Patrick Aloysius Murray DD STP (1811–1882) was an Irish

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 lette ...

theologian.

Life

Murray was born in

Clones, County Monaghan Clones ( ; , meaning 'meadow of Eois') is a small town in western County Monaghan, Ireland. The area is part of the Border Region, earmarked for economic development by the Irish Government due to its currently below-average economic situation ...

, Ireland. He was educated at

Maynooth College St Patrick's Pontifical University, Maynooth ( ga, Coláiste Naoimh Phádraig, Maigh Nuad), is the "National Seminary for Ireland" (a Roman Catholic college), and a pontifical university, located in the town of Maynooth, from Dublin, Ireland. ...

, he was elected a

Dunboyne Dunboyne () is a town in Meath, Ireland. It is a commuter town for Dublin. In the 20 years between the 1996 and 2016 censuses, the population of Dunboyne more than doubled from 3,080 to 7,272 inhabitants. Location Dunboyne is centred on the ...

, or senior student, 1835. He received a

curacy A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, was appointed professor of English and French in

Maynooth Maynooth (; ga, Maigh Nuad) is a university town in north County Kildare, Ireland. It is home to Maynooth University (part of the National University of Ireland and also known as the National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and St Patrick's ...

, 1838, and became professor of theology there, 1841. The remainder of his life he devoted mainly to theological science. In 1879, he was made

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

of the Dunboyne Establishment, a position he held until his death. Murray wrote for the '' Dublin Review'' and for magazines, besides publishing four volumes called ''Essays, Chiefly Theological''. His greatest work was ''De Ecclesia Christi'', a masterpiece in positive and controversial theology. In 1849, Scottish essayist

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

visited Ireland at the request of

Young Ireland Young Ireland ( ga, Éire Óg, ) was a political movement, political and cultural movement, cultural movement in the 1840s committed to an all-Ireland struggle for independence and democratic reform. Grouped around the Dublin weekly ''The Nati ...

leader Charles Gavin Duffy. During the first days of Carlyle's journey, while Carlyle was still in

, Duffy invited Carlyle to breakfast with Dr. Murray and several other friends. According to Carlyle, the conversation was consistently about "Ireland versus England," with Duffy and Murray being in a "sad, unreasonable humor" on the topic which "pervad dall the Irish population on this matter" (p. 50). Carlyle describes Murray as a "big burly mass of Catholic Irishism" (''

Reminiscences of My Irish Journey in 1849 Reminiscence is the act of recollecting past experiences or events. An example of the typical use of reminiscence is when people share their personal stories with others or allows other people to live vicariously through stories of family, frien ...

'', p. 50). Carlyle continues: "Dr. Murray, head cropped like stubble, red-skinned face, harsh gray Irish eyes; full of fiery Irish zeal, too, and rage, which, however, he had the art to keep down under buttery-vocables: man of considerable strength, man not to be 'loved' by any manner of means!" (ibid., p. 50). Murray died at

, on 15 November 1882, and is buried in the College Cemetery.

References

;Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, Patrick 1811 births 1882 deaths People from County Monaghan 19th-century Irish Roman Catholic theologians Alumni of St Patrick's College, Maynooth Burials at Maynooth College Cemetery