But never saw a holier man than Richard of Dundalk”.
Old Couplet.[32]
§ I. Introduction.
In all the habits of social life many of the early English settlers in Ireland soon became more Irish than the Irish themselves. In the vigorous tenacity of their attachment to the Catholic religion some of these families have ever remained as Irish as the Irish themselves. Having made our people their people, they became sharers in our grace of faith, so as to keep ever since our God their God. To the Talbots and the Plunkets we owe two [pg 487] great archbishops, whose figures stand out prominently even among the illustrious band of prelates who fought the good fight in the days of the persecutors. And as our Church reckons Anglo-Irish bishops among her martyrs, so among her doctors who guarded and enriched the sacred deposit of faith we may count Anglo-Irish prelates equally illustrious: and of these the subject of the present notice offers a distinguished example. A variety of great qualities, rarely united in one individual, gives a singular attractiveness to the history of Richard Fitz-Ralph, Archbishop of Armagh. Extraordinary holiness of life—of which proof remains not only in the popular couplet at the head of this paper, and in the appellation of St. Richard of Dundalk, by which he was known for centuries, but in the stronger evidence of a Pontifical commission issued by Boniface IX. to examine into his miracles with a view to his canonization;—rare intellectual power exhibited in every branch of theology—erudition both various and profound—eloquence of a high order, to which his sermons still extant bear testimony; all these are qualities which, especially when exercised under the trying vicissitudes of a great controversy within the Church, could not fail to constitute a remarkable career. Of this career we now propose to lay before our readers an outline as perfect as the materials within our reach will allow us to sketch. We do so with the hope that others, in whom better skill is backed by richer materials, may be led to supplement from their store our slender contribution to the history of an illustrious successor of St. Patrick.
§ II. The Fitz-Ralph Family: Richard's Parentage.
Ralph, founder of the Fitz-Ralph family, held forty-nine lordships in England in the reign of William the Conqueror. From this stem various branches issued, and several families of Fitz-Ralphs were to be found in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. To which of these Richard belongs is a matter of uncertainty. Prince, in his anxiety to enrol him among the worthies of Devonshire, refers him to the Fitz-Ralphs of Widecomb in the Moor, who, about the time of Edward I., changed their names and residence, henceforth calling themselves Stillingford, from their new abode near Exeter. But this is mere guess work. It is far more probable, in our opinion, that he belonged to the Derbyshire Fitz-Ralphs, of which family the Frechevilles and Musards of Staveley[33] became in after times the representatives. Our reasons are these. Ralph (Musard) Baron Staveley, a direct descendant of Ralph, the founder of the family, had a daughter Margaret, who, on his death, became co-heir with her brother [pg 488] Nicholas and her sister Isabella. Margaret married an Irishman, named in the pedigree Joannes de Hibernia, and died in the year 1308. Three children were born of this marriage—John de Hibernia, Ralph, and Alicia. Thus, we actually have the heir of the Fitz-Ralphs born of an Irish father. As his mother's heir John de Hibernia was owner of the third part of the manor of Staveley, and this property he gave and granted to Ralph de Frecheville, The evidence taken at an inquisition held at Staveley, in 1316, asserts that the said John “had no other lands in England”. This would lead us to conjecture that he had lands in Ireland, and after this time the pedigree no longer adds the words de Hibernia to any of the Fitz-Ralphs. Now, it is certain that Richard must have been born about this time; and although the precise year of his birth is not known, the date of his promotion to Armagh would allow him to have been the son of this John, or of his brother Ralph. But, setting conjecture aside, one thing is proved beyond a doubt, viz., that about the time of Richard's birth the Fitz-Ralphs of Staveley had a close connection with Ireland.
§ III. His Birthplace.
An almost universal tradition fixes his birthplace at Dundalk. According to Wadding, the tradition was, that his parents came to Dundalk from the well known territory in the north of Ireland, called Ruta, or the Route. Wood states that almost all writers—auctores pene omnes—make him an Irishman. This tradition is also clearly expressed in the appellation of Richard of Dundalk, by which he was universally known. It was the custom of the age to designate men by the name of their native place. Of this we have an excellent example in the name of John Baconthorpius, or of Baconthorpe, who, as we shall see, was Fitz-Ralph's professor at Oxford. Cotton, in his Fasti, tells us that “it has been contended, with some appearance of truth, that this prelate was born in England”. He here alludes to the opinion maintained by Rev. John Prince,[34] who considers it probable that our prelate was born in Devonshire, adding, “some tell us, that he was an Irishman, and born in the town of Dundalk in that kingdom, and hence called by the name of Richard of Dundalk. Whereas, it is possible he might be so denominated, not from his birth, but from his long residence, or his doing some eminent exploit there, or from some other like occasion there. Others say he was an Englishman, which is not improbable, for these reasons: that he had his education at Oxford; that he was chosen commissary of that university; that he was made archdeacon of Lichfield; and that he was encouraged against the friars by English bishops”.
These are the only arguments alleged to prove that Archbishop Fitz-Ralph was born in England. They are of no weight whatever when compared with the mass of testimony on the other side. 1.—The name of Richard of Dundalk could not have arisen from the primate's long residence in that town, for he resided in his diocese only for about nine years, and certainly did not spend all his time in Dundalk. 2.—Nor is it told in history that he performed any eminent exploit here. 3.—It does not make against the Irish origin of Archbishop Fitz-Ralph that he had his education at Oxford. It is well known that at the beginning of the fourteenth century there were very many Irishmen at Oxford. Bale gives the names of several most distinguished Irishmen who flourished there at that period—in 1310, Malachias Minorita; in 1320, David O'Buge of Kildare; in 1330, Gilbert Urgalius, who, consueto Hibernorum hominum more, went to Oxford after completing his rudimentary studies. Besides, among the nations whose contests in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries so often made Oxford anything but a quiet abode of learning, the Irish had their place and generally went with the Southernmen. And the Archbishop himself, in his discourse at Avignon, relates how he had sent to Oxford four priests of the diocese of Armagh. 4.—That the appointment of Richard as chancellor or vice-chancellor of Oxford does not necessarily suppose him to have been an Englishman, will appear from what we have to say farther on concerning this office. 5—Nor was it strange that an Irish ecclesiastic should hold benefices in England. Clement VI., in 1351, granted to John de Briane, Dean of St. Patrick's at Dublin, who held at the same time the parish of Hatfield in Lincoln, permission to retain his benefices during his five years' course at a University.[35]
Summing up the evidence, we have, on the one hand, the almost universal tradition that our prelate was born in Dundalk; we have an established connexion between the Derbyshire Fitz-Ralphs and Ireland about the time of his birth. On the other hand, against his Irish origin, we have no argument stronger than mere probabilities, which, when examined, are found to have no substance. We conclude, therefore, that Richard Fitz-Ralph was born in Dundalk. This conclusion receives some confirmation from a narrative in Fox,[36] where we are told that a copy of the entire Bible, translated into Irish by Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, was found, many years after his death, in the walls of his cathedral. Now, if this story be true, and it is indirectly confirmed by Usher, it is plain that the Archbishop must have been born in Ireland. It is hard to believe that nine years, [pg 490] broken as they were by provincial visitations and other labours, would have been sufficient to make an English prelate master of a language so difficult as the Irish, and that to the degree of perfection requisite for a translation of the sacred text.