THE SUPPRESSION OF MELLIFONT.
"No more shall Charity with sparkling eyes,
And smiles of welcome, wide unfold the door,
Where pity listening still to nature's cries,
Befriends the wretched and relieves the poor."
(_Keats._)
The Religious Orders, which succeed each other in the Catholic Church, are
subject to laws similar to those that govern the productions of nature.
They grow from feeble and imperceptible seeds, increase, flourish, and
bear fruit; then decrease, fade, and fall to the ground. But they have
produced a fruit, which contains within it the germs of a new seed-time,
and which bursts forth vigorously from the decaying sheath to reproduce
its never-failing kind. This work of reproduction and subsequent expansion
is aided, directed, and encouraged by him, to whom is divinely committed
the government of the Church; and when pseudo, self-styled reformers essay
the difficult task, their true character is unmasked in the inevitable
ruin and desolation which follow, instead of the order and rehabilitation
which were promised. Bluff King Hal, or the Merrie Monarch, as Henry VIII.
was familiarly and affectionately called by his loving subjects in the
beginning of his reign, was in need of money to squander on his passions
and pleasures. In his newly assumed character, therefore, of Head of the
Church in his dominions (which, by Act of Parliament, he made it high
treason to deny), he suppressed the lesser monasteries whose annual income
did not exceed L200. This was done, forsooth, in the interests of
religion!!! The proceeds of the confiscation were soon dissipated, and the
wily Cromwell, whom the King had appointed his _Vicar General_, suggested
the suppression and appropriation to the King's uses, of all the
monasteries within the realm. Again it is his zeal for the promotion of
God's glory that is pleaded as his motive for the nefarious deed. Three
years before, when addressing the Houses of Parliament in behalf of the
measure for the suppression of the lesser monasteries, he publicly gave
thanks to God, that in the large communities "religion is right well kept
and observed." And yet, what a metamorphosis in such a short space! All
had now fallen away, and had inexplicably sunk into all manner of
iniquity! Spelman, in his _History of Sacrilege_, tells the mode adopted
by this model Reformer to carry his motion for investing in the Crown the
property of all the Religious Orders. "The King sent for the Commons," he
tells us, "and informed them he would have the Bill pass, or take off some
of their heads." This they knew to be no empty threat; and pass the Bill
they did on that memorable day of May 13, 1539. The Lords, as a body,
voted for it; partly through a feeling of jealousy towards the Churchmen,
who enjoyed no inconsiderable share of the monarch's confidence and
favour, and so they rejoiced at whatever promised to destroy this good
understanding between them; and partly through cupidity, for they hoped
for a share in the booty. The Bishops at that juncture are blamed for
their weakness in complying with so unjust a proceeding; but they were
divided in their councils; some considering it the less of two evils to
sacrifice the Religious houses, in the hope that the misunderstanding
between the King and the Pope would be soon adjusted and the monks
restored, yielded to the King; others, unworthy of their office, as it
must be admitted, worldly men, courtly prelates, who dreaded the King's
displeasure, obsequiously obeyed his mandate.
Besides his greed for gold, the King had another potent motive for
suppressing the monasteries, one that gave a zest to this disgraceful act:
he wanted the further to spite the Pope by inflicting such an unheard-of
injury on religion. Other motives, too, were not wanting, such as state
policy, so the King alleged, and the want of constant affection towards
his person on the part of the Religious, particularly in his new capacity.
This, Lord Herbert (who was no friend of the monks) admits in his Life of
the King. His Lordship writes: "The monks were looked upon as a body of
reserve for the Pope, and always ready to appear in his quarrels."
Perhaps, their opposition to the King's assumption of spiritual power
precipitated matters. At all events, one of them, zealous for God's law,
had the courage to reproach him to his face in a sermon preached at
Greenwich before the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn. This fearless
champion of justice, this intrepid son of St. Francis, thus addressed the
dissolute monarch:--"I am that Micheas, O King, whom you will hate because
I must tell you truly that this marriage is unlawful; and I know that I
shall eat the bread of affliction and drink the water of sorrow; yet,
because our Lord has put it in my mouth, I must speak it." And when he and
another faithful brother friar were brought before the King's council, who
rebuked them, and declared them deserving of being shut up in a sack, and
thrown into the Thames, for the boldness of their language in the matter
of the King's marriage, his companion smiling said: "Threaten these things
to the rich and dainty persons, who are clothed in purple, and fare
deliciously, and have their chiefest hope in this world; for we esteem
them not, but are joyful, that, for the discharge of our duty we are
driven hence; and, with thanks to God, we know the way to heaven to be as
ready by water as by land." (Stowe, _Church Chronicle_.)
It was not, then, for dissoluteness of morals, nor for illiteracy, nor for
backwardness in preaching the Word of God, nor yet for being drones in
society, that the monks were turned from their peaceful homes. The true
cause was, that the King knew, and his criminal advisers also knew, that
the monasteries were as impregnable fortresses, which in defence of truth
and justice, would hold out firm against seductive bribes, and the most
appalling threats; hence they must be swept away under plea of general
corruption of morals, etc., and their properties held up as a bait to draw
over proselytes to the new order of things. The historian, Lingard,
writing of the attitude of the monks towards the King's supremacy in
spiritual matters, says: "Secluded from the world, the Religious felt
fewer temptations to sacrifice their consciences to the commands of their
Sovereign, and seemed more eager to court the crown than to flee the pains
of martyrdom."
Here, in Ireland, one of the King's advisers counselled him to suppress
some of the monasteries, and to convert them into residences for young
noblemen, who would promote and defend the King's interests. Patrick
Finglas, created by Henry VIII. Chief Baron of the King's Exchequer, and
afterwards Lord Chief Justice, wrote a book entitled: "A Breviate of the
getting of Ireland and of the decay of the same," in which he recommends
the suppression of the monasteries bordering on the Pale, "because they
were giving more aid and supportacion to the Irish than to the King." "Let
the Abbeys," he goes on to say, "be given to young lords, knights, and
gentlemen out of England, which shall dwell upon the same." This advice
seemed good to the King, and it was literally carried out, but to far
greater extent than this astute lawyer had anticipated.
Mellifont, in common with the other Religious establishments in Ireland
within grasp of the King (for in Ulster, they were free from molestation
under O'Neil and O'Donnell), must have heard with dismay the rumours
afloat about a general suppression, and grief and consternation must have
filled the hearts of the monks. Was it possible, they asked, that the
King, whose person they respected, whose laws they obeyed, would drive
them forth, wanderers over the world, which many of them had renounced in
early youth; and now, without adequate provision, were they, in their
declining years, to perish by the roadside? Were their beautiful church,
their loved cloister, their shady groves, no more to shelter them, and
were they to sever connection with a spot endeared to them by so many holy
associations? Yes, it is true, alas! for the Abbot of St. Mary's, Dublin,
being nearer authentic sources of information, has heard it and has sent
word, that sentence is passed on all, and their doom has sounded; for the
following Royal Commission was forwarded to the Deputy, with peremptory
orders to have it executed forthwith:--
Royal Commission directed to John Allen, Chancellor; George, Archbishop of
Dublin; William Brabazon, Vice-Treasurer; Robert Cowley, Master of the
Rolls; and Thomas Cusacke, Esq.; reciting, "That from the information of
trustworthy persons, it being manifestly apparent that the monasteries,
abbeys, priories, and other places of Religious or Regulars, in Ireland,
are at present in such a state, that in them, the praise of God and the
welfare of man are next to nothing regarded; the Regulars and nuns
dwelling there being so addicted, partly to their own superstitious
ceremonies, partly to the pernicious worship of idols, and to the
pestiferous doctrines of the Roman Pontiff, that unless an effectual
remedy be promptly provided, not only the weak, low order, but the whole
Irish people, may be speedily infected to their total destruction. To
prevent, therefore, the longer continuance of such Religious men and nuns
in so damnable a state, the King (having resolved to resume into his hands
all the monasteries and Religious houses, for their better reformation, to
remove from them the Religious men and women, and to cause them to return
to some honest mode of living and to true religion,) directs the
Commissioners to signify this his intention to the heads of Religious
houses; to receive their resignations and surrenders willingly tendered;
to grant to those tendering it liberty of exchanging their habit and of
accepting benefices under the King's authority; to apprehend and punish
such as adhere to the Roman Pontiff and contumaciously refuse to surrender
their houses; to take charge for the King's use of the possession of those
houses, and assign competent pensions to those who willingly surrender."
(_Patent and Close Rolls, Chancery, Ireland_, Morrin, 1539-40, April 30,
Henry VIII., 30o, p. 55.)
Most marvellous, indeed, and sudden, and quite unprecedented in history,
was this utter decadence from godliness to "idolatry and the pestiferous
doctrine of the Roman Pontiff" on the part of 100,000 persons within the
space of three short years! But, behold! the godly monarch will reform
them (supposing they needed reform) in the fashion recorded in the old
English proverb: "The devil amended his dame's leg; when he should have
set it right, he brake it quite in pieces." That the Deputy, Lord Gray,
did not consider the monks and nuns an effete body, addicted to evil
practices, will appear evident from the letter he addressed to Cromwell,
and which was signed by his Council. It bears date 21st May 1539:--
"May it please your honourable Lordship to be advertised, that by the
report of Thomas Cusacke and others repaired lately out of the realm of
England into this land, it hath been openly bruited the King's grace's
pleasure to be, that all the monasteries within this land should be
suppressed, none to stand. Amongst which, for the common weal of this
land, if it might stand with King's most gracious pleasure by your good
Lordship's advertisement, in our opinion it were right expedient that six
houses should stand and continue, changing their habit and rule into such
sort as the King's grace shall will them: which are namely, St. Mary's
Abbey, adjoining Dublin, a house of white monks (Cistercians); Christ
Church, a house of canons situated in the middle of the City of Dublin;
Grace Dieu Nunnery, in the County Dublin; Connell, in the County Kildare;
Kenlys or Kells, and Jerpoint (this latter Cistercian also), in the County
Kilkenny. _For in these commonly, and in others such like_, in default of
common inns, which are not in this island the King's Deputy and all others
his Grace's Council and Officers, also Irishmen and others resorting to
the King's Deputy in these quarters is and hath been most commonly lodged
at the cost of the said houses. _Also, in them, young men and children,
both gentlemen's children and others, both of man kind and woman kind be
brought up in virtue and in the Englishe tongue and behaviour to the great
charge of the said houses_; that is to say, the woman kind of the whole
Englishie of this land, for the most part, in the said nunnery, and the
man kind in the other houses."
And the Abbot of St. Mary's, petitioning soon after for exemption from the
general suppression, pleads in a letter to the same Cromwell: "Verily we
be but stewards and purveyors to other men's uses for the King's honour,
keeping hospitality, and many poor men, scholars and orphans."
All petitions are unavailing; the King is inexorable; and St. Mary's and
Mellifont, and the others included in the original list must go down
before the despot's unholy will, untried, unheard, but with the nation's
regret, those alone excepted, who thirsted for and shared the sacrilegious
booty. Before the lamp of piety and learning be extinguished for ever in
Mellifont, let us take a parting glance at it, so that the contrast may be
the more marked as we note its vicissitudes later on.
In that bright July morning (1539), when the bell summoned the monks of
Mellifont to matins for the last time, the sun rose over as fair a picture
as could well be conceived, when its brilliant rays shot floods of light
through the woods and valley, and gilt the quivering tree-tops with
lustrous gold. And the enormous piles of white masonry looked whiter for
the glinting of the sun-beams, and many a fantastic shadow was cast on the
tesselated pavement in the church by the "dim religious light" of the
gorgeous stained glass windows. The statues of the Twelve Apostles looked
down patronisingly from lofty pedestals, and bore the minds of the
beholders aloft, to where the guerdon awaits the faithful soldier of
Christ when his term of service here below shall have expired. Loud rose
the rhythmic measure of the majestic Gregorian Chant rendered by over one
hundred full-voiced singers on that beautiful morning, ere yet the skylark
shook the dew-drops from his wings, or intoned his early carol o'er the
meadows by the Boyne. The pealing of the organ sounded loud and louder as
they chanted their solemn Mass, but to many who then took part in that
sacred function, its plaintive notes presaged the speedy end of their
time-honoured establishment, which at any moment may receive the fatal
visit of the Commissioners. In its internal economy it was wisely and
worthily governed, its community numbered 150 Choir monks, besides Lay
Brothers and familiars, its schools were prosperous, and from their
widespread reputation, merited the title of "famous" which was accorded
them. The children of the monks' tenants received a free education here;
moreover, the monks conducted a school, which we would now call a
seminary, where gentlemen's children and others were taught the higher
branches suited to prepare them for their career in after-life. Their
peaceful valley was screened on every side from wintry blasts by tasteful
plantations, useful and ornamental; for a thickly planted orchard, chiefly
of apple and pear trees, which covered both sides of the River Mattock
from the mill to where the bridge now spans the river, survived till
within the memory of many still living who describe it as having been so
dense that one could cross the valley on the tops of them. The grounds
surrounding the monastery were laid out with commendable taste; the lands
yielded plentiful crops, and supported numerous herds of cattle. The hill
south-east of the abbey was covered over with oak of gigantic size--the
growth of centuries--and on the Meath side were screens of valuable
timber. Their tenants were contented and prosperous; for the monks were
indulgent landlords. Their rents were paid in kind, and for the rest, they
found a ready market always at the abbey, where a huge supply of
provisions was constantly needed for the strangers and the poor who sought
and found a ready welcome there.
The spiritual wants of the tenants and dependants were attended to by one
of the monks, John Byrrel, whose name occurs first in the list of those
belonging to Mellifont to whom pensions were granted. He is styled Parson
of Mellifont. It is probable, too, that others of the abbey priests
ministered to Tullyallen parish (though it is scarcely probable that the
present parish is conterminous with the old one), to Monknewtown and
Donore; for in the English Episcopal Registers, twelve volumes of which
have been recently published, it is noted that their brethren in England
served the parishes in the immediate vicinity of the monasteries; and,
moreover, we find in the list of pensioners of other Cistercian houses in
Ireland, the names of three or more, in the same monastery, who are called
parsons. Medical advice and medicine were dispensed gratis at the Abbey.
The sick poor were visited and cared for in their homes by physicians
employed by the monks; they were also admitted into the hospital at the
gate. On fixed days weekly, the poor of the locality came for and received
loaves of bread which were specially baked for them, and meat in
abundance, with beer, was distributed to them. In those days there were no
poor laws; for the monks provided for all the wants of the indigent. The
monks were in constant touch with all classes of society, at least the
principal officers were, and they were the advisers, as well as the
instructors, of all. The History of the English Abbeys of the Order, or
the fragments that have survived the vandalism of the Dissolution, and
which have been published by impartial Protestants, clearly prove that
this picture of far-reaching and ungrudging beneficence is by no means
fanciful. (_See Ruined Abbeys of Britain, by Frederick Ross._) The Abbot
of Mellifont took a prominent place in the councils of the nation. He
ranked as a Peer, and had a seat in the House of Lords before all the
other Religious superiors, twenty-three more of whom were privileged to
sit there. He was bound to supply a certain number of horsemen for the
King's musters, and to maintain them at his own charge. Tradition has it
that he could ride on his own territory from the sea at Drogheda to the
Shannon at Athlone, but this requires confirmation. He owned some 4,000
acres at the suppression, extending on the south side of the Boyne from
Drogheda to Rossnaree, and on the north, to Slane, including the fisheries
and five salmon weirs on the river. He rented the fishing of sixteen
corraghs at Oldbridge, for which he got L13 13s. 4d. annually. The _town_
of Tullyallen belonged to him. It was then in a flourishing condition, but
has fallen since from its rank as a town to that of a mere village,
composed of a few scattered cottages. The district was then populous; for
another village grew up near the Abbey occupied by tradesmen and
dependants who were constantly employed by the monks. It was called Doagh.
It is now level with the field. It stood a quarter of a mile north-west of
Mellifont, beyond the Mattock. Its site is an elevated plateau, locally
known as the Doagh Meadows. The entire annual revenue of the Abbey was
estimated at L316, which, allowing for the difference in value of money
since, would be equivalent to an income of close on L4,000 at the present
day. On that the monks maintained themselves and a large staff of
servants, "kept hospitality, and many poor men, scholars, and orphans."
The Abbot entertained his guests daily at his own table in a spacious
building apart from the monks' quarters, and was a man of light and
leading, unlike the helpless imbecile portrayed by Scott in his novels.
The Abbot was chosen, often from some distant monastery, for his aptitude
"in governing souls," which was the paramount consideration with St.
Benedict in the selection of a superior. He should be learned, and sound
both in doctrine and morals, to be entrusted with such a charge. It is
only too true that unworthy persons, contrary to the Canons, were
sometimes intruded into the position by powerful relatives, and they,
alas! generally brought disgrace on religion.
As to the spiritual condition of Mellifont at the time of its suppression,
it was certainly on a high level. No charge was brought against that
community, on that score, even by its worst enemies; none but the general
ones mentioned in the Commission. In truth and in fact, the observances
then in force at Mellifont were identical with those introduced by Abbot
Christian and practised at Clairvaux by St. Bernard and his saintly
companions. If they were "idolatrous," and "superstitious," and savouring
of the "pestiferous doctrines of the Roman Pontiff," so must have been the
ancient practices of the Cistercians; and wonderful indeed was it, that
till King Henry and his advisers discovered it, our ancestors, for four
hundred years at least, approved of and took part in these same practices
without a suspicion of the "pernicious" errors they were now found to
contain! In the matter of discipline alone was there any decadence, and
then the altered conditions of the times demanded some modifications. The
use of flesh meat three days in the week was introduced, and instead of
manual labour, other duties were substituted, such as teaching, copying,
study, etc. In their daily lives, we are told by Rev. Dr. Gasquet, O.S.B.,
perhaps the greatest living authority in such matters, that the
Cistercians at that time differed little from the Benedictines.
Such was the condition of Mellifont on that fatal day, the 23rd July
1539, when the Commissioners, with an armed band, demanded admission and
surrender, in the King's name. Remonstrance with them was vain, and the
usual formality was gone through. They seized on the charters, registers,
ledgers, etc., together with the keys of the treasury and store-rooms;
took an inventory of all the possessions of the monastery, and sealed the
Library and strong room. They, then, summoned the Abbot and all the monks
to the Chapter-house, to sign the Act of Surrender. In the Calendar of
Patent and Close Rolls, Chancery, Ireland, Henry VIII. (edited by James
Morrin), the synopsis of it is given as follows at p. 135:--"Surrender of
the Abbey or House of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Mellyfount, in the County
of Louth, by Richard Contoure, Abbot, with the consent of the Convent; and
of the church, belfry, cemetery, manors, lands, and all its possessions in
the counties of Dublin, Kildare, and Carlow, with all charters, evidences,
muniments, goods, utensils, ornaments and jewels."--July 23, 31o. (1539).
"Endorsed on the preceding surrender is a memorandum that the Abbot and
Convent, assembled in the Chapter-house, voluntarily acknowledged the
preceding surrender, delivered it into the hands of the Lord Chancellor,
and prayed it might be enrolled in Chancery, _in perpetuam rei memoriam_.
Witness, George, Archbishop of Dublin; Wm. Brabazon, Vice-Treasurer;
Robert Cowley, Master of the Rolls." July 23, 31o.
How often have these "voluntary" surrenders been flaunted by writers
hostile to the monks, as if the farce of signing the document which made
them beggars were a free act! They were anxious, forsooth, to shake off
the burden of their religious obligations, through the facile dispensation
so liberally accorded by the new Head of the Church, in the flush of his
accession to ecclesiastical supremacy! The late scholarly and
liberal-minded Dean Butler, Protestant Rector of Trim, wrote thus on the
subject:--"The form of surrender then executed omitted no property which
could belong to the house.... There were added their charters, evidences,
writings and manuscripts, their goods, chattels, utensils, ornaments,
jewels, and debts, all these were granted to the King, to be disposed of
at his good pleasure, without appeal or complaint, and the unhappy men
_were forced to declare_, that they thus deprived themselves of house and
home _of their own free will_, and that they put an end to a venerable
institution, to which they were bound by so many solemn obligations,
certain just and reasonable causes thereto moving their minds and their
consciences." (_Register of the Priory of All Hallows._ Preface, p. xxix.)
The next step was, there and then, to auction off all the moveables of the
monastery, except the jewels of the rich reliquaries, chalices, and other
sacred vessels, with the plate and bells, which formed the King's special
perquisite. The whole artistic woodwork of the church (choir and
wainscotting) was smashed in pieces, and even the very tombs of the
founders and others interred there, were sold and carted off. For a
description of the work of destruction, as related by an eye-witness of
such vandalism at the suppression of an English Cistercian monastery, see
_The Irish Cistercians_, p. 45. The sale realised L141 7s. 3d., but no
detailed account is given of the sum that each article fetched. According
to another Commission addressed to John Allen, Chancellor; William
Brabazon, Vice-Treasurer; and Robert Cowley, Master of the Rolls; dated
May 20, 1539, the proceeds of such sales were ordered to be allocated "to
pay the officers and servants of the Crown." When the church and monastery
were dismantled, and every article of value, no matter how trifling, had
been removed, the order to clear out the monks was promptly given and
executed; and the gates were shut behind them. Whither they went nobody
cared, and whither to go was a problem to themselves difficult to be
solved; for without money or provision, they were in a worse condition
than the most destitute of beggars. The hoary old walls caught up their
groans and lamentations on that day, as with breaking hearts they looked
upon each familiar spot for the last time. This is one of the secrets the
old stones of the few remaining buildings yet withhold from us. Mellifont
beheld many moving spectacles during the four centuries of her existence,
but none, perhaps, so deeply affecting as when her 150 children, amongst
whom were the aged, tottering on the brink of the grave and leaning for
support on some younger brethren, turned their back upon their happy home
where they enjoyed an anticipated paradise. As the sad procession slowly
gained the top of the hill, many a time they turned to take a last
farewell look at their beloved monastery, till it faded from their view
for ever. A few shillings each were allowed them for their immediate
wants, but of that multitude only thirteen and the Abbot received
pensions. This grant was fixed for them three days after their expulsion,
after which they all disappear from the scene as effectually as if the
Boyne had engulphed them.
The following entries are found in the Patent and Close Rolls Calendar,
Henry VIII., pp. 59, 60: "Pension of L40 Ir. to Richard Contour, late
Abbot of Mellyfount, payable out of the parishes of Knockmohan, Donowre,
and Monkenewton, with clause of distress."--Sept. 10, 1539. And at p. 60,
_ibid._, "Pension to John Byrrell, late parson of Mellifount, L3 6s. 8d.;
to Thomas Bagot, L4; to Peter Rewe, 40/-; to Thomas Alen, 53/4; to
William Norreis, 40/-; to Robert Nangle, 40/-; to Patrick Contour, 53/4;
to William Veldon, L3 6s. 8d.; to Patrick Lawles, 40/-; to John Ball,
40/-; to Clement Bartholomewe, 20/-; to Phelim O'Neil, 20/-; payable out
of the rents and lands of the parishes of Knockamowan, Donower, and
Montnewton" (Monknewtown), 26 July, 1539.
Thus, then, were these fourteen provided for, but, of the others, not one
received a single shilling, except, as has been said, a mere pittance that
sufficed to procure them a few nights' shelter. This is no picture drawn
from fancy; it is a well-authenticated fact, that where a peaceful
surrender was not given or signed, no provision whatsoever was made for
those who so refused. They were given a trifle at their expulsion, and
turned adrift to swell the army of beggars, or to perish, as they did in
hundreds, of hardships to which they were unaccustomed. The imagination
cannot now well conceive the heartless, wanton cruelty then practised on
the expelled Religious; who, if they had betrayed their consciences and
taken the oath of Supremacy, might have staved off, at least for a time,
the calamities that befell them. But only for a time; for in some
instances where the monks, through mistaken notions, obeyed the Royal
mandate, they shared the fate of their more steadfast brethren, owing to
the insatiable rapacity of the King and his advisers. To those of the
expelled who were priests, the hope was held out to them, in case of "free
surrender," that they should be promoted to the first vacant benefices. As
not one of the Religious expelled from Mellifont is enrolled on the list
of those promoted to vacancies during that or the subsequent reigns, it is
obvious that they held fast to their principles, and denied the King's
Supremacy, an acknowledgment of which was indispensable before
promotion. All honour to them for their generous sacrifices, which made
them worthy to be the last who saw the venerable institution reel and fall
beneath the despot's blows. Their noble attitude was befitting the close
of a work which was inaugurated with such splendour amid a nation's
rejoicing. Like the setting sun, Mellifont disappeared in a halo of glory.