nselm testify to the existence of marriage as an
institution among the Irish. The former speaks of the divorce of a wife
"lawfully joined to her husband," and the latter uses terms of similar
import. So also does St. Bernard himself. His praise of Malachy's mother
(_Life_, Sec. 1) is inconceivable if she did not live in wedlock; and he
expressly states that eight "metropolitans" of Armagh were "married men"
(Sec. 19). But if there was nevertheless a revival among large sections
of the people of pagan ideas of marriage, which tolerated polygamy,
concubinage, incest and easy termination of unions, it can be understood
that marriage in the face of the Church, which included a vow absolutely
prohibitive of all these things, would be commonly avoided. Malachy's
anxiety to restore the marriage ceremony was no doubt due to a desire
to purge the nation of immoral customs of which St. Bernard makes no
express mention. But, however that may be, we have contemporary native
evidence that the rite of marriage had fallen into desuetude, and that
Malachy was successful in his effort to restore it. For in the document
quoted on p. 170, we are told that in a district which was part of the
diocese of Armagh when he was Cellach's vicar (_L.A.J._ iv. 37), and
under the rule of his patron, Donough O'Carroll, "marriage was assented
to."

5. "There was no giving of tithes or firstfruits," writes St. Bernard
(Sec. 16). He is speaking of the diocese of Connor. But there is no
doubt that the remark might have been made of other districts. There was
no such custom as the payment of tithes in Ireland before the twelfth
century. They are first mentioned by Gilbert of Limerick, about 1108, in
his _De Statu Ecclesiae_ (Ussher, 507); and they were enjoined at the
Synods of Kells in 1152 (Keating, iii. 315) and Cashel in 1172 (Can. 3,
Giraldus, _Expug._, i. 35). From the document quoted above we learn that
in Oriel, under Donough O'Carroll, "tithes were received"--evidently a
new impost.

6. "Ministers of the altar were exceeding few" in the diocese of Connor
(Sec. 16); and accordingly it is observed that Malachy provided his new
churches with clergy (Sec. 17). This is not proved, nor is it in any
great degree corroborated by the statement of _A.F.M._ (1148) that
Malachy "ordained bishops and priests and men of every order"; but the
parallel is perhaps worth noting.

7. The voice of the preacher was not heard in the churches (Sec. 16).
This statemen