AN IRISH FRANCISCAN MARTYR

Last St Patrick’s Day I wrote about St Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, who was executed at Tyburn in 1681. Another innocent victim of the Oates Plot, Oliver Plunkett was the last Catholic executed for his faith in this country.

On this St Patrick’s Day, let’s remember a kinsman of St Oliver Plunkett, Blessed Charles Mahoney. This Irish Franciscan was another victim of the evil Titus Oates.

Charles Mahoney (alias Meehan) was born in Ireland around 1639/40. He and his three brothers, James, Terence and Christopher, were educated by their uncle, Fr Bonaventure O S F, who was guardian of St Anthony’s College in Louvain. Three of the boys, Charles, Terrence and James, followed in their uncle’s footsteps and became priests.

In 1674, several years after his ordination, Charles was sent to Germany to study theology. He remained there for two years then spent another two years in Rome, preaching and teaching at the Irish Franciscan College of St Isadore. Then, in 1678, Charles was sent back to Ireland. Charles was aboard a ship heading for home when disaster struck. In a raging storm his ship was wrecked off the coast of Wales. With some of his belongings, he managed to swim ashore near Milford Haven in West Wales.

The plucky Franciscan decided to travel North, on foot, in the hope of finding a ship bound for Ireland. Unfortunately, Charles didn’t get very far. In June 1678 he was arrested not far from Denbigh and imprisoned in Denbigh Gaol. In the spring of 1679, Charles Mahoney was tried, found guilty of being a Catholic priest, which was considered treason, and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered, the usual punishment for treason.

On 12th August 1679, Fr Charles Mahoney was taken from his prison, tied to a horse-drawn hurdle and dragged to a spot outside the town. Here the awful sentence was carried out.

The months of July and August 1679 were busy ones for the anti-Catholic authorities. Titus Oates and his fellow perjurers must have been smugly satisfied too. Executions of Catholic priests were being carried out in various parts of England and Wales. In Wales, Fr Philip Evans S J and a secular priest, Fr John Lloyd, were barbarously executed in Cardiff on 22nd July. Just over the border, in Hereford, eighty year old Fr John Kemble, another secular priest, met his fate on 22nd August. Fr Kemble, a cousin of St David Lewis, had spent fifty-four years ministering to the Catholics of Herefordshire and Monmouth. On that same day Fr John Wall, a Franciscan, was executed at Red Hill, Worcester. Fr Wall, who ministered mainly in the Worcester area, was a classmate and friend of our Last Welsh Martyr, St David Lewis. Fr David Lewis S J followed his friends and fellow priests to martyrdom on 27th August at Usk. All five were canonised in 1970 when Pope Paul VI canonised the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales.

The British Museum is in possession of a one page document entitled “The Last Speeches of Three Priests that were executed for Religion, Anno Domini 1679”. The document reads; “An Account of the words spoken by Mr Charles Mahony, an Irish priest of the holy Order of St Francis, who was executed in his Habit at Ruthin in North Wales, August 12, 1679. Now God Almighty is pleased I should suffer Martyrdom, His Holy Name be praised, since I dye for my religion. But you have no right to put me to death in this country, though I confessed myself to be a priest, for you seized me as I was going to my native country, Ireland, being driven at Sea on this coast, for I never used my Function in England before I was taken, however, God forgive you, as I do and shall always pray for you, especially for those that were so good to me in my distress. I pray God bless our King, and defend him from his enemies, and convert him to the Holy Catholick Faith. Amen. His age was under forty. He was tryed and condemned at Denby confessing himself to be a priest.”

With 129 other martyrs of England and Wales, Charles Mahoney/Meehan was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 22nd November 1987.

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AN IRISH MARTYR, ST OLIVER PLUNKETT

BLESSED WILLIAM TIRRY

AN IRISH MARTYR, ST OLIVER PLUNKETT

Oliver Plunkett was born in Loughcrew, County Meath, Ireland in 1629 to well-to-do parents. Desiring to become a priest, he set out for Rome in 1645. In 1646, he was admitted to the Irish College in Rome.

In 1654 Oliver Plunkett was ordained a priest and delegated by the Irish Bishops to act as their representative in Rome. Because of the extremely strict Penal Laws in force in Ireland at that time, it was many years before Fr Plunkett could return to his homeland. He served as theological professor at the College of Propaganda Fide and there, on 9th July 1669, he was appointed Archbishop of Armagh and was consecrated on 30th November at Ghent by the Bishop of Ghent, assisted by two Bishops, including the Bishop of Ferns.

The Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 brought King Charles II to the throne and the new King wished to rule with tolerance for all his subjects. So, in March 1670, the Archbishop finally returned to Ireland. He received the pallium on 28th July 1670. Now that he was home, Archbishop Plunkett began the reorganising of the ravaged Catholic Church. He built schools both for the young and for the clergy and, in 1670, he established a Jesuit College in Drogheda. The Archbishop refused to sign the Test Act of 1673 and the college was razed to the ground and Plunkett went into hiding, travelling about in disguise.

In 1678, things became even worse for Catholics, particularly for Catholic priests! In England, the foul Titus Oates had concocted the fictitious Popish Plot and anti-Catholic hysteria was sweeping the country. Despite having a price on his head, Archbishop Plunkett refused to abandon his flock. He was arrested in Dublin in December 1679 and imprisoned in Dublin Castle. He was tried at Dundalk for conspiring against the state but this was unproven. The powerful and extremely anti-Catholic Lord Shaftsbury feared that Oliver Plunkett would never be convicted in Ireland so he had him moved to Newgate Prison in London. Even though the first grand jury found no true bill, the Archbishop was not released. At the second trial, which was claimed to be a kangaroo court, he was, as expected, found guilty of High Treason “for promoting the Roman faith” and he was condemned to be hanged, drawn and quartered.

On 1st July 1681, Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland, was hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn. Originally, his body was buried in two tin boxes. Exhumed in 1683, his remains were moved to various places before finally coming to rest at Drogheda, Ireland (his head), Downside Abbey, England, and Lamspringe, Germany.

Archbishop Oliver Plunkett was beatified in 1920 and canonised in 1975. St Oliver Plunkett was the last Catholic Martyr to be executed in England.

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AN IRISH FRANCISCAN MARTYR