Of the immediately succeeding Bishops we know little more than the mere names. Herrera tels us that an Augustinian friar, by name Herphardus, was promoted to an Irish see in the consistory of 21st February, 1530. By an error of the consistorial copyist, that see is styled Sodorensis in Hibernia. Elsius and some modern writers supposed the true reading to be Ossoriensis; but this arbitrary substitution is irreconcilable with the history of the see of Ossory; and it seems much more probable that the true reading of the consistorial record would be Sedes Rossensis in Hibernia.
The next Bishop that we find is Dermit M'Domnuil, styled in the consistorial acts Dermitius Macarius, who was appointed about 1540, and died in 1553. He was succeeded by Maurice O'Fihely (or Phelim), a Franciscan friar, and professor of Theology. The following is the consistorial entry: "Die 22º Januarii 1554 providit Sanctitas Sua Ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia vacanti per obitum Dermitii Macarii de persona D. Mauritii O'Fihely ord. FF. Min. et Theologiae professoris". Early in 1559 this bishop, too, passed to his eternal reward, and his successor's appointment is thus registered in the same consistorial acts: "Die 15 Martii 1559, referente Reverendissimo Dño. Cardinale Pacheco fuit provisum Ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia per obitum bon. mem. Mauritii O'Phihil (O'Fihely) pastoris solatio destitutae de persona R. D. Mauritii Hea, presbyteri Hiberni".
Dr. O'Hea for less than two years ruled the diocese of Ross, and in the consistory of 17th December, 1561, Dr. Thomas O'Herlihy was appointed to the vacant see: "Die 17º Decembris 1561, referente Cardinale Morono Sua Sanctitas providit ecclesiae Rossensi in Hibernia per obitum bon. mem. Mauritii O'Hea extra Romanam curiam defucti, vacanti, de persona D. Thomae O'Hierlahii presbyteri de nobili genere ex utroque parente procreati, vita ac scientia idonei, in curia praesentis, quem pater David sacerdos Soc. Jesu in Hibernia existens suis litteris commendavit, cum retentione beneficiorum competentium et jurium quae obtinet".
It would require a much longer article than our present limits allow, to give an adequate idea of the sufferings and zealous labours of this illustrious confessor of our holy faith. He was a native of the parish of Kilmacabea, and many members of his family were reckoned amongst the ancient dynasts of the district. Being consecrated in Rome, he hastened to take part in the deliberations of the council of Trent; and in the metrical catalogue of the bishops of that sacred assembly we find him described as being in the flower of his age and adorned with the comeliness of every episcopal virtue. Towards the close of 1563 he landed on the Irish coast, anxious to share the perils of his faithful flock and to guard them against the many dangers by which they were now menaced. O'Sullivan attests that "his labours were incredible in preaching against heresy, administering the sacraments, and ordaining youthful Levites for the sanctuary". After some time, however, he was seized on by the emissaries of Elizabeth, and thrown into the dungeons of London, where, for three years and seven months, he was the companion in suffering of the renowned Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Creagh. After his liberation, he continued his apostolical labours throughout the whole kingdom. Many important commissions from the Holy See were confided to him, as may be seen in the Hibernia Dominicana and elsewhere. A Vatican paper of 1578, reckoning the strenuous upholders of the Catholic cause in Ireland, mentions amongst others "Episcopus Rossensis doctus qui interfuit Concilio Tridentino"; but adds that he was then "an exile from his see". Many other particulars connected with this holy bishop, may be seen in Introduction to the Lives of the Archbishops of Dublin, page 137. It is the tradition of the country that he died in prison; however, Wadding and Ware inform us that he died in the territory of Muskerry, and was interred in the convent of Kilchree. The day of his death has, also, been happily transmitted to us; it was the 11th of March, 1580; or, according to the old computation, the 1st of March, 1579.
His successor was without delay appointed by the Holy See, but owing to the destruction of the monuments of our Church, his name has not come down to us. He is thus commemorated in 1583 by the English agent in Italy: "In April there came from Rome to Naples an Irishman, whom the Pope created Bishop of Ross in Ireland" (Letter of Francis Touker to Lord Burghley, 22nd July, 1583). He is also mentioned by the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr. Cornelius O'Mulrian, in a letter addressed from Lisbon to Rome, on the 29th October, 1584: "Episcopus Limericensis et Episcopus Rossensis postquam venerant Romam in curia Regis Hispaniarum degunt" (Ex Archiv. Vatic.) No further particulars connected with this Bishop of Ross have come down to us. He had for his successor the renowned Owen M'Egan, who with the title and authority of Vicar-Apostolic of this see was sent to our island by Pope Clement VIII. in 1601. A bull of the same Pontiff granting some minor benefices to the same Owen M'Egan in 1595, is preserved in the Hibernia Pacata, page 670. In it he is described as a priest of the diocese of Cork, bachelor in Theology, master of arts and "most commendable for his learning, moral conduct, and manifold virtues". Towards the close of the century he undertook a journey to Spain to procure aid for Florence M'Carthy and the other confederate princes of the South: and he himself on arriving in Ireland as Vicar-Apostolic in 1601, shared all the privations and dangers of the Catholic camp. At length, as Wadding informs us, he was mortally wounded while attending the dying soldiers, and on the 5th January, 1602-3, passed to his eternal reward. The hatred borne to him by the agents of Elizabeth is the best proof of his disinterestedness and zeal. His death, says the author of Hibernia Pacata, "was doubtlessly more beneficial to the state than to have secured the head of the most capital rebel in Munster" (page 662).
As regards the Bishops nominated by the civil power, we find one commemorated during Henry's reign. So little, however, is known about him, and that little belonging to a period when a canonically appointed Bishop held the see, that even Protestant historians scarcely allow him a place amongst the bishops of Ross. During Elizabeth's reign Dr. O'Herlihy was indeed deprived of the temporalities of the see in 1570, yet no Protestant occupant was appointed till 1582. Sir Henry Sidney wrote to her Majesty in 1576, soliciting this bishopric for a certain Cornelius, but his petition was without effect. Lyons was more successful; he not only obtained the see of Ross in 1582, but subsequently annexed to it the dioceses of Cork and Cloyne. The following extract contains the local tradition regarding the reception given to this Protestant Bishop, and has been kindly supplied by a priest of the diocese, whose parish was, in early times, the theatre of the apostolate of many a distinguished saint of our Irish Church:—
"Lyons was an apostate from the beginning; he went to England and acknowledged the Queen's supremacy, and was left in quiet possession of the revenues of the diocese till his death, a period of about thirty-five years. On his return from England he was deserted by his clergy, who secreted all the plate connected with the cathedral and monastery, as also the bells, and chimes of bells, all solid silver, which were then valued at £7,000. The commissioners subsequently hanged all the aged friars that remained, on pretence that they knew where the above-named property was concealed, and refused to reveal it. At all events, the plate remained concealed, and to this day it never has been found. Tradition says it was all buried in the strand, which contains two or three hundred acres of waste, covered by every tide, having three feet of sand in most places, and underneath a considerable depth of turf mould".
The account here given of the diocesan plate is certainly confirmed by the consistorial record already cited in the beginning of this article. Whilst, however, the clergy thus resolved to remove the sacred plate at least from the grasp of the Protestant prelate, the people were determined that the old Catholic episcopal mansion should not be contaminated by his presence. The commissioners of the crown in 1615, report that he found no house on his arrival in his see of Ross, "but only a place to build one on". They further add, that he, without delay, built a fine house for himself which cost £300, but even this "in three years was burnt down by the rebel O'Donovan"—(Records of Ross, etc., iii.-50). It will suffice to mention one other fact connected with his episcopal career. In Rymer we find a patent dated 12th June, 1595, and amongst others it is addressed to our Protestant dignitary, commissioning him "to consider and find out ways and means to people Munster with English inhabitants".—Rym., tom. 16, pag. 276.
P.F.M.