2. Dr. Stephen MacEgan.

STEPHEN MACEGAN, or Egan, was born in Dublin, about the year 1679, studied at Louvain, where he entered the Dominican order, and returned to Ireland in 1708. On his arrival in Dublin he found that the penal enactments. of 1698, and the untiring rigor with which they were enforced, had desolated the sanctuaries of Ireland and swept away almost every vestige of the Dominican institute. For some years after his arrival he officiated as curate in the then united parishes of St. James and St. Catherine, until, at length, he succeeded in acquiring a site for a chapel in Bridge-street, where for many years. the Dominican Fathers preached and laboured for the salvation of the people. His next effort was to re-establish the Dominican nuns for the education of youth, and in this, too, notwithstanding the intolerance of the times, he was singularly successful. The Dominican cloisters of Galway, from which the nuns had been driven by merciless laws, were then occupied by soldiers, and the poor heartbroken nuns, expelled from their consecrated dwelling, were dispersed amongst their friends and relatives in various parts of the country. The Provincial of the order, Very Rev. Hugh O'Calanan, collected eight, who were formed into a commmunity in March, 1717, and who dwelt for some time in Fisher's-lane, until they were transferred to Channel-row, Dublin. Stephen MacEgan was principally instrumental in establishing them in Dublin, and for many years he was their confessor and general manager. On the 24th of July, 1721, MacEgan was elected Provincial of the Dominicans, under circumstances peculiarly memorable and impressive, as this was the first election in the Dominican order of Ireland since their expulsion in 1698. The meeting took place in Dublin, because, the population being large, the friars could more

*

*

O'Heyn tells us that the lamentations and tears of the nuns, on this occasion, moved to compassion many of the heretics. -Hib. Dom. p. 351.

easily escape notice.* One of the first official acts of the new Provincial was to urge Dr. M'Mahon, Archbishop of Armagh, to have a convent of Dominican nuns founded in Drogheda, and this led to the establishment of the Sienna Convent, over which presided as first Superioress Catherine Plunket, niece to the martyred Primate, Dr. Oliver Plunket, and in which was most appropriately deposited the head of the venerable Archbishop, enshrined in a silver case, where it can still be seen. Father MacEgan, like his great predecessor, Roche McGeoghegan, was indefatigable in reviving his order, in collecting the scattered stones of the sanctuary, and he lived to see flourishing communities of the Dominicans in almost every diocese in Ireland. In 1725, as Irish Provincial, he assisted at the election of Very Rev. Thomas Ripoll, who was raised to the dignity of Superior of the order. In the same year he proceeded to Rome, and, being nominated and elected to the See of Clonmacnoise, was consecrated by Pope Benedict XIII. on the 29th of September, 1725. The Holy Father, who had a high opinion of his worth and efficiency, paid him every mark of respect, and continued him in the Provincialship of the order until such time as a suitable successor could be elected. In 1729 Dr. MacEgan was transferred by the Pope to the See of Ferns, and, in the same year, to that of Meath, when Dr. Luke Fagan was promoted to the Archiepiscopal See of Dublin. On. his appointment to Meath, the Holy See granted him the parish of Navan in commendam, and the administration of the diocese of Clonmacnoise. On the 1st of May, 1737, he and Dr. James O'Gallagher, Bishop of Raphoe, were assisting consecrating prelates at the consecration of Dr. Laurence Richardson to the See of Kilmore.. The ceremony took place in the convent of the Dominican nuns of Dublin, and the consecrator was Dr. Linegar, Archbishop of Dublin.

* De Burgo tells us that such was the espionage at the time, that three strangers could'nt enter any of our towns without the knowledge of the magistrates.--Hib. Dom., p. 162.

M

Dr. MacEgan was a celebrated preacher. De Burgo tells us that he was second to none-" nulli in Hibernia secundus."* He took a conspicuous part in all the great ecclesiastical movements of the day, and he proved himself a learned, an active, and a zealous bishop. He died in Dublin on the 30th of May, 1756, in the 75th year of his age, and was buried, with many of his brethren, in St. James'st churchyard.

*The reader will find notices of this prelate in pages 162, 164, 501, 504, 530, of the Hibernia Dominicana.

Having heard that a monument had been erected over the grave of Dr. Egan, I wrote some time back to Dr. Russell, O. P., the learned and accomplished Provincial of the Dominicans, who, I knew, took a warm interest in Irish eclesiastical history, to have the tomb of his great predecessor deciphered. Dr. Russell immediately enlisted the services of an intelligent man, who searched the grave-yard of St. James, and let known the result in a letter to the Provincial. After a few days Dr. Russell wrote me the following:

"The enclosed will inform you of the result of my friend's zealous labour in exploring St. James's church-yard. I am sorry that we have been so far disappointed in discovering Dr. Egan's tomb. It is not without some feeling of self-reproach that I now share in your regret at the failure of our inquiry; for it often, very often, came into my mind, before the late changes in the grave-yard, occasioned by the erection of the new Protestant church, to pay a visit to the old cemetery in quest of our great Dominican bishop's grave. The only excuse I can offer to you and to myself for not having promptly yielded on these different occasions to the thought of rescuing the resting-place, and monumental inscription on the tomb, from oblivion is, that I never, or very seldom, think of doing anything, or going anywhere, that I have not at the same moment one or more other engagements to attend, or calls on my time. Still, as you will perceive from Mr. M.'s letter, there is a faint hope of saving the memory of the good bishop's last home, and the record inscribed on his grave-stone. The letter to which Dr. Russell alludes communicates to him the following report:

"I think that I did not leave a single tomb or headstone in St. James's church-yard that I did not examine, but without success in finding the tomb of Dr. Egan. There were many tombs, partly covered with grass and clay, which I got cleaned, but no trace of what I required. There is no doubt that time, together with the great crowds of people that used to frequent the church-yard, may have worn out many inscriptions. It is also without doubt that the ruthless hand of the bigot has defaced many inscriptions which had emblems of Catholicity on them. I could find only three head-stones in the church-yard dedicated to priests; and they were apparently so obscure that they were allowed to stand. They have built a new Protestant church in the grave-yard within the last few years, and all the tombs and head-stones which were within 30 feet, all around the

CHAPTER VIII.

1. DR. AUGUSTINE CHEVERS.-2. DR. EUGENE GEOGHEGAN.

1. Dr. Augustine Chevers.

1. AUGUSTINE CHEVERS was born at Killyan, County Galway, about the year 1686. He was descended from the ancient family of Chevre* of Normandy, a branch of which accompanied William the Conqueror into England, and a descendant of which invaded Ireland with Strongbow. In course of time this family extended its ramifications through various parts of the country, but the elder, or senior branch, settled at Ballyhaly, County Wexford. Sir Christopher Chevers of Ballyhaly married Anne Plunket of Macetown,† an heiress, and thus the Macetown property passed into the family. At the confiscations of Cromwell Sir John Chevers was dispossessed of the estate, and was transplanted to Connaught. He married, as his second wife, Jane, daughter of Edward Sutton, Esq., and had issue by her (who died in 1688) Edward, created Viscount Mount Leinster and Baron of Bannow, who married a sister of Sarsfield's, Earl of Lucan; second, Andrew, whose male issue became extinct; third, John, who married Ellis, daughter to Edward Geoghegan of Castletown, Westmeath (who died in 1739), whose mother was a daughter of Lord Trimlestown's. By the marriage of John Chevers with Miss Geoghegan there was issuefirst, Michael of Killyan, Edward of Leckafin, Christopher,

walls, were torn up and buried beneath a gravel-walk round the church grounds. I have been told by some of the labouring men who worked at the church, that the head-stones of three priests, near the church, were buried, along with many others, under the gravel-walk round the church. Indeed I would not wonder if they used many of the tombs in the building of the new church as Refore our lamented O'Connell

opened the Catholic burial-grounds, the Rector of St. James's was worth £600 per annum by Catholic burials alone."

*See Sir Bernard Burke's Landed Gentry.

For the inscription on the stone at Macetown, commemorating Christopher Chevers and Anne Plunket, see Diocese of Meath, vol. i., p. 277.

Mathias, who became a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Spanish Service, and a Knight of San Fernando; Augustine, the bishop; and Margaret, who was married to Sir Richard Burke of Glinsk. Of the early life of the future Bishop of Meath we regret that we know but little. It is said that he was brought to France, when a boy, by his uncle, Lord Mount-Leinster,* and it is certain that, after some years, he joined the Augustinian order,† and became conspicuous amongst his contemporaries for ecclesiastical virtues. No doubt, his ancestral respectability, his many excellent qualities, and the devotion of his family to the fallen fortunes of the Stuarts, contributed largely to recommend him for promotion. Accordingly he was consecrated Bishop of Ardagh, and, after the death of Dr. MacEgan, was translated by Pope Benedict XIV. to the See of Meath.§ After his arrival in the diocese, the first ecclesiastical matter of importance which occurred, and in which he took part, was the assembly of seven bishops in

*

I have been told this by several old respectable families throughout the diocese, who stated that they frequently heard their grandfathers quote Dr. Chevers as their authority.

The late Very Rev. Austin Killeen, Prior of the Augustinian Convent of Galway, wrote to me, a few years ago, that Dr. Chevers had made a bequest to the Convent of Galway, and that the community are bound to celebrate a certain number of anniversary Masses for the repose of his soul, to the present day.

Dr. Chevers was appointed to Ardagh on the 17th of July, 1751, and was translated to Meath on 7th of August, 1756.

S Dr. MacEgan had, as we have seen, the administration of the diocese of Clonmacnoise, or the Seven Churches, after his translation to Meath. In his old days, when unable through infirmity to perform visitations in that district, he requested Dr. Chevers, then in Ardagh, to supply his deficiencies, and this induced Dr. Chevers to petition the Holy See for the union of Clonmacnoise and Ardagh. He assigned, as his principal reasons, the vast extent of Meath as more than enough to tax the energies of one bishop, the poverty of Ardagh, its proximity to Clonmacnoise, and the fact that he had the labour of it. Dr. Chevers was translated to Meath, and then found, to his mortification, that his reasons induced the Holy See to incorporate Clonmacnoise with Ardagh. He petitioned, it is said, for the administration of Clonmacnoise, on the ground of being able to attend to it, and received for answer a copy of his reasons why Clonmacnoise. should be united with Ardagh. The above may not be circumstantially. accurate, for I have seen no documentary evidence, but it is substantially so, as many of our old pastors heard the facts from the lips of the late Dr. Plunket.