Dublin

Dublin the capital of Ireland, on the river Liffey.

I. Synods of Dublin. — Several important synods have been held at Dublin.

1. In AD 1186, chiefly to rebuke the drunkenness and incontinence of the clergy.

2. In 1518, under William Rokeby, archbishop of Dublin, at which ten canons were published for reformation of manners and discipline, one of them "forbidding the clergy to play at tennis upon pain of a fine of twenty- four pence for each offense half to be paid to the bishop, and the other half to the church of the place where they play" (Wilkins, Concilia, 3:660).

3. In 1615, by the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of Ireland in convocation, Thomas Jones, archbishop of Dublin, being speaker of the House of Bishops. In this synod certain articles of religion, framed by Usher, in one hundred and four sections, under nineteen heads, conveying the Calvinistic doctrine, were drawn up and approved. These articles included the celebrated "Lambeth Articles" (q.v.). By the decree of the synod, any minister, of whatsoever degree or quality, publicly teaching any doctrine contrary to the Articles, was ordered, after due admonition, to be silenced (Wilkins, Concilia, 3:447).

4. In 1634, composed of the archbishops, bishops, and clergy of Ireland, to adopt the 39 Articles of the Church of England. "No formal abrogation, however, of the Calvinistic articles of 1615 was made, which led to very inconvenient results; some, among whom was Bramhall, justly considering that the adoption of the English articles ipso facto annulled those of 1615, while Usher and many others, who favored the doctrines contained in the Irish Articles, maintained that both sets of articles were to be observed, and, in consequence, some few bishops, for a time, required subscription to both the English and Irish, discordant as they were. This unhappy state of things appears to have continued until 1641, when the Irish rebellion broke out. On the restoration, of the Church, no attempt was made to revive the Irish articles, which fell into entire disuse." At this synod 100 canons were adopted, which received the royal assent (Mant, Irish Church, page 483 sq.; Wilkins, Concilia, 3:496). Landon, Manual of Councils, page 211 sq.

II. University. — The University of Dublin (Trinity College) was founded in 1592. It is, in fact, a college, with the powers of a university. "Trinity College, indeed, was intended merely as the nucleus of a university, but, as no colleges have since been added, it remains in undisputed possession of all university privileges. Queen Elizabeth provided the charter, the corporation of Dublin bestowed the ground and ruins of the suppressed monastery of All-Hallows, and the Irish gentry supplied by subscription the funds necessary for the erection of the buildings. The income of the college was very limited and very precarious till James I endowed it with certain estates in the province of Ulster, and a yearly pension of £388 15s. English money, from the public purse" (Chambers, Encyclopedia, s.v.). The college has in its gift twenty-one Church livings.

III. Hierarchy. — An Episcopal see was established at Dublin in 1038 by king Sitrik, and in 1152 it was made the see of an archbishop. In the Established Church Dublin is now (1868) the head of a province, including six bishoprics, viz. Dublin, Ossory, etc., Cashel, etc., Limerick, etc., Killaloe, etc., and Cork, etc. The present archbishop is Richard Chenevix Trench, DD, primate of Ireland and metropolitan, consecrated 1863. The Roman Catholic Church has also an archbishop at Dublin, at present (1868) Paul Cullen, consecrated 1850, and a cardinal since 1866. The suffragans of the Roman Catholic archbishop are the bishops of Ossory, Kildare Leighlin, and Ferns. See Neher, Kirchl. Statistik, 1:27.