an abbot of Armagh, who died in 812, and who was the son of Gorman, an abbot of Louth, who died on a pilgrimage at Clonmacnois in 798. Joseph, the father of Conn, was Anmchara, or spiritual adviser in the monastery. Conn himself had five sons: Maelfinnen, whose son Cormac became abbot; Maelchiarain, who was abbot; Cormac, who was reversionary abbot; Ceilechair, whose son Maelmuire was the writer of the well-known manuscript Lebar na h-Uidhre; and lastly Gillacrist, who died in 1085. They were a family of eminent piety and practical benevolence, and continued to take a warm interest in the hospital. Maelchiarain, who was abbot at the time of the outrage on the Culdees, was also guardian of the hospital, and the Culdees are called in the 'Annals of Clonmacnois ' 'the family of Maelchiarain,' and it was Cormac, another son of Conn, who, as we have seen, purchased the fee of Iseal Chiarain. From the instances of Maelchiarain and Conn himself, whom O'Curry strangely terms 'a lay religious,' as well as those of SS. Maelruain and Moling, who were bishops and abbots, there does not seem any foundation for that writer's assertion that the Culdees were a lay order.
The fame of this foundation enhanced the celebrity of Clonmacnois. Tidings of it reached even to Scotland, as we are informed by the poet already referred to. Conn himself was accounted 'the glory and dignity of Clonmacnois,' while his son, the Abbot Maelchiarain, was also 'the glory and veneration of Clonmacnois in his time.'
[The Annals of the Four Masters, A.D. 1031, 1059, 1079; Bishop Reeves on the Culdees in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv.; O'Curry's MS. Materials, p. 184; Martyrology of Donegal, p. 241; Chronicon Scotorum, Rolls ed., p. 209.]
CONN (CONÆUS), GEORGE (d. 1640), was brought up as a catholic by his father, Patrick Conn of Auchry, near Turriff. His mother was Isabella Chyn of Esselmont. He was sent when very young to be educated at Douay, from which he passed in succession to the Scots College at Paris and at Rome. He completed his education at the university of Bologna, where he attracted the notice of the Duke of Mirandola, who made him tutor to his son. In order to devote himself to an ecclesiastical life he went to Rome in the summer of 1623, where he was admitted into the household of Cardinal Montalto, who bequeathed him a handsome legacy at his death six months afterwards. Conn transferred his services as secretary to Cardinal Barbelini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, and accompanied him when he went as nuncio to France (Dempster, Hist. Eccl. Gentis Scotorum, 170; Gordon, Eccl. Chronicle for Scotland, iv. 536). Gordon further states that Conn was subsequently 'made canon of St. Lawrence in Damaso and enriched with other benefices.' He also became 'secretary to the congregation of rites, and domestic prelate to the pope' (Gordon, iv. 537). In the dedication of his life of Mary Stuart, published in 1624, the letters F.P. appear after his name, and it may therefore be taken for granted that he had become a Dominican Friar before that date.
Conn's historical importance arises from his mission to England to fill the place of papal agent at the court of Henrietta Maria, which was vacated by Panzani's return to Italy. Panzani had been engaged in a vain attempt to encourage those Englishmen who wished to effect a union between the church of England and that of Rome, with the object of obtaining the complete submission of the former to the latter. Conn, who landed at Rye on 17-27 July 1636, was content to win over individual converts, and to make use of of the favour in which he stood at court to ameliorate the lot of the English Roman catholics. In both these aims he succeeded beyond expectation. He stirred up the queen, who had before been sluggish in the matter to give an active support to the propagation of her religion, and especially in soothing her husband whenever he was irritated by conspicuous additions to the roll of converts. In October 1637 the conversion of Lady Newport brought matters to a crisis. The king was urged by Laud to enforce the laws, but the queen, kept to her work by Conn, pleaded against Laud, and in the end, though a proclamation was issued to restrain conversion, its terms were so mild that they did not provoke any further objection from the queen herself. Conn, no doubt, owed the success of his intervention in part to his personal influence with the king. Agreeable and well informed, with charming manners and diplomatic skill, Charles found in him a companion such as he dearly loved. A hearty dislike of puritanism was common to both. Conn remained in England till the summer of 1639, the letter in which he announces that he had introduced his successor, Rossetti, and had received the passports which would enable him to leave the country, being dated 30 Aug.-9 Sept. in that year.
Conn had long been in weak health, and his death took place at Rome, according to the monument erected to his memory in the church of St. Lawrence in Damaso by his
