Archbishop of Armagh

“ He obtained a canonry in the collegiate church, 'Sidenensis,' in the diocese of Tournai, and was also appointed provost of the cathedral of Cambrai. On 9 July 1601 the pope appointed him archbishop of Armagh and primate of all Ireland in succession to Edmund MacGaura. ”

“ On the other hand, the Archbishop of Armagh argued, that the Irish church had everything to fear from Catholic emancipation. If the house, indeed, could subdue the intolerant spirit of the church of Rome, disarm the priests of their influence over the people, and withdraw the people from their allegiance to the see of Rome, making them citizens of their own country, and letting them take their stand among other dissenters, all might be well. ”

“ MALACHY, ST (c. 1094–1148) , otherwise known as Maol-Maodhog (or Maelmaedhog) Ua Morgair, archbishop of Armagh and papal legate in Ireland, was born at Armagh. His father, an Irish clergyman, the Fearleighlinn, or lector, at the university, was said to have been of noble family. Having been ordained to the priesthood, he for some time acted as vicar of Archbishop Celsus or Ceallach of Armagh, and carried out many reforms tending to increase conformity with the usage of the Church of Rome. ”

“ In 1175 he became archbishop of Armagh, and held office during the visitation of Cardinal Vivianus, sent to Ireland as apostolic legate by Pope Alexander III in 1177. The ‘Annals of Inisfallen’ (Dublin copy) state that he was with O'Lochlainn, bearing the ‘Canoin Phatraic,’ believed to be the present ‘Book of Armagh,’ in a battle near Downpatrick in 1177, in which John de Courcy defeated the Cinel Eoghain and the Ulidians. In the last year of his episcopate Armagh and most of its churches were burnt. He gave Bailebachuill, co. Dublin, to St. Mary's Abbey, near Dublin (Ware) . He died in 1180. ”

“ Eight Bishops of the Irish Church were still living. Bramhall was translated to the primacy as Archbishop of Armagh. Nominations to vacant Sees followed; including that of Jeremy Taylor to the diocese of Down and Conner, upon Henry Lesley being translated to Meath; but his consecration was delayed until the 27th of January, 1661, when ten new Bishops, and two old ones promoted to the Archiepiscopate, were solemnly set apart in Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. The [134] consecration of so many at one time has been pronounced, "an event probably without a parallel in the Church." ”

“ In October 1742 he became archbishop of Armagh upon Boulter's death, the lord-lieutenant, the Duke of Devonshire, who happened to be at court when the news arrived, telling the king that he could not do without him. As primate he displayed a tolerant spirit by consenting to the abolition of restrictions on Roman catholic services. ”

“ FITZRALPH, RICHARD, in Latin Ricardus films Radulphi, often referred to simply as 'Armachanus' or 'Ardmachanus' (d. 1360) , archbishop of Armagh, was born probably in the last years of the thirteenth century at Dundalk in the county of Louth. ”

“ He was at once sworn a member of the Irish privy council, in which capacity he received an annual salary of 20l.; but he seems to have taken little part in politics, and his tenure of the archbishopric, which lasted twenty-two years, was marked by few incidents save the usual ecclesiastical visitations and disputes with the archbishop of Armagh over the claims to primacy. ”

“ MAGAURAN, EDMUND (1548–1593) , Roman catholic archbishop of Armagh, a member of the clan Macgauran or Macgovern of Tullyhaw, co. Cavan, was born in Maguire's country in 1548, and appears to have been educated abroad, either like his successor, Peter Lombard [q. v.] , at Louvain, or more probably at one of the Irish colleges in Spain. In 1581 he was sent on a mission to the pope by the chiefs of his native country, and was appointed bishop of Ardagh on 11 Sept. ”

“ At Manchester the episcopate was represented by the Bishops of Manchester, Oxford, Sydney, Mauritius, and, we believe, British Columbia; at Bristol by those of Gloucester and Bristol, Chichester, Ely, and Antigua; and the Archbishop of Armagh would, we believe, have been there had not business detained him. A bishop of this generation ought never to fear entering into a debate, even at a mixed meeting of clergy and laity. He may not be agreed with, but he certainly would be treated with respect and gain in future influence. ”

“ In or about 1557 he returned to Limerick, and in August 1562 he left that city for Rome by direction of the nuncio, David Wolfe. At this period he had a strong desire to enter the order of Theatines, but the pope dissuaded him from carrying out his intention. On 23 March 1563–4 he was appointed archbishop of Armagh. In October 1564 he reached London. Towards the close of that year he landed in Ireland, probably at Drogheda, and almost immediately afterwards he was arrested while celebrating mass in a monastery. He was sent in chains to London and committed to the Tower on 18 Jan. 1564–5. ”

“ The remarks were highly instructive, and specially consolatory to the Christian chastened in tribulation and disappointed of his earthly hopes. The Rev. A. D. Robinson has been incumbent from the foundation of the church, which was opened for Divine Service and consecrated by the Lord Archbishop of Armagh on Tuesday, the 7th May, 1867. ”

“ He is said to have preached a sermon in Christ Church, Dublin, against the swarms of beggars who infested the city, which stirred up the mayor to take measures to put down the evil. He built the bishop's house at Taulaght. In 1348 he presided at a synod held at Dublin, in which several important decrees were made concerning ecclesiastical discipline and government. During the last years of his life he was engaged in a dispute with Ralph, archbishop of Armagh, concerning the right to the primacy of Ireland. ”

“ Laurence, to receive consecration from the Archbishop of Cashel, his metropolitan. For a century previous to this time, the Bishops of Waterford had been consecrated by the Norman Archbishops of Canterbury, with whom they claimed kindred.
St. Gelasius died in 1173, and was succeeded in the see of Armagh by Connor MacConcoille. This prelate proceeded to Rome very soon after his consecration, and was supposed to have died there. When the Most Rev. Dr. Dixon, the late Archbishop of Armagh, was visiting Rome, in 1854, he ascertained that Connor had died at the Monastery of St. ”

“ So holy Chyrch ordaineth yt none schall excuson hym from theise processions yt may godely ben there.”
The celebrated Richard FitzRalph, Archbishop of Armagh, in 1346, when Dean of Lichfield, preached to the people at St. Nicholas’ Chapel on the meaning and obligation of these days of intercession, or rogation, and explained why men prayed to the Saints, and why they sang their Miserere to God. ”

“ At the same time it was a recognition that as Armagh was the seat of authority, it was also the mistress of sound theology. It is quite evident that Gelasius was a man far superior to his contemporaries in wisdom and the science of government.
In the same year he had the satisfaction of consecrating the great St. Laurence O’Toole to be Archbishop of Dublin—the first prelate of that see that was ever consecrated in Ireland. It is clear that the Primate was resolved not to tolerate any longer the claim of the Archbishops of Canterbury to metropolitan jurisdiction in any part of his primacy. ”

“ As an archbishop and primate, he returned to find nothing but desolation and ruin, sorrow and dejection. The nobility had either been banished or reduced to the condition of mere tenants on their own property, so that only three Catholic gentlemen in the province of Armagh, which embraces eleven dioceses, held any real estate ”

“ For example, the old manuscript volume known as the Book of Armagh, contains among other documents, a canon which provides that cases of extreme difficulty which are beyond the powers of ordinary judges are to be referred to 'the archbishop of the Irish, that is, of Patrick, and the examination of this abbot,' and if found too difficult for him, to 'the chair of the Apostle Peter, having the authority of the city of Rome.' This canon is said to have been decreed by Auxilius, Patrick, Secundinus and Benignus ”

“ While Dowdall was absent from Ireland the archbishopric of Armagh was conferred, in February 1553, on Hugh Goodacre, who died three months later. Towards the close of the same year Dowdall was recalled by Queen Mary, and on 12 March following he was restored to the position of primate, which had been transferred from him to Archbishop Browne. He also received a grant in commendam, for his life, of the precincts of the dissolved monastery of Ardee, of which he had been prior before his promotion to Armagh. ”

“ No man in Ireland has, since Archbishop Ussher, shown equal skill in bibliography, accuracy of knowledge, or devotion to the development of Irish literature. About 1850 Todd was asked by a London publisher to write the lives of the archbishops of Armagh on a scale similar to that of Hook's 'Archbishops of Canterbury.' The publisher failed when the first volume, dealing with the life of St. ”

“ While other churches were being burned and plundered, it remained in peace; and when, at length, it began also to taste the horrors of war, the struggle had become a national one, the whole country had been already aroused, and Armagh came to be regarded as a centre of national life. In the early years of the ninth century she had a succession of ambitious and able prelates, whose aim was not merely to uphold her ancient prestige, but to extend her influence all over the land. ”

“ According to the record preserved in the Rolls' Office, three archbishops and seventeen bishops took their seats, the only absentees being Clogher, Derry, Raphoe, Kilmore, Dromore, Clonmacnoise, Achonry, Kilmacduagh, Kilfenora, and Mayo. Armagh was vacant, Primate Dowdall having died in August 1558, and his successor not having been appointed by Rome till February 1560. But for many reasons it is impossible to believe that the twenty bishops mentioned in this list were present at the Dublin Parliament. ”

“ That a see whose bishops had behaved so haughtily in the past should, at the very moment of its entrance into the Irish Church, receive so signal an honour, long denied to Armagh and Cashel, and that in the person of its bishop it should be given jurisdiction over bishops whom till now it had treated with contempt, could not but be regarded as unreasonable, or even insulting. ”

“ But though the eighth century saw the pre-eminence of Armagh fairly established, we are not to suppose that this meant anything like the 'primacy' of modern times. Ireland had many who were called archbishops from the very first, but they were merely men eminent among their own order. ”

“ Patrick was accompanied to Ireland by a very considerable number of clerics of every order to aid him in his great task of the conversion of Ireland, still he must have found it difficult, as new churches were founded and the foreign clergy died out, to supply labourers for the ripening vineyard. As yet there were no Christian Schools in Erin. Armagh was probably the first, but Armagh was not founded until A.D. 445, when the site of a cathedral was granted by Daire to Patrick on Macha’s Height. ”

“ Almost all the buildings are built of the limestone of the district, but the Anglican cathedral is of red sandstone. It stands boldly on the top of the hill, a cruciform structure dating from the 13th, but practically rebuilt in the 18th century, in accordance with its original plan. The Roman Catholic cathedral is in the Decorated style, and was consecrated in 1873. Armagh was a parliamentary borough until 1885 ”

“ The power of the monastery depended very much on that of the chieftain of the district, and varied accordingly. Thus, in early times, Clonmacnois appears to have claimed the tribute of Connaught, though the primacy was eventually transferred to Tuam. Like St. Andrews in Scotland, Armagh had become far the most powerful abbey in Ireland in the twelfth century. ”

“ Under their influence he was induced on his death bed to make a kind of will, appointing Malachy, Bishop of Down and Connor, to succeed him in the see of Armagh. This would have been to introduce new blood into the succession, and by bringing in one whose sympathies were decidedly with the Romish movement to pave the way for still greater changes. That an episcopal see should be treated as a legacy and made the subject of a will was of course contrary to all order. ”

“ After the Reformation the few Roman Catholic residents of Armagh who remained true to the church of Rome worshiped in “the old chapel,” as it is called, a humble structure erected in the seventeenth century to mark the site of the house where St. Malachi was born in 1094. And when the primatial see was revived at Armagh by the pope that old church was made the cathedral of Ireland. ”

“ Ever since there was a bishop at Canterbury at all, that is to say, ever since the conversion of the English began in the seventh century of our era, the holder of that see has been the greatest ecclesiastical personage in these islands, with a recognised authority over all England, as well as an influence and dignity to which, in the Middle Ages, the Archbishops of Armagh and St. ”

“ Two new Archbishoprics, Dublin and Tuam, were added to Armagh and Cashel, though not without decided opposition from the Primates both of Leath Mogha and Leath Conn, backed by those stern conservatives of every national usage, the Abbots of the Columban Order. The pallium, or Roman cape, was, by this Legate, presented to each of the Archbishops, and a closer conformity with the Roman ritual was enacted. ”