n 1489, and sat only five years.
He died in 1494" (Ware, pag. 587. Brady, _Records_, etc., vol. iii.,
pag. 139).

How many errors are contained in these few words! This _Thadeus_ was
never Bishop of Ross, and so far from Odo being appointed in 1489, he
was already Bishop of the see on the accession of Pope Innocent VIII.,
in 1484. A letter of this Pontiff addressed to _Odo, Bishop of Ross_, on
21st of July, 1488, has happily been preserved, and it presents to us
the following particulars connected with the see. No sooner had the see
of Ross become vacant by the demise of its Bishop about 1480, than Odo
was elected its chief pastor, and his election was duly confirmed by the
Vicar of Christ. A certain person, however, named Thadeus MacCarryg, had
aspired to the dignity of successor of Saint Fachnan, and as he enjoyed
high influence with the civil authorities, he easily obtained possession
of the temporalities of the see. Several monitory letters were addressed
to him from Rome, exhorting him to desist from such an iniquitous
course; but as these were of no avail, sentence of excommunication was
fulminated against him by Pope Sixtus, and promulgated in a synod of the
southern Bishops, held in Cashel in 1484; it was repeated by Innocent
VIII. in 1488. Thus, then, the individual who is described by Ware as
Bishop of Ross, was merely an usurper of the temporalities of the see,
whilst the true Bishop, Odo, continued to govern the diocese till his
death in 1494.

His successor was Dr. Edmund Courcy, who was translated from the see of
Clogher to Ross, by Brief of 26th September, 1494. He was a Franciscan,
and for twenty-four years ruled our diocese. The obituary book of the
Franciscans of Timoleague, when recording his death on 10th March, 1518,
describes him as a special benefactor of their convent, both during his
episcopate and at his death. He enriched it with a library, and built
for its convenience an additional dormitory and an infirmary. He also
rebuilt its steeple, and decorated the church with many precious
ornaments. This Franciscan church continued for nearly one hundred years
a cherished devotional resort of the faithful, till, in Elizabeth's
reign, its fathers were dispersed, and the convent reduced to a heap of
ruins. The chronicler of the order, when registering the destruction of
this ancient sanctuary, dwells particularly on the barbarity of the
Protestant soldiers, who deliberately smashed its rich stained g