Archbishop of Dublin

“ Ask even the medieval hymns published by the present Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, which, though shorn by the editor of much of their Catholic beauty, yet bear in each remaining strophe a deep impress of the language and imagery of the Bible, and prove to conviction that, so devoted was the Church of the ante-Reformation period to the study of the inspired text, that the very thoughts of her clergy, their language, their daily life, seemed to be cast in its sacred mould. ”

“ Matthew de Oviedo was Archbishop of Dublin, but probably never saw his diocese, and Peter Lombard does not seem to have been at Armagh. Ribera, the Spanish Franciscan, who was bishop of Leighlin from 1587 to 1604, is believed never to have visited Ireland at all. ”

“ Furthermore, he was placed under the authority of the Archbishop of Dublin, Henry de Londres, who had helped to make history by forming one of the barons and ecclesiastics who compelled King John to sign the Magna Charta. The archbishop was the most powerful Englishman in the kingdom of Ireland, and, as the representative of the Pope, took precedence of the representative of the king. ”

“ A sentiment attaches to Armagh, but Dublin was much more really important. It was beyond Shane O’Neill’s power to burn either St. Patrick’s or Christ Church, and a Papal nominee could hardly venture into the city or even into the diocese. Hugh Curwen, who was Archbishop from 1555 to 1568, when he was translated to Oxford, undoubtedly conformed, and it is through him that Irish Protestant bishops derive what is called apostolical succession. The Pope did not make even a titular appointment until 1600. ”

“ MURPHY or MORPHY, EDWARD or DOMINIC EDWARD (d. 1728) , Roman catholic archbishop of Dublin, belonged to a family settled in Carlow county. He was appointed bishop of Kildare and Leighlin on 11 Sept. 1715, on the recommendation of James II, and was consecrated on 18 Dec. ”

“ The English Archbishops of Dublin would not yield in public processions to the Irish Archbishops of Armagh, nor permit the crozier of St. Patrick to be borne publicly through their city; the English Bishop of Waterford was the public accuser of the Irish Archbishop of Cashel, last mentioned, before a lay tribunal—the knights and burgesses of "the Pale." The annual expeditions sent out from Dublin, to harass the nearest native clans, were seldom without a Bishop or Abbot, or Prior of the Temple or Hospital, in their midst. Scandals must have ensued; hatreds must have sprung up ”

“ So little effect had Falkland’s last proclamation against the regular orders, that Wilmot reported the establishment of seventeen additional houses within four months after its publication. ‘The Archbishop of Dublin,’ Lord Cork notes in his diary, ‘and the mayor of Dublin, by the direction of us the Lords Justices, ransacked the house of friars in Cook Street.’ Thomas Fleming, a Franciscan, was titular archbishop of Dublin, and his order had been much strengthened by his appointment. ”

“ The petition addressed to John XXII. (1317) by the Irish chieftains who supported the invasion of Bruce bears witness to the fact that the Statutes of Kilkenny did not constitute an innovation, and more than once during the fifteenth century the legislation against Irish ecclesiastics was renewed. The permission given to the Archbishop of Dublin to confer benefices situated in the Irish districts of his diocese on Irish clerics (1485, 1493) serves only to emphasise the general trend of policy. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ He was well known as a preacher and promoter of the Irish reformation, and in 1819 he was consecrated bishop of Raphoe. In 1822 the archbishop of Dublin was translated to Armagh, and Magee succeeded him at Dublin. Though in most respects a tolerant man, he steadily opposed the movement for Catholic Emancipation. ”

“ On 2 March 1563, in pursuance of a royal mandate dated 20 Jan., addressed to Hugh, archbishop of Dublin, and two other bishops (ib. p. 481) , the form of capitular election having been abandoned, Loftus was consecrated archbishop of Armagh by Hugh Curwen [q. v.] , archbishop of Dublin, assisted by other bishops, and in this way was preserved unbroken the line of episcopal succession in the church of Ireland. The literature, controversial and otherwise, relating to Loftus's consecration is considerable. ”

“ The introduction of the protestant religion into Ireland may be principally attributed to George Browne, an Englishman, who was consecrated archbishop of Dublin on the 19th of March, 1535. ”

“ After the death of John of Darlington [q. v.] , archbishop of Dublin, he was elected archbishop by the two chapters of St. Patrick's and Holy Trinity (now Christ Church) . On 20 July 1284 Edward I gave the royal assent to his appointment (Cal. Doc. Ireland, 1252–84, p. 521) , and the election was presented to Martin IV. Sandford and five canons of the Dublin cathedrals went to the papal curia to prosecute his claims. ”

“ The crypt is of interest from being mainly built up from the rude early church of the Danish founder.
St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the cathedral without the walls of ancient Dublin, is larger and more imposing than Christchurch. It is cruciform in plan, and altogether a beautiful and stately structure, partaking largely after the style of the Anglo-Norman structures of England, but not those of Normandy. Founded by Comyn, the Anglo-Norman Archbishop of Dublin, in 1190, the ancient Celtic church of St. ”

“ While English and Norman soldiers were recklessly destroying church property and domestic habitations in the country they had invaded, we find, with few exceptions, that the ecclesiastic, of whatever nation, is the friend and father of the people, wherever his lot may be cast. The English Archbishop resented the wrongs of the Irish Church as personal injuries, and devoted himself to its advancement as a personal interest. We are indebted to Archbishop Comyn for building St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, as well as for his steady efforts to promote the welfare of the nation. ”

“ The Irish Popish Bishops meet together in the Titular Archbishop of Dublin’s Lodgings; and with them, The Provincials of all the Religious Orders: And having unanimously agreed to the following Address or Memorial to be presented to the late King, then in Dublin, they present it to him in a full Body. That King James received this Address very kindly, was visible in his manner of treating the Persons that presented it. He told them, They had never any reason to doubt of his Zeal for the Catholick Religion ”

“ It would indeed be a difficult task for the citizens to have at any time stretched their rights beyond the just limits within the city or suburbs, as they were surrounded on most parts by vigilant neighbours, namely, the ecclesiastics of St. Mary's Abbey, Kilmainham, Thomas-court, and St. Sepulchre's, or the liberties of the Archbishop of Dublin, who were upon all occasions ready to procure papal anathemas and censures against those who offended them in less momentous matters than the loss of their lands. Several of the instruments we shall have occasion to cite are written in Latin ”

“ He thereafter went to Ireland, having received a parochial benefice. This he resigned in a few years, and in 1703 we find his name on the list of ministers of the French Church of Lucy Lane, Dublin. When he was solicited to transfer his services to St. Mary’s, a conformist French congregation patronised by the Archbishop of Dublin, he promised his attached Huguenot people that he would never leave them. He died, after a brief illness, in the prime of life, at Dublin, on the 14th September 1709 (3d Sept., old style) . His sermon on the last Sabbath of his ministry, was on Acts xx. ”

“ Dunan, therefore, must be regarded as the first bishop of Dublin in the modern sense of the title. The ‘Four Masters’ term him ardeasbog, which Dr. O'Donovan translates archbishop, but Dr. Todd has pointed out that the correct rendering of the word is ‘chief or eminent bishop,’ and that it includes no idea of jurisdiction. ”

“ Yes, the prelate was a Saint and an Apostle; but the people were sensual and wicked; they would not hearken to his word, nor turn away from their evil courses. Danish Dublin at this time was not a model city, nor a truly Christian city. It was still, in many ways, half pagan; or if they had faith, they certainly had not works. The Archbishop was sorely grieved; he forewarned them, like another Jeremias, of the wrath to come. He told them, what even human sagacity might perceive, that every kingdom divided against itself must fall ”

“ M'CABE, EDWARD (1816–1885) , cardinal, and Roman catholic archbishop of Dublin, born at Dublin in 1816, was the son of poor parents. He was educated at a small local school and afterwards at Father Doyle's school on the quays. Passing through Maynooth he was ordained in 1839, was for some time curate at Clontarf, and thence transferred to the cathedral parish of Dublin. Dr. ”

“ The archbishop of Armagh is styled primate of all Ireland. The archbishop of Dublin, primate of Ireland. Before the late diminution of the Irish episcopate, there were two other archbishops, viz. of Cashel, styled primate of Munster, and Tuam, primate of Connaught. Under Armagh were the bishoprics of *Meath, *Down, *Derry, Dromore, Raphoe, *Kilmore, and Clogher. Under Dublin, Kildare, Ferns, and *Ossory. Under Cashel, *Limerick, *Cork, Cloyne, *Killaloe, and Waterford. Under Tuam, Clonfert, Elphin, and Killala. ”

“ Besides the old diocese of Tuam, the Archbishop’s actual diocese included the territories of the suppressed sees of Ardagh, Killala, and Achonry. The clergy of Ardagh set up a monumental slab in Longford Church, and also established an exhibition in the University of Dublin, called “The Power-Trench Memorial;” an annual prize in money to be given to the son of an Ardagh clergyman who shall have distinguished himself in the Divinity class, prior to the commencement in each year. ”

“ His works, all of which were probably printed in Dublin, are: 1. A book against Archbishop Ussher's sermon preached at Wansted before James I. 2. ‘The Excommunication published by the L. Archbishop of Dublin, Thomas Flemming, alias Barnwell, Friar of the Order of S. Francis, against the inhabitants of the Diocese of Dublin, for hearing the Masses of Peter Caddell, d. of divinity, and Paul Harris, Priests, is proved not only unjust, but of no Validity, and consequently binding to no obedience. In which Treatise is discovered that impious plot ... ”

“ Patrick’s successor. An Ostman named Dunan or Donat is reckoned the first Bishop of Dublin, and is credited with the foundation of Christ [Pg 33] Church. A tradition which may be true, but which is not supported by contemporary evidence, makes Sitric the joint founder. From an expression in the celebrated letter of the Dublin burgesses to Archbishop Ralph d’Eures it may be fairly inferred that Donat had his succession from Canterbury, and he certainly corresponded with Lanfranc on the subject of infant baptism. ”

“ PATRICK (d. 1084) , bishop of Dublin, also known as Gillapattraicc, was an ostman of good family, who became a priest. In 1074 the clergy and people of Dublin chose him to fill the see of that city, vacant by the death of Donatus. He received consecration at St. Paul's Church, London, from Lanfranc, archbishop of Canterbury, to whom he made a vow of spiritual obedience. It was part of William I's Irish policy to bring the Irish church under the control of the archbishop of Canterbury. For many years after Patrick's time the bishops of Dublin were consecrated by archbishops of Canterbury. ”

“ The state of the Church in the Pale and other obedient districts was of course better, but even in Dublin the metropolitan crozier remained in pawn for eighty years, from 1449 until Archbishop Alen redeemed it by paying one hundred ounces of silver. The clergy were charged with seeking money more than souls; and many acts of violence and extortion are reported on oath against the Archbishop of Cashel and the Bishops of Ferns, Ossory, Leighlin, Waterford, and Limerick ”

“ But the influence of the Danish dioceses on the Irish Church was not limited to the personal action of their bishops. Indirectly all of them, including Dublin, had a share in promoting the Reformation. Archbishop Lanfranc, as early as 1072, claimed that his primacy included Ireland as well as England.25 The claim, curiously enough, was based on Bede's History, in which there is not a single word which supports it. But the arrival two years later of Patrick, elect of Dublin, seeking consecration at his hands, gave him his opportunity to enforce it. ”

“ In 1216 he acted as one of the delegates from John to Pope Honorius III, by whom in the succeeding year he was appointed legate to Ireland. Archbishop Henry entered again on the office of justiciary in Ireland in 1219, and evinced much energy in connection with both ecclesiastical and civil affairs there. A series of regulations for ecclesiastics of the diocese of Dublin was promulgated by him. He also remodelled the constitution and amplified the resources of the cathedral of St. Patrick, Dublin, and his arrangements were ratified by a papal bull. ”