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.

Owing both to the religious persecution of the clergy, and to the unsettled state of the country, dislocated by the wars, it was impossible to maintain a regular succession of resident Catholic prelates in the episcopal Sees. The parishes also were of necessity neglected ; often the church and the parochial house were burnt, and the priest obliged to fly. The religious instruction of the people fell chiefly into the hands of the ” poor begging friars,” frequently themselves very unlearned, or else into those of the regular clergy, Dominicans, Jesuits, or Augustinians, who wandered about the country, in disguise, administering the sacraments, and celebrating Mass whenever an opportunity presented itself.

In the parts of the country where the authority of the English Government was as yet but nominal, things were in a better state,particularly before the Desmond insurrection had desolated the south, and the O’Neill wars destroyed the prosperity of Ulster.