delay a new bishop to the see of Clogher, Cardinal Morone presented his petition, and added: "Causa committi posset in partibus D. Episcopo Acadensi et aliquibus aliis comprovincialibus Episcopis". Amongst the papers of the same illustrious Cardinal, who was at this time "Protector of Ireland", there is another minute which records the following resolutions regarding our Irish Church: "The administration of the see of Armagh should be given to some prelate during the imprisonment of the archbishop, and should the Holy Father so approve, this prelate should be the Bishop of Achonry. The sum which is given to assist the Primate of Armagh should be transmitted through the President of the College of Louvain. In each province of Ireland one Catholic Bishop should be chosen by the Apostolic See, to give testimonials to those of the clergy who come to Rome, viz., in Ulster, the Bishop of Achonry, during the imprisonment of the Metropolitan; in Munster, the Bishop of Limerick; in Connaught, the same Bishop of Achonry; and in Leinster, too, the Bishop of Limerick" (Ex Archiv. Sec. Vatic.). A few years later we find a brief addressed to "Eugenio Accadensi", granting him some special faculties, and moreover, authorizing him to make use of them throughout "the whole province of Tuam". The only other notice I have met with regarding Dr. Eugene connected with this period of his episcopate, is from the Vatican list of 1578, which gives the names of the clergy who were actually engaged in the mission in Ireland. The first name on the list is "Reverendissimus Edmundus Episcopus Corchagiensis, pulsus tamen Episcopatu". Next comes "Episcopus Rossensis doctus qui interfuit concilio Tridentino et ipse exulans". The third name is that of Dr. O'Hart, "Episcopus Accadensis ex ordine Praedicatorum".

Our Bishop was subjected to many annoyances and persecutions whilst Bingham administered the government of Connaught. This governor was a worthy agent of Elizabeth, imbued with her principles, and animated with her hatred of the Catholic faith: his cruel exactions and barbarity became proverbial in the West, and he reaped a rich harvest of maledictions from the good natives of that province. In Dowera's narrative, published by the Celtic Society in 1849, mention is incidentally made of an excursion of this governor to the episcopal town of Dr. Eugene: "he passed the mountain", says this narrative (pag. 207), "not far from an abbey called Banada, and encamped at night at O'Conroy (Achonry) a town of the Bishop Oharte". It seems to have been in some such excursion that Dr. Eugene was arrested in the beginning of 1585, and sent a close prisoner to Dublin Castle. Sir John Perrott, who was then Lord Deputy, commissioned the Protestant Archbishop of Armagh, Dr. Long, to visit him, and a fulsome letter of this dignitary to Walsingham, dated 4th June, 1585, reveals to us the important fact that the hopes and desires of the government of that period were precisely like those of the soupers of our own days. Dr. Long's letter is as follows: "Owen O'Hart, Bishop of Achanore, alias Achadensis, committed unto me by his Lordship to be conferred with, who was at the Council of Trent, is brought by the Lord's good direction to acknowledge his blindness, to prostrate himself before her majesty, whom he afore agreed to accurse in religion. So persuaded, I doubt not of great goodness to ensue by his means. He has resigned his Bishoprick and no doubt (void of all temporizing) is thoroughly persuaded that the man of sin sitteth in Rome. I assure your honour if we used not this people more for gain than for conscience, here would the Lord's work be mightily advanced". (Record Office, Ir. Cor., vol. cxvii.) The Protestant primate soon found that these his desires and hopes were as groundless as his tenets, and hence, as soon as the circumstances permitted, Dr. Eugene was deprived of his temporalities, and a crown nominee was appointed to administer the see of Achonry. Perrott, however, was for the present anxious to conciliate the powerful septs of the Western Province, most of whom were closely allied to the O'Harts, and hence he gave full liberty to our Bishop on his acknowledging the sovereignty of Elizabeth. In an indenture made on 23rd September, 1585, the various members of the O'Hart family and other Western septs submitted to hold their lands from the crown, and amongst the favours granted in return by the lord deputy, we find it decreed "that the Lord Bishop of Aghconry shall have four quarters of land adjoining his house or town of Skrine in the barony of Tireragh, free, and six quarters as a demesne to his house or town of Achonry in the barony of Magheraleyny, free" (Morrin's Calendar, ii. pag. 150; and publications of I. A. S. 1846, pag. 345). In another inquisition which was held in 1558, we find it further mentioned that the Bishop of Achonry was allowed to hold one quarter of land in Kilmore in the barony of Belaghanes, commonly called Mac Costello's country (Morrin, ib., pag. 141). There is also a State Paper of 1586, which not only mentions Dr. O'Hart as Bishop of Achonry, but further adds that the friars then held in peace their abbeys and houses throughout all Sligo and Mayo. As soon, however, as the government found itself sufficiently strong to despise the O'Harts and their dependants, a Protestant Bishop was appointed to hold this see. Dr. Mant, indeed, is of opinion that Miler McGrath, appointed in 1607, was the first crown nominee to Achonry. Archdeacon Cotton is more discreet in his statement: "Queen Elizabeth", he says, "appears to have neglected filling up this see, as well as some few others, during great part of her reign". Ware, too, only obscurely hinted that, besides the Catholic Bishop Eugene, there was another contemporary of the same name holding from the crown the see of Achonry. Nothing more, however, was known about this Bishop till the manuscript history by Archdeacon Lynch, above referred to, disclosed to us some remarkable features of his ministry. This contemporary Protestant Bishop of Achonry was Eugene O'Conor, who, from being dean of this see, was appointed by letters patent of 1st December, 1591, Bishop of Killala and administrator of Achonry. Dr. O'Hart had been in early life the friend and school companion of this court favourite, and hence easily persuaded him not to interfere in the spiritual administration of the diocese, engaging, on the other hand, to pay him annually one hundred and eighty marks, that is, the full revenue of the see. One passage of this narrative is so important, that we must cite the original words of the learned Lynch: "Id etiam commodi ex episcopatibus Achadensi et Alladensi Eugenio O'Conor ab Elizabeth Regina collatis hausit, ut ab illa sede sua minime motus fuerit, utpote cui arcto amicitiae nexu ante religionis mutationem devinctus fuerat, sed centum et octaginta marcarum censu veteri sodali quotannis persoluto quietem sibi et functiones episcopales intra suae Dioecesis fines obeundi potestatem comparavit. Et alter ille Eugenius ideo tantum a fide descivit, ut se fluxis et caducis divitiis et voluptatibus expleret". By this means Dr. O'Hart secured peace for his diocese during the remainder of Elizabeth's reign; if the temporalities were lost, his spiritual fold, at least, was preserved from the wolves that threatened it, and the good Bishop was enabled to continue undisturbed to instruct his faithful children, and dispense to them the blessings of our holy faith. It was in 1597 that the Franciscan Superior, Father Mooney, visited the western convents of his order. During this visitation he met with Dr. O'Hart, and in the narrative which he subsequently composed, he describes our good bishop as being then venerable for his years, and still not deficient in strength and energy, "grandaevus, robustus tamen". For six years more Dr. O'Hart continued to rule the see of Achonry, till at