Dermot O’Hurley was born in Lickadoon outside limerick city. His father William was an owner of the estate of Lickadoon, and he also was a steward for James Fitzgerald, the Earl of Desmond. Dermot’s mother was Honor O’Brien, a descendent of the Earls of Thomond, whom were once upon a time the royals of Munster.
Dermot received a good education, and went on to study theology and canon law at Louvain in Belgium. He was appointed Archbishop of Cashel & Emily by Pope Gregory III. With difficulty Dermot was to regain entry to Ireland, as the heretics were always on the watch. The archbishop took a passage on a Drogheda bound ship, from Britany in France. At first, Dermot landed off the coast of Ireland, on the island of skerries. From that island he took a short hop to the Drogheda coastal town. Finally at the port town, he stayed at an Inn, where there was aroused a religious discussion by a heretic called Walter Baal. It was at the Inn, that the archbishop fell into grave danger. His involvement in the discussion, revealed his Catholic identity. Walter suspecting a clergy in his midst, made communication with various Royalists in Dublin about the distinguished Dermot. Thankfully, another man called Dillon warned Dermot to flee Drogheda. Dillon in turn suffered imprisonment for helping the archbishop escape.
Dermot set off for Slane, and went into hiding thanks to the help of Catherin Preston, wife of Thomas Fleming, an Anglo-Irish baron of Slane. As time passed on, security for the fugitive became lax. [One day, a Royalist called Robert Dillon, one of the colonial queen’s judges, came to visit the baron of Slane. While there, a religious question began at table. With some heretics present, they gave their opinions, to such an extreme folly, that the silent Dermot could not restrain himself any longer. To the astonishment of all, he easily refuted the baseless doctrines, with an air of authority, education and eloquence. Robert Dillon quickly surmised that this distinguished person might greatly obstruct heresy. Dillon related the matter to Adam Loftus, Chancellor of Ireland, and to Henry Wallop, Lord Treasurer. Both were Englishmen, and acting as proxy to an absent Viceroy of Ireland, namely the highest colonial British office of governance in the land. Loftus and Wallop ordered Baron Thomas under heavy penalties, to send them the Archbishop in chains.]
The Archbishop, having meantime fled Slane, was hunted down and arrested by the Baron and Royalists emissaries in the castle at Carrick-on-Suir in the month of September, 1583, whilst staying with Thomas Butler, surnamed the Black, Earl of Ormond. The exasperated Thomas Fleming, pleaded with Dermot to accompany him to Dublin in order to be acquitted of any wrong doing. Now the journey was long, so the Baron had the archbishop placed in prisons for security, while enroute to Dublin. Having arrived in Dublin O’Hurley was cross examined by heretics who failed to find fault with the archbishop. So the high rank heretics, namely Henry Wallop and Adam Loftus found themselves resorting to military law to do away with the archbishop, due to the impossibility of such a result through civil and common law. They tried cruelty to implicate him, or that the archbishop might renounce the catholic faith.
We have an account from a Dublin man of nobility, who witnessed the cruelty. The archbishop cried out Jesus, Son of David, have mercy upon me. He raised his voice each time despite the pouring of hot oil over his body from head to toe, causing horrific wounds to the skin, and the muscles, and the nerves, to such point that the whole body was devoured by the heat, yet at the same time bathed in a cold sweat. The executioner became uneasy, realising that he had applied excessive force on archbishop, and had in fact hastened his death, which was not the objective of the cruelty. To escape the crime of killing an innocent man, the executioner had the archbishop taken immediately into great care, with another torture to follow up later. It was thanks to the medical skill of a Jesuit priest, that brought the archbishop back to a reasonable recovery. In the end Dermot would not give in to temptations of high office or a good life in exchange for the renouncing of the faith which incurs the allegiance of an anti-Catholic monarch in Ireland. So Wallop Dunlop had the archbishop killed by hanging under martial law. His body was buried in the ruinous chapel of St. Kevin’s in Camden Row. Many miracles flowed from him tomb.
Excerpts taken from Our Martyrs by Rev. D. Murphy S. J. P. 126 onwards…
[Some Excerpts added from Part 20 of Chapters towards a History of Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth (ucc.ie)]
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