DANIEL
ONEILAN, born in Thomond of a noble family,
consecrated
himself to God by vows in the Order of St. Francis in the year 1560,
and he lived in it for twenty
years, both in Ireland and Spain.
During
this time he made great progress both in virtue and in learning,
so that he was the model of a
good religious to all.
Urged
by zeal for the salvation of souls,
he returned to his native
country which was then ravaged by the fury of the heretics.
Immediately
on landing at the port of Youghal, he was seized by William Morgan,
the Governor of the town, and
closely questioned.
Daniel openly and fearlessly
declared that he was a priest and a member of the Seraphic Order.
When
the cruel tyrant heard this, without any process of law,
he
directed that Father Daniel’s hands should be tied behind his back,
and then ordered him to be scourged,
and salt and vinegar to be put
into the wounds made on the skin by the lash.
At
last the tyrants seeing Neilan’s courage, for he prayed without
ceasing for himself and his persecutors,
and
despairing of changing his purpose,
since
he refused the honours offered to him if he would join with the
heretics,
ordered
this brave champion of Christ to be hanged from the vane of a
wind-mill with his head down,
like Peter, the prince of the
Apostles, and to be shot at till his whole body was pierced through
with balls.
By such a martyrdom Daniel
earned for himself a glorious crown in heaven.
He suffered at Youghal, in
Munster, March 28th 1580.
See
also Holing, Fitzsimon, Rothe, Copinger, O’Sullevan, Molanus, Ward,
Wadding, and Hueber.To order a copy of the book, or to make a contribution towards future re-prints, please contact Damian Richardson on 086-336 1392Or e-mail Fr Michael Ross at rossmichaeljohn@gmail.comSubscribe through iTunes to get the latest episode firsthttps://itunes.apple.com/ie/podcast/our-martyrs-podcast
