 
 of Hymns, p. 81-93.) Other writers have identified our author with St. 
 Cummian the Fair (Albus), who was abbot of Hy, and died in 669. 
 This was Colgan's opinion (Acta SS. p. 411) ; and it certainly has the 
 ancient tradition of Ireland in its favour. Modern writers generally 
 reject it, though on very slight grounds. It seems, at first sight, hard to 
 reconcile his being abbot of Hy, with the fact that the monks of Hy 
 continued even till 716, to warmly defend the old paschal computation. 
 However, this difficulty disappears when we call to mind that Adamnan, 
 who was an equally ardent upholder of the Roman computation, was 
 abbot from 679 to 704 ; and. nevertheless, was unsuccessful in his efforts 
 to bring around the monks of his monastery to adopt that paschal observ 
 
/ 
 
 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. Ill 
 
 exploring the records of ecclesiastical history, and inquiring into 
 the various cycles that had acquired celebrity in the Oriental or 
 Western Church. To illustrate his subject he quotes passages 
 from Origen, St. Cyprian, St. Jerome, St. Augustine, St. Cyril of 
 Alexandria, and St Gregory the Great. Especially important was 
 the testimony of St. Jerome. His opponents appealed to the prac- 
 tice of their Fathers ; he therefore adopts St. Jerome's words : — 
 
 " An old authority,'''' says Jerome, "rises up against me. Tn the meanwhile, 
 I shout out, whosoever is joined to the Chair of St. Peter, with him shall I be." — 
 (Usher, Syllog. Epp. page 20.) 
 
 A chief point of St. Cummian's argument is the necessity of 
 maintaining inviolable the unity of the Church : — 
 
 " / turn me," he says, ' ' to the words of the bishop of Rome, pope Gregory, whose 
 authority is acknowledged in common by us, and who is gifted with the appella- 
 tion of the golden mouth, and who, though writing last of all the Fathers, is de- 
 servedly preferred to all; and I find him writing on the passage of Job : Gold 
 hath a place wherein it is melted : that the gold is the great body of the saints : 
 the place of melting is the unity of the church : the fire is the suffering of martyr, 
 dom : and he who is tried by fire out of the vnity of the Church, may be melted, in- 
 deed, but cannot be cleansed." 
 
 Subsequently he more than once returns to this argument from 
 the unity of the Church, and beautifully exclaims : — 
 
 " Can anything more pernicious and injurious to Mother Church be conceived, 
 than to say Rome errs, Jerusalem errs, Alexandria errs, Antioch errs, the whole 
 world errs, the Irish and Britons alone are right /" 
 
 Whilst to St. John he gives the peculiarly Irish title pectalicus, 
 that is to say, " St. John of the bosom" from his having re- 
 clined on the bosom of our blessed Eedeerner ; he assigns the cha- 
 racteristic designation clavicularius to St. Peter, that is, having the 
 key-bearing authority, which, as we have seen, was so commonly 
 given to that apostle by our Irish writers. He curiously, too, adds, 
 of u the Britons and Scots," that they were merely " the extremity, 
 and, so to say, the lowest of the whole world."* 
 
 * Qui sunt pene extremi, et, ut ita dicam, mentagrce orbis terrarura. — 
 Usher, Syllog. Epp., No. xi, p. 19, and Conf. Irish Glosses, by Whitley 
 Stokes, 18G0, p. 145. 
 
112 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 After studying for a whole year the various matters connected 
 with the paschal controversy, he resolved, he says, to " interrogate 
 his fathers, that they might declare to him — and his elders that they 
 might narrate to him." Those whom he interrogated were the 
 neighbouring bishops of Emly,Clonmacnois,Birr,Mungret, and Clon- 
 fertmolva ; and these bishops " having met together in Magh-lene, 
 " some being personally present, others sending their legates to re- 
 " present them, they decreed and said : our predecessors, as we 
 " know from meet witnesses, of whom some are still living, others now 
 " sleep in peace, enacted that we shoidd humbly and without scruple 
 " receive whatever things were better and more to be esteemed when 
 " they were sanctioned by the source of our baptism and faith, and 
 " brought to ws from the successors of the Lord's apostles. After- 
 " wards they in common set forth to us, as the custom is, a man- 
 " date upon this matter, to keep Easter the coming year along with 
 " the whole church." ........ 
 
 "After this, in accordance with the commandment: 'if a difference 
 arise between cause and cause, and if judgment shall vary between 
 leprosy and leprosy, they shall go up to the place which the Lord hath 
 chosen ;'* and with the synodical decree, that when causes were of great 
 moment, they should be referred to the head of cities (si causae fuerint 
 niajores, juxta decretum synodiciun ad caput urbium sint referenda), 
 our seniors judged it proper to send wise and humble men as children to 
 their mother (velut natos ad matrem), and by God's will some of them, 
 having had a prosperous journey, reached Rome in safety, and returned 
 to us the third year, and saw that all things were done precisely as had 
 been told to us : and they were the more convinced of these things, seeing 
 them, than if they merely heard of them ; for, abiding together with 
 Greek and Oriental, and Scythian and Egyptian, they found all celebrat- 
 ing together in St. Peter's Church at Easter, and before the Holy of 
 Holies, they attested to us, saying : throughout the whole earth, Easter is, 
 as we know, this kept. And in the relics and the Scriptures which they 
 brought with them, we found that there was the blessing of God ; for 
 with our own eyes, we saw a young girl who was blind restored to her 
 sight at these relics ; and we saw a paralytic walk, and many wicked 
 spirits cast out." 
 
 This testimony gives us a clear insight into the theological 
 teaching of Ireland at this early period. The unity of the Church 
 
 * Deut. xvii. 8. 
 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 113 
 
 was the great central point of the whole theological system : this 
 unity was preserved by clinging to Rome, and remaining insepa- 
 rably attached to her doctrines and practices ; and if controversy 
 arose, its last all-ruling tribunal, was the Chair of Peter; for 
 Rome possessed the key- bearing authority ; it was the source of 
 our faith and regeneration ; the spiritual mother to whose bosom 
 we should recur with filial reverence, as to a secure refuge in all 
 difficulties and dangers. 
 
 The Iri»h monasteries of Hy and Lindisfarne were, during the 
 sixth and seventh centuries, the great centres whence religion and 
 literature were diffused throughout the distracted kingdoms of the 
 Picts, Britons, and Saxons. The founder of Lindisfarne, St. 
 Aidan, won for himself the title of " the Apostle of Northumbrian ' 
 and for seventeen years ruled the whole ecclesiastical province of 
 York. His second successor was St. Colman. He too, as we learn 
 from Bede, was a monk of Hy, and was sent from that sacred 
 retreat to evangelize the English nation.* For three years St. 
 Colman had given proof of zeal and piety as abbot of Lindisfarne, 
 and bishop of North England, when in 664, Oswin, king of North- 
 umberland, invited the defenders of the Roman and Irish pascha 
 computation to defend their respective opinions in his presence at 
 Whitby. 
 
 St. Wilfrid, who had been educated by St. Aidan at Lindisfarne, 
 and subsequently learned at Rome the corrected paschal computa- 
 tion, was, at this time, abbot of Ripon. That monastery was an 
 off-shoot of the Columbian Order, but the Irish monks were expelled 
 from it by Alchfrid, through the exertions of Wilfrid, and it was 
 given to his charge to establish in it the Roman observances. He 
 appeared at Whitby as the chief opponent of the Irish computation. 
 His associate was Agilbert, a native of France, but who had been 
 instructed in sacred literature in Ireland,! and who was at this time 
 bishop yf the West Saxons.! 
 
 * " Unde erat ad prredicandnm verbum Dei, Angloruru genti destina- 
 tus " — Bede, Eccles. Hist. lib. iv. cap. 4. 
 
 f "Natione quidem gallus sed tunc legendarum gratia Scripturarum 
 non parvo tempore in Hibemia dernoratus."— Bede, loc. cit. lib. iii. cap. 7. 
 
 X He subsequently returned to France, and was made bishop of Paris. 
 
114 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OP ROME. 
 
 St. Colmati appeared at Whitby in the name of the monks of 
 Hy and Lindisfarne, to defend the Irish computation. His argu- 
 ment was a simple one : " The Easter computation which I follow, 
 I received from my elders, by whom I was consecrated bishop, for 
 this country : and all our fathers, men beloved by God, as their 
 virtues and miracles attest, are known to have celebrated Easter in 
 the same manner." He did not censure those who adopted the 
 Roman cycle ; neither should they disturb him and his companions 
 whilst following the usage of their fathers. -^ 
 
 His opponents replied almost in the very words of St. Cummian's 
 letter: — 
 
 " The Easter computation which we follow we have seen adopted by 
 every one at Rome, where the blessed apostles Peter and Paid lived, 
 taught, suffered, and were buried. We have seen it also in every part of 
 Italy and France that we have traversed. It is observed at one aud the 
 same time in Africa, Asia, Egypt, and Greece, and, in short, throughout 
 the whole Christian world, except by the Irish monks and their associates, 
 the Picts and Britons." 
 
 To Colman's argument from the sanctity of St. Columba and other 
 saints who had followed the Irish computation, Wilfrid well replied 
 that they were, indeed, holy men, and " I believe had they been 
 rightly informed on the subject, they, too, would have conformed 
 to the universal usage." And, addressing Colman, he added that 
 the defenders of the Irish usage could plead that iguorance no 
 
 "You and your associates certainly commit sin if, after hearing the 
 decrees of the Apostolic See, nay, of the Universal Church, and these 
 confirmed by the holy Scriptures, you disdain to follow them. For 
 although your fathers were saints, yet in their small number in the very 
 extremity of the world, they must not be preferred to the whole Church. 
 And however holy and illustrious performer of miracles your Columba 
 was, is he to be preferred to the most blessed prince of the apostles to 
 whom the Lord has said, ■ Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
 my church, and the gates of hell- shall not prevail against it, atid I will 
 give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven ' ?" 
 
 This argument was one that made a great impression on the 
 English king, and turning to St. Colman, Oswin said—" Is it true 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 115 
 
 that the Lord has thus spoken to Peter ?" St. Colman replied in 
 
 the affirmative. The king then asked — " Can you show that so 
 
 great a power was granted to your Coluniba ?" The saint answered 
 
 ik that he could not." Whereupon king Oswin continued : — " Do 
 
 you on both sides agree in this, that the cited words of the divine 
 
 Redeemer were specially addressed to St. Peter, and that to him 
 
 the keys of heaven were given by our Lord?" The disputants on 
 
 both sides replied — " We are all agreed in this." "Well, then," 
 
 concluded the king, " I will not oppose the heavenly gate-keeper ;" 
 
 and he decided in favor of Wilfrid's opinion.* 
 » 
 One happy result, at least, followed from the conference at 
 
 Whitby, that, forsooth, it preserved an indubious record of how the 
 Irish and Roman clergy, even in the warmth of their controversy, 
 were found of one accord asserting the prerogatives and supreme 
 authority of St. Peter. St. Wilfrid and Agilbert were themselves, 
 indeed, witnesses as to the teaching of the Irish schools, whilst 
 Colman combined in himself the doctrine of Lindisfarne and Iona, 
 nay more, of the whole Irish Church ; for, on being expelled from 
 his monastery by king Oswin, he retired to Ireland and founded 
 there the monasteries of Inisbofin and Mayo, being venerated by 
 all for his learning and sanctity. f 
 
 The learned Protestant dean of Ardagh, to whose singular opi- 
 nions we have more than once referred in the preceding pages, thus 
 comments on the Whitby conference: — Colman, when he found his 
 opinions rejected, resigned his see of Lindisfarne, rather than submit 
 to this decision of the king, thus furnishing us with a remarkable 
 proof that the Irish bishops in the seventh century rejected the authority 
 of the pope.% This, indeed, is singularly strange reasoning. His 
 
 * Bede, Hist. Ec. iii. 25 ; Roger de Wendor, vol. i. page 157. See also 
 Dr. Lanigan, Ec. Hist. iii. 66-7, for some very just remarks on the false 
 reasoning of Wilfrid, who, though defending a good cause, erroneously 
 appealed to the law of Scripture and the enactments of the universal 
 Church and Rome regarding the then approved cycle. No such law or 
 enactments existed on the subject. 
 
 t The Annals of Four Masters, ad. an. 667, record his coming to Inis- 
 bofin : " S. Colmaunus episcopus cum aliis Sanctis venit ad insulam Inis- 
 bofin, et ibi extruxit monasterium quod ab ipso nominatur." The same 
 Annals mark his death on 8th August, 674. 
 
 X Loc. cit. page 65. 
 
116 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 logical conclusions should rather have been — 1. That as there was 
 no exercise of the pope's authority, St. Colman could not have 
 resisted it. 2. That he even openly and expressly acknowledged 
 the authority of Rome. 3. That he moreover furnishes us with a 
 most striking proof of the opinion of the Irish Church in the seventh 
 century, that the judgment of the court or crown was very far from 
 being decisive on matters of ecclesiastical discipline ; and hence — 
 4. That St. Colman would deem it strange, indeed, to be classed 
 by the worthy dean amongst the members or abettors of the 
 Anglican Church. 
 
 A very ancient tract, in the Irish language, entitled, " On Injury 
 and Assault to Ecclesiastics," is preserved in the Leabhar Breac, 
 and also forms part of the Brehon Laws. It proceeds by question 
 and answer, and lays down the ancient legislation of the civil 
 government of Ireland in regard to the honor due to ecclesiastics, 
 and to the fine or punishment to be inflicted on those who insult 
 or injure them. We are indebted for its translation to the late 
 Eugene Curry, Esq., who also, in his Lectures, more than once 
 refers to it.* In this curious tract we read : — 
 
 " "Which is the highest dignity on earth ? Answer — The dignity of the 
 Church. Which is the highest dignity in the Church ? Answer — The 
 dignity of a bishop, and the highest of bishops is the bishop of Peter's 
 Church, to whom the Roman kings are subject." 
 
 After assigning the respective eric or fine for inflicting injury on 
 the various grades of the ecclesiastical order, the tract thus con- 
 tinues : — 
 
 " Where is this doctrine found ? Answer — It is found in the treatise 
 which Augustine wrote upon the Degrees of the Church, and upon the 
 dires (that is, the fine paid for injury in person or property to each de- 
 gree), and the reparation to be made ; and it is thus, according to the rule of 
 the Church of Peter, empress of the whole world."-f 
 
 In the first part of this essay,! we had frequent occasion 
 
 * See Lectures, etc, page 352, seqq. 
 
 + Curry MSS. in the Catholic University of Ireland. 
 
 X Chapters iii. and iv. 
 
 to refer to 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 1 1 7 
 
 the various lives of our glorious apostle St. Patrick, as registering- 
 facts connected with his mission to our island. We may now view 
 them under another aspect, as conveying to us, forsooth, the senti- 
 ments and feelings of the Irish Church in regard to Rome at the 
 period when they were composed. Thus the scholiast on St. Fiacc's 
 hymn introduces St. Germanus as saying to St. Patrick — " Do you, 
 therefore, proceed to the successor of St. Peter, who is pope Celes- 
 tine, that he may ordain you (for the Irish mission) ; for this office 
 belongs to him."* Muirchu-M accu-Mactheni, and the author of 
 Vita Secunda describe St. Celestine as "bishop of Rome, holding 
 the Apostolic See." The Vita Tertia says that " Patrick wished to 
 visit Rome, the head of all churches, whither flocked the faithful 
 from all parts of the whole world."f The Vita Quarta, referred by 
 Dr. Todd to the eighth century, not only styles Ptome the Apostolic 
 See, and speaks of the apostolic permission given to St. Patrick 
 by pope Celestine, but further adds : " Germanus sent blessed 
 Patrick to Rome, that he might go forth to preach with the 
 sanction of the bishop of the Apostolic See : for due order so 
 requireth."j The Vita Septima, referred to St. Evin, relates that 
 when St. Patrick was divinely inspired to prepare for the Irish 
 mission, " he resolved first to visit Rome, the citadel and teacher of 
 Christian faith." — Statuit prius Romam ad doctrinal et fidei 
 Christianas arcem et magistram proficisci.§ And subsequently it 
 adds, that guided by the counsels of the angel Victor, " St. 
 Patrick determined to visit the Seeof Peter, the teacher of our faith, 
 and the fountain -source of ever?/ apostolate : that by its apostolic 
 authority, his mission might be sanctioned and confirmed "\\ Coen- 
 nechaire, who is better known by his Latinized name, Probus, is 
 judged by Lanigan and other competent authorities to be the 
 most accurate historian of our apostle St. Patrick. The age in 
 which Probus lived is uncertain. Usher referred his work to the 
 
 * Pergas ergo tu ad successorem S. Petri nempe Ccelestinum, ut te 
 ordinet : quia hoc munus ipsi iuciimbit." — Tr.Thaum. p. 5. See ante, p. 27. 
 
 t Romam caput videlicet omnium ecclesiarum ad quam Christiani ex omnibus 
 mundi partibus conveniebant. 
 
 J Ut cum Apostolicae Sedis episcopi licentia ad prsedicationem exiret : 
 sic enim ordo exigebat. — Tr. Thaum. p. 39. 
 
 § Tr. Th. p. 121. || Ibid. p. 122. 
 
118 EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 
 
 eighth century ; Ware, Harris, and Colgan are generally cited as 
 authorities who assign the year 920 as the date of its composition. 
 Yet these writers only put forward this opinion as a matter of con- 
 jecture, whilst the reasons which they advance in support of it, do 
 not bring with them even the slightest shade of probability.* 
 The only Irish writer of the name that acquired a continental 
 fame was Probus, who, after devoting himself for many years to 
 the study of sacred and classical literature in Ireland, retired to 
 Mentz, where he died on the 26th of May, 859.f Usher's 
 opinion, however, seems to approach far nearer to the truth, as he 
 grounded it on the manuscripts which he consulted. At all 
 events, this, to say the least, ancient and accurate writer, having 
 recorded the prayer breathed by St. Patrick, that Heaven might 
 conduct, him to the Apostolic See, adds : " Not long after, the 
 man of God came, as he had desired, to Home, the head of all 
 churches, and having asked and received there the apostolic bless- 
 ing, returned to Ireland."! 
 
 Thus, then, Rome is the See of Peter, the Apostolic See, the 
 source of Catholic apostolate, the centre of Christian faith : 
 her's it is to dispense the blessings of heaven, and the treasures 
 of grace; her's, too, to strengthen the Christian missionary, to 
 
 * The only plausible argument for this opinion is, that Probus inscribes 
 his work to a Paulinus. Now, in the tenth century there was a Mael- 
 Paulinus, bishop and abbot of Indenen, who died in 920 ; whilst there 
 was a contemporary, Coencachair, lecturer in the school of Slane, who 
 was burned to death in the tower of that monastery by the Danes, 
 in the year 950. — (See Petrie's Round Towers, p. 368) However, though 
 the Irish on the continent often Latinized their names, this was a rare 
 occurrence when their writings were addressed to their friends in Ire- 
 land. Moreover, the writer thus addresses Pauliuus in conclusion : 
 " Ecce habes f rater Pauline" etc. — (Tr. Th. p. 61.) This is certainly not 
 the style in which the religious of Slane would address the bishop anil 
 abbot of Indenen. It is also probable that Paulinus held that abbacy 
 for many years ; the abbot and bishop Ferghil, who seems to have been 
 his immediate predecessor, died in 902. The following quatrain was 
 composed on the death of Paulinus : — 
 
 " Mselpoil, who was in great dignity, 
 
 A bishop who took the road of a king ; 
 
 A sage who enforced the law upon all — 
 
 A man who dispensed peace all around." 
 
 — (See O'Donov. Four Masters, ad an. 920 ) 
 + See Histoire Litteraire, etc , torn. v. p. 209, seqq. % Tr. Th. p. 48. 
 
EARLY IRISH WRITERS ON THE PREROGATIVES OF ROME. 119 
 
 give vitality to his teaching, and to impart a heavenly fecundity 
 to his spiritual labours. 
 
 With such sentiments in the minds of our forefathers, it will 
 not surprise us to find the ancient writer of the life of St. Furseus 
 registering the following words, as addressed by that great saint 
 to the central see of the Catholic world — 
 
 " O Rome ! exalted above all cities by the triumphs of the apostles, 
 decked with the roses of martyrdom, decorated with the lilies of con- 
 fessors, adorned with the palms of virgins, strengthened by all their 
 merits, enriched with the remains of so many and so renowned saints ; 
 we hail thee ! May thy sacred authority never cease, which has been 
 illustrated by the dignity and wisdom of the holy Fathers : that authority 
 by which the body of Christ, that is to say, our blessed mother the 
 Church, maintains its undying consistency and vigour."* 
 
 We shall conclude this article with an extract from the famous 
 letter of Gillibert, de usu et statu Ecclesiastico. It was well 
 nigh seventy years before the English landed on the Irish shores, 
 that Gillibert was appoiuted bishop of Limerick. His Irish name 
 was Gille-Esperic : he visited Rome and larance, and at Rouen 
 formed the friendship of St. Anselm. On his return to Ireland 
 he ruled as abbot the famous monastery of Bangor, and was 
 thence in 1090, as Usher thinks, but according to others, some 
 years later advanced to the see of Lumneach, now known by its 
 Euglish name of Limerick. One of the first acts of the new bishop 
 was to write a letter of congratulation to St. Anselm, expressing 
 the joy with which he learned that at length he had succeeded 
 " in inducing the untameable minds of the Normans to submit to 
 the canonical decrees of the holy Fathers ;" and this letter was ac- 
 companied with a gift of twenty-five Irish pearls. The letter on the 
 ecclesiastical orders was drawn up at the request of the Irish 
 clergy, and is addressed : " To the bishops and priests of all 
 Ireland, the last of bishops Gille of Lumneach wishes health in 
 Christ." He lays down in detail the relative duties of each 
 order, and in conclusion thus faithfully sketches the position 
 of the successor of St. Peter in regard to the Christian Church : — 
 
 * Ap. Bolland. Januarii, torn, ii., p. 50. — " Qua corpus Christi videlicet 
 beata mater Ecclesia vigct solidata." 
 
120 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF 
 
 "The picture I have drawn shovveth that all the Church's members are 
 to be brought under one chief bishop, to wit, Christ and His vicar, 
 blessed Peter the apostle, and the pope presiding in his see, to be 
 
 governed by them As Noah was placed to rule the ark amidst 
 
 the waves of the flood, just so does the Roman pontiff rule the Church 
 
 amid the billows of this world The position held in the Eastern 
 
 Church by the patriarchs is that which belongs to archbishops in the 
 West ; and both patriarchs and archbishops are subject in the first degree 
 to the Roman pontiff. As the patriarchs, however, govern the apostolic 
 sees, Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, it is their privilege to ordain 
 archbishops, and, in a manner, are likened to the bishop of Rome. To 
 Peter alone, however, was it said : 'Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I 
 will build my Church.' Therefore the pope alone is exalted in dignity 
 above the whole Church, and he alone has the privilege of ordaining 
 and judging all."* 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF THE IRISH CHURCH 
 REGARDING ROME. 
 
 Canon of St. Patrick, that difficult cases are to be referred to Rome — 
 Usher admits it to be genuine — Found in Book of Armagh — Quoted 
 by synod of Magh-lene in 630 — Contained in an Irish collection of 
 canons, of the year 700 — Dr. Todd refuted — Ancient Irish canons 
 regarding appeals to Rome — Dean Murray's objections. 
 
 It is a characteristic feature, and hence, too, a special glory of 
 our Irish Church, that her apostle, by an express decree, marked 
 out for her and sanctioned the hallowed course she should pursue 
 in reference to Rome. The statute of St. Patrick is preserved in 
 the ancient Book of Armagh,! and, moreover, in " that part of 
 the same old MS. which ivas copied from the booh written by 
 St. Patrick's own hand."\ 
 
 After indicating some cases of special importance reserved for 
 the decision of the bishop of Armagh, to whom, as it is decreed, 
 " perveniet caussa totius negotionis caiteris aliorum judicibus pra> 
 
 * Ap. Usher, Syllog. Epistt. No. xxx. p. 54, seqq. + Fol. 21, b. b. 
 
 % Curry's Lectures, p. 372 ; Petrie, Essay on the History and Antiqui- 
 ties of Tara Hill : Dublin, 1839, pag. 81. 
 

 THE IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME 121 
 
 termissis," — " the examination of the whole matter will be reserved 
 all other inferior judges being passed over," it is further enacted: 
 
 "Item qiuecumque causa valde "Moreover, if any case of ex- 
 
 difficilis exorta fuerit atque ignota treme difficulty shall arise, and one 
 
 cunctis Scotorum gentium judicibus which the various judges of the Irish 
 
 ad cathedram archiepiscopi Hiber- nation cannot decide, let it be re- 
 
 nensium (id est Patricii) atque hu- f erred to the see of the chief bishop 
 
 jus antistitis examinationem recte of the Irish (that is of Patrick), 
 
 referenda. and submitted to his episcopal ex- 
 amination. 
 
 " Si vero in ilia cum suis sapien- " But if such a case of the afore - 
 
 tibus facile sanari non poterit talis said importance cannot easily be de- 
 
 caussa prsedictse negotionis, ad Se- cided in that see with the assistance 
 
 dem Apostolicam decrevimus esse of its wise counsellors, we have de- 
 
 mittendam, id est ad Petri apostoli creed that it be sent to the Apostolic 
 
 cathedram auctoritatem Romse ur- See, that is to say, to the chair of 
 
 bis habentem. the apostle Peter, which holds the 
 
 authority of the city of Rome. 
 
 " Hi sunt qui de hoc decreverunt " These are the persons who de- 
 id est, Auxilius, Patricius, Secundi- creed as above, viz. , Auxilius, Pa- 
 nus, Benignus."* trick, Secundinus, and Benignus." 
 
 We may add the translation of this passage that is given by 
 Usher in his dissertation on the Religion of the Ancient Irish : J 
 
 "Whenever any cause that is very difficult and unknown unto all 
 the judges of the Scottish nations shall arise, it is rightly to be referred 
 to the see of the archbishop of the Irish (that is to say, of Patrick), and 
 to the examination of the prelate thereof. But if there, by him and his 
 wise men, a cause of this nature cannot easily be made up, we have 
 decreed it shall be sent to the See Apostolic— that is to say, to the chair 
 of the apostle Peter, which hath the authority of the city of Rome." 
 
 The reader will be anxious to learn what were the remarks of 
 Usher on this important text : 
 
 " It is most likely," he says, "that St. Patrick had a special regard 
 for the Church of Rome, from whence he was sent for the conversion of 
 this island : so as, if I myself had lived in his days, for the resolution of 
 a doubtful question, I should as willingly have listened to the judgment 
 of the Church of Rome, as to the determination of any church in the 
 whole world : so reverent an estimation have I of the integrity of that 
 Church as it stood in those days. " 
 
 * See the whole passage with a fac-simile of the original in Curry, loc. 
 cit. pag. 611, append, (p.) 
 t Page 84. 
 
122 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF 
 
 Now, we willingly accept many of the principles here laid down 
 by Usher. It is indeed manifest, first, that St. Patrick, in 
 enacting that canon, " had a special regard for the Church oj 
 Rome;" second, as that canon was enacted for the guidance of 
 the Irish church in after-ages, it is also manifest that St. Patrick 
 wished his spiritual children to cherish a reverent estimation of the 
 integrity of the Church of Rome. We shall, however, further add, 
 thirdly, that it is not a mere wish that is here expressed, but it is a 
 canonical enactment that is made by our apostle, commanding the 
 clergy and faithful of Erin, whom he had enlightened with the 
 doctrines of our saving faith, to recur in their doubts and difficul- 
 ties to the successors of St. Peter. 
 
 It should, moreover, be remarked, that it is not merely on 
 account of some peculiar and individual opinion, as to the integrity 
 of the Church of Rome, that St. Patrick commands all cases of 
 doubtful controversy to be referred to its decision ; he himself 
 expressly assigns the principle which guided him in this enact- 
 ment ; such controversies, he says, shall be referred to the Apostolic 
 See — that see which is held by the successors of St. Peter, and 
 rules the Church by the authority of Christ. Thus was the 
 golden rule enacted by our apostle for the guidance of the Irish 
 Church: Rome was to be reverenced; its judgment was to be 
 •revered ; its decisions were to be unimpeachable, because it was 
 characteristically the Apostolic See. Such, too, is the rule which 
 Ireland has invariably followed for fourteen hundred years ; in- 
 herited from her glorious apostle, she loves and cherishes it at 
 the present day in the period of her comparative prosperity, even 
 as she did in the period of her suffering and trials ; and ever shall 
 the decisions of Rome be revered and loved by us, as proceeding 
 from the central source of all ecclesiastical authority — from the 
 Apostolic See. 
 
 The genuineness of this canon cannot be impugned. Its being 
 found in the Book of Armagh brings us back well nigh to the time 
 of St. Patrick himself. We have already seen how that ancient 
 manuscript was transcribed in the year 807; and even then the 
 original which was copied was believed to have been written by our 
 

 THE IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME. 123 
 
 apostle. In the synod of Magh-lene, in 630, the assembled pre- 
 lates acted on this decree ; and St. Cnmmian, who himself was 
 present at the synod, thus in 634, in his letter on the paschal 
 computation, attests the fact : " in accordance with the canonical 
 decree, that if questions of grave moment arise, they shall be re- 
 ferred to the head of cities, we sent such as we knew were wise ant: 
 humble men to Rome."* There is even a third ancient witness to 
 confirm the same truth. It was about the year 700 that a collec- 
 tion of canons was made for the use of the Irish Church, and 
 amongst the canonical enactments which it registers, is precisely 
 the decree of St. Patrick, that should any questions arise in our 
 island, they were to be referred to Rome: — 
 
 " Patritius ait : si quas difficiles "St. Patrick defines: should 
 qusestiones in hac insula oriantur any grave controversies arise in 
 ad Sedem Apostolicam referantur."f this island, they shall be referred 
 
 to the Apostolic See. " 
 
 We shall just now make some remarks on this ancient collection 
 of canons, the importance of which is not sufficiently known ; but 
 we must first warn the reader against some difficulties which might, 
 perchance, betray him into an erroneous conclusion regarding the 
 canon now before us. 
 
 It has been generally spoken of as forming part of the enact- 
 ments of the synod held by SS. Patrick, Auxilius, etc., whose Acts 
 are published in Ware, Wilkins, Villanueva, etc. ; and Dr. Todd, in 
 his late work on St. Patrick, passes over this canon in utter silence, 
 being content with some general arguments to prove that the acts 
 of that synod must be referred to a later date. Now we must 
 remark : 
 
 1. That the canon preserved in the Book of Armagh does not 
 form part of the acts of the published synods of our apostle. The 
 synod which bears the name of SS. Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus, 
 was discovered by Spelman amongst the papers of Corpus Christi, 
 Cambridge, in a very ancient but very incorrect manuscript. 
 
 * Usher, Syllog. Epp. No. 30. 
 
 t Collect. Hib. Canonum, lib. xx. cap. 5. 
 
1 24 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF 
 
 Neither in that MS. nor in any of the editions made from it, has the 
 decree regarding Rome been published ; and hence, even should we 
 admit that the published acts of that synod are interpolated or 
 belong to a later date, the canon regarding Rome preserved in the 
 Book of Armagh, and corroborated by such ancient authority, must 
 retain its full weight and importance. 
 
 2. Dr. Todd remarks, that in the acts of the published synod, 
 no mention is made of St. Secundinus,* " whose history being 
 purely Irish," he thinks, was unknown to the continental compiler. 
 Now, in regard to the canon of which we speak, it is immediately 
 added, after the other canon in the Book of Armagh, that SS. 
 Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus, and Benignus, were those who 
 enacted it : " Hi sunt qui de hoc decreverunt, id est, Auxilius, 
 Patricias, Secundinus, .Benignus."^ Thus, then, not only the Irish 
 St. Secundinus, but 'also the Irish St. Benignus is expressly com- 
 memorated, and there is no trace of an ignorant continental com- 
 piler 4 
 
 3. Dr. Todd's reasoning on the date of St. Patrick's printed 
 synod is based on uncertain and erroneous grounds. At page 488 
 he assigns it " to the ninth or tenth century ;" but page 4, he was 
 still more modern Jn his views, and limiting his praise, asserts that 
 it was " probably not later than the tenth or eleventh century." 
 To justify his assertion, he, at page 486, seqq., mistranslates its 
 decrees, and falsifies their meaning, and then rests his theory solely 
 upon these false grounds. Thus, he particularly dwells on the 
 sacred ecclesiastical tonsure, though the decrees of the synod 
 have no reference at all to it ; he appeals to the marriage of the 
 clergy as asserted in the sixth canon, though the sixth canon con- 
 tains no such assertion ; and he triumphantly refers to the " ancient 
 custom in Ireland of presenting offerings," mentioned in this synod, 
 
 * Page 486. f Lib. Armac. loc. cit. 
 
 J As St. Secundinus died in 448, according to our ancient annalists, the 
 published synod might have been held subsequent to that year, since the 
 Annals of Ulster record the death of Auxilius in 459 (or 460), and of 
 lserninus in 468. There was surely a sufficient interval between 448 and 
 460 to celebrate that synod after Secundinus' death ; and thus the absence 
 of his name from the printed Acts, is nowise an indication of their having 
 been penned by a continental interpolator. 
 
THE IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME. 125 
 
 whilst the synod makes mention, indeed, of a mos antiquus of pre- 
 senting offerings, but makes no mention of such being an ancient 
 custom in Ireland. To enter fully into these erroneous statements 
 of the learned writer, would bring us too far from our present sub- 
 ject, and we refer the reader for a more detailed exposition of 
 them to the appendix (No. 5); the more so, as the whole theory 
 of Dr. Todd, though calculated to deceive the inattentive observer, 
 can in no way interfere with the canonical decree regarding Rome, 
 which we are discussing ; for though we should grant that the 
 printed synod of St. Patrick belongs to the twelfth century, surely 
 that cannot affect the present decree, which was transcribed as 
 early as 807, from another copy which, even then, was considered 
 ancient — so ancient as to be ascribed to~and venerated as written 
 by St. Patrick himself, and which, moreover, was expressly regis- 
 tered in the Irish collection of canons, compiled about the year 700, 
 as a decree which emanated from our own apostle St. Patrick. 
 
 We may now return to this Collection of Canons made at so 
 early a period for the guidance of our Irish Church, and we propose 
 to present in full to the reader, the course of reverential submissive 
 obedience which, as it enacts, should be ever followed by the Irish 
 faithful in regard to Rome. More than one manuscript of this 
 collection has fortunately been preserved to us. The Imperial 
 Library of Paris possesses two copies — one of the twelfth century, 
 the other of the eighth century ; Darmstad is enriched with a copy 
 of the ninth century; St. Gall, in Switzerland, has another ancient 
 copy of it ; a beautiful minuscule manuscript of the Vallicellian 
 Archives of Rome of the tenth century, also presents it to us ; 
 the Cottonian Codex of the eighth century, which contains this 
 collection, has become celebrated on account of its being used by 
 Usher, Spelman, Wilkius, and others ; a Cambray MS., also of the 
 eighth century, contains a copy of it, transcribed by order of 
 Albericus, bishop of Cambray, who died in 790.* 
 
 Whilst thus the manuscript copies extant bring us back to the 
 
 * See Wasserschleben, Die Bussordnungen, etc.; Halle, 1851, introduc- 
 tion ; Zeuss, Gram. Celt., xxxiii. ; Proceedings of R. 1. Acad., v. 223, 
 Dec. 8th, 1851. 
 
 
126 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF 
 
 eighth century, the intrinsic characteristic features of the collection 
 refer its origin to at least the very commencement of that century.* 
 Notwithstanding the high antiquity of this ecclesiastical repertory 
 of our Irish laws and observances, and the many copies of it which 
 are known to exist, it has hitherto remained a sealed book to the 
 generality of our ecclesiastical writers ; and even Dr. Todd, in his 
 late work, laments that only a few fragmentary extracts from it 
 have been presented to the public.f 
 
 It will not, therefore, be uninteresting to present an analysis of 
 its decrees, which point to Rome as the great centre of spiritual 
 authority, and the tribunal by whose decision all doubtful contro- 
 versies must be judged. The twentieth book or division of the 
 collection is entitled De Provincia, and after some preliminary 
 definitions, it enacts that each district should decide its own con- 
 troversies. Then it repeats the decree of the synod of Rome : — 
 
 "Quicumque causam habuerit "Whosoever has a cause to be 
 
 apud suos judices judicetur et ne judged, let him present it to his own 
 
 ad alienos causa vagandi et pro- judges, and let him not refer it to 
 
 terve despiciens patriam suam strangers through a desire of ram- 
 
 transeat sed apud metropolitanum bling, and through a contempt for 
 
 episcopum suae provincial judice- his own country; but let him be 
 
 tur." judged by the metropolitan bishop 
 
 of his province." 
 
 Lest justice might be impaired by thus limiting the decision of 
 controversies to the local tribunals, it is enacted in the fourth 
 chapter, that a province, in order to enjoy its privileges, should 
 always have in readiness wise counsellors, capable of deciding all 
 
 * See appendix No. 6. 
 
 f Page 145 seqq. In the Proceedings of the R I. A., vol. v. p. 224, Dr. 
 Graves, after pointing out "the importance of having the antiquity of these 
 Irish canons established" in so conclusive a manner, adduced instances to 
 show that they illustrated the early civil history of Ireland. " Though 
 professedly (he said) a collection of ecclesiastical canons, they contain 
 amongst them several laws that are purely of a civil character, and many 
 allusions to the existing state of society. In the ancient Brehon Laws 
 still extant in the Irish language, the very same institutions are to be 
 found, forming parts of a system which is altogether similar and coherent. 
 Thus the independent testimony of the Canons, whose age is now fully 
 ascertained, demonstrates the genuineness and antiquity of our Brehon 
 Laws."— Dec. 8th, 1851. 
 
THE IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME. 
 
 127 
 
 controversies that might ordinarily arise ; and on this subject the 
 words of an ancient Irish synod are adopted : 
 
 " Synodus Hibernensis : sedes 
 patriarcharum et cathedra legis 
 et ordo sacerdotalis contempta et 
 deordiuata fait; cum, reges et 
 judices et personas dignas nou 
 habuerit nisi ab alieuis eos evo- 
 casset."* 
 
 "The Irish synod declares that 
 the patriarchal see and the chair 
 of the law, and the priestly order, 
 were slighted and despised when 
 they had not kings and judges, 
 and fit persons, without summon- 
 ing them from other districts." 
 
 Thus far, however, provision was only made for the ordinary 
 and every-day cases of controversy and litigation. Should more 
 difficult and intricate questions arise {maxima et incertod causce), 
 then another tribunal might be appealed to. But even on this 
 head, the first care of our fathers was to admonish the faithful 
 that instruction was nowise, and under no circumstances, to be 
 sought for amongst the heretics, or amongst those who rejected 
 the observances of Rome : 
 
 " Cavendum est ne ad alias pro- 
 vincias aut ecclesias referantur 
 causae, quse alio more et alia reli- 
 gione utuntur; aut Brittones qui 
 omnibus contrarii sunt et a Romano 
 more et ab unitate ecclesioe absce- 
 dnnt : aut hsereticos quamvis sint 
 in ecclesise causis periti, et studiosi 
 fuerunt."t 
 
 "Care must be taken, that no 
 controversies be referred to other 
 provinces or churches which follow 
 different customs and profess a dif- 
 ferent religion; or to the Britons, who 
 are contrary to all, and separate 
 themselves from the Roman usages, 
 and from the unity of the church ; 
 or to heretics, even when they are 
 affable and skilled in the ecclesias- 
 tical causes." 
 
 Whilst thus, all heretics were to be carefully shunned, and in 
 general all those whose teaching or discipline might generate some 
 suspicion of heterodoxy, was there no peculiar tribunal to which 
 the prelates of Ireland might turn their eyes with confident security, 
 and on whose judgment they might implicitly rely ? It is precisely 
 to point out such a secure tribunal, that the decree of St. Patrick 
 is compendiously produced : 
 
 * Col. Hib. Can. xx. 4. 
 
 f Ibid. xx. cap. 6. 
 
]28 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF 
 
 "Patricius ait. : Si quae difficiles "St. Patrick enacts: If any 
 
 quaestiones in hac insula oriantur grave controversies arise in this 
 
 ad Sedem Apostolicarn referan- island, they shall be referred to 
 
 tur."* the Apostolic See." 
 
 Even these words of our apostle were not deemed sufficient, and 
 the decree of Rome itself is repeated, to guide the inquirer to the 
 secure tribunal in all controversy : — 
 
 " Canones Romani : si ma j ores " The Roman canons decree, that 
 caussae f uerunt exortae ad caput ur- when the more difficult questions 
 bium sunt referendae."t arise, they are to be referred to the 
 
 head city." 
 
 And subsequently another canon of the Roman Church is adopted : 
 
 " Synodus Romana : si in qualibet " The Roman synod enacts, if in 
 
 provincia ortee fuerint quaestiones any province controversies arise 
 
 et inter clericos dissidentes non con- which cannot be arranged amongst 
 
 veniat, ad majorem sedem referan- the contending parties, let the mat- 
 
 tur."J ter be referred to the chief see." 
 
 Thus, then, is clearly traced for the Irish Church the canonical 
 course it should pursue whensoever momentous questions and matters 
 of grave controversy should arise. Even the canons which Rome 
 itself enacted, are adopted as the rule and law of Ireland; and whilst 
 other churches might inspire diffidence and distrust, the Apostolic 
 See was the guiding star that would not mislead, — the central and 
 supreme tribunal of the whole Church, in whose decision all confi- 
 dence might be securely placed. 
 
 Elsewhere in this Collection of Canons reference is more than 
 once made to the See of St. Peter, so as to render still more clear 
 and indubious its teaching in regard to the supremacy and preroga- 
 tives of the Vicar of Christ. Thus, in the 38th book (Codex Valli- 
 cellianus, sEec. x. No. xviii.), which is entitled De Principatu, the 
 18th chapter lays down, that in some cases a bishop might appoint 
 his own successor before his death, and for this purpose quotes the 
 decrees of an Irish synod sanctioning such a usage. It then conti- 
 nues as follows : — 
 
 * Col. Hib. Can. xx. cap. 5. t Ibm\ X Ibid. xx. cap. 5. 
 
THE IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME. 129 
 
 "It was thus that the divine Redeemer before his death appointed St. 
 Peter his successor, saying : Thou art Peter, etc. ; and it was thus, too, 
 that Peter before his death, in the assembly of the brethren, said : The 
 day of my death approaches ; I therefore appoint Clement my successor ; 
 to him I leave the chair of preaching and teaching, because he was my 
 companion in all things."* 
 
 Thus, then, St. Peter was appointed to hold the place of Christ 
 on earth (according to this ancient monument of the faith of our 
 fathers) ; and in the Roman pontiffs is perpetuated the central 
 source of unerring teaching and doctrine, whose decisions should 
 be reverenced as proceeding from the vicars of Christ and holders 
 of the Apostolic See. 
 
 Elsewhere, in the 21st Book, which is entitled, Be Ordine Inquisi- 
 tionis Cousarum, the course is prescribed which was to be followed 
 when inquiring into any matter of uncertainty or doubt. It is by 
 adopting the words of pope Innocent, that this canonical course is 
 laid down. Should the inspired writings, says that great pontiff, 
 not be sufficiently clear, the inquirer shall have recourse to the 
 tradition of the Church, recorded in the writings of her doctors and 
 fathers ; should he not even here find that which he desires, " let 
 him interrogate the canons of the Apostolic See" — canones Apostolic® 
 Sedis intuere.j 
 
 Thus, that reverent affection for the See of St. Peter, of which 
 Usher speaks, was not confined to St. Patrick, but lived in his 
 children, and in the eighth century found an indubious expression, 
 whilst it bequeathed to us an incontrovertible monument in the 
 beautiful collection of canons, which we have just now been ex- 
 amining. The reverence for Rome, taught by St. Patrick, was 
 handed down uninterruptedly from sire to son : what St. Patrick 
 enacted, was repeated and confirmed in the collection of canons, in 
 700 ; and we may say it was sanctioned anew when, a hundred 
 years later, was compiled for the see of Armagh, the now famous 
 Liber Armacanus, in which, dictated by Torbach, j archbishop of 
 that see, is found fully registered, the often- quoted canon of our 
 
 * Col. Hib. Can. xviii. t lb. xxi. 1. 
 
 X See Paper by Rev. Charles Graves, A.M., in Proceedings of the 
 Royal Irish Academy, vol iii. 
 
130 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF IRISH CHURCH. 
 
 apostle : " Should any difficult questions arise in this island, let them 
 be referred to the Apostolic See." 
 
 The learned Protestant dean of Ardagh, in the work more than 
 once referred to, entitled " Ireland and her Church," could find no 
 argument for impugning the authority of these decrees of our early 
 Church : however, even thus his courage did not fail him, and full 
 of confidence, he writes : " Now, supposing for one moment, that 
 this canon and decree were genuine, were they ever acted upon 
 before the twelfth century ? The ancient Irish Church on no 
 occasion ever appealed to the bishop of Rorne.' '* 
 
 We shall just now see whether this positive statement of the 
 learned writer is consistent with truth. Let us, however, to use 
 his own expression, for one moment suppose that the Irish Church 
 before the twelfth century never appealed to Rome ; is it not, at 
 least, a fact worthy of remark, and deserving the good dean's 
 attention, that during the whole of the eventful period from the 
 fifth to the twelfth century, it was the solemn canonical rule of the 
 Irish Church, that should any questions of grave controversy arise, 
 they were to be referred to the decision of the Apostolic See, and 
 that this decree of our apostle was no secret or hidden enactment, 
 but was repeated from age to age, and formed the living guiding 
 rule of our faithful people ? It should, moreover, strike the un- 
 biassed reader, with what simplicity the worthy dean identifies his 
 teaching with that of the Irish Church from the fifth to the twelfth 
 century ; and, nevertheless, he describes Rome at that period, as 
 the great centre of corrupted Christianity,] whilst the Irish Church 
 proclaimed it to be the depository of truth, the great centre of the 
 orthodox faith : he asserts that no appeals should be made to its 
 tribunal, whilst our apostle, and our sainted fathers, declared that 
 precisely to its tribunal, all questions of moment and grave con- 
 troversy should be referred : he exultingly dwells on the corrup- 
 tions of the Romish Church ;J and yet Ireland, whilst interdicting 
 appeals to any see infected with heresy, or even differing on points 
 of discipline from the Holy See, pointed to Rome as the safe guide 
 
 * Page 29. f Page 59. % Loc cit. 
 

 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 131 
 
 and guardian, at whose maternal bosom our faithful people would 
 find repose, and consolation, and instruction. 
 
 If we have referred nominally to the work of dean Murray, we 
 wish it to be understood, that his production is merely mentioned 
 as a sample of the Protestant literature of our days, and of the 
 false reasonings with which the enemies of the Holy See seek to 
 deceive their deluded readers, and imbue their minds with the 
 prejudices and fatal errors of heresy. The press of England 
 incessantly pours tracts and books upon our island, not only igno- 
 ring its traditions, but falsifying its monuments ; misinterpreting 
 its records, and leaving no means untried to give a colouring of 
 Protestantism to the tenets and faith of our sainted forefathers. 
 On the other hand, each new fragment of our ancient writers that 
 comes to light, as well as the whole series of the records that 
 remain to us, attests that Ireland clung to Rome as the source of 
 its spiritual strength, and venerated the successors of St. Peter as 
 the chief pastors of the Catholic Church, holding on earth the 
 place of Jesus Christ, teaching by His authority, and ruling by His 
 power. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 Commenced in the days of St. Patrick. — Pilgrimage of Germanus, son of 
 an Irish chieftain — St. Enna, St. Ailbe. — St. Conlaedh brings vest- 
 ments from Rome. — St. Nennidh. — St. Finnian's pilgrimage, probably 
 the same as St. Frigidian of Lucca.— Gildas, St. Molua, St. Flannan, 
 St Laserian, St. Wiro, etc. — Irish Bishops at Roman Synod in 720, 
 and Third Synod of Lateran. 
 
 It seems to be a matter agreed on by all our historians, that 
 during the sixth and succeeding centuries, crowds of pilgrims set 
 out from our Irish shores, and, travelling through Germany or 
 France, hastened to visit the shrines of the Apostles. Strangers, 
 however, may well be supposed to visit that city of wonders, as 
 
132 
 
 HUSH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 the sons of Albion at the present day, without sentiments of 
 devotion, and devoid of filial reverence for St. Peter's successors. 
 We shall, therefore, now enter on the inquiry, and cite some 
 examples to enable the reader to decide, whether it was in the 
 spirit of modern sight-seers that the Irish pilgrims flocked to that 
 city of God, or whether it was not rather in the spirit of the 
 holy writer who exclaimed : " Oh, happy Rome ! depository of 
 truth ! centre of faith ! enriched with the relics of the Apostles, 
 empurpled with the blood of countless martyrs, sanctified by 
 the virtues of so many holy children of Christ, we hail thee ! we 
 love thee !" 
 
 Contemporary with St. Patrick was the son of an Irish chief- 
 tain, who being baptized by St. Germanus of Auxerre, assumed in 
 after- times the name of that great saint. Precisely as our own 
 apostle, so was the younger Germanus sent in after-years by the 
 bishop of Auxerre to visit the shrines of Rome; and his life 
 records that, prostrate before the tombs of the Apostles, he 
 remained for a length of time in prayer, shedding tears of con- 
 solation and spiritual joy.* It further adds, that the interval of 
 his stay in Rome was devoted by him to visiting the churches and 
 sanctuaries by day, whilst at night he ever hastened to the church 
 of St. Peter, and it seemed he could never satiate his reverential 
 ardour by kissing, again and again, its hallowed threshold.f 
 
 St. Enna, or Enda, was a disciple of St. Patrick, and is famed 
 amongst our hagiologists as the great St. Anthony of the Irish 
 Church. Having obtained a grant of the isles of Arran, he 
 founded there a monastery, which for centuries was the most 
 celebrated in the land : so numerous were the religious who 
 flocked thither to pursue the practice of perfection, that it was 
 commonly known by the epithet Arann of the Saints, and the 
 Life of St. Ailbe thus describes it : " Great is that island, a land 
 of saints, because God alone knows the number of saints that 
 
 * "Prostrato toto corpore, incumbens orationi diutissime oravit cum 
 lachrymis," etc. — Acta SS. Maji, i. 266. 
 
 t "Roirue ergo aliquandiu immoratus Ecclesiarum Dei loca circuibat 
 diebus, nocte vero ad S. Petri basilicam revertebatur et prredulcia figens 
 oscula in ecclesiee liminibus, sic sancto desiderio vix satiabatur." — Ibid. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 133 
 
 repose there."* Marianus O'Gorman styles Enda " the virginal 
 saint from Arann island ;" and St. Cuimiii of Connor thus com- 
 memorates his virtues : — 
 
 "Enda loved glorious mortification 
 In Arann — triumphant virtue ! 
 A narrow dungeon of flinty stonei 
 To bring the people to heaven." 
 
 This saint was companion of St. Ailbe in Rome, where he 
 passed his time, as his life records, " imitating the example of the 
 saints, and preparing himself for the holy sacerdotal order."f 
 Being at length ordained, he founded a monastery in the vicinity 
 of Rome, which he styled Laetium, that is, monastery of heavenly 
 joy; and it is added that this name well became his monastery, 
 " for in it was rigorously observed the precept of the love of God 
 and of our neighbour." 
 
 This is not the only fact which illustrates the history of St. 
 Enda's journey to Rome. It is also mentioned by an ancient 
 writer, that whilst he was in Rome, the holy pontiff died. It was 
 the custom for the clergy and people to assemble in St. Peter's 
 Church to elect a successor ; thither, too, went our saint, with 
 Ailbe and another companion, named Benedict. Whilst all were 
 prostrated in prayer around the altar, a dove, after flying around 
 the church, alighted on the shoulder of our Benedict : clergy and 
 people at once pronounced this to be a heavenly omen of his 
 being chosen for the Papal See, and hailed him as their pontiff. 
 No argument, however, could induce him to accept the proffered 
 dignity ; still the name Papa, or Papeus, remained his character- 
 istic designation in our ancient writers. % It is added that St. Enda, 
 on departing from Rome, received the blessing of the newly-elected 
 pope, and also a gift of the four gospels, and a chasuble richly 
 wrought in silver and gold. St. Enda died about the year 510. § 
 
 St. Condlaed was appointed bishop of Kildare about the year 
 490, and he died before the great patroness of Ireland, on 3rd May, 
 519. He was a skilful artificer in gold, silver, and other metals ; 
 
 * Acta SS. p. 712. t Acta SS. p. 705. 
 
 X See Acta SS. pp. 70S and 711. § See O'Donovan ; Todd, p. 442. 
 
134 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 and in the metrical life of St. Brigid, attributed to St. Brogan, it is 
 specially mentioned of him, that returning from Rome, he brought 
 with him a set of rich vestments : — 
 
 " How many miracles she wrought* 
 No man can fully tell. 
 She blessed the vestments of Condlaed, 
 Which he brought with him from Leatha." * 
 
 These vestments were subsequently famous in the Irish Church, 
 and Cogitosus, in his life of St. Brigid, relates that " she followed 
 the example of the most blessed Job, and never suffered the needy 
 to pass her without a gift ; for she gave to the poor the transma- 
 rine and rare vestments of bishop Condlaed of glorious light, which 
 he was accustomed to use when offering the sacred mysteries at the 
 altars, on the festivals of our Lord, and the vigils of the Apostles." j 
 
 St. Nennidh " of the pure hand," so called from having adminis- 
 tered the holy Viaticum to our great patroness, St. Brigid, is also 
 recorded to have made a pilgrimage to Rome.f 
 
 Fortunately, too, the sentiments of the same great foundress of 
 Kildare, in regard to the successors of St. Peter, have been regis- 
 tered in her metrical life by St. Coelan,§ of Inis-Keltra, who lived 
 before the close of the seventh century : " She was desirous," he 
 thus writes, " to proceed to the city of Rome, but as this journey 
 was impossible for her, she was blessed by God with a heavenly 
 vision, in which she was present in spirit at the Apostles' shrines, 
 and assisted at the Holy Sacrifice which was offered up over their 
 hallowed remains. She subsequently sent a priest to Rome (per- 
 haps the Nennidh of whom we have just spoken), who would visit 
 
 * Confer Todd, page 23, seqq., who justly remarks, that in the text 
 just cited, there cau be no doubt of the name Leatha being referred to 
 Rome. See the original text in Colgan, Tr. Th. pag. 517. 
 
 t Trias Thaumat. page 522. This same ancient writer further informs 
 us, that the tomb of St. Condlaed, placed at the right of the altar of 
 Kildare, "was adorned with gold and silver, and gems and precious 
 stones, with crowns of gold and silver suspended from above." 
 
 t Acta SS., page 114. 
 
 § This metrical life has been published, but from very imperfect manu- 
 scripts, by Colgan, Tr. Thaumat. page 582, seqq., and by the BolJandists. 
 A far more accurate and ancient copy of it is preserved in the Barberini 
 Archives, Rome. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 135 
 
 the pontiff in her name, and be instructed, at the same time, in the 
 rites and ceremonies of the holy city : and this delegate of our 
 saint, having tamed some time in Eome, brought back to St. 
 Brigid, and her holy nuns of Kildare, many gifts from the vicar of 
 Christ, and with them the liturgical books and sacred chaunt. 
 
 St. Finnian of Cluain-Iraird (now Clonard, Co. Meath), is called, 
 by the Martyrology of Donegal, and the Four Masters, the tutor 
 of the saints of Ireland. Aengus thus commemorates him on the 
 23rd of December : — 
 
 "A tower of gold over the sea, 
 May he be the friend of my soul, 
 Is Finnian the fair, the beloved founder 
 Of the great Cluain-Iraird."* 
 
 Three thousand scholars are said to have flocked to his mon- 
 astery, to be instructed in science and piety : and his ancient hymn 
 records, that, whilst his teaching ivas sweeter than the honey-comb, 
 
 "Trium virorum millium 
 Sorte fit doctor humilis 
 Verbi his fudit nuvium 
 Ut fons emanans rivulis."t 
 
 Twelve of his disciples attained special eminence in this school 
 of perfection, and they are known as the twelve apostles of the 
 Irish Church.J A fragment of an old life of this saint, quoted by 
 Ware, says that, "like the sun in the firmament, he enlightened the 
 world with the rays of his virtues, wholesome doctrine and miracles: 
 and the fame of his good works attracted many illustrious men 
 from divers parts of the world, to his school, as to a holy reposi- 
 tory of wisdom, partly to study the sacred Scriptures, and partly 
 to be instructed in ecclesiastical discipline. "§ O'Clery, too, in his 
 Calender of Irish Saints, describes his monastery of Clonard, as 
 " a holy city, full of wisdom and virtue, so that its founder obtained 
 the name of Finnian the ivise." In his office he is commemorated as 
 " Doctor Hibernian, lictor infidelium, thesaurus Clonardia3."|| 
 
 * See original in Martyr, of Christ Church, I.A.S. pref. p. lxxxvi. 
 t Acta SS. p. 401. J Ibid, page 405 ; Todd, St. Patrick, page 99. 
 § Ware's Antiquities of Ireland, page 241. 
 || Ap. Colgan, loc. cit. page401. 
 
1 36 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 This saint was the special friend of the two ornaments of the 
 Welsh Church, David and Cathmael or Cadoc. It was with the 
 latter, and also accompanied by his own great disciple Mobius, that 
 Finnian undertook a pilgrimage to Rome. An angel, however, 
 appeared to them on the way, and admonished them to return to 
 their own spiritual charge ; for, God had accepted the will for the 
 deed. St. Finnian then asked, what would be the blessing granted 
 to him for this his pilgrimage, and the angel said to him : " Erect 
 an altar to God, and whosoever with devotion visits that altar, 
 will receive the same graces that he would receive at Rome."* 
 
 This is the narrative of the ancient Latin life of St. Finnian. 
 There is also extant an Irish manuscript sketching our saiut's 
 career ; it, too, refers to his desire to visit Rome, and mentions that 
 an angel came to him and said — " What would be given to thee 
 at Rome shall be given to thee here."f 
 
 This assuredly proves that it was to gain the special blessings 
 of heaven that our greatest saints proposed to themselves the pil- 
 grimage to the shrines of the holy Apostles. 
 
 St. Finnian of Maghbile (now Moville) flourished in the same 
 century ; his death is commemorated by the Annals of Ulster and 
 Tighernach, in 589.J In former times he was revered as the 
 special protector of the counties of Down and Antrim. Thus in 
 the Psaltar-na-Rann, a poem of the ninth century, we read: — 
 
 " The judge of Eriu is Patrick, 
 Of the great city of Armagh ; 
 Blessed for ever is the holy man, 
 The royal gem of grace. 
 
 The Hy-Neill are under the patronage of Columbkille : 
 It is not under the shelter of a brake. 
 Under the protection of Finnian of Maghbile 
 Are all the Ulidians."§ 
 
 * Vita S. Finniani Acta SS. page 394. Dr. Todd, page 100, remarks 
 that this life of St. Finnian consists of two parts, of which the first is 
 much older, and more authentic than the latter. The narrative given 
 above, is taken from the first part, cap. ix. Dr. Todd says that St. Finnian 
 took his departure from his Welsh friends, when about to visit Rome : 
 the life, however, to which he refers, expressly states the contrary. 
 
 t Ap. Todd, loc. cit. page 101. % See Todd, St. Patrick, page 102-3. 
 
 § See the original in append, to Cambr. Evers. vol. ii. Celtic Society 
 1S50, page 775. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 137 
 
 St. Fiunian was placed under the instruction of St. Colman, first 
 bishop and founder of Dromore, who flourished in that see about 
 the year 510, and subsequently he lived in the monastery of Nen- 
 drum, under the guidance of the holy abbot Coelan.* Being of a 
 princely house of Ulster, many sought to connect him with their 
 families by marriage ; but guided by a divine light (superno lumine 
 radiatus), he resolved to devote himself wholly to God, and set out 
 on a pilgrimage to Rome, to visit the tombs of the Apostles. His 
 fame for virtue and learning had preceded him thither, and hence 
 he was honorably received by the reigning pontiff, Pelagius. For 
 three months he remained in the holy city, " learning the apostolical 
 customs and the ecclesiastical laws," and then having received the 
 apostolic blessing, he returned to his native land, bearing with him 
 the corrected text of the Hieronymian Vulgate, relics of the saints, 
 and those penitential decrees which, says the author of his ancient 
 life, "are still called the canons of St. Finnian."f These penitential 
 decrees of Finnian still happily exist ; they are cited in the Collectio 
 Hibernensis Canonum, and they were published from St. Gall, 
 Vienna, and Parisian manuscripts of the eighth and ninth centuries, 
 by Wasserschleben, at Halle, in 1851. St. Finnian's copy of the 
 Gospels is famous in the ecclesiastical history of the sixth century, 
 and is commemorated in the lives of St. Fintan, Comgall, and 
 Columba.j Many authorities have supposed that St. Finnian was 
 the same as the Irish patron of Lucca, who is known in Italy by 
 the name Frigidiano. The arguments of 0' Connor § and Colgan|| 
 have rendered this opinion almost evident ; and the additional facts 
 brought to light by Dr. Todd, when illustrating the hymn of St. 
 Mugint,^" place this opinion in still clearer light. The date com- 
 monly assigned to St. Finnian's death was the chief stumbling-block 
 which induced Lanigan and Reeves to judge him to be a distinct 
 personage from the Frigidian of Lucca. It was only in his just- 
 
 * See Reeves' Eccl. Antiq. of Down and Connor, page 187, seqq. ; Todd, 
 Lib. Hymn., page 98, seqq. where many questions connected with the 
 history of this saint are ably illustrated. 
 
 t Acta SS. page 638. . J See Todd, St. Patrick, page 105-7- 
 
 § Rerum Hib. Script. || Loc. cit. page 642. 
 
 U In Liber Hym page 98-10S. 
 
138 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 published work on St. Patrick, that Dr. Todd succeeded in identi- 
 fying the date of 588 or 589, in the Ulster Annals, as the year 
 of the death of St. Finnian of Maghbile, and thus was gained a new 
 and unlooked-for confirmation of the identity of both saints; for the 
 the Italian Annals, as cited by Ughelli in his Italia Sacra, expressly 
 assign the death of Frigidian to 588.* 
 
 If our St. Finnian was thus the patron and bishop of Lucca? 
 he would have St. Gregory the Great himself as his panegyrist, f 
 Certain it is, at least, that the holy patron of Lucca was an Irish- 
 man, and that by his virtues and miracles in the sixth century, he 
 won for himself not only a heavenly crown, but also an undying 
 fame and veneration throughout all Italy. 
 
 The fame, however, of St. Finnian is not less illustrious in our 
 own island. The old life of St. Comgall calls him, "Vir vitas 
 venerabilis S. Finnianus Epus. qui jacet in miraculis multis in sua 
 civitate Maghbile." J Marianus O'Gorman styles him " Fin- 
 nianus corde devotus ;" whilst an ancient Irish poem thus extols 
 his memory : " blessed school, the resting-place of Finnian : 
 how blessed that one saint should be the tutor of a fellow-saint !" 
 The martyrology, too, of Aengus on the 10th of September, gives 
 a curious quatrain which commemorates, at the same time, the 
 richness of the sacred gift of the corrected text of the Scriptures 
 which St. Finnian had borne to our island from Rome, and the 
 grief of our Church for its brightest ornament, the holy bishop of 
 Maghbile : 
 
 ' ' The body of red gold with purity 
 Comes hither across the sea : 
 Erin laments its choicest son, 
 Finnian of Maghbile." § 
 
 * See ap. Lanigan, ii. 25. t In Ub. iii. Dialog. 
 
 t Ap. Fleming Collectan, p. 303, col. 2. 
 
 § See many of the old Irish scholiasts on this verse, cited by Colgan, 
 p. 643, col. i. and Todd, p. 104. All our Irish scholars agree that the 
 quatrain is obscure in its meaning. Colgan was content to paraphrase it 
 as follows : — 
 
 " Roma aureus et prosfulgidus, 
 Qui contulit libros legis ultra mare, 
 Quemque selectissinmm Hiberni deflent 
 Findbarruss de Maghbile." 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO HOME. 139 
 
 The celebrated Gildas was born in Britain, al out the year 490. 
 He may, nevertheless, be ranked amongst our Irish saints, on 
 account of his missionary labours in our island. It is expressly 
 recorded of him, that he came to Ireland to drink from its pure 
 streams of sacred learning. Subsequently, he was himself invited 
 to teach the sacred sciences in Armagh ; at the same time, he 
 became illustrious throughout our island for his sanctity, and he is 
 reckoned amongst the great masters of the second class of our 
 Irish saints. Towards the close of his life, he was again invited 
 to visit Ireland, by the monarch Ainmire (a.d. 568-571), who was 
 a cousin of St. Columbkille.* St. Gildas, in compliance with the 
 king's request, made a circuit of Ireland, and laboured everywhere 
 to restore the fervour of religion, and bring back the straying sheep 
 to repentance. His death is recorded by our annalists in 570.f 
 During the pontificate of Agapitus, he visited Rome, and offered to 
 the holy father, as a token of his homage, an exquisitely adorned 
 bell, which he had brought with him from Ireland. It is men- 
 tioned in the life of St. Cadoc, that seeing, on one occasion, this 
 beautiful bell of Gildas, he was charmed with its ornamentation, 
 and colour, and tone,j and wished to purchase it; but Gildas 
 replied that it was intended as an offering on the altar of St. Peter 
 in Rome, and hence he would not part with it for any price, till he 
 presented it in person to the then pontiff, St. Agapitus.§ 
 
 St. Molua, of Clonfert-Mulloe (Queen's County), is thus eulo- 
 gized by St. Cuimiu : 
 
 " Molua of Cluain-ferta, loved 
 Humility glorious and pure, 
 Submission to tutor, submission to parents, 
 Submission to all men."|| 
 
 * See Reeves' Adamnan, p. 342. J See Todd, St. Patrick, p. 112. 
 
 X Invenit Gildam cum pulcherrima quadam campanula de Hibernia 
 illuc advenisse cumque decor et color sonusque placuisset Gildam sibi 
 Nolam vendere imploravit, in notis. — Ap Colgan, Acta SS. page 178. 
 
 § See Colgan, loc. cit.; Lanigani. 476, seqq., who proves very clearly 
 that Gildas Badonicus was not a distinct person from Albanius, as 
 Colgan, Usher, and others had imagined. It is a curious fact, that St. 
 Gildas is said to have sent another small bell as a gift to St. Brigid, about 
 the year 520. 
 
 || Calendar of Irish Saints, page 167- 
 
140 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 A legend connected with this saint records his desire to visit 
 Rome in pilgrimage, in order " to pray before the relics of the 
 Apostles, and to pay his vows at their hallowed shrines."* St. 
 Molua died in the year 609. 
 
 St. Flannan, styled by Aenghus "the king of meekness," 
 (Dec. 18) is the patron saint of Killaloe. He was educated in 
 the school of St. Molua, and subsequently spent many years in 
 silent retreat in the far-famed monastery of Lismore. He thence 
 proceeded to Rome, on a pilgrimage to the tombs of the Apostles, 
 and was there consecrated by the pope, first bishop of Killaloe.f 
 The life of the bishop adds, that after his death, an assembly of 
 Irish princes and prelates was held at Killaloe, to prepare a be- 
 fitting shrine for his sacred remains. They were accordingly 
 deposited in a rich urn of silver and gold, and solemnly placed 
 over the high-altar of the church. 
 
 St. Flannan was not the only Irish saint that received the epis- 
 copal consecration at the hands of the successors of St. Peter, in 
 the city of Rome. Some years earlier, St. Carthage (the elder) 
 was consecrated there, and from that fact derived his characteristic 
 designation, as we find thus marked by Aenghus, on the 5th of 
 March : — 
 
 " The silent man went with renown 
 Eastwards over the sea, 
 Carthage, the royal one of Rome." 
 
 The chief monastery of this saint was on the banks of the Mang 
 he flourished before the year 580. 
 
 To this class of our saints belongs Laserian, bishop, and now 
 patron, of Leighlin. His festival is marked in the Irish calendars 
 on April the 18th, on which day Aenghus remarks: 
 
 "We count the festival of the seven 
 Noble protecting deacons, 
 With Laserian of burning virtues, 
 Abbot of bright-shining Leithglinn." 
 
 * Colgan, Acta SS., page 213. It is partly given by Todd, page 115. 
 t See Ware, Bishops of Killaloe, who, however, in his narrative, con- 
 founds pope John IV. with John VI. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 141 
 
 He pursued his studies in Rome, and received the holy orders of 
 deacon and priest at the hands of St. Gregory the Great. On 
 returning to our island, the same great pontiff gave to him a copy 
 of the gospels, and commanded him to preach the doctrines of 
 faith. At this time a holy abbot named Gobhan, whilst preaching 
 on the banks of the Barrow, saw in vision a host of angels 
 hovering over Leighlin, and announced to his disciples that one 
 day a fervent stranger would gather together in that spot as many 
 servants of God as there were angels in that heavenly host. St. 
 Laserian soon realized this vision, and before the year 630 the 
 fame of his sanctity had already gathered 1,500 monks to his 
 hallowed monastery.* He defended with energy and success the 
 Roman computation of Easter in the synod of Maghlene, and was 
 destined by the assembled fathers to proceed, as their delegate, to 
 the holy city {ad sanctam civitatem). Whilst there, in 633, he 
 was elevated to the episcopal dignity, and received the imposition 
 of hands from pope Honorius the First. Thus were our Irish 
 pilgrims, even in the earliest ages, bound by the closest bonds with 
 the successors of St. Peter. 
 
 SS. Wiro and Plechelm, two bright ornaments of our Irish 
 Church towards the close of the seventh century, were also ele- 
 vated to the episcopate in Rome. Their ancient hymn at vespers 
 sings : — 
 
 " Invitos Scotia destinat infulis, 
 Sacram confugrant ad cathedram Petri, 
 Sed mandante papa tandem hierarchicis 
 Sublimantur honoribus." 
 
 Their life, written about the tenth century, describes our island 
 as " uber sanctorum patrum insula, stellarum numeris sanctorum 
 coasquans patrocinia;''f and subsequently narrates how, when 
 having been chosen bishop of his district, Wiro, before receiving 
 
 * "Happy college !" exclaims his biographer, "whose virtues were 
 heralded by the army of heaven." 
 
 t Ap. Acta SS. Maij, torn. ii. p. 309, et seq. Many interesting details 
 regarding these Irish saints may be seen in " Antiquitates Monasterii 
 S. Martini," by Kessel (Colonise, 1SG3), p. ii. iii. and 129, and Lanigan, 
 Hi. 113. 
 
142 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 consecration, set out on a pilgrimage for Rome, with the secret 
 design to be relieved by the pope from that threatened burden : he 
 was accompanied thither by his cherished associate in deeds of piety, 
 St. Plechelm. In Rome " they reverently kissed the threshold of 
 the apostles Peter and Paul; they watered with their tears its 
 hallowed pavement; they visited without ceasing the shrines of 
 the saints of God, and through their intercession solicited aid 
 from on high."* Being presented to the Holy Father, St. Wiro 
 detailed his mission and his own desires : " The pope, however, 
 was not moved by his petition, and anxious to consult for the 
 interests of that distant see, he confirmed his election, and, with 
 his own hands, conferred on him and on St. Plechelm the episcopal 
 consecration."! 
 
 In the life of St. Sylas it is mentioned that his sister set out from 
 Ireland, desirous, as was " customary with the Irish" J to pray 
 before the relics of the Apostles. This favour, however, was not 
 granted her by God, and in Lucca she closed her earthly pilgrimage : 
 St, Sylas soon after visited Rome. The dynast of his district had 
 sought to subject to burdensome exactions the churches and monas- 
 teries of his diocese : these were resisted by St. Sylas, who wished, 
 moreover, to have his decision sanctioned by the apostolic autho- 
 rity of Rome. On returning from the Holy See he, too, tarried in 
 Lucca, and received there his eternal crown. His body was 
 interred in the church of St. Justina : and such was the fame of 
 his virtues and miracles, that he was soon associated with the 
 other Irish patron, St. Frigidian, and numbered amongst the saints 
 of Lucca.§ 
 
 It was in 721 that pope Gregory II. convened a council, in 
 Rome, to anathematize the Iconoclast emperor, Leo the Isaurian. 
 
 * " Limina SS. app. Petri et Pauli, labris premunt impressis, marmor 
 pavimenti irrigant lachrymis," etc. — Acta SSI p. 316. 
 
 t Ibid. 316. 
 
 X "Almorum Petri apostolorum principis ejusque coapostc-K Pauli 
 gloriosa limina sicut moris est gentis illius, orationis causa corporaliter 
 visitare disponens," etc. — Vita, p. 101. 
 
 § There was formerly a MS. life of St. Sylas preserved in the Monas- 
 tery of St. Justina, in Lucca, and, by Wadding, it was judged pervetusta. 
 It was published by Fiorentini, in 1662, in the appendix to his Italian life 
 of St. Sylas, and occupies pp. 99-104. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 143 
 
 An Irish bishop assisted at this synod, and amongst the names 
 subscribed to the synodical decrees, we find that of " Sedulius, an 
 Irishman, bishop in Britain."* A few centuries later the third 
 council of Lateran was also held in Rome. In it the Albigensian 
 heretics were condemned, and many disciplinary laws were enacted 
 for the Church. More than one Irish bishop took part in this coun- 
 cil, but of one in particular it is narrated, that when the bishops 
 were interrogated as to their means of support, he replied that " his 
 whole sustenance depended on three milch cows, and according as 
 any one of these became dry, another was substituted by his 
 parishioners."f Thus did the Irish bishops take a part even in the 
 synods held in the city of Rome. 
 
 Disciple and companion of St. Columbanus was Dichuill, better 
 known on the continent as Deicola. His life, written before 
 the year 900, is published by ColganJ and the Bollandists. 
 Having founded a monastery in the diocese of Besancon, he dedi- 
 cated its church in honor of the apostles Peter and Paul. He 
 subsequently set out for Rome,§ to visit the capital of the Chris- 
 tian world, and obtain for his monastery the blessing and pro- 
 tection of the Vicar of Christ. "I am a native of the island of 
 Erin, and a pilgrim for Christ's sake," he thus addressed the 
 pontiff ; " the oratories which I erected bear the names of the 
 noble apostles Peter and Paul, to whom belongs this Roman 
 citadel. || They have been enriched with many gifts and posses- 
 sions by the surrounding princes ; and I have now come to thee, 
 the chief bishop,!" to commit them to thy apostolic care." All that 
 the holy abbot desired was readily accorded to him ; the charter 
 of his monastery was confirmed by the seal of apostolical 
 
 * " Ego Sedulius epus. Britannise de genere Scotorum huic coustituto a 
 nobis promulgato subscripsi." — Labbe, Collect. Concil. 
 
 t Erat ibi etiam Hybernicus epus. qui retulit se non habere alios redditus 
 prseter tres vaccas lactantes, quas in defectu lactis, parochiani sui per alias 
 innovabant. — Hist. iEp. Bremen, pag. 64. Two Scotch bishops were 
 also present, one of whom made the journey, through France and Italy, 
 on foot ; the other made it on horseback. 
 
 \ Acta SS. Hib. page 115; Borland, torn. ii. ad diem 18 Januarii. 
 
 § " Romanam petiit celsitudinem."— Loc. cit. page 120. 
 
 II " Qui hanc Romanam possident arcem."— Ibid. 
 
 % " Praesul capitalis." — lb. 
 
144 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 authority;* and he himself returned to his spiritual children, laden 
 with the rich treasure of relics of the holy martyrs, and with 
 many ornaments for his sacred edifices.f 
 
 It was about the year 686 that St, Kilian and his companions 
 set out from Ireland, to win for themselves the crown of apostles, 
 together with the martyrs' palm, in Germany. The life of these 
 glorious saints, written with all the simplicity of the ninth century, 
 thus records their visit to the city of the seven hills : — 
 
 ' ' There was in Ireland a holy man of princely birth, by name Kilian. 
 Assembling some of his disciples, he exhorted them to despise the tran- 
 sitory goods of the world, and in the spirit of the Gospel, to forsake 
 country and kindred, and to follow Christ. They yielded to his persua- 
 sions, .... and having landed in Germany, their holy leader, Kilian, 
 thus again addressed them : Brethren, how beautiful is this country, how 
 cheerful are its people ; and still they are in the darkness of error. If it 
 seem good to you, let us do as we said when we were in our own country ; 
 let us go to Rome, to visit the threshold of the prince of the Apostles, and 
 present ourselves before the blessed pope John ; and if it be the will of 
 God, when we shall have received the sanction of the Apostolic See, we 
 shall, under its guidance, return again to this people, and preach to them 
 the name of our Lord Jesus. Without delay, their deeds corresponded 
 with these words, and they set out for the threshold of St. Peter, the 
 prince of the Apostles. On arriving there, the holy pope John had already 
 passed to his eternal rest ; but they were lovingly and honorably welcomed 
 by his successor, pope Conon. And this holy pontiff, having heard whence 
 and for what motive they had come, and to what country they were de- 
 sirous to devote themselves with such zealous ardour, received their 
 profession of our holy faith, and then commissioned them in the name of 
 God and St. Peter to teach and preach the Gospel of Christ. "J 
 
 This, surely, was in accordance with Catholic teaching; and 
 soon St. Kilian and his companions sealed with their blood the 
 Gospel of truth and the devotion of our island to the successors of 
 St. Peter. 
 
 * " Apostolica auctoritate sigillatam " — Colgan. 
 
 t " Coelestibus oneratus muneribus, id est, proetiosis martyrum pigno- 
 ribus et ornamentis ecclesiasticis, simul cum privilegio suo apostolico 
 firmato sigillo." — Ibid. 121. 
 
 X "Audita illius fide, pariter et doctrina, dedit illi a Deo et sancto Petro 
 principe apostolorum, licentiam et potestatem prasdicandi et docendi." — 
 Ap. Acta SS. Julii die 8vo. torn. ii. page 613. The editors of the life prove 
 it to have been written about the year 800. See also Canisius, Antiq. 
 Lect. torn. iv. ; Messingham, Florilegium, page 318 ; Mabillon, Acta Be- 
 nedict, torn. ii. page 991. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 1 45 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 (continued.) 
 
 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 Pilgrimage of St. Canice to Rome — Of St. Foillan — St. Senanus — St. 
 Dagan — St. Caidoc — St. Marianus — St. Willibrord — St. Boniface, a 
 native of Ireland — His journeys to Rome — Appointment of Albuin to 
 See of Buraburg by Pope Zachary. 
 
 St. Canice was another great ornament of onr Church in the sixth 
 century. Born in 5 1 6, he was, during his whole life, the friend 
 and companion of SS. Columba, Comgall, Brendan of Birr, and 
 Fintan of Clonenagh. St. Cuimin writes of him : — 
 
 " Cainnech of the mortifications loved 
 To be in a bleak woody desert 
 "Where there was none to attend on him 
 But only the wild deer." 
 
 From his life, accurately edited by the marquis of Ormond in 
 1853, we learn that before entering upon his apostolic ministry, he 
 determined to visit Rome and venerate the Apostolic See.* Carrying 
 out this holy design, he passed through many towns of Italy, 
 which long cherished a fond remembrance of his virtues and mira- 
 cles ; in one city especially the local prince presented to him a 
 grant of land, and St. Canice built a monastery there, wishing to 
 spend in it the remaining years of his life. It was only when an 
 angel admonished him that Ireland was " the place of his resur- 
 rection," that he abandoned the sunny south and returned to our 
 island.f 
 
 St. Foillan or Foelan is venerated as one of the chief patrons of 
 Brabant. His feast is kept on the 31st of October, and Aengus 
 commemorates his martyrdom on the same day. " Foillan, with 
 his many labourers" he says, and the gloss adds, " he was the 
 brother of Fursa, and a martyr." From his life Ave learn that he 
 laboured for some time in England, till his monastery was destroyed 
 
 * Page 4 and 47- t Ihid. cap. v. seqq. 
 
 L 
 
146 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 by a party of marauders ; lie then set out for Borne, where pope 
 Martin the First (649-654) governed the Church, and being kindly 
 received by the common father of the faithful, he was authorized 
 by him to preach the Gospel in Gaul, where, adds his biographer, 
 " he brought forth many spiritual children to Christ."* 
 
 St. Senanus was bishop of Inniscattery, an island in the lower 
 Shannon, and patron of the Hy-Connail ; he was born before the 
 death of our apostle, in 488. His acts relate that " he set out 
 for Rome to visit the sacred shrines of the Apostles, and having 
 performed his devotions in Rome, he returned through France, and 
 visited the great monastery of St. Martin, at Tours."+ After his 
 return he founded a church at Inniscarra, five miles from Cork, on 
 the banks of the Lee. We mention this particular fact on account 
 of a special circumstance which the life of our saint records : " Soon 
 
 * Colgan, ad diem 16 Jan., has given some extracts from the corrected 
 office of St. Foillan. We give the hymns, as used in the Church of Liege, 
 before these corrections were made, in Appendix No. 8, from a MS. of the 
 Vallicellian Archives. We here insert the beautiful lessons read in the 
 same ancient church, on the saint's feast day, from the same MS. : — 
 
 1. Foillanus patre Phillano principe Hibernise, matre vero Gergegha 
 Scotorum regis filia natus. Sacris et humanioribus litteris a Brandano 
 epo. est eruditus : fama vero ejus sanctitatis late circumfusa Hybernorum 
 ejHis. accersitur, quo mime re ut fungebatur et jam omnium plausum con- 
 scivisset timens vitam fumosa nominis gloria maculare cessit et ignotus 
 maluit apud Anglos apostolicum munus ac doctorem agere ; sed postea 
 vastata Anglia et monasterio quod ibidem struxerat diruto ad urbem 
 Romam peregriuatus est, quern Martinus papabeniguesuscipienspraedica- 
 tionis gratia ad Gallias destinavit in quibus multos Jesu Christo filios 
 peperit. 
 
 2. Cumque apud Gertrudem virgiuem aliquamdiu moratus esset, libe- 
 ralis virgo de patrimonio terrse Fossensis spatia viro ssmo. donavit : ubi 
 idem vir Dei monasterio sedificato aliquamdiu resedit tandemque illius 
 optimis disciplinis fulgeutis curam (ut verbi Dei dispeusationi liberius 
 instaret) fratti suo Ultano reliquit : quadam vero die dum vir Dei a labore 
 et prsedicatione indefessus per quamdam silvam cum paucis fratribus iter 
 haberet, applicuerunt se illis nefarii homines qui simidato pacis et hospitii 
 nomine ut lupi ovina contecti pelle sanctos erronee ducunt, convitiis 
 afficiunt telisque confossos gladio tandem peremeruut, utque scelus lateat 
 corpora inhoneste projicientes in silva absconder unt. 
 
 3. Inhumata corpora cum diu jacuissent sancta Gertrudis virgo mouita 
 ab augelo, necuon beatus Ultanus, visa dum orationi vacaret, sanguine 
 perfusa columba per signum igneoe columns a tellure qua sanctorum 
 reposita erant corpora ad ccelum usque porrecta?, nihil grave sed redolentia 
 suave repererunt, et honesto loco sepelierunt ac subinde volente Deo 
 corpus beati martyris Foillani Fossas translatum fuit, qua in translatione 
 illud memoriae proditum est fiuvium Sumbrim aquis tunc solito magis 
 tumidum stetissc atque sacro corpori dum plaustro ferretur hinc hide 
 stantibus aquis solidum iter prrebuisse. 
 
 t Acta SS. p. 532. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 147 
 
 after the foundation of this church," it says, " a vessel arrived there 
 ■with many religious pilgrims ; amongst these were fifty religious 
 Romans, whom the desire of a penitential life, and of the study of the 
 Scriptures, then flourishing amongst us, had attracted to our island : 
 they desired to be placed under the guidance of the holy men who 
 were famed for their sanctity of life and their observance of reli- 
 gious discipline."* Thus were reciprocally bound together the 
 churches of Ireland and Rome : Rome was famed in Ireland, as 
 being the Apostolic See, and hence, our saints went on pilgrimage 
 to venerate the Vicar of Christ, and pay their vows at the shrines 
 of the Apostles ; Ireland, too, was famed in Rome, — her religious 
 perfection, and sanctity, and skill in sacred science, won the admi- 
 ration of the faithful of the holy city ; and when their own monas- 
 teries were laid waste, and their sanctuaries pillaged by ruthless 
 invaders, we find them seeking a sacred asylum in Ireland, in 
 whose hallowed retreat they might pursue undisturbed the highest 
 paths of spiritual perfection. Dr. Petrie, when treating of the 
 Round Towers, makes mention of " the crowds of foreign eccle- 
 siastics, Egyptian, Roman, Italian, French, British, and Saxon, 
 who flocked to Ireland as a place of refuge, in the fifth and sixth 
 centuries. Of such immigration," he adds, " there cannot possibly 
 exist a doubt ; for, not to speak of the great number of foreigners, 
 who were disciples of St. Patrick, and of whom the names are 
 preserved in the most ancient lives of that saint, nor of the evi- 
 dences of the same nature so abundantly supplied in the lives of 
 many other saints of the primitive Irish Church, it will be sufficient 
 to refer to that most curious ancient document, written in the year 
 799, the Litany of St. Aengus, the Culdee, in which are invoked 
 such a vast number of foreign saints buried in Ireland. Copies of 
 this ancient litany are found in the Book of Leinster, a MS. un- 
 doubtedly of the twelfth century, preserved in the Library of Trinity 
 College, Dublin ; and in the Leabhar Breac, preserved in the Royal 
 Irish Academy."f He then gives a long extract from this litany 
 of Aengus, as cited by Colgan.J We shall have occasion to return 
 
 * Acta SS. p. 533. f Page 134. J Page 535. 
 
148 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 again to this litany, when we shall give it more in full from the 
 translation of Eugene Curry. 
 
 St. Dagan is designated in our martyrologies by the various 
 epithets of the warlike, the pilgrim, the meek, and the noble. He 
 was one of the most ardent defenders of the old Scotic computa- 
 tion of Easter, and as such is commemorated by Bede, in his 
 Ecclesiastical History.* About the year 600 he visited Rome, and 
 sought the approbation of the great pontiff St. Gregory, for the 
 rule of his own master, St. Molua, in whose life we thus read — 
 " The abbot, Dagan, going to Rome, brought with him the rule 
 which St. Molua had drawn up and delivered to his disciples ; 
 and pope Gregory having read this rule, said in the presence 
 of all : l the saint who composed this rule has truly guarded his 
 disciples even to the very thresholds of heaven.' Wherefore St. 
 Gregory sent his approbation and benediction to Molua.''f St. 
 Dagan, however, was not the only one of our sainted forefathers 
 that sought the sanction of the Holy See for the religious rule 
 which they adopted. In the Leabhar-nah-Uidhre,J it is inciden- 
 tally mentioned that " St. Comgall, of Bangor, sent Beoan, son of 
 Innli, of Teach-Dabeog, to Rome, on a message to pope Gregory 
 (the Great), to receive from him order and rule. y § 
 
 It would, however, be tedious to mention in detail the innumera- 
 ble cases commemorated in the records of our early Church, of pil- 
 grimage from our island to the Apostolic See. 
 
 Of St. Caidoc, apostle of the Morini, in Gaul, such a pilgrimage 
 is mentioned in the seventh century. A little later, St. Albert 
 bishop of Emly, with nineteen companions, " set out on pilgrimage, 
 and paused not till, according to the custom of his countrymen, he 
 reached Rome, the mother and guardian of faith, and venerated the 
 exalted dignity of the Apostolic See."|| In 854 the Irish Annals 
 mention the death of Indrechtach, successor of St. Columbkille, 
 
 * Lib. ii. cap. 4. f Acta SS. p. 585. % Fol 36. 
 
 § See app. Reeves' Eccles. Antiq. of Down and Connor, p. 376. 
 
 II Donee Romam, religionis nostras matrem et matricem pervenerunt, 
 apostolicseqne dignitatis apicem more suae gentis venerabundi salutave- 
 runt. — Acta SS. p. 39, col. a. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 149 
 
 who was martyred by Saxon plunderers on his way to Rome.* Two 
 years later, another pilgrim, Diarmaid, u the wisest of the Irish," 
 or, as he is styled in the Annals of Ulster, " sapientissimus omnium 
 doctorum Europe," met with a like fate. 
 
 It was "through the merits and fasting and prayers of the holy 
 man, Cele-DabhalL/' abbot of Bangor, that the northern plunderers 
 were driven from Ireland in the beginning of the tenth century. 
 The annalist adds, " he was a holy and pious man, and had great 
 zeal for the Christians ; and besides strengthening the heroes of 
 Erin against the pagans, he laboured himself by fasting and prayer, 
 and he sought freedom for the churches of Erin."f This venerable 
 abbot, " bishop, scribe, preacher, and wise doctor, died on his pil- 
 grimage, in Rome, on the 14th day of September, in 927." The 
 death of another holy man, " Ferghil, abbot of Tyrdaglass," is 
 recorded in the following year. In 1024 is marked the death of 
 "Fachtua, lector and priest of Clonmacnoise, airchinneach of 
 Fennor, and the most distinguished abbot of Ireland ; he died in 
 Rome on his pilgrimage.'* It was in 1064 that Donogh O'Brien, 
 son of the famous Brian Boroimhe, went to Rome to expiate his 
 misdeeds by pilgrimage and penance : he offered a collection of 
 Irish canons to the pope, and many other presents ; and, embracing 
 the monastic state, closed his days in Rome, in the monastery of 
 St. Stephen. Less than a century later, Imhar O'Hegan, by whom 
 the church of SS. Peter and Paul, at Armagh, was built, and who 
 was tutor of St. Malachy, and styled by St, Bernard " vir sanctis- 
 simaa vitas," set out to venerate the shrines of the Apostles, and in 
 Rome finished his earthly pilgrimage. We may take another 
 example from the Acts of our Saints at this same period. 
 
 It was in the year 1067 that Muiredhach Mac Robartaigh, 
 known in Germany as St. Maviauus, a native of Donegal, taking- 
 two companions, John and Candidus, set out on a pilgrimage 
 for Rome. Having arrived in Germany, they stopped for some 
 time at Bamberg, in the Benedictine monastery, and at the sug- 
 gestion of Otho, the bishop of the place, they became members of 
 
 * Fragments of Irish Annals, published by I. A. S. in 1860, p. 120, seq. 
 t Ibid. p. 227, and Annals of U lster, ad. an. 927. 
 
150 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 that order. No sooner, however, had that bishop passed to a 
 better life than, mindful of the object for which they had at first 
 quitted the shores of Tirconnell, forsooth to visit the shrines of 
 the apostles SS. Peter and Paul, " as Irishmen were wont to do,'* 
 they solicited the permission of their superior to continue their 
 journey to Rome. Arriving in Ratisbon, they met with an Irish 
 recluse named Muircertach, who made known to them the will of 
 Heaven that that city should be their permanent abode. They 
 bowed to the divine decree, and founded there the monastery of 
 Weich-St.-Peter, which soon acquired a wide-spread fame, and 
 filled Germany with filiate foundations for Irish monks.* 
 
 So frequent indeed were these Irish pilgrimages, that they 
 became proverbial on the continent, and Ricemarch, in his life of 
 St. David of Wales, characterises their pilgrim ardour as insatiable, 
 " cum inextinguibile Hibernensium desiderium ad sanctorum Petri 
 et Pauli apostolorum reliquias visitandas arderet." Another foreign 
 chronicler, Ethelwerd, after mentioning the journey by sea of three 
 Irishmen to England (one of whom is styled " artibus frondens, lit- 
 tera doctus, magister insignis Scottorum," ad an. 892), adds that, 
 though graciously received by king Alfred, they, ut soliti, pursued 
 their pilgrimage to Rome. In 845 was held the synod of Meaux, 
 in which complaints were made to the French king, of the state of 
 ruin into which the houses for the reception of the Irish pilgrims 
 were allowed to fall, in many parts of France ; these hospitalia were 
 founded at a much earlier period by pious persons of the Irish 
 nation, as Fleury tells us, to serve as a temporary resting-place for 
 their many countrymen who flocked in pilgrimage towards the 
 tombs of the Apostles and Jerusalem.f 
 
 * Acta Sanctorum, Febr. torn. ii. p. 365, seq. ; also a paper of Dr. 
 Reeves, R.LA, April 9, 1860. 
 
 t Harduin, Cone. t. iv. p. 1490, gives the decree of the council of 
 Meaux: " Hospitalia Scotorum, quae saucti homines gentis illius in hoc 
 regno construxerunt et rebus pro sanctitate sua acquisitis ampliaverunt, 
 ab eodem hospitalitatis officio funditus sunt alienata. Et non solum 
 super venientes in eadem hospitalia non recipiuntur, verum etiam ipsi, 
 qui ab infantia in eisdem locis sub religione Domino militaverunt, et 
 exinde ejiciuntur, et ostiatim mendicare eoguntur." In the same way 
 as in France, the Irish were afterwards expelled from their monasteries 
 in Germany, which passed into the hands of Scotch or English. 
 
IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 151 
 
 There are, moreover, very many examples of such pilgrimages 
 being undertaken by foreigners, who had been trained to spiritual 
 wisdom in the Irish schools, as also by those who, though born in 
 Ireland, are commonly reckoned amongst the ornaments of other 
 churches, on account of their lives having been devoted to mis- 
 sionary enterprise at a distance from our shores. We shall take 
 merely one example from each of these classes. 
 
 Amongst the many Saxons who studied in Ireland in the seventh 
 and eighth centuries, none bore a more illustrious name than 
 Willibrord. From his infancy he was educated by the Irish monks 
 of Ripon ; and, subsequently, he spent twelve years in the study 
 of the sacred Scriptures in Ireland.* His first step was " to hasten 
 to Rome, the apostolical chair of which was then filled by pope 
 Sergius (a.d. 687-701), that by his sanction and blessing he 
 might begin the wished-for work of announcing the Gospel to the 
 heathen." This blessing was gladly accorded to him, and being 
 enriched with relics of the holy martyrs, he fearlessly announced 
 the doctrines of faith to the inhabitants of Friesland ; and after a 
 few years we find him again journeying to Rome, where, at the 
 request of Pepin, he was consecrated by the same pope first bishop 
 of that territory. 
 
 St. Boniface, the illustrious martyr and apostle of Germany, 
 was a native of Ireland :f passing in his youth to England, he 
 received in its monasteries the name of Winfrid ; subsequently, as 
 archbishop of Mentz and founder of the great monastery of Fulda, 
 he bore the name of Bonifacius. It was from pope Gregory II. 
 that he received his mission to labour in preaching the Gospel of 
 Christ among the pagans; and the Holy Father in giving that 
 commission, speaksj " in the name of the indivisible Trinity, and 
 
 * Alcuini, Vita S. Willibr. Opp. torn. ii. p. 183 seqq. Bede, Hist. Ecc. 
 lib. v. cap. 11. seq. Alcuin, in his metrical life of this saint, says : " Doc- 
 taque nutrivit studiis sed Hibernia sacris." And again : "Patria Scotto- 
 rura clara magistra fuit."— Opp. ii. pp. 197, 200. 
 
 t See the momiments which prove this in Pertz's Monumenta Germ. 
 Historica, vol. vii. in Chronic. Mariaui, passim ad an. 737, 745, 762, 765. 
 Also in Tentamen Vitas, S. Galli published by Pertz, Ibid. Trithemius in 
 his Script in like manner refers St. Boniface to Ireland. Marianus, who 
 must be supposed well acquainted with the history of this great apostle, 
 expressly styles him ' ' turn matre turn patre Scottus." 
 
 X See Inter Opp. S. Bonifacii, epist. Greg II.; edit. Giles, p 26. 
 
152 
 
 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 by the authority of the blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, 
 whose office of teaching he held, and whose holy see he adminis- 
 tered. " When the labours of the missionary were seen to be blessed 
 by God, we find him again summoned to Rome to receive episco- 
 pal consecration, which sacred ceremony was performed by the 
 pope, on the feast of St. Andrew, ia 723. More than once during 
 his subsequent apostolate he visited Rome to consult the Holy See 
 on the spiritual interests of his flock ; more than once, too, we find 
 him disputing with Irish missionaries ; but both they and he are ever 
 found to agree on the one main principle of controversy, to refer, 
 forsooth, their disputes to the one common supreme tribunal of 
 Rome. 
 
 It was in 742, towards the close of his missionary toils, that St. 
 Boniface solicited from Rome the appointment of an Irishman 
 named Album (known in Germany by the name Witta,) to the 
 see of Buraburg, near Fritzlar, in Hesse. The letter of pope 
 Zachary in reply is still happily preserved.* It begins as follows : 
 
 * ' Dilectissimo nobis, Wittas 
 sanctee ecclesise Barbaranae Zacha- 
 rias papa. 
 
 "Domino co-operaute et sermo- 
 nem confirmante ad dilatandain 
 Christiauitatis legem et orthodoxse 
 fidei tramitem ad prsedicanduin 
 juxta quod praedicat sancta hsec 
 Romana, cui Deo auctore prae- 
 sidemus, ecclesia, innotuit nobis 
 sanctissimnm et Revmum. fratrem 
 Bonifacium nnper decrevisse et or- 
 dinasse in Germanise partibus epis- 
 copales sedes, nbi prasest vestra dil- 
 ectio et provinciam in tres divisisse 
 parochias. Quo coguito cum magna 
 exultatione extensis ad sidera 
 palmis, illuminatori et datori om- 
 nium bonorum Domino Deo et Sal- 
 vatori nostro Jesu Christo gratias 
 egimus ' qui facit utraque unum.' 
 Flagitavit autem a nobis per suas 
 syllabas jam dictus sanctissimus 
 
 " To our most beloved Witta, of 
 the church of Buraburg, pope 
 Zachary, 
 
 ' ' We have lately heard that our 
 most holy and most rev. brother 
 Boniface, God having been pleased 
 by His blessing and power to pro- 
 pagate the Christian law, and the 
 teaching of the orthodox faith, 
 and the doctrine as preached in 
 this holy Roman Church, in which, 
 through God's will, we preside, 
 decreed and directed that the terri- 
 tory in which you preach amongst 
 the Germans should be divided 
 into three dioceses. Having heard 
 this we raised our hands to God 
 with ineffable joy, returning thanks 
 to the author and giver of all good 
 gifts, our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
 Christ, who gathers all to His 
 saving fold. The aforesaid most 
 holy man solicited by his letters 
 
 Opp. S. Bonifacii edit. Giles, vol. i. page 112. 
 

 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 153 
 
 vir per apostolicam auctoritatem that, by our apostolic authority, 
 
 vestras confirmari sedes. Propter we should confirm your sees. 
 
 quod et nos ardenti animo et divino Wherefore, with sincere solicitude 
 
 juvamine auctoritate beati Petri and with the divine aid, by the 
 
 principis apostolorum, cui data est authority of the blessed Peter, 
 
 a Deo et Saluatore nostro Jesu prince of the Apostles, to whom was 
 
 Christo ligandi solvendique potes- given, by our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
 
 tas peccata hominum, in ccelo et in the power of loosing and binding 
 
 terra, confirmanus atque solidas in heaven and on earth the sins of 
 
 permanere vestras sedes sancimus men, we confirm and decree, that 
 
 episcopates, " etc. your episcopal sees shall remain 
 
 unchanged," etc. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 (continued.) 
 
 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 St. Columbanus. — St. Virgil. — Paschal Question. — St. Cummian. — Synod 
 of Magh-lene. — Bishops who were present. — Words of Dr. Lynch. 
 
 It was before the close of the sixth century that St. Columbanus 
 and his companions set out from the peaceful sanctuary of Bangor, 
 to rekindle the fire of charity on the continent. His monasteries 
 of Luxieu and Fontaines soon attracted the attention of the 
 French Church ; but whilst none failed to admire the extraordinary 
 piety of the Irish pilgrims, and the lustre of their virtues, some of 
 the French clergy were alarmed at the new rite of celebrating 
 Easter which the strangers introduced, and at some other peculiar 
 usages of the Irish Church, which, if allowed to continue, might, 
 they feared, be an occasion of dissension and discord among the 
 Christians of Gaul. For this reason, having assembled in synod, 
 the French bishops deemed it expedient to prohibit these peculiar 
 usages of St. Columban and his disciples. The saint acknowledged 
 the authority of the prelates ; but, he had received these usages 
 from his fathers in the faith, and hence he appealed to the superior 
 authority of the Roman pontiff, that thus the decision of the 
 Gaulish bishops might be revoked, and he and his disciples be 
 allowed to pursue the observances of their country. 
 
154 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 St. Gregory, justly honoured with the epithet of the Great, then 
 filled the papal chair. To him our saint addressed his letter of 
 appeal ; and whilst he invoked his supreme sanction for the Irish 
 paschal computation, took occasion to interrogate him on some 
 other dubious matters, requesting the pontiff to prescribe the 
 course which he should pursue. 
 
 This letter of Columbanus seems never to have reached its 
 destination. The French bishops having again assembled in 
 synod, resolved no longer to tolerate the innovations of the Irish 
 pilgrims ; and whilst St. Columban wrote a letter to them, ex- 
 plaining his reasons for not complying with their wishes, and 
 referring to the document he had addressed to Rome, he at the 
 same time appealed again to the judgment of the Roman pontiff, 
 Boniface IV., who had succeeded St. Gregory in the chair of St. 
 Peter. This appeal is addressed, " To the holy Lord and Apos- 
 tolic Father in Christ, the Pope;" and St. Columbanus having 
 declared that though for a long time he had determined to visit 
 " those who held the Apostolic See — the prelates most dear to all 
 the faithful — the fathers most to be revered for the privilege of 
 their apostolic dignity," he adds, that hitherto he had been 
 impeded by the seditions and tumults of the nations that inter- 
 vened ; and thus solemnly invokes the decisive judgment of 
 Rome : 
 
 " To thee alone do we pour out our supplications, through our 
 Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, and through the unity of faith 
 which is common to us, that thou mayest bestow upon us, labouring 
 pilgrims, the solace of thy holy decision, with which thou willst 
 strengthen the tradition of our elders, if it be not contrary to faith ; 
 that thus we may, during our pilgrimage, be enabled, through thy ad- 
 judication, to keep the rite of Easter as it was handed down to us by 
 our fathers."* 
 
 This is a clear case of appeal from an inferior authority to the 
 highest tribunal on earth ; but before his letter could be replied 
 to, St. Columban was obliged to fly from the persecution of 
 Brunechild, and abandon the shores of France. 
 
 In the eighth century another Irish pilgrim, Virgilius, shed lustre 
 
 * Biblioth. PP. Galland. xii. 349. 
 
APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 155 
 
 on our island by his virtues and learning. He/vas for some years 
 abbot of Achadhbo in Ireland, but desirous to devote himself to 
 the conversion of unbelievers, he set out fur the continent. Bavaria 
 was the first theatre of his zealous labours ; he soon became asso- 
 ciated with St. Boniface, bishop of Mentz ; subsequently he was 
 appointed bishop of Saltzburg by pope Stephen the Second, and he 
 is now venerated as the patron and apostle of Carinthia. He is 
 designated by his German biographers as " the most learned amongst 
 the learned." Alcuin composed a poem in his honour, in which he 
 thus extols him : — 
 
 " Egregius prsesul meritis et nioribus altus, 
 Protulit in lucem quern mater Hibernia, 
 Instituit, docuit, nutrivit, 
 Vir pius et prudens, nulli pietate secundus."* 
 
 It was whilst sharing the missionary toils of St. Boniface that a 
 controversy arose which, for a while, interrupted their mutual 
 harmony. Some of the clergy were supposed to vitiate the pro- 
 nunciation of the Latin words in the sacred form of Baptism, and 
 St. Boniface judged that the sacrament thus administered was in- 
 valid. St. Virgil, however, though as yet a simple priest, had 
 learned, in the Irish schools, to distinguish with more precision be- 
 tween the accidental and essential parts of the sacrament, and in 
 the case at issue, pronounced it to be his opinion that the baptism 
 was valid; hence he appealed from the decision of the bishop 
 Boniface to the authority of the Holy See. The result of this 
 appeal is well known to all students of divinity, and the holy 
 pontiff soon gave the seal of his approbation to the opinion of St. 
 Virgil. 
 
 In the domestic annals of our Church we meet with few matters 
 of controversy that demanded the intervention of a distant see. 
 
 * His Irish name was Fergh.il, and he is one of the few Irishmen who 
 became illustrious on the continent, and nevertheless have their names 
 registered in our domestic annals. The Four Masters thus record his 
 death — "a.d. 784, Ferghil the geometer, abbot of Achadhbo, died in 
 Germany in the thirteenth year of his episcopate " He is also commemo- 
 rated in the Annals of Ulster, in a.d. 788. His life is published by 
 Mezger in his Bishops of Saltzburg. 
 
1 56 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 The paschal controversy alone threatened for a while to disturb 
 the religious concord of the island, and to require the decision of 
 the supreme ecclesiastical tribunal to restore union among the con- 
 flicting prelates of our Church. It is not necessary here to enter 
 into the details of this controversy ; the synod of Magh-lene alone, 
 in which the bishops of Leinster and Munster assembled, now 
 claims our attention. We shall describe its proceedings in the words 
 of St. Cummian, who assisted at it, and was one of its most dis- 
 tinguished members : — 
 
 { ' ' An old authority, ' says Jerome, 'rises up against me. In the mean- 
 while I cry out, whosoever is joined to the chair of St. Peter, that man is 
 mine.' What more ? I turn to the words of the bishop of Home, pope 
 Gregory, gifted with the appellation of the Golden Mouth, who, though 
 he wrote after all, is deservedly preferred before all ; and I find him 
 thus writing on this passage of Job — Gold hath a place wherein it is 
 melted, etc. ' The gold is the great body of the saints ; the place of 
 melting is the unity of the Church ; the fire the sufferings of martyrdom : 
 he, therefore, who is tried by fire out of the unity of the Church, may be 
 melted, but cannot be cleansed.' " 
 
 Having laid down this principle, he adds : — 
 
 "What can be deemed more injurious to mother Church than to say 
 Rome errs, Jerusalem errs, Alexandria errs, Antioch errs, the whole world 
 
 is in error ; only the Scots and Britons know what is right ? 
 
 Having, therefore, studied the matter for a year, I asked my fathers to 
 declare to me, my elders to tell me (the successors, forsooth, of our first 
 holy fathers, bishop Ailbe, Kieran of Clonmacnoise, Brendan, Nessan, 
 Lugid), what they thought of our being separated from the above-mentioned 
 apostolic sees. And having all met together in the plain of Magh-lene, 
 some in person, some by legates sent in their stead, they decreed that 
 1 our predecessors, through meet witnesses, of whom some are still living, 
 whilst others sleep in peace, commanded us to humbly receive, without 
 hesitation, whatever things were better and more estimable, whensoever 
 they were approved of by the source of our baptism and wisdom, and 
 brought to us from the successors of the Apostles of the Lord.' After- 
 wards they, of one accord, set forth to us, according to custom, a mandate 
 upon this matter, to keep Easter, the coming year, in unison with the whole 
 Church. But after a while there arose up a certain white -washed wall, 
 feigning to hold fast by the traditions of the elders, and he, instead of 
 healing dissension, promoted division, and in part rendered null what 
 had been promised : whom God, I hope, will punish according as He deems 
 fit." 
 
APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 157 
 
 It was when matters had arrived at this point that the assembled 
 bishops adopted the course already described in the words of Cum- 
 mian, in a former page (110-112). Recalling the synodical statute, 
 that when such questions of moment arise they should be referred 
 to the head of cities, they destined humble and prudent men to 
 visit the apostolic city, and learn what was the course pursued in 
 that centre of the blessing of God. Thus, their case is not pre- 
 cisely an appeal to the judgment of the Roman See ; it is even 
 something more ; for they resolve to be guided by what they would 
 find practised in that Apostolic See. The deputies soon returned 
 from Rome, bearing with them the tidings that their Irish usage 
 was not in accordance with what they found practised in that 
 head of cities ; and thus was set at rest for ever in the southern 
 division of Ireland, the question of the paschal solemnity. Of this 
 happy result Bede informs us ; and, speaking of a fact that occurred 
 in 635, he adds, that whilst the northern Irish clung to their own 
 ancient usage, " the southern Irish had long since, at the admoni- 
 tion of the bishop of the Apostolic See, adopted the observance of 
 the canonical rite."* 
 
 We shall conclude this narrative of the assembled bishops of 
 Magh-lenef with the words of Dr. Rock, who thus recapitulates the 
 letter of Cummian : 
 
 "In going over these extracts from the writings of Cummian, we catch 
 a near insight into the way things were done at home by the early Irish 
 Christians ; and whither it was they looked when they cast their eyes 
 abroad and sought advice beyond the shores of their own island, aud 
 where they deemed their spiritual mother to dwell. We tind then, 1st, 
 when a doubt arose in the mind of any individual, he addressed himself 
 to his ecclesiastical superiors for its solution. 2nd, In their uncertainties 
 the latter met in a provincial synod, and comparing the tradition handed 
 down to them, decided the matter by that Catholic standard. 3rd, But 
 if a question of any magnitude was mooted, keeping in sight the universal 
 
 * Hist. Ec. ii. 19. "Gentes Scottorum quae in australibus Hiberniae 
 partibus morabantur jamdudum ad admonitionem Apostolic® Sedis antis- 
 titis pascha canonico ritu observare didicerunt." 
 
 t The synod of Magh-lene was held in 630 ; the messengers from Rome 
 returned in 633; and Cummian wrote the same year his letter to Segienus. 
 Hence he is silent about the letter of Honorius, written in 634, which was 
 brought to Ireland by Laserian, and was solemnly read in the synod of 
 Lethglin, or Leighlin, in 635. — See Lanigau, ii 392. (coll. 397, note 43.) 
 
158 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 ecclesiastical rule, they referred it to the head of the Church— to the pope, 
 and went to Rome for judgment ' as children going up to their mother.' 
 4th, That it was not every tradition which was good with the Irish, but 
 such only as were liked and approved of by the source of their baptism 
 and their wisdom, that is, Rome ; and had been brought to Ireland from 
 the popes, the successors of the Lord's Apostles, Peter and Paul."* 
 
 A few years after the Easter Question had been thus happily 
 settled in the south, the archbishop of Armagh and the chief clergy 
 of the north endeavoured to establish a like harmony in Ulster. 
 The course which they adopted confirms the conclusions just now 
 recorded. They resolved on seeking the decision of Rome, and a 
 letter to that effect was addressed to pope Severinus, in 640. 
 Unfortunately the Roman See was vacant ere that letter reached 
 its destination. The Roman clergy, indeed, replied ; but as their 
 sentence was directed against the Quartodecimans, the defenders 
 of the old Irish rite deemed themselves free from all censure. The 
 Roman Church was subsequently too much distracted by other cares, 
 and we find no decision on record regarding the paschal controversy 
 which was agitated in our island : for our present purpose, how- 
 ever, it must suffice, that the archbishop of Armagh, and the other 
 prelates, when seeking for a supreme tribunal to decide on this 
 angry matter of dispute, precisely as the southern bishops, turned 
 their eyes and addressed their letters to Rome. 
 
 The reply of the Roman clergy makes known to us the names 
 of those who thus solicited the decision of Rome : they are such 
 as fully represent the northern portion of our island. It is ad- 
 dressed "to the most beloved and holy Thomian, Columban, 
 Cronan, Dimma, and Baithan, bishops ; to Cronan, Ernian, 
 Laistran, Scallan, and Segienus, priests ; to Saran, and the other 
 Irish doctors and abbots," etc.f 
 
 Thomian was archbishop of Armagh. His life is given by 
 Colgan.J He was appointed to the see in 624, and died in 
 660. 
 
 * Letter to Lord J. Manners by Dr. Rock, p. 66. 
 
 t See Usher, Syllog. Epp. No. 9 ; Lanigan, Hist. Ec. ii, 409, seqq.; 
 Reeves' Eccles. Antiq. p. 149. 
 X Acta 88. p. 53. 
 
APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 159 
 
 Columban was bishop of Clonard, who died on the 6th of 
 February, 652. 
 
 Cronan was bishop and and abbot of Nendruin (which name in 
 our annalists was mistaken by Dr. Lanigan and many others for 
 Antrim), and, according to the Ulster Annals and Tighernach, 
 died on the 7th January, 642. 
 
 Dimma was bishop of Connor. He belonged to the princely 
 Dalcassian line, and studied under St. Colman-Elo. He is known 
 in our ancient records by the name Dimma Diibh (i. e., the black). 
 He died on the 6th January, 658. 
 
 Baithan was of the race of Niall, and seems to have been bishop 
 of a place which was called from him, Tegh-Baithan ; he, too, is 
 mentioned by our anualists as nourishing at this time. 
 
 Cronan, the first in the list of priests, was abbot of Maghbile 
 (i. e., Moville), in Down. He died on 7th August, 650. 
 
 Ernian, abbot of Torey Island, flourished also about 650. 
 
 Laistran was abbot of Ard-mac-nasca, on the banks of the 
 present Belfast Lough. 
 
 Scallan was abbot of Bangor, and died in 662. 
 
 Segienus presided as abbot over the great monastery of Hy, 
 from 623 to 652.* 
 
 The last named was St. Saran O'Critain, who died in 661. He 
 seems to have been a scriba, which class was highly honoured in 
 the ancient Church of Ireland. f 
 
 These names are of great importance, as proving that the 
 petition to Rome to have some decision delivered regarding the 
 controverted paschal computation, was not the petition of one 
 alone, but was addressed to the Vicar of Christ by all the great 
 monasteries, as well as the chief bishops who adhered to the 
 northern or Columbian tradition. As a matter of discipline, they 
 clung to the practice of their fathers, and when that peculiar dis- 
 cipline gave scandal to their brethren, and was looked on with 
 suspicion by neighbouring churches, they turned their eyes to 
 the common Father of all, to seek from him instruction and 
 guidance. 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, p. 373. t Reeves' Antiq. p. 149. 
 
160 APPEALS OF IRISH SAINTS TO ROME. 
 
 We may conclude this chapter with the worcta of Dr. Lynch, 
 the learned archdeacon of Killala, who, refuting the calumnies of 
 Giraldus Cambrensis, wrote : 
 
 "If I allowed myself to detail at length the intercourse of the Irish 
 with Rome in former ages, my page would swell to unreasonable limits, 
 and exhaust my power of language, though not the subject itself. To 
 sum up, then, in a few words : No dissension on religious matters ever 
 arose in Ireland, which was not referred to Rome for adjudication. From 
 Rome Ireland had her precepts of morality, and her oracles of faith. 
 Rome was the mother, Ireland the daughter ; Rome the head, Ireland 
 the member. From Rome, the fountain -source of religion, Ireland un- 
 doubtedly derived, and with her whole soul imbibed, her faith. In 
 doubtful matters the pope was the arbiter of the Irish ; in things certain, 
 their master ; in ecclesiastical matters, their head ; in temporals, their 
 defender; in all things their judge; in everything their adviser; their 
 oracle in doubt, their bulwark in the hour of danger. Some hastened to 
 Rome to indulge their fervour at the tomb of the Apostles ; others to lay 
 their homage at the feet of the pope, and others to obtain the necessary 
 sanction of his authority for the discharge of their functions."* 
 
 * Edit, of Celtic Society, 1850, vol. ii. p. 635. 
 
ESSAY 
 
 THE TEACHING OF THE ANCIENT CHURCH OF IRELAND, 
 REGARDING THE BLESSED EUCHARIST. 
 
 The real presence of the divine Redeemer in the blessed Sacra- 
 ment, and the offering of His sacred body and blood upon our 
 altars in the sacrifice of the Mass, are principal doctrines of 
 our holy faith, which draw a clear line of separation between the 
 Catholic Church and all the various sects of Protestantism. We 
 therefore propose to inquire whether the teaching of the early 
 Irish Church, regarding this holy sacrament and sacrifice, coin- 
 cided with the Protestant tenets of our times, or whether it was 
 not rather identical with the Catholic doctrine which the children 
 of Ireland now, in unison with the Catholics of the whole world, 
 proclaim from the rising to the setting of the sun. 
 
 To proceed with order in this historical inquiry, we shall arrange 
 the documents which illustrate this point of doctrine of our early 
 Church under the following heads : — 
 
 1. Liturgical treatises. 
 
 2. Penitentials and other records of our ages of faith. 
 
 3. The teaching and practice of our early saints. 
 
 4. The ancient Irish writers to whom our adversaries appeal as 
 favourable to Protestantism. 
 
162 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 The Stowe Missal. — Its evidence on the blessed Eucharist. — The Bobbio 
 Missal. — TheAntiphonarium Beuchorense.— Hymn regarding Bangor; 
 (note.) — Hymn, Sancti Venite. — Testimonies from the Leabhar Breac, 
 and from Treatise on Vestments, from Curry's MSS. in Catholic 
 University. — Different Orders of Irish Saints. 
 
 i 
 
 In the wholesale destruction of the ancient monuments of our island 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, most of the documents 
 connected with our early liturgy were destroyed ; sufficient frag- 
 ments, however, still remain to prove that in all its essential parts 
 it was identical with the Catholic liturgy of the present day. 
 
 The manuscript now generally known as the Stowe Missal, is 
 one of the most valuable of the Irish fragments that have been 
 happily handed down to us. Its silver cumdhach and orna- 
 ments have formed the subject of an elaborate dissertation in Dr. 
 O'Conor's Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores, and are also most fully 
 described in the appendix to the catalogue of the Stowe Manu- 
 scripts * In 1856, another interesting paper on this Ancient Irish 
 Missal was read by Dr. Todd before the Royal Irish Academy, 
 and was printed in its Transactions.! From the inscriptions which 
 yet remain on the cover of the Missal, it is certain that it originally 
 belonged to some church of Munster, and, in all probability, to the 
 monastery of Lothra or Lorha, in Lower Ormond, which was founded 
 by St. Ruadhan in the sixth century. Dr. Todd informs us that 
 " the original manuscript was written in an ancient Lombardic 
 character, which may well be deemed older than the sixth century." J 
 And he also states — " It is by no means impossible that the MS. 
 may have been the original missal of St. Ruadhan himself, the 
 founder of the monastery of Lothra, who died a.d., 584 
 
 * Vol. i. Appendix No. 1. t Vol. xxiii. 
 
 % The Ancient Irish Missal, etc., by James Henthorn Todd, read before 
 R.I. A., June 23rd, 1856, and printed from the Transactions of R.I. A. in 
 1857, page 16. 
 
ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 163 
 
 He belonged to the second class of saints, who had different missals 
 and different monastic rules, .... that is to say, they did not 
 confine themselves to one form of celebration, but adopted freely 
 the forms or missals which they found elsewhere on the continent 
 of Europe ; and it is probable that the MS. we are now to speak 
 of was one of these different missals."* 
 
 The Mass begins with the litanies of the saints, which are pre- 
 ceded by the antiphon peccavimu?. Then follows the gloria in 
 excelsis Deo, with the collect or prayer, and the lesson from the 
 first Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter xi., relating to the blessed 
 Eucharist. In the versicle which follows, the blessing of salvation 
 is asked for " those who are present at the sacrifice." The Gospel 
 is that of St. John, in the sixth chapter. The Creed, too, forms 
 part of the Mass, which is a remarkable peculiarity of this missal 
 at so early a period ; for the use of the Creed did not become 
 general in the Church until many years later. What, however, is 
 most important for our present purpose, not only are the words of 
 consecration given as used at the present day, but also the sub- 
 sequent prayers " agreeing literally with the Roman canon down 
 to the memento for the dead;"f and thus, as in the nineteenth 
 century, so in the Church of our sainted fathers of the sixth 
 century, was used that beautiful prayer — " Humbly, we beseech 
 thee, Almighty God, command this offering to be carried by 
 the hands of thy holy angel unto thy heavenly altar in the pre- 
 sence of thy divine Majesty, that all of us who receive through the 
 participation of this altar the most holy body and blood of thy 
 Son, may be filled with every heavenly blessing and grace, through 
 the same Christ our Lord." Such is the language of this venerable 
 monument, whose writing, to use the words of Dr. Todd, is of 
 itself a sufficient guarantee that " it is certainly not later than 
 the sixth century."J 
 
 In addition to the every-day Mass, the Missa Cotidiana, this 
 missal presents to us a " Missa Apostolorum," a " Missa Mar- 
 tyrum," a M Missa Sanctorum et Sanctarum Virginum," also a 
 
 * Ancient Irish Missal, page 16. t lb. p. 32. X lb- p. 18. 
 
164 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 Mass " pro poenitentibus vivis ;" and, in fine, a " Missa pro mor- 
 tuis."* Surely this must be confessed to be a very un-Protestant- 
 looking record of the faith of our fathers in the sixth century. 
 
 We have already spoken of the Bobbio Missal, which was be- 
 queathed by St. Colunibanus to his Irish disciples in Italy : it, too, 
 contains the prayer just now referred to, and with it the whole 
 Canon of the Mass, from the commencement to the Agnus Dei, 
 substantially the same as found in the Roman liturgy. This 
 missal, moreover, has many peculiar prayers which illustrate the 
 doctrine of our ancient church regarding the blessed Eucharist. 
 Thus, in its daily Mass we find the prayer : — 
 
 " Gratias tibi agimus Dne. sancte, "We give thee thanks, holy 
 Pater omnipotens seterne Deus, qui Lord, omnipotent Father, eternal 
 nos corporis et sanguinis Christi God, who hast satiated us by the 
 filii tui communione satiasti."f communion of the body and blood 
 
 of Christ thy Son." 
 
 Again, in the Mass for Lent, " Missa Quadragesiinalis," after the 
 commemoration of many blessings imparted to us by Christ, it is 
 added : — 
 
 "Cujus carne a te ipso sanctifi- "By participating of whose flesh, 
 cata, dum pascimur, roboramur ; et blessed by thee, we are strength - 
 sanguine dum potamur, abluimur."J ened, and by drinking of whose 
 
 blood we are cleansed." 
 
 Another invaluable liturgical fragment has been preserved in 
 the Antiphonarium Benchorense. It is a communion hymn be- 
 ginning with the words Sancti venite, which, in the ancient choral- 
 book of the great Irish monastery of Bangor, is entitled " a hymn 
 whilst the priests communicate." The venerable antiquity of the 
 manuscript in which this hymn is preserved, brings us back to the 
 seventh century, the golden period of our Irish Church.g The 
 remarks, however, of Dr. Todd, in his edition of the Liber Hymno- 
 
 * Dr. O'Conor's Stowe Catalogue, page 45 ; Todd, loc. cit. page 34. 
 t See ap. Mabillon, Museum Italicum, i. 281. 
 % lb. page 303, similar phrases occur also page 344 and elsewhere. 
 § It was written about the year 691, as Drs. O'Conor and Lanigan have- 
 sufficiently proved. 
 
ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 165 
 
 rum for the Irish Arch. Society, nave established the claim of the 
 hymn itself to a still higher antiquity. In the ancient Irish preface 
 to the hymn of St. Sechnall on St. Patrick, preserved in the 
 Leabhar Breac, it is said that, on a certain occasion, whilst Sech- 
 nall was offering the holy sacrifice, our apostle went to visit him ; 
 and it was when Sechnall had finished the Mass, except taking the 
 body of Christ, that he heard that Patrick had arrived at the place :" 
 leaving the altar, he prostrated himself at the feet of St. Patrick, 
 and when both subsequently approached the church, " they heard a 
 choir of angels chanting a hymn at the Offertory in the church, and 
 what they chanted was the hymn whose beginning is l Sancti venite, 
 Christi corpus,' etc., so that from that time to the present, that hymn 
 is chanted in Erin when the body of Christ is received"* Now, the 
 preface from which we have taken this extract u has been sup- 
 posed by the best Irish scholars (as Dr. Todd informs us), judging 
 from its language and style, to be a composition of about the 
 seventh or eighth century ;"| and yet, it describes the beautiful 
 communion hymn, Sancti venite, as not only then in use, but, 
 moreover, as having been from time immemorial chanted in the 
 churches of Erin. 
 
 The connection of this hymn with the monastery of Bangor 
 redoubles its importance. We may soon expect from the learned 
 pen of Dr. Reeves a full account of that monastery. In the mean- 
 time, we shall be content with the eulogy passed on this ancient 
 asylum of piety and literature, by the holy abbot of Clairvaux, in 
 his life of St. Malachy: — 
 
 " A most noble monastery had been founded in Bangor by St. Com- 
 gall, which brought forth many thousand monks, and was the head of 
 many monasteries. It was a place truly holy, pregnant with saints, and 
 bringing forth most copious fruit to God : so much so, that one of the 
 members of that holy congregation, Molua by name, is said to have been 
 the founder of one hundred monasteries. Its branches overspread both 
 Ireland and Scotland. Nor were these the only countries blessed by its 
 religious : as bees from the parent hive, they flocked to foreign shores, 
 and one of them, named Columbanus, proceeding to Luxieu, founded 
 there a monastery which soon grew into a great people. "J 
 
 * Lib. Hymnor. pp. SO aud 31. t lb. p. 44. 
 
 J Vita S- Malachige, cap. v. There is a hymn in praise of this monas- 
 
166 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 We now give in full, from the old MS. of Bobbio, this golden 
 fragment of our ancient Irish liturgy, with a literal translation :* 
 
 1 Sancti venite, 1. " Approach, you who are holy, 
 Christi corpus sumite ; Receive the body of Christ, 
 
 Sauctum bibeutes, Drinking the sacred blood 
 
 Quo redempti sanguinera. By which you were redeemed. 
 
 tery inserted in the old Antiphonarium Benchorense ; and hence, dating 
 back at least to the seventh century, which we here insert in full, as 
 being inaccessible to many of our readers : 
 
 ' ' Benchuir, bona regula, 
 Recta atque divina, 
 Stricta, sancta, sedula, 
 Summa, justa ac mira. 
 
 1 ' Muinther* Benchuir beata, 
 Fide fundata certa, 
 Spe salutis ornata, 
 Caritate perfecta 
 
 "Navis numquam turbata, 
 Quamvis fluctibus torsa, 
 Nuptiis quoque parata, 
 Regi Domino sponsa. 
 
 ' ' Domus deliciis plena, 
 
 Super petram constructa, 
 Necnon vinea vera, 
 Ex iEgypto transducta. 
 
 "Certe civitas firrua, 
 Fortis atque munita, 
 Gloriosa ac digna, 
 Supra montem posita. 
 
 "Area cherubim tecta, 
 Omni parte aurata, 
 Sacrosanctis referta, 
 Viris quatuor portata. 
 
 ' ' Christo regina apta 
 Solis luce amicta, 
 Simplex simulque docta. 
 Undecumque invicta. 
 
 " Vere regalis aula, 
 
 Variis gemmis ornata, 
 Gregisque Christi caida, 
 Patre summo servata." 
 
 The Irish word for familia. 
 
 * See a beautiful metrical translation of this hymn from the pen of 
 Denis Floreuce M'Carthy, Esq-., in the Ancient Irish Church, by Rev. 
 James Gaffney; Dublin, 1863, p. 23, seqq. 
 
ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 167 
 
 2. "Salvati Christi 
 
 Corpore et sanguine, 
 A quo refecti, 
 Laudes dicamus Deo. 
 
 3. "Hoc sacramento, 
 
 Corporis et sanguinis, 
 
 Omnes exuti 
 
 Ab inferni faucibus. 
 
 4. "Dator salutis, 
 
 Christns lilius Dei, 
 Mundum salvavit, 
 Per crucem et sanguinem. 
 
 5 " Pro universis 
 
 Irumolatus Dominus, 
 Ipse sacerdos 
 Existit et hostia. 
 
 6. " Lege prseceptum 
 
 Immolari hostias : 
 Qua adumbrantur 
 Divina mysteria. 
 
 7. " Lncis indultor 
 
 Et salvator omnium, 
 Prseclaram Sanctis 
 Largitus est gratiam. 
 
 8. " Accedant omnes, 
 
 Pura mente creduli ; 
 Sumant seternam 
 Salutis custodiam : 
 
 2. " Saved by the body 
 
 And blood of Christ, 
 Now nourished by it 
 Let us sing praises unto God. 
 
 3. "By this sacrament 
 
 Of the body and blood, 
 
 All are rescued 
 
 From the power of hell. 
 
 4 " The giver of salvation, 
 Christ, the Son of God, 
 Redeemed the world 
 By his cross and blood. 
 
 5. " For the whole world 
 
 The Lord is offered up ; 
 He is at the same time 
 High-priest and victim. 
 
 6. "In the law it is commanded 
 
 To immolate victims : 
 By it were foreshadowed 
 These sacred mysteries. 
 
 7. " The giver of all light, 
 
 And the Saviour of all, 
 Now bestows upon the holy 
 An exceeding great grace. 
 
 8. ' ' Let all approach, 
 
 In the pure simplicity of faith ; 
 Let them receive the eternal 
 Preserver of their souls : 
 
 9. " Sanctorum custos, 
 
 Kector quoque Dominus, 
 Vitse perennis, 
 Largitor credentibus 
 
 10. " Ccelestem panem 
 
 Dat esurientibus ; 
 De fonte vivo 
 Prsebet sitientibus. 
 
 11. "Alpha et omega 
 
 Ipse Christus Dominus 
 Venit, venturus 
 
 Judicare homines." 
 
 9. ' ' The guardian of the saints, 
 
 The supreme Ruler and Lord, 
 The Bestower of eternal life, 
 On those who believe in Him. 
 
 10. " To the hungzy he gives to eat 
 
 Of the heavenly food ; 
 
 To the thirsty he gives to drink 
 
 From the living fountain. 
 
 11. "The alpha and omega, 
 
 Our Lord Christ Himself 
 Now comes : He who shall one 
 
 day come 
 To judge all mankind." 
 
168 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 This beautiful little hymn speaks for itself, and needs no com- 
 ment : suffice it to say, that its author might well defy any 
 polemical writer of the present day to express with greater clearness 
 and precision the teaching of the Catholic Church. 
 
 The Protestant German hymnologist, Daniel, inserted this hymn 
 in his " Thesaurus,"* but, strangely enough, omitted the third verse. 
 The suppression, however, of this strophe must not be imputed to 
 him ; for on discovering his error, he honourably apologized to his 
 readers, and declared that he was led into error by copying this 
 hymn from the " Anthologia" of Mr. Rambach, another Protestant 
 writer, who in reality " suppressed the third verse, as it seemed to 
 speak too emphatically regarding the sacrament of the Eucharist. "f 
 
 We may now proceed to consider some other monuments illus- 
 trative of the liturgy of our early church. 
 
 The perfect acquaintance of the late Eugene Curry with the 
 ancient Gaelic dialects, has placed within the reach of modern 
 inquirers many records of the religious tenets and practices of the 
 early church of Ireland, which were " sealed books" even to the 
 most pains- taking and enthusiastic Irish antiquaries of the last two 
 centuries. Amongst the religious treatises which he translated, 
 one of the most important is an " Exposition of the Ceremonies of 
 the Mass, " of which the original is preserved in the Leabhar 
 Breac, R. I. Acad. fol. 125. This interesting little tract explains 
 
 * Vol. i. page 193. 
 
 t "Suppressit stropham tertiam quippe grandius quid de sacramento 
 sentire videbatur. — Daniel, Thes. Hym. vol. iv. page 109, Lipsias, 1855. 
 Dr. Todd, when editing the Liber Hymnorum, fasciculus lmus, in 1855, 
 page 43, note c, was not acquainted with the fourth volume of Mr. 
 Daniel's work, and hence accused him of rejecting the title prefixed to our 
 hymn : however, Daniel, in the fourth vol. (loc. cit. ), states that when 
 publishing the first volume, he was not acquainted with the Bobbio manu- 
 script ; and that he now retracted his former opinion, having learned that 
 the title was found in that venerable old monument. Dr. Todd does not 
 seem to have adverted to the omission of the third verse by his Protestant 
 contemporary. Mr. Daniel justly remarks, that there exists a great 
 affinity between the hymn " Sancti venite" and an antiphon used in the 
 early church of Gaul during the time of the Paschal Communion, from 
 which he gives this extract : " Venite populi ad sacrum et immortale 
 
 mysterium quoniam propter nos agnus Dei Patri sacrificium 
 
 propositum est."— See St. Gregory of Tours, in his Treatise "deMiracul. 
 S. Martini," ii, 13. 
 

 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 169 
 
 in detail the peculiar ceremonies which were used by the old Irish 
 Church in the sacred liturgy ; but for our own purpose, one extract 
 already published by Mr. Curry in his "Lectures on the MS. 
 Materials of Irish History"* will suffice, to show what was the 
 doctrine which was held by our fathers in regard to the real pre- 
 sence of our divine Redeemer in the holy Sacrament of the altar. 
 We shall merely premise that Mr. Curry judged the language of 
 this treatise to be in the purest dialect of the Brehon Laws, and 
 to belong to the earliest centuries of the Christian era in our 
 island : — 
 
 ' ' This is the foundation of the faith which every Christian is bound to 
 hold, and it is upon this foundation that every virtue which he practises, 
 and every good work which he performs, is erected. 
 
 "For it is through this perfection of the faith, with tranquil charity 
 and with steadfast hope, that all the faithful are saved. For it is this 
 faith, that is, the Catholic faith, that conducts the righteous to the vision, 
 that is, to see God in the glory and in the dignity in which He abides. 
 It is this vision which is offered as a golden reward to the righteous after 
 the resurrection. 
 
 " The pledge for this vision which has been left to the Church here for 
 the present, is the Holy Spirit, which resides in, which comforts, and 
 which strengthens her with all virtues. It is this Spirit that distributes 
 his own peculiar gifts to every faithful member in the Church, as He 
 pleases and as they require to receive it from Him. For, it is by the 
 Holy Spirit these noble gifts following are bestowed upon the Church, 
 among men, viz., Baptism and Penitence, and the expectation of (endur- 
 ing of) persecutions and afflictions. 
 
 " One of the noble gifts of the Holy Spirit is the Holy Scripture, by 
 which all ignorance is enlightened, and all worldly affliction comforted ; 
 by which all spiritual light is kindled, and all debility is made strong. 
 For it is through the Holy Scripture that heresy and schism are banished 
 from the Church, and all contentions and divisions reconciled. It is in 
 it well-tried counsel and appropriate instruction will be found for every 
 degree in the Church. It is through it the snares of demons and vices are 
 banished from every faithful member of the Church. For, the divine 
 Scripture is the mother and the benign nurse of all the faithful who 
 meditate and contemplate it, and who are nurtured by it until they are 
 chosen children of God by its advice. For, the Wisdom, that is the 
 Church, bountifully distributes to her children the variety of her sweetest 
 drink and the choicest of her spiritual food, by which they are perpetu- 
 ally inebriated and cheered. 
 
 * Pase 37C-7. 
 
1 70 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 " Another division of that pledge which has been left with the Church to 
 comfort her, is the Body of Christ and His Blood, which are offered upon 
 the altars of the Christians : the Body, even, which was born of Mary 
 the Immaculate Virgin, without destruction of her virginity, without 
 opening of the womb, without presence of man ; and which was crucified 
 by the unbelieving Jews out of spite and envy ; and which arose after 
 three days from death, and sits upon the right-hand of God the Father in 
 heaven, in glory, and in dignity, before the angels of heaven. Tt is that 
 body, the same as it is in this great glory, which the righteous consume 
 off God's table, that is, the holy altar. For, this body is the rich viaticum 
 of the faithful who journey through the paths of pilgrimage and penitence 
 of this world to the heavenly fatherland. This is the seed of the resur- 
 rection in the life eternal to the righteous. It is, however, the origin and 
 cause of falling to the impenitent who believe not ; and to the sensual 
 who distinguish it not though they believe Woe then to the Christian 
 who distinguishes not this holy body of the Lord by pure morals, by 
 charity, and by mercy. For, it is in this body that will be found the 
 example of the charity which excels all charity, viz., to sacrifice Himself 
 without guilt, in satisfaction for the guilt of the whole race of Adam. 
 
 ' ' This, then, is the perfection and the fulness of the Catholic faith as 
 it is taught in the Holy Scriptures." 
 
 The whole of this passage is so striking and so illustrative of 
 the teaching of the Catholic Church, that it would almost seem to 
 be borrowed from the fourth book of the " Imitation of Christ," 
 by Thomas a Kempis. It is not necessary to call the reader's 
 attention to any particular portion of it ; but, surely, he will be 
 struck with the emphatic words by which the Eucharist is declared 
 to be " the very body that was born of the Immaculate Virgin, and 
 was crucified by the unbelieving Jews." No Catholic doctor of 
 the present clay could use more emphatic words to distinguish 
 between the teaching of the Church and the Protestant tenets. 
 
 To this golden exposition of the Catholic faith of the early Irish 
 Church in regard to the blessed Eucharist, we add, on account of 
 the peculiar beauty of its sentiments, a treatise on " the Mass- 
 Vestments,"* which clearly propounds the same doctrine, whilst it, 
 at the same time, reveals to us the reverential awe with which the 
 holy sacrifice of the Mass was regarded by our fathers more than 
 one thousand years ago : — 
 
 * The original is preserved in the Leabhar Breac, the most valuable 
 repository of the ancient ecclesiastical treatises of our Irish Church. 
 
ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 171 
 
 "It is asked by whom were various colours introduced into the chasu- 
 ble of the sacrifice ? I answer — it was Moses, the son of Amram, that 
 first placed them in the sacrifice- chasuble of Aaron, his brother, who was 
 the first priest of the Mosaic law. 
 
 " It is asked how many colours were set by Moses in Aaron's chasuble? 
 I answer— eight: viz., gold, (or yellow,) blue, white, green, brown, red, 
 black, and purple. This, therefore, is the number of colours which every 
 sacrifice-chasuble ought to have in it from that time to the present. 
 
 "It is asked why these various colours were introduced into the 
 sacrifice-chasuble, instead of having it of one colour ? 1 answer — through 
 mystery and figure. 
 
 "It is not lawful, therefore, for any priest to approach the body of 
 Christ for the purpose of sacrifice without having a chasuble of satin {i.e. 
 shining cloth) upon him with these eight colours in it. The priest's mind 
 should agree with the variety and meaning of each distinct colour, and 
 he should be filled with vigilance and awe, and be withdrawn from ambi- 
 tion and pride when he reflects on what these various colours typify. 
 
 " What the yellow now typifies, when the priest looks at it, is, that 
 the clay and dust of this earth are the materials of his body, and that it 
 is into the same dust he shall go again. Therefore, no sentiment of pride 
 should ever arise within his breast. 
 
 " What the blue typifies, when he looks at it, is, that he shall separate 
 his mind from the ambitious designs and vices of the world, and turn his 
 face towards heaven in humility and lowliness, to God the Father who is 
 in heaven. 
 
 " What the white typifies when he looks at it, is, that he should be 
 filled with confusion and shame if his heart be not chaste and shining, 
 and his mind like the foam of the wave, or like chalk on the gable of 
 an oratory, or like the colour of the swan in the sunshine ; that is, 
 without any particle of sin, great or small, resting in his heart. 
 
 " What the green typifies when he looks at it, is, that he be filled with 
 great faintness and distress of heart and mind ; for, what is understood 
 by it is, his interment at the end of his life under the mould of the earth ; 
 for green is the original colour of all the earth ; and it is therefore that 
 green is represented among the colours of the Mass- chasuble. 
 
 " What the brown typifies when it is gazed upon, is, that the priest 
 should call to mind the separation of his soul and body in death, and 
 that his dwelling after death shall be the grave, till the end of the world, 
 and that hell shall be the lot of both body and soul after the judgment, 
 unless his deeds be faithful here upon earth. 
 
 " What the red typifies when he looks upon it, is, that his heart should 
 start and tremble in his breast through terror and fear of the Son of 
 God ; for the scars and wounds of the Son of God were red upon the 
 cross when he was crucified by the unbelieving Jews. 
 
 " What the black denotes when he looks upon it, is, that he should 
 shed bitter tears for his sins, lest he be condemned to the society of the 
 devil, and dwell perpetually in endless pain. 
 
 " What the purple denotes when the priest looks on it, is, that he call 
 to his mind Jesus who is in heaven, in the plenitude of glory and majesty, 
 
172 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 
 
 and with the nine orders of angels, who praise the Creator throughout all 
 eternity. 
 
 " What becomes the priest on this occasion, is, that he withdraw his 
 mind from the wickedness of the world, and fix his thoughts on the 
 enjoyments and delights which our Father hath prepared in heaven. 
 
 " These are the eight degrees that are designated J}y the eight colours 
 which are in the Mass- chasuble, according to the figure and mystery of 
 the heavenly Father. Thus, the Mass-chasuble is the focus in which are 
 concentred eight different colours, which defeat and overthrow the 
 temptations of the devil in many battles, and destroy the vices of 
 the world, and which increase and magnify the virtues and the good 
 deeds. 
 
 " It is not lawfid, therefore, for any one to introduce the satin into 
 his garments, or into his vesture, on account of its lustre and nobleness, 
 excepting the priest alone, when he goes to sacrifice the body of Christ and His 
 blood, upon the holy altar; for it is a satin chasuble that he has a right to wear 
 at that time.'"* 
 
 These documents, surely, allow no doubt to be entertained as to 
 what was meant by the Irish writers of the early centuries, when 
 they speak of offering up the sacrifice of the Mass. There may 
 have been various rituals and various liturgies ; the missal of 
 Bobbio is distinct from that of Stowe ; but all are found to agree in 
 the great doctrinal truth, that in the holy sacrifice is offered to 
 God the victim of our salvation, the body and blood of Jesus 
 Christ. With this principle before our minds, the ancient cata- 
 logue of saints published for the first time by Usher becomes an 
 interesting record of the identity of faith as professed by St. 
 Patrick, and transmitted through successive orders of saints to 
 posterity; whilst it indicates, at the same time, the liberty that 
 existed in regard to ceremonial and ritual, and marks the period 
 to which our varying liturgies must be referred. 
 
 According to this catalogue, then, the Irish saints may be 
 divided into three classes, of which the first was most holy ; the 
 second, very holy ; the third, holy. The sanctity of the first 
 order was like the sun in its meridian splendour, the second like 
 the moon, the third like the stars. 
 
 The first class begins with St. Patrick, and numbers 350 saints, 
 all bishops, and founders of churches : men eminently holy, and 
 
 * From the Curry MSS. in Catholic University. 
 
ANCIENT LITURGICAL TREATISES. 173 
 
 full of the spirit of God ; " they had one head, our divine 
 Redeemer ; one leader, St. Patrick ; one Mass ; one mode of cele- 
 bration ; one tonsure, from ear to ear." 
 
 The second order consists of 300 saints, the greater number 
 being simple priests ; they, too, had one spiritual head, but intro- 
 duced changes into the liturgy, and followed " various Masses and 
 various rules." 
 
 The third order, too, comprised many priests and few bishops, 
 and reckons 100 saints. They inhabited desert places, and lived 
 on herbs and water, and had no property of their own ; they 
 continued to sanction by their usage a difference " of liturgy and 
 rule." 
 
 The first order extends from 432 to 534 ; the second from 534 
 to 600 ; whilst the third terminates in 664. Their rules and 
 ceremonies may have varied at intervals, but all these bishops 
 and priests are found linked together in the Christian bonds of 
 sanctity and faith ; all are gathered around the same altar, 
 and with every variety of ceremonial, all offer to God the same 
 holy sacrifice of the Mass, from St. Patrick in the beginning of 
 the fifth, to St. Cronan, who closes the catalogue, in the middle 
 of the seventh century.* 
 
 * This ancient catalogue is generally supposed to have been written 
 about the close of the seventh century ; it is given in full by Usher in 
 his Primordia, and is translated by Todd in his Memoir of St. Patrick, 
 p. 88. We shall have occasion to speak of it again hereafter, when we 
 shall present it, with some remarks, to the reader. 
 
1 74 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 Penitential of St. Cummian and St. Finnian. — Penitential of Bobbio. — 
 Pcenitentiale Bigotianum. — St. Columbanus's Canons. — Ancient Irish 
 Canons cited by Usher. — Canons regarding the Viaticum. — Brehon 
 Laws on the Orders of the Church. — Irish Synod of 807, celebrated 
 under pope Leo III. 
 
 The ancient Irish Penitentials generally suppose the reader to be 
 fully instructed in the doctrines of the Church ; and hence, when 
 laying down rules regarding the holy Sacrament of the altar, 
 generally designate it by the common titles of " the Sacrifice," 
 "the Mass," "the Communion," "the Eucharist." It is only 
 incidentally that they present some details which reveal to us the 
 fulness of the faith of our early Church in reference to this great 
 sacrament. 
 
 The Penitential of St. Cummian dates from the beginning of 
 the seventh century ; it prescribes various penances for those who 
 should be guilty of negligence when preserving the sacrifice 
 entrusted to their care ;* and subsequently enacts that, should 
 any one, without due reverence, receive the sacred blood, he 
 should do penance for seven days. " Qui communicaverit san- 
 guinem inconscius, septem dies pamiteati"'f 
 
 St. Finnian of Maghbile, towards the close of his Penitential, 
 lays down many rules for the guidance of married people, and 
 concludes, that by the observance of these rules, they will be 
 worthy to receive the body of Christ : " Digni erunt corpore 
 ChristirX 
 
 The Bobbio Penitential enacts, in its seventeenth canon, that 
 
 * Ap. "Wasserschleben. Die Bussordnungen, etc. ; Halle, 1851 ; 
 Pcenitent. Cummian, xiii. 5, seqq. These canons clearly prove that the 
 blessed Sacrament was preserved for the devotion of the faithful, as in 
 the Catholic Church at the present day. See this same disciplinary 
 practice illustrated in the same Penitential, xiv. 12. 
 
 f Chap. xiii. 24. % Ibid. Pcenit. Finniani, can, 46. 
 
IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 175 
 
 whosoever should show neglect " in regard to the Eucharist, which 
 is the body of the Lord," should do penance for a whole year : 
 " Si quis Eucharistiam, corpus Domini, neglexerit, aut perdiderit, 
 unum annum poeniteat."* Again, in its forty-sixth canon it 
 commands, that the spot on which the blessed Eucharist might 
 happen to fall, " should be covered for forty days, lest any one 
 should trample on the blood of Christ :" ut non conculcetur 
 sanguis Christi. 
 
 The Irish Penitential which, from the library where it was 
 discovered, is designated by the name " Pcenitentiale Bigotianum," 
 has a special chapter entitled, " That no one should receive the 
 sacrifice, unless he be pure and perfect, and free from every 
 mortal stain ;"f and it adds the following beautiful illustra- 
 tion : 
 
 " When Christ commanded the girl that was dead to arise, He directed 
 that food should be brought to her; that is, when she was perfectly 
 restored to health, and no longer detained in her infirmities, for she was 
 healed by the Redeemer in the presence of Peter, James, and Johu, and 
 also of her father and mother ; so, too, each one of us having confessed 
 his sins, and eradicated them from his soul, and being enriched with the 
 grace of God, in the presence of his heavenly Father and of the Church, 
 may, when strengthened by good works, receive the sacrifice." 
 
 Equally explicit and emphatic is the teaching of the Penitential 
 of St. Columbanus, which, in its concluding canon,J enacts as 
 follows : 
 
 " Confessiones autem dari dili- " Special diligence must be used 
 
 gentius proecipitur, maxime de in confessing our sins and imper- 
 
 commotionibus animi, antequam fections, before the celebration of 
 
 ad missam eatur, ne forte quis ac- Mass, lest with an unclean heart 
 
 cedat indignus ad altare, id est, si we should approach the holy altar, 
 
 cor mundum nou habuerit. Melius It is better to delay a little, and 
 
 est enim exspectare, donee cor wait till our heart be free from 
 
 sanum fuerit et alienum a scandalo scandal and envy, than audaciously 
 
 ac invidia, quam accedere audacter to approach to the judgment-seat : 
 
 * Ibid. ; also Mabillon, Mus. Ital. vol. i. can. 17. 
 
 f De eo quod nemo debet accipere sacrificium nisi sit mundus et per- 
 fectus et nihil mortale in eo inventum." — Ibid. cap. vii. On this and 
 the other penitentials see appendix. 
 
 % Canon xi. 11. 
 
176 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 ad judicium tribunalis ; tribunal for the altar is the tribunal of Christ, 
 
 cnim Christi altare est, et corpus suum and His body, present there with His 
 
 inibi cum sanguine judicat indignos blood, judges those who unworthily ap- 
 
 accedentes. Sicuti ergo a peccatis proach. It is, therefore, not only 
 
 capitalibus cavendum est antequam from heinous crimes that we must 
 
 communicandum sit, ita etiam ab be free, before approaching to com- 
 
 incertioribus vitiis et morbis Ian- municate, but also from the lesser 
 
 guentis animse abstinendum est ac faults, and the infirmities of our 
 
 abstergendum ante verse pacis con- sinful souL that thus we may be 
 
 junctionem et seternaB salutis com- possessors of true peace, and sharers 
 
 paginem." of eternal blessedness." 
 
 The importance of this explicit teaching of St. Columbanus 
 must surely strike even the superficial observer. His teaching 
 links together Bangor, Luxieu, and Bobbio ; that is to say, Ireland, 
 France, and Italy, and attests to us the common doctrine of all, 
 that forsooth, in the holy Sacrament of the altar are really present 
 the body and blood of the divine Redeemer. 
 
 Besides the distinct teaching of his Penitential, there are many 
 incidental facts connected with his life which illustrate more and 
 more his belief regarding the blessed Eucharist. For instance, in 
 one of the nunneries founded by him on the continent, we find 
 that the virgins " received the body of the Lord and drank His 
 blood."* In the life of his illustrious disciple, St. Gallus, it is 
 further mentioned, that on receiving some valuable presents, 
 amongst which was an exquisitely-wrought silver cup, that saint 
 ordered Magnoald to distribute all these gifts among the poor. 
 Magnoald wished to reserve the cup for the use of the altar, but 
 St. Gallus replied : u My master, Columbanus, is wont to offer unto 
 the Lord the sacrifice of salvation, in brazen vessels, since our 
 Saviour was affixed to the cross with brazen nails," and hence 
 ordered the cup, too, to be given to the poor.f When, again, at a 
 later period, the same Gallus and Magnoald performed the last 
 obsequies for St. Columbanus, we find it recorded that they cele- 
 brated the divine mysteries, and offered to God the " sacrifice of 
 salvation" for his repose.f 
 
 * Ap. Usher, loc. cit. p. 38, from Jones, in Vit. Burgundoforae. 
 t Usher, ibid, p. 35 ; Vit. St. Galli, vol. i. p. 18. 
 % Loc. cit. i. p. 26. 
 
IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 177 
 
 To illustrate the belief of the early Irish Church in regard to 
 the blessed Eucharist, Usher cites the ancient Irish Collection of 
 Canons, made about the year 700 j but he is content with pro- 
 ducing one only canon, which enacts, forsooth, that a bishop may 
 bequeath a certain portion of his goods* as a legacy to the priest 
 who administers to him the sacrifice or viaticum. Now, there are 
 many other canons in this collection much more to the purpose, as 
 illustrative of the true and hidden nature of the holy Sacrament : 
 thus, in ii. 4, it is said, that to priests was given the charge of the 
 Sacraments of God : " praesunt enim ecclesise Christi et in composi- 
 tions corporis et sanguinis consortes cum episcopis sunt:" that is, 
 li they share with the bishops the sacred power and privilege of 
 changing the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ." 
 In iv. 2, the office of the subdeacons is described : — 
 
 " Isti oblationes in templo Dni. "They receive the offerings of 
 
 suscipiunt a populis ; isti vasa cor- the faithful in the churches ; they 
 poris et sanguinis Christi diaconis present to the deacons at the altar 
 ad altarium offerunt." the vessels of the body and blood 
 
 of Christ." 
 
 Again, in ix. 1, it is said that the acolythe, at his ordination, 
 should receive — 
 
 " CJrceolum vacuum ad sugge- " An empty cruet, for preserving 
 
 renduni vinum in Eucharistiam wine for the Eucharist of the body 
 corporis Christi." of Christ." 
 
 A most beautiful contrast is made in xlix. 3, between him who 
 becomes heir of God by baptism, and him who attains his crown 
 by martyrdom : — 
 
 " Baptizatus fidem suamconfite- "He who is baptized professes 
 
 tur coram sacerdote et interrogatus his faith, and being interrogated 
 
 respondit: et hoc martyr facit coram responds : so is it with the martyr 
 
 persecutore. Ille post confessionem before the persecutor. The for- 
 
 * " Decern Scripulos :" Collect. Hib. Canon, xlii. 4. The Latin word is 
 used for the Irish Schrepall. One thing clearly results from this canon, 
 that, viz., the blessed Eucharist was preserved after Mass, and brought to 
 the faithful as a sacred viaticum. 
 
178 
 
 IRISH PEN1TENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 spargitur oleo et aqua : hie asper- 
 gitur sanguine vel intiuguitur igni. 
 Ille manus impositione pontificis 
 accipit Spiritum Sanctum : hie locu- 
 toriumSpiritusSaucti efficitur, dum 
 non ipse est qui loqtiitur sed spiri- 
 tus Patris per ilium loquitur. Ille 
 communicat Eucharistiam in com- 
 munione corporis Christi : hie ipse 
 Christo commoritur," etc. 
 
 mer having professed his belief, is 
 sprinkled with oil and water ; the 
 latter is sprinkled with his blood, 
 or plunged into fire. The one by 
 the imposition of the bishop's hands 
 receives the Holy Ghost ; the other 
 becomes the mouth-piece of the 
 Holy Ghost, for, it is not he who 
 speaks, but the Spirit of the Father 
 that speaks through him. The 
 former receives the Eucharist, par- 
 ticipating of the body of Christ ; 
 the latter himself is by death asso- 
 ciated with Christ." 
 
 From this last passage it may be concluded, that in the Irish 
 Church, as in many other churches of the age of St. Augustine, 
 the blessed Eucharist was administered immediately after baptism. 
 It is, perhaps, for this reason that the Brehon Laws declare " the 
 holy communion' 1 to be one of " the fundamental ordinances from 
 which neither law, nor judgment, nor reason, nor philosophy can 
 absolve" It was especially at the moment of death, however, that 
 this participation of the holy communion was deemed necessary 
 for the faithful ; hence, in the Collection of Canons just referred 
 to (xvii. 8) the words of St. Jerome are adopted as a rule : — 
 
 "Quicumque viaticum vitse in 
 vita sua non acceperit, post mor- 
 tem non potest adjuvari." 
 
 "Whosoever does not receive 
 the vivifying viaticum during life, 
 cannot be assisted by it after 
 death." 
 
 That is, the sacrifice of the altar was only offered up for those who, 
 before death, had received the holy sacraments of Baptism and the 
 Eucharist. And, elsewhere, when treating of those who, after 
 expressing a desire of repentance, should become unconscious, it 
 enacts : — 
 
 "Testimonium dent qui eum 
 audierunt, et si continuo moriturus 
 (sit), reconcilietur per manus im- 
 positionem, et infundatur ori ejus 
 Eucharistia."— (xlviii. 22.) 
 
 "Let those who heard him ex- 
 press such a desire give their attes- 
 tation to that effect ; and then, if 
 his death seems to be approaching, 
 let him be reconciled by the impo- 
 sition of hands, and let the Eucha- 
 rist be poured into his mouth." 
 
IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 179 
 
 Hence, too, a still more ancient Irish synod declared, that the 
 holy communion was so called — 
 
 " Eo quod omnium fidelium " Because it is the common food 
 
 in exitu vitae communis est victus. of all the faithful at the end of their 
 
 Ergo quidam viaticum nominant, lives. Hence, some call it the 
 
 id est vitse* custodiam, custodit viaticum, because it guards our life 
 
 enim animam usquedum steterit and journey; for it protects the 
 
 ante tribunal Christi, nee bonus soul until it comes before the tri- 
 
 angelus ad vitam, nee mains ange- bunal of Christ, and neither the 
 
 lus ad poenam perducere talem good angel can conduct the soul to 
 
 animam valent nisi prius divino heaven, nor the evil one to tor- 
 
 judicio censeatur.""!" ments until sentence has been 
 
 passed on it by Christ." 
 
 In a tract of the Brehon Laws, called " Seanchus Beagh," on the 
 duties of the seven ecclesiastical orders, it is prescribed as the 
 duty of the subdeacon " to take charge of the altar-cloths, and to 
 spread the linens upon the altar, and to provide water and wine 
 for the sacrifice." To the deacon it is assigued " to hold the 
 chalice and to put wine into it, and to treasure up all the sacra- 
 ments till they are required ;" but to the priest belongs " to offer 
 the body of Christ, and to sing requiem for the souls of the faith- 
 ful."* 
 
 Another old Irish treatise on "the Consecration of a Church," 
 the language of which is so ancient that it is beyond the reach of 
 all published Irish dictionaries, as Mr. Curry remarks, after describ- 
 ing the consecration of the table of the altar, etc., adds, " The 
 fourth division is the consecration of the impertor, that is to say, 
 the dish or little cloth off which the body of Christ is received." % 
 
 A treatise " on the Rights and Duties of the Church and Church- 
 men," which also forms part of the Brehon jKaws, contains many 
 beautiful ordinances regarding the reverence due to bishops and 
 other ecclesiastics. One extract will suffice for our present 
 purpose : — 
 
 * A Vatican MS. reads : " Id est vice vel vitce custodiam.'''' — Codex Vatic. 
 1339, saec. decimi, fol. 167- 
 
 f Collect. Hib Canonum, ii. 18. 
 
 X From the MSS. of Eugene Curry, in Cath. Univ. ; see also for som 
 account of the above tract, Petrie, Bound Towers^ p. 377- 
 
 § Curry, MSS. ; also his Lectures, 357. 
 
180 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 "Every one who does not respect the rule of the spiritual director who 
 is placed over him, is not obedient to God or man ; he is not entitled to 
 have communion administered to him, neither should his requiem be 
 chanted, nor his burial be allowed in the Church of God; because it 
 was he that refused to be obedient to God in the churches of the land of 
 Erin. For, the manner in which those who are in holy orders ought to 
 be respected, and their directions followed, is the same as if they were 
 the angels of God among men ; because it is through them the kingdom 
 of heaven is gained, by baptism and communion, and chanting of prayers, and 
 the sacrifice of the body of Christ and of His blood, and the preaching of the 
 Gospel, and the building of the churches of God."* 
 
 A fragment of an ancient Irish synod is fortunately preserved 
 in the archives of the Yallicellian Library, Rome. This synod is 
 described as held in 807 or 808, during the pontificate of pope 
 Leo III. (795-816), and the episcopate of Torbach,f successor of 
 St. Patrick. We shall translate a portion of it which illustrates 
 the subject of which we now treat : 
 
 "Irish Synod under pope Leo the Third. 
 
 " Amongst other things decreed regarding the church discipline, the 
 
 holy synod of Ireland, in which Leo, bishop of the see of Home presided, J 
 
 during the reign of Karl, king of the Francs, together with Torbach, 
 
 archbishop§ of the English and the Irish, and many other bishops of 
 
 * Curry MSS. in Catholic University. 
 
 + Torbach is named as " Coarb of St. Patrick," and immediate suc- 
 cessor of Condmach, in the see of Armagh, in Colgan's list (republished by 
 Todd from the Bodleian MS. p. 174), as also in the Leabhar Breac, and 
 Yellow Book of Lecan — (Ap. Todd, pp. 177 and 179). Lanigan calls him 
 Forbach, which reading is also once (probably by typographical error) 
 found in Colgan. Ware gives him his true name, and the lists published by 
 Todd (loc cit.) place the matter beyond all controversy. As Condmach's 
 death is registered by the Four Masters in 806-7, and as all the lists cited 
 above mark only one year for the primacy of Torbach, it follows that 
 this synod must have been held in 807-8. All the dates marked in the 
 MS. agree very well, as pope Leo III. was chosen pontiff in 795, and 
 died in 816. Charlemagne reigned alone in France from 771 to 814. 
 
 % From these words we should conclude that pope Leo was present, 
 either in person or by his deputy, at this synod. Perhaps this may 
 explain the words of the Four Masters, which have hitherto seemed an 
 enigma. They thus write in 807 : " In this year the Ceile De (servus Dei) 
 came over the sea with dry feet, without a vessel ; and a written roll 
 was given him from heaven, out of which he preached to the Irish, and 
 it was carried up again when the sermon was finished. " It was about 
 this time that pope Leo visited, at the desire of Charlemagne, the north 
 of Italy, France, and Germany. Could it be that he also visited Ireland? 
 —See Sandini, Vitas Pontiff, pp. 242-3. 
 
 § Ireland was at this time so celebrated on the continent and in the 
 court of Charlemagne, that we can scarcely be surprised at the archbishop 
 
IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 181 
 
 these parts, thus enacted : Should a priest fall into sin, although accord- 
 ing to the apostolic canons he should be deposed, yet according to the 
 teaching of the blessed pope Sylvester, if he has not been hardened in 
 vice, but of his ewn accord confesses his guilt, and seeks to arise from 
 it, he shall do penance for ten years in the following manner : For three 
 months he shall live retired, separated from all others, taking for food 
 each evening only bread and water; on Sundays, however, and on 
 festival days, he may take a little wine and some fish or herbs, but no 
 meat or fine herbs,* or eggs, or cheese ; clothed with sackcloth, he will 
 lie on the ground, and by day and night constantly implore the mercy of 
 the all-powerful God. The three months being completed, he can leave 
 his retreat ; let him not, however, appear in public, lest the faithful 
 should be scandalized : for the priest's penance should not be public, as 
 that of the laity. After a little while, having resumed sufficient strength, 
 he will fast for a year and a half on bread and water, excepting the 
 Sundays and principal festivals, on which he may take the canonical 
 measure of wine, and herbs (sagmina), and eggs, and cheese. The first 
 year and a half being finished, he will partake of the body and blood of Christ, 
 the Lord, and be restored to communion, lest he should become hardened in his 
 course ; he may sing the psalms with the brethren, holding the last place 
 in choir," etc.f 
 
 Two canons of the Irish synod, published by Spelman, Wilkins, 
 and Ware, as a " Synodus secunda S. Patricii," also regard the 
 blessed Eucharist. This synod, indeed, has been referred to a 
 much later period than the time of St. Patrick by Dr. Todd,| fol- 
 lowing Tillemont, Lanigan, and others. Their arguments, however, 
 are all based on slight grounds, and are for the most part little more 
 than conjectural. Several of its canons are cited in an Irish peniten- 
 tial (edited by Wasserschleben, loc. cit.) drawn up during the ponti- 
 ficate of Gregory II., that is, about the year 731 ; and more than one 
 of them is also introduced in the Collectio Hibernensis Canonum, 
 which was made about the year 700. Thus, then, this synod 
 may safely be appealed to as evidence, at least, of the teaching of 
 
 of Armagh being styled "archbishop of England and Ireland." In the 
 life of St. Patrick, by Probus, the divine promise is recorded as announced 
 by an angel to our apostle, that his spiritual kingdom would embrace 
 ''Ireland and Brittany, England and Normandy."— Trias Thaumat. 
 p. 51. 
 
 * The original word is sagmen, which strictly means a sacred herb ; as it 
 is here placed in opposition with legumina, — pulse, it must be taken in its 
 strict meaning. . Perhaps it designates the shamrock, which in early times 
 was often used for food. 
 
 t See the original text of the whole fragment in appendix. 
 
 X Pages 488-9. 
 
182 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 our early Church. In its thirteenth canon it treats of the sacrifice 
 of the altar, " de sacrificio," and says that it was typified by the 
 paschal lamb ; the paschal lamb was consumed in each family, 
 and could not be given to externs: so is it only in the bosom of 
 the Church " that Christ is believed and participated of in the 
 communion."* The twenty-second canon, which is entitled, "de 
 sumenda Eucharistia post lapsum," enacts, that the repentant 
 sinner, " after mortifying his body, should approach the Eucharist, 
 especially on Easter day, when whosoever does not communicate, 
 should not be reckoned amongst the faithful. Therefore, the 
 period of penance with us is short and limited, lest the faithful 
 soul should perish, if long deprived of its spiritual food ; the Lord 
 having said : Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, you will 
 not have life in you" 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 (continued.) 
 
 IKISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 Rules, Monastic or Cenobitical, regarding the blessed Eucharist. — Rule of 
 St. Mochuda of Rahan. — He assigns Duties of Abbot and Priest. — 
 Asks for the Viaticum. — St. Maelruain of Tallaght, county Dublin. — 
 His words regarding the Mass. — Aengus. — His Felire. 
 
 There is another class of documents which may be said to par- 
 ticipate of the nature of the ecclesiastical ordinances already cited 
 in this article, viz., the monastic or cenobitical rules. Many of 
 these were drawn up at a very early period, by the great founders 
 of the religious establishments in our island ; and though they are 
 generally devoted to the every-day actions of the monastic life, 
 yet they occasionally illustrate the doctrines which were held by 
 
 * Cap. xiii. " Quid aliud significat quod in una domo sumitur agnus, 
 quam quod sub uno ndei culmine creditur et communicatur Christus. " 
 
IRISH PENITENTTAXS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 183 
 
 the religious, and which formed as if the centre of their spiritual 
 activity, the source of all their vitality and energy whilst jour- 
 neying on towards their heavenly country. We shall at present 
 confine our remarks to the rules drawn up by two great saints, 
 St. Carthage and St. Maelruain, whose monasteries were remarkable 
 for their sanctity, and at their respective periods exercised a wide- 
 spread influence throughout the whole island. 
 
 St. Mochuda (or Carthage), junior, patron of Lismore, died in 
 636. " He received that name in baptism," says his biographer, 
 " on account of being beloved hy God and man on earth and in 
 heaven."* He is thus commemorated by St. Cuimin of Connor : 
 
 1 c The beloved Mochuda, of mortification, 
 Admirable every page of his history ; 
 Before his time, there was no one that shed, 
 Half as many tears as he shed." 
 
 Aengus, too, on the 14th of May, thus marks his festival : 
 
 "SS. Corona and Victor, 
 With their company without deduction, 
 And with them the bright perpetual solemnity, 
 The noble feast of Carthage of Raithin." 
 
 One antiphon of his office, as used in the old Church of our 
 fathers, has been preserved to us ; it is the antiphon sung at the 
 Magnificat, and we give it in the simplicity and sweetness of the 
 original text : 
 
 "Gloriose Preesul Christi, venerande Carthace, 
 Apud Deum tuo sancto nos juva precamine, 
 Ut detersa omm sorde, et abluti crimine 
 In ccelesti sempiternum colleetemur culmine. " 
 
 This great saint was trained in his early years by St. Carthage, 
 senior, in his famous monastery on the banks of the Mang. He 
 subsequently took part in the schools of St. Comgall and St. Molua, 
 and founded his own monastery of Raithin (now Rahan, King's 
 County), in the year 590. It was after governing this monastery 
 
 * Acta SS. Maij. iii. 378. 
 
184 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 for forty years that he travelled southwards, and having received 
 from the chieftain of the Decies " a wild tract, extensive and 
 secluded, rich in forests and in fish," he erected there the famous 
 school of Lismore, which soon became " a great and renowned 
 city, a lamp of science to Ireland and to Europe." 
 
 Usher makes mention of the rule drawn up by this saint for his 
 monastery ;* we are, however, indebted for its translation to the 
 indefatigable and lamented O'Curry. 
 
 In this rule, under the rubric for the abbot, it is said that " to 
 him belongs the offering of the sacrifice of the body of the great Lord 
 upon the holy altar." Subsequently, on " the duties of a priest," it 
 is said : — 
 
 " If you be a priest you will be laborious— 
 You must uot speak but truth : 
 Noble is the order which you have taken, 
 To offer up the body of the King." 
 
 And it is added : — 
 
 " Noble is thy co-operative, man, 
 The Holy Spirit from Heaven." 
 
 Again, the rule declares : — 
 
 "To sing the requiems 
 
 Is thine by special right 
 
 Mass upon lawful days, 
 Sunday along with Thursday, 
 
 If not upon every day 
 
 Masses for all the Christians, 
 
 And for all those in orders ; 
 
 Masses for the multitudes, 
 
 From the lowest to the greatest .... 
 
 When you come unto the Mass, 
 
 It is a noble office : 
 
 Let there be penitence of heart, shedding of tears, 
 
 And throwing up of the hands .... 
 
 For, pure is the body which thou receivest y 
 
 Purely must thou go to receive it."f 
 
 * Primord. p. 919. f Curry, MSS. in Cath. Univ. 
 
IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 185 
 
 St. Mochuda, in his own life, exemplified the reverence which he 
 had commanded to be shown to the holy Sacrament of the altar. 
 On finding that his death approached, he gave many exhortations 
 to his brethren, and being favoured with an angelic vision, asked 
 to receive " the body and blood of the Lord" (corpus et sanguinem 
 Domini) : and his biographer adds, that " having partaken of the 
 sacrament of the body and blood of Christ," he embraced each of 
 his disciples, and slept in the Lord. 
 
 St. Maelruain, in the year 769, founded the church and monas- 
 tery of Tallaght (about five miles from Dublin), on a site which 
 had been offered " to God, to St. Michael the Archangel, and to 
 Maelruain," by Donnchadh, king of Leinster. This monastery was 
 soon eminently distinguished for the number of its learned men, 
 and it has acquired an undying fame in our history by the hagiology 
 tracts which it handed down to us. 
 
 St. Maelruain drew up a rule of life for the Ceile* De, or servants 
 of God, by which name his own monks were probably designated. 
 " It contains," says Curry, " a minute series of rules for the regu- 
 lation of their lives, their prayers, their preachings, their confes- 
 sions, their communions, their ablutions, their fastings, their absti- 
 nences, their relaxations, their sleep, their celebrations of the Mass, 
 and soforth."* 
 
 There is one passage in this rule which beautifully illustrates 
 the belief of our sainted fathers in regard to the holy Sacrament ; 
 we give it according to the translation of the learned Celtic scholar 
 just referred to, whose invaluable manuscripts, through the exer- 
 tions of the worthy ecclesiastic now so ably presiding over the 
 Catholic University, have been secured for that institute, which 
 promises to restore, at no distant day, the ancient pre-eminence of 
 our island in learning and sanctity. 
 
 " What gives freedom to the Church of God," thus writes St. Mael- 
 ruain, "is baptism and communion, and the chanting of prayers, and the 
 instruction of children in learning, and the offering of the body of Christ 
 upon every altar. A church is not entitled to tithes, unless it contain 
 
 * Lectures, etc., 375. 
 
186 IRISH PENITENTIALS, AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 the lawful ministrations of a church, in baptism, and communion, and in 
 the chanting of prayers for its supporters, both living and dead ; and 
 unless there be sacrifice offered on its altar on Sundays and days of 
 solemnity." 
 
 Contemporary with St. Maelruain, and one who followed the 
 Ceile De rule of that great saint, was Aengus. Descended from the 
 royal race of Dalaradia, he, for many years, led an heremitical life 
 not far from the monastery of Clonenagh, at a spot which was in 
 after years known by the name of Disert- Aengus. A writer of the 
 ninth century describes him as i( illustrious for his virtues, often 
 favoured with angelic visions, renowned for learning, the sun of 
 western Europe ;" and Colgan thus compendiates the many eulogies 
 which have been handed down to us regarding him : " Tantuui 
 sibi sanctinioniaa et doctrinal comparavit nomen ut neminem suo 
 sevo in patrio solo habuerit omnigenae eruditionis laude parem, 
 neminem sanctitatis opinione superiorem."* 
 
 His most famous work is the "Felire," or Festology, to which 
 we have more than once referred in the preceding pages. On each 
 day he marks the chief recurring festivals, and commemorates in a 
 few expressive words the distinctive virtues especially of our Irish 
 saints. In the invocation with which he concludes this great work, 
 he takes occasion to express his own faith, and the unvarying 
 belief of our Church, regarding the holy Eucharist. After be- 
 seeching the mercy of the Redeemer for himself and for all man- 
 kind through the merits and sufferings of the saints, he continues 
 his supplication " through all the sacrifices offered of the Saviour's 
 own body and blood, as it is in heaven, upon our holy altars."f 
 
 * Acta SS. p. 579. 
 
 t See an elaborate description of this Festology, with many beautiful 
 extracts from it, in Curry's Lectures, p. 365 seqq. 
 
HE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 187 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 The Daughters of king Leoghaire — St. Patrick receives Viaticum from 
 St. Tassach. — St. Benignus. — St. Brigid; extract from her life, by 
 Coellau; she receives Viaticum from St. Nennidh. — St. Columbkille. 
 St. Canice. — St. Farsa — St. Colgu — St. Kieran. — Catholic expressions 
 regarding the Eucharist in Irish writei*s. — St. Munnu of Taghmon. — 
 St. Comgall — St. Cuthbert.— St. Fechan. —St. Ita. — St. Brendan of 
 Clonfert — St. Malachy punishes a monk for doubts regarding the 
 real presence. 
 
 The life of St. Patrick is so identified with the faith and teaching of 
 the whole Catholic Church in the fifth century, that it may seem 
 idle to inquire what was his doctrine regarding the blessed Sacra- 
 ment of the altar. Still, that our historical inquiry may be more 
 complete, we shall gather together some few incidents from the 
 fragmentary memorials of his life, to illustrate his belief and 
 teaching regarding the holy Eucharist. 
 
 Amongst those illumined with the rays of faith through the 
 preaching of our apostle, were the virgins Ethne, the fair, and 
 Fedhelmia, the ruddy, daughters of king Leoghaire. St. Patrick 
 having announced to them the power and majesty of God, as also 
 the doctrine of the blessed Trinity, the virgins said, as if with one 
 mouth and one heart :— 
 
 "Teach us, without delay, how we may attain the knowledge of his 
 name and serve the true God, or how we ought to believe in him ; and 
 whatsoever thou shalt say to us, we will do. St. Patrick said : Believe 
 ye in baptism after the sin of the first parents ? They answered him : 
 We believe. 
 
 " Believe ye in life after death ? They answered : We believe. 
 " Believe ye in the resurrection at the day of Judgment ? They 
 answered : We believe. 
 
 1 ' Believe ye in the unity of holy church ? They answered : We believe. 
 " Then St. Patrick baptised them, and put upon them a white and 
 spotless garment. Being baptised, they asked to see the face of Christ ; 
 and the bishop, St. Patrick, said to them : except ye taste of the body and 
 blood of Christ, and except ye experience corporal death, ye cannot see 
 Christ in his glory. 
 
188 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 " They answered : give us the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, that 
 we may be freed from the corruption of the flesh, and may see our spouse 
 who is in heaven. 
 
 *' Then, St. Patrick celebrated mass, and both the daughters of the king ap- 
 proached the communion with great hope and perfect faith ; and when they 
 had communicated, they immediately rested in peace. " 
 
 We have given this narrative in the words of Probus,* who 
 who is reckoned the most accurate of the biographers of our 
 saint. It agrees in substance with the text of the Vita Tri- 
 partita, and with the translation of Tirechan, given by Dr. Todd. 
 We must await the publication of the original text of the latter 
 which Dr. Reeves has now in hands, before deducing any argument 
 from the formulas which it uses. The Vita Tripartita, which, 
 as we have already seen, certainly belongs to a very early period 
 of our Church, makes use of some peculiar expressions, which, 
 whilst identical in meaning, still more distinctly formulize the 
 Catholic doctrine. For instance, the last cited words of our apostle 
 are expressed as follows : " whilst you are clothed with mortal 
 flesh you cannot see the Son of God ; but to behold him in the 
 brightness of His majesty, it is necessary to lay aside this corrupt- 
 ible flesh, and first to receive His body and blood, concealed in an in- 
 visible manner, beneath the visible form and species of bread and 
 wine." Such is the paraphrase of our apostle's words recorded in 
 the ancient life which Curry, judging from its original Irish text, 
 pronounced to be written in the dialect of the sixth or seventh 
 century.f 
 
 Another fact connected with our saint's visit to Tirerrill, in 
 the county Sligo, serves to illustrate the liturgical usages of our 
 island in those early ages ; it is thus recorded in the Tripartite 
 Life. " After crossing the Shannon, Patrick and his companions 
 came to a place called Dumhagraidh, and there he ordained the 
 worthy priest Ailbe ; he it is who is venerated in the church of 
 Senchua, in the country of the Ui-Oiliolla. But when the requisites 
 for the divine service, and the sacred vessels were wanting, the 
 holy prelate, divinely instructed, pointed out to the priest an altar 
 
 * Tr. Th. p. 58. t See Lectures, p. 345 seqq. 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 189 
 
 under ground in a stone crypt ; this altar was of exquisite work- 
 manship (mirandi operis), and on its four corners were four glass 
 chalices ; and he admonished them to dig very cautiously lest the 
 glass should be broken."* 
 
 When St. Patrick was admonished by the angel Victor, that the 
 end of his pilgrimage was at hand, he received the viaticum of life 
 to prepare himself for his eternal home. St. Fiacc records, that 
 it was the bishop Tassach who thus administered the last commu- 
 nion to him : — 
 
 " Reman sit Tassach post eum 
 Quan do ministravit communionem ipsi, 
 Dixit quod communicaturus esset Patricium, 
 Nee prophetia Tassachi falsa erit."f 
 
 The Tripartite Life registers the same fact in the following 
 words : " When the hour of his death approached, he received the 
 sacrifice from the bishop Tassach ; it was at the admonition of 
 the angel Victor that he received the Viaticum of eternal life."j 
 Indeed, in the tradition of the Irish Church, this was the character- 
 istic glory of St. Tassach ; and our great hagiologist, St. Aengus, 
 thus, on the 14th of April, commemorates his privilege : — 
 
 11 The royal bishop Tassach, 
 Who gave, on his arrival, 
 The body of Christ, the King truly powerful, 
 As communion, to Patrick. "§ 
 
 With St. Patrick we may associate his own loved disciple, 
 Benean, or Benignus, whom he had enriched with the blessings of 
 faith, and consecrated for the see of Armagh. St. Benignus died 
 on the 9th of November, and his immediate preparation for his 
 passage to eternity is thus recorded in his life : — 
 
 " The man of God, seeing that the time of his dissolution was at hand, 
 
 * Tr. Thaumat. p. 134. This fact is also commemorated in the Liber 
 Armacanus, fol. 11, where the altar is styled " albare mirabilelapideum.' 
 
 t Tr. Th. page 3. X Ibid. p. 128. 
 
 § This quatrain is cited in the original Irish in the Ecclesiastical 
 Antiq. of Dr. Reeves, p. 142 ; and Curry's Lectures, p. 368. 
 
190 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 sent for St. Jarlath, and received most devoutly from his hand, the earnest 
 and pledge of eternal happiness, the body of the Lord; and thus prepared him- 
 self for death, and for his entrance to his heavenly country."* 
 
 After the glorious apostle of our island, no other national saint 
 is so endeared to the Irish heart as the " Mary of Enn,*' our great 
 patroness, St. Brigid. 
 
 Cogitosus has given a very detailed description of the church of 
 Kildare, which adjoined the convent of this virgin saint. It was 
 built of wood, but its decorations and ornaments of silver and brass 
 were worked in a most exquisite manner. Its paintings, too, are 
 especially commemorated. To the sanctuary of this church there 
 were two entrances; "The one," says Cogitosus, "through which 
 the bishop, with his clergy and the assistants at the altar, entered, 
 when about to offer up the sacred sacrifice of our Lord (sacra et 
 Dominica immolare sacrificia) : the second door was at the left 
 side of the altar, and through it the abbess alone, with her virgins 
 and faithful widows, entered, to partake of the banquet of the body 
 and blood of Jesus Christ (ut convivio corporis et sanguinis 
 fruantur Jesu Christi)."f 
 
 There is another invaluable metrical life of our great saint, 
 composed by Coellan of Inniskeltra, iu the seventh century. 
 Amongst other things bearing on our present subject, it records a 
 vision of St. Brigid, which, in a special manner, illustrates her 
 belief in the holy Sacrament of the altar. One night, whilst the 
 
 * " Ex ejus manu arrham et pignus seternse beatitudinis corpus Domini 
 devotissime sumit." — Vita S. Ben. chap, xviii. 
 
 + Vita, by Cogitosus, cap. 35. Petrie has clearly proved that Cogitosus 
 wrote before the year 835 ; he also thinks, that this life was not written 
 before 800 ; but his arguments for this assertion are not so conclusive. — 
 (Round Towers, p. 202.) Dr. Todd also assigns Cogitosus to the beginning 
 of the ninth century, on the grounds that no Cogitosus is mentioned in the 
 Martyrology of Aengus, written about the year 800. — (Memoir of St. 
 Patrick, p. 11.) It was probably after the printing of this portion of Dr. 
 Todd's work that Dr. Graves made the discovery referred to by Dr. Todd, 
 at page 402, that Cogitosus is the latinized form of the Irish name Mac- 
 theni. It is, moreover, certain, from the Book of Armagh, that an Irish 
 writer of the name Cogitosus flourished about the middle of the seventh 
 century : if the silence of Aengus does not affect the existence of this 
 Cogitosus, why does it in the case of our author? As, however, Aengus 
 more than once gives us the name Mactheni, we may easily pardon the 
 absence of Cogitosus. 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 191 
 
 sisters were engaged in prayer, she was wrapt in ecstasy, and saw 
 the earth and heavens filled with youths, who were dressed in 
 garments of angelic whiteness ; Christ, the King of kings, was 
 enthroned on high, whilst the assembled multitude gathered around 
 his throne, and intoned the sacred canticle, " Holy, holy, holy is 
 the Lord of hosts;" heavenly music accompanied this hymn of 
 praise, and the angelic choirs re-echoed the responsive allelujahs. 
 This vision filled our saint with spiritual joy, and at the dawn of 
 day its meaning was unfolded to her, when the holy bishop Ibar 
 came to her cell to offer up the holy sacrifice of the Mass.* 
 
 Another ancient biographer of St. Brigid,f commemorates the 
 prophetical announcement made by her to St. Nennidh, that on 
 her death-bed she would receive from his hand " the communion 
 of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ (communionem 
 corporis et sanguinis Domini nostri Jesu Christi.)" In the same 
 text this, her last communion, is called the divine viaticum; and 
 
 * Colgan has published this life in his Trias Thaumaturga, p. 584 seqq., 
 but, as he himself laments, from a very imperfect manuscript. The 
 passage referred to in the text is quite unintelligible in Colgan's edition, 
 wherefore we give it complete, from the beautiful Barberini Codex : 
 " Quadam nocte suis prsecepit sancta puellis 
 
 Fortiter in precibus, devota sistere mente, 
 
 Ipsa repleta Deo, magnis iutenta secretis : 
 
 Cumque diu tacitis oculos ad sidera verbis 
 
 Auribus attonitis in templo sancta levabat ; 
 
 Ilia, tacete modo, dixit ; magnalia Christi 
 
 Cernere quis poterit ? Numquid vos cernitis ipsae ? 
 
 Nunc video coeli, terrse, maris, aeris alti, 
 
 Concava lata, spatium penetrabile sursum 
 
 Est plenum pueris indutis vestibus albis, 
 
 In medio Christus, Rex Regum, summa potestas, 
 
 Et palmam mauibus retinentes, cantica dicunt 
 
 Nunc Sanctus Dominus, nunc Sanctus, Sanctus Zapaot, 
 
 Sedibus excelsis, Genitori, gloria Nato, 
 
 Organa dulcisono resonant ccelestia cantu : 
 
 Hoc pueri pariter cantantes, hoc seniores, 
 
 Angelici populi respondent Alle-que-luja. 
 
 Intima valde meam demidcet visio mentem 
 
 Gaudet quid populus ccelestis, nescio tantum. 
 
 Cum sol mane novo croceam de pectore pallam 
 
 Sustulit, et rutilum noctis de limine vultum 
 
 Viderat atque ocubsterrarum concava claris, 
 
 Manserat in terris nee nigrae tunica noctis, 
 
 Clara dies fuerat ; Praesul venerabilis illam 
 
 Ibarus ad cellam vir sanctus venerat ipse 
 
 Dicere missarum populis solemnia cunctis." 
 t Vita, by Animchad, i. e., Animosus, in Trias Thaum. p. 559. 
 
192 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 it is added, that immediately before her death, " she received the 
 body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living 
 God, from the most pure hand of St. Nennidh, as she herself had 
 predicted n (corpus et sanguinem Domini nostri Jesu Christi, filii 
 Dei vivi de mundissima S. Nennidii manu, etc.).* 
 
 Another bright ornament of our ancient Church was St. 
 Columbkille. His life, written by Adamnan, his successor in the 
 far-famed monastery of Iona, before the close of the seventh 
 century, is a monument not only of the individual belief of these 
 great saints, but further unfolds to us how fully the Catholic 
 doctrine was maintained in that monastery, which for many years 
 was a main centre of Irish missionary enterprise, and the favourite 
 resort of all who were famed for learning and sanctity in our 
 island. It is whilst describing the early life of St. Columba that 
 the following miracle is commemorated : 
 
 "Whilst the holy youth was in Ireland, acquiring the wisdom of the 
 holy Scriptures under the guidance of the bishop, St. Finnian (of Magh- 
 bile), it happened on a certain festival that wine was wanting for the 
 mysterious sacrifice (ad sacrificale mysterium). Columba hearing the 
 ministers of the altar lamenting this deficiency, took the cruet to the 
 fountain, that as deacon he might prepare the water for the celebration of 
 the sacred Eucharist (ad sacrse Eucharistise ministeria) ; and then the holy 
 man blessed the watery element that he had taken from the spring, 
 invoking the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, who had changed water into 
 wine in Cana, Galilee; and the same miracle being now renewed, the 
 watery substance passed into the more pleasing one of wine. Returning 
 to the church, he placed near the altar the cruet having this wine, and 
 said to the ministers : You now have wine which the Lord Jesus sends, 
 that his mysteries may be celebrated (ad suaperagenda mysteria)."t 
 
 Whilst St. Columba, at another time, was stopping at the 
 monastery of Trefoit (now Trevet, in the county Meath, near 
 Skreen), another circumstance occurred which illustrates this point 
 of doctrine. The monks had invited a certain priest, noted for 
 his virtuous deeds, to perform the solemn rite of the Mass {ad 
 Missarum peragenda solemnia) ; our saint seeing him consecrate 
 the sacred Eucharistic mysteries, (sacra Eucharistiae mysteria), 
 
 * Trias Thaum. p. 559. t Reeves' Adamnan, p. 104. 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 193 
 
 pronounced the terrible sentence, " the clean and the unclean are 
 now united : that is, the pure mysteries of the sacred oblation are 
 ministered by this sinful man."* 
 
 Especially beautiful is the narrative of the visit of St. Cronan 
 to Columba in his monastery of Iona. St. Cronan was a bishop 
 from the province of Munster, but when visiting our saint, wished 
 to conceal his episcopal character. The following is the narrative 
 of Adamnan : 
 
 " Through humility, he sought as much as possible to conceal himself, 
 so that no one might know that he was a bishop ; this, however, could 
 not be kept a secret from Columba : for, when on a Sunday he was 
 ordered by St. Columba to consecrate, according to custom, the body of Christ 
 (Christi corpus ex more conficere), he called our saint, as a brother priest, 
 to unite with him in breaking the bread of the Lord. Columba, ap- 
 proaching the altar, intuitively looking into his face, said to him : May 
 Christ bless thee, brother : do thou follow the episcopal rule, and dis- 
 tribute it alone, "f 
 
 Here we have an altar, and a priest, and a consecration ; Sunday 
 was the day on which the sacrifice was offered, and that sacrifice 
 is called the body of Christ. In the early Irish Church it was 
 oftentimes customary for several priests to offer together the holy 
 sacrifice ; they were of equal rank, and, as Eeeves expresses it, 
 " acted as concelebrants, simul verbis et manu conficientes." Reeves, 
 however, adds, that in the present instance it is not clear whether 
 the phrase dominicum partem frangere is to be referred to the cele- 
 bration or to the distribution of the blessed Eucharist. Innes refers 
 it to the former, and hence concludes : " it appears that in Y^olm- 
 kill a priest, even the abbot St. Columba himself, looked upon a 
 bishop as so far superior to him, that he would not presume, even 
 though invited, to concelebrate or celebrate the holy mysteries 
 jointly with him."j For us it is sufficient to remark that the 
 phrase Christi corpus conficere is one that has ever been considered 
 characteristic of the Catholic doctrine, and which is consequently of 
 frequent recurrence in the liturgical treatises of Rome.§ 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, pp. 76-7. t Ibid. pp. 85-6. 
 
 X Civil and Ecclesiast. Hist. p. 175. 
 
 § The same phrase occurs iu the life of St. David, who was a disciple 
 
194 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 Elsewhere incidental mention is frequently made of the holy 
 sacrament, and the formulas then used to designate it, reveal more 
 and more the sacred reverence with which the blessed Eucharist 
 was regarded in those early ages, and their unity of faith with our 
 belief at the present day : thus we find it called by the various 
 epithets of ' Missa,' ' sacra Missarum solemnia,' ' sacra oblatio," 
 * Eucharistia,' ' sacra Eucharistias mysteria,' etc.* 
 
 Another memoir of St. Columbkille was composed by Cumineus 
 Albus, who was for many years contemporary with that great 
 saint, and was his successor in the monastery of Iona. In it the 
 same characteristic phrases occur at every page to designate the 
 blessed Eucharist. We shall take one which regards a holy bishop 
 of the province of Leinster, by name Columbanus. Our saint had 
 seen in vision this bishop summoned to his eternal rest ; therefore 
 he summoned his religious brethren, and ordered everything to be 
 prepared for the " sacred oblation," saying, " it is my duty to 
 celebrate the sacred mysteries of the Eucharist for the holy soul 
 which, during the night, passed to the angelic choirs ;" and the 
 historian adds : " whilst he was offering up the sacred mysteries of 
 the holy sacrifice (inter sacra sancti sacrificii mysteria), he said to the 
 brethren : to-day we are to pray for the holy bishop Columbanus."f 
 
 Few of our ancient saints have been so fortunate in their bio- 
 graphers as the great saint of whom we have just spoken. Still 
 their scattered and fragmentary memoirs present one unvarying 
 testimony, that the present doctrine of the Catholic Church, in 
 regard to the blessed Eucharist, was that which was universally 
 believed in the Church of our fathers. 
 
 St. Canice. — The life of St. Canice, edited by the Marquis of 
 Ormond, records^ how, when death approached, "he was un- 
 willing to receive the sacrifice from any of the members of his own 
 monastery, saying : The Lord will send another one to minister to 
 
 of the Irish schools : *' Dominici corporis hostiam puris conficiebat mani- 
 bus."— Act. SS. p. 427. 
 
 * Loc. cit. pages 158, 229, 233, 221, 282, etc. 
 
 + Vita S. Columbge auctore Cumineo ap. Mabillon, Acta SS. ord. 
 Bened. i. 343. 
 
 X Chap. 56. 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 195 
 
 me the body of Christ. Then St. Fintan, divinely directed, came 
 to him, and the holy man having received the Eucharist at his 
 hands, departed to the Lord." Another ancient MS. life, in the 
 British Museum, describes the same scene, almost in the same 
 words: "The man of God was unwilling to receive the saving 
 viaticum from the hands of his brethren, saying : The Lord will 
 send to me a holy man to minister the sacred body to me. Then 
 St. Fintan Maeldub, sent by God, came to him, and from his hands 
 he received the body of the Lord." 
 
 St. Fursa, patron of Peronne, in France, died in 650. Amongst 
 our Irish saints he is celebrated as : — 
 
 "Furse, the truly pious, loved 
 Nothing more admirable are we told of, 
 In a well as cold as the snow 
 Accurately to sing his psalms.' : * 
 
 Whilst on the continent he is invoked as : — 
 
 "Fursace, lam pas sideris, 
 Tui memor sis generis, 
 In nos cum mors jam pendulum 
 Suum fuderit jaculum."t 
 
 An ancient life of this saint is extant, judged by UsherJ to have 
 been written before the time of Venerable Bede, and in it we read 
 that when some supernatural manifestations were promised to him 
 by an angel, he prepared himself to receive them "by ashing for 
 and partaking of the communion of the sacred body and blood."§ 
 This holy man was, moreover, favoured with the instructions of his 
 relatives SS. Beoan and Mellan, both of whom are named in our 
 Irish martyrologies. In one of the instructions recorded in St. 
 Fursa's life, we find the following remarkable words: "Let the 
 bishops and priests of the Church of Christ stimulate the faithful 
 to tears of repentance for their crimes, and strengthen them with 
 
 * Hymn by St. Cuimin of Connor. f Hym. in Vet. Officio. 
 
 t Discourse on the Religion, etc., p. 37- 
 
 § Sacri corporis et sanguinis communionem. — Ap. Usher, loc. cit. ; and 
 Acta SS. Bolland. Jan. i. 37- 
 
196 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 the spiritual food of faith, and by the participation of the sacred 
 body and blood"* When death approached, St. Fursa hastened 
 to participate of this food of life, and " having received the en- 
 livenment of the sacred body and blood," rested in the Lord.t 
 
 St. Coign, surnamed the Wise, flourished in the eighth century. 
 From his youth he was attached to the school and monastery of 
 Clonmacnoise, and such was his fame, especially for sacred learn- 
 ing, that he was commonly styled " the Scribe and Doctor of all 
 the Irish." He was superior of Clonmacnoise when Alcuin ad- 
 dressed to him the beautiful letter published by Usher in his Sylloge 
 (No. 18). Alcuin styles him " his blessed master and pious father," 
 and sent with the letter some presents for the Irish bishops and the 
 religious of Clonmacnoise. St. Colgu was the author of many 
 devotional treatises breathing the most ardent love and elevation 
 of the soul to God. The most celebrated, however, of these trea- 
 tises is a prayer entitled, in Irish, " Scuar Chrabhaigh," of which 
 the following extract will give some idea : — 
 
 "0 holy Jesus! beautiful Friend! Star of the Morning! full 
 noon-day Sun ! . . . . For the sake of the merciful Father, from whom 
 thou didst come unto us upon earth ; for the sake of thy divinity, which 
 that Father modified so as to receive Thy humanity ; for the sake of the 
 immaculate body from which Thou didst come, in the womb of the Virgin; 
 for the sake of the Spirit with the seven forms which descended upon that 
 body, in unity with Thyself and with Thy Father ; for the sake of the 
 holy womb from which Thou didst receive that body without destruction 
 of virginity ; . . . for the sake of the holy tree upon which Thy side was 
 torn ; for the sake of the innocent blood which trickled upon us from that 
 tree ; for the sake of Thine own body and blood which are offered vpon all the 
 holy altars which are in all the Christian churches of the world; .... dispense, 
 and give, and bestow, Thy holy grace and Thy holy Spirit to defend and 
 shelter me from all my present and future sins, and to light up in me all 
 truth, and to retain me in that truth to the eud of my life. "J 
 
 * Et participatione sacri corporis et sanguinis. See the Vita cit. ap. 
 Bolland. p. 39. This passage from St. Fursa's life is quoted in the Vatican 
 MS. Collection of Canons, No. 1,339, sffic. x. fol. 69. 
 
 f "Post sumptam sacri corporis et sanguinis vivificationem." — Loc. cit. 
 p. 49. 
 
 t Curry's MS. See also his Lectures, p. 379 seq. Colgan, in Act. SS. 
 p. 378, gives his life, aud speaks of his writings ; he had in his possession 
 a copy of the prayer just cited from a MS. of Clonmacnoise : " Et ex aliis 
 vetustis membranis." 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 197 
 
 St. Kieran, or Ciaran, who founded the great monastery of 
 Saigir (now Seir- Kieran, in King's County), is styled by our ancient 
 writers primicerius sanctorum Hibemice, which means not first-born, 
 as some curiously enough translate it, but " first in dignity of the 
 choir of Irish saints." A prophecy regarding him is attributed to 
 our apostle St. Patrick : — 
 
 " Saigir the cold, Saigir the cold, 
 Raise a city on its brink. 
 At the end of thirty fair years 
 We shall meet there, I and thou." 
 
 Which words seem to be intended to declare, that thirty years 
 after the death of our apostle, the future glory of Saigir would be 
 born. He is described by Aengus as Kieranus populosus, which 
 epithet is interpreted by the scholiast as indicating the great num- 
 ber of those who pursued the paths of perfection under his guid- 
 ance. The sketch of his life, given by Cathal Maguire from the 
 old narrative of Carnech (who, according to Colgan, was almost 
 contemporary with our saint), represents him as rich in flocks and 
 herds, " yet he himself partook not of their fruit, but divided all 
 amongst the poor of Christ. His only food was a little barley 
 bread, which he partook of, in the evening, together with some 
 uncooked herbs ; his only drink was water : his garments were made 
 of skins, and when he lay down to rest, the hard ground was his 
 only couch. "* 
 
 Amongst his other deeds of virtue it is recorded, that on every 
 Christmas night, when his own religious community had " received 
 the sacrifice from his hand" he proceeded to the distant nunnery of 
 Ross-Benchor " to offer up the body of Christ" (ut Christi corpus 
 offerret), and when the consecrated virgins received the holy com- 
 munion at his hands (communiouem Dominicam), he again returned 
 to his monastery.f 
 
 St. Munnu, founder of Taghmon (i. e., Teach-munnu), in the 
 county Wexford, flourished at the close of the sixth century. He 
 
 * Ap. Colgan, Acta SS., p. 471, col. a. 
 f ActaSS. p. 461. 
 
198 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 studied under the guidance of St. Coingall, at Bangor, and subse- 
 quently lived for eighteen years in the monastery of Cluain-inis. 
 He was one of the most ardent supporters of the old Irish Easter 
 computation, but in the synod of Magh-lene consented to adopt 
 the practice of Rome. At his death, on the 21st October, 635, 
 his biographer records that " he summoned his religious brethren 
 around him, and imparted to them his blessing ; and having 
 participated of the body and blood of Christ, he rested in the 
 Lord."* 
 
 St. Comgall, to whom Ireland is indebted for the great monas- 
 tery of Bangor, was one of the most illustrious ornaments of our 
 Church in the sixth century. He was born about the year 510, 
 and died, according to the Four Masters, in 601, after governing 
 his great monastery for well nigh fifty years.f His great disciple, 
 Columbanus speaks of his " most copious and polished teaching " 
 (luculentissimam elegantissimamque doctrinam) ; and an alphabeti- 
 cal hymn in his praise is preserved in the ancient MS. of the 
 Antiphonarium Benchorense.'j: His life, published by Sirinus 
 (in Fleming's Collectanea Sacra), and the Bollandists (at 10th 
 May), is judged very ancient and authentic by Usher. It states 
 that for some days before his demise, his religious urged him to 
 receive the sacred viaticum. He, however, replied that God 
 would send a holy abbot from Leinster to administer the holy 
 sacrament to him; and so, in reality, it came to pass : for St. 
 Fiachra, abbot in Idrone, near the river Barrow, came to his 
 monastery "to administer to him the body and the blood of 
 Christ" (ut accipiat de manibus ejus corpus et sanguinem Christi), 
 and soon after his arrival, St. Comgall received at his hands " the 
 communion of our Lord " (communionem Dominicam).§ 
 
 Similar expressions are to be found in all the ancient lives of 
 the Irish saints that have come down to us. Thus, we learn from 
 Bede, that St. Cuthbert, whom recent investigations justly rank 
 
 * Acta SS. Bo-Hand. 21st Oct., p. 340. 
 
 t The Martyrology of Tallaght, at x. Maij, expressly states that he 
 presided over Bangor for fifty years. 
 X We give this hymn in the appendix. 
 § Vita S. Comgalli, cap. liii. 
 
THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 199 
 
 amongst our Irish saints, on his death-bed " received the com- 
 munion of the Lord's body and blood, as Herefrid, abbot of the 
 monastery of Lindisfarne (who was the priest that then adminis- 
 tered the holy sacrament to him), made report unto the same 
 Bede."* In his metrical work on the life of Guthbert, the same 
 Venerable Bede adds :f 
 
 " Pocula degustat vitce, Christique mpinum 
 Sanguine munit iter.'''' 
 
 " He tastes the cup of life, and protects his upward journey with 
 the blood of Christ." Amongst the facts recorded in St. Cuth- 
 bert's life, there is one which bears on our present subject : An 
 officer, forsooth, of Egfrid's household, entreated him " to send a 
 priest that might minister to his wife, who was dying, the sacra- 
 ments of the Lord's body and blood. "J 
 
 St. Fechin of Fore, is one of those commemorated in the poem 
 of Cuimin, on the characteristic virtues of the Irish saints : 
 
 " The hospitable Fechin of Fore, loved, 
 It was not a false mortification, 
 To lay his fleshless ribs 
 Upon the hard rocks, without clothes." 
 
 In his life we read that " having been strengthened by the sacra- 
 ment of the most holy body and blood of the Lord, he resigned 
 his soul to his Creator."§ 
 
 Of the holy virgin St. Ita, it is also recorded that on a festival 
 day, being anxious to receive from a venerable priest " the body 
 and blood of Christ" she proceeded to the monastery of Clonmac- 
 nois, and there at his hands " secretly received the body and blood 
 of the Lord." The religious, after a little while, discovering that 
 the blessed Sacrament had disappeared, were filled with alarm, not 
 knowing, says the historian, " what had been done with the body 
 and blood of the Lord." They, therefore, observed a rigorous 
 
 * Ap. Usher, loc. cit. p. 39. 
 
 t De vit, Cuthberti, carm. cap. xxxvi. 
 
 % Dominica corporis sacramenta. — Cap. xv. 
 
 § Vita, cap xlviii. 
 
200 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 fast, in which the faithful joined, until it was discovered that the 
 holy Eucharist had been administered to Ita * After St. Bridget, 
 this saint was one of the most venerated of the virgin-saints of 
 our island. "Mida (thus she was commonly called) loved to 
 foster saints ; firm was her humility, without dejection :" such is 
 her eulogy in St. Cuimin's hymn. She was the patroness of 
 Hy-Conaill, in the county Limerick, and is described in her life as 
 "rivalling the great St. Brigid in her merits and virtues."f 
 Aengus, too, celebrates her as " the glowing lamp of the females 
 of Munster ; the virgin that suffered continual pain, and subjected 
 herself to many mortifications." 
 
 The learned Reeves, in his notes to the edition of Adamnan, 
 records another example bearing on our present subject : 
 
 "We read in the life of St. Brendan of Clonfert," he says, "that this 
 saint was ordered to celebrate Mass by St. Gildas, the abbot of the 
 monastery. The custos templi (i. e., the sacristan) said to hirn : Prcecepit 
 tibi Sanctus Senex noster, ut offeras corpus Christi. Ecce altare, hum librum 
 Greeds litteris Scriptum, et canta in eo sicut abbas noster. That is, our holy 
 superior commands you to offer the body of Christ. Here is the altar, and 
 the missal written in Greek characters ; chant in it ' as our abbot is 
 wont to do.' "J 
 
 Many similar illustrations might be taken from other lives of 
 our Irish saints ; but those already produced sufficiently evince 
 what was the belief of our sainted fathers in regard to the 
 Eucharistic mystery. We shall, therefore, conclude this article 
 with the example registered by St. Bernard, in his life of the great 
 archbishop of Armagh, St. Malachy. A monk of the monastery 
 of our saint being tempted with doubts regarding the holy Sacra- 
 ment, fell into error, and asserted that " it contained neither the 
 grace nor the reality of the body of Jesus Christ, but was merely 
 a sign of both." What was the course pursued by St. Malachy ? 
 Surely we may learn from the course adopted by him in reference 
 to this religious, what would be his judgment regarding the 
 heretical tenets of modern times! He not only reproved, but 
 
 * Vita, cap. xvii. t Acta SS. 15 Jan. cap. xxxiii. 
 
 % Reeves' Adamnan, p. 354. 
 
TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST, ETC. 201 
 
 moreover excommunicated the erring brother ; and it was only 
 when he abjured his erroneous novelty, and performed a long 
 series of penitential deeds, that the prodigal son was re-embraced 
 in his father's bosom, and re- admitted to a participation of the 
 holy Sacrament of the altar. Surely, this one fact should suffice 
 to convince every impartial inquirer what doctrine was revered as 
 truth, and what was regarded as erroneous in the untainted Church 
 of the Island of Saints. 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE IRISH 
 WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 
 
 The Poet Sedulius. — Usher's opinions regarding him examined. — The 
 Commentator Sednlius. — Claudius's teaching regarding the Eucharist. 
 
 From the time of Usher to the present day, it has been fashionable 
 with a certain class of Protestant writers to contend that the early 
 Church of Ireland recognised nought save bread and wine in the 
 blessed Eucharist ; and they invariably repeat some detached sen- 
 tences of the poet Sedulius, the commentator Claudius, and a few 
 other Irish writers, as affording sufficient evidence of the Pro- 
 testantism of our fathers. To meet such pretensions, we have 
 examined in detail the evidence of each witness cited by our ad- 
 versaries, and the result of our inquiry is, that so far from any one of 
 them asserting the Protestant tenets, each and all of them inculcate 
 the teaching of the Catholic Church, and place in still bolder relief 
 the doctrine of the real presence, as taught from the very earliest 
 ages of faith in Ireland.* 
 
 * In this chapter we are to keep in mind that the Irish Church, in the 
 ages in which the writers now about to be treated of lived, was in the 
 strictest bonds of union with the churches of the continent, as appears 
 from the continual visits of pilgrims and missionaries from Ireland to 
 those churches, and vice versa. Now everyone versed in theology knows 
 that the researches of Catholic writers have placed the fact beyond all 
 
202 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 THE POET SEDULIUS. 
 
 In the first place, let us examine what is the nature of the 
 testimony given by the greatest of our ancient poets, Sedulius, 
 who bore to the continent the fame of our island in the fifth 
 century, and won for himself a high post among Christian writers, 
 by his Carmen Paschale, and its corresponding paschal prose.* 
 So esteemed were these writings in Rome and other Catholic 
 countries, that pope Gelasius styled their author "the venerable 
 Sedulius," aud commended them to the use of the faithful. 
 Venantius Fortunatus also made them the subject of the highest 
 eulogy ; and St. Hildephonsus described Sedulius as " an evan- 
 gelical poet, an eloquent orator, and a Catholic writer." 
 
 Since Sedulius did not propose to himself to compose a dogmatic 
 treatise, it would, perhaps, be vain to seek for theological pre- 
 cision in his writings ; but at the same time, as he undertook to 
 sketch the life of our divine Redeemer, we must naturally expect 
 to meet with frequent reference to the gospel narratives, adorned 
 though they may be with all the ornaments and figures that a 
 poetical imagination might suggest. 
 
 Now, this celebrated writer, says Usher, explicitly affirms that 
 bread and wine alone are offered to God in the Christian sacrifice. 
 To establish this assertion, the learned Protestant primate brings 
 forward two passages from the writings of Sedulius, viz., one 
 from the paschal poem, and the other from the paschal prose. 
 The testimony cited by Usher from the paschal poem is as 
 follows : 
 
 ' ' Denique Pontificum princeps, sunimusque sacerdos, 
 Quis nisi Christus adest, geinini libaminis auctor 
 Ordine Melchisedech, cui dantur munera semper 
 Quse sua sunt, fructus segetis et gaudia vitis." 
 
 controversy, that the doctrines of the Church in those ages regarding the 
 blessed Eucharist were precisely what they are at present. — (See the great 
 work La Perpetuite de la Foi, etc ) If Ireland held a differeut doctrine 
 from the contiuent, the bonds of union could not have been main- 
 tained. 
 
 * Usher refers Sedulius to about the year 490. The best edition of 
 his Carmen Paschale is that of Arevalo, published in 4to, Rome, 1794 
 
Of THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 203 
 
 That is to say :— •" Who else presides as chief pontiff and high- 
 priest but Christ, institutor of the two-fold libation, of the order of 
 Melchisedech, to whom his own gifts, the fruit of the corn and 
 the joy of the vine, are always offered."* 
 
 The meaning of this passage, adds Usher, is rendered still more 
 clear by the corresponding words of the paschal prose, in which 
 the Eucharist is styled : 
 
 "The sweet meat of the seed of wheat, and the lovely drink of the 
 pleasant vine." 
 
 Such are the passages which, in Usher's opinion, should suffice 
 to establish the Protestantism of Sedulius, regarding the holy 
 Sacrament of the altar. 
 
 Now, first of all, we must remark that it was a somewhat 
 hazardous undertaking in Usher to claim as a clear assertor of 
 Protestantism one whose writings are commended by the Holy 
 See, and extolled by the saints of the Catholic Church. Secondly, 
 it was, to say the least, uncandid in the Protestant primate to cull 
 a few detached words from the paschal prose, and seek to per- 
 suade his readers that they conveyed the full meaning of the 
 author ; whilst, had the whole text been given, the figurative 
 language of the poet would have been made apparent, and the 
 Catholic doctrine regarding the Eucharistic mystery would be 
 seen most plainly proposed. The text thus unfairly cited by 
 Usher is as follows : 
 
 ' ' Quis enim nisi Dominus Christus pontifex Pontificum, sacerdos sacer- 
 dotum, gemini libaniinis auctor et conditor, cujus secundum ordinem 
 Melchisedech munera, quae pro nobis obtulit crucifixus, sui corporis con- 
 sanguinitate offer untur, triticese sementis cibus sua vis, et anioenas vitis 
 potus amabilis." 
 
 Which words we may thus translate : ' For Avho but the Lord is 
 present, the Pontiff of pontiffs, the Priest of priests, the Author 
 and founder of the two -fold libation, whose gifts, according to 
 the order of Melchisedech, which he offered for us upon the cross, 
 
 * Carmen Paaeh. lib. iv. versic. 206, edid. Arevalo, p. 297. 
 
204 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 changed into his own flesh, are the sweet food of the wheaten 
 seed, and the lovely drink of the pleasant vine.' 
 
 Thus, then, the gifts which, by the institution of Christ, are 
 offered to God, though beautifully and poetically styled " the 
 sweet fruit of the corn, and the joy of the vine ;" and again, " the 
 sweet food of the wheaten seed, and the lovely drink of the plea- 
 sant vine ;" yet they are not to be regarded as mere bread and wine, 
 unless we wish to assert that only such gifts were offered for us on 
 the cross. For the poet expressly says, in the passage omitted by 
 Usher, that those Eucharistic gifts are the very same which were 
 offered by the Redeemer crucified, " quae pro nobis obtulit cruci- 
 fixus." Surely, no Catholic could desire a more beautiful exposi- 
 tion of the Catholic belief ; whilst in the passage from the paschal 
 poem, we recognise a long- cherished description, in all the vivid- 
 ness of poetic imagery, of the holy Sacrament, which, under the 
 species of bread and wine, presents to us the true body and blood 
 of Christ. It is under a like imagery that the Catholic Church 
 every day presents the holy mystery to her children, when she 
 applies to it the words of the prophet Zachary, " frumentum electo- 
 rurn, et vinum germinans virgines."* 
 
 But as Usher was investigating the true belief of our ancient 
 poet in regard to the blessed Eucharist, it is, to say the least, 
 surprising that he omitted all reference to the many other clear 
 and indubious passages in which Sedulius declares the body and 
 blood of the Redeemer to be truly present in the Sacrament of the 
 altar. Thus, the passage in which the poet describes the paschal 
 supper of the divine Redeemer — one, indeed, to which the historical 
 inquirer on such a subject should naturally turn, as a primary 
 source of the information which he seeks — clearly lays down the 
 Catholic doctrine. 
 
 ' ' Nam corporis atque 
 
 Sanguinis ille sui postquam duo munera sanxit 
 Atque cibura potumque dedit, quo perpete nunquam 
 Esuriant, sitiantque auimas sine labe fideles."t 
 
 * Chap. ix. 17. t Carni. Pasch. lib. v. line 34-37- 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 205 
 
 That is to say: — He instituted the two gifts of his body and 
 blood, thus giving a sacred food and drink, by participating of 
 whicli the faithful spotless souls might ever be inebriated with 
 spiritual delight; which idea is expressed in like manner, and 
 almost in the same words, in the corresponding passage of the 
 paschal prose. 
 
 " Posteaquam corporis sui Dorninus Jesus Ckristus et sanguinis duo vitre 
 nuniera consecravit propriisque discipulis spiritalern cibum potumque 
 porrexit, quo coelestibus epulis saginatae famem sitimquaa sentire nequeant 
 animse jam fideles." 
 
 Thus, in the Eucharist are contained the two vivifying gifts of 
 the body and blood of Christ, which, as a heavenly food, satiate 
 the souls of the faithful, and preserve them from spiritual death. 
 In another place, speaking of the blood and water which issued 
 from our Saviour's side, the poet again takes occasion to commend 
 this sacred banquet : — 
 
 "Ha3C sunt quippe sacrae pro religionis honore 
 Corpus, sanguis, aqua, tria vitae munera nostras — 
 Fonte renascentes membris et sanguine Christi 
 Vesciniur, atque ideo templura deitatis habemus : 
 Quod servare Deus nos annuat imniaculatum 
 Et faciat tenues tanto mansore capaces."* 
 
 The prose text is, if possible, still more explicit : — 
 
 "0 quam Catholico dogmati sociatur hsec causa? quantum Trini- 
 tatis fides conveniunt hsec sacrata ? Corpus namque sanguis et aqua, tria 
 vitze nostras sunt munera. Omnes enim, qui, Christo duce nostro, in 
 aquarum fonte renascimur, ejus corpus et sanguineus sumentes edimus 
 ac potamus, ut sancti Spiritus templum esse mereamur." 
 
 The latter words of which passage, which alone regard our pre- 
 sent subject, may be thus translated: — 
 
 "All of us, who, under Christ our leader, are regenerated in the foun- 
 tain of waters, taking His body and blood, do eat and drink thereof that 
 we may deserve to enjoy the Holy Ghost." 
 
 * Carin. Pasch. lib. v. line 289, seqq. 
 
206 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 That is to say : — Baptism is the first entrance to the spiritual life ; 
 but its sanctifying watersbe'mg poured upon our heads, we become 
 capable of receiving the body and blood of Christ ; which holy 
 sacrament perfects in us the life of grace, and makes us the living 
 temples of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Elsewhere, when describing the feast prepared by the Redeemer 
 on the shore, for His disciples, he adds, that the fish was emblematic 
 of the sacrament of baptism; the loaf was an emblem of Christ, 
 whose very body is our Eucharistic food ; whilst the fire indicated 
 the Holy Ghost, who sanctifies our soul. 
 
 " Quippe est aqua piscis 
 
 Chi istus adest panis, sanctusque Sphitus ignis 
 
 Hinc etenira abluimur, hoc pascimur, inde sacramur. "-* 
 
 And in the corresponding prose text : — 
 
 "Nam piscis aqua videtur intelligi, qua nos ablui certuin est, ac 
 renasci : pauis CbvLtum significat salvatorem, cujits eodem corpore vescimur 
 adsalutem: ignis Sphitus sancti gerit irnaginem, quo devoti consecramur 
 ad fidem." 
 
 THE COMMENTATOR SEDULIUS. 
 
 Another witness to the Protestantism of our Irish Church iu the 
 ninth century, cited by Usher, is the abbot Sedulius, who is chiefly 
 known by his Commentaries on the New Testament. It is suffi- 
 cient, however, to read the very passages produced by Usher him- 
 self to understand that no sentiment is uttered by this writer not 
 fully consonant to the Catholic teaching of the present day. 
 
 The following are the extracts quoted by the Protestant primate. 
 In the Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Sedulius 
 writes : — 
 
 " Melchisedech offered bread and wine to Abraham, for a figure of 
 Christ, offering His body and blood unto the Father upon the cross." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 "But we offer daily for a commemoration of the Lord's passion, once 
 endured, and for our own salvation." 
 
 * Carm. Pasch. lib. v. line 402, seqq. 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 207 
 
 One of these passages is taken from the Commentary on the fifth 
 chapter to the Hebrews, the other from the Commentary on the 
 tenth chapter ; nevertheless, they are united together so as to form 
 one continuous seutence by primate Usher.* Whether taken 
 united, however, or separate, they contain nothing repugnant to the 
 teaching of our holy Church ; for, all Catholics recognize in the holy 
 sacrifice of the altar a divine commemoration of the Redeemer's 
 passion, whilst Catholics too, and Catholics alone, still rejoice with 
 Sedulius, that from the rising to the setting sun it is offered on our 
 altars to give glory to God, and obtain from Him the blessings of 
 salvation. 
 
 Usher adds that " elsewhere, expounding the words of our 
 Saviour, do this in remembrance of me, he brings in the similitude 
 used before him and after him by others, ' He left us a memorial 
 of Himself even as if one that was going on a far journey, should 
 leave some token of affection with a loved companion; that as 
 often as he beholds it, he may call to mind his benefits and friend- 
 ship.' " 
 
 The learned historian well remarked that this was a phrase often 
 made use of by other writers : he might have added, that it occurs 
 repeatedly in the sacred liturgy and office which Catholics still use 
 even on the feast-day of the blessed Sacrament. His good faith, 
 however, is not appareut whilst he separates the above passage 
 from its context, and omits the preceding words, which clearly 
 and emphatically present the Catholic teaching : it is thus Sedulius 
 writes : — u Take and eat, this is my body. As if St. Paid said: 
 beware not to eat that body unworthily, whereas it is the body of 
 Christ."! 
 
 Thus again, this Irish abbot of the ninth century, so far from 
 broaching the Protestant tenets, is found to inculcate the doctrine 
 of the Catholic Church. 
 
 CLAUDIUS. 
 
 The chief witness, however, to whose testimony UsherJ appeals 
 
 * Loc. cit. p. 42. f Comment, in ] ep. Corinth, xi. 24. 
 
 $ Loc. cit. p. 42-3. 
 
208 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 with special confidence, is the Irish commentator Claudius. It 
 must have been that Usher hoped that no Catholic would have 
 access to the original text of that writer's commentary ; for, cer- 
 tainly it is difficult in any other hypothesis to explain how he 
 could have ventured to so utterly misrepresent and corrupt the 
 doctrinal teaching which that commentary presents to us. 
 
 Before we come to the many passages in which Claudius clearly 
 and repeatedly lays down the Catholic doctrine, let us see what 
 extracts Usher has been able to cull from this ancient author to 
 justify his assertion, that he must be ranked amongst Protestant 
 writers. The first passage is as follows : — 
 
 ' ' Our Saviour wished first to deliver to His disciples the Sacrament of 
 His body and blood, which He presented in the breaking of the body 
 and the effusion of the chalice ; and afterwards to immolate the body 
 itself upon the altar of the cross." 
 
 These words, so far from conveying the Protestant tenets, are a 
 clear statement of the Catholic faith : the Eucharist is styled " the 
 Sacrament of Christ's body and blood ;" and the subsequent words 
 still more clearly repeat, that the very body* of Christ, which was 
 immolated upon the cross, is there distributed to the faithful. 
 
 Usher's argument from this text is amusing. " Claudius," he 
 says, " expressly distinguishes the sacrament of the body, which 
 was delivered unto the disciples, from the body itself, which was 
 afterwards offered upon the cross." But what has this remark to 
 do with the Protestant tenets ? All Catholics at the present day 
 draw the same distinction between the Sacrament of the altar and 
 the sacrifice of the cross. Usher should rather have remarked, 
 that whilst, according to Protestant teaching, the Eucharist is mere 
 
 * Usher himself remarks on the phrase, " the breaking of the body" as 
 follows : "At first sight I did verily thiuk that in these words an error 
 had been committed in my transcript, body being miswritten for bread ; 
 but, afterwards, comparing it with the original, I found that the author 
 retained that manner of speaking." — (Loc. cit. p. 42.) We are happy to 
 be able to confirm Mr. Usher's remark, and to corroborate his reading by 
 the Vatican text, which is as follows :— " Voluit ante discipulis suis tra- 
 dere sacramentum corporis et sanguinis sui quod significavit in fractione 
 corporis et effusione calicis et posteaipsum corpus immolari inara crucis." 
 - Codex Vatican, 3828, fol. 119. 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 209 
 
 "bread and ivine, Claudius attests his belief that it is the body and 
 blood of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The second passage which, according to Usher, bears the seal of 
 Protestantism, is one which the reader will find repeated by all 
 Catholic theologians, from the council of Trent to the present day. 
 The question is often proposed : Since both the body and blood of 
 Christ are really present under either species, why is it that the 
 species of bread is referred to the body, and the species of wine to 
 the blood of our Redeemer ? Claudius answers : " Because bread 
 strengthens the body, and wine produces blood in the flesh ; there- 
 fore, the one is mystically referred to the body of Christ, the other 
 to His blood."* 
 
 Thus, then, the whole Protestantism of Claudius is reduced to 
 this mystical reference of the sacred species, — a reference quite in 
 accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church. f 
 
 Let us now see a few passages which Usher was careful to pass 
 over unnoticed, and which clearly convey the Catholic doctrine. 
 
 After commemorating the fact of the healing of the leper by the 
 divine Redeemer, and the words addressed to him, " Go and present 
 yourself to the high-priest," Claudius thus continues : — 
 
 * We give from the Vatican Codex, the complete text of Claudius, as 
 it serves to illustrate not only the difficulty proposed by Usher, but also 
 the custom of mixing a little water with the wine to be used in the holy 
 Sacrifice : — " Quia panis corpus confirmat, vinum vero sanguinem opera- 
 tur in carne, hie ad corpus Cnristi mystice, illud refertur ad sanguinem. 
 Verum quia et nos in Christo et in nobis Christum manere oportet, 
 vinum dominicte calicis aqua miscetur, attestante enim Johanne, aquaj 
 populi sunt ; et neque aquam solum neque solum vinum sicut nee granum 
 frumenti solum sine aqure admixtione et confectione in panem, cuiquam 
 licet offerre, ne talis videlicet oblatio quasi caput a rncrnbris, secernendum 
 esse siguificet, et vel Christum sine (fructu) nostrte redemptionis a morte 
 pati potuisse, vel nos sine illius passione salvari ac Patri offerri posse 
 confmgat. Quod autem dicit : Hie est sanguis mens Novi Testamenti ad 
 distinctionem respicit veteris Testamenti quod hircorum et vitulorum 
 est sanguine dedicatum, dicente inter aspergendum legislatore, hie san- 
 guis Testamenti quod mandavit ad vos Deus. Necesse est enim exem- 
 plaria quidem verorum bis mundari, ipsa autem ecclesia melioribus liostiis 
 quamistis." — Vatican Codex, 3828, fol. 110. 
 
 t Dr. Lanigan, who was only acquainted with the commentary of 
 Claudius by these extracts of Usher, nevertheless most justly remarked, 
 that "these extracts were quite opposite to Usher's theory"; and "if 
 ever there was an author who clearly announced the doctriue of the real 
 presence and the sacrifice of the Mass, Claudius was one."— Eccles. 
 Hist, iii 319. 
 
210 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 ' ' Should any one be surprised that our Saviour thus seems to sanction 
 the Mosaic sacrifice, which is not received by the Christian Church, let 
 him call to mind that as yet that sacrifice had not been instituted, which 
 is the Holy of Holies, the very body of Christ."* 
 
 Elsewhere, he calls the blessed Eucharist the Sacrament of 
 Christ's body, distinguishing it at the same time from the spiritual 
 food of faith ;f and, again, he designates it as the mystery of His 
 flesh and blood — " suae carnis et sanguinis mysterium."| 
 
 What is most unpardonable, however, in primate Usher is, that 
 he passes over in silence the beautiful words with which our com- 
 mentator describes the actions of our divine Lord, in preparation for 
 and during the celebration of the last supper. It is, indeed, a 
 rather novel mode of conducting an historical inquiry into the 
 opinion of an ancient writer on any subject, to pass unnoticed 
 those chapters in which that subject is expressly treated of. In 
 the present instance, however, Usher's object seems to have been 
 different from that which the title of his work indicates ; and 
 instead of instituting an historical inquiry into the doctrines of our 
 early Church, he seems merely to have proposed to himself to 
 gather from early writings, not easily accessible to the public, some 
 stray and ambiguous sentences, which might serve as a plea or an 
 excuse for those who are unwilling to embrace the faith of their 
 fathers. 
 
 Claudius, therefore, when illustrating the history of the last 
 supper, begins with the interrogation of the disciples : " Ubi vis 
 paremus tibi comedere Pascha ?" Upon which he remarks : — 
 
 ' ' The fourteenth day of the first month is called the first day of the 
 azyms ; for in it the Jews were accustomed to lay aside the leaven, and 
 immolate the paschal lamb ; wherefore, the apostle writes : Christ, our 
 pasch, is immolated. For though it was on the following day, that is, 
 the fifteenth moon, that He was crucified, yet it was on the night of the 
 sacrifice of the lamb that He both instituted for His discijjles the Sacrament 
 
 * Codex Vatican, fol. 33 : " Meminerit nondum esse coepisse sacrificium, 
 sanctum sanctorum, quod corpus ejus est." 
 
 t Ibid. fol. 26. 
 
 $ " Discipulis suae carnis et sanguinis mysterium credit." — In Cod. 
 Vallicell. fol. 133. verso. 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 211 
 
 .of His flesh and blood, and Himself was arrested by the Jews ; thus com- 
 mencing the sacrifice of Himself, in His sacred passion."* 
 
 Subsequently, after expounding the words of our divine Lord 
 to Judas, he thus continues : — 
 
 ' ' Also at the present day, and throughout all time, woe to that man 
 who sinfully approaches the altar of God, and with wickedness in his 
 mind and treachery in his heart, fears not to become partaker of the most 
 holy oblations of the Sacrament of Christ ; for thus he, too, after the 
 manner of Judas, betrays the Son of man : not, indeed, to the sinful 
 Jews, but still to sinners, forsooth to his own sinful members, with 
 which he dares to contaminate that inestimable and inviolable Sacrament 
 of the Lord's body and blood."t 
 
 Surely this was a passage that might have thrown some light 
 on the historical subject that Usher was investigating: the un- 
 worthy communicant renews the scene of Judas, for " he receives 
 into his sinful members the body and blood of Christ.*' Claudius 
 again repeats this exposition of the Eucharistic doctrine, when he 
 commemorates the words of institution : 
 
 "Whilst they were at supper, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and 
 broke, and gave to His disciples, saying, ' Take and eat : This is my 
 body. ' The ceremonies of the ancient Passover being at an end, He 
 passes to the New Pasch, which He wished the Church to observe as a 
 memorial of its redemption ; thus, forsooth, instead of the flesh and 
 blood of the lamb, substituting the Sacrament of His own flesh and blood, and 
 showing Himself to be Him of whom was written : The Lord hath sworn, 
 nor shall He repent : Thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of 
 Melchisedech. "J 
 
 * Codex Vatican, fol. 109, b. "Hac tamen nocte qua aguus immola- 
 batur et cam is sanguinisqiie suis discipulis tradidit mysteria celebranda 
 et a Judaeis tentus," etc. The word suis should probably be sui: in the 
 translation, however, we deemed it better to follow the text as extant in 
 the Vatican MS. This portion of the Vallicellian MS. is wanting. 
 
 t Sed et hodie quoque et in sempiteruum xse illi homini qui ad mensam 
 Domini malignus accedit ; qui insidiis mente conditis, qui prsecordiis 
 aliquo scelere pollutis, mysteriorum Christi oblationibus sacrosanctis 
 participare non metuit : et ille enim in exemplum Judas rilium hominis 
 tradit, non quidem Judasis peccatoribus, sed tamen peccatoribus, membris 
 videlicet suis, quibus illud inrestimabile et inviolabile dominici corporis 
 et sanguinis Sacramentum temerare prassumit. — Ibid. fol. 110. 
 
 J " Transiit ad novum Pascha quod in sure redernptionis memoriam 
 ecclesiam frequentare volebat : at videlicet pro carne agni et sanguine, 
 sui corporis sanguinisque Sacramentum substitueret, ipsumque esse 
 monstraret cui juravit Dominus et non pcenitebit eum : tu es sacerdos 
 in sternum secundum ordinem Mechisedech." — Ibid. fol. 110. 
 
212 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 Thus, in the jast supper Christ was truly high-priest, according 
 to the order of Melchisedech, offering to God that sacrifice which 
 was typified of old, and substituting to the flesh and blood of the 
 paschal lamb, the heavenly banquet of His own most precious 
 body and blood. 
 
 Even in his subsequent commentary, Claudius returns again 
 aud again to commemorate the Eucharistic mystery. Thus, on 
 the passage " et hymno dicto," etc., he writes : 
 
 ' ' This hymn may be understood of the thanksgiving-hymn of our 
 Lord, in which, with eyes uplifted to heaven, He prayed for Himself and 
 the disciples, and those who through their ministry would believe in 
 Him. And strikingly, indeed, does He lead out the disciples to the 
 Mount of Olives, when he had strengthened them with the Sacrament of 
 Eis body aud blood, and commended them to His Father by the intercessory 
 hymn : thus typically instructing us, that through the efficacy of His 
 sacraments and intercession, we must tend to the highest virtues and 
 graces of the Holy Ghost."* 
 
 When our Saviour's body was laid in the tomb, he again takes 
 occasion to remark : 
 
 " We may, in a spiritual sense, learn from these words, that the body 
 of the Lord is not to be placed upon gold or gems or silk, but upon plain 
 linen : . . . Hence is derived the custom of the Church, to offer the 
 sacrifice of the altar not upon cloths of silk or of rich dye, but only 
 upon simple linen cloths, according to the decree of the blessed pope 
 Sylvester."! 
 
 These testimonies should certainly suffice to rank our illustrious 
 Irish commentator amongst the most explicit assertors of the 
 Catholic doctrine of the blessed Eucharist. Still, before we take 
 our leave of him, we wish to cite one other passage from his 
 writings — a passage, indeed, which has been preserved to us by 
 Usher himself, but which he takes care to make no mention of 
 
 * " Pulchre discipulos Sacramentis sui corporis ac sanguinis imbutos 
 et hymno piae intercessionis Patri commendatos in montem educit oli- 
 varum," etc. — Ibid. fol. 111. 
 
 t " Possumus juxta intelligentiam spiritalem hoc sentire quod corpus 
 Domini non auro non gemmis et serico sed linteamine puro obvolvendum 
 sit. . . . Hinc ecclesias mos obtinuit ut Sacrificiura altaris non in serico 
 neque in panno tincto sed in lino terreno celebretur," etc. — Ibid. fol. 
 118, b. 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 213 
 
 when discussing the doctrinal teaching of our ancient Church. 
 This beautiful passage is extracted from Claudius's commentary 
 on Leviticus, a work which seems, alas ! to be now irretrievably 
 lost: 
 
 " Christus (he thus writes) in cruce carnem suam fecit nobis esibilem. 
 Nisi enirn fuisset crucifixus, sacrificiuin corporis ejus minime comederetur. 
 Comeditur autem nunc in memoria Dominicre passionis. Crucem tamen 
 preeveniens in coena Apostolorum seipsum immolavit, qui post resurrec- 
 tionem in cceli tabernaculum, suum sanguinem introduxit, portans 
 cicatrices passionum."* 
 
 Thus, then, the sacred flesh of Christ is indeed our food : the 
 Redeemer, in the last supper, offered a true sacrifice to the Father, 
 anticipating, in a certain sense, the sacrifice of the cross ; and 
 further, Claudius declares that this mysterious sacrifice must be 
 referred to the self-same mystery and the self- same power, by 
 which the divine Eedeemer bore with Him His sacred wounds, 
 when entering into His eternal glory. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 (CONTINUED.) 
 
 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE IRISH 
 WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 
 
 Manuscript of the Gospels, by Maelbrighte. — Tolaud refuted. — Dr. 
 Reeves and Dr. O'Conor determine the age of this MS. — St. Man- 
 chan. — Objections from Scotus Erigena examined. 
 
 It was after the time of Usher that another document^ came to 
 light, which was eagerly laid hold of, as corroborating the Pro- 
 testantism of our ancient Church. This was the Codex Mael- 
 brighte, or Trauscript of the Four Gospels, with an interlinear 
 commentary made by an Irish scribe named Maelbrighte. 
 
 * Ap. Usher, Syllog. Epp. No. 20. 
 
214 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 The first to bring forward this beautiful manuscript, to support 
 the tottering cause of the Protestant tenets, was the well-known 
 John Toland, in his letters published in London under the name 
 Nazarenus, in 1718. Toland was an apostate from the Catholic 
 Church. Having laid aside his ancient faith, he deemed it also 
 advantageous to renounce his family name, which was that of 
 O'Toolan, and to calumniate his country, — for he was a native of 
 Ireland, being born at Eskaheen, in Inishowen, near Deny. Ac- 
 cording to this writer, the Codex Maelbrighte was written before 
 the year 900 ; and in its marginal commentary it is expressly 
 stated, if we can believe Mr. Toland, that " the Eucharist is a 
 figure of the body of Christ — the first figure of the New Testa- 
 ment — a figure daily reiterated and received in faith ;" and lest 
 any one should hesitate to receive his translation, he adds the 
 original text : " mysterium et figura corporis Christi — prima novi 
 testamenti figura — haec vero figura quotidie iteratur, accipitur in 
 fide," etc. " Nor is this all," Avrites Toland, " for the commen- 
 tator on the words ' This is my body,' further added the remark, 
 that ' these words were used by Christ, lest any one might erro- 
 neously believe that the daily sacrifice was the body of Christ ' — 
 hoc dixit ne nostra dubitaret fides de sacrificio quotidiano in 
 Ecclesia quasi corpus Christi esset." 
 
 Dr. Lanigan, when making some remarks on the theory of 
 Toland, was obliged to add : " I must take his word for the 
 genuineness of his extracts, for I have not access to the said 
 manuscript." This shelter, however, no longer remains for the 
 unfortunate Toland, as the Codex Maelbrighte is preserved in the 
 British Museum, and many extracts have been published from it 
 in full by Dr. Reeves, in his paper read before the Royal Irish 
 Academy, January 13th, 1851. 
 
 1. As regards the age of the manuscript, Toland lived long 
 enough to find it proved by Wanley, in his Catalogue of the Oxford 
 Manuscripts, that it was written about the middle of the twelfth 
 century. Dr. O'Conor, in his " Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores," 
 rendered still more evident the date assigned to it by Wanley, and 
 Reeves repeats the argument of O'Conor. In the colophon to the 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 215 
 
 whole manuscript it is expressly stated, that it was written " in 
 the year of the assassination of king Cormac MacCarthy by Tur- 
 lough O'Brien," which event is recorded by the Four Masters in 
 the year 1138. At the end of the Gospel of St. Luke the writer 
 also added : " A prayer for Maelbrigid, who wrote this book, in 
 the twenty-eighth year of his age. This is the second year after 
 the great storm.""* This great storm is precisely recorded by the 
 Four Masters in the year 1137 : '* A great storm throughout Ire- 
 land, which prostrated many trees, houses, churches, and other 
 buildings, and swept men and cattle into the sea in Moy-Conaille."f 
 Thus, then, the date assigned to it by Toland at once falls to the 
 ground. 
 
 2. The corruption of the text, however, must bear with it a far 
 more severe reproach than the ignorance of the true date of the 
 manuscript. Indeed, the date of the work itself being fixed, we 
 might refrain from any further remarks, — for no one questions the 
 Catholicity of the teaching of the Irish Church at the time when 
 SS. Celsus and Gelasius and Malachy rendered it illustrious on 
 the continent by their learning, as well as by their sanctity and 
 miracles. We will, therefore, merely remark, that Toland omits all 
 reference to the repeated formulas by which the blessed Eucharist 
 is styled the body of Christ, as he also omits the beautiful senti- 
 ment by which it is declared that there is now offered to God a 
 true sacrifice, not the mere figures of the old law — " corpus meum ; 
 id est, ut sit haec vera hostia, non agnus, non vitulus, non hircus, 
 non taurus."J Toland affirms that the Eucharist is styled "figura 
 corporis Christi," yet these words are his own, and nowhere occur 
 in the text of Maelbrighte. He also cites the Latin phrase " hsec 
 figura accipitur in fide," and yet this Latin is his own composition, 
 and instead of it we read in the original text, " corpus Christi 
 accipitur in fide, benedicitur in abundantia, frangitur in tormentis, 
 datur in exemplis." The other phrases regarding the figurative 
 reference of the ceremonies of the Holy Sacrifice, need no explana- 
 nation ; they are repeated by all Catholics to the present day. 
 
 * Ap. Eeeves, loc. cit. t Ap. 'Donovan, ad h. a. 
 
 X Ap. Reeves, loc. cit. pag. 23. 
 
2 1 6 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 The concluding passage, cited by Toland, merits more attention, 
 as it is not the commentary of the scribe Maelbrighte, but is given 
 by him from the writings of an early Irish saint, named Manchan. 
 There were many of that name who flourished in our Irish Church. 
 There was one who was surnamed the Wise, and the Master, whose 
 death is recorded by the Annals of Ulster, in 652, and. who, under 
 the name of St. Munchin, is venerated as founder and patron of 
 Limerick. Another St. Manchan was abbot of Leighlin, in 718 ; 
 a third is commemorated as abbot of Tomgrany, in the county 
 Clare, who died in 735. Though the scribe, Maelbrighte, does 
 not mention to which of these he refers, there can be but little 
 doubt that the cited extracts are from the writings of the first- 
 mentioned, who alone is known to have been famous for his Scrip- 
 tural learning. We shall give in full the two extracts from St. 
 Manchan, in regard to the Eucharist, preserved in the Codex Mael- 
 brighte, that thus the reader may have a new testimony to the 
 Catholic teaching of our Irish Church in the middle of the seventh 
 century, and, at the same time, a new instance of the arts to which 
 the traducers of our sainted fathers are obliged to have recourse, in 
 order to assimilate their teaching to that of the Protestant Church. 
 The first extract from Manchan is given at fol. 54 of the Codex 
 Maelbrighte, as a commentary on the words accepit panem. It is 
 as follows : — 
 
 • ' Primo quaeritur si hasc assumptio panis et ealicis figura an historia, 
 an sensus figura sit. Practio autem panis figurat corpus confractum a 
 militibus iu cruce ; et in omnibus Sanctis iterata passio est dura patiuntur 
 a Christo usque ad finem mundi. Sed taraen noa tit fiebaat figurae legis 
 quae cessaverunt, hsec vero figura quotidie iteratur." 
 
 The second extract from the same saint is preserved in fol. 55, 
 and regards the Redeemer's words, hoc est corpus mettm ; it is as 
 follows : — 
 
 ' ' Et hoc dixit (Jesus) ne nostra dubitaret fides de sacrificio quotidiano 
 in ecclesiis quod corpus Christi est, quoniam Christus in dextra Dei 
 sedet."* 
 
 * Ap. Reeves, loc. cit. p. 23. 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. -2 17 
 
 And thus, so far from the words cited by Toland being found in 
 the text, the very contrary is expressly laid down, viz. : — 
 
 ' ' Our Saviour used these sacred word, ' This is my body,' lest any one 
 in future times shoidd, on account of Christ being enthroned in glory at 
 the right-hand of the Father, doubt of His being truly present in the 
 daily sacrifice offered on our altars." 
 
 Thus, then, to the many clear assertors of the Catholic doctrine, 
 regarding the blessed Eucharist in our early Church, must be added 
 the founder of the church of Limerick, in the seventh century, St. 
 Manchan, the Wise. This testimony needs no comment, and to 
 admit of any Protestant meaning, had to be corrupted as given 
 above in the words of the miserable Toland. 
 
 In conclusion, we wish to offer a few remarks on some incidental 
 statements of the learned Protestant primate Usher, regarding the 
 question now before us. 
 
 1. In the first place, he states that the author of the work " De 
 Mirabilibus Sacra? Scripturse" passes over the Eucharist in silence, 
 whilst were he imbued with the Catholic doctrine, he should, like 
 Catholics at the present day, regard it as the " miracle of mira- 
 cles." To this we reply, that the author of that work was un- 
 doubtedly an Irishman, and an ornament of our Church in the 
 seventh century. He himself assigns us the date of his work, the 
 year 655, and informs us that three years before M ainchin '(which 
 name he latinizes Manicheus) the Wise had died — an event which 
 is recorded by the annals of Ulster and by Tighernach, under the 
 year 652. In the conclusion of his Prologus, he speaks of this 
 Manchan as his venerated instructor ; and as we already know 
 from the extract given in the preceding page what was the doc- 
 trine of this holy man, we may conclude what would have been 
 the belief of his disciples regarding the blessed Eucharist, did an 
 occasion present itself of expressing such a belief in the tract now 
 before us. Such a profession of faith, however, would be wholly 
 out of place in this treatise. At the very outset the writer, Au- 
 gustinus, declares that he undertook this task by command of his 
 
218 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 spiritual father, JEusebius, and that he intended to embrace the 
 Mirabilici) or the wonderful things narrated in the Law, the Pro- 
 phets, and the New Testament. He moreover defines the class of 
 events which it was his intention to explain, and says that they 
 were such facts as were seen to present a deviation from the every- 
 day order of nature, " in quibus extra quotidianam administra- 
 tionem aliquid factum videtur." Hence, the many wonders of 
 the supernatural order fall not within his sphere. He is silent 
 as to the Mystery of the Incarnation — the miracle of miracles, in 
 which our earthly nature was assumed by the second person of 
 the blessed Trinity ; he is silent, too, as to the miracle of Calvary, 
 in which the world was redeemed by the blood of the God-man ; 
 in fine, not to mention all the supernatural miracles of the order 
 of grace, he is silent as to the institution of the sacrament of 
 baptism, though surely it is no small miracle and mystery that by 
 the invocation of the blessed Trinity, and the pouring of water on 
 the infant's head, its soul is cleansed from original sin, and robed 
 with grace and innocence even as the angels of God. Thus, the 
 blessed Eucharist was not a matter that fell within his sphere. 
 He speaks of the plague of blood in Egypt, and again, of Lot's 
 wife being changed into a pillar of salt ; of the sun standing still 
 at the command of Josue, and of the iron axe-head swimming in 
 water, as mentioned in the Book of Kings. Even his incidental 
 questions are of the same nature ; as, for instance, when he inquires 
 whence came the waters of the deluge— why terrestrial animals suf- 
 fered -more than aquatic — how wild animals were brought to the 
 islands of the sea. And on this question he gives us the earliest 
 information as to the wild animals known in Ireland in the seventh 
 century : " Quis," he says, " lupos, cervos, et sylvaticos porcos, et 
 vulpes, taxones, et lepusculos, et sesquivolos in Hiberniam deve- 
 heret?" "Who could have brought wolves, deer, wild boars, 
 foxes, badgers, hares, and squirrels into Ireland ?'' 
 
 Whilst, then, the facts which he scrutinizes are such as fall 
 under the observation of our senses, it was natural that the blessed 
 Eucharist should not come Avithin his sphere, since to our senses it 
 
IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 219 
 
 remains unchanged, though in reality it becomes the body and 
 blood of Jesus Christ.* 
 
 2. John Scotus Erigena is supposed by Usher to have been the 
 author of a treatise, "De Corpore et Sanguine Domini," which was 
 condemned in the synod ofVercelli in 1049; and though this 
 work has long since been lost to the literary world, its condemna- 
 tion affords a 'prima facie proof that its author inculcated the 
 Protestant tenets. 
 
 As we shall have occasion to speak hereafter of this subtle 
 but rationalistic writer of the ninth century, we shall, for the 
 present, make merely a few remarks regarding his teaching on 
 the question of the blessed Eucharist. The able editor of 
 Erigena's works, Henricus Josejrfius Floss, in 1853, having 
 searched the various archives of Europe, corroborated by his 
 testimony Avhat had been already asserted by many other 
 writers, viz., that the treatise mentioned above, and interdicted 
 in 1049, was not the work of Scotus, but of Ratranm, although 
 Berengare and his followers attributed it to our countryman, 
 that they might the better insinuate their errors under the cloak 
 of his great name. All that can be said for certain is, that 
 when Paschasius Radbertus broached his errors in France regard- 
 ing the blessed Eucharist, Scotus was invited by the French 
 bishops to defend the Catholic doctrine. In the tract which he 
 
 * This treatise is printed in the third volume of the works of St. 
 Augustine. Were it not for the identity of name of the author with the 
 great ornament of the African Church, it is probable this fragment of our 
 ancient ecclesiastical school would have been long since lost to us. An 
 interesting paper on our Augustine and his treatise was read by Dr. 
 William Reeves before the Royal Irish Academy, June 10, 1S61 ; and 
 the learned writer (page 9) remarks that "in a theological point of view, 
 it is the most interesting relique of Irish learning." The prologue is 
 addressed, " Venerandissimis urbium et monasteriorum Episcopis et 
 Presbyteris, maxime Carthaginensium, Augustinus per omnia subjectus 
 optabilem in Christo salutem. " The word Carthaginensium is a manifest 
 corruption of the text, made by the scribe who referred the treatise to 
 the great African doctor. The Benedictine editors suggest, as a correc- 
 tion, Cantuariensium, or Cambrensium. The writer, however, himself 
 affords a key to the true reading ; for he says he was exhorted to under- 
 take his task "ab uno vestrum, id est, Bathano. 1 ' Now, the Annals of 
 the Four Masters precisely record the death of a Bathan in 663, "bishop 
 of Clonmacnoise.''' Thus, the Irish Augustinus was probably a subject of 
 that bishop, aud his work was addressed to bishops and priests, and espe- 
 cially to those of his own monastery of Clonmacnoise. 
 
220 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE 
 
 then wrote, there were many errors and extravagancies, " errores 
 et ineptise ;" but these seem to have regarded the mode of Christ's 
 presence in the Eucharist, which was the question discussed by 
 Paschasius, and not the reality of the presence itself, on which 
 subject no controversy was raised. The continued favour en- 
 joyed by Erigena in the French court, and the eulogistic letter 
 of Anastasius (known by the appellation of Bibliothecarius) of 
 Rome, sufficiently prove that whatever may have been his extra- 
 vagant subtleties, he did not reject the teaching of the Catholic 
 Church. The chief errors imputed to him by his contemporaries 
 were those of Semipelagianism and Pantheism ; and now that his 
 writings have been carefully edited by Floss, it must be confessed 
 that many obscure passages would seem to insinuate these errors. 
 The works of Scotus Erigena that still remain are characterized 
 by great originality of sentiment, subtlety of distinctions, and 
 obscurity of expression, which gave occasion of imputing many 
 errors to him of which certainly he should not be accused. We 
 must also add that Berengare's disciples were accused of corrupt- 
 ing the text in many passages of Scotus' s writings, that thus they 
 might defend their novelties by the authority of so distinguished 
 a writer. At all events, until further evidence be produced, we 
 must not add to the rationalistic errors of our too subtle country- 
 man, the Protestant unbelief in regard to the blessed Eucharist. 
 
 Usher concludes by devoting three pages of his Historical 
 Inquiry to prove that it would be absurd to assign to the words 
 of our Redeemer, " this is my body," any meaning save that of 
 the Protestant Church. This, however, is virtually to abandon 
 the field which he had chosen for discussion. The historian does 
 not inquire what the Irish Church ought to have believed, but 
 merely interrogates her monuments and records, to learn what 
 may have been her actual doctrine and teaching. We would 
 willingly follow the Protestant primate into the new ground on 
 which he thus enters, but it would lead us too far away from our 
 present purpose. We shall, therefore, merely remark, that our 
 apostle St. Patrick, and his spiritual children who won for our 
 country the proud epithet of Island of Sai?its, knew nothing of 
 

 IRISH WRITERS APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 221 
 
 these absurdities which Usher deemed inherent in the Eucharistic 
 doctrine ; they received, in the fulness of faith and with simplicity 
 of heart, the words of life which fell from the Redeemer's lips, 
 and unhesitatingly embraced the blissful truth inculcated by the 
 Catholic Church, that in the holy Sacrament of the altar is truly 
 present the heavenly vivifying food of the body and blood of 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
ESSAY 
 
 ON 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN, 
 
 IN THE 
 
 ANCIENT CHURCH OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Ancient Litany taken from Curry's MSS. in Catholic University. — Hymn 
 of St. Cuchumneus. — Prayers in Bobbio Missal. — Festivals of Blessed 
 Virgin observed in Ireland. — Hymns regarding St. Brigid, in which 
 she is praised as like the Blessed Virgin. — Extract from Leabhar 
 Breac. 
 
 Devotion to the Mother of God has always been regarded as a 
 characteristic feature of the Catholic Church, distinguishing her 
 from all the varying and conflicting sects of heterodoxy. Now, 
 from the earliest period of Christianity in our island, we find a 
 most tender devotion, a most reverential affection cherished by our 
 fathers for this Virgin of virgins. The question which we propose 
 to treat is one of fact, and, as a matter of historic truth, must be 
 proved by the monuments of our early Church. 
 
 The first old Irish document we shall cite is in the form of a 
 litany, which presents, with all the vividness of oriental imagery, 
 the many exalted titles and peerless privileges of the blessed Mary. 
 It is preserved in the Leabhar Breac, that invaluable repository of 
 our earliest ecclesiastical records, which is justly styled by Petrie 
 " the oldest and best MS. relating to church history now preserved 
 (in Ireland), or which, perhaps, the Irish ever possessed."* A few 
 
 * The Hist, and Antiq. of Tara, by George Petrie, published from the 
 Transactions of the R.I. A., Dublin, 1839, pag. 74. 
 
224 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 extracts from this litany have been already published by Mr. 
 Curry, by whom it is pronounced to be " as old, at least, as the 
 middle of the eighth century."* 
 
 THE LITANY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY. 
 
 11 Great Mary. 
 
 O Mary, Greatest of Marys. 
 
 O Greatest of Women. 
 
 Queen of the Angels. 
 
 Mistress of the Heavens. 
 
 Woman full and replete with the 
 
 Grace of the Holy Spirit. 
 Blessed and Most Blessed. 
 Mother of Eternal Glory. 
 O Mother of the Heavenly and 
 
 Earthly Church. 
 Mother of Love and Indulgence. 
 O Mother of the Golden Heights. 
 Honour of the Sky. 
 Sign of Tranquillity. 
 Gate of Heaven. 
 Golden Casket. 
 Couch of Love and Mercy. 
 O Temple of the Divinity. 
 O Beauty of Virgins. 
 Mistress of the Tribes. 
 Fountain of the Parterres. 
 Cleansing of the Sins. 
 O Washing of the Souls. 
 Mother of the Orphans. 
 O Breast of the Infants. 
 Solace of the Wretched. 
 Star of the Sea. 
 Handmaid of God. 
 Mother of Christ. 
 Resort of the Lord. 
 
 " Ladder of Heaven 
 
 Graceful like the Dove. 
 
 O Serene like the Moon. 
 
 O Resplendent like the Sun. 
 
 Destruction of Eve's Disgrace. 
 
 Regeneration of Life. 
 
 O Beauty of Women. 
 
 Chief of the Virgins. 
 
 Enclosed Garden. 
 
 Closely-locked Fountain. 
 
 Mother of God. 
 
 O Perpetual Virgin. 
 
 Prudent Virgin. 
 
 Serene Virgin. 
 
 O Chaste Virgin. 
 
 Temple of the Living God. 
 
 Royal Throne of the Eternal 
 
 King. 
 Sanctuary of the Holy Spirit. 
 Virgin of the Root of Jesse. 
 Cedar of Mount Lebanon. 
 Cypress of Mount Sion. 
 Crimson Rose of the Land of 
 
 Jacob. 
 Blooming like the Olive Tree. 
 Glorious Son-bearer. 
 Light of Nazareth. 
 O Glory of Jerusalem. 
 Beauty of the World. 
 Noblest-born of the Christian 
 
 Flock. 
 O Queen of Life. 
 hear the petition of the poor, spurn not the 
 
 wounds and the groans of the miserable. 
 
 " Let our devotion and our sighs be carried through thee to the presence 
 of the Creator, for we are not ourselves worthy of being heard, because of 
 our evil deserts. 
 
 " Powerful Mistress of Heaven and Earth, dissolve our trespasses and 
 our sins ; destroy our wickedness and our corruptions ; raise the fallen, 
 the debilitated, and the fettered ; loose the condemned ; repair through 
 thyself the transgressions of our immoralities and our vices ; bestow upon 
 
 * Lectures on the MS. Materials, p. 3S0. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 225 
 
 us through thyself the blossoms and ornaments of good actions and 
 virtues ; appease for us the Judge by thy voice and thy supplications ; 
 allow us not to be carried off from thee among the spoils of our enemies ; 
 allow not our souls to be condemned, but take us to thyself for ever, 
 under thy protection. 
 
 "We beseech and pray thee further, Holy Mary, through thy great 
 supplication, from thy only Son, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of the 
 living God, that God may defend us from all straits and temptations ; 
 and obtain for us, from the God of Creation, that we all obtain from Him 
 the forgiveness and remission of all our sins and trespasses, and that we 
 may obtain from Him farther, through thy supplication, the perpetual 
 occupation of the heavenly kingdom, through the eternity of life, in the 
 presence of the Saints and the saintly Virgins of the world ; which may 
 we deserve, may we occupy, in secula seculorum. Amen." 
 
 This litany speaks for itself. It is a glory of our early Church 
 to have produced such a sweet invocation of the Mother of God ; 
 and the reigning pontiff, pope Pius IX., to attest how dear to 
 him was this fine old Irish prayer, granted an indulgence of one 
 hundred days to all who shall duly recite it. 
 
 St. Cuchumneus,* a contemporary of Adamnan, towards the 
 close of the sixth century, composed a Latin hymn in honour of 
 the Mother of God, which soon became celebrated, and had a place 
 assigned to it amongst the liturgical hymns of our Church. The 
 German hymnologist, Mone, discovered three MSS. of this hymn, 
 one belonging to the ninth, the others to the eighth century.f 
 Co]gan,J too, had an ancient copy of it in his possession, and it is 
 also contained in the celebrated Liber Hymnorum, from which we 
 now present it to the reader : — § 
 
 1. " Cantemus in omni die concinentes varie, 
 
 Conclamantes Deo dignum hymnum sanctaa Maria. 
 
 2. ' ' Bis per chorum hinc et inde collaudamus Mariam, 
 
 Ut vox pulset omnem aurem per laudem vicariam. 
 
 3. " Maria de tribu Juda, summi mater Domini, 
 
 Opportunam dedit curam asgrotanti homini. 
 
 * Colgan after commemorating this hymn, adds : " Ut colligitur ex 
 argumento eidem hymno praefixo, author florifit tempore Adamnaui 
 Abbatis et Longseci Hiberniae Regis qui coepit regnare anno 694." — Tr. 
 Th. 218. 
 
 t Hymni Med. Mv. vol. ii. p. 384. 
 
 X Trias Thaum. p. 218. 
 
 § Archiv. S. Isid. in urbe, No. xi. fol. 14. 
 
 Q 
 
226 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 4. " Gabriel advexit verbum sinu Patris paterno, 
 
 Quod conceptual et susceptum in utero materno. 
 
 5. ' ' Hsec est summa, hsec est sancta virgo venerabilis, 
 
 Quse ex fide non recessit sed extitit stabilis. 
 
 6. "Huic matri nee inventa ante nee post similis 
 
 Nee de prole fait plane humanse origiriis. 
 
 7. " Per mulierem et lignum mundus prius periit, 
 
 Per mulieris virtutem, ad salutem rediit. 
 
 8. ' ' Maria mater miranda patrem suuni edidit, 
 
 Per quern aqua late lotus totus mundus credidit. 
 
 9. "Hrec coricepit margaritam, non sunt vana somnia, 
 
 Pro qua sane Christiani vendunt sua omnia. 
 
 10. " Tunicam per totum textam Christo mater fecerat, 
 
 Quas peracta Christi morte, sorte statim steterat. 
 
 11. " Induamus arma lucis loricam et galeam, 
 
 Ut simus Deo perfecti, suscepti pjer Mariam. 
 
 12. "Amen, amen, adjuramus merita puerperse, 
 
 Ut non possit flamma pyrae nos dirae decerpere. 
 
 13. " Christi nomen invocemus angelis sub testibus, 
 
 Ut fruamur et scribamur litteris coelestibus, 
 
 " Cantemus in omni," etc. 
 
 TRANSLATION.* 
 
 1. "In alternate measure chanting, daily sing we Mary's praise, 
 
 And, in strains of glad rejoicing, to the Lord our voices raise. 
 
 2. " With a two-fold choir repeating Mary's never-dying fame, 
 
 Let each ear the praises gather, which our grateful tongues proclaim. 
 
 3. " Judah's ever-glorious daughter — chosen mother of the Lord — 
 
 Who, to weak and fallen manhood, all its ancient worth restor'd. 
 
 4. "Prom the everlasting Father, Gabriel brought the glad decree, 
 
 That, the Word divine conceiving, she should set poor sinners free. 
 
 5. " Of all virgins pure, the purest— ever stainless, ever bright — 
 
 Still from grace to grace advancing, fairest daughter of the light. 
 
 6. " Wondrous title— who shall tell it — whilst the Word divine she bore, 
 
 Though in mother's name rejoicing, virgin purer than before ! 
 
 * We are indebted for this translation to the kindness of Rev. Mr. 
 Potter, All Hallows' College. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 227 
 
 7. "By a woman's disobedience, eating the forbidden tree, 
 
 Was the world betray'd and niin'd — was by woman's aid set free. 
 
 8. "In mysterious mode a mother, Mary did her God conceive, 
 
 By whose grace, through saving waters, man did heav'nly truth 
 receive. 
 
 9. ' ' By no empty dreams deluded, for the pearl which Mary bore, 
 
 Men, all earthly wealth resigning, still are rich for evermore. 
 
 10. " For her Son a seamless tunic Mary's careful hand did weave; 
 
 O'er that tunic fiercely gambling, sinners Mary's heart did grieve. 
 
 11. " Clad in helmet of salvation — clad in breast-plate shining bright — 
 
 May the hand of Mary guide us to the realms of endless light. 
 
 12. "Amen, amen, loudly cry we — may she, when the fight is won, 
 
 O'er avenging fires triumphing, lead us safely to her Son. 
 
 13. "Holy angels gathering round us, lo, His saving name we greet, 
 
 Writ in books of life eternal, may we still that name repeat ! 
 " In alternate measure chanting," etc. 
 
 To this beautiful hymn is added, in the Liber Hymnoruin, the 
 versicle, " Sanctse Mariae nieritiira imploramus dignissimum ; ut 
 merearaur solium habitare altissimum." 
 
 In the Irish MS. of Bale* containing this hymn, there is further 
 added a prayer to the Blessed Virgin, beginning, " singularis meriti 
 sola sine exemplo, mater et Virgo Maria."f We have to lament 
 that Dr. Todd did not publish the remainder of this prayer, for it 
 must be a beautiful one, indeed, if we may judge from the sweet 
 invocation which its first line presents to us. Even after the hymn 
 to St. Brigid, in the same MS., there follows another fervent invo- 
 cation of the Mother of God — " Sancta virgo, beatissima Virginum 
 Maria, intercede pro nobis. "J 
 
 Each strophe of the above hymn of St. Cuchumneus proclaims 
 some prerogative of the holy Virgin. She is " the Mother of the 
 
 * This MS. was one of those used by Mone in his edition. It is pre- 
 served in the library of Bale, and is marked A., vii. 3. It is an Irish 
 copy of the Greek Psalter, and in its first leaves has the hymn just cited ; 
 then follows a hymn to St. Brigid, with some other fragments of our 
 ancient liturgy. — See Todd, Lib. Hym. fas. i. page 55. 
 
 t Todd, loc. cit. 
 
 $ Dr. Todd (loc. cit. page 56) remarks that over the words sancta virgo 
 is written, in the original hand, beatissima. 
 
228 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 great Lord," "the greatest, the holy venerable Virgin ;" "none, 
 throughout all time, is found like unto her," and even in her birth 
 she is uninfected with the stain common to all other mortals.* She 
 it is that gives a healing remedy for the wounds of man ; and as 
 the world was once ruined by Eve and the forbidden tree, so 
 through the virtue of this new Eve is it restored to the blessings of 
 Heaven. Hers it was to weave the seamless garment of Christ, — 
 emblem of the Church's unity ; and hers is it now to present us to 
 God, and protect us from all the attacks of the evil one. 
 
 That the chief festivals of the Blessed Virgin were celebrated in 
 the early Irish Church admits of no controversy. In the Martyr- 
 ology of Tallaght, on the 18th of December, is marked the " salu- 
 tatio Marice ab Elizabeth" a festival which at that period is scarcely 
 known to have been celebrated in the continental churches.f 
 Aenghus Ceile De, in his Metrical Calendar, composed before the 
 year 800, at the 3rd of May thus notices the Feast of the Imma- 
 culate Conception which, in other countries, was celebrated on the 
 8th of December : — 
 
 " 3rd May. — The chief finding of the tree of the cross 
 Of Christ with many virtues ; 
 The death of Condlaedh, noble chief ; 
 The great festival of the Virgin Mary." J 
 
 The chief monument of our ancient liturgy that has come down 
 to us, the Bobbio Missal, contains two masses in honor of the 
 Blessed Virgin, one for her general feasts, the other for the Assump- 
 tion. In the former we find the prayer — " Hear us, Lord, holy 
 Father, all-powerful God, who by the overshadowing of the womb 
 of blessed Mary, didst deign to illumine the whole world ; we sup- 
 pliantly pray Thy Majesty that what we cannot acquire by our 
 merits, we may obtain through her protection. We beseech thee, 
 too, Lord, that the joys of blessed Mary may accompany us, and 
 
 * Verse 11, strophe 6. 
 
 t Conf. Martyr, of Tallaght. Dublin, 1857- Preface viii. and page 27. 
 
 t Ibid, page 157. The translation is from the pen of Eugene Curry. 
 On this peculiarity of the Irish Church see Bollandists' Acta SS. ad 
 tertium Maij. 
 
rv^ 
 
 'HE \ 
 
 ; UNIVERSITY J 
 
 V of / 
 
 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 229 
 
 by her merits may our chirograplia of sin be cancelled." In the 
 latter Mass she is declared to be " charitate decens, pace gaudens, 
 pietate praecellens ; ab Angelo gratia plena, ab Elizabeth benedicta, 
 a gentibus praedicatur beata : cujus nobis fides mysterium, partus 
 gaudium, pacem quam in assumptione matris tunc praebuisti disci- 
 pulis, nobis miserere supplicibus." And again she is styled " speci- 
 osus thalamus de quo decorus procedit sponsus ; lux gentium, spes 
 fidelium, prasdo daemonum, confusio Judaeorum, vasculnm glorias, 
 templum coeleste." She is then compared with Eve : " ista mundo 
 vitam protulit, ilia legem mortis invexit: ilia praevaricando nos 
 perdidit, ista generando servavit." And in conclusion, it is said 
 " her soul is wreathed with various crowns ; the apostles render 
 sacred homage to her, the angels intone their canticles, Christ 
 embraces her, the clouds are her chariot, paradise her dwelling, 
 where, decked with glory, she reigns amidst the virgin-choirs."* 
 
 Moreover, the Canon of the Mass gives the usual commemoration, 
 " memoriam venerantes inprimis gloriosae semper virginis Marias, 
 genitricis Dei et Domini nostri Jesu Christi."f 
 
 In the foregoing passages we find that the early Irish Church 
 took occasion to commend the privileges of Mary, by contrasting 
 the blessings we receive through her with the miseries which we 
 inherit from our first parent Eve. There is, however, another 
 comparison which the old Irish documents continually repeat, and 
 which supposes in our fathers the same exalted idea of the blessed- 
 ness and privileges of the Mother of God : I refer to the frequent 
 passages of our ancient writers in which our great patron St. Brigid 
 is compared with the Mother of God. In all the vividness of Irish 
 poetry, St. Brigid is styled the wonder of womankind, the most 
 holy and exalted of mortals ; but always their highest point of 
 praise, the climax of their eulogy, is, that she is like unto the 
 Mother of God. The real privileges and dignity of Mary are 
 supposed to have been in a manner shared by Brigid ; and what 
 Mary is for the whole Church, that, Brigid is for Ireland — whence 
 
 * The Bobbio Missal, apud Mabillon Museum Italicum, torn. i. part ii. 
 page 298, seqq. 
 t Ibid, page 279. 
 
230 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 her usual title, " the Mary of the Irish." We shall give a few 
 instances of this peculiar language of our fathers. 
 
 In the hymn " Alta audite tu ep^a" on the privileges of St. 
 Brigid, the last strophe declares that in glory " consedit in cathedra 
 cum matre Maria." * Also, in the hymn " Christus in nostra in- 
 sula," it is said that no tongue could suffice to relate all the 
 wondrous deeds of virtue performed by Brigid, neither are they 
 found recorded of any one except our Saint, " who was like unto 
 holy Mary." 
 
 " Qua3 nostris nmnquara. auribus si sint facta audivimus, 
 Nisi per istam virgiuem Mariee Sanctas siniilem."t 
 
 And the Irish gloss adds an explanation of this last word, " for 
 Brigid is the Mary of the Irish." 
 
 In the Leabhar Breac there is a sketch of St. Brigid's life, which 
 thus extols her innumerable virtues : 
 
 "She was abstinent, unblemished, prayerful, patient, joying in the 
 commandments of God, benevolent, humble, forgiving, charitable. She 
 was a consecrated shrine for preserving the body of Christ. She was a 
 temple of God. Her heart and her mind were a resting-throne for the 
 Holy Spirit. She was meek before God. She was distressed with the 
 wretched. She was bright in miracles. x4.nd hence it is that her type 
 among created things is the dove among birds, the vine among trees, and 
 the sun above the stars. The father of this holy virgin was the Heavenly 
 Father ; her son was Jesus Christ ;t her tutor was the Holy Spirit. And 
 it was, therefore, this holy virgin performed those great innumerable 
 miracles. It is she that relieves every one that is in difficulty and in 
 danger. It is she that restrains the roaring billows and the anger of the 
 great sea. She is the prophesied woman of Christ. She is the Queen of 
 the South. She is the Mary of the Irish. "§ 
 
 In the hymn of St. Brogan Cloen to St. Brigid, the same com- 
 parison is introduced : 
 
 * Mone, loc. cit. iii. 241. 
 
 t Liber Hymn. St. Isidori, fol. 7. Dr. Todd, loc. cit. pag. 57. 
 
 X Dr. Todd objects to the words in which it is said that the Eternal 
 Father is the father of St. Brigid, and Jesus Christ her son. But do we 
 not all daily invoke " Our Father, who art in heaven ;" and did not our 
 Lord say, ' ' "Whosoever shall do the will of my Father, .... he is my 
 brother and sister and mother" ? — Matt. xii. 50. 
 
 § Todd, loc. cit. pag. 65. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 231 
 
 ' ' There are two Virgins in heaven, 
 Who will not give me a forgetful protection, 
 Mary and Saint Brigid. 
 Under the protection of both may we remain." 
 
 Aud in the same poem he had already said : 
 
 ' ' The veiled Virgin that drives over the Curragh, 
 Is a shield against sharp weapons ; 
 None toas found her equal except Mary ; 
 Let us put our trust in my strength."* 
 
 Thus the sanctity, and power, and privileges of Mary were 
 deemed the highest type with which the virtues of our great 
 national patron could be compared; and whilst St. Brigid was 
 supposed by our countrymen to surpass all others, one alone was 
 the exception which was invariably made — forsooth, " the holy 
 Virgin-Mother of God."f 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 Felire of Aengus. — Prayer of St. Colgu. — St. Columbanus. — Irish recluse 
 in Austria. — Sedulius's Poems. — Sedulius, abbot of Kildare. — Claudius 
 Scotus.— St. Mochta. — St. Laurence O'Toole. 
 
 In the famous Felire, or Festology of Aengus, written in the 
 eighth century, we find a further illustration of the reverence of 
 our early Church for the blessed Mother of God. When^ecapitu- 
 lating his work, and commemorating the saints under certain 
 heads, he invokes " the saintly virgins of Erin, under the holy St. 
 
 * The last word is a play on the Irish word brigi, which means strength, 
 and is almost identical with the name of Brigid. See Todd. loc. cit. 67, 
 who gives the original of these verses from the Liber Hym. Colgan pub- 
 lished, the whole hymn, with a Latin translation. Tr. Th. pag. 515. 
 
 t Hector Boetius, 'Hist. Scot. lib. ix. records that, in the Gaslic tradition, 
 St. Brigid was supposed to hold the second place amongst the virgin -saints 
 in heaven. 
 
232 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 Brigid of Kildare," but " the virgins of the whole world, under the 
 blessed Virgin Maty." When showing how the names of the 
 persecutors are forgotten, whilst those of their victims are held in 
 veneration, he gives as an instance that " Pilate's wife is forgotten, 
 whilst the Blessed Virgin is # remembered and honoured from the 
 uttermost bounds of the earth to its centre ;" and, in conclusion, 
 he beseeches the Bedeemer, " through the intercession of His 
 Mother, to save him, as Jacob was saved from the hands of Esau, 
 and as Paul was saved from the venom of the viper."* 
 
 The beautiful prayer of St. Colgu (who died about a.d. 790), 
 presents several invocations of the various classes of saints. 
 Amongst the others we meet : " I beseech the intercession with 
 thee of all the perfect virgins of the world, with the Virgin Mary, 
 Thine own holy mother ;" and subsequently he thus addresses the 
 Bedeemer : — 
 
 " For the sake of the merciful Father from whom Thou didst come unto 
 us upon earth ; for the sake of Thy divinity which that Father modified 
 so as to receive Thy humanity ; for the sake of the immaculate body 
 from which Thou didst come in the womb of the Virgin ; for the sake of 
 the Spirit with the seven forms which descended upon that body in unity 
 with Thyself and with Thy Father; for the sake of the holy womb from 
 which Thou didst receive that body without destruction of virginity . . . dispense, 
 and give, and bestow Thy holy grace and Thy holy Spirit to defend and 
 shelter me from all my present and future sins, and to light up in me all 
 truth, and to retain in me all truth to the end of my life."+ 
 
 This devotion to the Mother of God, so Cherished in our island, 
 accompanied our missionary saints to the various nations of the 
 continent, and even in Italy we find that the great St. Columbanus, 
 in the beginning of the seventh century, founded an oratory dedi- 
 cated under the invocation of the holy Mother of God : " Ubi (in 
 Bobbio) etiam ecclesiam in honorem almas Dei genitricis, semperque 
 Virginis Marias ex lignis construxit ad magnitudinem sanctissimi 
 corporis sui."f 
 
 * Eugene Curry's Lectures on the MS. Materials, etc. p. 367, seqq. 
 
 t Curry, MSS. For some notice of the saint see Curry's Lectures, p. 
 379 ; Dr. Kelly, Calendar of Irish Saints, p. 76 ; Colgan, Acta SS. Hib. 
 ad diem 20th Feb. 
 
 t Vita S. Columb. in Florilegio, edited by Messingham, p. 240 ; confer 
 Petrie on the Bound Towers, etc., p. 347. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 233 
 
 This same saint was author of a commentary on the Psalms, 
 which was long attributed to St. Jerome. It is preserved in the 
 famous Ambrosian Codex (c. 801), and published by Vallarsi in 
 the appendix to the works of St. Jerome. Vallarsi, however, 
 justly suspected that this commentary had Columbanus, not St. 
 Jerome, for its author;* and this opinion has been placed beyond 
 all doubt by the investigations of Peyronf and Zeuss,^; who pub- 
 lished in the appendix to his invaluable Grammar the first pages 
 of this commentary, together with the Irish glosses which accom- 
 pany it.§ St. Columbanus, in this commentary, when explaining 
 the words of the 77th Psalm, verse 14, " Et deduxit eos in nube 
 diei," thus writes : " Behold the Lord comes into Egypt in a light 
 cloud. By the light cloud we ought to understand the body of our 
 Saviour, for it was light and laden with no sin ; or, certainly, we 
 should interpret it of the Blessed Virgin ; and beautifully is she 
 called a cloud of day, for that cloud was never in darkness, but 
 was always in light ;" that is, was never involved in the shades 
 of sin, but was ever arrayed in the beauteous light of heavenly 
 grace. || 
 
 Long after St. Columbanus, we find another Irish pilgrim embrac- 
 ing the penitential life of a recluse, near the town of Krems, in 
 Lower Austria, being, for his devotion, immured by St. Altmann in a 
 cell adjoining the church of the Mother of God. " In this venerable 
 bishop's time (we thus read in the life of St. Altmann), there came 
 a priest to Mount Gottweich, an Irishman, in profession a monk, 
 in conversation a religious. The name he bore, which was John, 
 signifying ' God's grace,' was in accordance with his disposition. 
 Bishop Altmann loved this grace which was in him ; and that he 
 might the more readily abide with him, a narrow cell was assigned 
 him beside the church of the blessed Mary, in which, agreeably 
 to his wish and solicitation, he was immured." % This holy 
 recluse was a companion of the famous Marianus, who, departing 
 
 * Proef. ad Appendix, torn. vii. pp. 20, 21. 
 
 t Fragm. Ined., p. 189. J Gram. Celtic, vol i. prsef. xxx. 
 
 § See Gram. Celtic, vol. ii. append, f. p. 1063. 
 
 || Opp. S. Hieron. Vallarsi, torn. vii. 
 
 1 Acta SS., August 8, torn. ii. p. 387. 
 
234 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 from Ireland in 1067, soon became celebrated in Germany by 
 his beautiful transcripts as well as commentaries on the sacred 
 Scriptures.* 
 
 The poet Sedulius, however, was the chief writer of Ireland 
 that acquired a wide-spread fame throughout the continent. In 
 the " Carmen Paschale," which is his most celebrated composition, 
 he more than once takes occasion to dwell on the special dignity 
 and privileges of the holy Mother of God. Thus, in the second 
 book, after treating of original sin, he adds : — 
 
 " Et velut e spinis, mollis rosa surgit acutis 
 Nil quod lsedat habens, raatremque obscurat houore ; 
 Sic Ev83 de stirpe sacra veuieute Maria 
 Virginis antiquae facinus nova virgo piaret, 
 Ut quoniain natura prior vitiata jacebat, 
 Sub ditione necis, Christo nascente reuasci 
 Posset homo et veteris maculam deponere carnis."t 
 
 The first lines of which passage have been well translated 
 thus — 
 
 " Safe from the rugged thorn springs up the tender rose, 
 In honor hides the parent stem, in beauty's softness grows ; 
 So from the sinful stem of Eve all-sinless Mary came, 
 To cover and to expiate her mother's deed of shame. "J 
 
 The Prosa Paschalis of Sedulius perhaps still more clearly ex- 
 presses the same spotless immunity of Mary, as it declares that 
 she came forth from the sinful race of Eve, " arrayed in sacred 
 light" :— 
 
 ' ' Et velut rosa suavis atque molissima de spinoso cespite nascitur, nil 
 lsesura matrem quam gratia jucunditatis obscurat : ita de stirpe nocentis 
 Evse Maria sacro veniente cum lumine, primse virginis lucem sequens 
 virgo dilueret," &c. 
 
 * Conf. Tlie Irish Monasteries iu Germany, by Dr. Wattenbach, I85G, 
 translated by W. Reeves, p. 16. 
 
 t Edition of Arevalus, lib. ii. lin. 28-34, page 200. 
 
 X Essay on the Im. Conception, by the Rev. M. Tormey. Dublin, 
 1855; page 93. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 235 
 
 A few lines after our poet, having- commemorated the birth of 
 the divine Redeemer, bursts forth into the following sweet address 
 to the Virgin-Mother : — 
 
 " Salve sancta parens, enixa pnerpera regem 
 Qui coelum terramque tenet per saecula, cujus 
 Numen et oeterno complectens omnia gyro, 
 Imperium sine fine manet, qua ventre beato 
 Gaudia matris habens cum virginitatis honore 
 Nee primam similem visa es nee habere sequentem 
 Sola sine exemplo placuisti femina Christo."* 
 
 These words have been hallowed by their universal use through- 
 out the Church, and to the present day they are recited in the 
 office of the Blessed Virgin : — 
 
 ' ' Hail, holy Mother, who hast given birth to the Almighty King who 
 rules the heavens and the earth .... in thy blessed womb thou didst 
 unite the joys of motherhood with the honour of virginity ; none has 
 hitherto been like to thee, nor shall hereafter any such be found ; thou 
 alone, above all others, hast been beloved by Christ." 
 
 The same idea is repeated in the Paschal Prose : — 
 
 " Salve parens optima tanti regis puerperio consecrata .... cui nulla 
 penitus sequalis femina reperitur, quse tuum decus similiter praecesserit 
 aut sequatur, sola placens singulariter Christo nulli compararis exemplo." 
 
 Again, in the fifth book, he commemorates the honour ever 
 rendered to Mary in the Catholic Church : — 
 
 " Discedat synagoga suo fuscata colore 1 
 Ecclesiam Christus pulchro sibi juuxit aniore 
 Haec est conspicuo radians in honoi'e Marias 
 Quse quum clarifico semper sit nomiue mater 
 Semper virgo manet." 
 
 Or, as it is expressed in the prose work — 
 ' ' Christus sibi pidchram niveo decore sociavit ecclesiam. Haac honorem 
 
 * Edit. Areval, lin. 63-69, page 203. 
 
236 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 Marise prasstat ad gloriam quae quum charitate conspicua semper mater 
 esse cernatur, semper tamen virgo conspicitur."* 
 
 We shall close these extracts from our sacred poet with the 
 beautiful distich which occurs in his elegiac poem: — 
 
 " Sola fait mulier, patuit qua janua letho ; 
 Et qua vita redit, sola fuit mulier. "f 
 
 There was another Sedulius, abbot of Kildare,J in the eighth 
 century, who won a distinguished fame by his commentaries on the 
 Gospels and on the Pauline Epistles. Two fragments of his work 
 on the Gospels were published by the late eminent palaeographer, 
 Cardinal Maj.§ Another fragment is contained in the Codex 
 Palatums, No. 242, amongst the Vatican manuscripts, being an 
 exposition of the genealogy of our Saviour, as given in St. 
 Matthew. On arriving at the last formula, Joseph virum Marice, 
 he thus explains the name of Mary, and with it concludes his 
 treatise : — 
 
 "Maria, illuminatrix vel stella maris interpretatur ; syro sermone 
 Domina dicitur, Illuminatrix : quia per ipsam lux totius mundi natus est 
 Christus. Stella maris : quia sicut nautse in aliquam terram remigautes 
 aliquod sydus eligunt, cujus siguo luceque radiante, sine errore possint 
 addnci; ita Sancta Maria in mari hujus mundi navigantibus stella 
 maris data est par quam ad portum perpetual quietis valeant perduci. 
 Domina dignissima nominatur quffi Dominum peperit salvatorem, decen- 
 tissime nauique mater regis Christi, regum regina, mater Domini, 
 Dominorum Domina nuncupanda est per quam lumen fidei accepimus, 
 qua ad visionem Dei perpetuo cum matre simul et filio gavisuri per- 
 ducamur."|| 
 
 Reading this passage, the mind at once goes back to the elo- 
 quent discourses of St. Bernard on the Mother of God ; and one 
 
 * Edit. Arevali, lib. v. lin. 357-361, page 350. 
 
 t Areval, page 361. 
 
 % Conf. Lauigan Eecles. Hist. iii. 256-7. 
 
 § Scriptt. Vett. Vaticaua Collect, torn. ix. ; and Spicilegium Roman, 
 torn. ix. 
 
 || Cod. 242, p. 8 (saec. xmi). The MS. is entitled " Explanatio Sedulii 
 Scotti in quattuor Evangelistas," and originally belonged to the monas- 
 tery of Canons Regular of S. Maria Magdalene de Franchentall, " inter 
 Spiram et Wormatiam." 
 

 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 237 
 
 might almost conclude that this great doctor had the treatise of 
 our Irish abbot before him, when writing on the peerless dignity 
 of Mary, so similar is the language and imagery which he 
 employs. 
 
 Almost contemporary with this illustrious ornament of the 
 Church of Kildare was the commentator Claudius Scotus, to whose 
 work Usher so frequently appeals, in his treatise on the religion 
 of the early Irish. To illustrate the doctrine of Claudius regarding 
 the Blessed Virgin, one passage from his commentary on St. 
 Matthew will suffice. He is speaking of the virginity of the 
 Mother of God ; and whilst he rejects the errors of Helvidius, he 
 by anticipation stigmatizes as blasphemous and heretical, the 
 teaching of so many of the modern sectaries in regard to this 
 holiest of creatures. St. Joseph, he says, being aware of the 
 prophecy of Isaias, had no doubt but that this prophecy would be 
 verified in his virgin-spouse : 
 
 " Non diffidebat in ea prophetiam esse complendam. Sed si earn occulte 
 diniitteret neque acciperet conjugem, et ilia sponsa pareret, pauci essent 
 qui earn virginem et non potius autumarent esse meretricem. Unde 
 consilium Joseph repente consilio meliore mutatur ut videlicet ad con- 
 servandam Marise famam, ipse earn celebrato nuptiaruni connubio 
 comitem acciperet sed castam perpetuo custodiret." And he adds : 
 "Maluit namqne Dominus aliquos modum suae generationis ignorare 
 quam castitatem infamare suse genitricis." 
 
 After a few sentences, he thus again dwells on the perpetual 
 virginity of the Mother of God : 
 
 "Hoc totum factum est. Quid totum ? hoc per Unigeniti descensioneni : 
 hoc de ista Christi incarnatione : hoc de angeli ad virginem destinatione : 
 hoc de ipsius virginis desponsatione, vel castitate : hoc autem totum 
 factum est ad totius mundi salutem : hoc totum factum est ut unum 
 compleretur et unum consummaretur. Quid illud est ? quod virgo genuit, 
 quod virgo permansit : quod mater fuit et intacta virgo perseveravit." 
 
 And soon after he concludes : 
 
 " Sciendum est quod fuerint hseretici qui propter hoc quod dictum est 
 'non cognoscebat earn donee peperit filium suum' crederent Mariani 
 
238 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 post natum Domimim cognitam esse a Joseph et inde ortos eos quos 
 fratres Domini Scriptura appellat, adsumentes et hoc in adjutorium sui 
 erroris qnod primogenitus nnncupatur Dominus. Avertat Deus hanc 
 blasphemiam a fide omnium nostrum, donetque nobis Catholica pietate 
 intelligere, parentes uostri Salvatoris intemerata semper f uisse virginitate 
 prseclaros," etc.* 
 
 Even when addressing our divine Redeemer, the ancient writers 
 of our island loved to commemorate the virginal maternity of 
 Mary. Thus, in the beautiful matins' hymn, which, from the very 
 first ages of faith, was used in the Irish Church, we meet with the 
 following address : 
 
 " Ante ssecla tu fuisti factor primi sasculi, 
 Factor cceli, terrse factor, congregator tu maris, 
 Omnium que tu creator qiue pater nasci jubet, 
 Virginis receptus membris Gabrielis nuntio 
 Crescit alvus prole sancta, nos monemur credere 
 Rem novam nee ante visam virginem puerperam."f 
 
 Again, in the hymn to St. Martin, which is preserved in the 
 Liber Hymnorum, the very second strophe commemorates this pri- 
 vilege of the Virgin-Mother : 
 
 ' ' Martine te deprecor, pro me rogaris Patrem, 
 Christum, ac Spiritum Sanctum, habentem Mariam matrem." 
 
 With our saints, in like manner, it was not unusual to introduce 
 in their solemn asseverations this dignity of Mary ; as, for in- 
 stance, in the formula " the Son of the Virgin knows," J which was 
 so frequently employed by St. Canice and other chief saints of our 
 Church.§ 
 
 * Codex Vatican. Palatin. 3828 ; Claud, in Matth. lib. i. fol. 3. 
 
 f This hymn begins : " Hymnum dicat turba fratruni," etc. It is pre- 
 served in the Liber Hymnorum, from which the above text is printed ; 
 also, in the Antiphon. Benchoren. It is, moreover, commemorated by 
 Ven. Bede and Hincmar. It is inserted with notes by Daniel, in his 
 Thesaur. Hymnolog. vol. i. pag. 191. 
 
 t There is a church near Bray dedicated to the "Virgin's Son. It still 
 retains the Irish name, Kilmacanogue. 
 
 § Conf. Vit. S. Kannechi, edited by the Marquis of Ormond, 1853, 
 pag. 10, 12, etc. 
 
DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 239 
 
 Even as early as the fifth century, we find this, her sacred 
 privilege, commemorated in a profession of faith which a native of 
 our island, and a disciple of St. Patrick, presented in Borne to the 
 great St. Leo : 
 
 "Filimn credimus," he says, "in uovissimis diebus natum esse, de 
 Virgiue et Spiritu Sancto camera naturae humanae et animam suscepisse. 
 • . . . Virginem quoque de qua natum scirnus, et Virginem ante partiun 
 et Virginem post partum, ue consortes Helvidiani erroris habeamur."* 
 
 In conclusion, we may remark that it was not merely in theory 
 that this high dignity of the Mother of God was commended by our 
 forefathers. It entered as a vital element into their spiritual life ; 
 and even the fine old domestic salutation, still preserved by many 
 of the Irish-speaking of our countrymen, was couched in the sweet 
 words, " God and Mary be with you !" and the reply, " God and 
 Mary and Patrick." 
 
 St. Laurence O'Toole was the last saint of our Church before 
 our island became a prey to every disorder, and well nigh bar- 
 barism, in consequence of the English invasion. In his life we 
 read of his having " built a new church in Dublin, to the honour 
 of God and of the blessed Virgin -Mother."! Another church was 
 dedicated by him in Wales to the same holy Virgin ; but the most 
 striking proof of his devotion to the Mother of God was evinced in 
 restoring to life a priest of the diocese, named Gallwed. The first 
 act of this priest on awakening from his slumber of death, was to 
 return thanks to God and the Blessed Virgin ; and he declared to 
 the bystanders, " I saw the Archbishop Laurence on bended knees 
 before God and the glorious Virgin Mary, His Mother, humbly en- 
 treating for my restoration to life."j 
 
 * Apologia presented by Bachiarius Macceus to pope Leo, about 460, 
 edited by Muratori, from a Bobbio MS. of the seventh century. Anec- 
 dota, torn. ii. Milan, 169S, pag. 18. Mineus, in Auctuario ad An. Eccl. 
 says he was a native of Ireland. Bale further informs us that he was 
 "Divi Patritii discipulus. " The intrinsic arguments which Muratori and 
 others refer to, are all in favour of his claims to Irish birth. We have 
 already referred to this writer at pag. 93, where the various names he 
 bore are explained in note. 
 
 t Ap. Messingham, pag. 382. 
 
 X Ap. Messingham, pag. 385. 
 
240 DEVOTION TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN. 
 
 ' Oh ! may this great St. Laurence, and all the other saints of 
 Erin, continue to pray unceasingly to God and the Immaculate 
 Queen in behalf of our poor island ; and may they obtain the grace 
 of conversion and spiritual life for those misguided individuals who 
 insult our Catholic people, and outrage the holy name of " the Son 
 of the Virgin " ! 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Additions to Page 94 and Page 166. 
 
 Additional testimony of St. Moclita regarding the Pope's authority. — 
 Further Illustration of the Eeal Presence from the Bangor Anti- 
 phonary. 
 
 At page 94 of the Essay on the Origin of the Irish Church, we 
 quoted some words of St. Mochta on the Pope's authority. In 
 the subsequent chapters of his work, St. Mochta declares that to 
 his holiness belonged "to judge what was heresy and what was 
 truth ;" and again, that he hesitated not to present his treatise to 
 the pontiff, since his office it was to build up the spiritual edifice 
 of faith ; " non moramur fldei nostras Regulam Beatitudini Tua3, 
 qui artifex es ipsius sedificii demonstrare."* 
 
 Addition regarding the Eucharist to the Hymn "Sancti 
 Venue, "t 
 
 In the other anthems of the Bangor Antiplwnary, the same 
 doctrine of the real presence of our blessed Redeemer in the holy 
 Eucharist is expressly laid down ; thus, in the communion anti- 
 phon we read : 
 
 "Corpus Domini accepimus et " We have received the body of 
 
 sanguine ej us potati sunius, ab omni the Lord, and we have drunk his 
 
 malo non timebimus, quia Dominus blood : we will fear no evil, for the 
 
 nobiscum est." Lord is with us." 
 
 * In Muratori's text, instead of cedijicu is printed artificil The present 
 correction, and several others in the text of the fourth appendix, are taken 
 from the original manuscript. t Page 16G. 
 
242 IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 Again, we find the sweet versicle : 
 
 " Hoc sacrum corpus Domini et " Receive this sacred body of 
 
 Salvatoris sanguinem sumite in the Lord, and the blood of the 
 vitam seternam, Alleluja." Redeemer, unto eternal life, Alle- 
 
 luja." 
 
 And immediately afterwards is added : 
 
 "Refecti Christi corpore et san- "Nourished with the body and 
 
 guine tibi semper Domine dicamus, blood of Christ, may we ever cry 
 Alleluja." out to thee, Lord, Alleluja." 
 
 APPENDIX No. II. 
 
 IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 Translation and conjectures as to the sense of this tract. — The Pater 
 Noster according to the ancient liturgy. — The Gloria in Excelsis. — 
 The Apostles' Creed from St. Columbanus's Missal and the Anti- 
 phonary of Bangor. — The hymn Benedicite. 
 
 We give this curious tract in its original form, as published by 
 Spelman, from a very ancient manuscript, corrected in some parts 
 by Usher and others. However, the text is in many places mani- 
 festly inaccurate, and quite unintelligible. It seems to have been 
 written by an Irish monk in some monastery of France; and 
 whilst it traces the origin of the various liturgies, generally limits 
 its view to the use of these liturgies in the French Church. It 
 first assigns the origin of the Roman liturgy as used in France ; 
 then speaks of the Gallic liturgy (Cursus Gallorum), the Irish 
 liturgy (Cursus Scottorum), on which it dwells at considerable 
 length ; the oriental liturgy, the liturgy of St. Ambrose, and, in 
 fine, the liturgy of St. Benedict, approved by St. Gregory for the 
 Benedictine Order. Spelman refers the tract to about the year 
 680:* 
 
 The translation is, in some passages, little more than conjectural, 
 as the text, in its present form, not making any sense, obliged us to 
 adopt the meaning which seemed to be required by the context. 
 
IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 243 
 
 CANTUUM ET CURSUUM ECCLESI- 
 ASTICORUM ORIGO. 
 
 1. Si sedulo inspiciamus cursus 
 auctores iu exordio reperimus de- 
 cantatum fuisse, non sicut aliqui 
 imperiti fuisse, vel varia objectione 
 pertulerunt, adhuc multi conautur 
 fore.* 
 
 2. Beatus Tronmus episcopus 
 Arelatensis, et Sanctus Photirms, 
 martyr et episcopus Lugdunensis, 
 discipulus S. Petri, Apostoli, sicut 
 et refert Josephus et Eusebius 
 Cresariensis episcopus, cursum E,o- 
 manum in Galliis tradiderunt. 
 
 Inde postea relatione beati Pho- 
 tini, martyris, cum quadraginta et 
 octo martyribus retrusi in ergastu- 
 lum, ad beatum Clementem quarto 
 loco successorem beati Petri Apos- 
 toli deportaverunt : et beatum 
 Irenasum episcopum, beatus Cle- 
 mens ordinavit. Hoc in libro 
 sancti ipsius Irensei, episcopi et 
 martyris reperies, edocti a beato 
 Polycarpo Smyrnseorum episcopo 
 et martyre, qui fuit discipulus 
 Joannis Apostoli, sicut refert his- 
 toriograpbus Josephus et Irenasus 
 episcopus in libro suo. 
 . ,3. Johannes Evangelista primum 
 cursum Gallorum decantavit. Inde 
 postea beatus Polycarpus, discipu- 
 lus Sancti Joannis ; inde postea Ire- 
 meus qui fuit episcopus Lugdunen- 
 sis in Galliis. Tertius ipse, istum 
 cursum decantavit in Galliis. 
 
 4. Inde et modnlationibus, series 
 Scripturarum novi ac Veteris Tes- 
 tamenti, diversorum prudentium 
 virorum paginis non de propriis sed 
 de sacris Scripturis receperunt anti- 
 phonas et responsoria, seu sonus et 
 alleluias composuerunt, et per 
 universum orbem terrarum, ordo 
 cursus est. Non sicut multi opi- 
 
 ON THE ORIGIN OF THE SACRED 
 CHANT AND LITURGY. 
 
 1. If we diligently inquire into 
 the authors of the liturgy, we shall 
 find its origin far different from 
 what many unlearned persons have 
 asserted, and still continue to 
 object to us in a manifold manner. 
 
 2. Blessed Trophimus, bishop of 
 Aries, and Saint Photinus, martja', 
 bishop of Lyons and disciple of 
 Saint Peter the Apostle, as Jose- 
 phus (?) and Eusebius of Csesarea 
 relate, brought the Roman liturgy 
 to Gaul. 
 
 Subsequently, blessed Clement, 
 the fourth successor of St. Peter, 
 was again referred to by desire of 
 Photinus, when, with forty- eight 
 martyrs, he was thrown into 
 prison : and blessed Clement con- 
 secrated the blessed Irenaaus bishop 
 of that see. This we find recorded 
 in the book of the same blessed 
 Irenaeus, bishop and martyr, "who 
 was instructed by blessed Polycarp, 
 bishop of Smyrna and martyr, and 
 disciple of the Apostle John, as 
 the historian Josephus (?) and 
 Irenaeus the bishop relate. 
 
 3. St. John the Evangelist was 
 the first who chanted the Gallican 
 liturgy ; then St. Polycarp, dis- 
 ciple of St. John ; then Irenaeus, 
 who was bishop of Lyons, in Gaul. 
 He was the third who chanted 
 that liturgy in Gaul. 
 
 4. Then, with various modifica- 
 tions, extracts from the sacred 
 Scripture of the Old and New 
 Testaments were introduced, and 
 antiphons, and responsories, and 
 allelujas, which were drawn up 
 by holy men, and composed not 
 according to their own fancy, 
 but in the words of the sacred 
 
 * Perhaps fari. 
 
244 
 
 tRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 nantur ut Gallicanus quidam cleri- 
 cus Britto modulatione deditus 
 quod ipsum edidisset, quod non 
 facit, quod beatus Hieronyinus 
 presbyter, Germauus et Lupus, 
 episcopi, Pelagianam hasresim vel 
 Gallianam (qua? nomine ipsius titu- 
 latur) ex Britanniis et Scotiis pro- 
 vinciis expulerunt, unde alium 
 cursum qui dicitur prassente tem- 
 pore Scottorum, que sa opmione 
 
 jactatur. 
 
 Sed beatus Marcus Evangelista, 
 sicut refert Josepbus et Eusebius 
 in quarto libro totam iEgyptum 
 vel Italiam taliter prsedicaverunt, 
 sicut unam ecclesiam, ut omnes 
 Sanctus vel Gloria in excelsis Deo, vel 
 Oratione Dominica, et Amen, universi 
 tarn viri quam ferninae decanta- 
 rent. Tanta fuit sua praxlicatio 
 unita, et postea evaugelium ex ore 
 Petri Apostoli edidit. 
 
 Beatus Hieronymus affirmat, 
 ipsum cursum qui dicitur praesente 
 tempore Scottorum, beatus Marcus 
 decantavit, et post ipsum Gregorius 
 Nanzanzenus, quern Hieronymus 
 suum magistrum esse affirmat. Et 
 beatus Basilius frater ipsius Sancti 
 Gregorii, Antonius, Paulas, Ma- 
 charius, vel Joannes, et Malchus 
 secundum ordinem Patrum decan- 
 taverunt. 
 
 Inde postea beatissimus Cassi- 
 anus, qui in Lerinense monaste- 
 rio beatum Honoratum babuit 
 comparem. Et post ipsum beatus 
 Honoratus primus Abbas, et 
 Sanctus Cajsarius episcopus qui fuit 
 in Arelata et beatus Porcarius 
 
 Scripture ; and sucb is now tbis 
 liturgy tbrougbout tbe wbole 
 world. It was not, as many 
 imagine, some Gallican cleric or 
 Briton wbo was fond of chant 
 tbat thus transformed it ; this 
 cannot be true, for the liturgy was 
 thus used by blessed Jerome the 
 priest, and by Germanus and 
 Lupus, bishops who expelled the 
 Gallican heresy, or (as it was called 
 from its author) Pelagiauism, from 
 Britain and Ireland. Thus had its 
 origin the liturgy, now called the 
 Irish liturgy, Cursus Scottorum, 
 which is impugned with much 
 acrimony. 
 
 But blessed Mark the Evangelist, 
 as Josephus and Eusebius in the 
 fourth book tell us, preached 
 throughout all Egypt and Italy, 
 that as all were members of one 
 Church, so all the faithful, both 
 male and female, should join in 
 chanting the Sanctus and the Gloria 
 in excelsis, and the Lord's Prayer, 
 and Amen. This formed part of 
 all his preaching, and afterwards 
 he wrote the Gospel from the lips 
 of the Apostle Peter. 
 
 Blessed Jerome writes that the 
 liturgy which is now called the 
 Irish liturgy, was that chanted by 
 Saint Mark, and used subsequently 
 by Gregory Nazianzen, whom 
 Jerome styles his master. Also, 
 blessed Basil, brother of the same 
 St. Gregory, with Anthony, Paul, 
 Macarius or John, and Malchus, 
 used it according to the rule of 
 the fathers. 
 
 Subsequently, too, the most 
 blessed Cassian, who had the bles- 
 sed Honoratus as his associate in 
 the monastery of Lerins ; and after 
 him the first abbot, who was 
 blessed Honoratus, and St. Cesa- 
 rius, who was bishop of Aries, and 
 
fT^T IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 245 
 
 (Eucherius ?) abbas qui in ipso 
 monasterio fait, ipsum cursum de- 
 cantaverunt, qui beatum Lupum 
 et beatiun Germanum monachos in 
 eorum monasterio habuerunt. Et 
 ipsi sub norma regular ipsum cursum 
 ibidem decantavenmt et postea 
 in episcopatus cathedra summum 
 honorem pro : * reverentia sanctitatis 
 eorum sunt adepti. 
 
 ? Et postea in BritaniisVel Scottiis" 
 prsedicaverunt, quod vita Germani 
 episcopi 'Antisiodorensis et vita 
 beati Lupi adfirmat qui beatum 
 Patriciumspiritaliter litteras sacras 
 docuerunt atque enutrierunt et ip- 
 sum Episcopum (perhaps ipsi Epis- 
 copi) per eorum prajdicationem 
 Archiepiscopum in Scottiis et Brit- 
 anniis posuerunt, qui vixit annos 
 centum quinquaginta tres et ipsum 
 cursum ibidem decantavit. 
 
 Et post ipsum beatus Wandilo- 
 chus senex et beatus Comgallus qui 
 habuerunt in eorum monasterio 
 monachos circiter tria millia. 
 
 Inde beatus Wandilochus iu praj- 
 dicatiouis ministerium ab Abbate 
 Comgallo missus, et beatus Coluni- 
 banus partibus Galliarum destinati 
 sunt Luxogiluni monasterium et 
 ibidem ipsum cursum decautave- 
 runt. Et inde postea percrebuit 
 fama sanctitatis eorum per univer- 
 sum orbem terrarum, et multa cce- 
 nobia ex eorum doctrina tarn viro- 
 rum quam puellarum cougregata 
 sunt. 
 
 Et postea inde sumpsit exordium 
 sub beato Columbano, quod ante 
 beatus Marcus Evangelista decan- 
 tavit, et si nos non creditis inquirite 
 in vita beati Columbani et beati 
 Eustasii abbatis, plenius invenietis, 
 
 the blessed Eucherius, who was 
 abbot in the same monastery, con- 
 tinued to use this liturgy, and they 
 had as monks in their monastery 
 the blessed Lupus and Germanus. 
 These, too, under the guidance of 
 their rule, chanted there the same 
 liturgy, and subsequently, in the 
 episcopal dignity, were regarded 
 with the greatest respect, through 
 reverence for their sanctity. 
 
 Afterwards they preached in 
 Britain or Ireland, as is commemo- 
 rated in the lives of blessed Ger- 
 manus, bishop of Auxerre, and of 
 Lupus : these were the spiritual 
 masters of blessed Patrick in sacred 
 literature; and the same bishops, 
 by their commendation, had him 
 appointed archbishop of the Irish 
 and Britons : he lived cliii. (probably 
 a mistake for cxxii.) years, and 
 chanted there the same liturgy. 
 
 And after him the aged and blessed 
 Dichuill and blessed Comgall used 
 it, who had in their monastery 
 about three thousand monk?. 
 
 Then the blessed Dichnill* and 
 Columbanus sent by abbot Com- 
 gall to Gaul, built the monastery 
 of Luxeu. and chanted there the 
 same liturgy. The fame of their 
 sanctity spread far and wide 
 throughout the whole world, and 
 many convents for men, and many, 
 too, for virgins, were formed ac- 
 cording to their rule. 
 
 Thus was restored, under blessed 
 Columbanus, that liturgy which, at 
 first, was chanted by the blessed 
 Mark the Evangelist ; and should 
 you not believe my statement, you 
 will rind it registered in the lives 
 
 * We have adopted the translation Deicolus or Dichnill, as this is the 
 only name amongst the companions of Columbanus, as given by Jonas 
 and others, that at all approaches the Wandilochus of the text. 
 
246 
 
 IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 et dicta, beati Attheleti abbatis, 
 Ebovensis. 
 
 Est alius cursus orientalis a 
 sancto Cromacio et Eliocloro, et 
 beato Paulino sed et Atlianasio 
 episcopo editus, qui in Gallorum 
 consuetudine non habetur, quern 
 sanctus Macbarius decantavit, hoc 
 est, per duodenas, hoc est, unaqua- 
 que bora. 
 
 Est et alius cursus quern 
 refert beatus Augustinus Episcopus 
 quod beatus Ambrosius propter 
 hsereticoruru ordinem dissimilem 
 composuit qui in Italia antea de- 
 cantabatur. 
 
 Est et alius cursus beati Bene- 
 dict^ qui ipsum singidariter pauco 
 discordante a cursu Roniano, quern 
 in sua regula reperis scriptuni : 
 sed tamen beatus Gregorius urbis 
 Romse Pontifex quasi privilegium 
 monachis ipsum sua auctoritate in 
 vita S. Benedicti in libro Dialogo- 
 rum adfirmavit, ubi dixit: " non 
 aliter sanctus vir docere, nisi sicut ipse 
 beatus Benedictus vixiV 
 
 of blessed Columbanus and blessed 
 Eustatius, and in the Dicta of 
 blessed Attala, abbot of Bobbio. 
 
 There is another oriental liturgy 
 composed by St. Cromacius, and 
 Eliodorus, and blessed Paulinus, 
 and also Athanasius, the bishop ; 
 it is not in use in the French 
 churches, but it was chanted by 
 St. Macarius : it has twelve parts^ 
 one for each hour. 
 
 There is also another liturgy, 
 commemorated by St. Augustine, 
 which was composed by St. Ambrose 
 on account of the conflicting order 
 of the heretics ; it was formerly 
 chanted in Italy. 
 
 There is, moreover, the liturgy 
 of St. Benedict, who drew it up, 
 differing but little from the Roman 
 liturgy, and you will find it inserted 
 in his rule : however the blessed 
 Gregory, bishop of the city of 
 Rome, approved of it as a special 
 privilege for the monks, in his 
 Life of St. Benedict, in the ' Book 
 of Dialogues,' where he says, "the 
 holy man could not have thus 
 taught, unless he himself had thus 
 lived."* 
 
 From this tract it would appear that the faithful were accustomed 
 to recite aloud, during the holy Sacrifice, the Gloria in excelsis, and 
 other prayers. We shall present a few of these every-day devo- 
 tional anthems, that the reader may form an idea of the peculiari- 
 ties which characterized, in some churches at least, the Irish liturgy. 
 
 The Pater Noster. 
 
 The Our Father as recited in the liturgy was identical with that 
 which is used at the present day. It is thus given in the Leabhar 
 
 * It is deserving of remark, that this ancient tract speaks of Saint 
 Patrick as if he were archbishop) of Ireland and Britain. The same 
 title is given to our apostle in his life by Probus ; and the archbishop of 
 Armagh, Torbach, in the synod of 807, was styled in like manner, 
 archbishop of the Irish and English. — (See above, p. 180.) 
 
IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 247 
 
 Breac, in alternate Latin and Irish, which we add as translated by 
 O'Donovan : — 
 
 "Sic ergo orabitis. Thus then ye shall make prayer. Paler noster qui 
 es in coelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Father, who art in the heaveus, 
 sanctified be thy name. Adveniat regnum tuum. May thy kingdom come. 
 Fiat voluntas lua sicut in coelo et in terra. May thy will be in earth as 
 it is in heaven. Panem nostrum cotidianum da nobis Jiodie. Give us this day 
 our day's sufficiency. Et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimitt'nnus de- 
 bitoribus nostris. And forgive to us our debts as we forgive to our debtors. 
 Et ne nos inducas in tempt ationem. And let us not into intolerable tempta- 
 tion. Sed libera nos a malo. But free us from every evil. Amen. May 
 it be true."* 
 
 The Book of Dimma, in Trinity College Dublin, written in the 
 beginning of the seventh century, gives the Pater Noster with the 
 sole peculiarity et ne patiaris nos induct in temptationem. 
 
 The evangelistarium of St. Moling, which was written towards 
 the close of the same century, has some further particular phrases : 
 " Panem nostrum supersubstantialem da nobis hodie ; et remitte nobis 
 debita nostra sicut et nos remittimus debitoribus nostris et ne patiaris 
 nos induct in temptationem" etc.f 
 
 Gloria in Excelsis. 
 
 This hymn, as used in the liturgy, agreed in every respect with 
 that of the Roman liturgy : as chauted, however, by the faithful, it 
 assumed some peculiar formulas. It is thus given in the Roman 
 MS. of the Liber Hymnorum.J 
 
 "Gloria in excelsis Deo et in terra pax hominibus borne voluntatis. 
 Laudamus te, benedicimus te, adoramus te, glorificamus te, magnificamus 
 te. Gratias agimus tibi propter magnam misericordiam tuam. Domine 
 Rex ccelestis Deus pater omnipotens. Domine fili unigenite Jesu Christe, 
 sancte Spiritus Deus et omnes dicimus, Amen. Domine fili Dei Patris, 
 agne Dei qui tollis peccata mundi miserere nobis. Suscipe orationem 
 nostram qui sedes ad dexteram Dei Patris, miserere nobis, Domine. 
 Quoniam tu solus sanctus, tu solus Dominus, tu solus gloriosus, cum 
 Spiritu sancto in gloria Dei Patris. Amen." 
 
 * Leabhar Breac, fol. 124. 
 
 f See facsimiles in Curry's Lectures, page 651, seqq. X FoL 12. 
 
248 irish tract on the various liturgies. 
 
 The Apostles' Creed. 
 
 At the end of St. Columbanus's Missal, there is a short but 
 curious tract on the Creed, which assigns to each apostle the 
 portion composed by him in their common symbol of faith : — 
 
 "Petrus dixit: Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem. Johannes 
 dixit : Credo in Jesum Christum filiuui ejus unicum, Deum et Dominum 
 nostrum. Jacobus dixit : Natum de Maria virgine per Spiritum sanctum. 
 Andreas dixit : Passum sub Poutio Pilato, crucifixum et sepultum. 
 Philippus dixit : Descendit ad inferna. Thomas dixit ; Tertia die 
 resurrexit. Bartholomagus dixit : Ascendit in coelos, sedet ad dextram 
 Dei Patris omnipotentis. Matthteus dixit : Inde venturus judicare vivos 
 et mortuos. Jacobus Alphsei dixit : Credo in Spiritum sanctum. Simon 
 Zelotes dixit : Credo in Ecclesiam sanctam. Judas Jacobi dixit : Per 
 Baptismum sanctum remissionem peccatorum. Matthias dixit : Carnis 
 resurrectionem in vitam asternam. Amen. " 
 
 The Antiphonary of Bangor gives also the symbol, in a some- 
 what peculiar form : — 
 
 ' ' Credo in Deum Patrem omnipotentem invisibilem, omnium creatu- 
 rarum visibilium et invisibilium couditorem. 
 
 " Credo et in Jesum Christum, filium ejus unicum Dominum nostrum, 
 Deum omnipotentem, conceptum de Spiritu sancto, natum de Maria 
 virgine, passum sub Pontio Pilato : qui crucifixus et sepultus descendit 
 ad inferos, tertia die resurrexit a mortuis, ascendit in coelos, seditque ad 
 dextram Dei Patris omnipotentis, exinde venturus judicare vivos ac 
 mortuos. 
 
 " Credo et in Spiritum sanctum Deum omnipotentem, unamhabentem 
 substantiam cum Patre et Filio. Sanctam esse Ecclesiam Catholicam : 
 abremissionem peccatorum, sanctorum communionem, carnis resurrec- 
 tionem. Credo vitam post mortem et vitam aeternam in gloria Christi. 
 Hsec omnia credo in Deum. Amen." 
 
 Hymnus Trium Puerorum. 
 
 This hymn seems to have been chanted after the manner of a 
 litany in the early Church, the second hemistich of the first verse 
 forming the response throughout the whole hymn. We give it 
 from the Liber Hymnorum, fol. ii. a. : — 
 
 "Benedicite omnia opera Domini Domino, hymnum dicite et super- 
 exaltate eum in saacula. 
 
IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 249 
 
 Benedicite coeli Domini Domiuum, — hymnum dicite et superexaltate 
 eum in specula. 
 
 Benedicite aquae Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite aquae omnes super ccelos Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite omnes potentiae Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite sol et luna Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite stellae coeli Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite imber et ros Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite omnes spiritus Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite ignis et calor Domini Dominum, — hymuum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite noctes et dies Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite tenebras et lumen Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite frigus et asstus Domiui Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite pruina et nives Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite fulgura et nubes Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicat terra Domini Dominum, — hymnum dicat' et superexaltet 
 eum in ssecula. 
 
 Benedicite montes et colles Domini Dominum, — hymnum dicite et 
 superexaltate eum in sascula. 
 
 Benedicite omnia animantia terraa Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite maria et flumina Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite fontes aquarnm Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite beluae et omnia quae morantur in aquis Domini Dominum, — 
 hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite omnes volucres cceli Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite bestiae et viventia Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite Israhelitaa Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite filii hominum Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite sacerdotes Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite servi Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 
 Benedicite spiritus et animae justorum Domini Dominum, — hymnum, 
 etc. 
 
 Benedicite sancti et humiles corde Domini Dominum, — hymnum, etc. 
 Benedicite Ananias, Azarias, et Misael Domini Dominum,— hymnum, 
 etc. 
 
 Benedicamus Patrem et Filium et Spiritual Sanctum Dominum, hym- 
 num dicamus et superexaltemus eum in saecula." 
 
250 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 APPENDIX No. III. 
 
 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 A. — The Penitential of St. Cummian. 
 
 Penitential of St. Cummian. — Opinions of Dr. Lanigan, Theiner, Wasser- 
 sckleben, as to the author, refuted. — St. Cummian Fota, who died 
 about the year 662, is the author. — Great influence of his Penitential. 
 St. Theodore of Canterbury borrows many canons from it. — Extracts 
 from it. 
 
 St. Cummian' s Penitential is preserved in two MSS. of St. Gall,* - 
 of the ninth century ; also in a Darmstadt Codex,t of the same 
 century ; and in a Vienna manuscript]: of the tenth century. 
 
 Its first printed edition was that of 1621. It was subsequently 
 inserted by Fleming in Collectanea Sacra, printed at Lonvain in 
 1667, and passed thence to the Bibliotheca Max. Patrum (vol. 
 xii., p. 41, seqq.). A portion of it, too, was published amongst the 
 spurious works of St. Jerome, in the edition of Martianay (vol. 1). 
 Its last and best edition is that of the learned professor of Halle, 
 Dr. Wasserschleben, who inserted it in his Bussordnungen der 
 Abendlandischer Kirche.§ 
 
 As there were many saintly ornaments of our Irish Church 
 known by the name Cummianus, it has long been a matter of con- 
 troversy to which of them the present work should be referred. 
 
 Dr. Lanigan judged it to have been written, most probably, by 
 St. Cummian, author of the Paschal Epistle.|| Mone deemed it to 
 belong to a still earlier period, and considered it to be the work of 
 St. Columbkille, founder of Hy, whilst the name of Cummian re- 
 mained attached to it from some additions made to the Penitential 
 in later times by the biographer of St. Columbkille, who was also 
 his successor in the government of Hy.^f Theiner refers the whole 
 Penitential to the holy abbot of Iona, whose death, however, he 
 
 * Nos. 550 and 675. t No. 91. \ Codex Theolog. No. 651. 
 § Halle, 1851, pp. 460, 493. || Ec. Hist. vol. hi. p. 401. 
 
 Tf See Mone's " Quellen undForschungen," etc. p. 494. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 251 
 
 erroneously assigns to 661. The Annals of the Four Masters, 
 Tighernach, and the Annals of Ulster fix his death on 25th Feb- 
 ruary, 669."* 
 
 Wasserschleben, in the work above referred to, embraced a quite 
 different opinion. He remarked that it was principally preserved 
 in the manuscripts that once belonged to the monastery of Bobbio ; 
 and that it was well known to the French and Italian compilers of 
 the ninth and tenth centuries. He hence concluded that its author 
 might probably be a Gummian who, during the reign of Luitprand,f 
 acquired great fame for his sanctity and penitential life in Bobbio. 
 As this holy man is but little known in his native island, we give 
 the following extract from the ancient Bobbio chronicle, preserved 
 to us by Ughelli in his Italia Sacra :| 
 
 " Sanctus Cumianus Episcopus in Scotia 75^ annum jam agens, Dei 
 amore ignitus ad fines Italicos deveuit, locatus in monasterio Bobbio, id est 
 S. Columbani. In quo quidem monasterio sub doginate id est constitu- 
 tionibus S. Columbani, annis xx. et plus strenue ministravit : fuit enim 
 mitis, prudens, phis fratribus, atque pacificus ; moritur ibi aetatis suae annis 
 completis 95 mensibusque quatuor, temporibus Luitprandi Regis Longo- 
 bardorum qui fabricari fecit in honorem ipsius notabile monumentum in- 
 scriptos hos versus continens. 
 
 " Hie sacra beati membra Cumiani solvuntur— cujus cceluni penetrans 
 anima cum angelis gaudet — iste fuit magnus dignitate, genere, forma. — 
 Hunc misit Scotia fines ad Italicos senem. — Locatus Ebobio, Domini con- 
 strictus amore — ubi venerandi dogma Columbani servando — vigilans, 
 jejunans indefessus sedulo orans — olympiades quatuor, uniusque curriculo 
 anni — sic vixit feliciter, ut felix modo credatur — mitis, prudens, pius, 
 fratribus pacificus cunctis. — Huic astatis anni fuerunt nonies deni — 
 lustrum quoque unum, menses quatuor simul. — At Pater egregie, potens 
 intercessor existe — pro gloriosissimo Luitprando rege, qui suum — pr^etioso 
 lapide tymbum decora vit devotus. — Sit manif estum aim um ubi tegitur 
 corpus — opus, est hie domnus Cumiauus Episcopus — xiv. kal. Septemb. 
 fecit Joannes." 
 
 The Penitential itself presents but one characteristic of the age 
 to which it belongs, viz. : the warm condemnation of the quarto- 
 deciman celebration of Easter, which is introduced in the eleventh 
 chapter in the 21st and 31st canon. 
 
 * Theiner " Disquisitiones Criticse in Prcecipuas Canonum Collectiones, " 
 1836, p. 280. 
 f An. 711-744. £ Vol. iv. p. 956. 
 
252 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 The penitential treatises of the eighth, ninth, and tenth cen- 
 turies often cite the canons of St. Cummian ; but for the most part 
 with the simple title Judicium Cummeani. Some documents, how- 
 ever, are more explicit in their reference, and whilst giving to St. 
 Cummian the title of Archimandrite they sufficiently exclude the 
 holy monk of Bobbio. This title is added when citing the canons of 
 St. Cummian, in the Vatican MS. collection of canons, (No. 1339, 
 sa3C ^. mi ) ; also in the famous Collectio Canonum of St. Anselm of 
 Lucca (xi. 38), and again in the Madrid MS. Collectio Canonica 
 (A. 151.) 
 
 Of the various manuscripts which contain the Penitential itself, 
 there is only one that throws any light on the history of its 
 author. It is the St. Gall MS., (No. 675),* which describes St. 
 Cummeanus, " Abbas, in Scotia natus" 
 
 There is one MS., however, which gives a decisive testimony in 
 regard to the author of our Penitential. It is a collection of canons 
 preserved in the Vatican Archives, (No. 1349), and written to- 
 wards the close of the ninth or the beginning of the tenth century, f 
 Indeed, as Cardinal Mai remarks, the writing of this manuscript 
 is so barbarous, that it remained unnoticed by the various writers 
 on the Canonical Collections, although one of the most interest- 
 ing that the Vatican Archives present. It was probably made by 
 an Irishman, as it introduces into its text almost the whole of the 
 " Collectio Hibernensis Canonum," of which we shall speak just now, 
 and makes frequent references to Irish synods and the canons of 
 St. Patrick. It is at fol. 193, a.b., that a long extract is given 
 from the Penitential of St. Cummian, whilst it is expressly cited 
 as y inquisitio Acumiani Longii," thus fixing as its author St. 
 Cummian Fota (i.e., the Tall) of whom we have more than once 
 spoken in the preceding pages. — (Vide p. 174). 
 
 Indeed, the various facts connected with this Penitential all 
 agree with the history of this saint : for instance, the decrees 
 regarding the quartodecimans, since St. Cummian Fota lived at a 
 time when that controversy raged with special ardour. On the 
 
 * SiBc. xi. 38. 
 
 t Conf. Mai, Spicilegium Koinanum, torn. vi. p. 396, seq. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIAL^. 
 
 253 
 
 other baud, St. Cummian Fota was remarkable for his learning, and 
 being styled the ' Gregorius moralium' of our Irish Church, may 
 easily be supposed the author of some such penitential code. The 
 ancient list often referred to by Colgan and the martyrology of 
 Donegal, as " preserved in the old parchment-book" indicating the 
 chief Irish saints in parallel with the great saints of the continent, 
 whose prerogatives they seemed to share, is printed as follows from 
 a Burgundian MS. by Dr. Todd.* 
 
 ' ' Hi sunt sancti qui erant unius moris et vitse, ut dicunt 
 
 Johannes Baptista, 
 
 Petrus Apostolus, 
 
 Paulus Apostolus, 
 
 Andreas A p. 
 
 Jacobus Ap. 
 
 Joannes Ap. 
 
 Philip pus A p. 
 
 Bartholomeus Ap. 
 
 Thomas Ap. 
 
 Mattheus Ap. 
 
 Jacobus Ap. 
 
 Simon Ap. 
 
 Tatheus Ap. 
 
 Mathias Ap. 
 
 Maria, 
 
 Martinus, 
 
 Antonius Monachus, 
 
 Augustinus sapiens, 
 
 Ambrosius hymnodicus, 
 
 Job patiens, 
 
 Hierouimus sapiens, 
 
 Clemens Papa, 
 
 Gregorius Moralium, 
 
 Laurentius Diaconus, 
 
 Beda sapiens, 
 
 Hilarius Epus. et sapiens, 
 
 Cornelius Papa, 
 
 Silvester Papa, 
 
 Bonifacius P. 
 
 Pacomius Monachus, 
 
 Beuedictus caput Monachorura 
 
 Europse, 
 Augustinus Epus. Augalorum, 
 
 Episcopus Ibair. 
 
 Patricius. 
 
 Finnan Cluain-iraird. 
 
 Coluni-cille. 
 
 Finnian Magh-bile. 
 
 Ciaran Cluana. 
 
 Cainnech. 
 
 Brendanus senior. 
 
 Brendain Cluana-ferta 
 
 Coliun Tir-de-glass. 
 
 Comgall Bennchair. 
 
 Molaisi Dainih-insi. 
 
 Sinchellus, junior. 
 
 Kuadhan Lothra. 
 
 Brigita. 
 
 Caemhgin Glendaloch. 
 
 Feichin Fobhair. 
 
 Lonngaradh. 
 
 Mac Indecis. 
 
 Munna mac Tulcain. 
 
 Manchan Leith. 
 Ciaran Saighre. 
 
 Cummiui Fota. 
 Decoin TSTesan. 
 
 Buite mac Bronaigh. 
 
 Sechnall Episcopus. 
 
 Maedog Ferna. 
 
 Adamnan Episcopus. 
 
 Molaisi Lethglinne. 
 
 Caimin Inosi-cealtra- 
 
 Fintan Cluana eiduech, caput inoua- 
 chorum totius Hibernioe. 
 
 Bairre Episcopus Mumhain agus Con- 
 acht." 
 
 * Lib Hym p. 69. 
 
254 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 The scholiast on the Felire of Aengus, after commemorating the 
 Feast of St. Caiinin of Iniskeltra, on the 25th of March, gives the 
 following note, which preserves to us a somewhat similar charac- 
 teristic trait of our great saint : — 
 
 " Once upon a time that Guaire Aidhue, and Cumain Fota, and 
 Caimine of Inis-Cealtra, were in the church of Inis-Cealtra, in Loch 
 Deirgheire, namely, the great church that was built by Caimine there ; 
 they were then giving spiritual counsel to Guaire. ' Well, O'Guaire,' said 
 Caimine, ' what wouldst thou wish to have this church, in which we are, 
 filled with ?' Guaire answered him, and said : ' I would wish to have 
 it full of gold and silver ; and not from covetousness of this world, but 
 that I might give it for my soul to saints and churches, and in like 
 manner to every one that would ask for it.' ' God will give thee help, 
 O'Guaire,' said Caimine, ' and will grant thee the expectation thou hast 
 formed for the good of thy soul ; and hereafter thou shalt possess heaven.' 
 ' We are thankful,' said Guaire. ' But thou, Cumain,' said Guaire, 
 * what wouldst thou wish to have in it ?' 'I would wish,' said Cumain, 
 ' to have it full of books to instruct studious men and to disseminate the 
 word of God into the ears of all, to bring them from following Satan, 
 unto the Lord.' ' But thou, Caimine,' said they, ' what wouldst thou 
 wish to have in it ?' Caimine answered them, and said : ' I would wish 
 to have the full of it of disease and sickness to be on my body, and myself 
 to be suffering my pain.' And so they obtained their wishes from 
 God, viz., the earth to Guaire, wisdom to Cumain Fota, and sickness and 
 disease to Caimaine, so that not one bone of him remained uuited to 
 the other on earth, but his flesh dissolved, and his nerves with the excess 
 of every disease that fell upon him. So that they all went to heaven, 
 according to the wishes which they expressed in the church."* 
 
 Little more is known for certain regarding St. Cummian Fota. 
 His death is registered by Tighernach, in the year 662, in the 
 seventy-second year of his age. His Church of Killcummin, 
 where he was interred, gave its name to a parish in the district of 
 Tirawley, county of Mayo, on the western side of the bay of 
 Killala.f 
 
 It is only within the last few years that writers on the early 
 mediaeval discipline of the Church have begun to appreciate the 
 influence exercised by the Penitential of St. Cummian in the for- 
 
 * This passage is given in Latin by Colgan, Acta SS. p 740 : and in the 
 original Irish with the above translation by Todd, Liber Hymn. p. 87- 
 
 t See for this church and the genealogy of our saint, the tribes and 
 customs of Hy-Fiachrach, edited by O'Donovan for IAS., p. 9, and 
 44 seq. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENT! ALS. 255 
 
 mation of the disciplinary code in England and western Europe. 
 No fewer than six Penitentials, drawn up before the tenth cen- 
 tury, are given by Wasserschleben, having for their groundwork 
 the canons of St. Cumniian. Thus the Codex Alveldensis of the 
 Escurial Library,* contains a Spanish Penitential, almost all 
 whose canons are taken from our saint ; so, too, the famous 
 " Rheims " Penitential. Another Penitential, known by the name 
 of the thirty-five chapters, written towards the close of the eighth 
 century,f cites our Penitential fourteen times as Judicium Canoni- 
 cum ; and on one occasion cites twenty-five of its canons under 
 the one title of Judicium Canonicum Cummeani. The Parisian 
 Penitential of the eighth century adopts nearly all St. Cummian's 
 decrees, merely adding some extracts from the French councils 
 and from St. Theodore. The Collectio Poenitentialis, published by 
 Martene, and drawn up about the year 730, inserts the greater 
 part of the Penitential ; and what is still more curious, the " Poeni- 
 tentiale" which bears the name of pope Gregory the Third, and 
 was composed in the ninth century,J takes many of its canons 
 ad litteram from St. Cummian. 
 
 St. Theodore of Canterbury has long been famed as the great 
 founder of the penitential code of the Western Church in the 
 eighth and succeeding centuries. His early connection with 
 Rome — his being sent directly by the Holy See to Canterbury — 
 the lustre of the Anglo-Saxon Church during the eighth century, 
 served to render his name illustrious on the continent. On the 
 contrary, the humble monk of Ireland was forgotten, and few 
 cared to call to mind that St. Cummian's work was the basis of 
 Theodore's Penitential, and that many of the decrees referred to 
 the great archbishop of Canterbury were adopted verbatim by 
 him from the Penitential of our Irish saint. Kunstmann, in his 
 Lateinischen Poenitentialbuchern der Angelsachsen (page 22), was 
 one of the first to assert that Cummian's work was "the chief 
 source of Theodore's Penitential." Theiner, in his dissertation 
 
 * Saec. x. t Wasserschleben, p. 36. 
 
 X lb. pp. 84, 85. 
 
256 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIAL*. 
 
 above referred to,* repeats the same statement, and styles the 
 Penitential of St. Cummian, " fundamentum Celebris Poenitentialis 
 Theodori." 
 
 The ancient Poenitentiale Theodori, published with great accu- 
 racy by the modern German editor, reveals to us its connection 
 with the work of St. Cummian. In the very outset it refers to a 
 " libellus Scottorum" as one of the chief sources from which its 
 enactments are derived ; and though the writer of that libellus is 
 not named, it is added that he was eulogised by Theodore as an 
 ecclesiasticus homo, a holy man imbued with the spirit of God.f 
 
 To one who has diligently examined the Penitentials of Theo- 
 dore and Cummian, there can be but little doubt as to the libellus 
 Scottorum to which the former refers ; for, many of its canons are 
 found to agree even verbally with those of St. Cummian. For 
 instance, the fifth chapter of Theodore, entitled, " De his qui per 
 hasresim decipiuntur," consists of fourteen canons, and all agree 
 ad verbum with those of St. Cummian, X which we shall just now 
 cite. It is still more clear in the seventh chapter, in which, after 
 a series of canons agreeing with St. Cummian , s, and as an intro- 
 duction to six other canons taken literally from our Irish saint, 
 the following remark is inserted : 
 
 " Ista testimonia sunt de eo quod in prmfatlone diximus libello Scotlorttm, 
 in quo ut in cseteris aliquando, inibi firmavit de pessimis, aliquando vero 
 lenius ut sibi videbatur, moclum imposuit pusillauimis."§ 
 
 Thus, then, to St. Cummian Fota|| was the Anglo-Saxon Church 
 indebted for the penitential code which rendered it illustrious on 
 
 * Page 279. 
 
 f Penit. Theod. ap. Wassersclileben, loc. cit. p. 183. 
 
 % Chap. xi. 19. seqq. 
 
 § Ibid. p. 191. Were any further evidence required, we would fiud it 
 in the annotation of the ancient collector of St. Theodore's decrees, who, 
 after two of the canons agreeing literally with St. Cummian 1 s, added the 
 remark that they were not " cousonant to the teaching of Theodore." — 
 See cap. v. canons 2 and 6. 
 
 || St. Cummian Fota flourished about thirty years earlier than Theo- 
 dore. In some MSS. of the Penitential of St. Cummian, the name of 
 Theodore is prefixed to the decrees in which both Penitentials agree ; but 
 as Dr. Wasserschleben remarks, and the titles themselves clearly prove, 
 these are merely additions made by a modern and inexpert scribe. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 257 
 
 the continent, and in the monasteries of Ireland were first drawn 
 up those disciplinary canons which, in a short time, were adopted 
 throughout the greater part of Western Europe.* 
 
 We now give a few extracts from St. Cummian's great work, 
 that the reader may the better appreciate its interest and im- 
 portance. 
 
 Its proemium is cited in the Vatican MS.,f the text of which, 
 now published for the first time, will be found to correct in many 
 places manifest errors of Wasserschleben's text : 
 
 " Diversitas culparum diversitatem facit poeuitentiariim : nam et cor- 
 porum medici diversa medicanaenta componunt diversis morbonim 
 generibus. Aliter enim vulnera, aliter rnorbum, aliter tumores, aliter 
 putredines, aliter caligines, aliter confractiones, aliter combustiones 
 curant. Ita igitur et spiritales medici diversis curationum generibus, 
 animarum vulnera, morbum, culpas, dolores, segritudines, iniirmitates 
 sanare debent. Sed quia hsec paucorum sunt, ad purum scilicet cuncta 
 cognoscere et curare atque ad integrum salutis statum debeant revocare, 
 ideoque vel pauca juxta senior am traditiones et juxta nostram ex parte 
 intelligentiam (ex parte namque prophetamus et ex parte cognoscimus) 
 aliqua proponamus, quae ad remedium animas pertinent. Et de remediis 
 vulnerum secundum priorum Patrum definitiones dicturi, sacri tibi 
 eloquii, fidelissime frater, antea medicamina compendii ratione intimemus. 
 
 " 1. Itaque est remissio qua baptizamur in aqua, secundum illud : nisi quis 
 renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest videre regnum Dei. 
 2. Caritatis affectus, ut est illud : Remittuntur ei peccata multa, quia 
 dilexit multum. 3. Eleemosynarum fructus, secundum hoc : sicut aqua 
 extinguit ignem, ita eleemosyna extinguit peccatum. 4. Perfusio lachry- 
 marum, Domino dicente : quia nevit in conspectu meo et ambulavit 
 tristis coram me non inducam mala in diebus ejus. 5. Criminum con- 
 fessio, psalmista teste : dixi confitebor adversum me injustitias meas 
 Domino et tu remisisti impietatem peccati mei. 6. Afflictio cordis et 
 corporis, apostolo consolante et dicente : dedi hujuscemodi hominem in 
 interitum carnis satanae ut spiritus salvus fiat in die Domini nostri Jesu 
 Christi. 7- Emendatio morum, hoc est abrenunciatio vitiorum dicente 
 Domino : ecce sauus factus es, noli ultra peccare, ne aliquid tibi deterius 
 fiat. 8. Intercessio Sanctorum, ut est illud : si quis infirmatur inducat 
 presbyteros ecclesiae ut orent pro eo : et multum valet apud Dominum 
 deprecatio justi assidua. 9. Misericordiae meritum, ut est illud : beati 
 misericordes quoniam ipsi misericordiam consequentur. 10. Conversio 
 et salus alienorum, Jacobo confirmante : qui converti fecerit peccatorem 
 
 * Dr. Wasserschleben remarks, at p. 63, that the Penitential of St. 
 Cummian is also " manifestly used in the penitentials of Ven. Bede and 
 Egbert." 
 
 f No. 1,349, sage. ix. 
 
258 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 ab errore viae suae, salvavit animam suam a morte et operuit multitu- 
 dinern peccatorum : sed melius est tibi, infirmum esse et vitam solitariam 
 ducere quam perire cum plurimis. 11. Indulgentia et remissio nostra, 
 veritate promittente et dicente : dimittite et dimittetur vobis. 12. 
 Passio martyrii, spe unica salutis indulgente et latroni crucifixo Domino 
 respondente : amen, dico tibi, quia hodie eris mecum in paradyso. 
 
 " His ergo de canonum auctoritate probatis, patrum etiam statuta 
 Domini ore subrogatorum, investigare te convenit, secundum illud % 
 interroga patrem tuum et adnunciabit tibi, seniores tuos et dicent tibi : 
 istse causse deferantur ad eos. Statuunt ergo ut octo principalia vitia 
 humanae saluti contraria his octo contrariis sanentur remediis. Vetus 
 namque ijroverbium est : contraria contrariis sanantur, qui enim illicita 
 licenter commisit, alicitis coercere se debet," etc. 
 
 The decrees regarding the use of animals are very curious : they 
 occur in the first chapter, can. 19, seqq.: — 
 
 "Si ceciderit sorix in liquorem, tollabur foras, ethoc potum aspergatur 
 aqua sanctificata et sumatur si vivens sit ; si autem mortua inventa fuerit, 
 omnis liquor projiciatur foras et muudetur vas. 
 
 "Animalia quae a lupis seu canibus lacerantur, non sunt comedenda 
 nisi forte ab hominibus adhuc viva prius occidantur sed porcis et canibus 
 dentur : nee cervus nee capra si mortui inventi f uerint. 
 
 "Aves vero et animalia caetera si in retibus strangulentur, non sunt 
 comedenda hominibus. . . . 
 
 "Pisces licet comedere quia alterius naturaa sunt. 
 
 " Equum non prohibemus, tamen consuetudo non est. 
 
 " Leporem licet comedere. 
 
 " Apes vero si occidant hominem, ipsae quoque occidi festinanter debent : 
 mel tamen manducetur. 
 
 " Si casu porci vel gallinse sanguinem hominis comedant, non abjiciendos 
 credimus sed manducandos. 
 
 "Sed qui cadavera mortuorum lacerantes manducaverint, carnem 
 eorum manducare non licet, usquedum macerentur et post anni cir- 
 culum." 
 
 The 23rd canon of the 2nd chapter illustrates the course of 
 penance inflicted for heinous crimes: — 
 
 " Presbyter aut diaconus fornicationem faciens, praelato ante monachi 
 voto, tres annos poeniteat, veniam omni hora roget, superpositionem faciat, 
 in unaquaque hebdomada exceptis quinquagesimis diebus post superposi- 
 tionem pane sine mensura utatur, et ferculo aliquatenus butiro im- 
 pinguato, hoc est quadrante, et die Dominica sic vivat. Cseteris vero 
 diebus paxmati panis mensura et misso parvo, impinguato horti oleribus, 
 ovis paucis, formatico, hemina lactis pro fragilitate corporali, tenucla vel 
 batuti lactis sextario pro sitis gratia et aquatili potu, si operarius est, 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 259 
 
 lectumque non muJtum foeno habeat instraturn. Per tres quadragesimas 
 anni addit aliquid prout virtus ejus adruiserit, semper ex intimo corde 
 defleat ciilpam suaru, obedientiainque prae omnibus libentissime exhibeat : 
 post annum et dimidium Eucharistiam svunat et ad pacem veniat, et 
 psaknos cum fratribus canat, ne penitns anima tanto tempore coelestis 
 medicinae jejuna intereat. 
 
 " Si inferiore gradu positns sit monachus tres qnidem annos poeniteat, 
 sed mensura non gravetur panis, si operarius est, sextarium de lacte 
 Romannm et aliam tenuelam et aqnam, quantum sufficit pro sitis ardore 
 sumat." 
 
 The fourth chapter regards the sin of robbery, aud some of its 
 enactments will illustrate the customs of our^ island at that early 
 period: — 
 
 " Si pecunia Ecclesiastica furata sive rapta fuerit reddatur quadruplum ; 
 popularia dupliciter. 
 
 " Si quis aliquid de ministerio sanctas Ecclesise furaverit aut neglexerit, 
 septem annos pceniteat, tres ex his in pane et aqua, et reddat integrum 
 quod abstulit 
 
 "Si laicus semel furtiim fecerit, reddat quod furavit et in tribus qua- 
 dragesimis cum pane et aqua pceniteat. Si saepius fecerit et non habet unde 
 reddat, annos duos in pane et aqua poeniteat et in alio anno tribus quadra - 
 gesimis, et sic postea in Pascha reconcilietur. 
 
 " Qui saepe furtum faciebat, septem annos poeniteat, vel ut sacerdos 
 judicat, juxta quod componi potest, quibus nocuit, et semper debet recon- 
 ciliari ei quern offendebat, et restituere juxta quod ei nocuit et multum 
 breviabit pcenitentiam ejus. Si vero noluerit aut non potest, constitutum 
 tempus poenitere debet per omnia 
 
 " Si laicus monachum furtim abduxerit, aut intret in monasterium Deo 
 servire, aut humanum subeat servitium. 
 
 " Si quis servum aut quemcumque hominem quolibet ingenio in captivi- 
 tatem duxerit aut transmiserit, tres annos in pane et aqua poeniteat. 
 
 " Si quis patrem aut matrem expulerit, impius vel sacrilegus judicandus 
 est et poeniteat gequali tempore, quamdiu in impietate extiterit. 
 
 " Qui praebeat ducatum barbaris si basilicas incenderint et si clericum 
 vel sanctimonialem bonos occiderint, et innocentes ab Ecclesia traxerint, 
 ductor quatuordecim annos pceniteat. 
 
 " Pecunia quae in ahena Provincia ab hoste rapta fuerit, i. e. rege alio 
 superato, tertia pars ad Ecclesiam tribuatur, vel pauperibus 
 
 "Si quis domum vel aream cujuscumque igne concremaverit, tres 
 annos pceniteat, unum ex his in pane et aqua." 
 
 In the eleventh chapter St. Cummian treats of pride and blas- 
 phemy and heresy : — 
 
 "Qui superbiae caeteros qualibet despectione arguit, primo satisfaciat 
 eis, deinde jejunet judicio sacerdotis. 
 
260 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIAL S. 
 
 " Contentiosus etiam alterius sententiaa se aubdat, sin autem anathe- 
 matizetur, et regno Domini sit alienus. 
 
 " Jactans in snis beneficiis se humiliet, alioqnin quidquid boni fecerit 
 
 huinanae glorias cansa perdet 
 
 " Qui aliquam no vitatem extra Scripturas vel haeresim praesumpserit, 
 alienetnr : si autem pceniteat, suam publice sententiam damnet et quos 
 decepit ad fidem convertat, et jejunet ad judicium sacerdotis .... 
 
 " Si quis laicus per ignorantiam cum haereticis communicaverit stet inter 
 catechumenos, i.e., separatus ab Ecclesia quadraginta dies et alios xl 
 in extremis poeniteat et sic culpam suam diluat. Si vero postquam illi 
 sacerdos praedicaverit ut cum kaeretico non communicaret, et iterum 
 fecerit, uno anno poeniteat, et tribus quadragesimis ; et tres annos absti- 
 neat se a vino et carne 
 
 "Si quis a Catliolica Ecclesia ad haeresim transient et postea reversus? 
 non potest ordinari nisi post longam abstinentiam aut pro magua neces- 
 sitate. Hunc Innocentius Papa nee post pcenitentiam clericum fieri 
 canonum auctoritate adserit perrnifrci. 
 
 " Si quis contempserit Nicaenum concilium et fecerit Paseha cum 
 Judaeis xiv. luna, exterminabitur ab omni Ecclesia nisi poenitentiam egerit 
 ante mortem. 
 
 ' ' Si quis autem oraverit cum illo quasi cum clerico Catholico, septima- 
 nam poeniteat, si vero neglexerit xl. dies poeniteat prima vice. 
 
 " Si quis hortari voluerit kaaresim eorum et non egerit poeuitentiam, 
 similiter et ille exterminabitur Domino dicente : qui mecuni non est contra 
 me est. 
 
 " Si quis baptizatur ab hasretico qui recte Trinitatem non crediderit 
 iterum baptizetur. 
 
 "Si quis dederit aut acceperit communionem de mauu hasretici et 
 nescit, quod Catholicae Ecclesias contradicat, posfcea intelligens annum 
 integrum pceniteat. Si autem scit et neglexerit et postea pcenitentiam 
 egerit, decern annos poeniteat : alii judicant septem (annos) ; ethumanius 
 quinque annos poeniteat. 
 
 "Si quis permiserit hasreticum missam suam celebrare in Ecclesia 
 Catliolica et nescit quadraginta diebus pceniteat ; si pro reverentia ejus 
 anno integro pceniteat ; 
 
 " Si pro damnatione Ecclesiae Catholicaj et consuetudinis Pomanorum, 
 projiciatur ab Ecclesia sicut hsereticus, nisi habeat poenitentiam, si 
 habuerit decern annos pceniteat. 
 
 ' ' Si recesserit ab Ecclesia Catbolica in congregationem haereticorum 
 et alios persuaserit, et postea poenitentiam egerit, xii. aunos pceniteat, 
 quatuor extra Ecclesiam, et sex inter auditores et duos adhuc extra com- 
 munionem. De his in canone dicitur : decimo anno communionem sive 
 oblationem recipiant. 
 
 " Si Episcopus aut Abbas jusserit monacho suo pro haereticis mortuis 
 missam cantare, non licet et non expedit obedire ei. 
 
 "Si Presbytero contigerit ut missam cantaverit et alius recitaverit 
 nomina mortuorum et simul nominaverit haareticos cum Catholicis ; ubi 
 post missam intellexerit, hebdomadam pceniteat ; si frequenter fecerit, 
 integrum annum poeniteat 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 261 
 
 " Si quis autem pro morte haeretici, missam ordinaverit et pro religione 
 sua reliquias sibi tenuerit, quia multum jejunavit et nescit difFereutiam 
 Catholicae fidei et quartadecimanorum et postea iutellexerit poenitenti- 
 amque egerit, reliquias debet igne cremare et imo anno poenitere Si 
 autem scit et negligit pcenitentia commotus, decern annos pceniteat. 
 
 ' ' Si quis a fide Dei discesserit sine ulla necessitate et postea ex toto 
 animo poenitentiam accipit, tres annos extra Ecclesiam sit, id est, inter 
 audientes juxta Nicaenum Concilium et septem annos in Ecclesia inter 
 pcenitentes, et duos annos adhuc extra communionem " 
 
 The whole thirteenth chapter treats of the holy sacrifice of the 
 altar, and assigns the various penances for the different degrees of 
 irreverence or neglect in regard to it : — 
 
 " Pro bonis regibus offerre debemus, pro malis nequaquam. 
 
 " Presbiteri vero pro suis Episcopis non prohibentur offerre. 
 
 " Qui communicaverit nee ignorans excommunicato ab Ecclesia, xl. 
 dies pceniteat. 
 
 ' ' Si quis errans commutaverit aliquid de verbis sacrorum, ubi peri- 
 culum adnotaverit, tres superpositiones faciat. 
 
 " Si saerificium terratenus negligendo ceciderit, superponat. 
 
 " Qui sacrificii aliquid perdit, relinquens illud feris devorandum, si 
 excusabiliter tres quadragesimas, sin vero unum annum. 
 
 " Qui non bene custodierit saerificium, et mus comederit illud xl dies 
 pceniteat. 
 
 '' Qui autem perdiderit in Ecclesia et pars ceciderit et non inventa 
 fuerit xx. dies poeniteat. 
 
 1 ' Qui perdiderit suum crismal * aut solum saerificium in regione quali- 
 bet et non inveniatur tres quadragesimas vel unum annum pceniteat. 
 
 " Perf undens aliquid de calice super altare, quando aufertur linteamen, 
 septem dies pceniteat, aut si abundantius superpositionibus septem 
 poeniteat. 
 
 1 ' Si accidentis de manu accident t in stramen, vii- dies poeniteat is a 
 quo ceciderit. 
 
 " Qui autem infuderit calicem in fine solemn itatis missse xl. dies. 
 " Si vero neglexerit quis accipere saerificium et non interrogat nee 
 aliqua causa excusabilis extiterit, superponat. 
 
 "Diaconus obliviscens oblationem adferre donee auferatur linteamen 
 quando recitantur nomina pausantium similiter poeniteat. 
 
 " Qui negligentiam erga saerificium fecerit aut siccans vermibusque con- 
 sumptum ad nihilum devenerit tres quadragesimas cum pane et aqua 
 poeniteat. Si integrum inventum fuerit ita, ut sint in eo veraies, combu- 
 ratur et cinis sub altare abscondatur, et qui neglexerit cl. dies suam 
 negligentiam solvat. 
 
 * This name is derived from the Greek x a P L<T H a i by which the blessed 
 Eucharist was often designated. 
 
 f This canon seems to imply that the blessed Sacrament was placed 
 on the hand of the communicant. 
 
2Q2 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 " Si cum arnissione saporis decoloratur sacrificium, xx. diebus expleatur 
 jejunium, conglutinatum vero, viii. diebus ; qui autem mergit sacrificium, 
 contiuuo abluat et bibat aquara, qiue in crismal fuerit, sumatque sacri- 
 ficium et emendet per x. dies culpam solus.* 
 
 " Si ceciderit 'sacrificium de manu offereutis terratenus, et non inve- 
 nitur, omne quod circa eum inventum fuerit in loco, in quo ceciderit, 
 comburatur et cinis ut supra abscondatur, sacerdos deinde medio anno 
 damnetur. Si vero inventum fuerit sacrificium, locus scopa mundetur et 
 stramen ut supra ignetur et sacerdos xx. dies poeniteat ; si usque ad 
 altare tantum lapsum fuerit superponat. 
 
 "Si vero per negligentiam de calice aliquid stillaverit in terra, lingua 
 lambatur, tabula radatur, et si non fuerit tabula, mittat ut non concul- 
 cetur, igne consumatur ut supra et sacerdos xl. dies poeniteat. 
 
 "Si supra altare stillaverit calix, sorbeat minister stillam, ternis diebus 
 poeniteat, et si in linteo ad aliud linteum transierit viii. diebus, si usque 
 tertio, viii. diebus, si usque ad quartum, xv. diebus et linteamina, quee 
 tetigerit stilla, tribus abluat vicibus, calice subter posito et aquam ablu- 
 tionis sumat. 
 
 "Si quando interluitur calix stillaverit, prima vice xii. canantur psalmi 
 a ministro. 
 
 " Si titubaverit sacerdos super orationem dominicam, quse dicitur peri- 
 culosa, si una vice 4 plagas ; secunda centum, tertia superponat. 
 
 " Qui evomuit sacrificium et a canibus sumitur, anno 11110 poeniteat, sin 
 autem, xl. diebus. Si in die quando communicaverit sacrificium, evom- 
 uerit, si ante mediam noctem, iii. sivperpositiones faciat ; si post mediam 
 noctem ii. si post matutinas, i. superpositionem faciat. 
 
 " Si vero sacrificium evomuerit, xl. dies, si infirmitatis causa, vii. dies, 
 si in ignem projecit, c psalmos cantet, si vero canes lambuerint talem 
 vomitum, c. dies qui evomuit, poeniteat. 
 
 "Qui communicaverit sanguinem inconscius, vii. dies poeniteat. 
 
 " Quicmnque alicui capitale crimen admittenti per ignorantiam com- 
 municaverit, vii dies poeniteat." f 
 
 From the fourteenth and concluding chapter, we select a few 
 canons illustrative of the matter treated of in the preceding 
 extracts : — 
 
 "Si quis presbiter pcenitentiam morientibus abnegaverit, reus erit 
 animarum quia Dominus dixit : quacumqite die conversus fuerit peccator vita 
 vivef. et non morietur. Vera enim conversio in ultimo tempore potest esse 
 quia Dominus non solum temporis sed etiam cordis inspector est, sicut 
 
 * The Vat. MS. has xl. dies. 
 
 + The Codex Vindobonensis, 651, adds another canon: "Si quis 
 audenter sacerdos quando rnissas celebrat super sacro altario incumbit 
 brachiis vel ulnis, si ignorauter fecit, vii. dies, si per industriam xl. dies 
 poeniteat, et si iteravit dejiciatnr." In the text of the above chapter xiii. 
 we have adopted many corrections from the Vatican MS., No. 1339, of the 
 tenth century. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 263 
 
 latro unius momenti poenitens meruit esse in Paradiso in hora ultima 
 confessionis. 
 
 " Sacrificium non est accipiendum de manu sacerdotis qui orationes et 
 lectiones secundum ritum implere non potest. . . . 
 
 " Poenitentes secundum canones non debent commimicare ante consu- 
 mationem poenitentiae : nos autem pro misericordia post annum vel sex 
 menses licentiam damus. 
 
 "Pro defuncto monacho missas agantur in die sepulture ejus et tertio 
 die et postea quantum voluerit Abbas. 
 
 "Pro laico bono, tertio die vel septimo post jejunium ; pro pcenitente 
 xxx. die vel vii. et propinquos ejus oportet jejimare vii. die et oblationem 
 offerre ad altare, sicut in Jesu fill Sirach legitur, et pro Saul filii Israel 
 jejunaverunt, postea quantum voluerit presbyter. 
 
 "Mulieres possunt sub nigro velamine accipere sacrificium. Basilius 
 hoc judicavit. 
 
 ' ' Episcopis licet in campo confirmare. 
 
 " Presbytero in uno altari duas facere missas conceditur uno die. 
 
 " Omne sacrificium sordida vetustate corruptum igne comburendum est. 
 
 " Confessio autem Deo soli ut agatur si necesse est licebit. 
 
 " Missas stecularium mortuorum tres in anno, tertio die et nono die et 
 xxx. die, quia surrexit Dominus 3tio die et hora nona emisit spiritum et 
 triginta dies Moysen filii Israel planxerunt. 
 
 " Presbytero licet solo missam cantare et crucem sanctificare. 
 
 " Qui acceperit sacrificium post cibum vii. dies pceniteat. 
 
 " Qui non communicat, non accedat ad Altare usque ad osculuni ; et qui 
 prius manducat ad hoc osculum non admittitur. 
 
 "Ecclesiam licet ponere in alium locum, si necesse est, et non debet 
 iterum sanctificari, tautum presbyter aqua spargere debet et in loco altaris 
 crux debet componi. 
 
 "Ligna Ecclesi&> non debent ad aliud opus jungi nisi ad Ecclesiam 
 aliam, vel igni comburantur j vel ad profectum in monasterium fratribus, 
 coquere cum eis panem licet, sed talia in laicali opera non debent 
 procedere. 
 
 "Presbyter si responsoria cantat in missa vel quacumque, cappam 
 suam non toilet sed Evangelium legens super humeros ponat. 
 
 " Benedicens infantem vice baptismi annum extra nunieruni j)03nitentioe 
 sua? cum pane et aqua expleat. " 
 
 Thus terminates the Penitential of St. Cummian. These con- 
 cluding canons attest that the kiss of peace was given in the early 
 Irish Church during the holy Sacrifice, but only to those who in- 
 tended to communicate. We also learn from them that the cappa, 
 or hood, was a part of the ecclesiastical dress, and was worn on 
 the head during the minor parts of the Mass : during the Gospel, 
 however, the priest let it fall back on his shoulders. 
 
264 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 B. — Penitential of St. Finnian. 
 
 We have already remarked, that St. Finnian of Maghbile was 
 rendered illustrious in our early Church by certain penitential de- 
 crees which he enacted, based on the discipline of the Roman 
 Church, and which were commonly styled " the Canons of St. 
 Finnian." These canons were happily discovered by the learned 
 German editor, Dr. Wasserschleben, and published in his Bussord- 
 nungen, etc. The only other writer in modern times that seems 
 to have been acquainted with this penitential code was Mabillon, 
 who makes incidental reference to it in his Analecta.* It is, never- 
 theless, preserved in the St. Gall MS. (No. 150) of the ninth cen- 
 tury ; also in a Viennese MS. of the ninth century ;t and in part 
 in the St. Germain MS. written before the year 800 (No. 121), and 
 in another Parisian codex of the eleventh or twelfth century 
 (No. 3182). 
 
 One of its canons is expressly cited in the Collectio Hibernensis, 
 made about the year 700 ; it is the twenty-fifth canon in the 
 printed penitential, and is quoted with the heading, Finnian enacts 
 etc.j Almost the whole of St. Finnian's canons were introduced 
 into the Penitential of St. Columbanus ; and the authentic Peniten- 
 tial of Ven. Bede§ gives six canons from the work of our saint. 
 We have also just now seen that St. Cummian composed his peni- 
 tential " juxta seniorum traditionem ;" and one of these spiritual 
 masters was certainly St. Finnian, many of whose canons are 
 adopted by that great ornament of our Church in the seventh cen- 
 tury. It was also used by Egbert of York, and other penitential 
 compilers of the eighth century. 
 
 In the conclusion of his work, St. Finnian acquaints us with the 
 motives which induced him to compile this penitential code : — 
 
 "Haec, amantissimi Fratres, secundum seutentiam scripturarum vel 
 opiniouem quorundam doctissimorum, pauca de poenitentiae reinediis vestro 
 amore compulsus supra possibilitatem meam, potestatemque temjjtavi 
 scribere : sunt prseterea alia vel de remediis, aut de varietate curandorum 
 
 * Paris, 1723, p. 17. f Codex Th. ; Latin, 725. 
 
 X Collect. Hib. xxviii. 7. § Ap. Wasserschleben. 
 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 265 
 
 testimonia, quas nunc brevitatis causa, vel situs loci, aut penuria iugenii 
 non sinit nos ponere, sed si quis divinse lectionis scrutatus ipse niagis in- 
 veniat aut si proferet meliora vel scripserit, et nos consentimus, et 
 sequemur." 
 
 To which words is added by the scribe in the ancient text : 
 
 "Finitistud opusculum quod coaptavit Finnianus suis visceralibus 
 filiis dilectiouis vel religionis obtentu de scrip turarum venis rediuidans 
 ut ab omnibus omnia deleantur hominibus facinora." 
 
 This Penitential is not divided into chapters ; neither does it 
 present that clear methodical arrangement that characterizes the 
 penitentials of the age of Cummian and Theodore. His canons are 
 only fifty- three in number, and we now present a few of them' 
 which may suffice to convey some idea to the reader of the wisdom 
 that guided the author of the penitential code of the monastery of 
 Moville in the sixth century: — 
 
 Can. 5. "Si quis rixam faciat de clericis aut ministris Dei, hebdomadam 
 dierum poeniteat cum pane et aqua et petat veniam a Deo suo et proximo 
 suo plena confessiorie et humilitate, et sic potest Deo reconciliari et 
 proximo suo." 
 
 Can. 6. " Si quis ad scandalum surrexerit et disposuit in corde suo proxi- 
 mum suum percutere aut occidere, si cleric us fuerit dimidium annum 
 poeniteat cum pane et aqua per mensuram et annum totum abstineat se 
 a vino et a carnibus et sic altario reconcilietur." 
 
 Can. 7- "Si autem laicus fuerit, hebdomadam dierum poeniteat quia 
 homo saeculi hujus est et culpa levior in hoc rnundo et praemium minus in 
 futuro." 
 
 Can. 8. "Si autem clericus fuerit et percusserit fratrem suum aut proxi- 
 mum aut sauguinem eifuderit, unum est ut occiderit eum, sed non eadem 
 poenitentia, annum integrum poeniteat cum pane et aqua et sine ministerio 
 clericatus et orare pro se debet cum fletu et lachrymis ut misericordiam 
 a Deo consequatur, quia dicit scriptura : qui odit fratrem suum, homicida 
 est, quanto magis, qui percutit." 
 
 Can. 22. "Si quis juraverit juramentum falsum, magnum est crimen 
 aut vix aut non potest redimi : sed tamen melius est poenitere et non 
 desperare, magna est enim misericordia Dei. Poenitentia ejus haeo est : 
 imprimis numquam in vita sua jurare debet, quoniam vir multum jurans 
 non justificabitur et plaga de domo ejus non discedet, sed in praesentia 
 celeri medicina pcenitentiae prae venire oportet pcenas perpetuas in futuro, 
 et agere poenitentiam septem annorum et de reliquo vitae suae bene facere 
 et non jurare et ancillam sive servum liberare sive praetium ejus paupeii- 
 bus aut egentibus dare. " 
 
266 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 Can. 23. ' ' Si quis clericus homicidium f ecerit et occiderit proxirnum 
 suum et mortims fuerit, decern annis extorrem fieri oportet et agat poeni- 
 tentiam vii. annorum in alio orbe (perhaps urbe) et tribus quadragesimis 
 jejunet cum pane et aqua per mensuram et iii. abstineat se a vino et a 
 carnibus et sic impletis x. annis si bene egerit et comprobatus fuerit 
 testhnonio Abbatis seu sacerdotis cui commissus fuerat, recipiatur in 
 patria sua et satisfaciat aniicis ejus quern occiderat et vicem pietatis et 
 obedientiaa reddat patri aut matri ejus si adhuc in corpore sunt et dicat : 
 Ecce ego pro filio vestro qusecumque dixeritis mihi faciam. Si autem 
 non satis egerit, non recipiatur in seternum." 
 
 Can. 29. " Si quis clericus iracundus aut invidus aut detractans aut 
 tristis aut cupidus, magna sunt peccata heec et capitalia et occidunt ani- 
 mam et demergunt in profundum inferni ; sed pcenitentia eorum hasc est, 
 douec evellantur et eradicentur de cordibus nostris per auxilium Domini 
 et per studium et exercitium nostrum petimus Domini misericordiam et 
 de his victoriam et tamdiu in poenitentia constitati in fletu et lachrymis 
 die ac nocte quamdiu versantur hsec in corde nostro sed e contrariis ut 
 diximus festinemus curare contraria et vitia mundemus de corde nostro et 
 virtutes insinuemus pro illis ; et patientia pro iracundia, mansuetudo vel 
 dilectio Dei et proximi pro invidia, pro detractione continentia cordis et 
 linguse, pro tristitia gaudium spiritale, pro cupiditate lai'gitas nasci debet, 
 dicifc enim scriptura : ira viri justitiam Dei non operatur, et invidia lepra 
 esse in lege judicatur. Detractio anathema in scripturis dicitur ; qui 
 detrahit proximo suo eradicabitur, scilicet de terra viventium : Tristitia 
 comedit vel cousumit animam : Cupiditas radix omnium malorum est, 
 sicut ait Apostolus." 
 
 Can. 31. " Captivis redimendis communicandum esse prascipimus et 
 exhortamur ecclesiastico dogmate, egenis et pauperibus foenerandum." 
 
 Can. 33. " Basilicis sanctorum est ministrandum facultatibus nostris 
 et omnibus qui sunt in necessitatibus constituti compatiendum et pere- 
 grini in domibus nostris suscipiendi sunt sicut scriptum est a Domino : 
 infirmi sunt visitandi ; et in vinculis constitutis ministrandum est et 
 omnia Christi mandata a majoribus usque ad minora implenda sunt." 
 
 Can. 34. " Si quis in idtimo spiritu constitutus vel si qua sit licet 
 peccator vel peccatrix fuerit et exposcerit communionem, Christi nomen 
 non negandum ei esse dicimus, si promiserit votum suum et bene agat et 
 recipiatur ab eo, si conversus fuerit, in hunc mundum impleat, quod Deo 
 voverit. Si autem non impleat quod voverit Deo, in caput suum erit, et 
 nos quod debemus non negamus ei : non est cessandum eripere praxlam 
 ex ore leonis vel draconis, i. e. de ore diaboli qui prasdam nostra? animal 
 deripere non desinit ; hinc in fine extremo vitas hominis adsectaudum et 
 nitendum. 
 
 Can. 35. " De laicis si quis ex malis actibus suis conversus fuerit ad 
 Dominum et ab omni malo quod antea egerit, tribus aunis poeniteat et 
 inermis existat, nisi virga tantum in manu ejus," etc. 
 
 Iu the extracts given above from St. Cummian's Penitential, 
 we have ?een how he states that the discipline of the Irish Church, 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 267 
 
 in admitting penitents to the holy communion, had been relaxed 
 from the severity practised by their fathers; and precisely in the 
 fifty-third canon, which concludes the penitential of St. Finnian, 
 we find that the rigorous disciplinary law of our early apostles is 
 expressly laid down : " Non intrandum ad altare donee poenitentia 
 expleatur." 
 
 C. — Penitentials of St. David and St. Gildas. 
 
 The names of SS. David and Gildas are intimately connected 
 with the early Irish Church. Though natives of Wales, they 
 visited the Irish schools, to learn there the science of the saints ; 
 whilst at the same time they reflected on our Church the lustre of 
 their own virtues and holiness. 
 
 The penitentials of these saints were published by Martene in 
 his Thesaurus Nov. Anecdot. (torn, iv.), and are reprinted, with 
 many corrections, by Wasserschleben. They are both drawn up in 
 the same style and order as the Penitential of St. Finnian ; and, 
 that of Gildas was. more than once followed in his penitential 
 enactments by St. Cnmmian Fota. 
 
 The first canon of Gildas prescribes that a priest or deacon, 
 whilst performing the term of penance, should incessantly weep 
 for his fault ; and adds : 
 
 ' ' Post annum et dimidium Eucharistiam sumat et ad pacem veniat, 
 psalmos cum fratribus canat, ne penitus anima tanto tempore coelestis 
 medicinag (jejuna) intereat."* 
 
 The seventeenth canon enacts : 
 
 " Qui iram corde multo tempore retinet, in morte est. Si autem cou- 
 titetur peccatum quadragesiinam jejunet, eb si ultra in peccato persistet, 
 duas quadragesimas : et si item fecerit, abscidatur a corpore sicut mern- 
 brum putridum, quia furor homicidium nutrit." 
 
 Nineteenth canon: " Qui non occurrit ad consuinmationem, canat octo 
 in ordine psalmos : si excitatus veniat post missam, quidquid cantaverunt 
 fratres, replicet, ex ordine. Si vero ad secundam venerit, coena careat." 
 
 Twentieth cauon : "Si quis errans commutaverit aliquid de verbis 
 
 * Edit Wasserschleben, p. 105. 
 
268 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 sacris ubi periculmn adnotatur, triduanum aut tres superpositiones 
 faciat." 
 
 Twenty -first canon: "Si sacrum terratenus, negligendo ceciderit, 
 coena careat." 
 
 In the Penitential of St. David, we meet with the phrase, 
 " mulier desponsata Christo ;" and its concluding canon enacts, 
 that when once guilty of a capital crime, "presbytero offerre 
 sacrificium vel diacono tenere calicem non licet, aut in sublimi- 
 orem gradum ascendere." 
 
 D. — Penitential of St. Columbanus. 
 
 The penitential drawn up by St. Columbanus, chiefly for the 
 use of his religious companions, is better known to the generality 
 of readers than those penitential treatises of which we have 
 hitherto spoken. It has more than once been printed, and in the 
 last edition occupies from page 353 to 360 of Wasserschleben's 
 work. 
 
 Some have supposed that this penitential belonged to an earlier 
 period of our Church, and was only brought by Columbanus to 
 France and Italy from the Irish monasteries. However, one of 
 its canons, which we will just now cite, proves that it was drawn 
 up in a country infested Avith the Bonosian heresy, which could be 
 true only of Luxeu or Bobbio. That it was composed in the 
 former monastery is rendered probable by the fact shrewdly 
 remarked by Dr. Wasserschleben, that, forsooth, this penitential 
 of Columbanus forms the basis of nearly all the penitentials which 
 in after ages were used in the French Church.* 
 
 We may hence conclude that the work now before us belongs 
 to the latter years of the sixth century. It holds a sort of inter- 
 mediate place between the two great works of Finnian and Cum- 
 mian, and it manifestly reveals the use of the former in its com- 
 pilation; for, no fewer than twenty-three of St. Finnian's. canons 
 are adopted by Columbanus. On the other hand, St. Cummian, 
 when compiling his penitential code, seems not to have been 
 acquainted with the enactments of Columbanus, for there is scarcely 
 
 * Loc. cit. p. 57, seq. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 269 
 
 a trace of similarity between their works, except when both alike 
 adopt the code of St. Finnian. St. Columban's Penitential consists 
 of forty-two canons; there is no division of chapters, but the 
 canons are so arranged that the first twelve are general enact- 
 ments for all : then follow twelve others, " cle clericis et monachis 
 mixtim :" thirteen others regard the laity ; and the concluding 
 five canons contain rules for the minor faults of the religious, "de 
 minimis monaclwrum sanctionibus" 
 The penitential thus begins : 
 
 " Poenitentia vera est, poenitenda non admittere sed admissa deflere. 
 Sed quia hanc multorum fragilitas, at non dicam omnium, rumpit, men- 
 surae noscendse sunt pcenitentue quarum sic ordo a Sanctis traditur 
 Patribus ut juxta magnitudinem culparmn etiam longitudo statuatur 
 poenitentiarum." 
 
 The thirteenth canon enacts : 
 
 " Si quia clericus homicidium fecerit et proxinmm suum occiderit decern 
 annis exul poeniteat : post hos recipiatur in patriam si bene egerit poeni- 
 tentiam in pane et aqua, testimonio comprobatus episcopi vel sacerdotis 
 cum quo poeniteat, et cui commissus fuit, ut satisfaciat parentibus ejus 
 quern occidit, vicem filii reddens et dicens : qiuecumque vultis f aciam 
 vobis, si autem non satisfecerit parentibus illius, numquam recipiatur in 
 patriam sed more Cain vagus et profugus sit super terram." 
 
 The penance for a layman guilty of the same crime is assigned 
 in the twenty -fifth canon : ' 
 
 " Tribus annis inermis exul in pane et aqua poeniteat et post tres annos 
 revertatur in sua reddens vicem, parentibus occisi, pietatis et officii et 
 sic post satisfactionem judicio sacerdotis jungatur altario." 
 
 The thirty-second canon prescribes for the crime of perjury: — 
 
 " Si per cupiditatem hoc fecerit, totas res suas vendat et donet paupe- 
 ribus et convertatur ex integro ad Uominum et tondatur omui dimisso 
 syeculo et usque ad mortem serviat Deo in monasterio. Si autem non per 
 cupiditatem sed mortis timore hoc fecit tribus annis inermis exul poeniteat 
 in pane et aqua et duobus adhuc abstineat se a vino et carnibus et ita 
 animam pro se reddens, id est, servum aut ancillam de servitatis jugo 
 absolvens et eleemosynas multas faciens per duos annos in quibus illi 
 licito uti facile est cibis cunctis excepta carne : post septimum annum 
 communicet." 
 
270 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 We shall conclude our extracts with the thirty-seventh canon, 
 which regards the Bonosiaci and other heretics : — 
 
 "Siquis laicus per ignorantiam cum Bonosiacis aut caeteris hsareticis 
 communicaverit, stet inter catechumenos idest ab aliis separatus Christi- 
 anis, xl. diebus et duabus aliis quadragesimis in extreme- Christian orum 
 ordine id est inter poenitentes insanse communionis culpam diluat. Si vero 
 per contemptum hoc fecerit id est postquam denunciatum illi fuerit a 
 sacerdote ac prohibitum ne se communione sinistra partis macularet 
 anno integro pceniteat et tribus quadragesimis; et duobus aliis annis 
 abstineat se a vino et carnibus et ita post manus impositionem Catholici 
 Episcopi altario jungatur." 
 
 E. — Canons of Adamnan, 
 
 The chief facts connected with St. Adamnan's life, have been 
 collected by the learned Dr. Reeves, in the Introduction to his 
 edition of the Life of St. Columba. At page 51 of this Introduc- 
 tion are commemorated some canons which were enacted by St. 
 Adamnan, in the year 697, and which are supposed by Reeves to 
 be the same with the eight canons published by Martene, under 
 the title Canones Adamnani.* Tighernach expressly records that 
 Adamnan brought with him a law from Hy to Ireland in that year ; 
 and the Ulster Annals further particularize it " Adamnanus ad 
 Hiberniam pergit et dedit legem innocentium populis" (ad. an. 696). 
 The Origines Parochiales Scotia3,f also commemorate this law, 
 but give it a different title : " legem morientium." 
 
 Only a few of these canons of St. Adamnan, were published by 
 Martene: Dr. Wasserschleben, however, published them in full 
 from two Parisian manuscripts of the eighth and eleventh centu- 
 ries. They are twenty in number, and lay down rules regarding 
 the use of the flesh of deceased animals, and other articles \yl 
 food defiled by them : — 
 
 Can. 1. " Marina animalia ad littora cadentia quorum mortes nescimus 
 sumenda sunt sana fide, nisi sint putrida. 
 
 Can. 2. " Pecora de rupe cadeatia si sanguis eorum effusus sit, sumenda 
 sunt, sin vero, sed fracta sunt ossa eorum et sanguis foras non venerit, 
 refutanda ut morticina essent. 
 
 * Thes. Nov. Anecd. iv. 18, 19. f Vol. ii. p. 288. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENTTENTIALS. 271 
 
 Can. 3. "In aquis extincta, inorticma sunt, quorum sanguis intrinsecus 
 latet. 
 
 Can. 6. " Caro suilla niorticinis crassa vel pinguis, ut morticinum quo 
 pinguescit ref utanda est 
 
 Can. S. " Gallinse, carnem hoininis vel sanguinem ejus gustantes, mul- 
 tum imniundae sunt et ova ear urn inimunda sunt, pulli tamen observandi 
 sunt. 
 
 Can. 9. " Puteus in quo invenitur morticinum seu hominis, sive canis 
 sive animalis cujuslibet primo evacuandus est et humus ejus quam aqua 
 putei madefecerat foras projicienda, et mundus est, etc." 
 
 As these canons, for the most part, regard what by Adamnan 
 and other contemporary writers was styled morticinum, it seems not 
 improbable that the title, as given in the Origines Parochiales 
 Seotise, is the right one ; or, perhaps, more correctly this should be 
 styled " lex de morticinis" 
 
 F. — Synodus Sapientium. 
 
 Several penitential canons are introduced in the treatises of the 
 eighth and ninth centuries, under the heading of " Synodus Sapien- 
 tium," or again of " Canones Sapientium." Many of these were 
 printed by Martene in the Thesaurus Novus Anecdotorum, already 
 referred to : but they are more complete in the Parisian MS. (No. 
 3182) of the eleventh century, and in the St. Germain (Paris 
 MS., No. 121) of the eighth century. They are comprised under 
 five distinct heads. 
 
 1. The first bears the general title " Canones Hibernenses" ; it 
 comprises twenty-nine canons. The first four will give a sufficient 
 idea of the whole : — 
 
 "Pcenitentia parricidii xiv. annis, vel semis si ignorantite causa, in pane 
 et aqua et satisfactione. 
 
 " Hrec est pcenitentia homicidii, septem annis in pane et aqua agitur. 
 
 " Pcenitentia homicidii septem anni in pane et aqua vel decern ut dicit 
 Monochema.* 
 
 " H*ec est pcenitentia magi vel votici mali si "credulus id dem ergach vel 
 prfficonis, vel cohabitatoris vel hteretici vel adulteri, septem anni iu pane et 
 aqua." 
 
 * Perhaps this is Mainchin the Wise, who, as we have seen, died 
 in 652. 
 
2 72 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 Here the reference to an early Irish writer Monochema, and the 
 Irish gloss of the fourth canon, are especially interesting. 
 
 2. " De Arreis" consists of twelve canons, all of which are so 
 peculiar, and as they more than once introduce Irish phrases, we 
 present them in full to the reader : — 
 
 " Arreum superpossitionis, centum psalmi et centum flectiones genuum 
 vel ter quingenta et cantica septem. 
 
 " Arreum triduani nox et dies in statione sine somno nisi parvum, vel 
 tres, quinquagiata Psalmi cum canticis, et cum Missa xii. horarum et xii. 
 flectiones in unaquaque hora et manus sopinatae ad orationem. 
 
 " Arreum anni, triduum cum mortuo sancto in supulchro sine cibo et 
 potu et sine somno, sed cum vestimento circa se et cantatione Psalmo- 
 rum et oration e horarum per confessionem et votum sacerdoti. 
 
 Arreum anni, triduum in Ecclesia sine cibo et potu et somno et vestitu 
 sine sede et canticum psalmorum cum canticis et oratione horarum et in 
 eis xii. geniculationes post confessionem peccatorum coram sacerdote et 
 plebe post votum. 
 
 ' ' Arreum anni xii. dies et noctes super duodecim bucellos de tribus 
 panibus qui eflrciuntur de tertia parte coaid seir troscho. 
 
 "Arreum anni, xii. triduani. 
 
 "Arreum anni, mens is in dolore magno ut dubius sit de vita. 
 
 ' ' Arreum anni quadraginta dies in pane et aqua et superpossitio in sin- 
 gulis hebdomadibus et xl. psalmi et flectiones lx. et horarumque (sic) 
 o ratio. 
 
 " Arreum anni quinquaginta dies in longa superpossitione et lx. psalmi 
 et flectiones, horarum oratio. 
 
 "Arreum anni xl. dies fordo borftit et superpossitiones duxe omnis heb- 
 domadis, xl. psalmi et flecti< nes et oratio omnis horse. 
 
 ' ' Arreum anni centum dies in pane et aqua et oratio omnis horse. 
 
 " Hasc omnia jejunia sine carue et vino nisi parvum de herbisa in cella 
 aliena per tenrpus." 
 
 3. The third division is entitled de jectione; and prescribes pen- 
 alties for refusing hospitality. It consists of the six following 
 canons : — 
 
 '" Qui ejicit pauperem occldit cum, et sexta ant septima aut octava 
 aut n na pars occisionis ejus jectio. Item qui succurere perituro 
 valet et non succurrit, occidit eum : primum jugulum hospitis esuri- 
 entis quando ei cibus denegatur : quia non plus quam octo dies esuriens 
 sine cibo potuque vivere potest : ideo autem octava pars occisionis de 
 sua jectione exquiritur et aliquotiens pro dignitate jecti quinta pars 
 accipitur. 
 
 " Si quis jecerit Episcopum et si mortuus fuerit accipiatur ab eo pretium 
 sanguinis ejus, quinquaginta ancillas reddat, id est, septem ancillas unius- 
 
ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 273 
 
 cujusque gradus :* ve! quinqnaginta annis poeniteat et ex his accipiuntur 
 vii. ancillaj de jectione ejus. 
 
 " Ita et reliqui usque ad hostiarium, quantum judices praetium sangui- 
 nis uniuscuj usque gradus de his vii gradibus, judicaverint, septinia pars 
 occisionis ejus de sua jectione redde ur. 
 
 "Si epus. eporum. (sic) jectus fuerit quinta pars occisionis ejus jectio, 
 i. e. octo ancilhe et diue partes ancillse unius. 
 
 ' ' Si quis de minimis sine gradu, de Ecclesia^-tico ordine in nomine 
 Dei ambulantibus non susceptus fuerit in hospitio, nona pars occisionis 
 ejus jectio. 
 
 ' ' Quicumque excelsum principem aut scribam aut auctoritatem, aut 
 judicem non susceperit, quamdiu judices judicaveriut qui judic bunt in 
 illo tempore debitum occisionis ejus hoc est septima pars in jectione ejus 
 accipietur." 
 
 From these canons we might conclude that the word jectio in the 
 early Irish Church corresponded in part with the system of ejection 
 or eviction of modern times. 
 
 4. De Canibus. This division comprises four canons, and pre- 
 sents many curious details connected with the daily usages of our 
 fathers in the first century : — 
 
 "Canis catenas (i. e. a chained dog) quidquidin nocte mali fecerit, non 
 redletur. Canis vero pecorum quodcumque mali fecerit in bovello vel in 
 pascuis suorum pecorum, non reddetur : si autem extra fines exierit red- 
 detur quod mali fecerit. 
 
 "Item canis quod'ibet manducet, p>iina cupa nihil reddatur, ni-i ille 
 solus. Si vero secundo vel tertio iteraverit reddetur quod fecerit vel 
 comederit. 
 
 "De his qui canem Occident, qui custodit pecora vel in domo manet 
 Prudentes dicunt : qui occidit canem qui custodit pecora, quinque vaccas 
 reddat pro cane, et canem de genere ejus reddat et quodcumque bestiae 
 comedent de pecoribus usque ad caput anni. 
 
 " Item statuta Prudentium : qui canem quatuor ostiorum, id est domus 
 ubi habitat dominus ejus et caulas ovium, et vitulorum et hovum, occidit, 
 decern vaccas reddat, et canem de genere ejus opera ipsius facientem 
 restituat." 
 
 5. The fifth section is entitled de Decimis, and consists of eight 
 canons. We shall have occasion in the next part to cite some of 
 these canons : for the present the second will suffice, which com- 
 memorates an ancient authority of our Church : — 
 
 * In the early Irish Church the bishop alone was looked upon as en- 
 dowed with the seven ecclesiastical orders. 
 
274 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 "Item: omnia praster fruges terrae quibus decima semel offeretur 
 Domino, ut dicitnr ; quidquid consecratum fuerit semel Deo, sanctum 
 sanctorum erit Domino, non iterum debet de illis offerri decimam, ut 
 Colummanus Doctor docuit. Frugum vero terrte in unoquoque anno decima 
 pars offerri debet, quia in unoquoque anno nascuntur." 
 
 As regards the age of these synodical canons, they certainly 
 date back to the seventh century. One of the MSS. which pre- 
 serves a portion of them belongs to the eighth century : and they 
 are repeatedly cited in the Irish Collection of Canons, made, as we 
 will see, about the year 700. Two of th3 canons, De Arrets, are, 
 moreover, cited in St. Theodore's Penitential.* On the other hand 
 they are not cited by St. Cumraian, and hence it seems probable 
 that the " Synodus Sapientium" was held in the latter half of the 
 seventh century, and was, perhaps, the famous ecclesiastical assem- 
 bly commemorated by our annalists as held during the episcopate 
 of Flan Febhla about the year 694, and at which forty bishops and 
 abbots assisted.^ The fact of the canons being referred to in the 
 Penitential of St. Theodore, who died about 690, is no argument 
 against this conjecture, as Dr. Wasserschleben has proved that 
 that Penitential, though bearing the name of Theodore, was com- 
 posed some years after the death of that saint. The ancient pre- 
 face to St. Theodore's Penitential expressly remarks : " Horum 
 (canonum) maximum partem fertur famine veriloquo beatae memorise 
 Eoda presbyter cognomento Christianus a ven. antistite Theodoro 
 sciscitans accepisse."t 
 
 G. — Irish Penitential of the Eighth Century. 
 
 The Penitential published by Martene, in Thes. Nov. Anecd. (torn. 
 iv. page 22-30), is preserved in the Parisian MS. No. 3,182, and 
 being anonymous, received from its former proprietor the name 
 Poenitentiale Bigotianum. It is published in full by Wasser- 
 schleben.S 
 
 * Theodori Penitent, vii. 5, edit. Wasserschleb. page 191. 
 
 t See Reeves' Adamnan, p. 178, and Colgan, in Trias Thaumat. p. 503, a. 
 
 % Ap. Wassersclil. I03. cit. page 182, seqq. 
 
 § Loc. cit page 441-60. 
 
ANCIENT IRISH TEXITEXTIALS. 
 
 275 
 
 It is almost wholly taken from SS. Cummian, Finnian, and 
 Theodore. We conclude that its origin must be referred to Ireland 
 rather than to the sister island, from the fact of its canons in chap. 
 i. sections 5 and 6, being styled canones sapientium and canones 
 Palrwn, whilst they are taken from the Synodus Sapientium of 
 which we have just spoken. Again, in chap. iv. sec. 6, a series 
 of decrees de clamore, are styled canones Patrum, and are all 
 derived from Irish sources. 
 
 We refer it to the eighth century, as it shows no trace of the 
 Penitentials of Ven. Bede and Egbert, and other disciplinary 
 codes, which became so general after the middle of that century. 
 
 A few extracts from its preliminary discourse will, for the pre- 
 sent, suffice to give some idea of this treatise : — 
 
 "Hieronymus vir beata? memorise Ecclesiaa Pastores et doctores ut 
 qualitates vitiorum in peccantibus animadvertant diligenter, admonuit 
 dicens; tanto major fiat potentia medici quanto magis crevit morbus 
 
 segroti Cor contritum et humiliatum Deus non spernit : et hoc 
 
 sapientibus iu poeniteutia moderanda intuendum est, ne diguum 
 scelus gladio ferula vmdicent, et dignum peccatum ferula gladio 
 percutiant. Et secundum Gregorium magnopere Pastoribus procu- 
 randiun ne incaute alligaverint, quod non alligandum est, et non 
 solverint quod solvendum. His itaque de pcenitentia expressis, fateor, 
 quod si in hoc pcenitentiae temperamento plus minusve ante oculos 
 creatoris videatur, non nostras audacise culpa est ; majorum enim decreta 
 
 non nostra exposuimus De remediis variis vulnerum prout 
 
 antiquorum auctorum approbatio tulit, compendiosas carptim caraxamus 
 
 eglotas Sicut sementibus, naturam certis legibus creator, ita et 
 
 omnibus secundum virtutum seu qualitatum discrepantiam indulgebit 
 secundum illud Prophetae : non enim in serris triturabitur neque rota 
 plaustri super cuminum circmniet," etc. 
 
276 - MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 APPENDIX No. IV. 
 
 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 First published by Mabillon. — Dr. O'Conor and Dr. Lauigan prove that 
 it contains the Irish Liturgy. — Dr. Todd holds the contrary opinion. — 
 His opinion refuted. — Proof that the Missal is Irish — Agrees with 
 the Stowe Missal. — Extracts from it. 
 
 Mabillon was the first to publish a very ancient Missal which, for 
 centuries, had been preserved in the famous monastery of Bobbio, 
 and thence passed to the Ambrosian Library of Milan. Writing in 
 1724, the learned Benedictine judged the manuscript from which 
 this Missal was published to be more than one thousand years old: 
 " Scriptus est codex ante annos'mille."* 
 
 The question was at once raised, to what liturgy should this 
 newly-discovered text be referred ; and Mabillon found it no easy 
 matter to give a satisfactory reply. He proved, indeed, that it 
 was not the liturgy of Rome, nor the Ambrosian liturgy, nor the 
 Mozarabic, nor the liturgy of the African Church; and his con- 
 clusion was a natural one, that, forsooth, it was " a Missal of the 
 Gallican rite," for he was ignorant of the existence of any other 
 liturgy to which it could be referred. Whilst, however, he thus 
 asserted the claim of the Gallican Church to the old manuscript of 
 Bobbio, he candidly acknowledged that in many important points it 
 was entirely at variance with every text known to represent the 
 Gallican liturgy. This was an important concession from such a 
 writer as Mabillon, and even prescinding from other arguments, 
 any one acquainted with the liturgical tract published in our second 
 appendix, would be tempted to conclude that, perhaps, the Bobbio 
 Missal did not present the true Gallican liturgy, but one which 
 had a certain affinity with it, and which, though little known 
 on the continent, was well known to our fathers as the Irish 
 liturgy, or 6i Cursus Scottorum." 
 
 * Museum Italicum, vol. i. p. 275. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 277 
 
 The Rev. Charles O'Conor, and after him Dr. Lanigan, entered 
 into a minute examination of this Missal, and they unhesitatingly 
 concluded that it was a fragment of our scattered literature, 
 preserving to us an ancient text of the liturgy as used by the first 
 fathers of our Church. Their learning and research seemed to set 
 the matter at rest for ever ; but Dr. Todd, in 1856, when treating 
 of the Stowe Missal, entered into a lengthened discussion to prove 
 that such a conclusion was grounded on erroneous or insufficient 
 data ; nay, more, that there was not " the slightest reason" for ques- 
 tioning the decision of Mabillon, and, hence, that the Bobbio MS. 
 belonged to the Gallican liturgy.* 
 
 To proceed with order in our inquiry as to the genuine origin of 
 this remarkable Missal, we shall first propose the general arguments 
 which identify it with the Irish liturgy; secondly, we shall examine 
 the " Penitential" which is appended to it; thirdly, to the reasoning 
 of Dr. Todd we shall devote a few remarks; and, fourthly, in fine, 
 we shall present a brief analysis of the Missal itself. 
 
 A. — The Bobbio Missal presents an Irish Liturgy. 
 
 Dr. 0' Conor, who was a competent judge of Irish manuscripts, 
 pronounced the MS. from which Mabillon printed his text, to 
 belong to the Irish school. t Before him, the Benedictine editors 
 of the great work " Nouveau Traite cle Diplomatique"! had pro- 
 nounced the same opinion ; " its writing," they say, " is that of 
 the British islands before the conversion of the Angles ;" and, they 
 add, u Mabillon was of opinion that it was brought by Colum- 
 banus from Luxeu to Bobbio ; Ave may, with the same certainty, 
 affirm that it was brought by the saint from his native Britain to 
 France." We cannot be surprised at Ireland being comprised in 
 
 * See the paper of James Henthorn Todd, D.D , read before the Royal 
 Irish Academy, June 23, 1856, entitled : On the Ancient Irish Missal and 
 its Silver Box, etc., p. 29. 
 
 t Dr. Todd, who is also well versed in our ancient manuscripts, asserts, 
 on the contrary, "that the writing does not belong to the Scotic or 
 Irish school" (p. 26) ; his opinion is grounded on the wood-cut imita- 
 tion of one sentence of the original, which Mabillon gives at p. 276. 
 However, Mabillon does uot profess to give & facsimile ; but merely to let 
 the reader understand that the text was written in uncial letters — litteris 
 majusculis. t "Paris, 17-32. 
 
278 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 the generic name of Britain, nor at the writing being styled that of 
 the early Anglo-Saxon school ; for, as Reeves has justly remarked, 
 such is the common continental name for all the ancient monu- 
 ments of Ireland.* 
 
 Zeuss and Mone, some years ago, called the attention of the 
 learned to the important fact, that a characteristic orthography 
 marked all the ancient Latin MSS. that came from the Irish 
 school ;f and Reeves, in his magnificent edition of Adamnan's Life 
 of Columbkille, placed beyond all doubt this distinctive feature of 
 our Irish writers.^: Now, in the missal preserved to us in the 
 archives of Bobbio, we meet at every page with examples of the 
 distinctive characteristics thus assigned to the Latin monuments of 
 our early Church. We give a few examples from the very first 
 Mass that occurs, occupying from 278 to 282 in Mabillon's 
 work. Thus, stilla for stella, Cornili for Cornelii, discipolis for 
 discipidis, optulit for obtulit, Eogenia for Eugenia, saciasti for 
 satiasti, postolamus for postidamus, precium for prcetium, malibQlis 
 for malevolis, homenibus for liominibus, volumtas for voluntas, 
 ampotes for amputes, famolatus and famolus for famulatus, etc. ; 
 inpetrare for impetrare, exorcidio for exorcizo, de inferna for de 
 inferno, oportuna for cpportuna. Mabillou, moreover, remarks 
 that continually the b is exchanged for v, as baptizavit for bap- 
 tizabit, acervis for acerbis, sivilantes for sibilantes, etc.§ In like 
 manner, we frequently find Josep for Joseph, exsecuntur for exse- 
 quuntur, expectacolum for spectaculv.m, etc. These few examples 
 embrace almost all the special rules which are laid down for 
 determining the ancient Latin manuscripts of Ireland ; and hence 
 we may safely conclude that the missal of which we treat came 
 from the schools of our early Church. 
 
 Though there are but scanty records to illustrate the ancient 
 liturgy of the Irish Church, still the few incidental facts which we 
 
 * Reeves On Early Irish Caligraphy, in Ulster Journal of Archaeology, 
 July, 1860. 
 
 t See especially the Grammatico Celtica of J. C. Zeuss, Leipzic, 1853, 
 prcef. xxi. in nota, where a loug list of examples is given. 
 
 X See Adamnan's Columba, printed for I.A.S., Dublin, 1857, prsef. pp. 
 16-19. 
 
 § Page 285 not. and also page 319. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 279 
 
 glean from the acts of our first saints, and from the Stowe Missal, 
 so ably illustrated by Dr. Todd, afford sufficient evidence for 
 determining that the Missal of Bobbio belongs to our liturgy. 
 
 In Adamnan's Life of St. Columbkille, mention is made of his 
 having recited the name of St. Martin in the Communicantes: 
 
 "When that prayer was being chanted, in which the name of St. 
 Martin is commemorated, and when the chanters had arrived at that 
 name, St. Colnmba said to them : To-day another holy bishop is to be 
 named, " etc. * 
 
 The Roman liturgy terminated its list of commemorations with 
 the names of SS. Cosmas and Damian ; the Irish, through rever- 
 ence for the holy bishop of Tours, adopted his name from the 
 Gallican liturgy ; and not only was it recited by St. Columba, 
 but it is also still found in the ancient portion of the Stowe 
 Missal. In the Bobbio Missal, the name of St. Martin forms part 
 of the Communicantes ;f and we may add, that with it, after SS. 
 Cosmas and Damian, are united the names of SS. Augustine, 
 Hilary, Gregory, and Jerome, which are also added in the Stowe 
 Missal ; but for which, with the exception of St. Hilary, we 
 shall seek in vain in the Gallican liturgy .% 
 
 The history of the monks of St. Columbanus presents another 
 interesting fact, illustrative of the same subject. The monastery 
 of Luxeu continued, after the departure of our saint, and in oppo- 
 sition to some of the French clergy, to observe the rites and 
 customs of the Irish Church, and even its peculiar tonsure from, 
 ear to ear. In 623, a synod was held at Matiscon, to examine 
 into these peculiarities of the monks of Columbanus. Agrestius 
 appeared as their accuser, whilst Eustasius, who describes himself 
 as " the disciple and successor " of the founder of Luxeu, under- 
 took their defence. One of the accusations urged by Agrestius 
 was precisely regarding their liturgy : 
 
 1 ' Quod a cseterorum ritu ac norma desciscerent, et sacra missarum 
 solemnia orationum ac collectarum nmltiplici varietate celebrarent."§ 
 
 * Reeves' Adamnan, p. 211. t Ap. Mabillon, p 281. 
 
 X See Mabillon's work, De Liturgia Gallicana, lib. 1. cap. 5, p. 43. 
 § Annales Benedict, by Mabillon, vol. i. p. 320. 
 
28ft 
 
 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 To this Eustasius replied, acknowledging that such was the 
 Irish practice, but contending that this multiplicity of prayers 
 should be rather a subject of eulogy than of censure : 
 
 " Oratiommi multiplicatiouem in sacris officiis multum prodesse quis 
 neget. Cum nihil cuivis Christiano et maxinie pcenitentibus salubrius 
 sit quam Deum multiplicatione precum et orationum assiduitate 
 pulsare."* 
 
 In conformity with this special feature of the Irish liturgy, the 
 Stowe Missal, as 0' Conor and Dr. Todd remark, has in its Missa 
 Cotidiana a variety of prayers after the Gloria in excelsis, and 
 not merely one, as was usual in the Roman and Gallican liturgy. 
 Now, this same characteristic marks the Bobbio Missal ; and in its 
 missa cotidiana no fewer than five prayers are assigned to be 
 recited after the Gloria in excelsis. 
 
 To any one that reflects on the origin of the Irish liturgy, as 
 described in the ancient liturgical tract which we published in our 
 second appendix, it will seem most natural that a close affinity should 
 subsist between the liturgies of Ireland and Gaul. It was through 
 SS. Germanus and Lupus that the " Cursus Scottorum" was com- 
 municated to St. Patrick. They were bishops of important sees 
 in France, and were chosen by the assembled bishops of the 
 French Church as their representatives in the cause of Pelagianism. 
 Their liturgy, therefore, must be supposed closely allied with that 
 followed by their Gaulish brethren. On the other hand, the same 
 bishops, as we have seen, were closely connected with Rome ; 
 St. Patrick, too, and his first associates, Auxilius, Secundums, 
 Augustinus, and Iserninus, were in great part identified with that 
 central see of the Catholic Church. Now, the liturgy of Bobbio 
 is precisely such as Ave should expect to arise from this combina- 
 tion of Gaul and Rome — retaining the chief prayers and the canon 
 of Rome, and adopting from the Gallican liturgy all that it had 
 most beautiful in its outward arrangement of the sacred festivals. 
 Independent of every other argument, this was a stumbling-block 
 to the defenders of Mabillon's opinion. Although the Missal of 
 
 * Annales Benedict, by Mabillon, vol. i. p. 320. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 281 
 
 Bobbio had many parts fully agreeing with the Gallican liturgy, 
 yet how could the canon of the Mass which it presents be that not 
 of France, but of Rome ? This one fact is of itself conclusive 
 against the claim of the French Church to the Bobbio Missal. We 
 have still preserved to us many monuments of the French liturgy 
 of the same age, but not one of them that does not present the 
 French peculiarities of the canon of the Mass ; on the contrary, in 
 the missal of which we speak there is not, in the canon of the 
 Mass, even one of these Gallican peculiar features ; and with the 
 exception of some verbal differences (such as are often found in 
 different missals of the Roman liturgy), it perfectly and fully 
 coincides with the canon of the Mass as used in the Roman 
 Church. The researches of O'Conor and Todd regarding the 
 Stowe Missal enable us to give additional force to this argument. 
 The greater part of its canon, too, corresponds accurately with the 
 Roman canon ; and in one of the peculiar verbal differences which 
 it presents, we find precisely the same peculiarity in the Bobbio 
 Missal : it is in the beginning of the Memento : 
 
 STOWE MISSAL. BOBBIO MISSAL. 
 
 "Memento etiam Domiue et eo- " Memento etiamDomineeteorwm 
 
 rum nomina, qui uos prsecesserunt nomina qui nos prsecesserunt cum 
 
 cum signo fidei et dormiunt iu siguo fidei et dormiunt in somno 
 
 somno pacis." pacis."* 
 
 Indeed the coincidence of the Bobbio Missal with that of Stowe 
 is so frequent and so striking, that it supplies a clear solution for 
 the question which we are examining. The Bobbio Missal gives in 
 the end the Ordo Baptismi, and the same is added in the Stowe 
 manuscript : Mabillon styles the Bobbio Missal a sacramentarium, 
 rather than a mere liturgy, and this same title is given to the Stowe 
 Missal by Dr. Todd.f 
 
 The Bobbio Missa Cotidiana, is so different from any monument 
 of the Gallican liturgy, that Mabillon was compelled to assign 
 the part which follows it as the commencement of the Gallican 
 rite : "ab hoc maxime loco" he writes in his note to the second Mass, 
 
 * Todd, loc. cit. p. 38 ; Mabillon, p. 281. t Page 29. 
 
282 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 " ab hoc maxbneloco incipit Missale Gallicanum nam qnce proecedunt 
 fere ex online Romano desumpta sunt."* Now, whilst this every- 
 day Mass, with its Roman Ordo, is thus repugnant to the Gallican 
 liturgy, the Stowe Missal gives us precisely an every-day Mass, 
 and it, too , closely copied from the Eoman Ordo. 
 
 The Collect of this Missa Cotidiana is the beautiful prayer 
 still used in the Roman liturgy, beginning ii Deus qui culpa 
 offenderis, pcenitentia placaris," etc., and this same prayer, as we 
 learn from Dr. Todd, is a collect in the Stowe Missal.t Another 
 prayer referred to in the Stowe Missal is that of St. Gregory's 
 Sacramentary : " Quassumus omnipotens Deus, ne nos tua miseri- 
 cordia derelinquat quae et errores nostros semper amoveat et noxia 
 cuncta depellat."| And although this prayer is unknown in the 
 ancient Gallican liturgy, it precisely is found with many others of 
 the prayers of the same sacramentary, holding its place in the 
 Bobbio manuscript. § 
 
 The Stowe text of the Nicene Creed is somewhat peculiar, and 
 omits the celebrated formula filloque. Dr. 0' Conor gives a fac- 
 simile of this portion of its creed, which runs as follows : — 
 
 "Et in spiritum sanctum, dominum et vivificatorem ex Patre proce- 
 dentem, cum patre et filio coadorandum, et conglorincaudum. " 
 
 The Bobbio Missal, expressly indeed, does not recite the Nicene 
 Creed, but only that styled " the Apostles' Creed," in which this 
 passage does not occur, but on two occasions, the formula of the 
 former symbol regarding the Holy Ghost is introduced, and in such 
 a way (as Mabillon remarks) as sufficiently proves that it, too, 
 wanted that celebrated addition. Thus, at p. 376, the doctrine of 
 the Blessed Trinity is fully explained, and of the Holy Ghost it is 
 said : " Spiritus sanctus unus est ex Patre procedens, Patri et 
 Filio coasternus ;" and the same expression is used at p. 313, 
 where the priest expounds the doctrines of faith to the catechumens. 
 
 Whilst speaking of the Creed, there is a peculiar formula added, 
 in the interrogatories which are addressed to the catechumen, in 
 
 * Page 283. f Loc. cit. p. 20. 
 
 J Ibid. p. 23. § Ap. Mabillon, p. 382. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 283 
 
 the Bobbio Missal. After reciting the various formulas of the 
 Apostles' Creed in the preceding interrogatories, the concluding 
 interrogatory is thus made : — 
 
 " Credit in spiritum sanctum, sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam, sanc- 
 torum corumunionem, remissionem peccatorum, carnis resurrectiouem 
 vitam habere post mortenx iu gloriam Christi resurgere ?"* 
 
 Now it is remarkable that this most peculiar addition is, in part 
 at least, found in the formula of faith preserved to us in the Anti- 
 phonary of Bangor. This ancient Irish monument presents a 
 profession of faith " which, as it is founded on the Baptismal 
 Creed, was probably used for the instruction of catechumens, not 
 recited or chanted in the Mass."f Immediately after the 
 formulas " Sanctorum communionem, carnis resurrectionem," is 
 added the following concluding passage : " Credo vitam post 
 mortem, et vitam a3ternam in gloria Christi. Ha3C omnia credo in 
 Deum. Amen." 
 
 Whilst these arguments render it manifest that the Bobbio Missal 
 belongs to the Irish Liturgical School, there are many other argu- 
 ments which should refute its Gallican origin. Thus iu the Galil- 
 ean liturgy there were numbered ten fruits of the Holy Ghost, 
 whilst in the Bobbio text only nine are reckoned in conformity 
 with the Greek litnrgy.J In the Gallican Church, the .feast of 
 St. Eugenia, the illustrious Roman virgin and martyr, is nowhere 
 alluded to, and as far as Mabillon could discover, no where cele- 
 brated ;§ on the contrary, in the Bobbio canon of the Mass, her 
 name is added to the other virgin-saints, Agatha, Lucy, etc. ; aud 
 again in the Mass on the vigil of Christmas, we have a special 
 commemoration of St. Eugenia, the 25th of December being the 
 day of her martyrdom. The fact of a special devotion to this 
 holy martyr was a puzzle to the learned French liturgical writer ; 
 the Irish pilgrims, however, brought her veneration with them from 
 Rome, and none can be more diffuse in her praise than St. Aldhelm 
 who had studied under Irish monks in the monastery of Malmesbury, 
 
 * Ibid. p. 324. t Todd, loc. cit. p. 26. 
 
 t Ap. Mabillon, loc cit. p. 365. § lb. 277. 
 
284 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 and who, in his Eulogy of Virginity, presents St. Eugenia as a 
 model of Christian heroism.* Other points of difference between the 
 Bobbio text and the Gallican rite, will be found indicated at almost 
 every page in the notes of Mabillon. 
 
 There is another argument, the grounds of which we shall just 
 now more fully explain. At the end of the Bobbio Missal is added 
 a Penitential, which is a fact unique as regards the Gallican liturgy. 
 This Penitential, too, is an Irish Penitential; and thus the Missal 
 of St. Columbanus once more proclaims its Irish origin. Another 
 tract appended to it, assigns the division of the " Cursus Ecclesi- 
 asticus," by which name, too, the Irish treatise, published in the 
 second appendix, designates the sacred liturgy. In fine, even the 
 benedictiones variw, which the Bobbio Missal adds in the end, suffi- 
 ciently reveal the Irish source from which they proceed. One of 
 them is entitled " Benedictio ubi aliquid immundum ceciderit in 
 vas," and prays that the blessing of God may purify the vessel 
 that was contaminated, and also the wine, oil, honey, or water, 
 which it contained. Now, it is one of the peculiar canons of 
 our Irish Penitentials, that declares such articles of food to be 
 contaminated, " si aliquid immundum ceciderit in vas," and pre- 
 scribes that they should be purified by blessiug before being used 
 by the faithful. 
 *& 
 
 B. — The Penitential of the Bobbio Missal. 
 
 It is only since the publication of the various Western peniten- 
 tials, by the learned professor of Halle, that a judgment could be 
 pronounced with certainty as to the penitential which is added to 
 the Bobbio Missal. A comparison of it with the other Irish 
 penitentials must now, however, convince every unprejudiced mind 
 that it is a monument of our Irish Church, bringing us back, 
 also, to the earliest period of its history. 
 
 This Bobbio Penitential consists of forty- seven canons, without 
 any division of chapters, or any trace of that methodical arrange - 
 
 * See Aldhelm, De Virginitate : in Thesaur. Monument. Canisii, 
 edited by Basnage, vol. 1. p. 475. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 285 
 
 ment which characterizes the age of SS. Cummian and Theodore. 
 In this respect it is almost identical with the Penitential of St. 
 Finnian of Maghbile. Of its forty-seven canons there is not one 
 that is not purely Irish ; and it may be affirmed, without fear of 
 contradiction, that it was used by our great saiuts, Columbanus 
 and Cummian, when compiling their penitentials. Compare, for 
 instance, its three first canons with the three first decrees of the 
 second division of Columbanus : 
 
 BOBBIO PENITENTIAL. 
 
 "Si quis clericus homicidium 
 fecerit et proximum suum Occi- 
 dent, decern annos exul poeniteat. 
 Post hos recipiatur in patriam, etc. 
 
 " Si quis ruina maxima ceciderit 
 et filium genuerit, septem annis 
 poeniteat. 
 
 " Si quis autem fornicaverit sicut 
 Sodomitag fecerunt, decern annos 
 poeniteat, tres in pane et aqua," 
 etc. 
 
 ST. COLUMBAN S PENITENTIAL. 
 
 " Si quis clericus homicidium 
 fecerit et proximum suum Occi- 
 dent decern annis exul poeniteat. 
 Post hos recipiatur in patriam, etc. 
 
 " Si quis ruina maxima ceciderit 
 et filium genuerit, septem annis 
 peregrinus in pane et aqua poeni- 
 teat. 
 
 "Si quis autem fornicaverit sicut 
 Sodomitse feceruut, decern annis 
 poeniteat tribus primis cum pane 
 et aqua," etc. 
 
 A similar identity runs through many of its subsequent decrees ; 
 thus, its sixth canon : 
 
 BOBBIO. 
 
 COLUMBANUS. 
 
 "Si quis perjuraverit septem 
 annos poeniteat tres in pane et 
 aqua et numquam juret postea." 
 
 "Si quis perjuraverit septem 
 annis poeniteat et numquam juret 
 postea." 
 
 Again, its twenty-fourth canon : 
 
 BOBBIO. 
 
 " Si quis clericus proximum 
 suum percusserit, et sanguinem 
 fuderit, uno poeniteat anno." 
 
 COLUMBANUS. 
 
 " Si quis clericus per rixam 
 proximum suum percusserit, et 
 sanguinem fuderit, annum inte- 
 grum poeniteat." 
 
 St. Cummian, in his Penitential, adopts, in like manner, about 
 thirty of the canons of our Bobbio text ; one or two instances will 
 suffice : 
 
28(3 
 
 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 IV. "Si quis homicidium casu 
 fecerit uod volens, quinque annos 
 poeniteat, tres iu pane et aqua." 
 
 XXI. " Si quis usuras undecum- 
 que exegerit tres annos poeniteat, 
 unum in pane et aqua." 
 
 XXIII. "Si quis sacrilegiuni 
 fecerit, quod aruspices vocant, si 
 per aves aut aguria colunt vel ad 
 divinationes eorum vadunt, quin- 
 que annos poeniteat, tres in pane 
 et aqua." 
 
 XXV. " Si quis malo ordine 
 cupidus, aut avarus aut superbus, 
 aut ebriosus, aut fratrem suum 
 odio habuerit tres annos poeniteat." 
 
 XXVI. " Si quis sortes sanc- 
 torum contra rationeni invocat, 
 vel alias sortes habuerit, tres annos 
 poeniteat, unum in pane et aqua." 
 
 XXVII. "Si quis ad arbores vel 
 ad fontes aut cancellos vel ubi- 
 cumque nisi in ecclesia, votum 
 voverit, aut solvent, tres annos 
 poeniteat unum in pane et aqua, 
 quia hoc sacrilegium est : et qui 
 ibidem comederit aut biberit, unum 
 annum poeniteat." 
 
 CUMMIANUS. 
 
 " Si quis homicidium casu fecerit 
 non volens quinque annos poeniteat, 
 tres ex his in pane et aqua."* 
 
 "Si quis usuras undecumque 
 exegerit, tres annos poeniteat, 
 unum ex his in pane et aqua "t 
 
 " Si quis sacrilegium fecerit, id 
 est, quod aruspices vocant qui 
 auguria colunt per aves aut quo- 
 cumque auguriaveriat, iii. annos 
 poeniteat, i. ex his in pane et 
 aqua."J 
 
 " Si quis cupidus aut avarus aut 
 superbus aut ebriosus aut fratrem 
 suum hodio habuit, vel alia his 
 similia quae dimumerare longum 
 est tres annos poeniteat," etc.§ 
 
 " Si quis, ut vocant, sortes 
 sanctorum, quas contra rationem 
 vocant, vel alias sortes habuerit, 
 vel qualicumque ingenio sortitus 
 fuerit iii. annis poeniteat, i. ex 
 his in pane et aqua."|| 
 
 " Si quis ad arbores vel ad fontes 
 aut ad angulos vel ubicumque nisi 
 ad ecclesiam Dei vota voverit aut 
 solvent, tres annos poeniteat, unum 
 ex his in pane et aqua : et qui 
 ibidem ederit aut biberit unum 
 annum poeniteat. 'H 
 
 It is not, however, this agreement alone with SS. Columban and 
 Cummiau that proves the Irish origin of the Bobbio Penitential. 
 The very words which are used, and its forms of expression, as, for 
 instance, " ex sol poeniteat-" " si ruina maxima ceciderit" etc., are 
 peculiar to the Irish Penitentials. Some of its canons, too, are 
 those which are found only in the Irish documents. Compare the 
 following as given in our Bobbio text and in the Penitential of St. 
 Cummian: — 
 
 * Cum. Poenit. vi. 13. 
 § Ibid. viii. 6. 
 
 t Ibid. viii. 1. 
 Ii Ibid. vii. 4. 
 
 X Ibid. vii. 3. 
 U Ibid. vii. 6. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 287 
 
 BOBBIO. 
 
 XII. "Si quis cleric us vel supe- 
 rioris gradus qui uxorem habuit et 
 post honorera iterum earn cogno- 
 verit, sciat se aduiterium conimis- 
 sisse." 
 
 XXXI. "Si quis kalendas Ja- 
 nuarias in cervolo vel vicola vadit 
 tres annos pceniteat."* 
 
 XXXII. " Si quis midier avor- 
 sum fecerit voluntarie, tres annos 
 pceniteat, ununi in pane et aqua." 
 
 XIX. " Si quis maleficus im- 
 missor tempestatis (fuerit) septem 
 annos poeniteat. " 
 
 XXXIII. "Si quis per invooa- 
 tionem dnemonum honiinum nieutes 
 tulerit quinque annos pceniteat." 
 
 XXXV. ' ' Si quis dilaturas fece- 
 rit, quod detestabile est tres annos 
 pceniteat, unum in pane et aqua." 
 
 XXXVI. " Si quis servum vel 
 qualemcumque homineni in capti- 
 vitatem duxerit, tres annos pceniteat 
 unum in pane et aqua. " 
 
 XXXVII. " Si quis domum vel 
 aream cujuscumque igne cremaverit 
 tres annos poeniteat, unum in p. 
 et a." 
 
 CUMMIAN. 
 
 " Si clericus vel superioris gra- 
 dus qm uxorem habuit et post 
 conf essionem vel honorera clericatus 
 iterum earn cognoverit sciat sibi 
 adulterium commississe."t 
 
 " Si quis kalendis Januarii aut 
 in vecola aut in cervolo vadit, tri- 
 bus annis pceniteat, quia hoc daem- 
 on um est. "J 
 
 " Si mulier abortum fecerit vo- 
 luntarie, tres annos poeniteat in 
 pane et aqua."§ 
 
 ' ' Si quis emissor tempestatum 
 fuerit, septem annos pceniteat tres 
 ex his in pane et aqua."|| 
 
 "Si quis matimaticus fuerit et 
 per invocationem dsemonum men- 
 tes tulerit, quinque annos pceni- 
 teat," etcf 
 
 " Si quis dilaturas fecerit, quod 
 detestabile est, tres annos paeni- 
 teat, in pane et aqua."** 
 
 " Si quis servum aut quern - 
 cumque hominem quolibet ingenio 
 in captivitatem duxerit aut trans - 
 miserit, tres annos pceniteat," etc. ft 
 
 ■ ' Si quis domum vel aream cu- 
 juscumqueigne concremaverit. tres 
 annos poeniteat, unum in pane et 
 aqua."}} 
 
 All the canons regarding the blessed Eucharist should be also 
 cited : their parallel is only to be found in the various Irish Peni- 
 tentials, and even their phrases "si titubaverit sacerdos in oratione 
 Dominica" " qui communicaverit inconscius" etc., are found only in 
 the documents connected with our early Church. 
 
 C. — Djr. Todd's Remarks. 
 We have more than once referred to an interesting paper of Dr. 
 
 * The word vicola was unknown to Mabillon. Xovvit not only occurs 
 in Cummian's Penitential but also in Adamnan's Vita S. Columboe, edit. 
 Peeves, pages 64 and 114. 
 
 t Ibid. hi. 2. % Ibid. vii. 9. § Ibid. vi. 21. || Ibid. vii. 8. 
 T Ibid. vii. 7- ** Ibid. xi. 17. ft Ibid. iv. 9. XX Ibid. iv. 13. 
 
288 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS; 
 
 Todd, read before the Royal Irish Academy in 1856, i n which much 
 valuable information is given regarding the Stowe Missal. Inci- 
 dentally, however, he enters into an examination of the Bobbio 
 manuscript, and candidly asserts : " I cannot subscribe to Dr. 
 O'Conor's opinion, that the Sacramentarium of Bobbio, published 
 by Mabillon, was an Irish MS."* 
 
 The only argument which he advances to support this opinion is 
 one apparently of some weight, but in reality of no importance 
 whatever. " The entire absence of any allusion to the name of an 
 Irish saint, ought at once to decide the question : compare it in 
 this respect with the Stowe Missal and the Antiphonary of Bangor, 
 both of which exhibit, beyond the possibility of doubt, their Irish 
 origin."j- We shall not now make any inquiry as to the Anti- 
 phonary of Bangor, as our question only regards the missals of the 
 early Irish Church. The Stowe Missal, indeed, in its Memento, 
 gives the names " SS. Patrick, Ailbe, Finnian of Maghbile, Finnian 
 of Clonard, Keiran of Saighir, Keiran of Clonmacnois, Brendan 
 of Clonfert, Brendan of Birr, Columbkille, Columbanus, Comghill, 
 Canice, Findbarr, Nessan, Fachtne, Lugicl, Lacten, Ruadhan, Car- 
 thage, Kevin, Mochonna, Brigid, Ita, Scetha, Suinecha, and 
 Samdine." Again, after the Agnus Dei is found another sort of 
 litany, in which, to the apostles and martyrs, etc., is added a host 
 of Irish saints, forty-six in number. These are the only places in 
 which Irish saints are commemorated in the Stowe Missal. Now, 
 at first sight, it seems rather strange indeed that the Irish saints 
 should be so fully commemorated in the Stowe Missal, undoubtedly 
 an Irish one, and yet not one of them should find a place in the 
 Bobbio Missal. This difficulty occurred to Dr. Lanigan — and his 
 reply might have been attended to by Dr. Todd : " This difficulty," 
 he says, " can be easily removed by observing, that the respect 
 paid by the Irish clergy to St. Patrick prevented them from adding 
 any Mass to those contained in the missal brought by him. "J 
 
 It is, however, to Dr. Todd himself that we are indebted for a 
 clear and irrefragable reply to the statement which he makes in 
 
 * Page 26. t Ibid. % Eccl. Hist. iv. 372. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 289 
 
 the preceding extract. This skilful antiquarian had very well 
 remarked (at page 18 seqq.) that the Stowe Missal was written 
 "in two different hands;" and that whilst " the older writing is 
 certainly not later than the sixth century, the more recent hand is 
 probably of the tenth." Now, when speaking of the Irish saints 
 who are commemorated, Dr. Todd expressly attests, that they are 
 added by the more recent hand. He even makes this a matter 
 of accusation against Dr. 0' Conor, that he had not remarked the 
 different date which should thus be assigned to the original missal 
 and to the Irish Litany. Thus, in regard to the saints comme- 
 morated in the Memento, he writes : 
 
 " Dr. O'Conor has omitted to notice the fact that this litany is not iii 
 the original hand of the MS. , but in the later hand-writing of which I 
 have several times spoken."* 
 
 And after referring to the other saints who are mentioned in the 
 litany after the Agnus Dei, he again remarks : 
 
 " Here again Dr. O'Conor omits the fact that this second enumeration 
 of Irish worthies is also in the more recent hand, which is thus again 
 referred to the same period as before."! 
 
 Thus, then, it results from Dr. Todd's own antiquarian 
 researches, that in the undoubtedly Irish missal of Stowe, the 
 mention of Irish saints was introduced in later times, whilst no 
 trace of them is found in the earlier text of the sixth century. 
 We may, therefore, conclude that the absence of Irish names from 
 the Bobbio Missal nowise proves that it was not of Irish origin ; 
 but that it serves wonderfully to corroborate more and more the 
 conclusion which we have deduced from other sources that, viz., 
 it was an Irish missal, which dates from the very earliest period 
 of our Church. 
 
 The second argument of Dr. Todd is still more amusing than 
 the former one. In the Bobbio Missal, he says : 
 
 ' ' No allusion occurs to Bobbio, Columbanus, or anything that could 
 even indirectly connect it with Ireland, except that in the Judicius Pceni- 
 
 * Page 34. t Ibid- 
 
290 
 
 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 tentialis, with which the volume concludes, the twenty-eighth canon seems 
 to have been taken from the Mensura Poeiiitentiarum of the Irish St. 
 Cummian." 
 
 And then he gives, as follows, the two parallel texts of this 
 canon : 
 
 XXVIII. " Si quis clericus post- 
 quam se Deo voverit iterum ad 
 saeculum reversus fuerit vel uxorem 
 duxerit duodecim annos pceniteat, 
 sex in pane et aqua, et numquam 
 in conjugio copuletur. Quod si 
 noluerint, sancta sedes apostolica 
 separavit eos a communione sanc- 
 torum : similiter et mulier postquam 
 se Deo vovit et tale scelus admi- 
 serit, similiter faciat." 
 
 ST. CUMMIAN. 
 
 " Si clericus aut monachus post- 
 quam se Deo voverit ad ssecularem 
 habitum iterum reversus fuerit, aut 
 uxorem duxerit, decern annis poeni- 
 teat, tribus ex his in pane et aqua 
 et numquam postea in conjugio 
 copuletiu' ; quod si noluerit, sancta 
 synodus vel sedes apostolica sepa- 
 ravit eos a communione et convo- 
 cationibus Catholicorum. Similiter 
 et mulier, postquam secundo vo- 
 verit, si tale scelus admiserit, pari 
 sententise subjacebit."* 
 
 From these texts, Dr. Todd triumphantly concludes : 
 
 ' ' This is the only contact of the Bobbio Missal with anything Irish ; and 
 yet, even here, we have not an identity of context." 
 
 It is painful to find the learned writer led away into so many 
 and such palpable errors. 
 
 1. How could we expect to find mention of Bobbio and Colum- 
 banus in a missal which was probably brought by St. Columbanus 
 himself or his companions to the hallowed retreat of Bobbio ? 
 
 2. Dr. Wasserschleben's work on the Penitentials of the 
 Western Church, was published in 1851, and how then could Dr. 
 Todd, in 1856, assert that the Penitential of St. Cummian was the 
 only Irish one known to the learned ?f 
 
 3. We have given above many canons in which the Bobbio text 
 perfectly coincides with the Penitential of St. Cummian : why then 
 does Dr. Todd place as the groundwork of all his reasoning, that 
 there was only the twenty-eighth canon in which they were sup- 
 
 * Chap. iii. 4. 
 
 t See loc. cit. p. 27-8. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 291 
 
 posed to agree ? Dr. O'Conor had clearly stated, in general, that 
 both texts agreed ; for, when speaking of the Bobbio Penitential, 
 he expressly says, " in quo ipsa verba Poenitentialium Cummeani et 
 Columbani occurrunt."* Lanigan had also writteu " this Missal 
 is accompanied with a Penitential, and what is exceedingly remark- 
 able, one that agrees in very great part with that of St. Colum- 
 banus, and in some points with the Penitential of Cummian."f Is 
 it then a fair exposition of his adversary's opinion to limit its 
 coincidence with other Irish monuments to one mere canon, in 
 which, too, it is supposed to agree only with the Penitential of St. 
 Cummian ? 
 
 4. After the many canons which we cited from the Bobbio 
 Penitential, agreeing perfectly with the Penitentials of St. Colum- 
 banus and Cummian, it would be unnecessary to make any remark 
 on the discrepancy which Dr. Todd points out between the text of 
 St. Cummian and the twenty-eighth canon of Bobbio. However, 
 we have here again an example of how every new discovery and 
 careful research serves to confirm truth. Fleming, when publish- 
 ing the text of St. Cummian's Penitential, had lamented that in 
 many parts the manuscript was almost illegible, and the words 
 well nigh effaced. This should have made the learned professor 
 of Trinity somewhat cautious in asserting that the text of St. Cum- 
 mian was in reality quite different from that of the twenty-eighth 
 canon of Bobbio. However, what removes for ever all doubt on 
 this head is that Dr. Wasserschleben, in his edition of 1851, 
 restored from various MSS. the correct reading in various canons, 
 and these corrections are invariably found to bring St. Cummian's 
 text in closer connection with that of Bobbio. In the very canon 
 of which we speak, the latter portion is thus given by this laborious 
 editor : — 
 
 ' ' Quod si noluerit, sancta synodus atque sedes ApostoKca separavit eos 
 a comnmnione et convivio Catholicorum : similiter et rnulier post quam 
 se Deo voverit, si tale scelus admiserit, pari sententiae subjacebit." 
 
 This corrected reading of St. Cummian's text is corroborated 
 
 * Eer. Hib. Script. 1, p. cxxxviii. t Ecc. Hist. iv. 372. 
 
292 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 by the famous Vatican MS. (No. 1339, ssec. x.) in which this canon 
 is cited under" St. Cummian's name, and is given precisely as pub- 
 lished by Wasserschleben.* The same ancient Vatican manuscript 
 elsewhere affords another proof of the remark which we made just 
 now, and of hoAv incomplete is the present printed text of St. 
 Cummian's Penitential. The thirty-fourth canon of Bobbio was 
 one of the few canons that seemed not to have been adopted by 
 St. Cummian, for no trace of it was found in Fleming's text. Now 
 at fol. 257 of the Vatican MS. this canon is precisely quoted as a 
 decree from the Penitential of St. Cummian : " Judicium Com- 
 meani : si quis virginem vel viduam rapuerit, v. annos cum pane 
 et aqua pceniteat." 
 
 Thus, then, it is not merely one point of contact that the Bobbio 
 Penitential has with the writings of St. Cummian : this contact is 
 found in almost every one of its forty-seven canons. So much so, 
 that we may unhesitatingly conclude that this very Penitential is to 
 be reckoned amongst those " Scripta Patrum" which St. Cummian 
 describes as the source of the Penitential code which he enacted. 
 And yet, as we have seen, the work of St. Cummian is far from 
 being the only one of our Irish monuments with which the Bobbio 
 text has a close and undeniable affinity. It has a clear connexion 
 with the Penitential work of Columbanus : it presents a striking 
 affinity even with the Stowe Missal, so ably illustrated by Todd 
 himself; and in fine, in each and all its parts it is a valuable 
 monument of our early Church, closely allied with every fragment 
 of our ancient liturgy that has come down to us. 
 
 D. — Extracts from the Bobbio Missal. 
 
 We may now add a few extracts from this ancient Irish Missal, 
 that those readers who have not access to it may form some idea 
 of the precious details regarding the faith of our fathers which it 
 has preserved to us. 
 
 Its first Mass is the every-day Mass ; then follow the special 
 
 * Lib. 2, chap. 116, fol. 96-b. This portion of the Vatican MS. was 
 published as far back as 1836, by the indefatigable Prussian, F. Theiner, 
 in his Disquisition es Criticas, p. 294. 
 
MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 293 
 
 Masses for Advent, and the Nativity, and subsequent festivals. On 
 the vigil of the Nativity, we meet the following prayer : — 
 
 " Deus cujus nativitate filii tui Domiui nostri gloriosa uati vitas et 
 Marise partuin et Eogenife triumphum (sacra vit) ; hodie quippe Maria 
 Christum genuit ; hodie Eogenia ad Christum vadit : hodie ilia generat 
 ad quern ista festiuat ; hodie Christus in mundum veuit : hodie virginem 
 in coelo Christus suscepit : hodie nascendo virginem matrem fecit, qui 
 hodie perficiendo martyrem corona vit," etc. 
 
 In the Preface of the same day we read : — 
 
 " Caro est quod involvitur; divinitas cui ab Angelis ministratur. 
 Erat positus in prassepio, sed virtus ejus operabatur in coelis. In cunabulis 
 jacebat et regnum coeleste donabat. Natus est nobis Christus, inlumi- 
 natus est mundus. Innupta peperit, et virgo concepit : de viro pura, de 
 filio gloriosa, accepit nomen matris sed non habuit thronum uxoris. Per 
 cujus nativitatem indulgentia criminum conceditur et resurrectio non 
 negatur," etc. 
 
 In the Mass for the feast of St. Stephen (p. 292), the following 
 beautiful prayer occurs : — 
 
 "Deus omnipotens qui Ecclesiae tuse sanctum Stefanum martyrem 
 primum messis tuae manipulum dedisti et primitivam oblationem novelise 
 confessionis ostendisti praeconem, quod fructus maturescentes exhibuit ; 
 prasta universo coetui intercessione Martyris meriti ut Ecclesiam tuam 
 juvet suffragio quam ornavit ministerio. " 
 
 The next page gives us the Mass of the Holy Innocents, 
 and the sweet prayer : — 
 
 "Deus lactentium fides, spes infantium, caritas puerorum, qui per 
 innocentium laudem cunctos provocas ad salutem, infunde in nobis puri- 
 tatem lactentis infantias, concede doctrinam." 
 
 In the Mass of the Cathedra Sancti Petri, the following prayers 
 occur : — 
 
 "Beatissimi Petri Apostoli solemnissimum diem in quo omne jus 
 gentium Juda^orumque sortitus est, quern diem ipsa divinitas cousecravit 
 delegando ccelorum claves, vel pontiricalis cathedras contulit dignitatem, 
 fratres carissimi, exidtantes in Domino celebremus, deprecantes ejus 
 misericordiam ; ut sicut beato Petro principalia munera contulit, ita et 
 nobis peccatorum commissa concedat. 
 
294 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 
 
 ' ' Deus qui hodierna die beatum Petrum post te dedisti caput Ecclesiae, 
 cum te ille vere confessus sit et ipse a te digne praelatus sit, te supplices 
 exoramus, ut qui dedisti Pastorem, ne quid de ovibus perderes (et) ut 
 grex effugiat errores; ejus intercessione quern praefecisti, salvifices. 
 
 " Deum qui beato Petro tantam potestatem discipulo coutulit, ut si 
 ipse ligaverit nou sit alter qui solverit; et quae in terra solvent, item 
 ccelo, soluta sint, precibus imploremus ; ut eductis a tartaro defunctorum 
 spiritibus, non prsevaleant sepultis inferni porta? per crimina, quas per 
 Apostoli fidem viuci credit Ecclesia." 
 
 In the Preface, too, of tbe same festival, we read : — 
 
 "Vere dignum et justum est, omnipotens Deus, qui dives infinitae 
 dementia copioso munere plasmam tuae creaturae in tantum dignaris 
 erigere ut vernaculo limi compatiens homiiri de terrena compage claves 
 coeli committeres, et ad judicandas.tribus solium excelsae sedis in sublimi 
 conponeres. Testis est dies hodierna beati Petri Cathedra Episcopates 
 exposita, in qua fidei merito revelationis mysterium fidei, Filium Dei 
 confitendo, praelatus Apostolus ordinatur, in cujus confessione est funda- 
 mentum Ecclesias nee adversus hanc Petram portae inferi praevalent, nee 
 serpens vestigium exprimit, nee triumphum mors obtinet. Quid vero 
 beato Petro diverso sub tempore accessit laudis et glorias quae vox, quae 
 liugua, quis explicet. Hinc est quod mare tremulum fixo calcat vestigio 
 et inter undas liquidas penchila planta perambulat," etc.* 
 
 The Mass " for the festival of Holy Mary" {Missa in 
 
 Sanctce Marice solemnitate) immediately follows in the Bobbio 
 
 text. We give in full the prayers and preface of this ancient 
 Irish Mass : — 
 
 "Omnipotens sempiterne Deus qui terrenis corporibus, Verbi tui veri- 
 tatem per venerabilem Mariam conjungi voluisti ; petimus immensam 
 clementiam tuam, ut quod in ejus veneratione deposeimus, Te propici- 
 ante mereamur consequi. 
 
 " Exaudi nos Domine, sancte Pater, omnipotens Deus, quibeatae Mariae 
 uteri obumbratione cunctum mundum inluminare dignatus es : majes- 
 ' tatem tuam supplices deprecamur ut quod nostris meritis non valemus 
 ejus adipisci praesidiis mereamur. Te quaesumus Due. famulantes, ut 
 beatae Marice nos gaudia comitentur, cujus meritis nostra deleantur chiro- 
 grapha peccatorum. 
 
 ' ' Offerimus Dne. preces et munera iu honore sanctae Mariae gaudentes ; 
 prassta quaesumus, ut et convenientur haec agere, et remedium sempiter- 
 num valeamus adquirere. 
 
 "Altario tuo, Dne. proposita munera Spiritus Sanctus beiaignus adsumat 
 qui beatae Mariae viscera splendoris sui veritate replevit. 
 
 * Page 29S. 
 
Of THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
 MISSAL OF ST. COLUMBANUS. 295 
 
 ' ' Vere dignura et justum est omnipotens Deus. Qui nos mirabile myste- 
 rium et inenarrabile sacramentum per venerabilem Mariarn servare docuisti 
 in qua manet intacta castitas, pudor integer, firma conscientia. Nam in 
 hoc matrem Domini sui Jesn se esse cognovit, quia plus gaudii contulit 
 quam pudoris. Laetatur ergo quod virgo concepit, quod caeli Dominum 
 clausis porta vit visceribus, quod virgo edidit partum. magna dementia 
 Deitatis ! quae virum non novit et mater est, et post filium virgo est. 
 Duobus enim gavisa est muneribus : miratur quod virgo peperit ; laatatur 
 quod edidit Pedemptorem Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum. Per 
 quern," etc. 
 
 A Mass for the feast of the Assumption next follows : 
 
 "Generosae diei, dominicae Genitricis inexplicabile sacramentum, tanto 
 magis praeconabile quantum inter homines adsumptione virginis singulare, 
 apud quam vitae integritas obtinuit filium et mors non invenit par exem- 
 plum . . . fratres carissimi deprecemur ut ejus adjuti muniamur suffragio, 
 quae beata Maria de partu clara, de merito felix praedicatur post tran- 
 situm. 
 
 "Deus universalis, qui in Sanctis spiritaliter, in Matre vero virgine 
 etiam corporaliter habitasti ; quae, caritate decens, pace gaudens, pietate 
 pnecellens ; ab Angelo gratia plena, ab Helizabet benedicta, ab gentibus 
 praedicatur beata : cujus nobis fides mysterium, partus gaudium, pacem 
 quam in adsumptione matris tunc prasbuisti discipulis, nobis miserere 
 supplicibus. 
 
 " Vere dignum et justum est omnipotens Deus per Jesum Christum, 
 Dominum nostrum. Quo fidelis Israel egressa est de Egypto ; quo virgo 
 Dei genitrix Maria de mundo migravit ad Christum, germine gloriosa, 
 adsumptione secura, Paradisi dote praelata, damna de coetu, sumens vota 
 de fructu ; non subdita labori per partum, non dolori per transitum ; 
 speciosus thalamus, de quo decorus procedit sponsus, lux gentium, spes 
 fidelium, praedo daamonum, confusio Judaaorum, vascidum glorise, 
 templum cceleste ; cujus juvenculaa melius praadicantur nierita cum 
 veteris Evae conferentur exempla. Siquidem ista mundo vitam protulit ; 
 ilia legem mortis invexit : ilia praevaricando nos perdidit ; ista generando 
 servavit : ilia nos porno arboris in ipsa radice percussit ; ex hujus virga 
 flos exiit, qui nos odore refecerit, et fruge curarit : ilia maledictione in 
 dolore generat ; ista benedictione in salute. Recte ab ipso suscepta es 
 in adsumptione feliciter quern pie suscepisti conceptura per fidem ut qui 
 terrae non eras conscia, te non teneret rupis inclusa. Vere diversis 
 infulis anima redimita, cui Apostoli sacrum reddunt obsequium, Angeli 
 cantum, Christus amplexum, nubes vehicolum, assumtio Paradisum, iu 
 choris virginum gloria tenens principatum, " etc. 
 
 Then follow some Masses for Lent and Easter, for " the finding 
 of the Holy Cross," and other festivals, amongst which we must 
 remark that of St. Sigismund, king of Burgundy, who died in 
 
296 PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST'MOCHTA. 
 
 I 
 
 515, and who was numbered amongst the chief patrons of Luxeu. 
 This Mass was added immediately before the general Mass for the 
 festivals of martyrs. There are also Masses for the Dead, and one 
 in particular "for a deceased priest." To some passages in these 
 various Masses we may have occasion to refer hereafter. The 
 reader, however, must not expect to find rigorously exact the 
 statement made by Dr. Todd, that forsooth the Bobbio Missal, in 
 Mabillon's edition, " contains epistles and gospels for all the 
 Sundays and festivals."* This statement has no foundation in 
 the missal itself, and must be supposed to have proceeded from 
 an oversight of the learned writer. 
 
 The missal has, in the end, various exorcisms and blessings, the 
 penitential of which we have spoken above, a short treatise on the 
 hours for chanting the ecclesiastical office, the Apostles' Creed as 
 given in our second appendix, and a list of the sacred canonical 
 books. 
 
 APPENDIX No. V. 
 
 THE ''PROFESSION OF FAITH" OF ST. MOCHTA.f 
 
 This valuable treatise was first published by Muratori, in the 
 second volume of his Anecdota, under the name of Bachiarius ; 
 which, as Colgan proves, was nothing more than a corruption of 
 the Irish name of our saint.j: Muratori styles it, "praatiosum 
 opusculum, cui hucusque cum blattis ac pulvere secretissimum 
 bellum fuit." He adds that he discovered it in " antiquissimo 
 Ambrosianae Bibliothecse codice, olim Bobiensi ante annos mille 
 
 * Page 30. f For St. Mochta see ante, p. 92. 
 
 X See Acta SS. p. 731. 
 
PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 297 
 
 conscripto."* A few years later it was noticed by Montfaucon in 
 his Museum Italicum,f who describes the manuscript in which it is 
 preserved as belonging to the eighth century. 
 
 St. Mochta more than once refers to the fact of one individual 
 having given the evil fame of heresy to our country ; and thus he 
 gives us a key to the statements of early writers concerning the 
 faith of our island in the fifth century. On the one hand, we 
 know that no heresy infected the Irish Church ; whilst on the 
 other hand, many ancient writers unite Ireland with England when 
 treating of the spread of Pelagianism. Thus, the letter of the 
 Roman clergy, written in 639, speaks of the Pelagianw hcerese&s 
 virus, as if it had, in a preceding age, infected Ireland. The tract 
 on the liturgy published in our second appendix, also eulogises St. 
 Germanus for having expelled Pelagianism " from Britain and 
 Ireland ;" and similar phrases are met with in many other writers. 
 Thus, what was the guilt of one individual, Celestius, was imputed 
 to his country ; and hence the evil fame of heresy was for a time 
 attached to our sainted island. St. Mochta, in his Profession of 
 Faith, alludes to no heresy ; he had none to abjure ; he and his 
 countrymen had retained untainted and unchanged the profession 
 of faith which they had made at the baptismal font ; and hence, 
 in the present treatise, we have little more than a running com- 
 mentary on the Apostles' Creed, whilst he especially dwells on 
 those precise points of doctrine which are characteristic of the 
 early Irish writers : 
 
 1. " Omne, quodfuit, ipsum, quod erit ; et noq est omnerecens sub sole. (Eccle. 
 i. 9.) Et iterum Apostolus: Ovinia hcec in figuram noslri contigerunt ; (1 
 Corinth, x. 6) quod prsesentis rei probatur effectu ; cum gesta olim evan- 
 gelici sacramenta mysterii, iterum setatis nostrse temporibus renovata 
 celebrentur. Ecce nunc, quantum intelligimus Christus a Samaritaua 
 aquam postulat, cum Beatitudo tua Fidem a nobis requirit. Suspectos 
 nos, quantum video, facit, non sermo, sed regio ; et qui de fide non eru- 
 bescimus, de Provincia confundimur. Sed absit, beatissime, ut apud 
 viros sanctos macula nos terrense nativitatis inficiat. Nos Patriam etsi 
 secundum carnem novimus, sed nunc jam non novimus : et desiderantes 
 
 * Anecdota Ambrosiana, torn. ii. Milan, 1698, p. 1, seqq. 
 t Page 18. 
 
298 PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 Abraham filii fieri, terram nostram, cognationemque relinquimus. Hoc 
 autern ideo dicimus, quia sicut Samaritanis, sic nobis non creditur a 
 Judseis, eo quod cuiusdam hgeresis macula solum nostrum originale pers- 
 trinxerit ; sic praBsidentium quorumdam seutentia judicamur, quasi liberi 
 esse ab erroris deceptioue nequeamus. Dictum est similiter quondam 
 ab incredulis : A Nazareth potest aliquid boni esse f et tamen hide Christus 
 processit. Numquid, rogo, Apostolorum merita unius perfidia, avaritia- 
 que mutavit, qui, non dicam de eadem regione, sed eorum processit e 
 latere ? Numquid Patriarcharmn vitam fratrum culpa turbavit ? Numquid 
 Propbetarum oracula, Pseudoprophetaruni commenta falsarunt ? Core illo 
 Levitico in liseresim decliaante, numquid reliqua cognatio ex hac stirpe 
 descendens, maculam ex propinquitate contraxit? Pontificis filiis 
 ignem offerentibus alienum, germani eorum sacerdotali funguntur officio, 
 et inculpatos se a crimine fratrum ministerii sui honore testantur. Nico- 
 lao Diacono in heeresim declinante, gloriosa collectorum fratrum in vir- 
 tutibus Dei oj)era refulserunt. Crimen nobis regionis intenditur. Quis- 
 quis hoc dicit, legat Christum Samaritanum : in qua Provincia, non solum 
 haaresis, sed idololatrias criminibus servierunt. In domo profani et scele- 
 ratissimi Achab Abdias servus Domini inventus est, qui corporibus 
 Prophetariun meruit copulari. In Sarepta Sidonise, inter Chananaeorum 
 scelestissimum genus, vidua fidelis reperitur, et Prophetarum hospita 
 eligitur. Magister idololatrise, et caput hseresis Balaam, ut Christum 
 prsedicaret, admissus est : Job ex Esau profani et infidelis stirpe descendit. 
 Ruth cognata generis Cbristi Moabitis esse describitur, cujus origo in 
 seternum ab Ecclesiae foribus abdicatur. Abraham caput fidei de Chal- 
 daaorum stirpe descendit, quibus vernacula et naturalis magicse artis 
 impietas est. Magis Christum adorantibus, Vetera errorum non impu- 
 tantur opprobria. Moysi ^Egyptiorum artibus erudito prophetalis spiritus 
 gratia condonatur. Jam in Christo renatis terrenee proviucise error 
 adscribitnr ? 
 
 2. "Si agnoscimus Patriam, erubescamus et culpam ; mihi enim civitas, 
 cui renovatus sum, regio effecta vel Patria est. Nihil mihi de terrenis 
 affinitatibus adscribatur, quibus renuntiasse memini. Quis quis est, qui 
 me de Provincial cognatione asstimat infidelem, ij)se infidelem se esse 
 noverit ; quia aut oblitus est aut lubricum putat, quod in baptismo con- 
 fessum esse cognoscit ; sine diibio enim non relinquit terrenam cognatio- 
 n em, qui me de patrio errore confutat. Certe secundum institutionem 
 actus humani Pater patriam facit. Qualiter mihi Patria in terra esse 
 dicitur, cui ex prrccepto coelesti Patrem in terra vocare, aut habere non 
 sinitur. Vis enim, ut evidentibus tibi per me hoc probetur exemphs, 
 qui Patria) culpas errorem ? Nonne Novatiani hoc genere a Catholicis 
 dissidentes, probrosae hoaresis lepram iudicio contraxere perverso, eo quod 
 auteactam culparum seriem crediderunt etiam posteris adscribendam, 
 et non tam haeresim odere quam plebem ? Si pro culpa unius, totius 
 Provincial anathematizanda generatio est, damnetur et ilia beatissima dis- 
 cipula, hoc est Roma, de qua nunc non una, sed dupe vel tres, aut eo 
 amplius hoereses pullularunt ; et tamen nulla earum Cathedram Petri, 
 hoc est sedem Fidei, aut tenere potuit, aut movere. Damnentur postremo 
 et omnes Provincial, de quibus diversi erroris rivuli manavere. Ille vas 
 
PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. ftlOCHTA. 299 
 
 cloctionis, et Gentium Doctor lapso Eutycho de tertio tecto, credo, 
 aliquid de Trinitate erranti, restituit calorem fidei, et vitam reddidit, 
 hoc est, veniam relaxavit. Nos fortasse adhuc in fenestra id est, in lucis 
 via, et fidei splendore residentes severi nimium jiidices, non ex discus- 
 sione, seel ex suspectione condemnant : nescientes, quia quo judicio judicave- 
 rint, judicabitur de eis ; et qui frairi suo dixerit Racha, reus erit gehennas ignis. 
 Racha enim, vacuus interpretatur. Et quis est vacuus, nisi cuius 
 interiora carent fidei veritate, et est velut ceramentum sonans, aut cymba- 
 lum tinniens ? Ille, qui una tantum nocte Christum viderat, ait contri- 
 bulis suis : Numquid lex nostra judicat hominem, nisi prius audiat, quae agit ? 
 Et hi, qui tot annorum Domini sectatores sunt, prius judicant,*quam id, 
 unde judical) t audiant, atque cognoscant ? Si ante cognitionem promenda 
 est sententia, cur Legislator praecepit, ne antequam introeat sacerdos, et 
 videat domum qiue cariosce vel tinuientis lepra haeresis scindatur, im- 
 munda judicetur ? Ne, quasso, Beatissime frater, male de Provincia 
 sentiatur. Non latet enim perspicaciam tuam, quia cum in adventu arcae 
 Dominicae Dagonis caput in centum partes cum utrisque pedibus coinmi- 
 nutum sit, spina ejus integra superfuisse describitur. Nos enim Dagonis 
 caput, sive pedes, membra mundi, id est, orientem, et occiduum esse 
 sentimus, in quibus partibus sub praesentia legis omnis errorum nutrita 
 perversitas est. Tuum sit enim judicare, quae sit medietas spinae, 
 in qua adhuc nodorum compago dissoluta perdurat. Ut quid, rogo, 
 quaeritur Provincia mea ? Peregrinus ego sum, sicut omnes Patres mei. 
 Verumtamen si magnopere quaeritur, ubi natus sim, accipiatur confessio 
 mea, quam in Baptismi nativitate respondi ; non enim mihi Patria confes- 
 sionem, sed confessio Patriam dedit ; quia credidi, et accepi. Nee me 
 offuscet Samaritana conditio, quia Christum, interrogatus ad puteum, 
 credidi, et purgatus a lepra infidelitatis agnovi. Verumtamen quia 
 apostolicae eruditionis instituta nos commovent, ut omnibus poscentibus 
 nobis rationem de fide et spe, quae in nobis est, proferamus ; non move- 
 mur Fidei nostras regrdarn Beatitudini tuaa, qui artifex es ipsius seclificii, 
 demonstrare. 
 
 3. " Sed ne forte hoc ip'sum suspicionem infidelitatis iucutiat, quod 
 tardius ad interrogata respondeo ; credimus. Deum esse : quod f uit, erat ; 
 quod erat, erit, nunquam aliud, semper idem : Pater Deus, Fihus Deus, 
 Spiritus Sanctus Deus : unus Deus, et unus Filius de Patre, Spiritus 
 Sanctus Patris et Filii. Unius Trinitatis ' ista substantia, et tria ista 
 imam habentia voluntatem. Nee communicans major, nee accipieus 
 minor : nee est secundus a primo, nee tertius de secundo ; quia sic nos 
 prophetica instituta docuerunt dicendo: Nonascendesper gradus ad altar t 
 meum. Altare enim velut quamdam basim Fidei suspicamur, unde vitalis 
 cibi participantur alimenta ; quia altare ex proprietate noininis sui 
 nonnisi sublimium rerum alta cognitio est. Divisum enim per sillabas 
 nomen altaris, inchoatumque de fine, res alta significatur et sonat. Ad 
 hanc Fidem per gradus ascendere non debemus, ne inaequaliter sentiendo, 
 de inferiore ad superiorem transitum facia'mus ; sed aequali gradu nostri 
 cordis intrare, ut uuius substantias, unius potestatis, unius virtutis, et 
 Patrem, et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum sentiamus. Pater euim principale 
 nomen Diviuitatis per se, quod creditur, et dicitur Pater Deus, Filius 
 
300 PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 Deus ex Patre non ex se, sed Patris. Pater Deus, et Filius Deus sed 
 non idem Pater, qui Filius ; sed idem esse creditur Pater quod Filius, et 
 Spiritus Sanctus non Pater ingenitus, sed Spiritus ingeniti Patris. Filius 
 genitus, non Spiritus Filius, sed ipse Filius super quern a Patre missus est 
 Spiritus. Itaque, cum ingenitus Pater sit, cuius est Spiritus, incaute 
 Spiritus Sanctus dicitur ingenitus, ne duo ingeniti, aut duo Patres ab 
 infidelibus aestimentur. Filius Patris ante saecula genitus a Patre, non 
 potest alium genitum habere consortem ; ut credatur unigenitus et duo 
 geniti non dicantur. Pater enim unus ingenitus, Filius unus est genitus, 
 Spiritus Sauctus a Patre procedens, Patri et Filio coaaternus, quoniam 
 umim opus, et una in Patre et Filio et Spiritu Sancto voluntatis operatio est. 
 Pater ingenitus, Filius genitus, Spiritus Sanctus a Patre procedens, Patri 
 et Filio coaeternus ; sed ille nascitur hie procedit sicut in Evangelio Beati 
 Johannis legitis : Spiritus, qui a Patre procedit ipse vobis annuncidbit 
 omnia. Itaque Spiritus Sanctus nee Pater esse ingenitus, nee Filius geni- 
 tus aestimetur ; sed Spiritus Sanctus, qui a Patre procedit. Sed non est 
 aliud quod procedit quam quod unde procedit. Si persona quseritur, 
 Deus est. Hasc per hoc tripartita conjunctio, et conjuncta divisio, et in 
 personis, excludit unionem, et in personarum distinctione obtinet unita- 
 tem, sicque credimus beatissimam Trinitatem, quod unius naturae est, unius 
 deitatis, unius ejusdemque virtutis atque substantiae : nee inter Patrem et 
 Filium et Spiritnm Sanctum, sit ulla diversitas, nisi quod ille Pater sit, et 
 hie Filius, et ille Spiritus Sanctus, Trinitas in subsistentibus personis, uni- 
 tas in natura atque substantia. Filium quoque credimus in novissimis 
 diebus natum esse de virgine, et Spiritu Sancto, carnem naturae humanse, 
 et animam suscepisse. In qua came et passum et sepultum, resurrexisse a 
 mortuis credimus et fatemur ; et in eadem ipsa carne in qua jacuit in 
 sepulcro, post resurectionem ascendisse in coelum, unde venturum expec- 
 tamus ad judicium vivorum et mortuorUm : virginem quoque de qua natum 
 scimus, et virginem ante partum, et virginem post partum, ne consortes 
 Elvidiani erroris habeamur. Carnem quoque nostrae resurrectionis fatemur 
 integram atque perfectam, hujus, in qua vivimus in praesenti saeculo aut 
 bonis artibus gubernamur, aut malis operibus subjacemus ; ut possimus 
 in ipsa, aut pro malis poenarum tormeuta sustinere, aut pro bonis bonorum 
 prsemia adquirere : neque, ut quidam absurdissime, aliam pro hac resur- 
 cituram dicimus, sed banc ipsam, nullo omnino ei vel membro amputato 
 vel ahqua corporis parte defecta. Hie est nostra* Fidei thesaurus, quern 
 signato Ecclesiastico symbolo, quod in Baptismo accepimus, custodimus. 
 Sic coram Deo corde credimus sic coram hominibus labiis conti- 
 ternur ; ut et hominibus cognitio sua tidem faciat, et Deo imago sua 
 testimonium reddat. Hie est baculus defensionis nostrae, quo murmuran- 
 tium adversus nos ora feriamus, qui nos per viam hujus soeculi tran- 
 seuntes iugo consuetudinis, non studio rationis oblatrant. Hoc scutum 
 Fidei nostrae, quo obtrectautium verborum, et venenata suspicionuni 
 spicula repellimus, ac vitamus, ne aliquod in nobis patens membrum, et 
 de protectione Fidei nudum, sermo iiiimici, qui ad feriendum destinatur 
 inveniat. Sed sileamus de his quia nobis nunc, non repercutiendi, sed 
 vitandi tantum hostis cura suscepta est. 
 
 4. "Jam vero, si etiam illud a nobis quaeritur, qualiter de anima en- 
 
PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 301 
 
 tiainus, factain credimus esse, sicut legimus in Hieremia Propheta per 
 Regem Sedeciam dicentem : Vivit Dominus qui fecit nobis animam istam. 
 Si autem quaeritur, unde sit facta, nescire nie fateor, quia nee usqiiam legis- 
 se cognosco : et ideo nee de iniperitia erubesco, quia lectioue non doceor ; 
 neque periculum formido, quia quae non lego non preesumo, ne transgressor 
 propheticorum inveniar praeceptorum, qui maudat sanguinem non maudu- 
 cari adjiciens quia, om?tis carnis sanguis anima est. Quid enim est sangui- 
 nem rnanducare, nisi de anima disputare ? et ideo carnem, qua? nobis in 
 Adam fundata est, possumus dicere ex mundi qualitatibus substantias Deo 
 artifice et auctore com|)actam ; sanguinem enim ad basim fundamus altaris, 
 id est ut ipsi qui creavit, scire unde creaverit, relinquamus. Basis enim 
 altaris velut quaedam radix profunditatis est, cujus secreto etiam rationem 
 animae jungamus de qua disputare non possumus. Et ideo nee partem dici- 
 mus Dei animam, sicut quidam asserunt, quia Deus impartibilis, et indi- 
 visus, et impassibilis est, anima vero diversis passionibus manicipata, sicut 
 quotidianus rerum exitus probat. Nee de creatura aliqua factam^dicimus, 
 ne earn faciamus viliorem reliquis creaturis, quibus domina, si bene 
 egerit, constituta est ; sed ex Dei tantum voluntate formari, cuius potential 
 non necessaria est materia, ex qua quod voluerit operetur, sed ipsa voluntas 
 eius materia eorum, quae fieri aut esse mandaverit. Sed nee illi assertioni 
 tradimus manus, qua quidam superfluo delectantur, ut credant animas ex 
 transfusion© gen,Tari ; quia contradicit huic suspicioni beatus David 
 dicendo : Scitote, quoniam Dominus ipse est Deus : ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos. 
 Et alibi : Qui finxit singillatim corda eorum. Ubi ha?c trausfusio inveniet 
 locum, ubi aut singillatim corda finguntur, aut dicitur : ipse fecit nos, et 
 non ipsi nos ? Qui ergo ex transfusione dicunt animas generari, id asserere 
 dicuntur, quia ipsi nos faciamus. Sed hoc preescientia prophetalis objur- 
 gat dicendo : ipse fecit nos, et non ipsi nos. Absque sola igitur Trinitate, 
 omne quod in coelis, sive in terris, et mari potentatur, agitur, movetur, 
 creaturam esse credimus et fatemur. 
 
 5. " Diabolum non ita factum sentimus, ut diabolus est, nee proprium 
 habuisse naturae sua? genus, ut diabolus nasceretur, et hoc cognomen 
 meritum dedisse, non Deum : nee ingenitum esse, quia deus non est ; nee 
 factum esse diabolum, quia Deus malum non fecit, sed Angelum bonum 
 factum, sicut Script ura demonstrat : Per bonum operatum est mihi omnem 
 concupiscentiam. Malum enim Angelum fuisse sic credo, ut apostolus 
 dicit : Datus est mihi stimulus carnis meai, Angelus Satanm, qui me colaphiset. 
 Et alibi : Nisi venerit refuga et discessio. Ergo qui nunc refuga est, fuit 
 aliquando in intuitu Creatoris, et in ilia gradus sublimitate descripta a 
 prophetis, cum dicitur : Et tu eras consignatio similitudinis, et corona decoris, 
 et reliqua ; et alibi : Quomodo de coslo cecidit Lucifer, qui mane oriebatur? 
 Hunc boni et mali capacem dicimus accepisse ex factore naturam, inmior- 
 talitatis gloria et honore circumdatum ; accepisse etiam sciential digni- 
 tatem, qui elatus in superbiam, suum credidit esse, quod non erat ; quo- 
 niam qui eum fecerat, Dominum non videbat. Ego stun, inquit, et non est 
 alius pr alter me. lnde terra? deputatus est et cineri, ut scriptum est : Quid 
 superbis terra et cinis ; et Initium psccationis superbia. Qui tartaro et igni 
 perpetuo deputatus, perennis est poena?, non immortalis vita?. Credimus 
 omnem creaturam Dei, qua? ad usus ciborum a conditore coucessa est, 
 
302 PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 bonuin esse, sicut et factum est : Et vidit Deus, quia bona sunt valde. Sed 
 ab his ad tempus abstinere, non pro superstitione religionis, neque abomi- 
 natione creaturae Dei, sed pro continentia carnis, utile esse sentimus 
 secundum Apostoli consilium, qui dicit : Bonum est non manducare carnem, 
 neque bibere vinum ; atque cum libuerit, uti, et cum delectaverit, abstinere, 
 in hominis potestate consistere. Conjugia probamus, quae Deo auctore 
 concessa sunt : continentiam in ipsis prsedicamus ; virginitatem, ut pote 
 egregium germen, et ex effoeta trunci radice procedens, extollimus et 
 miramur. Justorum peccatorumque distantiam, non ex conditione 
 Creatoris, sed arbitrio credimus accedere voluntatis. Poenitentiam pec- 
 catorum plenissima fide suscipimus, ac veluti secundam gratiam suspica- 
 mur, sicut Apostolus ad Corinthios dicit : Volui per vos venire, ut secundam 
 gratiam habeatis. 
 
 6. " Vetus et novum Testamentum aequali fidei lance suscipimus, ac 
 veluti currentis per signa ponderis libra, sic testimoniorum gesta mobili 
 meditatione pensamus. Nee evacuantes historic fidem, credimus uni versa 
 gesta esse, quae legimus ; sed juxta doctrinam apostolicam sensum in his 
 spiritualem, prout Dominus dederit, perscrutamur : qui tamen sensus ad 
 typum Christi Ecclesieeque pertineat, ant in morum emendationem cor- 
 rectionemque proficiat. Et hoc ipsum juxta illud, quod Apostolus ait : 
 Omnia haze in figuram nostri contigerunt. Et alibi beatus Petrus : Omnis 
 sermo interpretation indiget. Omnem scripturam, quae Ecclesiastico canoni 
 non congruit, neque consentit, non solum non suscipimus, verum etiam 
 velut alienam a Fidei veritate damnamus. Peregrinis atque ignotis 
 fabulis de scripturarum continentia, non facile accommodamusassensum; 
 neque cito nova doctrina aurium nostrarum intrat cavern as, quia legimus 
 Virgin em novam aliam in secreto, quam rudem vel secretam suspicamur 
 esse doctrinam, quse ob hoc prohibetur inspici, ne hominum corda, com- 
 mentitia sub specie veritatis, sermonum pulchitudine, suavitateque 
 decipiat. Virgo est ilia doctrina, quse nulli viro Ecclesiastico vel Catho- 
 lico cognita est ; sed inter mulieres semper adolevit, id est, animas, quae 
 semper discentes, omni spiritui deceptionis credula se facilitate commis- 
 cent, non curee habentes unde concipiant ; cum Dominus in Lege manda- 
 verit, ne nonnisi de tribu sua in conjugio copuletur, id est, illi fidei intel- 
 lectus, qui ex Patrum semine, hoc est, doctrina descendit, et Abrahse, qui 
 primus in prseputio credidit, prosapia nobilitatur et genere. Virgo est 
 ilia doctrina quae tantum in secreto sibi placet, et in publicum erubescit 
 exire. Hanc talem, non solum fugimus, verum etiam publica voce dam- 
 namus, stultum docentes hoc credere, quod aut ipsi defendere non possu- 
 mus, aut ad aures publicas non debeat pervenire. 
 
 7. " Jejunia attentiora secundum Ecclesiasticam regulam disciplinamque 
 servamus, ut tribus temporibus anni masculitium nostrnmhoc est, opus vir- 
 tutis, quod caatero operi praacellat, appareat: ac si quando jejunia indicta Ec - 
 clesiaa, tunc nos cupimus, non solum de usu consuetudinari, verum etiam a 
 conversatione, fabulis, salutationibus, quae fabulas interserunt, jejunare. 
 Et cum hoc teste Deo, ita, ut scribimus, sentiamus, tamen non sic nobis 
 de veritate blandimur, ut si forte sacerdotes, sive DocfrTes, qui sunt capita 
 populi, et columnae Ecclesiarum, quodlibet ex his, quae professi sumus, 
 probantes (aliquid) rectius quid dixerint, pigri simus in eorum sententiam 
 
PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 303 
 
 transire ; praeceptumque meminimus Scriptum : Interrogate Patres vestros 
 et dicent vobis. Neque eiiim tarn stulti sumus, ut quibus capita \)xo 
 sanctificatione siirninittiinus, his corda nostra humiliare nolimus. 
 Pastor est : quo vocaverit, sequar : quod dixerit, ruminabo ; quia ipse 
 scit sibi pro custodia mea reddendam esse rationem. Hsec sint, de quibus 
 iuterim vobis ad praesens occurrere potui; si qua enim sunt, quae aut 
 studio praeteriisse aut te adhuc titillare videantur, sine verecundia inter- 
 rogare dignare, ut sine cunctatione respondeam, et aut emender de errore, 
 aut connrmer in tide. Testor enim legenti verba professions hujus, quo- 
 niam si quis dempserit de his, demet Deus de libro vitaa partem ejusdem. 
 Etenim ille, qui nos crediderit aliud labiis loqui, aliud corde tenere; 
 sicut superius dixi, cor nostrum Deus potest inspicere. Ipsi obtidimus 
 labia ad confessionem : de quibus p ssunt homines judicare satisfecimus ; 
 ac sic duobus testibus stabit omne verbuin nostrum, id est, Deo, cujus 
 judicium in nos, si faUimus, invocamus ; ethominibus, quorum suspiciones 
 nostra confessione corrigimus, ne amplius in nobis velit male sentiendo 
 peccare. Si quis his auditis in incredulitate perstiterit, ut non nobis fidei 
 assensum tradat, non dubito quin in die judicii partem aut inter incredu- 
 lum populum, aut inter falsos testes habit urns sit, et secundum judicium 
 legis Moysi, iniquitatem, quam in fratre suo meditatur, sit recepturus. 
 
 8. " Nos enim, etsi peccatores sumus, tamen propter ilia trecenta aurea 
 scuta, qua3 Solomon fabricavit, eerea facere non debemus. Scutum enim 
 fidei forma est secundum Apostolum, qui dicit: Accipientes Scutum Fidei. 
 Et ille pro aureis aerea facit, qui subtracta Fidei veritate, solum degenere 
 reddit ex confessione tinnitum et cum devotus videatur in numero, 
 tamen reus invenitur ex voto, id quod non credit, contitendo. De quibus 
 quidem dixisse beatus Apostolus suspicandus est : Eabmtes speciem pietatis 
 et virtutem ejus abnegantes. Nbune videtur virtus in auro, et species in 
 aere posse sentiri ? Sed optamus assertionem propheticam custodire, ut 
 ante pedes equorum Regis qui nisi Episcopi, aut Doctores sunt, quorum 
 pedes veloces sunt super montes, evangelizantes pacem, fidei nostrae 
 scuta ponamus. Trecenta enim aurea scuta, sive Beatae Trinitatis Fides 
 sive omnium creaturarum factio, coeli, terrae, et maris ; cursores enim, qui 
 ante pedes equorum ponent ea, illi credendi sunt, qui potuerunt dicere ; 
 Cursum Consummavi : qua instituti lege hucusque ad finem servare possimus, 
 ne ilia Saracim Eex ^Egypti, hoc est, Diabolus, a templo nostri cordis 
 abripiat. Excubent suffragia orationum tuarurn ad Jesum Christum 
 Dominum nostrum, cui gloria in saecula saecidorum. Amen. 
 
304 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON THE 
 
 APPENDIX No. VI. 
 
 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON THE SIXTH CANON OF ST. 
 PATRICK'S SYNOD. 
 
 Dr. Todd refers that canon to ninth or tenth centnry — his arguments 
 have no solidity. — The canon does not refer to the tonsure, out to the 
 clipping of the hair and beard according to the Roman custom. — 
 Druidical verse about St. Patrick. — The canon is found in MSS more 
 ancient than the period to which it is assigned by Dr. Todd. — The 
 canon from ancient MSS —Dr. Todd following Spelman, has not given 
 it correctly. — The words referred to a cleric's wife by Dr. Todd, refer 
 to married women in general.— The canon about offerings does not 
 prove the synod to be of a late period. 
 
 Dr. Todd, in his work on St. Patrick, displays an unmistakeable 
 anxiety to refer to a much later period than the age of our apostle, 
 the decrees of the synod which bears the name of SS. Patrick, 
 Auxilius, and Iserninus. This synod was first published by Spel- 
 man, in 1639, and his edition was copied by Wilkins, Ware, and 
 Villanueva. It is on the sixth canon of this synod that Dr. Todcl 
 chiefly rests his argument for referring its decrees to the ninth or 
 tenth century.* His reasoning is as follows : — 
 
 " The following canon, the sixth of this synod, is evidence of a very 
 rude state of society. It seems to have been enacted before the celibacy 
 of the clergy was enforced in Ireland, but after the adoption of the 
 Roman tonsure : ' what cleric soever, from an ostiarius to a priest, who shall 
 be seen without a tunic, or who does not cover his nakedness, or if his hairs 
 are not tonsured after the Roman manner, or if his wife does not walk 
 with her head veiled, let them (i.e. the clerk and his wife) be despised by the 
 laity, and also separated from the Church. ' This allusion to the Roman 
 tonsure, clearly indicates that the canon was as late as the eighth century, 
 and probably not earlier than the tenth, "f 
 
 The Latin text of this canon, as given by Dr. Todd in his 
 notes, is : — 
 
 " Quicumque clericus ab ostiario usque ad sacerdotem sine tunica 
 (Martene adds, femorali) visus fuerit, atque turpitudinem ventris et 
 
 * Page 488-9. t Loc. cit. 
 
SIXTH CANON OF ST. PATRICK'S SYNOD. 305 
 
 nuditatem lion tegat : et si non more Romano capilli ejus tonsi sint, et 
 uxor ejus si non velato capite ambulaverit ; pariter a laicis contempnen- 
 tur, et ab Ecclesia separentur." 
 
 1. That this canon has reference to the Roman tonsure, is 
 gratuitously supposed by the learned librarian of Trinity College ; 
 and yet this supposition is the whole groundwork of his argument. 
 The words of the original canon literally mean, that " the hair 
 should be cut after the Roman manner" — Romano more capilli ejus 
 tonsi sint. Now it may, perhaps, be reasonably doubted whether the 
 ecclesiastical tonsure was introduced as early as the year 430 ; but 
 there can be no doubt that it was prescribed long before that period 
 in the Roman Church, that the clergy should not wear long flowing 
 hair, but keep it closely clipped. Hence, in the pontifical of pope 
 Damasus, it is described as a law long observed in Rome, that 
 " clerici juxta Apostolum, comam non nutriant."* Moreover, we 
 learn from St. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, who died in the year 431, 
 that it was customary with some monks of his time to closely clip 
 their hair in front, and hence they are described by him as " casta 
 informitate capillum ad cutem eaasi et inaequaliter semitonsi et 
 destituta froute pra3rasi."f Thus, then, we may suppose that St. 
 Patrick's canon referred to the clipping of the hair by the clergy, 
 as was customary in Rome, without at all alluding to the angry 
 controversies of the seventh and eighth centuries. 
 
 We may further remark that this canon, regarding the clipping 
 of the hair, is probably only a compendious expression of the 
 original decree of our apostle. It is thus the decree of St. Patrick 
 regarding Rome, though preserved in full in the Book of Armagh, is 
 concisely expressed in all the other records that have come down to 
 us, in the well known formula " si quae qugestiones in hac insula 
 oriantur ad Sedem Apostolicam referantur." Now the full decree 
 of our apostle regarding this sort of tonsure has fortunately been 
 preserved to us, in an ancient collection of canons of the tenth cen- 
 tury, in the Vatican Archives, and we now present it in full to the 
 reader : — 
 
 * Ap. Labbe, Concil. i. 581. f Opp. S. Paulini, epist. 7. 
 
306 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON THE 
 
 "Patricius: quicumque clericus ab ostiario usque ad sacerdotem, si 
 more Romano capillos suos aut barbam ab anno pubertatis suae tondere 
 contempserit, a coetu Christianorum et ab Ecclesia separetur, donee cum 
 satisfaclione emendetur. Ad Ezeehie,lem Dominus dicit : sume tibi 
 gladium acutum et due per caput tuum et barbam."* 
 
 Here reference is made to the custom of Rome, Romano more, 
 and yet the canon nowise relates to the ecclesiastical tonsure, as 
 the clipping of the beard sufficiently proves. It is a striking coin- 
 cidence, that if we suppose this complete canon to be rigorously 
 carried out, we should have precisely such a picture as that given 
 above in the words of St. Paulinus. 
 
 Amongst the most ancient fragments of our Celtic literature, 
 must be ranked a celebrated druidical verse relative to our apostle, 
 which is recorded in all the various lives of St. Patrick, as, for in- 
 stance, in the Scholiast of Fiacc's hymn, the Leabhar Breac, 
 Probus, etc. What is still more important for determining its age 
 is the fact of its being prefaced by Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni, in 
 the Book of Armagh, with the following words : " Hsec autem 
 sunt versiculi verba pro linguae idiomate non tarn manifesta :"f 
 that is, even when he was writing before the year 690, the idiom 
 of this ancient verse rendered it difficult to be understood, and as 
 Eugene Curry remarks, " the Latin translation given by Muirchu 
 clearly shows that he did not understand it."| This verse is thus 
 translated by Mr. Curry : — 
 
 " A Tailcenn will come over the raging sea, 
 With his perforated garment, his crook-headed staff, 
 With his table at the east eud of his house ; 
 And all his people will answer, Amen, Ameu."§ 
 
 All the old scholia agree in referring the perforated garment, or, 
 as Dr. Todd translates it, his garment pierced at the neck, to the 
 chasuble used in the holy Sacrifice ; the crook-like staff, to the 
 episcopal crozier ; the east-end table, to the altar. In like man- 
 ner, the name Tailcenn, as Dr. Todd writes, is " the well-known 
 
 * Codex Vatican. 339, Collect. Can. Srec. x mL 
 
 t Lib. Armac. fol. 2, b. col. 1. + Lectures, page 397. 
 
 § Lectures, p. 397. 
 
SIXTH CANON OF ST. PATRICK'S SYNOD. 307 
 
 name of the apostle Patrick ;* and means, literally, " one with a 
 shorn crown." Colgan translates it, tonsus in vertice; and 
 Muirchu, in the Book of Armagh, gives as its equivalent the name 
 Lasciciput; which, as Dr. Todd ably illustrates, indicates a shaven 
 head, this being the usual manner of tonsure at the time that 
 Muirchu was writing. From all this we may conclude, that from 
 the very earliest ages of faith in our island, a peculiar form of 
 shorn head was attributed to our apostle ; and hence the words 
 of the sixth canon above-cited involve nothing requiring the pro- 
 bable date of the tenth century. 
 
 2. Indeed, this probable datef is so absurd, that it is not easy 
 to conceive anything more improbable. The very canon of which 
 we treat is expressly cited as a decree of St. Patrick in the Col- 
 lectio Hibernensis Canonum, drawn up about the year 700. 
 Even in the extracts given by D'Achery from this ancient collec- 
 tion, and cited by Dr. Todd himself, J the first portion of the 
 canon is thus given : 
 
 " Patricius : si quis clericus, cujus capilli non sunt tonsi Romano more, 
 debet excorumunicari. "§ 
 
 And yet, it is from a MS. of the eighth century that D'Achery 
 published these extracts. There is at least no excuse for our 
 learned author's not referring to the famous Cottonian MS. cited by 
 Usher, which also contains these canons, and nevertheless belongs 
 to the eighth century. 
 
 It is not only the sixth canon of the synod that is cited in this 
 old Collectio Hibernensis Canonum, but almost all the canons of 
 the synod are introduced into it, and many of them with the name 
 of our apostle prefixed. This surely affords sufficient evidence of 
 the antiquity of the synod of which we treat. 
 
 3. We shall for the present dismiss, with a few words, the other 
 point of Dr. Todd's remarks. He supposes that the second part 
 of the sixth canon above cited has relation to the clerk's wife; the 
 
 * Page 435. t See Todd, p. 487. 
 
 X Page 145. § Ex Lib. 1. cap. 7. 
 
308 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON THE . 
 
 original words, as quoted by him, of the text seem, indeed, to leave 
 no doubt on this head : since after speaking of quicumque clericus, 
 it adds et uxor ejus. However, to say the least, Dr. Todd does 
 not display his usual candour in ttiis argument. When citing the 
 original Latin text, he refers to Martene's edition ;* and yet he 
 forgets to mention that the word ejus (on which his own argument 
 entirely rests) is omitted in Martene's text. 
 
 If this word were supposed to form part of the original text, it 
 would supply an additional argument for the antiquity of these 
 canons, as we should suppose this decree to have been enacted at 
 a time when very many were assumed from the marriage state to 
 the sacerdotal dignity, and when, consequently, a special enact- 
 ment was required regarding the wives from whom the clergy 
 should separate themselves, according to the disciplinary law of 
 celibacy rigorously observed in our early Church. However, this 
 formula, uxor ejus, occurs only in the text of Spelman, from 
 whose edition it was copied by Ware and some others. The MS. 
 from which Spelman took this text seems to have been of the 
 eleventh century ; and he himself assures us that it was corrupt 
 in many places, pluries malesanum, and standing in absolute need 
 of critical correction, et in locis quibusdam criticorum implorans 
 sagacitatem. On the other hand, we have an accurate text of 
 this ancient decree, viz., as it is recorded in the Collectio Hiber- 
 nensis Canonum, one of the most authentic of our ecclesiastical 
 monuments, and dating from the year 700. Now, in this invalu- 
 able record, the canon of our apostle is thus quoted : 
 
 "Patricius: quicumque clericus "Patrick decreed: Whatsoever 
 
 ab ostiario usque ad sacei'dotem, si cleric, from an ostiarius to a priest, 
 
 non tuuica usus fuerit, quae turpi- who shall not wear a tunic to cover 
 
 tudiuem ventris tegat et nudita- his nakedness, and whose hair is 
 
 tern, et si non more Romano capilli not shorn according to the usage of 
 
 ejus tonsisint: et uxor si non velato Pome; and a wife appearing in 
 
 capite ambulaverit, pariter a laicis public with an unveiled head, shall 
 
 contemnentur et ab Ecclesia sepa- be alike despised by the laity, and 
 
 rentur."f separated from the Church." 
 
 * Page 486. f Lib. v. can. 5. 
 
SIXTH CANON OF ST. PATRICK'S SYNOD. 309 
 
 Thus, then, there is nothing in the ancient canon of St. Patrick 
 about the " clerk and his ivife ;" but whilst the first part of the 
 canon presents an enactment regarding the clergy, the second part 
 prescribes that married women too should adopt the law of Rome, 
 and that only when veiled should they be permitted to appear in 
 public. In the Roman Church, as we learn from St. Jerome, the 
 veil was worn by virgins consecrated to God, as a sign of their 
 being espoused to Christ, and by married females, in signum obe- 
 dientice viro suo. Thus our apostle, whilst sanctioning the Roman 
 usage in regard to the ordinary dress of the clergy, wished, too, to 
 introduce the veil as worn by the married females in Rome. This 
 is the only meaning which can be attached to the second part of 
 the sixth canon. Wearing the hair unshorn was considered equi- 
 valent to bearing the veil : and in the Collectio Hibernensis 
 Canonum, almost immediately after the canon just cited, is added 
 another chapter : " De eo quod non oportet mulieri tonderi," in 
 which occurs the following extract from an ancient writer : — 
 
 "Duo abusiva vicli^ viros comam enutrientes, et sacerdotem pauem 
 Domino oflferenteni albis non indutum. ; tertium autem detestatum inihi 
 et Deo, mulierem crines tondere qui pro velamine ei dati suut." 
 
 In conclusion, we must remark, that the famous Vatican MS., 
 No. 1349, Avritten in the beginning of the tenth century, also cites 
 this sixth canon of our apostle, and omits the ejus precisely as in 
 the Collectio Hibernensis Canonum.* 
 
 4. The other canons which Dr. Todd refers to, in order to fix 
 their date in the ninth or tenth century, will not detain us long. 
 
 The thirty-third canon enacts as follows : — " Clericus qui de 
 Britannis ad nos venit sine epistola, etsi habitet in plebe, non 
 licitum ministrare." Dr. Todd remarks : " It is possible that this 
 may have been suggested by the similar canons made in England 
 in the ninth century, to restrain the wandering bishops of the 
 Scoti."f The canons, however, made in England, to which the 
 learned author refers, have no similarity with that which is now 
 
 * Lib. vi. cap. 3, fol. 123. t Pag. 488. 
 
310 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON THE 
 
 before us. They, • for peculiar reasons, enacted that nullus ex 
 genere Scotorum be allowed to assume the exercise of the sacred 
 ministry.* On the other hand, the thirty-third canon of St. 
 Patrick implies that Britain was infected with Pelagianism, and 
 hence, every cleric coming from its shores to Ireland, whether he 
 was Briton, or Scot, or Frank, should produce his letters of com- 
 munion with the Catholic Church before being allowed to exercise 
 his sacred ministry in Ireland. The first council of Carthage, held 
 in the year 410, decreed, in its seventh canon : " Clericus vel 
 laicus non communicet in alieua plebe sine litteris Episcopi sui." 
 The same decree was repeatedly enacted at Antioch, and in other 
 councils. It is therefore nowise necessary to look to the ninth 
 century, when this canon might perhaps be dictated by a spirit of 
 hostility to Britain : we find a more Christian motive for its enact- 
 ment in the fifth century, when, forsooth, it merely re-echoed on 
 the shores of Ireland the canonical decrees and the disciplinary 
 laws of the whole western world. 
 
 Dr. Todd concludes his remarks on this synod with the following 
 words : — 
 
 "We have already noticed the twenty-fifth canon, in which offerings 
 made to the bishop are mentioned as an ancient custom, mos antiquus. This 
 could not possibly have been written by St. Patrick : there could have 
 been no such ancient custom in Ireland in the fifth century."f 
 
 The weak point in this argument of Dr. Todd is, that he gratui- 
 tously supposes the ancient custom to refer to Ireland. St. Patrick, 
 however, only declares that such was an ancient custom in the 
 Church ; and we find precisely that custom which he thus declares 
 to be an ancient one, confirmed in express terms in the council of 
 Antioch, in 341. Thus, then, the gratuitous supposition of Dr. 
 Todd would bring these decrees to a late date ; but the words of 
 the canons themselves have nothing to imply such a modern origin. 
 They all, without exception, conspire in pointing to the very period 
 of our apostle ; and many of them which have reference to pagan- 
 
 * See ConciJ.Celichyth. can. 5, cited by Todd, pag 43. f Pag. 488. 
 
COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 311 
 
 ism and slavery, would be quite out of place in any other period of 
 the history of our Church. 
 
 When we come to speak of the law of celibacy, as observed in 
 the early Irish Church, we shall have occasion to further illustrate 
 the second part of the sixth canon referred to in the present Ap- 
 pendix. 
 
 APPENDIX No. VII. 
 COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 Extracts from this collection by the Benedictines, D'Achery, etc. — Dr. 
 Todd and Dr. Graves treat of it. — Usher refers it to the year 700. — 
 
 The Cottonian MS. of it.— Cambray MS Other MS.— Two Vatican 
 
 MSS. -Extracts.— Vallicellian MSS.— Extracts. 
 
 A disciplinary code, drawn up from various ecclesiastical sources 
 for the use of the Irish Church, as early as the year 700, must be 
 a subject of interest to every student of our antiquities. Though 
 as yet unpublished, it has been long known to the literary world. 
 Usher, in his Essay on the Religion of the Early Irish Church, 
 more than once speaks enthusiastically in its praise. Spelman, 
 Ware, and Wilkins make frequent reference to it. On the con- 
 tinent, the learned Benedictine D'Achery, in his Spicilegium, 
 culled from it a long series of canons specially connected with 
 Ireland. Two other members of the same order, Durand and 
 Edmund Martene, continued the literary researches of their col- 
 league ; and in their Thesaurus Anecdotorum, published many 
 additional extracts from our Irish collection. Later still, it was 
 commemorated by Fabricy and Cardinal Maj. Dr. Todd, in his 
 Memoir of St. Patrick,* laments that as yet no complete edition of 
 this invaluable document has been made ; and Dr. Graves, towards 
 the close of 1851, called the attention of the Royal Irish Academy 
 to the importance of this ancient Collectio Canonum, and to the 
 
 * Page 145. 
 
312 C0LLECTI0 HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 valuable authentic evidence which it supplied in proof of "the 
 genuineness and antiquity of the Brehon laws."* 
 
 Usher referred this Collectio Hibernensis Canonura to "about 
 the year 700." It was known to him through the famous Cottonian 
 Manuscript (marked, Otho, E. xiii.), which even in his time was 
 supposed to have passed unharmed through the vicissitudes of 
 little less than 900 years. Reeves, in his edition of Adamnan, 
 informs us that this precious manuscript was " one of those which 
 suffered by the fire of 1731, and were lately restored under the 
 care of Sir F. Madden."f The same skilful editor favours us 
 with an extract from folio 142, which had already been incor- 
 rectly published by Usher. It assigns the origin of St. Peter's 
 tonsure : 
 
 " Ut a Simone Mago Christianos discerneret, in cujus capite csesaries 
 ab aure ad aurem tonsoe auteriore parte, cum antea Magi in fronte cirrum 
 habebant." 
 
 And adds : 
 
 ' ' Romani dicunt tonsuram a Simone Mago sumpsisse initium, cujus 
 tonsura de aure ad aurem tantnm contingebat ; pro excellentia ipsa mago- 
 rum tonsura, qua sola frons anterior tegi solebat. Auctorem auteni hujus 
 tonsurae in Hibernia subulcum regis Loigeri filii Nailis extitisse, Patricii 
 sermo testatur : ex quo Hibernenses pene omnes hanc tonsuram sumpse- 
 runt." 
 
 Dr. Reeves remarks that the word mael, in Irish, means tonsured ; 
 and that one of king Leoghaire's magi is called, in our early 
 records, Lucet-mael. Also the charioteer of St. Patrick is desig- 
 nated, in the Book of Armagh, by the names Tot-mael and Bod- 
 mailus. 
 
 Another manuscript containing this collection is marked No. 
 619 in the library of Cambray. O'Donovan, in the Introduction 
 to his Irish Grammar, judging from the dialect of the Irish ex- 
 tracts inserted in the MS., concluded that it should be assigned to 
 
 * Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, December 8, 1851. See above, 
 p. 126. 
 
 t Preface, p. xlvii. 
 
COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 313 
 
 the eighth century; and a colophon added to the collection of 
 canons confirms his opinion. It is as follows : — 
 
 "Explicit liber canonum quern Dorninus Albericus Episcopus urbis 
 Camaracensium et Adrabatensium fieri rogavit. Deo gratias. Amen."* 
 
 Thus, then, this MS. was transcribed for Bishop Alberic, who 
 governed the dioceses of Cambray and Arras from 763 to 790 ; 
 and, in conformity with this colophon, the manuscript is registered 
 in the Catalogue of Cambray as an " ecriture minuscule du huitieme 
 siecle" An Irish fragment from this manuscript was published 
 by Zeuss, with a Latin translation, in the Appendix to his Celtic 
 Grammar,f in 1853, it was also translated into English by the 
 late lamented 0' Curry, J in 1852. It is a sermon on the Gospel 
 text, " Si quis vult post me venire tollat crucem suam et sequa- 
 tur me," and thus begins : — 
 
 "These words are an invitation of Jesus to embrace self-denial, to 
 banish from our hearts evil deeds and sin, to pursue good works, and to 
 embrace the reproach and sign of the cross for Christ's sake, whilst we 
 are in the subjection of the body and soid, that thus we may holily walk 
 in the footsteps of the Redeemer : therefore, he says, Si quis vult," etc. 
 
 It then gives the following extract without indicating the 
 author : — 
 
 ' ' Et nomen crux quippe a cruciatu dicitur et duobus modis crucem 
 Domini bajulamus cum aut per abstinentiam, carnem afficiamus aut per 
 compassionem proximi necessitatem illius nostram esse putamus ; qui 
 enim dolorem exhibet in aliena necessitate crucem portat in mente ut 
 Paulus ait, portate on era vestra invicem, sic adimplebitis legem Christi." 
 
 It subsequently says : 
 
 " There are three sorts of martyrdom which are reputed as a cross 
 unto man, white martyrdom, blue martyrdom, and red martyrdom It 
 is white martyrdom when, through love for God, man separates himself 
 from all in which there is voluptuousness ; it is blue martyrdom when 
 he renounces his pleasures and embraces suffering in penance and morti- 
 fication; it is red martyrdom when death is endured for Christ," etc. 
 
 * Pertz Archiv. etc. torn. 8, pag. 432 ; Zeuss Gram. Celt Introduct. 
 xxxiii. ; Proceedings of R. I. A. 1851, page 223. 
 
 t Vol. IT. page 1003. % See his Lectures, etc. page 28. 
 
314 COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 The last words of this curious Irish fragment are : — 
 
 " There are, moreover, three sorts of martyrdom, for whose torture we 
 return thanks, and great is our remuneration if we endure them, viz. , 
 castitas in juventute ; continentia in abundantia ; et," 
 
 the sentence thus breaking off incomplete. This manuscript does 
 not give the entire collection of canons, but only its first thirty- 
 eight divisions. 
 
 D'Achery availed himself of two other MSS. when preparing his 
 extracts from our Collectio Hibernensis. One belonged to the 
 monastery of Corbey,* the other is now in the Imperial 
 Library, Paris, amongst the St. Germain manuscripts, No. 121,f 
 and belongs to the eighth century. The learned editor assigns two 
 reasons why he published only extracts instead of the entire collec- 
 tion. 1st. That many of the passages from the fathers, and the 
 decrees of the continental synods, which are introduced, were 
 already well known to the public. 2nd. That such was the 
 obscurity of the style, the peculiarity of the Latin construction, and 
 the carelessness of the copyists in some passages, that he shrunk 
 from the labour of editing them, summum refugi laborem. He tells 
 us that at the end of the Corbey Manuscript the scribe added the 
 following note: 
 
 "Arbedoc clericus ipse has collectiones conscripsi, laciniosae conscrip- 
 tionis, Haelhucar Abbate dispensante quae de Sanctis Scripturis vel divinis 
 fontibus hie in hoc codice glomerate sunt, sive etiam decreta quae Sancti 
 Patres et Synodi in diversis gentibus vel linguis construxerunt." 
 
 This Haelhucar is styled by Fabricy, an Irish Abbot: it is 
 probable, however, that the name is a miss -print for Maelhucar, or 
 some other similar word. 
 
 Martene added several canons to those edited by D'Achery, 
 using a manuscript of the eleventh century, which he discovered in 
 the Bigotian Library in Rouen. This MS. formerly belonged 
 to the monastery of Fescamp, in Normandy, and is now preserved 
 
 * See Mabillon De Re Diplomatics pag. 360. f Olim, 572. 
 
COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 315 
 
 in the Parisian Library, No. 3182. It contains, in addition to 
 this collection of canons, a fragment of an Irish synod, the peni- 
 tential canons of St. Adamnan, and many other records connected 
 with our early Church. In its sixty-fourth division, chapter v., 
 we find the following passage : — 
 
 "De quatuor petitionibus Patricii, Hibernenses dicunt : sed Deo tuo 
 gratulare nunc quia tuse data? sunt tibi quatuor petitiones quas petisti. 
 Prima petitio est, ut in Ardmach ordinatio tuse fiat gratia?. Secunda 
 petitio est ut quicuraque hymnum qui tibi compositus est iu die exitus de 
 corpore cantaverit tu ejus poenitentiani judicaveris. Tertia petitio est : 
 ut nepotes Dichuin qui te benigue susceperunt misericordiam consequantur 
 hie et in futuro et non pereant. Quarta petitio est : ut Hibernenses 
 omnes in die judicii a te judicentur sicut dicitur ad Apostolos, et vos 
 sedentes judicabitis duodecim tribus Israel; ut eos, quibus Apostolus fuisti, 
 judices." 
 
 It is a striking confirmation of the authenticity of our early 
 records, that these four petitions are found almost word for word 
 in the Book of Armagh (fol. 8), from which they were translated 
 by Todd, in his Memoir of St. Patrick (pag. 490-1). There is 
 another and distinct heading amongst the extracts of D'Achery : 
 " De tribus petitionibus Patricii," which must not be confounded 
 with the one just cited. It is as follows : — 
 
 " Tres petitiones Patricii sunt ; quarum prima est ut bipartite vel tri- 
 partita regionis pars Ecclesiae propinquorum detur ei. Secunda ut non 
 per juramentum ab aliquo firmetur super Ecclesiam infirmam. Tertia, 
 ut clericus similis quseratur a laico." 
 
 This passage is, to say the least, very unintelligible ; to render 
 its meaning somewhat clear, we add it as given in the Vallicellian 
 Manuscript, to which we shall just now refer : — 
 
 ' ' Prima est ut bipartite regionis vel tripartita pars, Ecclesise detur, 
 quae ei vicinior caeteris. Secunda : ut non per juramentum mundiales 
 subtrahant jus Ecclesife. Tertia : ut in judicio cum inter clerum et laicuni 
 orta fuerit contentio, qucerat laicus clericum qui cum clerico contendat." 
 
 The Vatican MS. No. 1339, (sa3c. x mi ) contains a collection of 
 canons made in North Italy .about the year 920. The Ballerinii, in 
 their learned treatise On the Ancient Canonical Collections, enter 
 
316 COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 into a fall examination of this important manuscript, and Theiner, 
 in his later disquisition, eulogizes it : " Hsec pro critica fontium 
 disquisitione maximi momenti esse dignoscitur."* It adopts many 
 canons of our apostle, and also introduces passages from the life 
 of St. Furse and other Irish records. What is of most importance 
 for our present purpose, it inserts almost the entire of the Irish 
 collection now before us. " Utramque collectionem despiciens," 
 writes Theimer, " valde miratus sum quod totam collectionis Hiber- 
 nensis materiam in nostra collectione excerptam ac tractatam 
 viderim."f Hence it must be regarded as a distinct text for 
 determining the accurate reading of the decrees of our Collectio 
 Hibernensis. It may not be uninteresting to give a few ex- 
 amples : at folio 20 is given the decree regarding the Ostiarius, 
 " Hostiarium decet percutere cloccas et aperire Ecclesiam, et sacra- 
 rium, et codicem quo pra3dicatur et legitur ?" and the marginal 
 note is added in the original hand-writing, " Cloccas : signa qua 3 , 
 nos dicimus campanas." At folio 124 : " Patricius ; si quis 
 clericus acceperit permissione Abbatis, collatum praetium de arti- 
 ficio suo, non plus exigat quam necessitas poposcit ; si qua usura 
 remanserit, detur indigentibus et captivis ; non tradat aliis, nam si 
 tradiderit peccatum facit." Subsequently we have : " Synodus 
 Hibernensis; sors inter dubia, aut inter duo asqualia aut inter duo 
 Catholica mitti debet." Again: " Synodus Hibernensis; Hi sunt 
 modi excommunicationis hominis niali ; a celebratione Missarum, a 
 communicatione mensaa, a cohabitatione, a colloquio pacifico, a 
 benedictione, a comitatu et muneribus." At folio 134 is the 
 following curious extract from the fiftieth book of the Collectio 
 Hibernensis : — 
 
 " De quinque causis quibus tonsuratus est Petrus. Romani dicunt : 
 Petrus quiuque causis tonsuram accepit; 1. Ut simularet spineam coro- 
 nam Christi; 2. Ut clerici a laicis in tonsura discretionem haberent, ut 
 in habitu sicut in operibus discernerentur ; 3. Ut sacerdotes Veteris Tes- 
 tamenti reprobaret, suscipiendo tonsuram in ilia parte capitis, supra quam 
 
 * Disquisitiones Criticse in prsecipuas Canouum Collectiones. Romae, 
 1836 (pag. 271). 
 t lb. page 278. 
 
COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 317 
 
 Colmnba descendit ; 4. Ut derisionis ganniturani suscepturus pro Christo 
 sustineret ; 5. Ut a Symone Mago Christianorum discerneret tonsuram in 
 cujus capite arula ab aure ad aurem ducta per frontem tonsiirando pende- 
 bat. " 
 
 To the wotd arula is added the marginal note areola quadrangula. 
 The Vatican Manuscript, No. 1349, is also a collection of canons, 
 and is referred by Cardinal Mai to the close of the ninth or the 
 beginning of the tenth century. It was made for the use of some 
 religious in Rome, and several Irish documents, especially the 
 Penitential of St. Cummiau, are repeatedly referred to. Many 
 extracts from our Collectio Hibernensis Canonum are also 
 introduced. Its sixth book, divided into twenty-five chapters, 
 each of which has several sub-divisions, is wholly taken from our 
 Irish collection, and even the preface or prologue prefixed to the 
 Irish collection is introduced as a prologue to this sixth book. 
 Amongst the extracts from our Collectio Hibernensis we fiud in 
 book iii. can. 5 : — 
 
 " De modis quibus nunc immolat Ecclesia. Synodus Hibernensis : 
 Ecclesia multis modis offert: 1. pro se ipsa; 2. commemoratione Jesu 
 Christi qui dixit hoc facite in rneani commemorationem ; 3. Pro anima- 
 bus defunctorum." 
 
 Again, in book viii. can. 22 : — 
 
 " De Sedacio commuuionis. Sedacium (that is, the alms) communionis 
 si modicum fuerit respui non debet, et si magnum, accipiendum sed pr»- 
 tium vaccas non excedat. Hoc sedacium aufugit reges et episcopum cui 
 monachus est et fratres. Quidem autem Hibernensium in hoc sedacium, 
 ovem aut pragtium ejus statuta dimensione tribui censuerunt." 
 
 We may add the prologue, which was already, indeed, printed 
 by D'Achery, from the Corbey MS., but with many errors. It is 
 thus in the Vatican MS. : — 
 
 " Synodicorum exemplarium innumerositatem conspiciens, ac plurimo- 
 rum ex ipsis obscuritatem rudibus inutilem prsevidens necnon caeterormn 
 diversitatem inconsonam destruentemque magis quam aidificantem per- 
 spiciens, brevem plenamque ac consonam ex ingenti silva scriptorum in 
 unius voluminis textum expositionem digessi, plura addens ut plura de- 
 scriberentur, singulorum nomina singidis testimoniis prrescripta composui, 
 
318 COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 ne quis velut incertum quid pro quo dicat, ut cum generales titulos quos 
 necessario praeposuimus percurrat, numeros diligenter observet; quibus 
 observatis qusestionem quam voluerit siue ulla cunctatione reperiet." 
 
 We were happily able to avail ourselves of these two Vatican 
 manuscripts, when referring in the preceding pages to the ancient 
 Collectio Hibernensis Canonum. We were still more fortunate in 
 having free access to a complete and elegant copy of the same Irish 
 collection, which is carefully preserved in the Vallicellian Archives, 
 Rome. This precious MS. was accurately described by the 
 Ballerinii and Theiner in the treatises already referred to ; it dates 
 from the tenth century, and is numbered xviii. in the Vallicellian 
 catalogue. The Ballerinii reckoned it more accurate than the M3S. 
 consulted by D'Achery and Martene :* the scribe, however, seams 
 to have found it difficult in some places to decipher the Irish text 
 which he was engaged in copying ; occasionally space is left for 
 some words which he could not decipher ; frequently he errs in 
 readiug the original contractions, and hence Gil. {i.e. Gildas) a 
 name but little known to the Roman copyist, becomes Gelasius; 
 Hir. (i.e. Hieronymus) is changed to Hieremias; and Patrius (the 
 contraction used for our apostle's name in the Book of Armagh, 
 O'Ourry Lectures, pag. 653) is transformed into Paterius. What, 
 however, renders it still more unsatisfactory is the occasionally 
 recurring reliqua as a substitute for Irish canons, the peculiar 
 construction of which was probably unintelligible to the copyist. 
 
 As regards the date of the Collectio Hibernensis, it is 
 generally assigned to the close of the seventh century or the 
 beginning of the eighth. No documents as late as the year 700 are 
 introduced into it : even Theodore of Canterbury, whose Penitential 
 decrees are continually referred to in the collections of the eighth cen- 
 tury, is named but once. The delicacy with which the compiler speaks 
 of the Paschal question shows that it had been but lately settled in our 
 island : he refers the error solely to the Britons : " Pascha et tonsura 
 Brittonum." How different is the English Penitential that was 
 drawn up by the priest Eoda some years after the death of abp. 
 
 * See Appendix to opp. S. Leonis Magni. torn. 3tio. pag. cclxxiii. 5. 
 
COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANON UM. 319 
 
 Theodore ; it invariably links together the Irish and Britons ;* and 
 two other Penitentialsf drawn up about the middle of the eighth 
 century employ the same language. 
 
 The decrees of the Irish Synod, held in 694 or 695, are usually 
 cited with the simple title Synodus, though in the later MSS. the 
 word Hibernensis is often added. This manner of referring to that 
 celebrated synod, which formed an epoch in the Irish Church, 
 and, moreover, was celebrated for the precise purpose of restoring 
 uniformity in the Paschal and Tonsure discipline, sufficiently 
 proves that the Collectio Canonum was made immediately after its 
 celebration ; and, perhaps, was ordered by the assembled Fathers, 
 that thus one common code of ecclesiastical and disciplinary laws 
 might be within the reach of all. 
 
 At all events, more than one of the manuscripts which present 
 the Collection to us belong, as we have seen, to the eighth century. 
 There is, moreover, a very ancient Penitential which helps to fix 
 its date. This Penitential was first published by Martene,^ 
 and subsequently by Wasserschleben.§ One of its decrees fixes 
 its date, as, citing the council held in Rome in 721, by Gregory 
 II., it adds regarding that pontiff: " qui nunc Romanam Catholi- 
 cam gerit matrem Ecclesiam." Pope Gregory died in 731 : so 
 thus we may safely refer the date of the Penitential to about the 
 year 730. Now, more than fifteen of its decrees are extracted 
 from our Collectio Hibernensis Canonum ; and so plainly are they 
 copied from it, that one of the decrees (the thirteenth) inserts in 
 the text the rubric of the canon in our Irish collection. 
 
 We may, therefore, without hesitation, acquiesce in the opinion 
 of Usher, that the Collectio Hibernensis Canonum was drawn up 
 towards the close of the seventh or the beginning of the eighth 
 century. 
 
 We now add, as a specimen of this ancient record, its ninth 
 book, which is one of the shortest of the whole Collection, as 
 found in the Vallicellian manuscript : — 
 
 * Ap. Wasserschleben, p. 210. t lb. 
 
 X In Nov. Thes. Auecd torn, iv. pag. 31, seqq. 
 § Loc. cit. pag. 282, seqq. 
 
320 IRISH SYNOD OF THE YEAR 807. 
 
 " De Acolytho et Psalmista, capitula duo. 
 
 1 . " De acolythi ordinalione. 
 
 " Acolythus accensor luminarium : is cum ordinatiir, ab Episcopo qui- 
 dem docetur qualiter se in officio suo gerere debeat. Sed ab Archidia- 
 cono accipiat trasorium cum cereis ut sciat accendere Ecclesise luminaria, 
 eique rninisterio mancipari : accipiat et urceolum vacuum ad suggeren- 
 diun vinum in Eucharistiam Corporis Christi. 
 
 2. " De Psalmistarum exordio et voce et usu el nomine. 
 
 "Psalmistarumauctores David et Asaph extiterunt : mortuo enim Asaph 
 filii ejus ad hanc ordinationem a David subrogati sunt erantque psalm- 
 istae per successionem generis sicut ordo sacerdotalis. Ex hoc veteri more 
 Ecclesia sumpsit exemplum ordinandi psalmistas quorum cantibus ad 
 affectum Dei mentes audientium excitantur. Vox enim ejus non aspera 
 vel rauca vel dissonaus sed canora erit et suavis, lucida atque acuta 
 habens sonum et melodiam sanctae religioui congruentem neque musica 
 vel theatrali arte redoleat sed quae compunctionem cordis magis audienti- 
 bus faciat. Psalmista potest absentia Episcopi sola jussione Presbyteri 
 officium suscipere cantandi ; dicente presbytero, vide ut quae ore cantas, 
 corde credas ; et quae corde credis, operibus impleas. 
 
 Psalmista Graece, cantor Latine ; psalmus, canticum ; sed psalmus di- 
 vinus, canticum humanum." 
 
 APPENDIX No. VIII. 
 IRISH SYNOD OF THE YEAH 807. 
 
 " HlBEENENSIS SYNODUS SUB LEONE 3TIO." 
 
 For this synod see page 180, where we have referred to it. The 
 two extracts here given are from the Vallicellian Archives, c. 24 : 
 
 " Inter caatera quae de ordine Sanctarum Ecclesiarum sancita sunt, 
 Sancta Synodus Hibenensis, cui praefuit Leo Sanctae Rom. Ecclesiae 
 Episcopus, tempore Karoli Regis Francorum cum Theodorico* (i.e. 
 Torbach) Anglorum et Hiberuensium Archiepo multisque aliis illarum 
 regionum Episcoi>is de lapsu sacerdotum sic ait : si presbyter fornicationem 
 fecerit quamquam secundum Apostolorum canones deponi debeat tamen 
 juxta auctoritatem beati Silvestri Papae si in vitio non perduraverit sed 
 sua sponte confessus adjecit ut resurgeret, decern annis in hunc modum 
 
 * It is thus the Irish name Torbach, as also Turlogh, is Latinized by 
 our writers. 
 
IRISH SYNOD OF THE YEAR 807. 321 
 
 pccniteat. Tribus siquideni mensibus privato loco a cseteris remotus solo 
 pane et aqua a vespera in vesperam utatur : diebus autem Dominicis et 
 praecipuis festis modico vino et pisciculis atque legnminibus recreetur, 
 sine came, sine sagmine, ovis et caseo : sacco indutus liumo adhcereat • 
 die ac nocte jngiter omnipotentis Dei misericordiam imploret. Fiuitis 
 tribus continuis mensibus exeat, tamen in publicum non procedat, ne grex 
 fidelis in eo scaudalnm patiatur. Nee enim debet sacerdos publice poeni- 
 tere sicut laicus. Postea aliquantisper resumptis viribus unum annum et 
 dimidium in pane et aqua expleat, exceptis dominicis diebus et praecipuis 
 festis, in quibus vino, sagmine, ovis et caseo juxta canonicam mensuram 
 uti poterit. Finito primo anno et dimidio, corporis et sanguinis Domini 
 Christi, ue indurescat, particeps fiat, et ad pacem veuiat ; cum fratribus 
 psalmos in choro ultimus canat, ad cornu altaris non accedat : juxta B. 
 Cl'ementis vocem minora gerat officia. Deinde vero usque ad expletionem 
 septimi anni omni quidem tempore exceptis Pascbalibus diebus tres 
 legitimas ferias in unaquaque hebdomada in aqua et pane jejuuet. 
 Expleto vii anni circulo, si sui confratres, apud quos poeuituit ejus con- 
 dignam poenitentiam conlaudaverint, Episcopus in pristinum bonorem 
 juxta B. Callisti Papse auctoritatem eum revocare poterit. Sane scien- 
 dum quia secundam feriam unum psalterium canendo aut unum denarium 
 pauperi dando si operarius est, redimere poterit. Finitis septem annis 
 deinde usque ad finem decimi anni sextani feriam nulla interveuiente re- 
 demptione observet in pane et aqua. Eadem quoque poenitentia erit 
 sacerdoti de omnibus aliis peccatis et criminibus, quas eum in depositionem 
 adducunt, neque hoc cuilibet videatur onerosum, si sacerdos post lapsum 
 digne, ut supra dictum est, poenitens ad pristinos redeat honores. " 
 
 To this extract is added, with the heading ex alio Ubro, a some- 
 what similar decree of the same Irish synod, as follows : 
 
 "EX CONCILIO HlBERNENSI. 
 
 "Inter caetera qua? de ordine etc. (as above) sic ait : Placuit ut dein- 
 ceps nulli sacerdotem liceat quemlibet commissum alteri sacerdotum ad 
 poenitentiam suscipere sine ejus consensu cui se prius conimisit, nisi per 
 ignorantiam illius cui poenitens prius confessus est : qui vero contra haec 
 statuta facere temptaverit, gradus sui ordinis periculo subjacebit. Sed 
 et hoc in omni poenitentia non solum laicali sed etiam sacerdotah sollerter 
 est intuendum quanto quis tempore in delictis remaneat. Qua eruditione 
 imbutus, quali impugnatur passione vel retate, qualiter compulsus est 
 peccare gravitate aut necessitate. Omnipotens etenim Dens qui corda 
 hominum novit, diversisque gentibus quas creavit, diversas naturas indidit 
 non eequali lance poenitudinis pondera peccaminum pensabit : ut est illud 
 propheticum. (Isai xxviii.) Non enim in serris triturabitur gith nee rota 
 plaustri super cyminum circuibit : sed in virga excutietur gith, et cymi- 
 num in baculo : Panis autem comminuetur. Ac proinde consideiata 
 humanos fragilitatis infirmitate, sacerdos si suggerente diabolo in forni- 
 cationem ceciderit, et Deo miserante ad poenitentine remedia confugeritj 
 
 Y 
 
322 HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 quatuor annis in hunc modum expiabitur. In primis xl diebus et 
 noctibus se purificet tuto remotus in loco in solo pane et aqua; Quibus 
 exactis primo anno qui sequitur in pane et aqua similiter luat 
 exceptis Dominicis et paschalibus et praecipuis festis, in quibus 
 vino et omnibus pulmentis uti poterit excepta sola carne. Cseteris vero 
 diebus solo pane et aqua sit contentus nisi considerata personse qualitate 
 in his etiam feriis indulgeatur, et de modico vino, legumine, lacte, pomis, 
 pisciculis et oleribus sicut confessori suo visum fuerit. Decurso igitur 
 primo anno statim sacrosancti corporis et sanguinis Domini particeps fiat ; 
 psalmos cum fratribus in choro ultimus canat et ad pacem veniat, minora 
 gerat ofiicia : in secundo anno tres legitimas ferias in unaquaque hebdo- 
 mada expleat in pane et aqua. Expletis duobus annis si juxta prasfixos 
 gradus poenituit, Episcopus eum in gradum unde excidit revocare poterit." 
 
 APPENDIX No. IX. 
 
 HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 The Bangor Antiphonary. — Extracts from it. — Hymn of St. Comghill. — 
 Hymn commemorative of the Holy Abbots of Bangor. — Hymn of St. 
 Camelach. 
 
 The following hymns, together with the extracts already given in 
 the text,* will suffice to give some idea of the remarkable Irish MS. 
 known as the Antiphonarium Benchorense. It was first published 
 by Muratori, in his Anecdota Ambrosiana, vol. iv. Padua, 1713, 
 and was inserted in the thirteenth volume of his complete works, 
 printed at Arezzo in 1771. Lanigan writes of it, in the preface to 
 his Ecclesiastical History : 
 
 " It was written in the seventh century, and originally belonged to 
 the monastery of Bangor, in the now county of Down, whence it was 
 removed to the monastery of Bobbio, in Italy, in the library of which 
 latter place it was discovered by Cardinal Frederick Borromeo,f and 
 from which it was transferred to the Ambrosian Library at Milan, where 
 it is now to be found (No. 10, letter C). This curious and authentic 
 
 * See p. 1G4. 
 
 f This cardinal was titular of the church of St. Agatha, at present 
 attached to the Irish College, Rome. See Paneiroli, Tesori Nascosti dell' 
 Alma citta di Roma, p. 279. 
 
HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 323 
 
 document was shown by Muratori to Montfaucon— a competent judge 
 of ancient manuscripts— who, after the closest inspection, pronounced 
 it to be above one thousand years old."* 
 
 Dr. O'Conor has ably proved, from its intrinsic characteristics, 
 the accuracy of the date thus assigned to the MS. by Montfaucon 
 and Muratori. In the Commemoration of the Abbots of Bangor, 
 he remarked that Cronan is described as still living and governing 
 the monastery; and as St. Cronan died in 691, it necessarily 
 follows that this MS. should be referred to an earlier period. The 
 various saints referred to in the hymns are treated of by Colgan, 
 Lanigan. and others : 
 
 HYMNUS SANCTI COMGILLI ABBATIS NOSTRI. 
 
 1. " Record emur justitiae, 
 
 Nostri patroni fulgidae 
 Comgilh Sancti nomine 
 Refulgentis in opere. 
 Adjuti Dei flamine 
 Sancto claroque lumine, 
 Trinitatis celsissimse 
 Cuncta tenentis regmine, 
 Quern Deus ad setherea 
 Conduxit habitacula, 
 Ab angelis custodita, 
 Permansura in saecula. 
 
 2. " Axxdite pantes ta erga, 
 
 Allati ad angelica 
 Athletag Dei abdita, 
 A juventute florida, 
 Aucta in legis pagina, 
 Alta sancti per viscera 
 AfFatim concordantia, 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 3. " Bonam vitam, justitiam 
 
 Benignitatem floridam, 
 Caritatem firmissimam, 
 Deo primo adhibitam, 
 Juxta mandatum solidam 
 In regno pnestantissimam, 
 
 Proximis saepe debitam, 
 Corde sereno placitam 
 Efficiebat cognitam, 
 In futuro fructiferam, 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 4. " Contemptum mundialium 
 
 Voluptatum, prsesentium 
 Vitiorum firmissimum 
 Infirmos devastantium 
 Verborum cogitaminum 
 Parte lasva versantium, 
 Continebat per viscerum 
 Secreta vigilantium, 
 
 Ab AngeUs, etc. 
 
 5. " Doctus in Dei legibus 
 
 Divinis dictionibus 
 Ditatus Sanctis opibus, 
 Deo semper placentibus, 
 Dedicatus in moribus, 
 Dei Stephanus agius, 
 Docebat sic et exeteros 
 Dicta docta operibus, 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 6. " Elegit a primordio, 
 
 Quod erat in principio, 
 
 Page 8. 
 
324 
 
 HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 iEternum verbuin paterno 
 Eructatum Sanctissimo 
 Corde verum altissimo 
 Carus eidem lucido 
 Pignus praBclaro animo 
 Constans opere placido, 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 7- "Fulgebat alti fulgore 
 Solis vice in vertice, 
 Putilantis meridie 
 Fidei claritudine, 
 Confirmatus ex viscere 
 Id Dei semper Mere, 
 Confidens sanctimonise 
 Praecipuo nmniue. 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 8. " Gaudium Sancti Spiritus 
 
 Habebat in visceribus 
 Pegnum quod est sublimitus 
 Deo dignum, et fortius, 
 Gladium quoque spiritus 
 Levatum ad nequissimum 
 Quo prosterneret superbos 
 Tenens Sanctis in manibus, 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 9. " Humilis, sanctas, beniguus 
 
 Probus in Dei legibus 
 Humanus, Justus, commodus, 
 Laudabilis iu moribus 
 Hilaris vultu, sobrius, 
 Caritatis in floribus, 
 Factus palam niortalibus 
 In scripturis eruditus. 
 Inspiratus divinitus, 
 In sacranientis providus, 
 Canonicis affatibus 
 Testamenti praefulgidus, 
 Fervens spiritu, placidus, 
 Deo cams, et piissimus : 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 10. '"Kalcavit mundum subdolum 
 Karitatis per stadium 
 Kastitatis firmissimuni 
 Contempnens omne vitium, 
 Inserens agrum tloridum 
 
 Pectus adornans lucidum, 
 Divinum habitaculum, 
 Trino nomine sancitum. 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 11. " Lampadem sapientise 
 
 Constituit in pectore 
 In thesauro sapiential 
 Condito Dei munere 
 Infiammatus magnopere 
 Lucere verae justitias, 
 Exaltatus munimine 
 Legis, spiritus, literae, 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 12. " Magnum adprebendit bravium 
 
 ^Eterua vita condignum, 
 Adept us sanctum praemium 
 Post laborem firmissimum, 
 Cujus perfectum meritum 
 Vocamus in auxilium, 
 Ut mereamur omnium 
 Vitiorum excidium, 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 13. " Notus sanctorum coetibus 
 
 Abbatum in ordinibus 
 Monacliorum militibus 
 Anachoretarum sensibus 
 Synodum Sanctis plebibus 
 Imo vir aj)ostolicus 
 Clarus cunctis in sortibus, 
 Adauctus in sublimibus. 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 14. "0 petrani solidissimam 
 
 In fundamento positam, 
 O contemptorem omnium 
 Perum nequam prsesentium, 
 O ducem sanctum militum 
 T3Tonem fortissimum, 
 Domino totum deditum. 
 
 Quern Deus," etc. 
 
 15. " Positus muri ferrei 
 
 Vice in luce populi 
 Dissipare, disperdere, 
 Cuncta mala destruere, 
 -Edincare, plantare 
 
HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 325 
 
 Bona tota in commune 
 More sancti Hieremias 
 Constitute in culmine. 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 16. " Quis contempsit presentia 
 
 Hujus aevi decidua ? 
 Qnis ascendit ad superna 
 Toto animo gaudia ? 
 Quis volebat in aethera 
 Carne volare posita ? 
 Qualiter iste talia 
 Adeptus saucta merita. 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 17. " Rexit Sauctam Ecclesiam 
 
 Catholicam per regulam, 
 Retinens fidem solidam 
 Malam contra nequitiam 
 Suam exercens animam 
 Sanctre legis per paginam, 
 Cujus exopto gratiam 
 Mihi adornat animam. 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 18. " Sapiens suos internos 
 
 Sanctos elevans ocidos 
 Deducebat ad superos 
 Capite sancto iutentos 
 Parte sancta in dextera 
 Collocans sua viscera, 
 Centurionis opera 
 Habens sancta per stadia. 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 19. " Tulit suam memoriam 
 
 Ad mansionem supernam 
 Caram Deo, et floridam 
 Suam exercens animam, 
 Contempnens terram subdo- 
 
 lam 
 Vanam omnem insaniam 
 Domans cum Abraham 
 Ad terram illam optimani. 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 20. " Vitam asternam fulgida 
 
 Adeptus est sub corona 
 Ubi adsumet praemia 
 Permansura in saecula 
 Comitaturus agmina 
 Angelorum praecipua 
 Inquirens semper talia 
 Vigilans in Ecclesia. 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 21. " Xristum orabat magistrum, 
 
 Summum ornans obsequium, 
 Christi gerens omcium 
 Actum per apostolicum 
 Hujus sequens vestigium 
 Ducens Deo exercitum 
 In sanctum habitaculmn 
 Trinitatis lectissimum. 
 
 Ab Angelis, etc. 
 
 22. " Ymnum Deo cum cantico 
 
 Immolabat altissimo, 
 Diei noctis circulo 
 Orans saepe cum triumpho 
 Nunc cantavit sub nimiero 
 Canticum novum Domino 
 Junctus choro angelico 
 Summo Sanctis in jubilo 
 
 Quern Deus, etc. 
 
 23. " Zona cinctus justitias 
 
 Castitatis eximiae 
 Mundus opertus sindone 
 In signo castimoniae 
 Foeminalia lucidse 
 Habeus toto ex viscere, 
 Cujus sancto pro opere 
 Reddetur merces condigne. 
 Quern Deus ad aethera 
 Conduxit habitacula 
 Ab Angelus custodita 
 Permansura in saacula. 
 
 ' ' Per merita, et orationes S. Comgilli abbatis nostri omnes nos Domine 
 in tua pace custodi." 
 
326 
 
 HYMNS FROM THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 B. 
 
 MEMORIA ABBATUM NOSTRORUM. 
 
 ;< Sancta sanctorum opera 
 Patrum, fratres, fortissima 
 Benchorensi in optima 
 Fundatorum Ecclesia, 
 Abbatum eminentia 
 Numerum, tempora, nomina 
 Sine fine fulgentia, 
 Audite magna merita, 
 Quos convocavit Dominus 
 Coelorum regni sedibus. 
 
 ;c Amavit Christus Comgillum, 
 Bene et ipse Dominum, 
 Carum habuit Beognoum, 
 Domnum ornavit ac Deum, 
 Elegit sanctum Simlanum, 
 Famosum mundi magistrum 
 Quos convocavit Dominus 
 Coelorum regni sedibus. 
 
 ' ' Gratum fecit Fintenanum 
 Heredem, almum, inclytum 
 Illustravit Machlaisreum 
 Kaput abbatum omnium 
 Lampadem sacram Seganum 
 Magnum scriptiirge medicum 
 Quos convocavit Dominus 
 Coelorum regni sedibus. 
 
 Notus vir erat Beracnus, 
 Ornatus et Cumnenus, 
 Pastor Columha congruus, 
 Querela absque Aidanus, 
 Rector bonus Bautherius 
 Suinmus antistes Cronanus 
 Quos convocavit Dominus 
 Coelorum regni sedibus. 
 
 ; Tantis successit Camanus 
 Vir admirabilis omnibus 
 Christo nunc sedet supremus 
 Hymnos canens quindecimus 
 Zoen ut carpat Cronanus 
 Conservet eum Dominus, 
 Quos convocabit Dominus 
 Coelorum regni sedibus. 
 
 ; Horum sanctorum merita 
 Abbatum fidelissima 
 Erga Comgillum congrua 
 Invocamus altissima, 
 Uti possimus omnia 
 Nostra delere crimina 
 Per Jesum Christum aeterna 
 Regnantem in ssecula. 
 
 HYMNUS SANCTI CAMELACI. 
 
 " Audite bonum exemplum 
 Benedicti pauperis 
 Camelaci Cumiensis 
 Dei justi famuh. 
 Exemplum prsebet in toto, 
 Fidelis in opere, 
 Gratias Deo agens, 
 Hylaris in omnibus, 
 Jejunus, et mansuetus ; 
 Kastus hie servit Deo, 
 Lsetatur in paupertate, 
 Mitis est in omnibus, 
 
 Noctibus, atque diebus 
 Orat Dominum suum, 
 Prudens, Justus, ac fidelis, 
 Quern cognati diligunt. 
 Regem Deum aspexit, 
 Salvatoremque suum 
 Tribuit huic seternam 
 Vitam cum fidelibus. 
 Christus ilium insinuavit 
 Patriarchae Abrahse 
 In Paradiso regnabit 
 Cum sancto Eleazaro." 
 
HYMNS IN HONOUR OF ST. FOILLANUS. 327 
 
 APPENDIX No. X, 
 
 HYMNS IN HONOUR OF ST. FOILLANUS. 
 
 We insert the following hymn, taken from a MS. in the Valli- 
 cellian library in Rome, regarding an Irish saint, Foillanus, whose 
 festival is celebrated in Liege.* For the history of this saint, and 
 his brothers, St. Furse and St. Ultan, see Lanigan's Ecclesiastical 
 History of Irelandf (See also ante, page 145.) St. Foillanus 
 was martyred in Belgium about the year 655 : 
 
 Hymnus in Festo S. Foillani, Epi. et Mart. 
 
 Die 31 Octob. ad 1«« Vesper as. 
 
 Novis hymnorum modulis Christo cauamus gloriam 
 Foillani Pontificis venerautes memoriam. 
 Foillanus nuuc sequitur agmim quocunique ierit 
 Et Praasuli conceditur quidquid Deum rogaverit. 
 Auctor nostri Collegii, gregisque Pastor crediti, 
 O Foillane, qusesunius, fer openi nobis omnibus. 
 Quondam refulgens nitoris Maris Hyberni sedibus 
 Procedeus sol et aureus nostris ortus est finibus. 
 Vir doctrina clarissimus urbem Romanam adiit 
 Carnis fatiscens artubus Mortis futurse prassciens 
 Martino tarn Pontifice venit jubente in Galliam 
 Suae virtutis lumine hanc ut bearet patriam. 
 Hue Ultanus comitatur ; Gertrudis patrimonio 
 Fossis Doctor collocatur. Signorum fulgens radio 
 Cceleste tenens bravium Agnumque sequens praevium 
 Nostris peccatis poscimus medere Sanctis precibus 
 Ave Pater Foillane, ave Martyr et Patrone 
 Tuo psallentes nomine, junge choris ccelestium 
 Ne nos illudat zabulus hac nocte suis fraudibus 
 Carnis utens illecebris vel somnii ludibriis. 
 Christo sit laus et gloria ac Foillano gaudia 
 Qui nobis coeli regia aeterna donet pro3mia. Amen. 
 
 * In Vallicellian Biblioth. H. 48. Codex MS. Offic. Eccles. Leodiensis. 
 t Vol. ii. p. 464. 
 
328 hymns in honour of st. foillanus. 
 
 Ad Completorium. Hymnus. 
 
 Respiremus in beati Foillani memoria 
 Et colanius ssmi praesulis solemnia 
 Exsurgamus excitati in ejus praeconia. 
 Oriundus ex Hibernia sed regali prosapia 
 In aetate tenerrima crescens in sapientia 
 Florensque sanctimonia sprevit transitoria 
 Profectns in desertum sacro dncente spiritu 
 Fit Deo sacrificinm manu peremptus impia 
 Delatus jnssu Numinis ornat Fossas Reliquiis. 
 O Martyr nobilissime tua per suffragia 
 Foillane Deum flecte impetrata venia 
 Ut aeternae conferatur vitae nobis gloria. Amen. 
 
 Ad Laudes. 
 
 Clara prins Hyberniae, lnx Foillane patriae 
 
 Densis tenebris obsitae lumen dedisti Galliae 
 
 In qua peractis omnibus quae docuit Paraclitus 
 
 Quod summum vitae decus est, beatus Martyr factus est. 
 
 Lucis compos aeviternae, nostras tenebras discute 
 
 Quos cultor stygis horridae, densat multa caligine. 
 
 Hac nocte qua tartareum Jesus salvator januum 
 
 Rupit triumphans daemonem, veram mentis confer pacem. 
 
 Ut cum corda discusserit et cum judex advenerit 
 
 Nos gaudentes efficiat, secumque coelis inferat. 
 
 Deo Patri sit gloria, ej usque soli Filio 
 
 Cum Spiritu Paraclito et nunc et in perpetuum. Amen. 
 
 Ad Secttndas Vesper as, in testis Inventions et Translations 
 S. Foillani. 
 
 Exultet cceli Regia, tellus gaude Leodica 
 Quia regnat in patria praesul noster cum gloria, 
 Foillanus nunc sequitur Agnurn quocumque ierit 
 Et Martyri conceditur quidquid Deum rogaverit. 
 Ignis in columna claruit solum tangens et sydera 
 Quae luce signavit sua in nocte Divum corjsora 
 Fons limpidus Martyrii demonstrat privilegium 
 Et Fossis sancto Cor^iori praestat undis obsequium 
 Sarsum ferantur auimi ad Praesulis praesidium 
 Nobis ut Deus confei-at perennis vitce bravium 
 Praesta Pater ingenite, Jesu cum sacro flamine 
 Ut Foillani precibus jungamur in ccelestibus. Amen. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Dedication iii 
 
 Preface v 
 
 Errata ............ viii 
 
 ESSAY 
 On the Origin of the Irish Church, and its connexion with Rome. 
 
 fart &mt 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 MISSION OF ST. PALLADIUS. 
 
 Few Christians in Ireland before the arrival of St. Palladius : tes- 
 timony of Prosper : Palladius sent from Pome in 431 : Pal- 
 ladius as Deacon held a high post in Pome : Ireland known 
 by the name Scotia : St. Palladius unsuccessful in his mission : 
 account of his labours from the Book of Armagh : from the 
 Scholiast of St. Fiacc and other sources .... 3-8 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 GENERAL SKETCH OF ST. PATRICK'S HISTORY. 
 
 Early life of St. Patrick : his captivity and subsequent liberation : 
 he studies at Tours, Lerins, and Auxerre : visits Pome : ac- 
 companies St. Germanus into Britain : proceeds a second time 
 to Pome, accompanied by Segetius : is consecrated by St. 
 Amator : sets out for Ireland towards the close of 432 . 8-12 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 ST. PATRICK'S CONNEXION WITH ST. GERMANUS. 
 
 Testimony of Fiacc, Bishop of Sletty : Book of Armagh : Muirchu- 
 Maccu-Mactheni : Cottonian Liturgical Tract of the 7th cent. ; 
 Eric of Auxerre : Irish Scholia on St. Fiacc's hymn : Irish 
 Nennius : Lives of our Apostle 12-22 
 
330 INDEX. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 st. Patrick's mission from rome. 
 
 Testimony from Dicta S. Pairitii : St. Columbanus : St. Ultan, Bp. of 
 Ard-Breccan : Tirechan : Leabhar Breac : St. Aileran : Scholiast 
 on Fiacc : Probus : other Lives of St. , Patrick : Life of St 
 Kieran : Eric of Auxerre : historia Brittonum : Annals of Four 
 Masters ; of Innisfail ; of Ulster ; Maelbrighte : St. Prosper . 22-34 
 
 $)ari gwrntb. 
 
 MODERN THEORIES REGARDING ST. PATRICK. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Theory of Ledwich : rejected by the tradition of Ireland : Aengus : 
 Irish collection of Canons in 700 : St. Adamnan : Book of 
 -Armagh: Antiphonary of Bangor : St, Cummian Fota : St. 
 Columba, Fiacc, Secundums, etc 35-3S 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 Theories of Sir W. Betham and Usher : Betham's opinion contrary 
 to the very documents which he cites : the formula Scotos in 
 Christo credentes .• the Irish Germanus. Usher's opinion contrary 
 to our ancient annals : date of SS. Ailbe, Declan, Ibar, and 
 Kieran : testimony of Prosper : of St. Patrick himself : origin 
 of Irish Church from Rome , 38-42 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Dean Murray's theory : the Irish writers are not silent as to the 
 mission of Palladiua : foreign writers commemorate St. Patrick ; 
 Sigebert : Ricemarch : silence of Prosper and Bede : Fordnn and 
 the Irish Nennius 43-45 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Some opinions of Dr. Lanigan and Petrie : St. Sen -Patrick different 
 from our Apostle : commemorated by Aengus, Annals of 
 Connaught, etc. : corrected text of Marianus : Irish quatrain : 
 Annals of Innisfail : Petrie's theory : distinctive features of St. 
 Patrick's history : the Irish Augustine : St. Patrick not con- 
 founded with Palladius 46-50 
 
331 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion that St. Palladius was not a deacon of Rome ; 
 contrary to the testimony of Prosper : Mactheni and other 
 writers : the Palladian family in Gaul and elsewhere : held 
 high offices in Pome at this period 51-54 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion that St. Patrick did not commence his 
 apostolate until 440 : not supported by St. Patrick's writings : 
 the Irish Nennius : Synchronisms of the Irish Kings : explicit 
 testimony of the Annals of Ulster : Tirechan's statement : 
 inconsistency of Todd's arguments : the Irish poet Gilla- 
 Caemhain : not opposed to the common opinion : chronological 
 Tract of Book of Lecan : true meaning of the passage cited by 
 Dr. Todd : all our records conspire in referring the mission of 
 St. Patrick to the year 432-3 55-66 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Dr. Todd's opinion that St. Patrick received no mission from 
 Rome : the confession of our Apostle : why composed by him : 
 why silent as to his mission from Pope Celestine : other writings 
 of our Apostle : hymn of St. Sechnall : illogical reasoning of 
 Dr. Todd : Muirchu-Maccu-Mactheni's Tract: titles of its lost 
 chapters : his text coincides with Probus : reconstruction of 
 his 5th and 6th chapters : conclusion 66-79 
 
 Jjari &ljh&. 
 
 SENTIMENTS OF THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH REGARDING ROME. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Early Irish writers on the prerogatives of Rome : two hymns of the 
 early Irish Church on the privileges of St. Peter: metrical 
 translation of same : testimony of St. Cummian Fota : his 
 Penitential: St. Sechnall's text mistranslated by Usher and 
 Todd : St. Mochta of Louth : Irish profession of faith made 
 in 460 (see Appendix V. page 296) . . . . 81-94 
 
 CHAP. I.— C< tinned. 
 
 Missal of St. Columbanus : His letters to Pope Boniface : objections 
 drawn from them by Protestant writers : only serve to place 
 in clearer light the Catholic teaching of the Irish Saint : letter 
 to St. Gregory the Great 95-102 
 
332 INDEX. 
 
 CHAP. I.— Continued. 
 
 The Irish Claudius : author of a commentary on the Gospels : 
 passages cited by Usher : some passages carefully omitted 
 by the Protestant Primate : Ancient Irish hymn : St. Cum- 
 mian's Paschal letter : glimpse of Irish theology in the 7th 
 century: St. Colmanof Lindisfarne : the Whitby Conference : 
 the Brehon Laws : Probus's life of Saint Patrick : St. Furse : 
 Gillibert of Limerick 103-120 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 CANONICAL ENACTMENTS OF THE IRISH CHURCH REC4ARDING ROME. 
 
 Canon of St Patrick, that difficult cases are to be referred to Rome : 
 Usher's remarks on this canon : it is found in the Book of 
 Armagh : was acted on by the Irish synod of 630 : is inserted 
 in the Collectio Hibernensis Canonum : Dr. Todd's remarks on 
 the published synod of SS. Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus : 
 analysis of various decrees of the Irish collection of canons : 
 incidental testimony of the same ancient monument : delusion 
 of the late Protestant dean of Ardagh .... 120-131 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 IRISH PILGRIMAGES TO ROME. 
 
 Irish pilgrimages even in the time of our Apostle : Germanus, son 
 of an Irish chieftain : St. Enna of Arrann islands : curious 
 fact connected with his visit to Rome : St. Conlaedh, bishop 
 of Kildare, brings vestments with him from Rome : St. Nen- 
 nidh of the pure hand, and St. Brigid : St. Finnian of Clonard : 
 St. Finnian of Moville devotes himself to sacred literature in 
 Rome : was probably the same as the patron saint of Lucca : 
 St. Gildas makes an offering on the altar of St. Peter : St. 
 Molua : St. Flannan of Killaloe consecrated bishop in Rome : 
 St. Carthage the elder : St. Laserian and Rome : SS. Wiro and 
 Plechelm : St. Sylas : Irish bishops at Roman Council of 
 721 ; also in third Council of Lateran : St. Dichuill ; St. Kilian 
 and companions, etc 131-144 
 
 CHAP. III.— Continued. 
 
 Pilgrimage of St. Canice to Rome : .St. Foillan, patron of Brabant : 
 St. Senanus of Inniscattery : Romans and other foreign reli- 
 gious seek a home in Ireland : St. Dagan : St. Gregory the 
 Great sanctions Irish Rules : St. Cardoc and other pilgrims : 
 Donogh O'Brien : St. Marianus : testimony of Ricemarch : 
 Irish hos2>italia in France : Irish expelled from them : St. 
 Willibrord: St. Boniface: St. Witta .... 145-153 
 
INDEX. 333 
 
 CHAPTER III.— Continued. 
 
 Appeals of Irish Saints to Rome : St. Columbanus : St. Virgilius : 
 the Paschal controversy: St. Cummian : Synod of Magh-lene : 
 attended by the bishops of Munster and Leinster : letter of the 
 archbishop of Armagh and the northern bishops and clergy 
 to Rome : reply of the Roman Church : importance of this 
 document: words of Dr. Lynch 153-160 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 On the Teaching of the Irish Church regarding the Blessed 
 Eucharist. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCIENT LITURGICAL TEEATISES. 
 
 The Stowe Missal : its date : its doctrine regarding the Blessed 
 Eucharist : the Bobbio Missal affords similar evidence : the 
 Antiphonary of Bangor : the hymn Sancti Venite : remarks of 
 the German hymnologist : old Gselic Tract from Leabhar Breac, 
 on the Ceremonies of the Mass : Manuscript Treatise on the 
 Mass-Vestments : catalogue of three classes of Irish Saints 161-173 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 IRISH PENITENTIALS AND OTHER RECORDS. 
 
 Penitential of St. Cummian Fota : of St. Finnian : Bobbi o P eni- 
 tential : Pcenitentiale Bigotianum : beautiful canon of St. Co- 
 lurnbanus : other facts connected with this saint and his 
 disciples : ancient Irish collection of canonsTdecrees concern- 
 ing the Viaticum, etc. : MS. Tract on the Ecclesiastical Orders : 
 on the consecration of a church : the Brehon laws : on the 
 rights of Church and Churchmen : Irish Synod in 807, held 
 by Abp. Torbach (See Appendix VIII. page 320) . 174-182 
 
 CHAPTER II. —Contin ued. 
 
 Teaching of the Monastic or Cenobitical Rules : Ride of St. Mochuda 
 or Carthage, patron of Lismore : duties of abbots and priests : 
 St. Carthage receives the Holy Viaticum : St. Maelruan's 
 Rule for the Cele Dei : extract from Curry MSS. in Catholic 
 University: Felire or Festology of Aengus . . . 182-187 
 
334 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE TEACHING AND PRACTICE OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 
 
 Facts connected with our Apostle : he instructs Fedhelmia and 
 Ethne, daughters of King Leoghaire : his visit to Tirerrill : 
 he receives the Viaticum from St. Tassach : St. Benignus : 
 St. Brigid : her life by Cogitosus : her metrical life by St. 
 Coellan of Inniskeltra : she receives the Viaticum from St. 
 Nennidh : St. Columbkille's life by Adamnan : St. Columba at 
 Maghbile : at Trevet, in Meath : in Iona : his life by Cumi- 
 neus Albus : St. Canice : St. Furse : St. Colgu the Wise : 
 Extract from his MS. Prayer: St. Kieran of Saigir: St. 
 Munnu of Taghmon : St. Comgall : Bede's Life of St. Cuth- 
 bert : St. Fechin of Fore : St. Mida, the Brigid of Munster : 
 St. Brendan of Clonfert : St Malachy punishes a monk for 
 doubts regarding the Blessed Eucharist . . . . 187-201 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TESTIMONY ON THE BLESSED EUCHARIST OF THE IRISH WRITERS 
 APPEALED TO BY OUR ADVERSARIES. 
 
 The Poet Sedulius : Usher's extracts from the Carmen Paschale 
 examined : other extracts from the works of Sedulius : the 
 Commentator Sedulius : bears Witness to the Catholic teach- 
 ing of our Church : the Irish Claudius, as cited by Usher : 
 beautiful passages omitted by Usher . . . . 201-213 
 
 CHAPTER IV— Continued. 
 
 Manuscript copy of the Gospel by Maelbrighte : Toland's theory ; 
 refuted as regards the age of the Manuscript : he, moreover, 
 falsifies the text of Maelbrighte : St. Manchan : the Treatise 
 de Mirabilibus 8. Scripturce : Analysis of this Irish document : 
 John Scotus Erigena ; Conclusion .... 213-221 
 
 ESSAY 
 
 On Devotion to the Blessed Virgin in the Ancient Church 
 of Ireland. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Ancient Irish Litany to the Blessed Virgin from Curry MSS. 
 in the Catholic University : Hymn of St. Cuchumneus written 
 in the seventh century, from the Liber Hymnorum in Rome : 
 
335 
 
 Festivals of the Blessed Virgin in the Irish Church : Extracts 
 from the Bobbio Missal : St. Brigid extolled as like unto the 
 Mother of God : Extract from Leabhar Breac, etc. . 223-231 
 
 CHAPTER IT. 
 
 Felire of Aengus : Prayer of St. Colgu in the Eighth Century : 
 Devotion of SJ;. Columbanus to the Blessed Virgin : Irish 
 Recluse in Austria : Sedulius's Poems in honour of the Mother 
 of God : MS. fragment of Sedulius, Abbot of Kildare : Doc- 
 trine of Claudius Scotus : some ancient Irish Hymns : St. 
 Mochta : St. Laurence O'Toole : Conclusion . . 231-240 
 
 APPENDIX No. I. 
 
 Testimony added to that of St. Mochta, given at p. 94 in the text : 
 addition to p. 166, from the Bangor Antiphonary on Blessed 
 Eucharist 241 
 
 APPENDIX No. II. 
 
 IRISH TRACT ON THE VARIOUS LITURGIES. 
 
 Conjectures as to sense of this tract, and version of it : the Pater 
 Noster as used in the Irish liturgy : Gloria in Excelsis : the 
 Apostles' Creed ; the Hymn of the Three Children . 246-249 
 
 APPENDIX No. III. 
 
 ANCIENT IRISH PENITENTIALS. 
 
 A. The Penitential of St. Cummian. 
 
 Opinions of Lanigan, Theiner, Wasserschleben regarding this 
 Penitential refuted : St. Cummian Fota, who died about 662, 
 the author : great influence of this Penitential during the 
 Middle Ages : St. Theodore of Canterbury borrows from it 
 largely : extracts from it ; introduction : general rules from 
 Scripture : Canons on the use of animals : heinous crimes : 
 robbery: pride and heresy: holy sacrifice of the Mass: re- 
 garding pen&ice, the mass, churches, etc. . . . 250-26 3 
 
 B. Penitential of St. Finnian. 
 
 His Canons, published by Wasserschleben, more ancient than the 
 year 700 : extracts : Canon 31, regarding the redemption of 
 captives, etc. 264 
 
336 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 C. Penitentials of SS. David and Gildas. 
 Their Canons, published by Martene : extracts .... 267 
 
 D. Penitential of St. Columbanus. 
 
 Drawn up in France or Italy : extracts : Canon 32 prescribes the 
 
 liberation of slaves : communicating with heretics, etc. 268-270 
 
 E. Canons of Adamnan. 
 
 Published in part by Martene— in full by Wasserschleben : ex- 
 tracts regarding flesh of deceased animals . . . 270-271 
 
 F. Synodus Sapientium. 
 
 Extracts : Canons de arreis : de jectione ; the liberation of slaves 
 prescribed : de canibus : great value of a sheep-dog : penalty 
 for killing one : on tithes 271-274 
 
 G. Penitential of Eighth Century. 
 
 Taken from SS. Cummian, Finnian, and Theodore : extract from 
 
 preliminary discourse 274-275 
 
 APPENDIX No. IV. 
 Missal of SLColumbanus. 
 
 Published by Mabillon : Dr. Lanigan and 0' Conor prove that it 
 contains the Irish liturgy : Dr. Todd's opinion refuted : proofs 
 that it is Irish : agrees with Stowe Missal . . . 276-284 
 
 B. Penitential of the Bobbio Missal. 
 
 Extracts which show its connexion with the Penitentials of Co- 
 lumbanus and Cummian 284-287 
 
 C. Dr. Todd's Remarks on Bobbio Missal. 
 
 Dr. Todd endeavours to prove that this Missal is not Irish : his 
 
 arguments refuted 287-292 
 
 D. Extracts from Bobbio Missal. 
 
 Prayer on the vigil of Christmas : regarding Blessed Virgin and 
 St. Eugenia : preface : prayer from Mass of St. Stephen and 
 Holy Innocents : of the chair of St. Peter : feasts of the 
 Blessed Virgin, of the Holy Cross, etc. . . . 292-296 
 
INDEX. 337 
 
 APPENDIX V. 
 
 PROFESSION OF FAITH OF ST. MOCHTA. 
 
 Referred to ante at page 92 : first published by Muratori : given 
 
 here in full 296 -303 
 
 APPENDIX No. VI. 
 
 DR. TODD'S REMARKS ON SIXTH CANON OF ST. PATRICK'S SYNOD. 
 
 Dr Todd refers this Canon to ninth or tenth century : his argu- 
 ments have no solidity : this Canon does not refer to the ton- 
 sure, but to the clipping of hair and beard in Roman fashion : 
 Druidical verse about St. Patrick : this canon is found in MSS. 
 more ancient thau the period assigned to it by Dr. Todd: 
 reading of Canon in ancient MSS : not given correctly by 
 Spelman or Dr. Todd : the words referred to a cleric's wife by 
 Dr. Todd regard married women in general : the Canon about 
 offeriugs does not prove the synod to be of a late period . 304-31 1 
 
 APPENDIX No. VII. 
 
 COLLECTIO HIBERNENSIS CANONUM. 
 
 Extracts from this collection given by the Benedictines, D'Achery, 
 etc. : Usher refers it to the year 700 : Dr. Todd and Dr. Reeves 
 treat of it : the Cottonian MS. : Cambray MS. : other MSS. : 
 two Vatican MSS. : extracts : Vallicellian MS. : extracts . 31 1-320 
 
 APPENDIX No. VIII. 
 
 IRISH SYNOD OF THE YEAR 807- 
 
 For this synod see page 180, where it is treated of: two extracts 
 from the Vallicellian archives : Torbach of Armagh styled 
 archbishop of the English and Irish 320-322 
 
 APPENDIX No. IX. 
 
 THE BANGOR ANTIPHONARY. 
 
 First published by Muratori: Lanigan refers it to the seventh 
 century : in Ambrosian library at Milan : Hymn of St. 
 Comghil : Hymn commemorative of the holy abbots of 
 Bangor : Hymn to St. Camelach 322-326 
 
 APPENDIX No. X. 
 
 Hymns at vespers : complin : lauds and second vespers in honour 
 of St. Foillanus (see p. 144), an Irish saint who, with his 
 brothers SS. Furse and Ultan, is honoured in Brabant . . 327 
 
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