(From Hartry’s Synopsis, p. 278)
The Rev. Fr. Br. Robert Shiel was born in lveagh, Co.Down. In his youth he was instructed in polite learning and piety.
He was admitted to the Cistercian Order by the Very Rev. Lord Br. Patrick Barnwell,[1] Abbot, for his own monastery of Mellifont, and professed under the name of Malachy.
His superior intrusted to Malachy the care of souls within the jurisdiction of the monastery of Newry, then without a pastor. This duty he discharged for 7 years with Br. Malachy O’Kea. When his brother in religion died, a secular priest was joined with him.
About that time the Scots,[2] united with the English in armed bodies, almost depopulated Ulster and advanced to Newry, where the ruins of the monastery[3] are still seen. F. Malachy laboured the whole day with his fellow priest to keep up the courage of the Governor for the defence of the place.
All of a sudden the enemy got possession of the gate of the town. Fr. Malachy and the priest entered the castle, and urged the captain and soldiers to defend the stronghold. Fear, dread, and trembling seized on the captain, and he betrayed the castle. It is said he was promised quarter for himself, his soldiers, and the priests. But it turned out differently. For as soon as the enemy got Possession of the place, they seized both the priests and threw them into prison, and they were condemned to death.
On the following day, therefore which was the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross,[4] in 1642, Fr. Malachy was hanged naked from the beams of a wooden bridge. The soldiers fired two shots at him while he was half-dead. The secular priest was only hanged.
The bodies of the martyrs were thrown into the river. Soon after they were found on the bank and buried by the Catholics. But the same night the soldiers stripped the bodies of their covering, leaving them naked above ground.
Afterwards they were buried in the cemetery of the monastery.
When Br. Malachy was being led to the place of execution, looking round at the soldiers, in his joy he burst into a laugh and when the executioner in wonder asked why he laughed, he replied
‘I rejoice at the things that were said to me : we shall go into the house of the Lord!’
O’Mellan says Rory O’Shiel, a monk of the Order of St. Bernard, and a priest, was executed, and thrown from the bridge of Newry into the sea.’[5]
The narrative is confirmed by a letter[6] of Monroe, bearing date May 15th, 1642, addressed to Leslie.
After describing the capture of Newry he says 'We entered into examination of the townsmen if all were papists and the indifferent being severed from the bad, whereof sixty with two priests were shot and hanged.’[7]
So too Colonel Henry O’Neill in his Relation
[1] See an account of him in Thumphalia, p. 283
[2] Monroe came to Ireland in April, 1642,with 2500 Scotch. Leslie came in the following August. The Scotch troops in Ulster amounted then to 10000 men.
[3] Founded for Cistercians about 1150 by Maurice Macloughlin, King of Ireland. See Triumphalia, Introd. Xiv. There is no trace of it remaining.
[4] May 4th
[5] Irish MS., in the library of the RI. Academy, 23. H.7
[6] Aphor. Disc., iii. 196
[7] Appendix to Aphor. Disc., i. 421
Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.
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By Manus Mac Meanmain(From Hartry’s Synopsis, p. 278)
The Rev. Fr. Br. Robert Shiel was born in lveagh, Co.Down. In his youth he was instructed in polite learning and piety.
He was admitted to the Cistercian Order by the Very Rev. Lord Br. Patrick Barnwell,[1] Abbot, for his own monastery of Mellifont, and professed under the name of Malachy.
His superior intrusted to Malachy the care of souls within the jurisdiction of the monastery of Newry, then without a pastor. This duty he discharged for 7 years with Br. Malachy O’Kea. When his brother in religion died, a secular priest was joined with him.
About that time the Scots,[2] united with the English in armed bodies, almost depopulated Ulster and advanced to Newry, where the ruins of the monastery[3] are still seen. F. Malachy laboured the whole day with his fellow priest to keep up the courage of the Governor for the defence of the place.
All of a sudden the enemy got possession of the gate of the town. Fr. Malachy and the priest entered the castle, and urged the captain and soldiers to defend the stronghold. Fear, dread, and trembling seized on the captain, and he betrayed the castle. It is said he was promised quarter for himself, his soldiers, and the priests. But it turned out differently. For as soon as the enemy got Possession of the place, they seized both the priests and threw them into prison, and they were condemned to death.
On the following day, therefore which was the feast of the Finding of the Holy Cross,[4] in 1642, Fr. Malachy was hanged naked from the beams of a wooden bridge. The soldiers fired two shots at him while he was half-dead. The secular priest was only hanged.
The bodies of the martyrs were thrown into the river. Soon after they were found on the bank and buried by the Catholics. But the same night the soldiers stripped the bodies of their covering, leaving them naked above ground.
Afterwards they were buried in the cemetery of the monastery.
When Br. Malachy was being led to the place of execution, looking round at the soldiers, in his joy he burst into a laugh and when the executioner in wonder asked why he laughed, he replied
‘I rejoice at the things that were said to me : we shall go into the house of the Lord!’
O’Mellan says Rory O’Shiel, a monk of the Order of St. Bernard, and a priest, was executed, and thrown from the bridge of Newry into the sea.’[5]
The narrative is confirmed by a letter[6] of Monroe, bearing date May 15th, 1642, addressed to Leslie.
After describing the capture of Newry he says 'We entered into examination of the townsmen if all were papists and the indifferent being severed from the bad, whereof sixty with two priests were shot and hanged.’[7]
So too Colonel Henry O’Neill in his Relation
[1] See an account of him in Thumphalia, p. 283
[2] Monroe came to Ireland in April, 1642,with 2500 Scotch. Leslie came in the following August. The Scotch troops in Ulster amounted then to 10000 men.
[3] Founded for Cistercians about 1150 by Maurice Macloughlin, King of Ireland. See Triumphalia, Introd. Xiv. There is no trace of it remaining.
[4] May 4th
[5] Irish MS., in the library of the RI. Academy, 23. H.7
[6] Aphor. Disc., iii. 196
[7] Appendix to Aphor. Disc., i. 421
Please pray for final perseverance for all of us!
May the martyrs of old inspire us all.