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Roscommon, but the three senior members just referred to voted in favour of John Horan, who was known as John the The Franciscans . Horan set out for Lyons where the was then in residence and succeeded in obtaining papal confir- mation for his election; he became in 1245 but died the following year. Some years later, in 1252, in Elphin Thomas O'Quin, the Franciscan, was promoted to Clon- macnoise (3). It is interesting to note that O'Quin's CATHALDUS GIBLIN. O.F.M. nomination to Elphin was the first nomination of a Fran- AINT FRANCIS of Assisi, founder of three separate ciscan to an Irish diocese. Many years later, in 1418,Pope S Orders in the Church, died in the year 1226.It is not Martin V provided Robert Fosten, another Franciscan, to absolutely certain when his followers first set foot .in Elphin (4); he was an Englishman, and there is no evidence ; there is a strong tradition that their first that he ever visited his see. foundation was in Youghal, but there is definite proof that Foundation at Elphin they had acquired a house in Dublin shortly before 1233, It was not until shortly before 1453that the Franciscans when King Henry In ordered that they be given twenty got a solid footing in what is now County when marks to enable them to restore their church and friary they settled in the town of Elphin. They were 'Conventual' which had fallen into disrepair '(1). 'A friary wasestab- Franciscans, and are to be distinguished from another lished at Roscommon town in 1268or 1269,but it survived branch of the Order who called themselves 'Observants'. only a year or so; it was burned to the ground during Those who went by the name of 'Conventuals' availed hostilities between the Irish and the English, and the man themselves of.certain concessions granted by the in on whom the friars depended to restore the building died the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries as regards the shortly afterwards (2). It would appear that the friars holding of property and the use of money. About the abandoned the site and never resettled there. beginning of the fifteenth century small groups of friars in Before the disaster which befell the Roscommon various countries decided to adhere more fully to the ideals foundation however, the diocese of Elphin, which in area of St. Francis, and started a reform within the Order; they corresponds approximately .with the present County came to be knownas 'Observants'. Withthe introduction of Roscommon,had Franciscan associations. In the year 1244 the Observant movement into Ireland the Conventual the chapter of the diocese met to select a bishop, and a Franciscans began to lose ground, and eventually, about goodly number of the chapter voted in favour of a 1567almost all the remaining Conventuals went over to the Franciscan named Thomas O'Quin, but the two arch- Observants. Elphin friary however continued to be a and objected and held that a member of the Conventual house until well into the seventeenth century. chapter should have been chosen. The junior members of The historian, Michael O'Clery, states that it did not accept the chapter then selected Muirdach O'Connor, coarb of the Observant reform until 1632(5). 23 The beginnings of a Franciscan foundation in the town canons attached to the church of St. Mary (14). of Elphin owed a lot to the local bishop named Conor or Nothing is known of the activities of the friars in Elphin Cornelius O'MulIally, a Franciscan himself, who was during the latter half of the fifteenth century. We can -onJy appointed bishop of Elphin on 20 October, 1944, and was in assume they did pastoral work in the town and district, and charge of the diocese for almost twenty years. At the time assisted the diocesan in attending to the spiritual of O'Mullally's appointment there·!W.as a considerable needs of the faithful. Bishop Conor O'Mullally continued as amount of switching about of bishops between the dioceses bishop until his death in 1468; by that time the friars would of Clonfert, Elpnin and EmIy. For instance, O'Mullally had have been well established in Elphin town. The Annals of been promoted to Clonfert on 22 May 1447, had been trans- Connacht and some other sources make occasional ferred to EmIy about fifteen months later, and again, within reference to people who died in or near Elphin in the second more than a year transferred to Elphin. With all this half of the fifteenth century and early years of the sixteenth switching and changing it is little wonder that doubts were who would appear to have been closely associated with the being cast on O'MulIally's claim to the bishopric of Elphin friars. Thus we read in 1464Lochlainn (15), son of Mailin 0 during the first years of his reign there (6). These doubts Maolchonaire died, having won victory over the world and and fears were being channelled to Rome, and on 25 May, the devil, and was buried at Elphin under the prote~tion of 1456, Pope. Calixtus III issued a long document confirming God, Patrick and St. Francis. Likewise, Torna 0' O'Mullally's appointment to Elphin and thus clearing up Maolchonaire (16), ollav or professor of Sil Murray in any misunderstanding concerning the validity of his history and poetry, died in 1468after a victory of repentance promotion to that see (7). Before Mullally became bishop in his own house at Lis Ferbain after St. Patrick's Day,.and he had taken a degree in theology and had spent some time was buried under the protection of St. Patrick and St. teaching that subject to Franciscan students (8). We know, Francis at Elphin, and Urrard 0 Maolchonaire succeeded to too, that when he was transferred from Emy to Elphin he the ollavship. In 1527 a local lady of outstanding qualities agreed to allow £10 annually from the temporalities of died and was· buried in the precincts of the Franciscan Elphin to Bishop William O'Hayden who had immediately friary. The Annals of Connacht are full of praise for her and preceded him in Elphin but who had been transferred to recount her virtues and _her family connections in the EmIy (9). following terms (17): "Mor, daughter of Maelsechlainn MacCaba, wife of 0 hAinlige, the best woman who ever Some short time before October 1453 and while lived in Cenel Dobtha, foster-mother to the poets and exiles O'Mullally was bishop of Elphin, the minister provincial of of Ireland, a re-incarnation of Mor Muman, for good repute the Franciscans in Ireland, Father William O'Reilly, and piety and virtue, the greatest bestower of alms and applied to Rome for pernlission to accept an offer made by charitable gifts of food and clothing to God's poor and needy the people ,and clergy of Elpnin town of the church of St. and to all who stood in need thereof, died in her own Patrick there and a piece of land to the Franciscans. On 16 residence at Port Locha Leise, and was buried in the October, 1453, Pope Nicholas V issued a brief acceding to of Elphinunder the protection of God and St. O'Reilly's request (10). It would appear that at the time the Francis". Pope composed his brief the friars had already taken possession of St. Patrick's Church, and Sir James Ware Dissolution and Dispersal may not have been too far wide of the mark when he stated . When this generous and virtuous lady died in 1527'the that a house was built for the friars in' Elphin in the year dissolution of the was near at hand, but not 1450 (11). Fortunately the brief of Pope Nicholas V throws until 1563 were the friars deprived of their foundation at some light on how the friars came to possess the church. Elphin (18), slightly over one hundred years after they had It specifically states that the church was handed over for first settled there. Ware - Harris informs us that the few the use and habitation of the friars, and that "the canons acres of land held by the friars and any buildings they and inhabitants of Elphin were the donors of the church as possessed were granted to one Terence OBeirne (19). In well as the bishop". The agreement between the friars and 1569 "the site of the house of friars of Ulfyne with the bishop and chapter declared that the friars were free appurtenances" were leased to Patrick Cusack of Gerards- from any obligation of the cure of souls and from all taxes town, Co. Meath, for twenty-one years at an annual rent of and exactions. Apart from the church of St. Patrick, the 5s.4d. (20). On 6 August 1577, Queen Elizabeth made a . bishop and citizens, among whom Tomhaltach MacDermott grant of the friary and its land to Hugh Bni 0 Domhnall for is specifically mentioned in the brief, made a grant of twenty-one years at a rent of 5s. 4d.; in the fiants it is certain lands to the friars. The church of St. Patrick was described as "the site of the house of friars'of Oldefyne, Co. the Elphin parish church, and is said to have been built on Roscommon" (21). In 1588the friary was definitely in the the site of.a very early church which had been erected by possession of , Protestant bishop of Elphin, as it St. Patrick (12). It was not the only church 4t Elphin town; stated clearly in the fiants when it was granted to Richard _. there was another dedicated to St. Mary which as far back Kindelmarsche. When the latter was given the pO,stof clerk . as 1244 had served as a cathedral and had a chapter. of of markets throughout Ireland a grant of the friary was canons (13). It is thought by some that the church of St. made to Richard Bealinge for forty years (22). From a Patrick which was given over to the Franciscans, had also a lease given on 3 March 1591 we learn that the friars had community of canons attached to it, and that there were possessed a church, cloister, dormitory, and two. parcels of thus two sets of canons in Elphin town, one set comprising land, one valued at 20d. and the other at 6s.8d. (23). secular canons attached to the' cathedral of St. Mary, and in 1595the "parcel of the possessions of the abbey of Elphiil" the other consisting of .regular canons attached to the was granted to one Edmund Barret~ in consideration of .church of St. Patrick until the Franciscans replaced them. injuries sustained by him in the service of Queen Elizabeth However, as there is no firm evidence that there ever was a (24). Not many years after that, in 1615,the friary and its house of regular canons in the town of Elphin, one feels land were granted to Sir John King (25). obliged to agree with Kenneth Nicholls when he states there Fr. Francis O'Mahony, a Franciscan, writing in 1629, was only one set of canons in Elphin, namely, the secular stated that the friars had been driven out by the Protestant 24 bishop, and that at the time he was writing the church and friary were levelled to the ground, and that the stones in the buildings had been used by the bishop to erect a dwelling for himself (26). The Protestant bishop of Elphin at the time was Edward King who ruled his diocese from 1611 until 1638. In 1617 he tried to have a residence constructed for himself which came to be known as 'The Castle', and Father Donagh Mooney, another Franciscan historian writing in 1618, gives an interesting account (27) of what happened when Bishop Kent set about dismantling the old church of St. Patrick and the adjoining friary. Mooney visited Elphin within a year of the attempted demolition of the old buildings and from local trustworthy witnesses whom he names he obtained details connected with the event. It was Bishop King's intention to build a turreted edifice in which he could live in safety from the attacks of his enemies. As was usual in old buildings of that time, the stones of which the friars' chapel was built were of exceptionally large size, and were, in Mooney's opinion, probably the original stones used in erecting the building at the time of St. Patrick. The work of demolishing the old church had been planned to begin on St. Patrick's Day 1617.As no Irishman could be found to take part in the demolition, the bishop called in an English stone mason named John Cheminy, but as Cheminy removed the first stone of the church, an Irishman named Diarmaid McInerney approached him and advised him to desist from what he was doing, stating that he was committing a sacrilege in. not refraining from servile work on the feast of St. Patrick and in profaning Photo from 1880's of the Cathedral doorway at such a sacred building. Cheminy retorted that Patrick was Clonmacnoise. This is the burial place of so many of the Connacht Kings. This doorway, dating from 1460, only a man and that there was no obligation to observe his has three orders of great richness of carving. It also feast day. Abnost immediately Cheminy was stricken with has the rare combination of St. Francis, St. Patrick a severe pain in his side. He called upon McInerney to help and St. Dominick overhead with a band of lettering him, and asked that his wife be swrunoned to assist him. commemorating the builder Dean Odo. The hollow His wife came and took him home, but before midnight, mouldings are a miniature whispering gallery. Note showing no signs of repentance and stricken by pangs of clothing of the ordinary woman of the time as conscience, he died in his pain. Next day the Protestant opposed to the strait-laced pose of the usual Victorian photograph. This lady in her humble pose is a social bishop ordered that the one stone which Cheminy had document in itself. dislodged from the church be restored and cemented with the rest, and gave £5 to the workers who undertook to do it. consistorial process at Rome held on the eve of his In this way, says Mooney, God showed how repugnant to becoming bishop, Hugh McCaghwell, a fellow-Franciscan Him were the destruction of the monasteries and the resident in Rome, testified that the church in Elphin town profanation of the feast of St. Patrick, and at the time dedicated to St. Patrick was in Protestant hands and that Mooney visited Elphin shortly before 1618 this was the they held their services there. The protestants also held the common belief among both Protestants and Catholics in the fruits from the canonries and prebends, and had taken over district. Mooney declares that he bases this account on the episcopal residence. Only in out-of-the-way places in information supplied to him by people in the locality among the diocese were the sacraments administered in public (30). whom were Charles O'Connor, son of O'Connor Roe of MacEgan had a chalice made for the use of the Elphin Ballinafad; William Og O'Flanagan from Dresiohain; friars in 1634(31).. In 1637he reported to Rome that Elphin Arteile Mac Maioltuile, coarb of Elphin; Eoin son of Ioda town was occupied totally by English and Scottish O'Flanagan of Lisgarby; Cairbre, son of Fergal O'Beirne of Protestants and that no Catholic was allowed to reside Clooneycathain, and Malachy O'Donnellan of Rosdonnellan. there. He stated there were two communities of friars in his This incident, however, which Donagh Mooney firmly diocese, one of Dominicans and one of Franciscans, but believed took place, saved the demolition of St. Patrick's they appeared to have had no permanent residence; they church for only a very short time. A second attempt to raze were living in hiding in woods and caves and attending to do the friary and the church succeeded and the stones were, as the spiritual needs of the people as best they could (32). In planned, used in the erection of a new swnptuous building order to avoid detection MeEgan often went about disguised for the Protestant bishop. as a merchant (33). The houses once inhabited by various Henry Tilson succeeded Edward King as Protestant orders were then, in 1637, in Protestant ownership and bishop of Elphin and held that office from 1639until 1655.On according to MacEgan had been so almost all the time since 16 August 1645Bishop Tilson handed over The Castle to his the dissolution of the monasteries. MacEgan's report gave son Henry, governor of Elphin, and went to reside in the nwnber of priests in the diocese as forty-two. On England so that he would be safe from the resurgent Irish 28 August 1638 the Congregation of Propaganda in who looked like obtaining complete mastery in the country acknowledging receipt of his report commended MacEgan at the time (28). Boetius MacEgan, a Franciscan, had for his villgance and for his great concern for his flock, and become Catholic bishop of Elphin in 1625 (29). In the promised him that in accordance with his request the Pope 25 would be asked to use his good offices with the Queen of being interrupted by the civil authorities, implies that there England, Henrietta Maria, to procure fairer treatment for was little or no restriction on the clergy in the vicinity of the Catholics. MacEgan's deep interest in his diocese and in Elphin at the time. Oliver Plunkett, the , thought fit things historical is illustrated by the fact that he supplied to address some words of admonition and correction to the John Colgan with a complete list of the churches in Elphin assembled friars in a letter to them which he penned at diocese when Colgan was compiling his Acta Sanctorum Dublin on 30 October (44). The primate held the Hiberniae (34). Franciscans had too many novitiates in the country and With the upsurge of the Catholics about the time of the that regular observance was not a feature of life in them. Confederation of Kilkenny they began to take possession He indicated that he wished the use of intoxicating drink once more of some of the buildings and lands of which they among the friars to be abolished or at least greatly had been deprived over the previous one hundred years. In restricted. He held that the friars should travel by foot, stop keeping with the general trend, the Elphin Franciscans going on horseback and employing servant-men to look asked Bishop MacEgan if they could take over as their after the horses. He also found fault with the friars because residence the castle which had been the dwelling place of of their mode of dress, which he considered too costly and the Protestant bishop. MacEgan acceded to their request the cloth used by them too expensive. The Franciscans, and also granted them a small parcel of land in the vicinity. assembled some place not too far from Elphin, promised to It would appear that when the request was made Bishop -attend to the points raised in Plunkett's letter MacEgan was actually living in the building, and the friars to them, but Plunkett himself felt that his admonitions and delayed taking up residence there until immediately after recommendations would have little effect without the direct his death which took place on 19 April 1650 (35). It is intervention of the Holy See. About this time Father Francis interesting to note how Sir James Ware refers to this Beirne was superior of the Elphin friars, and on 3 May 1673 change-over of ownership (36): "About 1645Bishop Tilson's he was chosen as arbitrator in a dispute between the library and goods were pillaged by Boetius Egan, the titular communities of the Kilconnel and Claregalway friaries (45). bishop of Elphin, his damages amounting to the value of In 1675 vestments were made available for the bishop of £400". Before taking up residence in the Castle, as it was Elphin by the Franciscans at Galway (46). called, Bishop MacEgan often resided in the house of Sir Ulick Burke at Glinsk (37). In 1649 Elphin was counted Evading the among the Franciscan friaries in Connacht which had a During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the community in residence. The friaries at Galway, Kilconnell superiors of the Elphin Franciscans were nearly always and Rosserilly had twenty-four friars in each, the friary at members of the local families among whom the names Meelick, Co. Galway, had fifteen or sixteen, but we are not O'Connor, Dillon, Beirne, Flanagan, __Hanly, Donnellan, told the number in the friary at Elphin (38). It was from the MacDermott and O'Rourke fi~ured _prominently (47). The Castle that the friars were expelled by the Cromwellians, few friars who were attached to the Elphin community in and in an effort to save what they could until the tide penal times lived quietly in poor, out-of-the-way dwellings. turned in their favour they despatched some of the In 1710 Ambrose McDermott, O.P., bishop of Elphin, vestments and furnishings of their chapel to Anthony's estimated that the population of the diocese was about College, Louvain, in 1654for safe keeping. 60,000souls. He did not specifically mention the Franciscans Even before Boetius MacEgan died in April 1650 a in his report, but stated that he had no complaints to make petition was sent to Rome in March 1649signed by fourteen about the regular clergy who were doing great good and of the leading men of Connacht requesting that Francis were being provided with their daily bread by the local 0'Connor, superior of the Franciscans in Elphin, be chosen people who were very poor (48). to succeed him (40). This was followed by another petition Towards the end of October 1715 a Franciscan named shortly after MacEgan died from the dean, the chapter of James Kilkenny was captured by the police and was being the diocese and others, pleading that O'Connor be made conducted to Roscommon jail when, suddenly, a hostile their bishop; it was signed at Ballintubber on 26 April 1650 crowd succeeded in rescuing him. On 11 November 1715a by nine members of the chapter (41). O'Connor however proclamation was issued for the apprehension of the was not promoted to the See. But the friars continued to be and three of his rescuers, Patrick Beakin, Una McManus active in and around Elphin although they do not seem to and Margaret Tristan. As no warrant for the transportation have had any permanent abode from which to operate. It is of Kilkenny has come to light, it would appear he succeeded interesting to note that in 1899Canon Mannion, parish priest in eluding recapture. His rescuers, however, were not so of Elphin, had in his possession a chalice dated 1670 given fortunate. There was an award of £100 offered for by one Aeneas Conry in usum conventus S. Francisci Kilkenny's re-arrest, and of £20 for the apprehension of Pat Elphin (42). Beakin of Carroward, Una McManus, Margaret Tristan and At the beginning of 1672Dominic Burke, O.P., bishop of others. Beakin and Tristan were caught and tried at the Elphin, reported to Rome that there was great disorder in Summer Roscommon Assizes of 1716,and Tristan was fined the diocese; the clergy were at loggerheads with one £20 for the part played by her in rescuing Father Kilkenny another, but Burke claimed he had Propaganda to consult (49). with a Franciscan at Rome named Fr. Bonaventure Coman The returns sent in to the Lords Committees in Dublin if they sought further information. Coman was a native of in 1731by the Protestant bishops, sheriffs and others on the the diocese (43). On 21 November 1672a chapter of the Irish prevalence of Popish priests, chapels and schools in the Franciscans was held at Elphin, very probably in some country provide us with a few interesting items about secret, remote spot. Holding such a chapter entailed the Elphin diocese. There were then forty-four -houses in coming together of eighty or more friars with their horses the diocese of which some were mere huts. A new Mass- and horse boys all of whom depended on the local people for house had been partly built in Elphin town when it was their sustenance and accommodation for a few days at pulled down; Owen Beirne, a friar, was officiating there. At least. That such a large group was allowed to hold their Drinane about three "miles from Elphin (50), there was a deliberations in relative comfort without any great fear of friary which"housed about fifteen friars. This seems to be 27 an exceptionally high nwnber of· friars living together in was superior again in 1773, 1779and 1781, and he also held community in the year 1731,but very likely it was a place of . the post of parish priest of CasUerea (57). On 6 August 1784 refuge at the time for the Franciscans who had been driven or shortly before that Pettit resigned as parish priest in out of Elphin town, and, perhaps, from Athlone. The 1731 favour of Father Darby Gorman who had been his , Returns also refer to Kilcorkey where a diocesan priest and in accordance with an agreement made between them assisted by a friar attended to the needs of the faithful. Pettit was to be given £30 annually by Gorman (58). A short Almost certainly the friar was a Franciscan. Indeed, time after that, in 1787, Pettit set out for Rome leaving Kilcorkey may have served as another place of refuge for behind him in Elphin one old bedridden friar (59). the Elphin friars; later on for many years the parish had a However, that was not the end of the Franciscan Franciscan as parish priest. association with Elphin. In 1793 there was a Franciscan Once again in 1731 the diocese of Elphin got a at St. Isidore's College, Rome, who was being Franciscan as bishop. His name was , and sponsored there by Charles O'Conor, parish priest of he was in charge of the diocese up to the time of his death Castlerea, in the hope that he would be ordained and then shortly before August 1748. He belonged to the Catholic return to Elphin to restore the Franciscan house there and gentry of the time and his appointment met with the open a school for the poor children of the neighbourhood. complete approval of priests and people. The man who The novice's name was Anthony Garrahan. While Garrahan preceded him,. Cabricius O'Kelly, was in poor health for was still a student at St. Isidore's, Charles O'Conor, parish sometime before he died, and the clergy of the diocese priest of Castlerea, paid a visit to Rome and had a petitioned Rome that French be made his co-adjutor. When discussion with a few of the cardinals about the future of O'Kelly eventually died, the dean, canons and other clergy Elphin friary. When he returned to Ireland O'Conor wrote to meeting canonically in chapter unanimously requested Cardinal Antonelli on 7 April 17~ saying that he had been Rome that French be put in charge of the diocese; they asked by (later cardinal) della Somaglia to try to stated he was an upright man of great learning who recover the belongings of the Franciscans of Elphin which belonged to a family which was held in high esteem in the had been distributed among the friends and relations of district. The petition was signed by twelve members of the Father Patrick Pettit, who had been superior at Elphin and chapter. Some few weeks before French became bishop he who had recently died at Rome (60). had been superior of the Franciscans at Elphin. He was a O'Conor set about collecting the scattered funds and native of Foxborough, Co. Roscommon, and often resided at furnishings of the friary; he asserted he had been Clooneyquinn. During his term as bishop he was called commissioned to do this because his grandfather, as syndic, upon more than once by the authorities at Rome to had looked after the financial affairs of the friars for over investigate disputes which disturbed some of the forty years, from 1744to 1787. In his efforts to collect what neighbouring dioceses (51). In his will he bequeathed £10 to he could of all that once belonged to the friars, Father the poor of Elphin parish, as well as 10/- to 'each of my O'Conor discovered that £700sterling which had been given cottiers of Foxborough and Drimnagh' (52). to the friars by his uncle had either been let out on loan to On 15 September 1753John Brett, the Dominican bishop various people, or squandered by the friars, or distributed of Elphin, reported that the former house of the friars in the among ~he people. O'Conor found it necessary to threaten town of Elphin was in ruins, but that there were some of some people who had books and furnishings belonging to the them ministering in the locality where they had some kind friary before they handed them over, and he felt that the of a makeshift abode. He stated that usually one or two of bishop could have been of greater assistance to him in his them stayed at home while the others were out assisting the efforts to recover such property. At the time he wrote, diocesan clergy, or as chaplains to some of the more 7 April 1796, O'Conor had collected £40 or £50 of the friary prosperous and important Catholic families, or questing money from various people, as well as some books, a silver food from the people. Bishop Brett leads one to believe that pyx, the· seal of the friary, and a chalice part gold and part in 1753there were five or six Franciscans living together in silver which was valued at about £50. In his account to or near Elphin (53). Thirteen years later, in 1766, the Rome O'Conor stated that the friars attached to other Father Provincial of the Franciscans reported there were houses considered they were free to bestow the furnishings nine friars living in community in Elphin, five of whom of Elphin on their friends as they felt Elphin friary had were old and infirm, but he omits informing us where ceased to exist. He was very upset by this because his exactly their house was (54). In·1770 the nwnber of family were always patrons of the friary and interested in parishes in the diocese nwnbered seventy-seven, but only its survival. forty-five of them had parish priests; among the religious O'Conor wished to have the friary restored so that.a houses in the diocese, which nwnbered seven, there was one school for the poor children· of the locality could be Franciscan community, but it is·not said· where the friary established there. He states that it was on his initiative stood; almost certainly it was in or near the town of Anthony Garrahan had been sent to study at Rome in 1792 Elphin (55). so that on returning as a priest he could set up a chapel and It would appear that the house in which the Franciscans school in Elphin. Garrahan returned to Elphin as planned. lived about this time must have been a rather substantial He was a native of Belanagare, and curate in Elphin from building as the bishop in 1773 allowed them to set up a 26 March 1803 until 12 June 1803 in succession to his novitiate where they could receive and train . , Father Gilbert Garrahan, known locally as Father During the previous twenty-five years the Franciscans had Gill, who had been transferred to Oran as parish priest. been forbidden by Rome to accept novices in any of their After sometime Father Anthony was made parish priest of houses in Ireland because of lack of suitable Kilcorkey. In 1819as parish priest of Belanagare he had a accommodation and the difficulty of enforcing regular parish church built there. A few years before his death discipline. When the prohibition was lifted Elphin was one which took place in November 1835, he retired from active .of the first places in which they were allowed to have a duty, and had as administrator a Father Harrington who novitiate, but it did not last more than a decade (56). Father received £20per annwn from the reventues of the parish for Patrick Pettit was superior of the Elphin friars in 1767; he his work. Father Anthony's remains with those of his 28 brother, Father Gill, who pre-deceased him by many years, (21) The Thirtenth Report ... Fiants Elizabeth, Appendix IV, lie in the same grave in Kilcorkey cemetery (61). He is said Dublin 1881, p. 57, n. 3160. (22) The Sixteenth Report . • . Fiants Elizabeth, Appendix II, to have died in the odour of sanctity and his grave used to Dublin 1884, p. 64, n. 5151; W. H. Grattan Flood, 'St. be visited by the people of the district who had great faith in Asicus Patron of Elphin', in Irish Eccles. Record, 12 (1902), his intercession (62). Father Anthony was Provincial of the p. 71 - 72. Irish Franciscans from 1815 to 1819, and there are a few (23) The Sixteenth Report ... Appendix II, Fiants of Elizabeth,' p. 155 - 156, no. 5539; M. Archdall, Monasticon Hibernicum, documents in existence signed by him in 1815 and 1818 in Dublin 1786, p. 609 - 610; Gwynn - Hadcock, op. cit., p. conventu nostro de Elphin. On his death in 1835 the 249. In a few of these Fiants the house is listed as formerly Franciscan presence in Elphin lapsed. No member of the belonging to the Dominicans, but it is agreed this is clearly' a mistake for Franciscans. Order replaced him, and thus ended after close on 400years (24) J. Morrin (ed.), Calendar of patent and Close Rolls of the association of the Franciscans with the town of Elphin Chancery in Ireland ... , vol. II, Dublin 1862, p. 312, 313; and indeed with County Roscommon. The Sixteenth Report of the Public Records in Ireland, Appendix II, Fiants of Elizabeth, Dublin 1884, p. 267 - 268, n. 5933. NOTES: (25) Irish Patent Rolls of James I, Dublin 1966, p. 291, patent 18. (I) E. B. Fitzmaurice and A. G. Little, Materials for the history (26) Analecta Hibernica, 6 (1934), p. 152; W. Harris led.), The of the Franciscan Province of Ireland, A.D., /230 - /450, whole Works of Sir James Ware concerning Ireland, II, Manchester 1920, p. 2 - 3. Dublin 1764, p. 634 - 635. (2) Fitzmaurice - Litt!, op. cit., p. 35, 36; Analecta Hibernica, (27) Analecta Hibernica, 6, (1934), p. 130 - 131. 6 (1934), p. 155. (28) The whole Works of Sir James Ware ... ; II, p. 634 - 635. (3) See Fitzmaurice - Litte, op. cit., p. 8 - 9, 18, 22, 23, 42, 48, (29) For an account of Boetius Mac Egan see Canice Mooney, 211; William M. Hennessy (ed.), The Annals of Loch Ce, I, 'Bishop Boetius MacEgan of Elphin', in Franciscan College London 1871, p. 367, 371; T. W. Moody, F. X. Martin, F. J. Annual, Multyfarnham 1952, p. 142 - 145. Byrne (eds.), New , IX, part II, Oxford (30) Franciscan Fathers, Father Luke Wadding commemorative Dublin - London 1957, p. 533 - 534. 1984, p. 276, 326, 328. Volume, (4) Fitzmaurice - Little, op. cit., p. 212; A New History of (31) For a photo of this chalice and a description of it see 'Fran- Ireland, IX, part II, p. 328. ciscan Altar Plate', in Franciscan College Annual, Multy- farnham 1952, p. 55 - 56. (5) Analecta Hibernica, 6 (1934), p. 152, 202. On p. 152 Fr. Francis O'Mahony gives the date 1260 as the year in which (32) Archiv. Hib., 5 (1916), p. 92 - 97; P. F. Moran (ed.), Soici- Elphin was founded, but he was mistaken in this. His error legium Ossoriense, I, Dublin 1874, p. 214 - 217. (33) Archiv. Hib., 3 (1914), p. 359. was due to the fact that he mistakenly dated a list of foun- dations as from the general chapter of Narbonne in 1260 (34) Joannes Colganus, Triadis Thaumaturgae ... Acta, Lovanii whereas in reality the list was drawn up well over one 1647, p. 176, note 75, p. 564, note 20. hundred years later. (35) R. O'Ferrall - R. O'Connell, Commemtarius Rinuccinianus, (6) See Fitzmaurice - Little, op. cit., p. 201; J. A. Twemlow ed. by S. Kavanagh, IV, Dublin 1941, p. 394. (ed.), Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registrars relating to (36) W. Harris (ed.), The Whole Works of Sir James Ware, II, p. Great Britain and Ireland : Papal Letters, vol. X, A.D. 635. 1447 - 1455, London 1921, p. 295, 388, 421; U. Htintemann, (37) J. Linchaeus, De Praesulibus Hiberniae, II, Dublin, 1944, p. 292 - 293. Bullarium Franciscanum, nova series, t. I (143 - 1455), Ad 25 (1962), p. 22. Claras Aquas 1929, p. 534, n. 1060; p. 626, n. 1226, 1227; (38) Archiv. Hib., p. 677, n. 1324; F. X. Martin, 'Confusion Abounding: (39) See B. Millett, The Irish Franciscans 1651 - 1665, Rome 1964, p. 85. Bernard O'Higgin, O.S.A., bishop of Elphin, 1542 - 1561', in Studies in Irish history presented to R. Dudley Edwards, ed. (40) Archiv. Hib., 31 (1973), p. 115. (41) Ibid. by Art Cosgrove and Donal McCartney, Dublin 1979, p. 54 - 57; A New History of Ireland, IX, part II, p. 325 - 328. (42) Letter in Franciscan Library, Killiney, dated Elphin 15 June (7) See Twemlow (ed.), Papal Letters, vol. XI, 1455 - 1464, 1899 from Mannion to Laurence Browne, O.F.M. London 1921, p. 44 - 45. (43) Collect. Hib., 21 & 22 (1979 - 1980), p. 51, 52. (8) See M. H. Mcinerny, 'Medieval Stories for Preachers', in (44) See J. Hanly, The Letters of St. Oliver Plunkett 1625 - 1681, Irish Eccles. Record, 20 (1922), p. 460. Dublin 1979, p. 338 - 339. (9) W. H. Grattan Flood, 'The Episcopal Succession in Elphin (45) Franciscan Library Killiney, Notebook No.1, p. 557, of E. (1216 - 1539)', in Irish Eccles. Record, ser. 5, 3 (1914), p. B. Fitzmaurice, O.F.M. 629. (46) Archiv. Hib., 15 (1950), p. 62. (10) For this Brief see Twemlow (ed.), Papal Letters, vol. X, A.D. (47) For superiors of the Elphin community between the years 1447 - 1455, p. 641 - 642; Htintemann (ed.), Bullarium 1629 and 1717 see C. Giblin (ed.), Liber Lovaniensis, Dublin, Franciscanum, nova series, tom. I (1431 - 1455), p. 848, n. 1956, and for the years 1719 onwards see A. Faulkner (ed.), 1713; Annales Minorum, XII (1448 - 1456), Ad Claras Aquas Liber Dubliniensis, Killiney 1978. 1932, p. 217. (48) Collect. Hib., 5 (1962), p. 25 - 26. (II) James Ware, The whole Works of Sir James Ware concerning (49) See W. P. Burke, The Irish Priests in the Penal Times (/660- Ireland (ed. Walter Harris), vol. II, Dublin 1764, p. 632. /760), Waterford /9/4, p. 45/. (12) For the history of St. patrick's Church see. J. Kelly, est. (50) Archiv. Hib., 3 (1914), p. 136 - 142; 4 (1915), p. 176:- Asicus, Patron of Elphin', in Irish Eccles. Record, ser. 4, (51) Propaganda Fide Archives, Rome, Congressi, Irlanda, vol. 9, vol, XI (1902), p. 289, 400; 'vol. XII (1902), p. 357 - 358; ff. 226r - 227r;vol. 10, ff. 197r - 198r; Hugh Fenning, 'Some Archiv. Hib., 22 (1959), p. 8. Problems of the Irish Mission, 1733 - 1774', in Collect. Hib., (13) A. Gwynn and R. N. Hadcock, Medieval Religious Houses 8 (1965), p. 64 - 67. Ireland, London 1970, p. 249. (52) Archiv. Hib., 2 (1913), p. 238 - 240. (14) See K. W. Nicholls, 'Medieval Irish Cathedral Chapters', in (53) Archiv. Hib., 30 (1972), p. 23; Collect. Hib., 11 (1968), p. 27. Archiv, Hib., 31 (1973), p. 102, note 2. (54) Collect. Hib., 8 (1965), p. 87. (15) J. O'Donovan (ed.), 'The Annals of Ireland from the years (55) Archiv. Hib., 5 (1916), p. 144. 1443 to 1468 tr:anslated from the Irish by Dudley Firbisse, or (56) See Hugh Fenning, The Undoing of the Friars of Ireland, as he is more usually called, Daald MacFirbis, for Sir James Louvain 1972, p. 317,318. Ware, in the year 1666', in The Miscellany of the Irish (57) See Anselm Faulkner, Liber Dubliniensis, p. /26, /36, /38, Archaeol. Society, vol. 1, Dublin 1846, p. 256; A. M. Free- /42, /46. man (ed.), Annala Connacht : The Annals of Connacht A.D. (58) Collect. Hib., 20 (1978), p. 86 - 88. 1224 - 1544), Dublin 1944, p. 518, 519. (59) Fenning, The Undoing of the Friars of Ireland, p. 323. (16) Freeman (ed.), Annala Connacht, p. 540, 541. (60) Propaganda Fide Archieves, Fondo di Vienna, vol. 28, iif. (17) Freeman (ed.), Annala Connacht, p. 665 - 667. 264r - 265v. Thanks to Fr. Benignus Millett, OooF.M., for (18) Analecta Hibernica, 6 (1934), p. 152. providing me with this document. (19) Harris (ed.), The Whole Works of Sir James Ware concerning (61) See P. Canon Mannion, 'The Franciscans in Elphin', in The Ireland, vol. II, Dublin 1764, p. 280. Roscommon Journal, 3 Jan. 1903; Franciscan Library, Kil- (20) The Eleventh Report of the Deputy Keeper vi the Public liney, Letter of Canon Mannion to Fr. Browne, O.F.M., 15 Records in Ireland, Appendix III, Fiants Elizabeth, Dublin June 1899. 1879, p. 216 - 217, n. 1454. (62) See Assisl, 23' (1950), p. 139 - 140. 29