| Irish Catholic Martyrs | |
|---|---|
 Irish Catholic Martyrs formally recognized | |
| Born | Ireland |
| Died | between 1535 (Venerable John Travers) – 1 July 1681 (SaintOliver Plunkett), Ireland, England, Wales |
| Martyred by | Monarchy of EnglandCommonwealth of England,Protectorate of England,First French Republic |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | 3 were beatified on 15 December 1929 byPope Pius XI 1 was beatified on 22 November 1987 byPope John Paul II 18 were beatified on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II |
| Canonized | 1 (Oliver Plunkett) was canonized on 12 October 1975 byPope Paul VI |
| Feast | 20 June, various for individual martyrs |
Irish Catholic Martyrs (Irish:Mairtírigh Chaitliceacha na hÉireann) were 24Irish men and women who have beenbeatified orcanonized for both a life ofheroic virtue and for dying for theirCatholic faith between the reign of KingHenry VIII andCatholic Emancipation in 1829.
The more than three century-longreligious persecution of theCatholic Church in Ireland came in waves, caused by an overreaction by the State to certain incidents and interspersed with intervals of comparative respite.[1] Even so, during the worst of times, theIrish people, according to Marcus Tanner, clung to theMass, "crossed themselves when they passed Protestant ministers on the road, had to be dragged into Protestant churches and put cotton wool in their ears rather than listen to Protestant sermons."[2]
According to historian andfolkloristSeumas MacManus, "Throughout these dreadful centuries, too, the hunted priest -- who in his youth had been smuggled to the Continent of Europe to receive his training -- tended the flame of faith. He lurked like a thief among the hills. On Sundays and Feast Days he celebrated Mass at a rock, on a remote mountainside, while the congregation knelt on theheather of the hillside, under the open heavens. While he said Mass, faithful sentries watched from all the nearby hilltops, to give timely warning of the approachingpriest-hunter and his guard of British soldiers. But sometimes the troops came on them unawares, and theMass Rock was bespattered with his blood, -- and men, women, and children caught in the crime of worshipping God among the rocks, were frequently slaughtered on the mountainside."[3]
Writing in 1914, Rev. William Burke laid the blame for both Ireland's economic stagnation and the lingeringcolonial mentality among theIrish people, whose adherents are traditionally termedWest Brits orshoneens, less upon the seven hundred years ofcolonialism beginning in 1172, than upon the almost three hundred-years ofreligious persecution. In particular, Burke wrote, "It is hardly an exaggeration to say that most Irishmen are still haunted by a sub-conscious feeling of inferiority social or even intellectual." Burke then enumerated, the "habits of slavery induced by thePenal code", as a lack of, "personal dignity, mental independence, and self-restraint". He also accused the legacy of religious persecution of having deprived the Irish people, "of that sturdyindividualism which respects oneself and respects others and which is as widely removed from insolence as it is fromservility."[4]
Even so, Rev. Burke continued, "While the code in so far as it was meant to pauperise and degrade was completely successful, it was a signal failure in its main purpose of Protestantising the people. Nay even, it had the very opposite effect; for whilst in the sixteenth century they, clergy as well as laity, gave evidence of the wavering convictions of the period, in the nineteenth century they had become the most staunch Catholics in northern Europe."[5]
The 1975 canonization of ArchbishopOliver Plunkett, who washanged, drawn and quartered atTyburn on 1 July 1681, as one of theForty Martyrs of England and Wales raised considerable public interest in other Irishmen and Irishwomen who had similarly died for their Catholic faith in the 16th and 17th centuries. On 22 September 1992Pope John Paul II beatified an additional 17 martyrs and assigned June 20, the anniversary of the 1584 martyrdom of ArchbishopDermot O'Hurley, as their feast day.[6] Many other causes for Roman Catholic Martyrdom and possible Sainthood, however, remain under active investigation.
Religious persecution of Catholics in Ireland began underKing Henry VIII (thenLord of Ireland) after hisexcommunication in 1533. TheIrish Parliament adopted theActs of Supremacy, which declared the Irish Churchsubservient to the State.[7] In response, Irish bishops, priests, and laity who continued to pray for the pope duringMass were tortured and killed.[8] TheTreasons Act 1534 defined even unspoken mental allegiance to the Holy See ashigh treason. Many were imprisoned on this basis. Alleged traitors who were brought to trial, like all otherBritish subjects tried for the same offence prior to theTreason Act 1695, were forbidden the services of a defence counsel and forced to act as their own attorneys.[9]
According to D.P. Conyngham, "Though the faithful underwent fearful persecutions toward the latter part of the reign of Henry, few publicly suffered martyrdom. Numbers of the monks and religious were killed at their expulsion from their houses, but the King's adhesion to many articles of Catholicity made it too hazardous for his agents in Ireland to resort to the stake or the gibbet. In fact, Henry burned at the same stakeLutherans, for denying theReal Presence, with Catholics, for denying his supremacy."[10]
Meanwhile, the King andThomas Cromwell continuedCardinal Wolsey's policies ofcentralizing government power inDublin Castle and seeking to completely destroy the political and military independence of both theOld English nobility, theIrish clans, and theGaelic nobility of Ireland. This, in addition to the King's religious policy, ultimately triggered Old English aristocratSilken Thomas, 10th and lastEarl of Kildare, to launch a 1534-1535 military uprising against the rule of theHouse of Tudor in Ireland.[11]
On c.30 July 1535,Venerable Fr.John Travers, a graduate ofOxford University and the Chancellor ofSt Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, was executed in Dublin for writing a volume denouncing the Act of Supremacy. As this had not yet been made into a crime in Ireland, Fr. Travers was instead tried at the summer assizes forhigh treason and involvement in the recent rebellion of Silken Thomas. According to historian R. Dudley Edwards, Fr. Travers had acted only in non-combatant roles as a peace negotiator and had even offered himself as a hostage to the King's forces. Fr. Travers also had no political or financial dependency, familial links, or nationalist feelings of loyalty towards the Earls of Kildare and his involvement in the uprising was motivated only by a desire to defend the independence of theCatholic Church in Ireland from being lost tocontrol by the State. Following his inevitable conviction, Fr. Travers wasburned at the stake in theCommon then known as, "Oxmantown Green", part of which has since becomeSmithfield Market on the city'sNorthside.[12][11]
According toPhilip O'Sullivan Beare, "[John Travers] wrote something against the English heresy, in which he maintained the jurisdiction and authority of the Pope. Being arraigned for this before the King's court, and questioned by the judge on the matter, he fearlessly replied - 'With these fingers', said he, holding out the thumb, index, and middle fingers, of his right hand, 'those were written by me, and for this deed in so good and holy a cause I neither am nor will be sorry.' There upon being condemned to death, amongst other punishments inflicted, that glorious hand was cut off by the executioner and thrown into the fire and burnt, except the three sacred fingers by which he had effected those writings, and which the flames, however piled on and stirred up, could not consume."[13]
In 1536,Venerable Fr.Charles Reynolds (Irish:Cathal Mac Raghnaill), theHiberno-NorseArchdeacon of Kells, was posthumouslyattained for high treason in theAttainder of the Earl of Kildare Act 1536 for successfully urgingPope Paul III to excommunicate King Henry VIII over his divorce, his uncanonical remarriage, and theCaesaropapism of his religious policy.[12]
When theSuppression of the Monasteries was extended to Ireland as well, theAnnals of the Four Masters reports for the year 1540, "The English in every place throughout Ireland where they established their power, persecuted and banished the ninereligious orders, and particularly they destroyed the monastery ofMonaghan, and beheaded theguardian and a number of friars."[14] A 1935 article by historian L.P. Murray identifies the martyrederenagh of Monaghan Monastery as Fr. Patrick Brady and adds that he was beheaded alongside 16 fellowFranciscanFriars.[15]
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Even though she continued the plantation of Ireland with English settlers, the persecution of Catholics ceased after the accession of the CatholicQueen Mary, but after Mary's death in November 1558, her sisterQueen Elizabeth I arranged for Parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy of 1559, which re-established the control by the State over the Church within her dominions and criminalized religious dissent ashigh treason. While revivingThomas Cranmer's prayerbook, the Queen ordered theElizabethan religious settlement to favourHigh Church Anglicanism, which preserved many traditionally Catholic ceremonies. Meanwhile, the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1559), the Prayer Book of 1559, and the Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) mixed the doctrines ofProtestantism andCaesaropapism.[16]
From the early years of her reign, pressure was put on all her subjects to conform to the "Established Church" of the realm or be considered guilty of high treason. Prosecutions forRecusancy and refusals to take theOath of Supremacy, the issuing oftorture warrants, and the use ofpriest hunters escalated rapidly.
In 1563 theEarl of Essex issued a proclamation, by which allRoman Catholic priests, secular and regular, were forbidden to officiate, or even to reside inDublin or inThe Pale. Fines and penalties were strictly enforced forRecusancy from the Anglican Sunday service; before long. Priests and religious were, as might be expected, the first victims. They were hunted into theMass rocks in mountains and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had escaped the rapacity of King Henry VIII were also destroyed.[17] It ultimately resulted inPope Pius V's 1570papal bullRegnans in Excelsis, which, "released [Elizabeth I's] subjects from their allegiance to her".[1]
In Ireland theFirst Desmond Rebellion, led byJames FitzMaurice FitzGerald and which sought to replace Queen Elizabeth I withDon John of Austria asHigh King of Ireland, was launched in 1569, at almost the same time as theNorthern Rebellion in England. TheWexford Martyrs were found guilty ofhigh treason for aiding in the escape ofJames Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass and refusing to take theOath of Supremacy and declareElizabeth I of England to be theSupreme Head of the Church of England and Ireland.
The ongoing religious persecution also became highly significant as the primary cause of theNine Years War, which similarly sought to replace Queen Elizabeth with a High King from theHouse of Habsburg. The war formally began whenRed Hugh O'Donnell expelled EnglishHigh Sheriff of DonegalHumphrey Willis, but not before Red Hugh listed his reasons for taking up arms against theHouse of Tudor and alluded in particular to the recent torture and executions of ArchbishopDermot O'Hurley and BishopPatrick O'Hely. According toPhilip O'Sullivan Beare, "Being surrounded there [Willis] surrendered to Roe by whom he was dismissed in safety with an injunction to remember his words, that the Queen and her officers were dealing unjustly with the Irish; that the Catholic religion was contaminated by impiety; that holy bishops and priests were inhumanely and barbarously tortured; that Catholic noblemen were cruelly imprisoned and ruined; that wrong was deemed right; that he himself had been treacherously and perfidiously kidnapped; and that for these reasons he would neither give tribute or allegiance to the English."[18]
Beatified Martyrs include:
Servants of God include:
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According to D.P. Conyngham, "It was fondly hoped by the Catholics of Ireland that the accession ofJames would bring peace and repose to the Church in that distracted and oppressed country. A general feeling of relief and joy pervaded all classes. Many of those who had been forced into exile returned to their native country: churches were rebuilt - monasteries repaired - the sacred duties of the sanctuary were resumed, and the offices of the Church were performed with undisturbed safety throughout the Kingdom. This state of comparative tranquility was not, however, suffered to continue..."[21]
A Royal edict issued on 4 July 1605 announced thatElizabethan eraRecusancy laws were to be rigorously enforced and added, "It hath seemed proper to us to proclaim, and we hereby make it known to our subjects in Ireland, that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be allowed - save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this realm."[22]
Beatified Martyrs include:
Servants of God include:
According to historian D.P. Conyngham, "Ireland was torn by contending factions, and was oppressed by two belligerents during the reign ofCharles. The Catholics took up arms in defense of themselves, their religion, and their King. Charles, with the proverbial fickleness of the Stuarts, when pressed by the Puritans, persecuted the Irish, while he encouraged them when he hoped their loyalty and devotion would be the means of establishing hisroyal prerogative. It is ever thus with Ireland... For eight years Ireland was the theatre of the most desolating war and implacable persecution."[23]
Beatified Martyrs of the era include:
Servants of God include:
On 24 October 1644, the Puritan-controlledRump Parliament in London, seeking to retaliate for acts ofsectarian violence like thePortadown massacre during the recent1641 uprising, resolved, "thatno quarter shallbe given to any Irishman, or toany papist born in Ireland." Upon landing with theNew Model Army at Dublin,Oliver Cromwell issued orders that no mercy was to be shown to the Irish, whom he said were to be treated like theCanaanites during the time of theOld Testament prophetJoshua.[27]
According to historian D.P. Conyngham, "It is impossible to estimate the number of Catholics slain the ten years from 1642 to 1652. Three Bishops and more than 300 priests were put to death for their faith. Thousands of men, women, and children were sold as slaves for theWest Indies; Sir W. Petty mentions that 6,000 boys and women were thus sold. A letter written in 1656, quoted by Lingard, puts the number at 60,000; as late as 1666 there were 12,000 Irish slaves scattered among the West Indian islands. Forty thousand Irishfled to the Continent, and 20,000 took shelter in theHebrides or other Scottish islands. In 1641, the population of Ireland was 1,466,000, of whom 1,240,000 were Catholics. In 1659 the population was reduced to 500,091, so that very nearly 1,000,000 must have perished or been driven into exile in the space of eighteen years. In comparison with the population of both periods, this was even worse than the famine extermination of our own days."[27]
After taking the island in 1653, theNew Model Army turnedInishbofin, County Galway, into a prison camps forRoman Catholic priests arrested while exercising their religious ministry covertly in other parts of Ireland.Inishmore, in theAran Islands, was used for exactly the same purpose. The last priests held on both islands were finally released following theStuart Restoration in 1662.[28]
Officially Beatified Martyrs of the era include:
Servants of God include:
Martyred by the Protestant and Parliamentarian soldiers under the command of theLord President of Munster,Murchadh na dTóiteán, during theSack of Cashel
During theStuart Restoration, the Crown's treatment of Catholics was more lenient than usual, owing to the sympathy of the king. For this reason, Catholic worship generally moved from theMass rocks to thatched "Mass houses" (Irish:Cábán an Aifrinn, lit. ‘Mass Cabin’). Writing in 1668,Janvin de Rochefort commented, "Even in Dublin more than twenty houses where Mass is secretly said, and in about a thousand places, subterranean vaults and retired spots in the woods".[32]
This changed radically, however, due to thePopish Plot, aconspiracy theory concocted byTitus Oates andLord Shaftesbury, who claimed that a plot existed to assassinate the King and massacre all the Protestants of the British Isles. Between 1678 and 1681, the attention of the public was riveted upon a series of anti-Catholicshow trials that resulted in 22 executions atTyburn.
As persecution of Catholics heated up in reaction to the Titus Oates plot, a priest with theHiberno-Norse surname of Father Mac Aidghalle was murdered while saying theTridentine Mass atCloch na hAltorach; aMass rock that still stands atopSlieve Gullion. The perpetrators were a band ofredcoats under the command of apriest hunter named Turner. LocalRapparee leader CountRedmond O'Hanlon is said in localoral tradition to have avenged the murdered priest and in so doing to have sealed his own fate.[33]
Irish victims of the Titus Oates witch hunt included:
Despite their exposure and public disgrace in 1681, the anti-Catholicwitch hunt masterminded by Titus Oates and Lord Shaftesbury laid the foundation for thesecond overthrow of theHouse of Stuart in 1688, the creation of the anti-CatholicWhigpolitical party, and, despite the best efforts of those who fought in theJacobite risings, to decades of theBritish Empire being governed as a Whigsingle party state.
As the Whig-controlled Parliament of Ireland passed thePenal Laws, which progressively criminalized Roman Catholicism and stripped away from its adherents all rights under the law,[34] a miracle connected to the ongoing religious persecution in Ireland took place, according to Diocesan and municipal records, atGyőr in theKingdom of Hungary.
During theCromwellian conquest of Ireland, a painting ofMary, Comforter of the Afflicted had been removed by BishopWalter Lynch fromClonfert Cathedral to protect the image from desecration by theNew Model Army. Bishop Lynch had kept the image hidden while held in the prison camp atInishbofin, and, before his death in Hungarian exile, had willed the image to theCathedral (Hungarian:Mennyekbe Fölvett Boldogságos Szűz Mária székesegyház) of theRoman Catholic Diocese of Győr. OnSt Patrick's Day 1697, the "Irish Madonna" (Hungarian:Ír Madonna), as she had come to be called, was seen many witnesses to weep tears of blood. The wall and even the canvas behind the image were closely examined and found to be dry. Signed statements remain and bear the signatures of many non-Catholic eyewitnesses, including localLutheran andCalvinist ministers, theOrthodox JewishChief Rabbi of Győr, and Count Siegebert Heister, theCaptain General of the town's military garrison.[35] A copy of the image was presented in 2003 to theRoman Catholic Diocese of Clonfert by BishopPápai Janos of Győr and now hangs insideSt Brendan's Cathedral inLoughrea,County Galway.[36][37]
A1709 Penal Act demanded that Catholic priests take theOath of Abjuration, and recognise the ProtestantQueen Anne asSupreme Head of the Church within all her dominions and declare that Catholic doctrine regardingTransubstantiation to be "base and idolatrous".[38]
Priests who refused to take the oath abjuring the Catholic faith were arrested and executed. This activity, along with the compulsory deportation of other priests who did not conform, was a documented attempt to cause the Catholic clergy to die out in Ireland within a generation. Priests had to register with the local magistrates to be allowed to preach, and most did so. Bishops were not permitted to register.[39]
In 1713, theIrish House of Commons declared that "prosecution and informing against Papists was an honourable service", which revived theElizabethan era profession of thepriest hunter,[40] the most infamous of whom remainsJohn O'Mullowny, nicknamed (Irish:Seán na Sagart), of thePartry Mountains inCounty Mayo.[41] The reward rates for capture varied from £50–100 for a bishop, to £10–20 for the capture of an unregistered priest: substantial amounts of money at the time.[39]
Irish nationalistJohn Mitchel, aPresbyterian fromCounty Londonderry, later wrote, "I know the spots, within my own part of Ireland, where venerable archbishops hid themselves, as it were, in a hole of the rock... Imagine a priest ordained atSeville orSalamanca, a gentleman of a high old name, a man of eloquence and genius, who has sustained disputations in the college halls on a question of literature or theology, and carried off prizes and crowns -- see him on the quays ofBrest, bargaining with some skipper to work his passage... And he knows, too, that the end of it all, for him, may be a row ofsugar canes to hoe under the blazing sun ofBarbados. Yet he pushes eagerly to meet his fate; for he carries in his hands a sacred deposit, bears in his heart a holy message, and he must tell it or die. See him, at last, springing ashore, and hurrying on to seek his Bishop in some cave, or under some hedge -- but going with caution by reason of the priest catcher and the blood-hounds."[42]
For example, in theSlieve Beagh mountains ofCounty Monaghan, a largeCeltic cross now tops aMass rock known asLeacht a 'tSagairt ("The Priest's Flagstone"). The cross is said in the localoral tradition to mark where a priest hunter shot a Fr. McKenna while he was sayingMass there onChristmas Day, c. 1754. The priest hunter was assassinated soon afterwards in nearbyEmyvale by local rapparee leader andfolk heroShane Bernagh.[43] Anotheroral tradition version of the same events credits the killing to aYeomanry unit fromClogher and gives the slain priest's name as Father Milligan. The same source also alleges that Shane Bernagh, after learning almost immediately afterwards of the priest's murder while in hiding nearby, "swore that he would have a Yeoman's life for this". Bernagh and his band of rapparees are then alleged to haveambushed the Yeomanry during their return to barracks, killed one of them, and thrown his body intoLough More.[44]
While being interviewed by Tadhg Ó Murchú of theIrish Folklore Commission, Peig Minihane-O'Driscoll ofArdgroom, in theBeara Peninsula ofCounty Cork, revealed that the localMass rock, known inMunster Irish asClochán a' tSagairt was located at acairn to the south. Peig Minihane-O'Driscoll also revealed that her husband had been born beforeCatholic Emancipation and that her in-laws had twice carried their baby son up into the mountains, seeking to secretly make contact and request his baptism from one of the two outlawed priest known to be in hiding locally, one near Ballycrovane Wood and another nearCastletownbere. Minihane-O'Driscoll concluded, "I don't know... there was some strength in them (the old people), with the grace of God. Oh, may God not blame us for complaining now, dear, there is a good life in it compared to that time."[45]
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The Irish Martyrs suffered over several reigns and even at the hands of both sides duringregime change wars. There was a long delay by theHoly See in opening an Apostolic Process into the Sainthood Causes of the Irish Catholic Martyrs for fear of escalating the ongoing religious persecution. Further complicating the investigation is that the records of these martyrs could not be safely investigated or publicized except by theIrish diaspora inCatholic Europe, due to the danger of being caught possessing such evidence at home. Details of their endurance in most cases have been lost.[7] The first general catalog, that of Father John Houling, S.J., was compiled in Portugal between 1588 and 1599. It is styled a very brief abstract of certain persons whom it commemorates as sufferers for the Faith under Elizabeth.[8]
Detailed accounts were also written and published byPhilip O'Sullivan Beare,David Rothe,Luke Wadding,Richard Stanihurst,Anthony Bruodin,John Lynch, John Coppinger, and John Mullin.[46]
After the successful fight that was eventually spearheaded byDaniel O'Connell forCatholic Emancipation between 1780 and 1829, interest revived as theCatholic Church in Ireland was rebuilding after three hundred years of being strictly illegal and underground. As a result, a series of re-publications of primary sources relating to the period of the persecutions and meticulous comparisons against archival Government documents in London and Dublin from the same period were made byDaniel F. Moran and other historians.
The first Apostolic Process under Canon Law began in Dublin in 1904, after which apositio was submitted to theHoly See.
In the 12 February 1915 Apostolic decreeIn Hibernia, heroum nutrice,Pope Benedict XV formally authorized the formal introduction of additional Causes for Roman Catholic Sainthood.[47]
During a further Apostolic Process held at Dublin between 1917 and 1930 and against the backdrop of theIrish War of Independence andCivil War, the evidence surrounding 260 alleged cases of Roman Catholic martyrdom were further investigated, after which the findings were again submitted to the Holy See.[46]
Thus far, the only Martyr to complete the process wasOliver Plunkett,Archbishop of Armagh, who was Canonized as a Saint in 1975 byPope Paul VI as one of theForty Martyrs of England and Wales.[7] Plunkett was certainly targeted during the anti-Catholicwitch hunt connected toTitus Oates and was executed following ashow trial motivated solelyin odium fidei ("out of hatred of the Faith"), instead of being in any way guilty of than any real crime against the state.
Other causes have also been formally recognized.
12 October 1975 byPope Paul VI.
15 December 1929 byPope Pius XI.
22 November 1987 byPope John Paul II.
27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II.
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A group of 42 Irish martyrs have been selected for canonisation. This group is composed mostly of priests, both secular and religious as well as several lay men and two lay women. These martyrs have not yet been beatified.
Even though the name of Fr. John O'Neill does not appear on the 1992 list of Catholic priests known to have served locally,[49] the localoral tradition alleges that he fell victim to the last killing of a Catholic priest at a Mass rock, which allegedly took place atInse an tSagairt, nearBonane,County Kerry, c.1829. A criminal gang based inGlengarriff, consisting of a woman and five men, conspired to kill the local outlaw priest and split the £45 bounty among themselves. After capturing Fr. John O'Neill, duringMass, beheading him, and bringing his severed head toCork city, the six conspirators learned thatCatholic Emancipation had just been signed into law and that no reward would be given. According to the story, the perpetrators threw Fr. O'Neill's severed head into theRiver Lee in frustration. Fr. O'Neill's clerk was also arrested at the scene and delivered as a prisoner toAnglo-Irish landlord and infamously anti-CatholicChurch of Ireland vicar Denis Mahony atDromore Castle. Rev. Mahony is said to have released the clerk while setting attack dogs on him, but the clerk managed to escape.[50][51][52][53][54]
This region of County Kerry had extremely rough terrain, few well-constructed roads, and was very difficult to travel to from other regions of Ireland without being robbed or even murdered byhighwaymen, as localChurch of Ireland vicar Rev. Fitzgerald Tisdall was in 1809. Furthermore, the few English-speaking visitors praised the beauty of the landscape, but also complained that the local population were almost exclusivelyIrish languagemonoglot-speakers.[55]
Even though this makes of Father John O'Neill's martyrdom plausible, but difficult to definitively confirm,Inse an tSagairt, despite being remote and difficult to access until well into the 20th-century, remained a place of reverence and devotion. For example, Fr. Eugene Daly's interest in the site began during his childhood, when his mother fell gravely ill and her life had been despaired of. As a deeply religious woman, however, Mrs. Daly requested that a drink of water be brought to her fromInse an tSagairt, which resulted in what was locally seen as a miraculous cure.[56] Both Fr. O'Neill's martyrdom and the cure of Mrs. Daly have been commemorated in locally composedIrish poetry.[57]
Since a hiking path was built there by theCoillte agency of the Irish State in 1981 at Fr. Daly's insistence,[58]Inse an tSagairt has been a site ofChristian pilgrimage and is still used by the local parish for an open air Annual Commemorative Mass every June. There is also a memorial plaque next to the altar in honour of Fr. John O'Neill.[50][52][53][54] Other local Mass rock locations werean Alhóir, near the summit ofMount Esker,An Seana-Shéipeil at Garrymore, andFaill-a Shéipéil at Gearha.[59]
Various parish churches have also been dedicated since 1992 to the Irish Catholic Martyrs, including:
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.
