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قراءة كتاب The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, January 1865
تنويه: تعرض هنا نبذة من اول ١٠ صفحات فقط من الكتاب الالكتروني، لقراءة الكتاب كاملا اضغط على الزر “اشتر الآن"
THE IRISH
ECCLESIASTICAL RECORD.
JANUARY, 1865.
THE SEE OF CLONMACNOISE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
CARDINAL CONSALVI AND NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.
ST. BRIGID'S ORPHANAGE.
THE MSS. REMAINS OF PROFESSOR O'CURRY IN THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY.
ASSOCIATION OF ST. PETER'S PENCE, DUBLIN.
POLAND.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
DOCUMENTS.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
THE SEE OF CLONMACNOISE IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
In the beginning of the sixteenth century the See of St. Kieran was reckoned among the dioceses of the ecclesiastical province of Tuam. Dr. Walter Blake was then its bishop; he was a native of Galway, and Canon of Enaghdune, and by the provision of Pope Innocent VIII., was appointed to this See on the 26th of March, 1487. During twenty-one years he governed the faithful of Clonmacnoise with prudence and zeal, and died in May, 1508.
Thomas O'Mullally was appointed his successor the same year, and after administering this diocese for five years, was, in 1513, translated to the archiepiscopal see of Tuam.
There are still preserved in the Vatican archives two original letters written by King Henry VIII., on the 18th of June, 1515, soliciting the appointment of Father Quintinus Ohnygyn, of the Order of St. Francis, as successor to Dr. Mullally. These letters should, of themselves, suffice to set at rest for ever the plea which some modern theorists have advanced, that the course pursued by the English monarch in the latter years of his reign, in appointing bishops by his own authority to the episcopal sees, was the traditional right of the crown, ever exercised by him and his predecessors on the throne of England. The first letter is addressed to the reigning pontiff, Leo X., as follows:
"Sanctissimo, Clementissimoque Dño nostro Papae.
"Beatissime pater, post humillimam commendationem et devotissima pedum oscula beatorum. Certiores facti, Cluanensem Ecclesiam in Dominio nostro Hiberniae per translationem Revmi Patris Dñi Thomae ejus novissimi Episcopi ad Archi-Episcopatum Tuamensem vacare, venerabilem ac religiosum virum fratrem Quintinum Ohnygyn ord. min. virum doctum, gravem, circumspectum et probum, multorum testimonio maxime idoneum esse cognovimus qui dictae Ecclesiae praeficiatur. Quapropter Vestrae Sanctitati ipsum commendamus, eamque rogamus, ut eundem fr. Quintinum praedictae Cathedrali Ecclesiae Cluanensi per dictam translationem vacanti praeficere et Episcopum constituere dignetur, quem ut Deo acceptum, sic perutilem eidem Ecclesiae pastorem futurum arbitramur. Et felicissime valeat eadem Vestra Sanctitas, Quam Deus Altissimus longaevam conservet.
"Ex Palatio nostro Grenwici;
"die xviii. Junii 1515.
"Ejusdem Sanctitatis Vestrae
"Devotissimus atque obsequentissimus filius
"Dei gratia Rex Angliae et Franciae ac Dom. Hibae.
"Henricus".
The second letter was addressed to Cardinal Julius de Medicis, and is dated the same day. It seeks to conciliate for the petition contained in the letter first cited, the patronage of Cardinal de Medicis, who was known to exercise unbounded influence in the councils of Pope Leo:
"Henricus Dei Gratia Rex Angliae et Franciae, ac Dominus Hiberniae, Revmo. in Christo patri D. Julio tituli S. Mariae in Dominica S. R. Ecclesiae Diacono Cardinali nostroque ac Regni nostri in Romana curia Protectori et amico nostro charissimo salutem.
"Commendamus in praesentia Ssm. D. N. venerabilem religiosum virum fr. Quintinum Ohnygyn, virum doctum, prudentem et vitae integritate probatum, Suamque Sanctitatem rogamus ut eundem fratrem Quintinum Ecclesiæ Cluanensi, per Reverendi Patris Thomæ ejus postremi Episcopi ad Archi-Episcopatum Tuamensem translationem vacanti praeficere et praesulem constituere dignetur. Quare pergratum nobis erit ut Vestra Revma Dominatio relationem de dicta Ecclesia, ut moris est, facere et ejusdem fratris Quintini procuratoribus in Bullarum expeditione favorem suum praestare non gravetur.
"Ex Palatio nostro Grenwici die xviii. Junii, 1515.
"Henricus".
Though the king was thus so eager to have Dr. O'Hnygyn appointed without delay to the vacant see, it was only in the month of November the following year (1516) that the consistorial investigation was made for the appointment of this prelate. The record of this inquiry is still happily preserved, and though there was only one witness present who was a native of Ardfert, by name Nicholas Horan, still, from his scanty evidence we may glean some interesting particulars regarding the ancient See and Cathedral of St. Kieran.
The town of Clonmacnoise, he says, is situated in the ecclesiastical province of Tuam, at the distance of a day's journey from the sea coast. It is small, consisting of only twelve houses, which are built of rushes and mud, and are thatched with straw. At one side flows the river Shannon, and the surrounding country is thickly set with trees. Towards the west stands the cathedral, which is in a ruinous condition. Its roof has fallen, and there is but one altar, which is sheltered by a straw roof: it has a crucifix of bronze, and only one poor vestment: its sacristy, too, is small, but its belfry has two bells. Enshrined in the church is the body of the Irish saint whose name it bears: nevertheless the holy sacrifice of the Mass is seldom offered up, and the whole revenue of the see amounts to only thirty-three crowns. As to Father Quintin, it was further stated, that having been himself in Rome, he was already well known to many members of the Sacred College, and he is described as "in Presbyteratus ordine constitutus, vir doctus, praedicator, bonis moribus et famâ, aliisque virtutibus praeditus". (ap. Theiner, page 519.)
Pope Leo X. did not hesitate much longer in appointing one so highly commended to the vacant see, and before the close of 1516 Dr. O'Hnygyn was consecrated Bishop of Clonmacnoise. During the twenty-two years which he ruled this diocese he displayed great energy in reanimating the fervour of the faithful and