New book looks at legacy of Cork bishop

A CORK-born art historian has written a new book which looks at the legacy of a mediaeval Cork bishop who was twice appointed but never served.

Art historian Patricia Curtin-Kelly’s latest book looks at the life of a venerated 15th century Cork cleric and his later influence on the arts and crafts movement.

Tadgh Mac Cárthaigh, whose name was Anglicised as Thaddeus McCarthy, was born in Caheragh in West Cork around 1455.

The son of the Lord of Muskerry, he may have been educated by the Franciscan Friars of Timoleague, and he studied for the priesthood under his uncle, Canon Thady Mac Cárthaigh.

Ordained a priest by Bishop William Roche in Cork, he travelled to Rome for further studies, and he came to the attention of Pope Sixtus IV, who appointed him Bishop of Ross in 1482, when Thaddeus was only 27.

Ireland at the time was a fractious land of many warring fiefdoms, with Gaelic kings and Anglo lords vying for supremacy.

Travelling home, Thaddeus discovered the see of Ross was already occupied by Bishop Hugh O’Driscoll, appointed by the same pope, and a lengthy dispute ensued between the Mac Cárthaigh and O’Driscoll clans.

Political intrigue ground on until a complaint to Rome led to Thaddeus being excommunicated in 1488, a decision he successfully appealed. With the excommunication nullified, Thaddeus was appointed Bishop of Cork and Cloyne in 1490.

Returning to Munster, Bishop Mac Cárthaigh found himself thwarted again by politics, as Gerald Fitzgerald, the powerful Eight Earl of Kildare, known as “the uncrowned King of Ireland”, had usurped the diocese of Cork and Cloyne, with the backing of the Earl of Desmond and the corporation of Cork city.

Thaddeus returned to Rome to plead his case, and in July 1492 the Pope issued an order that Fitzgerald should restore Bishop Mac Cárthaigh to the see of Cork and Cloyne.

DEAD AT 37

Setting out to return to Ireland, dressed in humble robes and wearing an oyster scallop which symbolised pilgrimage and guaranteed safe passage, Thaddeus arrived in Ivrea, in Turin, more than 400 miles away, more than three months later, a lone and weary pilgrim.

At dawn the following morning, a strange light was seen coming from his hostel room, and Thaddeus was found dead within. He was 37.

The local bishop claimed to have dreamed of a man dressed in bishop’s robes ascending to heaven, and he recognised the dead man, decreeing that he be buried in Ivrea Cathedral. Many miracles would be attributed to Thaddeus, and his tomb became a shrine.

When the tomb was opened in 1742, 250 years after Thaddeus’s death, it was said his body was perfectly preserved.

Beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, his relics were that year donated by Ivrea to the dioceses of Cork and Ross, and Cloyne.

Those relics are now in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, The Lough, the North Cathedral, Cobh Cathedral and St Mary’s Parish Church in Youghal.

There is a shrine to Blessed Thaddeus in the North Cathedral, and a side-chapel dedicated to his memory in St Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh. There is a stained-glass window to his honour in Saints Peter and Paul’s Church in Cork.

Thaddeus’s feast day of October 25 is observed in the dioceses of Ross, Cork, and Cloyne, and in Ivrea, where he was buried.

Patricia Curtin-Kelly has found images of Thaddeus all over the country, and she has used those images as a way of exploring the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century and early 20th century.

“People might be interested that so many images of Thaddeus are to be found in churches, particularly in Munster and in Italy, of course,” Ms Curtin-Kelly said.

“He was beatified in the late 1800s, which was just after Catholic Emancipation, and there was an explosion in the building of churches in Ireland, which coincided with the Arts and Crafts movement.”

In her book, Ms Curtin-Kelly explores the legacy of Blessed Thaddeus and outlines the history of the many artworks to his honour across Ireland and Italy.

Searching for Thaddeus: Images of a Forgotten Irishman in Ireland and Italy by Patricia Curtin-Kelly, is published by Liberties Press.

The book will be launched by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Dr Fintan Gavin, in the visitor centre in the Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne, at 7pm on Thursday, November 24.