(From Lopez’ Noticias Hisforicas, p. 150)   The convent of Adare was the first house of the Order in this country.[1] The church is now the catholic parochial Church. Some parts of the convent are still standing. It was founded in 1230 by Thomas FitzGerald, third son of the second Baron of Offaly,[2] at the suggestion of the Earl of March, a Scotch nobleman, who was a patron of the Order. The Minister[3] of this convent in 1539 was Brother Robert. It was at this time that the impious decrees of the King were published, and officials sent to put them into execution. Having read the decrees and mastered their contents, Robert Summoned the Community, which then consisted of forty-two members, told them what the new doctrines were, and declared that the King was a heretic, and, moreover, that he sought to make them share in this crime.   Such was the impression which he made on these hearers that all declared they were ready to lay down their lives in defence of the Catholic faith and of the Pope’s supremacy; and knowing that the convent would be plundered immediately, they set to work at once to distribute among the poor all the provisions and clothing they had. They hid away the sacred vessels and ornaments of the altar in various places, so that when the agents of the Government arrived, they could not find even a wooden crucifix on which to vent their impious rage. Three times summoned before the magistrate, Father Robert was immovable in rejecting the honours offered to him by the Court, and in declaring his devoted attachment to the Catholic faith. None, he said, had ever sought to propagate their religious tenets by the sword except the pagan Emperors in the early ages and Mahomet in later times. As for himself and the community, they were determined that no violence should move them from the principles of truth. They recognised no Head of the Catholic Church save the Vicar of Christ; and as for the King of England, they regarded him not even as a member of that holy Church, but as the Head of the synagogue of Satan. When the venerable Father had uttered these words, a heretical officer drew his sword, and with one blow severed the holy man’s head from his body. The other agents of the Court were at once let loose against the unoffending Community. As the public prison was full of other victims, the religious were confined in private houses. There many died of the injuries and maltreatment which they received. Some too were murdered secretly, whilst others were publicly hanged in the market-place. It was on the 12th and 13th of February, 1539, that these happy Fathers obtained their eternal crown. [1] La casa capital de la isla,’ says Lopez, p.19. The church is now the catholic parochial Church. Some parts of the convent are still standing. See Lord Dunravens Memorials of Adare, p. 36. Adare is 9 miles S.W. of Limerick. [2] 3Lopez, p. 18 and the Earls of Kildare, by the Marquis of Kildare, p.19 [3] This is the name of the Superior of a convent of this Order Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

From Rothe’s Analecta, p. 456 and O’Sullevan’s Cath. Hist., p. 298 CORNELIUS O’DEVANY was born in 1533.  He entered the Order of St. Francis. He went to Rome & on the 18th, of April, 1582, he was appointed to the united Sees of Down and Connor.  He returned soon after. He discharged the duties of his office as a good pastor should. He was one of the prelates who in 1587 solemnly promulgated the Council of Trent.  5 years after, he was imprisoned in the Dublin Castle.  He was set free after an imprisonment that lasted three years,  Only a short time elapsed when the Queen’s ministers repented of what they had done, and tried every art and means to get him again into their power.   He was seized in June, 1611.  The priest Patrick was seized the same month in Cork, having returned from Belgium.  He confessed that he had been the companion to those exiled lords, whom fear for their own safety or their love of religion had made to fly from their lordships and wide domains.  They were taken to Dublin. O’Devany was brought to trial on the 28th of January. The charge was that in the last war,  he had joined the side of the Earl of Tyrone, and was consequently guilty of high treason and all the more because he had aided the Earl by his advice and help when he fled.  He answered, that he was consecrated bishop & as his See lay in that part of Ulster which Earl Hugh ruled over, it was his office, to direct all people in the way of salvation. The true reason which was in the minds of the judge and jury was, that he was a Catholic, a religious, a Bishop, that he had administered the sacraments, preached the word of God, worn the religious habit which was hateful to them. They offered him his life if he would abandon the Catholic religion and pass over to their sect. When he heard this, he 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.  The crowd of people, closely packed together, filled the field in the northern part of the city. The moment the Bishop mounted the first step of the ladder, a great shout and a cry of lamentation was raised by the faithful. When he was thrown off the ladder the whole crowd gave one great shout of anguish, and then the place became as silent as if there were not a man there.  The executioners took him down very soon. Then they cut off his head, opened his body, burned his bowels, and divided him into four quarters. One seized the head as soon as it was cut off, and rushed into the crowd; he was never found.The field was covered with men, women, and children, all wishing to be as near as possible that they might see and hear, and each strove and struggled to carry away some of his relics, a piece of his clothes or shoes, a portion of his hair, a fragment of bone or skin.  The same day Patrick O’Loghran suffered death.  The bodies of the martyrs were left on the scaffold during the night and were guarded by the Catholics.  The next day the city was emptied of people who went to see them and commend themselves to them, to the rage of the heretics, and the Viceroy ordered them to be buried at the place of execution.  The following night twelve Catholic youths disinterred and brought them to a decent place, where they were buried with other martyrs. The bodies of these holy men were buried in St. James church. See also Fitzimon, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Molanus, Ward, Wadding, O’Daiy, Lynch, Arsdeken, Porter, and Hueber. Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Molanus’ Idea,p.96) HE passed several years in prison in Dublin, and endured in it all the hardships of cold and confinement.  Broken down by sufferings, he exchanged this brief life for eternity, in the year 1621.  We have the following testimony borne to his merits by the Archbishop and several of the leading clergy of the city :- We, the undersigned,  having been asked to declare what we know with certainty of the manner of life and of the death of Francis Tailler, senator[1] of Dublin, and resolved to give to virtue the praise it deserves, and to all good men the honour due to them even after death, testify and declare from certain knowledge that the aforesaid Francis Tailler, senator of the city of Dublin, was by far the most respected of the senators of Dublin, and not only that he was of good repute and much honoured by all good men, but so faithful to God that though far advanced in years, and respected for his virtue and constancy which was tested by various persecutions and imprisonment at the hands of the enemies of the Catholic Church, yet he could never be induced to swerve by a hair’s breadth from the profession of the Catholic faith and obedience to the Church of Rome.  Wherefore, after an imprisonment of seven years, worn out by old age and the hardships of the prison, he died in the Castle of Dublin on January 30th, 1621.  So we testify, and in proof of our good faith, we gladly subscribe our names and set our seals to the same. Given in Dublin, in Ireland, August 17th, 1630.’ Thomas Fleming,’ Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland[2]. Luke Rochfort, RP. of St. Audeon’s Patrick Cahill, Rector of St. Mary’s Galtrim. Fr. Dominic Nugent, of the Order of Preachers. Henry Cusack, Superior of the Residence S.J., Dublin. ‘I wish to add my testimony to what is known by public report and spread abroad by the abundant testimony of many persons, and to show my respect for one who was an example to future generations, and whose memory we can never sufficiently commend.  Francis Tayler was sprung from an ancient noble family both on the father’s and the mother’s side, and filled several public offices with great credit, as that of Mayor, Treasurer, and Senator, in fine, in the City of Dublin, the metropolis of Ireland.  But he was far more illustrious by his profession of the Catholic faith to which he was very much attached all his life.  He put the crown to this constancy and to his other great virtues by a glorious death after an imprisonment of seven years in the Castle of Dublin,on the 20th of January, 1621. ‘In testimony whereof I have set my name and seal to these presents. ‘Given in Paris, May 4th 1631.’ Thomas Mede, Protonotary of the Holy Roman Church, formerly Almoner of the Most Illustrious Cardinal de Bérulle. [1] He was Alderman. See Gilbert’s Calendar of Records of Dublin, il.42. Ware gives Francis Taylor as Sheriff in 1586 and Mayor in 1595 [2] He was Archbishop of Dublin from 1623 to 1656. See his Life in Renehans Collections, i. 190. and Moran’s Archbishops of  Dublin, p.294 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

21st of January 1570 JOHN O’LOCHRAN, EDUMND FITZSIMON, AND DONOGH O’ROARKE, O.S.F. (From Ward’s Catalogue) IN 1570 a certain Englishman named John Britton, or Brereton, accompanied by a body of soldiers, seized Brothers John O’Locran, Edmund Fitzsimon, and the Donogh O’Roarke, priests, in the convent of Down,[1] and after putting them to the torture repeatedly, hanged them near the place commonly called St. John’s Well, the spot where the angels appeared to St. Patrick.[2] He hanged two more in the garden of the convent from a tree, though he had received a large sum of money from the townsmen to set them free. It is said that the tree, which formerly bore fruit in abundance, soon became withered, and never after sent out a leaf. Bruodin gives January 21st, 1575, as the date of their martyrdom. The convent of Down was founded in 1240 by Hugh de Lacy the younger. The site is now occupied by the Protestant church.  Duns Scotus, Styled the Subtle Doctor, is said to have been a monk of this house. See also Wadding, Bruodin, and Hueber [1] Founded in 1240 by Hugh de Lacy the younger. The site is now occupied by the Protestant church. Duns Scotus, Styled the Subtle Doctor, is said to have been a monk of this house. See OLaverty’s Diocese of Down and Connor, i.249 [2] See Colgan’s Trias Thaumaturga, p. 28   Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 472) HE was a Leinster priest, of noble family.  The heretics accused him of having administered the sacraments according to the Roman rite, and without further process of law he was hanged and quartered on January 20th, 1606. F. Holywood, S.J., in a letter dated May 6th, of the same year, gives some further details concerning him: On Good Friday, the Marshal hanged by martial law a good priest named Bernard Kearolan, and this was done against the laws of the realm, which forbid any one to be hanged who was owner of £10, and F. Kearolan had property enough on which to live.  The Marshal, who acted under instructions, offered him his life and liberty and a good living if he would turn Protestant.[2] See also Rothe, O’Sullevan, and Porter [1] The name is latinized Coriolanus by OSullevan and Porter. [2] See Distinguished Irishmen, p. 434 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bruodin’s propugnaculum,, p. 445) HE was a priest, a native of Leinster, noble by birth but still more noble by reason of his reverence for the things of heaven.  He was seized by the heretics, and bore with wonderful patience the various kinds of torture inflicted on him. At length he was sent to England, and imprisoned in the gaol at Worcester.  There he died of hunger and other hardships, and triumphed gloriously for Christ, January20th, 1582 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum p. 499) HE was descended from a noble family in Ulster, and adorned the Order of St. Francis for many years by his strict observance of the rule and holiness of life.  At last he was seized by the heretics in the county of Tyrone, scourged with whips, and hanged, in hatred of the Catholic faith, and in this way he obtained the crown of martyrdom, January 15th, 1607. See also Rothe, Molanus, Ward, wadding, Porter, and Hueber.   Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

HE was a native of Ulster, and a priest, and gained a victory at Derry of St Columkille,11  as he would not obey the iniquitous laws of Elizabeth and James.  He overcame very cruel tortures, and preferred the ignominious death of the scaffold and the cutting of his body into four parts, to abandoning the way of truth.  He died, venerable by reason of his age and virtues, January 6th, 1618, and, as we may well hope, enjoys a crown of glory with the Saints. See also Copinger and O’Sullevan. 1 Derry was called Doire Calgatch until it was given to St.Columkille by his relative Aedh, son of Ainmire.  The Saint built a monastery and a church here, which was known as Dubh Regles, on the site now occupied by the Long Tower Catholic church and the adjoining cemetery.  There is a holy well close by bearing the Saint’s name.  See the Ordnance Survey Memoir of Templemore   Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

(From Holing’s Compendium1 and Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 437) BROTHER TADHG O’DALY, a native of Kinvarra, and a monk of the Order of St. Francis, was seized by the heretics in the monastery of Askeaton, because he wore the habit of his Order and made open profession of the Catholic faith.  He was led, as if he were a robber or a traitor, to Limerick, sixteen miles off. There he was stripped of his habit and cast into prison by order of Drury, the President of the province.2 After nine weeks, during which time he gave proofs of his attachment to the faith and of his constancy, he was brought to trial, many crimes being laid to his charge.  But persevering in the confession of the Catholic faith, he was condemned to death by the verdict of twelve men, heretics and schismatics, because he would not admit that the Queen was Head of the Church.  To all the promises and threats held out to him by the heretics, he replied with a smile, that no one on account of bodily torments or even death itself should separate himself from the friendship of God. ‘I care not,’ he used to say, ‘how you treat this mortal body of mine; the Almighty God has given you no power to injure my soul.’  Again he was thrown into prison.  There he was often visited by pious Catholics and by a certain holy priest, who obtained access to him in the dress of a layman; from him he obtained absolution of all his sins and received the Blessed Eucharist. The heretics took him out of the prison, and binding his hands behind his back, had him tied to a horse’s tail and dragged through the streets.  But he showing not sorrow but delight, repeated aloud with great devotion the hymn Te Deum laudamus.’  On the way to the place of execution, he besought his friends who accompanied him, to obtain from the heretics that he should be allowed to wear his religious habit at the time of his death.  These laughed at the request; but they granted it after a way, and ordered that the habit should be hung up too on the beam by the side of his body.  After he had hung for a short time, he was taken down half-alive.  Many of those who were standing by expressly stated that the martyr’s head when cut off uttered these words distinctly : ‘Lord, show me thy ways.’  The fact is attested by F. John good, S.J., who was then in Limerick in his Theatre of Protestant and Catholic Religion.  And so this brave soldier of Christ earned the palm of martyrdom on January 1st, 1579. O’Sullevan says another Franciscan, whose name, however, he does not mention, was put to death with him.31 See also Gonzaga, Holing, Rothe, O’Sullevan, Molanus,Ward, Wadding, O’Daly, and Hueber. 1 In Spic. Ossor., i.92 2 Drury, of whom mention has been made already at p.102 3 Decas Patr., fol.. 165 b. 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.) He was from Connaught.  5 years after Franciscan profession he was sent to Spain. In 1575 he was called to Rome. In 1576 he was appointed to the See of Mayo,1.  He passed through Paris and set off from Brittany, accompanied by Cornelius O’Rourke,2 son of the Prince of Brefny3, who had joined the Franciscans. They landed at Dingle, in Kerry.  They were recognized, seized and taken before the Countess of Desmond.4 The Earl was absent.5 She sent soldiers with O’Hely to Limerick.  They were put into jail and then taken to Kilmallock, Where Drury, the President of Munster,6 was. He ordered them to be chained and beaten before questioning.   Promises of wealth and honours were held out to them. They were threatened with torture and death, but to no avail.  Drury 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. They were stripped; beaten with rods; and tortured.  Drury sent an attendant who knew Irish, to the Bishop, to ask him whether he would conform outwardly.  The Bishop replied that he would be willing to endure a thousand deaths rather than deny what had been defined as true by the Church or subscribe to what was condemned. Drury again offered rich benefices and 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 The Bishop, before he was thrown off, warned Drury that within a very few days he should appear before the judgment-seat of God. Three days after he was seized by a disease. He  declared that he was punished by God for the unjust sentence against the Bishop. The people took away pieces of their clothing.  The Earl of Desmond ordered the bodies buried with great honour at Clonmel. 70 years after, they were transferred with the instruments of their torture, to Askeaton.8 In F. Holing’s Magna Supplicia, the following passage occurs in reference to Drury :- 1577. William Drury, was summoned by Patrick Hely, bishop, 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 etc9 In Thetarum Crudelitatum Haereticorum, 1592, there's a print of O’HeIy hanging.10 There is some uncertainty as to the year of death.Some will have it to be 1577, others 1578, others in fine 1579. 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.  2 The Annals of Loch Cé say he was the son of Brian, son of Eoghan O’Ruairc, ii. 427. 3 now Leitrim. 4 Daughter of Edmund, Lord Dunboyne.  5 Earl Gerald 6 He was appointed President of Munster in 1576. In the second year of his office he hanged 400 persons.’ Webb’s Irish Biography. 7 O’Rourke was visited in prison the eve 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. Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.