(From De Burgo’s Hib. Dom., p. 561)

HE was a member of the Dublin Community. 

When the war was begun by the Catholics for their faith and country,[2] he was seized by the heretics and cast into a prison, where he endured much from the hardships of the place and want of food. 

Yet no one made a charge against him, nay rather, many heretics by word of mouth and writing declared he was innocent of any crime. 

While in prison he made his confession three times to his prior, who by disguising himself contrived to obtain admittance to him. 

He declared publicly that he was innocent of any crime, and he openly professed his adhesion to the Catholic faith. 

His constancy in the midst of his sufferings, and the joy shown on his face, moved many of the heretics to tears; others were still more maddened thereby, so that not only did they expose his dead body to insult, but they would not allow it to be buried within the city; and when it was passing outside the gate, they broke the skull with a blow of the butt of a gun. 

He was hanged on March 23rd, 1642.

[1] De Burgo shows he was a different person from Peter O’Higgin.
The one was Prior, the other held no such office, as is shown by the fact that his Prior is spoke of above.
In the Acts of the Chapter of the Order, held in 1644 and 1656 they are spoken of as different persons.
[2] The motto of the Confederate Catholics was Pro Deo, rege, et patria Hiberni unanimes 
See Gilbert’s History of the Confederation ii.85

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

(From Lynch’s De Prœsulibus Hib., ii. 495)

HE belonged to a respectable family. 

His extensive knowledge of theology and Canon Law, as well as his great virtue, caused him to be much esteemed. 

On the 24th of January, 1567, he was appointed Bishop of Emly. 

He was one of those sent over in 1568 to the King of Spain and the Pope by the Earl of Desmond and his confederates in Munster, to implore their aid in saving this country and the Catholic religion from oppression. 

On the 26th March, 1578, Drury, president of Munster, wrote from Waterford to Walsingham, to inform him that a Liverpool vessel had brought from Calais some papistical vestments belonging to Morrough O’Brien the pretended Bishop of Emly, who had landed at Galway.[1]

In 1584 he was imprisoned in Dublin Castle, resolved to allow his limbs to waste away in the most foul den rather than deny his faith. 

O’Mulrian, Bishop of Killaloe, writing to Cardinal DeComo, October 29th, 1584, after speaking of the sufferings and heroism of Dermot O’Hurley, says:

The Bishop of Emly, who is equally constant in the faith, is at present confined in the Dublin dungeons. 

They are now preparing for him too the leaden boots, and mean to apply the fiery ordeal, as they did with the Archbishop,[2] that thus, if possible, they may compel him to abandon his religion. 

He died in prison in Dublin, March 17th, 1586. 

The Processus presented to the Consistory for the appointment of his successor says: 

The See of Emly is vacant owing to the death of Morrough O’Brien, its last bishop, who died several years ago in the Dublin prisons for the faith.’[3]  

There is some doubt about the precise year of his death.[4]  

We give above that set down by most writers.

See also Holing, Rothe, Copinger, Molanus, Mooney, and Bruodin.

[1] Brady’s Episc. Succession, ii.35
[2] ‘i.e., Dermot O’Hurley. See P. 138, antea.
[3] Brady, Epis. Succ., ii.37
[4] Perrott, the Lord Deputy, in 1586, gave a list of the pledges then in the Castle of Dublin.
Among them is ‘Mortagh McBrian, Bishop of Emly, for usurpation from Rome, committed to prison by Myler M’Grath, Archbishop of Cashel.’ C.S.RI. (1586—1588), p. 230

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

(From Tanner’s Societas Jesus, &c., p. 7 and Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p.428)

Bruodin gives March 16th, 1575, as the date of his death.

WHEN Elizabeth was striving, not merely by threats but by the infliction of the severest punishments and tortures on the faithful, and especially on priests and religious, to root out the Catholic faith, Christ’s Vicar on earth, Pope Gregory XIII., thought fit to send some members of the Society of Jesus into England and Ireland to succour the faithful who were then sorely tried.

The first of the Society who exposed their lives to the daily danger of death were FF. Robert Parsons and Edmund Campion[1], who set out from Rome in June, 1580.

The Holy Pontiff, consulting for the welfare of Ireland, which was then harassed in the same way owing to the wickedness of that Queen, sent thither missioners of the same Society.

F.Edmund M’Donnell, called by some M’Donough, met with a glorious death very soon after he reached there, and was the first of them to proclaim the truth of the Catholic religion by the shedding of his blood. 

He was a native of Limerick, and by order of the Pope had returned to his native country to comfort the Catholics, who were then sorely persecuted, with FF. Thomas Good,[2] an Englishman, and David Wolfe,[3] later Apostolic Legate. 

He was employed for a while in teaching youth the Christian doctrine and profane literature.

Very soon after he was seized by order of that blood-thirsty man, Sir John Perrott, President of Munster, and confined in a close prison in Limerick for a long time. 

His constancy was assailed in many ways. 

The ministers made him all kinds of promises if he would join in the treachery of the Reformers, and when the confessor of God continued unmoved, he was taken to Cork, a distance of forty miles, to be questioned still further by the cruel heretics. 

During the whole of that journey his hands were tied behind his back, and he suffered from his cruel guards all the hardships that are usually inflicted on murderers and traitors. 

He was thrust into the common prison, and endured various tortures at different times his firmness remained unbroken. 

He was accused of high treason and condemned in open court. 

The reasons publicly alleged by the blood-thirsty magistrate for inflicting this infamous punishment on the accused, were such as prove that he well deserves the proud title of martyr, viz., that he stubbornly continued to profess the Catholic faith, which was proscribed by Elizabeth in England under the penalty of high treason, that he had come to gain over to and confirm in the same his fellow citizens both by word and deed, that he impiously refused to the Queen the title of Head of the Church in England, and that he had brought letters from Pope Gregory XIII. to James Fitzmaurice,[4] who was then at the head of the Irish Catholics in arms against the heretics in defence of the Catholic faith.

Indeed, Gregory XIII., in his letter of May 13th, 1580, to the Archbishops, chiefs, and people of Ireland, makes mention of letters written by him to them in the preceding years, exhorting them ‘to recover their liberty and to defend it against the heretics, and to aid James Geraldine, who was desirous of delivering them from the hard yoke of slavery imposed on them by the English, who had abandoned the holy Roman Church.’

Fr Edmund M’Donnell listened with signs of great pleasure and joy to this glorious sentence decreeing him a triumph, and humbly bowing to the judges, he thanked them.

He was then led away, as one guilty of high treason, to the usual place of execution. 

Here he was hanged, and after a short time, while he was still alive, the rope was cut and he

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

(From Bruodifl’S propugnaculum, p. 467)

HE was a native of Ulster and Bishop of Connor.[1]

(This is a mistake. He was appointed Bishop of Killala in 1545 and transferred to Derry in 1569.)

He was attacked at night in his own house by some English soldiers of the garrison of Lough Foyle, and with three other priests cruelly put to death. 

He was in his 9Oth year and in the 60th of his episcopate. 

A State Paper, dated July 28th, 1592, says: 

In Ulster is one Redmundus O’Gallagher, bishop of Derry, legate to the Pope and Custos Armaghnen, being one of the three Irish Bishops that were in the Council of Trent.[2]

(The three Bishops were Donald McCongail of Raphoe, Thomas O’Herlihy of Ross and Eugene O’Hart of Achonry.)

This Bishop used all manner of spiritual jurisdiction throughout all Ulster, consecrating churches, ordaining priests, confirming children, and giving all manner of dispensations riding with pomp and company from place to place, as it was accustomed in Queen Mary’s days.’[3]

(He received a faculty from the Pope to exercise a certain jurisdiction in Armagh during the Primate’s absence.)

The Annals of the Four Masters under the date 1601, says Redmund O’Gallagher, bishop of Derry, was killed in Oireacht Ui Chathain.’[4]

(O’Kane’s territory, which included the present baronies of Tirkeeran, Keenaght, and Dungiven, in Co. Derry)

He was put to death on March 15th. 

The spot where he was slain is on the high road nearly midway between O’Kane’s Castle and Dungiven.

See also Sander, Rothe, Copinger, O’Sullivan, Ward, Porter, and De Burgo.

[1] This isa mistake. He was appointed Bishop of Killala in 1545 and transferred to Derry in 1569. See Brady’s Epis. Succ., li.173
[2] The three Bishops were Donald McCongail of Raphoe, Thomas O’Herlihy of Ross and Eugene O’Hart of Achonry.
[3] He received a faculty from the Pope to exercise a certain jurisdiction in Armagh during the Primate’s absence. Ibid.
[4] O’Kane’s territory, which included the present baronies of Tirkeeran, Keenaght, and Dungiven, in Co. Derry
 

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

(From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 465)

HE was a native of LeinSter, a priest, and a zealous preacher.

He was taken by the heretics and sent to Dublin, where he obtained a glorious victory for Christ. 

He was thrown into prison by order of the chief judge, and iron chain was bound round his body, his hands and feet were tied to a beam, and he was forced to stand for forty hours without sleep. 

He was flogged, and salt and vinegar were rubbed into his wounds by the executioners. 

Being then asked whether he would take the oath of Supremacy, he answered with great firmness, that he would rather die than swear that a woman, who St. Paul says should be silent in the church, was the Head of the Church.

The fierce and blood-thirsty judge, Walter Raleigh by name, angry at this answer, ordered Fernan to be put to the torture of the rack. 

The executioners had not been long engaged in drawing asunder the limbs of this confessor of Christ, when he exclaimed, Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,’ and gave up his soul to his Creator March 12th 1597.

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 Barberini Archives, Rome.)

ON March 9th, 1642, the Most Rev. Dr. Comerford, Bishop of Waterford, wrote to a friend resident in Paris Last week, the President of Ulster, having received reinforcements, once more took the field, together with the Earl of Cork, the Earl of Barrymore, Lord Broghill, and Sir John Browne. 

Marching to Dungarvan and seizing on the Castle, they set fire to the town and put to death F. Edmund Hore and F. John Clancy, both priests, together with others of the principal citizens. 

They then sacked the place, and retired leaving a strong garrison in the Castle.’

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.

(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.

CORNELIUS O’DEVANY was born in 1533. As a teenager he entered the Franciscans. When he went to Rome his gifts attracted the notice of the Pope & on the 18th, April, 1582, he was appointed Bishop of Down and Connor. 

He was one of the bishops who in Clogher in 1587 met and promulgated the decrees of the Council of Trent. He was imprisoned in Dublin Castle. For 3 years he remained a prisoner. 

In November, 1590, he petitioned to be set free. He was set free.[2] Only a short time elapsed when the Queen’s ministers repented of what they had done. After several years, he fell again into their hands.

He was seized in June, 1611, while confirming the soldiers of Christ. 

The priest Patrick was seized the same month in Cork. He confessed that he had been travelling companion and had administered the rites of the Church to those exiled lords, whom fear for their safety or love of religion had made to fly from their lordships. 

They were both taken to Dublin. [1]

O’Devany was brought to trial on the 28th of January 1612.

The charge was that he had joined the side of the Earl of Tyrone in the war, [1] and was consequently guilty of high treason, all the more because he had aided the Earl when he fled. 

He replied to the accusations. 

that he was consecrated bishop and marked to save souls confided to his care, and as his See lay in the part of Ulster which the Earl ruled over, it was his office, to direct all people to salvation; that warlike concerns it didn't belong to him. 

When King James, ascended the throne, he declared publicly, that all crimes and offences previously committed were to be forgotten. 

He had, 2 grounds of defence :

That what he had done was more worthy of praise than of censure and punishment, and even if he deserved punishment, that the penalty was remitted by the King’s pardon.

A jury of perjurers, one excepted, gave their verdict & the judge[1]2 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.’ 

The same sentence was pronounced on Patrick.

They offered the bishop his life if he would abandon the Catholic religion and pass over to their sect. 

When he heard this, he raised his voice and 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. 

Wherefore, having obtained his wish and made his innocence evident, he showed his contempt for this perishable life, and eager for the death that was awaiting him, with the noble courage of a Christian he welcomed the triumph of the Cross.

[1] He was at this time in the eightieth year of his age and the thirtieth of his episcopate

[1] Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, and Hugh Roe O’Donnell had carried on war against the English from 1592 to 1602, when they were defeated at Kinsale. O’Donnell went to Spain, where he died soon after of poison. O’Neill surrendered to the Government

[2] Bruodin says ho was exchanged for Sir Thomas Smith and Nicholas Bagnal, who were prisoners in the hands of the Irish. Propug., p. 498

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