Moylan, Francis

Francis Moylan

Bishop of Cork, born at Cork, 1739; died in 1815. He was the son of a rich merchant. As the penal laws made it impossible for him to obtain a suitable education at home, he was sent to Paris, and educated there. His father desired that he should adopt a mercantile calling; but young Moylan's vocation being for a religious life he wished to join the Carthusians. Delicate health, however, stood in his way, and after finishing his course at the University of Toulouse, where he was graduated as doctor of theology, he was ordained priest in 1761 and for some years laboured in Paris. Returning to Cork he was appointed pastor of St. Finbarr's in the city, and remained there till 1775, when he became Bishop of Kerry. In 1787 he was transferred to the See of Cork and continued to rule that diocese till his death. Like Dr. Troy of Dublin, Dr. Moylan had no sympathy with violence as a means of redressing wrong, and therefore he condemned the Whiteboys; and, in 1796, he urged his flock to resist the French, when Hoche's fleet was in Bantry Bay. Dr. Moylan had a share in the establishment of Maynooth College and was one of its first trustees. He also supported the Union, and was one of the bishops who agreed to the "veto" in 1799. He regretted, however, having done this, for he found that he had been tricked by Pitt and Castlereagh, and when the veto question was revived (1814) he opposed it. During his time in Cork, the Christian Brothers were introduced and also the Ursuline and Presentation Nuns. He was indeed for many years the trusted friend and adviser of Nano Nagle.

HUTCH, Life of Nano Nagle (Dublin, 1875).

E. A. D'ALTON.