THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE

....................Marriage Banns (the intention of the couple to marry)were called out in a church on three consecutive Sundays, however it was possible to avoid this by ‘buying’ permission to marry from the church. The Bishop of the Diocese would then issue a ‘licence’ to marry to the couple.
....................A Bond was usually taken out in the Diocese of the Bride to be. The Groom and a relative or friend would pay the church a sum of money a ‘surety’ or guarantee that there was no just cause or impediment that the marriage should not take place.
....................The original Diocescan and Prerogative Court Marriage Licence Bonds were all destroyed in the Four Courts fire in 1922. The Indices and some abstracts however survive. Some of the indices do contain information such as the addresses of the people concerned whereas others just have the names of the people.

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN IRELAND ( in 1931)

....................The Roman Catholic Church in Ireland is governed by four Archbishops, whose sees are in Armagh, Dublin, Cashel and Tuam, and twenty four Bishops ; they are all nominated by the Pope, generally out of a list of three names submitted to him by the Parish priests and Chapter of the vacant diocese, and reported on by the Archbishop and Bishops of the Province. The diocesan dignitaries are the Vicars-General of whom there are one, two or three, according to the extent of the diocese, who have special disciplinary and other powers; Vicars Forane, whose functions are more restricted; the Archdeacon, and the Parish priests and Administrators. All of these as well as the Curates are appointed by the Bishop. The whole of the clergy are supported solely by the voluntary contributions of their flocks. The Episcopal emoluments arise from the mensal parish or two, the incumbency of which is retained y the Bishop, from marriage licences and from the cathedraticum, an annual sum,varying from £1 to £10 paid by each Parish Priest, Administrator and Curate in the Diocese. The 2,428 civil parishes in Ireland are amalgamated into 1,116 ecclesiastical parishes or unions.
....................The incomes of the Parish Priests arise from fees on marriages, baptisms and deaths, on Easter and Christmas dues and from incidental voluntary contributions, either in money or labour. The number of Priests in Ireland in 1853 was 2,291 (of whom 1,222 were educated at Maynooth College) and the number in 1873 was 3,157. The Curates of the Parish priests form more than half of the whole clerical strength; and scattered through cities and towns are 70-80 communities of Priests of various religious orders or rules, hence called Regulars who minister to their own churches, and though without Parochial jurisdiction greatly aid the secular clergy. All the places of public worship are built and maintained by subscriptions,legacies and collections. There are numerous monasteries and convents; the latter are supported partly by sums, usually from £300 to £500, paid by those who take the vows in them, and partly by fees for the education of the daughters of respectable Roman Catholics. Various communities of Monks and Nuns also devote themselves to the gratuitous education of the children of the poor. Candidates for clerical ordination, formerly under the necessity of obtaining their education in continental colleges are now chiefly educated at home.
....................According to the 1836 Catholic Registry and Directory there were 27 Dioceses in Ireland and approximately 3000 Priests: 960-970 Parish Priests, 1500 Curates and 500 Regular Clergy.

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH (1931)

....................The Presbyterians who are found chiefly in Ulster, are formed into Congregations, each of which is under the ecclesiastical government of a court called a Kirk Session, consisting of the Minister and Elders of the Congregation. An indefinite number of the Ministers of these Congregations, with a Representative Elder or each constitutes a Presbytery, which has the charge of the Congregations represented in it. Delegates from each of these Presbyteries, consisting of all the Ministers, with a Representative Elder, for each, constitute the General Assembly, which is presided over by a Moderator chosen annually and regulates the ecclesiastical concerns of the Body.
....................The first Presbytery in Ireland was formed at Carrickfergus in 1642, and gave rise t the Synod of Ulster. The Presbyterian Synod of Munster was formed about 1660. The Presbytery of Antrim separated from the Synod of Ulster in 1727, and the Remonstrant Synod in 1829. A number of Seceders formed themselves into the Secession Synod of Ireland about 1780. In 1840 the General and Secession Synods having united, assumed the name of the general Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, comprising in 1930, 546 Congregations, arranged under 34 Presbyteries. The Ministers were supported by voluntary contributions, the rents of seats or pews, and the proceeds of the commutation of the annual Parliamentary Grant called the Regium Donum, or Royal Gift ( first granted in 1672 by Charles II), made by the Church Temporalities Commissioners under the Act of 1869. The Minutes of the General Assembly for 1930 state that in the year ending in December there were 584 Ministers,, (besides 22 licentiates and ordained ministers without charge, 546 congregations and 510 manses.

THE METHODIST CHURCH

....................The Methodist Society was founded by the Rev. John Wesley in 1739. It is constituted in Ireland under the Methodist Church in Ireland Acts Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State, 1928). The ministers are itinerant, five years being the longest period they can remain in any one circuit under ordinary circumstances. One, two or more are appointed to a circuit which comprises a number of congregations and they are assisted by lay preachers, leaders and prayer leaders. Out of these, with representatives elected By the Societies is formed the Leaders Meeting, at which ministers attend, one of them , called the Superintendent presiding, and this Board manages the affairs of the local society. The Quarterly meeting composed of the same officials together with the Trustees etc. manages the affairs of the Circuit. A number of Circuits forms a District. The Conference meets annually and is the supreme ecclesiastical court. It consists of 150 ministers and 150 Laymen, the President of the British Conference also being the President of the Irish one during its sessions.

THE CHURCH OF IRELAND (1931)

.....................There were 33 Church of Ireland Dioceses in 1931. All incumbents on vacancies occurring, were appointed by the several Boards of Nominations, except I some cases of District Churches and Parochial Chapels, where Trustees were appointed previous to the Dis-establishment, and in parishes where , under the statutes of the Church, Donors by Endowment acquired the Patronage.
..................... Until Jan 1, 1871, the Church of Ireland was established by Law and was combined with the Church of England, by the Act of Union (1800). The Bishops and beneficed Clergy had a freehold in their offices, and in the emoluments and privileges belonging to these offices; the resources of the Church were practically all derived from the tithe rent charges, from the annual rents or produce of Church lands, from occasional private subscriptions, and from the income arising out of private benefactions. The lay members of the church were entitled to all the ministrations of its clergy without any liability to support it with their contributions; and they had neither authority nor responsibility in relation to the management of its temporal affairs.
.....................The Irish Church Act, 1869, provided that from January 1, 1871, the statutory union between the Churches of England and Ireland should be dissolved, and that the Church of Ireland should cease to be established by law. Subject to the vested interests of the then existing Bishops, Clergy and other Church officers, all such Church property of every kind was vested in the ‘Commissioners of Church Temporalities’ who were created by the Act and who carried out al the transactions that the Act required - in realising all items of property, selling Church lands to occupying tenants and others and discharging all liabilities imposed by the Act, and, from time to time, as parliament might direct, appropriating the surplus to various Irish purposes.
.....................All the Ecclesiastical Corporations that existed under former conditions having been dissolved by the Irish Church Act, the necessity arose for the creation of a new corporate body to take over from the Church Temporalities Commissioners whatever property and moneys under the e Act were to be transferred to the Authorities of the disestablished Church, and to be the trustee and agent in respect of property and funds subsequently acquired. This was met by the corporation in 1870 of the Representative Church Body. This body was constituted so as to include representatives from every part of Ireland.
.....................By recognising the vested interests of the Bishops, Clergy and other church officers who were in office when the Act came into operation and their rights to receive their respective emoluments during their lives and by making it a condition, that in return they should render the same service as before, an opportunity was afforded by the authorities to make plans for future church sustentation. It was eventually decided that instead of having a general plan for all Ireland , local effort would be stimulated to a greater degree, and other advantages secured by having a separate plan for each diocese or group of dioceses in which the resources of all the parishes under the plan would be pooled, and by which a steady voluntary effort on a uniform principle from the very beginning on the part of all the parishes would eventually secure on the disappearance of the last surviving annuitant, an accumulated capital, the interest on which, with the same regular annual subscriptions from the parishes, would fully meet the Stipends secured to the Clergy of the Diocese under each particular scheme.
....................At a General Convention held in 1870, it was declared as a general and fundamental principle, that a General Synod consisting of the Archbishops and Bishops, and of representatives of the Clergy and Laity "shall have chief legislative power as may be necessary and consistent with its Episcopal constitution"" The General Synod consists of three orders, the Bishops, the Clergy and the Laity. These sit as two Houses, the House of Bishops consisting of all the Archbishops and Bishops and the House of Representatives, consisting of 216 Clerical and 432 Lay Representatives, distributed among the dioceses and elected every third year by the Diocesan Synods.
.....................The Registered Vestrymen are Church members who either own property or are resident in the parish, or are accustomed members of the congregation of the Church or Churches in the parish. They are the constituency that elects 9a0 one of the Churchwardens - the other being nominated by the Incumbent; (b) members of the Select Vestry which controls the Parochial Charity and Church Funds © the Lay Synodsmen who sit in the Diocesan Synod and (d) the three Parochial Nominators who with the Bishop and the three Diocesan Nominators elected by the Diocesan Synod elect the Board of Nomination with whom rests the appointment of the Incumbent of the parish.

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