Mortimer O'Sullivan (1791–1859) was a
Church of Ireland
The Church of Ireland (, ; , ) is a Christian church in Ireland, and an autonomy, autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the Christianity in Ireland, second-largest Christian church on the ...
clergyman, writer and member of the
Orange Order
The Loyal Orange Institution, commonly known as the Orange Order, is an international Protestant fraternal order based in Northern Ireland and primarily associated with Ulster Protestants. It also has lodges in England, Grand Orange Lodge of ...
.
He was born a Catholic in
Clonmel
Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary (tow ...
, the son of a Catholic schoolmaster. He converted to Protestantism in boyhood and was educated as a Protestant. He attended
Trinity College Dublin
Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...
, where he was
elected a Scholar, graduated with an MA in 1812 and was ordained about 1816.
In 1826 he succeeded Thomas Le Fanu, father of
Sheridan Le Fanu as chaplain to
the Military School in the
Phoenix Park
The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...
in Dublin. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s he was the chief ideologist of the ''
Dublin University Magazine'', a role he shared with his brother Samuel, also a convert and a cleric.
His influence on the Church of Ireland was considerable, not so much for the originality as the blatancy of his views.
[ He was strongly anti-Catholic.
]
Publications
''Captain Rock Detected (1824)''
''Guide to an Irish Gentleman in Search of a Religion (1833)''
''Case of the Protestants in Ireland Stated (1836)''
''Theory of Development in Christian Doctrine (1846)''
''Remains of Samuel O'Sullivan, D.D. (1851)''
See also
* '' Dublin University Magazine''
* Sheridan Le Fanu
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Osullivan, Mortimer
1791 births
1859 deaths
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism
19th-century Irish Anglican priests
19th-century Irish writers
People from Clonmel
Scholars of Trinity College Dublin
Christian clergy from County Tipperary