extraordinary great veneration both in his life and after his death that as Venerable Bede records it not only all In quibus omnibus scilicet Monasteriis per Hiberniam Britanniam propagatis ex utroque Monasterio idem Monasterium Insulanum in quo ipse requiâ—scit corpore principatum tenat Habere autem solet ipsa Irsula Rectorem semper Abbatem presbyterum cujus juri omnis Provincia ipsi etiam Episcopi ordine inusitato debeant esse subjecti juxta exemplum primi Doctoris illius qui non Episcopus sed presbyter extitit Monachus Beda ibid. the Monasteries propagated in Ireland or Britain from either of those two Abbeys founded by himself were subordinate to this latter of Hy wherein he lived longest and died at last being 77 years aged nor only all the whole Province but even the very Bishops themselves contrary to the custom of the Church in other Countreys were subject to the jurisdiction of all the succeeding Abbots thereof tho Presbyters only by ordination to wit according to the primitive pattern of their first Doctor who was himself no Bishop but only a Priest and Monk In fine he most justly deserved the title which Posterity gave him of the first Converter of the North of Scotland and great Apostle of the Picts as Cambden himself calls him And so he might have call'd him too the great and chief if not the first Instructor in Christianity of all the Irish Scots 4. That although I cannot tell certainly what Venerable Bede means here in the Marginal Note by his omnis Provincia whole Province that is whether he mean all the Kingdom of Scotland as it lies now extended and as then comprehending all the several petty Kingdoms both of Scots and Picts for by the Battel fought in Scotland at Monadoire in the Reign of Diarmuid mhic Cearbheoil King of Ireland by the Family of the Neals against the Picts we understand this Nation of Picts had several petty Kings at that time being they lost in this one Battel together with the Victory seven of them kill'd in the place by those Irish formerly planted there or whether he mean the Kingdom of the Irish in Scotland or which is the same thing of the Scots or Dal-Rheudans only all three signifying the same People or whether only the Dominions of those Northern Picts converted by Columb and there can be no other to be meant by omnis provincia since the Island it self wherein that Monastery was exceeded not five English miles in length yet thus much I can certainly say that Keting tells us in his Reign of Aodh or Hugh Ainmhirioch Monarch of Ireland that Columb-Cille in his Voyages and Journey to the Parliament held by this Monarch at Drom-Ceath in that Kingdom was all along out of Scotland attended not only by 30 Sub-deacons 50 Deacons and 40 Priests but 20 Bishops also to praise God continually and officiate in divine Offices in his company whereby we may somewhat guess at the largeness of that Province whereof Venerable Bede does speak here SECT III. The Scene altered Cause of admiration Bloody horrible feuds begun encreas'd multiplied continued 2600 years No People on earth so implacably set upon the destruction of one another as the Milesian Irish were Above 600 Battels fought between themselves A hundred and eighteen Monarchs slaughter'd Fourscore and six of those very men that kill'd them succeeded immediatly in their Thrones Other strange deaths of several of them Of the whole number of 181 Monarchs not above 29 came to a natural end The Author of this account Battels fought by the Monarchs Caomhaol Tighearnmhuir Tuathal Teachtvair where somewhat of the Plebeians 25 years War Conn Ceadchathach alias Constantinus Centibellis and Mogha Nuadhat King of Mounster What Leath Cuinn and Leatha Mogh import The feuds rather inflam'd than allaid under Christianity Number of main Battels fought and Monarchs kill'd the first 400 years after their Conversion by S. Patrick By two of them the one betwixt the Monarch Fearghall and Murcho O Bruin King of Leinster the other between the Monarch Aodlâ— Ollan and Aodha mhac Colgan King also of Leinster may be guess'd how bloody the rest were Foreign Conquests and Plantations neglected all that while Occasionally somewhat of the Heathen Monarch Dathi's Landing in France with an Army to pursue Niall the Great 's example and of his being kill'd by a Thunderbolt near the Alps and of the ten several Invasions of Scotland by the Irish Pagans and but one if one by the Christian Irish The Families descended from those Irish remaining to this day in that Country A word of those call'd English Scots Columb-Cille himself Author of fighting three of the foresaid Battels in Ireland The heavy pennance during life enjoin'd him therefore by S. Molaisse and his humble performance of it and much greater wonders of him Why the particular of those Battels of Columb-Cille mentioned here The Parliament of Dromceathe in his time Banishment of the Poets one of the three ends it was called for Great Injustice Cruelty Pride c. instanc'd severally in their Monarchs Tuathal Teuchtvar c. Nial Naoighiallach Diarmuid mhac Ceirrbheoil and Aodh mhac Ainmhiriogh Some of the Murders and Battels that happened about the end of their fourth Century of Christian Religion particulariz'd HItherto I have briefly run over the Antiquity Martial Exploits Political Government or Grand Councils ordinary Militia and after their Conversion to Christianity the Learning also and Sanctity of the Ancient Irish And so have I think delivered in short all the most glorious Excellencies recorded of that Nation eitheir in their own Monuments or any foreign Histories that I have seen 16. What follows next is on the other side of the Medal to represent unto you not only a mixture of great imperfections with so many excellencies nor only the prevalency of downright evil men against so many good against so prodigiously numerous and great exemplars of virtue living among them after their being enlightned with the doctrine of salvation but according to the vicissitude of all things on earth the change and wane and strange decay and utter fall at last of that People in general from all the glory of their Ancestors And this whether we regard the greatness of their former dominion and power abroad or the more ancient policy of their Government at home or the stupendious fame of their Letters and Holiness every where in those days of old Nay and this alteration too in every point as happening to them even before the English had set one foot in their Country under Henry II. All which I am to represent unto you now because the order of things and both title and nature of this Tract require I should Though I shall nevertheless do it by so much the more briefly by how much I am less inclined to dwell on this subject However I must confess that when I reflect on the most authentick Monuments of
Longford ad Euium Fluvium had its beginning Anno 1152. Such is the account I find mostly in Lucius and for some part in Keting of the endeavours used in those later times by several Irish Princes and Prelats to repair in some degree the general destruction brought upon their Schools of Learning and Piety and upon all that was excellent or civil in their Nation by the long Danish Wars and their own intestin broils immediately following Questionless they reputed Monasteries as and as indeed they were in that Age among them in Ireland the best Schools of Learning and Religion so the best means to civilize a Christian People much over-run with ignorance barbarism and wildness and fierceness too of Nature which two or three hundred years continual War in the very entraâ—ls of their Countrey for the most part with Heathen Foreigners and for the rest with the Natives themselves one against another must of necessity have brought with it The fourth Point is to let you know that in this very decrepit Age and finâ—l wane of the Irish Monarchy Heaven was yet so propitious to them as to raise among them in the Ecclesiastical State some however few even as wonderfully eminently Saints peradventure as were in the primitive Ages of Christianity in that Kingdom For to say nothing now of those other excellent Bishops of this time Ceallach or Celsus of Ardmagh Gillaspuick alias Gilbertus of Limmâ—rick Malâ—bus of Lismore and Giolla-Criost or Christianus of Clocher though St. Bernard himself besides what he has of the rest especially of Malchus calls this Christian a good man full of grace and vertue inferiour indeed to his Brother he means Malachias in celebrity of Fame but peradventure not so in sanctity of Life and Zeal of Justice however to pass over I say all these four excellent Prelats of this time those I mean at present were especially two other holy Monks and they extraordinary Bishops too one after an other The former of them was Malachias in Irish Maolmo says Keting or at least my Copy of him but Malmedoic O Morgain says Waraeus a burning and shining Light indeed as Saint Bernard applies to him what our Saviour Christ did say of Saint John Baptist He was born an Vlster man of noble Parents in the year of our Lord 1094. died in the 54 of his own Age being the year of our Lord 1148. and therefore lived under some part of Donachadh mhac Brien Boraimh's reign and the whole Reigns of his three Successors even till the beginning of Muirchiortach mhac Neill's reign the last Irish Monarch saving one That is he lived in a great part of those very times when almost the whole face of the Irish Church was most wofully deformed ulcer'd horrible to be seen In most places all kind of Ecclesiastical Discipline all the Canons of the Church trodden under foot in many other all the very Sacraments of Christ not only neglected but of no use at all Nor must we much wonder at it if we consider that the very Head of the Ecclesiastical Order in Ireland the See of Ardmagb had in those days been as a meer lay Fee or Temporal Inheritance possess'd by strong hand of one powerful Family even for fifteen Generations successively i. e. ever since the expulsion of the Danes almost two hundred years out of that Province That besides although sometimes there was not one Clerk in this Family yet they never wanted a Bishop And thirdly that before Ceallach whom we call Celsus the immediat but virtuous good Predecessor of Malachias eight married men without any Orders though not without Learning had been the only Bishops of that Metropolitan See Hence throughout all Ireland that dissolution of the Churches discipline enervation of her Censures evacuation of Religion whereof we have spoken before says the Mellifluous D. S. Bernard in the Life of Malachias cap. vii For what has never been elsewhere not even since the very beginning of Christianity heard was now in Ireland to be seen Bishops without Ordination without reason multiplied at the lust of the Metropolitan Insomuch that one Bishoprick was not content with one Bishop but almost every Church in it had a peculiar Bishop And indeed how was it likely to be otherwise or that under so diseased so corrupt a Head the Members could be sound To reform these horrible corruptions of the Irish Church God it seems had in his secret counsels design'd Malachias to be the man First by his Birth of noble Parents hard by Ardmagh and his being the only beloved Son of such a Family Then by his contemning in his tender years even from his childhood at School in that City whatever seem'd worldly or vain and his giving himself on all occasions especially in all secret recesses to prayer Then by his accoasting admiring and delivering himself very early in his Youth to Imarius the holy Anchoriâ—e who had by his own choice many long years before been shut up perpetually and as it were buried alive in a little Cell that join'd to the Wall of the Cathedral Church Then by the multitude of other young delicate striplings that surmounting all considerations of flesh and bloud and sense and what ever seem'd gay or pleasant to the eye soon after follow'd his example Then by the holy Spirit 's moving not only the good Archbishop Celsus but Imarius also to force him in a manner to the Order of Deaconship before he was 25 years old and to that of Priesthood so soon as he was 25 compleat they as they might well supposing that the sanctity of his conversation did abundantly supply the defect of his Canonical Age for these Orders Then by the further injunction laid upon him immediately by Celsus making him notwithstanding his Youth Vicar General of the Diocess Then by the tenour of his Life and power of his Word piercing like a two edged Sword the very entrails of all that heard him preach and like a burning Torch enflaming them as the Son of Syrach speaks of Elias the Prophet's Word Then by his departing but with the licence of Celsus and Imarius for some years to Lismore in Mounster and putting himself there in a Monastery under the discipline of Malchus the holy miraculous Bishop of that See who had been himself though an Irish man by birth educated in the Abbey of Winchester in England Then by occasion of King Cormack's retirement from his Enemies to the said Monastery where this afflicted Prince making it his choice to live in a poor narrow cell feed on bread and a little salt drink nothing but water bath his body once every day in cold water to extinguish the rebellion of his flesh do all this by the direction of Malachias his only Instructor and comfort yea and continue it until at last he rather suffer'd than desired himself to be restor'd his Enemies flying away before his face every where by this occasion I say the hidden things of Malachias came to be
Hector Boethius makes him a Giant of 15 Cubits high and he was an Irish man both by birth and descent lineally come of his Mothers side in the fifth Generation from Nuatha Neacht King of Leinster and so upward all along from Herimon whatever is reported by D. Hanmer a Page 24. to the contrary in his History of Ireland Hanmer might as well have made the Cappadocian Knight a Saxon as Fionn the son of Cuual a Dane And so might Hector Boethius have as well turn'd Huon of Burdeaux or Amadis de Gaul or the Knight of the Sun or the Seven Champions of Christendom and such like Romances into the very truest Histories as the Fables written of Fionn mhac Cuual and the Captains under him called Fiona Erionn only to entertain leasurable hours and Fancy For the Irish had their Romances too for divertisement They had Bruoidhuin in Chaorhuinn and the Battel of Fionthraghadh or Fentra as Hanmer calls it and the story of Gilladeackuir's Jade and many other such and so among these some also of Fionn mhac Cuual and his Commanders Which yet every one of common sense among the Irish could distinguish from their Chronicles and other Monuments of real story In short these Gentlemen Fionn mhac Cuaal and Fiona Erionn were the stoutest and bravest fighting men of their time in Ireland And they were kept in constant pay by the Monarch Princes and people of that Kingdom to guard the Coasts from abroad and keep all at home quiet With power nevertheless that if the case required it either to suppress a Rebellion or withstand an Invasion or succour Dal Riadac in Scotland the said General Fionn mhac Cuual might make up the standing Forces to seven Battalions that is one and twenty thousand men in all And this is the naked truth concerning these Fiona Erionn so famous in their Generation On which truth many fabulous stories have been superstructed To them may be added those other brave Warriors whether of a later or earlier Generation but as to the reality of things for ought I know of as much bravery and Valour called Dal-Gheasse These were the standing Militia of those fortunate successful Kings of Mounster Ceallaghan and Brian Boraimhe in the second Danish War and the only Gens d'Armes about their persons and continued to be so to the succeeding Kings of Mounster and Leathe Mogh who were Monarchs of Ireland at least bore that Title three of them in succession after the death of that Maolseachluin who immediatly succeeded Brian Boraimhe What number these Valiant men Dal-Gheasse did make I cannot find But see them all along represented for incomparable Warriors till being over-power'd at last by the King of Connaght and Leathe Cuinn and presumed Monarch Torlagh More O Connor they were utterly destroyed a little before the English Conquest and with them the Kingdom of Mounster extinguish'd For this by that Monarch was divided in two and continued so till the English abolish'd them both 13. Of their Learning Historians make no mention till after their conversion to Christianity Which Conversion if we speak of it as to the generality of Ireland was begun by Saint Patrick their Apostle as we have seen before early in the fifth Century that is in the year 431. upon his second landing in that Countrey and compleated by him within threescore and one years more For so long he lived carrying on that holy Work though he had been full threescore and one aged upon this second landing of his when he began it About this time all the Western and Southern parts too of the Roman Empire being over-run by the Goths Vandals Huns Franks and oâ—her barbarous partly German partly Scythick Nations and consequently all kind of Learning for the matter destroyed by them where ever they set footing and the little remainders of the learned Contemplative men retiring still from the noise of Arms and finding themselves no where on the Continent and as little in Great Britain at rest or in safety many of them at last passed over to Ireland That is to a Countrey where as they were told for certain and so it was indeed the Romans never challeng'd any right and consequently neither could the Barbarians on account of such right pretend any quarrel to it and yet a Countrey to admiration religious and holy This of all likelihood was one of the causes or means whereby Ireland began suddenly to flourish above any Countrey of Europe at that time in Learning Besides and to speak without likelihood but by the authority of good Authors for matters of Fact their blessed Apostle St. Patrick himself at his coming thither to convert them in the aforesaid year brought with him besides other Clerks in his own Company thirty Bishops whom himself had in his Journey through foreign parts gathered together and before his shipping for Ireland and for that mission of purpose consecrated because he foresaw the Harvest would be very great and therefore he needed many Workmen So affirmeth an ancient French Author of good repute Henricus Altisiodorensis c Vitae S. Germani cap. 168. who flourish'd in the Emperour Carolus Calvus's Reign Moreover the Irish Chronicles tell us that he also brought along with him all those of Ciniodb Scuit or Scottish that is Irish Nation whom he met abroad any where that were Christians So here you may clearly see between these Bishops Clerks and other Christians the first Seminary of that great Learning in Ireland then when all the other Western Kingdoms and Provinces were grown illiterate barbarous rude However or whatever the causes or the Teachers of that Learning in Ireland were besides these Bishops and Clerks who no man will doubt but they were at least the Chief Instructors in holy Scripture and all matters of Divinity as were also next unto them those other Bishops consecrated by S. Patrick at home in Ireland during the time of his Apostleship even 355. in number says Nennius that is one for every two Churches founded by him in that Countrey and those 3000 Priests Jocelin says 5000 likewise that were not Bishops all of them every one consecrated by himself in this Kingdom it is confessed of all hands and venerable Bede a Histor Anglic l. 3. c. 4 5. 19. l. 4. c. 25. of old and Cambden b Britan. pag. 730. edit London in Fol. an 1607. of late are sufficient vouchers for it That in those dayes the Saxons flowed over into Ireland as to the Mart of good Literature And that when any was wanting here from home it came to be a Proverb He is gone to Ireland to be bred Pursuant hereunto is that Distich in the life of Sulgenus who flourish'd about 700 years since Exemplo patrum commotus amore legendi Ivit ad Hibernos sopbia mirabile claros Besides all the Irish Chronicles tell us of the four great Universities in Ireland Ardmagh Cashel Dun-da-Leathghlass and Lismore not to mention many other Colledges of
wickedness committed by his Brother Which yet he had not forgiven but only delai'd to judg as having never once heard of it before that very morning when he was preparing for Battel and consequently his Soul taken up wholly with other cares Whereby says Gratianus Lucius relating this matter at large and quoting O Duvegan for it we may guess at the condition of those Governors that wilfully and deliberately not only delay the punishment of so many horrible crimes they see daily committed even against all Justice and Religion but resolve never to punish them Neâ— enim injuria quis dixerit eum saevire in bonos qui parcit-malis But if you be of an other judgment as to this Maxim I mean That he is cruel to the good who spares the wicked or if peradventure you boggle at the miraculous part either of this Relation of Conchabhar O Cealla's death or of the former enumeration of such Irish Christian Monarchs Provincial and other Lesser Kings who have been famous in their time for piety you may pass it over and leave it to the devotion and credulity of other men that have not the same apprehensions doubts or scruples as they have not the same soul with you I am sure that laying all such matters aside there is among those great Examples of Virtue enough still remaining to edifie any good Christian or any sober man alive Though I must tell you withal that as no Writer holds himself accountable either for the verity or falsity of any other matters of Fact whatsoever written by him out of ancient History so much less for those of Miracles And yet further I must acknowledg that I know not whether any man writing purposely of a Nation or People that both firmly do believe such miraculous works to have been wrought by God among their Predecessors and would perhaps hold it a very invidious malevolent diminution of their glory for such a man to pass them over wholly in silence it were just or prudential in him to do so However I have avoided the two extreams I have not been wholly silent as to such matters nor have I given but a very few of them Besides I do not interpose a syllable of my own judgment Though I would nevertheless be as free either to assent or dissent or even to suspend as any other upon sufficient ground But enough of this and together with it of all I intended to give in the second Point 35. The third is an Appendix to what has been hitherto said of the personal piety of those Princes For I am now to give in order what was done partly by some of the very same partly by other Irish Kings Princes Lords as well to reform the Commonwealth regulate the Church restore Learning to the Nation as to promote Christian religious piety among all their Subjects no less than in themselves And all this I mean acted by them after the general calamity of the Danish Wars yea and acted by them notwithstanding their own so frequent relapses at this very time into their old Feuds again Brian Boraimh so often mention'd but never enough praised must be the first Instance in this place He set all men free from the exactions of the Danes All the spoils gained by him from the Danes he bestow'd on others All the Lands and Territories of the Kingdom he restor'd to the ancient Proprietors and lawful Heirs not retaining to himself or any Relations one foot of Land belonging to others He conferr'd on each Temporal Lord great Priviledges and Immunities according to his degree He restored to each Bishop his own Diocess to each Priest his Church throughout Ireland He founded built endow'd many Churches Schools Colledges and with Royal munificence care solicitude gave a new beginning again to the destroy'd Universities He bestow'd on every person that would learn money to bear his charges competently He built at his own proper cost the Cathedral of Cill-da-Luagh the Church of Inis Cealtrach and re-edified the Steeple of Tuaim-Ghreine He built many Bridges made many Causeys mended many High ways before not passable He erected many new Forts strengthened the old ones with new Bulwarks and in particular fortified Cashel the usual mansion of the Mounster Kings He re-edified all the Royal Houses or Palaces in Mounster that before his time had been either utterly ruin'd or wholly neglected in particular thirteen of them His Government was so rigid that under it a young Woman travail'd all alone from Toruidh to Cliodhna the length of Ireland with a gold Ring hanging on the top of a Wand in her hand without meeting any that attempted to rob or ravish her Besides he enter'd not on the Sovereignty by murdering or killing his Predecessor as so many others did who nevertheless were not tax'd with Usurpation because of their descent from the Royal Line and yet Brian was undoubtedly of the Line from Heber Moreover he was gloriously magnificent in his Port. No man could carry Arms in his Court where ever it chanc'd to be except only Dal-Gheass that were his own peculiar Guards All the Provinces of Ireland every one and some lesser Countreys too besides the Danes inhabiting Dublin and Limmeric lay under a considerable Boraimh or Tax which they paid yearly for the maintenance of his House at Ceann-Chora viz. Connaght 800 Beeves and so many Hogs Tirchonail 500 Mantles and 500 Beeves Tir-Eoghuin 600 Beeves 600 Hogs and 60 Tun of Iron Clanna Ruidhruidh in Vlster 150 Beeves and so many Hogs Oirghilluibh 800 Beeves Leinster 300 Beeves 300 Hogs and 300 Tuns of Iron Ossory 60 Beeves 60 Hogs and 60 Tuns of Iron Danes of Dublin 300 Pipes or Buts of Wine Danes of Limmerick a Tun of Claret for every day in the Year what Mounster paid I do not find In short his Hospitality at Ceann-Chora in every degree was such that excepting the Monarchs Cormock mhac Airt and Conair mor mhac Eidrisgceoil no other King of Ireland ever did an near it Maolseachluinn II. in his Second Reign especially towards the middle of it when he gave himself to Devotion and thoughts of an other life did as well in good Government and care of the Publick as in Piety shew himself both a great and good King He reedified many Schools repair'd many Churches maintain'd 300 Scholars out of his own Revenue laid the foundation of S. Mary Abbey in Dublin built and endow'd it An. 1039. * Vnderstand this according to Ketings Computation that gives Clantar Clantarâ—â— Battel fought on the 16th of April 1036. but not according to Gratianus Lucius or others that deliver it fought earlier by 20 years viz. Anno. 1014. the very first Abbey we read of built in Ireland since the universal destruction by the Danes For the Monarch Toirghiallach mhac Teaidhg mhic Brian Boraimh that he was not only a good man but excellent King you may read in Lucius very convincing Arguments 1. That during his twelve years Reign there was
intended by the reducing the number of Bishops and bounding their Diocesses might have drawn many to come thither 3. The Temporal Estates of the whole Kingdom sitting at the Place and Time questionless occasion'd the coming of many more Ecclesiasticks to that Council than perhaps otherwise would have come What I would principally observe by occasion of that Synod at Rath-Bressail is first how short this number of 26 Bishops in all Ireland comes of that other of 350 Bishops related before page 56. out of Nennius and Jocelin to have been consecrated by St. Patrick in his time for that Countrey But it may be said that was a time of labouring in the conversion of every part of that Kingdom and its Dominions abroad in Scotland and other adjacent Islands To which purpose it was expedient there should be a very great number of Bishops according to the greatness of the Harvest which was all at least as to Ireland at home made up in 35 years Besides that in 61 or 62 years the long term of Saint Patrick's life after he had enter'd on that Harvest e'en so many hundred Bishops as are mention'd by the said Authors might have died in Ireland and the adjacent Islands tho never the fifth or sixth part of them had lived together in any one time And yet I must confess there was in later times and even but a little before this Council a most corrupt custom in Ireland that multiplyed Bishops pro libitu Metropolitani at the sole Metropolitans pleasure as we shall see hereafter and whence that corruption with many other proceeded However to return to my main purpose Muirchiortach O Brien King of Ireland whether alone or in association with Domhnal the son of Ardghal enjoying that Title was so happy as to have by his Royal Authority concurr d unto compass'd and confirm'd this material point of Reformation and establishment of the State Ecclesiastical Hâ—s next Successor Toirrghiallach Mor O Connor notwithstanding all his Wars did manifest his care of the Publick both in civil and Ecclesiastical affairs He built the three chief Bridges of Connaght among which that of Athlone was He had the Cathedral of Tuam solemnly consecrated by a number of Bishops call'd thither of purpose He built a Hospital in the same Town and endow'd it with Lands He setled a yearly Pension for a Divinity Professor at Ardmagh He was so justly severe in punishing Criminals that having imprison'd his own son for some great Offence and rejected for a long time the intercession of several both Princes and Prelats he could hardly at last be induced even by five hundred Priests and eleven Bishops together with the Archbishops of Ardmagh and Cashel appearing before him and interceding for the Prisoner to set him at liberty after a twelve months imprisonment Of his piety besides what I have said already these are further proofs given by Lucius I. That he caus'd the Holy Cross to be carried about Ireland in great veneration 2. That he bestowed great scopes of Land on the Clergy of Tuam on the Successor of Saint Coman a Town and on the Bishop of Cluain-mhac-Noise a number of Silver Crosses Goblets and Chalices And 3. That by his last Will he bequeath'd to several Churches all the costly furniture of his Houses all his Gold and silver Plate all his Jewels all his Horses and Arms even his very Bow and Quiver besides 540 ounces of Gold and 40 marks of Silver His immediate Follower in the Sovereignty Muirchiortach mhac Neill was pleas'd himself in person together with all the Kings and Nobles of the whole Kingdom to be present in the National Synod of that Church held at Ceannannais we call it now Kells in Meath in the first year of his Reign which was of Christ 1152. This Council begun the 7th of March being Dominica Laetare Hierusalem had members of it present seven and twenty Bishops and as many more Abbots and Priors the Archbishops of Ardmagh and Cashel and the Bishop of Dublin besides sive elect being of the number of those 27 Bishops It was in this Council that John Papiron Cardinal of St. Laurence in Damasco sent by Pope Eugenius III. presided In this Council that he by the Authority of the Apostles Peter and Paul and the Apostolical Lord Eugenius condemned Simony execrated Usury enjoyn'd the payment of Tithes In this Council besides that he deliver'd the 4 Palls to the 4 Archbishops Ardmagh Cashel Tuam Dublin Moreover it was in this Council that he ordain'd as it was fit that Ardmagh should be Primat over all And these things being done by him without further delay he departed and on the Ninth of the Calends of May the same Year ship'd for beyond Seas So Keting writes of him and this Council out of the Annals of Cluain Eidhnioch Fiontain in Lease where he transcribes the very Latin words of those Annals Tho according to an other account of his own Giolla Criost or Christianus O Conneric Bishop of Lismore Provincial of all the Monks in Ireland and Legat in ordinary from the Pope in that Kingdom presided in this Council jointly with the said Cardinal But what is more observable in those Annals is That as to the 4 Palls most of the Clergy in this Council and especially those of Dun-da-Leath-Ghlass and Ardmach were dissenting because they held it enough for Ireland to have two Archbishops the one at Ardmach the other in Mounster as formerly The rest concerning this Council and particular names and surnames of those two and twenty Bishops that according to his account composed it for he leaves out the five Elect and all the Abbots and Priors you may read in him I think it needless to transcribe them here And yet I judg it not impertinent on this occasion to mind the Reader of Meredith Hanmer's gross mistake where in his History of Ireland he says 1. That before this time or Council of Ceannannais the Irish had never had any Archbishops 2. That ever since Austin the Monks time or his mission to England from Gregory the Great the Irish Clergy till this time had been subject to the Archbishops of Canterbury Whereas in truth they had all along from St. Patrick's time and by his own special appointment too even two Archbishops the one stiled of Ardmach the other of Mounster first then of Cashel after he came to have his fixed See there the one for Leath-Cuinn and the other of Leath-Mogha Whereof you may see more at large in Keting who in his Reign of Laogirius tells the very motive and chief inducement St. Patrick had for making the second chief Archiepiscopal See and constituting it in Mounster Nay I have my self read in some of the Saints of Irelands Lives though I have not them by me now to quote them mention made of the Archbishop of the Lagenians and his See being sometimes Kildare sometimes Ferns and so I have of the Archbishop of the Conacians too if my memory fail me
not But if it do Sir James Ware in his Commentary de Praesulibus Hiberniae supplies it abundantly page 174. concerning Mounster and pag. 243. and 244. concerning Connaght What Authority or Jurisdiction these Archbishops had in those days of old is an other question or whether they had any more than only to be Episcopi primae sedis in their Province or priority of place I can say nothing to it But in this I can be on rational grounds positive That none of the Irish Clergy depended on the Archbishops of Canterbury none of their Bishops received consecration from any of them until Lanfraneus in William the Conquerors time was the Archbishop of that See Nor then nor after neither but for some little time those only of Dublin Wexford Waterford and Limmeric And the reason why these in particular would or did so depend was That their Townsmen and subordinate peculiar Governors were Danes or Easterlings now turn'd Christians And that they suspected the Irish Prelats would not favourably judg or determine of their Elections in behalf of their own Citizens blood or Countreymen to Ecclesiastical Offices but by reason at least of the former Feuds if not those present and remaining still would prefer Irish to them And therefore and further yet because they expected in that behalf impartial dealing and justice if not favour too from the See of Canterbury as being of late brought under the Norman Conquerors originally their own Countreymen they procured License from the Irish Kings to have their Bishops consecrated by the Archbishops of that See whereby it happened that so lately as the Reign of the Monarch Toirrghiallach Grandchild to Brien Boraimh in the Year of Christ 1098. the first Bishop of Waterford was consecrated by Anselmus of Canterbury So says Keting and much more Lucius and most of all on this Subject the most eminently famous Primat Vsher who was both concern'd for his own See of Ardmagh and without question able enough to search into these matters To him may be added Sir James Ware pag. 102. 103 and 104. where he tells us of Patric Donatus O Haingly Samuel O Haingly and Gregory four Bishops elected successively by the Oostmans of Dublin and and consecrated for that See by the Archbishops of Canterbury Lanfrancus Anselmus and Rudolphus but no more for the next Bishop of Dublin was consecrated by Ardmagh Having thus reflected on those Errors of Hanmer I have no more to say in relation to the Council of Ceannannais but that all the advantage benefit glory redounding from it to the Irish Church ought questionless to be attributed chiefly to the foresaid King and Monarch of Ireland Muirchiortach mhac Neill that rendred it both much more august by his own Royal presence and much more effectual by his perfect submission to all its Decrees A further strong argument of great resolutions taken by many of the Kings Princes Nobles Ecclesiasticks of Ireland to restore civility justice learning and above all Piety and holiness of Life once more among their Countreymen was the great number of Monasteries built and endow'd by them within the very last eighty years of their Milesian Government before the final period of it Yea and built by them I mean notwithstanding all the disadvantages of that time especially of that part of it which was taken up by the extraordinary turbulencies happen'd in Ruaruidh O Connor's Reign Who as we have seen before succeeded this Muirchiortach mhac Neill and was himself never since by any of his Countrey or Nation succeeded In the Province of Vlster Anno 1106 the Monastery of Lisgoual near Loch Erne and the Abbey of Carrig whose first Abbot was St. Euodius were founded by Mac-Noellus Mackenlef King of Vlster Anno 1138. an other for the Canons Regular of St. Austin in Feramanach The same Year an other in Louth for the same order by Donogh mhac Ceirrbheoil King of Orghillae And by him at the request of St. Malachias the noble Abbey of Mellifont for the Cistercians Anno 1142. The Abbey of Jonmhair Chinne Traigh alias Newry by Malachias himself besides the celebrated Beannchuir restor'd by him About this time also the younger O Domlsnâ—l as he is call'd â—rince of Tirconnel at the request of St. Dominick by Letters to him built for his Order a Monastery at Doire Cholum Cille which had usually a hundred and fifty religious men In the Province of Mounster not only the Abbâ—y of O Dorne in the County of Kierry the Abbey of Fermoigh in the County of Cork Anno 1140. and the Abbey of Neny or Magio Anno 1148 or 1151 all three for the Cistercian Order but eighteen Monasteries founded by Domhnal O Brien the last King of North-Mounster Among these were the famous Abbey of Holy Cross at Tipperary and St. Peters at Limmeric for the black Nuns of St. Austin and the Monastery de Surio and that call'd Killoulense or de Albo campo and the other Kilmoniense or de Furgio and lately the Cloister â—f Corcamâ—ua or of the fruitful Rock In the Province of Leinster Diarmuid mhac Murcho surnamed Na Ngall the last King of it founded six Monasteries Two of them at Dublin whereof one was for Nons of the Order or rather Reformation of Aroasia the other for Chanons of Aroasia in an Abbey of Monks in Artois St. Austin a third in the County of Kilkenny at Kilclehin a fourth at Atoody in the County of Catherlach the fifth being a great noble Abbey for the Cistercians by them named de Valle Salutis at Baltinglass in the County of Wicklo and the sixth at Ferns in the County of Wexford But Monaster-Euin or de rubra Valle for the same Cistercian Order was founded by Diarmuid O Daoimuse alias Dempsy Lord or at least one of the Lords of Ibh Failghe Anno 1178. Jeripont Abby in the County of Kilkenny Anno 1181. by Donald Fitz Patric King of Ossory The Monastery of Lease or de Lege Dei An. 1183. by Cuchogrius O Moadhirra The Monastery of Dune in the County of Wexford even before the landing of Fitz Stephens there by Diarmuid O Ryan by consent of the Leinster King founded for the Chanons of St. Austin In the Province of Connaght before it was conquered by the English Cathal O Conchabhair surnamed Crombhdhearg founded the Monastery of Benedictin Nuns at Killcreunath the Monastery of Cnockmoigh or de Colle Victoriae for the Cistercians that of Ballin Tohair for the Chanons of St. Augustin and not only endow'd but enrich'd them all with large possessions Add the Monastery of Boyle about the Year 1151 founded for the Cistercian Order Lastly in Meath the King or Prince of it Murcho O Mleaghluinn founded the Monastery of Bectif alias de Beatitudine either Anno 1148. or 1151. for the Cistercians likewise for the Votresses of Saint Augustin or he or some other O Mlaghlin King of that Countrey built the Cloister at Clonard But the Cloister of Shrouil in the County of
People by Christian Disciplin seeing now all in peace and remembring his own former purpose he ordain'd another by name Gilla-Josa alias Gelasius in his own stead Bishop of Ardmagh gave him possession and notwithstanding the reluctance of others without further delay retired to his former Spouse the poor subordinat Church of Conner That because he now understood this Bishoprick of Conner had but in later times an other Bishoprick I mean that of Down united to it and because himself upon his translation to Ardmagh had ordained a Bishop in Conner he would neither intrude upon him nor yet suffer any longer that Union made by covetousness to continue but restoring the ancient division assum'd to himself i. e. to his own peculiar charge the poorer and least reform'd of the two the Bishoprick of Down That here again calling to his assistance and erecting a new Convent of Regulars he devoted himself among them to his former course of Life in all poverty and humility and rigours of cenobial Discipline assiduity of Prayer and raptures of Contemplation spending all the time he could spare from his Pastoral charge What follows next is to let you know that he was not suffered long the enjoyment of himself in those ascetick exercises That ere long there was an universal conflux of all sorts of people to him even from the highest to the very lowest of the Land That therefore now he finds it necessary like the Husbandmen in the Gospel to go forth and sow his seed and now he disposes with all Authority of all kind of Church affairs and no man questions him by what power he did so all being persuaded by the signs and prodigies wrought by him every where that as he had the power so he had the Spirit of God to direct all his actions That nevertheless himself after some time thought it â—itting to take a journey to Rome and consult the See Apostolick as Paul did the Apostles at Hierusalem after his three years preaching of Christ in Arabia Besides he considered that the See of Ardmagh had never at any time had the Metropolitical Ornament which they call Pallium a word that in the Ecclesiastical use of it imports the plenitude of honour says Bernard but not the plenitude of power as they speak at Rome in this Age. Moreover that his late Predecessor in the Metropolitan Church I mean Celsus had by his own authority erected another Metropolitical See else where in Ireland though with dependence and subjection still to the See of Ardmagh as the only Primatial or Patriarchical See of the Kingdom That to obtain from the See Apostolick of Rome as well the honour of the Pall for each of those two Irish Metropolitan Sees as the confirmation of what Celsus had done in erecting the later of them was another chief motive of his undertaking such a Journey That having pass'd through Scotland and England rested a few days with St. Bernard at Claravallis in France arriv'd at Rome continued there for a month visiting the holy places and conferring much from time to time with his Holiness who was very inquisitive of all the concerns of Ireland the nature of the people c. and especially what Wonders God had lately done by his Ministery there he obtain'd indeed the confirmation of that new Metropolitical See erected by Celsus but was put off the present grant of those Palls desired by him That the Pope told him that by reason Gillaspuic or Gilbertus being now grown old and infirm had signified so much and his desire to he cased of the Legatin care it was necessary he should undertake it and in that quality return back and hold a general Synod of the whole Nation Which when he had done and by general consent and fitting messengers desired the Pallia they should be granted And therefore told him also in plain terms he could by no means yield to his first and most earnest petition of all though by so many tears solicited by him viz. that it might be lawful for him to retire presently to Claravallis and live and die there with Bernard That with this answer he is now dismiss'd by the Pope but as with all delegable power so with all imaginable kindness and respect kissing him and putting his own Mitre on his head his own stole about his neck and his own maniple on his arm which Malachias ever after used in officiating at the Altar That having return'd by Claravallis left there four of his own disciples to be educated in the Monastic Life by Saint Bernard from thence proceeded on in his Journey and in his way through Scotland at the instance of the good King David by praying over the young Prince Robert his Son and Heir recovered him instantly from the jaws of death for he was quite given over by the Physitians landed soon after at his beloved Beannchuir in the North of Ireland he put himself immediately on the work of a true Legat indeed And this for many years without any intermission going about all the Provinces holding frequent Synods in all the quarters of the Land restoring vigour to the old Canons of the Church adding new ones that were of use reforming all the corruptions both new and old preaching every where like an other Helias or some Angel of Heaven come down on Earth No Age no Sex no condition no profession could abscond from his Beams or hinder the operation of them Whatever Decrees he made whatever Canons he publish'd were presently accepted submitted unto obey'd as Oracles without any contradiction at all Nor had any person Man or Woman Prince or Prelat or Peasant or Monarch the daring heart to resist him in any thing because they daily saw before their eyes the signs wrought by him You may read cap. 5. 8. 9. of his Life written by St. Bernard a good many of them though few in respect of those he passes over as the same holy Author St. Bernard says And among them you may find the expulsion of Devils and healing all Diseases and reviving the Dead to Life and the striking also of some impious wicked Blasphemers with an exemplary death to terrifie others And all these miraculous works above Nature done by the God of Nature at the sole invocation of his Name by Malachias without any other application without any charm used by him than that sometimes of lifting up his eyes to Heaven or a short Prayer sometimes of a longer continued with fasting and weeping on God twenty four hours together Unless peradventure his laying his hand on a desperate man brought to him bound in cords by reason of a furious frenzy that possess'd him or his touching with his finger the tongue of a Young Girl that was mute or his blessing a Cup of Drink and sending it to a Woman so long past her Reckoning that all her Neighbours wondred she was not dead or his sprinkling of water hallowed by himself upon a wicked Nobleman that lay long Bedrid
consequence would not be govern'd not even in Ecclesiastical affairs but by some of their own without dependance on any other except only the Prelat of that See which from the beginning of Christianity had prescribed some right over them all But enough on this Subject relating to Malachias the former of those two extraordinary Saints rais'd by God in the decrepit Age of the Irish Monarchy The later of them was a Leinster man of Noble Descent his Irish name and sirname Laurace O Tuathil in English Laurence Tool his Father Muirchiortach O Tuathil Lord of Imaile and peradventure some other small adjoyning Tracts in the County of Wickloe his Mother Inghin J. Bhrian i. e. one of O Brian's Daughters and he the youngest of all their Children But for the name of Laurence a name so unusual in that Countrey then 't was given him on this occasion Being born his Father sent him to be Christened at Kildare by Donachadh Lord of that Countrey of purpose to let him know by this Gossipred he was reconciled to him for before they had been at some distance and therefore those that carried the Child were commanded by the Father to Christen him Conchabhar this being that Nobleman's surname who was to be Godfather But a person reputed in that Countrey then such an other as Merlin had been of old among the Brittans meeting them in the High-way charg'd them to call him Laurence assuring them he would himself that night excuse them to their Lord and then adding prophetically in Irish Verse This Child shall be great on Earth and glorious in Heaven he shall command over great multitudes both of rich and poor and Laurence shall be his name When he was but ten years old his Father delivered him an Hostage to Diarmuid the King of Leinster In which condition notwithstanding the innocency of his Age he suffer'd incredible miseries even to extream want of Raiment and Food in a desert place among barbarous people where he had been for two years confined At the expiration of which being return'd back in exchange of other Prisoners though not delivered to the Father himself but to the Bishop of Gleann-da-Logh and his Father coming on the twelfth day not only to see him but to desire the Bishop to learn of God by Lot which of his children he should dedicate to an Ecclesiastick Life and he taking this opportunity and telling his Father That with his leave he himself would be that Child the Father surpriz'd with joy takes him presently by the right hand and offers him up perpetually to God in that holy place dedicated to St. Keuin both Cathedral Church and Abbey the one govern'd by a Bishop the other by an Abbot Where Laurence proves in a little time so singular a proficient in all Virtue that the Abbot dying the unanimous consent both of the Monks and Nobles of the Countrey Voted him Abbot and forc'd him to accept of it in the 25th year of his Age. And now it begun to appear more eminently what spirit he was of For the more he was honour'd the more he abased himself the stricter guard he kept on all his senses and the more intent he was upon his holy ascetick Exercises Above all that Virtue which is the bond of perfection that Virtue which shall never be evacuated but after Faith and Hope are ended shall remain that Virtue which by relieving the afflictions of other mortals makes the Reliever a God to them as Pliny speaks in his Panegyrick to Trajan Charity I mean did at this time shew what power she had over the Soul of Laurence He was no sooner made Abbot than a general Famine oppressing all that Countrey four years continually he no less continually employ'd himself in relieving all that were in want especially the poorer sort with corn and cattel and all the Revenues of his Abbey Revenues that were very great yea far surpassing those of the Bishoprick Nor must we admire they should be so It was one of the most famous ancient Monasteries of the Kingdom founded at first by St. Keuin as we call him but the Irish Ceaghin the Latins Coenginus a person though illustrious for his Royal extraction yet much more celebrated as well for the admirable austerity of his Life as for his manifold prodigious Miracles which made him after his death be assumed Patron both of the Town Abbey Cathedral Church and whole Diocess of Gleann-da-Loch where he lived and died Besides none but Noblemen's children were elected Abbots and the Noblemen themselves of the whole Diocess had by ancient custom their Voices in the election of them as well as the Monks However the large Revenues of the Abbey as they came short of the necessities of the poor in that long and general Famine so they did of the charity of Laurence as may be well concluded out of what follows hereafter Much about the time this Famine had ended the Bishop of Gleann-da-Loch dying he was chosen to succeed But notwithstanding all the importunity of the Electors he declined it though pretending only his un-Canonical Age. Yet so he could not soon after the Archbishoprick of Dublin For Gregory the First Archbishop of this See being dead Laurence by the unanimous consent of the Clergy and People of Dublin says Waraeus was elected Commentar de Praesul Hiber Archbishop and being at last by continual importunities drawn to yield was consecrated at Dublin by Gelasius Primat of Ardmagh and other Bishops Anno 1162. just fourteen years after the death of Malachias in France What more Waraeus thought fit to record of him is That presently after consecration he changed the secular Canons of his Cathedral Church into Regular of the Order of Aroasia whose habit and rule of Life himself also took upon him now That about eleven years after he built the Choire and Steeple with an other addition of three new Chappels to Trinity Church in that City That in the Year 1179. he went to the General Council held then at Rome under Alexander III. That according to the Author of his Life he was there made Legat of Ireland by that Pope soon after return'd back and exercis'd his Legatin Authority in Ireland That Gerald L. 2. expugn Hib. c. 23. Barry commonly call'd Cambrensis seems to intimate he never had been permitted to return to Ireland sed ob privilegia aliqua zelo suae Gentis impetrata but for some priviledges obtain'd from the Pope in that Council for his Countrey prejudicial to the Royal power of Henry II. was detained a long time partly in England partly in France until at last falling sick in his Journey he died at Auge in Normandy the 14th of Novemb. 1180. or as others have it 1181. Finally that in the Year 1225. he was canonized by Pope Honorius III. and his Relicks translated to Trinity Church in Dublin Which being the brief account given by Waraeus of this great Servant of God he leaves us for the rest that is
other in substance than water yet his Cupbearer had orders to dash it lightly with red that he might seem to drink Wine Secondly towards the poor He never missed a day without seeing now Threescore now Forty and never less than Thirty of them fed in his own presence Besides far greater numbers of them maintain'd out of his Revenue constantly for a long time as we shall presently see As a Bishop he preach'd Repentance continually to the people of that opulent City who were prodigiously immers'd in drunkenness lust contentions rapin blood-shed and all kind of wickedness Yea and as a Prophet too he ceaâ—â—d not with Tears to warn 'em of their general destruction at hand if they did not speedily appease Heaven with unseignâ—d Repentance As a Bishop when this general calamity like the breaking in of the Sea came upon them suddenly in one day in one hour when the City was taken and sack'd and burn'd by Diarmuid na Ngall their incens'd King and his foreign Auxiliaries when their strâ—â—ts were all covered with the bodies of the slaughter'd Citizens and the Gutters ran with blood when the very Clergy were plunder'd and Churches riâ—led of all that was precious in them as a good Bishop I say it was that Laurence at this time first beholding with floods of Tears like an other Jeremy the slaughter of his people before his eyes then taking courage like the good Pastor in the Gospel thrnst himself upon the bloody swords of the Conquerors holding their Arms praying their mercy entreating them for some snatching others from their fury to Christian burial who had their Souls yet panting in their Bodies and when no more could be done by him in any other kind giving himself wholly now to that generous imitation of Tobias As a Bishop it was that although with great hazard still unto himself yet he used that Episcopal freedom with the King and his insulting Commanders that the Clergy were at last permitted their own Habitations and the Churches restor'd their Books and Ornaments As a Bishop he employ'd in the next place all his compassion and all his Revenue I mean what was left thereof unseized by the Military men or undestroy'd by fire yea and all whatever he could procure from others to relieve the few Survivors of the slaughter'd Citizens His very Bowels did yearn over them especially those whom he had so lately seen to flourish in all kind of Earthly happiness and now saw without House to lie in without Cloaths to cover their nakedness without meat or drink to preserve life without other comfort than that of miserable Captives under a most deadly Foe As a Bishop when an other general Famin had in his days lien heavy on all the Land he not only gave daily sustenance for three whole years to five hundred persons reduced before to the worst of conditions plain starving but in several parts of his Diocess provided meat and drink and cloaths and all other necessaries for three hundred more And in the same cruel season of scarcity it was that Mothers reduced to extream want laying their chrisom Babes in the night at his door and in the day also where ever they saw he was to pass he took care of them all providing Nurses from them and though two hundred in number at one time sent them to his own Stewards and Baylisâ—s to be kept on his own Land and when they were come to years of discretion and some abilities of Body recommended them about all the Province with the badg of a wooden Cross in their hands As a Bishop and a Legat too says the Author of his Life he conniv'd at no disorder in the Clergy no vice no sin and least of all at the scandalous one of Incontinency whether in Priest Deacon or sub-Deacon Which fleshly Vice he did so much abominate especially in them and found it so necessary to be proceeded against with vigour that even so great a number as a hundred and forty Priests convict thereof he sent together at one time for Penance and Absolution to Rome though he might otherwise have given them both at home by his own Authority As a Bishop yea as a Father of his Countrey in general he spent the little remainder as well of his Revenue as of his health and Life in crossing the Seas now again from Ireland to England from England to France in both Countreys following and solliciting peace from Henry II. to ease the common calamities of his Nation at this time And now the dissolution of his earthly Tabernacle being at hand how hecoming a most Christian Bishop and a most holy Apostolical Legat indeed not only his very last exemplary Ecclesiastical preparation for it but his very last answer to the Abbot of Auge on that occasion was For in his way through France to Normandy having fallen sick of a Feaver at Abbevil a Cambreusis Vit. apud Sur. gone forward nevertheless to Auge on the borders of Normandy when at a distance he saw the Church of our Lady there prophetically foretold his own departure in that place then enter'd that Church pray'd in it a little while thence gone to his Lodging and Bed sent for Osbert the religious Abbot of that Monastery confess'd his sins to him and receiv'd the holy Viaticum from him then for prosecuting his business to Henry II. dispatch'd his Chaplain David together with his own Nephew to that King on their return the fourth day with the joyful news of their success i. e. of the Peace granted by the same Henry II. to Roderick the Irish King seem'd transported with it for the sake of his Countrey how low soever he knew himself brought by his sickness upon the third day following desired of the said Abbot and his whole Monastery to be as a Member incorporated among them and this accordingly done then presently desired further and pursuant to his desire in all their presence receiv'd the last Sacrament which they call Extreme Vnction having I say pass'd through all these steps and very last Ecclesiastical preparatories for death when the good Abbot Osbertus considering him an Archbishop had according to custom minded him of making his last Will and Testament his Answer was in thâ—se few words Novit Dominus mihi ne nummum quidem sub sole relictum esse The Lord knows that I have not a penny left me under the Sun Besides how like the great Bishop of our Souls weeping over Hierusalem this Bishop of Ireland remembring and lamenting once more for all the condition of his own Countrey brake forth into these Expressions in his own mother Language Ah foolish and sottish People what will you do now who will bring you back from your strayings who will apply Balm to your wounds who will cure you or take care of you at all And this Lamentation which Nature express'd from him ended how then at last like an other Austin he behaved himself in the last moments of his Life
For then converting himself wholly and for himself only to God he ceas'd not with tears and sighs and sobs too repeating continually while he could open his lips that Verse of the Psalmist Have mercy on me O God have mercy on me because my soul confideth in thee until about midnight on the 13th of November Anno 1181. he breath'd out his last to his Redeemer Now that such a life and such a death of a man so virtuous all along from his very Youth whether he be considered either as a Clerk or Monk or Abbot of Gleann-da-Loch or as Archbishop of Dublin and Chanon of the Aroasian Institute or as Legat of Ireland or as a prosperous or afflicted man should be attested as pleasing to God by prodigious Miracles both in his life and after his death seems nothing strange to me The Author of his Life recounts a good many of them wrought in the time of his Life And the Bull of his canonization dated at Reate III. Ides Decemb. by Honorius III. Ninth year of his Pontificat which was of Christ 1225. gives a brief sum of all that had been wrought either in his Life or after his death by telling us That besides the Dumb and Lame and Lepers and many others afflicted with sundry other maladies cur'd of all their evils at the sole invocation of God by him or in his name and at his Tomb by others he was by the power of God the wonderful raiser e'en from death to life of seven persons in particular and among 'em of one who had been full three days dead Nor can I well deny that this Bull ought to have by much the more credit with many who are not in other matters over-credulous and ought so to have for these reasons 1. Because it was procured and the whole ceremony and process of this canonization sollicited not only by the Letters of the Archbishop and Chapter of Roan and of the Abbot and Convent of the foresaid Auge where the body then rested within the Diocess of Roan but by those also of many other Archbishops Bishops Abbots and religious men all attesting the sanctity of his Life and glory of Miracles continually wrought after his death at his Tomb. 2. Because the Inquisition was made partly in France by the Archbishop Dean and Treasurer of Roan and for the rest in Ireland by the Bishop of Kildare and Prior of Trinity Church in Dublin 3. Because within 45 years after his death all was finish'd and this very Bull issued and his Festivity with an Octave kept in the most solemn manner could be both at Auge in France and at Dublin and elsewhere in Ireland while the people were yet alive nay by a world of those very people of all degrees that knew and conversed with him familiarly and yet invoked him now most devoutly and religiously as Coheir of Christ in glory and their tutelary Patron under Christ with God the Father The fifth and last Point is That notwithstanding all the sanctity and merits either of those two extraordinary Wonder-working Saints of God Malachy and Laurence or of any other holy men whatsoever that in secret mourned for the iniquities of their People that cried to God incessantly to spare them and that in the Language of Ezechiel interpos'd themselves Ezech. XXII 30. a hedg between the wrath of Heaven and their Land by fasting and praying and afflicting their own Bodies for the sins of others yet all would not do It was now come to that pass with the People of Ireland in general which had been with the People of Judaea when God spake to Hieremy the Prophet c. XV. v. 1. first assuring him that although Samuel and Moses stood before his face to intercede for them yet he would not listen to their prayer because his soul was against that People and then commanding him to pronounce ejection from before his face exâ—crmination and flitting out of their Land against them It was come to that very pass with the Irish now in which it had been again with the same stubborn stiffnecked Israelites when he declar'd to the Prophet Ezechiel and sware unto him even by his own Life That if those very three most perfect servants of his in their generation Moses Daniel and Job lived among them yet by their righteousness they should only save themselves not any other no not so much as either Son or Daughter For such indeed was the deplorable case of the ancient Milesians of Ireland at this time the very last period of their Monarchy And such it was notwithstanding so many just men as in particular the Bishops Malchus and Gilbertus and Celsus and Christianus and Gelasius and Malachi and Laurence that lived among them and interceded for them continually to God Yea such it was notwithstanding all the Reformation so lately wrought by any of these holy men among either Ecclesiasticks or Laics any where in the Nation and all the Councils held and all the Monasteries built and Schools erected and Churches endowed and whatever else at this time was practis'd to restore both civility and piety to some degree of the ancient Lustre Nothing at all could any longer slow the execution of the final doom pronounced by the Watcher and holy one of Heaven against the lofty proud Milesian Tree Nor must we wonder at it if we reflect upon what is discours'd at large in the former Section The Kings and Princes and Nobles and Men at Arms of Ireland either all this while were not at all themselves reformed or certainly and that most frequently too were again relapsed into their old accursed Feuds their concussions violences rapin oppression revenge their spilling of one anothers blood to death and this even all along from time to time until the Executioners of their final Sentence came to part them and make them for ever slaves on every side to a forein People What other sins of the Irish Nation might according to the judgment of man have incensed God after so long forbearance to pour upon 'em so dreadful a judgment I cannot say And the reason is because I find no specification of any other in those Histories of theirs which I have read Yet I will not pass over in silence what I find to this purpose in Girald of Wales I mean Cambrensis This Author says that upon the taking of Dublin and harrasing of Meath by Diarmuid na-Ngall King of Leinster and his forein Auxiliaries the Clergy of Ireland assembled in a National Synod at Ardmach having debated the causes of this Invasion and after full debate resolved first in general that the sins of their Nation had brought this calamity on them Secondly in particular That their evil custom of buying Christian English Youths as well from Merchants as Pirats and making them slaves for ever had been a special Cause of it Thirdly That God was just in subjecting their People to the same condition of slavery under that very Nation which they
ignorant says he how the blessed Father Columbanus born in Ireland contemporary to St. Benedict having left both his Fathers House and Countrey and together with other most excellent Monks arrived in France and receiv'd by Childebert King of the French built in Burgundy the Cloister of Luxovium Nor how being banisht thence by the most impious Queen Brunichild and gone to Italy and received there by Agilulphus King of Longobards he founded the Cloister of Bobie Nor how this wonderful man labouring amongst the Chief in the Vineyard of Christ shone most gloriously on Earth with Signs and Prodigies Nor how as he was taught by the Holy Ghost he endited and prescrib'd a Rule of Life for the Monachical Order and was the first Author of it in France Nor how from his School issued those renowned Monks that like stars in the Firmament appear'd in the Church all resplendent with holiness and Miracles Nor finally can they be ignorant how in particular Eustasius Luxoviensis Agitus Resbacensis Faro Meldensis Audomarus Bononiensis Philipertus Gemeticensis with many other most excellently religious both Abbots and Bishops whose sanctity on Earth not only has been confirm'd by most evident signs from Heaven but has even mightily propagated the Church of God amongst the Children of men were all of them Scholars of that very same wonderful Columbanus And this is the testimony in short given of him by Ordericus Vitalis Angligena Which together with what you have seen before though very briefly and almost in general of that singular Mission from the Abbey of Beannchuir may be sufficient to shew the extraordinary holiness of that place if we judg of the Tree by the fruit it bears And the conclusion of all must be that we have reason to think that how great soever this Irish Cloister was either for the dimension of its buildings and ground whereon it stood or for the number of Monks residing therein which elsewhere we have seen amounted to three thousand yet undoubtedly it was far more illustrious for their sanctity and perfection of Life 64. But before I pass to a new Subject the Reader will give me leave to observe here that Antony Yepez notwithstanding his testimony for the greatness of Beannchuir has been very much out in accounting it one of his own Benedictin Order It was the year of our Lord 494. that St. Benedict himself in the fourteenth year of his age retir'd from being at School in Rome to dedicate himself to God in a contemplative Life as Baronius writes in the same year But above a hundred years before that time Ireland was replenish'd with perfect Monks and Monasteries of St. Patrick's own Institution being as we have seen elsewhere out of Henricus Altisiodorensis it was so before St. Patrick's death and his death happen'd in the year 493 as Jocelin says And if neither by one of those Irish Monks at home who had their immediate institution from St. Patric himself nor by one of their immediate disciples yet certainly and at farthest very early after St. Patrick's death it was that that so much celebrated Irish Abby of Beannchuir was founded by St. Congellus and consequently no later than the Monastery of Columb-Cille at Dear-magh being the same Congellus and he were contemporaries Whence a further consecution is that Beannchuir must have been founded at least some years before Columb-Cille's departing from his Monastery at Dearmach in Ireland on this Mission to convert the Picts in the North of Great Brittain which departure of his according to Venerable Bede was precisely in the year of Christ 565. Now it is plain that before the year of Christ 561. there is not in Baronius no not so much as any mention made of Benedicts sending any of his disciples to the West no not into France to propagate his Order Nay before the year 595. his Order had receiv'd no publick approbation from the Church not even within Italy it self As for Great Brittain 't is no less clear that the Benedictin Order was not heard of there till after Austin the Monk's coming thither from Gregory the Great to convert the Saxons And yet we know that long before his time the famous Abby of Monks at Bangor near Westchester had been founded even by the foresaid self same Irish Abbot St. Congellus come thither of purpose from his own former Abby the so much admired Beannchuir in the North of Ireland to build an other in Brittain by the pattern of it But as for Ireland certainly not before all their own rigid austere Monks of St. Patrick's Rule and Congheall's and Collumb Cille's institution had been utterly destroy'd by the long Danish Wars nor after neither till about the time of Malachias that is even five hundred years at least after the foundation of Beannchuir was any Benedictin Abbey there So far is Yepez from any just pretence to Beannchuir or just challenge to it in behalf of his Benedictin Order Besides I think nothing can be plainer than that St. Columbanus and Gallus with those other eleven holy Fellow missioners sent out of the same Beannchuir-Abbey into forein parts to preach the Gospel as has been said before were of the same Order that was profess'd in that Cloister being they were themselves profess'd sons and members of it under the same blessed Abbot Congellus with whose leave and benediction they departed from it on their miraculous fruitful Mission beyond Seas And sure I am that Ordericus Vitalis Angligena in his eighth Book of Ecclesiastical History near the end as Messingham quotes him denies they were of the Benedictin or any other Institution than that was peculiar to themselves and those of their own Followers in France Burgundy c. Moreover I think it no less manifest that if the said illustrious Abbey of Beannchuir in Ireland had been of the Benedictin Order so must also Bangor in Wales have been seeing they had both the same Founder to wit the Blessed Congheall or as they call him in Latin Congellus And yet to assert this of Bangor in Wales must be against all reason Because we know Bangor has been so far from any Roman or Italian Order that Dinooth the Abbot and other Learned men thereof were the grand sticklers against submitting to the Roman Pontiff himself though so good a man and Pontiff both as Gregory the Great was known to be For they were the men pitch'd and relied upon by the Britons to be and accordingly were as to matter of Learning the chiefest opposers of Austin the First Arch-bishop of Canterbury in the Conferences he had with the Brittish Bishops to bring them to some acknowledgment of and submission to the Pope And it is no way probable that Dinooth or his Monks if they had been of the Benedictin Order would have so fiercely oppos'd his Legat especially in point of Canonical submission to the Delegant himself whose only authority was it which gave being and credit to the same Order by confirming it so lately before in