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 CULLEN

564

CULLEN

purer morals and stricter discipline. (See Canons

AND CaNONESSES REGULAR.)

Those at Armagh were more tenacious of existence. Like their brethren throughout Ireland, they had felt the corrupting influence of the Danish wars; and while lay abbots ruled at Armagh the Culdees had so far departed from their primitive piety that in the twelfth century regular canons were introduced into the cathedral church and henceforth took precedence of the Culdees. But the latter, six in number, a prior and five vicars, still continued a corporate existence at Armagh. They were specially charged with the celebration of the Divine offices and the care of the church building, had separate lands, and sometimes had charge of parishes. When a chapter was formed, about 1160, the prior usually filled the office of pre- centor, his brethren being vicars choral, and himself ranking in the chapter next to the chancellor. He was elected by his brother Culdees and confirmed by the primate, and had a voice in the election of the archbishop by virtue of his position in the chapter. As Ulster was the last of the Irish ]irovinces to be brought effectually under English rule, the Armagh Culdees long outlived their brethren throughout Ire- land. By tlie end of Elizabeth's reign, however, they had died out, and in 1628 a new body was incorpo- rated by Charles I — the "Prior and Vicars Choral" of the cathedral church of Armagh — to which were transferred the lands formerly held by the Culdees. Five years later, the Catholic primate, O'Reilly, an- nounced to Rome that he had been elected "Prior of the College of the Culdees", and he wanted to know if in assuming the title he had acted in accordance with canon law. We do not know what was the nature of the answer he received, but this is the last mention made of the Irish Culdees.

At York was their only English establishment, where they performed in the tenth century the double duty of officiating in the cathedral church and of relieving the sick and poor. When a new cathedral arose under a Norman archbishop, they ceased their connexion with the cathedral, but, with resources augmented by many donations, they continued to relieve the destitute. The date at which they finally disappeared is unknown. Nor do we know the fate of the single Culdean house in Wales, which existed at Bardsey in the days of Giraldus Cambrensis. In Scotland they were more numerous even than in Ire- land. No less than thirteen monastic establishments were peopled by them, eight of which were in con- nexion with cathedral churches. National pride in- duced some of the Scotch writers to assert that the Culdees were Scotch and not Irish. But the influ- ence of Ireland on the primitive C'hristian Church of Scotland was so overwhelming, and facts to show this are so many, that the ablest among the Scotch histo- rians, such as Pinkerton, Innes, and Hill-Burton, are compelled to admit that the first Culdees were Irish, and that from Ireland they spread to Scotland. They were not, however, Columban monks, for there is no mention of any Culdees at any Columban monastery, either in Ireland or in Scotland, until long after Co- lumba was in his grave; nor was it till 1164 that Culdees are mentioned as being in lona, and then only in a subordinate position. Appearing, then, first in Ireland, they subsequently appeared in Scot- land, and in both countries their history and fate are almost identical. Attached to cathedral or collegiate churches, living in monastic fashion, though not tak- ing monastic vows, the Scotch, like the Irish Ciddees, were originally men of piety and zeal. The turbu- lence of the times and the acquisition of wealth sowed the seeds of decay, zeal gave way to indolence and neglect, a celibale community to married men. church property was siiuandrn-d or alienated, even the altar offerings, grasped by avarice, were diverted to \ipt- sonal uses, antl by the end of the thirteenth century

the Scotch Culdee houses had in almost every case disappeared. Some, like Dunkeld and Abernethy, were superseded by regular canons; others, like Brechin and Dunblane, were extinguished with tlie introduction of cathedral chapters: and one at least, Monifieth, had passed into the hands of laymen. At St. Andrews they lived on, side by side with the regu- lar canons, and still clung to their ancient privilege of electing the archbishop. But their claim was dis- allowed at Rome, and in 1273 they were debarred even from voting. Before the Reformation they had finally disappeared, and in 1616 the lands they once held were annexed to the See of St. Andrews.

Reeves, The Culdees in Royal Irish Academy Transactians (Dublin, 1864): Lanig.^n, Ecclesiastical History of Ireland (Dublin, 1822); Stokes (ed.), The Felire of Aengus in Royal Irish Academy Transactions (Dublin, 1880); Stuart, ed. Coleman, Historical Memoirs of Armagh (Dublin, 1900); Pinkerton, An Enquiry into the History of Scotland (Edin- burgli, 1814), II; Hill-Burton, History of Scotland (London, 1870), I; Cosmo Innes, Scotland in the Middle Ages (Edin- burgh, 1800) : Thomas Innes, A Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of the Northern Parts of Britain and Scotland (Lon- don, 1729).

E. A. D' Alton.

Cullen, Paul, Cardinal, Archbishop of Dubhn, b. at Prospect, Co. Kildare, Ireland, 29 April, 1803; d. at Dublin, 24 October, 1878. His first school days were passed at the Shackleton School in the neighbouring village of Ballytore. He entered Carlow College as alumnus in 1816, and proceeded, in 1820, to the Col- lege of Propaganda in Rome where his name is regis- tered on the roll of students under date of 29 Novem- ber, 1820. At the close of a distinguished course of studies he was selected to hold a public disputation in the halls of Propaganda on the 11th of September, 1828, in 224 theses from all theology and ecclesiastical history. This theological tournament was privileged in many ways, for Leo XII, attended by his court, presided on the occasion, while no fewer than ten car- dinals assisted at it, together with all the elite of eccle- siastical Rome. The youthful .\bbate Peeci, the fu- ture Leo XIII, was present at the disputation, and referring to it at a later period declared that it made an indelible impression upon him, and that he was filled with admiration for the brilliant talent and sin- gular modesty of the Irish student. During his course of studies, Paul Cullen had acquired a profound knowl- edge of the classical and Oriental languages, and it was a novel thing to see a young Irish priest immediately on his ordination appointed to the chairs of Hebrew and Sacred Scripture in the schools of Propaganda, and receiving at the same time the charge of the famed printing establishment of the Sacred Congregation. This latter charge he resigned in 1832, when appointed rector of the Irish College in Rome, but during the short term of his administration he published a stand- ard edition of the Greek and Latin Lexicon of Ilederi- cus, which still holds its place in the Italian colleges; he also edited the Acta of the Congregation of Propa- ganda in seven quarto volumes, and other important works.

While rector of the Irish College (1S32-1S50) he was admitted to the intimate friendship of Gregory XVI and Pius IX. He profited by the influence which he thus enjoyed to safeguard the interests of the Irish Church, and to unmask the intrigues of the Brit- ish agents who at this period were untiring in their attemi.its to force their political \iews upon the Vati- can, and to forge fetters for Catholic Ireland. During the troubled jicriod of the Roman Revolution, Dr. Cullen, at the request of the Sacred Congregation, ac- cepted the responsible position of rector of the College of Proi)agaiRla, retaining, however, the charge of Rec- tor of the Irish College. Soon after his appointment the Revolutionary Triumvirate in the frenzy of their triumph i.ssued orders that within a few hours the College of Propagantla was to be dissolved and the