Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/811

Rh ARMAGNAO

735

ARMAGNAO

Scripture St. Jerome seems to have been the best authority; and we know, both from the frapnents of Aileran the Wise, pubhshcd by Migne, and from the Irish manuscripts of St. C'oliiinban's great mona.stery at Bobbio, that our Irisli schohirs were famihar with nearly all his work. In dogmatic theology we do not think that, during the first two centuries of their history, the Celtic scholars were familiar with the writings of St. .\ugustine on "drace". They seem to have derived their dogma from St. Hilary and other writers of the Trench Church rather than from the great Father of the .\frican Church.

One of the earliest and most distinguished teachers of the School of Armagh, after the time of St. Patrick and St. Benignus, was Ciildas the Wise. }Iis great work, the "Destruction of Britain", which is still extant, shows that he was a man both of large cul- ture and of great holiness, wonderfully familiar with the te.Kt and applicatidn of Sacrcil Scripture, and in every way qualified to rule the Scliools of .Vrmagh. We know little or nolliing of the writings of the sub- sequent teachers in the School of -Armagh, though we have a record of the names of .several, with eulo- gies of their wi.sdom and scholarship. The number of English students attracted to the Schools of Ar- magh Dy the fame of their professors was so great that in later times the city was divided into three wards, or "thirds", as they were called: the Trian Mor, the Trian Mnsnin, and the Trinn Saxon — the last being the English (|uarter, in which the crowds of students from Saxon-land took up their abode, and where, as we know on the express testimony of a contemporary writer, the Vcneral)le Bede. they were received with true Irish hospitality, and were all, rich and poor, supplied gratuitously with food, books, and education. Anyone glancing at the "Annals of the Four Masters" will find frequent references made, from the sixth to the twelfth cen- tury, to the deaths of the "learned scribes", the "profes.sors of divinity", the "wise doctors", and the " moderators ", or rectors, of the School of Armagh. In 720, 727, and 749 we find recorded the deaths of three of these learned scribes within a very short period. Their duty was to devote them.sclvcs to the transcription of manuscript books in the Teach- screaptra, or "Hou.se of Writings", corresponding to the modern library. The "Rook of Armagh", tran- scribed there a. d. 807, shows how patiently and lovingly they laboured at the wearisome w-ork, "as if", says Miss Stokes, "they had concentrated all their brains in the point of the pen". And yet, during these very centuries, the schools, the churches, and the town itself sufTered terribly from the lawle.ss men of those days, especially the Danes. Armagh was burned no less than sixteen times between the years 670 and 1179, and it was plundered nine times, mostly by Danes, during the ninth and tenth cen- turies. IIow it .survived during these centuries of fire and blood is truly marvellous. In 1020, for in- stance, we are told by the Four Masters that "Ard- Macha was burned with all the fort, without the saving of any hou.se in it except the Hou.se of Writ- ings only, and many houses were burned in the Trians. and the Groat Church was burned, and the belfry with its bells, and the other stone churches were also burned, and the old preaching-chair, and the chariot of the abbots, and their books in the houses of the students, with much gold, silver, and other precious things". Yet the city and schools of St. Patrick rose again phcenix-like from their ashes. In IKMI, Imar O'Hagan. the master of the great St. Malachy, was ma<le abbot, just two years Before the death of Malachy's father, the Blci-sed Mugron 0'Mon\ who had been "chief lector of divinitv of this School, and of all the west of Europe ".

Twelve years later we have a record of the death of O'Drugan, chief professor of Ard-Macha, "paragon

of wisdom of the Irish, and head of the council of the west of Europe in piety and in devotion ". Just at this time, in 1137, the great Gelasius. who well deserved his name, the (lulla losa, or " Ser\'ant of Jesu.s", succeeded St. .Malachy in the See of Armagh, and in spite of the disturbed state of the times raised tlie .school to the zenith of its splendour. In 1162 he i)reside(l over a synod of twenty-six bishops held at Claiie, in the County Kildare, in which it was enacted that no person should be allowed to teach divinity in any school in Ireland who had not, as we should now say, "graduated" in the School of .Ar- magh. To make .Armagh worthy of this pre-eminence we find that in 1169, the very year in which the Nor- man adventurers first landed in Ireland King Uory O 'Conor "presented ten cows ever}' year from him.sclf, and from every king that should succeed him forever, to the professor of Ard-Macha, in honour of St. Patrick, to instruct the youth of Ireland and .Mba in learning". The profes.sor at the time was in every way worthy of this special endo^vment, for he was Florence O'Gorman, "head moderator of this School and of all the Schools in Ireland, a man well skilled in divinity, and deeply learned in all the sciences ". He had travelled twentv-one years in France and England and at his death, in 1174, had ruleil the Schools of Armagh for twenty years. It was well for the venerable sage that he died, in peace. Had he lived four years more he would have seen the sun of Armagli's glory set in darkness and blood, when De Courcy, anil De Burgo, and De Lacy, year after year, swooped down on the ancient city, plun- dered its shrines, and slaughtered or drove far away its students, its priests, and its professors. Once again .Armagh was made desolate by ruthless bands, and that desolation was more complete and more enduring than the first. Let us hope, however, that the proud cathedral lately built on Macha's Height gives promi.se of a glorious future yet in store for the ancient city of St. Patrick, and for its famous Schools.

■Stiaht. Ilithiru ijf Armai/h. I'.l. Colkman (DuWin, 1900); IIeai.y, Life and \\'rUin,/a uj .SI. I'ulnck (Dublin, 190,5): In., Irelandt Ancient Schuoh and .s'cAo/arn (Dublin, 1890): Hiry, The Life of tit. Patrick (I.nndon. 190.'")); Joyck, A Social Itittorj/ of Ireland (I-ondon, 19031: Abchdall, Monatticon Hibemicum. ed. Mokan (Dublin, 1873).

John He.\ly.

Armagnac, CiEORnKs d', a French cardinal and diplomatist, b. c. 1.501; d. 2 June. 158.5. He be- longetl to tlie illustrious family of Foix d'Armagnac. In liis youth lie was the prot^gd of Cardinal d'Am- boise. The Duke of Alenc^on introcstowed \ipon him (1.544). In 1.5.52 he wiis appointed lieutenant- general of the king at Toulouse, together with Paul de Carrets, Bishop of Cahors. Eight years later he was raised to the Archbi.shopric of Toulou.se, which he left in 1.565, Pius IV having appointed him legate at Avignon, together with Cardmal de Bourlion. In this iMisition Cardinal d'Armagnac vigoron.sly defended the interests of the Church against the Huguenots and brought about a good understanding between the (leoiilo of Avignon and those of Orange and Languedoc. The pope showed his approval of d'.Armagnac's admini-stration by promoting him to the .Arclibisliopric of Avignon (1576). His great intelligence and deep knowledge of men and things, his austere virtues, and the protection which he granted to the arts and sciences place him in the first rank of the faithful servants of the Church in the six- teenth century.