laity and clergy met, it was to take counsel, and decide by a majority of votes what was for the good of the Church. Now it appeared that they were merely assembled to receive the commands of their ruler. At Holmpatrick they had asked for two palls—one for Armagh and the other for Cashel. The Pope, however, was swayed by other influences, and had already decided that four were to be bestowed. Dublin and Tuam were also to have archiepiscopal rank, and thus the Danish see, which had been only a few years in existence, and had never been in communion with the Church of Ireland, was put on a level with places which had historic associations and had grown with the Church's growth. Some of the clergy were indignant, specially those of Armagh and Down. An old Irish account tells us that 'it was in violation of the rights of the clergy of Patrick and Columkill that the pall was given to the church of Dublin, or even to that of Tuam.'[1] But it was too late now for such protests. When the Coarb of Patrick was only third—an Italian priest (Cardinal Paparo) and a Danish bishop (Christian, of Waterford, papal legate) taking precedence before him—when no place at all was found for the Coarb of Columkill—when French Cistertians were masters of the ceremonies, and Irish abbots were barely tolerated: there was no place left for the assertion of Irish independence. As a free and national institution, the Irish Church ceased to exist at the Synod of Kells.
- ↑ Book of Flann MacEogan, quoted by Bp. Reeves. Antiquities of Down, Connor and Dromore, p. 141.
