Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/372

 EDWY

324

EGAN

through the island with a babe at her breast without fear of insult". St. Edwin was slain on 12 October, 633, in repelling an attack made on him by Penda, the pagan King of Mercia, who, together with the Welsh prince Cadwallon (a Christian only in name), had in- vaded his dominion. Perishing thus in conflict with the enemies of the Faith, he was regarded as a martjT and as such was allowed by Gregory XIII to be de- picted in the English College church at Rome. His head was taken to St. Peter's church at York, which he had begun. His body was conveyed to Whitby. Churches are said to have been dedicated to him at London and at Breve in Somerset.

Plcmmer ed., BcdcF Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglontm (Oxford, 1896), II, 9-20; TTNEMonxH and Capgrave, Xova Leamda AngliiF (Oxford, 1901); Ada SS., 12 October; But- ler, iiiifs of Saints (Dublin, 1872), 4 Oct.; Lingard, His- lori) of England (London, 1883); Stanton, Mcnology of Eng- land and Wales (London, 1892); Raine in Did. Christ. Biog.,

G. E. Phillips.

Edwy (or Eadwig), King of the English, eldest son of Edmund and St. Aelfgifu, b. about 940 ; d. 959. Though but fifteen years old at the death of his uncle Edred, he was unanimously chosen king, and was crowned at Kingston in January, 956. Too young, almost, to know his ovm mind, and surrounded by counsellors who pandered to all that was worst in him, his reign was of short duration. Despite the exhorta- tions of St. Dimstan and Archbishop Odo, both of wlaom fell under his displeasure, he put imposition after imposition upon his subjects. His relatives were removed from court, honest thanes were de- spoiled of their lands and inheritances, and his grand- mother Eadgive, who, by her piety and dignity, had endeared herself to the entire nation, was deprived of all her possessions.

At length, in 957, the Mercians and Northumbrians, who felt his course most keenly, rose against him. Edgar, Edwy's younger brother, withdrew from the court with .\rchbishop Odo and put himself at the head of the insurgents. Edwy advanced to meet him but was defeated at Ciloucester and obliged to flee for his life. Unwilling to prolong a civil war, the men of Kent and Wessex assented to a general meeting of the thanes from North and South to arrange for peace. It was decided that the country should be divided in half at the Thames, and that each brother should rule over a part. To Edwy was allotted the southern portion, and to Edgar the northern. Taught prudence by his reverses, Edwy governed his portion from that time forward with commendable justice and moderation, but died, prematurely, in 959.

His relations with St. Dunstan were not the happi- est, and constitute the chief interest of Edwy's career. His opposition to the saint dated from the refusal of the latter to countenance his relations with Ethelgive, by some presumed to be his foster mother, and her daughter. Seeing that he was in disfavour, Dunstan withdrew for a time to his cloister, but the anger of the king, kept alive by Ethelgive, followed him into that sanctuary. The monks were incited to revolt, the abbey was plundered. Dunstan fled and, though hotly pursued, managed to escape to the Continent, where he remained until after Edwy's death. Osbern's story to the effect that Edwy engaged in a general persecution of the monks may, how- ever, be safely rejected, as the revolt against him was not concerned with the dispute between the regulars and seculars which began only after Edwy's death. On the other hand, Edwy's dislike for Dunstan may have helped to impede the saint's monastic reforms.

Anglo-Saxon Chron.: Aethei.weard, Man. Hist. Brit: Lin- gard, Hist, of Eng. (Dublin, 1878); Memonala of Dunstan (Rolls Ser.); Hali.a.«, Middle Age» {\A>ndc,n. 181S), II, 264. Stanley J. Quinn.

Eestennans, Fabian A. See Lahore, Diocese of.

Egan, BoETius, Archbishop of Tuam, b. near Tuam, Ireland, 1734; d. near Tuam, 179S. He belonged to a family owning large estates in the County Galway. In the eighteenth century they were reduced in posi- tion and means. The penal laws made it then difficult for an Irish Catholic to receive Catholic education at home; nor do we know where young Egan received his early education. Neither is it certain at what age he went to France to be trained for the priesthood. This training he received at the College of Bordeaux, founded by Irish exiles and endowed by Anne of .Aus- tria in the seventeenth century. After his ordination he returned to Ireland and laboured in the ministry for some years till, in 17S5, he was appointed Bishop of Achonry. Two years later he became Archbishop of Tuam. Accustomed during his whole life in Ire- land to the barest toleration of his religion, he joyfully welcomed the Catholic Relief Act of 1793, and has- tened to express his gratitude to George III. When Maynooth College was founded in 1795, he was named one of its trustees. One of his last public acts was to sign an address to the Irish viceroy. Lord Camden, condemning the revolutionary associations then in Ireland. In this address George III was described as " the best of kings", and the Irish Parliament as '' our enlightened legislature". It was strange language to use of such a king and of such a parliament.

Burke. Catholic .trchhi.-^hops of Tuam (Dublin, 1882); Healy, History of Matjnooth College (Dublin, 1895).

E. A. D'Alton.

Egan, Michael, first Bishop of Philadelphia, U. S. A., b. in Ireland, most probably in Galwaj', in 1701; d. at Philadelphia, 22 July, 1814. Entering the Order of St. Francis he was rapidly advanced to important offices. In his twenty-sixth year he was appointed Guardian of St. Isidore's, the house of the Irish Fran- ciscans, at Rome, and held thispositionforthree years, when he was transferred to Ireland. After labouring for several years as a missionary in his nati\'e land, he responded to an earnest appeal of the Catholics of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and went to the United States. Though lacking the constitution demanded bj' the pastoral duties of that pioneer age, and suffer- ing often from sickness. Father Egan's priestly zeal and his eloquence in the pulpit gained universal recog- nition, and, in April, 1S0.3, he was appointed by Bishop Carroll one of the pastors of St. Marv's church in Philadelphia. On S .\pril, 1808, Pope Pius VII erected this city into an episcopal see, with Michael Egan as first bishop. Archbishop Carroll descriljes him to the Roman authorities as " a man of about fifty who seems endowed with all the qualities to discharge with per- fection all the functions of the episcopacy, except that he lacks robust health, greater experience and a greater degree of firmness in his disposition. He is a learned, modest, humble priest who maintains the spirit of his Order in his whole conduct." Owing to the Napoleonic troubles, the papal Bulls did not reach America until the year ISIO. On 28 Oct. Bishop Egan was consecrated by Archbishop Carroll in St. Peter's church, Baltimore. His brief episcopate was embit^ tered and his health shattered by the contumacious behaviour of the lay trustees of St. Mary's church, which he had chosen for his cathedral. These trustees, who were tainted with the irreligious notions of the times, without any legal right, and contrary to the canons of the Church, claimed tlie privilege of electing and deposing their pa.stors and of adjusting their sal- aries. This im-Catholic contention that "the laity own the churches and the clergy are their hired ser- vants "disturbed the peace, retarded the progress, and threatened the existence of the Catholic religion in Pennsylvania during two episcopates. Bishop Egan's troubles were aggravated by tlic insubordination of two Irish priests whom he had adniittetl to the diocese, James Harold and his better-known nephew, ^\■illiam