Charles Mahoney, O.F.M., (or Mahony; alias Charles Meehan; c. 1640 – 12 August 1679) was an Irish Franciscan friar who is honoured as a Catholic martyr, one of the

Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales The Eighty-five Martyrs of England and Wales, also known as George Haydock and Eighty-four Companion Martyrs, are a group of men who were executed on charges of treason and related offences in the Kingdom of England between 1584 and 1679. Of the e ...

beatified by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 1987. His feast day, together with that of the other martyrs, is celebrated on 4 May.

Life

Mahoney belonged to the Irish Province of the Order of Friars Minor and spent some of 1676 at St Isidore's College in Rome, headquarters of the province in exile. Attempting to return to Ireland from the continent where he had been

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...

, he was shipwrecked and landed in Wales. He was arrested in 1678 and imprisoned at Denbigh. He went on trial the following year at

Ruthin Ruthin ( ; cy, Rhuthun) is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales, in the south of the Vale of Clwyd. It is Denbighshire's county town. The town, castle and St Peter's Square lie on a hill, skirted by villages such as Pwllglas and ...

in northern Wales where he was condemned and hanged. The documentary evidence is scanty. The

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

has a copy of a single sheet entitled ''The Last Speeches of Three Priests that were Executed for Religion, Anno Domini 1679'', from which the following transcript is made:-

An Account of the words spoken by Mr. Charles Mahoney, an Irish Priest of the holy Order of St. Francis, who was Executed in his Habit at Ruthin in North Wales, August 12, 1679. Now God Almighty is pleased I should suffer Martyrdom, his Holy Name be praised, since I dye for my Religion. But you have no Right to put me to death in this Country, though I confessed myself to be a Priest, for you seized me as I was going to my Native Country Ireland, being driven at Sea on this Coast, for I never used my Function in England before I was taken, however God forgive you, as I do and shall always pray for you, especially for those that were so good to me in my distress, I pray God bless our King, and defend him from his Enemies, and convert him to the Holy Catholick Faith, Amen. His Age was under Forty, He was tryed and Condemned at Denby .e. DenbighConfessing himself to be a Priest.

Richard Challoner Richard Challoner (29 September 1691 – 12 January 1781) was an English Roman Catholic bishop, a leading figure of English Catholicism during the greater part of the 18th century. The titular Bishop of Doberus, he is perhaps most famous for h ...

based his account on this single sheet, but may have had another source, now lost.

, ''Memoirs of Missionary Priests'', II, no. 205

References

;Attribution * The entry cites: **

Joseph Gillow Joseph Gillow (5 October 1850, Preston, Lancashire – 17 March 1921, Westholme, Hale, Cheshire) was an English Roman Catholic antiquary, historian and bio-bibliographer, "the Plutarch of the English Catholics". Biography Born in Frenchwood Hous ...

, ''Bibl. Dict. Eng. Cath.'' IV, 392; **Richard Stanton, ''A Menology of England and Wales'' (London, 1887); ** Anne Fulton Hope, ''Franciscan Martyrs in England'' (London, 1878), 240; ** George Oliver, ''Collections illustrating the History of the Catholic Religion'' (London, 1857); **Thaddeus, ''Franciscans in England'' (London and Leamington, 1898), 52, 71, 101. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Charles 1640s births 1679 deaths 17th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Irish Friars Minor Beatifications by Pope John Paul II Franciscan martyrs Irish beatified people 17th-century venerated Christians Eighty-five martyrs of England and Wales 17th-century Roman Catholic martyrs 24 Irish Catholic Martyrs