Gelasius O’Cullenan

(Or GLAISNE O’CULLENAN). Cistercian, Abbot of Boyle, Ireland, b. probably near Assaroe Abbey, Ballyshannon, Co. Donegal; martyred, 21 Nov., 1580. Three of his brothers were Cistercian abbots, and a fourth Bishop of Raphoe. Gelasius, the eldest, studied at Salamanca University, went thence to Paris where he took his doctorate at the Sorbonne, made his monastic profession, and was created Abbot of Boyle, Co. Roscommon. This abbey had been confiscated and granted to Cusack, Sheriff of Meath; but the Irish regulars continued to appoint superiors to the suppressed houses. The young abbot went immediately to Ireland and is said to have obtained restoration of his abbey. He was, however, seized at Dublin by the Government and imprisoned with Eugene O’Mulkeeran, Abbot of Holy Trinity at Lough Key. Refusing to conform, they were tortured and finally hanged outside Dublin, 21 November, 1580. O’Cullenan’s body was spared mutilation through his friends’ intercession. His clothes were divided as a martyr’s relics among the Catholics.