Epitaph of the Most Rev. Eugene Matthews, Archbishop of Dublin.
"This volume was already in type, when we were fortunate enough to meet with the original epitaph which marked the last resting place of the illustrious Archbishop Matthews.
"Near the summit of the Janiculum, in the city of Rome, stands the well known church of San Pietro-in-Montorio. It contains many treasures of art, and its paintings retail the names of Raffaelle, Michael Angelo, Pinturicchio, Vasari, and other great masters. More dear to the Christian pilgrim is the adjoining shrine, which guards the clay in which was set the cross of the Prince of the Apostles.
"It was in this church that the last princes of Tyrone and Tyrconnel were interred. In the second row of tombs with which the pavement of the church is lined, the Irish traveller will find without difficulty the epitaph of Hugh baron of Dungannon, who died in September, 1609, and of the two O'Donnells, who died in the autumn of 1608.[ 20] It is known that Hugh O'Neil, earl of Tyrone, was also interred here; but hitherto his tomb has been sought for in vain. The archives of the adjoining monastery, however, have at length come to our aid. The last great Irish chieftain expired in the Palazzo Salviati, on the 20th of July, 1616, and the register of San Pietro-in-Montorio marks the 24th of July, 1616, as the day on which his remains were, with princely pomp, laid within its vaults. This same register further tells us that his epitaph, now wholly obliterated, held the first place in the third row of tombs which mark the pavement of the church, and that it consisted of the simple record:
D. O. M.
HIC QUIESCUNT OSSA
HUGONIS PRINCIPIS O'NEILL.
"It was alongside the tomb of Hugh O'Neil that Eugene Matthews, archbishop of Dublin, reposed in death. His epitaph, says the register of the church, holds the second place in the third row of tombs. The slab which corresponds with this indication now only retains some faint traces of letters here and there, it being impossible to decipher even one word of its original inscription. Here again the church register comes to our aid; it tells us that the following was the inscription on Dr. Matthews' tomb:
D. O. M.
EUGENIO MATTHEI, ARCHIEPISCOPO DUBLINENSI,
DOCTRINÆ CLARITATE NATALIUM SPLENDORE,
FIDE IN DEUM PIETATE IN PATRIAM SINGULARI
QUI POSTQUAM SOLLICITI PASTORIS,
DIUTURNO AC DIFFICILI TEMPORE IN HIBERNIA,
NUMEROS OMNES ADIMPLESSET,
SUB GREGORIO XV., ROMAM VENIT,
UBI AB OPTIMO PONTIFICE BENIGNE HABITUS,
DUM PATRIÆ SUÆ NEGOTIA PROMOVERET,
EXTREMUM DIEM CLAUSIT KAL. SEPT. 1623.
"Thus, as Dr. Matthews was closely allied by blood with the families of Tyrone and Tyrconnel; as he in youth shared with them the perils of the Catholic camp; as, when bishop of Clogher, he enjoyed with them the hospitality of the great pontiff, Paul V., in the Salviati Palace, Rome; so was he destined to be united with them in death, and to repose with them beneath the shadow of St. Peter's dome, amidst the sanctuaries and shrines of the Eternal City. We cannot better conclude than with the words of the Four Masters, when registering the death of Hugh O'Neil: 'Although he died far distant from Armagh, the burial place of his ancestors, it was a manifestation that God was pleased with his life; for the place in which God granted him to be buried was Rome, the capital of the Christians'".