Colman O'Shaughnessy, O.P. (died 2 September 1748) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

clergyman who served as

Bishop of Ossory The Bishop of Ossory () is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient of Kingdom of Ossory in the Province of Leinster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been ...

from 1736 until his death in 1748. He was the eldest son of Cormac, second son of

Dermott Ó Seachnasaigh Sir Dermott Ó Seachnasaigh, Chief of the Name, died 1673. Ó Seachnasaigh was married to Joan, daughter of Lord Barrymore and had sons Roger and Cormac. A copy of his will survives. References * * ''History of Galway'', James Hardiman, 1820 ...

. He was educated at

Athenry Athenry (; ) is a town in County Galway, Ireland, which lies east of Galway city. Some of the attractions of the medieval town are its town wall, Athenry Castle, its priory and its 13th century street-plan. The town is also well known by virtu ...

College, after which he became an army officer. When he left his military career, he joined the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of C ...

. He made his ecclesiastical studies in

Louvain Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic c ...

, and he completed them before 1706. After serving on the Irish Mission for years, with great zeal and success, he was elected

Provincial Provincial may refer to: Government & Administration * Provincial capitals, an administrative sub-national capital of a country * Provincial city (disambiguation) * Provincial minister (disambiguation) * Provincial Secretary, a position in Can ...

of the

on 30 April 1726, serving until 1730. Almost ten years later, he was appointed

by a

papal brief A papal brief or breve is a formal document emanating from the Pope, in a somewhat simpler and more modern form than a papal bull. History The introduction of briefs, which occurred at the beginning of the pontificate of Pope Eugene IV (3 Marc ...

on 5 October 1736. When his uncle, William O'Shaughnessy, died in 1744, he became the

Chief of the Name The Chief of the Name, or in older English usage Captain of his Nation, is the recognised head of a family or clan (''fine'' in Irish and Scottish Gaelic). The term has sometimes been used as a title in Ireland and Scotland. In Ireland In Eli ...

and commenced a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

in the

Court of Common Pleas A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...

to recover the ancient

O'Shaughnessy Ó Seachnasaigh, O'Shaughnessy, collectively Uí Sheachnasaigh, clan name Cinél nAedha na hEchtghe, is a family surname of Irish origin. The name is found primarily in County Galway and County Limerick. Their name derives from Seachnasach mac ...

estates at

Gort Gort ( or ) is a town of around 3,000 inhabitants in County Galway in the west of Ireland. Located near the border with County Clare, the town lies between the Burren and the Slieve Aughty and is served by the R458 and R460 regional roads, ...

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The property had been taken from

Roger O'Shaughnessy Sir Roger O'Shaughnessy, The O'Shaughnessy (died 11 July 1690), was Chief of the Name and a captain in the Irish army of James II of England. He was present at the Battle of the Boyne, and died ("sick, though not wounded") ten days after the ba ...

King William III William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

in 1690, and given to

Thomas Prendergast Thomas Prendergast (180614 November 1886) was a British administrator in the service of the East India Company, and the inventor of the "mastery system" of learning foreign languages. Biography Prendergast was the son of Sir Jeffery Prendergast ...

in 1697. Despite a protracted court case, which lasted beyond the life of the bishop, it was finally ruled in favour of the Prendergasts, the penal laws against Catholics tending to defeat the rights of the O'Shaughnessies.

References

* D'Alton, John
Illustrations, Historical and Genealogical, of King James's Irish Army List (1689)
Dublin: 1st edition (single volume), 1855. pp. 328–32. * ''History of Galway'',

James Hardiman James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway. Hardiman is best remembered for his '' History of the Town and County of Galway'' (1820) and ''Irish Minstrelsy'' (1831), one of the fi ...

, 1820. * ''Tabular pedigrees of O'Shaughnessy of Gort'' (1543–1783),

Martin J. Blake Martin Joseph Blake (born c. 1853) was an Irish historian who died around 1930. Blake was a descendant of one of The Tribes of Galway The Tribes of Galway ( ga, Treibheanna na Gaillimhe) were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, ...

, Journal of the

Galway Archaeological and Historical Society The Galway Archaeological and Historical Society was founded on 21 March 1900, at the Railway Hotel, Galway. It promotes the study of the archaeology and history of the west of Ireland. Since 1900, the Society has published 70 volumes of the '' ...

, vi (1909–10), p. 64; vii (1911–12), p. 53. *

John O'Donovan John O'Donovan may refer to: *John O'Donovan (scholar) (1806–1861), Irish language scholar and place-name expert *John O'Donovan (politician) (1908–1982), Irish TD and Senator *John O'Donovan (police commissioner) (1858–1927), New Zealand pol ...

The Genealogies, Tribes, and Customs of Hy-Fiachrach
Dublin: Irish Archaeological Society. 1844. Pedigree of O'Shaughnessy: pp. 372–91. * ''Old Galway,'' Professor

Mary Donovan O'Sullivan Mary Josephine Donovan O'Sullivan was Professor of History at Queens College, Galway (now NUI Galway) from 1914 to 1957. Biography One of ten children, four of whom survived infancy, Donovan was born at Fair Hill Road in Galway on 24 November ...

, 1942. * ''Galway: Town and Gown,'' edited Moran et al., 1984. * ''Galway: History and Society'', 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:OShaughnessy, Colman 1748 deaths 18th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Christian clergy from County Galway Roman Catholic bishops of Ossory Irish Dominicans Colman Year of birth unknown