Hugh O'Reilly (Archbishop of Armagh)

Styles of Hugh O'Reilly
Reference style	The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Grace or Archbishop

Hugh O'Reilly (Irish: Aodh Ó Raghallaigh; c.1581–1653) was an Irish prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Kilmore from 1625 to 1628 and Archbishop of Armagh from 1628 to 1653.

He was the son of Maolmórdha Mac Aodh Ó Raghallaigh of the principal family of the petty kingdom of East Breifne – the O'Reillys.^[1] He was eligible for election to the chieftainship under the system of deirbhfhine.^[1]

Career

He was appointed Bishop of Kilmore on 9 June 1625,^[2][3][4] and consecrated at St Peter's Church, Drogheda by Archbishop Thomas Fleming of Dublin in July 1625.^[3][5] Three years later, he was translated to the Metropolitan see of Armagh as archbishop and primate by three consistorial acts: dated 5 May, 31 July, and 31 August 1628.^[6]

O'Reilly in perhaps most famous for calling a synod of bishops at Kells, County Meath in March 1642 to discuss the ongoing Irish Rebellion of 1641. The synod called for an end to the killing of unarmed civilians and robberies, and most considered that the aims of the conflict in support of Catholic rights and King Charles amounted to a just war.^[7] A smaller group of clergy met with the Catholic nobility at Kilkenny from May 1642, resulting in the founding of the Irish Confederacy later that year, which O'Reilly supported for the rest of his life.

He died in office in February 1653, aged 72, and was buried on Trinity Island in Lough Oughter, the southern part of the Lough Erne complex.^[2][8]

References

1. Bernadette Cunningham, 'O'Reilly, Hugh (c.1581–1653)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 16 March 2008 Hugh O'Reilly (c.1581–1653): doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/20822.
2. "Archbishop Hugh O'Reilly". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
3. Brady 1876, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, volume 1, p. 282.
4. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 436.
5. Fryde et al. 1986, Handbook of British Chronology, p. 415.
6. Brady 1876, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, volume 1, p. 224.
7. http://www.catholicity.com/encyclopedia/o/o'reilly,hugh.html
8. Brady 1876, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, volume 1, p. 226.

Bibliography

• Brady, W. Maziere (1876). The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875. Volume 1. Rome: Tipografia Della Pace.
• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.