IRISH CONFESSORS AND MARTYRS

The history of the penal laws against Catholicism in Ireland may be said to date from 1536 when the parliament at Dublin, under pressure from henry viii, passed legislation recognizing him as supreme head of the Church and, among other measures, ordered the suppression of the monasteries. In the following year the same parliament enacted further legislation, particularly an act that required an oath of clerics, degree candidates, and public officials stating they would "utterly renounce, refuse, relinquish, and forsake the Bishop of Rome and his authority, power, and jurisdiction." Such an oath, of course, was incompatible with membership in the Catholic Church. Contumacy, or the repeated refusal to take the oath when offered, could be punished by death. It became treasonable for the clergy and holders of public office to recognize the supremacy of the pope in spiritual matters.

Under Henry VIII. It has been much debated whether during the remainder of Henry's reign there was a religious persecution in Ireland, whether anyone suffered loss of fortune or liberty or life solely for acknowledging papal jurisdiction. The Annals of the Four Masters, under the year 1537, have the following well-known entry:

They [i.e., the English schismatics] broke down the monasteries and sold their roofs and bells, so that from Aran of the Saints to the Iccian Sea [the English Channel] there was not one monastery that was not broken and shattered with the exception of a few in Ireland, of which the English took no notice or heed. They afterwards burned the images shrines and relics of the Saints of Ireland and England; they likewise burned the celebrated image of Mary at Trim, which was used to perform wonders and miracles, which used to heal the blind, the deaf and the crippled, and persons affected with all kinds of diseases; and [they also burned] the Staff of Jesus, which was in Dublin performing miracles from the time of St Patrick down to that time, and had been in the hands of Christ while he was among men. They also appointed archbishops and sub-bishops for themselves; and, though great was the persecution of the Roman emperors against the Church, scarcely had there ever come so great a persecution from Rome as this; so that it is impossible to narrate or tell its description, unless it should be narrated by one who saw it.

From the foregoing account it is evident that the religious susceptibilities of Catholic Ireland were deeply outraged by the destruction of the monasteries and the profanation of long-venerated relics. And it can be safely surmised that the destruction of the monasteries caused great suffering, hardship, and social dislocation for expelled religious and for the country as well. The monasteries were not simply abodes of study and prayer of the religious. They were schools, hospitals, and inns for wayfarers in remote areas. But the Four Masters, neither in the entry for 1537 nor in those for the rest of Henry's reign, makes any mention of persons who suffered imprisonment, loss of fortune, or death for refusing to recognize the royal supremacy.

The legislative machinery for persecution was certainly set in position by Henry and his subservient parliament in Dublin, but historical research has not hitherto established that such machinery was actually set in motion. It should be remembered that, at that time, the king's writ affected only one-third of Irish territory and that the old English settlers of the Pale and adjoining districts, whom Henry needed desperately to win over to his policy of conquest, proved thoroughly hostile to his religious innovation and unmistakably loyal to traditional obedience to Rome.

With the exception of the Spanish Trinitarian Domingo Lopez, historians of the penal times in Ireland have not attempted to portray the so-called Henrician persecution. Lopez's book, a laudatory account of the Trinitarian Order in the British Isles (Madrid 1714), has long been rejected by historians. According to Lopez, some 200 Trinitarians were put to death in Ireland during the period from 1539 to 1550, under circumstances of such publicity and revolting cruelty as could never have escaped the notice of the earlier Catholic annalists. In his earlier researches on the history of the religious persecutions in Ireland, Cardinal Moran all too uncritically accepted for truth the mischievous inventions of Lopez. But it is noteworthy that the cause of the Irish Trinitarians fabricated by Lopez was not submitted to Rome in 1907 when the causes of the Irish martyrs and confessors were forwarded by the Irish hierarchy for examination.

So far, only two causes of the Henrician period in Ireland are under consideration at the Holy See: (1) Ven. John Travers, Chancellor of St. Patrick's, Dublin, executed in 1535, during the rebellion of Silken Thomas. His cause has been presented with those of the English martyrs because it was believed, until recent times, that he was executed in London and not, as in fact he was, at Oxmanstown, Dublin. (2) The guardian and community of the Franciscan convent, Monaghan, beheaded by English soldiers in 1540. Their cause is discussed in the list below under the year 1589.

Under Edward VI. The Council of Regency, who were the real rulers during the reign of Henry's son and successor edward vi, altered still further the doctrinal structure of the Church in England by superimposing Protestant doctrines on the schism of Henry. The Mass was rejected and the number of sacraments reduced from seven to two. Orders were transmitted to Ireland to conduct all future services as laid down in the Book of Common Prayer. Most of those in Ireland who had embraced Henry's schism—their numbers were quite insignificant—rejected outright the doctrinal errors being exported from England. For the next six years the Mass continued to be celebrated openly in the wide territories of the Irish chiefs. In the Pale and some towns of the English settlers a few priests preached the royal supremacy but otherwise continued in the old faith. Edward's successor, Mary Tudor, reconciled her dominions to the traditional obedience to the Apostolic See.

Under Elizabeth I. In 1560 Elizabeth exacted from the parliament at Dublin the enactment of legislation which reasserted the royal supremacy as claimed by Henry VIII. In addition, an Act of Uniformity was passed that obliged Irish Catholics to assist, under penalty of a fine, at the new heretical worship on Sundays and holy days.

elizabeth possessed little genuinely religious zeal, but she was anxious for the Protestantizing of Ireland as part of her plan to extirpate any national identity that the country had. Ireland, she decided, was to become English, culturally as well as politically subjugated to her own kingdom. After a generation of English control, the change in religion would be complete. So the religious legislation was not strictly enforced against the laity throughout her reign. Officials were advised not to provoke the resentment of the old English settlers, for without their good will it would have been almost impossible for her to maintain any grip on Ireland. That the Act of Uniformity stood little chance of being obeyed may be gauged from the fact that, even at the end of Elizabeth's reign, many officeholders had been able to discharge their duties without having taken the supremacy oath. By 1603 four-fifths of the peerage of Ireland were still Catholic.

After Elizabeth's excommunication (1570), the persecution of the faith in Ireland, which continued to the end of the reign, was directly aimed against the clergy. Many priests and bishops suffered the extreme penalty, yet the laity are also represented in the roll of honor for the period from 1572 to 1600. The martyrs and confessors who suffered at this time may be enumerated: eight bishops; 18 secular priests; 45 priests, lay brothers, and scholastics of the religious orders; and 26 lay persons, including one woman.

Under James I. The accession of james i in 1603 bolstered the hopes of Catholic Ireland. In many of the populous centers public worship of the Church was once more set up but the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity remained on the Statute Books. Throughout James's reign, the anti-Catholic laws were not strictly enforced against the laity but were sporadically set in motion, with considerable severity, against the clergy. King James was personally not inclined to enforce edicts against the priests, but the sovereign of England had really ceased to be the effectual master in his own house. For reasons of state, therefore, he had from time to time to order proclamations to be issued from Dublin Castle for the banishment of bishops and priests. But officials were instructed at the same time that while the priests, when discovered, might be transported, they should not be sought out or hunted down. The number of the clergy and laity who suffered during this reign amounts to hardly a quarter of the victims of Elizabeth: one bishop; six secular priests; nine religious; and seven laymen.

Under Charles I. Although some 34 persons died in prison or on the scaffold during the reign of Charles I, it should be noted that they were victims not of Charles himself but of the Parliamentarians. Early in the reign, Charles, a convinced Protestant, refused any relaxation of the Act of Uniformity but through "graces" granted in exchange for large monetary contributions to the royal treasury replaced the oath required by the Act of Supremacy with an oath of simple allegiance to the crown. This royal indulgence, as well as another concerning fixity of land tenure for those with undisturbed occupancy of 60 years, was purely unofficial and therefore revocable at the royal will. Officially the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity remained the law of the land.

Under the Commonwealth. The persecution of the Church in Ireland under the Commonwealth (1649–60) far surpassed in ferocity that of Elizabethan days. In four years the number of its victims almost equaled that of Elizabeth's entire reign. Catholic worship was effectively outlawed. Apart from the clergy who suffered the extreme penalty, many died of hardship at home or on the high seas while being transported to exile or slavery to which they were condemned in the West Indies or American colonies. Countless thousands of nameless Catholic children and young people kidnaped throughout the Cromwellian regime for slave labor in the abovementioned places were among the victims.

Restoration to 1714. From the Restoration (1660) to the death of Queen Anne (1714) no one, with the exception of St. Oliver plunkett, was executed for the faith, but this period can point to its list of notable confessors.

Sources. While some information concerning the Irish martyrs and confessors is forthcoming from the State Papers, naturally distorted by the English anti-Catholic viewpoint, the main source of knowledge of the sufferers for the faith is derived from the various "martyrologies" drawn up from 1590 to 1629 and from 1659 to 1669. The Irish Jesuit John Howling (1539–99), founder of the Irish College in Lisbon, is the pioneer writer in this genre of history. His treatise compiled about 1590 was added to successively by Bl. Bp. Cornelius o'devany (1611), Bp. David Rothe (1619), and two priests from Cork but living on the Continent, John Coppinger (1620) and John Molan (1629). At the end of the Commonwealth era, the Franciscan, Maurice Morison, published Threnodia-Hiberno-Catholica, and a decade later his colleague, Antony Bruodin, published Propugnaculum at Prague. Both Franciscan writers had had the experience of the mission in Ireland before they retired to the Continent. Bruodin, however, is not always to be regarded as a critical authority, perhaps because of the remoteness of his later place of residence.

The above-mentioned sources for the martyrology of Ireland during the penal times (1535–1714) are further amplified by the archives of various religious orders. A fairly full list of published works and MS sources is in the introduction to Father Denis Murphy's well-known work Our Martyrs.

The active persecution of the Catholic religion in Ireland ended with the death of Anne, although most of the penal laws remained unrepealed until the end of the 18th century. Throughout the century an appeal to Rome for recognition with public cult of the heroism of the Irish martyrs was thought inopportune. Indeed, until Catholic Emancipation in 1829, any move on the part of the Holy See to beatify the Irish who had suffered for the Catholic religion could have had only the result of inviting further penal legislation against the already heavily oppressed Catholics in Ireland.

Nearly a generation elapsed after Catholic emanci pation before anything was done to revive interest in the cause of the Irish sufferers for the faith. However, Ireland, from 1830 to 1860 had many and immediate preoccupations: the Tithe War, the Repeal campaign of O'Connell and Young Ireland, the Great Famine, and the resulting exhaustion of the country in the 1850s. Also, throughout this period Catholic Ireland, after the disappearance of penal disabilities, was faced with the heavy task of building churches and schools.

Submission of Causes. The year 1861 saw the remote beginnings of the movement to present the cause of the Irish martyrs at Rome. In that year Dr. Moran (later cardinal) published his life of St. Oliver Plunket, a work designed to advance the cause of the martyr archbishop of Armagh. A few years later O'Reilly's Memorials of Those Who Suffered for the Catholic Faith in Ireland appeared. This work especially, together with Moran's reissue of the works of Bishop Rothe, focused attention widely on the desirability of submitting the cause of the Irish martyrs to the judgment of the Holy See. The Irish hierarchy soon afterward commissioned Denis Murphy, SJ, to prepare the necessary evidence for the processus ordinarius informativus; the result of his research, Our Martyrs, appeared posthumously in 1896. At the request of the Irish hierarchy, the archbishop of Dublin undertook the investigation of all the causes from every diocese in Ireland. The tribunal of investigation presided over by Abp. William Walsh held many sessions from 1903 to 1907. Its dossier, when dispatched to Rome on 16 March 1915, comprised some 292 causes (a few of them multiple). Of these, 11 were later rejected at Rome (mainly cases of confused identity) and 22 were deferred (for want of clearer evidence to show that imprisonment or death was inflicted principally for the profession of the faith) and are not included in the following lists. The lists reproduce those appearing in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 1918 (312–321), but, in some instances, changes with regard to year of death or other particulars established or cogently indicated by later research have been made.

Within the 20th century several Irishmen were raised to the honors of the altar. Only Oliver Plunket, beatified by Benedict XV, has been canonized (Oct. 17, 1975 by Paul VI). In 1929 Pope Pius XI beatified John Roche, John Cornelius (O'Mahony), John Carey, Patrick Salmon, and Ralph Corby with some of the English martyrs because they worked and were martyred in England.

A representative group of seventeen, known as Dermot O'Hurley and 16 Companions, were beatified Sept. 27, 1992 by Pope John Paul II. Blesseds in this group are indicated below by a †.

Chronological List of Confessors and Martyrs. This list covers the periods from Henry VIII to the death of Elizabeth I (1534–1603), the reign of James I (1603–25), the reign of Charles I, the Parlimentarians (1625–49), the Commonwealth (1649–60), and the Restoration to the death of Queen Anne (1660–1714).

1572 Edmund o'donnell (Daniel), Jesuit, first definitely recorded sufferer for the faith in Ireland under Elizabeth I; hanged, drawn, and quartered, Cork, October 25.

1575 Conor Macuarta (MacCourt), Rory Mac-Connell, and Fergal Ward, guardian, Franciscans; put to death at Armagh (c. 1575).

1576 Edmund Fitzsimon, Donough O'Rourke, and John O'Lochran, Franciscans; hanged at Down (c. 1576).

1577 William walsh, bishop of Meath; d. in exile, Alcala. Thady O'Daly, Franciscan; hanged at Limerick. John O'Dowd, Franciscan of Moyne convent; put to death (or 1579).

1579 Bl. ^†Patrick o'healy, Franciscan, bishop of Mayo; hanged, Killmallock. Bl. †Cornelius O'Rourke, Franciscan; suffered with Bishop O'Healy. Abbot and brethren of Manisternenay, County Limerick, Cistercians; slain (probably 1579).

1580 Eugene Cronin, secular priest; executed, Dublin. Laurence O'Moore, secular priest; executed, Smerwick. John Kieran, of Tuam, Premonstratensian; hanged. Gelasius O'Cullenan, Cistercian, abbot of Boyle; hanged, Dublin. Daniel O'Neilan, Franciscan; slain at Youghal. William Walsh (Willick, etc.) and Oliver Plunket, laymen; executed with O'Moore.

1581 Richard French, secular priest; d. in prison, Wexford. Nicholas Fitzgerald, Cistercian; hanged, Dublin. Daniel (David) Sutton, his brother John, Robert Sherlock, Robert Fitzgerald, and William Wogan, laymen; executed, Dublin, May 26. Bl. †Matthew Lamport (Lambert), of Wexford, layman; arrested for harboring a Jesuit priest, hanged, July 5. [Lamport is sometimes described as a parish priest (pastor) of the Dublin Diocese, but was more probably a baker (pistor).] The "Wexford Martyrs": Bl. †Robert Meyler (Myler), Bl. †Edward Cheevers, John O'Lahy, and Bl. ^†Patrick Canavan (Cavanagh), all of Wexford, laymen and sailors; hanged for conveying priests and laymen to safety in France, July 5. Patrick Hayes, of Wexford, layman; d. on release from prison, Dublin. Maurice eustace, nobleman and Jesuit novice in Flanders; hanged. Walter Aylmer and Thomas Eustace, with his son Christopher and brother Walter, laymen; hanged, Dublin.

1582 Aeneas Penny, secular priest; slain, Killagh. Philip O'Shea (O'Lea), Maurice O'Scanlon, and Daniel O'Hanrahan, Franciscans; slain at Lislactin. Charles MacGoran, Rory O'Donnellan, Peter O'Quillan, Patrick O'Kenna, James (John) Pillan, and Rory O'Hanlon, Franciscans; d. in prison, Dublin (c. 1582). Phelim O'Hara, Franciscan lay brother; strangled before the altar, Moyne convent (or 1578). Henry Delahoyde, Franciscan lay brother; said to have suffered with O'Hara. Thady O'Meran, Franciscan, guardian of Enniscorthy; d. under torture.

1584 Bl. ^† Dermot o'hurley, bishop of Cashel; tortured and hanged, Dublin. John O'Grady, secular priest; executed. Prior and brethren of Graiguenamanagh, Cistercians; slain. John O'Daly, Franciscan; d. under torture. Thady Clancy, of Ballyrobert, layman; beheaded, Limerick. Bl. ^† Eleonora Birmingham Ball, laywoman, only recorded woman sufferer for the faith in the Henrician and Elizabethan period; d. in prison, Dublin, July 5.

1585 Bl. †Maurice MacKenraghty (O'Kenraghty), secular priest; hanged, Clonmel, April 20. Patrick O'Connor and Malachy O'Kelly, Cistercians of the monastery of Boyle; hanged and quartered.

1586 Richard Creagh, bishop of Armagh; d. Tower of London. Donough O'Hurley, Franciscan, sacristan of Muckross convent; d. under torture.

1587 Maurice O'Brien, bishop of Emly; d. in prison, Dublin. John Cornelius, Franciscan of Askeaton convent; killed by English soldiers.

1588 Dermot O'Mulroney, Franciscan, guardian at Galbally, and two others, probably lay brothers; beheaded (or 1570; Rothe lists O'Mulroney among those who suffered in or after 1607). John O'Molloy, Cornelius O'Dogherty, and Geoffrey O'Farrell, Franciscans; hanged at Abbeyleix. Thady O'Boyle, Franciscan, guardian at Donegal convent; killed by English soldiers. Peter Meyler, layman; executed, Galway or Wexford, on his return from Spain.

1589 Patrick O'Brady (or Ward), Franciscan, guardian of Monaghan convent, and brethren; beheaded. [This is one of the most controverted of all the causes of the Irish martyrs. The Annals of Lough Cé, the Annals of Connaught, and the Four Masters all mention the massacre of the Monaghan community as of 1540. It is very unlikely that the alleged occurrence of 1589 could have escaped the notice of Howling, O'Devany, and Rothe. The last in his early priestly life was intimately associated with the neighboring (to Monaghan) Archdiocese of Armagh. The Four Masters, written some 15 years after the first mention by Coppinger and Ward of this 1589 massacre, make no allusion to it. No annalist could have failed to draw attention to a double massacre, i.e., in 1540 and 1589. The date 1540 vouched for by the Four Masters, who were Franciscans, seems to be the only acceptable one. There is the important consideration also that in that year the English forces penetrated to O'Neill's territory after their victorious rout of the Irish troops at Bellahoe.]

1590 Matthew O'Leyn, Franciscan, of Kilcrea convent, Muskerry; killed by English soldiers. Christopher Roche, of Wexford, layman; executed, London.

1591 Terence Magennis, Loughlin Mac O'Cagha, and Manus O'Fury, Franciscans; d. in prison. Michael Fitzsimon, of Fingall, layman; put to death.

1593 Edmund MacGauran, bishop of Armagh; slain at Tulsk.

1594 Andrew Stritch, secular priest; d. in prison, Dublin (c. 1594).

1596 Bernard Moriarty, secular priest, vicar-general; d. in prison, Dublin.

1597 John Stephens, secular priest, County Wicklow; hanged. Walter Fernan, secular priest, Diocese of Leighlin; d. under torture, Dublin.

1599 George Power, secular priest, vicar-general of Ossory; d. in prison, Dublin.

1600 John Walsh, secular priest, vicar-general of Dublin; d. in prison, Chester. Nicholas Young, of Trim, secular priest; d. in prison, Dublin. Thomas MacGreith (MacGrath), layman; beheaded.

1601 Redmund Gallagher, bishop of Derry; slain. Daniel Moloney, secular priest, vicar-general of Killaloe; d. under torture, Dublin. Donough Cronin, secular priest, cleric; hanged, Cork. John O'Kelly, of Connaught, secular priest; d. in prison, Dublin. Brian Murchertagh, secular priest, archdeacon of Clonfert; d. in prison, Dublin. Donough O'Falvey, secular priest; hanged, Cork.

1602 Bl. †Dominic collins, Jesuit lay brother; hanged, Cork, October 31.

1603 Eugene MacEgan, bishop of Ross; slain. Patrick Browne, convert, alderman of Dublin; d. after suffering in prison (c. 1603).

The communities at Coleraine (21 members) and Derry (32 members), Dominicans; put to death at an unknown date in the reign of Elizabeth I.

1606 Bernard O'Carolan, secular priest, Diocese of Leighlin; hanged, Dublin. Eugene O'Gallagher, abbot of Assaroe, Donegal, and Bernard O'Treivir, Cistercians; slain by English soldiers. John Burke, lord of Brittas, layman; hanged, Limerick.

1607 John O'Luin (O'Lynn), Dominican; hanged.

1608 Donough O'Luin (O'Lynn), Dominican, prior of Derry convent, brother of John O'Luin (1607); hanged.

1609 Donough MacCreid, secular priest; hanged, Coleraine.

1610 John Lune (Lyng), of Wexford, secular priest; hanged.

1612 Bl. †Cornelius o'devaney, bishop of Down and Connor; hanged, Dublin, February 1. Bl. †Patrick O'Loughran (O'Loughbrain, O'Lochran), secular priest from County Tyrone (some mention him as a Franciscan); hanged with Bishop O'Devaney.

1614 William MacGollen (Mac Giolla Choinne), of Coleraine, Dominican; d. of ill treatment by heretics.

1615 Laughlin O'Laverty, secular priest; hanged, Derry. Brian O'Neill, Art O'Neill, Rory O'Kane, Godfrey O'Kane, and Alexander MacSorley, laymen; hanged with O'Laverty, Derry.

1617 Thomas Fitz Gerald, Franciscan, commissary and visitator of the Irish province; d. in prison, Dublin. John Honan (MacConnan), of Connaught, Franciscan; hanged, Dublin (or 1618).

1618 Patrick O'Deery, secular priest; hanged, Derry.

1620 James Eustace, Cistercian; killed.

1621 Bl. ^† Francis Taylor (Tailler), mayor of Dublin, died of wounds from torture, January 30.

1622 John O'Cathan, Franciscan of Buttevant convent; d. in prison, Limerick.

1628 Edmund Dungan, bishop of Down and Connor; d. in prison, Dublin.

1642 Philip Cleray, of Raphoe (?), secular priest; slain. Malachy Shiel, Cistercian; hanged, Newry. Bl. ^† Peter Higgins (O'Higgin), Dominican, prior of Naas; hanged, Dublin, March 24. Cormac MacEgan, Dominican lay brother; hanged. Raymond Keogh, Dominican of Roscommon priory; hanged (or 1643). Stephen Petit, Dominican, sub-prior, Mullingar; shot (c. 1642). Hilary Conroy, Franciscan of Elphin convent; hanged Castle-coote. Fulgentius Jordan, Augustinian; hanged. Friar Thomas, Carmelite; hanged, Drogheda. Friar Angelus, Carmelite; killed, Drogheda.

1643 Edmund Mulligan, Cistercian; killed by soldiers, near Clones. Francis O'Mahony, Franciscan, guardian at Cork; hanged, before July 17. Peter, Carmelite lay brother; hanged, Dublin.

1644 Cornelius O'Connor and Eugene O'Daly, Trinitarians, returning from France; drowned at sea by Puritans. Hugh MacMahon, Ulster noble, layman; executed, Tyburn, November 22.

1645 Malachy O'Queely, archbishop of Tuam; killed by Parliamentarians, near Sligo. Augustine O'Higgin and Tadhg O'Connell, Augustinians; killed with O'Queely, October 26. Henry White, secular priest, aged 80; hanged, Racconnell, Westmeath. Christopher Dunlevy, Franciscan; d. Newgate, London. Conor Maguire, baron of Enniskillen, layman; hanged, drawn, and quartered, Tyburn, February 20.

1647 Theobald Stapleton, secular priest, chancellor of church of Cashel, Theobald (misnamed Edward) Stapleton, and Thomas Morrissey, secular priests, vicars choral; killed in Cashel massacre, September 13. Richard Barry, Dominican, prior; killed in Cashel massacre. John O'Flaverty, Dominican; killed, Coleraine. Richard Butler, Franciscan, and James Saul, lay brother; killed in Cashel massacre. William Hickey, Franciscan of Adare convent; slain. Nicholas Wogan, Franciscan; hanged, Dublin. William Boyton, Jesuit; killed in Cashel massacre. Elizabeth Kearney and Margaret of Cashel, laywomen; killed in Cashel massacre.

1648 Gerald Fitzgibbon, Dominican cleric and David Fox, lay brother; killed at Kilmallock. Donall O'Neaghtan, Dominican lay brother, Roscommon priory; killed. James Reilly, Dominican priest and poet; killed, near Clonmel.

1649 Thomas Bath, secular priest; killed in Drogheda massacre. John Bath, Jesuit; killed with his brother Thomas in Drogheda massacre. Dominic Dillon and Richard Oveton, Dominicans; killed in Drogheda massacre. Peter Costelloe, Dominican, of Straid; killed. Brian O'Gormley, Franciscan; hanged, Drogheda. Richard Synnot, John Esmond, Paul Synnot, Raymond Stafford, and Peter Stafford, Franciscans, and James Cheevers and Joseph Rochford, lay brothers; killed in Wexford massacre, October 11. Eugene O'Teevan (O'Leman), Franciscan; killed in Donegal convent (or 1650). Peter Taaffe, Augustinian; killed; in Drogheda massacre. Robert Netterville, Jesuit; killed in Drogheda.

1650 Ever (Heber) macmahon, bishop of Clogher; hanged, Enniskillen, September 17. Boetius Egan, Franciscan, bishop of Ross; hanged, Carrigadrohid. Francis Fitz Gerald, Franciscan; d. in prison, Cork (c. 1650). Anthony Hussey, Franciscan; hanged, Mullingar. Neilan Loughran, Franciscan; killed, Ulster (after 1650).

1651 Bl. †Terence Albert O'Brien, Dominican, bishop of Emly; hanged after siege of Limerick, October 31. Roger Normoyle (Ormilius), secular priest, of Brentire, County Clare; hanged. Hugh Carrighy, secular priest; hanged with Normoyle, 12 October. Myler MacGrath, Dominican; hanged, Clonmel. Laurence and Bernard O'Farrell, Dominicans; killed, Longford. Ambrose Aeneas O'Cahill, Dominican; killed, Cork. Edmund O'Beirne, Dominican; hanged, Jamestown. James Woulfe, Dominican; hanged after siege of Limerick. Gerard Dillon, Dominican; d. in prison, York. James Moran and Donough Niger, Dominican lay brothers; killed. William O'Connor, Dominican; killed, Clonmel. Thomas O'Higgin, Dominican; hanged, Clonmel. John O'Cullen, Dominican of Athenry convent; hanged, Limerick. Denis O'Neilan, Franciscan; hanged, Inchicronan. Tadhg O'Caraghy, Franciscan; hanged, Ennis. Jeremiah MacInerny and Daniel MacClanchy, Franciscan lay brothers; hanged, Quin. Roger MacNamara, Franciscan; killed, near Quin. Anthony O'Bruadair, Franciscan cleric; hanged, Turlevachan, County Galway. Donough Serenen, Augustinian, hanged. Raymond O'Malley and Thomas Tully, Augustinians, and Thomas Deir, lay brother; hanged (or 1652). Dominic Fanning, alderman and or of Limerick; Daniel O'Higgin, physician; Thomas Stritch, a former mayor; Major General Patrick Purcell; Geoffrey Galway, Member of Parliament for Limerick in 1634; Geoffrey Barron, nephew of Luke Wadding, OFM, and a member of the Supreme Council and agent of the Irish Confederation to France; all laymen; hanged after siege of Limerick, October 29–30. Donough O'Brien, nobleman, layman; burned alive by Parliamentarians, County Clare. James, Bernard, and Daniel O'Brien (brothers), laymen; hanged, Nenagh. Louis O'Ferral, layman; d. in prison, Athlone.

1652 Brian Fitzpatrick, secular priest, of Ossory; suffered for the faith. Philip Flatisbury, Franciscan; hanged, New Ross. Francis O'Sullivan, Franciscan provincial; shot, near Derrynane, June 23. Anthony O'Feral, Franciscan; killed, County Roscommon. Eugene O'Cahan, Franciscan, guardian of Askeaton; hanged, County Cork. John Ferall, Franciscan; killed. Bonaventure de Burgo, Franciscan; hanged. Walter Walsh, Franciscan; d. in prison, Dublin. Donough O'Kennedy, Augustinian; hanged. Tadhg O'Connor-Sligo, layman; hanged, Boyle. John O'Connor-Kerry, layman; hanged, Tralee. Bernard MacBriody, layman; hanged. Edward Butler, layman, son of Lord Mount-Garret; hanged, Dublin. Brigid D'Arcy, wife of Florence Fitzpatrick, laywoman; burned at stake, October, according to the more authoritative account of Ludlow. (She was victim of mendacious depositions taken in connection with the supposed Ulster massacre, 1641.)

1653 Daniel Delaney, secular priest, of Arklow; hanged, Gorey. Daniel O'Brien, secular priest, dean of Ferns; suffered with Delaney. Luke Bergin, Cistercian, of Baltinglass; hanged with Delaney and O'Brien. David Roche, Dominican, of Glenworth; d. in captivity, St. Kitt's. Brian O'Kelly, Dominican lay brother; hanged, Galway. Tadhg Moriarty, Dominican, prior of Tralee; hanged, Killarney. Hugh MacGoill, Dominican; executed, Waterford. Bl. ^† John Kearney, Franciscan; hanged, Clonmel, May 13. Theobald de Burgo, third viscount Mayo, layman; shot, Galway. Sir Phelim O'Neill, layman; hanged, drawn, and quartered, Dublin. Honoria Magan and Honoria de Burgo, Dominican tertiaries; d. of hardships while in flight from Puritan soldiers.

1654 Bl. †William tirry, Augustinian; hanged, Clonmel, May 12.

1655 William Lynch, Dominican, of Straid; hanged (before 1655).

1656 Fiacre Tobin, Capuchin; d. in captivity, Kinsale.

1659 Hugh MacKeon, Franciscan; d. on release from jail (after 1659).

1661 Brian Mac Giolla Choinne, Franciscan; d. in captivity (?), Galway.

1669 Raymond O'Moore, Dominican; d. in prison, Dublin.

1680 Peter Talbot, archbishop of Dublin; d. in prison (see talbot, peter and richard).

1686 Felix O'Connor, Dominican; d. Sligo jail (?), c. 1686.

1703 John Keating, Dominican; d. in prison, Dublin.

1704 Clement MacColgan, Dominican; d. in Derry jail.

1707 Daniel MacDonnell, Dominican; d. Galway jail.

1708 Felix MacDonnell, Dominican; d. in prison, Dublin.

1710 John Baptist Dowdall, Capuchin, d. in prison, London.

1711 Father O'Hegarty (baptismal name unknown), secular priest; killed, according to tradition, by heretics, near Buncrana.

1713 Dominic Egan, Dominican; d. in prison.

Bibliography: d. murphy, Our Martyrs (Dublin 1896) excellent bibliog. xxiii–xxviii; there has been no major work on the subject since the publication of Father Murphy's book. Congregatio Sacrorum Rituum, Positio super introductione causae … pro fide, uti fertur in Hibernia interfectorum (Rome 1914). r. bagwell, Dictionary of National Biography, 14:773–74. bourchier, De Martyrio Fratrum Ord. Min. (Ingolstadt 1583). w. m. brady, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875, 3 v. (Rome 1876–77). a. bruodin, Propugnaculum Catholicæ Veritatis (Prague 1669). t. de burgo, Hibernia Dominicana (Cologne 1762). j. s. crone, Concise Dictionary of Irish Biography, rev. ed. (Dublin 1937). m. r. d'arcy, The Saints of Ireland (St. Paul, Minn. 1985), 190–209. m. j. dorcy, Saint Dominic's Family (Dubuque, Iowa 1964), 412–14. j. t. gilbert, Dictionary of National Biography, 14:864–65. gonzaga, De Origine Seraphic Religionis (Rome 1587). m. b. hackett, "The Tirry Documents in the Augustinian General Archives," Archivium Hibernicum 20 (1957): 98–122. m. j. hynes, The Mission of Rinuccini… (Dublin 1932). w. j. lockington, The Soul of Ireland (New York 1920), 123–36. f. x. martin, "The Tirry Documents in the Archives of France, Paris," Archivium Hibernicum 20 (1957): 69–97. m. mcaleese, The Irish Martyrs (Ravensgate 1995). s. mcmanus, Story of the Irish Race (New York 1944). h. p. montague, The Saints and Martyrs of Ireland (Gerrards Cross, Ireland 1981): 78–88. cardinal moran, Spicilegium Ossoriense (Dublin 1874). s. Ó murthuile, A Martyred Archbishop of Cashel (Dublin 1935). j. o'heyn and a. coleman, Irish Dominicans of the 17th Century (Dundalh 1902). m. o'reilly, Memorials of Those Who Suffered for the Catholic Faith (London 1868); Memoires of the Irish Martyrs (New York 1869). o'sullevan bearr, Patriciana Decas (Madrid 1629). a. f. pollard, Dictionary of National Biography, 14:959. j. n. tylenda, Jesuit Saints & Martyrs (Chicago 1998) 357–59. a. j. webb, Compendium of Irish Biography (Dublin 1878).

[f. finegan]