OLeary, Arthur
O’Leary, Arthur
Franciscan, preacher, polemical writer, b. at Faniobbus, Iveleary, Co. Cork, Ireland, 1729; d. in London, 8 Jan., 1802. Educated with the Franciscans of St. Malo, where he was ordained and acted as prison chaplain till 1777, he returned to Cork to engage in missionary work. Soon famous as a preacher, writer, and controversialist he published tracts characterized by learning, religious feeling, toleration, and steadfast allegiance to the Crown; but his zeal against religious bigotry led him to make rash admissions, and to expose himself unconsciously to the danger of heterodoxy. Among his writings are: ” A Defence of the Divinity of Christ and the Immortality of the Soul”; “Loyalty asserted, or the Test Oath Vindicated”; “An Address to the Roman Catholics concerning the apprehended invasion of the French”; “Essay on Toleration”: “A reply to John Wesley”. A brilliant wit, an honorary member of the famous “Monks of the screw”, he was commonly called the Catholic Swift of Ireland. He is charged by Froude with having received secret-service money from the Government, but more impartial historians consider the charge unproven. From 1789 till his death he was chaplain to the Spanish embassy in London, and his society was courted by Burke, Sheridan, Fox, Fitzwilliam, and other leading men of Liberal views.
———————————–
England, Life of Rev. Arthur O’Leary (Cork, 1822); Buckley, Life of Rev. Arthur O’Leary(Dublin, 1868); Froude, The English in Ireland in the eighteenth century; Life and times of Henry Grattan(London, 1832-46); Dictionary of British and American Authors (Philadelphia, 1859-71); Historical and Archeological Journal (Cork, Sept., 1892).
E. O’LEARY Transcribed by William D. Neville
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XICopyright © 1911 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
OLeary, Arthur
an Irish Roman Catholic divine of note, was born, near the middle of last century, at Cork, and educated at St. Maloes, where he became a Franciscan. On his return to his native place he distinguished himself by his open adherence to tie British government. He persuaded his brethren to take the oath of allegiance; for which and his other exertions in the cause of loyalty he obtained a pension, and won the esteem of moderate men of all parties. He afterwards settled in London, and officiated as principal minister in the Roman Catholic chapel in Soho Square. He died in 1802. His addresses to the Roman Catholics of Ireland, and other tracts, were collected into one volume, under the title Miscellaneous Tracts, Theological and Political (1780-1, 2 vols. 8vo: 3d ed. 1782, and often; N. Y. 1821, 8vo); besides which he published A Defence of his Conduct and Writings, in reply to the bishop of Cloyne. O’Leary was an acute and spirited writer, and was remarkable for his powers of wit and humor. He engaged in controversy with Wesley also, and though the two divines occupied ground which kept them forever at a distance in theological views, John Wesley vet hesitated not to pay tribute to O’Leary, and called him ,an arch and lively writer. See Life of Rev. Arthur O’Leary, by England (1822, 8vo); Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.; Lond. Gentleman’s Magazine, vol. 72. (J. H. W.)