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| 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 | 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][need quotation to verify]
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.[citation needed] 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.[2]
Religious persecution of Catholics in Ireland began underKing Henry VIII (thenLord of Ireland) after hisexcommunication in 1533.[3] TheIrish Parliament adopted theActs of Supremacy, which declared the Irish Churchsubservient to the State.[4] In response, Irish bishops, priests, and laity who continued to pray for the pope duringMass were tortured and killed.[5] 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.[6] King Henry andThomas Cromwell continuedCardinal Wolsey's policies ofcentralizing government power inDublin Castle and sought to destroy the political and military independence of both theOld English nobility, theIrish clans, and theGaelic nobility of Ireland.[citation needed] 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.[7]
On c.30 July 1535John 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.[8] He wasburned at the stake in theCommon then known as, "Oxmantown Green", part of which has since becomeSmithfield Market on the city'sNorthside.[9][7][10]
The focus of religious persecution turned from Catholics to Protestants 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.[citation needed] While revivingThomas Cranmer's prayerbook, the Queen ordered theElizabethan religious settlement to favorHigh Church Anglicanism, which preserved many traditionally Catholic ceremonies. Meanwhile, the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1559), the Prayer Book of 1559, and theThirty-Nine Articles (1563) mixed the doctrines ofProtestantism andCaesaropapism.[11] 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.[citation needed]
In 1563 theEarl of Essex issued a proclamation, by which allCatholic priests, secular and regular, were forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin or inThe Pale. Fines and penalties were strictly enforced forRecusancy from the Anglican Sunday service; before long. Catholic priests and others were hunted into theMass rocks in mountains and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had escaped earlier destruction were also destroyed.[12] 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.[citation needed]
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.[citation needed] 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.[13]
Beatified Martyrs of this period includeMargaret Ball, formerLady Mayoress of Dublin, who died as aprisoner of conscience inDublin Castle for refusing to take theOath of Supremacy, 1584[14]Dominic Collins, was Jesuitlay brother and formerCatholic League military officer, under thenom de guerre "Captain de la Branche", who served during theBrittany Campaign of theFrench Wars of Religion. Captured followingBattle of Kinsale and the 11-daySiege of Dunboy. Officially hanged forhigh treason, but in reality for refusing to take theOath of Supremacy, outside the walls of his nativeYoughal,County Cork, 31 October 1602[15]
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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..."[16] 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."[17]
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. For eight years Ireland was the theatre of the most desolating war and implacable persecution."[18] Beatified Martyrs of the era includedPeter O'Higgins,Dominican Order, hanged outside the walls ofDublin atSt Stephen's Green, on 24 March 1642[19][20][21]
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.[22] After taking Ireland in 1653, theNew Model Army turnedInishbofin, County Galway, into a prison camps forCatholic 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.[23] Officially beatified martyrs of the era includeTheobald Stapleton, (Irish:Teabóid Gálldubh), slain during theSack of Cashel, 15 September 1647.[24] Another beatified martyr wasJohn Kearney (1619-1653) who was born inCashel, County Tipperary and joined theFranciscans at the Kilkenny friary. After his novitiate, he went to Leuven in Belgium and was ordained in Brussels in 1642. Returned to Ireland, he taught in Cashel and Waterford, and was much admired for his preaching. In 1650 he becameerenagh ofCarrick-on-Suir, County Tipperary. During theCromwellian conquest of Ireland, he was arrested by theNew Model Army while continuing to exercise an illegal and underground priestly ministry throughout the valley of theRiver Suir and executed byhanging atClonmel,County Tipperary on 21 March 1653. He lies buried in the chapter hall of the suppressed friary of Cashel.[25][26]
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".[27] Priests who refused to take the oath abjuring the Catholic faith were arrested and executed.[citation needed] Priests had to register with the local magistrates to be allowed to preach, and most did so.[citation needed] Bishops were not permitted to register.[28] 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,[29] the most infamous of whom remainsJohn O'Mullowny, nicknamed (Irish:Seán na Sagart), of thePartry Mountains inCounty Mayo.[30] 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.[28]
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The Irish Martyrs suffered over several reigns and even at the hands of both sides duringregime change wars.[citation needed] 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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[31] 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 were also 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.[citation needed]
In the 12 February 1915 Apostolic decreeIn Hibernia, heroum nutrice,Pope Benedict XV formally authorized the formal introduction of additional Causes for Catholic sainthood.[32] 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 Catholic martyrdom were further investigated, after which the findings were again submitted to the Holy See.[31] So 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.[4] 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.[citation needed]
12 October 1975 byPope Paul VI.
15 December 1929 byPope Pius XI.[citation needed]
22 November 1987 byPope John Paul II.[citation needed]
27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II.[citation needed]
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.
