cerning whom we are supplied in the "Directory" aforesaid with the primate of following information:the new "The [titular] primate's career was short. He studied at May- snccession. nooth, where having been ordained on the 23rd September, 1820, by A.D. 1832. the [titular] archbishop of Dublin, he was appointed Junior Dean, an office which he filled with zeal and discretion, until after the consecration of Dr. MacHale as coadjutor of Killala. He succeeded that illustrious prelate in the chair of Dogmatic Theology. Having discharged the arduous and important duties as Senior Professor for little more than a year, he was on the 16th June, 1826, appointed [titular] bishop of the then vacant see of Dromore, and consecrated in the chapel of Newry, by the [titular] Abp. of Dublin, on the 27th August following, just six years after the completion of his collegiate studies and his ordination to the ministry of the [Hiberno-Roman] Catholic Church. His grace was, on the 23rd December made coadjutor of Armagh, with future succession to the late venerable Dr. Curtis; and on the 26th July, 1832, he succeeded that truly apostolic prelate, to whom in all things he proved a worthy successor in the [titular] primatial chair. He died 13th January, 1835." 17. Of the present respectable occupant of the titular primacy of Ireland, we find in the same volume this following notice: W. Crolly, SEVEN "The Most Rev. WM. CROLLY, D.D., formerly Professor of TEENTH Logic in the Royal College of St. Patrick, Maynooth, consecrated primate of Bishop of Down and Connor 1st May, 1825, elevated to the [titular] the new seprimatial see of Armagh in April, 1835; removed from Belfast to Armagh, September same year." ries. A.D. 1835. 18. Since the above was written, a sudden illness was the means of P. Cullen, removing Dr. Crolly from this life, at Drogheda, on Good Friday, EIGH1849, whereupon the Bishop of Rome, in the exercise of his usurped TEENTH supremacy over a portion of the inhabitants of these islands, appointed titular priPAUL CULLEN, rector of the Irish College in Rome, to succeed to mate of the the vacant position. modern suc Of this appointment it may be observed, that it exhibits a step, not cession in unworthy of notice, in the progress of Italian encroachment on the Ireland. liberties of those who are subjected to its influence. In the earliest A.D. 1849. ages of Irish Christianity, when a bishop was to be chosen, or a bi- Contrast shopric erected, no foreign power was invited or allowed to have a between the share in the transaction. So in the legends of S. Maidoc, we are in- mode of apformed that "King Brandubh, and the laity as well as the clergy, held pointment a great synod in Leinster, and there he made a decree, that the arch- in this case and the system of the early Chris tians of these islands. Illustration in the acts of Abp. Celsus, of Armagh. bishopric of all the people of Leinster should be perpetually fixed in the see and cathedral of S. Maidoc," i. e. in Ferns, (see note, p. 448 sup.) Celsus of Armagh (p. 472 sup.) had created a new archbishopric in Cashel by his own "mere Irish" authority, without caring what any foreign prelate thought of the step, a whit more than any former Irish bishop or archbishop had thought of doing in any kindred matter before his time; although his next successor, Malachy, soon after, shewed a more humble deference to papal authority, according to the instructions of his counsellor Gille of Limerick Celsus again, when dying, was so far from repenting of his past negligence, that his very last act was a plain acknowledgment of regal supremacy in ecclesiastical causes, as well as of native independence of Roman power in spiritual matters; that act being the nomination of his successor in the primacy, not contingent on papal sanction, but accompanied with a dying charge" to the two kings of Munster, and the princes of the land," to ratify the same, as they respected the authority of the cowarb of Case of St. St. Patrick. And when the Britons of old Cambria were desirous to Kentegern's have a bishop consecrated for the government of Christ's Church in election and their territory, "the king and clergy" of the place, "with the other Christians there," came together, and elected Kentegern for their chief pastor; and, instead of sending to Rome for any ratification of the act, they sent over to Ireland for a bishop to consecrate their newly elected prelate, in a manner quite at variance with the rules and customs of Rome. (See pp. 1006, 1007 sup.) John Tinmuth, to be sure, apologises for those poor "islanders beyond the world's end," by saying they were ignorant of the canon law, and hindered by the "outbursting of the pagan invasion," from having free communication with Rome. But he is at the same time candid, or indiscreet enough, to let us know that their own apology was different, and that they grounded their customs "on the authority of the divine law, and on the tradition of the apostles." Kentegern however, like Malachy, although appointed by independent native authority, bowed to Roman influence, and lent a hand to extend it among his countrymen, as appears from what is said of his different visits to Rome, and the circumstances connected with them. consecra tion. System in use among the Roman Catholics in Ireland at present. Instance in the sees of The method usually adopted among the Roman Catholics of Ireland at the present day, in selecting individuals for promotion to the titular episcopate, will be sufficiently understood from the following instances of modern cases, extracted from the public journals in this country. 1. In Saunders's Newsletter of Monday, August 31, 1846, we find the following extract from a Cork Roman Catholic journal : "The Conference of the Roman Catholic Clergy of the diocese of Cloyne and Ross was held on Wednesday in Fermoy, for the election of a Coadjutor Bishop. The Conference was presided over by the Cloyne and Right Rev. Dr. Murphy, [titular] Bishop of Cork, and the Right Ross, Rev. Dr. Crotty, [titular] Bishop of Cloyne and Ross. "The following names will be sent forward to the Court of Rome, as standing highest in the list : "Rev. David Walsh, P.P. Clonakilty; Rev. Morgan O'Brien, P.P. Mitchelstown: Rev. Timothy Murphy, P.P. Fermoy. The election of the future Bishop rests with the Pope.-Cork Examiner." The result of this meeting is made known to us in the next extract, from the Cork Constitution of Thursday, April 22nd, 1846, thus "ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF CLOYNE AND Ross.-The Right Rev. Dr. Walsh, late P.P. of Clonakilty, is now by the appointment of the Court of Rome, Roman Catholic Bishop of Cloyne and Ross. -Examiner." A.D. 1846; 2. After the death of Dr. Murphy, titular bishop of Cork, the fol- and in that lowing announcement was made in the same journal. (Cork Consti- of Cork, tution, Thursday, May 6, 1847.) "DIOCESE OF CORK.-ELECTION OF A TITULAR BISHOP.-This important duty was entered on this day in the Cathedral, by the Prelates of the Province, and the parish priests of the diocese of Cork. The proceedings occupied about three hours, when after a scrutiny of the votes, the three following names were elected as having the largest number of votes: "1st on the list-Very Rev. T. Mathew, Cork. "The appointment of one of those three now rests with his Holiness Pius the IX, and the Propaganda.—Examiner of yesterday.” In this instance the name first on the list was eventually overlooked, and the appointment given by the bishop of Rome to the second individual (Delany) of the trio. A.D. 1847. The course But in the recent nomination to the titular primacy of Ireland, fo- pursued in reign domination asserted for the first time a larger exercise of power, the late case and repudiating all three of the candidates of Irish selection, appointed of the titufor the head of the Romish body in this island a different person lar primacy altogether, viz., P. Cullen above named; concerning whose appoint- wholly withment the leading Roman Catholic journal of the country (the Tab- out precelet) at the close of more lengthened observations on the matter, speaks dent; thus:- as observed in the Tablet. "Dr. Cullen's appointment is also remarkable in another point of view, and illustrates in a very striking manner, the tendency of this time, towards practical ultra-montanism; towards throwing the whole power of the Church upon the successor of St. Peter. Since the Irish clergy first had authority given them to elect their bishopssubject, of course, to the inalienable prerogative of the holy seethis we believe is the first instance in which the list sent up from the diocese has been altogether set aside. Frequently the holy see, acting on the advice of the bishops of the province, has selected one of the three who had the smallest number of votes; but never before have the three nominees been all passed by."-Sat. Jan. 12, 1850. LIST OF TITULAR PRELATES IN THE ARCHDIOCESE OF DUBLIN, FROM Of M. de Oviedo, FIRST of the titular archbishops of Dublin. A.D. 1600. His first visit to Ire land. He returns again as ti tular Pre 1. Of MATTHEW DE OVIEDO, the first titular archbishop of the new Romish line in Dublin, the following account is taken from Mr. Dalton's History of the prelates of that see. "After Hugh Curwin had in 1559 abandoned the faith which he early professed, the parliamentary assertion of Queen Elizabeth's supremacy, and the imprisonments, banishments, persecutions, and ecclesiastical spoliations that ensued, as recorded in the Analecta Sacra of the eloquent Dr. Roth, Roman Catholic bishop of Ossory, prevented the appointment of a prelate to this province for upwards of forty years." (p. 366.) "At length a riotous insurrection, headed by James Fitz Maurice, the brother of the Earl of Desmond, provoked by the imprisonment of that unfortunate nobleman, and magnified at the Spanish court into an open rebellion against Queen Elizabeth, induced Philip the Second to afford to the importunity of the insurgent chief a troop of about 80 Spaniards, while he at the same time sent with the expedition a Franciscan friar, named Matthew de Oviedo, charged with the important duty of ascertaining the true state of Ireland, and making his report upon its prospects. Happily the expedition was wholly unsuccessful; the rash leader perished in a brawl, and De Oviedo returned to his native country; whence however he was destined to revisit this in a capacity more legitimately connected with the object of this work. Succeeding efforts to seduce the Irish into a rebellious vindication of their wrongs were equally ineffective." (p. 367.) [On receipt of the letter of the Sugan Earl of Desmond, of March 14. 1599, complaining of the cruelty and religious persecutions of Elizabeth, (See No. 49 inf.) we learn (p. 369) that] "the Spanish monarch again invited from his monastery the ecclesiastic before al- late of Dubluded to, and by his interest at the court of Rome, Matthew de Oviedo lin. revisited Ireland in May of the year 1600, in the high and responsible situation of [titular] archbishop of Dublin." (p. 370. ib.) “On his revisiting Ireland as before mentioned, although His political appointed to the ecclesiastical government of Leinster, he immediately proceedings proceeded to fulfil what seems to have been a more congenial object; and without a notice or observation of his diocese, he hurried into Ulster, eager to deliver his credentials to the chieftains O'Neill and O'Donnell, who still exercised an almost uncontrolled sovereignty over that province. As soon as he had assured himself of their services in the meditated Spanish invasion, he returned to his royal Master, who seemed so confident in his powers of negociation as to attach him to the suite of Don Juan d'Aguila, with whom, and the Spanish forces designed for the emancipation of Ireland, he landed at Kinsale on the 2nd of October 1601." (See No. LIII., p. 1288, inf.) [On the 12th of the same month he wrote to O'Neill and O'Donel, He ends his bidding them hurry to Kinsale with horses, &c. (p. 371) and in Janu- days in ary following he was sent back to Spain with despatches to the king Spain. from the Earl of Desmond, &c. (p. 372.)] "A fugitive and a wanderer A.D. 1608. from the diocese of his charge, he never returned to Ireland, but passed the remainder of his days in Spain, a pensioner on the court." died in A.D. 1608. He There were therefore two titular prelates connected with Ire'and alive when James I. began to reign; Oviedo, the second of them, having been forgotten in the statement made relative to C. Ryan at pp. 889, 890 sup. 2. The next of the titular archbishops of this diocese was EUGENE E. MatMATTHEWS, who having been Romish priest of the parish of thews, SEClogher, was made the titular bishop of that see in August, 1609, and coND of the thence translated to the archiepiscopal title of Dublin, on May 2, 1611. titular In June 1614, he presided at a synod or conference held in the city of archbishops Kilkenny "for the reformation and good government of the province of Dublin, of Dublin" (as Mr. Dalton speaks,) of which a notice has been intro- A.D. 1611. duced in the text of this work. (at pp. 898-9, sup.) and of which further particulars will be found in the Article No. 67 inf. Having retired to Louvain shortly before the close of his life, he founded in that founds an city a second Irish College in the year 1623; one having been already Irish Colestablished there in 1616 by Philip III. king of Spain, at the instance lege in Louof the titular archbishop Florence Conry of Tuam. Archbishop vain. Matthews died at Louvain in the same year, 1623. In the Tract entitled, A brief Relation of Ireland and the diversity of Irish in the same, 'presented to ye Council of Spayne circ. an. 1618, by Florence, ye pretended Abp. of Tuam, and thought to be penned by |