The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, July 1865 — John Shaqi
The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, July 1865
Religion
The Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Volume 1, July 1865
Catholic Church -- Ireland -- Periodicals; Catholic Church -- Periodicals
These are the only arguments alleged to prove that Archbishop Fitz-Ralph
was born in England. They are of no weight whatever when compared with the
mass of testimony on the other side. 1.—The name of Richard of Dundalk
could not have arisen from the primate’s long residence in that town, for
he resided in his diocese only for about nine years, and certainly did not
spend all his time in Dundalk. 2.—Nor is it told in history that he
performed any eminent exploit here. 3.—It does not make against the Irish
origin of Archbishop Fitz-Ralph that he had his education at Oxford. It is
well known that at the beginning of the fourteenth century there were very
many Irishmen at Oxford. Bale gives the names of several most
distinguished Irishmen who flourished there at that period—in 1310,
Malachias Minorita; in 1320, David O’Buge of Kildare; in 1330, Gilbert
Urgalius, who, _consueto Hibernorum hominum more_, went to Oxford after
completing his rudimentary studies. Besides, among the _nations_ whose
contests in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries so often made Oxford
anything but a quiet abode of learning, the Irish had their place and
generally went with the Southernmen. And the Archbishop himself, in his
discourse at Avignon, relates how he had sent to Oxford four priests of
the diocese of Armagh. 4.—That the appointment of Richard as chancellor or
vice-chancellor of Oxford does not necessarily suppose him to have been an
Englishman, will appear from what we have to say farther on concerning
this office. 5—Nor was it strange that an Irish ecclesiastic should hold
benefices in England. Clement VI., in 1351, granted to John de Briane,
Dean of St. Patrick’s at Dublin, who held at the same time the parish of
Hatfield in Lincoln, permission to retain his benefices during his five
years’ course at a University.(35)
Summing up the evidence, we have, on the one hand, the almost universal
tradition that our prelate was born in Dundalk; we have an established
connexion between the Derbyshire Fitz-Ralphs and Ireland about the time of
his birth. On the other hand, against his Irish origin, we have no
argument stronger than mere probabilities, which, when examined, are found
to have no substance. We conclude, therefore, that Richard Fitz-Ralph was
born in Dundalk. This conclusion receives some confirmation from a
narrative in Fox,(36) where we are told that a copy of the entire Bible,
translated into Irish by Archbishop Fitz-Ralph, was found, many years
after his death, in the walls of his cathedral. Now, if this story be
true, and it is indirectly confirmed by Usher, it is plain that the
Archbishop must have been born in Ireland. It is hard to believe that nine
years, broken as they were by provincial visitations and other labours,
would have been sufficient to make an English prelate master of a language
so difficult as the Irish, and that to the degree of perfection requisite
for a translation of the sacred text.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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