KILDARE
637
EILDARE
that nothing should be wanting for the proper dis-
charge of all ecclesiastical functions." In these words
of the biographer, " ut ecclesiam in episcopali digni-
tate cum ea guberiiaret ", there is surely nothing to
justify the absurd statement sometimes made that
Brigid claimed to have authority over, or give canoni-
cal jurisdiction to, this illustrious anchorite. She
sim]ily selected him to govern the establishment imder
her advice and guidance, and he got his juri.sdietioii in
the ordinary way. In those days of violence and tur-
moil a needetl sense of security would lie affortled a
convent of nuns by having hard by a house of monks
with a prudent bishop at their head. And not only
did Brigid procure the renowned St. Conlaeth to rule
and ordain, but she had another bishop, St. Nadfra-
oich, to preach and teach the Gospel, and thus she
hoped to make Kildare a great and inde|)endent home
of sanctity and learning. And such in trutli it became.
Cogitosus, a monk of Kiklare in the eijihth century,
and the author of what is known as the " Second Life
of St. Brigid", calls Kildare "the head-city of all the
bishops", and Conlaeth and his successors "arch-
bishops of the bishops of Ireland", and goes on to
refer to the primacy of honour and domestic jurisdic-
tion acknowledged in the abbess of this city by all the
abbesses of Ireland. To this primacy, maintained all
along, is due the unique distinction enjoyed by Kil-
dare of having recorded by the annalists, till compara-
tively recent times, the succession of its abbesses in
parallel columns with that of its abbots. Cogitosus
also makes mention of the enormous crowds that, in
his time, used to come to Kildare from " all the prov-
inces of Erin", especially on St. Brigid's feast-day, 1
February, to pray and to have cures effected at her
venerated shrine . From the interesting description he
gives of the church we learn that it was very spacious
and beautiful, that it had divisions rigidly distinct for
the men and the women, and was lavishly adorned
with pictures and embroidered hangings, which set off
its highly ornamental windows and doorways. Un-
happily, no portion of this church now remains, nor
indeed of any of the ancient buildings, with the excep-
tion of the Round Tower. Tliis tower, the loftiest in
Ireland — being 13(j feet 7 inches high — has an elabo-
rately worked doorway of a graceful finish rarely met
with in those hoary sentinels of the past. Bishop
Conlaeth, himself a man of remarkable artistic genius,
founded at Kildare a school in metal work which grew
and prospered as the years went on. And from Gerald
Barry we learn to what a high pitch of perfection the
art of illumination had been brought in that city.
Nothing, he says, that he saw at Kildare impressed
liim Si' much as the " Evangelistarium", or manu-
script of the Four Gospels, according to the version of
St. Jerome, which, by reason of the extraordinary
grace and ingenuity displayed in tht letters and fig-
ures, looked rather like the work of angels than of
men. The famous " Book of Leinster" was probably
copied from originals preserved in the School of Kil-
dare, by Finn MacGorman, who became Bishop of
Kildare in 114S.
Even during the most stormy periods of the school's history we find recorded interesting facts and dates concerning its professors. We read of Cobthac, who died in 1069, and was celebrated for "his universal knowledge of ecclesiastical disciphne"; and of F'er- domhnach, the Blind, who was deeply versed in knowledge of the Sacred Scriptures. In 1135 Diar- maid MacMurrogh, of contemptible memory, "forci- bly carried away the Abbess of Kildare from her cloister, an<l compelled her to marry one of his own people"; and in the following year Diarmaid O'Brien and his brothers .'iacked and set fire to the town. But the School of Brigitl continued in spite of the ravages of native and foreign despoiler. The holy fire called the "inextinguishable", which had probably been kept alight since the days of Brigid, was put out by
order of Henry de Londres, .\rchbishop of Dublin, who
perhaps thought the practice savoured of superstition.
Our opinion is tlial it simply nrose from a desire on the
part of the spiritual daughters of St. Brigid tosecurea
means by which lamps might be kept perpetually
burning before the shrines of their sainted foundress.
Be that as it may, the fire was kindled again by the
Bishoji of Kildare, and with a steady flame it burned
t ill the fierce storm of persecution in the reign of Eliza-
beth extinguished it and every other monastic light in
Ireland.
CoLGAN, Trias Thaumaturga (Louvain, 1647); Stokes, Livea of the Saints from the Book of Lismore (0.xford, 1S90); (I'Han- I.ON, Lives of the Irish Saints: Healy, Ireland's Ancient Schools and Scholars (5th ed., Dublin, 1908).
John Healy.
Kildare and Leighlin, Diocese op (Kildarensis ET Leighline.nsis), ouc of the four .suffragans of Dub- lin, Ireland. These two dioceses continued to be separate from their foundation until 167S, when, ow- ing to the extreme tenuity of the episcopal revenues — about fifteen pounds a year each — the Diocese of Leighlin was given in commendam by the Holy See
The Cathedral, Carlow (182S)
to the Bishop of Kildare, Dr. Mark Forstall. The
Diocese of Kildare includes the northern half of that
coimty, the eastern portion of King's County, as far
as Tullamore, and the two northern baronies of
Queen's County, and it embraces the ancient terri-
tories of Offaly, Carbury, and Hy Faelain. Its direc-
tion lies east and west. The Diocese of Leighlin lies
north and south, including one half of Queen's
County, all County Carlow, and portions of Kil-
kenny, Wexford, and Wicklow Counties. It em-
braces ancient Lei.x, which connects it with Kildare,
and a portion of Ui Ceinnsealaigh. The united dio-
cese is one of the largest dioceses in Ireland, coni-
prising 1,029,829 acres; and the Catholic population,
according to the census of 1901, was 130,377 out of
a total of 149,168.
History. — When St. Patrick had preached the Gos- pel in the North and West of Ireland, he turned his steps to the South, and coming into Leinster from Meath by Druim Urchailli he passed through Straf- fan and Clane to Naas. Pitching his tent on its green, he there baptized its joint kings, Ailill and Illan, sons of Dunling, and Ailill's two daughters, Mogain and Fedelm. Their people seeing this soon embraced the Gospel also, and Patrick placed his nephew, Auxilius, as bishop at Kilashee, a few miles south of Naas, and Iserninus with Mae Tail as bishops at Olrl Kilcullen. F^rom here he went towards Athy, founding churches at Narraghmore and other places, and, crossing the Barrow, continued his journey by
