Miler Magrath - Legacy

Legacy

Magrath has remained a figure of controversy in Irish history. On the Protestant side, he was blamed for financial corruptions which gave the Anglican religion in Ireland a black eye from which it has never recovered. He was scorned for being a drunkard. On the Catholic side, he was viewed as an apostate priest and a collaborator with a violently Anti-Catholic regime.

Towards the end of his life, a caustic satire against him was written in the Irish language by a the Franciscan priest-poet Father Eoghan Ó Dubhthaigh. Much of the satire burlesques the fact that his first name means "The Servant of Mary" in Irish, when he had renounced the veneration of the Blessed Virgin in exchange for an earthly wife. The poet suggests that he deserved the name "Maol gan Mhuire" ("The Servant Without Mary") much better.

Given the treachery through which he lived, and whatever one might say about his real allegiances, Magrath possessed a knack for survival. The forbearance shown by his most bitter critics at Court, even when they were certain that he was obstructing the persecution of Catholics, is an indication of his great power and influence. In any case, the freedom allowed to him and his great skill in manipulating both sides in the drive for Reformation shows how tricky the times were in Ireland.

As for being a drunkard, perhaps his longevity gives the lie to that charge.