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20 Gaelic Society oj Inuerness.
Church securely among them ;
and
—
so vigorous was it that, within
less than forty years after Coluniba's ileatli, it undertook the (.H)nversion
of the Northumbrians, and established a Church among
them which existed, under the primacy of lona, for thirty years,
when it retired before the advancing Church of Rome.
As I have said, the Church which developed itself in Ireland,
and of which the Scottish Church was long a branch, had certain
peculiarities which distinguished it from all other Churches. To
state these distinctions in a word, it may bt; said that the Church was
a monastictribal Church, not subject to the jurisdiction of Bishops.
Monasti'-ism was first introduced from the East, but it wag
well known in the Roman Church before the time of St Patrick,
and we have seen that he says that through his means the sons of
the Scoti and the daughters of princes became monks and virgins
of Christ ; but in the Roman Church monasticism was an order
within the Church, existing along with a secular clergy, and
subject to the jurisdiction of the bishops. In the Church which
developed itself in Ireland, and was introduced into Scotland, on
the other hand, the whole Church was monastic, and subject to
the jurisdiction, not o? bishops, but of abbots, who were not necessarily,
and, in point of fact, seldom were bishojis, and while the Episcopal
Order and the special functions of the Episcopate in the
matter of ordination and the celebration of the mass with Pontifical
rites, was recognised, the bishop was not a prelate, but a functionary
and official of the Church, living as a monk in the monastery, and
subject to the abbot. This peculiarity of the Church was for
long a battle ground between Presbyterians and Episcopalians,
and founding on a passage in Fordun, it was maintained by the
advocates of Presbyterianism that the Church of St Columba was
a Presbyterian Church, in something of the sense in which that
word is applied to the present Churches in Scotland—but this
contention is now exploded. In the sense of equality among the
clergy, either in the matter of power or of functions, the Church
was entirely different from the Presbyterian Churches. The
abbot, although he might be only a presbyter, ruled over the
whole community with absolute power. On the other hand,
while the bishops had no jurisdiction, they were recognised as a
distinct and necessary order of clergy, with certain functions
which the presbyter could not assume, and tlio Church liad thus
the three orders of clergy, and that regular succession of Bishoi)s,
which are looked on by some as essential requisites of a Church.
The respect in which St Columba himself held bishops is shown
by an anecdote told by Adamnan as follows :