The above cases are all of bishoprics situated in remote parts among the Irishry. The state of the Church in the Pale and other obedient districts was of course better, but even in Dublin the metropolitan crozier remained in pawn for eighty years, from 1449 until Archbishop Alen redeemed it by paying one hundred ounces of silver. The clergy were charged with seeking money more than souls; and many acts of violence and extortion are reported on oath against the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Waterford, and Limerick; against the Abbots of Tintern, Jerpoint, Kilcooley, Holy Cross, Dusk, and Innislonagh; against the Priors of Kilclogan, Knocktopher, Inistiogue, Kells, Cahir, and Lady Abbey; and against the Prioress of Moylagh. In general bishops and heads of houses were not less extortionate than other gentlemen. They exacted coyne and livery and the other multifarious Irish imposts with neither more nor less severity than the laity. But it should not be forgotten that these ecclesiastical dignitaries were also great landowners, and that they were forced to provide the means of defence in the only possible way. The Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Waterford and Ossory had other means of taxing the people peculiar to their offices; they took excessive fees in all matrimonial and probate cases, and appropriated a portion of every dead man’s goods. The Archbishop’s lowest charge for a divorce was 5l., and it was generally double that or more. The citizens of Waterford declared that the canonists were as burdensome as the Irish Brehons.[294]
Parochial clergy no better.
The parochial clergy were no better than the dignitaries. They made charges varying from sixpence to two shillings for all weddings, christenings, churchings, and burials; and at the death of any married person, man or wife, they exacted five shillings, or one-fifth of the personalty, or the best article of apparel, from the survivor. In many places divine service was neglected or was only performed at irregular intervals. The Earl of Kildare, who was not impartial but who probably spoke truly, declared that the churches in Tipperary and Kilkenny were generally in ruins through the system of Papal provisions, ‘so as, and if the King’s Grace do not see for the hasty remedy of the same, there is like to be no more Christianity there, than in the midst of Turkey.’ Henry was just beginning to quarrel with the Pope, and would be ready enough to believe that provisions had ruined the churches. No doubt many bad appointments were thus made, but it may have been impossible to get fit men; for Browne reports the clergy as unlearned persons, who repeated the Latin offices like parrots and without understanding them.[295]
Evils of Papal patronage.
Piers, Earl of Ossory, also adopted the doctrine that the Papal system of patronage had been the chief cause of the utter ruin and destruction ‘of cathedral churches, monasteries, parish churches, and all other regular and secular.’ Murderers, thieves, and ‘light men of war’ obtained provisions, ousted the rightful incumbents, ignored the rightful patrons, held livings by force, and wasted them in riotous living. Violence indeed was the rule. John Purcell, Bishop of Ferns, was in close alliance with the dangerous rebel and freebooter, Cahir MacArt Kavanagh, was present when his men sacked the town of Fethard, and himself called loudly for fire to burn the houses. Milo Baron, Bishop of Ossory, was said to be as bad as the Bishop of Ferns, and to ‘have no virtuous quality nor obedience to any good laws.’ Archbishop Butler was accused of riotous conduct and of at least one highway robbery, a richly laden boat having been plundered by him on the Suir within four miles of Waterford. Amid the general corruption a bright example was shown by the Franciscan Maurice Doran, Bishop of Leighlin, a learned theologian, an eloquent preacher, and a man of blameless life. Being advised to increase the burdens of his clergy, he replied that he had rather shear his sheep than flay them. Doran was allowed to tend his flock for twenty months only. Having corrected the irregularities of his Archdeacon Maurice Kavanagh, he was treacherously murdered by him. It is some satisfaction to know that Kildare afterwards caught the Archdeacon and his accomplices, and hanged them in chains on the scene of the Bishop’s murder.[296]
The Regulars not exempt from censure.
The Regulars by no means escaped censure. The Prior of the Hospitallers of Kilclogan in Wexford was as bad as Bishop Purcell, and ‘kept fire in the steeple door of St. John’s, until such time as he had out the ward that was within.’ James Butler, Cistercian Abbot of Innislonagh and Dean of Lismore, attained a bad eminence. The citizens of Waterford represented him as a man of odious life, who neglected every duty, gave himself up to voluptuosity, and wasted the property of his house to provide for his open and scandalous immoralities. The people of Clonmel repeat the charge, and extend it to the other monks. The Augustinian Canons, in the great monastery of Athassel, of which Archbishop Butler was Prior, were no better. Nor were the mendicants blameless. The Carmelite Prior of Lady Abbey, near Clonmel, which was a parish church, kept a mistress and provided no divine service. The Prior of Knocktopher, also a Carmelite, and the Cistercian Abbot of Dusk, had sons. That secular priests should be fathers of families was of course common both in England and Ireland; and they may be defended on the ground that they were really married, and that such unions, though condemned by the Church, were not repugnant to the public feeling of the age. But this can hardly be pleaded in favour of monks, and perhaps still less of friars. The Prior of Cahir neglected divine service, but was not accused of immorality. Many enormous crimes were objected against the Abbess of Kilclehin. The canons of St. Catherine’s at Waterford had fallen out among themselves, and divided the revenues. All these houses were in south-eastern Ireland, but from what has been said of the state of cathedral churches in Irish districts it may be inferred that proportional irregularities existed elsewhere. The fact that priests were often the sons of priests rests upon less partial evidence than that of Bale, and it was condoned by the Holy See. Leo X. even showed special favour to a monk of Monasterevan, notwithstanding that he was a priest’s son. Dispensations on account of defective birth are very common in the Papal correspondence, and were a source of income to the Curia. Archbishop Browne believed that in the Irishry not one parson in five was of legitimate birth. He cannot be considered impartial, but legitimacy was little regarded by the Irish.[297]
The good side of the monastic system.
That some monks were immoral or useless is doubtless true. There were critics who represented them as in every way worse than their English brethren, but some of these were men who desired the destruction of the abbeys that they might divide their lands, and whose indignation had not been excited by abuses until the wishes of the English Court were known. Robert Cowley, for instance, accused them generally of loose living and of ‘keeping no hospitality save to themselves.’ There is ample evidence that the monks were not all bad. The education of children was almost entirely in their hands. Six houses in Dublin, Kildare, and Kilkenny are mentioned as the only places where the rising generation might be brought up in virtue, learning, and good behaviour. The boys were cared for by the Cistercians of St. Mary’s, Dublin, and of Jerpoint, and by the Augustinian canons of Christ Church, Dublin, and of Kells and Conal. The girls were brought up by the canonesses of Gracedieu, near Swords. St. Mary’s was also noted for its hospitality, being the only inn fit for men of rank; and the doors of Christ Church were always open for Parliament, Council, or Conference. To escape dissolution all the monks of these houses were ready to don secular habits. As to the services of the friars in holding stations, in visiting the sick, and in preaching, there can be no doubt whatever. Religion in Ireland was in fact only maintained by them. Most of the friaries had been founded or beautified by great families, who still continued to befriend them, and who reserved a last resting-place within their walls. The Franciscans were especially favoured in this way. Thus, the MacDonnells of Antrim were buried at Bunamargy, the Desmonds at Youghal and Tralee, the O’Briens at Ennis, the O’Donnells at Donegal, the Macnamaras at Quin, the Burkes at Athenry, and the MacCarthies at Irrelagh or Muckross. The Franciscan dress was often assumed in death and burial, and was thought to bespeak the favours of heaven. The Dominicans were planted and cherished in the same way. The Augustinian hermits and the Carmelites had many houses, but were much less important than the other two orders.[298]
Parliament of 1536.