them, I extract the following account of their operations, as connected with the Church. They resorted first to Carlagh, where the Lord James Butler kept his Christmas: and being there very well entertained, from thence they went to Kilkenny, where they were no less entertained by the Earl of Ormonde. There, on New Year's Day, the Archbishop of Dublin preached the word of God, having very good audience, publishing the king's said injunctions, and the king's translation of the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, the Articles of Faith, and Ten Commandments, in English: divers papers whereof they delivered to the bishop, and other prelates of the diocese, commanding them to do the like through all their jurisdictions. The Saturday following they repaired to Ross. At Ross; There, the morn after, the archbishop preached : which done, that night they went to Wexford, where At Wexford; the archbishop preached on the Epiphany Day, having a great audience, publishing the said injunctions, and doing all things there as they did at Kilkenny. The Saturday following the Epiphany they came At Waterford; to Waterford, where the mayor and his brethren, during their abode, both well entertained them, and used themselves obediently, in conforming themselves to their orders and directions. There the Sunday my Lord of Dublin preached, having a very great audience; where, also, they published the king's said injunctions, and the residue of his pleasure likewise, as they did in Kilkenny, Ross, and Wexford. There four felons were executed, accompanied with another thief, a friar; whom, among the residue, they commanded to be hanged in his habit, and so to remain upon the gallows, for a mirror to all other his brethren to live truly. At Clonmell. Oath of supremacy taken by At the writing of the letter they were at Clonmell, where, on the Sunday, the Archbishop of Dublin was to preach, likewise as he did in other places before mentioned, in the presence of all the bishops of Munster; "who, upon our commandment," it is observed, "be repaired hither for the most part already; and, or they depart, they shall be sworn to the supremacy of the king, and against the Bishop of Rome." 66 The letter concludes with a desire, "that it may please his lordship, by his next letters, to give thanks to my Lord of Dublin for his pains and diligence he hath used in this journey with us, in the setting forth of the word of God." And in another letter of February the 8th, written after they returned to Dublin, and signed by the archbishop, as well as his three companions, it is reported :—" At Clonmell was two archbishops with us two archbishops and eight bishops, in whose presence my Lord of Dublin preached, in advancing the king's supremacy, and the extinguishment of the Bishop of Rome. And, his sermon finished, all the said bishops, in all the open audience, took the oath mentioned in the Acts of Parliament, both touching the king's succession and supremacy, before me, the king's chancellor; and divers others there present did the like." and eight bi shops. Archbishop Browne's complaint of the Lord Deputy, for seizing his house and furniture. A letter from the Archbishop to the Lord Privy Seal, about a week after the preceding, complains that, during his absence in the parts of Munster, "the Lord Deputy had repaired to Dublin, and there entered, not only into his place of Saint Pulcars, but also did take, and was still using, such his household stuff, as his said house was furnished withal, not only to his great hindrance, but also, on his part, the debilitating of the word of God, which grieved him full sore. Nevertheless he did what he [might in accomplishing his duty; trusting that Lord Cromwell, when opportunity of time should serve, would obtain the king's grace's letters to the said deputy, for the restorance of his said house." His purpose of districts, with a visiting remote suffragan. Much of this letter is occupied in commendation of the Lord Chancellor Allen, and in complaints of the Lord Deputy. But what is more important to our subject is the concluding paragraph, in which he says, "At such season as your lordship's pleasure shall be to send hither authority ad causas ecclesiasticas, God willing, I intend to travel the country as far as any English is to be understanded; and where as I may not be understanded, I have provided a suffragan, named Doctor Nangle, bishop of Clonfert, who is not only well learned, but also a right honest man, and undoubtedly will set forth as well the word of God as our prince's causes, in the Irish tongue, to the discharge, I trust, of my conscience. Which said bishop was promoted to the Expulsion of said benefice, by the king's majesty and you; and, Bishop Nanglo. by commandment of the king's highness, and your good lordship, by me consecrated; although as now he is expulsed, and a Rome runner, who came in by provision, supported in the same by one M'William, a naughty traitorous person, governor of those parts, to whom the said Doctor Nangle, my suffragan, showed the king's broad seal, for justifying of his authority, which the said M'William little esteemed, but threw it away and vilipended the same. withstanding that, my lord deputy will see no of Popish redress, for that his lordship is so affectioned to the bishops. said M'William, although his lordship had the king's highness letters in the favour of my said suffragan. Not- The Lord De puty's patronage a bishop. Nevertheless his lordship did a greater enterprise His deposition of than that, in Obrenes country. He there deposed a bishop, which was likewise promoted by the king's highness; which bishop was at Clonmell at our last journey, and there, in presence of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Treasurer, Master Sub-Treasurer, and me, declared unto us the truth thereof. And, for as much as we could perceive, he was a right fatherly person; and he, that the Lord Deputy hath now promoted to the same, is a gray friar, one of the holy confessors of the late Garrantynes, even as rank a traditor as ever they were." the deposed bishop. What was the issue of the intention above declared, does not appear; nor what was the result of the remonstrance in favour of Bishop Nangle. Conjecture as to The deposed bishop was possibly Dominick Tirrey, who had been raised to the See of Cork and Cloyne, by the king's mandate in 1538, and was a favourer of the Reformation. Sir James Ware, however, does not notice his deposition, nor any papal interference with him so early as 1538, though he speaks of the Pope's appointment of a Franciscan friar in 1540, which, however, Bishop Tirrey successfully resisted 13. 15 WARE'S Bishops, p. 564. 1 SECTION IV. Dissolution of Monasteries. Ineffectual recommendation for some to be continued. Twenty-four of the higher class suppressed. Letters patents, ordering inquiry concerning Images and Reliques, and other monastick property. Provision for Parish Churches deprived of Divine Serrice. King of England declared by Parliament King, instead of Lord, of Ireland. Effect of King's supremacy in nomination to Bishopricks. Provision for improvement of Religion. Death of Archbishop Cromer. Dowdall appointed by the King to succeed him. Death of King Henry the Eighth. Effect of his reign on the Irish Church. monasteries. MEANWHILE the dissolution of the monasteries, Dissolution of which had been commenced at an earlier period, was vigorously prosecuted, and effected to a large extent. ment, During his occupancy of the see of Dublin, about Its commencethe year 1528, Archbishop Alan had been one of Cardinal Wolsey's instruments in procuring the dissolution of forty of the lesser monasteries'. Subsequently other abbeys and religious houses had been suppressed, and their property given to other persons by the king's letters patent, or vested in the crown by Act of Parliament, the provision of a yearly pension being made for their respective chief governors'. Thus in the Loftus MS., Marsh's Library, under and progress. 1536, it is stated, that "This year the religious houses and monasteries in Ireland were granted to the king, by the authority of parliament, to the number of three hundred and seventy: the yearly value whereof amounted to 32,000l., and their 1 WARE'S Bishops, p. 347. |