{{Short description|Irish Catholic men and women martyed by English monarch}} {{dynamic list}} {{Multiple issues| {{off topic|date=October 2025}} {{POV|date=October 2025}} {{self-published|date=October 2025}} {{over-quotation|date=October 2025}} {{tone|date=October 2025}} }} {{Infobox martyrs |name= Irish Catholic Martyrs |death_date= between 1535 (Venerable John Travers) – 1 July 1681 (Saint [[Oliver Plunkett]]) |martyred_by= [[Monarchy of England]] [[Commonwealth of England]], [[Protectorate of England]], [[First French Republic]] |feast_day= 20 June, various for individual martyrs |venerated_in= [[Catholic Church]] |image=martyrs_of_ireland.png |image_size=300 px |caption=Irish Catholic Martyrs formally recognized |birth_place= Ireland |death_place= Ireland, England, Wales |beatified_date= 3 were beatified on 15 December 1929 by [[Pope Pius XI]]<br>1 was beatified on 22 November 1987 by [[Pope John Paul II]]<br>18 were beatified on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II |beatified_by= |canonized_date=1 ([[Oliver Plunkett]]) was canonized on 12 October 1975 by [[Pope Paul VI]]}}
'''Irish Catholic Martyrs''' ({{Langx|ga|Mairtírigh Chaitliceacha na hÉireann}}) were 24 [[Irish people|Irish]] men and women who have been [[Beatification|beatified]] or [[Canonization|canonized]] for both a life of [[heroic virtue]] and for dying for their [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] faith between the reign of King [[Henry VIII]] and [[Catholic Emancipation]] in 1829.
The more than three century-long [[religious persecution]] of the [[Catholic Church in Ireland]] came in waves, caused by an overreaction by the State to certain incidents and interspersed with intervals of comparative respite.<ref name=barry>[http://www.ewtn.com/library/CHISTORY/PENALAWS.HTM Barry, Patrick, "The Penal Laws", ''L'Osservatore Romano'', p.8, 30 November 1987]</ref>{{request quotation|date=October 2025}}
The 1975 canonization of Archbishop [[Oliver Plunkett]], who was [[hanged, drawn and quartered]] at [[Tyburn]] on 1 July 1681, as one of the [[Forty Martyrs of England and Wales]] raised considerable public interest in other Irishmen and Irishwomen who had similarly died for their Catholic faith in the 16th and 17th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} On 22 September 1992 [[Pope John Paul II]] beatified an additional 17 martyrs and assigned June 20, the anniversary of the 1584 martyrdom of Archbishop [[Dermot O'Hurley]], as their feast day.<ref>[https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/it/homilies/1992/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19920927_xxi-beati.html CREAZIONE DI VENTUNO NUOVI BEATI: OMELIA DI GIOVANNI PAOLO II], Piazza San Pietro - Domenica, 27 settembre 1992.</ref>
==History== ===Henry VIII=== [[File:King Henry VIII of England and Pope Clement VII.jpg|thumb|King [[Henry VIII]] sitting with his feet upon [[Pope Clement VII]], 1641]] Religious persecution of Catholics in Ireland began under [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]] (then [[Lordship of Ireland|Lord of Ireland]]) after his [[excommunication]] in 1533.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Irish Confessors and Martyrs |url=https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08163a.htm |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=www.newadvent.org}}</ref> The [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish Parliament]] adopted the [[Acts of Supremacy]], which declared the Irish Church [[Caesaropapism|subservient to the State]].<ref name=jesuits/> In response, Irish bishops, priests, and laity who continued to pray for the pope during [[Sarum Rite|Mass]] were tortured and killed.<ref name=mcneill>{{cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08163a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Irish Confessors and Martyrs}}</ref> The [[Treasons Act 1534]] defined even unspoken mental allegiance to the Holy See as [[High treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]]. Many were imprisoned on this basis. Alleged traitors who were brought to trial.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=2KoDAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR11 Hale's ''History of Pleas of the Crown'' (1800 ed.) vol. 1, chapter XXIX] (from [[Google Book Search|Google Books]]).</ref> King Henry and [[Thomas Cromwell]] continued [[Cardinal Wolsey]]'s policies of [[Unitary State|centralizing government power]] in [[Dublin Castle]] and sought to destroy the political and military independence of both the [[Old English (Ireland)|Old English]] nobility, the [[Irish clan]]s, and the [[Gaelic nobility of Ireland]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} This, in addition to the King's religious policy, ultimately triggered Old English aristocrat [[Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare|Silken Thomas]], 10th and last [[Earl of Kildare]], to launch a 1534-1535 military uprising against the rule of the [[House of Tudor]] in Ireland.<ref name="R. Dudley Edwards 1934 pp. 687-699">R. Dudley Edwards (December 1934), "Venerable John Travers and the Rebellion of Silken Thomas", ''[[Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review]]'', pp. 687-699.</ref>
On c.30 July 1535 [[John Travers (Martyr)|John Travers]], a graduate of [[Oxford University]] and the Chancellor of [[St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin]], was executed in Dublin for writing a volume denouncing the Act of Supremacy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Team |first=todayinceltichistory com |title=John Travers, Chancellor of St Patricks Cathedral, is executed for high treason at Oxmantown Green for conspiring with Lord Offaly |url=https://www.todayinceltichistory.com/august/john-travers-chancellor-of-st-patricks-cathedral-is-executed-for-high-treason-at-oxmantown-green-for-conspiring-with-lord-offaly/ |access-date=2025-10-28 |website=www.todayinceltichistory.com |language=en-us}}</ref> He was [[execution by burning|burned at the stake]] in the [[common land|Common]] then known as, "[[Oxmantown]] Green", part of which has since become [[Smithfield, Dublin|Smithfield Market]] on the city's [[Northside, Dublin|Northside]].<ref name="New Catholic Encyclopedia 1967 p. 322">"Martyrs of England and Wales" New Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9 (1967), p. 322.</ref><ref name="R. Dudley Edwards 1934 pp. 687-699"/><ref>Philip O'Sullivan Beare (1903), ''Chapters Towards a History of Ireland Under Elizabeth'', pages 2-3.</ref>
===Elizabeth I=== The focus of religious persecution turned from Catholics to Protestants after the accession of the Catholic [[Mary I of England|Queen Mary]], but after Mary's death in November 1558, her half-sister [[Queen Elizabeth I]] arranged for Parliament to pass the Act of Supremacy of 1559, which re-established the control by the State over the Church within her dominions and criminalized religious dissent as [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} While reviving [[Thomas Cranmer]]'s prayerbook, the Queen ordered the [[Elizabethan religious settlement]] to favor [[Anglo-Catholicism|High Church Anglicanism]], which preserved many traditionally Catholic ceremonies. Meanwhile, the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity (1559), the Prayer Book of 1559, and the [[Thirty-nine Articles|Thirty-Nine Articles]] (1563) mixed the doctrines of [[Protestantism]] and [[Caesaropapism]].<ref name=sommerville>[http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/361/361-14.htm "The Reign of Elizabeth I"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170509231703/http://faculty.history.wisc.edu/sommerville/361/361-14.htm |date=2017-05-09 }} by J.P. Sommerville, University of Wisconsin.</ref> From the early years of her reign, pressure was put on all her subjects to conform to the "[[Established Church]]" of the realm or be considered guilty of high treason. Prosecutions for [[Recusancy in Ireland|Recusancy]] and refusals to take the [[Oath of Supremacy]], the issuing of [[torture warrant]]s, and the use of [[priest hunter]]s escalated rapidly.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
In 1563 the [[Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex|Earl of Essex]] issued a proclamation, by which all [[Catholic priest]]s, secular and regular, were forbidden to officiate, or even to reside in Dublin or in [[English Pale|The Pale]]. Fines and penalties were strictly enforced for [[Recusancy]] from the Anglican Sunday service; before long. Catholic priests and others were hunted into the [[Mass rock]]s in mountains and caves; and the parish churches and few monastic chapels which had escaped earlier destruction were also destroyed.<ref name=cusack>[http://www.libraryireland.com/HistoryIreland/Catholic-Martyrs.php Cusack, Margaret Anne, ''An Illustrated History of Ireland''], libraryireland.com; accessed 11 July 2015.</ref> It ultimately resulted in [[Pope Pius V]]'s 1570 [[papal bull]] ''[[Regnans in Excelsis]]'', which, "released [Elizabeth I's] subjects from their allegiance to her".<ref name=barry/>
In Ireland the [[Desmond Rebellion#First Desmond Rebellion|First Desmond Rebellion]], led by [[James FitzMaurice FitzGerald]] and which sought to replace Queen Elizabeth I with [[Don John of Austria]] as [[High King of Ireland]], was launched in 1569, at almost the same time as the [[Northern Rebellion]] in England. The [[Wexford Martyrs]] were found guilty of [[high treason]] for aiding in the escape of [[James Eustace, 3rd Viscount Baltinglass]] and refusing to take the [[Oath of Supremacy]] and declare [[Elizabeth I of England]] to be the [[Supreme Head of the Church of England]] and Ireland.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
The ongoing religious persecution also became highly significant as the primary cause of the [[Nine Years' War (Ireland)|Nine Years War]], which similarly sought to replace Queen Elizabeth with a High King from the [[House of Habsburg]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} The war formally began when [[Hugh Roe O'Donnell|Red Hugh O'Donnell]] expelled English [[High Sheriff of Donegal]] [[Humphrey Willis]], but not before Red Hugh listed his reasons for taking up arms against the [[House of Tudor]] and alluded in particular to the recent torture and executions of Archbishop [[Dermot O'Hurley]] and Bishop [[Patrick O'Hely]].<ref>Philip O'Sullivan Beare (1903), ''Chapters Towards a History of Ireland Under Elizabeth'', page 68.</ref>
Beatified Martyrs of this period include [[Margaret Ball]], former [[Lady Mayoress]] of Dublin, who died as a [[prisoner of conscience]] in [[Dublin Castle]] for refusing to take the [[Oath of Supremacy]], in 1584.<ref name=ballyraine>{{Cite web |url=http://irishmartyrs.com/irishmartyrs.php |title="The Irish Martyrs", The Church of the Irish Martyrs, Ballyraine |access-date=2013-04-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924043209/http://irishmartyrs.com/irishmartyrs.php |archive-date=2013-09-24 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Dominic Collins]], was Jesuit [[lay brother]] and former [[Catholic League (French)|Catholic League]] military officer, under the [[nom de guerre]] "Captain de la Branche", who served during the [[Brittany campaign (1590–1598)|Brittany Campaign]] of the [[French Wars of Religion]]. Captured following [[Battle of Kinsale]] and the 11-day [[Siege of Dunboy]]. Officially hanged for [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]], but in reality for refusing to take the [[Oath of Supremacy]], outside the walls of his native [[Youghal]], [[County Cork]], 31 October 1602<ref name=ballymote>{{cite web|url=http://homepage.tinet.ie/~jhiggins/missclarke.html|title=Archives}}</ref>
===King James I=== [[File:Dublin Martyrs by Conall McCabe (2001).jpg|thumb|Lady Mayoress [[Margaret Ball]] and Lord Mayor [[Francis Taylor (martyr)|Francis Taylor]], outside [[St Mary's Cathedral, Dublin|St Mary's Pro-Cathedral]], Dublin.]] According to D.P. Conyngham, "It was fondly hoped by the Catholics of Ireland that the accession of [[James I of England|James]] would bring peace and repose to the Church in that distracted and oppressed country. A general feeling of relief and joy pervaded all classes. Many of those who had been forced into exile returned to their native country: churches were rebuilt - monasteries repaired - the sacred duties of the sanctuary were resumed, and the offices of the Church were performed with undisturbed safety throughout the Kingdom. This state of comparative tranquility was not, however, suffered to continue..."<ref>D.P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Page 104.</ref> A Royal edict issued on 4 July 1605 announced that [[Elizabethan era|Elizabethan-era]] [[Recusancy in Ireland|Recusancy]] laws were to be rigorously enforced and added, "It hath seemed proper to us to proclaim, and we hereby make it known to our subjects in Ireland, that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be allowed - save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this realm."<ref>D.P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Pages 104-105.</ref>
===King Charles I=== According to historian D.P. Conyngham, "Ireland was torn by contending factions, and was oppressed by two belligerents during the reign of [[Charles I of England|Charles]]. The Catholics took up arms in defense of themselves, their religion, and their King. Charles, with the proverbial fickleness of the Stuarts, when pressed by the Puritans, persecuted the Irish, while he encouraged them when he hoped their loyalty and devotion would be the means of establishing his [[royal prerogative]]. For eight years Ireland was the theatre of the most desolating war and implacable persecution."<ref>D.P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Page 137.</ref> Beatified Martyrs of the era included [[Peter O'Higgins]], [[Dominicans in Ireland|Dominican Order]], hanged outside the walls of [[Dublin]] at [[St Stephen's Green]], on 24 March 1642.<ref name="newbridge">{{cite web|url=http://www.newbridge-college.ie/about-the-college/history/Peter-O%e2%80%99Higgins-OP|title=Peter O'Higgins OP|work=Newbridge College}}</ref><ref name="Patrick J 2005 Pages 148">Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), ''The Irish Martyrs'', Four Courts Press, Dublin. Pages 148–156.</ref><ref name="Clavin">{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Clavin |first=Terry |editor1-last=McGuire |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Quinn |editor2-first=James |date=October 2009 |title=Higgins, Peter |edition=online |encyclopedia=[[Dictionary of Irish Biography]] |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/higgins-peter-a4004 |access-date=4 April 2024}}</ref>
===The Commonwealth and Protectorate of England=== On 24 October 1644, the Puritan-controlled [[Rump Parliament]] in London, seeking to retaliate for acts of [[sectarian violence]] like the [[Portadown massacre]] during the recent [[Irish Rebellion of 1641|1641 uprising]], resolved, "that [[no quarter]] shall [[Ordinance of no quarter to the Irish|be given to any Irishman]], or to ''any papist born in Ireland''." Upon landing with the [[New Model Army]] at Dublin, [[Oliver Cromwell]] issued orders that no mercy was to be shown to the Irish, whom he said were to be treated like the [[Canaanites]] during the time of the [[Old Testament]] prophet [[Joshua]].<ref name="ReferenceA">D.P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', P.J. Kenedy & Sons, New York. Page 138.</ref> After taking Ireland in 1653, the [[New Model Army]] turned [[Inishbofin, County Galway]], into a prison camps for [[Catholic priest]]s arrested while exercising their religious ministry covertly in other parts of Ireland. [[Inishmore]], in the [[Aran Islands]], was used for exactly the same purpose. The last priests held on both islands were finally released following the [[Stuart Restoration]] in 1662.<ref>Nugent, Tony (2013). ''Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland''. Liffey Press. Pages 51-52, 148.</ref> Officially beatified martyrs of the era include [[Theobald Stapleton]], ({{langx|ga|Teabóid Gálldubh}}), slain during the [[Sack of Cashel]], 15 September 1647.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Stapleton, Theobald ('Teabóid Gálldubh') {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/stapleton-theobald-teaboid-galldubh-a8259 |access-date=2022-05-20 |website=www.dib.ie |language=en}}</ref> Another beatified martyr was [[John Kearney (Catholic martyr)|John Kearney]] (1619-1653) who was born in [[Cashel, County Tipperary]] and joined the [[Order of Friars Minor|Franciscans]] at the Kilkenny friary. After his novitiate, he went to Leuven in Belgium and was ordained in Brussels in 1642. Returned to Ireland, he taught in Cashel and Waterford, and was much admired for his preaching. In 1650 he became [[erenagh]] of [[Carrick-on-Suir]], County Tipperary. During the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]], he was arrested by the [[New Model Army]] while continuing to exercise an illegal and underground priestly ministry throughout the valley of the [[River Suir]] and executed by [[hanging]] at [[Clonmel]], [[County Tipperary]] on 21 March 1653. He lies buried in the chapter hall of the suppressed friary of Cashel.<ref name=franciscan/><ref name="Patrick J 2005 Pages 165">Edited by Patrick J. Cornish and Benignus Millet (2005), ''The Irish Martyrs'', Four Courts Press, Dublin. Pages 165–175.</ref>
===Age of the Whig oligarchy=== A [[Popery Act|1709 Penal Act]] demanded that Catholic priests take the [[Abjuration#English Commonwealth|''Oath of Abjuration'']], and recognise the Protestant [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] as [[Supreme Head of the Church of England|Supreme Head of the Church]] within all her dominions and declare that Catholic doctrine regarding [[Transubstantiation]] to be "base and idolatrous".<ref>D. P. Conyngham, ''Lives of the Irish Martyrs'', [[P.J. Kennedy & Sons]], [[New York City]]. Page 240-241.</ref> Priests who refused to take the oath abjuring the Catholic faith were arrested and executed.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} Priests had to register with the local magistrates to be allowed to preach, and most did so.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} Bishops were not permitted to register.<ref name="MacManus">{{cite book |last1=MacManus |first1=Seumas |title=The Story of the Irish Race: A Popular History of Ireland |date=1921 |location=New York |publisher=The Irish Publishing Co. |url=https://archive.org/stream/storyofirishrac00macm/storyofirishrac00macm_djvu.txt}}{{source-attribution}}</ref> In 1713, the [[Irish House of Commons]] declared that "prosecution and informing against Papists was an honourable service", which revived the [[Elizabethan era]] profession of the [[priest hunter]],<ref>Tony Nugent (2013), ''Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland'', [[The Liffey Press]]. Page 48.</ref> the most infamous of whom remains [[Sean na Sagart|John O'Mullowny]], nicknamed ({{langx|ga|Seán na Sagart}}), of the [[Partry Mountains]] in [[County Mayo]].<ref>Tony Nugent (2013), ''Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland'', pages 40-47.</ref> The reward rates for capture varied from £50–100 for a bishop, to £10–20 for the capture of an unregistered priest: substantial amounts of money at the time.<ref name="MacManus"/>
==Investigations== [[File:Mass in a Connemara Cabin by Aloysius O'Kelly (1883).png|thumb|250px|''Mass in a [[Connemara]] Cabin'' by [[Aloysius O'Kelly]], 1883. The custom of priests saying Mass secretly in people's homes dates to the [[Penal Laws against Irish Catholics|penal laws]]-era. It was especially common in rural areas.]] The Irish Martyrs suffered over several reigns and even at the hands of both sides during [[regime change]] wars.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} There was a long delay by the [[Holy See]] in opening an Apostolic Process into the Sainthood Causes of the Irish Catholic Martyrs for fear of escalating the ongoing religious persecution. Further complicating the investigation is that the records of these martyrs could not be safely investigated or publicized except by the [[Irish diaspora]] in [[Catholic Europe]], due to the danger of being caught possessing such evidence at home. Details of their endurance in most cases have been lost.<ref name=jesuits>[http://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/F0620s "The Irish Martyrs", Irish Jesuits], sacredspace.ie; accessed 16 December 2015.</ref> The first general catalog, that of Father John Houling, S.J., was compiled in Portugal between 1588 and 1599. It is styled a very brief abstract of certain persons whom it commemorates as sufferers for the Faith under Elizabeth.<ref name=mcneill/>
Detailed accounts were also written and published by [[Philip O'Sullivan Beare]], [[David Rothe]], [[Luke Wadding]], [[Richard Stanihurst]], [[Anthony Bruodin]], [[John Lynch (Gratianus Lucius)|John Lynch]], John Coppinger, and John Mullin.{{Sfn|Corish|Millet|2005|p=79}} A series of re-publications of primary sources relating to the period of the persecutions and meticulous comparisons against archival government documents in London and Dublin were also made by [[Francis Moran (cardinal)|Daniel F. Moran]] and other historians. The first Apostolic Process under Canon Law began in Dublin in 1904, after which a ''[[positio]]'' was submitted to the [[Holy See]].{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
In the 12 February 1915 Apostolic decree ''In Hibernia, heroum nutrice'', [[Pope Benedict XV]] formally authorized the formal introduction of additional Causes for Catholic sainthood.<ref name="index">{{cite book |title=Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum |date=January 1953 |publisher=Typis polyglottis vaticanis |page=56 |language=Latin}}</ref> During a further Apostolic Process held at Dublin between 1917 and 1930 and against the backdrop of the [[Irish War of Independence]] and [[Irish Civil War|Civil War]], the evidence surrounding 260 alleged cases of Catholic martyrdom were further investigated, after which the findings were again submitted to the Holy See.{{Sfn|Corish|Millet|2005|p=79}} So far, the only martyr to complete the process was [[Oliver Plunkett]], [[Archbishop of Armagh]], who was canonized as a saint in 1975 by [[Pope Paul VI]].<ref name=jesuits/> Plunkett was certainly targeted during the anti-Catholic fabricated accusations connected to [[Titus Oates]] and was executed following a [[show trial]] motivated solely ''in odium fidei'' ("out of hatred of the Faith"), instead of being in any way guilty of any real crime against the state.{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}}
== Lists of Martyrs ==
===Canonized Martyrs=== [[File:Saint Oliver Plunkett.jpg|thumb|Saint Oliver Plunkett]] '''12 October 1975 by [[Pope Paul VI]].''' * [[Oliver Plunkett]], [[Archbishop of Armagh]], 1 July 1681 at [[Tyburn]], London; beatified 1920<ref name=jesuits/>
===Beatified Martyrs=== '''15 December 1929 by [[Pope Pius XI]].'''{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} * [[John Carey (martyr)|John Carey]] (alias Terence Carey) and [[Patrick Salmon (martyr)|Patrick Salmon]], laymen, 4 July 1594 at [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]], England * [[John Cornelius (priest)|John Cornelius]] ({{langx|ga|Seán Conchobhar Ó Mathghamhna}}), Jesuit priest, 4 July 1594 at [[Dorchester, Dorset|Dorchester]], England * [[John Roche (martyr)|John Roche]], layman, 30 August 1588 at [[Tyburn]], England
'''22 November 1987 by [[Pope John Paul II]].'''{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} * [[Charles Mahoney (martyr)|Charles Mahoney]] (alias Meehan), Franciscan, 21 August 1679, [[Ruthin]], [[Wales]]
===The 17 Blessed Irish Martyrs=== '''27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II.'''{{Citation needed|date=October 2025}} * [[Patrick O'Hely]] ({{langx|ga|Pádraig Ó hÉilí}}), Franciscan [[Bishop of Mayo]], betrayed to [[Lord President of Munster]] Sir [[William Drury]] by the [[Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond|Rebel Earl]] and Countess of Desmond and executed at [[Kilmallock]] 13 August 1579 * Conn O'Rourke ({{langx|ga|Conn Ó Ruairc}}), Franciscan [[Friar]], betrayed to the [[priest hunter]]s by the Rebel Earl and Countess of Desmond and executed at [[Kilmallock]], 13 August 1579 * [[Wexford Martyrs]], 5 July 1581: Matthew Lambert, Robert Myler, Edward Cheevers, Patrick Cavanagh (Irish: Pádraigh Caomhánach), John O'Lahy, and one other unknown individual * [[Margaret Ball]], former Lady Mayoress of Dublin, died 1584, as a [[prisoner of conscience]] inside [[Dublin Castle]]<ref name=ballyraine/> * [[Dermot O'Hurley]] ({{langx|ga|Diarmaid Ó hUrthuile}}), [[Archbishop of Cashel]], sentenced to death by [[military tribunal]] and hanged at Lower [[Baggot Street]], then outside the walls of Dublin, 20 June 1584 * [[Muiris Mac Ionrachtaigh]] (Maurice MacKenraghty), [[military chaplain]] to the [[Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond|Rebel Earl of Desmond]], executed at [[Clonmel]], during the [[Second Desmond Rebellion]], 30 April 1585 * [[Dominic Collins]], Jesuit [[lay brother]] captured by the Tudor Army following the [[Siege of Dunboy]] and executed without trial at [[Youghal]], [[County Cork]], 31 October 1602<ref name=ballymote/> * [[Concobhar Ó Duibheannaigh]] (Conor O'Devany), Franciscan Bishop of Down & Connor, 11 February 1612 * [[Patrick O'Loughran]], priest from [[County Tyrone]] and former spiritual director to [[Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone|Aodh Mór Ó Néill]], 11 February 1612 * [[Francis Taylor (martyr)|Francis Taylor]], former [[Lord Mayor of Dublin]], died as a [[prisoner of conscience]] inside [[Dublin Castle]], 1621 * [[Peter O'Higgins]] OP, Prior of the [[Dominicans in Ireland|Dominican]] monastery of [[Naas]], hanged under orders from [[Sir Charles Coote, 1st Baronet|Sir Charles Coote]], despite O'Higgins' well-documented and successful efforts to protect Protestant civilians from [[sectarian violence]] and [[ethnic cleansing]] during the [[Irish rebellion of 1641]], at [[St Stephen's Green]], then outside the walls of Dublin, on 24 March 1642<ref name="newbridge"/><ref name="Patrick J 2005 Pages 148"/><ref name="Clavin"/> * [[Theobald Stapleton]], ({{langx|ga|Teabóid Gálldubh}}), [[Catholic priest]] and one of the creators of modern [[Irish language]] [[Irish orthography|orthography]]. During the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]], Fr. Stapleton sought sanctuary inside St. Patrick's Cathedral upon the [[Rock of Cashel]] and was slain, alongside six other priests, by the [[Roundheads|Parliamentary Army]] of [[Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin|Lord Inchiquin]] ({{langx|ga|Murchadh na dTóiteán}}) during the [[Sack of Cashel]], 15 September 1647. Fr. Stapleton is said to have blessed his attackers with [[holy water]] moments before his death.<ref name=":0"/> * [[Terence O'Brien (bishop)|Terence O'Brien]] OP, [[Dominican Order]], Bishop of Emly, captured following the [[Siege of Limerick (1650-51)|Siege of Limerick]], [[court martial]]ed, sentenced to [[death penalty|death]], and hanged by [[New Model Army]] General [[Henry Ireton]].<ref name="O'Brien">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11193d.htm Terence Albert O'Brien]. ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''] Retrieved 28 September 2007.{{PD-notice}}</ref> Gallows Green, [[Limerick City]], 31 October 1651 * [[John Kearney (Catholic martyr)|John Kearney]], Franciscan Prior of Cashel, hanged at [[Clonmel]], officially for high treason, but in reality for covertly continuing his priestly ministry throughout the valley of the [[River Suir]] in [[nonviolent resistance]] to the [[Commonwealth of England]]'s recent decree banishing of all Catholic priests, 21 March 1653<ref name=franciscan>{{cite web|url=http://www.franciscans.ie/spirituality/franciscan-saints/76-spirituality/franciscan-saints-blessed/227-franciscan-saints-2|title=Franciscan Saints & Blessed|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204001600/http://www.franciscans.ie/spirituality/franciscan-saints/76-spirituality/franciscan-saints-blessed/227-franciscan-saints-2|archive-date=2014-02-04}}</ref><ref name="Patrick J 2005 Pages 165"/> * [[William Tirry]] ({{langx|ga|Liam Tuiridh}}), [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] [[Friar]] from [[Red Abbey, Cork|St. Austin's Abbey]] in [[Cork City]], captured by the [[priest hunter]]s at [[Fethard, County Tipperary]] and [[death by hanging|executed by hanging]], officially for [[high treason in the United Kingdom|high treason]] against [[The Protectorate]] and [[Commonwealth of England]], but in reality for remaining in Ireland and continuing his priestly ministry in [[nonviolent resistance]] of the regime's decree of banishment for all priests, at [[Clonmel]], [[County Tipperary]], [[12 May]] [[1654 in Ireland|1654]]
==Church dedications== Various parish churches have also been dedicated since 1992 to the Irish Catholic Martyrs, including: *[[Church of the Irish Martyrs]], Ballyraine, [[Letterkenny]],<ref name=ballyraine/> [[County Donegal]] *Church of the Irish Martyrs, Ballycane, [[Naas]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://kildare.ie/naasparish/church-of-irish-martyrs.htm |title=Naas Parish website |access-date=2008-01-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071123111923/http://www.kildare.ie/naasparish/church-of-irish-martyrs.htm |archive-date=2007-11-23 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[County Kildare]]
==See also== *[[List of Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation]] *[[Charles Reynolds (cleric)|Charles Reynolds]] ({{langx|ga|Cathal Mac Raghnaill}}) ({{circa|1496}}{{spaced en dash}} 1535), envoy of Silken Thomas to the Holy See who secured a Papal promise to excommunicate [[Henry VIII]] over the [[Act of Supremacy]].
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book|location=Dublin [u.a.]|publisher=Four Courts Press|series=Irish theological quarterly monograph series|volume=1 |editor1-last=Corish|editor1-first=Patrick J.|editor2-last=Millet|editor2-first=Benignus|title=The Irish Martyrs|year=2005|isbn=9781851828586}} * William P. Burke (1914),[https://archive.org/details/MN42003ucmf_6 The Irish priests in the penal times (1660-1760): from the state papers in H. M. Record Offices], Printed by N. Harvey & Co., [[Waterford]]. * Colin Murphy (2013), ''The Priest Hunters: The True Story of Ireland's Bounty Hunters'', [[The O'Brien Press]]. * {{cite book| last = Nugent | first = Tony |date = 2013 | title = Were You at the Rock? The History of Mass Rocks in Ireland | publisher = Liffey Press | isbn = 9781908308474}} *''New Catholic Dictionary'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20070217092451/http://www.catholic-forum.com/SAINTS/ncd05034.htm Irish Martyrs] * {{Cite book|last=O'Reilly |first=Myles |date=1880 |title=Lives of the Irish Martyrs and Confessors |publisher=James Sheehy |location=New York |oclc=173466082 |url=https://archive.org/details/LivesOfTheIrishMartyrsAndConfessors/}}
==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070808060436/http://www.catholicireland.net/pages/index.php?nd=68&art=864 Catholicireland.net]
{{Catholic saints - martyrs|state=collapsed}} {{Subject bar |portal1=Saints |portal2= Biography |portal3= Catholicism |portal4= Ireland}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irish Catholic Martyrs}} [[Category:History of Catholicism in Ireland]] [[Category:Victims of anti-Catholic violence in Ireland]] [[Category:24 Irish Catholic Martyrs]] [[Category:Irish beatified people]] [[Category:Catholic martyrs of the Early Modern era| Irish Martyrs]] [[Category:Executed Irish people]] [[Category:Year of birth unknown]] [[Category:Groups of Roman Catholic saints]] [[Category:Lists of saints]] [[Category:Beatifications by Pope John Paul II]] [[Category:Groups of Christian martyrs of the Early Modern era| Irish Martyrs]]