Pope John Paul II beatified Friar William Tirry as one of the 24 officially recognized Irish Catholic Martyrs in 1992.

[3] Well-educated, he learned Ecclesiastical Latin and Koine Greek, but also spoke the Classical Gaelic literary language and the Munster Irish vernacular.

He is known to have studied for the priesthood first at the Irish College in Valladolid and then at the Collège des Grand Augustins in Paris, and that he was ordained around 1634.

Although he relinquished this post to return to St Austin's Abbey, he was then persuaded to act as chaplain to his cousin Lord Kilmallock and as tutor to the latter's son and heir.

In 1649, he was chosen as prior of the Augustinian convent in Skreen, County Mayo, but was unable to assume his duties there because of the beginning of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

A law was enacted on 6 January 1653 declaring that any Roman Catholic priest in Ireland was guilty of high treason.

All sources are agreed that for three years prior to his capture, Friar William Tirry found shelter with his distant cousin, a local Old English noblewoman and elderly widow named Mrs. Amy Everard, at Fethard, County Tipperary.

[9] According to the Tipperary Museum of Hidden History, the earliest records of a Clonmel city gaol date from 1650 and refer to a small building located around what is now O'Connell Street.

Those who could afford it, could pay the gaoler in order to buy themselves some comforts while imprisoned such as private rooms, family visits, food and even drink.

"[12] Friar Matthew Fogarty later recalled: "William, wearing his Augustinian habit, was led to the gallows praying the rosary.

He publicly forgave the three men who had betrayed him, and... stated explicitly that he had been offered life and favour, if he would renounce his religion."

Tirry was then hanged, after which the crowd surged forward to soak pieces of cloth in the blood that ran from his nose, which were seen as relics of a martyr.

A letter written in 1656, quoted by Lingard, puts the number at 60,000; as late as 1666 there were 12,000 Irish slaves scattered among the West Indian islands.

[20] Friar William Tirry was beatified by Pope John Paul II along with 16 other Irish Catholic Martyrs on 22 September 1992.