and with his legs so swollen that they were unable to support him. The Pope received him with indescribable tenderness, and expressed his perfect satisfaction with all that had been done. A special consistory of all the Cardinals in Rome approved of the Concordat, which was solemnly ratified thirty-five days after it had been signed at Paris.

Thus was completed the great act which has been fruitful of so many blessings to Europe, and for which, under God, the Church is indebted to the wisdom of Pius VII. and the firmness of Cardinal Consalvi.

It was long before the Concordat was published at Paris, and when at length it did appear, what was the pain of the Holy Father to find, together with the treaty and under the same date, a compilation of the so-called organic laws which were put forth as forming part of the Concordat, and included in the approbation of the Holy See! Of the organic laws it is enough to say, that they almost entirely overthrew the new edifice which Cardinal Consalvi had found so difficult to erect. In spite of the solemn protestations of the Popes these laws still remain, but they remain as a standing proof of the dishonesty which Cardinal Consalvi has shown to have marked the entire conduct of Napoleon Bonaparte in the negotiations for the Concordat.

THE SEE OF ACHONRY IN THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.

Few dioceses of Ireland present so uninterrupted a succession of bishops as Achonry in the sixteenth century. Thomas Ford, Master of Arts, and an Augustin Canon of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Petroc, in the diocese of Exeter, was appointed its bishop on the 13th of October, 1492, and after an episcopate of only a few years, had for his successor Thomas O'Congalan, "a man in great reputation, not only for his wisdom, but also for his charity to the poor". He, too, was summoned to his reward in 1508, and a Dominican Father, named Eugene O'Flanagan, was appointed to succeed him on the 22nd December, the same year. The Bull of his appointment to the See of Achonry is given by De Burgo, page 480, and it describes Dr. Eugene as "ordinis fratrum Praedicatorum professorem ac in Theologia Baccalaureum, in sacerdotio et aetate legitima constitutum cui apud Nos de Religionis zelo, literarum scientia, vitae munditiâ, honestate morum, spiritualium providentia, et temporalium circumspectione, ac aliis multiplicium virtutum donis, fide digna testimonia perhibentur". The learned historian of the Dominican order gives two other Briefs of the then reigning Pontiff, Julius the Second, by one of which the newly-appointed bishop was absolved from all irregularities and censures which he might perchance have incurred during his past life, whilst the other authorized him to receive episcopal consecration from any Catholic bishop he might choose, having communion with the Apostolic See. Dr. O'Flanagan was present in Rome at the time of his appointment to the see of Saint Nathy, and before his departure received from the Holy Father commendatory letters to King Henry the Seventh, from which we wish to give one extract, in order to place in clearer light the relations, so often mistaken or misrepresented, which subsisted between the English monarchs and the occupants of our episcopal sees. After stating that by Apostolic authority he had constituted Dr. O'Flanagan bishop of the vacant See of Achonry, Pope Julius thus addresses the English king:

Dr. O'Flanagan had for his successor a bishop named Cormac, who seems to have held this see for about twelve years, and died before the close of 1529. During his episcopate a provincial synod was held in Galway the 27th of March, 1523, and amongst the signatures appended to its acts was that of "Cormacus Episcopus Akadensis manu propria". It was in this synod that the famous will of Dominick Lynch received the sanction of the western bishops. This will is memorable in the history of the period, not only as showing the affluence of the burgher class, but also on account of the testator's munificence to the Church, as an instance of which we may mention that among his various bequests there is one item assigning a legacy to all the Convents of Ireland. (See Irish Arch. Miscel., vol. i. pag. 76 seq.). Dr. Cormac was succeeded by a Dominican Father, named Owen, or Eugene, who, as is mentioned in a manuscript catalogue of Dominican bishops, held this see in 1530, and by his death in 1546, left it vacant for Fr. Thomas O'Fihely, of the order of Saint Augustine. This bishop was appointed on the 15th of January, 1547, as appears from the following consistorial record: "1547, die 15 Januarii S.S. providit Ecclesiae Achadensi in Hibernia vacanti per obitum Eugenii de persona P. Thomae Abbatis monasterii S. Augustini Mageonen. cum retentione monasterii". Dr. O'Fihely governed this see for eight years, till his translation to Leighlin, as we find thus recorded in the same consistorial acts: "1555, die 30 Augusti: S.S. praefecit Ecclesiae Laghlinensi Thomam Episcopum Acadensem cum retentione parochialis Ecclesiae Debellyns, Dublinensis Dioecesis". This translation to Leighlin is also commemorated by Herrera in his "Alphabetum Augustinianum", pag. 450. The Elizabethan Chancellor of Leighlin, Thady Dowling, in his Annals under the year 1554, gives the following entry: "Thomas Filay, alias Fighill, Minorum frater auctoritate Apostolica Episcopus Leighlinensis". (I.A.S. 1849, part 2nd, pag. 40.) The apparent discrepancy between this entry and the consistorial record may, perhaps, be referred to the well-known inaccuracy of the Anglo-Irish annalists, or perhaps the bishop himself exchanged the Augustinian order for that of St. Francis—similar changes from one religious order to another not being unfrequent in the sixteenth century.

Cormac O'Coyne was appointed his successor in the See of Achonry in 1556, and died in 1561. This prelate belonged to the order of Saint Francis, and was probably the same as "frater Cormacus, guardianus conventus fratrum Minorum de Galvia", who signed the decrees of the provincial synod of 1523 (I.A.S. Miscell., vol. i. pag. 81). The next bishop was appointed on 28th January, 1562, as is thus registered in the consistorial acts:—

The Pater David here referred to, was David Wolf, of the Society of Jesus, who was sent to Ireland as Apostolic Delegate in 1560, and received