Tallaght (Walsh)

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy: With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv p. 437-8

Tallaght in the barony of Newcastle and five miles from Dublin. St. Maelruan, was abbot and bishop of Tallaght, is reckoned among the learned men of his age and probably was the first among the authors of the Martyrology of Tallaght. Among his disciples for several years was Aengus the great Hagiologist. St Maelruan died on the 7th of July, AD 788. Here another bishop resided within five miles of Dublin 

AD 824 Saint Aengus was abbot. This celebrated saint was of an illustrious family descended from the ancient princes of Dalaradia in Ulster. His father was Aengaven, son of Hoblen, hence Aengus is distinguished by that surname. He embraced the monastic state in the convent of Clonenagh under the holy abbot Moetlagen and made great progress in piety and learning. He was accustomed to spend a great part of the day in a lonesome spot not far distant from the monastery, called after him Diseart Aengus, where he was engaged in reading the Psalms and in constant prayer. 

His reputation for sanctity becoming very great.  He wished to withdraw to some place in which he would be unknown. Having heard of the strict and exemplary discipline with which St. Maelruan governed his monastery, he resolved to put himself under his instruction and guidance. When arrived at the monastery of Tallaght, Aengus concealed his name and his rank in the Church and requested to be received as a novice. It is said that he was employed seven years in the most laborious avocations, and his humility and the austerity of his life were so remarkable that he was called Celle Dhia, i.e., the servant or companion of God. 

At length his rank and acquirements were discovered by St. Maelruan in consequence of his having assisted one of the school boys of the monastery in preparing his task at which he had been either dull or negligent and who was afraid of being punished by St. Maelruan. The boy hid himself in the barn where Aengus was working and who taking compassion on the youth assisted him so well that he was enabled to recite his task to the satisfaction of his master. Surprised at the change of his pupil, Maelruan pressed him to tell how it came to pass and compelled him to relate the whole circumstance, although Aengus desired him to be silent on the matter. Maelruan, who had hitherto considered Aengus as an illiterate rustic, repaired to the barn and embracing him complained of having concealed his name and expressed his deep regret for the humble and abject manner with which he had been treated. Aengus prostrating himself at the feet of the holy abbot begged pardon for what he had done. 

Henceforth, he was regarded with the greatest consideration and it is probable that he remained at Tallaght until Maelrnan's death in 788. He must then have succeeded to the abbacy of Tallaght. He became afterwards the abbot of Clonenagh. He was also raised to the episcopal rank without leaving the monasteries which he governed. Aengus died on the 11th of March but in what year is not recorded and was buried at Clonenagh. 

Besides the martyrology of Tallaght, he composed another work on the saints of Ireland divided into five small books, the first containing the names of three hundred and forty five bishops, two hundred and ninety nine priests and abbots and seventy eight deacons, the second entitled the Homonymous or saints of the same name as Colman &c., the thirdm the book of sons and daughters, giving an account of holy persons born of the same parents, the fourth giving the maternal genealogy of about two hundred and ten Irish saints, and the fifth, a collection of litanies in which are invoked groups of saints among whom are included several foreigners who died in Ireland. In this litany he specifies the very places in which they are interred...

In addition to the evidence which this litany supplies of the ancient fame and sanctity of Ireland and of the esteem and veneration with which the natives of other countries regarded our isle as the asylum of piety and learning and hospitality, there are all over the country monumental inscriptions which evidently demonstrate the truth which the litany of Aengus unfolds. And, although Ireland converted myriads in the sister isle and afforded hospitality to her princes and to her ascetics, still England and England alone, and wherever she has planted the false tenets of her heretical doctrines, the name of Ireland and of Irishmen is despised. While, all over the continent of Europe, Ireland and her people are revered and respected. English, Roman, Italian, Gallic and even Egyptian saints seven in number are recounted in the litany of Aengus.

Another work of his a poetical one comprises the history of the Old Testament, which he put into the form of prayers and praises to God. 

AD 889 died St. Dichull. There was an abbot of Louth of this name of whom St. Patrick is said to have prophesied. 

AD 937 died Laidgene comorb of Ferns and Tamlacht. 

AD 964 died Cronmalius, professor of this abbey 

AD 1125 died Maelsuthumius another professor.

Allen's Hospital (Walsh)

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy: With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv p. 429.

Allen's Hospital. Walter archbishop of Dublin, about the year 1500, granted a space of ground on which to build a stone house for ten poor men.  June 8th, 1504, John Allen, then dean of St Patrick's cathedral, founded this hospital for sick poor to be chosen from the families of Allen, Barret, Begge, Hill, Dillon and Rodier in the diocese of Dublin and Meath, and to be good and faithful catholics of good fame and honest conversation the dean assigned lands for their support and maintenance and further endowed the hospital with a messuage in the town of Duleek county of Meath. The founder died January the 2nd, 1505.

Hospital of St Stephen (Walsh)

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy: With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv p. 428.

Hospital of St Stephen was situated in the south suburbs of the city and Mercer's charitable hospital has been erected on the site thereof.  January 30th, 1344, a license was granted to Geoffrey de St. Michael, guardian of St. Stephen's, permitting him to go to foreign countries for the space of two years. Nothing more known of the establishment.

Steyne Hospital. Henry de Loundres archbishop of Dublin about the year 1220 founded this hospital in honor of God and St James in this place so called near the city of Dublin. He endowed it with the lands of Kilmachurry, Kilmalmahnock, Slewardach and the church of Delgeny.

The abbey of Carmelite or White friars (Walsh)

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy: With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv p. 428.

The abbey of Carmelite or White friars

In the year 1278 the Carmelite friars represented to King Edward I that, by several grants of Roger Owen James de Bermingham and Nicholas Bacuir, they had procured a habitation for themselves with certain tenements and other possessions within the city of Dublin, and that they proposed to erect thereon a church.  The king, by writ dated the 6th of November, commanded the bailiffs and citizens of Dublin to permit the friars to inhabit the said place and build their church without let or hindrance.  The citizens obstinately opposed the friars, shewing the many inconveniences that would arise from their petition.  Being thus defeated the Carmelites applied with more success to Sir Robert Bagot, knight, chief justice of the king's bench, who built a monastery for them in the parish of St Peter in the south suburbs of the city, on a site which he purchased from the abbey of Baltinglass in the county of Wicklow.

AD 1320 John Sugdaeus provincial of the Carmelite friars in Ireland held a chapter of the order 

AD 1333 the parliament sat in a hall of this monastery. Among its benefactors were Richard II, Henry IV and Henry VI, from whom this house obtained a grant of 100l annually to be paid out of the customs of the city of Dublin.  

William Kelly was the last prior and in the thirty-fourth of Henry VIII, this convent, with eleven acres, nine houses, gardens and orchards, was granted to Nicholas Stanehurst at the annual rent of 2s 6d.  It was afterwards conceded by Elizabeth to Francis Aungier, created baron of Longford, in June, 1621. 

The Carmelites have again established themselves in the metropolis of Ireland.

The Archiepiscopal See of Dublin (1762-1823)(Walsh)

Archbishop Troy, O.P.

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, 1854, c. xvi, p. 129 ff:

Patrick Fitzsimon, dean of Dublin and parish priest of St Audeon's, was appointed to the archdiocese, a dignity which he filled six years in a manner solely ecclesiastical and unobtrusive. It is worthy of remark that his prudence and judgment were preeminently evinced on the occasion of the test oaths when the Pope's nuncio at Brussels, Ghillini, denounced them and directed an authoritative remonstrance against them, which he designed to be circulated as a pastoral throughout the province. These oaths were projected as a security by the government in the event of conceding emancipation to the Irish Catholics. The archbishop suppressed the nuncio's remonstrance. The Irish parliament in the last year of this prelate's life issued an order to the parliamentary archbishops and bishops of the kingdom to make out a list of the several families in their parishes, distinguishing Protestant from Catholic, and also of the several popish priests and friars residing in their parishes. Having attained the age of seventy six years, the archbishop died in Francis Street, Dublin AD 1769

John Carpenter succeeded on the 3d of June, 1770. Having passed to a foreign university, Lisbon, to acquire his education and degrees, he was, on his return to his native city of Dublin, appointed curate in St Mary's parish chapel. Early in his missionary life, he was involved in the political struggles of the day and engaged with Lord Taaffe, who was the venerable mediator of the Irish Catholics, but they were then considered of too little importance to be noticed by the government. On the death of Archbishop Fitzsimon the regulars of the province anxiously solicited the translation of De Burgo, bishop of Ossory and the author of Hibernia Dominicana, to the see of Dublin, however, through the influence of the earl of Fingal, Charles O'Connor of Belanagare and others of the Catholic nobility and gentry and the hearty concurrence of the Dublin clergy, the promotion of Doctor Carpenter was effected. He was consecrated in Liffey street chapel by Anthony Blake, the primate of Armagh, assisted by the bishops of Kildare and Ossory. In November, 1778, Doctor Carpenter, seventy of his clergy and several hundred Roman Catholics of the laity, attended at the court of king's bench in Dublin and took the oaths prescribed by the act of parliament for the relief of the Roman Catholics of Ireland. On the 29th of October, 1786, Archbishop Carpenter closed his mortal career in the fifty ninth year of his age and was buried in St Michan's churchyard, Dublin. He was not a prelate gifted with any remarkably splendid talents.  They were more distinguished for sound judgment strong memory and diligent research.

John Thomas Troy succeeded in 1786 was born near Porterstown in the county of Dublin. At the early age of fifteen he went to Rome to prosecute his studies there assumed the Dominican habit and at length became the rector of St Clement's in that city. In 1776, on the death of De Burgo, bishop of Ossory, the pope selected this divine as worthy to fill his vacant chair. He was accordingly consecrated at Louvain on his way homeward by the archbishop of Mecklin assisted by two mitred abbots.

On arriving in his diocese of Ossory he revived the ecclesiastical conferences of the clergy that were from necessity discontinued. In January, 1779, and again in October of the same year, he published very spirited circulars against the system of whiteboyism then prevalent and caused excommunication to be solemnly pronounced against all those who were engaged in its folly through all the churches of his diocese. In 1787, he issued pastoral directions to his clergy in which they were strictly prohibited the future celebration of midnight masses by which the festival of Christ's nativity was ushered in and that none should be celebrated before six o clock in the morning.  He forbade any priest secular or regular from appearing at hunts races or public concerts. In 1793, Doctor Troy published pastoral instructions on the duties of Christian citizens, which were impugned as favoring republicanism but the whole scope of his writings was to show that Roman Catholics adhering to the principles of their Church are loyal and good subjects because their religion inculcates obedience to constituted authority and to the power that is established under any form of government. His loyalty to the throne was too well known to be thus rashly assailed and in the subsequent troubles of the country he denounced sentence of excommunication against any of his flock who should rise in arms against the government whereby his life was endangered as a conspiracy was formed to murder him.

In 1795 was founded the royal college of Maynooth an institution intended solely for the benefit of those who were educated for the Catholic priesthood of Ireland. The buildings cost thirty two thousand pounds and were far from being sufficiently extensive to give accommodation to the students. The annual grant from parliament heretofore amounted to £8,000 sterling. In 1807, an application for an increase was made and the additional sum of £2,500 was obtained at which amount the annual grant continued until the year 1844, when Sir Robert Peel pressed by the repeal agitation endowed the college thereby preventing the annual display of parliamentary bigotry by which the establishment as well as the faith of the Catholics of Ireland was assailed and insulted.  Its present income is £26,300 sterling.  New buildings have been recently erected at an expense of £30,000 in a manner and style befitting the national college of the Irish church. Before its endowment the Very Rev. Michael Montague of Armagh, for many years burser of the college and subsequently president, by a wise economy and by a desire also to add to the comforts of the students was enabled to erect the structures that are set apart for the junior students. At the period that this important concession was made to the Catholics of Ireland intercourse with the Continent was suspended and consequently the means of education were beyond the reach of the students who were intended for the service of the Catholic Church. The government wisely resolved to provide them a suitable education as it was debarred them abroad and as its deprivation was a proscription beyond man's endurance and one to which no people should submit. It is then to the liberality of an Irish parliament consisting as it did exclusively of Protestants and to its judgment the native talent of Ireland is no longer obliged to search for education in the land of the foreigner. Perhaps too the fear of imbibing revolutionary ideas on the Continent operated powerfully on the Irish senate as they could not but understand the unwise policy of having the priesthood of Ireland educated in countries which cherished interests passions and prejudices directly hostile to the government under which they were to live and of having them return home with feelings of gratitude to those people who had offered them an asylum and averse to those who had at home proscribed their education. The college of Maynooth can vie with any similar establishment of Europe in piety discipline and talent

In 1814 a contest arose between Doctor Troy and the grand jury of the city of Dublin relative to the Catholic chaplaincy of the jail of Newgate.  The grand jury having appointed one, Doctor Troy, on the plea of incompetence, suspended him.  The former appealed to the court of king's bench but were informed that, if the person they selected was not to be found at his post they must proceed to nominate another and to continue until the office was substantially filled. The grand jury, however, adopted a different course and sent an order to the prison that no Catholic clergyman should be admitted except him whom Doctor Troy had suspended.  A disgraceful and protracted strife ensued and under the protection of an old penal enactment continued to maintain a clergyman in an office of importance who was disqualified by his legitimate superior.

In April, 1815, Archbishop Troy laid the foundation stone of his metropolitan church but he lived not to witness its completion. He departed this life on the 11th of May, 1823, in the 84th year of his age and was buried in the vaults of the temple he was founding. Doctor Troy was a truly learned and zealous pastor attached to the glory of God and his church and to the honor of the holy see, solicitous of and vigilant in the discharge of his duties for the good of those entrusted to his charge and of the state of which he was a member, meek and unassuming so that the humblest child of his diocese could approach him with confidence and affection.

Latin Mass in Saint Joseph's, Berkeley Road

This morning the monthly 2nd Saturday Sodality of Our Lady Exercises and Traditional Latin Mass took place in St. Joseph's Church, Berkeley Road, Dublin 7.

The Traditional Latin Mass was offered for the feast of Saint Bonaventure. Traditional Hymns and Mass IX of Our Lady accompanied the Mass, which was preceded by the recitation of the Most Holy Rosary in Latin, the Memorare, Pope Leo XIII's Prayer to Saint Joseph and the Litany of Our Lady. After Mass Matins of the Little Office of the Immaculate Conception and the traditional Sodality Prayers for sick and deceased Sodality members, for Priests and the Act of Consecration of St. John Berchmans, an early member of the Sodality, were recited.

The Monthly Patron - a custom going back to the earliest days of the Sodality in Rome - was St. John Marie Baptist Vianney - and the monthly 'billet' giving a date to go to Mass and Holy Communion in reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus was distributed to each Sodalist present.

 The Church is in a beautiful neo-gothic style with most of its original features remaining. The Dictionary of Irish Architects describes the original features of the Church. Archiseek includes further pictures. Buildings of Ireland has a detailed architectural description. Dublin City Council's website includes an early picture of the Church from the North.

You can attend these traditional devotions ever 2nd Saturday of the month at 11.30 a.m in the Chapel of Our Lady in the South Aisle of the Church, although the Sacred Heart Altar and High Altar are also used on special feasts.  The warm and generous hospitality of the Carmelite Community and the Parish Community of St. Joseph's is warmly appreciated by all involved in the Sodality and the Traditional Latin Mass.

Come and Pray!

11th Anniversary of Summorum Pontificum

Today we celebrated the 11th Anniverary of the issuing of Pope Benedict XVI's decree Summorum Pontificum with a Traditional Latin Mass in Blessed Cardinal Newman's University Church on St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.  It was also the 11th Anniversary of the first monthly First Saturday Traditional Latin Mass there.  The text came through from a friend in Rome that the long-awaited Summorum Pontificum had been published.  However, the Sodality of Our Lady, meeting monthly in University Church since 2003, had already received the gracious permission of the Archbishop of Dublin for a monthly Traditional Latin Mass even before Pope Benedict XVI's decree.  Today was a day to give thanks to God for many blessings received and the kindness of many friends over the years!

The Archiepiscopal See of Dublin (1707-1762)(Walsh)

Francis Street Church, Dublin

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, 1854, c. xvi, p. 127 ff:

Edmund Byrne succeeded in 1707. He was ordained at Seville and was in the fifty first year of his age when promoted to the see of Dublin. Soon after his promotion it was proposed under a parliamentary sanction that a public meeting of Protestant and Catholic prelates and doctors should be held for two months to propound and debate on the disputed articles of faith, on which occasion, says Mr Clinch, this worthy archbishop, alone of all the Irish Catholic prelates, attended said conferences and then with such zeal wisdom and more than human eloquence propounded the principles of his religion in the public college of Dublin that many enlightened by the rays of truth shook off the yoke of heresy and sought the harbor of safety in the bosom of the Catholic church. The old controversy respecting the primatial right was revived about the year 1717 and on this occasion Dr Mac Mahon wrote his learned work Jus Primatiale. The archbishop of Dublin, having divided the parishes of St James and St Catherine, the pastor appealed to the primate of all Ireland whose decision restored the appellant. The matter was, however, brought before the supreme tribunal of the church but before its decision was obtained Dr. Byrne died.

Edward Murphy, who acted as secretary to the synod held by Archbishop Russel in July, 1685, and also in 1688, was subsequently bishop of Kildare from which see he was translated to the archbishopric of Dublin in 1724. Having filled the see five years he died in 1729.

Luke Fagan in 1729 was translated from the see of Meath to the archdiocese of Dublin, which he filled about five years residing in the ancient chapel house of Francis Street during this time. Though the rigorous spirit of the penal laws was somewhat relaxed during the government of George the Second, yet his life was so unobtrusive as not to project himself to the notice of posterity.

John Linegar was appointed to the see in 1734. During the administration of the Duke of Devonshire, the vengeance of the law was again directed against the prelacy and priesthood of Ireland. A proclamation issued in February, 1743, by which all justices of the peace were ordered to enforce the penal laws for the detection of popish prelates and priests and in the same document were offered large pecuniary rewards for the seizure and conviction of those proscribed men and of others who would dare to conceal them or entertain them in their houses. In consequence of this cruel edict, worthy of a Nero, the chapels were closed, visits made in search of priests, yet some zealous ecclesiastics exercised their ministry in obscure and unfrequented places. On one occasion a priest John Fitzgerald officiated in a ruinous dwelling within the city. The sacrifice of the Mass being finished and the people ready to depart, the priest and nine of his hearers were killed by the fall of the house and many more were severely bruised or maimed. Moved by this lamentable occurrence, Hoadley, a Protestant primate, effected a toleration in the council and the chapels were re-opened on the 17th of March, 1745. In 1751, Archbishop Linegar received from Rome instructions which he was ordered to transmit to the archbishops of Armagh, Cashel and Tuam, and by them to be communicated to their suffragans exhorting them to subdivide extensive districts into new parishes or otherwise select coadjutors for their flocks. The prelates themselves were directed to reside and enforce residence within their sees and every second year to report to the nuncio at Brussels the state of religion and of ecclesiastical discipline. Confessors were forbidden to take alms at their confessionals, parish priests were directed to have the children taught their catechism diligently and correctly and, with regard to the regular clergy, their superiors were ordered to avoid admitting them to take the religious habit in Ireland, as it was desirable they should assume it in monasteries of foreign countries where the noviciates were regulated according to the constitutions of the Popes and should not return to Ireland until they finished the course of their studies there and have acquired the knowledge of moral and dogmatic theology. The Archbishop Linegar lived until the year 1756.  His portrait is preserved at the Sienna convent in Drogheda.

Richard Lincoln was appointed to succeed in 1757. In this year, he caused an exhortation to be read from the altars inviting the Roman Catholics to be grateful to those who had preserved them without distinction of persons by their charity and benevolence in the visitation of famine which recently afflicted them. A series of more than sixty years, said the bishop, spent with a pious resignation under the hardships of very severe penal laws and with thanks for the lenity and moderation with which they were executed since the accession of the present royal family is a fact which, with any unbiassed mind, must outweigh the ill-formed opinions of the doctrines and the tenets which the Catholic church inculcates. This document concluded by urging on his flock an abstinence from sin and the performance of moral and religious duties. In 1759, a dispute arose between the archbishop and the regular clergy of his diocese. The prelate, feeling it incumbent on him to control their faculty of hearing confessions and to prescribe other points of ecclesiastical discipline, an ordinance issued from Rome in August, 1761, more peremptorily enjoining the manner in which such confessions should be heard and otherwise adjusting the disputed points of discipline. In February, 1762, another exhortation issued urging the respective congregations to submission and allegiance and recommending the king to their prayers in order that by a solid and lasting peace the effusion of Christian blood might be restrained. Archbishop Lincoln died at the close of 1762 and was buried in a family vault in St. James' churchyard Dublin.

The Archiepiscopal See of Dublin (1669-1707)(Walsh)

Peter Talbot, S.J., 

later Archbishop of Dublin

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, 1854, c. xvi, p. 125 ff:

Peter Talbot succeeded in 1669. Peter was the son of Sir William Talbot and brother of the celebrated Colonel Talbot whom James II created earl of Tyrconnell and afterwards ennobled with the title of duke. Peter was born about the year 1620. Early in life, with a view of entering the ecclesiastical state, he repaired to Portugal, there became a Jesuit in 1635, and afterwards to Rome, where he completed his studies and was admitted to holy orders. From Rome he returned to Portugal and afterwards removed to Antwerp where he lectured on moral theology and published a treatise on the nature of faith and heresy the nullity of the Protestant church and its clergy. He is supposed to be the person who received, in 1656, Charles the Second into the Catholic religion while he was at Cologne and to have been sent privately to Madrid to intimate to the court of Spain the fact of his conversion. On the marriage of Charles II with the Infanta of Portugal he was appointed one of her chaplains and his vows as a Jesuit having been dispensed with he was promoted to the see of Dublin in 1669 and consecrated in the May of this year either at Antwerp or Ghent.

On his arrival in Dublin he found an assembly of the Catholic clergy sitting under the control of the primate Talbot asserting an authority to oversee the proceedings, the old controversy respecting the primatial right was revived. Both parties appealed to Rome where a decision was made in favor of Armagh as Archbishop Plunkett and after him Hugh Mac Mahon alleged. In 1670, Archbishop Talbot sojourned for a time at Ghent and having returned to Dublin in the May of this year he waited on Lord Berkeley, lord lieutenant of Ireland, by whom he was courteously received and permitted to appear in his archiepiscopal character before the council. On the 30th of August 1670, the archbishop held a synod in Dublin and again in the following year he convened a second one enforcing the publication of bans of marriages and prohibiting under pain of excommunication any Catholic male or female from contracting matrimony with the offspring of Jews, Turks or Moors and moreover interdicting any priest from solemnizing such.

The liberal Lord Berkeley being removed from the government of Ireland, the bigoted Essex replaced him and forthwith the storm burst upon the devoted heads of the Catholics and Peter Talbot was at once marked out for proscription. He was accused with an intent to introduce Roman Catholics into the common council of the Dublin corporation. Judging rightly of his danger and distrusting those who should adjudicate his cause, he fled and after wandering some time in disguise he arrived safely in the metropolis of France from which he addressed in 1674 a pastoral letter full of tenderness to those over whom he presided on the duty and comfort of suffering subjects.

In 1675, he ventured to return to England where he took up his residence at Pool Hall in Cheshire and fearing that his end was approaching he obtained through the influence of the duke of York a connivance to his restoration to Ireland. In 1678, he was arrested at Malahide on suspicion of being concerned in the popish plot as nothing was found in his papers to justify the charge and as his state of health did not permit his removal the security of his brother was accepted for his appearance. He was, however, on the arrival of the duke of Ormond in Dublin, removed to the castle a prisoner on the point of death. There he remained for two years treated with great severity until death put an end to his afflictions in the year 1680.

Patrick Russell, after a vacancy of three years, succeeded on the 2d of August 1683. In July 1685 he held a provincial synod at Dublin in which local and provincial regulations were made. In the following year, Archbishop Russel assisted at an assembly of the Roman Catholic clergy held in Dublin at which the primate of all Ireland presided. To this meeting of the clergy the earl of Clarendon alludes in a dispatch to the earl of Rochester dated the 15th of May. Again Patrick Russel presided at a diocesan synod held in Dublin on the 10th of June 1686 in which it was decreed that parochial clergymen having the charge of souls should provide schoolmasters in their parishes to instruct the children and should inspect the schools and remove the teachers if negligent. On the 1st of August, 1688, he held a provincial council wherein it was enacted among other things that every parish priest should under pain of suspension on the Lord's day explain some point of the Christian doctrine or give a short exhortation to the people after the gospel. During the residence of King James in the Irish metropolis, Archbishop Russel enjoyed the distinction of performing the holy rites of the Catholic church in the royal presence. The last rite which he celebrated before the king was the consecration of the Benedictine nunnery in Channelrow. On the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty, he fled to Paris, whence he returned to close his days in the land of his labors. At the close of the year 1692, he went the way of all flesh and was buried in the ancient church of Lusk.

Peter Creagh succeeded in 1693, was bishop of Cork for several years previous to 1686. It is probable that he was a relative of Sir Michael Creagh who was the lord mayor of Dublin in 1688, whose brother the mayor of Newcastle was also knighted by King James. On the flight of James and the surrender of Limerick, Peter left the country and resided in Paris until, on the 9th of March 1693, he was advanced to the archdiocese of Dublin. During the incumbency of Peter, the embers of persecution were rekindled the education foreign or domestic of Catholics was prohibited penal enactments succeeded in 1697. All popish prelates, vicars general, deans, monks, Jesuits and all others of their religion who exercised ecclesiastical jurisdiction in Ireland were ordered by act of Parliament to depart from the kingdom before the 1st of May, 1698, and in case of return were subjected to imprisonment and transportation to foreign parts, whence, if they returned, they were liable to be arraigned as traitors and it was moreover enacted that none should be buried in any monastery, abbey or convent not used for the Protestant service. In the same session was enacted the statute prohibiting the intermarriages of Protestants with Catholics. Such indeed was the success of the persecutors in the year 1698, that the number of regulars alone shipped from Ireland were one hundred and fifty three from Dublin, one hundred and ninety from Galway, seventy five from Cork and twenty six from Waterford, in all a total of four hundred and forty four. During all this time there is no public notice of Peter Creagh, the archbishop of Dublin, and such is the scarcity of materials in connection with his life that the period of his death is to be inferred from the appointment of his successor.

Traditional Easter Ceremonies

The Easter Ceremonies in the Gregorian Rite:

Holy Thursday

4 p.m. - Holy Mass: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
6 p.m. - Holy Mass: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
6 p.m. - Holy Mass: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
7 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
7.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath

Good Friday

12 noon - Stations of the Cross: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
3 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
3 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
5 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
6 p.m. - Liturgy of the Passion: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
7 p.m. - Stations of the Cross: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
7.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath

Holy Saturday

12.30 p.m. - Tenebrae: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
8 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
8.30 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
9 p.m. - Easter Vigil: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
9 p.m. - Easter Vigil: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.

Easter Sunday

9 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Mary's Church, Ballyhea, Co. Cork
9 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Mary's Church, Chapel Street, Newry, Co. Down
10 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Patrick's Church, Drumkeen, Co. Donegal
10 a.m. - Holy Mass: Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, Co. Meath
10.30 a.m. - Holy Mass: Sacred Heart Church, The Crescent, Limerick City
10.30 a.m. - Holy Mass: St. Kevin's Church, Harrington Street, Dublin 8.
12 noon - Holy Mass: Ss. Peter and Paul's Church, Paul Street, Cork City
1.30 p.m. - Holy Mass: Holy Cross Church (O.P.), Tralee, Co. Kerry
2 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Columba's Church, Longtower, Derry City
4 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Therese's Church, Somerton Road, Belfast City
5 p.m. - Holy Mass: St. Patrick's Church, College Road, Kilkenny City
5.30 p.m. - Holy Mass: Blessed Sacrament Chapel, Our Lady's Shrine, Knock, Co. Mayo

Beannachtaí na Cásca oraibh go léir!
A happy and holy Easter to one and all!

Grace Dieu (Walsh)

From Fr. Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy With the Monasteries of Each County, Biographical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates, and Religious, 1854, c. xliv p. 430.

Grace Dieu in the barony of Balruddery and three miles north of Swords.

About the year 1190 John Comyn archbishop of Dublin removed thither the nunnery of Lusk and dedicated it to the Virgin Mary. He filled it with regular canonesses of St. Augustine and granted it an endowment. Henry de Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, added to it the parish church of Ballymaddon with the chapel thereunto belonging instead of the parish church of St. Audeon, given by Archbishop Comyn.

Felicia anchoritess of Ballymaddon claimed an annual rent charge payable by the prioress of Grace Dieu.

AD 1531 this nunnery paid 3 6s 8d proxies to the archbishop of Dublin.

The extensive possessions of this nunnery were granted forever to Patrick Barnwell, Esq. at the annual rent of 4 8 6d Irish money. The grant was renewed on the 8th of January the first of Edward VI.

In October 1577 the prioress was seized of a messuage and eighteen acres of land with divers buildings. Towards the south of said buildings the prioress and nuns with the chaplain had a small dwelling and celebrated the divine offices in the parish church of Portrane, all of which were held by Isabella Walsh by a demise from the prioress before the dissolution. Many Catholics obtained grants of property belonging to the monasteries which they religiously reserved for the use of their inmates.

Come and Pray to Save the 8th

Monthly Latin Mass in University Church February 2018

The Archiepiscopal See of Dublin (1528-1669)(Walsh)

Saint Michan's Church, Dublin

From Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, 1854, c. xvi, p. 123 ff:

Eugene Mathews succeeded in 1611, was parish priest of Clogher and in August 1609 became bishop of the church of that see from which he was translated to the archdiocese of Dublin in May 1611. The period of his translation was one of imminent danger as Andrew Knox, the bishop of Orkney, was removed to Raphoe in Ireland with the avowed object of annihilating the Catholic faith of the Irish church. This blood thirsty wretch who pretended to be the guardian and successor of the apostolic commission of feeding and teaching the lambs and sheep of the fold was the immediate adviser of those cruel and savage edicts requiring the clergy of the ancient faith to quit the kingdom under pain of death.

Notwithstanding this denunciation against ecclesiastics, the archbishop Eugene presided at a conference held at Kilkenny in October 1614 and on this occasion decrees were enacted:

first for the reception of the canons of the council of Trent as circumstances would permit;
secondly for the establishment of vicars and the appointment of deans to preside over the priesthood;
thirdly for the due qualifications of the clergy before appointment;
fourthly the administration of baptism by aspersion on the head instead of immersion, the registry of the names of parents, children and sponsors, the exaction of dues from the known poor prohibited under pain of suspension;
fifthly to provide for the decorous celebration of the Divine mysteries, directing the celebrant, as he was obliged, to offer up the sacrifice in the open air and in unconsecrated spots, to select a clean place sheltered from wind and rain.
The sixth provides for the publicity and registering of marriages, the qualifications of the contracting parties, and the prevention of clandestine contracts.
The seventh for the maintenance of the clergy by collections from their flocks.
Eighth provides for the character of the clergy prohibits mercantile pursuits farming and especially interference in matters of state or politics.
Ninth restrains preaching on articles of faith by any but those who were approved.
Tenth prevents disputations on matters of faith or discussions on religious subjects during convivial hours.
Eleventh consults for the due observance of fasts and abstinence

In 1615, on the occasion of the regal visitation, the commissioners reported that Eugene Mathews, titular archbishop of Dublin, was secretly harbored therein and on the 13th of October 1617 a proclamation issued from the castle of Dublin for the expulsion of all the regular clergy and a certain individual John Boyton was commissioned to discover them, nor was Boyton remiss in performing his duty, as he detected many of them and also some of the nobles who sheltered them, all of whom were thrown into prison, while the judges on circuit were instructed to enforce the penalties and fines against recusants who did not attend the Protestant service.

Eugene Mathews was obliged at length to yield to the storm. He retired to the Netherlands, where he died in 1623.

Thomas Fleming, a Franciscan friar of the family of the barons of Slane and sometime professor of theology in Louvain was on the 23d of October 1623 and in the 30th year of his age appointed archbishop of Dublin by Pope Urban VIII. Immediately on his promotion to the archdiocese Paul Harris a secular priest began to inveigh bitterly against the selection of prelates from the class of regulars, he also attacked the friars. But at length Cardinal Barberini, prefect of the Propaganda, felt compelled to interfere and accordingly directed the bishop of Meath to banish him from the diocese of Dublin but the bishop of Meath, dreading the civil power, did not wish to act and this turbulent priest at once declared that he would not retire unless compelled by the authority of King Charles. The ensuing years of Archbishop Fleming appear to have passed in the silent and unobtrusive exercise of his ecclesiastical functions.

In 1642, he appeared at Kilkenny through his proxy, the Rev. Joseph Everard, but when the designs of the government became more apparent and that the extinction of the Catholics and their faith was the object, the archbishop of Dublin felt himself obliged to participate in person in the counsels of the confederates at Kilkenny and thereupon appointed Doctor Edmond O'Reilly to fill the station of vicar general in his absence. As one of the members for Leinster, the Archbishop Fleming sat in the council and on the 20th of June, 1643, together with the archbishop of Tuam, the only two among the prelates who did so, authorized Nicholas Viscount Gormanstown, Sir Lucas Dillon, Sir Robert Talbot and others to treat with the Marquis of Ormond, who was obliged to temporise for the cessation of arms. In the ensuing month, Father Peter Scarampa, an Oratorian and a man of consummate prudence and learning, arrived with supplies of money and ammunition from Rome on the part of the supreme pontiff Urban VIII, to whom the celebrated Luke Wadding made known the sufferings of the Irish Catholics and their efforts to preserve themselves and their faith from utter extinction.

In 1644, the archbishop of Dublin was present at the general assembly of Kilkenny in which it was agreed and confirmed by an oath of association that every confederate should bear true faith and allegiance to the king and his heirs to maintain the Roman Catholic faith and religion and to obey the orders and decrees of the supreme council. Father Scarampa remained in the discharge of his commission at Kilkenny until November, 1645, when John Baptist Rinuccini, archbishop and prince of Fermo, arrived in the character of apostolic nuncio extraordinary. In the year 1648, Edmond O'Reilly was removed from the station of vicar general as it appears he had neither prudence or ability to sustain it, and the Rev. Lawrence Archbold was appointed in his stead. During the greater part of the year 1649 the prelate resided in his own diocese and at last he sunk into the grave in the midst of those persecutions by which the keen eyed vigilance of the persecutors drove the Catholic laity into the country. The priests and monks scarcely dare sleep even in the houses of their own people.  Their life was an earthly warfare and a martyrdom they breathed as by stealth among the hills and the woods and frequently in the abyss of bogs or marshes which the persecutors could not penetrate. Yet thither flocked congregations of poor Catholics to receive the doctrine of salvation and the bread of life. Yet the heretics in their hatred to the dogmas of the ancient creed of their fathers hurried through the mountains and woods exploring ploring the retreats of the clergy who were more hotly pursued than the wild beasts of the chase.  It became almost impossible that the Catholic hierarchy of Ireland could be kept up in its integrity. At the close of the year 1660 there were but three prelates of the Catholic church in the kingdom, the archbishop of Armagh, the bishops of Meath and Kilmore. The see of Dublin and the care of the province were placed under the jurisdiction and control of James Dempsey, vicar apostolic and capitular of Kildare.