{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_39098/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_39098","id":"gutenberg_39098","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39098","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - Religious","Category: Journals","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals","Catholic Church -- Periodicals","The Irish Ecclesiastical Record"],"text":"The Irish Ecclesiastical Record\n\n                                 Volume 1\n\n                                July 1865\n\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\nJudge Keogh And Catholic Doctrines.\nThe See Of Killaloe In The Sixteenth Century.\nThe Sacrament Of Penance In The Early Irish Church.\nRichard Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop Of Armagh.\nPurgatory Of St. Patrick In Lough Derg.\nLiturgical Questions.\nNotices Of Books.\nFootnotes\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJUDGE KEOGH AND CATHOLIC DOCTRINES.\n\n\nWe have read the address of Mr. Justice Keogh(1) with feelings of surprise\nand sorrow. It is un-Catholic in its language, it is un-Catholic in its\nspirit, it is un-Catholic in its principles. If it had come from a member\nof a hostile sect, we could well afford to let it pass unnoticed; to let\nit live its short life, and die a natural death. But when the calumnies,\nthe sneers, the sarcasms of our enemies are turned against us by one who\nis enrolled under the banner of Catholic faith, we can no longer remain\nsilent in safety. The weapons which are powerless in the hands of a\ndeclared enemy, are dangerous indeed when they are wielded by a traitor in\nthe camp.\n\nMr. Justice Keogh is no ordinary man. His mind is adorned with talents\nwell fitted to amuse, to delight, to instruct an audience. In his short\nbut brilliant career as an orator and a statesman, he won for himself a\ngreat name at the bar and in the senate. And now he is lifted up above his\nfellows, and placed in a position of high trust and extensive influence.\nWhen such a man comes forward, with forethought and preparation, as one of\nthe instructors of the age, he is a conspicuous object of interest and\nattraction. He is looked upon, by those who are not acquainted with his\nantecedents, as the exponent of Catholic views, the representative of\nCatholic intelligence and education. We are therefore compelled, in\nself-defence, to declare that the opinions he has expressed are not the\nopinions of the Catholic Church, and the language he has thought fit to\nuse cannot be regarded, by the Catholic people of Ireland, but as\noffensive and insulting.\n\nHis lecture contains little originality of thought or novelty of argument.\nIt does but reflect the spirit of the age in which we live. The opinions\nand the views which it sets forth have long been familiar to our ears:\nthey pervade the shallow current literature of England, of Germany, of\nItaly, of France. Intellectual freedom, unbounded, unrestrained; freedom\nof thought in the search after truth, without any regard to authority;\nfreedom of speech in the circulation of every view and opinion; freedom to\npull down old theories, freedom to build up new theories; freedom to roam\nat large without any guide over the vast fields of speculation, adopting\nthat which private judgment commends, rejecting that which human reason\ndisapproves; these are the popular dogmas of the present day; and these\nare the topics which Mr. Justice Keogh proposes to illustrate and to\nenforce by the life and writings of our great English poet.\n\nNow, we are not the enemies of freedom. The Catholic Church is not the\nenemy of freedom. But we should expect that one who comes forward to\nenlighten the world on this important subject, would tell us _how far_\nhuman reason is to be left without restraint in the search after truth. It\nis easy to talk of intolerance, persecution, narrow-minded bigotry; but\nthese words have no meaning unless we first clearly understand what that\nfreedom is\u2014in thought, in word, in action\u2014which is the natural right of\nall men; which it is intolerance to deny, which it is tyranny to\nextinguish. First of all, if the fact of a Divine Revelation be once\nadmitted, it is clear that human reason is not exempt from _all\nrestraint_: it must be controlled at least by the Word of God. We are\nsurely bound to believe what God has taught: and when reason would lead us\nto conclusions contrary to His teaching, as may sometimes happen, we are\nbound to check our reason and to abandon those conclusions. For, reason\n_may_ be deceived, but God can _not_. This is what we understand by the\nwords of St. Paul when he speaks of \u201cbringing into captivity every\nunderstanding unto the obedience of Christ\u201d\u2014II. _Cor._, x. 5.\n\nWith this preliminary remark we shall now submit to our readers the\nopinions of Mr. Justice Keogh:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cCould words of mine prevail to induce you to devote a small\n    portion of your leisure hours, stolen though it be from the\n    pleasure paths of sensational or periodical literature, to those\n    great productions of John Milton, in which the staunchest friend\n    of freedom and of truth that ever lived has made the most\n    successful war against tyranny and falsehood\u2014in which he has\n    proclaimed in tones not unworthy of the Apostle of the\n    Gentiles,(2) that education really free is the only source of\n    political and individual liberty, the only true safeguard of\n    states and bulwark of their renown\u2014in which he has for ever\n    \u2018justified the ways of God to man\u2019, by asserting the right of all\n    men to exercise unrestrained their intellectual faculties upon all\n    the gifts of God\u2014to determine for themselves what is truth and\n    what is falsehood\u2014to circulate their thoughts from one to another,\n    from land to land, from tribe to tribe, from nation to nation,\n    free as \u2018the winds that from four quarters blow\u2019\u2014to raise their\n    thoughts and to pour forth their words above the level of vulgar\n    superstition, unrestricted by any illiberal or illiterate\n    licenser\u2014then you will find that he has risen, as mortal man never\n    did before, to the height of greatest argument, and proclaimed in\n    language which is affecting the fate of millions, even at this\n    hour, on the banks of the Mississippi, and in the remote forests\n    of the far west, that He who has made \u2019of one blood all nations of\n    men to dwell on all the face of the earth, willeth not that men\n    shall any longer hold in bondage as a property the bodies or the\n    souls of men, but that all alike shall have, unobstructed by any\n    ordinance, a free book, a free press, a free conscience\u2019. If any\n    words of mine shall tempt you to approach these considerations, to\n    ponder upon them as they are to be found in the tractates of\n    Milton, in a tranquil, in a large and comprehensive spirit, and\n    when you have done so, to make their fit application not only at\n    home but abroad, not only abroad but at home, then we shall not\n    have met in vain in this assembly\u201d.\n\n\nWe do not propose to offer any remarks on the subject of political\nliberty. But the principles here enunciated are of universal application.\nMilton waged the \u201csuccessful war\u201d of freedom not less in matters of\nreligion than in matters of state. And Mr. Justice Keogh adopts his\nprinciples without any limitation. He asserts with Milton \u201cthe right of\nall men to exercise _unrestrained their intellectual faculties upon all\nthe gifts of God_\u2014to determine for themselves what is truth and what is\nfalsehood\u201d. If we take these words literally as they stand, they are\ninconsistent not with the Catholic religion only, but with every system of\nChristianity that has ever existed. Luther, the great champion of\nintellectual freedom, though he shook off the yoke of church authority,\nset up in its stead the authority of the Bible. Even he was willing to\nadmit that the wanderings of the human mind should be restricted by the\nteaching of the Word of God. It is clearly contrary to the common\nprinciples of Christianity to assert that in metaphysics, in ethics, in\npsychology, in any human science, the mind is at liberty to embrace\nopinions incompatible with the truths which God has revealed. And if it be\nnot at liberty to do so, then it is not \u201cunrestrained\u201d.\n\nIt may be said, however, that the author of this address does not really\nintend to assert what his words seem to convey. How then are we to guess\nat his meaning? He insists upon \u201cthe right of all men to exercise\n_unrestrained_ their intellectual faculties\u201d in the pursuit of truth. If\nhe does not mean this, what _does_ he mean? If he does not wish to exclude\n_all restraint_ on the \u201cintellectual faculties\u201d of men, what restraint is\nhe willing to admit? Upon this point there seem to be just two opinions\nbetween which he has to choose: the one is the common doctrine of all\nCatholics; the other is the fundamental principle of the Protestant\nChurch. Let us pause for a moment to examine these two systems.\n\nAccording to Catholic faith, our Divine Lord has established in His Church\nan infallible tribunal, to pronounce, in matters of religion, what is true\nand what is false. Hence, it is never lawful, whether there be question of\nreligious belief or of human science, to adopt opinions at variance with\nthe teaching of this infallible tribunal. Here indeed is a check upon\nintellectual freedom, but a check which must, of necessity, be admitted by\nall who belong to the Catholic Church. And surely it is no great sacrifice\nto submit our finite understanding, so frail and erring, to the authority\nof God\u2019s Word, explained by a tribunal which He has Himself established,\nand to which He has promised His never-failing help.\n\nProtestants, on the other hand, maintain the right of each one to\ninterpret for himself, according to the best of his private judgment, the\nRevelation which God has given to man. The liberty of the human mind is\ntherefore unfettered by any human authority. In this all sects are agreed.\nSome, indeed, believe that the Church has authority to teach, and some\nreject this opinion; but all maintain that there is no obligation in\nconscience to accept her teaching. She has not the gift of infallibility.\nJust as individuals may fall into error, so too may the Church herself\nfall into error. Her teaching may be true, or it may be false; each one is\nto judge for himself. The only check upon the freedom of thought is the\nDivine Message sent to us from on High, and recorded in the pages of Holy\nWrit.\n\nWe maintain, of course, that the Catholic system which we have just\nexplained is true, and the Protestant system false. If we were engaged in\ncontroversy with a Protestant, it would be our duty at once to establish\nand to defend our doctrine; to demonstrate that the Church of Christ is\ninfallible, and that the right of private judgment is contrary alike to\nthe teaching of Scripture and to the dictates of common sense. But in the\ncase before us, there is no call for proof: Mr. Justice Keogh is a\nCatholic. It remains then only to examine if the language of his address\nis not calculated to convey an opinion quite inconsistent with the faith\nwhich he professes.\n\nThe question we wish to raise is simply this: \u201cDoes the address before us\nadmit that the human mind in the pursuit of truth should be restrained by\nthe authoritative definitions of the Catholic Church, or does it rather\nexclude this restraint?\u201d Now, in the first place, it is to be remembered\nthat this restriction of intellectual freedom is denied by all Protestants\nin this country, and maintained by all Catholics. When a lecturer, then,\naddressing a mixed audience, in a written discourse, tells them that \u201call\nmen have a right to exercise their intellectual faculties _unrestrained_\u201d,\ndo not the circumstances of the case fix upon his words a Protestant\nsignification? Will not his hearers naturally say that he has chosen the\nProtestant side of the controversy, and not the Catholic? Again, according\nto the Protestant doctrine, each one is at liberty to construct a system\nof religious belief for himself: according to the Catholic doctrine, every\none should accept the tenets of his faith on the authority of the Church.\nNow we are told in the address, that all men have \u201c_a right to determine\nfor themselves_ what is truth and what is falsehood\u201d. Has this phraseology\na Catholic or a Protestant complexion? Lastly, the lecturer exhorts his\nhearers to go themselves to the pages of Milton, there to learn the\ndoctrine of intellectual freedom. It will, therefore, naturally be\nsupposed, that the doctrine is defended by the lecturer in the same sense\nin which it is defended by the poet. Now Milton denied again and again,\nnot in his writings only, but also by his acts, that the Church has any\nright to interfere with the speculations of the human mind. It is evident,\ntherefore, that the language of Mr. Justice Keogh, whether considered in\nitself, or understood by the light of the context, is incompatible with\nthe principles of the Catholic Religion.\n\nFreedom of thought is not enough: freedom of speech is also an essential\ndogma of the new philosophy. We are assured that all men have a right \u201cto\ncirculate their thoughts from one to another, from land to land, from\ntribe to tribe, from nation to nation, free as \u2018the winds that from four\nquarters blow\u2019; to raise their thoughts, and to pour forth their words\nabove the level of vulgar superstition, unrestricted by any illiberal or\nilliterate licenser\u201d. Accordingly, amongst the various prose works of\nMilton, there is one which our lecturer selects for especial commendation.\nIt is entitled: _Areopagitica, a Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed\nPrinting_. This little tract is distinguished, no doubt, for its learning,\nwit, and eloquence; but these high qualities are devoted to the defence of\nopinions which we cannot accept. The book and its principles are thus\nintroduced to his audience by Mr. Justice Keogh:\n\n\n    \u201cIf all the works he produced were cancelled and forgotten ... yet\n    give one in hand, the treatise for the liberty of unlicensed\n    printing, the _Areopagitica_, and I would boldly maintain, not\n    only that he had satisfied every call which his country could make\n    on the most devoted of her sons, but that he had vindicated their\n    rights and sustained his own reputation in the greatest pen\n    writing in the English language. He wished, as he tells us in this\n    treatise, to deliver the press from the restraints with which it\n    was incumbered, that the power of determining what ought to be\n    published and what suppressed, might no longer be entrusted to\n    captious lawyers or knavish priests, or even grave chancellors and\n    venerable chief justices.... I shall give you, even at the risk of\n    trying your patience, some extracts from this treatise; but first\n    let me tell you, that it establishes in the clearest way, not only\n    that Milton was the fast friend of toleration, but that the\n    charges of being an enemy of all order and of all monarchy, so\n    industriously made against him, are without foundation.... And\n    then he gives expression to this noble sentiment, fit to be\n    engraven in letters of gold. Let statesmen hear it, and tyrants,\n    civil and ecclesiastical, dwell upon it: \u2018Although I dispraise not\n    the defence of just immunities, yet love my peace better, if that\n    were all, give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue\n    freely, according to conscience, above all liberties\u2019. I cannot\n    bring myself to hurry over this noble tract. I have read it over\n    again and again; I read it years and years ago, and often since,\n    and now again, for the purpose of addressing you; and the oftener\n    I read it, the more I take it to my heart. If such be its effect\n    upon me, as I fondly hope it may be upon many of you\u201d, etc.\n\n\nNotwithstanding this ardent and enthusiastic declaration, we yet think it\nwould be unfair to impute to the learned lecturer every casual expression\nor even every deliberate opinion set forth in the speech he so much\nadmires. It is, however, clear that he adopts as his own at least the main\nfeatures of the doctrine enunciated, and the general character of the\nargument by which it is defended. This doctrine may be explained in two\nwords: unbounded liberty, on the one hand, to publish and to circulate all\nmanner of opinions; unbounded liberty, on the other, to read all manner of\nbooks. The State, it is contended, has no right to forbid, or to repress,\nthose publications which are dangerous to the welfare of society; neither\nhas the Church a right to forbid or to repress those publications which\nare hostile to the spiritual interests of the faithful. These views we\nbelieve to be false and pernicious both as regards the power of the State\nand the power of the Church. It is, however, under the latter aspect alone\nthat we propose to consider the subject.\n\nThe pastors of the Church have received a divine command to guard the\nintegrity of faith and to watch over the purity of morals. Therefore have\nthey also received from God that authority which is necessary for the due\nfulfilment of this high charge. And such is the authority to prohibit and,\nas far as may be, to repress those publications of which the only tendency\nis to introduce error and to disseminate vice. For it is impossible to\npreserve truth incorrupt in a community, if error may be circulated\nwithout restriction, dressed up in the delusive garb of sophistry; it is\nimpossible to preserve morals pure, if vice may be freely exhibited in the\nmost seductive and alluring forms. A great writer and a wise philosopher,\nSamuel Johnson, even though a Protestant, had the vigour of mind to seize\nthis important principle, which he has expressed with a singular felicity\nof diction and an epigrammatic power peculiarly his own: \u201cIf every\nmurmurer at government\u201d, he says, \u201cmay diffuse discontent, there can be no\npeace; and if every sceptic in theology may teach his follies, there can\nbe no religion\u201d.(3)\n\nWe confess indeed that this is a question full of difficulty to members of\nthe Protestant Church. They believe that each one has a right to judge for\nhimself what is true and what is false: and it is not easy to see how this\nright can be exercised, unless each one be free to examine every form of\nbelief, every variety of error. But we are at a loss to understand how a\nCatholic should go astray on a subject so plain. From the earliest ages\nthe Catholic Church has ever claimed and exercised the right to condemn\nand prohibit those books which are contrary to faith and dangerous to\nmorals. Now it would be an error in doctrine to suppose that the Catholic\nChurch could claim such a right if she had not received it from her Divine\nFounder.\n\nIf we pass from the doctrine of Milton to his arguments, we shall have\nmuch greater reason to wonder how it should have come to pass that we are\nasked, by a Catholic lecturer, to accept his views. He does not defend the\ncirculation of bad books as a necessary evil, which it is inexpedient or\nimpossible to check. On the contrary, he maintains it is a positive good,\nwhich ought to be encouraged. According to his notion, the promiscuous\nreading of bad books is the furnace in which our love for truth and virtue\nis to be tried. There can be no merit in truth, he argues, for him who is\nnot acquainted with error; there can be no merit in virtue for him who is\nnot familiar with vice. These are sentiments so utterly repugnant to the\ncommon instincts of our nature, that we could not believe they came from\nour illustrious poet, if his own words did not bear witness against him:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAs, therefore, the state of man now is, what wisdom can there he\n    to choose, what continence to forbear, without the knowledge of\n    evil? He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits\n    and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and\n    yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true wayfaring\n    Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue,\n    unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and seeks her\n    adversary, but slinks out of the race, where that immortal garland\n    is to be run for notwithstanding dust and heat. Assuredly we bring\n    not innocence into the world; we bring impurity much rather: that\n    which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary. That\n    virtue, therefore, which is but a youngling in the contemplation\n    of evil, and knows not the utmost that vice promises to her\n    followers, and rejects it, is but a blank virtue, not a pure....\n    Since therefore the knowledge and survey of vice is in this world\n    so necessary to the constituting of human virtue, and the scanning\n    of error to the confirmation of truth, how can we more safely and\n    with less danger scout into the regions of sin and falsity, than\n    by reading all manner of tractates, and hearing all manner of\n    reason? And this is the benefit which may be had of books\n    promiscuously read\u201d.(4)\n\n\nWe shall offer no commentary on this passage. Principles like these carry\nwith them their own condemnation. And yet such are the principles advanced\nin a tract, which has made so favourable an impression on Mr. Justice\nKeogh, that the _oftener he reads it, the more he takes it to his heart_,\nand which he _fondly hopes_ may make a like impression on the minds of his\naudience.\n\nWhen we are assured by Mr. Justice Keogh that Milton was \u201cthe fast friend\nof toleration\u201d, we can scarcely believe that he is serious. Lest, however,\nour readers should be led astray, we shall briefly tell them what Milton\n_really thought_ and _said_ on the subject of religious toleration.\nTowards the close of his life, he wrote a very important treatise(5) in\nwhich he discusses the question, and explains his views with his usual\nclearness and force. He maintains in this treatise that all religious\nsects are to be tolerated, with _one exception_; and that exception is the\n_Roman Catholic Church_. Lutherans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Socinians,\nArminians, in a word, _all Protestants_, whatever their religious opinions\nmay be, should have liberty to preach, to discuss, to worship, unmolested:\nbut Catholics must not be tolerated; they must not be permitted to defend\ntheir doctrines; they must not be permitted to worship either in public or\nin private.(6) This, he contends, is one of the _best means to prevent the\ngrowth of Popery_.(7) Here is the champion of intellectual liberty that\nMr. Justice Keogh would hold up to the admiration of his audience! Here is\n\u201cthe fast friend of toleration\u201d, \u201cthe staunchest friend of freedom and\ntruth that ever lived\u201d, the man who \u201chas made the most successful war\nagainst tyranny and falsehood\u201d! We must charitably suppose that the\nlearned lecturer has formed his opinion of Milton without reading his\nworks.\n\nWe are told by the biographers of Milton that his father, who was the son\nof a zealous Roman Catholic, abandoned the religion of his ancestors, and\nwas on that account deprived of his inheritance. The act of apostasy is\none that the Catholic Church can never contemplate without the deepest\nsorrow and abhorrence. According to the principles of our faith, he who\nseparates himself from the one True Church transgresses the command of God\nand forfeits his claim to everlasting happiness. Yet, it would seem, Mr.\nJustice Keogh finds in this act nothing to deplore, but much to admire.\nSpeaking of the poet, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cHe was in early youth instructed by a father who had sacrificed\n    for conscience\u2019 sake a fair inheritance, with all scriptural lore,\n    of which he drank with a thirst which was never satisfied\u201d.\n\n\nIf we understand these words aright, our author regards with complacency\nthe conduct of one who renounced the true faith, to embrace a religion\nwhich, in the eyes of all Catholics, is false and heretical. To his mind\nthe act of apostasy is _a sacrifice for conscience\u2019 sake_. This is\nliberality of sentiment indeed! But it is a liberality of sentiment which\nwe cannot reconcile with the maxims of sacred Scripture. Not so did the\ngreat apostle speak of those who had \u201cmade shipwreck concerning the\nfaith\u201d. \u201cOf whom\u201d, he said, \u201cis Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have\ndelivered up to Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme\u201d\u2014I. _Tim._, i.\n19. 20. And again: \u201cAnd their speech spreadeth like a canker; of whom is\nHymenaeus and Philetus, who have erred from the truth, saying that the\nresurrection is past already\u201d\u2014II. _Tim._, ii. 17, 18.\n\nOur readers, perhaps, will not be unwilling to know what was the effect of\nthis training on the religious principles of Milton. His rich and vigorous\nmind was, indeed, a fertile soil. The seed which was sown in the spring\ntime of youth, did not fail to grow up into a luxuriant tree, and to bring\nforth fruit in due season, according to its kind. In the maturity of life\nhe constructed a system of theology which he professed to derive from\nScripture alone. It is recorded by his own pen in his treatise _De\nDoctrina Christiana_, which, having been lost for a hundred and fifty\nyears, has come to light within the present century. The peculiar tenets\nwhich he sets forth in this remarkable book may be briefly told. He\ndefends the lawfulness of polygamy and divorce; he maintains that matter\nexists from eternity; he denies the doctrine of the Trinity; the Son is\ninferior to the Father, and produced in time; the Holy Ghost is inferior\nto the Father and the Son. An able writer has described \u201cthe result of the\nwhole work\u201d as \u201ca system of theology not merely in discordance with the\nChurch of England, but with every sect by which we are divided; an\nincoherent and conflicting theory, which combines Arianism, Anabaptism,\nLatitudinarianism, Quakerism, and we know not what to add, on account of\nhis opinions on polygamy, but Mahometanism\u201d.(8) These results are the ripe\nfruit of that early instruction in \u201call Scriptural lore\u201d which Milton\nreceived, and for which Mr. Justice Keogh would seek our sympathy and\napproval.\n\nAfter what we have seen, we cannot be surprised that our learned lecturer\nshould point the finger of scorn and ridicule at the Roman Inquisition.\nSpeaking of Milton\u2019s travels in Italy, he says: \u201cThere it was his fortune\nto visit Gallileo, confined in the prison of the Inquisition for thinking\nin astronomy otherwise than the Franciscan and Dominican believers\u201d. We do\nnot propose here to defend the Inquisition: neither shall we attempt to\ndisprove the charge, which Mr. Justice Keogh would fain convey, that the\nCatholic Church is the enemy of scientific truth. We shall wait for an\nadversary who deals in arguments and not in sneers. We cannot, however,\nforbear to notice a gross inaccuracy in the statement of fact. It is\nasserted that it was the fortune of Milton \u201cto visit Gallileo _confined in\nthe prison of the Inquisition_\u201d. This assertion is simply false. Milton\u2019s\nvisit must have occurred about the year 1638, and it is well known to all\nwho are acquainted with the subject, that Gallileo was then living at home\nin his own house at Arcetri, quietly pursuing his astronomical studies. In\npoint of law, indeed, he was still technically a prisoner of the\nInquisition, but this is widely different from being _confined in the\nprison of the Inquisition_. It is only fair to observe that the words of\nMilton himself, from whom the lecturer has taken his statement, are, on\nthis point, strictly correct. \u201cThere it was that I found and visited the\nfamous Gallileo, grown old, _a prisoner to the Inquisition_, for thinking\nin astronomy otherwise than the Franciscan and Dominican licensers\nthought\u201d.(9) Our lecturer, therefore, in borrowing the language of the\npoet, has not only contrived to introduce an error, but he has taken care\nthat this error shall be on the side most unfavourable to the Catholic\nChurch.\n\nWe shall not trouble the reader with our own views or arguments on the\nhackneyed controversy of Gallileo\u2019s persecution. We shall be content to\ncontrast the opinion of Mr. Justice Keogh with that of a learned and able\nProtestant writer, who has devoted much study to the life and times of the\ngreat astronomer, and who is himself honourably distinguished in kindred\nfields of science. Sir David Brewster, with all his strong anti-Catholic\nprejudices, distinctly maintains that the trials of Gallileo, such as they\nwere, are not to be ascribed to his opinions in matters of astronomy, but\nrather to his \u201cpersonal imprudence\u201d and to his \u201cirreligious\nsentiments\u201d.(10) The character of the persecution which he had to endure\nat the hands of the Catholic Church may be gathered from the testimony of\nthe same eminent writer. In the year 1623, long after he had been tried\nbefore the tribunal of the Inquisition, having occasion to come to Rome,\nhe met with a noble and generous reception from the Father of the\nfaithful. \u201cThe kindness of his Holiness\u201d, says Sir David Brewster, \u201cwas of\nthe most marked description. He not only loaded Gallileo with presents,\nand promised him a pension for his son Vincenzo, but wrote a letter to\nFerdinand II., who had just succeeded Cosmo as Grand Duke of Tuscany,\nrecommending Gallileo to his particular patronage\u201d.(11) And again he says:\n\n\n    \u201cThus honoured by the head of the Church, and befriended by its\n    dignitaries, Gallileo must have felt himself secure against the\n    indignities of its lesser functionaries.... But Gallileo was bound\n    to the Romish hierarchy by even stronger ties. His son and himself\n    were pensioners of the Church; and having accepted of its alms,\n    they owed it at least a decent and respectful allegiance. The\n    pension thus given by Urban was not a remuneration which\n    sovereigns sometimes award to the services of their subjects.\n    Gallileo was a foreigner at Rome. The sovereign of the Papal state\n    owed him no obligation; and hence we must regard the pension of\n    Gallileo as _a donation from the Roman Pontiff to science itself_,\n    and as a declaration to the Christian world that _religion was not\n    jealous of philosophy_, and that the Church of Rome was willing to\n    _respect and foster even the genius of its enemies_\u201d.(12)\n\n\nThere are many other blots in the address of Mr. Justice Keogh, which a\nsevere critic would not pass by without censure. He would ask, perhaps,\nhow comes it that the lecturer takes his Scriptural quotations from the\nProtestant and not from the Catholic Bible? Is it that the Protestant\nBible is the only one with which he is familiar? Can it be that the\nProtestant Bible is the source from which he derives his views in\nphilosophy and in theology? We fully recognize the literary merits of the\nEnglish Authorized Version; but there can be no doubt that the religious\nprejudices of its authors have led them into many serious errors. At all\nevents it is not usual for a Catholic to quote from its pages without some\napology or some explanation. Again, why does he tell his audience that the\nnames of Spenser, of Shakespeare, of Scott, are to be found on the _Index\nExpurgatorius_? Did he consult the _Index_ himself and find these names\nupon it? It cannot be: they are not there. Was he induced to make the\nassertion on the authority of some trustworthy witness? We can scarcely\nbelieve it was so: no writer who cares for his reputation would commit\nhimself to a statement so easily disproved. Was it, then, that he wished\nto cast unfounded aspersions on the Catholic Church, and to bring her\ninstitutions into discredit with all who cherish the names of those\nillustrious writers? Once more: Mr. Justice Keogh, forgetting, for the\nmoment, his country as well as his religion, introduces to the favourable\nnotice of his audience \u201cour glorious deliverer, William III.\u201d! What a\nstartling phrase to hear from the lips of an Irishman and a Catholic!\nWilliam III. possessed many eminent qualities: he was a brave soldier and\nan able statesmen. But in the annals of Ireland his name must be for ever\nassociated with persecution and with perfidy.(13)\n\nOur limited space is now drawing to a close; and, in good truth, we are\nweary of passing censure. It is time that we lift up our eyes from the\nright honourable lecturer to fix them for a few moments on the more noble\nand majestic proportions of the great poet himself. When we contemplate\nthat venerable figure, as it stands forth to view on the canvas of\nhistory, if we speak in the language of censure, it must be blended with\nthe language of genuine love and veneration. His errors we cannot defend;\nhis faults we do not wish to extenuate; we are obliged to protest against\nhis principles, and those who eulogise them. But amidst the varied\nfortunes of his chequered career he displayed many great qualities, which\ncannot fail to win the admiration of every generous heart.\n\nOf his public conduct as a statesman we cannot indeed speak with approval.\nIt seems to us that all the arguments advanced in his defence carry with\nthem also his condemnation. He sided with the parliament against the king,\nbecause, it is said, he wished to uphold the constitution of his country;\nand yet he defended the trial and execution of the king, which were\nconducted in defiance of that same constitution. He abandoned his lawful\nsovereign to support the fortunes of Cromwell, because he believed that\nCharles was a despot; and yet he clung to the cause of Cromwell when\nCromwell was not only a despot but an usurper. If the constitution was to\nbe upheld, then the execution of the king was indefensible. If a tyrant\nshould forfeit the allegiance of his subjects, then Cromwell had no claim\nto be obeyed. Yet however much he erred, it must be ever borne in mind\nthat those who took a part in the turbulent events of the great rebellion,\nhad not the same opportunities to form a calm and impartial judgment which\nwe now possess. Men distinguished by great vigour of mind and great public\nspirit, were to be found on opposite sides in the senate and in the camp.\nNone could have told, when the breach first appeared between Charles and\nhis parliament, that it would lead to civil war and end in the crime of\nregicide. It was necessary to make a choice; and the choice once made, it\nrequired more than ordinary virtue, more than ordinary courage, to recede;\nvirtue and courage with which Milton was not endowed.\n\nThose, however, who would form a just estimate of Milton\u2019s character must\nseek him far away from the din of war and the strife of parties. He had\nborne a conspicuous part in a memorable political struggle; his fame had\nbeen carried abroad to distant lands; and yet he retires without regret\nfrom public life, to commune with his own mind in the obscurity of an\nhumble lodging. The world admires the magnanimity of the old Roman who,\nhaving saved his country from destruction, returned again to his plough\nand to the simple pleasures of his rustic home. But there is far more to\nadmire in the closing period of Milton\u2019s career. The hour of his\nprosperity had passed away; the vigour of youth was gone. Disappointed in\nhis hopes, neglected by an age unworthy of his genius, poor, and blind,\nand old, his splendid mind rose superior to all these calamities, which\nwould have crushed a less noble spirit. As if now, at length, released\nfrom the captivity of earthly bonds, he soars aloft to higher thoughts,\nand pours forth from an overflowing soul the lofty strains of his\nunrivalled poem, the glory of English literature, the wonder and delight\nof every succeeding age. Not often does the history of the world present\nto us a spectacle so sublime.\n\nYet how little does genius avail in the one great and important affair of\nreligion, unless guided and controlled by that infallible authority which\nGod has established in His Church! The great doctrinal errors of Milton\ncannot be imputed to any want of intellectual power; for, in the natural\ngifts of intellect, he was eminently conspicuous. Much rather must they be\nascribed to the erroneous system he employed in the search of Revealed\ntruth. Starting from false principles, the more boldly he advanced, the\nmore deeply did he plunge into error. In common with other Protestants, he\naccepted the doctrine of private judgment; but he was distinguished from\nothers by the logical consistency and inflexible resolution with which he\never clung to this fundamental principle. Having been taught not to\nsubject his reason to the authority of a Church which claimed to be\ninfallible, he refused to submit to the teaching of a Church which had\nrenounced that claim. His errors were more extravagant than those of other\nProtestant writers, only because he was more fearless in his speculations,\nmore consistent in his principles, more honest in his speech. Others are\noften saved from error because they hesitate to follow the light of\nreason, when reason would lead them too far from the beaten track of\nreceived opinions. But such timidity and inconsistency were little in\nharmony with the spirit of Milton. He had learned in early youth, as a\nfirst principle, that, in the matter of religion, Scripture should be his\nonly authority, reason his only guide; and in after life he was ever\nprepared to follow that guide whithersoever it might conduct.\n\nThe religious career of Milton appears to us, therefore, in a remarkable\nmanner, at once to illustrate and to disprove the Protestant _Rule of\nFaith_. In him it was fairly tried, and it was found wanting. It would be\ndifficult, we believe, to select from the whole range of Protestant\nwriters any one who possessed in a higher degree, those qualities which\nare favourable to the exercise of private judgment. His distinguished\nbiographer, Mr. Mitford, who was himself a Protestant clergyman, has\nspoken on this subject with great candour and ability. Referring to the\ntreatise _De Doctrina Christiana_, he says:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIt is acknowledged by all that it is written with a calm and\n    conscientious desire for truth, like that of a man who had\n    forgotten or dismissed the favourite animosities of his youth, and\n    who had retired within himself, in the dignity of age, to employ\n    the unimpaired energies of his intellect on the most important and\n    awful subject of inquiry. The haughtiness of his temper, the\n    defiance of his manner, his severe and stoical pride, are no\n    longer seen. He approaches the book of God with an humble and\n    reverential feeling, and with such a disposition of piety, united\n    to so powerful an intellect, and such immense stores of learning,\n    who would not have expected to have seen the \u2018star-bright form\u2019 of\n    truth appear from out the cloud; but wherever we look, the pride\n    of man\u2019s heart is lowered, and the weakness of humanity displayed.\n    With all his great qualifications for the removal of error and the\n    discovery of truth, _he failed_\u201d.(14)\n\n\nHe not only failed, but he seems to have been a perfect type of that\nunsteadiness in error which St. Paul describes in his Epistle to the\nEphesians: he was as a little child \u201ctossed to and fro, and carried about\nwith every wind of doctrine\u201d. He wandered, we are told, \u201cfrom Puritanism\nto Calvinism, from Calvinism to an esteem for Arminius, and finally, from\nan accordance with the Independents and Anabaptists to a dereliction of\nevery denomination of Protestants\u201d.(15) When this was the fate of his\ngigantic intellect, how can humbler minds hope to attain success if they\nemploy the same means?\n\nIt seems to us, therefore, that we can find some excuse for the errors of\nMilton in the false principles which he had imbibed in his youth. And,\nwith all his faults, we cannot but revere the magnanimity of his spirit,\nthe splendour of his genius. But we have no sympathy with those who,\nhaving the rich inheritance of an infallible authority for their guide in\nmatters of religion, would yet claim for themselves the right to launch\nforth into the boundless sea of thought without restriction or restraint;\nwho blindly embrace the conclusions of Milton, while they reject his\npremises; and who imitate him in his wanderings, while they cannot imitate\nthat nobility of sentiment and that loftiness of eloquence which shed a\nlustre even around his errors.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SEE OF KILLALOE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.\n\n\nIn the year 1463, _Matthew_ or _Mahoun O\u2019Griffa_ was appointed by Pope\nPius II., Bishop of Killaloe. He had hitherto held the canonry and prebend\nof Teampul-monin, in the diocese of Limerick, the annual revenue of which\namounted to twenty marks, and the _Monumenta Vaticana_ preserve an\ninteresting fragment, which records the appointment of Donald\nMagillapadrig as his successor in that dignity: \u201cConfertur ipsi\ncanonicatus et prebenda de Tampolmonin in Ecclesia Limericensi quorum\nfructus viginti marcharum sterlingorum non excedunt et quos Mattheus\nelectus Laonensis tempore suae promotionis obtinebat\u201d (17 Decemb., 1463;\npag. 455).\n\nDr. O\u2019Griffa died in 1482, and was succeeded the same year by Terence\nO\u2019Brien, who ruled the see for forty-three years, and, as Ware informs us,\n\u201cwas a prelate of great account among his people for his liberality and\nhospitality\u201d.\n\nRichard Hogan, a Franciscan, was chosen his successor in 1525, and after\nan episcopate of fourteen years, was translated to Clonmacnoise by Pope\nPaul III., on 16th June, 1539. He, however, enjoyed this new dignity only\nfor a little while, as, a few days after his translation, he was summoned\nto his eternal reward.\n\nIt is remarkable that the episcopate of his successor in the see of\nKillaloe was equally short; for, _Tirlogh_, in Latin _Theodoricus\nO\u2019Brien_, appointed its bishop in June, 1539, died before December the\nsame year. Both sees being thus vacant at the same time, _Dr. Florence\nO\u2019Gerawan_, _i.e._ Kirwan, was appointed bishop of Clonmacnoise and\nKillaloe on 15th December, 1539, the union of these sees being at the same\ntime limited to the lifetime of this bishop. The following is the\nconsistorial entry:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAnno 1539, 15 Decembris: Sua Sanctitas providit Ecclesiis\n    Claonensi et Laonensi in Hibernia vacantibus per obitum Richardi\n    et Theodorici de persona fratris Florentii Igernam (sic) ord.\n    Fratrum Min. cum dispensatione ex defectu natalium et unione\n    duarum Ecclesiarum ad vitam dicti Florentii\u201d.\n\n\nWe have already had occasion to speak of this bishop when treating of the\nsee of Clonmacnoise (_Record_, part 1., pag. 157); his episcopate was\nmarked by many signal events, and his zeal in the defence of the Catholic\nfaith merited for him the hatred of the enemies of our holy Church. He\ndied in 1554, and had for his successor Terence O\u2019Brien, who received his\nappointment in the beginning of Queen Mary\u2019s reign, and continued to\nadminister the see till his death, which is registered by the _Four\nMasters_ in 1569.\n\n_Malachy O\u2019Molony_ was next proclaimed in consistory on 10th January,\n1571. He suffered much from the agents of the Protestant establishment:\n\u201cPlurima ab haereticis mala et nonnunquam carceris acrumnas passus est\u201d\n(Mooney, _MS. Hist. Francis._); and on 22nd of August, 1576, his\ntranslation to Kilmacduagh was solemnly promulgated in the Roman court.\n\nHis successor, _Cornelius O\u2019Melrian_, O.S.F., was appointed the same\nmonth, viz., 26th August, 1576, and for forty-one years, till his death in\n1617, he continued bishop of this ancient see. This prelate played an\nimportant part in the last great struggle of the Desmond chieftains; and\nwe have intentionally passed rapidly over the preceding bishops, that\nspace might remain for dwelling on the unpublished documents connected\nwith his history. At the time of his appointment to the see of Killaloe,\nJames Fitzmaurice was actively engaged on the Continent in enlisting the\naid of the Catholic powers in favour of the Irish confederates. Before\nsetting sail from Lisbon on 30th October, 1577, this chieftain wrote to\nGaspar de Quiroza, Archbishop of Toledo, acquainting him with the disaster\nwhich had befallen our Bishop Cornelius, who, a little while before,\nhaving sailed from Rochelle for the Irish coast, was captured by pirates,\nand being despoiled of all he possessed, was obliged to return to the\nContinent. Fitzmaurice adds:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cHe (Dr. O\u2019Melrian) is most devoted to us, and we confide to him\n    all the secrets which are to be communicated to you connected with\n    the succour which is to be sent to us; it would be most useful\n    that he should accompany the expedition of troops, to instruct\n    them as to the place for landing; as well as to conduct them to\n    our quarters\u201d.\n\n\nThe letter terminates with the sweet old Irish invocation \u201c_spes nostra\nJesus et Maria_\u201d.\n\nWhen at length a considerable body of Spanish troops set sail for Ireland,\nunder the command of the unfortunate colonel St. Jos\u00e9, the bishop of\nKillaloe accompanied them, but soon quitted their ranks to join the Irish\ncamp and assist the native Desmond princes by his sacred ministry and\ncounsel. In 1582 he was instructed by the Earl of Desmond to proceed to\nSpain and Rome, and negotiate whatever measures might tend to the succour\nof Ireland. The following letters addressed by this Irish chieftain to the\nreigning pontiff Gregory XIII., will be read with interest by all who are\nacquainted with that sad period of our history; they are extracted from\nthe Vatican archives:\n\n\n    \u201cSANCTISSIME PATER,\n\n    \u201cIn vinca Domini exercituum laboramus expugnando luteranam istam\n    Angliae Reginam; toto enim hoc triennio elapso, prout jam bellum\n    gerimus, in armis sumus. Nostrum omnemque statum omniaque nostra\n    exposuimus periculo evidentissimo semper perdendi, bellumque istud\n    in Hibernia propter causas subsequentes his tribus annis elapsis\n    in manus libentissime assumpsimus, nimirum quod sanctae matris\n    Ecclesiae causa erat, ac quod Vestra Sanctitas jussit, atque\n    hortabatur ut rem inciperemus. Mihi meisque omnibus minime\n    peperci, oppida, villas et pagos, arces et castra cum fratribus\n    nostris Joanne et Jacobo de Geraldinis ac sexdecim aliis ex nostra\n    domo, in hoc bello perdidimus: nihilominus quamdiu vita comes\n    fuerit istud bellum prosequemur contra Angliae maledictam Reginam\n    donec S. Sanctitas ac sua majestas Catholica nos juverit ut\n    possimus haereticos propellere ex Hibernia totumque Regnum\n    subjicere legibus sanctae matris Ecclesiae. Et quia hactenus\n    praestolationem istius subsidii experimur, harum latorem Episcopum\n    Laonensem nostro et omnium nobilium hujus causae consensu\n    ambasciatorem et sollicitatorem universi negotii ad Suam\n    Sanctitatem et ad S. majestatem Catholicam mittimus cui V.\n    Sanctitas omnem fidem dabit, illumque ita auscultet non secus quam\n    nos si praesentes fuissemus auscultaret, rogantes obnixe V.\n    Sanctitatem (cui pedes humili animo exosculamur) ut nostram\n    inquietudinem et longam perturbationem animadvertat auxiliumque\n    cum hoc nostro ambasciatore mittatur quo poterimus confringere\n    audaciam adversariorum Christi Ecclesiae. Expediret denique ut V.\n    Sanctitas auctoritatem nuncii in negotiis ecclesiasticis mitteret\n    ad Laonensem Episcopum et potissimum ut ipsi liceat pontificalia\n    officia exercere ubicumque se invenerit cum licentia ordinarii;\n    vir enim spectatae vitae et virtutis magnaeque spei apud omnes\n    est, huicque causae addictissimus, ac fidelissimus.\n\n    \u201cDatum in Castris Catholicorum in Hibernia,\n    die 1 Septembris, 1582.\n    \"Sanctitatis Vae. addictissimus servus,\n    \u201cGEROL DESMOND\u201d.\n\n\nTwo months later the second letter was addressed to the same great\npontiff:\n\n\n    \u201cSANCTISSIME PATER,\n\n    \u201cAccepimus a presbytero Hiberno Sanctitatis vestrae litteras per\n    Cardinalem Comensem datas Romae 6to Augusti, quibus nobis patuit\n    Sanctitatis Vestrae propensissimus animus, curaque vigilantissima\n    nedum erga nos sed etiam erga salutem totius Regni Hiberniae, adeo\n    ut ad ejus voluntatem in hoc nihil addi potest, quam pollicetur\n    nos reipsa experturos supern\u00e2 elementia opitulante. Quod vero\n    commissum erat latori qui tulerit litteras ut spem nobis augeat ac\n    ut in negotio hoc sancto persistamus pedefixo, suo muneri in hoc\n    satisfecit. Intelligat V. Sanctitas quod quamquam nos omnia pene\n    temporalia in hoc bello, fidei defensionis causa, amisimus, et\n    quod multo vehementius nos angit in conflictibus contra Anglos\n    Ecclesiae feroces hostes nostrum consobrinum D. Jacobum Geraldinum\n    cum nostris postremo fratribus D. Joanne et Jacobo ac nonnullis\n    aliis ex nostra domo qui successive in hoc bello occubuere,\n    nihilominus tamen in hac Dei et Sanctitatis Vestrae causa\n    immobilis permaneo, superni Dei optimi maximi ac Sanctitatis\n    vestrae praestolaturus auxilium quo possem severos Ecclesiae\n    hostes propellere ex Regno, illiusque integrum statum legibus\n    sanctae matris Ecclesiae subjicere; proinde V. Sanctitas\n    quemadmodum in ea omnem spem habemus non differat nos juvare et\n    quod reliquum erit cum Rege Catholico ferventissime et quam\n    citissime agere ut auxilium jam nobis mittatur plenum et\n    sufficiens quo finem huic rei intentae imponamus.\n\n    \u201cAd sollicitandum istud negotium, mense Septembri praeterito\n    misimus nostrum ambasciatorem Epum. Laonensem ad S. Vestram et ad\n    Regem Catholicum quem plurimi faciat V. Sanctitas omnem fidem illi\n    praebendo in omnibus rebus attinentibus ad nos et ad universum\n    statum illius belli; post cujus discessum ducentos Anglos in uno\n    conflictu interfecimus, ea enim quae Deus operatus est per nos\n    contra Anglos ante ejus discessum, autumo illum S. Sanctitati\n    aperuisse: expediret denique omnino ut cum hoc subsidio postulato\n    veniat aliquis Nuncii auctoritatem habens inter nos, qui judicio\n    omnium censendus esset Laonensis, ad quem S. Sanctitas dignetur\n    etiam harum responsum dirigere ut via sibi cognita nos mox\n    certiores reddat. Vivat V. Sanctitas nobis in multos annos.\n\n    \u201cEx Castris Catholicorum in Hibernia,\n    die 6to Novembris, 1582.\n    \u201cGEROL DESMOND\u201d.\n\n\nA third letter, dated 18th June in the following year, repeats the same\nsentiments of devoted attachment to the Holy See, and petitions that the\nlands of the deceased James Geraldine should be granted to his son,\nGerald. It thus concludes:\n\n\n    \u201cLitteras vero super praedictas terras confectas, V. Sanctitas\n    dignetur mittere per Nuntium Apostolicum Hispaniarum ad nostrum\n    Ambasciatorem Cornelium Episcopum Laonensem cui cupimus ut V.\n    Sanctitas fidem in omnibus adhibeat, eumque fretum auctoritate\n    Nuntii cum subsidio mittendo ad nos dignetur mittere, quia aliis\n    palmam praeripit, quibus hoc esset concedendum. Valeat ac vivat V.\n    Sanctitas in Nestoreos annos.\n\n    \u201cEx Castris Catholicorum in Hybernia, 18 Junii.\n    \u201cStis. Vae. servus addictissimus prout opera ipsa comprobant\n                contra adversarios hostesque ecclesiae.\n    \u201cDESMOND\u201d.\n\n\nIn the Vatican archives is also preserved a series of letters of our\nbishop Cornelius, addressed to Rome in the years 1582, 1583, and 1584.\nThey are all connected with the diplomatic mission which he received from\nthe Geraldine princes, and some of them throw considerable light on the\ncontemporary civil and ecclesiastical history of our island.\n\nBefore, however, we present them to the reader, we deem it necessary to\nremark that the relations of our bishops and of the Holy See with the\nnative princes during the wars of Elizabeth\u2019s reign have often been\nmisconstrued, in the writings of those who were led away by the frenzy of\npolitical agitation. The Irish chieftains had at this period the title and\nprivileges of independent princes; and as such they were entitled to\ndefend with the sword those religious and civil rights which the\ngovernment of Elizabeth attempted to destroy. Hence, their struggle\nmerited the sympathy of the Holy See and the blessing of our\nmartyr-clergy. But far more distant than heaven is from earth were the\nchivalry of James Fitzmaurice and the heroism of Hugh O\u2019Neill from that\naccursed Fenian blight which, alas! has now-a-days fallen upon some of our\nbenighted and deluded countrymen!\n\nWe give these letters in chronological order, and in their original\nlanguage, that thus our readers may be the better able to appreciate the\nsentiments of this distinguished bishop of Killaloe.\n\n1. The first letter is dated Lisbon, 22nd September, 1582, and was\naddressed to his Eminence Cardinal de Como:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cLitteras comitis Desmoniae Generalis Catholicorum in Hibernia cum\n    nostris litteris mittimus ad suam Sanctitatem ex quibus sua\n    Dignatio Illustrissima plenius intelligat negotium, operamque det,\n    quaeso, ut huic sanctissimae caussae jam tandem subveniatur:\n    alioquin actum erit de comite Desmoniae caeterisque Catholicis qui\n    arma elevarunt fidei defensionis caus\u00e2, patriaque illa Hibernia\n    impi\u00e2 potestate reginae maledictae Angliae omnino subjiciatur. Sua\n    Dignatis Illustrissima dignetur responsum illarum litterarum suae\n    Sanctitatis per Nuntium Apostolicum Hispaniarum ad nos mittere.\n    Caeterum talis clausula habetur in mea Bulla quod extra meum\n    episcopatum etiam cum licentia ordinarii non possem exercere\n    pontificalia. Proinde rogo suam Dominationem Illmam. ut dignetur\n    alloqui ea de re Suam Sanctitatem, mihique hinc oris oraculo vel\n    in scriptis impetrare ut possim cum licentia ordinarii exercere\n    pontificalia, multum enim hoc proderit. Valeat sua dominatio\n    Illustrissima in Christo Jesu.\n\n    \u201cEx Ulissipona 22 mensis Sept., 1582.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae Dominationis vestrae,\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n2. The second letter is addressed to Pope Gregory XIII., from Madrid, the\n4th December, 1582:\n\n\n    \u201cBEATISSIME PATER,\n\n    \u201cCum primum appuleram Ulissiponam ex Hibernia, scripsi Suae\n    Sanctitati omnem statum totius istius negotii Hiberniae\n    litterasque comitis Desmoniae Generalis Catholicorum per Nuntium\n    Apostolicum Hispaniarum suae Sanctitati misi. Tandem usque modo\n    omni diligentia egi cum rege Catholico, ut negotio subveniret:\n    hanc resolutionem jam recepi, usque quod sua Majestas sit parata\n    ut subveniat ac quod in Lusitania habet milites paratos ad\n    expeditionem istius negotii, et quod istud cum sit negotium\n    sanctae matris Ecclesiae et fidei restituendae in Hibernia,\n    necesse esse, ut Vestra Sanctitas juvet atque subveniat, et istud\n    subsidium quod exigitur est pecuniarum ut praedictis militibus\n    stipendia solvantur. Tandem jussum est ut ego conferrem me\n    Madritium ut cum Nuntio Apostolico et Cardinali Granvelano agerem\n    ut ipsi cum Sua Sanctitate solertes agant, ut Sua Sanctitas\n    ordinet quibus mediis et quo ordine hoc fiat: quare cum istud\n    negotium sit positum in sinu Sanctitatis Vestrae, atque ab ipso\n    omnino emanat, rogo atque obtestor S. Sanctitatem ut dignetur\n    subvenire, ordinemque praescribere, ut pecuniae in subsidium et ad\n    expeditionem istius negotii dentur ut militibus stipendia\n    solvantur, digneturque cum sua Majestate agere ut videlicet sine\n    dilatione incipiat vel cum ipsa postulat, ut non differatur,\n    alioquin actum erit de statu totius regni Hiberniae et scintilla\n    fidei quae illic adhuc remanet omnino extinguetur, illudque Regnum\n    quod semper in gremio sanctae matris Ecclesiae quievit et floruit\n    omnino subjicietur impiae potestati Reginae maledictae Angliae.\n    Comes enim Desmoniae postquam perdidit in hoc bello suos fratres\n    germanos cum nonnullis nobilibus ex sua domo, ingenue fatetur se\n    non posse amplius sustinere istud bellum sine subsidio sibi\n    pollicito: est igitur illi cito subveniendum antequam viribus\n    omnino enervetur. Vestra Sanctitas recordetur hanc caussam esse\n    suam, fidei et sanctae matris ecclesiae, et Hibernorum qui semper\n    vere filii Sedis Apostolicae sunt, et potissimum comitis Desmoniae\n    qui omnia sua omnemque suum statum periculo semper perdendi\n    exposuit fidei defensionis caus\u00e2. Valeat et vivat Sanctitas Vestra\n    in Nestoreos annos.\n\n    \u201cMadritii, quarto die mensis Decembris 1582.\n\n    \u201cSanctitatis V. humilis filius et addictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n3. The letter to the Holy Father was accompanied by another short letter\naddressed to the _Cardinalis Comensis_ as follows:\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cIn litteris Suae Sanctitatis poteris videre responsum regis\n    Catholici: respondet enim se habere milites in Lusitania ad\n    expeditionem nostri negotii Hiberniae, sed necesse esse ut Sua\n    Sanctitas subministret pecunias ut parti militum stipendia\n    solvantur. Proinde cum regis ordine veni Ulissipona Madritium ut\n    satagerem cum Nuntio Apostolico et Cardinali Granvelano, et hoc\n    Suae Sanctitati detegatur ut cum ejus ordine et subsidio res\n    incipiatur; demonstrat enim rex nobis se promptissimum esse ut jam\n    subveniat. Cum igitur istud negotium omnino emanet a\n    sollicitatione Dominationis suae Illmae. tum cum Sua Sanctitate,\n    tum etiam cum Rege Catholico, rogo atque obtestor suam\n    Dominationem Illmam. ut omni diligentia agat, ut non differatur\n    istud subsidium mittere ad illos nobiles qui toto hoc triennio\n    elapso istud exspectant quique omnia sua fidei defensionis causa\n    perdiderunt....\n\n    \u201cEx Madritio 4 Decemb., 1582.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae ac Reverendissimae Dominationis Vestrae,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n4. On the 26th of May, the following year, the next letter was addressed\nfrom Madrid to the same cardinal:\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME AC REVERENDISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cAccepi suae Dominationis Illustrissimae litteras datas Romae die\n    4 Januarii quibus hactenus distuli respondere donec ultimam\n    resolutionem a sua Majestate Catholica reciperem, quam suae\n    Dominationi Illustrissimae significare censui ut eam detegat Suae\n    Sanctitati. Quae quidem est haec, nempe quod sua Majestas sit\n    impedita donec videat exitum classis euntis in insulas Tertiae, et\n    ea ratione ducebatur ut me detineret quia comes Desmoniae scripsit\n    ad suam Majestatem quod si in meo adventu (in quem tum ipse tum\n    caeteri nobiles tantum confiderunt) istud negotium Hiberniae non\n    haberet prosperum successum, statim sisteret gradum gerendi\n    bellum, inducias foedusque componeret cum regina maledicta\n    Angliae. Jam vero ad nutriendum interim bellum in Hibernia, sua\n    Majestas Catholica praestitit nobis magnam summam pecuniarum,\n    armorum et victualium cum quibus ego hinc proficiscor ad portum\n    maris ut illa necessaria sine dilatione et cum omni diligentia\n    illinc transmittam ad comitem Desmoniae. Restat jam ut Sua\n    Sanctitas persaepe commendet istud negotium Hiberniae suae\n    Majestati Catholicae ut finito negotio praedictae insulae statim\n    negotium nostrum incipiat.\n\n    \u201cCaeterum secretarius suae Majestatis Catholicae rogat me ut\n    exerceam Pontificalia in quodam episcopatu h\u00eec cum certa pensione\n    donec sua Majestas parata erit ad mittendam classem in Hiberniam\n    gratumque hoc esse, minusque fastidiosum regi affirmat qui tantis\n    oneribus sumptibusque premitur. Jam in superioribus litteris petii\n    facultatem exercendi pontificalia et de hoc jam recepi responsum\n    Suae Sanctitatis per suam Dominationem Illustrissimam videlicet\n    Suam Sanctitatem dixisse hoc adversari decretis concilii\n    Tridentini et propterea nullatenus posse concedi. Intelligat Sua\n    Sanctitas hanc clausulam non esse positam in mea Bulla propter\n    meam culpam, neque etiam esse positam in Bullis Episcoporum\n    Hibernorum post me creatorum qui nihil perpessi sunt in hoc bello\n    Hibernico, quemadmodum ego perpessus sum nullaque praeclara\n    facinora ediderant quemadmodum longe lateque constat me edidisse,\n    nobilesque Hibernos esse valde offensos quando dicebam, in campo\n    me non posse exercere pontificalia extra meum episcopatum etiam\n    cum licentia ordinariorum loci. Proinde sua Dominatio\n    Illustrissima rogabit Suam Sanctitatem ut dignetur in praemium\n    laborum susceptorum et suscipiendorum in hoc bello Hibernico mihi\n    vivae vocis oraculo vel in scriptis concedere facultatem exercendi\n    pontificalia, et h\u00eec interim quoad rex me detineat, cum licentia\n    ordinariorum, vel, sede vacante, jussu regis et in Hibernia eodem\n    modo et ubi non sunt Episcopi Catholici, jussu comitis Desmoniae\n    generalis Catholicorum possem similiter exercere pontificalia,\n    servatis servandis a jure et a sacro concilio Tridentino, contra\n    quod aliquid moliri illicitum esse semper duxi. Quare obtestor\n    suam Dominationem Illustrissimam ut statim et sine dilatione\n    dignetur de hoc agere cum Sua Sanctitate, hancque licentiam mihi\n    mittere per Nuncium Apostolicum Hispaniarum, hocque intelligat non\n    minus gratum esse regi quam comiti Desmoniae, aliisque nobilibus\n    ejus partem tuentibus in Hibernia. Christus Jesus suam\n    Dominationem Illustrissimam perquam diutissime nobis sospitem\n    conservet.\n\n    \u201cMadritii, die 26 Maii, 1583.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae Dominationis Suae,\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n5. Six weeks later, the Bishop of Killaloe again writes to the Cardinal de\nComo, acquainting him with the measures taken by the Spanish monarch:\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME AC REVERENDISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cQuamquam ternas ante has de eadem scripsi tibi litteras\n    superioribus diebus, tamen ne forte ad ejus manus minime\n    devenerint, censui rursus has tibi scribere litteras ut intelligat\n    regem Catholicum mihi respondisse impossibile esse jam classem\n    mitti in Hiberniam antequam sua Majestas intelligat exitum classis\n    quae jam proficiscitur ad insulas Tertiae contra Dominum Antonium.\n    Interim tamen ut bellum facilius sustentetur, in Hibernia\n    praestitit mihi subsidium pecuniarum, armorum et victualium\n    transmittendum mox in Hiberniam ad comitem Desmoniae; quorum\n    omnium causa et ex mandato regio in hoc portu permaneo, donec\n    praedicta omnia mittam ad Hiberniam quod spero fiet propediem cum\n    nihil aliud praestolatur nisi ventus prosperus. Interea Rex\n    Catholicus jussit ut pensio mihi assignaretur qua honeste\n    potuissem me sustentare super Episcopatu Tigitanensi, interimque\n    classis praeparabitur, cujus proprius pastor oblitus sui status se\n    junxit Domino Antonio contra Regem Catholicum...\n\n    \u201cEx portu de Scetufill, 5 Julii, 1583\u201d.\n\n\n6. The next letter is dated from Lisbon, the 1st August, 1583, and is\naddressed to the Holy Father Gregory XIII.:\n\n\n    \u201cSANCTISSIME PATER,\n\n    \u201cComes Desmoniae generalis Catholicorum ferventer scripsit ad me\n    superioribus diebus ut cum Sua Sanctitate agerem ut dignaretur per\n    Bullam authenticam vel per Breve Apostolicum concedere terras\n    possessionesque illorum qui interfecerunt Dominum Jacobum\n    Geraldinum generalem vestrae Sanctitatis in Hibernia, Geraldo\n    Geraldino filio praedicti D. Jacobi ut ipsi Geraldini vehementius\n    habeant ansam inserviendi Sedi Apostolicae atque Suae Sanctitati,\n    ac ut adversarii hoc concedendo terreantur ne Sedem Apostolicam\n    impugnent neve istius Sedis Sanctissimae sint adversarii inter nos\n    qui Anglis faveant atque opitulentur posthac quemadmodum hactenus.\n    Quocirca nonnihil conducet negotio atque ad augmentationem fidei\n    in Hibernia ut Sua Sanctitas consideret servitium Geraldinorum et\n    potissimum Jacobi Gerald generalis Vestrae Sanctitatis et istius\n    postremo comitis Desmoniae qui totis viribus impugnat maledictam\n    reginam ejusque fautores quique progressus felices ipsam\n    impugnando hactenus habuit. Proinde in praemium horum omnium\n    Vestra Sanctitas dignetur concedere litteras atque possessiones\n    istorum qui interfecerunt D. Jacobum Geraldinum, Domino Geraldo\n    Geraldino filio praedicti D. Jacobi Generalis Vestrae Sanctitatis\n    prout comes Desmoniae Suae Sanctitati fusissime scripsit: quod si\n    fecerit Sua Sanctitas rem gratissimam comiti factura sit\n    coeterosque pene nobiles Hibernos concitabit ut sibi Sedique\n    Apostolicae inserviant, domumque Geraldinorum semper sibi\n    addictissimam et promptissimam experietur. Christus Jesus Suam\n    Sanctitatem nobis sospitem conservet in multos annos.\n\n    \u201cEx Ulissipona, 1 Augusti, 1583.\n\n    \u201cSanctitatis Vestrae,\n\n    \u201cfilius atque addictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n7. The seventh letter is addressed from Lisbon on 26th Nov. 1583, to\nCardinal de Como:\n\n\n    \u201cPersaepe hactenus egi litteris cum Sua Sanctitate atque\n    praesentia et verbo cum sua Majestate Catholica ut omnia tandem\n    dignentur subvenire Regno Hiberniae misere hactenus desolato. Sed\n    cum jam tempus adest subveniendi, censui rogare suam Dominationem\n    Illustrissimam ut dignetur agere cum Sua Sanctitate, ut cum Rege\n    Catholico agat, ut haec classis quae revertitur ex insula Tertiae\n    transmittatur ad Hiberniam, qua transmissa Hibernia legibus\n    sanctae matris ecclesiae atque Anglia propediem subjicietur.\n    Denique haec erit proximior via qua sua Majestas habebit Flandriam\n    quietam sibique subjectam....\n\n    \u201cValeat Dominus meus Illustrissimus, in Christo Jesu.\n\n    \u201cEx Ulissipona, 26 Novemb., 1583.\n\n    \u201cDominationis Suae Illustrissimae,\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\n8. Three months later another letter was addressed to the same cardinal,\nconveying the sad intelligence of the assassination of the Earl of\nDesmond:\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cSuam Dominationem Illustrissimam certiorem reddere censui de hoc\n    negotio Hiberniae ut Suam Sanctitatem dignetur de illo informare.\n    Imprimis intelligat Illustrissimus Dominus, Geraldum Comitem\n    Desmoniae generalem Catholicorum qui erat caput istius belli\n    Hibernici occubuisse nuperrime et traditorie in bello, ejusque\n    caput post ejus mortem a nefariis Anglis erat abscissum et\n    transmissum ex Hibernia ad maledictam Angliae nominatam reginam.\n    Tristissima ac longe moestissima nova nobis sunt ista ac prorsus\n    de reductione Hiberniae ad fidem principia desperandi, nisi S.\n    Sanctitas mox manus adjutrices porrigat, tum subveniendo militibus\n    aut pecuniis, tum etiam scribendo quam effectuosissime ad suam\n    Majestatem Catholicam, ut non differat jam mittere classem ad\n    Hiberniam, qua transmissa universa Hibernia legibus sanctae matris\n    Ecclesiae subjicietur eritque etiam principium et solidum\n    fundamentum reductionis Angliae ad fidem: quod si hoc non fiet mox\n    antequam Regina maledicta iniquis suis legibus subjiciat sibi\n    regnum cum non sit aliquis principalis qui resistat, actum erit de\n    toto negotio et scintilla fidei quae huc usque illic viguit omnino\n    extinguetur, eritque Hibernia non secus quam Anglia referta\n    iniquis legibus maledictae Reginae....\n\n    \u201cEx Ulissipona, 13 Februarii, 1584.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae Dominationis Vestrae,\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\nIX. On the 7th of September, 1584, our Bishop again writes to His\nEminence:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cHactenus praestolabar cupidissimo animo profectionem classis Suae\n    Sanctitatis ac majestatis Catholicae in Hiberniam quod cum mihi in\n    mandatis a magnatibus Hiberniae et potissimum a Comite Desmoniae\n    incumbebat, ut hoc sollicitarem, officio non defui hactenus ut\n    probe novit Sua Dominatio Illustrissima. Jam vero cum praedictus\n    comes Desmoniae generalis Catholicorum sit interfectus in bello\n    neminemque alium moliri bellum in Hibernia post ejus mortem,\n    quinimo omnes obtemperant Reginae, comperio negotium esse tepidum\n    frigidumque, ac proinde censui oratum iri suam Dominem.\n    Illustrissimam ut dignetur alloqui Suam Sanctitatem, erga meam\n    penuriam et necessitatem rerum necessariarum, ob id quod nihil ex\n    propriis reditibus recipio, et cum Sua Sanctitate satagere ut\n    aliquid mihi quolibet mense vel annue subministretur per\n    collectorem Apostolicum commorantem Ulissiponae, ubi cupio\n    commorari prope nova Hiberniae, donec co classis mittatur aut\n    Regina moriatur, quia sine una aut altera nequeo adire\n    Hiberniam....\n\n    \u201cUlissiponae, 7 Septembris, 1584.\n\n    \u201cSua Dominatio Illustrissima dignetur favere Roberto Laseo\n    Cancellario Limericensi qui nedum est vir probus ac generosus sed\n    etiam quam multa perdidit in bello praeterito Hibernico cum Comite\n    Desmoniae.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae ac Reverendissimae Dom. V.\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\nX. Another letter was addressed to the Pope on the same day:\n\n\n    \u201cBEATISSIME PATER,\n\n    \u201cPostquam in campo Catholicorum cum comite Desmoniae, caeterisque\n    nobilibus Regni Hiberniae solus episcopus tribus annis manseram\n    labores improbos sustinens praedicando, admonendo et imperando\n    quae expediebant saluti hominum progressuique belli contra\n    rabidissimos ferocesque ecclesiae hostes Anglos, nihilque interim\n    recipiens ex proprio Episcopatu, cujus redditus percipiuntur a\n    quodam haeretico nominato Episcopo qui illic residet ex parte\n    Reginae maladictae Angliae, me tandem contuli ad has partes jussu\n    comitis Desmoniae Generalis Catholicorum caeterorumque nobilium\n    sibi adhaerentium ut officio Ambasciatoris fungerer, nedum cum Sua\n    Sanctitate sed etiam cum sua Majestate Catholica ut dignaretur\n    sibi mittere classem vel saltem mediocre subsidium quo bellum\n    feliciter incoeptum ad optatum finem deduceret, quemadmodum ipse\n    comes suis litteris adhuc vivens persaepe detexit Suae Sanctitati.\n    Ego hactenus saepissime egi cum sua Majestate sed subsidium illud\n    exiguum quod extorsi a sua Majestate adeo dilatum erat ut comes\n    Desmoniae viam universae carnis ingrederetur in bello, antequam\n    navicula illa cum armis illis et pecuniis Hiberniam appulerat,\n    unde rediit cum eodem subsidio ad ministros suae Majestatis\n    Ulissiponam. Porro post mortem praedicti comitis Desmoniae nullus\n    est in Hibernia qui agit bellum contra Reginam neque autumo fore\n    postquam viderant comitem Desmoniae se suumque statum exspectando\n    subsidium tanto tempore, ne se suumque statum similiter, deperdant\n    quin potius tota Hibernia obtemperet Reginae. Proinde opus non\n    erit posthac subsidio mediocri sed classi: quod Sua Sanctitas\n    dignetur agere cum sua Majestate. Quod si transmittatur, statim\n    universa Hibernia atque postmodum Anglia legibus sanctae matris\n    ecclesiae subjicietur; brevior, aptiorque haec via quoque erit ut\n    Rex Catholicus habeat Flandriam quietam sibique subjectam.\n\n    \u201cUlissiponae, 7 Sept., 1584.\n\n    \u201cSanctitatis V. filius,\n\n    \u201catque addictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\nXI. The last and most important of Dr. O\u2019Melrian\u2019s letters is dated the\n29th October, 1584. It is addressed to Cardinal de Como, and besides many\nparticulars connected with the Archbishops of Cashel and Tuam, and the\nBishops of Emly, Ferns, Ossory, Ross, and Limerick, we also gather from it\nthat our bishop, before his promotion to Killaloe, had held some other\nsee, probably that of Kilmacduagh:\n\n\n    \u201cILLUSTRISSIME DOMINE,\n\n    \u201cDecem sunt anni elapsi ex quo Sua Sanctitas me creavit Episcopum:\n    tamen postquam me contuli ad Hiberniam nullum ingressum habui ad\n    meum Episcopatum qui occupatus a quodam Pseudo-Episcopo Reginae\n    qui dumtaxat colligit reditus, minime gerens curam animarum,\n    totoque hoc tempore neque ingressum unius diei in Episcopatum,\n    neque obolum ex meis redditibus potui habere neque spero me\n    habiturum nisi post mortem Reginae, aut nisi classis a S.\n    Sanctitate et Majestate Catholica mittatur cum qua eo irem. Itaque\n    hactenus cum Comite Desmoniae caeterisque nobilibus sibi\n    adhaerentibus mansi in Hibernia in castris Catholicorum, me\n    praebens ut decuit praeclarum exemplar omnium virtutum improbos\n    labores et inediam sustinens, praedicando, exhortando, admonendo,\n    severitatem aliquoties cum lenitate adhibendo in corrigendis\n    vitiis, et persuadendo semper quae expediebant saluti hominum\n    progressuique belli contra rabidissimos atque feroces Ecclesiae\n    hostes Anglos. Placuit tandem comiti Desmoniae generali\n    Catholicorum, caeterisque proceribus me mittere huc, fretum\n    auctoritate Ambasciatoris ut cum Sua Sanctitate atque Majestate\n    Catholica agerem de classe vel subsidio mittendo ad Hiberniam quod\n    cum omni diligentia cum Sua Sanctitate litteris egi ut probe novit\n    sua Dominatio Illma.; verbo voce et praesentia egi cum sua\n    Majestate Catholica vixque extorsi naviculam unam cum armis et\n    pecuniis, quae antequam appulerat Hiberniam, repererat comitem\n    Desmoniae interfectum esse in bello, caeterosque suos dilapsos\n    esse adeo ut mentio belli minime habebatur: tunc rursum idem\n    subsidium rediit huc, quod ego integrum restitui ministris suae\n    Majestatis Catholicae. Jam nihilominus solerter ago cum sua\n    Majestate ut dignetur classem vel saltem subsidium mediocre\n    mittere ad Hiberniam cum Domino Mauritio Geraldino consobrino\n    comitis Desmoniae qui his diebus caus\u00e2 implorandi subsidium tum a\n    S. Sanctitate tum a Rege Catholico evolavit ex Hibernia huc.\n    Vehementer etiam rogo suam Dominationem Illustrissimam ut dignetur\n    agere cum Sua Sanctitate ut hinc subveniatur ac ut S. Sanctitas\n    mox dignetur ea de re agere cum sua Majestate; quia iste est vir\n    strenuus, nobilis et expertissimus in rebus bellicis, qui in bello\n    hoc praeterito comitis Desmoniae nonnullas victorias principales\n    habuit contra Anglos: Sua enim Sanctitas plurimum tenetur\n    Geraldinis qui se suumque statum exposuerunt periculo semper\n    perdendi in servitio Suae Sanctitatis. Caeterum sua Dominatio\n    Illustrissima intelligat me hic Ulissiponae morari prope nova\n    Hiberniae et sollicitando continue cum sua Majestate ut mittat\n    subsidium alicujus momenti vel classem ad Hiberniam....\n\n    \u201cCreatio Episcoporum jam, nisi mittatur classis nedum est inutilis\n    sed nociva quia hoc tempore aegre possunt creari atque prodesse in\n    Hibernia vel in Anglia (praeter partes Ultoniae in Hibernia) quia\n    utrobique non habent nisi latere et incedere vestitu saeculari vel\n    militari strictis cinctisve gladiis et pugionibus sine tonsura aut\n    corona, sine habitu clericali sine reditibus et obedientia a suis:\n    et ita adhuc si convincantur episcopos esse poena capitis vel\n    perpetui carceris plectentur et eorum parentes vel consanguinei\n    apud quos versabantur secrete, omnia bona sua et terras per\n    edictum Reginae fisco perdent....\n\n    \u201cArchiepiscopus Cashellensis gloriosissime et constantissime\n    martyrium perpessus est Dublinae, qui quamvis acerrimis poenis\n    agitabatur nullo pacto poterat duci, ut iniquis legibus Reginae\n    obtemperaret; qui ex primo die quo se contulit ad Hiberniam in\n    habitu saeculari (aliter enim non potuit) versabatur, donec erat\n    comprehensus ut explorator, qui quidem cum erat percontatus si\n    erat Ecclesiasticus necne, fassus est se Archiepiscopum esse et in\n    fide constantissime et gloriosissime mortuus est. Sed, quod doleo,\n    jam non publice sed secreto et sine plebe martyrio coronantur,\n    quem ad modum iste archiepiscopus a tribus dumtaxat militibus erat\n    suspensus ne alios incitaret aut inflammaret ad Christianam\n    religionem.\n\n    \u201cEpiscopus vero Imolacensis constans in fide carceribus Dublinae\n    detinetur cui jam preparant ocreas plumbeas ut adhibito igne (quem\n    ad modum fecerunt prius Archiepiscopo) in tormentis fidem deneget.\n    Episcopus vero Feruensis, prius consentiens Anglis, poenitentia\n    ductus ultro se obtulit pro fide qui jam teterrimis carceribus\n    sine foramine lucis detinetur. Archiepiscopus Tuamensis non aliter\n    erat in Hibernia quam in habitu saeculari, qui postquam rediit ad\n    Hispaniam, diem clausit extremum. Thomas vero Ossoriensis\n    Episcopus mansit in Hibernia aliquot mensibus in habitu saeculari,\n    tandem contulit se ex Hibernia ad Hispaniam. Episcopus\n    Limericensis et Episcopus Rossensis postquam venerant Roma in\n    curia Regis Hispaniarum degunt.\n\n    \u201cVideat Dominus meus Illustrissimus quod horum Episcoporum creatio\n    magis obest quam prodest, quamvis illic affirmarunt se posse\n    prodesse; proinde alii non sunt audiendi qui petunt promoveri ad\n    Episcopatus, quum obesse potius possunt quam prodesse. Valeat\n    Dominus meus Illustrissimus in Christo Jesu.\n\n    \u201cUlissiponae, 29 Oct. 1584.\n\n    \u201cIllustrissimae ac Reverendissimae Dominationis V.\n\n    \u201caddictissimus servus,\n\n    \u201cCORNELIUS LAONENSIS Episcopus\u201d.\n\n\nThis is the last letter we have met with from the illustrious Bishop of\nKillaloe, Dr. O\u2019Melrian. His episcopate continued till 1617; yet the only\nevent recorded concerning him during this long interval is his having\nexamined the work of Stanihurst, _De Moribus et Rebus Hiberniae_, and on\nthe margin opposite each error his solemn condemnation was found marked\nwith the simple formula: _mentitur_ (_Hist. Cath._, pag. 121).\n\nAs regards the bishops of the Establishment, that of _James Curyn_, or\n_Corrin_, seems to have been the first appointment made by King Henry\nVIII. Some call him Bishop of Killaloe as early as 1529, during the\nepiscopate of Dr. Hogan; others date his appointment from 1539/40. At all\nevents it is probable he is the bishop that is referred to in the letter\nof Dr. Browne to Lord Cromwell on 16th February, 1539/40, when he\ncomplains that the Lord Deputy _in O\u2019Brien\u2019s country_ \u201cdeposed a bishop\nwho was promoted by the king\u2019s highness, ... and he that the Lord Deputy\nhath now promoted to the same is a Gray Friar (Dr. O\u2019Kirwan), one of the\nholy confessors of the late Garrantys, even as rank a traitor as ever they\nwere\u201d (_State Papers_, iii. 123). Dr. Corrin resigned the see in 1546, and\nCornelius O\u2019Dea was appointed by the king in July, the same year, and, as\nWare tells us, he held the see about nine years. The next crown nominee\nwas Moriertach O\u2019Brien. Though appointed by Queen Elizabeth in 1570, he\nwas for a long time content with the enjoyment of the temporalities of the\nsee, and it was only in 1577 that he received episcopal consecration. John\nRider, the next Protestant bishop, was appointed in 1612: he is chiefly\nremarkable for a Latin dictionary which he compiled, and in which he was\naccused of taking both the substance and words from the Lexicon of Thomas\nThomatius.\n\n\n\n\n\nTHE SACRAMENT OF PENANCE IN THE EARLY IRISH CHURCH.\n\n\nThe name _Soul\u2019s-friend_ (in Irish,) was a characteristic title used in\nthe old Irish language to designate those who are now called _confessors_,\nwhose mission it is to receive the confessions of the faithful and to heal\nby the sacrament of penance, the spiritual wounds inflicted on the soul\nafter baptism. \u201cSure we are\u201d, writes Usher, \u201cthat it was the custom of the\nfaithful in our ancient Church, to confess their sins to the priests, that\nthey might be made partakers of the benefit of the keys for the quieting\nof their troubled consciences\u201d\u2014_Discourse on the Religion, etc._, p. 46.\n\nOur old commentator, Claudius, more than once repeats this doctrine, and\nteaches that the power of forgiving sins was granted by the divine\nRedeemer to His apostles and their successors in the priesthood: \u201cThe\npower of loosing and binding\u201d, he says, \u201cwas granted to all the apostles\nby our Saviour, when, appearing to them after His resurrection, He\nbreathed upon them, and said: Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose sins you\nshall forgive, they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall retain, they\nare retained. Even to the present day this duty devolves upon the Church\nin its bishops and priests, and having examined each sinner\u2019s cause, they\nabsolve those whom they find humble and truly penitent, from the fear of\neternal death, but such as they find to persist in their sins, these are\nbound down unto never-ending torments\u201d\u2014_In Matth. Codex Vatican._, fol.\n149, b.\n\nElsewhere, expounding the history of the man who was sick with the palsy,\nhe remarks: \u201cThe scribes say truly that none can forgive sins save God\nalone, who also it is that forgives through those to whom he has given the\npower of forgiving\u201d. And again, \u201cSt. John teaches us, in regard to the\nremission of sins, that our Saviour after His resurrection promised to His\ndisciples that those shall be bound whom they shall bind, and those shall\nbe loosened whom they shall loosen\u201d\u2014_In Matth. ibid._, fol. 81, and\n_Usher_, loc. cit., pag. 48.\n\nThe old penitential canons of our Church will serve as a practical\ncommentary on these texts of Claudius. Thus, in the synod held by our\napostle, together with Auxilius and Isernimus, about the year 450, we find\nthe canon:\n\n\n    \u201cA Christian who has committed murder, or fornication, or gone to\n    a soothsayer after the manner of the gentiles, for every such\n    crime shall do a year of penance: when his year of penance is\n    accomplished he shall come with witnesses, and afterwards he shall\n    be absolved by the priest\u201d.(16)\n\n\nSt. Finnian too prescribes:\n\n\n    \u201cSi quis rixam faciat de clericis aut ministris Dei, hebdomadam\n    dierum poeniteat cum pane et aqua et petat veniam a Deo suo et\n    proximo suo, plena confessione et humilitate et sic potest Deo\n    reconciliari et proximo suo\u201d.(17)\n\n\nThe synodical canons _de Arreis_, in one decree declare as the substitute\nfor the penance of a year:\n\n\n    \u201cTres dies cum mortuo sancta in sepulchro, sine cibo et potu et\n    sine somno sed cum vestimento circa se, et cantatione psalmorum et\n    oratione horarum per confessionem et votum sacerdoti\u201d.\n\n\nAnd in another case they enact a similar penance:\n\n\n    \u201cpost confessionem peccatorum coram sacerdote et plebe post\n    votum\u201d.(18)\n\n\nThe penitential of St. Cummian commands him who had innocently told an\nuntruth \u201cto confess his fault to the person whom he deceived and to the\npriest\u201d.(19) Again, youths before their twentieth year committing certain\nsins, were ordered for the first offence \u201chaving confessed, to do penance\nfor twenty days before they should approach the holy Communion\u201d.(20)\n\nSt. Columbanus is even more minute in treating of this sacrament. Thus, in\ncanon the fourteenth, he lays down the penance for the sin of adultery,\nand adds that this penance being performed by the sinner \u201cculpa illius per\nsacerdotem abstergatur\u201d. Should his sin be a sin of desire, \u201cConfiteatur\nculpam suam sacerdoti et ita quadraginta diebus in pane et aqua\npoeniteat\u201d.(21) Special diligence, too, was to be observed when preparing\nto approach the Holy Eucharist, and not only the heinous crimes, but even\nthe venial faults were to be confessed. \u201cConfessiones autem dari\ndiligentius praecipitur, maxime de commotionibus animi, antequam ad missam\neatur, ne forte quis accedat indignus ad altare, id est si cor mundum non\nhabuerit\u201d.(22)\n\nIn the ancient collection of canons made for the use of our Irish Church\nabout the year 700, there is one book (the 48th) entitled _de\nPoenitentia_. The thirty-three chapters into which it is divided are for\nthe most part moral or disciplinary: as, for instance, the twenty-fifth\nchapter, which enjoins that all penitents should receive _imposition of\nhands_ from the priests during Lent, moreover, should carry the dead to\nthe place of sepulture, and there inter them, and, in fine, should present\nthemselves kneeling at all the functions of the Church from Easter to\nPentecost. There are, however, some incidental passages which beautifully\nillustrate the idea entertained by our fathers of the necessity and\nadvantages of sacramental confession. Thus in the third chapter the words\nof St. Augustine are adopted:\n\n\n    \u201cWhy will the sinner seek to conceal what he committed in the\n    presence of God? Why will he blush to confess those sins with\n    which he did not blush to stain his own soul? Therefore, let him\n    defray by confession what he has contracted by sinning; let him by\n    satisfaction wash away the stains which defile his soul; let him\n    by vigilance supply for his former neglect; let him for the future\n    be a follower of Christ by virtuous deeds, as hitherto he had\n    followed Satan by his sins; and he may rest assured that God will\n    not punish him for those crimes which he has confessed\u201d.\n\n\nSubsequently it adopts the well-known passage from the Homilies of St.\nGregory the Great:\n\n\n    \u201cAs the physician cannot apply his remedy unless he knows in what\n    the malady of his patient consists, so cannot sins be healed\n    without confession; for, with our heart we believe unto justice,\n    but with our lips confession is made unto salvation. He who\n    conceals his sins cannot be directed; but he who confesses them\n    and relinquishes them all, will obtain mercy\u201d\u2014_Collect. Hib.\n    Canonum_, xlviii. 3.\n\n\nIn the other fragments which are still preserved of our early literature,\nwe find many passages connected with the same great sacrament. Thus St.\nMochta, in his _Apologia_, amongst the other articles of faith, professes:\n\u201cPoenitentiam peccatorum plenissima fide suscipimus ac veluti secundam\ngratiam suspicamur\u201d (see _Essays on the Early Irish Church_, pag. 302);\nthat is to say, it is the only plank that remains to him after shipwreck.\n\nAmongst the Irish MSS. preserved in the public library of Basle, in\nSwitzerland, there is one (Ff. iii. 15) which presents a curious form of\nprayer to be observed by our clergy when administering the sacrament of\npenance. We give it in full in its original language; the reader will\nremark that it omits the form of absolution, for which it refers to _the\nsacramentary_, and the words which we here enclose within parentheses are\nwritten as rubric in the original manuscript:\n\n\n    \u201cIncipit ordo ad poenitentiam dandam.\n\n    \u201cCredis in Patrem et Filium et Spiritum Sanctum? _Respondet_:\n    Credo.\n\n    \u201cCredis, quod istae tres personae, quo modo diximus, Pater et\n    Filius et Spiritus Sanctus, tres sunt, et unus Deus est?\n    _Respondet_: Credo.\n\n    \u201cCredis, quad in ista ipsa carne in qua nunc es, habes resurgere\n    in die judicii et recipere sive bonum sive malum quod egisti?\n    _Respondet_: Credo.\n\n    \u201cVis dimittere illis quicumque in te peccaverint, Domino dicente,\n    si non remiseritis hominibus peccata eorum, nec Pater vester\n    coelestis dimittet vobis peccata vestra? _Respondet_: Dimitto.\n\n    \u201c(Et require diligenter; si est incestuosus, si non vult ipsa\n    incesta dimittere, non potes ei dare poenitentiam: et si vult ipsa\n    incesta dimittere, _fac eum confiteri omnia peccata sua_, et ad\n    ultimum diecre.)\n\n    \u201cMulta sunt peccata mea, in factis in verbis et in\n    cogitationibus\u201d.\n\n    (Tunc da illi poenitentiam et dic istas orationes super eum.)\n\n    \u201cOremus. Praeveniat hunc famulum tuum _N._ Domine, misericordia\n    tua, et omnes iniquitates ejus celeri indulgentia doleat. Per,\n    etc.\n\n    \u201cOremus. Exaudi, Domine, preces nostras et confitentium tibi parce\n    peccatis ut quos conscientiae reatus accusat, indulgentia tuae\n    pietatis absolvat.\n\n    \u201c(Et caeteras, si tempus habueris sicut in sacramentario\n    continentur. Si tibi non vacat, istae sufficiant. Et si homo\n    ingeniosus est, da ei consilium ut veniat tempore statuto ad te\n    aut ad alium sacerdotem in coena Domini et _reconcilietur sicut in\n    sacvamentario continetur_. Quicquid manens in corpore consecutus\n    non fuerit hoc est _reconciliatione_, exutus carne consequi non\n    poterit. Si vero minus intelligens fuerit, quidquid ipse non\n    intelligit in uno statu reconciliare, potes eum ita dicendo:)\n\n    \u201cOremus. Praesta, quaesumus Domine, dignum poenitentiae fructum\n    huic famulo ut ecclesiae tuae sanctae a cujus integritate deviarat\n    peccando, admissorum veniam consequendo reddatur innocens. Per\n    Dominum.\n\n    \u201c(Si infirmus est homo, statim reconciliare eum debes.)\u201d\n\n\nThus terminates this curious fragment of the ritual observances of our\nearly Church. Another Irish manuscript of the same library in Basle\ncontains a long penitential prayer, the language of which has a striking\nresemblance with the prayers of St. Colgu and Aileran, already published\nin the early numbers of the _Record_. It thus begins:\n\n\n    \u201cDe conscientiae reatu ante Altare,\n\n    \u201cDomine Deus omnipotens, ego humiliter te adoro,\n\n    \u201cTu es Rex Regum et Dominus Dominantium,\n\n    \u201cTu es arbiter omnis saeculi,\n\n    \u201cTu es redemptor animarum,\n\n    \u201cTu es liberator credentium,\n\n    \u201cTu es spes laborantium,\n\n    \u201cTu es paraclitus dolentium,\n\n    \u201cTu es via errantium,\n\n    \u201cTu es magister gentium,\n\n    \u201cTu es creator omnium,\n\n    \u201cTu es amator omnis boni,\n\n    \u201cTu es princeps omnium virtutum,\n\n    \u201cTu es amator virginum,\n\n    \u201cTu es fons sapientium,\n\n    \u201cTu es fides credentium,\n\n    \u201cTu es lux lucis,\n\n    \u201cTu es fons sanctitatis,\n\n    \u201cTu es gloria Dei Patris in excelsis,\n\n    \u201cTu sedes ad dexteram Dei Patris,\n\n    \u201cIn alto throno regnans in saecula.\n\n    \u201cEgo te peto ut des mihi remissionem omnium peccatorum meorum,\n    Deus meus Jesu Christe.\n\n    \u201cTu es qui neminem vis perire sed omnes vis salvos fieri et ad\n    agnitionem veritatis venire.\n\n    \u201cTu es qui ore tuo sancto et casto dixisti: in quacumque die\n    conversus fuerit peccator, vita vivet et non morietur.\n\n    \u201cEgo revertor ad Te....\n\n    \u201cIdeo confiteor tibi Domine Deus meus, qui solus sine peccato es:\n    et obsecro te, Jesu Christe, Deus misericordiarum per passionem et\n    per effusionem sanguinis tui, atque per signum ligni salutiferi\n    crucis tuae ut concedas mihi remissionem omnium peccatorum meorum,\n    non secundum meum meritum, sed secundum magnam misericordiam\n    tuam\u201d.\n\n\nThe \u201cRule for the Celi-De\u201d, composed by St. Maelruan about the year 780,\nreckons \u201c_the divulging of confession_, so as to say, this is what the man\ndid\u201d, as so heinous a crime \u201cthat it is not penanced in the land of\nErinn\u201d.(23) It also contains several regulations connected with the\nsacrament of penance. Thus, on the eve of the chief festivals, all\nfeasting is prohibited, \u201cbecause of going under the hand to-morrow\u201d. To\nwhich words Dr. Reeves adds the following note: \u201cThe priest raises his\nhand in the absolution, whence the modern expression _going under the hand\nof the priest_ denotes going to confession\u201d (pag. 202). Subsequently the\nRule enacts:\n\n\n    \u201cWhen they do not go to hand (_i.e._ to confession) on Sunday,\n    they go on the Thursday after; it would be too long to wait till\n    the Sunday following for the person who habitually goes to hand\n    every Sunday, because these two days are always special with them\n    at Mass.\n\n    \u201cIt is not necessary to delay minute confessions of thoughts and\n    idle notions, and abuse and anger, till Sunday, but to confess\n    them immediately as they occur.\n\n    \u201cHe who makes his confession to a _soul-friend_, if he performs\n    the penance according to his directions, need not confess them to\n    another _soul-friend_, but only what has subsequently occurred.\n    Frequent confession is not profitable when the transgressions are\n    frequent too\u201d.\n\n\nSome instructions are also given for the guidance of the confessor:\n\n\n    \u201cDifficult, indeed, is the duty of the _soul-friend_, because if\n    he gives the proper remedy, it is oftener violated than observed;\n    but if the soul-friend does not give it, its liability falls upon\n    himself; because several are satisfied with making the confession\n    without doing the penance; but it is better to proclaim their\n    welfare to them, though they do not respond to the penance\n    enjoined by the confessor. Another soul-friend may be gone to, if\n    necessary, after the permission of the first soul-friend.\n\n    \u201cIt is right to refuse the confession of a person who does not\n    perform penance according to the soul-friend, unless there happens\n    to be a soul-friend near, whom he considers more learned in rules,\n    in the ways of the Scripture, and in the practices of the saints.\n    Let him heed what he receives from the learned soul-friend whom he\n    first met, to whomsoever he may reveal his confession each time,\n    and let penance be enjoined him according to the rules of frequent\n    confession\u201d.\n\n\nIn fine, it is also decreed that the bishop \u201cwho confers noble orders upon\nany one who is not able to instruct in religion and reading, and\nsoul-friendship, and who has not a knowledge of laws and rules, and of the\nproper remedy for all sins in general, is an enemy to God and man; for\nthat bishop has offered an insult to Christ and His Church, and hence\nshall do penance for six years, and he shall pay seven _cumhals_ in gold\nas a penalty to God.(24)\u201d\n\nThe Rule of St. Carthage (who was familiarly called _Mochuda_) has already\nbeen published in full in the December and January numbers of the\n_Record_. Frequent mention is made in it of the holy sacrament of penance,\nand as St. Carthage died before the year 640, we are thus enabled to trace\nback the Catholic tenets of our fathers even to the beginning of the\nseventh century. At page 116, among _the duties of a priest_ is\ncommemorated:\n\n\n    \u201cIf you go to give communion\n      At the awful point of death,\n    You must receive confession\n      Without shame, without reserve.\n    Let him receive your sacrament\n      If his body bewails.\n    The penitence is not worthy\n      Which turns not from evil....\n    If you be anybody\u2019s soul-friend,\n      His soul thou shalt not sell;\n    Thou shalt not be a blind man leading the blind;\n      Thou shalt not allow him to fall into neglect;\n    Let them give thee their confession\n      Candidly and devoutly\u201d.\n\n\nWhilst confession was thus enjoined on the faithful, it was not less\nnecessary for the religious themselves:\n\n\n    \u201cWhen you come unto the mass\u2014\n      It is a noble office\u2014\n    Let there be penitence of heart, shedding of tears,\n      And throwing up of the hands, ...\n    With confession of vices,\n      When you come to receive\u201d.\n\n\nAnd again, when laying down special rules for monks, St. Carthage commands\nthem to exercise modesty and meekness:\n\n\n    \u201cWith inculcation of every truth;\n      With denunciation of every wickedness;\n    With perfect frequent confessions,\n      Under the directions of a holy abbot\u201d.(25)\n\n\nThe testimony of these religious rules is of great importance: they not\nonly convey to us the teaching of individuals remarkable for their piety\nand learning, but they moreover record for our instruction those\ndisciplinary enactments which received the solemn sanction of the greatest\nsaints of our ancient Church, and which guided in the paths of perfection\nthousands of our countrymen whose virtues and miracles won for our island\na wide-spread fame for sanctity throughout the sixth and succeeding\ncenturies.\n\nWe may now refer to facts connected with these sainted fathers of our\nChurch which throw much light on the practice of confession, from the\nearliest period of faith in our island. Thus, of St. Adamnan we read that,\nbeing troubled about some sin of his early youth \u201che resorted to a priest\nfrom whom he hoped to learn the way of salvation, and confessing his fault\nprayed for such counsel as might enable him to flee from the avenging\nanger of God\u201d.(26)\n\nIn the life of St. Columba, too, it is recorded that one day an Irishman\nfrom Connaught, by name Ildran, landed on the beach of Iona and proceeded\nto the guest-house of the monastery. On the following morning he made\nknown to the saint the object of his journey, viz.: to do penance for his\nsins, and \u201cat the same hour he confessed all his sins and promised to\nfulfil the laws of penance\u201d.(27) On another occasion St. Columba was\nvisited by a person named Fiachna, who, being touched with remorse for\nsome crime, fell at the saint\u2019s feet and \u201cconfessed his sins before all\nthat were there present\u201d, whereupon the holy man weeping embraced him, and\nsaid, \u201cArise, my son, and be comforted; thy sins are forgiven thee, for,\nas it is written, the contrite and humble heart God doth not despise\u201d.(28)\n\nIn the case of a chieftain named Suibhne, it is mentioned that, though\ntruly penitent, he was ordered by St. Pulcherius to confess his sins.(29)\nWe find also St. Maidoc of Ferns earnestly soliciting to have a wise\nconfessor divinely destined for his guidance. St. Molua of Clonfert-molua\nwas the person chosen by him, and hence, amongst other titles given to\nthis last-named saint, is \u201cFather of the Confession of Maidoc\u201d.(30) Again,\nin the life of St. Finbar it is mentioned that a young man from Leinster\nwent to Iona to be guided by Columba: being obliged soon after to return\nto his native country, he thus affectionately addressed the holy abbot: \u201cO\nsancte Dei! quomodo in patria mea vivam et tibi confitear peccata\nmea?\u201d(31)\n\nIn the _Martyrology of Donegal_, St. Meallan of Loch Oirbsen, in\nConnaught, is styled the _Anmehara_ of St. Furse, who since the middle of\nthe seventh century is venerated as patron of Peronne in France (pag. 40,\nI.A.S., 1865). In the _Felire_ of Aenghus, St. Donnan of Eigg is also said\nto have gone to St. Columcille \u201cto make him his soul\u2019s friend\u201d (Reeves\u2019\n_Columba_, p. 305). This title of _Anmchara_ is given to the divine\nRedeemer himself by St. Aileran, in the beautiful prayer printed in the\n_Record_, pag. 64, and, as we have already said, was the name given by the\nfaithful in our early Church to those who in the Latin records are styled\n_Confessarii_, or _Patres Confessionis_. The _Book of Fenagh_ in one of\nits most ancient records states, that \u201cColumba plus venit ad S. Kilianum\net ei confessus est peccata sua\u201d (I.A.S. _Miscellany_, vol. i., pag. 118).\nOf St. Finbarr it is also recorded that, on the death of his spiritual\ndirector, he went to St. Olan to make him _patrem confessionis suae_, or\nat least to be directed by him as to the person whom he should select; and\nthe legend adds that St. Olan replied: \u201cChrist Himself will be your\nconfessor, and He will receive your hand\u201d; meaning, probably, that the\nhour of his death was come, for the next fact mentioned in St. Finbarr\u2019s\nlife is his happy passage to eternity (_Life of St. Finbarr_, edited by R.\nCaulfield. London, 1864, pag. 21).\n\nProbus, in the life of our great Apostle (chap. 20), mentions that one of\nthe chief petitions which he made to God, during the time of his\npenitential retirement on Croaghpatrick, was: \u201cUt unusquisque homo fidelis\nHibernorum per poenitentiam et confessionem Deo satisfaciens licet in\nextremo vitae suae spatio, ab ipso elementer suscipiatur\u201d. It was to\nbecome sharer of this great privilege that St. Cormac, Bishop and King of\nCashel, baying foretold his death, summoned to him St. Macsuach, Abbot of\nCastledermot, to whom he made his confession, and received from his hands\nthe holy sacrament of the Eucharist. (I.A.S. 1860. _Annals_, pag. 203).\n\nThe confession even of venial faults was especially dwelt upon by St.\nMolua. One of his religious was negligent on this head, and St. Molua took\noccasion to correct him by his own example. As they were journeying\ntogether on a certain day, St. Molua said to him: \u201cPeccavi vere hodie quia\nconfessionem alicui seniori non feci de his quae egi hodie: me igitur hic\nsustine modicum donec vadam illuc et confitear\u201d. The religious was struck\nwith terror, and asked \u201cwould it not suffice to confess these sins to God\nalone?\u201d but the saint replied that unless we confess even our venial\ntransgressions, we can only obtain pardon for them by severe penitential\ndeeds here and hereafter, and added the well-known illustration: \u201cSicut\npavimentum domus scop\u00e2 quotidie tergitur, ita anima quotidian\u00e2\nconfessione\u201d. The ancient life concludes; \u201cHoc audiens monachus a suo\nsancto Abbate, promisit confiteri sua offendicula; et confitebatur\nfideliter, et sanatus est ille frater a sua praeterita audacia\u201d (_Vita ex\nVet. Cod. Armac._, edited by Fleming, cap. 32.)\n\nThere is only one document to which the enemies of our holy faith can\nappeal as evidencing a disregard for the sacrament of penance in our early\nChurch: it is a letter of Alcuin, addressed, in the text of Canisius,\n_dilectissimis viris fratribus et patribus __ in provincia Scotorum_, in\nwhich he mentions the rumour which had reached him, that the laity had\nrefused \u201cconfessionem sacerdotibus dare\u201d. Here (writes Dean Murray) is a\nclear rejection of Popery. However, antiquarians have long since decided\nthat this text has no reference to sacramental confession (see Lanigan,\niv. 67): and as the good Protestant dean had given his citation from\nUsher, he should have added that in Usher\u2019s opinion the title of this\nletter of Alcuin was erroneous, and that it was addressed to some faithful\nquite distinct from our old Celtic forefathers. This opinion no longer\nadmits of any doubt. Canisius himself remarked \u201cthat in the MS. from which\nhe published this letter, it was addressed _de dilectissimis, etc. in\nprovincia Gothorum_\u201d, and he merely substituted the word _Scotorum_, as a\nconjecture, not knowing that there were any people in the days of Alcuin\nwho still retained the name of _Gothic_. Later discoveries, however, have\nproved that the very province of Languedoc, in which territory Alcuin\nlived for a long time, was designated by this name. The learned\nQuercetanus discovered a letter of Alcuin himself (ep. 99), addressed to\nthe faithful \u201c_in diversis Gothiae partibus_\u201d; and Baluzius, in his\n_Miscellanea_ (i. 377), published another letter of the same Alcuin, \u201c_iis\nqui sunt in Gothiae partibus_\u201d. The errors of Felix Urgellitanus, which\nare here referred to, fix more and more the district to which this letter\nwas addressed; for whilst they had begun to creep in amongst the faithful\nof France, they were wholly unheard of in the Island of Saints.\n\n\n\n\n\nRICHARD FITZ-RALPH, ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH.\n\n\n    \u201cMany a mile have I gone, and many did I walk,\n    But never saw a holier man than Richard of Dundalk\u201d.\n\n    _Old Couplet._(32)\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 I. Introduction.\n\n\nIn all the habits of social life many of the early English settlers in\nIreland soon became more Irish than the Irish themselves. In the vigorous\ntenacity of their attachment to the Catholic religion some of these\nfamilies have ever remained as Irish as the Irish themselves. Having made\nour people their people, they became sharers in our grace of faith, so as\nto keep ever since our God their God. To the Talbots and the Plunkets we\nowe two great archbishops, whose figures stand out prominently even among\nthe illustrious band of prelates who fought the good fight in the days of\nthe persecutors. And as our Church reckons Anglo-Irish bishops among her\nmartyrs, so among her doctors who guarded and enriched the sacred deposit\nof faith we may count Anglo-Irish prelates equally illustrious: and of\nthese the subject of the present notice offers a distinguished example. A\nvariety of great qualities, rarely united in one individual, gives a\nsingular attractiveness to the history of Richard Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop\nof Armagh. Extraordinary holiness of life\u2014of which proof remains not only\nin the popular couplet at the head of this paper, and in the appellation\nof St. Richard of Dundalk, by which he was known for centuries, but in the\nstronger evidence of a Pontifical commission issued by Boniface IX. to\nexamine into his miracles with a view to his canonization;\u2014rare\nintellectual power exhibited in every branch of theology\u2014erudition both\nvarious and profound\u2014eloquence of a high order, to which his sermons still\nextant bear testimony; all these are qualities which, especially when\nexercised under the trying vicissitudes of a great controversy within the\nChurch, could not fail to constitute a remarkable career. Of this career\nwe now propose to lay before our readers an outline as perfect as the\nmaterials within our reach will allow us to sketch. We do so with the hope\nthat others, in whom better skill is backed by richer materials, may be\nled to supplement from their store our slender contribution to the history\nof an illustrious successor of St. Patrick.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 II. The Fitz-Ralph Family: Richard\u2019s Parentage.\n\n\nRalph, founder of the Fitz-Ralph family, held forty-nine lordships in\nEngland in the reign of William the Conqueror. From this stem various\nbranches issued, and several families of Fitz-Ralphs were to be found in\nthe twelfth and thirteenth centuries. To which of these Richard belongs is\na matter of uncertainty. Prince, in his anxiety to enrol him among the\nworthies of Devonshire, refers him to the Fitz-Ralphs of Widecomb in the\nMoor, who, about the time of Edward I., changed their names and residence,\nhenceforth calling themselves Stillingford, from their new abode near\nExeter. But this is mere guess work. It is far more probable, in our\nopinion, that he belonged to the Derbyshire Fitz-Ralphs, of which family\nthe Frechevilles and Musards of Staveley(33) became in after times the\nrepresentatives. Our reasons are these. Ralph (Musard) Baron Staveley, a\ndirect descendant of Ralph, the founder of the family, had a daughter\nMargaret, who, on his death, became co-heir with her brother Nicholas and\nher sister Isabella. Margaret married an Irishman, named in the pedigree\nJoannes de Hibernia, and died in the year 1308. Three children were born\nof this marriage\u2014John de Hibernia, Ralph, and Alicia. Thus, we actually\nhave the heir of the Fitz-Ralphs born of an Irish father. As his mother\u2019s\nheir John de Hibernia was owner of the third part of the manor of\nStaveley, and this property he gave and granted to Ralph de Frecheville,\nThe evidence taken at an inquisition held at Staveley, in 1316, asserts\nthat the said John \u201chad no other lands in England\u201d. This would lead us to\nconjecture that he had lands in Ireland, and after this time the pedigree\nno longer adds the words _de Hibernia_ to any of the Fitz-Ralphs. Now, it\nis certain that Richard must have been born about this time; and although\nthe precise year of his birth is not known, the date of his promotion to\nArmagh would allow him to have been the son of this John, or of his\nbrother Ralph. But, setting conjecture aside, one thing is proved beyond a\ndoubt, viz., that about the time of Richard\u2019s birth the Fitz-Ralphs of\nStaveley had a close connection with Ireland.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 III. His Birthplace.\n\n\nAn almost universal tradition fixes his birthplace at Dundalk. According\nto Wadding, the tradition was, that his parents came to Dundalk from the\nwell known territory in the north of Ireland, called _Ruta_, or the Route.\nWood states that almost all writers\u2014_auctores pene omnes_\u2014make him an\nIrishman. This tradition is also clearly expressed in the appellation of\nRichard of Dundalk, by which he was universally known. It was the custom\nof the age to designate men by the name of their native place. Of this we\nhave an excellent example in the name of John Baconthorpius, or of\nBaconthorpe, who, as we shall see, was Fitz-Ralph\u2019s professor at Oxford.\nCotton, in his _Fasti_, tells us that \u201cit has been contended, with some\nappearance of truth, that this prelate was born in England\u201d. He here\nalludes to the opinion maintained by Rev. John Prince,(34) who considers\nit probable that our prelate was born in Devonshire, adding, \u201csome tell\nus, that he was an Irishman, and born in the town of Dundalk in that\nkingdom, and hence called by the name of Richard of Dundalk. Whereas, it\nis possible he might be so denominated, not from his birth, but from his\nlong residence, or his doing some eminent exploit there, or from some\nother like occasion there. Others say he was an Englishman, which is not\nimprobable, for these reasons: that he had his education at Oxford; that\nhe was chosen commissary of that university; that he was made archdeacon\nof Lichfield; and that he was encouraged against the friars by English\nbishops\u201d.\n\nThese are the only arguments alleged to prove that Archbishop Fitz-Ralph\nwas born in England. They are of no weight whatever when compared with the\nmass of testimony on the other side. 1.\u2014The name of Richard of Dundalk\ncould not have arisen from the primate\u2019s long residence in that town, for\nhe resided in his diocese only for about nine years, and certainly did not\nspend all his time in Dundalk. 2.\u2014Nor is it told in history that he\nperformed any eminent exploit here. 3.\u2014It does not make against the Irish\norigin of Archbishop Fitz-Ralph that he had his education at Oxford. It is\nwell known that at the beginning of the fourteenth century there were very\nmany Irishmen at Oxford. Bale gives the names of several most\ndistinguished Irishmen who flourished there at that period\u2014in 1310,\nMalachias Minorita; in 1320, David O\u2019Buge of Kildare; in 1330, Gilbert\nUrgalius, who, _consueto Hibernorum hominum more_, went to Oxford after\ncompleting his rudimentary studies. Besides, among the _nations_ whose\ncontests in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries so often made Oxford\nanything but a quiet abode of learning, the Irish had their place and\ngenerally went with the Southernmen. And the Archbishop himself, in his\ndiscourse at Avignon, relates how he had sent to Oxford four priests of\nthe diocese of Armagh. 4.\u2014That the appointment of Richard as chancellor or\nvice-chancellor of Oxford does not necessarily suppose him to have been an\nEnglishman, will appear from what we have to say farther on concerning\nthis office. 5\u2014Nor was it strange that an Irish ecclesiastic should hold\nbenefices in England. Clement VI., in 1351, granted to John de Briane,\nDean of St. Patrick\u2019s at Dublin, who held at the same time the parish of\nHatfield in Lincoln, permission to retain his benefices during his five\nyears\u2019 course at a University.(35)\n\nSumming up the evidence, we have, on the one hand, the almost universal\ntradition that our prelate was born in Dundalk; we have an established\nconnexion between the Derbyshire Fitz-Ralphs and Ireland about the time of\nhis birth. On the other hand, against his Irish origin, we have no\nargument stronger than mere probabilities, which, when examined, are found\nto have no substance. We conclude, therefore, that Richard Fitz-Ralph was\nborn in Dundalk. This conclusion receives some confirmation from a\nnarrative in Fox,(36) where we are told that a copy of the entire Bible,\ntranslated into Irish by Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, was found, many years\nafter his death, in the walls of his cathedral. Now, if this story be\ntrue, and it is indirectly confirmed by Usher, it is plain that the\nArchbishop must have been born in Ireland. It is hard to believe that nine\nyears, broken as they were by provincial visitations and other labours,\nwould have been sufficient to make an English prelate master of a language\nso difficult as the Irish, and that to the degree of perfection requisite\nfor a translation of the sacred text.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 IV. His Studies And University Career.\n\n\nRichard Fitz-Ralph went to Oxford, and was entered of Balliol College\n(then recently founded), where he remained until he had taken his degree\nof Master of Arts. The statutes in force at that time required him to\nleave Balliol. As soon as he received his degree in Arts, he accordingly\npassed to what is now known as University College, but which after 1332\nwas called _Magna Aula Universitatis_, and which owed its origin to the\nliberality of William de Durham, who dying in 1249, bequeathed a sum of\nmoney for the benefit of ten or twelve poor masters. By a decision of\ncongregation in 1280, four masters, \u201cwhoever might be considered fittest\nfor promotion in Holy Church\u201d, were to be chosen to enjoy these funds,\neach master being entitled to fifty shillings sterling yearly for his\nmaintenance. The same document enjoins that the abovementioned masters,\nliving together, shall attend lectures on theology, and shall be able, at\nthe same time, to hear lectures on the decrees and decretals. As to their\nway of living and learning, they shall behave as they are directed by some\nfit and experienced men appointed by the Chancellor.(37)\n\nHis residence at Balliol gave him special opportunities to become\nproficient in arts. The college had been endowed to enable sixteen\nscholars to study in arts, each scholar receiving a yearly revenue of\ntwenty-seven marks. His residence in University College enabled him to\ncultivate theology. Thus all the materials of knowledge then existing were\nbrought within his reach. At that date the course of studies had changed a\ngood deal from the ancient narrow limits of the Trivium(38) and\nQuadrivium.(39) Out of the logic of the Trivium the new philosophy was\ndeveloped, and the sciences of the Quadrivium became mere preparatory\nstudies to the Facultas Artium.(40) It is mentioned by Tanner and others,\nthat Richard Fitz-Ralph attended the theological lectures of the famous\nCarmelite John Baconthorpe. This remarkable man was one of the most\nillustrious scholars of the day, and exercised a powerful influence on the\nmind of his pupil. It has been observed, that when the latter had become\nArchbishop of Armagh, and had entered upon his controversy with the\nfriars, he ever showed a marked affection for the Carmelites.\n\nThe early half of the fourteenth century was a season of much agitation in\nphilosophical and theological opinions. The ancient struggle between the\nNominalists and the Realists entered at this time upon a new phase. The\nRealism of St. Thomas of Aquin was opposed by the Nominalism of Occam, and\nFitz-Ralph found Oxford still agitated by the controversies that master\nhad excited. The Franciscans were generally Nominalists; the secular\nclergy, as a body, were Realists. The entire university was divided into\ntwo opposite camps. The \u201cNorthern men\u201d declared for Realism, the \u201cSouthern\nmen\u201d for Nominalism.(41) Fitz-Ralph became a leading Realist, and the\nmarked divergence between his views and those of the Franciscans was\nprobably not without its influence on the controversy to which hereafter\nwe shall have occasion to refer.\n\nHow deep and how extensive were the studies of Fitz-Ralph shall best be\nlearned from the list of his works at the conclusion of this notice. It\nwill be enough for our present purpose to state here, that his labours\ncover almost the entire field of Catholic controversy with the Greeks and\nArmenians, as well as (by anticipation) with the Reformers. A remarkable\nelement in his writings, and one the presence of which reveals the form of\nscepticism current in his age, is the contribution he has made to the\nliterature of the Christian Demonstration. He defends the Christian\nreligion against the Jews by contrasting the sacraments and ceremonies of\nthe New Law with those of the Jewish dispensation. This line of defence\nwas called for by the altered method of attack which the Jews about the\ntwelfth century began to employ against the Church. In the early ages the\ncontroversy turned upon the question whether our Lord was the Messiah. In\nthe middle ages they had recourse to the scriptural defence of their own\nposition, and calumnious attacks on Christianity. It is not strange that\nhe should have combated Mahometanism. It should be borne in mind that the\nage of Frederic II. had witnessed the birth of a strange admiration for\nMahometan literature; that Pope Gregory IX. had fought against this novel\ndanger; that against the Arabian Averroes and his philosophy St. Thomas of\nAquin himself had entered the lists. It is not surprising therefore that\nthe archbishop\u2019s zeal urged him to provide a remedy for the evil by\nproving that the Saracenic law itself confirmed the authority of the books\nof the Old and New Testament.\n\nBefore 1333 he proceeded to his degree of Doctor of Theology.\n\n\n\n\n\u00a7 V. His Preferments In England.\n\n\nWare(42) declares that Dr. Fitz-Ralph was made Chancellor of Oxford\nUniversity in 1333. On the other hand, Wood asserts in his history that no\nrecord of this chancellorship exists either in the University or the\nEpiscopal archives. However, the same Wood admits him to have been\nCommissarius of the university in that year, or, as we may describe it,\nvice-chancellor. Is there any way by which these different statements may\nbe reconciled? It appears to us that an attentive consideration of the\nvarious phases through which the office of chancellor of Oxford has passed\nwill supply a very probable solution of the difficulty.\n\nFirst of all, we must bear in mind that Oxford was not at that time the\nseat of a bishop, but was included within the diocese of Lincoln. Next, we\nshould consider that even during the course of the fourteenth century the\nchancellor was an episcopal officer, not an academical one; he represented\nthe ordinary of the diocese, and from him drew all his jurisdiction and\nauthority. As the university grew in importance and extent, the position\nof the chancellor, as a power extern to the university, became untenable,\nand by degrees, the nomination to the office passed from the hands of the\nbishop to those of the academicians.(43) For a time the bishop struggled\nto retain at least the right of confirming the election, but in the course\nof the fourteenth century even this claim was abandoned. The period\n1300-1350 forms, therefore, a peculiar epoch in the history of the Oxford\nchancellors, marking as it does the transition period between the\nchancellors who were episcopal officers, and the chancellors elected by\nand out of the university. Now this transition was not effected suddenly,\nbut almost by way of compromise: there was no sharp separation between the\ntwo classes of chancellors; the one gradually merged into the other. We\nshould therefore expect to find some confusion in the list of chancellors;\nthe bishop\u2019s chancellor being considered as the legitimate chancellor by\nthose who sided with the bishop, whereas the academicians would naturally\nlook up to their own nominee. Now it is quite certain that Richard\nFitz-Ralph, master of theology, was appointed Chancellor of Lincoln on the\n6th of July, 1333, for the appointment is entered under that date on the\nregister of Bishop Burghers. We may conclude, therefore, either that as\nChancellor of Lincoln he was Chancellor of the University, as the\nepiscopal officers before him had been, or that his appointment having\nfallen upon a time of some dispute about the nomination of the chancellor,\nhe was styled _commissarius_ only, or that the story of his Oxford\nchancellorship took its rise from the fact that he was chancellor of the\nbishop in whose diocese Oxford was situated. According to some authors, he\nwas also Archdeacon of Chester. But he was certainly Dean of Lichfield, at\nleast from 1337, and held this office until his appointment to Armagh.\nWood relates that shortly before his own time the first window on the\nnorthern side of the choir of Lichfield cathedral contained a picture of\nRichard Fitz-Ralph clothed in his sacerdotal vestments, and above the\nfollowing inscription: _Richardus Radulphi filius, Armachanus, Hujus\nEcclesiae Decanus._\n\n(TO BE CONTINUED.)\n\n\n\n\n\nPURGATORY OF ST. PATRICK IN LOUGH DERG.\n\n\nAs at this season many pious Christians visit the Purgatory of St. Patrick\nin Lough Derg, for the performance of penitential works, we have been\nrequested to supply, from authentic sources, a history of that pilgrimage.\nIn compliance with this request we give the following account of it,\nextracted from Dr. Moran\u2019s _History of the Archbishops Of Dublin_, where\nhe treats of Dr. Fleming.(44) That Archbishop writing on the 20th of\nAugust, 1625, to the Internuncio in Brusselles, makes the following\nstatement:\n\n\n    \u201cThe pious and innumerable pilgrimages of the faithful this year\n    are a pledge of great fervour; for, like bees to the beehive, so\n    do they daily flock in such numbers from every corner of the\n    kingdom, for penitential purposes, to a certain island, which is\n    called the Purgatory of St. Patrick, and which is situated in the\n    centre of a lake, that many have been obliged to return without\n    satisfying their pious desire, there being no room for landing on\n    the island. This pilgrimage, though, through the bitter\n    persecutions of heresy, it has been almost abandoned for many\n    years, was once so celebrated throughout the Christian world, that\n    many from the most distant parts even of the continent visited it\n    in a spirit of devotion. The manner of performing the pilgrimage\n    as it is now observed from ancient tradition, is as follows:\u2014Each\n    person, from the day he arrives in the island till the tenth\n    following day, never departs from it. All this time is, without\n    intermission, devoted to fasting, watching, and prayer. If they\n    wish to give rest to their body they must sleep on the bare\n    ground, and for the most part under the broad canopy of heaven.\n    They receive but one refection, and that consists of bread and\n    water. It is incredible what severe austerities and bodily\n    mortifications females, as well as men, and persons of every age\n    and of every condition, endure, whilst they perform this\n    penitential course; and during twenty-four hours they are shut up\n    in certain caves, like unto prisons, where they pass the whole day\n    and night entirely absorbed in prayer, and receiving nothing to\n    eat or to drink.\n\n    \u201cI have thought it well to mention this fact, for, I am sure, your\n    excellency will be rejoiced to see that the natives of this\n    island, by this so great and so unparalleled an impetus of\n    devotion, seek to appease the anger of God; and we may confidently\n    hope, that by their fervour He will be appeased, who listens to\n    the prayers of those who have recourse to Him in their\n    afflictions.\u201d\n\n    The contemporary, Messingham, describes the course of penance\n    performed in the island somewhat more in detail than has been\n    already given in the letter of Dr. Fleming. \u201cDuring the nine days\n    of the pilgrimage\u201d, he says, \u201ca rigorous fast was observed on\n    oaten bread and the water of the lake. The pilgrim was first\n    conducted barefooted to the church of St. Patrick, around which he\n    moved on his knees seven times inside, and seven times outside,\n    repeating all the while stated prayers of the Church. He was then\n    conducted to the seven places of station, known as _lecti p\u0153nosi_,\n    which were formerly small churches, or sanctuaries, dedicated to\n    various saints; and at each of these he repeated the visit as\n    above. The next station was around a cross in the cemetery, and\n    subsequently at another cross that was fixed in a mound of stones.\n    Thence he proceeded, _over a rough and rocky path_, to a spot on\n    the border of the lake, to which tradition pointed as the place on\n    which St. Patrick had knelt in prayer. Here, also, certain prayers\n    were appointed to be recited. All this pilgrimage and prayer was\n    repeated three times each day\u2014morning, noon, and evening\u2014during\n    the first seven days; on the eighth day it was repeated six times;\n    confession and communion followed on the morning of the ninth day;\n    and then the pilgrims entered the cave, where twenty-four hours\n    were devoted to fasting and meditation. Any that choose not to\n    enter the cave, passed these twenty-four hours in solitude at one\n    of the former stations\u201d.(45) The seven _lecti p\u0153nosi_ were\n    dedicated to SS. Patrick, Brigid, Columba, Brendan, Molaisre,\n    Catherine, and Dabeoc, who was the patron of the place. During\n    Catholic times there was an elegant church in the centre of the\n    cemetery, and, besides other relics, it possessed some of our\n    glorious apostle. This church, with the seven cells, or smaller\n    churches, was still standing at the time of Peter Lombard, who\n    adds, that \u201cthe English deputy did not dare to prevent the\n    pilgrimage or profane the place\u201d.(46) He also describes the cave\n    as \u201csituated a few paces to the north of the church, being a\n    narrow building, roofed with stone, which could contain twelve,\n    or, at most, fourteen persons, kneeling two and two.(47) There was\n    one small window, near which those were placed who were bound to\n    read the breviary\u201d.\n\n    \u201cThis solitary island was looked on as a place which had been\n    chosen by saint Patrick for retreat and silent prayer, and for\n    exercising those deeds of penance for which his whole life was so\n    remarkable. Hence it derived its name of Purgatory, or place of\n    Penance, of St. Patrick.(48) But whilst it was thus for the\n    inhabitants of Ireland a chosen retreat of prayer and penance, its\n    fame on the continent assumed another form. With the troubadours\n    it became a favourite theme. Calderon immortalized it in Spanish;\n    in Italy, it attracted the attention of Dante and Ariosto; and\n    many popular tales about St. Patrick\u2019s Purgatory are still extant\n    in French and Portuguese. It thus became a matter of romance; and\n    poetical imagination conducted the penitents who visited the\n    Island of Lough Derg, at first to the regions of Purgatory, and\n    subsequently to the abodes of the blessed or of the damned.\n\n    \u201cOn the dawn of the so-called Reformation, Protestant writers\n    seized on these poetic tales as if they were matters of sober\n    fact, and availed themselves of the fictions of romance to cast\n    ridicule on the practices of Catholic piety and devotion. For some\n    time, indeed, they did not dare to offer violence to the pilgrims,\n    who hastened thither with unabated fervour. During the reign of\n    James I., however, the chapels or oratories on the island were\n    demolished; but this did not satisfy the fury with which the\n    enemies of the Catholic faith assailed its sanctuaries and\n    shrines. Enraged at the numbers who, despite their threats,\n    continued to flock to this penitential retreat, the lords\n    justices, in 1632, made a last effort to desecrate \u2018the holy\n    island\u2019. After publicly announcing that, in the opinion of the\n    Papists, there was a passage from this island to the other world,\n    and an entrance to the realms of Purgatory, they gave orders to\n    have the whole island dug up, and that especially no portion of\n    the cave should remain undestroyed; and thus, says Dr. Mant, was\n    made known \u2018the imposition of the Irish clergy\u2019. But we should\n    much rather say, thus did the predecessors of Dr. Mant reveal to\n    the world the blindness of their bigotry, and afford a new\n    instance of the frenetical fury, by which alone they were guided,\n    in upturning the sanctuaries of Catholic devotion. Borlase, in his\n    reduction of Ireland,(49) mentions this sacrilegious act, and\n    adds, that \u2018St. Patrick\u2019s Purgatory was discovered to be a mere\n    illusion, a little cell hewn out of a rock, no confines of\n    Purgatory or Hell\u2019.(50) Boate, too, in his _Natural History_ (p.\n    44), gives some further particulars; as he states that it was on\n    the 13th of September, 1632, that the order of the lords justices\n    was carried into execution, and that the religious who had it in\n    charge were driven from the island, their monasteries being\n    demolished, and the cell itself broken open; \u2018in which state\u2019, he\n    adds (writing in 1660), \u2018it hath lain ever since\u2019.\n\n    \u201cIn the Antistitis Icon, or Sketch of the Life of Dr. Kirwan,\n    bishop of Killala, written by John Lynch; the learned archdeacon\n    of Tuam, and first printed in 1669,(51) we have a faithful\n    description of the penitential severities of this place of\n    pilgrimage, and of the true motives which impelled the fervent\n    faithful to flock thither in such numbers:\u2014\n\n    \u201c \u2018That he (Dr. Kirwan) might not be wanting in any species of\n    piety, he reverenced in his soul the custom of undertaking\n    pilgrimages. Nor was he satisfied with visiting such places in\n    Connaught as were consecrated by the sojourn of the saints, and,\n    above all, the rugged mountain called _Cruagh Padrick_, which he\n    was wont to frequent, often ascending its steep sides, a thousand\n    paces in height, and there staying, according to usage, on the\n    very summit, which is covered with large stones, and creeping on\n    bended knees over the rough rock fragments, which struck one with\n    horror, not to speak of the danger of yawning chasms and\n    precipices; but often, too, did he go into Ulster, to the\n    far-famed _Purgatory of St. Patrick_, in which the pilgrims are\n    wont to abstain from meat for nine days, using no food, save a\n    little bread, and water from the lake. During one of the nine\n    days, they are shut up in the dismal darkness of a cavern, and,\n    therein fasting, partake of nothing save a little water, to\n    moisten their throats when parched with thirst. At noontide and\n    evening, they go on bended knees over paths beaten by the feet of\n    saints, and strewn with sharp stones. In other quarters, they walk\n    barefooted over rugged ways, in the olden time frequented by holy\n    men, to satisfy for their transgressions. Sometimes walking and\n    sometimes on their knees, they advance to a considerable distance\n    into the sea. Thus do they spend the day, pouring out their\n    prayers to God, and listening to holy discourses; nor in this\n    sacred place is there to be seen or heard anything scurrilous or\n    ludicrous. When night comes on, they lie down, not to enjoy\n    repose, but to snatch a few moments\u2019 sleep; their beds are of\n    straw, nor do they use any pillow but their garments. Thrice each\n    day did Francis, with the other pilgrims, punctually perform these\n    duties, and, in addition, he diligently applied himself to hearing\n    confessions and preaching sermons\u2019.(52)\n\n    \u201cThe nuncio Rinuccini, in the report of his nunciatura, made to\n    the Holy See on his return to home in 1649, mentions how anxiously\n    he had desired to snatch from the hands of the heretics the\n    _far-famed Purgatory of St. Patrick_; and he adds: \u2018The devotions\n    of this deep cave are of great antiquity, though their first\n    origin is uncertain. It is agreed, that the saint chose that spot\n    for his holy retreats; and the visions(53) with which he was there\n    favoured by God, were well known, and approved of by succeeding\n    generations. At present, the fury of the Calvinists has levelled\n    everything with the ground, and filled up the cave; and as thus\n    they destroyed every vestige of the spot, so do they seek to\n    cancel every trace of its memory. It seemed to me that my mission\n    from Rome should embrace this, too, as one of its special objects,\n    and I would have been, in part, content, could I have re-planted\n    the cross on that island. But I was not blessed with the\n    fulfilment of this design\u2019.(54)\n\n    \u201cDespite, however, all the efforts of the Puritans, it continued\n    to be a place of resort for pilgrims from every quarter of\n    Ireland; so much so, that in the second year of queen Anne, the\n    parliament once more enacted, \u2018that, whereas the superstitions of\n    popery are greatly increased and upheld by the pretended sanctity\n    of places, especially of a place called St. Patrick\u2019s Purgatory in\n    the county of Donegal, and of wells to which pilgrimages are made\n    by vast numbers, ... be it enacted, that all such meetings be\n    deemed riots and unlawful assemblies, and all sheriffs, etc., are\n    hereby required to be diligent in executing the laws against all\n    offenders\u2019.\n\n    \u201cIn the year 1714, Dr. Hugh M\u2019Mahon, bishop of Clogher,(55)\n    presented to the Sacred Congregation a Relation of the diocese\n    entrusted to his care, and amongst other things, he details his\n    own experience of the place of penitential resort which we have\n    been describing. He had visited it disguised as a merchant from\n    Dublin; for, even then, a bishop incurred great risk were he\n    publicly recognized; and he describes in detail each particular of\n    its penitential course. From his description we may conclude, that\n    some changes had been introduced in its ritual since the time when\n    Lombard and Messingham penned their commentaries. We shall give\n    the extract in full in a note, as it has never before been\n    published.(56)\n\n    \u201cAbout forty years later, the Purgatory of St. Patrick was visited\n    by another eminent prelate of our Irish Church, Dr. Thomas De\n    Burgo, who, in his _Hibernia Dominicana_, has recorded his\n    impressions on visiting that far-famed sanctuary. \u2018So great\u2019, he\n    says, \u2018are the penitential deeds performed there, that they\n    exceed, in my opinion, those of any other pilgrimage in the\n    universe\u2019;(57) and he adds: \u2018Non quae audivi, sed quae vidi\n    refero; mihi enim feliciter contigit, insulam ipsam sanctissimi\n    Patritii habitatione et miraculis consecratam, praeclarumque\n    austeritatis primorum ecclesiae saeculorum praebentem exemplar,\n    invisere anno 1748\u2019.\n\n    \u201cAs regards the relations of the Holy See with this place of\n    devotion, we learn from the Bollandists, that, in 1497, the cave\n    was destroyed by order from Rome, in consequence of its being\n    represented to the Pope as _an occasion of shameful avarice_, by a\n    monk from Holland, who had visited it, attracted by its\n    wide-spread fame, and yet saw there none of the wonderful visions\n    which he had heard so often described.(58) The Ulster Annals also\n    commemorate this destruction, but state that it was occasioned by\n    its not being the true cave hallowed by St. Patrick.(59) The\n    proper lessons for the feast of the Purgatory of St. Patrick were\n    inserted in the Roman Breviary, printed at Venice in 1522, but\n    were expunged by order of the Holy Father, in the next edition, by\n    the same printer, in 1524. The nature of the devotion was\n    subsequently explained to the Holy See; and we are informed by\n    Messingham, that indulgences were attached to its penitential\n    exercises before the close of the sixteenth century.(60) When Dr.\n    M\u2019Mahon wrote his Relatio, the term of the indulgences granted by\n    pope Clement X. had just expired. A little later, the cardinal\n    archbishop of Benevento, who was subsequently raised to the papal\n    chair as Benedict XIII., made the Purgatory of St. Patrick the\n    theme of one of his homilies to his flock; and since that time\n    this devotion has been ever cherished and encouraged by the\n    sovereign pontiffs.\n\n    \u201cIn the Annals of the Four Masters, and other ancient records,\n    mention of pilgrimages to this island seldom recurs. It was a mere\n    matter of private devotion, and did not precisely fall within the\n    province of history. In the sixteenth century, we learn from the\n    Bollandists, that it was sometimes visited by 1,500 persons at the\n    same time.(61) Dr. Fleming tells us how such numbers flocked to it\n    in 1625, that many had to return without finding room to land upon\n    the island. Nor since then has its celebrity decreased; and we\n    find that, before the famine years of 1847, this sanctuary was\n    annually visited by no fewer than 10,000 pilgrims.(62) At the\n    present day the average number of daily pilgrims, during the\n    _station months_, is very considerable, and the total annual\n    number is estimated at several thousands.\n\n    \u201cBesides the many accounts of this Purgatory, published more as\n    matters of romance(63) than history, there are several valuable\n    treatises which deserve attention. Not only Lombard and\n    Messingham, in the works already alluded to, but the Bollandists\n    (17 March); Dr. Lanigan (vol. iv. p. 290, seqq.); Colgan, in his\n    _Trias Thaumaturga_ (p. 27); and Feijoo, the celebrated Spanish\n    critic, in his _Theatro Critico_ (tom. vii. p. 157), give several\n    important facts, together with many judicious remarks concerning\n    this venerated sanctuary of Lough Derg. The valuable notes of Dr.\n    Matthew Kelly to the first volume of _Cambrensis Eversus_ (pp.\n    138-155), throw much light on the subject. See also, a very rare\n    treatise, entitled, _A Brief History of St. Patrick\u2019s Purgatory_,\n    written by the Rev. Cornelius Nary, parish priest of Michan\u2019s, and\n    published in Dublin in 1718.\u201d\n\n\n\n\n\nLITURGICAL QUESTIONS.\n\n\nWe purpose in this number of the _Record_ to answer a few practical\nquestions connected with the office of the dead, which have been forwarded\nto us:\n\n1. Is it proper for the president of the choir to wear the alb and\ncincture during the recitation of the office of the dead\u2014the matins and\nlauds?\n\n2. Should he wear stole and cope, or either?\n\n3. Is it correct to say the Requiem aeternam after the prayer at lauds\nwhen the Mass follows?\n\n4. is it proper for the priest who presides in the choir to perform the\nabsolution after Mass?\n\n                  \u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\u2010\n\n1. It is not proper for the president of the choir to wear the alb and\ncincture at matins and lauds. There is a decree of the Sacred Congregation\nof Rites which appears to bear on this subject.\n\nThe question proposed was:\n\n\n    \u201cDubium LXI. Juxta Rituale, dum in officio dicuntur laudes:\n    sacerdos cum ministris paratur ad celebrandam missam solemnem pro\n    defuncto. Exinde autem oriuntur dubia de modo concludendi laudes:\n    nempe 1o Ubi sunt duo vel plures Presbyteri, alius debetne\n    concludere Laudes dum celebrans qui officium inchoavit paratur in\n    sacristia? 2. Ubi unicus est Presbyter debetne iste relinquere\n    officium Laudum sine Praeside et adire sacristiam ut paretur ad\n    missam et deinde opportuno tempore redire in Chorum, vel ante\n    Altare, alba, cingulo, et stola indutus ut concludat Laudes?\n\n    \u201cAd LXI. Affirmative ad primam partem. Quoad secundam debet\n    concludere laudes et postea sacristiam petere ut sese vestiat pro\n    Missae celebratione. Die 12 Augusti, 1864\u201d.\n\n\nIt is evident from this decree that the vestments are not to be worn at\nthe office of the dead, for they are not allowed even in a case which\nwould appear one of necessity, viz.: when there is only one priest\npresent, and when some delay must necessarily occur between the office and\nthe mass, if the celebrant must wait to say the prayer at the end of Lauds\nbefore he puts on the vestments. If in such an extreme case, when there\narises some delay between the office and mass, which is most objectionable\nand always to be avoided in ceremonies, the alb and cincture cannot be\nworn, they cannot surely be used on ordinary occasions when such necessity\ndoes not exist.\n\n2. With regard to the second question, the Roman Ritual does not prescribe\neven the use of a stole or of a cope, as far as we are aware, and we think\nthat the practice of not wearing one or the other at the office is the\nmost correct and to be recommended, though we are well aware that the\ncontrary practice is adopted by many. The Roman Ritual, treating of the\nprocession in which the remains are carried to the church, has the\nfollowing words:\n\n\n    \u201cParochus indutus superpelliceo et stola nigra vel pluvali ejusdem\n    coloris, clerico praeferente crucem et alio aquam benedictam ad\n    domum defuncti una cum aliis procedit\u201d.\n\n\nBut these words do not apply to the office. The Caeremoniale Episcoporum,\ntreating of the ceremony on All Souls\u2019 Day, does make mention of the stole\nand cope (book ii., chap. 10, n. 10):\n\n\n    \u201cHaec ut dixi servantur si ipse episcopus sit in his vesperis aut\n    matutinis officium facturus; sin minus posset manere cum cappa in\n    choro in loco suo et Canonicus hebdomadarius paratus pluviali\n    nigro supra Rocchetum vel cottam aut saltem stola nigra faceret\n    aut diceret omnia praedicta\u201d.\n\n\nThe words of the _Caeremoniale_ gave rise to the following question\nproposed to the Sacred Congregation of Rites: \u201cAn in officio defunctorum\ncelebrans inducre debeat stolam vel saltem possit, uti erui posse videtur\nex Caeremoniali lib 2o. cap. 10.\n\n\u201c_Resp._ Negative extra casum in caeremoniali contemplatum. 7 Septembris,\n1850\u201d.\n\nThere is another decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites referring to\nthis matter:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cDubium LVIII. An sacerdos qui juxta Rituale, superpelliceo et\n    stola indutus praefuit clationi corporis debeat retinere stolam\n    dum praeest matutino et Laudibus quae immediate sequuntur? Saltem\n    si in hac Functione utatur Pluviali, quum in eo casu non possit\n    deponere stolam quin per aliquantis Pluviale exuat?\n\n    \u201cAd LVIII. In utroque casu licere. Die 12 Augusti, 1864\u201d.\n\n\nWe may observe that a direct answer is not given to the question, which\nwas proposed with the view of ascertaining what should be done in two\nspecial cases, and the only answer given was \u201cin utroque casu licere\u201d.\nHence a priest might wear the stole and cope, but should he not do so, he\nwould not follow a course at variance with this decree. No doubt, in some\nrubrical works, express mention is made of the stole and cope, and still\nmore frequently of one or the other; but the Roman Ritual, as we said,\ndoes not prescribe either at the office of the dead, and when their use is\npointed out, it generally refers to the cathedral churches, where the\nceremonies are carried out with greater pomp and solemnity, than in those\nrural churches to which our correspondent refers. We may also observe that\nthe decree above quoted, does not contemplate the use of the stole and\ncope apart from the procession. On the whole, considering the\ncircumstances of our churches, we would in practice dispense with stole\nand cope at the office, while we would be slow to condemn the use of the\ncope, if such a custom existed in any church that in other respects\ncarried out the ceremonies of the Church with accuracy and decorum. But we\nconsider that the decree of 7th September, 1850, above quoted, clearly\nlays down that the stole ought not to be used, though we find it more\nfrequently used on such occasions than the cope, on the ground, perhaps,\nthat it is an emblem of jurisdiction in the person who presides.\n\n3. In reply to the third question, we beg to say that the Mass should\ncommence immediately at the end of the lauds, which terminate with the\nprayer, and after the prayer, the Requiem aeternam, etc., and Requiescant\nin pace should not be said: it is only when the ceremony concludes that\nthese are to be said.\n\n\n    \u201cIn fine Laudum dicta oratione, non adduntur versus Requiem\n    aeternam, nec Requiescant, sive sequatur Missa sive hac omissa\n    statim procedatur ad absolutionem, quia hi versus, qui deserviunt\n    in ultimum vale defunctis, sunt in fine precum reservandi\u201d.(64)\n\n\nThe prayer at the end of Lauds on such occasions should be said cum\nconclusione brevi. We give the following extracts from Cavalieri, a\ndistinguished rubricist, who writes, in tom. 3, cap. 2, decr. 16, n. 13:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cIn Rituali oratio ponitur _cum conclusione brevi_, sed hoc ideo,\n    quia supponit, quod non ibi terminetur officium, sed continenti\n    filo pergatur ad exequias: quare ut ponatur concordia Rituals\n    inter et Breviarium, quod longiorem notat conclusionem,\n    concludendi orationes haec erit regula; quoties una tantum dicitur\n    oratio, et ibi terminatur officium, conclusio sit integra; brevis\n    vero quando sequantur exequiae, seu absolutio ab tumulum, sive\n    haec fiant praesente vel absente corpore sive diebus 3. 7. 30.,\n    anniversario, vel alio officio quolibet. Confirmatur ex Rubricis\n    Breviarii Romani trium Ordinum S. Francisci, quae approbatae\n    fuerunt a Pio VI. an. 1785. In die Commemor. omnium Fidelium Def.\n    additur haec annotatio: _Conclusiones (orationum in officio pro\n    defunct.) longiores adhibentur semper, quando unica dicitur\n    oratio; nisi statim sequatur Missa de Requiem, vel absolutio ad\n    tumulum; tunc enim dicitur conclusio brevis._\n\n    \u201c(2) Cavalieri, _ib. n._ 14. quia Rituale, terminata oratione sub\n    brevi conclusione, non subdit versiculos _Requiem aeternam_, sed\n    statim transit ad Missam, et quatenus haec non sit dicenda, ad\n    orationem _Non intres_, nec dubitamus, quod praedicti versiculi\n    taceri debeant, quoties post Defunctorum officium sequitur Missa\n    de requiem, aut absolutio ad tumulum. Tunc enim ex hujusmodi\n    officiis fit unum veluti continuatum, unde versus illi, qui\n    deserviunt ad dandum ultimum vale Defunctis, sunt in fine precum\n    reservandi. Huic doctrinae conformis est praescriptio Rubricarum\n    in praedicto Breviario Fr. S. Francisci. Loco cit. dicitur: _Duo\n    autem Versiculi (Requiem aeternam, et Requiescant) post orationem\n    omittuntur, si statim sequatur Missa de Requiem, vel Absolutio ad\n    tumulum_\u201d.\n\n\nWith regard to the fourth question the Roman ritual is quite clear.\n\u201cFinita Missa sacerdos deposita casula seu planeta et manipulo accipit\npluviale nigri coloris\u201d.... It is always laid down that the celebrant of\nthe Mass, unless the bishop be present, performs this part of the\nceremony. The _Caeremoniale Episcoporum_, cap. 37, lib. 2o, has the\nfollowing words, which we here quote:\u2014\n\n\n    \u201cAliquo die non impedito infra octavam Defunctorum arbitrio\n    Episcopi, Canonicus aliquis, seu dignitas Ecclesiae Cathedralis\n    celebrabit Missam pro animabus omnium Episcoporum et Ecclesiae\n    Cathedralis Canonicorum defunctorum cum paramentis nigris et\n    caeremoniis prout supra dictum est, cui Missae Episcopus praesens\n    erit cum cappa et in fine si voluerit, poterit, immo debebit\n    deposita cappa et accepto pluviali absolvere, prout dicitur capite\n    praecedenti.\n\n    \u201cQuod si Episcopus hujusmodi Missae praesens non erit, vel\n    absolvere nequiverit, celebrans finita Missa, accedet ad cornu\n    Epistolae altaris, ubi in plano, deposita planeta et manipulo\n    accipiet pluviale nigrum et stans in dicto cornu Epistolae versus\n    ad altare expectabit finem responsorii\u201d....\n\n\nIt is evident from all this what answer is to be given to the fourth\nquestion, viz.: that in all cases the celebrant, and no other priest,\nshould give the absolution when the bishop is not present.\n\n\n\n\n\nNOTICES OF BOOKS.\n\n\n_Adjamenta Oratoris Sacri, seu, Divisiones, Sententiae, et Documenta de\niis Christianae vitae veritatibus et officiis, quae frequentius e sacro\npulpito proponenda sunt_, collecta atque ordine digesta opera Francisci\nXaverii Schouppe, S.J. Brussels, Goemare, pp. 543. 1865.\n\nFrom the materials here collected and prepared by Father Schouppe, the\npreacher may build his discourse with ease and advantage. And yet, though\nthe materials are placed ready to his hand, the work will still be all his\nown. The author does not undertake to supersede labour, but to lighten the\npreacher\u2019s fatigue by lending his friendly help. He supplies matter for\nthe discourse, he even traces the outline of its form, and then leaves to\nthe preacher himself the task of construction. In the opening pages he\naddresses himself to the question, _how is a priest, especially a young\npriest, to render himself a useful and even a perfect preacher of the Word\nof God?_ In answer to this question, he touches in a masterly way on these\ntwo points, 1. What is a preacher of the Gospel, and what is the\nperfection that belongs to him? 2. By what process may a preacher attain\nto this perfection? Part of this process consists, of course, in the\npreparation of the sermon, and it is to facilitate this preparation that\nthe work before us has been compiled. The author reduces to fifty heads\nthe entire cycle of subjects suited for pastoral exhortation, embracing in\nthis number whatever can serve to bring the sinner to justification, to\nguide him in the path of a Christian life, and to conduct him to Heaven.\nHe gives on each of these fifty subjects a treatise which is a marvel of\nbrevity and fulness. So judicious is the arrangement of the texts bearing\non the subject; so clear and full the statement of the case; so simple the\ndivision of the arguments, that each of these little treatises makes the\nreader complete master of the subject of which it treats. On the more\nimportant subjects, and on those which require more frequent handling, the\nauthor supplies many and different divisions or outlines of sermons, thus\nguarding against the monotony that arises when a subject is presented\noften under the same form. One other merit we would signalise in this\nwork. It deals with the wants, defects, and vices of the men of our own\ntimes. The books of sermons which are to be found on the shelves of the\nclergy generally belong to an extinct period; the exhortations they\ncontain are coloured by circumstances that have long ceased to exist.\nModern modes of thought, modern manners, modern literature, have given\nrise to a peculiar class of temptations and of dangers, and as these\ndiffer quite from those of a century ago, so also do they demand peculiar\ntreatment and special remedies.\n\nFather Schouppe has not forgotten this, and takes care to grapple with the\ndifficulties that beset the Christian life of the nineteenth century. Two\nindexes close the volume. One exhibits a general synopsis of the contents;\nthe other refers to the various passages whence materials may be drawn for\na sermon appropriate to the gospel of each Sunday and holiday in the year.\nBoth indexes enhance the practical value of this excellent book, which we\ndo not hesitate to call a real boon for the clergy.\n\n_The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland._ By John P. Prendergast, Esq.\nLondon: Longmans, 1865.\n\nThis is a valuable accession to Irish history. It gives an account of the\ncruelties practised on our people in the Cromwellian Confiscations. It\nconfirms, from official sources, the painful details contained in Dr.\nMoran\u2019s lately published sketch of the persecutions of the Irish Catholics\nin the seventeenth century. The Irish land question cannot be well\nunderstood without the aid of Mr. Prendergast\u2019s excellent book.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nFOOTNOTES\n\n\n_    1 Milton\u2019s Prose: A Lecture delivered in the Museum of Irish\n      Industry, St. Stephen\u2019s Green, by the Right Hon. Judge Keogh_: The\n      Irish Times, June 1, 1865.\n\n    2 We print the words of the judge as we find them, though it seems\n      irreverential, not to say worse, to compare a regicide, and a man\n      who denied the divinity of Christ, to the apostle of the nations.\n      Though Milton was gifted with the highest natural powers, yet, not\n      having the qualities of a true Christian, he was only like sounding\n      brass or a tinkling cymbal.\n\n_    3 Works of Samuel Johnson_: Dublin, 1793, vol. v., p. 72.\n\n    4 The _Works of John Milton_. London: Bickers and Bush, 1863: vol. iv.\n      pp. 411, 412.\n\n    5 It is entitled _A Treatise of True Religion, Heresy, Schism,\n      Toleration, and the best means to prevent the growth of Popery_.\n\n    6 \u201cAs for tolerating the exercise of their [the Catholic] religion, I\n      answer, that toleration is either public or private; and the\n      exercise of their religion, as far as it is idolatrous, can be\n      tolerated neither way; _not publicly_, without grievous and\n      insufferable scandal given to all conscientious beholders; _not\n      privately_, without great offence to God, declared against all kind\n      of idolatry, though secret\u201d\u2014_Milton\u2019s Works_, already quoted, vol.\n      v. p. 413.\n\n    7 See Bayle; _Dictionnaire Historique et Critique_: art. Milton, note\n      o; also _Johnson\u2019s Works_, vol. v. pp. 95, 96.\n\n_    8 Quarterly Review_, October, 1825, p. 446.\n\n    9 Milton\u2019s Works, Bickers and Bush; vol. iv. p. 428.\n\n   10 See the _Edinburgh Encyclop\u00e6dia_, articles \u201cCopernicus\u201d, and\n      \u201cGallileo\u201d.\n\n   11 See _The Martyrs of Science_, by Sir David Brewster; or the\n      _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1844, p. 173.\n\n   12 See _Martyrs of Science_; or the _Edinburgh Review_, July, 1844, p.\n      174.\n\n   13 It is singular that the sufferings of Irish Catholics should meet\n      with more sympathy from an English Protestant clergyman than from an\n      Irish Catholic lecturer. The relations between our country and \u201cour\n      glorious deliverer\u201d are thus described by the Rev. Sidney Smith:\u2014\n\n      \u201cThe war carried on in Ireland against King William cannot deserve\n      the name of a rebellion: it was a struggle for their lawful prince,\n      whom they had sworn to maintain, and whose zeal for the Catholic\n      religion, whatever effect it might have produced in England, could\n      not by them be considered as a crime. This war was terminated by the\n      surrender of Limerick, upon conditions by which the Catholics hoped,\n      and very rationally hoped, to secure to themselves the free\n      enjoyment of their religion in future, and an exemption from all\n      those civil penalties and incapacities which the reigning creed is\n      so fond of heaping upon its subjugated rivals.\n\n      \u201cBy the various articles of this treaty, they are to enjoy such\n      privileges in the exercise of their religion as they did enjoy in\n      the time of Charles II.; and the king promises, upon the meeting of\n      parliament, \u2018to endeavour to procure for them such _further\n      security_ in that particular as may preserve them _from any\n      disturbance_ on account of their said religion\u2019. They are to be\n      restored to their estates, privileges, and immunities, as they\n      enjoyed them in the time of Charles II. The gentlemen are to be\n      allowed to carry arms; and no other oath is to be tendered to the\n      Catholics who submit to King William than the oath of allegiance.\n      These and other articles _King William ratifies for himself, his\n      heirs and successors, as far as in him lies, and confirms the same,\n      and every other clause and matter therein contained_.\n\n      \u201cThese articles were signed by the English general on the 3rd of\n      October, 1691; and diffused comfort, confidence, and tranquillity\n      among the Catholics. On the 22nd of October, the English parliament\n      excluded Catholics from the Irish Houses of Lords and Commons, by\n      compelling them to take the oaths of supremacy before admission.\n\n      \u201cIn 1695, the Catholics _were deprived of all means of educating\n      their children, at home or abroad_, and of the privilege of being\n      guardians to their own or to other persons\u2019 children. Then all the\n      Catholics were disarmed, and then _all the priests banished. After\n      this_ (probably by way of joke) an act was passed to _confirm_ the\n      Treaty of Limerick,\u2014the great and glorious King William totally\n      forgetting the contract he had entered into, of recommending the\n      religious liberties of Catholics to the attention of\n      Parliament\u201d\u2014_The Works of the Reverend Sidney Smith._ London:\n      Longman and Co., 1854, pp. 272, 273.\n\n_   14 The Life of Milton._ By the Rev. John Mitford: prefixed to his\n      Works. London: Bickers and Bush. Vol. i. p. cxlvi.\n\n_   15 Ib._, p. cxliii.\n\n   16 Ap. _Usher_, _loc. cit._, p. 47: _Villaneuva Synod. S. Patricii_, p.\n      3.\n\n_   17 Poenitentiale_, can. 5.\n\n_   18 De Arreis_, \u00a7 3 and \u00a7 4.\n\n_   19 Poenitent._, v. 12.\n\n_   20 Ibid._, ii. 16.\n\n_   21 Poenitentiale_, can. 14 and can. 23.\n\n_   22 Poenitentiale_, can. 30.\n\n_   23 Curry MSS._ \u00a7 60; and Dr. Reeves on _The Culdees_, pag. 209.\n\n   24 Reeves, loc. cit., pag. 202, seqq. The _cumhal_ in the Latin\n      documents is expressed by _ancilla_. Its literal meaning is\n      _bondmaid_, whose equivalent was reckoned at three cows. See\n      O\u2019Donovan, _Book of Rights_, page 139.\n\n   25 Page 173.\n\n   26 \u201cAccedens ad sacerdotem a quo sibi sperabat iter salutis posse\n      demonstrari confessus est reatum suum\u201d, etc.\u2014Bede, _H. Eccl._, iv.\n      25.\n\n   27 \u201cEadem hora omnia confessus peccata leges poenitentiae flexis\n      genibus se impleturum promisit\u201d\u2014_Vita S. Columb._, ii. 39, _edit.\n      I.A.S._, p. 157.\n\n_   28 Ibid._, p. 59. See also lib. i. cap. 17, p. 46.\n\n   29 Vita S. Pulcher, _alias_ Mochoemogue, who lived in the seventh\n      century, cap. xix., ap. Colgan, p. 592: \u201cVidens eum vir Dei\n      visitatum ver\u00e2 poenitentia, ait ei: confitere peccata tua et esto de\n      caetero fidelis in omnibus\u201d.\n\n   30 See _Martyrol. of Donegal_, p. 211, and _Vita S. Maidoc_, cap. xx.,\n      and liv. ap. _Colgan_, p. 208, seqq. St. Dubthach of Armagh is also\n      famous in our annals as being the \u201cchief confessor of Ireland and\n      Albany\u201d (Colgan, _Tr. Thaum._, p. 298); and St. Gormgal of Ardoilean\n      is similarly eulogised by the Four Masters, ad. an. 1017. _Conf.\n      Colgan, Act. SS._, p. 141.\n\n_   31 Vita_, cap. 22, _Tr. Colgan_, p. 353; Reeves\u2019 _Columba_, p. 213,\n      note _k_.\n\n   32 This couplet is quoted by Prince in his _Worthies of Devon_ from\n      _Paul_ Harris, c. 5, p. 88, who thus introduces it, \u201cof whose\n      (Fitz-Ralph\u2019s) sanctity the common people of Ireland by ancient\n      tradition were wont to chaunt this distich\u201d. In the loose papers\n      prefixed to the _Martyrology of Donegal_, the verses are quoted from\n      _Henry_ Harris in _Apolu_. This false reference has led Dr. Todd\n      into a slight mistake, vide _Martyr. of Donegal_, App. to Int. p.\n      xlii.\n\n_   33 Collectanea Topographica et Genealogica_, vol. iv. London, 1847.\n      Pedigree of the Frechevilles and Musards.\n\n_   34 Danmonii Orientales Illustres, or the Worthies of Devon._\n\n   35 Theiner, _Monumenta_, p. 296-594.\n\n_   36 Martyrol. Angl._, tom. i. p. 296.\n\n   37 Huber, _English Universities_, vol. i., p. 438, Newman\u2019s edition.\n\n   38 Grammar, logic, and rhetoric.\n\n   39 Arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.\n\n   40 Huber, _English Universities_, vol. i. p. 53.\n\n   41 Huber, note xx. p. 408, vol. i.\n\n_   42 De Presulibus Hib._, pag. 20-21.\n\n   43 Huber, vol. i. page 132.\n\n   44 For this reason we have enlarged the present number by a\n      half-sheet.\u2014EDD. I. E. R.\n\n   45 \u201cMessingham, p. 95. See also Carve, who in his _Lyra_ (edition of\n      1666), p. 112, gives a plate of the Insula Purgatorii S. Patricii;\n      and adds:\u2014\u2018Certum est magnam olim hac in peninsula apparuisse\n      devotionem in qua etiam varios viri sancti circulos seu cavernas\n      maceriis introrsum circumdatas condiderunt; atque in iisdem\n      corpuscula sua jejuniis, orationibus, aliisque disciplinis assidue\n      domantes, auxiliumque divinae gratiae sine intermissione implorantes\n      ac insuper Deum pro communi ecclesiae bono, conservandaque inter\n      omnes Christianos vera concordia convenienter deprecantes\u2019.\u201d\n\n   46 \u201c_Commentar._, p. 277.\u201d\n\n   47 \u201cRothe apud Messingham states, that only nine persons were usually\n      admitted into the cave.\u201d\n\n   48 \u201cIt is matter of dispute amongst our hagiologists, whether the St.\n      Patrick, from whose deeds of penance this island acquired its fame,\n      was our apostle, or another subsequent saint of the same name.\u201d\n\n   49 \u201c_The Reduction of Ireland to the Crown of England, with the\n      Governors_, etc., London, 1675, p. 207.\u201d\n\n   50 \u201cHad he taken the trouble to open the writings of Peter Lombard or\n      Messingham, he would have seen that the limits of the cell were well\n      known, and that _the confines of Purgatory or Hell_ existed only in\n      the distempered imaginations of the persecutors themselves.\u201d\n\n   51 \u201cThis valuable work has been republished, accompanied with an\n      elegant translation and notes, by Rev. C. P. Meehan (Dublin, 1848).\u201d\n\n   52 \u201c_Ibid._, 61-63.\u201d\n\n   53 \u201cThe poetical descriptions of \u2018the Purgatory\u2019 abound with fanciful\n      visions. We shall give a real one from a MSS. Relatio of the diocese\n      of Waterford, made by Dr. Patrick Comerford, on 16th Oct, 1632:\u2014\u2018In\n      dioecesi Corcagiensi est quidam Anglus qui (ut a multis fertur)\n      biduum vel triduum mortuns revixit, et cum ante obitum esset\n      Calvinista, statim atque revixit abjuravit Calvinismum et publice\n      soepius declaravit se vidisse in inferno Lutherum et Calvinum et\n      proinde neminem salvari posse qui eorum dogmatibus adhaereret; hinc\n      excitati Protestantes eum iu carcerem detruserunt\u2019.\u201d\n\n   54 \u201c_Nunziatura_, p. 414.\u201d\n\n   55 \u201cHe was appointed in 1707, bishop of Clogher, and, in 1715, was\n      translated to Armagh. The Collections on the Church History\n      erroneously mark his appointment to Clogher in 1708, and his\n      translation to Armagh in 1709.\u201d\n\n   56 \u201c \u2018In septentrionali plaga hujus dioecesis Clogherensis, situs est\n      locus ille celeberrimus vulgo dictus Purgatorium S. Patricii in\n      parva insula circumdata lacu, quo ab initio Junii usque ad finem\n      Augusti confluunt ex omnibus regni partibus etiam remotissimis\n      quotannis omnis aetatis et conditionis milleni viri et mulieres\n      ibique conficiunt novenam semel in die solo pane avenaceo et aqua\n      victitantes, ac humi cubantes nudis pedibus semper, et non raro\n      offendiculo cruentatis: ter de die varias stationes visitant per\n      asperum iter acutis stratum lapillis cujus magna pars aquis ultra\n      genua excedentibus obtegitur, donec nona die, pracmissa generali\n      confessione, omnibus vitae noxis expiatis, sacro pabulo refecti ante\n      diluculum ingrediuntur subterraneam foveam quae purgatorium dicitur,\n      ibique viginti quatuor horis continuis semper vigiles et orantes\n      sine ullo cibi aut potus refrigerio perseverant et recurrente eadem\n      hora egressi sequenti die se ter immergunt algidis aquis sicque\n      perficitur peregrinatio cui otiosi fabularum fabricatores malta\n      commenta addiderunt de spectris ac visionibus quae nusquam comparent\n      nisi in vitiato cerebro comminiscentium; tribus mensibus, quibus\n      durat haec peregrinatio ab aurora ad meridiem celebrantur missae,\n      excipiuntur confessiones, fitque concio bis terve de die ad populum\n      qui uberrimis lachrymis, gemitibus aliisque poenitentiae signis cum\n      clamore editis concionantem frequenter interrumpit; tantaque\n      misericors Dominus asperam hanc et plane austeram peregrinationem\n      interioris gratiae suavitate accumulat ut qui antea videbantur\n      obdurati, vitiorum sordibus immersi acerrimos compunctionis stimulos\n      sentiant, nec contenti semel aut iterum accedere ad insulam, reperi\n      in dioecesi qui quatuordecim vicibus peregrinationem perfecerunt.\n      Non leve huic devotorum fervori addidit incrementum a SSmo D. N.\n      Clemente visitantibus concessa indulgentia plenaria quae brevi\n      expirabit et renovatione opus habet. Non absimile prodigio censetur\n      apud omnes quod peregrinatio haec primo loco et nominatim lege\n      parlamentaria sub gravissimus poenis prohibita, nullam vel certe\n      raram patiatur remoram a circumhabitantibus et alias supra modum\n      malignis Calvinistis Scotis. Et cum ipso accederem sub nomine\n      mercatoris Dublinensis (nam sub hujusmodi negotiatoris aut artificis\n      involucris latere necesse habent communiter Praelati et non\n      registrati sacerdotes), ministellus illius districtus satis\n      humaniter me excepit. Dum alibi per totem regnum ingruente\n      persecutione cessant functiones ecclesiasticae in hac insula quasi\n      in alio orbe posita, liberum fit et publicum exercitium quad divinae\n      providentiae hunc locum speciali favore protegenti gratum referunt\n      et meritis S. Patricii. Cum ibi essem haereticus Anglus fama loci et\n      curiositate movente eo accessit qui exemplo poenitentium compunctus\n      haeresim abjuravit. Praeter caeteros ecclesiasticos eo accedentes\n      strenuissimam navant operam Patres Franciscani. Unum in haec\n      peregrinatione deprehendi usum, ne dicam abusum; nam nona die foveam\n      ingressuri audiunt Missam, quae semper est de Requiem, seu\n      defunctorum applicata pro iisdem ingredientibus, quasi jam mortuis\n      mundo, et tradendis sepulturae; quad cum vellem abrogare saltem\n      diebus Dominicis et festivis praesertim majoribus, quibus dicenda\n      est missa conformis officio obtenditur immemorabilis possessio et\n      consuetudo in contrarium, ut fort traditio, ab ipso S. Patricio\n      primitus instituta quod a viris doctis et timoratis constantissime\n      assertum me perplexum reddidit et propterea humillime rogo edoceri\n      ad Eminentiis Vestris quid desuper agendum censeant.\u2019 \u201d\n\n   57 \u201c_Hib. Dom._, p. 4, not. 6. The same learned writer justly remarks,\n      that it was from the severity of its penitential exercises that this\n      island derived its name:\u2014\u2018Locus iste luendis peccatorum poenis\n      destinatus _purgatorium_ dicitur, non quidem posthumum, sed vitale\n      seu viatorium in praesenti vita\u2019.\u201d\n\n   58 \u201c_Bollandists_, March 17, p. 590.\u201d\n\n   59 \u201cFrom this, we might, perhaps, conclude, that the cave thus\n      destroyed was not the present sanctuary visited by pilgrims, but was\n      situated on one of the other islands of Lough Derg. In the Ordnance\n      Map, the site of some such deserted cave is marked on the adjoining\n      island, known as Saints\u2019 Island.\u201d\n\n   60 \u201cMessingham, _Florileg._, p. 125.\u201d\n\n   61 \u201c_Boll._, March 17, p. 590.\u201d\n\n   62 \u201cSee notes to _Camb. Evers._, vol. i. p. 146.\u201d\n\n   63 \u201cAmongst these we must reckon the narrative inserted in his _Hist.\n      Cath. Hib._ by O\u2019Sullevan Beare, pp. 18-30. The Work on St.\n      Patrick\u2019s Purgatory, published by Mr. Wright (London, 1844), is a\n      mere display of blind bigotry, by which he seeks to identify the\n      teaching of the Catholic Church with the romances about this\n      Purgatory of our saint.\u201d\n\n   64 Vide P. J. B. De Herdt, Sacrae Liturgiae Praxis, tom. 3, part 6, no.\n      32. A very useful work, printed in Louvain in 1855.","title":"The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, July 1865","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":25781}