(From the Annals of the Four Masters, v. 1455)

Commemorate on February 24th (date of order’s foundation in 1209 by St Francis of Assisi)

The convent of Monaghan was founded by Féilim Mac Mathúna Lord of Oirghialla in 1462.

No trace of it remains.

The English throughout every part of Ireland where their power extended, were persecuting and banishing the Orders, and in particular they destroyed the convent of Monaghan, and beheaded the Guardian, with a number of the friars.

In Ward’s Catalogue the number of religious slain is said to have been sixteen, with their Prior, Patrick O’Brady.

The date which he gives is 1589; but as the Annals of the Four Masters make no mention of any Franciscans put to death at the later date, we must conclude that both refer to the same fact.

See also Annals of Loch Ce, Copinger, Ward, Bruodin, and Hueber.

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

(From Hartry’s Synopsis, p.247)

St Mary’s Abbey was founded by Malachy ardrigh of Ireland, in 948, and by his vassals Gillemoholmoc and his wife Rose.

Some parts of it still remain, at the rere of No. 135 Capel Street[1] 

ST. MARY’S ABBEY was for two centuries under the Benedictine rule. It accepted the Cistercian reform about the time of the founding of Mellifont in 1142.’ It was the first house of the Order assailed when the persecution began. Here is Hartry’s description of the sufferings of its inmates: -

 The manner in which this very noble monastery was suppressed was a very sad spectacle to God and men. Then, little by little, the other monasteries saw themselves ruined and desolate. For, in accordance with the statutes of the parliament under Henry VIII., king of England, and owing to the ambition and avarice of the laity, which they had imbibed together with the pestilential heresy, they panted for the monastery and its very rich possessions.

Though they attempted three times, each time by the King’s authority, To wrest the monastery with its appurtenances from the monks, yet these resisted vigorously, defending the rights graciously granted and confirmed to them by Supreme Pontiffs and by the Kings of Ireland and England.

But the power of the King and of these greedy men prevailed, and the abbot and monks were put in chains, cast into prison by an armed crowd, in hunger, thirst, and nakedness.

Then they were taken to the village of Ballyboght, belonging to the said monastery, and slain.

‘At that time,’ says Philip O’Sullevan, ‘the religious of the monastery of Dublin were slain and rooted out by different kinds of death.

It was supposed that they were no less than fifty in the year 1541‘ [2]

[1] See The Chartulary of St.Mary’5 Abbey ii.8
[2] 2 Triumphalla S. Crucis, p.247. 
This passage, however, taken from oSullevan’s Decas Patriciana, fol. 162 b., 
seems to refer rather to the Trinitarians.
 

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

The 1st named Irish reformation martyr is John Travers, an Augustinian.

He anonymously wrote: On the Authority of the Roman Pontiff.[2] He proved clearly that the primacy of Henry VIII. was mere fiction. He was seized and sent to London, kept in the Tower, examined, tortured, and being found steadfast,  declared guilty of treason.

He was led out, placed on a hurdle, and taken to the usual place of execution. [3]

(A hurdle is a section of fence made from wattle, used as a makeshift sledge, to which a prisoner was tied to be dragged to a place of execution.)[4]

 When he reached the top of the ladder, he prayed for pardon, and exhorted bystanders to pray for the conversion and salvation of the King and of all the  heretics.

And then he exclaimed:

'It is not for any crime, Christian hearers, that I have been sent hither from Ireland, my native country, but rather because I professed the Catholic faith, which I, like my ancestors, have drunk in with my mother’s milk; and also, because I am supposed to be the author of a certain work lately spread abroad among the Catholics. The moment of my death is now close at hand, which will surely open for me the door to eternal life. Hence it behoves me not to use any ambiguous or obscure language for the purpose of concealing the truth. Wherefore I declare openly that I am a priest of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, and, moreover, that it was with these three fingers,’ and he raised the 3 fingers of his right hand, ’I wrote that work on the Authority of the Roman Pontiff.’

When he had said these words, he was hanged, cut down and quartered.

His right hand and his intestines were cast into the fire; and while other parts were reduced to ash, the three fingers of his right hand which he had raised aloft on the scaffold, were seen in a like position in the midst of the flames, and afterwards were found whole and fresh, as if they had never been cast into the fire, like the hand of Oswald, the martyr, which Bede[5] tells us remained up to his own time fresh and uncorrupted.

Harpsfield[6] says he was assured by eye-witnesses that the flesh on the fingers remained fresh long after his death. O’Sullevan says Travers was put to death on the 30th July; Fitzsimon the 31st

He is one of 260 Venerable Servants of God put to death in England for the faith, whose cause has been allowed by the decree of December 4th, 1886, to be introduced.

 See also Harpsfield, Bridgewater, Fitzsimon, White, Copinger,  O’SuJlevan , O’Daly, and Lynch.

[1] Broudin writes the name Tanner; but it is usually written as above.
The complete identity of the facts given under both names by the different authors shows that they refer to one person only, not to two, whatever his name may have been.
[2] Though I’ve searched for this book, I have not been able to find a copy of it in any library in this country.
[3] Tyburn, close to the present Marble Arch. A stone marks the spot where Tyburn Gate stood.
[4] Channel4.com (25 March 2009) "Perkin Warbeck (1474-99)" Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant. Retrieved 2011-11-19
[5] Hist. Eccl.Angl., iii.6
[6] In whose work he is called Gravesius, no doubt a misprint for Traversius See Dial, p995
 

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

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 Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, ., p. 727)

HE was born of noble parents in the Co. Roscommon. 

Having finished the study of humanities, he chose a more perfect life in the profession of evangelical poverty, which was observed very strictly in the convent of Elphin, this was the house of the Order in which he made his noviciate. 

The Fathers were satisfied with his courtesy, humility, piety, and learning, and promoted him to the priesthood. 

The pious manner of life of the brethren pleased him very much, and to conform to it, he went out one day to make the quest through the neighbourhood by order of the Guardian. 

This man, most gentle, and poor for Christ’s sake, was seized on the road by that merciless tyrant Charles Coote,[1] and by his order taken to Castlecoote and hanged there in the year 1642.

In the Journal of Henry Jones, Protestant Bishop of Meath,[2] and Scoutmaster General[3] of the army of parliament, we find under the date Friday, March 22, 1650, ‘Colonel Hammond, Governor of the castle (of Gowran, Co. Kilkenny), was, with Major Townley, and Captain Cary, shot to death, and a Franciscan Friar found in the place hanged; his name was Hilary Conry. 

He was chaplain to Ormond’s regiment.’[4]

Note:

Charles Coote, who was known for his cruelty was shot by friendly fire at the siege of Trim in 1642.  His body was interred in Dublin, ‘floods of English tears accompanying him to the grave.’ 

[1] He was killed at the siege of Trim in 1642, having been shot by one of his own men, whether by design or accident was never known.
He was interred in Dublin, ‘floods of English tears accompanying him to the grave.’
Borlase’s Rebthlion, p. 79, arid Aphor. Disc., i.32. Carte tells of his cruelty, Life of Ormonde, i. 245.
[2] See Ware’s Bishops, p. 160
[3] ‘A post not so decent for one of his function.’ Ibid
[4] Journal R.S.A.I. for March, 1893. This surely the same person mentioned by Bruodin

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

(From Challoner’s Memoirs, i. 98 and 227)

DR. BRIDGEWATER relates that Mr. Ailworth, a secular gentleman, for his constancy in the faith was not only cast into prison and there put in irons, but also thrust by the jailer into a nasty dungeon, or rather a common sewer, where he perished by the stench within eight days.[1]

Henry Holland in a letter gives some further details of his sufferings and death — 

‘I cannot pass over in silence Mr. Ailworth,[2] a young Irish gentleman, of a singular zeal for religion, who had hired a house not in any street but among the gardens, commodious enough for preaching and mass, where the Catholics sometimes met in a pretty good number for the divine service, much to his content and satisfaction, who set more value upon what belonged to the honour and worship of God than upon any earthly toys. 

But the thing became known and reached the ears of Fleetwood, the Recorder of the city.

This furious man with constables came to the house, and finding Mr. Ailworth in his chamber, carried him away to prison, even to the very worst prison in London. 

And in this way being displeased at some word that the gentleman spoke, gave this most constant confessor a violent blow on the head, then ordered him to be put into a filthy dungeon, destitute of all things, strictly forbidding any one to be admitted to visit him or give him anything so that the young gentleman in eight days’ time was brought to his end by the stench and filth of the place. 

[1] Concertatio p. 412
[2] A family of this name lived at Faithlegg, Co. Waterford. There is a shield over the doorway of the old castle of Passage East, inscribed Ailward’ in black letter. Sir Richard Aylward, in 1606, showed great servility in the matter of religion. See C.S.Pl. (1603- 1606), p. 466

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

(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 

He was born in 1533 & named bishop of Down & Conor on the 18th April 1582. 5 years after, he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. The Lord Deputy, wrote to English PM, Burghley, Oct 25th, 1588 ‘There is a prisoner in the Castle, one Cornelius, Bishop of Down and Connor…’ He was freed after 3 years[1]. 

He was again seized in June, 1611. The priest Patrick was seized in Cork. 

He had administered the rites to exiled lords, whom fear for their safety or love of religion had made to fly from their lordships & domains. The priest was thrown into the dungeon; the Bishop was kept in the Castle.[2]

O’Devany was tried on the 28th Jan 1612.

It was charged that in the war, with Tyrone,[3] he joined the Earl, and was consequently guilty of high treason. 

He answered that as his See lay in lands which Earl Hugh held, it was his office, to direct all in the way of salvation. 

When James ascended the throne, he declared,[4] that all crimes previously committed were to be forgotten. 

That what he had done was worthy of praise, and any the penalty was remitted by the King’s pardon. 

It was claimed he had been with Earl Hugh before his flight, discussed how he should fly and made preparations. The Bishop proved that he was not in that province at the time & could have no knowledge of the expedition. This was but a pretext, not the true reason, for putting him to death. 

The true reason was that he was a Catholic Bishop who had administered the sacraments & preached the word of God.

But even a traitor should only be condemned according to legal forms. 

I do not speak of the authority, which the martyr of Canterbury defended against the Constitutions of Clarendon.[5]

The procedure of English law was not followed. 

He couldn’t challenge the jurors, none but strangers to the country. There was one Irish juror who stated he didn’t understand what was said; & dissented in the open court from the verdict.[6]

As soon as the jury, 1 excepted, gave in their verdict, the judge[7] 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.’ Patrick received the same sentence.

A girl who used to take food to the Bishop & priest asked him about his health. 

He replied :

‘For the last 10 years, my child, I have not had better health, nor have I had greater strength of body or peace of mind. One thing only do I feel anxious about, that God would deign to lead me by the way of martyrdom to His heavenly kingdom and His divine presence rather than to die of old age and to perish of decay in this prison.’[8]

On 1st Feb, about 4pm, he was called out by the guards. 

When the Bishop caught sight of his hurdle, he sighed and said :

My Lord Jesus Christ for my sake went on foot up the hill bearing His Cross on which he was to die for me 

and must I, like one unwilling to die for Him, be carried to obtain a glorious prize, which I ought to run to seize hold of gladly and fearlessly. 

Would that I might carry my sweet cross on my shoulders, and on foot do this last duty for my soul going to meet my Lord I’

Then turning to his companion, Patrick,[9] 

‘Come my brave comrade, noble soldier of Christ, said he, ‘let us imitate as best we can the death of Him who was led to the slaughter as the sheep before th

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 201h 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.

From Page 39 of the book

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