JUNE, 1865.
BLESSED THADDEUS, BISHOP OF CORK AND CLOYNE.
THE HISTORY OF A CONVERSION.
TWO ILLUSTRIOUS GRAVES.
LITURGICAL QUESTIONS.
CORRESPONDENCE.
DOCUMENTS.
NOTICES OF BOOKS.
FOOTNOTES.
A.D. 1492.
The interesting and very learned article which appeared in the last numberof the Record 1 has contributed much to illustrate the life of theBlessed Thaddeus, and to make known to the Irish Church a distinguishedprelate whose virtues and sanctity adorned our island towards the closeof the fifteenth century, which is precisely one of the darkest eras ofour history. As, however, some of the writer's conclusions can scarcelybe reconciled with the statement which we made in a preceding article onthe Bishops of Cork and Cloyne (Record, p. 312), viz., that this holyBishop's name was 'Thaddeus Machar or Maher', we take the liberty oflaying before the reader the reasons on which our opinion was based,and which compel us, however unwilling, to exclude from the princelyfamily of the M'Carthys the saintly prelate whose relics now enrich thecathedral of Ivrea.
1. The town of Ivrea, to use the learned writer's words, is the capitalof the Piedmontese province of the same name, and we may add that it ismost picturesquely situated at the foot of the Alps, and is one of thefirst Italian towns which the traveller meets when, having crossed MountSt. Bernard, he wends his way towards Vercelli or Novara. In medievaldocuments Ivrea receives the Latin names of Eporedia, Iporegia, andHipporegia, as may be seen in Ughelli's Italia Sacra, or in the laterwork of Cappalletti, 'Le Chiese d'Italia' (Venice, 1858, vol. xiv.,pag. 177), and at the time of which we speak, the see was held by NicholasGarigliati, who was appointed its bishop in 1483, and died in 1499.
2. That the Blessed Thaddeus, who by his sanctity and[402] miracles meritedto be numbered amongst the patrons of Ivrea, was Bishop of Corkand Cloyne, is beyond all controversy. To the arguments advanced bythe writer in the last Record we may add an extract from the ToddMSS. given by Brady in his Records of Cork (vol. iii. pag. 44), inwhich Bishop Thaddeus, who was appointed to the see of Cork in 1490, issaid to have "died at the town of Eporedia in Piedmont in 1492". Thedate 4th October, is indeed added, but this is probably a mere misprintfor the 24th October, the true date of the demise of our holy bishop.
3. Ware informs us that this Thaddeus was by some called Mechar(pag. 563), and the documents of Ivrea place beyond doubt that such washis true name. Thus the Bishop of Ivrea writes, "Thaddaeum Machar, 2Episcopum Hib. illum esse innotuit ex chartis quas deferebat", and