Irish Martyrs

Memorial

Article

The collective title given to the 260 or more persons who are credited with dying for the faith in Ireland between 1537 and 1714.

Pope Benedict XV signed the Commission of Introduction for their beatification in March 1915. The long delay in the start of their Cause was occasioned by the scarcity of official records and by the evident reprisals which any such virtual declaration of the injustice of laws still in effect would naturally have brought from the English ascendancy. The latter objection was removed in 1829 by Catholic Emancipation; the former was gradually overcome as conscientious investigators published the results of their researches. A series of publications begun in 1861 by Dr Moran (then Vice-Rector of the Irish College, Rome, Italy, later cardinal, and Archbishop of Sydney) was followed in 1868 by a collection of memorials made with great discrimination by Major Myles O’Reilly; the labours of these two men greatly facilitated the task of investigation finally entrusted by the ecclesiastical authorities to Father Denis Murphy, SJ, whose materials were published in 1896, thus completing the work started in Portugal between 1588 and 1599 by Father John Houling, SJ. Either the records of the various martyrdoms during the reign of King Henry VIII were all destroyed, or it was too dangerous to attempt to keep them, and for that reason the evidence for this time is so scanty that only two names of martyrs belonging to this period have been submitted in the appeal for beatification. Neither have any names been submitted from the earliest narrative, i.e., the histories given to an Irish professor at the University of Alcala by an old Trinitarian friar, for discredit has been thrown on it because it was worked up by the fanciful Spanish writer Lopez.

17 Martyrs of IrelandSeventeen of them were beatified together on 27 September 1992 by Pope John Paul II.

In spite of the most careful investigation of their claims to martyrdom, and with the elimination of most of those who died in prison rather than by actual martyrdom, the following list of additional martyrs is under investigation by the Congregation for Causes of Saints.

Profiled so far

Not yet Profiled

  • Edmond MacGauran, Archbishop of Armagh
  • Malachy O’Quealy, Archbishop of Tuam
  • Boetius Egan, Bishop of Ross
  • Edmund Dungan, Bishop of Down and Connor
  • Eugene MacEgan Bishop-designate of Ross
  • Heber MacMahon, Bishop of Clogher
  • Maurice O’Brien, Bishop of Emly
  • Redmond Gallagher, Bishop of Derry
  • William Walsh, Bishop of Meath

Priests

  • AEneas Penny
  • Andrew Stritch
  • Bernard Fitzpatrick
  • Bernard Moriarty
  • Bernard Murchertagh
  • Daniel Delaney
  • Daniel O’Brien
  • Daniel O’Moloney
  • Donatus MacCried
  • Donough O’Cronin
  • Donough O’Falvey
  • Eugene Cronin
  • George Power
  • Henry White
  • Hugh Carrigi
  • James Murchu
  • James O’Hegarty
  • John Lune
  • John O’Grady
  • John O’Kelley
  • John Stephens
  • John Walsh
  • Laurence O’Moore
  • Louis O’Laverty
  • Nicholas Young
  • Patrick O’Derry
  • Philip Cleary
  • Richard French
  • Roger Ormilius
  • Walter Ternan

Order of Cistercians

  • Bernard O’Trevir
  • Edmund Mulligan
  • Eugene O’Gallagher
  • James Eustace
  • Malachy O’Connor
  • Malachy Shiel
  • Nicholas Fitzgerald
  • Patrick O’Connor
  • the Abbot and Monks of the Monastery of Magia
  • the Prior and the members of the Abbey of Saint Saviour

Order of Preachers

  • 32 religious of the Monastery of Londonderry
  • Ambrose AEneas O’Cahill
  • Bernard O’Kelly
  • Clement O’Callaghan
  • Cormac MacEgan
  • Daniel MacDonnel
  • David Fox
  • David Roche
  • Dominic MacEgan
  • Donald O’Meaghten
  • Donatus Niger
  • Edmund O’Beirne
  • Felix MacDonnel
  • Felix O’Connor
  • Gerald Fitzgerald
  • Hugh MacGoill
  • James Moran
  • James O’Reilly
  • James Woulf
  • John Keating
  • John O’Cullen
  • John O’Flaverty
  • John O’Luin
  • Myler McGrath
  • P. MacFerge with his companions
  • Peter Costello
  • Raymond Keogh
  • Raymond O’Moore
  • Stephen Petit
  • Thomas O’Higgins
  • Vincent Gerard Dillon
  • William Lynch
  • William MacGollen
  • William O’Connor

Franciscans

  • Anthony Musaeus
  • Anthony O’Farrel
  • Antony Broder
  • Bernard Connaeus
  • Bernard O’Horumley
  • Bonaventure de Burgo
  • Brother Thomas and his companion
  • Charles MacGoran
  • Christopher Dunleavy
  • Cornelius O’Dougherty
  • Daniel Clanchy
  • Daniel Himaecan
  • Daniel O’Neilan
  • Denis O’Neilan
  • Dermot O’Mulrony
  • Didacus Cheevers
  • Donagh O’Rourke
  • Donatus O’Hurley
  • Edmund Fitzsimon
  • Eugene O’Cahan
  • Eugene O’Leman
  • Fergal Ward
  • Francis Fitzgerald
  • Francis O’Mahony
  • Galfridius O’Farrel
  • Henry Delahoyde
  • Hilary Conroy
  • Hugh MacKeon
  • James Pillanus
  • Jeremiah de Nerihiny
  • John Cathan
  • John Cornelius
  • John Esmund
  • John Ferall
  • John Honan
  • John O’Daly
  • John O’Dowd
  • John O’Lochran
  • John O’Molloy
  • Joseph Rochford
  • Lochlonin MacO’Cadha
  • Magnus O’Fodhry
  • Mattheus O’Leyn
  • Maurice O’Scanlon
  • Neilan Loughran
  • Nicholas Wogan
  • Patrick O’Brady
  • Patrick O’Kenna
  • Paulinus Synott
  • Peter O’Quillan
  • Peter Stafford
  • Philip Flasberry
  • Philip O’Lea
  • Raymond Stafford
  • Richard Synnot
  • Roger Congaill
  • Roger de Mara
  • Roger O’Donnellan
  • Roger O’Hanlon
  • Terence Magennis
  • Thaddeus O’Boyle
  • Thaddeus O’Caraghy
  • Thaddeus (or Thomas) O’Daly
  • Thaddeus O’Meran
  • Thomas Fitzgerald
  • Walter de Wallis
  • William Hickey

Augustinians

  • Austin Higgins
  • Donatus O’Kennedy
  • Donatus Serenan
  • Fulgentius Jordan
  • Raymond O’Malley
  • Thaddeus O’Connel
  • Thomas Deir
  • Thomas Tullis

Carmelite Order

  • Peter of the Mother of God
  • Thomas Aquinas of Jesus

Order of the Blessed Trinity

  • Cornelius O’Connor
  • Eugene O’Daly

Society of Jesus

  • Robert Netterville

Laymen

  • Alexander MacSorley
  • Arthur O’Neil
  • Bernard MacBriody
  • Bernard O’Brien
  • Brian O’Neil
  • Christopher Roche
  • Cornelius Maguire
  • Daniel O’Brien
  • Daniel O’Hannan
  • Daniel O’Higgin
  • Dominick Fanning
  • Donatus O’Brien
  • Edward Butler
  • Felix O’Neil
  • Galfridius Baronius
  • Galfridius Galway
  • Hugh MacMahon
  • James O’Brien
  • John O’Connor
  • John O’Lahy
  • Louis O’Ferral
  • Michael Fitzsimon
  • Patrick Browne
  • Patrick Hayes
  • Patrick Purcell
  • Peter Meyler
  • Roderick O’Kane
  • Thaddeus Clancy
  • Thaddeus O’Connor Sligo
  • Theobald de Burgo
  • Thomas MacCreith
  • Thomas Stritch
  • Walter Aylmer
  • William Walsh

Women

  • Brigid Darcey
  • Eleonora Birmingham
  • Honoria de Burgo
  • Honoria Magan
Additional Information

MLA Citation

  • “Irish Martyrs“. CatholicSaints.Info. 3 July 2023. Web. 29 April 2024. <>