LXMOOES
263
UMoaxs
ing that period the privileges of the diocesan chapter
were enlarged^ and the diocese was divided into dean-
eries. One bishop of Limerick, in 1351, ruled Ireland
for a short period as lord deputy; and another had a
serious quarrel with the Arcnbishop of Cashel, wh6m
he drove out of Limerick by force. This militcuit prel-
ate resigned his see in 1400 and was succeeded by a
very able man, Cornelius O'Dea, a descendant of one
of the ancient Dalcassian chiefs. His mitre and
crosier, both beautifully ornamented, still exist. His
successors, like his predecessors, were of the Anelo-
Irish stock; nor did anything noteworthy occur dur-
ing their rule until the Reformation, and then, though
aLimerick priest, William Casey, accepted from Ed-
ward VI the position of Protestant bishop, both Irish
and Anglo-Insh united in rciecting the new doctrines.
During the wars of Elizabeth the diocese suffered much, nor did any city rejoice more sincerely than Limerick at the death of the queen. The city was again prominent in the wars of the seventeenth cen- tuiy. The nimcio was present in its cathedral, in 16&, when a Te Deum was simg for the victory of Ben- burb; and when the city was captured, in 1651, by Ireton, after a most heroic defence, one of those spe- cially excluded from mercy was the Catholic bishop. He manaeed, however, to escape, and died at Brussels, in 1654. For nearly twenty years subsequently Limer- iclc had no bishop; and then came the partiiu tolera- tion under Charles II and the fleeting triumph under James II, followed by the Jacobite war, which, in Ire- land, was mainly a war of religion. The Treaty of Lim- erick, which ended the war and was supposed to have se- cured toleration for the CathoUcs, was soon shamefully broken, and in the eighteenth century Limerick — city and diocese — experienced to the full the horrors of the peoal laws. From 1702 to 1720 there was no bishop, out after that date the episcopal succession was regu- larly maintained. Shut out from every position of honour or emolument, the Catholics were prohibited from dwelling within the city, unless registered, and as late as 1744 there was no Catholic church within the city walls. Gradually, however, the old religion eained ffround. The Catholics, defying the law, settled in Limerick and soon outnumbered the Protestants, and being free to engage in trade, they amassed wealth and built churches. In 1805, when the bishop. Dr. Young, undertook the building of a diocesan col- lege, he h^ no difficulty in getting sufficient funds for the purpose. Dr. Young was one of those who refused to subscribe to the episcopal resolution of 1799 favour- ing the veto, and he denounced the project in 1808, when it was sought to have it revived. His successor, Dr. Tuohy, was equallv vigorous (1814) in condemna- tion of the letter of Monsignor Quarantotti. One of Dr. Tuohy 's most notable acts was to introduce the Christian Brothers into the city. He died in 1828, and was succeeded by Dr. Ryan, who died in 1864. The long episcopate of the latter was marked by the erec- tion of many churches, including the cathedral of St. John, the foundation-stone of which was laid in 1856. Convents, also, were multiplied, and where, in 1825, there was but one convent for women throughout the whole diocese, at Dr. Ryan's death there were in Limerick City alone five convents, these including the Good Shepherd, Presentation, and Mercy orders. And the good work of building churches, convents, and schools, was carried on with equal energy by Dr. Ryan's successor. Dr. Butler (1864-86).
The present bishop is Dr. Edward Thomas O'Dwyer, bom in 1842, ^ucated at Maynooth, ordained priest in 1867, and consecrated bishop in 1886, an eloquent and fearless man, always listened to with respect on public questions. Among eminent persons connected wit^ the diocese may be named the poets Gerald Griffin, Sir Aubrey de Vere, Bart., ana his son Sir Aubrey Thomas de Vere, the second baronet. In 1910 the <lior.cw containwl 4K pariBhos, 46 parish
priests, 2 administrators, 60 curates, 7 professors,
115 secular and 54 regular clergy, 94 district churches,
12 convents with 144 religious living in community,
4 monastic houses with 38 religious living in com-
munity. In 1901 the Catholic population of the
diocese was 111,170.
Leniuan, History of Limerick (Dublin, 1866); Bbglet, History of the Diocese of Limerick (Dublin, 1906); Lanigan, EecUstastical History of Ireland (Duolin, 1S22); Mac<'affret, The Black Book of Limerick (Dublin. 1907); Irish Catholic Directory (1910).
E. A. D* Alton.
Limoges, Diocese of (Lkmovicensis), comprises the Departments of Haute Vienne and Crcuse in France. After the Concordat of 1801, the See of Limoges lost twenty-four parishes from the district of Nontron which were annexed to the Diocese of Perigueux, and forty -four from the district of Con- folens, transferred to the Diocese of jVngouleme; but until 1822 it included the entire ancient Diocese of Tulle, when the latter was reorganized.
Gregory of Tours names St. Martial, who founded the Church of Limoge:^, as one of the seven bishops sent from Rome to Gaul in the middle of the tliird ccntuiy. An anonymous life of St. Martial (Vita priraitiva), dis- covered and published by Abl.>d Arbellot, represents him as sent to Gaul by St. Peter. A fjreat dciil of controversy has arisen over the date of this biography. The discovery in the library at Carlsruhe of a manu- script copy written at Reichenau by a monk, Rcgim- bertus, wno died in 846, indubitably places the original before that date. From the fact that it is in rhyth- mical prose, Mgr Bellet thinks it belongs to the seventh century. P6re de Smedt and Mgr Duchesne question this conclusion and maintain that the "Vita primitiva" is much later than Gregory of Tours. M. de Last eyrie gives 800 as the date of its origin. In addition to the manuscript already cited, the Abbey of St. Martial at the beginning of the eleventh century possessed a cir- cumstantial life of its patron saint, according to which, and to the cycle of later legends dcrivetl from it, St. Martial was one of the seventy-two disciples who witnessed the Passion and Ascension of Our Lord, was present on the first I'entecost and at tlio martyr- dom of St. Stephen, after which he followed St. Peter to Antioch and to Rome, and was sent to Gaul by the Prince of the Apostles, wno assigned Austriclinian and Alpinian to accompany him. The three were wel- comed at Tulle ana turned away from Aliun. They set out towards Limoges, where, on the site of the
E resent cathedral, St. Martial erected a shrine in onour of St. Stephen. A pagan priest, Aurelian, wished to throw St. Martial into prison, but was struck dead, then brought to life, baptized, ordained, and later consecratedhLshop by the saint. Aurelian is the patron of the guild of^ butchers in Limoges. Forty years after the Ascension, Our Lord appeared to Martial, and announced to him the approach of death. The churches of Limoges celebrate tliis event on 16 June. After labouring for twenty-eight years as a niissionary in Gaul, the saint died at the age of fifty- nine, surrounded by his converts of Poitou, Berri, Auvergne^ and Aguitaine.
The writer of this "Life" pretends to be Aurelian, St. Martial's disciple and successor in the See of Li- moges. Mgr Duchesne thinks it not unlikely t liat the real authorship of this *'apocryi)hal and lymg" work should be attributed to the chronicler Adhemar de Chabannes, noted for his fabrications; but ^L de Lasteyrie is of opinion that it was written about 055, before the birth of Adh^mar. Be that as it may, this "Vita Aureliana" played an important part at the beginning of the eleventh century, when the Al)bot Hugh (1019-1025) brought before several coun- cils the question of the Apostolic date of St. Martial's mission. Before the Carlo vingian period there is no trace of the story that St. Martial yi^jA
