Page:The ancient Irish church.djvu/128

 place where Celtic influence continued until a very late date. The married clergy of Wales were an old institution, for we have the curious record under the year 961: 'The same year Padarn, Bishop of Llandaff, died, and Rhodri, son of Morgan the Great, was placed in his room, against the will of the Pope, on which account he was poisoned. And the priests were enjoined not to marry without the leave of the Pope, on which account a great disturbance took place in the diocese of Tielaw, so that it was considered best to allow matrimony to the priests.'

In the case of the Irish abbots it, no doubt, must often have happened that the tribal instincts would prove stronger than the ecclesiastical, and that a married abbot would be chosen in preference to one of another family. The general tendency, however, seems to have been towards celibacy, but without imposing it as a hard and fast rule.

As to the difference between the Irish and Romish doctrine of confession and absolution, nothing need be added to what has been already said in connection with the 'soul friend.'

There were also some differences of ritual. The Irish Church had its own peculiar liturgy until the time of the Anglo-Normans. They administered baptism with rites different from those of Rome, using single instead of trine immersion, and omitting the use of chrism. But it is not necessary that we should go into these minor details—all the more so as our sources of information are very scanty.

The points of difference between the Church of Ireland (or, to speak more correctly, the Celtic