THE 1st was the son of the well-known John O’Hara, chief of his family and owner of large possessions[2] in the County of Sligo in Connaught. 

The territory of the O’Haras was Luigne, conterminous with the present diocese of Achonry, comprising Parts of counties Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.

He entered the Order of the Friars Minors in the 21st years of his age, and wished to be considered the lowest among the lay brothers in it. 

During the many years that he lived in religion, he was reckoned among the most obedient and humble brothers and those most famed for holiness of life of the whole Province of Ireland; and with good reason, for he observed the rule of St. Francis given to him by God so exactly up to the very moment of his death, that he was never seen to transgress it in the slightest way. 

Adorned with various virtues and praised by all for them, he fell into the hands of the heretics then raging throughout Connaught, not far from the convent of Killala,[3] where he was begging for the necessaries of life for the brothers. 

These tyrants, through hatred of the faith, first hanged and then quartered him. 

They did the like to his companion Brother Henry Delahayde, called O’Lahaye by some writers, who was born of noble parents in Leinster. 

These two martyrs suffered for the Catholic religion May 1st 1582.

Formerly I lived on terms of intimacy with the grand-nephew of the martyr Brother Phelim, that famous soldier John O’Hara, the eldest of his family, who was married to Mathilda O’Higgin, the daughter of noble parents, Thaddeus O’Higgin, lord of Cuirehil, and Finola Bruodin, who played a very important part in the last war against the heretical Parliamentarians.

 I often heard this relative of mine describe at length the religious life and glorious death of this athlete of Christ, Phelim the martyr.

Mooney, in his Description, gives some further details of OHara’s death -

‘In the year 1578 the English heretics made an expedition to the convent of Elphin,[4] in the town of the same name, and approach some of them escaped in a boat. 

The Provincial, who was there at the time, asked who for the merit of holy obedience would remain alone in the monastery. 

Phelim O’Hara, a laybrother, was chosen out of the many who offered themselves, partly because he was prudent and far advanced in years, and partly because it was hoped he would be less obnoxious than the others. 

Wherefore he received the blessing and remained behind. 

But the English coming despoiled the altar and sanctuary, and slew this brother in front of the high altar. They did not dare to remain there long, but departed the same day. 

The other brethren, who had fled, and who had remained out at sea waiting, on returning home, found the brother, who had become a martyr through obedience, before the high altar, where it was supposed he was praying, when, on the approach of the enemy, he gave up his soul to God. 

He is buried in the chapter-house.

See also Gonzaga, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Ward, Wadding, and Hueber.

[1] He is called O’Lahaye by some writers.
[2] The territory of the O’Haras was Luigne, conterminous with the present diocese of Achonry, comprising Parts of counties Mayo, Roscommon and Sligo.
[3] Moyne, which is two miles SE. of Killala, Co. Mayo, on the western bank of the Moy. It was founded in 1460 by Thomas Oge De Burgo. See Mon. Hib., p.507, and Meehan’s Franc. Monasteries, p.55
[4] Rather Moyne, as we learn from Bruodin and the other authorities quoted here.

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

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 427)

FERGALL WARD, a native of Tyrconnell,[1] a member of the Seraphic Order of St. Francis, was a very eloquent preacher and most observant of poverty. 

He had laboured zealously for three years in the vineyard of the Lord, and was then promoted to be Guardian of the convent of Armagh about the year 1575.

At this time the plague of heresy, introduced by Elizabeth, was raging through-out Ulster.

Ward opposed it as a skilful physician. 

Wherefore he was seized by the Ministers of Elizabeth, and no regard being had for his great age or religious character, he was scourged cruelly and beaten. 

At length when the holy martyr, persevering in his good purpose, exhorted his executioners to return to a better life, by order of the ministers he was hanged with his own girdle on the 28th of April, 1575, as Father John Good[2] writes, or in 1565, as Wadding states in his work on the Martyrs of the Order.

See also Ward, Wadding, and Hueber.

[1] The present Co. Donegal
[2] He came to Ireland with F. Edmund McDonaough, S.J., of whom more later. The title of this work is Theatre of Catholic and Protestant Religion ; Douay, 1620. There is not a copy of it in this country, so far as I can find.
 

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

1601. DONOUGH O’MOLLONY.

HE was born of a noble family, was a priest, and vicar of the diocese of Kilialoe. 

This brave soldier and truly apostolic pastor did not fear to expose his life to danger when the wild beasts were laying the vineyard waste, opposing the heretics by word and deed. 

He was seized by the heretical soldiers in a certain part of Ormond which he was visiting as pastor, his hands were tied behind his back as if he were a robber, and he was led on foot to Dublin, in the midst of heretical soldiers who were as wicked as those who crucified Christ. 

It is easy to imagine what hardships he suffered on the way. 

I have often heard an account of them from my mother Margaret Mollony, who was a near relative of the martyr, but for shortness’ sake I omit them here.

On reaching Dublin he was cast into prison in the Castle, and the different instruments, the boots, the iron gloves, the rack, with which the English executioners used to torture the confessors of Christ, were set before his eyes. 

He was asked by the supreme judge whether he was ready to subscribe to the Queen’s laws and decrees made about religion?

O’Mollony, full of the spirit of God, answered boldly, that he was willing to obey these laws so far as they were in accord with the laws of God and the decisions of Christ’s Vicar on earth. 

The judge, more unjust than Pilate, replied that the Queen in her own kingdom was the sole vicar of Christ and Head of the Church. 

‘You must accept her supremacy or suffer death.’ 

Mollony answered, ‘Either Paul, the teacher of the Gentiles, in his Epistle to the Corinthians, xiv., and to Timothy, ii., and Jesus Christ himself in his Gospels have erred frequently, or the Queen is not Christ’s Vicar.’ 

‘Then you do not admit,’ said the judge, ‘that the Queen has, next after Christ, supreme authority in things spiritual?’

O’Mollony replied ‘I cannot admit in any way the supremacy of a woman, for women are forbidden to speak in the Church. Moreover, in defence of the opposite doctrine I am ready to endure the greatest torments and to lay down my life.’

Very well,’ said the judge; we shall see whether your deeds correspond with your words.’

About nine o’clock the next day the executioners put the iron gloves on his hands and the boots on his feet, and squeezed them so that the blood burst out. 

And as this torture failed, for Donough very often prayed to God, while it lasted, that with the aid of divine grace he might be found worthy to suffer such tortures for Christ’s sake, he was placed on the rack for two hours, and drawn SO that he was one span longer. 

All this time he was either praying or exhorting those who stood by to hold fast to that faith which is the sole way of salvation, and for which he did not hesitate to shed his blood and sacrifice his life. 

The executioners, moved even to tears by the patience and pious exhortations of the noble soldier, took him back to prison half-dead, by order of the wicked judge, where he died very piously a few hours after, April 24th, 1601.

See also Copinger

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

(From Mooney’s Provincia Hibernia Description)

ABOUT the beginning of the year 1569, though there seems to be some doubt as to the precise date, a certain brother, Daniel O’Duillian, of the convent of Youghal,[1] (Founded by Maurice Fitzgerald, 2nd baron of Offaly, in 1232) overcame the persecutors very bravely.

For when one Captain Dudal and his troops were torturing him, by order of Lord Arthur Grey[2], (who later served as the Viceroy, from 1580 to 1582.) first they took him to the gate which is called Trinity Gate, and tied his hands behind his back, and having fastened heavy stones to his feet, thrice pulled him up with ropes from the ground to the top of the tower, and left him hanging there for some time.

After many insults and tortures, he was hung with his head down and his feet in the air, at a mill near the monastery; and while hanging there, he never uttered an impatient word, but, like a good Christian, incessantly repeated prayers now aloud, now in a low voice. 

At length the soldiers were ordered to shoot at him, as though he were a target; but yet, that his sufferings might be longer and more cruel, they should not aim at his head or heart, but as much as they pleased at ay other part of his body.

After he had received many balls, some one, with a cruel mercy, loaded his gun with two balls and shot him through the heart. 

F. Ward says in his Catalogue that he suffered death on April 22nd of this year.[3] 1569

See also Copinger and Ward

[1] Founded by Maurice Fitzgerald, 2nd baron of Offaly, in 1232. He became a monk here later. See Earls of Kildare, p. 15
[2] He was Lord Deputy from 1580 to 1582. The Lord Deputy at this time was Sir Henry Sidney, who held that office three times between 1557 and 1578
[3] Copinger says, March 28”, 1580. Spic. Ossor., iii.41
 

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

(From Ward’s Catalogue.) 

HE was Guardian of the convent of Donegal,[1] and a celebrated preacher.

When the English soldiers came there[2] he sent away the rest of the brethren to a place of security, intending to follow them later; but he was prevented by the soldiers. 

He strove to gain them over by kindness, but he could not escape. 

As he was going out of the gate of the monastery, the first soldier who met him ran him through with a sword, and pierced his head to the brain with three mortal wounds. 

When he was slain in this way, and the soldiers had gone away with the plunder, the brethren returned and found F.Tadhg lying dead on the ground, his eyes piously raised to heaven, and his hands crossed on his breast, April 13th, 1588.

See also Rothe, Wadding, Bruodin and Hueber.

[1] Founded by Hugh Roe O’Donnell, chief of his tribe, for Franciscans, in 1474. See Meehan’s Franciscan Monasteries, p.4.
[2] The English who had taken possession of this monastery were driven from it by the young chief Hugh Roe O’Donnell, after his escape from Dublin Castle. See his Life by O’Clery, p.356
 

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

THESE religious were natives of Kerry, and born of respectable Catholic parents. 

They were priests, and for more than thirty years had preached the word of God throughout different parts of Ireland, not without great profit to souls.

When the rest of the brethren fled from the heretics who were coming to seize them, these could not accompany them, owing to old age and loss of sight; the youngest of them was over seventy years of age. They took refuge in church of their monastery in the town of Lislachtin, near the village of Ballylongford.[2]

They were seized and dragged before the high altar, and there beaten with sticks, and run through with the sword. 

The date of their death is 6th April, 1580. 

Rothe gives it as 1582.

See also Holing, Rothe, Fitzsimon, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Molanus, Ward, Wadding, and Hueber.

[1] Perhaps O’Shea Copinger calls him 0’Lee
[2] Founded in 12470 by OConor Kerry. See Annals F.M., iv. 1071. Lislachtin is near the village of Ballylongford. Hueber says they were put to death at Ardfert.

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

THOMAS COURSY, a native of Munster, was a most zealous priest. 

He resided at Kinsale. 

He was Vicar General, and in discharge of his office he used to visit the parish priests who were under this authority, and urge them to watch anxiously over the flocks committed to their care. 

When thus engaged, he fell into the hands of the emissaries of that wicked tyrant, Sir John Perrott,[1] an Englishman, then President of Munster. 

By his order he was hanged, and so gained the victory for Christ on the 30 of March in the year 1577.

Sir John Perrott was President of Munster from 1571 to 1574 and Lord Deputy from 1583 and 1588. 

He died a prisoner in the Tower of London, having been charged with exciting the Irish people to throw off the Queen’s authority.

Se also Bridgewater, Sander,[2] and Copinger.

[1] He was President of Munster from 1571 to 1574 and Lord Deputy from 1583 and 1588. He died a prisoner in the Tower of London, having been charged with exciting the Irish people to throw off the Queen’s authority. Sir William Drury was President of Munster in 1577.
[2] This author gives ‘Thomas Chone, Waterfordensis,’ in the list of ‘Archidiaconi aut vincti aut exules.’ De Ecci. Visib., p. 668; most probably he was the martyr.

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

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 439)

DANIEL ONEILAN, born in Thomond of a noble family, consecrated himself to God by vows in the Order of St. Francis in the year 1560, and he lived in it for twenty years, both in Ireland and Spain. 

During this time he made great progress both in virtue and in learning, so that he was the model of a good religious to all. 

Urged by zeal for the salvation of souls, he returned to his native country which was then ravaged by the fury of the heretics.

Immediately on landing at the port of Youghal, he was seized by William Morgan, the Governor of the town, and closely questioned. 

Daniel openly and fearlessly declared that he was a priest and a member of the Seraphic Order. 

When the cruel tyrant heard this, without any process of law, he directed that Father Daniel’s hands should be tied behind his back, and then ordered him to be scourged, and salt and vinegar to be put into the wounds made on the skin by the lash. 

At last the tyrants seeing Neilan’s courage, for he prayed without ceasing for himself and his persecutors, and despairing of changing his purpose, since he refused the honours offered to him if he would join with the heretics, ordered this brave champion of Christ to be hanged from the vane of a wind-mill with his head down, like Peter, the prince of the Apostles, and to be shot at till his whole body was pierced through with balls. 

By such a martyrdom Daniel earned for himself a glorious crown in heaven. 

He suffered at Youghal, in Munster, March 28th 1580.

See also Holing, Fitzsimon, Rothe, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Molanus, Ward, Wadding, and Hueber.

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

(Ibid., p. 432)

HUGH LACY, born of a noble family in Munster, was a man skilled in sacred and profane learning, and a priest of blameless life and character, for which reason he was chosen Bishop of Limerick[1] while Henry VIII. was still obedient to the Church. 

When the King apostatized, he could not induce Hugh to join in his rebellion or to stain himself by subscribing to this supremacy. 

Wherefore not only did he lose the King’s favour, but he was deprived first of his revenues and afterwards of his bishopric. 

When the King could effect nothing by these means, he had Lacy shut up in a noisome prison in Cork, the filth of which almost caused his death. 

When he was released from his imprisonment by the contrivance of his friends, he returned to Limerick, in order to collect and guard his flock, which had been scattered by the attacks of the English wolf.

As the evil grew in strength during the last years of Henry’s reign and under the sway of Seymour, the Calvinist, who governed the kingdom for Edward VI., the persecution was renewed against Hugh. 

Wherefore, following the example of the Apostles, he fled, and went to that Catholic country France.

When Mary ascended the throne, he was called back by Cardinal Pole, and he returned to Limerick, to the great delight of all the diocese, where he tended his flock for many years in peace, like a good shepherd. 

When he was over sixty years of age, Elizabeth, like a wild beast, began to lay waste the vineyard of the Lord. 

Lacy, full of the spirit of God, was again driven from his See, deprived of all the means necessary or his support, and cast into prison, because he would not take the oath of Supremacy. 

Worn out by these sufferings, he died on the 26th March, 1577.[2] The date given by Rothe, 1580, is most probably, the correct one, for Holinshed says Lacy was upon some suspicions committed prisoner to his own house in 1579, and his successor was appointed in 1582.

See also Holing, Rothe, and Copinger

St. Caimin, (Died 653 CE), 

He was Bishop-Abbot of Inis Cealtra and possibly the first Bishop of Killaloe.[

[1] Brady says he was appointed in 1556. Ep. Succ., ii.42
[2] The date given by Rothe, 1580, is most probably, the correct one, for Holinshed says, Lacy was upon some suspicions committed prisoner to his own house in 1579. Chron., vi. 429 ; and his successor was appointed in 1582. See Moran’s Archbishops, p. 186

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

From O’DaIy’s Relatio,p. 335

HE was Prior of Naas,[1]. He was seized and brought before the Viceroy in Dublin, for teaching doctrine opposed to the Anglican creed. 

He was told he would be set free and rewarded if he would abandon the Catholic religion and enter the Protestant sect. The morning that he was to be led to the scaffold, a messenger was sent by the Viceroy, and these terms were again offered to him. But he answered. 'Today, I am about to be led to the scaffold; and everyone knows well that human nature is unwilling to face death; nor am I so weary of life as to wish to hasten my death, did not necessity oblige me. The Viceroy has deigned to send me a promise written out by his own hand, which gives me complete and unhindered choice between life and death, so that if through love of life I should abandon my religion, the presence of death would in some measure excuse me from blame.’ 

The Viceroy thinking that he was almost overcome, ordered the execution to be carried out; he signed the promise under the aforesaid condition, and it was handed to the Father as he was about to mount the ladder. He took it in his hand with a smile. 

The heretics showed delight, thinking they would lead off this convert in triumph. But the man of God went up and at the top, he held out the letter and proved the judge guilty of passing an unjust sentence. 

Then he addressed the Catholics who were standing round: ‘Dearest brethren, member of the holy Roman Catholic Church, ever since I fell into the cruel hands of these heretics who are here, I have endured hunger, insult, and imprisonment in dark and noisome places. I knew not why I should suffer such penalties; and I was in doubt whether I should obtain the martyr’s crown. For it is not the punishment but the cause that makes the martyrs. But Almighty God who protects the innocent, disposing all sweetly, has brought things about so that, accused as a seducer, and arraigned for certain crimes made such by the laws of this kingdom, the sole reason why I am condemned to death to-day is that I profess the Catholic religion. Here is the authentic proof of my innocence, the autograph letter of the Viceroy, offering to me very rich rewards and my life if I abandon the Catholic religion. I call God and man to witness that I firmly and unhesitatingly reject these offers, and that willingly and gladly I enter into this conflict Professing that faith.’

He then threw the paper to a friend, and bade the executioner do his duty. After he had been cast off, his body still hanging, he sent forth a deep sigh, ‘Deo gratias.’ Having thus defeated the cunning of the Viceroy and Confounded the hopes of the heretics, he died.[2]

Carte gives another account:[3]-

Father Higgins, a Franciscan,[4]. The Earl of Ormonde took him under his protection. 6 weeks after…he was seized on March 24th, and hanged. The Earl hearing of it after the execution, expostulated with the Lords justices. They excused themselves by their having given Charles Coote general authority to do such things without consulting them. The Earl insisted that Coote should be tried as having put not only an innocent but a deserving subject to death.

See also Bruodin.

[1] The Dominican priory was founded in 1356 by one of the Eustace family; hence it was dedicated to St. Eustachius, a Roman martyr, whose feast is on December 20. See Hib. Dom., p. 293
[2] De Burgo gives 1641 as the year of his death, on the authority of the General Chapter of 1656. Probably he follows the old style.
[3] Life of James Duke of Ormonde, .278
[4] This is, of course, a mistake. He was a Dominican.

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