ance is often
alluded to in the obituary notices of distinguished persons, clerical
and lay. In his sweeping statement St. Bernard may have had in mind some
differences of method in penitential discipline between the Roman and
Irish Churches.

3. The sacrament of Confirmation was not celebrated, at any rate in
Armagh (Sec. 7). This rite has always been used in the Irish Church,
though possibly neglected locally at some periods. St. Patrick tells us
that he "confirmed in Christ" those whom he had "begotten to God"
(_Epistle_, 2; cp. _Confession_, 38, 51)--thus giving us one of the
earliest instances in literature of the application to the rite of its
present familiar name. But in his practice (_Epistle_, Sec. 3), as in
the Stowe Missal, about A.D. 800 (ed. Sir G. F. Warner, vol. ii. p. 31),
it seems to have consisted of an anointing with chrism without laying on,
or raising, of hand, or a direct prayer for the Holy Spirit. According
to the Stowe Missal it was administered by a presbyter. It is improbable
that St. Bernard or his romanizing friends would recognize the rite so
performed as true Confirmation.

4. One of the things which was neglected at Armagh was "the marriage
contract" (Sec. 7). In the diocese of Connor there was "no entry into
lawful marriages" (Sec. 16). By the labours of Malachy this abuse
disappeared. In Armagh he "instituted anew" the marriage contract; in
Connor it came to pass that "the celebration of marriage" was revived
(Sec. 17). Putting these statements together we may conclude that St.
Bernard's meaning is that marriages had ceased to be celebrated in the
face of the Church, and that in consequence the vow of a life-long union
was often evaded. Now contemporary writers charge the Irish of this
period with loose sexual morality, especially in regard of arbitrary
divorce, matrimony within the prohibited degrees, exchange of wives, and
other breaches of the law of marriage. Such accusations are made, for
example, by Pope Gregory VII. (Haddan and Stubbs, _Eccl. Docs._ ii.
160), Lanfranc (Ussher, 490; _P.L._ cl. 535, 536), Anselm (Ussher 521,
523; _P.L._ clix. 173, 178) and Giraldus Cambrensis (_Gest._ ii. 14;
_Top._ iii. 19). Their evidence is the more worthy of credence because
the usages to which they refer were characteristic of the Irish at an
earlier period (_Encycl. of Religion and Ethics_, v. 456, 460), and
might be expected to recur in an age of spiritual decline. But both
Lanfranc and A