CROISET
514
CRONAN
Croiset, Jean, ascetical writer, b. at Marseilles,
1656; d. at Avignon, 31 January, 1738. He entered
the Society of Jesus in 1677, and was for a long time
rector of the novitiate at Avignon, which he governed
with great ^-isdom. He became famous as a director
of consciences, and as a wTiter of many spiritual books
which have been translated into several languages.
His "Devotion to the Sacred Heart" appears to have
been the first of his publications. He ivrote also:
■'Retreats for Each Day of the Month"; "The Lives
of the Saints for Each Day of the Year", in eighteen
volumes, in the last of which is "The Life of Our
Lord" and "The Life of the Blessed Virgin"; "The
Model of Youth"; "Spiritual Illusions"; "Dialogues
on Worldly Dangers " ; "Parallel of the Morals of Our
Age, with the Morality of Christ", etc. He also pub-
lished collections of prayers. De Backer accuses
Lamennais of ha\'ing plagiarized from Croiset in his
little work called "Guide du jeune age". Feller
attributes a book of meditations also to Croiset. He
is regarded as one of the great masters of the spiritual
life.
De Backer, Bibl. de la c. de J. (Lii^ge, 1S53 and 1861); Feller, Biog. Univ. (Paris, 1S131.
T. J. Campbell.
Croke, Thomas William, Archbishop of Cashel, Ireland, h. near Mallow, Co. Cork, 24 May, 1824; d. at Thurles, 22 July, 1902. His early studies were made at the Irish College, Paris, and his theological course was completed at Rome. Returning to Ireland he was made one of the professors at St. Patrick's Col- lege, Carlow, and then did mission work at Charleville in his native diocese from 1849 to 1858. They were the years of misery following the great famine, and the suffering of the people from their economic and politi- cal misfortunes intensified the national leanings that were a marked characteristic of his whole career and which made hun to his fellow-countrjTnen the ideal of the patriot priest. He was a zealous follower of O'Connell in the Repeal Era, and when the prestige of The Liberator waned, sided with the Young Ireland party.
Appointed president of St. Colman's College, Fer- moy, in 1858, Dr. Croke administered this office satis- factorily for seven years, followed by five equally suc- cessful years as pastor of Doneraile, and was then ap- pointed Bishop of Auckland, Australia. He was con- secrated in Rome by Cardinal Cullen and took part in the concluding sessions of the Vatican Comicil. Re- turning to Ireland for a brief visit, he went by way of the United States to take possession of his See of Auckland. During the succeeding four years his gov- enunent of the diocese was marked by great spiritual and material progress. In 1874 Archbishop Leahy of Cashel died, and at the request of the Irish hierarchy Bishop Croke was appointed to fill the vacancy. His return to Ireland gave the greatest satisfaction to the people, who immediately hailed hun as the imques- tioned and safe ecclesiastical leader in national poli- tics that Archbishop MacHale of Tuam had been for the previous generation. He at once resumed his former active interest in political affairs and became a strong supporter of the Home Rule movement under the leadership of Isaac Butt. In the more advanced agrarian projects of the Land League days he was side by side with Charles Stewart Parnell in popular lead- ership, and was the main restraining influence when the ultra-radical element, infuriated by the new co- ercion laws of British officialism, broke out with the "No Rent" and other revolutionary manifestos. He made several visits to Rome in defence of the popular cause and to oppose the attempts of British diplomacy to enlist the direct intervention of the influence of the Vatican against the Irish Nationalists, the justice of whose efTorts he vigorously championed. After the fall of PameU and the confusion and factional strife
that followed he withdrew in a measure from active
participation in politics, but never lost his enthusiasm
for the cause of Irish national regeneration.
Freeman's Journal (Dublin); The Tablet (London); The Catholic News (New York), contemporary files; Moran, His- tory of the Catholic Church in Australasia (Sydney, s. d.), 917, 918.
Thomas F. Meehan.
CroUy, William, Archbishop of Armagh, b. at Ballykilbeg, near Downpatrick, 8 June, 1780; d. 6 April, 1849. At fourteen he was sent to a classical school in Downpatrick, conducted by Rev. Mr. Nel- son, a Unitarian minister, as there were no Catholic schools in the north of Ireland. In November, 1801, he went to Maynooth, and obtained first place in dog- matic theology in 1806. At Pentecost of the same year he was ordained priest by Dr. Troy, Archbishop of Dublin, and for six years lectured in logic, meta- physics, and ethics. In 1812 he took charge of the parish of Belfast, which comprised not only the entire town but also a district more than tliirty miles in ex- tent. On being appointed Bishop of Down and Con- nor in 1825, he induced the Holy See to change the episcopal parish from Downpatrick to Belfast, the real centre of the dioce.se. During the ten years he spent as bishop of this see he built a large church in almost every parish, and founded St. Malachy's Semi- nary. Owing to the dearth of Catholic schools. Dr. CroUy was obliged to allow Catholic children to attend Protestant schools, a course of action which caused a fierce controversy after his death. In 1835 he was appointed to the archdiocese of Armagh. LTp to his time no primate had been allowed to reside in that town, but he lived alternately there and in Drogheda, where most of the primates had dwelt in penal times. His first care was to found St. Patrick's Seminarj- in Armagh, which was opened in 1838. His great work however, was the foundation of the cathedral, which was not completed till twenty-four years after his death. Having with great difficulty acquired a site on an historic hill by the side of the town, he laid the foundation stone on St. Patrick's Day, 1840, amid a vast assemblage of clergy and laity. The work of construction went steadily on until the famine years, and the primate vi.sited several cities in Ireland, mak- ing an appeal in person. The famine, however, stopped the progress of the work. When the question of the Queen's colleges arose, the primate was one of those bishops who looked favourably on the project. It is certain, however, that if he had lived till the Synod of Thurles, in which these colleges were for- mally condemned as pernicious to the Faith, he would have laid aside his own private opinions on this sub- ject, and submitted to the decision of the Holy See. He died in Drogheda of the cholera, on Good Friday (6 April), 1849. and was buried on Easter Sunday in the centre of the choir of the still unfinished cathedral of Armagh. A collection of the "Select Sermons" of the primate was jjublished shortly after his death.
Crolly, Life of Dr. CroUy (Dublin, 1851); Stuart. Histo- rical Memoirs of Armagh. Coleman ed. (Dundalk, 1900), XX, 299 sqq.
A. Coleman. Cromer, Martin. See Kromer.
Cronan, name of several Irish saints. — I. Saint Cronan Mochua, founder of the See of Balla, sub- sequently merged into that of Tuc.-n. Ireland, flour- ished in the period 596-637, d. 30 March, 637, but his Acts are more or less of a legendary character. However, it would appear that he was educated at Bangor, under St. Comgall, and founded a mon- aster)' at Gael, among the Feara Rois of Louth and Monaghan, whence he migrated to Fore and Te- hilly. Passing through Hy Many, he journeyed to Connacht, in 616, and founded the church and Abbey of Balla, of which he was first ablxit-bishop. Numer- ous miracles are recorded of St. Cronan ^Iochtla, and
