<P> Ireland was a rural society of chieftains living in the countryside . As in Wales, if a clan chieftain accepted Christianity so did those he ruled . Commonly Irish monasteries were established by grants of land to an abbot or abbess who came from a local noble family . The monastery became the spiritual focus of the tribe or kin group . Successive abbots and abbesses were members of the founder's family, a policy which kept the monastic lands under the jurisdiction of the family (and corresponded to Irish legal tradition, which only allowed the transfer of land within a family). In Ireland, the abbot was often called "coarb", a term designating the heir of successor of the founder . </P> <P> The abbots of the principal monasteries--such as Clonard, Armagh, Clonmacnoise, Swords, etc.--were of the highest rank and held in the greatest esteem . They wielded great power and had vast influence . The abbot usually was only a presbyter, but in the large monasteries there were one or more resident bishops who conferred orders and discharged the other functions of a bishop . The abbot was superior of the house, and all were subject to him . </P> <P> The Irish rule was rigorous . It was more or less a copy of the French rule, as the French was a copy of the Thebaid . The daily routine of monastic life was prayer, study, and manual labor . With regard to food the rule was very strict . Only one meal a day, at 3 o'clock p.m., was allowed, except on Sundays and Feast days . Wednesdays and Fridays were fast days, except the interval between Easter and Whit Sunday . The food allowed was barley bread, milk, fish, and eggs . Flesh meat was not allowed except on great feasts . </P> <P> In Ireland a distinctive form of penance developed, where confession was made privately to a priest, under the seal of secrecy, and where penance was given privately and ordinarily performed privately as well . Penance was considered therapeutic rather than punitive . Certain handbooks were made, called "penitentials", designed as a guide for confessors and as a means of regularising the penance given for each particular sin . According to Thomas Pollock Oakley, the penitential guides first developed in Wales, probably at St. David's, and spread by missions to Ireland . </P>

The monastic life typically revolves around the reading of