In this segment, Paschal Sweeney tells us more of the history of the Friary at Multyfarnham, looking particularly at the time of the Rebellion of 1798.

In 1798, political unrest in Ireland reached Multyfarnham, Co. Westmeath. United Irishmen, seeking to support General Humbert, attacked Wilson’s Hospital for weapons. The Warden, initially hostile, was taken prisoner but spared after Fr. Moran intervened.

By 1799, relations between the Church and government improved. The Franciscan friars of Multyfarnham faced declining numbers, with only three in 1800. Despite this, they maintained their traditions.

In 1813, traveler Atkinson described the friary’s humble, simple life, reflecting the enduring faith and poverty of the friars, which survived despite the challenges of the era.

Paschal Sweeney takes us another part along the historical journey of the friary at Multyfarnham, its people and priests, and those who interacted with it, for good or otherwise!

In this segment, he considers the roles of some of the friars at the time, who carried the responsibility for Multyfarnham and the nearby church in Leney – which still exists today.

HISTORY SEGMENT

During the first half of the 18th century Franciscan life at Multyfarnham was as uneventful as the friars could make it.  The friars could never forget that they had no legal status.

As far as parliamentary legislation could make them such, they were outcasts, declared enemies of the state.  Consequently they had to move about quietly, performing their priestly duties as unobtrusively as possible.

Yet there is no evidence of open persecution.  The friars had, of course, moments of extreme uneasiness.  Sometimes a threatened descent of Jacobite’s, or an unaccountable paroxysm of anti-Catholic fury, would lead to a sudden enforcement of penal legislation and a renewed vigilance on the part of the authorities.

HISTORY SEGMENT

Among the Guardians of Multyfarnham friary in the first quarter of the 18th century were two friars who filled the office of Provincial in challenging times.  Fr Peter Warren came from a family distinguished since the early days of the Norman occupation, when they received generous grants of land and fixed their principal seat at Warrenstown, Co Meath.

During the English Civil War (1642 – 1651), the family consistently supported the Royalist cause and as a result suffered severely under Cromwell.  At the Restoration they were singled out under the Act of Settlement for special treatment as ‘innocent papists’ and obtained lands at Castleknock.  In later years they stood by the Stuarts and the soldier members of the family followed James II into exile.

Paschal Sweeney has completed the next phase in telling the history of the Franciscan Friary in Multyfarnham.

In this chapter, Paschal outlines the life of the friars during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although still not free from oppression, nonetheless, they continued their service, preaching the Gospel at all times, and sometimes, using words!