{{Short description|Bishop, martyr}} {{EngvarB|date=October 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox Christian leader | type = bishop | honorific-prefix = [[Beatification|The Blessed]] | name = Concobhar Ó Duibheannaigh, | honorific-suffix = [[Franciscan|O.F.M.]] | title = [[Bishop of Down and Connor]] | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor|Down and Connor]] | appointed = 27 April 1582 | term_end = 1 ([[Julian calendar|O.S.]])/11 ([[Gregorian calendar|N.S.]]) February 1612 | predecessor = [[Donatus Ó Gallchobhair]] (bishop) | successor = Patrick Hanratty (vicar apostolic) | consecration = 2 February 1583 | consecrated_by = [[Nicolas de Pellevé]] | birth_name = Concobhar Ó Duibheannaigh | birth_date = c. 1532 | birth_place = [[Raphoe|Drumkeen, Raphoe]], [[County Donegal]] | death_date = 1 ([[Julian calendar|O.S.]])/11 ([[Gregorian calendar|N.S.]]) February 1612 (aged c. 80) | death_place = [[Dublin]] | nationality = [[Irish people|Irish]] | religion = [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] | feast_day = 20 June | venerated = 6 July 1991 | saint_title = | beatified_date = 27 September 1992 | beatified_place = Rome | beatified_by = [[Pope John Paul II]]}}
'''Concobhar Ó Duibheannaigh''' (c. 1532 – 1 ([[Julian calendar|O.S.]])/11 ([[Gregorian calendar|N.S.]]) February 1612; ''Conor O'Devany'', ''Cornelius O'Devany'') was an [[Irish people|Irish]] [[Franciscan Order|Franciscan]] priest from [[Donegal Abbey]] and [[Bishop (Catholicism)|Roman Catholic bishop]] during the [[religious persecution]] of the [[Catholic Church in Ireland]] that began during the reign of [[Henry VIII]] and ended only with [[Catholic Emancipation]] in 1829. Similarly to St. [[Polycarp of Smyrna]], Bishop Ó Duibheannaigh was in his eighties when he was [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] outside the walls of [[Dublin]]. In September 1992, he was formally beatified by [[Pope John Paul II]] as one of the 24 officially recognized [[Irish Catholic Martyrs]]. His [[feast day]] is on June 20.
==Early life== Conor O'Devany was born at [[Malin Head]] in [[Inishowen]], [[County Donegal]], in [[Ulster]].<ref name=bodevany>{{Catholic-hierarchy|bishop|bodevany|Bishop Bl. Conor O'Devany, O.F.M.|22 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newulsterbiography.co.uk/index.php/home/viewPerson/1286|title=Conor O'Devany profile|author=Kate Newmann |work=Dictionary of Ulster Biography |accessdate=22 January 2012}}</ref> His family had their seat at ''Tulach Uí Dhuibheannaigh'', near [[Raphoe]] in the Laggan district, and were the [[erenagh]] family responsible for administering local Church lands on behalf of the [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Raphoe]]. Conor O'Devany joined the [[Observant Franciscans]] at [[Donegal Abbey]] at an early age.<ref> Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), ''The Irish Martyrs'', Four Courts Press, Dublin. Pages 107-109.</ref>
While in Rome, Ó Duibheannaigh was appointed [[Bishop of Down and Connor]] by [[Pope Gregory XIII]] on 27 April 1582, and consecrated by Cardinal [[Nicolas de Pellevé]] on 2 February 1583.<ref name=bodevany/><ref>{{Harvnb|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|1986}}, ''Handbook of British Chronology'', p. 423.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Moody|Martin|Byrne|1984}}, ''Maps, Genealogies, Lists'', p. 346.</ref>
==Execution and martyrdom== In 1588, Bishop Ó Duibheannaigh was committed to [[Dublin Castle]]. Failing to convict him of any crime punishable by death, [[Lord Deputy]] [[William FitzWilliam (Lord Deputy)|Sir William FitzWilliam]] sought authority from [[William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley|the 1st Baron Burghley]] to "be rid of such an obstinate enemy of God and so rank a traitor to Her Majesty as no doubt he is".<ref name=ceodevany>{{Catholic|no-icon=1|prescript=|wstitle=Cornelius O'Devany}}</ref>
In November 1590, he was released on his own petition, although the 1913 [[Catholic Encyclopedia]] speculates that this was likely a blanket policy. He was protected by [[Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone|Aodh Mór Ó Néill]], [[Earl of Tyrone]], until the [[Flight of the Earls]] in 1607. The Bishop escaped arrest until the middle of 1611, when, almost eighty years old, he was taken while administering [[Confirmation]] and again committed to Dublin Castle.<ref name=ceodevany/>
His execution was at the personal wish of the then [[Lord Deputy of Ireland]], [[Arthur Chichester, 1st Baron Chichester|Sir Arthur Chichester]], who was vehemently [[anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom|anti-Catholic]], and seems to have been rather against the wishes of the Government as a whole.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}}
On 28 January 1612, Bishop Ó Duibheannaigh was tried for [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]], found guilty by the majority of a packed jury, and sentenced to [[hanging, drawing and quartering]] on 1 February ([[Julian Calendar]]).
Following his trial and sentencing, according to [[Philip O'Sullivan Beare]], a pious Catholic woman who carried food to the imprisoned Bishop asked about his health. The Bishop replied, "I have not been better these ten years, either in mind or body. My only wish now is that God will vouchsafe to take me to His heavenly kingdom by martyrdom, rather than permit me to be worn out in prison of old age. You, daughter, have done me many services, for which I thank you, as I may, and which God will reward. Do me this further service, I pray: when I am slain (as God grant I may be) have me buried in this", said the Bishop, showing his Franciscan habit. He concluded, "I value this frock, which I put on when I was young, more than the insignia of a Bishop."<ref> D.P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Page 118.</ref>
He was drawn on a cart from Dublin Castle to the gallows beyond the river; the whole route was crowded with Catholics. Protestant clergymen pestered him with ministrations and urged him to confess he died for treason. "Pray let me be", he answered, "the viceroy's messenger to me here present, could tell that I might have life and revenue for going once to that temple", pointing to the tower of a [[Church of Ireland]] parish. He kissed the gallows before mounting, and then proceeding to exhort the Catholics to constancy, he was thrown off, cut down alive, and quartered.<ref name=ceodevany/>
With him suffered [[Patrick O'Loughran]], a priest arrested at Cork. The people, despite the guards, carried off the halter, his clothes, and even fragments of his body and chips of the gallows. They prayed all night by the remains, an infirm man was reported cured by touching them, and Mass after Mass was said there from Midnight until day. Such was the concourse that the viceroy ordered the members to be buried on the spot, but next night the Catholics exhumed them and interred them in [[St James' Church, Dublin (Church of Ireland)|St. James's Churchyard]]. A list of martyrs compiled by Ó Duibheannaigh was used by Bishop [[David Rothe]] in his "Analecta".<ref name=ceodevany/>
==Beatification== On 27 September 1992, Ó Duibheannaigh, with sixteen others, the [[Irish Catholic Martyrs]], was beatified by [[Pope John Paul II]] in Rome. The Feast Day of the Irish Martyrs is celebrated on 20 June.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://saints.sqpn.com/blessed-conor-odevany/ |title=Blessed Conor O'Devany |work=Saints.SQPN.com |accessdate=22 January 2012}}</ref>
==See also== *[[Irish Catholic Martyrs]]
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== {{refbegin}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Fryde |editor1-first=E. B. |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=3rd, reprinted 2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X}} * {{cite book |editor-last=Moody |editor-first=T. W. |editor2-last=Martin |editor2-first=F. X. |editor3-last=Byrne |editor3-first=F. J. |title=Maps, Genealogies, Lists: A Companion to Irish History, Part II |year=1984 |publisher=Oxford University Press |series=New History of Ireland |volume=XI |location=Oxford |isbn=0-19-821745-5}} {{refend}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Brady |first=W. Maziere |authorlink=William Maziere Brady |title=The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875 |url=https://archive.org/details/a548648301braduoft |year=1876 |publisher=Tipografia Della Pace |location=Rome |volume=1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/a548648301braduoft/page/n295 266]–269}} *James O'Laverty, ''Diocese of Down and Connor'', V (Dublin, 1895) *[[David Rothe]], ''Analecta Nova et Mira'', ed. [[Francis Moran (cardinal)|Patrick F. Moran]] (Dublin, 1884) *Myles O'Reilly, ''Memorials of those who Suffered for the Catholic Faith in Ireland'' (London, 1868) *Denis Murphy, ''Our Martyrs'' (Dublin: Fallon, 1896)
==External links== * [https://www.dib.ie/biography/odevany-conor-a6678 O'Devany, Conor], [[Dictionary of Irish Biography]]
{{Subject bar |portal1= Biography |portal2= Catholicism |portal3= Ireland|portal4= History}} {{Roman Catholic Bishops of Down and Connor}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ó Duibheannaigh, Conchobhar}} [[Category:1530s births]] [[Category:1612 deaths]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Down and Connor]] [[Category:16th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:People from Raphoe]] [[Category:Irish beatified people]] [[Category:People executed by Ireland by hanging, drawing and quartering]] [[Category:Executed people from County Donegal]] [[Category:People executed for treason against Ireland]] [[Category:17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs]] [[Category:17th-century venerated Christians]] [[Category:People of Elizabethan Ireland]] [[Category:Irish Franciscans]] [[Category:Franciscan beatified people]] [[Category:Franciscan bishops]] [[Category:Franciscan martyrs]] [[Category:Christian clergy from County Donegal]] [[Category:17th-century executions by Ireland]] [[Category:Beatifications by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:24 Irish Catholic Martyrs]]