by John Healy

“ God save thy soul; but go, return to the world; among us thou wouldest give scandal; thy heart may be chaste, but thy sex is in thy body.' Stories like these could never have taken rise if it had not been a recognised institution at one time for women and men together to form portion of the same community. ”

“ The position occupied by women in the ancient Irish Church is a rather difficult, but most interesting subject. In the olden times the women of Ireland were admitted to many employments that are generally regarded as being outside their province. ”

“ All these English establishments, which were under the control of women, were founded by those who were of Irish origin, or had come under Irish influence. One may therefore conclude that this institution of the mixed monastery was one peculiar to the ancient Celtic Church, and that the position occupied by women was one of greater importance than was the case in any other country. ”

“ And the angel said to him, It is not necessary that thou shouldest have a soul friend, for God loves thee, and between thee and God there will be no intermediary one. If, however, thou wishest for a soul friend, thou shalt have Molue, the mother of Choche.' [2] A story like this could never have arisen if it were considered unworthy of a saint to have a woman for his soul friend.
Several instances are recorded of women rising to the highest offices in the Church, and becoming abbesses ”

“ If the Lives of the Saints are to be believed, however, there were some who obstinately excluded women from their communities. In doing so they encountered determined opposition. Kevin of Glendalough is said to have hurled a woman into the lake, because in no other way could he overcome the persistence with which she insisted on obtaining admittance into the monastery. ”

“ Columba is said to have objected even to cows, giving as his reason, 'where there is a cow there must be a woman, and where there is a woman there must be mischief.' This, by the way, has been triumphantly quoted to show that women were excluded from Iona. ”

“ Moreover, it is only lawful for women to blow the fire, fanning it or using bellows only, and not with their breath.' There has been much speculation as to the meaning of this fire, bat its origin is lost in mystery, and is not impropably to be traced to the old Druidism. ”

“ In later times the abbesses seem to have had less authority, and the establishment was nearly always under the control of some member of the royal family of Leinster, not unfrequently the heir to the throne. A remarkable peculiarity of the monastery at Kildare was the keeping up of a perpetual fire. Giraldus mentions it among the 'Wonders and Miracles of Ireland.' He tells us that 'this fire is surrounded by a hedge, made of stakes and brushwood, and forming a circle, within which no male can enter ”