FATHER FRANCIS NUGENT, O. S. F. C

mission and placed it at the disposai of Father Francis Nugent, the Commissary-general of that mission (').

Young Nugent was born 1569 (-) at Moyrath in Co. Meath. Ç). His Father was Sir Thomas Nugent of Moyrath and his mother Lady Mary was a daughter of Lord Delvin. He himself received the name LavalHn {*).

At this time the persécution and the pénal laws enacted by the English government against Catholics and more especially against priests and teachers made it impossible to receive any éducation in Ireland. The youth was therefore sent to the Continent. And before he had reached his twentieth year he was skilled in the principal languages of Europe and was « a wonderful interpréter both of Greek and Hebrew (•) ». Elsewhere he is described as « vir eruditione conspicuus, septem linguarum gnarus, qui Lutetiae Parisiorum, et Lovanii in saeculo per plures annos cathedram doctoralem illustravit (") ». At Louvain « he passeth Master of Arts having first taught classically the Greek tongue in such sort that in classical disputations his scholars spoke but Greek only. He taught a course of philosophie and wrote a compendious book of Logic (') ».

In 1591 he received the Franciscan habit of the Capuchin reform at Brusssells in the Flandro-Belgian Province, on the 4th October, with the name Br. Francis (''). On the same day, the feast of S* Francis, the following year 1592, he made his profession. And in due course being ordained (') he obtained his letters-patent for preaching.

He was then sent into France where he gave lectures at Paris in

(1) Historié, § 3.

(2) Annali, t. I, p. 155.

(3) Others say at Bretoville near Armagh. V. FMR, t. V, p. 42. Archbald calls him F. Francis of Dysert. Historié, l. c.

(A) Annali, l. c. ; Historié, p. 2.

(5) Annali, t. I, p. 156; Historié, p. 2.

(6) Bullarium, t. IV, p. 279; Annali, t. I, p. 156.

(7) Historié, p. 1,2; Historia, p. 14.

(8) Historié, Historia, Synopsis, ail give 1591. « Verum cum cum juxta aclum professionis suscepit habitum an. 1591, 4 Oct. et se obstrinxerit religionis voto an. 1592, consequens cum ductu etiam in computum novitiatus tempore vixisse in religione annos sartum 43, menses septem, dies tredecim » (Historia, p. 415). The inscription on tlie tomb is therefore inaccurate. V. infra. Cfr FMR, t. VI, p. 87, for Fr. Christopher's report which gives 1591.

(9) At Mons, FMR, t. V, p. 77.

Philosophy and Theology as well as in languages (')• The «Annali» seems to state that Fr. Francis at this time founded convents at Metz and Charleville as well as a Collège at Lille. But the « Bullarium » gives the date of the foundation of the Convent of Metz as 1602 (-). And Charleville itselî was not founded till 1606 {'). Thèse foundations therefore must belong to a later period in his life (').

At Tournay he established the Capuchin dévotion of the Quarant' Ore in the year 1594 (=).

A General Chapter of the Order was held in Rome, at Pentecost, 31 May 1596, in the convent of S. Bonaventure (-). To this Chapter Fr. Francis was sent as Custos (■). Later on (1608) we find him at a General Chapter as Custos of the Gallo-Belgian provinces C") and it was probably as Custos of thèse provinces that he attended this Chapter of 1596. At this Chapter Saint Laurence of Brindisi of the Venetian province was elected Third Definitor (■') whilst Fr. Francis was appointed Commissary of Venice for the organisation of the newly-founded convents in that district ('").

At the end of the trienniate he returned to Rome for the General Chapter of 1599 held at S. Bonaventure's on 28 May ("). It was on this occasion that Fr. Francis took part in a public disputation on some theological questions in présence of His Holiness Clément VIII and several Doctors of Sacred Theology. Our annalists speak of his having, by his éloquence and learning, achieved a great vietory ('-). The dispute waged round the De Paupertate of Friar John Tauler the celerbrated German mystic and preacher of the Dominican Order ('^'). Previously in his sermons Fr. Francis had highly praised this work and now by his defence preserved it from the criticism and the censures that were being prepared for it at Rome(").

(1) Annali, t. I, p. 156 ; FMR, t. V, p. 77.

(2) Bullarium, t. V, p. 404.

(3) Vide supra.

(4) He was a lector of Theology in Paris in 1605 (Annali, t. II, p. 236). Possibly it was during this Stay in France that he founded Metz convent.

(5) FMR, t. V, p. 77.

(6) Ordinationes, p. 32.

(7) Annali, t. I, p. 156.

(8) Historié, SI.

(9) Ordinationes, p. 32; Bullarium, t. Il, p. 280.

(10) Annali, t. I, p. 156.

(llj Annali, t. I, p. 156; Ordinationes, p. 34.

(12) Annali, t. I, p. 156.

(13) FMR, t. V, p. 77. Vide Encyclopedia, vol. 14, p. 465 for account of Tauler.

(14) Bullarium, t. IV, p. 279; t. V, p. 276; FMR, /. c.