Anno 1570.

DERMOD MULRONEY AND TWO OTHER FRANCISCANS.*

UNDER the heading of "Convent of Gallvaise, Aharlagh," Mooney says:

"This convent is situated in a small rural town of the diocese of Emly. I could hear nothing of its foundation or history; but I found, in the year 1570, while Henry Sydney, who was then viceroy, was making excursions in those parts, three brothers suffered martyrdom in that convent. The names of two I could not learn; the third was called Dermod O'Mulroney, a priest. He fled with his comrades from that rural monastery to the town of Clonmel to avoid the persecution, which was then vehement; but when he had remained there some time he resolved to return to his monastery, God perchance so disposing it, that he might obtain the crown of martyrdom. When, therefore, they thought all was safe, he returned to the monastery and dwelt there; but on a certain day the English soldiers suddenly came and surrounded the place, so that there was no way for the brethren to escape. The holy man mounted up into the bell-tower of the church. with his two companions, that they might hide there, and drew up the portable ladder which was there. The soldiers made a fire to burn the church and tower; then the holy man, that he might save the church, freely descended, and having let down the ladder, as he put his foot on the first step, signed himself with the sign of the cross, and repeated the psalm, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord.' The soldiers, nothing softened, loaded him with blows and wounds, and at length struck off his head. Then a marvel was seen;

From Mooney MS., p. 54, and Roothe's Analecta Mira et Nova, zd part. See also Wadding's Scriptores and Annales.

↑ Roothe calls it "Monastery of Gallbally, in the mountains of Aharlagh, near Tipperary." The town of Gallbally is in the county Tipperary, in the glen of Aharlow, at the foot of the Galtee Mountains.

for when his head was cut off no drop of blood flowed from his body, which the soldiers seeing, cut up his body in pieces, yet did not blood flow. Of the two others the memory of the place retained nothing but the fact of their death. This have I to tell of this convent, which is now wholly destroyed save the walls."—Mooney, p. 54.

Anno 1576.

THADDEUS DALY, FRANCISCAN.*

THE following is the account of his martyrdom given by Father Mooney under the head "Convent of Roscrea :"† "The roof of the whole convent has fallen in, (this was in 1625,) yet the walls and windows, with some glass in them, yet remain. There still lives there one of the professed brothers. There were six conventuals there before the destruction, and some among them fell away; but one of them, by name Thady Daly, fled to Limerick, and was there taken while he sought to escape beyond the seas; and, constant in the confession of the faith, he rejected the offer of life and reward if he would join the heretics, choosing rather a glorious death; and, thus 'perfected in a short time, he filled a long life,' but under whom, or in what year, I could not learn from that brother. This brother was the companion of this holy martyr both in his flight and his captivity, but he was (the word is illegible in the MS.) and very simple, and when danger presented itself he abandoned his rule, and, having received some gifts, he deserted his order and obtained his temporal liberty, and, returning to his own part of the country, which was not

From Mooney, p. 55, and Wadding's Scriptores and Annales, vol. xxi. p. 64.

↑ Roothe's Analecta mentions Father Daly under the year 1579, and says he came from the convent of Asketin; but Mooney is clearly the better authority.

The Annals say on the 1st of January, about the year 1576.

far distant from that convent, he then led a secular life until 1611. At that time I was vicar of the province, and preached the Lent in those parts; and I frequently went to a place of devout pilgrimage about a mile distant from the convent, called the Island of Viretin, that as far as in me lay I might exhort to penance the people who flocked there in pilgrimage. On a certain day, this brother, who was then old, came to me, who knew him not even by sight, told me the whole history of his life, and humbly begged that I would again receive him into the bosom of the order. When on inquiry I found the matter to be as he said, being touched with pity for him, I appointed him a day to come to me; and when he had dwelt with me some days, I sent him to a certain convent of our order, there to lead a penitential life. He yet lives, and I hope better than before."-Mooney, p. 55.

Anno 1577.

FATHER FERGAL WARD, FRANCISCAN.*

DR. MORAN thus relates his martyrdom :

66

While Drury was lord-deputy, about 1577, Fergal Ward, a Franciscan, and a native of Donegal, was put to death in Armagh. He was venerated by the people for the simplicity of his life and his zeal for the salvation of souls. He travelled at intervals throughout the whole province of Armagh, visiting the scattered families who, in the mountainous districts, lived without the comforts of the holy sacrifice or the strengthening grace of the sacraments. On one of these excursions he fell into the hands of the

• From Dr. Moran's History of the Archbishops of Dublin, Introduction, p. 141, where he quotes Synop. Prov. Franciscan, in Hib., p. 66. The same account is given by Bruodin, lib. iii. cap. 20, where he refers to John Good's work.

soldiery, and, being scourged with great barbarity, was hanged from the branches of a tree with the cincture of his own religious habit."

FATHER O'DOWD, FRANCISCAN.*

FATHER MOONEY did not know the name of this martyr, which, however, we learn from other authorities; but I give his account as the fullest and most authentic, as it was derived from the actors in the tragedy. He also states. it to have taken place in the convent of Elphin, in the episcopal city of Elphin, while others lay the scene in the convent of Moyne, in the county of Mayo. Clearly the English soldiers who assisted at the massacre and narrated it to Father Mooney knew little of the name of the place where it occurred or of the priest whom they saw slain; but they are the very best authorities as to the fact having taken place.

Father Mooney thus narrates the event:

"In this same convent, on another time, certain English soldierst seized a certain priest of our order and some other prisoners. They pressed a certain secular, who was one of their captives, to tell them something of the plots which they said he had made with others against the Queen of England; but he protested he could tell nothing but the truth, and that there were no plots; so they determined to hang him. When they said this, he begged he might be allowed to make his confession to the brother; this they granted the more readily that they thought the priest, if he were tortured, would reveal what might be told him. As soon as the confession was

From Dr. Moran, who quotes Synop. Prov. Franciscan. in Hib., and Mooney, p. 35 The name we learn from the former, and also the date.

†They were the soldiers of Filton, then President of Connaught.

over, the secular was hung; and then they asked the priest, who was also to be hung, if he had learned aught of the business in confession. He answered in the negative, and, refusing to reveal anything of a confession, they offered him life and freedom if he would reveal, and threatened torture if he refused. He answered he could not, and they immediately knotted a cord* round his forehead, and, thrusting a piece of wood through it, slowly twisted it so tightly that at length, after enduring this torment for a long time, his skull was broken in, and, the brain being crushed, he died.† I have seen and examined ocular witnesses of this fact, who were serving in that body of English troops, and sought absolution from me; but they did not remember the name of the brother or the exact year; but it was about 1577."-Mooney, p. 35.

Anno 1577.

RIGHT REV. THOMAS LEVEROUS, OR LEARY, BISHOP OF KILDARE.

I GIVE his life, translated from the work of Dr. Roothe, Bishop of Ossory.

"The memory of those deserves to be preserved who have left to posterity an example of fidelity to God and man worthy both of honor and of imitation. Such was the Right Rev. Thomas Leverous, who was born in a village of the county Kildare, of a family bound by old ties of clientship to the illustrious family of Kildare in the same county.

"In the reign of Henry VIII., when schism was already impending over England, Gerald Fitzgerald, Earl of Kil

Others say the cord of his habit.

↑ On the 9th of June.

Leurusius is the name as given in Latin, which is translated Leverous.