Collegiate Chapel of St. Nicholas.

b

ON the surrender of the town in 1691, the church was delivered up to the established clergy by John Bodkin Fitz-Andrew, who was then, and for many years after, Catholic warden. The several chapels and altars, shortly before repaired and erected, were immediately broken down, and the interior was again fitted up for the administration of divine service according to the rites of the established religion. By the articles of capitulation it was stipulated, that the Roman Catholic clergy and laity of Galway should be secured in the private exercise of their religion, and that the former should be also protected in their persons and goods. Upon that event, the Catholic corporation secretly assembled, and, with the concurrence of the warden and chapter, divided the town and suburbs into separate districts or distinct parishes, which division has continued with very little alteration to the present day. Warden Bodkin was succeeded by the reverend Edmund Lynch; and the persecutions against the Catholics raging violently during his wardenship, the scattered remnants of the collegiate property were collected and privately transmitted to France. Here they were converted into money, which was placed at interest; and the fund having, in a few years, considerably increased by donations and bequests, was applied to the purchase of an income in Paris, which was annually remitted to Galway, and divided amongst the warden and vicars for their support." The sacred utensils and other church plate, then valued to be worth upwards of 500l. were also conveyed to France, and deposited in the Irish college at Paris, where they remained until the period of the French Revolution, when they were seized and confiscated. During the incumbency of warden Lynch, and also of his successor, Patrick Skerrett Fitz-Michael, the persecutions against the Catholics continued

The reverend Henry Joyce, Catholic warden in the reign of CharlesII. was succeeded by Mathew Lynch, who continued pastor for twenty-eight years. In the reign of James II. the reverend Henry Browne was elected in his place, on which occasion none but those of "the 12 or 13 families" were allowed to vote. For some time after this period the mode of election was by writing the candidates names on slips of paper; and this plan was adopted in consequence of the danger which attended meeting for the purpose, under the penal-laws. Warden Bodkin was born in 1653. He received holy orders at Madrid in 1676, from doctor James Lynch, Catholic archbishop of Tuam. He was a man of exemplary piety, and died in the odour of sanctity.--MS. Account.Archbishop Lynch died in France in 1715. He bequeathed 25. a year towards the support of Galway students in Paris, where his bust was to be seen in St. Paul's church; and also a full-length portrait in the Irish college, painted in the ancient costume, with a long beard reaching down to his breast.

Viz.: the Quay-quarter, Tower-quarter, Gate-quarter and East-suburbs; part of the parish of Oranmore in the east liberties; and part of the same in the county at

large; Rahoon in the west liberties; that part of the parish of Clare-Galway in the east liberties; Kilcorky, part of the west liberties and suburbs; and part of the parish of Rahoon in the county of the town of Galway. After this division the warden presided over the "Quayquarter," and the vicars officiated in the other districts: before this, it is said, they only acted as his coadjutors.

In his time the reverend Peter French, a native of Galway, who, for upwards of thirty years, was a celebrated missioner among the Indians of Mexico, returned to his native town. This apostolical character compiled a catechism or exposition of the Christian faith in the Mexican tongue, and converted multitudes from idolatry. He died in Galway in 1693.

d Of this fund the warden received about 40%. and each of the vicars about 25. annually, until the French Revolution, when it was confiscated, with all the other church property in that country.

e This warden received holy orders, in 1679, at Salamanca, in Spain, from Peter Salazar, bishop of that place. Before his election to the wardenship, he officiated as pastor of the Gate-quarter and East-suburbs.

unabated. f The Catholic corporation, or "lay-patrons," however, from time to time assembled, and elected the wardens and vicars; but these persecuted individuals were repeatedly arrested and imprisoned for attempting to perform their clerical duties, insomuch that they were often obliged to officiate in the dead of the night, and not unfrequently to steal, disguised in woman's apparel, to visit the sick and dying. These severities, however, gradually declined; and, about the year 1725, the warden and vicars fitted up a chapel in a warehouse belonging to Anthony Bodkin, merchant, situate in Middle-street, where they, for the first time since the surrender of the town, publicly officiated. In 1731, the severe penal visitation, already described, (p. 174,) took place; and the subjoined extract from the return made by the mayor, on that occasion, will give the reader some idea of the state of the Catholic clergy in the town at that period.

A short time previous to this event, the reverend Patrick Bermingham, of the family of Barbersfort, in the county of Galway, a clergyman of profound learning

These persecutions commenced in the reign of William III. On 25th October, 1701, Francis Gwyn, then secretary of state, wrote to the mayor of Galway as follows: Sir, my lord lieutenant having received information that two friars, lately landed at Galway out of a French ship, arrived in that port, and that two postdays have since passed without any account thereof being sent from you, his excellency has commanded me to let you know he is not well pleased with your remissness in not advising him with the landing of any person at your port, contrary to the laws of this kingdom, and expects you will forthwith send up an account to me if those two friars have been seized, according to act of parliament, and are in custody, and also what else has been done in that matter."-Orig. Letter.-Every reader is already acquainted with the severity of those laws during the reign of queen Anne. Immediately after the accession of her successor, the grand jury of the county of Galway, at an assizes commenced in the town on the 29th of March, 1715, represented to the lords justices "that great numbers of popish priests and friars, and other ecclesiasticks of the Romish persuasion, had come into the kingdom within the last four years; that the friars settled themselves in the following places in the county, viz.: Kilconnell, and in another place near Portumna; as also in Tomona, near the abbey of Kinelehan; in Ross, near Headford; in Loughrea, in the abbey of Milick; and in Kilneschael, near the abbey of Athenry: that the great discouragement given, in the close of the last reign, by the men then in power, to such as were active in suppressing all friaries, and putting the laws against popery in execution, contributed greatly to their settling in the country, in defiance of the laws; and they (the jury) humbly conceived that, after such discouragements, it would be of singular use, and greatly for the service of his majesty and the public, and encourage all persons in their several stations to contribute what in them lay to put the laws into execution, if their excellencies cominands were renewed to all magistrates, and others, so to

do; and directions given to the military power to assist them upon all necessary occasions, the number of his majesty's Protestant subjects being very few in comparison to those in opposition against them.”—Orig. MS.—It is almost unnecessary to inform the reader, that the sentiments of the grand inquest of this respectable county, at the present day, are as different from the intolerant principles contained in this address as light is from darkness. They (the sheriffs) also gave me an account of a reputed popish chapel in Middle-street aforesaid, in which chapel there is an altar, a canopy and some forms; and informed me that one Gregory French and Robert Skerrett, two popish priests, usually officiated therein; and another popish chapel in the same street, in a ware house belonging to Anthony Bodkin, merchant, with some forms, and that one Patrick Bermingham, titular warden, and some other priests or friars, whose names I could not learn, officiate therein, and which said warehouse was converted into a chapel five or six years ago; and that one Patrick Skerrett, a registered popish priest, a very old man, officiates and says mass (as they heard) in his chambers in Skinner's-street; and that one Patrick Hoobane, an old registered priest, officiates and says mass in the parish of Rahoon, in the west suburbs of Galway; and that one Gregory French (but whether he is a priest or friar cannot learn) is said to officiate in the house of widow Skerrett, lately deceased, in Lombard-street, near the lower barrack; and one Bodkin and one Banks (of whose Christian names I have not been informed, or whether priests or friars I am not informed,) officiate insome of the said chapels or private houses. And they giving no account, but as aforesaid, and finding it not practicable, without examining on oath some of the popish inhabitants, to get an account of any other, or what mass-houses in the said town, or what number of priests officiate in each of the said mass-houses, or of the private popish chapels, or of the number of friars or nuns in each friary or nunnery respectively, I cannot be particular therein."-Com. Jour. Vol. III. p. 170.

and considerable talent, was elected warden, and was the only person not of the Galway names and families, already enumerated, who had been elected to that dignity for the preceding century. He, it is said, was chosen by the "tribes,' or ancient families of the town, to pacify the natives, or inhabitants of other names, since called "non-tribes," who about that time began to complain that the former had wrongfully usurped to themselves the right of election and presentation of the clergy. Doctor Bermingham, soon after his election, was arrested by the mayor, and thrown into prison, on a charge of not having conformed to the regulations prescribed by law for popish priests; but, it appearing that he had regularly complied with those rules, he was released by order of government. During his incumbency, the old disputes between the archbishop of Tuam and the collegiate clergy, as to the jurisdiction of the former over the warden and vicars, were again revived, and proceedings were at length instituted in Rome between doctor Bernard O'Gara, the then archbishop, and the clergy and people of the town. On this occasion a commission issued; and Cornelius O'Keefe, titular bishop of Limerick, was delegated to proceed to Galway, and there to examine into the grounds of these differences. A compromise at length took place between both parties, and certain articles were agreed to, by which it was conceded, on the part of the clergy and people of Galway, that the archbishop of Tuam, for the time being, should have a right of triennial visitation in capite et membris; and also that appeals might be made, in secunda instantia, from the sentence of the warden to the archiepiscopal see. On the part of the latter it was granted, that the right of election belonged to the lay-patrons; and, amongst other articles, which are subjoined," it was agreed, that the warden should be thenceforth elected every third year, in consequence of the many inconveniences which

"Consentiunt Clerus Populusque Galviensis:

1. Quod Archiepiscopus pro tempore Tuamensis habeat quolibet triennio jus eos visitandi in capite, et in membris.

2. Quod appellationes in secunda instantia, et à sententia Wardiani, ad tribunal Archiepiscopi ascendant.

E contrà verò Archiepiscopus Tuamensis, dummodò ei reservetur jus visitationis in capite, et in membris, et cognitio causarum in secunda instantia cedit cæteris privilegiis, quæ sibi competere prætendunt dictus Clerus populusque Galviensis. 1. Scilicet, quod jus electionis Wardiani pro tempore spectet ad patronos laicos, et jus instituendi salvum maneat penès vicarios collegiatos wardiani à patronis laicis præsentati et vice versa.

2. Quod Wardianus, seu Custos, polleat jurisdictione ordinariâ in clerum, et populum sui territorii, nimirùm ut possit suspendere, interdicere, excommunicare, et pro confessionibus populi approbationem, et jurisdictionem dare clero tùm sæculari tùm regulari, eo modo, quo Suffraganei Episcopi utuntur in suis diæcesibus respectu subditorum.

3. Ut Wardianus possit concedere literas dimissoriales subditis sui Wardianatûs, et ut virtute suæ ordinariæ jurisdictionis cognoscat de causis matrimonialibus, habeatque sibi directas facultates, concedi solitas Suffraganeis Épiscopis, dispensandi in gradibus prohibitis, tùm affinitatis, quoties tales casus occurrent.

4. Ut Wardiani jurisdictio extendatur ad regulares et moniales suì territorii eodem modo quo episcoporum potestas, quodque semper consulatur in receptione puellarum, et per se, vel per delegatum examinet earum vocationem, ac earum professioni, tanquàm auctoritatem habens, interesse possit, et valeat.

5. Ut ipse Wardianus solus cum consilio sui capituli vigilet super ecclesias annexas ecclesiæ collegiatæ, in ipsisque nominet et instituat pastores, qui curam agant animarum independenter à quovis alio, ipsique rationem reddant de eorum administratione in dictis ecclesiis, et correctioni subdantur.

6. Ut Wardianus in futurum sit eligibilis ad triennium, ob nimis gravia incommoda, quæ hucusque provenerunt, et provenire timentur ex annuali electione Wardiani."Vide De Burg. Hib. Dom. p. 442.

attended their annual election. This agreement was approved of and confirmed by the bull of Clement XII. dated 21st April, 1733, and under it the affairs of religion in the Catholic wardenship of Galway have ever since been regulated.

Warden Bermingham died in 1747, universally regretted. He was succeeded by the reverend Hyacinth Bodkin, a pious and learned divine, who survived but a short time, having died in the year 1749. On his death, the reverend Marcus Kirwan, of Dalgan, was elected; but this gentleman having given some dissatisfaction to the lay-patrons, the reverend Anthony Blake, of Dunmacreena, (who was afterwards titular archbishop of Armagh and Catholic primate of Ireland,) was elected in his place: and this, it is said, was the only instance in which any of the wardens had been dispossessed since the Reformation. Doctor Blake erected the parish chapel in Middle-street about 1752, and was succeeded, in 1755, by Francis Kirwan, who filled the chair, with honor to himself and benefit to the town, until his death, which happened in June, 1770; when the reverend John Joyes, of Oxford, in the county of Mayo, was elected. This gentleman continued warden until February, 1783, when he departed this life, leaving behind him the reputation of a good and pious pastor, always zealous in the cause of religion, and particularly so in the reproval of public vice and immorality. He was succeeded by the reverend Augustine Kirwan, a divine possessed of every virtue which adorns the clerical character, and whose piety, meekness and unceasing benevolence, will be long remembered. Amongst many other praiseworthy acts, he established a subscription fund, and founded a school for the instruction and clothing of indigent boys, in which numerous poor children are still carefully taught the rudiments of education, and the principles of religion and morality. Since the establishment of this valuable institution to the present time, thousands have, by its means, been rescued from the paths of idleness and vice, and become useful members of society. Warden Kirwan also instituted Sunday vespers and evening lecture and prayers in the collegiate chapel; and, after many other laudable regulations, this exemplary man departed this life, amidst the tears of the community, on the 7th of August, 1791.

i

At this time the situation of the Catholics of Ireland was very different from what it had been at any former period since the reign of James II. The day of

This excellent warden was born in August, 1725. He received the minor orders, sub-deaconship and deaconship, in August and September, 1747, from doctor Joseph Sancho Granado, bishop of Salamanca, in Spain, and was afterwards ordained priest the 23d of December, the same year, by doctor Peter Gonzalez, bishop of Arilia. He died at the age of sixty-seven, and a handsome marble monument was erected to his memory in the parish chapel, containing the following inscription, from the pen of the late venerable doctor Gahan, O.S.A. of Dublin:

K K

*

"To the Memory of the Very Rev. Augustine Kirwan, D. D. Warden of Galway, Vicar of St. Nicholas, who, on the 7th of August, 1791, closed a life of 67 years, whereof 40 and more were spent in the apostolical labours of the Church of Christ.-Of gentle manners, unaffected piety, unbounded benevolence. The father and friend of the poor. Founder of the Charity School. By all beloved when living; now dead, by all regretted.

As a tribute of affection this Monument is erected by his Nephew, N. French, in the year 1796."

persecution had now passed away, and this meritorious, though long suffering, body at length found themselves under the protection of the laws, and in the enjoyment of the public and undisturbed exercise of their religion. Immediately, on the decease of warden Kirwan, the principal Catholics of Galway, composed entirely of the ancient names and families, assembled for the purpose of newmodelling the ancient Catholic corporation ;* after which they proceeded to the election of a warden in the room of their late venerable pastor. On this occasion there were two candidates for the wardenship, the reverend Patrick Kirwan and the reverend John Joyes, nephew of the former warden of that name, and, after a severe contest, the latter was chosen by a large majority. During these proceedings, the old disputes between the "tribes" and "non-tribes," which had lain dormant for upwards of half a century, were revived with considerable animosity. The reader has already seen that, by the many revolutionary changes which had

m

* The resolutions entered into upon this occasion were as follow:

"At a very numerous meeting of the descendants of the ancient Roman Catholic corporation, convened by Thomas Joyce and Walter Joyce, sheriffs of the town of Galway, for the time being, held at the parish chapel of said town, on Wednesday, the 17th day of August, 1791.

Resolved unanimously,

That Gregory French, esq. shall be mayor, John Kirwan-Anthony and Walter Joyce-Thomas sheriffs, James Morris-Patrick recorder, and John Lynch-Alexander town-clerk, until the 1st day of August next.

That an election for officers shall be held at the parish chapel every succeeding 1st day of August for ever.

That no more than twenty gentlemen shall be admitted to the freedom of this corporation; and the freedom shall not descend to their posterity.

That no person whatsoever shall be admitted to the freedom of this corporation without the appearance of twenty-one of the Galway names, inclusive of the officers of this corporation.

That the elections for freemen to be admitted into this corporation shall be by ballot, and not by viva voce election; and that no person, or persons, shall be admitted to the freedom of this corporation without a majority of two-thirds of such meeting.

That no person whatsoeger shall be admitted to the freedom of this corporation until he shall have first paid one guinea to the support of the charity-school of this town; or, if that charitable institution should cease, to such other charity as the warden and vicars, for the time being, shall think proper.

That every candidate for the freedom of the corporation shall be proposed and seconded by one of the councilmen of this corporation, and no other; and that no candidate shall be admitted or ballotted for until the succeeding meeting.

That the council shall meet the first Monday in every month for ever.

Gregory Anthony French, Mayor."

[followed by forty other signatures.] 1 Forty-four of the lay-patrons voted for the reverend Patrick Kirwan, and upwards of a hundred (mostly

non-residents) for doctor Joyes, who was accordingly declared duly elected. On this occasion several of the "non-tribes" attended, and protested against "the illegal proceedings of a number of people calling themselves the thirteen tribes of Galway."-MS.

The process of electing, presenting and instituting the Catholic clergy of Galway by the lay-patrons, under the bull of Innocent VIII. is usually as follows:-On the demise of a warden or vicar, or previous to the triennial choice of the former, notice of an election to fill the vacancy or continue the pastor is publicly given at the time of divine service in the chapel, by order of the sheriffs of the Catholic corporation. At the time appointed the electors assemble at the collegiate chapel, and the business is opened by the sheriffs. The clergyman intended to succeed (who himself seldom appears on the occasion) is then put in nomination, generally by the most respectable of his friends, and, if no other be proposed, he is, of course, duly elected; but, in case of a contest, which not unfrequently occurs, the candidates are proposed and seconded by their respective friends as fit and proper persons to fill the vacant situation of warden or vicar, as the case may be, and a poll is accordingly demanded and proceeded on. On this occasion none but members of the fourteen ancient names and families, or "tribes," are permitted to vote, (excepting only such of the other inhabitants as have been admitted to the freeedom of the Catholic corporation ;) and whether the former are, or ever were, resident or not in the town is immaterial, their suffrages being deemed equally legal. The votes, however, are cautiously examined; and, amongst other points of disqualification, illegitimacy in the elector, or any of his ancestors, is esteemed a sufficient ground for rejection. On the close of the poll, the sheriffs declare the candidate who appears to have the majority of votes duly elected, and the proceedings are accordingly entered in the council-book of the corporation. The next step that remains is the presentation of the person elected: that of a warden is made to the vicars for institution, and that of a vicar to the warden for induction, which, if no legal impediment interferes, generally follows; and, in case of a warden, a brief of the entire proceeding is finally transmitted to Rome, to be ratified by the pope.