Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share 1-2-1612: CORNELIUS O’DEVANY, BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR, & PATRICK O’LOCHRAN, O.S.F., Rothe’s Analecta, p. 456 and O’Sullevan’s Cath. Hist., p. 298
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
1-2-1612: CORNELIUS O’DEVANY, BISHOP OF DOWN AND CONNOR, & PATRICK O’LOCHRAN, O.S.F., Rothe’s Analecta, p. 456 and O’Sullevan’s Cath. Hist., p. 298
CORNELIUS O’DEVANY was born in 1533. As a teenager he entered the Franciscans. When he went to Rome his gifts attracted the notice of the Pope & on the 18th, April, 1582, he was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor.
He was one of the bishops who in Clogher in 1587 met and promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent. He was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. For 3 years he remained a prisoner.
In November, 1590, he petitioned to be set free. He was set free.[2] Only a short time elapsed when the Queen’s ministers repented of what they had done. After several years, he fell again into their hands.
He was seized in June, 1611, while confirming the soldiers of Christ.
The priest Patrick was seized the same month in Cork. He confessed that he had been travelling companion and had administered the rites of the Church to those exiled lords, whom fear for their safety or love of religion had made to fly from their lordships.
They were both taken to Dublin. [1]
O’Devany was brought to trial on the 28th of January 1612.
The charge was that he had joined the side of the Earl of Tyrone in the war, [1] and was consequently guilty of high treason, all the more because he had aided the Earl when he fled.
He replied to the accusations.
that he was consecrated bishop and marked to save souls confided to his care, and as his See lay in the part of Ulster which the Earl ruled over, it was his office, to direct all people to salvation; that warlike concerns it didn't belong to him.
When King James, ascended the throne, he declared publicly, that all crimes and offences previously committed were to be forgotten.
He had, 2 grounds of defence :
That what he had done was more worthy of praise than of censure and punishment, and even if he deserved punishment, that the penalty was remitted by the King’s pardon.
A jury of perjurers, one excepted, gave their verdict & the judge[1]2 pronounced sentence:
‘Cornelius O’Devany, bishop of Down and Connor, should be taken back to prison, and then drawn on a cart to the place of execution, there hanged on the gallows, and cut down whilst alive, stripped embowelled, his heart and bowels burnt, his head cut off, and his body quartered.’
The same sentence was pronounced on Patrick.
They offered the bishop his life if he would abandon the Catholic religion and pass over to their sect.
When he heard this, he raised his voice and called the whole Christian world to bear witness that he wished to die in the Catholic faith and for its defence; that he would be unjust towards himself and deny God, if for such a trifling reward he abandoned the true faith.
Wherefore, having obtained his wish and made his innocence evident, he showed his contempt for this perishable life, and eager for the death that was awaiting him, with the noble courage of a Christian he welcomed the triumph of the Cross.
[1] He was at this time in the eightieth year of his age and the thirtieth of his episcopate
[1] Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O’Donnell had carried on war against the English from 1592 to 1602, when they were defeated at Kinsale. O’Donnell went to Spain, where he died soon after of poison. O’Neill surrendered to the Government
[2] Bruodin says ho was exchanged for Sir Thomas Smith and Nicholas Bagnal, who were prisoners in the hands of the Irish. Propug., p. 498
Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.
View all episodes
By Manus Mac MeanmainCORNELIUS O’DEVANY was born in 1533. As a teenager he entered the Franciscans. When he went to Rome his gifts attracted the notice of the Pope & on the 18th, April, 1582, he was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor.
He was one of the bishops who in Clogher in 1587 met and promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent. He was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. For 3 years he remained a prisoner.
In November, 1590, he petitioned to be set free. He was set free.[2] Only a short time elapsed when the Queen’s ministers repented of what they had done. After several years, he fell again into their hands.
He was seized in June, 1611, while confirming the soldiers of Christ.
The priest Patrick was seized the same month in Cork. He confessed that he had been travelling companion and had administered the rites of the Church to those exiled lords, whom fear for their safety or love of religion had made to fly from their lordships.
They were both taken to Dublin. [1]
O’Devany was brought to trial on the 28th of January 1612.
The charge was that he had joined the side of the Earl of Tyrone in the war, [1] and was consequently guilty of high treason, all the more because he had aided the Earl when he fled.
He replied to the accusations.
that he was consecrated bishop and marked to save souls confided to his care, and as his See lay in the part of Ulster which the Earl ruled over, it was his office, to direct all people to salvation; that warlike concerns it didn't belong to him.
When King James, ascended the throne, he declared publicly, that all crimes and offences previously committed were to be forgotten.
He had, 2 grounds of defence :
That what he had done was more worthy of praise than of censure and punishment, and even if he deserved punishment, that the penalty was remitted by the King’s pardon.
A jury of perjurers, one excepted, gave their verdict & the judge[1]2 pronounced sentence:
‘Cornelius O’Devany, bishop of Down and Connor, should be taken back to prison, and then drawn on a cart to the place of execution, there hanged on the gallows, and cut down whilst alive, stripped embowelled, his heart and bowels burnt, his head cut off, and his body quartered.’
The same sentence was pronounced on Patrick.
They offered the bishop his life if he would abandon the Catholic religion and pass over to their sect.
When he heard this, he raised his voice and called the whole Christian world to bear witness that he wished to die in the Catholic faith and for its defence; that he would be unjust towards himself and deny God, if for such a trifling reward he abandoned the true faith.
Wherefore, having obtained his wish and made his innocence evident, he showed his contempt for this perishable life, and eager for the death that was awaiting him, with the noble courage of a Christian he welcomed the triumph of the Cross.
[1] He was at this time in the eightieth year of his age and the thirtieth of his episcopate
[1] Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O’Donnell had carried on war against the English from 1592 to 1602, when they were defeated at Kinsale. O’Donnell went to Spain, where he died soon after of poison. O’Neill surrendered to the Government
[2] Bruodin says ho was exchanged for Sir Thomas Smith and Nicholas Bagnal, who were prisoners in the hands of the Irish. Propug., p. 498
Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.