A Compendium of Irish Biography/Wolfe, David
Wolfe, David, Rev., was an ecclesiastic, born in Limerick, who, during the early years of Elizabeth's reign, laboured hard to keep together the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. He spent some years in Rome, where he entered the order of St. Ignatius. In August 1560 he was sent by the Pope, with the privileges of an Apostolic Legate, to superintend affairs in Ireland, to see to the establishment of schools and the regulation of public worship, and to keep up communication with the Catholic princes—duties which he endeavoured to perform often at the peril of his own life. About 1566 he was arrested, and endured a rigorous imprisonment in Dublin Castle, the influence of the Nuncio in Madrid being in vain exercised on his behalf. In 1572 he made his escape to Spain, but before long returned to the scene of his old labours. We are told that "when the whole country was embroiled in war, he took refuge in the castle of Chunoan, on the borders of Thomond and the County of Galway; and when he heard that its occupants lived by plunder, he scrupled any nourishment from them, and soon after sickened and died." His death is supposed to have taken place about the year 1578. [1]
- Authorities
- ↑ Catholic Faith in Ireland, Memorials of those who Suffered for: Myles O'Reilly. London, 1868.