Here is a story that has a
connection to County Mayo. It’s about one of the vilest men County Mayo ever produced
and his name was:
Séan
na Sagart.
Who
was Séan na Sagart?
He was born in 1690 in
Derrew, near Ballyheane, County Mayo and his real name was John Mullowney. Mullowney was a notorious horse thief and
drunkard, a violent man who had absolutely no morals whatsoever, a truly
despicable character. He was arrested
for horse stealing and sentenced to death by the Grand Jury in Castlebar. The
case came to the attention of Bingham, another man of low character and high
station, the High Sheriff of County Mayo and realising just how low this man
would stoop he saw in him the potential to offer him a deal. If Mullowney
agreed to join the ranks of the priest hunters then he would be spared the
hangman’s noose. There was one condition; he would have his freedom provided he
paid a certain rent each year-a priest’s head”. Mullowney agreed and before
long he had gained a new name, that of Séan na Sagart or John of the priests.
The Penal Act of 1709
demanded that Catholic priests take an Oath of Abjuration recognising the right
of the protestant crown of England and today it would be the same as swearing
allegiance to the crown. In effect it denied the rights of James II and the
Stuarts or other Catholic claimants to the crown of England. All clergy had to
recognise the Protestant Queen Anne as Supreme Head of the Church of England
and Ireland, any cleric that refused was sentenced to death or transportation
for life by the Protestant controlled judicial system. Out of an estimated two thousand Catholic
priests in Ireland only thirty three took the oath. The law hoped to eradicate
Catholicism in Ireland within two generations and bishops and clergy were
banished and no new priests were permitted to enter the country, in this way
the protestant ruling class believed they would gain complete control over the
political, economic and social systems of Ireland
Mullowney was to prove
to be extremely efficient in his new role and received £100 for the capture of
an Archbishop or Bishop, £20 for a priest and £10 for a monk, a Jesuit, or a
hedge school teacher an extraordinary amount of money at that time and money that
Mullowney used to fund his habits of drinking, womanising, and newly found
expensive tastes. In common with today,
wealth was the key that opened the doors to society and it wasn’t long before
he became a welcome visitor to the homes of certain members of the Protestant
gentry. In fact he was a regular visitor
to Newbrook House near Hollymount, Claremorriss then the residence of the Lord
Clanmorriss of the Bingham family, a close relative and neighbour of another
Bingham, Lord Lucan. The Bingham’s hated the Catholics and the peasant class
who they regarded as one in the same and supported the actions of Mullowney and
his like. It has been suggested that
Bingham was Mullowney’s paymaster and that the heads of his priest victims were
kept in the cellar of Newbrook House. It
has also been suggested that some of the heads were thrown into a little lake
in the parish of Ballintubber; it now bears the name Lake of the heads.
There is an interesting
story concerning Mrs Bingham, she is said to have employed a priest as a butler
and footman. One day the Bingham’s had urgent business in Castlebar but when
they got into their carriage one of the horses refused to move. Mrs Bingham
must have been feeling a certain amount of guilt because she insisted it was
because of the murders carried out by Séan na Sagart that the horse wouldn’t
move. She made her husband promise that Mullowney would not be allowed to
murder any more priest. As soon Bingham promised the curse was lifted and the
horse is reported as happily trotting all the way to Castlebar. However, I
don’t think the promise of the Bingham’s amounted to much as Mullowney carried
on his wicked trade.
He truly was an evil
man and he even used this as a way of catching those unfortunate priests who
felt that there is a little good in everyone. One technique was to pretend to
be sick, bedridden and close to death, Mullowney would call for a priest to
confess his terrible sins and when the priest arrived Mullowney would grab a
hidden knife from under the blankets and attempt to stab and kill the
priest. This technique was to eventually
lead to his demise.
Mullowney wanted to catch a particular priest
in Ballintubber, It is said that he convinced his sister Nancy Loughnan who was
a widow and a devout Catholic that he was gravely ill and desperately needed to
confess his sins before he went to face his maker. The priest, Father Kilger
was quickly sent for and he arrived dressed in disguise. As he knelt by the bed
of Séan na Sagart in order to hear his confession the priest hunter jumped up
and stabbed the priest in the neck killing him.
Everyone in County Mayo
hear of this and there was widespread anger and revulsion and everyone knew
that Father Kilger’s nephew Friar Bourke would be at the funeral, exactly what
Séan na Sagart wanted. The friar turned up as expected and took his place as a pallbearer;
he wasn’t stupid though because he had brought two bodyguards with him for
protection, John McCann and Fergus McCormick.
As the funeral procession arrived at Ballintubber a bunch of Redcoats
blocked their way and from out of the bushes jumped Séan na Sagart. He grabbed the friar roaring “My rent is
paid” probably referring to the money he would collect for the friar’s head.
The friar broke free and ran off towards the Partry Mountains hotly pursued by
the priest hunter.
It was said that the
chase lasted most of that day and eventually came to an end in a wood near Partry. The friar who was exhausted at this stage
fought with Séan na Sagart and in the struggle the friar stabbed Séan with his
own knife. McCann who by now had reached the pair grabbed the knife and
finished the job so ending the career of Séan na Sagart, priest hunter. The
year was 1726.
Mullowney was hated
with a vengeance by the people of County Mayo, it is said that his body was
tossed into Lough Carra. However, the parish priest ordered the body to be
retrieved and it was buried in un-consecrated ground near Ballintubber Abbey.
The locals had the last word though because they buried the corpse facing north
where the sun never rises.
