(From the MS History of the Irish College, Rome.)[1]

Comemorate on 25th October, date of his admission to the Irish College in Rome

A PUPIL who died for the faith, Philip Clery, was admitted October 25th 1632. 

He left the college on October 3’, 1640, after completing his course of studies both of philosophy and of theology with unusual diligence and success. 

He is said to have been somewhat restless (nonnihil inquietus) in the College. 

But he wiped out that stain, of whatever kind it was, in a noble way, two years after, by a precious death in Ireland, where he was slain by the heretics.

[1] In the Archives of the Roman College; lib. i. fol. 72b

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

JOHN HONAN, O.S.F.

HE was a native of Connaught, a priest, and a member of the Franciscan Order. 

After he had spent many years in religion a model to all of every virtue, and had discharged the office of pastor very zealously among the persecuted Catholics of Leinster, he was seized by the English heretics in Dublin and cast into prison. 

After six weeks of imprisonment, rejecting with contempt the honours and benefices offered to him in the King’s name if he would change his religion, he was most cruelly tortured, then hanged, and quartered, and so triumphed gloriously October 14th, 1618.

See also O’Sullevan.

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

A war was then raging in Ulster, in which the diocese of Armagh is situated. It had been begun by Shane O’Neill, than the most powerful chief of that province, against Queen Elizabeth. 

The Primate and the chief did not agree on a great many matters. 

The cause was the Primate’s dissatisfaction at the many hardships which O’Neill had inflicted on ecclesiastics, and at the violation of the privileges and immunities of the churches, for he had got hold of their property and lands, and he had used much violence towards themselves.[1]

The injuries reached such a height, and the zeal and indignation of the Primate were so great, that he thought it was time for him to make use of his power as pastor and to have recourse to censures. Wherefore he pronounced sentence of excommunication against him. O’Neill cared little; he resisted the judgment and contemned the command of his pastor; but he was soon punished for his contumacy, for all his plans and undertakings from that up to his death failed and ended badly, the judgment of God manifesting itself in this way.

The Primate performed his duties with all possible zeal, in that province and[2] throughout Ireland, wherever an opportunity offered or necessity required. A reward of £40, a large sum in those days, was offered for his capture.

A 3rd time he was treacherously seized by Myler Hussey, a follower of the Earl of Kildare, and surrendered by him on a promise that the Archbishop’s life would be spared.[3]

His captor, some say, was suddenly paralysed in the arm with which he seized the anointed of the Lord and cast him into prison, and all his family, a very numerous one, were stricken down by different mishaps and accidents, with the exception of the youngest son.

Immediately after his capture he was sent to Dublin under a military escort. From Dublin he was ordered to be sent to London. There he was closely imprisoned in the Tower, and endured much suffering or rather a prolonged martyrdom. He had escaped from the Tower in the year of our Lord 1565, and died there October 14th, 1585.

One of the jailers, named Wainright, accused him of having offered violence to his daughter. 

Some say she was a washerwoman, others a girl of tender years. The trial took place at Westminster. 

Alone, without a friend, he declared he was innocent, and he disproved with such clearness the crimes laid to his charge, that the jurors pronounced him innocent in most distinct terms, and the bystanders openly declared he was pure and spotless. Even the very girl whom her wicked father had taught to accuse the Primate, declared that she had been suborned, and she revealed the plot. In this way, like another Athanasius, he confounded his enemies.[4]

An order, written and signed by the Privy Council, was issued to Owen Hopton, Knight, the Governor of the Tower, who is called Lieutenant, to bring Richard and the other priests imprisoned there to the Tower chapel to hear a heretical sermon. The Lieutenant spoke to him on the subject, to find out his thoughts and intentions. 

He was somewhat angered at such an unlawful thing being proposed to him, and declared he would not go, but would go willingly to be crucified or hanged, if the Queen commanded him. 

The Knight was very indignant at receiving such an answer, and ordered his pursuivants and servants to drag him by force, if necessary, to the chapel. 

This they did readily and seated by his side, held him down among the audience. 

But when he heard the preacher in the pulpit haranguing and thundering against the followers of the Supreme Pontiff and all who professed the same faith as he, and uttering blasphemies against the Saints and their Queen, 

and spreading foul errors and lies among those who stood around, he interrupted the sermon and on the spot took the preacher to task.

He was ordered to keep silent, though he was burning with zeal for the glory of God, and he could not hinder the sectaries who stood round from drowning his words. Afterwards they used great violence and so forced him to desist. 

Yet, soon after, in a few words, he adjured all who heard him not to believe the lying preacher, a cheat and a seducer of souls, and he declared before all that whosoever would hold by his lies and errors would perish for ever.

He was taken back to the prison, and as there was no hope of shaking his constancy in the faith, either because the Lieutenant and the jailers grew weary of the trouble and anxiety they had in guarding him, or grudged the expense of his support, or were ashamed of the failure of their repeated attempts to pervert him, or perhaps through malice and hatred of the Catholic religion, one Culligius, an under-warder of the Tower, put poison in some cheese and gave a mouthful of it to the venerable Prelate, knowing well it was a kind of food which he would accept readily.

He, suspecting no harm, ate it, and presently felt great pains in his stomach. Then his throat swelled, and his whole body became affected. The next day he sent a boy with an account of his symptoms to a Catholic physician in the city named Arclous. 

When he learned the cause of the illness, he was roused to indignation, and he cast a bottle containing a lotion over the wall; he declared that the Bishop was poisoned, and that as the poison had already penetrated the vital parts, no human aid could be of any avail to him. 

Feeling himself growing worse, and bearing in mind his duty as a Christian, he had a confessor called in to him from a neighbouring chamber, F. Crighton, who was a prisoner there for the faith. 

Fr Crighton heard his confession, gave him absolution, and did everything else that the shortness of time or the difficulty of their position allowed, and discharged every duty of fraternal charity towards the dying man. He yielded up his soul to his Creator October 14th, 1585.[5]

A certain writer[6] speaking of this martyrdom wrote this eulogy, ‘Richard Creagh, Archbishop of Armagh, and Primate of all Ireland, who spent the greater part of his life a prisoner in the Castle of Dublin and in the Tower of London, was killed by poison by a certain villain, notorious for his crimes, and quitting his prison of stone, he went to share the everlasting happiness of the blessed.’ Mr Froude[7] denies that he was poisoned in the Tower and says he died in exile.

In addition to the authority of Stanihurst, Rothe, O’Sullevan, and others quoted at the end of this sketch, we have that of the Propaganda, which, in the Rescript appointing his successor to the See of Armagh, bearing date July 1587, says he died the preceding year in prison in England.’[8] 

Stanihurst and White say he was poisoned by means of a cheese. Both style him a martyr. also Lynch.[9]

He had obtained from Gregory XIII An annual subsidy for some Irish students to form the commencement of a college. Its first foundations were laid at Pont à  Mousson, from which place several pious and learned men have come to us. 

He strove to found a mission of the Society of Jesus in Ireland; there exists a letter of his to the Rev. F. Oliver Manare, on this subject. 

Very probably too he is the Archbishop alluded to by Sander in the following passage:

‘The Elizabethan prelates finding no duly consecrated bishop willing to impart Episcopal ordination to them, importuned an Irish Archbishop, then a prisoner in London, to succour them in the straits they were in. 

They promised to set him at liberty and to reward him if he would preside at their ordination. 

But the good man would not be persuaded to lay hallowed hands on heretics or take any part in the sins of others.’[10]

He wrote several works; the following are said to be the most important. 

On the Origin of the Irish Language, Controversies on Faith against the Heretics, these two in Latin; An Irish Catechism. 

Some of these still exist; others have perished, unless perchance they are kept in the Tower of London, 

where his body is buried.

See also Bridgewater, Sander, Holing, Bozius, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Lynch, and Arsdekin.
 

[1] Ibid., p. 46. It would seem that O’Neill wanted to have a foster-brother of his, who was Dean of Armagh, appointed Archbishop. See Introd. To Rothe’s Analecta, pp. lxxi. And lxxxiii.
[2] Special faculties were given him by the Holy See for the provinces of Armagh and Dublin
[3] On December 22, 1567, Hussey petitioned the Privy Council to spare Creagh’s life, urging that if faith were not kept, there was an end to all confidence in petitioners oath and credit. Shirley, Original Letters, p. 324
[4] See Concert. Eccles. Cath., p. 141b
[5] See Foley’s Records of the English Province S.J., vH. 181
[6] Stanihurst, Brevis Prmunitio, p. 28
[7] H. of England, xx. 483
[8] Anno prterito in carceribus Anglia defuncto. Brady’s Epis. Succ., i. 221.
[9] Brevis Pramunitlo, p.28 ; Apologia, p. 43; De Prsul, Hib., i.90
[10] De Origine et Progressu SchismatisAnglicani, fol. 166 ; and Fitzsimon’s Britennomachia, p. 320

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

He was called to exorcise a woman, and he was going through the prayers of the ritual bidding the devil to depart from her, and threatening him unless he obeyed immediately, perchance,’ said the ancient serpent, you threaten me, relying on the aid of that Irish Bishop whom you have in your house.’ 

He was astonished, for he did not know before what an important person had sought shelter with him, and on his return home he told the Primate what he had done to the possessed woman and what the devil had said to him, and he besought him to pray for the poor woman when offering the sacrifice of the Mass. 

He promised to do so, and while celebrating Mass on the following day, he bethought him of his promise. 

During the whole time of the Mass the woman was much excited and agitated, and cried out that she was tormented, burnt, and persecuted by the Irish Bishop. 

In a very short time her pains came to an end, and she obtained relief. 

This the priest and others attributed to the prayers of the Bishop, who was present, though the woman was not aware of it; perhaps the devil prevented her from knowing it.

After he had escaped from prison he went to Spain, that he might breathe freely for a while among Catholics and prepared himself for a fresh combat. 

When his strength was somewhat restored, on an intimation received from the Holy See, he returned a second time to Ireland; and while striving to watch over the flock confided to his care, he was again seized[2] and brought before the Viceroy and Council in Dublin.

There he was accused of high treason; he was declared to be a wicked wretch, a rogue, a perjurer, a violator of the laws, a contemner of the laws of the kingdom, who deserved any punishment and disgrace. 

The nominal charge against him was his connection with Shane O’Neill,[3] his real crime was his adhering to and maintaining the Papal authority.[4]

Jurors were summoned to decide on his guilt in accordance with the ancient custom. 

They were sworn before the royal tribunal, and having heard from the lips of the judge the heads of the charge brought against the accused, their duty was to weigh the matter carefully, and to give their decision on the facts.

With great presence of mind and confidence in the justice of his case, he addressed the court fearlessly. 

He proved his innocence, and explained the circumstances of his capture and the manner of his escape. 

He declared that he was a Catholic, a bishop of the Catholic Church; that he had been convicted of no crime ; that nothing wrong could be proved against him; that he had not broken out of prison, but had escaped, and had fled from his jailer; that without using any violence or harming any one he had come out of the prison wishing to save his life, a thing allowed by every law human and divine.

They should weigh well the question at issue, the life or death of an innocent man. 

If they condemned an innocent person, they would be judged and punished by God. 

The life of his body was at stake; their immortal souls were in danger.

The law allows the accused to challenge a certain number of the jurors, and if he exceeds this number, he is condemned to what the laws style peine forte et dure, that is, to be crushed to death by a weight laid on him. 

He challenged several peremptorily and others showing cause, and throughout he acted with such wisdom and prudence that he omitted no just means of defence nor did he transgress the limits set by law, a difficult thing in a matter so new to him and intricate.

The Judge, when charging the jury, leaned heavily on the accused, and urged, with many arguments, the heinous nature of his crime, in order that they might have less scruple about finding him guilty. 

When they had heard all the facts set forth and exaggerated, they withdrew to discuss the matter and to consult about the verdict they should give in. 

The discussion was long; and, as by law and custom it is laid down that the jurors cannot return to their homes 

until they agree to a verdict which the foreman will deliver, it happened that they were so divided in opinion some taking the side of the accused, and others being opposed to him, that they were shut up for several days without being able to come to a decision on the question. 

During this time a small allowance of bread and water was given them until they should agree to a verdict. 

It happened that the foreman of the jury, who was for the acquittal of the accused, was suffering from dysentery for a long time, and physicians are of opinion that nothing is more hurtful to a person in such a state than cold uncooked food; yet his courage supplied for the weakness of his body, and his health suffered no hurt thereby; nay, he was even more vigorous and free from the disease than before he was shut up. 

The jurors returned a verdict of not guilty;’ but they were all cast into prison and fined.

After an imprisonment which lasted about six months, he again Contrived to escape. 

In a letter which he wrote from the Tower of London to the Privy Council, he gives the reasons why he made his escape from the Dublin prison: 

‘My going away, I think no man would wonder that should know how I was dealt therein withal:

first, in a hole where without candle there was no light in the world, and with candle (when I had it), it was so filled with the smoke thereof (chiefly in summer), that had there not been a little hole in the next door to draw in breath with my mouth set upon it, I had been soon undone.’[5]

[1] Demonic possession
[2] April 3Q5, 1567
[3] See Richey’s Lectures on Irish Histo,y, 2 series, p. 273
[4] Memorial for Ireland,’ Spic. Ossor., I. 43. His examination is given Ibid., p.44
[5] See Ibid., p. 49

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

After a few days’ journey he was seized …, taken to Dublin, then London, and shut up in a narrow cell in the Tower, called the Whale’s Hall.[2] 

Later he was taken into a larger, healthier room, where he could breathe more wholesome air, and some light penetrated. 

He put his faith in God. His noble courage to endure hardship, grew day by day. ‘The faithful man,’ says St. Bernard,[3] ‘should grow in faith while suffering affliction.’

Nor did the Lord abandon His servant. By the flight of the bird in and out, He taught him, how to escape. So He rouses Malchus[4], by watching the ants, to make his escape. The Archbishop escaped from the Tower, and astonished all. Great and famous men were anxious to learn the true account of his escape. 

Inter alia, the Bishop Thomas Goldwell,[5] wrote him a letter requesting: 

‘When your Grace has leisure, you will do me a great favour if you will deign to write to me a detailed account of your escape. For when first I heard of it, it appeared to me so strange as to be like the dream which St Peter had when the angel led him out of the prison. However that be, God be praised for deigning to protect His servant.’ 

The reply has not come into my hands but the account of his escape can be found in the letter of Father James Navarchus, to Father Florence Bonchort, among the Japanese letters printed at Louvain by Welphius (p.290), and deserves credit since the details were taken down from the mouth of the Prelate himself. 

‘You will be glad, I am sure, if I set down briefly for you what was lately told me by the Most. Rev. Archbishop of Armagh regarding his …. escape from … the Tower of London. 

‘To begin then, He was sent from Rome, … to rescue his flock in Ireland … and to guide them with zeal and piety. 

When he landed in that island, he said Mass in a certain monastery of his province. 

The soldiers under the command of the Governor of the neighbouring castle, …met the Bishop not far from the place where he had landed, and took him to the castle. 

There he was interrogated … by the Governor, and in reply he freely and openly professed the Catholic doctrine, and declared that he was a Christian. 

……

Our Primate then was taken, brought before the Queen and more than once interrogated before the Court at Westminster.[6] 

When he had replied satisfactorily …, … he was led by two guards through ….London, ….. Then …. he was thrown into the deepest and darkest prison in the Tower. 

This happened on the very feast of St. Peter’s Chair.[7] 

After a while he was allowed to come up to a larger and better lighted room, …. 

Whilst …. persecuted in this way, God, …did not abandon him, for on the very feast of St. Peter’s Chair he gave him a sure hope of deliverance …. 

He persevered in prayer, and on the third day after, …, he began to recite the prayers at Mass from memory ….. 

A dreadful fear, …, had preceded this joy and consolation; … he recited for himself the Office of the Dead, for he thought he was soon to offer up his life a sacrifice to Christ. Moreover, he was waiting for those who were to examine into his faith and manner of life, for he knew they were to come on the feast of St. Patrick, ….. 

And as he had frequently experienced this Saint’s aid, he sought it now … in his daily prayers. 

He was examined on this same day, and on the fourth following he learned from the Governor of the Tower that certain persons had been appointed to inquire into the question of his guilt, 

and that his own opinion was,  that in all concerning the spiritual government in Ireland, 

obedience was due not to the Roman Pontiff but to the Queen of England, to whom all the churches of Ireland were subject. 

He should take heart; he need only abandon his traitorous notions — for so he called the Catholic faith 

— and receive his office at the hands of the Queen under promise to carry out her laws. 

When one person after another, again and again, made these representations to him, his invariable answer was, …, that he would not depart even one hair’s breadth 

from the laws of the Christian religion which he had learned from his forefathers. 

…; it was within the octave of Easter, when, …, he began to think of making his escape. 

The way seems to have been suggested to him by a bird, which coming in through the chinks of his prison cell, pruned its wings, and spreading them out and flying round, invited him to seek the means of regaining his liberty. 

…, he put his tunic and whatever else he had into a bundle and secretly prepared to fly. 

Nor was his hope vain, ….

‘On the following night a great noise was heard in his room and all round it.

….

‘The night following he had many strange dreams. 

He thought that he had come out of the prison and escaped every kind of danger. 

On the third day the souls of the dead under different forms and shapes presented themselves to him ….

…; at the end the souls of the deceased for whom he had interceded came and led him out of the prison, ….

…. 

At last he could not but yield to the divine impulse, and he left the cell hastily. He examined the places near, and found them all unlocked and open, though they were before this strongly bolted and barred. 

…. 

Returning to his room, he gave up all thought of flight, as he was afraid he should risk his life still more if he was retaken. 

Again he began to pray. 

…. he besought God earnestly to give him courage and inspire him to do what would best promote His honour. When he had offered this short prayer, he took under his arm the bundle which through some presentiment he had already made up he invoked God, the author of his flight, and …, he went out through the 6 gates. 

…. 

At length he reached the guard. 

…. 

He was then asked who he was he answered with all truth, …, that he was the servant of a certain very important person who was in a more open part of the prison.

…. 

And so God disposing everything pleasantly, he was allowed to go his way.

‘He wandered about in London in the midst of strangers for 3 days, and … he heard many speaking of the escape of the Archbishop, whom they described as having a white beard, … but they were led astray …., understanding it to mean grey from age. 

During these 3 days he frequently met the pursuivants also. ….; but as he replied to them in French, they went their way, thinking he was a Frenchman. 

…. 

At length he came to a ship, and was taken aboard … by the captain, … a determined enemy of the Catholic faith. 

The pursuivants came soon after, and 3 times they interrogated the sailors on oath whether they knew anything of the Bishop, whom they described as grey-haired, and bearing a name not Irish (for they thought that he would not have given his name). 

… ; 

but seeing that he was a young man, and that he spoke French, they thought he was a Frenchman.

In this way God baffled those who were on board the ship, all of them most determined enemies of the faith. 

He escaped out of their hands, and reached Brabant safe, though a reward of three hundred ducats was offered to whosoever would apprehend him. 

…. 

For he escaped solely by God’s aid and care; and he solemnly assured me that everything occurred as I have told it; and he did not wish it concealed, lest anyone should be punished on account of his escape. 

….

‘… it was about the feast of St. Patrick he was examined in Rome, when he was about to be chosen bishop. 

A year after, on the same feast, he was called on in London in different ways to confess the faith of Christ. He escaped from prison, too, on the same day (a year after) that he was consecrated bishop. 

I wished to relate all this to you, and as it is written with his own hand, it is worthy of every credit. 

….’[8]

When he escaped from … the Tower, …, and … met by chance in the harbour a vessel about to sail for France. 

When he had gone on board …, he hid his breviary …; and when the vessel was under way, and the sailors … were moving the cargo about, one of them caught sight of the breviary; …. 

…. 

All agreed to take him back to London to hand him over …. 

But the wind changed …, and so he reached France …..

[1] In April, 1564, Dr. Creagh was consecrated in Rome, and came to Ireland in October. He was arrested immediately, taken to London, and confined in the Tower. He escaped from the Tower on the Octave of Easter, 1565. He returned from Spain to Ireland after a few months. In 1567 he was arrested in Connaught, brought to trial in Dublin, and acquitted. He was kept in prison however and later taken to London and confined in the Tower, where he died October 14’, 1585.
[2] Ceti atrium. No longer known in the Tower now.

[3] Epist. 256
[4] One of the earliest hermits of Syria. St Jerome has written his Life
[5] See his Life by Rev. F Knox in the Month, 1886
[6] See. Spic. Ossor., i.43
[7] St. Peter’s Chair at Ro

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

HE was a native of Connaught, a priest, and a member of the Franciscan Order. 

After he had spent many years in religion a model to all of every virtue, and had discharged the office of pastor very zealously among the persecuted Catholics of Leinster, he was seized by the English heretics in Dublin and cast into prison. 

After six weeks of imprisonment, rejecting with contempt the honours and benefices offered to him in the King’s name if he would change his religion, he was most cruelly tortured, then hanged, and quartered, and so triumphed gloriously October 14tl, 1618.

See also O’Sullevan.

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

He was native of Limerick. His parents, Nicholas Creagh and Joanna White, were persons of good position. 

It so happened that Richard in his early years was employed in commerce by his parents, just as St. Francis was. 

For some time he was engaged in learning its rudiments, and the way of carrying on a profitable trade in those wares of which the merchants keep the largest stock, since they are more frequently asked for by purchasers. 

Of this class was saffron, a thing much valued by the Irish then for many purposes, such is the dyeing of cloths, the seasoning of food, and the preparation of drugs. 

In consequence, he had charge of the sale of this and other aromatic herbs in the merchant’s shop. 

One day he perceived that the bags of saffron were damp, a common thing in the case of that oily plant. 

And as his timid conscience was afraid that there might be some wrong done to the buyers in consequence, having learned from the divine law that the adulteration of merchandise and unequal measures were unjust, he set out the plant to dry in the sun, lest his soul might suffer any hurt from the addition which he thought would take place in its weight. 

He was often tormented by the thought of the dangers to which those in trade are exposed in buying, managing, and selling their wares. 

In truth the Lord had chosen him for the business of winning souls, to make a girdle and to sell it to the Chanaanites, nd to be a ship bringing bread from afar.[2] 

Nor was he one of those senseless persons who, when dressed in garments of saffron, embraced the mire; but rather he considered saffron and cinnamon and all other precious balsams as dirt, that he might gain Christ.[3] 

Abandoning, therefore, this trade that he might prepare himself the better to bear the Cross of Christ, though his relatives and friends at first offered some opposition, he obtained leave from his master to quit his house, and bidding farewell to the world, he devoted himself to study and piety, and wishing to engage in another trade, as he knew of the treasure hidden in the field, of that precious pearl, the great value of which is set forth in the Gospel,[4] he sold all he possessed in order to purchase it.

As soon then as he was freed from the service of the merchant with whom his parents had placed him, and had left the walls of the warehouse where the spices were sold, and had put away from his soul the thoughts of saffron and of the other sweet-scented herbs, he gave forth an odour of balm and ambrosia. 

‘I gave forth a sweet fragrance like cinnamon and aromatic balm; I yielded a sweetness of odour like the choicest myrrh.’[5] 

To him might well be applied the words of St. Basil:

‘As the sweet smelling herbs diffuse through the surrounding air a peculiar fragrance which refreshes those who are near, so a good man is useful and agreeable to all who dwell in his neighbourhood.’ 

This he showed in reference to those with whom he was in daily intercourse. 

We will set forth in greater detail the different stages by which he was led on under the guidance of divine Providence.

The God of Mercy made use of this sting of his tender conscience to rouse him, and so prepared him to be a worthy and fit instrument to endure and carry out all that he did in the course of his life that ended so happily. 

And although that scruple may appear in itself trifling and originating in something very small, yet we must not think that a trifle which God employed in this way to bring about something of endless importance.

It is known that he resolved to devote himself wholly to God’s service, in gratitude for special protection he received. 

As he was about to set sail from Spain, where he had gone on business connected with his trade, he entered a church and seeing Mass was just commencing, he assisted at it to its close. When he came out, the ship in which he intended to sail was clearing out of the harbour with a very favourable wind. But while still within sight of those on shore, she was struck by a sudden gust and sunk with everyone on board.[6] Having laid aside the burden of worldly trading, he prepared himself for a more useful work. 

As soon as he had learned the elements of the Latin tongue in his native country, he went to Belgium, and devoted himself to the study of polite literature in the famous University of Louvain.[7] 

When he had gone through the course of philosophy and taken the degree of Master of Arts, he devoted himself wholly to sacred theology, and after passing some years in that study, he was on trial found worthy to receive the degree of Bachelor.

He now resolved to return to this native country, which was then overrun with briars and thorns, on account of the schism that had sprung up anew under Queen Elizabeth, for her Catholic sister was dead at this time. 

It had grown strong by reason of the false teaching which had spread throughout that kingdom and especially in his native city. 

He was very eager to root it out and to sow better seed there. He was a priest when he returned from abroad. He laboured zealously, exhorting in private, preaching in public, performing all the duties of a priest; he warned all earnestly against the impious form of oath asserting the ecclesiastical primacy claimed by the Queen, against all communication with schismatical officials, and he withdrew very many from taking any part in either.

As nothing remains more firmly fixed in the mind than what is learned in childhood, he devoted to the training of youth in virtuous practices whatever time he could spare from the anxieties and duties of the sacred ministry, bearing in mind what St. lrenus has wisely remarked:

‘The knowledge of what we have learned in our youth grows with our growth, and is firmly fixed in our soul.’ 

‘A young man according to his way; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.’[8]

He opened a school and taught letters and virtue to children and boys, to any one in fine who came. ‘What greater or better service can we render to the state than to teach and instruct youth,’ says the father of Roman eloquence.

For as the ruin of town and country alike is brought about the neglect or improper performance of this duty, so the common weal is promoted by its proper discharge. 

For how can the country be secure, how will its government be good, unless its rulers are good ? And how can magistrates be good unless the citizens from whom they are chosen are good too? And these cannot be so unless they are virtuous in their childhood and in their youth.’ Our forefathers offended grievously in former times, in grossly neglecting the proper education of their children. 

Our rulers offend still more grievously now in using every means to corrupt our youth, by infusing into their tender minds poison in the guise of honey, and preventing them from frequenting freely Catholic schools, in which they would be trained in piety as well as in learning. 

Wherefore Richard[9] devoted himself with all possible earnestness and zeal to the task of educating youth and forming their tender minds to the orthodox faith, and hardening them in the furnace of the Catholic creed to endure every hardship for Christ.[10]

After some time, not knowing the inspirations of the grace of the Holy Ghost, and seeing that what he had done already was trifling in comparison with what he saw yet remaining undone, though wholly employed in promoting the Catholic faith, yet thinking that something was wanting to him to follow Christ perfectly, he left Ireland. 

Perhaps he was worn out by his labours, or he wished to avoid danger, or he was urged on by a desire to advance in learning or to enter on a more strict manner of life. Wherefore he visited Catholic countries, and at last came to Rome. There he became known to Pope Pius V., and was much esteemed by him. He was forbidden by him to enter a religious Order,[11]a thing he desired very much until he should learn later what the wish

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

HE was a native of Wexford, and a Bachelor of Theology.

Moved by charity towards the Catholics, he return to Ireland from Spain. 

Hardly had he landed at Wexford when he was taken and examined, and being found constant in the faith, by order of the judge he was, after various tortures, hanged and quartered, October 4th, 1588.

See also Holing, Rothe, and Copinger. 

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Rothe’s Analecta, p.505)

She is now popularly known as Margaret Ball 

Comemorate on 27th of September, the date of her Beatification 

THIS noble lady lived in Dublin. 

She was the widow of Bartholomew Baal. 

She was worthy of honour, according to the words of St. Paul :

‘Honour widows that are widows indeed, and have learned first to govern their own house and to make a return of duty to their parents, who being widows indeed and desolate, trust in God and continue in supplications and prayers night and day.’[1]

Such was this widow. 

‘For she that liveth in pleasures is dead whilst she is living.’ 

She was not such a one, but ‘blameless, having care of her own, especially those of her household.’ 

Everyone will admit that she had ‘testimony of her good works, and brought up her children, and ministered to them that suffered tribulation, and diligently followed every good work.’ 

How earnestly and carefully she did all this, I will set down here briefly.

How sincerely during the whole time of her widowhood she put her trust in the Lord by prayer, we may conclude from the fact that in addition to her morning and night prayers, which she hardly ever omitted, she devoted whatever time she could spare from the duties of her household and the occupations of Martha to reciting the rosary, the penitential psalms, the litanies, and other prayers.

(The narrator confesses to not knowing what the term ‘the occupations of Martha’ might mean. The word Martha means mistress, whilst in the Gospel, Lazarus’ sister Martha, was so caught up in domestic chores that her sister Mary kept Our Lord company ) 

On feast days she heard Mass, and thought it almost a crime to be absent from it even on ordinary days when she could assist at it. 

And that she might be more sure of being able to satisfy her devotion and assist at Mass each day, although the times were evil, and the authorities were persecuting the Catholics, she had a priest always in her house, to whom she supplied food, clothing, and lodging, and gave a yearly stipend, and in this way she had one always at hand to celebrate Mass, administer the sacraments, and pray for her, her family, and her household. 

For this reason charges were made against her to the Privy Council frequently.

At last pursuivants were sent to her house. 

They arrested her and the priest, as he was standing at the altar and offering the sacrifice of the Mass. 

Both were seized, and brought by a body of armed men into the presence of the Viceroy, the Chancellor,[2] and other members of the Council; and in such haste, and with such violence, that the priest was not allowed time to take off the sacred vestments. 

And in this way, he, clothed in the sacred vestments, and she, weighed down with old age, were hurried off in a cart to the prison; and that this capture and imprisonment of the priest might be more insulting, he was taken publicly through the street wearing the sacred vestments. 

Though this sight excited the laughter of the Protestants, it confirmed the Catholics still more in their faith.

Just as when, during the reign of Diocletian, Marius, Martha, and Audifax[3] were led through the city of Rome, with their hands that had been cut off tied round their necks, The Catholics of Rome were roused by the sight to piety and constancy in the faith. 

On that occasion the pious lady was robbed of the chalice, the paten, and the other sacred ornaments, all of which these wicked plunderers, who had no regard for the rights of others, seized and turned to profane uses. 

For a while, too, she endured the hardships of imprisonment. 

But money smoothed the way, and some noblemen begged and importuned the royal ministers on her behalf, and so at last she was set free, and allowed to return home.

After she was let out of prison, she acted just as she had done before her imprisonment. 

She was earnest in her prayers and other exercises of piety.

‘She was still, and saw how sweet the Lord Was.’[4]

She relieved the wants of the poor, and this she did all the more readily and willingly, because she was grateful to God for being restored to freedom and to her own home. 

In her house she was to all a mirror of integrity and purity, of piety and innocence, of modesty and virtue to her household, to strangers, to all far and near. 

To virgins she was a model of purity; to widows, of continence ; to all, a lamp of faith, religion, and holiness.

Hence it was that noble ladies, who were anxious to have their children brought up in piety and virtue, used to send them from a great distance to be educated in her household, as being the home of piety and school of virtue.

These, when handed over to her for training, she made handmaids of virtue. 

What St. Basil[5] said of his grandmother, Saint Macrina, in his epistle to the people of Neocsarea, that when a child he was trained to virtue by her, and for that reason he calls her his nurse in the faith, and he boasts that he still held the same faith which he had drunk in as pure milk from her breast; all that with full truth many in Ireland might well say of this generous and venerable lady, for in their earlier years she planted in their souls the seeds of piety, and when they grew up she watched over them with increased care.

But the hardness of heart of her eldest son, Walter Baal, grieved her soul. 

From holding intercourse with the innovators, he had drunk in some of their errors. 

She tried by every means in her power to banish from him that leaven of malice.

She prayed in public and in private ; she besought and entreated the divine goodness to cure his wickedness; she asked the prayers of others for the same end. 

There was no priest, secular or regular, no bishop or anyone else in any way remarkable for his learning and piety whom, whenever an opportunity offered, she did not beg to aid her in the work of his conversion. 

You would think that Monica had come to life again, and was renewing her efforts to bring back Augustine, who had strayed away from the true faith. 

But Monica was more fortunate, for she obtained her request at last, and her son became not only a Catholic, but a most valiant champion and defender of the true faith; whereas the wicked son of that pious mother Eleanor, turned out a son of Belial. 

He served Baal and adored him. 

And he became a Nabal according to his name he is a fool,[6] and he carried down his folly with him to the grave, and though many others by the efforts of this lady were brought back from their errors, he hardened his heart, and obstinately died in his blindness. 

To crown his wickedness, he was not satisfied that he himself should wallow in the mire of error, but he bitterly persecuted his mother, that she also might be defiled in the same way. 

For when he became Mayor of Dublin,[7] he was so hard-hearted and truly venomous towards his own mother that, old and weak as she was, he had her put into prison; and as on account of her feeble condition she could not walk there, he placed her by force on a litter, and ordered her to be borne on it as on a bier.

This he did, having tried every other way to bring her to conform to his creed. 

All this she endured with patience, and leaving behind her a sweet odour of constancy, patience, and untarnished faith, she died happily in prison in the year of our Lord, 1584.

A work, the title of which we have given elsewhere,[8] thus speaks of the death of Walter Baal 

quote

‘In this same year 1599, Walter Baal, a senator of Dublin, truly a man of Belial, so wicked a son that he dragged his mother by force into the congregation of the impious and sacrilegious, a hunter after the anointed priests of the Lord, one day with a crowd of attendants went to search for a certain Franciscan Father and a Father of the Society of Jesus. 

These he just missed, On his return home disappointed, he was seized with sudden madness, and breathing blasphemies he went to join the other persecutors of priests.’

See also Holing, Molanus, and Lynch

[1] Tim.v.
[2] Sir John Perrott and Adam Loftus
[3] Their feast is on January 19th
[4] Psal. Xxxv.8
[5] Epist. 64, 75, 79
[6] 1 Kings xxv. 25
[7] Walter Ball was Mayor of Dublin in 1580, and Nicholas Ball in 1582
[8] Supplicia Magna, in Spic. Ossor., ili.27

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 467)

(A few different dates are given in the narrative I wonder if three different martyrs killed in the same area have been given the name of the known martyr.)

HE was a Drogheda merchant, & when returning from France to Ireland he was driven by contrary winds into a harbour in the south of England. 

The Mayor questioned him about the spiritual supremacy of Elizabeth. 

Dowdall answered, as a Catholic should, that he recognized no other as Head of the Church than the Roman Pontiff. 

Because he had spoken thus, his merchandise was confiscated, and he was taken to Exeter, his hands bound behind his back as if he were a robber. 

There after being put to the rack, he was hanged and his body was cut into four parts; and in this way, in return for temporal goods, this very wise merchant got in exchange eternal life. 

He suffered September 20th, 1600.

‘This year’ (1599), says Challoner,[1] ‘I find two of the laity executed for religious matters, viz., Mr. John Lyon... and Mr. James Dowdal, an Irish merchant, native of Wexford, who for the same cause was hanged, bowelled, and quartered at Exeter, August 13, whose burial-place, says his countryman, John Mullan of Cork, is said to be illustrated with miracles to this day.’

Rev. Dr. Oliver, who obtained access to the official records of Devon, says[2] : 

‘The only victims I have met within Devonshire are …. . and James Doudal, an Irish merchant and a native of Wexford. 

For denying the Queen’s spiritual supremacy he was thrown into Exeter gaol. 

When I examined the calendar of the prisoners in September, 1824. 

I found this minute at the autumn assizes of 1598 “Jacobus Dowdall remanet in gaola per mandatum Concilii Privati.’[3]

(J.D. remains in prison by order of the privy Council)

At the following Lent assizes he is thus noticed: 

‘Jacobus Dowdall remanet quia judicandus pro proditione.”[4]

(J.D. remains because he is to be tried for high treason)

At the autumn assizes “Jacobus Dowdall suspendatur, &c., pro proditione.”[5]

(J.D. shall be hanged, &c., for high treason)

His execution took place on the 13th of August, 1598.’

See also Rothe, Copinger, and Molanus.

[1] Memoirs, i. 198
[2] See his Collections, p. 2
[3] J.D. remains in prison by order of the privy Council
[4] J.D. remains because he is to be tried for high treason
[5] J.D. shall be hanged, &c., for high treason
 

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 497.)

AMONG the many bold athletes who in the County of Limerick courageously sacrificed their property, and even shed their blood to uphold the ancient Catholic faith, we must mention this brave man. 

He was of noble descent, and lord of Ballyrobert.[1]

When the teachers of heresy were raging throughout Ireland, he joined with Gerald, Earl of Desmond, and offered and active opposition to the unjust decrees of the Queen and the efforts of her Ministers. 

This man, well known throughout the whole of Munster for his prudence, piety, courage, and generosity, could not hold out long against the great powers of darkness. 

He fell into the hands of the Queen’s officers, and because he refused to admit the Queen’s Supremacy and abandon the Church of Christ, he was run through with spears and beheaded, and so bore off the glorious crown of a martyr. 

His head was placed on the point of a spear, by orders of the President of Munster, and taken from the place where he was executed to Listowel, in triumph; there it was exposed publicly to the mockery of the heretics. 

He suffered death on the 15th of September, 1584.

[1] There are several places of this name in Co. Cork, in the Ordnance Survey list of towniands, but none in Co. Limerick

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Hartry’s Triumphalia, p. 257.)

ON the 8 of September, 1620, the Rev. James Eustace received the crown of martyrdom, and by sufferings on earth like those of his brother in religion Nicholas Fitzgerald,[1] obtained a reward in heaven. 

The author says he heard the account of the martyrdom of these two religious from a venerable priest, Richard Kelly, then in the seventy-sixth year of his age and in the fifty-first of his priesthood.

[1] See p. 120, antea

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

THIS priest was a native of Leinster. 

He was accused by the heretics of celebrating Mass.[1]

He was hanged and quartered by order of the cruel tyrant Marshal Burrowes, and so deserved to obtain a martyr’s crown September 4th, 1597.

See also Copinger and Wadding.

[1] For that he said Mass to Teig MacHugh.’ Copinger
 

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Hartyr’s Synopsis, p. 251)

F. NICHOLAS FITZGERALD, to escape from the cruel persecution, fled to a wood, and lay concealed there. 

He was seized in his monastic habit, taken in chains to the city of Dublin, and condemned by the Viceroy, who was never sated with the blood of Catholics, to be hanged, and while half-alive to be quartered. 

He endured that manner of death courageously for the Catholic faith, wearing his religious habit.

The faithful, influenced by pious devotion, preserved the clothes and blood of the courageous martyr, dividing them into small portions as relics in the year of Christ’s birth 1581, in the month of September. 

His father Maurice Fitzgerald, and his mother, Margaret FitzRedmond, obtained, as a very great favour, that the four quarters of their beloved son, when cut asunder, should be given to them for burial in the tomb of his ancestors in the church of the Nuns of the Order of St. Brigid, in Kildare. 

Our glorious martyr was descended from the noble race of the Geraldines.[1]

There is a tombstone close by the vestry door of the cathedral of Kildare which bears the names of the parents of Nicholas Fitzgerald.[2]

If the original position of this stone was ascertained, it would determine the place where the martyr was buried.

[1] Thomas, 2nd son of Thomas, 7th Earl of Kildare, settled at Lackagh, midway between Kildare and Monasterevan
[2] The inscription is given in Comerford’s Dioceses of Kildare arid Leighlin, ii.29
 

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From O’Sullevan’s Hist. Cath., p. 294)

Comemorate on 31st August, Anniversary of contemporary Archbishop of Cashel, David Kearney, Archbishop from 1603 to 1624

THE murder of Sir Patrick Purcell, knight, worn out by old age, is well known. 

In his eightieth year, he was accused of having entertained at supper, in Elizabeth’s time, a Catholic knight who was fighting on the side of the Catholics. 

He was hanged, and cut down when only half dead, and his bowels were cast into the fire, at Fethard in the year 1612. 

He was known to be a patron and protector of priests.

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bouchier’s Hist. De Martyrio FE Ordinis S.F.)

DR. O’HELY was a native of Connaught & from his early youth he was devoted to the practice of virtue. He entered the Franciscans, and 5 years after his profession he was sent to Spain, by order of his superiors, that he might pursue his studies at the famous University of AIcalã. 

In 1575 he was called to Rome by the General of the Order, F. Christopher à Capite Fontis. While there, he resided in the Convent of Ara Coeli. 

He frequently petitioned to be allowed to return in order to aid the Irish people then resisting the attacks of heresy. The report of his learning and virtues, and especially of his zeal for souls, reached the ears of Pope Gregory XIII., and in 1576 he was appointed to the See of Mayo,[1] then vacant. 

He set off from Brittany, accompanied by Cornelius O’Rourke,[2] the eldest son of the Prince of Brefny[3], who had abandoned the pleasures and enticements of the world in order to pass his life in humility and poverty in the Order of St Francis. 

They landed at Dingle, Co. Kerry. They were immediately recognized by spies, stationed along the southern coast. The sheriff seized them, and took them before the Countess of Desmond.[4]

The Earl, who was then absent, ruled over the southern part of the kingdom almost as a sovereign.[5] She received them with great kindness, the Geraldines being at all times the chief patrons and protectors of the Franciscan Order. 

But not wishing to run any risk of losing the Queen’s favour, she sent a company of soldiers with O’Hely and his companion to Limerick, and bade them to be handed over to Goulden, who held some official position there, and was at all times most zealous in carrying out the Queen’s wicked purposes. He put them immediately into the common jail. 

A few days after they were taken to Kilmallock, 12 miles from Limerick, Where Drury, the President of Munster, a fierce persecutor of the Catholics,[6]then was. 

He ordered the prisoners to be chained still more securely and to be beaten with sticks. He then examined them. 

O’Hely replied for himself and his companion. 

‘By God’s grace we are both priests and religious of the Order of St. Francis. Moreover, I am the Bishop of Mayo, having been appointed to that office and consecrated by the Supreme Head of the Church on earth, Gregory XIII., and I have been sent by him to Ireland to visit, and gather together, and feed with the word of Life the Catholic people confided to my care, and now scattered by the fury of the heretics. This is my calling and the cause of my return to my native country.’ 

‘do you dare,’ asked Drury, ‘to assert, like a rebel, that the Pope is the Supreme Head of the Church in Ireland, notwithstanding the lawful decrees made by the Queen and parliament to the contrary?’

‘If these laws were just,’ replied the Bishop, ‘they would not contradict what I say; and to prove the truth of my assertion, I am ready to suffer any torments you please and to lay down my life, if necessary.’ 

His companion answered in the same strain. Promises of wealth and honours were held out to them to induce them to change their resolution. They were threatened with torture and death, but to no avail. 

Drury, enraged at their answers, condemned them by martial law, without any legal formality, to be first put to the torture, and then to be hanged from a tree that was near.His orders were executed faithfully. 

The two athletes of Christ were stripped; beaten with rods; then placed on the rack; sharp points and needles were thrust between the nails and the flesh, their fingers were cut off, their arms and feet beaten with hammers, and their thigh-bones broken. 

In the midst of these cruel tortures they exhorted each other to be patient and firm, they urged the Catholics who were present to perseverance, and they preached repentance to the heretics.

Drury, at heart a Catholic, moved by their exhortations, thought of a plan by which he would save them from death.

He sent an attendant, who knew the Irish language, to the Bishop, and asked him whether he would conform, at least outwardly, and obey the laws of the Queen. 

The Bishop sent him back word by the same messenger that he had now reached the time when he could not dissemble in matters of faith, and that he would be willing to endure a thousand deaths rather than deny publicly or privately what had been defined as true by the Church or subscribe to what was condemned.

Drury again offered them rich benefices and positions of honour. As they paid no heed to his offer, he ordered the sentence to be carried out. 

They were taken from the rack and hanged with the girdles which they wore as a part of their religious habit, on the 22 of August, 1578.[7]

 When the Bishop reached the top of the ladder, just before he was taken hold of by the executioner and thrown off, he called out to Drury, and warned him that within a very few days he should appear before the judgment-seat of God. 

Three days after he was seized by a disease which baffled all the skill of the physicians. 

When the malady was at its height he admitted that he had done wrong, and he declared openly that he was punished by God for the unjust sentence which he had pronounced against the Bishop.

The bodies of the martyrs were kept hanging in chains. 

They were lowered so that their feet almost touched the ground, so that they might be devoured by wolves and wild dogs. Yet, to everyone's wonder they were not touched, even by the birds of the air. 

Every day, however, they were made targets of by the heretical soldiers, one crying out, ‘I will hit the Pope’s Bishop in the head,’ and another, ‘I will strike his hand.’ 

During the whole 14 days they were hanging in this way, it was remarked that the expression of their features remained unchanged ; it was calm and joyful as during life. 

Moreover, a fragrant odour issued from them. 

The people of the neighbourhood came in great numbers to the place, and took away with them pieces of their clothing. 

The Earl of Desmond ordered the bodies to be removed and buried with great honour at Clonmel, in order to atone in some measure for what the Countess, his wife, had done. 

Seventy years after, they were transferred, and deposited, together with the instruments of their torture, in the monastery of their Order at Askeaton.[8]

In F. Holing’s manuscript, Magna Supplicia, the following passage occurs in reference to Drury :-

Anno 1577. William Drury, an Englishman, Viceroy of Ireland, was summoned by the Most Rev. Patrick Hely, of the Order of St. Francis, bishop (whom with his brother in religion he had condemned to death solely on account of his faith), before the judgment-seat of God to give an account of his deed. 

He was seized with a very violent disease, and died soon after mad and uttering blasphemies. 

On the day he was buried, there was such darkness, thunder, and lightning as Ireland never saw before or since.’[9]

In the book entitled Thetarum Crudelitatum Haereticorum, published at Antwerp in 1592, there's a print representing O’HeIy and his companion hanging from a cross beam.[10]

There is uncertainty as to the precise year of his death. Some say 1577, others 1578, others 1579. The date given above is that most commonly accepted.

See also the Annals of Loch Ce, Gonzaga, Harpsfield, Sander, Bozius, Verstegan, Bridgewater, Fitzsimon, Rothe, O’Sullevan, Molanus, Ward, Wadding, O’DaIy, Bruodin, Lynch, Porter, and Hueber.

[1] See Bede’s Hist. Ecci. Ang., v.4, and Lanigan’s Eccl.Hist of Ireland, iN.79, for an account of its foundation. Its last Bishop was Adam Magauran, appointed in 1585. It is now united toTuam,
[2] The Annals of Loch Cé say he was the son of Brian, son of Eoghan O’Ruairc, ii. 427.
[3] Now Co .Leitrim.
[4] Daughter of Edmund, Lord Dunboyne. After the death of the Earl of Oesmond, she married O’Conor Sligo. There is a mural monument erected to her and O’Conor Sligo in the Dominican priory of Sligo.
[5] Earl Gerald
[6] He was appointed President of Munster in 1576, and held that office for three years. In the second year of his office he hanged 400 persons by justice and martial law.’ Webb’s Irish Biography.
[7] O’Rourke was visited in prison the night before his execution by the famous F.James Archer, S.J., who afterwards described him ‘as being comely of feature, kindly in his address, young in years ; he had hardly reached his thirtieth year.’ See Triumphalia S. Crucis. p. 257
[8] Founded in 1420 by James 61h Earl of Desmond. See Meehan’s Franc. Mon., p.96
[9] 2 Spic. Ossor., iii.25.
[10] See the print facing the title-page. The two hanging from the same beam are O’Hely and O’Rourke

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From De Burgo’s Hib. Dom., p.559)

AMONG our Irish martyrs assuredly these may well claim the first place. 

They are spoken of at length in the work bearing the title Palma Fidel Ordinis Prœdicatorum composed by the Rev. Father B. Peter Malphæus, OP., prior of Brussels ; viz:’

Donough, alias William, Olvin, prior of the convent of Derry in Ulster[2]: he was hanged, with many secular priests, in the square of the said city, and quartered, by the English heretics in the year 1608.[3]

The brother of the Prior; he too was a religious of the Order of preachers, and was hanged some time before the Prior suffered, in the same city, because he professed the Catholic faith, as we read in the said Malphæus.

See also O’Sullevan, Molanus, O’Daly, and Porter

[1] Or O’Laighen
[2] Founded by O’Donnell, chief of his clan, in 1244. Hib. Dom. P.281
[3] There is some uncertainty about the date. The above is that given in Hib. Dom., p.559

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

LAURENCE O’MOORE was descended from a very ancient and respectable family in Ireland. 

He was a priest remarkable for holiness of life, as Sander testifies.[1]

When the Spanish General San Jose surrendered the castle of Smerwick,[2] in the western part of Co. Kerry, to Lord Grey, who was the Deputy, the conditions were that the garrison should be allowed to march out with their arms, ammunition, and other property.

But the treacherous heretics did not think themselves bound either by their oath or by the laws that are held sacred even by barbarous nations. 

The Spaniards, nine hundred in number, were made to give up their arms, and all but ten and the cowardly commander either cast into the sea or slain in cold blood.

 O’Moore and two Irishmen of noble birth, Oliver Plunkett and William Walsh, were taken there also. 

These the Deputy required to be handed over to him. 

He strove to induce them to abjure the Catholic faith and to embrace Protestantism; and when they refused, and said that with God’s grace they would continue even till death to profess the Catholic faith, he sent them to a blacksmith’s forge and had their limbs broken to pieces with a hammer. 

This butchery lasted for twenty-four hours. 

During all that time these noblemen displayed extraordinary courage, having been strengthened with the sacraments, which they had received from Father Laurence. 

All three expired almost at the same moment, their last words being :

‘Into Thy hands, 0 Lord, I commend my spirit.’ 

They were put to death August 1580.

The State Papers confirm fully the above narrative: 

This day was executed an Englishman who served Dr. Saunders, one Plunkett, and an Irish priest. 

Theire armes and legges were broken, and hanged upon a gallowes upon the wall of the fort.’[3]

Sander was the Papal Legate, who died soon after in the woods at Aherlow, raving in a phrenesy.’[4]

Plunkett, the writer says, was born near Drogheda.

See also Holing, Rothe, O’Sullevan, Copinger, Henriquez, Molanus, Hartry, and Porter.

[1] See Spic. Ossor., i. 88
[2] See Hennessy’s Raleigh in Ireland, p. 10. The castle was called Dún an Óir.
[3] Ibid., p.211. Letter of Sir R, Bingham to Walsingham.
[4] See the Introduction to Sander’s Anglican Schism, p.20

Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.