36 THE president's address. 



men whom he brought with him from Britain and Gaul, and 

 those that succeeded. The first Order, so says the text, did not 

 reject the society and help of women ; whereas the second gen- 

 eration, which was one of native saints, adopted the monastic 

 form, " mulierum consortia ac administrationesfugiebant."* St. 

 Patrick had met with some very discouraging experiences among 

 his missionaries, and he had laid down the rule in choosing a 

 Bishop that he should be according to the Apostolic precept, 

 "the husband of one wife."f He allowed his priests to marry, 

 for in the Senchus Mor is a regulation as to the dress the wives 

 should wear. Nevertheless, he had a bad time of it with some 

 of his unmarried clerics. J 



This may have led to the separation of sexes alluded to in 

 the passage above quoted, which is said to have taken place 

 after the removal of Patrick, and to have begun with the last 

 years of Tuathal Maelgarbh, who died in 544, Consequently 

 the prior system lasted about a century. 



It was fron Mancen or Maucen (Mawgan) that Brig (the 

 Cornish Briaca) derived the rules by which a college of women 

 was to be governed in Ireland. 



The great heads of the colleges there were Bridget, Itha, 

 Morwen or Monynna, and Brig. That these foundresses had 

 branch institutions in Dumnonia subject to their rule I suppose 

 probable. We find Bridget in several places about the Tamar, 

 and St. Itha at St. Issey, probably because an institution for 

 girls was planted there under the direction of St. Petrock. 



*The whole fragment is in the Salamanca Codex, published at the cost of the 

 Marquess of Bute, Edinb., Blackwood, 1888. 



t " Tripartite Life," p. 191 ; Tirechan's Coll.. Ibid., p. 345. 



J Bishop Mell, his nephew, transgressed. Patrick went to investigate the 

 matter. Mell pretended to be imbecile, and was discovered fishing for salmon 

 between the ridges of a ploughed field. Scandalous stories circulated relative to 

 Bishop Bron, and he only escaped through the intervention of St. Bridget. 

 Bishop MacNiss was found guilty, and had his hand cut off. Bishop McTail 

 was thought to have conducted himself lightly with the nurse of St. Kieran. 

 Ercnat, daughter of Daire, fell in love with St. Benignus, allured by his sweet 

 singing ; however, by a judicious application of relics, her affection was modified, 

 "and afterwards she loved him spiritually." (" Tripartite Life," p. 233.) St, 

 Eogain of Ardstraw was the son of Bishop Ere in lawful marriage (Felire of 

 Oengus, Nov. 2). Bishop Assicus and his wife, Cipia, had a son, Bote (" Trip. 

 Life," ii, p. 97.) 



