Blessed Terence Albert O'Brien

Terence Albert O'Brien (Irish: Muiris Ó Briain Aradh) (1600 – 30 October 1651) was an Irish priest of the Dominican Order and Roman Catholic Bishop of Emly. During the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, he was captured by the New Model Army following the Siege of Limerick. After a drumhead court-martial, he was hanged by order of General Henry Ireton at Gallows Green, officially for advising against the surrender of the city, but in reality as part of the religious persecution of the Catholic Church in Ireland that began under Henry VIII and ended only with Catholic Emancipation in 1829. Bishop O'Brien was beatified as one of 17 Irish Catholic Martyrs by Pope John Paul II on 27 September 1992. Terence O'Brien was born into the Gaelic nobility of Ireland at Cappamore, County Limerick. Both of his parents were from the derbhfine of the last Chief of the Name of Clan O'Brien Arradh and claimed lineal descent from Brian Boru. His family still owned an estate of 2,500 Irish acres centred around Tuogh, which was later confiscated by the Commonwealth of England. He joined the Dominicans in 1621 at Limerick, where his uncle, Maurice O'Brien, was then prior. He took the name "Albert" after the Dominican scholar Albertus Magnus. In 1622 he went to study in Toledo, returning eight years later to become prior at St. Saviour's in Limerick City. In 1643 he was provincial of the Dominicans in Ireland. In 1647 he was consecrated Bishop of Emly by Giovanni Battista Rinuccini. During the Irish Confederate Wars, like most Irish Catholics, he sided with Confederate Ireland. His services to the Catholic Confederation were highly valued by the Supreme Council. The bishop would treat the wounded and support Confederate soldiers throughout the conflict.