The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland: Liturgy, Practice, and Society
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1.0. 42.^4 ST. PATRICK’S COLLEGE The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland: Liturgy, Practice, and Society SUBMITTED IN CONFORMITY WITH THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF PhD IN THEOLOGY FACULTY OF THEOLOGY BY NEIL XAVIER O’DONOGHUE MAYNOOTH, COUNTY KILDARE JUNE 2006 Copyright © 2006 by Neil Xavier O'Donoghue All rights reserved 6 fu-rocbath a chride, mac rig na secht noebnime, do-rortad fin fu roenu, fuil Crist tria geltoebu. [The King of the seven holy heavens, when his heart was pierced, wine was spilled upon the pathways, the blood of Christ flowing through his gleaming sides.] Blathmac Son of Cu Brettan The Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland: Liturgy, Practice, and Society PhD Thesis 2006 St. Patrick’s College, Pontifical University, Maynooth, Co. Kildare Neil Xavier O'Donoghue Director: Liam Tracey OSM, SLD Professor of Liturgy, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth First Reader: Colrnan Etchingham, PhD Lecturer, Department of History, National University of Ireland, Maynooth Second Reader: Hugh Connolly, STD Vice President, St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth External Examiner: Paul F. Bradshaw, PhD Professor of Liturgy University of Notre Dame, Indiana Many works in the various fields of liturgy and history refer to a Celtic Rite that was supposedly in use in Ireland prior to the arrival of Normans in the twelfth century. The existence of this liturgical rite and its supposed suppression at the hands of the Normans are usually taken for granted in these works. However some modern liturgical scholarship has begun to question the importance (or even the very existence) of the Celtic Rite. This thesis examines the actual evidence for the Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland. Unlike the other Celtic regions (Scotland, Wales, Brittany, etc.) it is possible to study the Eucharist in Ireland as there still exists enough textual and historical evidence for such a study. V The main contribution of this thesis is that it provides the first major analysis of Eucharistic practice in pre-Norman Ireland in over one hundred years. Great care has been taken to situate the evidence within both the historical and liturgical contexts that are sometimes ignored in secondary literature. Both the remaining ritual texts and other texts of the period that deal with the Eucharist are studied. In addition archaeological and iconographical elements are analyzed. This provides an up to date picture of the place of the Eucharist in Pre-Norman Ireland. The results of this study seriously cast into doubt the nineteenth and early twentieth century claims of a separate Celtic Rite in Ireland. This, in turn, has its repercussions on the fields of the History of Early Christian Ireland and the study of medieval liturgy. Thus the ground is prepared for further study of medieval liturgy and the religious dimension of the Pre Norman period of Christianity and society in Ireland. Ideoque et nos tantam ha bentes circumpositam nobis nubem testium, deponentes omne pondus et circumstans nos peccatum, per patientiam curramus propositum nobis certamen, aspicientes in ducem fidei et consummatorem lesum, qui pro gaudio sibi proposito sustinuit crucem, confusione contempta, atque in dextera throni Dei sedet. (Ad Hebraeos 12:1-2) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many people have both supported and helped me throughout the writing of this thesis, I can agree with the Apostle that truly a cloud of witnesses has surrounded me in this time. First of all I would need to acknowledge the constant support of the Most Reverend John Joseph Myers, J.C.D., D.D., Archbishop of Newark. Liam Tracey, OSM, Professor of Liturgy, St. Patrick’s College, directed the thesis and was always most helpful and supportive. I owe a lot to Coimán Etchingham of the Department of History, N.U.I., Maynooth, who was always willing to answer the most obscure questions on historical matters and helping a non-specialist with the historical background of this thesis. Over the course of my research I was constantly surprised by the helpfulness of many people who answered my inquiries about arcane matters of liturgy and history. Among those who stand out for their help are: Tomás Ó Carragáin, Lecturer, Archaeology Department, University College Cork. Tadhg O’Keeffe, Senior Lecturer, School of Archaeology, University College Dublin. Cormac Burke, Curator of Medieval Antiquities, Department of Archaeology & Ethnography, Ulster Museum. Thomas F. X. Noble, Professor of History, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Nathan Mitchell, Professional Specialist, Department of Theology, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Pádraig Ó Riain, Emeritus Professor, Department of Early and Medieval Irish, University College Cork. Marina Smyth, Medieval Studies Librarian, Hesburgh Library, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Maxwell Johnson, Professor of Liturgical Studies, University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Uinseann Ó Maidín, O.C.S.O., Mount Melleray Abbey, Co. Waterford. Robert Taft, S.J., Emeritus Professor of Oriental Liturgy, Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome. Patrick Brannon, Professor of Music, College of St. Francis, Joliet, Illinois. Michael Ryan, Director of the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin. vi Canon Pedro Famés, Emeritus Professor of Liturgy at the Instituto Superior de Liturgia, Barcelona. Wendy Thirkettle, Archivist, Manx National Heritage Library Manx Museum. Finally, I must also acknowledge my indebtedness to my family and friends who supported me at every stage of this project, and the staff of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Missionary Seminary in Kearny, NJ who graciously covered many of my responsibilities in order to allow me to complete this thesis. Go méadai Dia a stôr. CONTENTS ABSTRACT.................................................................................................................... iv ACKNOWELDGEMENTS............................................................................................. vi INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: THE IRISH CHURCH FROM ITS FOUNDATION TO THE NORMAN CONQUEST.................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Ireland and her Place in Europe Prior to the Coming of Christianity 7 1.2 St. Patrick and the 5th Century Origins of the Irish Church....................12 1.3 The Church in 6th - 8thCenturies, Monasticism and Church Organisation................................................................................................................. 27 1.3.1 Monasticism in Ireland............................................................... 27 1.3.2 Irish Ecclesiastical Scholarship in the 6th to 8th Centuries 35 1.3.3 The Structure of the Church in Seventh Century Ireland 38 1.3.4 The Development of Pastoral Care in Seventh Century Ireland............................................................................................................................46 1.4 The Irish Church in the Ninth and Tenth Centuries and the Viking Raids.............................................................................................................................. 54 1.5 From the Battle of Clontarf to the Coming of the Normans...................63 1.5.1 Contact with Canterbury............................................................ 63 ix 1.5.2 Irish Renewal Movements......................................................... 68 1.6 The Twelfth Century Conquest of Ireland by the Anglo-Normans....... 78 1.6.1 The Background of Laudabiliterand the Integration of the Irish Church into the Anglo-Norman Church Structure...................................................... 83 1.7 Polemics.....................................................................................................89 1.7.1 The Easter Controversy............................................................. 95 1.7.2 Tonsure........................................................................................ 99 CHAPTER 2: THE EUCHARIST IN THE CHRISTIAN WEST TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY................................................................................................................... 102 2.1 The Development of the Shape of the Eucharist................................ 105 2.2 The Solidification of the Shape of the Eucharist in the Fourth and Fifth Centuries..................................................................................................................... 116 2.3 The Development of the Gallican Rite and itsProbable Use in Ireland.......................................................................................................................... 120 2.4 The Journey of the Roman Rite over the Alps and the New Liturgical Synthesis..................................................................................................................... 132 2.5 The Participation of the Laity in the Eucharist.....................................139 2.6 Frequency of Communion.....................................................................148 2.7 Eucharistic Controversies...................................................................... 158 2.8 Devotion to the Eucharistic Species.................................................... 166 CHAPTER 3: WRITTEN SOURCES 173 X 3.1 Liturgical Texts....................................................................................... 174 3.1.1 The Stowe Missal..................................................................... 174 3.1.2 The Old Irish Mass Tract of the Stowe Missal.......................187