Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/807

ARMAGH survived his consecration only three months. Adam Loftus (1563–67). from whom the Irish Protestant hierarchy claim to ilcrivc their orders, was consecrated by Hugh Curwin, Archbishop of Dublin, according to the form annexed to the second Hook of Common Prayer of the time of Edward VI. The most learned of the Protestant primates was James Ussher (IGJ-t-.iO). whose most ini|X)rtant works were " Vetcrum Kpistolarum lIil)emioarum Sylloge", pub- lished in 1(582, and " Mrittanicarum Kcdesiarum Antiquitates", which appeared in IG.'iO. He left his valuable library, comprising several thousand printed books and manuscripts, to Trinity College, Dublin, and his complete works were published by that institution in twenty-four volumes at the cost of i:3,0(X). In spite of his learning, this prelate's •character was marked by a most intolerant spirit of bigotry against the Irish Catholics. His judgment against toleration of Papists, i. e. " to consent that they may freely exercise their rehgion and profess their faitli and doctrine is a grievous .sin ", was a signal for the renewal of persecution and led to the Rising of the Iri.sh Catlioli.s in 1041. John Hramhall (ItiOO- 63), another learned Protestant divine, succeeded U.ss- her. His works on polemic and other subjects have been published in four folio volumes. Narcissus Marsh (1702-1.'J), another learned prelate, built the noble library of 8t. Sepulchre's in Dublin, which bears his name, filled it with a valuable collection of theological and Oriental works and liberally endowed it for the support of a librarian and deputy. Hugh Boulter (1721-42), John Hoadly (1742-16), and George Stone (174f>-64) are principally famous as politicians and upholders of the " 10ngli.sh Interest" in Ireland. The first two supported and promoted the penal laws against the Catholics, but Stone was opixi.scd to persecution. Richard Robinson, first Baron Rokeby (176.5-94), raised Armagh by his munificence from extreme decay to a state of opulence and embellished it with various useful public institutions. He built an episcopal palace, a [)ublic library, an infirmary, and an ooservatory. Lord John (ieorge Beresford (1822-62) was also distinguished by his munificence. He restored Armagh Cathedral at a cost of £34.1K)0 and is said to have spent £280,000 in acts of public lienevolence. On his succes.sor, Marcus Gervais Beresford (1862-8,')), fell a large portion of the task of providing for the future organization and su.s- tentation of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Ireland, which was disestablished from 1 January, 1871. After the flight of the Earis O'Neill and O'Donnell, large portions of their forfeited estates were made over to the Protestant see, which, together with the land previously belonging to the see in Catholic times, made up a total of 100, .563 acres, producing in modern times a gross revenue for the Protestant primate of £17,670. By the Church Temporalities' Act of 18.33, this Wiis considerably reduced, and the net income of the see before the di.sestablishment was £12,087. Since that event the primate receives an annual salary from the Church Representative Bo<ly of £2,.5(X), with the palace free of rent. The glebe lands belonging to the eighty-eight benefices in the dioce.se comprised 19,290 .acres. Since disestablishment, about £9,000 are contributed annually by the voluntary system for sustentation funds anil about £5,000 for various other Church purposes. Before disestablishment, the Irish Episcopalians formed twenty-two per cent of the population of the diocese, Presbyterians seventeen per cent, and Catholics sixty-one per cent, a proportion which has remained almost the same ever since. The non-Catholic population in 1901 was 100,451.

Armagh, The Book of, technically known as Libeh Au(D).M.\(H.\Nfs. — A celebrated Irish-Latin manu- script preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin. It is a vellum, in small quarto, and in a fine state of preservation, with the exception of the commencement, where a few pages are missing. In its present condition it consists of 221 leaves (442 pages) with the writing in double or, Iciss often, in triple columns. The Irish hand is used throughout, but .some of the initial letters arc in Greek character, and some of the letters are lightly coloured black, red, green, and yellow. The penmanship is, on the whole, verj- beautiful, distinct, and uniform. The only drawings in the mamLscripts are four, repre- senting the symbols of the Evangelists. Because of the value that the Irish placed on the Book of Annagh, it was often richly bound, and encased in shrines of artistic workmanship. The Book of Armagh was also known as the "Canon of Patrick", and it was once thought that it w;is the Patron's own book and in part the work of Patrick himself. It was left for Bishop Charles Graves, however, to discover from the erasures in the manuscript itself, and from references in the .\nnals to names which he had pieced together from the Book of Armagh, that the name of the scribe of, perhaps, the entire work was Ferdomnach of Armagh, who died in 84.5 or .846, and that he wrote the first part of the Book in the year 807 or 808.

The Book of Armagh is, in the main, a transcript of documents of a much older period than the Book which has preserved them, and these documents are of inestimable value for the t-arly historj' and civiliza- tion of Ireland. Alxive all, this collection is valuable because it contains the earliest writings that have come down to us relating to St. Patrick. The author of one of the Lives of Patrick, which the Book of Armagh contains, was one Muirchu Maccu Machteni, who wrote at the request of ■■\cd. Bishop of Sletty. The author of the other Life was Tirechan, who wrote, we are told, for Bishop ITtan of Ardbraccan. Both the.se authors wrote at about the middle of the seventh centurj', and had as their authorities even older memoirs. The Book contains other mis- cellaneous documents relating to St. Patrick, and gives considerable information on the rights and prerogatives of the Sec of Armagh. Among the miscellaneous contents may be mentioned the "Liber Angueli" (so spelled in the Irish fiushion to show that the q was not palatalized), "the Book of the Angel", wherein an angel is represented as en- trusting to St. Patrick the primatial rights of Ar- magh; the Eusebian Canons, St. Jerome's letter to Damasus, Epi.stles of St. Paul, with prefaces, chiefly by Pelagius, Epistles of James, Peter, John, and Jude; the A[K)calyp.se, the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, John, and Luke, and the "Lite of