entertaining opinions different from his, but gave the fullest credit to those who entertained views opposite to his own on public affairs. As we have said, though constitutionally adverse to agitation, there was no prelate in the land who gave larger toleration to the views of others; and it cannot, in this brief and hasty sketch of his career, be omitted to state that the great O'Connell, on the very last occasion he ever visited Limerick, took occasion not only to make the most particular inquiries after the health of the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, but to request the Right Rev. Dr. Whelan, who accompanied him, to make a special visit to Park House in his (the Libe rator's) name to pay Dr. Ryan his compliments, the Liberator being unable to go himself.

He breathed his last on the 6th of June, 1864. After his death, the body, robed in episcopal costume, with purple rochet and cross, etc., was laid out in the lower reception room of his residence, Park House, where, in the course of the afternoon, very many of the citizens proceeded to pay the sad tribute of their respect to all that was mortal of one who for so long a spaceof time was amongst them, a model of everything that was cal culated to make man estimable.

The remains of the lamented prelate were borne to the Cathedral of St. John's, in solemn procession, from his residence. The Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Butler, the clergy, the members of the various public bodies of the city, corporation, chamber of commerce, religious societies, the children of the Christian Brothers' and Presentation Convent and Sisters of Mercy Schools, etc., were in the procession in mourning.

their

The body of the deceased Bishop lay in state in the Cathedral of St. John's, where, after_the_procession on Tuesday evening, it was received by the Right Rev. Dr. Butler, and where thousands thronged to pay last sad tribute of respect to the remains of a bishop who, for the greatest part of half a century, had lived amongst them. Four of the clergy of the cathedral, including the Very Rev. the Administrator, were present through out the night. The solemn appearance of the cathedral, clothed in black drapery, and lighted with gas pendants, gasaliers, and wax candles, was in perfect keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.

The arms of the diocese-the mitre, the pastoral staff and crozier, were placed in front of the great organ gallery, which, with the noble organ, were all draped in black. The pillars of the church were in alternate black and yellow drapery of cloth, and had a very good effect. Between the arches of each pillar festooned curtains of black cloth were arranged. On the following (Wednesday) morning, from the very earliest hour, clergymen from all parts of the diocese poured into the city, and proceeded to the cathedral, where they celebrated mass. The lid of the coffin was closed down on the remains of the good bishop, on which was the following inscription on a brass plate:

RIGHT REV. JOHN RYAN,

LORD BISHOP OF LIMERICK,

Died

ON THE 6TH OF JUNE, 1864,
IN THE 81ST YEAR OF HIS AGE,
and 39th of his bishopric.

At eleven o'clock A.M. the cathedral was crowded, and the solemn tones of the organ were awakened in the dirge notes, and immediately after that hour began the procession of the clergy, etc., headed by the Lord Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, who had come to pay his respects to the memory of his old and sincere friend, Dr. Ryan, the Lord Bishop of Limerick, the Lord Bishop of Bombay, entered the choir, preceded by acolytes and cross-bearers. After the usual solemn services, the coffin was lowered into the vault prepared for it, opposite the great altar in the cathedral of St. John's. Thus were laid in the grave the mortal remains of the venerable bishop who for nearly forty years had governed the see of Limerick with prudence, justice, and liberality, and who was one of the most munificent benefactors to the many convents and religious institutions which are now established throughout the diocese.

In the year 1860, then grown old, and well nigh unable to undergo the cares of duty, the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan had called upon the Holy See to issue its rescript for the election of a Coadjutor Bishop. Accordingly on the 2nd of May in that year, the parish priests met in the old church of St. John's, and forwarded to the court of Rome the names of the Very Rev. Dr. George Butler, Dean of the Diocese of Limerick, and P.P. of St. Mary's; the Very Rev. Dr. Robert Cussen, V.G. and P.P. of Bruff; the Very Rev. John Brahan, V.G., P.P., Newcastle West; the Very Rev. Dr. O'Reilly, S.J., and the Very Rev. Dr. Kirby, President of the Irish College in Rome. The Holy See at length thought fit to select the Right Rev. Dr. George Butler, the present Bishop of Limerick, to whom all his acquaintances wish a long life of happiness unalloyed and continued usefulness in the ancient See of St. Munchin, which has been filled by men of most distinguished lives and services to religion and country. Dr. Butler was born in the city of Limerick in the year 1815. At the age of fourteen years he entered the Diocesan Academy, which was kept by the Rev. Dr. Carey, under the patronage of the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, where he continued for two years. At the early age of sixteen, the young student was sent to Maynooth College, and went through the whole collegiate course, on the completion of which, in the year 1838, he was placed on the Dunboyne Establishment. Towards the end of that year, the Bishop of Trinidad in the West Indies went to Maynooth for missionaries for his far distant diocese, the climate of which has been proverbially fatal to Europeans. The zealous and ardent youthful ecclesiastic, George Butler, did not hesitate: he, with a few others, including his brother, the Rev. John Butler, then, also on the Dunboyne Establishment, volunteered their services. The brothers were both ordained in Maynooth College in November in that year by the Bishop of Trinidad, the Right Rev. Dr. Smith, and soon afterwards they set sail for that island, in which one of them was destined in a very short time to find an early and glorious grave. The Rev. John Butler lived but nine months after their arrival. The Rev. George Butler resided for two years in Trinidad: during the greater part of the time he was curè or Parish Priest of San Fernando, one of the chief districts of the island. After the premature and lamented death of his brother, the health of the survivor became affected, and within less than a year he had three severe attacks of fever.

Having heard of these circumstances, the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan signified his wish that the Rev. George Butler should return to Limerick. In obedience to that wish-for Dr. Ryan was still his bishop-the young

missionary left the West Indies, and arrived in Limerick towards the end of 1840, when he was appointed to the curacy of St. Patrick's, of which the late lamented Rev. Mathew O'Connor was parish priest. In Saint Patrick's the Rev. George Butler continued curate for four years. He was then appointed to St. John's, where he remained for one year, at the expi ration of which he was sent to St. Michael's, where he was curate for twelve years, during the last years of which he was administrator. In 1857 he was appointed parish priest of Saint Mary's and dean of the diocese; and in 1861, on the 25th of July, he was consecrated Bishop of Cidonia in partibus, and Coadjutor Bishop of Limerick; the consecrating prelate was the Most Rev. Dr. Leahy, Archbishop of Cashel, assisted by the Bishops of Killaloe and Cloyne. The Lord Archbishop of Dublin, and many of the prelates of Munster and Connaught were present, as was also the Bishop of Bombay, as well as the Archimandrite of Lebanon, all attended by their respective chaplains.

The consecration sermon was preached by the Right Rev. Dr. Moriarty, Bishop of Kerry. On the 6th of June, 1864, on the demise of the Right Rev. Dr. Ryan, the Right Rev. Dr. Butler succeeded to the see of Limerick, of the mitre of which his lordship has in every possible way proved himself preeminently worthy, and which it is universally hoped he may live for very many years to wear.

CHAPTER LX.

THE RELIGIOUS ORDERS.-CATHOLIC CHURCHES.-INSTITUTIONS, ETC.

We shall devote this chapter to an account of those illustrious religious orders, which for so many years have made Limerick famous, and contributed so materially to keep the faith alive in the city.

THE AUGUSTINIANS.

First then in order of time, as in extent of their privileges, come the regular canons of St. Augustine,' a distinct order from that of his hermits, and originated in the regular community founded by St. Augustine in his own house. The order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, according to the learned Alban Butler and the ancient writers, dates its foundation from so early an epoch as A.D. 388, when it was established by the great saint himself. The convent of the order of the Hermits of St. Augustine was founded at Limerick in the thirteenth century by O'Brien of the royal race of Limerick and Thomond. Its site is said to have been where the city court-house once stood in Quay Lane. Both Canons and Hermits were branches of the same illustrious order, with which, in Ireland at least, no other could stand in competition, being as great in this country as the Benedictines were in England. There were also ancient foundations of Augustinian nuns in Ireland, and all these foundations for men and women were represented in the city of Limerick, where the Augustinian nuns were called the Canonesses of St. Augustine.

According to Sir James Ware, a priory for regular Canons of St. AugusAccording to many learned writers, the old Irish Culdee monks were the same as the regular canons of St. Augustine, into whose order the ancient monks may have merged. Both the Culdees and secular canons officiated in cathedrals. Dr. Lanigan refers the canons to the eleventh century, but is not generally followed.

"Bruodin in Hib. Dom. p. 749.

643

tine was founded in the reign of King John, anno 1227, by Simon Minor, a citizen of Limerick, under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin and St. Edward the King and Martyr; and according to this author it was the prior of this house who had the first voice in the election of the Mayor of Limerick, a privilege,' according to Archdall, which belonged to the Augustinian Hermits or Austin Friars.

The site of the monastery of the Regular Canons was at the end of the Fish Lane, and near the site of Sir Harry's Mall. It had been rented for some time before its demolition as a fish house by the corporation, the proprietors of the Lax Weir, but not a vestige of it remains at present. It totally disappeared nearly a century since. An inquisition was held into the possessions of this monastery in the 19th Henry VIII; and the grant to Edmond Sexton is set out in the 29th year of that reign. The priors having, as stated, had the principal voice in the city election, occupied a seat in the court house next the mayor. The last prior before the suppression was Patrick Harrold.

In the year 1472, a command was given by the Most Rev. Father Aquila, the General of the Order, that "regular discipline" should be observed in the convent of the Augustinian Hermits; and though in the days of persecution there could hardly have been a regular Augustinian community in Limerick, there can be no question as to the uninterrupted existence of the order in the city. The Augustinian Hermits certainly lived in community in Limerick, even in the reign of George II. The friars occasionally fled, but they invariably returned. The succession, so to speak, was never broken. The possessions of the convent of the Holy Cross, consisting of lands and houses through town and country, were valued at its suppression at £8 6s. 1d., equal to £166 1s. 8d. at present. They are now the property of the Earl of Limerick, to whose

1 Archdall refers to an inquisition, 37th Elizabeth (A.D. 1595), to prove that the Eremites, not the Canons Regular, had the privilege. Stephen Sexton, while he lived, certainly claimed that privilege in right of that house, but, as appears from the next note, the prior of the Regulars claimed the same right. See next page, text and note. Perhaps the Sextons claimed in right of both houses.

*

*

• Inquisitio taken at Lymeric before Nic. Comyn, Mayor, 19th year of King Henry VIII. It is found, "That Symon Mynor some time citezen of the cittie of Lymeryk was fondowr of Sayntt Mary hows in the worsippe off the Blessytt Virgin, Saynt Mary, and Sayntt Edward, Kynge and Martyr. The Prior Sir John Fox lefthe in the sayd hows a challs, that stands in Stywyn Creaghe is handes, to pledge of the sayd Prior for the som of 30s. The jury say thei found on * 18 tapers the hey aulter of the forsayd Saynt Mary hows a table of alabaster, 4 candelstykes, a senc. toy payr cruetts, 21 bouks grett and small, holy water stok, a payr organys, wex, try cowpyr crossyr, 3 westymettes, a grett bell, 2 small bells, 3 doss bowls, 2 old coffyrs, old surplices, a lydge table, 3 small tablys, 6 tastelles, * beds, a standynge bed, 2 chayres, 2 candelstykes, 2 broches, a hangynge candylstick, a plateyr, 2 pattengs, a brass poth, 2 3 lowys of glas, a lydge trestell, and 5 fowrmys or beuss, whiche were found both in the chirche and hall of the sayd Sayntt Mary hows. That the Prior had the firste * er, the Kynges Officerys in the sayd citie and w ys eleccyon of Mayor, Ballyffes, sath nexth the Mayor, wt. in the tolse the days off eleccon in chossyng suche officeres hawing no room nexth the Mayr nether among the Consayll nor statt but only the sayd days wt. in the tolse, and was not of the Consayll of the citie ne wyr theles he had chyfthe and Mayr as a Mayr ys pyr beryng there for as any other Mayr is pyr and nown other. September 28th 1537.

*

3 A grant to Edmond Sexten by Privy Seal, to the King's well beloved servant Edmond Sexten Sewer of his Chamber of the Monastery, Priory or Cell of St. Mary-house, the cite ambit or ground thereof, and all Lordships, Manors, Lands, Advowsons of Churches, Tythes, Chapels, Chantries, etc., spiritual and temporal thereto belonging, within the precinct of the city or in the county of Limerick, in as large and ample manner as Sir Patrick Harrold late Prior had the same together with the goods and utensils thereof, To hold to the heirs male of his body by the service of one Knight's fee, with directions for a Commission to issue for dissolution of said Monastery.-Inrolled, Rolls Office, Dublin, 29th year of Henry VIII.

ancestor, Edmond Sexton, they were granted. White's MSS. assert that, from the ruins of the monastery of the Canons Regular, the Irish fired upon the soldiers of King William, as they approached the city from the heights of Park.

In 1691, we find there were a community and convent in Limerick, De Burgo alludes to a lawsuit between the Prior of the convent of St. Augustine, in Limerick, and one William Lysaght, as to the possession of their convent. In that year, the Prior was the celebrated Bernard O'Kennedy, subsequently Provincial of the Order in Ireland. He afterwards fled to Spain from the horrors of the persecution of William III., where he died in 1704. In a letter which he wrote a little before his death to the province of Ireland, for he was then the Provincial, he states that he left in trust with a friend in Ireland, a chalice and suit of vestments for the convent of Limerick, which is a proof that a convent had been there before his departure from Ireland. We find that almost all the regular clergy, notwithstanding the numbers banished in 1698, continued in their native land. It was not, however, until the end of the reign of George I., that regular clergy began to live in community and to erect chapels in the principal towns in Ireland. In the next reign, as before mentioned, and for the last century, we find the Augustinians living in community in Limerick.

In 1736 the Dominicans and Franciscans of Limerick applied to Dr. O'Keeffe, the bishop, for redress against the Hermits of St. Augustine, who, as they alleged, had settled themselves in the city without having any title for so doing, asserting they never had a convent of their order in the city. The bishop, attended by his secular clergy, often examined both parties on the merits of this affair, and ultimately passed sentence against the Augustinians. The Augustinians appealed to Cashel, and from thence to the Primate of Armagh. The Dominicans and Franciscans would not acknowledge the Primate's jurisdiction in Limerick, and therefore they appealed to the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda; but notwithstanding their appeal, the Primate's commissary in absence of the contending parties, pronounced a sentence of absolution in favour of the Augustinians, who, by virtue thereof, opened their chapel, and ever since continued to officiate in the city. In some time after, the Augustinians produced a decree of the Holy Congregation, declaring their censures suspended usque ad exitum causae; they required this decree in their favour to be published in all the chapels, which Dr. John Lehy, the VicarGeneral, refused doing, as the Congregation did not send the decrce to him. However, the Augustinians still continued to have their chapel open and officiated in town equally with the rest of the friars in 1755.1

In 1778 the Hermits of St. Augustine erected a neat chapel and chapelhouse in Creagh Lane, which they occupied until 1823. Their com munity were never less than three, and were sometimes four. Their chapel was the first in the city in which an organ was erected.

The removal of the community from Creagh Lane to George's Street, which occurred in 1823, was occasioned by the pressing demands for increased accommodation, and by an opportunity which now occurred of purchasing the new theatre, which had been recently built, in consequence 1 White's MSS. The MSS. particulars of the controversy are extant. Fitzgerald states that the question in dispute was "set at rest for ever in 1789 or 1740, by the Canons Regular St. Augustine ceding to the said Hermits all their rights, privileges, and immunities”.

of