Life
1780-1849 [Dr. Crolly]; Catholic archbishop of Armagh; ed. Maynooth, from 1801; ord. 1806; Prof. at Maynooth, parish priest in Belfast, 1812-25; bishop of Down and Connor, 1825; archb. of Armagh, 1825; contrib. Dublin University Review and Quarterly; also Life and Death of Oliver Plunkett (1850) [posthum.]; object of parliamentary petition by Eugene Mulholland, a Catholic clerical ‘inferior’. ODNB FDA
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Works
The Life and Death of Oliver Plunkett (1850)
Criticism
Life of the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, Archb. of Armagh (Dublin: Duffy 1851), cx, 73pp.
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Commentary
Ambrose Macauley, William Crolly, Archbishop of Armagh, 1835-1849 (Four Courts Press 1994); characterises him as a peacemaker who recognised that the security of the Church depended on the goodwill of the government; supported Whig government; opposed by the anti-British feelings of MacHale and others in the contemporary hierarchy; was denounced by nationalists with Murray as a Castle bishop; Macauley quotes Crolly’s response to remarks on his installation as archbishop, ‘I learn from the Bible, which we all regard as the common foundation of our faith, that no one can serve the God of peace without exerting himself to promote peace, and kindness, and harmony, and charity, in the world. ...] it is not necessary that we should sacrifice or compromise our conscientious convictions; but it is necessary that we should carry our prejudices to the Communion Table of Charity, and there consume them on the altar of our common country.’ [Review, Sister Marie Hubert Kealy, ILS, Fall, 1995, p.34.]
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References
British LIbrary holds [inter al.] Eugene Mulholland, To the Most Rev. W. Crolly, R. C. Primate of Ireland [A letter in refutation of certain charges brought against him by that prelate (London, 1836.), 12o.; To the - in Parliament assembled: The [..] petition of [...] E. Mulholland praying that enquiry may be made into the unprotected condition of the second order of the Roman Catholic Clergy in Ireland as regards their ecclesiastical superiors (London 1837), 12o.
Belfast Public Library holds, Life of the most Rev. Dr. Crolly (1851).
Hyland Books (Cats. 219 & 224) lists Life of the Most Rev. Dr. Crolly, Archb. of Armagh [1st edn.] (Dublin: Duffy 1851), cx, 73pp. [Hyland 219]. The Life and Death of Oliver Plunkett (1850) [Hyland 224].
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