Sir Patrick Walsh (fl. 1580 – c.1610) was an Irish

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

and

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 ...

. Patrick Walsh was a

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

and wealthy merchant in the city of Waterford, becoming

Mayor of Waterford The Kings of Viking Waterford (914–1170) The Vikings, who had created a longphort near Waterford in 853, finally settled and created a town in 914. These were led by Ottir Iarla. Ragnall ua Ímair then installed himself over them in 917, how ...

in 1578. He was an older half-brother of Thomas Walsh,

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel ( ga, Ard-Easpag Chaiseal Mumhan) was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title ...

1626–54. Another brother, Richard Walsh, was a

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

. (1992, n. 28, p. 191).

Biography

It was in his capacity as Mayor that Walsh first came to notice, acting as a "representative from the ‘’Urbs Intacta’’ to Queen Elizabeth".

Marmaduke Middleton Marmaduke Middleton (died 1593) was an English bishop. Life He was educated at the University of Oxford, but left before graduating. He was vicar of Coolock and Dunboyne, in Ireland, and then rector of Killare, County Meath. In 1579 he became bi ...

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Bishop of Waterford and Lismore The Bishop of Waterford and Lismore is an Episcopal polity, episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Waterford and town of Lismore, County Waterford, Lismore in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The title was used by the Church of Ireland ...

, wrote of Walsh in a letter to Sir

Francis Walsingham Sir Francis Walsingham ( – 6 April 1590) was principal secretary to Queen Elizabeth I of England from 20 December 1573 until his death and is popularly remembered as her "spymaster". Born to a well-connected family of gentry, Wals ...

dated 29 June 1580, describing the citizens of Waterford as "stiffnecked, stubborn, papistical and incorrigible’’. He attributed their stance to Walsh, saying of him: ‘’the greatest support of this is he, which was the last year mayor, whose name is Sir Patrick Walsh, a counterfeit Christian, and a great enemy of God’s truth. And eis coming over to obtain something of her Majesty to maintain his knighthood withal ... Wherein I dare be bold to say, no man exceedeth the said Sir Patrick, with whom, the living God knoweth, the whole city are partakers.’’ (State papers concerning the Irish Church in the time of Queen Elizabeth, p. 41, W. M. Brady, ed. (and 1992, p. 10) Walsh was married. However, he and his wife entered into a pact that upon the death of one of them, the survivor could enter a religious order. In 1598, after the death of his wife, Walsh sailed to France, joining the Capuchin order at Paris, where he died about 1610. Yet even up to the time of his death his advice was regularly sought by citizens of Waterford on municipal matters, such was his esteem in the town. F. X. Martin writes "Though it is probable that Walsh knew

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 ...

at Paris he did not join the Irish mission. Like

Patrick Bath Patrick Bath, Irish Capuchin, . A native of Drogheda, where his father was a wealthy merchant (p. 13), Bath was originally to join the Jesuits. Due to the influence of Francis Nugent, he "made a last-minute decision and joined the Capuch ...

he died before it became a reality in 1615 with the acquisition of a

friary A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

at Charleville in northern France as headquarters for the Irish Capuchins." *’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. 10, F. X. Martin, in "Ireland and France: a Bountiful Friendship", pp. 7–16, ed. Hayley and Murray, Colin Smythe Ltd., 1992.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Patrick Capuchins Irish businesspeople 16th-century Irish politicians 17th-century Irish politicians Mayors of Waterford Irish knights