COLLINS, DOMINIC, BL.

Irish martyr and Jesuit lay brother; b. Youghal, Ireland, 1566 or 1567; d. there or at Cork, Oct. 29, 1602. Collins was born of a noble family; both his father and brother served as mayor of Youghal. After studying under the Jesuits in his hometown, Dominic went to France in 1586. There he worked in an inn for three years before entering the service of Philip Emmanuel of Lorraine, who eventually made him commander of cavalry. Dominic was rewarded with the military governorship of Lapena after he captured its castle. He served in the Spanish army from 1594 until 1598 when he entered the Society of Jesus at Santiago de Compostela. After his profession as a lay brother (Feb. 4, 1601), he was chosen as companion to Father James Archer, who was then about to return to Ireland. Dominic sailed there in the Spanish fleet, landing at Castlehaven in 1602. He was at Dunboy during the siege, not as a combatant, but as one concerned with the spiritual and temporal needs of the besieged who chose him to treat for terms with the English. Taken prisoner on June 18, 1602, he was offered his liberty and bribed with a position of honor on the condition he renounce his faith and swear allegiance to elizabeth i. Following a lengthy interrogation and many attempts at persuasion, Br. Dominic was condemned to death on July 9. He was detained in Cork Prison until his execution by hanging. All contemporary accounts state that he died at Cork. Such details as disemboweling and quartering are found only in later (Jesuit) sources. Br. Dominic was beatified with 16 other Irish martyrs on Sept. 27, 1992.

Feast: Oct. 30 (Jesuits).

See Also: irish confessors and martyrs.

Bibliography: Archives (unpublished) of the Society of Jesus, Rome. e. hogan, Distinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (London 1894). j. n. tylenda, Jesuit Saints and Martyrs (Chicago 1998) 357–59.

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