The Rise and Fall of the Irish Franciscan Monasteries, and Memoirs of the Irish Hierarchy in the Seventeenth Century

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1870. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VI. About the close of November, 1645, Rinuccini was received at St. Patrick's gate, Kilkenny, with all the honours due to so high and puissant a personage as the nunzio extraordinary accredited by the Holy See to the confederate Catholics of Ireland. The clergy, secular and regular, awaited his coming in and about the city gate, andas soon as he passed under its arch, he mounted a richly-caparisoned horse, and proceeded towards the ancient cathedral of St. Canice, escorted by the municipal and military authorities. It was a wet and dismal day, the like of which the Italian had never seen in his own bright land, but notwithstanding the rain, that fell in torrents, all Kilkenny was astir, and thousands of the peasantry had gathered within the walls to witness the showy pageant. Four citizeus, bareheaded, upheld the shafts of a rich canopy, to protect the nunzio from the rain, and as soon as he came in front of the market cross, the procession halted, while a young student read a Latin oration, extolling the goodness of pope Urban VIII., and welcoming his minister to the chief city of the confederates. To this greeting the nunzio replied in the language of the address, thanking the citizens for the cordial reception they had accorded him, lauding their devotedness to the holy see, and invoking heaven's blessing on their struggle for religion, king, and country. His words on this occasion were few, but spoken with all the fervid animation so peculiar to Italians, and in the rich, & norous cadences which characterise their pronunciation of Latin. As soon as he had concluded, the procession resumed its route without halting again till it reached the great gate of St. Canice's, where David Rothe, bishop of Ossory, surrounded by all the minor officers of...