Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/O'Beirne, Thomas Lewis

O'BEIRNE, Thomas Lewis, Irish clergyman, b. in County Longford, Ireland, in 1748; d. in County Meath, Ireland, 15 Feb., 1823. He was educated for the Roman Catholic priesthood, in the Jesuit college at St. Omer, France, but took orders in the English church, and in 1775 accompanied Lord Howe to America as chaplain. In 1776 he preached in St. Paul's church in New York city. He became Anglican bishop of Ossory in 1796, and two years later was transferred to the see of Meath. Besides three volumes of “Sermons” and a poem on “The Crucifixion,” he published a “Vindication” of the conduct of his patrons, Gen. Sir William and Admiral Lord Howe, in America, and other political tracts.