The historical context of ancient Ireland.
Ireland was always outside the Roman Empire, due in part to a successful strategy, whereby the Gaelic kings would take hostage, of sons and daughters of nobility, of an invading menace. “Niall and the Nine Hostages” for example gives an insight into this tried and tested method of national defence. St. Patrick and his two sisters where taken hostage by King Niall along with thousands of other victims.
St. Patrick’s apostolic mission to Ireland.
When St. Patrick returned to Ireland on his apostolic mission much later in life, he established dioceses as one would expect. But some centuries after this, a lay administration, known as the ‘’coarb’’ of St. Patrick developed. This admin role was a family heirloom, as a family member took control of the administration of their abbacy, to keep the monastic settlement from the foreign Viking hands. This followed as a result of the historic period of great instability in the Gaelic kingdom. In that epoch, there were seismic ethnic incursions in Ireland, that we find narrated in the ‘’Book of Invasions’’. This book encapsulates a difficult situation for the Gaels, wrought by the Vikings, who as the book recounts, arrived in Ireland ‘’wave after wave after wave’’. The Norse Vikings took hold of Dublin and Waterford, and later the Danes arrived and despoiled the established Catholic sees in Ireland. It was St. Kelly of Armagh who first challenged the family heirloom ”Coarb” model in favour of Rome Rule.
The various synods that changed the ecclesial norms in Ireland
The nation’s formerly established diocese became depleted of bishops and priests. A monastic model eclipsed the diocesan model, and this lasted until the time of the Synod of Rath Breasail of 1111. The Gael’s even had a Celtic observance that declined in favour of the Roman observance after the Synod of Whitby in 664 called by the King of Oswiu in Northumbria. St. Laserian took the leading part in settling the Irish Easter calendar controversy. In the Synod of Magh-lene, he successfully defended the Roman Easter calendar computation. The final break from the Celtic observance to the Roman observance however came slowly, with further persuasive efforts of St. Eunan.
The history and changes brought by the Synod of Rath Breasail
The year 1631 saw the completion of Fr. Geoffrey Keating’s series of moral reflections on death and the conduct of human life, Trí bior-ghaoithe an bháis, and his treatise on the Mass, Eochair-sgiath an Aifrinn. A man called John MacErlean draws attention to the inclusion of significant early ecclesiastical records which would otherwise have been lost. Keating’s history is the only source for the Synod of Rath Breasail at the beginning of the twelfth century when Ireland was first divided into its modern dioceses format we have today.
The Synod of Rath Breasail re-established diocese under the seat of the bigger and more notable monasteries existing in Ireland at the time. The lesser monasteries became subsumed by the more important monastic centres within the confines of the newly established diocesan lines. For example we had the Lismore monastery which was an important centre of learning for the Gaels. The lesser known monasteries became more like parochial centres. Shortly after the death of diocesan promoter St. Malachy, the Synod of Kells followed in 1152 to iron out anomalies still extant, and the four archdiocese in Ireland came into effect. The Waterford diocese was a small diocese of mainly Danish folk and some members of the Déise folk. Lismore and Waterford were then separate diocese as the peoples where still so culturally diverse. It was only much later did the two diocese amalgamate, and Lismore being the bigger diocese was given the lead name of the Lismore and Waterford diocese. After the reformation period the names were switched to the Waterford and Lismore diocese, which still stand today.
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