| Franciscans
in Cashel and Emly |
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Franciscan
Abbeys - Friaries - were built throughout Ireland and were
supported by local people. While the Franciscans were in
Ireland by 1224, there is no proof that friaries were established
before 1231-3. They were effectively the parish churches
of ordinary folk, with simple naves accommodating them.
There were almost as many friaries as other religious houses
by the time of the Reformation.
The
Third Order Regular of Saint Francis undertook particularly
pastoral and educational roles. Having arrived in Ireland
by 1426, they had forty-six houses by 1536 with one in Hospital,
County Limerick. Kileenagallive, near Emly, was founded
for the Third Order by King Edward IV before 1461 and in
use by the First Order from 1615 to 1625, and again from
1676 until 1690
Otherwise
known as Celtic site, Derrynaflan appears in official Franciscan
documents from 1676 to 1724. While the location of the house
so named is unclear, it is thought to be the Derrynaflan
as known locally because of its Cashel association.
There
follow some details of the Franciscan foundations in Galbally,
Cashel and Thurles.
Other
than the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood,
there are no Franciscan communities in the Cashel and Emly
today.
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| Moor
Abbey |
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Donach
Cairbreach Ua'Briain founded this friary in Galbally during
the first decade of the thirteenth century. Only the main
church, built in 1471, survives. Quite apart from the murder
of three friars of the community in the 1570's, violence
was often visited upon the building. It was burnt in 1472,
and again in 1569. Sir Henry Sidney had it sacked in 1570.
Demolition was attempted by the police in 1921.
The
Friary had a long, if broken, habitation. The grant of the
Abbey to the Earl of Desmond in 1540 allowed it to function
until by Sir Humphrey Gilbert burnt it in 1569. After the
disruption mentioned, the Franciscans returned in 1645 until
they were expelled during the campaign of Cromwellian's
soldiers. They returned in 1658, staying until 1684 and
were back in Moor Abbey in 1688. They stayed until 1748
when they left after a dispute with the Vicar General of
Emly, James Butler (then Parish Priest of Galbally and later
Archbishop). The community moved to Mitchelstown where the
last friar of Moor Abbey died in 1804. Guardians of the
Abbeycontinued to be appointed for some time (see list
of Guardians).
Franciscan
Architecture
Moor
Abbey is a typical Franciscan structure.The belfry is of
the usual Franciscan kind in its location (off-centre to
the East) and proportions. Only in Muckross Friary in Kerry
does a Franciscan tower span the width of the aisle. The
horizontal string-courses are of the simple decoration favoured
by the Franciscans' builders. Other examples of this type
suggest that the top of the tower would have been crenellated.
It
is possible that many of the conventual structures were
of timber and so are (as yet) undetected. Excavations have
indicated the location of the scaffold used in the construction
of the remaining buildings.
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Franciscan
Guardians of Moor Abbey
Dermot
O'Mulroony (1570 murdered) Bernardine Hurley (1645) Louis
Vin (1650) Joseph Sall (1669) William Hurley (1670) Francis
Miniter (1687) Francis Norris (1690) Bernardine O'Donnell
(1693) John Woodlock (1697) Thomas Connell (1700) Anthony
Stapleton (1702) William Norris (1706..1716) Benedict (Senior)
Sall (1708) Thomas McNamara (1719 to 1720) Ludovicus (Louis)
Ryan (1724) Francis Ryan (1727) Philip Norris (1727) Anthony
Hickey (1733 to 1735) John Leo (1735) Francis Gallaher (1738)
Francis Rourke (1739.. 1767) Francis Rea (Raye, Rhea) (1742,1747,1751
) William Querine (? Curran) (1752) Mathias Rea (1755) James
Liddy (1757) Patrick O'Neill (1772 to 1773) P... Phelan
(1773) Bartholomew Liddy (1776) Anthony O'Brien (1787 to
1791) Francis Ryan (1786) Edmond Mally (1806) Anthony Mahony
(1806) James Kearney (1806) Daniel Healy (1815,1822,1824
) Denis Doyle (1819) Edmond Sheehy (1825) David Ahern (1830)
Philip Hodnett (1831,1834) Ambrose Murphy (1832 to 1834)
Joseph Donevan (1852) Laurence McEvoy (1863 to 1864) James
Fitzgerald (1864 to 1867)
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| Franciscans
in Cashel |
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The
Franciscan Friary in Cashel was established by the benefaction
of Sir William Hackett in 1265 and was thus referred to
as Hackett's Abbey. When the Franciscan administration was
divided in to regions or 'Custodies' in 1331, Cashel was
organised as one such area. The Franciscan Houses in the
Custody of Cashel were Clonmel, Kilkenny, New Ross, Waterford
and Youghal.
The
effigies shown here are two of four which are preserved in
Cashel, now set into the old town walls adjacent to the Church
of Ireland Cathedral. Originally in the Franciscan Friary,
they may be the burial slabs of the benefactor Sir William
Hackett and of his wife and family.
After
the Reformation the Friary properties were granted to the
Protestant bishop and their use was allowed to be continued
until 1550. |
Myler
Magrath, was a Franciscan friar who was consecrated Bishop
of Down and Conor by the Pope in 1565. He submitted to the
Act of Supremacy in 1567 and was appointed Protestant Archbishop
of Cashel in 1571.
Among his first displays of fealty was the arrest of two of
the Franciscans of Cashel. This aroused considerable indignation
when James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald, 'Captain of Desmond', wrote
a threatening letter from the Glen of Aherlow demanding their
release. His associate, Edward Butler, effected their release
during a subsequent raid on Cashel. The former-Franciscan's
treatment of his one-time confreres is just one of many colourful
incidents in his long life.
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The
Friars returned to Cashel in 1618, remaining until the sacking
of the city by Lord Inchiquin on 13 September 1647. Among
those killed at that time were Vicars Choral Edward Stapleton,
(Chancellor) and Theobald Stapleton. The elderly and infirm
Thomas Morrissey, a priest of Cashel and Franciscan Tertiary,
was also put to death.
John
Kearney was born in Cashel in 1619. He joined the Franciscans
and studied in Louvain where he was ordained in 1642. On
return to Ireland he was captured but escaped to minister
in Cashel and Waterford. He was charged with functioning
as a priest and was hanged on 11 March 1653.
The
Franciscans returned to Cashel in 1658 and continuued residence
there until moving to Thurles.
The Catholic Church currently in use in Cashel stands on the
site of the Friary. ¦
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| Franciscans
in Thurles |
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The
Cashel Friars were given the use of a house in Thurles from
1714 by the Mathew family. The Catholic Mathew family of
Thomastown (Golden) were landlords in Thurles at this time.
A scion of this family, Theobald
Mathew, would add to the contribution of the Franciscan
family in his Temperance Crusade and a great-grand-nephew,
David, of his would serve Westminster Archdiocese as an
auxiliary bishop in the earlier part of the twentieth century
The Franciscans had moved
to the town by 1740 and continued to live in the house provided
by the Mathews in which they had a small oratory. They did
not have a public church but assisted in the Cathedral and
served as chaplains to the Workhouse. The Thurles Franciscan
house was closed 1892.
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