DOWNES
148
DOWNES
both dioceses. It is further recorded that in 831
Connor was plundered by the Danes, and Down in
942; that in 1177 Downpatrick was captured by John
de t'ourcy, who imprisoned the bishop; that in 11S3
de Courcy turned the secular canons out of the cathe-
dral and replaced them by Benedictine monks from
Chester; that in 1186 the relics of St. Patrick, 8t.
Brigid, and St. Columba were discovered there and
reinterred in the church with great solemnity; that
in 131.5 a great battle was fought at Connor; and that
the whole extent of the two dioceses suffered griev-
ously during the invasion of Edward Bruce.
The primate John Prene resisted the union of Down with Connor in 1441, and it did not finally take effect till 1451. Since that date both dioceses, recognized as one, have re- mained under the rule of one bishop. During the troubled times of the Ref- ormation and the wars of the O'Neills, the Ul- ster counties suffered much, though the old Faith was still maintained. But the plantation of Ulster re- placed the great- er nimiber of the Catholics by
English Protest- ^t. Patrick'sChuk.,,. L;m« nkvik,.. ants and Scotch Presbj'terians. Later on, in the contests of the seventeenth century, the tide of war frequently rolled over Antrim and Down, with consequent destruction of Catholic property. The penal laws followed; and such was the com- bined effect of plantation and proscription that in 1670 in the whole of Down and Connor there were but 2500 Catholic families. For nearly sixty years subsequently the diocese was ruled by vicars. When at length the pressure of penal legislation was removed Catholicism revived rapidly. In the period from 1810 to 1840 no less than forty new Catholic churches were built. The progress thus made under Dr. CroUy (1825-1835) and Dr. Denvir (1835-65) was continued under Dr.Dorrian (1865-86) and Dr. MacAlister (1886- 95); nor did any of his predecessors show greater energy and zeal than Dr. Henry, whose death occurred with such tragic suddenness early in 1908. During the nineteenth century splendid churches were built at Newtownards, Hollywood, Ballymoney, and Belfast, and on every side visible signs of Catholic progress appeared.
This prosperity is largely due to the rapid growth of Belfast. Situated on the shores of Belfast Lough, its site was occupied in the sixteenth century only by a strong castle, then in the hands of the O'Neills of Clannaboy. From them it passed at the close of the century to the British Government, and in 1603 the castle and land adjoining were granted by King James to Sir Arthur Chichester. He laid out and planted a small town, which, in 1613, was made a corporation by royal charter. Its growth was slow, and during the seventeenth century it was entirely overshadowed by the neighbouring town of Carrickfergus. About 170(5, Belfast had a population of 2000, and a good deal of trade; in 1757 a population of 8000. Henceforth its rise was rapid and continuous. Its population in 1871 was 174,000; in 1881, 208,122; in 1891, 255,950; in 1901, with an enlarged city area, 348,876. It sends four members to Parliament, and is ruled by a lord mayor, fifteen aldermen, anil forty-five councillors. In
commerce and shipping, in trade and manufactures, it
is the first city in Ireland. Catholicism has more than
kept pace with the general advance of the city. In 1708
there were but seven Catholics in Belfast, and not till
1783 was there a Catholic church. Belfast is now the
episcopal seat, with ten city parishes, a floiu-ishing
diocesan seminary, and many educational and chari-
table institutions. Among the remarkable men of the
diocese the following may be mentioned: St. Macnisse,
the patron saint of Connor, and St. Malachy, the pa-
tron saint of Down; St. Tassach, who attended St.
Patrick in his last illness; St. Comgall, who founded
the monastery of Bangor; St. Finnian, founder of Mo-
ville; St. Colman Ela, founder of Muckamore in An-
trim- St. Mochay, Bishop of Nendrum; St. Donard,
Bishop of Maghera ; St. Dochona, Bishop
of Connor. In the sixteenth century the
notorious Miler Magrath was Bishop of
Down and Connor ; and in the next cen-
tury the martyred Cornelius O'Devanny,
and the fighting bishop, Heber MacMa-
hon, who also met a martjT's fate. —
Statistics (1908): Parishes, 60; secular
clergy, 167; regular clergy, 21; churches,
114; colleges, 2; monasteries, 5; convents,
16 ; total Catholic population ( 1901), 156,-
693 ; total population of all creeds, 671,266.
O'L.WERTY, A Hislorical Account of the Diocese
of Down and Connor
(Dublin, 1878-95);
Reeves, EcdesiaS'
tical Antiquities of
Down, Connor and
Dronwre (Dublin,
1847); Brady.
Episcopal Succes-
sion (Rome, 1S76);
JjWlcKS^Ecclesias-
tical History of Ire-
land (Dublin.1822);
Healy, Ldfe and
Wrilnws of St. Pal-
■ Dublin, 1905);
Mi
ish
rarchy (Dublin,
1S72); Benn, His-
lory of Belfast
(London, 1877-80);
Irish Catholic Direc-
tories.
E.A.D'Alton.
Downes (alias
Bedingfeld,
MovNTFORDand
M U M F O R D ) ,
Thomas, son of
Thomas Downes
, ^ T> „oii> of Bodney in
Patrick's Cathedral, Belfast (1811) j«joj.foiij K jj,
1617; d. 21 December, 1678. His mother was Mary, daughter of John Bedingfeld of Redlingfield in Suf- folk. He was educated at St. Omer, but com- pleted his studies at the English College at Valla- dolid, and entered the Society of Jesus, 8 January, l(j39. From the novitiate he passed to the college of the English Province at Liege, but went for his theology to Pont-a-Mousson and was professed of the four vows 16 January, 1656. In 1671 he was chap- lain to the Duke of York, afterwards James II. When the duke as admiral of the fleet put to sea against the Dutch he asked for "Father Mumford" as con- fessor on board his flagship. During an encounter between the two fleets Father Downes won for himself a great reputation by exposing himself for many hours to a heavy fire while ministering to the wounded and dying. In 1678 he fell a victim to the infamous Gates conspiracy by means of forged letters delivered to him at Windsor but intended to be intercepteil, and pur- porting to have been written by the provincial and Fathers of the Society. He handed the letters to the Duke of York who showed them to the king. The
