Duleek

From Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy:

Inniscathy county Duleek which gives name to the barony is four miles south west of Drogheda Duleek Damhliagh a house of stone recorded as the first structure of stone for a monastery in Ireland In the calendar of Cashell St Kienan of Duleek is stated to have written a life of St Patrick This eminent saint died according to the Four Masters AD 480 St Kienan was it seems a native of Meath and was baptized by St Patrick when an infant His birth is stated to have occurred about the year 442 His episcopacy then at Duleek could not be earlier than 472 His family was an illustrious one The Kienan of Duleek is not to be confounded with another Kienan who was a native of Connaught and who went to Gaul became a monk in the monastery of St Martin at Tours and who is said to have erected a church in the territory of the Eugenian sept To the saint of Duleek St Patrick gave a copy of the gospels which was then an inestimable gift In the poem of Flann of the monastery preserved in the book of Leacan the following passage occurs which shows us that the household of the national apostle consisted of persons who were skilled in different arts Elsewhere is mention of his silversmith bell founder &c His three masons good was their intelligence Caeman Cruithneach Luchraid strong They made Damhhliags first In Erin Eminent their history AD 749 died Caerban of Duleek AD 778 died Fergus bishop of Duleek AD 870 in his eighty seventh year Gnia abbot bishop anchorite and scribe died AD 878 plundered by the Danes Their leader it is related came to an untimely end AD 1147 the steeple was injured by lightning AD 1149 the abbey of Duleek was pillaged by the Danes AD 1170 the abbot was empowered by parliament to erect a weir on the river Boyne AD 1171 the forces of Miles de Cogan committed frightful destruction within this sanctuary But the Danes of Dublin at this time Christians whom Providence had now raised up as a scourge against the invaders fell suddenly upon de Cogan and his troops and took ample satisfaction for the sacrilegious outrage which he had committed After the lapse of eleven years this monastery was rebuilt at the expense of Hugh de Lacie at which time the canons regular of St Augustine were introduced and it became moreover subject to the priory of Lanthony near Gloucester Its priors continued until the period of the general suppression when its possessions consisting of eighty three townlands became a sacrifice to the rapacity of English heretics Those immense possessions were granted to Sir Gerald Moore Priory of the Virgin Mary In the twenty ninth year of King Edward III it was found that a priory for canons regular was founded here by the family of O Kelley long before the English invasion AD 1200 Gilbert was prior AD 1380 it was enacted that no Irishman should be permitted to profess himself in this priory At the confiscation the value of the possessions of this priory may be estimated by the amount of rent 66 1s 8d annually payable by Henry Draycot and his heirs to whom they were assigned The fortunate adventurer Sir Gerald Moore obtained of its other possessions a grant at the annual rent of 9 11s 7d being obliged to maintain an archer on said lands for ever Fidelity to England treason to God and religion perfidy and treachery to parents aided by the rack and by the torture by the sword as well as by the cannon have been the instruments by which that nation has striven to implant the heresies of her bastard queen on the soil of Ireland Having failed to establish them by sanguinary means England tries the seductive charms of her treasury which the spoils of nations have more than replenished by giving to the middle classes of Ireland a system of godless education with which she would soon undermine the ancient faith of Catholic Ireland