Constantine Ó Nialláin, (aka Constantine O'Nelan) Irish

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

and Capuchin

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ol ...

, -after 1621.

Biography

The "son of Dr O’Nelan of Ballyfarracnan castle, County Limerick" (p. 13),

Ó Nialláin Ó, ó ( o-acute) is a letter in the Czech, Emilian-Romagnol, Faroese, Hungarian, Icelandic, Kashubian, Polish, Slovak, and Sorbian languages. This letter also appears in the Afrikaans, Catalan, Dutch, Irish, Nynorsk, Bokmål, Occitan, Por ...

had fought as a young man against English forces in Ireland, possibly during the

Desmond rebellion The Desmond Rebellions occurred in 1569–1573 and 1579–1583 in the Irish province of Munster. They were rebellions by the Earl of Desmond, the head of the Fitzmaurice/FitzGerald Dynasty in Munster, and his followers, the Geraldines and t ...

. Following this, he emigrated to

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

where he became a medical student at Salamanca, before turning to

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. It was not till he was over forty years of age that he joined the Capuchin order, while in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Martin notes that "O’Nelan was credited with rare sanctity of life, and his biography was written after his death by Fr Raphaël de Nantes." According to Nicholas Archbold, Ó Nialláin was bald and had, by the time he joined the order, lost almost all his teeth. This latter affliction made

Francis Lavalin 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, Co ...

refuse, at considerable controversy, to send him as a missionary to Charleville in 1621, because his lack of teeth made his speech virtually unintelligible.

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. 9-10, F.X. Martin, in "Ireland and France: a Bountiful Friendship", pp. 7–16, ed. Hayley and Murray, Colin Smythe Ltd., 1992. {{DEFAULTSORT:O Niallain, Constantine Irish soldiers Capuchins 16th-century Irish people 17th-century Irish military personnel Military personnel from County Limerick

Biography

See also

References