the crown to hold peaceable
possession of his see as a proof that "the Reformation made but small
progress in Ireland" at this period. In 1551 he gave a public proof of
his devotedness to the Catholic faith. Edward VI., in the beginning of
February, sent an order to the viceroy, Sir Anthony St. Leger,
commanding the use of the English liturgy in all the churches of
Ireland. On the 1st of March the same year this order was communicated
to the archbishops and bishops assembled in council for that special
purpose; but no sooner had St. Leger made his discourse, commending the
royal prerogative, and extolling the liturgy now proposed to the Irish
clergy, than Dr. Dowdall of Armagh opposed it with all his zeal, and
denounced the measure as anathematized "by the Church of St. Peter, the
Mother Church of Rome". It must ever remain a special glory of the
province of Armagh, that, as Cox informs us (p. 290), one only of the
suffragan bishops of the primatial see--viz., Dr. Staples, who held from
the crown the revenues of Meath--could be found to support the proposal
of the government, whilst all the others adopted the sentiments of Dr.
Dowdall. The year of Dr. Magennis's death is uncertain; he seems,
however, to have survived some years the accession of Queen Elizabeth,
and on his death the see of Dromore became canonically united with
Ardagh.

The name of this illustrious bishop recalls our attention to Dr.
Magennis, bishop of Down and Connor, of whom we treated in the March
number of the _Record_. An esteemed correspondent, in a highly
interesting letter, published in May (p. 385 _seq._), contends that that
prelate, in his public acts at least, deviated from the path of
orthodoxy, and allied himself to the enemies of our holy faith. His
reasons, however, are far from sufficient to justify such a serious
charge.

1. In the first place, he argues from the fact of the bishop of Down
having surrendered his bulls to the crown. However, the bishop of
Dromore did the same, and, nevertheless, no one questions his orthodoxy.
Long before the dawn of Protestantism we find the same course pursued by
some bishops, as, for instance, by the celebrated Oliver Cantwell,
bishop of Ossory, towards the close of the fifteenth century (_Ware_, p.
414). In fact, the surrendering of the bulls was regarded as a purely
civil ceremony, which secured to the canonically appointed bishop the
peaceful possession of the temporalities of his see.

2. The