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O'REILLY


294


O'REILLY


the rcmaininp: years of liis life in France, chiefly con- cerned with the can- of tlic Irisli collcfic.-; there.

Sti-ART. //iN/..riV,i/ Miminr.i ..f .\rm.„ih. ,-,i. Coi.KMAN (Dub- lin, 1000): Rknkiiax, /ris/i ATr),l,i/lu.i,s iDul.lin, IM'.l) ; D'Alton, Archbishops of Dublin (Dublin, 1S3S); Buady, Episcopal Succes- sion in Ireland and England (Rome, 1876).

E. A. D'Alton.

O'Reilly, Edmcnd, theologian, b. in London, 30 April, 181 1 ; d. at Dublin, 10 November, 1878. Edu- cated at Clongowes and i\Iaynooth, he made his the- ological studies at Rome, where after seven years in the Roman College he gained the decree of Doctor of Divinity by a "public act" dc univcrsa thcologia. After his ordination in 1838 he taught theology for thirteen years at Maj-nooth into which he was mainly instrumental in introducing the Roman spirit and tradition, after which he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Naples. He taught theology for some years at St. Beuno's College in North Wales till he was ap- pointed Professor of Theology imder Newman in the Catholic University of Ireland. During the remainder of his life he resided at Milltown Park near Dublin as rector of a House of Spiritual Exercises; and he was Provincial of Ireland 1863-70. Constantly con- sulted on theological questions by the bishops and priests of Ireland, Cardinal Newman in his famous "Letter to the Duke of Norfolk" calls him "a great authority" and "one of the first theologians of the day". Dr. W. G. Ward, editor of "The Dublin Re- view", said: "It is a great loss to the Church that so distinguished a theologian as Father O'Reilly has published so little". Dr. Ward wTote of his chief work, "The Relations of the Church to Society", " Whatever is written by so able and so solidly learned a theologian, one so docile to the Church and so fixed in the ancient theological paths, cannot but be of signal benefit to the Catholic reader in these anxious and perilous times. "

FrecTnan's Journal (Dublin, November, 1878); Irish Monthly, VI, 695.

Matthew Russell.

O'Reilly, Hugh, Archbishop of Armagh, head of the Confederates of Kilkenny, b. 1580; d. on Trinity Island in Lough Erne. He first conceived the idea of forming this national movement into a regular organization. He convened a provincial synod at Kells early in March, 1642, in which the bishops de- clared the war undertaken by the Irish people for their king, religion, and country to be just and lawful. The following May (1642) he convened a national synod, consisting of prelates and civil lords, at Kilkenny. After having ratified their former declaration, they framed an oath of association to be taken by all their adherents, binding them to maintain the fundamental laws of Ireland, the free exercise of religion, and true allegiance to Charles I. Orders were issued to levy men and raise money; to establish a mint and an offi- cial printing press; to take the duty off such foreign imports as wheat and corn, lead, iron, arms and am- munition; the bishops and clergy should pay a certain sum for national purposes out of the ecclesiastical revenues that had come back into their possession; and agents should be sent to Catholic courts to solicit aid. They gave letters of credit and chartered some light vessels that were to fly the Confederate colours and protect the coa.st, and they drafted a remon- strance to the king declaring their loyalty and protest- ing against the acts of tyranny, injustice, and intoler- ance of the Purit;m lord justices and Parliament of Dublin in confiscating Catholic lands and putting a ban on Catholic school-teachers. The assembly lasted until 9 January, agreeing to meet 20 May following. The seal of the Confederation bort^ in its centre a large cro.ss rising out of a flaming heart, above were the wings of a dove, on the left a harp, and on the right a crown; the legend read: pro dec, eege, et pateia,

HIBERNI UNANIMES.


Wherever the primiite's partisans commanded, the Protestant bishops, miiiislcrs, and people were safe, and were even protected in the exercise of their own rehgious worship. Archbishop O'Reilly was, through- out the war and the terrible years thatfolldwed it, the soul and guiile of tlie national party; he did his utmost to restrain the violence of the people, who would have wreaked vengeance on their persecutors had they been left to their own instincts at that crisis. He urged Sir Phelim O'Neile and Lord Iveagh to keep the armed multitudes in check and prevent the massacre and pil- lage of Protestants. Such salutary restraint produced the most happy results, for even the rudest of the northern chieftains respected him too much to violate his lessons of forbearance and charity, \\hen the great chieftain, Owen Roe, was dying, he had himself taken to Ballinacnrgy Castle, the residence of his brother-in-law Phili]) O'Reilly, where he was attended by Archbishop O'Reilly. Local tradition gives the ruined Abbey of the Holy Trinity, on an island a few miles from Ballinacorgy Castle, as his last resting- place. In the same locality Archbishop O'Reilly was buried. The primate's signature is still to be seen in most of the manifestoes of the Confederation of Kil- kenny as "Hugo Armacanus".

D'Alton, History of Ireland, III (Dublin, 1910); Gilbert, Hist, of the Irish Confederation and the War in Ireland, 1640-41 (7 vola., Dublin, 1882-91).

Sister M. Stanislaus Austin.

O'Reilly, John. See Adbl.ude, Archdiocese op.

O'Reilly, John Boyle, poet, novelist, and editor, b. at l)(]uth Castle, Droghcda, Ireland, 24 June, 1844; d. at Hull, Massachusetts, 10 August, 1890; second son of William David O'Reilly and Eliza Boyle. He attended the National School, conducted by his father, and was employed successively as printer on the "Drogheda Argus", and on the staff of "The Guardian", Pre-ston, England; he after- wards became a trooper in the Tenth Hussars. En- tering actively into the Fenian movement, believ- ing in his inexperience that Ireland's grievances could be redressed only by physical force, he was betrayed to the authorities and duly court-mar- tialled. On account of his extreme youth, his life sentence was commuted to twenty years' penal ser- vitude in Australia. Later study of his country's cause made him before long an earnest advocate of constitutional agitation as the only way to Irish Home Rule. In 1869, O'Reilly escaped from Australia, with the assistance of the captain of a whaling barque from New Bedford, Massachusetts. In 1870, he became editor of "The Pilot", Boston, and from 1876 until his death in 1890 he was also part proprietor, being associated with Archbishop Williams of Boston. His books include four volumes of poems: "Songs of the Southern Seas ", "Songs, Legends, and Ballads , "The Statues in the Block", and "In Bohemia"; a novel, "Moondyne", ba.sed on his Australian expe- riences; his collaboration in anothernovel, "TheKing's Men", and "Athletics and Manly Sport". A sincere Catholic, his great influence, used lavishly in for- warding the interests of younger Catholics destined to special careers, and in lifting up the lowly without re- gard to any claim but their need, was for twenty years a valuable factor in Catholic i)roKress in America. He was married in 1872 to Mary Murphy, in Boston, who died in 1897. Their four daughters survive them.

Roche, Life of John Boyle O'Reilly (New York, 1891); CON- WAY, Watchwords from John Boyle O'Reilly (Boston, 1891).

K.^thekine E. Conway.

O'Reilly, Myles William Patrick, soldier, pub- licist, littcmtcnr, b. near Balbriggan, Co. Dublin, Ire- land, 13 March, 182.5; d. at Dublin, 6 Feb., 1880. In 1841 he entered Ushaw College (England), and grad- uated a B.A. of London University. From 1845 to 1847 he studied in Rome, and then returned to Ireland