On this day in 1992, Pope John Paul II beatified 17 Irish martyrs who died during England’s attempts to impose the Anglican Church on Ireland in the 16th and 17th centuries. Five of the martyrs were either from Tipp or had strong Tipp connections.
Dermot O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, was perhaps the best known of the five. He was born around 1530 near Emly. He became Archbishop in 1581 and was arrested by the authorities in 1583. He was offered high ecclesiastical office in the Church of Ireland in return for renouncing his faith, but remained unyielding. He was hanged in Hoggins Green in Dublin on 20 June 1584. O'Hurley's remains were recovered by citizens of Dublin and interred at St Kevin's church, while his clothes were kept as relics. In a very short time he was acclaimed throughout Ireland as a martyr for his faith, and his burial place became a shrine for Dublin Catholics.
Maurice MacKenraghty was a priest from Kilmallock. He served as chaplain and confessor to Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th earl of Desmond, and is said to have inspired the troops, administered the sacraments, and suffered greatly in the second Desmond rebellion. On 17 December 1583, he was captured by Maurice Sweeney, handed over to the government forces, and imprisoned inClonmel. He refused to take the oath of supremacy and was condemned to death. On30 April 1585 he was tied to the tail of a horse and taken to the market place,where he was partially hanged. Accounts differ as to whether his executioners were persuaded to behead him without quartering his body. At all events, after his remains had been exhibited for some days on the market cross they were handed over to local Catholics for honourable burial.
William Tirry was a member of the Catholic clergy. He was born in Cork but was made Prior of the Abbey in Fethard in 1643. He went into hiding following the Cromwellian invasion and was sheltered by one Amy Everardin Fethard. He was arrested on 25 March 1654, having been betrayed by informers who wished to receive a reward offered for assisting in the apprehension of a priest. He was imprisoned in Clonmel until his trial for high treason on 26 April. Tirry was found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Before his execution he addressed the crowd saying that there was only one true church,that this church was led by the pope, and that both the pope and the church had to be obeyed. He also publicly forgave those who had betrayed him. He was buried in the grounds of the ruined Augustinian friary at Fethard.
Terence Albert O‘Brien was a Limerick man but became Bishop of Emly in 1647. He was present when the Cromwellian army reached the walls of Limerick in June 1651. On the fall of the city on 29 October 1651, Bishop O'Brien, who was known to have called for the strongest resistance, wasarrested. O'Brien's trial by court martial followed immediately and he was hanged ‘in odium fidei’ (‘in hatred of the faith’) on 30 October 1651. His body was left hanging for three hours and subjected to a barbarity and violence that did not mark other executions; his head was severed from his body and spiked on the river gate of Limerick.
John Kearney (1619-1653) was born in Cashel, Co Tipperary.He joined the Franciscans at their friary in Kilkenny. He went to Leuven in Belgium and was ordained in Brussels in 1642. He returned to Ireland and taugh tin Cashel and Waterford. He was much admired for his preaching. In 1650 he became guardian of Carrick-on-Suir. In the Cromwellian persecutions, he was arrested for exercising his priesthood and was hanged in Clonmel. He was buried in the chapter hall of the suppressed friary of Cashel.
Sources:
The Nationalist, 23 November 1991, Page 1.
https://www.dib.ie/biography/ohurley-dermot-a6817
https://www.dib.ie/biography/kinrechtan-mackenraghty-maurice-a4578
https://www.dib.ie/biography/tirry-william-a6222
https://www.franciscans.ie/life-mission/spirituality/franciscan-saints/bls-patrick-ohealy-conrad-orourke-conor-odevany-john-kearney/
https://www.dib.ie/biography/obrien-terence-albert-muiris-o-briain-aradh-a6496
