201 



young and the old, while the converts gladly flocked to their habita- 

 tions for more frequent spiritual assistance. Thus were little cities 

 associated and monasteries incorporated. 



The ecclesiastical societies so formed were governed with much 

 severity of discipline, as appears from the rule of Columba ; that of 

 Adamnan, which Tigernach mentions as restored to use in Ireland in 

 727, and the laws of Brandan, Columbkill, &c. referred to by the 

 same historian. Implicit obedience to the superior, as it was the pal- 

 ladium of their existence, was most enforced ; silence was strictly 

 enjoined unless is cases of necessity ; fasting was made obligatory on 

 Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the ancient Roman custom ;* 

 and further abstinence and privation in the matter of diet recom- 

 mended, whence it is observed that Saint Bridget and her virgins 

 took no food until evening, and then only supported nature with 

 herbsand water ; 



" Vespere flumineas quaerebant fontibus herbas, 

 Antiqui soliti quels vitam ducere sancti, 

 Frigida cum crispis sumebant pocula et herbis."-]- 



i ; 



Other self-mortifications and penitential duties were inflicted ; pil- 

 grimages were practised, as appears from Saint Columb, Saint Brigid, 

 &c. who respectively performed one to the Abbey of Glastonbury ;:J: 

 and the celebrated Virgilius also undertook one to the Holy Land.§ 

 These ecclesiastics likewise assigned particular hours for the recurrence 

 pf devotional exercises, and withal, in the intervals of their clerical 



* See Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. 4. p. 352. — See also the canons mentioned in the index 

 to O'Conor's Rer. Hib. Script, vol. 1. Nunc. Lit. ,,r;^ pii.r 



t Trias Thaum. p. 593. J Stephens's Monast. vol. 1. p. 420. • 



§ Usher's Sylloge, p. 131. 



VOL. XVI. DO 



