Ireland and the Celtic Church

IRELAND AND THE CELTIC CHURCH A HISTORY OF IRELAND FROM ST. PATRICK TO THE ENGLISH CONQUEST IN 1172 BY THE LATE GEORGE T. STOKES, D.D. Pll.OFESSOR 01' ECCLESIASTICAL IDSTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY 01' DUBLIN' SIXTH EDITION, REVISED BY HUGH JACKSON LAWLOR, D.D. Prof•ssor of Ecclesiastical History in the University Bf Dublin Precentor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, and Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Edinburgh LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE NORTHUMBERLAND AVENUE, W.C. 431 QUEEN VICTORIA STREET1 E.C. BRIGHTON: 129, NORTH STREET NEW YoRK: E. S. GORHAM 1907 PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE TRACT COMMITTEK PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. ROBABLY no other book published during the P last half-century on the early history of the Church of Ireland has had so many readers as Ireland and the Celtic Church. And none has done more to quicken interest in a subject with which it is much to be desired that Englishmen as well as Irishmen were familiar. First published in the year 1886, it reached a fifth edition in 1900, two years after the lamented death of its author. For some years it has been out of print, and copies have been procured with difficulty ; while no work has appeared which could take its place as a manual for students. Under these circumstances the representatives of the late Professor Stokes requested me to give what help I could in the preparation of a new edition. I was asked to correct any errors in the statement of facts which I had observed in the earlier editions, and to add references to the more recent literature of the subject. This I have attempted to do, partly by changes introduced into the text of the lectures, and partly (since that was possible only to a limited extent) by the addition of notes at the end of the book. iii iv PREFACE TO THE SIXTH EDITION. References to the latter are indicated by " superior letters " inserted in the text ; " superior numbers," as in former editions, referring to the footnotes. It will be understood that I have not thought it my duty, as editor, to challenge the opinions of the author in every case in which I am unable to subscribe to them. And I cannot claim to have systematically sifted the evidence for every statement of fact. At the sug gestion of Mr. H. J. D. Stokes, B.A., a table of leading dates has been added. We have to thank the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge for undertaking the production of this edition, and for allowing us to make changes which could not but be costly- in the stereotype plates. H. J. LAWLOR. TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, ST. PATRICK'S DAY, 1907. PRE FACE. HAVE often been asked to recommend a history I of Ireland, embodying the result of the latest in vestigations, and telling a very chequered story in an interesting way. I have been unable to name any work fulfilling these conditions. Mr. Skene's learned volumes embody the result oi modern mvestigauons, but they deal as much with Scotland as with Ireland ; while the older historians, such as Lanigan, King, and Todd, though very learned and accurate, are largely controversial and most certainly not light reading. I have endeavoured in the following pages to avoid con troversy as far as possible, and have necessarily been obliged to make the story as interesting as I could. The form of the book explains the reason why. The lectures contained therein were originally delivered as public prelections in the Divinity-school of Trinity College. As Professor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Dublin I am bound to lecture twice a week during two terms of the academic year, but no one is obliged to attend my classes. If I wish, the~e fore, to have an audience, I must attract one. I have v vi PREFACE. had no cause for complaint on this head so far as the following lectures were concerned, and, therefore, I presume they were found interesting by those who attended. I can only hope they may not be found dull and uninteresting by the wider audience to which they are now submitted. I have done my best to improve them by the addition of notes, which will direct the student to the sources whence I have drawn my material, much of which has hitherto lain buried in Proceedings and Transactions, specially those of the Royal Irish Academy. I am conscious of many omissions in this work. Chapters on St. Brigid of Kildare, and the Ministry of Women in the Early Irish Church, on the Celtic Liturgies and Ritual, and on Celtic Art, should have found a place in a history of the ·"Making of Ireland." But, then, I have several excuses for these defects. Publishers do not want ideal histories, complete in form, exhaustive in matter, but histories which will interest the public. Exhaustive histories are sometimes very exhausting to their readers. Again, I wished to give a picture of ascertained facts, and therefore made it a rule to deal with subjects which have been thoroughly discussed by specialists or illuminated by the publica tion of great works like Bishop Reeves' Adamnan's Columba, and Dr. Todd's Wars of the Gaedhil. The question of Celtic liturgies is still in debate. Mr. Warren, in his learned work, has done much to wards its solution. The Rev. Dr. MacCarthy read, last year. a very learned paper on the Stowe Missal,a whicb PREFACE. vii will see the light in the next part of the Transac#ons of the Royal Irish Academy. The whole question, however, forms a part of a much larger subject, viz., the local liturgical uses which prevailed throughout Europe and the East in medireval times. We are, as yet, only beginning this study, and must await the publication of documents which now lie hidden in many a dusty receptacle before it can be completely and finally settled. I am myself convinced that the Irish and Gallican uses of the fifth century were identical, and have pointed out below, in a note on page 3 I 8, a proof of this in the matter of chrism in baptism. The Irish Church of the seventh century had, however, its own liturgical peculiarities, as is evident from the Antiphonary of Bangor, 1 a seventh-century Irish prayer-book, now existing at Milan. In that work we find a creed used at Bangor differing in form from every other creed hitherto known. In conclusion I have only to acknowledge in general what I have acknowledged in detail in the notes, the great help I have received from the works of those who have, in days gone by, and especially during the last half century, devoted themselves to the study of Irish history, literature, and antiquities. I have omitted none, so far as I knew of them, from 1 All earlier editions of this MS. are superseded by Mr. F. E. Warren's edition (Bradshaw Society, 1893-5), of which vol. i. con tains a facsimile reproduction, together with the text printed therefrom and palreographical introduction, and vol. ii. an edited text with liturgical introduction, notes, and appendix. viii PREFACE. Ussher, the glory and pride of my own University, to the present Bishop of Down (Dr. Reeves), the Bollandist Mr. Hogan, S.J., and Archbishop Moran, among English writers ; and to Zeuss, Zimmer, and Wasserschleben, among the Germans. I have, how ever, especially to acknowledge the generous assistance afforded by Mr. W. M. Hennessy, M.R.I.A., of Her Majesty's Irish Record Office, who has always most generously placed at my disposal his boundless know ledge of the Celtic language, literature, and antiquities, on which subjects he is now the highest living authority. I must, in the last place, express the hope that no 1 words of mine may help to deepen the wounds of Ireland, or cause pain to any generous heart, no matter . what his religion or politics. GEORGE T. STOKES. 28, TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, O&tohr 2nd, 1886. CONTENTS. LECTURE I. THE ANCIENT CELTIC CHURCH. PAGa Origin of Celtic Christianity-In Galatia-Gaul-England-St. Joseph and Glastonbury-The Holy Grail-Missionary in· fiuence of the Roman military system-And of Roman com• merce-British Celtic Christianity in the fourth century Ireland and the Roman empire-Use of the terms Scotia and Scoti-Tacitus and Ireland-Alexandrian geographers on Hibernia-Wars between Irish kings and the Romans Cormac MacArt; Niall of the Nine Hostages-Claudian Altus, an Irish soldier, at Calvary-Pelagius and Cc:elestius A typical Irishman of the olden time-Palladius and the first attempt to ~~vert Ireland • 1-24 LECTURE II. ST. PATRICK. His works: Confession and Epistle to Coroticus-Eook ef Armagll, contents of-Tirechan's Annotations-Life by Maccumacthenius -Test for medireval biographies-Hymns of SS. Fiacc and Sechnall-Colgan's Lives-The Tripartite Lije-Birthplace of St. Patrick-Dumbarton-His father-A decurion-And a deacon-Clerical marriage and secular occupations in fifth century-Correspondence of Exuperius and Pope Innocent L -Theodotus of Ancyra-Captivity of St. Patrick in Antrim- The hill of Slemish-His pious life and escape 25--45 ix CONTENTS. LECTURE III. ST. PATRICK'S MISSION. PAGll' Mission of St. Patrick, a controverted question-Dr. Todd's view -Tirechan's statement-Germanus and the Pelagian heresy -The Hallelujah victory-Date and place of St. Patrick's arrival-Work at Wicklow, Strangford Lough, and Antrim Conversion of Dichu-Description of Dalaradia-The valley of the Braid near Broughshane-ldentification of Milchu's farm, where Patrick was a slave-Value of local knowledge -Suicide of Milchu-St.

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