patronage, being "under the invocation of the Virgin Mary and St. David"." "Under the invocation," severally "of St. John, of various saints; St. Peter, and St. Paul, St. John the Baptist, St. Michael, Mary Magdalen, St. Columba, St. Brigid, and St. Edmund the King and Martyr," were founded the Augustine hospital for cross-bearers, or crouched friars at Ardee; the Augustine abbey for regular canons at Clare; the Augustine hospital for crouched friars at Kells; and the priory of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, at Kilmainham, the abbey of regular canons at Mayo; the Dominican friary at Drogheda; the priory of regular canons at Monaincha; the monastery of the black nuns of St. Augustine at Moylagh; and the priory of canons regular at Athassel1. The two Dominican friaries of Tralee and Sligo, of the Cross. and the Franciscan friary of Strade, were foundations "under the invocation of the Holy Cross' 18 99 of evil over good. No incidental good, arising out of these institu- Preponderance tions, could have compensated for the essential evil inflicted on religious truth by prominently professing these principles, as the motives and objects of monastick endowments. But in truth, there was no small portion of practical evil also interwoven intrinsically with whatever incidental good they may have occasioned. divine will and On a general view they militated against God's Opposition to the purpose in the creation of man; for whatever may law. be pleaded in favour of celibacy under particular aspects, and in particular circumstances, it was not 16 ARCHDALL, pp. 558, 304, 491, 69, 436, 516, 120, 498, 396, 318. 17 Ib., pp. 446, 43, 548, 222, 505, 455, 667, 669, 640. 18 lb., pp. 307, 637, 509. Practical effects. according to the Divine will, that a very large proportion of human kind should be shut up in cloistered seclusion; bound by indissoluble obligations to abstain from honourable marriage, the first law of man's Creator: and precluded from exercising the duties, the virtues, and the charities of social and domestick life. Further, if regard be had to their particular operation, and to the effects which practically they produced, the evil greatly preponderated. For, whilst on the one hand they may have been instrumental in producing habits of labour and industry; on the other, they gave encouragement to inactivity and indolence, luxury and self-indulgence in their inmates, leaving to the parochial clergy, the vicars who were charged with the care of the parishes, a very disproportionate share of emolument, and seeking to lower them in publick estimation. Whilst in some cases, under wholesome laws steadily enforced, they may have assisted a spirit of devotion, and corresponding holiness and chastity of life; in others, under a system faulty in itself, or faultily administered, they led to the substitution of outward mortification for inward sanctity, gave occasion to hypocrisy, spiritual pride, and vain glory, or induced usages of intemperance, licentiousness, and impurity. Whilst in some cases, by the exercise of a free hospitality and bounty, they may have contributed to the relief of the traveller and the stranger, in need of temporary aid; and been the means of sustaining the sufferer under honest poverty and unavoidable distress; in others the promiscuous dispensation of their doles supported only those, who did not need, or did not deserve it, and was lavished in perpetuating the indigence, with its concomitant vices, which they themselves had made. Whilst in some cases, they afforded a refuge for the sick, the infirm, and the afflicted, they in others were privileged sanctuaries for criminals, and encouragers of crime. Whilst in some cases they may have laid the foundation of useful learning, of philosophy and divinity, in others they only filled the mind with legendary tales, and the creations of a fond imagination. Whilst in some cases they may have preserved and dispensed what remained of the knowledge of God, and true religion, in others they only more firmly established the reign of false doctrine and superstition; and were especially instrumental in maintaining the corrupt views and deceitful usages, which at those times overloaded the Church's profession of Christianity. Some of those views and usages shall now be specified, as enabling us better to understand the religious condition of Ireland during the centuries at present under review. SECTION V. Superstitions prevailing in the Church. Veneration for miracles. stitions. AMONG the superstitions which superseded true Prevailing superreligion in the Irish Church, and showed themselves in the conduct and marked the character of the people, the following are the most conspicuous. They do not materially differ from those which pre Veneration of saints. God's honour given to his creatures. 1191. 1220. 1202. 1220. 1432. vailed at the same period in England, and in other parts of Papal Christendom: but they are needful to be specified here for the purpose of impressing on the reader that Ireland was not exempt from the general contagion. 1. The inordinate veneration of saints was carried to such an extent, as to associate them on the most solemn occasions with the Godhead, as if they were partakers of the Divine nature and attributes. Thus, not to insist upon the ordinary and well-known Offices of the Church, upon the erection of the building, which afterwards became one of the cathedrals of Dublin, the Archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, together with the Pope's legate, in 1191, consecrated the new edifice with great pomp and ceremony God, our Blessed Lady Mary, and St. Patrick'. In 1220, Henry de Loundres, archbishop of Dublin, made certain grants to the said church, which he described as "devoted to God, and Saint Mary, and the Blessed Peter, and the Blessed Patrick, our patron." In 1202, a priory was founded by William de Burgh, in the country of Antrim, "to the honour of God and the Virgin Mary." And about 1220, William Marshal, earl of Pembroke, founded an abbey at Kilkenny "in honour of God and St. John." In 1432, Richard Talbot, archbishop of Dublin, decreed certain ordinances for some of the officers of the church, "to the honour of God the Father Almighty, and of the glorious Virgin his Mother 1 MASON'S St. Patrick's Cathe dral, p. 2. MASON, App. p. xxxvi. 3 ARCHDALL'S Monasticon, p. 11. 32.. 1 the Blessed Mary, and of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of our patron Saint Patrick"." John Alleyn, dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin, by his will, in 1505, "committed his sinful soul to the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ, the Maker and Redeemer of him and of. all mankind; and to the most blessed Virgin Mary, his Mother; and to all Saints"." And, in 1515, a bull, addressed to the Bishops of Meath, Waterford, and Leighlin, by Pope Leo the Tenth, denounces upon every one who shall infringe it, "the indignation of Almighty God, and of the Blessed Peter and Paul, his Apostles"." legends. 1506. 1515. 2. Traditionary legends of the most palpable Traditionary falsehood, in default or rivalry of Scriptural knowledge, were taught for the religious instruction of the people. Of these, the two following may serve for speci mens: the former being an account of a prophetical vision, witnessed by St. Patrick, of the future condition of the Irish Church; the latter, a narrative of the conquest of another saint over the Prince of Darkness. Patrick. The former of these is copied from a "History of A vision of St. Ireland, Ancient and Modern, taken from the most authentick Records, by the ABBÉ MAC GEOHEGAN; published at Paris, in 1758, under the authority of the King of France, and dedicated to the Irish Brigade. Translated from the French by P. O'Kelly, late Professor of Languages in the city of Versailles. Dublin, 1831." "St. Patrick," says Joceline, as quoted by the Abbé, "filled with apprehensions for |