The precise date of Dr. Eugene's death cannot be fixed with certainty. There is a petition addressed from Carrickfergus to the crown, printed by Shirley (page 132), which is generally supposed to fix the see as vacant in 1563. This petition, however, merely sets forth the desire that, "for the better establishment and countenance of the religion of the Gospel", her Majesty might prefer "some worthy learned man to the Bishopric of Down, a goodly benefice, within the Pale ... who might with special severity establish order in the Church". No mention is made of the death of Dr. Eugene, or of the vacancy of the see; and the desire of the petitioners to have a Protestant bishop, without mentioning such a vacancy, seems to us rather to be a proof that the orthodox bishop was still living. However, the petition bears no date, and Shirley merely marks it as, "_supposed date, 1563_", under which heading he includes the first month of 1564. Miler M'Grath, the next bishop, was appointed in consistory of 12th Oct., 1565: "Referente Eminentissimo Cardinali Simonetta, Ecclesiae Dunensi et Connorensi vacanti per obitum Eugenii Magnissae, praefectus fuit fr. Milerius Macra eodem loco Dunii oriundus professus ord. S. Francisci conventualium Presbyter", etc. The appointment of M'Grath had been earnestly opposed by the holy Primate Dr. Creagh, as he himself attests in his depositions made in the Tower of London. Indeed the only recommendation which seems to have been made was from the northern princes, many of whom solicited his appointment to the see, because he was foster-brother of their cherished chieftain, Shane O'Neill. This relationship between O'Neill and M'Grath is expressly mentioned in a Vatican paper, and is the sole key to many documents of the period which hitherto have been an enigma to our ecclesiastical historians. Though M'Grath after a few years embraced a schismatical connection with the Elizabethan government, Rome, through respect for his family, and in hopes that reflection would bring him back from his iniquitous course to the path of truth, delayed sentence of deposition against him till the close of 1578/9. We make this statement on the authority of a Vatican list of Irish sees, drawn up in 1579 or 1580, which expressly describes the See of Down as vacant, "per depositionem Milerii ab hac sancta Sede factam anno praeterito".