Florence Conroy

Conroy, Florence, an ecclesiastic, was born in Galway in 1560. At an early age he was sent to college in the Netherlands, and afterwards to Spain, where he entered the Franciscan order, and distinguished himself as a student of St. Augustine's works. His defence of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception enhanced his fame, and attracted the notice of Philip II. In 1588, he was appointed Provincial of the Franciscans in Ireland, and embarked in the Spanish Armada. We have no particulars of his adventures in that expedition, although he wrote a tract in reference to it, Peregrinus Jerichontinus. In 1593 he published in Irish a translation of a Spanish work, A Christian Instruction. In 1602 he met Hugh Roe O'Donnell, and acted as his chaplain during the last hours of that chieftain at Simancas, following his remains to their resting place in the Cathedral of Valladolid. Although he was appointed Archbishop of Tuam in 1610, the proscription of Catholicism in Ireland prevented his ever taking possession of his see. Through his exertions the Irish College at Louvain was founded in 1616. His latter years were occupied in the publication of works on St. Augustine and his writings. He died 18th November 1629, in one of the Franciscan convents at Madrid, aged about 69. His remains were transferred in 1654 to the Louvain College, where they repose under a marble monument.

Sources

195. Irish Writers of the Seventeenth Century: Thomas D'Arcy McGee. Dublin, 1846.

260. O'Curry, Eugene: Manuscript Materials of Ancient Irish History. Dublin, 1861.

339. Ware, Sir James, Works: Walter Harris. 2 vols. Dublin, 1764.