“In 1695, the Catholics _were deprived of all means of educating their children, at home or abroad_, and of the privilege of being guardians to their own or to other persons’ children. Then all the Catholics were disarmed, and then _all the priests banished. After this_ (probably by way of joke) an act was passed to _confirm_ the Treaty of Limerick,—the great and glorious King William totally forgetting the contract he had entered into, of recommending the religious liberties of Catholics to the attention of Parliament”—_The Works of the Reverend Sidney Smith._ London: Longman and Co., 1854, pp. 272, 273. _ 14 The Life of Milton._ By the Rev. John Mitford: prefixed to his Works. London: Bickers and Bush. Vol. i. p. cxlvi. _ 15 Ib._, p. cxliii. 16 Ap. _Usher_, _loc. cit._, p. 47: _Villaneuva Synod. S. Patricii_, p. 3. _ 17 Poenitentiale_, can. 5. _ 18 De Arreis_, § 3 and § 4. _ 19 Poenitent._, v. 12. _ 20 Ibid._, ii. 16. _ 21 Poenitentiale_, can. 14 and can. 23. _ 22 Poenitentiale_, can. 30. _ 23 Curry MSS._ § 60; and Dr. Reeves on _The Culdees_, pag. 209. 24 Reeves, loc. cit., pag. 202, seqq. The _cumhal_ in the Latin documents is expressed by _ancilla_. Its literal meaning is _bondmaid_, whose equivalent was reckoned at three cows. See O’Donovan, _Book of Rights_, page 139. 25 Page 173. 26 “Accedens ad sacerdotem a quo sibi sperabat iter salutis posse demonstrari confessus est reatum suum”, etc.—Bede, _H. Eccl._, iv. 25. 27 “Eadem hora omnia confessus peccata leges poenitentiae flexis genibus se impleturum promisit”—_Vita S. Columb._, ii. 39, _edit. I.A.S._, p. 157. _ 28 Ibid._, p. 59. See also lib. i. cap. 17, p. 46. 29 Vita S. Pulcher, _alias_ Mochoemogue, who lived in the seventh century, cap. xix., ap. Colgan, p. 592: “Videns eum vir Dei visitatum verâ poenitentia, ait ei: confitere peccata tua et esto de caetero fidelis in omnibus”. 30 See _Martyrol. of Donegal_, p. 211, and _Vita S. Maidoc_, cap. xx., and liv. ap. _Colgan_, p. 208, seqq. St. Dubthach of Armagh is also famous in our annals as being the “chief confessor of Ireland and Albany” (Colgan, _Tr. Thaum._, p. 298); and St. Gormgal of Ardoilean is similarly eulogised by the Four Masters, ad. an. 1017. _Conf. Colgan, Act. SS._, p. 141. _ 31 Vita_, cap. 22, _Tr. Colgan_, p. 353; Reeves’ _Columba_, p. 213, note _k_.