332 



and in 1447 they are mentioned in a rescript of Pope Nicholas the 

 Fifth.* Usher, in his Primordia (p, 637,) says, "in the great churches 

 in Ulster, as at Cluannis and Daminnis, (Devenish) particularly at 

 Armagh, in our memory were priests called Culdees, who celebrated 

 divine service in the choir. Their president was styled Prior of the Cul- 

 dees, and he acted as precentor." And lastly, Harris, in his notes on 

 Ware-f* says, the Culdees of Armagh were a corporate body, and pos- 

 sessed of a considerable landed property. 



In 1220 Henry Loundres Archbishop of Dublin, is said to have 

 put out the before-mentioned:]: fire, hitherto preserved at Kiidare. 

 " Be that how it will, without doubt the custom of preserving a fire 

 in that convent by the nuns of Saint Brigid, for the benefit of the 

 poor and strangers, as was pretended, was continued down afterwards 

 until the suppression of monasteries in the reign of King Henry the 

 Eighth. "§ 



• See Spelman's Glossary, tit. Culdei. f Antiquities, c. 3-5. 



X Ante, p. 210. § Ware's Antiquities, c. 35. ad fin. 



tHiif.'-V: 



