It was not, then, for dissoluteness of morals, nor for illiteracy, nor for backwardness in preaching the Word of God, nor yet for being drones in society, that the monks were turned from their peaceful homes. The true cause was, that the King knew, and his criminal advisers also knew, that the monasteries were as impregnable fortresses, which in defence of truth and justice, would hold out firm against seductive bribes, and the most appalling threats; hence they must be swept away under plea of general corruption of morals, etc., and their properties held up as a bait to draw over proselytes to the new order of things. The historian, Lingard, writing of the attitude of the monks towards the King’s supremacy in spiritual matters, says: “Secluded from the world, the Religious felt fewer temptations to sacrifice their consciences to the commands of their Sovereign, and seemed more eager to court the crown than to flee the pains of martyrdom.”
Here, in Ireland, one of the King’s advisers counselled him to suppress some of the monasteries, and to convert them into residences for young noblemen, who would promote and defend the King’s interests. Patrick Finglas, created by Henry VIII. Chief Baron of the King’s Exchequer, and afterwards Lord Chief Justice, wrote a book entitled: “A Breviate of the getting of Ireland and of the decay of the same,” in which he recommends the suppression of the monasteries bordering on the Pale, “because they were giving more aid and supportacion to the Irish than to the King.” “Let the Abbeys,” he goes on to say, “be given to young lords, knights, and gentlemen out of England, which shall dwell upon the same.” This advice seemed good to the King, and it was literally carried out, but to far greater extent than this astute lawyer had anticipated.
Mellifont, in common with the other Religious establishments in Ireland within grasp of the King (for in Ulster, they were free from molestation under O’Neil and O’Donnell), must have heard with dismay the rumours afloat about a general suppression, and grief and consternation must have filled the hearts of the monks. Was it possible, they asked, that the King, whose person they respected, whose laws they obeyed, would drive them forth, wanderers over the world, which many of them had renounced in early youth; and now, without adequate provision, were they, in their declining years, to perish by the roadside? Were their beautiful church, their loved cloister, their shady groves, no more to shelter them, and were they to sever connection with a spot endeared to them by so many holy associations? Yes, it is true, alas! for the Abbot of St. Mary’s, Dublin, being nearer authentic sources of information, has heard it and has sent word, that sentence is passed on all, and their doom has sounded; for the following Royal Commission was forwarded to the Deputy, with peremptory orders to have it executed forthwith:—
Royal Commission directed to John Allen, Chancellor; George, Archbishop of Dublin; William Brabazon, Vice-Treasurer; Robert Cowley, Master of the Rolls; and Thomas Cusacke, Esq.; reciting, “That from the information of trustworthy persons, it being manifestly apparent that the monasteries, abbeys, priories, and other places of Religious or Regulars, in Ireland, are at present in such a state, that in them, the praise of God and the welfare of man are next to nothing regarded; the Regulars and nuns dwelling there being so addicted, partly to their own superstitious ceremonies, partly to the pernicious worship of idols, and to the pestiferous doctrines of the Roman Pontiff, that unless an effectual remedy be promptly provided, not only the weak, low order, but the whole Irish people, may be speedily infected to their total destruction. To prevent, therefore, the longer continuance of such Religious men and nuns in so damnable a state, the King (having resolved to resume into his hands all the monasteries and Religious houses, for their better reformation, to remove from them the Religious men and women, and to cause them to return to some honest mode of living and to true religion,) directs the Commissioners to signify this his intention to the heads of Religious houses; to receive their resignations and surrenders willingly tendered; to grant to those tendering it liberty of exchanging their habit and of accepting benefices under the King’s authority; to apprehend and punish such as adhere to the Roman Pontiff and contumaciously refuse to surrender their houses; to take charge for the King’s use of the possession of those houses, and assign competent pensions to those who willingly surrender.” (Patent and Close Rolls, Chancery, Ireland, Morrin, 1539-40, April 30, Henry VIII., 30o, p. 55.)
Most marvellous, indeed, and sudden, and quite unprecedented in history, was this utter decadence from godliness to “idolatry and the pestiferous doctrine of the Roman Pontiff” on the part of 100,000 persons within the space of three short years! But, behold! the godly monarch will reform them (supposing they needed reform) in the fashion recorded in the old English proverb: “The devil amended his dame’s leg; when he should have set it right, he brake it quite in pieces.” That the Deputy, Lord Gray, did not consider the monks and nuns an effete body, addicted to evil practices, will appear evident from the letter he addressed to Cromwell, and which was signed by his Council. It bears date 21st May 1539:—
“May it please your honourable Lordship to be advertised, that by the report of Thomas Cusacke and others repaired lately out of the realm of England into this land, it hath been openly bruited the King’s grace’s pleasure to be, that all the monasteries within this land should be suppressed, none to stand. Amongst which, for the common weal of this land, if it might stand with King’s most gracious pleasure by your good Lordship’s advertisement, in our opinion it were right expedient that six houses should stand and continue, changing their habit and rule into such sort as the King’s grace shall will them: which are namely, St. Mary’s Abbey, adjoining Dublin, a house of white monks (Cistercians); Christ Church, a house of canons situated in the middle of the City of Dublin; Grace Dieu Nunnery, in the County Dublin; Connell, in the County Kildare; Kenlys or Kells, and Jerpoint (this latter Cistercian also), in the County Kilkenny. For in these commonly, and in others such like, in default of common inns, which are not in this island the King’s Deputy and all others his Grace’s Council and Officers, also Irishmen and others resorting to the King’s Deputy in these quarters is and hath been most commonly lodged at the cost of the said houses. Also, in them, young men and children, both gentlemen’s children and others, both of man kind and woman kind be brought up in virtue and in the Englishe tongue and behaviour to the great charge of the said houses; that is to say, the woman kind of the whole Englishie of this land, for the most part, in the said nunnery, and the man kind in the other houses.”
And the Abbot of St. Mary’s, petitioning soon after for exemption from the general suppression, pleads in a letter to the same Cromwell: “Verily we be but stewards and purveyors to other men’s uses for the King’s honour, keeping hospitality, and many poor men, scholars and orphans.”
All petitions are unavailing; the King is inexorable; and St. Mary’s and Mellifont, and the others included in the original list must go down before the despot’s unholy will, untried, unheard, but with the nation’s regret, those alone excepted, who thirsted for and shared the sacrilegious booty. Before the lamp of piety and learning be extinguished for ever in Mellifont, let us take a parting glance at it, so that the contrast may be the more marked as we note its vicissitudes later on.
In that bright July morning (1539), when the bell summoned the monks of Mellifont to matins for the last time, the sun rose over as fair a picture as could well be conceived, when its brilliant rays shot floods of light through the woods and valley, and gilt the quivering tree-tops with lustrous gold. And the enormous piles of white masonry looked whiter for the glinting of the sun-beams, and many a fantastic shadow was cast on the tesselated pavement in the church by the “dim religious light” of the gorgeous stained glass windows. The statues of the Twelve Apostles looked down patronisingly from lofty pedestals, and bore the minds of the beholders aloft, to where the guerdon awaits the faithful soldier of Christ when his term of service here below shall have expired. Loud rose the rhythmic measure of the majestic Gregorian Chant rendered by over one hundred full-voiced singers on that beautiful morning, ere yet the skylark shook the dew-drops from his wings, or intoned his early carol o’er the meadows by the Boyne. The pealing of the organ sounded loud and louder as they chanted their solemn Mass, but to many who then took part in that sacred function, its plaintive notes presaged the speedy end of their time-honoured establishment, which at any moment may receive the fatal visit of the Commissioners. In its internal economy it was wisely and worthily governed, its community numbered 150 Choir monks, besides Lay Brothers and familiars, its schools were prosperous, and from their widespread reputation, merited the title of “famous” which was accorded them. The children of the monks’ tenants received a free education here; moreover, the monks conducted a school, which we would now call a seminary, where gentlemen’s children and others were taught the higher branches suited to prepare them for their career in after-life. Their peaceful valley was screened on every side from wintry blasts by tasteful plantations, useful and ornamental; for a thickly planted orchard, chiefly of apple and pear trees, which covered both sides of the River Mattock from the mill to where the bridge now spans the river, survived till within the memory of many still living who describe it as having been so dense that one could cross the valley on the tops of them. The grounds surrounding the monastery were laid out with commendable taste; the lands yielded plentiful crops, and supported numerous herds of cattle. The hill south-east of the abbey was covered over with oak of gigantic size—the growth of centuries—and on the Meath side were screens of valuable timber. Their tenants were contented and prosperous; for the monks were indulgent landlords. Their rents were paid in kind, and for the rest, they found a ready market always at the abbey, where a huge supply of provisions was constantly needed for the strangers and the poor who sought and found a ready welcome there.
The spiritual wants of the tenants and dependants were attended to by one of the monks, John Byrrel, whose name occurs first in the list of those belonging to Mellifont to whom pensions were granted. He is styled Parson of Mellifont. It is probable, too, that others of the abbey priests ministered to Tullyallen parish (though it is scarcely probable that the present parish is conterminous with the old one), to Monknewtown and Donore; for in the English Episcopal Registers, twelve volumes of which have been recently published, it is noted that their brethren in England served the parishes in the immediate vicinity of the monasteries; and, moreover, we find in the list of pensioners of other Cistercian houses in Ireland, the names of three or more, in the same monastery, who are called parsons. Medical advice and medicine were dispensed gratis at the Abbey. The sick poor were visited and cared for in their homes by physicians employed by the monks; they were also admitted into the hospital at the gate. On fixed days weekly, the poor of the locality came for and received loaves of bread which were specially baked for them, and meat in abundance, with beer, was distributed to them. In those days there were no poor laws; for the monks provided for all the wants of the indigent. The monks were in constant touch with all classes of society, at least the principal officers were, and they were the advisers, as well as the instructors, of all. The History of the English Abbeys of the Order, or the fragments that have survived the vandalism of the Dissolution, and which have been published by impartial Protestants, clearly prove that this picture of far-reaching and ungrudging beneficence is by no means fanciful. (See Ruined Abbeys of Britain, by Frederick Ross.) The Abbot of Mellifont took a prominent place in the councils of the nation. He ranked as a Peer, and had a seat in the House of Lords before all the other Religious superiors, twenty-three more of whom were privileged to sit there. He was bound to supply a certain number of horsemen for the King’s musters, and to maintain them at his own charge. Tradition has it that he could ride on his own territory from the sea at Drogheda to the Shannon at Athlone, but this requires confirmation. He owned some 4,000 acres at the suppression, extending on the south side of the Boyne from Drogheda to Rossnaree, and on the north, to Slane, including the fisheries and five salmon weirs on the river. He rented the fishing of sixteen corraghs at Oldbridge, for which he got £13 13s. 4d. annually. The town of Tullyallen belonged to him. It was then in a flourishing condition, but has fallen since from its rank as a town to that of a mere village, composed of a few scattered cottages. The district was then populous; for another village grew up near the Abbey occupied by tradesmen and dependants who were constantly employed by the monks. It was called Doagh. It is now level with the field. It stood a quarter of a mile north-west of Mellifont, beyond the Mattock. Its site is an elevated plateau, locally known as the Doagh Meadows. The entire annual revenue of the Abbey was estimated at £316, which, allowing for the difference in value of money since, would be equivalent to an income of close on £4,000 at the present day. On that the monks maintained themselves and a large staff of servants, “kept hospitality, and many poor men, scholars, and orphans.” The Abbot entertained his guests daily at his own table in a spacious building apart from the monks’ quarters, and was a man of light and leading, unlike the helpless imbecile portrayed by Scott in his novels. The Abbot was chosen, often from some distant monastery, for his aptitude “in governing souls,” which was the paramount consideration with St. Benedict in the selection of a superior. He should be learned, and sound both in doctrine and morals, to be entrusted with such a charge. It is only too true that unworthy persons, contrary to the Canons, were sometimes intruded into the position by powerful relatives, and they, alas! generally brought disgrace on religion.