Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 6.djvu/117

 FITZSIMON

FITZ-SIMONS

he was made chancellor of Lincohi Cathedral, and in Jan. ,1335,canon and prebendary of Lichfield," notwith- standing that he has canonries and prebends of Credi- ton and Bosham, and has had provision made for him of the Chancellorship of Lincoln and the canonries and prebends of Armagh and Exeter, all of which he is to resign" (Bliss, Calendar of Kntries in Papal Registers, II, 524). He was archdeacon of Chester when made dean of Lichfield in 1337. On 31 July, 134G, he was consecrated Archbishop of Armagh.

Fitzralph was a man who pre-eminently joined the speculative temperament with the practical. One of the great Scholastic hnninaries of his day, and a close friend of the scholarly Richard of Bury, he fostered learning among his priests by sending many of them to take higher studies in Oxford. He was zealous too in visiting the various church provinces, and in bettering financial as well as spiritual conditions in his own see. He contended for his primatial rights against the im- munity claimed by the See of Dublin; and on various occasions acted as peacemaker between the Engli-sh and the Irish. He was in great demand as a preacher, and many of his sermons are still extant in manuscript. Whilst at Avignon in 1350, Fitzralph presented a memorial from the English clergy reciting certain complaints against the mendicant orders. After serving on a commission appointed by Clement VI to inquire into the points at issue, he embodied his own views in the treatise " De Pauperie Salvatoris", which deals with the subject of evangelical poverty, as well as the questions then agitated concerning dominion, possession, and use, and the relation of these to the state of grace in man. Part of this work is printed by Poole in his edition of Wyclif 's " De Dominio Divi- no" (London, 1890). It was probably during this visit that Fitzralph also took part in the negotiations going on between the Armenian delegates and the pope. He composed an elaborate apologetico-po- lemic work, entitled "Summa in Quaestionibus Armenorum" (Paris, 1511), in which he displayed his profound knowledge of Scripture with telling eff'ect in refuting the Greek and Armenian heresies.

Fitzralph's controversy with the friars came to a crisis when he was cited to Avignon in 1357. Avow- ing his entire submission to the authoritj' of the Holy See, he defended his attitude towards the friars in the plea entitled '' Defensorium Curatorum" (printed in Goldast's "Monarehia" and elsewhere). He main- tained as probable that voluntary mendicancy is con- trary to the teachings of Christ. His main plea, however, was for the withdrawal of the privileges of the friars in regard to confessions, preaching, burying, etc. He urged a return to the purity of their original institution, claiming that these privileges undermined the authority of the parochial clergy. The friars were not molested, but by gradual legislation harmony was restored between them and the parish clergy. Fitz- ralph's position, however, was not directly con- demned, and he died in peace at Avignon. In 1370 his remains were transferred to St. Nicholas' church, Dundalk; miracles were reported from his tomb and for several centuries his memory was held in saintly veneration. His printed works are mentioned above. His "Opus in P. Lombardi Sententias" and several other works (list in the "Catholic University Bulle- tin", XI, 243) are still in manuscript.

Poole in Did. of Nat. Bioq., s. v.; Grkaney in Cath. Univ. Bull. (Washington), XI, 68, 195; Felten in Kirchenlex., s. v.

John J. Greaney.

Fitzsimon (Fitz Simon), Henry, Jesuit, b. 1566 (or 1."iH;i), in Dublin, Ireland; d. 29 Nov., 1643 (or 1645), prol )al )ly at Kilkenny. He was educated a Protestant at Oxford (Hart Hall, and perhaps Christ Church), 15S3-15S7. Going thence to the University of Paris, he became a zealous protagonist of Protestantism, "with the firm intention to have died for it", if need

had been. But having engaged in controversy with " an owld English Jesuit, Father Thomas Darbishire, to my happiness I was overcome ". Having embraced Catholicism he visited Rome and Flanders, where, in 1592, he "elected to militate under the Jesuits' stand- ard, because they do most impugn the impiety of here- tics". In 1595 there was a call for Jesuit labourers for Ireland, which hail been deprived of them for ten years. He at once offered himself for the post of dan- ger, and he shares with Father Archer the honour of having rcfounded that mission on a basis that proved permanent amid innumerable dangers and trials. Keeping chiefly to Dulilin and Drogheda he was won- derfully successful in reconciling Protestants, and he loudly and persistently challenged the chief Anglican divines to disputation. With the same fighting spirit he laughed at his capture in 1600. "Now", said he, " my adversaries cannot say that they know not where to find me"; and he wouki shout his challenges from his prison window at every passing parson. But his opponents, James Ussher, Meredith Hanmer, and John Rider, in spite of their professions, carefully avoided coming to close quarters with their redoubtable ad- versary.

Banished in 1604, he visited Spain, Rome, and Flanders, 1611-1620, everywhere earnest and active with voice and pen in the cause of Ireland. After the outbreak of the Thirty Years War, in July, 1620, he served as chaplain to the Irish soldiers in the imperial army, and published a diary, full of life and interest, of his adventurous experiences. He probably re- turned to Flanders in 1621 and in 1630 went back to Ireland, where he continued to work with energy and success until the outbreak of the Civil War (1640). In the ensuing tumult and confusion, we are unable to followhislater movements with certainty. At one time we hear that he was under sentence of death, from which he escaped in the winter of 1641 to the Wicklow Mountains, and after many sufferings died in peace, probably at Kilkenny. " Not many, if any Irishmen", says his biographer, while reflecting on the many uni- versities, towns, courts and armies which Father Fitz- simon had visited, " have known, or been known to, so many men of mark ". Besides one controversial work in MS., not known to previous biographers, now at Oscott College, Birmingham, which is entitled "A revelation of contradictions in reformed articles of religion", dated 1633, he wrote two MS. treatises, now lost, against Rider; and afterwards printed against him "A Catholic Confutation" (Rouen, 1608); "Britanno- machia Ministrorum" (1614); "Pugna Pragensis" (1620) and "Buquoii Quadrimestreiter, Auctore Con- stantio Peregrino" (Briinn, 1621, several editions, also Italian and English versions) ; " Catalogus Prseci- puorum Sanctorum Hiberniaj "(1611, several editions), important as drawing attention to Irish hagiography at a time of great depression. His "Words of Com- fort to Persecuted Catholics", "Letters from a Cell in Dublin Castle", and "Diary of the Bohemian War of 1620", together with a sketch of his life, were published by Father Edmund Hogan, S.J. (Dublin, 1881).

Hogan, Dislinguished Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century (Dub- lin, 1S94\ 198-310; Foley. Ri-conh tS.J.. VII. 260; Sommervo- GEL, Bibliothcque, III, 766-768; Cooper in Diet. Not. Biog., s.v.

J. H. Pollen.

Fitz-Simons, Thomas, American merchant, b. in Ireland, 1741; d. at Pliiladelphia, U. S. A., 26 Aug., 1811. There is no positive date of his arrival in Amer- ica, but church records in Philadelphia show he was there in 1758. In 1763 he was married to Catherine, sister of George Meatle, and he was Mt':ide's partner as a merchant until 1784. In the events that led up to the revolt of the colonists against ICngland he took a prominent part. He was one of the deputies who met in conference in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, out of which conference grew the Continental Congress that