16 THE PEESIDENT's ADDRESS. " 



Wales, in Scotland, probably also in Dumnonia, ecclesiastical 

 offices were hereditary." J 



From tbis it follows necessarily that jurisdiction in the tribe 

 belonged to the chief, whether cleric or layman, manor woman. 



In a Celtic monastery there were usually several Bishops; 

 none of these ruled, unless by chance one combined the 

 headship of the tribe along with his episcopal orders. In such 

 a case as that of St. Bridget, it appeared so puzzling in later 



X I quote from the introduction to " The Ancient Laws of Ireland" (Rolls 

 Series), Vol. IV, ccxxv, a series of significant instances. In the monastery 

 of Lusk, between 731 and 927, the second and third abbots were brothers, and 

 sons of the first abbot. The fourth abbot and the prior were brothers, and the 

 son of the second abbot was steward. The fifth abbot was son of the third. 

 The eighth abbot son of the sixth. The eighth abbot had two sons, one 

 became Bishop of Duleek, and the other tenth abbot of Lusk. In the 

 monastery of Gleann Uissean, between 874 and 1016, the first abbot was 

 succeeded by his two sons in succession. The third abbot had two sons, who 

 also inherited the abbacy in turn. The seventh abbot was son of the fourth, 

 and the eighth grandson of the second. Suibhne, Bishop of Armagh, was 

 succeeded by his three sons, one after the other. His grandson, by his third son, 

 was also Bishop and anchorite of Lann Laire. The son of this episcopal anchorite 

 was abbot of Lann Laire, and this abbot was also succeeded by his son. But 

 perhaps the most instructive example is connected with Clonmacnois. Torbach, 

 abbot and primate of Armagh, in 812, was the son of one abbot of Lusk and 

 father of another, and from him descended a family that filled many oflB.ces in 

 Clonmacnois, and among them we find even anchorites married, and succeeded 

 by their sons. Eoghan, grandson of Bishop Torbach, was anchorite, and died in 

 845, and was succeeded in his anchorite's cell by his son Luchairen in 863 ; and 

 in 893 his son Egertach was erenarch at Clonmacnois. He also had a son, a 

 Bishop, who, wonderful to relate, was not married ; whereupon another son, 

 Dunhadhach, succeeded in 953 to the bishopric. This Bishop had a son Dunchadh, 

 who became head of the monastery and anchorite, and died in 1005. He was the 

 father of Joseph, the confessor of the abbey. Joseph had a wife, and a son 

 Conn, who became head of the Culdees or anchorites of Clonmacnois, and Conn 

 had a son who took the abbacy. 



It must be borne in mind that in the Latin Church, prior to 1139, though 

 celibacy was required of monks, and was expected of the clergy as a matter of 

 discipline, yet marriage with them was not illegal. It was not till 1139, in the 

 second Lateral Council, that such marriages were declared null and void. But 

 this decree met everywhere in Europe with violent opposition. Still, it shows 

 that there was " something rotten in the state of " the Irish Church when even 

 anchorites were fathers of families, and when succession to abbacies, cells, and 

 bishoprics became a matter of family property. 



That the marriage of even abbots was allowed at a very early period would 

 appear from Gildas, the historian, the friend of St. David, and abbot of Rhuys, 

 having sons who are numbered among our Cornish saints. 



