IRISH
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rolled among the privileged martjTs of Holy Church. "
While Dr. Moran was thus engaged, Major Myles
O'Reilly also entered the long neglected field, ami in
186S he published a collection of memorials in which
he brought together, from all the original sources his
great industry could reach, biographies of those who
suffered for the Faith in the sixteenth, seventeenth,
and eighteenth centuries. This collection was made
with both zeal and discrimination; it was the first gen-
eral compilation .ssince Bruodin's, and, coming down to
a later date, it contained twice the number of notices
in the former one. As a result, in great measure, of
these several publications, the case was brought to
such a point, about ten years after the reissue of Rothe's
"Analecta", that the ecclesiastical authorities were
in a position to make preparations for holding the
processus ordhian'us in/nrmativus, the diocesan inquiry
which is a preliminary in the process of canonization.
The work of collecting evidence, greatly facilitated by
the previous labours of Moran and O'Reilly, was en-
trusted to Father Denis Murphy, S.J. He, unhappily,
did not live to submit his testimony; but before his
death he had reduced to order a great mass of ma-
terials extracted from a larger number of writers than
had been used by O'Reilly. The number of individ-
ual notices is, however, much less, since Father Mur-
phy excluded, with one or two exceptions, all those
whose trials did not culminate in death. His mate-
rials were published in 1896, under the title of "Our
Martyrs", and the record begun by Father Houling
was thus, after three hundred years, completed by his
brother Jesuit in form to be submitted in a regular
process of canonization.
The usual practice of conducting the preliminary process in the diocese where the martyrs suffered would have entailed the erecting of a tribunal in every diocese in Ireland, a course attended with no advan- tages. The Archbisliop of Dublin, therefore, at the united reciuest of all the Irish bishops, accepted the re- sponsibility of conducting a general investigation for the whole country. But, before further progress could be made, certain unforeseen causes of delay arose which were not removed until the end of the year 1903. In December of that year the vice-postulator issued his requests for the attendance of witnesses in the February following. The initial session was opened by the Archbishop of Dublin, 15 February, 1904. Be- tween that date and 3 August, when the taking of evi- dence in Ireland was completed, sixty sessions had been held. The testimony of Cardinal Moran was taken l)y commission in Sydney When it arrived in Ireland meetings were resumed, 23 October, and con- tinued for some twenty further sessions to complete the return, a transcript of the evidence with exhibits of books and documents. This work was brought to a conclusion at Christmas, and on 5 February, 190.5, the full return of the inquiry was delivered to the Congre- gation of Rites. The number of sessions held was about eighty, in all of which the Archbishop of Dublin presided. Evidence was taken in respect of about three hundred and forty persons, with a view to es- tablish the existence of a traditional belief among learnecl and pious Catholics that many persons suf- fered death fur the Catholic Faith in Ireland under the penal laws; t hat these persons did, in fact, suffer mar- tyrdom in defence of the Catholic Faith and of the pope's spiritual authority as Xkar of Christ; and that there is a sincere desire among Irish Catholics, in Ire- land and elsewhere, to see these martyrs solemnly recognized by the Church. The chief portion of the evidence was necessarily that derived from records, printed or written. In addition, witnesses testified to the public repute of martyrdom, and traditions to that effect preserved in families, religious orders, various localities, and the country at large, with a particular statement in every case as to the source of the infor- mation furnished by the witness. Subsequent to this
inquiry the further minor process (processiculus) , to
collect writings attributed to some of the martyrs, was
held January-March, 1907.
The investigation of the claims to the title of martyr made for those who suffered imder the Irish penal en- actments since 1537, is attended by difficulties that do not arise in the case of their fcllow-sulTorers in Eng- land, difficulties due to the historical situation and to the character of the available evidence. Not more than one-third of Ireland was sulijcct to the rule of Ilenry VIII when he undertook to detach the island from the Catholic Church. The remainder was gov- erned by hereditary lords under native institutions. The king's deputy at times obtained acknowledg- ment of the over-lordship supposed to be conferred by the Bull " Laudabiliter " ; but the acknowledgment was so little valued that the population was commonly classified as the king's sulijects and the Irish enemies, not, as yet, the Irish rebels. The Church, however, was the Church of Ireland, not the Church of the Eng- lish Palo, and the claim to Supreme Headship of the Church entailed the effective reduction of the whole island to civil obedience, which, as then understood, required acceptance of the whole English system of laws and manners. Hence, it is not always easy to discern how far the fate of an individvial residted from his fidelity to religion, and how far from defence of an- cestral institutions. Again, the evidence is not al- ways satisfactory, for reasons already mentioned. The public records are very defective, as in a country that has experienced two violent revolutions, but the loss so caused might possibly be over-estimated. No large proportion of those put to death had been brought before a regular court. There was a general immunity from consequences which encouraged cap- tains of roving bands and stationary garrisons, pro- vost-martials, and all that class, to carry out the in- tention of the law without its forms. In such cases there are no records. During the year of the Armada a Spanish ship made prize of a Dublin vessel bound for France. A Cistercian monk and a Franciscan friar were found on board. They said they were the sole survivors of two large monasteries in the North of Ire- land which had been burned with the rest of the in- mates. There seems to be no other mention of this atrocity.
The list which follows (p. signifying priest; 1., lay- man) includes the names of those persons only in re- spect of whom evidence was taken at the inquiry held in Dublin. The case of Primate Oliver Plunkct has already been conducted successfully through the Apo.stolic Process by Cardinal Logue, his successor: —
(1) Under King Henry VIII. — 1.540: The guardian and friars, Franciscan Convent, Monaghan, beheaded. 1541: Robert and other Cistercian monks, St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin, imprisoned and put to death; as the Cistercians of Dublin surrendered their house and its possessions peaceably, there is possibly confusion as to this instance.
(2) Under Queen Elizabeth. — 1565: Conacius Macu- arta (Conn McCourt) and Roger MacCongaill (McCon- nell), Franciscans, flogged to death, Armagh, 16 De- cember, for refusing to acknowledge the queen's su- premacy. 1.575: John Lochran, Donagh O'Rorke, and Edmund Fitzsimon, Franciscans, hanged, 21 January, Downpatrick; Fergall Ward, Franciscan guardian, Armagh, hanged, 28 April, with his own girdle. 1577: Thomas Courcy, vicar-general at Kin- sale, hanged, .30 March; William Walsh (q. v.) Cister- cian, Bishop of Meath, died, 4 January, in exile at Alcald. 1578: Patrick O'Hely (q. v.). Bishop of Mayo, and Cornelius O'Rorke, p., Franciscans, tor- tured and hanged, 22 August, Kilmalicick; David Hur- ley, dean of Emly, died in pri.son; Thomas Moeran, dean of Cork, taken in the exercise of his functionsand executed. 1579: Thadda;us Daly and his companion, Q,S,F., hanged, drawn, and quartered at Limerick,
