25 June 1998 Edition
Remembering the Past: A truly radical priest
by Aengus O Snodaigh
Archbishop Troy believed 200 years ago that priests advocating what today would be termed liberation theology were ``infected with the French disease''. One such priest was Father James Coigly, a man ahead of his time. He was not only a radical within the church, but also a republican, a revolutionary and an internationalist who played a vital role in unifying the forces of change in Ireland, England and Scotland.
Second born to James Coigly and Louisa Donnelly in Kilmore, County Armagh in August 1761, young James lived in comfortable circumstances for Catholics of the time. They were involved in farming and also had interests in the weaving industry. He was sent for a classical education in Dundalk Grammar School.
After Dundalk, James entered the priesthood, being ordained in January 1785. He later set off for for philosophy and theology studies in Lombard College in Paris, a centre for Irish students. There Coigly clashed several times with the clerical authorities, including taking the unprecedented step of initiating legal proceedings against his superiors.
After five years Coigly left the college, but remained in Paris. He was said to have been involved in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 along with fellow student James Blackwell. Coigly left Paris for Dundalk shortly afterwards, in October 1789.
Imbued with egalitarianism, Coigly and many other French-trained priests became agents of change within Irish society and within the Irish Catholic Church.
In the early 1790s Coigly worked among the poor of Dundalk and he became a recruiting agent for the Defenders - a resistance movement among Catholics against the excesses of landlordism and the sectarian Protestant terror-gang, the Peep O'Day Boys.
He wrote several pamhplets highlighting the sectarian terror against Catholics. His research for another, on the history of Catholic dispossession and the 1641 rebellion, was destroyed during the firing by an Orange mob of his parents' home in Armagh in 1795.
It is said that he introduced Napper Tandy to the Defenders in Castlebellingham, County Louth in 1792. His brother was the famous Captain Coigly at the Battle of the Diamond in September 1795, while one cousin, Valentine Derry, was principal for the Defenders in Louth, and another, `Switcher' Donnelly, was prominent in the movement in County Tyrone.
The reaction of the state, the landlords and newly-formed Orange Order led to the further radicalisation of the Defenders and later their amalgamation with the United Irishmen. Coigly is said to have played a pivotal role in this ``cordial union of affection'', along with Thomas Russell and Napper Tandy.
Coigly was as much at home with the Belfast radicals as with his own people around Counties Armagh, Louth and Tyrone. He was continuously travelling in these counties. By January 1797 he is said to have been a member of the United Irishmen's Ulster Council, having been sworn into the Movement at Valentine Lawless's Dublin home in Merrion Street. His importance within the United Irish movement had been enhanced by the first series of arrests in the Autumn of 1796 and by his greater association with the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and others who were impatient with the incumbent leadership.
With his growing prominence came increased government attention and in the early summer of 1797 he moved to Manchester in England to evade this, to show his frustration with the United Irish leadership and to improve the links with English radicals and with disaffected workers in that region. He argued for ``a union of all the underprivileged against their social superiors''.
In Manchester Coigly helped extend the Society of United Englishmen, before going to London where he became the main impetus for co-ordinating the plans of the English radicals with those of the Scottish, Irish and French radicals. The formation of the United Britons at Furnival's Inn Cellar, Holborn, in London was to further this strategy.
From London Coigly travelled to Paris via Hamburg, along with the Presbyterian minister, Arthur McMahon. The purpose of their visit is obscure, though the Scottish radical Thomas Muir was in Paris at the time, as were Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy, all of whom were looking for expeditionary forces to support proposed risings. Personality clashes and bickering among the United Irish (``petty little intrigue'' Tone described it) did nothing to help their cause and Coigly returned to Ireland to report to Lord Edward.
On his journey back to France to seek immediate aid on 28 February 1798, Coigly along with John Binns, a Dublin United Irishman John Allen and Arthur O'Connor, who was to replace Samuel Lewins as United Irish envoy to Paris, were arrested while trying to embark. The informer Samuel Turner was the main culprit for their arrest, but their behaviour prior to leaving for France, which was at war with England, their half-hearted disguises and the fact that they stayed at the house of the United Irishman representative in London, Valentine Lawless, also contributed to their arrest.
Luckily a servant, O'Leary, hid most of the damning papers which the party were carrying, but Coigly's coat contained an address from the United Britons to the French Directory. It was rumoured that this may have been planted, but Coigly's autobiography, written in Maidstone Prison, is obscure on this point.
This document, along with the perjury of a paid informer, Frederick Dutton of Newry, his refusal to turn state's evidence in exchange for his life, the attempted nobbling of the jury by a Reverend Arthur Young, the fact that the English government were baying for their pound of flesh following the acquittal of O'Connor, their primary target, and the initial reports of a rising in Ireland, meant that Coigly had little chance.
He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Pennington Heath on 9 June 1798 despite support from several English lords. Lord Holland said afterwards that he was ``condemned on false and contradictory evidence'', while a future Lord Chancellor, Thurlow, said ``if ever a poor man was murdered it was O'Coigly (sic)''.
A stained glass window and a memorial plaque are dedicated to him at St Francis of Assisi Church in Maidstone. The United Irish recruiter, envoy and strategist, priest, radical and revolutionary James Coigly was executed 200 years ago this month.
New Book
A new publication from the pen of Denis Carroll, Unusual Suspects: Twelve Radical Clergy (Colomba Press £9.99) has biographies of four key figures of 1798 whose importance in the events of that year is often overlooked. They are James Coigly, James Porter, Myles Prendergast and William Steel Dickson.
The others are John Kenyon; the Callan Curates and Issac Nelson of the 19th Century; and James Armour, Michael O'Flanagan, Robert Hilliard and Stephen Hilliard of this century.
Archbishop Troy believed 200 years ago that priests advocating what today would be termed liberation theology were ``infected with the French disease''. One such priest was Father James Coigly, a man ahead of his time. He was not only a radical within the church, but also a republican, a revolutionary and an internationalist who played a vital role in unifying the forces of change in Ireland, England and Scotland.
Second born to James Coigly and Louisa Donnelly in Kilmore, County Armagh in August 1761, young James lived in comfortable circumstances for Catholics of the time. They were involved in farming and also had interests in the weaving industry. He was sent for a classical education in Dundalk Grammar School.
After Dundalk, James entered the priesthood, being ordained in January 1785. He later set off for for philosophy and theology studies in Lombard College in Paris, a centre for Irish students. There Coigly clashed several times with the clerical authorities, including taking the unprecedented step of initiating legal proceedings against his superiors.
After five years Coigly left the college, but remained in Paris. He was said to have been involved in the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 along with fellow student James Blackwell. Coigly left Paris for Dundalk shortly afterwards, in October 1789.
Imbued with egalitarianism, Coigly and many other French-trained priests became agents of change within Irish society and within the Irish Catholic Church.
In the early 1790s Coigly worked among the poor of Dundalk and he became a recruiting agent for the Defenders - a resistance movement among Catholics against the excesses of landlordism and the sectarian Protestant terror-gang, the Peep O'Day Boys.
He wrote several pamhplets highlighting the sectarian terror against Catholics. His research for another, on the history of Catholic dispossession and the 1641 rebellion, was destroyed during the firing by an Orange mob of his parents' home in Armagh in 1795.
It is said that he introduced Napper Tandy to the Defenders in Castlebellingham, County Louth in 1792. His brother was the famous Captain Coigly at the Battle of the Diamond in September 1795, while one cousin, Valentine Derry, was principal for the Defenders in Louth, and another, `Switcher' Donnelly, was prominent in the movement in County Tyrone.
The reaction of the state, the landlords and newly-formed Orange Order led to the further radicalisation of the Defenders and later their amalgamation with the United Irishmen. Coigly is said to have played a pivotal role in this ``cordial union of affection'', along with Thomas Russell and Napper Tandy.
Coigly was as much at home with the Belfast radicals as with his own people around Counties Armagh, Louth and Tyrone. He was continuously travelling in these counties. By January 1797 he is said to have been a member of the United Irishmen's Ulster Council, having been sworn into the Movement at Valentine Lawless's Dublin home in Merrion Street. His importance within the United Irish movement had been enhanced by the first series of arrests in the Autumn of 1796 and by his greater association with the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, and others who were impatient with the incumbent leadership.
With his growing prominence came increased government attention and in the early summer of 1797 he moved to Manchester in England to evade this, to show his frustration with the United Irish leadership and to improve the links with English radicals and with disaffected workers in that region. He argued for ``a union of all the underprivileged against their social superiors''.
In Manchester Coigly helped extend the Society of United Englishmen, before going to London where he became the main impetus for co-ordinating the plans of the English radicals with those of the Scottish, Irish and French radicals. The formation of the United Britons at Furnival's Inn Cellar, Holborn, in London was to further this strategy.
From London Coigly travelled to Paris via Hamburg, along with the Presbyterian minister, Arthur McMahon. The purpose of their visit is obscure, though the Scottish radical Thomas Muir was in Paris at the time, as were Wolfe Tone and Napper Tandy, all of whom were looking for expeditionary forces to support proposed risings. Personality clashes and bickering among the United Irish (``petty little intrigue'' Tone described it) did nothing to help their cause and Coigly returned to Ireland to report to Lord Edward.
On his journey back to France to seek immediate aid on 28 February 1798, Coigly along with John Binns, a Dublin United Irishman John Allen and Arthur O'Connor, who was to replace Samuel Lewins as United Irish envoy to Paris, were arrested while trying to embark. The informer Samuel Turner was the main culprit for their arrest, but their behaviour prior to leaving for France, which was at war with England, their half-hearted disguises and the fact that they stayed at the house of the United Irishman representative in London, Valentine Lawless, also contributed to their arrest.
Luckily a servant, O'Leary, hid most of the damning papers which the party were carrying, but Coigly's coat contained an address from the United Britons to the French Directory. It was rumoured that this may have been planted, but Coigly's autobiography, written in Maidstone Prison, is obscure on this point.
This document, along with the perjury of a paid informer, Frederick Dutton of Newry, his refusal to turn state's evidence in exchange for his life, the attempted nobbling of the jury by a Reverend Arthur Young, the fact that the English government were baying for their pound of flesh following the acquittal of O'Connor, their primary target, and the initial reports of a rising in Ireland, meant that Coigly had little chance.
He was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered at Pennington Heath on 9 June 1798 despite support from several English lords. Lord Holland said afterwards that he was ``condemned on false and contradictory evidence'', while a future Lord Chancellor, Thurlow, said ``if ever a poor man was murdered it was O'Coigly (sic)''.
A stained glass window and a memorial plaque are dedicated to him at St Francis of Assisi Church in Maidstone. The United Irish recruiter, envoy and strategist, priest, radical and revolutionary James Coigly was executed 200 years ago this month.
New Book
A new publication from the pen of Denis Carroll, Unusual Suspects: Twelve Radical Clergy (Colomba Press £9.99) has biographies of four key figures of 1798 whose importance in the events of that year is often overlooked. They are James Coigly, James Porter, Myles Prendergast and William Steel Dickson.
The others are John Kenyon; the Callan Curates and Issac Nelson of the 19th Century; and James Armour, Michael O'Flanagan, Robert Hilliard and Stephen Hilliard of this century.