The Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British, Chapter 5

The Religion Anciently Professed by the Irish and British · Chapter 5

p. 45CHAP. V.

Of Chrisme, Sacramentall Confession, Penance, Absolution, Marriage, Divorces, and single life in the Clergie.

THat the IrishaaQuod infantes baptismo sine Chrismate consecrato baptizantur. Lanfranc. epist. MS. in Bibliothecâ Cottonian…: & apud Baron. an. 1089. num. 16. ubi tamen sive malè habetur prosine. did baptize their infants without any consecrated Chrisme, Lanfranc maketh complaint in his letters to Terdeluacus (or Tirlagh) the chiefe King of that country. And Bernard reporteth, that Malachias in his time (which was after the daies of Lanfranc and Pope Hildebrand) didbbVsum saluberrimum Confessionis, sacramentum Confirmationis, contractum conjugiorum (quae omnia aut ignorabant aut negligebant) Malachias de novo instituit. Bernard. in vitâ Malachiae. of the new institute the most wholesome use of Confession, the sacrament of Confirmation, and the contract of marriages: all which he saith the Irish before were either ignorant of, or did neglect. Which, for the matter of Confession, may receive some further confirmation from the testimonie of Alcuinus: who writing unto the Scottish (or, as other copies read, the Gothish) and commending the religious conversation of their laity, whoccInter mundanas occupationes castissimam vitam rationabili consideratione degere dicuntur. Alcuin. epist. 26. edit. H. Canisti, 71. Andreae Quercetan…. in the midst of their worldly imployments were said to leade a most chaste life; condemneth notwithstanding another custome, which was said to have continued in that country. ForddDicitur verò neminem ex Laicis suam velle Confessionem sacerdotibus dare: quos à Deo Christo cum sanctis Apostolis ligandi solvendi que potestatem accepisse credimus, Ibid. it is said (quot he) that no man of the laity will make his confession to the Priests; whom we beleeve to have received from the Lord Christ, the power of binding and loosing, together with the holy Apostles.

p. 46They had no reason indeed to hold (as Alcuinus did) that they ought to confesse unto a Priest all the sinnes they could remember: but upon speciall occasions, they did (no doubt) both publikely and privately make confession of their faults, aswell that they might receive counsaile and direction for their recovery, as that they might bee made partakers of the benefit of the keyes, for the quieting of their troubled consciences. Whatsoever the Gothish did herein (by whom wee are to understand the inhabitants of Languedok in France, where Alcuinus lived) sure wee are, that this was the practice of the ancient Scottish and Irish. So wee reade of one Fiachna or Fechnaus, that being touched with remorse for some offence committed by him, he fell at St. Colmes feet, lamented bitterly, andeeCoram omnibus qui ibidem erant peccata sua confessus est. Adamnan. vit. Columb. lib. 1. cap. 16. (vel 20. in MS.) confessed his sinnes before all that were there present. Whereupon the holy man, weeping together with him, is said to have returned this answer:ffSurge fili, & consolare: dimi…a sunt tua, quae commi…isti, peccamina. quia sicut scriptum est; Cor contritum & humiliatum Deus non spernit. Ibid. Rise up, Sonne, and bee comforted, thy sinnes which thou hast committed are forgiven; because (as it is written) a contrite and an humbled heart God doth not despise. We reade also of Adamanus, that being very much terrified with the remembrance of a grievous sinne committed by him in his youth; he ggAccedens ad sacerdotem, à quo sibi spera…at iter salutis posse demonstrari; confessus est reatum suum, petiique … consilium sibi daret, quo posset fugere à venturâ Dei irâ. Bed. lib. 4. histor. cap. 25.resorted unto a Priest, by whom hee hoped the way of salvation might bee shewed unto him, hee confessed his guilt, and intreated that hee would give him counsell, whereby hee might flee from the wrath of God that was to come.

p. 47Now the counsell commonly given unto the Penitent after Confession, was; that hee shouldhhConfessa dignis (ut imperabat) poenitentiae fructibus abstergerent. Id. ibid. cap. 27. wipe away his sinnes by meet fruits of repentance: which course Bede observeth to have beene usually prescribed by our Cuthbert. For penances were then exacted, as testimonies of the sincerity of that inward repentance which was necessarily required for obtaining remission of the sinne: and so had reference to the taking away of the guilt, and not of the temporall punishment remaining after the forgivenesse of the guilt; which is the new found use of penances, invented by our later Romanists. One old Penitentiall Canon wee finde laid downe in a Synod held in this country about the yeere our Lord CCCCL. by S. Patrick, Auxilius, and Isserninus: which is as followeth. iiChristianu… qui occiderit, aut fornicationem fecerit, aut more Gentilium ad aruspicem meaverit; per singula crimina annum poenitentiae agar, impleto cum testibus veniat anno Poenitentiae, & posteà resolvetur à sacerdote. Synod. Patricij, Auxilij & Issernini MS. in Bibliothecâ Collegii Benedict. Cantabrig.A Christian who hath kild a man, or committed fornication, or gone unto a Southsayer after the manner of the Gentiles, for every of those crimes shall doe a yeere of Penance: when his yeere of penance is accomplished, he shall come with witnesses, and afterward hee shall be absolved by the Priest. These Bishops did take order (we see) according to the discipline generally used in those times, that the penance should first be performed; and when long & good proofe had bin given by that means of the truth of the parties repentance, they wished the Priest to impart unto him the benefit of Absolution. wheras by the new device of sacramentall penance the matter is now far more easily transacted: by vertue of the keyes the sinner is instantly of attrite made contrite, and thereupon as soon as hee hath made his Confession hee presently receiveth his Absolution: after this, some sorry penance is imposed, p. 48which upon better consideration may bee converted into pence; and so a quicke end is made of many a foule businesse.

But for the right use of the keyes, we fully accord with Claudius: thatkkNecnon etiam nunc in Episcopis ac Presbyteris omni Ecclesiae officium idem committitur: Ut videlicèt agnitis peccantium caussis, quoscunq, humiles ac verè poe…entes aspexerint, hos iam à timore perpetuae mortis miserantes absolvant, quos ver in peccatis quae egerint persistere cognove…int illos perennibus suppliciis obli gandos …sinuent. Claud in Matth. lib. 2. the office of remitting and retaining sinnes which was given unto the Apostles, is now in the Bishops and Priests committed unto every Church. namely, that having taken knowledge of the causes of such as have sinned, as many as they shall behold humble and truly penitent, those they may now with compassion absolve from the feare of everlasting death; but such as they shall discerne to persist in the sins which they have committed, those they may declare to be bound over unto never ending punishments. And in thus absolving such as be truly penitent, we willingly yeeld, that the Pastors of Gods Church doe remit sinnes after their manner, that is to say, ministerially and improperly: so that the priviledge of forgiving sinnes properly and absolutely, bee still reserved unto God alone. Which is at large set out by the same Claudius; where hee expoundeth the historie of the man sicke of the palsey, that was cured by our Saviour in the ninth of S. Matthew. For, following Bede upon that place, he writeth thus.llVerum dicunt Scribae, quia nemo dim…tere peccata nisi sulus Deus potest; qui per eos quoque dimi… ut, quibus dimitiendi tribuit p…testatem. Et ideò Christus verè Deus esse probatur; quia dimittere peccata quasi Deus potest. Verum Deo testimonium reddunt; sed personam Christi negando falluntur. Id. in Matth. lib. 1. The Scribes say true, that none can forgive sinnes but God alone; also forgiveth by them, to whom hee hath given the power of forgiving. And therefore is Christ proved to bee truely God because he forgiveth sinnes as God. They render a true testimony unto God: but in denying the person of p. 49Christ, they are deceived. and againe:mmSi & Deus est, iuxta Psalmistam, qui quantum distat Oriens ab occasu clongavit à nobis iniquitates nostras; & filius hominis potestatem habet in terrâ dimittendi peccata: ergò idem ipse & Deus & filius hominis est. ut & homo Christus per divinitatis suae potentiam peccata dimittere possit; & idem Deus Christus per humanitatis suae fragilitatem pro peccatoribus mori. Ibid. If it bee God that, according to the Psalmist, removeth our sins as far from us, as the East is distant from the West; and the Sonne of man hath power upon earth to forgive sinnès: therefore hee himselfe is both God and the Sonne of man. that both the man Christ might by the power of his divinitie forgive sinnes; and the same Christ being God, might by the frailtie of his humanitie dye for sinners. and out of S. Hierome: nnOstendit se Deum, qui potest cordis occulta cognoscere; & quodam modo tacens loquitur. Eâdem maiestate & potentiâ quà cogitationes vestras intueor, possum & hominibus delicta dimittere. Ibid.Christ sheweth himselfe to bee God, who can know the hidden things of the heart; and after a sort holding his peace he speaketh. By the same majestie and power, whereby I behold your thoughts, I can also forgive sinnes unto men. In like manner doth the author of the booke of the wonderfull things of the Scripture observe theseooIn paralytico à quatuor viris portato, quatuor divina opera cernuntur. Dum dimittuntur ei peccata, & praesentis aegritudinis plaga verbo tunc solvitur, & cogitationibus in ore Dei omnia scrutantis respondetur. Auth. lib. de Mirabilib. S. Scriptur. lib. 3. cap. 7. divine workes in the same historie: the forgiving of sinnes, the present cure of the disease, & the answering of the thoughts by the mouth of God who searcheth all things. With whom, for the propertie of beholding the secret thoughts, Sedulius also doth concurre, in those sentences.ppDeus solus potest occulta hominum scire, Sedul. in Rom. 2.Rom 2 God alone can know the hidden things of men. qqCorda hominum nôffe solius Dei est, & mentis secreta agnoscere. Id. ibid.To know the hearts of men, and to discerne the secrets of their minde, is the priviledge of God alone.

That the contract of Marriages, was either unknown or neglected by the Irish, before Malachias did institute the same anew among them (as Bernard doth seeme to intimate) is a thing almost incredible. althoughrrNondum deeimas vel primitias solvunt: nondum matri…nia contrahunt; non incestus vitant. Girald. Cambr. Topograph. Hibera. distinct. 3. cap. 19. Vide etiam Lanfranci epist. ad Gothricum & Terdeluacum reges Hibern. apud Baronium, an. 1089. num. 13. & 16. p. 50Giraldus Cambrensis doth complaine, that the case was little better with them after the time of Malachias also. The licentiousnesse of those ruder times, I know, was such, as may easily induce us to beleeve, that a great both neglect and abuse of Gods ordinance did get footing among this people. Which enormities Malachias, no doubt, did labour to reforme: and withall peradventure brought in some new matters, not knowne here before; as hee was very desirous his country men should generally conforme themselves unto the traditions and customes of the Church of Rome. But our purpose is here only to deale with the doctrine and practice of the elder times: in which, first, that Marriage was not held to bee a sacrament, may bee collected from ssVidetur indicare, esse aliquid quod donum quidem fit, non tamen spirituale: ut Nuptiae. Sedul. in Rom. 1.Rom 1Sedulius, who reckoneth it among those things, which are gifts indeed, but not spirituall.

Secondly, for the degrees of Consanguinitie hindering marriage, the Synod attributed unto St. Patricke seemeth to referre us wholly unto the Levitical law; prescribing thereinttDe consanguinitate in conjugio. Intelligite quid Lex loquitur, non minùs nec plus. Quod autem observatur apud nos, ut quatuor genera dividantur; nec vidisse di…unt nec legisse. Synod. Patric. cap. 19. MS. neyther lesse nor more than the Law speaketh: and particularly, against matching with the wife of the deceased brother (which was the point so much questioned in the case of King Henrie the eighth) thisuuAudi decreta Synodi super istis. Frater thorum defuncti fratris non ascandat: Domino dicente, Erunt duo in carne unâ. Ergo uxor fratris tui soror tua est, Ibid. cap. 25. & in Excerptis è Inre Sacerdota…i Egborti archiepisc. per Hucarium Levitam. MS. Synodicall decree is there urged. The brother may not ascend into the bed of his deceased brother: the Lord having said, They two shall be one flesh. Therefore the wife of thy brother, is thy sister. Whereupon we finde also, that our Kilianus did suffer p. 51martyrdome forxxVit …ilia…, tom. 4. antiqu. lect. Henr. Ca… sti, pag. 633. & 644. dissolving such an incestuous marriage in Gozbertus Duke of Franconia: and that Clemens Scotus for maintaining the contrary was both byyyIudaismum inducens, judicat justum esse Christiano, ut si voluerit, viduam fratris defuncti accipiat uxorem. Bonifac. epist. ad Zachar. tomo 3. Concil. part. 1. pag. 382. edit. Colon. An. 1618. Boniface Archbishop of Mentz, and the zzInferens Christianis Iudaismum, dum praedicat fratris defuncti accipere uxorem. Concil. Roman. II. sub. Zachar. ibid. pag. 383. e.Councell held at Rome by Pope Zacharie in the yeare DCCXLV. condemned as a bringer in of Iudaisme amongst Christians. Yet how farre this condemned opinion of his prevailed afterward in this countrey, and how foule a crime it was esteemed to be by others abroad (notwithstanding the Pope doth now by his Buls of dispensation take upon him to make a faire matter of it) may easily be perceived by this censure of Giraldus: aaQuinimo (quod valde detestabile est, & non tantùm fidei, sed & cuilibet honestati valde contrarium) fratres pluribus per Hiberniam locis fratrum defunctorum uxores, non dico ducunt, sed traducunt, imo verius seducunt; dum trupiter eas, & tam incestuosè cognoscunt: veteris in hoc testamenti non medullae sed cortici adhaerentes, veteresque libentiùs in vitiis quàm virtutibus imitari volentes. Girald. Cambr. Topograph. Hibern. distinct. 3. cap. 19.Moreover, saith hee, which is very detestable, and most contrary not only to the faith, but also unto common honesty; brethren in many places throughout Ireland do, I say not marry, but marre rather and seduce the wives of their deceased brothers, while in this sort they filthily and incestuously have knowledge of them: cleaving herein not to the marrow but to the barke of the Old Testament, and desiring to imitate the ancient in vices more willingly than in vertues.

Thirdly, touching divorces, wee reade in Sedulius; thatbbNon licet secundùm praeceptum Domini ut dimittatur conjunx, nisi caussâ fornicationis. Sedul. in 1 Cor. 7.1 Cor 7 it is not lawfull, according to the precept of our Lord, that the wife should be put away, but for the cause of fornication, and in the Synod ascribed to St. Patrick. p. 52ccNon licet viro dimittere uxorem nisi ob caussam fornicationis. ac fi dicat, ob hanc caussam. Vnde si ducat alterum, velut post mortem prioris, non ve…ant. Synod. Patrie. cap. 36 MS.It is not lawfull for a man to put away his wife, but for the cause of fornication. as if he should say; for this cause, he may. Whence if hee marry another, as it were after the death of the former, they forbid it not. Who they were, that did not forbid this second marriage, is not there expressed: that Saint Patrick himselfe was of another minde, would appeare by this constitution following; which in another ancient Canon-booke I found cited under his name.ddSi alicujus uxor fornicata fuerit cum alio viro: non adducet aliam uxorem, quandiù viva fuerit uxor prima. Si fortè conversa fuerit, & agat poenitentiam, suscipiet eam; & serviet ei in vicem ancillae: & anuum integrum in pan… & aquâ per mensuram poeniteat; nec in uno lecto permaneant. Ex libro … Cott…an…, titul…m 66. If any mans wife have committed adulterie with another man: he shall not marry another wife, as long as the first wife shall be alive. If per adventure she be converted, and doe penance: he shall receive her; and she shall serve him in the place of a maid-servant. Let her for a whole yeare doe penance in bread and water, and that by measure: neyther let them remaine in the same bed together. Fourthly, concerning single life, I doe not finde in any of our records, that it was generally imposed upon the Clergie; but the contrary rather. For in the Synod held by St. Patrick, Auxilius, and Isserninus; there is a speciall order taken,eeQuicunque Clericis, ab Ostiario usque ad Sacerdotem, fine … visus fuerit, &c. & uxor ejus si non velato capite ambulaverit: pariter à laicis contemnenurtur, & ab Ecclesiâ separentur. Synod. Patric. Auxil Issernin. that their wives shall not walke abroad, with their heads uncovered. And St. Patrick himselfe confesseth (at leastwise the Confession which goeth under his name saith so; and Probus, Iocelinus, and others that write his life, agree therewith) that heeffPatrem habui Calporn… Diaconum, filium quondam Potiti presbyteri. S. Patricii Confessio. MS. had to his father Calphurnius a Deacon, and to his grandfather Potitus a Priest. For that was no new thing then among the Britons: p. 53whose Bishops therefore Gildas doth reprehend (as for the same cause he did the chiefe of the Laity) that they were not content to be the husbands of one, but of many wives, and that they corrupted their children by their evill example: whereasggImperfecta est patrum castitas, si eidem non & … accumul…. Sed quid crir, ubi nec pater, nec filius mali genitoris exemplo pravatus, conspicitu… castus? Gildas. the chastitie of the fathers was to be esteemed imperfect, if the chastitie of their sonnes were not added thereunto.

Nennius, the eldest Historiographer of the Britons which wee have after him (who in many copies also beareth his owne name) wrote that booke which we have extant of his, tohhSic inveni, ut tibi Samuel (infans magistri mei Benlani presbyteri) in istâ pagina scripsi. Nennius in MS^o. Dunelmensi. Samuel the childe of Benlanus the Priest, his master: counting it a grace, rather than any kinde of disparagement unto him, to bee esteemed the sonne of a learned Priest. Which maketh him in theiiVersus Nennii ad Samuelem filium magistri sui Benlani, viri religiosi, ad quem historiam istam scripserat. Nenn. MS. in publicâ Cantaebrigiensis academiae Bibliothecâ verses prefixed before the worke to say: Christe, tribuisti patri Samuelem,**Hinc apud Balaeum, Centur. 1 cap. 77. Benlani presbyteri … Laeta est nominata.

But about 60. or 70. yeares after, I finde some partiall eclipse here (and the first, I thinke, of this kinde, that can bee shewed among the Britons) in the lawes of Howel Dha: where it is ordered, thatkkSi clericus haberet foeminam datam à suo genere, & sic habee filium ex eâ; & posteà ille cleritus presbyteratus ordinem accipiens, si post votum consecrationis filium haberet de eâdem foeminâ; prior filius non debet partiri cum filio post nato. Ex legib. Howel Dha, MS. in … Cottonia…â. if a Clerk of a lower degree should match with a woman, and have a sonne by her, and that Clerke afterward having received the order of Priest-hood, should have another sonne by the same woman; the former son should enjoy his fathers whole estate, without being bound to divide the same with his other brother. Yet these marriages for all that were so held out, that the fathers not content their sonnes should succeed them in their temporall estate alone, prevailed so p. 54far that they continued them in the succession of their spirituall promotions also. Which abuse Giraldus Cambrensis llSuccessivè & post patres filii ecclesias obtinent, non electivè sed haereditate possidentes & polluentes Sanctuarium Dei. quia si praelatus alium eligere & instituere fortè praesumpserit; in instituentem procùl dubiò, vel institutum, genus injuriam vindicabit. Girald, Cambrensis Descript. Cambri…, libro 2^•. MS. Successio…is quippe vitium non solùm in sedibus cathedralibus, verùm etiam adeò per totam in clero sicut & in populo Walliam per…inaciter inyaiuit; quòd & post patres filii passim ecclesias & consequenter obtineant, tanquam haereditate possidentes & polluentes Sanctuarium Dei, &c. Id. in Dialogo de Ecclesiâ Menevensi, distinct. 1. MS.complaineth to have been continuedin Wales unto his time; & out ofmmHildebert. epist. 65. ad Honorium II. (tomo 12. Bibloth. Patr. part. 1. pag. 338. 339. edit. Colon.) Hil…ebertus Cenomanensis sheweth to have prevailed in little Brittaine also: whence he inferreth,nnEx quibus constare potest, utrumque vitium toti huic genti Britanniae tam cismarinae quàm transmarinae ab antiquo commune fuisse. Girald. Cambr. in utroque. that this vice was of old common to the whole Brittish nation aswell on this side as on the other side of the sea. Whereunto for Ireland also wee may adde the letters written by Pope Innocent the third unto Iohannes Salernitanus the Cardinall, his legate,ooAlphons. Ciacon. in Vitis Pontificum & Cardinalium, pag. 515. for abolishing the custome there, whereby sonnes and grand-children did use to succeede their fathers and grand-fathers in their Ecclesiastical benefices.