Miler Magrath - Cashel

Cashel

In 1570, Magrath was appointed by the Crown as the Protestant Bishop of Clogher, including the temporalities, and visited England, where he fell ill of a fever. In February 1571, he was then appointed Archbishop of Cashel and Bishop of Emly (no new appointment was made to Clogher until 1605). In the same year he imprisoned some Franciscan priests at Cashel. In a rage, the rebel crusader James Fitzmaurice Fitzgerald threatened to burn to ashes everyone and everything connected with Magrath if they were not released. The friars were immediately liberated by Edward Butler. In 1572 he brought charges against Butler's elder brother, Thomas Butler, 3rd Earl of Ormonde, but they were given no credence. In 1575, as he went on his way to Dublin, he was attacked and badly injured by the kerne of a hostile Clan.

Until the end of the Desmond Rebellions in 1583, Magrath remained in his province, while assisting the English government on the one hand and intriguing with the Catholic rebels on the other. In October 1582, he travelled to England bearing letters of strong recommendation, which cited his ability to provide valuable information on the rebels. He complained that Cashel was only worth £98 and - in spite of the misgivings of William Cecil, Lord Burghley - was granted the See of Waterford and Lismore in commendam, which he held until 1589, and then again from 1592 upon the death of Bishop Wetherhead. Despite his allegiance to the authorities, Magrath never arrested the new Catholic Archbishop of Cashel, Dr Kearney, who lived peacefully under his nose. However, Magrath continued to court favour with the authorities, and in 1584 he did arrest the Catholic Bishop of Emly, Murrough MacBrian, who died two years later in custody in Dublin Castle. In March 1589 he wrote commending the Kerry plantation undertaker Sir William Herbert, who was a controversial figure on the Protestant side.

In 1591 Magrath visited England without leave, and grave charges were pressed against him in his absence. During his visit he sought to convert to Protestantism the condemned Gaelic Prince of Breifne, Brian O'Rourke, who scorned the bishop at the foot of the gallows-ladder before his execution in London. At about this time Magrath's cousin, Dermot Creagh, was the Catholic Bishop of Cork and Cloyne with Legatine authority in Munster, and they remained on mutual terms. Magrath appears to have feared that his soul was in jeopardy, and with a view to repentance and reconciliation with Rome, took care that his cousin would not be captured, while at the same time feeding information to the Crown about his whereabouts.