We next meet with a Bishop of Dromore named Richard Myssin, a Carmelite, who on the 29th July, 1457, was advanced to this see, as appears from the Consistorial acts of Pope Callixtus III. (Biblioth. Carmelit., ii. 965). He was remarkable for the sanctity of his life, and for his great proficiency in learning.
William Egremond was probably his immediate successor, being appointed to the see in 1462, as Herrera and the other Augustine writers attest.[2] The country, however, was so disturbed that this diocese had few attractions for an English bishop; and hence he abandoned it in 1467, and lived for many years as suffragan of the archbishop of York. His monument, erected in the cathedral of York, bore the following inscription:—
"Hic Egremond Will'mus Dromorensis Episcopus olim
Marmore pro nitidis tectis utrinque mitris.
Pavit oves Cithiso qui sub bis Praesule bino
Atque lupi rabiem movit ab Aede trucem.
Unguine quot sanxit pueros, quot Presbyterosque
Astra nisi scirent, credere nemo valet.
Ante prophanus erat locus hic quem dextra beavit
Ejus, et hinc pro se dicito quisquis Ave".
The next mention we find of this see is in a petition of the Archbishop of Armagh, Octavian de Palatio, addressed to Henry VII. about the year 1487, in which he writes that, "the fruits, rents, and revenues, as well spiritual as temporal (of Dromore), extend not above the sum of £40 of the coin of this your land of Ireland, which is less by one-third than the coin sterling; and that for the expense and poverty of the same, the see is void and desolate, and almost extinct, these twenty winters past and more, insomuch that none will own the said bishoprick or abide thereupon".
Nevertheless, in that very year, 1487, George Brann was appointed to this see by Pope Innocent VIII. He had lived for several years in Rome as procurator of the Hospital of the Santo Spirito, and had also proceeded to Ireland to establish a branch house of that institute. He held the see till his translation to Elphin on the 18th of April, 1499.
The first bishop of Dromore whom we find commemorated in the sixteenth century is Galeatius, whose death is registered in 1504. Of his successor, John Baptist, we only know that he was appointed on June 12th, the same year. Thaddeus, a Franciscan friar, was next advanced to the see on 30th April, 1511. He is commemorated in Archbishop Cromer's register, as still ruling the see in 1518, and we find no other bishop mentioned till the appointment of Quintinus Cogleus (i.e. Con MacCoughlin), of the order of St. Dominick, in the year 1536 (Hib. Dom., p. 486). This bishop, however, seems to have held the see only for a short time, for in the Consistorial Acts we soon after find the following entry:—"An. 1539. Sua Sanctitas providit Ecclesiae Dromorensi in Hibernia de persona Rogerii".
Ten years later Arthur Magennis was chosen by Pope Paul III. to govern the diocese of St. Colman. On the 10th of May, 1550, he surrendered his bulls to the crown, and had in return "a pardon under the great seal for having received the Pope's bull, and for other misdemeanours". (Reeves' Eccles. Antiq., p. 308. V. Morrin, Pat. Rolls, i. p. 205). Nevertheless, there can be but little doubt as to the orthodoxy of this prelate. Even Cox (i. 288) attests his devotion to the Catholic cause. He, moreover, specially names him as an instance of a Catholic bishop, and adduces the fact of his being allowed by the crown to hold peaceable possession of his see as a proof that "the Reformation made but small progress in Ireland" at this period. In 1551 he gave a public proof of his devotedness to the Catholic faith. Edward VI., in the beginning of February, sent an order to the viceroy, Sir Anthony St. Leger, commanding the use of the English liturgy in all the churches of Ireland. On the 1st of March the same year this order was communicated to the archbishops and bishops assembled in council for that special purpose; but no sooner had St. Leger made his discourse, commending the royal prerogative, and extolling the liturgy now proposed to the Irish clergy, than Dr. Dowdall of Armagh opposed it with all his zeal, and denounced the measure as anathematized "by the Church of St. Peter, the Mother Church of Rome". It must ever remain a special glory of the province of Armagh, that, as Cox informs us (p. 290), one only of the suffragan bishops of the primatial see—viz., Dr. Staples, who held from the crown the revenues of Meath—could be found to support the proposal of the government, whilst all the others adopted the sentiments of Dr. Dowdall. The year of Dr. Magennis's death is uncertain; he seems, however, to have survived some years the accession of Queen Elizabeth, and on his death the see of Dromore became canonically united with Ardagh.
The name of this illustrious bishop recalls our attention to Dr. Magennis, bishop of Down and Connor, of whom we treated in the March number of the Record. An esteemed correspondent, in a highly interesting letter, published in May (p. 385 seq.), contends that that prelate, in his public acts at least, deviated from the path of orthodoxy, and allied himself to the enemies of our holy faith. His reasons, however, are far from sufficient to justify such a serious charge.
1. In the first place, he argues from the fact of the bishop of Down having surrendered his bulls to the crown. However, the bishop of Dromore did the same, and, nevertheless, no one questions his orthodoxy. Long before the dawn of Protestantism we find the same course pursued by some bishops, as, for instance, by the celebrated Oliver Cantwell, bishop of Ossory, towards the close of the fifteenth century (Ware, p. 414). In fact, the surrendering of the bulls was regarded as a purely civil ceremony, which secured to the canonically appointed bishop the peaceful possession of the temporalities of his see.
2. The learned correspondent lays special stress on the bulls being described as "obtained from Paul, Bishop of Rome, not His Holiness". However, it is in the letter of the king that this form of expression is used (Morrin, i. 91), and any insult which it may involve must be referred to the good taste of Henry VIII., and not to the bishop of Down.