Peter Creagh or Piers Crevens (born

Carrigeen Carrigeen () is a village to the south-east of Mooncoin in County Kilkenny, Ireland. Carrigeen is situated on a hillock within the Suir Valley, contains St. Kevin's Church and belongs to the parish of Mooncoin. There is a primary school and ...

25 July 1642; died Strasbourg 25 July 1705) 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 ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

in the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Life

Creagh was educated at the Jesuit college in Poitiers and in 1660 went on to the

Pontifical Irish College The Pontifical Irish College is a Roman Catholic seminary for the training and education of priests, in Rome. The College is located at #1, Via dei Santi Quattro, and serves as a residence for clerical students from all over the world. Designated ...

in Rome, where was awarded a doctorate. He was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform var ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

in February 1666, served on the mission in Ireland for three years, and then became the agent of the Irish bishops in Rome. He spoke Italian, Latin, French, English, and Irish. In 1671

Oliver Plunkett Oliver Plunkett (or Oliver Plunket) ( ga, Oilibhéar Pluincéid), (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681) was the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland who was the last victim of the Popish Plot. He was beatified in 1920 and ...

described him as of average height with a long oval face and reddish brown hair and beard. Creagh was consecrated

Bishop of Cork and Cloyne The Bishop of Cork and Cloyne was an episcopal title which took its name after the city of Cork and the town of Cloyne in southern Ireland. History The see was formed by the union of the bishoprics of Cork and Cloyne in 1429. Following the Refor ...

on 27 May 1676 at the church of St Isidore in Rome. During the

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the Kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinate ...

scare orchestrated by

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father Samuel (1610� ...

he was arrested in March 1680 and spent two years in prison on suspicion of conspiring to murder Charles II of England, before being acquitted in August 1682. During the trial the courthouse roof collapsed on his accusers, narrowly missing the judge, but leaving Creagh unscathed. He left Ireland after the defeat of

James II of England James VII and II (14 October 1633 16 September 1701) was King of England and King of Ireland as James II, and King of Scotland as James VII from the death of his elder brother, Charles II, on 6 February 1685. He was deposed in the Glorious Re ...

in 1690.Wall, M. (1961) ''The Penal Laws, 1691-1760''. Dublin: Dublin Historical Association. p. 12. In 1693 he was

translated Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''transla ...

to the

Archbishopric of Dublin The Archbishop of Dublin is an archepiscopal title which takes its name after Dublin, Ireland. Since the Reformation, there have been parallel apostolic successions to the title: one in the Catholic Church and the other in the Church of Ireland ...

on the recommendation of King James, but he was never able to return to Ireland to claim the see. He became

Coadjutor Bishop A coadjutor bishop (or bishop coadjutor) is a bishop in the Catholic, Anglican, and (historically) Eastern Orthodox churches whose main role is to assist the diocesan bishop in the administration of the diocese. The coadjutor (literally, "c ...

of Strasbourg, where he died on 25 July 1705.

Notes

John Sleyne 1642 births 1705 deaths Clergy from County Limerick 17th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland 17th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland 18th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Ireland Roman Catholic archbishops of Dublin Roman Catholic bishops of Cork and Cloyne {{Ireland-RC-archbishop-stub