Saint of the Day Quote: Irish Martyrs

Irish Catholic Martyrs (Irish: Mairtírigh Chaitliceacha na hÉireann) were 24 Irish men and women who have been beatified or canonized for both a life of heroic virtue and for dying for their Catholic faith between the reign of King Henry VIII and Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

The more than three century-long religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland came in waves, caused by an overreaction by the State to certain incidents and interspersed with intervals of comparative respite.^[1] Even so, during the worst of times, the Irish people, according to Marcus Tanner, clung to the Mass, “crossed themselves when they passed Protestant ministers on the road, had to be dragged into Protestant churches and put cotton wool in their ears rather than listen to Protestant sermons.”^[2]

According to historian and folklorist Seumas MacManus, “Throughout these dreadful centuries, too, the hunted priest — who in his youth had been smuggled to the Continent of Europe to receive his training — tended the flame of faith. He lurked like a thief among the hills. On Sundays and Feast Days he celebrated Mass at a rock, on a remote mountainside, while the congregation knelt on the heather of the hillside, under the open heavens. While he said Mass, faithful sentries watched from all the nearby hilltops, to give timely warning of the approaching priest-hunter and his guard of British soldiers. But sometimes the troops came on them unawares, and the Mass Rock was bespattered with his blood, — and men, women, and children caught in the crime of worshipping God among the rocks, were frequently slaughtered on the mountainside.”^[3]

• Patrick O’Hely (Irish: Pádraig Ó hÉilí), Franciscan Friar from Creevelea Abbey (Irish: an Mainistir na Craoibhe Léithe) at Dromahair, County Leitrim, and Bishop of Mayo. Executed by hanging outside the walls of Kilmallock 13 August 1579
• Conn O’Rourke (Irish: Conn Ó Ruairc), Franciscan Friar descended from the Gaelic nobility of Ireland, son of Brian Ó Ruairc, Lord of Breifne, executed with Bishop O’Hely by hanging outside the walls of Kilmallock, 13 August 1579
• 5 Wexford Martyrs, sailors engaged in smuggling priests, laity, and banned Catholic literature in and out of Ireland, hanged, drawn and quartered in Wexford, 5 July 1581
• Margaret Ball, former Lady Mayoress of Dublin, died as a prisoner of conscience in Dublin Castle for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, 1584^[19]
• Dermot O’Hurley (Irish: Diarmaid Ó hUrthuile), Archbishop of Cashel and former professor of philosophy, theology, Classics, & secular and canon law at Rheims University. Arrested in 1583 after ordination abroad, being smuggled back into Ireland, and following a secret underground ministry. Tortured at Dublin Castle by being put to the “hot boots” for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy and then hanged using a noose woven from willow branches outside the walls of Dublin, 20 June 1584. Secretly buried afterwards in St Kevin’s Churchyard
• Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh (Maurice MacKenraghty), Diocesan priest and former military chaplain during the Second Desmond Rebellion. Voluntarily surrendered himself, similarly to St Maximilian Kolbe, intending to die in the place of a condemned Recusant named Victor White. Executed for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy by hanging and posthumous beheading at Clonmel, 30 April 1585
• Dominic Collins, Jesuit lay brother and former military officer, under the nom de guerre “Captain de la Branche”, during the Brittany Campaign of the French Wars of Religion. Captured following Battle of Kinsale and the 11-day Siege of Dunboy. Officially hanged for high treason, but in reality for refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, outside the walls of his native Youghal, County Cork, 31 October 1602^[20]

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