Note 29 — Chapter I

Habere autem solet ipsa insula rectorem semper abbatem presbyterum cujus juri et omnis provincia et ipsi etiam episcopi, ordine inusitato, debeant esse subjecti, juxta exemplum primi doctoris illius qui non episcopus sed presbyter exstitit et monachus. (Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. cap. iv.) Moreover it was always the custom to have as governor in that island an abbot who is a presbyter, to whose direction the entire province and also the bishops contrary to the usual method are subject, according to the example of their first teacher, who was not a bishop, but a presbyter and monk.