They were at a further disadvantage, which they shared with the Brigidines, in that Dr Delany left them no rule and constitutions.  He left them only guidelines, believing that time and experience  --perhaps as long as twenty years, would enable the community to determine its own rule. This could be seen as a remarkably enlightened view for that time.

Doyle inherited this state of affairs and found it highly unsatisfactory. The Brothers however, were able to inform him of Dr Delany's intentions in their regard, and, thus advised he drew up a rule and constitutions, completes on August 28, 1821  ( Feast of St Augustine !! )

The title of this work, which was printed in 1826, credited Dr Delany with the authorship and Dr Doyle with the revision, approval and augmentation of the rule and constitutions.  This was an act of generosity on Doyle's part to the memory of his predecessor, for in truth, Dr Delany had not drawn up any rule or constitutions.  In his 1829 Relatio Status,  Doyle remarked that he had  'reduced' the Patrician Congregation 'to  a more strict observance of their duties'.

Generally there is no radical difference between the rule and the constitutions. The four great rules of the church were drawn up  by Saints Augustine, Basil, Benedict and Francis.  Much of what constituted the Patrician rule and constitutions was similar to that of the other male and female institutes. 

A comparison of the rules and the constitutions of the Patrician congregation and the Presentation order reveal that the former was modelled on the latter. There are very great similarities and an identical text in many parts. The Presentation rule and constitutions in turn were based on the Ursuline rule and was approved by Pius V11  in 1805.

(Comment: As a matter of interest the Irish Christian Brothers rule was likewise based on the Presentation rule.  Nano Nagle was educated by the Ursuline Sisters and the Ursuline  rule drew heavily from the rule of St. Augustine !!    ajk )

The parallels between the needs and observances of a lay and a female institute, coupled with the relative modernity and Irish origin of the Presentation order, probably made its rule an appropriate paradigm on which Bishop Doyle could base the Patrician Rule.

The Patrician rule had a more detailed outline of the order of the day. Notable was the opening of their schools throughout the year at seven o'clock in the morning. (???!!!) A distinctive feature was Doyle's emphasis on the importance of recreation (when permitted) Recreation should as often as possible be observed in common, and whilst it continues,  it is not only lawful for the Brethren, but a duty incumbent on them to indulge in a becoming freedom of proper exercise and unrestrained flow of cheerful, innocent conversation;  in order to unbend at once the tension of their minds, from long, close application, and promote their bodily health by necessary relaxation and exhilarating amusement.  (!!!!)

In 1891 representations were made to Bishop Doyle, probably by the secular clergy of the mensal parish of Tullow,  that the Patricians wore white cravats and beaver hats and dressed like priests.  In response, Doyle commanded the brothers to wear black cravats and not to appear like clerics.

In 1823 the bishop considered it was time that the brothers ,  who until then had merely renewed their simple vows of poverty, chastity and obedience annually, underwent final profession.  On behalf of his confreres, Bro Bernard Hayden plied Doyle with several anxieties about this step;  would breaches of the rule be greater than before, after final vows were taken ?  If indefinite or generalcommannds were imposed by the superior would each circumstance bind under pain of obedience ?

Doyle settled the brothers' doubts with a full answer.  He drew up an act of profession for the Patricians and, on 31 January  1823, seven brothers made final profession in the chapel of his residence at Old Derrig (Tullow)

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In summary, we may agree with what Comerford has written of Doyle's influence on the Patricians: it was he  'who shaped their destiny' (Comerford was a church historian who wrote of the life and times of Bishops Delany and Doyle) Under Doyle the Patricians were given direction; a rule and constitution was drawn up and instituted; the brothers made final profession for the first time and were given a distinctive dress; a monastery was built and an elementary school and a secondary level boarding school were opened; two affiliations were founded. Doyle secured the establishment of the Patricians as a teaching order.

He was born James Warren Doyle to James Doyle of Ballinvegga New Ross and Anne Warren in 1786. His father died before his birth and it was largely left up to his mother to bring him and educate him. Anne Warren was a Roman Catholic but of Quaker extraction. From an early age, it seems, James was destined for the priesthood. As a young boy he witnessed the bloody fighting around New Ross during the 1798 Rebellion, and it seems to have confirmed his zeal to become a priest. Following the end of the fighting he was sent to a school where both Catholics and Protestants attended. Indeed, education was a central focus of his family life.

A brother, Patrick, attended Trinity College and graduated in 1802, before entering King's Inns to study law. (Incidentally, Wesley Doyle, a son of Langrishe who was later the vicar of Castleknock and Swords, graduated from Trinity in 1806, and then followed Patrick's path into the law.) James Doyle entered Grantstown Augustinian Covent in 1805. After reaching canonical age he was sent to Coimbra University near Lisbon Portugal to complete his education.

Following Napoleon's invasion of Portugal in 1808, James Doyle joined a cavalry unit in the British forces of the Irish born Sir Arthur Wellesley, later the conqueror of Napoleon and commonly known as the Iron Duke. In Portugal he may have also served under another Doyle commander, Sir Charles William Doyle. Sir Charles was the elder brother of the famed Sir John Doyle and was sent to the Iberian peninsula to fight Napoleon's forces in 1808. James Doyle  returned to Ireland and was ordained in 1809, and was appointed professor of Logic at Carlow College in 1813. Subsequently, he filled the chairs of rhetoric, humanity and theology there. In 1819 Doyle began to emerge as a prominent Catholic leader in Ireland. This  coincided with his promotion to the see of Kildare and Leighlin at the age of thirty three. He proved an active and caring prelate and traveled the length and breadth of his diocese preaching on lonely hillsides to a disgruntled flock. But Doyle did not only attempt to soothe his flock with promises of better times. On social issues he was a relentless and indefatigable campaigner. Much of the credit for the passing of the Catholic Relief Bill of 1825, must be given to him. He fought for the abolition of the right of the Church of  Ireland to levy tithes upon Catholics and trenchantly opposed the English Crown's right of veto upon appointments within the Catholic hierarchy. However, he also showed himself a great theologian. When in 1822 Archbishop Magee, the Protestant Church of Ireland prelate of Dublin, declared during a sermon that Catholics had a church but no religion, it was Doyle who wrote a much admired scholarly rebuttal of Magee's hypothesis. It was as political commentator that Doyle won the greatest respect from both sides of the religious divide. His articles on the state of Ireland were eagerly read and much studied. Consequently, he was called before a parliamentary committee in London to express his views on Ireland. Arthur Wellesley, then Duke of Wellington and Prime Minister, shrewdly observed that at times it was the prelate who was examining the parliamentarians. However, it is clear from the text of Doyle's examinations that his aims were conservative: ' I am convinced in my soul ....that if we (Catholics) were freed from the disabilities under which we labour, we have no mind, and no  thought, and no will, but that which would lead us to incorporate ourselves most fully and essentially with this great kingdom; for it would be our greatest pride, to share in the glories and riches of England'.