6-12. CENTURY their school among the Irish, and from St. Patrick to the present day, we have our regular succession of bishops, not from Rome, nor through Rome, but through the successors of the apostle John, the patron of the Irish Church. We shall now conclude this part of our subject, with a quotation from a Roman Catholic writer on the ecclesiastical affairs of Ireland. There is,' says the writer in question, something very singular in the ecclesiastical history of Ireland. The Christian Church of that country, as founded by St. Patrick, and his predecessors, existed for many ages free and unshackled. "For above seven hundred years, this Church maintained its independence." It had no connection with England, and differed upon points of importance with Rome. The first work of Henry II, was to reduce the Church of Ireland into obedience to the Roman pontiff. Accordingly he procured a council of the Irish clergy to be held at Cashel in 1172, and the combined influence and intrigues of Henry and the Pope prevailed. This council put an end to the ancient Church of Ireland, and submitted it to the yoke of Rome. "THAT OMINOUS APOSTACY has been followed by a series of calamities, hardly to be equalled in the world." From the days of St. Patrick, to the council of Cashel, was a bright and glorious æra for Ireland. From the sitting of this council to our times, the lot of Ireland Ireland, vol. has been unmixed evil, and all her history a tale of woe.' * O'Driscol's ii. p. 85. It is curious enough, that Dr. Rock's accidental omissions, should always fall on the most important parts of a passage. In the above quotation from O'Driscoll, the two vital parts of it are omitted altogether in his quotation of the passage: first, for above seven hundred years, this church maintained its independence;' and again, that ominous apostacy has been followed by a series of calamities, hardly to be equalled in the world.' It might however be too much to expect, that Dr. Rock should become the recording angel of Apostolic truth. CHAPTER IV. IRISH CULDEES-THEIR OFFICE, THE FOR ST. COLUMBA AND THE STRUMENTALITY-PERSECUTION FROM THE ROMISH CHURCH- 6-12. Ir is stated by O'Connor, that there existed in Ireland, CENTURY nearly an hundred years before the mission of St. Patrick, independent of the See of Rome, an order of Monks called Culdees. Their rule was invented by St. Athanasius, St. Columba a Greek father, and Bishop of Alexandria in Egypt. Their office was the Greek, and not the Roman, and even in their mode of tonsure, they differed from similar establishments in the Roman Church. This order was in many things very remarkable, and Culdees. Their office, and not the the Greek, Roman CENTURY 6-12. Distin guished for their learning, and at their reli gion. one of its most eminent members, was our far-famed who is considered in the mar Columba, or Columbkill, by Colgan, as joint patron tyrology of Donegal, and In such a remote corner of the world as Ireland was then considered, this celebrated monastic order commenced. Distinguished for letters, and an inviolable attachment to their religion; their adversaries (men devoted to the see tachment to of Rome) have endeavoured to consign their names and tenets to oblivion, while others of inferior merit are pompously brought forward, and extolled for virtues which they never possessed, and for actions which they never performed. Nor have those alone who collected memorials of the champions of divine truth recorded their merits, but the writings of Bede, Lloyd, Usher, and above all, those of Sir Robert Sibbald, and Sir James Dalrymple, have placed their reputation and noble defence of their doctrines and liberties on the most solid basis. Origin of the name Culdee. The origin of their name, has given rise to various conjectures. Toland says it is derived from Ceili de' the separated or espoused of God. Bishop Nicholson, from Coul-du' a black hood, which, without authority, he supposes to have been a principal part of their dress: *He is thus spoken of by a biographer of the sixteenth century, -Towards the middle of the sixth century of redemption, in which Hibernia, the island of saints, shone with stars as numerous as the stars of heaven: there arose in the same island a new star which excelled all others, as the sun outshines the lesser stars of heaventhis star was Columbkille.' 6-12. whereas from a passage in Bede, it is probable their gar- CENTURY ments were white. Shaw's opinion is, that Ceil-de, or servant of God, was Latinized into Keledeus and Colideus, from whence we derive the English name Culdees. The great difficulty in accounting for the name, arises from not knowing the precise time when it was given if it were at a late period, Nicholson may be right, but not so if at an early one, for sanctity was attached to dress only by the later monastic orders. Columba, the founder, or rather the reviver of this Columba. order, was born of illustrious parents, A.D. 522.* The fashion of the times, and his own propensity, led him to the cultivation of ascetic virtues, and their preparatory exercises. Monachism had taken root in this kingdom, and was already flourishing in its numerous seminaries, and supported by their learned professors; the most remarkable of the former was that of St. Finian at Clonard, where at the age of twenty-five we find St. Columba engaged in study, and acquiring the rudiments of that knowledge, and exercising that discipline which were afterwards productive of such eminent advantages to christianity, not only in Ireland, but in Scotland and England. Having completed his monastic education in 546, he founded the monastery of Durrogh, and established such admirable rules for his monks, that they soon became as In * Columba's father was Felim, the son of Fergus, who was grandson of the great Nial, King of Ireland; and the mother of Felim was Aithne, daughter of Lorn, who first reigned in conjunction with his brother Fergus, over the Scots, or Dalrendini, in Argyleshire. those times, noblemen were not seldom the preachers of the gospel, and it is probable, they may be so again, when they shall find that neither their persons, nor their property can be secure without it.' -(Smith's Life of St. Columba.) 6-12. CENTURY conspicuous for erudition, as for sanctity of manners. The Scots have claimed these monks as their own, and as springing up in their country, so early as the beginning of the fourth century, but Bishop Nicholson, no friend of the order, expressly says, the Culdees were of the Irish rule, and carried into Scotland by St. Columba, and from thence dispersed into the northern parts of England.' His character, and that of his suc cessors. Brilliant parts, and an untiring zeal in the service of religion, with a strain of powerful eloquence, exalted Columba's reputation among his countrymen to a degree scarcely inferior to that of an apostle. Such talents were too large to be confined within the narrow pale of a monkish cell; they were called forth to the regulation of state affairs, and in these he held as decided a superiority as in the cloister. Amidst this splendour of authority and of parts, it would have been miraculous if human weakness did not sometimes betray him into error, from which his biographers do not attempt to exculpate him. In his early youth, he instigated a bloody war without just cause, of which being made sensible, he abjured his native land by a voluntary exile, and imposed on himself a mission to the unconverted Picts. Of this event Bede thus speaks, In the year of our Lord's incarnation 565, there came out of Ireland into Britain, a presbyter and abbot,—a monk in life and habits, very famous, by name Columba, to preach the word of God to the provinces of the northern Picts. This Columba came to Britain, when King Bridius, son of Meilochem, reigned over the Picts. It was in the ninth year of his reign, that by his preaching and example he converted this nation to the faith of Christ.' From this passage it appears evident, that Columba and his disciples have clearly the merit of promulgating |