(From Molanus’ Idea, p.154)

HE was a priest, and because he had spread the Catholic faith with all his might throughout every province of Ireland, then convulsed with war, he was seized through hatred of the faith, and torn to pieces by means of four wild horses, and so he ended his life, to be followed by a triumphant entrance into eternal bliss, in the year 1609.

See also Rothe, Copinger, O’Sullevan, and Ward

[1] Another of similar name will be found at p. 125, antea. 
Clearly they are two distinct persons ; one was a Franciscan, the other a parish priest, The manner of their death is different too.

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

(From Hueber’s MartyrolOgiUm, p. 644)

WHEN the English soldiers rushed madly into the convent of Kilcrea,[1] on the river Bride, in Muskerry, they seized one of the brethren, Matthew O’Leyne, an aged priest, as he was striving to escape from them across the river, and cruelly pierced him through with their spears, March 6th, 1590.

See also Wadding and Ward.

[1] Founded by Cormac Laidher McCarthy, lord of Muskerry, in 1465. The castle of that branch of the McCarthys is close by.

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

(From the Acts of the General Chapter, OP., 1656[1])

THIS year F. Keoghy, of the Convent of Roscommon,[2] was seized by the heretics and put to death through hatred of the Catholic faith, and so found eternal life in death.

The Acts of the General Chapter of 1644 make mention of another of this name, who. De Burgo thinks, must be a different person from the above, for the one was a priest, the other a lay-brother.

See also O’Heyne.

[1] See Hib. Dom., p. 562
[2] Founded by Phelim O’Connor, King of Connaught in 1253, whose tomb is there. ibid., p. 258

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

(From Wadding’s Annales Minorum, xxi. 208)

In our convent of Elphin[1], some English soldiers seized a certain priest of our Order and some other persons. 

They pressed a layman, who was one of their captives, to tell something of the plots which they said he had entered into with others against the Queen of England; but he protested he could tell nothing but the truth, and that there were no such plots. 

So they determined to hang him. 

He begged that he might first be allowed to make his confession to the priest.

This they granted readily because they thought that if the priest was put to the torture, he would reveal what was told him. 

As soon as the confession was ended the layman was hanged, and then they asked the priest, who was also to be hanged, if he had learned anything of the business in the confession. 

He answered in the negative, and refused to make known anything which he might have heard in the sacred tribunal.

They offered him life and freedom if he would reveal what he had heard, and threatened him with torture if he refused. 

He answered that he could not:

Immediately they knotted a cord round his head, and putting a piece of wood through it, slowly twisted it so tight that at length, after he had endured this torment for a long time, his skull was broken in and his brain crushed. 

All this time he was praying to God and to the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

He died on the spot. 

I have seen and examined ocular witnesses of this fact, who were then serving in that body of English soldiers. 

But they did not remember the name of the friar or the exact year. 

It was about 1577. Ward gives 1579 as the date of his death.

[1] 1 Founded by Cornelius, Bishop of Elphin, in 1450. Ward says O’Dowd was put to death at Moyne.

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

(From Rothe’s Analecta, p. 387)

HE was a Limerick priest. 

He studied the sacred sciences in Paris, and then returned to Ireland to labour for the salvation of souls, and discharged that duty with great zeal for many years. 

At length he was seized by the heretics, taken to Dublin, and thrown into prison. 

He ended his life happily therein, about the year mentioned above.

Bruodin says he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle in 1594, with George Power and Bernard Moriarty, and died there.

See also Copinger, Molanus, and Bruodin

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

(From Ward’s Synopsis)

HE was sacristan of the Convent of lrrelagh, now known under the name of Muckross,[1] and hearing of the fury displayed by the English soldiers against other convents, he hid a portion of the church ornaments in a certain island in the neighbouring lake. 

When he returned with a companion to carry away the rest, they found the monastery taken possession of by soldiers, and these stoned them almost to death.

As soon as they recovered somewhat, they were asked where they had hidden the ornaments, and especially the chalices.

As they would not tell, they were put to the torture, and the following night they rested in the Lord, in the year 1586.

[1] The monastery of Oirbealach at Carraignanchiull, at the eastern end of Lough Leine, was founded for Franciscan friars by McCarthy Mor, prince of Desmond (Donnell, son of Tadhg), and the chiefs of the country selected burial places for themselves in this monastery. 
Among these were O’Sullivan Mor, and the two O’Donoghues. Annals FM. ad.Ann. 1340.
 

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

(From Molanus’ Idea, p. 66)

He underwent great toil and hardships while the persecution was raging, 

in order to encourage the citizens of that very famous city. 

When engaged in the performance of the sacred functions, he fell into the hands of the persecutors, and so ended his life gloriously in the year 1578. 

He is buried in a marble tomb outside the choir of St. Peter’s church, Cork.

See also Sander and Rothe.

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

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 699)

HE was a native of Cork, and a bright and shining light of the Order of St. Francis. 

Having completed his studies in Spain and Belgium, he returned to his native country during the reign of King James, and did much to promote the glory of God, the salvation of the Catholic people, and the increase of the Seraphic Order. 

When somewhat advanced in years, he was twice Minister General of the Irish Province, twice Commissary-General, and lastly Guardian of the College of St Antony, at Louvain.

While Guardian in Cork, in the year 1642, he was seized by the heretical Governor of the city[2] and cast into prison.

A few days after he was examined. 

He declared that he was a Franciscan but he denied what he was charged with, namely, that he had attempted to betray the city to the Catholics. 

His firm attachment to the faith was put to the test in many ways. 

The executioners covered all this aged mans fingers, first with canvas, then with pitch; and between each finger they put a pitch candle, and lighted it so that all his fingers were set on fire together. 

I happened to be in my native country at the time.

While his fingers were on fire in this way, and he was exhorting the Catholics who were standing by to constancy, and the heretics to repentance, a preacher, wondering at the extraordinary patience of the martyr, asked him whether he felt any pain. 

Put one of your fingers close to mine,’ replied Francis, and you will see.’ 

When all his fingers were burnt away to the very last joint, the cruel tyrant condemned him to be hanged. 

The man of God returned thanks, as well as he could, to his Saviour, and proceeded to the place of execution as if he was going to a feast. 

Having exhorted the people he mounted the ladder with joy. 

The rope was put round his neck.

He prepared himself piously for death, and again addressed the people. 

Then turning to the executioner, he bade him do his duty. 

He was thrown from the ladder, and remained hanging from eleven o’clock in the morning till five in the afternoon.

Every Catholic in the city was either a relative or a friend and acquaintance of Francis; one sister, two nephews, and four nieces were living there. 

Some of these, persons of high position, went to the heretical Governor and asked him to allow the dead body of the priest to be taken down from the gallows and buried in the tomb of a friend, with the ceremonies usual among Catholics. 

The Governor, though more cruel than Pilate, assented. 

Wherefore, taking the body down from the gallows, his friends carried it to the house of Francis’ sister, and clothing it in the habit of the Order, and laying it on a table, with lighted candles all round, 

they kept watch with great devotion round the deceased martyr of Christ.

About two o’clock in the morning, while the Catholics, who had come in crowds to the house, were praying, F. Francis made some movement, and looking at his sister and the others who were standing near, he bade them put away all fear, and take him down from the table. 

His friends drew near, and found that he was alive and in full health, and they congratulated him and one another that he had escaped the hands of the executioners by this extraordinary aid from God.

‘It is not so, my dearest friends,’ said Francis, restored to life; ‘for my soul happily released from the prison of my body, must again return to it by the command of God, who desires the salvation of heretics straying here and elsewhere from the true path. 

Call to me, therefore, the Governor of the City, that I may once more set before him the message of salvation.’ 

All the Catholics who were present, besought the Father with tears t

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

HE was Vicar General of the dioceses of Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns, ‘a good and pious man, who has great influence in the ecclesiastical concerns of this kingdom.’[1]

His capture is thus spoken of in a letter of Chichester to the Earl of Salisbury, of  February 26th, 1606: 

‘They have taken one Lawler, a priest, whose name is well known to the Lord Lieutenant. They got him by the endeavour of Sir Oliver Lambert, who set his lieutenant, who was then one of their provost marshals, to watch him, and he was quietly taken, with some papers, and divers popish trinkets. 

He is a notable seducer of the people and called himself Vicar General of Dublin and Kildare, and so reputed throughout Leinster.’[2]

On March 7th, the Lord Deputy[3] wrote to the English Privy Council from Dublin :

On the 26th of last month, by intelligence from Oliver Lambert, there was apprehended by him in this city, one Robert Lalor, a priest, and a dangerous instrument for these many years, who by his own confession acknowledges that he has for the last twelve years occupied the place of Vicar General in the three principal dioceses of the Pale, to wit, Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns ; first, by a commission from two Popish bishops and Bishop Cranagh,[4] authorized by Bulls from Rome, and since by a like confirmation to him by Mathias de la Vega,[5] a Spaniard, who came to Kinsale with Don John,[6] and who after the composition made at Kinsale, sent a commission by Don Pedro under his hand and seal to the said Lalor, which he now confesseth he received. 

They now in examination of him.’[7]

He was indicted under the 2 Eliz. c.i., for advancing and upholding foreign jurisdiction within this realm. 

If we are to believe Cox, he humbled himself to the Court, and voluntary and upon oath made a recognition, - 

1. That he was not lawful Vicar General in the dioceses of Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns.

2. He doth acknowledge King James to be his supreme governor in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil. 

3. That all bishops ordained by the King’s authority within any of his dominions are lawful bishops. 

4. He professeth himself willing to obey the King as in all his lawful commandments, either concerning his function of priesthood or any other duty belonging to a good subject.’

Upon this confession,’ says Cox., he was indulged with more liberty and the free access of his friends, and would undoubtedly have been enlarged the next term if he had not privately denied what he had publicly done, protesting that his confession did not extend to the King’s authority in Spiritual causes but in temporal only. 

And this being told the Lord Deputy, it was resolved to try him upon the statute of præmunire.[8]

In the trial, Sir John Davis urged that this law was made in ancient times by Catholics. 

‘Now, Master Lalor,’ he triumphantly asks, ‘what think you of such things? 

Did you believe that such laws were made against the Pope, 200, 250, 300 years since? 

Of what religion think you were the propounders and enacters of these laws? 

Were they good Catholics? Or good subjects? 

They were Papists as well as you, but they thought it a good point of religion to be good subjects and to honour their King.’[9]

Upon this indictment he was tried and found guilty, and Mr. Justice Sarsfield pronounced the sentence of the law against him.

On July 1607, Sir John Davis wrote to Salisbury; 

‘Touching the attainder of Lalor, it was the first judgment in the case of præmunire that can be found among the records of the Kingdom. 

And as he was convicted by clear

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

The Trinitarian convent1 of Dublin was one of the principal houses of the Order in Ireland.

It was founded In 1188 by allured Le Palmer.

It Stood on the site now Occupied by the Augustinian church, Thomas Street, and was dedicated to St. John the Baptist.

The building was large and ornamental, its revenues were considerable and the Community numbered about fifty.

On the first news reaching them of the King’s wicked design to subvert the Catholic faith and introduce a new creed, the former Provincial, Father Theobald, wrote to his successor suggesting that a meeting of the leading men of the Order should be convened in Dublin, to take the necessary measures in face of the danger that was imminent.

The Provincial presided Besides the superiors of houses, several other members remarkable for their learning and virtue were present; among them we find the names of FF. Thaddeus O’Brien, of Kilkenny, John Hogan, and William Hurley.

When the Chapter had assembled, each gave his opinion, upholding the Catholic faith and the pope’s authority, and declaring the impious decrees of the King to be heretical and the King to be a heresiarch; and putting their trust in the Most Holy Trinity, all took the resolution to lay down their lives in defence of the truth.

The conference was just ended when the news came of what had taken place at Adare.

F. Theobald exclaimed 

‘The Most Holy Trinity has blessed our Order with a happy beginning and thus given us a pledge that the like grace will accompany us to the end.’

All signed a profession of the Catholic faith, which might be distributed among the faithful.

On February 24th the royal agents arrived in Dublin to enforce their master’s decrees.

The next morning the exhortation of the Fathers was found posted in all the public squares and streets.

The Provincial and F. Theobald went about preaching to the people.

The latter being thought the leader of the resistance, was immediately shot.

The Provincial was seized by a hired band and dragged through the streets.

He repeated aloud that he would not abandon the faith so long as he had life.

The judges ordered the executioners to do their work.

A stroke of the hatchet put an end to his life.

His ribs were broken, and his heart taken out.

His body was thrown on a dunghill.

But when night came, the Catholics got possession of his scattered members, and buried them.

The other religious, some of whom had gone out into the streets to preach, while others remained in the convent, were all taken and put to death in divers ways.

Some were hanged, others beheaded, some stoned; others in fine were dragged through the streets until they expired; and their bodies were cast on the dunghills.

These, too, the faithful took away during the night and buried.

The triumph of these glorious martyrs took place on the 25th and 26th of February 1539.

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