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Armagh |
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| St.
Patrick's Cathedral |
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Armagh's monastic heritage begins with Patrick. Although
he wasn't a monk, his lifestyle was not dissimilar.
He disdained the things of this world, and fasted and
prayed instead. Patrick advocated these practices for
his followers, which they duly adopted.
In Patrick's time, Armagh is a powerful administrative
region, so the choice of it as the centre of the new
evangelising operation has obvious advantages. Patrick
is granted the site of his church, the Damhliag Mór,
by Dáire, the local chieftain.
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Dáire's tribe, the Uí
Nialláin, continue to exert a strong influence
over the clerical sphere in the coming generations.
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| Patrick's
first religious foundations in Armagh are for women. In
time they come to be known as Teampall Bhríde and
Teampall na Fearta. These are hostile, hazardous times
for Christians, especially women, and the natural instinct
is to band together for protection and support. |
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The move towards monasticism for men
happens after Patrick, in the time of Benignus, his
first Irish disciple and successor to the see of Armagh.
The see is administered by a group of clergy who form
themselves into a community, which becomes known as
the Samhadh Pádraig.
Like monasteries elsewhere, Armagh begins
life as a simple settlement, made up of an enclosure
with wooden cells, a refectory, a kitchen, a library
and a scriptorium. At its centre is the stone church,
the Damhliag Mór.
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From
the sixth century onwards, Armagh flourishes as a place
of learning and pilgrimage. So many foreign students
arrive that part of the city becomes known as 'Third
of the Saxons'. The monastery becomes increasingly wealthy
and influential: Cormac, the third successor of Patrick
is both abbot of the monastery and bishop of the diocese.
This arrangement holds over the course of the next two
and a half centuries.
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Armagh's status is tempting to marauding
raiders, and it is plundered throughout the eighth,
ninth and tenth centuries by the Norse, and also hostile
Irish chieftains. In spite of these indignities, the
good work continues. The scribe Ferdomnach produces
the illuminated gospel, the Book of Armagh, one of several
jewels in the crown at the monastery. Also, there are
the great relics of St Patrick, jealously guarded, and
used for ceremonial occasions and peace missions: Patrick's
crosier - the Bachall Íosa, St Patrick's Bell
and the Canóin Phádraig, containing his
biographies and his Confession.
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The
abbots of Armagh are important men outside of their
communities, intervening in quarrels between rulers
and acting as guarantors of treaties. From the seventh
century onwards, they seek to enhance the status and
authority of the religious foundation at Armagh, not
just in terms of its immediate locality, as within the
whole of Christian Ireland.
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Abbot Dubhdáleithe (965-98) goes
on circuit, as others have done since the eighth century,
to collect dues and offerings from other religious houses.
Armagh's claims to primacy are pushed into Munster,
when a friendship is forged with the Dal Cais king.
This relationship is further strengthened in the following
century when Brian Bóraimhe, the High-King of
Ireland, visits Armagh in 1005 and places twenty ounces
of gold on St Patrick's altar. After his death at Clontarf
in 1014, his body is brought to Armagh for burial. It
is a defining moment for the primal see.
With the arrival of the Normans, the
diocesan power recedes from the monasteries into the
hands of Norman-appointed bishops, but the work of Armagh's
abbots over the previous centuries ensures that primacy
will forever reside in this part of Ireland.
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