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Tag Archives: Bishop of Killaloe


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Death of Edward Parry, Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe

Edward Parry, Church of Ireland Bishop of Killaloe, County Clare, dies in Dublin on July 20, 1650, after contracting the plague.

Parry is born c. 1599 in Madyn Dyswy, Amlwch, Anglesey, Wales, the son of Rhys Parry, a merchant of Newry, County Down. The name of his mother is disputed. His siblings are Arthur, Grace and Magdalen. He is educated in Newry. In 1616, he enrolls as a student of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) where he graduates with a BA in 1620. He obtains his MA there in 1623 and a fellowship on November 24, 1624. In 1630 he graduates as a Doctor of Divinity and later becomes Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the college.

In Anglican politics Parry is regarded as a Laudian. In 1627, he is appointed Prebendary of Tipperkevin, a living belonging to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. In 1630, he is Incumbent of St. Bride’s Church, Dublin, where several of his children are baptised. In 1634, he is made Treasurer of Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin and chaplain to Lancelot Bulkeley, Archbishop of Dublin. In 1635, he is appointed one of the High Commission for Ecclesiastical Causes. In 1636, he is appointed Prebendary of Stagonyl, another living belonging to St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. By patent dated April 28, he is presented to St. Olave’s in Waterford where he is installed on May 11, but is also licensed to hold his other preferments at the same time. In 1640, he resigns from St. Olave’s and is appointed Dean of Lismore, County Waterford. Some of the Deanery lands had been seized by Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork and Parry tries to get them back but fails. His successor as Dean of Lismore is his first cousin, Robert Parry. In 1643, he is Archdeacon of Glendalough, County Wicklow.

On December 29, 1646, King Charles I of England in a letter states he favours Parry for the See of the Diocese of Killaloe, County Clare. On March 20, 1647, a patent is issued confirming his appointment as Bishop of Killaloe and he is consecrated at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on March 28, 1647, by Lancelot Bulkeley, Archbishop of Dublin, assisted by the Bishops of Kildare and Cloyne. However, as this is in the middle of the Irish Rebellion he was unable to travel to his diocese and remains in Dublin, where he resides in Chichester House, St. Stephen’s Street, which later houses the Parliament of Ireland. In the Hearth Money Rolls the house is assessed for eight hearths so is quite large. On July 9, 1647, he signs the petition of the clergy praying to be allowed the use of the Liturgy, then abolished by order of the commissioners under Oliver Cromwell. On account of his good character and the smallness of the revenues of Killaloe, the King permits him to hold his former preferments in commendam.

Parry marries the daughter of John Price and by her has six children, who are John Parry, Bishop of Ossory, Benjamin Parry, Bishop of Ossory, Edward Parry, Robert Parry, Mary Parry who marries John Bulkeley, and Elinor Parry who is a love and correspondent of John Locke and later marries Richard Hawkshaw.

Parry dies in his house in St. Stephen’s Street on July 20, 1650, at the age of 51, after contracting the plague which rages there, and is buried in St. Audoen’s Church, Dublin. His will dated July 17, 1650, is proved in the Prerogative Court, Dublin. Its terms are: (1) his body is to be interred in St. Audeon’s Church near the doors, with his face to the east, where he also desires the body of his wife to be translated, and laid by his side, (2) he gives to his eldest daughter, Mary Parry, alias Bulkeley, a little silver watch, and her mother’s dear-head ring, (3) to his other daughter “Eleynor Parry” other ornaments that belonged to her mother, (4) to his sister “Madelius Evans” five pounds, (5) to other beneficiaries are given legacies out of the fifty pounds due to him by William Usher, (6) to his cousin, Robert Parry, he leaves his lexicon and other books, (7) to his cousin, Richard Parry, he leaves a gold ring, (8) to his cousin, Mary Parry, wife of Richard, he leaves a money legacy, and (9) he appoints his cousin, Robert Parry, as overseer of his will.

Parry writes a book entitled David restored; or an Antidote against the Prosperity of the Wicked, and the Afflictions of the Just, which is a sermon on the seventy-third Psalm. This is afterward published by his son, John Parry at Oxford in 1660. This work contains an engraved portrait of Edward Parry (above).

(Pictured: An engraved portrait by John Dickson of Dr. Edward Parry, Bishop of Killaloe, from a book authored by the bishop entitled “David restored; or an Antidote against the Prosperity of the Wicked, and the Afflictions of the Just”, published at Oxford in 1660.)


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Disappearance of Father Michael Griffin

father-michael-griffin

Father Michael Griffin, a Catholic priest, disappears on November 14, 1920, after he leaves his residence at St. Joseph’s Church, in Galway. His housekeeper hears him talking to someone at the door and assumes that Fr. Griffin is going to visit a sick parishioner. He never returns.

Griffin is born in Gurteen, East Galway and ordained at St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth in 1917. A priest of the Diocese of Clonfert, he serves in the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora. In June 1918, the curate is transferred from the parish of Ennistymon, County Clare, to Rahoon, Galway City.

Fr. Griffin is known to the Crown Forces as a republican sympathiser. On the night of September 8, 1920, he is called out to attend Seamus Quirke, a First Lieutenant in the local Irish Republican Army (IRA) after he is shot seven times at the docks. He also takes part in the funeral mass of Michael Walsh of the Old Malt House following his murder on the night of October 19, 1920.

On November 14, Fr. Griffin is lured from the presbytery by British forces. He is taken to Lenaboy Castle where he is questioned. After being interrogated, he is shot through the head and his body is taken away by lorry and buried in an unmarked grave at Cloghscoltia near Barna. His disappearance is reported to the police the following day.

Fr. Griffins’ remains are discovered by a local man, William Duffy, while he is attending cattle on November 20.

Frank Percy Crozier, commander of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary, travels to Galway on November 22 and finds that Fr. Griffin has been murdered by his men, and that a plot is afoot to murder Dr. Michael Fogarty, Bishop of Killaloe. Crozier writes in Ireland For Ever:

“I found out that the military inquiry into the murder of Father Griffin (held in lieu of an inquest) was fast with a ‘frame up’ and that a verdict of murder against persons, or somebody ‘unknown’ would result. I told the military commander this and the name of the real murderer but was informed that a senior official of Dublin Castle had been to Galway in front of me to give instructions as to ‘procedure’ in this murder investigation. At Killaloe next day I received further evidence that the hidden hand was still at work and was told in confidence that instructions had been received to kill Dr. Fogarty, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe, by drowning him in a sack from the bridge over the River Shannon, so as to run no further risk of detection by having his body found.”

On November 23, Fr. Griffin’s funeral mass takes place at St. Joseph’s Church, Presentation Road. The funeral cortege moves through the streets of Galway, with three bishops, 150 priests, and in excess of 12,000 mourners participating. The priest is buried in the grounds of Loughrea Cathedral.

A group of enthusiasts gather together in Galway in the spring of 1948 to form a football club and they decide unanimously to name the club “Father Griffins” and they grow and flourish to be a major force in Galway football. There is also a road in Galway City called “Father Griffin Road.”