Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tierney, Mark Aloysius
TIERNEY, MARK ALOYSIUS (1795–1862), Roman catholic historian, born at Brighton in September 1795, was sent at an early age to the school directed by the Franciscan fathers at Baddesley Green, Warwickshire, from which he was transferred in 1810 to the college of St. Edmund at Old Hall, near Ware. After passing through the usual course of classical studies with distinguished success, he was ordained priest in 1818, and for some time afterwards he remained in the college as a professor (Ward, Hist. of St. Edmund's College, p. 206). Then he was appointed one of the assistant priests at Warwick Street, London, whence he was removed to Lincoln's Inn Fields. In consequence of ill-health, which distressed him through life, he was transferred to the country mission of Slindon, Sussex (the seat of the Newburgh family), where he remained for two or three years. In 1824 he became the chaplain of Bernard Edward Howard, twelfth duke of Norfolk [q. v.], and from that time forward he resided at Arundel. He now had ample leisure to devote to historical and antiquarian studies. On 7 Feb. 1833 he was elected a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and on 25 July 1841 a fellow of the Royal Society. He was also a corresponding member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. On the formation of the Sussex Archæological Society in 1846 he became its local secretary, and in 1850 he also joined the committee. He supervised many papers for the society, and contributed in 1849 to vol. iii. of its ‘Proceedings’ ‘Notices of Recent Excavations in the Collegiate Church of Arundel,’ and in 1860 to vol. xii. ‘An Account of the Discovery of the Remains of John, seventeenth earl of Arundel.’
For many years he was a member of the ancient chapter of England, and when the diocese of Southwark was erected by Pope Pius IX in 1852, he became the first canon penitentiary of the cathedral chapter. Throughout life he was an opponent of Cardinal Wiseman and of undue interference on the part of the pope. He died at Arundel on 19 Feb. 1862, and was buried in the Fitzalan chapel. He left all his manuscripts to Thomas Grant [q. v.], bishop of Southwark, but his printed books were sold by Sotheby & Co., 1–4 Dec. 1862.
Tierney's chief work was a new edition of the Rev. Charles Dodd's ‘Church History of England … chiefly with regard to Catholics … with notes, additions, and a continuation,’ 5 vols. London, 1839–43, 8vo. Tierney's edition is unfortunately incomplete, ending with the year 1625, and no portion of the projected continuation appeared. Most of the documents printed in the valuable notes to this edition were collected by John Kirk, D.D. [q. v.], of Lichfield. Tierney contributed a ‘Life of Dr. John Lingard’ to the ‘Metropolitan and Provincial Catholic Almanac,’ 1854, which was afterwards prefixed to vol. x. of the sixth edition of Lingard's ‘History of England,’ London, 1855, 8vo, and aided largely in Dallaway's ‘History of the Western Division of Sussex.’
Tierney also published: 1. ‘Letter to the King on Catholic Emancipation,’ 1825. 2. ‘Correspondence between the Hon. and Rev. E. J. Turnour on Charges against the Catholic Religion,’ Chichester, 1830. 3. ‘The History and Antiquities of the Castle and Town of Arundel,’ with plates, London, 1834, 4to. 4. ‘Correspondence between the Messrs. Bodenham and the Rev. M. A. Tierney,’ relating to a conversation about the Jesuits, privately printed (London), 1840, 8vo. 5. ‘A Letter to G. Chandler, D.C.L., Dean of Chichester … containing some remarks on his sermon preached in the Cathedral Church of Chichester … on the occasion of publicly receiving into the Church a convert from the Church of Rome,’ London, 1844, 8vo. 6. ‘Reply to Cardinal Wiseman's Letter to his Chapter,’ 42 pp. (1858), 8vo; this was carefully suppressed.
[Bowden's Life of Faber, p. 494; Catholic Mag. 1839, iii. 822; Downside Review, vi. 141; Dublin Review, 1839, vi. 401; Gent. Mag. 1862, pt. i. p. 508; Lower's Worthies of Sussex, p. 341; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vi. 29, 57; Times, 24 Feb. 1862; Ward's Hist. of St. Edmund's College, p. 343; Ward's Life of Cardinal Wiseman, 1897, i. 515, ii. 61, 251.]