In the third essay Dr. Moran brings conclusive testimony to show that devotion to the Blessed Virgin was part of the primitive teaching. He alludes to the beautiful prayer of Saint Colgu which we have been enabled, at page 4, to present in full to our readers.
The work is closed by various appendices, each dealing with some one monument of sacred antiquity. In these appendices the reader will find, together with a valuable mine of precious information, the following documents, either whole or in part:—an old Irish tract on the various liturgies referred by Spelman to about A.D. 680, the Penitentials of Saint Cummian, Saint Finnian, Saint David, Saint Gildas, and Saint Columbanus; the canons of Adamnan, the Synodus Sapientium, the Bobbio Missal, the Profession of Faith by Saint Mochta, of Louth, of the fifth century, the sixth canon of Saint Patrick, the Irish synod of A.D. 807, and various hymns from the Bangor Antiphonarium.
The second of Dr. Moran's books noticed above is the introduction to a larger work which we hope soon to see published, the History of the Catholic Archbishops of Dublin since the Reformation. This introduction is intended to prepare the reader for that history by describing the first attempts to root out the ancient religion of Ireland, the unworthy arts by which the Catholic Church was assailed, and the evil effects of the Reformation. It also gives a sketch of the persecutions in Ireland under Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. The whole is divided into four chapters. Chapter i. treats of the first efforts of the English government to introduce the Reformation into Ireland; chapter ii. of the appointment of Hugh Curwin to the see of Dublin, and his apostacy; chapter iii. of the vacancy of the see after the apostacy of Curwin, and how the diocese was administered until the end of the sixteenth century; chapter iv. of the persecution of the Irish Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth. In the appendix Dr. Moran shows from the Consistorial Acts and other genuine sources, that the succession of our Irish Catholic bishops has remained unbroken. The immense value of such an appendix will best be recognized when we recall to mind the confident statements to the contrary continually put forward by Protestant writers. The late Protestant Dean of Ardagh asserts that the bishops, with the exception of two, and all the priests embraced the Reformation. The Hon. and Rev. A. Percival, in An Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession, states that "at the accession of Queen Elizabeth, of all the Irish bishops, only two were deprived, and two others resigned on account of their adherence to the supremacy of the See of Rome. The rest continued in their sees; and from them the bishops and clergy of the Irish Church derive their orders.... This has never been disputed". Dr. Mant, the Protestant bishop of Down and Connor, attempts to prove statistically that the Irish hierarchy adopted the Reformation. On this, his chosen ground of statistics, he is met by Dr. Moran, who shows that he omits three sees occupied by Catholic bishops, viz.: Mayo, Ross, and Kilmacduagh; that he falsely supposes Armagh to have been vacant after Dr. Dowdal's death in 1558, until Adam Loftus' consecration in 1561, whereas Dr. Donatus Fleming had been appointed in February, 1560, and was then in actual possession of the see; that seven other sees, whose occupants were not known to Dr. Mant, were, nevertheless, held by canonically appointed prelates, viz.: Kilmore, Dromore, Raphoc, Derry, Kilfenoragh, Killala, Achonry; that the eleven sees vacated by death retained beyond a doubt the Catholic succession. Dr. Mant's opinions as to the other sees are carefully examined, and the result of the whole investigation is to establish triumphantly against Dr. Todd and Dr. Mant, that, "so far from the old clergy of Ireland having merged into the reformation of Elizabeth, the succession of the Catholic hierarchy remained unbroken".
II.
The Ancient Church of Ireland: A few Remarks on Dr. Todd's Memoir of the Life and Mission of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland. By Denis Gargan, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the Royal College of Saint Patrick, Maynooth. Dublin: Duffy, 1864, page 120.
In this work Dr. Gargan reviews and refutes some of the opinions advanced by Dr. Todd in his Memoir of Saint Patrick. He selects six of these opinions as specially deserving of animadversion. 1o. That Diocesan jurisdiction did not exist in Ireland before the twelfth century; and under this head he examines the inferences drawn by Dr. Todd from the testimonies of Saint Anselm, Saint Bernard, the enactment of the English Synod of Cealcythe, and the authority of Bycus. 2o. That the Irish Church underwent decline during the sixth and seventh centuries. For this opinion Dr. Todd adduces as abundant evidence, 1. a prophecy put into the mouth of Saint Brigid by Aumchad, or Animosus, in his life of that saint; 2. the testimony of the Abbess Hildegardis, in her Life of Saint Disibod, or Disen, Abbot of Disemberg; 3. the Life of the Gildas, in which startling charges are brought against the Irish Church. Dr. Gargan shows in detail how far these testimonies are from being abundant evidences on which to ground so serious a charge. 3o. That Saint Patrick and other early saints of Ireland were not free from superstition. As proof of this, Dr. Todd cites the Confession of Saint Patrick, his Lorica, and his toleration of pagan superstitions. The second order of saints, according to Dr. Todd, "were unable to divest themselves of the old superstitions of their race". These proofs are severally overthrown by Dr. Gargan. 4o. That Saint Patrick was illiterate and ignorant, and that the story of his education under Saint Germanus is false. Saint Patrick's Confession is the principal argument adduced to prove the first assertion, and the absence of all allusion to Saint Germanus in the Confession and in the Hymn of Secundinus is the reason for the second. 5o. That Saint Patrick had no commission from Pope Celestine. Under the head of Dr. Todd's negative arguments, Dr. Gargan examines the silence observed about the mission from Rome:—1. in the Confessions, and the Epistle to Coroticus; 2. in the Hymn of Saint Sechnall, or Secundinus; 3. in the Hymn of Saint Fiacc; 4. in the Life of Saint Patrick in the Book of Armagh. Under the heading, "Dr. Todd's Chronological Difficulties against the Roman Mission of Saint Patrick", the author refutes the arguments drawn from various sources to show that Saint Patrick did not commence his apostolic life in Ireland before A.D. 440, wherefore, Pope Celestine having died A.D. 432, the mission from Rome cannot be admitted. Finally, 6. the incompleteness of the memoir is brought as a charge against its author. "With all that Dr. Todd has written concerning our apostle, we are left strangely at a loss to know whether the form of Christianity which he introduced into our island in the fifth century was in harmony or at variance with Catholicity as then prevailing in the east and west, and as still prevailing in all churches in connection with the chair of Peter" (page 107). This is a grave charge indeed, and we agree with the learned professor in believing that it seriously interferes with the claims which Dr. Todd's work has to be considered a guide in the questions that every now and then are agitated concerning the Irish Church. In the face of this well-grounded charge of incompleteness, how can the Press say that "no one will be qualified to do justice to that vexed and intricate question, who has not made himself master of the facts connected with the early institution of that Church, of which Dr. Todd has shown himself the truthful and laborious expositor"?
III.
De residentia beneficiatorum, Dissertatio historico-canonica, quam ad gradum doctoris sacrorum canonum in academia Lovaniensi consequendum, conscripsit Ludovicus Henry, juris canonici Licentiatus. Lovanii, 1863 (238 pp).
This book contains eight chapters. The two first treat of general principles, and the remaining chapters discuss how far residence is obligatory upon cardinals, bishops, canons, parish priests, curates, and those holding simple benefices. Each chapter is ordinarily divided into two parts; the first treats of the ancient discipline, the second of modern discipline, such as the Council of Trent and the Apostolical Constitutions have made it. Dr. Henry has consulted good authorities: Thomassinus for the ancient law; the Decrees of the Sacred Congregations and the Roman Canonists have furnished him with principles to solve the various cases to which modern discipline has given rise. We omit to notice the obligations of cardinals, bishops, and canons in the matter. As to parish priests, the author has carefully made a collection of the decisions regarding their obligation to reside in their parishes. We shall be satisfied with citing such as bear upon really doubtful cases.
1. An Parochi, qui nocturno caeteroquin tempore resident apud suas ecclesias, possint, celebrata summo mane missa in dictis ecclesiis, se conferre ad civitatem, et in ea diurno tempore totius vel majoris partis anni commorari, licet apud dictas ecclesias adsint eorum substituti? Resp. Negative.