History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 2MacCaffrey, James
Religion
History of the Catholic Church from the Renaissance to the French Revolution — Volume 2
MacCaffrey, James
Catholic Church -- History -- Modern period, 1500-
In place of those who had been deposed, Hugh Curwen, an Englishman,
was appointed to Dublin, William Walsh, one of the royal
commissioners, to Meath, Thomas Leverous, the former tutor of the
young Garrett Fitzgerald, to Kildare, Thomas O'Fihil, an Augustinian
Hermit, to Leighlin, and John O'Tonory, a Canon Regular of St.
Augustine, to Ossory, while John Quinn of Limerick, who had been
forced to resign the See of Limerick during the reign of Edward VI.,
was apparently restored. The selection of Curwen to fill the
archiepiscopal See of Dublin was particularly unfortunate. However
learned he might have been, or however distinguished his ancestry, he
was not remarkable for the fixity of his religious principles. During
the reign of Henry VIII. he had acquired notoriety by his public
defence of the royal divorce, as well as by his attacks on papal
supremacy, though, like Henry, he was a strong upholder of the Real
Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, and of Transubstantiation. Like a
true courtier he changed his opinions immediately on the accession of
Queen Mary, and he was rewarded by being promoted to Dublin and
appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland (1555). The Cathedral Chapter of
St. Patrick's that had been suppressed was restored to "its pristine
state;" new dignitaries and canons were appointed, and much of the
possessions that had been seized were returned.[4]
The Mass and Catholic ceremonies were restored without any opposition
in those churches in Dublin and Leinster into which the English
service had been introduced. A provincial synod was held in Dublin by
the new archbishop (1556) to wipe out all traces of heresy and schism.
Primate Dowdall had convoked previously a synod of the Northern
Provinces at Drogheda to undertake a similar work. In this assembly it
was laid down that all priests who had attempted to marry during the
troubles of the previous reign should be deprived of their benefices
and suspended; that the clergy who had adopted the heretical rites in
the religious celebrations and in the administration of the Sacraments
should be admitted to pardon in case they repented of their crimes and
could prove that their fall was due to fear rather than conviction;
that all the ancient rites and ceremonies of the Church in regard to
crosses, images, candles, thuribles, canonical hours, Mass, the
administration of the sacraments, fast days, holidays, holy water, and
blessed bread should be restored; that the Book of Common Prayer,
etc., should be burned, and that the Primate and the bishops of the
province should appoint inquisitors in each diocese, to whom the
clergy should denounce those who refused to follow the Catholic
worship and ceremonies. Arrangements were also made to put an end to
abuses in connexion with the bestowal of benefices on laymen and
children, with the appointment of clerics to parishes and dignities by
the Holy See on the untrustworthy recommendation of local noblemen,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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