We now approach the grave controversy which was carried on for years between our Archbishop and the Mendicant Religious Orders. Even if the space at our disposal permitted it, we would not be willing to enter here into a detailed account of the dispute.
Had it been given to Archbishop Fitz-Ralph to see as clearly as history has enabled us to see, the blessings which our Church owes to the heroism of the religious orders in the days of persecution, far from opposing, he would have been the first to enlarge their privileges in Ireland. But, as it was, it is quite clear that in his opposition to them he was influenced solely by motives of an elevated nature. The whole struggle was simply a domestic misunderstanding, and of such character as that one may and must feel deep respect for both parties. We cannot do better than lay before our readers the explanation of his object and motives offered by the Archbishop himself to Pope Innocent VI. in person, at Avignon, 8th November, 1357.[25]
"In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen. 'Nolite judicare secundum faciem sed justum judicium judicate' (Joan., cap. 7).
"Most Holy Father, I protest, at the very beginning of my discourse, that I do not intend to assert or rashly to affirm anything which may clash with Christian faith or Catholic doctrine, and that it is not my intention to solicit, or even to advise, the abolition or retrenchment of the mendicant orders approved by the Church or confirmed by the Sovereign Pontiffs. But rather, it is my desire that these same orders be brought back to the purity of their original institution, and in this, also, I am ever ready to submit to the correction of your Holiness. And to approach my subject without delay, coming to London, Most Holy Father, about certain matters connected with my Church of Armagh, I found a dispute going on between certain learned doctors concerning the mendicant state and the mendicity of Christ our Lord and Saviour. After repeated invitations to preach to the people, I there delivered, in the vernacular, seven or eight discourses, and, always under the above-made protest, I defended in public nine conclusions, on account of which, and for what else I then said, the friars have appealed, though without reason, to this Holy See".
The visit to London here alluded to took place in 1356, and, as we have seen, in 1357, the case was already under judgment at Avignon. For three whole years the archbishop remained at the Holy See, while a congregation of Cardinals, specially appointed for the purpose, took cognizance of the dispute. No official decision was given, but as the privileges of the mendicant orders were confirmed, and a letter sent to the English bishops commanding them to not interfere with the friars, it may be said that the Archbishop failed to make good his cause.
§ IX. HIS DEATH.
On the 16th November, 1360, according to Henry of Malmesbury, Richard Fitz-Ralph slept in the Lord at Avignon. "Of whom", says Fox,[26] "a certain cardinal hearing of his death, openly protested that the same day a mighty pillar of the Church was fallen".
In Wadding's Annals, it is told that towards the end of his life, seeing it was not likely he could succeed in his struggle, he withdrew to Belgium, and there died in the mountains of Hannonia. The same account appears in the Camden Annals of Ireland. But Ware[27] tells us that the Armagh copy of these annals agrees with other histories in placing the death at Avignon. In 1370, his remains were removed by Stephanus de Valle (who from the see of Limerick was translated to that of Meath by Urban V. in 1369), and brought back to his native town of Dundalk, where they were desposited in the church of St. Nicholas. The memory of his extraordinary merits soon attracted to his tomb crowds of the faithful. The usage of styling him St. Richard of Dundalk became quite general, and many miracles were ascribed to his intercession. Moved by the report of these prodigies, Pope Boniface IX. appointed John Cotton, Archbishop of Armagh, Richard Young, Bishop-elect of Bangor, and the Abbot of Osney, near Oxford, as commissioners to institute a judicial examination of the miracles. The result of their labours is not known. Stewart, in his History of Armagh, mentions[28] that in a synod held at Drogheda in 1545, it was ordered that the feast of St. Richard of Dundalk should be celebrated in the diocese of Armagh with nine lessons, in crastino Joannis et Pauli.
§ X. THE WORKS OF ARCHBISHOP FITZ-RALPH.
(A.) Printed works:—