Charles Mahoney (or Mahony; alias Charles Meehan; 1640 – 12 August 1679) was an Irish

Franciscan friar The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor being the largest contem ...

. He is consideres a

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', 'witness' Word stem, stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an external party. In ...

by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, one of the

Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

beatified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

in 1987. Their

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does n ...

is celebrated on 4 May.

Life

Mahoney belonged to the Irish Province of the Order of Friars Minor and spent some of 1676 at Saint Isidore's College in Rome, headquarters of the province in exile. Attempting to return to Ireland from the continent where he had been ordained to priesthood, he was shipwrecked and landed in Wales. He was arrested in 1678 and imprisoned at Denbigh. He went on trial the following year at

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; ) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and Rhewl. The name comes from the Welsh ''rhud ...

in northern Wales where he was condemned and hanged. The documentary evidence is scanty. The

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

has a copy of a single sheet entitled ''The Last Speeches of Three Priests that were Executed for Religion, Anno Domini 1679'', from which the following transcript is made:

An Account of the words spoken by Mr. Charles Mahoney, an Irish Priest of the holy Order of St. Francis, who was Executed in his Habit at Ruthin in North Wales, August 12, 1679. Now God Almighty is pleased I should suffer Martyrdom, his Holy Name be praised, since I dye for my Religion. But you have no Right to put me to death in this Country, though I confessed myself to be a Priest, for you seized me as I was going to my Native Country Ireland, being driven at Sea on this Coast, for I never used my Function in England before I was taken, however God forgive you, as I do and shall always pray for you, especially for those that were so good to me in my distress, I pray God bless our King, and defend him from his Enemies, and convert him to the Holy Catholick Faith, Amen. His Age was under Forty, He was tryed and Condemned at Denby .e. DenbighConfessing himself to be a Priest.

Richard Challoner Richard Challoner (29 September 1691 – 12 January 1781) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Vicar Apostolic of the London District during the greater part of the 18th century, and as Titular Bishop of Doberus. In 1738, he publishe ...

based his account on this single sheet, but may have had another source, now lost.

, ''Memoirs of Missionary Priests'', II, no. 205

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Ho ...

, ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'' IV, 392; **Richard Stanton, ''A Menology of England and Wales'' (London, 1887); ** Anne Fulton Hope, ''Franciscan Martyrs in England'' (London, 1878), 240; ** George Oliver, ''Collections illustrating the History of the Catholic Religion'' (London, 1857); **Thaddeus, ''Franciscans in England'' (London and Leamington, 1898), 52, 71, 101. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Charles 1640s births 1679 deaths 17th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish Friars Minor Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Franciscan martyrs Irish beatified people 17th-century venerated Christians Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 24 Irish Catholic Martyrs Place of birth missing