Dominic de Rosario O'Daly

O'Daly, Dominic de Rosario, a writer of the 17th century, was born in Kerry in 1596. Educated in the Dominican convent of Tralee, he continued his studies in Flanders, and went thence to Madrid, where he was employed in the negotiations of the Prince of Wales (Charles I.) with Philip IV. for the hand of the Infanta Isabella. He afterwards moved to Portugal, and played an important part in the revolution of 1640 which freed that kingdom from Spain, and raised the Duke of Braganza to the throne. He was appointed confessor to the Queen, and is said to have declined being made Archbishop of Braga in Portugal and Goa in India. In 1655 he was sent as ambassador to Louis XIV., and on his return was appointed censor of the Supreme Court of the Inquisition, and became the founder and Vicar-general of the Irish convent of the Dominican order in Portugal. A bull appointing him Bishop of Coimbra arrived a few days after his sudden death, 30th June 1662, at the age of 66. He was buried in the Dominican convent in Lisbon, where a monument was erected to his memory. His Initium, Incrementum, et Exitus Familiae Giraldinorum .. ac Persecutionis Haereticorum Descriptio (Lisbon, 1655) was translated and edited by Rev. C. P. Meehan in 1847, and has been drawn upon in all subsequent notices of the Desmond FitzGeralds.

Sources

100. Desmond, Geraldines, Earls of, Translated from the Latin of Rosario O'Daly: Rev. C. P. Meehan. Dublin, 1847.

339. Ware, Sir James, Works: Walter Harris. 2 vols. Dublin, 1764.