Welsh Journals

The Bishop presided over his enormous diocese from Abergwili Palace, near Carmarthen. He sat in the House of Lords from 1878, although he was junior bishop there for 4% years and had to say prayers for their Lordships. Once he ceased to be junior bishop he seldom attended the House. He presumably attended the Convocation of Canterbury, but otherwise he was mostly in his Diocese. He estab- lished a Diocesan Conference in 1881 and by the end of his episcopate he had set up 21 diocesan committees, boards, and societies which reported to the Diocesan Conference.12 This was the basis of the modem organization of the Diocese, established in Bishop Jones's time. He had no assistant bishop until 1890, when the Bishop of Swansea was consecrated to help him, and so the episcopal care of 406 benefices with 618 churches was his alone. The main spiritual duties of a bishop are ordination, institution, visitation, and confirmation. Ordinations were usually held at Carmarthen or Abergwili [not in the Cathedral until 1896]. Institutions were carried out in the Chapel of the Bishop's Palace (unlike today when the bishop visits the parish to put a new parson in), followed by induction in the parish by any cleric willing to act. Every three years the Bishop carried out a visitation of the Diocese, delivering his address, or charge, at a number of the larger churches. Confirmation was the main reason for the Bishop's visiting the diocese as a whole. Until 1876 confirmations were held every third year in the Diocese, presumably at the same time as visitations. Bishop Jones found this inconvenient. It took up too much of the bishop's time during the con- firmation year to the detriment of his other work, and three years was too long an interval from the point of view of candidates. The new bishop decided that he would confirm every year at selected centres throughout the diocese, annually in 2 or 3 of the greatest towns, in alternate years in 'towns of the second rank', and every third year in remaining centres. Every young person would have the rite available within reasonable distance every year.13 In 1877 the only confirmation in the St David's part of Radnorshire was that at Llandrindod on Friday 23 March at 12.45 p.m.14 (Did the time reflect the railway timetable?) In 1878 Bishop Jones confirmed at Rhaeadr on 1 May, and Kilvert has left us a vivid vignette of the episcopal visit.15 Kilvert, then Vicar of Bredwardine in Herefordshire and staying at Llysdinam, went, with the Revd R L Venables, Mrs Venables, and Mrs Evan Thomas, to the Confirmation service by train. At Newbridge station they got into the Bishop's carriage. 'It was fine when we left