stead of objecting, rather admired the fortitude and constancy of the decrepid old man. Being one day in the market-place, some of the Catholic citizens presented a petty Protestant preacher to him, telling him that he was his intimate friend, Father O'Mulkerin, the Jesuit. After embracing him he immediately withdrew, declaring that he had the odour of heresy about him; so that the Catholics, and even the minister himself, were struck with wonder. He died full of days, leaving behind him an undying fame, and his memory is held in benediction by the Catholics of that place.

Within my own memory there lived in the same house very famous men who, by word and example and the administration of the sacraments, edified the people and glorified Jesus Christ, thus imitating the zeal of Elias and following in the footsteps of the holy patriarch Saint Dominic.

Amongst these were :

Father Dominic O'Conor, a man of the most remarkable piety and purity, by whose strenuous exertions our friars were restored in the province of Ulster, notwithstanding a strong resistance made by some against their admission, not only to the districts in which they had been accustomed to quest, but even to the very abbeys which they had possessed in the sight of all, from their first foundation until the time of Cromwell. For then all the religious had been obliged to take to flight and almost all our fathers belonging to that vast province died in exile. Other people, returning on the restoration of a little tranquillity, occupied our places, from which indeed they could scarcely have been ousted, unless the Lord had raised up and preserved for us this strenuous itdefender and victorious leader, who, on account of his

et nominis ac religionis perspicuitate præditus, habebatur plurimi apud Catholicam et vetustam nobilitatem Ultoniæ. Hic pater erat ingens propagator rosarii suis assiduis concionibus, et quamvis esset naturaliter hebetioris linguæ ob balbutiem aliqualem, dum tamen conscendebat pulpitum, erat tam paratæ loquela et strenuæ facundiæ, ac si a natura nullum penitus haberet obstaculum. Castimoniæ erat integerrimus custos, ita ut cum nulla persona alterius sexus etiam cum proximis consanguineis colloqueretur extra confessionis tempus, quam semper audiebat in loco aliquo patulo. Obiit valde senex et cum odore celebris famæ apud clerum et populum. Fuit sæpius prior sui nativi conventus, et definitor pro Ultonia in capitulo provinciali, celebrato Kilkenniæ, in mense Januarii, anno 1643.

Eximius P. Fr. Joannes O'Hart, sacræ theologiæ magister, fuit ex eodem conventu, et studiis fructuose peractis in religiosissimo conventu Placentino in Hispania, remeavit ad suum nativum conventum. Inde compulsus abire, ingruente crudelitate hæretici exercitus, se contulit ad conventum Burrisulensem, ubi per aliquod tempus juventutem sæcularem et regularem in humanioribus exercuit. Inde vocatus est ad studium generale Athenriense, tunc operose vigens, et ibidem institutus philosophiæ lector, eandem docuit triennio integro cum fructu uberrimo. Hinc missus fuit ad conventum Kilkenni. ensem, in quo præfuit studio ut primarius theologiæ professor, usque ad expugnationem regni completam. Tunc ibidem congregatum erat Concilium Supremum regni, conflatum ex omnibus proceribus regni tam ecclesiasticis quam sæcularibus, apud quos iste pater erat specialissimæ æstimationis ob claram illius eruditionem. Erat namque in concionando, doctus, facundus et jucundus; ac in resolvendo morales difficultates se

noble birth and his fame and manifest holiness, was greatly esteemed by the ancient Catholic nobility of Ulster. This father was a great promoter of the rosary in his frequent sermons, and, although he had a hesitation. in ordinary speech, owing to a stutter, yet, when he ascended the pulpit, he was as ready and eloquent as if he had absolutely no impediment at all. He was such a perfect custodian of chastity, that he would not speak to any person of the opposite sex, even to his own near relatives, outside the time of confession, which he always heard in some open place. He died a very old man and in the odour of good repute with the clergy and people. He was often prior of his own convent, and Definitor for Ulster in the provincial chapter held at Kilkenny, in the month of January, 1643.

The good Father John O'Hart, master of sacred theology, belonged to the same community, and, after finishing his studies with success in the religious convent of Plasencia in Spain, returned to his own native convent. Being compelled to depart thence by the cruel onslaught of the Protestant army, he went to Burrishoole, where for some time he taught classics to regular and secular ecclesiastical students. Being called thence to the general school at Athenry, then in full working order, he was made lector of philosophy there and taught it for three years with great results. He was then sent to the convent of Kilkenny, where he directed the studies as first professor of theology, until the complete subjugation of the kingdom. At that period, the Supreme Council of the kingdom was gathered there, consisting of all the leading men in the country, both lay and ecclesiastic, and this father was held in high estimation by them on account of his brilliant erudition. For in preaching, he was learned, eloquent and pleasing, and in settling cases

curus et solidus. Provincialatum gessit feliciter decennio integro sub reverendissimo Patre Magistro Generali de Marinis. Curavit ut dispersi fratres mansiones stabilirent in locis valde solitariis, et cohabitarent in suis respective districtibus. Sub ipso plurimi juvenes egregii induti ac professi sunt per omnes conventus regni.

Post restauratum regem nostrum, Carolum II., quidam religiosus Minorita, nomine Fr. Petrus Vallesius, addictus novitatibus et instigatus susurris excellentissimi D. Jacobi Butler, ducis Ormoniæ, eo tempore proregis in Hibernia, voluit (reluctante tota ejus provincia) inducere doctrinas peregrinas ac schismaticas contra Summi Pontificis supremam ac infallibilem auctori tatem. Suum pestiferum libellum nuncupavit Remonstrantiam, quem P. M. O'Hart, tunc provincialis, transmisit Salmanticam et Complutum, ab utraque academia examinandum, quo audito dominus prorex persuasus a dicto religioso, eum conjecit in carcerem Dubliniensem, in quo detentus annum cum dimidio, nec permissus exire, nisi datis prius vadibus ditissimis ad comparendum indilate statuto tempore, triennium adimplevit sub isto rigoroso vadimonio. Erat vir plane pius ac probus, affabilissimus et humillimus, absque tamen ulla sui ipsius degeneri dejectione. Dum adhuc esset provincialis et magister præclarus suavitate morum et panoplia scientiarum, ibat personaliter ad mendicandum per pagos, imo per montana asperrima, adjungens prædicationum et confessionum audiendarum retributionem salvificam in districtu sui nativi conventus, in quo munitus sacrosancta Eucharistia et extrema unctione, diem clausit extremum, circa annum 1672. Fuit diligentissimus indagator antiquarum rerum gestarum in nostra Hibernia, cujus memorialia si habuissem ad

of conscience he was safe and solid. He held the provincialship auspiciously for ten entire years, under Father General de Marinis. He took care to make the dispersed friars establish houses in very solitary places and live together in their own respective districts. Under him. many excellent youths were received and professed in all the convents of the kingdom.

After the restoration of our king, Charles II., a certain Franciscan of the name of Father Peter Walsh, given to novelties and instigated by James Butler, Duke of Ormonde, at that time lord-lieutenant of Ireland, wanted (in opposition to all his brethren in Ireland) to introduce strange and schismatical doctrines, directed against the supreme and infallible authority of the Roman Pontiff. He called his pestiferous book the Remonstrance, a book which Father O'Hart, then provincial, transmitted to Salamanca and Alcalà, to be examined by both academies; on hearing which the lordlieutenant, urged by the said religious, threw him into prison in Dublin, where he was detained for a year and a half, and, being liberated only on giving heavy bail to appear instantly when wanted, spent three years under this rigorous treatment. He was an extremely pious and upright man, most affable and humble, without however any unworthy spirit of dejection. Whilst actually provincial, this theologian, distinguished for his charming manners and great learning, went personally to quest through the villages, and even through difficult mountainous tracts, giving a spiritual return by preaching and hearing confessions in the district of his own native convent, in which, fortified by the Blessed Eucharist and extreme unction, he closed his life about 1672. He was a most diligent student of the antiquities of our country, and, if I had his notes at hand, I should be