Conor O'Mahony Conchobhar Ó Mathghamhna | |
|---|---|
 Arms of the O'Mahony clan. | |
| Born | 1594 |
| Died | 28 February 1656(1656-02-28) (aged 62) |
| Education | Irish College in Seville University of Évora University of Lisbon |
| Notable work | "An Argument Defending the Right of the Kingdom of Ireland for Irish Catholics against English Heretics" |
| Title |
|
| Theological work | |
| Tradition or movement | Catholicism (Counter-Reformation) |
| Notable ideas | Restoration ofHigh Kingship of Ireland &Irish Catholic independence |
Conor O'Mahony (Irish:Conchobhar Ó Mathghamhna; 1594–28 February 1656) was an Irish Catholic priest, academic and author who belonged to theSociety of Jesus. He was educated inSpain andPortugal, spending much of his life in the latter country. O'Mahony is best known for his 1645 workDisputatio apologetica de iure regni Hiberniae pro catholicis Hibernis adversus haereticos Anglos ("An Argument Defending the Right of the Kingdom of Ireland for Irish Catholics against English Heretics"), which, in the context of theIrish Confederate Wars was one of the most radicalIrish nationalist arguments for full national sovereignty, calling for the restoration of theGaelic kingship and creation of an explicitlyCatholic state.[1] Under the name "Mercurius Ibernicus" he is also the most likely candidate for having authored an anonymous news pamphlet in Lisbon.
O'Mahony was born inMuskerry, in what is today westernCounty Cork.[2] He was born during the last days of theGaelicKingdom of Desmond, which was under the rule of theMacCarthy dynasty. The O'Mahony (Ó Mathghamhna) clan were their kinsmen, as fellow members of theEóganachta. His childhood was thus during the years of theTudor conquest of Ireland and harsh suppression of the native Irish Catholic population.
He travelled toHabsburg Spain in 1614 for his education, attending Theobald Stapleton'sIrish College in Seville. Here he graduated as aMaster of Arts and aDoctor of Divinity, having studied philosophy and theology.[2] He decided on a vocation of consecrated life and was admitted tominor orders in June 1618, before becoming ordained to the Catholic priesthood the following year in December. He moved to theKingdom of Portugal, where there was also an activeIrish diaspora community atLisbon. Here, asCornelius a Sancto Patricio, in 1621, he entered the novitiate of theSociety of Jesus (the Jesuits). He served as prefect of studies at theIrish College at Lisbon. He was a Professor ofMoral Theology atSão Miguel Island's College in theAzores from 1626—1633. There was a large eruption atFurnas in 1630, in what is known as the "Year of the Ashtray", O'Mahony was involved in relief efforts atPonta Delgada. Following this, he held the Chair of Moral Theology at the Jesuit-ranUniversity of Évora back on the Portuguese mainland, from 1633—1635. After this, he was transferred to the capital city, where he was Professor of Dogmatic Theology at theUniversity of Lisbon from 1636—1641.[2]
Though careful not to offend his Habsburg hosts, O'Mahony lived in Portugal during theIberian Union and the subsequentPortuguese Restoration War, whereby the Portuguese patriots wanted to restore their nativeHouse of Braganza to the throne in place of theSpanish Habsburgs and thus their national sovereignty.[2] The year after the Portuguese Revolt began, in his homeland theIrish Rebellion of 1641 was taking place. Observing the apologetics of his Portuguese Jesuit colleagues, he took note and formed his own intellectual framework for justifying a similar position for the Irish Catholic provisional government of theKingdom of Ireland formed by theConfederate Catholic Association of Ireland.[2] After standing down from public teaching in universities, he authored and published his most notable text at Lisbon in 1645:Disputatio apologetica de iure regni Hiberniae pro catholicis Hibernis adversus haereticos Anglos ("An Argument Defending the Right of the Kingdom of Ireland for Irish Catholics against English Heretics"). It has two parts within it, an apology for the right of the Irish Catholics to revolt against theKing of England and secondly the suggested path they should take next.[2] To conceal his identity he published it under the name "C.M. Hiberno" and its publishing place as "Frankfurt."[3]
In the work, O'Mahony laid out all of the arguments used to legitimise the presence of theEnglish monarchy in Ireland, fromLaudabiliter onwards and seeks to debunk them point by point, using a legal and moral basis.[3] The major areas he measures English rule up against from a perspective of Catholic moral teaching are:just war, religious mission, consent and peaceful possession. O'Mahony argued thatHenry II of England's invasion of Ireland was "evil" because it sought to restore an adulterer,Diarmaid mac Murchadha, to his throne. And, in any case, the invasion went well beyond restoring him to theKingdom of Leinster and encroached upon the kingdoms and lands of other, uninvolved parties (failing to qualify under just war theory).[3] In regards to the Irish kings who submitted toRichard II asLord of Ireland, O'Mahony states this was not universal among all the kings and that this had been gained under duress; "The law of naturede facto will invalidate every contract concluded or extorted by grave fear and coercion."[3] He also argued thatLaudabiliter had been obtained by the Normans under "false pretences" in the first place, but whatever the argument may have been, now that England hadembraced Protestantism (aheresy in the eyes of the Catholic Church), including its last three monarchs —Elizabeth I,James I andCharles I— its claims to "religious mission" in Ireland was now totally null and void.[3][2] In formulating these arguments he drew on the works ofRobert Bellarmine,Francisco Suárez andLuis de Molina.[2]
TheExhortatio on which the work ends, draws uponOld Testament biblical analogies (calling on the Gaels to be like theIsraelites in their revolt againstNahash, King of theAmmonites, a cruel tyrant who would "pluck the right eye out of every Hebrew"),[4] he called upon the Irish Catholics to choose "a Catholic king, an indigenous or native-born Irishman who will be able to govern them as Catholics", as well as this, the remaining Protestant "heretics" in Ireland should either be driven out or killed.[2][3] He warns the native Irish to be unified by a common cause in the campaign, as the English had always succeeded in playing Irishprinces off against each other.[3] Although the work was intended as a boost to the radical wing of the Catholic Confederacy; that ofOwen Roe O'Neill and CardinalGiovanni Battista Rinuccini, contrary to the more "moderate", compromising, pro-StuartOld English Irish Catholic royalists who wanted to make peace with theMarquess of Ormond; it became ataboo andbanned book. In general, the Confederates wanted to distance themselves from some killings of Protestant civilians which took place earlier in 1641 and also, leave the door open to at least the possibility of the rights of Catholics being restored under a Stuart monarchy. The Supreme Council of the Confederacy had it burned inKilkenny andFranciscan Fr.Peter Valesius Walsh attacked it nine different sermons inSt Canice's Cathedral.[3][2] Even in Portugal, after pressure was applied by SirHenry Compton, the book was condemned twice and banned by the state.[3]
Although it had minimal influence, the book had a quasi-Black Legend afterlife in politics. The radical faction within the Confederates referred to theConfederate Oath of Association as their foundation, rather than theDisputatio apologetica. Nevertheless, SirKenelm Digby, an English Catholic diplomat, who represented Charles I inRome, complained that Cardinal Rinuccini tolerated theDisputatio apologetica (he had refused to handAthlone priest Fr. John Bane over to the authorities after he was found with a copy) and for the Old English within the Irish Confederacy they feared that the book was on the backburner to endorse making Owen Roe O'Neill theHigh King of Ireland in place of theStuart dynasty if the opportunity availed itself.[3][2]
Sometime after the defeat of the Irish Confederates (and also the Irish Royalists) following theCromwellian conquest of Ireland, O'Mahony did eventually go public with the fact that he had authored the document. He admitted this to Patrick Plunkett, theBishop of Ardagh. Although he was healthy and in good shape, soon after, he suddenly fell ill and died at the Jesuit House inLisbon on 28 February 1656. The circumstances of his death have never been fully investigated.[3][2] The "go-to" reference work for the Irish view of the period has tended to have been the six-volumeCommentarius Rinuccinianus compiled by Fr. Barnabas O'Ferrall and Fr. Daniel O'Connell (later edited by Fr. Stanislaus Kavanagh) and makes no mention of the work. Protestants used the document as evidence of "Catholic treason" sporadically, even printing copies in 1826 in the campaign againstCatholic Emancipation. The work was finally translated into English from the Latin by John Minahane of theAubane Historical Society in 2010.[3][2]
The Prague-basedFranciscan Fr.Anthony Bruodin publishedPropugnaculum Catholicae Veritatis — a catalogue of Irish Catholic martyrs under Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth I and James I — under the name of "Cornelius O'Mollony" (a reference to Conor O'Mahony), but O'Mahony was already dead in 1671 when it was published.
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