ratis constans, in summo muro prope subgrundium cernitur. Idem etiam Stephanus conventum Eremitarum sancti Augustini in collè urbi finitimo, et alius è Lynchaeis Finniborensis Episcopi Majoribus cœnobium Dominicanorum ab occidente condidit. Praeturam Galviensem anno post Christum natum 1486, institutam, ad annum 1654, quo indigenae, quia Catholici magistratu moti sunt, unus et octoginta Lynchaei gesserunt; pluribus eorum, quam omnium illius oppidi familiarum supremum illum urbis magistratum, eo temporis intervallo,

consecutis.

CAPUT SECUNDUM.

DE PUERILI FRANCISCI EDUCATIONE ET STUDIIS PEREGRE
PERACTIS.

FRANCISCUS noster jam puer in disciplinam traditus est venerabili Sacerdoti Arthuro Lynchaeo matris patruo, qui annos paulo minus quinquaginta Sacramentis Galviae administrandis, populo fidei institutis excolendo, fluctuantibus in religione ad firmitatem, improbis ad bonam frugem, lapsis in haeresim ad palinodiam canendam tum incubuit, cum per Hiberniam universam haereticorum rabies in Catholicis omni tormentorum genere cruciandis atrocissimè fureret: haec sevitia Galviam irrepsit, in qua satellites iniquitatis, angulos omnes ad Arthurum è latebris in carcerem rapiendum creberrimè sed frustra scrutati sunt: nam divini favoris aura sic ei semper afflavit, ut pedicas ei capiendo tensas fœliciter declinaverit ; in multa tamen discrimina inter fugiendum saepius incidens, sub dio per domorum tecta repens non raro pernoctavit, de die plerumque lati

consisting of a shield with three golden shamrocks on an azure ground, may be still seen on the topmost part of the wall near the eaves. The same Stephen erected the Convent of the Hermits of St. Augustin, on the eminence hard by the city; and another Lynch, an ancestor of the Bishop of Kilfenora, founded the convent of the Dominicans on the west. Eighty-one members of the family of the Lynches held the office of Mayor of Galway since its institution in the year 1486 till 1654, when the natives, because they were Catholics, were deprived of the dignity. During the interval we have allued to, more members of this than of the other high families of the city, enjoyed the supreme magistracy.

CHAPTER II.

OF THE EARLY EDUCATION OF FRANCIS KIRWAN, AND
STUDIES IN FOREIGN PARTS.

OF HIS

FRANCIS, while yet a boy, was sent to school to his maternal uncle, Arthur Lynch, a venerable priest, who, for a term little less than fifty years, devoted himself to administering the sacraments and instructing the people of Galway in the practices of their religion. Sedulously did he labour to strengthen the weak, reclaim the wicked, and win back those who had fallen into heresy. All this did he at a time when the wrath of unbelievers raged furiously against the Catholics, inflicting every species of torment most cruelly upon them. This flagitious persecution extended to Galway, in which the ministers of iniquity searched, though vainly, every corner, in order to discover Arthur, and cast him into prison; but, protected by the special ward of the divine favour, he always escaped the pitfalls set for him,-not, however, without incurring imminent risks in his flight. Exposed to the weather, and creeping on the roofs of the houses, he was frequently obliged thus to pass the night, and conceal himself in the day-time. When night came on often was

tans, noctu sedem frequentissimè mutare coactus, Sacerdotalia munia obivit.

Ita pietati fuit addictus, nt intempesta nocte somnum interrumpens, matutinum officium ad provectam aetatem recitaverit; ut potuerit cum Davide dicere, "mediâ nocte surgebam ad confitendum tibi," more scilicet in Ecclesiae primordiis usitato: refert enim S. Dionysius S. Carpum nocte concubiâ è strato ad Deum precibus exorandum, et laudibus exornandum exiluisse: porro easdem matutinas, caeterasque canonicas horas, nunquam nisi genibus innixus, et aperto capite percurrebat, ut qui carnibus in adventu, in Quadragesima, et sextis totius anni feriis, lacticiniis abstinuit. In eo charitas ejus enituit, quod pleraque in illum à Catholicis munificè collata in egenos liberaliter effuderit: vir fuit simplex et apertus tanquam alter Nathaniel verè Israëlita in quo dolus non fuit; qui majore pietate, quam literaturâ praeditus, primum haeresis furorem solus Galviae sustinuit, et alios è civibus in fide nutantes à lapsu continuit, alios ab eadem aberrantes in viam revocavit, ut plus laboris in civibus ab haeresis cóntagione servandis exhauserit, quam plures postea, literis plurimum expoliti, in iis virtute imbuendis impenderunt. Nam in primo illo et praevalido haereticae tempestatis impetu, suos ille naufragio subduxit, et in tuto fidei portu collocavit: hi Galvienses jam in salutis portu navigântes assiduis quidem monitis in rectâ fidei professione citrâ multam difficultatem conservarunt.

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Apud hunc Franciscus institutionis tyrocinium, ut Samuël apud Heli, S. Laurentius Dubliniensis apud Episcopum Glandalocensem, S. Malachias apud S. Imarum, posuit, et primam virtutum sementem fecit; quarum uberior messis in adulto posteâ maturuit: nimirum, ut ait Fabius, tenacissimi sumus eorum quae primis annis arripuimus;" additque S. Hieronymus "difficulter eraditur, quod rudes anni perhibuerunt." Etenim "adolescens juxta viam suam, etiam cum senuerit, non recedet ab ea." Quibus Juvenalis concinnit, dicens odorem quo semel est imbuta recens servabit testa diu.

he forced to shift his quarters, nevertheless he discharged the priestly functions.

So truly pious was this man, that even in his hoary years he was accustomed to forego sleep, rising in the night-time to recite matins. Well might he say with David "at midnight did I rise to praise thee," and that after the manner adopted in the early ages of the Church. On this subject it is barely necessary to state that St. Dionysius tells how Carpus was wont to forsake his bed at night to supplicate the Lord and praise his name. Arthur, moreover, recited matins, and all the canonical hours, on bended knees, and with head reverently bare. Flesh-meat he did not use in Advent or in Lent, and every Friday of the year he abstained from milk and butter. So eminently charitable was he that whatever gifts the munificence of Catholics conferred, passed from his hands to the indigent; he was in sooth a man unsophisticated and candid-a second Nathaniel "an Israelite in whom there was no guile." Gifted with more piety than literary attainments, he alone sustained the first shock of persecution in Galway, and kept some of those who wavered from falling into heterodoxy; others did he recal to the right path, when they blindly erred; so much so, that he underwent more labour to prevent the citizens from being corrupted with the poison of infidelity than did others in after times, how learned soever they may have been, in making them virtuous: for in that first and overwhelming storm of persecution he saved his people from shipwreck and placed them in a safe haven. The men of later times, finding the people in secure anchorage, had not much difficulty in keeping them there by salutary admonitions.

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With this master did Francis spend his early years, as Samuel with Heli, St Laurence of Dublin with the Bishop of Glandalough, and St. Malachi with Imar. Arthur indeed it was who sowed the first seeds of virtue in his heart, which gave a rich harvest in his maturer years; for, as Fabius saith, we are most tenacious of these things which we have learned in our early years," and St. Jerome adds "it is difficult to eradicate the impressions which our immature years have received; " for a youth, according to his way, even when he groweth old, "will not depart from it; " and to this Juvenal superadds, "the vessel will long retain the odour which has once been poured into it."

Sicut autem Malachias, sic etiam Franciscus in patriâ humaniores literas edoctus est. Ulyssiponis scientias elatiores postea imbibit, unde patriam repetens à Davide Karnaco Cassiliensi Archiepiscopo sacris ordinibus anno salutis 1614 initiatus; anno sequente Gallias adiit, ut uberiori scientiarum copiâ mentem expoliret; ibi Congregationis Oratorii aggregatum, Dieppae anno salutis 1618, studium philosophicum docendo percurrentem vidi: eò per ipsum Rothomago ductus, ut studiis humanioribus incumberem, illo curante ut sumptus subministraretur.

CAPUT TERTIUM.

AB

UT FRANCISCUS FACTUS EST VICARIUS GENERALIS TUAMENSIS ARCHIEPISCOPO FLORENTIO CONRIO, ET QUAS VIRTUTES IN ILLO OFFICIO EXERCUIT.

DUM Franciscus Dieppae juventutem philosophiâ imbueret, avunculus ejus Carmelita Gulielmus Lynchaeus eum convenit, et penè reluctantem Dieppâ Lovanium abduxit, ubi tunc illustrissimus Dominus Florentius Conrius ex ordine Minorum ad Tuamensem Archiepiscopatum elatus, in Hibernorum sui ordinis conventu agebat, ut memoratum Gulielmum, molestiá, quam in patriâ Vicarius generalis Tuamensis ei facessivit, liberaret, aut saltem levaret. In eo conventu R. P. Valentinum Browne, iter in Germaniam jam tunc adornantem offenderunt, unde in patriam bonis avibus eum averterunt; quippe qui tantâ pietate inter suos eluxit, ut sui ordinis in Hibernia Provincialis brevi postea renunciatus fuerit: jam inde tam pius, ut assiduis monitis pravos ad virtutem, tam doctus, ut crebris concertationibus haereticos ad fidem catholicam adduxerit, et ab operá his officiis gnaviter impendendâ, nec bellorum strepitu, nec penè continuis persecutionum terroribus etiamnum percellatur.