The Irish Martyrs Podcast

Manus Mac Meanmain

On the Catholic Martyrs of Ireland.A reading of Father Dennis Murphy's book 'Our Martyrs,' on Ireland's Catholic Martyrs.

  1. Aug 2

    Donagh & John Olvin : Comemorate 6th of August, Anniversary of Order’s founder, Saint Dominic.

    The martyrdom in Derry of the Prior Donagh Olvin OP & his priest brother John Olvin[1] O.P. (From De Burgo’s Hib. Dom., p.559) AMONG our Irish martyrs assuredly these may well claim the first place.  They are spoken of at length in the work bearing the title Palma Fidel Ordinis Prœdicatorum composed by the Rev. Father B. Peter Malphæus, OP., prior of Brussels ; viz:’ Donough, alias William, Olvin, prior of the convent of Derry in Ulster[2]: he was hanged, with many secular priests, in the square of the said city, and quartered, by the English heretics in the year 1608.[3] The brother of the Prior; he too was a religious of the Order of preachers, and was hanged some time before the Prior suffered, in the same city, because he professed the Catholic faith, as we read in the said Malphæus. See also O’Sullevan, Molanus, O’Daly, and Porter [1] Or O’Laighen [2] Founded by O’Donnell, chief of his clan, in 1244. Hib. Dom. P.281 [3] There is some uncertainty about the date. The above is that given in Hib. Dom., p.559 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  2. Aug 1

    August 1580: Laurence O'Moore, Oliver Plunkett, And William Walsh

    1580. LAURENCE O’MOORE, OLIVER PLUNKETT, AND WILLIAM WALSH LAURENCE O’MOORE was descended from a very ancient and respectable family in Ireland.  He was a priest remarkable for holiness of life, as Sander testifies.[1] When the Spanish General San Jose surrendered the castle of Smerwick,[2] in the western part of Co. Kerry, to Lord Grey, who was the Deputy, the conditions were that the garrison should be allowed to march out with their arms, ammunition, and other property. But the treacherous heretics did not think themselves bound either by their oath or by the laws that are held sacred even by barbarous nations.  The Spaniards, nine hundred in number, were made to give up their arms, and all but ten and the cowardly commander either cast into the sea or slain in cold blood.  O’Moore and two Irishmen of noble birth, Oliver Plunkett and William Walsh, were taken there also.  These the Deputy required to be handed over to him.  He strove to induce them to abjure the Catholic faith and to embrace Protestantism; and when they refused, and said that with God’s grace they would continue even till death to profess the Catholic faith, he sent them to a blacksmith’s forge and had their limbs broken to pieces with a hammer.  This butchery lasted for twenty-four hours.  During all that time these noblemen displayed extraordinary courage, having been strengthened with the sacraments, which they had received from Father Laurence.  All three expired almost at the same moment, their last words being : ‘Into Thy hands, 0 Lord, I commend my spirit.’  They were put to death August 1580. The State Papers confirm fully the above narrative:  This day was executed an Englishman who served Dr. Saunders, one Plunkett, and an Irish priest.  Theire armes and legges were broken, and hanged upon a gallowes upon the wall of the fort.’[3] Sander was the Papal Legate, who died soon after in the woods at Aherlow, raving in a phrenesy.’[4] Plunkett, the writer says, was born near Drogheda. See also Holing, Rothe, O’Sullevan, Copinger, Henriquez, Molanus, Hartry, and Porter. [1] See Spic. Ossor., i. 88 [2] See Hennessy’s Raleigh in Ireland, p. 10. The castle was called Dún an Óir. [3] Ibid., p.211. Letter of Sir R, Bingham to Walsingham. [4] See the Introduction to Sander’s Anglican Schism, p.20 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  3. Jul 30

    31st July; John Travers

    Ireland's first known reformation martyr was John Travers. This is the story of his martyrdom. 1535. VENERABLE JOHN TRAVERS[1], I.O.S.A. (From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p. 426) The first of our martyrs in later times mentioned by name, for others no doubt preceded him whose names are written only in the Book of Life, was John Travers, a native of Dublin, a priest of the Order of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and a Doctor of Theology. He wrote anonymously a famous work bearing the title On the Authority of the Roman Pontiff.[2] In it he proved clearly that the primacy of Henry VIII. was a mere fiction, and only a name, without any foundation in fact or in reason. Whereupon he was seized by the King’s ministers and sent to London. He was kept in the Tower for four months in succession. During that time he was examined on four different occasions, And put to various kinds of torture, and being found faithful and steadfast, he was declared guilty of high treason by Cromwell and the other flatterers of the King. He was led out, as is the custom among the English, his hands tied behind his back and a rope round his neck, placed on a hurdle, and taken in this manner to the usual place of execution. [3] (A hurdle is a moveable section of light fence traditionally made from wattle, in medieval England a hurdle was used as a makeshift sledge, to which a prisoner was tied to be dragged behind a horse to a place of execution.)[4] When he reached the top of the ladder leading to the gallows, he prayed for pardon, and heartily exhorted the bystanders to pray earnestly to God, the refuge of sinners, for the conversion and salvation of the King and of all the mad heretics who adhered to him. And then he exclaimed in a loud voice. ‘It is not for any crime, Christian hearers, that I have been sent hither from Ireland, my native country, but rather because I professed the Catholic faith, which I, like my ancestors, have drunk in with my mother’s milk; and also, because I am supposed to be the author of a certain work lately spread abroad among the Catholics. The moment of my death is now close at hand, which will surely open for me the door to eternal life. Hence it behoves me not to use any ambiguous or obscure language for the purpose of concealing the truth. Wherefore I declare openly that I am a priest of the Catholic and Apostolic Church, and, moreover, that it was with these three fingers,’ and he raised aloft the three fingers of his right hand, ’I wrote that work on the Authority of the Roman Pontiff.’ When he had said these words, the sheriff gave the order; he was hanged, cut down before life was quite extinct, and quartered. A wonderful thing then took place. His right hand and his intestines were cast into the fire; and while other parts were reduced to ashes, the three fingers of his right hand which he had raised aloft on the scaffold, were seen in a like position in the midst of the flames, and afterwards were found whole and fresh, as if they had never been cast into the fire, like the right hand of King Oswald, the martyr, which the Venerable Bede[5] tells us remained up to his own time fresh and uncorrupted, in token, no doubt, of the divine approval of his charity to the poor. Harpsfield[6] says he was assured by eye-witnesses that the flesh on the martyr’s fingers remained fresh long after his death. O’Sullevan says Travers was put to death on the 30th July; Fitzsimon on the 31st  He is one of the two hundred and sixty Venerable Servants of God put to death in England for the faith, whose cause of beatification or declaration of martyrdom has been allowed by the decree of December 4th, 1886, to be introduced in the Sacred Congregation of Rites. See also Harpsfield, Bridgewater, Fitzsimon, White, Copinger,  O’SuJlevan , O’Daly, and Lynch. [1] Broudin writes the name Tanner; but it is usually written as above. The complete identity of the facts given under both names by the different authors shows that they refer to one person only, not to two, whatever his name may have been. [2] Though I’ve searched for this book, I have not been able to find a copy of it in any library in this country. [3] Tyburn, close to the present Marble Arch. A stone marks the spot where Tyburn Gate stood. [4] Channel4.com (25 March 2009) "Perkin Warbeck (1474-99)" Henry VIII: The Mind of a Tyrant. Retrieved 2011-11-19 [5] Hist. Eccl.Angl., iii.6 [6] In whose work he is called Gravesius, no doubt a misprint for Traversius See Dial, p995   Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  4. Jul 24

    Stephen Pettit OP Comemmorate date of appointment of contemporary bishop, Anthony Martin

    STEPHEN PETTIT, O.R[1] (From the Acts of the General Chapter, OP., 1644) Comemmorate 25th July, date of appointment in 1625 of Anthony Martin, contemporary bishop of Meath  WHILST he was encouraging the Catholics in the faith, and in the midst of war and battles was looking to the welfare of their souls and discharging the office of confessor at the same time in a Praiseworthy manner, he was struck by a bullet, in a battle against the heretics, and so exchanged life for death.  O’Daly adds he was prior of Mullingar,[2] and that while he was engaged at Ballenacorra in hearing the confession of a soldier going into the fight, he was caught sight of by one of the garrison of a neighbouring castle, who fired at him and wounded him mortally.  He died the next day of the wound. See also O’Daly [1] De Burgo thinks there were two of this name also, who were killed in the same way, one of the convent of Athenry, the other of Mullingar. The first, he says, suffered death in 1642, the other in 1651. ibid., pp.562 and 570. [2] Founded in 1237 by the Pettit family, barons, palatine of Mullingar; De Burgo thinks by the Nugents. ibid., p.217 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  5. Jul 14

    15th July 1581: Robert Miller, Edward Cheevers, John O'Lahy & Peter Canavan

    (From Rothe’sAnalecta, p.391) THESE were citizens of Wexford and pious Catholics.  With the aid of some other Catholic sailors, they had secretly carried over to France a certain Father of the Society of Jesus, and some of the priests and laymen who were driven from their native country on account of their faith.  They were seized, put to the torture, and hanged; and when they were only halfdead, they were taken down and quartered, July 5th, 1581. Bruodin[2] says they were executed for bringing Father Rochford, S.J., from Belgium, and entertaining priests in their houses.  He gives July 15th of that year as the date of their martyrdom.  Instead of Patrick Canavan, given by Rothe, he sets down John O’Lahy as having been martyred with the two first mentioned. See also Holing, Molanus, and Bruodin. [1] He is called Meiler by Rothe. The Narator has come across the surname Meyler in southwest Wexford where it is quite common. [2] Propug., p. 443 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  6. Jul 13

    15th July 1581: Robert Miller, Edward Cheevers, John O'Lahy & Peter Canavan

    ROBERT MILLER,[1] EDWARD CHEEVERS, JOHN O’LAHY, AND PATRICK CANAVAN (From Rothe’sAnalecta, p.391) THESE were citizens of Wexford and pious Catholics.  With the aid of some other Catholic sailors,  they had secretly carried over to France a certain Father of the Society of Jesus,  and some of the priests and laymen who were driven from their native country on account of their faith.  They were seized, put to the torture, and hanged;  and when they were only halfdead, they were taken down and quartered,  July 5th, 1581. Bruodin[2] says they were executed for bringing Father Rochford, S.J., from Belgium,  and entertaining priests in their houses.  He gives July 15th of that year as the date of their martyrdom.  Instead of Patrick Canavan, given by Rothe,  he sets down John O’Lahy as having been martyred with the two first mentioned. See also Holing, Molanus, and Bruodin.   [1] He is called Meiler by Rothe. The Narator has come across the surname Meyler in southwest Wexford where it is quite common. [2] Propug., p. 443 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  7. Jul 10

    12th July 1617 - Thomas Fitzgerald OSF

    The martyrdom in 1617 of Franciscan Thomas Fitzgerald commissary & visitor of the Irish province. (From Bruodin’s Propugnaculum, p.499) HE was descended from the very ancient family of the Earls of Desmond.[1] From his very childhood he was so virtuous that he was considered a saint.  When he was enrolled in the Seraphic Order, not only did he strengthen himself by vows in the virtues which he practised in the secular state, but he added others to them.  He completed his studies in Spain, and in 1609 he taught theology in the College of St. Anthony of Padua at Louvain.[2]  Filled with zeal for the salvation of souls, he returned to Ireland at a time when the pestilential heresy of the English was rampant everywhere.  He was Commissary and Visitor of the Irish province.  For many months he was unwearied in his task of feeding the Catholic people of Munster and Leinster with the word of God, at one time preaching to them in the woods and caves, at another administering the sacraments in private houses, at all times setting before them an example of every virtue, especially of charity, modesty, the token of his inward purity, religious humility, and burning zeal. When he had passed four years in this secret and hidden way, consoling the Catholics, he was seized by the heretics, taken to Dublin, and cast into an underground prison. [3] Worn out by hardships he died therein on the 12th, of July, 1617.  The citizens having asked for his body, celebrated his obsequies for three or four days with much devotion, to the great surprise and indignation of the heretics, who strove to prevent them. At length his remains were laid in the same cemetery as those of the Bishop.[4] See also Rothe, O’Sullevan, Ward, Wadding, Porter, and Hueber. [1] Molanus says the residence of the branch of the Desmond family to which he belonged was Dabronopolis, perhaps Achadbronagh, near Castleisland. [2] Founded for the Irish Franciscans by Isabella, Regent of the Netherlands, in 1616. See the Journal of the R.S.A.I., for October, 1893, P. 237 [3] Diary of Lord cork, April, 1613 ‘Captain Goar apprehended Thomas Fitzgerald, the friar, in Youghal, I being then at Dungarvan ; and when I came home, I brought him from the gaol and kept him in my own house for fifteen days, till the Lord Deputy sent for him. Lismore Papers, 1st series, i.21 [4] The reference is most probably to O’Devany, buried in St. James’. The account of him immediately precedes that of Fitzgerald in Bruodin. Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

  8. Jul 4

    6th July 1642. Thomas Aquinas of Jesus , O.D.C.

    The martyrdom of the Carmelite Thomas Aquinas of Jesus in 1642. (From F. Eusebius’ Enchiridion, p.202) FATHER THOMAS AQUINAS was a distinguished preacher and a zealous missionary, who earned for himself the hatred of the heretics by the assiduity and successful results of his preaching and labours in confirming the oppressed and persecuted Catholics in the faith, and in winning several back who had fallen into the errors of heresy.  He was captured, while engaged in his apostolic work, in the house of a noble family recently converted by him.  The Puritans, having obtained information of his whereabouts through the treachery of a servant, invested the house on all sides, like wolves raging for the blood of the priest, and threatened the inmates with all manner of excesses and cruelties if the Papist priest were not given up to them.  They searched the house in every part, but having searched in vain retired, and prepared to set it on fire. Seeing the impending danger, Father Thomas, more solicitous for the safety of others than for his own, came out of his own accord and surrendered himself into the hands of his pursuers, by whom, in their savage exultation, he was most cruelly beaten, bound with cords, and in that state carried almost lifeless to Drogheda, and there cast into prison, where he was left to languish for a considerable time.  Under treatment so harsh he suffered no expression of complaint to escape from his lips but he bore all with joy, rejoicing to suffer for Christ, and meditating on the words of the Apostle ‘I am apprehended by the Lord.”[1] Among many others imprisoned, for the same cause, was a priest of the Order of St. Francis, the Guardian of the Franciscan community in Drogheda.  By him Father Thomas was received with extreme joy, and with his assistance succeeded in procuring the sacred habit of the Order, with which he clothed himself in prison.  To prepare himself for the conflict, he carefully confessed to this Franciscan Father the faults of his whole life, celebrated Mass daily, thus fortifying himself with the bread of the Strong.  The remainder of the day he spent in comforting and encouraging the Catholic Prisoners,  in company with the good Franciscan.  He devoted the greater part of the night to mental and vocal prayer ;  he fasted continually, and chastised his body with great severity, in order to detach it from the love of this present life, and lest it should impede his spirit from union with its Lord, to whom he frequently offered the sacrifice of his life.  He besought the Blessed Mother of God and all the heavenly citizens to succour him in his struggle. Early on the morning of the 6th of July, while the Father was offering the Holy Sacrifice, a messenger from the Governor[2] of the town announced to him that he was condemned to be hanged within an hour.  Father Thomas received the announcement of his fate unmoved by the fear of death.  He thanked God, confessed again, and prepared himself for death.  When the time had come, he took a last leave of his fellow-prisoners implored the assistance of their prayers, and then resigned himself into the hands of the Puritan satellites.  These men, strange to say, notwithstanding their abhorrence of all religious garbs and symbols, suffered him to retain his religious habit to the last.  Holding a crucifix in one hand and a rosary in the other, he went forth to execution, joyously chanting the Litany of the Blessed Virgin.  On his way the heretical ministers sought to persuade him to adopt their views but they Were repulsed by the good Father, who, fixing his eyes on his crucifix, asked them to say what might be the true faith of heretics, who believed or disbelieved according as each one liked for himself.  Rather return,’ he said to them, to the old faith taught by the Apostles, and hitherto professed by your own nation.’ A minister told him that, by authorization of the Governor, he could give him a choice of offices in the army, provided only he would ‘repent and not perish.’  To this offer Father Thomas answered that his duty was not to hesitate to die for the faith. Towards the end of the journey, the Father was met by an unhappy woman condemned to death for her crimes.  Being promised pardon on condition of renouncing her religion, she was grievously tempted to apostatize; but a few earnest words of exhortation from Father Thomas confirmed her in the faith, with the happy result that, having first made public profession of the true faith, she cheerfully faced her doom. Having reached the scaffold, Father Thomas was commanded to ascend, which he accordingly did, professing the faith aloud in the meantime, and earnestly conjuring all the Catholics present to contend for it manfully unto death.  But the Commander, fearing a tumult among the people, ordered the executioner to hasten his work.  Not without the intense amazement of the spectators, the rope, although a stout one, snapped, letting Father Thomas fall to the ground, not dead but unconscious.  The Catholics attributed this extraordinary circumstance to the intervention of divine Providence, that thus the cause of one unjustly condemned might be vindicated before the vast multitude of people.  Scarcely had he revived, when the Commander again ordered him to mount the scaffold but here again the divine Power showed itself, for the holy confessor ascended without difficulty, and speaking without the least trouble, he appealed to the Puritan officer to state the cause for which he had been condemned to die, protesting that this conscience was his witness that he had done no wrong to any man, nor committed any crime deserving of death.  The Puritan replied angrily: ‘Why do you ask of me the cause of your condemnation ; are you not a Papist, a priest, and a monk?’  ‘It is so; it is enough,’ the Father replied  ‘I am guilty of no crime.  Let it therefore appear to all men that I die for the Catholic faith and the religious profession, for which I also die gladly.’  The Puritan now reminded him of the Governor’s promises; that they yet remained good; that time enough yet remained in which he could change his mind.  But when he understood that he was offering suggestion to deaf ears, he ordered the executioner to end his work. Not only were the Catholics Profoundly grieved by the death of the servant of God, but many Protestants as well, who, since they had dissented from the ancient faith under pretext of liberty,  considered that to put anyone to death merely on account of his religion was to destroy liberty. The confessor’s body was taken away and interred by the Catholics in the cemetery adjoining the Augustinian convent, recently wrecked by the Puritans.  God, to show that He has ever at heart the care of the honour of His servants,  caused a brilliant heavenly light to shine over the Carmelite’s grave on the following night.  The light was visible to the Soldiers stationed at one of the gates of the town Opposite, as well as to many other persons in the neighbourhood.  The soldiers, being of opinion that the light was brought there by Catholics burying their dead, went, forty strong, to the spot in which they thought the light had appeared.  In the cemetery they could see no one ; all was utter darkness; they were much terrified, and fled.  They saw it again when they returned to their station at the gate.  The Captain himself next proceeded in the direction of the mysterious light, taking with him fifty men, but only to find the same utter darkness.  He immediately fled from the cemetery, terror-stricken himself bravely leading the way.  Having thus failed as a brave soldier, the Captain next, assuming a more puritanical frame of mind, declared with due solemnity that the light must have issued from hell with the devil, who had come to carry off the Papist’s body along with his soul. This irreverent remark having received but scant applause from his comrades, who had not yet quite recovered from their fear, abandoning his infernal theory, the Captain now swore by his Puritan soul that the Papist was not buried there at all. The event showed that in this too he was mistaken, for next morning he visited the grave, and found the body of the friar there calmly reposing.  He stripped it of the white mantle and scapular, carried both away with him, and went about relating to all he met his wondrous visions and experiences of the previous eventful night.  Another soldier took away the friar’s crucifix, which he refused to sell to the Catholics for any price, declaring earnestly that he would cherish it all his life a most precious memorial of a man who had been unjustly put to death. [1] Phil. ii.12 [2] Lord Moore of Mellifont. See DAlton’s H. of Drogheda 1.226 Please pray for final perseverance for all of us! May the martyrs of old inspire us all.

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On the Catholic Martyrs of Ireland.A reading of Father Dennis Murphy's book 'Our Martyrs,' on Ireland's Catholic Martyrs.

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  • Creator
    Manus Mac Meanmain
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2026
  • Episodes
    17
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    Clean
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    © 2026 Manus Mac Meanmain
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    The Irish Martyrs Podcast