"_Eile._ This was the name of a tribe and an extensive territory,
all in the ancient Mumha or Munster. They derived the name
from Eile, the seventh in descent from Cian, the son of
Oilioll-Ollum ... The ancient _Eile_ comprised the whole of
Eile Ui-Chearbhail, which is now included in the King's County
... and also the baronies of _Ikerrin_ and Elyogarty in the
county of Tipperary.... Ikerrin and Elyogarty were detached from
O'Chearbhail shortly after the English invasion, and added to
Ormond, but _the native chieftains O'Meachair_, i.e. _O'Meagher_,
and O'Fogartaigh, i.e. O'Fogarty, were left in possession".
7. We will not fatigue the reader by citing a long series of authorities
in which similar statements recur. Two will suffice for all, and we
shall take them from the works of the late lamented professor of our
Catholic University, Eugene O'Curry. One is a genealogical extract,
in which Michael O'Clery, the chief of the 'Four Masters', commemorates
some of the most illustrious families of the Milesian race. From Heber, he
says, the Son of Milesius, were descended thirty of the kings of Ireland,
and sixty-one saints. Amongst these royal chieftains must be reckoned
_Teadgh_ (_i.e._ Thaddeus), grandson of Oiliol Ollum, and he adds:
"The descendants of this _Teadgh_ branched out and inhabited
various parts throughout Ireland, namely, the race of _Cormac
Gaileng_, in Luighne Connacht, the two Ui-Eaghra in Connacht,
the O'Eaghra of the Ruta, O'Chearbhaill of Eile.--_O'Meachara
in Ui-Cairin_, and O'Conor, etc". (_Curry's Lectures_, etc.,
pag. 147).
The other extract to which we wish to refer is published in the Appendix
to the 'Battle of Magh Rath', which was translated and edited for the
Celtic Society by the same great Irish scholar in 1855. The eighth
genealogical Table (pag. 175) in this work, extracted "from O'Clery's
_Pedigrees_, and Mac Firbis", tells us that "_Mechair_, from whom
O'Meachair or Meagher", was fourteenth in descent from Oiliol Ollum,
and the following note of O'Clery is added to his name:--
"There is a steed and a suit of clothes from each new chief of
them to the Comharba of St. Cronan of Roscrea, together with
Innisnambeo; and he (the Comharba) is to go around the chief
to proclaim him chief; and the Comharba is entitled to sit at
his shoulder, and the chief should stand up at his approach:
and this _Meachair was King of Eile_".
From all this we are surely justified in concluding that the historic
date of _solum Cariense_ and _regia progenies_ are precisely those which
we should expect to find in a commemoration of an illustrious member of
the family of the O'Mahers.[4]
8. Our holy bishop, though thus descended from the first monarch of
our island, wished, when journeying from Rome, to enter as a pilgrim
the public hospital of St. Anthony in Ivrea, and there, in the true
evangelical spirit, rejoiced in being reckoned the poorest of the
poor. Heaven, however, has decreed that the humble shall be exalted;
and no sooner had the unknown traveller closed his eyes to this world,
than a divine light filled the room in which he lay; several prodigies
awakened the devotion of the faithful, and proclaimed his sanctity; and
the clergy and laity in solemn procession bore his hallowed remains to
the cathedral church, and numbered him amongst the patrons of that ancient
see. Thus, again, was Dr. Thaddeus true to the traditions of his family;
for, besides his royal descent, he could boast of the higher and nobler
lineage of sanctity. In the Martyrology of Donegal we find the names of
two members of the family whose festivals were celebrated on January
16th and September 6th. Colgan, too, speaks of a _Saint Mecharius_,
whose life he had prepared for publication, and whose feast was marked
for the 13th of November (_AA. SS._, pag. 756).
Dr. Reeves also informs us that a St. _Machar_, better known by the Irish
appellation of Mochonna, was sent by St. Columba with twelve companions
to preach the Gospel to the Picts, and subsequently became the patron
saint of Aberdeen (_Adamman's Columba_, pag. 246, 289, 299, etc.). On
a fly-leaf of the original MS. of the Martyrology of Donegal, in the
handwriting of O'Clery or Colgan, a Saint _Murro_ is commemorated, with
the addition, "_id est, Machare, seu Meacharius_", and the interesting
fact is further commemorated: "quod feras bestias subjugavit et triduo
defunctum ad vitam revocavit" (_Martyr. Doneg._, I. A. S., xlvi.).
We do not wish, however, to leave unanswered the difficulty which the
words of Ware present against our interpretation of this holy bishop's
name. He expressly styles this bishop "_Thady M'Carthy_, by some called
_Mechar_". Here then we must remark that Ware does not identify these
names; and the name _Mechar_, which, as Ware acknowledges, was by some
authorities given to this bishop, is proved by the monuments of Ivrea to
have been his _true name_. What then was the origin of Ware's mistake?
We learn from the _Monumenta Vaticana_ (pag. 503), that there was about
this time a Thaddeus Mac Carryg "_iniquitatis filius_", who endeavoured
to intrude himself into the see of Ross, and who is erroneously ranked by
Ware amongst the bishops of that see (see _Record_, No. iii., December,
1864). As that name resembles _Mac Carrha_ or _Mac Carthaigh_, the Irish
forms of _Mac Carthy_, it seems not improbable that Ware, by one of
his so-frequent errors, confounded our holy Bishop Thaddeus with that
iniquitous usurper (see _Dublin Review_, April, 1865, p. 384).
10. Perhaps we have here again a clue to the difficulties which compelled
Bishop Thaddeus to abandon his see for a while, and seek a refuge in
Rome. When appointed in 1490, several retainers of the Desmond family
refused to admit him to the possession of the temporalities of his see
(see _Record_, pag. 312). Now it was precisely in 1488 or 1489 that
Thady M'Carthy had been compelled by the repeated censures of Rome to
surrender the temporalities of Ross to the canonically appointed Bishop
Odo; and what more natural than that the same genius of evil should,
on the vacancy of the adjoining diocese in the following year, stir up
again the embers of discord, and endeavour through his kinsmen to obtain
possession of this see at least? And as the Protestant historian reckoned
the usurper of the temporalities of Ross amongst the canonical successors
of St. Fachinan, so, by a somewhat similar mistake, he may have easily
confounded the same Thaddeus M'Carryg with the holy bishop who canonically
ruled the united sees of Cloyne and Cork.
11. It now remains to make a few other remarks on the interesting paper
published in the last _Record_.
In the first place, there are some incidental errors which seem to be
inadvertently introduced. At pag. 379, Richard Wolsey is commemorated
as successor of Thady, Bishop of Down, who died in 1486, which opinion
has long since been set aside by De Burgo and Dr. Reeves (_Eccles.
Antiquities_, Dublin, 1847, pag. 257). Thady, Bishop of Ross, is also
said to have died soon after his appointment in 1488, and to have had
for his successor Bishop Odo in 1489. All this has been sufficiently
refuted in a former number of the _Record_ (pag. 106) and in the _Dublin
Review_ for April, pag. 384.
At pag. 380-1, our Blessed Thaddeus is identified with a distinguished
member of the Augustinian order, named _Thaddeus de Hipporegia_, who is
eulogized as "a man distinguished for learning, religious observance,
preaching, holiness of life, and experience, a man of great zeal,
and a sedulous promoter of the interests of his order". We should be
glad, indeed, to be able to number amongst our countrymen this great
ornament of the Augustinian body. Unfortunately, however, the historians
of that order represent this Thaddeus, not as an _Irishman_, but as
an _Italian_, whose surname points to the town or province of Ivrea
(see above No. 1) as the place of his nativity. The article in the
_Record_ adds: "True, Elsius gives 1502 for the date of the friar's
demise; but Elsius is never to be trusted in dates, and the printer
may easily take MCCCCXCII. (the true date) for MCCCCCII". This is very
plausible; but unfortunately here again there is no foundation for such
reasoning, and hence the whole fabric falls to the ground. Elsius does
not assign 1502, as the date of the friar's death; he merely writes
"_floruit usque ad annum 1502_" (_Encom. Augustin._, Brussels, 1654,
pag. 645). He, however, refers to Herrera for further information;
turning to whose work we find thus explained the last formula of Elsius:
"Durat ejus memoria usque ad an. 1502 in quo, habita Ferrariae synodo,
Vicarius Congregationis acclamatus est. Nulla ultra illius in actis
consistorialibus mentio", (_Alphab. Augustin._, vol. ii. pag. 450):
and in a later Spanish compendium of this work, made by Herrera himself,
it is said that this Thaddeus _probably died in 1503_, no mention being
made of him in the acts of the order subsequent to the synod of Ferrara,
held in the preceding year. There is also another circumstance equally
fatal to the above theory. The illustrious Augustinian held many high
offices in his order, and the historians Elsius and Herrera give the
minutest details concerning them: "He was seven times definitor,
(they write), thirteen times visitator, four times president of
their congregations, nine times vicarius-generalis", etc, but both are
careful to _exclude him_ from the list of bishops of the order. There is,
therefore, no one point of contact between the distinguished Augustinian
friar Thaddeus, and our holy Bishop of Cloyne.
12. To prove that the _Solum Cariense_ might justly be referred to in the
eulogy or epitaph of a Bishop M'Carthy, it is interpreted as referring
to _Kerry, the burial place of that family_. However, neither the Irish
form of the name of that territory, i.e. _Chiarr_ (as we learn from
the _Record_, page 380) nor the only Latin name by which we have seen it
designated in mediaeval records, i.e. _Cherrium_, can be said to have much
affinity with the _Cariense_ of the ancient document of Ivrea. We may also
add that, were reference made to the burial place of the princely family
of the M'Carthys, we should rather expect to find commemorated Muckross
or Innisfallen, than the generic name of the vast territory of Kerry.
13. As regards the name _Machara_ or _Mechar_, it is said that the Irish
name MacCarthy, is pronounced _Maccaura_, with the last syllable short,
as in Ardmagha, and numberless like words. Hence, Wadding, in speaking of
the foundation of Muckross Abbey, Killarney, by Domnall M'Carthy, Prince
of Desmond, quotes to this effect a bull of Paul II. in 1468, in which
Domnall's name is spelled "_Machar_" (p. 379). This example from the bull
of Pope Paul II. is evidently a mere typographical error. In the edition
of Wadding's Annals to which the writer refers (Roman edit., tom. xiii.,
p. 558, _seq._), that error stands side by side with _Desimonia_ and
_Aertferten_, and what is still worse, Wadding in his text, citing this
passage, is made to say: "Refert in hoc diplomate pontifex, inchoatum
fuisse a _Donaldo Mac-Lare_" (p. 432). The origin of these errors is,
that the transcripts of the Pontifical letters were made by strangers
to our language, and the Roman edition of Wadding did not appear until
sixty years after his death. In the original edition of the work, however,
which was printed under the revision of Bonaventure Baron and other Irish
Franciscans, Wadding's text gives us the true Latin form of the name:
"Refert in hoc diplomate pontifex inchoatum fuisse a _Donaldo Mac-Care_"
(1st edit. Lugduni, 1648, tom. vi. p. 693), and elsewhere speaking of the
same convent of Muckross, he says its founder was "_Magnus Carthagus_",
Prince of Desmond. Indeed, the Latin form of the name M'Carthy is not
one about which we should have much dispute; it occurs a thousand times
in the works of O'Sullivan Beare, Dr. Roothe, and other Irish writers,
and yet nowhere is it found expressed under that form which the name of
the Blessed Thaddeus presents to us.
Whilst, however, we thus dissent from some of the conclusions of the
learned writer in the _Record_ for May, we wish to convey to him our
sincere acknowledgments for having so prominently brought before the
Irish public the name, too long forgotten, of one of our sainted Bishops,
under whose protection we may hope that our holy faith will ever prosper,
not only in our own island, but also in that now suffering province
where his relics are enshrined.