A.D. 1698.-M. William Ryanne, priest, Cashel, bachelor in theology. Registre des conclusions de la Nation d'Allemagne dans l'ancienne Universite, No. 40. A.D. 1698 to 1730. (Bibliotheque de l'Universite.) A.D. 1698.-M. John Farely, priest, Kilmore, licentiate of theology and of laws. M. Edmund Kegan, priest, Elphin, canon or prebendary of the Cathedral of Elphin. 1699.-M. Charles Magenis, fifth term. M. Denis MacEncroe, priest, Killaloe, licentiate in theology. M. Carbery Kelly, licentiate in theology and archdeacon of Elphin; fourth term. M. Philip Barry, priest, Cloyne, licentiate in theology. 1700.-M. Michael Smith, priest, Kilmore, licentiate in theology. M. Peter Flannery, priest, Clonfert, licentiate in theology. 1701.--M. Charles Magenis, sixth time. M. Malachy O'Fogarty, priest, licentiate in theology, Chancellor of Cashel. 1702.----M. James Merick, Tuam, priest, bachelor student for licence in theology. M. Thomas Roussel, Cashel, priest, licentiate in theology. M. John O'Molony, Killaloe, deacon. 1705.-M. Charles Magenis, seventh term. 1706.-M. Edmund Duffy, Clonfert, priest, licentiate in theology. 1707.-M. James Coyle, Meath, priest, licentiate utriusque juris. 1708.-M. Ignatius Moriarty, Ardfert, priest, bachelor in ་་ theology. M. Michael Moore, dean of the Nation. M. Daniel MacEgan, who was succeeded by Moore. 1710.-M. John Baptist Gavan, Limerick, priest. 1711.-M. Thaddeus Kelly, priest of the diocese of Clonfert. M. Hugh McGeaghran, priest, Kilmore. 1712.-M. Hugh Coffey, Meath, priest and licentiate in theology. 1713.-M. James Merick, licentiate in theology, provisor of the Lombard College, co-opted into the tribe of the Continent; second time. M. Thomas Roussel made no entry for his term of office. 1714.-M. William Rianne, Cashel, second term. A.D. 1715.-M. Thaddeus Kelly, second term. M. Daniel Farely, Kilmore, priest and bachelor in theology. 1716.-M. James Merick (titles as above), third term. 1721.-M. James Merick (titles above), fourth term. 1728-29.-M. Cajetan O'Callahane, Cork, priest. If the Registers from A.D. 1730 to A.D. 1793 should be discovered there can be no doubt that they will show a succession of distinguished Irishmen holding office in the University, as gifted and as earnest as those of the previous century, whom Santeuil, Lesage, and Rhulieres praised for their talents and satirised for their poverty, and for coming to Paris to live on arguments et des messes.16 From other sources we know that the dignity of Procurator of the Nation continued to be prized by Irishmen. In 1739 John Farely, Rector of the Lombard College, took part in the elevation of a Rector of the University in his capacity of Procurator.17 In an incomplete collection of the Almanac Royal which we have been able to consult, the staff of the University of Paris is given year by year, and from that source we learn that Irishmen continued to hold frequently the office of Procurator in Faculty of Arts, down to the Revolution. In that official year-book we find the following names of Procurators of the German Nations, most of whom belonged to the Irish College : A.D. 1741.-(Walter) Daton, 18 Lombard College. 1751. (Laurence) Kelly, Lombard College. 1769.) Farely, College Boncour. 1773. (Laurence) Kelly, Lombard College. 1775. (Michael) Daly, Lombard College. 1779. (James) Markey, Rector, Irish College. 1781.-(—) Cooke, Lombard College. 1785. (Patrick) Kelleher, Provisor, Lombard College. 1789.-(John) Burke, Provisor, Lombard College 16 Rhuliers sur les Disputes. 17 Jourdain, Hist. de l'Université, edit., 1866; vol. i., p. 368. 18 In the Almanac Royal the surnames only, with the name of the College to which the officials belonged, is given. As in most cases this was the Lombard or Irish College, we are able to give the names of several in full. This list, incomplete though it is, shows that the connexion of Irishmen with the University of Paris continued down to its suppression in 1793. A connexion so long and so honorable proves that Irish Ecclesiastics were not indifferent as to the advantages of University education. For two centuries a foreign University in the capital of France admitted an Irish College to enjoy the rights and privileges of a University College. For two centuries Irishmen were admitted to hold chairs in a foreign University, and to share in its government. Is it unreasonable for Irish Ecclesiastics to claim to enjoy in their native land in the twentieth century a share in University life, equal to that which in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries they enjoyed in a foreign land and under a foreign government? PATRICK BOYLE, C.M. M THE RULE OF ST. AUGUSTINE ANY excellent translations have appeared from time to time of the famous Letter 211, which is included in the correspondence of St. Augustine. In that letter, as is well known, he lays down a series of rules for the guidance of the nuns belonging to the Convent where his sister had been Superior to the time of her death. What rule of life these nuns had followed previous to the reception of the wise and holy regulations which the great Bishop of Hippo was at pains to draw up for their guidance, there is no evidence to show. It has, however, been observed by many profound students of the works of St. Augustine that when writing to the nuns with the object of putting before them the Rules by the observance of which he trusted they would attain that degree of perfection corresponding to the state of life they had embraced, the Bishop would naturally follow an empirical course. In other words, he would be careful to enjoin in the case of the nuns only those principles, the importance and the value of which had been proved by many years observance. Hence it is that many writers of insight and prudence have insisted that the rule of life set before the nuns by St. Augustine forms but a replica, modified, of course, so as to meet the requirements of women, of the rule which he had previously given to the hermits he had established at Tagaste and Hippo, and the value of which ought naturally to be apparent after twenty-five years' experience. When considering this important matter we must remember that Letter 211 left Augustine's hands in the year 423, that is to say seven years before his demise. Twentyfive years previously, that is to say, in the year 388, immediately after his return to Tagaste from Italy, Augustine had established that order of Hermits which spread, as every student of that period of Church history is aware, with marvellous rapidity over the northern sea-board of Africa.1 ་ 1 Vide the Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Paris ed., 1715, under the heading Des Moines de Saint Augustin en Afrique.' Tome 3. pp. 4 and 5. Augustine was frequently charged by his enemies with having introduced the monastic life into Northern Africa. estab ler hi shohe Brethren at Tagaste he continued to live till he Th to the more important city of Hippo in the year 391. rived there his first task was to establish a monastery of ermits similar in every respect to those he had left at igaste. Although ordained a priest in 391, Augustine still ntinued to live in the monastery at Hippo. It was not, in t, till 395 when he was reluctantly compelled to take upon nself the episcopal dignity in the interests of the Church at he severed his connection with his Hermits. And surely is only reasonable to suppose that he must have continued take the liveliest interest in the fortunes of the monastery Hippo to the time of his death in 430. To my mind, the ry fact that some of the ablest Bishops who ruled in the rious Sees of Northern Africa, what time the Donatist 肉 resy raged with greatest fury, were chosen from the Brethren of that monastery at Hippo must have served to deepen the affection of Augustine for his spiritual children. Several times, when going through his works, we meet with references made by Augustine to the days of his monastic life.2 His mind, probably because of the strain entailed by what must have seemed a never-ending conflict with heresy in all its forms, reverted with yearning to that time of peace and retirement when, as he tells us, he gave himself up with his brethren to the singing of the divine praises, prayer and meditation, alternated by manual labour, the writing of books,3 the instruction of the ignorant, and the distribution of alms among the poor. During those years of strict monastic life, Augustine must have acquired an extensive knowledge of the operation of the causes which go to the formation of the religious character and temperament. It is perfectly reasonable to suppose that as time went on he must have recognised the importance of drawing up a series of rules and regulations for the guidance 2 Vide Sermon 355, 2; Letter 31, 4; Letter 213, 4, etc. In his later years, he constantly insisted upon the fact that it was only with reluctance that he consented to be made a priest and a bishop. 3 Shortly after his conversion, for example, after he had settled in his first monastery at Tagaste, he composed his De Moribus Ecclesiae Catholicae and his De Moribus Manichaeorum; also his De Animae Quantitate, and his hree books, De Libero Arbitrio. Vide the Retractions (i. 7, section 1). |