Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 1.djvu/805

Rh ARMAGH

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ARMAGH

1302) signalized himself by convening an important assembly of the bishops and clergj' of Ireland at Tuam in I'JOl, at which they bound themselves by solemn oaths to resist the encroachments of the secular power. Primate Richard I'itz-Ualpli (IS-IO- 60) contended publicly both in Ireland and Kng- land with the Mendicant Triars on the question of their vows and privileges. .V contest regarding the primacy of .\rmagh was carried on intermit- tently during these centuries by the .Archbishops of Dubhn and Ca.shel, especially the former, sus the city of Dublin was the civic metrojxilis of the kingdom. During the English period, the primates rari'lv visited the city of Armagh, i>referring to reside at the arch- episcopal manors of Dromiskin and Termonfechan, in the county of Louth which was within the Pale. During the reign of Henrv VIII, Primate Cromer, being suspected of heresy by the Holy See, was de- posed in favour of Robert Wauchope (lo39-,51), a distinguished theologian, who a.s,sisted at the Coun- cil of Trent. In the meantime, (ieorge Dowdall, a zealous supporter of Henrj', had been intruded into the ."^ee of .Armagh by that monarch, but on the introduction of Protestantism into Ireland in the reign of Edward VI, he left the kingdom in disgust. Thereu]K)n the king, in 15,Vi, ap|K)inted Hugh (ioodacre to the see. He was the first Prot- estant prelate who assumed the title of Primate ami enjoyed the temporalities of the <liocese. In the beginning of the reign of (Jueen -Mary, Dowdall (1553-58) was appointeil by the Pope to the see on account of the great ze.il he hail shown against Protestantism, though at the same time, he had acted in a .schisniiitical way.

Peuiod of PERSErrTioN. — After the short incum- bency of Donagh O'Tighe (1560-62), the see was filled by Ricliard Creagh (1564-85), a native of Limerick. He was arrested by order of Queen Elizabeth and imprisoned by her in the Tower of London, where he was tortured and maltreated and left to languish in captivity for eighteen years till his death. Edward Mac Oauran, who succeetled him (1587-94), was verj' active in soliciting aid from the pope and the king of Spain for the Irish who were then engaged in a stniggle for liberty of con- science with the English Queen, .\fter an interval of eight years, lie was succeeded by Peter Lombard (1601-25), one of the most learned men of his time. He remained in exile, in Rome, during the whole twenty-four years of his incumbency and thus never once visited his diocese. Hugh Mac Caw- ell, a Franciscan, was consecrated abroad for the see in 1626, but died before he could reach it. Hugh O'Reilly, the next primate (I628-.i3), %vas very active in the jidlitical movements of his day. In U>42, he summoned the lister bishops and clergj' to a sjmod at Kells in which the war then carried on by the Irish w.as declared lawful and pious. He took a prominent part in the Confederation of Kil- kenny and Wiis appointed a member of the Supreme Council of twenty-four persons who carrietl on the government of the country in the name of King Charles I. After the defeat and ileath of most of the Catholic Irish chieftains he was electeil gener- alissimo of the Catholic forces and jirolonged the heroic though hopeless conflict. Eilmund t)'Reilly (1657-69) succeeded to the see, but owing to the difficulties of the time was only able to spend two years in his diocese out of the twelve of his incum- bency. He wa.s exiled on four different occa.sions. During the whole time he spent in the diocese, he was hiding in woods and caves ami never had any bed but a cloak thrown over straw. He suffered a great deal from the machinations of the notorious Father Walsh, the author of the "Loyal Remon- strance" (1661, 1672) to King Charles II, and dietl in exile in France.

The next primate wa.s the Venerable Oliver Plun- ket (166iM<l), the cau.se of who.se beatification is at pre-sent being promoted. .Shortly after his accession to the see, he w;ls obliged to defend the primatial rights of .Armagh against the claims i)Ut forward for Dublin by its archl)isliop, Dr. Peter Talbot. ,\t a meeting of the Catholic clergy in Dublin in 1670, each of these prelates refu.sed to subscribe subsequent to the other. Dr. Plunket thereuixjn wrote a work on the ancient rights and prerogatives of his .see, published in 172, under the title "Jus Primatiale; or the ancient Pre-eminence of the See of .-Vrmagh above all the other .Arch- bishops in the Kingdom of Ireland, asserted by O A. T. II. P". This was replied to two years later by Dr. Talbot in a dissertation styled "Priniatus Dublinensis; or the chief rea.sons on which the Church of Dublin relies in the jMssession and prosecution of her right to the Primacy of Ireland". A violent persecution stilled the controversy for some time and subsequent primates a.s.sertea their authority from time to time in Dublin. In 1719 two Hriefs of Clement XI were in favour of the claims of Armagh. Still the matter wa.s not allowed to rest and Dr. Hugh Mac .Mahon felt compelled to write a work treating the subject exhaustively in answer to an anonymous pamphlet published by Father John Hennessy, a .Jesuit of Clonmel. Dr. Mac Mahon'.s work, written under great diliiculties, appeared in 1728 under the title of "Jus Primatiale -Vrmacanum; or the Prima- tial Right of Armagh over all the other .Archbishops and Bishops and the entire clergj' of Ireland, iLs,serted by H. A. M. T. II. P". This learned work contains the last word on the subject and is conclusive. In practice, however, the primati.al right has fallen into desuetude in Ireland as in every other part of the Church. In 1679. Venerable Oliver Plunket was arrested on a ridiculous charge of conspiring to bring 20,000 Frenchmen into the country and of having levied moneys on his dcrgj- for the purpose of maintaining 70.(H)0 men for an armed rebellion. After being confined in Dublin Castle for many months, he was presented for trial on these and other charges in Dundalk; but the jury, though all Protestants, refused to find a true bill against him. The venue, however, of his trial w:us changed by his enemies to London, where he was tried by an Eng- lish jury before he was able to gather his witnesses and bring them acro.ss, though he made the request to the judge. The princijial witne.s.>ies .against him were some disreputable priests and friars of .Armagh whom he had censured and suspended for their bad conduct. He was dragged on a sledge to Tyburn on 1 Julv, 16S1, where he was hanged, drawn, and quartered in presence of an immense multitude. His head, still in a good state of preservation, is in the possession of the Dominican nuns of Drogheda.

Pe.v.m, Times. — During this trj-ing [x-riod, the pri- mates had to live in the greatest obscurity in order to disarm the malice of the enemies of the Catholic clergj'. Dominic Maguire (1.'<.V1707). a Domini- can, succeedeil to the .see after the death of the Ven- erable Oliver Plunket. This primate, having to go into exile after the surrender of Limerick in 1691, spent the sixteen years that inter\'ened between that time and his death in a verj' <lestitute condition In the meantime, the See of .Armagh was adminis- tered bj' a vicar. Patrick Donnellj', a priest of the diocese, who in 1697 was appointe<l Bishop of Dro- more, though retaining the administration of .Armagh for several j'ears afterwanls. His name occurs in the government register of the "popish clergj'" of Armagh, made in 1704, as the pretendctl jKipish priest of that part of the parish of Newry that lies in the countj' of .Armagh. The sureties for his good conduct were Terence Murphy of Lurgan and Pat- rick 'iuinni.s.se of the s.ime town. Altogether the