PAPACYAt just this point, however, Palladius disappears
entirely from view, his role and that of his followers
completely submerged by the all-conquering legend
surrounding the great Saint Patrick. Native tradition
associates the beginnings of Irish Christianity with
Patrick, not Palladius, who was written out of history
in the seventh century. Because of Palladius’s “disap-
pearance” after 431, Irish historians filled the void by
dating Patrick’s arrival in 432. No document from the
Palladian mission has survived, whereas Patrick’s two
writings became the foundation for a body of legends
that turned the humble Briton into an all-powerful,
conquering Christian hero. In the process, however,
the true character of the man was sacrificed for the
purpose of creating a mythological figure whose
“heroic” deeds formed the basis for outlandish claims
made in the centuries after him.
When the Irish churches emerge fully into the light
of history at the beginning of the seventh century, the
famous Paschal letter of Cummian (632) refers only
to “the holy Patrick” (sanctus Patricius) as papa noster
(“our father”)—the earliest indication we have that
Patrick, and not Palladius, enjoyed a special status as
the “Father” of the Irish Church. Historians have been
troubled, however, by the fact that Patrick nowhere in
his writings makes mention of Palladius or anyone
else involved in missionary activity in Ireland, but
constantly reiterates the claim that he has gone “where
no man has gone before.” It is not at all impossible,
therefore, that Patrick came to Ireland beforePalladius,
rather than after him, perhaps in the late fourth cen-
tury, or in the generation before Palladius was dis-
patched by Pope Celestine to the “Irish believing in
Christ.” Whatever his eventual fate, Palladius made
nothing like the same impression on the Irish histor-
ical mind as Patrick did, and is now a forgotten figure
in Irish history.
DÁIBHÍÓ CRÓINÍN
See alsoChristianity, conversion to; Patrick
PAPACY
The earliest reference to papal contact with Ireland
occurs in 431 when the Chronicleof Prosper of Aquita-
ine recorded the sending of Palladius as bishop to “the
Irish believing in Christ” by Pope Celestine I (d. 432)
as part of a wider papal mission to the church in the
British Isles. The Irish church developed distinctive
structures and practices and the Irish method of calcu-
lating Easter was a particular cause of controversy.
The Venerable Bede (d. 735) makes reference to two
seventh- century papal letters to Irish ecclesiastics con-
cerning this paschal controversy. The Irishperegrinus
Columbanus(d. 615) corresponded with Pope Gregory
the Great (d. 604) and forcefully reminded Pope
Boniface IV (d. 615) of his responsibility to exercise
the Petrine ministry to stamp out error. A similar respect
for papal primacy is evident in some eighth-century
Brehon law texts.
Increased contacts between Ireland, England, and
the Continent from the mid-eleventh century brought
the Irish Church into contact with the Gregorian reform
movement. There were a number of Irish royal pil-
grimages to Rome during this period and an Irish mon-
astery was established on the Celian hill. Pope Gregory
VII (d. 1085) corresponded with King Tairrdelbach Ua
Briain encouraging his efforts at church reform. This
momentum culminated in a series of synods; Cashel I
(1101), Rath Breassail (1111), and Kells-Mellifont
(1152), presided over by papal legates, in which a
diocesan structure was established, sacramental and
liturgical life renewed, and attempts made to reform
sexual mores and ensure the payment of tithes. Irish
prelates were well represented at both the great reform
councils of the Middle Ages: Lateran III (1179) and
Lateran IV (1215).
The Anglo-Norman presence in Ireland from 1169
was a complicating factor in Irish-papal relations.
Much academic controversy has been generated over
the significance of the 1155 bull Laudabiliterof the
Pope Alexander IV by which Ireland was granted to
Henry II of England. While its authenticity is now
generally accepted, in many respects the attitude of the
papacy after the invasion is more significant as the
English right to the lordship of Ireland was never chal-
lenged by the popes before the Reformation, particu-
larly after King John agreed to hold Ireland as a papal
fief from Innocent III in 1213.
The decline in the English colony that became evi-
dent in the latter half of the thirteenth century contin-
ued into the fourteenth. Tension between the two
nations became particularly pronounced in the wake of
the Bruce invasion (1315–1317) and King Edward II
enlisted papal support for the correction of clergy and
religious who sided with the rebels. The grievances of
the Irish population found expression in the 1317
Remonstranceaddressed to Pope John XXII by Domnall
Ua Néill in which he claimed that as the English had
failed to fulfill the conditions of Laudabiliter, they
should be deprived of their Lordship. Though John
XXII did not concede this he did urge Edward II and
Edward III to attend more carefully to the rights of
their Irish subjects.
The transfer of the papal court to Avignon in 1315
brought the papacy closer to Ireland and there is a
corresponding rise in the volume of Irish material pre-
served in the various series of papal records. Unlike
England, where recourse to the papacy in legal matters