History of the Diocese of Meath Author:John Healy Volume: 2 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1908 Original Publisher: Association for Promoting Christian Knowledge Subjects: Meath (Ireland) History / General History / Europe / Ireland Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing ... more »text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER XXVI. Early Years Of The Eighteenth Century. Upon the death of Bishop Dopping, there was considerable anxiety in the minds of those who had the welfare of the Church at heart as to the appointment of his successor. Those were days in which political motives counted for much, and when the men who had strong interest at court could generally obtain any position that they desired; but the suitability of the candidate was often one of the last things that was considered. The name of Bishop Fitzgerald of Clonfert was very freely mentioned, and many were of opinion that if he were translated to Meath it would prove disastrous to the diocese. We have few particulars about him, but we know that he was not highly thought of by his contemporaries. When he was consecrated to Clonfert, Archbishop Marsh of Cashel wrote in his diary, " In which consecration I have had no hand ; the Lord's Name be praised for it ! nor may I ever be concerned in bringing unworthy men to the Church."1 He was, besides, an old man, and had not the energy for managing a diocese like Meath at such a time, even if he had been otherwise suitable. Bishop King of Derry, who was in many ways the leading churchman of the time, was very much exercised about the appointment, and spoke of Bishop Fitzgerald as " the weakest of the order, and having no qualification to recommend him." He also Mant. addressed a letter to Sir Robert Southwell on the subject, which, as it throws a good deal o...« less