enforced and observed was another. Nor, in these early times, were Irish bishops, for the most part, of such wealth and importance as to induce any Deputy or Irish Council, whose thoughts were sufficiently occupied by events of more pressing necessity, to ascertain how far the churchmen complied with the rules of canonical obedience.* If a bishop succeeded to a vacant see in the lands of a chief engaged in rebellion, his possession would depend exclusively on the chief's consent, let kings or popes urge what they would to the contrary. If he was nominated by the Crown, he would naturally submit to the formalities imposed by the Crown. But Irish cathedrals were often in ruins, and the revenues of Irish bishops were wasted or usurped. Reckless alike of civil or religious restraints, Irish chieftains in their feuds no more spared the churches in the lands of an enemy or a rival than they regarded the sanctity of his oxen or of his brood mares. Nothing is more common, nothing is more frequently reiterated by the Deputies, or by others who joined in their hostings or circuits, than passionate outcries at the ruinous condition of the churches, not only in regions beyond the English Pale, but within the very heart of it. Their statements may be sometimes exaggerated, but their general accuracy is unquestionable. "The noble folk of "Ireland oppresseth, spoileth the prelates of the Church "of Christ of their possessions and liberties," is the observation of a Roman Catholic writer, and an Irishman, who could have no motive for perverting the truth or for maligning his countrymen. When the Act of the Royal Supremacy was passed in the Irish parliament in 1535, it was opposed by Cromer, arch * See also Carew Papers, I. 213. "hereafter made in that our realm of Ireland shall make "unto us. 99% In the same despatch, order is given that O'Donnel's chaplain shall have the bishopric in the north parts (Elphin); "but for lack of the true name of it, we "have deferred the expedition thereof till our next "despatch." In 1544, on a representation made by the bishops and other ecclesiastical persons in the country of Clanricarde, that they cannot collect the revenues of their benefices, as the profits of the same were usurped and detained by horsemen as well as by other lay persons, the Archbishop of Tuam, the Bishop of Clonfert, and other commissioners are ordered to call the offenders before them, and compel them to desist; "and they shall also cause spiritual persons to reside upon their benefices, as by law they are bound to do."+ 66 Now, when it is considered that in the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII. the four archbishops, of Armagh, Dublin, Tuam, and Cashel, the bishops of Limerick, Waterford, Cork,‡ Elphin, Emly, with all the bishops of the English Pale, had submitted to the King, we have sufficient evidence, considering the condition of the country and its inhabitants, for assuming that great progress had been made in reducing both clergy and people in general to obedience. Since the passing of the Act of Supremacy, so far was English authority from declining, that it had grown in extent and respect more rapidly than for centuries before. At Saintleger's departure in 1546, the Earls of Desmond, Thomond and Tyrone, the Lord of Upper Ossory, O'Connor, O'Moloy, the Carrols, McGeogehan, and other Irish Lords, assembled * State Papers, 430. Carew, I. 196. at Dublin. In their letter to the King, they profess that Ireland was never more peaceable, nor in a better state of conformity.* Their statement is confirmed by the Irish Council: "As for the Irishry, albeit that your Majesty's laws be not current among them,† but there "is many contentions and strifes among themselves, yet "they more recognize and knowledge your Majesty to be king of this realm, and be more conformable to your Majesty and your grace's Deputy his commandment, "than ever we knew them in our times."‡ It This state of things continued without much alteration throughout the brief reign of Edward VI. Under the able administration of Brabazon and Bellyngham English authority was steadily and temperately maintained. was not likely to recede when Saintleger resumed his ancient place in 1550. He had brought instructions from England for introducing the English service book, to be used in English where English was spoken, in Irish where it was not. For this purpose an Irish translation was ordered; but how far this order was carried out, and what methods were adopted for procuring Irish type, I have no means of ascertaining. The new order was opposed by Dowdall Archbishop of Armagh and by certain of his suffragans, on the grounds "that every illiterate "fellow would then be able to read the mass as well as "the priest." The Deputy himself would have overlooked this act of disobedience, but Browne Archbishop of Dublin insisted in his zeal that Dowdall should be summoned before the Council. When Saintleger was recalled the Archbishop fled, and he remained abroad until the reign of Queen Mary. * State Papers, III. 562. That is, they still adhered to the Brehon laws. Dowdall was succeeded by Hugh Goodacre in Oct. 1552, when the notorious John Bale was created bishop of Ossory. None of the three remaining archbishops followed the example of Dowdall. Whether his suffragans continued contumacious we have yet to learn. One of them at least, the bishop of Dromore, complied. Nor can any conclusion be drawn, from the absence of satisfactory evidence, as to the conduct of the rest. It is at least probable that some intimation would have been preserved in the reports of the deputies and others, had their defection been either general or obstinate. The Papal pretender to the primacy was a blind Scotchman, named Waucop, whose claims were supported by the French and the Scotch, but they found no encouragement even from those who objected to the royal supremacy. Such pretenders depended entirely for their authority upon foreign aid, not upon the supposed legitimacy of their claims, or the orthodoxy of their doctrine. They came and went as they spied their opportunity, wherever hatred of English rule or the chance of rebellion among native chiefs seemed to offer any prospect of success. It would be contrary to the whole tenor of their history to suppose that at this era Irish chiefs were diligent scrutinizers of the tenets and pretensions of rival ecclesiastics;-or that they were governed in their preferences of this bishop over that by any other consideration than their own interests or their hatred of English rule. With the common people it was probably otherwise. The professors of the old faith still lingered among them; but they were of that class exclusively to whom bishops were least essential, and in general least favorable. The number and influence of the secular clergy in Ireland * Morrin, I. 267. had from time immemorial been of small account. They had, by common admission, done very little to evangelize the country, or maintain the religious faith of the people. These duties had fallen into the hands of the poorest and least educated of the begging friars;-men who had learned to endure every form of hardship;-very little removed in their education and worldly condition from those among whom they labored. Even in more civilized, wealthy, and orderly countries, this class of ecclesiastics professed no obedience to bishops;-it hung loose from episcopal authority. It acknowledged no head but the superior of its order, no bishop except the Pope. To the friars it mattered little whether Dowdall or Waucop was primate; the nominee of an Irish chieftain or of an English king. They went on just the same; and, except for the fact that their houses had been generally suppressed, it is very doubtful whether the Reformation had much altered their position or diminished their scanty livelihood. Among the lowest and the poorest of the population, where none laboured, even in better times, they continued to labour still. In fastnesses, in moors, in inaccessible forests, where the native Irish found protection as well from the tyranny of his native chief as from the oppressive rule of England, these preachers, little better than outcasts themselves, still kept up, in their own rude way, the feeble sparks of religion. What mattered it to them who was bishop, or what were his officials, secure in a poverty which nothing could or would molest-secure also of a ministry, which no one was willing to share with them? These were the true priests of the native bishops whom the Pope the Irish population, not the in his anger, or some native chief from ambition or a better motive, might appoint or countenance. |