Synod of Cashel
Encyclopedia
The Synod of Cashel of 1172, also known as the Second Synod of Cashel,The first being the Synod held at Cashel in 1101 was assembled at Cashel
at the request of Henry II of England
shortly after his arrival in Ireland in October 1171. The Synod sought to regulate some affairs of the Church in Ireland and to condemn some abuses, bringing the Church more into alignment with the Roman Rite
. As such it can be seen as a continuation and part of the Irish church reform of the Twelfth Century, and the first synod of Cashel, the Synod of Rathbreasail
and the Synod of Kells, slowly embracing the Gregorian Reforms. To which extent the Synod set directions for the relationship between the English and the Irish Church has been subject of scholarly debate. Stephen J. McCormick described the Synod as one of the most important events of this period of Irish history.
The Synod is not mentioned in Irish sources, so historians have had to rely on other sources, in particular Giraldus Cambrensis
' (Gerald of Wales) account in Expugnatio Hibernicae (Conquest of Ireland). In his account of the Synod he lists the "constitions" of the synods, "verbatim, as they were published".
. This was the see
of Gilla Críst Ua Connairche (Christianus), who was native papal legate
to Ireland. Henry also visited Cashel and Dublin, and thus had the opportunity to meet the archbishop
s Donnchad Ua hUallacháin of Cashel and Lorcán Ua Tuathail
of Dublin. According to Martin Holland, arrangements for a synod to meet at Cashel soon afterwards were put in place through these contacts. Giraldus lists these three bishops, as well as Cadla Ua Dubthaig
, Archbishop of Tuam
named as "Catholicus Tuotuenensis archiepisopi" (Expugnatio, XXXIV) among the clergy of Ireland attending the synod, "with their suffragans and fellow-bishops, together with the abbots, archdeacons, priors, and deans, and many other Irish prelates". Gilla Meic Liac mac Diarmata (Gelasius), Archbishop of Armagh
and Primate of Ireland
did not attend. According to McCormick he refused to attend. Giraldus relates that his absence was due to "infirmities and advanced age", and that he afterwards came to Dublin to give his assent "to the royal will in all these matters".
I That the faithful throughout Ireland do contract and observe lawful marriages rejecting those with their relations either by consanguinity or affinity.
II That infants be catechised before the door of the church and baptised in the holy font in the baptismal churches.
III That all the faithful do pay the tithe of animals corn and other produce to the church of which they are parishioners.
IV That all ecclesiastical lands and property connected with them be quite exempt from the exactions of all laymen. And especially that neither the petty kings nor counts nor any powerful men in Ireland nor their sons with their families do exact, as was usual, victuals and hospitality or entertainments in the ecclesiastical districts or presume to extort them by force and that the detestable food or contributions, which used to be required four times in the year from the farms belonging to churches by the neighbouring counts, shall not be claimed any more.
V That in case of a murder committed by laymen and of their compounding for it with their enemies clergymen their relatives are not to pay part of the fine (or erick) but that as they were not concerned in the perpetration of the murder so they are to be exempted from the payment of money.
VI That all the faithful lying in sickness do in the presence of their confessor and neighbours make their will with due solemnity dividing in case they have wives and children excepting their debts and servants wages their moveable goods into three parts and bequeathing one for the children and another for the lawful wife and the third for the funeral obsequies. And if haply they have no lawful progeny, let the goods be divided into two parts between himself and his wife. And if his lawful wife be dead, let them be divided between himself and his children.
VII That to those who die with a good confession due respect be paid by means of masses and wakes and a decent burial. Likewise that all divine matters be henceforth conducted agreeably to the practices of the holy Church according as observed by the Anglican Church.
Cashel, County Tipperary
Cashel is a town in South Tipperary in Ireland. Its population was 2936 at the 2006 census. The town gives its name to the ecclesiastical province of Cashel. Additionally, the cathedra of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly was originally in the town prior to the English Reformation....
at the request of Henry II of England
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
shortly after his arrival in Ireland in October 1171. The Synod sought to regulate some affairs of the Church in Ireland and to condemn some abuses, bringing the Church more into alignment with the Roman Rite
Roman Rite
The Roman Rite is the liturgical rite used in the Diocese of Rome in the Catholic Church. It is by far the most widespread of the Latin liturgical rites used within the Western or Latin autonomous particular Church, the particular Church that itself is also called the Latin Rite, and that is one of...
. As such it can be seen as a continuation and part of the Irish church reform of the Twelfth Century, and the first synod of Cashel, the Synod of Rathbreasail
Synod of Rathbreasail
The Synod of Ráth Breasail took place in Ireland in 1111. It marked the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish-based church...
and the Synod of Kells, slowly embracing the Gregorian Reforms. To which extent the Synod set directions for the relationship between the English and the Irish Church has been subject of scholarly debate. Stephen J. McCormick described the Synod as one of the most important events of this period of Irish history.
The Synod is not mentioned in Irish sources, so historians have had to rely on other sources, in particular Giraldus Cambrensis
Giraldus Cambrensis
Gerald of Wales , also known as Gerallt Gymro in Welsh or Giraldus Cambrensis in Latin, archdeacon of Brecon, was a medieval clergyman and chronicler of his times...
' (Gerald of Wales) account in Expugnatio Hibernicae (Conquest of Ireland). In his account of the Synod he lists the "constitions" of the synods, "verbatim, as they were published".
The meeting of the Synod
Upon his arrival in Ireland, Henry went to LismoreLismore, County Waterford
Lismore is a town in County Waterford, Ireland. It is located where the N72 road crosses the River Blackwater.-History:It was founded by Saint Mochuda, also known as Saint Carthage. In the 7th century, Lismore was the site of the well-known Lismore Abbey. It is also home to Lismore Castle, the...
. This was the see
Episcopal See
An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...
of Gilla Críst Ua Connairche (Christianus), who was native papal legate
Papal legate
A papal legate – from the Latin, authentic Roman title Legatus – is a personal representative of the pope to foreign nations, or to some part of the Catholic Church. He is empowered on matters of Catholic Faith and for the settlement of ecclesiastical matters....
to Ireland. Henry also visited Cashel and Dublin, and thus had the opportunity to meet the archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
s Donnchad Ua hUallacháin of Cashel and Lorcán Ua Tuathail
Lorcán Ua Tuathail
Lorcán Ua Tuathail, also known as St Laurence O'Toole, was born at Castledermot, Kildare, Ireland, in 1128, and died at Eu, Normandy, France, on 14 November 1180; he was canonized in 1225 by Pope Honorius III.-Early life:...
of Dublin. According to Martin Holland, arrangements for a synod to meet at Cashel soon afterwards were put in place through these contacts. Giraldus lists these three bishops, as well as Cadla Ua Dubthaig
Cadla Ua Dubthaig
Cadla Ua Dubthaig, second Archbishop of Tuam, 1161–1201.Ua Dubthaig was member of a Connacht ecclesiastical family originally from Lissonuffy in what is now north-east County Roscommon...
, Archbishop of Tuam
Archbishop of Tuam
The Archbishop of Tuam is an archiepiscopal title which takes its name after the town of Tuam in County Galway, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland until 1839, and is still in use by the Roman Catholic Church.-History:...
named as "Catholicus Tuotuenensis archiepisopi" (Expugnatio, XXXIV) among the clergy of Ireland attending the synod, "with their suffragans and fellow-bishops, together with the abbots, archdeacons, priors, and deans, and many other Irish prelates". Gilla Meic Liac mac Diarmata (Gelasius), Archbishop of Armagh
Archbishop of Armagh
The Archbishop of Armagh is the title of the presiding ecclesiastical figure of each of the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland in the region around Armagh in Northern Ireland...
and Primate of Ireland
Primate of Ireland
The Primacy of Ireland was historically disputed between the Archbishop of Armagh and the Archbishop of Dublin until finally settled by Pope Innocent VI. Primate is a title of honour denoting ceremonial precedence in the Church, and in the Middle Ages there was an intense rivalry between the two...
did not attend. According to McCormick he refused to attend. Giraldus relates that his absence was due to "infirmities and advanced age", and that he afterwards came to Dublin to give his assent "to the royal will in all these matters".
Acts of the Synod
Giraldus lists seven acts or "constitutions" of the Synod, here given in the translation of William Gouan Todd:For a different translation, see The Conquest of Ireland, chapter XIV. For the Latin text see .I That the faithful throughout Ireland do contract and observe lawful marriages rejecting those with their relations either by consanguinity or affinity.
II That infants be catechised before the door of the church and baptised in the holy font in the baptismal churches.
III That all the faithful do pay the tithe of animals corn and other produce to the church of which they are parishioners.
IV That all ecclesiastical lands and property connected with them be quite exempt from the exactions of all laymen. And especially that neither the petty kings nor counts nor any powerful men in Ireland nor their sons with their families do exact, as was usual, victuals and hospitality or entertainments in the ecclesiastical districts or presume to extort them by force and that the detestable food or contributions, which used to be required four times in the year from the farms belonging to churches by the neighbouring counts, shall not be claimed any more.
V That in case of a murder committed by laymen and of their compounding for it with their enemies clergymen their relatives are not to pay part of the fine (or erick) but that as they were not concerned in the perpetration of the murder so they are to be exempted from the payment of money.
VI That all the faithful lying in sickness do in the presence of their confessor and neighbours make their will with due solemnity dividing in case they have wives and children excepting their debts and servants wages their moveable goods into three parts and bequeathing one for the children and another for the lawful wife and the third for the funeral obsequies. And if haply they have no lawful progeny, let the goods be divided into two parts between himself and his wife. And if his lawful wife be dead, let them be divided between himself and his children.
VII That to those who die with a good confession due respect be paid by means of masses and wakes and a decent burial. Likewise that all divine matters be henceforth conducted agreeably to the practices of the holy Church according as observed by the Anglican Church.
The seventh act
Giraldus lists these seven acts numbered as primo, secundus, etc. until septimus, as related in Todd's translation above. The last part of the seventh act concerns the relationship between the Anglican and the Irish Church. According to Marie Therese Flanagan,some historians have interpreted this as an actual decree of the synod, and have seen in it the origins of a policy of anglicisation of the Irish church pursued by the Angevin kings in Ireland. Thus the synod of Cashel is often the starting point of any account of episcopal appointments in Ireland after the coming of the Normans arid the extension of the electoral procedure of the English church to the Irish church is presumed to derive in principle from this decree.Flanagan however points out that as it stands in Giraldus' account this sentence refers only to the liturgical practices of the English church. She also questions whether this part is a part of the decrees of the synod, stating that "it appears to be rather Gerald's own comment on what whould be attempted by Irish churchmen. Martin Holland does not include this part in his overview of the enacted decrees, but adds
It was also decided that in Ireland, all matters relating to religion were to follow the observances of the English church. Some have interpreted this as referring to liturgical practices only; others see it as encompassing more, and therefore being much more fundamental, especially since it is claimed that the Irish bishops swore fealty to Henry at around this time.
See also
- Synod of RathbreasailSynod of RathbreasailThe Synod of Ráth Breasail took place in Ireland in 1111. It marked the transition of the Irish church from a monastic to a diocesan and parish-based church...
(1111) - Synod of Kells (1152)
- Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and EmlyRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and EmlyThe Metropolitan Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly is a Roman Catholic archdiocese in mid-western Ireland. The diocese is in the secular province of Munster. The Diocese of Cashel was established in 1111 by the Synod of Rathbreasail and promoted to the status of a Metropolitan Province in 1152 by the...