Had we similar means of enquiry, it is very probable that we should come to the same conclusion with regard to other establishments from which the canons are said to have been forcibly driven. However enough seems to have been said, to prove that we must be very careful how we trust to the random assertions of partizans either on one side or the other. Let us be ready to condemn ecclesiastical tyranny and arrogance, wherever it is proved to have disgraced the clerical profession; but let us not forget that it is our duty to judge charitably. In the case which we have now considered, I think we shall be disposed to acquit some men, whose names fill a conspicuous place in Saxon history, of the violence and folly which their own over-zealous partizans have laid to their charge, and which have been used in modern times to embitter the separation unfortunately existing between two great bodies of Christians.
[902]. “Clerici extra sacros ordines constituti.” Beda, H. E. i. 27. Gregory contemplated the marriage and separate dwelling of these persons. But for a long time it is improbable that any such arrangement could take place. Augustine separated his monks from the canons who had accompanied him (the presbyters he was to obtain in the neighbouring countries of Gaul: see Gregory’s Epistles to Theodoric and Theodbert, and to Brunhild; Bed. Op. Min. ii. 234, 235), placing the latter in Christchurch, Canterbury. See Lingard, Ang. Sax. Church, i. 152, 153. But this sort of separation cannot have been always practicable. The Scottish missionaries were not all monks. Beda, H. E. iii. 3.
[903]. Neander, Gesch. der Relig. u. Kirche, i. 322; ii. 553. Lingard, Aug. Sax. Church, i. 150. Chrodogang’s institution is thus described by Paulus in his Gest. Episc. Mettens. “Hic clerum adunavit, et ad instar coenobii intra claustrorum septa conversari fecit, normamque eis instituit, qualiter in ecclesia militare deberent; quibus annonas vitaeque subsidia sufficienter largitus est, ut perituris vacare negotiis non indigentes, divinis solummodo officiis excubarent.” Pertz, ii. 268. Chrodogang’s rule is preserved in Labbé, Concil. vii. 1444. Harduin, Concil. iv. 1181. See Eichhorn, Deut. Staatsr. i. 760, § 179. It is in many respects similar to the rule of Benedict of Nursia, upon which it appears to have been modelled.
[904]. “Quadam autem die dum parochiam suam circuiens, monita salutis omnibus ruribus, casis et viculis largiretur, nec non etiam nuper baptizatis ad accipiendam Spiritus sancti gratiam manum imponeret,” etc. Beda, Vit. Cuthb. c. 29. This however is perhaps rather to be considered as an episcopal visitation. But there is abundant evidence that at first the custom was such as the text describes. It is said thus of Aidan, the Scottish bishop in Northumberland: “Erat in villa regia non longe ab urbe de qua praefati sumus [i. e. Bamborough]. In hac enim habens aecclesiam et cubiculum, saepius ibidem diverti ac manere, atque inde ad praedicandum circumquaque exire consueverat: quod ipsum et in aliis villis regis facere solebat, utpote nil propriae possessionis, excepta aecclesia sua et adiacentibus agellulis, habens.” Beda, H. E. iii. 17. This was a small wooden church, and certainty never a cathedral. But the early custom of the Scottish church in Northumberland is further described by Beda: and one can only lament that it was not much longer maintained: for his own words show that he is contrasting it with the custom of his own times, nearly a century later; he says: “Quantae autem parsimoniae, cuiusque continentiae fuerit ipse [i. e. Colman] cum praedecessoribus suis, testabatur etiam locus ille quem regebant, ubi abeuntibus eis, excepta aecclesia, paucissimae domus repertae sunt; hoc est, illae solummodo, sine quibus conversatio civilis esse nullatenus poterat. Nil pecuniarum absque pecoribus habebant. Si quid enim pecuniae a divitibus accipiebant, mox pauperibus dabant. Nam neque ad susceptionem potentium saeculi, vel pecunias colligi vel domus praevideri necesse fuit, qui nunquam ad aecclesiam nisi orationis tantum, et audiendi verbi Dei causa veniebant.... Tota enim fuit tunc solicitudo doctoribus illis Deo serviendi, non saeculo; tota cura cordis excolendi non ventris. Unde et in magna erat veneratione tempore illo religionis habitus; ita ut ubicunque clericus aliquis aut monachus adveniret, gaudentur ab omnibus tanquam Dei famulus exciperetur: etiam si in itinere pergens inveniretur, adcurrebant, et flexa cervice vel manu signari, vel ore illius se benedici gaudebant; verbis quoque horum exhortatoriis diligenter auditum praebebant. Set et diebus Dominicis ad aecclesiam, sive ad monasteria certatim, non reficiendi corporis, sed audiendi sermonis Dei gratia confluebant: et si quis sacerdotum in vicum forte deveniret, mox congregati in unum vicani, verbum vitae ab illo expetere curabant. Nam neque alia ipsis sacerdotibus aut clericis vicos adeundi, quam praedicandi, baptizandi, infirmos visitandi, et, ut breviter dicam, animas curandi causa fuit: qui in tantum erant ab omni avaritiae peste castigati, ut nemo territoria ac possessiones ad construenda monasteria, nisi a potentibus saeculi coactus acciperet. Quae consuetudo per omnia aliquanto post haec tempora in aecclesiis Nordanhymbrorum servata est.” Bed. H. E. iii. 26. Of Ceadda we learn that after his consecration as bishop of York, he was accustomed, “oppida, rura, casas, vicos, castella, propter evangelizandum, non equitando, sed apostolorum more pedibus incedendo peragrare.” Ibid. iii. 21. About the same period we learn from Beda, that Cuthbert used to make circuits for the purpose of preaching: “Erat quippe moris eo tempore populis Anglorum, ut veniente in villam clerico vel presbytero, cuncti ad eius imperium verbum audituri confluerent.” Ibid. iv. 27. The words eo tempore also show that in Beda’s time this custom was no longer observed, which is naturally explained by the existence of parish-churches. The custom of itinerant preachers in the west of England is also noted about the same period, viz. 680. “Cum vero aliqui, sicut illis regionibus moris est, praesbyteri sive clerici populares vel laicos praedicandi causa adiissent, et ad villam domumque praefati patrisfamilias venissent,” etc. Vit. Bonifac. Pertz, ii. 334.
[905]. If a bishop found it convenient to build a church out of his own diocese, the ecclesiastical authority remained to the bishop in whose diocese it was built. “Si quis episcopus in alienae civitatis territorio aecclesiam aedificare disponit, vel pro agri sui aut aecclesiastici utilitate, vel quacunque sui opportunitate, permissa licentia, quia prohiberi hoc votum nefas est, non praesumat dedicationem, quae illi omnimodis reservanda est in cuius territorio aecclesia assurgit; reservata aedificatori episcopo hac gratia, ut quos desiderat clericos in re sua videre, ipsos ordinet is cuius territorium est; vel si iam ordinati sunt, ipsos habere acquiescat: et omnis aecclesiae ipsius gubernatio ad eum, in cuius civitatis territorio aecclesia surrexit, pertinebit. Et si quid ipsi aecclesiae fuerit ab episcopo conditore conlatum, is in cuius territorio est, auferendi exinde aliquid non habeat potestatem. Hoc solum aedificatori episcopo credidimus reservandum.” Concil. Arelat. iii. cap. xxxvi. A.D. 452.
[906]. Elmham says of Theodore:—“Hic excitavit fidelium voluntatem, ut in civitatibus et villis aecclesias fabricarentur, parochias distinguerent, et assensus regios his procuravit, ut siqui sufficientes essent, super proprium fundum construere aecclesias, eorundem perpetuo patronatu gauderent; si inter limites alterius alicuius dominii aecclesias facerent, eiusdem fundi domini notarentur pro patronis.” Such churches had nevertheless at first not the full privileges of parish-churches. The twenty-first canon of the Council of Agda decreed: “Si quis etiam extra parochias, in quibus est legitimus ordinariusque conventus, oratorium in agro habere voluerit, reliquis festivitatibus, ut ibi missas teneat, propter fatigationem familiae, iusta ordinatione permittimus. Pascha vero, Natale Domini, Epiphania, Ascensionem Domini, Pentecosten, et Natalem sancti Johannis Baptistae, vel si qui maximi dies in festivitatibus habentur, non nisi in civitatibus, aut in parochiis teneant. Clerici vero, si qui in festivitatibus quas supradiximus, in oratoriis, nisi iubente aut permittente episcopo, missas facere aut tenere voluerint, a communione pellantur.”—Concil. Agathense, A.D. 506. cap. xxi. That there were at this period parish-churches in Gaul, served by a single presbyter, appears from other decisions usually attributed to this council, but really published by the Council of Albon, held eleven years later. They are in fact not found in the three oldest MSS. of the Concilium Agathense. “Diacones vel presbyteri in parochia constituti de rebus aecclesiae sibi creditis nihil audeant commutare, vendere vel donare, quia res sacratae Deo esse noscuntur.... Quicquid parochiarum presbyter de aecclesiastici iuris proprietate distraxerit, inane habeatur. Presbyter, dum diocesim tenet, de his quae emerit ad aecclesiae nomen scripturam faciat, aut ab eius quam tenuit aecclesiae ordinatione discedat.” Concil. Epaonense. A.D. 517. As late as the time of Eádgár a regulation was made in England as to the payment of tithe by a landowner who happened to have a church with a churchyard upon his estate. “If there be any thane who has a church with a churchyard upon his bookland, let him give the third part of his tithe to his church. But if any one have a church that has no churchyard, let him give his priest what he will out of the nine parts,”—that is out of what remains after the payment of his tithe to the cathedral church. Eádg. i. § 2. Thorpe, i. 262. Probably there were many such churches in existence, which had descended together with the estates from the first founders, and whose owners could not agree with the ecclesiastical authorities as to their liabilities. The right of patronage was abused unfortunately at a very early period, both by clerics and laymen, as we learn abundantly from the decrees of the several provincial councils.
[907]. Beda, Hist. Eccl. v. 4, 5.
[908]. Thorpe, ii. 73. Kunstmann, Poenit. p. 121.
[909]. As early as 587, I find a grant of a parish-church to the monastery of St. Peter at Lyons, by Gerart and his wife Gimbergia, on the ground of their daughter being professed there: “propterea cedimus et donamus nos vobis aliquid de rebus propriis iuris nostri ... hoc est ecclesia de Darnas cum decimis et parochia.” Bréquigny, Dipl. Chartar. i. 83. Bréquigny, Mabillon, and the editors of the Gallia Nova Christiana, all concur in recognising the genuineness of this charter.