200 



MISS ELEANOE H. HULL, ON THE 



to the monastery, for which they performed certain offices, 

 those of ordination and confession or " sonl-friendship, " as this 

 office was beautifnlly called in Ireland. 



They were not organised under metropolitans, of whose exist- 

 ence we hear first only at a slightly later period, they were 

 attached to monasteries, and out of this rather suliordinate 

 position most of the peculiarities attaching to their office 

 and position arose. They followed, like their brethren, the 

 monastic rule of life. This system, which was carried out in all 

 the Celtic monasteries, excited the surprise of Bede, who was 

 accustomed to the division between monks and secular clergy. 

 Speaking of the system in vogue at Lindisfarne, a Northumbrian 

 monastery founded according to the Columban Kule by monks of 

 lona and Old Melrose and keeping up the method usually 

 ])reserved among them, Bede says : 



"Let no one wonder that though the island of Lindisfarne is small, we 

 have made mention of a bishop, and not of an abbot and monks ; for 

 the case is really so. For the same island, inhabited by servants of 

 the Lord, contains both, and all are monks. For Aidan, first bishop of 

 that place, was a monk, and with all his followers lived according to 

 the monastic rule. Wherefore all the principals of that place, from 

 him to the present time, exercise the episcopal office, so that while 

 the monastery is governed by an abbot, whom they, with the 

 consent of the brethren, have elected, all the priests, deacons, 

 singers, readers and other ecclesiastical officers of different ranks 

 observe the monastic rule in every respect as well as the l^ishop 

 himself." (Bede's Life of St. Ciiflihert, Chap, xvi, and Ecclcs. Hist., 

 Bk. Ill, ch. 4). 



Sucli a system, developed naturally out of the conditions of 

 life in Ireland, Celtic Britain and Scotland, might well seem 

 strange to clergy accustomed to tlie Roman system. 



One of the most interesting points in tlie liistory of the Church 

 development of this period is the friendly interaction and 

 activity that existed between the Welsli (or British), Scottish 

 (or " All)an ") and Irish (" or Scottish ")* branches of the Church. 

 There was no sense of disunion between tliem, either as regards 

 <liversity of teaching or feeling of national division. If Gihlas, 

 David and Cadoc gave a new Liturgy or Mass to the Ii'ish 

 Churcli, tlie Irish Monasteries on the other hand welcomed tlie 



* In tliis ])r'ipor T liave used tho modern names, but it is to be remem- 

 bered tliat Ireland was called "Scotia" and lier peoj)le "Scots" up to the 

 tenth century ; Scotland was Odedonia, and later AIl)a ; and there was 

 no division between Wales and Britain. 



