John Sleyne

(The intention of the Down survey was to measure out land held by Catholic Irish, that would then be forfeited and used to compensate English Merchant Adventurers and soldiers, for their support in the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.)

[27][28] Robert Fitzstephen (son of Stephen of Cardigan, and Nest ferch Rhys) was the first Anglo-Norman to invade Ireland, who along with Milo de Cogan, was granted 700'000 acres of land in Munster (about one third the area of Cork County) as compensation for his participation in the invasion.

and was administrator in commendam and last Prior of Ballybeg Priory of St. Thomas à Becket, which had been founded by Phillip de Barry in 1229 for the Canons Regular of St. Augustine.

[41] In Rome, Sleyne received high profile appointments, namely Professor of Moral Theology in the College of Propaganda Fide for 12 years, as spiritual director of the Ursuline nuns and as Roman agent for Peter Creagh, bishop of Cork and Cloyne (1676–1693).

In 1693, James II of Great Britain exercised his royal prerogative of naming Catholic Bishops in Ireland,[44] and nominated Sleyne to the united dioceses of Cork and Cloyne.

The Act of Abjuration (1701) required priests to swear an oath denying James III "any right or title whatsoever to the Crown of these realms" and affirming the Protestant line of succession.

Eight of these bishops obeyed the Act and left Ireland, which apart from Sleyne, also included – Edward Comerford (Cashel), Patrick Donnelly (Dromore), Michael Rossiter (Ferns), John Dempsey (Kildare), William Dalton (Ossory), Richard Piers (Waterford & Lismore), Maurice Donnellan (Clonfert).

[49] Sleyne was amongst a number of Catholic clergy afforded protection by Sir James Fitz Edmund Cotter, for nearly three years at his estate in Ballinsperrig[52] (now Annsgrove),[53] near Carrigtwohill, Co. Cork.

While he had a long-term lease on his Ballinsperrig estate from the Earl of Barrymore, his royal pension allowed him to buy tracts of land in Cork, including Great Island.

Churchmen from Munster and from other provinces visited Ballinsperrig on a daily basis (ionas go mbiodh caibidil agus coimhthionoil ghinerealta aco a ccuirt Bhaile na Speire[23]), where Sleyne conducted Chapter and general assemblies.

[54] Bishop Sleyne was godfather to Sir James’ eldest son, Seamus Óg MacCoitir, to whom Domhnall Ó Colmáin dedicated his Irish text Párliament na mBan.

Conspiracy theories, however, have abounded about the veracity of the crime and the fairness of the verdict, because the wife of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland at the time of MacCoiter's trial was none other than the granddaughter of John Lisle.

[51] Domhnall O'Colmain in Parliament Na mBan[55] recounts that he was attended by a Cailín aimsire (maidservant), Máire Inghean Bháitéir Laighleis,[55] who "bound herself by an oath to remain a black-veiled nun for as long as she lived" and to act as Sleyne's servant until "God deigned to send him from her to Portugal".

[60] The poet Eoghan O'Caoimh stated that he received Ola na Cásca from Sleyne "gacha bliadhain an feadh do bhí sé a ngéibhinn a gCorcaigh".

This lack of security was symptomatic of what John Whatey[61] complained in 1703, that prisoners such as Sleyne could "by interest of their gaolers ... easily obtain leave to teach as school masters and have their daily Mass, and thereby all desired opportunity of ordaining others".

Secondly, Sleyne was fearful that he would be deported to "some Islands which he knows not",[36] probably alluding to transportation into slavery in the Caribbean plantations,[66] a fate suffered by many catholic clergy during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland only 50 years earlier.

Even as recently as 1691, Sleyne's predecessor as Bishop of Cork, Peter Creagh wrote that "twenty-five curates of my diocese ... were put in the stocks ... and it is believed ... will be sent to the Barbadoes and other islands of the West Indies to plant tobacco like the other slaves there".

[62] Sleyne was exiled soon after, "the mayor and alderman of Corke having removed [him] from [his] bed by a troop of soldiers ... [and] compelled [him] to embark on a sudden in a little vessel that was sailing for Portugal",[59] "in the sight of all the people".

Pope Clement XI addressed a letter to João V of Portugal (28 September 1709), assuring him of the truth of the information that Bishop Sleyne conveyed to him about the plight of Irish Catholics.

[65] Sleyne was among the literati clergy who had replaced the native ruling families as patrons of Sráid-éigse (Gaelic or Street poetry) in the second half of the seventeenth,[74] and who believed that "gurb ionann caomhnú na Gaeilge and caomhnú an Chreidimh chaitlicí agus fós gurbh í an gheilge an chosaint ab fhearr ar an bProstastúnachas (the preservation of the Irish language and the preservation of the Catholic Faith is one of the most important defenses against Protestantism)".

He provided access to his library of Irish literature and verse to the Carrignavar Cuirt Eigse[76][40] (literary circle) and others whose intent was to keep the love of Gaelic culture alive (fir éinn of Faithche na bhFilí), including Diarmuid Mac Sheáin Bhuí, Liam Mac Cairteáin an Dúna, Conchuir Ó Corbáin, Conchuir MacCairteáin, Joseph MacCairteáin and Domhnail Ó Colmain.

Others literati clergy who, like Sleyne, had studied in Paris included Bishops Tomas Deis of Meath, Padraig O' Donnghaile of Dromore, Seamas O'Gallchobhair of Raphoe and Sean O'Briain of Cloyne.

[23] Dáibhí Ó Bruadair, one of the most significant Irish language poets of the 17th century, in Is tórmach ceatha welcomed Sleyne back to Ireland on his appointment as Roman Catholic bishop of Cork and Cloyne.

A reason to abandon deadly afflictions is the arrival of this sun in winter, a time to numb the vitals of the meek, law-upholding devout one; as the summer heat disperses the ice of November of the bitter weather, this sun will put to flight the cold, the fever, the blackness and the gloom from hearts of clay This poem, edited and translated by Liam P. Ó Murchú,[80] is one of ten eulogies related to Sleyne, held in Boston College Gaelic Manuscript 5.

"[81] Ó Caoimh, and sometimes with his son Art, had been employed by Sleyne to translate a Latin catechism into Irish and to make copies of his manuscripts,[82] including Foras Feasa ar Eirinn, Trí Biorghaoithe an Bháis (Three shafts of death) and Eochairsgiath an Aifrinn (Key shield of the Mass).

A second composition by Eoghan O'Caoimh entitled Mo Bhroin Mo Mhille mourns Sleyne's exile to Portugal:[81] I am now sorrowful that my light is ruined The story I heard made me deserted and sad My freedom ceased, my old repose was broken John was put to sea from us at a certain time My treasure and my love went together from me The man I regarded most highly among the clergy We are cold and have not enough of the warm stream On the ocean swell he went away, His select qualities in expert fields were known to me And my voice quickly put them in a poem To John I owed a song of mine But, now, I suppose it will be thought of as flatten Aodhagán Ó Rathaille, the last of the old Gaelic poets, wrote the verse When the Bishop of Cork was sent over the sea by the heretics in 1703.

My store, my treasure, he has taken from me all at once, My iustice, my affection, my favourite among the clergy without harshness, He was not content that I should lack the stream of refreshing generosity; Since he is put in bondage beyond the main, woe is me !

Finally, Sleyne's learnedness in classical studies was recognised by another poet-priest Cornelius MacCurtin of Rathcooney (1692–1737):[79] A scholar in Latin they affirm, accurate his understanding in Greek.

Coincidentally, the shockwaves were felt in Cork and the resulting tsunami caused tidal surges several meters high in the rivers on the south coast of Ireland.

The molded capitals,[88] at the top of the internal columns, depict key scenes of the history of the diocese of Cork and Cloyne, two of which relate to Sleyne's imprisonment and exile.