upon the rare occasions when the king or the bishop visited the place. The _Keledei_, however, were wont to say their office after their own fashion in a corner of a church, which was very small.’[680] From this account we can gather that there were at St. Andrews at this time in point of fact two churches, and that the community consisted of two divisions, connected with these churches respectively. The first was the church containing ‘the altar of the blessed apostle’ St. Andrew, and the revenues of this church were appropriated by seven persons, one of whom was the bishop, the second the hospital, and the other five laymen, or lay rectors as they might be termed, who were married, and whose portions were inherited by their families. The only burden imposed upon them was to provide lodging and entertainment for pilgrims and strangers beyond the number which the hospital could accommodate. There was no provision for service in this church, except on rare occasions when the king or bishop visited the place. The second was a smaller church, which belonged to a body of thirteen _Keledei_, probably the prior or provost, and twelve brethren, who lived apart, had wives, and possessed private property, as well as certain ecclesiastical dues which were inherited by their families. In this church they performed divine service according to their own rite, and they also provided from their body an _anmchara_, soul-friend, or confessor.[681] That this was one of their proper functions appears from the Rule of the _Cele De_, attributed to Maelruain, which contains the following passage: ‘Difficult indeed is the duty of the _anmchara_, or soul-friend, because, if he give the proper remedy, it is oftener violated than observed; but if the soul-friend does not give it, its liability falls upon himself, because several deem it enough to make the confession without doing the penance; but it is better to proclaim their welfare to them, though they do not respond to the penance enjoined by the confessor. Another soul-friend may be gone to, if necessary, after the permission of the first soul-friend.’[682] The one party represented that portion of the community which formerly consisted of secular clergy, but whose position and revenues had, with the exception of those of the bishop and the hospital, been usurped by laymen, while their clerical duties remained unperformed. The other party consisted of the only clerical portion of the community. They represented what had originally been a society of Anchorites or Hermits, but now presented all the features of Secular canons, as they became modified in Ireland on the introduction of the canonical rule. The state of the church of St. Andrews, as we find it here pictured, is almost an exact reproduction of what we find at Armagh at the same time. Here, prior to 1126, the abbacy was in the hands of laymen, and there is no appearance of any of the usual officers of a great monastery.