_The Ancient Church of Ireland: A few Remarks on Dr. Todd's
Memoir of the Life and Mission of Saint Patrick, Apostle of
Ireland._ By Denis Gargan, D.D., Professor of Ecclesiastical
History in the Royal College of Saint Patrick, Maynooth.
Dublin: Duffy, 1864, page 120.
In this work Dr. Gargan reviews and refutes some of the opinions
advanced by Dr. Todd in his _Memoir of Saint Patrick_. He selects six
of these opinions as specially deserving of animadversion. 1o. That
Diocesan jurisdiction did not exist in Ireland before the twelfth
century; and under this head he examines the inferences drawn by Dr.
Todd from the testimonies of Saint Anselm, Saint Bernard, the enactment
of the English Synod of Cealcythe, and the authority of Bycus. 2o.
That the Irish Church underwent decline during the sixth and seventh
centuries. For this opinion Dr. Todd adduces as _abundant evidence_, 1.
a prophecy put into the mouth of Saint Brigid by Aumchad, or Animosus,
in his life of that saint; 2. the testimony of the Abbess Hildegardis,
in her _Life of Saint Disibod_, or _Disen_, Abbot of Disemberg; 3. the
_Life of the Gildas_, in which startling charges are brought against
the Irish Church. Dr. Gargan shows in detail how far these testimonies
are from being abundant evidences on which to ground so serious a
charge. 3o. That Saint Patrick and other early saints of Ireland were
not free from superstition. As proof of this, Dr. Todd cites the
_Confession of Saint Patrick_, his Lorica, and his toleration of pagan
superstitions. The second order of saints, according to Dr. Todd,
"were unable to divest themselves of the old superstitions of their
race". These proofs are severally overthrown by Dr. Gargan. 4o. That
Saint Patrick was illiterate and ignorant, and that the story of his
education under Saint Germanus is false. _Saint Patrick's Confession_
is the principal argument adduced to prove the first assertion, and
the absence of all allusion to Saint Germanus in the Confession and in
the _Hymn of Secundinus_ is the reason for the second. 5o. That Saint
Patrick had no commission from Pope Celestine. Under the head of Dr.
Todd's negative arguments, Dr. Gargan examines the silence observed
about the mission from Rome:--1. in the _Confessions_, and the _Epistle
to Coroticus_; 2. in the _Hymn of Saint Sechnall, or Secundinus_;
3. in the _Hymn of Saint Fiacc_; 4. in the _Life of Saint Patrick_
in the Book of Armagh. Under the heading, "Dr. Todd's Chronological
Difficulties against the Roman Mission of Saint Patrick", the author
refutes the arguments drawn from various sources to show that Saint
Patrick did not commence his apostolic life in Ireland before A.D.
440, wherefore, Pope Celestine having died A.D. 432, the mission from
Rome cannot be admitted. Finally, 6. the incompleteness of the memoir
is brought as a charge against its author. "With all that Dr. Todd has
written concerning our apostle, we are left strangely at a loss to know
whether the form of Christianity which he introduced into our island
in the fifth century was in harmony or at variance with Catholicity
as then prevailing in the east and west, and as still prevailing in
all churches in connection with the chair of Peter" (page 107). This
is a grave charge indeed, and we agree with the learned professor in
believing that it seriously interferes with the claims which Dr. Todd's
work has to be considered a guide in the questions that every now and
then are agitated concerning the Irish Church. In the face of this
well-grounded charge of incompleteness, how can the _Press_ say that
"no one will be qualified to do justice to that vexed and intricate
question, who has not made himself master of the facts connected with
the early institution of that Church, of which Dr. Todd has shown
himself the truthful and laborious expositor"?