History

We have another instalment from our local historian, Paschal Sweeney. This time, he writes of how the friary in Multyfarnham avoided being plundered in the immediate aftermath of the victory at Benburb in 1646 during the Irish Confederate Wars. He also introduces us to two of the illustrious people associated with the friary, viz. Giovanni Battista Rinuccini (1592–1653) Archbishop and Papal Nuncio, and Fr James Fitzsimons. Read the whole story here.

Our historian, Paschal Sweeney, offers another fascinating insight into the history of the friary and the friars here at Multyfarnham. In this piece, Paschal looks at the years in and around 1641, a time when the friary would seem to have been at the centre of so much that was going on and a centre of Franciscan influence in Ireland.

Paschal tells us about the great Brother Mícheál Ó’Cléirigh OFM and the famous Annals of the Four Masters

Read here the latest part of the historical story of the Multyfarnham Friary, whose history dates back to 1268.

In September 1607 Bishop Brady died in Multyfarnham Friary. In accordance with his own wishes his body was laid to rest in the cloister, the burial place of the friars, and immediately under the door that led to into the church. The exact location of his grave, like...

Before the end of the year 1601, the friars returned to their ancient home, now a gaunt ruin. Desolation had fallen upon the Friary of Multyfarnham. Without roof, doors, or windows, silent and lonely the wind swept through, and rain soaked the charred limestone walls....

Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who was executed when Elizabeth was 2½ years old. Elizabeth I was born on the September 7, 1533, and was Queen of England and Ireland from November 17 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth...

In the early years while the friary church was being constructed the first friars lived in a humble abode. The remoteness of the friary in those early days ensured a place that was well suited to the practice of solitude and recollection. Surrounded by marshes, water,...

In 1268, a group of Franciscan friars descended to the valley of the river Gaine, into an area surrounded by water and marshes, the foundation of the friary here at Multytfarnham.