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[THE DIOCESE OF ROSS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.]
[THE RULE OF ST. CARTHACH. (OB. A.D. 636.)]
[THE IRISH CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.]
[ANCIENT RELIGIOUS FOUNDATIONS OF ARDAGH.]
[LITURGICAL QUESTIONS]
[DOCUMENTS.]
[NOTICES OF BOOKS.]

THE IRISH ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
DECEMBER, 1864.

THE DIOCESE OF ROSS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Lyons was an apostate from the beginning; he went to England and acknowledged the Queen's supremacy, and was left in quiet possession of the revenues of the diocese till his death, a period of about thirty-five years. On his return from England he was deserted by his clergy, who secreted all the plate connected with the cathedral and monastery, as also the bells, and chimes of bells, all solid silver, which were then valued at £7,000. The commissioners subsequently hanged all the aged friars that remained, on pretence that they knew where the above-named property was concealed, and refused to reveal it. At all events, the plate remained concealed, and to this day it never has been found. Tradition says it was all buried in the strand, which contains two or three hundred acres of waste, covered by every tide, having three feet of sand in most places, and underneath a considerable depth of turf mould".

The account here given of the diocesan plate is certainly confirmed by the consistorial record already cited in the beginning of this article. Whilst, however, the clergy thus resolved to remove the sacred plate at least from the grasp of the Protestant prelate, the people were determined that the old Catholic episcopal mansion should not be contaminated by his presence. The commissioners of the crown in 1615, report that he found no house on his arrival in his see of Ross, "but only a place to build one on". They further add, that he, without delay, built a fine house for himself which cost £300, but even this "in three years was burnt down by the rebel O'Donovan"—(Records of Ross, etc., iii.-50). It will suffice to mention one other fact connected with his episcopal career. In Rymer we find a patent dated 12th June, 1595, and amongst others it is addressed to our Protestant dignitary, commissioning him "to consider and find out ways and means to people Munster with English inhabitants".—Rym., tom. 16, pag. 276.

P.F.M.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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