Patrick Bath, Irish Capuchin, . A native of

Drogheda Drogheda ( , ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth ...

, where his father was a wealthy merchant (p. 13), Bath was originally to join the Jesuits. Due to the influence of

Francis Nugent Francis Nugent (1569 – 1635 at Charleville, France) was an Irish priest of the Franciscan Capuchin Order. He was the founder of the Irish and the Rhenish Provinces of the Order. Life Lavalin Nugent was born in Walshestown near Mullingar ...

, he "made a last-minute decision and joined the Capuchins at

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

in October 1592." (p. 11) Bath had studied with Nugent at the Scots-Irish college at pont-a mousson. F.X. Martin wrote of him – "Though Bath died at

Cahors Cahors (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the western part of Southern France. It is the smallest prefecture among the 13 departments that constitute the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Region. The capital and main city of t ...

in 1607, before the Irish Mission became a reality, he brought prestige to the Irish Capuchins by his appointment as guardian of the

friary A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may ...

Namur Namur (; ; ) is a city and municipality in Wallonia, Belgium. It is the capital both of the province of Namur and of Wallonia, hosting the Parliament of Wallonia, the Government of Wallonia and its administration. Namur stands at the confl ...

. His prominence among the Capuchins was that a bare nine months after profession he was appointed

lector Lector is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not. In modern languages it takes various forms, as either a development or a loan, such as , , and . It has various specialized uses. Academic The title ''lector'' may be applied to lecturers ...

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

in the Capuchin study house newly opened at

Louvain Leuven (, , ), also called Louvain (, , ), 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 sub-municipalities of ...

." (p. 9). His appointment at Louvain was a result of the extreme lack of competent professors among the early Capuchins in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. Against this is the fact that he depart the Netherlands for Paris where he became lector of philosophy and theology at the friary at rue Saint-Honore. His importance was underlined in 1598 when an English spy listed him ("At Paris – Father Patrick, a Capuchine, a gret scholer.") among the prominent English-speaking Catholics on the continent.

References

*’So Manie in the Verie Prime and Spring of their Youth, Manie of them Heirs of Lande’: The Friars of the Irish Capuchin Mission in Northern France and the Low Countries, 1591-1641", p. 9, F.X. Martin, in "Ireland and France: a Bountiful Friendship", pp. 7–16, ed. Hayley and Murray, Colin Smythe Ltd., 1992. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bath, Patrick Capuchins 17th-century Irish philosophers People from Drogheda 17th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests

See also

References