The Most Reverend Dr. Thomas Nulty or Thomas McNulty (1818–1898) was born to a farming family in Fennor, Oldcastle, Co. Meath, on 7 July 1818, and died in office as the Irish Roman Catholic

Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric. History Until the ...

on Christmas Eve, 1898.

Biography

Nulty was educated at Gilson School,

Oldcastle, County Meath Oldcastle () is a town in County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located in the northwest of the county near the border with County Cavan, Cavan, approximately 13 miles (21 km) from Kells, County Meath, Kells. The R154 road, R15 ...

, St. Finians,

Navan Navan ( ; , meaning "the Cave") is the county town and largest town of County Meath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is at the confluence of the River Boyne and Leinster Blackwater, Blackwater, around 50 km northwest of Dublin. At the ...

Seminary and

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth (), is a pontifical Catholic university in the town of Maynooth near Dublin, Ireland. The college and national seminary on its grounds are often referred to as Maynooth College. The college was of ...

. He was ordained in 1846. Nulty was a cleric during the Great Famine. During the course of his first pastoral appointment, he officiated at an average 11 funerals of famine victims (mostly children or the aged) a day, and in 1848 he described a large-scale eviction of 700 tenants in the diocese, thought to have been near

Lough Sheelin Lough Sheelin (), in standard Irish language, Irish ''Loch Síleann'', is a limestone freshwater lough (lake) in central Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The lake is a part of the River Inny (Leinster), River Inny course, and ultimately of the Riv ...

, a freshwater

lough ''Loch'' ( ) is a word meaning "lake" or " sea inlet" in Scottish and Irish Gaelic, subsequently borrowed into English. In Irish contexts, it often appears in the anglicized form "lough". A small loch is sometimes called a lochan. Lochs whic ...

at a meeting point of Counties

Westmeath County Westmeath (; or simply ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It formed part of the historic Kingdom of ...

Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

and

Cavan Cavan ( ; ) is the county town of County Cavan in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town lies in Ulster, near the border with County Fermanagh in Northern Ireland. The town is bypassed by the main N3 road (Ireland), N3 road that links Dublin ( ...

. Nulty rose to become the Most Reverend Bishop of Meath and was known as a fierce defender of the

tenant rights Tenant may refer to: Real estate *Tenant, the holder of a leasehold estate in real estate *Tenant-in-chief, in feudal land law *Tenement (law), the holder of a legal interest in real estate *Tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or far ...

of Irish

tenant farmer A tenant farmer is a farmer or farmworker who resides and works on land owned by a landlord, while tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and ma ...

s throughout the 34 years that he served in that office, from 1864 to 1898. Nulty was in agreement with the economic ideas of the progressive reformer

Henry George Henry George (September 2, 1839 – October 29, 1897) was an American political economist, Social philosophy, social philosopher and journalist. His writing was immensely popular in 19th-century America and sparked several reform movements of ...

. Nulty read George's book ''

Progress and Poverty ''Progress and Poverty: An Inquiry into the Cause of Industrial Depressions and of Increase of Want with Increase of Wealth: The Remedy'' is an 1879 book by social theorist and economist Henry George. It is a treatise on the questions of why pov ...

'' multiple times and agreed with every word. Henry George even said that '

Georgism Georgism, in modern times also called Geoism, and known historically as the single tax movement, is an economic ideology holding that people should own the value that they produce themselves, while the economic rent derived from land—includ ...

' could just as well be known as 'Nultyism'. Thomas Nulty is famed for his 1881 tract ''Back to the Land'', wherein he makes the case for

land reform Land reform (also known as agrarian reform) involves the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership, land use, and land transfers. The reforms may be initiated by governments, by interested groups, or by revolution. Lan ...

of the Irish land tenure system. Nulty was a friend and supporter of the Irish nationalist

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom from 1875 to 1891, Leader of the Home Rule Leag ...

until Parnell's divorce crisis in 1889. Dr. Thomas Nulty, who had attended the

First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...

in 1870, said his last mass on 21 December 1898.

References

External links

Catholic HierarchyCopy of 31 December 1881 letter from Thomas Nulty to the Dublin ''Freeman'' newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nulty, Thomas 1818 births 1898 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland Roman Catholic bishops of Meath Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Activists for Irish land reform Christian clergy from County Meath People educated at St Finian's College People from Oldcastle, County Meath Activists from County Westmeath