o one was more likely
to be remembered by the Franciscans than Archbishop Fitz-Ralph.

Dr. Fitz-Ralph was consecrated at Exeter on the 8th of July, 1347, by
John Grandison, Bishop of Exeter, and three other bishops.[17] If this
date be correct, the Primate found himself engaged in the onerous duties
of his new office even before his consecration. On the 10th of April,
1347, Clement VI. appointed him, together with the Archbishop of Cashel,
to make inquiry on the part of the Holy See into some charges brought
against the Archbishop of Dublin by the Bishop of Ossory.[18] On the
12th of July of the same year he received faculties from the Holy See to
dispense in a case of invalid marriage, the parties belonging to the
diocese of Armagh.[19] The bishops of Ardagh and Cloyne were appointed
on the 29th August, 1347, to give him the pallium.[20]

Sec. VII. THE ACTS OF HIS EPISCOPATE.

One of the most striking characteristics of Archbishop Fitz-Ralph's
pastoral life was his assiduity in preaching the word of God to his
people. His sermons on the principal festivals, still extant in MS. in
the university libraries of Dublin, Oxford, and Cambridge, and in the
British Museum, would fill a large volume. Already as Dean of Lichfield
he had been remarkable for his fervour in preaching, but as successor of
St. Patrick in the see of Armagh, he seemed to have received a double
spirit of zeal and diligence. A volume of his sermons, once in the
possession of Ware, and lately purchased for the British Museum at the
sale of the Tenison library, includes sermons preached at Avignon,
London, Drogheda, Dundalk, Trim, and other places of the province of
Armagh. The fame of his eloquence preceded him to the Holy See, and when
at Avignon he was frequently admitted to the high honour of preaching
before the Holy Father and the cardinals and prelates of his court. He
loved to make our Blessed Lady's virtues the subject of his discourse.
_De Laudibus S. Deiparae_ is the title of many of his sermons. There are
also special sermons on her Conception, Visitation, and Assumption. His
sermons are generally constructed on a uniform plan. After quoting his
text, it was his custom to begin with some short prayer like the
following, which occurs in a sermon preached at Avignon on the feast of
All Saints, 1358: _Pro edificandi gratia impetranda, devote, si placet,
matrem gratiae salutemus, dicentes Ave Maria._ And in a sermon preached
before Innocent VI.