CHAPTER IX.
CHURCH OFFICERS PECULIAR TO IRELAND.
In order to complete the description of the peculiarities of the Irish Church, a few words must be said on some Church officers which seem to have been found only in Ireland.
The head of every monastery is sometimes called the abbot of the place, but still more frequently he is designated the Coarb of the founder. This title arose from the tribal organization. Coarb means inheritor or successor. Thus, the Abbot of Iona was Coarb of Columkill. The same title would be taken by the Abbot of Derry, or Kells, or Swords, or of any other Columban monastery. The Abbot of Clonmacnois was Coarb of Kerian; the Abbot of Armagh was Coarb of Patrick; and similarly, the head of every establishment was called after the first founder. Sometimes the head of the chief community of any order was called Arch-Coarb. This signified that he was the inheritor not only of the tribal rights of the founder, but that he had also authority over all the lesser places where the same rule was followed. Thus the idea of succession rather than of locality was that which was prominent in their minds. In other countries, the opposite rule held. The names of our own parishes and dioceses, for example, are simple territorial distinctions, and have no suggestion in them of each
99
