THE JAMES D. PHELAN CELTIC COLLECTION Digitized by the Internet Arciiive in 2007 witii funding from IVIicrosoft Corporation littp://www.archive.org/details/distingujshediriOOhogaric DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. ROEHAMPTON : PRINTED BY JAMBS STANLEY. QUARTERLY SERIES. VOLUME NINETY. DISTINGUISHED IRISHMEN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. FRANK J. SULLIVAN 3fir6t Serfee* BY THE REV. EDMUND HOGAN, S;J. Fellow of the Royal University of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy's Todd Professor of the Celtic Languages. LONDON: BURNS AND OATES, LIMITED. NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO: BENZIGER BROTHERS. 1894. PHELAN [All rights reserved.] PREFACE. "Truly to the making of Irish history-books there at present appears to be no end They owe their origin to the prevaih'ng thirst for information on Irish matters, which it is to the interest of authors, publishers, and printers'-devils alike, to foster."^ The Irish Library, published by Mr. Fisher Unwin, of London, the Irish Home Library, edited by Count Plunkett, the Irish Literary Society of London, the many historical works on Ireland which have recently appeared in the United Kingdom, America, Germany, and France, witness to an awakened interest in the history of Irishmen. Even Irish Catholics and Protestants begin to feel curiosity about the story of their native land ; Irish youths are stimulated to the study of it by the Royal University of Ireland and the Board of Intermediate Education, and, it is to be expected, will come forth from that study " steeped in Irish memories, proud of Irish traditions, and panting with Irish hopes." Time was when it was con- ^ The Academy, Jan. 14, 1888, p. 21. 802168 vi Preface. sidered proper to hide away Irish history as unprofitable, unwholesome, and unpleasant reading. But that time is past, if we may so judge from the number of pens and brains that have of late been actively at work in the production of books on Irish history. However, though to the writing of such works there appears to be no end, of books giving fresh and original information there appears to be no beginning.^ At Father Clarke's suggestion, I published in The Month the following biographies and correspondence of memorable men, as a real contribution 2 to the story of a most eventful and instructive period. I have compiled them from the original letters of men who wrote of current events, as spectators and actors and sufferers in stirring times. They wrote, not indeed with a view to hand down historic facts to posterity, but to give their brethren on the Continent, and their Generals in Rome, an accurate account of what was going on at the moment in Ireland. This they were bound to do by the rules of their Order; and in doing so they give a minute and lifelike picture of the period, and present many aspects thereof which are lost sight of by historians. But above all they show the great vitality of the faith ^ Except the works of Dr. J. T. Gilbert and of two or three others. * That these papers are of real value appears from the many- quotations given in the Dictionary of National Biography and Bellesheim's History of the Chtirch of Ireland. Preface. vir planted in Ireland by St. Patrick, and the heroic constancy of Irishmen. In presence of this pheno- menon, Lord Macaulay confessed that on Protestant principles he could not explain the confidence with which Ireland in her weakness faced the foe, and how she always came off victorious. "But," he says, " if I were a Roman Catholic, I could easily account for the phenomena. If I were a Roman- Catholic, I should content myself with saying that the mighty hand and outstretched arm had been put forth, according to promise, in the defence of the unchangeable Church ; that He, Who in old times had turned into blessings the curses of Balaam and smote the forces of Sennacherib, had signally confounded the arts of heretic statesmen.'* Having thoroughly familiarized myself with the materials already known, I feel that in the- following pages I am travelling over much un- trodden ground, and that therefore I am bound to mention the sources from which I have drawn my information. This I have done extensively in the footnotes throughout this book, and in my^ Ibernia Ignatiana ; but the main sources were twa volumes of original letters and other documents,, written between the years 1575 and 1752, which. I had printed verbatim as far as the year 1608 in the Ibernia Ignatia?ta. From these printed docu- ments, and from my transcripts of the others down to the year of Father Holy wood's death in 1626, I have translated whatever throws light on the: vili Preface, Jesuit Fathers, whose lives are recorded here, or on the history of Ireland in their times. I have endeavoured to be accurate. If I have failed in my endeavour, I beg my readers to attribute it in some measure to the fact, well known to Father Clarke, that I was very busy when he laid the heavy burden on me of compiling these biographies of long-forgotten Irishmen ; and I beg of them also to write to me, if they should have any doubt concerning any passages of this book or of the Ibeiniia Ignatiana, and I will give them satisfactory evidence of the literal accuracy of the Latin texts and of the substantial accuracy of my translations. I conclude by adding further evidence on two subjects touched on in this volume, that is, the Catholicity of William Bathe's father, and the dress of the Irish peasant. Chief Baron Bathe was said to have been a Protestant ; and the " Irish churl," it is said, "went stark naked." ^ Firstly, W. Bathe's father is shown in this book to have been a Catholic, and this is corroborated by the fact that Holywood, his ward, was brought up a Catholic and sent to be educated on the Continent. A Jiant of the 22nd of March, 1570, runs thus: "A grant to John Bathe of Drumcondraghe, Esq., of the wardship and marriage of Christopher, son and heir of Nicholas Holywood of Tartayne, Co. of Dublin, gent., fine, £40!' Secondly, the Irish churl did not "commonly go stark naked." I showed ^ See pp. 360, 190. Preface, ix this at pp. 190 — 195, I now confirm it from the report of a Captain Cuellar of the Spanish Armada, who was wrecked on the north coast of Ireland, and spent over six months among "the wilde Irish." He says, " These wild Irish (whom he calls salvajes) live like brutes in the mountains in huts made of straw. The men are big-bodied, with handsome features and limbs, active and nimble as roe-deer. They eat but one meal a day, and that at night, their usual food is butter and oaten- bread, their drink is sour milk, having none other. They dress after their fashion with tight hose and short coats (sayas), made of very coarse goat's hair, they cover themselves with cloaks^ and wear the hair down to the very eyes. They are great pedestrians, and very enduring with regard to fatigue. They sleep on the ground on freshly cut rushes, full of water and frost. Most of the women are very handsome, but ill-dressed, wearing only a chemise and a cloak that covers them entirely, and a linen cloth which they double closely about the head, tying it in front. They are very laborious and domestic after their fashion."^ In my sketch of Father Thomas White I omitted to mention that there is a portrait of him in the Irish College of Salamanca. Edmund Hogan. * Captain Cuellar's narrative, written in the year 1589, printed in Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, 3rd Series, vol. iii. p. 208. CONTENTS. Preface .... I. — Father David Woulfe . Father Edmund O'Donnell Father Robert Rochfort Father Charles Lea Bishop Edmund Tanner . Father Richard Fleming II. — Father John Howling . III. — Father Thomas White . IV. — Father Nicholas Comerford V. — Brother Dominic Collins VI. — Father Walter Talbot . VII. — Father Florence O'More VIII. — Father Thomas Filde IX. — Father Richard de la Field X. — Father Henry Fitzsimon XI. — Father James Archer XII. — Father William Bathe . XIII.— Father Christopher Holywood Index .... I i6 17 20 22 23 29 48 71 79 114 121 128 163 196 3" 359 395 503 I. FATHER DAVID WOULFE AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. It is universally acknowledged that " in the sixth and seventh centuries Ireland reached a high degree of learning and culture which were diffused by her innumerable missionaries throughout all Europe."^ But only those who are acquainted with the by- ways of Irish history are aware that in the six- teenth and seventeenth centuries Ireland produced very many remarkable men of world-wide repu- tation. Perhaps, few Irishmen of our times know even the name of Father Richard Fleming, S J., who was Chancellor of the University of Pont- a-Mousson, and for his extraordinary ability was selected by the Society to replace the celebrated Maldonatus, as professor of theology in the College of Clermont at Paris. Fewer still have heard of the four Waddings of Waterford, all men of distinction of the same period, of the same family and of the same Order, one of whom, Peter, was Chancellor of two German Universities at one and the same time. How many, save the erudite Bishop Reeves and Cardinal Moran, know anything of Stephen White, * Words of Dr. Bellesheim in the Literarische Rundschau, November, 1889, column 333. See also The Month, January, 1890, pp. 2, seq. B 2 Distinguished Irishmen, SJ., so much praised by Ussher and many other competent judges, and styled " Polyhistor," on ."account .q£': the vastness of his erudition? It is time .to. .put before our readers, on both sides of .thd . -"Afljintic,. sketches of these and other long- forgotten worthies, who by their talent, labours, and virtues shed lustre on the land of their birth. I propose first of all to write of the members of the Society of Jesus ; afterwards I shall give biographies of laymen, learned bishops, priests, and members of religious orders, of one of which the Bollandist De Buck significantly says : "The Order of St. Francis has produced a great number of savants and historians ; but has it produced historians more erudite than Wadding, Ward, Fleming, Colgan, and O'Sherrin, all of them Irish Franciscans ? " ^ One of the kindly influences under which Irish intellect and talent were allowed to develope them- selves in the sixteenth century was the Apostolic charity of St. Ignatius of Loyola. In the year 1555 he wrote to Cardinal Pole: "There is in the German College one Englishman of good natural ability, and in our Roman College one Irishman of great promise. If your Eminence should think proper to send from those islands some talented youths to either of these Colleges, I entertain a hope that they could soon return home well equipped with learning and virtue, and with a supreme veneration for the Holy See. We have thought it our duty to make this proposal under the impulse of a great desire to be of service to the souls of those kingdoms — a desire which the ^ Archiologic Irlandaise, p. 46. Father David Woulfe. 3 Divine and Sovereign Charity has communicated to our heart." On the feast of St Patrick, 1604, St. Ignatius' successor, Father General Aquaviva, -expressed his wish, that "by all means Irishmen should be admitted into the Society, as they seem formed for our Institute by their humility, obe- dience, charity, and learning, in all which, according to the testimonies that come from all quarters, the Irish very much excel." Finally, in the year 1652, all the Fathers of the tenth General Congregation assembled at Rome unanimously decreed on the feast of St. Patrick, that every Province of the Society should undertake to have always one Irish Jesuit in training at its own expense for the dis- tinguished Mission of Ireland.^ It is remarkable that the year, in which this kindlier influence radiated from the heart of St. Ignatius, was that in which war was first waged against the education of Irishmen. Father Fitz- Simon, SJ., in his Preface to his Treatise on the Mass, writes in the year 161 1 : "From about the ^ Hogan's Hibernia Igtiatiana, pp. 4, 5. The Latin originals run thus : " Est in Collegio Germanico unus Anglus indohs et ingenii boni et in Collegio nostro Hibernus magnse spei unus. Si in rem futurum existimaverit Dominatio V. Rma. mittere istinc aliquos ingenio et natura factos ad literas ad utrumvis collegium, in spem venio brevi tempore eos regredi posse ingenti cum fructu vitse •et doctrinse, et hujus Sanctse Sedis summa cum veneratione. . . . Nostrum esse duximus id offerre, quod animo nostro injicit ilia, •quam Divina et Suprema Charitas nobis impertitur, cupiditas serviendi animabus istorum Regnorum." (S. Ignatii Epistola ad •Card. Pole, Jan. 24, 1555.) "Admitti Hibernos desiderat omnino Pater Generalis, quum ad institutum nostrum facti quodammodo videantur humilitate, obe- dientia, charitate et doctrinse laude, quibus, omnium locorum testimonio, valde excellunt." (Epistola P. Assistentis Germanise in festo S. Patricii, 1604.) This extract is taken from Father Fitz- Simon's Catalogus Sanctorum Hibernia:, which is appended to the Hibemice VindicicBy a work attributed to Father FitzSimon, S.J. 4 Distinguished Irishmen, year 1555, as is well known, these late heresies by force, never by voluntary allowance, oppressed religion in our country, banished teachers^ extin- guished learning, exiled to foreign countries all instruction, and forced our youth either at home to be ignorant, or abroad in poverty rather to glean ears of learning than with leisure to reap any abundance thereof Yet such as travelled to foreign countries, notwithstanding all difficulties often attained to singular perfection and reputa- tion of learning in sundry sciences, to principal titles of universities, to high prelacies, of whom some are yet living, some departed in peace. Seventeen years ago, Christopher Cusacke, a man of honourable descent and alliance with the noblest ranks, of great virtue, zeal, and singular sincerity, yet inexperienced in foreign countries, meanly languaged, and meanly furnished for a building to reach this height, began to assemble and maintain our young students in this place of Douay, wherein at this instant I am resident. It cannot be imagined how much since that time the obscurity of our nation's renown hath been diminished, and the glory thereof increased ; how much the name of Ireland has become venerable, nay, admirable for peculiar towardness to learning, forwardness to virtue, modesty of conversation, facility to be governed, consent among themselves, and prompt- ness to all that might be exacted, yea, or in reason expected, of any of most complete and conform- able education or condition. Let none think that any partial affection has had place in this attes- tation, considering such to be the public and private letters patent and testimonies of princes, Father David Woulfe, 5 prelates, universities, cities and colleges, extant to all men's view ; so that little may rather seem affirmed than their desert duly declared. I omit to speak of other Irish seminaries in Spain of no less commendation, increase and account." In another book Father FitzSimon thus addresses his Father General, Aquaviva : " I proclaim that I am greatly indebted to you for the immense services rendered to myself and to my country. To us you have been not only a Father General, as you are to all the members of our Society, but you have wished to be our Father Assistant by the special care you have taken of us. With what solicitude have you not rescued us from the greatest difficulties ! What shelter and comfort did you not afford us when we were abandoned on every side ! With what an open heart you have admitted our candidates ; at what expense have you not nursed our sick and infirm, with what wholesome advice you have cheered us while we were fighting the good fight ! Under your auspices, in spite of a thousand obstacles, we possess in Spain alone three seminaries, from which the waters of the faith in- cessantly flow over to our kingdom and the neigh- bouring islands."^ I shall now proceed to lay before the reader some sketches of Irish Jesuits, who distinguished themselves in the first century of the Society of Jesus. David Woulfe was received into the Society by its holy founder some time between the years 1541 and 155 1. He was born in Limerick, about the ^ Hogan's Life and Letters of Henry FitzSimon^ pp. 68, 8l. Dublin : Keating. 6 Distinguished Irishmen. year 1520, in which city men of his name held the office of mayor in the sixteenth century, and from which, in 1594, "a hundred tall men went to ye North under the leadinge of David Woulfe, captaine," to fight for Elizabeth against the formid- able O'Neills. Under the leading of David Woulfe,. S.J., Ireland successfully resisted the inroads of the heresy of which Elizabeth was the head. He was^ says Cardinal Moran, " one of the most remarkable men who, during the first years of Elizabeth's reign, laboured in our Irish Church to gather together the scattered stones of the sanctuary."^ He spent seven years in Rome, where he became a professed Father. What work he was engaged in there I have not been able to ascertain ; but before the year 1560 he had been long and much employed in "evangelical expeditions." In 1557 he was Rector of the College of Modena ; in 1559 he was sent to the Valtelline to found a college there, and to perform other duties of the ministry. In 1560, Cardinal Morone, founder of the College of Modena, and Protector of Ireland, seeing that Elizabeth had declared herself in favour of the new heresy, thought it necessary that a pious and prudent man should be sent to Ireland to examine into the state of religion, to confirm laymen and ecclesiastics in the practice of piety and in obe- dience to the Holy See, and to preserve the Irish people in the profession of the true faith of their fathers. Father Woulfe was considered most fit for such a difficult task ; he had all the necessary qualities, he knew his country and countrymen well, and had long practice and much experience ^ Cardinal Moran's Archbishops of Dublin^ p. 77. Father David Woulfe, 7 in evangelical expeditions.^ He had already settled the affairs confided to him in the Valtelline, and with Father Possevino was engaged in useful labours at Fossano, when he was called to Rome. The Pope wished to consecrate him a bishop, and send him home with the full powers of an Apos- tolic Nuncio. But the General, Father Laynez, requested that as a member of the Society he should not be made a bishop, and he suggested that he could thus work more freely, and would give less umbrage to the enemies of the Catholic faith. The Pope consented, but gave him plenary powers, commissioned him to examine what sees were vacant, and to recommend to His Holiness proper persons to fill them. His Superiors charged him to visit the chief Catholics of the kingdom, and specially the four principal Princes, or Lords ; to visit all the bishops and the parish priests ; and even to risk his life, if necessary, in the discharge of his duties for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. He left Rome on the nth of August, 1560, with another Irish Jesuit named Edmund. At Nantes he was taken for a Lutheran, and imprisoned and otherwise harassed for four days ; at St. Malo, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his companion, he put his luggage on board a vessel, and journeyed on foot to Bordeaux, and thus his life was spared for the good of his country, as the ship with its crew and cargo was lost. Though dreadful storms were raging at that time and had wrecked many goodly vessels, in ^ This would seem to convey that he had entered the Society before the date 1551, which we have gathered from the statement of Primate Creagh. 8 Distinguished Irishmen. spite of the warnings of his friends he sailed from Bordeaux, and reached Cork on January 21, 1561, having been four months on his journey from Rome. When he had secretly made known the object of his mission, crowds of men and women came from all parts, even from a distance of sixty miles, to get his blessing and settle the affairs of their consciences. In accordance with the earnest wish of St. Ignatius, he selected and sent many Irish youths to Rome. In compliance with the mandate of the Pope, he sought out and recom- mended learned and pious priests to fill the vacant sees ; and the names of Richard Creagh of Armagh, Donall MacCongail of Raphoe, Owen O'Hairt of Achonry, Morogh MacBriain of Emly, Conor O'Cervallain, and Nicholas Landes, not to mention others, are a guarantee of the fidelity with which he carried out the orders of the Holy See. He resided for the most part in his native diocese, yet visited Tirone, and Shan the Proud, Prince of Ulster, and traversed the various regions of Ulster and Connacht ; but on account of the " wars," and the many dangers of falling into the hands of English agents and spies, he could not enter the precincts of the Pale, and accordingly, in 1 561, he delegated his jurisdiction to Father Newman, of the archdiocese of Dublin. In that very year, Father Woulfe's mission was mentioned by Elizabeth to the Pope's Ambassador as one of her reasons for not sending representa- tives to the Council of Trent. Her Majesty's priest- hunters were on his track, yet he managed to visit the great Irish lords, to ascertain whether the bishops resided in their dioceses and instructed their flocks, Father David Woulfe, 9 to see how the clergy administered the sacraments, to guard the faithful against the contagion of heresy, and to bring heretical ministers back to the fold. He had been charged by the Pope to establish grammar schools, provide Catholic masters for them, and urge parents to send their children to be instructed in literature, and in the knowledge of the saving truths of faith ; he was also, if possible, to establish monasteries, hospitals, and places of refuge for the poor, and he was ordered to acquaint the Holy See with the real state of the Irish Church. As Cardinal Moran writes, "the course traced out in these instruc- tions was exactly pursued by Father Woulfe, and his letters clearly demonstrate how indefatigable he was in his labours, and how unceasingly he struggled to restore the Irish Church to its primi- tive comeliness and fervour." The monastic schools had been swept away, and no mere Irishman or Catholic could, without risking liberty or life, teach the rudiments of literature or religion. To meet this want of intellectual culture, the Holy Father, in 1564, empowered Primate Creagh and David Woulfe to erect colleges throughout the kingdom, and to found a Uni- versity like those of Paris and Louvain. For this purpose Dr. Creagh had petitioned the Holy See to send Jesuit Fathers into Ireland.^ However, the Primate and Nuncio were not able to carry out the commands of the Pope, as the agents of England were in sharp pursuit of them. A priest- hunter, named Bird, wrote to Lord Burghley : " If ^ Primate Creagh's letter from the Tower, quoted in Father FitzSimon's Preface to his work, On the Masse. lo Distinguished Irishmen, the surprising of Creagh and some other Romish Legates of the Irishry, with some English Jesuits^ lately arrived, may be an inducement to Her Majesty's gracious favours, I shall shorten the number of these importunate members, by whom others of their sort may be disordered in England, passing and repassing to and fro." The Primate and Father Woulfe were captured and imprisoned in Dublin Castle in the year 1567. On the 13th of March of the following year, St Pius the Fifth wrote to his Nuncio at Madrid : " We have been informed that Our venerable brother, the Arch- bishop of Armagh, who, as you are aware, is Primate of Ireland, has been cast into prison in the Tower of London, and that Our beloved son David, of the Society of Jesus, is also closely confined in the City of Dublin, and that both of them are treated with the utmost severity. Their sufferings overwhelm Us with affliction, on account of their singular merit and their zeal for the Catholic faith. . . . You will therefore use every endeavour with His Catholic Majesty, and urge and request and solicit in Our name letters from him to his Ambassador and to the Queen, to obtain the liberation of these prisoners." The mediation of the King of Spain was without effect, as Dr. Creagh remained a prisoner for life, and Father Woulfe was confined in Dublin Castle for five years. A good deal has been said of the horrors of prison life in modern times ; but what are they to life in the cells in which Dr. Creagh and Father Woulfe were buried ? Father Houling, 1 William Good, an English Jesuit, and Edmund O'Donnell, came to Ireland in 1564. Father David Woulfe. ii SJ., in his history of the Irish martyrs of his own time, says that Dr. Creagh was kept in a very dark underground cell of Dublin Castle, into which the light of the sun never penetrated, and in which he was not allowed the light of a candle. In a letter written by Dr. Creagh from the Tower "to the Right Honourable the Lords and others of the Queen's Majesty's Privy Council," he thus explains why he made his escape from the Dublin prison : "Which my going away I think no man would wonder that should know well how I was dealt therein withal ; first in a hole^ where without candle there was no light in the worlds and with candle (when I had it) it was so filled with the smoke thereof (chiefly in summer), that, had there not been a little hole in ye next door to draw in breath with my mouth set upon it, I had been soon un- done. My dwelling in this Tower the first time for more than a month's space might may-chance make a strong man to wish liberty, if for his life he could . . . but foregoing further rehearsal of bearing almost these eight years irons, with one of my legs (as the beholders can judge) lost by the same, of my manifold sickness, colics, . . . loss of all my big teeth, save two, and daily sore rheumes and many other like miseries." . . . We are not aware that Father Woulfe suffered so much in health as his friend the Primate ; but that his cell was not very comfortable we may gather from the fact, that when Bishop Thomas (Leverous of Kildare) had gained access to him, he could not stand the horrible stench of the place, and went away without being able to transact any business. We learn this from a letter written from 12 Distinguished Irishmen, prison by David Woulfe, a copy of which was dis- covered by the learned Brother Foley, SJ., artiong the Roman transcripts of the Public Record Office.^ Here are a few extracts from this interesting document : " James Fitzmaurice, of the House of Desmond, remains in this country and governs Munster in the fear of God. He is young, a good Catholic, and a valiant captain. He was desirous to enter a religious order, but was prevailed on to remain at home for the good of his native land. Donall Aenoc Senez (O'Connor Sligo ?), a great friend of Father Woulfe, was received with much honour by the English Queen, and has returned to Dublin with great power, and has promised to use his influence with the Viceroy to procure Father Woulfe's liberation from prison. This Father has been visited in his cell by Bishop Thomas (Leverous of Kildare) ; but his lordship, not being able to bear the horrid stench of the place, was obliged to go away without transacting any business. The Primate is kept in irons in an underground, dark, and horrible prison, where no one is allowed to speak to him or to see him except his keeper. He has many sores on his body, and, although not over forty-four years of age, has lost all his teeth. He has been many times brought before the magis- trates, but in spite of threats, torments, and promises of great honours and dignities, he ' looks on all things as filth, that he may gain Jesus Christ' All men, and, most of all, his enemies, are much amazed at his extraordinary fortitude and con- stancy in the Catholic faith. From his boyhood he ' I have published the Italian text in Hibernia T^natiana, pp. i8, 19. Father David Woulfe, 13 has despised the pleasures of this world, and has treated his body with great penitential severity. Many things could be said of the integrity and holy life of this great man, but it is not convenient to write them at present : they will be told in their own place and time, as they cannot be concealed, since the Lord has manifested to the world a servant of His who possesses such eminent quali- ties. This holy prelate, in the presence of Father Woulfe and other persons, foretold to Shan O'Neill the circumstances of his death, specifying the year, month, place, and persons. O'Neill turned the nobles of Tirone against himself by his tyrannous conduct ; he was defeated at Cumloch, where he lost six hundred men; on May 9, 1561, he was again vanquished by Hugh O'Donnell, while passing a river near Fearsidmor, where he lost eight thou- sand men and seventy-four of the noblest and bravest men of Tirone. He then took refuge among the heretics of Scotland, and was barbar- ously murdered by them. O'Donnell has ravaged the country of O'Connor Sligo, to punish him, whom he claims to be his vassal, for having gone over to the Court of the English Queen." Father Woulfe escaped from his loathsome prison in the month of October, 1572, and, accom- panied by Sir Rice Corbally and the son of James Fitzmaurice, took refuge in Spain ; but before his departure he received the Protestant Bishop of Limerick into the true Church, as appears from a State Paper published some years ago by Lord Emly ; it was discovered by Mr. Froude, and transcribed by Dr. Maziere Brady. It runs thus : "I, William Cahessy, priest, some time named 14 Distinguished Irishmen. Bishop of the diocese of Limerick, yet nothing canonically consecrated, but by the schismatical authority of Edward, King of England, schismati- cally preferred to the bishopric of Limerick afore- said, wherein I confess to have offended my Creator. I renounce also, if I might have the same, the bishopric of Limerick, and the charge and administration of the said cure ; also other benefits and privileges received from the said Edward, or other heretics and schismatics. And I draw unto the said Holy and Universal Church, and do bow myself unto her laws, and I embrace the Reverend Lord David Woulfe, appointed the Apostolic Messenger for all Ireland from the Most Holy Lord the Pope. And I pray and beseech that, as a lost child, he receive me again into the bosom of the holy mother the Church, and that he will absolve me from all ecclesiastical sentences, censures, punishments, heresies, rules, and every blot, dispense with me and reconcile me again to the unity of the same Church." According to a letter of the filibuster. Sir Peter Carew, to the Privy Council, and another letter in the State Paper Office, " Sir Davy Wolf, an arrant traitor, fled from Dublin, is gone to Spain, and carried with him the son of James Fitzmaurice, accompanied by Sir Rice Corbally." However, he soon returned to the former field of his labours, landed at Tarbert, and in 1575 was once more engaged in visiting and consoling the Catholics of Ireland. In that year his fellow-citizen and brother Jesuit, Edmund O'Donnell, was hanged, drawn, and quartered for the Faith. Father Woulfe was denied that great happiness, and from that year Father David Woulfe. 15 he begins to fade away from our view. He was in Ireland in 1575, 1576, 1577, and 1578, in which year also he was at Lisbon and at Paris, and seems to have returned to his native land again, as Dr. Lynch, the author of Cambrensis Eversus} says, " I have heard that Father Woulfe was a man of ex- traordinary piety, who fearlessly denounced crime whenever and wherever committed. When the whole country was embroiled in war, he took refuge in the Castle of Clonoan, on the borders of Clare and Galway ; but when he heard that its occupants lived by plunder, he scrupled to take any nourish- ment from them, and soon after grew sick and died." He died, probably, at the end of 1578 or the beginning of 1579, as he is not mentioned in the detailed correspondence of 1579 or afterwards, during the eventful period of the second Desmond war. The last years of the life of this extraordi- nary man are involved in an obscurity which I tried to penetrate a quarter of a century ago, by consulting the original documents in Rome. I failed to get at them, on account of circumstances over which neither I nor any one else had control. What a chequered life was that of this most dis- tinguished, perhaps, of all the citizens of Limerick ! He first comes into view as Rector of the Jesuit College of Modena, he establishes a College in the Valtelline, declines the dignity of Bishop, and the pomp and circumstance of a nunziatura ;'^ and through perils on sea and land, journeying through woods and bogs, in a loathsome prison, "through good and ill he was Ireland's still;" and amidst the ^ Cambr. Evers. ii. 735. ^ "Deprecatus utramque dignitatem." i^HisU Societatis Jesu, quoted at p. 11 oi Hibernia Ignatiana.) 1 6 Distmguished Irishmen, distracting political issues that tore Ireland piece- meal, he sought nothing but the good of his country, provided her with prelates of the most distinguished merit, and instructed and comforted her faithful people. His is a name of which the citizens of Limerick should be proud, and which the sea-divided Gael would not willingly let die. By St.anihurst, his contemporary, he is called a distinguished divine, and is by him classed among " the learned men and authors of Ireland." Of the Limerick Woulfes', who now "all, all are gone," one was bailiff of that city the year Father David went to reside there as Nuncio (as he is always styled by his friend. Primate Creagh) ; another was mayor in the year of Father David's death; a third, "David Wolfe, gentleman, black hair, middle stature," was transplanted by the Cromwellians in 1563; and another member of that stock was the famous General Wolfe, who died in the moment of victory at Quebec. Of the partners of Father Woulfe's toil and sufferings in Ireland, it were ungrateful not to say a few words. His companion. Father Edmund O'Donnell, was born in Limerick, entered the Society of Jesus, and in 1575 was captured and imprisoned in his native city, and dragged in hand- cuffs to Cork, where, because (i) he persevered in the profession of Popery, and (2) had come to Ireland to preach and propagate Popish doctrines, and (3) obstinately refused to acknowledge the Queen of England as the head of the Anglican Church, he was hanged, disembowelled while still alive, and his body cut into quarters. On the vigil Father Robert Rochfort, 17 of the feast of St. Patrick, he met his death with joy, and by word and example exhorted the citi- zens to persevere in the CathoHc faith. Another fellow-labourer of Father Woulfe's was Father Robert Rochfort, a native of the county of Wexford, who entered the Society in Rome, in the year 1564, and in 1567 went to Dilingen to study under the care of the Blessed Peter Canisius; he was teaching a school in Youghal in 1575, was professed of four vows, a gifted linguist, and ac- cording to his contemporary, Stanihurst, " a proper divine, an exact philosopher, and very good anti- quary." Dr. Tanner, the Bishop of Cork, reports to the General of the Jesuits, that in 1577 "Father Charles Leae and Robert Rochfort are spreading the best odour of their Institute in Youghal, where they teach school, and with great industry train their scholars and the townspeople in the know- ledge of the Christian doctrine, in the frequentation of the sacraments, and in the practice of solid virtue." Rochfort's zeal in instructing and com- forting his countrymen is evidenced by the frequent mention of his name in the State Papers, and by the following significant facts. Matthew Lamport, a Waterford miller or baker, was tied to a horse's tail, and hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1581, because he had harboured the Baron of Baltinglass and Father Rochfort; Matthias Lamport, a parish priest of some place near Dublin, was hanged on July I, 1 581, for having often given shelter to Father Rochfort. On July 25, 1581, Robert Meiler, Edward Cheevers, Patrick Canavan, John O'Leary, and a sailor, whose name is not mentioned, all of c 1 8 Distinguished Irishmen, the town of Wexford, were there hanged, drawn and quartered, for having brought Father Rochfort from Belgium into Ireland. For harbouring Roch- fort, Richard French, a Wexford priest, was taken prisoner, dragged handcuffed to Dublin, then was brought back to his native place, and died from the hardships of his journeys and the miseries of his prison cell. Regarding this memorable year also, we read in the State Papers : " Thirteen interro- gatories to be administered to the Earl of Kildare ; among other things, about a book from the Vis- count Baltinglass, sent to him by Rochfort the priest." " The Countess of Kildare is to hear that Her Majesty is not ignorant of her harbouring Papists, and the open passage Rochfort had to Rathangan, where his books were left." On the 1 2th of November, Sir Geoffrey Fenton writes to Walsingham, "The Viscount Baltinglass and Roch- fort have escaped." In July, 1582, the Government is informed that " Rochfort hath entered a house of Jesuits at Lisbon." In 1583, Walter Eustace is examined and says " he hath learned the doctrines he held from Dr. Tanner and Father Rochfort." These details show how anxious English agents and spies were to lay hands on the zealous, inde- fatigable, and ubiquitous missionary. Had they succeeded in hunting him down, he would most probably have shared the fate of the martyr, Archbishop O'Hurley, unless indeed he had suf- fered the still more protracted tortures of a lingering death in some loathsome dungeon. Father Rochfort had been imprisoned some years previously ; and as his presence was compro- mising the Catholics, and as a reward was Father Robert Rochfort, 19 offered to any one who should bring in his head, he deemed it prudent to go to the Continent, where he continued to work for the good of his country. On the 20th of March, 1 586, he wrote a long letter from the College of St Anthony at Lisbon, to his confreres and colleagues, giving an account of the martyrdom of his intimate friend, Father Maurice Kinrechtin, a most pious priest, and chap- lain of the Earl of Desmond ; he ends with these words, " Farewell, and be ye, if it should be neces- sary, courageous imitators of Father Maurice Kinrechtin." Father Rochfort laboured seven years in Lisbon to the great spiritual advantage of the Catholics of Ireland, England, and other nations, who came thither, and whom his skill in many languages enabled him to instruct and otherwise assist. After a life spent in many toils, dangers, and sufferings, he died at Lisbon on June 19, 1588. He is men- tioned by Father Henry FitzSimon in a work published in 161 1, as one of those Irishmen who *^ by their pains advanced the public good of their country, leaving their glorious memory in benedic- tion, by whom our said country hath received many rare helps and supplies, especially in these latter days, to the great advancement of God's glory and the discomfiture of heretics." Ten days after Father Rochfort's death, was hangedj drawn, and quartered his intimate friend, Maurice Eustace, Esq., of Castle Martin, co. of Kildare, of whom Father John Copinger, S.J., writes in his Theatre of the Protestant and Catholic Reli- gions} printed in 1620 : " He was a Master of Arts ^ A copy of this work is in Trinity College, Dublin. 20 Distmo'uished Irish7nen. and Novice of the Society of Jesus. Being sent for by his father into Bruges in Flanders, he came into Ireland (not without his Superiors' direction) to satisfy his father's will. Being so well descended, withal, it was apprehended that he would work much among the people. In the meantime (the Eustaces) Viscount Baltinglass and the Baron of Kilcullen were in open hostility, which aggravated the suspicion that he was accessory to them.'* Father Houling, S.J., in his history of the Irish Martyrs, tells that the judge, when sentencing him, said : " Out of your own mouth I judge you ; for as you affirm you are a Jesuit, every prudent man will say you are guilty of the crime of which you are charged."-^ Father Rochfort's fellow-labourer in Youghal was Father Charles Leae ; he was born in the town of Cloyne, co. of Cork, in the year 1545 ; his father was Morris Leae, a doctor of medicine, and probably the same whom Stanihurst called " Leie a learned and expert physician." His mother's maiden name was Mary Sheehy or Hickey ; he had studied literature from his early years, and was educated at Paris, Oxford, and Cologne. He became a Jesuit in Rome on June 24, 1570; in 1575 became to Ireland with Bishop Tanner and Father Rochfort, and taught school, and preached at Youghal and in the surrounding districts up to the year 1579, when Dr. Tanner died, after having endured great suffer- ings in prison for eighteen months. Father Leae ^ The story of his life and death is given by Houling, Rothe, Copinger, Eruodin, and in Hib. Ignatiana^ pp. 30, 31. Father Charles Leae. 21 remained in Ireland, and was captured and im- prisoned, as we may gather from the following narrative, if we remember that an Irishman was very often called after his father's Christian name, and that Charles the son of Morris Leae would be named Charles McMorris, On the 4th of June, 1 584, Diarmait O'Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, was hanged in Dublin for the profession of the Faith. Some days before his execution, his feet and legs were forced into boots filled with oil and salt, and a fire was put under them. The oil heated by the flames, penetrating the soles and other parts, tortured him in an intolerable manner, and " his skin fell from the flesh and portions of the flesh from the bare bones." There happened to be then at Dublin a priest of the Society of Jesus, named Charles MacMorris, who had much experience in medicine and surgery, and who had been himself confined in prison by the English, but was released on account of the skill with which he had treated some noblemen who were dangerously ill. This Father visited the Archbishop and applied some remedies which gave him great relief The hideous details of the roasting are confirmed by the State Papers, and must for ever brand with infamy the names of Loftus and Wallop. I lose sight of Father Leae after this ; I know not whether he was able to remain in Ireland for some time going about under various disguises, and instructing and consoling the Catholics of that country, or whether he was driven away by the fury of persecution, and was sent by his Superiors to teach in the Continental Colleges — a task for which he was well fitted by his Uni- 22 Distinguished Irishmen, versity training. He was certainly dead before the year 1609. I was fortunate enough to find the following entry, written by him in the Roman Novice Book on the 24th of June, 1570: "I was born in the town of Cloyne, diocese of Cork ; my father and mother are dead ; my father was Maurice Leae, a Doctor of Medicine, my mother's maiden name was Mary Chihi. From my earliest years. I have devoted myself to learning ; I have studied one year at Paris, then I went to the University of Oxford, and lastly I have read Logic and Philosophy during three years at Cologne, when I took the degree of Master of Logic and Philo- sophy. I promise to observe all the rules, con- stitutions, and mode of life of the Society, and to do whatever the Society shall order. In witness- of which I subscribe this with my hand, CHARLES Leae." In the same book I found these items : Charles Leae, an Irishman, made his first vows in the Professed House on January 17, 1571, on the 24th of June he went to the Roman College. Of Father Leae's Bishop and Superior, Dr. Tanner, we learn that at the age of thirty-nine he entered the Society in Rome in 1565, studied in the Roman College in 1566, and with Father Rochfort was sent to the University of Dillingen in 1567, and became a Doctor of Divinity. As Father Copinger writes : " Through great sickness, not without the licence of his Superiors and the advice of physicians, he was enforced to come forth out of the Society." He was elected Bishop of Cork and Commissary Apostolic in 1574; was captured and imprisoned, and treated with great cruelty. " He suffered great penury and want as Father Richard Fleming. 23 well in prison as out of it," and died on the 4th of June, 1579. It is painful and sickening to read the account of these twenty years of coercion, the foul and abominable black holes under ground ; the roasting, hanging, disembowelling and quartering, and the gentle means by which the maternal ruler of that day tried "to dissolve the spell of Rome,"^ and to woo and win the Irish to the doctrines of the Reformation. Let us turn away from the theatre of these horrid scenes to the calm retreat of Con- tinental Colleges and Universities, and contemplate for awhile what Irishmen are doing there. In the very year, 1584, when Fleming, Baron of Slane, first sheltered Dr. O'Hurley, and then, to save himself and his property, sought him out, captured and handed him over to the English, a namesake, and no doubt a near kinsman of his, Father Richard Fleming, S.J., became the first Chancellor of the University of Pont-a-Mousson in Lorraine. In the history of that University^ we read : " Father Fleming was of a noble family in Ireland. The distinguished character of his coun- tenance, of his whole person and of his manners, as well as the religious modesty of his bearing, made of him a remarkable man.^ In addition to those exterior qualities, he had such a reputation * Elizabeth's words in 1580 to Lord Arthur Grey de Wilton, in whose suite came Spencer the poet and Raleigh the soldier and philosopher. 2 Histoire de VUniversite de Pont-h-Mousson, p. 383. It was written by Father Abram, a celebrated Doctor of Divinity of that University, and published by Father Carayon, S.J. 3 *' La distinction de ses traits, celle de toute sa personne et de ses manieres . . . en faisait un homme remarquable." 24 Distinguished Ij^shmeii. for learning that his Superiors considered him worthy to succeed the celebrated Maldonatus, and to uphold, together with Father Tyrie, the heritage of glory which that illustrious professor had be- queathed to the Society." " During ten years he taught theology at the College of Clermont, Paris, with a success which always grew greater and greater. In 1584 he came to Pont-a-Mousson, where he was the first Jesuit that received the dignity and performed the functions of Chancellor of the University. He was also employed there for some time in teaching dogmatic theology and in solving cases of con- science. Some months before his death in 1590, certain propositions, published against the theo- logians of our Society by the Doctors of the University of Louvain, were sent to Pont-a- Mousson. These propositions, which had long ago been rejected by the Church, had just re-appeared under a new form, and under a great heap of words, in the writings of Cornelius Jansenius, Bishop of Ypres. Our Faculty of Theology, being consulted on these propositions, gave its opinion through Father Fleming. I do not believe I have ever seen anything more complete in this kind of composition — the penetration of the pro- fessor and the solidity of his doctrine reveal themselves there in all their Mat. This great theologian passed from this world on August 25, 1590, to enter, as we hope, the sojourn of the Saints. Some time after his death. Father Thomas Darbyshire, an English Jesuit commendable for his prudence, holiness, and spiritual insight, de- clared in presence of four of our Fathers, two of Father Richard Fleming. 25 whom are still living, that Father Fleming had appeared to him, and by his words had left in him a feeling of inexpressible joy." This fact shows at least that Father Fleming was held in high esteem by Father Darbyshire, to whom Ireland and the Society are indebted for the conversion of the celebrated " Harry FitzSimon," whose acquaintance we shall make further on. This Father Darbyshire was nephew of Dr. Bonner, Bishop of London ; he was a D.C.L. and LL.D. of Oxford, Archdeacon of Essex, Canon of St Paul's, Chancellor of the diocese of London, and Dean of St. Paul's. He was deprived of all at the accession of Elizabeth ; was deputed to the Council of Trent by the English Catholics to procure a decision on the point then in controversy regard- ing attendance at Protestant churches, and he brought back the reply that to do so was a grievous sin. After having been imprisoned in London he entered the Society in Rome, and devoted himself to teaching the Catechism and delivering lectures on faith and morals, chiefly in Paris and at Pont-a-Mousson, where he died at the age of eighty-six. Another very remarkable man, a Scotch Jesuit, named James Tyrie, Professor of Philosophy and Theology at Paris, and afterwards "Assistant of France," tells the following extraordinary story about his Irish confrere, Father Fleming, which is thus recorded in the General History of the Society of Jesus, year 1581 : "Richard Fleming, an Irishman of our Society, and a priest of very remarkable virtue, was living in Paris in the year 1581. The day before the General was elected in Rome, Father Fleming 26 Distinztdshed Irishmen, •is said to Father Tyrie in private, * Father, do you know Claudio Aquaviva ? ' (Be it remarked that Richard had never seen him or even heard of his name.) * I know him well,' said Father Tyrie ; * but why do you ask me that question ? * 'I will tell you,' said he, ' for the glory of God. Last night I got out of bed to pray, and was recom- mending to God the success of the Congregation in Rome, when the Blessed Virgin (as I thought) brought me into the hall in which the Fathers were assembled for the election of our General. While standing there I saw the most Holy Mother of God take a certain young Father into the middle of the Assembly, and I heard her say to the Electors, Choose Claudio Aquaviva as General. The Fathers assented, and then the vision vani- shed.' " After this brief allusion, Father Fleming, strange to say, vanishes from the General History of the Society, in which the course of many other lesser Irish lights has been carefully and minutely traced. If we look among Irish writers for any mention of his name and fame, we find only the two following references to him. Stanihurst, in his Description of Ireland, published in 1586, gives in the seventh chapter, " Ye names of ye Learned Men and Authors of Ireland," and he says: "There is a Fleming now living, of whom I hear great report to be an absolute divine and a professor thereof" Dr. Rothe, Bishop of Ossory, and one of the most learned sons of Ireland, who by their genius and virtue have shed lustre on the land of their birth, published Hibernia Resiirgens in the year 1621. In it he writes: "Nine or ten years Father"" Richard Fleming, 27 ago, Father Henry FitzSimon, SJ., published an Alphabetical Catalogue of the Saints of Ireland, in which are given the feast-day of each Saint, a brief eulogium of him, and the sources where further information could be got. Though the edition is recent, the Catalogue is of an old date, and was the work of the Very Reverend Father Richard Fleming, Professor of Divinity in the University of Pont-a-Mousson. From this work was compiled a Litany of Irish Saints, which I have seen, and which was devoutly recited in Rome by Dr. Peter Lombard, Primate of all Ire- land, when he was visiting the Holy Stations, attended by his friends, countrymen and servants. This Litany he was wont to recite every day at a fixed hour in a private oratory, together with the Most Noble Dynasts, the Earls of Tirone and Tirconnell." The year 1590, given by the history of Pont-a- Mousson as the date of Fleming's death, is perhaps a misprint for 1596 or 1593, as a manuscript volume marked Anglice Historia in the Jesuit archives in Rome mentions that the following Irish Fathers were living at Pont-a-Mousson in 1593: Richard Fleming, James Archer, Richard de la Field, and Christopher Holywood. From this we gather that "the great report" of Father Fleming's being " an absolute divine and professor thereof," attracted his countrymen to him, and that his influential position was used by him for the furtherance of Irish education and of the religious interests of his persecuted country. A seminary was opened there, and one of the earliest acts of Father Fleming as first Chancellor of Pont-a- 28 Distingtdshed Irishmen, Mousson was, on October 26, 1584, to confer the degree of Bachelor of Divinity on that distin- guished Englishman, William Giffbrd, who after- wards became Archbishop of Rheims.^ It is a pity- that his name is not found in the new National BiograpJiy^ though he is far above the level of hundreds whose lives are given in that great work. When the Faculty of Theology and the whole University of Paris were waging war against the Jesuits,^ and such a man as Maldonatus was about to retire from the storm which raged round his Chair of Divinity, the French Provincial, Claude Mathieu, wrote to his General on December 13, 1575, "Father Maldonatus wishes to go to Rome, if we had another theologian who could teach theology in his place." Father Fleming was selected to take his place, and, as he held it for nine or ten years in most dangerous times, and taught with an ever-increasing success, amidst the full blaze of Parisian party spirit, he must have been a man of great eloquence, courage, tact, and temper, as well as "an absolute divine." In this difficult position he was ably supported by Father Tyrie, a Scotch Jesuit, of whom the History of Pont-a-Mousson says, " The glory of his colleagues, Fathers Maldonatus, Mariana, Le Clerc, and Richard Fleming, did not eclipse the rare merit of Father Tyrie at the College of Clermont." ^ Histoire de Poni-a-Mousson p. 199. 2 See Bayle's Historical Dictionary, article " Maldonatus. II. FATHER JOHN HOWLING. In the previous chapter the careers of the Nuncio and the Chancellor of a University have been briefly sketched. We will now turn our attention to less distinguished, though not less useful men, who were the first founders of the Irish Colleges of Lisbon and Salamanca, from which, as Father FitzSimon says, "the waters of the faith flowed over to our kingdom and the neighbouring islands." ^ These Colleges were established by the zeal of Father John Howling and Father Thomas White of the Society of Jesus. These men were not such great theological luminaries as Fleming, and have not figured so conspicuously before the learned world as Stephen White and others of the Irish Jesuits ; but by their agency and influence they have proved greater centres of power, and have been more inti- mately connected with the educational and religious advance of Ireland, at a time when the old Celtic system of society was breaking up under the re- peated blows of English power during the Fifteen Years' War, and when the old faith of the Irish people was seriously menaced by the inroads of a heresy which was backed up by the might of Great 1 See p. 5, sttp-a. 30 Distinguished Irishmen, Britain. Though they were the originators of those Colleges, the rise of which is a momentous event in Irish history, yet so little has been known about them until very recently that the learned and laborious Dr. Oliver could barely tell us their names, and even he could scarcely do that with regard to one of them. He says in his Collec- ta?iea} "John Olingo. This unaccountable name (Q. Lynch ?) is given by Father Matthias Tanner, p. 317, Confessors of the Society of festis^ to an Irish Jesuit, who died a victim of charity in attending persons attacked with the plague at Lisbon in the month of January, 1599." Of Father White he says : " The only occasion that I find this Father mentioned is in a letter of August 22, 1607. He was then in Spain with Father James Archer. I come across him again six weeks later. Father FitzSimon in his Preface to his Treatise on the Mass, printed in 161 1, mentions him." It is matter for surprise that a writer of Oliver's wonderful research could not tell more about those worthies; it is very much to be regretted that their names are not even mentioned in the various histories of Ireland, and that, notwithstanding their singular merit, the words of Holy Writ have not been verified in their regard : " The memory of them shall not depart away, and their name shall be in request from generation to generation." John Howling (also spelt Houling or Hulin), was born in the town or county of Wexford in 1542, the year in which three of the companions of 1 Or Collections towards Illustrating the Biography of the English, Scotch, and Irish Members of the Society of Jesus, editions of 183S and 1845. Father John Howling, 3 1 St. Ignatius came on a mission to Ireland. The date is given by Alegambe and Nadasi/ the birth- place is indicated by Father Copinger,^ who says : " Father John Huling, naturall of Wexford, by his Industrie and charitie did relieve a certeine number of Irish youths in Lisbonne, and in the time of ye plague in that citie sought licence of his superiors to serve in the hospital of the plague, whereof he died ; which is a sufficient sign of his great charity." According to Alegambe, who is copied by Nadasi, he spent " 16 years" in religion, and died in 1599 ; he joined the Society in 1583. But I am inclined to think that 16 is a scribal or typographical error for 26, and that he entered the Novitiate in 1573. This will appear more than probable from his journeyings to and fro, and especially from his acquaintance with Father Yate, an English Jesuit who left Portugal for the Brazilian Mission in 1577. In the Record Office,^ there are two intercepted letters written by Father Yate from Brazil, in 1593 ; in them he says that Father Howling had sent him news in 1591, and that he had answered the letter in that year; and that in 1592 he had written to Father Howling, from whom he had received two letters "that did greatly gladde him." This correspondence between men living so far asunder points to a previous acquaintance or inti- mate friendship, which seems to have grown up between the years 1575 and 1577, when Father ^ Alegambe's Heroes et Victimce Charitatis e Soc. /esu, p. lo8 ; Nadasi's Annus Dierum Memorabilium. 2 In his Mnemosymom to Catholics, p. 268, Ed. 1608. ' Dom. Eliz. vol. 245, Nos. 32, 33. See Records and Collectanea of H. Foley, S.J. 32 Distingtdshed Irishmen, Yate lived in Spain and Portugal. That Howling was in the Peninsula at that time seems certain on other grounds. He was at Alcala de Henares in 1577, where he then had the privilege of enjoying the friendship of Dr. William Walsh, the exiled Bishop of Meath, who had been imprisoned for thirteen years in an underground cell. In 1580 he was in Galicia, where he was the confessor of Miss Barnewall and her maid/ who had gone on a pilgrimage to St. James of Compostella, to thank the Mother of God for protecting them from the greatest dangers. In the month of February, 1583, he was in Lisbon, where he was present at the death-bed of Nicholas Skerret, Archbishop of Tuam, who had been imprisoned, and then exiled, for the faith. Towards the end of that year he was in Rome, where he again met that heroic Irish lady. Miss Margery Barnewall, and became acquainted with the English Jesuit, Father Good, from whom he learned details of the capture of Primate Creagh. He had been in Dublin some time previously, and had met bishops, priests, and literary men at the hospitable house of Mrs. Ball, a remarkable Catholic lady, who brought these gentlemen into her house, chiefly in order that by their example, arguments and prayers, they might bring back her son to the Catholic faith. She also trained and taught her servant-men and servant-women in the doctrine and practices of that faith, and sent them to serve in the houses of divers gentlemen, where they won not only their fellow-servants, but also their masters and mistresses to the true religion. This worthy 1 Vide m/ra, p. 37. Father John Howling, 33 widow was twice flung into prison, the second time, indeed, by her dutiful son, who was Mayor of Dublin. She died in her prison cell in the year 1584.1 The year after that Howling met, perhaps in Ireland, and was well acquainted with, two gentle- men of Clonmel who had witnessed the capture and execution of the martyr. Father Kinrechtin. When Father Rochfort died at Lisbon in June, 1588, Howling was sent to take his place. By his zeal and his knowledge of many Northern languages, he was able to influence those foreigners whom he ardently desired to bring back to the Sacrament of Confession and to the profession of the true faith. He converted about one hundred and twenty Englishmen, and also some Irishmen who had abandoned the Catholic faith or neg- lected its practices.^ In the midst of his labours he did not neglect literary work ; he found time about the year 1589 to write a most valuable biographical account of the Irish martyrs who were put to death between the years 1578 and 1588. It would cover fifty- two pages of this book ; it is preserved in the Archives of the Irish College of Salamanca, and has been printed in the Spicilegiuni OssoriensCy vol. i. pp. 82 — 109 ; it sketches briefly the life and death of eleven bishops, ten priests, thirty-three laymen, and two ladies, who suffered for the Faith.^ ^ Spicileghwi Ossoriense, i. pp. 83, 109, 84, 109, 85, 91. 2 Annals of the Portuguese Province, S.J. 3 The title is: "Jesu + Maria. Perbrevc Compendium in quo continentur nonnuUi eorum, qui in Hybernia, regnante impia Regina Elizabeth, vincula, carceres, exilium, et martyrium perpessi sunt, compositum a P. Joanne Holingo, Hiberno, Societatis Jesu. D 34 Distinguished Irishmen, It is well penned, it is the very first contribution toward an Irish Martyrology, and entitles him to the grateful remembrance of his country. Among other interesting stories told in it is the detailed history of Margery Barnewall that we have alluded to above. The narrative is so curious a one that we make no apology for inserting it here. Margery Barnewall, a lady noble by birth, but more noble on account of her exalted virtue, had from her infancy consecrated her virginity to God. When about thirty-three years old, she had received from the hands of a certain Catholic Bishop the blessed veil with which it was the custom in Ireland to invest those who had become the spouses of Jesus Christ. Thenceforward all her time was spent among holy women, who like herself gave themselves up to prayer and to good works. Her manner of life was at length reported (in 1580) by a spy to the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, an apostate priest named Loftus, who had her arrested and imprisoned. When she had been in confinement for a few days, she was brought before the Archbishop who, after asking her name, age, and parentage, inquired as to the religion she professed. " I believe," she answered, "and profess the Catholic faith which the Holy Roman Church teaches, and in it I hope by God's help to die." On this the Archbishop ordered her to be led back to prison, where her constancy was put to the test by various trials and hardships. At length her friends bribed the gaoler to let her escape, and hurried her on board a French ship Father John Hozvling, 35 that happened to be lying in the port of Dublin, with whose captain they arranged that he should land her at St. Malo's in Brittany. Margery sailed for St. Malo's with no companion save a little maid, and after a few days' voyage arrived one evening safely off the town. The captain and the greater part of the crew went ashore, leaving two or three sailors in charge of the ship, and pro- mising to return in the morning to put his passengers ashore. During the night the sailors left on board attacked Margery and her maid, and cruelly beat them with ropes on account of their refusing to accede to their demands. But Margery, who had throughout trusted to the Holy Mother of God to keep her and her companion safe, taking occasion from the momentary absence of their assailants, seized a thick Irish rug and said to her maid : " My child, in the name of God, let us throw ourselves into the sea, for the Lord Jesus will certainly keep us safe, and will preserve us from the violence of these wicked men." Then arming themselves with the sign of the Cross, they threw the rug into the sea and jumped in upon it. By the wonderful power of God, the rug, spreading out upon the surface of the waves, supported both of them, and of its own accord carried them safely to the shore. But when they had landed, the maid remem- bered that she had heard from the Captain how the city w^as guarded at night by fierce and large dogs, who attacked and devoured any whom they found outside the walls. "O my mother," she cried, " I am afraid of those dogs." " Cheer up, my child," Margery replied, " for He who has 36 Distinguished Irishmen, preserved us from those wicked men, and brought us safe to land, both can and will save us from the dogs. If not, it is better to be eaten by dogs than to suffer violence from wicked men." As she said this the troop of dogs came rushing upon them. The poor little maid hid herself behind her mistress in terror, but Margery boldly faced the dogs until the first of them, who was the leader of the rest, came up to her and placed his front paw upon her shoulder as if about to seize her by the throat. Margery committed herself to God and repeated the verse, " Many dogs are come about me," and saying some words in Irish, began to pat his head and address him with friendly words. Instead of doing her any harm the dog at once left, and, barking and signalling to the other dogs, led the way slowly towards the gates ; the whole pack followed, and when they reached the gates he lay down by the side of the two defenceless women, and remained there on guard until the citizens came in the morning to open the gates, when the two strangers were found unharmed. The people of St. Malo con- ducted them to the Bishop as beings altogether superhuman. But it happened that one of the citizens understood Irish and through him the v/hole story was told to the Bishop. The Bishop sent for the Captain of the ship that had brought them across, and the sailors who had attacked Margery and her maid, being brought before the magistrates and examined separately, acknowledged the truth of her story and declared themselves quite unable to explain how the two women could have reached the shore. The Bishop had the whole Father John Howling, 37 story entered in the public records, and Margery and her maid were hospitably entertained for some months at St. Malo's. They subsequently went on pilgrimage, in token of their gratitude, to St. James of Compostella, and other pious places. The maid died a holy death in Spain, and Margery, after visiting Rome, returned to Ireland, where her example was the means of bringing many other maidens to consecrate themselves to God. The concluding words of this document of Father Howling's lead us to consider the great work of his life, the establishment of the Irish College of Lisbon. He says : " Many of the clergy, and of the laity (both men and women) are still detained in the prisons of Dublin and other parts of Ireland on account of their adherence to their faith, and they are all ready to suffer everything for it's sake. Many have gone beyond the sea, chiefly priests ; and even boys have come away without saying good-bye to their friends, some of whom are only thirteen^ or fourteen years old, preferring to pre- serve their faith abroad even in poverty, and without any certain human help, to living in comfort at home with their parents and friends, where the purity of their religion would be en- dangered." This gives us the key to the work of the last ten years of good Father Howling's career. His confrere and contemporary, Father Richard Conway, tells us that " the greatest injury the heretics have done, an injury attended with the ^ Ross MacGeoghegan was one of this batch, and was thirteen years old when he went to Lisbon. He became a distinguished Dominican, and Bishop of Kildare. 38 Distinguished hdshmen. most serious results, was the prohibition of all Catholic schools in our nation, which is naturally so inclined to learning. Their object was to sink our people in degradation and to fill the Uni- versities of England with the children of those who could afford to pay for their education, and thus to make them more dependent on the heretics, and contaminated with their errors. They have, however, taken care that all children are taught English, and they chastise them if they speak their own native tongue." " But the natives did not go to England ; they preferred rather to remain in ignorance than to run the risk of becoming heretics; or they went secretly to many foreign parts, but particularly to Spain,, where His Catholic Majesty protected them, gave them Colleges, and, by his example in allotting funds for the support of a certain number, en- couraged his subjects to subscribe towards the good work, and placed these Colleges under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus. The Irish youths came to those schools, though parents who send their sons abroad are exposed to the indignation of the Government, to the con- fiscation of their property, and to imprisonment.^ These educational privations of Ireland are also set forth in a paper presented to the Holy See by the "Irish exiles everywhere dispersed."^ They say: ''Our country was once a school of religion and learning, to which very many foreigners came, ^ A MS. of the Irish College of Salamanca, published by Dr. Macdonald in the Irish Ecclesiastical Record^ i^74> PP' 206,. 207. - Hibernia Ipiatiana^ p. 35. Father John Howling, 39 and from which many Irishmen went forth to propagate the light of the Gospel and of learning in other lands. This glory gradually faded away before the frequent and ferocious attacks of in- vaders, and through the intestine feuds of the native princes. When the English came, they abolished some trifling abuses, but they abolished education also. They forced the Irish to be ignorant, in order to compel them to be slaves. But within the last two or three years they have opened a College in Dublin in order that our youths may be instructed by English heretics. This new departure is most insidious and dangerous . . . and it is very much to be feared that heresy with all its machinery and appliances may draw Irishmen to itself, if they be deprived of teachers able to instruct in the Catholic faith. The fear of this great danger creates sadness and sorrow in our hearts and in the hearts of all prudent and thoughtful Irishmen, since we see that proper in- structors are wanting." These exiles then ask the Holy Father to send them Irish Jesuits to educate their youth. Their wish was not carried out for a few years ; but Father Howling and Father White, who saw the dangers that threatened the rising generation of Irishmen, founded Colleges where Irish boys found shelter and competent masters. In 1593, Father Howling, who was noted as a man of most exemplary and holy life, was residing in the Professed House of the Society at Lisbon, and devoting himself to the spiritual and temporal welfare of his countrymen who went thither as exiles for the faith, or were brought as prisoners 40 Distinguished Irishmen, captured by sea-rovers. Some ships from Ireland entered that port in the early part of the year 1593. Howling went at once to visit them and found a great number of Catholics, who under the stress of persecution had left their native land and the broad acres of their ancestors in order to preserve their faith, which was dearer to them than anything in the world. He welcomed these illustrious exiles, exhorted, instructed, and con- soled them, and heard their confessions. One of these Irishmen, who was of distinguished birth and position, went through the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in the house of the Jesuit Fathers, and at the end of it went barefoot on a pilgrimage to a shrine of the Blessed Virgin, which was situated twenty miles away on a rugged mountain. Father Howling's charity embraced not only his own countrymen, but also the English mariners and others who frequented that port. As he was an accomplished linguist, he spoke with sailors and passengers in their various tongues, won their hearts by his tact and genial manners, and con- verted fifty Protestant sailors and four captains. But what most excited his sympathy and inflamed his zeal was the sight of the very many youths who, leaving their parents, inheritance, and father- land, had run away from the University of Dublin in order to preserve their religion. That University had formerly been founded by the Sovereign Pontiff, but had collapsed through the working of unfavourable circumstances. Elizabeth had recently restored it, with the view of making it a stronghold and arsenal of heresy, and she had invited parents, even Catholic parents, to send Father John Howling, 41 their sons to be supported and educated gratis in that institution. The temptation proved too strong for the straitened circumstances of some fathers and the ambition of others, who in matters relating to faith were perfectly orthodox. However, the Catholic youths were wiser in their generation than their fathers ; they looked on the teachers as wolves sent to ravage the fold, and with a unanimous consent resolved to abandon that school of error. They escaped and landed at Lisbon, destitute of everything. The paternal and large-hearted care and solicitude of Father Howling enabled these wanderers and castaways to find even in exile a country, parents, and a home. He devoted all his thoughts, energies and influence to procure at once a fixed residence for them. He then collected money amongst the principal citizens, and built the Irish College of St. Patrick, Lisbon, the first Rector of which was Father Thomas White, of ClonmeV and the first and best scholar of which was the celebrated Stephen White, the future " Polyhistor," who had been, I believe, one of the three first scholars of Trinity College, Dublin. It is with great truth that Father Henry FitzSimon says of this benefactor of Irish youth : " Father Howling by his pains advanced the public good of his country to his greatest power, leaving his memory in continual benediction, and that by him our said country hath received many rare helps and supplies, to the great advancement of God's glory and the discomfiture ^ Litt. Annua Prov. Lusitanice, years 1593 and 1594 ; Franco's Hist. Soc.Jesu in Lusitanice; Jouvancy's Hist. Soc.Jesu; Damianus, Synopsis Hist. S.J. ; Alegambe ; Nadasi. 42 Distinguished Irishmen, of heretics." According to the History of the Scientific Establishments of Portugal} ]o\m Orlingo was a Jesuit of great Catholic fervour, and, as it appears, of great resolution. Ke had grouped round him a number of Irish youths in 1592, and he had the College opened on the feast of St. Briget, February i, 1593, under the title, "Collegio de Estudiantes Irlandezes sob a invo- cagaon de S. Patricio em Lisboa." It were ungrateful not to record here the name of a great and good Portuguese Jesuit, who gave him every help in his power, and who six years afterwards died at the same time and of the same plague as Father Howling. This was Father Pedro Fonseca, a man of great intellect, prudence, and piety. It was he who obtained from the Father-General some Irish Jesuits to attend to the spiritual wants of their countrymen at Lisbon. When the Irish reached Lisbon in poverty and almost shipwrecked, he helped and cheered them in every way, built a College and Seminary for them, prescribed their rule of life, got chosen com- petent men to provide for their wants and procure funds for their support ;^ and thus he shares with Father Howling the merit and honour and glory of founding an establishment which rendered such signal service to Ireland during the space of two hundred years. For six years Father Howling continued to watch over the rising institution with fatherly 1 By Robero, Tom. ii. pp. 91—95. "Joao Orlingo Irlandez, Jesuita de grande fervor Catolico, e, ao que parece, de grande re.solu9aon. " 2 Litt. Ann. Ltisitanuc S.J. 1599. Father John Howling. 43 care. He taught class in the College, provided for the educational wants of the inmates as well as for their temporal comfort, and (with the help, no doubt, of Father Fonseca) he got together a society of noblemen^ who undertook to procure funds for the students.^ But his cares were not confined to Lisbon. " He sent the Jubilee, granted by Pope Clement the Eighth, by a safe hand to the chiefs of the Irish Catholics, and he obtained from the Sovereign Pontiff the power of dispensing in matters reserved to the Holy See, which power was given to certain priests in Ireland, to the great comfort and advantage of the people."^ He also sent to Ireland a copy of a letter of Cardinal Allen, conveying faculties to the Irish Bishops. At the end of this copy, which is in Trinity College,* he says : " I, John Oling, an Irishman, priest of the Society of Jesus, do certify that this is a true copy." In 1594 forty of the English and Irish nations were converted in Lisbon. We are told by Dr. Lombard, Primate of Armagh, and a contemporary of Father Howling, that the College of Lisbon was founded through the favour of Albert, Archduke of Austria, Viceroy of Portugal, and of other principal men in that city, and that, moreover, a church was erected and pious sodali- ties instituted there in honour of St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland.^ Cordara, in his History of the Society, under the year 1624, says that the College was founded and endowed for ever by Ferdinand de Ximenes, and ^ "Societas Nobilium." 2 Damianus and Nadasi. ^ Liit. Afin. Ltisitanus, 1593. * MwSS. E, 3, 8 (10). ^ De Hibernia Commentarius, p. 137. (Edit. 1868.) 44 Distinguished Irishmen. had always from its inception Irish Jesuits as Rectors. In 1613 Father Edward da Costa, a man of high nobility and of great wealth, who had entered the Society at the age of forty-two, died at the Irish College of Lisbon, to which he had contributed so much money that he was called its founder.^ Harris says that " the College was founded in 1595 by Ximenes, a Spanish nobleman, who is buried there and a weekly Mass offered for his soul." " One Leigh, an Irish merchant, was a benefactor to it, and is interred in one of the chapels there." ^ In the year 161 1, "Margaret (of Austria) by the grace of God, Queen of the Spains, of the two Sicilies, and of Jerusalem," in writing to the Holy Father to recommend the foundation of an Irish College in Rome, says, " the King, my Lord, has founded three Irish Colleges in these kingdoms, at Salamanca, Lisbon, and Santiago."^ From these various statements I conclude that Father Howling, with the help of Father Fonseca, had the chief hand in its inception, and that the King of Spain, the Viceroy of Portugal, Ferdinand de Ximenez, Mr. Leigh, Edward da Costa, '^.]., and others not mentioned, contributed generously towards the funds necessary for the building and working of the establishment. As the records of the College are beyond my reach, I cannot place before the reader an account ^ Litt. Ann. Lusitanicc^ 1613. « Harris' Ware, vol. i. p. 257. Andersen, in his Irish Natives, copies Harris. * Quoted in Dr. MacDonald's account of Santiago in Irish Ecclesiastical Record of 1873, p. 173. Father John Howling. 45 of the services rendered to Ireland by that insti- tution ; but I may enable him to form an idea of its results from some statistics relating to the kindred houses of Salamanca and Santiago. The former College, in the space of about one century, sent forth from its walls five hundred and ten Bishops and missionaries, among whom many were illustrious for their virtues, learning, controversial power, apostolic preaching, and the writing of learned works. Besides, one hundred and thirty became conspicuous members of different religious orders in Spain : three of the Order of St. Benet, one of whom became General of that Congrega- tion ; one of the Order of Trinitarians ; twelve of the Cistercian Order ; seventeen of the Order of St. Dominic ; twenty of the Order of St. Au- gustin ; twenty-six of the Order of St. Francis ; and more than fifty of the Society of Jesus. It has yielded twelve or more Provincials to these orders ; and to the Church of Ireland it has given one Primate, four Archbishops, five Bishops, two Protonotaries Apostolic, five Vicars-General, eigh- teen graduates of theology in the most celebrated Universities of Europe, and more than thirty Masters of Theology and Sacred Scriptures, who were famed as professors in those great theatres of learning.^ The College of Santiago "gave, in the space of one hundred and ten years, six martyrs, two Primates of Ireland, nine Arch- bishops, seventeen Bishops, four hundred evange- lical labourers, ninety Jesuit apostolic labourers, ^ Paper presented to the King of Spain in 1709 by the Irish Jesuit Delamar, printed in Irish Ecclesiastical Record ^ 1874, p. I. 46 Distinguished Irishmeit. and forty-three members of other orders, who were renowned for their virtue and learned works." ^ With the hope that some Irish priest at Lisbon will examine the archives of that city, and publish the history of this College, I now pass on to describe the last days of its founder and father. As Lisbon was inhabited not only by Portu- guese, but also inhabited and frequented by Spaniards, Italians, Belgians, Germans, French, and Irishmen, Jesuits of these various nations were in residence there. The plague broke out in October, 1599; our Fathers went through the city and suburbs to hear the confessions of the plague-stricken, who were hiding lest they should be taken to the public hospital. There were two thousand patients in the hospital. The nobles, the chief citizens, and even many parish priests, aban- doned the city ; but most of the priests came back when the Bishop threatened all absentees with suspension. Lest the poor should die of want (in the hospital),^ four of our Fathers were told off to distribute food among them, and in this work of mercy they were engaged from morn- ing till night. Father Ortega and Brother Lorenzo died of the plague. The third victim was Father Howling, who had always been remarkable for a most holy life. Father James Diaz asked leave to nurse Father Howling and Brother Lorenzo, and he was carried off. The eighth victim was the venerable Father Fonseca, of whom we have 1 Paper presented to the Spanish King by the Irish Jesuit, Father Harrison, in 1724, printed in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, 1874, p. 259. =* I insert this, as Father Coppinger says "he sought licence of his Superiors to serve in the hospital of the plague. " leather John Howling, 47 already spoken as the great friend and helper of his Irish confrere. By some writers the month of November, and by others the 31st of December,^ is given as the date of the glorious death of this holy and heroic Irishman, to whose memory we have endeavoured to do some justice. 1 Nadasi, who quotes a MS. Menologium of James Stratius ; Franco's Hist. Prov. Lusitania. The date, Jan. I599> given at p. 82 of the Spicilegium Ossoriense, is evidently wrong. III. FATHER THOMAS WHITE. Thomas White was born at Clonmel in the year 1558, entered the Society in 1588 or 1592, was founder and Rector of the Irish College of Sala- manca, a great pillar of the Irish Church, and a man of extraordinary piety and zeal ; he died at Santiago on May 28, 1622.^ " He did more for the preservation of the faith in his native land than any other Irishman ever did, during the terrible ordeal through which the Church of Ireland passed in two or three centuries of persecution. To him is due the idea of establishing Irish Colleges in foreign lands, in order to educate priests for the trying and dangerous Irish Mission. Clonmel may well be proud of having been the birthplace of this saviour of the faith of Ireland. Such a man is in every way worthy of a national monument ; and I hope to see the day when the Irish Church will, in gratitude to his memory, raise one in the capital of the kingdom, and another in his native town." So writes the learned Dr. MacDonald, Rector of the Irish College of Salamanca.^ Nearly three centuries ago another writer, Father John Coppinger,^ asked: 1 Foley's Collectanea, SJ., art. "White, Thomas." - Irish Eccl. Record oi i2,T 2, pp. 558, 560. 3 Mnemosy7}iu7n to the Catholics of Ireland^ Edit. 1608, p. 268. Father Thomas White, 49 " Was it not that great charitie of Father Thomas White, naturall of Clonmell, seeing so manie poor scholars of his nation in great miserie at Valladolid, having no means to continue their studie nor lan- guage to begge, having given over his private commoditie, did recollect and reduce them to one place, which he maintained by his Industrie and begging, until, by his petition to Philip the Second, in the year 1593, a College of Irish students was founded." Father White's native town, Clonmel, was famous for its attachment to the Catholic faith, and is thus spoken of by Sir John Davis, the Attorney-General : " It is a well-built and well-kept town upon the river of Sure. White, a lawyer (Father White's brother) was elected sovereign of that place in 1 600, and was as much Romish as any of the other magistrates of Munster towns ; and in 1 606 it was more haunted of Jesuits and priests than any other town or city of the province ; which is the cause that we found the burgesses there more obstinate than elsewhere. For when the Lord President did gently offer to the principal inhabitants that he would spare to proceed against them then, if they would yield to conference for a time, and become bound in the meantime not to receive any Jesuit or priest into their houses, they peremptorily re- fused:'^ The family of White had come to Ireland with Henry the Second,^ and had produced many dis- tinguished men. The learned Dr. Lynch, in his Alithinologia, says, "The Whites have always clung 1 Calendar of Carew Papers, an. 1606, p. 475. 2 Apologia pro Hibernia. By S.White, S.J. p. 5°- £ 50 Distinguished Irishmen. steadfastly to the faith. In the year 1585, Victor White, of Clonmell, suffered the loss of his property, liberty, and life, rather than betray a priest of God. Peter, Dean of Waterford, and John, a priest, suffered many things for the Faith, as we are told by Sanders ; Richard, Lord of Loghil, lost his liberty and lands because he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy. Sir Dominick and Sir Andrew and Nicholas White sacrificed their fortunes, and went into exile sooner than renounce the inherit- ance of St. Patrick. It is beyond all doubt that there are more priests of this one family than of any other Irish name. I myself have known Stephen White, of the Society of Jesus, Doctor of Divinity and Professor emeritus^ who, on account of his great learning in every department of science, has been called by some Polyhistor, and by others a walking library ; I think his brother was that James White, whom O'Sullevan calls Doctor of Divinity. I have seen a Doctor of Divinity at Nantes named Bal- thazar White, while in the same town Dr. John White of the Oratory teaches Divinity with the greatest eclat, and is honoured with the title of Rector of the Academy ; there is also another Doctor of Divinity, of the same family, living in exile at Morlaix."^ It is certain that Thomas White's father lived in a castle at the west end of Clonmel,^ that the brothers of Thomas were Mr. White, the Mayor of Clonmel, who was deposed as a " recusant " in 1606, Dr. James White, Vicar- Apostolic of Water- ford aiid Lismore, and, most probably, Stephen ^ AlithinologicB SupplemenHim, p. 190. 2 Duffy's Catholic Magazine of 1848, p. 272. Father Thomas White. 51 White, SJ. His nephew was Peter White, S.J. ; his near kinsmen were Patrick and Nicholas White, who were heavily fined for not going to the Pro- testant church, and Father Thomas Lombard of the Order of St. Bernard. His other relatives were, Andrew Wise, Grand Prior of Capua, of the Order of St. John of Malta ; Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Cashel ; Father Nicholas Comerford, S.J. ; Dr. Comerford, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore ; and several Fathers Lombard of the Society of Jesus.^ Thomas White was born in the year 1556, as we learn from the Irish Jesuit Catalogues of 1609 and 161 7. As he was uncle and Superior of Father Peter White, S.J., so (we have reason to believe) he was nephew and pupil of Dr. Peter White, the prince of Irish schoolmasters, at whose celebrated school, says Stanihurst, " the Whites " were edu- cated. He witnessed the immense advantages conferred on Ireland by the scholastic labours of Dr. White, " by whose industry and travail a great f)art of the youth both of the country round Waterford and of Dublin had greatly profited in learning and virtuous education."^ He saw that when Dr. White " was ejected from his deanery for his religion, he continued, notwithstanding, in his beloved faculty of pedagogy, which was then accounted a most excellent employment in Ireland by the Catholics, especially for this reason, that the sons of noblemen and gentlemen might be trained up in their religion, and so consequently keep out Protestancy."^ He witnessed the extraordinary ^ Ibernia Ignatiana, pp. 1 88, 219. - Ware's Writers, p. 95. * Wood's Athemv Oxon. i. 575. 52 Distinguished Irishmen, and successful zeal of his brother John, of whom Sir William Drury wrote to Walsingham in the year 1577 : "John White is worshipped like a god between Kilkenny and Waterford and Clonmel ; he suborneth all the dwellers of these parts to detest the religion established by Her Majesty. He is a chief preacher to the contrary, an arrogant enemy to the Gospel. If he were not so, and if his auricular teaching were not such, one nobleman, to the comfort of a great number, should be converted from this Popery."^ Encouraged by the glorious example of his kinsmen, and under the advice, we believe, of Dr. White, he resolved to serve the afflicted Irish Church by devoting himself to the beloved "faculty of pedagogy," in which we find him busily engaged at Valladolid in 1582, the year in which an alumnus of the Jesuit College, Rome, Archbishop Skerret, opened a school in Galway, and taught reading, grammar, as well as the Chris- tian doctrine.^ Dr. Skerret's labours did not last long, as he had to flee for his life to Spain, where he died in the year 1593. Among the other Irish exiles who then swarmed over the Peninsula, " many poor scholars of that nation were in great misery at Valladolid, having no means to continue their studies, nor language to beg." Thomas White gave over his own private commodity, gathered the illustrious exiles under one roof, maintained them by his industry and by appeals to the Catholic sympa- thies of the citizens. Thus he struggled on for ten years in the hope that God would provide for his ^ State Papers of Ireland y an. 1577. 2 Lynch 's Alithinologia, p. 82. Father Thomas White, 53 pupils a suitable College and a fixed revenue.^ In the year 1592, following up a happy thought, he took all the students and presented them to King Philip the Second, at Villa Real de San Lorenzo. The King spoke kind and encouraging words to them, and gave them a large sum of money. Not satisfied with that, White brought them again to the King, and asked His Majesty to found and endow a College for them. The King graciously- granted his request, and bid the youths to go to Salamanca, where a College was founded, the care »^ of which was entrusted to the Society of Jesus. When Thomas White had placed his band of pupils in the hands of our Fathers, he gave himself to the Society, as he had long previously desired to do. So writes Jouvancy, the historian of the Society who is mistaken, however, in stating that Father White was then an aged priest, as he was only thirty-six years of age. Such was the origin of El Real Colegio de Nobles Irlandeses, the first College, says Primate Lombard, that the Irish Catholics obtained on the Continent after the Reformation. On August 2, 1592, Philip the Second wrote from Valladolid " To the Rector, Chancellor, and Cloister of the University of Sala- manca : As the Irish youths who had been living in this city (of Valladolid) have resolved to go to yours to avail of the opportunities it affords for advancement in literature and languages, a house ; having been prepared for them, in which they intend to live under the direction of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, I will allow them a good * Coppinger's Mnemosymum^ p. 268 ; Jouvancy's Hist. S.J. 1592. 54 * Distinguished Irishmen. annual stipend, and I desire to give them this letter to charge you, as I hereby do, to regard them as highly recommended, and not to allow them to be ill-treated in any way, but to favour and aid them as far as you can ; in order that, as they have left their own country, and all they possessed in it, for the service of God our Lord and for the preservation of the Catholic faith, and as they make profession of returning to preach in that country and to suffer martyrdom, if necessary, they may get in that University the reception which they have reason to expect. I am certain you will do this, and become benefactors to them ; so that with your subscription and that of the city, to the authorities of which I am also writing, they may be able to pursue their studies with content and freedom, and thereby attain the end which they have in view. Yo el ReyT ^ Fathers White, Archer, and Conway were the men to whom the fortunes of the young establish- ment were entrusted, and they were its "Vice- Rectors " for seven years. From an inscription over the chapel door, we learn that the College was dedicated to the Apostle of Ireland, who is also revered as the Patron of one of the chief provinces of Spain ; and that Pope Paul the Fifth attached special Indulgences to the picture of St. Patrick which is to be seen in that chapel. Father White, while yet a novice, was Spiritual Director of the Salamanca students from 1 592 to- 1594, when he was sent to preside over the College of Lisbon, recently founded by Father Howling. In 1595, he was at Coruna, probably questing for 1 Commentarius de Regno Hib, p. 137. Father Thomas White. 55 his two Colleges. He there met the Captain of the Port of Coruna, Dominic O'CuUain, a native of Youghal, head of the clan CuUain, commander of heavy cavalry in the wars of the French League, one of the handsomest men of his time, and a / model of a Christian soldier. This man, of such an extraordinary career, consulted Father White about his vocation, became a lay-brother of the Society of Jesus, and ultimately a martyr, whose life and death shall be briefly sketched further on in this book. In 1602, Father White was Rector of the Irish College of Salamanca. In 1604, he petitioned Father General to appoint a Prefect of the Mission over all the Irish Colleges, S.J., whose duties were to visit them, to keep up a good understanding between Rectors and Professors, and harmony among the students ; to examine the accounts, and to further the material interests of the different houses. He got Father Archer appointed first Prefect. Meanwhile, the English Government did its best to prevent Irish youths from frequenting the Con- tinental Colleges, as we may learn from the follow- ing State Paper. " By the Lord Deputy and Councell, Mountjoy, loth March, 1602. — We straightly charge, in Her Majesty's name, that no Merchant nor Merchants, Maister nor Owner of any Ship, Barque, Pickard, or other Bottom whatsoever, nor Mariner, nor other person nor persons whatsoever, not first licensed thereunto by the Lord Deputy, or . . . doe or shall trafick, trade, or take his or their voyage from any Port, Town, Haven, or Creek. And such licensed 56 Distinguished Irishme^i. Merchant shall take his or their Corporall Oath, and enter into a recognizance in a convenient summe to Her Majesty, that he . . . shall not carry nor transport, nor suffer to be transported nor carried, with himself, by his means, procurement, consent, nor knowledge, any letters, messages, v massing or other seditious books, or libels, or pas- sengers whatsoever, but such ... as he shall produce and make known to the Lord Deputy , . . and he shall keep an orderly booke of his proceedings therein. And any Merchant who does not observe this, shall have his ship and goods con- fiscated and forfeited to Her Majesty, and their bodies to be imprisoned during the Queen's pleasure." In 1603 Father White was at Lisbon, where he received a long letter in Portuguese written from Ireland by the Jesuits Leynach and Morony, who gave him a detailed account of the battle of Kin- sale, of the persecutions in Ireland, and of the life ^ and martyrdom of his friend Dominic O'Cullen, whom they call Nosso Martyr O'Coulen. In 1606, at the request of the Protectors and students of the Irish nation, at Lisbon and Salamanca, the Pope granted to the fishermen of Setnual and Casquaes, and other districts of Portugal, Galicia, and the Provinces of Biscay, permission to fish on six Sundays or festivals every year, and to sell the fish thus taken for the benefit of the aforesaid Colleges. In 1607, Father White was at Lisbon, and helped to keep a correspondence open between the Jesuits of Ireland and their General at Rome. In that year, also. Father Archer asked the General to give leave to himself and Father White to go to Father Thomas White. 57 Belgium, and establish an Irish novitiate there. In 1609, Father White was consoled by the great pro- gress of his Salamanca students, which was evi- denced by the following certificate written in their favour by the Rector and Cloister of the University on the 29th of March, 1609, and addressed to the Bishop : "Although this University has still, and has had, so many native children, who witness in their own persons throughout the world to the virtue and learning inculcated in it, yet it cannot but be content and proud to have adopted and admitted into its family, some sixteen years ago, the College of Irish students, who, under the government of the Fathers of the Society of Jesus, have always displayed so great eagerness in their studies, and in the exercises of virtue and Christian perfection, that they have rendered themselves worthy of the highest estimation that can be formed of them, and of any favours which can be do"^ i-Vif^m • narticu- larly when we consider that their sole intention and desire is to return, as they do, for the glory and honour of God, to preach and defend their sacred religion against the heretics in Ireland and other parts, doing immense good, and sealing with their blood, which many have shed, and by their martyrdoms, which many have suffered, the true Catholic doctrine, through the mercy of God pre- served in Spain and taught in this University." In 1 6 10, this Irish College got authority to use as its arms the royal quarterings of Spain ; a house was presented to it in the name of the kingdom, and this inscription was put over the door : " This College was built by these Kingdoms for the -support of the Catholic religion in Ireland, in the 58 Distinguished IHshmen. year In which Philip the Third, the Catholic King, expelled the Moriscos, 1610." In the year 161 1, so many Irish were flocking to the Irish Colleges in Spain and Portugal, that the Queen of Spain, most probably at the request of Father White, wrote to His Holiness : " Most Holy Father. The ardent zeal I know your Holiness has for the service of God and the good of the Church . . . cause me not to hesitate in writing to your Holiness to recommend an object worthy of your zeal. Such I regard the protection of the seminaries of Irishmen, who now with such courage return, after their studies, to preach the Gospel in their native land, shedding their blood for the con- fession of the Catholic faith and obedience to the Church of Rome. And because just at present the persecution is greatest, it is necessary to procure for them more schools, where they may be taught ; for the pupils are multiplying every day, so that, although in these kingdoms the King, my Lord, has instituted three Colleges, at Salamanca, Lisbon, and Santiago, there is not room for all that come. And so some go on to Rome, where it would be a great comfort to them to have a seminary, as they have in other nations. Though I am sure the motives that exist for this good work are quite sufficient to move your Holiness thereto ; yet will I not lose what I may gain by supplicating your Holiness, as I hereby do, to favour and assist them, that they may have a seminary founded under your protection ; a thing which will certainly tend to the service of God, and will be to me a singular favour. Madrid. February 29, 161 1. Your Holi- ness' very humble and obedient daughter, Mar- Father Thomas White. 59 garet, by the grace of God, Queen of the Spains, of the two Sicilies, and of Jerusalem. The Queen." It is more than probable that it was Father White who asked the Queen to write this kind Christian letter. In that year he received A True Report of the State of Things in Ireland^ and some letters on the same melancholy subject, which would fill forty-eight pages of this book. His heart was sorely afflicted by these sad reports, and no doubt it was through him the Queen had learned that "just at present the persecution is greatest." On one of these documents Father White wrote in English, "They take away the liberties and charters of each city, which they had tyme out of minde ; they make no traficking in or out of the Kingdome, but they must give the moiety or half out of their vioadage upon their departure, and half of their profit upon their returne, intending thereby that no merchants or natives of the country shall have trade or traficke in or out of the country, but only English merchants, such as shall be sent out of England, as hereby the natives may be utterly impoverished and extinguished." About a week after the date of the Queen's letter, the King wrote to the Governor of Galicia : " I have determined that the College of Irishmen, which was founded in Santiago some time ago, shall be governed henceforth by the religious of the Society of Jesus. I am writing to tell the Pro- vincial to make what arrangements he thinks fit, and I charge you to attend to everything relating to said College, and to give orders that the Provin- cial be obeyed, and to give to it the sum of money which I have been accustomed to grant to it each 6o Distinguished Irishmen, year ; and this is to be paid with punctuality." As the Jesuit Provincial was not willing to undertake the burthen of this young establishment, his own Province being deeply in debt, and as the actual Superior was unwilling to hand the College over to Fathers White and Archer, the King sent a new order through the Duke of Lerma, who wrote to the Provincial in 1613 : " His Majesty understands that the manner in which the Irish College of Santiago is at present governed does not suit the end for which it was founded. . . . He commands anew that your Reverence shall order your reli- gious to govern the said institution as they do those of Salamanca, and he commands the Irish clergyman, who has presided over it up to the present, to surrender his office, and let what has been heretofore employed in his support, go to the funds of that house." In consequence of this royal command. Fathers Thomas White, William White, and Richard Conway took charge of the establish- ment, and by their influence with the faithful, to whose charity they never ceased to appeal, they were able to maintain ten pupils in 1617, and twenty-five some time afterwards. The service rendered to the Catholic religion by these seminaries is recognized in a State paper of the year 161 3, which is printed in the Hibernica Curiosa. It says : " The true religion is not by the natives had in any regard on account of the multi- tude of Popish schoolmasters, priests, friars, Jesuits, and seminaries. The number of priests appeareth to be occasioned by a continual fomentation out of the seminaries erected for the Irish in Spain and the Low Countries^ and by the Colleges of the Jesuits, Father Thomas White, 6i / every of which Colleges instructs and indoctrinates two students of the Irish. The cities, towns, and country swarm with priests and Jesuits. Their sons they send to be educated in Spain, France, Italy, and the Archduke's dominions, more than usual, which hath been no ancient custom among them ; for Sir Patrick Barnwall, now living, was the first gentleman's son of quality,^ that was ever sent out of Ireland to be brought up in learning beyond the seas. The next rebellion, whenever it shall happen, doth threaten more danger to the State than any heretofore, when the cities and walled towns were always faithful ; (i) because they have the same bodies they ever had, and therein they have and had advantage of us ; (2) from infancy they have been and are exercised in the use of arms ; (3) the realm, by reason of the long peace, was never so full of youths ; (4) that they are better soldiers than heretofore their continual employment in wars abroad assures us, and they do conceive that their men are better than ours." In 161 7 or 1618, Father White was Rector of the Irish College of Salamanca, as we learn from a document presented to the King of Spain, circ. 161 8, by Count O'Sullevan-Beare, and preserved among the Ussher MSS. in Trinity College. It says : " In Ireland there are three kinds of Irish, (i) the ancient, (2) the mixed, who are descended of Irish mothers, and in language, habit and customs do conform to the Irish, such as the Earls of Kildare, Desmond, Clanrickard and Ormond, the Lords Barry, Roche, &c., (3) the English- 1 I think his neighbour and friend, Father Christopher Holywood, S.J., of Artane, was sent before him. 62 Distinguished Irishmen, Irished, who hold not Irish customs or language, that is, merchants and traders of towns, and some knights and gents of East Meath, and about Dublin and in the Pale. Among the ancient Irish are John Baptista (Duigin), of the Society, Rector in Lisbon, Cornelius de la Roch (Carrig), of the same Society, William Macrath, S.J., Lector in the Seminary at Lisbon. Of the mixed are Father John Robert Nugent, S.J., in Ireland, and his brother Father Nicholas Nugent, a prisoner in Dublin for the Catholic faith. Of the English-Irish are Father Thomas White, S.J., Rector of the Irish Seminary of Salamanca, and Father Richard Con- way, S.J., Rector of the Irish at Santiago." Father White might be called " English-Irish " by O'Sullevan-Beare, but he was Irish in tongue as well as in heart, and rendered more service to Ireland than did all the O'Sullevans that ever lived. We find this indefatigable priest at Rome in the year 1619. There he received several letters from persons in Spain beseeching him to use his influence to get the Irish College of Seville placed under the care of Jesuit Fathers, as were those of Salamanca, Lisbon, and Santiago. According to Ortiz de Zuniga, in his Annals of Seville^ some pious people and particularly a devout and zealous priest, who afterwards entered the Society of Jesus, desired to establish a College for the Irish. So in 161 2, the Irish had a house with some form of College, and attended lectures at the Jesuit College of St. Hermenigild. They were fostered and assisted by Don Felix de Guzman, who thought it would be advantageous if the Society of Jesus would charge itself with the government of the Father Thomas White. 63 young institution. This College had been started by a zealous youth of Lisbon College, named Theobald Stapleton, who was also called by the Irish equivalent Galldubh. He left Lisbon before he had completed his studies or received ordina- tion ; and, without previously communicating his design to any one, went to the Duke of Braganza and to the Archbishop and the Governor of Seville, from whom he got encouragement. He sought out and gathered around him the poor Irish scholars of Seville, and, neglecting his own studies, hired a house and procured food for them, that they might prosecute their studies and give a good account of themselves. When he had exhausted the resources of Seville, he went with a companion named Charles Ryan to Madrid, and obtained more assist- ance. He threw himself heart and soul into his work and procured for the spiritual direction of his companions Father James Kearney,^ a young priest of the College of Salamanca, who afterwards became a very learned and holy Jesuit. Theobald Stapleton became the proto-martyr of the College of Seville, which afterwards became the fruitful mother of martyrs, and in which he had served his apprenticeship of martyrdom. He returned to Ireland, and was stabbed to the heart while giving Holy Communion. Don Felix de Guzman assisted Stapleton, gave him a monthly subsidy out of his own resources, interested the King and others in behalf of the College, and induced the Society to accept its management. When he died Bishop-Elect of Majorca, he left the College his universal heir. ^ Stapleton, Ryan, and Kearney, were from the county of Tipperar}\ 64 Distinguished Irishmen, Another benefactor, Don Geronimo de Medina Farragut, at a time when the students had no fixed abode, invited them to his house, lived with them for two years, and, as he records himself, was highly edified by their piety and good conduct. When the Society took charge of the College in 1619, he made to it an absolute grant of his houses which were valued at 4,000 crowns. The first Superiors were James Kearney and Maurice Reagan ; they were succeeded by four Spaniards. Seeing that it was not prospering under such management, de Guzman and Farragut pressed the Jesuits to take charge of it — the former offering to support the Fathers who might be sent thither, the latter undertaking to make over to them the houses occupied by the students, on the sole con- dition that the College should be called of the Pure Conception of the Mother of God^ Our Lady, and of the Catholic Faith. This name it retained ever after, though by the people it was affectionately called Colegio de los Chiquitos, or the College of the Little Ones ; whence also the street was christened Caile de los ChiquitoSy and even a tavern adjoining the College was styled La Taberna de los Chiquitos. Father White induced Father General, and de Guzman requested the King, to write to the Spanish Provincial, and press him to take charge of the Irish College ; and the Jesuit of course consented. The King's letter runs thus : " The King : Reverend and devout Father Augustin de Quirros, Provincial of the Society of Jesus in An- dalucia. Persons zealous for the service of our Lord and for the preservation and increase of the Catholics in Ireland, have informed me that it Father Thomas White, 65 would be of great importance to encourage and direct the students of that nation, who come to the Irish College in Seville, and that this would be best done if the Society of Jesus would take charge of it, as it has of those which are in Lisbon, Santiago, Salamanca, and Flanders. And I, who have always desired and procured the furtherance of the Cath- olic faith in Ireland, have received their petition graciously, and I charge you to take up the government of the said College, in the same way as the Society has that of Lisbon and the other places that I have mentioned, and besides the service of God which may result therefrom, I shall look on this as a service to myself Lisbon, July 25, 1619 : I, THE King." The result of these negotiations was that Father Richard Conway became its first Jesuit Rector on August 20, 16 19. We next meet Father White at the death-bed of his distinguished pupil and fellow-diocesan. Father Murty, who was a man of great wit and capacity, of remarkable industry, of extraordinary grace of delivery, and was like to prove a miracle in the matter of learning.^ Concerning the last moments of this promising religious. Father Ferdinand de Castro writes: "On Sunday, September 21, 1620, at ten o'clock in the morning, our Lord was pleased to take to Himself Father Stephen Murty. He died of a hectic fever, the seeds of which he brought from the College of Salamanca, when he came to profess Theology here, and all the means employed to battle with it were of no avail. It was the opinion of all that he should go home to 1 Life of Father Murty in Oliver's and H. Foley's Collectanea. F 66 Distinguished Irishmen. Ireland to his native air, which agreed well with him on a former occasion. However, he got but as far as the town of Bayonne, when his illness confined him to bed, and took such a hold on him that he knew he was dying. He gave this College notice of his indisposition, and Father Thomas White went off at once to attend and console him in his trouble, and remained with him in company with another priest from this seminary, for the space of five days, till he died ; and this diminished his grief at dying away from his beloved College. Before he left Santiago he made a general confes- sion, and said he was making his confession for death, for he thought it more probable that he should go to the other world than to Ireland. In his illness he also confessed several times to Father White; and when they brought him the Most Holy Sacrament, he delivered such a tender and affecting address, that the principal people of the town, who were present, looked on him as a saint. He receivea Extreme Unction in his full senses, which he retained to the end. The Franciscan Fathers, who attended him in his sickness, asked for his body, and they honoured him so far as to bury him near the high altar, and for three days in succession recited for him the Divine Office, at which the Governor with his guard of soldiers, the Mayor with the town authorities, and the Abbot, with the whole staff of the collegiate church, attended. Our Lord was thus pleased to honour him in death for the great humility he practised in life. He never did an action which savoured of vanity, nor uttered a word to his own credit, though he had the splendid talents we all know. He was thirty-six Father Thomas White. 67 years of age, of which he had spent nineteen in the Society with singular exemplariness, edification, and recollection, so that no one could find the slightest fault in him. He had a remarkable and heavenly gift for bringing back heretics, in which he employed himself the seven years he was in his native land, to the wonderful advantage and fruit of souls, and to the great credit of our Society, No one ever saw him angry, nor heard him say a rash word ; and in his long illness, which was so trying and painful, he was never heard to complain of the want of anything. On the contrary, every one saw in him great conformity with the will of God ; and his confessor goes so far as to say that he never committed a mortal sin in his whole life." The same Spanish Jesuit, Ferdinand de Castro, had soon to write an account of the death of Father White himself He says : " This day, Sun- day, the 28th of May, 1622, at seven o'clock in the morning, Father Thomas White was called to receive the reward of his great labours and merit. He died of fever. He was sixty-four years of age, and had sp^nt thirty-four years in the Society, during which he laboured apostolically in the service of God and of the Catholic faith, which through means of the colleges he founded in Spain has been preserved in his native land. His life and virtues are well known in the Society, and cannot have justice done to them in a brief letter. All his anxiety, all his desires were ever for the greater glory of God and the good of his colleges, in behalf of which he toiled incessantly. He had always great resignation to the will of God, from whom, as he declared before death, he had never 68 Distingtiished Irishmen. asked anything in earnest which he did not receive, God ahvays favoured his designs by moving the wills of the Chapters, Prelates, and Princes with whom he came in contact to assist him with their subscriptions. They assisted him most liberally,, and they recognized in him a man of great zeal and extraordinary virtue. To the students of the colleges founded by him he was a bright example of religious perfection ; and by his influence and untiring exertions various religious orders were supplied with distinguished subjects, and Ireland was peopled with holy priests and prelates who confess that, after God, it is to Father White they are indebted for all the good that is in them. " He edified exceedingly all those lay people who knew him. He practised great penance, and, notwithstanding his age, wore a hair-shirt continu- ally, and took the discipline every day. He culti- vated much simplicity in his dress and manner of life, and for his daily food he used only a little bread and cheese, which he ate as he journeyed along the road. When travelling, and amidst the external occupation in which he was almost con- stantly employed, he kept up a singular interior recollection, and never once omitted his exercises of prayer and spiritual contemplation. In his last illness he gave strong proofs of the sanctity of his life. Though death caught him at the moment when he would naturally feel it most, being then engaged in organizing this College of Santiago, he bowed down with the most fervent acts of resigna- tion to the holy will of God, and expressed his great regret at not having served Him still more devotedly. Even at the moments when the fever Father' Thotnas White. 69 went to his head, his sentiments were the same, and thus evidenced that virtue and reHgion had become a second nature to him. He received Holy Communion three times during the fifteen days his sickness lasted ; Extreme Unction was administered to him in good time, and, as we finished the recommendation of the soul to God, he breathed his last in great peace, his countenance retaining all the appearance of life. All these things fill us with the hope that he is in Heaven ; but we are overwhelmed with grief for what all the colleges have lost in this father and protector of his country, and his death has created a profound sensation in this seminary and throughout the whole city, in which it is bewailed with tears." Such were the life, labours, and death of this truly Apostolic man in whom we may find verified the words of our Lord : " I have chosen you that you should go, and should bring forth fruit, and your fruit should remain." What that fruit was we may learn from the fact, witnessed to by the German Jesuit Tanner, the Spanish Father Nie- remberg, and the Irish Father Reade,^ that, in the first fifty years of its existence under the direction of Father White and his successors, the Irish College of Salamanca educated three hundred and seventy students, of whom were one Primate of all Ireland, four Archbishops, five Bishops, nine Provincials of Religious Orders, thirty martyrs, whose lives were cut short by the sword, the halter, 1 See biography of William Bathe, S.J., in Tanner's Societas [esii Apostolonun Imitatrix., and Nieremberg's Varones Ihistrcs de la Compania de /esus ; also P\ither Redanus or Reade's Commentary en the Maccabees. 70 Distingtnshed Irishmen. or by imprisonment, exile, and other calamities suffered for the Faith ; one hundred and twenty Religious, twelve distinguished writers, and forty Doctors of Divinity and Professors thereof, many of whom, says Nieremberg, filled the first chairs in the most celebrated Universities of Europe.^ ^ For much interesting information on Father White I am indebted to Dr. William MacDonald's History of the Irish Colleges since the Reformationy and to his many kind letters written to me while he was Rector of the Irish College of Salamanca. IV. FATHER NICHOLAS COMERFORD. Father White received great help in his ardu- ous undertaking from the presence and influence in Spain of his distinguished kinsman, Father Nicholas Quemerford or Comerford, S J., who "was honourably employed and obtained unbounded applause in some of the most celebrated colleges of that kingdom."^ The Comerfords showed ardent attachment to the Faith in the sixteenth century. A wayside cross erected at Danganmore at that period bears the inscription : " Pray for the souls of Richard Comerford and of his wife Dame Johanna Saint-Leger." In 1592, Richard Comerford of Waterford, Merchaunt, is reported to the Govern- ment for entertaining Sir Morren, a priest ; and Belle Butler, wife unto Thomas Comerford of Waterford, Merchaunt (now in Spain), is denounced for retaining Sir John White, priest. Nicholas was the son of Patrick Comerford,^ of Waterford, and of his wife, a lady of the influential family of Walsh ; he was uncle of Dr. Patrick Comerford, the distinguished Bishop of Waterford and Lis- more ; he was related to the best families of his ^ Brennan's Eccles. History of Ireland, vol. ii. p. 158. 2 His ancestor had come from Staffordshire with King John, and married a niece of Hugh de Lacy ; members of his family were Palatine Barons of Danganmore and Marquesses d'Anglure. 72 Distinguished h'ishmen, native city, was the first of sixteen Waterford Jesuits of the name, who Hved between the years 1590 and 1640 ; and he was the first of the many celebrated natives of Waterford who joined the Society of Jesus. He was educated at the school of Dr. Peter White, " from which, says Stanihurst, as from a Trojan horse, issued men of distin- guished literary ability and learning — the Whites, Comerfords, Walshes, Wadings, Dormers, Shees, Garveys, Butlers, Stronges, and Lombards.^ Out of this schoole have sprouted such proper ympes through the painfull diligence and the laboursome industry of a famous lettered man, Mr. Peter White, as generally the whole weale publike of Ireland, and especially the southerne parts of that island, are greatly thereby furthered. This gentleman's methode in trayning up youth was rare and sin- gular, framing the education according to the scoler's veine. If he found him free, he would bridle hym, like a wyse Isocrates, from his booke : if he perceived hym to be dull, he would spur hym forwarde ; if he understoode that he were the worse for beating, he would win him with rewardes ; finally, by interlacing study with vacation, sorrow with mirth, payne with pleasure, sowernesse with sweetnesse, roughness with myldnesse, he had so good successe in schooling his pupils, as in good sooth I may boldly byde by it, that in the realme of Ireland was no Grammar School so good, in England, I am well assured, none better. And because it was my happy happe (God and my parents be thanked) to have been one of his crewe, I take it to stand with my duty, sith I may not ^ Stanihurst, De Rebus in Hibernia Gesiis, p. 25. Father Nicholas Conierford, 73 stretche myne habilitie in requiting his good turnes, yet to manifeste my good will in remem- brying his paines. And, certes, I acknowledge myselfe so much bounde and beholding to hym and his, as for his sake I reverence the meanest stone cemented in the walles of that famous schoole." ^ From White's school Comer ford went to Oxford (where White himself had been some time Fellow of Oriel), and, according to Anthony Wood, "he there took his Degree of Arts in the year 1562, after he had spent at least four years in pecking and hewing at logic and philosophy. Which degree being completed by determination, he went into his own country, entered the sacred function, and had preferment there, but was turned out from it because of his religion. He wrote in English a pithy and learned treatise, very exquisitely penned, as one Richard Stanihurst saith, entitled Ansivers to Certain Questions Propounded by the Citizens of Waterfoi'd. He also wrote divers sermons. Soon after he left his country for the sake of religion, went to the University of Louvain, where he was promoted to the degree of Doctor of Divinity June 23, 1576, and afterwards, as it is said, wrote and published divers things." ^ Wood was mistaken with regard to the date, the 23rd of June, as we know from Foppens' MS. History of Louvain^ that Comerford went to that University in 1565, and became Doctor of Divinity, on October 23, 1576 ; on which occasion his fellow- * Stanihurst's Description of Ireland. * Athencc Oxon. i. p. 2CX), Edit. 1721. ' MS. Hist. Universitatis Lovan. p. 258. 74 Distingtiished Irishmen. citizen, Peter Lombard, who ranked " Primus Uni- versitatis," composed and published a Latin poem entitled Carmeji Heroictun in Doctoi'atum Nicolai Quemerfordii. Comerford came at once to the help of his countrymen ; his presence was soon felt and was thus reported in 1577 by the Lord President of Munster : " Doctor Quemerford of Waterford is also of late come out of Louvain ; he and all the rest taught all the way between Rye and Bristol against our religion, and caused a number to despair. There are a great number of students of this city of Waterford in Louvain, at the charge of their friends and fathers."^ The fame of Louvain spread over Europe, its lecture-halls were fre- quented at times by three thousand students, and Cardinal Bellarmine declared he had never perhaps seen anything equal to it as to numbers, learning, &c.- Among those thousands the genius and learning of the city of Waterford shone with the brightest lustre. A people so gifted and enlightened as the in- habitants of Waterford could neither be cajoled nor coerced into the embraces of heresy. This is fully recognized and deplored by the missionary Lord President of Munster, who continues in these terms : " James Archer of Kilkenny, Dr. Comerford of Waterford, and Chaunter Walsh are the prin- cipal agents of the Pope. Popery is mainly supported by the students of Waterford educated ' See Dr. Maziere Brady's State Papers, an. 1577. ' "Credite mihi, multa gymnasia, multas Academias, multa mu- sarum domicilia vidi, sed rara sunt ac prope nulla, quae cum hac illustrissima sede velut arce quadam Sapientise, vel auditorum multitudine, vel Doctorum celebritate, vel loci ipsius commoditate comparari possint." {Concio Lovanii habita, XX.) Father Nicholas Comerford. 75 at Louvain, by whom the proud and undutiful inhabiters of this town are cankered in Popery, undutiful to Her Majesty, slandering the Gospel publicly, as well this side the sea as beyond in England, that they fear not God nor man, and hath their altars, painted images, and candlesticks in derision of the Gospel, every day in their syna- gogues — so detestable that they may be called the unruly newters rather than subjects. Masses infi- nite they have in their several churches every morning without any fear. I have spied them ; for I chanced to arrive last Sunday at five of the clock in the morning and saw them resort out of the churches by heaps ; this is shameful in a reformed city." This "shameful" conduct went on for twenty years longer, for Dr. Lyon, Protestant Bishop of Cork, reports to Hunsdon, the Lord Chamberlain, in a letter dated July 6, 1596, "The Mayor of Waterford, which is a great lawyer, one Wadding, carieth the sword and rod (as I think he should do) for Her Majesty ; but he nor his sheriffs never came to the church sithence he was mayor, nor sithence this reign, nor none of the citizens, men nor women, nor in any other towne or city througJioiit this province, which is lamentable to hear, but most lamentable to see ; the Lord in His mercy amend it when it shall please His gracious goodness to look on them." These canting knaves, Drury and Lyon, Were of that saintly, murderous brood. To carnage and the gospel given. Who think through unbeHevers' blood Lies their directest path to Heaven. If Drury could have "spied," and caught Comer- ford and Archer, he would have got them hanged. 76 Distingtcished Irishmen. drawn, and quartered, as two years previously he had served their brother in religion, Edmund O'Donnell, S.J. However, this cruel man, who reported the movements of Comerford, went a year afterwards to give an account of himself to God ; having hanged Bishop O'Hely, he suddenly got sick and died, uttering blasphemies.^ Fathers Comerford and Archer escaped the clutches of Drury, perhaps through the kindness of Annie O'Meara, the wife of Magrath, the Queen's Archbishop of Cashel. Annie was in the habit of eliciting State secrets from his Grace, and of giving timely warning to priests when any danger was impending. Indeed the poor apostate friar aided her in the good work ; for on June 26, 1582, he wrote to her from Greenwich : " I desire you now to cause the friends of Darby Creagh (Bishop of Cork) to send him out of the whole country, if they may ; for there is such search to be made for him that, unless he be wise, he shall be taken. I desire you, also, to send away from your house all the priests you are in the habit of having there" This unfortunate man and his wife were ultimately reconciled to the Church by Dr. O'Kearney, the Catholic Archbishop of Cashel. Dr. Comerford and James Archer, after their departure from Ireland, entered the Society of Jesus ; the latter at Rome in 1581, the former at Madrid.^ The erudite Franciscan, Father Brennan, says in his Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, that Comerford " was one of the most eminent lecturers ' So says the tract of Father Holywood, which has for title, Magna Sitpplicia a PersccKtorilnts aliquot in Hihernia stimpta. ^ Father Meehan's Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy, p. 201. Father Nicholas Comerford, jy in Louvain. . . . Wishing to combine the religious with the literary life, he entered the Society of Jesus. He was afterwards sent to Spain, and he was there honourably employed for many years, and obtained unbounded applause in some of the most celebrated colleges of that kingdom." He was at Bayona de Galicia, in Spain, in the year 1589, at Lisbon the year after, when "he was by Cardinal Allen and divers others estates sent for from Rome to have the archbishoprick of Cashel."^ After the year 1590, Father Comerford disap- pears from our view ; he is not named in the Catalogue of Irish Jesuits of 1609, and is supposed to have gone to receive the reward of his labours in the year 1599. Sketches of his career are given in Stanihurst's Descriptio Hibernice^ Wood's A t/iencE Oxonienses, Harris' Edition of Waives Irish Writers, the Collectanea of Dr. Oliver and Brother Foley, S.J., Brennan's Ecclesiastical History of Ireland, Meehan's Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy, the Ibernia Ignatiana, and in the National Biography. He wrote: i. Many learned tracts on philosophical and theological subjects. 2. Sermons. 3. Carmina in laudem Comitis Orniondics. \. An Ansiver to certaine Questions propounded by the Citizens of Waterford, Father Comerford was the first of a long line of distinguished Waterford Jesuits, and as he and his immediate relatives worked with all their might for the preservation of Catholicity in their native city, their efforts were crowned with success. The Lord Chancellor, "in his speech upon his granting a seizure of the Liberties of Waterforde," said, " The 1 Cal. of State Papers, Ireland, March 14, 1589, Jan. 20, 1590. 78 Distinguished Irishmen, city of Waterforde hath performed many excellent and acceptable services to the Queen of England, insomuch that they deserved the posie of Urbs intacta manet. . . . But this citie which thus flourished, and the inhabitants and citizens thereof, whom I know to be equal, for all manner and breeding and sufificiencie, to any in the King's dominions, or in Europe ; yet when they yielde their heart to foreign states^ (which is the principal part of man), then they neglected their duty and fidelity,^ so far forth ; as being directed by Popish priests and Jesuits, that they could not within their whole corporation find one man ^ to serve the King's majesty in the magistracy of Mayor, for want of conformity.^ . . . And so 1 pronounce that a seizure be awarded of all their liberties." This English document, from which I have given a few extracts, is in the Irish College of Salamanca, and has foot-notes appended to it, apparently by Father White, of which I also give a few instances. ^ " He means the Pope, to whom Waterforcl men are said to have yielded their hearts, because they stick unto him, and yield him obedience in matters of faith and religion, to whom wholly they rely as to a true head visible of God's Church on earth, they must needs neglect their duty and fidelity here mentioned." ' "Which is nothing else but to become Protestant, take the blasphemous oath, and follow the King's religion, acknowledging him head of the Church in his dominions ; and this is the duty and fidelity which Waterford men neglect, and will neglect, God willing, for ever, but they cannot be accused by their adversaries of any want of duty or fidelity becoming a Christian sul^ject." ^ "Not one Waterford man who may truly be so termed, that is, a man of any worth, birth, or ancient standing in the city, was, or is found comformable to the King's religion, and therefore not fit to serve him in the office of mayor." ^ ^ "This is our glory and the greatest commendation we may have given us, and testified by our adversaries, that the cause of losing our liberties is want of conformity in religion to the King's majesty, who will admit none to bear public office but such as will take the oath, and go to church there, forsake God's Church and become of Satan's congregation— such as Waterford afiordeth not." V. BROTHER DOMINIC COLLINS. There is a beautiful and venerable abbey at Timoleague,^ near Courtmacsherry, in the county of Cork. " Its remains still witness to its former magnificence ; they occupy a lovely and peaceful station on the banks of a silver stream, whose tide laves the ancient but firm walls. The building, though unroofed, is entire ; it consists of a large choir with an aisle, one side of which aisle is a square cloister, arcaded with a platform in the middle. . . . There is a handsome Gothic tower seventy feet high between the choir and the aisle. Here art several tombs of ancient Irish families, as MacCarthy Reagh's in the middle of the choir ; west of it is an old broken monument of the O'Cullanes." ^ No spot could be more suitable for the mournful musings of a bard, and A Soliloquy in tJie Abbey of Tiniolaga, penned a hundred years ago by John O'CuUane, is one of the finest poems written in the modern Irish language. The O'Cullanes were formerly lords of Castlelyons and the surrounding territory. The subject of our present memoir was chief 1 In Irish, Tech Mo-Laga--^ the House of my Laga, that is, of St. Molaga. 2 See Brewer's Beauties of Ireland, and Grose's Antiquities of Ireland, 8o Distinguished Irishmen. of that clan In the sixteenth century ; but Boyle^ first Earl of Cork, managed to get hold of his property, and in his last will left the suppressed monastery of Castlelyons to his daughter. Lady Barrymore, " to buy Jier gloves and pins" When Lord Barrymore threw down the old walls of Castlelyons,^ he discovered a chimney-piece, which bore the inscription : Lehan O'Cullone hoc fecit MCllll. Richard Boyle, a needy and obscure adventurer, came to Ireland about the year 1586,. and became "the great Earl of Cork." In a letter, which he wrote to the Earl of Warwick in 1641,^ he shows us that the ambition of his soul and the work of his life were " to roote out the Popish partie of the natives of the kingdome and to plant it with English Protestants ; to prevent these Irish Papists from having any land here and not to suffer them to live therein ; to attainte them all of high treason ; to encourage the English to serve courageously against them in hope to be settled in the lands of them they sJiall kill or otherwise destroy!' This bloodthirsty monster urged that policy also on the Lords Justices, one of whom, the notorious Parsons, replied : " I am of your mind, that a thorow destruction must be made before we can settle on a safe peace. I pray you spare none^ but indict all of quality or estate. We have done so hereabouts to many thousands, and have already executed some." Such was the inheritance, such the place of rest of the O'Cullens, and such was their fate at ^ Hardiman's Irish Mmstrelsy, pp. 400 — 410; Seward's Topo- graph. Diet. V. Castlelyons. = Hardiman's Miustrels}', p. 165. Brother Dominic Collins, 8i the end of the sixteenth century, when they were "rooted out, attainted, killed, and otherwise thorowly destroyed." We find a few traces of them at that time. Catherine, daughter of O'CuUen, a chief in Carbery, was wife of O'Hurley, who was M.P. in the Parliament of 1585, and built the Castle of Ballinacarrig, on the window of which are a statue of the Virgin and Child, and the inscription "R.H.C.C. 1585."! Her son, Randal Oge Dubh O'Hurley married Ellen de Courcy, daughter of the eighteenth Baron of Kinsale, and her des- cendant, John O'Hurley, emigrated to America with his family about the year 18 10. The O'Cullens seem to have been connected, not only with the de Courcys, but with the MacCarthy M6r, as a State paper of that century says : " These are of Carbery, of Florence MacCarthy his countrie, his followers, cosens, and kinsmen — MacCarthy Reagh, DonoghOge O' Cu //en, Reynold Oge O'Hurley th' elder.2 . . . About sixty years later, that is, in 1642, we find a Florence MacCarthy and Black O'Cullane plundering the town of Ross-Carbery and besieging a castle, which was defended by Captain Freke." ^ This is the last mention I find of the O'Cullens, of whom O'Duggan wrote in the thirteenth century : " A great tribe, with whom it is not safe to contend, are the battle-trooped host of the O'Cullens."^ The pedigree of their chiefs for one hundred and nine generations is given by MacFirbis and in two other books of the ^ Randal Hurley and Catherine Collins. - Life and Letters of MacCarthy Mor, by MacCarthy Glas, p. 103. ^ History of Bandon, p. 397. ^ Rotheglach ris nach dual dreim Sluag cath-fednach O g-Cuilein. S2 Distinguished Irishmen, Royal Irish Academy. Their name was taken from an ancestor named CuiUn-in-ChatJia^ that IS, Whe/p-of -Battle. The pedigree does not come down as far as the subject of our memoir, who succeeded his father as chief in the second half of the sixteenth century. But we are pretty certain, that the State paper previously quoted gives us his name, Donogh Oge O'Cullen and that he was the brother-in-law of O'Hurley, and the "cosen and kinsman " of the Lord of Kinsale and of MacCarthy More, Prince of Carbery. We think even that we have his personal pedigree at page 102 of a manuscript marked ^ in the Royal Irish Academy. It begins thus : " Donchadh,^ son of John," and so on for twenty generations and more. Dominic O'Cullen was a man who displayed a courageous and heroic heart, both when serving in the armies of the Kings of France and Spain, and when combating under the banner of the Cross in the Society of Jesus.^ He was born at or near Youghal, of noble and illustrious parents, the pro- prietors of an estate or townland called La Branche.^ His father was John O'Cuilein,* whose wife was Felicity O'Dula or O'Dril, which I take to have been miswritten by foreigners for O'Driscol. He was born, according to some authors, in the year ^ Anglicized, Denis, Donough, Dominic ; compare Donough More=Domnach Mor, where Domnach is derived from Dominicus. ^ Tanner's Soc. Jesu Militans ; Jouvancy's Hist. Soc. Jesu, an. 1602. * This seems a French translation of Craebhcuh, or Crevagh. See Dr. Joyce's Names of Places, p. 501. * The name is O'Cuilein in MacFirbis and O'Coileain in the Four Masters. The Imago Primi Sceacli ^diy?, Dominic was "ex Hiberniae Proceribus. " Brother Dominic Collins, %2i 1567, but his own statement shows that the date of his birth was 1553. His name is variously written O'Cuilein, O'Coileain, O'Cullen ; while he led a secular life, he was called O'Cullen, as he was chief of his nation or, as Nieremberg calls him in Spanish, Capitan de su pueblo. When he entered religion as a humble lay-brother, he dropped the O, and was called Dominic Collins. By his parents, who were excellent Catholics, he was well grounded in our holy Faith and in the practices of piety, and during his whole life he gave proof of the deep impression made on him by the early influence of his pious father and mother, and by the educa- tion which it appears he received in the Jesuit school at Youghal. When he reached the age of manhood, he went to France for the sake of more easily preserving his faith ; and through a generous desire of defending the Catholic religion in that country he resolved to adopt a military career and to fight against the Calvinists who at that time were waging war against Catholicism with the sword as well as v/ith the voice and pen. So his various biographers tell us ; but he gives a somewhat different and more circumstantial account himself in his exami- nation before the Lord President of Munster. His statements, elicited perhaps with the help of the rack or thumbscrew or other instrument of torture, are found in " The Examination of Dominic Collins, a Jesuyte and now prisoner, taken before me, the President, at Cork on July 9, 1602.^ He sayeth, that being of the age of thirty-three 1 State Papers, Ireland Eliz. 1602, bundle 207. I owe the Icnowledge of this paper to H. Foley, S.J. 84 Distinguished Irishmen. ycars^ about some sixteen years past, he departed from Youghall in a bark of that town and landed at Sable d'Olonne in Poitou, from whence he travelled overland to Nantes in Britany, where he remained as a servant in two several inn-houses some three years. And then, having got some money into his purse to furnish himself somewhat fitly for the wars, he betook himself to that course and served on horseback under several captains, with the League under the Duke de Mercoeur some eight or nine years, of whom Monsieur Fontenelles^ was the last in whose troop he remained three years or thereabouts ; and was called by the French Capitaine de la Branche." In those wars he served as a good captain of cavalry, and was remarkable for his great stature, manly beauty, and courage.^ The sundry biographies of O'Cullen say that he was in the service of the French King, and therein they are mistaken ; for it was under the banner of Philip Emmanuel de Vaudemont, Duke de Mercoeur, brother-in-law and enemy of the King, and a valiant captain, that he saw some hard fighting, shared in several victories, and saw his general defeated once by the Prince de Conti, and again by Henry of Navarre. We think it very improbable that an Irish chief, who like others of his position was brought up to war from his boyhood, would become a servant in an inn-house at Nantes ; and we more than suspect that Carew, ^ Perhaps this should be twenty-three years ; his biographers say he was a commander of horse at the age of twenty-two. 2 Called the terrible Guy-Eder de la Fontenelle in the Biographic Univ. under " Mercoeur." ^ "Inter primarios duces meruit . . . licet non annos amplius 22 natus erat unius Centurioe cum laude fortitudinis Ductor specie et statura visenda." Brother Dominic Collins, 85 who was a well-known assassin,^ had no hesitation in forging that part of the examination. When the war of the League came to an end, and peace was made between de Mercoeur and Henry the Fourth, O'Cullen went in search of other service, and passed into Spain,^ where we was taken into the army of the Catholic King, and got a position suitable to his birth and merits. To this step he was impelled by a desire of military glory, and no doubt by a hope of returning to Ireland with a Spanish armada. " He procured letters from Don Juan del Aguila, Commander of the Spanish Army in France, and went directly into Spain, arriving first at a small creek not far from St. Sebastian's ; and with his letters from Don Juan he went to the King, who by the means of the Bishop of Clonfert, who came over to Kinsale with Don Juan and died there, gave him a pension of twenty-five crowns a month, which he held a twelvemonth or thereabouts."^ His biographers tell us that he was made Capitan de la Armada Real at Coruna ; but their assertion, that he spent •eight years in that port, is in conflict with his own statement as recorded by Carew. While at Coruna he turned his attention more closely than heretofore to the practice of piety, and, being free from the cares of war, he pondered over in his heart the vanity of transitory things and the inanity of human glory, and he began to realize 1 ' ' Carew has left to posterity in his own handwriting that he had hired men to do murder ; and he had himself with his own hand done it." {Life of MacCarthy Mdr, p. 114, Tund passivi.) 2 He is said to have served also in Belgium. See Imago PHmi ScBcuH, SJ. pp. 535, 860. ' Examination of D. Collins. Cfr. note p. %Z. 86 DistingMished Irishmen, the deep sense of joy, happiness, and hope which is found in serving under the standard of Jesus Christ. In order to wage war on the devil, the world, and the flesh, he led a life far different from that free and easy way of the military men of his time ; he frequently approached those sources of grace and spiritual life, the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist, he gave himself up to the reading of instructive and edifying books and to the daily meditation of Divine things, while he was a model of attention to his military duties ; and he kept his body under subjection by fasting and many and continual corporal austerities. As he continued this pious mode of life, he began by degrees to feel a desire to lead a life of still greater severity, and to view things of the other world in a different light. Nothing seemed to him high or exalted but what was of Heaven ; on the other hand, everything that fortune holds out to ambitious minds seemed to him only worthy of contempt. Having made up his mind then to enlist under the banner of Christ as his leader, he examined the Orders fighting for Him, to see in which of them he should enrol himself First he was attracted by the mortified life of the Discalced Franciscans, and by the strict observance of the Order of Preachers throughout Spain ; both these Orders,, knowing his dispositions, would have conferred on him the order of the priesthood. But having re- commended the matter to God long and earnestly, and having weighed all the reasons carefully, he determined to enter the lowly Society of Jesus,, and to ask admittance as a humble Temporal Brother Dominic Collins. Z*] Coadjutor, as though he were unworthy of the rank of a priest or unfit for it^ Dominic says in his examination, that " meeting with one Thomas White of Clonmel (who is Rector of the College of the Irish Seminary in Sala- manca), by his persuasion he surrendered his pension and professed himself a Jesuit, remaining in a College of Jesuits at St. James in Galicia about three years." Father White was a man of rare piety and prudence, whose whole life, says Nierem- berg, was of such interest that it deserves to be written out fully and in the minutest detail.^ When consulted by O'Cullen he recommended him to enter the Order of the Dominicans or Discalced Franciscans, as he thought him not suited for the humble and meritorious labours of a Temporal Coadjutor of the Society. Considering the splen- dour of his birth,^ the symmetry and size of his powerful frame,^ which for beauty and stature was unsurpassed at that time in the Peninsula ; ^ con- sidering his taste in dress and his daily society with illustrious persons. White fancied that his country- man would not be fit for the hard every-day work of a lay-brother. O'Cullen assured him, that he had long and duly considered all these things ; that he had learned to dislike the light and blaze of the world ; that he had resolved to serve God in the shade and obscurity of a lowly hard-working life; and that the very difficulties and hardships put 1 Nieremberg, Jouvancy, Tanner, in their accounts of Br. Collins. ' See the sketch of Father White, supra. ^ La nobleza del Capitan. '* " Proceri corporis et formse elegantia (Alegambe) ; corporis proceri dignitas (Jouvancy) ; egregius dux equitatus specie et statura visenda." (Annual Letters of Compostella of year 1603.) ^ So says Nieremberg. 88 Distincruished Irishmen. before him by Father White only intensified his desire to embrace the religious life of a coadjutor. The Jesuit Superiors, however, for the sake of testing or confirming his vocation, thought it prudent to defer his admittance for a year ; and even at the end of that time, though they were quite willing to receive him as a scholastic and promote him to the priesthood, he still persisted in his former resolution. They still hesitated as they were so struck by his dignified and lofty bearing, which was the result of distinguished birth and military training, that they were afraid his perseverance would not bear the strain of the humble condition which was the object of his fervent desires. They advised him again to join some other religious order ; but he prayed to God that his wish might be granted, and so continued to urge the Superiors to receive him, that at last he obtained their consent. He intimated this to his superior officer, the Adelantado of Castile, who was then in command of the Armada which was preparing to go to the help of the Irish Catholics. The Adelantado, who held O'Cullen in great esteem, pressed him to change his mind ; other officers of the army urged him to remain with them to help in the deliverance of his native land ; while some expressed their admiration of his courageous and religious resolve. At that timc^ it required nothing less than heroic virtue to take such a step, which under the circumstances 1 O'Cullen had then heard of the great overthrow of the English at Black water, where Marshal Bagenal, thirty-three officers, and two thousand soldiers were slain by O'Neill on the 14th of August. This "111 Newse out of Ireland" was published in London soon after the fight. Brother Dominic Collins, 89 would have been attributed to cowardice had he not been universally recognized as a man without fear and without reproach. Yet it is not probable that, in the tiresome delays thrown in the way of his vocation, this thought did not often rise up as an insuperable obstacle to that vocation, an obstacle which nothing but the grace of God could have overcome in the naturally proud and martial spirit of this Irish chief He bid adieu to his brother officers, and attended by some friends and servants he went to St. James of Compostella, where he was received into the house of the Society on Tuesday, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1598, at the age of thirty-one, as his biographers say, but at the age of forty-three, as we gather from his examination as reported by the Lord President of Munster. The Fathers of that house shared the fears of Father White that the new condition of life would not suit a man of his position and antecedents ; but they soon felt their misgivings fade away in the light of his words and still more of his actions. He assured them that, even if he excelled the greatest divines in learning, he would choose the life of a coadjutor, to which he felt called by Almighty God ; and he set to work at once, and while still wearing for two months his costly secular or military dress he performed all the duties of his new position. At that time a highly contagious or infectious •disease suddenly broke out in the College of Compostella, and he attended the sick most diligently, and sought out the lowest and meanest duties with as much eagerness as he had formerly 90 Distinguished Irishmen. coveted rank and dignities. He passed through all the tests of the novitiate, served as Refectorian in the College, and finally made his religious vows on February 4, 1601. Thus he devoted him- self with fervour and assiduity to his hard and humble work ; but was sometimes allowed by his Superiors to spend whole days in communion with God. A year after his religious vows, his quiet life was broken in on by an order to go to Ireland as companion to a fervent and apostolic Jesuit, named Father James Archer, whom Don Juan del Aguila had selected as his spiritual director in the expedition to Ireland. The holy Brother was chosen for this arduous mission, as by his training in the world and in religion he was well fitted to render service to the sailors and soldiers as well as to his countrymen. When bidding farewell to his brethren at Compostella, he told them his great desire was to suffer a great deal for the name of Jesus Christ. Being well acquainted with the ways of sailors and soldiers, he was well qualified to further the glory of God and the good of souls ; and during the voyage he exerted his zeal in caring both the bodies and souls of the people of the ship ; attending on the sick day and night like a servant, and exhorting them to patience ; urging on those who were in good health the practice of virtue, a horror of vice and the use of the sacra- ments. Yet he did not allow himself to be wholly taken up or absorbed by these duties ; he kept his soul united with God just as if he was in the retirement of a College, and he continued his practices of mortification both at sea and when he landed in Ireland, just as if he had no external Brother Dommic Collins. 91 labours to perform ; and by these voluntary morti- fications he prepared himself to meet with courage the very great hardships and sufferings which he was destined to endure at the hands of the enemies of the Faith. Brother Dominic's account of this passage of his life runs thus : " At that College of St. James, when I left it, were remaining two young men of Ireland, professed Jesuits ; the one named Richard Walshe, son to one Robert, or Richard, Walshe of Waterford ; and the other, one John Lee, son to Walter Lee of Kilkenny. Father James Archer procured the Superior of the Jesuits of Castile to command this examinate to go with him as companion in the holy entreprise^ of Ireland, though he had never seen him till of late here in Munster ; for he came not at once with Don Juan and Archer, but with the supplies that came with Senor Jago to Castlehaven. He saith that he came from Castlehaven to Tirone's camp and was lodged, with O'Sulyvan Beare ; and after the overthrow given to Tirone and the Spaniards near Kinsale, he remained among his friends in Munster. Being asked what letters he brought into Ireland and to whom, he answereth that he brought three letters, which contained nothing else, as he confidently affirms, but his particular commendation and the cause why he was sent — which was, to be Father Archer's companion. Being demanded, when and where he first met with the Jesuit Archer after his arrival at Castle- haven, he sayeth that about the beginning of 1 Holy seems an interpolation by Carew ; though no doubt Dominic thought it holy. 92 Distinguished Irishmen. February last he met with Archer at a castle called Gortnacloghy, near Castlehaven, and that ever since, till the day of the Lord President's arrival with his forces against the Castle of Dunboy, he hath remained as a fellow with him, which said day Archer went from Dunboy, and since then he hath not seen him." And so con- tinues his Examination, which would cover about eight or nine pages of this volume, and was no doubt carried on with the help of the rack, the thumbscrew, or other torture. We get an account of Brother Collins' fortunes at Dunboy from his enemies. In the Pacata Hibernia, written or dictated by the Lord President Carew,^ we read : " On June 6, 1602, all our army landed, nevertheless the Irish came on bravely, but our falcons made them halt. . . . There were only two prisoners taken and presently hanged, whereof a servant of James Archer, the Jesuit, was one ; and, if the Jesuit himself had not been a light-footed priest, he had fallen into our hands, and yet as nimble as he was he escaped with much difficulty." Carew also gives a number of letters purporting to be written to the besieged, but which, we shall presently see, are either forged or garbled. One of these is supposed to be written by Bishop MacEgan to Richard MacGeoghegan, who commanded the ward of Dunboy Castle, consisting of one hundred and forty-three of O'Sullivan's soldiers. He ends the letter by the words, " Commend me to Father Dominic." ^ ^ Mopre's Hist, of Ireland, vol. iv. p. 141. 2 It is very unlikely that a bishop would speak of a lay-brother as Father Dominic, or that such letters as these should be found among the ruins. Brother Dominic Collins. 93 Another purports to be from Father Archer to Brother ColHns: "Your letter of Thursday came to our hands ... be ye of heroic minds . . . there are but two ways to attempt you, that is, scaHng Avith ladders, or battery. For scaling, I doubt not but your own wits need no direction ; and for battery, you may make up the work at night" John Anias writes to him : " Be careful of your fortifying continually . . . what battery is made, suddenly repair it like valiant soldiers. . . . Devise yourselves all the invention possible to hold out this siege, which is the greatest honour in the kingdom. . . . Salute in my name Richard Mac- Geoghegan. Your loving cousin, John Anias. To Father Dominic, Berehaven, these." Carew writes : " On the 17th of June the gabions, trenches, and platforms were finished, and at 5 a.m. our battery of one demi-cannon, two culverings, and one demi- culvering, played without intermission till 9 a.m., when a turret annexed to the castle fell down, and with it a falcon of iron which continually played at our artillery; and many of the Irish were buried in the ruins. At i p.m. the ordnance had battered down the west front of the castle, and the Lord President's regiment gave the assault, seconded by the regiment of (O'Brien) the Earl of Thomond, while the regiments of Percy and Wilmot stood in arms in the market-place. The Irish were forced to retreat under the safety of the east post of the castle, which was standing, which place they so well defended that for an hour and a half it was disputed with great obstinacy on either side. . . . Many of our men were slain or wounded, and we oppressing them by all means we might, 94 Distinguished Irishmetu and still attempting to get to the top of the vault, we were divers times forced down again. By a way we discovered we made a descent on the enemy, and gained ground. They being in a desperate case, some forty of them made a sally out of the castle to the seaside, and were all slain, except eight who jumped into the sea and were slain by our seamen ; three leapt from the top of the vault and were slain by our soldiers, among them being a notable rebel called Melaghlen Moore, who had plucked the Earl of Ormond from his horse. " The courage of the Irish decreasing with their numbers, we gave a new assault to the top of the vault, our shot from the foot of the breach giving us good assistance, and, after some hours' assault and defence, with some loss on both sides, we gained the top of the vault and placed our colours on the castle. The remainder of the ward retired into the cellars and defended the same against us. When the seventy-seven Irish were con- strained to retire into them and defended the same against us, upon promise of their lives they offered to come forth, but not to stand to mercy. Not- withstanding, immediately after, a Fryer born in Youghal, called Dominic Collins, who had been brought up in the wars of France, and then, under the League, had been a commander of horse in Britany (by them called Captaine la Branch), came forth and rendered himself the sun being by this time set, and strong guards being left upon the rebels remaining in the cellar, the regiments with- drawn to the camp. The i8th, in the morning, twenty-three surrendered simply. MacGeoghegan, Brother Dominic Collins, 95 Chief Commander of the place, being mortally- wounded with divers shots in his body, the rest made choice of one Taylor, an Englishman's son (the dearest and inwardest man with Captain Tirrell, and married to his niece), to be their Chief ; who, having nine barrels of powder, drew himself and it into the vault, and there sat down by it, with a lighted match in his hand, vowing to set it on fire and blow up the castle, himself, and all the rest, except they had promise of life. The Lord President, for the safety of our men, gave directions for a new battery to bury them in the ruins. The bullets entering among them into the cellar, the rest being forty-eight in number, by intercession, but chiefly by compulsion, constrained them to surrender at lO a.m. on the i8th. As the English entered the vault to receive them, Richard MacGeoghegan, lying there mortally wounded, and perceiving Taylor and the rest ready to render themselves, raised himself from the ground, snatching a lighted candle and staggering therewith to a barrel of powder (which for that purpose was unheaded) and offering to cast it into the same, Captain Power took him and held him in his arms with intent to make him prisoner, until he was by our men instantly killed. So obstinate and resolved a defence had not been seen in this kingdom."^ What Carew and his secretary, Stafford, tell us of the heroism of the Irish we may safely believe ; everything else we must receive with caution as 1 Hihernia Facata, p. 574. The rebellion in Munster was now stamped out with awful ferocity. Carew's flying columns laid waste the whole country, "not leaving behind man or beast, corn or cattle." (Walpole's Kingdom of Jrelandy p. 166.) 96 Distinguished Irishmen. coming from a tainted source. We have no hesitation in saying that they were guilty of false- hood in their account of Brother Collins. His whole life gives the lie to their assertions. He was as brave as any man in the castle ; he was a profoundly religious man, full of zeal for souls and anxious to console the dying in their last moments by helping them to make acts of faith, hope, charity, and contrition ; he was fearless of death, and it is incredible that he would abandon the warders in their hour of need, and " came forth and rendered himself," even if the brave warders would have let him do so. Besides he knew he could expect no mercy, though he was a non- combatant ; for he was an Irish Jesuit, he was the companion of Father Archer, whom the English were most anxious to hang ; he was chief of the O'Cullens, and his property was in the hands of the rapacious Richard Boyle, who would have used his great influence to get O'Cullen put out of the way. The facts are thus stated, and, we believe, truly, by the biographers of Brother Collins : that when MacGeoghegan was mortally wounded, and Taylor took his place, the besiegers promised to spare the warders' lives, if the castle was surren- dered ; and Dominic O'Cullen was selected to go out to settle the terms. But he was put in chains by the heretics, contrary to the law of nations, and in violation of their oath. For the besiegers had guaranteed the safety of all who defended the castle if they surrendered it ; and had given a pledge, ratified by oath, into the hands of Dominic himself, who had proposed the terms of peace and was the messenger of the besieged. To have Brother Dominic Collins. 97 seized a Jesuit they supposed would save them from the indelible stain of treachery, and from the crime of perjury. He was taken by a company of soldiers to Cork, his hands tied behind his back. There he was shut up in the common prison by order of Sir George Carew, the President of Munster, a most bitter enemy of the Catholics.^ Such breaches of faith were not uncommon in the case of Irish surrenders ; they are recorded in the pages of Irish history, and are set forth at some length in Dr. Lynch's Cainbrensis Eversus^ ch. xxviii., where he says : " If an English officer besieged a fort, and the besieged, either wearied by protracted assaults, or in want of provisions, were compelled to treat for honourable conditions, and obtained full liberty to depart, as soon as they abandoned their fortress, they found that they had walked into the jaws of death." We do not care to dwell on many instances of the treachery and cruelty of Carew and his colonels, whose perfidies, were in striking contrast to the upright conduct of General Sir Conyers Clifford, who fought fiercely to the death against the Irish at the battle of the Curlew Mountains, and yet, on account of his rare integrity, was bewailed by them with tears, and was buried by them with the greatest honour in the Abbey of Sligo. Carew, in the detailed accounts which he gives of Dunboy, does not say or hint that Brother Collins took any active part in the stubborn defence ; and hence we may conclude that with great self-denial he heroically confined himself to ^ Major O'Reilly's Irish Martyrs and Confessors, p. 147' Jo^i* vancy, Alegambe, O'Sullivan Beare, and others. H 98 Distinguished Irishmen, attending to the bodily and spiritual comfort of the wounded and dying. If he had yielded to his martial ardour, a man of his powerful build and skill in fight would have given a good account of himself, and would have been mentioned as well as MacGeoghegan, Taylor, and Melaghlin O'Moore; he would have been in the very front of the battle, and would not have been " taken in arms ; " and like MacGeoghegan, he would have been " mortally wounded with divers shot in his body," the gigantic form of which would have presented a good mark for the musketeers. It is clear that he was a non- combatant, and yet by his enemies he was reported to his Superior in Dublin, Father de la Field, S.J., as having been taken in arms and fighting. We know even from Carew that this was false. Father de la Field, a gentleman of the English pale, whose sympathies were naturally and perhaps very properly on the English side,^ writes from Dublin to Father General Aquaviva : " Our Dominic is taken armed and fighting,'^ is put in chains ; and, when neither by threats or promises he could not be moved to give up his religious profession, and the Catholic faith, or the Irish cause, in order to pass into the service of the Queen, he is hanged on the 3rd of October, and his death gives the greatest edifica- tion, and is witnessed and bewailed with tears by nearly all the citizens of Cork."' Here Dominic's conduct at Dunboy, and the date and place of 1 O'Brien, Earl of Thomond, MacCarthy Reagh, MacCarthy of Carbery, Barry More, the White Knight, O'Donovan, and other Irish nobles and gentlemen were amongst the besiegers. 2 " Noster Dominicus armatus et pugnans capitur." The words are underlined in the manuscript. 2 Ibernia Ignatiana, ■^. no. Brother Dominic Collins. 99 his execution are misstated by the Dublin Jesuit, and he is unconsciously misrepresented to his Superior in Rome, who, however, at the same time got quite a different account in a Portuguese letter written from IrelanS by an Irish Jesuit, wherein is given a sketch of the life and death of "our martyr O'Coulen" — nosso martyr GCoulen. This letter is the earliest and most authentic .account of the martyr. We shall give a transla- tion of it at the end of our sketch, to which it may :serve as a summary and supplement When Brother Dominic Collins was captured at Dunboy, he was kept in custody for some time before his execution. " The fryer and Taylor were reserved alive by the Lord President, to trie whether he could draw them to do some accept- able service, and they were carried prisoners to Cork." On the 13th of July Carew writes to the Lord Deputy : " Dominic Collins I find more open-hearted than the rest. I send enclosed his .examination ; the which, although it do not merit -any great favour, yet because he hath had so long -education in France and Spain, and that it may be that your lordship heretofore, by some other •examinations, have had some knowledge of him, -whereby some benefit to the State may be made, I respite his execution till your further pleasure be signified."^ The Deputy's further pleasure was signified, and in October, " Taylor was hanged in chains not far from the north gate of Cork, and the fryer, in whom no penitence appeared for his detestable treasons, nor yet would endeavour to merit his life ^ Cal, Carew MSS, an, 1602. lOO Distinguished Irishmen. either by discovering the rebels' intentions (which was in his power), or by doing of some service that might deserve favour, was hanged at Youghal,, wherein he was born."^ Carew says he "reserved Collins alive to trie whether he could draw him to do some acceptable service ; " and he further asserts that Collins would not endeavour to merit his life by doing some service that might deserve favour. What this service was we learn from Thomas Moore,^ who, however, was not aware that Taylor and Brother Collins were " reserved alive," and refused " to be drawn to such service." He says, that on the sur- render of Dunboy, "fifty-eight of the ward were executed in the market-place ; and of the whole number, amounting to one hundred and forty-three * selected fighting men,' not a single one escaped, all were either slain, executed, or buried among the ruins. To embroil the chieftains with each other, and thus weaken them by their dissensions, was another of the arts of misrule in which English Viceroys became proficients ; and it may even be suspected,^ from some dark hints in a letter of the Queen's about this time, that those services were not always bloodless, by which the new liegemen of the English crown now earned their adoption of that privilege. * None is to be pardoned,' says the royal writer, * but upon service done, and not only' upon those they particularly hated, but upon any ^ Hib. Pacata, p. 578. - Hist, of Ireland, vol. iv. pp. 141, 143. ^ It is certain from the Calendars of State Papers published since Moore penned his History. It was certain even before ; but "the bard of all circles and the delight of his own," did not wish to say so. Brother Dominic Collins, loi other, as they shall be directed.'" The plain English of all this is, that O'Cullen was asked to cut the throat of O'Sullivan Beare, or 0'Sulliv«ln. M6r, or some other Irish lord or chieftain ; arid'tiiis,'a^ an Irish chief, a soldier, a man of honour ancjiconr-; science, and a religious, he absolutely refused to db. When good Queen Bess, whom Moore calls " the royal writer," ventured to propose to the Earl of Ormond and Ossory a certain way of serving Her Majesty, he wrote to Sussex or Burghley : " The claws of the Queen's letter, wherein she willeth the persons to be kept in sure hold, seemeth veray •Strange unto me, they having afore, according to Her Majesty's instructions, delivered pledges, done good service, and put in assurance of their loyalties. My lord, I wol never use trechery to any ; for it wot both toche Her Highness' honour too much^ and mine own credit ; and whosoever gave the Queene advice thus to write is fitter to execute such base sarvice than I am. Saving my dutie to her Majestic, I wold I weare to have revenge by my sword of any man that thus persuadeth the Queen to write to me^^ The Queen some years afterwards was again •easily persuaded to write to him to use his inti- macy with O'Neil in order to entrap him. His lordship answered : " I have been employed by Her Majestic in many sarvices ... all which, I thank God, I have performed without using unhonest and filthy practices. If my thanks shall be to be put to execute trechery, my fortune is bad, and the sarvice much better for such as devised the same than for 1 Life and Letters of MacCarthy MSr^ p. 329. I02 Disiingtdshed Irishinen, me that never had, thank God, a thought of such matter. I protest before God," &c.^ ■This -Eurl of Ormond had been brought up in heresy at the EngHsh Court, was a favourite of iQ^eeh Elx^abpih, and had done all in his power to bring about the ruin of the house of Desmond,, which he ultimately accomplished. But from these letters it is clear that he was a man of honour. He was converted to the Catholic faith, soon after the death of Brother Collins, by the Jesuit Fathers,, Walter Wall and Brian O'Kearney. From the first of his letters we may gather that even if Dominic Collins had rendered the "acceptable sarvice,'* Elizabeth would have written to her officials in Ireland " to keep him in sure hold." But, as we have seen, he peremptorily refused to execute what Ormond calls " such base sarvice to execute trechery, and to use unhonest and filthy practices."" He was kept in chains for three months and a half in Cork, in the prison of common criminals ; in that loathsome place he led a heavenly life^ lightening its miseries by voluntary corporal mor- tifications, by constant communings with God in prayer and meditation, and by exercising the zeal of his religious Institute in preaching to heretics. by word and example. When the time of the assizes came on he appeared before his judges in the habit of a Jesuit coadjutor, which he had brought with him from Compostella, and which he had been accustomed to wear when working in the refectory and kitchen. He donned this dress in order to show that he was to be condemned for the 1 "The Taking of the Earl of Ormond," published in the Kilkenny Joitnial of Archeology, vol. iii. p. 423. Brother Dominic Collins, 103 Catholic faith and for the religious profession of a Jesuit. So it appears that in those days there was no prison dress, and that Carew, who did not shrink from murder and other deeds of darkness, did not think of getting his habit torn off his back. The biographers say, that Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy, who was a deadly enemy of the Catholic faith, presided at the trial ; but we deem it more probable that it was Carew, the Lord President of Munster. When brought from prison before his judges, Dominic professed himself a Catholic and a mem- ber of the Society of Jesus. He was promised a command in the army if he would do some acceptable service; he refused to do anything so abominable. He was offered preferment in the Protestant Church if he renounced his faith and religious profession, and he rejected the proposal He was threatened with the direst torments and with death, if he did not yield ; and he told his enemies that he could not serve two masters, and preferred to suffer and die for Christ rather than renounce his religious profession or do anything against his conscience. When he could not be won by promises or threats, he was sent back to prison, and his relatives and friends were prevailed on to visit him, and try and shake his constancy. These " friends," who were, we believe, the MacCarthys, O'Hurleys and De Courcys, besought him, for his own and his sister's^ sake, to temporize, and not 1 Randal O 'Hurley, her son, and Dominic's nephew, was brother-in-law of De Courcy, eighteenth Baron of Kinsale, who fought on the English side at Kinsale; this Baron's mother was also an O'Hurley. I04 Distinguished Irishmen. to bring ruin on himself and disgrace on an illus- trious family. They suggested to him, that he might remain a Catholic at heart and outwardly conform for a time, in order to please the humours of the Queen ; and that he could afterwards find a ■way of escaping (to Spain), where he could practise liis religion in freedom. " Nay," said he, " what I am I will ever, even to death, profess myself to be." When neither the fair promises or dire threats of his enemies, nor the wily pleadings of his friends availed to shake him in his resolve to live and die in the Catholic Faith and in the Society of Jesus, he was sentenced to be hanged, to have his entrails torn out while he was still alive, and have his body cut in quarters. He received this sentence with composure calm and pure, and even with joy; and, being taken back to prison, awaited his deli- verance with a transport of delight which had its source in a lively faith, and in the great hope, which he had expressed at Compostella and had cherished^ ever since, of receiving the crown of martyrdom. This masterful self-possession, and the rapturous happiness which radiated from his heart over his countenance, so irritated his enemies that he was put to the torture repeatedly during the days previous to his execution,^ a thing which is contrary to all human and Divine law. He bore these dreadful torments as if they were a pleasure ^ '• Tinha grandissimo desejo da martyrio." (Portuguese letter -written from Clonmel on March 30, 1603, to Dominic's friend. Father Thomas "White, who knew all the secrets of his soul. ) 2 " Antea tamen cruciatu repetito labefactare invictum pectus, at •frustra, tentavit Montjoyus " (Jouvancy) ; "Jussit eum Montjoyus Barbara immanitate torqueri per dies supplicio praevios" (Alegambe); •*' Recibi todo genero de penalidades y malos attramientos." (Nierem- terg.) Brother Dominic Collins, 105 to him, and he was thankful for them as for special favours from Heaven. His tormentors were so maddened at his sublime patience and power of suffering that they sent him to the gallows before the time fixed by the sentence of death, and hanged him on the 31st of October, 1602, even the Lord's day, for which Protestants profess so much respect. He was led out from Cork amidst the prayers and tears of nearly all the citizens, and was conducted by soldiers to Youghal vi^ith his hands tied behind his back and a halter round his neck. On his way to the place of execution he kept before his mind the picture of our Lord going from Jerusalem to Calvary ; he walked with great modesty and composure, his eyes fixed on heaven, his thoughts intent on God, his bearing dignified and showing great self-possession. When he saw the gallows he saluted it with tender affection, and when he reached it he knelt down and kissed it, and then prayed to God for himself and his fatherland, and, after the example of the martyrs, he prayed also for the Queen and all his enemies. He then with great alacrity and a steady step went up the ladder. Standing on its top as if in a pulpit (for he was dressed in the ordinary habit of the Society), he began more zealously than ever before to exhort the Catholics to preserve the faith with constancy till death, to be on their guard against the threats and promises of the Queen, the wrath of her ministers, and the wiles of the heretics ; and he concluded thus : " Look up to heaven, and be not unworthy of your ancestors who boldly professed the faith ; do you too uphold it. In defence of it I desire to give up io6 Distinguished Irishmen, my life to-day." These were the last words uttered by Dominic ; they were most effective in encou- raging the Catholics ; uttered in that place and at that solemn moment by one of high birth who had shown contempt for worldly goods, they fell like a thunderbolt on the ears even of the heretics. The officers perceiving the effect of these words on the bystanders, and fearing that the crowd might be still more confirmed in their hatred of heresy, ordered him to be thrown off the ladder. He was but a short time hanging on the gallows, and still breathing and his breast heaving, when the execu- tioner, in punishment of his bold profession of the Catholic religion, disembowelled him, cut his body in quarters, and tearing out his heart held it up to the people, uttering aloud the usual formula, " God save the Queen." The Queen did not live long after the execution of Dominic Collins ; she went soon before the judgment-seat of God to account for all the innocent blood she had shed in England and Ireland, and all " the base, filthy and unhonest sarvices and practices " which she had ordered her servants to perform in Ireland and elsewhere. The holy soul of Dominic went to be crowned in Heaven with the diadem of Martyrs on October 31,^ 1602, in the thirty-fifth year of his age,^ and the fourth year of his religious profession. His head was probably put on a spike, as was usual in those times ; " his mangled and holy remains were col- lected with piety, reverence, and affection by the people of Youghal, and were religiously buried in a * This was on Sunday according to most writers ; but Nieremberg says '* the day of his martyrdom was Thursday," and so it was according to the New Style. - Rather the forty-ninth, if my copy of the Examination is correct. Brother Dominic Collins. 107 chapel ^ close to the gate at which he was hanged. In that chapel he is honoured by the veneration of the faithful, and, as the Catholics affirm, he is glorified by God, who works miracles there at his intercession." This churchyard must be well known to the inhabitants of Youghal, and perhaps they might find the body in the ruined chapel, and identify it by its being headless and by the large size of the bones, as in the account written soon after his death by his friends of Compostella it is said that his great stature was a thing to look at — statura visenda. By his many biographers he is called a martyr ; but he is so styled specially in the very earliest account ^ we have of him, written in Portuguese to his dear friend Father White by the Jesuits Leynach and Morony five months after his execution. It is very short and simple, and may serve as a summary and supplement of the sketch which we have already given : OUR MARTYR. Our Brother, who was a native of Yochiel, was born of very good parents, and served about seven years in the wars of France. For which and for being a man experienced in military matters, he got a very good reception in Spain. In spite of that he felt moved by God to become a coadjutor of our Society, and served with the greatest edification as refectorian in the College of Santiago ; and we believe it was to his fidelity in the accomplishment of his lowly duties that he owed the crown of martyrdom which he ardently longed for. He was taken from the kitchen, and sent to be companion of Father Archer in Ireland. When the castle, in which ^ "Los Catolicos sepultaron el santo cuerpo en una Hcrmita fuero de los muros de la ciudad, junto a la pnerte donde fue ahorcado." (Nieremberg.) 2 Roman Archives, S.J., vol. Anglia MSS. 1590—1615. io8 Distinguished Irishmen, he was, was besieged by the heretics, they promised him his life if he persuaded the warders to yield; and yet when they understood he was a religious, they broke their word. The greatness of soul and the constancy with which this Brother suffered death has caused the greatest admiration in the minds of all. He delivered an address with a loud voice while on his knees at the foot of the gallows: "Hail, holy cross, so long looked for and desired by me ! How dear to me this hour, for which I have yearned since I put on this habit and have belonged to the Society of Jesus, earnestly asking for it every day, and never obtaining my request till this day ! O happy day! " Then, turning to the ministers of justice, he said to them with great seriousness and serenity: "You think you have only to go on as you are doing, eating and drinking and gratifying your vain desires. Understand, then, that you are deceived therein. And you can see that in me: I had and could have continued to have many of those things you desire and ambition, and even much more than you. But I gave up all to become a poor religious and wear the habit in which you see me. For which I give many and fervent thanks to my God and Lord." His words struck the bystanders to the heart, and made nearly all of them shed tears. Some notable things happened at his execution. When he was thrown off the ladder, the rope, which was thick and strong enough to hold a ship, snapped; and, what is more remarkable, he fell on his knees, as if he were in prayer, with his eyes fixed on heaven. This Brother was named O'Coulen, and he was the first martyr of the Society in this land ; but if things go on as at present, he will soon have companions. From the cruelty with which these heretics, in their diabolical fury, have treated this servant of God for being a religious, we doubt not but that they would treat us in the same manner if they could get us into their hands. . . . From Clonmel, March the 3rd, 1603. Nicholas Leynach and Andrew Morony, S.J. Our readers may have remarked that even Brother Dominic's enemies speak of him with Brother Dominic Collins, 109 respect, and even, perhaps, with a certain feeling of admiration. They seem also to have been struck with the manly beauty of his face and to have taken his likeness, as at p. 34 of Bromley's Catalogue of engraved Englisfh Portraits there is mentioned "a small head of Dominic Collins, Jesuit, who died in 1602." There is also in Tanner's Societas Jesu viilitans} an engraving representing the martyrdom of Brother Collins. It may be only a fancy sketch ; but as we hope to see this holy martyr beatified in our own lifetime, and we know that the matter has been placed in the hands of an energetic, erudite, and researchful Irish Jesuit, it is probable that the "small head of Dominic Collins" and his large bones will be discovered. His claim to the title of martyr will, we think, be fully established. The only things " the devil's advocate" could advance are (i) that he was caught in the company of "rebells." But those whom the English chose to call by that name were styled by them even in the sixteenth century as the Irisshe enemie ; and besides the Irish princes and lords ceased to be independent only after the fight at Dunboy which ended the Fifteen Years' War. (2) It may be said that he should not have been in the Castle of Dunboy. But whither should he go? If he "rendered himself" to the English, he would have been asked under pain of death, to cut the throats of his countrymen, to deny his reli- gion, and abandon religious life. (3) It may be urged that he was taken in arms. This is a false report of his enemies which reached De la Field ^ Also in Imagines Confgssorum, S.J. and D'Oultreman's /Vr- Sittnages Signalh^ S.J"., and in a Tahila incisa Ro?na, no Disti7iztt'ished Irishmen, <^ in Dublin, and is disproved by the significant silence on this head (i) of the English record of his Examination, (ii) of Carew's and Slingby's account of his capture, (iii) of all the many sketches of his life, which also state that he was sent by the survi- vors of the ward to treat of the terms of surrender. When he, with Christian heroism and humility and in the face of obstacles of every kind, laid aside the sword and his command in the army to become a poor, hardworking coadjutor, tending the sick, a refectorian, a cook, a man-of-all-work, it is in the highest degree improbable that he took it up again in defence of his life against ruthless and merciless enemies. Had he done so, few of our readers would blame him ; while many will condemn him, perhaps, for not having thrown himself into the fight with all his heart and soul. It is almost certain that the commander and the warders, whom the well- equipped besiegers outnumbered by twenty to one, must have besought him, who was such a brave, skilful, and powerful officer and swordsman, to lead them in the fight. But he had the courage to enter a religious order to do menial work at Compostella, when the Adelantado of the Spanish and Irish officers of the army and navy pressed him to remain with them and go to Ireland In order to help his countrymen to crush the English Pro- testant power in Ireland, at a time when, according to Father FitzSimon, who (as we shall see) was a gentleman of the pale of known loyalty to the English crown, the Irish were triumphant every- where and had almost annihilated the best English army that had ever landed in that island. His whole soul was so filled with the idea that he was Brother Dominic Collins. 1 1 1 called by God to a religious life of peace, humility, and hard work in imitation of the life of our Lord at Nazareth, that he overbore the opposition of the Jesuits on one side and of the officers of the Spanish army and navy on the other ; and from all the information at our disposal and from all the known circumstances of his four years of religious life, we are convinced that the exalted and domi- nant idea he had of his vocation made him stifle all the promptings of his old martial spirit and turn a deaf ear to all the entreaties of the warders of Dunboy. He confined his attention to the wounded and dying, whom he tended and consoled as he had nursed the plague-stricken at Compostella ; and, as his companion. Father Archer, testifies, "while attending the army he contrived to live with as much recollection as if he were in the solitude of a religious cell." (4) It may be thought that the two letters written to him by Archer and Anias, about the way of strengthening the old castle, show that he was a combatant. On that point there may be divergence of opinion among our readers. But (i) the besiegers had not then appeared on the scene ; (ii) it does not show that he was in arms, or that he personally worked at propping up the old pile ; (iii) if he got such letters, it is not likely he would not have destroyed them, lest they should fall into English hands, as he was a cool-headed man and knew perfectly well from his military experience, that the castle could not hold out when attacked by an overwhelming force on sea and land ; (iv) if he had been thoughtless enough to preserve them, it is not likely that they would be 112 Distinguished Irishmen, found in that mass of ruins ; (v) they are most probably forgeries: people were forgers in those times and sent about forged letters of Dominic's Superior, Father Archer, in order to work up the Irish to shun him or even to murder him, as we shall see further on. (5) Carew says that "the fryer, in whom no penitence appeared for his detestable treasons, was hanged." Yes ; but (i) the same thing was said of the Blessed Edmund Campion and others ; (ii) "detestable treasons" in the official language of the time was an unmeaning phrase used for rounding a sentence, somewhat like those poetical, insignificant cJievilles of Irish verse, which so often vex and perplex even such a great Celtic scholar as Mr. Whitley Stokes ; (iii) Carew's credit for honesty and veracity is quite cracked, he was one of those " English in Ireland " of whom, says the Blessed Edmund Campion, the great Earl of Kildare declared, that " on their bare words or frantic oaths he would not gage the life of a good hound." And those "detestable treasons," which Carew takes care not to mention, were that he was an Irish Catholic and a Jesuit. We may brush aside then all these allegations and insinuations of " a devil's advocate," and con- clude that Brother Dominic Collins was what he is styled by his contemporaries in and outside the English pale, and by his Irish, Spanish, French,. Italian, Belgian, and German biographers, a martyr of the Society of Jesus — Nosso Martyr GCoulen. The life and death of this holy and heroic man are recorded with more or less of detail in the Portuguese letter of a MS. vol. of the Roman Brother Dominic Collins, 113 Archives, SJ., marked Anglice Historia 1590— 161 5 ; in the published Literce Annuce Prov. CastellancB oi 1603 ; in YitzSimon' s Britannornachia and Catalogus Sanctorum Hibernice; in the Martyr- ologium of the Society of Jesus, which is in the Burgundian Library, Brussels ; in the German Menology of the Society of Jesus; in the Processus Martyrialis of Bishop Rothe, a contemporary writer ; in O'Sullevan Beare's Historia Catholica ; Bruodini Propugnaculum CatholiccB veritatis; Mola- nus ; Jouvancy's Historia SJ. ; Father Nieremberg's Varones Illustres de la Cornpania de Jesus ; in F. de la Field's letter of March, 1503 ; in Tanner's Societas Jesu militans ; in D'Oultreman's Tableaux des Personnages Signales de la Compagnie de Jesus; in de Arana's Spanish Hist, of the Soc. of Jesus; in Damianus' Synopsis Hist. S.J.; in the Imago Primi ScBculi, S.J. pp. 535, 536 ; in Rho's Varies Virtutum Histories ; in Elias a St. Theresia's Legatio Ecclesice Triumphantis ; in Oliver's Collec- tanea S.J.; in Foley's Collectanea S.J.; in De Coste's Histoire d'Edmond Campian ; in Ibernia Ignatiana, pp. 89 to 102, and in the Irish Eccles, Record, vol. x. p. 556, and the following pages. VI. FATHER WALTER TALBOT. When Walter Talbot entered the Novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Tournay in 1595, he wrote down this account of himself: "I, Walter Talbot, was born at Dublin on June 30, 1562, my father was William Talbot, Esquire, who is still alive ; my mother was Mary Bermingham, who is de- ceased in the Lord. I have studied Grammar in Ireland. In the school of the Society at Pont-a- Mousson I have studied Humanities for one year, Rhetoric for one year, Philosophy for three years, and I took the degrees of Master and Doctor in the month of August, 1590. I have received tonsure and minor orders from the Bishop of Metz, and the Orders of subdeacon and deacon from John de Stryan, Bishop of Middleburg, in virtue of an Apostolic Indult granted to Cardinal Allen. I have studied Theology during four years and a half at Louvain, where I attended lectures in the College of the Society. I enter the House of Probation at Tournay, this day. May 10, 1595."^ Sir Bernard Burke's Peerage enables us to iden- tify Walter Talbot as the fourth son of William Talbot of Malahide, who married Mary, daughter 1 Liher Novitiorum Tornac. S,/. Father Walter Talbot. 115 of Peter Bermingham, Lord Chief-Justice of Ireland, and who possessed the lordships of Mala- hide, Garristown, Louth, Ashe, and Castlering, with the courts and royalties attached thereto, together with estates in the counties of Waterford and Kilkenny. Walter was the first of eight members of this family who entered the Society, amongst whom his father's three grand-nephews, John, Peter, and Gilbert, SJ., were brothers of the Duke of Tirconnell. In 1597, Walter became chaplain to an Irish regiment, which was in the service of the King of Spain and was stationed in Belgium. Of his missionary labours the Brussels Annual Letters relate : " There are Irish soldiers in the camp, and some English mixed with soldiers of various nationalities. In the year 1597, more than twenty of them were brought to the true fold, and very many have been aggregated to the Sodality of the Most Blessed Sacrament. The musketeers marched in military array, and, to the wonder and admira- tion of many spectators, laid their banners at the feet of their chaplain to show their great reverence for his person and functions. Most of these soldiers abstained even from white-meats during Lent; many eat nothing but black-bread on Wednesdays and Fridays ; they went barefoot to visit holy places, and in a spirit of austerity inflicted such corporal punishment on themselves as to fill with horror those who beheld their works of penance." Albert Durer had seen Irish soldiers in the Low Countries, and he drew a sketch of five of them which is preserved at Vienna. They are fine, powerfully-built and formidable-looking fellows, 1 1 6 Distingtdshed Irishmen, armed with the long sword and the galloglass axe, clad in a mantle of Irish rug, and wearing the Irish glib and moustache which it was for- bidden to wear at home under pain of forfeiture, not * only of the moustache and glib, but even of the head. The great artist wrote over his drawing, * Here go the war-men of Ireland.' Here go, then, the war-men of Ireland who know how to fight, not only against the enemies of the Spanish King, but also have learned under the lead of Father Talbot how to wage war on the devil, the world, and the flesh. Their penitential works remind us of the words of Blessed Edmund Campion : * The Irish, when virtuously bred up or reformed, are such mirrors of holiness and austerity, that all other nations retain but a show or shadow of devotion in comparison to them ; as for abstinence or fasting, which these days make so dangerous, this is to them a familiar kind of chastisement.' ^ In 1598, Father Talbot was stationed with the Irish at Sichem, as we learn from a book entitled, " Miracles lately wrought by the intercession of the Gloriotis Virgin Marie at Mo7tt-aigu, near unto SicJiem in Brabant. Translated out of the French copie into English by Mr. Robert Chambers, Priest, and Confessor of the English Religious Dames in the Cittie of Brussels. Printed at Antwerp, 1606." A copy of this tract is in St. Beuno's College Library, St. Asaph. At page 35 we read : "The Curate and Eschevins of Sichem affirm assuredly that in the year 1 598, at what time the Irish of the regiment of Sir William Stanley, ^ Hist07y of Ireland^ Ed. 1809, p. 19. Father Walter Talbot, 117 Colonel, were lodged there, were wont to use no other physic or remedy for their diseases, but to make their prayers at the foresaid place of Mont- ague, amongst whom very many were healed in such sort that Father Walter Talbot, an Irish priest, one of the Society of Jesus (who at that time was their preacher and ghostly Father), was wont oftentimes to say with great admiration, that the place was in a very singular manner chosen by God to advance there His Mother's honour, for which cause he was moved to go thither, some- times devoutly in procession, accompanied by the sayd Irish, and the townsmen of Sichem, whereof he wrote to Father Thomas Salines, who was the Superior of the Fathers of the Society, which attended upon the Catholic King's army in the Low Countries." ^ The Annual Letters of Louvain of 1602 supply some further details relating to the piety of these Irish soldiers who were in winter-quarters at Sichem : " Father Walter Talbot, one of our military chaplains, had often experienced a pecu- liar feeling of consolation while praying at the shrine of Our Lady of Montaigu. He was con- sequently moved to send his soldiers thither often, and especially the sick ; and he had the comfort of seeing them come back perfectly cured after a pilgrimage to that holy chapel, which is situated on a rugged hill at a distance of one or two miles. Filled with reverence at the sanctity of the spot, he informed the inhabitants of the neighbourhood of the facts he had witnessed, and told them that it was evidently a place chosen for manifesting 1 H. Foley's Collectanea, S.J., article "Talbot, Walter." 1 1 8 Distmg'uished Irishmen, '^ devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and that it would become the most celebrated resort of all Belgium. His words, which were looked on by the peasants as an oracle, were verified, as an immense number of miracles were performed there, many of which we have witnessed with our own eyes. Accounts, of these miracles have been published in Flemish^ and they have been translated into Latin by the celebrated Justus Lipsius, who wished thereby to- give testimony of his faith, and of his devotion tO' the Mother of God. It is marvellous how soon that hill began to be frequented by crowds of the faithful. All the noblesse of the Court of Brussels,, and even their Most Serene Highnesses have gone thither ; every day the hill was covered with the carriages of the nobles, and the vehicles and horses of pilgrims. From England, Germany, France, Zeland, Holland, and Friesland pilgrims arrive nearly every day ; and the heretics, who are eye-witnesses of the miracles, are not only con- verted themselves, but bring many others to the true Faith. In one day there have been as many as twenty thousand pilgrims present at that holy place." 1 All these manifestations of piety must have filled, the hearts of Father Talbot and his soldiers with gratitude and consolation ; but they also brought on him an overwhelming amount of labour under which he soon succumbed. The Annual Letters of Belgium tell us that " among the camp missioners of Belgium three Jesuits went to the glory of Heaven in the year 1599. The first was Father 1 Lit. Ann. Lovanienses. 1602, See Hibernia Ignatianay, p. 146, Father Walter Talbot. 119 Walter Talbot, an Irishman, who was thirty-eight years old, and had been four years in the Society. In the camp he reconciled to the Church many men, chiefly of his own nation ; many also were those of other countries, whom he brought back to the paths of salvation. He gave high hopes of success in this kind of apostolic work, and he was resolved to persevere in it as long as he had life. But, regardless of his health, he spent two days hearing the confessions of the soldiers, while he was drenched with wet ; he thus contracted a violent fever, of which he died at Cassel on August 4, 1599." There were no railways, no steamers in those days, and English ships were on the sea to intercept all correspondence between the Continent and Ireland ; and so the news of his glorious death did not reach Dublin for a month, or perhaps months, after its occurrence. His fellow- citizen and brother Jesuit, Henry FitzSimon, wrote to Father General a month afterwards : " I beg of your Paternity to give us some labourers for this vineyard, and I think Father Walter Talbot should be sent to me at once, if it be pleasing to your Paternity." Father FitzSimon, who had been acquainted with him at Dublin and in Belgium, knew something of his virtue, learning, tact, ardent zeal, and other qualities, which eminently fitted him for the difficult and dangerous mission of Ireland ; and he was most anxious to secure his services for his afflicted countrymen at home. But God willed otherwise, and took him to receive the reward of his labours. It is not unlikely that Father FitzSimon was reminded of him by the fact that the day before he wrote his letter. I20 Distinguished Irishmen, Walter's brother, John, was knighted on the field of battle by the Lord Deputy for distinguished service against the Irish at a time when, as FitzSimon writes, the Irish were everywhere triumphant, and the splendid English army of the Earl of Essex had been almost annihilated. VII. FATHER FLORENCE O'MORE. Florence O'More or Moore, was born in the city, or county, or diocese of Armagh,^ in the year 1550,^ of Catholic parents, by whom he was piously brought up. He made his classical studies in his own country, and as he grew up he was a model of Christian piety, and had such a love for peni- tential austerities that he went three times to St. Patrick's Purgatory, where on each occasion he spent nine days in the exercise of the most severe works of penance. In his youth he had the privi- lege of being a servant of a great servant of God, Dr. Richard Creagh, the Primate of All Ireland, who was imprisoned in the Tower of London in 1564, in the Castle of Dublin in 1567, and again in the Tower of London in 1567, where he was detained for eighteen years, and then poisoned. O'More could scarcely be the Irish boy whom the Primate met begging (as a poor scholar) at Roch- ester and brought to London in 1564 ; but he may have attended him in Ireland for one year between May, 1566, and May, 1567, when his Grace was treacherously captured in Connaught According 1 He is called "Homo Septentrionalis," " Ultoniensis," " Arma- chanus." 2 Irish Catalogue S.J. of the year 1608. 122 Distinguished Irishmen. to the History of the Austrian Province of the Society of fesusy O'More "gave his gratuitous service to the Primate for one year while he was in prison." He then went to Paris to pursue his studies, and when crossing the Channel he was betrayed by a Protestant merchant, and narrowly escaped being brought back to the Tower of London.^ He was at Paris in 1579, as we learn from Primate Creagh, who at his examination on St. Patrick's Eve, 1579, says: "He hath received certain letters from such as relieve him, containing no other matter than concerneth either relief, books, or some news especially touching the realm of Ireland. And being asked from whom he receiveth the said letters, he saith from one Shan Beg and one Florence, sometimes his servants, the said Florence being now at Paris. He confesseth also that he receiveth relief from Cardinal Morone, which was delivered unto his servant Florence or Segrey, and, as he remem- breth, the sum he received was about sixty crowns. He never sent a letter into any foreign parts, but to his servant Florence and to one Dr. Michael (Bannes), dwelling at Louvain, from whom he received relief." ^ Florence spent eight years at Paris and Pont-a- Mousson, studying philosophy, and, as appears from the State Papers previously quoted, working in the interests of Dr. Creagh and for the welfare of the Irish Church. During that time he was ordained priest by Dr. Tanner, the Bishop of Cork, 1 Hisi, Prov. Austria:^ SJ., by Schmidl. " State Papers in Sj^icilegium Ossorienscy p. 52. Father Florence O'More. 123 who was at Paris about the month of June, 1575. Four or five years after his ordination he went to Rome and was admitted into the Society by Father General Aquaviva, and was by him sent in 1582 to pass the time of his novitiate at Briinn, in Moravia, and afterwards to study at the College of Olmiitz. In 1593, he and another Irish Jesuit, named Bambroc, were stationed at Brunn,^ and finally, in 1595, he was sent to Neuhaus, where Adam von Neuhaus, Viceroy or Burggraf of Bo- hemia, and his wife, Catherine de Montfort, estab- lished and endowed in that year a College of the Society of Jesus, which soon had two hundred pupils, some of whom were Protestants, as that Bohemian town was very much infected with the poison of heres}^ This was the theatre of the labours of the last twenty years of Father O'More's life, during which time he devoted himself with untiring zeal to hearing the confessions of the in- habitants of that region, and also of the foreigners who frequented it ; and, as he was a man of capacity for business, during the last seven years he was Minister or Vice-President of the College, and looked carefully to its temporal as well as to its spiritual interests during that period of his meritorious career. He was found so useful that the Bohemian Jesuits endeavoured, and with success, to keep him in their country, although the Superiors of the Irish Fathers often urged Father General to send him to work in his native province of Ulster. In 1604, Father Christopher Holy wood writes: "Father John Gerott and Father ^ List of Irish Jesuits in Lorraine and Germany in MS. vol. " Angliae Hist." in the Roman Archives, S.J., p. 121. 124 Distinguished Irishmen, Florence (whose presence is necessary in the North) ought to be sent to us. Let those who detain them know they can supply their places, whereas we cannot do without them." In 1605, he again wrote to the General and said : " If Father Florence were here we could have a Residence in Ulster, and further the spiritual interests of that country." Father Aquaviva was very solicitous concerning the northern Catholics, whose princes, after a war of fifteen years against Elizabeth, were driven into exile, and whose lands were all confiscated and planted with Englishmen and Scots. He frequently ordered the Irish Superiors to establish a Resi- dence in Ulster, and must have signified to the Bohemians his wish to have Father Florence sent back to his native land. But the Fathers of the Austrian Province represented to him that they could not well do without him, that the temporal and spiritual state of Neuhaus required his presence, and that as he had entered the novitiate and had spent thirteen or fourteen years in their Province, he belonged to them. He was the most popular confessor in the town, and was remarkable for this, that he was not only continually in the Tribunal of Mercy to absolve all who came to him, but went about through the streets and hamlets, especially during the time of the solemn festivals, and called at the houses of the inhabitants to invite them to come to Confession and Communion. We may learn what manner of man he was, and how far advanced he was in virtue, from a picture which has been handed down to us of a holy soul whom he guided in the ways of God. According to the History of the Austrian Province of the Father Florence O'More, 125 Society of Jesus, Florence O'More was for the space of twenty years the spiritual Father of Catherine, Countess de Montfort Neuhaus, widow of the Viceroy of Bohemia. She was a woman of extraordinary charity to the poor, who looked on her as their mistress and mother. Though she was a person of the greatest self-control, yet, at the sight of the miseries of the indigent, she could not restrain herself, and she never rested till she had relieved their wants. When she saw the poor outside the windows of the dining-room, she used to start up at once, and throw out to them, through the window, fowls, ducks, joints of meat, whatever she could lay her hands on. She also kept a dispensary, from which she liberally and gratuitously gave medicines to those who needed them. In her palace she led a life of the cloister, and found all her delight in prayer and com- munings with God. She received Holy Com- munion twice a week, and then she felt her heart all glowing with Divine love, and sometimes re- mained for seven or eight hours kneeling, immove- able, and without any support for her arms. Every day in Lent, and every Friday throughout the year, she performed barefoot the devotion of the Way of the Cross ; in winter long before daylight she hastened to the House of God, and remained to hear all the Masses up to the dinner-hour. She had for bed a sack stuffed with straw, and for bedclothes a covering of the coarsest and com- monest kind. She wore a hair-shirt that pene- trated the skin ; she fasted frequently, oftentimes abstaining altogether^ from food for three, and * Inediam saj>e in terthwi, quandoqtte in duodecimum diem extrahebat. 126 Distinguished Irishmen, sometimes for twelve days. Notwithstanding all these austerities, she preserved a remarkable beauty even in her old age. In all these heights of con- templation and mortification, she was always most docile and obedient to her spiritual director. Father O'More.^ Her husband died in 1595, of poison, as is said, administered by the heretics, and she herself went to her reward thirty-six years afterwards. She was as a kind and good mother to the Society; in 1595, she and her husband founded our College of Neuhaus, and in 1599, after his death, she endowed it largely. In 1603, when Father O'More was Minister of that College, Count Joachim de Montfort Neuhaus and his mother dined in the College refectory, from the pulpit of which short addresses were delivered in fourteen languages ; and seven pupils, represen- ting the seven liberal arts, presented " the Candle of Foundation" to Joachim. In that year also, twenty heretics were converted, one of whom was a preaching minister who had been a disciple of the famous Vitus Theodoricus. Another minister, an apostate priest, who had spent ten years with the Lutherans, openly abjured his heresy, and went to confession to one of the Fathers (Florence O'More) who, as confessor of the most illustrious foundress of the College, had accompanied her on a pilgrimage to a shrine of our Lady.^ We are sorry that the loss of some documents prevents us from giving more details of the useful career of this worthy Irishman. Concerning the end of his life we learn from the History of the Austrian 1 Hist. Prov. AustricB, S.J. 2 » Ad B. Virginem ad Cellas." Father Florence G More, 127 Province, SJ., that before his departure from this world, Father Florence made a general confession of his whole life. When tempted to bewildering doubts by the enemy of his soul, he referred him to that general confession ; and when the demon appeared to him, to his great distress, in a visible form, and annoyed him extremely, the good old man, by kissing the crucifix, banished the fiend ; until at length commending his soul into the hands of God, he expired most calmly on August 4, 1616, on the feast of St. Dominic, whose name he had drawn by lot as his patron saint for August, according to the custom of the members of the Society, who, on the eve of each month, draw the name of some patron for the poming month. He had the most singular devotion to his monthly patrons, and commemorated their feast-days by the performance of some penance. This good and faithful servant died a holy death in the Lord in the sixty-sixth year of his age, after having spent thirty-four years in various functions of his Order. VIII. FATHER THOMAS FILDE. Father Filde was for some years the com- panion of the Venerable Father Joseph Anchieta, "Apostle and Thaumaturgus of Brazil," in his apostolic journeys through that country; he was a witness, and in some measure an emulator of his labours, and an admiring spectator of his miracles.^ He is erroneously called an Italian by Franco,^ and a Scotchman by Charlevoix and Southey;^ but by others * he is truly described as a native of Limerick. His birth-place is known from an entry in the Roman Novice-Book by Filde himself, which runs thus : " On the 6th of October, 1574, Thomas Phildius, a Limerick Irishman, twenty-five years of age, enters the Novitiate. His father, William, was a doctor of medicine, and his mother was Genet Creah. Both his parents are dead. He studied humanities for three years at Paris and ^ " Itinerum comes et miraculorum admirator." (Del Techo, Hist. Prov. Paraguaricz, Sketch of Father Filde, an. 1626.) *' Rerum ab eo gestarum testis et ex parte semulator." (Cordara, Hist. S.J. pars vi. p. 93. ) ^ Yxdinco's Annates Prov. LtcsitaiiicB, S.J. p. ill. * Charlevoix' Hist, dti Paraguay, Southey's Hist, of Brazil, vol. ii. p. 251. ^ Lozano's Hist, del Paragtiay ; Del Techo's Hist. Prov. ParagiiicEy lib. viii. cap. 19 ; Cordara's Hist. Soc. Jesu, pars vL p. 93- Father Tho77ias Filde, 129 Douay, and philosophy for three years at Louvain, where he became Master of Arts . . . under his own hand — Thomas Phildius." Another entry says: "April the 28th, 1575, Tomaso Fildio, an Irishman, and John Sate (read Yate), an English- man, went on a pilgrimage to St. James of Gallicia, to pass from there to Brazil." Thomas Filde was born at Limerick in the }'ear 1548, or 1549, of Catholic parents, at whose house he most probably often saw the Nuncio, Father Woulfe, S.J., who resided at Limerick in those days. In order to preserve his faith, Thomas was sent to study at Paris, Douay, and Louvain ; and he was received into the Society in Rome by Father Everard Mercurian. He showed such advancement and solidity in virtue, that, after six months in the Novitiate, he obtained leave to go on the Brazilian mission, left Rome on the 28th of April, 1575, the year of the Jubilee, and begged his way on foot from Rome to St. James of Compostella, and thence to Lisbon,^ or Coimbra, with an English Jesuit novice named John Yate, from whose letters we learn some particulars of their movements. Yate writes: "After my departure from Rome in April, and coming into Portugal the October following, I remained there two years, the most part of them spent in Coimbra, in the ending of my noviceship, in renewing the study of the Latin tongue, and in beginning to hear the course of theology ; but being ordered to come into this barbarous Brazil of this naked nation after the expiration of a half a year in Lisbon, in which place I heard cases of conscience, I safely arrived 1 Lozano, Hist, del Paraguay ^ an. 1626. J 130 Distinguished Irishmen. with many Fathers and brethren of our Society (amongst whom was the Yrishe man, and no other Enghshe but I) on the last of December, 1577, at the city called the Bay of All Saints."^ While in Portugal, the two novices made the acquaintance of Father Howling, to whom Father Yate often refers with gratitude in his letters as a corres- pondent who kept them acquainted with matters of interest that occurred in Europe. We have found no letters of Father Filde's during the ten years of his journey ings with the Ven. Joseph Anchieta; but we may form some idea of his trials and labours from the life of that Apostle and from the letters of Father Yate. The latter says of himself: " I took Holy Orders in the beginning of the year 1 581, since which time I have never ceased to exhort, preach, and teach the faith, and works of salvation, passing many perills of Riuers, & of diverse ferce pepull of different language in a mission upp to the woods and mountaynes almost iyM^ hundred miles from this place, from whence after tenne monethes space I returned w% the like daungers, bringing w% me two hundred personnes all infidells, and had brought more then a thousand, yf the Portiugalls that I dyd fynde in the sayed mountaynes had not hindred me w% their deceytfuU lyes thirstinge more the bondage of this pepull then their salua- tion. Such is their unsatiable covetines. In the which mission first going thitherward (not passing by villages, neither by the countries of Christians, but by lands of divers sorts of infidels of different speeches and customs, many of them living in the ^ Bahia Todos-os-Santos. Father Thomas Filde. 131 fields and woods like unto wild beasts), we passed many dangers of death by hunger and thirst ; making peace with the ignorant and beastly people for to pass more safely (nevertheless they killed four of our Christian disciples), and lying every night in the fields and woods, passing also rivers upon rotten trees and not in boats." But these troubles of Father Yate give only a faint idea of the hardships Father Filde had to undergo as companion of "the Apostle of the New World," for an account of whose laborious and wonderful career we must refer our readers to his Life written in English or to the pages of Robert Southey's History of Brazil. Of Father Filde's journey to Paraguay, and of his labours, adventures, and sufferings there, we have abundant details handed down by various writers. The first account we have of him was written by his fellow-novice and com- panion, the English Jesuit, Father Yate, to a holy and distinguished English Jesuit named Gibbons. He says : " The news of Father Filde are these. Since that I wrote in my other letters of him in the year 1586, he was sent from St Vincent's with other three of our Company into another country far from thence, which they call Tucuman, at the petition of the Bishop of that place unto our Father Provincial of this Brazil land. And in the way by sea near unto the great, river of Plate, they were taken by an English pirate, by name Robert Waddington, and very evilly handled by him, and robbed of all the things that they carried with them. Father Thomas Filde did always edify with his virtuous life and obedience all those with whom he was conversant ; unto whom I have sent the 132 Distingtdshed Irishmeit. letter which your Reverence did send him ; and with the same I did send unto him his portion of the blessed grains and images that came into my hands, as also the roll of his countrymen that be of our Company. While he was in this Brazil land he took not the Holy Order of priesthood ; as I do hear, he took the same in the place where he is now resident, which is as far from hence as Portugal is from hence." ^ Robert Southey thus narrates how this mission was established : " In 1586, Don Francisco de Victoria, first Bishop of Tucuman, seeing the lamentable state of religion in his diocese, wrote to the two Provincials of the Company in Brazil and Peru, requesting that they would send some of their Order to his assistance : the Bishop was a Dominican, and this application shows how highly the Jesuits were at that time esteemed. Anchieta was Provincial of Brazil when the application arrived there. He deputed five Fathers upon this mission. Leonardo Arminio, an Italian, was their Superior, the others were Fathers Salonio, Thomas Filde, a Scotchman, Estevam de Grao, and Manoel de Ortega, both Portuguese. After falling into the hands of English sea-rovers, and experiencing, after the manner of Jesuits, many miraculous interpositions in their favour, they landed at Buenos Ayres, and crossed the plains to Cordoba, where they met their brethren from Peru, of whose coming they had no previous intimation. Whereupon Arminio and Grao returned to Brazil, but left the others who differed from him 1 Father Yate's three letters published in full by Brother Foley in Records of the English Provime S.J. Series I. pp. 286, seq. Father Thomas Filde. 133 in opinion. Ortega remained at Cordoba with Barsena of Peru, and Salonio and Filde accom- panied Father Angulo to Santiago. Sometime after de Ortega and Filde were sent to some tribes upon the Rio Vermejo of the Toconote race ; they were helped by Father Barzena, who had com- posed a grammar of that language. When he fell sick, they went to Paraguay, where their knowledge of the Tupi tongue would enable them to be use- fully employed among the Guarani tribes. They were received at the city of the Asuncion with every mark of distinction and joy. Salonio remained at Asuncion. De Ortega and Filde went down the Paraguay and entered the province of Guayra, spent some months in the country, and returning to Asuncion, informed Salonio that they had seen two hundred thousand Indians who appeared proper subjects for the Kingdom of Heaven. A pestilence was at this time, 1588, raging at Asuncion and in the adjacent country. Pestilences, says Charlevoix, are the harvests of the ministers of God ; he hints that the Jesuits were favoured on this occasion with supernatural celerity in passing from one place to another and aflfirms that they baptized six thousand Indians at the point of death. The zeal and intrepid charity with which they sought out the infected and ministered to the dying, confirmed the good repute which they had obtained. A chapel and a dwelling- house were built for them at Villa Rica in 1590, being their first establishment in Paraguay, and three years afterwards the magistrates and people of Asuncion applied to the King, to the General of the Company and to the Provincial in Peru, 134 Distinguished Irishmen. for permission to found a Jesuit College in their city.^ " Ortega and Filde continued many years in Guayra itinerating among the savages, until in 1602, Ortega, on a false accusation, was thrown into prison by order of the Inquisition at Lima. "When in 1600, Father Paiz, the Visitor from Europe, had summoned the Jesuits of Paraguay to meet him at Salda to deliberate on the best mode of carrying on the missions, Filde was left at Asuncion. His age and infirmities made him unequal to the fatigue of the journey, and he remained in possession of their premises. It was perhaps foreseen that this might be an important service. Certain members of another Order, who wished to establish themselves there, had cast a covetous eye upon their neighbour's house, and, presuming upon the rumour that the Company would not return, they proposed to Filde that he should sell the property. The old Father resisted their importunities, referring them always to his Superior, Father Romero. Had Filde died, these religious would easily have obtained permission to occupy the Jesuit premises. Romero perceived the danger, and sent Fathers Lorenzana and Cataldino to the assistance of Father Filde. In 1610, Lorenzana and Cataldino travelled by land from Villa Rica to the Paranapane, embarked upon that river, and proceeded between the tall cedar-forests upon its shores to the spot where it receives the Pirape. Here they found about two hundred families whom Ortega and Filde had baptized, and with them they formed the first of ^ Southey's History of Brazil^ vol. ii. pp. 251, 267. Father Thomas Filde. 135 those settlements to which the general appellation of Reductions was now first given. This they called Loretto, as it was the cradle of the Christian Republic of the Guaranis."^ Such is Southey's general sketch of the establish- ment of the famous Jesuit missions of Paraguay. It may be supplemented with some interesting details concerning Father Filde. When the venerable Father Anchieta was asked by the Bishop of Tucuman to send Jesuits to his diocese, the Apostle of the New World was delighted to see new paths open to the Gospel, and got permission from Father General to send five select men on that perilous and laborious mission. These were Armini, a Neapolitan, Saloni, a Spaniard, Filde, an Irishman, and two Portu- guese named de Ortega and de Grao : all most experienced in the sublime ministry of souls, to which they had devoted themselves with singular zeal and great results, all brought up in the apostolic school of which Anchieta was the master. They set sail joyfully on the Rio de Janeiro, and, after a prosperous voyage, came in sight of the land to which their wishes were wafting them. They were in the Rio de la Plata and felt free from all fear of the English sea-rovers, when they discovered two sails,^ which were those of the cruel corsair. Cavendish. The English boarded the Portuguese merchantman, treated the passengers and crew with some humanity, but wreaked all their fury on the Jesuits, insulted them, "evil handled them," and cast them on the desert island 1 Southey, pp. 258, 259. 2 Father Yate writes : " Thomas Candishe came with two shippes." 136 Distinguished Irishmen, of Lobos to die of hunger. They took them back again to hang them to the yard-arm. They searched them, and finding Agnus Deis, they threw them about the deck, uttering foul blasphemies against the Vicar of Christ. Then one sailor, who was somewhat tipsy, began to trample on the Agnus Deis, and while he was being prevented by Father de Ortega from continuing the sacrilege, he knocked against the side of the ship and cut his head slightly. Thereupon the other sailors surrounded the Father, kicked him, and threw him overboard. They then fell upon the venerable Father Filde, and were proceeding to throw him into the sea, shouting out that he was an Irish Papist and Jesuit and preacher of Papist doctrines. But as some one suggested that it would be better to make all five hang and dance together from the yard-arm, they took in Father Ortega, who was swimming near the ship. This inconstancy of the pirates saved the priests, as the sacrilegious sailor got a swelling on the foot with which he had trampled on the Agnus Deis. From this inflamma- tion spread over his whole leg, which had to be cut off, and the virus creeping through his entire frame caused him excruciating pain, and killed him in less than twenty-four hours. The pirates were frightened at this, and, resolving to wash their hands out of the Jesuits, confided them to the mercy of the waves in a boat without rudder, oars, or sails, and left them to be tossed about and die of hunger in these wide waters. The Fathers were protected by God, as were St. Mary Magdalen and her companions when simi- larly exposed in the Mediterranean, and against all Father Thomas Filde, 137 human expectation they drifted into the port of Buenos Ayres. Amongst many things they had with them on board the Portuguese vessel was a head of one of St. Ursula's virgin martyrs, which they intended to place in the first church that should be founded by them in Tucuman. It was hidden by them in a secure spot, and escaped the eyes of the sea-rovers, but could not be found in the same place by the Fathers.^ When it was heard at Cordova that they had reached Buenos Ayres, almost dead with hunger and cold, they were met by the Bishop of Para- guay, who pressed them to go to the Asuncion, where their Brazilian speech was well understood, in place of labouring in Tucuman where they would have to learn many tongues. But as they had been sent to Tucuman by Father Anchieta, they started for Cordova, its capital, early in April, 1587. Father Filde and three other Fathers went to convert the numerous tribes of pagans that peopled the banks of the Rio Salado. One of their number who spoke the Tonocote language, was teaching it to his companions, and preaching to the natives when he fell ill from overwork, and was taken back to St. Jago. So Filde, de Ortega, and Saloni being deprived of their teacher, and not knowing Tonocote, held a consultation, in which, after fervent prayer, they resolved to go to ^ Cavendish lost five out of six vessels in these waters some time afterwards, and, as Father Yate says, " went his wayes, whither no one knoweth, with one only, well whipped with the scourge of God for the irreverence he committed against His Divine Majestie and His saints, especiallie against a hollie headd of one of the eleven thousand virgens of England." (Letter to Sir F. Englefield, pub- lished by Brother Foley.) 138 Distingttished Irishmen, Paraguay, the language of which they spoke. They travelled nine hundred miles partly by land, partly by the Argentine and Paraguay Rivers, evange- lizing as they journeyed on, and on August 11, 1588, they reached a place nine miles from the town of Asuncion. The Governor of the province and other gentlemen went out to meet and welcome them. The Indians seeing the respect of the Spaniards for those priests, conceived a high opinion of them, which grew greater when they considered the sympathy which the Fathers showed for them, the zeal with which they instructed them, the courage with which they pro- tected them from Spanish oppression, and the disinterestedness and devotedness with which they had come so far, and through so many dangers, for the sole purpose of saving their souls. The neighbouring Indians hearing of these three holy men went to see them, and were delighted to hear them speak the Guarani language. But as the Spaniards were in a sad state in and around the town, the Fathers set to work at once to reform them, preaching to them, catechizing, hearing confessions, often spending whole days and nights in the tribunals of mercy, and scarcely ever allowing themselves more than one or two hours' rest. They converted the whole town. Then they turned to the Indians in and around Asuncion ; instructed them, administered the sacraments to them; on Sundays and feast-days they got them to walk in procession, singing pious Guarani hymns. They then visited two distant Indian villages, and evangelized them, and after that Fathers Filde and de Ortega went and preached the Gospel through Father Thomas Filde. 139 all the Indian tribes from Asuncion to Ciudad Real del Guayra, and produced most abundant fruit. These two invincible champions^ of the faith, having reconciled to God the city of Asuncion, went out to fight the battles of the Lord, and were followed by the tears and regrets of the citizens — all, gentle and simple, accompanied them for some distance ; even the little children wished to go with them. The two Fathers crossed the Paraguay ; as worthy disciples of the apostolic Father Anchieta, they travelled four hundred and fifty miles on foot through immense forests and marshes. On entering an Indian village they used to inquire how many were its inhabitants, how many were Christians, when, and where, and how, and by whom they were baptized, and they noted all down carefully. This was very necessary, as the Indians thought they were Christians if they touched holy water, or kissed the hand of a priest, or took a Spanish name. How untiring the Fathers were in their zeal may be seen from the work of one of their days. At daybreak one of them said Mass while the other heard confessions ; after his thanksgiving he too heard confessions till the hour for the Missa Cantata, which was celebrated as solemnly as possible in these deserts in order to attract the Indians ; there was a sermon at Mass, and after Mass began the laborious and difficult task of catechizing till mid-day. In the afternoon they baptized the catechumens, administered the Sacra- ment of Marriage, and went about engaging the 1 The foregoing and following details are taken from de Lozano's Hist, del Paraguay. 140 Distinguished Irishmen, savages to give up some primitive and patriarchal customs. They did this with such tact and charity that the natives were won by them, treated them most hospitably, and, at the conclusion of each mission, begged them with tears to return to them soon again, and sent men to clear the way for them through thick woods, guide them safely through treacherous swamps, and accompany them to the next tribe of Indians. At about ninety miles from the first Indian village lived a barbarous race, in almost impene- trable forests and among rocks almost inaccessible. They were brave and robust ; but never worked, and spent their time in dancing and singing. The Fathers sent two Christian natives to them with presents, and with promises of good things if they came out of their fastnesses to them ; and in the meantime they prayed fervently that God would draw these poor people towards them. Their prayers were heard, and the head cacique came, with some of his men, dressed in war-paint of various colours and wearing long flowing hair, which had never been cut, with a crown of high plumes on his head. These savages were at first very shy in presence of the two strangers, but were soon attracted to them by the kindness of their looks and actions : they were converted, and promised to lead a good life and to prevail on the rest of their tribe to do likewise. The cacique was induced to remain with the Fathers, while his attendants and forty Indians recently baptized were despatched to bring out the members of his tribe. At the end of a fortnight, they brought with them three hundred and fifty men, women, Father Thomas Filde. 141 and children, who seemed on the verge of starva- tion. Many children died of hunger the day of their arrival, after receiving the Sacrament of Baptism ; the survivors were formed into a pueblo, were baptized, and led a holy and happy life. When Fathers Filde and de Ortega arrived at the village most remote from Asuncion and not far from Ciudad Real, they were met by the Alguacil Mayor, who, accompanied by five soldiers and many Indians, brought refreshments, and letters from the Cabilde and the Justicia Mayor, in which they gave expression to the happiness they felt at the approach of the missionaries, and to the desire of the inhabitants of Ciudad Rea to be visited by them, as they had not seen a priest for more than twelve months, during which time some Spaniards and many Indians had died without the sacraments. The Fathers promised to go to the 'town, accepted thankfully the presents, and gave them to the poor and infirm of the tribe they were then evangelizing, among whom in the space of one month they baptized a thousand cate- chumens and performed four hundred marriages. Having induced these savages to give up their wild life in the woods, they passed on to the River Igatuni, a tributary of the Parana, and found there large canoes ready to take them to Ciudad Real, which was seventy-five miles away. Arriving at that town on the feast of St. John the Baptist, 1589, they were welcomed with great manifes- tations of joy and with great firing of cannon. Without taking a moment's rest, they went straight to the church, heard many confessions, gave Holy Communion, and one of them sang 142 Distinguished Irishmen. High Mass, at which the other preached with such extraordinary zeal and energy that the hearers felt as if it were God Himself who was speaking to them. That very day they gave Extreme Unction and the Viaticum to a Spaniard who had been ill and in danger of death for a whole year, and who died immediately after re- ceiving the last sacraments, having been so long preserved by the Father of Mercies that he might be released from his sins. They also baptized many pagans, performed the ceremony of marriage for many Spaniards and many Indians who had been living in a state of concubinage ; instructed those ignorant of religion, extinguished long-stand- ing animosities, and put an end to many scandals. The townspeople were so edified by their virtues, that they pressed them to remain and wanted to found a house of the Society in that place. But Fathers Filde^ and de Ortega did not wish to narrow their sphere of action, and, at the end of a month's mission there, they went forth again to pour the treasures of grace on other parts of the province ; they evangelized the numerous tribes between Ciudad Real and Villa Rica, baptized all the infidels who dwell along the banks of the Rio Hiubay, banished drunkenness and polygamy from among them, protected them against the oppres- sions of the Spaniard ; and after many hardships and labours reached Villa Rica, and were there received with great solemnity. Triumphal arches were put up and the most fragrant flowers of that delightful country were displayed to do them 1 Cretineau-Joly calls him "Tom Filds." (Hist, de la Compagnu dejesusj t. iii. p. 287.) Father Thomas Filde. 143 honour. With mihtary music and singing and other demonstrations of joy and welcome, they were conducted in procession to the church, where they declared the object of their mission. They remained four months at Villa Rica, working with untiring zeal, instructing the Spaniards whom they found ignorant of the truths and practices of reli- gion, and doing all in their power to put in the souls of the colonists sentiments of mercy and kindness towards the poor Indians of their Enco- miendas, whom they were accustomed to treat as slaves. The people of Villa Rica were most anxious to keep these holy men among them, they used every argument that their anxiety could suggest, and supported their arguments with entreaties and tears. The Fathers promised to return, but said the greater glory of God called on them to go and organize a mission among the two hundred thousand pagans of Guarania. They went down the River Hiubay, and, as they were rowed along, were affectionately saluted by the many Indian Christians whom they had begotten in Christ, and who came to the banks of the river to wish them a happy journey. They did not stop on their voyage, except occasionally to administer the last sacra- ments to an Indian in danger of death. When Filde and de Ortega reached Asuncion, they were received in triumph, and were doubly welcome, as a dreadful pestilence, which was spreading over all the country from Carthagena to the Straits of Magellan, had just broken out in the town, where many Spaniards, and two thousand two hundred Indians fell victims to it, sometimes dying at the 144 Distinguished Irishmen. rate of one or two hundred a day. The two mis- sionaries put themselves under the orders of Father Saloni, their Superior, and with him worked day and night in the spiritual and- bodily service of the plague-stricken. When hearing the confessions of the dying, they were often called by messengers from ten different houses to prepare for death a father, mother, brother, sister, or servant, and not being able to judge of the cases that were most urgent, they went wherever the spirit moved them. When entering a house, they often found ten or fourteen persons stricken down, and without any one to help them ; so they got up a pious sodality to assist in the care of the sick, while they had to devote themselves to the care of souls. The work was so heavy, that they frequently had not time to celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, which was an extreme privation to men of their virtue. In the eight months during which the plague raged, they heard about fifteen thousand confessions, and instructed and baptized more than fifteen hundred infidels. Yet notwithstanding all their labours, and their want of food and sleep, they did not suffer much in health, and when the pest began to abate at Asuncion, Filde and de Ortega, in spite of the entreaties and resistance of the people, went off to the help of Ciudad Real and Villa Rica, and of the Indians whom they had recently converted to Christ. Among the savage tribes through which they travelled, they found that there was no one to give even a drop of water to the sick, or to bury the dead. They heard ten thousand confessions, buried ten thousand people with their own hands, and baptized about four Father Thomas Filde. 145; thousand pagans between Asuncion and Ciudad Real. The Indians used to dig their own graves before being stricken down, and come and say^ " Father, bury me and my wife and children in this spot." The two Fathers acted not only as priests, but as the doctors, infirmarians, servants, and slaves of these poor people. The natives were so much frightened by the pest, that by some kind of fasci- nation they ran into the very jaws of death. From places not yet attacked, they hurried towards the plague-stricken districts, to be baptized ; and some of them died on the way, and many after Baptism. While the Fathers were thus employed, mes- sengers came from Villa Rica and Ciudad Real, imploring their instant help, as the plague was about to rage among them. They went to Ciudad Real, which was nearest, reached it on the feast of the Nativity, 1590, remained there forty days, hearing the women's confessions in the church by day, and the men at night. They heard two thousand five hundred confessions, baptized about a thousand infidels, and performed the ceremony of marriage in one hundred and forty cases where people were living together without the sanction of the Sacrament of Marriage. Meanwhile the pest was at work in the town of Villa Rica, and many died without the comforts of religion. The Cabilde sent messengers again and again to the Fathers, begging of them to come. On the 1 2th of October, 1590, he wrote : "For the love of Jesus Christ crucified we beg and implore of your Reverences to have pity on our extreme spiritual and temporal necessities. We have no hopes save in you, and we will appear with confi- K 146 Distingtdshed Irishmen. dence before God's tribunal when prepared by you. Remember your charity to us last year . . ." The Fathers could not resist this appeal, and having selected, and sent some pious Spaniards and intelligent Christian Indians to baptize chil- dren among the pagan tribes, they parted from the people of Ciudad, who were sorely grieved at being left by the Fathers in the hands of death. In their first day's journey, they found a tribe dreadfully afflicted with the plague. Father Ortega remained to look after the spiritual wants of these and other tribes on the way, while Father Filde hastened on to Villa Rica. There the Fathers were received as angels from Heaven ; day and night they laboured for nine months, during which the pest raged with fury in and around the town. They baptized six thousand five hundred infidels, of whom four thousand died at Villa Rica, they buried four thousand one hundred and sixty people with their own hands, solemnized two thousand eight hundred marriages, and composed a short Guarani cate- chism of things necessary to be known. The natives came in from all quarters to receive Bap- tism, of whom about two thousand died on the way, while the others were affectionately received by the Fathers, and were by them instructed and baptized. When the fury of the plague was spent, Filde and de Ortega went forth to preach the Name of Jesus to those who had never heard of it before ; and among five tribes who had never been visited by a priest they baptized two thousand seven hundred pagans, performed the ceremony of marriage in one thousand nine hundred cases. Father Thomas Filde, 147 In and around another village they baptized five hundred people, and married six hundred couples who were living together without the bonds of matrimony. They went through other tribes, or villages, performing the same works of their ministry, and at length, after a mission of six months, they returned to Villa Rica to make their retreat, after which they exercised their ministry there for two months. In the midst of these stupendous and super- human labours, it is no wonder they had no time to write to Brazil or to Rome, and hence we read in the Annual Letters of tJie Society of Jesus: ''Year 1 591. There are three Fathers in Paraguay, who, it appears, have been sent from Brazil. No letters have been received from them this year ; but it has been ascertained that they traverse many and vast regions, and are bringing many thousands of barbarians to the fold of Christ, a work in which they are much helped by their knowledge of the Guarani language." "Year 1592. Father Solani sent Fathers de Ortega and Thomas (Filde) to the Guaranis, and it is known that they converted more than two thousand of them." "Year 1594. Father Thomas Filde and Father de Ortega were sent into the province of Guayra, which lies between Paraguay and Brazil ; they have a Resi- dence established at Villa Rica, and from thence they go out on missions to give spiritual help to innumerable peoples."^ After their retreat and apostolic labours at Villa Rica, these two Fathers went forth and converted a nation of ten thousand Indian warriors, Indios de 1 Littera Annua Soc.Jesu. an. 1591, 1592, 1594. 148 Distinguished Irishmen. guerra, called Ibirayaras, who for clothing were contented with a coat of war-paint, and delighted in feeding on the flesh of their fellow-man. The Fathers had the happiness of rescuing many pri- soners from being fattened, cooked, and eaten by these cannibals. They then baptized three thousand four hundred of another tribe ; but before the work of conversion, Filde's companion narrowly escaped being murdered, and thirty of their neophytes were put to death by some wicked caciques. The two missioners had been often deliberating about going back to Asuncion ; but as the inhabit- ants of Villa Rica built a church and residence for them, they remained there for seven years longer. One of their chief friends and benefactors was Dona Maria Boypitan, daughter of the greatest cacique on the banks of the River Ubay, and wife of another great cacique. When dying, she be- queathed to the two Fathers all her possessions along the River Ubay, and by her help, and with the generous contributions from the Spaniards, the church was completed in the space of two years. In 1593, Father Romero was sent as Superior of the mission of Tucuman ; he brought nine mis- sioners with him, ordered Fathers Filde and de Ortega to continue their work in the Guayra terri- tory, and sent Fathers Saloni and de Lorenzana to their assistance. On the 3rd of November, 1594, these two started from Asuncion, and reached Fathers Filde and Ortega at Villa Rica on the feast of the Epiphany, 1595. In this journey of over five hundred miles, they narrowly escaped being drowned in the Parana, and had often to make their way by swimming, or by wading Father Thomas Filde, 149 through marshes and flooded fields. Swimming seems to have been one of the useful, and even necessary, arts of these early missionaries. We are told it of three of them, but not of Filde, who, being born and brought up on the banks of the Shannon, was skilled in the art of natation, and of driving and directing a " cot " or canoe through the water. When the four Fathers met, they were so over- come with emotion that they remained some time unable to speak. De Ortega and Filde received their brethren with open arms, entertained them with religious love and simplicity, and, answering their eager inquiries, narrated all that God had done through them during the seven years they had lived alone and laboured in those regions. All the citizens of Villa Rica were loud in their praise, and told the visitors what care these two Fathers had taken of them ; how they had civilized and domesticated the Indians, who hitherto had lived like wild beasts in the woods ; how they had sought them out in their forests and fastnesses, in their mountains and caves ; and how they had formed them into two well-peopled and prosperous villages in the neighbourhood of Villa Rica. They told how these Fathers were looked on as angels of peace and as oracles, how their work was so inces- sant in the church of Villa Rica, that every day seemed a day in Lent, and how on Sundays five thousand Spaniards and Indians assembled for instruction. The visitors heard all these things, and witnessed some of them ; they remained a month, helping their brethren in their apostolic work, and then left for Asuncion, which they reached after a 150 Distinguished Irishmen, journey of four months and a half, during which they converted many savages as they went along.^ After the departure of their brethren, de Ortega and Filde went again into Guayra, and there their immense labours were crowned with the most con- soling success. On their return to Villa Rica, they worked there with their accustomed zeal and pru- dence. As they were the only priests in the whole country, they were always on the watch and on their guard, being convinced that the slightest omission on the part of those who have charge of souls is attended with serious and sad results. They visited in detail all the tribes of the Comarca of Villa Rica ; ascertained who were sick, in order to give them spiritual and corporal comfort ; settled with singular tact many dissensions and disputes, which naturally arose among people so various and mixed as those of whom they had spiritual charge ; and so asserted and wielded the great authority which their virtues and almost superhuman labours had won for them, that not only their church and residence, but any place within their sight was a secure asylum against the domineering Spanish colonist and the dreaded cacique. Not satisfied with these labours at home, they went again to Ciudad Real, to repair the damage done there by the devil in the absence of priests. From that they journeyed to Ciudad de Santiago de Xerez, six hundred miles away on the banks of the Paraguay, where the want of a priest produced the most deplorable results. They even went two or three different times to those places, and were abund- ^ De Lozano's Hist, del Paraguay. The details that follow are taken from the same work, bk. ii. ch. xxi. Father Thomas Filde, 151 antly comforted and rewarded for their long weary journey by a marvellous reformation in the lives of the people of these towns. Their work-worn, venerable, and saintly appearance won for them the esteem and admiration of the Spaniards and Indians ; by their gentle ways they attracted the children, taught them the catechism in a solid and interesting manner, and got them, both during the mission and afterwards, to instruct their parents and servants. They returned again to Santiago de Xerez, in 1597 ; the air was then burning hot, the country around looked like a swamp ; a pestilence was raging amongst the Indians; and both they and the Spaniards, being more anxious to prepare themselves for death than to guard against it, came to the Fathers to be baptized, or to receive the last sacraments, and death had no terrors for them if they expired within sight of these "heavenly men." In 1599, we find Filde and his companion in Guayra again, where the latter had a most marvel- lous escape from drowning. Many indeed were the hardships and dangers to which they were exposed, and these perils may be aptly illustrated by an ex- tract from Beeton's Dictionary of Geography : "The great natural features of Paraguay are numerous rivers, swamps, lakes, and woods, with which it abounds. It is mountainous, flat, and marshy. The Paraguay and the Parana overflow their banks, and inundate in the rainy season the lowlands that lie on either side. The wild animals are the jaguar, the puma or cougar, the black bear, the ant-bear, the tapir, and the river cow. Mosquitoes, and an innumerable variety of insects, infest both the 152 Distinguished Irishmen. waters and the land, with snakes, vipers, and scor- pions. The great boa-constrictor is found in the moist places adjoining the rivers, and some parts are haunted by the vampire bat In 1556,^ the Jesuits made their appearance, and by the effect of gentleness and good policy succeeded in obtaining an ascendancy over the minds of the natives, and in establishing settlements in different parts of the country." On one occasion while the two missioners were in Guayra, Ortega separated from Filde to go and visit some Indians who were ill ; and while travel- ling between two large rivers he was suddenly caught at night by a dreadful hurricane accom- panied by thunder, lightning, and rain. The rivers overflowed their banks, and the flooded plain lashed by the hurricane appeared like a stormy sea. The priest and an Indian climbed high up in a very tall tree ; and other Indians took here and there to the trees for refuge. The storm raged fitfully for two days and nights, during which Ortega suffered exceedingly from wet, cold, hunger, and thick swarms of mosquitoes and tabanos, and, to add to his trouble, a monster serpent (the boa-constrictor, no doubt) had got into his tree. While he and his Indian were expecting to be swallowed up by this voracious reptile, they saw him pressing on a branch to climb higher up, and, breaking it, fall into the waters, by which he was carried away. The Indians lived two days in the branches of smaller trees, partly submerged in the water, fainting with hunger and cold, and in constant danger of drop- ping into the current. On the second night a ^ A mistake for 1586. Father Tho^nas Filde. 153 courageous Indian swam to Ortega's tree and begged him to go and baptize three Indians who were dying on a distant tree. At the request of the Indian who had climbed into the tree with him, the priest heard his confession and tied him to the tree lest he should be carried away. Then amidst the tempest, thunder, lightning, and rain, he swam after his guide through many trees to a tree about three hundred yards away, where he found the Indians, who, after a brief instruction, were bap- tized, and soon fell dead into the water. He then swam to some Christian natives who were crying for help ; when they were absolved, they lost their hold and were drowned. As his guide disappeared suddenly, the Father, putting his trust in God, swam back in search of his tree, and reaching it and finding the water nearly up to the mouth of the Indian in his tree, he unbound him, and both -climbed as high as they could into the branches. When the tempest abated and the waters sub- sided, some natives came with horses and took Father Ortega away. They were horrified to find that when he was swimming through the trees a piece of wood had gone through his leg and re- mained there. While an Indian pulled it out with much difficulty, the bystanders admired Ortega's steadiness and patience, as they knew he was suffering excruciating torture. Though the hard- ships and sufferings of forty-eight hours, and the extraction of the piece of wood were followed by a burning fever and intense pain, yet he took a stick and continued to visit the sick Indians, till he was no longer able to stir, and had to be carried in the arms of others to Villa Rica. There a surgeon 154 Distingidshed Irishmen, dressed the wound, and the people prayed every- day for his recovery and constantly called at the residence to ask Father Filde about his health. He recovered, but the wound remained a running sore, and he was lame to the end of his life. When he got stronger, he and Filde resumed their missionary journeys, went for the third time through all Guayra, and even through almost impassable places to the far-off town of Xerez. After having lived and worked for eight years in Guayra, on the ist of November, 1599, they left Villa Rica for Asuncion, no doubt by the com- mand of their Superiors, in order to take the places vacant by the deaths of Fathers Saloni and Barzana. The Spaniards and Indians were incredibly grieved at their departure, and went with them as far as the banks of the River Ubay, and by their sobs and tears testified to their affection for those sons of St. Ignatius who were the first to come to the spiritual help of their country. The Fathers exercised their ministry among the Indian tribes as they went along, and reached the town of Asuncion at Christmas, where with Father Lorenzana, who was stationed there, they laboured zealously among Spaniards, neophytes, pagans, and " blacks." They preached, heard con- fessions, catechized, and taught school. In them students found learning, from them ecclesiastics got the solution of their doubts in cases of con- science, judges asked counsel, the poor got comfort and help, and those who had been at enmity found reconciliation and peace. The Father Visitor of Peru deemed it wise to concentrate at Cordova, the capital of Tucuman, Father Thomas Filde. 155 all the Fathers of Tucuman and Paraguay, and he directed Lorenzana, de Ortega, and Filde to go thither. The two former went ; but after con- sultation it was deemed advisable to leave Filde in the residence of Asuncion to console the inhabi- tants, lest the long journey of nine hundred miles should endanger his valuable life already menaced by sickness and enfeebled by years and toil. Thus God ordained that this old Father should occupy that residence, though the Superiors had proposed otherwise, and thus He facilitated the return of the Society for the spiritual welfare of innumer- able souls and the conversion of many nations. The two Fathers left Asuncion on the 15 th of August, 1602, and gave missions on their way; but when they reached Cordova de Tucuman, Father de Ortega, the saintly and indefatigable partner of Father Filde's labours and sufferings and joys, found an order from the Inquisition at Lima, el Santo Tribunal de la Fc, commanding him to repair at once to Lima. He did so, and was imprisoned for five years, during which he was forbidden to say Mass, without ever being apprised of the accusation that had been brought against him. Towards the end of that time his accuser died at Villa Rica, and on his death-bed deposed that, to wreak vengeance on Father Ortega for having zealously reprehended him concerning his scandalous life, he had falsely denounced him to the Inquisition for having violated the seal of con- fession. He said he was heartily sorry for the wrong he had done and he hoped that the Father and Almighty God would forgive him. When this dying declaration reached el Tribunal de la F^, 156 Distingidshed Irishnen. Father Ortega was let out of his prison, the miseries of which he had borne with great patience and even joy, but he died soon afterwards. To return to Ortega's fellow-labourer, who was the sole representative of the Society in the coun- tries of Tucuman and Paraguay, it was thought prudent to send two Fathers to his assistance, and on the 13th of December, 1605, he was joined at the residence of Asuncion by Fathers Lorenzana and Cataldino. The former wrote to the Provincial of Peru : " We found in our house, to the great comfort and joy of his soul and of ours, good Father Filde, who in spite of his infirmities has gone on with his priestly work and by his religious spirit and his dove-like simplicity {siniplicidad col- mnbina), has edified the whole town very much for the last three years. He is never done thanking God for seeing his brethren again in this far-off land." The three Fathers laboured zealously at the work of the ministry, and gave such edification by their spotless lives that they were called by the Indians in their Guarani tongue, Pay yequacubo^ or " the free from vices." Everything went on peace- fully for some time, till the Spaniards began to act with great cruelty towards the natives, and the Fathers took the part of the oppressed, thus bringing on themselves the indignation of the colonists. In the year 16 10 this storm began to abate in presence of an epidemic which broke out at Asuncion and lasted for five months, during which the Fathers gave themselves up to the service of the people with their usual devoted- ness. In that year also two Italian Jesuits made their way to Villa Rica, and found there the sacred Father Thomas Filde, 157 vessels and the library which belonged to Fathers de Ortega and Filde. In the month of February they went up the River Paranapane, or " River of Misfortune," to the mouth of the Pirape ; they knew from the cacique who guided them with what joy they would be received by the native neophytes of Filde and de Ortega, and the moment they entered the lands of the Guaranis, they were met and welcomed with effusion in the name of the two hundred families whom these first missionaries had evangelized, and to whom the new-comers were bringing the blessings of civilization and liberty. On the very place that witnessed this interest- ing interview, Fathers Macheta and Cataldino founded the first " Reduction " of Paraguay, which was the model of all those that were formed after- wards, and which, as the cradle of Christianity in that land, was called Loreto, in honour of the Holy Family. Huts were raised up as if by en- chantment, and soon afterwards a second " Reduc- tion " was formed, to which the grateful neophytes gave the name of St. Ignatius. In 161 1 there was a burst of popular indignation against the Jesuits on account of their efforts to abolish slavery or servicio personal. They were " boycotted," and could not get for charity or money anything to eat. No one would sell them anything. A poor old Indian woman, knowing their wants and the implacable hatred the Spaniards bore them, brought them some little thing to eat every day ; but the other Indians had been turned against their best friends by the calumnies of the Spaniards. The Fathers withdrew to a country house in the village of Tacumbu ; yet not liking to abandon 158 Distinguished Irishmen. the place altogether, they left Brothers de Acosta and de Aragon to teach school and Father Filde to say Mass for them. At the request of the townspeople, the Fathers returned at Easter, 161 2 ; but they soon began to feel the persecuting hostility of the Spaniards, and Father Lorenzana came back from his missionary labours to try and appease the storm, and he stayed a long time helping Father Filde, who, though he was anxious to do a great deal of work, was not able on account of his great age. In 1 6 14 the Fathers refused to give the sacra- ments to those who kept up the servicio personal; the Spaniards retaliated by persuading the simple Indians that the Jesuits were the originators of the tax substituted for the personal service, and the authorities of the town forbade the Indians to go to the Jesuits' church. In 161 5, Father Filde was employed teaching the young Jesuits the Guarani and other languages which they should know in order to be fit for the missions. In the catalogue of Irish Jesuits living in the year 1617, Father " Thomas Field " is said to be in Paraguay, and he is erroneously called a native of Dublin. In 1626 he died at Asuncion in the seventy-eighth^ or eightieth^ year of his age, and the fifty-second of his religious life, during which he spent about ten years in Brazil and forty in the missions of Para- guay, of which he and de Ortega were the founders, ^ He wrote in the Roman Lihro dei Novizii that he was twenty- five years old in 1574. 2 The Irish Catalogue S.J. of 1609 says he was a native of Limerick, sixty-two years of age, of which he had spent thirty-eight in religion. (See Hibernia Ignatiana^ p. 229.) Father Thomas Filde, 159 and in which for more than three years he was the only representative of the Society. He outlived his fellow-labourers, one of whom, Father Saloni, had died twenty-seven years, and the other. Father de Ortega, eight years before him. It was under the guidance of the Venerable Joseph Anchieta that Father Filde had learned the secrets of the apostolic life, and he was, as Cordara says, the witness and partly the emulator of Anchieta's works. By him he was selected to go to Tucuman and Paraguay from Brazil, " where," says Father Yates, " he always did edify us with his virtuous life and obedience to all those with whom he was conversant."^ He left himself so completely in the hands of his Superiors, and was so humble, that he never made the slightest com- plaint, though his Superiors forgot to promote him to his last vows till he was forty years in the Society. They atoned for this by ordering him, on account of his extraordinary virtues, to make the three solemn vows of a professed Father, although he was not otherwise qualified by his learning or his studies, which had been interrupted by his mis- sionary duties in Brazil. He was a man of such innocence of life that in his old age he used to declare to the directors of his soul, with wonderful candour, that he was as pure as the day he was born. He had extraordinary zeal for the salvation of souls, was most observant of the rules, and devoted to prayer ; and so mortified was he, that up to his eightieth year he constantly refused to taste apples, grapes, and other fruits, which were ^ Letter of Father Yate to Father Good. Lansdown MSS.96, n. 18, f. 58, British Museum. i6o Distinguished Irishmen. most refreshing and useful, and almost necessary,, in the torrid region where he lived and laboured so incessantly. In fine, this Irishman, whose name is absolutely unknown in his native land, was not only what the Indians called him, " a man without vices," but he was adorned with all the virtues of an apostle ; and more, perhaps, than any other Irishman for nearly a thousand years, is he -fit to take rank with the early Irish missionaries of the Continent of Europe. He had the singular lot to be all alone at one period in the whole region of Paraguay, and to live longer there than any other member of his Society, He must have had a very sound constitution, and seems to have had a special protection around him while following the wandering savages through their woods and swamps. Juan de Solis, who discovered Paraguay, and afterwards Garcia and Sedeno, were devoured by the natives. In 1611, Father de Aranda, an ex-captain of cavalry, and the best horseman in those lands, was murdered,, with three other Fathers. Within two or three years after Filde's death, Fathers Gonzalez, Rod- riguez, del Castillo, Espinoza, and Mendo^a, were beaten to death with clubs ; Father Romero, one of the early missioners, and Father Arias, had their throats cut ; and a young Spaniard who accom- panied the Jesuits was eaten by the savages. In 1623 a catechumen was murdered and devoured, and seven other neophytes were massacred. In the year of Father Filde's death, his former fellow- missioner, Father Ruiz de Montoya, was fleeing for his life through the woods, when at night he lost a fine boy, who accompanied him as his Mass-server; Father Thomas Filde. i6r and some time afterwards, when he and some Spanish officers were entertained at a village, a choice joint was put before them, which, to their horror, they discovered to be a portion of the boy, who had been fattened, killed with some solemn rites, and boiled.^ The savages were cannibals, of a fierce and restless air, armed with darts, arrows, and war-clubs, and painted and plumed in such a manner as to give them an appearance of great ferocity. It was the custom of the Guaranis, when giving names to their children, to fatten, kill, and cut their prisoners of war, and to distribute a portion of them to each family, who made broth of it, of which all the members partook. These savages were so fierce and fond of liberty, that a cacique said to a Jesuit, " Learn that no European has trod the grass of this bank without watering it with his blood. You come to announce a new God, and so you declare war against me, for I alone have the right to be adored in this place." All the instincts of these natives were sanguinary ; they were cruel, vindictive, and inclined and given to every excess of the unregenerate and undisciplined passions. But Father Filde had to brave other perils besides that of being murdered by these men. The weather in that land was most variable, the air unwholesome, and fraught with fevers. There was great danger in going along the courses of rivers in unsteady pirogues, in travelling constantly on foot under a searching sun or incessant rain, in swimming rivers or wading through flooded fields, in working his way through almost impenetrable woods and over ^ Cordara's Historia S.J. an. 1626. L i62 Distinguished Irishmen. precipitous rocks, in braving the tooth of the jaguar and the bite of serpents, and the almost unbearable stings of mosquitoes and tanoSy which covered his legs and faces with sores, in living on bitter roots, and in constant exposure to death from wet clothes, hardship, hunger, and want of sleep. These inter- minable courses, or, as Southey calls them, " itine- rations," told on the health of the Jesuits, many of whom succumbed in the flower of their age ; so that, a year or two after Father Filde's death, forty Fathers were sent to the help of the over-worked and exhausted Mission. We cannot but wonder, therefore, that the Irish Jesuit, after his ten years' work in Brazil, lived on for forty years in Paraguay, preserved for the conversion of the savages and colonists, and for the edification and consolation of his brethren. The details of his eventful career are fully set forth in De Lozano's Historia del Paraguay ; in Del Techo's Histo7'ia Provincice Paraquarice, an English summary of which was published in the fourth volume of Churchill's Voyages and Travels ; in Charlevoix' Histoire du Paraguay ; Southey's History of Brazil ; Brother Foley's Collectanea; in the Hibernia Ignatiana (pp. 24, 33*, 60, j6, 108, 177) ; and in the Histories of the Society by Jouvancy, Cordara, and Cretineau-Joly. IX. FATHER RICHARD DE LA FIELD. As Father Thomas Field was for some years the sole representative of the Society in Paraguay, so was his namesake, Richard De la Field,^ the only Jesuit labouring in Ireland about the same time ; of his five companions one was hanged, another escaped hanging by going into exile, and two more were in prison in the Castles of Wisbeach and Dublin. He was chosen as Superior of the Irish Mission of the Society at a most critical time. His predecessor, Father Holywood, was captured and imprisoned for four or five years in London and in the Castle of Wisbeach ; and a man of great prudence and capacity was required to fill his place. Such a man was Father De la Field, who in his ■day rendered immense service to religion. Of his life previous to his appointment I can give but scanty details, since, notwithstanding repeated attempts, I have failed to get access to a volume of documents in our Roman archives, which contains an account of his career written by Father Holy- wood. From his name and from his intimate relations with the gentlemen of the Pale, and especially of ^ His name Is variously written, De la Feldius, De la Fildius, Fildius, Filde, Field. 164 Distinguished Irishmen. Dublin, I gather that he was a native of the city or county of Dublin. The name was long estab- lished in that county — John De la Fielde held land in capite from King Richard the Second, and left it for ever to the clergy of Chapel-Isolde, which is now called Chapelizod ; another of the name owned some property near Lusk at the end of the sixteenth century ; and there was at the same time a " man of name " in the county, called " Field of Corduff,^ while among the merchants of Dublin in 1614 there was a Richard De Lafield.^ The name is at present Field, yet a Major De la Field figured in the late American War. Richard De la Field was attending the Jesuit College at Paris before September, 1579. He was then a priest and was said to be a man of gentle blood {presbyter nobilis). This appears from a list of nineteen Irishmen attending the Paris Colleges of the Society of Jesus, which the Nuncio Dandino got in 1579 from an Irish Jesuit, who was then living in one of these Colleges, and was most pro- bably Father Richard Fleming, whose life we have already sketched. The Nuncio wrote twice to Cardinal Como in the interest of Irish students. He says : " I am asked by one of the Jesuit Fathers here, who is an Irishman, to let the Holy Father know that some of his countrymen are come here to study, being forced to leave Louvain and Douay on account of the tumults in Flanders ; and to beg of His Holiness to establish and maintain a small house for twelve of them in Rome, ... or at least ^ Description of Ireland in jSqS^ p. 38 Edited by E. Hogan, 2 Inquisitionum Cancell. Hib. Repertoriiim Jac. I. 17, 32; Car. I. i. Father Richard De la Field, 165 to send help in money hither if the Pope does not wish to found a College. . . . The Irish Jesuit Father knows them all, as countrymen and as frequenters of the College, and he has given me a list of nine- teen of them, which I enclose."^ In 1593, Father De la Field was at the University of Pont-a-Mous- son with the Irish Fathers Fleming, Archer, and Holywood.^ In the month of January, 1599, Father Holy- wood, recently appointed Superior of the Irish Mission S.J., was captured at Dover and imprisoned for four or five years in London and in the Castle of Wisbeach. On the 17th of April the General of the Society, through Dr. Christopher Cusac, Founder and President of the Irish College of Douay, sent a letter to Father De la Field ordering him to take Father Holywood's place. He reached Ireland some time before the ist of September, and wrote several letters from Dublin to Rome, of which I propose to give some extracts, after having made some preliminary remarks, which may not be unnecessary. This Jesuit was born and bred in the heart of the English Pale, he had lived out of Ireland for twenty-five or thirty years, and consequently knew personally little or nothing of the motives of the Fifteen Years' War, the end of which he witnessed ; he kept absolutely aloof from the Irish Catholics with whom Elizabeth was at war, lest he should be suspected of treason, and thus lose his influence with the nobles, gentlemen, and others of the Pale, * See the two letters at p. 718, vol. ii. of Canon Bellesheim's Geschichte der Katholischen Kirche in Irland. 2 Roman Archives S.J. Anglia, 1590— 1615, p. I2i. 1 66 Distinzuished Irishmen, •& whose Catholicity he endeavoured successfully to* confirm and uphold against the inroads and assaults, of heresy ; and living under the shadow of Dublin Castle, where one of his subjects was confined as a prisoner, he reported, without first trying to test them, the false stories circulated in the Pale about his other two subjects, to whom was confided an arduous and dangerous mission among the Irish princes, lords, chieftains, and people, who had souls to save, as well as the gentlemen of the Pale. The report he heard about Brother Collins was unfounded, as we have already seen. The story that Father Archer was wounded and maimed by an Irish soldier is improbable, and reminds one of the tale told to the Blessed Edmund Campion by a Dublin gentleman to show how credulous the meere Irish were, viz., that St. Patrick had recently got his head broken by a blow from St. Peter's Keys- while he was trying to introduce an Irish galloglass into Heaven. Moreover, Father De la Field, in a subsequent letter, shows his great esteem for Father Archer, whose presence in Ireland he declared to be a matter of absolute necessity. As to the motives of the Irish War, the Jesuit was also deceived by his friends of Dublin. He admits that the reason put forward in his time was the defence of the Catholic Faith ; O'Neill always declared that he was fighting for the faith of his countrymen. The Earl of Desmond, when pre- paring for the war in 1580, thus addressed his soldiers : " Our rulers, ever since they renounced the Catholic religion, scorned to regard the nobles of this land who have remained true to the Catholic faith. . » . Before Heaven, we are trampled uponi Father Richard De la Field, 167 by a gang of mailed marauders who hold us in contempt. Look to the sacred Order of your priesthood : is it not despised by those innovators who have come amongst us to punish and banish the rightful owners from their time-hallowed pos- sessions. . . . Rights are despised, and liberty is a mere catchword, the civil administration is in the hands of spies, hirelings, and defamers, and, what is more deplorable than all^ we are denied the right of professing and practising our religion openly ; heresy is making rapid encroachments, and we are called upon to do homage to those base-born churls who in the Queen's name mock and spurn us." ^ Twenty years later, on the 14th of March, 1599, just when Father De la Field was coming to Ireland, another Earl of Desmond wrote : " They content not themselves with all temporal sover- eignty, but by cruelty, they desire our blood and perpetual destruction, to blot out the whole remem- brance of our name together with our old Catholic religion, and to make us swear that the Queen of England is the supreme head of the Church." ^ Hence Father De la Field's opinions must be taken with caution. He was a worthy man, prudent, cautious, charitable, and zealous, and he rendered immense service to the Catholic faith in Ireland, and he must not be blamed for holding ideas which were those of the world in which he lived and moved. On the 1st of September, 1599, Father De la Field wrote to Father General: "Father Holywood is still in prison ; he would be set at liberty if he 1 Cardinal Moran's Archbishops of Dublin, vol. i. p. 115. 2 Desmond's Letter of March 14, I599> in Hibernia Pacata, 1 68 Distifiguished Irishmen. bound himself by oath to persuade his countrymen that they may fight for Elizabeth against the Irish who are in arms. We beg your Paternity to let us know what answer we are to give to those who ask advice from us on this point, as the priests here seem to be divided in opinion. My view is that, though religion is alleged as the motive at present, political interests were alone put forward in the former rebellion as they call it.^ Father FitzSimon labours strenuously in the vineyard of the Lord, attracts numbers to himself, has founded a Sodality of the Blessed Virgin, by which he stimulates many to the practice of piety, and has recalled several from the paths of vice. We beg of your Paternity to sanction this Sodality and to grant it the Indul- gences given to other congregations of that kind. When this Father is in the city he never dines without six or eight guests ; when he goes to the country on his missionary excursions, he rides with three or four companions. I have not yet heard from Father Archer ; but I have been told that he was badly wounded by a soldier whom he not only by words, but by blows, endeavoured to deter from evil doing. I have written to him about this matter. Many leading men here have been converted to the Catholic faith,^ priests who have been detained in prison for some years have been released. In all the battles and encounters up to this, the Royal army has been worsted by the Irish, and, wonderful to say, the English themselves confess that the very moment they come before the Irish, they lose heart and fling away their arms. The Viceroy has just left with five or six thousand men to fight a battle * See my preliminary remarks. ^ By Father FitzSimon, E.H. Father Richard De la Field. 169 with the Earl of Tyrone, who is eagerly awaiting him. We know not what the issue may be, but pray that God may give victory to those who uphold the just cause." ^ On the 7th of Septembr, 1599, Father FitzSimon wrote to the General : " I have got your Paternity's letter appointing Father De la Filde in the place of the prisoner. I cannot express to you how glad I was to receive it, as I was afraid you would not think this vineyard worthy of your attention, on account of its perpetual infelicity or on account of the wickedness of our enemies. There are so many joining our faith, that in one day I received four Englishmen into the Church, three of whom were men of distinction. Extraordinary things are thought to be at hand. Father De la Filde is the fittest of all to be at the helm ; but we want fervid and active men to carry on our work with success."^ The new Superior writes from Dublin on the 20th of July, i6cx) : "Your Paternity should not be astonished at receiving so few letters from us. The letter-carriers are few, and the merchants who go to Spain and France will take no letters without pre- viously reading them. I send to your Paternity Father Archer, the bearer of this letter. He will give you the fullest information concerning all that is done in this country. He has been a source of light and help in our work here, he has always lived with these Irish lords who are endeavouring to promote the interests of religion, and, in conse- quence, he is the object of the intense hatred of the Queen's officials and army, while at the same time ^ Hibernia Ignatiana, p. 50. 2 i^ij-g and Letters of Father Henry FitzSimon^ S.J. p. 49. 170 Distinguished Irishmen. his presence is very necessary for the advancement of the Catholic faith in these calamitous times. It is important that he should be sent back to us as soon as possible, accompanied by many others, as he, with one or two Fathers, will be wanted to teach, instruct, and keep from the various excesses and vices, to which they are addicted, those rude people who are indeed nominally and in a general way fighting for the Faith, but in their lives and manners are far removed from Christian perfection. Other Fathers will be required for this more civi- lized part of the kingdom, and, please God, their labours will not be without fruit, as we have found by our past experience, since nearly all our country- men are most willing to receive and preserve the true Faith. Father Archer will inform you fully about Father FitzSimon, who was kept in close custody for two months, but now is not imprisoned as strictly as before. Of Father Holywood we have heard nothing since he was transferred from London to the prison of Wisbeach, and we have lost all hope of his release during the reign of the present Sovereign. It is commonly reported that His Holiness has renewed Pius the Fifth's Bull of excommunication against the English Queen and her adherents, and that the Bull has been published by the Bishops of Ulster and Connaught If it should reach us here, many minds will be disturbed on account of the difficulty of acting according to it, and many gentlemen even now ask what is to be done in such a case. If they obey it, they shall have their property confiscated and their persons condemned for high treason ; if they do not act in conformity with the Bull, they will incur the cen- Father Richard De la Field, 1 7 1 sures of the Church, and be deprived of the sacra- ments and of Mass, a thing which to them will seem worse than death. I should like to know from your Paternity how I shall answer that question, which seems to touch matters of State. " There is great hope of the re-establishment of the Catholic religion as a consequence of the suc- cessful issue of the war. In nearly all encounters the Catholic army has obtained the victory, and new reinforcements are expected from Spain ; and it were to be wished that His Holiness would give his influence and help to further this business. Wherefore I have thought it worth while to men- tion some ecclesiastical benefices, which, if His Holiness conferred them on us, would help the Society to erect colleges in this kingdom. These are (i) the Monastery of St. Thomas, Martyr, near Dublin, worth £^^0 Irish, a pound being equal to 2j4 crowns ; (2) the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin, near Dublin, worth per annum £\6i ; (3) the Monastery of St. John the Baptist, outside the new gate of the city, £1^6 ; (4) the Monastery of All Hallows, near Dublin, where the. heretics have built a splendid college, is worth £84; (5) the Priory of Holm-Patrick, near the sea, worth £6g, would make a country house for the students of our colleges. I commend to your Paternity Mr. Robert Lalour, who goes with Father Archer; he is a good and pious man, and most devoted to our Order ; he has great influence in the ecclesiastical concerns of this kingdom, and yet seeks our advice as much as is in his power." ^ In this letter Father De la Field says nothing of 1 Hibirnia Ignaiiana^ p. 68. 172 Distinguished Irishmen. his own imprisonment or capture. Yet we are told by Jouvancy in his Historia Societatis Jesu that " Father De la Field was an active and prudent man ; his sermons, conversation, and counsels were much sought by Catholics and even heretics and schismatics ; his fame and credit set the spies in motion, and caused his capture and imprisonment while he was walking in the streets of Dublin. Not long after his imprisonment Father Archer was called to Rome by the Sovereign Pontiff to give an account of the state of religion in Ireland." Father De la Field's friend, Robert Lalour, who was Vicar- General of the dioceses of Dublin, Kildare, and Ferns, was also cast into prison in 1606 ; and though he there acknowledged the King's supre- macy in temporal causes, he was tried under the statute of Prcemunire, and for holding communi- cation with Rome was sentenced to be hanged, and thus was added another name to the martyrs of Dublin.i In response to the foregoing letter Father General sent Fathers Leinich, Morony, and Lenan to his assistance, and, as appears from a memorandum,*^ he intended to send back Father Archer as soon as he had fulfilled a mission which he had confided to him concerning the interests of the Irish Colleges on the Continent. But from two Spanish letters of Father Leinich^ it appears that the Superior, not having got an answer from the General con- cerning his doubts, was on the point of going to Rome to lay important matters before Father Aquaviva when he was persuaded by the new- ^ Cardinal Moran's History of the Archbishops of Dublin, i. p. 29. * Written on the back of that letter. ^ Hibemia Ignatiana, p. 80. Father Richard De la Field. 173 comers to remain at his post He kept two of the Fathers at or near Dublin, and sent Leinich to give a roving mission among the gentry and the villages, which had very consoling results, as this zealous priest withdrew many from their evil ways of living, heard many confessions, catechized the old and the young, and ministered to the wants of many. This Father also had the consolation of getting access to Father FitzSimon in his prison, and of finding that he was full of courage and of conformity to the will of God, and that he was converting some schismatics and heretics, and solv- ing many cases of conscience that were submitted to him. In February, 1603, Father De la Field writes to the General : " For four years I have not received any letters from your Paternity, and in conse- quence I was resolved to go myself, or send some Father to Rome. But, on consultation with my confreres, it was thought better not to deprive the mission of its head or of any of its members, who are so few. We are only five in this kingdom. Fathers Morony and Leinich are working zealously in West Munster, Father Lane and myself devote our labours to Leinster ; but the zeal of all extends itself to other parts of Ireland where an opportu- nity presents itself The fifth, Father FitzSimon, is still held captive, but is not in chains or strict keeping. Our efforts are chiefly directed to confirm the Catholics in their faith, to bring back to the fold any whom we find to have fallen away, and to extinguish mortal enmities and discords between many leading men. With what fruit we have laboured in this vineyard is evidenced by the 174 Distinguished Irishmen, bearing of the Catholics when under examination by the English authorities. When the Privy Council thought the war was nearly at an end, and when the Spanish forces were last year defeated at Kinsale, and the power of the Irish Lords was broken, they appointed sixty "spiritual commis- saries " to look after the ecclesiastical concerns of sixty regions of the kingdom. They began with Dublin, the metropolis, ordered the churches to be renovated and elegantly furnished with pews and seats, divided the city into six parishes, and by threats and promises urged the people to frequent their churches. As they could not get a single Catholic to go to their profane temples, they named a day in every week on which the faithful, whom they call recusants, should appear before the commissaries, some of whom are Privy Councillors. They first attacked the aldermen or members of the Corporation and then the common people, and asked them individually would they or would they not frequent their churches and listen to their ser- mons. All refused, and gave as their reason that the faith of their fathers and the Catholic religion forbade them to do so. They were insulted, calum- niated, accused of high treason, of favouring the Spaniards, and were threatened with imprisonment unless they obeyed the Queen's laws. When the English found that the first whom they grappled with bore their imprisonment with alacrity, they threatened to impose a fine of £io for every abstention from the Protestant church on Sundays. The prisoners bear their captivity with patience, the others refuse to pay the fines, and deny that they can be legally compelled to pay them. Father Richard De la Field. 175 This attitude of the Dublin citizens has given heart to the people of the other cities and towns, and to the gentlemen of the country who reside in castles, so that they will show the same constancy in defending the old faith, should an attempt be made to tamper with their religion. But, please God, that attempt will not be made,^ as the more prudent of the commissaries deem it not just, chiefly in such troubled times, when a Spanish invasion is feared, to fine so severely for their reli- gions a people devoted from the cradle to the Catholic faith, or, as they say, to "Popish cere- monies." Meanwhile, the Irish lords are raising troops, and are leading their army into the open field. Father Archer two or three times was an intermediary between the Irish and Spaniards, but he had not consulted us in the matter ; but as for us who live among the more civilized subjects of the Queen, seeking the salvation of souls, we dare not communicate with the Irish who are in arms, lest our name of Jesuits, already sufficiently de- tested by the enemies of the Cross of Christ, should, if touched with the taint of rebellion, become execrable in the eyes of honest men. . . ? We are sadly in want of priests here ; there are many indeed of pious and simple lives, but few qualified by their learning to teach the faithful otherwise than by good example. The people are docile, and show great respect to a priest, especially if he be a man of some learning ; for this reason they respect and venerate our Fathers, and even ^ Father De la Field was mistaken, as we shall see further on. ^ Here he tells a false story about Brother Dominic Collins which we have refuted already. 176 Distinguished Irishmen, suspect that every learned priest, who comes from beyond the sea, is a member of our Society. I wish your Paternity could realize the state of things here, and as a consequence send a reinforcement of labourers into this vineyard."^ After the death of Elizabeth in 1603, Father De la Field wrote to Father Holywood at Brussels^ that the gentlemen of Ireland were ready, if the occasion required, to risk their fortunes, liberty, and lives rather than allow their consciences to be any longer exposed to the machinations of heresy. In this year, 1603, he himself, in spite of his loyalty, ran some risk of being captured and perhaps hanged. On the 29th of June, he and his com- panion were with Dr. White, Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford, when Dr. White was summoned to appear before Morison, the English commander of the garrison of that place, who sent his soldiers to arrest him. These Fathers persuaded him to seek safety in flight. The Vicar was pursued by the priest-hunters from Waterford to Clonmel, and from Clonmel to Waterford, where, on the 13th of September, meeting with Father Leinich, S.J., they took him to be Dr. White, whom he resembled, and about midnight they, with three companies of soldiers, went to the Vicar's house, and threatened his servant with instant death unless he told them where his master was concealed. On the 23rd of July, 1603, Father De la Field had an agreeable surprise in Dublin such as had his namesake in Paraguay.^ On that day he paid a visit at the house of a friend, and, finding two priests there, he * Hibernia Ignatiana, p. 109. 2 See siipruy Life of Father Thomas Filde. Father Richard De la Field. 177 saluted them courteously. The owner of the house whispered to the two strangers (Fathers Wall and O'Kearney, S.J.), that the visitor was Father De la Field ; and, as they wrote to the Father General, " You may fancy what mutual embraces and agree- able conversation we had together. We remained a week there, and were every day invited to dine by gentlemen who gave us the most cordial welcome. Then we went with De la Field to visit Father Lenan, with whom we spent three days. We tried to see Father FitzSimon, but, as he is strictly guarded in prison, we could not do so, yet we were able to get a letter conveyed to him which filled him with consolation."^ On St. Patrick's eve, 1604, Father Holy wood landed in Ireland as successor of Father De la Field in the government of the Irish Mission, SJ. In the last week of Lent he reached the town (of Clonmel?) where Fathers Leinich and Murony were staying, and was soon joined by Father De la Field and by Fathers Wall and O'Kearney, two distinguished Jesuits, who had recently come to labour in this country, and were destined to render signal service to the cause of religion. Father De la Field informed the new Superior that he had not received a single letter from the General for more than five years.^ In June, 1604, the house in which Father De la Field lodged was attacked by the pest which then raged in and around Dublin ; but he and his brethren had more formidable foes than the pest. ^ Hibnmia Jgnatiana^ p. 1 36. 2 Hibemia Ignatiana, p. 122. They must have been intercepted by the English. M 178 Distmgidshed Irishmen. The Lord President and Council of Munster did *' strictly command that all Jesuits do, before the 30th of September, depart and forsake any manner of residence within the province, and so to continue for the space of seven years ; and what person soever shall receive or relieve any of them shall suffer imprisonment during His Majesty's pleasure, and forfeit for every such offence, as often as committed, £40, the one half to the informer, the other to His Majesty's use. And whoever shall bring unto the Lord President and Council the bodies of any such shall immediately receive a reward of £4.0 for every Jesuit, and for every seminary £6 3^-. 4 blows, even the horses and dogs agree. They eat a great deal when food can be found, but fast with alacrity for two or three days. Inviolably faithful to their chiefs ; in battle each one follows his own ardour and rushes on the ranks of enemy, not paying attention to his companions. In swiftness; they equal and sometimes surpass the horses ; they mount their horses seizing them by the left ear, they use no stirrups or leggings ; the nobles are clothed in garments of skin adorned with various- colours ; they cultivate sacred poetry with great assiduity, but always after fasting and prayer. The bards act always in negotiations. Before thanks- giving (at meals) the bishop or priest who may be present makes an exhortation, and all listen with great attention." How long Archer remained in Ireland after his visit in 1577, what work he did there, and what risks he ran, we have considered already in the sketch of his companion. Father Qucmerford ; it is stated by Bird, the priest-catcher, that at this time, or certainly before 1590, he was captured and V 32 2 Disti7iguished Irishmen, imprisoned in London, but escaped. He became a Jesuit the 25th of May, 1581, and became "well- known by English Protestants in Flanders and elsewhere;" before 1592 he was a priest at the University of Pont-a-Mousson with Fathers Flem- ing, De la Field, and Holywood,^ and was in that year sent to Salamanca to help to found an Irish College. This College grew up from 1592 to 1617^ under the care of Father Archer, who came from France, or of Father White, or of Father Richard Conway, who had made his novitiate in Portugal. In the month of October, 1596, Archer, under the name of Bowman, landed at Waterford, as we learn from the State Papers,^ and gave a letter from the Irish Rector of Salamanca to a Mr. Devereux. The letter found its way into the hands of the Lord Deputy, who cast Devereux into prison, and " set a draught " for Archer. Father Archer, says his friend O'Sullivan-Beare, was a great enemy of Protestantism, and hence was the object of the implacable hatred of the English. He first went to O'Neill, then to O'More (Prince of Leix), and at last to O'Sullivan and other Catholics, who were opponents of heresy, and by his zeal, counsel, and help, he never failed them. To the heretics he was an object of terror, and even wonder ; they fancied he could walk on the sea, fly through the air, and do other super- human things, and affirmed that he should be ^ MS. vol. of Roman Archives S.J. Anglia (1590 — 1615), p. 121. 2 Irish Ecclesiastical Record, x. 300. 2 Life of H. Fitzsimon, p. 206, and Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, an. 1596. Father James Archer, 323 called not Archer, but Archdevil.^ The esteem in which he was held by his countrymen may be gathered from these words of the author of the Life of MacCarthy Mor. " From such masters as Father Archer and Mac- Egan, Cecil himself might have learned something. From these men, or men like them, MacCarthy Mor might have derived the intimate knowledge which, beyond all men of his day, he possessed of sthe state of Ireland, its strength and weakness, the alliances and power of its chiefs, the personal character of every man of note sent out from England." 2 Hence on account of his supposed antagonism to English rule, he was tracked in 1596, and "was at length discovered in Wexford county and was near being taken by a draught Jaid by the Lord Lieutenant, but unhappily •escaped."^ In 1597 he got a letter from Father General congratulating him and Father Fitzsimon on their success, and warning them to be watchful, and not to compromise in any way the safety of their countrymen. In 1598 he had collected funds all over Ireland for the Irish College of Salamanca, to the interests of which he was devotedly attached.* His missionary labours were very successful, and would have produced greater results if from the moment he landed his steps liad not been dogged by the spies of the Lord Deputy. He had to keep aloof from the eyes of 1 Hist. Catholicce Compendium, Edit. 1621. This is confirmed by a letter of the Lord President of Munster to the Lord Deputy, ^iven further on. 2 Life and Letters of MacCarthy Mdr. By MacCarthy Glas, p. 6. 3 Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 1603, p. 80. ^ Life of Henry Fitzsimon, SJ., pp. 206, 47. 324 Distingidshed Irishmen, men and to lurk in hiding-places, where he remained some time till he thought he was for- gotten, and then began his work again ; in that year he exercised the functions of his ministry with such success that he brought a great many heretics back to the fold.^ He wrote to Father General on the loth of August, 1598, the eve of the victory of the Yellow Ford, " In haste from the camp : " Very Reverend Father, — Your letter of the 14th of March did not reach me till the ist of August, although Father Fitzsimon received it three months before that time. I am reduced to the greatest straits since my arrival, and have seen Father Fitzsimon only once, and that for less than an hour. I have sent many letters to Spain with money for the students of Salamanca, and by the same way I have sent letters to your Paternity, but I have received no answers. I presume merchants do not like to bring any letters to or from me. This is natural, as the English Government hates me very much, hunts me very often in frequent raids, and has set a price on my head. This forces me to live in the woods and in hiding-places. I cannot even return to Spain, as merchants are afraid to receive me into their vessels, well knowing that there are spies in every port on the look-out for me. Meanwhile, I work as a true son of the Society ; I have already heard many thousand confessions ; I have instructed an uncultivated and barbarous people ; I have brought back some to the Church ; I have reconciled a noble person and his wife, and thus put a stop to dangerous dissensions which existed among members of both families who were leading men in the land. I have administered the sacraments in the camp, and it is marvellous what crowds come from the surrounding districts to hear Mass and go to confession. What a great harvest could be reaped here, if several Fathers of ^ Letter of Fallier Ilamill, a secular priest. {Iliberuia Ignatiana^ p. 40.) Father James Archer, 325 our Society were sent to us ! All the nobles of the country, specially those of the north, are very anxious to have our Fathers, and they promise every protection and help, and certain lands for their maintenance. This region is very uncultivated, ignorant, and barbarous ; yet the people have the greatest respect for religious, and from this place apostolic excursions might be made into other parts with greater safety and advantage. The chiefs in the south wish also to have our Fathers, but they do not dare to patronize and protect them openly. They will protect them, however, and take every care of them. The frequent victories of the Catholics give us great hopes at present, as the heretics are forced to abandon various places. Dr. Cornelius Stanley,^ Vicar Apostolic, urgently asked me to come hither and help him in spiritual matters, and in a short time I converted ten priests who were living in schism and concubinage. Some Catholics had won back certain Church property from the heretics ; and for the peace of their consciences, with the advice and authority of Dr. Stanley, I dispensed with them on con- dition of their contributing towards the Irish College of Salamanca. In this I trust I have done nothing against the Institute^ and in this, as in other things, / trust your Paternity 7vill judge me with all charity and will not condemn me on the report of those who know little or nothing of myself or of my actions. I cannot tell you how much I should do for religion, if I could work openly among men, as I hope others will be able to do, who have not lived with our adversaries, as I have done in Flanders and elsewhere. I mean to go to Spain from the north at the first opportunity. I have not been able to leave up to the present time, as all the ways are blocked up. Your Paternity will always find in me a faithful, humble, and obedient son of the Society. James Archer.^ Such is the substance of Father Archer's letter. Now let us read "the reports." Archer was "at 1 Vicar General of Meath or Armagh. " Hibernia Ignatiana, p. 38. 526 Distinguished Irishmen. the camp " with the Earl of Desmond on the- 14th of March, 1599, and on that day indited the Earl's letter to the King of Spain.^ From his prison in the Tower of London, Father Holywood writes on the nth of May, " Our lot in Ireland is. a hard one, the whole island is divided, it is full of soldiers, and party spirit runs so high that Bertram's first-born (Archer), who is in one part of the king- dom, {even though he may do nothing to dese?'ve that 7ianie)f- is held up as an author of sedition and rebellion, and Bertram's youngest son (Fitzsimon) is looked on as a propagator of heresy." Probably it was from his cousin, Lord Dunsany, then ia' London, that Holywood got this information. Again, on the ist of September, 1599, De la Field, appointed in place of Holywood the prisoner,, as Superior of the mission, says to Father General that he had not yet seen Archer, but had heard that he was grievously wounded by a soldier, while he was endeavouring by words and some- thing more striking than words to induce him to give up his evil manner of life. According to Sir J. Dowdall's letter to Cecil, Bishop Craghe,, Father Archer and Father James O'Carney were- with the Irish lords and captains when they resolved to confederate Vv'ith O'Neill. In 1599 Father James Gordon-Huntley, a Scotch* Jesuit of great holiness and learning, philosopher, theologian, jurist, and Hebrew scholar, came to Ireland as Apostolic Nuncio, and no doubt had. interviews with Archer in the north. He went on a pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Patrick in Down,. ^ Calendar of Carevv MSS. 1601 and Hibernia Facata, p. 25. ' Esto nihil agat. Father James Archer, 327 and took away some earth from the grave, which he found to have miraculous effects. From Ireland he went to Scotland and converted his nephew the Earl of Huntley, the Earl of Errol, and others."^ On the 6th of May, 1600, MacCarthy Mor, from the Tower, writes to his " approved friend Sir Ro. Cecil : O'Conor, a great commander of Connaught buonies, came with six or seven hundred footmen into the edge of my country of Carberry, and sent unto me either to come and speak with him, or else that he would come into the county to speak with me. This moved me to ride unto him, from whom I could hardly escape by swearing that I would follow him to the Earl of Tireowen. Before I came to Tireowen I had his protection, and got himself and all the captains and gentlemen with him sworn to send me, and such as came with me, safe back again, which protection I do send here enclosed. Both he and the Earl of Desmond and Bishop McCragh and Archer were all very earnestly in hand with me to enter into their action of rebellion." ^ The Lord Treasurer Buck- hurst is informed that a Mr. Ratcler had long served the Queen in France and the Low Countries, and had been Major General in Ireland, but, being absolved from his loyalty in 1600 by Archer the Jesuit, he revolted to Tirone, whom he calls the Prince, and is a wicked rebel in Ireland. In 1600 Captain Hugh Mostian, who from the age of twelve had served Elizabeth in France, Flanders, and Ireland, fell in with Father Archer, and was by him induced to side with 1 See Hibernia Ignatiafia, pp. S3, 54- 8 Life of MacCarthy Mdr, p. 274. 328 Distinguished Irishmen. Prince O'Neill and the Irish Catholics. In 1602 he reports to Father Bathe that " Archer by his sole authority as a private religious brought more comfort to the Irish than a great force of soldiers 'Could do, and that the voice of the people gave him the title of Legate. At his nod the hearts of men are united and held together not only in the territory of Berehaven and all Munster, but in the ^greater part of the kingdom, such is the fondness of the Irish for priests who have talent and autho- rity."^ This Hugh Mostian is styled "a famous Archrebell " by Fynes Moryson. We hear of Father Archer again in 1600 in a letter thus endorsed by Cecil, "Atkinson's letter, the priest y* discovered Tychburn."*^ It reads thus : To the Right Honorable Sir Robert Cicill,— Sithence I have framed the premises of a loyal mind I mean unfeignedly iri verbo sacerdotis to make a perfect period. .. . . I have bereaved myself of a million of friends in regard of the service I performed, being odible to all Catholics of whom before I received very large mainten- ance. ... I thought good to present unto your honour some platform which I planted, viz., how that I have obtained divers letters for Ireland from Mr. Blackwell .and another from Father Walle, alias Garnett, ... for I have made them for to believe how I intend for to be a religious man and of the order of St. Francis, and, in regard I am of good acquaintance in Ireland, I make -choice to be under Bishop Macraith. By the which letters, Right Honourable, I assure myself, so that there be very great secrecy used, for to perform shortly service worthy of a good ravard^for it is most easy for to poison * Hibeinia Ignatiana, p. 87, and Sidley's Letter to Buckhurst. Venice, August 31, 1602. ^ This fallen priest saw Father Tichburne and cried out, " A priest ! a priest ! stop the priest !" Tichburne said to him, " I'm no more a priest than you are," but he was seized and hanged at Tyburn, April 20, 1601. Father James Archer, 329 Tirone through some poisoned hosts. I make no doubt at all, as I shall be saved., but to abbreviate the traitor's days by that or other means, for the Bishop being a Franciscan friar who is almost daily with Tirone, and Father Nangle and Father Archer are his ghostly Fathers, unto whom I have letters in my behalf, and, being very well acquainted with them both, I shall without difficulty perform my desire. . . . Your Honnour's continual orator, Wylliam Akinsonne, pr(iest).^ On the 2nd of January, 1600, Sir John Dowdal^ informs Cecil that "a rebellion was plotted at Lifford, the Holy Cross, and such-like superstitious places by McCrath, Father Archer, and others. They were assisted generally by the townsmen and the nobility and gentry of both kinds." Uaithne Mac-Ruaidhri O'More, with five hundred men killed five hundred of Essex's rear-guard at Bearna-na-g-Cleithe in Leix ; most probably Archer was with him at that time, as he was very much with him and is called chaplain of this Prince of Leix. In the History of British Costume (the Library of Entertaining Knowledge),^ there is an engraving, " the rude but faithful delineation of O'More, a turbulent Irish chieftain, and of Archer, a Jesuit retained hy him, both copied from a map of the taking of the Earl of Ormonde. O'More is dressed in the barrad or Irish conical cap and a scarlet mantle. Archer has a long black mantle and the high crowned hat of the times. Both appear in the straight truis." The original rough coloured sketch is in Trinity College with 1 Life of Mac Car thy M6r, p. 304. * This bigot is mentioned in Father Holywood's treatise, Di Morte Fersecutorum. ^ P. 371. 330 Distinguished Irishmen. manuscript corrections by the hand of the Lord President of Munster, as Mr. Gilbert states in his National ManuscriptSy in which he gives a fac- simile. A sketch corrected according to the remarks of the President appears in the Hibernia Pacata, where the meeting is thus described, " On the loth of April, 1600, we, the Earls of Ormond, Thomond, and Carew, reached Coronneduffe (now Corndough, near Ballyragget). Owny MacRory came with a troop of choice pikes leaving in a little plain in our sight all his grosse in number five hundred foot and twenty horse, whereof three hundred were bonoughes, the best furnished men for the war, and the best appointed that we have seen in this kingdom. At our first meeting, and so during the parley which was appointed for some good causes best known to his lordship, they stood as they might, every one trailing his pike and holding the cheek thereof in his hand ready to push. After an hour or more was idly spent and nothing concluded we and others did pray his lordship to depart ; but he desirous to see that infamous Jesuit Archer, did cause him to be sent for. As soon as he came the Earl and he fell into an argument, wherein he called Archer traitor and reproved him for sending, under pretext of religion. Her Majesty's subjects into rebellion. In this meantime the grosse of the rebels had left their standing in the plain, and some crept into the shrubs which were near, and others did so mingle themselves among us, that we stood as if we had been in a fair, whereof divers did advertize his lordship. I^ the Earl of Thomond, w^illed Owny to put back Father James Archer, 331 his men, and I, the President, desired his lordship to be gone. As his lordship was turning his horse they seized upon him and us two, but thanks be to God we escaped, save that I, the Earl of Thomond, received with a pike a wound in the back (two inches deep). The Earl's horsemen which were armed, were far from us ; we called for the trumpet and cried upon the Earl's men ta charge, but none stood by us. This treachery was contrived by that villain Archer, and none was made acquainted with it but Owny MacRory, two Leinster men and four bonnaghes, as they report, and, next unto God, I must thank the Earl of Thomond for my escape, who thrust his horse on O'More, and at my back a rebel newly protected,. Brien MacDonagh Kevenaghe, being afoot, did me good service and wounded one of the traitors." In the Castle of Gortnacleagh, where Ormond was kept prisoner by O'More, Archer was Ormond's " bedfellow " and secretary, and he tried to convert him. On the 26th of June, 1600, Ormond says that he can write with more freedom as Archer was away. After his release he wrote to the Queen : " I was detained so long in prison by the persuasion of Archer the Jesuit."^ Ormond writes : " From the woods, the 30th of April, 1600. I have been solicited to entreat your lordships to send good security and safe conduct, under your lordships' hands, for James Archer and Robert Lalor, priests, with other three or four as shall accompany them in their journey, that they may freely lay down before your lordships such 1 From Kilk. Archaological Journal, yt^x% i860 and 1861. Those- documents are in Kilkenny Castle, in the Evidence Chamber. 332 Distinguished Irishmen. things as they in the name of their confederates may demand for pacifying (as they say) of these garboyles and troubles ; and that during that time they shall not only safely pass and repass, but also use their function without molestation or trouble."^ No doubt, the Lords of the Council gave the good security and safe conduct to pass to and fro, and Archer was able to see his Superior, De la Field, in or near Dublin, for the first time. According to Jouvancy,^ he was called to Rome by order of the Sovereign Pontiff, who, when he heard from him of the constancy of the Catholics, was overjoyed, and appointed Father Manzoni as Nuncio to Ireland. So, on the 20th of July, 1600, De la Field, a Jesuit of the Pale, sends Archer with a letter to Father General, and says that he can give him the fullest information about Ireland ; that he afforded the greatest light and help in all matters, having always dwelt among the Irish lords who uphold the Catholic religion ; and hence he is hated by the State and by the army of the Queen, and he is very necessary here for the support of religion in these calamitous times. He sends him to Rome, as he knows from a letter written to Father Holy wood that the General wished him to be sent at once, and as no one could give a better account of the affairs of Ireland. But he begs that he be sent back as soon as possible, and with one or two companions, in order to instruct and keep from various excesses those who are now fighting for the faith. De la Field recommends to ^ Gilbert's Facsimiles of National MSS. iv. " Hist. Soc.Jesu. Father James Archer, 333 the General Archer's companion, the Rev. Robert Lalour, a pious and very influential priest. On the back of this letter the General wrote : " We have sent Archer to the Spanish Seminaries ; he will be sent to Ireland from that country." Ormond was released by O'More in the month of June, on receiving hostages for the payment of ^3,000, which would be the equivalent of about ^25,000 of our present money. But his captivity and conversation with his " bedfellow," Archer, brought about his conversion to the faith. The tenth Earl of Ormond had been the play- mate of Edward the Sixth, the favourite of Elizabeth, and the pillar of her power in Ireland. He tried to expiate his sins and scandals by a true conversion, and gave great edification for several years. He was blind towards the end of his life, and regretted that two things specially damned his memory and well-nigh his soul: (i) that his youth ruined his fatherland, and that his old age was not able to defend her religion and liberty even against the King ; (2) that his soul was tortured, as he had destroyed the most noble Geraldinc of Desmond, the bitter enemy of the common enemy, the bulwark of the liberty of their country, and support of the Catholic faith.^ The following references concern his conversion. Father Holy wood, under the name of Jo. Bus, writes on the 29th of January, 1605 : " Walter (Wallc, S.J.) and his uncle (Father O'Kearney) have been for the last two months staying with a certain sick man (Ormond), whose conversion will redound to the great good of the Church. We 1 Dominic c'.e Rosaiio, De Burgo, Ilaverty. 334 Distinguished Irishmen, hear that all is settled, and that he, as was quite necessary, has given the greatest proofs of a true conversion ; and that in consequence the Lord Chancellor is quite annoyed, and is incensed against the sons of Bertram (the Jesuits)." On the 28th of April, Father O'Kearney says : " My companion (Walle) is now engaged in a business that brings joy to all Ireland. Both of us had been told off for that work, but now one is enough, as all obstacles have been broken down through the help of God." On the i6th of June, Holywood writes : " I have left Walter with the dying Earl, whom he gained to God some months ago." Archbishop O'Kearney, uncle of Walter Walle, says, on the 4th of October : " We have read and with our hands touched the King's Proclamation, which was forwarded to Viscount Theobald Butler, heir to the Earl of Ormond. As the Earl is old and infirm, he was spared the trouble, and the Viscount is promulgating it, but as yet no Catholic yields to it. We beg you will endeavour, through the Holy Father and the Catholic King, to obtain for us leave to feed our flock." In May, 1606, Davis, the Attorney General, writes : " Clonmel, being the Liberty (of the Earl of Ormond), is more haunted of Jesuits and priests than any other town or city of Munster, which is the cause we found the burgesses more obstinate." On the 29th of June, 1606, "Jo. Bus" writes for more Fathers "of strong constitutions, and able to bear great hard- ship. Father Walle is a man of that stamp, but his presence is necessary to a certain leading man (^principi cuidam vird). He cannot come to me on account of a business of the greatest moment in Father James Archer, 335 which he is engaged at present." In 1606 the chief magistrate of Cashel was imprisoned, and the President of Munster swore he would show him no mercy, and would destroy the town unless he went to church ; he afterwards offered him liberty if he promised not to speak to a Jesuit nor to hear Mass. The prisoner rejected these conditions. He was ultimately freed through the influence of the illustrious Countess of Ormond.^ In 161 1 (November 20) Ormond builds an almshouse in Kilkenny for the sustentation of the poor.^ On the 29th of August, 161 3, King James the First writes to Ormond, and expresses the great regret with which he has learned his lordship's displeasure with the Viscount and the severe measures he had taken, and which he further contemplates taking, to his prejudice. He makes a request that for his (the King's) sake he will be reconciled to his son. The King writes to the Viscount, praising his faithful services and perseverance in the profession of the established religion. He has heard that, through the malignity of some evil-disposed Ministers about the Earl of Ormond, his lordship has received some hard measures in the Earl's house. December 17, 16 14, Sir Oliver St. John says, my Lord of Ormond will be at the next Parliament, a man highly valued by those people (the recusants). This was, I think. Earl " Walter of the Rosaries," successor of the Black Earl. Such was the end of that extraordinary man, who wrought the ruin * Life and Letters of H. Fitzsimon, S.J. (115, 1 20, 1 2 1, 123, 13s, 141, 142, 155.) " Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, p. 170. 336 Distinguished Irishmen, of the Earls of Desmond and had inflicted such injury on the Cathoh'c Church. So too died in the Catholic faith O'Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, who a few years later fought against his country and per- secuted her Catholic people. Father O'Kearney^ S.J., who, with his nephew Father Walle, had converted the old Earl, wrote thirty Latin dis- courses on the death of this Earl of Ormond. Dr. O'Meara wrote a Latin poem on him, and another poet wrote an Irish ode on him, which, as translated by Clarence Mangan, begins thus : Strike the loud lyre for Dark Thomas, the Rofnan — ■ Roman in faith and Hibernian in soul ! Him who, the idol of warrior and woman. Never feared peril and never knew dole. . . . Him the great Henry gave rubies and rings to. . . . Passing from Ormond to his " enemy " O'More, the friend of Archer : a month or so after Ormond's liberation by O'More, and some days after Archer's departure for Rome, Mountjoy paid a visit to O'More's territory of Leix, and in a despatch in the month of August he tells oi his high deeds in that region. *' Our captains, and by their example (for it was otherwise painful) the common soldiers, did cut down with their swords all the rebels' corn, to the value of ^10,000 and upward, tJie only mean by which they were to live, and to keep their bonnaghts, or hired soldiers. It seems incredible that by so barbarous inhabitants, the ground should be so manured, the fields so orderly fenced, the towns so frequently inhabited, the highways and paths so well beaten, as the Lord Deputy here found them. The reason was, that the Queen's Father James Archer, n'j forces, during these wars, never till then came among them." On August 13, 1600, O'More addressed an indignant and eloquent letter to Lord Ormond; protesting that he is outraged at the abominable new device of the Lord Deputy, to cut down the green corn wherever he goes — an execrable course^ and bad example to all the world. For himself^ he declares that he has been taught bad lessons by the English before ; and that, as they do not mean to give over schooling him in bad actions^ which he protests he loathes, yet, having little to lose, if this be lost, he shall give over tillage, and take to living on the tilling of others, neither sparing friend nor foe. However, he hopes that such cruel dealings may be stopped, and requests the Earl to mediate for him, and to obtain for him a Government protection. On such methods of conciliating and civilizing the " wilde Irishe," the poet and historian, Thomas Moore, makes these reflections : " To administer laws justly that are in themselves wrong and unjust is of course a hopeless endeavour. Power founded only on force — and such alone did the English exercise in Ireland — could only by force be maintained, and in the hands of a soldier like Mountjoy this mode of governing was actively administered. But that mild and thoughtful huma- nity that should ever temper the soldier's fire was in him lamentably wanting, and the cruelties which he allowed to be perpetrated on the wretched people of Leix have entailed everlasting disgrace on his name. The numerous sept which occupied the district now called the Queen's county, though W 338 Distinguished Irishmen. inhumanly visited in the reign of Mary by the two instruments of EngHsh vengeance/ confiscation and the sword, had so far retrieved their ruined condition as to have become once more tranquil and thriving. The English eye-witness accounts for this prosperous change by adding that years had elapsed since the Queen's troops had been among them. But the late violent act of the young chieftain O'More — encouraged secretly, it was surmised, by Ormond himself — lent a pretext for new inroads on that harassed people, and they were again subjected to one of those visitations of cruelty which left nothing to mark their course but desolation and silence." Ormond was held captive from the loth of April to the 1 2th of June; on the 30th he wrote to procure a safe conduct for Fathers Archer and Lalor, to pass and repass, and they in consequence had interviews with De la Field, the Jesuit Superior, who, on the 20th of July, sends them with a letter to Father Aquaviva, in which he praises both of them very much ; and it is signifi- cant that he, being a gentleman of the Pale, with sympathies in favour of the English connection, does not blame Archer for the capture of Ormond. The two priests went to Rome in July, and Archer is next heard of from English spies. In the Salis- bury Papers of 1601, there are "advertisements referring to Jesuits captured on their way to Ireland, and informations about Archer, and the names and practices of Catholics in Ireland. About the same time the President of Munster is happy to inform Cecil that he is " promised for ^ He means Government j but he is fond of etipheniisms. Father James Archer, 339 MDne hundred pounds to get Bishop Craghe," the friend of Father Archer. On the 24th of Sep- tember the Privy Council is told by Christopher 'Galway that Archer, the Spanish Archbishop of Dublin, and Captains Darby and Cormac Mac- Carthy, are on board the Spanish ships. These ships sailed from Corunna for Ireland. The com- mander, Don Juan Del Aguila, selected as his chaplain Father Archer, who was " a very fervent and apostolic man."^ On the 20th of September .the Spaniards appeared at the mouth of Cork harbour, but the wind suddenly scanted, where- upon they tacked about and made for Kinsale, where they landed on the 23rd. On Sunday, the 15th of December, six Irish gentlemen, horsemen, ^went into Kinsale ; they were ready to go out again, and Father Archer with them, to put out the country, if the Bishop will suffer them.^ From the examination of the martyr, Dominic ■O'Cullen, we learn that Archer " procured him as companion ; " and, " being demanded when and where he first met with the Jesuit Archer, he said he met with him about the ist of February last .at the Castle of Gortnacloughy, near Castlehaven, :and ever since, until the day of the Lord President's arrival with his forces at Dunboy, he hath remained as fellow with him ; which said day Archer went from Dunboy and since he hath not seen him. Being asked what letters or messages he hath •heard or known Archer to have sent to any men •within this realm, noblemen or others, since their fellowship together, he says, soon after Easter last ■^ .Hombre de todas maneras fcrvoroso ed aposiolko. (Nieremberg.) - Report of a deserter named James Grace. 340 Distinguished Irishmen, a letter was brought to Archer which was written by Sir Charles Wilmote to me the President, and much condemned O'Sullevan More as the cause of his son's revolt ; upon which Archer wrote that it was not safe for O'Sullevan More to live under the English Government. Being questioned with what letters or messages he hath known Archer to receive from any in this realm or forth of Spain^ he doth say that he hath not known or heard." Father Archer, while in Ireland, was worth a large body of soldiers on account of the respect in which he was held. So great was his influence that the hearts of men were united and held together at his will, not only in the territory of Berehaven and in the south, but in a great portion of the kingdom. In order to destroy this influence, the English, according to the customary wile of war, forged a letter in which Father Archer asked pardon of the Queen, and promised, under certain conditions, to preach against all her enemies. They presented this letter to Don Juan, asking him to show it to the King of Spain ; but the fraud was detected, and the thing was not believed by the prudent.^ The Lord President of Munster writes to the Lord Deputy, May 13th : " If Archer have the art of conjuring, I think he hath not been idle ; but erelong I hope to conjure him, for I am informed he protests to abide the siege in Dunboy Castle. The country of Beare is full of witches ; between them and Archer I do believe the devil hath been raised to serve their turn." On the 28th of May he writes again to the Deputy : " Terrell and 1 Letter of Father Bathe, in Hibernia Ignatiana, p. Sj. Father James Archer, 341 Bourke have twelve hundred buonies, and Archer prevails on them to remain, and every day devises letters and intelligences out of Spain, assuring them of succour, and once a week confirms new leagues and seals them with the Sacrament." On Sunday, the 6th of June, the whole English army landed near Dunboy, nevertheless the Irish came on bravely, but our falcons made them halt. , . . There were only two prisoners taken, whereof a servant of James Archer, the Jesuit, was one, and with him his master's sword and portace ; and if the Jesuit himself had not been a light- footed priest he had fallen into our hands, and yet, nimble as he was, he escaped with difficulty. On the 7th of July,^ there sailed from Ardea, with Conor O'Driscol and Archer, Shane MacDermody Vic Donagh Oge O'Cullaine, Archer's boy, and David Mac Shane Rice, servant to Archer, and twenty-seven more Irishmen. And on the nth of August the Lord President writes to the Privy Council that Archer the Jesuit is gone to Spain as an Agent-General for the rebels of Munster, . . . and for the hastening of the army and to draw it to Cork. In the same month MacCarthy Mor writes from the Tower "to his very approved friend. Sir Rob. Cecill : " " The importantest place in Ireland, where the Spaniards could neither be besieged nor beaten out of it, is the city of Lime- rick, where Father Archer was in the last rebellion, and had taught him by some in that city a sure and secret way to surprise the Castle of Limerick, that commands the north gate of the inner and 1 See about the siege of Dunboy in the sketch of Dominic O'Cullen. 342 Distingtiished Irishmen. stronger part of that city, by which one may bring as many as he will into the city, which way I have acquainted her Lieutenant withal ; which I was very glad to remember for Her Majesty's sake, because Father Archer being now in Spain, it will be the first thing that he will propound and his- chiefest motive to brincr them." ^ The Lord President writes, Oct. 25 : " O'Donnell died about the loth of last month, as a Cork merchant informs me, who saw a letter from. Thomas White, Rector of Salamanca, born at Clonmel, to the Rector of St. Patrick's College, Lisbon, giving that information. Archer books against Don Juan, and Don Juan against him, and Archer told the merchant that he was weary of his life and would retire to a cloister, not purposing to come any more to Court except the King did send for him." November 20, Carew writes to the Lord Deputy : " A merchant reports O'Donnell to be certainly dead ; and also since that time Archer is deceased." To this the Lord' Deputy answers : " I would Tirone were with O'Donnell and Archer." This charitable remark proves that Mountjoy and Carew would have shown no mercy to Archer if he had fallen inta their hands. And the reader may see in Major O'Reilly's Martyrs and Confessors of Ireland the numbers of priests tortured, hanged, shot, and drowned while Archer was in Ireland. At the time he escaped from Ardea, it was intimated that the priests who presented themselves to the magistrates would be allowed to depart the king^ dom. Two Dominicans and forty Cistercians and 1 Life of MacCarthy Mdr, p. 3.61. Father James Archer. 343 secular priests accepted the Government proposal, and were taken on board a vessel of war to sail for France, but when out at sea they were all thrown overboard. The captain and crew were imprisoned for the sake of appearance, but were afterwards rewarded. For a similar act of atrocity another English captain received the thanks of Parliament in 1644.^ Father Archer's escapes were so extraordinary, that they were attributed by the Lord President of Munster to witchcraft and the devil ; but it was due to Irish faith and honour. While he was in the neighbourhood of Berehaven, the English attacked the Castle of Cloghan, which is in the same region, ''^understanding that in the castle was a Romish p7'iest. As the ward refused to yield, the English commander told them he would hang the brother of their Constable in their sight if they did not presently surrender. They said the Constable was gone abroad, which was not true. In conclusion, to save the priest, whose life they tendered, they persevered obstinately not to yield ; whereupon Captain Flower in their sight hanged the Constable's brother, Donnell Dorrogh. Nevertheless, within four days afterwards the priest being shifted away in safety, the Constable sued for a protection and rendered the castle. I do relate this accident, says Carew or his secretary, to the end the reader may more clearly see in what reverence and estimation these ignorant and superstitious Irish do hold a Popish priest, in regard of whose safety the Constable was content to suffer his brother to perish." ^ ^ O'Reilly's Martyrs, p. 144. 2 pacata Htbcrnia, p. 646. 344 Distinguished Irishmen. In 1603, Archer was in Rome and about to go to Spain, and his friend, Father Lawlor, a priest much trusted in Ireland, was about to return home. The General is recommended to send a letter by Lawlor to Father De la Field, ordering him to send Father Fitzsimon to Flanders or Spain as soon as he is released from prison. Father General Aquaviva evidently did not l>elieve the evil reports about Father Archer, which the agents of Mountjoy, Carew, and Cecil spread •concerning him, and managed to convey to Rome even by some of his own brethren in religion. If Archer had not been cleared of those imputations, lie would not have been at once placed in such a position of power and trust as that of Superior of all the Irish Jesuit Colleges in the Peninsula. On the 25th of February, 1603, his Superior in Dublin writes to Aquaviva : " Father Archer acted twice or three times as intermediary between the Spaniards and Irish, but did not communicate his designs to us ; we who live among the more •cultivated subjects of the Queen, seeking the salvation of souls, dare not communicate with her •enemies lest we should bring suspicion on those among whom we like, and lest our name, which is already hateful enough to the enemies of the Cross of Christ, should be execrated, even by good men, if it were tainted with the stain of rebellion." Wise of Waterford on the 30th of March, 1603, says he saw Father Archer at the Spanish Court well regarded, and that Archer was called in question for two letters which taxed him with treachery, but he proved the letters to be counter- Father James Archer. 345 feit^ On the 4th of August, Gerald Comerford wrote to the Lord Deputy, that he had received a letter touching the coming of the traitor Archer to England. " It would be well if he. Sir George Carew, were to give notice of it in England ; for the Bishop of Ossory hath heard thereof. Had heard himself that he was employed abroad, and Richard Phelan affirmed to the Bishop that he is in England. His brother, Robert Archer, is gone over to England to meet him. Archer is the traitor, is black of complexion, his hair spotted gray, his apparel commonly a white doublet, and the rest of some colour to disguise himself. Carey informs Cecil of this. Sir Geffrey Fenton believes that, if some of the Irish were called to the question for Archer, some light might be obtained from them for his apprehension ; he gives Cecil his humble opinion how Archer might be laid for amongst the Irishmen about the Court ; thinks the agents of Waterford, Cork, and Kinsale, and particularly the Mayor of Cork, are the men this Jesuit will soonest seek unto, for his former inward- ness with them both at the siege of Kinsale, and in working the Earl of Tirone to draw to Munster to join with the Spaniards ; and especially he will use all the art he can to have intelligences of Florence McCarthy, who was the principal plotter with Archer to draw them into Ireland. About two years past and more. Archer being employed out of Spain to labour in Ireland, passed under the name of Bowman, till at length he was discovered in Wexford, and was very near being 1 Those are the letters forged by the English which we have mentioned already. 34^ DistingMished Irishmen, taken by a draught laid by the Lord Lieutenant^ but unhappily escaped. The Lord Lieutenant may remember that he called some of the gentlemen of that county to account for that matter. Perhaps he will not disguise his name, thinking to walk more securely than he did in Ireland. To have him taken were a great service to both the realms, he being a capital instrument for Spain and the poison of Ireland. To the Rt. Hon. the Lord Cecyll, etc. Haste, haste." On the 8th of September, John Bird writes to the Earl of Devonshire : " As soon as I shall receive a warrant for the apprehension of the Jesuit named by Robert Atkinson in the enclosed paper, namely, Archer, the Pope's Legate for Leinster, the Earl's confessor, as he was to the Archdukes of Austria, he will endeavour to effect what may be required of him. By Collections of informations in former times, I find that Archer had great corresponding with the Lord Baron of Upper Ossory and his sons, and that his house was his ordinary retiring- place from the O'Mores and Dempsies, and many others of the best men of account throughout the Pale and the Corporations ; that he exacted from them what sums of money he chose, and yearly received great contributions from the principal recusants in England (!) for upholding the rebels, whom he called * God's men.' Some of those five Irish knights and gentlemen, who are in the Tower, are not free from this unsoundness, besides officers of ports and men of account in England. It is not to be doubted since Archer's attendance on the Earl of Tirone, his lordship and the rest of his favourites, as well now in the Tower as at Father James A 7x her. 347 liberty, made liberal use of his function for Masses and reconcilements to the Church of Rome, and not a few of the English inhabiters here. If he, Archer, had received his deserts at his last com- mitment to the gaol-house in Westminster} then he had been prevented of his accursed voyage to Rome thirteen years past, from whence he was employed for the Pope's sublegate, and stirred up the rebellion which held for thirteen years with the expense of ;^ 100,000 and loss of many thousand subjects. All this may be regained, if he may be fortunately taken and be made to lay open all his pedlar's pack and associates for these employ- ments. Thus might be discovered the corres- pondence that he and his faction hold with the Ambassadors of Spain and France." John Byrd encloses this letter of Robert Atkin- son, gentleman : " At His Majesty's last being at Hampton, I saw Archer alight from his horse at the Earl of Tirone's lodging at Kingston. Archer often frequented there, as he had formerly done at the Earl's being lodged at Chester. He would sometimes follow the Earl to Court, and join him in keeping company with those Irish knights and gentlemen which are in the Tower, and Sir Edward Fitzgerald and others of that nation, sometimes in the apparel of a courtier and other times like a farmer. Him he well knew in Irekiid. There he saw him as chief commander over the Irish troops, horse and foot, commanding for his own guard as many as he pleased, and for any bloody actions to be done upon the English nation. He was commonly called the Pope's Legate, and 1 Perhaps he was trapped and imprisoned in 1577- 34^ Distinguished Irishmen, Archprelate over all others in the province of Leinster and Munster, and also the O'Neills ; by others he was called Tirone's confessor, as he had been the Archduke's confessor of Austria, and in England is said to be the Earl's massing priest, and for others, the knights and Irish gentlemen, and however near unto the King's Court they may happen to be lodged. By this Archer the Earl of Ormond was taken prisoner in a day of parlaunce, notwithstanding he was born an obliged follower of the Earl in Kilkenny, yet he practised much cruelty against him, and sought his death. Of all the priests that ever were he is held for the most bloody and treacherous traitor, sure unto none in friendship that will not put his decrees in action by warrant of his Apostolic authority, as he calleth it, from time to time renewed by Bulls from Rome. He is grown to be so absolute that he holds the greatest lords in such awe that none dare gainsay him. At Tirone's return to Ireland it is verily believed that he will and can divert him and all the rest into rebellion again, as formerly he and Dr. Creagh did, not only Tirone, but also Viscount Mountgarret and Viscount Roche and many thou- sands. Archer is in stature somewhat tall, black, and in visage somewhat thin." These reports refer to O'Neill's visit to London. He had surrendered on the 31st of March, received full pardon, the title of Earl of Tirone, the free exercise of religion, and a re-grant of all their lands for himself and all his followers. Thus ended a war of ten years, which cost England ;^3,400,ooo, and in one year, 1599, cost ;^6oo,ooo, when the whole revenue of England was only ;£"45o,ocx). Father James Archer, 349 O'Neill went to do homage to James the First, but most assuredly Archer was either in Rome or Spain at that time, and the informers concocted their stories in order to injure O'Neill and the Irish gentlemen who were then in London. However, he was reported before April, 1604, as endeavouring to get permission to return to the Irish Mission ; but Holywood and the Fathers in Ireland thought it would not be expedient for himself or them, though his presence would be otherwise most agreeable to them. Hence they judged that he should wait till better times.^ On the 6th of May, Father Aquaviva appointed Archer " Prefect of the Mission " in the Irish Colleges of the Peninsula, drew up rules for his guidance, and made him in that office independent of the Spanish and Portuguese Provincials. This great General took a paternal interest in the Irish Colleges during his life, and showed his apprecia- tion of Irish character by signifying to many Provincials that he "by all means desires Irish candidates to be admitted by them, since they seem to be made for our Institute by their humility, obedience, charity, and fame for learning, in which, according to the testimony of all places, they very much exceir^ In 1605 Archer brought eleven students from Valladolid to Salamanca. On the 5th of [September a Waterford confrere of his, named Maurice Wise, who had been got at by English agents, writes to the General : " Father Archer should never be permitted to return to ^ Hibernia Igrtatiafia, p. 129. ' Feast of St. Patrick, 1604. Hibernia Ignatiana, v. Ltfe and Letters of Henry Fitzsitnon, p. 82. 350 Disti7iguished Irishmen. Ireland, because he mixed himself up with the Jactioii that opposed the Prince, and by so doing made us all be called seditious men. His sister came and implored of me to hinder his coming as much as I could, as she feared his arrival would bring persecution on us. I happen to know some- thing about him, for he dealt with those who were in authority in this city, and are so still, and they greatly complain of his mixing himself up with the affairs of the faction that was against the King.^ A man of much importance, tvJio has many relations zvith the Viceroy^ complained to me of Archer's connection with that faction opposed to the King, and he said we were men who meddled too much in State matters ; but I showed him in writing an express command that we had to the contrary, and said he should not condemn all for the fault of one." Father Holywood never says anything of this kind, and he even hints at Father Wise's want of prudence, and at the want of honesty in Wise's cousin, Robert Lombard, the spy in Rome. He says : " W^e have here two men who were educated in Rome ; I wish they were in some place where they could do no harm. I do not doubt that there are those in Rome who could circumvent the most cautious, if not by themselves, at least through those whom you do not suspect!"^ On the 26th of February, 1606, Archer writes from Compostella to Father General : " After our long contest with the Friar Florence Conry, I ^ Wise knew nothing of Archer's doings, being away at the Roman College, and it is notorious that Archer had nothing to say to the King {il principe, il Re). He is here a tool in the hands of the enemies of Father Archer. ^ Hibernia Ignatiana^ p. 210. Father James Archer, 351 brought the students from ValladoHd to Sala- manca, by the authority of the King and his Capellano Mayor. I left all the matters of the Seminary quite settled, as I thought, and went to coasts of Galicia to collect money from the Bishops and from my countrymen, and to find out a secure way of knowing the real state of Ireland, with a view to send you authentic information. In my absence Friar Florence managed to get leave to have a College founded by the King, and our Spanish Fathers neglected to oppose that, as if your Paternity had not recommended the matter to them. I beg your Paternity to write to the Spanish Provincial to have some care of our concerns, or order me to give up all responsibility for the Seminary. I have got a letter from Father Walle in Ireland for your Paternity, from which may be understood what difficulties beset our Fathers on account of the new and dreadful pro- clamation of the King of England. They proceed cautiously, though they omit nothing that concerns our Institute and the salvation of souls. By God's help I have converted in Galicia three Protestant merchants."^ About the year 1606 he got the Holy Father to give leave to the fishermen of Spain and Portugal to fish on six Sundays or festivals every year, and to sell the fish thus taken for the support of the Irish Colleges of Salamanca and Lisbon. In 1606 Father Holywood complains to the General that Archer retains Father Bathe at Salamanca, though his coming to Ireland had been sanctioned by the General. In August, 1607, Archer writes to the 1 Hibernia Jgnatiana, p. 179. 352 Distinguished Irishmen, Assistant of Germany at Rome about the Irish Colleges and the Irish Mission. It would appear that the Portuguese and Belgian Jesuits had written to the General to protest against Archer's control over the Irishmen in their provinces, as they had some exceedingly talented and promising Irish Jesuits, such as the Whites, Walshes, and Waddings, whom they desired to utilize on the Continent, and whom Archer might wish to send to serve in Ireland. Hence he says : " The devil, seeing our countrymen trooping over to their studies, endeavours to hinder it in every possible way, pro- ducing division, as in the past, when we should have resisted manfully, preserved union and due subordination, and given greater facility for coming to the help of many. Here and in France a great opening is made for us, and if we do not take advantage of it, we shall do nothing heroic, and the affairs of our Seminaries will go to ruin. I am at present at the Court of Madrid." On the 29th of September he writes to Rome. He wishes Richard Comofort to be ordained in Rome and sent to Ireland, and Ambrose Wading (elder brother of the famous Franciscan), Lee, and Lombard, to be sent to Germany. He had written to Primate Lombard to get an indulgence for " the congregation of the fishermen of St. Martin, who were to fish on certain Sundays for the support of the Irish Colleges in the Peninsula." The Primate had given a promise, but had not yet fulfilled it. He has always been of opinion that an Irish Jesuit noviceship should be founded in Belgium, wishes to God it were done, and that he or Father Thomas White were sent by Father General to do it, and Father James Archer. 353 suggests how it could be done. He hears from Father Holywood that certain faculties are neces- sary for him ; he knows they are necessary, and would have procured them for him, but had always thought that the Irish Superior had them. He has sent Fathers Everard and Shein to Ireland, and is asked by Holywood to send Fathers Nugent and Bathe, for whom a residence is ready in the north of Ireland. He has converted three Scots, one of whom was a stubborn Puritan, who often said that all the doctors in the world could not stir him from his opinions. This man from a lion has become a lamb, and has resolved to become a Capuchin. Archer has others on hand belonging to the household of the English Ambassador, and he hopes to convert them also. By the same post Archer's companion. Father James Quemerford, writes an English letter from Madrid to his brother, Richard Quemerford, S.J.^ in Rome, and says : " I have heard nothing of late of our friends, nor yet, to tell you the truth, have ever received letters from Ireland ; belike they have forgotten me as much as I should forget them. Father Thomas Sheine and Father James Everarde are gone for Ireland. Father Richard Walshe hath ended his studies, and is gone to his third probation ; it is likely he shall begin the next year a course of Philosophy in the Seminary of Salamanca, if the Spaniards prevail not that procure to have him for themselves. The English of Valla- dolid have sought him, and many others cast eye upon him ; I hope such as need him most, and unto whom he may do greater good, shall have him. He was liken to go with Father Padilla to X 354 Distinguished Irishmen, Rome, and he was appointed for it, but the Spaniards, fearing our Father General, if he did once see him, would not suffer him to come back to Spain, staid him. Brother Murtie was all these months sick with fevers ; he is now well, and likely to prove a miracle in the matter of learning. He joineth with great capacity and wit very great diligence, and hath notable good utterance and grace in setting forth. . . . Here I am yet in Court with Father Archer, with matter of the Seminary ; we have many suits in hand, and go very slow in all. Commendations to all, and chiefly to my good and well-remembered brother, Father Thomas Quemerford. Father Duras wrote that the physi- cians decreed that you should be sent beyond the Alps or into your country. Father Archer arrangeth that you be made priest in God's name and sent into the country, that your friends will pay for all ; and surely I would it were so, for the assurance of your health, the good and comfort of friends and many others, and chiefly for the con- version of J(ustice) Walshe, with whom I hope you may do great good. I have done somewhat in that- matter, and do what I may in absence, and if I were there either he should die a Catholic ^ or I a martyr. God lighten him with his grace — Jacentein in tenebris et in umbra mortis. I am glad in heart that my brother Thomas Quemerford is well." In 1609 Father Archer was still Prefect of the Mission in Spain, and is said to be sixty-four ^ Chief Justice Walshe and his first cousin, Judge Comerford, were afterwards reconciled to the Church. (Rothe's Analecta, Edit. 1617.) Father James A rcher. 355 years old and thirty-six in the Society. Thomas Lawndrie (Father Holywood) refers to Archer in a letter "from his lodging" in 1611: "To the south of your country (Wexford), and about Bow- manstown {i.e., Father Archer's town of Kilkenny), Mr. Barnaby is in charge. Mr. Wosell {i.e., Archer) in his last named five ready for us." In 161 7 there were eighty-two Irish Jesuits, of whom thirty-eight in Ireland, eighteen in Spain, nine in Portugal, seven in Belgium, and ten in Mexico, Paraguay, Austria, Bavaria, Italy, and France. Father Archer was the oldest of all — sixty-eight years of age, and thirty-four in religion. As he heads the list in Spain, he was still the Prefect of all the Colleges.^ He is not in the Catalogue of Irish Jesuits of 1626, so he must have died between 16 17 and 1626, and a sketch of his career was then written which must be in the Jesuit Archives of Rome. That Archer was alive about that time appears from a paper among the Ussher MSS. of Trinity College of the date 161 5 — 1620. It says that "there are three kinds of Irish in Ireland: (i) The ancient; (2) the mixed, who are descended of Irish mothers, and in language, habit, and custom do conform to the Irish, viz., the Earls of Kildare, Desmond, Clan- rickard, Ormond, the Lords Barry, Roche, &c. ; (3) the English-Irished, who hold not Irish customs or language, viz., the merchants and traders of towns and some knights and gentlemen of East Meath and about Dublin and in the Pale. We can find no place among the above classes for 1 Catalogue of Patres et Fratres Hiberni, S.J., anno 1617. {Irish Ecclesiastical Record, vol. x. p. 527. ) 356 Distinguished Irishneii. Father James Archer, who, though altogether EngHshed, yet is he of the incHnation and con- dition of the ancient Irish, whom he followed and aided in the last wars." What that following and aiding meant is thus clearly expressed by an Irish Protestant, John Mitchell : " The matter, and perhaps the only matter, which disquiets and perplexes the mind of the ' Historian,' Mr. Froude, is the fact that, in the midst of all these horrors. Catholic priests were not only ministering all over the country, but coming in from France, and Spain, and Rome ; not only supplying the vacuum made by trans- portation and by death, but keeping up steadily the needful communication between the Irish Church and its head ; and not only coming but going (both times incurring the risk of capital punishment), and not in commodious steam-ships, which did not then exist, but in small fishing luggers or schooners; not as first-class passengers, but as men before the mast. Archbishops worked their passage. The whole of this strange pheno- menon belongs to an order of facts which never entered into the * Historian's ' theory of human nature. It is a factor in the account that he can find no place for — he gives it up. Yet Edmund Spenser, long before this day, as good a Protestant as Froude, and an undertaker, too, upon Irish con- fiscated estates, who had at least somewhat of the poetic vision and the poetic soul, in certain moods of his undertaking mind could look upon such strange beings as these priests with a species of awe, if not with full comprehension. He much marvels at the zeal of these men, * which is a greate Father James Archer. 357 wonder to see how they spare not to come out of Spain, from Rome, and from Remes, by long toyle and dangerous travayling hither, where they know perill of death • awayteth them and no reward or richesse.' Mr. Froude, indeed, speaks of them as engaged in nothing else but keeping up treason- able alliances with countries at war with England, and recruiting foreign armies. As for their expect- ing no * reward or richesse ' for such laborious service, he would bid you tell that to Judaeus Apella, or to the horse marines ! " ' Reward or richesse ! * I know the spots, within my own part of Ireland, where venerable Archbishops hid themselves as it were in the hole of a rock. In a remote part of Louth county, near the base of the Fews Mountains, is a retired nook called Ballymacscanlon, where dwelt for years, in a farm-house which would attract no attention, the Primate of Ireland and successor of St. Patrick, Bernard M'Mahon, a prelate accomplished in all the learning of his time, and assiduous in the government of his archdiocese ; but he moved with danger, if not with fear, and often encountered hardships in travelling by day and by night. . . . Imagine a priest ordained at Seville or Salamanca, a gentleman of high old name, a man of eloquence and genius, who has sustained disputations in the College halls on questions of literature or theology, imagine him on the quays of Brest, treating with the skipper of some vessel to let him work his passage.^ He wears tarry breeches and a tarpaulin 1 This is not a mere fancy of Mitchell's. Father Delamare, Irish Rector of Salamanca, writes: "Two of our priests will probably go from Bilbao in some Spanish or Irish vessel, or from some of the ports of France. Disguised as sailors, they may be 35^ Distinguished Irishmen. hat, for disguise was generally needful. He flings himself on board, takes his full part in all hard work, scarce feels the cold spray and the tempest. And he knows, too, that the end of it all for him may be a row of sugar-canes to hoe under the blazing sun of Barbadoes, overlooked by a broad- hatted agent of a Bristol planter ; yet he goes eagerly to meet his fate, for he carries in his hand a sacred deposit, bears in heart a sacred message, and must deliver it or die. Imagine him then springing ashore and repairing to seek the Bishop of the diocese in some cave or behind some hedge, but proceeding with caution by reason of the priest-catchers and other wolf-dogs. But Froude would say, this is the ideal priest you have been pourtraying. No, it is the real priest, as he existed and acted at that day, and as he would again in the like emergency. And is there nothing admirable in all this? Is there nothing human and sublime ? Ah ! we Protestants are certainly most enlightened creatures. Mr. Froude says we are the salt of the earth. We stand, each of us, with triumphant conceit upon the sacred and inalienable rights of private stupidity, but I should like to see our excellent Protestantism produce fruit like this." able to leave the ship and get into the country, which is the most usual. If they have money, they will be better able to induce the captain, with whom they shall sail, to favour their landing in that disguise." XII. FATHER WILLIAM BATHE. In the autumn of the year 1605, while some disease was ravaging Dublin, the Lord Deputy, Sir Arthur Chichester, went to spend a month at Howth Castle, the seat of a Catholic nobleman. One day the Lord Deputy and the Lord of Howth were hunting, and, says Father Holy- wood,^ "they were led by the fox into the demesne (of Drumcondra),^ of which Father Bathe was once the proprietor. The Catholic nobleman said, ' Alas ! the owner of this and many other estates, having left everything for Christ's sake, is now living in foreign lands and in poverty. In your religion you could find no such example of abnegation.' The Lord Deputy remarked that Bathe was only one instance. Whereupon the Irish Baron mentioned three others, and amongst them the Reverend Father Peter Nangil of the Order of St. Francis. That kind of argument has great weight in this country, as I could prove by sundry examples." One of the cases mentioned by the Irish Baron was that of Holywood, the 1 In "Ratio Negotiationis Factorum P.N., hoc anno 1605 in regno hoc." (Rom. Archiv. S.J. Anglia MSS. 1590— 1615, p. 294.) Father John Morris and Brother Foley enabled me to examme these MSS. I beg here to thank them for that and for help and encouragement while I prosecuted my researches under difficulties. 2 Or Balgriffin, for both belonged to Father Bathe. o 60 Disti7iguished Irishmen, reporter of the incident, whose Castle of Artane lay between Bathe's Castle and that of Howth. We mean to end the biographies of distinguished Irishmen in the sixteenth century by sketches of the two Jesuits spoken of at the fox-hunt in 1605. In the sixteenth century two gentlemen of the English Pale, while persecution was raging round them and when their relatives and friends were urging them to get married in order to perpetuate ancient and honourable names, gave up their castles and lands to younger brothers and entered the Society of Jesus.^ One was Christopher Holy- wood of Artane Castle, which has now developed into a flourishing industrial school under the direc- tion of the Christian Brothers ; the other was William Bathe, of Drumcondra Castle, the vaulted remnant of which forms a part of an extensive Blind Asylum under the Brothers of the Carmelite Order. In the biographies of William Bathe there are sundry errors. By the Abbe Glaire, in his Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Sciences^ he is called '* Guillaume Bathelier, Protestant " ! In other books he is named Bates and Batty, and is wrongly said to have had Protestant parents, to have re- nounced heresy, been professor of languages at the University of Salamanca, and to have died when about to retreat to the Court of Spain. This last error is in the new National Biography ; ^ "Christophorus a Sacrobosco sive Holy wood et Willelmus Bathe locupleta patrimonia (et sponsis sibi mox matrimonio jungendis), junioribus fratribus ultro cedentes Societati Jesu se aggregaverunt. " (Lynch 's Alithinologice Suppl. p. 189.) Father William Bathe. 361 the fact was, he died when about to give a retreat to the Court of Spain. Harris says : "We have it from tradition that he was of a sullen, saturnine temper and disturbed in his mind on account of the decay of his family, which had fallen from its pristine rank by rebellions, extrava- gance, and other misfortunes."^ On this charming passage put in to suggest that Bathe got crazed, and then of course became a Papist, Philip Bliss, editor of Wood's Athencs, remarks: "This state- ment is given on the authority of a brother citizen, who had doubtless good grounds for the assertion. Otherwise Bathe's early habits and propensity to music in which he much delighted, seem to warrant a supposition that he was of a more lively habit. It appears, moreover, that in his later life he was beloved and respected by all orders for his singular virtues and excellences. Now a sullen, saturnine man is not generally an object of such universal esteem ; nor does it seem probable that one of such a temper would be fixed on to transact public business for the benefit of his Society. On the whole I cannot but think that this censure of our author is built upon a very slender foundation ; and I am the more ready to believe my supposi- tion correct, since no authority whatever has been advanced in support of the censure." To these remarks of Bliss I may add, that he could not have been disturbed on account of the decay of his family which had fallen from its pristine rank by rebellions, for he was the head of that family and a special favourite of Queen Elizabeth. 1 See Harris' Edit, of Ware's Irish Writers, and Harris' sketch of Bathe in Kippis' Biographia Britannica, i. p. 691. 362 Distinguished Irishmen. The truth is that William Bathe was one of " the men of name in this county of Dublin," and that his Castle of Drumcondra was fourth on the list of the twenty-one "principal castles of this county."^ In his day twelve of his namesakes and kinsmen in the counties of Dublin and Meath had castles or other mansions and broad lands, though all their families were soon after swept away, in the persecutions, invasions, and confis- cations of the seventeenth century. The only extant monuments of their former glory, bene- ficence, or piety are an inscribed slab, a ruined castle, a ruin of a ruin, an old bridge, and two wayside crosses. Sixty-six years ago there stood at Drogheda a very beautiful house, made of Irish oak, a carved panel of which bore the arms of Bathe, and this inscription in letters six inches long : " Made bi Nicholas Bathe in ye ieare of our Lord God 1570 by Hiu Mor, carpentar." In the year 1824, this house was taken down by order of the corporation under suspicion of harbour- ing rats, reprobates, and typhus fever. The bridge of Duleek was erected in 1587 by William Bathe and his wife Genet Dowdall, as appears from an inscribed tablet inserted in the battlement. In the village of Duleek a remarkable wayside cross bears the inscription : " This Cross was builded by Genet Dowdall, wife unto William Bathe of Ardcarne, Justice of Her Majesty's Court of Common Flees, for him and her, anno 1601. He deceased the 15th of Oct. 1599, is buried in 1 The Description of Ireland and the State thereof as it is at this present in amio i^gS, pp. 37, 38. Edited and annotated by E. Hogan. Father William Bathe. ^6 o^ the Church of Duleek, whose souls I pray God take to His mercie." On the other side of the cross are sculptured in relief figures of Saints Andrew, Catherine, Stephen, Patrick, Ciaran, Magdalene, Jacobus, and Thomas. The wayside cross of Ardcarne bears on the front of the pillar : " This Cross was builded by Genet Dowdall, late wife unto William Bathe of Athcarne, Justice, for him and her . . . Amen. I.H.S." On the back of the pillar we read : " Haile Marie full of grace, oure Lord is with thee, Haile sweet Virgin, the Blessed Mother of God, the excellent Queene of Heaven, praye for us poore soules. Amen." This Castle of Ardcarne was built in 1590, as appears from inscriptions over several of its doorways. It is still standing, and both it and the Castle of Drumcondra passed by confiscation into the hands of James, Duke of York, and afterwards into the hands of a woollen-draper of Dublin. Father Bathe's Castle of Drumcondra has all disappeared except the lowest vaulted story, the walls of which are four or five feet thick. It is now the kitchen of the Blind Asylum, and in a wall of the passage to the kitchen an old slab has been securely fixed by the pious care of Brother Berch- thold Fahy, Superior of the establishment. On this slab is a shield in which are a cross and four lions rampant for Bathe, and three crescents for Gormanston. The inscription in raised letters runs thus : " This House was builded by John Bathe, Sonne to James Bathe, and by D. Elenor Preston his wife, daughter to Jenrico Preston, L. Vicecome of Gormanston. Anno Domini 1560." These were William Bathe's father and mother 364 Distinguished Irishmen, who built their house four years before their son and heir was born. Their castle did not remain even a hundred years in the hands of their pos- terity, and became successively the residence of Lord Chancellor Bowes, Lord Chancellor Lifford> the Protestant Primate Lord Rokeby, and others. William Bathe's grandfather was Chief Baron of the Exchequer of Ireland under Henry VIII., Philip and Mary, Edward and Elizabeth, from 1541 to 1570, when Baron Cusack was recommended to succeed Chief Baron Bathe deceased, " as he is the only man of his profession that favours religion : all the lawyers are thwarters and hinderers of the Reformation." 1 • William's father, John Bathe, was Solicitor- General in 1572, Attorney-General in 1575 ; in 1584 (when his son William was at Oxford), he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, and obtained a renewal from the Queen of certain leases formerly granted to his father. On the i8th of July, 1587, he died, as we learn from the Inqidsitionum Reper- torium: "John Bathe, late of Dromconraghe, Glasnevan and Clonmell, the Lord's Meadow in Glasnevan ; and John died on the i8th July, in the 28th year of the late Queen. William Bathe was son and heir of said John and of full age when his father died." ^ No doubt he was " a hinderer and thwarter of the Reform," as were the other Irish lawyers of his time, and as he is said to have been by the earliest biographers of Father Bathe. He ^ Calendar of State Papers^ Ireland, years 1541, 1550, 1557, 1563. 1570. 2 Inqtnsitionum in officio Rotulor, Cancell. Hib. Vol. i. Comit. Dublin, April 6, 1624. Father William Bathe, 365 was moreover a charitable man, and in 1580 he gave a plough-land in Chapelizod to support an hospital for four poor men at Balgriffin,i the manor, town, and lands of which belonged to him. William Bathe was thus not a mere Dublin " citizen," he was the son and heir of a Chancellor of the Exchequer, grandson of a Chief Baron, first cousin of the Earl of Roscommon, nephew of the third Viscount Gormanston and Viscount Tara, grand-nephew of the ninth Earl of Kildare, and related to the Earls of Thomond, Tirconnell, Fingal, Ormond, Desmond, Roscommon, to Lords Slane, Delvin, Kingsland, and Netterville, and to the Irish chiefs O'Connor Failghe and O'Carroll of Ely, as well as to the Earl of Lincoln, and to Queen Elizabeth herself This is clear from the pedigrees of Gormanston and Kildare, and it refutes the disparaging statement of Harris, and justifies certain expressions of Bathe's early- Catholic biographers which otherwise would seem exaggerated. Bathe gives this account of himself in the novice-book of Tournay : " I, William Bathe, was born at Dublin on Easter Sunday, the 2nd of April, 1564; my father was John Bathe, a judge, my mother was Eleanor Preston. I have studied humanities in Ireland, philosophy at Oxford and Louvain, and theology at Lou vain. I have been received into the Society at Courtray by Father Duras, Provincial of Belgium, and entered the Novitiate of Tournay the 6th of August, 1595-"^ 1 D'Alton's Hist, of Co. Dublin, p. 250. 2 Father Carlos Sommervogel, who sent me the extract from the Liber Niwitiorum, gives August 6, 1595-6. Brother Foley has the date October 14, from Tournay Diary MS. Brussels P.R.O. n. I,0l6, fol. 1,595- o 66 Distinguished Irishmen. According to his early biographers, some of whom knew him personally, he was born of Catholic parents, of a distinguished family, was reared by them on the pure milk of the Catholic faith, and was trained to every Christian virtue of that holy religion, in which he persevered to the end of his life.^ By his pious parents he was confided in his early years to the care of an enlightened Catholic tutor, and was by him so solidly instructed in the principles of the faith, that, while he was at Oxford, all the pomp and circumstance of Protest- antism only filled him with disgust, and made him, as he says himself, feel weary of the atmosphere of heresy which he breathed there. As he grew in years at home, he showed great prudence, tact, and discretion, and won the hearts of all, even of those who differed from him in reli- gion, by his genial manners and great personal gifts which adorned the nobility of his birth, and by his varied accomplishments which rendered him " the delight of all circles." He learned to play on all kinds of musical instruments, and even to make some of them, at least he had the skill to construct " a harp of a new device ; " but we know not whether he developed its powers as much as did his friend, Robert Nugent, S.J. The Irish harp seems to have been a favourite instrument with him as with other Irish and Anglo-Irish lords and gentlemen, of whom the Irish Hudibras says : ^ The Irish Jesuits of Salamanca in the Annual Letters of 1614, Paul Sherlock, S.J., Alegambe, Jouvancy, Tanner, Nieremberg, and Patrignani. In them we read such words as "Ilustres Caballeros, Senores de Drincondra y otras villas, catholicis ortus parentibus, catholica et lauta domo, puro catholicoe fidei lacte nutritus, catholi- cam fidem ab iis traditam," etc. Father William Bathe. 367 And there's old Tracy and old Darcy, A playing all weathers on the clarsy,^ The Irish harp, whose rusty metal, Sounds like the mending of a kettle. The author of the Irish Hudibras, who had no great appreciation of harmony, differed from Father Bathe, Queen Elizabeth, and others, as to the merits of the Irish harp. He quite forgot that though " the harp that once through Tara's hall " might be rusty, the clarsy constantly played on could not possibly be so. But other writers blunder more strangely still when writing of men and things that they are anxious to discredit. Even Mr. Froude in his attempt to connect Esmonde with the massacre of Prosperous, which he did his best to prevent, says, " Esmonde went to his room washed and dressed, and powdered his hair, like a dog after a midnight orgie ajjtong sheep .'"^ To return to William Bathe, he was, says Wood, " much delighted in the faculty of music." In his Brief e Introduction to the Skill of Song, Batho tells us what delight he found in it, and affords us some insight into his character. He writes thus at the age of nineteen or twenty : " Ignorance, as divines do testify, is one of the plagues put upon man, the creature, for transgressing the commandments of God his Creator, from which we are to come (as the patient from his disease) by degrees. Man's understanding is likened by Aristotle to the eyes of the owlet in the daylight. Solomon saith : Dedi cor meimi ut scirevi prudentiaiUy scientiam^ errores- queP &c. 1 Clairseach, a harp. ^ The English in Ireland, vol. iii. 2 Eccles. i. 17. 368 Distinguished Irishmen, "The fame of our ancestors that diligently laboured to bring us, and in many things brought us, from ignorance to knowledge, shall never be forgotten as long as those things wherein they laboured be in estimation ; and, in mine opinion, so far forth, as we may, we should imitate the steps of them ; for the plague of ignorance is so great, that neither did they, neither shall we, find so much but that we must leave sufficient for our posterity to be found. Wherefore seeing sufficiently others to labour and travail in other sciences, I thought good to bestow my labour on music, seeing that pains might so much prevail, as by the fruit of my labour may plainly appear. I took the matter in hand upon this occasion, though it were far distant from my profession, being desired by a gentleman to instruct him in song. I gave him such rules as my master gave me ; yet could I ^wo. him no song so plain, wherein there chanced not some one thing or other to which none of those rules could directly lead him. ... In a month, or less, I instructed a child about the age of eight years to sing a good number of songs, difficult, crabbed songs to sing at the first sight, to be so indifferent for all parts, alterations, cleves, flats, and sharps, that he would sing a part of that kind of which he had never learnt any song ; which child for strangeness was brought before the Lord Deputy of Ireland to be heard sing, for there was none of his age, though he were longer at it, nor any of his time, though he were elder, known before these rules to sing exactly. There was another, who had before often handled instruments, but never practised to sing (for he could not name Father William Bathe. 369 one note), who, hearing of these rules, obtained in a short time such profit by them that he could sing a difficult song of himself without any instruc- tion. There was another, who by dodging at it, hearkening to it, and harping upon it, could never be brought to tune sharps aright, who, as soon as he heard these rules set down for the same, could tune them sufficiently well. I have taught divers others by these rules in less than a month what myself, by the old method, obtained not in more than two years. Divers other proofs I might recite which here, as needless, I do omit."^ From his Catholic home in Dublin, Bathe went to Oxford about the year 1583. Of his life there and his subsequent career the historian of Oxford says : " He studied several years in that University with indefatigable industry ; but whether in any of the three houses wherein Irishmen of his time studied, viz., in University College, Hart, or Glocester Hall, or whether he took a Degree, I find not. Afterwards, under pretence of being weary with the heresy professed in England (as he usually termed it), he left the nation and the reli- gion he was brought up to, and entered himself into the Society of Jesus. He was endowed with a most ardent zeal for souls, and respected not only by those of his own Order, but of other Orders, for his singular virtues and excellencies of good conditions. ... He was buried, I presume, among his brethren in their house at Madrid, who had a most entire respect for him and his learning while he was living."^ ^ British Museum, c. 31, a. 18. 1 Wood's Athence Oxon. 370 Distingtdshed Irishmen, So writes Anthony Wood, who was, however, mistaken in concluding that because he went to Oxford he had been brought up to the Protestant religion. In 1584, while "a student at Oxenford," he published a treatise on music, in which he claims to have broken fresh ground and hit upon a new and helpful method of arrangement. Its title runs thus : " A brief Introduction to the Art of Music, wherein are set down exact and easy rules for such as seek but to know the truth, with argu- ments and their solutions for such also as wish to know the reason of the truth. Which rules be means whereby any of his own industry may shortly, easily, and regularly attain to all such things as to this art do belong. To which other- wise any can hardly attain without tedious, difficult practice, by means of the irregular order now in teaching, lately set forth by William Bathe, student at Oxenford. Imprinted at London by Abel Jeffes, dwelling in Sermon Lane near Paule's Chain, anno 1584. Small oblong 4to, black letter. Dedicated by William Bathe to his uncle, Gerald FitzGerald, Earl of Kildare."! According to the Annals of the Four Masters, Garrett, the son and heir of the Earl of Kildare, died among the Saxons, and in the next year, 1585, the Earl himself "died among the Saxons, namely, Garrett, the son of Garrett, son of Garrett, son of Thomas, son of John Cam. This Earl had been five years in prison and kept from his patri- monial inheritance until he died." ^ Bathe wrote another treatise on music, "A brief ^ Bliss' Edit, of Wood's ^//2^«^ ; but Kildare was his granduncle. '^ Four Masters an. i^8j. Father William Bathe, . . 371 Introduction to the Skill of Song, concerning the practice, set forth by William Bathe, gentleman. In which work is set downe ten sundry wayes of two parts in one upon the plain song. Also a table, newly added, of the comparisons of clefifes, how one followeth another for the naming of notes, with other necessarie examples to further the learner. London : Printed by Thomas Este, 1600. Small 8vo, 25 pp."i This book was presented to the British Museum by Sir John Hawkins, May 30, 1778. Though there was a law excluding Irish minstrels from the English Pale under pain of imprisonment and the forfeiture des iftstruments de leur mines- tralicie, one Irish harp was found in the registries of the household goods of every Anglo-Irish family in the time of James II. Doubtless the same musical taste prevailed in the time of William Bathe, and his books were bought by those families and may be found among their descend- ants, who are now few and far between ; most probably " Master B " of Dublin, who in 1605 was on his way to Douay or Salamanca and "had learned all his grammar, two years at music, song, and play," had studied those books of William Bathe, who presumably was his uncle. Queen Elizabeth was much pleased with young Bathe's musical skill,^ and showed her favour towards him by many grants of land. The cause of his going to London is thus mentioned by ^ British Museum, c. 31, a. 18, and another copy there marked 1042. d. 36. I-3- ** Cf. " We are frolick here at Court. Irish tunes are at this time most pleasing." (Worcester to Shrewsbury, Sept. 19, 1602.) 372 Distinguished Irishmen. Paul Sherlock, SJ., his earliest biographer, who was personally acquainted with him. Sherlock writes : " William Bathe w^as reared on the pure milk of the Catholic faith and trained to every Christian virtue. On the death of his father he succeeded to all the wealth and possessions of his house, but his elevation to this new position did not make him proud or vain ; on the contrary, his Christian spirit, moderation, and mature judg- ment became more conspicuous. On one occasion, when the Viceroy had some matters of importance to bring under the notice of Elizabeth, he chose Bathe for that mission, knowing that his youth would be a recommendation of which men of more mature years were destitute. Young Bathe became a great favourite of the Queen, whom he delighted by his w^onderful skill in playing all kinds of musical instruments, and amused by teaching her mnemonics, w^hile his many other brilliant parts won for him universal estimation. " Unlike most men in such circumstances. Bathe was not deceived by the flattering gifts of good fortune or by the splendour of the Court of Elizabeth. He had aspirations and longings which the English Court could not satisfy, and he returned to Ireland with the resolve to give himself to study and a priestly life." The foregoing account is confirmed by the narrative in the General History of the Society by Jouvancy (part. v. bk. 13), and by Tanner, Patrig- nani, and other biographers, and by the State Papers. Bathe was related to the Queen through the Kildare family, and also, if I mistake not, to her kinsman, Sir John Perrott, Lord Deputy of Father William Bathe. 2^7^ Ireland from 1583 to 1588, who on his return to England was kept for six months with the sentence of death hanging over him, and died of a broken heart in the Tower, his crime being that he had treated the Irish with common justice. A spy reports to Cecil that Bathe was brought up under Sir John Perrott, was four years in West- minster, and is a great scholar.^ Perrott sent Sir Lucas Dillon, who was married to Bathe's aunt, to give an account of his proceedings to the Queen, and she, on the 20th of January, 1584, expressed her satisfaction to the Deputy. It is most probable that Bathe, who was then twenty years old, was sent to help his uncle on that delicate mission. That he won the good graces of the Queen is vouched for by the State Papers.^ The Queen wrote to the Deputy and Lord Chancellor, August 13) 15^7) directing a lease for forty-one years to be passed to William, son and heir of John Bathe, of such lands as were in the possession of John at the time of his decease. Again, on October 14, 1589, "Elizabeth R. directs a lease in reversion to be made to William Bathe of Dromconragh, of lands of the value of ;^20 a year," in consider- ation of certain lands having passed away from his father by general warrant, which should have otherwise come to him. On September 30, 1589, she wrote to the Lord Deputy to grant a lease of £2,0 a year to William Bathe of Drumconragh.^ On the 2nd of December, 1591, the Lord Deputy 1 Letter of a spy named Stallenge to Cecil, December 31, l602. See Hibernia Ignatiana, p. 106. 2 Calendar of Patent Rolls, pp. 139, 190. 3 Calendar of State Papersy Ireland, 1588— 1592, p. 243. 374 Distinguished Irishmen, wrote to Burghley : It has transpired that " one William Bathe, a gentleman of the Pale, dwelling near Dublin, one known to your lordship for his skill in music, and for his late device of the new harp which he presented to Her Majesty, who has lately gone to Spain, did at his departure leave a cipher with William Nugent, whereby to carry on a correspondence on matters of State. There is an accusation against William Nugent, preferred by Thomas Wakely of the Navan, brother-in-law of the said William Nugent." The following incident was the immediate occasion of Bathe's resolve to return to Ireland and leave the world, in order to devote himself to the service of God in the priesthood. He was one day, in 1588, at a window overlooking the Thames, with a nobleman who was a friend and relative of his own ; he saw the English fleet enter London laden with the spoils of the Spaniards, and he said to his companion, " Heresy seems to triumph over faith in this victory of an heretical Sovereign over a Catholic King. But all this will pass away, and death will come upon us. How much better would it be to spend one's life in some retired corner of a Catholic country preparing for that last hour, than to live thoughtlessly amid the scenes of festivity and dissipation in which we mingle ? " He came back to Ireland soon afterwards to lead a life of retirement, and look after the inheritance which fell to him by the death of his father a year before. He was then twenty-four years of age, and, as Sherlock tells us, four most brilliant matches were offered to him, yet he remained unshaken in his resolve to lead Father William Bathe. 375 a life of celibacy and renounce his inheritance in favour of his brother John. It was at this period he read and got others to read Father Parsons' Christian Directory, which appeared at that time. His opinion of that book is quoted in Father More's History of the English Province, S.J. :^ "I have never heard of a book, the mere reading of which has produced so much fruit in our days in England and Ireland as this Christian Directory. A great councillor of the Queen in Ireland, and a friend of mine, who was for many years immersed in honours and pleasures, when hearing this book read, broke out into expressions of extraordinary admiration, saying that it would be almost impos- sible for any one to write with such force without singular help from on high. He was a man of great intellect and judgment, and he conceived such compunction from hearing it read, that he was never at rest, till, with the consent of his wife, and to the great wonder of the whole kingdom, he publicly renounced all his dignities, and went to lead a solitary life in a lonely place, where full of the grace of tears, he did wonderful penances to the end of his life." The last traces of Bathe that we find in Ireland are in the Deputy's letter of the 2nd of December, already quoted, and in the following entry of the Repertorium Inquisitionum. "Sir Thomas Fitz- Williams, knight, was seized in fee of the manor, town, and lands of Balgriffine, 300 acres. He granted them on the 29th November, 1599, to William Bathe and his male heirs with remainder, 1 See Hib. Ignatiana, p. 151 ; it is given in full in More's Hist. Prov. Anglice, p. 112. 376 Distmgidshed Irishmen, in case of no male issue, to John Bathe, now of Dromconragh. The said William was seized in fee of this aforesaid manor of Balgriffine ; of the town and lands of Borecoolin, 60 acres ; Nanger, 60 acres ; Stacol, 60 acres. On the 6th of December, 1599, William gave to John Bathe the lands of Dromconragh, Balgriffine, Ballybockl, Drishoke, Clonmel, Glasneven, Borecoolin, Stacol, and Nanger. William died on the 20th of July, 161 5, without heirs. His mother Jennet ''died on 4th of June, 161 7." Jouvancy, Nieremberg, Tanner, and most biographers, save only the earliest of all, Father Paul Sherlock, say that he went to Oxford after having given his property to his brother, but the Repertoriuvi Inquisitiomtm confirms Sherlock's view. However, before quoting Sherlock's narrative, I will give an abridged account of his life at Oxford as it is described by sundry writers. They say, his friends tried to induce him to get married, as he was a man of wealth and position and a favourite of the Queen and the Viceroy, but he renounced his inheritance in favour of a younger brother, and went to Oxford to give himself wholly to piety and the study of philosophy, and the practice of rigorous penance. By degrees he was drawn to a desire of religious life by Almighty God, who had chosen him to promote His greater glory. The love of solitude gave him an incli- nation to the Order of Carthusians ; the wish for a life of austerity attracted him to the Capuchins ; zeal for the salvation of his neighbour drew him towards the Society of Jesus. One day when he had performed some acts of penitential austerity in order that God might extricate him from the Father William Bathe, 377 perplexity of his thoughts, he fell into a slumber, from which he was roused by a clear voice which said to him these words of St. John, Ingredietnr et egredietur et pascua inveniet. He prayed fervently to know what these words meant, and he was given to understand that he was called to an active life and to the Society of Jesus. He accord- ingly went over to Flanders with a view to enter that Order. We know from himself that he studied philo- sophy at Oxford and Louvain, and theology at Louvain ; and though he may have had very serious thoughts at Oxford about his state of life, it seems clear that the things above narrated refer specially to the time of his divinity studies at Louvain ; for this reason I prefer Sherlock's narrative, which I here give in full from the tenth volume, pp. 525 and 526, of The Irish Ecclesiastical Record. " In Flanders he gave himself up to the study and practice of virtue. He led a life of strict retirement, great penance, and continual intercourse with God, and our Lord inspired him with strong desires of serving him in some Religious Order. Resolved on abandoning the world, and subject- ing his will to another's, he was in great perplexity which of three Orders, which then flourished with strict observance, he should embrace, the Carthu- sian, the Capuchin, or the Society of Jesus. A fervent zeal for the conversion of sinners and the salvation of souls inclined him powerfully to the Society ; but he feared that in the pursuit of these souls, and in intercourse with the world, he should miss the sweet repose of serious contemplation ^yS Distinguished Irishmen, which craves retirement and solitude. In the midst of this perplexity, his body being overcome by the workings of his soul, which was struggling to ascertain the will of Heaven, he one day fell asleep, and these words of St. John sounded in his interior : Ingredietur et egredietur, etpascua inveniet; and longing to know what they meant, he was given to understand that the pastures and spiritual food he sought, he should find in the active life observed in the Society of Jesus. Acting on this benign promise he immediately took steps to enter the Society in Flanders, and succeeded. After a few months' novitiate the Superiors found him so advanced in spiritual things, that they appointed him companion to the Master of Novices. After giving rare examples of all virtues in his novitiate, he was sent to the College of St. Omer, where a great number of English Catholic youths were educated. Here he assisted to train in letters, but much more in virtue and all kinds of spiritual knowledge, those young men, the promise of their native land ; but falling into bad health, and his life becoming endangered, he went to Italy, by order of the Father General, and completed his studies in the College of Padua. There he con- ceived that burning zeal for the good of souls which lasted his whole life ; his only delight being to reach them, he recognized no difficulty where their salvation was concerned. Day and night he was ready to attend any one who should call him, and he would seek them out himself in the prisons and hospitals, and wherever else he could discover those in need of his services, always preferring the poorest and most neglected. Father William Bathe, 379 "While he was thus practising for his future labours, it so happened that His Holiness appointed Father Luigi Mansoni, of the Society of Jesus, a man of great sanctity, prudence, and learning, as Apostolic Nuncio in Ireland. The Father General named William Bathe as his companion, and thus he went with the Nuncio to the Court of Spain, where they were to receive certain necessary instructions. Whilst they were at Court, however, peace was made between the crowns of Spain and England, and the embassy of the Nuncio came to an end. Father Mansoni returned to Italy, but Father Bathe remained at Valladolid, where the Court then was held, and thence he went to the University of Salamanca, where God had reserved for him so many victories and triumphs over Hell. He received from Heaven a singular faculty of giving the Exercises of St. Ignatius with such extraordinary effect, that he could do what he liked with souls, and his room was constantly crowded with people who came to be instructed by him. A great reformation among the citizens followed ; but it was in the young men, the intellectual flower of Spain, who frequented that famous University, that God wrought most wonders through him. "He took particular pains in instructing the poor, and established a confraternity of the humblest classes, which he placed under the patronage of the rich. At the same time he assisted in the Irish College, which during its short existence under the direction of the Jesuits, had sent a crowd of labourers to the vineyards of Ireland, many of whom became learned professors, bishops, 380 Distinguished h'ishnen, archbishops, and martyrs. Most of these passed under Father William's direction as dean of the house, and learned music and ceremonies from him. He procured the writing of a book, called Jaitua Li7igua7'um^ which was composed under his direction, and was of great service to novices in Latin, and he has left beside three other works — An Introduction to the Arte of Mtisic ; a Spanish Treatise on the Sacrament of Penance ; and Instrtcc- tions on the Mysteries of Faith, in English and Spanish. " He performed the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius three times a year, and every month he had a day of retreat, which he called the day of his reformation, on which he always fasted till nightfall. He paid so little attention to the things of the world, that he scarcely took the trouble to learn the difference between the various pieces of money, and always had to study it when he had occasion to go on a journey. If the distance were not very great, he always travelled on foot, and never looked for ease or comfort wherever he might put up. He was rigorous in the use of the discipline, and always wore a hair-shirt. His sleep was the shortest, and on boards, and his mortifica- tion so extreme that his Superiors had to interfere in order to moderate it. He had extraordinary devotion to the Blessed Virgin, in whose honour he fasted every Saturday, and spent two hours in prayer, contemplating her virtues and prerogatives. " His fame became so widespread that he was called to Madrid to give Spiritual Retreats to the highest personages there, when God was pleased to take him to Himself. He caught fever and died Father William Bathe, 381 seven days after, on the 17th of June, 161 4, after receiving all the sacraments, in the forty-eighth year of his age, and the fifteenth year of his reli- gious life. He was professed of the four vows, and he died, as he lived, a model of sanctity and Christian perfection."^ The sketch that I have given from the pen of Paul Sherlock, a distinguished pupil of Father Bathe's, I will confirm and supplement from other sources, specially from Eusebio Nieremberg's Varones Iliistres. While Bathe was studying and praying and devoting himself to the salvation of souls in Flanders, Italy, and Spain, he was not forgotten at home by either friends or foes. On the 2nd of December, 1591, Burghley is informed of his departure from Ireland. On October 26, 1602, Cecil is told by a spy that " there is at Milan an Irish Jesuit which hath great correspondence with Parsons and Edward Stanley;" on the 31st of December, 1602, he is further informed that "an Irish Jesuit has lately left Corunna, who was brought up under Sir John Perrott, was four years in Westminster, is a great scholar and knows Spanish. The State should beware of him as he has a devilish spirit."^ His brethren at home did not lose sight of him, and often urged Father General to send him to help and comfort his afflicted countrymen. The General consented, and selected him on the ist of May, 1 60 1, to accompany Father Manzoni, the ^ Sherlock's Latin sketch translated by Dr. MacDonald in The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, x. 527. - Report of a spy to Cecil, December 31, 1602. 382 Distinguished Irishmen. Apostolic Nuncio, to Ireland. At the end of May, 1602, Bathe wrote an account of the state of Ireland, and in June wrote another account addressed to the Nuncio, which he desires to be shown to the Superiors, SJ., at Genoa, Bologna, Venice and Padua, and in the latter place to R Willoughby, an Englishman. His coming was expected in Ireland in 1604, ^-^id Holy wood writes to the General that Father William had not yet come, and that he had a residence in the North prepared for him and Father Robert Nugent. He did not come, and was made spiritual director of the Irish College at Lisbon in 1604.^ The truth is, that this man "of a saturnine mind," "who hath a devilish spirit," had such influence for good over the Irish students, and the students of the University of Salamanca, and had his cell so besieged by Spanish noblemen who came to consult with him on the interests of their souls, that Father Archer, the Superior General of the Irish Colleges, and the Spanish Provincial were anxious to keep him, and were able to prevail on the Father General to delay his return to his native land. Thus the Peninsula became the theatre of his labours for the last fourteen years of his holy life, though he was most anxious to serve on the arduous and dangerous mission of Ireland. However, even abroad he rendered such service that he deserved to be mentioned by Father FitzSimon in 161 1 among " the principal men who by their pains advanced the public good of our country to their greatest power, travailing for it without all private and ^ Hib, Ignat. pp. 126, 130, 133. Father William Bathe, ^y^^i provincial respects, by whom our said country received many rare helps and supplies, especially in these later days, to the great advancement of God's glory and discomfiture of heretics."^ His labours in foreign fields are recorded by the Spanish Jesuits. The Annual Letters of Toledo, in mentioning his death, say that "he died at the Jesuit College of Madrid, the Fathers of Salamanca can tell all about his life and virtues ; suffice it for us to say that as long as he was here he shone forth as a model of all virtues to the members of our community and to the people of the city." Father Bathe's biographers say, he was a very industrious and hard-working man, and gifted by God with great zeal for the salvation of souls and with a singular grace for guiding in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. In his novitiate and before his ordination he was made " Socius " of the Master of Novices, and when his novitiate was over, he was sent to St. Omer to take charge of the English youths there, and to prepare them to meet the many and dreadful dangers of apostasy or death that awaited them on their return to England. He devoted himself by word and ex- ample to that noble task with so much zeal, that his health broke down, and he was ordered by Father General to prosecute his theological studies at Padua. He was there ordained, and felt then an incredible ardour for saving souls beginning to glow in his heart : he could hardly speak of aught else, and he would not hesitate in presence of any obstacle, however great, if it were question of the 1 Life and Letters of Henry FitzSimon, p. 68. 384 Distinguished Irishmen. salvation of even one soul. Day and night he was ever ready for work ; he went about the streets looking for the ignorant to teach them the articles of faith, for the poor and sick to help them ; he was assiduous in visiting prisons and hospitals, and even houses where he suspected people were in want of spiritual or temporal assistance. These were but the preludes of great labours and many spiritual fruits. On May 19, 1601, the Pope^ being informed by Father Archer, whom he had called to Rome, appointed as Apostolic Nuncio to that country Father Manzoni, a man of great prudence, learning, and holiness, and Father General gave him William Bathe as companion. This oppor- tunity of transferring his zeal to Ireland filled Father Bathe with delight. The Nuncio and his companion went to Spain, but were prevented by the current of events from going to Ireland. Bathe lived first at Valladolid, where the Court was then held, but he soon went to Salamanca, where he was destined by God to triumph over the powers of darkness, and snatch very many souls from the jaws of Hell. There he performed the same works of zeal as at Padua, but, more- over, God there imparted to this " most spiritual Father "2 a singular grace of giving the Spiritual Exercises with immense results, and of moving the hearts of men as he wished. No one made a retreat under his guidance without finding the desired tranquillity of soul. The house in which ■^ By the Bull l\o?)iamim decet Pontificem he appoints Manzoni as Nuncio, with the powers of Legate a Latere. {Synopsis Actoruni S. Sedis in causa Societatis lesti, p. 216.) ^ "A este espiritualisimo Padre." (Nieremberg. ) Father William Bathe. 385 he lived was never without some men of various classes and states of life making a retreat under his guidance, and his cell was besieged by people coming to seek his spiritual advice. The result of this zeal and piety was manifest in the reformation in the lives of the citizens, the nobles, and the youths of the University who had gathered there from all parts of the Peninsula. In a few months, more than three hundred notorious perpetrators or abettors of crime were converted under circum- stances that seemed most extraordinary, and to the intense astonishment of the whole city of Salamanca. The students of the University were so inflamed with fervour, that all the monasteries soon got filled with novices, and every day most illustrious youths came to Salamanca to be guided by Bathe in the Spiritual Exercises. His zeal was not satisfied with this great work. He undertook at the same time the care of the poor, and endeavoured to aid them by teaching the catechism, and by procuring temporal help for them. To this end he founded the Sodality of Nobles, which was called also Z^ Congregacion de PobreSj and continued to flourish in numbers and piety up to the year 1641, when Nieremberg wrote, and till 1694, when Tanner penned his biography ; and it would be interesting to know if it has survived down to our own times. He lived at the Irish College, and gave his tenderest care to that institution, from which, says Nieremberg in 1 64 1, have gone forth three hundred most fervent priests of the mission in Ireland, besides many religious, learned Doctors of Divinity, and Pro- fessors of the first chairs in the most celebrated 386 Distinguished Irishmen, Universities of Europe, whose erudite works witness to their industry and genius. Not a few of them became primates, archbishops, bishops, and prelates as well in Ireland as abroad ; some suffered imprisonment and death for the faith, and some were renowned for the working of miracles before and after their deaths. No small propor- tion of those were gathered together by Father Bathe and advanced by him in the way of perfection. In this seminary of his nation he pronounced his profession of the four vows in the year 161 2. He was especially endeared to men of all ranks and conditions by his ardent zeal for souls, his singular virtues, and his dis- tinguished manners. He taught the students church music and the ceremonies, he also taught them the classics. Above all, by word and example he fostered in them a tender devotion to the Mother of God. In honour of this Blessed Mother, every Saturday he fasted and spent two hours in meditating on her power, excellence, goodness, maternal love, and her Divine Maternity, and moreover, on all the vigils of the festivals of her, whom he used to call his Mother, he took nothing but bread and water during the day. His zeal for others did not diminish his zeal for his own perfection. He spent ten full days on retreat three times a year ; every month he remained one whole day without any food, ex- amining how he had passed the previous month, and preparing himself to spend the next month well. That day he called the day of his reform. He wore a hair-shirt of the most penitential kind, took the discipline every day, slept on a bare Father William Bathe. 387 board, guarded the gates of his senses with the greatest care; he never wore new clothes, and though he supported an immense number of poor, he did not know the names or values of the coins current at Salamanca, and would never touch them the earliest times, forms a final and valuable Appendix by itself. . . ."— Notes and Queries, February 2, 1884. ". . . . The remaining contents are varied, but all interesting, compri- sing 'very much matter newly contributed relative to ancient families, members of which have found glorious mention in the Record volumes. . . . One extract from an Appendix may interest some readers as much as it has ourselves. Under the heading, ' Principal Fountains of the English Province S.J.,' the author has drawn up a comparative list of counties showing the number of members they have furnished to the Society, from the earliest date to the present (excluding living members). . . ." — Dublin Review, July, 1883. " This handsome volume, the second part of the seventh volume of the Records of the English Province S.J. fully maintains the high character of its predecessors. . . . The annual reports furnish a mass of important and interesting information on the state of the Church in England during the early part of the seventeenth century, . . . forming a short epitome of the history of the persecuted Church from 1601 to 1627. During these years the insidious test oath of allegiance framed by King James I. became the unhappy cause of numerous defections and grievous dissensions among the Catholic body. . . . The Fathers of the Society were constant and unani- mous in condemning and rejecting it, and their course of conduct, though it exposed them to the brunt of the persecution and was the occasion of much obloquy, was proved by the formal and repeated condemnation of the oath at Rome to be the only safe and consistent one. In the reports from the English Province for the succeeding years to 1645, we have set before us a vivid picture of the hopes and fears, the labours and sufferings of the heroic raissioners, and the exactions, imprisonments, tortures, &c., of which their flocks as well as they themselves were the victims, with many edifying details of extraordinary conversions, miraculous cures, marvellous interpositions of Providence and signal punishments inflicted upon perse- cutors. ... A letter of special value from Father Henry Garnett, S.J., martyr, contains most interesting details regarding several heroic confessors of the faith. . . . This and succeeding letters contain many edifying circumstances in the lives and sufferings of these holy martyrs, which are not to be found in Bishop Challoner's valuable Memoirs. ... In taking leave of the author, we must again express our gratitude to him for the flood of light he has by his researches let into this obscure but deeply interesting period of our ecclesiastical history. These eight volumes of Records have made us fuUy acquainted with the important part which the Society of Jesus has had in the preservation and revival of Catholic faith in this country during the ages of persecution, and at the same time afford an authentic refutation of the Protestant theory, so industriously circulated by her enemies, that her work is that of a secret and unscrupulous organization, labouring with unbounded resources, and by the most unworthy means, for selfish and political objects."— 7"//^ Month, July, 1883. ". . . . In connection with the subject of this article, we must call the attention of our readers to the singularly interesting Records of the English Pron'ince of the Society of Jesus, recently published by Mr. Henry Foley, S.J. These collectanea present the entire history of the English Jesuits from the foundation of the Order, and are a complete repertory of the lives of English Roman Catholic families. What a singular and touching picture of an obscure part of our annals do these volumes ^XQSGni."— Edinburgh Review or Critical Journal, October, 1883. "We now congratulate the Editor upon the work which he has thus brought to a successful termination. It has advanced with a rapidity and regularity which are alike remarkable. In it he has rendered an important contribution, not only to his own Society, but to almost every department of our historical literature, for which, with many others, we gladly express our gratitude. "—Tc^/^^, May 31, 1884. JAMES STANLEY, Manresa Press, Roehampton, London, S.W. UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. SEP 2 y 1998 ISNov'Skb^^^^ ^ z q: < lU CQ -J CO • • fe !i " J < U. ,^J U e It i I ^ 1 z z " D I,D 21-100r>i-ll,'49(B7I4e 816)476 YB 30A10 802168 (§4'^'^''^ ^7 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA UBRARY