by Pope Pius IX on 3 May. At the same time he was confirmed as delegate apostolic for carrying out the decrees of the synod of Thurles and for the erection of the catholic university in Ireland. He refused to accept the seat at the national board which had been occupied by his predecessor, and in a series of vigorous letters he denounced some of the books, particularly some scriptural works compiled by Archbishop Whately, as being designed for the subversion of the catholic faith of the children who read them. Throughout his whole career Cullen was an unflinching opponent of the model schools and of what he considered to be the objectionable extremes of the system of national education.
In 1853, when dissensions arose in the tenant-right party, Cullen prohibited the clergy of his diocese from any further participation in public political movements. Frederick Lucas denounced in the ‘Tablet’ the action of the archbishop, regarding it as an authoritative declaration against the ‘popular’ party, and eventually went to Rome in the vain hope of obtaining from the authorities there a reversal of the prohibition. In 1859 Cullen promoted the organisation of the Irish Brigade which went to the papal states to assist in upholding the temporal sovereignty of the pope. From the outset he was a determined opponent of the Fenian brotherhood and all other revolutionary combinations, and a loyal supporter of the crown, the law, and the constitution. He was therefore attacked in terms of unmeasured abuse by the Fenian press both in Ireland and America.
In the consistory of 22 June 1866 he was created a cardinal priest with the title of San Pietro in Montorio (La Gerarchia Cattolica, 1878, p. 78), being the first Irishman thus raised to the rank of a prince of the church. He was also nominated a member of the Sacred Congregations of the Propaganda, Index, Sacred Rites and Regular Discipline. In the course of his long episcopate he paid several visits to Rome, where he was always a welcome visitor to Pius IX. At the Vatican council he formed one of the majority who asked for the definition of papal infallibility, and it is said that the form of words in which the dogma was finally accepted was suggested and drawn up by him. In September 1875 he presided at the synod of Maynooth. He had intended to take part in the conclave for the election of a successor to Pius IX, but on reaching Paris he learned that the election had already taken place. He completed his journey, however, and at Rome paid his homage to Leo XIII. Soon after his return he died at his residence in Eccles Street, Dublin, on 24 Oct. 1878, and on the 29th he was buried beneath the high altar in the chapel of Clonville College.
Cullen was a churchman of a pronounced ultramontane type and of ascetical habits. His strictness in enforcing discipline caused him at first to be viewed with feelings of dislike by some of the clergy under his jurisdiction, but his strong will and pertinacity overbore all opposition, and even Father O'Keeffe, a refractory priest who summoned the cardinal before the law courts and brought his conduct under the notice of parliament, finally submitted to the authority of his ecclesiastical superior. For twenty-eight years Cullen's name was a foremost one in the history of Ireland. Shortly after his death the ‘Times’ insisted on the conscientiousness with which he exercised his great personal influence and absolute power. During his tenure of the see of Dublin the archdiocese was dotted over with new or restored churches, convents, schools, and refuges for reclaimed or repentant evil-doers. He may be regarded as the founder of the Catholic University of Ireland, and the noble hospital of Mater Misericordiæ is a lasting monument to his memory. There are several engravings of his portrait.
[Tablet, 2 Nov. 1878, pp. 547, 549, and suppl.; Freeman's Journal, 25–30 Oct. 1878; Times, 25 Oct. 1878; O'Byrne's Lives of the Cardinals, p. 13 (with portrait); Fisquet's Histoire du Concile Œcuménique de Rome (with portrait); Guardian, 13 Oct. 1878, p. 1501; Annual Reg. 1878, pt. ii. p. 171; Weekly Register, 2 Nov. 1878; Brady's Episcopal Succession, i. 232, 345, iii. 376, 496; Fitzpatrick's Life of Dr. Doyle, i. 68, 450, ii. 146, 348, 489; Killen's Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, ii. 507, 508, 512, 517, 525 n.; Duffy's League of North and South, 136, 171–5, 301–81.]
CULLEN, ROBERT, Lord Cullen (d. 1810), Scottish judge, was the eldest son of Dr. William Cullen, physician [q. v.] He was educated at the university of Edinburgh, and admitted advocate on 15 Dec. 1764. According to Lord Cockburn, though ‘a gentlemanlike person in his manner, and learned in his profession,’ he was ‘too indolent and irregular to attain steady practice’ (Memorials, 144). Cockburn mentions, as ‘his best professional achievement,’ his ‘written argument for Lord Daer, in support of the right of the eldest sons of Scotch peers to sit in the House of Commons,’ and as his ‘best political one’ the ‘bill for the reform of Scotch representation in 1785.’ He was the author of various attractive essays in the ‘Mirror’ and ‘Lounger.’ His manners were remarkably genial, and he is one of the few persons referred to in flattering terms in W. A. Hay
