Edmund MacGauran (; also anglicised Magauran, Mac Gauran, McGovern; – 23 June [N.S. 3 July] 1593)Archbishop Edmund MacGauran (Magauran), Catholic-Hierarchy.org, Retrieved 3 May 2013; was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, Ireland from 1587 to 1593 and Bishop of Ardagh from 1581 to 1587.
Birth
Edmund MacGauran (his Gaelic name was Émonn Mác Shamhradháin) was a member of the McGovern clan, who were the rulers in the Middle Ages of the tuath of Teallach n-Eachach in Breifne (now Tullyhaw, County Cavan, Ireland). There are no particulars surviving relating to his birth apart from the fact that he was born about 1548 of legitimate birth from a noble family in Kilmore diocese (according to the Consistorial Acts appointing him as Archbishop of Armagh).The episcopal succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland, AD 1400 to 1875, by W. M. Brady, vol. 1 (1876), p. 222 However it is likely he was born in the Barony of Tullyhaw which formed the McGovern territorial lands at that time. The surviving McGovern genealogies do not name him specifically, but he would have been in about the 14th generation of descent from Samhradhán, the patriarch of the clan, who flourished c. 1100.
The name Edmund was common among the McGovern clan in Tullyhaw during the Archbishop's lifetime, as we can see from the 1586 Fiants of Queen Elizabeth I of England which list, inter alia, "Edmund son of Brian son of Thomas Magawran of Lisanover, Tullyhaw; Cormock son of Edmund son of Shanglas Magawran of Gortmoye" (probably now Gortmore, Tullyhaw) and "Edmund son of Cormuck son of Ferrall Magawran of Kilfert" (now Kilnavert, Tullyhaw).Fiants of Elizabeth, Section 4813, 19 January 1586 in 14th Report of the Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland 1882, p.143The McGovern chief of Tullyhaw about the time of Edmund's birth was Uaithne Mág Samhradháin.
In the 1590s when he was archbishop, Edmund MacGauran sought refuge among his McGovern kinsmen while hiding from the English government. The 1930s Dúchas folklore collection remembers the incident as- "Edward McGovern. Primate of Ireland, was slain by Sir William Russell in 1593. During the time he was in hiding he had a hiding-place beside the present well of Eshveagh in Glangevlin." In a letter dated 26 May 1592 a reference is made to his sisters and mother still living.British Library, Lansdowne 71, no. 49, ff. 100-100v.
Priesthood
When he completed his secular education, Edmund followed the well-beaten path to Europe and joined a seminary to study for the priesthood, probably in Spain as he had Spanish friends and visited there regularly. He was not educated at any of the Iberian Irish colleges as they had not been founded at the time of his ordination. His particular friend in Spain was Juan de Sanclemente Torquemada, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela who was educated at the University of Alcalá de Henares in Spain so it is likely Magauran was also educated there. If not then possibly at Salamanca or Santiago de Compostela universities. Jeroen Nilis in his book "Irish Students at Leuven University, 1548-1797. A Prosopography, Fasti Academici 4 (Leuven: Acco 2010)" does not list MacGauran except for a note to entry number 56 on page 41. That entry state "Eduardus ? from Waterford diocese in Ireland, matriculated in 1577". The note in the Addenda asks "Is this Edmund Magauran, Archbishop of Armagh?". This is unlikely as he was from Kilmore diocese and is never referred to as Eduardus but Edmundus in all surviving documentation.
He was ordained in Rome c.1576 when Pope Gregory XIII gave him permission as "a scholar of Kilmore Diocese to be ordained to clerical and all holy orders".Vatican Archives, Dataria Apostolica, Minutae Brevium Lateranensium, n. 18789. It is likely that he returned to Ireland and was appointed to a parish in Roman Catholic Diocese of Kilmore, as Tullyhaw was situated therein. The McGovern's parish was Templeport but the priest in 1576 was Fergal Magauran. Edmund MacGauran is described as a Kilmore priest by John Lynch at the time of his appointment to the See of Ardagh in 1581 and in 1586 he still held the rectorial tithes of the parishes of Kinawley and Knockninny in Kilmore diocese which might indicate he had been parish priest of those parishes before his elevation to the episcopacy.De praesulibus Hiberniae, J. Linchaeo [J. Lynch], ed. J. F. O'Doherty, IMC, vol. 1 (1944 [orig. pubd 1672]), pp. 262–3.Vatican Archives, Dataria Apostolica, Minutae Brevium Lateranensium, n. 24308. The Bishop of Kilmore during the early years of Edmund's priesthood was Hugh O'Sheridan who ruled from 1560 to 1579. The McGovern chief at the time was Brian Óg Mág Samhradháin who died in 1584.
Edmund's priesthood witnessed a decline in the hegemony of both the Catholic Church and the McGovern chiefs in Tullyhaw. Another early mention of Edmund Magauran is in connection with the attempt of James FitzMaurice FitzGerald to invade Ireland from Spain. On 14 April 1577 the President Sir William Drury wrote from Dungarvan to the Secretary of State, Sir Francis Walsingham- "The intelligence from France is worthy of consideration" and he encloses a report dated 19 February 1577 stating- "James Fitzmaurice has gone to the Pope, to get his benediction and aid; after his return he will, with a host of French soldiers under M. De L Roche, M. Daukin and his brother, invade Munster. James will visit the Kings of Spain and Portugal, who will give him of their treasure. David Wolf will be sent to the Indies. The spiritual benefices of Munster are all granted by the Pope to James' men. Letters brought from Wexford to James. Two priests from Rome with letters from James will sail presently for Wexford. The French King to persecute the French Protestants and James Fitzmaurice to invade Ireland simultaneously."Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 14 April 1577, p.112, No. 2 Edmund Magauran was probably one of the two priests referred to in the above intelligence of 19 February as he was arrested and interrogated upon landing along with his co-conspirators. A dispatch from Waterford on 10 May 1577 stated- "Examinations of Edmund McGawran, John Wise, Walter White, George Quemerford, Thomas Wise, Dorothy Walshe and Peter Tramlye, relative to the proceedings of James Fitzmaurice and his wife. 4,000 Frenchmen destined for Ireland."Calendar of State Papers, Ireland, 10 May 1577, p.114, No. 14
Bishop of Ardagh
Edmund Magauran's value as an emissary from Catholic Europe to the Irish chiefs was recognised by Pope Gregory XIII. who rewarded him with a bishopric. Magauran was praeconised in the Papal Consistory of 2 September 1581 and on 11 September 1581 he was appointed Bishop of Ardagh, a diocese adjacent to Kilmore. The Consistorial Act states- "Die 11 Sept., 1581, referente Senonen. Providit ecc. Ardachaden, in Hib. vac., per trans. Reverendissimus Pater Dominus Richardi ad ecc. Kilmoren., de persona Edmundi Macsaruraghan, ipsumque etc."The episcopal succession in England, Scotland, and Ireland, AD 1400 to 1875, by W. M. Brady, vol. 1 (1876), p. 292
Bishop Magauran was neither the first nor last Kilmore priest to hold this bishopric as his immediate predecessor Richard Brady O.F.M., a Franciscan from Cavan, ruled Ardagh from 1576 to 1580 when he was transferred to the See of Kilmore. Furthermore a namesake of Edmund's, Cormac Mác Shamhradháin, the Prior of Drumlane Abbey, was Bishop of Ardagh from 1444 to 1476, while another namesake James Magauran was parish priest of Oughteragh in Kilmore diocese before he ruled as Bishop of Ardagh from 1815 to 1829.
As Edmund Magauran was only aged about 34 at the time of his appointment, he must have been highly regarded by his superiors. Pope Gregory XIII later proved this by entrusting Bishop Magauran with a special mission to the Ulster Gaelic chiefs, when he was to attempt to obtain their support for the Geraldine war or Desmond Rebellions (1579–83), which was then raging in Munster. It is regarded as the first Counter-Reformation military crusade in Ireland.
Following the reduction of Desmond, MacGauran was exiled from Ireland in 1585 by Queen Elizabeth I of England and he went first to Scotland with some trusty servants. In the summer of 1585 Magauran travelled around Scotland and claimed to have confirmed upwards of 10,000 Scottish Catholics. The English government was afraid Magauran was trying to start a joint uprising in both Scotland and Ireland to overthrow the Protestant religion, so at the request of Queen Elizabeth, the Scottish government issued orders for his arrest but he evaded them by boarding a ship bound for France in September 1585. On the way the ship was captured by Sir Francis Drake on 7 September 1585 and taken to London. However Magauran and his companions were concealed in a hideout in the bottom of the ship and escaped detection when it was searched. The bishop then boarded another ship for France which was attacked by pirates.The History of Our Blessed Lady of Loreto by Orazio Torsellini (English translation London 1608), pp. 480–484 However they escaped and landed in France where they made their way to Paris, arriving shortly before 30 September 1585.
Father James Tyrie, a Jesuit priest in Paris, wrote a letter to Fr. Claudio Acquaviva, the Superior-General of the Jesuits in Rome on 31 September, stating- "We have had a visit from an Irish Bishop, who has been some time in Scotland, and with Fathers Hay and Gordon. He was entrusted by them with letters, which he eventually threw into the sea when in peril from enemies. From letters by Robert Bruce and others, I extract these particulars. Fathers Hay and Gordon are in the North of Scotland with the Earl of Huntly; Fathers Holt and Dury are in the West with the Earl of Morton i.e., Lord Maxwell at Dumfries. The number of Catholics increases rapidly every day, and the Irish Bishop assures me that during the short time he remained in Scotland, he administered the sacrament of confirmation to at least ten thousand persons."The Counter-Reformation in Scotland by J.H. Pollen (Edinburgh 1921), pp. 58–60. Corroboration of this event is provided by a later report in the same year which suggested that the same number of souls had been reconciled to Catholicism in the previous six months. Bishop Magauran then left France for Spain.