Kilashee (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xlviii, at p. 488:

Killossy called after St Auxilius the nephew of St Patrick and son of Restitutus the Lombard was bishop here and assisted St Patrick in compiling the ordinances by which the Irish church was to be guided St Auxilius died on the 27th of August 455.

St. Erk of Slane

St. Erk of Slane, Bishop
Friend of St. Brigid of Kildare, co-consecrator of St. Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare.

“St. Erk, ‘the sweet spoken judge’, was, in all probability, a native of Munster; and is said to have been page to King Laoghaire at the time he showed this respect to St. Patrick. [Lanigan, vol. 1, p. 346] He was consecrated some time before the year 465, and was the first bishop of the ancient diocese of Slane, and abbot of the monastery which was erected there by St. Patrick. He is said to have been the preceptor of St. Brendan, and was an intimate friend of St. Brigid. At the synod of Magh-Femyn, in Tipperary, it is related that Erk spoke highly of the great abbess of Kildare, and of the miraculous favours with which she was endowed by the Almighty. He assisted at the consecration of Conlaeth, first bishop of Kildare, and took an active part in all the ecclesiastical movements of the age… Colgan says that, in the old calendars, Ercus is treated of on 2nd of October and 2nd of November Probus, writing of him in the tenth century, says: “Hercus, filius Dego, cujus reliquae nunc venerantur in civitate, quae vocatur Slane.”

From: The Diocese of Meath, Ancient and Modern, by Rev. A. Cogan, C.C., Published in Dublin, 1862.

St. Erk of Slane, pray for us!

Baltinglass Abbey

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter lxvi, at p. 715:

Baltinglass a market town in the barony of Talbotstown on the river Slaney Dearmit Mac Murrogh O Cavanagh king of Leinster founded the abbey of Baltinglass for Cistercians in which he was interred about the year 1151 AD 1185 Albinus O Mulloy was abbot of Baltinglass attended the synod held in Christ church by John Comyn archbishop of Dublin inveighed in his discourse against the incontinence of the English clergy for having by their ill example vitiated the hitherto untainted probity and innocence of the clergy of Ireland Albinus was made bishop of Ferns See diocese of AD 1314 Griffin was abbot AD 1346 the better to enable the king Edward III to resist his Irish enemies the clergy of Meath granted to him in this year 40 the county of Louth 20 the prebendaries of the church of St Patrick Dublin 40 marcs the prior of St John of Jerusalem 40 marcs the clergy of Ossory 20 the clergy of Ferns 10 and the abbot of Baltinglass 10 marcs for the aforesaid purpose AD 1377 Philip the abbot received a full and free pardon for all seditions felonies breaches of the peace conspiracies confederacies false allegations and all other transgressions whatsoever by him committed and for which he had been indicted AD 1380 it was enacted by the parliament of the pale that no mere Irishman should be permitted to make his profession in the abbey of Baltinglass which an Irish prince had founded AD 1488 the abbot received a pardon for his participation in the affair of Lambert Simnell John Galbally was the last abbot At the suppression of the abbey AD 1537 an annual pension was granted to him The abbot of Baltinglass De valle salutis sat as a baron of parliament By an inquisition taken in the thirty third of Henry VIII the possessions were forty acres of pasture one hundred of wood a mill and watercourse in Baltinglass together with thirty messuages seven hundred and twenty acres of arable and pasture land in various parts of the counties of Wicklow and Kildare This abbey and its possessions were granted to Thomas Eustace Viscount Baltinglass and by the thirtieth of Elizabeth a second grant was made to Sir Henry Harrington to hold for ever at the annual rent of 11 19s Irish money

Tullow Priory (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xxxvii, at p. 369:

Tullach a village in the barony of Ravilly on the river Slaney In the sixth year of the reign of king Edward II Simon Lombard and Hugh Tallon granted to the Eremites of St Augustin a house and three acres of land in the village of St John near this place Tullagh John de Kell was prior in 1331 and in that year king Edward III confirmed their grant Tullagh was a strong place in the time of Cromwell who took it with great slaughter of the Irish Queen Elizabeth granted this monastery in 1557 to Thomas earl of Ormond

Preceptory of Killarge (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xxxvii, at p. 366-8:

Killarge In the reign of king John Gilbert de Borard founded a preceptory in this place under the invocation of St John the Baptist for knights Templars but on the extinction of that order it was granted to the knights of St John of Jerusalem In the year 1308 the king Edward II having received the commands of the Pope caused all the knights Templars in Great Britain and Ireland to be made prisoners and their property to be sequestered Being a formidable body of men it was necessary that much caution should be observed in the management of this affair There was a writ directed to John Wogan Lord Justice of Ireland informing him of the proceedings adopted in England for the apprehension of the Templars and seizure of their goods and commanding him to proceed in a similar manner against those in Ireland but the time and place for the assembling of the sheriffs and their followers was left to the discretion of the said lord justice and the treasurer of the exchequer It was however ordered that the writ should be executed before the Templars could learn the proceedings against the members of the order in England In pursuance of those commands the establishments of Killarge and Ballymoon were suppressed The instructions given to the English sheriffs were that they should arrest all the Templars within their districts to seize all their lands cattle and goods and to cause an inventory of the same to be made in presence of the warden of the place whether Templar or not and of respectable persons in the neighborhood to place said goods and chattels in safe keeping to keep the Templars in safe custody in some convenient place without subjecting them to prison or to irons and to preserve the charge of the goods and chattels till they received instructions as to their final disposal The military order of the Templars was instituted about the year 1113 Some noblemen who had followed Godfrey de Bouillon to theholy wars against the Turks were the founders of this military institute They were nine in number and the principals were Hugh de Paganis and Godfrey de Sacro Amore They associated for the purpose of preserving the holy places and defending the pilgrims from the outrages of the Turks while on their way to the Holy Land To the three vows of which they made profession before the patriarch of Jerusalem they added a fourth that of perpetual warfare with the Turks They obtained the name of Templars because at the desire of Baldwin the Second king of Jerusalem they inhabited a house that was adjacent to the temple of Solomon They afterwards in the year 1128 became a religious order were confirmed as such by Pope Honorius H and St Bernard compiled a rule which they were to observe The order of knights Templars being accused of various crimes Pope Clement V called a council at Vienna with a view as he himself declared of ascertaining the truth of those allegations This council was held in the year 1311 and is the fifteenth oecumenical one of the Church The second reason was to deliberate on the rescue or relief of the Holy Land and the third motive was to provide for the maintenance of morals and discipline The decree of extinction which was only however provisional not definitive was passed on the sixth of the nones of May AD 1312 It appears they were justly condemned though the contrary is asserted The pontiff Clement V after due examination which he instituted wrote to Philip the Fair of France that the crimes of the Templars were acknowledged by seventy four members of their body that they had freely and without any coercion whatever affirmed on oath the truth of their guilt and among other things confessed that it was usual in the admission of members to abjure the Redeemer and spit upon the Cross that they committed horrible and disgusting crimes which he could not mention It is moreover absurd to suppose that all the cardinals bishops inquisitors officials magistrates and others could be so unmindful of their obligations and of public justice as to be influenced in their judgment in order to gratify the cupidity or the resentment of Philip the Fair of France Whether guilty or not as the order became suspected it became useless as no honest or well disposed person would embrace its institute Queen Elizabeth granted the commandery of Killarge to Mary wife of Gerald Aylmer on the 12th of December 1590