{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}} {{short description|Roman Catholic Bishop of Cork, Ireland}}{{Infobox Christian leader | type = Bishop | name = Francis Moylan | title = [[Bishop of Cork]] | church = [[Catholic Church]] | diocese = [[Roman Catholic Diocese of Cork and Ross|Diocese of Cork]] | term = 19 June 1787 – 10 February 1815 | predecessor = [[John Butler, 12th Baron Dunboyne|John Butler]] | successor = [[John Murphy (bishop of Cork)|John Murphy]] | previous_post = [[Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe]] <small>(1775-1787)</small> | ordination = 11 June 1761 | birth_date = {{birth date|1735|9|17|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Douglas, Cork|Douglas]], [[Cork (city)|Cork]], [[County Cork]], [[Kingdom of Ireland]], [[British Empire]] | death_date = {{death date and age|1815|2|10|1735|9|17|df=y}} }} '''Francis Moylan''' (1735–1815) was the [[Roman Catholic]] [[Bishop of Cork]], having first served as Bishop of Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe in Kerry.
==Life== He was born on 17 September 1735 in [[Cork (city)|Cork]], Ireland, second son of John Moylan, a well-to-do merchant of [[Shandon, Cork|Shandon]]. He was educated at Paris, at Montpellier, and afterwards at the [[Irish College in Toulouse]], where he studied theology,<ref name=Dalton>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10609b.htm D'Alton, Edward. "Francis Moylan." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 10. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 17 March 2020{{PD-notice}}</ref> and became acquainted with [[Henry Essex Edgeworth]], then a boy, living there with his father. Edgeworth and Moylan became lifelong friends.
On his ordination to the priesthood in 1761, Moylan was appointed to a curacy at [[Chatou]], a relatively affluent suburb of Paris, by the archbishop, [[Christophe de Beaumont]], and for a time served as his secretary. Returning to Cork he worked in the North Parish. In 1771, he helped [[Nano Nagle]] introduce the [[Ursulines]] to Cork. Three years later, he was transferred to the Parish of St. Finbarr, in Dunbar Street in the [[South Parish, Cork|South Parish]], known as "the [[St. Finbarr's South Church|South Chapel]]",<ref>[http://corkheritage.ie/?page_id=313 "South Chapel", Cork Heritage]</ref> not far from Cove Lane, where in 1775 Nagle founded the first convent of the [[Presentation Sisters]].<ref>[http://sistersofthepresentation.com/about-us/nano-nagle.php "Nano Nagle", Conference of Presentation Sisters] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130110003315/http://www.sistersofthepresentation.com/about-us/nano-nagle.php |date=2013-01-10 }}</ref>
In April 1775, he was consecrated [[Bishop of Ardfert and Aghadoe]], and translated in 1787 to Cork, to fill the vacancy caused by the defection of [[John Butler, 12th Baron Dunboyne|Lord Dunboyne]]. His appointment was supported by a petition signed by members of the regular clergy of Cork.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/30004329.pdf?seq=1 Bolster, Evelyn. "The Moylan Correspondence in Bishop's House, Killarney: Part 1", ''Collectanea Hibernica'', no. 14, 1971, pp. 82–142. JSTOR]</ref> Moylan was a close friend of [[Thomas Browne, 4th Viscount Kenmare|Lord Kenmare]], a highly influential Catholic peer, who led the movement to repeal penal legislation in the House of Lords.<ref>[https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2019/1007/1081649-francis-moylan-irelands-18th-century-kingmaker-and-power-broker/ Pearson, Victoria Anne. "Francis Moylan, Ireland's 18th century kingmaker and power broker", RTE, 9 Oct 2019]</ref> Kenmare was very involved in the [[Catholic Convention|Catholic Committee]], which saw the passage of the [[Papists Act 1778]], which repealed a number of provisions of the [[Popery Act 1698]]. Moylan had no sympathy with violence as a means of redressing wrong, and therefore condemned the [[Whiteboys]]<ref name=Dalton/> When the French fleet appeared off the south coast of Ireland in 1796, Moylan issued a pastoral letter to his flock urging them to loyalty;<ref name=Dalton/> his native city, in recognition of his attitude, presented him with its freedom, an unusual mark of esteem to be bestowed on a catholic in those days. The lord-lieutenant ([[John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|Earl Camden]]) ordered one of his pastorals to be circulated throughout the kingdom, and Pelham, the chief secretary for Ireland, wrote to congratulate Moylan on his conduct.{{sfn|Nolan|1894}} In 1799, [[Lord Castlereagh]] suggested to ten of the Irish bishops, who formed a board for examining into the affairs of [[St Patrick's College, Maynooth|Maynooth College]], that the government would recommend catholic emancipation if the bishops in return admitted the king to have a power of veto on all future ecclesiastical appointments, and if they accepted a state endowment for the catholic clergy. The prelates, Moylan chief among them, were disposed to adopt these proposals in a modified form, but subsequently, on learning Lord Castlereagh's full intentions, repudiated them. Moylan afterwards vigorously deprecated 'any interference whatsoever' of the government in the appointment of the bishops or clergy, and took a leading part in the great '[[Royal veto of the appointment of bishops|veto]]' controversy.{{sfn|Nolan|1894}} Moylan was in favour of the legislative union of Ireland with Great Britain. He took an active part in the establishment of [[Maynooth College]], and had some correspondence on the subject with [[Edmund Burke]]. He was a most successful administrator of his diocese, and helped materially in the establishment of the Presentation order of nuns founded by [[Nano Nagle]] for the education of poor girls. The [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|Duke of Portland]], whom he visited at [[Bulstrode Park]], writing of him said : {{quote|There can be, and there never has been, but one opinion of the firmness, the steadiness, and the manliness of Dr. Moylan's character, which, it was agreed by all those who had the pleasure of meeting him here [Bulstrode], was as engaging as his person, which avows and bespeaks as much goodwill as can be well imagined in a human countenance.{{sfn|Nolan|1894}}}} He died on 10 February 1815, and was buried in a vault in his cathedral.{{sfn|Nolan|1894}}
==References== {{reflist}} ;Attribution {{catholic|wstitle=Francis Moylan}}
{{DNB|wstitle=Moylan, Francis |first=Pierce Laurence |last=Nolan|volume=39}}
==Sources== *Hutch, ''Life of Nano Nagle'' (Dublin, 1875)
{{Roman Catholic Bishops of Ardfert and Agahdoe}} {{Roman Catholic Bishops of Cork}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Moylan, Francis}} [[Category:1735 births]] [[Category:1815 deaths]] [[Category:Roman Catholic bishops of Cork]] [[Category:18th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]] [[Category:Roman Catholic Bishops of Ardfert and Agahdoe]] [[Category:Post-Reformation Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland]]