Bishop of Clogher

“ His patent for the sees of Clogher, Derry, and Raphoe, was dated the 13th of June, 1595, where already for many years a canonically appointed bishop ruled the fold of Christ. The good sense, however, of the Knoxian reformer judged it more prudent not to risk himself and family amidst the O'Kanes whilst arms were in the hands of the Irish chieftains: he hence consigned to oblivion his royal patent, and allowed the Irish pastors to feed in peace their spiritual fold. ”

“ One could hardly desire a larger measure of popularity, either with his parish or in his diocese, than Bishop McCoskry enjoys. Every where the highest testimony is borne to the loveliness and excellency of his character, and the faithfulness and evangelical spirit of his ministry. This I heard from all quarters—from clergy and laity, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Indeed I think the bishop's greatest danger lies in this quarter. May he still have grace as he hath hitherto done, amid all these praises of men, to count himself as nothing, and to sit as a little child at the feet of Jesus. ”

“ Woe is all of us! What will become of us all? My diocese will be ravaged, my treasury pillaged, my palace in Chalon sacked, my villa burned down! Monk, what desolation!" "Bishop, is not the Valley of Charolles located in your diocese?" "It belongs to glorious King Clotaire, like all the rest of the lands of Gaul that have not been distributed as benefices either by himself, or by his father, King Clovis, to the chiefs of the leudes and the Church." ”

“ Thomas John Claggett, D. D., of Maryland, was the first Bishop consecrated in the United States, having been elevated to that holy Order by the Right Reverend Bishops Provoost, Seabury, White, and Madison, in New York, September 17, 1792; since which time, thirty-three Bishops have been consecrated, making the whole number, thirty-eight, of whom twenty are now living. For the succession of Bishops, from the first establishment of the Church, to the present day, see Statistics. ”

“ Since the first century, not less, in all probability, than a hundred thousand persons have exercised the functions of bishops. That many of these have not been bishops by apostolical succession is quite certain. Hooker admits that deviations from the general rule have been frequent, and with a boldness worthy of his high and statesmanlike intellect, pronounces them to have been often justifiable. “There may be,” says he, “sometimes very just and sufficient reason to allow ordination made without a bishop. ”

“ The bishop of Rheims, St. Remi, was not quite a stranger to Clovis. Some years before, when he had heard that the son of Childeric had become king of the Franks of Tournai, he had written to congratulate him. "We are informed," said he, "that thou hast undertaken the conduct of affairs; it is no marvel that thou beginnest to be what thy fathers ever were;" and, while taking care to put himself on good terms with the young pagan chieftain, the bishop added to his felicitations some pious Christian counsel, without letting any attempt at conversion be mixed up with his moral exhortations. ”

“ All bishops are appointed by the Patriarch, Holy Synod, or other head of their Church. They must be celibates, and so are practically always chosen from the monasteries. They must be thirty years old, and are consecrated by the Patriarch or chief Metropolitan of their Church (or by their deputy) assisted by two other bishops. [30] The idea that to consecrate a bishop involves jurisdiction over him still prevails in the East. Metropolitans (and other bishops) are addressed as "Your Beatitude," they are "most Blessed Lords," and are spoken of as the "Holy man" of such a place. ”

“ To be the right (esse jus-i.e. to be in the jurisdiction) of the said Bishop, and to belong to the Barony of the Bishopric of London. And in return for this Recognition and fine and agreement the same Bishop granted to the same William son of Benedict the Whole of the said Soke with its appurtenances and with the School of the same town of Colchester save in favour of the said Bishop the Advowsons of the Church of St. ”

“ It is his function to appoint and ordain the lower clergy. He is treasurer of the Church funds and custodian of her doctrine and discipline. It is the voice of the bishops that settles both the creed and the canons of discipline in the synods. Bishops have certain privileges and immunities. They are not to be sworn in courts of justice; they can act as intercessors; they preside at Church courts. Each bishop is strictly confined to his own parish. ”

“ John Coldwell, of a physitian, became a bishop, I have heard by more than a good many; and I will briefly handle it, and as tenderly as I can; bearing myself equal between the living (Sir Walter Raleigh) and the dead (Bishop Coldwell) . Yet the manifest judgements of God on both of them I may not pass over with silence. And to speak first of the knight, who carried off the Spolia opima of the bishoprick. ”

“ COLCHU, Saint (d. 792) , of the family of Ua Dunechda, was ferleighinn or prelector, that is in modern style head-master, of the famous school of Clonmacnoise. He is termed in the ' Annals ' ' chief scribe and master of the Scots ' (Irish) , the office of scribe being so honourable in those days that the title was frequently added to enhance the celebrity of an abbot or bishop ; and from the specimens which have come down to us, such as the 'Book of Kells,' many of them appear to have been artists of no mean skill. ”

“ There is nothing in the Anglican ordinal to show that the Holy Ghost is given for the consecration of a bishop in the Roman sense. In 1704 John Gordon, formerly Anglican bishop of Galloway, gave to the Holy Office an account of the manner in which he had been consecrated. The Sacred Congregation, with the pope’s approval, declared his orders to be null. The constant practice has been to reordain unconditionally Anglican priests and deacons. ”

“ There is no power to dispense with disused Rubrics, should a Clergyman revive them, though a Bishop may not himself see it necessary to enforce them. [26] It seems necessary to notice this distinction in the present day: since many persons, who deny the Bishop's authority to revive, imagine that he is able, by merely issuing his command, to prevent the Clergy from reviving a neglected practice: and from not attending to this distinction, no small degree of confusion has arisen. ”

“ In his poor diocese, he had everything to construct, and everybody to instruct, even some Indian tribes, who received him with great joy as a “chief of the black robes,” a priest of “the true prayer.” He had no sinecure dignity. “At home he was at once the bishop, the pastor of the congregation, the professor of theology for his seminary, and a teacher for one of his academies.” These give a small idea of his labors. When the king of terrors (to most men) came, he found the bishop at his post, on duty, like the faithful Roman sentinel at the gates of Pompeii. ”

“ And wherever any one of them may be found, whether in village or city, ordained by Catholics, so shall he remain among the clergy, yet every one, in his own order. But, if any of them come to a place where there is a bishop or presbyter, of the Catholic Church, it is evident that the bishop of the Catholic Church shall have his own proper episcopal dignity. ”

“ He was always lofty, inflated, and presumptuous. While I was still with the king this man went shamelessly into the bishop’s house as if already bishop, and made an [Pg 140] inventory of the church silver and brought the rest of the property under his control. To the more important clergy he gave presents and distributed vineyards and meadows; the lesser he beat with clubs and many blows even with his own hand, saying: “Recognize your master, who has triumphed over his enemies and by his determination has cleared Tours of the people of Clermont.” ”

“ Above all, the Episcopalians of the Diocese loved their Bishop as a man—a vital, interesting personality who possessed none of the unctuous pompousness of the commonplace ecclesiastic. Miss Nell Battle Lewis once aptly characterized the Bishop as "much more than a Churchman, able Churchman though he is. Foremost, he is a man—a gentleman—of the most unswerving honesty, conviction, courage, kindness, humor, and charm." [42]
Throughout almost all of his Episcopate Bishop Cheshire had no secretary. ”

“ But since the middle of the nineteenth century, as the Anglican Church has become at once more threatened and more energetic, as more of the life of the nation has flowed into her and round her, the office of a bishop has risen in importance. People show more interest in the appointments to be made, and ministers have become proportionately careful in making them. Bishops work harder and are more in the public eye now than they were eighty, or even fifty, years ago. They have lost something of the antique dignity and social consideration which they enjoyed. ”

“ Clovis hastened downstairs, and after a short visit to the library returned with another message:
"The Bishop is sorry to hear that Miss Huddle has a headache. He is issuing orders that as far as possible no firearms shall be used near the house; any killing that is necessary on the premises will be done with cold steel. The Bishop does not see why a man should not be a gentleman as well as a Christian." ”

“ Then the queen asked saint Remi, bishop of Rheims, to summon Clovis secretly, urging him to introduce the king to the word of salvation. And the bishop sent for him secretly and began to urge him to believe in the true God, maker of heaven and earth, and to cease worshiping idols, which could help neither themselves nor any one else. But the king said: “I gladly hear you, most holy father; but there remains one thing: the people who follow me cannot endure to abandon their gods ”

“ No Bishop can prevent a Clergyman from reading the Prayer for the Church Militant, from preaching in the Surplice, and from making a collection at the Offertory weekly. He may not enjoin these things, which he has the power to do: but he has no power to prohibit them. If therefore, a Bishop, who is as much confined by the law as the Clergy, makes any order, it must be an order for strict compliance with the letter of the Rubrics. ”

“ Let the Bishops have the disposing of the goods of the Church; adding this reason: si enim animte hominum pretiosæ illi sint creditæ, multo magis eum oportet curam pecuniarum gerere. He that is intrusted with our precious souls may much more be intrusted with the offertories of faithful people.
Let all these belong to the overseer of the Church: to whom else so properly? but what is the nature of the power by which he is to enforce his orders? By secular power? Then the Bishop's power is no derivative from Christ's royalty; for his kingdom is not of the world ”

“ As wealth increased, and was intrusted to the clergy, they became indifferent to the wants of the people, no longer supported by them. They became lazy, arrogant, and independent. The people were shut out of the government of the church. The bishop became a grand personage, who controlled and appointed his clergy. ”

“ Several catholic laymen, adherents of that association, went so far as to maintain that the clergy and laity ought to choose their own bishops without any reference to Rome, and procure their consecration at the hands of any other lawful bishop. It was even proposed by them, after the appointment of Douglass, to pronounce that appointment ‘obnoxious and improper,’ and to refuse to acknowledge it. Dr. Charles Berington, however, addressed a printed letter to the London clergy, resigning every pretension to the London vicariate, and the opposition to Douglass was withdrawn. ”

“ It thus appears that the bishop of the ancient Church was very different from the dignitary now known by the same designation. The primitive bishop had often but two or three elders, and sometimes a single deacon, [587:2] under his jurisdiction: the modern prelate has frequently the oversight of several hundreds of ministers. The ancient bishop, surrounded by his presbyters, preached ordinarily every Sabbath to his whole flock: the modern bishop may spend an entire lifetime without addressing a single sermon, on the Lord's day, to many who are under his episcopal supervision. ”

“ Now, a word from Eldon Parr might turn the trick. Every parson wants to be a bishop."
Langmaid shook his head.
"You're getting out of your depths, my friend. The Church isn't Wall Street. And missionary bishops aren't chosen to make convenient vacancies."
"I don't mean anything crude," Mr. Plimpton protested. "But a word from the chief layman of a diocese like this, a man who never misses a General Convention, and does everything handsomely, might count,—particularly if they're already thinking of Hodder. The bishops would never suspect we wanted to get rid of him." ”

“ What can we, what dare we say in favour of priests when we remember Our Lord?"
"When a man does try to follow the Gospel a little more closely than the rest," Mark raged, "the bishops down him. They exist to maintain the safety of their class. They have reached their present position by knowing the right people, by condemning the wrong people, and by balancing their fat bottoms on fences. Sometimes when their political patrons quarrel over a pair of mediocrities, a saintly man who is either very old or very ill like Bishop Crawshay is appointed as a stop-gap." ”

“ In pre-Reformation days they had ranked among the minor orders of the Church as assistants of the Priests; [1163] and so, especially in country churches, they might consider themselves as holding a position somewhat analogous, though on a humbler scale, to that of Precentors. In 1722 a clergyman, writing to the Bishop of London on the subject of the poverty and distressed condition of some of the poorer curates, spoke of the desirability of again admitting men in holy orders to be Parish Clerks. Early in the present century Hartley Coleridge made a somewhat similar suggestion. ”