THE DIOCESE OF ROSS IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
The Lives of the Irish Bishops, published by Ware, in 1665, and rewritten by Harris in the beginning of the last century, have been long regarded as authentic history; and the statements of these learned writers have been generally accepted without hesitation, being supposed to rest on ancient and indubious documents. It is thus, to take a quite recent example, that the Rev. W. Maziere Brady, D.D., in the third volume of his Records of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross (London, 1864), adopts, with only a few verbal variations, the whole narrative of Ware regarding St. Fachnan and his successors in the see of Ross. Nevertheless, many of his statements are inaccurate, and some of them, too, are wholly at variance with historic truth. At the very threshold of our present inquiry we meet with one instance which alone should suffice to render us cautious in accepting the assertions of such historians, when unconfirmed by other authorities.
"One Thady" (Ware thus writes), "was Bishop of Ross on the 29th of January, 1488, and died a little after; but I have not found where he was consecrated. One Odo succeeded in 1489, and sat only five years. He died in 1494" (Ware, pag. 587. Brady, Records, etc., vol. iii., pag. 139).
How many errors are contained in these few words! This Thadeus was never Bishop of Ross, and so far from Odo being appointed in 1489, he was already Bishop of the see on the accession of Pope Innocent VIII., in 1484. A letter of this Pontiff addressed to Odo, Bishop of Ross, on 21st of July, 1488, has happily been preserved, and it presents to us the following particulars connected with the see. No sooner had the see of Ross become vacant by the demise of its Bishop about 1480, than Odo was elected its chief pastor, and his election was duly confirmed by the Vicar of Christ. A certain person, however, named Thadeus MacCarryg, had aspired to the dignity of successor of Saint Fachnan, and as he enjoyed high influence with the civil authorities, he easily obtained possession of the temporalities of the see. Several monitory letters were addressed to him from Rome, exhorting him to desist from such an iniquitous course; but as these were of no avail, sentence of excommunication was fulminated against him by Pope Sixtus, and promulgated in a synod of the southern Bishops, held in Cashel in 1484; it was repeated by Innocent VIII. in 1488. Thus, then, the individual who is described by Ware as Bishop of Ross, was merely an usurper of the temporalities of the see, whilst the true Bishop, Odo, continued to govern the diocese till his death in 1494.
His successor was Dr. Edmund Courcy, who was translated from the see of Clogher to Ross, by Brief of 26th September, 1494. He was a Franciscan, and for twenty-four years ruled our diocese. The obituary book of the Franciscans of Timoleague, when recording his death on 10th March, 1518, describes him as a special benefactor of their convent, both during his episcopate and at his death. He enriched it with a library, and built for its convenience an additional dormitory and an infirmary. He also rebuilt its steeple, and decorated the church with many precious ornaments. This Franciscan church continued for nearly one hundred years a cherished devotional resort of the faithful, till, in Elizabeth's reign, its fathers were dispersed, and the convent reduced to a heap of ruins. The chronicler of the order, when registering the destruction of this ancient sanctuary, dwells particularly on the barbarity of the Protestant soldiers, who deliberately smashed its rich stained glass windows, and tore to shreds the costly pictures which adorned it.
A year before his death, Dr. Courcy resigned the administration of his see, and petitioned the then reigning Pontiff, Leo X., to appoint as his successor John O'Murrily, Abbot of the Cistercian Monastery of de Fonte Vivo. The deed by which he thus resigned the see of Ross was drawn up in the presence of three witnesses, one of whom was the Lady Eleanor, daughter of the Earl of Kildare; and it assigns as the motive of his resignation, that he had already gained his eightieth year, and that his increasing infirmities rendered it impossible for him to give due attention to the wants of the diocese. King Henry VIII. wrote to His Holiness, praying him to accede to the wishes of the aged bishop, and to appoint to the see of Ross the above-named Cistercian abbot, who is described as adorned with every virtue, and especially remarkable for modesty, mildness, and learning. We give in full this letter of Henry VIII., as it is a solemn condemnation of the subsequent rebellion of that monarch against the authority of the Vicar of Christ:—
"Beatissime Pater, post humillimam commendationem et devotissima pedum oscula beatorum. Exposuit nobis Reverendus in Christo pater Episcopus Rossensis in dominio nostro Hiberniae, se quibusdam idoneis caussis moveri ut suam Rossensem Ecclesiam Reverendo patri Domino Joanni Abbati Monasterii Beatae Mariae de fonte vivo resignet, quibus caussis a nobis cognitis et probatis, intellectis praeterea egregiis dicti Domini Joannis virtutibus et imprimis praecipua modestia, probitate ac doctrina, Vestram Sanctitatem rogamus ut praedictam resignationem admittere, eundemque Dominum Joannem ad supradictam Ecclesiam provehere dignetur. Praeterea ut honestius ac decentius Episcopalem dignitatem sustinere queat, quoniam dictae Ecclesiae Rossensis reditus et proventus admodum tenues et perexiles esse cognovimus, Vestram Sanctitatem rogamus ut una cum eodem Episcopatu Rossensi praedictam Abbatiam S. Mariae cum nonnullis aliis beneficiis in commendam ei concedere dignetur. Quod ut gratum nobis erit, sic eidem Ecclesiae utile futurum non dubitamus. Et felicissime valeat Vestra Sanctitas, etc.
"Ex Regia nostra apud Richemontem die xvii. Julii, 1517"—(Theiner, Monumenta, etc., pag. 520).
Before giving his sanction to the newly-elected bishop, Pope Leo ordered a consistorial investigation to be made, as was usual with the sees of all Catholic countries, and fortunately the minute of this inquiry is still preserved in the Vatican archives. We cull from it the following interesting particulars:
"The city of Ross was situated in the province of Cashel, in the middle of a vast plain which stretched along the sea-shore. It consisted of about two hundred houses, and was encompassed with a wall. The country around was fertile, yielding an abundance of corn and fruit. In the centre of the town was the cathedral church, dedicated under the invocation of Saint Fachnan, an Irish saint, confessor, whose feast is celebrated on the vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The walls of the church were of cut stone, and it had two entrances—one lateral, the other in front, and in both you descended by three steps to the level of the church. Its floor was unpaved, and its roof was of wood, covered with slates. The interior of the church presented the form of a cross, and in size corresponded with the church of S. Maria del Popolo in Rome. Its central nave was separated by stone pillars from the aisles. Its choir was of wood, and at the head of the choir was placed the high altar. Its sacristy was well supplied with vestments and other sacred ornaments. It had a mitre and crucifixes; its chalices were of solid silver, some of them being gilt, and its crozier was also of silver. In the cemetery, outside the church, there was a belfry built in the form of a tower, in which there was one large bell. As for the dignitaries of the church, there was a Dean with a yearly income of 12 marks, an Archdeacon with 20 marks, and a Chancellor with 8 marks. There were also twelve Canons, each having a revenue of 4 marks, and four Vicars with a similar income. All these assist daily in choir, and celebrate low Mass. On the festival days a solemn Mass is sung. The Canons reside here and there through the diocese, which is twenty miles in extent. The Bishop's residence is about half-a-mile from the city, and is pleasantly situated on the sea-shore. The episcopal revenue consists of corn, tithes, and pasturage, and amounts annually to 60 marks. There are also twenty-four benefices in the Bishop's collation"—(Theiner, Ib., pag. 528-9).
Before the close of 1517, Dr. O'Murrily was duly proclaimed in consistory Bishop of Ross. He governed the see, however, for little more than one year, and had for his successor a Spaniard named Bonaventura, of whom it is recorded that he founded a monastery in the small island of Dursey, which lies at the head of the peninsula between Bantry and Kenmare—(O'Sullivan. Hist. Cath., pag. 238). This monastery and its adjoining church of St. Michael shared the fate of most of the monuments of our ancient faith during the persecution of Elizabeth, and in 1602 was levelled to the ground.