If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chr.
7:14
Now we have established beyond doubt the sheer horror of
the 1641 rebellion, let us see how Rome engineered this worst of bloodbaths.
The slaughter of innocent men, women and children was, as we have seen, so
savage that even the revisionist historians have always had to admit in the end
that a terrible atrocity did occur.
But not Rome. That much lauded Vatican
historian of the popes, Ludwig Von Pastor, managed to fill 40 volumes. He was
clearly under no restraint of space! The terrible 1641 massacre is to be found
in volume 29. Pastor summaries the thirty two volumes of attested depositions
of the atrocities, preserved in Dublin, thus; thus “From the end of 1641 bands
of mostly unarmed men roamed over the country, driving the protestant
interlopers from their domains. Blood flowed of course, though at first the
Irish had not contemplated such an eventuality. At a later date the number of
victims was enormously exaggerated, beyond the limits of all possibility, when
grounds were looked for to justify a refusal to restore the Irish to their own
property.”
And that is all. Pastor’s page
header, ‘The Inhuman Treatment of the Irish’, refers not to the victims of the
massacre but to those Irish who afterwards suffered just punishment for
treason.
What was Pastor’s motive? As we
shall see, the Vatican had strained every muscle to seize Ireland at this
juncture and failed. There were whispers in the Courts of Europe that Rome was
no longer invincible and their spymasters and intelligence gatherers had to be
convinced that it was not so. Ireland was then a long way from Rome. The news
of bloodshed was common knowledge and the Vatican’s failure to conquer Ireland
could be explained away simply in terms of the time not having been right for
the rebellion to succeed in overthrowing the British. The Vatican had to save
face at all costs.
Rome and Irish
nationalism
Rome cares nothing for the cause
of Irish nationalism when it does not suit her. In times past, the instinct
for a homeland has burned as bright in the hearts of Bible believing Irish
Protestant as it has in Irish Roman Catholic hearts. Rome has distorted such
loyalties out of all recognition to meet her own needs. The traditional Jesuit
explanation for the 1641 uprising was greedy acquisition of land by the
English, through confiscation, to implement Plantation policy. But the Plantation
policy was commenced under Bloody Mary and revived by James I. It cannot be
identified solely with Protestantism. The box explains the complex situation
existing in Ireland prior to 1641. The Vatican has never had more than a
modest army. Instead she manipulates complexities such as these to mobilize
the armies of others to fight her battles. Such an opportunity had now arisen.
Prosperity of Ireland
Prior to 1641 the factions listed
in the box tolerated each other. A Protestant wrote: “In this blessed
condition of peace and security the English and Irish, the Protestants and
Roman Catholics live mingled together … the wealth of the Kingdom was
exceedingly increased by the importation of great store of money (and)
wonderful increase in trade; the land was generally improved … by new sorts of
husbandry which that people had been utterly unacquainted with”.
An Old Englishman wrote, “The
colonies (of planters) setting aside their different tenets in matters of
religion were as perfectly incorporated and as firmly knit together as frequent
marriages, daily ties of hospitality and the mutual bond between Lord and
tenant could unite any people … the land by the blessing of peace was so well
inhabited, so much improved,” Even a Gaelic Irishman wrote that Ireland was,
“one of the best islands in Europe,” standing, “in fairer terms of happiness and
prosperity than ever it had done these 500 years past”. The Vatican was
fuming.
Henrietta Maria
So Rome set about inciting a rebellion in Ireland for her
own ends. This followed intelligence from Scotland. The court of Henrietta
Maria, Charles I’s Romanist wife, was full of Papal agents and Jesuits. They
incited Charles I and Archbishop Laud to a course of action which would
destabilize Scotland. Hostilities broke out between Charles and the Scottish
Covenanters in 1640. Immediately Charles demanded 20,000 Irish fighting men
and a large sum of Irish money. An expert wrote in 1994, “It is vital to
recognize the Scottish dimension in the crisis … the Scottish war created
financial pressure … the stress imposed by the conflict in Scotland and its repercussions
in England placed ultimately unbearable stress on a vulnerable (Irish) system …
information is sparse … about the early stage of the rebellion … Sir John
Temple reported in 1642 (that) … the Jesuits and other priests had spread the
story before the rebellion that all Catholics in Ireland were about to be
slaughtered.”
Rome hijacks an army
What could Rome hope to gain from the Scottish situation
to further her plans for inciting revolution in Ireland?
The same expert says that having minutely examined all the
Vatican, Scottish, Irish and English archives, “It is evident that, if the primary
aim of the rebellion was the security of Catholicism in Ireland (which was
indeed the Vatican’s intention), a change … in government would have to
follow”. Consequently, “Only violent action by the Roman Catholics would hold
out such a hope”. And what force could guarantee that a new Romanist Governor
could be set up in Dublin, independent of the English parliament, and be
certain of securing Roman Catholicism in Ireland on cessation of hostilities?
The clear answer was that the Vatican had to hijack the embryo anti-Covenanter
army raised to go to Scotland.
Luke Waddington
The center of operations for executing this strategy was
the Irish college of St Isidore in Rome. Rome’s man was St Isidore’s founder,
Franciscan Luke Waddingington (see illustration). Rome says officially of him,
“Wadding was not only the official representative and indefatigable agent in
the Roman Curia of the archbishops and bishops of Ireland, but the Holy See
took no measure of importance concerning that country without consulting him”.
Waddington, born in Waterford, became a Franciscan and
pursued a distinguished academic career which cloaked his activities as a
secret agent. His brother and two cousins were Jesuits, and, after a glorious
foundation in 1628, St Isidore’s was suddenly “surrendered” to the Jesuits by
order of the Pope in 1635. When the chance to seize back Ireland arose, the Vatican
must have thought that Waddington personally was up to the job, but that a
supporting Jesuit team would be more effective than a Franciscan one.
It is crucial for Protestants to grasp that Waddington was
linked beyond doubt to the plotting stage of the rebellion. A letter survives
from plotter Owen Roe, then abroad, which was penned to Waddington at St
Isidore’s bearing the date the July 8th 1641. This was months prior
to the Rebellion. It is full of intelligence. Waddington’s reply has naturally
never been made public. An “ultra secret meeting” between the two was planned
with Roe financing the trip. Prior to this there had been “prolonged
correspondence between the Gaelic Irish in Ireland and their fellow countrymen
serving as priests and soldiers abroad”.
A hitch then occurred. It looked as if the embryo army
which was needed to guarantee Romanist supremacy in a new Confederate Irish State,
although not now going to Scotland might instead be sent to Flanders.
Priests break cover
Rome’s scheme was seriously threatened. She had to break
cover. Priests intervened personally in an attempt to stop Irish fighting men
from boarding the war ships! Our impartial expert concludes, “Waddington’s
involvement, the report of the intervention of the priests with the embarkation
of troops, and the frequent references to priests in Maguire’s relation (Lord
Connor Maguire of Country Fermanagh was a key Old English plotter) leave no
doubt about the involvement of the clergy (Roman Catholic priests) in the
plotting”.
The only force that could possibly hold together a newly
created Roman Catholic Irish State, virtually governed by the pope of Rome and
independent of Britain, would be a confederation of the forces of the Northern
RC Gaelic Chiefs of Ulster and the Old English RC’s of the south. The Gaelic
chiefs looked to Spain, France or any continental Romanist power willing to
support them. The Old English still looked to the British Crown. The two
forces had only their Roman Catholicism in common. Rome’s meddling now forced
the Old English to choose between the Pope and the Crown.
Waddington, his Jesuit spies, and, up to a point, the Pope
were the only parties with an overview during the autumn of 1641. Waddington
spent July to October 1641 subtly playing off the parties against one another.
But why were the Old English leaders fooled by Jesuit rumours of the impending
slaughter of Roman Catholics? The ordinary folk might well be taken in, but
surely not the aristocracy? This was Rome’s masterstroke. The post of Lord
Deputy of Ireland was vacant and Charles I had appointed the Earl of
Leicester. He was reputed to be a Puritan. That struck fear into the RC Old
English of Ireland and made them, most unusually, susceptible to Rome’s
propaganda.
Vatican Microfilm
The Papal nuncio at the court of Henrietta Maria naturally
exploited this situation to the maximum. But microfilm from the Vatican Secret
Archive reveals the presence in London at that time of a further cunning papal
agent. He was in deep cover and his never been identified with certainty. Our
expert describes him as capable of “astute political analysis”. He incessantly
stirred up the fears of increased Protestant Parliamentary authority in Ireland
in every powerful, if unwitting, Roman Catholic ear to which he had access.
This spymaster worked Rome’s agents in Ireland so well
that no reassurances from any quarter would allay Old English fears of
increasing English interference in their affairs, the extension of
Protestantism and with that, the dreaded plantation policy.
The Old English feared the latter particularly because
they realized that careful Protestant legal scrutiny might well unmask the
dubious basis on which he medieval titles to their estates rested. There was
nowhere to go but to run straight into the arms of the Gaelic chieftains.
Yet, Praise the Lord, just when it looked as if Rome had
won, the Confederation began to crack open and the Lord from heaven ushered in
an amazing Day of Deliverance as we shall, DV, in our next article.
|
The four fragile Irish alliances
that existed before the massacre of 1641
The Native Gaelic Irish: Original
stronghold in Ulster. Controlled one third of the land. Mostly
Pre-Reformation Roman Catholics, but some were Church of Ireland people
especially where Plantations had not affected them.
The Old English: Controlled
one third of the land mostly around Dublin and southwards. Mostly Pre-
Reformation Roman Catholics who emigrated in medieval times. They feared
that the modern English Parliament might oust them from their land which
was often held by dubious ancient title.
The New English: Mostly
Church of Ireland and some Puritans. The majority were God fearing and
hard working but a few of their leaders sought to use the advance of
Protestantism to further Plantation policy.
The Scots: They
started as a Tudor dribble of Pre- Reformation Roman Catholics. Scottish
Highland immigration was outlawed by Bloody Mary but Scottish James VI
(James I of England) reversed this in 1613-15 and encouraged the Protestant
Lowland Scots to emigrate. They settled mostly in Ulster. They tended to
non-conformity.
|
