The Letters Of Saint Oliver Plunkett ed. by John Hanly (review)

BOOK REVIEWS 167 The Letters Of Saint Oliver Plunkett. Edited and Translated and with an Introduction by John Hanly. Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1979. Pp. 599. $82.50. One of the most tragic occurrences of the Reformation was that of a priest or religious informing, sometimes even falsely, on another priest or religious. One of the most startling things about the Reformation in Ireland is that this was still happening as late as 1681. When Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland from 1669 to 1681, went to the scaffold, the chief witness against him was a Franciscan friar. Three other Franciscans testified against him as well. Further comment on the state of Church disunity is not necessary. One of the constant themes of the letters of Archbishop Plunkett is the dissolute state of religious life in his native Ireland. Cromwell has come and gone. The Irish Catholic gentry have been impoverished and largely displaced. The Dominicans have fled and returned, only to find their old territories and parishes taken over by the Franciscans. And the religious orders, except for the Capuchins and Jesuits, have generally resumed their old quarrels and practices. Archbishop Plunkett arrives in the middle of all this and seeks to remedy whatever he can. He complains to Rome that the orders are sending only their most troublesome brethren to Ireland and that they serve only to drain the already meager resources of the island. Furthermore, he complains of the multiplication of religious houses which brings about no corresponding increase in labor: The Franciscans have up to ten convents in the province and the Dominicans about seven, and altogether they live in community; they do not catechize, they do not preach and, to tell the truth, it seems that their whole purpose and aim is to quest (beg) around about [and although there might be ten or twelve in one convent , you would with difficulty find two or three at home: they go about questing at the parochial altars].... What they collect they later eat in laziness without choir, without discipline. (Letter 89, p. !216) Plunkett also seeks to limit the number of religious in the episcopacy because of the rivalry between the secular clergy and religious. Even though he speaks highly of individual members of religious orders, and praises some of them who have been bishops, he deems it essential to the peace of his clergy to keep the religious from gaining jurisdiction over a diocese. The picture painted by Plunkett is not altogether black, for he states in one place that the Dominicans and Franciscans " are doing great good in the province . . . and I abundantly find that the rivalry and emulation between the two to acquire credit and admiration among the people rouses them to preach well and to do good and to live good lives (Letter 115, p. 168 BOOK REVIEWS 30Q) ." But the general tenor is that of determined bickering in the face of imminent persecution. Monsignor Hanly has provided a valuable service in editing these letters. He presents them in chronological order and in the original languages (Italian , Latin, and English) with a translation when necessary. The heading of each letter includes mention of the addressee, the date, the place from which it is written, and the archive or archives in which it is found. Hanly does not annotate these letters, but chooses instead to prefix each letter with a commentary which supplies information about the persons mentioned in the letter, the occasion for the letter, and the historical setting. These commentaries are sometimes longer and more significant than the letters they comment on. In Letter 19, for example, Plunkett's letter informs Propaganda in two lines that Msgr. Talbot has left Brussels for England. Hanly's commentary on this letter, explaining the importance of both Peter and Richard Talbot, runs to one and one-half pages of close print. The choice of this method of commentary is a wise one, and enables the editor to write more comprehensive and inclusive introductions to the letters and to achieve a flowing narrative instead of the usual brief identifications. Hanly is not merely annotating letters; he is writing history. He...