Book Description
Excerpt from The Portrait of a Pious Bishop: Or, the Life and Death of the Most Reverend Francis Kirwan, Bishop of Killala Very Rev. Sir - I dedicate to you the translation of a work which for a long time has been inaccessible to the generality of readers. I need not expend many words on the merits of the eminent author whose text is now republished after the lapse of more than a century and a half; nor is it necessary to call public attention to his interesting memoir. It is quite enough to state, that the pious Prelate, whose portrait has been painted by Archdeacon Lynch, lived at a period when the Catholics of this country made a gallant, though ineffectual struggle for nationality, and witnessed the horrors which Cromwell's unsparing sword inflicted on their altars, liberties, and homesteads. Nor is it required that I should enter into a narrative of Archdeacon Lynch's life. The Light of the West, the venerable Hardiman, to whom I am under lasting obligations, has set forth all that could be collected regarding Gratianus Lucius; while Mr. M'Ghee, in the "Gallery of Irish Writers," has given us such an interesting relation as renders further biographical notices unnecessary. In fact, it is Ratifying to reflect that owing to the diffusion of our Irish literature, very few with any pretension to learning can be found ignorant of the life and works of such an eminent ornament to his religion and country as was the man who triumphantly confuted Sylvester Giraldus. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.