Page images
PDF
EPUB

ment of

has roused your mind (as we learn from the communica- The pope's tion of those same archbishops and bishops, and the acknowledgmore full and express tidings brought us by the archHenry's dideacon aforesaid,) to effect the subjugation of that peo- vine inspiraple to your own sovereignty, by a junction of your mag- tion, piety, nificent land and sea forces, and to exterminate from it missionary such abominable filthiness as we have referred to; for spirit, &c. this we entertain due feelings of joy and gratitude, and take occasion therefrom to render our devout thanksgivings unto Him from whom every good proceeds, and who orders the pious acts and wills of His faithful people, according to His own good pleasure for the furtherance of their salvation; beseeching the Almighty Lord, in our votive prayers, to grant, that, as by the influence of your Majesty those practices so contrary to all law, which have been prevalent in the land aforesaid, are already beginning to decline, so also by the Lord's assistance, the people aforesaid may through your instrumentality be led to forsake their lewd and sinful courses, and adopt in its full integrity the discipline of the Christian religion-to the gaining for you of an unfading crown of everlasting glory, and to the promoting of the salvation of their souls.

vance of

"We therefore desire of your Royal Excellency, we He urges admonish and exhort you in the Lord,-and enjoin it the monarch upon you [as a means] for [obtaining] the remission of to use his royal power your sins, that you strengthen and brace your mind to a in reducing higher degree of energy in that undertaking, wherein the Irish to you have made so laudable a commencement; and that the obseryou make use of your power to reduce that people the Christo the observance of the Christian religion, and to retain tian relithem therein. That as you have spent your labour gion;' against them already with a view to obtaining, as we believe, the remission of your sins, so for promoting their progress in the way of salvation, you may be counted worthy to receive the crown everlasting.

and is care

"And as your Highness's Excellency is aware that ful to insert the Church of Rome has by right an authority over a good word at the close islands different from what she possesses over the main on behalf of land and continent, having therefore such a confident the Church. hope in the fervor of your devotion, as to believe that

it would be your desire, not only to conserve, but also to extend, the privileges of the said Church, and to establish her jurisdiction, as you are in duty bound, where she has none at present; we ask, and earnestly exhort, your highness to use your anxious diligence to preserve to us the privileges belonging to St. Peter in the land aforesaid. That so we may be in duty bound to render abundant thanks to your royal eminence, and you may appear as presenting for an offering to God the first fruits of your glory and triumph.

"Dated at Tusculum, Sep. 20."

The saluta

tion, to the princes, &c.,

of Ireland.

They are flattered with pleasant sug

the im

No. XV.-POPE ALEXANDER 111. TO THE NOBLES OF IRELAND.

"Alexander, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to our beloved children the noblemen, kings, and princes of Ireland, greeting and apostolical benediction.

"When it became known to us from public report, as well as from unquestionable testimony of particular individuals, that you had received for your king and Lord our most dearly beloved son in Christ, Henry the gestions on illustrious king of the English, and that you had sworn fealty to him, our feelings of heartfelt joy on the occasion were proportionate to the increase of tranquillity and peace which is likely to result in your country from the power of the said king, the Lord assisting, and the prospect that the Irish people who for this time past were seeming to have gone far astray from God in the enormity and lewdness of their crimes, will now receive in

proved prospects of

their country;

struction likely to render them more interested in divine worship, and be better grounded in the discipline of the Christian religion.

mended for their pru

"But however as to your having voluntarily sub- and comjected yourselves to a monarch eo magnificent and powerful, and one who is such a devout son of the Church, dence in your prudence herein we must mark with its due com- submitting mendation, inasmuch as it may be hoped that no incon- to king siderable advantages will thence result to yourselves, to Henry II. the Church, and to the people of your country in general.

them to be

"We therefore earnestly admonish and command your The pope noble body to be careful to maintain firm and inviolate, encourages in all due subjection, the fealty which you have promised, very loyal to with the solemn sanction of your oath, to this mighty their new prince. And shew your obedience and attachment to him sovereign. in such a spirit of gentleness and humility, that you may be continually gaining increasing favor at his hands, and that we may feel ourselves in duty bound to express our commendation of your prudence as is meet."

No. XVI-POPE ALEXANDER III. TO RODERIC O'CONOR.

"TO THE ILLUSTRIOUS KING OF THE IRISH.-ON THE SUBJECT OF A COUNCIL TO BE HOLDEN IN HIS COUNTRY."

tude for

"In the letter of your Highness received with due The pope sensations of benevolence, we observe with very much expresses gratitude and satisfaction, that spirit of faith and devo- his gratition which we know that you, as a Catholic Prince and king Rodemost Christian King, steadily maintain towards B. Peter ric's devoand ourselves. And we have to commend in the Lord tion to with due encomiums the existence of such a spirit on the "the apospart of your Eminence, rendering our fullest acknow

tolic see."

and his wil

lingness to

return such kindness

ledgments to your Serene Highness for the care which you have taken in receiving to your royal benevolence our beloved son, Subdeacon O. sent some time since to your quarters for the purpose of holding a council there; and for your readiness in treating him with all the honour suited to your character and to his.

"On which grounds of high esteem for your faith and sincerity, we are confirmed in our will and purpose, always to receive your petitions with favourable attention, and to seek after the honour and glory of your Highness nity might in all cases where, with the assistance of God, we may have opportunity.

as opportu

offer.

His gracious reception of

Mellifont;

"For the present however, we desire to intimate to the abbot of your Excellency, that we have given a benign reception to our well-beloved son the abbot of Mellifont, whom your Serene Highness has recommended to us; and we have been careful to give him a satisfactory audience in his just petition. We therefore entreat of your Magnificence, and exhort you in the Lord, to persevere, steadfast and immoveable, in Catholic unity and in your devotion to your Mother the H. Roman Church, and to us. That you may in this way both secure the prize of the everlasting recompense, and also establish a claim to favours continually increasing from the Apostolic see and from ourselves."

and con

cluding ex

hortations to the

Irish king to be loyal

to Rome.

Account of the Synod above

Of the Synod alluded to in the above Epistle, the following brief account is given in the Annals of the Four Masters:

"A.D. 1172. A general Synod of Ireland, both of the mentioned clergy and chief laity, was held at Tuam in Connaught, at which Rory O'Conor, and Cadhla O'Duffy, archbishop ters. of Tuam, presided. Three churches were consecrated.'

from the

Four Mas

perhaps to

rangements

It must have been held (as Dr. Lanigan ob- Its object serves, E. H. iv. 217,) after the Synod of Cashel; establish the and perhaps was got up under the influence of Cashel arthe archbishop Cadhla, or Catholicus, (who had for Tuam already assisted in that Synod, vid. p. 514 sup.) province. partly, at least, in order to confirm and extend the authority of its arrangements through the province of Tuam.

No. XXXVIII.

SOMB ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE ANTI-BRITISH AND ANTI-IRISH POLICY
OF THE ANGLO-NORMANS.

Giraldus on the national

In Giraldus Cambrensis we meet with some Notes from curious and interesting illustrations of the spirit which actuated Henry II. and his successors, in antipathy their dealings with the affairs of the people of Wales and Ireland respectively. A few specimens of the kind are here subjoined.

felt by the Anglo-Norman rulers against the Welsh.

church of

In our author's Treatise de Rebus a se Gestis, An attempt we find a notice of the efforts made use of, by the to save the rightful inarchdeacon and some of the canons of the church dependence of St. David's, to save if possible, the ancient of the rights and independence of their see from the St. David's; encroachments of the Normans; (vid. Wharton's Anglia Sacra, vol. ii. p. 475. Lond. 1691.)

« EelmineJätka »