Queen Elizabeth Church Pilicy
August
Amongst the laity the opposition to the Reformed doctrines, instead of diminishing, increased as time went on. At first, when the externals of worship had been but little changed, the common people had not fully understood that a new religion, condemned by the Pope, was being forced on them by the ” Saxon ” Government, but when they came to realise this, resistance became general. The towns, in which the majority of the inhabitants were of English blood, were no more obedient than were the rural districts. Waterford, always renowned for its ” loyalty,” became no less so for its ” Popery.” ” At Waterford the Gospel is abhorred; the Church deserted; sacraments eschewed; Masses in every corner ; beads carried openly; images set up at the house doors and worshipped; friars maintained,” says the (Reformed) Bishop Middleton (1580).
All classes were equally implicated. Judges and jurymen would not take the oaths; in Armagh no one could be found willing to become a Justice of the Peace, for fear that the said oaths would be tendered to him. When, in Dublin, there was a Thanksgiving service for the Armada victory (1588), few people attended. Archbishop Adam Loftus reports (1565) that the chief gentlemen of the Pale go to Mass. Sometimes, indeed, the authorities have more satisfactory news to tell. The Lord Deputy (Fitzwilliam) writes that 2,000 people assisted at a solemn Thanksgiving sermon in Cork (1589). But these instances are rare and cannot outweigh the strong testimony that, in general, no progress whatever was being made in the propagation of the new faith.
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July
Ofcourse, the efforts of the Queen were not acknowledged in Rome, and the Pope himself made appointments to Sees, when vacancies occurred owing to either death or ” removals for heresy.” The position of Papal bishops was a very dangerous one, as Elizabeth regarded them as most serious obstacles to the success of her religious policy. Large rewards were offered for their apprehension, and, when captured, they were imprisoned, for years or for life, often in dark and filthy dungeons into which the light of day never penetrated.
Nor was the Irish Catholic Church without its martyrs during Elizabeth’s reign and that of her successor. Several prelates and a great many of the clergy suffered death for their faith. The execution of Dermot O’Hurley, Archbishop of Cashel, in 1584, was accompanied by circumstances of great atrocity. His feet, enclosed in metal boots partly filled with oil and butter, were ” toasted ” in a fire, till the flesh fell from the bones. He was afterwards hanged. Bishop Patrick O’Hely of Mayo was also tortured on the rack, before being put to death (1578). Laymen and women who gave shelter to bishops or priests were often punished
by imprisonment.
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July
This very connection of the Reformed doctrines with the imposition of foreign rule and a foreign tongue proved, in effect, one of the greatest obstacles to their progress, and joined together the Irish, both the natives and the descendants of the colonists, in resistance to them. Hitherto here had been amongst the Irish little of that love of country as a whole which we have agreed to call Nationality. The O’Neills, the O’Donnells, and the rest lived and died, not for Ireland, but for their clan. Now gradually, under pressure of foreign interference, a broader Patriotism grew up, and entwined itself so closely with Catholicism, that the two ideas became, to the majority, inseparable.
Elizabeth found, therefore, in Ireland for her religious policy many and ardent opponents ; while her supporters were few, and, except where their private interests were concerned, lukewarm and unenterprising. This was true of both the Anglo-Irish and the Celtic population, of the clergy and of the laity. At the time of her accession twenty-six bishops and four archbishops occupied the Irish Sees. Very few of these ” conformed ” ; that is to say, took the Supremacy Oath and agreed to the new religious legislation and all that it involved. Nor, we gather, were the inferior clergy more compliant, although, in their case, we have to rely on general statements and indirect evidence, as no figures are available.
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