Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/627

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O'REILLY
ORÉLIE ANTOINE I.

dained priest in 1827. He was appointed pastor of Huntingdon and the adjacent counties, built several churches, and was then transferred to Pittsburg. He afterward went to Rome and en- tered the Congregation of the Mission. On his return to the United States he was made superior of the house of the fathers of his order in St. Louis. He was then transferred to La Salle, where he built a church and founded a monastery, of which he was elected superior. He was next sent to the Seminary of St. Mary of the Angels. Niagara Palls, where he succeeded the present archbishop of Toronto as president. He was elected deputy to the general assembly of the priests of the Congre- gation of the Mission in Paris in 1861, and on his return retired to St. Louis.


O'REILLY, John Boyle, author, b. at Dowth Castle. County Meath, L-eland, 28 June, 1844 ; d. in Hull, Mass., 10 Aug., 1890. He learned type-setting, and afterward became a reporter for various Eng- lish journals. He returned to Ireland in 1863 and enlisted in the 10th Hussars. He had meantime joined the Fenian society, and his entrance into the English army was with the object of spreading disaffection among the Irish soldiers. His connec- tion with Fenianism was discovered in 1866, His propaganda of revolutionary principles had been successful, and several Irish regiments, known to be ready to participate in a rebellion, were, in con- sequence, scattered through the most unhealthful parts of the British possessions. O'Reilly was tried for high treason, and sentenced to be shot. The sentence was commuted, and he was confined in different English prisons. When in Dartmoor, aided by other Irish prisoners, he collected and buried the scattered bones of the French and American prisoners of war who were shot in 1814. In 1867 he was sent to Australia. He was one of those excluded from the amnesty granted to the political prisoners in 1869. He escaped from the western coast of Australia in an open boat, was picked up by Capt. G-ifford, of the American ship " Gazelle," and landed in Philadelphia on 23 Nov., . He lectured and wrote for the journals for a time, followed the Fenian raid into Canada in , and described its incidents for the Boston journals. The same year he became connected with the Boston " Pilot," of which he was after- ward editor and principal owner. He founded the Papyrus club in Boston. He appeared as a lecturer, contributed to periodicals, and published in book-form " Songs of the Southern Seas " (Bos- ton, 1873) ; " Songs, Legends, and Ballads " (1878) ; " Moondyne," a novel (1879) ; " Statues in the Block" (1881): and "In Bohemia" (1886). He had in preparation " The Country with a Roof," an allegory dealing with certain faults in the Ameri- can social system, " The Evolution of Straight Weapons." and a work on the material resources of Ireland.


O'REILLY, Patrick Thomas, R. C. bishop, b. in Cavan, Ireland, 24 Dec, 1833 ; d. in Springfield, Mass., 28 May, 1892. He emigrated to the United States, and was educated in Boston. He began his philosophical and theological studies in St. Charles's college, Md., and completed them in St. Mary's seminary, Baltimore. On his return to Boston he was ordained priest there in 1857. His first mission was at St. John's church, Worcester, which he left in 1862 to organize St. Joseph's par- ish, Boston. He remained in charge of this for two years, and was then sent back to Worcester. He was nominated first bishop of Springfield on 28 June, 1870, and consecrated by Archbishop Mc- Closkey on 25 Sept. The administration of Bishop O'Reilly was very successful. The district at the time of its formation into a diocese contained fifty-four churches and forty priests. There are now (1892) 141 priests, fifty ecclesiastical students, ninety churches, and fourteen stations.


ORELIE ANTOINE I. (o-ray-lee), king of Ara,ucania and Patagonia, the name assumed by Orelie Antoine Charles de Tonneins, or Tou- NEiNS, a French adventurer, b. in Chourgnac, near Perigueux, in October, 1820 ; d. in Tourtoirac, Dor- dogne, 19 Sept.. 1878. He was graduated at law in Toulouse, and became an attorney in Perigueux, but failed in business, and emigrated to Buenos Ayres about 1852. He resided afterward in Santiago and Concepcion as a merchant, and, having occasion to trade with the natives of Araucania, made the acquaintance of several chiefs. By skilful machinations with the principal caciques of the different tribes, he obtained his proclamation as king of Araucania and Patagonia at a mass-meeting that was held in the valley of Los Angeles in March, 1861. He immediately endeavored to organize his kingdom on the plan of a European state, and issued a manifesto to all the governments of Europe and America, informing them of his accession to the throne. The sudden creation of this new monarchy only excited ridicule in both continents, but as Napoleon III. discussed the question of Orelie's recognition in his privy council, the Chilian government saw the necessity of acting vigorously. Meanwhile Orelie's letters to the French emperor began to excite the interest of Europe, and London and New York papers published editorials favorable to the cause of the adventurer. The Chilian authorities had threatened the Araucanians with war if they did not expel De Tounens, and Orelie visited the principal caciques to organize the defence. One, named Guenterol, promised to lead an army of 40,000 men in case of invasion, but Orelie was captured by a party of Chilian cavalry, taken to Nacimiento, and afterward imprisoned in the fortress of Los Angeles. Orelie's capture excited indignation in Finance, and Napoleon instructed the Viscount of Cazotte, French consul in Santiago, to enter a protest. Fearing foreign complications, all the Chilian courts affirmed their incompetency in Orelie's case. The latter meanwhile escaped from his prison, but was recaptured a few days later, and at last the Santiago court of appeals declared him a lunatic on 2 Sept., 1862, and decided to keep him a prisoner till he should be claimed by his family or the French government. However, a few days later he was put^ on board a ship bound for France. On 3 Dec, 1863, he addressed a protest to the foreign governments, and tried to interest the public in his case by the issue of a narrative entitled " Orelie Antoinel., roi d'Araucanie et de Patagonie, son avenement au trone et sa captivite au Chili " (Paris, 1863). He also began a series of lectures in the principal cities. Toward the end of 1869 he returned to Patagonia, but was coolly received, and after a few months left for Marseilles. There he founded the journal "Les Pendus" in December, 1871, in which he narrated his second expedition. In March, 1872, he began the publication of " La Couronne d'aeier," a journal of Araucania and Patagonia, and founded the order of the same name, the decoration of which he bestowed very liberally. In April, 1874, having interested some financiers in his cause, he left Bordeaux with a supply of arms and ammunition, and freighting a small schooner in Buenos Ayres, under the assumed name of Jean Prat, set out for his kingdom. But an Argentine sloop-of-war, at the re-