HISTORY

OF THE

CATHOLIC ARCHBISHOPS OF DUBLIN

SINCE THE REFORMATION.

TO THE READER.

THE following introductory chapters may be found useful, in preparing the reader for the perusal of the history of the holy and illustrious Irish Catholic Archbishops who filled the see of Dublin since the Reformation. In this introduction, the first attempts to root out the ancient religion of Ireland, the unworthy arts by which the Catholic Church was assailed, and the evil effects of the Reformation, are briefly described, and a sketch is given of the long and cruel persecutions which our forefathers, emulating the constancy of the early Christians, so gloriously suffered for their faith, in the days of Henry VIII. and Queen Elizabeth. The sad condition to which the confiscation of Catholic property, the destruction of colleges and monasteries, the dispersion of the clergy, violence and penal laws-the offspring of a cruel and hypocritical despotismhad reduced our country at that period, will explain why the see of Dublin was so long deprived of pastors during the sixteenth century. At the same time every Irish Catholic, when considering the calamities which fell on our country in

B

the unhappy days of the Reformation, cannot but be filled with gratitude to God, for having preserved our ancient and venerable Church, from the destruction with which she was menaced by so many powerful and perfidious enemies; and having protected her in a miraculous manner, through centuries of darkness and desolation. The goodness of God, the power of faith, that victory which overcometh the world, were never more fully displayed than in the period to which we refer. The introduction is divided into four chapters:

1. The first efforts of the English government to introduce the Reformation into Ireland.

2. The appointment of Hugh Curwin to the see of Dublin, and his apostacy.

3. Vacancy of the see after the apostacy of Curwin, and how the diocese was administered until the end of the sixteenth century.

4. Persecution of the Irish Catholics during the reign of Elizabeth.

To these chapters we add an APPENDIX, containing an account of the succession of the Catholic bishops in the various sees of Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth. The facts stated in this appendix will show, that the succession of our Irish Catholic bishops has remained unbroken, that the people of Ireland never abandoned the true faith, and that the theories of Dr. Mant, and of Dr. Todd in his late life of St. Patrick, on this subject, are without foundation.

INTRODUCTION.

CHAPTER I.

FIRST EFFORTS OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT TO

INTRODUCE PROTESTANTISM INTO IRELAND.

1. Mission of the Protestant Archbishop Dr. Browne to the Irish Catholics.— 2. Royal Supremacy sanctioned by Parliament, 1536-7.-3. Other Acts of Parliament in favour of the Reformation.-4. Zeal of the Protestant Archbishop in the same cause: Destruction of Crosses, Images, Relics, Church Ornaments, and the Crozier of St. Patrick.-5. Suppression of Monasteries.— 6. Sufferings of Religious Orders.—7. Other efforts of Government to promote the Reformation.-8. Character of Reformers in Ireland.-9. Reformation fails in Ireland under Henry VIII.

1.-Mission of Doctor George Browne to the Irish Catholics. AN English Augustinian friar, by name George Browne, was the individual chosen by Henry the Eighth to unfurl in Ireland the standard of revolt against the authority of the Holy See. Dr. Browne had been for many years a courtier of the English monarch, and for some time before his advancement to the see of Dublin, had held the lucrative post of confidential agent of archbishop Cranmer. He, moreover, enjoyed the friendship of lord Cromwell, and in 1534 formed part of a commission specially destined to prepare the way in Ireland for the important step of reformation, then contemplated by Henry. This commission, indeed, was in many respects a complete failure; nevertheless, it obtained one result, which was hailed by the courtiers with all the joy of a glorious triumph-that, forsooth, the earl of Ossory and his son, when entering on the government of the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, and Tipperary, in the month of May, 1534, should consent to pledge themselves "to resist the usurpation of the bishop of Rome," and assign, as the cause of all the evils which then pressed heavily upon our

island, "the manner in which the Pope had exercised his authority in filling up the Irish benefices."*

The vacancy of the archiepiscopal see of Dublin, caused by the assassination of Dr. Allen, in July, 1534, presented a favourable opportunity of testing what blessings might result to our church, by setting aside the privilege of the Roman Pontiff, and filling up the Irish sees by the sole authority of the English crown. Accordingly, in the beginning of March, 1535, we find Dr. Browne appointed by Henry to the diocese of Dublin; a few days later, without receiving any confirmation from Rome,† he was consecrated by Cranmer, and, moreover, in compliance with the schismatical act lately passed in the English parliament, the new prelate received-not from the tombs of the apostles, but from the archbishop of Canterbury—the pallium and other insignia of his high dignity.

It is a great error of some writers to reckon Dr. Browne amongst the Catholic successors of St. Laurence O'Toole.§ He had no more claim to the title of Catholic archbishop of Dublin than has Dr. Whately at the present day. Even Ussher, in his sketch of the early career of Dr. Browne, attributes his favour with the king to his having rejected the doctrines of Rome; and Dr. Mant describes him before his appointment to the see of Dublin, as a man "whose mind was happily freed from the thraldom of popery," whilst he adds, that "the arrival of the archbishop in his diocese was the first step taken by the reformation in Ireland."¶

Were further evidence required on this head, we would find it in the letter of king Henry to the archbishop on the 7th of July, 1537, from which we give some extracts, as it clearly

*State Pap. See Haverty, "History of Ireland," page 360.

+ Haverty, page 378, well remarks that Browne, at the time he was consecrated, was a professing Protestant.

Harris's Ware, page 348.

Dr. Browne himself, writing to Cromwell on 8th of January, 1538 (State Pap., vol. ii. p. 539), says, "it hath pleased his most excellent highness (the king) through your good lordship's preferment, to make me under his grace, a spiritual officer, and chief over the clergy;" and again, "there is never an archbishop nor bishop but myself, made by the king, but he is repelled even now by provision."

A MS. notice of our Irish bishops, written in 1579, and preserved in the Vatican, describes the see of Dublin as vacant since the death of its archbishop in the reign of Henry VIII. Per obitum epi. tempore Henrici Regis." "Hist. of the Church of Ireland," vol. i. pp. 111, 112.

traces the true source of the mission of this first English Protestant bishop to the Irish church:

"Right reverend father in God, trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well, signifying unto you, that whereas before your promotion and advancement to that order, dignity, and authority of an archbishop, you showed an appearance of such entire zeal and affection, as well to the setting forth and preaching the sincere word of God, and avoiding of all superstition used against the honour of the same, as to employ yourself always diligently, for your part, to procure the good furtherance of any of our affairs, as much as in you lay, and might appear to be to our contentment and satisfaction, that thinking your mind to be so earnestly fixed upon the same that you would persevere and continue still in that your good purpose: do then your duty towards us in the advancement of our affairs there, and in the signification hither, from time to time, of the state of the same, and we shall put your former negligence in oblivion. If this will not serve to induce you to it, but that you will still so persevere in your fond folly and ungrateful ungentleness, that you cannot remember what we have done, and how much above many others you be bound in all the points before touched, to do your duty, let it sink into your remembrance, that we be as able for the not doing thereof, to remove you again and to put another man of more virtue and honesty in your place, both for our discharge against God, and for the comfort of our good subjects there, as we were at the beginning to prefer you, upon hope that you would in the same do your office, as to your profession, and our opinion conceived of you, appertaineth."-(State Papers, vol. ii. p. 465.)

2.-The Royal Supremacy receives the sanction of Parliament, 1536-7. SOON after his arrival in Ireland, Dr. Browne received a formal letter from lord Cromwell, acquainting him with "the royal will and pleasure of his majesty, that his subjects in Ireland, even as those of England, should obey his commands in spiritual matters as in temporal, and renounce their allegiance to the see of Rome." At the same time a new commission was formed, and the archbishop was appointed one of its chief members, for carrying into effect his majesty's desires.*

The reply of the archbishop sets forth the difficulty of carrying such a scheme into effect, on account of the devoted

* See "The Phoenix," or Collection of "Scarce and Valuable Pieces," printed in London, 1707, vol. i. number 5. "The Life and Death of George Browne," written by Robert Ware. The same life is inserted in the English edition of sir James Ware's Annals, between the reigns of Mary and Elizabeth.