Nicholas Blake (–1702) was a member of the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...

. Blake was a member of one of the families called the

Tribes of Galway The Tribes of Galway ( ga, Treibheanna na Gaillimhe) were 14 merchant families who dominated the political, commercial and social life of the city of Galway in western Ireland between the mid-13th and late 19th centuries. They were the families ...

, and was part of the Dominican community expelled from the

Claddagh Claddagh () is an area close to the centre of Galway city, where the River Corrib meets Galway Bay. It was formerly a fishing village, just outside the old city walls. It is just across the river from the Spanish Arch, which was the location of ...

, near the town of

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

, in 1698. In 1702 he returned with two fellow Dominicans, Prior Gregory French and Fr. Daniel MacDonnell. Due to the Penal Laws and their earlier expulsion, any one of them could be deported if arrested. Blake escaped, but his companions were captured. French was expelled and died in Italy, McDonnell died in 1707 in Galway. Blake "expressed his loneliness in a poem in classical Latin" called "Here Lone I Live". It is a very rare example of a poem of this genre from the west of Ireland in the 18th century.

References

* ''Irish Dominicans'', O'Heyne, p. 74. * ''The Dominicans in Galway 1241-1991'', ed. Eustás Ó Héideáin, O.P. Irish poets Irish Dominicans 17th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests 18th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Christian clergy from County Galway {{Ireland-RC-clergy-stub

See also

References