ARMAGH
731
ARMAGH
1302) signalized himself by convening an important
assembly of the bishops and clergj' of Ireland at
Tuam in I'JOl, at which they bound themselves by
solemn oaths to resist the encroachments of the
secular power. Primate Richard I'itz-Ualpli (IS-IO-
60) contended publicly both in Ireland and Kng-
land with the Mendicant Triars on the question
of their vows and privileges. .V contest regarding
the primacy of .\rmagh was carried on intermit-
tently during these centuries by the .Archbishops of
Dubhn and Ca.shel, especially the former, sus the city
of Dublin was the civic metrojxilis of the kingdom.
During the English period, the primates rari'lv visited
the city of Armagh, i>referring to reside at the arch-
episcopal manors of Dromiskin and Termonfechan,
in the county of Louth which was within the Pale.
During the reign of Henrv VIII, Primate Cromer,
being suspected of heresy by the Holy See, was de-
posed in favour of Robert Wauchope (lo39-,51), a
distinguished theologian, who a.s,sisted at the Coun-
cil of Trent. In the meantime, (ieorge Dowdall,
a zealous supporter of Henrj', had been intruded
into the ."^ee of .Armagh by that monarch, but
on the introduction of Protestantism into Ireland
in the reign of Edward VI, he left the kingdom
in disgust. Thereu]K)n the king, in 15,Vi, ap|K)inted
Hugh (ioodacre to the see. He was the first Prot-
estant prelate who assumed the title of Primate ami
enjoyed the temporalities of the <liocese. In the
beginning of the reign of (Jueen -Mary, Dowdall
(1553-58) was appointeil by the Pope to the see
on account of the great ze.il he hail shown against
Protestantism, though at the same time, he had
acted in a .schisniiitical way.
Peuiod of PERSErrTioN. — After the short incum- bency of Donagh O'Tighe (1560-62), the see was filled by Ricliard Creagh (1564-85), a native of Limerick. He was arrested by order of Queen Elizabeth and imprisoned by her in the Tower of London, where he was tortured and maltreated and left to languish in captivity for eighteen years till his death. Edward Mac Oauran, who succeetled him (1587-94), was verj' active in soliciting aid from the pope and the king of Spain for the Irish who were then engaged in a stniggle for liberty of con- science with the English Queen, .\fter an interval of eight years, lie was succeeded by Peter Lombard (1601-25), one of the most learned men of his time. He remained in exile, in Rome, during the whole twenty-four years of his incumbency and thus never once visited his diocese. Hugh Mac Caw- ell, a Franciscan, was consecrated abroad for the see in 1626, but died before he could reach it. Hugh O'Reilly, the next primate (I628-.i3), %vas very active in the jidlitical movements of his day. In U>42, he summoned the lister bishops and clergj' to a sjmod at Kells in which the war then carried on by the Irish w.as declared lawful and pious. He took a prominent part in the Confederation of Kil- kenny and Wiis appointed a member of the Supreme Council of twenty-four persons who carrietl on the government of the country in the name of King Charles I. After the defeat and ileath of most of the Catholic Irish chieftains he was electeil gener- alissimo of the Catholic forces and jirolonged the heroic though hopeless conflict. Eilmund t)'Reilly (1657-69) succeeded to the see, but owing to the difficulties of the time was only able to spend two years in his diocese out of the twelve of his incum- bency. He wa.s exiled on four different occa.sions. During the whole time he spent in the diocese, he was hiding in woods and caves ami never had any bed but a cloak thrown over straw. He suffered a great deal from the machinations of the notorious Father Walsh, the author of the "Loyal Remon- strance" (1661, 1672) to King Charles II, and dietl in exile in France.
The next primate wa.s the Venerable Oliver Plun-
ket (166iM<l), the cau.se of who.se beatification
is at pre-sent being promoted. .Shortly after his
accession to the see, he w;ls obliged to defend
the primatial rights of .Armagh against the claims
i)Ut forward for Dublin by its archl)isliop, Dr. Peter
Talbot. ,\t a meeting of the Catholic clergy in
Dublin in 1670, each of these prelates refu.sed to
subscribe subsequent to the other. Dr. Plunket
thereuixjn wrote a work on the ancient rights and
prerogatives of his .see, published in 1()72, under the
title "Jus Primatiale; or the ancient Pre-eminence
of the See of .-Vrmagh above all the other .Arch-
bishops in the Kingdom of Ireland, asserted by O
A. T. II. P". This was replied to two years later
by Dr. Talbot in a dissertation styled "Priniatus
Dublinensis; or the chief rea.sons on which the Church
of Dublin relies in the jMssession and prosecution of
her right to the Primacy of Ireland". A violent
persecution stilled the controversy for some time
and subsequent primates a.s.sertea their authority
from time to time in Dublin. In 1719 two Hriefs
of Clement XI were in favour of the claims of Armagh.
Still the matter wa.s not allowed to rest and Dr. Hugh
Mac .Mahon felt compelled to write a work treating
the subject exhaustively in answer to an anonymous
pamphlet published by Father John Hennessy, a
.Jesuit of Clonmel. Dr. Mac Mahon'.s work, written
under great diliiculties, appeared in 1728 under the
title of "Jus Primatiale -Vrmacanum; or the Prima-
tial Right of Armagh over all the other .Archbishops
and Bishops and the entire clergj' of Ireland, iLs,serted
by H. A. M. T. II. P". This learned work contains
the last word on the subject and is conclusive. In
practice, however, the primati.al right has fallen into
desuetude in Ireland as in every other part of the
Church. In 1679. Venerable Oliver Plunket was
arrested on a ridiculous charge of conspiring to
bring 20,000 Frenchmen into the country and of
having levied moneys on his dcrgj- for the purpose
of maintaining 70.(H)0 men for an armed rebellion.
After being confined in Dublin Castle for many
months, he was presented for trial on these and
other charges in Dundalk; but the jury, though all
Protestants, refused to find a true bill against him.
The venue, however, of his trial w:us changed by his
enemies to London, where he was tried by an Eng-
lish jury before he was able to gather his witnesses
and bring them acro.ss, though he made the request
to the judge. The princijial witne.s.>ies .against him
were some disreputable priests and friars of .Armagh
whom he had censured and suspended for their bad
conduct. He was dragged on a sledge to Tyburn
on 1 Julv, 16S1, where he was hanged, drawn, and
quartered in presence of an immense multitude. His
head, still in a good state of preservation, is in the
possession of the Dominican nuns of Drogheda.
Pe.v.m, Times. — During this trj-ing [x-riod, the pri- mates had to live in the greatest obscurity in order to disarm the malice of the enemies of the Catholic clergj'. Dominic Maguire (1().'<.V1707). a Domini- can, succeedeil to the .see after the death of the Ven- erable Oliver Plunket. This primate, having to go into exile after the surrender of Limerick in 1691, spent the sixteen years that inter\'ened between that time and his death in a verj' <lestitute condition In the meantime, the See of .Armagh was adminis- tered bj' a vicar. Patrick Donnellj', a priest of the diocese, who in 1697 was appointe<l Bishop of Dro- more, though retaining the administration of .Armagh for several j'ears afterwanls. His name occurs in the government register of the "popish clergj'" of Armagh, made in 1704, as the pretendctl jKipish priest of that part of the parish of Newry that lies in the countj' of .Armagh. The sureties for his good conduct were Terence Murphy of Lurgan and Pat- rick 'iuinni.s.se of the s.ime town. Altogether the
