HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ^txmntiom suffer^ by % (Eaifwlixs 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 UNDER THE RULE OF 
 
 CROMWELL AND THE PURITANS 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 J^rsmtlions suffer^ fry % Cat^Iits 
 
 OF 
 
 IRELAND 
 
 UNDER THE RULE OF 
 
 CROMWELL AND THE PURITANS 
 
 BY THE 
 
 MOST REV. PATRICK FRANCIS MORAN, D.D. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF SYDNEY. 
 
 DUBLIN 
 M. H. GILL AND SON 
 
 50 UPPER SACKVILLE STREET 
 1884 
 
M. H. OILL AND SON, PRINTERS, DUBLIN. 
 
INTRODUCTION- 
 
 Our Divine Redeemer repeatedly forewarned his dis- 
 ciples that they would have to suffer trials and persecu- 
 tions in this world, and to drink the bitter cup of afflic- 
 tion to the dregs. " You shall lament and weep," said He 
 to them, " but the world shall rejoice ; and you shall be 
 made sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be changed into 
 joy" (John, xvi. 20). "I send you as sheep in the 
 midst of wolves. Beware of men. For they will de- 
 liver you up in councils, and they will scourge you in 
 their synagogues " (Matt. x. 16). " And they will put 
 you out of their synagogues : yea, the hour cometh, 
 that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth a 
 service to God " (John, xvi. 2). 
 
 What our Lord foretold was accomplished to the 
 letter. The disciples and apostles whom he sent to 
 overthrow idolatry and superstition, and to purify the 
 earth from the corruption with which it was infected, 
 instead of being welcomed as benefactors, were every- 
 where opposed by the perversity and malice of man ; 
 
6 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and every human effort was made to impede the success 
 of the heavenly mission in which they were engaged. 
 Edicts were published prohibiting their teaching ; their 
 doctrines and practices were proscribed ; and when they 
 persevered in their work of charity and religion, they 
 were cast into prison, or sent into exile, or condemned 
 to suffer tortures and death. All the apostles merited 
 the crown of martyrdom ; and all sealed their testimony 
 to the faith by shedding their blood in its defence, with 
 the exception of St. John, who, having merited the 
 honours of a martyr when thrown into a cauldron of 
 boiling oil in Rome, was providentially preserved, in 
 order to prevent the spread of errors which sprung up 
 against the divinity of our Lord. 
 
 The immediate successors of the apostles, and the in- 
 heritors of their authority, together with innumerable 
 multitudes of other Christians, had to undergo the 
 6am o persecutions and afflictions as their masters in the 
 faith, and to be made like unto the Author of our holy 
 religion, who, for our salvation, became the reproach 
 and outcast of the people, and satisfied for our sins by 
 II is agony on the cross. 
 
 The blood of the first Christians was shed in torrents 
 in every country where the doctrines of their Divine 
 Master was preached, and His Church established. 
 They were reviled, calumniated, and excluded from the 
 pale of society ; they were proclaimed the enemies of 
 the human race, and charged with crimes which they 
 abhorred ; they were sent into exile, condemned to 
 work in the mines, subjected to unheard-of torments, and 
 condemned to cruel deaths. But, like sheep among 
 wolves, bearing everything for Christ's sake with 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 7 
 
 patience and resignation, they edified the world by 
 their virtues and good works ; and their blood became 
 the seed of new and fervent Christian congregations. 
 The more they were cut down, the more did Christians 
 increase ; and, in the course of three centuries, by their 
 prayers, their patience, and virtues, they conquered the 
 whole Eoman empire ; the cross was raised triumphant 
 on the Capitol and Pantheon, and the proudest monu- 
 ments of Greece and Rome were consecrated to the 
 worship of the true God. 
 
 What happened in the first centuries was repeated in 
 the following ages : the Church was always a prey to 
 persecution ; but, notwithstanding all the efforts of her 
 enemies, she increased and prospered ; and the fertile 
 vine, planted on Mount Calvary, and watered by the 
 blood of our Redeemer, spread its branches to the 
 remotest regions of the earth, affording protection and 
 refreshment to those who had been languishing in 
 darkness and error. 
 
 As nothing could be more edifying than the cons' ancy 
 of Christians in professing their faith, and in protesting 
 against the perverse doctrines and practices of idolatry 
 — so it cannot be a matter of surprise that great care 
 was taken to preserve the names of the martyrs, and to 
 record the sufferings and circumstances of their death : 
 the acts of those heroes of the cross were drawn up by 
 faithful hands ; their answers to the tyrants declaring 
 how they adhered to the doctrines of Christ, and 
 detested the worship of idols and false gods, were 
 accurately reported ; and their constancy and courage 
 in encountering torments and death were minutely 
 described. Even at the present day, through the 
 
8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 simple narratives that Lave been preserved, everyone 
 is familiar with the sufferings of a Laurence, a Vincent, 
 a Sebastian, and an Ignatius, and with the superhuman 
 courage of the Agneses, the Agathas, the Catherines, 
 and other virgins, in whom we admire the triumph of 
 that faith which raised them above the weakness of their 
 age and sex. 
 
 To cherish the remembrance of those who shed their 
 blood for the truth, and to obtain their prayers and 
 protection at the throne of mercy, festivals were 
 established on the day of their victory, pilgrimages 
 were instituted to the spot where they suffered, their 
 sacred remains were preserved with the greatest respect 
 and veneration, and some of the noblest temples of the 
 universe were erected to their memory. 
 
 This same anxiety to do honour to the heroes who 
 laid down their lives in her defence, and to propose their 
 glorious deeds to her children for their encouragement 
 and instruction, has been manifested in every age by 
 the Church. It is also in this spirit that our present 
 venerable Pontiff, Pius IX. — who has himself suffered so 
 much from the enemies of religion, and whose courage 
 and constancy in defending the rights of the Iloly See, 
 have merited for him the admiration of mankind — 
 determined to canonise several martyrs of Japan, pro- 
 posing their heroic virtues to the imitation of the faith- 
 ful in those times of irrcligion and indifference, and 
 securing new patrons for the Church in the period of 
 trouble and confusion in which we live. The writers of 
 a wicked and unbelieving press may scoff and sneer at 
 the pious anxiety of the Church to extol the faith and 
 courage of her children ; they may call tKe glorious 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 martyrs of Japan traitors and rebels to the government 
 under which they lived, but all faithful Christians will 
 receive with gratitude the decisions of the Pontiff, and 
 avail themselves of the patronage and intercession of 
 the Christain heroes whom he has placed on our altars. 
 
 Whilst it was ever the anxious desire of all Chris- 
 tians — and especially of the supreme pastors of the fold 
 of Christ — to preserve the acts and the memories of the 
 martyrs, it would be strange if the Catholic Church of 
 Ireland were careless about her children who suffered 
 for the faith, or allowed their memory to be forgotten. 
 Far from her the charge of such neglect ; she en- 
 couraged her children to fight a good fight, and to 
 finish their course with honour ; she preserved their 
 memories with veneration, and repeated with gratitude 
 and thankfulness the names of many who shed their 
 blood in order to preserve the faith of St. Patrick pure 
 and uncontaminated, and to transmit to posterity the 
 blessings of true religion which they now enjoy. 
 
 Unfortunately, however, we have no regular acts of 
 our martyrs, nor special histories of the unexampled 
 sufferings which they had to undergo during the three 
 centuries of persecution and penal laws through which 
 our country has passed. Our forefathers acted like 
 true soldiers of Christ, and preserved the faith, covering 
 their country and religion with glory, and securing for 
 themselves an imperishable crown ; but the circum- 
 stances of the country were so deplorable, and war was 
 carried on so actively against religion, that few written 
 records could be kept, and the glorious achievements of 
 so many Christian heroes were preserved only in the 
 memory of the faithful. As an instance of the difficulty 
 
J 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 of preserving written documents, it may be mentioned 
 that the martyred archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Plunket, 
 in a letter to Rome, states that on a certain emergency, 
 when an outburst of persecution was feared in Armagh, 
 he had to burn all his foreign letters, even the brief of 
 his consecration. " This happened," he adds, " last 
 June twelvemonths (1670), on the vigil of St. John, 
 when it was circulated by the Presbyterians that the 
 Catholics had conspired to murder, on that night, all 
 the Protestants."* 
 
 Under such circumstances it were vain to seek for a 
 complete and consecutive history of the persecutions of 
 our forefathers ; and hence, although we have, on every 
 side, proofs the most authentic of the fearful persecutions 
 of the Irish Church, yet it is only in private letters and 
 documents, referring but casually to such matters, that 
 the sufferings of individuals are described. When all 
 the materials of this kind shall have been examined and 
 published, it is to be hoped that a history of the martyrs 
 of the Irish Church may be written. 
 
 With a view of contributing to this desirable result, 
 the following Historical Sketch of the Sufferings of the 
 Catholics during the Puritan sway in Ireland has been 
 compiled. In it are collected many extracts from un- 
 published contemporary writings, and from printed 
 works rarely to be met with. The greater part of it 
 was written as an introduction to the " Memoirs of Dr. 
 Plunket," but it now appears in an enlarged form, and 
 contains many new documents. It is hoped that it will 
 aid the future historian in describing the virtues and 
 
 • See 14 Memoirs of Dr. Pluuket " by Ur. Morau, p. 190. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 11 
 
 constancy of Irish Catholics at a time when, because 
 they were unanimous in defending their country, their 
 king, and their religion,* they were sacrificed in thou- 
 sands by sanguinary hordes of fanatical Puritans, and 
 other furious enemies of the Catholic religion, who pre- 
 tended to be lovers of liberty, but in reality were 
 enemies of all rights, human and divine. 
 
 Though the practice of the Catholic Church and the 
 experience of the past ages show that great edification 
 is derived from the history of those who suffered for the 
 truth — and the faithful are encouraged to constancy 
 and patience in the time of trial, by remembering the 
 sacrifices made by others in its defence — yet, there are 
 some who seem to think otherwise, and who will not 
 fail to condemn the historical sketch now presented to 
 the public. Why, they say, do you occupy yourself 
 with penal laws, and the confiscation of property, why 
 record the massacre of so many Catholics ? Such un- 
 pleasant recollections ought not to be preserved. It is 
 the tendency of the present age to repair the wrongs of 
 past times, and to heal the wounds then inflicted — why 
 put yourself in opposition to so praiseworthy a spirit ?- — 
 why not let past grievances be forgotten ? 
 
 In reply, perhaps, it would not be out of place to ex- 
 amine whether the present age is so liberal as it pretends, 
 or whether the Catholic religion, and the Catholic people 
 in general — and the poor especially — have been treated 
 in Ireland with such generosity as to make them forget 
 all past grievances. It might also be asked whether 
 
 * The motto of the Council of Kilkenny was—" Pro Deo, Eege 
 et Patria, Hibernia unanimis." V. Hibernia Dom., p. 876. 
 
12 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the spirit of former times is not still active, and still 
 tending to obtain, by indirect and occult means, the 
 same ends which were so long sought for by open 
 persecution. But passing over such questions, we may 
 be allowed to observe that motives of prudence or feel- 
 ings of delicacy did not prevent the early Christian 
 writers from recording innumerable deeds of pagan 
 cruelty, and describing the noble constancy and courage 
 of their persecuted brethren. Every Christian felt that 
 the propagation or preservation of his religion in the 
 midst of trials and sufferings, was a proof of the truth 
 of Christ's promise to be with his Church in all ages, 
 and the fear of displeasing pagans, or of exciting the 
 feelings of the sufferers against their oppressors, was 
 not considered a sufficient ground for passing over in 
 silence great historical facts, both useful and edifying. 
 
 Why should not we act in the same way ? for, do 
 not the sufferings of past times supply us with new 
 illustrations of the power of Christian faith, and with 
 motives of thankfulness and gratitude to God for hav- 
 ing preserved our religion ? The struggle in which our 
 predecessors in the faith were engaged was a very un- 
 equal one : they were so weak that, humanly speaking, 
 they could not have resisted the powers that were 
 brought to bear on them for their destruction ; yet, 
 through the mercy of Q-od, their poverty was more 
 poworful than the wealth of others, and in their weak- 
 ness they preserved the most precious of all treasures, 
 their faith, and transmitted it to their posterity, in 
 whom it is now producing an abundance of fruit in 
 their virtues and good works, and in the institutions 
 with which they are covering the land. And here may 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 13 
 
 we not say, with the apostle : — " The foolish things of 
 the world hath God chosen that he may confound the 
 wise, and the weak things of the world hath God chosen 
 that he may confound the strong. . . . That no flesh 
 should glory in his sight." (1 Cor. i.) 
 
 Nor is it to be supposed that the memory of past 
 grievances always excites feelings of hatred and rancour. 
 Where the sufferings of true Christians are related, a 
 contrary effect is produced. Their patience and resigna- 
 tion to the holy will of God, the prayers they poured 
 out, like our Divine Redeemer on the cross, for their 
 persecutors, serve to make us patient and obedient, and 
 to act in a spirit of charity and forbearance, even 
 towards those who afflict and persecute us. 
 
 Besides, the condition of Ireland is quite unintelligible, 
 unless we keep before us the history of the past. Irish 
 Catholics are frequently taunted with the want of a 
 Catholic literature, and with the rags and poverty of 
 their country. We are even told that our ignorance 
 and our poverty are proofs of the demoralizing effects 
 of our holy religion. Look to the condition of Protes- 
 tants and Presbyterians : they are rich and flourishing ; 
 they have numerous schools and colleges richly endowed ; 
 travelling through the country you cannot but observe 
 the superior wealth and comfort of the Protestant or 
 Presbyterian occupier of the soil — all this difference is 
 a proof of the advantages of Protestantism. 
 
 Statements of this kind are made every day : they 
 are repeated in almost all the little an ti- Catholic tracts 
 so widely circulated at present. To answer such 
 charges it is necessary to go back to the penal laws, and 
 to past persecutions which fully explain the cause of 
 
14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the anomalous position of Ireland. If Catholics were 
 behind others in education and intellectual acquire- 
 ments — if they had not so many colleges or literary in- 
 stitutions — the reason was, that Catholic education was 
 prohibited in the country, and all Catholic schools and 
 places of instruction were confiscated and handed over 
 to Protestants. A Catholic was not allowed to teach or 
 to keep school at home, and laws were enacted to pre- 
 vent him from sending his children to be educated 
 abroad. As all this was done by the Protestant parlia- 
 ments of England and Ireland, is it meet that the evils 
 thus produced should be charged to Catholics, the suf- 
 ferers in the case ? But though education was so strictly 
 prohibited, the Catholics still preserved a thirst for 
 knowledge, they sought for it in foreign lands ; and, 
 since the relaxation of the penal laws, they have covered 
 the country with schools, colleges, and other educational 
 establishments. Thus, a reference to past times shows 
 who were the real friends, and who the enemies of pro- 
 gress and knowledge. 
 
 In regard to the poverty of the Catholic portion of 
 the Irish people, it is very easy to explain its origin. 
 The Catholics were persecuted for their religion, and 
 rather than consent to renounce their God and their 
 faith, they submitted to the confiscation of their property, 
 to exile, and death. A great part of Ireland was con- 
 fiscated several times ; the property and the estates of 
 Catholics were handed over to Protestants; the rich 
 lands, the fertile plains, and all places of commerce, were 
 reserved for those who had been found ready to 
 apostatize at the bidding of the ruling powers. Ad- 
 venturers from England, oftentimes of the lowest class 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 15 
 
 and most degraded character, and covenanters and fol- 
 lowers of John Knox, from Scotland, were enriched 
 with the property of the old inhabitants of the country 
 who had remained faithful to the religion of their 
 fathers. Special privileges were granted to the towns 
 and seaports occupied by Protestants and Presbyterians ; 
 their trade and manufactories, especially in Ulster, were 
 encouraged, and everything was done to promote their 
 interests, whilst the worst arts were employed to ruin 
 the industry or to occasion the beggary or total extermi- 
 nation of the original inhabitants. Indeed, it was con- 
 sidered a great favour to allow Catholics to live in the 
 bogs and mountains ; and even, when the bogs were 
 reclaimed, they were driven from them, and ordered to 
 seek for refuge in more desolate places. Under such 
 circumstances, we cannot be surprised that the Catholics 
 of Ireland should have been reduced to poverty, but it 
 must be a matter of amazement that they were at all 
 able to preserve their existence in the kingdom. 
 
 However, the energy of the Irish race was not to be 
 broken down by confiscation and penal laws ; notwith- 
 standing the spoliation and sufferings to which they 
 had been subjected, they displayed a persevering 
 industry, and many of them, overcoming all obstacles, 
 have had their energy rewarded by the acquirement of 
 wealth and station. Yet, as it has been said, the general 
 condition of the country, and the poverty of so many of 
 its Catholic inhabitants, as well as the wealth and pros- 
 perity of many Protestants, cannot be explained without 
 continual reference to the history of the past, and 
 showing how the former were robbed and persecuted in 
 order to enrich the latter. 
 
16 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In conclusion, it appears to us evident that it is 
 most useful and edifying, and conformable to the 
 practices of the Catholic Church, to preserve and publish 
 •the records of those who suffered for their faith. Their 
 patience and humility edify us, and teach us to be 
 submissive and obedient in the time of trial and afflic- 
 tion ; their courage and constancy show us how firmly 
 we ought to be attached to our faith ; their prayers for 
 their enemies afford us a lesson of forbearance and 
 charity, and the success with which they fought the 
 good fight, and merited an imperishable crown, must 
 excite our gratitude to heaven, and at the same time 
 convince us that our Faith is " the victory which over- 
 cometh the world." 
 
 Since this " Historical Sketch 99 was first published 
 several valuable works have appeared illustrating the 
 period to which it refers, and we have made use of 
 some of them at almost every page. To avoid the 
 necessity of repeated reference, it may suffice to here 
 insert the titles of the works in full : — 
 
 " The Cromwellian Settlement of Ireland." By John 
 P. Prendergast, Barrister-at-Law (Second Edition) 
 London : Longmans, 1870. 
 
 " Aphorismical Discovery of Treasonable Faction, 
 L e , A Contemporary History of Affairs in Ireland from 
 1641 to 1652/' Edited by John T. Gilbert. In three 
 Volumes. Dublin : for the Irish Archaeological Society, 
 1879. 
 
 " History of the Irish Confederation and the War 
 in Ireland, 1641-1643." By Richard Boilings. Edited 
 by John T. Gilbert. In two Volumes. Dublin: Gill 
 and Son, 1882. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 17 
 
 " Cromwell in Ireland." By Rev. Denis Murphy, 
 S.J. Dublin : Gill and Son, 1883. 
 
 " Collections Eelating to the Dioceses of Kildare and 
 Leighlin." By Eev. M. Comerford, P.P. Dublin: 
 Duffy, 1883. 
 
 " Transactions of the Ossory Archaeological Society." 
 Kilkenny : Yol. the First, 1879 ; Vol. the Second, 
 1883. 
 
 " The Rise and Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monas- 
 teries, and Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy in the 
 Seventeenth Century." By Rev. C. P. Meehan. Fifth 
 Edition. Dublin : Duffy, 1877. 
 
 "Pii Antistitis Icon; or, The Life and Death of the 
 Most Rev. Francis Kirwan, Bishop of Killala." Edited 
 by Rev. C. P. Meehan. Second Edition. Dublin: 
 Duffy, 1884. 
 
HISTORICAL SKETCH 
 
 OF 
 
 f^erseruticrns Suffers h\) t[jc (Katjurlits 
 of Jfulattb, 
 
 UNDER THE RULE OF 
 
 CROMWELL AND THE PURITANS. 
 ■ + — 
 
 General Proscription of the Irish Catholics by the 
 Puritans. 
 
 1. Lord Clarendon and others explain the designs of the Puritans to 
 exterminate the Catholics. — 2. Acts of Parliament and Orders of 
 the Lords Justices. — 3. Fierce spirit of Puritan Writers. — 4. Testi- 
 mony of Various Historians. — 5. Conduct of Tichbourne, Sir 
 William Cole, Sir Charles Coote, &c. — 6. Fate of Sir Simon 
 Harcourt and Sir Charles Coote. — 7. Some instances of barbarous 
 cruelty.— 8. Dr. John Lynch describes the sufferings of Catholics. 
 — 9. Division of this Sketch. 
 
 1. The persecution carried on by the Puritan Parlia- 
 ment and Cromwell against the Catholics of Ireland has 
 scarcely a parallel in the history of the Church. With- 
 out a special providence of God watching over His 
 children, whom He was chastising in His mercy, the 
 Catholic faith could not have been preserved in so 
 
20 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 frightful and so trying an ordeal. It is the mercy of the 
 Lord that we have not been consumed. No sooner had 
 the Puritan faction become predominant in England, 
 having dethroned their sovereign, and imbrued their 
 hands in his blood, than they resolved on the utter ex- 
 termination of the Irish people, who had been true to 
 Caosar and to God, and they did not hesitate to declare 
 that thus alone could Catholicity be rooted out from 
 our island. In fact, the extermination of the Irish 
 Catholics became a leading feature in their political 
 programme. " The Parliament party," writes Lord 
 Clarendon, "had grounded their own authority and 
 strength upon such foundations as were inconsistent with 
 any toleration of the Roman Catholic religion, and even 
 with any humanity to the Irish nation — and more 
 especially to those of the old native extraction, the 
 whole race whereof they had upon the matter sworn to 
 extirpate" (History, i. 215). Dr. John Lynch in Cam- 
 brensis Eversus corroborates this statement (vol. iii, pp. 
 85-90), and adds : " Three thousand Irish Puritans 
 signed a document in which they earnestly insisted 
 either that the Catholic religion should be abolished in 
 Ireland, or that the Irish race should be extirpated. ,, 
 And, page 99, he writes that the Irish Puritans " rioted 
 in the promiscuous slaughter of women, old men, and 
 children; end the English auxiliaries openly avowed 
 that they would strain every nerve to extirpate, with- 
 out mercy, the Irish race." The contemporary author of 
 the M Aphorismical Discovery " published for the I. A. 
 S. by Gilbert, also states that " it was blazed abroad by 
 the best note of Protestants, that all Ireland by that 
 time twelvemonth must either go to church, be executed, 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 21 
 
 or endure banishment or exile " (i. 12) : and the Irish 
 Bishops, in an official document in 1650, attest the 
 cruelty of the Puritans " whose practice daily is, and 
 hath been, to extirpate the Catholic Religion and the 
 professors thereof, to the loss and profanation of 
 churches, altars, use of sacraments, and everything 
 that is dear to a Catholic, as also the shedding of Pre- 
 lates' blood even to death, and contrary to the public 
 faith, and the daily persecution of Priests, friars, nuns, 
 and their imprisonment, and banishment by public 
 proclamation." 
 
 2. As early as the 8th of December, 1641, an act 
 was passed in Parliament to the effect that the Catholic 
 religion should never be tolerated in Ireland f and in 
 order to carry this act into execution, the Lords J ustices 
 issued the following order to the commander of the 
 Irish forces : " It is resolved, that it is fit his Lordship 
 do endeavour, with his Majesty's forces, to slay and 
 destroy all the said rebels, and their adherents and re- 
 lievers, by all the ways and means he may ; and burn, 
 destroy, spoil, waste, consume, and demolish all the 
 places, towns, and houses where the said rebels are or 
 have been relieved and harboured, and all the hay and 
 corn there, and kill and destroy all the men there in- 
 habiting able to bear arms." 
 
 All the subsequent acts of Parliament and orders of 
 the Lords Justices are dictated in the same sanguinary 
 strain. As an instance we may cite the enactment by 
 the Lords and Commons of England, on 24th October, 
 
 * " Rushworth's Collections," p. 455. 
 
 3 
 
22 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 1644 : " that no quarter shall be given to any Irishman, 
 or to any papist bom in Ireland" 
 
 3. The writers of the party were animated by the 
 same exterminating spirit ; and, though the soul shud- 
 ders at the recital, we shall present an extract from one 
 of the political pamphlets of the period, that the reader 
 may fully appreciate the virulence of Puritan hatred 
 against the Catholics of Ireland : " I beg upon my 
 hands and knees that the expedition against them may 
 be undertaken whilst the hearts and hands of our sol- 
 diery are hot, to whom I will be bold to say, briefly : 
 1 happy is he that shall reward them as they have served 
 us ; and cursed is he that shall do the work of the Lord 
 negligently.' Cursed be he that holdeth back his sword 
 from blood ; yea, cursed be he that maketh not his sword 
 stark drunk with Irish blood — that maketh them not 
 heaps upon heaps, and their country a dwelling-place for 
 dragons, an astonishment to nations. Let not that eye 
 look for pity, nor that hand be spared that pities or 
 spires them ; and let him be accursed that curseth them 
 not bitterly." 
 
 4. It would be tedious to enter into full details of the 
 cruel extermination by which the army in Ireland 
 sought to carry into effect the desires of their English 
 masters. The whole history of their sanguinary career 
 may be well summed up in the words of the Protestant 
 historian, Borlase, " the orders of Parliament were 
 excellently well executed M (Hist, of Reb., page 62). 
 Leland and Warner refer to the letters of the Lords 
 Justices themselves for the fact that the soldiers " slew 
 all persons promiscuously, not sparing even the women." 
 And Dr. Nalson, another Protestant historian, appeals 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 23 
 
 to the testimony of officers who served in the Parlia- 
 mentary army, u that no manner of compassion or dis- 
 crimination was shown either to age or sex." Lord 
 Ossory, too, himself a bitter enemy of the Catholics, 
 in a letter to Ormonde, informs him how the Puritan 
 Lord President of Minister " caused innocent and guilty 
 to be alike executed," and commemorates some instances 
 of barbaric cruelty for which we would seek in vain a 
 parallel in the fiercest persecutions of paganism. 
 
 At the first outbreak of the revolution the Lords 
 Justices were in great alarm, but when they discovered 
 that the Irish were without arms, " they took courage," 
 says a contemporary writer, " and rushing out with 
 horse and foot completely armed, they slew man, woman, 
 and child, as they came under their lash, as well those 
 that held the plough as the pike, the goad as the gun. 
 Thousands were thus killed; and the Lords Justices 
 were known not to favour any officer that did not, upon 
 his return from these birdings (as they called them) give 
 a good account of their sport, though their game was 
 unarmed men, and too often women and children" 
 (Ap. Prendergast, p. 56). 
 
 5. One of their officers, named Tichbourne, who com- 
 manded in Dundalk in 1642, was able to boast that in 
 his district " there was neither man nor beast to be found 
 in sixteen miles between the two towns of Drogheda and 
 Dundalk, nor on the other side of Dundalk, in the 
 county of Monaghan, nearer than Carrickmacross.''* 
 
 * Ap. Curry, p. 169, and Vindiche, p. 417. Cambrensis Ever- 
 8U8, vol. iii., p. 97, states that the Puritans of the North shot down 
 the Catholics as wild beasts, and made it their special delight "to 
 imbrue their swords in the heart's blood of all the male children." 
 
24 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 A Protestant dignitary, Dean Bernard, describing this 
 scene of desolation wrote : "By the death of so many men 
 about us, having their houses and all their provisions 
 either burnt or drawn hither, the dogs only surviving 
 are found very usually feeding upon their masters, 
 which taste of man's flesh made it very dangerous for 
 the passengers in the roads, who have been often set 
 upon by these mastiffs, till we were careful to kill them 
 also." 
 
 Another officer, Sir William Cole, who commanded 
 in a few counties of the North, slew, in a short period, 
 as Borlase informs us, together with 2,400 swordsmen, 
 "seven thousand of the vulgar sort " (Hist., p. 112). 
 And the same historian adds (p. 113) that "after this 
 manner did the English fight in the other quarters. ,, 
 
 "When in May, 1642, the Earl of Clanrickard induced 
 the citizens of Gal way to submit, and took them under 
 the king's protection, he received a reprimand from the 
 Lords Justices, declaring that he should have persecuted 
 them "with fire and sword." Moreover, to prevent 
 like clemency for the future, " they issued a general 
 order to the commanders of all garrisons, not to presume 
 to hold any correspondence or treaty with anyof the Irish 
 papists dwelling or residing in any place near or about 
 their garrisons, or to give protection, immunity, or 
 dispensation from spoil, burning, or other prosecution 
 of war to any of them, but to persecute all such rebels 
 with fire and sword, according to former commands and 
 proclamations in that behalf." 
 
 Sir Charles Coote was one of the leading champions 
 of Puritanism in Ireland, and of him in particular, and 
 his associate officers, M'Geoghegan writes : " There were 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 25 
 
 no exceptions in the barbarous orders which they gave 
 to their soldiery, when letting them loose to make their 
 bloody hunts amongst the Irish Catholics." Yet far 
 was the Parliament from reproving the conduct of this 
 sanguinary monster ; and when he was slain at Trim, 
 in April, 1642, we are informed by Borlasethat "floods 
 of English tears accompanied him to the grave " (Hist, 
 page 104). 
 
 One instance of his cruelty will for the present suffice . 
 He received an order from the Council in Dublin, in 
 1641, to proceed to the county Wicklow, against the 
 O'Byrnes. " His troops killed all that came in their 
 way, both man, woman, and child ; nay, they would 
 murder women, in their very travail." One of his 
 troopers carried on the point of his spear the head of a 
 little babe which he cut off, after killing the poor mother, 
 "which Coote observing, said that he was mightly 
 pleased with many such frolicks." (Aphoris. Discov., 
 vol. 1. p. 13.) The younger Sir Charles Coote rivalled 
 his father in those deeds of cm elty . He commanded 
 the army in Ulster at the time of the death of Owen 
 Roe O'Neill. The author of the Alithinologia attests 
 that as soon as this Irish leader, the only check to his 
 ravages, was removed, he acted like another Attila, de- 
 vastating the provinces of Ulster and Connaught, and 
 spreading desolation everywhere, " massacring the in- 
 habitants, destroying the sacred edifices, and putting to 
 death the clergy " [vastationem agris, hominibus ccedem, 
 temp/is ruinam, Ecclesiasticis exterminium), p. 71. 
 
 6. Sir Simon Harcourt, another of the military leaders, 
 was no less remarkable for barbarity and hatred of the 
 Church. He gave orders for the indiscriminate slaughter 
 
26 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 of the Irish, not even the infirm and decrepit or the 
 women and children were to be exempted from this 
 cruelty. His career however was soon brought to an un- 
 timely close. A few days after setting out on his cam- 
 paign he summoned a castle near Dublin belonging to 
 Mr. Walsh to surrender, and this"being refused, he declared 
 that the castle should be razed to the ground. When a 
 large piece of ordnance was levelled against the castle, 
 he wished himself to see that it was properly aimed > 
 and in the act of sighting it, was shot dead by one of 
 the nine men who alone formed the garrison. The 
 troops at once abandoned the siege of the castle, and 
 returned to Dublin. 
 
 The supplement to the Alithinologia states that, at 
 Trim, Sir Charles Coote the elder caused the statues of 
 SS. Peter and Paul, which were held in great venera- 
 tion, to be hewn in pieces, and thrown into the fire. A 
 very ancient image of our Blessed Lady, engraven in 
 wood, was also venerated there. Sir Charles ordered 
 it to be brought to Mr. Lawrence Hammond's house, 
 at which he stopped. It, too, was accordingly hewn in 
 pieces and put into the fire, at which he sat. Whilst 
 he was yet seated there, it was announced that a body 
 of Irish troops was at hand, and before he could quit 
 the spot he was shot dead [Aphorism. Discor. i. 32). 
 
 7. When the Government and chief officers were 
 so bent on cruelty , we can no longer be surprised at 
 individual deeds of barbarity perpetrated by the 
 soldiery on the defenceless inhabitants ; it is thus we 
 find them deliberately knocking out the children's 
 brains against the walls at Clonakilty, county Cork ; 
 we find them turning the Irish into their houses, to 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 27 
 
 which they then set fire, as in Bantry, to enjoy the 
 screams and agony of their victims ; we find them, at 
 Bandon Bridge and Newry, tying the Catholics back 
 to back, and casting them from the battlements of the 
 bridge, to perish in the river beneath. In the Com- 
 mons' Journals of 1644 (vol. iii, p. 517) it is recorded 
 that Captain Swanley having captured a vessel at sea, 
 and thrown seventy individuals overboard, because they 
 were Irish, was summoned to the bar of the House of 
 Commons, " and had thanks there given him for his 
 good service, and a chain of gold of £200 value." And 
 Lord Clarendon (ii. 478) writes, that this was not an ex- 
 ceptional case ; but, on the contrary, with officers of the 
 navy, "it was a rule, whenever they made Irish 
 prisoners, to bind them back to back, and cast them 
 overboard." 
 
 One of the first acts of the Irish Confederates was to 
 forward an address of loyalty to the king, in which they 
 declared that before appealing to arms " they had, 
 with all submission, addressed themselves, by petition, 
 to the Lords Justices and Council, for a timely remedy 
 against the then growing evils, but that therein they 
 had found, instead of a salve for their wounds, oil 
 poured into the fire of their discontents.'' They add 
 that they had with a firm hand repressed the attempts 
 of those who appeared bent on plundering the Puritans, 
 " though the measures offered to the Catholic natives 
 here, in the inhuman murdering of old decrepit people 
 in their beds, women in the straw, and children of eight 
 days old ; burning of houses, and robbing of all kinds 
 of persons, without distinction of friend from foe, and 
 digging U p f graves, and then burning the dead 
 
28 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 bodies of our ancestors, have not deserved that justice 
 from us." And Carte, in his " Life of Ormonde," 
 writes : " That they did not exaggerate in this par- 
 ticular, is plain from a letter of Lord Clanrickard's, who 
 says, that while he was at Tyrellan, in treaty with 
 Lord Forbes, the commander of a Parliament ship-of- 
 war, though Lord "Ranelagh, President of Connaught, 
 was then in the fort of Gal way, he saw the country on 
 fire, his tenants' houses and goods burnt, and four or 
 five poor innocent creatures, men, women, and children, 
 inhumanly murdered by Forbes' s soldiers, who, having 
 taken possession of Lady's Church in Gal way * the 
 ancient burying-place of the town, did, upon their de- 
 parture, not only deface it, but digged up the graves 
 and burnt the coffins and bones of those that were 
 buried there." (Carte's " Ormonde," vol. iii. p. 109.) 
 
 8. Dr. John Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam, and for 
 some time Vicar- Apostolic of Killala, was eye-witness 
 of many of these outrages, and in his invaluable work 
 entitled " Cambrensis E versus " thus depicts the excess 
 of Cromwellian barbarity : — " All the cruelty inflicted 
 on the city of Kome by Nero and Attila, by the Greeks 
 on Troy, by the Moors on Spain, or by Vespasian on 
 Jerusalem — all has been inflicted on Ireland by the 
 Puritans. Nothing but that pathetical lamentation of 
 Jeremias can appropriately describe her state — ' With 
 desolation is the whole land laid desolate ; our adver- 
 saries are our lords, our enemies are enriched ; the 
 enemy hath put out his hand to all our desirable things ; 
 . . . our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of the 
 air ; they pursue on the mountains, and lie in wait for 
 us in the wildernesses ; we have found no rest ; our 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 29 
 
 cities are captured, our gates broken down, our priests 
 sigh, our virgins are in affliction.' From Ireland all 
 her beauty is departed ; they that were fed delicately 
 have died in the streets ; they that were brought up in 
 scarlet have embraced the dung ; when her people fell 
 there was no helper. All that has ever been devised 
 by the ingenuity of most cruel tyrants, either in un- 
 paralleled ignominy and degradation, or in the savage 
 and excruciating corporal torture, or in all that could 
 strike terror into the firmest soul — all has been poured 
 out on Ireland by the Puritans. They plundered our 
 cities, destroyed our churches, laid waste our lands, 
 expelled citizens from their cities, nobles from their 
 palaces, and all the natives from their homes ; nay, 
 they forbade countless numbers of men even to enjoy 
 the sight of their native country, or to breathe the air 
 which they had inhaled at the moment of their birth. 
 . . . Some of our priests they put in chains and dun- 
 geons — that was the most lenient punishment ; — others 
 they tortured with stakes and strapadoes ; some were 
 shot to death, others hanged or strangled. From the 
 priests they turned their fury against all sacred things 
 and places consecrated to the worship of God, which 
 were first sacrilegiously pillaged, then all the paintings 
 and images were destroyed, the statues were cloven in 
 pieces with the axe, and either thrown into the flames or 
 consigned to stables and brothels. Those temples where 
 the priest performed his sacred functions, where the 
 sacred canticles of the Church ravished the ears of the 
 faithful, and sacred orators encouraged the people to 
 piety by their ceaseless exhortations, where the people 
 often poured forth their prayers to God, and devout^ 
 
30 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION 
 
 attended all the functions and mysteries of religion : 
 these now resound with the yells of drunkards, the 
 neighing of horses, the barking of dogs, the clamours 
 of quarrelsome soldiers, and the howling of women. 
 Within them we now see taverns instead of altars, 
 blasphemy for prayers, the cursing of heretics instead 
 of pious and orthodox sermons, obscenity and impurities 
 instead of chaste conferences" (vol. iii. p. 181). 
 
 Division of the present Historical Sketch. 
 
 9. To proceed with order in detailing the progress of 
 this dire persecution of the Catholics by the Puritans 
 we shall — 
 
 First, see the violence with which it raged in the 
 chief districts in Ireland, down to the year 1652 ; 
 
 In the second part we shall examine the penal laws 
 subsequently enacted by the Cromwellians for the 
 avowed purpose of rooting out Catholicity from this 
 " Island of Saints 
 
 And in the third part we shall detail some particular 
 instances of the persecution, and trace its course even 
 after the restoration of Charles II. 
 
 The matters referred to must be treated very briefly : 
 but the extracts from contemporaneous writers, here 
 produced, will show how intense were the sufferings of 
 our forefathers, and how generously they fought the 
 good fight, and preserved their faith, the most noble of 
 all treasures, though they were stripped of all the 
 earthly property they possessed. To the laws of this 
 period may well be applied the words with which the 
 
OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 31 
 
 illustrious Edmond Burke described the penal enact- 
 ment of a later time : — " The code against the Roman 
 Catholics was a machine of wise and elaborate con- 
 trivance ; and as well fitted for the oppression, im- 
 poverishment, and degradation of a people, and the 
 debasement in them of human nature, as ever proceeded 
 from the perverted ingenuity of man." 
 
PART THE FIRST. 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS IN THE PRINCIPAL 
 DISTRICTS OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Dublin. 
 
 1. Proclamation of 1641 prohibiting the Catholic Eeligion in Dublin ; 
 Letter of a Capuchin. — 2. Sufferings of Fathers Caghwell and Fitz- 
 simon and other Jesuits. — 3. Doings of Sir Charles Coote.— 4. Ex- 
 tracts from Dr. Talbot's Work, " The Politician's Catechism." — 5. 
 From Dr. Lynch. — 6. Heroism of the Clergy of Dublin. — 7. All 
 Catholics banished from Dublin in 1647 — 8. The Plague in 1650. — 
 
 9. Fresh Persecutions and Constancy of the Catholics in Dublin. — 
 
 10. Orders repeatedly issued banishing Catholics from the City ; 
 Number of Catholics according to Dr. Dempsey. 
 
 1. Dublin, being the seat of Government, was the first 
 city that experienced the sad effects of the Puritan 
 persecution. Before the close of 1641 a proclamation 
 was published, interdicting there the exercise of the 
 Catholic religion ; a rigorous search was made to dis- 
 cover the priests and religious, and no fewer than forty 
 of them being arrested, they were, for some time, 
 
34 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUIJLIN. 
 
 treated with great rigour in prison, and then trans- 
 ported to the Continent. An extract from a letter ad- 
 dressed to his superior in Eome, on the 12th July, 1642, 
 by a Capuchin father, who was sent into exile, will con- 
 vey some idea of the storm thus let loose against the 
 Catholics: "Whithersoever the enemy penetrates, 
 everything is destroyed by fire and sword ; none are 
 spared, not even the infant at its mother's breast, for 
 their desire is to wholly extirpate the Irish race. In 
 Dublin our order, as also the other religious bodies, had 
 a residence, and a beautifully ornamented chapel, in 
 which we publicly, and in our habit, performed the 
 sacred ceremonies; but no sooner had the soldiers arrived 
 from England, than they furiously rushed every- 
 where, profaned our chapels, overturned our altars, 
 broke to pieces the sacred images, trampling them under 
 foot and consigning them to the flames ; our residences 
 were plundered, the priests were everywhere sought for, 
 and many, amongst whom myself and companion, were 
 captured and cast into prison. . . . We were twenty in 
 number in prison, and the Lords Justices at first resolved 
 on our execution, but through the influence of some 
 members of the council, we were transported to France. 
 The masters of the two vessels into which we were cast , 
 received private instructions to throw us into the sea, 
 but they refused to commit this horrid crime. Oh, 
 would to God that we had been worthy to be led to the 
 scaffold, or thus drowned for the faith ! "* 
 
 2. A narrative of the Jesuit missionaries in Ireland, 
 
 • Lett, of Fr. Nicholas, superior of the Capuchins of Dublin : 
 from Poitiers, 12 July, 1642. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. <35 
 
 written about the same time, thus briefly sketches the 
 sufferings endured by the members of that Order : " We 
 were persecuted, and dispersed, and despoiled of all our 
 goods ; some, too, were cast into prison, and others were 
 sent into exile."* Amongst the fathers of the society in 
 Dublin, was F. Henry Caghwell, renowned for his learn- 
 ing and zeal : " being confined to his bed by sickness, he 
 was apprehended by the soldiers and hurried to the public 
 square ; as he was unable to walk, or even to stand, he 
 was placed in a chair, more for mockery than for ease, 
 and subjected to the derision and cruel insults of the 
 soldiery ; he was then beaten with cudgels and thrown 
 into the ship with the others for France." Another 
 holy priest, whose name is well-known in connection 
 with our suffering Church, Father Henry Fitzsimon, 
 though in his eightieth year, " was obliged with the 
 other Catholics to fly from Dublin and seek safety in 
 the mountainous districts. The winter had set in with 
 unusual severity, yet he had to undertake the difficult 
 journey on foot, and to wander stealthily through the 
 woods and mountains. He passed the whole winter in 
 the midst of a bog, being thus secured from the Puri- 
 tan cavalry. His cabin being only half- covered, he was 
 exposed to the wind and rain ; his bed was of straw, 
 always moist from the rain above, or from the stagnant 
 waters of the bog beneath. Yet the good priest was 
 ever joyous, and only intent on consoling those who 
 
 * Missio Soc. Jes. usque ad an. 1655. The original text of these 
 Historical Narratives has been printed in Spicilegium Ossoriense, vol. 
 i. (1874), and vol. ii. (1878) : being written at the very time of the 
 events which they commemorate, they are invaluable in illustrating 
 the history of this period. 
 
36 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 were sharers of his sufferings. The children he in- 
 structed in the catechism, the sacrament of penance he 
 administered to all that approached. He could not, 
 however, long endure the privations of that painful state 
 and was therefore obliged to embark for the continent, 
 where he soon expired, full of merits, as he was of 
 years."* The letters of the Jesuit Fathers give some 
 further details. F. Eobert Nugent, a near relative of 
 Inchiquin, writes to Rome on the 24th of March, 1642 : 
 " No human pen could describe the miseries of this 
 kingdom ; nothing is seen or heard of but depredations, 
 murders of men, women, and children ; and burning 
 of property, and utter ruin of families and their 
 homes. . . . Here nothing goes on but burning and 
 slaughter, fire and sword." Again/on the 10th of Novem- 
 ber, the same year he writes : " Up to last May nothing 
 was more familiar to us than the promiscuous murders 
 of innocent Catholics of every sex, rank, and age ; for 
 the Puritans were well armed and furious — they burned 
 villages, hamlets, whole towns, and the mansions and 
 castles of the nobles and gentlemen ; they set fire to the 
 barns and cornfields ; and they were determined to 
 destroy all Irishmen, and leave no trace of them. But, 
 t luniks be to God, Owen O'Neill's arrival in the North 
 has put a stop to their work. . . . Several religious and 
 other clergymen have been put to death already ; none 
 of ours has yet received that honour. FF. Quin, 
 Pursell, and Lattin, in spite of all dangers, remain in 
 Dublin to help the persecuted Catholics. F. Quin 
 
 • Relatio rerum quarumdam notabilium quaj coutigerunt in Hiber- 
 nia ab anno 1641, usque ad an. 1650* 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN, 37 
 
 especially assumes all kinds of disguises with success- 
 he turns out as a military man, a gentleman at large, a 
 peasant, &c." In February, 1643, he further states 
 that all the Jesuits had left Dublin " except F. Quin, 
 who works day and night among the faithful, and F. 
 Pursell who is ill and lying hid ; while F. Lattin is 
 kept in the closest custody in a horrible prison." F. 
 Dillon who in 1641 was the Superior of the Jesuits in 
 Dublin, also writes on the 3rd of August, 1643 : "Out 
 of the sixteen or seventeen Fathers of our Dublin 
 Residence, only three remain in that city. F. Caghwell 
 was paralysed and could not be moved without danger 
 to his life. The Puritans cruelly banished him to 
 France, and he has since died, a true confessor of the 
 Faith. Another Father (F. Lattin) while he attended 
 the sick, was captured and imprisoned ; a third (F. Pur- 
 sell) is sick, and keeps within doors, and renders the 
 service of his ministry to all who go to him. As I 
 could not be of any help in Dublin, I have been sent 
 to Galway, the most western corner of Ireland and per- 
 haps of Europe. Galway is a small, but populous, neat, 
 and well-built town, constructed of unpolished marble. 
 Our house is rather near the Puritan fort, and opposite 
 to it ; and as our enemies are generously attentive to us, 
 they send us sometimes iron balls that weigh thirty- two 
 pounds, and have knocked down a great part of our 
 roof." 
 
 3. Sir Charles Coote, senior, of whom we have spoken 
 in the preceding chapter, was appointed by the Lords 
 Justices to the command of the troops in Dublin and 
 its immediate neighbourhood. He was so violent in his 
 fury that as a rule he was quite beside himself with rage, 
 
 4 
 
98 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 and lie appeared to those about him to enjoy the use of 
 his reason only at rare lucid intervals. When summoned 
 before the Council in Dublin to receive the command of 
 the troops, he insisted on taking the oath in pagan 
 fashion, putting his right hand on a naked sword and 
 musket, which were placed on the table before him, and 
 he swore that he would not desist from prosecuting the 
 war until all the Irish were cutoff " senunquam,nisi deletis 
 Hibernis, finem pugnandi facturum" (Alithinologia). In 
 his excursions in the counties of Dublin and Wicklow, 
 the aged, and helpless, and infirm, unable to save them- 
 selves by flight, were massacred in cold blood. When 
 the poor people were found to have concealed them- 
 selves in the firs and brushwood, the soldiers used to form 
 a cordon all around, and then to set fire to the firs, 
 putting all to death with savage delight. The officers 
 declared that thus to pursue the Irish was the same sport 
 and amusement to them as to hunt the wild beasts hisce 
 tniculentiis patrandis perinde se oblectariac si venando /eras 
 persequerentur (Ibid.). The troops that were most 
 successful in the work of slaughter received the con- 
 gratulations of the Lords Justices, whilst those who put 
 only a few to death were reprehended for their remiss- 
 ness. Parsons, one of the Lords Justices, gave instruc- 
 tions to the military that no attention was to be paid to 
 the certificates of loyalty or permissions to remain in the 
 city accorded to privileged individuals : all were to be 
 treated alike. Indeed the Lords Deputies from the very 
 outset of the disturbances did not conceal their joy and 
 unspeakable gratification that the Irish Catholics were 
 driven to take up arms, and they openly avowed their 
 wish that for every one who had already joined the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 39 
 
 movement, 20,000 others would follow suit, nor could 
 any more agreeable message be brought to them 
 than that some wealthy nobleman had quitted the 
 city, for he was at once pronounced guilty of treason 
 and his goods and property forthwith became their 
 booty to be distributed among their friends and depen- 
 dents. 
 
 4. A rare work, entitled " The Politician's Catechism/' 
 published in 1658, by Father Peter Talbot, afterwards 
 so illustrious as Archbishop of Dublin, gives precious 
 details regarding the barbarous deeds of cruelty perpe- 
 trated by the Puritan soldiery when carrying out the 
 orders of the Lords Justices. In chapter the 10th, we 
 read : " Witness their marches about Dublin, where the 
 inhabitants were all of English extraction, and spoke 
 no other language but the ancient Saxon. There are 
 very few of that once populous country called Fingal 
 left alive — all perished by fire and sword, being a most 
 innocent people, and having nothing Irishlike in them 
 but the Catholic religion. In the march of the Protes- 
 tant army to the county of Wicklow, man, woman, and 
 child was killed ; a gentlewoman, big with child, was 
 hanged at the arch of a bridge, and the poor Catholic 
 that guided the army, for reward of his service at part- 
 ing, being commanded to blow into a pistol, was shot 
 therewith into the mouth, though there had been no 
 murder committed on the Protestants in that county. 
 In another march into the same shire, one Master 
 Contain, an aged gentleman, who never bore arms, was 
 roasted alive by one Captain Gines (Guinness) ; yea 
 they murdered all that came in their way from within 
 two miles of Dublin. 
 
40 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 u In a march into the county of Kildare, in or about 
 February, 1642, some of the officers went into Mrs. 
 Eustace of Cradogston's house, a sister to Sir William 
 Talbot, of eighty years of age, who being unable to 
 shun them, entertained them with meat and drink; 
 after dinner, herself and another old gentlewoman, and 
 a girl of eight years of age, were murdered by the said 
 Protestant officers. 
 
 " Walter Evers, Esq., aged and sickly, and for a long 
 time before the war bedridden, being carried by his 
 servants in a litter to shun the fury of the army, was 
 taken and hanged. In Westmeath, Master Ganley, a 
 gentleman of good estate, having a protection, and 
 showing it, hoping thereby to save his goods, lost his 
 life : having his protection laid on his breast he was 
 shot through it, to try whether it was proof. Master 
 Thomas Talbot, a gentleman of ninety years of age, 
 and a great servitor in Queen Elizabeth's wars in Ireland 
 having a protection, also was murdered. 
 
 "Seven or eight hundred women and children, plough- 
 men and labourers, were burned and murdered in a day 
 in the King's land (a tract within seven miles of Dublin), 
 where neither murder nor pillage had been committed 
 on the Protestants. Whensoever the army went abroad, 
 the poor country people did betake themselves to the 
 furze, where the Protestant officers did besiege them, 
 and set the furze on fire : such as shunned and escaped 
 that element were killed by the besieging army, and 
 this they termed a hunting, sporting themselves with 
 the blood of innocents. These barbarous and savage 
 cruelties were ordinary, not only near Dublin, but in 
 all other parts of the kingdom, wheresoever the Pro- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 41 
 
 testants were, and may be read in divers remonstrances 
 and relations published in the beginning of the late 
 troubles." 
 
 5. The statements of this illustrious archbishop are 
 more than confirmed by the Archdeacon of Tuam, Dr. 
 John Lynch, who attests that the soldiers of Dublin 
 garrison " fell on all the inhabitants in the neighbour- 
 hood of the city, who either from age or sex, or disease, 
 were detained at home and not able to fly. The poor 
 victims were shot down like birds by those savage sports- 
 men. The watchword amongst all the reinforcements 
 sent over from England was Extirpate the Irish root and 
 branch; as if they would say — Let us cut off the Irish 
 nation from the land of the living, and let its name be 
 remembered no more " (Camb. Evers. vol. iii., p. 97). 
 
 Not content with this excess of violence, the Puritans 
 were accustomed to display, by mockery and ridicule, 
 their hatred of the sacred ceremonies of our holy Church. 
 More than once, however, Divine J ustice delayed not to 
 avenge those insults. One case is mentioned by the 
 author from whom we have just quoted : "A common 
 soldier, an Englishman, contrived to procure somewhere 
 the vestments which the priest wears at the altar, and 
 having put them on, he appeared at noonday within 
 the grating before the house of Adam Becans, in St. 
 Nicholas's- street, Dublin. He had a book lying open 
 before him, and a vessel full of water by his side ; and 
 while he pretended to be reading the blessing of the 
 water in the book, he dipped the aspersorium in the 
 water as if he were going to sprinkle the passers-by, 
 mocking all the while the sacred ceremonies used by the 
 priests. In this sacrilegious personation of the priest he 
 
42 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 continued until the sound of the drum Bummoned him 
 to drill in Ostmantown orchard. He had not been 
 many minutes there when two bullets from the gun of 
 one of his comrades, which accidentally exploded, pierced 
 his groin. He was carried back in this state to the very 
 house above-mentioned, whilst his comrades gave the 
 priest's vestments to Mrs. Bridget Rochfort, requesting 
 her to restore them to the place from which they had 
 been stolen, protesting that the sacrilegious travesty of 
 the priestly function was, in their opinion, the cause 
 of the catastrophe, and denying any participation in 
 the crime" (Ibid., p. 124).* 
 
 6. Though it was death for Catholics to exercise their 
 religion within the walls of Dublin, yet many continued 
 to reside there privately; nor was a devoted clergy 
 wanting to risk every peril in order to administer to 
 them the holy sacraments. The manuscript narrative 
 already referred to details many instances of the arts 
 to which they were obliged to have recourse to thus break 
 to their flock the bread of life. One lived as a hermit, 
 parpetually shut up in a secret place, only a few Catho- 
 lics being acquainted with his retreat. Another, often 
 changing his disguise, went publicly through the streets ; 
 
 * The history of our Irish Church abounds with instances of the 
 divine chastisements which awaitel those who persecuted the minis- 
 ters of God, and ridiculed the holy practices of Catholic faith. The 
 fate of Brunchard, President of Munster, is especially remarkable. 
 His rage against the Catholics was like that of Antiochus against the 
 Jews, and his death was also similar, for he expired in 1607, devoured 
 piecemeal by vermin. See Camb. Evert., ibid., p. 101 ; and JRelatio 
 Ec. Mb., by David Kearney, Archbishop of Cashel, written in 1608, 
 published in Appendix to "Lives of the Abps. of Dublin," vol. i. 
 (Duffy, 1S65.) 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 43 
 
 at one time lie wore a long beard and a soldier's dress ; 
 at other times he travelled as a mechanic or merchant ; 
 sometimes, too, he carried a bread-basket on his 
 shoulders, thus becoming all to all that he might gain 
 all to Christ. A third disguised himself as a miller, 
 and occasionally as a gardener ; and though living in 
 the country, often passed through the midst of the 
 enemy's guards carrying herbs, or fruits, or some such 
 articles, as if he were journeying to market, whilst he 
 was in reality hastening to the bedside of the infirm. 
 
 "For the clergy," writes Mr. Prendergast, " there was no 
 mercy ; when any forces surrendered upon terms, priests 
 were always excepted ; priests were thenceforth out of 
 protection to be treated as enemies that had not surren- 
 dered. Twenty pounds was offered for their discovery, 
 and to harbour them was death. ... To be prosecuted, 
 however, was nothing but what they were used to from 
 the days of Queen Elizabeth. There were statutes in 
 force making the exercise of their religion death. Yet, 
 as Spencer remarked, they faced all penalties in the per- 
 formance of their duties. They spared not to come out 
 of Spain, from Rome, and from Rheims, by long toil 
 and dangerous travelling to Ireland, where they knew 
 the peril of death awaited them. These laws occasion- 
 ally slept, but were revived by proclamation when the 
 fears or anger of England were aroused ; and then the 
 priests had to fly from the woods or mountains, or to 
 disguise themselves as gentlemen, soldiers,* carters, or 
 
 In a curious pamphlet, entitled " A Catholic Conference, &c." 
 by Barnabie Rych, London, 1612, it is said that a Protestant student 
 of Trinity College recognised in Waterford a priest, his acquaintance, 
 " disguised in a ruffling suit of apparel, with gilt rapkr and a dagger 
 hanging by his side." 
 
44 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 labourers. They "had no fear that any of the Irish 
 would betray them. But pregnant women and others, 
 hastening on foot out of the Protestant parts towards 
 those places where priests were known to be harboured 
 was frequently the cause of their being apprehended. 
 ... In all parts of the nation there was found a suc- 
 cession of these intrepid soldiers of religion to perform 
 their sworn duties, meeting the relics of their flocks in 
 old raths, under tress, and in ruined chapels, or secretly 
 administering to inviduals in the very houses of their 
 oppressors, and in the ranks of their armies."* 
 
 Their stratagems, however, did not always enable 
 them to elude the vigilance of the soldiery. Thus, one 
 aged man — a venerable Jesuit — was seized at the very 
 altar when offering the Holy Sacrifice ; the soldiers at 
 once tore off the sacred vestments and cast him into a 
 horrid dungeon. Another priest, though disguised, was 
 assailed by them in the public streets, despoiled of all 
 he had with him, and thrown into the common sewer ; 
 and it was only by the interposition of some passers-by, 
 who declared he could not be a priest, that he was 
 rescued from their brutalitj^. 
 
 6. "When, in 1647, the city was treacherously sur- 
 rendered by Ormonde to the Puritans, the severest 
 measures were at once re-enacted against the Catholics. 
 By public edict it was commanded that all papists should 
 quit the city ; it was declared a capital crime for any of 
 them to stop even one night within the walls of Dublin 
 or its suburbs ; and it was prohibited, under penalty of 
 death and the confiscation of property, to receive into 
 
 * Settlement, &c, p. 154-162. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 45 
 
 their houses any Jesuit or priest, and at the same time 
 large rewards were held out to all who would give in- 
 formation against the violators of this edict.* In the 
 Proceedings of Parliament in 1650, is published a letter 
 from Dublin, of 11th November, that, year declaring that 
 4 'all the Papists are to be turned out of this city; and for 
 the J esuits, priests, friars, monks, nuns, £20 will be given 
 to any that can bring certain intelligence where any of 
 them are : and whosoever doth harbour or conceal any 
 one of them is to forfeit life and estate : " and so rigor- 
 ously was this proclamation enforced that the Governor 
 of the city was able to report on the 19th of June, 
 1651, that " though Dublin hath formerly swarmed 
 with papists, I know none now there but one who is a 
 chirurgeon, and a peaceable man. It is much hoped the 
 glad tidings of salvation will be acceptable in Ireland 
 and that this savage people may see the salvation of 
 God." 
 
 7. "Whilst the sword of persecution thus rendered 
 desolate the Church of Dublin,t another scourge was 
 sent by Providence to test the virtue of our suffering 
 people. In the month of June, 1650 the plague com- 
 menced its first ravages within the city walls. " In my 
 diocese," writes the archbishop, " almost all the priests 
 have died or have been murdered by the enemy ; the 
 
 * Relatio, &c, ut supra. 
 
 + The Catholics in the neighbourhood of Dublin were treated with 
 as much severity as in the city itself. Near Clontarf, fifty-six men, 
 women, and children were thrown into the sea by order of a Colonel 
 Crafford. Massacres were also committed at Malahide, Wicklow, 
 Arklow, and other parts of the country. Other instances of barba- 
 rity are recorded in O'Connell's Memoir of Ireland, p. 224, &c. 
 
46 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IK DUBLIN. 
 
 religious are scattered, and my flock, for the greater 
 part, has been destroyed by war and famine, though 
 the pestilence has as yet scarcely made its appearance 
 amongst us." (Letter of 6th June, 1650.) Neverthe- 
 less, before the close of that year, the plague had 
 numbered amongst its victims 16,000 of the inhabitants.* 
 Many fled to the country parts to avoid the contagion ; 
 for three years it raged with unabated fury, during 
 which interval the number of its victims was swelled 
 beyond 30,000. It was only in the winter of 1651 that 
 the violence of the disease seemed for a time relaxed, 
 but the rage of the heretics against the Catholics was 
 then increased tenfold. 
 
 8. On the Feast of St. Stephen, the Protomartyr, the 
 governor of the city, desirous to slay the souls of those 
 who perchance had escaped from the pestilence, published 
 an edict commanding all Catholics of whatsoever sex 
 or age to present themselves at the heretical churches, 
 or otherwise within fourteen days to remove, under 
 penalty of death, beyond two miles from the city walls ; 
 none were allowed to return to the city without a writ- 
 ten permission from the governor, and then only by 
 day, for all Catholics were absolutely prohibited to rest 
 for even one night within the walls. No alternative 
 now remained to the Catholics ; " they had to choose 
 between the death of the body or of the soul. Yet of 
 all the dense population of Dublin, only five hundred 
 of the lowest populace, impelled by fear of cold and 
 famine, and other impending calamities, to them far 
 
 * Missio Soc. Jesu, &c, written in 1651. Borlase states that 11 in 
 the summer of 1650, 17,000 persons died of the plague in Dublin." 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 47 
 
 more dreadful than the sword, presented themselves at 
 the churches of the heretics. 5 ' A merciful Providence* 
 was not wanting to those who chose to suffer everything 
 rather than imperil their faith. Such Catholics as yet 
 retained some property outside the city walls welcomed 
 the exiles to their houses, and shared with them their 
 remaining goods, till in the following year the rigour 
 of the edict was again relaxed, whilst at the same time 
 all were gladdened by the return in a spirit of penance 
 to the bosom of mother church of the greater part of 
 the five hundred who had fallen away. 
 
 9. The order for the expulsion of the Catholics 
 was frequently renewed in the succeeding years, and 
 it was only by privilege that some few were permitted 
 to remain in the city for a short time. Thus, on the 5th 
 June, 1654, " the Governor of Dublin was authorized 
 to grant licences to such inhabitants to continue in the 
 city as he should judge convenient, the licences to con- 
 tain the name, age, colour of hair, countenance, and 
 stature of every such person ; and the licence not to ex- 
 ceed twenty days, and the cause of their stay to be in- 
 serted in each licence. "t When, in 1656, a general 
 declaration was published, ordering all the Irish and 
 papists to withdraw to a distance of two miles from all 
 walled towns or garrisons before the 26th of May, that 
 year, special orders were issued to the Mayor of Dublin 
 to report what progress had been made in carrying it 
 into effect. On 24th October new instructions were 
 given to the same " to take effectual means to remove 
 
 * 3lissio loc, cit. 
 
 t Prendergast " Settlement," p. 137. 
 
48 BUFFERINGS OF TtiE CATHOLICS IN DUBLttf. 
 
 all the papists tliat might be then dwelling in the city, 
 and all places within the city, within forty- eight hours 
 after the publication of the order."* Subsequently, on 
 19 th of November, a list of all the papists still remain- 
 ing in Dublin was returned to the Council, with the 
 view of ordering them to be tried by court-martial. 
 Nor were these mere threats : the prisons were choked, 
 to use the words of the Commissioners, and the gallows, 
 too, had its victims. Thus, on the 3rd of April, 1655, 
 we find commemorated that Mr. Edward Hetherington, 
 of Kilnemanagh, being tried by a court-martial, which 
 sat in St. Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was led out to 
 execution, and "duly hanged, with placards on his 
 breast and back : For not transplanting ."f Sometimes 
 the orders of Council were directed against particular 
 classes of citizens ; for instance, on the 10th October, 
 1656, at the petition of William Hartley and other 
 Protestants, instructions were issued for "all popish 
 shoemakers to be searched for by the mayor and sheriffs 
 of Dublin, and none to be allowed to inhabit in Dublin 
 or its suburbs." Again, on the 3rd of April, 1657, on 
 the petition of the Protestant coopers of Dublin, the 
 mayor and sheriffs were ordered "to report to the 
 Council Board why the Irish coopers had not been 
 removed." J 
 
 It will not, therefore, surprise us to find that, in this 
 very year, 1657, the newly appointed Vicar- Apostolic 
 of Dublin, Dr. James Dempsey, declared to the Holy 
 See that "there were not, in the diocese of Dublin, Catho- 
 
 •Ibid., Ul. f Ibid., pp. 140-1. | Ibid., p. 53. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN, 
 
 49 
 
 lies enough to form three parishes."* How consoling it 
 is to reflect that, after two hundred years of almost un- 
 interrupted persecution, the mustard seed has grown 
 into a mighty tree, and, instead of 3,000, we find well 
 nigh 390,000 Catholics in thejliocese of Dublin. 
 
 * " Dublinii non sunt tot Catholici quot constituerent tres Paroe* 
 cias," Ex actis Sac. Cong., an. 1657. 
 
50 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Cashel. 
 
 1. Barbarity of Inchiquin at the taking of Cashel. — 2. Father Staple- 
 ton's death.— 3. Of F. Barry, O.S.D.— 4. Pillage of the Cathe- 
 dral. — 5. Account given by Archdeacon Lynch. — 6. Narrative of 
 F. Saul, S.J. — 7. Sufferings of the citizens in 1654. — 8. Most 
 Rev. Thomas Walsh, Archbishop of Cashel. 
 
 1. In 1647, Morrogh O'Brien, Baron of Inchiquin, 
 having administered the covenant to his Puritan fol- 
 lowers, led them on to the assault of Cashel. Along 
 his march he everywhere burned the crops, and mas- 
 sacred the peasantry ; and to the present day his name 
 is familiar in the household traditions of our country as 
 "Murrough of the burnings." All the cruel deeds, 
 however, of that sanguinary monster sink into insig- 
 nificance when compared with the sack of the ancient 
 city of Cashel. "There is not on record," says the 
 Rev. Mr. Meehan, "a more appalling tragedy;" and 
 the following details, taken from the manuscript narra- 
 tive of the Irish superior of the Jesuits, written early in 
 1651, more than justify this assertion.* "Cashel," he 
 says, " became not only a prey to the enemy, but even 
 a slaughterhouse. The city being but badly fortified, 
 it accepted the offer of conditions from Inchiquin, and 
 opened its gates. The garrison, about 300 in number, 
 
 Relatio rerum quarumdam, Ac. , ut sup. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 51 
 
 together with the priests and religious, as also very 
 many of the citizens, retired to the cathedral church, 
 which holds a strong position, and is styled the Rock 
 of St. Patrick. The enemy having taken possession of 
 the city, and in part destroyed it by fire, assailed the 
 cathedral with all their forces, but were heroically re- 
 pulsed by our troops. After a long combat, the general 
 of the enemy suspended the fight, and, demanding a 
 surrender, offered permission to the garrison to depart 
 with their arms and ammunition, and all the honours 
 of war, requiring, however, that the citizens and clergy 
 should be abandoned to his mercy. It was then that 
 the true heroism of the Catholic soldiers was seen. 
 They refused to listen to any conditions unless the 
 citizens and clergy, whom they had undertaken to 
 defend, should be sharers in them ; and they added, 
 that they chose rather to consecrate their lives to God 
 on that Rock of St. Patrick, than to allow that sanc- 
 tuary to be profaned by heretics. The assault was then 
 renewed with extreme ferocity ; the enemy, being seven 
 thousand in number, assailed the church on every side, 
 entering by the windows and the shattered doors. 
 Nevertheless, for some time the struggle was bravely 
 maintained within the church, till our few troops were 
 rather overwhelmed by the multitude of the enemy than 
 vanquished by them. 
 
 " When all resistance ceased, then was the cruelty of 
 the heretics displaj r ed against the priests and religious, 
 one of whom was of our society, by name William F. 
 Boy ton. Many old men, of eighty years of age, aged 
 females, some of them in their hundredth year, besides 
 innumerable other citizens, who had grown old, not 
 
52 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 only in years but in piety, and whose only weapons 
 were their prayers, prostrate around the steps of the 
 altar, now empurpled them with their blood, whilst the 
 infirm, who had been borne to the church as to a place 
 of sacred refuge, and the innocent children were slain 
 on the very altar. 
 
 Within the cathedral nine hundred and twelve was 
 the number of the slain, of whom more than five 
 hundred were of the heretical troops, and about four 
 hundred of the Catholics.* Everywhere dead bodies 
 were to be seen, which for some days remained unin- 
 terred. The altars and chapels, the sacristy and seats 
 were covered with them, and in no place could the foot 
 rest on anything save on the corpses of the slain." 
 
 2. One of the priests who had taken refuge in the 
 cathedral, Father Theobald Stapleton, was remarkable 
 for his piety ; clothed with surplice and stole, and hold- 
 ing a crucifix in his left hand, he sprinkled with holy 
 water the enemy's troops as they rushed into the sacred 
 edifice. The heretics, mad with rage, strove with each 
 other who should pierce him with their swords, and thus 
 he was hewn to pieces. At each wound the holy man ex- 
 claimed, " Strike this miserable sinner !" till he yielded 
 his soul into the hands of his Creator. 
 
 3. In the town itself no fewer than 3,000 were mas- 
 sacred by the heretical enemy,f and twenty priests were 
 
 * Ex quibus Catholioi fere quadringenti : ex haereticis supra quin* 
 gentos. 
 
 t Dr. Thomas Walsh, Archbishop of Cashel, in a letter of 20th 
 December, 1650, writes : "Ego plures meas papiros ac libros perdidi 
 per infestissimum Christiano nomini hostem Baronem de Inshequin, 
 cujus militet ter Ecclesiam et sedes meas omni praetioso ornatu et 
 supellectili spoliarunt." 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLIC'S IN CASH EL. 53 
 
 martyred within the sanctuary. In St. Patrick's chapel 
 a number of helpless females had gathered around the 
 statue of the saint, and were there barbarously put to 
 death. This is attested by the Nuncio Rinuccini in the 
 account of his Nunciature presented to Pope Innocent 
 the Tenth immediately after his return to Rome in 
 1649. The heroic death of Father Richard Barry, of 
 the Order of St. Dominick, is especially recorded : — * 
 
 " When the priests had been cut to pieces, Richard 
 Barry alone survived. Him did God reserve for greater 
 trials. The captain, seeing the venerable friar in his 
 habit, and struck by his noble and sanctified appear- 
 ance, said to him : ' Your life is your own, provided 
 you fling off that habit ; but if you cling to such a 
 banner, verily you peril life itself.' "When the father 
 replied, that his habit was an emblem of the passion of 
 the Redeemer, and more dear to him than life ; * think 
 more wisely,' rejoined the captain ; ' indulge not this 
 blind passion for martyrdom, for if you do not comply 
 with my orders, death awaits you.' 'Be it so/ said the 
 father, 'your cruelties will be to me a blessing, and 
 death itself great gain.' Infuriated at this answer, 
 they bound the venerable man to a stone chair, kindled 
 a slow fire under his feet and legs, till after two hours 
 of torture his eyes flashed their last upon that heaven 
 which he was about to enter. Three days after the sack 
 of the town, Inchiquin's soldiers retired, loaded with 
 booty ; and on the fourth day a pious woman found the 
 friar's body amid heaps of the slain. She reported the 
 fact to the Yicar- General who, accompanied by Henry 
 
 • See Dominic de Rosario's history of the Geraklines, p. 202. 
 
 5 
 
54 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 O'Cuillenan, notary apostolic, who is still living, caused 
 the mutilated remains to be borne in funeral proces- 
 sion to the convent of the Dominicans, where, after 
 chaunting Te Deum, his religious brethren interred 
 them with all honours due to a man who died for the 
 Faith. His death took place the 16th September, 
 1647." 
 
 4. The demoniac scenes that followed, most clearly 
 proved how great a share religious hatred had in 
 stimulating the fanatical Covenanters to this fearful 
 massacre : — 
 
 " The heretics set to work at once to destroy all the 
 sacred things which had been stored in the cathedral 
 of St. Patrick. The altars were overturned ; the images 
 that were painted on wood were consigned to the flames; 
 those on canvas were used as bedding for the horses, or 
 were cut into sacks for burdens. The great crucifix, 
 which stood at the entrance of the choir, as if it had 
 been guilty of treason, was beheaded, and soon after its 
 hands and feet were amputated. "With a like fury did 
 they rage against all the other chapels of the city ; 
 gathering together the sacred vases and all the most 
 precious vestments, they, through ridicule of our cere- 
 monies, formed a procession. They advanced through 
 the public squares, wearing the sacred vestments, and 
 having the priests' caps on their heads, and inviting to 
 Mass those whom they met with on the way. A beautiful 
 statue of the Immaculate Virgin, taken from one of the 
 Churches, was borne along (the head being broken off), 
 in mock state, with laughter and ridicule. The leader 
 of the Puritan army had, moreover, the temerity to 
 assume the archiepiscopal mitre, and boast that he was 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 00 
 
 now not only governor and lieutenant of Munster, but 
 also Archbishop of Cashel."* 
 
 5. Dr. John Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam, in his MS. 
 History of the Irish Bishops, gives a detailed account 
 of the desecration of this holy place by the soldiers of 
 Inchiquin. It was on the festival of St. Patrick, 1642, 
 that with solemn pomp the cathedral on the Rock of 
 Cashel was dedicated once more to divine worship. 
 The faithful, from a considerable distance, gathered into 
 the city to take part in the imposing ceremony, and many 
 of them wept with joy at seeing this spot so dear to their 
 Fathers, hallowed once more by the sacred rites of religion. 
 The cathedral was soon restored to its former beaut}*, 
 and nothing was left undone to complete the splendour 
 of its interior ornamentation. But on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember, 1647, all this was undone. On the approach 
 of Inehiquin's troops, several persons fled to the Rock, 
 which, by nature and by art, seemed to be a place 
 of secure refuge. The city soon became a prey to the 
 Puritan soldiers, and then the Rock was itself assailed. 
 "In the cemetery the fight was for a time maintained 
 on both sides with the greatest determination, but the 
 defenders at length, overwhelmed by the number of the 
 assailants, retreated to the church. The enemy, too, 
 rushed in, scaling ladders being applied to the windows, 
 and the doors broken open, and many were slaughtered 
 on both sides. The Catholic survivors shut themselves 
 up in various recesses, which they refused to leave until 
 the promise of their lives was given them. No sooner, 
 however, had they come forth and surrendered their 
 
 * Eelatio, &c, ut auj>, 
 
56 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 arms than the commander of the enemy broke his 
 promise and ordered all to be put to the sword. A few 
 of the more wealthy were spared, and a few saved them- 
 selves by hiding in secret places. Three hundred of 
 the Catholics and more than six hundred of the enemy 
 were slain. Among those put to death were Theobald 
 Stapleton, chancellor of the church, two vicars choral, 
 Thomas Morrissy, bedridden through old age, and 
 another Theobald Stapleton, author of an Irish catechism 
 printed in Eoman type: also Richard Barry, of the 
 Order of St. Dominic, prior of the Cashel convent, 
 Richard Butler and James Sail, Franciscans, and 
 William Boyton, a Jesuit. The soldiers slew, more- 
 over, the children and the decrepit and the women, and 
 many of these victims of sacrifice were massacred at the 
 altar. Some women, concealed in the recesses of the 
 church, were stripped of their clothes, and, refusing to 
 come forth, were soon mantled in their blood. Not 
 content with this, the enemy overturned the altars, 
 trampled on the images, plundered all the furniture, 
 sacred and profane, tore off the ornaments, broke the 
 statues to pieces. One who had made a mockery of the 
 statue of the Blessed Virgin came to an untimely end ; 
 for whilst he was pulling some iron from a window, 
 a stone from the top of the church fell upon him and 
 crushed him to death. They moreover cast down the 
 richly-carved wood- work of the chapels, and they took 
 down and broke the bell of the high tower of the sacred 
 buildings. In a word, the church, which but a little 
 while before was most beautiful to behold, could now 
 only excite horror in those who gazed upon its deso- 
 lation." 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 57 
 
 6. Ad other narrative, addressed to Rev. John Young, 
 S.J., a distinguished native of Cashel, then residing in 
 Borne, written on the 1st of November, 1647, by Fr. Saul, 
 S. J., who was witness of the tragic scenes which he 
 describes, was published in an Italian periodical a few 
 years ago, and may be seen in full in the Appendix to 
 Father Edward Murphy's " Cromwell in Ireland.'' Some 
 extracts from it will serve to confirm and complete the 
 account given by the writers already cited : 
 
 "The year 1647 was a disastrous one for the whole 
 of Ireland, and the times fell most heavily on Cashel, 
 the metropolitan see of the province of Munster. Lord 
 Inchiquin, who was rightly called the scourge of God, 
 after reducing and burning nearly the whole of this 
 district, moved his Parliamentary army upon Cashel. 
 The garrison of the city numbered only four hundred 
 men, and the citizens were thrown into the utmost con- 
 fusion by the difficulties of their situation and the sud- 
 den approach of the enemy. The garrison deserted the 
 walls, and retired to St. Patrick's Bock, while a great 
 part of the inhabitants, taking with them a supply of 
 provisions and most of their household effects, followed 
 the soldiers thither. The remainder, not trusting to 
 the protection of the rock, concealed themselves in the 
 outlying country, just in time to escape the fast ad- 
 vancing enemy. The Puritan troops entered the city 
 without resistance, and after making merry on the food 
 and drink left behind by the citizens, lay down to sleep. 
 The next day, which was the feast of the Exaltation of 
 the Holy Cross, the enemy reconnoitred the rock and its 
 defences for the space of an hour, although information 
 about its state had already been given by some traitors, 
 
58 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 Catholics only in name, who after having lived on our 
 bounty for a long time, were terror-stricken at the 
 enemy's ravages, and had disappeared. We believe 
 that God appointed that day to be the witness, not in- 
 deed of our destruction, but of our glory, and it was 
 meet that those who wished to taste the delight of the 
 Cross must first share its ignominy. When the recon- 
 noitring was over, the hostile army divided into three 
 parties, whose points of attack were the three weaker 
 portions of our fortifications/ Before attacking, a mes- 
 senger left their lines and came up to the rock to treat 
 about a surrender on these terms : that the garrison 
 should be allowed to depart with their muskets and 
 with bullets in bouche, but that the clergy and citizens 
 should be left to the mercy of their commander. Here 
 the bravery of the Catholic soldiers shone out, and they 
 replied that they would risk their lives in defence of 
 those whom they had vowed to protect rather than 
 break their word, and that they preferred to dye with 
 their hearts' blood that holy ground to allowing it to be 
 desecrated by heretical miscreants. The Puritan leader 
 was stung to the quick by this generous answer, and 
 ordered the charge to be sounded. On they come with 
 lightning speed, at the same time throwing fire-brands 
 into the air, one of which, happening to fall into the 
 vestibule of the monastery of the Friars Minor, set the 
 hall on fire, and burned it to the ground. They slack 
 not their speed until under cover of the walls, where 
 they are safe out of range, for the turrets and embrasures 
 were too high to admit of aim being taken at the enemy 
 as they lay at close quarters. The besieged, therefore, 
 throw away their guns, and climbing up the steep bas- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 59 
 
 tions, hurl down the foe as they appear above the 
 scaling-ladders, until overcome by the numbers that 
 swarmed up the north wall, the least defensible portion 
 of the fort, they fall back slowly, intending to take up 
 a position in the church. Scarcely have they begun to 
 retreat when the enemy press round them on all sides 
 with renewed energy. The very cemetery itself is dis- 
 puted inch by inch, until of those that remained out- 
 side the church not one survived. The issue of the day 
 depended on the capture of the main building, which 
 therefore the enemy make the centre of attack. They 
 charge the north and south doors, but are driven back 
 with no less determination by our soldiers. Unable to 
 effect an entrance in this direction, the Puritans plant 
 their ladders against the walls of the church, and leap 
 through the windows. Hemmed in on all sides, never- 
 theless our brave defenders fight with the energy of 
 despair, and nothing could be heard in that vast edifice 
 but the clash of arms and the shouts of the combatants. 
 For upwards of half an hour the contest raged in the 
 very nave of the cathedral with equal valour on both 
 sides, but unequal forces, the fanatical enemy polluting 
 the very sanctuary, and dyeing its stones with blood 
 consecrated to God and his Church. At length our 
 brave defenders, now reduced to sixty, turn and ascend 
 the steps of the bell- tower, followed by the enemy, who 
 call on them to surrender. With the alternative before 
 them of death by starvation or by the enemy's sword, 
 they give themselves upon condition of their lives being 
 spared. The deceitful commander gave his word, but 
 as soon as their swords were collected he gave the order 
 to kill all without exception. Many are at once cut 
 
60 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 down, some of the richer citizens are spared in hope of 
 ransom, others run to hide themselves in the crypts and 
 vaults, of which there was a great number about. All, 
 however, with the exception of one or two, are either 
 despatched by the sword or retained as prisoners. The 
 Bishop, together with the Mayor and his son, and a 
 few others, conceal themselves in a more secure and 
 secret hiding-place, but do not stir therefrom until 
 assured of their safety. 
 
 " Thus ended that cruel butchery and the most dis- 
 graceful sacrilege that was ever seen in Ireland. We 
 lost about one thousand men, the enemy at least five 
 hundred. Old men on the verge of the grave, whose 
 weapons were their rosaries, defenceless women and 
 children, were struck at the very altars without regard 
 to age or sex. In one word, the enemy, exulting over 
 their prey, hew in pieces and burn all the statues, over- 
 throw the altars, and pollute the sacred vessels. The 
 large crucifix that towered above the entrance to the 
 choir had its head, hands, and feet struck off, the organ 
 was broken, and the bells, whose chimes cheered our 
 soldiers as they fought, were deprived of their clappers 
 and their beautiful tone. Nothing escaped the ruthless 
 hand of the spoiler. The Puritans load themselves 
 with the goods of the citizens, with which the church 
 was filled ; they excavate the very crypts, and break 
 open the marble tombs in hope of plunder. All the 
 passages, even the altars, chapels, sacristies, bell- tower 
 steps, and seats were so thickly covered with corpses, 
 that one could not walk a step without treading on a 
 dead body. Those who remember the splendour of the 
 cathedral in the celebration of the sacred ceremonies on 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 61 
 
 holidays and feast-days, and the sumptuous workman- 
 ship of the altars and monuments, could not bring them- 
 selves to view the scene of horror, or, if they did look 
 upon it, they shed abundant tears the while. Here the 
 course of cruelty and sacrilege did not end, but rather 
 increased in fury. Some dress themselves in the precious 
 vestments, and with birrettas on their heads, invite the 
 rest to Mass. Others dash the holy images against the 
 walls, and others again bear aloft in solemn procession 
 a headless statue of the Immaculate Yirjin, exquisitely 
 wrought with golden tracery. The pictures of St. 
 Patrick and St. Ignatius, together with those of other 
 saints, deaf and dumb idols as they called them, were 
 turned into horse-cloths or used as sacks. One man 
 there was, who on catching sight of the smaller statue 
 of the Blessed Virgin at our house, scoffed at it, saying: 
 'How now, Mary of Ireland, how now? Eat some 
 peas/ But his mockery was the cause of his death, for 
 a little while after, while he was removing the iron bars 
 from the windows of a house, a stone dropped from the 
 topmost storey, and falling on his head broke in his 
 skull. Lord Inchiquin himself put on the Archbishop's 
 mitre, boasting aloud that he was the Governor of 
 Munster and the Mayor and Archbishop of Cashel. 
 Not only the goods of the citizens and the church orna- 
 ments suffered from the ravages of the soldiers, but also 
 the dwellings in the city and the houses consecrated to 
 God. Already the burning brands were applied to the 
 wooden partitions, when some of the chief men stepped 
 forward, and by the promise of a large sum of money, 
 to be contributed by all the citizens, saved the city from 
 a deluge of fire. Yet the conflagration could not be 
 
62 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 got under, and the most ancient city of Cashel, that had 
 seen so lotig a succession of kings and archbishops, was 
 burnt to the ground. That city, I say, which because 
 it had received the light of the faith from Patrick, suf- 
 fered it never to be extinguished or obscured, endured 
 such a change that for a long time no priest or sacred 
 rite was seen there. Graced by the trophies of so many 
 victories for the faith, strengthened by the protection 
 of so many patron saints, the city contains a Puritan 
 enemy in its midst. "What we hope for is that Cashel 
 will not become a byword among men, and will acquire 
 greater glory by its losses for the faith than by its 
 triumphs. While we mourn that loved ones are no 
 more, we rejoice that they are crowned with the 
 martyr's crown above, and it is not wrong to think 
 that their souls are in bliss. For on the nights pre- 
 ceding the destruction of the city, when we went to the 
 soldiers of the garrison and exhorted them to abstain 
 from swearing and other practices of the camp, we 
 found them compliant beyond measure, and prepared to 
 shed their blood for the faith. Before they engaged 
 the enemy most of them several times, all at least once, 
 cleansed their consciences by confession, and received 
 the Bread of Life. But if they are detained in the 
 cleansing fire of purgatory, I recommend them most 
 earnestly to the sacrifices and prayers of your Reverence 
 and the rest of the Fathers on this day, the Commemo- 
 ration of the Souls of the Faithful Departed." 
 
 7. When, in 1654, the inhabitants of Cashel were 
 ordered to withdraw to a distance of at least two miles 
 (if not transplantable), or to transplant, they forwarded 
 a petition setting forth a special grant made to them 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 63 
 
 by Cromwell. They state that Cromwell arrived before 
 their walls in a storm of wind and sleet, long after dark 
 on the night of the 3rd of February, 1650. Pressed 
 by the pelting storm, and anxious to house his men, he 
 granted that the inhabitants, on giving him immediate 
 admission, should enjoy their properties and liberties, 
 and that the priests there would be spared. All, how- 
 ever, that they could now obtain from the Puritan 
 Commissioners was a respite for their transplantation 
 till 1st May, 1655. It was remarked that this conces- 
 sion was of little avail. A few days after the respite was 
 granted to them the whole town was burned to the 
 ground, some few slated houses only excepted, which 
 had been occupied by the troops, and thus the inhabi- 
 tants were driven to seek a shelter in the adjacent 
 country. We will see hereafter how terrible were the 
 hardships endured by our people in the forced migration 
 from their homes. For the present a few words must 
 be added regarding the pastor who at this trying period 
 shared the perils of his flock. 
 
 8. Among the many blessings conferred by a merciful 
 Providence on Ireland in latter times, not the least was 
 the illustrious array of bishops who adorned her sanc- 
 tuary throughout these years of her martyrdom. In 
 the very foremost rank of those distinguished prelates 
 a place must be assigned to Thomas Walsh, Archbishop 
 of Cashel. His parents, Robert Walsh and Anastasia 
 Strong, were remarkable among the citizens of Water- 
 ford for their devoted attachment to the Faith, and for 
 the unbounded charity with which they extended a 
 generous welcome to the suffering clergy, for whom 
 their residence was at all times a secure asylum. He 
 
64 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 was born in 1588, at a time when his father was shut up in 
 prison on account of his fearless devotedness to his re- 
 ligion, At an early age he was sent to Spain, and entered 
 on his preparatory studies under the care of his uncle, 
 Thomas Strong, Bishop of Ossory, then an exile for the 
 Faith at Compostella. As he grew in years he was re- 
 markable for his virtues and learning, and in 1626 was 
 promoted by Pope Urban VIII. to the Archiepiscopal 
 See of Cashel. Whilst faithfully discharging all the 
 duties of his office, he made it a rule to hold every year 
 a synod of the clergy in some retired place far away 
 from the public haunts, thus the better to avoid giving 
 offence to the Government. On one occasion while the 
 clergy were thus assembled at synod in a wood, some 
 spies who had been put upon their track cried out that 
 they were engaged in treasonable designs, and called 
 on them to surrender. The archbishop might easily 
 have escaped, but he at once presented himself to the 
 leader of the party and voluntarily became their 
 prisoner on the condition that the clergy would be 
 allowed to depart unharmed. He was led to Cashel, 
 and consigned to the custody of the Protestant Arch- 
 bishop Hamilton, who treated him with some courtesy 
 and next day forwarded him to Dublin in charge of 
 Mr. Hamilton, his son. This gentleman was filled 
 with admiration for the meekness and piety of his 
 prisoner, and throughout the journey sought instruction 
 as to the teaching of the Catholic Church, and pursuing 
 his inquiries, soon afterwards retired to the Continent 
 and embraced the Faith, and throughout all the turmoil 
 of the subsequent years proved himself a devoted son of 
 the Church. Our Archbishop, however, was thrown into 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 65 
 
 prison in Dublin, and detained there in solitary confine- 
 ment for nine months. At length, being brought before 
 the Lord Deputy Wentworth, he clearly proved him- 
 self guiltless of any attempt against the State, and was 
 set at liberty on the security of some friends that he 
 would appear before the court whenever summoned to 
 do so. It is remarkable that when the Confederates 
 appealed to arms in 1641, there was not one of those 
 who were engaged in the arrest of the Archbishop but 
 in some way or other came to an untimely end. During 
 the years that success attended the confederate cause, 
 Dr. Walsh displayed a boundless generosity in relieving 
 the wants of the indigent, frequently despoiling himself 
 of his own mantle to cover the nakedness of the poor. 
 When the Rock of Cashel was assailed in 1647, the 
 Archbishop's house, which adjoined the cathedral, shared 
 in the general wreck. Everything that he possessed, 
 books, episcopal ornaments, and sacred plate, all 
 perished, and he himself had to seek for shelter out in 
 the woods and on the hills. When the storm had passed, 
 he returned to Cashel, and nowise disheartened set him- 
 self in earnest to gather together the stones of the sanc- 
 tuary and to readorn God's temple ; and so successful 
 were his labours that on the 18th of July, 1648, the old 
 cathedral was again solemnly restored to the sacred 
 rites of religion. When at length the Puritan arms 
 triumphed, he once more sought a refuge in remote re- 
 cesses, enduring the greatest hardships, that he might 
 assist his flock. He was in Limerick during its memo- 
 rable siege, and having quitted the city after the sur- 
 render to Ireton, was attacked on the way by Matthew 
 Godfrey, who seized his horse and treated the Arch- 
 
66 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 bishop with great brutality. He then sought a refuge 
 in the town of Ballywilliam, but was arrested on the 
 4th of January, 1652, and thrown into prison in Clon- 
 mel. There were several priests shut up in the same 
 prison, and so tranquil and religious was their de- 
 meanour that the gaoler, though otherwise a bitter 
 enemy of the Catholics, permitted them all to assemble 
 together with the Archbishop, to converse together, and 
 to recite the Divine Office in common. Whilst they 
 were thus engaged in prayer, he would not permit any 
 of the other officials to disturb them. They were not 
 allowed to say Mass, but the Blessed Sacrament was 
 every day brought to them. Food was abundantly sup- 
 plied to them through the charity of the faithful : they 
 partook, however, of only one meal, and the rest they 
 distributed to the poor. The Archbishop was offered 
 his liberty and permission to live among his relatives if 
 he would engage not to exercise the sacred ministry ; 
 but though the imprisonment and his many hardships 
 had brought on grievous and painful infirmities, he 
 courageously refused to be liberated on such conditions : 
 for this, he said, he was invested with spiritual power, 
 that he would administer the sacraments and exercise 
 the sacred ministry, and he would rather suffer death a 
 thousand times than by any voluntary act of his to 
 forego his right to discharge the duties of his office ; 
 wherefore on the 16th of July, 1653, he was transferred 
 to Waterford, and since his infirmities had rendered 
 him quite helpless, he was carried on board a vessel 
 bound for Spain. He landed at Corunna, where every 
 reverential care was extended to him by the Archbishop 
 of Compostella. For a short time he fixed his abode in 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 67 
 
 that Catholic town, whilst strength permitted, adminis- 
 tering Confirmation and assisting at the sacred func- 
 tions ; but his infirmities increasing he was carried to 
 the Irish College in Compostella, where he breathed his 
 last in peace the 4th May, 1654, and his remains were 
 interred with solemn pomp in the Cathedral. A more 
 detailed account of his -life maybe seen in M Spicilegium 
 Ossoriense, ,, vol. ii., p. 136. 
 
68 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Cork. 
 
 1. Cork surrendered to the Furitans : description of the city. — 
 2. Sufferings and constancy of the people. — 3. Heroism of the 
 clergy. — 4. London pamphlet of 1644. — 5. Lynch's narrative. — 
 6. Colonel Phayre, governor of Cork. — 7. Two devoted bishops. 
 
 1. It may be said of the city of Cork, as of Dublin, 
 that throughout the whole period of the triumph of the 
 Catholic cause, it remained in the hands of the Puritans, 
 or at least was subject to Protestant control. Hence it 
 was that not even the voice of calumny attempted to 
 accuse the Catholics of having plundered or put to 
 death on the outbreak of the hostilities a single one of 
 the Protestant citizens. Nevertheless, there as else- 
 where the Catholics were persistently treated with the 
 greatest cruelty. The narrative from which many ex- 
 tracts have already been made,* gives the following 
 details as to the city of Cork : — 
 
 " The fury of the most cruel persecution, carried on 
 by the Parliamentarians against the Catholics, reached 
 Cork without encountering any obstacle. For, the 
 president of -the province, pretending to be a liege 
 minister of the king, was, together with his troops, ad- 
 mitted without difficulty within the walls. Having 
 
 * Relatio rerum quarumdam, &c. Anno 1G50. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK, 
 
 69 
 
 thus, under pretence of defending it for the king, got 
 possession of the city, he perfidiously handed it over to 
 the Parliamentarians. " 
 
 Cork held at this time the fourth rank among the 
 Irish cities. It was remarkable for its harbour and the 
 wealth of its merchants, although its outward features 
 had but little to captivate the stranger. Holingshed 
 calls it a "haven royal, happily planted by the sea." 
 Camden describes the city as being in the form of an 
 egg, with the river flowing around it and through it, 
 not passable but by bridges* and " lying out in length, 
 as it were, in one direct broad street." In a rare tract, 
 published in 1622, we find the following description of 
 Cork : " The city hath its beginning upon the side of a 
 hill, which descendeth easily into one wide and long 
 street ; the only principal and chief street of the city. 
 At the first entrance there is a castle, called Shandon 
 Castle, and almost over against it a church built of 
 stone, as the castle is a kind of marble, of which the 
 country yieldeth store. The city hath many houses, 
 built of the same kind of stone, and covered with slate. 
 But the greatest number of houses are built of timber 
 or mud walls and covered with thatch." 
 
 2. As early as the year 1644 an order was issued by 
 the governor expelling all the Catholics from the city 
 of Cork. On the 26th of July in that year he sent for 
 the Mayor and Corporation at 6 o'clock in the morning, 
 and when they were assembled he led them into his 
 garden and there gave them in charge to a troop of 
 soldiers who with muskets loaded and matches lighted 
 kept close watch over them. The civic authorities 
 being thus secured, the military governor proceeded 
 
 6 
 
70 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 through the streets of the city, accompanied by his 
 officers and a large body of the military, and commanded 
 ''all the Irish inhabitants," both old and young, to leave 
 the city, prohibiting them, however, to carry any of 
 their goods or property with them. As each street was 
 cleared, the soldiers took formal possession of the houses 
 and locked the doors. In a few hours the whole city 
 was depopulated, and not an Irish Catholic resident was 
 left therein. Even the wealthiest citizens, with their 
 wives and children, were driven forth from their homes 
 and compelled to seek for shelter in the fields, under 
 hedges and ditches, and to solicit, at the hands of the 
 farmers, a little daily sustenance. (See a Relation 
 drawn up by the Mayor, in 1644, in " Carte Papers" ap. 
 Prendergast, p. 167.) 
 
 When, in 1648, the peace was proclaimed, the sur- 
 vivors were permitted to return to the city. They did 
 not long, however, enjoy this favour. The English 
 garrison revolted to the Puritan Parliament on the 23rd 
 of October, 1649, and again the Proclamation was pub- 
 lished, banishing all the Catholic citizens. An eye- 
 witness of the sufferings of those devoted Catholics, 
 writing in December, 1649, attests that "they were 
 plundered of all that they had," and so great was the 
 terror and confusion that prevailed that " one citizen 
 did not know the miseries of the other, by which means 
 the poor inhabitants had a greater sense of the last 
 than of the former plundering." (Letter of Philip 
 Martel, 22nd December, 1649. Ibid.) 
 
 The contemporary narrative already referred to fully 
 centime these statements. No sooner was Inchiquin 
 master of the city, it says, than ho issued an order com- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 71 
 
 manding the Catholic clergy to depart", but permitting 
 four of the parochial clergy to remain, lest the Catholic 
 citizens, who were as yet too powerful, might be im- 
 pelled to revolt. As the Puritan forces increased, fresh 
 pretexts were found for new persecutions : — 
 
 " The hatred of the heretics for our religion (the nar- 
 rative thus continues) becoming greater and greater 
 every day, an order was published prohibiting the 
 citizens to carry swords, or to have in their houses 
 any arms whatsoever. This being effected, another 
 proclamation was issued by the president of the council 
 of war, commanding all Catholics either to abjure their 
 religion or to immediately depart from the city. Should 
 they consent to embrace the parliamentary teaching 
 (parliamentariam religionem), they were permitted to 
 remain and enjoy their goods and property. Should 
 they, however, pertinaciously adhere to popenj, all, 
 without exception, were to immediately depart from the 
 city. Three cannon shots were to be fired as signals at 
 stated intervals before nightfall, and any Catholic that 
 should be found in the city after the third signal, was 
 to be massacred without mercy. It was then that the 
 constancy of the citizens in the faith was seen. There 
 was not even one Catholic to be found in the whole citv 
 to accept the proffered impious condition, or to seek to 
 enjoy his property and goods with the detriment of his 
 faith. Before the third signal all went forth from the 
 city walls — the men and the women, yea, even the 
 children and the infirm : and it was a sight truly worthy 
 of heaven to see so many thousands thus abandoning 
 their homes — so many venerable matrons, with their 
 tender children, wandering through the fields, or over- 
 
72 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 come by fatigue, seated on the ground, in ditches, or 
 on the highway : so many aged men, some of whom had 
 held high offices in the state, and were members of the 
 nobility, with their wives and families, wandering to 
 and fro, knowing not where to seek a place of refuge ; 
 so many merchants who, on that morning, abounded in 
 wealth, but now had not a home in which to rest their 
 weary limbs, yet all with joy went forth to their destruc- 
 tion, abandoning their houses and goods, their revenues 
 and property and wealth, choosing rather to be afflicted 
 with the people of God, on the mountain- tops, and in 
 the caverns, in hunger and thirst, in cold and nakedness, 
 than to enjoy momentary pleasures and temporal pros- 
 perity with sin." 
 
 3. The clergy were not less devoted to the sacred 
 cause of faith than their spiritual children, and some of 
 them, as we will hereafter see, displayed a heroism in 
 death which rivalled the martyrs of the early Church. 
 The Annals of St. Mary's Priory, preserve the names 
 of three zealous Dominican labourers in this city: 
 "Father Thomas Fitzgerald (they record), a Dominican, 
 a good priest, combining great zeal and piety with 
 primitive simplicity of manners, dressed himself as a 
 peasant, and in that assumed garb served the Catholics 
 of Cork, during the entire period of Cromwell's usur- 
 pation. Father Eustace Maguire was no less distin- 
 guished in the time of terror and persecution for his 
 intrepid courage than for his meek piety and religious 
 zeal. Being chosen by the Catholics as governor of the 
 castle of Druimeagh, near Kanturk, he so guarded and 
 defended it during the period of Cromwell's wars that 
 it was never taken or surrendered. Brother Dominic 
 
SUr^RIKGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 73 
 
 de Burgo, a young professed member of the Order of 
 Preachers, and near relative of the Earl of Clanricarde, 
 was made prisoner on board of the ship in which he 
 had taken his passage for Spain to pursue his studies. 
 He was thrown into prison at Kinsale, whence he made 
 his escape by jumping from the top of the jail wall 
 down on the sea shore. For two days he lay concealed 
 in a neighbouring wood, all covered with mud, without 
 clothing, food, or drink. At length he found shelter 
 under the hospitable roof of the Eoches in that neigh- 
 bourhood, probably of Garretstown. He was, at a later 
 period of life, the celebrated Bishop of Elphin, for whose 
 head or capture the Government offered a large reward, 
 and to whom Oliver Plunket, the martyred Archbishop 
 of Armagh, wrote from his dungeon, warning him of 
 the attempts of the Privy Council against his life. He 
 died in exile."* 
 
 4. A pamphlet was published in London, in 1644, 
 under the name of Jane Coe, entitled "A plot discovered 
 in Ireland and prevented without the shedding of 
 blood," to palliate in some way the outrages thus com- 
 mitted upon the unoffending citizens of Cork. It pre- 
 tended that Lord Inchiquin had made the discovery of a 
 plot to murder all the Protestants "invented and practised 
 by the popish priests and bloodthirsty Jesuits," and 
 therefore to be beforehand with them had "put the 
 Irish out of Cork in July last." No one, indeed, except 
 this anonymous scribe ever found the trace of even the 
 
 * See the interesting "Account of the New Dominican Convent of 
 Cork, &c, with an Abstract of the Annals, &c." Cork, 1850, p. 21, 
 seq. 
 
74 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 suspicion of such a projected massacre, but some facts 
 are mentioned in the pamphlet which serve to corrobo- 
 rate the statements of the Catholic writers. Thus it 
 mentions that the priests were put to death, and it adds 
 that it was by a stratagem " the sheriffs and chief est 
 men of the city were carried off prisoners to the fort," 
 and when these were thus secured " the chief est alder- 
 men and others in the city were taken and kept prisoners 
 as hostages, to secure the English as well within as 
 without the gates ; and in the meantime there was a 
 proclamation made that if the Irish resisted the English 
 the soldiers should shoot them, and if any English were 
 killed in the broil, the chiefest of their city should be 
 hanged over their walls," and thus without any struggle 
 all the Irish were driven forth from the cit} r . 
 
 5. Lynch in his MS. History of the Irish Episcopal 
 Sees gives some additional details. The citizens of Cork, 
 he says, gave a cordial welcome to Sir William St. Leger 
 and his troops when, proclaiming themselves royalists, 
 they demanded an entrance into the city. St. Leger, 
 however soon showed himself in his true colours : " He 
 permitted his soldiers to rush into the chapel of the 
 Dominicans, which in a moment they despoiled : they 
 left almost lifeless the Prior who was offering up the 
 Holy Sacrifice, and all the rest of the Catholic clergy 
 they led off to various prisons. The contagion of the 
 hardships which thus oppressed the citizens of Cork 
 soon spread to the inhabitants adjoining the city, and 
 even to those who were at some distance from it, for the 
 Parliament troops, being worsted in several engage- 
 ments, returning to the garrison in Cork, vented their 
 rage on the inhabitants. The more wealthy were killed 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 75 
 
 or cuffed : the poor were maltreated and even tortured 
 to death. But fresh troops of Puritans arriving 
 added new severities to those hitherto endured. Imitat- 
 ing the Emperor Adrian, who banished the inhabitants 
 of Jerusalem to such a distance that they could no 
 longer catch a glimpse of their own country, the Puri- 
 tans drove the citizens, robbed of everything they pos - 
 sessed, to a distance from the city walls. w They began 
 their cruelty with Fr. Francis Matthews, a Franciscan, 
 native of Cork : they forced sharp pieces of heated iron 
 under his nails : they then hanged him. After a time 
 he was taken down, and being found to be still alive was 
 a second time strung up and strangled. When they had 
 shown their brutality in the death of this worthy man 
 who had held the office of Provincial of his Order in 
 Ireland, and Guardian of the Convent in Louvain, and 
 was renowned for his preaching, the Puritan troops in 
 their executions throughout every part of the county 
 Cork displayed an insatiable thirst for blood, putting to 
 death men and women, young and old ; sometimes they 
 flung whole bands of innocent victims from the rocks 
 into the sea, or from the bridge into the river : others 
 they shut up in houses and then set fire to them ; they 
 singed the hair and beard of others so that even their 
 own wives could not recognise them, and then hanged 
 them. Sometimes they put a loaded pistol into the 
 mouth of the unoffending Catholic and fired it off; 
 they took infants by the heels and knocked out their 
 brains against the rocks : other infants they threw to 
 suck the breasts of their dead mothers : in a word as 
 the tract on the murders committed by the Puritans 
 
76 
 
 St'FFETUNGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 attests, more than 2,800 decrepit men, women, chil- 
 dren, and unoffending husbandmen who were serving 
 the Puritans and under their protection, were put to 
 death with barbarous cruelty. Fr. Dominic Roche, 
 Dean of Cork, who had for many years been Vicar- 
 General of the Diocese of Cork, continued faithfully 
 to attend to the spiritual wants of the suffering flock 
 under the Cromwellian rule. He was so beloved by 
 them that even when the storm of persecution was at 
 its height they concealed him in hiding-places, until at 
 length the whole of that country swarming with the 
 enemy, he was by name banished from all that district. 
 Archdeacon Lynch adds : " As regards the rest of the 
 clergy of the city and diocese of Cork, some were put 
 to death, as John Therry of the Order of St. Augustine 
 and Daniel Culan, a Priest; the rest were punished 
 with exile or imprisonment, and most of them died 
 from the hardships endured in prison or in exile/' 
 
 6. When Cork and the other southern garrisons 
 revolted from the King in 1649, Colonel Phayr was 
 appointed the Governor of Cork. Suffice it to say that 
 he was one of the three selected by the regicides to be 
 witnesses of the execution of Charles the First, and in 
 the language of those times, his appointment as 
 governor of Cork was made " before the king's blood 
 was dry upon his fingers." We can easily realise to 
 ourselves with what cruelty the Catholics were treated 
 in the city and throughout the county under such rulers. 
 Cromwell writing to the Speaker from Cork on the 19th 
 December, 1649, laments the death of Lieutenant 
 General Jones, who died of fever at Dungarvan and 
 was interred at Youghal, but adds : "You see how 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 77 
 
 God mingles out the cup unto us. Yet there hath been 
 some sweet at the bottom of the cup." The sweet to 
 which he thus refers was that Colonel Touchy had 
 surrounded a number of unarmed Irish, near Passage 
 and had put them all to the sword. Such were the 
 deeds of heroism that brought consolation to the heart 
 of Cromwell. 
 
 T. The two devoted Bishops who at this trying 
 period ministered to the faithful flock of Christ in 
 Cork must not be forgotten. William Therry, who was 
 appointed to the united sees of Cork and Cloyne as 
 early as 1623, belonged to one of the wealthiest families 
 of the city, and was reckoned among the most eloquent 
 and learned of the Irish clergy in his day. During the 
 eighteen years that he ministered to his people until 
 the Puritan troops began their ravages, he was inde- 
 fatigable in his labours, reviving piety, promoting pil- 
 grimages, instructing by word and example, holding 
 synods, and restoring the vigour of religious discipline. 
 The contemporary Archdeacon Lynch in his MS. History 
 of the Irish Bishops, relates that he shared all the suf- 
 ferings of his flock in the first years of the Confederate 
 war. " The city of Cork, he writes, beiug occupied 
 by the enemy through stratagem, the governor reckon- 
 ing it unsafe to place trust in any Catholic, commanded 
 the citizens by edict either to renounce their Roman 
 Creed or to quit the city before evening. Three 
 cannon shots were the signal for departure. Sad was 
 the spectacle of suffering which the city then presented, 
 although a glorious one in the sight of heaven, and 
 meriting the applause of the Christian world. Before 
 the third signal the whole body of the citizens, mothers 
 
78 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK* 
 
 with their infants, aged men who had held high posts 
 of dignity, with their whole families, were seen scat- 
 tered through the fields, going forth to voluntary exile, 
 preferring the Faith of their fathers to their homes and 
 paternal inheritance. At morning they abounded in 
 wealth, before evening they were despoiled of every- 
 thing save their belief in God and confidence in his 
 mercy. The devoted Bishop, though plundered of every- 
 thing he had, proceeded to Cloyne, where he assiduously 
 dispensed hospitality to those who were in distress, for the 
 people, seeing his own bitter privations, were stimulated 
 in their efforts to succour his indigence. He was not, 
 however, allowed to remain there long, being summoned 
 to take part in the government as a member of the Su- 
 preme Council of the Confederates. Weighed down by 
 this addition to his former cares, he was seized at Fethard 
 with fever which after eight days brought him to the 
 tomb on the 18th of March, 1643 (old style), in the 73rd 
 year of his age. His remains were interred at Cashel." 
 
 Bobert Barry, of the family of Barrymore, suc- 
 ceeded him. He constantly sided with the Nuncio 
 Rinuccini, throughout the many dissensions that marked 
 the decay of the Confederate cause. He at the same 
 time under various disguises visited his flock and ad- 
 ministered Continuation and the other sacraments to 
 them. Cromwell permitted some of the clergy to go 
 into exile into foreign countries, but being told of his 
 zeal in upholding religion, excepted him from all hopes 
 of mercy, lie was thus compelled to seek for shelter 
 for a considerable time in the woods and marshes amid 
 the greatest privations, till at length he was enabled to 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 79 
 
 get on board a friendly ship off the coast and thus to 
 take refuge in France. He spent eight years at Nantes 
 assisting the Bishop of that See in the discharge of the 
 Episcopal duties, and dying on the 6th of July, 1662, 
 was interred in the Cathedral of that city close to the 
 entrance to the choir. 
 
80 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA, 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Drogheda. 
 
 1. Drogheda remarkable for its piety: besieged in 1642.— 2. A price 
 set on the heads of the Irish leaders. — 3. The garrison and citizens 
 put to the sword. — i. Massacre in St. Peter's Church. — 5. Details 
 of the general massacre.— 6. Statement of Froude refuted. — 7. 
 Quarter was promised.— 8. Hugh O'Reilly and Edmund O'Reilly, 
 Archbishops of Armagh. 
 
 1. The old Catholic city of Drogheda had for a long time 
 been remarkable for the devotedness of its people to the 
 cause of religion. The ruins which still remain attest 
 the many institutions of piety and learning erected 
 there. In the part of the city embraced in the diocese 
 of Armagh, there were not only the parochial church 
 and the convents of Dominicans, Augustinians, and 
 Franciscans, but also the Priories of St. Mary de Ursa, 
 and of St. Lawrence, with a noble church entitled from 
 our Blessed Saviour, and two religious hospitals dedi- 
 cated to St. John the Baptist, and St. Stephen. On 
 the opposite bank of the river, in the diocese of Meath, 
 there was the church of St. Mary's under the invocation 
 of our Lady of the Assumption, the noblest edifice in 
 the city, besides the Church of St. Nicholas, and a 
 Carmelite convent : there were also two Priories of St. 
 John and St. James, specially devoted to the relief of 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 81 
 
 pilgrims. The river Boyne, which flows through the 
 city contributed not a little to its wealth. The right 
 of fishery on the Monday after the Feast of St. John 
 the Baptist, which of old belonged to the Dominicans, 
 was appropriated by the Protestant Primate, and so 
 highly prized was the revenue derived from this source 
 that Bramhall, who was appointed by the crown to the 
 Primacy in 1660, refused as insufficient the offer of £40 
 sterling made by a gentleman, for permission to fish on 
 that day. Daring the short interval of comparative 
 peace which preceded the war of 1641, Drogheda had 
 begun to resume its position as a Catholic city. The 
 Bernardine Fathers and the Jesuits opened public 
 oratories, and the religious ceremonies were performed 
 with unwonted splendour, whilst the convents of the 
 Nuns of St. Clare and St. Elizabeth, recalled the piety 
 and fervour of the olden times. On the 6th of Decem- 
 ber, 1641, three or four hundred gentlemen of the pale, 
 having at their head Jenico Preston, Earl of Gormans- 
 ton, came on horseback to the Hill of Crofty, a mile 
 or two from Drogheda, where the Ulster troops 
 were assembled, and having put the question, for what 
 purpose were they in arms, was it in defence of religion 
 and of the king's rights, and received an authoritative 
 answer in the affirmative, they dismounted, joined the 
 Irish ranks, and promised earnest co-operation. Six 
 days later, 500 soldiers were sent from Dublin to garri- 
 son Drogheda. A small detachment of the Irish troops 
 lay in wait for them near Gillanstown-bridge, and 
 favoured by a thick fog assailed them with great 
 ardour. The troops, seized with panic threw away their 
 arms and fled, and most of them were slain in the pur- 
 
82 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 suit. The arms thus obtained were of singular advan- 
 tage to the Ulster leaders. Lynch adds that the 
 English officer in command of the soldiers cried out on 
 seeing the Irish troops " Countermarch," this the Irish 
 took up to be u Contabhart-bhais " {i.e., our lives are in 
 danger), and they were thus inspired with great courage. 
 In the first months of the war the Puritan troops were 
 fully equipped with supplies, and arms, and ammuni- 
 tion : the Irish were wholly unprovided even with the 
 most essential requirements of war. Most of them 
 were only armed with wooden stakes, some carried 
 scythes or similar weapons ; there were but a few mus- 
 kets, and no cannon. Gunpowder sold for £1 per 
 pound, and it was all but impossible to procure even a 
 small supply of it at that price. Nevertheless the 
 Protestant settlers, particularly in the North, were so 
 struck with terror that great numbers of them began 
 to go to Mass and to learn the sign of the cross. The 
 Alithinologia states that so many were thus converted 
 wherever Sir Phelim O'Neill appeared, that he was 
 everywhere applauded as a most efficacious preacher and 
 poems were composed in his honour. The city was 
 besieged by the Northern Confederates for some months 
 in 1641 and 1642, but the fortifications for those times 
 were particularly strong, the gates being strengthened 
 by castles, and the city wall being about 20 feet in 
 height, and from four to six in thickness, diminishing 
 towards the summit so as to allow a space of about two 
 feet behind the embrasures for the soldiers to stand on. 
 The Confederates having no artillery to batter these 
 walls, a small military garrison sufficed to render it 
 impregnable against their assaults. The Catholics, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 83 
 
 though forming a considerable majority of the citizens, 
 made no attempt to interfere with the garrison. The 
 report was industriously circulated one evening that a 
 night assault was to be made, and that the Catholic 
 citizens were to mark their doors with a cross that thus 
 they might be preserved unharmed in the intended 
 massacre. The Puritan garrison accordingly adopted 
 the singular precaution of marking all the Protestant 
 houses with a cross in whitewash, whilst they depicted 
 a gallows on the door of every Catholic house, hoping 
 thus in the case of the triumph of the Confederates to 
 involve the Catholic citizens in ruin. The report, how- 
 ever, was a mere matter of hoax, and no assault was 
 made that night. So severe was the frost that winter 
 that the Boyne was frozen over, and men and horses 
 could cross from bank to bank upon the ice. The city 
 being badly provided with firing and provisions, the 
 citizens and garrison were soon reduced to the greatest 
 extremities. The Catholics, however, were subjected 
 to special trials, for the Puritan soldiers, under pretence 
 of searching for arms, entered their houses, and appro- 
 priated to themselves whatever articles of value they 
 could find. Many of the wealthy citizens had placed 
 their most precious goods in the religious oratories, as 
 in inviolable sanctuaries : but these too were intruded 
 upon and everything found there was carried off and 
 publicly divided among the soldiers like booty taken 
 from the enemy's camp. Nor was this all. On Ash 
 Wednesday, 1642, all the Catholics, excepting a few 
 who had proved themselves benefactors to the Puritan 
 garrison, were relentlessly driven forth from the cit}\ 
 The only alternative allowed was that they would 
 
84 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 renounce their faith, and some, overcome by the terrors 
 of such a banishment, actually proclaimed themselves 
 Protestants that thus they might be permitted to 
 remain. Even these, however, met with their punish- 
 ment; for the Protestant ministers serving in the garri- 
 son, having detected that there was no reality in their 
 renunciation of Popery, and that they had merely 
 adopted a new name that they might continue to dwell 
 in their parental homes, caused them to be driven forth 
 like the rest. Two armies, one of Scotch forces from 
 the north, the other under the command of Ormonde 
 from Dublin, began their march soon after for the 
 relief of the beleaguered city, whereupon the besiegers, 
 being wholly unprovided with arms or ammunition, 
 broke up their camp and retired to Dundalk, then in 
 possession of the Confederate Catholics. 
 
 2. It was about this time that a proclamation was 
 issued by the Council in Dublin, setting a price upon 
 the head of Phelim O'Neill and of several of his asso- 
 ciates. This document, which well illustrates the 
 Puritan spirit of those times and the manner of war 
 they waged against the Confederates, is as follows : — 
 
 " Proclamation. 
 
 "By the Lords Justices and Council. 
 
 " We do hereby make known to all men, as well good 
 subjects as all others, that whoever he or they be that 
 shall betwixt this and the five-and-twentieth day of 
 March next kill and bring, or cause to be killed and 
 brought to us, the lords justices, or other chief gover- 
 nor, or governors, for the time being, the head of Sir 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 85 
 
 Phelim O'Neill, or of Conn Magennis, or of Eory 
 Maguire, or of Philip Mac Hugh. Mac Shane O'Reilly, 
 or of Collo MacBrien Mac Mahon, he or they shall have 
 by way of Reward, for every one of the said last persons, 
 so by him to be killed, and his or their head or heads 
 brought to us, as followeth, viz., for the head of Sir 
 Phelim O'Neil, one thousand pounds ; for the head of 
 the said Sir Conn Magennis, six hundred pounds ; for 
 the head of the said Rory Maguire, six hundred pounds ; 
 for the head of the said Philip Mac Hugh MacShane 
 O'Reilly, six hundred pounds ; for the head of the said 
 Collo MacBrien Mac Mahon, six hundred pounds, and 
 pardon for all his or their offences that shall kill, and so 
 bring in, or cause to be killed, and so brought in, the 
 said head or heads. 
 
 " We do furthermore make known and declare unto 
 all men, as well as his Majesty's loving subjects as all 
 others, that whosoever shall, betwixt this and the five- 
 and-twentieth day of March next, kill and bring, or 
 cause to be killed or brought in to us, the lords justices 
 of this kingdom, as aforesaid, the head or heads of the 
 said Patrick M'Gartan, Art Oge MacGlafney Magennis, 
 Rory Mac Brian Oge Magennis, Philip Mac Hugh 
 MacShane O'Reilly, Philip MacMulmorry O'Reilly, 
 Mul Morry Mac Edward O'Reilly, Hugh Boy MacShane 
 O'Reilly, Owen MacShane M'Philip O'Reilly, Rory 
 Magwire, Donogh Bane Magwire, Brian Mac Cowcan- 
 naght Magwire, Tirlogh Roe O'Neal, Tirlogh Gorm 
 O'Quinn, Cormack Mac Owen O'Hagan, Patrick Mod- 
 der O'Donnelly, Art Mac Tirlogh Mac Henry O'Neil, 
 Hugh Oge O'Neal, Donogh Oge O'Murchie, Collo 
 
 7 
 
86 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 Mac Brian Mac Mahowne, Neal Mac Kena, Collo 
 Mac Ever Mac Mahowr.e, Captain Hugh Mac Phe- 
 lim Birne, Shawn Mac Brian Mac Phelim Birne, 
 Luke, alias Feogh, 0' Toole ; Luke, alias Feogh, 
 O'Toole ; Luke, alias Feogh Mac Redmond Birne ; 
 Phelim Mac Redmond Birne, Dermot MacDowlin 
 Cavenagh ; Lewis, alias Lisagh, Mac Owney Dempsie, 
 Art O'Molloy, Herbert Fox, Owen O'Molloy, Florence 
 Mac Shane Fitzpatrick, Barnabie Dempsie, Daniel 
 Doine, Barnabie Fitzpatrick, James Mac Fergus Mac- 
 Donell, James Faghny O'Farrall, Will O'Farrall, 
 James M'Connell Farrall, Oliver Boy Fitzgerald, Pierse 
 Fitzgerald, Maurice Eustace, Nicholas Sutton Roger, 
 alias Rory 'Moore ; William Fitzgerald, Robert 
 Preston, James Fleming, Patrick Cusake, Edward 
 Belagh, Gerald Leins, Luke Netterville, George King, 
 Richard Barnewall, Colonel Richard Plunket, Matthew 
 Talbot, John Stanley, John Bellew, Christopher Barne- 
 wall, and Oliver Cashel, or any of them, he shall have, 
 by way of Reward, for any of the said last-mentioned 
 persons so by him to be killed, four hundred pounds 
 and pardon for all his other offences ; though such person 
 or persons so slaying or killing the said traitors, or 
 any of them, bring not, or cause to be brought to us, 
 the Lords Justices as aforesaid, the head or heads of the 
 said traitor or traitors, yet being justly proved, shall 
 forthwith, upon proof so made, receive the reward of 
 three hundred pounds for every one of the said last- 
 named persons so killed and proved, and shall have 
 pardon for all his or their offences, that shall kill or slay 
 the said traitors or any of them. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 87 
 
 " Given at His Majesty's Castle of Dublin, the 8th 
 day of February, 1641. 
 
 " John Rotherham, Ormond Ossory, 
 Fra. Willoughby, R. Dillon, 
 Rob. Meredith, Cha. Lambert, 
 
 F. Temple, Ad. Loftus, 
 
 Cha. Coote. 
 God Save the King." 
 
 3. Though in the meantime, many of the Catholic 
 citizens had returned, it was not till the end of June, 
 1649, that the city was taken from the Puritans, and 
 that the Catholics were allowed to live in peace in 
 Drogheda. Sir Arthur Aston, a brave Catholic English 
 royalist, was appointed governor, and an army of three 
 thousand men most of them Irish, were assigned as its 
 garrison, under the command of Colonels Warren and 
 Wall. The Catholic citizens resumed their practices of 
 piety, the churches which had become ruinous in the 
 hands of the Puritans were purified and restored to 
 divine worship, and religion began once more to flourish 
 as of old. 
 
 In the meantime, Cromwell had landed on our shores 
 firmly resolved to acquire popularity amongst his fellow- 
 Puritans by the extermination of the Irish papists. On 
 his arrival in Dublin he addressed his soldiers, and 
 declared that no mercy should be shown to the Irish, 
 and that they should " be dealt with as the Canaanites 
 in Joshua's time."* 
 
 The city of Drogheda was the first theatre of his ex- 
 terminating fury. No sooner had the garrison of the 
 
 * " Dr. Anderson's Royal Gen." p. 70. 
 
88 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROG1IEDA. 
 
 town submitted on the promise of quarter, than orders 
 were given for an indiscriminate massacre. The spot 
 chosen for the assault was the part of the city- wall 
 adjoining St. Mary's church. It was a place difficult 
 of access and strongly fortified. The wall was there 
 20 feet high and strengthened with towers and pierced 
 with portholes : but then that position commanded the 
 whole city and being won rendered further resistance 
 impossible. The old wall, battered by the powerful 
 cannon of the besiegers, soon tumbled down, and at 
 five o'clock on the evening of the 9th day of the 
 siege the assault was made. The Catholic soldiers 
 displayed great valour. Three times did they repel 
 the charge of the 12,000 assailants, till, seeing fur- 
 ther resistance fruitless, they accepted quarter that 
 was offered them. Cromwell, nevertheless, writing to 
 Parliament, makes it a boast that he himself gave 
 orders that all should be put to the sword;* and 
 subsequently, in the usual Puritanical phrases of that 
 period, he styles that worse than brutal massacre, a 
 righteous judgment of God upon the barbarous wretches; 
 a great mercy vouchsafed to us ; a great thing done, not by 
 power or might, but by the Spirit of God. Some of the 
 soldiers with Sir Arthur Aston and other officers re- 
 treated to the Millmount, also called the Moat, described 
 by Cromwell in his letter to the Parliament as " a place 
 very strong and of difficult access, being exceeding high, 
 having a good croft and strongly palisaded." Unwil- 
 ling to prolong a struggle which they saw could be of 
 no avail they soon surrendered, but by Cromwell's 
 
 • Letter, Sept. 17, 1649, to Hon. William Lenthall, Speaker of the 
 Parliament in England. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 89 
 
 orders were all put to the sword. All the soldiers being 
 thus removed, the slaughter of the inhabitants con- 
 tinued for five days, and the Puritan troops spared 
 neither age nor sex, so much so, that the Earl of Or- 
 mond, writing to the secretary of Charles II., to convey 
 the intelligence of the loss of Drogheda, declares that 
 " Cromwell had exceeded himself, and anything he had 
 ever heard of, in breach of faith and bloody inhuma- 
 nity." General Ludlow, in his despatches, speaks of it 
 as an extraordinary severity, and, indeed, Cromwell's own 
 letters present sufficient data to justify these statements. 
 
 4. The church of St. Peter, within the city, had been 
 of old a place of popular devotion ; a little while before 
 the siege, as we have seen, the Catholics had re-obtained 
 possession of it, and dedicated it to the service of God, 
 and the Holy Sacrifice was once more celebrated there 
 with special pomp and solemnity on the first Sunday of 
 September, in 1649. Thither many of the citizens now 
 fled, as to a secure asylum, and, with the clergy, prayed 
 around the altar ; but the Puritans respected no sanc- 
 tuary of religion: "In this very place" writes Cromwell, 
 " near one thousand of them were put to the sword. I be- 
 lieve all their friars were knocked on the head promiscuously 
 but two; the one was Father Peter Taafe, brother to the 
 Lord Taafe, whom the soldiers took the next day, and made 
 an end of; the other was taken in the round tower tender 
 the repute of a lieutenant ; and when he understood that 
 the officers in that tower had no quarter, he confessed he 
 was a friar, but that did not save him. 9 ' We learn some 
 further particulars about this massacre in St. Peter's 
 church from Johnstons History of Drogheda : — "Quarter 
 had been promised to all those who should lay down 
 
00 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 their arms ; but it was only observed until all resistance 
 was at an end. Many, confiding in this promise, at once 
 yielded themselves prisoners; and the rest, unwilling to 
 trust to the mercy of Cromwell, took shelter in the 
 steeple of St. Peter's ; at the same time the most respec- 
 table of the inhabitants sheltered themselves within the 
 body of the church. Here Cromwell advanced, and, 
 after some deliberation, concluded on blowing up the 
 building. For this purpose he laid a quantity of powder 
 in an old subterraneous passage which was open, and 
 went under the church ; but, changing his resolution, 
 he set fire to the steeple, and, as the garrison rushed 
 out to avoid the flames, they were slaughtered. After 
 this he ordered the inhabitants in the church to be put 
 to the sword, among whom many of the Carmelites fell 
 a sacrifice. He then plundered the building, and defaced 
 its principal ornaments."* 
 
 5. The Rinuccini MS. states that besides the garrison, 
 about four thousand of the Catholic citizens were thus 
 deliberately massacred. Lord Clarendon records, that 
 during the five days, whilst the streets of Drogheda 
 ran with blood, "the whole army executed all manner of 
 cruelty, and put every man that related to the garrison, and 
 all the citizens who were Irish, man, woman, and child to 
 the sword."-\ Dr. Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin, in a 
 letter to the Sacred Congregation (5th June, 1653), 
 says, that four thousand brave men, among whom his 
 own nephew, Colonel Fleming, were slain in this fright- 
 
 *The old church of St. Peter's, thus desecrated by the massacre of 
 the Catholic citizens, stood on the site of the modern church which 
 was built in 1740. 
 
 t "Hist., ' vol. vi. p. 395. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 91 
 
 ful massacre ; and Cromwell himself* reckoned that 
 less than thirty of the defendants were not massacred, 
 and these, he adds, are in safe custody for the Barbadoes. 
 
 The manuscript narrative often referred tof presents 
 many details regarding this horrid tragedy : " The city 
 being captured by the heretics, the blood of the Catho- 
 lics was mercilessly shed in the streets, $ and in the 
 dwellinghouses, and in the open fields ; to none was 
 mercy shown, not to the women, nor to the aged, nor 
 to the young. The property of the citizens became the 
 prey of the parliamentary troops; everything in our 
 residence was plundered ; the library, the sacred chalices, 
 of which there were many of great value, as well as all 
 the furniture, sacred and profane, were destroyed. On the 
 following day, when the soldiers were searching through 
 the ruins of the city, they discovered one of our fathers, 
 named John Bathe, with his brother, a secular priest : 
 suspecting that they were religious, they examined 
 them, and finding that they were priests, and one of 
 them, moreover, a J esuit, they led them off in triumph, 
 and, accompanied by a tumultuous crowd, conducted 
 them to the market-place, and there, as if they were at 
 length extinguishing the Catholic religion and our 
 society, they tied them both to stakes fixed in the 
 ground, and pierced their bodies with shot till they 
 expired." 
 
 * See let. cit. ut sup. 
 
 fRelatio rerum, &c. written in 1651. 
 
 X The street leading to St. Peter's church retained, even within the 
 memory of the present generation, the name of Blood y- street ; it is the 
 tradition of the place that the blood of those slain in the church formed 
 a regular torrent in this street. 
 
92 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 Father Robert Netterville was another victim of 
 their fury. He was aged and confined to bed by his 
 infirmities, nevertheless, "he was forced away by the 
 soldiers and dragged along the ground, being violently 
 knocked against each obstacle that presented itself on 
 the way; then they beat him with clubs, and when 
 many of his bones were broken, they cast him on the 
 highway ; some good Catholics came during the night, 
 bore him away and concealed him ; on the fourth day, 
 having fought a good fight, he departed this life to re- 
 ceive, as we hope, the martyr's crown."* 
 
 Two fathers of the Dominican Order also at this time 
 attained the martyr's crown. These were F. Dominick 
 Dillon, prior of the convent of Urlar, one of the regu- 
 lar chaplains of the Confederate army, and F. Richard 
 Overton, prior of the convent of A thy : they were seized 
 and taken outside the walls to the Puritan camp. There 
 in the presence of the whole army they were put to 
 death through hatred of their religious profession and 
 of the Catholic faith. (Hib. Dom., p. 56G.) 
 
 6. Froude in his work " The English in Ireland" (vol. 
 i. p. 124), endeavours to discredit the massacre of the 
 Catholic citizens at Drogheda : " It is possible," he 
 writes, " that in such a scene women and children may 
 have been accidentally killed ; but there is no evidence 
 of it from an eyewitness, and only general rumours and 
 reports at second hand." He manifestly relies on the 
 
 * Ibid. Another MS. history of the Jesuit Order iu Ireland briefly 
 states regarding the massacre at Drogheda : "All the Catholic citizens 
 were cut off by Cromwell ; one of our Society was tied to a stake and 
 hewn in pieces. Six of our fathers were then there ; now there is 
 none." — MS. narrative written in 1665, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS EN DROGHEDA. 93 
 
 fact that all the citizens being massacred it would not 
 be easy to produce eye-witnesses to attest the massacre. 
 Yet what shall we say to the testimony of Cromwell 
 himself who in his letter to the Parliament writes : " It 
 is remarkable that these people, at the first, set up the 
 Mass in some places of the town that had been monas- 
 teries, and afterwards grew so insolent that the last 
 Lord's day before the storm, the Protestants were 
 thrust out of the great church called St. Peter's, and 
 they had public Mass there, and in this very place near 
 a thousand of them were put to the sword, fleeing 
 thither for safety." And what will he reply to the 
 statement of Thomas a "Wood, who was one of Crom- 
 well's officers, and was engaged in this very work of 
 slaughter? His brother, Anthony a Wood, in the 
 preface to the Athene? Oxonienses, records the vivid 
 description given by that officer of the terrible massacre 
 of the citizens in which he had had a part : " He re- 
 turned from Ireland to Oxford (he writes) for a time 
 (in 1650) to take up his arrears at Christ Church, and 
 to settle his other affairs ; at which time being often 
 with his mother and brethren, he would tell them of 
 the most terrible assaulting and storming of Tredagh 
 (Drogheda), wherein he himself had been engaged. He 
 told them that 3,000 at least, besides some women and 
 children, were, after the assailants had taken part, and 
 afterwards all the town, put to the sword on the 11th 
 and 12th of September, 1649. At which time Sir 
 Arthur Aston, the governor, had his brains beat out 
 and his body hacked (and chopped, to pieces. He told 
 them that when they were to make their way up to the 
 lofts and galleries in the church, and up to the tower 
 
94 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 where the enemy had fled, each of the assailants would 
 take up a child and use it as a buckler of defence when 
 they ascended the steps, to keep themselves from being 
 shot or brained. After they had killed all in the 
 church, they went into the vaults underneath, where 
 all the flower and choicest of the women and ladies had 
 hid themselves. One of these, a most handsome virgin, 
 arrayed in costly and gorgeous apparel, kneeled down 
 to Thomas a, Wood, with tears and prayers, to save her 
 life ; and being struck with a profound pity, he took 
 her under his arm, and went with her out of the church, 
 intending to put her over the works to shift for herself. 
 But a soldier, perceiving his intentions, ran his sword 
 through her body. Whereupon a Wood, seeing her 
 gasping, took away her money, jewels, &c , and flung 
 her down over the works." (Edited, in 1848, by Bliss 
 for the Ecc. Hist. Society, p. 51.) 
 
 But besides these unquestionable witnesses there were 
 others among the sufferers whose testimony cannot be 
 impeached. Some officers and men, who were wounded 
 and left for dead, escaped under the cover of the night 
 and rejoined the camp of Lord Ormonde. Several 
 others succeeded in concealing themselves during the 
 days of the massacre, and lived to give authentic evi- 
 dence of the scenes they had witnessed. It was from 
 them that Ormonde and Inchiquin as well as the Catho- 
 lic authorities above cited learned the various particulars 
 which they attest. Among the non-combatants who thus 
 escaped was Richard Talbot, afterwards so well known 
 as the Duke of Tyrconnel. He was very young at the 
 time, but the sights which he witnessed made a lasting 
 impression on his mind and inspired him with a horror 
 for the Puritans all his life long. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 95 
 
 7. Some modem writers have also vainly attempted to 
 prove that no promise of quarter was given to the gar- 
 rison of Drogheda. However, even Borlase (Irish 
 Insur.j p. 282) confesses that this promise was made. 
 Dr. Lynch also expressly writes : " Cromwell, though 
 at the head of a large army besieging Drogheda, could 
 not take the town until its defenders had received a 
 promise of their lives from some persons of high rank 
 in his army; nevertheless, Cromwell instantly issued 
 the savage order for that most atrocious massacre." 
 
 This violation of faith was, however, an everyday 
 occurrence with the Puritans. The author just referred 
 to gives another instance of it : " Shortly after the com- 
 mencement of the late war, the Castle of Sligo was 
 besieged by the enemy. The commander of the besieg- 
 ing force promised in writing to spare the lives of the 
 besieged ; but as soon as the castle gates were thrown 
 open, the garrison was shamefully butchered to a man 
 .... when the Kilkenny delegates complained to 
 Cromwell of the daily infraction of the conditions 
 granted by himself, he is said to have answered, that 
 as he was now in England, he could not be bound by 
 the stipulations he had made in Ireland." — (Camh. Ecers. 
 vol. iii. p. 187.) 
 
 For the unparalleled brutality displayed at Drogheda 
 a vote of thanks was passed by Parliament to Cromwell, 
 a day of general thanksgiving throughout the kingdom 
 was ordered, and it was decreed " that the house does 
 approve of the execution done at Drogheda, as an act of 
 justice to themselves and of mercy to others who might 
 be warned thereby." 
 
 8. Hugh O'Reilly, a descendant of the old Irish 
 
96 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 monarchs, was at this time Primate and Archbishop of 
 Armagh. It is recorded of him that he prohibited the 
 use of pewter chalices when offering the Holy Sacrifice, 
 and obliged the clerg}^ to provide sacred vessels of 
 silver or other precious metal for their respective 
 churches. He frequently administered Confirmation in 
 the woods or on the hill- sides, and, surrounded as he 
 was by Scotch settlers, he endeavoured clandestinely as 
 best he could to instruct his flock. He was nevertheless 
 arrested and thrown into prison in Dublin, accused of 
 carrying on treasonable correspondence with the Irish 
 officers on the Continent. The accusation proved ground- 
 less and he was restored to liberty. Throughout the 
 Confederation period he displayed a devoted heroism, 
 without fear and without reproach, ever united with 
 his flock. When at length the province of Ulster was 
 overrun by the Puritan armies, he chose for himself a 
 silent retreat in the little island of the B. Trinity in 
 the county of Cavan, where after suffering incredible 
 hardships (post plurimas cerumnas in eo recessu patien- 
 tissime toleratas) he died in 1652, aged 72 years. He 
 was succeeded by Edmund O'Keilly, who had already 
 been well tried in the crucible of suffering. "When he 
 sailed for Ireland, after having completed his studies at 
 Douai, the ship was driven in a gale to Dartmouth, and 
 O'Reilly, being recognized as a priest, was arrested, led 
 off to Chester, and kept in prison there for two years. 
 Being appointed Yicar-General of Dublin by Archbishop 
 Fleming in 1636 he remained within the city and con- 
 tinued to discharge the duties of his office throughout 
 all the vicissitudes of that trying period till the Arch- 
 bishop's death in 1651. Appointed to the Primacy in 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 97 
 
 1657 he was driven into exile in 1661. An invitation 
 sent to the Irish clergy in 1666 to attend a conference 
 convened in Dublin for the purpose of presenting an 
 Address attesting their loyalty to the Crown, gave him 
 an opportunity to return once more to Ireland. So far, 
 however, was this conference from assuring his safety 
 that he was again put under arrest, and he was liberated 
 only on his friends giving security that he would quit 
 Ireland and never again return. He continued, however, 
 to labour indefatigably to promote the interests of the 
 Irish Church in Rome and in France, till his death on 
 the 8th of March, 1669, at Saumer, where he was interred 
 in the church of the B. Virgin. 
 
98 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Wexford. 
 
 1. Massacre in Wexford in 1649. — 2. Several priests and religious 
 killed.— 3. Letter of the Bishop, Dr. French, on this massacre.— 
 4. Extracts from his apology.— 5. Massacre of 300 females at the 
 Cross in Wexford. — 6. Savage cruelty of George Cooke and 
 Captain Bolton. — 7. Sufferings of the Bishop ; fate of Cooke. — 
 8. Martyrdom of Rev. Daniel O'Brien, Dean of Ferns, and 
 others. 
 
 1. In Wexford the scenes of Puritan barbarism were 
 again renewed. The town was favourably situated for 
 defence. The walls were high, and protected by towers, 
 and strengthened on the inside by a rampart of earth 
 fifteen feet thick. In the harbour were three vessels, 
 one of them of thirty-four guns. Winter was setting 
 in, and Cromwell was already complaining of the scar- 
 city of fodder for his cavalry. The citizens were brave 
 and well provided with arms. Colonel David Sinnott, 
 the governor of the town, and Sir Edmund Butler, who 
 commanded the troops, were devoted to the royal cause. 
 The castle, however, which stood at the south side of 
 the town, a little outside the walls, was entrusted to the 
 care of Captain James Stafford. The Irish bishops 
 assembled at Jamestown complained of his being wholly 
 unfit for such a post, and they style him " a young man, 
 vain and unadvised;" the author of the Aphorkmical 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 99 
 
 Discovery speaks of him as " a vain, idle, young man, 
 nothing practised in the art military ;" and indeed his 
 whole merit appears to have been that he was a favourite 
 of Lord Ormonde, who was now the Viceroy and com- 
 mander-in-chief of the royal army. 
 
 On the eleventh day of the siege, which was the 11th 
 of October, Cromwell offered the following conditions : 
 "I shall give soldiers and non-commissioned officers 
 quarter for life, and leave to go to their several habi- 
 tations, with their wearing clothes, they engaging them- 
 selves to live quietly there, and to take up arms no 
 more against the Parliament of England. And the 
 commissioned officers quarter for their lives, but to 
 render themselves prisoners. And as for the inhabitants 
 I shall engage myself that no violence shall be offered 
 to their goods, and that I shall protect the town from 
 plunder. I expect your positive answer instantly, and 
 if you will upon these terms surrender and quit, and in 
 one hour shall send forth to me four officers of the 
 quality of field officers, and two aldermen, for the per- 
 formance thereof, I shall thereupon forbear all acts of 
 hostility." 
 
 Captain J ames Stafford was one of the four deputed by 
 the governor to proceed to the Puritan camp to discuss 
 these articles of surrender, and Cromwell availed of the 
 opportunity to deal privately with him. The result was 
 not long to wait for. While the proposed terms were still 
 under discussion, the Puritm troops were treacherously 
 admitted into the castle. Carte expressly states that 
 the enemy entered the gates " by the treachery of Cap- 
 tain Stafford ; w and adds that "Stafford having privately 
 received Cromwell's forces into the castle, which com- 
 
100 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN "WEXFORD. 
 
 maiided the part of the town that lay next it, they issued 
 suddenly from thence, attacked the wall and gate ad- 
 joining, and soon became masters of the place." (Life 
 of Ormonde, vol. ii., p. 63.) The gates being thrown 
 open, the whole army poured in. So sudden was this 
 collapse of the defence that the townsmen were first 
 made aware of Stafford's treachery by seeing the enemy's 
 colours floating from the summit of the castle and the 
 guns turned against the walls. 
 
 2. Cromwell, being thus in possession of the town, was 
 heedless of the conditions which he had proposed and 
 " thought it not good or just to restrain the soldiers from 
 their right of pillage, nor from doing of execution on the 
 enemy."* In his opinion the massacre of the inhabitants 
 could only be likened to that of Drogheda, and he adds : 
 "It pleased God to give into your hands this other mercy, 
 for which, as for all, we pray God may have all the 
 glory/' In the same letter he estimates the number 
 of the garrison thus butchered at 2,000, and recom- 
 mends the Parliament to send over English Protestants 
 to inhabit the city, as " of the former inhabitants not 
 one in twenty can be found to challenge any property 
 in their own houses. Most of them are run away, and 
 many of them were killed in this service. God, by an 
 unexpected providence in His righteous justice, brought 
 a just judgment on them, causing them to become a 
 prey to the soldiers. " 
 
 It was thus that on the 11th of October the enemy 
 entered the town of Wexford. The History of the 
 Jesuits in Ireland, by Father St. Leger (1655), briefly 
 
 * Lett, of Cromwell to the Parliament. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 101 
 
 sketches the scene of slaughter that ensued : "On the 
 city being taken, Cromwell exterminated the citizens 
 by the sword." Another contemporary record details 
 the special sufferings of the friars of the Order of St. 
 Francis : " On the 11th of October, 1649, seven friars 
 of our Order, all men of extraordinary merit, and natives 
 of the town, perished by the sword of the heretics. 
 Some of them were killed kneeling before the altar, and 
 others whilst hearing confessions. Father Raymond 
 Stafford, holding a crucifix in his hand, came out of the 
 church to encourage the citizens, and even preached 
 with great zeal to the infuriated enemies themselves, 
 till he was killed by them in the market-place."* The 
 Archbishop of Dublin, in the letter already referred to, 
 repeats the same in a few words : "At Wexford,'' he 
 says, "many priests, some religious, innumerable citizens, 
 and two thousand soldiers were massacred, "f 
 
 The following are the names of the Franciscans who, 
 with several others, met their death in the chapel of 
 their Order at the hands of the Puritan soldiers : Fr. 
 Richard Synnott, Fr. JohnEsmonde, Fr. Peter Stafford, 
 Brother Didacus Cheevers, Fr. Paulinus Synnott, Fr. 
 James Cullime, and Fr. Patrick Synnott. 
 
 3. The fullest narrative of the sufferings to which the 
 Catholics were subjected is presented by the venerable 
 bishop of the diocese, Dr. Nicholas French. When Dr. 
 French was appointed Bishop of Ferns, he strenuously 
 resisted his promotion ; whereupon some of the leading 
 
 * Letter of F. Francis Stafford. See it in full in Duffy's Magaz. 
 May, 1847. 
 
 t "Multi Sacerdotes, nonnulli religiosi, plurimi cives, et duo millia 
 militum trueidati." — Lett. 5 June, 1650. 
 
 8 
 
102 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 priests of the diocese drew up a memorial in reply to 
 the difficulties he had proposed. This memorial is pre- 
 served in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, and is 
 dated Wexford, 10th October, 1645. Amongst other 
 things the memorialists state, that " he was advanced 
 to the episcopate, not by purchase, or solicitation, or 
 interest, but called by God, as the faithful and prudent 
 servant whom God placed over his household. * It was 
 then? says St. Gregory, ' a praiseworthy thing to aspire 
 to the episcopate, when by it one only obtained more suffer- 
 ings, and when he who ruled the faithful had, for his 
 privilege, to be led out the first to the trials of martyrdom. 1 
 And, perhaps, in the calamitous times in which we now 
 live, these words may be well applied to the bishops of 
 Ireland." These words were in part prophetical, and 
 during the subsequent period of persecution Dr. French 
 was foremost in sharing the perils and privations of his 
 flock. From the place of his exile he thus wrote to the 
 internuncio in the month of January, 1673 : 
 
 " On one day I lost, for the cause of God and the 
 faith, all that I possessed : it was the 11th of October, 
 1649. On that most lamentable day my native city of 
 Wexford, abounding in wealth, ships, and merchandise, 
 was destroyed by the sword, and given a prey to the 
 infuriated soldiers, by Cromwell, that English pest of 
 hell. There, before God's altar, fell many sacred vic- 
 tims, holy priests of the Lord ; others, who were seized 
 outside the precincts of the church, were scourged with 
 whips ; others were hanged : some were arrested and 
 bound with chains ; and others were put to death by 
 various most cruel tortures. The best blood of the 
 citizens was shed; the very squares were inundated 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 103 
 
 with it,* and there was scarcely a house that was not 
 defiled with carnage and full of wailing. In my own 
 palace a youth, hardly sixteen years of age — an amiable 
 boy — as also my gardener and sacristan, were cruelly 
 butchered ; and the chaplain, whom I caused to remain 
 behind me at home, was transpierced with six mortal 
 wounds. These things were perpetrated in open day 
 by the impious assassins. From that moment (and this 
 it is that renders me a most unhappy man) I have never 
 seen my city, or my flock, or my home, or my kin- 
 dred. After the destruction of the city I lived for five 
 months in the woods, with death ever impending over 
 me. There my drink was milk and water, a small 
 quantity of bread was my food, and on one occasion I 
 did not taste bread during five days ; there was no need 
 of cookery for my scanty meals, and I slept in the open 
 air without either bed or bed-clothes. At length the 
 wood in which I lay concealed was surrounded by 
 numerous bodies of the enemy, who anxiously sought 
 to capture me and send me loaded with chains to 
 England. My angel guardian being my guide, I burst 
 through their lines and escaped, owing to the swiftness 
 of my steed."f 
 
 4. In the library of Trinity College, Dublin, another 
 letter of this prelate is preserved, written at the same 
 period, and entitled " Apologia," being a defence of the 
 course he had pursued in seeking his safety in exile. 
 In it he thus addresses his accuser : — 
 
 " You say nothing about my native city, Wexford, 
 
 * Fundebatur clarus civium sanguis quo inundabant platea?, &c. 
 t Litt. Nicol. Fernens. Ep. ad Internuntium. Anversge Jan. 1673. 
 
104 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 cruelly destroyed by the sword on the 11th of October, 
 1649 ; nothing of my palace being plundered, and of 
 my domestics impiously slain ; nothing of my fellow- 
 labourers, precious victims, immolated by the impious 
 sword of the heretics before the altar of God ; nothing 
 of the inhabitants weltering in their own blood and 
 gore. The rumour of the direful massacre reached me 
 whilst I was in a neighbouring town, suffering from a 
 burning fever. I cried and mourned, and shed bitter 
 tears, and lamented ; and turning to heaven, with a 
 deep sigh, cried out, in the words of the prophet Jere- 
 mias, and all who were present shared in my tears. In 
 that excessive bitterness of my soul, a thousand times 
 I wished to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, that 
 thus I might not witness the sufferings of my country. 
 From that period I have never seen my city or my 
 people, but, as an outcast, I sought a refuge in the 
 wilderness. I wandered through woods and mountains, 
 generally taking my rest and repose exposed to the 
 hoar frost, sometimes lyiug hid in the caves and caverns 
 of the earth. In the woods and groves I passed more 
 than five months, that thus I might administer some 
 consolation to the few survivors of my flock who had 
 escaped from the universal massacre, and dwelt there 
 with the herds of cattle. But neither trees nor caverns 
 could afford me lasting refuge ; for the heretical 
 Governor of Wexford, George Cooke, well known for 
 his barbarity, with several troops of cavalry and foot- 
 yoldiers, searching everywhere, anxious for my death, 
 explored even the highest mountains and most difficult 
 recesses ; the huts and habitations adjoining the wood, 
 and in which I sometimes had offered the Hcly Sacrifice, 
 
SEFFERLNGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFOED. 105 
 
 he destroyed by fire, and my hiding-places, which were 
 formed of branches and leafy boughs of trees, were all 
 overturned. Amo ngst those who were subjected to 
 much annoyance, on my account, was a nobleman in 
 whose house he supposed me to lie concealed. He 
 searched the whole house with lighted tapers, accom- 
 panied by soldiers, holding their naked swords in their 
 hands to slay me the moment I should appear ; but 
 amidst all these perils God protected me, and merci- 
 fully delivered me from the hands of this blood-thirsty 
 man." 
 
 5. In these extracts the public square or market-place 
 is referred to as the chief scene of this wholesale mas- 
 sacre. M'Geoghegan and Lingard attest that many of 
 the principal inabitants had assembled there, and no 
 fewer than 300 females are said to have chosen the 
 same place of refuge. They knelt around the great 
 cross which was erected in its centre, and they hoped 
 that their defenceless condition, their prayers and cries, 
 would move the enemy to compassion. The ruthless 
 barbarian, the pagan Goth or Him, would have been 
 moved to pity, but Puritan fanaticism had steeled the 
 hearts of Cromwell's followers against every sentiment 
 of mercy, and the market-place of Wexford was soon 
 inundated with the blood of these martyrs. 
 
 Some have questioned the accuracy of the statement 
 made by M'Geoghegan and Lingard as to the massacre 
 of these females around the cross of "Wexford ; they say 
 Dr. French and other contemporary writers would not 
 be silent in regard of this particular. But these con- 
 temporary writers sufficiently describe the wholesale 
 massacre of the inhabitants, without mercy being shown. 
 
106 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 to age or sex ; and any particulars that are added have 
 a special reference to themselves. The same writers, 
 when describing the destruction of Drogheda, are silent 
 as to the massacre of the females in the crypts of St. 
 Peter's Church ; and were it not for the narrative of an 
 officer, who himself was engaged in that barbarous deed, 
 some critics, as we have seen, would be found to reject it 
 as fabulous. The constant tradition, not only of Wexford, 
 but of the whole nation, attests the truth of the state- 
 ment of the above-named historians. 
 
 6. In the above extracts Dr. French also describes 
 George Cooke, the commander of the Puritans in Wex- 
 ford, as especially remarkable for his brutality and 
 cruelty. Some instances recorded by the author of 
 Cambremis Evcrsus more than justify his description. 
 After stating that a promise had been given by him to 
 the inhabitants of Wexford, that on a certain day they 
 might reside in their own homes, he adds : 
 
 " But this same Ccoke afterwards authorised Captain 
 Bolton, before the expiration of the stipulated day, to 
 scour that county with his cavalry and plunder it ; then 
 commenced an indiscriminate massacre of men, women, 
 and children, by which not less than four thousand 
 souls, young and old, were atrociously butchered. In 
 1652, the same Governor Cooke shut up 300 men and 
 many infants in a house in the county of Wexford, and 
 then setting fire to the house, all were burned in the 
 flames. But Captain Gore, one of the officers under 
 Cooke, succeeded in concealing on his horse, under his 
 cloak, a little boy that had escaped out of the house. 
 Cooke, discovering the fact before they had retired 
 very far from the house, burst into a violent rage. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 107 
 
 severely condemned the captain, and returning himself 
 with the poor little innocent boy, hurled him into the 
 raging flames. Little wonder that Captain Bolton, who 
 had formerly executed the savage orders of his com- 
 mander, should emulate the ferocity and act on the 
 principles of his master, and leave some other monu- 
 ments of his own treachery and savageness." — (Yol. iii. 
 pp. 191-3.) 
 
 7. Dr. French, Bishop of Ferns, who has so vividly 
 described the sufferings of the Catholics of Wexford, 
 shared during the siege the hardships and perils of his 
 flock. He had some time before addressed a letter to 
 Owen Roe O'Neill and the Ulster Catholics, exhorting 
 them to place no confidence in the Puritans, the sworn 
 enemies of the Catholic Church and of Ireland, but to 
 unite cordially with the royal troops. A copy of this 
 letter being found in the plunder of the episcopal 
 palace, excited the rage of George Cooke, the Crom- 
 wellian Governor of Wexford, who left no means 
 untried to compass the bishop's death. Dr. Lynch, in 
 his MS. History, repeats that the whole surrounding 
 country was scoured by bands of soldiery in search of 
 him. The secret recesses of the houses were minutely 
 scanned, the woods and morasses were everywhere ex- 
 plored. Dr. French, however, escaped, and made his 
 way to Galway, whence he sailed for the continent in 
 the month of November, 1650. We meet with him in 
 Rome in 1653, and there, presenting a memorial to the 
 Sovereign Pontiff, he writes : " I, a most afflicted 
 bishop, an exile in foreign lands through the barbarous 
 cruelty of the English heretics, having fulfilled a vow 
 
108 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD 
 
 in the holy house of Loreto and made the visit at the 
 shrines of the apostles, now present myself at your 
 Holiness's feet, unable to give any account of my flock 
 and of the church of Ferns entrusted to my care, but 
 that everything sacred has been swept away, the 
 churches are profaned, the ecclesiastical possessions are 
 a prey in the hands of plunderers, the vessels of the 
 altar have become the drinking- cups of drunkards, 
 and the house of God a den of robbers. One thing 
 alone can I say to bring consolation to your Holiness, 
 and that is, that the people under the tyranny of the 
 wicked enemy, though subjected to great sufferings, 
 have not ceased to be Catholics, nay, rather have been 
 made more fervent by the persecution. Twenty parish 
 priests and three religious, amid hardships and poverty, 
 minister to their spiritual wants ; the rest of the clergy 
 have perished by the sword or by sickness. Myself 
 alone wander inconsolable an exile from my flock." 
 Dr. French never revisited his flock, but he laboured 
 indefatigably on the continent to promote its welfare, 
 till his death on the 23rd of August. 1678. As for 
 Cooke, he met with the chastisement which his cruelty 
 deserved. Soon after the restoration of Charles II. he 
 was thrown into prison in London on the accusation of 
 treason, and received himself at the hands of the 
 executioner the punishment of death which he had so 
 mercilessly dealt out to others. 
 
 8. Before we pass from this theatre of Puritan cruelty, 
 the martyrdom of the Eev. Daniel O'Brien, Dean of 
 Ferns, deserves to be specially commemorated. Having 
 studied in the Irish College of Compostella, and being 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 109 
 
 promoted there to the holy order of priesthood, he ever 
 afterwards cherished such an affection for Spain and its 
 people, on whose piety and other merits he loved to 
 dilate, that he was popularly known as Father Daniel 
 the Spaniard. He was indefatigable in the sacred 
 ministry, and was particularly successful in bringing 
 Protestants into the true fold. He led a most holy life, 
 and his flock were so attached to him that they would 
 have willingly shed their blood in his defence. After 
 the capture of Wexford he took refuge in the house of 
 a nobleman who lived in the neighbourhood, and con- 
 tinued there to stealthily exercise the sacred ministry. 
 The heretics, seeing a number of persons proceeding 
 thither, and suspecting that Mass was being said, went 
 unperceived in a boat, and surrounding the house 
 threatened death to anyone who would dare to stir. 
 The officer then commanded them to deliver up the 
 priest, as otherwise he would order the soldiers to shoot 
 them down. The venerable old priest, hearing the 
 tumult, came out from his room and said to the officer : 
 " Why do you trouble these good people, who have 
 done nothing wrong ? I am the priest who has offered 
 up the Holy Sacrifice ; if that is a fault, it is all mine." 
 He was at once seized, and everything he had was taken 
 from him. The officer insisted particularly on bearing 
 away the chalice, and when about leaving with the pri- 
 soner, filled it with ale and triumphantly drank it off 
 in the presence of them all. He had scarcely taken 
 the draught, however, when he fell down in a terrible 
 paroxysm, roaring aloud and tearing himself through 
 an agony of pain. Father O'Brien, seeing his misery, 
 
110 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN "WEXFORD. 
 
 and filled with compassion for the unhappy man, made 
 the sign of the cross oyer him, whereupon he was freed 
 from his terrible suffering. The officer at once gave 
 back the chalice to him, and marching off the soldiers, 
 allowed him to remain there undisturbed. He was 
 afterwards again and again arrested and thrown into 
 prison, but through the intercession of some of the 
 governor's friends, the Catholics were able to secure 
 his release. At length, in 1655, sentence of death was 
 passed upon him. He received the intelligence with 
 ineffable delight, and though, through his infirmities 
 and long suffering, he had become quite disabled and 
 almost unable to stand, yet, on the evening before his 
 execution, his strength returned, and he walked full of 
 courage and joy to the scaffold. He addressed a few 
 glowing words to the assembled crowd, exhorting them 
 to be devoted children of the faith and of Holy Church, 
 and then sealed his preaching by laying down his life 
 for Christ, on the 14th of April, the vigil of Easter, in 
 1655. He had for companions in martyrdom the Eev. 
 Luke Bergin, of the Cistercian Order, and Rev. James 
 Murchu (Murphy) a secular priest. They were tried by a 
 jury of twelve Protestants, who returned a verdict that 
 no crime had been proved against them ; but the judge, 
 turning to the jury, laid down the law that no crime 
 could be more heinous than to be a priest, and at once 
 the verdict of guilty was pronounced. The citizens of 
 "Wexford petitioned that at least they should not be 
 hanged within the city walls, but even this request 
 would not be granted. The bodies of the three holy 
 martyrs were interred within the ruinous enclosure of 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. Ill 
 
 St. Francis' monastery, outside the walls of the city, 
 and to the great terror and confusion of the heretics, a 
 brilliant heayenly light was repeatedly seen encircling 
 the spot where they were interred.* 
 
 * From the MS. "History of the Irish Bishops," by the contempo- 
 rary, Dr. John Lynch. 
 
112 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Kilkenny. 
 
 1. The Mass not to be tolerated. — 2. Ravages of the plague ; heroism 
 of the Rev. P. Lea, and others. — 3. Treason at work : bravery of 
 the Irish soldiers at Callan. — 4. The defence of Kilkenny. — 5. 
 Barbarity of Axtell and the Puritan troops.— 6. The market Cross. 
 —7. David Rothe, Bishop of Ossory. — 8. Hardships endured by 
 the clergy. — 9. Bernard Fitzpatrick, V.G., John Daton, and others, 
 martyrs. — 10. A curious fact. — 11. F. Fiacre Tobin : all the clergy 
 banished. — 12. The decree rigorously enforced. — 13. The Catholic 
 citizens driven forth from Kilkenny. 
 
 1. After the massacre of TVexford, Cromwell in- 
 vited the other cities and towns to surrender. Should 
 they consent to receive parliamentary garrisons, their 
 property and goods were to be secured to them, and no 
 inquiries were to be made as to religion. One thing only 
 would be required, that the Mass should be abolished ; 
 " for," he added, " wheresoever the authority of Par- 
 liament extends the Mass shall not be tolerated." 
 However unable the Catholics might be to resist the 
 torrent of destruction that was now bursting upon 
 them, yet they were too devoted to the faith to em- 
 brace this impious condition, and, as we learn from Dr. 
 Burgatt (subsequently Archbishop of Cashel), not one 
 was found in the whole island who would consent to 
 barter his religion for the proffered boon. Thus the 
 sword of extermination was again unsheathed, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 113 
 
 The city of Kilkenny was at this time the seat of 
 government of the Catholic confederates : its walls were 
 strongly fortified, and its citizens were alike remarkable 
 for their loyalty to the crown and their devotion to the 
 Catholic faith. In the words of a contemporary writer, 
 " Catholicity was flourishing in the city of Kilkenny 
 when the Puritan army, like a devastating torrent, 
 overturning everything in its course, appeared before 
 its walls." Whilst the inhuman foe threatened it from 
 without, another scourge laid it waste within. 
 
 2. In the month of August, 1649, the plague made its 
 first appearance on the western coast of Ireland. From 
 the Rinuccini papers we learn that the contagion was 
 brought to Gfalway by an English vessel carrying sup- 
 plies for the royal troops. The war during the preceding 
 years, the hardships that had befallen our people, and 
 the widespread desolation of the open country that fol- 
 lowed in the train of the Puritan army, prepared too 
 well the soil of Ireland for the seeds of pestilence, and 
 now rich and abundant was the harvest of death. 
 Wherever the Cromwellian troops advanced they plun- 
 dered the country, and consumed by fire whatever 
 the sword could not destroy. Before the close of the 
 year the terrible disease extended its ravages to Kil- 
 kenny. It was not unlike the malady known in Eng- 
 land as the Black Death. Few of those who were 
 attacked by it survived more than a few hours, whole 
 families were swept away, and the medical art seemed • 
 to have no resource that could stop the contagion or 
 bring relief to the sufferers. Many of the citizens 
 sought for safety in flight, but wherever they went the 
 same terrible malady stared them in the face. The 
 
114 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 population of the city was soon lessened by one -third, 
 and the same proportion of deaths was found in the 
 army, the garrison being in a few months reduced by 
 the disease from 1,200 to 400. Several of the clergy 
 caught the contagion in the exercise of their sacred 
 ministry, and died true martyrs of charity. The name 
 of the Kev, Patrick Lea is commemorated with special 
 eulogy. This heroic man was untiring in administering 
 the sacraments to the sick and the dying, but not con- 
 tent with this, he endeavoured moreover to assist them 
 in their temporal wants : he became the servant of the 
 poor, discharging for them the most loathsome duties, 
 and he closed their eyes in death, and when all others 
 had forsaken them he dag their graves and on his 
 shoulders bore their corpses to their resting-place. It 
 was whilst performing this last- mentioned voluntary 
 task of his apostolate of charity that he himself caught 
 the contagion, and he expired a true martyr only a few 
 days before the arrival of Cromwell's army at the city 
 gates. " Rev. Patrick Lea, a man held to be a saint by 
 all who knew him," thus runs the contemporary narra- 
 tive, " was employed in the service of those who were 
 struck down by the plague. He was well versed in all 
 kinds of learning, even in the knowledge of medicine ; 
 for this reason it was the wish of all the citizens that 
 he would undertake that duty. But owing to the ex- 
 cessive ardour of his charity and zeal, which knew no 
 * bounds, his career was short. Not only did he un- 
 tiringly hear the confession of the plague- stricken, give 
 them Holy Communion and Extreme Unction, and be- 
 stow on them all the spiritual aid they needed ; but, 
 besides, he was unceasing in attending to their bodily 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 115 
 
 wants, supplying them with medicines, preparing their 
 food, and cleansing their sores. It happened that a 
 poor man whom he was attending died, and as the 
 body was spreading contagion all around, Father Lea, 
 without waiting for the help of others, took up the 
 corpse in his arms and carried it to a neighbouring 
 cemetery, and digging a grave, buried it there. Owing 
 to the heated state in which he was, and to the contact 
 with the putrid corpse, he was stricken down by the 
 fatal disease on the 24th of March, 1650, to the edifica- 
 tion of those who witnessed his charity and to the great 
 grief of the citizens." Father Fiacre Tobin, of the 
 Order of Capuchins, and Father John Daton, a Fran- 
 ciscan, both natives of the county Kilkenny, were also 
 remarkable for the devotedness of their zeal. A few 
 years later the former had the merit to become a Con- 
 fessor of the Faith, whilst the latter was further privi- 
 leged to seal his teaching with his blood. 
 
 3. Early in February, 1650, Cromwell left his winter 
 quarters, and after occupying Fethard, Cashel, and 
 Thurles, marched towards Kilkenny. He looked on 
 the Capital of the Irish Confederates as already his 
 own ; for one of Ormonde's officers, named Tickle, had 
 covenanted to surrender the city to him on condition of 
 receiving £4,000, with a high command in Crom- 
 well's army, and the post of Governor of Kilkenny. 
 " If your excellency will draw before this town" (thus 
 wrote the traitor), " I shall send a messenger unto you 
 upon your first approach, and shall give you an account 
 of the weakest part of the town and the force within 
 exactly, and what else I shall find or you may direct 
 me to be most necessary for you." (Carte MSB., vol. 
 
116 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY* 
 
 xx vi.) The correspondence, however, was discovered, 
 and the traitor suffered the penalty of death, which he 
 so justly deserved. Cromwell, on hearing of his fate, 
 retired from the city and laid siege to Callan. 
 
 Callan was at this time a walled town of considerable 
 strength and defended by three castles. Sir Robert 
 Talbot, one of Ormonde's officers, was appointed 
 governor and chief in command, and it was said that 
 he had already arranged with Cromwell for its sur- 
 render. A small castle or outwork, however, was 
 held by an Irish officer named Mac Geoghegan, who, 
 with his small company of 100 men, offered a deter- 
 mined resistance. Three times they repulsed the 
 assault of the enemy, but no succour being sent to 
 them by the Governor, and being overwhelmed by 
 numbers, they were at length every man put to the 
 sword. Three hundred Puritans had been killed in 
 the repeated assaults, and at the last attack Captain 
 Mac Geoghegan, before he succumbed, was said to have 
 slain twenty of the assailants with his own sword. His 
 wife displayed no less valour. She hurled stones and 
 other missiles upon the assailants, and was herself left 
 for dead, being covered with wounds. Next day, how- 
 ever, this brave woman was picked up alive, and she 
 was still living thirty-five years later, in the reign of 
 James II., when the Aphorismical Discovery which 
 relates the fact was written. (See this valuable work, 
 edited by Gilbert, vol. ii., p. 64.) Talbot, with his 
 troops, at once surrendered, and were allowed to march 
 away with their baggage, but without their arms, and 
 so enraged was Cromwell at the opposition which he 
 had met with at the hands of these few devoted Irish 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 117 
 
 soldiers, that lie gave up the town to be pillaged, and 
 ordered all its inhabitants to be put to the sword. 
 
 4. It was not till the 22nd of March, 1650, that Crom- 
 well began operations against Kilkenny. James Arch- 
 dekin was at this time Mayor ; James Walsh had the 
 charge of the Castle ; but Sir Walter Butler, of Pauls- 
 town, was military governor of both the Castle and the 
 city. The garrison was so reduced by the plague that 
 it did not number more than about 400 fighting men, 
 besides one troop of Lord Ormonde's cavalry ; never- 
 theless, aided by the citizens, their defence of the city 
 was most heroic. The Einuccini MS. in a few words 
 commemorates the bravery of the defendants as beyond 
 all praise. Taylor, in his " History of the Civil Wars 
 in Ireland," also speaks of the defence of the city in 
 terms of the highest eulogy, and adds that were it not 
 for the treachery of some of those within the walls 
 Cromwell would have abandoned the siege. 
 
 Sir Walter Butler had left nothing undone to 
 strengthen his position and to gather additional troops 
 for the garrison. Lord Dillon, and his detachment of 
 2,000 men, were ordered by the general- in- chief for 
 Leinster to repair to Kilkenny, but he replied that his 
 men were so terrified by the reports regarding the 
 plague that they refused to march towards the doomed 
 city. The small garrison at Sandford's Court, then 
 known as CantwelTs Castle, a few miles from Kilkenny, 
 were asked to come in haste to join in the defence of 
 the city ; " but the officers, being English, Welsh, and 
 Scotch, sent some of their number to Cromwell, offering 
 him possession of the castle, and asking money and 
 passes to go beyond the sea to serve in the armies cf 
 
 9 
 
118 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 foreign states. He accepted their terms, on condition 
 that they should do nothing to the prejudice of the 
 Parliament of England." 
 
 Cromwell's head- quarters were placed at the Moat, 
 beyond the Black Quarry, now known as Cromwell's 
 Hill. His cannon soon shattered the old city wall, and 
 a large breach was effected in front of the present 
 parochial church of St. Patrick's, but Sir Walter 
 Butler erected earthen breastworks within the wall, 
 strengthened with palisades. A storming party, led 
 on by Lieutenant Colonel Axtell, twice attempted to 
 enter the breach, but were each time repulsed with 
 great slaughter, no fewer than six hundred of the 
 Puritan assailants being slain. The assault was ordered 
 a third time, but they refused to advance, for they had 
 learned to their cost that the counterworks completely 
 commanded the breach on the inside. Cromwell him- 
 self, when he had got possession of the city and examined 
 all the works, wrote : " It was a mercy to us that we did 
 not further contend for an entrance there, it being pro- 
 bable that if we had it would have cost us very dear." 
 Irishtown, which embraced St. Canice's Cathedral, and 
 that portion of the city which lay beyond the Bregagh, 
 had its own line of defence. The first assault made 
 there was also repulsed, but all the garrison being re- 
 quired for the main point of attack, that part of the 
 city was, after the first few days, left undefended, and 
 was occupied by the enemy. On the 27th of March, a 
 breach was made with pickaxes in the wall adjoining 
 St. Francis's Abbey, close by the place where the 
 Bregagh joins the Nore. A considerable body of the 
 Cromwellian troops obtained an entry here, but they 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 119 
 
 were quickly driven back, and most of those who had 
 entered were slain. Eight companies of foot, under 
 Colonel Gifford, next attempted to storm St. John's 
 Gate and thus effect an entrance into the city. They 
 advanced very resolutely, but were received with a 
 galling fire, which compelled them to retire, leaving 
 more than a hundred of their men wounded or slain. 
 So many repulses were enough to make Cromwell hesi- 
 tate as to the expediency of continuing the siege, but 
 the Governor, seeing that his brave soldiers were ex- 
 hausted by continual watching at their posts, and 
 despairing of any succour from without, resolved to 
 make as good conditions as he could by a timely sur- 
 render. The garrison was allowed to march out with 
 military honours ; the citizens were to be protected in 
 their persons, goods, and estates ; but with the excep- 
 tion of a hundred muskets and a hundred pikes, the 
 soldiers were to surrender their arms to the troops 
 appointed to receive them at the distance of two miles 
 from the city. The city surrendered on the 28th of 
 March, and as the soldiers marched out, with Sir 
 Walter Butler at their head, they were complimented 
 by Cromwell for their bravery : he said that they were 
 gallant fellows, and that he had lost more men in the 
 endeavour to storm the place than at Drogheda. 
 
 Colonel Axtell was appointed Governor of the city 
 for the Puritan Parliament, and throughout the whole 
 period of his government displayed a barbarous cruelty 
 in his dealings with the Catholic citizens, and in par- 
 ticular in his enmity against the clergy. He had held 
 the command of the foot guard on the memorable 30th 
 of January, when King Charles was executed on the 
 
120 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 scaffold erected at tlie gate of the Royal Palace. After 
 the Restoration lie was one of the leading regicides who 
 were excepted from pardon, and suffered the penalty, 
 they so justly deserved, of death at Tyburn. Before 
 execution he declared that nothing so afflicted his soul 
 at that moment as some of the deeds of blood in which 
 he had had a part in Ireland, and the writer who 
 records this fact adds that the following was one of 
 those deeds of cruelty thus particularly referred to : 
 Sixteen or seventeen of the Catholic citizens of Kil- 
 kenny had been taken under special protection, but 
 Axtell ordered them all to be put to death, and seized 
 on everything that belonged to them. 
 
 The Puritan troops, enraged at the losses they had 
 sustained from a handful of brave soldiers, though they 
 were pledged to respect the lives and property of the 
 citizens, did everything in their power to show their 
 hatred of our Catholic people and of the religion which 
 they professed. The churches were profaned, the altars 
 overthrown, the paintings and statues destroyed, and, 
 in a word, a relentless war was waged against every- 
 thing held sacred by the citizens. Search was made 
 for the vestments and religious ornaments that had 
 been concealed, and when discovered they were dese- 
 crated and plundered. The religious books, crucifixes, 
 and other articles of devotion found in the private 
 houses were thrown into the streets, and either burnt 
 or carried off as boot}-. In one of his letters Cromwell 
 had used the emphatic words : " As regards the clergy, 
 they know what to expect at our hands.' ' The 
 manner in which they were treated by the victors in 
 Kilkenny was no exception to the general rule. Dr. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 121 
 
 Patrick Lynch, of Galway, writing to the Secretary of 
 Propaganda on the 1st of May, 1650, states that a 
 report had reached him of the cruelties exercised in 
 the city of Kilkenny, and "of a number of priests, 
 religious, and citizens * haying been put to death there. 
 A regiment of cavalry was quartered in St. Canice's 
 Cathedral, and the aisles were converted into stabling 
 for the troopers' horses. The beautiful stained-glass 
 windows were broken to fragments, the altars demo- 
 lished, the stone -work ornaments defaced, and in a few 
 weeks the work of centuries was, at the hands of these 
 iconoclast barbarians, well nigh reduced to ruin. The 
 Protestant Bishop Williams, in plaintful language, 
 laments the sad disaster that had befallen this noble 
 edifice : " The great and famous and most beautiful 
 cathedral church of St. Kenny the}' have utterly de- 
 faced and ruined. They have thrown down the roof of 
 it, taken away five great and goodly bells, broken 
 down all the windows, and carried away every bit of 
 glass, which they say was worth a very great deal, and 
 all the doors of it, that hogs might come and root, and 
 the dogs gnaw the bones of the dead ; and they broke 
 down a most exquisite marble font, wherein the 
 Christians' children were regenerated, all to pieces, and 
 threw down many goodly marble monuments that were 
 therein, and especially that stately and costly monu- 
 ment of the most honourable and noble family of the 
 house of Ormonde, and divers others of most rare and 
 excellent work, not much inferior, if I be not much 
 mistaken, to most of the best, excepting the Kings' 
 that are in St. Paul's Church or the Abbey of AYest- 
 minster." He further states that most of the religious 
 
122 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 edifices throughout the diocese were desecrated in like 
 manner. The " fanatick limbs of the beast," he says, 
 beheaded most of the churches, the roofs of them, both 
 slates and timber, being quite taken off, and the walls 
 thrown down even to the ground. Even when the 
 monarchy was restored, under Charles II., these fana- 
 tics continued to display their hostility against these 
 religious structures. " I found," he says, " the Cathe- 
 dral Church and the bishop's house all ruined, and 
 nothing standing but the bare walls, without roofs, 
 without windows, but the holes, and without doors. And 
 when I desired Mr. Connel, my registrar, to begin to 
 repair some places of that church, and to set up benches 
 and forms, some of the Anabaptists (as we have good 
 reason to think) came in the night time, the church 
 having no doors, and with axes and hammers or hatch- 
 ets brake them down and carried them quite away, 
 and did other unseemly abuses besides." 
 
 6. The large cross situated in the public square was a 
 special mark for their irreligious fanaticism. Father 
 Archdekin, himself a native of Kilkenny, in his Theo- 
 logia Tripartita, published a few years later, thus writes : 
 "There stands in the market-place of Kilkenny a 
 magnificent structure of stone, of elegant workman- 
 ship, rising aloft after the manner of an obelisk. It 
 is supported by four lofty columns, which bear the 
 weight of the whole superstructure. You ascend it on 
 the four sides by flights of stone steps ; and above all 
 on the highest point was placed a sculptured figure of 
 the Crucifixion. After the occupation of the city by 
 Cromwell's soldiers, some of them who were particularly 
 remarkable for their impiety, assembled in the market- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 123 
 
 place, armed with, their muskets, and directed many- 
 shots against the symbol of the Crucifixion, in order 
 that they might fully complete their irreligious triumph ; 
 and this their persecuting fury at length accomplished. 
 But behold ! the wrath of an avenging God quickly 
 pursued the authors of this sacrilege. A mysterious 
 malady seized on them so that none survived more than 
 a few days." Another contemporary narrative gives 
 some farther details of this deed of sacrilege : " Seven 
 soldiers of the Cromwellian army, like seven unclean 
 spirits, set themselves to destroy the crucifix. After 
 firing at it for some time, they broke off the lighter 
 portion of it, and returned in triumph to their dwell- 
 ings. But of the number, six died almost immediately 
 after, three on that same day and three on the day 
 following. The seventh I know not what happened 
 him. The facts became known to the whole city, and 
 served to confirm the Catholics in their veneration for 
 the cross and to terrify in no small degree the heretics^ 
 its enemies. " 
 
 7. The illustrious David Rothe was at this time Bishop 
 of Ossory. He was the son of Gfeoffrey Ho the, a 
 wealthy merchant of Kilkenny, and was born in the 
 year 1568. Being consecrated Bishop of his native 
 diocese in 1618, he displayed the zeal of an Apostle 
 ministering to the wants not alone of his immediate 
 flock but of the faithful throughout all Ireland, for 
 plenary jurisdiction was given to him on account of the 
 persecution which prevailed, and of the few Bisliops 
 who now remained in the kingdom. Dr. Rothe was 
 chosen a member of the Supreme Council of the Confe- 
 derates and laboured assiduously to preserve union in the 
 
124 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 Confederate ranks. At the same time he left nothing 
 undone to promote a spirit of piety among his devoted 
 people. Early in 1642, the whole city was with solemn 
 religious ceremonies dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. 
 The statue of our Immaculate Lady was borne in pro- 
 cession from St. Mary's Church, and erected in the 
 market-place, in a shrine of exquisite and costly 
 workmanship. The bells of all the churches and the 
 peals of the artillery, proclaimed the general jubilee, 
 and at night festive bonfires illumined every street. 
 The citizens assembled before the sacred image on 
 Saturdays to chant Our Ladj^'s Litany, and from that 
 time Kilkenny has never ceased to be Our Lady's City. 
 The Cathedral of St. Canice, having been allowed to 
 fall to ruin by its Protestant occupants, was restored 
 by Dr. Rothe at considerable expense, and was rededi- 
 cated to the worship of God on the 1st of October, 
 1614. Weighed down by infirmities and years, Dr. 
 llothe was unable to take that active part which he 
 would have desired in the important deliberations of 
 the Supreme Council during the last years of the 
 Confederation. Whilst the plague raged in the city, 
 the aged Bishop, helpless as he was, caused himself to 
 be carried from house to house to bring consolation to 
 the sufferers and to minister to their wants. The city 
 having at length surrendered he resolved to accompany 
 the soldiers as they marched from the city. They had 
 proceeded only about two miles, when a marauding 
 party of the enemy fell upon the rear-guard and seizing 
 on the aged Bishop dragged him from the carriage in 
 which he was concealed, and treated him with the 
 greatest indignity. They deprived him of everything 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 125 
 
 he had, and then threw hi in more dead than alive into 
 a wretched hovel on the roadside, with a tattered cloak 
 full of vermin as his only covering. He was soon after 
 thence conveyed to his friends in the city, but the days 
 which he survived were to him a prolonged martyrdom. 
 He expired on the 20 th of April, 1650, in his 82nd 
 year, and such was the esteem in which he was held by 
 all, that his obsequies were allowed to be performed 
 with due solemnity in St. Mary's Church, and his 
 remains were deposited there in the family vault, the 
 cathedral in which his own tomb had been prepared 
 boing occupied by the Cromwellian soldiery. 
 
 8. The years of Puritan sway which followed the de- 
 mise of Dr. Rothe were a period of sorrow and perse- 
 cution for the widowed Church of Ossory. The Catho- 
 lic clergy were classed by the Puritans with the wild 
 boasts, and were hunted down with a persistent intensity 
 of hatred for which we can only find a parallel among 
 the Pagan persecutors in the early annals of the 
 Christian Church. No detailed narrative of their 
 sufferings has been handed down to us, but the occa- 
 sional glimpses which contemporary records afford 
 suffice to make known how much the heroic Priests of 
 those days had to endure that they might be faithful in 
 their duty towards their flocks and break to them 
 the strengthening Bread of Life. 
 
 In a narrative compiled by the Jesuit Fathers, of 
 which the original Latin text may be seen in the 
 Spicilegium Ossoriense vol. ii., p. 43, the sufferings of 
 the members of the Society are thus briefly sketched : 
 " A few days after the death of Father Lea the city of 
 Kilkenny was taken. Our Fathers sought to avoid the 
 
126 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 danger in various ways. One of them armed himself 
 with a weapon and passed out with the soldiers, who 
 were leaving the town. Another acted as servant in 
 the house of a certain nobleman, and when waiting at 
 table often poured out wine and ale to the enemy. A 
 third, in the disguise of a merchant, remained at large 
 in the city and employed himself in administering con- 
 solation to the Catholics. Meanwhile the army of the 
 heretics entering the town, overturned the altars, and 
 profaned the images, crosses, and all other sacred things. 
 They destroyed our house and oratory, sparing nothing 
 that they thought belonged to a Jesuit. The sacred 
 furniture of the altar had been hidden away ; yet it 
 was found and plundered. The books were thrown out 
 in the streets and burned. The soldiers who were struck 
 down by the plague were put into our house, which was 
 turned into an hospital, and everything was profaned." 
 
 From the Einuccini MS. Ave learn that Father Bar- 
 naby Barnewall, Commissary- General of the Capuchins, 
 was in the city of Kilkenny during the siege, lie made 
 his escape in the disguise of a soldier, but was exposed 
 to incredible hardships on the road from hunger and 
 cold, intensified by old age and infirmity. He made 
 his way, however, to his relative, the Countess of Fin- 
 gall, in Meath, and during the following years, despite 
 the bitter persecution, continued to reside at her man- 
 sion, attending during all that time to the spiritual 
 wants of the vast adjoining district. As regards the 
 secular clergy the same MS. adds that they all either 
 attained the martyr's crown or were cut off by the plague 
 or driven by the terrors of the most cruel persecution 
 to seek a refuge in some remote recesses of the kingdom. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 12? 
 
 The Memorial of the Langton family as we read in the 
 Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaeological Society for 
 1864, sets forth in one short sentence the whole history 
 of the clergy of Kilkenny, so far as the arm of the Puri- 
 tan Government could reach them, " all our clergy were 
 expelled by the Parliament and the usurper Cromwell."' 
 Dr. Patrick Lynch, Provost of Galway, writing to 
 Propaganda on the 1st of May, 1650, also attests that, 
 according to the reports which had reached him, the 
 heretics had raged with great cruelty in the city of 
 Kilkenny, and had put to death a number of priests, 
 religious, nobles, and merchants. 
 
 9. After the death of the Bishop, the Diocese of 
 Ossory was administered by the Yicar-General, Bernard 
 Fitzpatrick, or as his name is given in the Irish records, 
 Bryan Mac Turlogh Fitzpatrick, who, towards the close 
 of 1651, was conlirmed as Yicar Administrator of the 
 See by Edmund O'Dempsey, Bishop of Leighlin, the 
 only Bishop of the province, then residing in Leinster. 
 In the Aphorismical Discovery it is said of this heroic 
 ecclesiastic that he was " a zealous, religious, and pious 
 priest, but within a short time after God did call him 
 unto a better choice into glory, in remuneration of his 
 virtues." In the Threnodia Hibemo-Catholica (cap. 
 vi), and also in the Elcnchus Eneomiorum dc Joanne 
 Scoto, by Father Bonaventure O'Connor, O.S.F. 
 (printed at Bolzano, in the Tyrol, in 1660, p. 307,, it is 
 further stated that this Father Bernard Fitzpatrick, 
 Vicar-General of Ossory, was of the noble family of 
 the Lord Barons of Ossory, and having taken refuge in 
 a cave, that he might shelter himself from the fury of 
 the persecutors, he was tracked thither by the heretics, 
 
128 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 " who, there, beheaded the most holy man, who was 
 famed throughout the whole kingdom, and was remark- 
 able alike for his life and learning, and lineage : his 
 head was set upon a stake at the gate of one of the towns 
 as food for the birds of the air, and the rest of his body 
 was left to be devoured by the beasts of the earth." 
 
 Father Denis Murphy, S. J., in his Cromwell in 
 Ireland, thus writes : " There is a tradition still current 
 in Kilkenny, that after the surrender of the town, some 
 distinguished ecclesiastics took refuge from the violence 
 of the soldiery in a secret chamber of the Dominican 
 friary attached to the Black Abbey. None knew of 
 their place of concealment except a few trusted friends, 
 among whom was a woman named Thornton, who 
 engaged to supply them every night with milk. This 
 woman, for a bribe, betrayed the secret, and indicated 
 to the Cromwellian soldiers where their victims could 
 be found by spilling the milk along the road from the 
 outer gate to the spot where the entrance to the secret 
 chamber should be sought. The consequence was that 
 the ecclesiastics were dragged from their concealment 
 and put to death. Their betrayer received a grant of 
 land as her reward" (p. 314). This tradition is 
 undoubtedly accurate in its general details of the mas- 
 sacre of " distinguished ecclesiastics " who had sought a 
 refuge in some retired spot from the terrors of the 
 persecution that encompassed them. In one circum- 
 stance, however, the modern narrative appears to have 
 deviated from the old tradition. It was not in the con- 
 vent at the Black Abbey, but rather in one of the caves 
 at Thornback, the site of the old Dominican novitiate, 
 that the clergy were concealed, and it seems to me most 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 129 
 
 probable that one of those distinguished Ecclesiastics 
 who, in that silent retreat, received the martyr's crown, 
 was precisely the Yicar- General, Bernard Fitzpatrick, 
 of whom we have just spoken. 
 
 Among the clergy who, under the Puritan tyranny, 
 laid down their lives ministring to the faithful of Kil- 
 kenny, Father John Daton, of the Order of St. Francis, 
 deserves particular mention. A native of the county 
 of Kilkenny, he at an early age embraced the Francis- 
 can rule of strict observance, and was remarkable for 
 his piety, gravity, prudence, and spirit of penance. 
 Throughout the fierce controversy regarding the cen- 
 sures and Interdict in 1648, he was always found at the 
 side of the Nuncio, and his name appears in the address 
 presented by the clergy to Monsignor Einuccini, on 
 the 5th of November, 1648. When the Guardian of 
 the Franciscan Convent, Kilkenny, was thrown into 
 prison for refusing to abide by the instructions of the 
 Supreme Council in the matter of the ecclesiastical 
 censures, Father Daton, being the next in authority, 
 became temporarily Superior, and fearlessly followed the 
 very course for which the Guardian had been imprisoned. 
 After the surrender of the city to Cromwell he remained 
 in Kilkenny in secular dress, and proved himself inde- 
 fatigable by night and day attending the sick and com- 
 forting the dying by bringing to them the consolations 
 of religion. On the 2nd of August, 1653, he was at 
 length discovered and arrested together with a Capu- 
 chin lay-brother and two Franciscan Nuns. It was the 
 Feast of the Portiuncula, and the crowds of the faithful 
 who, on that day, flocked to the house in which Father 
 Daton was concealed, that they might approach the 
 
130 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 Sacraments and gain the indulgences, led to his dis- 
 covery. At ten o'clock at night he was seized by the 
 Puritan soldiers, and by order of the Governor of the 
 city was thrown into prison. Next day he was brought 
 before Axtell. He was interrogated as to his priestly 
 character, his religious profession, the saying of Mass, 
 the administering of the Sacraments, all of which he pub- 
 licly avowed, and from which no earthly command would 
 induce him to desist. He was sentenced to be hanged 
 on the second next day with all the additional torture 
 and indignities usually attendant on death for treason. 
 He spent the interval in the most fervent exercises of 
 penance and prayer, and was led to the scaffold on the 
 5th of August, 1653. With every manifestation of 
 joy and thanksgiving to God, he went to the place of 
 execution " and being hanged and embowelled while yet 
 alive, and quartered/' he received the martyr's crown. 
 
 The two Franciscan Nuns, arrested on the same day 
 with Father Daton, were sisters by birth as well as by 
 religious profession. They lived retired in their house 
 and privately wore the habit as Tertiaries of the Order 
 of St. Francis. They, too, were sentenced to death, 
 but an interval of twelve days was granted them that 
 they might have an opportunity if they so willed of 
 saving themselves by renouncing their religious life. 
 They had the consolation of being imprisoned in the 
 same dungeon with Father Daton on the vigil of his 
 martyrdom, and with dauntless heroism they resolved 
 to emulate his fortitude and prepared themselves for 
 death. Through the interposition of some friends, 
 however, their sentence of death was commuted into 
 banishment. They were put on board a vessel sailing 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 131 
 
 for Spain, and they were received with joy into one of 
 the religions houses of that Catholic nation. 
 
 The Capuchin lay-hrother arrested on the same me- 
 morable 2nd of August, 1653, was called in his religious 
 Order Brother John of Dundalk, but his secular name 
 was John Yerdun. He was advanced in years and 
 paralyzed, and was at death's door through dysentery. 
 He lived in a house adjoining the temporary Capuchin 
 Convent, and all the books and furniture and religious 
 ornaments of the scattered community had been con- 
 signed to his care. All this was now seized by the Pu- 
 ritans, and he himself was sentenced to death. Owing 
 to his infirm condition, however, the sentence was not 
 executed, and for ten months he lingered on in the 
 common prison, enduring with the greatest constancy 
 all the sufferings of a prolonged martyrdom. For some 
 time he was not allowed even a bed to lie upon, and 
 had scarcely any food. He had no means of his own 
 to pay for food, and the Catholic people were so over- 
 whelmed with calamities, and so ground down by spolia- 
 tion and oppression of every sort that they could afford 
 him but little aid. At length, in the beginning of J une, 
 1654, he was taken from gaol, and in company with 
 twelve priests, who had been seized and sentenced to 
 exile, was hurried off, surrounded by a body of soldiers, 
 to Waterford. There they were again thrown into the 
 common prison, where they were associated with the 
 worst characters, and detained for six months awaiting 
 a vessel to sail for the Continent. The Governor of 
 Waterford, William Leigh, was a savage Puritan, and 
 made use of every endeavour to induce his prisoners to 
 renounce Popery and embrace what he was pleased to 
 
132 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 call his Gospel tenets. At length, on the 25th of July, 
 1654, the good lay-brother was put on board a vessel 
 bound for France. 
 
 On the 14th of August he landed in that Catholic 
 country, and was there welcomed by his religious 
 brethren as a Confessor for the faith, and every comfort 
 was ministered to him, but weighed down by infirmities 
 and the hardships of his imprisonment, he expired at 
 the Capuchin Convent, Charleville, on the 15th of 
 March, 1655. 
 
 10. All the exiles at this time sent into exile or trans- 
 ported to serve as slaves in the Tobacco Islands, were 
 not as submissive as Brother Verdun and his companions. 
 The Rinuccini MS. mentions one instance of a large 
 number of sufferers, whose only crime was their love 
 of country and their faith, who, a few years later, were 
 shipped in an English vessel from Waterford for Bar- 
 badoes. Every evening the captives were put in irons, 
 and the hatches were closed down on them for the night, 
 but by day they were allowed to roam freely on board 
 the vessel. Their treatment on board was of the worst. 
 The contemporary record states that they were fed like 
 slaves, or rather like brutes. And yet several of them 
 were of noble birth. They were nearly all from the 
 counties of Kilkenny and Waterford, and "there were 
 not a few skilled seamen among them. As they con- 
 versed together in the Irish tongue, which was not 
 understood by the sailors, they arranged, when a few 
 days at sea, to distribute themselves among the crew 
 and the officials, and at the signal " Dia agus Padruic 
 linn" — God and St. Patrick be with us — to seize them 
 and make them their prisoners, and then to steer the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 133 
 
 vessel for France. The next morning, the sea being 
 calm, and the officers and men all basking in the enjoy- 
 ment of undisturbed tranquillity, two or three of the 
 exiles ranged themselves near each of the crew and 
 others on board, and no sooner was the signal given, 
 than each of the exiles re-echoed again and again the 
 same invocation, " Grod and St. Patrick be with us," and 
 almost without a struggle they seized on all the officers 
 and men, and put them in the irons from which they 
 themselves had been just freed. They steered the 
 vessel to Brest, and sold it there after setting free the 
 crew. Brest was at this time the great rendezvous for 
 the Irish merchants, some of whom at their private 
 expense fitted out cruisers, received letters of marque 
 from the king, and became rich beyond measure by 
 their depredations on the merchant vessels of the 
 Puritans. Such numbers of our countrymen had 
 settled at Brest, which, under the patronage of Cardinal 
 Mazarine, was just then growing into importance among 
 the French ports, that it seemed as if transformed into 
 an Irish colony. The descendants of these exiles spread 
 themselves over the neighbouring territory, and the 
 names of many of them became illustrious in the 
 annals of their adopted country. 
 
 11. We have already referred to the charity displayed 
 by the Capuchin, Father Fiacre Tobin, a native of 
 Kilkenny, who, from the first commencement of the 
 plague, had devoted himself with most perfect self- 
 sacrifice to the service of his suffering fellow-citizens. 
 After the surrender to Cromwell, he continued with 
 unwearied zeal to pursue his apostolate of charity, 
 assuming at times various disguises the fetter to elude 
 
 10 
 
134 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 the vigilance of those who were in eager pursuit of the 
 clergy. For a few months he was thus enabled to 
 exercise the sacred ministry with impunity, but he was 
 at length detected by a Puritan whose suspicions were 
 aroused by the very appearance and demeanour of 
 Father Fiacre, and judging him to be a priest engaged 
 in the administration of the sacraments, pretended to 
 be a Catholic and saluted him with the title of Father. 
 This salutation threw the good Capuchin off his guard. 
 He was at once arrested, loaded with irons in prison, 
 and threatened with death, and for a time subjected to 
 many hardships. Soon, however, the gaoler was ap- 
 peased by gifts, and the prisoner was enabled to say 
 Mass in prison, and even to converse with the faithful 
 who came privately to visit him and to receive at his 
 hands the Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed 
 Eucharist. After a time sureties were accepted for his 
 peaceable demeanour ; the city itself was assigned him 
 for his prison, and he was allowed full liberty within 
 the city walls. When the decree of banishment was 
 published against the clergy in 1653, he was sent into 
 France, and on the 3rd of May of that year he addressed 
 from Nantes a letter to his Superior at Charleville on 
 the Meuse, from which a few extracts will suffice to 
 set before us in faithful and vivid colours the deplorable 
 state of ruin and desolation to which the nation was at 
 this time reduced : " Under penalty of death the clergy 
 are now banished from every part of Ireland ; not only 
 the priest, but the person who shelters him, shall be 
 judged according to the statutes enacted against such 
 persons in England in Elizabeth's reign. As regards 
 the Catholic laity, they are permitted to live in Ireland, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 135 
 
 but they are so ground down by the crushing weight 
 of taxes and other burdens that they cannot endure it 
 very long. When Kilkenny came into the enemy's 
 hands, Father Barnabas, who was then Commissary, 
 directed me to remain in the city, and I did so, 
 although with reluctance, for it was painful to me and 
 quite contrary to my wishes to lay aside the religious 
 habit and to assume the secular dress. I went around from 
 house to house, administering to the families and their 
 household the Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed 
 Eucharist, and when summoned to assist those attacked 
 by the plague I hastened at once to them. At length 
 I was arrested by the heretics in the streets of Kilkenny, 
 and hurried off to the Governor, who interrogated me 
 as to the houses in which I had said Mass, and as to the 
 presence of other clergy in the city. I replied that I 
 could not, with a safe conscience, bring others into 
 trouble by answering such questions. He then cried 
 out: ' You will be hanged on to-morrow.' I said: 'I 
 am prepared to die.' He used these words merely to 
 terrify me. I was led back to prison, and all that 
 night prepared myself for death ; but my imprisonment 
 was prolonged for nine months. ... At the end of 
 nine months the local magistrate allowed me to have 
 the city as my prison, the Catholic citizens giving 
 security that whenever called upon I would be ready 
 to appear before the court. I was thus enabled to 
 administer the sacraments more freely than when I 
 was in gaol, and sometimes I gave Holy Communion 
 to forty, and even fifty or sixty persons, besides the 
 instructions on the Catechism, which were given on 
 the Sundays and holidays. The English always showed 
 
136 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 me the greatest civility, but they made me pay for their 
 hospitality. I had every night to pay fourpence for 
 lodging, but food and other things I stood in need of 
 were abundantly supplied by the charitable Catholic 
 citizens. Should it be in your power to forward mis- 
 sionaries to the island of San Christofe, I would ask 
 you to send me thither, unless I may be permitted to 
 return to Ireland, for that island, even more than 
 Ireland, is in need of missionary aid, and moreover 
 the Religious have full liberty at San Christofe to in- 
 struct the ignorant, as a Jesuit, who is stationed there, 
 lately wrote to a priest in Kilkenny. Should you not 
 have the faculty to send missionaries thither, it will be 
 a matter truly pleasing to God to obtain it from the 
 Sacred Congregation, for in that island there are several 
 thousand Catholics, with none but one Jesuit to break 
 the bread of life to them.' , 
 
 12. The writer of the Rinuccini MS., himself an Irish 
 Capuchin, referring to the decree of banishment against 
 the clergy, published on the 6th of January, 1653, in 
 consequence of which Father Fiacre was exiled to 
 France, attests that it was "most rigorously carried 
 out, so much so that among the thousands of soldiers 
 at that time scattered throughout Ireland, there was 
 scarcely a single one who was not either a spy, or a 
 judge, or some such official of this barbarous persecu- 
 tion, so unrestricted was their power against the clergy 
 and their harbourers and friends, and to such a degree 
 was the fury of their cruelty intensified by the premium 
 of £5 set upon each ecclesiastic's head. Wherefore it 
 happened that the Irish clergy who had survived the 
 famine and pestilence, the sword, fire, and halter, were, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 137 
 
 after this truculent decree, which, showed forth the 
 English barbarity in its true colours, divided into two 
 ranks : some sought a refuge in France, Spain, Bel- 
 gium, Germany, or Italy; but others, yearning to die 
 for Christ, remained in Ireland. It being impossible 
 for those who remained at home to live in the houses 
 of the Catholics, they sought a secure retreat in the 
 woods or desert places, or in subterraneous caves, or the 
 haunts of wild beasts (for they entrusted themselves 
 rather to these than to the English), and in other like 
 out-of-the-way hiding-places, where they constructed 
 houses of reeds or huts or cabins ; but even thus they 
 dared not to continue for any time in the same place 
 through fear of the spies, whole herds of whom were 
 scattered throughout every corner of the kingdom, with 
 an inconceivably perverse and malignant eagerness to 
 ferret out the priests.' ' 
 
 The law against harbouring a priest, to which re- 
 ference is made in the above narrative, was not a mere 
 matter of threat, but was rigorously enforced, and 
 hence it was that the clergy, rather than run the risk 
 of adding to the hardships of their suffering flocks, 
 refused in many cases to avail themselves of the gene- 
 rous hospitality offered to them, and chose to live out 
 in the bogs, or to seek a safe retreat in some hill-side 
 cave or other out-of-the-way places. Fr. Morison, in 
 his Threnodia, published in 1659, relates what he 
 himself had witnessed : " I myself have seen this ini- 
 quitous law put in execution in the city of Limerick 
 by Henry Ingoldsby, the governor of that city. A 
 gentleman of Thorn ond, named Daniel Connery. was 
 accused of harbouring in his house a priest, and being 
 
138 BUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 convicted on his own confession, although the said 
 priest had a safe- conduct from the Governor himself, 
 he was sentenced to death, and the sentence being as a 
 matter of mercy mitigated into confiscation of all his 
 goods, and imprisonment was afterwards commuted for 
 perpetual exile. He had a wife of a noble family of 
 Thomond, and twelve children ; his wife fell ill and 
 died through want of the mere necessaries of life : and 
 of his children, three handsome and virtuous girls were 
 shipped as slaves to Barbadoes, where, if yet alive, they 
 live in miserable slavery. The rest of his children, who 
 were too young to work, are either dead of hunger or 
 drag out a miserable life in the hands of their enemies. 
 I also saw the law for denouncing a priest put in force 
 in the same Limerick, under the same Governor, in the 
 year 1652, against a noble and honest Catholic of the 
 name of Daniel Molloy of Thomond, who, coming to 
 Limerick on account of some business, chanced to meet, 
 at a Protestant inn, a priest, a relative of his, named 
 David Mollony. This priest was afterwards betrayed 
 and taken prisoner, and Daniel was summoned to 
 answer why he had not informed the magistrates that 
 there was a priest there. He answered that he was a 
 Catholic, and that there was no law obliging a person 
 to denounce a priest, although there was one not to 
 harbour or feed him ; and this was correct, for this 
 clause was not added to the law till three years later. 
 But notwithstanding this prudent answer, the Governor 
 ordered his ears to be cut off by the executioner, which 
 was done. I could give a thousand such examples.' , 
 The same writer gives his own experience of the treat- 
 ment to which the priests were subjected in prison, for 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 139 
 
 he had the privilege of being himself a sufferer for the 
 faith : " I myself passed thirty months in a dark dun- 
 geon thirty feet underground, with irons of forty-seven 
 pounds weight on my feet and hands, sometimes alone, 
 sometimes in company of robbers, often beaten and 
 wounded, and at last sent into exile. Now there are so 
 few priests left, that there are many Catholics, espe- 
 cially in Munster, who have not been able to receive 
 the sacraments for one, two, three, and even six years, 
 and some have journeyed 120 miles to confess and re- 
 ceive the Blessed Eucharist once." 
 
 Father Fiacre Tobin, having received the permission 
 of his superiors, which he had solicited, returned to 
 Ireland, and with the merciless sword of the persecu- 
 tors at every instant impending over his head, continued 
 in season and out of season to instruct and console the 
 faithful, and to encourage them in the practice of 
 virtue. About the year 1656, however, he was again 
 arrested, thrown into prison, and treated with great 
 cruelty, and at length sentenced to perpetual slavery 
 in the Barbadoes, a slow martyrdom which for many 
 of the victims of the Puritan tyranny had greater 
 terrors than death itself. Father Fiacre, however, ac- 
 cepted his sentence with joy. He had yearned to pro- 
 ceed to those islands as a missionary for Christ, and 
 now, in the mysterious ways of Providence, it would 
 seem as if his prayer had been heard, and that the very 
 enemies of the Church, in the frenzy of their persecuting 
 spirit, would lead him thither. But heaven was content 
 with his desire for martyrdcm. He was put on board 
 a vessel in Dublin, despoiled of everything that he r ob- 
 sessed. The vessel, however, was compelled by stress of 
 
140 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 weather to put into a southern port, and as he was 
 seized with fever he was transferred to the prison in 
 Waterford. Here he spent five months in the greatest 
 misery. Overcome by the fever and the hardships of 
 his imprisonment, he expired at Kinsale, in the hands 
 of the Puritan persecutors, whilst being again shipped 
 on board the vessel for Barbadoes. I have been par- 
 ticular in putting together these details connected with 
 the life of this zealous confessor for Christ, as in those 
 days of peril and of martyrdom the history of one priest 
 may be regarded as the history of all the clergy. Even 
 in the darkest hour devoted men were not wanting to 
 minister to the spiritual needs of the faithful of Ossory. 
 A Carmelite missionary, who presented in Rome a report 
 on the Irish Church, and in particular on the Leinster 
 province, in the beginning of 1662, writes: "I know 
 that in the county of Kilkenny there are several priests, 
 as well of the regular as of the secular clergy, who have 
 their own Yicar- General, as I have been informed by a 
 priest of that county." [Spicilegium Osson'ense, ii. 210.) 
 
 13. Two petitions presented to the king and to Lord 
 Ormonde by the citizens of Kilkenny soon after the 
 restoration of the monarchy, portray in the liveliest 
 colours the many hardships which they had been com- 
 pelled to undergo during the Cromwellian regime, and 
 which they were still destined for some years longer to 
 endure. Their address to the King is styled, " The 
 humble petition of the distressed, banished, and dis- 
 persed late native inhabitants and citizens of the city 
 of Kilkenny.' ' They proclaim that they had always 
 been noted for their loyalty, " in so much as that town 
 in all times of peace and hostility hath been a refuge 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 141 
 
 to all true subjects of the crown of England, and a 
 terror to their enemies/' and they had surrendered the 
 city to Cromwell only when there was no hope of relief, 
 " after suffering in a high degree all the extremities of 
 the plague, fire, and sword, and four several storms in 
 several parts of the city." They had, however, obtained 
 quarter and fair conditions from the enemy, but Colonel 
 Daniel Axtell being approved Governor of the city, 
 " hath in the year 1653, without any order or direction, 
 even according to those times, being out of his wilful 
 and imperious disposition and innated quarter, breaking 
 mind and quality, seized upon your petitioner's charters, 
 muniments, and ensigns of authority, and dispersed and 
 banished as well their mayor and aldermen and other 
 officers as the petitioners themselves, into several quar- 
 ters ; forcing them in an unseasonable time of the year 
 to remove their habitations and sell their goods at an 
 under-value, and for the most part to lose their house- 
 hold stuff e (property) for want of buyers. Since which 
 time they lived and do live in a distressed and sad con- 
 dition after they had been formerly impoverished in 
 their personal estates and fortunes by heavy and un- 
 supportable contributions, and other taxes and charges 
 far beyond their abilities. All which the said Governor 
 Axtell did merely by the violence of the soldiery, and 
 so contrary to the said Quarter, he having then the 
 command of a regiment of foot and a troop of dragoons, 
 sufficient forces to oppress your poor, naked, armless, 
 and distressed petitioners." The mayor of the city re- 
 ferred to in this petition as deposed by Axtell was 
 Elias Shee, and at the time this petition was drawn up 
 was " living in Connaught in a distressed condition," 
 
142 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 In the letter to Lord Ormonde they set forth the 
 calamities that befell them at the hands of the Puritan 
 enemy, " subjecting us to the anarchical government 
 of usurping, assassinate, and regicide men (if they may 
 be so termed), who, casting off all humanity, turned into 
 and became savages in cruelty, so as, to express ourselves 
 in the civillest language that we can, we have endured 
 the worst of miseries, and far worse than Egyptian 
 slavery. ,, The object of their writing to him, they say, 
 is that he may present their petition to his Majesty : 
 " We presume, out of our coverts and lurking-places, 
 to present an address to his Majesty of some of our 
 manifold grievances : we know well that we being not 
 able to prosecute the same, it will die unless your Ex- 
 cellency will be pleased to give life to it by your 
 countenance and favour. " 
 
 On the 6th of March, 1653-4, the order was issued 
 commanding all the Irish to quit the city of Kilkenny. 
 In the country parts none were allowed to remain but 
 ploughmen, labourers, and those whose land or goods was 
 of less than ten pounds value. Even such, however, were 
 now banished from the city, and forbidden to reside 
 within two miles of its walls, for the Puritans of Eng- 
 land had resolved to fill the cities and towns with a 
 goodly race, and they deemed it inconsistent with their 
 security that any Irish Papist should reside among them. 
 It was difficult, however, to execute all at once this 
 general decree of banishment, and on the 15th of Mav, 
 1 655, the English and Protestant inhabitants of the city 
 obtained a further order from the Commissioners of 
 Parliament, that " for the better encouragement of an 
 English plantation in the city and liberties" all the 
 
STJFFEKIKGS OF THE CATHOLICS 111 KILKENNY. 143 
 
 houses and lands lately belonging to the Irish, and now 
 in possession of the State, should henceforward be de- 
 mised to English and Protestants, and to none others." 
 But even this was not judged sufficient, and it was also 
 ordered that no English merchant should employ Irish 
 agents or servants, and that all Irish should quit Kil- 
 kenny before the 4th of June, 1655, " except such 
 artificers as any four justices of the peace, for the con- 
 venience of that corporaticn shall licence to stay for any 
 period not exceeding cue year." Neither did the 
 Commissioners allow those orders to slumber, and, as an 
 instance of their ferocity, it is mentioned in a letter of 
 March the 2oth, 16qo-6, that Daniel Fitzpatrick was 
 sentenced to death by the Commissioners in Kilkenny 
 for refusing to transport himself into Connaught. 
 
 If the Kilkenny Catholics hoped by the interference 
 of Lord Ormonde to have their rights secured and their 
 property restored to them, they relied upon a broken 
 reed. Ormonde's chief anxiety just then was to enlarge 
 his own estates, and to uphold the English interest. 
 Strange to say, it would seem as if the banishment of 
 the Irish Catholics were even more strictly carried out 
 now than hitherto. " Worthy cousin," writes Eiehard 
 Shee from Kilkenny, at the close of the year 1660, 
 " there are thirty- two artificers and shopmen whom the 
 late Usurper thought fit to dispense from transportation, 
 and are now commanded by strict order in twenty-four 
 hours' warning, given them last Friday, to depart with 
 their families." The Act of Settlement brought no 
 relief to the banished Irish citizens, for it was so con- 
 trived that the new occupiers were not to be disturbed 
 in the tewns, and the native Irish were thus to remain 
 
144 6LFFEKINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 deprived of their dwellings and properties, even though 
 they should establish their unvarying attachment to the 
 royal cause. The king, indeed, had the right of issuing 
 Letters for restoring individual Papists, but the Com- 
 missioners were ordered, in 1663, to suspend the giving 
 of any decrees of innocence to Papists "who would 
 claim house property in towns," and in 1665 the king 
 declared that he surrendered altogether this special 
 power. Thus the Irish Catholics, so far as the law 
 could effect, were for ever debarred from their city 
 possessions. "No wonder that a contemporary writer 
 should declare lhat such legislation was dictated by no 
 privilege save that of "the Cannibal English interest. ' 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 145 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 1. First Assault on Clonmel, in November, 1649. — 2. Cromwell 
 baffled in his attempt to get possession of the town by treachery. 
 — 3. Heroism of Hugh O'Neill and the Irish troops during the 
 siege in 1650. — 4. The town surrenders on honourable conditions. 
 — 5. Cromwell's rage. — 6. The citizens plundered ; Martyrdom 
 of Fr. Mulcahy — 7. Heroism of Geoffry Baron — 8. Martyrdom 
 of three Dominican Fathers and others. — 9. Hugh O'Neill. 
 
 1. When the Puritan soldiers made their first appear- 
 ance before Clonmel, in November, 1649, the burgesses 
 wisely chose for their governor Hugh Duff O'Neill, 
 nephew of the deceased leader of the Ulster troops, the 
 illustrious Owen Roe O'Neill. Cromwell, now advancing 
 npon Waterford, sent forward a detachment to occupy 
 Clonmel. Lord Ormonde, indeed, looked on its defence 
 as hopeless, and withdrew the ammunition and other 
 stores ; but Hugh O'Neill thought other wise. With a 
 small body of Ulster Catholic soldiers he threw himself 
 into the town, restored the confidence of the people, and 
 when a fierce assault was at length made, repulsed the 
 enemy with great slaughter.* 
 
 * The Rinuccini MS. expressly attests that at this first assault upon 
 Clonmel, Cromwell withdrew his troops— ' ' magnam suorum rebellium 
 cladem et confusionem passus." 
 
146 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMBL. 
 
 2. In the mouth of March, 1650, the Puritan army 
 again showed itself before the walls of Clonmel, 
 although it was not till after the surrender of Kilkenny 
 that Cromwell took the command in person, and the 
 regular siege began. The garrison numbered only 
 about 1,500 men ; but with the exception of a small 
 body of Ormandist Cavalry, under the command of 
 Major Fennell, they were heart and soul devoted to 
 Ireland, and full of confidence in their brave governor. 
 The town was well protected on the south side by the 
 Suir, and on the other three sides was defended by a 
 strong wall. Ormonde had repeatedly promised sup- 
 plies of provisions and ammunition, but those supplies 
 were never sent. Early in April, the mayor and 
 O'Neill wrote to him, declaring their resolve to defend 
 the town to the utmost of their power : they told him 
 that " the garrison was of good courage and resolution," 
 and now that the safety of the kingdom was in the 
 balance, they besought him " to prevent any bloody 
 tragedy to be acted there, as in other places, for want of 
 timely relief ; that the army should march night and 
 day to their succour, and, in the meantime, that the 
 promised relief might be sent them, accommodated w T ith 
 provisions for themselves and the garrison." 
 
 To Cromwell's summons to surrender, Hugh O'Neill 
 replied that he was resolved to defend the town as best 
 he could, and " so wished him to do his best.'' The 
 besiegers planted their heavy artidery, and left nothing 
 undone to give a speedy account of this small garrison. 
 O'Neill, however, was not disheartened, and made re- 
 peated sallies, to the great annoyance and loss of the 
 besiegers. . In the words of the Aphorisniical Dis- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 147 
 
 covert/, he behaved himself both wise, courageous, and 
 fortunate against Cromwell and his party, not only in a 
 defensive, but offensive way, with many valiant sallies, 
 and martial stratagems, to the enemy's mighty prejudice, 
 who did lose some days 200, other days 300, or 400, or 
 500 men. This loss was so often, and so common, that 
 my Lord Cromwell was weary of the place, that if his 
 honour did not impede, his lordship would quit the 
 place, and raise the siege. Resolving this and many 
 other things in his breast, and among the rest that he 
 was confident that no relief would come to the town, 
 and that it would be a stain on his honour to quit such 
 a place, the conquest of a whole kingdom being at stake, 
 he sought by repeated attacks to tire out the garrison, 
 whilst at the same time he endeavoured by the usual 
 golden key to open the gates to his army. He entered 
 into a secret correspondence with Major Fennell, who 
 was in command of a detachment of Ormonde's cavalry, 
 and who, on the promise of full pardon, and of a gift of 
 £500, undertook to open one of the city gates on the 
 north side of the town, at twelve o'clock the next night, 
 and t6 admit 500 of the besieging force. A party of 
 the Ulster troops were on guard there : these he with- 
 drew, substituting some of his own men in their place. 
 Everything was ready for the deed of treason, but 
 O'JSTeill took care to visit the posts himself to see that 
 his orders were observed. Finding that the Ulster 
 soldiers had been removed from the gate, contrary to his 
 command, he ordered the arrest of Fennell, who, to 
 secure his pardon, revealed the conspiracy in all its de- 
 tails. O'Neill accordingly placed a picked body of men 
 in ambush close to the gate by which the enemy would 
 
148 SUFFERINGS OF THE CA.TH )LICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 be admitted, and directed Fennell to deal with Cromwell 
 according to his covenant. The result is told in a few 
 words in the Aphorismical Discovery : — " The enemy- 
 was watching his opportunity, and observing the 
 signal, marched towards the gate ; five hundred did 
 enter, the rest, nolens volens, were kept out ; all that 
 entered were put to the sword." 
 
 3. The same writer adds: " My Lord Cromwell, certi- 
 fied of the preposterous issue of his late bargain with 
 Fennell, was mighty troubled in mind, and therefore 
 did send for other armies and great ordnance." Lord 
 Broghill came with fresh forces from the southern 
 garrisons, and the siege was pushed on with increased 
 vigour. At length, " with continual thundering, along 
 breach was made near one of the gates " in the western 
 wall, a few yards south of the tower called the 
 Magazine, where a portion of the old town walls may- 
 still be seen. Whilst the besiegers were rejoicing at 
 this success, and awaiting the orders for the assault, 
 O'Neill sent, unobserved, 200 chosen men along the 
 banks of the river, and falling on a detached body of 
 the enemy who were in guard of an unfinished fort, cut 
 them off before any relief could come. Nor were the 
 citizens idle within the town. Men and women, towns- 
 men and soldiers, drew clay and stones and timber, and 
 fenced " a long lane, a man's height, about eighty yards 
 in length on both sides, up from the breach, with a 
 foot-bank at the back of it." Two pieces of cannon 
 were masked at the end of this lane, and the defence of 
 the breach was entrusted to a picked body of soldiers 
 and volunteers. The storm began at eight o'clock in 
 the morning. An officer who was present thus de- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 149 
 
 scribes the result : " The Puritans entered without any 
 opposition ; but few were to be seen in the town till 
 they so entered that the lane was crammed full of horse- 
 men, armed with helmets, backs, breasts, swords, musque- 
 toons, and pistols, on which those in the front, seeing 
 themselves in a pound, and that they could not make 
 their way further, cried out, ' Halt ! Halt ! ' Those 
 entering behind at the breach thought by those words 
 that all those of the garrison were running away, and 
 cried out, ' Advance! Advance!' and so advanced that 
 they thrust forward those in before them, till that pound 
 or lane was full, and could hold no more. Then sud- 
 denly rushed a resolute party of pikes and musketeers 
 to the breach, and scoured off and knocked back those 
 entering. At which instance, Hugh Duff's men within 
 fell on those in the pound with shots, pikes, scythes, 
 stones, and casting of great long pieces of timber, with 
 the engines amongst them ; and then two guns firing 
 at them from the end of the pound, slaughtering them 
 by the middle or knees with chained bullets, that in less 
 than an hour's time about a thousand men were killed 
 in that pound. About this time Cromwell was on 
 horseback at the gate, with his guard, expecting the 
 gates to be opened by those entered, until he saw those 
 in the breach beaten back, and heard the cannons going 
 off within. Then he fell off, as much vexed as ever he 
 was since he first put on a helmet against the king, for 
 such a repulse he did not usually meet with." 
 
 A second storming party was formed, led on by some 
 of Cromwell's bravest officers. The onset was so fierce 
 that the defenders were driven from the breach ; but as* 
 the assailants entered they found themselves exposed to 
 
 11 
 
160 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 a galling cross-fire from the neighbouring houses. For 
 four hours troop after troop was hurled into the breach, 
 but most of the assailants were slain, and the survivors 
 were forced to retreat, leaving the dead bodies of about 
 two thousand of their companions as a barrier against 
 any further advance. Whitelock attests that " Crom- 
 well found at Clonmel the stoutest enemy his army had 
 ever met with in Ireland, and never was seen so hot a 
 storm, of so long continuance, and so gallantly defended, 
 neither in England nor in Ireland.' , MacGeoghegan 
 and Borlase estimate the loss of the Puritans at 2,500. 
 Carte states that 2,000 of Cromwell's best men were 
 slain at the storming. A contemporary narrative, pub- 
 lished in the Spicilegium Ossoriense (vol. ii. p. 59), 
 says " he lost more than 2,000 men before Clonmel, a 
 greater number than he had lost by all the towns which 
 he had stormed and taken since he came to Ireland." 
 Cromwell could not conceal his admiration of the 
 gallant conduct of O'Neill, and declared the garrison 
 to be invincible, and he now resolved to change the 
 siege into a blockade. 
 
 4. O'Neill, however, had exhausted all his means of 
 defence. Without ammunition and without provisions a 
 speedy surrender should very soon be inevitable. He 
 accordingly quitted the town silently at night with his 
 brave troops, permitting any of the clergy and towns- 
 people who so pleased to accompany him. As had been 
 arranged with O'Neill, the mayor, Mr. White, sent the 
 next morning messengers to Cromwell's camp with 
 offers to capitulate. The terms were easily agreed upon, 
 the more particularly, says the Rinuccini MS., in that 
 no mention was made of O'Neill or his soldiers, whom 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 151 
 
 Cromwell was thus in hopes of getting into his hands. 
 It was expressly covenanted that " the inhabitants of 
 Clonmel shall be protected in their lives and estates, from 
 all plunder and violence of the soldiery, and shall have 
 the same rights, liberty, and protection, as other sub- 
 jects under the authority of the Parliament of England 
 have or ought to have and enjoy within the dominion of 
 Ireland." It was only when the articles were duly signed 
 that Cromwell asked the mayor if Hugh O'Neill was 
 aware of the surrender. He replied that O'Neill had 
 gone with all his men on the preceding night. Crom- 
 well stared and frowned at him, and said : " You knave, 
 have you served me so." The mayor answered that 
 his excellency, at their conference, had not asked any 
 question on that head. Cromwell foamed and raged ; 
 but the keys of the gates were delivered, and during the 
 few days that he remained the conditions were kept. 
 Troops, however, were sent in pursuit of O'Neill, and 
 the women and children, as well as the stragglers 
 and wounded, who were obliged to fall back from the 
 main body, were put to the sword. 
 
 The neglect shown by Ormonde in the matter of sup- 
 plying the town with ammunition and provisions was 
 severely censured by the whole nation, and the citizens of 
 Limerick, in an address presented to the bishops before the 
 close of the year, reproached him in that " he had 
 pledged his honour that within twenty-one days he 
 would furnish the garrison with abundant supplies, 
 whereas twenty- one weeks passed by without the 
 promised aid being given. Truly, the inhabitants of 
 Clonmel have reason to pronounce a malediction on such 
 honour" 
 
152 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 5. Two or three days after the surrender of Clonmel, 
 Cromwell took occasion to return to England, leaving in 
 his stead Ireton to prosecute the war. A letter from the 
 camp, in May, 1650, published in Cary's Memorials 
 (vol. ii., p. 218), shows how humiliating to Cromwell's 
 pride was the check which he had received : "In the tak- 
 ing of Clonmel you may think we paid dear. Having lain 
 long before it, and in the meantime r taken Kilkenny, 
 much loss by sallies being sustained, an onslaught was 
 resolved. It was done with great loss, and the town 
 carried. But the inner entrenchments, devised by the 
 governor, a kinsman of O'Neill's, cost far dearer gaining. 
 After all which, they were by main force cast out of 
 all, and with much entreaty of Cromwell persuaded to 
 lodge that night under the walls, that their siege 
 might be believed not absolutely to be quitted. In the 
 night, little powder being left to defend, all was drawn 
 away, persons and things worth anything. Cromwell 
 himself says he doubted of getting on the soldiers next 
 day to a fresh assault. Towards morning a parley 
 beat, and was gladly received, so that conditions were 
 granted to their desires, not being above eighty de- 
 fendants in all, out of 2,500. They were mad when 
 they came in, and sending to pursue, cut off 200 
 women and children. Since a review of their force, 
 which consisted of all the strength they could make, 
 their troopers dismounted to boot, nearly all the 
 officers of Ireton s regiment are wanting ; and you may 
 guess shrewdly at Hercules by his foot ; and the busi- 
 ness is at this pass, that he that undertook to have 
 Ireland at his command so by last Michaelmas as a 
 child should keep it under with a rod, can't now assure 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 his soldiers two miles from home, and promise them a 
 safe return." 
 
 6. The scenes which in other towns had followed upon 
 the success of the Puritan arms were now repeated in 
 Clonmel, and the author of the Aphorismical Discovery 
 expressly attests that "the inhabitants were rifled, 
 pillaged, and plundered, without respect of persons, or 
 mercy of degree" (ii. 79). It is related by Bruodin, 
 that daring the siege, Fr. Nicholas Mulcahy, parish- 
 priest of Ardfinnan, in the county of Tipperary, was 
 seized by a troop of the Puritan cavalry, that had been 
 sent out to reconnoitre. Immediately on his arrest he 
 was put in irons, conveyed to the camp of the besiegers, 
 and offered his pardon, if he would only consent to use 
 his influence with the inhabitants of Clonmel, and 
 induce them to give up the town. This he steadily 
 refused, and was in consequence led out in view of the 
 besieged city, and there his head was struck off, whilst he 
 prayed for his faithful people, and asked forgiveness 
 for hi3 enemies. 
 
 7. Geoff ry Baron, of Clonmel, was subsequently put to 
 death at Limerick. Being asked at the court-martial 
 what had he to say why sentence should not be passed 
 against him, he replied : "that it was not just to ex- 
 clude him from mercy, because he had been engaged in 
 the same cause as the Parliament pretended to fight 
 for, which was for the religion and liberty of his 
 country.'' (Ludlow's Memoirs, p. 144.) He was at once 
 sentenced to be hanged. He asked to be allowed 
 to return to his house to dress himself before his execu- 
 tion. This he was permitted to do, accompanied by a 
 guard. He accordingly proceeded to his house, " and 
 
154 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 finding there a new suit of white tafntie, with all the 
 addresses suitable, as if to be presently married, adorn- 
 ing himself therewith, rode gallantly, as he was 
 accustomed, with the guard towards the place of execu- 
 tion." In his countenance and words he showed great 
 joy, and being asked why he put on such a dress for 
 the scaffold, replied : " that, if to marry a creature he 
 did no less, and now that he was of belief that his soul 
 departed at this instant from this body, did straight 
 enjoy the pleasures of heaven, in the consummation of 
 the eternal nuptial felicity, and to bestow this last 
 livery upon the relict companion of his soul, was the 
 least of his duty." (Apkor. Discov. vol. iii., p. 20.) 
 
 8. De Burgo preserves in his Hibernia Dominicana 
 the following account of the death of two holy priests 
 of the Dominican Order : — 
 
 Father James O'Reilly, O.S.D., was a learned theo- 
 logian, an eloquent preacher, and a famous poet. He 
 had been sent a short time before from Waterford to 
 Clonmel, to train the youth of the town in polite litera- 
 ture, and in the Christian doctrine. When the garrison 
 abandoned the town, he too sought safety in flight. 
 Not knowing whither the road led, he wandered about, 
 and fell in with a troop of Puritan cavalry. They 
 asked him who he was. He replied fearlessly : "I am 
 a priest and a religious, although an unworthy one, of 
 the Order of St. Dominick. I have lost my way, and 
 while trying to escape you, have fallen into your hands. 
 I am a member of the Roman Catholic Apostolic 
 Church. So have I lived, and so will I die. May 
 God's will be done.." The soldiers fell on him, and 
 covered him with wounds. For a whole hour he lay 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 155 
 
 weltering in his blood. He did not cease to invoke the 
 holy names of Jesus and Mary, and to beseech his 
 patron saints to intercede for him. At length, ex- 
 hausted by his numerous wounds, the holy martyr gave 
 up his soul. 
 
 Father Myler Magrath, O.S.D., was put to death 
 after the town had come into the hands of the Puritans, 
 and by his heroism in martyrdom made amends for the 
 disgrace which the apostate promoted by Queen Elizabeth 
 to the See of Cashel, had brought upon the name. Fr. 
 Magrath had come to Clonmel to give the consolations of 
 religion to the afflicted inhabitants. He was seized 
 whilst engaged in his holy work at the bedside of a 
 sick man. The Puritan* satellites hurried him off to the 
 governor. His trial was a brief one. He was con- 
 demned to death, and hanged immediately after. 
 
 F. Dominick de Rosario further records that Fr. 
 James O'Reilly was arrested whilst reciting his office on 
 the mountain- side near Clonmel, and that Fr. Magrath, 
 being led to the scaffold, " addressed the spectators in 
 a stirring appeal, exhorting them to continue true to 
 the faith, and thus merited the martyr's crown. He 
 adds that some time after the surrender of the town, 
 the Puritan garrison siezed on another Dominican, Fr. 
 Thomas O'Higgins, and having kept him for awhile in 
 prison, led him to the scaffold. This was, indeed, the 
 fate of all the priests who fell into the hands of the 
 Puritan soldiers. Thus, for instance, as we learn from 
 the Aphorismical Discovery, a priest was seized at Gow- 
 ran, in the county of Kilkenny, and was at once hanged : 
 and when Castledermot was plundered, three friara 
 were arrested and cruelly put to death. 
 
156 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 9. The reader will be anxious to learn the fate of the 
 brave Hugh O'Neill, who so heroically defended the 
 town against the enemy's assaults. We will again 
 meet with him at the siege of Limerick. After the 
 fall of that city he was sent a prisoner to London, and 
 detained there for more than a year. At length, in 
 1653, he, at the urgent request of the Spanish Court, 
 was set at Libert}', and proceeded to Flanders, and thence 
 to Spain. On the death of his relative, the Earl of 
 Tyrone, about this time, he, with the sanction of the 
 Spanish Government, assumed that title, and with it 
 received a high military post in the Spanish army. He 
 won new laurels for his name and country in the subse- 
 quent war with Portugal, but fell mortally wounded on 
 the battle field. He bequeathed the title of Earl of 
 Tyrone to the grandson of Owen Roe O'JSeill, who was 
 now completing his education in Rome, under the 
 patronage of the Sovereign Pontiff, and who, a few 
 years later, entered the Spanish service, and soon gave 
 proof that with the name he inherited the chivalrous 
 spirit of his ancestors. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 157 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 L Letter of the Bishop of Waterford, Dr. Comerford. — 2. Defence of 
 the city against Cromwell. — 3. Plague ; Ireton occupies the city. 
 — 4. Sufferings of the clergy and citizens. — 5. Official statements. — 
 6. Fr. Nugent. — 7. Patrick Comerford, Bishop of Waterford. 
 
 1. In the Barberini archives in Rome, is preserved 
 a letter written on the 9th of March, 1642, by the 
 venerable Bishop of "Waterford, Dr. Comerford, to an 
 Irish gentleman resident in Paris, which presents many 
 valuable facts connected with the glorious struggle in 
 which Ireland was then engaged. A few extracts from 
 it will suffice to illustrate our present subject : — " I at- 
 tribute your silence to the calamities of these turbulent 
 times. I write this letter to acquaint you with the 
 state of this kingdom, which, for the greater part, is now 
 engaged in a great and unexpected .struggle. It com- 
 menced in Ulster, thence it passed to Leinster and Con- 
 naught, and in fine to Minister. Its scope and object 
 was to prevent the massacre and utter extermination 
 of the Catholics of this kingdom, which our enemies 
 sought for, and to repel the tyrannical persecution 
 which they had already planned against us, as also to 
 recover the liberties and privileges of our oppressed 
 nation, and to defend and maintain against the Puritans 
 
158 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 the ancient and loyal prerogatives of our most gracious 
 monarch/' 
 
 He then details the wants of the Irish army, the 
 ports to which succour could be safely sent, the plunder 
 of the country by the Puritans, and adds : — " Last 
 week the President of Munster having received rein- 
 forcements, 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 Father Edmund Hore and Father John Clancy, 
 both priests, together with other of the principal 
 citizens; they then sacked the place and retired, leav- 
 ing a strong garrison in the castle." 
 
 2. Throughout the whole eventful period of the con- 
 federation, Waterford had proved itself most loyal to 
 the national cause, and most devoted to the Nuncio 
 Binuccini. When, through the intrigues of the 
 Ormondist faction, the Nuncio was forced to quit 
 Kilkenny in 1647, he found a secure refuge in Water- 
 ford, and thence soon after returned in triumph to the 
 seat of government. The bishop being threatened 
 with the seizure of the temporalities of the See, unless 
 he forsook the Nuncio's cause, replied : " Though I 
 were to be stripped of all that the world could give me, 
 for my submission to the decrees of Holy Church, I 
 will, nevertheless, persevere in my obedience ; nor will 
 I cease to pray Grod that He may guide faithfully the 
 counsels of the Confederates of this Kingdom On 
 the approach of Cromwell, the citizens refused to admit 
 Lord Castlehaven with his English regiments, and 
 Ormonde declared that he would send them no other 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 159 
 
 help. When, however, the deputies from the city 
 obtained 500 men from the Ulster camp, he revoked his 
 order, and permitted 1,500 Irish Catholic soldiers from 
 his own camp to join the garrison. Lieutenant- General 
 O'Farrell was appointed governor, and as he allowed 
 no communication to be held with the besiegers except 
 through himself, the enemy was unable to apply the 
 usual golden key to the city gates. Ormonde's army 
 of 10,000 men was not far distant, and Cromwell, 
 disheartened at the prospect of a tedious siege in mid- 
 winter, broke up his camp on the 2nd of December, 
 1649, to take up his winter quarters in those towns of 
 the south, whose English garrisons had declared in his 
 favour. During the short time of the siege he had lost 
 more than 1,000 men by sickness, and among them some 
 distinguished officers. " Finding the indisposition in 
 point of health increasing, and his foot falling sick near 
 ten of a company every night they were on duty, 
 and his numbers not above 3,000 healthful foot in the 
 field, being necessitated to put so many into garrison, 
 the enemy mustering about 12,000 horse and foot, 
 having well near as many in the town as he without, 
 bread and other necessaries not coming to them, and the 
 dripping weather having made the ground so moist 
 that it would not bear the guns, the council of war in 
 consequence advised him to rise from before "Water - 
 ford, and to retire into winter quarters to refresh the 
 sick and weak soldiers. " 
 
 3. In the beginning of June, 1650, Ireton again led the 
 Puritan army towards Waterford. Lieutenant- General 
 Preston was now the governor. The citizens, decimated 
 by the plague, and weary of supporting the garrison, 
 
160 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 more than once expressed their readiness to surrender 
 on favourable conditions. At length, on the 6th of 
 August, the articles of surrender were duly signed. 
 After three days the garrison was to march, with 
 military honours, to Athlone, life and property were 
 guaranteed to the citizens, and any strangers or others 
 dwelling in the city had permission to accompany the 
 garrison. Thus, on Friday, the 10th of August, 1650, 
 the city of Waterford came into the enemy's hands. 
 Ireton, in his letters to London, expressed his wonder 
 that a city so populous, and strongly fortified, and well 
 provisioned should have so soon surrendered ; but the 
 Bishop of Waterford, writing to Father Luke Wadding, 
 in Rome, on the 3rd of July, 1651, assigns the true 
 cause. Five thousand of the citizens had been carried 
 oh* by the plague, and only a few now remained able to 
 bear arms ; their resources were well nigh exhausted, 
 for the whole support of the garrison during the eight 
 months that intervened since the first siege had been 
 thrown upon the citizens ; and what was of greater im- 
 portance, from the military point of view, only a few 
 barrels of gunpowder now remained, without any hope 
 of a further supply being available. 
 
 Four days later the fort of Duncannon surrendered 
 on the same conditions. Thomas Roche, who for a long 
 time had been its governor, having died a few months 
 before, the chaplain of the garrison, Rev. Gelasius 
 Smith, was appointed to succeed him. The handful of 
 troops who formed the garrison displayed the greatest 
 bravery, but after the surrender of the city, further 
 defence being fruitless, Fr. Smith, by order of the 
 general in command, signed the articles, not as priest, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFOKD. 161 
 
 but as governor, and with his men marched out with 
 all the honours of war. 
 
 The Narrative of events in Ireland, written in 1655, 
 to which reference has been already made in the pre- 
 ceding chapters, gives a few interesting details relating 
 to the Catholic city of "Waterford at this period. 
 
 As the year 1650, it says, spread mourning and 
 sorrow through all parts of the kingdom, so, in a special 
 manner, did it put an end to the happiness of "Water- 
 ford. Pestilence, famine, and the sword at the same 
 time assailed the city. The enemy, when laying siege 
 to the city the first time, offered liberal conditions, 
 together with the privileges of the citizenship of Lon- 
 don, and the free exercise of their religion. But the 
 inhabitants held in mind the interpretation that had 
 been put upon this latter article on the surrender of 
 Ross, when Cromwell declared that it extended only to 
 the interior belief, and not to the open practice of that 
 religion, and hence they resolved on resisting to the last 
 the heretical foe. Dreading the treachery of the royal 
 officers, they refused to admit within the walls the re- 
 inforcements which Ormonde offered them ; and 
 though the siege was carried on with unremitting 
 vigour from September to December, so heroic was the 
 defence, that on the feast of St. Francis Xavier the 
 enemy abandoned the siege in despair. 
 
 However, those whom the parliamentary forces could 
 not subdue were gradually wasted away by pestilence, 
 till at length the city became a prey to the enemy. Of 
 the many thousands who then defended it, four hundred 
 alone survived, when Ireton, after the siege of Clonmel, 
 advanced a second time against its walls. Nevertheless, 
 
162 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 it again resisted for nine weeks, u and it came into the 
 enemy's hands, not so much overcome by force, as 
 because it had become a solitude through the violence 
 of the pestilence." For a little while no persecution 
 was proclaimed, but ere long the virulence of Puritanism 
 was seen ; an edict commanded all Catholics to depart 
 from the city within three months, and thus citizens and 
 clergy were involved in a common ruin ; " and now, 
 glorious confessors of Christ, they seek a secure asylum, 
 scattered over the various regions of the earth."* 
 
 4. Froma letter of a Capuchin father (30th June, 1651), 
 written from Waterford to his superior in Rome, we 
 learn that no ecclesiastic dared to appear publicly in 
 the city, and that neither friendship nor reward could 
 induce the heretics to allow the slightest toleration. f 
 " As for me," he adds, " I pass freely through the city, 
 for I serve as gardener the chief heretic of this city ; 
 sometimes, too, I work in carrying loads, passing as 
 one of the coalporters." We learn further details from 
 the bishop of the diocese, who, writing from his place 
 of exile to Rome (3rd March, 1651), thus depicts the 
 ruin that had fallen on his once chosen flock : " War 
 and the pestilence have laid waste the whole country ; 
 our churches and altars are profaned and transformed 
 into stables or barracks, or hospitals ; no longer is the 
 sacrifice offered up, nor the divine word preached, nor 
 the holy sacrament administered ; the ecclesiastics who 
 were spared by the plague, have been sent into banish- 
 
 • Ibid. " In varias mundi partes gloriosi Christi confessores emi- 
 grarunt. 
 
 t "Nullus ecclesiasticus audet apparere nullum enim horum 
 tolerant aut favore victi aut muneribus." 
 
SrFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 163 
 
 ment ; the pestilence swept away five thousand of the 
 citizens and soldiery, and still continues its havoc 
 there. Truly this dire scourge is a chastisement for our 
 sins." 
 
 Another manuscript, entitled, " Xarratio Brevis 
 Status Eegni Hibernia?," &c, written on 13th August, 
 1651, thus briefly sketches the state of TTaterford at 
 the same period : — <( From Waterford all the citizens 
 and old inhabitants were driven forth in the month of 
 May last, being deprived of all their possessions and 
 houses and lands ; neither is there any hope of their 
 being able to return. The same has happened to the 
 Catholics in Dublin and elsewhere. The enemy 
 searches out with the greatest rigour for all priests and 
 religious. Any priests that are arrested are cast into 
 dungeons and chains ; they are barbarously and cruelly 
 treated, and are thence, for the most part, banished to 
 foreign lands. In the month of April, this year, a 
 priest of the Order of St. Dominick, for celebrating 
 Mass and administering the Sacraments, especially that 
 of Penance, endured a glorious martyrdom, being 
 hanged in the public square of Clonmel. All such as 
 receive a priest or religious into their houses, or give 
 them any assistance are grievously fined and op- 
 pressed/' 
 
 5. The official government records published by Pren- 
 dergast fully corroborate the statements of the Catholic 
 writers. When the city surrendered to Ireton, on 6th 
 August, 1650, its garrison was permitted to march to 
 Athlone, with standards flying, trumpets sounding, and 
 all the other honours of war. Its wealthy merchants, 
 however, were all dispersed and banished, its thronged 
 
164 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 streets became desolate, its houses dilapidated, and the 
 breast of the broad river shipless. Colonel Richard 
 Lawrence proposed a scheme to raise in England a regi 
 ment of 1,200 men, who would inhabit the city and 
 serve at the same time to guard it. The proposal 
 received the approval of Treton, and Colonel Lawrence 
 was appointed governor of the city. On the 10th De- 
 cember, 1650, the Commissioners for Ireland report 
 that Waterford, as well as Limerick, Galway, and 
 Cork, had become ruinous, the houses falling down, and 
 by indigent people pulled down. Year after year 
 such reports were repeated. Men with means could not 
 be got to settle there, and only such persons flocked 
 thither as hoped to have dwelling-houses without rent 
 for their habitations. At length the Restoration came. 
 Many of the former citizens hastened back from Con- 
 naught and other places of refuge, hoping now, at 
 least, to enjoy their old inheritance in peace. They 
 were quickly undeceived. On the 10th December, 
 1661, the Lords Justices issued a proclamation command- 
 ing all such Papists, and all merchants and tradesmen 
 who had been tolerated under the late usurpers, to de- 
 part from the city within twenty-four hours, with their 
 goods and families, and this was so rigorously enforced 
 that many poor women who had hoped to escape un- 
 observed, were, in the depth of winter, dragged through 
 the streets, and thrust out of the town. Several of the 
 old merchants, on hearing the glad tidings of the 
 restoration of Charles II., petitioned from Ostend, St. 
 Malo, Nantes, and Eochelle, in France, and from St. 
 Sebastian and Cadiz in Spain, on behalf of themselves 
 and others in far-off Mexico, to be allowed to return 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 165 
 
 and to exercise in their native city the skill and the 
 fortune they had gained by trafficking during their 
 eleven years' banishment. Such petitions were at 
 intervals repeated, yet to none of them was a favourable 
 answer given; and the reason was, lest the English 
 interest of the new planters should be encroached upon 
 by these old Catholic families. 
 
 6. Yet, during all this time, some Catholics had re- 
 mained in the city, and priests had not been wanting 
 who braved every peril in order to minister to them the 
 sacraments of life. In the very household of the 
 Puritan governor, Colonel Lawrence, Fr. Nugent dwelt. 
 He was a skilful gardener, and he made himself useful 
 in a thousand other ways. Sometimes Chief Justice 
 Cook, Chief Justice of Munster, who was u a most sweet 
 man, and a great comfort to the godly," would borrow 
 this able servant for a few days. Yet, all this time 
 F. Nugent was with imminent risk of his life visiting 
 and instructing the remnant of the Catholic citizens. 
 
 7. Patrick Comerford, who at this time ruled the united 
 Sees of "Waterf ord and Lismore, was the child of Robert 
 Comerford and Anastasia (White), and a native of the 
 city of Waterford. Throughout the sixteenth century 
 the citizens had proved themselves so devoted to the 
 Catholic faith, that the city was popularly known as 
 " Parva Roma," a miniature Rome. Born about the 
 year 1586, Patrick, at an early age, resolved on em- 
 bracing the ecclesiastical state. The house of his 
 widowed mother was ever open to shelter the devoted 
 priests who suffered persecution for the faith, who in 
 return instructed her son in the rudiments of learning, 
 and trained his heart to piety. Father Dermod 
 
 12 
 
166 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 O'Callaghan, one of the zealous ministers of religion 
 who had found a secure refuge there, had taken an 
 active part in restoring the churches of the city to 
 divine worship on the death of Queen Elizabeth. For 
 this reason he was pursued with special enmity by the 
 heretics, and being obliged to fly to the Continent, was 
 mainly instrumental in establishing the Irish College 
 at Bordeaux, for which the necessary funds were pro- 
 vided through the munificence of Cardinal de Sourdis, 
 Archbishop of that city. The young Comerford ac- 
 companied F. O'Callaghan to France, and became one 
 of the first, as he was destined to be in after life one 
 of the most illustrious students of the new college. He 
 applied himself to the higher studies of philosophy and 
 theology in Lisbon and Coimbra, and being enrolled in 
 the Order of St. Augustine, was distinguished as a pro- 
 fessor at Terceiro and in Brussels. He was remarkable 
 for his stature, and obtained considerable repute as poet, 
 theologian, and orator. Being summoned to Rome to 
 assist at a general chapter of the Order, he was ap- 
 pointed by Pope Paul V. commendatory Prior of Kells 
 in Ossory, and received the decree of Doctor in Theo- 
 logy at Florence. Returning to Ireland, he, with the 
 sanction of the illustrious bishop, David Rothe, applied 
 himself, though residing in "Waterford, to administer 
 the sacraments from time to time, and to instruct in 
 the doctrines of life the faithful of the district intrusted 
 to his care, nis brother being captured by pirates, and 
 led off to Morocco, Father Comerford collected among 
 his friends the sum of money demanded for his ransom 
 and proceeded to Spain to procure his release. His 
 brother, however, thus restored to liberty, was almost 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 167 
 
 immediately on landing in Spain carried off by the 
 plague. This, however, did not dishearten the good 
 religious, for it is recorded that he procured from the 
 Moors the release of one hundred slaves. From Spain 
 he proceeded to Rome, and the clergy of Waterf ord and 
 Lismore, having presented a petition to the Holy Father 
 in his favour through Lawrence Lea, Vicar- General of 
 the united dioceses, and Dean of Waterford, he was ap- 
 pointed bishop of the vacant sees in the Consistory of the 
 12th of February, 1629, and was consecrated by 
 Cardinal Bentivoglio, assisted by two other bishops, in 
 the oratory of St. Sylvester, at the Quirinal, on the 
 18th of March following. Returning to Waterford, he 
 laboured strenuously in the conversion of Protestants 
 to the true faith, and such was his success in refuting 
 their errors that he was called "malleus hwreticorum," 
 " the hammer of heretics." At a later period, during 
 the Confederation, he printed at "Waterford a contro- 
 versial work which he composed at this time. His life 
 was often exposed to great risk from the pursuit of the 
 enemies of the faith, and he had repeatedly to seek for 
 safety in concealment or flight. Soon after his return 
 to Ireland, he wrote a letter to Fr. Wadding from 
 Waterford, on the 22nd of [November, 1629, in which 
 he describes Ireland in the gloomiest colours : " It is 
 the moistiest, the stormiest, the poorest, and most op- 
 pressed country that I saw since I left it until I returned 
 . . . As for trading or stirring in mercantile affairs, 
 which is the support of this kingdom, it is so much for- 
 gotten, that scarce a man doth know (of) what colour is 
 the coin in this miserable island ; the dearth of the two 
 last years, the universal sickness, the oppression (by 
 
168 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFOBD. 
 
 the) soldiers, beside other incumbrances, have made 
 Ireland to seem to be in very deed the land of ire. At 
 sea, a merchant cannot navigate two days when he is 
 taken by a Hollander, or a Dutch, or a French pirate, 
 or a hungry Biscayner. The weather is so rainy and 
 drowsy continually, that it doth imprint and indent in 
 a man's heart a certain saturn quality of heaviness, 
 sluggishness, laziness, and perpetual sloth. Our (Lord; 
 Deputy is gone for England, and in his stead do govern 
 the kingdom the Lord of Cork and the Lord Chancellor. 
 What is their mind we do not know yet, but if they 
 will not expel us out of the kingdom, I know not what 
 other punishment can they inflict upon us, for money 
 or means they cannot find in any place of Ireland." 
 A year and a half later (12th of March, 1631) he writes 
 more cheerily to the same : u The country here doth 
 begin a little to respire after the tedious wars, dearth, and 
 sickness, with which it was afflicted all these six years 
 past. As yet we see no great persecution since the 
 peace was proclaimed, although we may not presume 
 much on this little toleration, fearing such another 
 devastation and desolation as came upon us this last 
 year. This, your native place, lifts up its head from 
 the waves, as if it were after a long storm, and if any 
 place of the kingdom have any stirring or trade, this 
 will not overslip it." During the triumph of the Con- 
 federate cause, the ceremonies of the Church were per- 
 formed in Waterford with such decorum, exactness, 
 and splendour, that the Nuncio attested he had nowhere 
 seen the usages of Rome more faithfully reproduced. The 
 bishop, by Pontifical authority, attached to the Cathedral, 
 the Church of St. Catherine, of old belonging to the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 169 
 
 Canons Regular of St. Augustine, and in exchange 
 gave to the religious of his Order the chapel of the 
 Blessed Virgin, hitherto dependent on the cathedral. 
 During the terrible visitation of the plague he was un- 
 tiring in visiting the sick and administering every 
 spiritual aid and consolation to his flock. "When at 
 length the city fell into the enemy's hands, he was 
 ordered to quit the kingdom within three months. He 
 accordingly sailed for Brittany ; but on the journey was 
 twice seized by pirates, and plundered of everything he 
 had. Writing to the Archbishop of Fermo, on the 23rd 
 of March, 1651, he states that after his exile from Ire- 
 land *' the few priests who had survived the pestilence, 
 and concealed themselves among the remnant of the 
 Catholics, were banished." He adds : " I hear that the 
 plague has begun its ravages again, and is carrying off 
 the few Catholics that remained. Since my departure, 
 my nephews, Paul Carew and John Fitzgerald, and 
 several others, have died. The same tale of misery 
 comes to us from Dublin, Wexford, Kilkenny, Ross, 
 Clonmel, and the adjoining districts.' ' The States of 
 Brittany made ample provision for the exiled bishop's 
 support ; but worn out by his infirmities and sufferings, 
 he died at Nantes, on Sunday, the 10th of March, 1652, 
 and was interred in the episcopal vault in the cathedral. 
 When, seven years later, the same vault was opened to 
 receive the remains of Robert Barry, Bishop of Cork, 
 the body of Dr. Comerford was found quite incorrupt. 
 The epitaph inscribed upon his tomb by his nephews, 
 Patrick Hackett and Nicholas Fitzgerald, may be seen 
 in the third volume of the Spicilegium Ossoriense. 
 During the exile of the bishop, and throughout the whole 
 
170 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATEllFOllD. 
 
 dismal period of Ireland's suffering, till John Brennan 
 was appointed bishop, the vacant sees were administered 
 by the Rev. Robert Power, Dean and Vicar-General. 
 He was descended from the Barons of Curraghmore, 
 and displayed great energy and prudence, and through- 
 out the perilous times of his administration never 
 abandoned the flock. Repeated attempts were made 
 by the Puritans to ensnare him, but the affection of his 
 people guarded him from every danger, and when each 
 storm subsided he was again found at his post labouring 
 indefatigably to impart instruction and dispense the 
 bread of life to the children of Christ. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 171 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Limerick. 
 
 1. Ardour of the people of Limerick in the Catholic cause ; Letter of 
 the Bishop. — 2. Citizens determine not to receive Ormonde ; their 
 Letter. — 3. Ireton besieges Limerick; is repulsed by Hugh 
 O'Neill. — 4. St. Vincent sends Missionaries to Ireland. — 
 5. Their labours in Limerick. — 6. Praised by Archbishop of 
 Cashel and Bishop of Limerick. — 7. Piety of Limerick. — 8. Letter 
 of Dr. O'Dwyer. — 9. Limerick taken by Ireton; several put to 
 death.— 10. Two facts attested by Fr. Dominick O'Daly.— 11. The 
 articles of surrender violated ; Death of the Bishop of Killaloe. — 
 12. Fanning and others put to death. — 13. Extracts from the 
 official diary. — 14. Execution of Thomas Stritch and Sir Patrick 
 Purcell. — 15. Prophetic words of St. Vincent de Paul. — 16. The 
 Bishop of Limerick. 
 
 1. From the very commencement of the confederate 
 war the citizens of Limerick were remarkable for the 
 ardour with which they entered on the struggle : they 
 were subsequently still more distinguished by the 
 heroism with which they drove Ireton from their walls ; 
 but their renown received its brightest lustre from 
 the true Christian spirit which they displayed, and in 
 which, when overcome by the pestilence and the num- 
 ber of their foes, they chose rather to endure every 
 suffering than abandon the Catholic faith. 
 
 As early as the 8th October, 1646, the bishop of that 
 
172 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 see, writing to the secretary of the Sacred Congregation, 
 declared that no longer did any alternative remain : 
 " We shall either restore the Catholic Eeligion in its 
 full splendour, or be all cut off to a man (aid fidem 
 CathoUcam stabilire aid omnes ad unum perire): one 
 spirit pervades us all ... but unless timely succour 
 comes from foreign parts, we shall surely be overcome, 
 and the Catholic religion will be rooted out, in defence 
 of which alone this war was begun." 
 
 2. True to their principles, the citizens, even when 
 the Puritan army was marching to the attack, refused 
 to admit Ormonde or his troops within the walls. Per- 
 haps one of the most remarkable documents of this 
 period is the protest which they presented to their 
 bishop in the beginning of 1650, and which they again 
 solemnly laid before the Archbishop of Cashel and the 
 other bishops of Ireland, when assembled in Limerick 
 on the 24th of October, the same year. In it they 
 sketch the career of Ormonde and Inchiquin, whom they 
 justly stigmatized as traitors : — " What succour, they 
 ask, can we expect from Ormonde and Inchiquin, the 
 sworn enemies of the Catholic cause ? What good can 
 this nation look forward to from the government of 
 those who persecuted her with fire and sword, and dis- 
 played such tyranny, and sacrilege, and profanation, as 
 surpass all former persecutions of the Church ? . , . 
 Should we be necessitated to surrender, will it not be 
 better to enter into negotiations with the Parliament, 
 and secure some conditions, than to open our gates to a 
 domestic enemy, by whom we shall be first despoiled 
 of all our goods and properties, and then, as has hap- 
 pened in so many other cities, be sold to the enemy ? 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 173 
 
 Can any city or town be named which admitted Ormonde 
 within its walls, and was not betrayed by him ? Who 
 will dare to deny that it happened so in Dublin, 
 Drogheda, Dundalk, Carlingford, Trim, Athlone, Navan, 
 Naas, Wicklow, Carlow, Eoss, Waterford, Wexford, 
 Kilkenny, Carrick, Fethard, Cashel, and so many other 
 towns, all of which endured such miseries and dire 
 calamities through the treacherous designs of Ormonde, 
 as no volume could contain, no pen describe, no tongue 
 express ?" 
 
 They, moreover, add an important fact that although, 
 according to the official returns, £533, 564. 10s. lid., 
 that is to say, more than half a million of ready money 
 had been raised from the 1st of January, 1649, to the 
 1st of January, 1650, for the expenses of the war, in 
 addition to the corn which was gathered, and the civil 
 taxes, which were collected as usual ; yet of all this sum 
 only £28,000 had been devoted to the payment of the 
 troops — £16,000 having been given to the Protestant 
 soldiers, and only £12,000 to the Catholic army. 
 
 3. It was in the month of September, 1650, that Ire- 
 ton, with his army, greatly reduced in numbers, appeared 
 for the first time before the walls of Limerick. Coote, 
 with the northern troops, being repulsed at Athlone, 
 was unable to take part in the siege, and Ireton's army 
 was of itself insufficient to assail the city, except on the 
 south side ; but he hoped that the treason of some of 
 the Ormondist officers would open the gates after a 
 show of resistance. The citizens had chosen Hugh 
 Duff O'jSTeill for their military governor, with full con- 
 fidence in his loyalty, as well as in his military skill. 
 Even he, however, had lost all hope of being able to 
 
174 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IK LIMEKICK. 
 
 defend the city. Writing to Ormonde, he declared that 
 there was not in the garrison an officer or soldier in 
 whom he could implicitly confide. However, when 
 Ormonde proposed to enter the city with his army, the 
 citizens refused them admittance, and offered them- 
 selves as volunteers for its defence. Ireton, seeing their 
 determination, broke up his camp, and for the present 
 abandoned the siege. 
 
 In the summer of 1651, Ireton sat down a second 
 time before the walls of Limerick. Its heroic garrison, 
 though small, repulsed the enemy at every assault. For 
 a long time the issue appeared doubtful. The author 
 of " Brevis Narratio Status Regni Hibernise 99 thus 
 writes from Connaught, on the 13th of August, 1651 : 
 u Ireton, at present, by a close siege, hems in Limerick 
 on every side ; mounds and batteries and fortresses are 
 everywhere erected around the city ; by a repeated 
 bombardment the wall at the western bridge of the city 
 was thrown down, whereupon the enemy attempted an 
 assault, their regular army attacking it by land, whilst 
 by a number of boats and small vessels, they sought to 
 penetrate into the city on the river side ; yet, the citizens 
 of Limerick not only bravely resisted and repelled the 
 assault, but pursued the enemy without the walls, 
 utterly discomfiting them, the number of Ireton's slain 
 being 1,500. The boats and vessels too became a prey 
 to the victors. More than once the assault was re- 
 peated, but always with a similar result ; so that up to 
 the present time the loss of Ireton's army is reckoned 
 at more than 3,500." 
 
 However, famine and the plague soon effected what 
 the power of the enemy could not achieve. Whilst the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS EN LIMERICK. 175 
 
 city was thus laid desolate by the pestilence, it witnessed 
 many scenes of Christian heroism, of which our country 
 may be justly proud. It is chiefly from the memoirs 
 of St. Vincent de Paul that we glean the particulars of 
 the heroic charity, and of the fervour of piety which 
 the citizens then displayed. 
 
 4. St. Vincent de Paul, that angel of charity, cherished 
 a special affection for the persecuted Church of Ireland. 
 " The sole detail," says M. Collet, " of all he did and 
 procured to be done in favour of the ecclesiastics 
 banished from Ireland by Cromwell would exceed my 
 limits, and wear out the patience of my readers and 
 the Archives of Paris yet preserve many records of the 
 untiring efforts of the saint to provide a home and a 
 refuge for the multitude of our countrymen who, 
 despoiled of all they possessed, and exiles from the land 
 of their birth, were cast upon the shores of France. 
 The Bishop of ^aterford, who had been an eye-witness, 
 gave an account to Clement IX. of the assistance in 
 money, and ornaments, and clothing, sent by the saint 
 to the suffering Catholics in Ireland, declaring at the 
 same time, that as St. Patrick and St. Malachy in 
 earlier ages, so Father Vincent was raised up by God 
 in this period of persecution, to be the salvation of our 
 country. 
 
 5. It was in 1646 that the first missionary fathers landed 
 in Ireland, having accompanied the bishop from Paris ; 
 and during the five years that they remained, Limerick 
 was the chief scene of their labours. The happy fruits 
 of their zeal were soon visible to all ; and it is recorded, 
 as a striking fact, that none of the clergy who assisted 
 at their missions were found to abandon their spiritual 
 
176 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 charges : " All remained with their flocks entrusted to 
 them, assisting and defending them until they were 
 banished, or suffered death for the Catholic faith ; and, 
 in effect, it was granted to all to endure one or the 
 other."* 
 
 A fact, incidentally mentioned in the Life of St. 
 Vincent, speaks volumes for the persecution to which 
 our clergy were then exposed : " It happened," says the 
 author of his life, " that one of those heroic parish- 
 priests came to a missionary father (who lived in a cabin 
 at the foot of a mountain) to make his annual retreat ; 
 on the following night, he was discovered in the act of 
 administering the sacraments to some sick persons, and 
 was cut to pieces on the spot by the heretical soldiery. 
 His glorious death," adds the same writer "crowned 
 his innocent life, and fulfilled the great desire he had 
 to suffer for our Lord, as he himself had declared in the 
 preceding year at a mission given by the Yincentian 
 Fathers in Limerick." 
 
 6. On the 16th of August, 1648, the Archbishop of 
 Cashel wrote to St. Vincent that, through the zeal of 
 his good fathers, " the people had been excited to piety, 
 which was increasing every day ; and although these 
 admirable priests have suffered inconveniences of every 
 sort since their arrival in this country, they, neverthe- 
 
 * See Abelly's "Vie de St. Vincent," lib. iv., chap. 8, "tous 
 demeurerent constamment pour les assister et defendre jusqu' a ce 
 qu' ils furent mis a mort, ou bannis pour la confession de la foi 
 Catholique," &c. Fathers James Wateft, Gerald O'Brien, and 
 Philip Dalton were the three first missionaries sent by St. Vincent to 
 Ireland. Father "Waters died after a short time, and Father Barry 
 was sent in his stead. Lynch states that eight priests were sent to 
 Ireland by St. Vincent. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 177 
 
 less, have not ceased for an instant to apply themselves 
 to their spiritual mission, and, blessed by heavenly 
 grace, they have gloriously propagated and increased 
 the worship and glory of God." At the same time the 
 Bishop of Limerick wrote that, " by the example and 
 edifying deportment of these fathers, the greater part 
 of the nobility of both sexes had become models of 
 piety and virtue. It is true that the troubles and the 
 wars of this kingdom have been a great obstacle to 
 their functions ; nevertheless, the truths of faith have 
 been so engraven by them upon the minds of the inha- 
 bitants of both the cities and the country parts, that our 
 people bless God in their adversities equally as in pros- 
 perity." 
 
 7. When the plague raged with all its violence in 1 650, 
 only three priests of the order remained in Ireland, but 
 their labours were incessant, and an abundant spiritual 
 harvest was their reward. At that time there were 
 20,000 communicants within the walls of Limerick ; 
 " the whole city assumed the garb of penance to draw 
 down the blessings and the graces of heaven. To this 
 the magistrates contributed not a little ; for besides the 
 good example which they gave by their assiduous at- 
 tendance at the exercises of the mission, they employed 
 their'authority to root out vice and to banish scandal 
 and public disorders. Amongst other things they estab- 
 lished laws, and ordained certain punishments against 
 cursing and swearing, so that these detestable vices were 
 almost entirely banished from the city and the neigh- 
 bourhood, and Almighty God Himself seemed to autho- 
 rise these wise proceedings by the most manifest chas- 
 tisements which came on the transgresssors of such holy 
 
178 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 ordinances.' ' In April, 1650, St. Vincent wrote to the 
 superior of the community, encouraging them to meet 
 courageously the dangers which then threatened them. 
 In his letter he says : u You have given yourselves to 
 God, to remain immovably in the country where you 
 now are in the midst of perils, choosing rather to expose 
 yourselves to death than to be found wanting in charity 
 to your neighbour. . . . You have acted as true children 
 of our most adorable Father, to whom I return infinite 
 thanks for having produced in you that sovereign cha- 
 rity which is the perfection of all virtues. I pray Him 
 to fill you with it to the end, that exercising it in all 
 cases and everywhere, you may pour it forth into the 
 breasts of those who want it. Seeing that your com- 
 panions are in the same disposition of remaining, what- 
 ever may be the danger from war and pestilence, we 
 are of opinion that they should be allowed to stay. 
 How do we know what God intends in their reward ? 
 Certainly He does not bestow on them such a holy re- 
 solution in vain. My God, how inscrutable are thy 
 judgments ! Behold, at the close of one of the most 
 fruitful missions we have ever as yet witnessed, and 
 perhaps, too, one of the most necessary, Thou didst stop, 
 as it were, the course of thy mercies upon this penitent 
 city, and dost lay thy hand still more heavily upon her, 
 adding to the misfortune of war the scourge of pesti- 
 lence ; but all this is done in order to gather in the 
 harvest of the elect, and to collect the good grain into 
 thy eternal granary. We adore thy ways, Lord ! "* 
 8. Dr. Edmund O'Dwyer, the Bishop of this city, to 
 
 * Abelly. Ibid., pages 215-216. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 179 
 
 whom we have already referred, writing about the same 
 time to the holy founder of the congregation, details 
 some particulars of the missionary labours of these good 
 fathers : " I have often, in my letters to your reverence, 
 given you an account of your missionaries in this king- 
 dom ; to speak the truth, never in the memory of man 
 was so great progress in the Catholic religion heard of 
 as we have witnessed within the few last years, owing 
 to their piety and assiduity. . . . The whole city seems 
 to have changed its face, being compelled to have re- 
 course to penance by the war, the famine, the pestilence, 
 and the great danger impending on every side, all which 
 we receive as manifest signs of the anger of God. The 
 Divine Goodness has been pleased to do us this favour, 
 although we are but useless servants, and God has been 
 pleased to make use of the weak things of this world 
 to confound the mighty. Even the persons of highest 
 quality in the city attend so assiduously to the sermons, 
 the catechetical instructions, and all the other exercises 
 of the mission, that the cathedral is scarcely large 
 enough to contain all. We know of no better way to 
 appease the anger of God than by destroying the sins 
 which are the root and cause of all these evils. Verily 
 it is all over with us if God does not stretch out to us a 
 helping hand. To Him it belongs to have mercy and 
 to pardon. ... I know not, under heaven, a mission 
 more fruitful than that of Ireland, for although we 
 should have a hundred missionaries, the harvest of 
 souls would be still exceedingly great, and the labourers 
 too few." 
 
 Well did this worthy bishop declare that no human 
 aid could now avert the impending ruin. In a few 
 
180 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 months the plague alone numbered eight thousand vic- 
 tims within the walls of Limerick, and amongst them 
 was " the brother of the bishop, who chose to expose 
 his life going with the missionary fathers to visit the 
 sick and console them, and relieve their wants. It was 
 wonderful to behold the poor people supporting this 
 plague, not only with patience, but even with peace and 
 tranquillity, declaring that they died happy because 
 they had been relieved of the burden of their sins in 
 the tribunal of penance ; others said that they lamented 
 not their death, since it had pleased God to send them 
 the holy fathers (thus they styled the missionaries), to 
 purify their souls." . . . Twenty thousand general con- 
 fessions repaid the zeal of the devoted missionaries. 
 The bishop beholding all this could not refrain from 
 crying out : " Although Mr. Vincent never did any- 
 thing else for the glory of God than the good he has 
 done for these poor people, he ought to esteem himself 
 a happy man." 
 
 9. At length this last bulwark of Ireland was compelled 
 to submit* to the army of the Parliament. Conditions, 
 indeed, were granted ; but, with the Puritans, condi- 
 
 * Amongst the Wadding Papers, Rome, is the following list of the 
 war material found by Ireton in Limerick, on the 31st October, 
 1651 : " Barrels'of powder, 83 ; barrels of mixed shot, 23 ; match, 
 three ton and a-half ; powder and fixable muskets, 1165; broken 
 muskets and musket barrels, 1610; fowling-pieces, firelocks, and 
 carbines, 215 ; Ipikes 512 ; half -pikes, 30 ; halberts, 93 ; brownbills, 
 27 ; pistols, most unfixed, 109 ; colours of bandelieurs, 246 ; old 
 swords, 140 ; old saddles, 72 ; {brass) demy-cannon, 2; demy-culverin, 
 1 ; saker, 2 ; faulknet, 2 ; small-drake, 1 ; (iron), culverin, 1 ; saker, 2 ; 
 menion, 7 ; falken, 2 ; faulknet, 3." This was the whole military 
 store of the Irish garrison. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 181 
 
 tions were only made in order to be violated, and no 
 sooner were they admitted within the walls, " than they 
 cruelly massacred many of the inhabitants on account 
 of the Catholic faith which they professed."* 
 
 The Bishop of Limerick, with Thomas Stritch, Mayor 
 of the city, and Oliver French, Mayor of Gralway, on 
 the 11th of January, 1651, addressed a letter to the 
 Duke of Lorraine and the other Catholic princes on the 
 Continent soliciting aid for their suffering country. 
 " Alas ! (they say) Catholic Ireland has now become a 
 prey to the caprice and malice of the heretics, for the 
 fort of Duncannon, the strongest bulwark of the king- 
 dom, "Waterford, Kilkenny, "Wexford, the mistress of 
 the sea, Ross, Clonmel, and all the Catholic cities and 
 towns have fallen into the enemy's hands. The cities 
 of Limerick and Galway alone now remain to the Con- 
 federates, and they survive only as a spark of the all 
 but expiring Catholic cause.' ' No aid, however, could 
 be procured from the Continent, and Athlone being 
 shamefully abandoned by Clanricarde the Puritan troops 
 of Ulster under Coote united with Ireton's army, and 
 encamped before the devoted city early in the summer 
 of 1651. It was not so much, however, by the valour 
 of the assailants, as through the dissensions that pre- 
 vailed within the walls, that the city was to be taken ; 
 and Ireton, writing to the Speaker of the Parliament in 
 London on the 3rd of November, 1651, a few days after 
 its surrender, attests that there were many among the 
 citizens, some of them, too, of high position, who having 
 heretofore, and in particular during this siege, " given 
 
 * Abelly, loc. sit., p. 218. 
 
 13 
 
182 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 proofs of constant affection for Englishmen and the 
 English interest, deserved to be permitted to remain in 
 the city, and to have consideration shown them in the 
 matter of their estates." 
 
 The Einuccini MS. gives us a few particulars relating 
 to the siege. As early as the third day of the siege the 
 Ormondist party within the city endeavoured to have 
 the city surrendered. Through the exertions of the 
 bishop and some of the citizens this attempt failed. 
 They secured for themselves, however, the possession 
 of the City Gate, called the Water Gate, and sent out 
 at night one of their party named Andrew "White to 
 arrange for the introduction of Ireton's troops. For 
 three days and nights the whole city was in alarm, 
 expecting every moment to find themselves betrayed 
 into the power of the enemy. The vigilance of O'Neill, 
 however, baffled their treachery, and inspired the citizens 
 with fresh courage. Ireton soon after attempted to 
 occupy by night an island close to the city, that by 
 fortifying it he might annoy the garrison, and render 
 the defence of the city impracticable. A considerable 
 detachment of picked troops was chosen for this task. 
 O'Neill had closely watched their movements, and 
 having set an ambush for them, not only prevented 
 their design, but completely annihilated the whole 
 detachment. After this check Ireton abandoned all 
 thought of assault upon the city, content to cut off the 
 supplies, and thus to force the garrison to surrender. 
 For about five months this went on, till winter was 
 again at hand threatening to compel the enemy once 
 more to abandon the siege. 
 
 On the 6th of October Peter Creagh entered on the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 183 
 
 duties of Mayor of the city. When taking the oath of 
 office at the Dominican convent in the presence of the 
 bishop he pledged himself that he would take no step 
 towards the surrender of the city without the approval 
 of the clergy and the military authorities. The defence 
 of the city was practically in his hands, for the corps of 
 citizen volunteers was under his command, and they 
 divided with the garrison the custody of the city gates. 
 The new mayor was himself an Ormondist, and he was 
 now so worked upon by that faction, who had become 
 the more powerful owing to the plague and the long- 
 continued distress that preyed upon the citizens, that 
 he was scarce a fortnight in office when he sent his 
 namesake, Peter Creagh, an ex-Mayor of Limerick, and 
 two other citizens, with full powers to negotiate the 
 surrender of the city. It was in vain that the clergy 
 and bishop condemned these proceedings. The Or- 
 mondists and their adherents carried the day by their 
 violence and clamour, the conditions offered by Ireton 
 were accepted on the 27th of October, and St. John's 
 Gate was thrown open to his army. Colonel Fennell, 
 the same who had well nigh betrayed Clonmel into 
 Cromwell's hands, had received from the mayor the 
 charge of this gate of the city. He turned its batteries 
 against the garrison, and rendered any further resistance 
 impossible. It was by a just retribution that this officer, 
 though soon after promoted to a commission in the 
 Puritan army, was before the close of the year accused 
 of some crime in Cork, and hanged " with more than 
 ordinary justice.' ' 
 
 By the articles agreed upon between the mayor and 
 the enemy the city was to be surrendered to Ireton for 
 
184 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 the Puritan Parliament on the 29th of October, 1651 ; 
 the citizens were to " have quarter for their lives and 
 liberty for their persons," and they were guaranteed 
 " their clothes, money, and other goods, so as to be free 
 from pillage, plunder, or other hostile violence in their 
 persons or goods during their continuance under the 
 said deputy's safe-conduct or protection." The fol- 
 lowing,, however, were excepted from quarter : — Major- 
 General Hugh O'Xeill, governor; Major- General 
 Purcell, Sir Jeoffry Galway, Lieutenant- Colonel Lacy, 
 Captain George "Wolf, Lieutenant Sexton, the Bishop 
 of Limerick, the Bishop of Emly, the Bishop of Killaloe, 
 Rev. John Cuillin, a Dominican friar ; Eev. David 
 Roche, a Dominican friar ; Captain Lawrence "Walsh, a 
 priest ; Rev. Francis "Wolf, a Franciscan friar ; Rev. 
 Philip O'Dwyer, priest ; Alderman Dominick Fanning, 
 Alderman Thomas Stritch, Alderman Jordan Roche, 
 Edmund Roche, burgess ; David Rochefort, burgess ; 
 Sir Richard Everard, Doctor Higgins, Maurice Baggot, 
 of Baggotstown ; Geoffry Baron, Evans, a "Welsh 
 soldier who had deserted from the Puritan camp ; and 
 all persons who had acted as spies in the camp since 
 the 4th of the preceding month of June ; as also " such 
 persons as shall be found to hide or conceal any of the 
 said excepted persons, or be privy to their concealment 
 or attempt to escape." (Ap/ior. Disc, vol. 3, appendix, 
 p. 255.) 
 
 On the surrender of the city, as the Rinuccini MS. 
 attests, f< 1,200 officers and men of the garrison alone 
 survived, 2,000 soldiers having died during the siege, 
 besides more than 5,000 of the citizens cut off by 
 the sword, famine, or pestilence : 4,000 citizens alone 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 185 
 
 were found able to bear arms, but they were for the 
 most part not trained to war, being merchants or arti- 
 zans of different trades. The enemy also seized in the 
 city 8 pieces of brass cannon, 16 of iron, besides 24 
 demy-cannon, part of brass, part of iron, and 83 bar- 
 rels of powder, and arms for 3,500 men, with muskets 
 and other military stores of little importance, and some 
 old cavalry equipments, but no horses." 
 
 Ten of those excepted from quarter voluntarily sur- 
 rendered, including Hugh O'Neill and Sir Eichard 
 Everard, whose lives, however, were spared— the latter, 
 on account of his advanced years, being imprisoned in 
 Ireland, whilst the former was sent to the Tower of 
 London to await the decision of the Parliament. Ireton, 
 in his official despatch to the Government in London, 
 on the 3rd of November, 1651, announces that Major- 
 General Purcell, Thomas Stritch, the ex-Mayor, and 
 the Bishop of Emly had been already hanged, and their 
 heads set upon poles on the tower on Limerick Bridge. 
 A few days later four others were executed after the 
 same manner— that is, Sir Jeoffrey Galway,Dr.Higgins, 
 Captain George Wolf, and Jeoft'rey Baron, nephew of 
 Fr. Luke Wadding. The Einuccini MS. adds that Fr. 
 James Wolf, O.S.D., brother of the above captain, and 
 Fr. David Eoche, O.S.D. ; Fr. John O'Cuillin, O.S.D.; 
 with Fr. Lawrence Walsh and Alderman Dominick 
 Fanning, "the pillar of the Catholic cause in Limerick/' 
 were also soon discovered. Of the first it is merely 
 recorded that " his head was struck off the second 
 was sentenced to slavery in the Barbadoes— a sentence 
 more cruel than death itself ; the rest were hanged. 
 A writer who was present throughout the whole time 
 
136 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 of the siege adds that the three Dominican Fathers 
 could easily have escaped from the city had they so 
 wished, but that yearning for martyrdom they braved 
 every peril in the discharge of their sacred duties, and 
 died with true heroism. 
 
 10. Two facts, mentioned by Fr. Dominick O'Daly, 
 in his History of the Gcraldincs deserve to be recorded. 
 His work was published at Lisbon in 1655, only four 
 years after the surrender of Limerick to Ireton, but 
 what adds greater weight to its authority, its state- 
 ments relating to the Limerick siege were derived 
 not only from James Dowley, whose name is men- 
 tioned by O'Daly, but also, as the Einuccini MS. 
 attests, from Fr. Fabian O'Mulreany, a Dominican 
 Father, who was in Limerick during the whole time of 
 the siege. This Fr. O'Mulreany was a man of learning 
 and prudence, and had written a narrative of the events 
 of which he was witness. He was, moreover, held 
 in high esteem by his contemporaries, and when the 
 Archbishop of Cashel, just before those disastrous days 
 of the Puritan triumph, petitioned His Holiness for a 
 Coadjutor, the name of this learned Dominican was 
 one of those presented by the bishops of the province to 
 the Holy See. The portentous signs are thus recorded 
 in the History of the Geraldines : — " A most extraordi- 
 nary phenomenon was observed on the 17th of July, 
 1651, a little before midnight, of the day sacred to St. 
 Alexis. The Irish garrison had been six weeks work- 
 ing at the walls and strengthening the fortifications, 
 when, just as all was completed, there appeared, on the 
 eastern side of the mountain that is north of Limerick, 
 a luminous globe, brighter than the moon, a little 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 187 
 
 inferior to the sun, which, for two leagues and a half, 
 shed a vertical light on the city, and then faded into 
 darkness over the enemy's camp. The second wonder 
 was the apparition of the blessed Mother of God, at 
 about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, on the summit of the 
 great church dedicated to her honour. She was seen 
 by some simple people who were at work in the fields, 
 and she was accompanied by St. Francis and St. 
 Dominic, and five other heavenly beings, who seemed 
 to follow her to the Convent of the Dominicans, and 
 thence to the Franciscan Church, without the walls. 
 From those who beheld this apparition, Father James 
 Dowley, a man famed for his merits and learning, 
 received information of the details as I have narrated 
 them, and he himself is still living." The statement 
 of the Dominican historian is corroborated by an un- 
 looked-for witness. In the appendix to the Aphons- 
 mical Discovery, Mr. Gilbert has published the diary 
 of some Puritan officers during this siege, and precisely, 
 on Thursday, July the 17th, we find the entry :— " This 
 night, about 11 of the clock, a flame of fire passed over 
 Limerick, giving that light by which one might read. 
 It moved from the north-east, continuing about half a 
 quarter of an hour " (vol. iii, page 244). 
 
 11. As was usual with the Puritan troops, wherever 
 they became masters, the plighted conditions were not 
 kept. " Bad as the articles were," says the Bmiiccini 
 MS., citing the words of an officer who was present, 
 " they were not observed. The citizens were compelled 
 to deliver to Ireton all their gold and silver, their pre- 
 cious plate and jewellery, and many were driven forth, 
 with their wives and children, from their residences 
 
188 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 and from the homes of their fathers." What was re- 
 garded as a just judgment of God, some of the very citi- 
 zens, who lost all that they possessed, were among the 
 leaders of the Ormondist faction who had clamoured 
 for the surrender of the city. 
 
 One of those marked out for execution was snatched 
 by death itself from the cruel hands of Ireton. The 
 name of the Bishop of Killaloe was on the list of those 
 excepted from quarter, as the Kinuccini MS. bears 
 witness, nevertheless that name does not appear upon 
 the printed list forwarded to London by Ireton. The 
 venerable bishop, .more than seventy years of age, had 
 prayed, like St. Augustine of old, that he might not 
 live to see the desecration of the churches that he so 
 loved. His prayer was heard. He was struck down by 
 sickness the very day that the articles of surrender 
 were signed, and he expired before the Puritans, who 
 thirsted for his blood, could glut their vengeance by 
 his martyrdom. He had pursued his philosophical 
 studies at Gal way, in the school of Alexander Lynch, 
 which, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, 
 was reckoned among the most flourishing academies in 
 the kingdom. It was famed for. its observance of dis- 
 cipline as well as for the ardour of its scholars in the 
 pursuit of sacred science, and youths flocked to it for 
 instruction from all parts of the kingdom. Yery soon, 
 however, that able master was obliged to dismiss his 
 scholars and to desist from his fruitful task of teaching. 
 The heretics, like Julian the apostate, who ordered all 
 the Christian schools to be closed, would not permit the 
 Catholic youth to be instructed by Catholic masters, 
 and the students, being forced by order of the Lord 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 189 
 
 Chancellor Jones to forego the advantages of the Gal- 
 way Academy, O'Molony proceeded to Paris, where he 
 devoted himself, for several years, to sacred studies. 
 He was subsequently appointed Bishop of Killaloe, and 
 consecrated in the Church of St. Victor, in Paris, by 
 the Bishop of Auxerre, assisted by two other bishops, 
 in the month of November, 1630. Beturning home he, 
 for twenty years, laboured in season and out of season, 
 proving himself a pattern of virtue to his clergy, and 
 instructing his flock by word and example. Through- 
 out the whole course of the Confederate war he was 
 heart and soul with his people, rejoicing in their tri- 
 umphs and comforting them in their sorrows. A short 
 time before the siege of Limerick he was arrested and 
 plundered of everything he had, by order of some of the 
 Ormondist officers ; but, in compensation for this out- 
 rage, a sum of about £600 was given him by the Lord 
 Deputy. He availed himself of this wealth and of 
 everything else that he possessed during the siege, 
 first, to redeem the sacred vessels and Ecclesiastical 
 treasures, which had been pledged for the public wants, 
 and, secondly, to pay the soldiers of the garrison, and 
 it was said that the siege was prolonged for a fortnight, 
 mainly through his resources. This was well known to 
 the Puritan enemy, who had resolved to lead him out 
 forthwith to the gallows, but death saved him from 
 their cruelty. Not for this however (says the contem- 
 porary Archdeacon Lynch) is the title of martyr to 
 be denied him, for he was marked out for martyrdom, 
 and the Puritans, unable to torture him after death, 
 seized upon his books and papers and consigned all to 
 the flames. 
 
190 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 12. Of Dominick Fanning, a former mayor of the 
 city, the Aphorismical Discovery records, that when the 
 Puritan army entered the city, he concealed himself in 
 his family tomb, at St. Francis's monastery ; but being 
 overcome by the cold and hunger, came forth " to the 
 body of the church, where there was a guard with a 
 great fire/' and all besmeared as he was sat down to 
 warm himself. The captain soon recognised in him a per- 
 son of quality, but moved with compassion, the better 
 to conceal him, " gave him a kind kick, asking what 
 did the rogue there, and commanded him away, threat- 
 ening if ever again he found him there to hang him." 
 The servant of Fanning, who was present, happened to 
 be a traitor, and whispered to the captain who he was. 
 The captain paying no attention, the servant gave in- 
 formation elsewhere, and Fanuing being at once arrested 
 was forthwith hanged. The captain, however, to punish 
 the servant's perfidy, who was exulting in his master's 
 execution, gave orders to one of the soldiers to run his 
 sword through him, so that he met with the deserved 
 punishment for his perfidy. 
 
 The Aphorismical Discovery, just cited, adds that 
 " several others of both clergy and laity were pitifully 
 mangled, massacred, hanged, and dragged, man, woman, 
 and child, excepting the betraying traitors." And, 
 again, the same unexceptional authority attests that the 
 Puritans, instead of observing' the conditions, were 
 w running here and there, massacreing and killing every 
 mother's child they met, other than the exempted trai- 
 tors : three days and so many nights were they in this 
 bloody execution, no grotto, cellar, prison, church, or 
 tomb was unsearched, and all therein found made 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 191 
 
 piecemeal, and hanged and quartered" (vol. iii., 
 page 20). 
 
 13. A few extracts from the " Diary of the Parlia- 
 mentary forces," already referred to, will serve to place 
 the true circumstances of this famous Siege of Limerick 
 in their true light. Setting out from "Waterford, Ireton 
 issued a strict order prohibiting, under severe penalties, 
 any of his officers or men from intermarrying " with 
 any of the women of this nation that are Papists, or 
 have lately been such, and whose change of religion is 
 not and cannot be judged by fit persons such as shall 
 be appointed for that end, to flow from a real work of 
 God upon their hearts convincing them of the falsehood 
 and evil of their own ways." (Aph. Disc, vol. iii., page 
 226.) As early as the 20th of May, 1661, Colonel 
 Ingoldsby " with 1,000 horse, foot, and dragoons," ap- 
 peared before Limerick, hoping " by correspondency 
 with some within " to capture the city. The plot how- 
 ever failed. Though these troops immediately retired 
 towards KUlaloe, the siege may be said to have begun 
 on that day. The regular operations of the siege, how- 
 ever, by the Puritan army did not commence till the 
 3rd of June. On Monday, the 16th of June, a small 
 party of 14 Irish soldiers, at one of the outstations of 
 the city, surrendered after quarter given, but they were 
 by order of Col. Totthill all put to the sword. Two 
 days later, provisions being scarce, some decrepit men 
 and their families, about forty in all, were sent out from 
 the city. Ireton ordered four of them to be put to 
 death to deter others from quitting the city. It was 
 then that a decrepit father, seeing his daughter amongst 
 those marked out for death, offered himself to be hanged 
 
192 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 in her stead. However, instead of four, the whole 
 party, about forty in number, were put to death by the 
 Puritan soldiers (page 240) ! This fact, so plainly at- 
 tested by the Diary of the Siege, will serve as a proof 
 of the little reliance that is to be placed on the state- 
 ments of the Puritan officers, when referring to the 
 deeds of cruelty perpetrated by those under their autho- 
 rity. Lieutenant- General Ludlow, who was present on 
 the occasion, states in his Memoirs, that Ireton ordered 
 " one or two to be executed/' and adds, that " a gibbet 
 was erected in the sight of the town walls and one or 
 two persons hanged up, who had been condemned for 
 other crimes, that those within might suppose that exe- 
 cution to be for coming out." {Memoirs, published in 
 London in 1751, page 142). Thus does he attempt to 
 travesty the horrid deed of cold blood massacre which 
 would seem incredible were it not recorded in all its 
 deformity in the authentic Puritan Diary. Webb, in 
 his Compendium of Irish Biography, would make us be- 
 lieve that those famished citizens were only driven 
 back into the city. Under the head of Ireton, he writes : 
 " One of the most thrilling incidents in Ludlow's Me- 
 moirs, is his account of how they (the besiegers) beat 
 oack into the town a crowd of famished and plague- 
 stricken non-combatants, who sought to leave it." It 
 is thus that Irish History has been hitherto written. 
 The poor people, instead of being driven back, were all 
 put to death, and their murder was officially described 
 as a mistake. The Diary adds, that in one of the 
 sallies from the city, Ireton and his staff ran immi- 
 nent risk : " His lordship with other principal officers 
 were then laying a new fort, when the enemy so sallied, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 193 
 
 there not being works or guards between them and the 
 party sallying near them ; but God otherwise disposed 
 it diverting the danger and carrying the enemy another 
 way, they not seeing their advantages " (page 245). 
 
 The losses of the Puritan army were very great. In 
 one of the sallies, as Cox records, no fewer than 300 of 
 their soldiers were slain. The plague also made great 
 havoc amongst them, but new troops were poured in 
 from England, and thus, as one of their officers trium- 
 phantly records, their army was kept immortal. From 
 Waterford alone no fewer than 10,000 men marched to 
 the camp during the siege. The garrison within the 
 city were quite exhausted by the incessant anxieties 
 and labour of the six months' siege without relief or 
 succour. They were, moreover, quite disheartened by 
 the pestilence which swept off so many brave men. As 
 they marched out after the surrender of the city, two 
 or three of them fell down dead of the plague, and 
 several were found lying unburied in the churchyard. 
 Ireton made show of admiration for Hugh O'JNeill, and 
 anxiety to save his life. A Puritan officer, however, 
 who assisted at the court-martials, records that the 
 Lord Deputy had not forgotten " the blood shed for- 
 merly at Clonmel, where this O'Neill was Governor," 
 and that, at two successive court-martials, he, by his 
 authority, led a majority of officers to pronounce sen- 
 tence of death against him ; but, as circumstances pre- 
 vented these sentences from being carried out, at the 
 third court-martial, the officers being left to their own 
 judgment, his life was spared. 
 
 14. In 1650, Mr. Thomas Stritch, on terminating his 
 spiritual retreat, had been elected mayor, and he ever 
 
194 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 proved himself an unflinching defender of his country's 
 cause. 
 
 " On receiving the keys of the city, he laid them 
 before the statue of the most holy Virgin, praying her 
 to receive the city under her protection, whilst, at 
 the same time, as an act of homage, all the public 
 guilds marched in procession to the church ; he then 
 made a most Christian address to the whole assembly, 
 encouraging them to an inviolable attachment to God, 
 to the Church, and to the king, offering to lay down 
 his own life in so just a cause- God was pleased to 
 accept his off ering, and, on the city being taken, he* 
 received the martyr's crown, together with three other 
 
 * We wish to present to the reader the following extract of a 
 letter written in 1653 by two Vincentian Fathers, Fathers Barry 
 and Gerald O'Brien, to Rome, which gives some interesting par- 
 ticulars connected with this illustrious family : — 
 
 " The news I hear from Ireland are, that there is no hope of accom- 
 modation or liberty of conscience for the poor Catholics of Ireland 
 there. Those of the Irish army who forced us to render the city of 
 Limerick unto the enemies, upon so base conditions, were hanged 
 at Cork, viz., Col. Ed. Fenell and Lieut. -Coll. William Burke of 
 Brittas. All the clergy were banished except very few : as I am 
 informed, there is the matter of three score of these exiled priests 
 for the present at Nantes : little James Stritch wrote unto me from 
 St. Malo's; he tells me his mother, great mother, brethren, sisters, 
 and uncles remain in a little island upon the river of Limerick, 
 called Augnish. His uncle Patrick Stritch died four days after his 
 arrival at St. Malo's. You have been informed, I believe, of your 
 cousin James Creagh Fitz Andrew's death, and his daughter's mar- 
 riage. I would wish you had there one of Thomas Stritch's chil- 
 dren, to be presented unto some cardinal." 
 
 The "little James Stritch" of whom mention is here made was 
 a few years later (in 1660) received as student into the Irish College, 
 Rome, and towards the close of the century we again meet with 
 him as Bishop of Emly. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 195 
 
 persons, who, haying been his companions in his spiri- 
 tual retreat, were likewise partakers of his reward. 
 They all four marched along, not only with firmness, 
 but even with joy ; and before execution they severally 
 addressed the bystanders, moving the very heretics to 
 tears, and declaring before heaven and earth that they 
 laid down their lives for* the confession and defence of 
 the Catholic faith. Their heroic example greatly en- 
 couraged the other Catholics to preserve their faith, 
 and to suffer all extremities of persecution rather than 
 be wanting in the fidelity which they owe to God."* 
 
 Father Anthony Broudin, in his Descriptio Regni 
 Hibernhe, tells of the death of a few others : — 
 
 "The most illustrious Sir Patrick Purcell, Vice- 
 General of all Munster, a noble-hearted and most 
 accomplished warrior (for in Germany, under Fer- 
 dinand III., he acquired an immortal renown, com- 
 bating against Sweden and France), after the taking 
 of Limerick, was hanged ; then his head was cut off, 
 and exposed on a stake over the southern gate, called 
 St. John's Gate, a.d. 1651. The illustrious and most 
 noble Sir Geoffrey Barron, a sincere Catholic, of the 
 highest fidelity, and of singular eloquence, who had 
 been deputed by the confederate Catholics of Ireland 
 as their envoy to his Most Christian Majesty, was 
 hanged at the same time, and beheaded and quartered. 
 The noble Dominick Fanning, too, ex-Mayor of Lime- 
 rick, and alderman, a man well known, and of the 
 highest integrity, who had rendered many services to 
 the confederated Catholics, and had, in his public 
 
 Abelly, loc. cit., pp. 218-9. 
 
196 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 offices, conferred much benefit on the whole kingdom, 
 as well as on the city, was in like manner executed at 
 the same place, and happily exchanged life for death : 
 on the same day, and at the same place, and by the 
 same martyrdom, Father Laurence "Wallis, a priest, 
 also passed to a more blissful life; and with him 
 Daniel O'Higgin, a medical doctor, a wise and pious 
 man, was led to the scaffold/'* 
 
 15. It would be easy to multiply these extracts, but 
 suffice it to say that the city was laid desolate, and 
 that those who escaped the sword were despoiled of all 
 they possessed, and then driven from its walls. St. 
 Vincent, having been informed by the Superior of 
 the Order in Ireland of the number of those who had 
 suffered death for the faith in Limerick, cried out : 
 " The blood of these martyrs will not be forgotten 
 before God, and sooner or later will produce an abun- 
 dant harvest of Catholicity." (Abelly, loc. cit., p. 220.) 
 And this prophecy is wonderfully fulfilled in our days, 
 when religion is producing such admirable fruits in 
 Limerick and in every part of the kingdom, and re- 
 storing, even in the midst of poverty, its former splen- 
 dour and glory. In the last two centuries, as well as 
 in the early ages of the Church, the truth of the 
 maxim of Tertullian has been fully confirmed, " The 
 blood of martyrs is the seed of Christians." 
 
 16. Edmund O'Dwyer, Bishop of Limerick, has been 
 frequently named in the preceding pages. Born in the 
 
 * Broudin, cap. 8. All the facts here mentioned are also com- 
 memorated by Morison, in his Threnodia Hiberno-Catholica, GEno- 
 ponti, 1659, who styles himself " an eye-witness to the unheard-of 
 cruelty to which the Irish were subjected." 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 197 
 
 county of Limerick, he pursued the higher studies at 
 Rome, Paris, and Rheims, and having laboured for 
 some time on the Irish mission, proceeded to Rome in 
 1634, as Procurator of Archbishop O'Queely of Tuam 
 and other Irish Prelates, and continued for eight years 
 to discharge the duties of that responsible office in the 
 Eternal City. Returning to Ireland in 1642, he was 
 seized by Moorish pirates off the British coast; for 
 twenty-one days he was kept in iron chains and wooden 
 fetters, and was sold as a slave at Sale on the north- 
 west coast of Africa. A Calvinist of Rochelle trading 
 along that coast purchased him soon after for £40, and 
 set him at liberty in France on the promise of receiving 
 for his ransom a sum of £60. Two years later he was 
 again sent to Rome to solicit prompt aid in the name 
 of the Irish Confederates and bearer of a petition 
 addressed to Urban 6 the Eighth, that Fr. Luke Wadding, 
 O.S.F., would be promoted to the Cardinalitial dignity. 
 Pope Urban, however, died before O'Dwyer reached 
 Rome, and thus that petition becoming informal could 
 not be presented. Innocent the Tenth, who next 
 ascended the Papal throne did not cherish the same 
 esteem for Wadding as his predecessor, and the petition 
 of the Confederates was not renewed. O'Dwyer, how- 
 ever, was appointed Coadjutor Bishop of Limerick, 
 and was consecrated by the Bishop of Senlis, in the 
 Church of St. Lazare, in Paris, on Sunday the 7th of 
 May, 1645. Sailing for Ireland from one of the ports 
 of Brittany, the ship was captured by a Turkish corsair, 
 and being led to Smyrna, he was again sold as a slave 
 and obliged to grind corn with a handmill, and to wear 
 a gag upon his mouth (ne farinam voraret), lest he 
 
 14 
 
198 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 should feed upon the meal. Providence, however, had 
 again prepared a refuge for him. An Irish lady, mar- 
 ried to a French merchant in Smyrna, discovered that 
 there was a countryman among the slaves and at once 
 procured his release and sent him back to France. We 
 have already spoken of his labours for the welfare of 
 his spiritual flock. He suffered a great deal during the 
 siege of his Episcopal city. The citizens being rent 
 by factions, and the Ormondists manifesting their joy 
 that the city was to be surrendered, their opponents 
 formed a plan to avenge their rejoicing by blowing up 
 the house in which they were assembled. The Bishop, 
 however, vigorously remonstrated with the leaders of 
 the party and induced them to desist from this wicked 
 design. On the surrender of the city to Ireton, he was 
 excepted from quarter, but made his escape disguised 
 as an officer's servant, carrying a load upon his back, 
 and having his face singed with gunpowder. He made 
 his way to the Irish camp under the command of Lord 
 Muskerry, and Ireton having heard of the course which 
 the Bishop had pursued to prevent the blowing up of 
 the Ormondists who had procured the surrender of the 
 city, sent him a safe-conduct, empowering him to return 
 and to remove from the city any property that still re- 
 mained to him. He remained in the city for only a 
 few days, mourning over the desolation of his flock, 
 and then proceeded to Brussels where he died on Easter 
 Sunday, in 1654. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 199 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Sufferings of the Catholics in Gtalway. 
 
 1. Clanrickard appointed Lord Deputy; the remedy comes too late. 
 — 2. Galway taken after a long siege. — 3. Dr. Kirwan, Bishop of 
 Killala's, sufferings in his place of refuge. — 4. The enemy enters 
 Galway ; military exactions. — 5. Plunder of the house of Martin 
 Kirwan. — 6. Dr. Kirwan arrested and sent into exile with other 
 ecclesiastics. — 7. Calamities that befell the citizens. — 8. Extracts 
 from the Annals of Galway. — 9. Dr. Fallon, V.G., of Achonry; 
 decree of banishment against the clergy. — 10. Violence and bru- 
 tality of the troops.— 11. Some account of the Bishop of Meath 
 and other illustrious sufferers for the Faith. 
 
 1. To review in detail the sufferings of the other 
 cities of Ireland, would be to repeat the scenes which 
 we have already described. There is, however, some- 
 thing peculiar in the rigour displayed by the Puritans 
 in the capital of the western province that claims a 
 special attention. A gleam of sunshine broke in upon 
 the gloom of despondency that hung over the nation, 
 when, in the year 1650, a Catholic nobleman, the Earl 
 of Clanrickard, was proclaimed Lord Deputy with 
 authority from the crown to govern the kingdom of 
 Ireland. A little while before, the Bishops and other 
 representatives of the Irish Church, assembled in solemn 
 deliberation at Jamestown. Charles O'Conor towards 
 
200 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 
 
 the middle of the last century, thus describes this classic 
 spot : "It contains an area of four or five plantation 
 acres in an oblong square, surrounded by a strong wall 
 six feet in thickness, about twenty feet high : the two 
 gates are broken down. It stretches along the Shannon 
 (about nine miles from Belanagare), under a rising 
 ground to the west ; no fortification was ever worse 
 situated for defence." But if its position as a fortress 
 did not make it memorable in history it won immortal 
 fame by the Bishops' decrees. They impeached the 
 whole administration of Lord Ormonde, they set forth 
 the resources of the nation which he squandered, and the 
 ruin which he brought upon the royal cause, and as sole 
 remedy they called upon him to resign to abler hands 
 the trust which the Sovereign had reposed in him. To 
 the Episcopal indictment no satisfactory answer could 
 be given. Ormonde fled the kingdom, and the reins of 
 government passed into the hands of Clanrickard. 
 There was great rejoicing in Loughrea on the feast of 
 the Purification in 1651, when the Lord Deputy in 
 Viceregal State, assisted at High Mass in the Church of 
 the Blessed Virgin. The sword of State was borne 
 before him, the chief military officers accompanied him, 
 the Archbishop of Tuam with the Bishops of Killala, 
 Kilmacduagh, Limerick, Cork, Emly, Kilfenora, Down, 
 and Clonfert, were there to do him honour ; banners 
 were displayed, congratulatory addresses were presented, 
 and the humiliations of a hundred years appeared to be 
 forgotten in the tardy tribute to Catholic devotedness 
 and loyalty. These expressions of congratulation and 
 joy were repeated in Galway on the 17th of March, 
 where he assisted with the same viceregal pomp at 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 201 
 
 solemn Mass, in the presence of the above-mentioned 
 prelates, and at the Panegyric of our National Apostle 
 delivered by the Bishop of Dromore. 
 
 All this gave promise of united exertions, and revived 
 the drooping courage of the friends of Ireland in the 
 west. But the remedy had come too late. The past 
 misgovernment had exhausted the resources of the 
 country, and the seeds of dissension so industriously 
 sown were destined still to bear their bitter fruits. 
 Clanrickard was found to pursue the same course as 
 Ormonde ; he viewed with distrust the old Irish soldiers 
 who alone could check the Puritan enemy, and disaster 
 and ruin soon began to follow in his train. 
 
 Many particulars of the sufferings which soon fell to 
 the lot of the Catholic citizens of Galway are set forth 
 in " the Life of Dr. Francis Kir wan, Bishop of Killala," 
 written by his friend, Dr. John Lynch, and published at 
 St. Malo's, in 1669 * 
 
 2. The city of Galway was remarkable amongst the 
 other cities of Ireland for the wealth of its inhabitants, 
 and the beauty of its edifices. The walls were of green 
 marble, flanked by numerous towers ; the waters of 
 Lough Corrib flowed through its centre, whilst the regu- 
 larity of its streets, the fair proportions of its build- 
 ings, its noble squares, and its palaces built of native 
 marble, gladdened the eye. All this was soon to become 
 a prey to the ruthless enemy. A band of adventurers 
 under the command of Lord Forbes, were the first to 
 plunder this Catholic city. These adventurers were 
 
 * See reprint and translation of this work, by Rev. C. P. Meehan, 
 1884. 
 
202 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 enrolled under an Ordinance of the House of Commons 
 of 14th of April, 1642. They stipulated for the hang- 
 ing and shooting of rebels, and the keeping of what 
 castles they took and for the dividing amongst them of 
 all the spoil. They had no special service, but were to 
 make waste and havoc. Having landed at Gal way in 
 the summer of 1642, they broke the truce made by Lord 
 Clanrickard, got possession of St. Mary's Church, dug 
 up the graves, and burnt the coffins and bones of the 
 dead, and required the citizens to sign a submission? 
 expressing their belief that there was no other means 
 of saving them from extirpation and banishment.* 
 
 The ruin thus begun was completed by the Cromwel- 
 lian soldiery. It was in the month of June, 1651, that 
 the Puritan army marched into Connaught, laying 
 waste the whole province with fire and sword, and on 
 the 8th of July they encamped before the walls of 
 Galway. The city had already been decimated by the 
 pestilence, yet it was only after nine months' combat 
 that the enemy entered within the walls. 
 
 3. Dr. Francis Kirwan was at this time lying hid in 
 a country house, at a short distance from the city. For 
 eight months he continued there in a small, narrow 
 room, which, besides two beds for himself and his 
 chaplain, was barely able to contain a chest. This 
 served for an altar ; and whilst the Holy Sacrifice was 
 offered up each day, one bed had to be removed to afford 
 standing room for the celebrant. The intense cold of 
 winter was endured without a fire, and during the whole 
 eight months only thrice did the bishop go for an 
 
 * Prendergast, p. 75. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 203 
 
 instant from this hiding-place ; on one occasion he was 
 carried out wrapped in a sheet, whilst the enemy were 
 engaged in searching every corner of the house for arms, 
 and when met by the soldiers he was recognised only 
 as a feeble and worn-down old man ; and well does his 
 biographer compare his many sufferings at this period 
 to those of the early pastors of the Catholic Church. 
 
 4. Within the city the soldiery displayed a rabid de- 
 testation of the Catholic priests, and with an insatiate 
 avarice plundered the Catholic citizens of all they pos- 
 sessed. When the bishop deemed it more secure to 
 enter the town, " he was obliged to take refuge in the 
 topmost stories of the house aneath the tiles, and this, 
 too, at mid -winter, without one spark of fire. Some- 
 times, too, he was forced to go out on the roof, and 
 when the pursuers approached, to descend into a neigh- 
 bouring house by the dormant- window " (p. 123). We 
 must allow this contemporary writer to depict some of 
 the frightful scenes of persecution to which the citizens 
 were at the same time subjected : — 
 
 " Along with the three scourges of Grod, famine, 
 plague, and war, there was another which some called 
 the fourth scourge, to wit, the weekly exaction of the 
 soldiers' pay, which was extorted with incredible atro- 
 city each Saturday, bugles sounding and drums beating. 
 On these occasions the soldiers entered the various 
 houses, and, pointing their muskets to the breasts of 
 men and women, threatened them with instant death if 
 the sum demanded was not instantly given. Should it 
 have so happened that the continual payment of these 
 pensions had exhausted the means of the people, bed, 
 bedding, sheets, tablecloths, dishes, and every descrip- 
 
204 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 tion of furniture, nay, the very garments of the wo- 
 men, torn off their persons, were carried to the market- 
 place and sold for a small sum, so much so, that each 
 recurring Saturday bore a resemblance to the day of 
 judgment, and the clangour of the trumpet smote the 
 people with terror, almost equal to that of doom's day." 
 —(Page 123.) 
 
 5 . The scene of plunder in the house of Mr. Martin 
 Kirwan, which he next describes, is only an instance of 
 the fearful course which was pursued by these harpies? 
 when the country was parcelled out to their devastating 
 fury :— 
 
 " In the house they found only young children and 
 servants, together with the mother, who superintended 
 their education, for the father and his son were in 
 prison. Having ransacked the whole house, the soldiers 
 entered an inner room, where they saw some glittering 
 rays of light, and, in this recess, they discovered a 
 wooden tabernacle, ornamented with gilded mouldings, 
 and wooden candlesticks, likewise gilt, which the bishop 
 was about to place in some church. All these sacred 
 objects did the soldiers drag out of the house, nor could 
 they be induced, by supplication or money, to restore 
 them. They subsequently tore them all to pieces, and 
 scattered many relics that had been deposited in the 
 tabernacle." 
 
 6. When at length the good bishop, finding it im- 
 possible to remain any longer concealed, surrendered to 
 the Government, he and several other ecclesiastics 
 were treated as galley slaves. They were marched along 
 
 This is the designation given them by the contemporary author. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 205 
 
 in bodies, surrounded by soldiers, drums beating and 
 bugles sounding, and when, by the diligence of priest- 
 catchers, many other ecclesiastics were cast into prison, 
 the former were locked up in houses hired for the occa- 
 sion, and for which the prisoners themselves had to pay. 
 During his imprisonment the holy man found occasion 
 frequently to celebrate the sacred mysteries, and, at a 
 window in the rere of the prison, administered to the 
 children the sacrament of confirmation.* No sooner 
 was it discovered by the Government that the bishop 
 and his companions were thus engaged in conferring 
 spiritual blessings on the Catholics than their banish- 
 ment was resolved on. The confessors of Christ " were 
 suddenly carried off to a ship, and, on their way, were 
 surrounded by a terrible escort, nor had they any pre- 
 vious notice of the decree of banishment, lest their 
 friends might succour them with some viaticum." — 
 (Page 129.) 
 
 7. During the siege the enemy had sustained serious 
 losses from the garrisons and citizens. As early as the 
 27th of May, 1651, the Puritans, having occupied an 
 island opposite to Gralway, began to fortify it. The 
 strait, however, that separated it from the city being 
 fordable at low water, a number of the citizens crossed 
 over unawares, retook the island, and put to the sword 
 a considerable number of the enemy who were rioting 
 there. Even towards the end of March, 1652, the 
 great majority of the clergy, when interrogated by the 
 Lord Deputy Clanrickard, were of opinion that the city 
 should not be surrendered. Out of one hundred and 
 
 * Ibid., page 127. 
 
206 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 twenty- six, whose opinion was thus asked, only six 
 counselled the surrender, whilst one hundred and 
 twenty urged that the defence should be prolonged. 
 Clanrickard, however, saw no prospect of relief from 
 any quarter, and the citizens, being weary of the 
 burden of the garrison's support, and terrified by the 
 ravages of the pestilence, the city was handed over to 
 the Puritans on the 12th of May, 1652. Fr. Gregory 
 French, prior of the Dominicans of Galway, writing to 
 Rome from France, in July of the same year, sketches 
 the consequences in a few words : — " Those citizens of 
 Galway who were most eager to throw open its gates 
 to the English are now reduced to a miserable plight, 
 without sacrifice, without priest, without sacraments, 
 and every day they are more and more plundered and 
 worried by the Puritan soldiers." 
 
 In Cambrensis Eversas we find some further details 
 of the calamities that fell on the citizens of Galway, 
 and it must be borne in mind that its author (Rev. 
 John Lynch) was present in Galway throughout the 
 whole time of the siege : — " Galway," he says, " was 
 the last of all the towns in England, Scotland, and Ire- 
 land that remained faithful to the king, but it, too, fell 
 
 at last into the hands of the enemy The 
 
 commander of the besieging army was not a man of 
 ordinary rank, but Charles Coote himself, commander 
 of Connaught and Ulster, which provinces he had sub- 
 jugated for the Parliamentarians. From him the be- 
 sieged extorted honourable conditions, . . . but 
 the men appointed to the chief government of Ireland 
 by the parliament refused to ratify these conditions. 
 In a short time they commenced to rob the citizens of 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 207 
 
 their property. These were allowed to remain within 
 their native walls only so long as they had money to 
 support the common soldiers and to glut the avarice of 
 their officers, but when the daily contributions levied 
 on the city had, by degrees, exhausted its wealth, they 
 were deprived of the magisterial offices three years 
 after the capitulation. Then, as each roll of citizens 
 was drained of all its property by these taxes, they 
 were cast out of the city, but the more wealthy were 
 allowed to remain, so long as they had any money, 
 until at last nearly all were cast out and compelled to 
 wander through the country, endeavouring to support 
 themselves by agriculture, of which they knew no- 
 thing."— (Yol. iii, p. 189.) 
 
 8. The MS. Annals of Galway, preserved in the 
 library of T.C.D., written in the reign of Charles the 
 II., give us some important details, in the following 
 words : — " Upon the surrender of Galway, there was 
 such a dearth in the county, that many thousands died 
 by the second plague, and three scourges of God were 
 then reigning, viz., dearth, plague, and sword, and 
 many, to whom life was spared, had no great means 
 left to maintain themselves. Upon an information of 
 Colonel Stubbers, Governor of Galway, of the multi- 
 tude of vagabonds and idlers in the country, he ob- 
 tained an order to ship them for Barbadoes, and this 
 order was so carried out, that many housekeepers, 
 going to see their cattle and their children were pressed 
 on board, and all others that were registered in the 
 contribution book, so that there were two thousand per- 
 sons sent off, and were sold there as slaves. The un- 
 ruly crew of soldiers broke down the monuments and 
 
208 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 coffins of the dead, taking from them the winding- 
 sheets, as though some treasure had been within the 
 said coffins, nay, breaking down crucifixes and such 
 spiritual costly works engraven on fine marble. Sir 
 Peter Tench's tomb, gilt with gold and all made of fine 
 marble, being in St. Francis's Abbey, the building of 
 which cost more than £500, was, along with the rest, 
 demolished and converted by the governor of the said 
 town into a chimney, and the rest of the said grand 
 stones or marbles of the said abbey were sold and sent 
 beyond sea, and the monuments left wide open for the 
 dogs to drag out and eat the corpses interred there, 
 and likewise they erased the king's arms, and converted 
 the church and abbey to stables, and they were, for the 
 most part, illiterate and covetous to hoard up money by 
 the ruin of the poor inhabitants, without any regard to 
 conscience or public faith, the sword then being in lieu 
 of the law, our unhappy iron age. The mayor, sheriffs, 
 and the English made freemen of their own, viz., 
 cobblers, butchers, tinkers, and all sorts of artificers. 
 . . . About this time you might see whole families 
 destroyed, and streets not having six families, and 
 soldiers, or poor bakers, that ought to content them- 
 selves with one cellar, had great houses to live in, till 
 they burned all the lofts, and wainscots, and partitions 
 thereof, and then removed to another house till they 
 made an end of all the town, and left them full of ex- 
 crement and filth, so that it was poison to enter into any 
 of the said houses, formerly fit to lodge kings or princes, 
 being the completest and best fitted in, all Ireland. 
 The inhabitants thereof, being the best and greatest 
 merchants in the kingdom for hospitality, liberality, 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 209 
 
 and charity, both at home and abroad, accompanied 
 with good education, were now in the midst of frost 
 and snow, lying in hedges, in smoky and miserable 
 huts, and barracks in the country, being all removed, 
 excepting families who were forced to quarter the most 
 part of the soldiers of the town, and to pay excessive 
 tributes and bribes, but were, at last, turned out with 
 the rest. The clergy, being about fifty in number, 
 were sent to Arran and Boffin, where they were almost 
 starved, being allowed but two pence per diem, and, 
 even that not paid, and strict proclamation was made 
 against the lives and goods of such as would entertain 
 any clergyman. The images of our Blessed Lady and 
 of other saints were burned, chalices were made common 
 cups to drink out of, and priests' vestments were made 
 secular clothes of." 
 
 9. Throughout the whole province of Connaught the 
 persecution raged with the same fury. Thus, when Dr. 
 James Fallon, who governed the diocese of Achonry as 
 vicar- apostolic " was arrested in Iar- Connaught, the 
 heretics so plundered him of his copious collections of 
 books, that not even a breviary was left with him. 
 Before he was made prisoner he for a long time was 
 exposed, day and night, to the inclemency of the 
 winter, till he at length erected a small hut at the base 
 of a rock, which he covered with leafy branches. Here 
 he remained till the goats, brousing on the foliage, 
 stripped the branches, and then he was obliged to seek 
 elsewhere a place of refuge." (Ibid., page 15.) 
 
 In the articles of surrender of the various garrisons, 
 a clause was generally inserted to the effect that such 
 articles did not extend to the Catholic clergy. To say 
 
210 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 Mass was an act of treason, and to be a priest was to 
 be an enemy of the commonwealth. Thus in the 
 articles granted to Colonel Edmund O'Dwyer, for the 
 Irish Brigade in Tipperary and Waterford, the 23rd of 
 March, 1652, the clause is added : " Provided that the 
 benefit of all or any of the articles aforesaid, extend 
 not to any priest or other of the Romish clergy in orders : 
 nor to any that sat in the first General Assembly, 
 nor to any that sat in the first Supreme Council." 
 [Aphoris. Discov., vol. iii., p. 295). Again, when 
 Colonel Murtogh O'Brien surrendered on the part of 
 the Irish troops in the county of Clare, it was cove- 
 nanted " that the benefit of these articles extend not to 
 any priest or other of the Komish clergy in orders, 
 further than the Major-General (Waller), doth under- 
 take industriously to solicit the Commissioners of Par- 
 liament that such of the clergy in orders, having no 
 other act or crime laid to their charge than officiating 
 their functions as priests, not being suffered to live in 
 quarters or protection, shall have passes and liberty to 
 go beyond the seas." (Ibid., p. 313.) In the articles 
 granted to the Leinster troops the clause was added on 
 the 31st of July, 1652 : " All of the popish clergy sub- 
 mitting to a trial, and not being found guilty of offences, 
 &c, shall have passes to go beyond the seas." (Ibid., p. 
 318). In the articles with Lord Muskerry and the 
 army of Munster : " That the benefit of all or any of 
 the articles aforesaid extend not to the exemption of 
 any person from being questioned, &c, nor to give pro- 
 tection to Priests and Jesuits or others in Popish orders 
 to live in the Parliament's quarters " (Ibid., p. 326) ; 
 and the same clause is repeated in the articles for the 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 211 
 
 Ulster army. (Ibid., p. 348.) No mention, however, of 
 any such clause was made in the surrender of Galway, and 
 some of the clergy deluding themselves with the vain 
 hope that toleration was accorded them, began privately 
 to say Mass and to bring the consolations of religion to 
 the suffering citizens. They were speedily undeceived. 
 On the 7th of May, 1652, the following decree was 
 published by the Commissioners in Galway :* 
 
 " 'Whereas we have strong reason to suspect that to 
 the offence of God and the displeasure of those who fear 
 Him and walk in his paths, many clandestine Masses 
 and other idolatrous ministrations of the Roman Church 
 are frequently practised by several of the Popish clergy, 
 who not being able to depart were permitted by the 
 articles of surrender to remain in this garrison, we 
 hereby ordain and declare that all Jesuits, Seminary 
 Priests and others of the Romish clergy, who are known 
 to have exercised any part of their ministerial functions 
 or any of the rites or ministrations of the said church, 
 are by the very fact deprived of all right to the said 
 articles, and also all those who assisted at the said minis- 
 trations or were cognisant of them, and within forty 
 hours will not make them known to the Governor and 
 one or more of the Commissioners for the adminis- 
 tration of Justice. We further require and com- 
 mand under the above penalties that the mayor, alder- 
 men, citizens, inhabitants, and men of whatever con- 
 dition they may be, residing in this municipality, shall 
 not use movable crosses, crucifixes, relics, or pictures, 
 
 * I translate it literally from the Latin text in the Kinuccini MS. , 
 as I have not met with a copy of the original English text. 
 
212 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 
 
 according to the service of the Romish Church afore- 
 said, nor shall they keep any such in their houses, and 
 further, that they shall demolish, or cause to be de- 
 molished, all fixed crosses and crucifixes, whether with- 
 in or without the gates. And this edict, when it has 
 been published, at sound of trumpet, shall be affixed in 
 the public places of this city, that no one can plead 
 ignorance thereof." 
 
 9. All that we have said in this article is authenti- 
 cated, from official documents by Mr. Prendergast, who 
 thus writes : — " The town of Gal way, the last fortress 
 of the Irish, surrendered to Ludlow on the 20th of 
 March, 1652, on articles securing to the inhabitants their 
 residence within the town, and the enjoyment of their 
 houses and estates. The taxation was soon so great 
 that many of the townspeople quitted their habitations 
 and removed their cattle, unable to endure it, conse- 
 quently the contribution fell the heavier on the remain- 
 ing inhabitants. This tax was collected from them 
 every Saturday by sound of trumpet, and, if not in- 
 stantly paid, the soldiery rushed into the house and 
 seized what they could lay hands on. The sound of 
 this trumpet, every returning Saturday, shook their 
 souls with terror, like the trumpet of the day of judg- 
 ment. On the loth of March, 1653, the Commissioners 
 for Ireland, remarking upon the disaffection thus ex- 
 hibited, confiscated the houses of those that had de- 
 serted the town. Those that fled were wise in time. 
 On 23rd July, 1655, all the Irish were directed to quit 
 the town by the 1st of November following, the owners 
 of houses, however, to receive compensation at eight 
 years' purchase ; in default, the soldiers were to drive 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 213 
 
 them out. On 30th October this order was executed. 
 All the inhabitants, except the sick and the bedrid, 
 were at once banished to provide accommodation for 
 such English Protestants, whose integrity to the State 
 should entitle them to be trusted in a place of such im- 
 portance ; and Sir Charles Coote, on the 7th Novem- 
 ber, received the thanks of the Government for clearing 
 the town, with a request that he would remove the sick 
 and bedrid as soon as the season might permit, and take 
 care that the houses, while empty, were not spoiled by 
 the soldiery."* 
 
 10. Hardiman, in his " History of Galway," adds some 
 further particulars. " The surrender," he says, " was 
 followed by a famine throughout the country by which 
 multitudes perished. This was again succeeded by a 
 plague which carried oh* thousands, both in the town 
 and the surrounding districts, so that the severest ven- 
 geance of heaven seemed now to have been poured 
 down on the heads of this devoted community. Many, 
 driven to despair by the severities inflicted upon them, 
 instead of avoiding the pestilence, sought refuge in 
 death from their merciless persecutors. This dreadful 
 visitation continued for two years, during which up- 
 wards of one- third of the population of the province 
 was swept away, and those who survived were doomed 
 to undergo sufferings to which even death itself was 
 preferable. . . . The most violent acts of oppres- 
 sion and injustice openly took place without any 
 control. The king's arms and every other emblem 
 of royalty were torn down, the churches and abbeys 
 
 * Settlement, &c, p. 146. 
 
 15 
 
214 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 were converted into stables for the dragoons, the 
 chalices and sacred vessels used as drinking-cups, and 
 the old and valuable libraries of the clergy burnt or 
 sold to the shops. The mayor and aldermen, though 
 expressly protected by the articles, were repeatedly 
 abused and dragged to prison for daring to remonstrate 
 with the licentious soldiery, who set no bounds to their 
 brutality and violence. The annals (of the town) 
 relate that their avarice went so far as to break open 
 the tombs and root the dead bodies out of the graves in 
 hopes of finding riches interred with them ; and that 
 when disappointed they left the carcasses uncovered, so 
 that they were often found mangled and eaten by the 
 dogs. The inhabitants having repeatedly, but in vain, 
 appealed to the governor against these atrocities, at 
 length ventured to represent their grievances to the 
 commissioners in Dublin ; they received, however, such 
 replies as showed they were to expect no relief from 
 that quarter. After several specious and evasive 
 answers, to preserve the appearance of justice, orders 
 of reference were made to the very persons complained 
 of ; they were finally informed that the articles of sur- 
 render, being still under consideration in England, 
 could not be interfered with ; and they were thus dis- 
 missed to undergo even worse treatment than before for 
 at all presuming to complain.'' (Pages 134-5.) 
 
 11. It was when the siege of the city was about to com- 
 mence that the venerable Bishop of Meath, Dr. Thomas 
 Dease, passed to his reward. He had pursued his higher 
 studies in Paris, where he subsequently taught the 
 course of philosophy with great applause. Among his 
 disciples was Francis deHarlay, afterwards Archbishop of 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 215 
 
 Rouen and Abbot of St. Yictor, in Paris, at whose public 
 thesis, held under Dr. Dease's presidency, Louis XIII., 
 as yet a minor, and all the nobility of the French 
 Court, assisted. Many high posts of distinction were 
 offered him, but he declined them all, devoting his 
 leisure time to assist the culprits under sentence of 
 death, and earnestly co-operating with Thomas Messing- 
 ham, as well by his ample means as by the exercise of 
 the sacred ministry, to put on a permanent footing in 
 the French capital the Irish College, which has since 
 borne such abundant fruit, and of which, a few years 
 before, the foundations had been successfully laid by 
 the Rev. John Ley. As early as the year 1611, as Fr. 
 Fitzsymon attests, many friends of Ireland petitioned 
 the Holy See for the appointment of Dr. Dease to the 
 diocese of Meath. It was not, however, till ten years 
 later that he accepted the proffered dignity, being pri- 
 vately consecrated in a little town near Paris on the 
 14th of May, 1622. I will not speak of his labours in 
 gathering together the scattered stones of the sanctuary 
 and building up anew the Church of his fathers among 
 his faithful people. Suffice it to say that he collected 
 ample funds, which he consigned to the Jesuit Fathers, 
 to establish in Athlone a college for the education of 
 youth, and further endowed that college with lands to 
 the value in those days of £100 a year for the main- 
 tenance of students belonging to his family. One other 
 fact, perhaps, should not be omitted. In his boyhood 
 he had, with some companions, injured the garden and 
 crops of a neighbouring farmer, who, however, had 
 readily forgiven them this wild freak. The first care 
 of the bishop on his return to the diocese was to com- 
 
216 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 pensate the good farmer for every injury which he had 
 sustained. Dr. Dease was highly esteemed as a poet in 
 his native Celtic tongue — so much so that, as Lynch 
 attests, his poems were sung and recited through the 
 length and breadth of the kingdom. He died in the 
 Jesuit College at Galway in the month of May, 1651, 
 at the age of seventy- two years, and was interred in the 
 Church of St. Nicholas, close to the sacristy door, at the 
 right-hand side as you enter the sacristy. 
 
 Three months later he was followed to the tomb by 
 Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin. The life of 
 this illustrious prelate has been sketched in considerable 
 detail in the " Lives of the Archbishops of Dublin." 
 Only for two short intervals was he able during the 
 whole time of the Confederation to penetrate within 
 the limits of his metropolitical see. "Worn out by 
 fatigues and infirmities, he died at Galway, during the 
 siege in August, 1651. 
 
 Among the distinguished laity who came into the 
 enemy's hands on the surrender of the city was Jeoffrey 
 Browne, for many years a leading member of the 
 Supreme Council of the Confederates. He was a citizen 
 of Galway, and throughout the whole period of the 
 Confederate war was so intent on this service of the 
 State that he scarcely spent a month each year at home : 
 he was remarkable for his ability and skill in conducting 
 public negotiations, and for his eloquence. He was for 
 this reason repeatedly selected by the General Assembly 
 and the Supreme Council to treat of the most weighty 
 matters with foreign princes and with the Viceroy. In 
 all this he sought no aggrandisement or self-interest, 
 but only to discharge faithfully the duty which he 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 217 
 
 owed his country and his sovereign. He was summoned 
 to England by the Cromwellian Government, and after 
 an imprisonment of two years was arraigned for high- 
 treason, but, being acquitted, was permitted to return 
 to Ireland. 
 
 John de Burgo, Archbishop of Tuam, and the Bishops 
 of Kilmacduagh, Kilf enora, and Clonf ert, were also in the 
 city during the siege, and bore its hardships with 
 heroism, but they consulted for their safety by flight 
 whilst arrangements were being made for surrendering 
 to the enemy. John de Burgo, of the race of the old 
 Earls of Connaught, and connected by birth with most 
 of the magnates of the "West, was appointed Yicar 
 Apostolic of Clonf ert in the year 1627. He availed of 
 his influence with the nobility of the province to check 
 the Plantation schemes of the Viceroy Wentworth, 
 whose agents scoured the country to arrest him. On 
 the return of peace he was, on the 16th of October, 
 1641, promoted to the episcopal ranks, but his conse- 
 cration did not take place till the 19 th of May of the 
 following year. He held a high place among the 
 members of the Supreme Council of the Confederation, 
 and was translated to the Archiepiscopal See of Tuam 
 on the 11th of March, 1645. With princely munifi- 
 cence he applied all the revenues of the see and the 
 rich gifts of his friends to the decoration of the cathe- 
 dral and the erection of a college and other institutions 
 connected with religion. He continued for about two 
 years after the loss of Galway to labour among his 
 flock, travelling from district to district, concealing 
 himself as best he could, and often exposed to imminent 
 danger. At length, on the 1st of March, 1654, he was 
 
218 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 arrested at Ballymote, together with some priests who 
 accompanied him, and despoiled of all the episcopal 
 ornaments that remained to him. Even his episcopal 
 cross and ring, which were of great value, were appro- 
 priated by his captors, and he was set at liberty for a 
 time, only on security being given that he would sur- 
 render when called upon. In the following June he 
 was thrown into prison in Galway, and though through 
 the many hardships to which he was exposed he was 
 struck with paralysis and weighed down by other infir- 
 mities, he was kept in close confinement for fourteen 
 months. He was then hurried on board a ship bound 
 for France, which in four days was wafted by favour- 
 able winds to the coast of Armorica. He lived at 
 Nantes for five years, and then passed to the seaport 
 town of Dinan, that, being near St. Malo, he might 
 have greater facilities for holding communication with 
 his flock. Seeing that the storm of persecution had in 
 part subsided, he returned to his diocese in 1662, and 
 though unable through his many infirmities to endure 
 much fatigue he administered the Sacrament of Con- 
 firmation to vast numbers who flocked to him from 
 other dioceses widowed of their pastors. He every 
 year on Holy Thursday consecrated the holy oils for 
 his own province and for the province of Cashel, and 
 foreseeing that his death was at hand, he, in 1667, 
 anticipated by a week this sacred ceremony, availing 
 himself of the privilege granted him by the Sovereign 
 Pontiff, and on Holy Thursday of that year calmly 
 expired, being seventy-seven years old. He had caused 
 to be repaired the oratory in which the relics of St. 
 Jarlath were enshrined, and there, with all the religious 
 
STTFE RINGS OF THE CATHOLICS EN" GAL WAT. 219 
 
 pomp that the circumstances of those times would 
 permit, his remains were deposited on Easter Eve of 
 1667. 
 
 His brother, Hugh de Burgo, of the Order of St. 
 Francis, was appointed to the See of Kilmacduagh, in 
 the consistory of the 11th of March. 1647. He was 
 remarkable for his ability in administration and skill 
 in languages, and had held with distinction high posts 
 among his Franciscan brethren in Spain, Portugal, 
 Belgium, Bohemia, and other countries of Europe. He, 
 in 1649, roofed in a portion of the old Cathedral of 
 Kilmacduagh, which he dedicated once more to divine 
 worship, and he continued to minister faithfully to his 
 flock, almost driven to despair by the Puritan oppres- 
 sion. He was at length compelled to quit Ireland 
 about the year 1656. He took refuge in England, and 
 being protected by some powerful friends administered 
 continuation, and promoted piety among the scattered 
 children of the Church, till his death, which, as Lynch 
 asserts, took place probably in 1660. A letter which he 
 addressed from London to Cardinal Barberini in Home, 
 without date, faithfully depicts the sad condition of the 
 Irish Church subsequent to the Puritan triumph. M Of 
 twenty- six bishops (he says who previous to this recent 
 persecution of the Church resided with their nocks, four 
 only, or at the most six, now survive, namely, John, 
 Archbishop of Tuam ; Francis. Bishop of KflfaJa ; 
 Edmund, Bishop of Limerick : Eugene. Bishop of EjI- 
 more ; and Hugh, Bishop of Kilmacduagh. Since the 
 rigour of the persecution allows no intercourse of letters 
 between Ireland and the Continent, I was sent hither 
 by my colleagues of the province of Connaught, that I 
 
220 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 
 
 might from hence make known to his Holiness and to 
 your Eminence the state of that province and neigh- 
 bouring parts ; also, before I departed from Ireland, 
 Thomas, Archbishop of Cashel, was still there, bedridden 
 from old age, and the heretics, as I understand, dragged 
 him from his bed, hurried him from Clonmel to Water- 
 ford, and put him on board a ship bound for Spain, 
 without the food or assistance requisite for one so feeble. 
 By this cruelty the heretics sought to accomplish the 
 bishop's death, a penalty they were unwilling to inflict 
 on him publicly within the kingdom, lest his martyr- 
 dom should prove a solace to the Catholics. In conse- 
 quence of a most rigid inquisition concerning all priests 
 and other ecclesiastics throughout the entire kingdom 
 a very great number of them fell into the hands of the 
 heretical enemy. They were all sentenced to banish- 
 ment, and shipped on board of vessels bound for various 
 parts — Spain, France, Belgium, or the Indies — just as 
 the first opportunity of vessels offered, and that without 
 food or any other provision, after the heretics had taken 
 all their goods and possessions for themselves. Not one- 
 tenth of the clergy escaped this inquisition, and they 
 who did escape it, lead now a life full of extreme misery 
 in hiding-places in mountains and forests, for the 
 Catholics cannot aid them, unless with loss of all their 
 chattels and farms ; and, lest this should happen, the 
 good ecclesiastics prefer to continue in the woods and 
 to suffer every hardship rather than put Catholics to 
 such risk. By day they lie concealed in caves and on 
 the mountains, and at night they sally forth to watch 
 for a few hours over the spiritual needs of Catholics. 
 They are in great want of faculties, ordinary and extra- 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAY. 221 
 
 ordinary, which they humbly and earnestly request 
 may be speedily sent to me for secure transmission to 
 them. ... In times of such most cruel persecu- 
 tions of the Church the spiritual consolations ought to 
 be abundant. It would be hard to suffer extremes 
 for the Church if the Church refused to compassionate 
 the sufferers. This hardship will be removed by your 
 Eminence in your zeal for the salvation of so many 
 souls." (Spicilegium Ossoriense, vol. i., p. 405.) 
 
 Andrew Lynch, Bishop of Kilfenora, was one of the 
 few Irish Bishops destined to outlive the Puritan storm 
 and to see comparative peace restored to the Irish 
 Church. The house of his parents in the city of Gal- 
 way was a secure refuge for the persecuted clergy 
 during the reigns of Elizabeth and James the First, 
 and his father, Mark Lynch, had the further merit of 
 being for a considerable time imprisoned for the faith. 
 Andrew studied in Paris, and soon after his ordination 
 was successively promoted to the posts of Vicar-Gene- 
 ral of Killaloe, Vicar- Apostolic of Killala, and "Warden 
 of Galway. He was remarkable for his knowledge of 
 the Canon and Civil Law, and he spent a considerable 
 sum in the purchase of books, for anything like a 
 Catholic Library was a rare thing in Ireland in those 
 days of persecution. Though appointed to the See of 
 Kilfenora in the month of March, 1646, the Balls did 
 not reach him for two years, when he was consecrated 
 by the Nuncio, Archbishop Pinuccini, on Sunday, the 
 21st of April, 1648. During the short interval that he 
 was allowed to watch over his flock in peace, he restored 
 the old Cathedral Church dedicated to St. Fachtnan, 
 and was indefatigable in administering the holy Sacra- 
 
222 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 ments. When at length the Puritan sword laid waste 
 the fold of Christ in the fi West, he took refuge for a 
 time in Inisbofin, and thence sailed to France. He 
 lived for several years at St. Malo, exercising the epis- 
 copal functions amid a people in great part composed of 
 his exiled countrymen. The only treasure he brought 
 with him was a remnant of his rich library, and even in 
 France these loved books were his chief delight.* The 
 survivors of the Irish Bishops and clergy deputed him 
 to appeal to the French Government in their behalf, 
 which he did in a printed address remarkable alike for 
 lucid reasoning and fervid eloquence. Moved by this 
 appeal, an agent was despatched from Paris to Crom- 
 well, to plead the cause of the Irish exiled for the faith. 
 He replied with that cant and hypocrisy which were 
 characteristic of all his utterances, that the Parliament 
 persecuted no one for religion and interfered with no 
 one's belief. The French Government allowing itself 
 to be deceived by this response, voted the paltry sum 
 of £300, to enable the Irish exiled Bishops to return to 
 their flocks. In 1665, the Bishop of Kilfenora returned 
 to Ireland, and with the Primate and the Bishop of 
 Ardagh and other representatives of the clergy, met in 
 Dublin in the following year, to present to the king a 
 declaration of loyalty, and thus to disabuse the govern- 
 ment so far as in them lay of its prejudices against the 
 Irish Catholics. Dr. Lynch was chosen to preside at 
 their deliberations, but so far were the Lord Lieutenant 
 Ormonde and the court from appreciating the peaceable 
 
 * " Instructissimse Bibliotheae magnis impensis a se quondam com- 
 paratse reliquias tanquam tabulam naufragio subductam ad se dudum 
 patria delalas assidue evolvebat." (MS. Hist.) 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IX GALVS'AY. 223 
 
 efforts of the good Bishop, that no sooner had the 
 assembly concluded its labours than an officer was sent 
 by Ormonde to the Bishop's house to arrest him and 
 lead him off to prison. The door was opened in person 
 by the aged Bishop, and the officer mistaking him for 
 the servant, asked was the Bishop at home. He replied 
 in the affirmative, and the officer rushed in to secure 
 his intended captive. Without a moment's delay the 
 aged Bishop quitted the house through the opened door 
 and made his escape to France. He spent the closing 
 years of his life at Rouen, assisting the Archbishop of 
 that See in the discharge of the episcopal duties, and 
 he appears to have died there about the year 1674. 
 
 Walter Lynch, Bishop of Clonfert, was also a native 
 of Gralway. Having studied rhetoric and philosophy 
 in the Irish College at Lisbon, he returned home and 
 for some years, despite the laws that proscribed Catholic 
 education, opened a school and taught with applause, 
 first at Gort, and subsequently in Limerick. He then 
 proceeded to Paris and completed his theological studies 
 and received the Laurea in that Faculty. Appointed 
 Rector of St. Nicholas's, and Warden of Gralway, he 
 was remarkable for his zeal and eloquence, and it is in 
 particular recorded of him that in the humble chapel in 
 which the faithful, ere the Confederates restored peace 
 to the Church in 1641, were accustomed to assemble, 
 he added to the decorum of divine worship by construct- 
 ing an organ, probably the first that since the accession 
 of Queen Elizabeth, was introduced into any Catholic 
 chapel of Ireland. He also collected a large and well- 
 assorted library, but the heretics set fire to it, and the 
 whole collection of books was destroyed. In the year 
 
224 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GALWAY. 
 
 1647, he was promoted to the See of Clonfert, and shared 
 with his people in all the vicissitudes of the closing 
 years of the Confederation. When all was lost in the 
 "West, he for a time took refuge in the island of Inis- 
 bofin, and then sailed for the Continent. After a short 
 stay in Brussels he proceeded to Taurin, in Hungary, 
 where he was enrolled in the Cathedral Chapter, and 
 assisted the Bishop in the discharge of the episcopal 
 duties. He was engaged making preparations to return 
 to his flock when he received the summons to a happier 
 world in the year 1664. 
 
SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 225 
 
 CHAPTEE XI. 
 Sufferings of the Catholics during the Plague. 
 
 1. The Plague rages in Ireland. — 2. Puritans anxious to bring on 
 Famine and Pestilence. — 3. Pestilence commences in the "West. — 
 4. Heroism of Father Wolf of limerick. — 5. Of Fathers O'Cleary 
 and White in Waterford. — 6. Desolation of the Country described 
 " an English Priest-hunter and others. — 7- Iretons Death fore- 
 told by Dr. O'Brien, Bishop of Emly. 
 
 1 . From the preceding narrative it is manifest that the 
 whole kingdom was subjected to a dire persecution, 
 which surpassed in ferocity the sufferings of any nation 
 recorded in history : " Everywhere agriculture and 
 commerce ceased. Each one's thoughts were solely 
 devoted to preserve life, and to avoid the impending 
 destruction. Hence resulted a dearth of all articles of 
 food, and with famine, a pestilence, too, assailed us. 
 Thus the three scourges of God, of which David had to 
 choose but one, were all at the same time inflicted on 
 us — famine, pestilence, and war. Urged by the famine, 
 numbers fled from all parts of the kingdom to seek 
 shelter in the cities, whilst others, too, fled thither, 
 driven from their estates, or escaping from the sword 
 of the heretical enemy, so that no longer could a place 
 be found for them within the walls, and the outcasts 
 filled the highways and the country around." * 
 *Missio Soc. Jesu, &c. 
 
226 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS 
 
 So dreadful, indeed, was this scourge, that the learned 
 Dominican father, Dominick de Bosario, cried out : 
 " Oh, look upon us to-day, ye nations. Are we not a 
 spectacle to men and angels ? Learn of us what a 
 terrible calamity it is to fall into the hands of the living 
 God, and let him who stands take heed lest he fall." * 
 
 No wonder that an Irish poet would give expression 
 to our nation's sorrow in those pathetic words, published 
 by Mr. Gilbert, in the Appendix to the Aphorismical 
 Discovery, vol. iii., p. 90. Erin, clad in mourning, ap- 
 pears to the poet as he knelt beside the graves of the 
 Irish Princes, on the hill of St. Peter, in Montorio, in 
 Borne : — 
 
 " Wailing she uplifted her arms 
 And, with eyes raised to heaven, 
 Addressed the King of the sky 
 In these doleful words : 
 Great God ! I pray thee to hear me. 
 Is it sinful to ask a brief question ? . . . 
 Why should punishment be inflicted 
 Most heavily on one race ? 
 Why should lowly slaves be freed, 
 Why should those once free be now enslaved ? 
 Why are the poor and innocent hanged, 
 And the guilty left joyful ? 
 Why are not heretics extirpated. 
 Why are the faithful persecuted by evil-doers ? 
 Why are not Lutherans punished, 
 While true believers are done to death ? 
 
 * Hist, of the Geraldines, page 103. 
 
DTJKING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 227 
 
 Why are the lambs left bleeding, 
 "Why are the wolves allowed to prey on the flocks? 
 By what justice is Erin cast down, 
 Why are her groans unheeded ? 
 Why are not the Gaels exalted, 
 A people who at all times obeyed God P 
 Since the coming of holy Patrick 
 With the faith to Erin, 
 Neither reverse, nor pain, nor affliction, 
 Nor foreign might, nor sore oppression 
 Could take Christ's faith from the hearts of the 
 Gaels. 
 
 Their light was brilliant as the sun, 
 It glittered as an Angel, 
 
 On it there fell neither blemish, stain, nor spot, 
 Throughout Ireland, on the sons of Miled. 
 Alas ! Christ ! this is true indeed. 
 What dost Thou require of us? Wilt Thou not 
 listen ? 
 
 Or is it Thy will never again to look upon us ? 
 Upon us, who have always adored Thee, 
 Now punished unjustly under the Saxons. 
 Surely, it was the Saxon blood, low 
 And treacherous, which deserved to have been 
 forsaken." 
 
 2. It was from the commencement a main object of 
 the Puritans to bring on this famine. Ormonde's letters 
 inform us* that "Sir William Parsons advised the 
 governor to the burning of com, and to put man, woman, 
 and child to the sword ; and Sir Adam Lof tus wrote to 
 
 * Vol. ii., p. 350. 
 
228 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS 
 
 the same effect." It was, indeed, the renewal of the 
 policy pursued at the time of Elizabeth, and which was 
 so strongly recommended by Spenser, " in order that 
 thus," he said, %i the Irish might be driven to devour 
 each other." That the parliament hoped for this result 
 is clear from the History of Lord Clarendon, who records 
 (ii. 323) that, when an armistice was ageed to between 
 Ormonde and the Catholic forces, the parliament passed 
 a vote of censure on the commander for betraying, as 
 they said, the interests of the Protestant religion, 
 " since the rebels were now brought to their last gasp, 
 and reduced to so terrible a famine that, like cannibals, 
 they eat one another, and must have been destroyed im- 
 mediately, and utterly rooted out." 
 
 Hence it was that amongst the military weapons 
 distributed to the soldiers from the store of Waterford, 
 we find not only swords, and pikes, and shot, but also 
 <c eighteen dozen of scythes with handles and rings ; 
 forty reape-hooks, and whetstones and rubstones pro- 
 portional,"* which were destined to cut down the grow- 
 ing crop. The Commissioners of Ireland writing to the 
 parliament of England, 1st July, 1651, state that 
 Colonel Hewson had started with his troop for Wick- 
 low, where he " doth now intend to make use of scythes 
 and sickles that were sent over in 1649, with which 
 they intend to cut down the corn growing in those 
 parts."f The result of such a warfare is thus given in 
 
 * Order of Council,, ap. Prend., p. 14. 
 
 t Ibid. Another Order of Council, ordered 3rd August, 1652, 
 " that the Governor of Dublin do give warrant to the commissary of 
 the stores in Dublin, to issue the Bibles now in the stores, to the 
 several companies of foot and troop of horse within the said precincts 
 of Dublin;" again on 17th August, 1652: "You are desired forth- 
 
DURING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 229 
 
 the words of various government records by Mr. Pren- 
 dergast : " To place garrisons near their fastnesses, to 
 lay waste the adjacent country, allowing none to inhabit 
 there on pain of death, was the course taken to subdue 
 the Irish. The consequence was that the country was 
 reduced to a howling wilderness. Three-fourths of the 
 stock of cattle were destroyed. In 1653, cattle had to 
 be imported from Wales into Dublin : it required a licence 
 to kill lamb ;* tillage had ceased ; the English them- 
 selves were near starving. . . . The revenue from all 
 sources, even in 1654, did not amount to £200,000, 
 whilst the cost of the army exceeded £500,000." Hence 
 the commissioners, in the letter above referred to, de- 
 scribing the general state of the country, say : " The 
 stock of cattle is almost spent ; above four parts in five 
 of the best and most fertile lands in Ireland lie waste 
 and uninhabited." 
 
 3. The pestilence which resulted from the famine 
 first appeared in the west, and thence soon spread itself 
 through the whole country. The Provost of Galway, 
 writing on the 1st of May, 1650, says : " The pestilence 
 has changed this city into a desert, by the flight of 
 nearly all the inhabitants, and the death of three thou- 
 
 with to deliver out of the stores under your charge one hundred 
 Bibles unto Mr. Eobert Clarke to be by him disposed of, for the use 
 of the forces and others, as may be, for the propagation of the Gospel 
 within the precinct of Galway." 
 
 * The following ^order is dated at Dublin, 17th March, 1652: 
 " Upon the petitions of Mrs. Alice Bulkely, widow, and considera- 
 tion had of her old age and weakness of body; it is thought fit and 
 ordered that she be permitted to kill and dress so much lamb as 
 shall be necessary for her own use and eating, not exceeding three 
 lambs for this whole year," &c. — Ibid., pp. 16, 17. 
 
 16 
 
230 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS 
 
 sand persons." Another letter, in the following month 
 of June, estimates the total amount of deaths in that 
 city, from famine and pestilence, at 3,900. 
 
 "We have already seen how in Dublin no fewer than 
 30,000 citizens were mowed down by the same disease. 
 In Limerick, too, it made many victims. " Truly these 
 were disastrous times," cries out Father Dominick de 
 Rosario, " for the sword was ever unsheathed without 
 the walls, whilst Death was mowing down his victims 
 within."* 
 
 4. The heroism of Father James "Wolf, in assisting 
 the sick in Limerick, is especially recorded. He was 
 absent when the city was taken by the enemy ; but, 
 " on learning that all the ecclesiastics there had been 
 either expelled or butchered, he contrived to get into 
 the city for the purpose of administering the sacraments 
 to the sick and dying." He was only allowed to con- 
 tinue eight days in this ministry of charity. Being ar- 
 rested by the heretics, he was led forthwith to execution, 
 and from the scaffold exhorted the assembled multi- 
 tudes to remain steadfast in the faith, addressing to 
 them these memorable words : " We are made a spec- 
 tacle to God, men, and angels; but the angels rejoice, 
 whilst men scorn us."f 
 
 5. In Waterford the plague also raged with great 
 violence, and the number of its victims soon swelled to 
 5,000. We are informed by Father Dominick de Ro- 
 sario, that as soon as it made its appearance there, " the 
 bishop called his priests together, and exhorted them to 
 
 * Hist., &c., page 224. 
 
 t See Dom. de Rosario, loc. cit., page 210, and Hib. Dom., page 
 668. 
 
DURING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 231 
 
 strain every nerve in order to console the afflicted. This 
 they did with great assiduity, administering unceas- 
 ingly the holy sacraments of penance and the Eucha- 
 rist/'* He mentions two as particularly distinguished 
 in this city : Father Michael O'Cleary, prior of the Do- 
 minican convent, and Father White, a secular priest, 
 " Three days did they pass in solitude and prayer 
 before entering on that harvest of death ; and when 
 they had received the sacramental confessions of thou- 
 sands, they themselves died of the infection." 
 
 The disease, however, was not confined to any parti- 
 cular district ; it spread throughout the whole island, 
 and prepared the way for the triumph of the Puritans. 
 " The success of Cromwell and Ireton, and his fol- 
 lowers," writes a contemporary author, " must be as- 
 cribed, not so much to their own strength as to the 
 dreadful pestilence that desolated the country. For the 
 anger of God being kindled against us on account of 
 our sins, his chastening angel so afflicted us with a 
 direful pestilence in almost all the towns and cities of 
 the entire kingdom, that the soldiers and citizens being 
 swept away by it, the enemy often got possession of little 
 more than empty cities and fortifications, so few were 
 those that remained to oppose them." 
 
 6. But we shall allow an English Protestant his- 
 torian, who was himself employed at this very time in 
 hunting to death the Irish, to describe the frightful 
 miseries which then fell upon our devoted country : — 
 
 " About the year 1652 and 1653, the plague and 
 famine had so swept away whole counties, that a man 
 might travel twenty or thirty miles and not see a 
 * Rdatio rcram, Sec, an. 
 
232 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS 
 
 living creature, either man, beast, or bird ; they being 
 either all dead, or had to quit those desolate places ; our 
 soldiers would tell stories of the place where they saw 
 a smoke : it was so rare to see either smoke by day, or 
 fire or candle by night. And when we did meet with 
 two or three poor cabins, none but very aged men, 
 with women and children, and those, like the prophet, 
 might have complained : ' We are become as a bottle 
 in the smoke ; our skin is black like an oven, because 
 of the terrible famine.' I have seen those miserable 
 creatures plucking stinking carrion out of a ditch, 
 black and rotten, and been credibly informed that they 
 digged corpses out of the grave to eat."* And some 
 instances are added, too horrible to be here related. 
 
 Mr. Prendergast also writes : — " Ireland now lay 
 void as a wilderness. Five- sixths of her people had 
 perished. Women and children were found daily 
 perishing in ditches starved. The bodies of many 
 wandering orphans, whose fathers had embarked for 
 Spain, and whose mothers had died of famine, were 
 preyed upon by wolves. In the years 1652 and 1653 
 the plague and famine had swept away whole counties, 
 that a man might travel twenty or thirty miles and 
 not see a living creature. Man, beast, and bird were 
 all dead, or had quit those desolate places, "f 
 
 7. Amongst the victims of the plague was the com- 
 
 * Colonel Laurence's Interest of Ireland, Part ii., pp. 86-7. 
 
 X Settlement, p. 149. He gives in note a declaration of the Council 
 of Ireland, on 12th of May, 1653, in which, amongst other things, it 
 is stated that, "Many times poor children who lost parents, or have 
 been deserted by them, are Jound exposed to, and some of them fed 
 upon, by ravening wolves and other beasts and birds of prey" 
 
DURING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 233 
 
 mander-in- chief of the Puritan forces. On the sur- 
 render of Limerick, the heroic Bishop of Emly, Albert 
 O'Brien, was, with several others, excepted from 
 hope of pardon. TThen brought before Ireton, he fear- 
 lessly announced to the tyrant that before many days he 
 himself should answer for his crimes at the tribunal of 
 God. The holy martyr was at once led to the scaffold, 
 but before a month elapsed his prophecy was verified, 
 Ireton being stricken with the plague, and with his 
 last breath exclaiming that the bishop's blood was the 
 cause of his death.* Lynch, in his MS. History of the 
 Irish Bishops, attests that Ireton, when seized with the 
 plague, in the paroxysms of his agony, broke out into 
 the following words, interrupted by his groans :— " It 
 was not I, but the Council, that condemned him to 
 death. I could have saved his life, but it would give 
 displeasure to my friends. Oh ! that I had never met 
 that Popish bishop. 5 ' Some writers have assigned the 
 26th of November as the day of Ireton's death ; others 
 assign it to the 13th of that month. Lest this event 
 should be regarded by the Catholics as a triumph, the 
 English of Limerick for some years observed Thursday, 
 the day on which Ireton expired, as a solemn festival. f 
 His body was embalmed and brought to England, where 
 it was buried with great pomp in TTestminster Abbey ; 
 but after the Restoration his remains were, with Crom- 
 well's, disinterred, exposed on a scaffold, and burned at 
 Tyburn. 
 
 * Dom. de Rosario in Hist., &c, pp. 204-7. 
 
 t Letter of Dr. John O'Molony from Paris, 10th May, 1652. 
 
PART THE SECOND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Penal Laws enacted against the Irish Catholics — 
 General State of the Kingdom in 1652. 
 
 1. Sad State of Ireland in 1652. — 2. Its Sufferings depicted by a 
 Jesuit Writer. — 3. Destruction of Religious Houses ; the Fran- 
 ciscans ; Testimony of Dominican Chapter. — 4. Sufferings of 
 Jesuits and others— 5. Of Nuns. — 6. Sufferings of the Irish 
 likened to those of the Jews, or those described by St. Jerome, 
 
 1. Our country, once the Island of Saints, was now 
 wholly become a prey to the persecutors. As Judea of 
 old, its cities were desolate, its altars were overthrown, 
 everything sacred was trampled on, its priests were led 
 to the scaffold, and the inhabitants that yet survived 
 were subjected to a worse than Assyrian captivity : — 
 
 "Neither the Israelites were more cruelly perse- 
 secuted by Pharoah, nor the innocents by Herod, nor 
 the Christians by Nero, or any other of the pagan 
 tyrants, than were the Roman Catholics of Ireland at 
 this fatal juncture."* 
 
 A great part of the kingdom was now quite desolate. 
 The Commissioners of Parliament, in their report of 
 
 * Morison's Threnodia, p. 14. 
 
236 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 1st January, 1651-2, describe the country as almost 
 everywhere interlaced with great bogs, with firm, 
 woody grounds like islands in the centre, approached 
 by a narrow pass, where only one horse could go 
 abreast, easily broken up, so as no horse could attack 
 them; but in and out the Irish could pass over the 
 wet and quaking bog by ways known only to them- 
 selves. To reduce these fastnesses to submission, the 
 Commissioners ordered a network of garrisons to be 
 placed near them, the adjacent country to be devas- 
 tated, and no Irish to be allowed to dwell there, under 
 pain of death. These parts were thus reduced to a 
 howling wilderness. Already, in November, 1650, 
 Ireton, when marching by a circuitous route from 
 Waterford to Limerick, a distance, he says, of about 
 150 miles, found whole districts of thirty miles together 
 " with hardly a house or any living creature to be seen, 
 only ruins and desolation in a plain and pleasant land." 
 (Prendergast, p. 79). 
 
 The Protestant pamphleteers of those times made 
 no effort to conceal their glee that the Irish Catholics 
 were thus got rid of with a vengeance. A pamphlet 
 entitled The Present State of Ireland, published in 
 London, in 1673, made the calculation that, in the 
 three years, 1650, 1651, and 1652, almost seven- eighths 
 of the population of Ireland had been carried off by the 
 sword and pestilence and famine : "In less space than 
 three years there was scarce an Irishman through all 
 Ireland that durst hold up his hand against the Eng- 
 lish, and, by a necessary severity put in practice for 
 the soon finishing of the war, the whole kingdom be- 
 came upon a sudden so depopulated, that, considering 
 
AGAINST THE IKISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 237 
 
 what vast numbers of the people were destroyed by the 
 sword, famine, and plague, it is thought that, in the 
 conclusion of the said war, there was not left living 
 the eighth part of all the Irish nation — a just judgment 
 of God inflicted on them for their notorious barbarism." 
 
 2. In the history of the Jesuit missions in Ireland this 
 sad picture of our country's history is thus depicted* : — 
 " The heretical enemy, haying overcome every ob- 
 stacle, and obtained possession of the whole kingdom, 
 raged with such fury against all ecclesiastics and every- 
 thing dedicated to religion, that the Turks or the very 
 demons from hell could not display greater impiety or 
 ferocity. Everywhere the public crosses and other 
 emblems of the Catholic religion were overturned : the 
 altars were destroyed ; the chapels profaned, and used 
 as storehouses or stables ; the stained glass windows, 
 on which the sacred history of our Saviour's life and 
 the images of saints were represented, were every- 
 where demolished; the sepulchres and monuments of 
 the dead were broken open and destroyed, that no 
 memory should remain of the Catholic religion ; the 
 bells were thrown down and broken ; the sacred images 
 and vestments were torn to atoms ; the statues of the 
 Blessed Virgin and the saints were dragged through 
 the public streets, with ropes around the neck, be- 
 smeared with filth, and hanged from gibbets ; the 
 priests and religious were treated with a thousand in- 
 dignities, cast into prison, and butchered ; the Catholics 
 were despoiled of their goods, laden with oppressive 
 burdens, and treated as slaves. 
 
 * Missio Soc. Jesu in Hib. usque in an. 1655. 
 
238 
 
 PEN AX LAWS ENACTED 
 
 " I could mention a thousand horrible instances of 
 such cruelty ; and many, too, were the miraculous 
 interpositions of Providence to avenge this impiety. 
 Frequently were seen in the public squares heaps of 
 Catholic books and sacred ornaments and images to be 
 destroyed by fire ; the Catholic citizens were expelled 
 from their houses and possessions ; and the most noble 
 families were subjected to the lowest and most de- 
 grading offices ; children and youths were torn from 
 their parents ; aged matrons and noble ladies were 
 seized on as servants, and employed in the most menial 
 occupations. Truly this persecution of the Catholics 
 was direful, envenomed, cunning, astute ; the heretics 
 feigned that they did not persecute individuals, but 
 only the superstitions and abominations of popery (this 
 was their language). However, these things they per- 
 secuted in individuals, and individuals suffered death 
 for them. 
 
 " There was no restraint on the soldiery when pur- 
 suing the Catholics ; the persecutors were at the same 
 time accusers, witnesses, and judges ; by day and by 
 night they burst into the houses of the Catholics ; they 
 broke open rooms and desks and private drawers, under 
 the pretence of searching for ecclesiastics, and even 
 when no resistance was offered them, they invented 
 whatever suited their designs, and took away with 
 them whatsoever they pleased. It was a capital crime 
 for any ecclesiastic to enter a city, or town, or garrison, 
 to offer the Holy Sacrifice, or to administer the sacra- 
 ments ; and for doing so many suffered death ; the 
 same penalty was incurred by whosoever received a 
 priest into his dwelling. No individual could sleep in 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 239 
 
 any of these places without signing his name and re- 
 ceiving an express permission from the governor ; those 
 who came were minutely examined as to who they were, 
 whence they came, what their business, &c." 
 
 3. Some of the religious orders have, happily, preserved 
 accurate statistics of the sufferings which they endured 
 at this period : the Franciscan Order had sixty-four 
 flourishing houses in Ireland in 1641, each with a nu- 
 merous community, and there were, besides, ten con- 
 vents of nuns of the Order of St. Clare. In 1656 not 
 one of all these remained ; and an official record, drawn 
 up in 1662, gives the names of thirty Franciscans who, 
 during the Puritan persecution, suffered death for the 
 faith.* The acts of the General Chapter of the Do- 
 minican Order, held in Rome in 1656, also commemo- 
 
 * The important record referred to in the text is preserved among 
 the Waddirig Papers, and is dated 16th July, 1662 : "Nomina reli- 
 giorosum O.S.F. qui ab ultima regni Hibernise commotione passi sunt 
 ob odium fidei et religionis : — R. A. Pr. Franciscus Matthasus, Pro* 
 vincise Pr. ; fr. Eugenius Colin, laicus ; Pr. Richardus Butler ; fr. 
 Jacobus Saul, laicus ; R. A. D. Thomas O'Morisa, tertiarius ; Pr. 
 Joannes O'Kearney ; Pr. Richardus Sinott; Pr. Joannes Esmonde ; 
 Pr. Paulus Sinott ; Pr. Raymondns Stafford ; Pr. Petrus Stafford ; 
 fr. Didacus Chivers ; fr. Jacobus Rochford ; Pr. Eugenius O'Cahan ; 
 Fr. Antonius Ferrallus; Pr. Gabriel Hicquaeus ; fr. Thadeus Becan, 
 laicus ; fr. Guillelmus (name illegible) ; Pr. Joannes Daton ; Rev. 
 adm. P. fr. Franciscus Sullevanus cum esset in actuali ministerio 
 Provincialatus ; Revmus D. Boetius Eganus, Epus. Rossensis, olim 
 Defmitor Gen. ; fr. Nicolaus Wogan ; Pr. Olanus Conrius ; Pr. Bene- 
 dictus Luchranus ; Pr. Marianus Vardaeus initio hujus belli a piratis 
 suspensas ex malo navis ; Pr. Christoph. Ultanus die qua morti 
 adjudicatus erat in carcere mortuus ; Pr. Joannes Dormer ; Pr. Joan. 
 Donagh; Pr. Franciscus Geraldinus, postremi tres in vinculis obi- 
 erunt ; Pr. Hugo Mageoin squalore carceris quamvis libertati resti- 
 tutus obiit." 
 
240 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 rate the glory which redounded to the Irish province 
 from the heroism of the Fathers : " An abundant har- 
 vest of those who, in our Irish province, have suffered 
 cruel torments for the Catholic faith has been gathered, 
 in these our days, into the celestial granary ; since, of 
 forty-three convents which the Order possessed in that 
 island, not a single one survives to-day which the fury 
 of the heretical persecutor hath not either burned or 
 levelled to the ground, or diverted to profane uses. In 
 these religious establishments there were counted about 
 six hundred, of which but the fourth part is now in 
 the land of the living, and even that number is dis- 
 persed in exile ; the remainder died martyrs at home, 
 or were cruelly transported to the island of Barbadoes."* 
 
 * See De Burgo, Hib. Bom., page 525. A letter presented to the 
 Sac. Cong, on the 4th June, 1657, says: " Piii di 30 Domenicani 
 sono stati fatti morire in Irlanda dal 1641, in qua, molti altri relegati 
 nelle isole Barbadoes, e piu di 500 con publico editto esiliati, vanno 
 dispersi per il mondo, ma con il medesimo desiderio di esporre la vita 
 per quella misera patria." 
 
 Fr. Dominick de Eosario gives the following list of Dominican 
 Friars who were slain by the heretics: " Peter O'Higgins, Bichard 
 Barry, Terence O'Brien, James Woolf, Myles Magrath, Laurence 
 O'Farrell, Thadeus Moriarty, James O'Beilly, Thomas O'Higgins, 
 Ambrose O'Cahill, Dominick Dillon, Gerald Dillon, William Lynch, 
 Stephen Petit, John Collins, Peter Costello, William O'Connor, Gerald 
 Geraldine, William O'Luin, Dominick O'Luin, Arthur MacGeoghegan, 
 David Fox, Donatus Black." He also gives the following as " some 
 of those who died of the plague, contracted in the discharge of their 
 duties : Michael Cleary, John Gerald, Donald O'Brien, Gerald 
 Baggott, Gerald Fitzgerald, and Thadeus O'Cahasy." Fr. Dominick 
 de Eosario was a contemporary, and had the best opportunities for 
 receiving accurate information regarding the facts which he narrates. 
 He held high offices in the Spanish Court, not the least remarkable 
 being that of Extraordinary Ambassador of the Spanish monarch to 
 the French Court. He died Archbishop-elect of Coimbra, on the 
 30th of June, 1662, in the sixty-seventh year of his age. 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOL ICS. 
 
 241 
 
 4. The sufferings of the Jesuits were not less severe. 
 Before the Puritan invasion they were eighty in num- 
 ber, fifty- six of whom were priests ; they possessed six 
 colleges, eight residences, besides many oratories and 
 schools ; but in the universal desolation only seventeen 
 fathers remained, and they, too, lost everything, not 
 even retaining an image or book, or the breviary itself ; 
 and when the Holy Sacrifice was to be offered up, it 
 was only in some cave or granary, or other obscure 
 corner, and anticipating the morning aurora, the doors 
 and windows being closed, and few being admitted. 
 The fathers being dispersed and scattered, sought a re- 
 fuge in various places : some in the towns and huts of 
 the poor, others in the mountains and woods, with diffi- 
 culty dragging along a miserable existence, that they 
 might assist and console the Catholic outcasts : some 
 there were who, in the disguise of rustics or mendi- 
 cants, visited the cities and towns, and now in one 
 house, now in another, offered the Holy Sacrifice, and 
 administered the Sacraments.* 
 
 * " Missio, &c, citat." Another paper, entitled " Status Societatis 
 in Hibernia nuperi belli tempore," adds the following particulars : 
 " Patres summo cum fructu et satisfactione tenebant scholas Dub- 
 linii, Pontani, Kilkenniae, Rosponti, Wexfordise, Waterfordiae, Clon- 
 meliae, Casseliae, Corcagia;, Limerici, Galviae. Ab initio belli cessarunt 
 scholae ad tempus Dublinii : semper Pontanae et Corcagiae quod civi- 
 tates illas occuparent haeretici et Catholicos ibi crudelius opprime- 
 rent : in aliis civitatibus floruerunt liberius ; prseterea Athloniae 
 nova? sunt apertae, sed et Kilkenniae et Galviae tradebatur Philoso- 
 phia. In omnibus hisce civitatibus erant numerosae sodalitates B. 
 Virginis." Even those that were sent into exile continued to labour 
 for our suffering country, and we learn from a letter of Thomas Quin, 
 24th Feb., 1660, that three Irish Jesuits were then busily engaged at 
 Solictor, near St. Malo, teaching the children of the Irish exiles." 
 
242 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 From a petition presented to the Sacred Congrega- 
 tion in 1654, we learn that all the Capuchins were 
 likewise banished, some few alone remaining in the 
 island, who lived " as shepherds or herdsmen, or tillers 
 of the soil." 
 
 It wonld be easy to add to the list of the heroic 
 missionaries who thus suffered for the Faith. Fr. 
 Cornelius O'Driscoll, O.S.B., Abbot of Bangor, was 
 thrown into prison in London on account of exercising 
 his sacred office; and, though subsequently released, 
 died at Douai, in the year 1662, of sickness contracted 
 in prison. Fr. Luke Bergin was put to death at "Wex- 
 ford in 1656, accused of no crime but that he was a 
 priest (in patibulum ea tantum de causa, quod sacerdos 
 fuerit y actus est) . Laurence Harries, Abbot of Tintern, 
 was subjected to the hardships of imprisonment for a 
 long time, and died in exile. Fr. John Cantwell, 
 Abbot of Jerpoint; Louis Cantwell, Abbot of Holy 
 Cross ; James Tobin, Abbot of St. Mary's, Kilcooley ; 
 Thomas Lombard, Prior of St. John the Evangelist's 
 in "Waterford, were all banished from the Kingdom by 
 the Puritans, and, after suffering a great deal, attained 
 their crown in exile. 
 
 5. At the same time the convents of the nuns were 
 destroyed, and their inmates, wheresoever they had not 
 consulted for their safety by flight, were treated with 
 inhuman barbarity. De Burgo has preserved the 
 memory of two (page 572) who were crowned with a 
 glorious martyrdom : — 
 
 " In 1653, Honoria Burke, daughter of Richard 
 Burke of Mayo, took the habit of the Third Order ; 
 that is, of St. Catherine of Sienna, at the hands of our 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 243 
 
 Irish Provincial, when she was but fourteen years of 
 age. She erected a residence or small monastery near 
 our convent of Burishool, and led there a sanctified life 
 during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., and Charles 
 L, devoting herself to holy works, till the decrepitude 
 of old age. In the famine time, He to whom she was 
 espoused did not forsake her ; for it is related that in 
 answer to her prayers for daily bread there came daily 
 an unknown youth to the convent- door (an angel from 
 heaven in mortal guise) who provided her and the other 
 sisters with all necessaries of life abundantly, and then 
 disappeared. In the Cromwellian persecution she, with 
 Sister Honoria Magan and a lay- sister, fled to Saints' 
 Island (Mayo), whither they were pursued by the 
 fanatics, seized, and despoiled of their garments, and 
 left in this state in the depth of winter, for what I 
 now narrate occurred in the month of February. After 
 breaking three of her ribs the Cromwellian ruffians 
 flung her, as they would a bundle of rags, into a boat 
 and left her to her fate. In her last agony she be- 
 sought the sister who accompanied her to take her to 
 the convent of Burishool, and this request was cheer- 
 fully complied with, for the sister carried her in her 
 arms and laid her down before the altar dedicated to the 
 Blessed Virgin. This done the sister went to the wood 
 in search of another member of the community who was 
 hiding there, and on her return found the aged sister 
 keeling before the altar, with head erect, and placidly 
 sleeping in the Lord. 
 
 " As for Sister Honoria Magan, who was also of the 
 Third Order, she would not be separated in death from 
 her whose pains and labours she had shared in life. 
 
244 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 She also was seized by those satellites of Satan in the 
 same island, despoiled of her habit, and wounded. 
 Apprehending something still more terrible, she tore 
 herself from their sacrilegious hands, fled to a neigh- 
 bouring wood and hid herself in the hollow trunk of a 
 tree, and next day was found there frozen to death.' 1 
 
 The Rinuccini MS. briefly refers to the hardships 
 endured by the religious communities of nuns dispersed 
 by the triumph of the Puritan arms, and states that 
 those who escaped death at home fled to the Continent 
 and found an asylum in Flanders, or France, or Spain. 
 Of one of them in particular, a Miss Browne, of Gal- 
 way, it is recorded that she ended her days in great 
 repute for sanctity (in Hispania cum magna sanctitatis 
 opinione diem obiit, vol. v, fol. 2, 267). 
 
 Sir Richard Bellings, in his History of the Irish 
 Confederation, gives some particulars relating to the 
 convent of St. Clare, called Bethlehem, situated on a 
 promontory jutting out from the southern banks of 
 Lough Ree, about six miles from Athlone. This was 
 one of the first convents established in Ireland since 
 the beginning of Elizabeth's reign, and several religi- 
 ous ladies were gathered there in silence and solitude, 
 leading a life of unostentatious piety in the exact ob- 
 servance of the rule of St. Clare. When, at the com- 
 mencement of hostilities, Sir James Dillon surrendered 
 the town of Athlone to the Lord President of Con- 
 naught, he retired with his troops to the county of 
 Longford, and conducted to a place of greater security 
 the inmates of the convent of Bethlehem. Three 
 hundred of the enemy, under the command of Captain 
 Francis Bertie, " were sent to the convent deserted by 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 245 
 
 the nuns, where they had left all their provisions, some 
 of their habits, some pictures and other ornaments for 
 their chapel and altar." The soldiers, who had as little 
 reverence for things consecrated to God as they had 
 temperance to abstain from drink, "fearless of any 
 enemy, and secure, as they took it, from all danger, 
 filled themselves liberally. So as when a party, sent by 
 Sir Thomas Dillon, who was advertised how they were 
 employed, came upon them the next morning, most of 
 the soldiers and officers were as unfit to fight as they 
 were incapable to obey the commands of their leader, 
 who, striving in vain to draw his men into a posture of 
 making resistance, and giving proof in his own person 
 of much resolution and valour, was slain, and with him 
 most of his men, the Irish being incensed at the copes 
 and (religious) habits which some of the soldiers had put 
 on to make themselves sport" (p. 86). 
 
 A somewhat more detailed account of the just judg- 
 ment that thus befell the despoilers of this hallowed 
 retreat is given in the Aphorismical Discovery : "In 
 Dillon's country there is a nook of Lough E-ee, where 
 some nuns of St. Clare thither unto did inhabit. Upon 
 intimation that those enemie forces approached the 
 country (the nuns) deserted their habitation and retired 
 themselves unto an island of the said lough, their flight 
 being so sudden and unexpected that the most part of 
 their household stuff, nay, their very habits, for fear to 
 be surprised, were left behind. The Roundheads issu- 
 ing to the country, ranging the matter of four score, 
 went to Bethlehem (the place where those nuns did 
 dwell was so called), demolished the house, carried 
 away what they found in it, and hitting on some of the 
 
 17 
 
246 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 habits, some of the rogues did wear those weeds in a 
 gibing manner, telling their comrades that he was a 
 poor nun. Away they went to their garrisons, as they 
 thought. But against God's divine providence there is 
 no wisdom. One Captain Charles Mellaghlin, of Sir 
 James Dillon's regiment, and Oliver Boy Fitzgerald, 
 with the matter of four- score men in their company, lay 
 in ambush before those Roundheads, and seeing their 
 fit opportunity started to them and slaughtered them 
 all there, neither had they the courage to strike one 
 blow in proper defence. None did the Irish lose but 
 one, and he was killed by his own comrades, reputing 
 him one of the enemy, as having a brave coat of bluff 
 on; for, coming to the field, none of their party had 
 any such wear. In the commencement of the skirmish 
 this soldier killed the owner of that bluff, exonerating 
 the dead thereof, did marshal it on himself, and cost 
 him no less than his life, though by a friendly hand, 
 thinking him to be a foe. See how those were paid for 
 plundering the nunnery and gibing the holy habit" 
 (vol. i., p. 58). Forty years later, Sir Henry Piers 
 (a.d. 1682) wrote, in his Corographical Description 
 of West-meat h : " That the abbess of this convent, a 
 daughter of Sir Edward Tuite, was still living in a 
 great old age, and that Ballinacloffy was pointed out as 
 the place where the Puritan soldiers met with their 
 chastisement. ,, 
 
 6. Dr. JohnLynch, inhis Cambrensis Eversus, published 
 in 1662, likens the sufferings inflicted on the Irish Ca- 
 tholics by the Puritans to those prepared by Antiochus 
 against the J ews : he also applies to them the words of 
 Tobias (iii. 4) : " We are delivered to spoil, and to cap- 
 
AGAINST THE IKISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 247 
 
 tivity, and death, and are made a fable and a reproach 
 to all nations." And, again, those of St. Jerome : 
 " The bishops are taken prisoners, the priests slain, the 
 churches thrown down, horses stabled at the altar of 
 Christ, everywhere grief, everywhere lamentation, and 
 death in a thousand shapes. But, 5 ' he adds, " we have 
 long been familiar with such scenes ; and, as nail drives 
 nail, our fresh wounds efface the memory of our former 
 ones" (vol. i., p. 9). 
 
 It would be difficult to find any parallel for all the 
 sufferings which our country thus endured. The writers 
 of this period continually re-echo the passage of the 
 Lamentations : — " The child and the old man lie with- 
 out on the ground : my virgins and my young men are 
 fallen by the sword : thou hast slain them in the day of thy 
 wrath : thou hast killed and shown them no pity." The 
 author of Cambrensis Eversns just referred to (pp. 21-5) 
 well remarks that the cruelty of the Puritans combined 
 the malice of all preceding persecutions, and no better 
 parallel can be found for the dread desolation of the 
 whole kingdom than what we read in Sacred Writ, 
 when the chosen people saw their temple razed, their 
 sanctuary polluted, their cities laid waste, and the people 
 become a byword among the nations. In the words 
 of Bruodin : — " Ireland being entirely subjugated, and 
 scourged by God with pestilence, famine, and the sword, 
 the churches were everywhere profaned, the altars over- 
 thrown, the sacred images broken to atoms, the crosses 
 trampled under foot, the priests banished or led to the 
 scaffold, . . . and no words can express how many 
 and how great were the evils which the Catholics that 
 survived were compelled to endure.' ' 
 
248 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 7. The state of the diocese of Leighlin will serve as 
 an individual instance to illustrate the desolation of the 
 whole Irish Church ; but first, a few words on the 
 illustrious Edmund O'Dempsey, who was at this time 
 bishop of this see. He was the son of Terence 
 O'Dempsey, Viscount Clanmalyre. At a very early 
 age he entered the Irish College at Compostella, and 
 after completing there his philosophical course embraced 
 the Order of St. Dominick. He was remarkable among 
 the religious brethren for his fervour ; and prolonged 
 prayer, the hair shirt, and the discipline were his 
 favourite weapons of defence when assailed by tempta- 
 tion.* Returning to Ireland, he was, in 1634, chosen 
 Provincial of the Order, in which office he displayed 
 great earnestness and zeal in promoting piety and the 
 exact observance of the rule. His nephew, Sir 
 Christopher Dempsey, who was an excellent Catholic, 
 was married to the daughter of Viscount Falkland, the 
 Lord Viceroy of Ireland, and had very often to defend 
 his faith against the attacks of Protestant dignitaries 
 and other officials. He noted down from time to time 
 the objections thus proposed to him that appeared to be 
 of any weight, and forwarded them to his uncle, Fr. 
 Edmund, who gave him in writing the necessary 
 response. One of the difficulties proposed by a Pro- 
 testant bishop is recorded by Lynch in his MS. History. 
 The MS. Gospels of St. Columbkille, he said, afforded 
 abundant proof of the tenets of the Protestant Church. 
 Lynch remarks that the MS. to which reference was 
 thus made was probably the gospels written by St. 
 
 * " Animum precibus, pectus cilicio, manum flagello armavit.' 
 (LyncVsMS.) 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 249 
 
 Columbkille, at this time preserved at Durrow, and 
 held in the greatest veneration by the people. It soon 
 after passed into the hands of Henry Jones,* Protestant 
 Bishop of Heath, and is now preserved in the Library 
 of Trinity College, Dublin. At the request of Fr. 
 O'Dempsey, the MS. was carefully examined by Dr. 
 Mac Geoghegan, Bishop of Kildare, who was well versed 
 in the antiquities of our country, and who proved beyond 
 all question that the gospels referred to were perfectly 
 in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church. 
 All the queries thus proposed to Fr. O'Dempsey, with 
 his answers in English, were arranged in one volume, 
 under the title " Feede your Flocke," and sent to 
 Louvain to be printed, but the priest with whom they 
 were forwarded was shipwrecked, and the work perished 
 with him. Dr. O'Dempsey being promoted to the See 
 of Leighlin in the year 1642, gave frequent proofs of 
 consummate prudence and of unbounded charity towards 
 his suffering flock. Lynch styles him the constant pro- 
 tector and father of the poor, whom every day lie 
 welcomed to his house, washing their feet, and feeding 
 them at his own table, and clothing them.f Faithful 
 
 *"Itochus Kildariensis Quatuor Evangelia, quae a S. Columba 
 exarata esse creduntur et apud Durrow in Comitatu Regis, jam servata 
 in maxima veneratione habebantur, ita ut liber ille pro religiosissimo 
 juramento adhiberetur (forsan hie liber est qui nunc in archivio 
 Henrici Jones, Protestantis Ep. Mid. qui membraneus est S. Co- 
 lumbae manibus exscriptus, auratis literis capitalibus et in diver- 
 simodos nodos variegatis ornatus) interpretatus, " &c. (Lynclis MS.) 
 
 t " Pauperum etiam perpetuus patronus et pater fuit ut qui quotidie 
 hospitio eos excipere, pedibus aquam effundere, mensse convivos ad- 
 hibere, vestitu etiam eos instruere consuevit, ita ut penus pauperum 
 appellari potuerit." (Lynch's MS.) 
 
250 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 to the traditions of his family, he took a leading part 
 in uniting the Irish Confederates in defence of religion 
 and country, and was one of the last to uphold the Con- 
 federate cause. Being at length arrested, he was sent 
 to exile with such precipitancy that he was not allowed 
 an interview with his most immediate relations. He 
 stopped for a short time in Madrid, where the Domi- 
 nican Nuns lavishly extended to him every care and 
 attention due to a confessor of the faith. Thence he 
 proceeded to the convent of the order at Pontevieda, 
 where he resided till his death on the 6th of September, 
 1658. His remains were interred with solemn pomp 
 in the Cathedral of Compostella, and on his marble 
 monument was inscribed : — 
 
 " Edmundus muudum tempsit Christumque secutus, 
 Dominicus terns alter et ille fuit." 
 
 From Pontevieda, on the 12th of November, 1656, he 
 addressed the following letter to Borne, depicting in 
 vivid colours the deplorable condition of the Irish 
 Church : — " After the Nuncio's departure from the 
 kingdom the whole country was laid waste by fire and 
 famine and the sword. . . . Notwithstanding all this, 
 during three years I spared no fatigue or labour to 
 watch over the flock entrusted to my care, and God 
 alone knows what dangers, hardships, hunger, and 
 misery I endured for the cause of God and His Church 
 during this time in the woods and mountains and 
 deserts and hiding-places. At length I saw my Erin, 
 once the Island of Saints, but now almost entirely de- 
 prived of the public profession and practice of the 
 Catholic faith — its churches profaned, its convents re- 
 duced to ruin, the altars overthrown, the sacred cruci- 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 251 
 
 fixes, the images of the Blessed Virgin and the saints, 
 the sacred vessels and ornaments and books trampled 
 on or torn to pieces ; and sacrilegiously cast into the 
 flames." 
 
 During the exile of the bishop and the subsequent 
 vacancy of the see, the Yicar- General, Charles Nolan, 
 laboured with great zeal to provide for the spiritual 
 wants of its faithful people. A Report on the State of 
 Ireland, presented in Rome in March, 1662, gives the 
 following details : — " In the diocese of Leighlin I was 
 acquainted with Dr. Charles Nolan, the Yicar- General, 
 a most learned and holy man, who has undergone much 
 suffering, and exposed himself to many dangers on 
 account of his flock, remaining constantly amongst 
 them, surrounded by enemies, and in circumstances of 
 the utmost danger. He used to conceal himself in the 
 woods and in mountain caves by day, and to nourish 
 the faithful with the sacraments of Holy Church under 
 cover of the night. I received a day's hospitality from 
 this venerable ecclesiastic, and to my great edification 
 we conferred together on religious matters ; but thrice 
 in the course of that day was it necessary to fly from 
 the house and take refuge in the woods, in consequence 
 of soldiery passing the way. In a certain town in that 
 district I have administered the sacraments to one 
 hundred persons who, for three years previously, had 
 not received the Sacraments of Penance and the Blessed 
 Eucharist; many of them even stated that they had 
 hardly ever had an opportunity of assisting at Mass, in 
 consequence of the local priests being known to the 
 heretics who resided in the town. Among these heretics 
 I passed myself off by day as a soldier like one of them- 
 
252 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED 
 
 selves, and at night I heard confessions, and in due 
 time administered Holy Communion. There are in 
 that district two other priests, one of them a Fran- 
 ciscan, and the other an Abbot of the Order of St. 
 Bernard." (Spicilegium Ossoriense, vol. ii., p. 209.) 
 
AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS. 
 
 253 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Edict against the Clergy. 
 
 1. Forty Thousand Irish Soldiers leave Ireland. — 2. Persecution 
 more violent after their departure : Secular and Regular Clergy 
 Exiled or Condemned to Death. — 3. Severity with which this 
 Edict is carried out. — 4. Zeal of Clergy : many devote themselves 
 to the mission. — 5. Letter of Dr. Burgatt, Archbishop of Cashel. — 
 6. Spies and Informers ; the same price on the head of priest and 
 wolf. — 7. Several instances of priests in prison and exile. — 8. Dr. 
 Lynch's account of the persecutions. 
 
 1. Whilst some Catholic soldiers remained in the 
 island, the Puritan persecutors dared not display the 
 full excess of their fury. Their first care, therefore, 
 was to rid themselves of that check to their ferocity. 
 Every facility was given to the foreign courts to trans- 
 port the Irish soldiers to their service. " The agent of 
 the Spanish Government (writes a contemporary author 
 in 1654) transferred thousands and thousands of them 
 every month, partly to Spain and partly to Belgium. "* 
 Borlase estimates the number of those transported in 
 the year 1654 alone at 27,000 ; and another historian 
 adds, that altogether no fewer than 40,000 Catholics 
 were thus banished from Ireland to the Continent, to 
 
 * MS. "Status Rei Cath. in Hibernia hoc anno 1654." 
 
254 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 be a standing monument of the persecuting spirit of 
 Puritanism, whilst they, at the same time, filled all 
 Europe with admiration of their valour.* 
 
 Spain was, at this time, at war with France, and as 
 the latter had afforded a secure asylum to Charles the 
 II., the Government in England lent its aid and used 
 its influence to ship the Irish soldiers for Spain. It 
 happened that some of those, under the command of 
 Colonel Grace, finding themselves opposed to the king 
 and to their old comrades-in-arms, betrayed to the 
 French army the post entrusted to their care. This so 
 enraged the Spanish officers, that for some time the 
 fresh arrivals from Ireland were left starving and pen- 
 niless and wholly unprovided for on the coasts of Gal- 
 licia. On the other hand, the officers and men who 
 engaged in the service of France were reproached with 
 ingratitude to the Spanish people, who had given such 
 important aid throughout the Confederate war. These 
 found it necessary to publish a manifesto to justify the 
 course they had pursued. " Ireland and Spain (they said) 
 were, indeed, linked together by many special ties. 
 The Irish race had come from Spain, and for centuries 
 so close was the union between both countries that 
 when the Hoyal Family became extinct in the parent 
 kingdom, they sent to Ireland to choose a prince to 
 wear the Spanish Crown. Under Henry VIII. the 
 Irish chieftains had invited the emperor, Charles 
 V. to take the oppressed kingdom under his pro- 
 
 • Another contemporary document in my possession states that no 
 less than 20,000 Irish took refuge in the Hebrides and other Scotch 
 islands. 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 255 
 
 tection. So, too, they sided with Philip II. and 
 Philip III. against Elizabeth, and the noblest 
 families proved their devotedness by the sacrifice of 
 their vast possessions and their lives. But in later 
 times all this was forgotten by Spain. That Govern- 
 ment had entered into league with Cromwell and the 
 Puritan Commonwealth of England, and partly 
 through the insidious arts of English officers and partly 
 through the promises of Spanish agents, several troops 
 of brave men had been led to forsake their country and 
 to engage in the service of Spain against their own law- 
 ful king. Many of them had been allowed to perish 
 through neglect and want, but those who had chosen 
 the service of France only made use of their undoubted 
 right to enrol themselves under the standard of their 
 sovereign to engage in honourable service and to be 
 ready, when occasion would present itself, to draw the 
 sword once more in defence of Ireland, and to avenge 
 the wrongs they had endured from the enemies of their 
 country." (Rinuccini MS .) 
 
 When, a few years later, Cromwell made peace with 
 France, and the king was obliged to shift his quarters 
 into Spanish territory, it was feared that the Irish 
 soldiers in the service of France would change sides 
 and follow the fortunes of their sovereign. Hence it 
 was deemed expedient to march them towards Italy, to 
 remove them, as far as possible, from Spanish intrigue. 
 Being quartered in the neighbourhood of Greneva, a 
 body of Calvinists, from that hot-bed of heresy, reck - 
 lessly insulted their religion, and, in their presence, 
 treated some priests and Catholics with great cruelty. 
 The Irish legion could not be restrained. They assailed 
 
256 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 the Calvinists, put a number of them to the sword, and 
 then devastated the whole country for miles around 
 Geneva. This lesson was not soon forgotten, and 
 thenceforth the Calvinists, in the service of France, 
 took care not to offer insult to the Catholic Faith in the 
 presence of Irish soldiers. 
 
 2. The troops, being removed, the first edict of per- 
 secution was published against the Catholic clergy on 
 the 6th of January, 1653. By it* all ecclesiastics, 
 secular and regular, were commanded, under penalty of 
 treason, to depart from the kingdom within twenty 
 days, and should they not comply with this edict, or 
 should they return to the kingdom, they incurred the 
 penalties specified in the 27th of Queen Elizabeth, that 
 is, they were " to be hanged, cut down while yet alive, 
 beheaded, quartered, embowelled, and burned ; the 
 head to be set on a spike, and exposed in the most pub- 
 lic place." The preamble of this edict sets forth that 
 several priests, who had obtained permission to be 
 transported to foreign parts, had, nevertheless, under 
 various pretexts, deferred their departure from the 
 kingdom, and continued to preach their pernicious 
 doctrines. In usual form it then decrees that hence- 
 forth the Act of Parliament (27th of Elizabeth) shall 
 be in full force in Ireland in all its parts. It invests 
 not only the judges and magistrates, but the officers 
 and soldiers, and all persons having any civil or mili- 
 tary authority, with power to search for and to im- 
 prison any of the clergy, who, twenty days after the 
 
 • See this edict in full in Dominick de Rosario, pages 227-8, also in 
 De Burgo and others. 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 257 
 
 proclamation of this edict, in their respective districts, 
 would remain in the kingdom, and the clergy, so im- 
 prisoned, were to receive the full penalty of the law. 
 Some of the clauses of the Elizabethan Act of Parlia- 
 ment thus enforced had a far-reaching severity. For 
 i nstance, all students in foreign parts who would not 
 within six months abjure their faith, were to be re- 
 garded as guilty of treason. All persons sending aid 
 to the Catholic exiles were to be deprived of their 
 goods and liberty. Any person sending his son or ser- 
 vant to foreign parts, without the written licence of 
 the chief magistrate, was to be subjected to heavy fines, 
 and any person concealing or harbouring a priest, or 
 knowing of the presence of any such in the kingdom 
 and not notifying it to the civil or military authorities, 
 was to be punished "at the discretion of the chief ma- 
 gistrate." 
 
 Thus did the persecutors seek to deprive the fold of 
 its pastors, and we cannot but here adopt the words of 
 Dominick de Rosario : — " Right well did England 
 know that her triumph would never be secure as long 
 as the ministers of the Catholic religion, who kept 
 watch over the flock, were suffered to live in the land" 
 (Loc. cit. 229). 
 
 A petition, presented at this time to the Commis- 
 sioners, set forth that there were several of the clergy 
 infirm, aged, and bedridden, some, too, who had be- 
 come weak in mind through the anxieties and hard- 
 ships they had endured, and asked that at least these 
 would be permitted to remain in the kingdom. The 
 reply sent by Miles Corbet, one of the Commissioners , 
 declared that no such permission would be granted. 
 
258 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 The agents of the Government lost no time in pub- 
 lishing this edict throughout the kingdom. For in- 
 stance, we read that it was published in Clonmel on the 
 21st of January, 1653, and Justice Cook seasoned the 
 publication, by declaring from the bench that all Irish- 
 men living on the 23rd October, 1641, or born since in 
 Ireland, were rebels. 
 
 3. An example of the severity with which this edict 
 was carried into execution, is recorded in the narrative 
 of the condition of Ireland in 1654.* 
 
 " When this edict was published the Superior of the 
 Jesuits was lying sick of fever in the house of a respect- 
 able citizen, unable to move in bed, not to say to journey 
 on foot or on horseback ; a petition was therefore pre- 
 sented to the governor of the city that he might be 
 allowed to remain some few days till his strength should 
 return. But the governor replied that, though the 
 whole body of the Jesuit was dead, and life remained 
 only in one hand or one foot, he must at once quit every 
 inch of Ireland. The sick man was forthwith" seized 
 in bed, hurried along for about seventy Irish miles, in 
 the midst of a severe winter, to a seaport, and there 
 with two other Jesuits and forty secular priests was 
 cast into a vessel bound for Spain." 
 
 4. The annual letters of the Society of Jesus (anno 
 1662), having referred to the just [mentioned decree, 
 add :— 
 
 "It is easy to imagine what whirlwinds of dangers 
 then assailed the Catholic community in this island and 
 yet the assault evinced how little the persecutors gained 
 
 MS. Status rer. Cath., &c, 1654, 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 259 
 
 by that edict, for the more their fury raged against the 
 priests, the more courageous did these become to en- 
 counter every danger ; and although very many of them 
 in each city of the kingdom were cast into prison, of 
 whom some were hanged on gibbets, some expired 
 overcome by the sufferings of their filthy dungeons, 
 some were sent into exile to Spain, and others transported 
 as slaves to the Barbadoes, yet those who escaped from 
 the enemy's pursuit were not deterred by such impend- 
 ing dangers from the discharge of their ministry ; and 
 others who, scattered through the various academies of 
 Europe, were engaged preparing themselves for the Irish 
 mission, on seeing the harvest now ripe for the sickle, and 
 hoping for more abundant spiritual fruit amidst these 
 temporal disasters, in greater numbers than was known 
 for many years, abandoned their studies and entered on 
 their field of labour. 
 
 "In the meantime the magistrates, lest the edict 
 might fall into oblivion, and in order to strike greater 
 terror into those who would give shelter to the clergy, 
 caused it to be proclaimed anew each year throughout 
 the entire kingdom ; whence it happened that a great 
 number of the priests, unwilling to create danger for their 
 flocks, lived in caverns, or on the mountains, or in 
 the woods, or in remote hiding-places, and often, too, 
 were obliged to pass the winter without any shelter, 
 concealed amidst the branches of the trees. This de- 
 plorable condition of the kingdom fills all the Catholics 
 with terror.' ' 
 
 5. This decree was carried into execution with the 
 greatest rigour, and no mercy was shown to whosoever 
 was found to violate it. Dr. Burgatt presents us with 
 
260 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 the following details as to the number of the clergy 
 who were sent into exile, or suffered extreme penalty 
 at this direful period : — 
 
 " In the year 1649," he writes, " there were in Ire- 
 land twenty- seven bishops, four of whom were metro- 
 politans. In each cathedral there were dignitaries and 
 canons ; each parish had its pastors ; there was, more- 
 over, a large number of other priests, and innumerable 
 convents of the regular clergy. But when Cromwell, 
 with exceeding great cruelty, persecuted the clergy, all 
 were scattered. More than three hundred were put to death 
 by the sword or on the scaffold* amongst whom were 
 three bishops ; more than a thousand were sent into 
 exile, and amongst these all the surviving bishops, with 
 one only exception, the Bishop of Kilmore, who, weighed 
 down by age and infirmities, as he was unfit to discharge 
 the episcopal functions, so too was he unable to seek 
 safety by flight. And thus for some years our island 
 remained deprived of its bishops — a thing never before 
 known during the many centuries since we first received 
 the light of Catholic faith."f 
 
 6. To discover the clergy that remained in the king- 
 dom, spies and informers scoured the country on every 
 side, impelled partly by hatred to religion, partly by the 
 proffered reward. Five pounds was the sum held out 
 by Government for the apprehension of a priest* (the 
 
 * Supra trecentos gladio et crucibus extincti, &c. 
 
 t Brevis Relatio, &c, by Dr. William Burgatt, agent of the Irish 
 clergy in Eome, afterwards Archbishop of Cashel, presented to the 
 Sacred Congregation, in 1667. 
 
 X A MS. entitled " Missio Hibernica, anno, 1652," says : "Jam 
 diminuto multis in regni partibus habitantis populi numero, excres- 
 centibusque pro vastitate sylvis excrescere simul caeperunt rabidsa 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 26 I 
 
 same price that was offered for the head of a wolf) 
 together with a third part of the property of the per- 
 son on whose lands he should be discovered ; moreover, 
 the profession of informer was declared an honourable 
 one, and such persons were, by virtue of the edict, to 
 receive the special favour of the Crown, and to be pro- 
 moted to offices and dignities, as men well deserving of 
 the State* 
 
 The country was at this time greatly infested with 
 wolves. A Major Morgan, member for "Wicklow, de- 
 clared in parliament, in 1657: — u We have three beasts 
 to destroy that lay burdens on us. The first is a wolf, 
 on whom we lay five pounds a head if a dog, and ten 
 pounds if a bitch. The second beast is a priest, on whose 
 head we lay ten pounds ; if he be eminent, more. The 
 third beast is a tory."f So great was the number of 
 wolves killed in 1655, that in March that year there was 
 due from the district of Gralway alone £243 for rewards 
 paid on this account. Two years earlier we find lands 
 in the neighbourhood of Dublin, and a great part of 
 the barony of Dunboyne leased by the State, " the rent 
 to be discounted in wolves' heads. "+ 
 
 Sometimes the clergy seeking shelter in solitary places 
 were devoured by the wolves. Thus the Alithinologia 
 relates that in Gostelach, a district of Connaught, a 
 
 luporum catervae quse cum novos colonos infestarent, excitata rena* 
 torum industria, propositis praemiis, et promissis argenti libris quin- 
 que in singula luporum capita, et simul in opprobrium religionis Ca- 
 tholics eadem summa promissa est cuicumque sacerdotis delatori. 
 Adeoque lupi caput et sacerdotis eodem yenale pretio fuit." 
 
 * Morison, Threnodia, p. 227 
 
 t Ap. Prendergast, p. 150. 
 bid. p. 153. 
 
 18 
 
262 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 priest in 1654, lying concealed in a wood sent his ser- 
 vant to the neighbouring town for food : the servant was 
 away only a short time, but on his return found the priest 
 torn to pieces and almost wholly devoured by wolves. 
 The words of St. Cyprian may well be applied to such 
 a case : "If the confessor of Christ be struck down by 
 robbers in the deserts or mountains, if the wild beast 
 devour him, or hunger and thirst and cold afflict him, 
 Christ looks down upon His soldier wheresoever he may 
 combat, and bestows on him, suffering for His name, 
 the martyr's reward/ ' 
 
 7. On the part of the agents of the Government, the 
 pursuit of the clergy was not less active than the pur- 
 suit of the wolves. " Such orders as the following 
 (writes Mr. Prendergast) are abundant: — 10th of 
 August, 1657, five pounds on the certificate of Major 
 Thomas Stanley to Thomas Gregson, Evan Powel, and 
 Samuel Ally, being three soldiers of Colonel Abbott's 
 regiment of dragoons, for the arrest of Donogh Hagerty, 
 a popish priest, by them taken, and now secured in the 
 county gaol of Clonmel. To Arthur Spunner, Robert 
 Pierce, and John Bruen, five pounds, for the good ser- 
 vice by them performed in apprehending and bringing 
 before the Chief Justice Papys, on the 21st of January 
 last (1657), one Edmund Duin, a Popish priest.* To 
 Lieutenant Edward Wood, on the certificate of Win. St. 
 George, Esq., J.P. of the county Cavan, dated November, 
 1658, twenty- five pounds for five priests and iriars by 
 
 • A small silver chalice that belonged to this heroic priest is pre- 
 served in the Diocesan Museum, St. Kieran's College, Kilkenny. It 
 has the inscription : 11 Edmundus Duin me fieri fecit, a.d., 1652, 
 Kilkenniae." 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 263 
 
 him apprehended, viz. : Thomas MacKernan, Turlogh 
 O'Gowan, Hugh M'Geown, Turlogh Fitzsymons, who 
 upon examination confessed themselves to be both 
 priests and friars. On 13th of April, 1657, to Serjeant 
 Humphry Gibbs and Corporal Thomas Hill, ten pounds 
 for apprehending two Popish priests, viz. : Maurice 
 Prendergast and Edmund Fahy, who were secured in 
 the gaol of TVaterf ord, and, being afterwards arraigned, 
 were both of them adjudged to be and accordingly were 
 transported into foreign parts. On the 4th of January, 
 1655, the sum of five pounds for having arrested, on 
 the 27th November preceding, a priest with his appur- 
 tenances in the house of one Owen B} r rne, of Cool-ne- 
 Kishin, near Old Leighlin, in the county Carlow, which 
 said priest, together with Byrne, the man of the house, 
 were brought prisoners to Dublin." 
 
 The condition of the priests whilst detained in prison 
 was miserable in the extreme. Of Father Tobin of 
 Kilkenny it is recorded that, though in a violent fever, 
 he was obliged to sleep on the floor, and his only food 
 was a small quantity of half-boiled beans.* It was 
 made a privilege to allow them to transport themselves 
 to foreign parts, as appears from an order of 29th May, 
 1654 : and then the clause was added that each one 
 should provide the five pounds which had been paid for 
 his arrest. Sometimes, too, on account of infirmity or 
 disease they were released from prison : thus, we find 
 Eoger Begs, on 4th August, 1654, dismissed from prison 
 <( on account of his miserable condition,'' after nine 
 months' imprisonment ; but two clauses were added, 
 
 * Lett, in S. C. de Prof. Fid. 14 March, 1656. 
 
264 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 viz., that within four months he should transport him- 
 self out of the country, and, during that interval, 
 " should not exercise any part of his priestly functions." 
 Another priest, named "William Shiel, was also dis- 
 missed from prison, on account of his " being old, lame, 
 and weak, and not able to travel without crutches ; " 
 but two conditions were also added in his release, viz., 
 that he should never exercise his priestly function, and 
 should not move beyond one mile from the spot in Con- 
 naught which would be assigned to him for residence 
 by the Governor of Athlone.* There is one other peti- 
 tion which merits our attention. On the 8th of January, 
 1655, Richard and Thomas Tuite, Edmund and George 
 Barnewall, and William Fitzsimons, held the Castle of 
 Baltrasna in the county Meath, in defence and rescue 
 of a priest who had repaired thither to say 3Iass. For 
 this they were arrested and their goods seized ; and the 
 soldiers claimed the booty, on the ground that the castle 
 was defended against them " with arms and ammuni- 
 tion by those who maintained a priest in his idolatrous 
 worship, in opposition to the declaration of the State 
 in that behalf ."t 
 
 Owing to the diligence of the persecutors, the num ■ 
 ber of the Catholic priests that escaped their search was 
 comparatively few : " The prisons were everywhere 
 filled with prelates, priests, and religious, some of whom 
 were executed on the scaffold, others were privately 
 butchered, whilst the greater number were sent into 
 exile." Thus writes the Superior of the Jesuits in 
 1652. 
 
 • Settlement, p. 159. 
 t Ibid., p. 160. 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 205 
 
 Another writer, to whom we have more than once 
 referred, describes the state of Ireland in 1654, and 
 contrasts the comparative ease with which the Catholic 
 clergy had in former years evaded the penal statutes, 
 with the difncuty of remaining concealed amidst the 
 present perils, and adds : 
 
 " Now the whole aspect of the kingdom is changed ; 
 difficulties and dangers are met with at every step ; no 
 human industry can enable us to avoid them, but all 
 must be left to a watchful Providence. The cities and 
 towns are now wholly occupied by the heretics, and the 
 Catholics are banished from them ; the castles and 
 country residences of the gentry are converted into 
 barracks, or, if not, are held by heretical new-comers. 
 
 " No one is allowed to travel through the country 
 without being examined at every mile by the soldiery ; 
 you have to show the letters patent of the magistrate of 
 the district from which you come, and in them your 
 age, stature, beard, colour of hair, condition of life, and 
 many other special characteristics are mentioned, and 
 if you are found wanting in any one of them, you are 
 immediately arrested as a spy or a priest, nor is there 
 any hope of the soldiers' sentence being reversed, for 
 each soldier has the judicial right by martial law to 
 arrest any person he may suspect, and inflict capital 
 punishment. 
 
 " The same martial law authorises them to enter the 
 house of any Catholic, at any hour of the day or night, 
 and explore every corner of it, under the pretence, for- 
 sooth, of detecting and arresting priests. And lest any 
 of the soldiery should be enticed by bribes to allow any 
 priest to escape/ the English Government offers a larger 
 
266 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 reward for each discovery than could be hoped for from 
 the oppressed and impoverished Catholics. The sol- 
 diers, therefore, partly impelled by hatred for the Catho- 
 lic religion, and partly urged on by avarice and the hope 
 of lucre, never cease by day or by night to beset the 
 houses of the Catholics, and explore their most secret 
 recesses : moreover, they hire spies, and keep them in 
 various quarters, that they ma}^ thus receive informa- 
 tion of any rumour that may be heard of the arrival of 
 a priest in the neighbourhood."* 
 
 8. Dr. John Lynch, Archdeacon of Tuam, one of 
 those who were thus compelled to seek a home in a 
 foreign land, in his Cambrensis Euersus, written during 
 his exile, gives a vivid description of the rigour with 
 which this edict was carried into execution : — 
 
 " Edicts," he says, " were issued, commanding all 
 priests to depart from Ireland before a certain day, and 
 prohibiting them, under penalty of death, to remain 
 beyond that time. All who harboured them were to 
 forfeit all their property, to expiate that act of hospita- 
 lity. As the wolf in the fable was ready to make a 
 friendly alliance with the sheep, if they would drive 
 away the dogs, as they could then slaughter the poor 
 flock without resistance; so these men banished the 
 priests from the Catholics, that the latter, when deprived 
 of their pastors, might fall more easy victims to the 
 proselytising attempts of heretical teachers. Of the 
 priests who did remain in the country after the appointed 
 day, some were executed, others wasted away their life 
 in the tedious and loathsome horrors of a dungeon, others 
 
 * Status Rti Cath., &c, an. 1654. 
 
EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 267 
 
 are still barred up in prisons ; some were banished to 
 the remote isle of Inisbofin, and delivered in charge to 
 the garrison, who tortured them with great cruelty ; 
 many were banished to the West Indies, where they 
 were sold as slaves, and condemned to work in twisting 
 tobacco, and other slave labours. The magistrates 
 prided themselves on what they considered extraordinary 
 lenity, in allowing a great number of priests to escape 
 from their talons to various Catholic countries of 
 Europe" (vol. iii., p. 199). 
 
268 
 
 OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Other Penal Laws. 
 
 1. — Confiscation of Catholic Property. — 2. Dr. Lynch describes the 
 Cruelty and Perjury of Puritans. — 3. Mock Justice of Tribunals. — 
 4. Parliamentary Commissioners in Dublin ; Fines on all who do 
 not attend Protestant worship ; all children over fourteen years de- 
 clared the property of the State ; any Irishman travelling a mile 
 from his residence liable to be killed. — 5. Effects of those perse- 
 cutions. — 6. Degraded strangers occupying Irish Soil. — 7. De- 
 tailed account of Penal Laws by Dr. Lynch ; Education Proscribed : 
 Children of Catholics obliged to become Protestants, and to marry 
 Protestants, &c. ; thus the Irish nobility destroyed. 
 
 1. Further penal enactments against the Catholics 
 were passed in quick succession. One of the first mea- 
 sures was to confiscate the estates of the Catholic gentry. 
 No fewer than five millions of acres were parcelled out 
 amonst the Puritan soldiers and favourites of the Pro- 
 tector ; and so complete was the extermination of the 
 natives, that when the Government commissioners were 
 distributing some estates in Tipperary, none of the in- 
 habitants could be found to point out the bounds of 
 these estates.* 
 
 " Thus," writes Curry, " the sword of extermination 
 passed over the land, and the soldiers sat down to ban- 
 
 • Privy Council Book, A, 5, in Havertyg History oj Ireland, p. 
 595. 
 
OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 2G9 
 
 quet on the hereditary possession of the natives."* 
 Captain William Heald in a Report on the State of 
 Ireland drawn up at the close of the year 1652, attests 
 that " they who thought all quiet in reference to their 
 persons and estates, find the sword wrested from them, 
 their persons on strange and unexpected pretences 
 arrested, their estates contrary to faith and engage- 
 ment confiscated, and no less than life and all exposed 
 by faithless and arbitrary tyranny of those to whom 
 they had so tamely made surrender of their freedom, 
 lives, and properties." (Aphor. Discov., iii., 352.) 
 
 And Dominick de Eosario cries out : — 
 
 " It was not enough for them to torment and slay all 
 the Irish who fell into their hands ; on the contrary, 
 they resolved to proscribe all those who had not been 
 taken in their impious toils; they contemplated the 
 extirpation of the Irish people, in order to secure their 
 triumph and their new-fangled religion, "t 
 
 2. Cambrensis Eversus also vividly portrays the 
 severity of this penal enactment : " Not content,'* he 
 says, " with driving the priests to exile or death, they 
 turned their fury against all Catholics, and condemned 
 all who would not renounce the Catholic faith to forfeit 
 two-thirds of all their property. All that the Catholics 
 had suffered before this time was mercy compared with 
 the injuries now poured out on them. In former times 
 the magistrates had, it is true, severely oppressed the 
 Catholics, but they never violated their word, and they 
 often relaxed the rigour of persecution. But the pre- 
 sent rulers of Ireland, or rather her persecutors, have 
 
 • Review of the Civil Wan of Ireland, 
 t Hist., &c, p. 227. 
 
270 
 
 OTHER PEXAL LAWS. 
 
 blackened the most atrocious cruelty by perjury tbe 
 most foul — perjury which, worse than any injury, pro- 
 vokes the indignation of man." He then remarks that 
 many had sought by a speedy submission to obtain 
 favourable conditions from the Parliamentarians. 
 
 u But experience soon proved that they had been 
 under a most fatal delusion. The character given of 
 the Puritans by King James is perfectly true : I call 
 the great God to witness, that greater ingratitude or 
 perfidy was never found among mountaineers or border 
 robbers than among those fanatical rogues. For, when the 
 Irish were stipulating for themselves, they reserved as 
 much wealth as would barely support their family J 
 and when, in violation of treaty, even this was taken 
 away, they were reduced to the last extremities. 
 
 " In this manner noble princes, whose mansions were 
 ever open to supply the guest and the stranger with all 
 the profuse delicacies of the festive board, were now 
 reduced to the necessity of wandering about to the 
 houses of their former tenants and servants for as 
 much food as would support life, or to enlist as sailors 
 or marines, or serve under foreign banners, far from 
 their native homes, for the scanty pay which was their 
 only support. Our tyrants did not shear, but grub ; 
 they left no roots to produce another crop of wool; 
 they did not imitate the prudent hive-keeper, who 
 leaves as much honey in the hive as will support the 
 bee, but takes away all the rest." — (Vol. iii. p. 201.) 
 
 In the Supplement to the Alithinologia, the same 
 writer thus describes the condition of the Irish 
 Church after the Puritan triumph : — 
 
 "The profession of the Catholic religion was abo- 
 
OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 271 
 
 listed by law (omnem religionis Catholicce profemonem 
 lege suhlatam) ; in the churches you no longer find 
 altars, but pig- sties ; the priests driven to exile, or 
 deceased in prison, or liberated to die of the diseases con- 
 tracted in prison ; some of them, in their hiding-places 
 in the woods, were devoured by the wild beasts ; some 
 dragged to the scaffold from their concealment in the 
 bogs and marshes ; others made targets by the soldiery, 
 and riddled with bullets ; and others put to death by 
 various other kinds of torture. And as pro patribm 
 nati sunt filii (Ps. xliv.), a new generation of vigorous 
 defenders, taking the place of the athletes fallen in the 
 arena, comes to the battle-field of the Church, their toil 
 preserves the ripeness of the old and enriches the 
 Church with a new harvest ; heedless of the impending 
 dangers, they minister to their flocks in the recesses of 
 the forests and woods, imitating the example of St. 
 Grratian, Bishop of Tours, who administered the Sacra- 
 ments in the caverns when the malice of men inter- 
 dicted their public administration. And things are 
 now come to this pass, that our Kicodeniuses, thus 
 secretly solaced by their priests, are deprived of every 
 other comfort. The very fibres of the laws are now 
 broken ; it is no longer the natives, but strangers, who 
 are the law-makers ; the citizens are driven from the 
 senate, whilst foreigners are invited to it ; and the con- 
 dition of the Jews, deprived of their Synedrium, was 
 not more deplorable than that of the Irish deprived of 
 the right of suffrage, which is given over to aliens, 
 whilst our enemies are our judges. The old citizens 
 are expelled from the cities built by the munificence of 
 their ancestors, and are less encouraged to traffic than 
 
272 
 
 OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 the merest foreigners. Wherefore each city has be- 
 come the home of strangers, but closed against its own 
 sons. Our youths are no longer trained to learning, so 
 that they must grow up adding ignorance to their other 
 miseries. The nobility are dispossessed of their an- 
 cestral estates, so that they are worse off than the 
 lowest plebeians : the other proprietors are driven from 
 their holdings, and forfeit the wealth handed down by 
 their fathers or earned by their own industry. Most 
 of the people who retained some small fragment of 
 property are ground down by continual exactions, and 
 it may justly be said of them that they are compelled 
 to pay even more than they possess. For our enemies 
 have adopted the words of Nero : Hoc agamus ne quis 
 quidquam habeat (Let us contrive that nobody will have 
 anything). Wherefore I look upon it as a sort of 
 miracle that a single farthing remains to our people 
 after the repeated plundering of all that they possessed, 
 the persecutors, in imitation of Julian the Apostate, 
 overwhelming us by poverty rather than by death, so 
 that, life being prolonged, the torment would be pro- 
 longed also, thus adopting the course pursued by 
 Caligula, who, according to the well-known decree, 
 wished his victim to be punished with light but re- 
 peated blows, that thus he would the more feel his 
 death. Even so, our people are overwhelmed with 
 great torture, but slowly inflicted, lest we be cut off all 
 at once." 
 
 3. That the persecution might be carried on with 
 some semblance of justice, a new tribunal was insti- 
 tuted, called a high court of justice : in it all the 
 ordinary forms of law were set aside ; and so iniquitous 
 
OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 273 
 
 and bloody were the sentences pronounced in these 
 courts, that they were commonly called " Cromwell's 
 slaughter-houses "* 
 
 It will be well, perhaps, to learn from a Protestant 
 writer, the author of the " History of Independency," 
 the reason why this designation was given to the new 
 tribunals. They were thus called, he says, because " no 
 articles were pleadable in them ; and against a charge 
 of things said to be done twelve years before, little or 
 no defence could be made ; and that the cry was made 
 of blood, aggravated with expressions of so much hor- 
 ror, and the no less daunting aspect of the court, which 
 quite confounded the amazed prisoners, so that they 
 came like sheep to the slaughter." 
 
 4. The parliament commissioners in Dublin, for their 
 part, were not idle. It was enacted that anyone absent 
 from the Protestant parish church on Sunday should 
 incur a fine of thirty pence ; and it was made obliga- 
 tory on the magistrates of Ulster, Meath, Leinster, and 
 Munster, to take away the children of the Catholics and 
 send them to England to be educated Protestants.f All 
 Irish noblemen, whose fathers were not English, were 
 obliged, under pain of death, to wear a distinctive mark 
 on their dress ; the Irish of inferior rank were likewise 
 compelled to wear a black round spot on the right 
 cheek, under pain of being branded with a similar 
 
 • "The Israelites in Egypt (writes De Burgo) could cry to 
 Pharaoh from their oppression, yet this was not granted to the 
 Irish : if the former were oppressed, they had, however, the flesh- 
 pots and abundance of food ; the Irish, whilst enduring a worse than 
 Egyptian slavery, were exterminated by famine and the sword." — 
 Hib. Dom., p. 707. 
 
 t Act of Pari., 1657. De Burgo, loc. cit., page 707. 
 
274 
 
 OTHER FENAL LAWS. 
 
 mark for the first offence, and of being hanged for the 
 second.* No office was to be conferred on an Irishman 
 if a fit Englishman could be found ; if an Englishman 
 were killed, the Irish of his district forfeited their lives ; 
 if an Englishman lost any of his property, the Irish 
 had to compensate his loss threefold. Moreover, all 
 Irish beyond fourteen years of age were declared the 
 property of the Republic, to be employed on sea or 
 land ; and any Irishman going one mile beyond the 
 district in which his name was registered without a 
 passport, or anyone taking part in an assembly of four 
 jwrsons, forfeited his life.f 
 
 JNor were matters much improved when the Com- 
 missioners' powers were withdrawn, and Fleetwood ap- 
 appointed Lord Deputy. He received instructions " to 
 improve the interest of the Commonwealth of England 
 in the dominion of Ireland, for the advancement of re- 
 ligion in that country, and suppressing idolatry, popery, 
 superstition, and profaneness : to give encouragement, 
 and provide competent maintenance to all such persons 
 as are of pious life, and as shall be found qualified for 
 preaching the Gospel: to execute all laws in force 
 against Papists and Popish recusants : to consider of all 
 due ways for the advancement of learning, and training 
 up youth in piety and literature ; to sec that no Popish 
 
 * Porter, Cornpend. Annul, p. 292. 
 
 t See these and other enactments in Porter, loc. cit. ; also, De 
 Burgo, and Cambren. Evers, vol. i., p. 51. Another Act, 
 which, perhaps, even still more reveals the rapacity of the perse- 
 cutors, commanded all Catholics throughout the kingdom to sur- 
 render, on the 24th of February, 1653, all the horses that in any way 
 might be deemed fit for the saddle. See Vita Francisci Kirovani, Ej). 
 Alladen., p. 119. 
 
OTHER I'EXAL LAWS. 
 
 275 
 
 or other malignant persons be employed in administra- 
 tion of the laws or execution of justice, nor practise as 
 counsellors, attorneys, or schoolmasters : to put in exe- 
 cution all the Acts of Parliament now in force in this 
 Commonwealth for sequestering all forfeited estates of 
 popish malignants, archbishops, bishops, deans, and 
 chapters, &c." Thus the rulers might be changed, but 
 the law and rule of oppression remained the same. 
 
 o. The history of the Jesuit mission in Ireland, 
 written in 1662, thus describes the condition to which 
 the country was now reduced : — 
 
 "The Catholic nobility and gentry, and the inhabi- 
 tants of the cities and towns are deprived of their lands 
 and goods, and partly banished to foreign countries — 
 partly driven to the remote and uncultivated parts of 
 the kingdom ; some, too, were sold as slaves for the 
 American islands, and some were privately butchered. 
 .... Thus, all the Catholics are in exile, and in their 
 stead, in the cities and castles, and towns, and garrisons, 
 none are to be found but Parliamentarian heretics, for 
 the most part of the lowest class of artisans, and the 
 scum and outcasts of society.* Hence, the ecclesiastics 
 have nowhere a resting-place, and they are forced to fly 
 to the herds of cattle, or to seek a refuge in the barns, 
 or stables, or desert places ; sometimes they seek to con- 
 ceal themselves by paying for their lodging in the 
 houses of the heretics. As regards the fathers of the 
 Society, some dwell in ruined edifices, others sleep by 
 night in the porticoes of the temples, lest they should 
 occasion any danger to the Catholics." 
 
 * Viles opifices, populi fax et quisquilisc. 
 
276 
 
 OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 6. Again we read : 
 
 " The heretics being now masters of the kingdom, 
 the clergy are scattered and destroyed, and the Catholic 
 religion is almost extinct.* The nobility, and gentry, 
 and native citizens are despoiled of their goods and 
 properties, and in their place foreign heretics have 
 been imported, the vilest of men, persecutors and capi- 
 tal enemies of the Catholic religion ; so that Ireland no 
 longer seems to be Ireland, and there are no longer any 
 persons there to harbour the clergy and religious, but 
 only to pursue them, and lead them to imprisonment 
 torture, and the scaffold. Such is the sad condition of 
 Ireland under the most cruel tyrant, Oliver Cromwell 
 the Nero, Domitian, and Julian of our age. . . . Hence, 
 Ireland is in a far worse condition now than it was one 
 hundred years ago, for it is inundated with foreign 
 enemies and heretical persecutors ; it is an uncultivated 
 field, overrun with briers — an immense and frightful 
 wilderness — a new and unexplored land, to be once 
 more cultivated and reclaimed. 
 
 7. The following still more minute and invaluable 
 narrative of the many penal enactments of this time en- 
 forced against the Catholics, is extracted from another 
 contemporary writer : 
 
 " The Irish nation, besides many other gifts of 
 nature, has two traits especially remarkable and most 
 innate in her, which seem as two talents most liberally 
 bestowed on her by God, namely, constancy in the 
 Catholic religion, and an insatiable thirst for knowledge, 
 
 * Deletus et expulsus est clerus ; Catholica religio pene extincta. 
 
 * Relatio rerum quarumdum. &C., anno, 1650. 
 
OTHER PEXAL LAWS. 
 
 277 
 
 in both which qualities I know not if she yields to any 
 other nation. All who are acquainted with the nation 
 know well these her characteristics. The heretics, too, 
 know them by experience ; ever since the commence- 
 ment of the Anglican schism they oppress the Irish with 
 an iron yoke, and renewing the cruelty of the enemies of 
 the Jews towards the shorn Samson, they unceasingly 
 strive, by every art, to destroy them in the eyes of reli- 
 gion and learning ; having proscribed the true pastors 
 of souls, they imported mercenary pastors, whose only 
 aim is to plunder, and slaughter, and destroy. 
 
 w The Catholic schoolmasters being expelled, now no 
 one can open a school but a heretic, that, forsooth, the 
 poison of Satan may be instilled into the children's 
 minds. 
 
 " All Catholic books are prohibited, and wheresoever 
 they are found, they are destroyed by fire, and in their 
 stead we are inundated with pestiferous books that 
 scatter everywhere the cockle of heresy. 
 
 " The use of printing is interdicted to the Irish, lest, 
 forsooth, any book might be circulated that did not 
 come forth from a heretical source. 
 
 "Nay, more, whilst the Catholic religion yet flourished 
 in the kingdom, the English Parliament decreed that no 
 university should be erected in Ireland, lest, perhaps, the 
 eyes of the people might be opened to see the tyranny 
 of the yoke imposed on them. It is strictly forbidden 
 for an Irishman to send his children for education to 
 foreign parts, excepting to England, where he will be 
 sure to imbide the asp's milk. 
 
 " The jurisconsults are expelled from the tribunals, 
 nay, the Irish are expelled from every office, unless they 
 
 19 
 
278 
 
 OTHER PENAL LAWS. 
 
 attest, by oath, the supremacy of the crown in matters 
 of the Church and religion. 
 
 " The eldest sons of the nobility, when young, are handed 
 over to the guardianship of heretics, and those guardians, 
 or rather wolves, devour the innocent lambs, and seize on all 
 their goods and revenues; they consign, moreover, the 
 youths to heretical schools as to so ma ny prisons, where, by 
 daily threats and punishments, they compel them to attend 
 at the Protestant conventicles. They cannot contract 
 marriage except with one selected by these guardians, 
 wherefore it often happens that the most noble youths, 
 are bound to receive wives from the very lowest class, 
 and from families that have only just emerged from 
 the scum of society by rapine and fraud, the daughters, 
 to wit, or relatives of the tutors, who, moreover, are 
 always heretics, and deeply imbued with the poison of 
 Calvinism. 
 
 " All the Irish are excluded from the viceroy alty of 
 the kingdom ; they are even declared incapable of this 
 office by the very fact of being born in Ireland. 
 
 " Merchandise and commerce are subjected to so many 
 taxes and restraints, that they are almost wholly taken 
 from the hands of the Irish, and given to strangers.* 
 
 " The lands and territories of the gentry, by new in- 
 terpretations of the law, are extorted from those who 
 possessed them for centuries, and are given to upstart 
 heretics. We ourselves have seen many most respect- 
 able men who, were it not for the oppression that pre- 
 vails, would abound in wealth, but who now are seated 
 
 • Dr. French, in Unkind Deserter, p. ISO, writes : 11 The Catho- 
 lics of Ireland are excluded from all commerce, which the very Turks 
 do grant to their Christians." 
 
OTHER PEXAL LAWS. 
 
 279 
 
 in ruined edifices, by an uncheering fireside ; and when 
 interrogated as to the reason of their carelessness, they 
 replied that they did not dare to live otherwise, and 
 were they to repair or ornament their houses, the harpies 
 would at once seize on them, and they themselves be 
 deprived of the little that remained. Hence is the 
 whole nation now reduced to such poverty, that it is no 
 longer reckoned by the foreign countries, and none but 
 poor and outcasts now go forth from that island, whence 
 formerly, as St. Bernard writes, went forth so many 
 swarms of holy men, and countless bands of philosophers, 
 who illumined France, Germany, and Italy, by their 
 learning and the splendour of their virtues." 
 
280 
 
 PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Perils of the Clergy. 
 
 1. Heroism of the Clergy of Dublin; Note. Many Priests executed. — 
 2. Father Carolan dies of starvation ; Father Js etterville ; Priests 
 carry Holy Sacrament with them. — 3. Ludlow's account of Massacre 
 near Castleblaney. — 4. Further details of the sufferings of the clergy. 
 — 5. Fears that the Irish clergy would become extinct. — 6. Edict 
 compelling all Catholics to inform on priests ; Number of priests in 
 the country in 1658. — 7- Imprisonment in the Islands of Arran and 
 Inisbofin. — 8. Father Finaghty. 
 
 1. The reader can now easily picture to himself the 
 perils that on every side beset the Irish priesthood. 
 Yet, heedless of danger, many clung to their flocks to 
 break to them the bread of life. History does not 
 afford examples of more heroic fortitude, more fearless 
 courage, more enduring constancy, than that displayed 
 at this period by the Catholic clergy of Ireland. Mr. 
 D'Alton, in his History of the Archbishops of Dublin, 
 quotes from a Latin manuscript, written in 1653, the 
 following extract : — * 
 
 * Archbishops of Dublin, p. 424. Hewson was at this time Gover- 
 nor of Dublin. He was an Englishman, and a tailor by trade, and 
 having put himself at the head of a band of robbers, rendered some 
 services to the Cromwellian army. In a letter from Dublin on the 
 15th of September, 1651, published with the approval of the Parlia- 
 ment in London, he breathes a prayer that the fate of Charles the 
 First might soon fall to the lot of "the younger Tarquin," that is, 
 Charles the Second. 
 
Perils of the clergy. 
 
 281 
 
 " The keen-ej'ed vigilance of persecution has driven 
 the Catholic laity into the country, and the priests and 
 monks scarcely presume to sleep even in the houses of 
 their own people ; their life is warfare and earthly 
 martyrdom ; they breathe as if by stealth among the 
 hills or in the woods, and not unfrequently in the abyss 
 of bogs or marshes, which their oppressors cannot 
 penetrate ; yet, hither flock congregations of poor 
 Catholics, whom they refresh with the consolation of 
 the sacraments, direct with the best advice, instruct in 
 constancy of faith, and confirm in the endurance of the 
 cross of the Lord. These things, however, could not 
 be effected without the knowledge of the heretics, who, 
 in a simultaneous impulse, are hurried through the 
 mountains and the woods exploring the retreat of the 
 clergy ; and never was the chase of the wild beast more 
 hot and more bitter than the rush of the priest- de- 
 stroyers through the woods of Ireland, many of whom 
 deem it the most agreeable recreation to run down to 
 death those beasts of the woods, as they term the 
 Catholic clergy."* 
 
 * It is surprising how some writers have been so barefaced as to 
 assert that no priests were executed during this period. Every con- 
 temporary document refers to the great number of ecclesiastics who 
 were led to the scaffold. In addition to the many proofs we have 
 already given in the preceding pages, we may cite a "Narratio brevis 
 status Regni Hibernici," written on the 13th August, 1651, which 
 the writer thus concludes : — " Absoluta hac narratione certo nuncio 
 accepimus sacerdotes quatuor, ex illis steculares duos, alios duos ex 
 sacra S. Dominici familia religiosos in castro quodam nuper ab hoste 
 in hac Connaciee provincia capto, in patibulum actos esse et sus- 
 pensos." Dominick de Kosario also writes: "On a stormy night 
 there came a strong body of the enemy to our monastery of Kilmal- 
 
282 
 
 PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 2. The narrative of the state of Ireland in 1654* 
 presents many additional particulars : — 
 
 " We live, for the most part, in the mountains and 
 forests, and often, too, in the midst of bogs, to escape 
 the cavalry of the heretics. One priest, advanced in 
 years, Father John Cardan, was so diligently sought 
 for, and so closely watched, being surrounded on all 
 sides, and yet not discovered, that at length he died of 
 starvation. Another, Father Christopher Netterville, 
 like St. Athanasius, for an entire year and more, lay 
 hid in his father's sepulchre ; and even there with 
 difficulty escaping the pursuit of the enemy, he had to 
 fly to a still more incommodious retreat. One was 
 concealed in a deep pit, from which he at intervals 
 went forth on some mission of charity. The heretics 
 having received information as to his hiding-place, 
 rushed to it, and throwing down immense blocks of 
 rock, exulted in his destruction ; but Providence watched 
 over the good father, and he was absent, engaged in 
 some pious work of his sacred ministry, when his retreat 
 was thus assailed. As the Holy Sacrifice cannot be 
 offered up in these receptacles of beasts rather than of 
 men, all the clergy carry with them a sufficient number 
 of consecrated hosts, that thus they themselves may be 
 comforted by this holy Sacrament, and may be able to 
 administer it to the sick and to others.'' 
 
 3. Every art of the most refined cruelty was deemed 
 lawful when pursuing to death these doomed victims, 
 
 lock, for the purpose of destroying the community. Some of them 
 contrived to escape, but Fitzgerald and Fox (a lay-brother) were 
 slain between the porch and the altar" p. 217. 
 * Status rei Catholics, &c, 1654. 
 
PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 28-3 
 
 the Catholic clergy ; and many are the instances which 
 have been handed down to us of priests who were 
 dragged from their hidden recesses and subjected to 
 the most brutal excesses. One scene, recorded by 
 Ludlow in his memoirs (vol. i., p. 422 edition Vevay, 
 1698), sufficiently illustrates the rage of the persecutors. 
 When marching from Dundalk to Castleblaney, and 
 passing by a deep cave, he discovered that some Irish 
 were concealed therein. Two days were spent by his 
 party in endeavouring to smother the fugitives by 
 smoke. At the close of the first day, thinking that all 
 should be dead, some of them entered the mouth of the 
 cave, but as they advanced the foremost was wounded 
 by a pistol- shot fired from within. It appears that the 
 inmates preserved themselves from suffocation by hold- 
 ing their faces close to the surface of some running 
 water in the cavern ; and one, who was placed at the 
 entrance as guard, took his post near a crevice through 
 which the air was admitted. On the next day all the 
 crevices were stopped, the fires were kindled anew, and, 
 as Ludlow expresses it, " another smother was made.'' 
 The soldiers then entered with helmets and breast- 
 plates : they found the only armed man dead inside the 
 entrance, but they did not enjoy the brutal gratifica- 
 tion of finding the others suffocated, for they still 
 preserved life at the little brook. A crucifix, chalice 
 and sacred vestments were found in the cave, and 
 fifteen of the surviving fugitives were at once massacred 
 by the soldiery. One of the victims is supposed to 
 have been a Catholic priest. It is evident they had 
 assembled to assist at the Holy Sacrifice, and it became 
 their happy privilege, by martyrdom, to pass from the 
 
284 
 
 J'ERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 temporary altar to the presence of the Lamb in His 
 unveiled splendours in heaven. 
 
 4. The treatment of the priests in prison was of the 
 harshest kind. They were for the most part wholly un- 
 provided with means of support, and as the number of 
 prisoners was so great, whilst the remnant of the Ca- 
 tholic nation was weighed down by taxes and oppres- 
 sion of every sort, the charity of the faithful was quite 
 inadequate to relieve their misery. Hence many of 
 them perished through want in prison. 
 
 A letter written from Gal way, by Fr. Christopher 
 O'Kearney, a Capuchin, on the 18th of July, 1655, 
 sketches for us the daily perils that beset the missionary 
 priest whilst he endeavoured to bring to the faithful the 
 consolations of religion. " In order to evade the perse- 
 cution (he writes), I have had to wear a number of dis- 
 guises and to assume various characters, particularly 
 since I was betrayed in "Waterford where I served as 
 the governor's gardener and as one of the city porters, 
 that I might thus the better administer the sacraments 
 and instruct the heretics desirous to be received into the 
 Church. Being thrown into prison, I providentially 
 made my escape, and after many adventures I at length 
 settled in Galway, where I pass off as a Scotch peddler, 
 hawking about cheap goods for sale. What shall I say 
 of the hardships and risks to which I have been ex- 
 posed? During the past two years I was three times 
 detected by the spies, but I always succeeded either in 
 purchasing their connivance or in making my escape. 
 At present, however, I am quite at a loss as to the 
 course I should pursue, for I lack even the necessaries 
 of life. Fr. Bernard, discharges the missionary duties 
 
PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 285 
 
 in the neighbourhood, but I have no doubt he will soon 
 end his life on the gallows, for he exercises his ministry 
 in the most dangerous places and is eagerly pursued by 
 the heretics. God has hitherto kept him safe from their 
 hands. But how now are we to support ourselyes ? 
 our Catholic benefactors and friends haye either perished 
 or been transported beyond the seas, and the few that 
 remain are in the same misery as ourselyes and in equal 
 need of the charitable aid of others. Fr. Gregory is 
 in the county Cork, but we dare not yisit him, the 
 road is so beset with dangers and so many guards of 
 soldiers are stationed eyerywhere . . . We have here 
 an abundant spiritual harvest, for the leading Catholics 
 of the other three provinces are all transported hither 
 to Connaught. A few missionaries still remain despite 
 the havoc made by the persecution . . .The gallows is 
 always impending over us ; yet we never were in better 
 spirits than in those evil days, although like Xabucho- 
 donosor we have to feed with the beasts of the field. 
 In the ship that brings this letter, thirty priests are 
 being sent into exile to France from Galway, eight 
 from Limerick, and others from Cork. I pray you to 
 send others to take their place, for of necessity this 
 kingdom must soon be in want of apostolic labourers 
 for there are many traitors amongst us who every day 
 betray and arrest some of the clergy." (Spicilegium 
 Ossoriense, vol. ii., p. 148.) 
 
 5. As early as the year 1653, a paper was presented to 
 the Congregation of Propaganda, by Dr. French the 
 exiled Bishop of Ferns, to enlist the aid and authority 
 of the Holy See, in securing a succession of zealous 
 and devoted priests to minister to the spiritual wants of 
 
286 
 
 PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 the suffering children of Christ in the Irish Church : 
 " The present labourers in that vineyard," he says, can- 
 not much longer endure the hunger, thirst, and afflic- 
 tions, the bitter persecution, the watchings and sick- 
 nesses, living for the most part in the woods, and sleep- 
 ing in the most wretched huts or sand-pits, or caverns, 
 where in twenty-four hours they will hardly get a mor- 
 sel of bread and a little milk or butter, often having 
 no [other drink but water, and sometimes eating the 
 grass for want of bread (aliquando defectu poms mor- 
 dent her bam). Of the truth of this I can bear witness, 
 for I myself have lived out in the woods for five months 
 that I might bring some solace to my scattered flock. 
 Some of the priests have been put to death by the Pu- 
 ritan enemy, others have been cut off by famine and 
 the hardships of imprisonment, and others put on ship- 
 board and banished into exile. There are some who 
 being remarkable for their zeal, integrity of life, and 
 learning, and on that account more hated by the heretics, 
 are sought for, to be thrown into prison or to suffer 
 death, and the houses of the people are explored in 
 search of them, so that to remove the imminent danger 
 that awaits all who would shelter them they are com- 
 pelled to fly to foreign parts lest their presence at home 
 would lead to the ruin of others. The Religious who 
 were accustomed to assist the pastors of souls in the 
 spiritual vineyard, now that their monasteries are scat- 
 tered by the Puritans, in great numbers proceed to 
 foreign parts that they may there observe their rule. 
 Take one instance. In the diocese of Ferns where 
 there were three monasteries of Franciscans, one of 
 Augustinians, and one small College of Jesuits, now 
 
PERILS OF THI2 CLERGY. 
 
 287 
 
 only three Religious remain. There is no nook in 
 which the Bishops can be safe, and since their presence 
 stirred np a more violent storm against their flocks, for 
 inevitable death awaits those who would shelter them, 
 they have sought a home beyond the seas, and disconso- 
 late, separated from their beloved flocks they weep for 
 religion overthrown, their country ruined, freedom 
 lost, and so many thousands of their countrymen driven 
 into exile. From this flight and exile of the bishops 
 it will result that priests cannot in future be ordained 
 at home to take the place of the veteran workmen worn 
 out by labours, hunger, thirst, and old age. From 
 all this it must be manifest that very soon the vineyard 
 of the Lord in Ireland shall be deserted and desolate, 
 for the spreading briers and thorns of abominable heresy 
 prevent the growth of the good seed of religion, and 
 the shepherds are put to death who should protect the 
 lambs and strengthen them for suffering whilst the 
 wolves rage for their destruction : and it is to be feared 
 lest the sad fate that has fallen on England and Scotland 
 may also be the lot of Ireland, that is, that the priest- 
 hood being banished, the Puritan heresy may destroy 
 every vestige of discipline in God's church and root out 
 virtue and religion from the minds of men" (Spicile- 
 gium Osson'ense, vol. ii., p. 112). 
 
 6. Wholly peculiar to this Puritan persecution was 
 the edict published at the same time, commanding the 
 Catholics, under the severest penalties, to give infor- 
 mation against their loved pastors, should they merely 
 chance to meet them even in the public streets : — 
 
 " If anyone shall know where a priest remains con- 
 cealed in caves, woods, or caverns, or if, by any chance 
 
288 
 
 PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 he should meet a priest on the highway, and not imme- 
 diately take him into custody, and present him before 
 the next magistrate, such person is to be considered a 
 traitor and an enemy to the republic. He is accordingly 
 to be cast into prison, flogged through the public streets, 
 and afterwards have his ears cut off. But should it 
 appear that he kept up any correspondence or friendship 
 with a priest, he is to suffer death."* 
 
 No edicts, however, could sever the bonds that 
 united together the pastors and their flocks. A letter 
 of the Archbishop of Tuam, written from Nantes, in 
 September, 1658, informs us that, even then, whilst 
 the persecution raged with its greatest violence, there 
 were 150 priests in his province, and a like number in 
 the other provinces, " attending to the care of souls, 
 seeking refuge in the forests and in the caverns of the 
 earth." The same illustrious confessor of the faith 
 informs us that " the priests lately arrested were not put 
 to death, as formerly, in consequence of the remon- 
 strance of the Catholic princes on the Continent, but 
 they were transported to the island of Inisbofin, in the 
 diocese of Tuam, where they were compelled to subsist 
 on herbs and water." 
 
 7. Mr. Prendergast has published some further de- 
 tails connected with this new place of imprisonment. 
 On 27th of February, 1657 (he writes), the Commis- 
 sioners referred to his Excellency to consider where 
 the priests, then in prison in Dublin, should be most 
 safely disposed of, and, in reply, an order was received 
 to transport them " to the isles of Arran, lying out 
 
 Morison, loc. cit. p. 27. 
 
PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 289 
 
 thirty miles in the Atlantic, opposite the entrance of 
 the bay of Galway and the isle of Inisbofin, off the 
 coast of Connemara." In these storm-beaten islands 
 they lived during the remaining years of the Common- 
 wealth ; and from a Treasury warrant, dated 3rd J uly, 
 1657, we learn that cabbins were ordered to be built 
 for them on these islands, and that the Governor of 
 Galway, Col. Thomas Sadleir, was commissioned to 
 allow them sixpence per diem for their support. 
 
 A letter from a priest in Mantes, on 19th October, 
 1659, also states that for some time past the Puritans 
 had " resolved to put none of the clergy to death, and, 
 instead of sending them into exile, to sentence them to 
 perpetual imprisonment. This was partly because they 
 envied us that incredible joy with which the priests 
 went out to death, and partly because they thus hoped 
 to cut off all chance of return to their flocks, and all 
 possibility of administering spiritual assistance to the 
 Catholics. Hence, out of fifty-two priests who were 
 in custody, thirty- six were lately sent to the islands of 
 Inisbofin and Aryan, where there are heretical gar- 
 risons, and where they can neither offer up the Holy 
 Sacrifice nor see the face of a single Catholic, and not 
 even are they allowed to administer to each other the 
 last rites of religion." 
 
 8. One of the priests arrested at this period was 
 Father James Finaghty, Yicar- General of the Diocese 
 of Elphin, a man much maligned, even in some of our 
 Catholic histories. The short record of his sufferings 
 handed down to us, in a narrative of the visitation of 
 that diocese made in 1668, sufficiently proves that, if 
 
290 
 
 PERILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 the penalty of death was suspended for awhile, yet no 
 toleration was allowed to the Catholic clergy : — 
 
 " Father James Finaghty frequently suffered many 
 tortures and cruel afflictions from the common enenry 
 for the faith of Christ ; five times was he arrested, and 
 once he was tied to a horse's tail, and dragged naked 
 through the streets, then cast into a horrid dungeon ; 
 nevertheless, being again ransomed by a sum of money, 
 he continues to labour untiringly and fearlessly in the 
 vineyard of the Lord."* 
 
 • Relatio visitationis dicec. Elphin. factae an. 1668, ab Edmundo 
 Teige. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 291 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Transplanting to Connaught. 
 
 1 . The cry to Connaught or hell. — 2. Lord Clarendon describes this 
 transplanting. — 3. Why Connaught was selected. — 4. The Com- 
 missioners carry out the Transplantation Scheme ; exceptions in 
 favour of those who would renounce the Catholic faith. — 5. The 
 persecution sanctioned by the Protestant clergy : letter of Peter 
 Talbot. — 6. Other regulations. — 7. Particular instances. — 8. New 
 trials in Connaught. — 9. Catholics obliged to renounce all claim to 
 their former lands ; and other severities. — 10. Famine and pesti- 
 lence in Connaught. — 11. Seventy stations of Puritan soldiers 
 preying on the natives : constancy of the Catholics. 
 
 1. As the sword and subsequent persecuting edicts did 
 not succeed in exterminating the Catholic Irish, the 
 ingenuity of the Puritan masters was set to work to 
 discover some new means of attaining that end. The 
 province of Connaught was chosen, the most desolate 
 and devastated in the whole kingdom, and thither, by 
 public proclamation, all Catholics were commanded to 
 repair. This was, in fact, nothing less than a frightful 
 imprisonment of all the survivors of the nation. To 
 Connaught or the scaffold was the fiendish cry of the 
 persecutors throughout the country ; and yet it was 
 not even the province of Connaught, but only the 
 barren portions of it, that the bounty of the Puritans 
 set aside for the Irish Catholics. The heretics retained 
 for themselves a breadth of four miles along the shores 
 
292 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 of the Atlantic, and of two miles along the rich banks 
 of the Shannon. The Irish, moreover, were not allowed 
 to reside in the capital of the province or in any of the 
 market towns. Pent up within these precincts, it was 
 expected that the Catholic race would soon become 
 extinct by famine and disease ; for, throughout this 
 barren district, the newcomers were friendless and 
 unpitied, without food to eat, or house to afford them 
 a protection ; there was no seed to sow, nor cattle to 
 stock the land. It was death for an Irishman to step 
 beyond the limits thus cruelly traced, and any mere 
 Irishman found in any other part of the kingdom could 
 be butchered without further inquiry. 
 
 2. We shall allow Lord Clarendon to sketch this 
 refinement of Puritan policy : — 
 
 " They found the utter extermination of the nation, 
 which they had intended, to be in itself very difficult, 
 and to carry with it somewhat of horror, that made 
 some impression on the stone-hardness of their own 
 hearts. After so many thousands destroyed by the 
 plague which raged over the kingdom, by fire, sword, 
 and famine, and after so many thousands transported 
 to foreign parts, there remained still such a numerous 
 people, that they knew not how to dispose of ; and 
 though they were declared to be all forfeited, and so 
 to have no title to anything, yet they must remain 
 somewhere ; they, therefore, found this expedient, which 
 they called an act of grace. There was a large tract of 
 land, equal to the half of the province of Connaught, 
 that was separated from the rest by a long and large 
 river, and which, by the plague and many massacres, 
 remained almost desolate. Into this space they required 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO COXXATJGHT. 
 
 293 
 
 all the Irish to retire by such a day, under the penalty 
 of death ; and who should, after that time, be found in 
 an}' other part of the kingdom, man, woman, or child, 
 should be killed by anybody who saw or met them. 
 The land within the circuit, the most barren in the 
 kingdom, was, out of this grace and mercy of the 
 conquerors, assigned to those of the nation as were 
 enclosed, in such proportions as might, with great in- 
 dustry, preserve their lives." — (Clarendon's Life, vol. 
 ii-, P- US.)* 
 
 3. Connaught was indeed particularly well adapted 
 for the imprisonment of the surviving Catholics. It 
 is, in fact, a peninsula, surrounded all but ten miles by 
 the Shannon and the sea ; and the erection of a few 
 forts sufficed to completely cut it off from all commu- 
 nication with the remainder of the island. Connaught 
 was, moreover, the most wasted province of the king- 
 dom. Sir Charles Coote, the younger, disregarding 
 the truce or cessation made, by order of the king, with 
 the Irish in 1644, had continued to ravage it with fire 
 and sword. The order was for the transplanting of 
 the Irish nation thither in winter time, their nobles, 
 their gentry, and their commons, with their wives and 
 little children, their j T oung maidens and old men, their 
 cattle and their household goods. . . . They found the 
 country a waste. The county of Clare was totally 
 ruined and deserted of inhabitants. Out of nine baro- 
 nies, comprising thirteen hundred ploughlands, not 
 above forty ploughlands at the most, lying in the 
 
 • See also Scobell's Statut., p. 258. The 1st of May, 1654, was the 
 day fixed, after which any Irishman found in any part of the three 
 provinces of Ireland might be arbitrarily put to death. 
 
 20 
 
294 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONN AUGHT. 
 
 barony of Bunratty, were inhabited in the month of 
 June, 1653. There was scarce a place to shelter in. 
 The castles were either sleigh ted by gunpowder, as 
 dangerous to be left in the hands of the Irish, or occu- 
 pied by the English soldiery, or by the ancient Irish 
 proprietors, who looked upon the transplanters as ene- 
 mies liable to supplant them, and therefore encouraged 
 their followers to give them a rough reception. Be- 
 sides this, the Loughrea Commissioners gave some of 
 the earliest transplanters assignments in the barony of 
 Burren, in the county Clare, one of the barrenest, where 
 it was commonly said there was not wood enough to 
 hang a man, water enough to drown him, or earth 
 enough to bury him.* 
 
 4. No sooner had the Leinster army surrendered, on 
 terms signed at Kilkenny, 12th of May, 1652, than 
 the Commissioners proceeded to carry out the plantation 
 scheme. The Adventurers, as they were called, having 
 advanced the sum of £360,000 for the extirpation of 
 the Irish race, were ordered to receive in payment the 
 moiety of ten counties in Ireland. The Government 
 reserved for its own special favourites, the Regicides, 
 and the most active of the English rebels, all the eccle- 
 siastical landsf and revenues. The remainder of the 
 island was to be set out amongst the officers and soldiers 
 as payment for their arrears, which amounted to 
 
 • Prtndergastj pp. 30 and 47. 
 
 t All archbishops, &c, being abolished, an individual, named 
 Thomas Hicks was installed in Chichester House on College-green, 
 and authorised by the Government " to preach the Gospel at Stillor- 
 gan and other places in the barony of Rathdown, as often as the 
 Lord shall enable him," &c. — Prendc /•</., p. 24. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 295 
 
 £1,550,000, as also in discharge of debts incurred in 
 maintaining the Puritan army, which amounted to 
 £1,750,000. On the 26th of September, 1653, the 
 Act for planting Ireland with English was definitively 
 passed in Parliament, and all the Irish that still re- 
 mained in the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Mun- 
 ster were commanded to remove to Connaught at latest 
 by the 1st of May, 1654, " except Irish women married 
 to English Protestants before the 2nd of December, 
 1650, provided they became Protestants ; except also 
 boys under fourteen and girls under twelve in Protes- 
 tant service, and to be brought up Protestants : and, 
 lastly, those who had shown, during the ten years' 
 war in Ireland, their constant, good affection to the 
 Parliament of England in preference to the king. 
 There they were to dwell, without entering a walled 
 town, or coming within five miles of same on pain of 
 death."* Another exception was also tacitly, at least, 
 made, viz., that such of the common people, who 
 might be required as earth-tillers and herdsmen for the 
 new settlers, might be permitted to remain, for " being 
 deprived of their priests and gentry, and living among 
 the English, it was hoped they would gradually become 
 Protestants. "f The officers and soldiers were forbidden 
 to intermarry with any of the Irish, " for the first pur- 
 pose of the transplantation is to prevent those of natu- 
 ral principles becoming one with these Irish, as well in 
 affinity as in idolatry, as many thousands did who came 
 over in Queen Elizabeth's time.":}: In a subsequent 
 
 * Ibid., p. 30. t Morison s Threnodia, p. 25. 
 
 X Mercurius Politicus, 1653, and Prendergast, p. 105. It is singu- 
 lar that many, even of the Cromwellian settlers, soon identified 
 themselves with the Irish. A pamphlet written in 1697 thus laments 
 
296 TRANSPLANTING TO CONN AUGHT. 
 
 scheme, approved of by the Commissioners, all land- 
 lords were obliged to make such Irish servants or tenants 
 as remained with them "to speak English within a 
 limited time, and their children were to be taught no 
 Irish. They were to observe the manners of the English 
 in their habit and deportment. Their children were to 
 be brought up under English Protestant schoolmasters ; 
 they were to attend the public preaching of Protestant 
 ministers ; they were to abandon their Irish names of 
 Teige and Dermot, and for the future were to name their 
 children with English names, especially omitting the 
 0' and Mac ; and lastly, should build their houses with 
 chimne}^ as English in like capacity do."* An order 
 published on the 21st of May, 1655, again renewed 
 the injunction that all Irish servants and tenants that 
 were permitted to remain should become Protestants in 
 six months, and their children were to learn the Pro- 
 testant Catechism in the English tongue. 
 
 5. Colonel Lawrence, who was himself one of the 
 Committee of Transplantation, in a tract published in 
 London in 1655, gives us one particular not noticed by 
 most of the other writers. Not only was this new 
 scheme for the extirpation of the Irish Catholics ap- 
 
 this degeneracy: "We cannot so much wonder at the degeneracy 
 of the present English when we consider how many there are of the 
 children of Oliver's soldiers in Ireland who cannot speak one word 
 of English : and, what is strange, the same may be said of some of 
 the children of King William's soldiers, who came but t'other day 
 into the country. This misfortune is owing to the marrying.Irish 
 women. 'Tis sure that no Englishman in Ireland knows what his 
 children may be as things are now ; they cannot well live in the 
 country without growing Irish." — (Ap. Prcndcrg., p. 130.) 
 * Ap. Prcndergast, p. 119. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 297 
 
 proved by the Protestant statesmen of Ireland, but it 
 had the full sanction of the Protestant clergy. Several 
 solemn meetings, he says, were held, and several goodly 
 ministers and other pious Christians had been desired 
 to attend to seek the Lord for direction in this work. 
 Instead of remonstrance, the only communications ad- 
 dressed to the Commissioners from these meetings were 
 complaints " of the limitations and slow pace 5 ' of the 
 transplantation. Colonel Lawrence fully sympathised 
 with such complaints, and as some persons were op- 
 posing the Government scheme, he prayed them not to 
 allow the sword to slumber, but " to let out that dram 
 of rebellious blood, and cure that fit of sullenness."* 
 
 Rev. Peter Talbot, who a few years later was pro- 
 moted to the Archbishopric of Dublin, having visited 
 Ireland in the year 1654, addressed a letter from 
 Antwerp on the 3rd of July to the Bishop of Clon- 
 macnoise, then sojourning in Roine, in which he vividly 
 depicts the deplorable state of ruin to which the whole 
 kingdom was now reduced. " You will desire, no doubt, 
 to learn something about our most afflicted country (he 
 thus writes). No history, sacred or profane, presents 
 anything to be compared to its miseries. Such tyranny 
 has never been heard of. ... It is now fourteen 
 days since I quitted London, where everything was in 
 indescribable confusion, stirred up in great part, as 
 many suppose, by Cromwell himself, that thus he might 
 have an opportunity of throwing into gaol those that 
 could thwart his government. He is now busy im- 
 
 * Lawrence : The Interest of England in the Irish Transplantation, 
 p. 9. 
 
298 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNATJGHT. 
 
 prisoning the Papists and priests. Of the latter four 
 have been arrested, and a vast number of the former, 
 twenty of whom were Irish, all of them being quite guilt- 
 less of any conspiracy. ... As regards Ireland, the 
 Transplantation scheme is being carried out ; for 
 although a promise was made to Sir Robert Talbot and 
 the other Irish agents that it would not be p roceeded 
 with — and in fact it was suspended for six weeks — 
 nevertheless, just when I was summoned hither, a new 
 edict ordered it to be carried out with the greatest 
 rigour, which is the same as to cut off by famine in one 
 year all the nobility and people of Ireland. Through 
 Colonel Axtell the Puritans made the offer that any 
 Papists renouncing the Mass and Popery would be 
 exempt from the Transplantation, but not even one 
 individual accepted this condition. It was ordered by 
 the clergy that the whole people would fast on bread 
 and water for three Saturdays, and purify their con- 
 science in the Sacrament of Penance, and receive the 
 Blessed Eucharist. Everyone in the kingdom complied 
 with the order : even the infants only three or four 
 years old kept the fast, to the great confusion of the 
 heretics. The condition of things in Connaughtis this : 
 Lands are assigned to the natives in proportion to the 
 number of their cattle, and this is but little indeed. 
 For instance, they have adjudged thirty acres to Lord 
 Dunboyne, and so, in proportion, to the rest. Even 
 thus provided for, however, they must maintain in 
 Connaught seventy English garrisons ; and, when all 
 their means are exhausted, the men and women are 
 sold to agents at twenty shillings each, to be trans- 
 ported to the A merican islands, as has already happened 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNATJGHT. 299 
 
 to some respectable persons of noble birtb and here- 
 ditary possessions. Thousands of the poorer class are 
 forced away in like manner, and are sold at twenty 
 shillings per head. Throughout the whole kingdom 
 there is nothing but lamentations and tears and striking 
 of hands in grief. . . . There are not in Ireland ten 
 families who have wherewith to support themselves for 
 six months on bread and milk : this I learned by my 
 own experience in the districts which I visited, and I 
 have heard the same from the first noblemen of every 
 quarter of the kingdom." 
 
 6. The transplantation was carr ied out with the utmost 
 rigour. One of its regulations commanded each pro- 
 prietor to bear with him from the local officer to the 
 Commissioners in Oonnaught a certificate in which his 
 name, age, stature, &c, should be set forth. Many of 
 these certificates are still preserved, and they prove that 
 none were spared in this cruel scheme. Thus the cer- 
 tificate of Sir Nicholas Comyn of Limerick describes 
 him as " numb at one side of his body of a dead palsy, 
 accompanied only by his lady, Catherine Comyn, aged 
 thirty-five, flaxen-haired, middle stature, and one maid 
 servant, Honor ny M'Namara ;" and it adds that they 
 were " without substance," i.e., were deprived of all 
 means of support. Another describes : " Ignatius 
 Stackpoole of Limerick, orphan, aged eleven years, 
 flaxen hair, full face, low stature ; and Catherine Stack- 
 poole, orphan, sister to the said Ignatius, aged eight 
 years, flaxen hair, full face; having no substance."* 
 Thus none were spared, and all, no matter how circum- 
 
 Prendergast, pp. 32-33. 
 
300 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 stanced, were commanded to hasten to the wilderness 
 marked out for their imprisonment. 
 
 Many, however, resolved to risk death rather than 
 accept the Puritan boon of transplantation. Hence, the 
 Commissioners of Parliament often complain that " the 
 gaols were choked" with the number of those who 
 refuse to transplant, and still the untractable Irish re- 
 fused to obey their orders. The Irish Catholics, too, in 
 1660, declare that, " pursuant to the said pretended Act 
 (27th Sept., 1663), some were put to death with in- 
 scriptions on their breasts and backs, for not transplant- 
 ing. And, for the more strict and effectual executing 
 of the said pretended Act, it was a frequent practice to 
 make general restraint of all the Irish generally that 
 were found out of the said province of Connaught, 
 which were put in execution at one and the same time 
 through all the other provinces, by troopers and soldiers 
 dragging the poor people out of their beds in the dead 
 time of the night, and bringing them in such troops as 
 there was not gaol room enough to contain them. 
 Therefore, some were put to death, others sold as slaves 
 into America, others detained in prison till they were 
 not able to put bread into their mouths, other sent to 
 Connaught."* 
 
 The Rinuccini MS. presents precious details relating 
 to the cruelty of the Puritans in carrying out this edict : 
 " They had recourse to various devices,'' it says, " to 
 extract whatever substance, marrow, or blood, remained 
 to the Catholics ; and not the least cruel of these was to 
 hold out the hope that the transplantation to Con- 
 
 * Carte MSS., vol. iii., p. 6. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 301 
 
 naught would not be carried out. Enticed by this Hope 
 the Catholics disposed of everything they had, and 
 almost starved their wives and children, selling the 
 very necessaries of life that they might realise the 
 large sums that were demanded that they might be 
 permitted to remain in their homes, no matter how op- 
 pressive the taxes might be. But when every resource 
 was exhausted, the English in this, too, breaking their 
 plighted faith, with an unheard-of cruelty caused all 
 the Catholic proprietors, some sooner, some later, to 
 transplant to Connaught or Thomond ; and this was so 
 carried out that even those of Connaught and Tho- 
 mond were themselves compelled to quit their ancestral 
 lands and migrate to other districts. Only the labourers 
 and those who had no holdings escaped this transplan- 
 tation, not through any mercy on the part of the Eng- 
 lish, but partly preserved by their very indigeDce, and 
 partly through a new device of Puritan cruelty, that 
 thus they might be separated from those who of old 
 protected them, and might be compelled to till the soil 
 for their new masters. And yet their lot was better 
 than that of the nobility and gentry and others ex- 
 pelled from their ancestral lands, for they were inured 
 to toil, whilst these had no strength for manual labour, 
 without which nothing now remained to them but to 
 perish. Moreover, immense taxes were imposed by 
 Cromwell, now invested with more than regal power ; 
 and they were exacted and extorted with such violence 
 that no one could conceive how a man could exercise such 
 tyranny against his fellow- man, or how the Irish Ca- 
 tholics, even with all their toil and sweat and starva- 
 tion, and all the arts that dire necessity could alone 
 
302 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNATJGHT. 
 
 suggest, were able to meet such demands, which were 
 not only prolonged but increased from day to day." 
 
 7. Some particular instances that are happily recorded, 
 illustrate the manner in which the Irish proprietors were 
 expelled from their hereditary possessions. The Vis- 
 count Roche of Fermoy and his daughters were forced 
 to walk on foot to Connaught, to die in a poor cabin 
 there, whilst his lands were divided amongst the 
 troopers of Cromwell. The estate now called Wood- 
 land, the seat of Lord Annaly, adjoining the Phoenix 
 Park, Dublin, was formerly known as Luttrellstown, 
 and under the Puritan regime passed first into the 
 hands of Lord Broghill, and then to Colonel Hewson, 
 Governor of Dublin, whilst the proprietor, Thomas 
 Luttrell, " got permission, in 1652, to occupy the 
 stables, and to till the land ;"* even from this, how- 
 ever, he was now compelled to transplant. Elsewhere 
 we read of the soldiers entering at once into possession, 
 and " proceeding without mercy to turn out the wives 
 and children of the transplanted proprietors, without 
 giving them even a cabin to shelter in."f 
 
 The Viscountess Thurles was the Earl of Ormonde's 
 mother. It was thought that she at least would be 
 allowed to remain undisturbed. The town of Thurles, 
 with 4,000 acres adjacent, was her dower. She had 
 dwelt there in peace throughout the whole period of 
 the Confederation, and she had given her powerful pro- 
 tection to many English who fled to her friendly shelter. 
 When Major Peisley was forced to yield his neighbour- 
 ing garrison of Archerstown to the Irish forces, and he 
 
 * Ap. Prendergast, p. 36. t H> id - P« 37. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 303 
 
 and others of his company were wounded, she invited 
 him, and his whole company to her house, and enter- 
 tained them for some weeks and sent them forward 
 with abundant supplies to the English garrison of Done- 
 raile. But she was a fervent Catholic. Her son, as 
 yet a child, had been taken from her care on the death 
 of his father, and as a king's ward was brought up a 
 Protestant, the only Protestant of his family- The 
 Adventurers who claimed her land describe her as "a 
 Popish recusant and transplantable," and her dower 
 was forfeited to them. 
 
 So too, Lady Dunsany clung to her castle and lands 
 in the rich territory of Meath. To the Adventurers 
 she replied that she would deny them possession unless 
 she was forcibly removed thence. On the 4th of July, 
 1656, the high constable with his force received 
 peremptory orders to put the Adventurers in possession, 
 and the poor lady with her children was driven by main 
 force from her home. 
 
 8. Even when the sufferers arrived in Connaught, 
 new trials awaited them. The officers there had to be 
 bribed by money if the poor transplanter had any money 
 left, or by a secret promise of a portion of the lands to 
 be allotted to him.* None of the inhabitants of Kerry, 
 Cork, or Limerick were allowed to dwell in Clare, lest 
 they might thence behold their native hills and plains. 
 Inhabitants of the same county or sept were to be dis- 
 persed as far as possible in different places. The best 
 portions of the remnant set aside for the Irish nation 
 were again appropriated by some new English claim- 
 
 Ibid. p. 67. 
 
304 TRANSPLANTING TO CONN AUGHT. 
 
 ants. For Henry Cromwell was reserved Portumna 
 with the 6,000 adjoining acres, and, other grants 
 were made to Sir Charles Coote, Colonel Sadlier, and 
 Major Ormsby.* The barony of Tirrera is bounded 
 on the west by the fine estuary which leads up to Bal- 
 lina in Mayo. Opposite is the barony of Tyrawley, 
 with a belt of fine, rich feeding and grazing land 
 along the estuary, commencing at Killala, near the 
 mouth, and extending to Ballina. The rest, westwards 
 to Erris, partakes of the nature of that barony, and is 
 a waste of heath and bog. The Cromwellian officers 
 took to themselves the good part of Tyrawley, on the 
 ground that, by means of such an English plantation, 
 the sea coast would be greatly secured, but they left the 
 bad half for the transplanted families. What wonder, 
 then, concludes Mr. Prendergast, " that the trans- 
 planted, who could find means to fly, or were not tied 
 by large families of children, sold their assignments for 
 a mere trifle to the officers of Government, and fled in 
 horror and aversion from the scene, and embarked for 
 Spain. Some went mad ; others killed themselves ; 
 some laid their bones in Connaught, as Lord Trimbles - 
 toL, on whose gravestone, within the ruins of the 
 Abbey of Kilconnel, that overlook the fatal fields of 
 Aughrim, may be still read the epitaph : ' Here lies 
 Mathew, twelfth Lord Baron of Trimleston, one of the 
 Transplanted.' " 
 
 As was to be expected, those who prolonged their 
 existence for a time were forced to live in the greatest 
 misery. " Many opulent persons of good quality," 
 
 * Ibid., p. 194. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONN AUGHT. 
 
 305 
 
 writes the contemporary, Bishop of Ferns, " yea, and 
 many of them peers and lords of the realm, were lodged 
 in smoky cabins, and, as might well be said, buried 
 there and starved to death, together with their wives 
 and children." 
 
 9. The persecutors, however, were not satiated by 
 thus transplanting the Irish inhabitants. They, more- 
 over, obliged all, to whom some portions of land were 
 marked out in this barren district, to sign conveyances 
 or releases of their titles to their former properties, 
 that thus they and their heirs might be for ever de- 
 barred from their old inheritance.* We also find re- 
 corded that when some of the transplanted Irish erected 
 cabins or creaghs, as the hurdle houses were then 
 called, in the vicinity of Athlone, orders were sent from 
 Dublin Castle to banish all the Irish and other Popish 
 persons from that neighbourhood, so that no such 
 gathering should be allowed within five miles of the 
 English garrison. f 
 
 10. No pen can describe the frightful scenes of misery 
 that ensued. With famine and pestilence, despair 
 seized upon the afflicted natives. Thousands died of 
 starvation and disease ; others cast themselves from 
 precipices, whilst the walking spectres that remained 
 seemed to indicate that the whole plantation was 
 nothing more than a mighty sepulchre. + 
 
 * Clarendon loc. cit., vol. ii., p. 116. 
 + MS. Orders of Council, cit. by Haverty, p. 595. 
 
 See History of the Irish Catholics, by M. O'Connor, p. 87. 
 "Thousands perished of cold and hunger, many flung themselves 
 headlong from precipices and into lakes and rivers, death being the 
 last refuge from such direful calamities/' Also De Burgo inHib. Dom., 
 p. 706. 
 
306 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 A Relatio, drawn up in 1666 by one who had just 
 before escaped to the Continent from this terrible scene, 
 declares that : — " The persecution under Elizabeth was 
 never so violent as that which now rages in 1 reland, for 
 then only ecclesiastics were persecuted, now even the 
 nobility and females are subject to it. Women maybe 
 seen running after their husbands who are sentenced to 
 exile, naj', they plunge into the depths of the sea that 
 they may be allowed to share in their banishment. 
 Children are seen hurrying after their mothers, and 
 dying in the public streets. Whole towns are trans- 
 ported to the Barbadoes. Many persons, through sad- 
 ness and terror, run through the country insane. 
 Houses are seen empty, a prey to anyone who may 
 wish to enter them. Virgins are insulted, children are 
 murdered, crowds of the natives are carried off into 
 exile. Oh ! how sad a spectacle !"* 
 
 11. The Puritans, however, were still attentive to 
 extort from the suffering transplanted Catholics what- 
 soever might, perchance, have yet remained to them. 
 A contemporary writer thus describes these new arts of 
 the Puritan persecutors : — f 
 
 " There is one thing that now perplexes us very 
 much, the transplanting of our nation to the province 
 of Connaught. This is a tract of Ireland, for the most 
 part, rocky and mountainous, and wholly reduced to a 
 wilderness by the constant whirlwind of wars, uninter- 
 rupted for so manj- years. Nowhere, throughout all 
 that region, can a house be met with. Scarcely is there 
 
 • Wadding MSS., Rome. 
 Status rei Catholicse, anno 1564. 
 
TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 307 
 
 a particle of a wall left standing, the edifices being de- 
 stroyed by fire, and levelled to the ground lest any 
 habitation or defence should remain for the Catholics. 
 Two cities alone remain, and fiom these the inhabi- 
 tants are expelled, and they are now filled with English 
 Anabaptists. Some of the ports, too, are inhabited by 
 the same pest. The remainder of the province is 
 wholly devastated and everything levelled to the 
 ground. 
 
 " To this desert all the nobility and gentry of the 
 kingdom and all that had any land or possessions are 
 now transported. Amidst these mountains they receive 
 some small particles of land, for the most part sterile 
 and rocky. There they must fix their dwellings and 
 build for themselves, as best they may, or otherwise be 
 exposed to the hoar frost. Nor is the evil confined to 
 this. 
 
 " The Catholics, thus transplanted, although de- 
 prived of nearly a]l their fortunes and goods, are, 
 nevertheless, obliged to support, in this Connaught 
 wilderness, seventy stations of Puritan soldiers, which 
 are arranged at stated distances throughout the coun- 
 try, under the pretence, indeed, of their own security, 
 and lest Catholics might plot against the State and ex 
 cite fresh disturbances, but in reality that they may 
 keep away all priests, and prevent the exercise of the 
 Catholic religion ; and, moreover, that thus any pro- 
 perty that still remained amongst the persecuted natives 
 might be wasted away and consumed in supporting 
 such a number of guards, and so the whole nation 
 might become gradually extinct, for they see that no 
 violence or artifice can force them to abandon the 
 Catholic faith. 
 
308 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CON NAUGHT. 
 
 " Indeed, the magistrates more than once notified to 
 some of the Catholic gentry, whom they were anxious 
 to protect, that all this vexation would cease, should 
 they only consent to renounce the Roman Pontiff and 
 especially the Mass. They sought also to persuade not 
 a few of the Catholics, that it was folly for them to 
 precipitate themselves into voluntary banishment, which 
 could be prevented by so easy a remedy ; but the 
 Catholics closed their ears with the holy fear of God 
 against these siren enchantments, and they chose to 
 suffer even death rather than to tarnish their glory, 
 holding in mind that they are children of saints, and 
 that an eternal inheritance awaits them.' , 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 309 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Puritan Colonists. 
 
 1. Ireland confiscated. — 2. Protestant settlers from New England ; 
 Vaudois from Piedmont. — 3. Their character. — 4. Manuscript ac- 
 count of the same. — 5. Lord Clare's description. — 6. Mr. Thomas 
 Wadding. — 7. Cambrensis Eversis. 
 
 1. Ireland was now, indeed, become the spoil of her 
 merciless heretical enemy. The whole kingdom was 
 ordered to be surveyed, and " the best land was rated 
 at only four shillings per acre, and some only at one 
 penny."* The towns were rated at even a lower price. 
 The whole city of Limerick, with 12,000 acres conti- 
 guous, had been offered in the beginning of the war for 
 £30,000, with a small rent to the State. Galway, with 
 10,000 acres, was offered for £7,500 ; and Wexford, 
 with 6,000 acres, was only valued at £5,000. The re- 
 peated orders which were issued in lb52, 1654, and 
 1656, to clear all the towns of their Catholic popula- 
 tion, rendered many of them well nigh desolate. In 
 the impeachment of Lord Inchiquin before Parliament, 
 it is set forth that his soldiers destroyed three thou- 
 sand houses " void of inhabitants " in the city of Cork, 
 and an equal number in Youghal. " For such a scene 
 of desolation," writes Mr. Prendergast, " as the cities 
 
 * Morrice, Life of Orrery, vol. ii., p. 117. 
 
 21 
 
310 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 and towns of Ireland presented at this period, recourse 
 must be had to the records of antiquity, and there, in 
 the ruined state of the towns of Sicily, when rescued 
 by Timoleon from the tyranny of the Carthaginians, 
 there is to be found a parallel. Syracuse, when taken, 
 was found comparatively destitute of inhabitants. So 
 little frequented was the market-place that it produced 
 grass enough for the horses to pasture on, and for the 
 grooms to lie in by them as they grazed. The other 
 cities were deserts, full of deer and wild boars ; and 
 such as had this use for it hunted them in the suburbs 
 round the walls. And such was the case in Ireland. 
 On the 20th December, 1652, a public hunt, by the 
 assembled inhabitants of the barony of Castle knock 
 was ordered by the State, of the numerous wolves lying 
 in the wood of the ward, only six miles north of 
 Dublin." 
 
 Colonel Jones, one of the Commissioners for Parlia- 
 ment in Ireland, in a letter to Major Scott, on the 1st 
 March, 1652-8, does not hesitate to set forth that this 
 desolate condition of the kingdom afforded a cheering 
 prospect for its future tranquillity : " There is no way 
 (he says) to reduce this land to a perfect and lasting 
 peace, but by removing all heads of septs and priests 
 and men of knowledge in arms, or otherwise in repute, 
 out of the land, and breaking all kinds of interest 
 among them, and by laying waste all fast countries in 
 Ireland, and suffering no mankind to live there but within 
 garrisons ; for which end declarations are going out to 
 lay waste the whole county of Kerry, and a great part 
 of the counties of Cork, Limerick, Tipperary, Clare, 
 Galway, Roscommon, Sligo, &c. ; the whole counties of 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 311 
 
 Leitrim, Fermanagh, Cavan, Tyrone, Monaghan, and 
 Armagh, except parts of baronies in some of them not 
 considerable: likewise part of Longford, Meath, and 
 Louth, bordering upon those counties ; the whole 
 county of Wicklow, and part of King and Queen's 
 Counties." (Aphoris. Discov., vol. iii., p. 271). 
 
 To encourage the Adventurers in the work of plant- 
 ing, as it was called, the Committee of Parliament in 
 England made the following orders on the 12th of 
 May, 1652 
 
 i( Resolved : That in consideration the Adventurers 
 shall forthwith set upon planning their proportions fol- 
 lowing, and within three years from the 29th of Sep- 
 tember next, shall fully plant the same with Protestants 
 of any nation, saving Irish, in such manner as shall be 
 directed by Parliament : that the House be moved that 
 there be set out unto them as many forfeited lands 
 within the counties of Limerick, Kerry, and Tipperary, 
 or within the counties of Limerick, Kerry, and Cork, 
 or within the counties of Waterford, Wexford, Wick- 
 low, and Kilkenny, at their election, as their present 
 Adventurers amount to : 
 
 " That upon the considerations aforesaid, the Parlia- 
 ment be moved that 500,000 acres more be given them 
 towards their further charge in erecting buildings, 
 planting the said lands, and forbearance of their mo- 
 nies, &c. : 
 
 " That also such houses and buildings belonging to 
 the Commonwealth, and not abeady disposed of, in the 
 respective towns and cities within the counties which 
 they shall make election of, be demised to the Adven- 
 turers for twenty-one years, or three lives, &c. : 
 
312 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 " That the Adventurers have liberty to export into 
 Ireland all commodities mentioned in their proposals, 
 which shall tend to the advancement of their planta- 
 tion, for seven years, from the 29th of September next : 
 
 " And that, for the term of ten years, not above a 
 fifth part of the true yearly value of the lands aforesaid 
 be paid in lieu of all taxes, &c.'' 
 
 And lest the Adventurers would be dilatory in secur- 
 ing Protestant settlers for the now uninhabited country, 
 a proviso was added, that any of the said lands not pro- 
 perly inhabited within three years " shall be forfeited 
 to the Commonwealth." 
 
 2. At the same time nothing was left undone to provide 
 for the security of the English Protestant settlers, and 
 to attract them to our shores. The following letter 
 from the Commissioners in Dublin to the Secretary of 
 the Government in London, will serve to show how 
 earnest they were in their resolve to remove all Irish 
 Catholics from the path of these new colonists : 
 • 
 
 " Dublin Castle, 4th March, 1656-7. 
 " Eight Honourable, — 
 
 The Council having lately taken into their 
 most serious consideration what may be most for the 
 security of this country, and the encouragement of the 
 English to come over and plant here, did think fit that 
 all Popish recusants, as well proprietors as others, whose 
 habitation is in any port- towns, walled- towns, or gar- 
 risons, and who did not before the 15th September, 
 1643, and ever since, profess the Protestant religion, 
 should remove themselves and their families out of all 
 6uch places, and two miles at the least distant there- 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 313 
 
 from, before 20th May next ; and being desirous that 
 the English people may take notice, that by this means 
 there will be both security and conveniency of habita- 
 tion for such as shall be willing to come over as planters, 
 they have commanded me to send you the enclosed de- 
 claration, and to desire you that you will take some 
 course, whereby it may be made known unto the people 
 for their encouragement to come over and plant in this 
 country ? "* 
 
 Notwithstanding all these attractions, however, a 
 sufficient number of English Puritans could not be got 
 to come to Ireland. Hence, to supply inhabitants to 
 the desolate country, Protestant settlers were, from 
 time to time, invited from New England, and liberal 
 offers were likewise made to the Vaudois of Piedmont, 
 should they choose Ireland for an " evangelical colony."f 
 In 1651, Mr. Harrison, minister of the Gospel in New 
 England, " was affectionately urged to come over to 
 Ireland, which he would find experimentally was a 
 comfortable seed-plot for his labours. "{ It was hoped 
 that on his return " the hearts of many others would 
 be stirred up" to plant in our island, and the letter of 
 the Commissioners adds : " they should have freedom 
 of (Protestant) worship, and the advantages of con- 
 venient lands, fit for husbandry, in healthful air, near 
 to maritime towns or secure places, with such encou- 
 ragement from the State as should demonstrate that it 
 was their chief care to plant Ireland with a godly 
 
 » Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, p. 190 : Thurloe, vol. ii., 
 p. 459. 
 
 t Settlement, p. 120. * Prendergast, p. 284. 
 
314 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 generation." In 1655, proposals were made for the 
 planting of the town of Sligo and the lands thereabouts 
 with families from New England, and on the 10th of 
 April, that j'ear, " lands on the Mile line, together with 
 the two little islands called Oyster Island and Coney 
 Island (containing 200 acres), were leased for the use 
 of such English families as should come from New 
 England in America." In 1656 we find some families 
 arriving from America at Limerick, and permission 
 was granted to them to introduce, free of tax, " the 
 tobacco they had brought with them for the use of 
 themselves and families." The lands of Garristown, 
 about fifteen miles to the north of Dublin, were also 
 allotted to such Anglo-Americans as would undertake 
 to colonize our island, and one individual, named John 
 Barker, received thirty acres there on the sole condi- 
 tion that he should dwell on his lot, and not consign it 
 to another.* Even the Dutch and other Protestants 
 had offers made to them ; and Samuel Hartlib, dedi- 
 cating a work on the Natural History of Ireland to 
 Oliver Cromwell, declared that he u looked upon the 
 hopeful appearance of replanting Ireland shortly, not 
 only by the Adventurers, but partly by the calling in 
 of exiled Bohemians and other Protestants also, and 
 partly by the invitation of some well affected out of 
 the Low Countries."! These offers, however, were for 
 the most part made in vain ; and so universal was the 
 horror of the brutality displayed by the Puritan officers 
 in Ireland, that none but the very dregs of society 
 
 * Order of Council Chamber, Dublin, 30th July, 1656. lb., p. 121. 
 t Ireland's Nat. History, by Boate. 4to. London, 1652- 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 315 
 
 could be found, even in England,* to seek a share in 
 the spoil. 
 
 3. There is a passage in Dominick de Rosario's His- 
 tory of the Geraldines that sketches for us the character 
 of the new settlers, and the rapacious spirit with which 
 they rushed to plunder our Island of Saints : — - 
 
 u That raging mass, besprinkled with the monarch's 
 blood, burst upon the land of my birth. The butcher, 
 the buffoon, and the hired cut- throat, each led his band ; 
 and the very dregs of English cities and towns were in- 
 vested with centurion authority. Then came hideous 
 woes, as though Gfod would lash us with a triple scourge, 
 discord, famine, and pestilence. Well was it for those 
 who died by the plague, for they passed away without 
 dishonour ; and happier were they who perished by the 
 edge of the sword, for they thus escaped the lingering 
 pangs of hunger. Cities and towns were seized by those 
 ruthless slayers ; the nobility were ruined, the temples of 
 God razed, altars polluted, everything sacred profaned, 
 whole families destroyed, smiling plains reduced to 
 barrenness, and the lowing herds slaughtered to feed an 
 unbridled soldiery. Blessed, then, were they who pos- 
 sessed nothing. But how shall I describe the horrors 
 which those fiends heaped on the heads of the Catholic 
 clergy ? In their private houses, in the caverns of the 
 earth, in the recesses of the mountains and woods, 
 naked and unarmed, were they not maimed, stabbed, 
 struck with stones in their very transit to the gibbet ? 
 
 * Many citizens of London, at the time of the great fire, in 1666, 
 looked on it as a chastisement from God for the cruelties exercised 
 against the Irish. 
 
316 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 Oil ! how many of them breathed out their souls ex- 
 horting their countrymen to deeds of heroism, and 
 undying attachment to the Catholic religion!"* 
 
 The Rinuccini MS. after describing the mournful 
 scenes of the year 1655 adds : — " To the whole nation 
 maybe applied the words of Joel (i. 4): \That which 
 the palmer- worm hath left, the locust hath eaten : and that 
 which the locust hath left, the bruchus hath eaten ; and that 
 which the bruchus hath left, the mildew hath destroyed. 
 For through the war, and famine, and pestilence, only a 
 fourth part of the clergy and people survived, and these 
 were crushed and ground down by the unchecked 
 and unparalleled cruelty of English heretics, under 
 whose slavery they were so oppressed that all the suf- 
 ferings endured by the Church under the Diocletians, 
 Neros, and other heretical or pagan princes and 
 emperors, whether in the Old or New Testament, can 
 scarcely deserve the name of persecution, compared to 
 the Cromwellian torture of the Catholics of Ireland. 
 If even to this remnant of the people some peace were 
 accorded, the past might be forgotten ; but so far was 
 this from being the case, that new opportunities for 
 oppression were every day sought out, according to the 
 words of Solomon (Prov. i. 11) : Let us hide snares for 
 the innocent without cause ; so that the whole island was 
 red with blood, and bedewed with tears, and ever 
 resounding with the cries and lamentations of the 
 sufferers." 
 
 4. Amongst the manuscripts belonging to the King's 
 Library in the British Museum there is a work entitled 
 
 * Loc. cit, p. 298. 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 317 
 
 An Account of Ireland, written in 1773, which, speaking 
 of the Cromwellian era, thus describes well the hordes 
 of sectaries that overspread the three confiscated pro- 
 vinces of Ireland : " An army of new settlers, and 
 mostly of a newer religion, whether Anabaptists, So- 
 cinians, Muggletonians, Brownists, or Millenarians, 
 now obtained large grants of forfeited lands in Ireland ; 
 and from these adventurers are descended some of the 
 principal persons in the kingdom in opulence and 
 power. Most of these settlers were men of the sourest 
 leaven, who eagerly adopted the most harsh and op- 
 pressive measures against those upon whose ruin they 
 rose. * 
 
 5. This description of the sectaries of every hue 
 that divided amongst themselves the possessions of 
 the exterminated or transplanted Irish is confirmed 
 by Lord Clare, in his celebrated speech on the 
 Union : — 
 
 " A new colony of new settlers, composed of all the 
 various sects which then infested England — Indepen- 
 dents, Anabaptists, Seceders, Brownists, Socinians, Mil- 
 lenarians, and dissenters of every description, many of 
 them infected with the leaven of democracy — poured 
 into Ireland, and were put into possession of the ancient 
 inheritance of its inhabitants." 
 
 Indeed nothing else was to be expected considering 
 the condition of England in those evil days. I will 
 allow a Presbyterian writer who from the outset of the 
 revolution had fought in the ranks of the Parliament- 
 
 * See The Irish Church, its History and Statistics, byW.Shee, 
 Sergeant-at-law, &c, 1852, p. 9. 
 
318 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 ary party to describe the irreligious confusion into 
 which the whole country was plunged : 
 
 11 Things every day grow worse and worse ; you can 
 hardly imagine them so bad as they are. No kind of 
 blasphemy, heresy, disorder, and confusion, but it is 
 found among us, or coming in upon us. For we, instead 
 of reformation, are growing from one extreme to 
 another ; fallen from Scylla to Charybdis ; from Popish 
 innovations, superstitions, and prelatical tyranny, to 
 damnable heresies, horrid blasphemies, libertinism, and 
 fearful anarchy. Our evils are not removed and cured 
 but only changed : one disease and devil hath left us, 
 and another as bad is come into the room. You have 
 broken down the images of the Trinity, Virgin Mary, 
 Apostles ; and we have those who overthrow the doctrine 
 of the Trinity, oppose the divinity of Christ, speak 
 evil of the Virgin Mary, and slight the Apostles. You 
 have cast out the bishops and their officers, and we have 
 many that cast down to the ground all ministers in all 
 their reformed churches : you have cast out ceremonies 
 in the sacraments as the cross, kneeling at the Lord's 
 Supper ; and we have many who cast out the sacraments 
 of baptism, and the Lord's Supper : you have put down 
 Saints'-days ; and we have many who make nothing at 
 all of the Lord's- day and fast- days : you have taken 
 the superfluous, excessive maintenance of bishops and 
 deans ; and we have many that take away and cry down 
 the necessary maintenance of ministers. In the bishops' 
 days we had singing of psalms taken away in some 
 places, conceived prayer and preaching, and, in their 
 room, anthems, stinted forms, and reading, brought 
 in ; and now we have singing of psalms spoken against 
 
PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 319 
 
 and cast out of some churches ; yea, all public prayer 
 questioned, and all ministerial preaching denied. In 
 the bishops' -days we had many unlearned ministers ; 
 and have we not now a company of Jeroboam's priests ? 
 In the bishops'-days we had the fourth commandment 
 taken away, but now we have all the ten command- 
 ments at once, by the Antinomians ; yea, all the faith 
 and the Gospel denied. The worst of the prelates, in 
 the midst of many Popish Arminian tenets and Popish 
 innovations, held many sound doctrines, and had many 
 commendable practices ; yea, the very Papists hold and 
 keep to many articles of faith and truths of God, have 
 some order amongst them, encourage learning, have 
 certain fixed principles of truth, with practices of de- 
 votion and good works; but many of the sects and 
 sectaries in our days deny all principle of religion, are 
 enemies to all holy duties, order, learning, overthrow- 
 ing all, being whirligig spirits. "What swarms are 
 there of all sorts of illiterate mechanic preachers: 
 yea, of women and boy preachers : what liberty of 
 preaching, printing of all errors, or for a toleration of 
 all, and against the Directory, Covenant, monthly fast, 
 Presbyterial government, and all ordinances of Parlia- 
 ment in reference to religion ? " And then he enume- 
 rates in another part of his work, no less than a 
 hundred arid seventy-six heretical and blasphemous 
 tenets, which were the growth of that period. (Edward's 
 Gangraena, p. 16.) 
 
 6. It cannot be expected that many virtues would 
 be found in the train of these ruthless colonists ; on 
 the contrary, they seemed to wage war against every 
 virtue, and to have become the champions of every vice. 
 
320 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 An eye-witness, Mr. Thomas Wadding, thus writes, on 
 the 21st October, 1656 : — " There is no corner of Ire- 
 land but is now filled with heresies, and atheism, and 
 iniquity of every sort ; never was the Catholic name 
 so persecuted ; malice is triumphant, all vices flourish, 
 justice has decayed ; true faith, and mercy, and mo- 
 desty, and sincerity are banished ; violence and audacity 
 everywhere prevail ; no one has any property but what 
 he acquired by fraud and violence ; the good are ex- 
 posed to persecution and misery ; the bad alone are 
 prosperous, and abound in wealth. ... So that we 
 are tempted to cry out — ' 0, God ! what an age have 
 you made us spectators of !' "* 
 
 7. In Cambrensis E 'versus, vol. iii., p. 75, we find an 
 additional testimony as to the vile character of the new 
 colonists : — " Nobles of high descent," says that con- 
 temporary author, " were robbed of two-thirds of their 
 hereditary estates, and ordered to confine themselves 
 within the contracted limits of the remaining third ; 
 while the properties wrested from them were assigned 
 to swarms of Englishmen, collected from the barbers' 
 shops, and highways, and taverns, and stables, and hog- 
 sties of England." 
 
 Deus ad quae nos tempora reservasti ! Letter of Thomas Wad- 
 ding from Nantes, 21st October, 1656, to Mgr. Rinuccini ; preserved 
 in Barberini Archives, Rome. 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 321 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Irish exported as Slaves. 
 
 1. Irish exported as slaves ; Testimony of Alithinologia ; Sir William 
 Petty and others ; Note. Eev. J. Grace, in 1666, found 12,000 
 Irish slaves in Barbadoes, &c. — 2. Method of making Irishmen 
 Christians, i.e., selling them as slaves ; Cruelty of the Puritans. — 
 3. Slave trade to Barbadoes legalised. — 4. Sale of Irish natives. — 
 5. Particular instances. — 6. Seizure of Paul Cashin, P.P. of Mary- 
 borough, and other priests. — 7. Irish children exported ; St. 
 Christopher's; Irish there. — 8. Dr. James Lynch. — 9. Irish treated 
 barbarously, according to Father Grace; Note. Letter of Bishops 
 of the province of Tuam to propaganda. — 10. Faith and piety of 
 the Irish during their captivity. 
 
 1. It was not enough to import foreigners of every 
 hue and every denomination into Ireland ; the Puritan 
 rulers deemed it further necessary to export, as slaves, 
 to the American islands, as many of the natives as yet 
 survived the miseries and vexations of Connaught. 
 The Rev. Dr. Lynch, who was himself witness of the 
 sufferings of our people at this dismal period, in the 
 very commencement of his valuable work, entitled 
 Alithinologia, thus writes : — " In the present calamitous 
 condition of Ireland the clergy are subjected to im- 
 prisonment, or exile, or the scaffold ; nor is it even per- 
 mitted to the priests to be shut up in the city prisons, 
 lest perchance the sight of them or their lamentations 
 would excite the pity of the passing crowd of Catholics ; 
 
322 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 but they are transported to Arran and Inisbofin, the 
 most remote islands of the West, there to be tortured 
 by hunger, and cold, and solitude, and the cruelty of 
 the guards ; and whereas in olden times numerous 
 choirs of monks devoted themselves there to continual 
 prayer and other exercises of virtue, now savage bands 
 of soldiers apply their wits to starve the priests of God 
 in prison. . . . The clergy who are not as yet arrested 
 either lie hid in the woods, bogs, caverns, and recesses 
 of houses, or under the garb of husbandmen, or artizans, 
 or labourers, or other disguise, live secretly in Catholic 
 families, whose piety they foster by the sacraments 
 and pious exhortations, although repeated edicts threaten 
 them with death, and enact severest penalties, with the 
 forfeiture of property, against all those who harbour or 
 assist them. So that our clergy at home have to face 
 the hardships of prison, or extreme misery, or death, 
 whilst most of those who are abroad have only the 
 stinted bread of exile for their maintenance. As for 
 the laity, some of them, expelled from their homes and 
 hereditary possessions, are driven far away from the 
 sight of their native land, so that the decree of the 
 Emperor Adrian forbidding the Jews to see Jerusalem 
 even at a distance from an elevated spot would appear 
 to hold good in their regard. A great many being 
 transferred to one province, they are, I will not say 
 located there, but rather packed together like herrings 
 in a barrel, more halecum in dolio, so that amid hardships 
 and in poverty they eke a miserable life, whilst even 
 the remnant of their fortunes is wasted by almost daily 
 exactions. Thus their weary bodies are wasted away 
 through misery, and at the same time their minds are 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 323 
 
 tortured, being deprived of religion, and their hearts 
 are rent by the thought of the banishment of those who 
 are dear to them. In one year, since the late war, 
 forty thousand men were transported from Ireland into 
 foreign countries ; and since then we have repeatedly 
 seen husbands torn from their wives, children from 
 their parents, servants from their masters, and all 
 forcibly carried off to the West Indies, there to be sold 
 as slaves. " 
 
 Jamaica and the adjoining islands had lately passed 
 into the hands of England, and slaves were wanting to 
 cultivate the sugar and tobacco plant on that deadly 
 soil. Sir William Petty,* writing in 1672, states that 
 six thousand boys and women were thus sold as slaves 
 from Ireland to the undertakers of the American islands. 
 Bruodin estimates the total number of the exiles from 
 Ireland at 100,000, and adds that of these some thou- 
 sands were transported to the tobacco islands. f A 
 letter, written in 1656, cited by Dr. Lingard, reckons 
 the number of Catholics thus sent to slavery at 60,000. 
 " The Catholics are sent off in shipsfull to the Bar- 
 badoes and other American islands. I believe 60,000 
 have already gone ; for the husbands being first sent 
 to Spain and Belgium already, their wives and children 
 are now destined for the Americas." J The Irish his- 
 
 * Political Anatomy of Ireland, p. 187. 
 
 t Propugnac, p. 672, " Aliquot millia in diversas Americse tabac- 
 carias insulas relegata sunt." 
 
 i When the Rev. John Grace visited these islands in 1666 he found 
 that there were as yet no fewer than 12,000 Irish scattered amongst 
 them, and that they were treated as slaves.— (From his letter of 5th 
 of July, 1669.) 
 
324 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 torian, M'Geoghegan, also writes that, exclusive of the 
 women and children, "from fourteen to twenty thou- 
 sand, both soldiers and country-people, were sold as 
 slaves, and transported to America " (p. 577). 
 
 The contemporary author of the supplement to Ali- 
 thinologia published in 1666, thus writes : — " The 
 Puritan Government, in July, 1654, decreed that the 
 Irish nobility should lose their rank, the people their 
 liberty, wives their husbands, youth the opportunity 
 of learning their religion ; and further, that every 
 Irishman would wear some servile badge or token by 
 which to distinguish him from the English, and would 
 be so weighed down by poverty that he could have but 
 little means by his labour and industry for the bare 
 support of his family (ad familiam parcius alendam). 
 The people should either give their labour at home for 
 a small hire (tenui mercede), or, as the early Christians 
 were sent to the stone- quarries, so were the Irish 
 Catholics now banished to the most remote Indian 
 islands, there to discharge the most abject duties for 
 the colonists, and the women were sold in the public 
 markets in those Anglo-Indian colonies at a trifling 
 price (vili pretio), to gratify their masters' passions, or 
 to be their slaves.' , 
 
 2. This transportation to slavery was even viewed by 
 the Puritan persecutors as a boon they were conferring 
 on the Irish Catholics. When Secretary Thurloe wrote 
 to the Lord Deputy of Ireland to inform him that a 
 stock of Irish was required for the peopling of Jamaica, 
 the Lord Deputy replied : — 
 
 " Concerning the supply of young men, although we 
 must use force in taking them up, yet it being so much 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 325 
 
 for their own good, and likely to be of so great advan- 
 tage to the public, it is not the least doubted but that 
 you may have such a number of them as you may think 
 fit to make use of on this account. I shall not need 
 repeat anything regarding the girls, not doubting to 
 answer your expectations to the full in that ; and I 
 think it might be of like advantage to your affairs there 
 and ours here if you should think fit to send fifteen 
 hundred or two thousand boys to the place above- 
 mentioned. We can well spare them, and who knows 
 but that it may be the means of making them English- 
 men — I mean, rather, Christians. As for the girls, I 
 suppose you will make provision of clothes and other 
 accommodation for them."* 
 
 The Rinuccini MS. in two or three places refers to 
 the slavery to which the Irish Catholics were subjected 
 in the West Indian islands : " To the island of St. Chris- 
 topher (better known as St. Kitt's) several thousand 
 Irish Catholics (it says), and whole colonies were trans- 
 ported as slaves, and this for two ends, first, to extir- 
 pate from the kingdom the Irish race and the Catholic 
 Faith, and second, to extend by this means the British 
 dominion in those distant regions. And the Irish trans- 
 ported thither, are held like slaves under a cruel lash, 
 and it may be truly said that with them the Catholic 
 Faith has been banished from a great part of Ireland 
 to America. ,, Again it describes from the narrative of 
 
 * Thurloe " Memoirs," vol. iv., p. 75. In Porter, " Comp. Annal.," 
 p. 292, we find the following decree of the Irish Commissioners: — 
 " That Irish women, as being too numerous now, be sold to mer- 
 chants, and transported to Virginia, New England, Jamaica, or other 
 countries, where they may support themselves by their labour." 
 
 22 
 
326 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 one who was present, the scene witnessed in the gaol of 
 the city of Kilkenny in 1653. A husband and wife 
 were kept in the gaol for three months in extreme 
 misery. After that time the husband was seized and 
 " most cruelly torn from his loved wife to be transported 
 with so many of his countrymen who through hatred 
 of the Catholic faith were banished to the American 
 settlements, his wife crying aloud to heaven in vain, 
 and asking as the greatest of favours that she would 
 not be separated from the husband whom she loved and 
 whose slavery she was ready to share. But the English 
 heretics deadened by crime to every sentiment except 
 greed of gain, tore away the wife because she had not 
 strength enough to serve in the Indian islands and threw 
 her into prison, and sent off the husband into slavery." 
 At greater length the same MS. elsewhere thus sketches 
 the condition of the kingdom in the year 1654 : " How 
 mournful was the ruin that fell upon this thrice Catho- 
 lic nation ! How sad was the change ! Where once the 
 nobility and magistrates and Catholic people crowded 
 around the Apostolic Nuncio, and the Archbishops and 
 Bishops and Priests and Religious, td return thanks to 
 God amid public rejoicing for the victories achieved 
 over heresy and the heretical enemy, those venerable 
 men being driven into the woods and deserts and other 
 hiding-places, or slain by the sword, or strangled at the 
 gallows, or exiled from the kingdom, now none are seen 
 but swarms of Ministers of Calvinism or Lutheranism 
 or the thousand other Anglican heresies, and spies and 
 executioners, and judges, thirsting for Catholic blood, 
 and Puritan soldiers who have turned the religious 
 houses into stables and the churches into cloacas. The 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 327 
 
 sacred images of our Lord, or the Blessed Virgin, or 
 the saints were first treated with every mockery, and 
 then turned to profane purposes, or used as firing by 
 the military. In every corner of the cities and towns 
 some vulture or other was found lying in wait to seize 
 upon persons or things dedicated to God. Then came 
 the terrible scourge of pestilence which for several 
 months laid waste the greater part of the island, Ulster 
 alone being exempt from its ravages. The sword and 
 plague were followed by famine such as hardly any na- 
 tion from the beginning of the world had ever before 
 endured. And how shall I recall the sending into exile, 
 and banishments, and transportations, recurring every 
 day since Cromwell landed upon our shores in 1649, 
 and more cruel than death itself. At one time we see 
 English ships laden with Catholic priests and people 
 who are led off to the American islands and other parts 
 to endure in the service of those heretics all the horrors 
 of slavery, whilst at another time they bear away our 
 countrymen to serve in the armies in Belgium or Spain. 
 Those sold to the heretics in America, are treated by 
 them more cruelly than the slaves under the Turks ; 
 nor is any attention paid to the youth or the decrepi- 
 tude of age, to sex or rank, or sacerdotal orders or 
 religious life, and with inhuman barbarity the wife is 
 torn away from the husband, and the husband 
 from the wife. Xothing is more painful than to wit- 
 ness the shipment of those exiles, the father separated 
 from his child, brother from brother, sister from sister, 
 relative from relative, friend from friend, spouse from 
 spouse : and the closest ties of nature being sundered 
 by the most heartless heretics the whole island resounds 
 
328 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES, 
 
 with cries of grief, property confiscated, those most dear 
 led off to death or chains or prison, and the rest driven 
 to exile or transportation. At one place we see the sons 
 of noble families, the hope and consolation of their aged 
 parents, youths delicately reared and carefully educated, 
 who are not only robbed of every chance of their heredi- 
 tary property, but even despoiled of their more valuable 
 clothes, receiving tattered rags instead, and flogged 
 with rods, and branded like sheep" on their skin and 
 flesh, and then driven among a crowd on board these 
 infamous transportation ships : elsewhere we see respect- 
 able maidens trained in their father's house to piety and 
 chastity and the love of religion, some of them of noble 
 birth, and engaged to contract honourable marriage 
 corresponding to their social rank, yet in one week 
 are they deprived of their parents hanged on the 
 nearest tree, and of their nearest relatives also put to 
 death, despoiled moreover of their rich patrimony by 
 the greed of heretical monsters, and now almost naked 
 and piercing heaven with their shrieks they are dragged 
 off to the ships s and again husbands and wives, one of 
 their sons being killed in war and another executed on 
 the scaffold, and the rest reduced to beggary or to a 
 soldier's life in foreign lands, their whole family being 
 thus destroyed or scattered, whilst themselves were 
 hoping to be allowed by living according to the articles 
 of surrender and paying the tributes exacted from them, 
 to end their days in sadness in their own homes and 
 holdings, are nevertheless with unparalleled violence 
 driven forth without mercy, the wife thrown into prison 
 in Ireland, and the husband sent off to slavery in the 
 Anglo-American colonies : and saddest of all, amid 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 329 
 
 such scenes of Puritan barbarity, was the grief of hus- 
 bands and wives torn from each other 's arms and 
 clamouring to be allowed to die together whatever and 
 wherever their lot might be. I have read in trustworthy 
 letters addressed to Eome, that in this year 1654, there 
 did not survive more than a sixth part of the popula- 
 tion of Ireland, and from this sixth part are to be 
 deducted 50,000 of Gur people who in this very year 
 were transported to the American islands or to Belgium 
 and Spain. With all nations and even with barbarians 
 it is the us&ge to deal leniently with the remnant of a 
 conquered people, but quite the reverse is the conduct 
 of the most cruel Puritans of England, by whose 
 orders the whole island after laying down arms is groan- 
 ing in chains, the country dotted over with prisons and 
 gallowses, savage inquisitors and heartless judges in- 
 vestigating into everything done by Catholics in the 
 past war, and barbarously sentencing so many to death 
 that a great part of the island is saturated with blood, 
 and all this at the hands of most criminal rebels and 
 regicides ; and the whole kingdom is confiscated and 
 partitioned among Cromwell's followers, a vile horde of 
 robbers who are the very scum of society in England.' ' 
 3. Before entering into particulars connected with 
 this unparalleled slave trade, we may remark that the 
 Island of Barbadoes was first seized on by a small band 
 of English adventurers, in 1625. The richness of its 
 produce soon attracted a large number of colonists, and 
 its population still more rapidly increased, when the 
 Parliament of England, in 1636, passed a law "au- 
 thorising the sale of negroes and Indians for life. Ten 
 years later, so large was the population of the island. 
 
330 
 
 IRISH FXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 that its militia amounted to 10,000 infantry and 1,000 
 cavalry."* During the closing years of Charles's reign 
 some traders, indeed, had stealthily endeavoured to 
 carry on a slave trade in Ireland with English under- 
 takers, but, after the triumph of the Puritan armies, 
 the sale of the Irish as slaves was publicly authorised 
 by the Government. Hence, the Irish bishops, having 
 assembled at Clonmacnoise, on the 4th of December, 
 1649, published an address to the people of Ireland, 
 warning them against placing any trust in the promises 
 of the Puritans, whose aim, they say, it is to root out 
 the inhabitants, and plant this land with colonies to be 
 brought hither out of England, as witness the number 
 they have already sent hence for the tobacco islands, and 
 put enemies in their plaees."t 
 
 4. The official documents, published by Mr. Prender- 
 gast, fully reveal to us the barbarous manner in which 
 the natives were thus sold into captivity. " While the 
 Government, " he thus writes, " were employed in 
 clearing the ground for the adventurers and soldiers, 
 they had agents actively employed through Ireland 
 seizing women, orphans, and the destitute, to be trans- 
 ported to Barbadoes and the English plantations in 
 
 America Just as the King of Spain sent over 
 
 his agents to treat with the Government for the Irish 
 swordsmen, the merchants of Bristol had agents treat- 
 ing with it for men, women, and girls, to be sent to the 
 sugar plantations in the West Indies. The Commis- 
 sioners for Ireland gave them orders upon the gover- 
 nors of garrisons to deliver to them prisoners of war ; 
 
 • Poyer's History of Barbadoes, in Quarterly Review, i. 262. 
 + See Wadding MSS., Rome. 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 331 
 
 the keepers of gaols for offenders in custody; upon 
 masters of workhouses for the destitute in their care, 
 and gave directions to all in authority to seize those 
 who had no visible means of livelihood, and deliver 
 them to those agents of the Bristol sugar merchants, in 
 execution of which latter direction Ireland must have 
 exhibited scenes in every part like the slave hunts in 
 Africa."* 
 
 A Government order, published on 4th March, 1655, 
 states that, in the four preceding years, 6,400 Irish 
 (men and women, boys and maidens) had been disposed 
 of to the English slave dealers. It further details the 
 course pursued by the men-catchers, viz., " to delude 
 poor people into by-places, and thence they forced them 
 on board their ships. The persons employed had so 
 much a piece for all they so deluded, and, for the 
 money sake, they were found to have enticed and 
 forced women from their children, and husbands and 
 children from their parents. 5 '! 
 
 5. A few instances will best illustrate the course 
 thus pursued by the Puritans. On 14th of September, 
 1653, two English merchants, named Selleck and 
 Leader, signed a contract with the Government Com- 
 missioners, by which a supply was granted to them of 
 250 women and 300 men " of the Irish nation, to be 
 found within twenty miles of Cork, Youghal, Kinsale, 
 Waterford, and Wexford." Roger Boyle, Lord Brog- 
 hill (afterwards Earl of Orrery), deemed it unnecessary 
 to take such trouble in visiting different parts of the 
 kingdom, and undertook to supply the required number 
 
 * Settlement, p. 238. 
 t Ibid. p. 240. 
 
332 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 from the county of Cork alone. Hence, on 23rd of Oc- 
 tober, 1653, he received an order, empowering him to 
 search for and seize upon that number, u and no person, 
 being once apprehended, was to be released but by 
 special order, in writing, under the hand of Lord 
 Broghill."* 
 
 Again, in January, 1654, the Governors of Carlo w, 
 Kilkenny, Clonmel, Wexford, Ross, and Waterford, 
 had orders to arrest and deliver to three English mer- 
 chants " all wanderers, men and women, and such other 
 Irish within their precincts as should not prove they 
 had such a settled coarse of industry as yielded them a 
 means of their own to maintain them, all such children 
 as were in hospitals or workhouses, all prisoners (men 
 and women) to be transported to the West Indies." 
 
 In the month of November, 1655, all the Irish of the 
 townland of Lackagh, county of Kildare, were seized 
 on by the agents of Government. They were only 
 forty-one in number, and of these four were hanged by 
 sentence of court-martial, the remaining thirty- seven, 
 including two priests, were handed over to Mr. Norton, 
 a Bristol merchant, "to be sold as bond slaves to the 
 sugar planters at the Barbadoes." In this batch of 
 white slaves were Mr. and Mrs. Fitzgerald, of Lack- 
 agh, both of the noble house of Kildare, and both over 
 eighty years of age. With them were the widow of 
 their deceased son, and their son Maurice, and their 
 daughters, Margerie, Bridget, and Mary. Again we 
 find, on 8th December, 1655, a letter from the Com- 
 missioners to the Governor of Barbadoes, "advising 
 
 • Ibid* p. 239. 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 333 
 
 him of the approach of a ship with a cargo of proprie- 
 tors deprived of their lands, and seized for not trans- 
 planting They add that amongst them were 
 
 three priests, and the Commissioners particularly desire 
 that these may be so employed as they may not return 
 again where that sort of people are able to do much 
 mischief, having so great an influence over the Popish 
 Irish."* 
 
 As the Tories, from time to time, gave trouble to 
 the new settlers and despoiled them of their ill-gotten 
 goods, it was enacted, as a remedy, that wherever any 
 such crime occurred four persons of the neighbour- 
 hood " of the Irish nation and Popish religion " were 
 to be taken, and, after twenty- eight days, transported 
 to the English plantations in America, if the criminals 
 were not, in the meantime, made amenable, and 
 further, all the " Irish inhabitants of the Popish re- 
 ligion " of the barony were to be transplanted, except 
 such as might prove their constant good affection to the 
 oppressors of their country. 
 
 It happened that, towards the close of 1655, some of 
 the early Cromwellian adventurers were themselves 
 entrapped and carried away to the Barbadoes. This 
 occasioned a suspension for awhile of the Puritan 
 slave trade. It was only a momentary calm, however, 
 and, as J amaica had, in that very year, been seized by 
 the English, we find the men -catchers commissioned 
 again, in 1656 and the following years, to pursue the 
 remnant of the Irish Catholics. Thus, on the 3rd of 
 May, 1656, the governors of the various prisons re- 
 
 Ibid., p. 161. 
 
334 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 ceived orders to convey their prisoners to Camckfer- 
 gus, (k to be there put on board such ship as should sail 
 with the first opportunity for the Barbadoes." One 
 aged priest, named Paul Cashin, arrested at his mission 
 in Maryborough, was amongst those thus hurried off 
 towards Carrickfergus. On the way he fell danger- 
 ously sick at Philipstown, and, a petition being sent in 
 his name to the Commissioners to be allowed to remain, 
 they replied, by an order of 27th August, 1656, allow- 
 ing him sixpence per day during his sickness, which 
 munificent sum u was to be continued to him in his 
 travel thence to Carrickfergus, in order to his trans- 
 portation to the Barbadoes." 
 
 In Scobell's Acts and Ordinances, there is an Act 
 of Parliament passed in 1656, which, after stating that 
 " the children, grandchildren, brothers, nephews, uncles, 
 and next pretended heirs of the persons attainted, do 
 remain in the provinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Munster, 
 having little or no visible estates or subsistence, " adds a 
 command for all such persons " to transplant or be 
 transported to the English plantations in America.' ! 
 We also find a commission, in 1658, to Sir Charles 
 Coote (Lord President of Connaught) and Colonel 
 Sadlier (Governor of Galway) to treat with a certain 
 Stubbers and other merchants, about procuring 
 a ship for 80 or 100 prisoners, "to sail with the first 
 fair wind to the Indian Bridges (the usual landing-place 
 in the Barbadoes), or other English plantations there- 
 abouts in America."* This was only the first batch of 
 those sentenced during the preceding assizes. Morison, 
 
 * Order of Council Chamber, Dublin Castle, 2Qtk Oct., 1653. Ibid., p. 
 64-5. 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 335 
 
 too, gives another instance. In 1657, a gentleman of 
 Clare, named Daniel Connery, was sentenced to banish- 
 ment by Colonel Henry Ingoldsby for harbouring a 
 priest. The wife of the gentleman fell sick and died ; 
 and " three of his daughters, most beautiful girls, were 
 transported to the West Indies, to an island called the 
 Barbadoes ; and there, if they are alive, they are in 
 miserable slavery."* 
 
 7. The author of the Description of Ireland in 1654, 
 observes that it was enmity to our holy faith that 
 impelled the Puritans to this barbarity : — 
 
 "The heretics, at length, despairing of being ever 
 able to alienate the Irish from the ancient faith, trans- 
 port their children in shipsfull, for sale, to the Indian 
 islands, that thus, forsooth, no remnant of the Irish race 
 may survive, and none escape from the utter extermi- 
 nation of the nation." 
 
 And the same writer adds an instance of the suffer- 
 ings to which the Irish slaves were subjected in these 
 distant islands : — 
 
 " God alone knows the severe lot that awaits the Irish 
 children in that slavery. We may form some idea of it 
 from what happened to some others of our nation there 
 last year, that is to say, in 1653. The heretics, seeing 
 that matters were prospering with the Irish in the 
 island of St. Christopher, and being excited partly by 
 envy and partly by hatred of the Catholic religion, 
 seized in one night and bound with chains, three hun- 
 dred of the principal Irish that were there, and carried 
 them off to a desert island, which was wholly destitute 
 of all necessaries of life, that there they might inevit- 
 
 * Threnodia, printed in 1659, p. 287. 
 
336 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 ably perish, from cold and starvation. This was, alas ! 
 too sadly realised in all, excepting two, who, through 
 despair, cast themselves into the sea, resolving to risk 
 their lives rather on the waves than on the barren 
 rocks. One of these soon perished, and the other 
 reached the mainland, bearing the sad intelligence of 
 the dreadful fate of his companions.' ' 
 
 8. As in the preceding articles, so also in this, we 
 may adduce the authority of the learned Archdeacon of 
 Tuam : — 
 
 " They banished/' he says, " to the remotest depths 
 of India, crowds of old men and youths, great numbers 
 of matrons and virgins, that the former might toil in 
 hard slavery, and the latter support themselves by 
 prostitution. Our enemies are more cruel than -ZElius 
 Adrianus himself ; for, if he has justly been stigma- 
 tised as atrociously cruel for prohibiting, under penalty 
 of death, any citizen of Jerusalem from coming within 
 sight of his native walls, what foul stigma can ade- 
 quately express the guilt of the monsters who banish 
 men, not from the sight of one city alone, but from 
 every part of their native land." (Camb. JEvers., vol. 
 iii., p. 183.) 
 
 We have already seen how elsewhere he relates that 
 " many priests were banished to the West Indies, where 
 they were sold as slaves, and condemned to work in 
 twisting tobacco and other slave labours." 
 
 A letter from F. Hartigan, S.J., from Paris, on the 
 30th of March, 1643, makes known to us that even at 
 that date a vast number of Irish Catholics were scat- 
 tered throughout the West Indian islands, driven 
 thither, probably, by the confiscations and other hard- 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 337 
 
 ships endured at home during the reigns of James I. 
 and Charles I. " Five days ago," he says, "I received 
 the petition of 25,000 Irish, whom the violence of per- 
 secution and the iniquity of the times have forced into 
 exile, and to settle in St. Kitts and the neighbouring 
 islands. Admiral Du Poenry, the French commander 
 of that station, is the bearer and supporter of this peti- 
 tion of the Irish exiles, which prays that two or more 
 Irish Jesuit Fathers may be sent to them, to take charge 
 of their souls, as they are destitute of spiritual help," 
 Fr. Hartegan volunteered his services, being skilled in 
 the French, English, and Irish languages, " which are 
 all used in those parts but no record is preserved of 
 his being permitted to proceed thither. 
 
 As soon as the Puritans obtained the mastery in any 
 of those remote islands, one of their first cares was to 
 demolish every trace of Spanish or French piety, and to 
 interdict every exercise of the Catholic religion. Thus 
 it was when Jamaica fell into their hands in 1655 : 
 " conspicuous evidences were found of the care taken by 
 its Spanish masters to establish in that island the sym- 
 bols of their faith. Among these were two churches 
 named the Ped and White Cross, and an abbey, all of 
 which were erected in the capital St. Jago de la Yega. 
 But that destroying zeal which had made such havoc of 
 our noble sanctuaries at home, and broken down all the 
 carved work thereof with axes and hammers, was not 
 likely to spare, and did not spare, the altars of Popish 
 enemies abroad. These churches were among the first 
 that fell a prey to the fury of Cromwell's army." 
 (Anderson, History of the Church of England in the 
 Colonies, ii. } 74.) In St. Kitts, however, and several of 
 
338 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 the other West Indian islands, there were, besides the 
 English settlements, other Catholic settlements or 
 stations belonging to the French or Spaniards, and 
 thus at times the suffering exiles were enabled stealth- 
 ily to receive some spiritual succour. Fr. John Stritch, 
 a Limerick Jesuit, landed in the French possessions 
 at St. Kitts in the year 1650. He built a chapel 
 at Sandy Point, in the French quarter, but pretty near 
 the English settlement, so that the Irish could proceed 
 thither. They hastened to welcome him as they would 
 an angel from heaven, and they hesitated not to expose 
 themselves to imminent danger of the lash or of death 
 itself that they might sanctify their souls. In his report 
 to the Superior of the Society, he states that his congre- 
 gation there numbered about 3,000 souls. After a few 
 months he proceeded to Montserrat, then wholly subject 
 to the English, who would not suffer a priest to land. 
 He, however, disguised himself as a merchant, and 
 went thither under pretence of buying timber. When 
 he got into the woods he made known his true character 
 to some of the Irish exiles, and the news soon spread 
 among the rest. In a secluded spot he celebrated Mass 
 and administered the sacraments every morning, and 
 then they cut down timber and carried it for their good 
 Father, the better to confirm the delusion that he was a 
 timber merchant. The natural features of the country 
 favoured them in this, for there are deep gullies at in- 
 tervals, whilst the mountains are richly clothed to the 
 very summit with towering trees, and green savannahs 
 are constantly met with in the midst of the woods. 
 When he returned to St. Kitts he found that the 
 Puritans had taken alarm, and that strict watch was 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 339 
 
 kept to prevent the Irish from visiting the French 
 settlements, and to force them to attend the Protestant 
 service. Such difficulties, however, could not damp the 
 ardour of the Irish faith. As sentinels guarded the 
 passes, the exiles travelled by night through the woods 
 and ravines, and, heedless of danger, assisted at the 
 Holy Sacrifice. The French Superior of that mission 
 could not conceal his admiration for their heroism, and 
 he mentions in his letters one notable fact : " Among the 
 Irishmen who usually came to Mass I remarked par- 
 ticularly two good old men, who, after making that 
 difficult journey with incredible inconvenience, never 
 failed to be first in our chapel, where they assisted at 
 Mass, and fulfilled all their devotional exercises from 
 the dawn of day till ten o'clock, with an attention and 
 a fervour of spirit which filled me with rapture." The 
 same writer tells us of some of the cruelties practised 
 by the Puritan masters against those fervent Irish 
 Catholics. Thus he mentions how a poor girl who re- 
 fused to go to the Protestant church, was dragged 
 thither by the hair and beaten without mercy. Again, 
 on one night no fewer than 1^5 of the most fervent and 
 influential among the Irish were seized, put on board a 
 vessel and cast upon Crab Island, a desert place wholly 
 unprovided with anything to sustain life. For some 
 days they subsisted on the shell-fish cast upon the shore, 
 till they signalled a Spanish vessel. The vessel, how- 
 ever, could not hold all, and thus some had to remain on 
 the barren rocks without any hope of help. The vessel 
 encountered many perils at sea, but a merciful Provi- 
 dence watched over it, and at length it landed safely 
 its living freight of Irish exiles at Tortuga, or the 
 
340 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 Tortoise Island, where they were well received by the 
 French. Those that were left at Crab Island all per- 
 ished. Fr. Stritch continued for twelve years to labour 
 with apostolic zeal among our exiles in those Indian 
 Islands. Among other things it is recorded of him 
 that, being heartbroken at the tyranny to which his 
 countrymen were subjected at St. Kitts, he contrived, in 
 1653, to gather together all the then surviving exiles of 
 that island, and transferred them to the French settle- 
 ment at Guadaloupe, where they were cordially wel- 
 comed by M. Houel the governor. The shipment, 
 however, of our Irish people sold into slavery continued 
 throughout the whole time of the Puritan rule; and 
 the letter of Father Grace, already referred to, states 
 that those who yet survived in 1666 were cruelly 
 treated both temporally and spiritually : " The admi- 
 nistration of the sacraments, and the giving of instruc- 
 tion, is wholly interdicted, nor can any priest visit them 
 without risking his life."* 
 
 10. Another "Belatio" of the same islands made 
 about the same time, reckons the population of Bar- 
 badoes at 40,000, of whom 8,000 were Irish ; and it 
 adds, regarding these Irish, that u they are sadly de- 
 prived of spiritual assistance ; nevertheless, their con- 
 stancy in the faith is wondrous and miraculous (mira et 
 miraculosa), for they cling to it despite the oppressive 
 
 * A decree of the Provincial Synod of Tuam, held in January, 
 1660, is as follows: — "Intimetur S. Cong, de Prop. Fide necessitas 
 missionis faciendae pro exulibus Hibernis qui sunt in insulis America?, 
 ex clero nationis nostra} qui sunt in partibus ultramarinis et quod alii 
 ex eodem clero ad nos remittantur ad sustinendum onus curas ani- 
 marum, sub quo ultra vires laboramus in sumraa temporum calami- 
 tate." 
 
IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 341 
 
 exactions, and threats, and promises, and innumerable 
 arts employed by the heretics to withdraw them from 
 it." In another small island adjoining St. Kitts, the 
 same narrative says, there were 600 Irish ; these stealth- 
 ily sought to frequent the sacraments, and assist at 
 the holy sacrifice in some of the French chapels, but 
 " as often as they are discovered they receive the lash, 
 and are fined by their English masters" (mulctas et 
 verbera patiuntur ab Anglis.) 
 
 After the fall of Limerick, in 1692, an attempt was 
 made to renew this Puritan traffic in Irish slaves. A 
 letter of Fr. Grarganet, the French Superior of the 
 Jesuits in Martinique, written in 1699, petitions for 
 some Irish priests for that mission, and the neighbour- 
 ing islands, for, he adds, " every year shiploads of men, 
 boys, and girls, partly crimped, partly carried off by 
 main force for purposes of slave trade, are conveyed 
 hither by the English from Ireland." In the course of 
 years many of those Irish exiles became proprietors of 
 the estates on which they laboured, and attained great 
 wealth. The Patois still used by the natives in some of 
 those West- Indian Islands is little better than a corrupt 
 form of the Celtic language ; and in the churchyards 
 no names are more frequent than the O'Neills and 
 O'Reillys, and other names familiar in the last resting- 
 places of our faithful people at home. 
 
 23 
 
342 
 
 THE OATH. OF ABJURATION. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Oath of Abjuration. 
 
 1. Attempt to force Catholics to take the Oath of Abjuration. — 
 2. Form of that oath. — 3. Penalties for not taking it. — i. Acti- 
 vity of clergy in opposing oath.— 5. Puritans thirsting for con- 
 fiscation. — 6. Noble conduct of Catholics of Cork ; all refuse the 
 oath publicly.— 7. Other districts equally faithful. 
 
 1. Father Richard Shelton, Superior of the Jesuits 
 in Ireland, writing to the Sacred Congregation, on the 
 29 th of April, 1658, conveyed the sad intelligence, 
 that the persecution of Cromwell against the Irish 
 Catholics was carried on with ever-increasing fury ; two 
 of the Jesuit fathers had lately been arrested, and were 
 treated with great cruelty ; especially, he adds, " every 
 effort is now made to compel the Catholics, by exile, 
 imprisonment, confiscation of goods, and other penal- 
 ties, to take the sacrilegious oath of abjuration, but all 
 in vain, for as yet there has not been even one to take 
 it, with the exception of a stranger residing in our 
 island, who had acquired large possessions, and being 
 afraid of losing them, and at the same time being 
 ashamed of the other Catholics, undertook a journey of 
 more than 200 miles to present himself to one of 
 Cromwell's commissaries."* 
 
 * In a note of the Sacred Congregation at this period, reference is 
 
THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 343 
 
 2. This oath, devised by Cromwell, condensed into a 
 few formulas all the virulence of Puritanism against 
 the Catholic tenets. It was as follows : 
 
 "I, A. B. abhor, detest, and abjure the authority of 
 the Pope, as well in regard of the Church in general, as 
 in regard of myself in particular. I condemn and ana- 
 thematize the tenet that any reward is due to good 
 works. I firmly believe and avow that no reverence is 
 due to the Virgin Mary, or to any other saint in heaven ; 
 and that no petition or adoration can be addressed to 
 them without idolatry. I assert that no worship or 
 reverence is due to the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 or to the elements of bread and wine after consecration, 
 by whomsoever that consecration may be made. I 
 believe there is no purgatory, but that it is a Popish 
 invention ; so is also the tenet that the Pope can grant 
 indulgences. I also firmly believe that neither the 
 Pope, nor any other priest, can remit sins as the Papists 
 rave. And all this I swear," &c* 
 
 A simpler form of this oath of abjuration is given by 
 F.Dominick de Eosario, from a work published in 
 England, by William Berkley in 1653, as follows: 
 
 "I, A. B. do reject and abjure the supremacy of the 
 Roman Pontiff, and assert that he has no jurisdiction 
 over the Catholic Church in general, or myself in parti- 
 cular. I abjure the doctrine of tran substantiation, pur- 
 made to a Brief sent by the Holy Father to console the Catholics of 
 Ireland, and animate them to endure with constancy the persecution 
 to which they were exposed. 
 
 * Morison Threnodia> &c, p. 31 ; Ant. BruodiD, p, 95; De liurgo, 
 p. 708. 
 
344 
 
 THE OATIt OF ABJURATION. 
 
 gatory, and the worship of the crucifix, or other 
 images. I abj ure, moreover, the doctrine which teaches 
 that salvation is to be procured by good works. This 
 I swear without any gloss, equivocation, or mental re. 
 servation. So help me God." 
 
 This short form, however, was judged insufficient by 
 some of the Independents, and the more detailed and 
 more insulting abjuration of their religious tenets was 
 exacted from the Irish Catholics. 
 
 3. It may be well, however, to place before the reader 
 the Act of Parliament which commanded this oath to 
 be taken by all Roman Catholics, and enacted the se- 
 verest penalties against those who would refuse it : 
 
 " It is manifest (thus runs the preamble of the Act), 
 that the number of Popish recusants has of late greatly 
 increased in this republic owing to the negligence with 
 which the laws are carried into execution against them, 
 and that infinite dangers arise hence to disturb the 
 public peace. . . . Wherefore, to check these evils, it 
 is commanded by the authority of Parliament : 
 
 " That the grand juries will make a diligent inquiry 
 after all persons who are suspected of Popery, and have 
 attained the age of sixteen years ; and all persons so 
 accused will be obliged to present themselves at the 
 next assizes, or at the quarter sessions, to there make, 
 and subscribe to, the oath of abjuration as follows : 
 
 " I, A. B. do abjure and renounce the primacy of the 
 Pope, and all his pretended authority over the Church 
 in general, and over myself in particular, &c. 
 
 " It is commanded that all the justices of peace will 
 send four times every year to each parish clerk to have 
 a list of all persons suspected of being Popish recusants, 
 
THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 345 
 
 who have attained their sixteenth year, and are conse- 
 quently obliged to take the oath of abjuration. And 
 that on the presentation of this list, each justiciary 
 shall send his orders to the bailiffs to summon those 
 whose names are thus presented, to appear personally 
 before the judges at the next sessions. And if such per- 
 sons do not appear at the next sessions to subscribe the 
 oath, it shall be proclaimed in public sessions that such 
 persons do appear at the following sessions. And if 
 they do not then appear to take and subscribe to the 
 oath of abjuration, they will be judged to be Popish 
 recusants, and subjected to all the penalties that may 
 be incurred as such. 
 
 "That on the suspicion which any justice of the 
 peace may have, he may summon the person whom he 
 so suspects to appear at the next sessions and subscribe 
 to the oath of abjuration, under penalty of £100. And 
 should such person refuse to submit to the pecuniary 
 fine thus imposed on him, he may be placed in custody 
 until the time of sessions ; and should he then refuse to 
 take and subscribe to the said oath, he shall be judged 
 to be a Popish recusant as above. 
 
 " The Lord Protector is empowered to seize by order 
 of the Court of Exchequer, and take possession of, for 
 the necessities of the republic, two-thirds of all the 
 goods, and chattels, and property whatsoever, belong- 
 ing to persons so convicted each time that they thus 
 refuse to subscribe to the said oath. 
 
 " That before the expiration of the next term follow- 
 ing on such conviction, it shall be notified to the Court 
 of Exchequer to the effect that the said court may 
 give its order for the seizure of the two- thirds. 
 
346 
 
 THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 " Should a person convicted as above, present him- 
 self before either the judges of assize, or the barons of 
 Exchequer to take and subscribe to the oath of abju- 
 ration, he shall be exempted from all future penalties : 
 but should such person die and leave an heir of sixteen 
 years of age, said heir will be immediately cited to 
 appear in judgment, and be proceeded with as above. 
 
 " Should the said heir not have attained his sixteenth 
 year, his guardians will receive all his property, pro- 
 vided they be such persons as the barons of the Exche- 
 quer approve of, for such guardianship, and that they 
 make a return each year of the profits, and surplus they 
 receive, and that they pay such sums to the said heir 
 on his attaining his sixteenth year, should he take and 
 subscribe to the oath of abjuration, and otherwise to 
 the exchequer, which will take care, moreover, to seize 
 on two-thirds of all his remaining property. 
 
 " The same order is to hold good in regard of all 
 money or property bequeathed by said persons to their 
 wives or children, or any other person whatsoever. 
 
 " Should a person, of whatsoever condition he may 
 be, contract marriage with one whom he knows to be a 
 Popish recusant, said person will himself be held as 
 such, and subject to all the penalties as above, till 
 such time as he shall take and subscribe to the oath of 
 abjuration. 
 
 " That no tribunal whatsoever can recall to itself 
 this charge directed against the Popish recusants, or 
 introduce any alteration for any motive whatsoever ; 
 but all shall remain in full vigour until such persons 
 will have taken the prescribed oath. 
 
 " That should any person receive any real or personal 
 
THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 347 
 
 property from a Popish recusant, to retain it for him 
 by secret compact, and should he neglect to make it 
 known within three months from its being delivered to 
 him, he shall be fined one- third of his own goods or 
 property, of which one-half will be given to the Loi d 
 Protector, and the remaining half to him who gave 
 the information on the matter. 
 
 " Each justice of the peace, who shall neglect his 
 duty in fully carrying out this order, will be fined £20 ; 
 each parish clerk will be fined for a like neglect £10 ; 
 each registrar of assizes, for each person that he emits 
 in the registry, £20 ; and of all these fines, one-half 
 will be distributed to the poor of the parish, the other 
 half to the accuser. 
 
 " Should the property of any Popish recusant pass 
 into the possession of one known to be a Protestant, 
 such Protestant will present an attestation to that effect 
 at the quarter sessions, to be signed by a majority of 
 the judges, to the effect that such a person of such a 
 condition and sex is truly what he professes to be, and 
 he may then hold such property with exemptions from 
 all taxes. 
 
 " That no person once condemned as above, be ad- 
 mitted to take the oath without producing two unex- 
 ceptionable witnesses to swear that within six months 
 he had been often present on Sunday in some approved 
 Christian assembly, and that he heard the word of God 
 as it was preached there. 
 
 "That should anyone, after taking the said oath, 
 relapse, he shall be again subjected to all the preceding 
 penalties, till such time as he again subscribes to the 
 oath. 
 
348 
 
 THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 " That no subject of this republic, with the excep- 
 tion of the servants of an ambassador or minister, be 
 allowed to hear Mass at any hour whatsoever, either in 
 their houses or in any other place, under penalty of 
 £100 fine and six months' imprisonment, half of which 
 fine will be given to the Lord Protector, and the other 
 half to the informer." 
 
 Thus the penalty enacted against all who should refuse 
 to take this oath was the confiscation of two-thirds of 
 all their goods, which was to be repeated each time that 
 they should prove refractory. It was expected that the 
 Catholic gentry, already reduced to poverty by con- 
 tinued exactions, would be terrified into compliance by 
 the dread of absolute penury and utter ruin which now 
 impended over them. As to the poorer class another 
 penalty remained, forsooth slavery in the Barbadoes. 
 In every town commissaries and officers were specially 
 deputed to receive this oath, and these received instruc- 
 tions from Government to commence with such persons 
 as would probably assent to the oath, and to proceed in 
 the matter with the greatest energy. 
 
 4. At this moment of peril for the faith of our 
 people, the Catholic clergy were everywhere to be seen 
 abandoning their hiding-places to encourage their flocks, 
 they fearlessly went around from house to house, 
 admonishing the rich to despise their transitory posses- 
 sions, when an eternal inheritance was at stake, and 
 reminding the poor that God's providence would not 
 abandon them, and that in his own good time God 
 would repay an hundredfold all their sufferings.* 
 
 * MS. Relatio, &c. "Tuno videre erat e clero latebris exeuntes, 
 cursare per Catholicorum domos," &c. 
 
THE OATH OF A B JURATION . 
 
 349 
 
 " These exhortations were not made in vain (we 
 quote the words of a contemporary narrative), and the 
 innate constancy of the whole nation in the Catholic 
 faith, shone forth with such splendour, that a like 
 instance of national constancy can nowhere be found in 
 history : all, animated with the spirit of faith, declared 
 that they were ready to endure extreme torture rather 
 than obey the impious edict. Even the most wealthy 
 betrayed no apprehensions, and they avowed that of all 
 the penal enactments, this was the most grateful to 
 them ; for in the others some secondary motive was 
 often assigned, but here the only and express motive 
 was hatred to the Catholic faith, for which it would be 
 to them a matter of joy to sacrifice whatsoever they 
 possessed." 
 
 5. For once the heretics were found to second the 
 efforts of the Catholic clergy. They yearned for new 
 confiscations, and already had marked out for them- 
 selves the lands now possessed in Connaught by the 
 transplanted Irish gentry. The better to secure their 
 prey, they assumed the sheep's clothing, and going 
 round amongst the Catholics, they declared that the 
 act of parliament was most unjust, that no one should 
 interfere with their conscientious convictions, that they 
 admired the steadfastness of the Catholics in adhering 
 to principle, despite every enactment, and this heroic 
 constancy of the nation had won for it an immortal 
 fame throughout the kingdoms of Europe.* The Catho- 
 lics were not deceived by these vain appearances, but, 
 
 Ibid. " Videres lupos vulpes imitantes wt certius prseclcntur 
 et devorent,"&Q. 
 
350 
 
 THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 nevertheless, they clung unflinchingly to their holy 
 resolve. 
 
 6. The citizens of Cork had already distinguished 
 themselves by their constancy in the Catholic faith ; 
 when summoned to take the impious oath their laurels 
 were multiplied tenfold. 
 
 To the city of Cork all the Catholics of the surround- 
 ing territory were ordered to repair on a stated day to 
 have the new oath proposed to them ; the penalty of 
 imprisonment and confiscation of all their goods was 
 enacted for all above fifteen years of age who should 
 neglect to attend. On the appointed day between five 
 and six thousand Catholics entered the city walls ; a 
 few only absented themselves, anxious to await the 
 result. According to the heretical custom of holding 
 the assizes in the cherished sanctuaries of the Catholics, 
 the magistrates took their seats in Christ's Church — a 
 happy omen that even the material edifice should be 
 dedicated to Him whose faith was now so nobly to be 
 confessed. 
 
 All were arranged in processional order, that the 
 oath might be more easily administered individually to 
 each of them. In the foremost ranks was a young man 
 who entered the church with a light step, and whose 
 looks beamed with joy. The clerk received immediate 
 orders to administer to him for the first the oath, for the 
 magistrates saw in his joyous countenance a readiness, 
 as they imagined, to assent to their desires. The young 
 man requested that the oath should be translated into 
 Irish, for he feared lest some of those around him, not 
 understanding the English language, might inadver- 
 tently take the oath. A crier at once read it aloud in 
 
THE OATH OF ABJURATION. 
 
 351 
 
 Irish, so that all within the church might hear. "And 
 what is the penalty," he then asked, " for those who 
 refuse the oath ?" " The loss of two-thirds of their 
 goods/' was the magistrate's reply. " Well, then," 
 added he, smiling, " all that I possess is six pounds : 
 take four of them ; with the two that remain, and the 
 blessing of God, myself and my family will subsist ; I 
 reject your oath." 
 
 An aged husbandman that stood by his side, filled 
 with admiration, cried out aloud, " Brave fellow, reject 
 the oath." The words were caught up from rank to 
 rank till the church and the street without rang with 
 the echo, " Reject the oath y the impious oath." For half 
 an hour these words and the exclamation, " God, 
 look down on us ;" " Mary, Mother of God, assist 
 us," could alone be heard. The magistrates, as though 
 a thunderclap had rent the heavens, were struck mute 
 with terror ; then, rising from their seats, they com- 
 manded the assembled multitude to disperse, and every 
 one of them, under pain of death, to depart from the 
 city within an hour. Thus, concludes the contem- 
 porary narrative, the glorious confessors of Christ went 
 forth with joy, praising God for the mercy He had 
 shown to them. 
 
 7. In other districts similar scenes of Catholic con- 
 stancy were witnessed, and none could be found to 
 assent to the impious oath, or barter for the momentary 
 enjoyment of their perishable goods the priceless 
 treasure of their faith. 
 
352 
 
 CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Constancy of the Irish in the Faith. 
 
 1. Misery of Ireland in comparison to other countries; progress, 
 education, trade impeded in Ireland. — 2. No penalty could shake 
 the C atholic faith. — 3. Prayer and fasting of the people. — 4. Only 
 500,000 Catholics remaining in Ireland.— 5. Statistics at various 
 times ; Sir William Petty's estimate and Lord Orrery's ; Dr. 
 Plunket's. — 6. Extract from Jesuit narrative. 
 
 1. The author of Cambrensis Eversus well contrasts 
 the condition of the Irish nation with that of other 
 countries at the close of this sad period : — 
 
 " The happiness of the other nations of Europe has 
 often excited our envy. They have peace on every 
 side, and dwell every one under his own vine and fig- 
 tree, but we are expelled from our home and country ; 
 others overflow with abundance of all things, we are 
 emaciated by want; the foreigner is naturalised amongst 
 us, the natives are made aliens. In foreign cities ma- 
 jestic piles of new buildings are every day towering to 
 the skies, with us the foundations of not a single house 
 are laid, while the old are heaps of crumbling ruins, 
 their roofs open to the rains, and their walls rent, or 
 mere shells and shapeless masses. 
 
 " In other countries temples are zealously decorated, 
 with us they arc either levelled to the ground or roof- 
 
CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 353 
 
 less, or desecrated by tribunals which condemn men to 
 death, or by similar sacrilegious uses. 
 
 " The children of foreigners receive a learned educa- 
 tion, which is contraband and penal in our country. 
 With them the clerg}^ are honoured, with us they are 
 either in dungeons or forests, in bogs or caverns. The 
 universal law of the Christian world has exempted 
 from slavery all who profess the Christian religion ; 
 but your Irish subjects are torn from the arms of their 
 wives and children by civic vultures, and transported 
 and sold as slaves in India. Thus are the children of 
 the Irish made a prey, and their wives carried off, and 
 their cities destroyed, and their holy things profaned, 
 and themselves made a reproach to the nations. . . . 
 There is no species of injury which the enemies have 
 not inflicted on the Irish, no virulence which they have 
 not disgorged, no torture which they have not em- 
 ployed."* 
 
 2. It would, indeed, be difficult to find in history 
 a parallel for that ever- redoubled cruelty which the 
 Puritans displayed. Yet it was impossible to weaken 
 the innate attachment of the Roman Catholics to their 
 holy religion. Countless was the number of those who 
 perished by the sword of the persecutor or on the 
 scaffold, yet the survivors declared themselves ready to 
 risk the same torments rather than renounce the Ca- 
 tholic faith. When they were offered the enjoyment 
 of their possessions, should they embrace the new creed, 
 all, as in Cork, went forth from their homes, embracing 
 
 * NullcB sunt nocendi artes quas in Hibernos inimici non exer- 
 cuerunt nullum virus quod non effuderunt ; nullum tormentum qund 
 non intentarunt, p. 61. 
 
354 
 
 CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 poverty, and cold, and nakedness, in preference to 
 prosperity with the wicked ; when their lives were 
 offered to them if they only delivered up their priests 
 to the mercy of the enemy, they chose to be butchered 
 with the martyrs of God rather than live with the 
 impious ; when, as we have just seen, the oath of ab- 
 juration was commanded, under penalty of the loss of 
 the little goods that yet remained to them, they, with 
 one accord, resolved to cling to the cross of Christ, and 
 reject the proffered boon. As a true Christian people, 
 they looked upon all their sufferings as chastisements 
 from the hands of God, and their chief care was, by 
 penitential deeds, to avert his indignation. 
 
 3. One instance is especially recorded in the f 'De- 
 scription of Ireland in 1654 :" — * 
 
 " Throughout the entire kingdom prayers and fasting 
 were ordered, the priest in each district exhorting the 
 people to appease the anger of God by penitential deeds. 
 With such exactness was this order obeyed that there 
 was not one Catholic throughout the entire kingdom 
 who did not fast for three days on bread and water, and 
 even the little children of four, or perhaps only three 
 years, most rigorously observed that fast ; moreover, 
 all that had attained the proper age were consoled with 
 the holy Sacraments of Confession and the Eucharist. 
 No sooner did this piety of the people become known 
 than, like oil cast upon the fire, the fury of the heretics 
 was rekindled threefold, and, like hungry wolves, they 
 now breathe nothing but slaughter, and threaten to 
 pursue, with still more atrocious violence, the children 
 of Christ. ,, 
 
 * Status, &c. . 1654. 
 
CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 355 
 
 4. Thus, as often in the ways of God, the immediate 
 result of the piety of our people seemed to be only a 
 redoubling of the persecutor's rage, and yet these 
 prayers were not breathed in vain : " a remnant re- 
 mained in Israel all the power and ingenuity of the 
 enemy could not root out the tree of faith, and the 
 500,000 Catholics that then survived in Ireland were 
 in less than two hundred years swelled to more than 
 eight millions. 
 
 Father Read (or Redanus), writing in 1651, even 
 then eulogised their immovable attachment to the faith, 
 and predicted that heresy would rage in vain against 
 the time-honoured Church of our island : — " The Puri- 
 tans, " he says, "have essayed to achieve what Henry 
 the Eighth, and Elizabeth, and James attempted in 
 vain ; what neither a hundred years of persecution nor 
 the thousand arts of Protestants could effect. Hence, 
 they destroy our altars, statues, and paintings ; our 
 churches are made stables for their horses ; our bells 
 are turned into cannon ; our baptisteries are made re- 
 ceptacles of filth ; the Catholics are expelled from their 
 lands, and homes, and country ; unheard-of torments 
 are employed against our martyrs ; all this, however, 
 only serves to render more illustrious the unflinching 
 firmness of the Irish in the faith — as the rock remains 
 unmoved amidst the foaming waves." And he adds : 
 " Certain it is that in a hundred years the Irish coast 
 has not been so lashed by the waves of the raging ocean 
 that surrounds it as the faith of its people has been 
 assailed by the storms of persecution and the fury of 
 the English and Scotch heretics."* 
 
 * Comiii. Macckab. (Lyons, 1651), p. 31. 
 
356 CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 5. Sir William Petty, writing in 1672,* states that 
 the population of Ireland, in 1641, was 1,466,000, the 
 Catholics being to Protestants as eleven to two. After 
 the devastation of the country by the Puritans the 
 population could not be accurately determined, yet the 
 same writer (page 29) estimates the proportion of 
 Catholics to Protestants as eight to one. Lord Orrery, 
 writing to the Duke of Ormond, February 26th, 1662, 
 says : — " It is high time to purge the towns of the 
 Papists, as, in most of them, there are three Papists to 
 one Protestant." 
 
 At the same time, in the rural districts, the Catholics 
 were as fifteen to one. Dr. Plunket, in some of his 
 letters, sets forth the proportion of Catholics to Protes- 
 tants throughout Ireland as eleven to one, but he subse- 
 quently adds that the proportion was smaller in the 
 northern counties. It cannot, of course, be pretended 
 that these calculations were accurate, for, owing to the 
 state of the country, it must have been impossible to 
 learn the precise number of the Catholic inhabitants in 
 the rural districts. One thing, however, they suf- 
 ficiently prove, that the persecutors had not attained the 
 desired end, and that, with the Irish race, the Catholic 
 religion was still firmly rooted in Ireland. Sir William 
 Petty describes as follows the religion of our country 
 at this period : — " All the Irish are Catholics ; the 
 Scotch colonists are Presbyterians ; the English arc 
 one- ha If Protestant, the other half Independents, Anabap- 
 tists, Quakers, and other dissenters." 
 
 6. We have already often had occasion to refer to a 
 
 " Political Anatomy, Src, p. 13. 
 
CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 357 
 
 manuscript narrative of the Jesuit Mission in Ireland, 
 written about the year 1655. From it we extract the 
 following record of the devotedness of the surviving 
 natives in enduring every suffering rather than abandon 
 the Catholic faith : — 
 
 " Although heresy and tyranny, in the fulness of its 
 pride, strove by every sacrifice and cruelty to extirpate 
 this people, and wished that there should be no smith in 
 Israel* that thus the natives might be either over- 
 whelmed in ignorance, or compelled to whet their arms 
 in the forges of the Philistines, nevertheless the Irish, 
 despising every danger, choose rather to send their 
 children to distant lands in search of learning, than 
 that they should enjoy at home domestic ease under 
 heretical masters, imperilling their faith. So tena- 
 ciously and indo suitably has the whole nation clung to 
 the Catholic faith in its full integrity and purity, that, 
 in a thousand Irishmen, scarcely one can be found who 
 is not thoroughly devoted to the Holy See, and even 
 the heretics, who came to Ireland from other countries, 
 when they have lived there for a little while, and be- 
 come accustomed to the genius of the people, gradually 
 detest heresy and embrace the Catholic religion." 
 
 It was the old story of Irish plantations. The 
 planters were absorbed by the natives, and, thirty years 
 later, the sons of many of the Cromwellian settlers were 
 found to be Roman Catholics and to speak nothing but 
 Irish. 
 
 Cainbrensis Eversus w rites, in 1662, almost in the same strain. 
 " They have drawn their precedent from the policy of the Philistines, 
 who, after banishing all smitlis from the land, fell upon the Israelites 
 unarmed," &c. Edit. Dublin, p. 23. 
 
 24 
 
358 
 
 DECAY OF THE PURITAN CCT.ONISTS. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Decay of the Puritan Colonists. 
 
 1. — Protestant colonies never prosper in Ireland ; they pillage and 
 seize on the country, but, visited by the hand of God, they fall 
 away ; contemporary testimony ; faith deeply rooted in Ireland. — 
 2. Diseases and afflictions with which the invaders were scourged. 
 
 1. That Protestant colonists have never been able to 
 secure a permanent hereditary succession in Ireland is a 
 matter of notoriety. As regards the Puritan hordes 
 that rushed over to seize on the devastated country, we 
 shall merely cite an extract from the manuscript nar- 
 rative just now referred to : — * 
 
 " The English Parliamentarians, in the beginning of 
 the war, inflated with their own power and strength, 
 did not hesitate to parcel out Ireland for sale to the 
 London merchants and other heretics throughout Eng- 
 land. The whole kingdom was thus divided, as if by 
 agrarian law, into geometrical portions, a certain price 
 being fixed for each farm. Each one purchased for 
 himself some vast territory, subdividing it at a higher 
 price to others. 
 
 " New colonists thus flocked to Ireland in countless 
 numbers f — artizans, merchants, soldiers, and others, 
 numbering more than 200,000. To consummate the 
 
 * Relatio rerum quarumdam, etc. 
 t"Ingens colluvies." 
 
DECAY OF THE PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 359 
 
 insolence of their pride, they already prepared ships, 
 with chains and cords, and more than 30,000 iron 
 manacles are said to have been made, to transfer the 
 Irish slaves (it was thus they designated our free and 
 innocent people) to the Indian Islands to cultivate the 
 tobacco plant, and they were all persuaded that the 
 old inhabitants being expelled, they had nothing 
 to do but to settle down at their ease and enjoy their 
 estates. 
 
 "But behold, the hand of the Lord struck these 
 persecutors, I might say, with Egyptian plagues. They 
 were not, as yet, three months in Ireland, when most 
 foetid vermin crawled forth from their bodies in such 
 swarms that their hair, and beard, and garments, were 
 covered with them, so that they could not appear in 
 public through shame, nor could they anywhere find 
 rest ; and, what increased the wonder, though their 
 beds and rooms were filled with this pest, yet the con- 
 tagion did not spread to the neighbouring Irish, nor did 
 it even touch the Irish servants of those who were 
 infected with it, not one of whom is known to have 
 suffered from this disease. It was confined to the 
 strangers alone, and by that disease, and in other ways, 
 God so humbled their pride that, from 1641 to 1650, 
 more than 180,000 English, in various parts of Ireland, 
 were carried away, not so much slain in war as de- 
 stroyed by this Herodian disease and other plagues. 
 And though the Puritans have now nearly all Ireland 
 in their own hands, still we are confident that they will 
 not last, nor strike deep roots,* but when our offended 
 
 * " Persuasum habemus eos non fore diuturnos, nec radices altas 
 acturos." 
 
360 
 
 DECAY OF THE PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 God will have, through them, scourged us for our 
 iniquities, the earth shall, in the words of scripture, 
 vomit them forth, and, like their predecessors, they too 
 will fall away. 
 
 "For it is observed and confirmed by experience 
 that, since the beginning of the Anglican schism, all 
 the heretics that went from England to inhabit Ireland, 
 though they were, by rapine and exactions, raised on a 
 sudden to immense wealth and the highest titles, yet, 
 like snow at sunrise, they melted gradually away, and, 
 as smoke and vapour, they quickly disappeared. Not 
 that this is to be imputed to the English nation, whose 
 natural disposition and innate uprightness, were they 
 not infected with heresy, would be admired and loved 
 by all, but in these facts we recognise the special 
 punishment of God for heresy, and the special protec- 
 tion of St. Patrick for our island, who, as he expelled 
 all serpents from our shores, so that none can, to the 
 present day subsist there, so did he obtain for us this 
 blessing from God, that the Catholic religion, being 
 once planted in Ireland, it should never be infected by 
 the poisonous breath of heresy. The Catholic religion 
 has certainly continued untainted for twelve hundred 
 years and more in our island, so that, from the blessing 
 already received, through the intercession of our holy 
 Patron, we have reason to hope for the future blessing, 
 and the present firmness of the nation, in the faith of 
 Christ, is a pledge of its future constancy." 
 
 2. Whilst the war continued, nothing is more striking 
 in the letters of the Cromwellian officers than their 
 clamour for fresh troops, and complaints at the number 
 of their men who, every day, succumbed to sickness. 
 
DECAY OF THE PURITAN COLONISTS. 361 
 
 Even when the last strongholds had surrendered, the 
 same doleful tale continued. Thus Colonel Jones, one 
 of the Parliamentary Commissioners for Ireland writes, 
 in the year 1653, to Mr. Morgan Lloyd, a sympa- 
 thising, independent friend : — 4< God is pleased to 
 hold forth some tokens of His displeasure. The sick- 
 ness rages in Galway and is spread over all that pro- 
 vince. It fearfully broke out at Cashel, a few days 
 since, the people being taken suddenly with madness, 
 whereof they die instantly. Twenty died in that 
 manner in three days in that little town. The sickness 
 is in Dublin and country about, but not so violent as in 
 other places, but few escape that have it. Mr. Richard- 
 son, our auditor, sometime a member of All Hallowes 
 Church, came home with us on Monday night, and the 
 next day his wife, his maid, and two of his children 
 were visited. I desire, in behalf of the servants of 
 God here, that our fellow-members with you do 
 earnestly seek the Lord on our behalf, that His mind 
 may be revealed unto us in these His reproofs, and that 
 the Lord may deliver such of his servants as are now 
 cast into the furnace of affliction/' (Appendix to 
 Aphorismical Discovery, vol. iii., p. 372.) 
 
 There are few facts in history more striking than 
 this decay of the Puritan colonists. It is only, indeed, 
 by some such act of Divine vengeance that we could 
 explain how our country was preserved from their 
 poisonous infection. The fact, moreover, is confirmed 
 by the contemporarj-, the Archdeacon of Tuam, whose 
 numbers, however, are less than those given in the pas- 
 sage cited above, as he speaks only of the English and 
 Scotch soldiers. " Charles Coote," he writes, " suffered 
 
362 DECAY OF THE PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 the just punishment of his most atrocious cruelty. He 
 was mortally wounded by some unknown hand, and 
 thus, like another Julian the apostate, appears to have 
 fallen under a judgment sent down on him by God 
 himself. In their own printed account, the English 
 confess that of the 60,000 English and Scotch soldiers 
 sent over to Ireland, the great majority were carried 
 off by unknown and horrible distempers, in such heaps 
 that the cemeteries of Dublin, Drogheda, and Cork 
 could not contain them, and pits were dug in the fields, 
 outside the walls, to bury them. This was the just 
 punishment for those torrents of innocent blood so 
 savagely shed, when the victims, after surrendering, on 
 the promise of life, were first stripped naked and then 
 treacherously massacred.'' (Yol. iii., p. 101.) 
 
PART THE THIRD. 
 
 Individual Instances of the Persecution of 
 the Catholics. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 1. Sufferings of D. Delany, P.P. of Arklow.— 2. Various instances 
 of cruelty in the North, in Meath, Wi cklow, and Kildare ; death 
 of Donnchadh O'Conaigh at Wicklow. — 3. Eoche Mac Geoghegan, 
 Bishop of Kildare. — 4. Sufferings and constancy of Peter O'Hig- 
 gins.— 5. Of Albert O'Brien, Bishop of Emly— 6. Death of FF. 
 Bernard and Laurence O'Ferall. — 7. Of Thaddeus Moriarty and 
 others.— 8. Of A. Cahill.— 9. Martyrdom of John O'Cullen.— 
 10. Account of Anselm Ball and his labours in Dublin. — 11. Of 
 Bonaventure Carew. 
 
 1. "We have already in the preceding pages given in 
 stances of the excessive cruelty with which the Puritan 
 persecutors raged against the Irish Catholics. There 
 are, however, many others which deserve a special 
 commemoration. We do not, indeed, propose to our- 
 selves to enumerate all who, by their heroic sufferings, 
 attained the martyr's crown,* but we shall endeavour 
 
 * We here have to protest, that when calling any of our country, 
 men martyrs, we wish to conform most strictly to the decrees of 
 Urban VIII. and Benedict XIV. We do not use the word in its 
 
364 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 to cull from contemporary writers sufficient examples 
 to enable the reader to form a more complete idea of 
 the worse than pagan persecution to which our country 
 was subjected at the period of which we treat. 
 
 Daniel Delany. — This worthy priest had charge of 
 the parish of Arklow ; and Gorey was the theatre of 
 his martyrdom. Dr. John Lynch, writing in 1662, 
 thus describes his heroic death : " The enemy came by 
 surprise on Daniel Delany, parish priest of Arklow, and 
 savagely massacred, before his eyes, his servant named 
 Walsh, who was flying for his life with a packet of the 
 sacred vessels and ornaments ; but the priest himself 
 being a powerful man, drew his sword, and defended 
 himself so well against the attack, that he compelled 
 his assailants to promise him his life if he delivered up 
 his sword. So far, however, from keeping their solemn 
 promise, they immediately stripped the venerable man 
 naked, and tied him to a horse's tail ; the rider goaded 
 his horse to full speed along a road covered over with 
 brambles and thickets, and rough with frost and frozen 
 snow, and dragged the priest to the town of Gorey. 
 There the savage commander of those hunters con- 
 demned him to death in violation of the solemn promise. 
 He was covered over with blood, his sides torn, and his 
 whole frame exhausted ; he was, nevertheless, delivered 
 up to a guard of soldiers who were to watch in turn 
 during fhe night. While he lay there naked, sleepless, 
 frozen with cold, and livid with bruises, his guards 
 
 official sense, as if the Church had spoken in the cases referred to ; 
 we leave the final decision of all the cases of sufferings which we 
 mention, or have mentioned, to the infallible judgment of the 
 Church. 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 365 
 
 amused themselves with twisting and plucking his long 
 beard with a cane, and cruelly beating his sides with 
 cudgels ; but these excruciating tortures could extort 
 no other answer than that he would bear his sufferings 
 more patiently as it seemed to afford them some plea- 
 sure. Next day he was three different times hanged to 
 the bough of a tree, and three times let down to the 
 ground to protract the agony of his torture ; but he was 
 strangled with a rope at last, and thus ended his life of 
 suffering to reign triumphant in heaven." (Cambr. 
 Frers.y vol. iii., pp. 182-3.) 
 
 2. Before taking leave of the learned Archdeacon of 
 Tuam, we give one more extract from his invaluable 
 work, in which he details some scenes of Puritan bar- 
 barity, and especially the martyrdom of the aged 
 Donatus, or Donnchadh O'Conaigh : — 
 
 "Before the slightest disturbance had appeared 
 in Ards (a district of Ulster), Hamilton, governor of 
 the district, ordered all his dependents and farmers to 
 retire and shut themselves up in his castle, that they 
 might save themselves from the impending fury of 
 their enemies. The poor victims rapidly nocked thither 
 from all quarters, never suspecting the honour of their 
 master ; but when they were all locked up in a barn 
 the brand was flung on the roof, and all perished in the 
 flames. 
 
 " Charles Coote, a most blood-thirsty monster, per- 
 petrated horrible massacres in several parts of Meath 
 and Leinster. In the village of Munenasrule, about a 
 mile from the town of Wicklow, he put the muzzle of a 
 horse-pistol into the mouth of a beggar who asked alms, 
 and then ordering the poor creature to blow into the 
 
366 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 barrel, he fired the bullets into bis tbroat, and murdered 
 him in sport. 
 
 " Francis More, son of Viscount Mellifont, com- 
 mitted a similar atrocity in 1641, on one Thomas 
 Philips, in the village of Balrudery.* At Blackhall, 
 in the county of Kildare, he committed a horrible mas- 
 sacre of old men, women, and children, and transfixed 
 the little infants on their mothers' breasts with his 
 swords and lances. Having spent a night with some of 
 his officers in the house of a noble lady whose husband 
 was absent, he was treated with splendid hospitality 
 and costly presents ; but when the lady followed him 
 to the door to bid him adieu on his departure, he ordered 
 a rope to be thrown around her neck, and hanged her 
 before her own door. 
 
 " Donnchadh O'Conaigh, aged sixty years, had the 
 soles of his feet smeared with grease, and burned at a 
 fire in the camp at Wicklow, by order of Colonel 
 Crawford. The noble old man survived the torture 
 only one day." (Camb. Evers. loc. sit., pp. 91-95.) 
 
 3. During the first years of the Confederation, Roche 
 Mac Geoghegan, Bishop of Kildare, was privileged to 
 suffer a great deal for the Faith. Born about the year 
 1580, he at baptism was called Ross, after his father, 
 who was the chief of the sept of the MacGeoghegans of 
 Moycashel or Kinelfiacha. His mother, a lady of 
 great piety and virtue, was daughter of Dempsey, 
 Viscount of Glenmalure, and Lynch remarks that the 
 
 *An act of the same kind was committed in the chapel of Castle- 
 comer, in 1798, by a yeoman officer, who afterwards died devoured 
 by vermin in the house now occupied by the National Bank, Kil- 
 kenny. 
 
PERSECUTION OE THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 367 
 
 birth of the future Bishop of Kildare took place in the 
 ancestral mansion of the Derapseys at Clunagoon, and 
 was accompanied with many presages of future sanctity. 
 Whilst he pursued his studies in the Irish College at 
 Lisbon, his father died, and he was summoned home to 
 administer the paternal estate. He chose, however, to 
 proceed to the University of Coimbra to perfect him- 
 self in sacred science, and whilst there enrolled him- 
 self in the religious Order of St. Dominick, in which 
 he received the name of Rocchus de Sancta Cnice. He 
 made his novitiate in the convent known as La Penna 
 de Francia, and subsequently devoted himself for eight 
 years to study and to the exercises of the religious life 
 at Salamanca. The General of the Dominicans was 
 at this time desirous to revive the spirit of the Order 
 in Ireland, and Eoche was selected for that important 
 mission. At the death of Elizabeth, the Order was 
 well-nigh extinct in Ireland, only four religious sur- 
 viving in that once most flourishing province. Others, 
 indeed, returned from the Continent during the reign 
 of James the First, but they seldom ventured to lead a 
 community life, and they devoted themselves to assist, as 
 best they could, the secular clergy scattered through the 
 various dioceses. The Dominican Father Daniel Crede- 
 gan appears to have been the only one who throughout 
 all this period kept alive the spark of religious 
 observance which was to be fanned into a flame by Fr. 
 Mac Greoghegan's zeal. He rented a small house in 
 Galway, and leading a retired life kept strictly the 
 rules of his Order. He was subsequently, during the 
 reign of Charles the First, for a time Provincial of the 
 Order, and lived to a great old age. For several years 
 
368 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 before his death lie was quite blind, but nevertheless, 
 continued to administer the sacrament of penance to 
 those who flocked to him from all parts. He died 
 in Sligo during the Cromwellian usurpation. Fr. 
 MacGeoghegan in a short time established several houses 
 of the Order in different parts of the country, and 
 founded a novitiate at Orlare, in the barony of 
 Costellagh, county Mayo. He was a model to all the 
 brethren in the observance of the Rule, being earnest 
 in self-discipline and fasting, and devoting several hours 
 each day to solitary meditation and prayer. These 
 religious exercises gave offence to some individuals who 
 would rather choose to lead a life of dissipation and 
 distraction. The Government was informed that he 
 was an emissary from Rome, and was engaged in 
 introducing usages and observances unknown in Ire- 
 land. His name was accordingly set in the Hue and 
 Cry, and Captain Lyons was sent to Mayo to ensure his 
 arrest. He contrived to evade pursuit, however, and, 
 under the protection of powerful relatives, continued 
 in Dublin itself to labour assiduously for the salvation of 
 souls. Through his private conferences, Sir Edward 
 Herbert, baronet, and member of the Privy Council in 
 Ireland, and all his family, were converted to the 
 Catholic Faith. Sir Arthur Blundell, vice-treasurer, 
 also wished to confer with him, and declared himself 
 convinced that it was only in the Catholic Church there 
 was hope for salvation, and on his death-bed received 
 at Fr. Mac Geoghegan's hands the last sacraments, and 
 the consolations of religion. When this became known 
 to the Government the writ for his arrest was a second 
 time issued, but he escaped from Dublin in disguise, and 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 369 
 
 sought safety in the "West. About this time great 
 crowds began to flock to the religious pilgrimage at the 
 Holy Well of St. Brigid, in the county of Roscommon, 
 and it was said that many miracles were daily per- 
 formed there.* Fr . Mac Geoghegan also hastened thither, 
 and Judge Gosport happening to be present at one of 
 his instructions, resigned his office, and with it his 
 salary of £400 a year, and was received into the 
 Church. Another of his converts was his own relation, 
 Richard Duinn, or O'Doyne, son of the Lord of Du- 
 haregan, who being sent to pursue his studies in Eng- 
 land, attained the highest honours in Cambridge, but 
 lost the faith. Returning to Ireland he was promoted 
 to the Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin; but 
 moved by the fervent exhortations of Fr. Mac 
 Geoghegan, renounced that dignity, and was reconciled 
 to the Church. The Protestant Vicar- General of Kil- 
 dare, Thadeus O'Donellan, was also led by Fr. Mac 
 Geoghegan to the true Church, and many others, among 
 whom was the Lady Elizabeth Glaney, heiress of the 
 Barony of Rosenolch, in the county Leitrim. A third 
 time his arrest was ordered by the Government, and it 
 was declared an act of felony to harbour him, and a 
 reward of £200 was offered for his capture. Fearing 
 the imminent dangers that now threatened his friends, 
 he resigned the office of Provincial, and proceeding to 
 Belgium, laboured with success in the erection of a 
 convent of the Order for Irish students at Lou vain. 
 Promoted to the See of Kildare in 1629, he received 
 the episcopal consecration at the hands of the Arch- 
 
 *" Maximus utriusque sexus concursus eo fiebat quod deberrim 
 miracula ibi patrata fuerint." Lynjh, MS. History. 
 
370 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 bishop of Mechlin. It is related that at this time there 
 were in the whole diocese of Kildare only three native 
 priests, so completely had the higher schools been 
 swept away, and so beset with difficulties was the pre- 
 paration of the youth of Leinster for the sacred minis- 
 try. In a few years, however, through his exertions, 
 the schools were revived, and a numerous clergy, second 
 to none in the kingdom for learning and piety, sprung 
 up to minister to that faithful flock. Throughout his 
 episcopate he was repeatedly subjected to persecution 
 at the hands of the heretics, and was forced to fly from 
 place to place, concealing himself from his pursuers. 
 He added many deeds of voluntary self-denial to these 
 hardships, frequently sleeping on the bare ground and 
 otherwise mortifying himself. The author of the 
 Aphorismical Discover// reckons Peter "Walsh, the 
 notorious promoter of the Remonstrance, among the 
 special enemies of our prelate : " You informed the 
 Protestant State of Dublin, in a time of persecution, 
 against an apostolic prelate, a true child of Dominic's 
 Order, Roche MacGeoghegan, Bishop of Kildare, saying 
 that he was not Kildare's, but Tyrone's Bishop, to ex- 
 asperate the State against the holy prelate, which cost 
 him many a night's wail" (vol. i., p. 276). Dr. 
 MacGeoghegan sold or pledged "e very thing most pre- 
 cious that he possessed that he might have wherewith 
 to relieve the distress of the poor, and it was his custom 
 in the town of Kildare to distribute food and other 
 alms with his own hands. A choice library which he 
 had collected was burnt by the heretics, and in the con- 
 flagration perished the MS. History of a Hundred 
 Years, written by Rev. John Copinger, of Cork, in 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 371 
 
 which the sufferings of Ireland for the faith from the 
 beginning of the Reformation period were faithfully- 
 recorded. He restored and reconsecrated the ancient 
 cathedral of Kildare, and performed there the sacred 
 ceremonies of religion with solemn pomp. He died at 
 Kilbeggan, after a lingering illness, in 1644, and his 
 remains were, with all due civil and religious honour, in- 
 terred in his cathedral. Lynch adds that by his will he 
 bequeathed to the poor the price of three horses, all the 
 earthly wealth of which he was possessed. 
 
 I have dwelt on these details of this illustrious 
 bishop's life, as he was mainly instrumental in restoring 
 in our country the Order of St. Dominick, which at 
 this period shed lustre on the Irish Church by the 
 heroism of its martyrs. 
 
 4. Fr. Peter O'Higgins was one of those martyrs of 
 the Order of St. Dominick, and in 1641 was led to the 
 scaffold, for the Catholic faith, in the court yard of 
 Dublin Castle. We will allow Fr. Dominick O'Daly 
 to describe the scene of his suffering : " This pious and 
 eloquent man," thus writes O'Daly, in 1655, " was 
 arrested and brought before the Lords Justices of Ire- 
 land, on a charge of endeavouring to seduce the Pro- 
 testants from their religion. When his accusers failed 
 to sustain any capital charge against him, the men in 
 power sent to inform him, that if he abandoned his 
 faith he might expect many and great privileges ; but 
 all depended on his embracing the Protestant religion. 
 From the first he knew well that they had resolved on 
 his death ; but it was on the morning of the day fixed 
 for his execution that the messenger came to him with 
 the above terms. 
 
372 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 " O'Higgins, in reply, desired to have those proposals 
 made to him under the signature of the Justices, and 
 requested, moreover, that it should be handed to him in 
 sight of the gibbet. The Lords Justices, hearing this, 
 together with the order for his execution, sent the 
 written document for pardon on the aforesaid condi- 
 tion. Now, when the intrepid martyr had ascended the 
 first step of the ladder leading to the gibbet, the exe- 
 cutioner placed the paper in his hand. He bowed 
 courteously on receiving it, and loud was the exultation 
 of the heretical mob, who thought he was about to re- 
 nounce the Catholic faith ; but he, standing on the 
 scaffold, exposed to the view of God and man, exhibited 
 to all about him the document he had received, and 
 commenting with warmth on it, convicted his impious 
 judges of their own avowed iniquity. 
 
 "Knowing well that there were Catholics in the 
 crowd, he said, addressing them : ' My brethren, God 
 hath so willed that I should fall into the hands of our 
 relentless persecutors. They have not been able, how- 
 ever, to convict me of any crime against the laws of 
 the realm ; but my religion is an abomination in their 
 sight, and I am here to-day to protest, in the sight of 
 God and man, that I am condemned for my faith. For 
 some time I was in doubt as to the charge on which 
 they would ground my condemnation ; but, thanks to 
 heaven ! it is no longer so, and I am about to suffer 
 for my attachment to the Catholic faith. See you here 
 the condition on which I might save my life. Apostasy 
 is all that they require ; but, before high heaven, I spurn 
 their offers, and, with my last breath, will glorify God 
 for the honour He has done me in allowing me thus to 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 373 
 
 suffer for his name.' Then turning to the executioner, 
 after having cast the Justices' autograph to the crowd, 
 he told him to perform his task, and the bystanders 
 heard him returning thanks to God even with his latest 
 breath. Thus did iniquity lie unto itself — thus did the 
 martyr's constancy triumph." 
 
 5. Terence Albert O'Brien, Bishop of Emly . — The spot 
 where this holy bishop was martyred is yet pointed out 
 and venerated by the Catholics of Limerick : — " When 
 Limerick was besieged," writes O'Daly, only four years 
 after Dr. O'Brien's death, " Ireton sent him word that 
 he would give him forty thousand pounds sterling, and 
 permission to retire whithersoever he should wish out 
 of the kingdom, provided he ceased to exhort the people 
 against surrender ; but his heroic soul spurned the offer, 
 as he had resolved to fight the good fight, and win that 
 crown which is the guerdon of the just. When the 
 English commander heard this, he excepted the bishop 
 from amnesty and every other condition that he pro- 
 posed to the besieged, and swore, moreover, that he 
 would visit the citizens with the most rueful retaliation 
 if they did not bring to his quarters the head of the 
 prelate, together with those of twenty men who voted 
 against giving the city into his hands. Two hundred 
 ecclesiastics assembled in council, and after mature 
 consideration, resolved to interpose between Ireton and 
 the twenty whom he had doomed to die ; but in vain , 
 for all ecclesiastics , too, were excepted. The bishop offered 
 to'' give himself up, provided the lives of the rest were 
 spared, but the ecclesiastics would not hear of his 
 proposal. At length the city was surrendered, and the 
 holy bishop fell into the enemy's hands." 
 
374 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 We glean some additional particulars of his glorious 
 death from the Acts of the General Chapter of the 
 Dominican Order, held in 1656 : — He went with joy to 
 the place of execution, and there, with a serene counte- 
 nance, turning to his Catholic friends, who stood in the 
 crowd inconsolable and weeping, he said to them : 
 " Hold firmly by your faith, and observe its precepts ; 
 murmur not against the arrangements of God's provi- 
 dence, and thus you will save your souls. Weep not at 
 all for me, but rather pray that in this last trial of 
 death I may, by firmness and constancy, attain my 
 heavenly reward." He then, filled with a prophetic 
 spirit, reproved the ferocity of the heretics, declaring 
 that divine vengeance would soon await their crimes, 
 and summoned Ireton, the arch-persecutor, to appear 
 before many days at the tribunal of the just Judge, to 
 answer for his deeds of cruelty. This prophecy was 
 verified, and before a month Ireton, stricken with the 
 plague, and crying out that the execution of the inno- 
 cent bishop was the cause of his death, miserably ex- 
 pired. As to our holy martyr, his head was fixed on a 
 spike and remained long exposed to public view on the 
 tower. O'Daly thus writes, in 1655 : " The bishop's head 
 may yet be seen, covered with hair and with flesh quite 
 incorrupt, on the tower which rises in the middle of the 
 city over the great bridge, and drops of blood frequently 
 issue from it." 
 
 Lynch, in his MS. History of the Irish Bishops, writes 
 of Dr. O'Brien : " That he was of a most noble family, 
 and at an early age was enrolled in the Dominican 
 Order in the city of Limerick. He pursued the higher 
 studies in the convent of St. Peter the Martyr at Toledo, 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 375 
 
 was subsequently Prior in Limerick and at Lorrha, and 
 being chosen Provincial for Ireland proceeded to Rome 
 in 1644, to attend the General Chapter of the Order. 
 It was on his homeward journey, whilst he was engaged 
 in the visitation of the national communities of his 
 Order in Lisbon, that he received the intelligence of 
 his promotion to the See of Emly. Consecrated by 
 the Nuncio Rinuccini, he was assiduous in his spiritual 
 labours ; and was, in particular, remarkable for the 
 stainless virtue and simplicity of his life. As Limerick 
 had yielded the first-fruits of his zeal, it was meet it 
 should be the theatre of his martyrdom. Throughout 
 the prolonged siege of more than five months none were 
 more energetic than he in stimulating the courage of 
 the defendants, and urging them to uphold perseveringly 
 the cause of religion and country. When the city fell 
 into the enemy's hands, though he was excepted from 
 all hope of pardon or life, he made no attempt to escape, 
 but proceeded to the hospital of those stricken with the 
 plague to comfort the dying and minister to them the 
 last consolations of religion. He was there arrested, 
 and, with his hands tied, and with fetters on his feet, 
 he was brought before Ireton, who was sitting in court- 
 martial. In reply to the usual query, he fearlessly 
 stated that he was a bishop, and was guilty of no 
 offence but the faithful discharge of his sacred duties, 
 and for this he was ready to meet death with joy ; and 
 he summoned Ireton to appear before many days at the 
 tribunal of God to answer for his cruelty. Next day, 
 amid the loud laments of the people, he was led to the 
 scaffold, and thus, on the 30th of October, 1651, he 
 attained his crown. His body was left hanging at the 
 
376 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 gallows for three hours after death, and, during that 
 time the Puritan soldiers, with fiendish malice, heaped 
 every dignity on his hallowed remains. With ribald 
 jest and mockery they whirled the body to and fro, and 
 made it a target for their muskets. The body being at 
 length taken down quite covered with wounds, the head 
 was cut off and set on a stake on the Bridge Tower." 
 The particulars relating to the martyr's death were at- 
 tested by Fr. Dionysius Hanrehan, O.S.D., whose pri- 
 vilege it was to administer to him the sacrament of 
 penance for the last time, in preparation for his mar- 
 tyrdom on the day that the enemy got possession of 
 Limerick. 
 
 6. The family of the O'Feralls (now commonly written 
 O'Farrell) had for centuries been reckoned among the 
 patrons of religion throughout the territory of their 
 ancient sept in the diocese of Ardagh. They were in 
 particular remarkable for their munificence to the spiri- 
 tual children of St. Dominick, having erected and en- 
 dowed at Longford, about the year 1400, the famous 
 Convent of St. Bridget, for a community of Friars of 
 that Order. During the period of the Confederation 
 we meet with several illustrious scions of this old Celtic 
 race in the senate house and in the camp ; but, perhaps, 
 none reflected such credit on the name as the two 
 martyrs, Fr. Bernard O'FerallandFr. Laurence O'Ferall, 
 both enrolled in the Order of St. Dominick, in St. 
 Bridget's Convent, and both privileged to die for the 
 faith in 1651. The following account of their death is 
 given in the Rinuccini MS. : 
 
 " They both belonged to the illustrious house of the 
 O'Feralls, and were alike eldest sons born to hereditary 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 377 
 
 estates and wealth. They were, moreover, alike in that 
 they were masters in S. Theology, and famed as 
 preachers of the truths of religion. They had held 
 honourable posts in the convents of the Order at Long- 
 ford, Roscommon, Derry, and elsewhere ; and through- 
 out the whole period of the Confederate war had proved 
 themselves* staunch champions of the Faith. Alike 
 revered by the clergy and people, their names had been 
 presented as most worthy to be promoted to the episco- 
 pal rank, and in common with their devoted sept they 
 resolved either to preserve intact and incorrupt the 
 Faith handed down to them for twelve hundred years, 
 or to die gloriously in its defence. Animated with 
 such sentiments, when arrested in the habit of the Order, 
 they could not be induced by threats or promises to 
 embrace the tenets of heresy. Wherefore they were 
 cruelly treated as defenders of Popery, spies of the 
 Roman Pontiff, enemies of the Protestant Church : and 
 the heretics shouted out , 1 Away with these champions 
 and leaders of the Papists ; kill them, hang them.' Fr. 
 Bernard, struck with swords and spears, was on the spot 
 pierced with eighteen mortal wounds, and was left for 
 dead, being almost suffocated by his own blood. Life 
 remained, however, till the last sacraments were ad- 
 ministered to him, and then the crown of martyrdom 
 was added to that of the Doctorate, which a little while 
 before had been deservedly awarded him by Fr. Marinus, 
 the General of the Dominican Order. Fr. Laurence 
 O'Ferall, was made prisoner without receiving any 
 wounds, and being thrown into prison he was ordered 
 to be hanged on the following Wedne sday. Led to the 
 scaffold, he displayed the greatest courage and joy, but 
 
378 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 at the request of some English noblemen and others, 
 who came to the unwonted spectacle, a respite till the 
 following Saturday was granted. "When this announce- 
 ment was made to him nothing could exceed his grief, 
 to the astonishment of all who were present : and when 
 they asked why he thus sorrowed, he replied, because 
 I feel myself at present so well disposed to meet death 
 for God and for the Catholic Faith, that I fear I never 
 again may be equally prepared for so happy a death. 
 In the meantime several English Protestants petitioned 
 and made great efforts to have his life spared. All 
 was in vain. On the following Saturday he was led to 
 the scaffold. From the steps he addressed a most 
 earnest exhortation to those present, so moving that all 
 shed tears, and some were converted to the Faith. His 
 discourse being ended, he was hanged and thus attained 
 the martyr's crown." 
 
 It is of Fr. Bernard O'Ferall that the words of O'Daly 
 are to be understood : " On being arrested and examined, 
 some letters from the apostolic nuncio were discovered 
 sowed up in his inner garments. None could have 
 been more active than this zealous man in promoting 
 the Catholic cause during his career. His death was 
 painful as fiendish ingenuity could make it. Beaten 
 with sticks, burned with gunpowder, and finally pierced 
 by the sword ; this holy champion committed his soul 
 to God in 1651." 
 
 De Burgo gives, from the contemporary acts of the 
 Order, further particulars of the martyrdom of Fr. 
 Laurence O'Ferall : 4 'Through the intercession of some 
 friends, though contrary to his own desire, three days 
 were given him to meditate on the expediency of re- 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 379 
 
 nouncing his religion. These three days were passed 
 by him in tears and prayers that it might be granted 
 to him to receive the martyr's palm. On being led to 
 the scaffold, he addressed an exhortation to the Catho- 
 lics with great fervour and unction, then arranged 
 his beads around his neck, and grasping his crucifix 
 in his right hand composed himself in prayer- 
 What was viewed as a great prodigy by all, when he 
 was hanging from the scaffold, and in the agonies of 
 death, he raised aloft his hands holding in them the 
 crucifix, which was thus presented to the gaze of all 
 as the trophy of victory."* This most singular prodigy 
 made a very great impression on the beholders, and 
 the officer in command was so struck and terrified 
 thereat that he ordered the body to be cut down re- 
 spectfully, and gave it over to the people to be buried 
 without molestation. 
 
 7. Thadeus Moriarty. — Killarney was the theatre of 
 his martyrdom, in 1653, and the heretics themselves 
 affirmed that his calmness and firmness in death ex- 
 ceeded anything they had ever witnessed. Father 
 O'Daly, writing only two years later, thus sketches his 
 life : " He was the last Prior of the Dominican Con- 
 vent of Tralee. Well skilled in moral and dogmatic 
 theology, the splendour of his birth was surpassed only 
 by the brilliant effulgence of his virtues. The learning 
 and piety of this holy man soon came to be known by 
 the relentless persecutors of his creed, and they left 
 nothing undone in order to seize him. Never did the 
 bride more joyously go forth to the marriage altar than 
 
 * Hib. Dom., p. 569, ex actis general. Komce, an. 1656. See also 
 the Irish Eccles. Record for 1S65, vol. i. p., 131. 
 
380 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 he did to death, and never did the starvling more 
 eagerly desire food than did this glorious champion the 
 scaffold of martyrdom. 
 
 "When the death-warrant was read for him, he 
 clasped the messenger and distributed money to his 
 executioners ; from the scaffold he exhorted the spec- 
 tators not to be dismayed, but to cling with tenacity to 
 their hallowed creed, and to be ever mindful of the 
 vicissitudes and transitoriness of this life ; he moreover 
 described martyrdom as the most secure as well as the 
 shortest path to the heavenly crown, and was then im- 
 mediately executed. It was deemed by many most 
 wonderful and deserving of attention how the body of 
 the martyr, which the gloom and miseries of the prison 
 had emaciated and distorted, became, as it were, trans- 
 figured after death, beaming with such splendour and 
 comeliness, and radiating such rays of beauteous light, 
 that the executioners themselves were heard to say that 
 he wore an angelic countenance. 
 
 " Throughout life he was a model of humility and 
 mildness, and never known to have lost his temper. 
 During his martyrdom, though beaten with clubs, and 
 lashed with whips, he gave no sign of impatience, but 
 seemed wholly insensible to all these stripes. Interro- 
 gated by his judge why he did not obey the laws of the 
 kingdom, he mildly answered that he had to obey God, 
 and His vicegerents who had commissioned him to 
 preach the Gospel of Christ. Truly was this venerable 
 man an apostolic minister, a true disciple of our Lord, 
 walking in the footsteps of Christ r and displaying all 
 the characteristics of a true apostle. He suffered on 
 the 15th of October, 1653, and the heretical soldiery 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 38 1 
 
 still continue to guard his grave, lest the people should 
 bear away his honoured remains." 
 
 The Rinuccini MS. further attests that the father of 
 this heroic martyr was the head of the sept of the 
 Mac Moriartys, whose hereditary possessions lay on the 
 banks of the Mang in the county of Kerry. Thadeus, 
 with one of his brothers proceeded to Spain, and both 
 were there enrolled in the Order of St. Dominick. In 
 the Spanish schools, Fr. Thadeus was remarkable for 
 his philosophical and theological research, and he was 
 no less remarkable in Ireland, by his success in leading 
 back heretics to the true fold of Christ. He was also 
 noted for his meekness, and throughout his whole life 
 he had never been known to lose his temper. Notwith- 
 standing the penal decree issued on the 6th of January, 
 1653, commanding all the religious and clergy to depart 
 from the kingdom under pain of death, he remained 
 at his post, being Prior of the convent of Tralee, and 
 he laboured throughout the whole of Kerry with the 
 zeal of an apostle. When arrested by the Puritan 
 soldiers he was treated with every indignity, neverthe- 
 less he displayed his usual serenity and welcomed with 
 joy the humiliations and sufferings to which he was 
 subjected for Christ's sake. Two years before his 
 martyrdom, one of his brothers named Daniel was slain, 
 when the family castle was besieged by the Puritan 
 troops under Nelson, who was appointed by the Parlia- 
 mentarians governor of the fort of Ross and of the 
 county of Kerry. The martyr's brother-in-law, Peter 
 Feriter, also suffered death about the same time. He 
 had surrendered with the troops under his command to 
 Nelson, on the condition of their lives being spared. 
 
382 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 Notwithstanding this, he was thrown into prison and 
 sentenced to be hanged. Fr. Maurice O'Connell, a 
 Jesuit, who lay concealed in the neighbourhood of 
 Killarney, visited him in prison, disguised as a labourer 
 bringing some material relief, and administered the 
 holy sacraments to him. He was soon after led out 
 and hanged in Killarney at the place known as 
 Sheep-hill * His loss was deplored throughout all 
 Ireland ; for not only was he distinguished by his 
 bravery during the Confederate war, but he was also 
 famed for his liberality and greatness of soul, as well 
 as for eloquence in both the English and the Irish 
 tongues, and for his singular poetic genius particularly 
 in Irish. f 
 
 8. JEneas Ambrose Cahill, O.S.D , was arrested not 
 far from the city of Cork, and the enemy soon disco- 
 vered that in him they had captured a valiant soldier 
 of Christ. " Powerful was his eloquence," says the 
 historian of the Dominican Order, " in combating false 
 doctrine, and dauntless his heart in the defence of his 
 country. Furious was the hatred of his enemies, and 
 bitter was the agony to which he was consigned. His 
 body was cut into minute particles, and cast for food 
 to ravens, an. 1651." 
 
 9. Indeed, the Order of St. Dominick 3 r ielded at this 
 period an abundant harvest of martyrs to our Irish 
 Church. The names of no fewer than fifty members 
 who received the crown of martyrdom may be seen in 
 De Burgo and O'Daly. For the present we need men - 
 
 " Killarniae in Colliculo Ooium la^ueo sustueruut." RinucciniMS . 
 t "Poetani utraque lingua et proesertim Ilibernica insignein. " Ibid. 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 383 
 
 tion but one other distinguished ornament of this 
 Order, Father John O'Cullen of the Convent of 
 Athenry, " A man devoted to observance of his rules, 
 a model of piety, wholly given to prayer and mortifi- 
 cation, ever desirous of the poorest apparel, and at the 
 same time endowed with such a penetrating genius that 
 he mastered almost every science. In many public 
 conferences he, with great learning, refuted heresy 
 and animated the Catholics, and more than once risked 
 his life in the defence of the authority of the Holy See. 
 At length being seized by the heretics, and covered 
 with innumerable wounds, he joyfully laid down his 
 life for Christ, in 1652."* 
 
 10. Anselm Ball was a priest of the Order of Capu- 
 chins, a native of Fingall, and for more than twenty 
 years laboured on the Irish mission. Most of the clergy 
 having been expelled from Dublin by the fury of the 
 Puritans, Father Anselm succeeded for awhile in disguis- 
 ing himself, whilst, at the same time, he indefatigably 
 laboured in consoling the afflicted faithful of that city, 
 and administering to them the holy sacraments, " so 
 much so, that he often passed two successive days and 
 nights without having an interval for repose." As the 
 danger increased within the city, seeing it impossible 
 any longer to escape the snares of his heretical pursuers 
 he fled to the country parts. Finding that even there 
 " none were allowed to receive him into their homes 
 under penalty of death and of the confiscation of their 
 
 * O'Daly, after commemorating very many of his own Order who 
 thus suffered death for the faith, adds ; "But, alas! I am not able 
 to tell you in detail how many of my fellow-countrymen wer e made 
 to drain the cup of persecution even to the very dregs." 
 
384 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 properties, lie built for himself a little hut of brambles 
 in a rocky district ; thence he went forth at midnight, 
 covered only with rough and tattered garments, and 
 exposed to rain, and wind, and snow, and frost, visit- 
 ing the surrounding towns, and risking every danger 
 in order to satisfy the ardour of his charity. More 
 than once his hut was discovered by the enemy, and 
 then he was compelled in the depth of night to fly for 
 refuge to the mountains or subterraneous caves, having 
 nothing for his food but a little barley bread and water, 
 which itself was sometimes wanting to him. So great 
 was the devotion of the people in these calamitous 
 times, that whatsoever place he marked for the lioly 
 Sacrifice, and no matter how dark or stormy the night 
 might be, all assembled there." 
 
 When it pleased Providence to afflict his children 
 with the scourge of pestilence, a new theatre was 
 opened for the zeal of Ansel in . At that time " in the 
 city and adjoining country, no fewer than 2,000 were 
 weekly hurried to the grave. " For four months it 
 raged with special violence, and it was three years be- 
 fore it wholly ceased. During all this time Father 
 Anselm devoted himself to the attendance on those 
 that were stricken with the disease " being often 
 obliged to enter, creeping on hands and feet, the fetid 
 huts of the persecuted poor ; 99 to no fewer than 
 7,000 persons infected with the plague did he 
 administer the consoling sacraments of the Church, 
 and many of the most destitute he was obliged on their 
 decease, to bear on his shoulders to a place of sepulchre . 
 
 Seven times he fell into the hands of the heretical 
 troops, and, besides being bruised and beaten, was 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 385 
 
 despoiled of his books and vestments, and all that he 
 possessed ; he was, however, each time, either by the 
 interposition of Providence, or by the exertions of 
 some Catholics, enabled to escape. On one occasion he 
 was recognised and assailed by one horse soldier alone ; 
 the good father, however, proved more than a match 
 for his assailant, and soon unhorsed and disarmed him, 
 and then obliging him to solemnly promise that he 
 would never more pursue any priest, he restored to 
 him his horse and arms. Once he was brought before 
 the magistrate, and received sentence of transportation 
 to the Tobacco Islands ; even then, however, his good 
 fortune did not fail him, and, through the influence of 
 a friendly nobleman, the sentence was remitted, and 
 he was enabled to pursue his ministry of charity.* 
 
 11. Bona venture Carew, a native of Killarney, be- 
 longed to the same Order. Being arrested and cast into 
 prison, he was thence sent into exile. Returning, 
 however, to his missionary labours, he was again made 
 prisoner, " cast headlong into a subterraneous dungeon, 
 so small that he could neither stand erect nor lie down, 
 and there, without one ray of light, he was detained for 
 eighteen months in a lengthened martyrdom, "f 
 
 * These particulars have been taken verbatim from a paper of Fr, 
 Barnabas Barnewall, written from Dublin, on 4th October, 1669. 
 + Ibid., Relat. P. Barnab. Barnewall, 1669. 
 
386 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Individual Instances of the Persecution {continued). 
 
 1. F. Dowdall's zeal in Dublin ; he dies in prison in London. — 
 2. Death of B.Egan, Bishop of Ross.— 3. David O'Mollony of Kil- 
 laloe.— 4. J. Lynch and E. Nugent, P.P. 's in Meath. — 5. Phelim 
 Mac Tuoll. — 6. Labours of J. Forde in promoting education. — 7. 
 Zeal of S. Gelosse in promoting religion and education. — 8. Death 
 of D. O'Brien. — 9. Of Ladies Roche and Fitzpatrick, and Esma 
 
 Plunkett.— 10. Of Mrs. A. Read, described by her son 11. FF. 
 
 Brien and Barry, of the Congregation of St. Vincent, and Brother 
 Lee ; their sufferings. — 12. Death of Fr. O'Higgins, P.P. of Naas. — 
 13. John O'Cullenan, Bishop of Raphoe. 
 
 1. Father John Doicdall was remarkable for the 
 number of heretics whom be brought, back to the bosom 
 of the Catholic Church. One of these was a Presby- 
 terian in Dublin, who was so inflamed with hatred of the 
 Catholic religion that each Sunday he regularly bound 
 his wife (who was a Catholic) with cords, lest she should 
 assist at the Sacrifice of the Mass. By the exhortations 
 of Father Dowdall he first desisted from this cruel 
 practice, and soon after became a fervent convert to our 
 holy faith. 
 
 The occasion of another conversion was wholly pecu- 
 liar. It proceeded from a dream. The heretic dreamt 
 that, advancing to the gate of heaven, and boldly 
 knocking for admission, St. Peter came to the door and 
 sternly reproved him, saying, " No heretic can enter 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 387 
 
 here." Full of courage, however, he knocked and re- 
 knocked, but finding all in vain, he at length asked 
 aloud, " What should he do to obtain admission. " St. 
 Peter then, returning to the door, admonished him to 
 go and seek a priest, and to be, through him, received 
 into the true Church, as none but its children could be 
 admitted into the heavenly mansions. Awakening from 
 his sleep, he could find no rest till he sought for a priest, 
 and, being conducted to Father Dowdall, was by him 
 reconciled to holy Church. This good father was fre- 
 quently arrested by the heretical troops. The last time 
 he fell into their hands he was transferred to London 
 Prison, and there, wasted away by hunger and cold, 
 attained his heavenly reward.* 
 
 2. Boetius Egan, Bishop of Ross, was a member of the 
 Order of St. Francis. This prelate, whose memory is 
 yet fresh in the traditions of our country, had, in the 
 fulness of his zeal, ventured to make his way to some 
 distant and abandoned parts of his diocese, whilst the 
 country was laid waste by Broghill and his savage 
 bands. On his return towards the lonely retreat in 
 which he had for months lain concealed, being in com- 
 pany with some Catholic soldiers, he was overtaken by 
 a troop of the enemy's cavalry. The renunciation of 
 his faith, he was told, would secure not only his pardon, 
 but even the confidence and patronage of their general ; 
 various bribes and promises were also held out to him, 
 but he rejected them with disdain. He was then aban- 
 doned to the soldiers' fury, and his arms being first 
 
 * See Notitia Historica Ord. Cappuc. in Hibex-nia, printed in Rome 
 in 1859. 
 
388 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 severed from his body, he was dragged along the ground 
 to a neighbouring tree, and being hanged from one of 
 its branches with the reins of his own horse, happily 
 consummated his earthly course, a.d. 1 650.* Lynch 
 adds that he was a native of Duhallow, in Munster, 
 that he studied in Spain, and that on the 6th of May, 
 on the roadside between Macroom and Carrigadrohid, 
 he attained the crown of martyrdom. His remains 
 were interred at night in the neighbouring old church 
 of Achannach, and during the interment the place was 
 lit up with heavenly splendour. This zealous Fran- 
 ciscan had acted as chaplain to the troops under Owen 
 Roe O'Neill. At Benburb he pronounced absolution 
 over the kneeling army immediately before it advanced 
 to a brilliant victory, and he was deputed by the vic- 
 torious general to carry the banners taken from Monroe's 
 Scots to the Nuncio Rinuccini, then in Limerick. It is 
 said that Broghill offered him pardon on condition of 
 his ordering the garrison of Carrigadrohid to deliver up 
 the castle. They carried him before the walls, as the 
 Carthaginians carried Regulus to Rome, with the full 
 persuasion that he would recommend his countrymen to 
 surrender ; but his words to them were : " Hold out to 
 the last." The Rinuccini MS., commemorating his 
 death, styles him " a veritable seraph of the seraphic 
 Order, and most glorious martyr." 
 
 3. Rev. David 0' Holloa y, Archdeacon of Killaloe, was 
 
 * Bruodin " Passio Martyr." p. 530. The Louvain record of the 
 order thus briefly notices this great man : " Pater Boetius Egan 
 Momoniensis, Epus. Rossensis orthodoxse fidei strenuus defensor et 
 assertor ; pro qua an. 1650, glorioso martyrio vita? finem et coronidem 
 imposuit." 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 38$ 
 
 arrested in the city of Limerick whilst in the act of 
 offering up the Holy Sacrifice on Christmas Day, in the 
 year 165 ; 3. He was carried off in triumph by his cap- 
 tors, and was without delay sentenced to be hanged. 
 On the 1st of Januar}^ the day fixed for his execution, 
 he was led to the scaffold with his hands bound behind 
 his back. He showed the whole way along the greatest 
 signs of joy at the privilege granted him of dying for 
 the faith. From the ladder of the scaffold he addressed 
 the assembled crowd, exhorting them to shun heresy, 
 and to prove themselves devoted children of the one 
 true Church. In the meantime, however, some wealthy 
 citizens had succeeded by offering a large sum to obtain 
 a respite for the zealous confessor of Christ, and before 
 he ended his discourse a message from the governor 
 ordered him to be conducted back to prison. This news, 
 which gave joy to the whole city, overwhelmed him 
 with sadness. He shed bitter tears, and he openly 
 lamented that his crown should be thus deferred. He 
 was detained some time longer in prison, and was then 
 shipped with some soldiers for France, where he con- 
 tinued to labour as a zealous missionary till death. 
 
 4. James Lynch and Richard Nugent were parish 
 priests, the former of Kells, the latter of Ra* 
 toath, in the county of Meath, and were both put to 
 the torture, and suffered on the same day in defence of 
 the Catholic faith. Father Lynch was a venerable old 
 man, nearly eighty years of age, and was massacred in 
 his bed, to which, through infirmity, he had been a long 
 time confined. Father Nugent was sent under an escort 
 to Drogheda, and a gibbet having being erected within 
 sight of the walls, he ended his course with such 
 
 26 
 
39) 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 serenity and firmness as confounded his enemies, and 
 drjw forth, the tears and benedictions of the faithful 
 inhabitants of that ancient city. 
 
 o. The death of Colonel Phelim Mac Tuoll also merits 
 particular mention. He held his commission in Gene- 
 ral Owen Roe O'Neill's own regiment, and was famed 
 throughout the kingdom for his bravery and military 
 skill. After the disastrous defeat of the Ulster army 
 at Carrigholles, he was made prisoner, quarter being 
 given. He was brought before Sir Charles Coote, the 
 younger, to arrange terms for his ransom, and it was 
 agreed that Mac Tuoll on procuring one hundred head 
 of cattle from his friends, to be delivered to Sir Charles, 
 would be set at liberty. The articles were being signed 
 when a sergeant came into the tent with an account of 
 his having brought Colonel Henry Roe O'Neill, Owen 
 Roe's son, prisoner. Without more ado Coote repri- 
 manded the sergeant for making him prisoner and not 
 bringing his head instead, and commanded him to go 
 and despatch him at once. On hearing this, Mac Tuoll 
 let the pen drop from his hand, and began to plead for 
 the life of his kinsman and fellow-prisoner. But all 
 was in vain and the orders were executed ; and Coote, 
 turning to Mac Tuoll, told him that if he did not cease 
 his prattle he too would be served in the same way. 
 Whereupon Mac Tuoll, indignant at his brutal cruelty, 
 cried out thit " he would rather be served so than to 
 ow3 his life to such a monstrous villain as he was." 
 Cjite at once gave orders to his men to take Mac Tuoll 
 and knock him on the head with tent-poles. Whilst 
 his sentence was being executed one of the Puritan 
 o.hjers seeing the indignities to which the brave officer 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CA1HOLICS. 391 
 
 was subjected, ran him through, the heart. The head 
 of Mac Tuoll was then cut off, and with the heads of 
 Henry Roe O'Neill and other prisoners was set upon 
 the gates of Derry. 
 
 6. One of the chief objects of solicitude of the Irish 
 clergy has ever been the promotion of science and the 
 establishment of colleges and schools. The deluge of 
 Puritan persecution laid in ruins the many establish- 
 ments which, despite preceding oppressive laws, had 
 sprung up in every district of the kingdom. Even 
 whilst this storm raged, however, many zealous priests 
 were not wanting, who, in the depths of the woods, or 
 on the summits of the mountains, sought to keep alive 
 the spark of learning as well as of religion. Amongst 
 those we find, especially recorded, the Rev. James Ford, 
 of the Society of Jesus, who, in the centre of a large 
 bog, chose a little spot of ground of more than ordinary 
 consistency ; there he erected a wooden hut, and num- 
 bers of children from the surrounding districts nocked 
 to him for instruction ; they too erected little huts all 
 around, and that cherished spot soon became a true 
 oasis in the wilderness that surrounded it. The pro- 
 gress of these youths in virtue and learning consoled 
 their zealous master ; and they, moreover, vied with him 
 in enduring, not only with fortitude, but even with joy, 
 all the inconveniences to which they were exposed.* 
 
 7. Stephen Gelosse was another of those worthy 
 fathers who devoted their lives to the instruction of 
 our youth in literature and piety. The following sketch 
 
 * Status Soc. Jes. in Hib. an, 1654. 
 
392 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 of his life was compiled by Dr. Oliver,* from the origi- 
 nal acts of the Society. " No dangers that threatened 
 him from the Cromwellian party, who filled every place 
 with blood and terror, could deter this genuine hero 
 from doing his duty ; no weather, no pestilential fevers, 
 no difficulties could hold him back from visiting the 
 sick and the dying in their meanest hovels. His purse, 
 his time, his services were always at the command of 
 the distressed Catholic ; it was his food and delight to 
 exercise the works of mercy, corporal and spiritual. 
 Though the tyrant Cromwell had issued a proclamation 
 to his troops, that, should they apprehend a priest in 
 any house, the owner of such house should be hung up 
 before his own door, and all his property be confiscated, 
 and that the captors of the priest should be rewarded 
 at the rate which destroyers of the wolf formerly 
 received ; nevertheless, Fr. Gelosse managed every day 
 to offer up the unbloody sacrifice of the altar : his 
 extraordinary escapes from the clutches of his pursuers 
 border on the miraculous. He adopted every kind of 
 disguise ; he assumed every shape and character : he 
 personated a dealer of faggots, a servant, a thatcher, 
 a beggar, a gardener, a miller, a carpenter, &c, thus 
 becoming all to all in order to gain all to Christ. How- 
 ever, he was four times apprehended, but his presence 
 of mind never forsook him, and he ingeniously con- 
 trived to extricate himself. After the restoration of 
 Charles II. he set up a school at Ross, which took pre- 
 cedence of all others in the country, whether rank, 
 numbers, proficiency, discipline, or piety be taken into 
 
 * "Collections towards illustrating the Biography of the Scotch, 
 English, and Irish members of the Society of Jesus/' p. 284. 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 393 
 
 consideration ; but this was broken up by the persecu- 
 tion in 1670. He then removed to the vicinity of 
 Dublin, where he taught about forty scholars ; and in 
 August, 1673, he returned to Ross to reopen his school ; 
 but at the end of three months he was obliged, by the 
 fanatical spirit abroad, to abandon his favourite 
 pursuit. " It is further related of this devoted priest 
 that he was remarkable for his skill in horsemanship, 
 and that the better to conceal his sacred ministry he 
 rode races with Cromwell's troopers. 
 
 8. Donatus O'Brien, as we learn from an eye-witness 
 of the Cromwellian cruelty, was descended of the royal 
 race of the O'Briens, a most generous man, and of 
 surpassing hospitality ; after the Protestants had 
 plighted to him their faith, and given him a safe-con- 
 duct, he was advancing one day to meet them when a 
 certain Protestant knight shot him through the body. 
 "Dissatisfied with this cruelty, when the venerable old 
 man (then aged about sixty-four years) had entered a 
 hut, half dead, that he might in penitence commend 
 his soul to God, a soldier followed, set fire to the hut, 
 and burned this courageous martyr, in Thomond, a.p. 
 1651* 
 
 9. We shall conclude our extracts from Morison 
 with his account of the martyrdom of two noble ladies. 
 " The inhuman fury of the Protestants," he writes, 
 " was not satisfied with the slaughter of men, but they 
 also drew their swords against women. Thus the noble 
 Lady Roche, wife of Maurice, Yiscount of Fermoy and 
 Roche, a chaste and holy matron, whose mind was 
 
 * Morison's Thrcnodia, printed in 1659. 
 
394 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 solely occupied with prayer and piety, being falsely 
 accused of murder by a certain ungrateful English 
 maid-servant (whom she had compassionately taken 
 when a desolate orphan, and supported and educated), 
 was hanged in Cork in 1654, although stricken in years 
 and destined in the course of nature soon to die. The 
 noble Lady Bridget, of the house of Darcy, wife of 
 Florence Fitzpatrick, one of the barons of Ossory, was 
 also put to death by the Protestants at Dublin, in 
 1652, without the form of law or justice. Ludlow 
 adds that this Lady Fitzpatrick was condemned to be 
 burnt, and that this cruel sentence was executed accord- 
 ingly. From another source we learn, that the witness 
 on whose evidence she was condemned afterwards 
 acknowledged to having been suborned by the Parlia- 
 mentarian Colonel Axtel, Governor of Kilkenny, who 
 was anxious to secure her property. This perfidious 
 man was one of those who received well- merited punish- 
 ment, being hanged at London by order of the King, 
 in 1660. 
 
 Morison concludes his narrative with the following 
 words : " What shall I yet say ? time would fail me to 
 narrate the martyrdoms of chiefs, nobles, prelates, priests, 
 friars, citizens, and others of the Irish Catholics, whose 
 purple gore has stained the scaffolds almost without 
 end ; who by faith conquered kingdoms and wrought 
 justice, of whom some had trials in mockeries and 
 stripes, moreover, also of chains and prisons ; others 
 were overwhelmed with stones, cut asunder, racked, or 
 put to death with the sword ; others have wandered 
 over the world in hunger, thirst, cold, and nakedness, 
 being in want, distress, and afflicted, wandering in 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. T95 
 
 deserts, in mountains, and in dens, and in caves of the 
 earth ; and all these being approved by the testimony 
 of the faith, without doubt received the promise."* 
 
 The supplement to Alithinologia states that during 
 the Confederate war Esma Plunkett, sister of the Earl 
 of Fingal, and the wife of Lynch of Knock, defended 
 her house, situated about three miles from Trim, with 
 great valour against the Puritan assailants, so much so 
 that whilst the ammunition lasted they were repelled 
 with great loss. When the powder was exhausted, and 
 the assailants applied scaling ladders to the walls, the 
 defenders poured out boiling water on them and com- 
 pelled them to desist. The place was surrendered only 
 on conditions of life being granted to the inmates. The 
 Puritans, with their usual perfidy, violated the con- 
 ditions and put them to the sword. The courage o 
 this noble lady became a theme of eulogy throughout 
 all Ireland. 
 
 10. Mrs. Alison Bead, in 1642, sealed the confession 
 of her faith by an heroic death, in the town of Dun- 
 shaughlin. The soldiery, rushing in on that defenceless 
 town, seized on fifty old men, women, and little boys, 
 and mercilessly slew them with their swords and spears. 
 Mrs. Head, then in her eightieth year, encouraged the se 
 sufferers to endure every torment with constancy for the 
 faith. Fired with rage at her exhortations, the Puritan 
 soldiers, after inflicting many wounds, set her up as a 
 target for their guns ; and thus she happily expired. 
 The son of this venerable martyr has preserved to us 
 her memory ; and in his commentary on the Book of 
 
 * Threnodia, p. 72. 
 
396 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 Machabees mentions her heroic death to illustrate the 
 fortitude and holy sentiments of the mother of the 
 seven Machabees — the true model of female heroism.* 
 
 Some particulars regarding his own family, which he 
 incidentally mentions, illustrate the devoted piety of 
 our people at this trying period. " There was not one 
 of the family," he says, " even among the distant rela- 
 tives, who renounced the faith. His father daily re- 
 cited the little office of the Blessed Virgin, and Mrs. 
 Read was especially remarkable for her tender devotion 
 to the Mother of God ; she instilled the same into her 
 children, and Father Bead gratefully recalls to mind 
 how, when a child, he was every morning before break- 
 fast obliged to recite the ' little office ' in her honour. 
 Providence rewarded this piety of the worthy matron, 
 and notwithstanding the poverty of the clergy, and the 
 severe edicts against them, and the watchful vigilance 
 of their persecutors, she was enabled to approach the 
 holy sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist, on the 
 
 * Redanus Petrus, in Machab., p. 257. This learned man died on 
 the 1st August, 1651, the same year in which he published the first 
 volume of his commentary, the only volume that has been published. 
 He thus describes the fury of the Puritan enemy: "Non omnia 
 rapiunt, depraadantur, ferro et flamma devastant, modo, sed et in 
 pueros, fceminas, senes ferinum in morem sanguinolenti saeviunt. 
 pusionesque et infantes Catholicos ,'ut mihi narravit qui praeliis in- 
 terfuit) decussatos ad formam crucis pugionibus transfodiunt. . . . 
 Pervenit Dunschaghlinum (abest ab urbe Dublino, milliaria duo- 
 decim) tertio Idus Junii an. 1642, Calvinistarum immitis et praeda- 
 bunda caterva, iram immanem in fidem Catholicam et Hiberni 
 sanguinis exsatiatura sitim, quam multa jam, per vicos, agros, et 
 castella Midiae, patrata caedes accenderat potius quam lenierat," Ac, 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 397 
 
 sixth day, and again on the second day before her mar- 
 tyr dom." 
 
 11. We have here to mention Fathers Brien and 
 Barry, and Brother Lee — the two former, Fathers of 
 the Congregation of St. Yincent, and the last a lay 
 brother of the same Order. In a preceding chapter we 
 have described, at great length, the apostolic labours of 
 these holy missionaries in the city of Limerick. It was 
 only after concluding that article that, through the 
 kindness of the learned archivist of the Lazarist Order, 
 we were enabled to ascertain their names, as well as the 
 following additional particulars connected with their 
 missionary career : " Although the three fathers who 
 had laboured in Limerick during the siege escaped the 
 fury of Ireton on its surrender, one of them resolved to 
 remain in the city to assist with his sacred ministry the 
 remnant of its Catholic citizens, and after awhile con- 
 summated his holocaust of charity. The two others, 
 Brien and Barry, escaped with about 120 other priests 
 and religious, in various disguises, mixed up with the 
 garrison of the place, who, by the terms of the capitu- 
 lation, obtained their lives and permission to retire 
 from the city. As there was no toleration for any 
 ecclesiastics, these holy men, sure that death awaited 
 them, passed the night preceding their escape in 
 prayer and preparation for their martyrdom. They 
 were not, however, recognised ; and after escaping from 
 the city they separated, Father Brien taking the road 
 towards his native district, in company with the Vicar- 
 General of Cashel ; whilst Father Barry went towards 
 the mountains, where a charitable lady received him 
 and concealed him for two months, A bark, freighted 
 
398 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 for France, appearing on the coast, he availed himself 
 of the opportunity thus presented, emharked in the 
 vessel, and, happily, landed in Nantes. This caused 
 indescribable joy to St. Vincent, who had already given 
 up these two fathers as lost, believing them to have 
 been involved in the general massacre of Limerick. 
 Although these good priests escaped from that general 
 massacre, the congregation paid its tribute to the per- 
 secution, and a lay-brother of the Order, named Lee, 
 being discovered by the heretics, was brutally put to 
 death by them before the eyes of his own mother : his 
 hands and feet were first amputated, and his head was 
 then bruised to atoms." * 
 
 12. In addition to the Father O'Higgins whose 
 happy martyrdom we have already commemorated, 
 there was another holy priest of the same name put to 
 death in 1641, by that worse than Gothic persecutor, 
 Sir Charles Coote. JNaas had been for many years the 
 scene of Father O'Higgins's evangelical labours ; and 
 we are informed by Clarendon and Borlase that, on the 
 first outburst of popular fury in 1641, he had preserved 
 the life of very many English Protestants who were 
 living in the neighbourhood, concealing them in his 
 church, and afterwards sending them safe to Dublin. 
 
 We shall give, in the words of Lord Clarendon, the 
 account of his arrest and execution : " In the town of 
 Xaas, some of the soldiers (of the Marquis of Ormonde) 
 found Mr. Higgins, who might, 'tis true, have easily 
 fled, if he had apprehended any danger in the stay. 
 
 * These particulars are taken from the acts of the Order, and a 
 letter of St. Vincent to Lambert, the Superior of Warsaw, on 22nd 
 March, 1651 (styl. vet.). 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 399 
 
 When he was brought before the marquis he volun- 
 tarily acknowledged that he was a Papist, and that his 
 residence was in the town, from which he refused to fly 
 away with those that were guilty, because he not only 
 knew himself very innocent, but believed that he could 
 not be without ample evidence of it, having by his sole 
 charity and power preserved very many of the English 
 Protestants from the rage and fury of the Irish ; and, 
 therefore, he only besought the marquis to preserve 
 him from the violence of the soldiers, and put him 
 securely into Dublin to be tried for any crime. Which 
 the marquis promised to do, and performed it, though 
 with so much hazard, that when it was spread among 
 the soldiers that he was a Papist, the officer into whose 
 custody he was entrusted was assaulted by them, and it 
 was as much as the marquis could do to relieve him 
 and compose the mutiny. 
 
 " When he came to Dublin he informed the Lords 
 Justices of the prisoner he had brought with him, of 
 the good testimony he had received of his peaceable 
 carriage, and of the pains he had taken to restrain 
 those with whom he had credit from entering into re- 
 bellion, and of many charitable offices he had per- 
 formed, of which there wanted not evidence enough, 
 there being many then in Dublin who owed their lives 
 and whatever of their fortunes was left, purely to him ; 
 so that he doubted not he would be worthy of protec- 
 tion. Within a few days after, when the marquis did 
 not suspect the poor man's danger, he heard that Sir 
 Charles Coote had taken him out of prison and caused 
 him to be put to death in the morning before, as 
 soon as it was light ; of whose barbarity the marquis 
 
400 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 complained to the Lords Justices ; but so far were they 
 from bringing the other to be questioned, that he found 
 himself to be under some disadvantage for thinking 
 that proceeding to be other than it ought to have 
 
 been." 
 
 Thus far Lord Clarendon, in his History of the Irish 
 Rebellion. We learn from De Burgo that the day of 
 his death was the 23rd of March, 1642 : his constancy 
 in suffering, and the heavenly joy depicted in his coun- 
 tenance, moved many of the heretics to tears ; others, 
 however, redoubled their fury on witnessing his calm 
 composure — nor did they cease their insults even after 
 his death. His mortal remains were denied sepulture 
 within the city, and as the friends of the martyred 
 priest were carrying his corpse to a cemetery outside 
 the walls the partisans of the Lords Justices shattered 
 his lifeless head with their muskets. (De Burgo ex 
 Actis Capit, Gen. 1644, p. 561.) 
 
 13. Dr. John O'Cullenan, Bishop of Raphoe, belonged 
 to a family that had r^iven many illustrious ornaments to 
 the Church. His brother James was Abbot of Asseroe, 
 in the county of Donegal, and died, at the venerable 
 age of ninety-five years, in 1637. His uncle, Gelasius, 
 who was Cistercian Abbot of Boyle, suffered torture, 
 imprisonment, and death for the faith under Queen 
 Elizabeth. Dr. O'Cullenan was appointed Bishop of 
 Raphoe in 1625, but in consequence of the difficulties 
 and dangers which then beset the clergy was unable to 
 receive consecration till 1629. The diocese had suffered 
 a great deal from the English and Scotch sectaries. 
 There were only sixteen priests to minister to the wants 
 of the faithful, and so completely had the inhabitants 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 401 
 
 been exterminated that scarcely seven hundred Catholics 
 of any note could be found in the whole diocese. At the 
 very outset of bis episcopate Dr. O'Cullenan had been 
 arrested and thrown into prison in Dublin for three 
 months for exercising his episcopal functions. In 1643, 
 however, he suffered still greater hardships at the hands 
 of the Puritans. With a number of the Catholics of 
 Donegal he was thrown into prison, and notwithstand- 
 ing the promise that their lives would be saved, seventy- 
 two of his companions were led out and put to the 
 sword. The soldiers threatened him also with death. 
 In the absence of the officer they led him out to the 
 brink of the river, and told him to choose death by 
 shooting or by drowning. He desired that he should 
 not be thrown into the river, and remonstrated with 
 them on their breach of faith in putting to death those 
 who had done them no injury, and to whom life had 
 been promised. This only excited their rage the more 
 and they resolved to despatch him at once. Kneeling 
 down, and with his arms outstretched in the form of a 
 cross, and with his eyes fixed on heaven, he calmly 
 awaited the death-stroke. Three of the soldiers levelled 
 their loaded matchlocks to shoot him, but all that they 
 could do failed to ignite the powder. They then cried 
 out that he was " a devil, guarded by charms, enchant- 
 ments, and hellish superstition," and prepared their 
 pikes to despatch him. At that moment, however, 
 Colonel Askin came up and commanded them to desist. 
 The bishop was then conducted to Londonderry, where 
 he was thrown into a foul dungeon, from which the 
 very light of day was excluded, and there he suffered 
 extreme hardship from cold, hunger, and thirst for four 
 
402 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 years. Repeatedly his liberty and high honours were 
 offered to him if he would apostatise, and when he re- 
 plied that though they gave him the whole world " he 
 would never forsake God or Holy Church, out of which 
 there is no salvation, and against which all the powers 
 of hell can never prevail," they told him that death 
 would be his reward. He owed his release to the great 
 victory of Owen Roe O'Neill at Benburb in 1647. 
 During the Cromwellian usurpation he lived in exile in 
 the Convent of the Regular Canons of St. Augustine 
 at Brussels, and there closed his days in peace on 24th 
 March, 1661. His remains rest in the Chapel of Our 
 Lady in the Cathedral of SS. Michael and Gudule in 
 that city. 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 403 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Individual Cases of the Persecution {continued). 
 
 Hugh M'Mahon executed in London in 1643. — "2. Death of Fergall 
 Ward.— 3. Of Cornelius O'Brien.— 4. Of Christopher Ultan.— 
 
 5. Of Malachy O'Queely, Archbishop of Tuam, and his chaplain. — 
 
 6. Of Denis Nelan.— 7. Of T. Carighy.— 8. Of Felix O'Neill.— 9. Of 
 Heber Mac Mahon, Bishop of Clogher. — 10. Of Arthur Magennis, 
 Bishop of Down and Connor. — 11. Of Connor Mac Guire, Lord of 
 Enniskillen, tried in London and executed in 1644 ; his piety 
 and attachment to the Catholic Faith ; prayers. — 12. Letter of A. 
 Nugent, Capuchin. — 13. Richard O'Connell, Bishop of Kerry. — 
 14. Fr. O'Sullivan. 
 
 1. Hugh M'Mahon, the head of his most noble family 
 in Ulster, being arrested in Dublin in 1641, was sent 
 to London, and after a close confinement there for two 
 years was led to the scaffold ; being first hanged, his 
 body was cut into quarters and affixed on London 
 Bridge. Before execution the Parliamentarians more 
 than once sent to him offering him his life and the 
 restitution of all his property, should he only consent to 
 renounce his spiritual allegiance to the Church of Rome ; 
 he heroically disdained this vile offer, and thus passed 
 to a better life in 1643. 
 
 2. Fergall Ward was a native of Ulster, and a mem- 
 ber of the order of the strict observance of St. Francis. 
 He was renowned for his eloquence and for his zeal in 
 the exercise of the sacred ministry. In 1642 he was 
 
404 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 seized by a cruel and barbarous pirate, a Scotchman, 
 named Forbes, who kept six vessels in the service of 
 the Puritans, and chiefly infested the banks of the 
 Shannon. In the third month after his arrest he was 
 hanged from the masthead in odium fidci, in the very 
 centre of the river Shannon, where the pirate then lay 
 in wait for some prey, about the end of October, 1642. 
 
 3. Cornelius O'Brien, the Lord of Caringh, in the 
 county of Kerry, a man of great hope to his family and 
 his country, was arrested by the piratical bands of the 
 same Forbes, in the castle of Glanens, which was 
 situated on the banks of the Shannon, and was the pro- 
 perty of John Geraldine. Being conducted to their 
 vessels, threats and promises were alike employed in 
 vain to induce him to abandon the Catholic faith. He 
 was therefore led out to execution, and on the same day 
 with Father Ward, and by a similar death, attained 
 the martyr's crown. Both were hanged at the same 
 time, one at each extremity of the masthead, and sub- 
 sequently, at full tide, the ropes being cut, their bodies 
 were cast into the river. 
 
 4. Christopher TJltan (or Donlevy). — This father of 
 the Order of St. Francis, after completing his studies 
 in Spain, for many years preached with great fervour 
 the sacred truths of the Gospel in the province of 
 Ulster. He was concealed with Father Ward at the 
 time of his arrest, and shared in his captivity. The 
 Puritan pirate Forbes, anxious to supply a bloody feast 
 to the London mob, sent Father Ultan a prisoner to 
 England ; for three years he was detained a captive in 
 Newgate (London), and there subjected to many 
 cruelties; his constitution yielded to the severity of 
 
PERSECUTION OP THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 405 
 
 the prison, and lie expired, before being led to the 
 scaffold, in the year 1644. 
 
 5. Malachy O'Queehj, Archbishop of Tuam. — This 
 prelate governed the See of Killaloe for some years as 
 vicar-apostolic, and on the 10th of October, 1630, was 
 consecrated Archbishop of Tuam in a private chapel at 
 Galway by Dr. Thomas Walsh, Archbishop of Cashel.* 
 All contemporary historians agree in extolling the 
 virtues of Dr. Queely. No one was more humble or 
 fervent in the discharge of his sacred duties, whilst at 
 the same time no one was more active and energetic 
 during that period of extreme peril to his religion and 
 country. He was the father, and protector, and advo- 
 cate of the poor, and the widows, and the oppressed ; 
 and he was eminently distinguished for his learning 
 and hospitality. He accompanied the Connaught army 
 when it achieved many brilliant victories in 1645, but 
 at length, being mortally wounded, he fell into the 
 enemies' hands at a place called Clare, near Sligo. The 
 Puritans first cut off his right arm, and then cruelly 
 mangled his body, cutting it up into small pieces. f Fr. 
 Thaddeus Conald or O'Connell, chaplain of the Arch- 
 bishop, shared his fate. He was an Augustinian being 
 enrolled in the Order in Galway, and had held many 
 posts of high dignity in the Irish province. His hands 
 were cut off and his body lacerated, and thus he attained 
 
 * His professio fidei and the letter of Dr. Walsh announcing his con- 
 secration are preserved among the Wadding MSS. 
 
 * Hardiman's Hist, of Galway, who gives the letter of the contem- 
 porary Dr. John Dowley, also Bruodin and others. For a sketch of 
 his life, see Collections on Irish Church History, vol. i, p. 402. 
 
 27 
 
406 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 his crown (manibus abscissis, vulneribus confossus, 
 triumphali martyrio coronatur. Ehius). 
 
 6. Denis Nelan, was a priest of the Order of St. 
 Francis, and descended from noble parents in the county 
 Limerick. Before entering the Franciscan Order he was 
 for many years parish priest of Kilragty, and his labours 
 produced an abundant spiritual harvest. From 1642 
 to 1651 these labours were happily continued by him 
 as a Franciscan father, till at length Limerick became 
 a prey to the Puritan strangers. With many others, 
 Father Denis fell into their hands, being arrested in 
 the house of his relative, Mr. Laurence Neherenny. 
 With his hands tied behind his back, he was led along 
 like a convicted robber to the island of St. Cunan, where 
 was then the heretical camp. The whole way along he 
 fervently exhorted the heretical soldiery to attend to 
 their eternal salvation ; and when interrogated by the 
 commander whether, renouncing the doctrines of Rome, 
 he would subscribe the Puritan tenets, he courageously 
 replied that he had long anxiously sighed for an occa- 
 sion when he might lay down his life for the Catholic 
 faith, and he not only would never renounce its saving 
 doctrines, but was ready, moreover, to endure a thou- 
 sand torments in its defence. These words were scarcely 
 uttered when the surrounding soldiers, erecting a tem- 
 porary gallows, hanged him on the spot. 
 
 7. Thadeus Carighy made his solemn profession among 
 the religious of the Franciscan convent of Inish, and 
 filled the whole district of Thomond with the odour of 
 his virtues. In 1651 he was arrested by the Crom- 
 wellians in the neighbourhood of his convent, and was 
 tempted with the promise of riches and dignities should 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 407 
 
 he renounce the Catholic faith ; but neither allurements 
 nor tortures could turn hirn aside from the path of 
 virtue, and, by order of his captors, he was immediately 
 hanged and his body barbarously mangled. 
 
 8. Felix O'Neill, an illustrious prince of the noble 
 family of O'Neill, was captured by heretical device and 
 sent to Dublin in 1652 ; he was first half-hanged, and, 
 whilst yet alive, was quartered. His head was stuck 
 upon a spike at the western gate of the city, and his 
 quarters were sent to different parts of the kingdom to 
 be set on stakes, in order to terrify the Catholics. Before 
 this brave champion of the cross was led to the scaffold, 
 the heretics offered him his life and the restoration of 
 his property should he consent to embrace the Puritan 
 tenets. These offers, however, were made in vain, and 
 the thrice happy Felix chose rather the eternal felicity 
 that awaits the true soldiers of Christ than the fading, 
 deceitful joys of this transitory world. 
 
 9. Heber Mac Mahon was a scion of the princely 
 family of the native princes of Monaghan. His 
 father had taken an active part and proved himself a 
 brave soldier in all the battles of the northern chieftains 
 against Elizabeth. Heber was born in the year 1600, 
 and, proceeding to the Continent at an early age, pur- 
 sued his ecclesiastical studies at Douay. He was sub- 
 sequently for some years superior of the Irish College 
 at Louvain, and was appointed, in 1637, Yicar- Apostolic 
 of his native diocese of Clogher. Soon after his return 
 to Ireland the agents of the English Government re- 
 ported that he and others of the clergy were carrying 
 on negotiations with Cardinal Richelieu for the French 
 invasion of Ireland An order was issued for his arrest 
 
408 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 but he succeeded in concealing himself for a time till 
 the storm had passed. The Archbishop of Armagh was 
 less fortunate, and was led a prisoner to Dublin, where 
 he was detained till the rumoured treasonable negotia- 
 tions were found to be groundless. Dr. Mac Mahon was 
 appointed Bishop of Down and Connor in 1642, but 
 before his consecration was in the following year trans- 
 lated to Clogher, for which see he was consecrated with 
 great pomp in the presence of the members of the 
 Supreme Council at Kilkenny. On the death of Owen 
 Roe O'Neill, in 1649, great dissensions prevailed among 
 the Irish officers. At length, in March, 1650, all 
 united in requesting the Bishop of Clogher to assume 
 the supreme command of the Ulster army. In the 
 hope of preserving union he yielded to their request, 
 and was at once confirmed in this command by Ormonde, 
 as representative of the royal authority. For some time 
 success attended the Irish arms. Several castles and 
 strongholds were taken from the enemy ; and a great 
 part of Ulster was freed from the Puritan army. Elated 
 with their success, several of the Irish leaders returned 
 to their homes, and only a small select body remained 
 with the Bishop- General in Letterkenny. Coote marched 
 his army to attack them, and, concealing a portion of 
 his troops, led the Irish to underrate his strength. In 
 the battle which ensued, on the 21st of June, 400 Irish 
 soldiers were slain, and many more were killed in the 
 pursuit. Dr. Mac Mahon and his troop of cavalry cut 
 their way through the enemy, but two days after were 
 attacked unawares by the garrison of Enniskillen. Dr. 
 Mac Mahon with his own hand struck down several of 
 his assailants ; but being at length wounded, he suf - 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 409 
 
 rendered on the promise of quarter. Captain King, the 
 Governor of Enniskillen, who was subsequently raised 
 to the peerage with the title of Yiscount Kingston, 
 treated his prisoner with great kindness, and expressed 
 the greatest admiration as well for his heroism, in the 
 field as for his piety and constancy in prison. Twice 
 he contrived to evade the order which was sent him to 
 have the bishop put to death, and, at Dr. Mac Mahon's 
 request, he permitted an Irish priest to visit him and 
 to administer the last sacraments to him. At length, 
 in the beginning of July, 1650, an imperative order 
 arrived from Coote that the Popish bishop should be 
 forthwith hanged. Dr. Mac Mahon, who was unable to 
 walk, being still suffering from his wound, was drawn 
 on a hurdle to the place of execution. He there with 
 tears asked pardon of any whom he might have offended, 
 and continued for some time in prayer. He then ad- 
 dressed the assembled crowd at considerable length in 
 the Irish tongue, in which he was most eloquent, ex* 
 horting them to constancy in their present trials, and, 
 having again prayed for a little while, joyfully died for 
 the faith. Dr. Lynch, whose MS. narrative I have 
 followed, expressly attests that his death was ordered 
 by Coote through hatred of our religion, in odium 
 fidei, and contrary to the promise of quarter which 
 had been given. The head of the martyred bishop was 
 spiked on the tower of the castle of Enniskillen, where 
 it remained for many years a trophy of Puritan impiety, 
 but his body was conveyed by the Catholics to Devenish 
 Island, and was there with due honour interred under 
 the shadow of the oratory of St. Molaise. 
 
 10. Arthur Magennis, Bishop of Down and Connor. — 
 
410 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 Few dioceses in Ireland contributed more martyrs from 
 its hierarchy than the ancient see of Down and Connor. 
 Under James I., and again under Charles I., we find its 
 bishops laying down their life for their flock. During the 
 persecution of Cromwell, it not only shared with Clogher 
 the glory won for the Irish Church by the heroism and 
 fortitude of Heber Mac Mahon, but merited, moreover, 
 to have its own chief pastor put to death for his un- 
 flinching attachment to the Catholic faith. This was 
 Dr. Arthur Magennis. Dr. French, indeed, in his 
 Catalogue of the Irish Bishops, merely states that he 
 died at sea;* and Bruodin only adds that he was ad- 
 vanced in years, that he was, at the time, suffering from 
 a violent fever, and that he was subjected by the heretics 
 to much hardship and persecution. From Lynch's MS. 
 history and a letter of the Bishop of Clonfert, we learn 
 a few particulars regarding his death. As he suffered 
 from a burning fever, and was weighed down by years 
 and his preceding hardships, he was compelled to keep 
 to bed when sailing towards the shores of France. f He 
 was not more than a few days at sea when a parliament 
 cruiser gave chase, and, coming within range, fired into 
 the ship. The shot crashed through the bulwarks and 
 into the cabin where the bishop lay sick, and so severe 
 was the shock to his shattered constitution that he ex- 
 pired a few hours afterwards. 
 
 11. Connor Mac Guirc, Baron of Enniskillen. — This 
 
 » See De Burgo, Hib. Dom., p. 490. 
 
 t Letter, 31st Aug., 1652 : " Dunensis, proh dolor! dum hinc trans- 
 fretaret, tornienti globo non attingente, sed horribili tremendoque 
 cum sonitu sub lectulum, in quo jacebat, transeunte, deterritus ex- 
 piravit." 
 
PERSECUTIONS OF THE CATHOLICS. 411 
 
 nobleman was arrested in Ireland in 1641 ; and, after 
 the sufferings of a long impiisonment in the Tower of 
 London, was at length brought to trial in that city on 
 the 10th of February, 1644. An account of his trial, 
 written by Win. Prynne and M ^Sudigate, who conducted 
 the proceedings against him, was jniblished in Dublin, 
 1724, He was charged with high treason against King 
 Charles the First, by parties who very soon afterwards 
 brought that unhappy monarch to the scaffold. Tried 
 by men most hostile to everything Catholic and Irish, 
 Lord Connor Mac Gruire could expect no justice, and he 
 was found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged, em- 
 bowelled, beheaded, and quartered. 
 
 This sentence was carried into effect on the 20th 
 February, 1644, at Tyburn. Lord Mac Gruire's peti- 
 tion, to be allowed the assistance of a priest to hear his 
 confession, was refused. The sheriff and others made 
 several attempts to make him renounce his faith, but 
 their efforts were rejected with scorn. They even 
 endeavoured to prevent him from spending a few 
 minutes before his death in prayer, and repeatedly 
 interrupted his devotions. The sheriff even ordered 
 his pockets to be searched on the scaffold ; but nothing 
 was found in them except a crucifix and some beads. 
 
 Dr. Sibbald, a Protestant clergyman, attempted to 
 bring him over to heresy, but " he regarded not his 
 discourse" says the report of the trial, and read the 
 following words to the people : — " Since I am here to 
 die, I desire to depart with a quiet mind and with the 
 marks of a good Christian, that is, asking forgiveness 
 first of Grod, and next of the world. And I do forgive 
 from the bottom of my heart all my enemies and 
 
412 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 offenders, even those that have a hand in my death. I 
 die a Roman Catholic, and, although I have been a 
 great sinner, yet am I now, by God's grace, heartily 
 sorry for all my sins, and I do most confidently trust 
 to be saved, not by my own works alone, but by the 
 passion, merit, and mercy of my dear Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ, into whose hands I commend my spirit." 
 
 The sheriff after this repeatedly interrupted 
 Mac G-uire in his devotions, " but," adds the narrative, 
 " all this while his eye was mostly upon his papers, 
 mumbling over something out of them to himself, 
 whereupon one of the sheriffs, demanding those papers 
 of him, he flung them down." 
 
 We copy so Tie of the prayers which were found 
 written on the supposed treasonable papers then seized 
 on by the sheriff : 
 
 " Into Thy hands I commend my spirit ; Thou hast 
 redeemed me, Lord God of truth ; Thou hast created 
 me, my God ; Thou hast redeemed me, most holy 
 Father. I am all Thine ; let Thy will be done in 
 me ; illuminate mine eyes that I may never sleep in 
 death. 
 
 " Mary, mother of grace, mother of mercy, do thou 
 protect us from the enemy, and receive us in the hour 
 of death. 
 
 " holy archangels, and my angel guardian, my 
 patrons, and all the saints of heaven, intercede for me, 
 and help me by your prayers and merits . 
 
 " Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that Thou art my 
 God and my Redeemer, and I firmly believe whatsoever 
 Thy holy Catholic Church propounds to be believed, 
 and profess that I will live and die in this faith. 
 
Persecution of the catholics. 
 
 413 
 
 " It grieves me that I have offended so great good- 
 ness, and it grieves me that I can grieve no more for 
 my offences committed against Thee, my Creator and 
 Saviour, in thought, word, and deed, and by omission, 
 and I humbly beseech Thee to pardon me by Thy 
 blood, which Thou hast poured out for my salvation, 
 and if I have forgot anything which hath offended Thy 
 Majesty, or do not know it, I desire to know it and 
 repent it. 
 
 " And, in the meantime, I ask forgiveness of all, and 
 likewise for Thy sake do, from my heart, pass by all 
 offences whereby others have offended me. Also I pray 
 them to forgive me, and, if I have detained anything 
 from any man, my heirs shall make restitution to them 
 to whom it is due." 
 
 When, at length, the sheriff gave the final order 
 for execution, Lord Mac Gruire said : " I do beseech all 
 the Catholics that are here to pray for me, and I be- 
 seech God to have mercy on my soul." Such is the 
 account of the death of this truly Christian nobleman, 
 which has been handed down to us by his enemies and 
 executioners. His faith, and courage, and patience, 
 render him equal to the martyrs of the first cen- 
 turies. 
 
 12. Fr. Anthony Nugent, of the Order of Capuchins, 
 gives some interesting details in the following letter, 
 dated from Waterford, the 23rd of June, 1651 : — 
 
 u Since it pleased Divine Providence to give victory 
 to the Puritans on every side, we are scattered > each one 
 seeking, as best he can, to evade the search of our 
 enemies, and, as these have all Ireland now in their 
 hands (with the exception of Limerick — which, how- 
 
414 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 ever, is closely besieged — and of Galway and Athlone, 
 which will certainly fall during the summer), no eccle- 
 siastic can anywhere appear in public, for neither by 
 reward nor intercession can the Puritans be induced to 
 tolerate any priest in the country. 
 
 " On account of this I was compelled to abandon my 
 brother and Westmeath, where all the Franciscans 
 of Multifarnan were scattered, and especially those 
 that had remained in their monastery. I then passed 
 into Meath, where I remained some time. Being re- 
 cognised, however, I fled to Dublin, where I lived as a 
 gardener, until all the Catholic citizens were expelled 
 from the city. I then went to Kilkenny, where I found 
 our father Fiacre and other priests and religious in 
 prison, for whom our lay-brother John provides by 
 soliciting alms. As my assistance was not needed in 
 Kilkenny, where there were several religious and 
 priests, I hastened to the city of Ross, where there was 
 no priest, but where there is an abundant spiritual 
 harvest. 
 
 " Having terminated a mission there I came to "Wa- 
 terford, where the harvest was still more abundant, the 
 city being far more populous, and scourged with the 
 plague. I am here alone for six weeks, attending to 
 the wants of the poor and of the rich, and it is my in- 
 tention to remain here until the sword or the plague 
 shall terminate my"career. 
 
 " I had no confessor until God sent an English priest 
 to this city : returning from Spain to England he was 
 forced to enlist by the Parliamentarians, who were 
 ignorant of his being a priest, and being sent into 
 Ireland to join the Puritan army here, he effected 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 415 
 
 his escape, and now lies concealed in the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 " I pass freely through the city, acting as the gar- 
 dener of the greatest heretic in the place : I work also 
 as a porter in carrying burdens. Should God grant me 
 a continuance of this happ}' tranquillity I will remain 
 here ; if, however, I am recognised, I shall, if possible, 
 go on to Dungarvan and Youghal, and so make the 
 circuit of Ireland until freed from the toils of this 
 life. 
 
 " Father Gregory is at a distance of about fifteen or 
 twenty miles from me ; but as he is well known in the 
 city and weighed down with years, he cannot come to 
 me ; neither can I go to him on account of the great 
 scarcity of priests here, all the clergy haying been 
 banished from the city. I pray you to present my love 
 to each of our fathers. I would write to many of them 
 were it not that the letter-carrier is on the point of 
 starting. I beseech you to be mindful of me in your 
 prayers, and when you hear of my death write to 
 Flanders, where the Holy Sacrifice will be offered for 
 rae. ,, 
 
 13. Richard O'Conald (or, as the name is now written 
 O'Connell) was at this time Bishop of Kerry. Born at 
 Ballicard, near Yalentia harbour, about the year 1575, he 
 applied himself with assiduity to the preparatory studies 
 at those Catholic schools which, in the remote parts of 
 the country were kept open, despite the edicts of Eliza- 
 beth, and subsequently proceeded to Spain to cultivate 
 the higher branches of sacred science. Ue completed 
 his studies in Rome, and, being there promoted to the 
 priesthood and invested with the Faculties of Vicar- 
 
416 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE 
 
 Apostolic for his native diocese, he returned to Ireland 
 and laboured with untiring zeal to root out abuses and 
 to promote the practice of virtue. He built for himself 
 a house in a solitary spot in the wood of Mucross, at the 
 foot of Mangerton, bordering on the famed Loch-Leane, 
 and he continued to reside there after his promotion to 
 the episcopate of Kerry in 1643. Many persons flocked 
 thither to approach the sacraments and to receive from 
 him counsel and instruction, and none went away with- 
 out being edified, instructed, and consoled. In the 
 year 1648 that whole district was ravaged by a body of 
 Puritan troops, and his house was plundered and burned 
 to the ground. On this occasion an Anglo-Irish con- 
 vert named John Morley gave memorable proof of 
 fidelity and earnest attachment to the Faith. Being 
 led from Protestantism to the Catholic Church by the 
 exhortations of the bishop, he chose for himself a resi- 
 dence in the neighbourhood of Mucross, and married 
 there an Irish lady, although she could not speak a 
 word of Euglish and he could only master a few words 
 of Irish. On the approach of the Puritan soldiers, the 
 bishop consigned all his household goods to his care, 
 which he transferred to a small island in the lakes 
 where he hoped to evade the enemy's pursuit. He was 
 soon discovered, however, but despite threats and pro- 
 mises, persistently refused to surrender the bishop's 
 goods. The heretics then attacked the island, and 
 Morley being wounded by a musket ball, they de- 
 spatched him with their swords. When the storm sub- 
 sided, the bishop returned to labour among his flock ; 
 and, though worn out with care, and years, and infirmi- 
 ties, he was still at his post when, in 1652, the Castle 
 
PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS. 
 
 417 
 
 of Ross, in Kerry, was captured by the Puritan troops. 
 He was arrested by the enemy, and the few cows which 
 were his only support were carried off. Moved to com- 
 passion by his extreme misery and many infirmities the 
 Governor of Ross allowed him to live at a friend's 
 house in Killarney, which, for this intent, was made 
 his prison. Full of merits, after a lengthened martyr- 
 dom, he expired there in 1653, and his remains were 
 interred amid the ruins of the Franciscan monastery of 
 Loch-Leane. Of two secular brothers of Dr. O'Conald 
 it is recorded that they were remarkable for their piety. 
 One of them named Moruch (Maurice) was accustomed 
 to kneel down frequently every day, even in the fields, 
 to raise his thoughts and affections to heaven ; and it 
 was whilst in that attitude of prayer that he was shot 
 by the enemy a short time before the bishop's demise. 
 The other brother named Cornelius was famed for his 
 penitential exercises, whilst at the same time he was 
 unbounded in his hospitality and charity to the poor. 
 He, too, was despoiled of ever3 7 thing by the heretics, 
 and died a confessor for the faith. 
 
 14. The Rinuccini MS. from which I have gleaned the 
 preceding facts, records also, under the year 1653, the 
 martyrdom of Fr. Francis 0' Sullivan of the Order of 
 St. Francis. He was a native of Kerry, and belonged 
 to that branch of the O'Sullevans whose ancestral pro- 
 perty was in the barony of Iveragh. He entered the 
 Franciscan Order in Spain, and spent many years there 
 in the exercises of the religious life. Returning to 
 Ireland about the year 1630, he was assiduous in 
 preaching and administering the sacraments, and in 
 1650 was appointed to the perilous post of Provincial 
 
418 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE PERSECUTION, 
 
 of the Order in Ireland. He was not deterred, however, 
 by the dangers that encompassed him, but in season and 
 out of season continued to exercise his sacred ministry, 
 till at length, in the beginning of 1653, he fell into the 
 hands of the heretics, by whom he was at once led out 
 to a cruel death. 
 
EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES. 419 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Examples of wholesale Massacres perp etrated by 
 the Puritans. 
 
 1. Pamphlet printed in London in 1662 gives details of massacres in 
 several districts.— 2. In Antrim— 3. In Derry— 4. At Newry, in 
 Down. — 5. i n Donegal. — 6. In Monaghan.— 7 . In Cavan. — 8. In 
 
 Meath 9. In Westmeath.— 10. In Louth.— 11. In Dublin.— 12. In 
 
 Kildare.— 13. In Wicklow.— 14. In Kilkenny.— 15. In Tipperary. 
 16. In Cork.— 17. In Waterford.— 18-21. In Clare, Galway, Lei- 
 trim, and Sligo. 
 
 1. In the year 1662, was published in London a 
 pamphlet, entitled A Collection of some of the ?nassacrea, 
 8fc, committed on the Irish in Ireland, since the 23rd of 
 October, 1641. The author more than once appeals to 
 the testimony of officers yet living, who had been eye- 
 witnesses of the dreadful deeds which he narrates, and 
 no one has ever dared to question his veracity. It will 
 suffice for us to give verbatim those portions of the 
 pamphlet which record the wholesale massacres in some 
 of the various counties of Ireland. It is to be remarked 
 that Lynch, in his MS. History of the Irish Bishops, 
 written in 1672, praises this pamphlet as an accurate 
 and most truthful narrative. Curry, also, in his His- 
 torical Review (p. 409, sec. 9), gives copious extracts 
 from it, and commends " the author's frequent, candid, 
 
420 
 
 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 and public appeals to things openly transacted, and to 
 enemies themselves, then living." 
 
 " County of Antrim, a.d. 1641-2. 
 " 2. About the beginning of November the English 
 and Scotch forces in Knockfergus murdered, in one 
 night, all the inhabitants of the Island-Ma gee, to the 
 number of about 3,000 men, women, and children, all 
 in nocent persons, at a time when none of the Catholics 
 of that country were in arms.* Mr. Mac Naughten 
 
 * Protestant writers have often called in question this massacre of 
 Islancl-Magee. It is, however, attested in the very " Depositions " 
 of T.C.D., though otherwise so bitterly hostile to the Irish. From 
 this unquestionable authority it appears that the actors in this terri- 
 ble deed of blood were Scotsmen from beyond the river Bann, and 
 from the neighbourhood of Ballymena. These " Depositions," as was 
 to be expected, lessen very much the number of those who were put 
 to death, but they leave no doubt as to the massacre. '1 hus, Bryan 
 Magee deposed that about the 8th of January, 1641-2, tie was living 
 in his father's house in Island-Magee, when "nine of the family were 
 murdered by twenty persons, reputed Scotchmen;" and he further 
 attests that in the house of the next neighbour, " Daniel Magee and 
 ten other persons were killed on the same day." So also Elizabeth 
 Gormly deposed that she saw Bryan Boye Magee followed by the 
 drummers of the garrison of Carrickfergus, " on the Monday after the 
 great murder." Mr. Skimmin, in his Hidory oj Carrickfergus, p. 44, 
 states that the massacre took place on the night of Sunday, January 
 8th, 1642, when some persons, " attached to the garrison of Carrick- 
 fergus, sallied out to the neighbouring district of Island-Magee, and 
 cruelly massacred a number of inoffensive Roman Catholic inhabitants." 
 He adds : " The oral history of the parish says, the massacre began 
 at a small rivulet, at the entrance of the parish from Carrickfergus 
 which has ever since from that circumstance been called Slaughter- 
 ford." It is added, on the same authority, " that some of the Catholics 
 were driven over the Gabbon, a dreadful precipice on the S.E. of the 
 island, and that several of them were preserved in a corn kiln by an 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 421 
 
 built a small fortress in the said county, to pre- 
 serve himself and his followers from outrages, until he 
 un derstood what the cause of the then rebellion was ; 
 as soon as Colonel Campbell came near with part of his 
 army, he sent to let him know that he would come to 
 him with his party, which he did ; and they were next 
 day murdered, to the number of eighty. About the 
 same time, one hundred poor women and children were 
 murdered in one night at a place called Balliaghurn, 
 by direction of the English and Scotch officers, com- 
 manding that country. 
 
 " About the same time, Captain Fleming, and other 
 officers of the said regiment, commanding a party, 
 smothered to death two hundred and twenty women 
 and children in two caves. And about the same time 
 also, the said Captain Cunningham murdered about 
 sixty-three women and children in the isles of Ross. 
 
 " It was likewise in 1 641 that the Governor of Letter- 
 kenny gathered together, on a Sunday morning, fifty- 
 three poor people, most of them women and children, 
 and caused them to be thrown off the bridge into the 
 river, and drowned them all. 
 
 inhabitant of the name of Hill, some of whose descendants still re- 
 side in the parish." In the month of May, 1642, a body of Irish 
 troops, who had formed an entrenched camp near Ballymena, surren- 
 dered on quarter ; but were, nevertheless, all put to death with the ex- 
 ception of three or four, who saved themselves by flight. See Warr 
 of 1641, by an English Officer, p. 24. This narrative gives several other 
 instances of such murders after quarter being given. Thus, page 30, 
 when Con Oge O'Neill surrendered on quarter at Clonish, and was 
 being led away by the guard, a minister came behind him and shot 
 him dead. Again, at the battle of Letterkenny, the officers and 
 men of the Irish army that got quarter were, by the Commander 
 Coote's orders, shot or cut to pieces. Ibid., p. 128. 
 
 28 
 
422 
 
 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 "In ^November, the same year, one Reading, murdered 
 the wife and three children of Shane O'Morghy, in a 
 place called Ballykenny, of Rameltan, and after her 
 death, cut off her breasts with his sword. 
 
 "In 1641 and 1642, the garrisons of Raphoe, Drombo, 
 Lifford, and Castle Ragheen, slaughtered no less than 
 one thousand five hundred of the poor neighbouring 
 inhabitants, never in arms ; and three persons were 
 chiefly noted among them for their barbarous cruelty, 
 by name, James Graham, Henry Dungan, and Robert 
 Cunningham, commonly called 'the killer of old women.' 
 About two thousand poor labourers, women, and chil- 
 dren of the barony of Tirbu, were massacred by the 
 garrisons of Ballashany and Donegal ; and Lieutenant 
 Thomas Poe, an officer among them, coming under 
 colour of friendship to visit a neighbour that lay sick 
 in his bed, and to whom he owed money, carried a dagger 
 under his cloak, which, whilst he seemed to bow towards 
 the sick man in a friendly manner, asking how he did, 
 he thrust it into his body, and told his wife he should 
 be no longer sick." 
 
 " County of Berry. 
 " 3. In 1641, some three hundred men, women, and 
 children of the Irish, having freely come under the 
 protection of the garrison of Londonderry, were stripped, 
 plundered, and killed by the said garrison. 
 
 " County of Down (a.d. 1641). 
 
 " 4. The burgesses and inhabitants of the town of 
 Newry, meeting the English army on their march to 
 besiege the castle of the said town, were received into 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 
 
 423 
 
 protection, and after quarter given to the garrison of 
 the said castle, the said inhabitants, and the soldiers of 
 the town, to the number of five hundred and upwards, 
 men, women, and children, were brought on the bridge 
 of Newry, and thrown into the river, and such of them 
 as endeavoured to escape by swimming were mur- 
 dered.''* 
 
 » The following account of this butchery at Newry, written by 
 Sir James Turner, an English officer who was present, more than 
 justifies the statement in the text : " In the woods of Kilwarning we 
 encountered some hundreds of the rebels, who after a short dispute 
 fled. These who were taken got but bad quarter, being all shot 
 dead. This was too much used by both English and Scots all along 
 in that war. . . . Then we marched straight to Newry, where the 
 Irish had easily seized on his Majesty's castle, wherein they found 
 abundance of ammunition, which gave them confidence to proclaim 
 their rebellion. The fortification of .the town being but begun, it 
 came immediately into our hands ; but the rebels that were in the 
 castle kept it two days, and then delivered it up upon a very ill- 
 made accord, or a very ill-kept one ; for the next day, most of them 
 with many merchants and tradesmen of the town, who had not been 
 in the castle, were carried to the bridge and butchered to death, 
 some by shooting, some by hanging, and some by drowning, without 
 any legal process ; and I was verily informed afterwards that several 
 innocent people suffered. Major-General Munroe did not at all ex- 
 cuse himself from^being accessory to that carnage nor could he purge 
 himself of it, though my Lord Conway was the principal actor. 
 Our soldiers, who sometimes are cruel, for no other reason but be- 
 cause man's wicked nature leads him to be so, seeing such pranks 
 played by authority at the bridge, thought they might do as much 
 anywhere else ; and so ran upon a hundred and fifty women or there, 
 abouts, who had got together in a place below the bridge, whom they 
 resolved to massacre by killing and drowning, which villainy the 
 sea seemed to favour, it being then flood. Just at that time I was 
 speaking with Munroe, but seeing afar off what a game these godless 
 rogues intended to play, I got on horseback and gallopped to them 
 with my pistol in my hand ; but before I got to them they had 
 
424 
 
 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 " County of Donegal. 
 
 " 5. In 1641, about the 20th of November, Sir Wil- 
 liam Stewart commanded the gentry and inhabitants of 
 that county to join with his forces in opposition to the 
 rebels, and, accordingly, they came to the place ap- 
 pointed, where Captain Cunningham, with a party of 
 the said Sir William's regiment, under pretence of 
 incorporating with them, fell upon the inhabitants with 
 his armed soldiers, and killed very many of them, 
 among whom were Owen Mac Sweeny, Morris O'Farey, 
 and Donagh O'Callan, gentlemen of quality and estate." 
 
 " County of Monaghan. 
 "6. In 1641, Captain Townsley, governor of Magher- 
 nackle, killed four labourers and a woman, being under 
 protection. Captain Bromwell, Governorj of Clones, 
 meeting upon the road with Mark Charles O'Connolly, 
 a gentleman living under his protection, caused him to 
 be shot to death. The soldiers of the garrisons of 
 Dundalk and Trim killed no less than five hundred 
 innocent persons, women and children, in that county. 
 The armies of Munroe and the Lagan, in their several 
 marches through the same county, slaughtered about 
 two thousand poor old men, women, and children. 
 
 despatched about a dozen; the rest I saved." (Memoirs of his ovm 
 Life and Times, by Sir James Turner, 1632-1670. Published at Edin- 
 burgh 1829, p. 20). 
 
 The narrative of the Irish Warr of 3641. by an English Officer, p. 
 27, names as one of the sufferers, " one O'Deery," of whom it relates, 
 that though shots were fired at him on the bridge yet the bullets 
 harmed him not, so that the soldiers wounded him with their swords 
 and then threw him into the river. 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 
 
 425 
 
 " In 1652, Colonel Barrow, of Cromwell's army- 
 having taken an island defended by Lieutenant- Colonel 
 Patrick Mac Mahon, after killing the said Lieutenant- 
 Colonel and his soldiers, put all the women and children 
 to the sword, to the number of eighty, among whom 
 a child of six years old being spared by the soldiers, 
 was killed by order of the said Colonel Barrow." 
 
 " County of Cavan. 
 
 "7. In 1642, Mark de la Pool, an English gentle- 
 man, having taken lands in that county, some years 
 before the war, invited several of his friends to come 
 out of England and live with him, who were all mur- 
 dered in their houses by the army, with the exception 
 of the said De la Pool, who was brought into the town 
 of Cavan, and there hanged, for no other reason but 
 their being Roman Catholics, and living among the 
 Irish. Sir Alexander Godven and his lady, both 
 Scotch, but Roman Catholics, each of them above 
 seventy years old, were plundered of their goods, and 
 stripped naked, and their sons, and tenants, and servants 
 murdered. In the same year the English forces in this 
 county drowned six hundred men, women, and children, 
 in and about Butler's-bridge." 
 
 " County ofMeath (a.d. 1642). 
 " 8. In April, Mrs. Eleanor Taaffe, of Tullaghanoge, 
 sixty years old, and six women more, were murdered 
 by the soldiers of the garrison of Trim ; and a blind 
 woman, aged eighty years, was encompassed with straw 
 by them, to which they set fire, and burned her. The 
 same day they hanged two women in Kilbride, and two 
 
426 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 old decrepit men, who begged alms of them. Mr. 
 Walter Dulin, an old man, unable to stir abroad many 
 years before the war, was killed in his own house : and 
 Mr. Walter Evans, a justice of the peace and quorum, 
 an aged man, and bedrid of the palsy, was carried in 
 a cart to Trim, and there hanged by the governor's 
 orders. 
 
 " Many ploughmen were killed at Philbertstown. 
 Forty men, women, and children, in protection, reap- 
 ing their harvest in Bonestown, were killed by a troop 
 of the said garrison ; who, upon the same day, killed 
 Mrs. Alison Read, at Dunshaughlin, being eighty-nine 
 years old, and forty persons more, most of them women 
 and children. 
 
 " About seventy men, women, and children, tenants 
 to Mr. Francis McEvoy, and under protection, were 
 killed by Greenvill's soldiers ; and one hundred and 
 sixty more in the parish of Rathcoare, whereof there 
 was one aged couple, blind for fifteen years before. 
 Captain Sandf ord and his troop murdered, in and about 
 Mulhussy, upwards of one hundred men, women, and 
 children, under protection ; and caused one Connor 
 Breslan to be stuck with a knife into the throat, and so 
 bled to death. Also one Eleanor Cusack, one hundred 
 years old, was tied about with lighted matches, and so 
 tortured to death in Clonmoghon. James Dowlan, 
 about one hundred years old, Donagh Comen, Darby 
 Dennis, Roger Bolan, and several other labourers and 
 women, to the number of one hundred and sixty, 
 making their harvest, were slaughtered by the garrison 
 of Trim. 
 
 " About the month of April, the soldiers under the 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 427 
 
 said Greenvill's command killed in and about Navan 
 eighty men, women, and children, who lived under 
 protection. Captain Wentworth and his company, 
 garrisoned at Dunmo, killed no less than 200 protected 
 persons in the parish of Donamore, Slane, and the 
 adjoining baronies. Forty-two others and eighteen in- 
 fants were killed at Dorinanstown. A woman, under 
 protection, was, by Captain Morroe's soldiers, put into 
 the stock of a tuck-mill, and so tucked to death, in 
 the town of Steedalte. Lieutenant Ponsonby put two 
 aged protected persons to death at Downastone, each of 
 them about eighty years old. Captain Morroe caused 
 about an hundred protected persons, men, and women, 
 and children, to be put to death in the barony of Duleek. 
 Many thousands of the poor inhabitants of this county 
 were destroyed in the furze by fire, and the rest, for 
 the most part, perished by famine." 
 
 " County of Westmeath. 
 "9. In 1642, Mrs. EUis Dillon, of Killenennin, 
 having the Lords Justices' protection for herself and 
 tenants, their wives and children, they were all killed 
 by soldiers under Sir Michael Earnley's command." 
 
 c< County of Louth. 
 
 " 10. In the month of February, 1641, about three 
 hundred poor people were cruelly slaughtered in the 
 wood of Derrner, by a party of the garrisons of Dundalk 
 and Tredath. In the beginning of March, about three 
 hundred other farmers and labourers, with their wives 
 and children, were massacred by a party of the garri- 
 sons of Dundalk and Tredath, in the Redmoore of 
 
428 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 Branganstown. About the same time Captain Charles 
 Townsley and Lieutenant Faithful Townsley, with a 
 part of the English army and garrison of Dundalk, 
 slaughtered, at Dunmoghan, two hundred and twenty 
 inhabitants of several villages, commanded by the 
 officers of the said army, who live in that place for 
 their greater security. A party of the said garrison 
 of Tredath and Dundalk killed above two hundred per- 
 sons in the Castle of Heaghstown, after quarter given. 
 One Anthony Townsley hanged Mr. Dromgole of Drom- 
 golestown, at his own gate. The said Townsley hanged 
 upwards of thirty men and women going to the mar- 
 kets of Dundalk and Tredath, on a tree, commonly 
 called eight mile bush, midway between the said towns. 
 
 " In 1642 a party of horse and foot of the garrison 
 of Tredath killed and burned in the furze above one 
 hundred and sixty men, women, and children, of the 
 inhabitants of Termonfeighkin, within three miles of 
 Tredath ; no less than one thousand of the poor inhabi- 
 tants of that county were massacred." 
 
 <( County of Dublin. 
 "11. About the beginning of November, 1641, five 
 poor men, coming from the market of Dublin, and 
 lying that night at Santry, were murdered in their beds 
 by Captain Smith, and their heads brought next day 
 in triumph into the city. This occasioned Luke Netter- 
 ville and others to write to the Lords Justices to know 
 the cause of the said murder ; whereupon their lordships 
 issued forth a proclamation that within five days the 
 gentry should come to Dublin to receive satisfaction. 
 Before, however, these five days expired, Sir Charles 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 429 
 
 Coote came out with a party, plundered and burned the 
 town of Clontarf, killing sixteen of the townsmen and 
 women, and three sucking infants. 
 
 " In the same week fifty-six men and women of the 
 village of Belloge, being affrighted at what was done 
 at Clontarf, took boats and went to sea to shun the fury 
 of a party of soldiers gone out of Dublin, under the 
 command of Colonel Craff ord , but being pursued by 
 the soldiers in boats, were overtaken and thrown over- 
 board. 
 
 " In March a party of horse, of the garrison of Dun - 
 soghlin, murdered seven or eight poor people in pro- 
 tection, tenants of Mr. Dillon, of Huntstown, having 
 quartered in their houses the night before, and receiving 
 such entertainment as the poor people could afford. 
 About the same time a party of English quartered at 
 Malahide, hanged a servant of Mr. Robert Boynes at 
 the plough, and forced a poor labourer to hang his own 
 brother ; and soon after they hanged fifteen of the in- 
 habitants of Swords, who never bore arms, in the 
 orchard of Malahyde ; they likewise hanged a woman 
 bemoaning her husband, who was hanged amongst 
 them. 
 
 " In the same year, after quarter given by Lieutenant- 
 Colonel Gibson to those of the castle of Carrickmain, 
 they were all put to the sword, being about 350, most 
 of them women and children ; and Colonel Washington, 
 endeavouring to save a pretty child of seven years old, 
 carried him under his cloak ; but the child, against his 
 will, was killed in his arms, which was a principal 
 motive of his quitting that service. 
 
 "In April, 1642, one Nicholas Hart, and fourteen 
 
430 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 labourers, going with corn to the market of Dublin, 
 and having a pass, were all murdered on the road by a 
 party commanded by Lord Lambert. The same day 
 eighteen villages in protection, the farthest within six 
 miles of Dublin, were plundered and burned, and to 
 the number of 400 men, women, and children were 
 cruelly massacred. About the same time a party of 
 the garrison of Swords, having brought in thirty poor 
 labourers, forced them to dig their own graves, and 
 then killed them ; the sheriff, too, of the county, killed 
 sixteen persons coming from the market of Dublin. A 
 party under the command of Colonel Crafford murdered 
 140 women and children in Newcastle and Coolmain 
 being under protection. Many thousands more of the 
 poor people of that county, shunning the fury of the 
 soldiers, fled into thickets of furze, which the soldiers 
 usually set on fire, killing as many as endeavoured to 
 escape, or forcing them back again to be burned ; the 
 rest of the inhabitants, for the most part, died of 
 famine. It is to be remarked that no less than twelve 
 thousand of the poor inhabitants of that county were 
 cruelly massacred the first year of the war." 
 
 " County of Ki Ida re. 
 " 12. In 1641, Captain Thomas Hughes, having 
 summoned thirty-three contributors to meet him at 
 Hedgestown, caused them all to be murdered. The 
 soldiers of Clongowes Wood and Rathcoffey, yielding 
 upon quarter, were conveyed to Dublin, and hanged 
 there, and upwards of 150 women and children were 
 found in the said places murdered. It is well known 
 that the common people of that county were, for the 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 
 
 431 
 
 most part, destroyed and slaughtered by the English, 
 insomuch that there were not so many left as could 
 gather the twentieth part of the harvest." 
 
 " County of Wtcklow. 
 " 13. In October, 1641, three women and a boy were 
 hanged on the bridge of jNewragh, by command of Sir 
 Charles Coote. Mr. Daniel Conyan, of Glenealy, aged, 
 and unable to bear arms, was roasted to death by Cap- 
 tain Gee, of Colonel Crafford's regiment ; and in the 
 marches of '41, '42, and '43, the English army killed 
 all they met in this county. In the usurper's time, 
 Captain Barrington, garrisoned at Arklow, murdered 
 Donagh O'Daly, of Kilcarrow, and more than 500 
 others who had been received into protection by him- 
 self ; and it is well known that most of the common 
 people were murdered." 
 
 " County of Kilkenny. 
 " 14. The English soldiers of the garrison of Bal- 
 linakil, in 1641, burned an old woman of ninety years 
 of age in her own house in Idough. In the following 
 year the same garrison massacred 180 men, women, 
 and children, who were cutting their corn in that 
 neighbourhood. They also dragged Mr. Thomas Shee 
 out of his own house, with five of his servants, and 
 hanged them all at Ballinakil." 
 
 " County of Tipperary. 
 " 15. On the 24th of October, 1641, one Browne and 
 Captain Peasely murdered eleven men, women, and 
 children in their own houses at Golden Bridge, before 
 
432 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 any of the Catholics took up arms in that county. 
 About the same time the said Captain Peasely, going 
 through Clonoulty, Philip Ryan, a peaceable gentle- 
 man and owner of the said town, came out of his house 
 to salute the captain, who pulled out his pistol and shot 
 the harmless gentleman dead at his own door. These 
 murders occasioned the rising of the gentry and inhabi- 
 tants of that county." 
 
 " County of Cork. 
 
 "16. In Condon's country (1641), above 300 la- 
 bourers, women, and children were murdered by some 
 of the now Earl of Orrery's soldiers. Fifty-six per- 
 sons, or thereabouts, were subsequently brought prison- 
 ers to Castle Lyons and put into a stable ; there their 
 beards were burned, as well as the hair of their heads, 
 which so disfigured them that their nearest friends 
 could not know them next day when they were hang- 
 ing. 
 
 "In 1642, in the same county, 355 persons were 
 murdered with clubs and stones, being in protection. 
 Mr. Henly, an English gentleman, dwelling in Roche's 
 county, but a Roman Catholic, had his wife and children 
 barbarously stripped, and most of his tenants inhumanly 
 murdered by adjacent English garrisons, and such cruelty 
 was used that they stabbed young infants and left them 
 so half dead on their mother's dead carcases. In this 
 said Henlystown, and the adjacent villages, at that time 
 there were murdered about 900 labourers, women, and 
 children. 
 
 "In 1643, Cloghlegh being garrisoned by the Irish, 
 and surrendered upon quarter of life to Sir Charles 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 433 
 
 Vavasour, they were all inhumanly murdered, and the 
 hearts of some of them pulled out and put into their 
 mouths ; and many other massacres were committed the 
 same time there upon women and children. At Lislee, 
 twenty-four men in protection were murdered by 
 Colonel Mynn's soldiers. At Bellanere eight poor 
 labourers were killed by Captain Bridge's men whilst 
 in protection and engaged in saving the harvest of the 
 English. 
 
 "In 1642, at Clonakilty, about 238 persons were 
 murdered, of which number seventeen children were 
 taken by the legs by soldiers, who knocked out their 
 brains against the walls. This was done by Forbes's 
 men and the garrison of Bandon Bridge. At Gar- 
 anne, near Boss, Connor Kennedy, who had protection 
 for himself and his tenants to save their harvest, were 
 murdered by the garrison of Boss as they were reaping 
 their corn. 
 
 " In 1641, the garrison of Bandon Bridge tied 
 eighty- eight Irishmen of that town back to back, and 
 threw them off the bridge into the river, where they 
 were all drowned. Patrick Hackett, master of a ship 
 in Waterford, when the Duchess of Ormonde was de- 
 sirous to be conveyed to Dublin, left her safe, with 
 her family and goods there, and received from the 
 Lords Justices and Ormonde a pass for his safe return ; 
 but being driven by a storm into Dungarvan, he and 
 his men were hanged by direction of the commander-in 
 chief there, notwithstanding that he produced the said 
 pass. 
 
 " The English party of this county burned O'Sulle- 
 van Beare's house in Bantry, and all the rest of that 
 
434 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES 
 
 county, killing man, woman, and child, and turning 
 many into their home, then on fire, to be burned 
 therein, and among others, Thomas de Bucke, a cooper, 
 about eighty years old, and his wife, who was almost 
 as aged/' 
 
 H County of Waterford. 
 " 17. In Decies' country, the neighbouring English 
 garrison of the county Cork, after burning and pillag- 
 ing all that county, murdered above three thousand 
 persons,men, women, and children, and led one hundred 
 labourers prisoners to Caperquine (Cappoquin) where 
 being tied by couples, they were cast into the river and 
 were made sport of to see them drowned. This was be- 
 fore any rebellion began in Munster." 
 
 " Comity of Clare. 
 u 18. In 1644, forty families in protection were mur- 
 dered by the garrison of Inchicronan ; and in 1646, 
 several residing near Bunratty were murdered by the 
 soldiers of that place, who were under command of 
 Lieutenant Adams.' 9 
 
 " County of Gahcay. 
 " 19. In 1642, Sergeant Redmund Burke and two 
 more were hanged by the then governor of the fort of 
 Galway. A party of the garrison, too, murdered six 
 people in Einveel, among whom one Geoffry Fitz- 
 Thibot, aged about seventy years, and in a burning 
 fever. 
 
 " 1652 and 1653. It was a usual practice with 
 Colonel Stubbers, then Governor of Galway, and others 
 commanding in said county, to take the people out of 
 
PERPETRATED BY THE PURITANS. 435 
 
 their beds at night and sell them for slaves to the In- 
 dies : and by computation he sold out of said county 
 above 1,000 souls." 
 
 " County of Leitrim. 
 " 20. 1641. It was commonly known to all sides how 
 cruel the Governor of Mannor Hamilton (Sir Frederick 
 Hamilton) was in that county, and how he usually in- 
 vited gentlemen to dine with him, and hanged them 
 after dinner, and caused their thighs to be broken with 
 hatchets before execution. " 
 
 u County ofSUgo. 
 "21. There is none at this time who can give an exact 
 account of the murders committed in this county, with 
 the exception of one remarkable instance in Creane's 
 Castle, in the town of Sligo. The Irish had a party 
 numbering about 200 men, commanded by Major 
 Richard Burke, and after obtaining quarter to march 
 away, they were all murdered in cold blood." 
 
436 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Act of Settlement. 
 
 I. Hopes of the Catholics that Charles II., at the Restoration, would 
 remember their merits to his father.— 2. These hopes disappointed. 
 —3. Sufferings of Catholics by Act of Settlement, in 1660.— 4. Lord 
 Clare's description of its injustice. — 5. Claims for property exa- 
 mined in London where bribery prevailed. — 6. The Lords Justices : 
 the Black Act. — 7. Compensation to Protestant merchants who 
 had lent money to carry on war against the king. — 8. To Crom- 
 well's soldiers.— 9. To his officers. — 10. Perfidy of the men thus 
 rewarded. — 11. New persecutions. — 12. Dr. Plunket; Dr. O'Reilly. 
 — 13. Remark of M'Geoghegan. 
 
 1. In the month of May, 1660, Charles the Second, 
 amid the acclamations of his subjects, returned to the 
 throne of his ancestors. This restoration of the legiti- 
 mate sovereign, it was hoped, would terminate the mis- 
 fortunes of Ireland. The whole nation had shared his 
 fathers sufferings, and had combated to the last for the 
 royal cause. Even when exiled to France they signa- 
 lised themselves by their loyalty ; and when, through 
 political combinations, the English monarch was com- 
 pelled to seek an asylum in the Low Countries, thither 
 he was followed by the Irish regiments, though all his 
 other subjects abandoned him. This fidelity won for 
 them the admiration and esteem of the continental na- 
 tions, and the prince himself after his restoration publicly 
 acknowledged their loyalty and services, and declared 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 437 
 
 that they were on that account deserving of his special 
 "protection, favour, and justice?'* 
 
 2. The hopes, however, that were awakened by these 
 promises were soon blighted, and the sunshine of royal 
 justice never cheered the desolate homes of the Irish. 
 Dr. John Lynch, in 1662, dedicating his Cambrensis 
 Eversas to Charles II., exclaims : " Alas ! the words of 
 the poet, ( sorrow is mingled with joy,' are not mere 
 poetry ; for while your other kingdoms are delirious 
 with joy, Ireland alone grieves and mourns, groaning 
 deeply, and ever reiterating her plaint, 'Lo, in this 
 peace is my bitterness most bitter:' others enjoy 
 security, but we are still oppressed with a load of cala- 
 mities brought on by that peace. For laws and civil 
 contentions more savage than the sword grind us to the 
 dust ; and, after narrowly escaping the sword of our 
 enemies, we are now the victims of their enactments.'' f 
 
 3. On the first announcement of the restoration of 
 the king the Cromwellian settlers were filled with alarm, 
 and agents were at once despatched by them to the 
 monarch to represent the Irish Catholics as rebels, ill 
 affected to the cause of order and royalty. Whilst the 
 royal ears were dinned with these representations, the 
 severest ordinances lately made against the Irish Roman 
 Catholics were strictly executed. " They were not allowed 
 to pass from one province to another on their ordinary 
 business ; many of them were imprisoned ; their letters 
 were intercepted ; their gentry were forbidden to meet, 
 and thus deprived of the opportunity of choosing agents 
 
 * See the address of Charles II. to both Houses of Parliament on 
 27th July, 1650, and again on 30th November, the same year. 
 + Camb. Evers. Epist. Dedicat., p. 6. 
 
 29 
 
438 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 or representing their grievances. No sooner had the 
 king arrived in London than he was obliged to publish 
 a proclamation for apprehending and prosecuting all 
 Irish rebels, and commanding that adventurers, soldiers, 
 and others who were possessed of their manors, houses, 
 or lands should not be disturbed in their possessions 
 until legally evicted, or his majesty by advice of Par- 
 liament should take further order therein. "* 
 
 It was on the 30th of November, 1660, that the 
 famous Act of Settlement was published at Whitehall. 
 It professed to have for its object the execution of his 
 majesty's gracious declaration for the settlement of Ire- 
 land, and for the satisfaction, at the same time, of the 
 several interests of adventurers, soldiers, and others, 
 his subjects there ; and after reciting the rebellion, the 
 enormities committed in the progress of it, and the 
 final reduction of the rebels by the king's English and 
 Protestant subjects, proceeded by one general sweeping 
 clause to vest in the king, his heirs, and successors, all 
 estates, real and personal, of every kind whatsoever in the 
 kingdom of Ireland which at any time from the 21st of 
 October, 1641, had in any way been seized by the 
 crown or allotted " to any person or persons for ad- 
 ventures, arrears, reprisals, or otherwise ; or whereof 
 any soldier, adventurer, or other person was in posses- 
 sion for or on account of the rebellion.' 1 
 
 4. Lord Clare, in his famous speech in Parliament 
 on the Union, after quoting these words of the Act, 
 continues : — 
 
 "Having thus in the first instance vested three- 
 
 • Leland, Hist, of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 410. 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 439 
 
 fourths of the land and personal property of the inha- 
 bitants of the island in the king, commissioners were 
 appointed, with full and exclusive authority, to hear 
 and determine all claims upon the general fund, whether 
 of officers and soldiers for arrears of pay, of adventurers 
 who had advanced money for carrying on the war, or 
 of innocent Papists, as they are called — in other words, 
 of the old inhabitants of the island who had been dis- 
 possessed by Cromwell, not for having taken a part in 
 the rebellion against the English crown, but for their 
 attachment to the fortunes of Charles the Second. But 
 with respect to this class of sufferers, who might na- 
 turally have expected a preference of claim, a clause 
 is introduced by which they are postponed after a 
 decree of innocence by the Commissioners until pre- 
 vious reprisal shall be made to Cromwell's soldiers and 
 adventurers who had obtained possession of their in- 
 heritance. I will not detain the House with a minute 
 detail of the provisions of this Act thus passed for the 
 settlement of Ireland ; but I wish gentlemen, who call 
 themselves the independent Irish nation, to know that 
 seven millions eight hundred thousand acres of land 
 were set out, under the authority of this Act, to a 
 motley crew of English adventurers, civil and military, 
 nearly to the total exclusion of the old inhabitants of 
 the island. Many of the latter class who were inno- 
 cent of the rebellion lost their inheritance as well from 
 the difficulties imposed on them by the court of claims 
 in the proofs required of their innocence as from a 
 deficiency in the fund for reprisal to English adven- 
 turers. ,, 
 
 The Act of Settlement pretended to exclude the 
 
440 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 betrayers of the Munster garrisons, but a clause was 
 added allowing them to retain their debenture lands if 
 they should prove that they had rendered some service 
 to the Crown. The only fault that could never be re- 
 paired or pardoned was to be an Irish Catholic pre- 
 tending to some portion of his native land, held in 
 possession or coveted by an Englishman. Hence 
 " Colonel Widnam, the betrayer of Youghal, could 
 securely look down from the towers of Castletown 
 Boche, where Lord Roche's ancestors had for ages fixed 
 themselves, and behold the ancient owner, descended of 
 a long line of loyal forefathers, and his orphan daughters, 
 wandering in beggary and slavery below."* 
 
 5. Such was the royal " protection, justice, and favour," 
 shown to the Catholics of Ireland. f The examination 
 of all claims was, indeed, summoned before the Govern- 
 ment in London, and deputations were sent thither 
 from both sides The Protestants, however, took the 
 precaution to send £30,000 with their deputies for 
 immediate distribution, whilst other sums were sent 
 directly to the chief members of the court. Of course 
 the decisions were, almost without exception in favour 
 of the Puritans. The English judges had, many of 
 them, a special interest in the confiscation of the Irish 
 lands, besides the prejudices they had conceived against 
 the old Irish themselves. " The Irish," writes Leland, 
 
 * Prendergast, p. 194. 
 
 + Dr. Lynch, in Cambrensis Eversus, vol. iii., p. 135, writes, in 
 1662 : — ** The Irish, though guilty of no crime against the Crown, 
 were, nevertheless, on the solicitation of the English Parliament, 
 branded by him as rebels, and condemned to an unprecedented for- 
 feiture of their property." 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 441 
 
 " had neither money nor friends ; the English nation 
 regarded them with horror. The council, before whom 
 they were to appear, knew little of the conduct of indi- 
 viduals who deserved favour, and were ready to involve 
 them all in the general guilt of massacre and re- 
 bellion."* 
 
 6. Among those who were admitted to the king's 
 favour was Lord Broghill, though he had proved him- 
 self, under the Commonwealth, a most determined 
 enemy of the Royal cause and a most relentless perse- 
 cutor of the Irish Catholics. His father, the Earl of 
 Cork, having amassed an immense property, was the 
 first of the Irish Protestant proprietors to insert in 
 leases that no portion of their land should be held by any 
 Papist. Broghill himself, throughout the whole period 
 of the Confederate War, was particularly active in 
 putting the Catholic clergy to death, and made it a rule 
 to give no quarter to the Irish Catholics. Being up- 
 braided with this cruelty, he replied that he did not 
 know what was meant by quarter. After the battle of 
 Knocknaclashy, in which Viscount Muskerry with the 
 Munster army was defeated, in July, 1652, Broghill 
 wrote to the Speaker, giving an official account of the 
 battle : — " "We had a very fair execution for above three 
 miles, and indeed it was bloody, for I gave orders to 
 kill all." In England he was known to be one of the 
 most active and prominent supporters of Cromwell, and, 
 as a member of the Select Committee, he, on the 11th 
 of April, 1 657, offered the Crown to Cromwell in the 
 Palace of Whitehall. Seeing, however, how the cur- 
 rent had changed in favour of the restoration of the 
 
 * History of Ireland, vol. iii., p. 424. 
 
442 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 monarchy, he put himself forward as a champion of 
 that cause, and hence high honours were conferred on 
 him by King Charles. He was created Earl of Orrery, 
 was sworn of the Privy Council of England and Ire- 
 land, and appointed Lord President of Munster. 
 
 When the Irish Catholics petitioned to be restored 
 to their estates, the king appointed a commission in 
 London to hear their agents and adjudicate upon their 
 claims, and Broghill, now Lord Orrery, was appointed 
 on that commission. Sir Nicholas Plunkett, speaking on 
 the part of the petitioners, referred to the loyalty of the 
 Irish Catholics and the losses they had sustained for 
 the Royal cause, but Broghill asked him had not he 
 signed the declaration of the Supreme Council against 
 Lord Ormonde, and had he not solicited aid from the 
 Duke of Lorraine, and, when an answer was given in 
 the affirmative, he added : — u Are these men, who have 
 offered to give away a kingdom from his Majesty, likely 
 to prove good subjects." The Commission were only 
 too well disposed to adopt Broghill's sentiments The 
 king, accepting their decision, declared that the peti- 
 tioners deserved all they had suffered, and that their 
 estates should not be restored to them, and, adding in- 
 sult to injury, expressed his astonishment at their au- 
 dacity, appearing before him with so much guilt upon 
 their consciences. Thus the enemies of the Catholics 
 enjoyed an easy triumph. Was there no one to ask 
 who it was that had kept alive the war against the 
 king in Munster and had offered the crown and king- 
 dom to Cromwell ? 
 
 Lords Justices were appointed to administer the Go- 
 vernment in Ireland, and, with the Lord Chancellor,. 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 443 
 
 were associated, in this office, the two most truculent 
 enemies of the Irish Catholics, Lord Broghill and 
 Sir Charles Coote, now adorned with their new titles of 
 Earl of Orrery and Earl of Mountrath. Such were the 
 men selected by Lord Ormonde and by the king to 
 show fair play to the Catholics of Ireland. No wonder 
 that, guided by these counsellors, the king would deny 
 every favour to the Irish Catholics, whilst he confirmed 
 to the Protestant Church all its former privileges, and 
 bestowed on it, in addition to the 300,000 acres of land, 
 which it held before 1641, a further grant of 20,000 
 acres, the property of Irish Catholics. 
 
 Under the rule of these Lords Justices a Parliament 
 was convened and met in Dublin on the 8th of May, 
 1661. To the House of Commons there was but one 
 Catholic Member returned : so thoroughly had the 
 Catholic farmers been swept away from the country 
 districts, and so completely had the cities and boroughs 
 passed into the hands of aliens. It was, in fact, a 
 Parliament of Cromwellians, who, as a matter of 
 course, sanctioned the declaration made by the king in 
 favour of the "new interest/' and confirmed the ene- 
 mies of the Catholics in all their pretended rights. 
 Such was the famous Act of Settlement, an Act which, 
 in so far as it rests upon the vote of this Parliament, 
 has not a shred of title of justice, or law, or equity to 
 commend it. It was very much the case of submitting 
 to a party of bandits, the question whether or not the 
 booty they had stolen should be restored to the victims 
 whom they had plundered. In the House of Lords 
 some opposition was given to the measure by the Earl 
 of Kildare and other noblemen, but most of the Catho- 
 
444 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 lie Peers were silenced by the intimation that they 
 were outlawed in 1641 and could not vote, as their out- 
 lawry had not been reversed. By this rule the Earls 
 of Fin gall and Castlehaven, the Viscounts Gormanston, 
 Netterville, Magennis, Fermoy, and Muskerry, with 
 Lords Slane, Trimblestown, Louth, Dunboyne, and 
 others, were obliged to quit the House. The Court, 
 partly with the aid of the Lord Justices and partly 
 through the vote of the Protestant bishops gained an 
 easy triumph, and the law was passed, which practically 
 barred all further investigation into the confiscated 
 estates. This Act the Poman Catholics called the Black 
 Act, whilst it was styled by the Cromwellian settlers 
 the Magna Charta of Irish Protestants. Thus was the 
 sanction of the legislature and the monarch's approba- 
 tion given to the confiscation of Ireland and to the 
 ruin of the Irish families. 
 
 7. Those to whom the possession of all that was 
 worth cultivating in Ireland was thus secured, were 
 divided into three classes. The first class comprised the 
 adventurers, who had been merchants and citizens of 
 London, and, in the eighteenth year of Charles I. had 
 advanced considerable sums for the reduction of Ireland. 
 This money, however, was applied by the rebellious 
 Parliament to the raising of an army against the king, 
 and this application of the money was subsequently ap- 
 proved of by the adventurers themselves, assembled at 
 Grocers' Hall in London. This was no secret, and it 
 was plain to the world that these adventurers had no 
 title to the lands from which the Catholics had been 
 driven, and yet, notwithstanding their crimes aud the 
 invalidity of their titles, they were upheld in their un- 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 445 
 
 just possessions, and all the adventurers who, at any- 
 time, advanced money to forward the Cromwellian 
 cause, were made secure in the lands that belonged to 
 the Irish Catholics. 
 
 8. Cromwell's soldiers formed the second class. 
 They were the avowed enemies of the king, and 
 had been the cruel ministers of Cromwell's fury. 
 Twelve counties were, in 1652, distributed among 
 them, and now, as a reward for the murder of Charles 
 I., and for all their butcheries in Ireland, this donation 
 of Irish lands was solemnly confirmed to them. 
 
 9. The third class consisted of the officers who had 
 served the king before June 5th, 1649, and whose 
 arrears remained unpaid. To forty-nine of these 
 officers there were given all the confiscated lands in 
 four counties bordering on the Shannon, besides houses 
 and certain privileges in every town and city of the 
 kingdom. These officers had been the chief cause of 
 the defeat of the Royal forces, and many of them had 
 openly deserted the king's standard to join the usurper. 
 Even those were included in this class who had been 
 mainly instrumental in surrendering the Irish towns 
 and fortresses to Cromwell, and thus was the seal of 
 the monarch's approbation publicly given to all their 
 unparalleled iniquitous deeds.* 
 
 10. It was thought that, by this course, the new 
 settlers in Ireland would be conciliated to the Royal 
 
 * The Cromwellian adventurers, being secured in their estates, the 
 Government sought to create some additional friends, by allowing 
 large tracts of the land that had belonged to the Catholics, to in- 
 crease the funds of the Protestant University in Dublin, as also for 
 the erection of free Protestant schools through the country. See 
 Ireland's Case, also MacGeogh egan's History oj Ireland, p. 583. 
 
446 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 cause, but injustice can never produce fruits of grati- 
 tude or honour. When, some years later, another 
 usurper raised the standard of revolt, these Puritan 
 settlers and their children were the first to draw the 
 sword against their lawful monarch, whilst his only- 
 faithful followers were the Irish Catholics, whose 
 rights were so unjustly betrayed, and who, by this con- 
 fiscation, were deprived of the means of defending, 
 with success, the cause which they still conscientiously 
 espoused. 
 
 11. The Puritans, knowing well the nature of their 
 claims to the vast properties they had acquired, resolved 
 to perpetuate the deeds of persecution with which they 
 had hitherto pursued the Irish Catholics. "In the 
 present day," writes Dr. Oliver, " we can hardly form 
 an idea of the persecutions and sufferings that the 
 clergy of Ireland had to endure. I have seen a letter 
 of Dr. Anthony Geoghegan, Bishop of Meath, dated 
 26th of August, 1660, Ex loco nostri refugii in H Her- 
 nia, in which he says : Vivo in cavernis adhuc, sicut et 
 cceteri mece vocationis et status (I live still in the caverns 
 of the earth, as do also all other members of the 
 clergy). Truly, this exemplary clergy could say: "For 
 thee, Lord, we are mortified the whole day long." 
 (Collections, fyc, p. 246.) 
 
 12. It would be foreign to our present purpose to 
 pursue the history of all the sufferings that our clergy 
 and faithful people were compelled to endure during the 
 reign of Charles II. Many particulars connected with 
 that period may be seen in the Memoirs of the Most 
 Rev. Dr. Plunket, who died at Tyburn a martyr for the 
 Faith in 1681. The predecessor of that glorious mar- 
 
THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 447 
 
 tyr, Dr. Edmund Reilly, as he shared his dignity so 
 did he share his privations and persecutions. In a 
 letter of the 12th July, 1661, he writes to the Holy See 
 that " he was obliged to lie concealed on account of the 
 dangers that threatened the clergy on every side ; by 
 night he had to discharge those duties which should be 
 discharged by day, and he had to pass the day as though 
 it were the depth of night. The letters, too, of the Ca- 
 tholics were intercepted, not only in London, but even 
 in Dublin and Paris, by the spies of the English Go- 
 vernment." In another letter, about the same time, the 
 same archbishop states that after making the visitation 
 of some districts, an accusation was presented against 
 him "as though he were an incendiary, and engaged in 
 exciting a rebellion ; he, therefore was compelled to take 
 refuge in the caverns, where he still continues/ ' 
 
 13. All the persecutions which our Catholic clergy 
 and people were thus compelled to endure, may justly 
 be referred to the iniquitous Act of Settlement which 
 legalised the Cromwellian spoliations, and gave the 
 royal sanction to all the preceding deeds of Puritan 
 barbarity* against the Irish people. We shall conclude 
 our remarks on the iniquitous act, with the words of 
 Mac Geoghegan : — 
 
 " It is incredible to think how the king was influ- 
 enced to act contrary, not only to justice, but even to 
 the interests of his house. Princes have been often 
 
 * Priest hunting continued during the first years of Charles's reign 
 to be a favourite pursuit of the Puritans ; they even imported blood- 
 hounds from America and trained them to track to the mountain 
 caverns that sacred prey ; it is hence at that word the heart of the 
 Irish peasant yet thrills with horror. 
 
448 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 known, from motives of policy, to pardon rebellious 
 subjects, after returning to their duty and submission, 
 but to heap upon them the rich patrimonies of faithful 
 subjects by which the latter are reduced to the extreme 
 of indigence, is unexampled in history." — {Hist, of Ire- 
 land, p. 583.) 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 Letter regarding Monsignore Rinuccinis Mission to Ireland 
 in 1645, and the condition of Ireland at that time. 
 
 We insert here a letter written by one of the Nuncio 
 Einuccini's suite soon after his arrival in Ireland. It 
 gives many interesting details regarding the customs 
 of the Irish in those country districts, -which were so 
 soon to be laid waste by Puritan barbarity. From the 
 whole narrative, it appears that there was abundance 
 in the country at that time, and none of that squalid 
 poverty and misery which are now so common, though 
 we are every day told that the country is in a state of 
 great prosperity. 
 
 The original letter is in Italian, and was addressed 
 to the brother of the Nuncio in Florence. The only 
 ancient copy extant is preserved in the archives of the 
 Irish College, Koine. In 1845, this letter was com- 
 municated by the then Rector, afterwards Cardinal 
 Cullen, to the editors of the Dublin Review, who pub- 
 lished part of it in the March number, p. 219, seq. : — * 
 
 * The writer of the article in the Dublin Review is inclined to 
 believe that the author of the letter was F. Joseph Arcamoni, the 
 Nuncio's confessor. From the letter itself, however, it is sufficiently 
 evident that its author was the Dean of Fermo, the companion and 
 intimate friend of the Nuncio. 
 
450 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 "As soon as, by order of the Nuncio, I had purchased 
 at Nantes the frigate S. Pietro, his Excellency, with 
 some necessary attendants, proceeded to Rochelle, where 
 he was awaited by the secretary of the Irish confedera- 
 tion, who had given my Lord Nuncio to understand 
 that he had engaged a fleet of eight good vessels to 
 accompany him into Ireland. I remained at Nantes in 
 the meantime, to prepare some provisions and ammuni- 
 tion which, notwithstanding all the exertions of the 
 different ministers, could not be in readiness for ten 
 days. I then hastened with the frigate and the re- 
 mainder of the attendants to Rochelle, and throughout 
 I experienced the happy effects of God's protecting 
 providence, owing, perhaps, to the intercession of so 
 many devout persons who, as you more than once 
 assured me, are engaged in offering up prayers for us. * 
 We not only escaped when a parliamentary vessel 
 attempted to surprise our frigate as it lay with only a 
 few guards in the port of Painboeuf, but we were also 
 freed from the risk we were exposed to by the same 
 parliamentary vessel in the port of Sanazan ; it watched 
 all our movements there, and on our raising the anchor 
 and spreading our sails it acted in like manner and 
 pursued us for a distance of forty miles, expecting that 
 we would be met by two other parliamentary vessels 
 which were expressly cruising for that purpose in those 
 waters, and that thus it would, by following us, be able 
 to secure our capture. 
 
 u But God so arranged it that on the preceding day 
 these two parliamentary vessels were drawn off in pur- 
 suit of an Irish frigate which, however, escaped between 
 St. Malo and Nantes, and thus we enjoyed an uninter. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 451 
 
 rupted journey. We lost, however, a very favourable 
 prize which presented itself in front of the port of Olon: 
 a corsair Biscayan vessel made preparations there to 
 attack us, sailing towards us with full speed ; but when 
 we were just ready to board her she changed her course 
 and fled from us. We could have easily overtaken her, 
 but our captain very prudently deemed it better not to 
 enter on the pursuit, as we had another enemy ever fol- 
 lowing on our track. During the whole night we sailed 
 along, keeping constant guard, but on the following day 
 we found ourselves not only freed from the hostile vessels, 
 but also close to the island of St. Martin, whence, with 
 a favourable wind, after a few hours' sail we safely 
 anchored in Rochelle. I at once went in the small boat 
 to land, to salute the Nuncio who, at the Jesuits' college, 
 in great anxiety awaited my arrival, for he had heard 
 that we would run greater risks between Nantes and 
 Eochelle than between France and Ireland, and seeing 
 me he raised his hands to heaven giving thanks to God 
 and the Blessed Virgin. 
 
 M The eight vessels, of which I spoke above, had been 
 under anchor for four or five days waiting for a favour- 
 able wind, and when this at length came (as there was 
 no sign of our frigate), they set sail ; another large 
 vessel, which was well armed, and which had promised 
 to await us at all events, started on the very day that 
 we reached Rochelle, and sailed to St. Martin's, and 
 thence towards the Irish coast. We made the best, 
 however, of everything, and the Nuncio, with his usual 
 confidence in the protection of God and in the Apostolic 
 blessing, gave immediate orders to get everything in 
 readiness for our journey ; and on the very next day he 
 
452 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 went on board the frigate (though he was then afflicted 
 with a most annoying cutaneous disease), and accom- 
 panied by eighty-three persons, between passengers, 
 soldiers, and mariners, we set sail under happy auspices. 
 
 " We sailed with favourable wind during that and 
 the following day ; and as we met with no vessel of the 
 enemy, everything went on most prosperously. On the 
 third day, however, at 11 o'clock, we descried eight 
 parliamentary vessels, viz., five ships of war and three 
 frigates, which for four hours pursued us at full speed ; 
 but partly through the swiftness of our frigate, and 
 partly because they never imagined that the Nuncio for 
 Ireland could be on board our solitary vessel, they gave 
 up the chase and allowed us to continue our course un- 
 molested. On the following day, being new moon, the 
 weather changed and a storm arose ; so dense was the 
 darkness that the captain feared lest we should be driven 
 into the hands of our enemies, and hence kept to the 
 broad sea, steering as best he could not to stray too far 
 from our course. 
 
 " At daybreak our troubles increased, for we descried 
 a man-of-war and a war-frigate, which made all sail 
 towards us, and approached so near that we could clearly 
 perceive that they were commanded by a certain Plunket,* 
 who was engaged in the parliamentary service, and was 
 a most bitter persecutor of the Irish. He had the ad- 
 vantage over us as the wind was too strong for our 
 
 * Belling, in his Narrative of the Confederate War, styles this 
 piratical Plunket a noted scourge. The chase described above is men- 
 tioned by Castlehaven and others. From these authorities we learn 
 that a fire broke out in one of Plunket's vessels, which obliged him 
 to give up the chase. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 453 
 
 frigate, and the stormy sea was also favourable to his 
 large vessels ; he therefore gained ground on us so much 
 that we were obliged to cast overboard boxes, barrels, 
 butts, baskets, and such other articles. The chase com- 
 menced between the Scilly Isles arid the English Channel 
 steering towards Ireland, and lasted for nine hours, in 
 which we ran more than 115 miles ; through the bless- 
 ing of Providence the enemy never came within range 
 of our frigate, and when we cut away the fore-mast sail, 
 which made her dip too much, they gave up all hope of 
 overtaking us ; and when we feared most that we were 
 on the point of being captured, the piratical persecutor 
 gave up the chase and turned to the right towards 
 Capolien ; our captain, to whom we are much in- 
 debted, displayed surprising courage on that day, 
 animating the soldiers and passengers, and giving 
 the opportune orders to the mariners, who all acted in 
 a masterly manner. 
 
 "We sailed, as I have said, about 115 miles from 
 Capolien towards the western coast of Ireland, but so 
 far in the open sea that it afterwards occasioned us new 
 trouble, as I will mention just now. It was surprising 
 that during all this peril neither the Nuncio nor the 
 greater part of his companions experienced any alarm. 
 "Whilst his Excellency, with the greatest tranquillity, 
 encouraged all around him, we, without confusion or 
 disorder, got our arms in readiness, and having en- 
 deavoured to make an act of contrition for our sins, we 
 prepared to defend ourselves to the last drop of our 
 blood. My Lord Nuncio was always full of confidence 
 that Providence would deliver us from danger, and 
 foretold our escape. It was only when we found our* 
 
 30 
 
4)4 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 sf Ives out of peril that our hair stood on an end, and 
 that we fully comprehended the great risk we had run. 
 All, therefore, most humbly returned thanks to God, to 
 the Blessed Virgin, and to St. Anthony of Padua, whose 
 festival was on that day celebrated : the Irish were the 
 more fervent in their thanksgiving, as they had been 
 the more alarmed during the pursuit, knowing well the 
 certain death that awaited them from their most cruel 
 enemy. They therefore raised their hands to heaven 
 and embraced one another, shedding tears of tenderness. 
 
 " On the following day, as the bad weather continued, 
 as well as a high sea, we suffered some annoyance ; for, 
 owing to the tract of sea we had run when pursued by 
 the enemy, and also to our having strayed about during 
 the night, we had to labour a good deal to make out 
 where we were ; and the pilots not agreeing among 
 themselves, we had in the wide expanse of ocean to sail 
 about in search of the kingdom of Ireland, till at length 
 St. Ursula, whose feast it was, consoled us by bringing 
 us in sight of the wished-for Erin. 
 
 "Three hours after mid-day we found ourselves on 
 the western coast of the island, opposite the port of 
 Kenmare, at the mouth of the river Maire ; but as night 
 was coming on the captain did not wish to enter in, on 
 account of some rocks which were in the harbour, and 
 casting anchor he waited there till the dawn of morning. 
 As a strong land-wind, however, sprung up on the fol- 
 lowing day, it was not without difficulty that we could 
 enter the port, and as my Lord Nuncio was most anxious 
 to land, it was necessary to lower him into the small 
 boat, and he was conducted to some huts of shepherds 
 or fishermen ; and there, his usual bed being prepared 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 455 
 
 for him, he, through the blessing of (rod, rested very- 
 well during the night, which he had not been able to do 
 during the six preceding days of our voyage. On the 
 following day I went from the frigate to salute him, 
 and having found him in a poor hut, I could not refrain 
 from remarking that, as the Irish had looked forward 
 for his arrival with as much anxiety as the Jews for the 
 promised Messias, it was only meet that in imitation of 
 his Divine Master his first abode should be in the huts 
 of shepherds. I there assisted the Monsignor at Mass, 
 which he celebrated for the consolation of an immense 
 concourse of people assembled from the surrounding 
 mountainous districts ; subsequently I returned to the 
 frigate with some of the attendants of his Excellency ; 
 and on the following day he continued his journey by 
 land towards Ardtully, whilst I sailed along the coast 
 in the same direction. 
 
 " The courtesy of the poor people amongst whom my 
 lord the Nuncio took up his quarters was indescribable. 
 A fat bullock, two sheep, and a porker were instantly 
 slaughtered, and an abundant supply of beer, butter, and 
 milk was brought to him ; we who were still on board 
 also experienced the kindness of the poor fishermen, 
 who sent us presents of excellent fish and oysters ot 
 most exquisite flavour, and nothing was wanting that 
 could possibly be desired. "Whilst I went creeping 
 along in the frigate in the track of the Nuncio, I ob- 
 served a harbour about half a mile in length and a 
 pistol-shot in breadth, so very beautiful that curiosity 
 led me to take the boat and go on shore for the purpose 
 of examining the wonders of the place. In a short time 
 I was surrounded by an immense multitude of men, 
 
456 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 women, and boys, who had come running down from 
 different places in the mountains to see me ; and some 
 of them happening to observe the crucifix which I wore 
 on my breast, they all made a circle round me and kissed 
 it one after another. After this they made signs of the 
 greatest affection and friendship to me, and conducted 
 me almost perforce to one of the nearest huts, where I 
 was seated on a cushion stuffed with feathers ; and the 
 mistress of the house, a venerable old dame, sat down 
 beside me along with her daughters, and offered to kiss 
 me, according to the usage of the country ; and had I not 
 explained by signs that this would not be becoming in 
 one who bore Christ crucified on his breast, and who, 
 being a priest, accompanied the Nuncio-Apostolic, I am 
 sure they would have been offended. A large quantity 
 of most delicious milk was then brought to me in a 
 wooden vessel by the mistress of the house herself, and 
 she manifested the utmost anxiety that I should drink 
 it. As it was of a most excellent flavour, I drank 
 copiously of it, and was quite revived by the draught. 
 They all endeavoured to stand as close to me as pos- 
 sible, and those who were able to touch me considered 
 themselves happy, so that it was with difficulty I could 
 disengage myself from them in order to return to the 
 frigate ; they even determined to escort me to the very 
 water's edge, and some of the young men wished to 
 accompany me altogether. How wonderful it is that 
 in these wild and mountainous places, and among a 
 poor people who are reduced to absolute misery by the 
 devastations of the heretical enemy, I should find, never- 
 theless, the noble influence of our holy Catholic faith ; 
 for there was not one inan> woman, or child, however 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 457 
 
 small, who could not repeat the ' Our Father,' the 
 c Hail Mary/ the ' Creed/ and the commandments of 
 Holy Church. 
 
 " My Lord Nuncio, continuing his journey by land, 
 was met by many personages and gentlemen, as well as 
 by numerous detachments of troops ; for the Secretary 
 of the Council, who travelled with his Excellency, had 
 despatched messengers to various parts, announcing his 
 arrival. The first night he stopped at the strong castle 
 of Ardtully, and was entertained in a splendid manner 
 by the proprietor of the district. The Nuncio remained 
 there for two days, and then, passing over some very 
 high mountains, he journeyed on towards Macroom, 
 which belongs to Lord Muskerry, one of the chief no- 
 bility of the kingdom, being carried in a litter made, 
 as bes he could direct, of planks and cords. On his 
 arrival at that place he was received with all honours 
 by the son of that nobleman, who came out three miles 
 to meet him, accompanied by fifty armed horsemen ; 
 nearer the castle a detachment of infantry was drawn 
 up ; and farther on was a procession of all the clergy 
 secular and regular, who, preceded by the cross, came 
 to receive the Nuncio ; for the last mile he mounted on 
 horseback, and on his arrival was immediately conducted 
 to the church. An immense throng had assembled there, 
 and all fell on their knees to receive his blessing, whilst 
 they at the same time manifested their delight and con- 
 tentment. From the church his Excellency went to the 
 palace, at the entrance of which he was received by the 
 lady viscountess, in the absence of her husband, who 
 was away at the camp, or perhaps negotiating the peace 
 in Dublin ; she prostrated herself, with her children and 
 
458 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 domestics, and kissed the robe of his Excellency, asking 
 his blessing, which she received with a most marked 
 devotion. 
 
 " From Macroom, after four days, we proceeded to 
 Turasengal,* from Turasengal to Colmingh (Clonmeeri) ; 
 thence to Kilmallock ; and from Kilmallock to Lime- 
 rick, which is one of the chief cities of the kingdom, 
 situated on the banks of a large river, which is na- 
 vigable from the western coasts of the kingdom. 
 Everywhere the Nuncio was received with the same 
 demonstrations of affection and courtesy, but in Lime- 
 rick the Irish resolved to make a grand display of their 
 affection, and I was assured that they could not possibly 
 do more for any prince. Besides detachments of cavalry 
 and infantry, all the gentry of the province came to 
 greet him, and the roads were thronged with immense 
 masses of people who, falling on their knees, with open 
 arms welcomed the arrival of his Excellency and im- 
 plored the apostolic benediction. The magistrates with 
 the mayor (who governs the city) were assembled at the 
 city gate, where, having received and complimented 
 him, they made way for the clergy, who, in procession, 
 received him under a canopy, and thus conducted him 
 to the cathedral, where he imparted the apostolic bless- 
 ing. 
 
 "The bishop of this city, being eighty-two years old, 
 could not come farther than about halfway between the 
 cathedral and the city gate ; he was carried in an arm- 
 chair ; prostrating himself before the Nuncio, he could 
 
 * This was probably Dromsacene^ a strong castle on the banks of the 
 Blackwater, about fourteen miles from Macroom, and belonging to 
 the O'Keefe family. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 459 
 
 not be prevailed on to rise until he received the apos- 
 tolic blessing ; nay, more, notwithstanding all his years, 
 he had himself carried back by a shorter route to the 
 cathedral, and there presenting the cross to the Nuncio, 
 wished also to offer him the mitre and crosier, saying : 
 Ah Ecclesia Apostolica hcec recepi, nunc eadem ecclesice 
 prompte restituo. After the usual ceremonies prescribed 
 in the Ritual, his Excellency, as I have said, gave his 
 benediction to the immense multitude that was assem- 
 bled, whilst I, being authorised by him, announced from 
 the pulpit the indulgence of forty days. The mayor and 
 magistrates and nobility then accompanied him to the 
 house which was prepared as a residence for himself and 
 his attendants. 
 
 "It is certainly impossible to describe the manifes- 
 tations of reverence, affection, and courtesy of all the 
 inhabitants, and their boundless devotion to the Holy 
 Apostolic See ; and I solemnly assure you that I often 
 could not restrain my tears in seeing them fall on their 
 knees in the midst of the mire to kiss, or at least touch, 
 the garments of the Nuncio ; and when they touched 
 them, they kissed their hands, as if they had touched 
 relics ; and when they received the blessing of his Ex- 
 cellency, they returned home with hands upraised to 
 heaven, thus giving us to understand how great was the 
 consolation they experienced. 
 
 " For a good part of the road, my Lord Nuncio was 
 accompanied by a large body of cavalry and infantry to 
 protect him from any attack that the Parliamentarian 
 heretical troops might attempt ; for they still occupy 
 some strong fortresses* not far from the places through 
 
 * These were the'head-quarters of Inchiquin. 
 
460 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 which we passed ; but the all-powerful hand of God was 
 our chief protection, and the heretics never dared to 
 come out from their quarters, fearing that their retreat 
 would be cut off, as indeed would probably have hap- 
 pened. 
 
 " Oh ! now, indeed, my most illustrious dear sir, your 
 most humble dean,* being at length in Ireland, is joyful 
 and content, especially as my most illustrious master, 
 your brother, escaped so safely and so well from so many 
 dangers. I received as a happy augury what you wrote 
 to me when I was in Paris, and whilst you supposed me 
 to be in Ireland, for which I now render you my most 
 humble thanks, the more so as I know that these aus- 
 pices were accompanied with your prayers. In a word, 
 we are in Ireland, we are in Ireland ! may Grod be 
 praised ! 
 
 " The country part through which we passed, though 
 situated in a mountainous district, is agreeable ; and 
 being entirely pasture land, is most abundantly stocked 
 with cattle of every kind. Occasionally one meets a 
 long tract of valley, interspersed with groves and woods, 
 which, as they are neither high nor densely planted, 
 partake more of the agreeable than of the gloomy. For 
 seventy miles the country which we met was almost 
 entirely of this character ; but having once crossed the 
 mountains we entered upon an immense plain, occa- 
 sionally diversified with hills and valleys, highly culti- 
 vated and enriched with an infinite number of cattle, 
 
 • This passage sufficiently proves that the writer of the letter was 
 the Dean of Fenno. There are a few mistakes in the Italian text, as 
 printed in the Dublin Review, such as Sig. Nunzio for Sig. mio ; and 
 again, Sigre. for Padrone. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 461 
 
 especially oxen and sheep ; from the latter of which is 
 obtained the very finest of what is known amongst us as 
 English icool. 
 
 "The men are fine-looking, and of incredible 
 strength ; they are stout runners, and bear every sort of 
 hardship with indescribable cheerfulness. They are all 
 devoted to arms, especially now that they are at war. 
 Those who apply themselves to the study of literature 
 are most learned, and such persons are to be found of 
 every profession and in every branch of science. 
 
 " The women are remarkably tall and comely, and 
 display a charming union of gracefulness with modesty 
 and devotion. Their manners are marked by extreme 
 simplicity, and they freely mix in conversation every- 
 where without suspicion or jealousy. Their costume is 
 different from ours, and somewhat resembles the French ; 
 they moreover wear a long cloak and profuse locks of 
 hair, and go without any head-dress, contenting them- 
 selves with a kind of handkerchief, almost after the 
 Greek fashion, which displays their natural beauty to 
 great advantage. The families are very large ; there 
 are some that have as many as thirty children all liv- 
 ing, and the number of those who have fifteen to twenty 
 children is immense; and all these children are handsome, 
 tall, and robust, the majority being light-haired, and of 
 clear, white, and red complexion. 
 
 " They give most superb entertainments both of flesh 
 and fish, for they have both in the greatest abundance. 
 They are perpetually pledging healths, the usual drink 
 being Spanish wines, French claret, most delicious beer, 
 and most excellent milk. Butter is used on all occa- 
 sions, and there is no food with which a large quantity 
 
462 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 of it is not taken. Already we have all accommodated 
 ourselves to the usages of the country (but we give up 
 the language altogether on account of its great diffi- 
 culty).* There is also plenty of fruit, as apples, pears, 
 plums, artichokes, and all eatables are cheap. A fat ox 
 costs sixteen shillings, a sheep fifteen pence, a pair of 
 capons or fowls, fivepence ; eggs a farthing a-piece, 
 and so on for the rest in proportion. You can have 
 a large fish for a penny ; and game is so abundant, that 
 they make no account of it at all. Birds may almost 
 be killed with sticks, and especially thrushes, blackbirds, 
 and chaffinches. Both the salt and fresh water fish are 
 most exquisite, and so abundant that for fifteen pence 
 we bought one hundred and fifty pounds of excellent 
 fish, such as pike, salmon, herring, trout, &c, all of 
 exceeding good quality. We got a thousand pilchards 
 and oysters for twenty-five baiocchi (twelve and a-half 
 pence). 
 
 " The horses are very plenty, stout, well-built, swift, 
 and cheap ; so that for £5 you might buy a nag which 
 in Italy, could not be had for a hundred gold pieces. 
 
 " I conclude by repeating that, thanks to God, we 
 are all safe and sound in Ireland, and were it not for 
 the cutaneous disease from which my Lord Nuncio 
 suffers, we would be the happiest people in the whole 
 world. You must, therefore, pray to God for the re- 
 covery of his Excellency; for, during the past five 
 
 • The line in brackets is partially effaced. I have been able with 
 sufficent certainty to trace the words Per la lingua lasciamola which 
 are omitted in the printed text. Some of the words which follow, 
 are completely obliterated, the paper itself being corroded away. 
 We merely supply a conjectural sentence. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 463 
 
 months, he has continually suffered from it ; and now 
 I most reverently kiss your Excellency's hands, &c. 
 
 "From Limerick, the 10th November, 1645 (new 
 style)." (The copyist adds*) : — 
 
 " Die tertia mensis Februarii, 1646, 
 Fr. Ascanius Malasana scribebat." 
 
 * The printed copy presents this subscription of the copyist in a 
 most erroneous manner. It is most legibly written as given above. 
 
464 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 The Holy See and Ireland. 
 
 The many links that for centuries have united Ireland 
 with the Holy See are familiar to our Irish readers. 
 Even during the persecution of Elizabeth we find our 
 country engaging Home's special care. Pro-nuncios 
 were despatched to her shores, to guard and defend the 
 interests of the Catholic faith ; her children, who rose 
 in arms to assert her rights, received from Kome not 
 only words of encouragement but funds to aid their 
 cause; and when her clergy were persecuted and im- 
 prisoned, the Holy Father not only stretched out to 
 them an assisting hand, but by repeated briefs solicited 
 the mediation of foreign princes, that the rigour of the 
 persec ution might be relaxed, and the captives be 
 restored to liberty.* 
 
 During the period of which we treated in the pre- 
 ceding pages, at the very commencement of the strug- 
 gle of the Confederates, the saintly Scarampo was sent 
 to encourage them, and guide them by his counsels. 
 Later still, we find the Nuncio Einuccini sent on a like 
 mission, besides being the bearer of ample subsidies. 
 
 * Several of these invaluable documents may be seen in the Spicile- 
 gkim Ossoriense, vol. ii. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 465 
 
 At every stage of their momentous proceedings, letters 
 were sent from Rome to the French and Spanish 
 monarchs, as well as to the minor princes of Germany 
 and Italy, exhorting them to lend their aid to the Irish 
 nation ; whilst other letters were from time to time 
 transmitted to the bishops and the confederate leaders, 
 rejoicing with them in their triumph, condoling in 
 their afflictions, healing their dissensions, and exhort- 
 ing them to union and constancy in the cause of justice 
 and religion. 
 
 It would be easy to give further instances of the 
 solicitude of the Holy See for its faithful children ; and 
 to record the many letters of exhortation and encourage- 
 ment which were addressed to the citizens of Dublin, 
 and others, during their long struggles and sufferings 
 in the cause of religion and their king ; but we reserve 
 them for another occasion, not wishing to extend this 
 note to too great a length. 
 
 We shall merely state for the present, that, during 
 the interval of Cromwell's triumph, we find the assist- 
 ance of the Holy See bountifully given to the banished 
 clergy and people; and immediately after the restoration, 
 letters were again addressed to all the Catholic powers, 
 praying them " to commission their respective ambas- 
 sadors at the English court to defend and protect the 
 interests of the poor Catholics of Ireland, and especially 
 of the priests, who were imprisoned for the faith in 
 many parts of that kingdom."* 
 
 * Afnnche vogliano incaricare i loro ambasciadori e ministri nella 
 corte d'Inghilterra di diffendere e proteggere gl'interessi dei poveri 
 Cattolici d'Irlanda, e particolarmente dei sacerdoti carcerati per la 
 fede in diverse parti del regno." — Acts of Sac. Cong., 22 May, 1662. 
 
466 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Thirty years later, when the sword of persecution 
 was again unsheathed against the Irish Catholics, the 
 Pope was still their unflinching advocate. Remittances 
 were yearly sent from Rome to the court of St. Ger- 
 main for the relief of the Irish exiles, whilst additional 
 aid was bountifully supplied to the banished and perse- 
 cuted members of the hierarchy. In the Vatican 
 archives we find it registered that 72,000 francs were 
 then annually supplied by Rome for the support of the 
 Irish secular clergy and laity ; and on the 15th of July, 
 1698, we find an additional remittance of 23,655 livres 
 for the religious who were banished from Ireland. In- 
 structions were, moreover, sent to the Nuncios in the 
 foreign courts to give every protection and aid to the 
 Irish Catholics ; and even a jubilee was proclaimed in 
 Italy to solicit the prayers and alms of the faithful of 
 that country for our suffering people. In the month 
 of January, 1699, we meet with a list of 27,632 livres 
 received from the Holy Father, and distributed to 
 various Irish ecclesiastics who had lately taken refuge 
 in France and Belgium . In the month of February 
 there is another list of 11,832 livres similarly distri- 
 buted ; and in March, as we learn from a letter of the 
 Nuncio in Paris to Cardinal Spada (dated 9th March, 
 1699), 58,000 livres were sent by the Pope to St. Ger- 
 main, and distributed by King James to " the Irish 
 ecclesiastics then sent into exile." There is another 
 list dated from St. Germain, 29th March, 1699, which 
 we give entire. Its details must be peculiarly interest- 
 ing to our readers : — 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 467 
 
 " To Mr, Mageunis, Superior of the College 
 
 des Lombards ... . 1,200 
 
 To do. do. to be distributed amongst the 
 
 Irish Missioners ..... 1 ; 200 
 
 To Mr. Nolan, Superior of another Irish Com- 
 munity in Paris for the support of the 
 poor students in his community . . 1 000 
 
 To Mr. O'Donnell for the Irish nuns in Ipres 1,000 
 
 To the almoner of the Queen for the use of 
 the community of poor Irish girls at St. 
 Germain ...... 500 
 
 To Father Nash, an Irish Franciscan, for some 
 
 members of his Order .... 41 
 
 To various other religious .... 99 
 
 To the confessor of the Queen for a young 
 
 ecclesiastical student .... 150 
 
 To Mr. Burke, chaplain to the Queen, for an 
 
 Irish Carmelite ..... 60 
 
 Set apart for four missioners coming from Ire- 
 land 600 
 
 To a poor Irish officer who has a wife and six 
 
 children ...... 150 
 
 In all, six thousand scudi." 
 
 Again, on the 8th of June, 1699, the secretary of the 
 king, writing from St. Grermain, acknowledges the 
 receipt, from the Holy Father, " of 37,500 livres to be 
 distributed amongst his subjects persecuted for their 
 faith." 
 
 When, about the middle of the eighteenth century, 
 the enemies of Catholicity had recourse to new arts to 
 assail the time-honoured faith of our nation, and sought 
 
468 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 to poison the sources of instruction of our Catholic 
 youth, the Holy See was again ready, not only with its 
 exhortations and counsels, but also with its pecuniary 
 aid to support Catholic poor-schools through the country, 
 and from that time to the close of the century, when 
 the Pope was momentarily deprived of his states and 
 driven into exile, 1,000 Eoman crowns were annually 
 transmitted to our bishops for that purpose. 
 
 Thus were the Eoman Pontiffs at every period the 
 fathers of our country, the guardians of our persecuted 
 people, the support of our exiled clergy. " The bless- 
 ings of faith were transmitted to us by the Popes, not 
 only as the successors of St. Peter, but as sovereigns of 
 Rome ; and when an opportunity is given Catholic Ire- 
 land of making them some return, it would be strange, 
 indeed, if she did not gratefully remember the services 
 rendered in her hour of distress."* 
 
 * Rev. D. McCarthy's Collections on Irish Church History, vol. i., 
 p. 320. 
 
 7 
 
INDEX. 
 
 GENERAL PROSCRIPTION OF THE IRISH CATHOLICS BY THE 
 
 PURITANS. PAGE. 
 
 1. Lord Clarendon and others explain the designs of 
 the Puritans to exterminate the Catholics. — 
 2. Acts of Parliament and Orders of the Lords 
 Justices. — 3. Pierce spirit of Puritan Writers. — 
 4. Testimony of various historians. — 5. Conduct 
 of Tichbourne, Sir Wm. Cole, Sir Charles Coote, 
 &c. — 6. Fate of Sir Simon Harcourt and Sir 
 Charles Coote. — 7. Some instances of barbarous 
 cruelty.— 8. Dr. John Lynch describes the suffer- 
 ings of Catholics. — 9. Division of this sketch. . 19 
 
 inrt % Jrirst. 
 
 PERSECUTION OF THE CATHOLICS IN THE PRINCIPAL 
 DISTRICTS OF IRELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DUBLIN. 
 
 1. Proclamation of 1641 prohibiting the Catholic 
 Religion in Dublin ; Letter of a Capuchin. — 
 2. Sufferings of Fathers Caghwell and Fitzsimon 
 
 31 
 
470 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 and other Jesnits. — 3. Doings of Sir Charles 
 Coote. — 4. Extracts from Dr. Talbot's "Work, 
 "The Politician's Catechism." — 5. From Dr. 
 Lynch — 6. Heroism of the Clergy of Dublin — 
 7. All Catholics banished from Dublin in 1647. 
 — 8. The Plague in 1650. — 9. Fresh persecutions 
 and constancy of the Catholics in Dublin. — 
 10. Orders repeatedly issued banishing Catholics 
 from the city ; number of Catholics according to 
 Dr. Dempsey. . . . . .33 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CASHEL. 
 
 ] . Barbarity of Inchiquin at the taking of Cashel. — 
 2. Father Stapleton's death.— 3- Of Fr. Barry, 
 O.S.D. — 4. Pillage of the Cathedral, — 5. Account 
 given by Archdeacon Lynch. — 6. Narrative of Fr. 
 Saul, S.J. — 7. Sufferings of the citizens in 1654. 
 — 8. Most Rev. Thomas Walsh, Archbishop of 
 Cashel. ...... 50 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CORK. 
 
 1 . Cork surrendered to the Puritans : description of 
 the city. — 2. Sufferings and constancy of the 
 people. — 3. Heroism of the clergy. — 4. London 
 pamphlet of 1644. — 5. Lynch's narrative. — 
 6. Colonel Phayre, Governor of Cork. — 7. Two 
 devoted bishops. . . . .68 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN DROGHEDA. 
 
 1. Drogheda remarkable for its piety: besieged in 
 
INDEX. 
 
 471 
 
 PAGE 
 
 1642. — 2. A price set on the heads of the Irish 
 eaders. — 3. The garrison and citizens pnt to the 
 sword. — 4. Massacre in St. Peter's Church. — 5. 
 Details of the general massacre. — 6. Statement 
 of Fronde refuted. — 7. Quarter was promised. — 
 8. Hugh O'Reilly and Edmund O'Reilly, Arch- 
 bishops of Armagh. . . . .80 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WEXFORD. 
 
 L Massacre in Wexford in 1649. — 2. Several priests 
 and religious killed. — 3. Letter of the Bishop, 
 Dr. French, on this massacre. — 4. Extracts from 
 his Apology. — 5. Massacre of 300 females at the 
 Cross in Wexford. — 6. Savage cruelty of George 
 Cooke and Captain Bolton. — 7. Sufferings of the 
 Bishop ; fate of Cooke. — 8. Martyrdom of Rev. 
 Daniel O'Brien, Dean of Ferns, and others. . 98 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN KILKENNY. 
 
 1. The Mass not to be tolerated. — 2. Ravages of the 
 plague ; heroism of the Rev. P. Lea, and others. 
 — Treason at work : bravery of the Irish sol- 
 diers at Callan. — 4. The defence of Kilkenny. — 
 
 5. Barbarity of Axtell and the Puritan troops. — 
 
 6. The market Cross. — 7. David Rothe, Bishop 
 of Ossory. — 8. Hardships endured by the clergy. 
 — 9. Bernard Fitzpatrick, V.Gr., John Daton, and 
 others, martyrs. — 10. A curious fact. — 11. Fr. 
 Fiacre Tobin : all the clergy banished. — 12. The 
 decree rigorously enforced. — 13. The Catholic 
 citizens driven forth from Kilkenny . .112 
 
472 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN CLONMEL. 
 
 I. First assault on Clonmel, in November, 1649. — 2. PAGE 
 Cromwell baffled in his attempt to get possession 
 of the town by treachery. — 3. Heroism of Hugh 
 O'Neill and the Irish troops during the siege in 
 1650. — 4. The town surrenders on honourable 
 conditions. — 5. Cromwell's rage. — 6. The citizens 
 plundered ; Martyrdom of Fr. Mulcahy. — 7. 
 Heroism of Geoffrey Baron. — 8. Martyrdom of 
 three Dominican Fathers and others. — 9. Hugh 
 O'Neill. . . . . .145 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN WATERFORD. 
 
 I. Letter of the Bishop of Waterford, Dr. Comer- 
 ford. — 2. Defence of the city against Cromwell. 
 — 3. Plague ; Ireton occupies the city. — 4. Suffer- 
 ings of the clergy and citizens. — 5. Official state- 
 ments. — 6. Fr. Nugent. — 7. Patrick Comerford, 
 Bishop of Waterford. . . . .157 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN LIMERICK. 
 
 1. Ardour of the people of Limerick in the Catholic 
 cause; Letter of the Bishop. — 2. Citizens deter- 
 mine not to receive Ormonde; their Letter. — 3. 
 Ireton besieges Limerick ; is repulsed by Hugh 
 O'Neill. — 4. St. Vincent sends Missionaries to 
 Ireland. — 5. Their labours in Limerick. — 6. 
 Praised by Archbishop of Cashel and Bishop of 
 Limerick. — 7. Piety of Limerick. — 8. Letter of 
 Dr. O'Dwyer. — 9. Limerick taken by Ireton ; 
 several put to death, — 10. Two facts attested by 
 
INDEX. 473 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fr. Dominick O'Daly. — 11. The articles of sur- 
 render violated ; Death of the Bishop of Killaloe. 
 — 12. Fanning and others put to death. — 13. 
 Extracts from the official diary. — 14. Execution 
 of Thomas Stritch and Sir Patrick Purcell. — 
 
 15. Prophetic words of St. Vincent de Paul. — 
 
 16. The Bishop of Limerick.. . . .171 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SUFFEEINGS OF THE CATHOLICS IN GAL WAT. 
 
 1. Clanrickard appointed Lord Deputy ; the remedy 
 comes too late. — 2. Galway taken after a long 
 siege. — 3. Dr. Kir wan, Bishop of Killala's, suffer- 
 ings in his place of refuge. — 4. The enemy 
 enters Galway ; military exactions. — 5. Plunder 
 of the house of Martin Kirwan. — 6. Dr. Kirwan 
 arrested and sent into exile with other ecclesias- 
 tics. — 7. Calamities that befell the citizens. — 8. 
 Extracts from the Annals of Galway. — 9. Dr. 
 Fallon, V.G., of Achonry ; decree of banishment 
 against the clergy. — 10. Violence and brutality 
 of the troops. — 11. Some account of the Bishop 
 of Meath and other illustrious sufferers for the 
 Faith. .... .199 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 SUFFERINGS OF THE CATHOLICS DURING THE PLAGUE. 
 
 1. The Plague rages in Ireland. — 2. Puritans anxious 
 to bring on Famine and Pestilence. — 3. Pesti- 
 lence commences in the West. — 4. Heroism of 
 Father Wolf of Limerick.— 5. Of Fathers O'Cleary 
 and White in Waterford. — 6. Desolation of the 
 Country described by an English Priest-hunter 
 and others. — 7. Ireton's Death foretold by Dr. 
 O'Brien, Bishop of Emly. . . . 225 
 
474 
 
 INDEX.. 
 
 part % Sbomtr. 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PENAL LAWS ENACTED AGAINST THE IRISH CATHOLICS — GENERAL 
 STATE OF THE KINGDOM IN 1652. PAGE 
 
 1. Sad State of Ireland in 1652. — 2. Its sufferings 
 depicted by a Jesuit Writer. — 3. Destruction of 
 Religious Houses ; the Franciscans ; Testimony 
 of Dominican Chapter. — 4. Sufferings of Jesuits 
 and others. — 5. Of Nuns. — 6. Sufferings of the 
 Irish likened to those of the Jews, or those 
 described by St. Jerome .... 235 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 EDICT AGAINST THE CLERGY. 
 
 1. Forty Thousand Irish Soldiers leave Ireland. — 
 
 2. Persecution more violent after their departure : 
 Secular and Regular Clergy Exiled or Condemned 
 to Death. — 3. Severity with which this Edict was 
 carried out. — 4. Zeal of Clergy : many devote 
 themselves to the mission. — 5. Letter of Dr. 
 Burgatt, Archbishop of Cashel. — 6. Spies and 
 Informers : the same price on the head of priest 
 and wolf.— 7. Several instances of priests in 
 prison and exile. — 8. Dr. Lynch's account of 
 the persecutions. .... 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 OTHER PENAL LAWS- 
 
 1. — Confiscation of Catholic Property. — 2. Dr. Lynch 
 describes the Cruelty and Perjury of Puritans. — 
 
 3. Mock Justice of Tribunals. — 4. Parliamentary 
 Commissioners in Dublin ; Fines on all who do 
 
INDEX. 475 
 
 PAGE 
 
 not attend Protestant worship ; all children over 
 fourteen years declared the property of the 
 State ; any Irishman travelling a mile .from his 
 residence liable to be killed. — 5. Effects of those 
 persecutions. — 6. Degraded strangers occupying 
 Irish soil. — 7. Detailed account of Penal Laws 
 by Dr. Lynch ; Education Proscribed : Children 
 of Catholics obliged to become Protestants, and 
 to marry Protestants, &c. ; thus the Irish 
 nobility destroyed. .... 268 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 PEEILS OF THE CLERGY. 
 
 1. Heroism of the Clergy of Dublin ; Note. Many 
 Priests executed. — 2. Father Carolan dies of 
 starvation ; Father Netterville ; Priests carry 
 Holy Sacrament with them. — 3. Ludlow's account 
 of Massacre near Castleblaney. — 4. Further 
 details of the sufferings of the clergy. — 5. Fears 
 that the Irish clergy would become extinct.— 
 6. Edict compelling all Catholics to inform on 
 priests; Number of priests in the country in 
 1658. — 7. Imprisonment in the Islands of Arran 
 and Inisbofin— 8. Father Finaghty. . . 280 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 TRANSPLANTING TO CONNAUGHT. 
 
 1. The cry to Connaught or hell. — 2. Lord Clarendon 
 describes this transplanting. — 3. Why Connaught 
 was selected. — 4. The Commissioners carry out 
 the Transplantation Scheme; exceptions in 
 favour of those who would renounce the Catho- 
 lic faith. — 5. The persecution sanctioned by the 
 Protestant clergy : letter of Peter Talbot. — 
 
476 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 6. Other regulations. — 7. Particular instances. — 
 8. New trials in Connaught. — 9. Catholics obliged 
 to renounce all claim to their former lands ; and 
 other severities. — 10. Famine and pestilence in 
 Connaught. — 11. Seventy stations of Pnritan 
 soldiers preying on the natives : constancy of the 
 Catholics. . . . . .291 
 
 CHAPTER VL 
 
 PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 1. Ireland confiscated. — 2. Protestant settlers from 
 New England ; Vaudois from Piedmont. — 3. 
 Their character. — 4. Manuscript account of the 
 same. — 5. Lord Clare's description. — 6. Mr. 
 Thomas Wadding. — 7. Cambrensis Eversus. . 309 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 IRISH EXPORTED AS SLAVES. 
 
 L. Irish exported as slaves ; Testimony of Alithinolo- 
 gia ; Sir William Petty and others. Note : Rev. 
 J. Grace, in 1666, found 12,000 Irish slaves in 
 Barbadoes, &c. — 2. Method of making Irishmen 
 Christians, i.e., selling them as slaves ; Crnelty 
 of the Puritans. — 3. Slave trade to Barbadoes 
 legalised. — 4. Sale of Irish natives. — 5. Particu- 
 lar instances. — 6. Seizure of Paul Cashin, P.P. of 
 Maryborough, and other priests. — 7. Irish chil- 
 dren exported ; St. Christopher's ; Irish there. — 
 8. Dr. James Lynch.— 9. Irish treated barbar- 
 ously, according to Father Grace. Note : Letter 
 of Bishops of the province of Tnam to Propa- 
 ganda. — 10. Faith and piety of the Irish during 
 their captivity. . . . . .321 
 
INDEX. 
 
 477 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE OATH OF ABJURATION. PAGE 
 
 I. Attempt to force Catholics to take the Oath of 
 Abjuratiou. — 2. Form of that oath. — 3. Penalties 
 for not taking it. — 4. Activity of clergy in op- 
 posing oath. — 5. Puritans thirsting for confisca- 
 tion. — 6. Noble conduct of Catholics of Cork ; 
 all refuse the oath publicly. — 7. Other districts 
 equally faithful. .... 342 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CONSTANCY OF THE IRISH IN THE FAITH. 
 
 1. Misery of Ireland in comparison to other countries; 
 progress, education, trade, impeded in Ireland. — 
 
 2. No penalty could shake the Catholic faith. — 
 
 3. Prayer and fasting of the people. — 4. Only 
 500,000 Catholics remaining in Ireland. — 5. Sta- 
 tistics at various times; Sir William Petty's 
 estimate and Lord Orrery's ; Dr. Plunkett's. — 6. 
 Extract from Jesuit narrative. . . . 352 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DECAY OF THE PURITAN COLONISTS. 
 
 1. Protestant colonies never prosper in Ireland; they 
 pillage and seize on the country, but, visited by 
 the hand of God, they fall away ; contemporary 
 testimony ; faith deeply rooted in Ireland. — 
 2. Diseases and afflictions with which the invaders 
 were scourged. ..... 358 
 
478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 fart % Cjrirb. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE PERSECUTION OF CATHOLICS. 
 
 1. Sufferings of D. Delany, P.P. of Arklow. — PAGE 
 2. Various instances of cruelty in the North, in 
 Meath, Wicklow, and Kildare ; death of Donn- 
 chadh O'Conaigh at Wicklow. — 3. Roche Mac- 
 Geoghegan, Bishop of Kildare. — 4. Sufferings 
 and constancy of Peter O'Higgins. — 5. Of Albert 
 O'Brien, Bishop of Emly.— 6. Death of FF. 
 Bernard and Laurence O'Ferall. — 7. Of Thad- 
 deus Moriarty and others. — 8. Of A. Cahill. — 
 9. Martyrdom of John O'Cullen. — 10. Account of 
 Anselm Ball and his labours in Dublin. — 11. Of 
 Bonaventure Carew. .... 363 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 INDIVIDUAL INSTANCES OF THE PERSECUTION {continued). 
 
 1. F. Dowdall's zeal in Dublin; he dies in prison in 
 London. — 2. Death of B. Egan, Bishop of Ross. 
 — 3. David O'Mollony of Killaloe. — 4. J. Lynch 
 and R. Nugent, P.P.'s in Meath. — 5. Phelim 
 Mac Tuoll. — 6. Labours of J. Fordein promoting 
 education. — 7. Zeal of S. Gelosse in promoting 
 religion and education. — 8. Death of D. O'Brien. 
 9. Of Ladies Roche and Fitzpatrick, and Esma 
 Plunkett. — 10. Of Mrs. A. Read, described by 
 her son. — 11. FF. Brien and Barry, of the Con- 
 gregation of St. Vincent, and Brother Lee ; their 
 sufferings.— 12. Death of Fr. O'Higgins, P.P. of 
 Naas. — 13. John O'Cullenan, Bishop of Raphoe. 386 
 
INDEX. 
 
 479 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 individual cases of the persecution (continued). 
 
 • PAGE 
 
 1. Hugh M'Mahon executed in London in 1643. — 2. 
 Death of Fergall Ward— 3. Of Cornelius O'Brien. 
 —4. Of Christopher Ultan.— 5. Of Malachy 
 O'Queely, Archbishop of Tuam, and his chaplain. 
 —6. Of Denis Nelan.— 7. Of T. Carighy.— 8. Of 
 Felix O'Neill— 9. Of fleber Mac Mahon, Bishop 
 of Clogher. — 10. Of Arthur Magennis, Bishop of 
 Down and Connor. — 11. Of Connor Mac Guire, 
 Lord of Enniskillen, tried in London and exe- 
 cuted in 1644 ; his piety and attachment to the 
 Catholic Faith; prayers. — 12. Letter of A. 
 Nugent, Capuchin. — 13. Richard O'Connell, 
 Bishop of Kerry.— 14. F. O'Sullivan. . . 403 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 EXAMPLES OF WHOLESALE MASSACRES PERPETRATED BY THE 
 PURITANS. 
 
 1. Pamphlet printed in London in 1662 gives details 
 of massacres in several districts. — 2. In Antrim. 
 3. In Derry. — 4. At Newry, in Down. — 5. In 
 Donegal. — 6. In Monaghan. — 7. In Cavan. — 8. 
 In Meath. — 9. In Westmeath. — 10. In Louth. — 
 11. In Dublin.— 12. In Kildare— 13. In Wicklow. 
 — 14. In Kilkenny. — 15. In Tipperary. — 16. In 
 Cork.— 17. In Waterf or d.— 18-21. In Clare, 
 Galway, Leitrim, and Sligo. . . . 419 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ACT OF SETTLEMENT. 
 
 1. Hopes of the Catholics that Charles II. at the Res- 
 toration would remember their merits to his 
 father. — 2. These hopes disappointed. — 3. Suffer- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ings of Catholics by Act of Settlement, in 1660. 
 — Lord Clare's description of its injustice. — 
 5. Claims for property examined in London 
 where bribery prevailed. — 6. The Lords 
 Justices : the Black Act. — 7. Compensation 
 to Protestant merchants who had lent money 
 to carry on war against the king. — 8. To Crom- 
 well's soldiers. — 9. To his officers. — 10. Perfidy 
 of the men thus rewarded. — 11. New persecu- 
 tions.— 12. Dr. Plunkett; Dr. O'Reilly 14. 
 
 Remark of M'Geoghegan. . . . 436 
 
 M. n. Gill and Son, Printers, Dublin. 
 
, JkAKi 
 
 Date Dues. 
 
I 42669 
 
 DOTS NOT CIRCULATE 
 
 BOSTON COLLEGE LIBRARY 
 
 UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS 
 CHESTNUT HILL, MAS. 
 
 Books may be kept for two «. nay be 
 
 renewed for the same peril J, u ^ss reserved. 
 
 Two cents a day is charged for ea.n book kept 
 overtime. 
 
 If you cannot find what you want, ask the 
 Librarian who will be glad to help you. 
 
 The borrower is responsible for books drawn 
 on his card and for all fines accruing on the same. 
 
 ■