all that remained of her spirit, and left her but the shadow of a name. bishops and March 22, 1642. The Romish clergy, who, as the lords justices say, Synod of Popish "had hitherto walked somewhat invisibly in these clergy. works of darkness," now began openly to justify that Rebellion, which they were before supposed underhand to promote. Hugh O'Neile, titular primate of Armagh, summoned the bishops and clergy of his province to a synod at Kells. They met on the 22nd of March, 1642; and, after making some constitutions against murderers, plunderers, and the usurpers of other people's estates, they declared the war, so they called the Rebellion of the Irish, to be lawful and pious, and exhorted all persons to join in support of the cause. lar Bishop of Thomas Diaz, or Desse, titular bishop of Meath, Absence of tituhad been summoned to this synod; but neither Meath. came in person, nor sent a proxy to appear for him. He had not offered so much as an excuse for his absence, nor admonished any of the dignitaries of his Church to go thither. He had laboured earnestly to keep the nobility and gentry of his diocese from embarking in the war, which he maintained to be groundless and unjust: and had succeeded so well, particularly with the Earl of Westmeath, in whose house he lived, and with several gentlemen of the Nugent family, that they had not stirred. It was necessary in policy to censure a prelate, who had Censure passed done them so much mischief, and to destroy the credit which he had with his flock. They ordered him to recant an opinion, so contradictory to their own; to subscribe the acts of the synod; and to submit himself in three weeks, under pain of incurring suspicion of heresy, and of being informed upon him. General synod. against to the Pope; and in case he did not submit within that time they declared him suspended ab officio. To the authority of a provincial synod it was thought proper to add that of a general synod of all the Romish bishops and clergy in Ireland, which met on the 10th of May at Kilkenny. The three titular Archbishops of Armagh, Cashel, and Tuam, with six other bishops, and the proxies of five more, besides The war declared vicars-general and other dignitaries, were present, and declared the war to be just and lawful. just and lawful. Provisions for its conduct. Regulation for support of the confederacy. Among other constitutions, they ordered an exact register to be kept in each province of the burnings, murders, and cruelties committed by the Protestant forces, and passed censures on such of their people as were guilty of the like outrages. They provided that no distinction should be made of old and new Irish, and that all who had taken arms should be united by a common oath of association : that all who should refuse to take the oath, or were neuters, or who assisted the enemy with victuals, arms, advice, or intelligence, should be excommunicated, and deemed enemies of the cause and betrayers of their country. They directed all ecclesiastical revenues to be received by particular collectors; and, after a competency being allowed to the proprietor, the rest to be applied for the service of the war. For the better exercise and support of their confederacy, they made several regulations with regard to the provinces; appointing provincial councils, composed of clergy and laity together, to be settled in each, and a general council of the nation to be formed at Kilkenny, to which the others were subordinate. They resolved also to apply to foreign potentates; and ordered that, in the next general assembly a prelate, a nobleman, and a lawyer should be deputed to the Pope, the Emperor, and the King of France, to solicit for assistance. These were acts purely of the clergy; but the nobility and gentry, then at Kilkenny, joined in forming the oath of association; in naming the members of the supreme council, of which Lord Mountgarret was chosen president; and in appointing a general assembly of the whole nation to meet in that city in the October following'. Of the temper and the projects of the Popish hierarchy, with respect to the Church of Ireland, at this season, the following may be cited as specimens, which represent the objects of its ambition under various aspects, all of them, however, looking towards the same end. Possessions of clergy appro the Protestant priated, October, 1642. In 1642, the 24th of October, a general assembly of the lords spiritual and temporal, and others, the representatives of the confederates, was held at Kilkenny, where, amongst many other ordinances it was decreed, "That the possessions of the Protestant clergy, in right of the Church, shall be deemed the possessions of the Catholick clergy." And on the 14th of November they named their supreme council, which contained, together with others, the following prelates, thus absolutely de- Titles of the scribed: "Archbishop of Dublin," "Archbishop of Tuam," "Bishop of Clonfert," "Archbishop of Armagh.' And to the same effect in 1650, occurs a "Declaration of the undernamed bishops, in the name of themselves and the rest of the bishops, convoked at Limerick, as deputed by them." It professes to be "from ourselves, as the sense like CARTE's Life of Ormonde, v. i. p. 316. bishops assumed. Churches seized, Jurisdiction and patronage of benefices claimed, wise and true meaning of the rest of our brethren, other bishops of this kingdom:" and it bears annexed the signatures of persons' calling themselves absolutely and without qualification, Archbishop of Tuam, Bishop of Clonfert, of Killalla, of Cork and Cloyne, Bishop of Kilmacduagh". In a meeting of the Popish clergy, June 1, 1645, for the purpose of considering certain terms of agreement with the king, it was determined, "absolutely, expressly, and clearly to set down in the said treaty of peace a special article, to the effect of keeping in their hands such churches, abbeys, monasteries, and chapels now in their hands, and recovered by them for the true worship of God;" and at a general assembly of the confederates, on the 9th of the same month, in pursuance of the foregoing decision of the clergy, it was voted, "That as to the demand of restoring the Protestant churches, there should be given a positive denial.” And in another congregation of the Popish clergy, in January, 1647, a paper of proposals was January, 1617. agreed upon, which was submitted to the general assembly of the confederates on the first day of their meeting, and contained this demand, "That they should have all manner of jurisdiction, privileges, and immunities, as amply as they had in the time of King Henry the Seventh, and have all the church livings, &c., conferred upon them." Exhortations of the Pope by his nuncio, 1645. Such was the spirit with which the Popish clergy regarded the Church of Ireland, and such the projects which they meditated for its overthrow, in accordance with the exhortation of the pope, Innocent the Tenth, communicated to them by his nuncio at one of their assemblies in 1645, who had been 10 Cox's Hist., v. ii. pp.124, 151, 185. instructed to assemble the bishops and prelates of the kingdom; to unite and encourage them to persist in the war, till their religion should be established, and a Romanist appointed lord lieutenant; and to induce them to receive the decrees of the Council of Trent". And the overthrow of the Church, considered in the character of a National Church, must have been the consequence of the privations, to which it was their aim that she should be submitted. The Marquis of Ormonde, the lord lieutenant, seems to have been duly sensible of this, and to have made that conviction the rule of his own determination for in a letter, addressed to the on Christmas Day, 1646, he thus resolutely indicates his sentiments. Sentiments of the Lord Lieu tenant. Lord Digby. Lord Digby, His letter to seech you to be careful of one thing, which is, to take order that the commands, that shall be directed to me touching this people, if any be, thwart not the grounds I have laid to myself in point of religion, for in that and in that only I shall resort to the liberty left to a subject, to obey by suffering: and particularly that there be no concession to the Papists, to perpetuate churches or church livings to them, or to take ecclesiastical jurisdiction from us. And as for other freedoms from penalties, for the quiet exercise of their religion, I am clear of opinion, it not only may, but ought to, be given them, if his majesty shall find cause to own them for anything but rebels." tarists. The Church, however, had enemies, little less Protestant secacrimonious or dangerous than the Papists, to be encountered in the Protestant sectarian faction. 11 CARTE'S Ormonde, i. 559. |